My Lunch with Jim Warren

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 30, 2009

I’ve been in this racket since 1980 and even dating back to junior high school, I’ve been exposed to celebrities, politicians, actors, directors, producers, etc. My first interview was with Harry Chapin when he played a benefit at the high school and since then, there have been some really cool moments and opportunities. Getting to interview Chuck Yeager, the man who broke the sound barrier, was an incredible highlight.
In my field, we fortunately respect and revere the pioneers, the first generation who helped invent the comic book. I was thrilled when I got to know Shelly Mayer, who felt there had to be some connection between us since there are Greenbergers in his family tree. Maybe, we never figured it out.
As a result, there are very few pioneers I’ve never had the pleasure to meet and among them has been Jim Warren. For those unfamiliar, Jim was the enterprising publisher who launched Famous Monsters of Filmland and parleyed that success into a mini-empire with the introduction of Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. I’d heard him speak at conventions, we even attend some of the same memorials but had never had the chance to say hello.
Last spring, an FM project came up that led me to go seeking Jim. It took a few weeks, but I got in touch with him and since May, we have spoken by phone every few weeks. I’m pleased to have been the one to arrange for Comic-Con International to invite Jim back so he and Forry Ackerman could be on stage together one final time, celebrating the 50th anniversary of FM.
One does not have a brief conversation with Jim. Our conversations last close to two hours and it covers a lot of stuff. Still, we had yet to be face-to-face, something he wanted to rectify. While in New York for business this week, he invited me to lunch.
I’ve been to lunch meetings since my Starlog days and in an hour or two you get to know one another a bit and discuss your business over the meal. Jim does it in a style I’d only read about. We met at a mid-town steak house and he was ensconced in a corner, at a large round table that normally sat four or more. Like a concerned parent, he warned me not to arrive in jeans and he approved of my attire when I arrived.
He warned the waiter that he liked to take his time and they were most accommodating since he seemed to be a semi-regular. I arrived at noon and we didn’t order until after 1 and we didn’t start talking business until 3 and by 4:40 I had to excuse myself to catch a train.
We discussed books, movies, politics, current events, people we knew. We shared an affection for Robert B. Parker’s works. He probed about my background and had asked to see writing samples. His probing mind asked about some of the stuff on my bibliography and was rather impressed by the titles I had done for Rosen Books. By the time we got to the business at hand, he seemed fairly comfortable with me. Along the way, I got some stories out of him that I hadn’t heard previously so we both gained something from the exchange.
Will this lead to anything? Who knows. That he’s still interested in doing new things these days rather than rest on his laurels is also impressive. But doing thing Jim’s way was a glimpse into the publishing world of the past and it made for a delightful way to break up the at-home routine.

Catching Up

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 25, 2009

So, what’s been going on with work and home?
The work remains exceedingly slow. January is coming to a close and the proposals that sat on editors’ desks in December remain firmly in place.
Of the work I do have, the second Batman book for Stone Arch has been first drafted and will be polished and delivered this week.
I have begun conducting interviews for the Marvel Spotlight article assignment.
The amiable Bill Fawcett has invited me to write 4-5 essays for another one of his collections, and once we determine the topics I can begin writing and researching about errors made during World War II.
Of course there remains the third pass on Batman Vault, copyedits on Iron Man (which now has a pub date of June 23 for those keeping score at home), and anything Stone Arch wants to show me on the first Batman book.
New York Comic-Con is rapidly approaching and my consulting with them has resulted in my wrangling four panels for them, three I will be moderating, so that should be fun. It also means I’ll be there all three days and networking like a maniac.
After that, everything else is spec work. I have a solo project getting dusted off along plus four different collaborations in the works which should mean the law of averages says something should come from these.
I’m also putting together my very first PowerPoint presentation; illustrations to accompany a talk I will be giving at the Fairfield Public Library on March 3 entitled “A Picturesque History of the Graphic Novel”. Deb is showing me how it’s done since she is rather practiced and good at it.
Here at home, the two dogs are getting along just swell now that they’ve gotten used to one another. Ginger’s real personality is starting to show and Deb is convinced we’ve adopted a mischievous jackrabbit disguised as a small dog.

Batman Vault

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 22, 2009

I’ve been hinting around that I had worked on two projects over the last year but haven’t announced them, at the request of the license holder. The other day, I finally talked about the Stone Arch Batman book I wrote in August. Now, I can talk about the one I wrote before that…
Running Press will release Batman Vault, which according to Amazon&tag=comicmixbgb-20, has a pub date of November 14. Similar to the DC Vault, written by my pal Martin Pasko, this will give readers a look at the world of Batman and his cultural impact since 1939.
I was first approached about writing this at last April’s New York Comic-Con and quickly whipped out an outline for how I saw doing the book. I was informed that Marty did such a superlative job on the basic history, I needed to avoid the lesson and go for a broader look at the character. My first outline didn’t quite do it for DC; so I quickly did a second outline which they and the publisher liked.
My deadline was mid-August and I wrote through the summer. The fun part was, after picking the brains of some colleagues at the outset, I managed a first draft almost entirely from memory. I then went back, looked up some stuff, and fleshed out a second draft. Once it was polished up, it went off to DC. My editor at the time, Chris Cerasi, told me how much he loved it and how I hit the tone spot on.
Unfortunately, at the time the publisher asked for some changes, Robbie’s health was deteriorating and DC kindly chose not to bother me. Instead, they turned to Matthew K. Manning, no slouch in the research and writing department, to come in and give the manuscript a once over to address the concerns. We now share the by-line and have gotten both our perspectives in place.
The final manuscript was then vetted by the able John Wells and some guy named Waid and was sent off. Meantime, DC began combing its archives for nifty visuals including the items that would be the facsimiles for the “museum-in-a-book” conceit. One of those items is something I only heard about and had never seen before and will be a treat. Also, an editorial shuffle saw the capable Ben Harper step in to ride herd over the book.
In November, I saw a first pass of the designed pages, adding in captions and making suggestions. Over Christmas, I received a set of second pass pages which were even stronger looking. There will be about 35,000 words spread over 192 colorful pages.
I’m told a third pass is forthcoming and then I believe we can lock everything into place and they can begin actually manufacturing the book.
I’m proud of the project despite the complications that arose during the final writing and editing. I do appreciate the sensitivity shown by my friends at DC and the professionalism Matt lent the project.
And remember, it’s never too early to start your Christmas list.

Enter: Ginger

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 20, 2009

Last Monday, I attended a press conference conducted by our First Selectman. While there, our assistant town attorney turned up cuddling a ginger-colored, 20 pound dog named, appropriately enough, Ginger. Apparently, she had been abandoned three months ago and had been residing at Animal Control but needed socialization to ready her for adoption. Eileen took her in to help retrain her but couldn’t keep her since she already had two dogs.
Ginger was so timid and soft to pet. She’s a mixed breed, at least 2 years old, but no one knew. She was found without a collar and no one has come looking for her.
Anyway, the dog wound up on camera as Cablevision’s news channel 12 covered the conference while I took some camera phone pics to show Deb.
Yes, she was soft and cuddly and appealing.
Deb and Kate laughed when I mentioned it since they are the ones more likely to rescue animals, as they did when they convinced us to adopt Ben nine years ago. Kate proclaimed it was my turn.
Deb and Ginger met on Wednesday night and they go along rather well. We then decided to try the dogs on neutral territory. A dreary Sunday found the dogs sniffing one another and walking sort of near one another as we strolled around the parking lot. So far, so good.
We decided to go for it.
Last night, we met at Animal Control and did all the paperwork and by 6:45, Ginger was ours. We brought her home and as we walked in, Dixie was in the basement so the new dog could wander about and get a sense of her new residence. She looked about, sniffed, leapt up and settled on the hassock and seemed content. We had set up the old crate and let her sleep there for the evening although she whined a bit.
This morning, we tried to introduce the two and Dixie seemed far more aggressive. So, we kept them apart for a while then Deb took Dixie for a long walk and we joined them for the final two blocks. It went somewhat better so we think it’ll just be a matter of time.

One Year Ago Today

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 19, 2009

It was a year ago today that Deb and I woke up to find Robbie writhing in pain.
That night he entered the hospital and our odyssey began. Along the way, we met some wonderful people, benefitted from the kindness and generosity of our neighbors, and learned how incredibly strong our son was.
While never far from our thoughts, he weighs heavily on our minds.
We miss you, kid.

632 Friends!

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 13, 2009

These days, I regularly check my social network at Facebook and suddenly realize I have 632 friends. Some around town mock me for the large number and I have to pause and figure out how it grew so large.
For the most part, they fall into clusters so there are the friends/neighbors and political colleagues in Fairfield, my professional contacts, my convention pals, folks related to our time at Yale-New Haven Hospital, old high school and college friends, friends of Robbie’s, and family. Then there are the large number of friends of friends who seem to think connecting with me is worthy of their time.
Since Facebook offers me a relatively easy way to keep tabs on my collective worlds, I check in at least once a day, add a comment or post a status report. Initially, I joined for self-promotional but really see this as more social.
It certainly allows me to offer timely birthday wishes which is a plus—I certainly appreciated all the notes back in the summer. I’d like to Super Poke and take silly quizzes regularly but there always seems to be something else to do. It’s another reason why I avoid most group and cause invitations. Nothing personal if I do not choose to join you.
On the other hand, LinkedIn is definitely for business connections and I’m far choosier over who I link with or who I extend introductions to. This is stuff I take seriously and given the coming light work days, will be using it more than I have in the past year.
Beyond, that, while I have signed up for Twitter, find I haven’t gotten into the habit and aren’t certain if it’ll be worth the effort. Any thoughts?
I do Plaxo seems it seems harmless but have given up on all the others such as Reunion, Hi5, BeBop, etc. There are only so many times it makes sense to connect again and again with the same people while each site offers relatively little to be unique enough for the time and effort.

Getting Back to Work

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 11, 2009

Back in the summer, I mentioned I had written several projects I could not speak about at the publishers’ request.
This week, word on one of them went out so it’s finally safe to talk about. Minnesota’s Stone Arch Books has licensed DC’s heroes for a series of chapter books for younger readers with the first titles available now.
There will be a total of 48 over the next few years, evenly spread between Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. In August, I wrote one with Batman which is not yet on the schedule. The book is called Arctic Attack and pits the Dynamic Duo against Ra’s al Ghul.
It was nice to see the manuscript pass through DC’s approval process unscathed and I await seeing proofs along with the illustrations.
The better news is that I have been invited to write a second Batman book for the line and will work up the synopsis tomorrow.
For those keeping score at home, that means I have this small book and an article for Marvel Spotlight as confirmed assignments moving into the New Year. Lots of pitches out there for other stuff so we’re crossing our fingers.

End of the Road

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 9, 2009

I’m home safe and sound. It was a great adventure with a very long, tiring final day.

WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Report from the Road #4

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 8, 2009

Our penultimate day saw us eating more good food, driving through horrendous rain and see some amazing sights.

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Report from the Road #3

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 7, 2009

We drive north this morning, heading into the rainy, icy mush but remain undaunted in our search for great road food.

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