Loving the Federal League

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 30, 2009

I’ve been a baseball fan all my life. I can recall watching games with my dad, and being taken to Shea Stadium for my birthday for several years in a row. While I can’t throw worth a dámn, I love the game.

Soon after joining DC Comics, I learned that Mike Flynn and Bob Rozakis belonged to this rotisserie baseball league and was fascinated. Next thing I knew, the league Mike formed fell apart and out of the ashes grew one that Bob ran, with Mike as a player. Then a year later Mike asked me to co-own the team with him since he was busy and soon to be leaving DC. He renamed the team the Final Frontiersmen in my honor and I began to learn the intricacies of fantasy baseball.

Through the years, the Federal League evolved from being a team made up of people in and around the comics field to one centered on the residents of Port Washington. Mike Friedman joined us a year or so later and as Bob’s pals dropped out, Mike’s friends began to fill in until we were heavily weighted on Long Islanders. When Bob chose to retire as Commissioner, Mike took over. We used stat services to keep track and issue reports (a leap in the way Bob did it – a calculator and paper) and I was the statistician, logging the stats and issuing the weekly reports.

Mike ran the league for years and along the way, our membership briefly included, Deb, Keith DeCandido and Kathleen David. Deb figured it was all statistics and would be a breeze but the daily requirements grew onerous given her work and began objecting when I’d bug her to make transactions as injuries plagued her team. She gave up after two years.

Mike stepped down a few years back and Partom Palazzo stepped up. Partom joined at the tender age of 13, along with his dad Alan. Today, Partom is a married, living in his own home and led the league to take another big step forward technologically. We’ve moved to CBS Sportsline for our stats and his Auction day prep has been nothing but marvelous, far better than anything I did.

The Auction is the best part. We cram and prep and scout for March and then, usually the first Saturday after Opening Day, we’d stuff ourselves into someone’s home and have the auction, bidding up players, eating too much and having a blast. When Phil Ozersky, the man who caught Mark McGwire’s record-setting homerun ball, joined, we began having him participate by speaker phone given his location in St. Louis.

Last year, Robbie was between chemo treatments, still feeling pretty good, and came to keep me company. When one owner couldn’t make it, Robbie drafted in his stead and did pretty well. He loved the day out and looking back, it was one of the last truly good days he had away from the hospital.

This year, with the Superman Encyclopedia and budget hearings, my auction prep consisted of about an hour and a half on Thursday, doing little more than a cursory look through the prospects. I fit in a quick review yesterday morning before writing about Lightning Lad and then headed to Chez Palazzo.

This year, circumstances led to four team owners using a conference line which resulted in some glitches but nothing to mar the day. I sat next to Mike, sharing gossip and helping each other scout available players to fill our needs in the later rounds. By the time we ended at 5:30, I did better than expected. My brother Neil says I lack power but we’ll see as things begin and then I can adjust. I feel in my heart I’m more competitive than I have been in some time, and that’s a good feeling.

As we ended last night and began cleaning up, Partom told me the league decided to donate 10% of this year’s prize money to Tommy Fund in Robbie’s memory which I thought was incredibly generous.

Play ball!

I am a Scribe Nominee

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 26, 2009

Over on the right side of this page is a link to the IAMTW, an organization that is barely three years old but its ranks have been swelling for some time. We’re a friendly bunch and have been very supportive to one another. The nominations for the annual Scribe Awards were just announced and I am delighted to see that I made the list with my very first submission. Check out the goodness below…

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is pleased to announce this year’s nominees for the 2009 Scribe Awards, which honor excellence in licensed tie-in writing—novels based on TV shows, movies, and games. The nominees for this year’s awards are:

Best General Fiction Original

BURN NOTICE: THE FIX by Tod Goldberg
CRIMINAL MINDS: FINISHING SCHOOL by Max Allan Collins
CSI: HEADHUNTER by Greg Cox

Best General Fiction Adapted

DEATH DEFYING ACTS by Greg Cox
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL by James Rollins
THE TUDORS: KING TAKES QUEEN by Elizabeth Massie
THE WACKNESS by Dale C. Phillips
X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE by Max Allan Collins

Best Speculative Fiction Original

GHOST WHISPERER: REVENGE by Doranna Durgin
RAVENLOFT: THE COVENANT, HEAVEN’S BONES by Samantha Henderson
STARGATE SG-1: HYDRA by Holly Scott & Jamie Duncan
STAR TREK: TEROK NOR, DAY OF THE VIPERS by James Swallow

Best Speculative Fiction Adapted

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY by Bob Greenberger
THE MUTANT CHRONICLES by Matt Forbeck
STAR WARS – THE CLONE WARS: WILD SPACE by Karen Miller
UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS by Greg Cox

Best Young Adult Original

DR. WHO: THE EYELESS by Lance Parkin
PRIMEVAL: SHADOW OF THE JAGUAR by Steven Savile
DISNEY CLUB PENGUIN: STOWAWAY! ADVENTURES AT SEA by Tracey West

Best Young Adult Adapted

IRON MAN: THE JUNIOR NOVEL by Stephen D. Sullivan
THE DARK KNIGHT: THE JUNIOR NOVEL by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohen
JOURNEY T
O THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D by Tracey West

The highest honor the IAMTW can bestow is the Grandmaster Award, which recognizes a writer for his or her extensive and exceptional work in the tie-in field. This year’s honoree is KEITH R.A. DeCANDIDO. He has written over thirty novels, most of them original tie-ins or novelizations. His work includes many Star Trek novels, as well as original books in the CSI: NY and  Supernatural tie-in series, to name just a few.

The Third Annual Scribes will be awarded at a special ceremony at Comic-Con in San Diego July 23-29. (Specific date and time to be announced)

The IAMTW also awards two Special Gaming Scribes, honoring excellence in game-related tie-ins. Those awards are given at GenCon in Indianapolis August 13-16 2009. Specific date and time of the ceremony to be assnounced) The nominees are:

Special Gaming Script – Best Original

EBERRON: THE INQUISITIVES, THE DARKWOOD MASK by Jeff LaSala
DRAGONLANCE: DEATH MARCH by Jean Rabe
EBERRON: THE DOOM OF KINGS by Don Bassingthwaite
WARHAMMER: ELFSLAYER by Nathan Long

Special Gaming Scribe – Best Adapted

THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BEYOND THE DARK PORTAL by Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden
THE MUTANT CHRONICLES by Matt Forbeck
METAL GEAR SOLID by Raymond Benson

Balance

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 25, 2009

Some times I really believe there is a balance in life.

Monday night’s RTM meeting was about as brutal as I expected. The coverage in the papers will show those who missed it what got covered but no doubt it’ll look even more contentious whenever the public access video is broadcast.

I left the meeting feeling like I didn’t do my best job to moderate but I received many nice words that were somewhat comforting.

Today, though, came some perks that come with being Moderator and serving in town government.  On Commerce Drive, there stands a nicely situated building that has housed two consecutive Italian restaurants.  While I wasn’t looking, it converted into the Fairfield Café.  They soft opened about two weeks ago and today was the official ribbon cutting, attended by town businessmen and elected officials.

The décor is lovely and the menu is very reasonably priced. Our appetizers didn’t look like they came from the menu but were certainly tasty. I got to mingle with some folk in town I hadn’t met yet and wished the owner luck.  We’ll probably come back for dinner this weekend.

I had to hightail it cross-town for the reception in honor of Brian Selznick, whose book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret was the subject of Fairfield’s second annual One Book, One Town.  Brian was there, signing books and posing for pictures, getting down on his knees for his younger admirers.  I didn’t get a chance to meet him, but did taste a different selection of appetizers and desserts while chatting with members from the RTM, Board of Finance, and the Library.

While I wish they were not back-to-back, it was nice to get out of the basement, socialize, and support local efforts, both business and cultural.

At Lunacon

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 22, 2009

Lunacon kicked off last night and I will be there all day.

Here are my panels:

Saturday

11:00 – 12:00:00 PM    Grand Center
Deep Space 9 Retrospective: The Thinking Person’s Star Trek Series

Farthest from Roddenberry’s original vision, Deep Space 9 was relatively fixed in place and as much concerned with emotional, moral, and spiritual journeys as with adventure and the Dominion war. What are the insights we can draw from it now, in the twenty-first century?

Bob Greenberger, Russell J. Handelman [M], Dan Persons, Susan Shwartz,

8:00 – 11:00 PM Grand Center
Masquerade
With Joel Lord as MC and Bob Greenberger hosting the halftime show.

Given my crushing Superman schedule, I’ve had to bow out of Sunday’s programming.

S is for Superman

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 19, 2009

I have not been a faithful correspondent because I’ve been devoting every waking hour; it feels, to two projects.  As I mentioned recently, they arrived within 15 minutes of each other and they vie for my time and attention although clearly the short-term gig has to be getting the lion’s share of me for now.

Since my editor has been making references to it on my Facebook page, let me talk a bit about my stepping in to co-write The Essential Superman Encyclopedia.  When DelRey contracted with DC, they wanted three books, one each for the Big Three.  DC’s Licensed Publishing department thought of me for Batman, Marty Pasko for Superman, and Phil Jimenez for Wonder Woman. All perfectly logical choices.

Phil, being the madman that he is, started work within minutes of me although his was to be the final one printed.  Marty saw what I was doing, grumbled at me, and began his own research.  Time passed and I delivered my book, it got printed and people were happy. Marty and Phil continued to work.

For whatever reason, Marty chose to withdraw from the balance of the project and my editor, Chris Cerasi, immediately asked if I could step in and help out. After all, I know the character, style, resources and am something of a professional. I chatted with Marty at length and got to work.

The biggest difference between handling Batman and now doing superman is that I have just about two months to do better than half the book whereas I spent a year doing Batman on nights and weekends. See why I’m sounding crazed?

Thanks to the inexhaustible John Wells, I have able backup and Mark Waid has offered his guidance as well so I know there’s a safety net.  To date, J is delivered to DC and K’s first draft was completed a few hours ago. L will be a bear then I can cruise until I hit S.

As for other work, yesterday I had one project fall apart for legal reasons which disappointed me. I had invested quite a few hours in trying to make it happen but the odds were stacked against me it seems.  But, also yesterday, I spoke with a publisher about a multiple volume non-fiction project that won’t make me rich but won’t be embarrassing either.  I have to write up a proposal and get rolling in May.

There remain many other irons in the fire so 2009 is looking a lot better than it did three weeks ago.

This Week

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 12, 2009

Sorry for another protracted delay in writing.

As I feared, I’ve allowed the two new gigs to consume my daylight hours. On the one hand, I like what I’m doing and that I’m finally earning some cash; on the other, this will be all-consuming until the short-term assignment is complete.

Each day starts with some of the long-term work then moving over to finishing up the short pieces I’ve had or reviews for ComicMix. I’ve also finished a draft of an article on the goofy Secret Society of Super-Villains for an upcoming Back Issue and need to finish polishing my World War II essays which are due at month’s end.  The bulk my daylight hours are spent on the crash job and I’m making some progress and getting some good feedback.

The best news came yesterday with word that Marvel has approved my minor changes to the Iron Man: Femme Fatales manuscript meaning the pages can be passed for press, meaning they can be copy edited then turned into galleys and still come out by June 23. The final tweaks are being made to the cover and I should have something to show off in the next week or two.

I was out Monday and Wednesday night at budget hearings and tonight have another meeting, and as you can imagine we’re all using magnifying glasses to try and find savings to bring down the proposed budget and tax increase.  Pressure is building in town for us to pass a 0% increase and we’ll see if that’s practical or even possible.

All of this eats into my personal time so I’m behind on television.  I have managed to read the new Robert B. Parker, Night & Day. The latest Jesse Stone novel, it’s an okay plot but the characters all take a big leap forward, making me look forward to the next one whenever that it.

Fifteen Minutes that Changed my World

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 8, 2009

Life is suddenly getting busier.

This past week, I was working through the little bits and pieces I had to do and was about to turn my attentions to spec projects when there was a flurry of activity at week’s end that will now keep me insanely busy through the end of April.

On Thursday, Kate and I traveled into New York City to join the DC staff in a screening of The Watchmen. I was invited largely because of my long history with the company and fleeting association with the project in its early days.

To prepare, I wanted to reread the graphic novel but instead watched the Watchmen Complete Motion Comic DVD, which niftily animated Dave Gibbons’ wonderful artwork. Overall, I liked the film better than Kate but it was a terrific experience, especially seeing it with old pals.

Upon returning home, at 5:13, I got an e-mail asking me to step in and help out a DC Licensed Publishing project that has experienced some problems. I was being asked to join the other writer and complete the project, writing over half the manuscript in nine weeks, delivering by April 30.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, at 5:28, a company I have done some consulting for made me a formal offer to begin doing more extensive work for them, starting Monday, for about 10 hours a week, which will mean weekly trips to NYC. The future for this could be really bright so I’m curious to attend the first meeting and learn more.

So, I have an intense short-term gig that will be stressful plus something that could be nicely long-term. Atop it all, its budget season here in Fairfield meaning more evenings spent at hearings.

Come May 4, when we vote on the budget, I should be ready for a rest.

Lunacon Schedule

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 7, 2009

Lunacon is coming up in just two weeks and I received my schedule. The con for me tends to be more social than useful for self-promotion or business but one never knows.  I do know that not seeing my NYC-based pals weekly as I used to, I find myself looking forward to the weekend.

Here are my panels:

Saturday

11:00 – 12:00:00 PM    Grand Center
Deep Space 9 Retrospective: The Thinking Person’s Star Trek Series

Farthest from Roddenberry’s original vision, Deep Space 9 was relatively fixed in place and as much concerned with emotional, moral, and spiritual journeys as with adventure and the Dominion war. What are the insights we can draw from it now, in the twenty-first century?

Bob Greenberger, Russell J. Handelman [M], Dan Persons, Susan Shwartz,

8:00 – 11:00 PM Grand Center
Masquerade
With Joel Lord as MC and Bob Greenberger hosting the halftime show.

Sunday

11:00 – 12:00 PM Odelle

Genre in Comic Books

Super-heroes rule the comic book landscape, yet today it seems like more adventure, crime, horror, science fiction, slice o’ life, and western comics are being published than there have been for decades. Are these genres successful? Why is the variety good or bad for the industry? Is it an uphill battle for creators to pursue these genres? What are some of the best non-super-hero reads comic fans might be missing?

Dennis Anfuso, James Chambers, Bob Greenberger [M], Glenn Hauman, Hal Johnson

Quirky, Interesting Series Vanish from the Big 4

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 4, 2009

I haven’t chatted about television in a while but trust me, we’re still watching an awful lot of it.

We’ve seen the first two episodes of Dollhouse and I see it struggling to find its voice.  Missing to date is the snappy Joss Whedon dialogue and memorable characters that populated his other productions.  So far, the most Whedon-like character is Topher Brink, the technical genius who reprograms all the actives. Some of the other characters such as Echo’s handler, Boyd Langton, show flashes of being engaging but I find myself disappointed by Paul Ballard, the FBI agent trying to provide the elusive Dollhouse organization exists.

While produced by star Eliza Dushku, she actually isn’t making the most out of the acting challenges each story provides.  She isn’t showing anywhere near the range Echo calls for and maybe she’ll grow over time.  Recently, she said the show really gets into gear by episode six and with luck, we’ll still have a chance to see it.

As feared, Fox sticking it on Friday nights meant low ratings.  Coupling it with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a smart move and having it on when geeks are home to watch Battlestar Galactica – currently the best drama on television — was logical.  The ratings, of course, have been lackluster but the Hollywood Reporter noted yesterday that once the DVR ratings are factored in, both shows are seeing a nice bump.

DVR ratings are calculated two different ways, broadcast plus three days and plus seven days.  Live+7 DVR data, as it is know, showed a 30% increase in viewership of the pilot. The return of Terminator also received a 36% bump.  Those are significant gains, enough to justify Fox keep both shows for now. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Tonight in Fairfield

Posted by Bob Greenberger on March 3, 2009

Just a quick reminder to those in the vicinity that I will be giving a talk entitled A Picturesque History of the Graphic Novel at the Fairfield Public Library.  There will be a PowerPoint presentation so it’ll be visually interesting and then hopefully the question and answer portion will be engaging.

As of last week there were 35 people already registered to attend which I consider a good sign.

We begin at 7 p.m. in the Rotary Room.