Back in August, I was very harsh on the first installment in Michael Uslan’s six-part “what if” story, which devoted three issues of Archie to watching Archie Andrews marry Veronica Lodge then three issues watching Archie marry Betty Cooper.
At the time, I was frustrated at the characters acting, well, out of character and the lazy thinking that went into this. Now that the final installment is out, I wanted to go back and see if things improved.
Not really.
The three-parter with Veronica never really explores anything as we rush headlong from event to event. The wedding prep and wedding are crammed into one issue so the real humor ripe with the bachelor and bachelorette parties is gone. We also see that Hiram Lodge has decided not to stick Archie in a dead-end job after all, but makes him a vital cog in the machine. For someone with a history degree and zero business experience, his thriving makes little sense. Of course, Uslan takes the chicken way out and provides them with twins, oddly naming both after themselves. While Veronica might be that self-absorbed Archie certainly isn’t.
The Betty three-parter is more engaging but equally devoid of exploring what it really means to be an adult and starting not only a career but a married life. First of all, Archie’s parents’ reaction to his choice of Betty rings true as does Archie’s difficulties finding work. After all, he has a history degree and what do you do with that, especially in a tiny town like Riverdale? The struggles of work and a married life also feel better but Betty refusing to stay in the city and pursue her career while Archie continued to look for work made no sense. Nor does them living with his parents – if they were that poor, then why on Earth give up her salary? Also, Archie could not possibly be given a teaching position given his lack of training and credentials. Maybe a long-term sub and maybe he considers teaching but needs to go back for his master’s. Also, music was always an aspect of Archie’s life — he didn’t even study it in college, so what on earth qualifies him to teach it? Nope, not touched on. Then there’s the pregnancy, avoiding a chance for them to discuss “planned” parenthood since this seems to be a total surprise. The best part is showing how the newlyweds are beginning to form a social life beyond their high school friends, a natural evolution.
Life at college is a time for finding one’s self, for taking those first steps towards independence and forging new bonds. That first job is a stepping stone to a career and you begin building new friendships and connections, while your contact with high school friends begins to dwindle. For the sake of the status quo, that was largely in both three-parters and therefore robs the entire event of a poignancy it should have had along with some wonderful humor.
Michael insists on parallels between the two including the headlong rush into marriage upon college graduation. Here he had a chance to impart some lessons to his readers, showing what rushing could do in one instance, and planning for the future in another. People aren’t marrying at 22 but later and this should have been acknowledged.
Overall, the idea of showing what life would be like for each woman is great but far too much of the humor was slapstick and not character-based. Too many winks and nods and trying to fit in everyone (the worst being Moose controlling his mood through yoga) with illogical career choices assigned to the characters. The best of those was the wink to the readers with Dilton’s discovery of parallel universes and promptly disappearing. Yeah, after this six month disappointment, I’d want to vanish, too.
Michael is an old pal and his enthusiasm and affection for the characters was clearly evident at San Diego over the summer. I really wish that all translated to the page instead of something that clearly needed rethinking and reworking for a better tale.
I mentioned a while back that I was continuing my public service by joining the Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency as a Fairfield representative. And what is the GBRPA you wonder?
“The Greater Bridgeport Planning Region comprises six municipalities that are home to approximately 300,000 residents.
The three most urbanized communities (Bridgeport, Fairfield and Stratford) lie along the shores of Long Island Sound, whereas the inland communities to the north (Easton, Monroe and Trumbull) are more rural and residential. Covering 146 square miles, the Region is the most densely populated of Connecticut’s 15 planning areas.
The core of the planning region – the City of Bridgeport – is not only the largest city in the state, but also serves as the regional hub for services ranging from medical care to transportation, education, and banking. Bridgeport is also the judicial seat of Fairfield County, containing the Federal, State, and County Courthouses.”
Good and noble work.
On Tuesday night I attended my first meeting as one of the three Fairfield reps. Fortunately, nothing affecting my town was on the agenda so I could sit back and see what happens.
Essentially, we discuss any work being done that might affect surrounding towns and make recommendations on Planning and Zoning legislation for consideration by the specific town. There’s a full staff that does year-round work on things like traffic studies and an initiative to create more bike paths to encourage exercise and less reliance on cars.
Interestingly, we hit a procedural glitch that sent us scurrying for our copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. Someone wanted to rescind a motion after the vote, and while I was familiar with reconsideration, this was new even for me. Problem solved, we moved on.
Most of the other members have P&Z experience making me feel like not only the newcomer but the outsider so I’ll be brushing up before the next meeting.
As January winds down, I find that I am right on schedule with the paying work.
Who’s Who #2 was delivered to DC and I await feedback from the editors. Meantime, I completed a second pass of the ghostwriting project, which is due Monday. I sent the manuscript off to a pal today to get a fresh set of eyes on it and to make certain it doesn’t suck. I also e-mailed my partner with some questions and once I hear back, I can give it a third and final pass before delivering on Monday, which is the due date.
I was speaking with my publisher last Friday about this and he noted that my professionalism on an earlier project led to this assignment and he could not be more pleased with my attitude and “can do” attitude. I make his life easier and that means I remain in mind for future work. That’s a vital lesson all freelancers should take to heart.
On the other hand, I have been trying in vain to contact my editor on the media tie-in comic I scripted back in October. In theory the finished book is due out in June but he has been tough to pin down. I have no idea if the licensee has approved it or if the artist remains at work. Communication is a two-way street and this silence (unreturned e-mails and phone messages) is maddening.
I did receive edits to my Green Hornet story which shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to revise and then it should be good to go for the collection, due in June.
My goal of doing spec writing each morning has not quite worked out as planned. I did manage a graphic novel pitch and sent that off but of late, that precious first hour has gone towards reviews for ComicMix and some pro bono political work for a candidate. I still have a young adult fantasy project to polish, especially with at least one editor willing to look at it.
A different spec project, though, is slowly gaining momentum. It appears there’s a contract in the works for the project in one form and now a different company is interested in it in a different form. I’m working on this with others and will be the second person to do any writing when this goes live, which I expect to happen in February. I can’t wait for things to be signed and for us to formally announce it. There are some good stories to tell and lessons to learn.
All in all, this year is off to a pretty good start.
I have been reviewing in one form or another since high school. I honed the craft while working on the college newspaper, Pipe Dream, and became a regular reviewer for the local Gannett paper, the Binghamton Sun-Bulletin during a wonderful internship. As a result, I think I have developed pretty good critical skills for books, comics, movies, and television.
Despite my no longer being on staff, I continue to contribute to ComicMix, mostly via reviews and enjoy keeping my hand it. Writing reviews helps keep me sharp and thinking about the works before me.
When reviewing, I assess the project, the intent of the creator(s) and the audience being addressed. I try and avoid the navel-gazing, long-winded philosophy of some reviewers and try and focus on the project in a critical way unlike, say the New York Times Book Review which spends more time on the subject matter than on the review. My intent is to evaluate the work and determine if it has achieved its goals and why or why not.
With the holidays at an end, my doorbell began ringing in earnest as more graphic novels, books, and DVDs have arrived, hoping to garner a review or some kind. In working through the stack, I’m struck by how negative I have been this month. Eight reviews have appeared to date, with three more in the pipeline. Of the twelve, I really liked three of them, really disliked four of them, and was mixed to favorable on the rest.
It’s not like I’ve been cranky all month but I am surprised at how deeply disappointed I am that that these projects make it through the production system come out and don’t work. There are many layers of approval, editing, commentary, and review that can stop a graphic novel from being totally derivative or a film from tackling ambitious ideas and failing to explore any of them. Given how many people work on a movie or television series it never ceases to amaze me that utter crap makes it the screen when someone, somewhere in the system should be raising their hand and bravely saying, “this isn’t working.”
Now, everyone has an opinion and just because I find something to be lacking, doesn’t make me right and the creator wrong. But when the vast majority of reviews for a project are negative, then something went wrong and no one stopped it. I’m sure that no one sets out to produce crap, but sometimes time pressures, or budget, or studio interference or a confluence of events details the most noble of intentions.
Still, I get the feeling that the checks and balances in place to make things the best they can is not working. Not in publishing and most certainly not in Hollywood.
I try and take the lessons I’ve learned from deconstructing works I like and don’t like and try to apply them to my own writing. Do I succeed each time out? Of course not. I fully recognize that some of my fiction works better than other books and my non-fiction may not be as satisfying as I had hoped. The same with the creators I’m working with, but at least I can proudly say I have listened to the feedback I’ve received and worked hard to improve my game. And thankfully, I’ve avoided utter disasters – I think.
One of the nice things about working in the comics field is that we share our passions with one another. I first realized this in the 1970s when Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise novels were coming out and box loads would arrive in the states and my pals were glomming onto them with fervor.
When I joined DC Comics in 1984, I would sit and hear Len Wein and Marv Wolfman hold forth on the detective fiction they were enjoying. When they, and subsequently Dick Giordano, all recommended Robert B. Parker’s work, I took the plunge. I started with the first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript, and worked my way through the series.
I could see why they fell in love with Spenser and Parker’s lean prose style that still placed character above plot. When he branched out, notably with this westerns I followed along and saw how easily his template could be adapted to other settings.
At one point, Dick wanted to pick up the new Spenser novel, and maybe get Parker’s signature at an event at the nearby Barnes & Noble. He got swamped and couldn’t even run out for a sandwich so I took a $20 from him, stood on line for over an hour, and finally got Dick his autographed book. Parker thought it a gracious touch, doing this for a fellow fan.
Helen Hunt wanted a Parker-created heroine for movies so he came up with Sunny Randall, described as a female Spenser but not so much. The Sunny Randall adventures were interesting and slowly, Parker revealed she was set in Spenser’s world. Then came Jesse Stone, the ex-alcoholic sheriff, set in the same world. It was certainly interesting seeing Stone and Randall hook up and crossover from series to series and then sweetly part.
By now it was clear, Parker wrote one thing very well, and was giving us variations on the theme. These were nice variations, but he was also not pushing himself or his audience terribly hard.
He was up to 2-3 books a year over the last decade or so and they were all eagerly read. They went down fast and easy, a delectable palette cleanser after weightier works. Sure, it felt like he was being a little lazy and certainly not changing the status quo with any deliberate plan. Spenser was acknowledging the passage of time, but clearly it was running far slower than in our world.
And today, it all came to an end. Parker was found dead at his desk, at work on another novel. He was 77 and his brand of writing and characters will likely fade with him. I’ve enjoyed his works, and look forward to the last book or two still to come. Split Image, a Jesse Stone book, is due next month and the final Spenser book, Painted Ladies, is scheduled for September. The final story in the Appaloosa series, Blue-Eyed Devil, comes out May 4.
Parker, Spenser, Susan, Hawk, Stone, and Randall will be missed.
I just had the thrill that comes with holding the first copy of a printed book and I have to admit, it never, ever gets old.
Just a week ago, I received the author comps to Batman: Robin Takes Flight, my second Stone Arch book and was enjoying staring at its vibrant cover.
Now, UPS has just delivered my first copy of Wonder Woman. Amazon. Hero. Icon. which will be in finer bookstores everywhere come April. Yes, I know some of you are just ordering this through Previews, but the book has miraculously been manufactured already. Of course, the proverbial slow boat will bring the rest of the copies from China assuring on time delivery.
The book is printed on a nice, heavy stock. It’s a good sized package, akin to the recent Cover Girls hardcover from the same publisher. The art is well reproduced and Chris McDonnell’s strong design looks great at full size.
This is a package we can all be proud of and I am thrilled to hold it in my hands. I also just realized that within one year, I will have books out featuring the Big Three — Batman (Batman Vault), Wonder Woman (see above), and Superman (August’s Essential Superman Encyclopedia) — that’s a cool hat trick.
One thing I swore I would do better this year was allocate my time so at least one hour each day would be spent on spec work. I have things I want to complete and get off my desk and into the hands of people who might actually want to pay me for my efforts.
One pitch for a graphic novel was nearly done in December so I made that my first work in 2010. Two great friends read it over for me, twice, and the pitch is far stronger for it. I gave it the once over yesterday and submitted it to the editor who first made me aware of a market.
A collaborative spec project I first got looped into in November 2008 and fell silent months later, also got resurrected this week as one person dropped out and another eagerly stepped in. Oddly, the same trio of cohorts has a different spec project brewing so it can feel either incestuous or confusing. Usually both given the hour of the day.
Also, on and off since last week, there’s been tremendous opportunities presented to Avalanche Comics Entertainment, the outfit I do project managing for. It has meant, though, lengthy conference calls and frantic scrambling to prepare presentation material for meetings with as little as 24 hours notice. The one paying gig went on press yesterday so that’s something cool and it got delivered in time for today’s presentation. Score one for the good guys.
The rest of my work day since January 5 has been writing entries for the second issue of Who’s Who. I’m researching and writing about 6 pages a day which is pretty good but in double-checking my master list, I forgot to write one earlier in the alphabet in addition to miscounting which throws me a little off my pace.
I intend to finish it on Thursday so the remainder of January is dedicated to completing the ghost writing project since that has a February 1 delivery date. What’s interesting about this one is that in one way or another, I have well over 40,000 words in rough form and need to turn it into 55,000 polished words and am feeling pretty confident I can do this.
A few weeks back I expressed my initial displeasure with Men of a Certain Age, the new TNT series starring the wonderful Andre Braugher, Ray Romano, and Scott Bakula. Essentially, the show is about three men facing 50, none of whom are satisfied with where their lives are.
I thought they were sad and pathetic, unwilling to take control over their fortunes and was fairly certain I wanted to drop the series. The newspaper critics, though, kept saying the show improved and that episode three was the turning point. We stuck around, watched, and agreed things seemed to be improving. The fourth installment was also somewhat engaging and showed promise for Bakula’s Peter Pan character.
Then last week’s fifth installment was a major step backwards, largely because I cannot imagine at all that Braugher and wife would actually hire a contractor for a major renovation to their home without checking their references (beyond Bakula’s word) and ensuring things were being approved by the city step-by-step. That’s beyond pathetic and more like moronic.
Also, Romano’s inability to deal with things like his daughter’s cell phone smacks not of age but intelligence.
There are maddeningly flashes of good characterization and good writing, especially when the guys worry over Romano once more addicted to gambling. Romano’s oddball friendship with his loan shark also is appealing.
Beyond that, though, I remain frustrated at the show’s inability to display any character, male or female, of a certain age that remotely resembles me and my peers. Is any one else equally annoyed by the series?
Thankfully, the far more entertaining Leverage returns to TNT this week.
Well, it’s finally okay to talk about Who’s Who. Dan DiDio formally broke the news in the DC Nation column in this week’s DC Universe titles. He says nice things about the book and me, which is heart-warming. Of course, I didn’t know anything about the announcement until I woke up this morning to an Inbox full of congratulations.
So, here’s the deal:
Last spring, Dan called me and said, “It’s time.” As part of DC’s 75th Anniversary celebration, commencing next month, a new edition of the Who’s Who was a must. After all, the first edition was launched to kick off the 50th Anniversary publishing plan in 1985 so it made sense.
I was hired by DC in 1984 to work with Len Wein and Marv Wolfman on the Who’s Who and Crisis on Infinite Earths. I inherited two thick loose-leaf binders with Peter Sanderson’s notes on every comic DC had published for 50 years and from there we compiled a master list and set to work. For the first year, I wrote entries and prepared reference for artists, and brainstormed a lot. When Len left staff, I was promoted to editor and took over running the book which was lots of fun.
Dan, his Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler, and I spoke about this via e-mail, meetings, and lunches throughout the spring. Of course, I had some ideas in addition to some concerns since, after all, the amount of information was can fit on one printed page pales in comparison with the lengthier pages provided by various websites.
Recognizing this, Dan felt this should have a tight focus and be the company’s final word on the character and their histories. For Dan, this needed to be focused on the arrival of the Mystery Men in 1938 through the Modern Age of Heroes, establishing their histories and status quos current with the conclusion of Blackest Night. He then revealed to me this was to be a companion piece to Len Wein’s Legacies project, so whenever Len and I crossed paths in 2009, he told me how he was making things work for New Earth’s heroes. It all sounded great.
DC then hired me to prepare a brand new Master Character List, since the one I maintained when I was on staff sort of fell by the wayside as the last editor to maintain it moved to a different department and no one picked up the slack. Plus, so many new characters have arrived along with their parallel universe counterparts; we needed to start from scratch.
Thanks, as usual, to John Wells for lending me his research which made compiling such a list a lot easier. It still took months to create, sort, and proof files then come up with a list of New Earth heroes from 1938 through 2010 followed by a first cut proposal for a 12-issue series. Each month I sift through the titles and add to the list.
The fall was spent going back and forth with Dan and the Editorial Staff and we finally declared the fifth draft of the line-up as the roadmap. During those months, Dan expanded his parameters to include the significant interstellar races and characters and the project swelled from 12 to 18 48-page issues as a result. Since then, I’ve already tweaked the lineup as I learn of the DCU’s 2010 plans. All very exciting and reminds me how much I miss being part of the editorial process.
In December, I wrote the first issue and this week am writing the second. The book itself is due to debut in May.
This book will be all about the characters. The cities, secret headquarters, vehicles, weapons and objects of power were held back for a potential follow-up series. In fact, I hope this sells well enough so we can do editions covering the characters from Anthro through Enemy Ace, the future heroes from the 22nd Century through the End of Time, and maybe even a tour of the New Earth universe and one dedicated to the 52 parallel universes. But, that’s all wishful thinking from a freelance writer. Again, it all comes down to sales and interest.
As I write, page designs are being tinkered with and we’re all brimming with ideas as to who should draw which character or team. Len, when he edited the original series way back when, challenged ourselves by insisting there be at least one new artist every issue. I told Senior Art Director Mark Chiarello we should do the same this time and he vigorously nodded in the affirmative.
The following release went out yesterday and while I catch up on work, I thought I’d share this with you. The honoree, William Johnston is most deserving and I recall reading many of his books while in elementary and junior high school. The best part is, Johnston is still with us and can appreciate the accolade.
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is bestowing The Faust, its Grand Master Award for excellence, to author William Johnston, the writer of over a hundred tie-in novels and the most prolific practitioner of the craft, it was announced today by organization co-founders Max Allan Collins and Lee Goldberg.
Johnston was born in Lincoln, Illinois, in 1924. He joined the Navy in 1942 and served in the Pacific. He worked as a disc jockey, advertising executive, magazine editor, and PR man before his writing career took off in 1960 with The Marriage Cage, a comic mystery that earned him a Best First Novel Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America. He followed that book with a slew of pulp titles for Monarch Books, ranging from light comedy (The Power of Positive Loving) to medical romance (the Doctor Starr trilogy) to soft-core erotica (Save Her for Loving, Teen Age Tramp, Girls on the Wing).
Johnston’s medical novels dovetailed with his first tie-in assignments — original novels based on the TV series The Nurses, Doctor Kildare and Ben Casey. Those books, published between 1962 and 1964, were so successful that his next original medical romance, Two Loves Has Nurse Powell, was presented as “From the author of Ben Casey.”
In 1965, Johnston wrote an original novel based on the TV comedy Get Smart. The book was a huge success, leading to nine more novels over the show’s five-season history and making him to “go-to” guy for sitcom-based tie-ins. He wrote books based on Captain Nice, Room 222, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, The Flying Nun, The Brady Bunch, Nanny and the Professor, The Munsters, Gilligan’s Island, Bewitched, The Monkees and F-Troop, among others.
But his TV tie-in work extended far beyond sitcom adaptations. He wrote books based on Ironside, Dick Tracy, The Young Rebels, The Iron Horse, Then Came Bronson, and Rod Serling’s The New People, to name a few. He even adapted the cartoon characters Magilla Gorilla and Snagglepuss into books for children.
Johnston also penned many novelizations, including the pilots for the 1930s-era private eye series Banyon and the high school drama Sons and Daughters. His feature film novelizations include Klute, The Swinger, Echoes of a Summer, The New Interns, The Priest’s Wife, Lt. Robin Crusoe USN and his final tie-in project, Gore Vidal’s Caligula (under the pseudonym “William Howard”).
After retiring from fiction writing, he opened his own bar, which he operated for many years. He currently resides in San Jose, California.
The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers is dedicated to enhancing the professional and public image of tie-in writers, educating people about the craft and business of tie-in writing, and to providing a forum for tie-in writers to share information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to their field
The Faust, the IAMTW’s Grandmaster Award, is named in honor of Frederick Faust (also known as Max Brand) and is given annually. The award recognizes a writer for their extensive and exceptional work in the tie-in field. Past honorees have been Donald Bain, Alan Dean Foster, and Keith R.A. DeCandido.
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