My Farpoint Schedule

Posted by Bob Greenberger on February 8, 2010

The 2010 convention season is about to begin for me. Most of the shows I appear at occur between now and July so the calendar fills in quickly.

Kicking things off, as usual, is Farpoint down in Timonium, MD. I’ll be there along with writing pals Peter David, David Mack, Mike Friedman, Keith DeCandido, Terri Osborne, Dave Galanter, Alan Chafin, Glenn Hauman and of course, Howard Weinstein.

Presuming the northeast is dug out of the weekly snow storm in time, we should be there having a ball.

For those, attending, here’s where you can find me:

Saturday

Bob Greenberger 10:00 AM
This is the usual hour long spotlight to kick off programming. I’ll talk about my projects and show movie trailers (courtesy of Glenn).

Writers Workshop 1:00 PM
This is Howie’s program and he’s invited me to come and talk about life as a freelancer. He’s very impressed by the breadth of work I do and thinks I have words of wisdom to share.

New V vs. Old V 4:00 PM
Having edited the comics’ adaptation of the Old V and having the hots for Elizabeth Mitchell in the new V, I guess I’m qualified to chat about this.

2009 Comics In Review Saturday 5:00 PM
I read lots and lots of comics so me and a few others will debate Blackest Night, Siege and other fun stuff.

I’ll be a Masquerade judge that evening as well.

Sunday

Bob & Howie Show 10:00 AM
As always, Howie and I will spend an hour talking about this and that, and will find the one network show we totally disagree on. What will it be this year?

Movie Previews with Bob & Glenn 12:00 PM
For those who missed out the day before, an hour of trailers, news, and comic relief.

As usual, I also want to commend your attention to the Boogie Knights’ show Saturday at 11. Kate may be out of town and miss the performance, but the other six will be there and it’s well worth your attention.

Great Customer Service

Posted by Bob Greenberger on February 3, 2010

Through the years, I’ve been fairly critical about the state of customer service in the country, using personal examples as cases in point.

As a result, it’s only fair that when I get superior service, I should mention this as well.

Last week, I noticed a leak under our washing machine. The earliest the repairmen from C&E Appliance could come was yesterday and we were told to expect him between 3 and 6. At 5:50, he arrived and began disassembling the machine. After some poking and prodding, he found the leak. Unfortunately, it was a significant part that had failed, not the usual problem that he encounters 98% of the time. The good news was that the tubes and other parts all looked to be in better than expected shape. He was amazed at the good shape the rest of the machine was in. Hearing that, we decided to invest in repairs rather than investigate a replacement unit.

He called the office to confirm they had a part and said his supervisor would have to handle the repair. We got a call this morning that everything was in place and we’d be visited between 1 and 4.

Around 1:15 Mike arrived and couldn’t have been nicer. First of all, he remembered the house. Noticed the two dogs were not the same ones that were here when he was last in the house maybe a decade ago. As he took the machine apart, he asked about the kids, recalled Paz, our Spanish au pair and other details. Now, this is a guy who visited 60 houses a week for years and only stopped doing mainly residential customers five years ago. We were amazed.

I began wiping down the various pieces of the washer as he talked and then I left him to work. When he was done, he confirmed that the machine was in excellent shape and would last quite some time. He had taken the Fantastic and some rags and completed cleaning the interior and exterior of the machine so it looked great.

As he cleaned up and prepped the bill, he gave us some unsolicited tips on our other appliances and couldn’t have been nicer. If only all service calls went so pleasantly.

Attending a Super-Hero Lecture

Posted by Bob Greenberger on February 1, 2010

Yesterday, I spent the day in Spring Valley, New York, beginning with a wonderful brunch at my cousin Audrey’s. She’s the youngest cousin in the preceding generation and I continue to marvel at how my mother’s generation grew up so incredibly close and remain in touch with amazing regularity.

We then headed over to the small Holocaust Museum and Study Center to attend the opening of the exhibit American Cartoonists: Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. It’s a traveling exhibit assembled by Rabbi Isidoro Auzenberg, curator for special exhibits and scholar-in-residence at The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives/Queensborough Community College.

The exhibit itself is modest, just over a dozen large images and placards with narrative. It attempts to trace how comic books and super-heroes dealt with the issue of the Nazis and the Holocaust from the early pastiches in Superman stories through Joe Kubert’s Yossel. It has some nice breadth but is missing depth along with a desperate need for a copy editor to correct art credits, issue titles and the like. It also posits that Siegel and Shuster created Superman as a response to the Nazi threat brewing during the 1930s, which of course it was not.

To kick off the exhibit, the Center invited Rabbi Simcha Weinstein to lecture on Jewish creators and super-heroes. The Rabbi is from England and was a film production person prior to devoting himself to the Torah and changing careers. He has since gone on to write extensively about popular culture, notably in his books Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero and Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century.

He was very engaging and passionate about his subject, knowledgeable as only one who has read and absorbed the comics could be. The room was packed with the overflow crowd standing or sitting in the vestibule to hear him. We were among the youngest in the room, a fact not lost on the staff. The Center staff was grateful and overwhelmed while the Rabbi looked out among the faces and muttered, “And to think I only brought ten books to sell.”

Through humor and example, he discussed why Jews wound up in comics and how the super-heroes explored the issues of the day, including the Holocaust. Superman was heavily referenced given his Jewish roots and he concluded with the debates over whether or not the Man of Steel was Jewish. His final conclusion< “Of course, he’s not real.”

His questions were incredibly thoughtful and informed with people wondering if comics can help keep the lessons of the Holocaust alive and who was going to read these works. Afterwards, while he was signing, I ambled up to chat a bit and ask why he totally ignored mentioning Will Eisner’s work. He paused, nodded, and admitted he had no idea why he omitted Eisner. Then he explained he was late in discovering Eisner’s work and we rattle doff favorite titles, especially those pertaining to the lecture topic.

This was diverting, informative, entertaining day, one all too rarely enjoyed.