SPRING 2000
"The two most beautiful words in the English language are "check
enclosed."
-- Dorothy Parker
GREETINGS!
There's a lot of crazy stuff going on here at the House of Fun right now, but I'll just cut to the chase and start off with:
THE SEMI-BIG ANNOUNCEMENT NONE OF YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!
Okay, so here's the deal -- I'm working on a pilot for a proposed Eltingville Club animated series for the Cartoon Network. No, this isn't an early April Fool's gag, I promise. We've kept quiet about this for quite a while (Sarah and I were first approached by the network in late '98, and we were in negotiations since February of '99 before signing last December), mainly for reasons of not counting my chickens before their options are picked up. And I'm not going to say too much about the pilot now for pretty much the same reasons -- nothing is definite in tv or film, or even comics for that matter. There's tons of optioned properties out there in Hollywood and its vines, and most of them don't live past the development stage. I've seen far too many comic book creators crowing about "major" big film or tv deal that in the end amounts to not much more than an option check and a press release or two -- and I don't want to look like an idiot bragging about an Eltingville show when there's a terrific chance of it never happening.
So here's what I can tell ya, kids: Sarah and I completed an extensive series bible which was accepted by the Network, and I am now currently agonizing over the script for the pilot episode. My official capacity (or whatever you call it) on the pilot is that of a "creator/producer/writer"-type (or whatever it's called), meaning that I will be completely involved in the character designs, scripting, voice casting, music and other aspects of the pilot's production. I think I also have to sweep and mop the offices, I'll have to look into that. I do know that Sarah is the story editor on the pilot, and the great Stephen DeStefano will be the storyboard artist on the project. We're working with people at the Cartoon Network with whom we've developed a solid relationship with after our seven years on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast series, so we're very comfortable with our lord high bosses of choice.
And as far as the Eltingville Club comics go, I can still write, draw and reprint the strips if I so desire. So, that's that. We'll see what happens when it happens. (And if anyone's wondering, Milk & Cheese are still not for sale.)
SPEAKING OF CARTOONS...
There's been some interesting developments with the Skeleton Key animated series that Sarah and I re-developed for Sunbow, based on Andi Watson's swell comic. As I mentioned before, you can't count on anything when it comes to the entertainment industry, but there seems to be some real interest brewing, and it would be great to see the show move forward.
OUR SPRING/SUMMER APPEARANCE SCHEDULE
Will April be our triumph -- or our Waterloo? It will at least be waterlogged, because during the month we're attending three conventions, one of which will be aboard a cruise ship (?!?). And if you think that's weird, I'll be hosting this year's Harvey Awards ceremony, and I'll probably have to do it sober. So getting on five airplanes will quite possibly the least of my problems.
Anyway, here's where you might see us this Spring, sea-sick or otherwise:
APRIL 7-8th: WONDER CON -- OAKLAND, CA. Sarah and I will be appearing at this show in conjunction with several kick-off events and signings for the CBLDF cruise. Several of the cruise guests will also be at the show, including Frank Miller, Will Eisner and Matt Wagner. We've never done Wonder Con before, so we hope to see some new people come by the Slave Labor booth. We'll be there on Friday and Saturday only, as we're all heading off to L.A. on Sunday to board a big boat filled with tourists and comic fans.
APRIL 9-16th: CBDLF CRUISE -- L.A. to MEXICO (and back again). As I related in the last newsletter, Sarah and I are going to be guests -- courtesy of Slave Labor Graphics -- on a fund-raising cruise that benefits the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The other more popular and famous guests include Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Dan Clowes, The Hernandez Bros., Chris Ware, Will Eisner, Jeff Smith, Jill Thompson, Matt Wagner -- about twenty or so creators will battle sea-sickness, sunburns and perhaps the occasional tipsy fan with an ax to grind. Fans can attend seminars, lectures, panels, chalk-talks readings and even dinners ("I'm not passing the salt to you -- you killed Elektra, you bastard!"), or just get their books signed or sketchbooks doodled in and go off and gamble, eat, sleep or get drunk for seven days. Crazy, huh? Over one hundred people have signed up and there might still be some time to come aboard if you're wavering or if you win the lottery today or something. All proceeds go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which has been fighting for the first amendment rights of our beleaguered little industry for quite a while now. You can get details on the cruise by checking out the Comics Journal web-site or the CBLDF site. (No, I don't have time to put links here, and even if I did, I don't know how to do it.)
APRIL 28-30th: PITTSBURGH CON - PITTSBURGH, PA. (duh) Hardly back from our little Poseidon Adventure, we're off to our first-ever Pittsburgh Con -- where I will be emceeing the HARVEY AWARDS in it's first-ever ceremony in it's new home. There's a $30 banquet celebration for attendees who wish to look ritzy, get a good seat, eat a hopefully good meal and help support the Harveys (proceeds go to help pay for the Harvey Awards), and there is also limited FREE seating for those who don't want to put up the scratch. Either way, it would be great to see people come out to support the Harveys and the industry.
If you aren't too jazzed about hearing me try to crack wise, Jeff Smith will be giving the commencement speech, and everybody loves Jeff. It's true! Anyway, we're currently working on getting presenters for the awards, and we're just hoping to have an easy-going, fun affair that celebrates our little medium and pays some small tribute to the memory of Harvey Kurtzman, the visionary cartoonist for whom the awards were named. (Kurtzman was the creator of Mad, Help, Humbug, Goodman Beaver, Little Annie Fannie, Frontline Combat, et al) For more information on the Harveys and the Pittsburgh Con, go to www.pittsburghcomicon.com
OUR OTHER DEADLINE TROUBLES
First off, there's been some talk on the internet about whether or not Sarah's Action Girl Comics anthology has shut down or not, as there have been no new issues for a while and the last issue solicited never shipped. Basically, Sarah's a little burnt out after editing and working on the series for several years on a more or less regular schedule, and has decided to take a breather. There are a few other reasons for the hiatus, most notably our buying and moving into our very own House of Fun, which took up a lot of Sarah's time. Beyond that there was the inevitable production problems of contributors not turning in their work on time (or ever). Such is the wacky world of comics. Sarah has every intention of returning to the series when things settle down a bit, and hopefully that will happen sooner than my oft-promised return to Hectic Planet.
As for my crap, well, Dork #8's been pushed back some because of the Eltingville stuff, but it is coming along. The issue is a return to the traditional short-form humor format, after the depresso #7 I needed a break and just wanted to gag it up a little. So expect an eight page color section featuring the (unexpurgated) Eltingville Club strip from Wizard #99, the strips Sarah and I did for DHC's Scatterbrain anthology, and a new color two-pager about God's seventy year itch. #8 will also feature my strips from SLG's Murder Can Be Fun series, the last reprint page from Instant Piano, six or so new Fun Strips and some other new short strips, maybe a Devil Puppet story. Hopefully I can get this out by the end of the summer.
Speaking of Dork #7, I recently learned that I was nominated for a Harvey Award this year in the "Special Award for Humor" category. I'm glad somebody thought Dork #7 was a humor book, because I certainly did. My thanks to those who voted for me, and to those who voted for Dork #7 in the Squiddy Awards for Best Single Issue (tying with Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories #2 --?!?!), which is an on-line award voted on by members of the usenet comics newsgroup. So, if I lose at the Harveys, should I storm off the stage and demand a recount?
I just finished up a batch of new art for the second edition of the Fun With Milk & Cheese trade paperback. The book was headed into a sixth printing, and I was getting really tired of looking at my 1994 art, so Sarah had the idea of doing a new edition that would be redesigned similarly to the Hectic Planet trades, thus starting a kind of "Dork" library. So, if you see this edition next month or so, it's NOT a new M&C trade, it's a new edition of the old book you probably already have. If you don't have it, then buy this one.
MISCELLANEOUS AND EXTRANEOUS
TwoMorrows, the publisher of the Jack Kirby Quarterly and Comic Artist, is putting together an all-autobio anthology project called Streetwise, which will feature Kirby's famous "Street Code" strip, along with new stories by Will Eisner, Alex Toth, Sergio Aragones, Nick Cardy, Jeff Jones, Joe Kubert and a host of other major sluggers. Somehow I got invited in. They have the jew quota filled so maybe I'm the youth vote. Anyway, my story is inconsequential and goofy and I am scared %#&less about being in a book with these people.
The cover Sarah and I did for Chyna Clugston-Major's second issue of Blue Monday from Oni Press should be out in April. And speaking of covers, we did the art for the Mash It Up 2000, the latest comp in the Boston ska series. Finally, we have no idea when our 2- page Nutsy Monkey strip for Nickelodeon Magazine, featuring our character, will run.. We're hoping to see it soon. lastly, the Devil Puppet "Burn In Hell" t-shirt is now available from Slave Labor, and looks really spiffy, if I do say so. Which I just did. So there.
WORLD'S FUNNEST COMICS UPDATE
Things are really coming together on my Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk DC one-shot nightmare project, with the art roster finally complete, nearly half the art finished and almost all the rest in the lettering/inking stages. One bit of bad news is that Dick Sprang has had to bow out of the project, which is a real shame. But the good news is that Shelly Moldoff, another golden-age great (who incidentally designed Bat-Mite) will be stepping in to draw the segment instead. Along with Shelly Moldoff, we've rounded out the art team with Bruce Timm, Mike Allred, Stuart Immonen and Howard Porter -- who will be joining the dream team line-up of Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, Jaime Hernandez, Alex Ross, Jim Woodring, Phil Jimenez, Stephen DeStefano, Scott Shaw, Ty Templeton, Glen Murakami, Jay Stephens and Frank Cho. I never get worked up about sales and numbers when I do a comic -- but, come on now -- if this sucker doesn't sell like gangbusters then there really is no hope for this industry. Forget about that incredible, it'll never happen again art roster -- it's Bat-Mite, man! BAT-MITE!!
A WORD REGARDING OUR MAIL
We really appreciate hearing from you guys out there in tv and funnybook-land, we've always encouraged your feedback and we do read everything we get. Unfortunately, we're having serious problems answering our mail these days. We used to be able to answer practically everything we got, but between our hectic schedule and the amount of mail we receive now, it's become impossible to keep up. I have over 170 unanswered e-mails stacked up right now, and a bag of snail mail going back six months. And that's about a fifth of what Sarah's dealing with. So please don't get mad if you don't hear back from us, or if it takes weeks or months before you receive a reply. We're answering what we can, when we can. We can almost always answer a quick question or two or reply to an interview request within several days, so keep this in mind: the shorter, the better. If you have any broad questions regarding things like "how to break into comics", or "how to do comics" (which can literally take me hours to answer), please be aware that Sarah has posted information on these topics in the Action Girl section of our site, and there is also lots of information in the "interactiv interview" area. The upshot is, we certainly don't want you folks to stop writing, but please keep in mind we're a two-goof operation and we can only accomplish so much in a day. Thanks!
Okay, that's it for now. Sorry this dispatch ran so long. You have our sincere thanks for reading this and for your continued interest and support of what we do here at the House of Fun.
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