Next weekend I'll be heading to Dayton, Ohio for April 6th's GEM CITY COMIC CON. If you're in the area, c'mon by.

Labels: Gem City Comic Con

This just in! HOMELAND, The Illustrated History of the State of Israel has just been selected by the Association of Educational Publishers as a Finalist in the category of Social Studies Curriculum for Grades 9-12. Winners will be announced in June. Cross your fingers. And to remind, if you're interested in picking up a copy of Homeland, click on the amazon.com link to the upper right of this page.

Labels: Homeland Award

I get lots of email on this blog as well as the entire site, but I notice the mail usually comes to me personally (someone usually hits the "Email Marv" button to the top right of the page) instead of as writing them as comments to one of the columns I spend long moments putting together. Just a reminder that online comments are very welcome here. Part of the reason why after 6-7 years of doing this blog I switched programs so I could get feedback. I know many don't want their name added to a blog in fear of getting a deluge of comic book porn, I suppose, so feel free to use the Anonymous sign-in. I'd love to see the good visitors to Wolfmanor start going back and forth on their own as well as making their comments to me, unseen by the obviously unclean masses. Anyway, if you hit the tiny, tiny comment button under each blog posting you'll be able to let your words be seen around the world, as close as your backyard and as far as the prison cell that guy in your backyard will be going to for being a peeping tom.

Labels: Email This

NOW ENHANCED! Since I've been putting down some TV shows lately I thought I'd mention two great ones. First is John Adams on HBO. The closest thing we've ever done to Masterpiece Theater. U.S. television rarely does anything on our history, which as someone who has always enjoyed reading about history, is a shame. This production is wonderfully acted and brilliantly directed. Money, care and time has been spent to make this something special. I'm hoping it does well so we can see more TV of this kind. Also, you have to see Cities of the Underworld on the History Channel. Despite the silly music as the camera "goes underground" the all-too-true stories are all great. I lived in New York for 40 years and didn't know 80% of what was under our feet. I've been to Portland, but I'll never see that city the same way again. The show is a bit overly dramatic but I think it's to lure in people to watch something they may not try out otherwise. It's really worth your time.

Labels: Good TV

The TV show Jericho ended its short run last night. I'm not completely surprised. I really liked it last season. It started slow but picked up steam pretty quickly. But this season, trying to goose its lackluster ratings, something went wrong. Last year, whether the creators intended it or not, the show was about a family coming together under horrible conditions. Most obviously it was the "family" that was the town of Jericho itself. Very different people had to put aside their differences and come together to survive. But the glue that held the show together was the other family, the family of Jake Green, also torn apart when trouble-maker Jake left the town and disappeared for a number of years. Their reconciliation was the underpinning of the show that made the larger family dynamic work as well. But at the end of last season they killed off dad Johnston, and this season they pretty much eliminated mom, Gail. And if we didn't know Eric Green was Jake's brother I don't think you could have guessed since they barely mentioned it at all. Also this year they took away the concept of the show which was a town struggling to survive a devastating nuclear attack that destroyed much of America.

Now the show was about an evil corporation that launched an attack against the country in order to take over. That isn't a bad idea per se, it just didn't seem to be what Jericho was about. The show that was about working together became a show about good guys vs. bad guys. My other problem this season was with Jake himself. Last season he was the "hero" of the show, smart, able to solve problems and forceful. This season he became dumber and kept flying off the handle. And in this final episode he kept crying for help rather than taking control. Unlike the J&R evil-corporation storyline which I know was intended to put more action-driven stories into the series, that change clearly made no sense.

Also, a minor point, but on the J&R computer document that we're shown that wasn't but should have been titled, "We're evil and here is our evil scheme including our logo so everyone will know how evil we are," it said that after the attack the estimated loss of life was 10 million people. Now, I didn't count all the cities on the doc that they were going to attack with nuclear bombs, but only 10 million casualties? Since all the major cities were included, aren't we missing like several sets of zeroes?

Despite that I think they ended the show well. All the major character problems were resolved. We know the good guys will win. The Producers did their best to satisfy their fans which I appreciate. I just wish more people had watched last season when it might have made more of a difference in how fast they got to the J&R storyline.

I do have one question, though. Did J&R know they were going to lose? Is that why they only velcroed the J&R patches onto their soldier's fatigues instead of sewing them on? So that when their soldiers turned against them - as they did - it was really easy for them to symbolically rip off the patch?

Just asking.

Labels: Jericho

No. Not Hillary. I'm thinking Chelsea, 20 years from now.

No matter what one thinks of Hillary Clinton's campaign - and I have to admit her incredibly negative tone of late is really turning me off - I think Chelsea showed uncommon and unbelievable restraint and class in the way she answered an extremely ill-put question about her father's illicit affair. That had to be something that terribly hurt the family and it would have been natural for Chelsea to show a flash of anger at that unexpected rudeness. Instead, she was calm and her few well-chosen words came out quickly, naturally and without anger. Say what you will about the Clintons (I'd vote for Bill again if I could) but they raised a great daughter.

I have the flu or something equally mind-numbing and am thinking at 33 1/3, but I noticed that The Return of Jezebel James has just be canceled. I mentioned how disappointed I was in the show's first two episodes considering it was created and written by Amy Sherman-Palladino who created Gilmore Girls, a show I loved. But after seeing the third episode I am very pleased because now the show can be quickly forgotten and Ms. Palladino can come up with something else that will draw us in with the intelligence and writing of Gilmore.

Speaking of shows that I think should need help, the second episode of Canterbury's Law solved the problem in the same way the pilot did; our villain becomes stupid just admits what he did. Using that once, especially in a pilot, is misconceived, but using it twice in a row - bad.

Now I'm going back downstairs to lay on the couch and sniffle a lot.

Labels: TV Reviews

Recommended what seems to be centuries ago, by my west coast pal, Mark Evanier, I became the first East Coast comic writer to buy a computer. This was in the days before DOS let alone Windows, and it was a Victor 9000 using the CPM-86 operating system. It had no hard drive and you had to swap out your disks in order to use any program. For writing I used a version of Wordstar that had no number; they never expected they'd need a second version. By the way, that one floppy disk program did everything I needed then or actually need now in a word processing program. I also had a high speed 1200 baud modem which I used not only to go online on Compuserve but also to modem documents to other computer users either through a complicated series of commands or through MCImail, an early form of email. I mention this not to say I know a lot about computers; I don't. I know how to use the software I need to use as I know how to turn on a lightbulb but couldn't begin to tell you how a lightbulb is made. I mention this to give you a sense of how long I've had to deal with IT departments. Computer companies routinely have awful tech help. I've been on line with them for an hour or more only to get someone who knows less than I do.

And then there's Apple. I moved over to Macs back in the early 90s because Disney, where I was working at the time, was using Macs and I wanted to be able to work at home. Oddly, today, although some of Disney is guided by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, these days Disney is mostly a PC company. Whenever I buy a new Mac I always buy Apple Care. Make a phone call and someone in California spends as much time with you as they need to in order to help. They have infinite patience with tech morons like myself.

But I'm not going to talk about Apple Care. It's great. Let's move on. So last week I go to New York and, as mentioned HERE, when I turned on my laptop computer I didn't get that little Apple boot symbol but instead a question mark. I knew that was bad. Or at least not good. So today I brought my laptop over to the local Apple store. I had made a reservation on their website and they were ready for me right on time. They went through the computer, checked everything, went over all the info I needed to get, replaced one of my batteries that wouldn't take a charge, and they didn't even ask me if I had Apple Care. They were not only courteous to me, but to everyone they were working with. I asked a question they didn't know (something about their website) and they spent time trying to find the answer even though it wasn't all that important. I listened as they spoke as nicely and as helpfully to others, some much older than me (hard to believe they exist) for whom computers are alien in concept, and to little kids who had questions, who, let's face it, probably knew more than they did.

This isn't the first time I've had an experience like this at the Apple store. Yes, Macs have problems like their PC brothers and don't let anyone say they don't, but Apple goes out of the way to actually help you... in a helpful way. Were I not a Mac user and I happened to be in the store for, say, an iPod, and overheard this, I would switch to a Mac when I needed my next computer.

And you might want to as well.

Labels: Apples And Oranges

My pal Elliot S. Maggin (and yes, he does put an exclamation mark after his middle initial but stupid Blogger won't let me do that) is writing a novel and, for reasons that escape me, is putting the first two chapters up on his website free of charge. Since Elliot is a really good writer, and one of the very few mentioned by name in Michael Chabon's article on super-hero costumes in last week's issue of the NEW YORKER, I thought I'd mention his book here. And while you're on his site you can learn why he's decided not to run for Congress this year. Take a look HERE.

Labels: Elliot S Maggin

My friend Gerry Conway sent me the text of this speech given today because of all the recent comments made not by Obama but by his Pastor. Gerry's only word to describe the speech was "Wow." I concur. Whether you like Obama or not, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, you have to see this is a politician who doesn't hide from controversies but confronts them and answers them. I wish all politicians were this direct. The video takes about a half hour to watch, so be sure you have the time.

Labels: Obama

As many know, ABC TV was recently fined by the FCC for allowing rear nudity on the old NYPD Blues TV show. I don't remember exactly what the fine was, but I think it was $187 million dollars. But it appears that now the FCC has changed its tune and now approves of TV nudity, but only as it applies Alyson Hannigan.

Labels: Alyson Hannigan

Canterbury's Law premiered this week but I finally got a chance to watch it. This show, starring Julianna Marguilies is in many ways neither better nor worse than most shows. If you haven't yet seen the show, this is your official SPOILER WARNING: The actors are good, the writing is fine, the story pretty straight forward, but they did something in the pilot episode that really, really, really pushes one of my major writer buttons; they had the villain, who was getting away with the crime because everyone believed he was the good guy, do something really stupid, and just for the sake of the plot.

The victim's father is a pillar of the town and is leading the search for his son's body. His son was a straight A student who was liked by everyone. On trial is some kid who has been imprisoned before - for a crime he says he didn't commit. Our heroine, his lawyer, somehow has decided against all evidence that the kid is innocent and the father is the killer. Now, since the kid confessed (although he later recanted) and probably doesn't have any money, I'm not sure how he's paying his lawyer - I don't recall anyone saying this was a court appointed case, but since that isn't the show's problem, let's say she's been ordered to take the case.

The murdered boy's father is loved by everyone and above reproach. And, of course, as we learn later, he's the killer, but as I say nobody except our hero believes that. Even the people in Canterbury's law firm think she's wrong. So what does this guy do who has so far acted smart and above board, he confronts our hero in a hallway and sort of says he's guilty and physically threatens her. As she taunts him we can tell he's seconds away from beating her up before his wife shows up and takes him away.

When I saw that I went, okay, at the end of the story, our heroine is somehow going to get him to take the stand (which was not supposed to happen) and she'll taunt him and of course he'll break -- because we've just seen he was thisclose to breaking- and Perry Masonlike he'll admit to everything including starting World War 1. In writing terms they put the ax on the wall in act one, pointed a big flashing neon arrow at it, then used it in act 5 in the stupidest way possible. They showed this otherwise brilliant man who, despite having successfully lied about his son's death for months (it does take awhile before a murder case actually comes to court) flips when our hero goes all nyah nyah in his face. On the stand, he punches Canterbury in the face, sending her sprawling - while his wife goes crazy now knowing the fact that he killed their son. I guess she never considered that he punched Canterbury not because he was the killer but because Canterbury dared to accuse him of killing his own beloved son. But, of course he does admit to killing his son (and starting the Vietnam War - I can't be right about everything).

I hate stories that are solved because the villain does something stupid. If he hadn't decided to try to intimidate our hero in the hallway and revealed his cartoony thin skin the ending would never have worked. If a villain is smart you need to break him but not in a ridiculous way. You have to be smarter, not just luckier. Maybe in episode 22 when you've run out of ideas, but certainly not in the pilot episode for a show. I'll give Canterbury's Law another try or two - I usually give shows three weeks before dumping them - but so far this is no "Damages," one of the very best Lawyer shows on TV.

Labels: Canerbury's Law

A couple of new TV series premiered in the past few weeks and so far I have to say I'm not impressed. I was a huge, huge fan of Gilmore Girls, but The Return Of Jezebel James, the new series by Gilmore creator Amy Sherman Palladino is, frankly, an awful disappointment. The characters are completely fake and react in the style of the very worst sitcoms. Parker Posey, who I've loved in movies like Best In Show and others, plays a neurotic nut who talks in ways no no one ever would. There is not only no warmth to the character, her dialog is unbelievable. Because I loved Gilmore Girls I'll give the show a few more weeks to maybe find its way, but so far this is a complete mess.

New Amsterdam has at least an interesting but weird premise; for helping save an Indian Woman, our lead character is blessed, or perhaps cursed, to live forever until he finds his soul mate. I do wonder what would the Indian shaman have done if the character had been the bad guy and not the good guy? The first two episodes had some mildly interesting stuff in it (I had seen the pilot last summer but watched it again when it premiered) but the dialog felt, well, written, meant to be read and not spoken or natural. I was constantly thrown from the story because nobody sounded real. Fortunately, the third episode seems to have moved beyond that kind of dialog and was a major improvement. The major problem I have with this series is that I don't care if he finds his true love and is allowed to get old and die or not. His life isn't awful enough for us to want him to die, and frankly, that's a pretty perverse thing for us to hope for. So our desire, if we like the show, is for him to never find his true love. That, too, is pretty weird. Besides, if the show is a hit, we know up front he won't find his soulmate until the end which pretty much eliminates any suspense that might have been in the first place.

There have been many shows that set up this kind of scenario: when the hero finally does (whatever) the show is over, which of course means the hero will be spinning his wheels for X seasons until the show runners find out the show is canceled or they voluntarily bring it to an end. Very few of these shows succeed because we know most episodes are merely marking time and only a precious few have been able to move beyond that and produce a really solid series. The ones that work make us care about the individual episodes, not the "mythology" episodes. I can't be sure if The Fugitive was the first series of this kind, but they only put of hero in jeopardy every few shows and the average episode was of him trying to help the guy or gal of the week. Whether the people behind New Amsterdam can push beyond its limited concept and make the show breathe can't be answered after only three episodes, but at least they did address the problem of written dialog so I'll keep my fingers crossed that they can keep the series interesting even as they have to contrive ways not to answer its main dilemma. They could, of course, have him find his true love but then it's just yet another detective series. I really like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the star of the show, so I hope it works.

But I do have a question: how come I didn't get that memo that obviously was sent to everyone in Hollywood that said all new cop series had to feature a light-haired male lead and a beautiful Hispanic partner who doesn't like/get along with the hero until she begrudgingly realizes how good he is. We saw this done in Eureka, Life and now New Amsterdam. Since I don't watch a ton of cop shows it's very likely it's been done on other shows, too.

Labels: Continued TV shows

If you are in the LA area tomorrow, Friday, I'm going to be conducting another writing seminar at Wizard World LA on Friday, March 14th. If you're interested in attending, show up early as we start at 1PM. If anyone has anything they'd like me to cover, please ask here and I'll try to see if it fits in. Here's the official info.

Friday March 14th
1-2 P.M.
The Wizard School Room- Room 306
Marv Wolfman: Comic Writing 101
Learn the basics and get tips on how to write dynamic, character-driven stories from the comic legend who brought you the New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Blade and a slew of other creations!

Labels: Wizard World Writing Seminar

Still under the super-crunch but I did want to let everyone know that there are three new things out there that I've contributed to in one form or another.

1: And closest to my heart is Raven #1. I know many fans are having trouble with the manga-inspired art, but I really love it. Since I am very happy with my writing on this 5-part series, with each chapter more assured than the previous one, I would love people to give the art a chance and read it then let me know what you think.

2: Way back before I had any idea that i precedes e unless after something else, I wrote "The Spawn Of Frankenstein," a series that appeared in the back of The Phantom Stranger. My writing shows the weaknesses of youth, but the art by Mike Kaluta is wonderful. All the issues, including a Frankenstein's spawn team-up with the Phantom Stranger himself, have been reprinted in the Phantom Stranger Showcase book.

3: Last but not least, I did a Q&A that appears in segments on the current animated Justice League: New Frontier DVD. I've been getting some very nice personal email comments on it, but would love to see people post directly here if possible. Let me know what you think.

Be back when I can.

Labels: New Frontier, Raven, Spawn of Frankenstein

I'm back from the Big Apple and the National Jewish Book Award ceremony was great (and yes, we all received certificates). Unfortunately, I've come home to a few crushing deadlines so it'll be a few more days before I can actually post. Hang in.

Labels: Back from New York

After a fairly uneventful plane trip I landed in NY and easily got to my hotel. Since I only use carry-on luggage, nothing was lost or delayed, but I did have one scare because my laptop computer wouldn't work. Every time I booted it a ? question mark would appear. Afraid something was wrong and that I'd never get any work done while I was here, I sadly shut it down. Once I got to my hotel room and plugged it in the computer worked perfectly. Obviously something is not woriking with the battery which is fully charged. I was afraid I'd have to bring it to an Apple store here in the Big Apple, but as long as it works this way I'll just wait til I get home and bring it to my local store.

I did want to remind everyone that RAVEN #1 is coming out this Wednesday. I think every issue gets better and better and I also believe the manga-inspired art by Damion Scott is just tremendous. Be sure to pick it up and let me know what you think.

Labels: Raven

So we pick up our mail today and among the far too many bills, ads, and magazines is a package filled with multiple copies of my comics, a marker pen and an unstamped envelope for me to return it. There is no cover letter, no name and no postage for the comics' return. It cost them a little more than $10.00 to send it to me and they are required to pay for the books to be mailed back to them. Now I remember a few weeks ago someone emailing me asking if I'd sign some books for their upcoming wedding party and I agreed, but the person who sent it has to send return postage, and it might have been nice when requesting a favor to have sent a cover letter, too, reminding me what this is for. As I say there's not even a name on the return envelope, just an address. Without being nasty, I get lots of mail and can't remember everyone who asked for what. So if the person who sent the comics emails me again and then sends the return postage, I will be more than happy to send the books back to them. Short of that they are staying here.

If you do request anyone to autograph material it is always up to you to send the books, a return envelope with protective material and the postage. Also, it's always nice to include a thank you letter.

Labels: Autographing comics