Saturday, December 22, 2012

A CHRISTMAS TRADITION—EXTRA!

My friend and collaborator Vassilis Gogtzilas—illustrator of The Adventures of Augusta Wind—read my story, "The Truth About Santa Claus," today and whipped up the following illustrations to accompany the text.  The fact that he did it so quickly is some kind of Christmas miracle.  Enjoy!  (All artwork ©copyright 2012 Vassilis Gogtztilas.)








10 comments:

  1. Jack Klugman has died at the age of 90, truly the Zone just got a little less shining.


    Jack

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    1. Indeed, Jack. What a wonderful actor. I love all his TZ episodes but have special affection for "In Praise of Pip." which moved me to tears.

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    2. In praise of Pip always gets me. Many people point out the quality of fatherhood in it. I don't dispute this. The part that connects with me is the idea of a loser trying to make good. I'm not a father, that is a unique experience, but feeling like a loser who needs to fix things for some reason, everyone has been there, every one of us. And Klugman sells it. His humanity when he makes his last plea, that always always tugs at the old heart strings.

      And of course let us not forget the other side of his coin, "Odd Couple." Range.

      Jack

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    3. Those two words—"humanity" and "range"—really sum up Klugman's brilliant work, Jack. Along with that, he's one of those actors who's always been there, as far back as I can remember...part of the tapestry of my life. So sad to lose him.

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  2. J.M. Dematetis wrote a Moon Knight Story? It's true, and I recently purchased it. As a man who has been picking up back issues from Moench's run for a little under a year I would be interested in hearing what your views on the character were before you started your story.

    Also, Your back up feature was my favorite part of ASM 700, a very nice tale that worked as one of marvel's best "The End" tales. Very Far Out!

    Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars,
    Jack

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    1. As I recall, Jack, I didn't know all that much about Moon Knight before I took the assignment, but, as I dug into the character's history, I became a fan. My run was short but I had a good time. And that storyline was one of the first Marvel gigs for Ron Garney, who's gone on to a stellar career.

      Glad you enjoyed the ASM story. I put a lifetime of Spidey-love into that tale.

      Wishing you goodwill, hipness and Happy New Year from here to the stars!

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    2. The first volume of Moon Knight ant the HULK!back up features are pretty great, especially the majority which have Moench as a writer (by the way how do you pronounce that name?). I started reading them just under a year ago. It's almost like a series based off the idea that there are a lot of Batman stories we occasionally see and are great, but lack the rouges gallery, so the book is just all those types of stories. The two mini series he wrote in the late 90's are great two. I would highly recommend any of these if you haven't read some (I assume you did some research before writing the story) especially if you enjoyed his Master of Kung Fu, or Moench's great batman stories.

      As far as your MK story goes... I liked it. This is strange, not because I don't enjoy your work, but rather because MK has bad luck with writers in the post 1st series tales. However, I do feel that I might have enjoyed it more if the Scarlett tale was fresher in my mind. I remembered the basic points, but some details were fuzzy. Good job though... almost 20 years late, but good job.

      As far as your story in ASM 700 goes, my recent history with Spidey is odd. Slott didn't do it for me. I mean he is very talented, and other stories of his have been great, but he, Spidey, and me just couldn't click. I tried a few times, but I couldn't get back into it, and that's fine, you can't score a home run with everyone, I was just in the unfortunate side. I had started reading Scarlet Spider, and then I saw a 50th issue event, and since Spider-man got me into comics in the first place I decided to pick it up and ride it out to 700. I did. And although Slott won me back with his interesting twist on the character in the end (until that issue I was perfectly ready to ditch the book again after 700) I still felt cold. Sure Pete was out of the game for a little while, but I couldn't help but fell that my Peter Parker had died a few years back with one more day. Then I read your story. I had picked up the other Spidey stories you wrote since Brand New Day (except for I think 2 I missed)but I wasn't sure to expect, except a good story. Then there he was, my Spider-man. Not the attempt to bring him back to 1983, the Peter Parker I first started reading who had grown and matured, but still seemed so young and inexperienced. I loved it, especially seeing him have a happy ending, or as happy as Pete gets. Peter Parker hadn't been my favorite character for a while, sure he was mine as a kid, but Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Captain America, Thing Daredevil, Batman, and one or two others had usurped the role, even if I was to stubborn to admit it for a few years. And, no this story didn't suddenly rocket Peter Parker to the top of my list again, but it did remind me why he once held that position. Because of you I got to experience something great, I got to travel back in time in a most unusual way. Also I loved the spotty memory, you did a great job there, and the artist did a great job capturing it.

      Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars,
      Jack

      Motor City

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    3. I have tremendous respect for Doug Moench's work, Jack. (My understanding is that his last name is pronounced MUNCH.) I'm especially fond of his run on MASTER OF KUNG FU. Stupid title, great series.

      Very happy you enjoyed my story in AMAZING #700. I poured a lot of Spider-love into that tale. And the art was just wonderful. (Delighted that my my old pal Sal Buscema inked it.)

      I think Dan Slott and Spidey are a great match—he's so passionate about the character, so dedicated to him—and I'm sure the next year or so of Ock-related stories will be terrific.

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  3. I found out today that James Tucker is directing and producing an upcoming Superman movie called "Unbound".

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    1. With James T behind it, I'm sure it will be terrific, Nelson.

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