The End of the Year (Didn't I Do This Last Year?)

So, here we are, end of the year once again.

This has been a very interesting year; very different but not too much.

Let's go over some highlights (and/or lowlights) of this year.

The Journey

 While the 11th of November of obviously an important day of it year, it also holds another special significance to me.

Two years ago today I woke up feeling slightly invigorated; the day before as I was heading into downtown Calgary, I got an eagerly anticipated phone call.
The job interview I went in for a week previously had been successful and I had the job.

How the Sausage is Made

 It's been almost a year since Marcelo, Carl and I released "The Partner", a fan-comic based off of Batman: The Animated Series. Marcelo and I had done one five months previous as a small tribute to the late Kevin Conroy, but this was the first time we were telling a real story.

For me, the big thrill of this cover was our names at the top

"Here's to Survival"

 

Behind the Scenes

It almost sounds a bit strange for me to actually say it out loud but for the past year, I've been making comics.
Certainly not on a professional level but at the same time, I take it seriously and get a lot of joy out of finishing a script.
Recently I've found that as I get close to the end of a story, my writing becomes a lot more intense; it's almost like the final 100 meters of a marathon.

The Partner

 

Schweitzer-Man Meets Susan Eisenberg

Calgary Expo.

Those are two words that mean a lot to me. I buy my tickets almost six months prior to the start of the show; in fact, back in November, shortly after getting a call-back from a job interview, the first thing I did was buy my tickets for the 2023 show.

With each passing week I'd check to see if there were any changes or announcements about guest announcements, more eager about Comic Creators than anything else. 

A Big Fan

 

Kevin Conroy (1955-2022)

For an entire generation-and probably more-Kevin Conroy WAS Batman.

I'm sure people have their favorites like Michael Keaton, Adam West or Ben Affleck but for me and probably millions of people all over the world, Kevin Conroy was everything we wanted in a Batman.

He may not have had the physicality (Not needed in the medium of animation) but his voice gave you the presence of Batman; he let you know that THIS is what Batman should sound like and it affected how we actually read the comics. Go to any comic convention and ask someone "Who's voice do you hear in your head when you read Batman?" and nine times out of ten, people will answer "Kevin Conroy".

Whether it was an episode, animated movie or video game, the quality never mattered because you knew that if it was good, Kevin playing Batman was the cherry on top. And if it was of a...lesser quality, you always knew that he was going to be the best thing in it because he always gave it his all.

And what was so wonderful about him was you never got the feeling from him that he disliked the character or the impact he had on people. He was constantly on the con-circuit, signing autographs for fans and going to panels and I can't say I ever heard a bad word about him.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 he volunteered in a soup kitchen and when it was revealed WHO he was he had no problem breaking out his Batman voice for anyone in attendance.

Kevin Conroy was not the Batman we deserved but I, and countless others, will be forever grateful to him for being the Batman we needed.

As Bruce Wayne once told Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, the same applied to Kevin Conroy: "It's not [being] Batman that makes you worthwhile; it's the other way around."

Movie Review: Batman & Bill (2017)

 

Life is unfair and a lot of times, not everyone gets the credit or recognition they deserve. Ask anyone at a comic convention the question, "Who created Spider-Man" most people are going to give the name "Stan Lee" as the only answer. If you prompted them to name anyone else, chances are they would draw a blank, unaware of this brilliant artist named Steve Ditko.

Bill Finger was in his own way very similar to Ditko; there aren't many photographs of him, few interviews and chances are most people are unaware that Bill Finger is co-creator of one of the most iconic heroes in all of fiction: Batman

Animation Observation: Batman: The Animated Series-On Leather Wings

    In September of 1992, I was preparing to enter the first grade. That June I had turned six years old and the one thing I probably asked my parents for the most was their permission to go see one of the biggest movies of the year: Batman Returns. 

    I was pretty Batman crazy as a kid. The first Halloween I can remember, I went as Batman. For my fifth birthday I got two Batman videos on tape (One being the 1989 film and the other being the 1966 movie starring Adam West and Burt Ward) and some Batman toys. However even though I had gotten colouring books, action figures and story books based on the movie I wanted to see, my parents were steadfast in their denial. What made it worse was that at the time, all over my bedroom I had newspaper clippings about the movie all over my room despite the fact I didn't know how to read them.

    But...there was hope. On the local FOX station, their weekday afternoon line-up showed commercials for a new animated series starring none other than Batman. I knew that while my parents wouldn't let me see Keaton, Pffeifer and DeVito, there was no way that they would deny me the chance to see the greatest hero of all time on TV. NO WAY!!!

    Around Labour Day we were visiting my Tante Kim in Toronto. We were watching TV in her apartment when my dad announced that it was time to go. All of a sudden, a cartoon I hadn't seen before had started it's opening theme.

I knew what I was watching and suddenly realized that I could not miss out on this opportunity.
"We have to stay!" I insisted to my folks. 

Looking at the adorable six year old in front of them, they both shrugged and relented.
"But only for a half-hour," my father told me. "Is this a half-hour?"
"Yeah, yeah!" I said, even though I had no idea how to tell time. 

The episode we watched was On Leather Wings.

The Comics Conundrum: Batman Adventures #18

 As I mentioned last time, an early issue of the series Robin was one of the first comics I ever bought with my own money. But along with that issue there was another comic I bought that day as well.
My family was on a little road trip to visit my Tante who lived in Toronto and on the way to her apartment, I remember we stopped at a Coles book store and there was a rack full of comic books. Naturally I picked up Robin but I also picked up a comic I hadn't seen before. It turns out that the hit show Batman: The Animated Series had it's own tie-in comic and I had found it's latest issue and decided to buy it.

The Batman Adventures...sans Batman

Calgary Expo 2017 Wish List

Well, here we are again, once again it's time to slowly start gearing up for the Calgary Expo. While I may have been a bit critical of their guest line-up last year, (Feeling there was more of an emphasis on celebrities than comic creators) I must admit, I had a great time. Picked up some great comics, some great art, met some artists I admired. Even got to do a fist bump with Stan Lee-how cool is that?

Oh and he upped the resale value of my Spider-Man trade paperback...

And as they've recently announced guests like Nathan Fillion, Christopher Lambert, Danielle Panabaker, Millie Bobbie Brown and Jim Shooter, I figured that I would give them a list of people I would like to see them invite this year. 

2016 Calgary Expo Wish List

Every time I go to the Calgary Expo, I always seem to have a great time. I always buy lots of great stuff like comics I've wanted from days gone by or art that I can't stop looking at (None of it's porn; I have the internet for that). 

Calgary Expo 2015 Wish List

I've had a blast each time I go to the annual Calgary Expo. They always have great guests and I've picked up great comics, beautiful pieces of art and gotten autographs from people who have inspired me and made both childhood and adulthood awesome.

Ever since the end of last year's Expo I kept thinking about who I would like to see attend next year. So, even though there's around eight months before the Expo and there's plenty of chance to make arrangements for these people to attend, these are people I would like to see at the 2015 Calgary Expo.

Kill The Batman...For A While Anyway

What is it about Batman that we love so much? For 75 years the Caped Crusader has been one of fiction's top good guys with his adventures leaping out of the pages of comics books and graphic novels and onto a live action series, video games, several animated series and two series of movies. There's no doubt that Batman is more popular than he was back in the 1930's. 

But at the same time, I think that we've become a little spoiled with Batman. Granted, I'm not talking about movies or comics, but more in the medium of animation. It's easier and more believable to do an animated series staring the Dark Knight than a live action probably would be. But sadly, I think there's been an overdose of Batman lately and we need to nip it in the bud. Take a look back over the past twenty years and see if you agree with me.

Animation Observation: Batman The Animated Series-Christmas With the Joker

When you're a kid, nothing is more fun and exciting than Christmas. Hell, I'm an adult and as cynical and sarcastic as I can be at times, having Christmas day off to enjoy good food and relax is still something that makes me happy. And when I was six, nothing made me happier than Christmas and Batman. Combining the two can lead to...interesting results. One of them was 'Christmas With the Joker' from Batman: The Animated Series