The News Archive

archived 2/8/03

There is now available an expanded version of George Turner's MAKING OF KING KONG, entitled SPAWN OF SKULL ISLAND. I was surprised to find some of my published comments about MAKING OF KING KONG, along with my name, cited on the back cover and promotional material for the book (you can see the text at the Amazon listing here).

I'm flattered, but I wasn't consulted beforehand, and as of this writing I've not seen the new book. The publisher merely refered me to author Michael Price when I asked if I might see a copy of what it is that I "endorsed".

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT ...

Back in the olden days - the days when I went to grade school - there was no "middle school" and "elementary school" to divide up your time before high school.

No, it was eight grades in one building - - in my case, an already-ancient structure, built in 1913, that was also school for my dad and uncles. And from the very first day you toddled into that Grade One room, the vast expanse you had to traverse before leaving the building yawned before you; four rooms on the first floor, then four more upstairs (all basically identical, though the four rooms on the north side of the school were added on the '50's).

It was quite a culture shock, coming from a single year of kindergarten at a different, gleaming new structure (there were no pre-elementary facilities at most Catholic schools before the '80s). Rather than a smiling "civilian" teacher greeting you, in Grade One at St. Mike's it was an old, stern looking woman dressed all in black.

A witch? No, but nuns were equally formidable in many, many ways that have been ably documented.

While in Wausau attending my cousin Tom's wedding, I learned that old St. Mike's is due to be demolished to make way for a much-needed new facility. There was no plan in place, however, to let alumni get a last peek (or take their own whacks before the demo crew).The current Pastor at St. Mike's, Father Bill Grevatch, happened to be at Tom's wedding reception, and I was introduced. I'd had a couple beers, so I suggested that the parish have an event before the building turns to rubble.

Flash forward a couple weekends; my family and I make a quick stop in Wausau on the way back from a few days at a friend's cottage, and my dad shows me an invitation to an Alumni Reunion he'd recieved in the mail. Pretty nice.

I drove to St. Mike's to snap a few pictures with the digital camera, and happened to see a photographer for the local paper already there. (I recognized this guy as the photographer who'd snapped my picture handing an American flag to the Bishop at the dedication of St Michael's Church 32 years ago.)

The photog ignored my feeble banter, but a reporter showed up and we chatted - - naturally, I had lots of background info and anecdotes about the building for him. He invited me to come along for his tour and interview with Father Bill. It was a good time, and I got to take lots of pictures (The Wausau Daily Herald story is here.)

It got me thinking. Why not get some very nice shots of the old building before it's razed, combine those with vintage shots and oral history pieces, and create a fund-raising book to help get some Macs into the new school's computer lab?

Before I could slap myself into sensibility, I was on the phone with my cousin Tom, who - - lo and behold - - just happens to be a whip-smart designer right there in Wausau. He agreed; let's get someone to shoot some professional shots and see what kind of commemorative book we can come up with. A little up-front money for materials and printing, and maybe we're on to something. Father Grevatch seemed hesitant - - it would mean venturing a bit of money, after all - - but open to getting started. He also asked that I - gulp - "say a few words " at the Alumni Mass.

The Alumni Reunion over the last weekend in June was well attended, epecially by folks who went to Saint Mike's in the '30s and '40s, believe it or not. I can't remember a word of what I said at the Mass, but do recall a few chuckles and I didn't soil myself; I'll take that as a victory.

Tom's photo tour of St. Mike's is here.

There's a St. Michael's web page here, but look out for the organ music. I'm not kidding.

Like most kids, I couldn't have everything I wanted as I was growing up. One of the things I wanted badly but never got was the supercool BATMAN poster I saw at K-Mart every time I went there with my mom.

For nearly 30 years the image has been in my mind; a realistic depiction of the Darknight Detective, hunched with cape billowing around him. A real thing of beauty.

Remember, this was the early-to-mid 1970s, long before Alex Ross and Tim Burton. No fake muscles or leather. And no Adam West, either. A realistic depiction of a superhero was truly novel.

It took a bout with the flu and a spiffy new Airport wireless connection to reunite me with the image. An hours-long bed-bound search on eBay yielded gold - - an actual shot of the poster! Sure, a giant flash reflection obscured it, but it was something I hadn't seen for over 25 years and I was thrilled to see how true to my recollection the image was. Bidding for the poster exceeded $100, so I was out of luck in terms of avenging my childhood deprivation. (The next time a copy of the poster came up a friend of mine across the country snagged it for around $100 and his wife had it matted and framed for him.)

I asked my contacts at DC Comics to look up the poster project so I could identify and track down the unknown artist who did the image (as well as Superman and Wonder Woman, who were included in the series). No luck.

Then, a Google image search found the glorious image seen above. I'd stumbled upon a fan site for the mystery artist, THE DREW STRUZAN COLLECTOR'S PAGE. Turns out this guy is anything but obscure, as you'll see when you visit the site.

I contacted Mr. Struzan and he gave me some interesting details about the project that I'll post in the near future.

In the meantime, my plea goes out - - CAN ANYONE GET ME A COPY OF THIS POSTER?

FINDING THE LOST ONE is the name of an essay I wrote long ago about the joys of reclaiming childhood treasures. In my case it was a Superboy comic I'd lost as a tyke. I was able to "recapture" the comic for under $2 at a bowling alley comic show.

This past week I received a catalog from Heritage Comics for their upcoming online auction featuring vintage comics, magazines and original artwork. Browsing through the catalog (each lot is very well described with a paragraph or two per item) I was stunned to see the original artwork for my "Lost One" for sale (the photo at left is courtesy of Heritage Comics).

The "personal sense of closure" I described in that years-old essay has re-opened. Can I live without this thing?

Have a heart and don't bid against me.

UPDATE: The cover sold for $2,530 - ten times my meager maximum bid.

There's a great new book out called THE BEST AMERICAN MOVIE WRITING 2001, a collection of pieces about film edited by John Landis. Inside is a story entitled HATS OFF TO CHARLES GEMORA, HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST APE by Bob Burns as told to Tom Weaver (which first appeared on the MONSTER KID web site).

Tom Weaver is a walking movie database and writes regularly for the THE ASTOUNDING B MONSTER web site. If you have any interest whatsoever in genre films and personalities you should have at least one of his many books on the subject. You can order his latest, SCIENCE FICTION CONFIDENTIAL: INTERVIEWS WITH 23 MONSTER STARS AND FILMMAKERS, HERE.

Thanks to Tom's great article and the fact that John Landis picked it for the collection, Bob and I managed to get a nice mention in the preface to the section in which his story appears (an excerpt appears below).

Since the studios evolved into a factory system of production, film companies tended to regard their sets, props, and costumes, etc., as industrial by-products. The physical ephemera of production was recycled or more usually, trashed, Over the years, much of what remains of film history has been the work of private individual collectors. Eccentrics like Henri Langlois, Forrest J Ackerman and Bob Burns saved priceless material that otherwise would be lost forever.

There is a new book, It Came From Bob's Basement by Bob Burns with John Michlig, which is lavishly illustrated with photographs of Bob's collection. On the flyleaf Bob's bio reads, "After a long and varied career spent in the company of monsters, space aliens, and gorillas, Bob has accumulated what may be the world's largest private collection of props and artwork from our favorite creature features and sci-fi pics." Bob actually has the genuine King Kong!

I have always had a love of and fascination with apes, especially gorillas. I have only met three others in my lifetime with my own passion for the great apes, Rick Baker, Ray Harryhausen and Bob Burns. All of us agree that the original King Kong is a perfect film. All of us collect gorilla figures (Rick Baker gave my wife Deborah and I as a wedding present a life-size fiberglass sculpture of a male Mountain Gorilla which still stands proudly in our living room, and a Ray Harryhausen sculpture in bronze of Kong battling the Tyrannosaurus with Fay Wray cowering nearby is in the hall), and three of us have actually portrayed apes in the movies.

We four are most likely the only ones who can hold forth on the different gorilla suits, masks, and performances of Emil van Horne, Crash Corrigan, George Barrows, Janos Prohaska, Bob Burns, Rick Baker, and the greatest "gorilla man" of them all, Charlie Gemora. These were the men inside all those Hollywood gorilla and monster costumes in all those movies.

The Monster and the Girl, a Paramount picture released in 1941, is a delirious mixture of film noir/white slavery/mad scientisttranspiants-human-brain-into-gorilia/revenge picture, with an outstanding performance by Charlie Gemora. Check it out to understand why I've included him.

[John Landis, from THE BEST AMERICAN MOVIE WRITING 2001,
excerpted from the introduction to chapter one: Actors]

I recently completed an ACTION MAN children's book for the superfine folks at Watson-Guptill Publishing. I was taken aback when I visited their booth at the Book Expo and saw a huge poster of the book cover (at right; click HERE for a 250k PDF file of the catalog sell sheet) as well as the same image spread across the entire back cover of their catalog. You can order a copy via Amazon.com HERE.

These guys know what they're doing: Also in their catalog in a softcover reprint - - with added material - - of Chip Kidd's astounding BATMAN COLLECTED. The new format has already paid off in great pre-orders; this may be a rare second chance for a book that was overlooked on its first release (likely due to the hardcover's shrink-wrap and hefty retail price).
From the JUNE, 2001 issue of PLAYBOY MAGAZINE, a nice mention of IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT in Leonard Maltin's column:

"Burns has brought some of his goodies to fan conventions over the years, and has opened his door to television crews before, but this book is a widely accessible record of what he's accumulated over the years, not with an auction paddle or a fat checkbook, but with a reputation for giving these pieces the care and respect they deserve."

See the rest of the column in LINKS AND EARLY REVIEWS.
TOTAL MOVIE MAGAZINE has named IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT its BOOK OF THE MONTH for April (read the review HERE). The bad news is, this will be the final issue published, as Imagine Media (their corporate parent) is shutting down many of their titles.

See commentary on TOTAL MOVIE's sad (and illogical) demise by FILM THREAT's Chris Gore HERE.

Superstar Artist, Then and Now

"My advice is, don't be a creator.

"It's much more fun, and much more rewarding to be a defacer with a title . . . 'Creative Director' or 'Assistant Associate Editorial Consultant'.

"If you're a creator, you'll find yourself at the mercy of a kid fresh from writing dirty words on walls, who will take work you have spent hours on and write the singularly revealing message 'Kill This' across it in bold strokes of his big blue pencil."
- Old school comic book artist WALLY WOOD

"I'm sitting there... I've got a signed deal with Will Smith, who's the biggest star in Hollywood. We're doing The Mark with him. Universal is paying me a million dollars for my screenplay. I just sold a movie about a giant robot called Krash to 20th Century Fox animation.

"That summer was a great summer for me in terms of connecting and licensing deals and movie deals. But 4 weeks after he said, 'Rob is dead in Hollywood' - which was a really stupid thing to say - I had two of the bigger deals/opportunities..."
- New school Superstar Artist ROB LIEFELD, na-na-ing a Superstar Artist rival in an interview at Comic Book Resources. (That's his Superstar drawing of Captain America at right ... perhaps as seen in a funhouse mirror.)

The history of pre-80's comic books and their long-anonymous creators is often as tragic as it is fascinating.

Legions of writers and artists toiled in pulp factories, churning out page after page, story after story for pennies. They lied at cocktail parties when people asked what they did for a living. Meanwhile they were creating the greatest - - and most lucrative - - characters and images in pop culture.

The Wally Wood Letters, a correspondence between fan John Hitchcock and artist Wally Wood that ran from 1976 to until Wood's suicide in 1981, provides gripping insight into the frustration faced by one of the greatest craftsmen ever to dip a brush into india ink.

Just for contrast, here's the other side of the spectrum.

You know the rap on big labor unions - - that they were vital in the past in securing a living wage and bearable conditions for workers, but are now bloated and corrupt, actually hurting their memberships, etc.?

The same could be said for the "creator rights movement" in comic books. A great idea long overdue, but the results have glutted the comic market with bad, bad books. (They all have the creator's name over the title, as in "Todd McFarlane's Spawn," etc.)

There's a long and interesting story about how a group of artists working at Marvel banded together, ditched "The House of Ideas," and formed IMAGE COMICS. This would be a place where creators owned their characters and would profit from whatever success they could generate. No longer would The Man stand between them and their rightful credit and payday. Image Comics was born. And a dozen pretentious, weak knock-offs of DC and Marvel superheroes followed.

Now, a guy could think this over and conclude; "Hey - - who would have heard of Todd McFarlane if he hadn't been working on Spider-Man, a highly visible Marvel character? And didn't Marvel Comics expend enormous amounts of money over the years promoting that character and pumping out a steady stream of Spider-Man products that served to keep the character's profile high?"

What's hot - - an artist, or the character they ride to the top?

Unfortunately, the Superstar Artist syndrome means that a few guys who can draw really, really well - - and some would argue that point - - have all kinds of new leverage. This leads to the dreaded "I-can-write-too" syndrome, and anyone who's tried to read and comprehend some of the gamey Superstar Artist comic books out there realizes that the Peter Principle is at work. For every Frank Miller (brilliant writer and artist) there's a dozen guys who just like drawing big guns and big breasts - - and script their own stories accordingly.

Still, Hollywood can't throw enough money at these guys - - hence the classy quote above attributed to Rob Liefeld.

A postscript: Mr. Liefeld was sued by his former associate for one-half of the $1 million he made on "his" screenplay. As reported at INSIDE.COM:

"'The Mark' script was bought by Universal Pictures for $1M and writer Rob Liefeld accepted the money, but did not give a dollar to his co-writer Robert Napton. Liefeld had received $20,000 for the film in early 1999, but says he told Napton that he couldn't afford to pay him his dues because of a demise of Liefeld's comic company and resulting legal fees. The project still remains in limbo and awaits for an ending to all the lawsuits."

Classy.

Pick up the latest issue of AMAZING FIGURE MODELER for, among other delights, an outstanding interview with Bob Burns by Lee Staton (and check out their site HERE).

While you're at it, read David Fisher's article on Earth Bound Studio's Saucer-Man bust (as pictured on the issue's cover).

But wait - - there's more. Bob helped out with an enlightening article on Gorillaman CHARLES GEMORA, who, in addition to portraying a succession of apes, created the Martians for WAR OF THE WORLDS and title monster in THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK.

THE ASTOUNDING B-MONSTER, one of my favorite sites of all time, has posted an interview with Bob Burns.

Beyond the fact that ASTOUNDING B-MONSTER is PACKED with incredible content (including a rare interview with James Arness on his monster days), you could do no better than this site as a source for visual inspiration - - it's beautiful to behold. Plan to spend substantial time there.

You can only put so much between the covers of a single book, so I'm adding OUTTAKES FROM BOB'S BASEMENT at the rate of about one page per week.

IT CAME FROM BOB'S BASEMENT featured on a great CNN segment the week of 11/15/01. Click HERE for the online version

Ego, Altered

Without getting libelous, I have to say that the "father of Batman" phenomena perpetuated by the late BOB KANE strikes me close to home, as I've had intimate business and personal experience with that sort of person - - the kind of guy who has never used the pronoun "we" in reference to any accomplishment, no matter how minimal his own actual involvement.

In an industry where creators were stomped on with regularity, the redoubtable Mr. Kane was able to ride the Batman gravy train his entire adult life despite his (self-admitted) tiny artistic talent and tenuous claim to the Caped Crusader's actual creation (see BILL FINGER, et al).

The fact is, during Batman's Golden Age Kane collected dough from DC Comics while hiring ghost artists to draw the newspaper strip and comic book titles. He would periodically drop by the DC offices to drop off "his" art and pick up a check. This open secret was maintained by Kane, DC and Kane's ghost artists; in fact, Sheldon Moldoff, the artist who ghosted Batman for 14 years, recalls going in to the DC offices to do some freelance work (in addition to his job with Kane) and having his own art handed to him for inking. ("We just got this Batman story in from Bob Kane...").

There's much that can be said about Bob Kane, but I leave you in the very good hands of MARK EVANIER for an insightful primer on the man. Check out his four-part article starting HERE.

If you can dig up ALTER EGO volume 2, number 5, you'll want to read Arlen Schumer's article, "The 'Bat-Man' Cover Story." Not only does Schumer shed the light of truth on Kane's "Father of Batman" boasting, but digs up the source images for Kane's art "swipes." The great cover illustration (above) depicts the "Bat-Man" character as Kane designed him, previous to input by uncredited co-creator Bill Finger. At the lower left of the Alter Ego cover you can see the Alex Raymond Flash Gordon image that Kane "researched" for his image on the cover of Batman's debut, Detective Comics #27 (above).

Lest you believe Kane was unencumbered by ego, read this fascinating letter from the man himself, addressed to a small Batman fanzine in 1965.

You can now order autographed books direct from the Pop Culture Gill Net. It's only a tiny little e-shop right now, but it'll grow daily. Click HERE to browse.

Lowest Common Denomonator

Worst promotional experience thus far for BOB'S BASEMENT? No contest: The MANCOW MULLER SHOW, syndicated from Chicago. Bless 'em for expanding the definition of free speech, but, man, this guy never got over the thrill nine year-olds get when they say something dirty.

It works like this: The producer calls you for a week. "We really want you on the show. It'll be great. Mancow collects this stuff!"

Then Bob and I get on the show. An hour late because we're bumped for Rush Limbaugh's brother.

"Well, Bob, what was your first film prop? "It was when I was ..." "Nobody cares, Bob..."

Rave on, radio boy.

UPDATE: Mancow is no longer syndicated in the Milwaukee market, so I'm spared further brilliance.

The Best Money You'll Ever Spend

A lesson for all fellow free agents out there: Do a background check on anyone you plan to do business with, no matter how financially solvent he or she pretends to be (there are any number of services available online that will do the job for $40-$60 per search). People are often anything but what they appear to be.

Look for liens, bad credit, and other encumberances that may be attached to the person's name or their business name.

I was foolish and didn't run a search until AFTER I'd had to file suit against a former partner (I used KNOWX.COM) I learned that the person in question had significant IRS leins against him and his business for many, many years consecutively. I ended up in line to collect the money owed me after my former partner's lawyer finally admitted in court, "Your honor, my client does not have the money to pay Mr. Michlig." They offered me a mortgage on the guy's house - - and it wasn't the first mortgage, either.

Don't think twice - - run the background check now and save substantial legal fees later.

Fighting Man From Head to Toe

Face it: the modern male has very little common ground with his fellow man.

Conversations tend to dry up once sports, weather and lawn care issues have been addressed. Next time you find yourself at a loss for small talk with your wife's friend's fiancé, I suggest dropping the name "GI Joe" into the mix. That'll keep things hopping for at least another 45 minutes.

Order a copy autographed by the author HERE

Order America's Favorite Man of Action on Amazon.com

Read an excerpt from the book