Perhapablog

Friday, September 21, 2007

a sensational time!

okay...

the other night, in new york city, marvel comics and the heroes alliance hosted a really nice get-together/tribute for mike wieringo, giving both fans and professionals alike a chance to come together, remember mike, and raise some money for a couple fo good causes! we all congregated at flatiron joe's, a cozy little pub/restaurant on 21st st, at about 7:30 pm. marvel ed-in-chief, joe quesada said a few words, i said a few words, and then the night began, as a handful of artists began sketching ! dennis callero, amanda conner, jae lee, jimmy palmiotti, joe quesada and his daughter, carly, rodney ramos, tom raney, paul renaud, paulo rivera, walter simonson, and arthur suydam all donated their sketches to an auction that raised over $4000 in about 2 hours!
also on hand were joey cavilieri, dan didio, and jan jones from dc comics, nick barucci of dynamic forces, and a ton of editors and production people from marvel; john barber, nathan cosby, jen gruenwald, molly lazer, nick lowe, andy schmidt (a bunch more, but those are the people that i had long conversations with...). cb cebulski--though i'm never quite sure who he's working for. and my good pal and spider-mentor, tom defalco!
we had a sort of tellos mini-reunion as colorist, paul mounts, and inker, rob stull, came by.
anyway, it was a great night for a great guy and i wanna thank everyone who came, everyone who donated their time and their talent, and everyone who put it togetehr and made it a huge success!

that said, i'm working on a comic.
actually, i SHOULD be working on it right now (and hoping that nate cosby doesn't read this to find out that i'm not...)
it was nate's idea--and he's got a lot of 'em!--to do a special, fun (emphasis on the fun!) issue of spider-man family and dedicate it to mike. so he rounded up mark waid and karl kesel (mike's partners on his run of the fantastic four) and me ('cause of our time on sensational spider-man) and set us to work on a fun little romp that mike and i had actually been hoping to do as a four issue miniseries sometime in the future! it's called "looter's quest" and, though a bit truncated from it's original idea, the three of us have filled it with lots of the kindsa things mike (and we) loved in comics! we're using the ideasx mike and i had come up with, karl is going to both pencil and ink it (woo hoo! it looks great!) and mark and i (and probably a little karl) will throw the dialogue down later!
it should be out sometime next spring!

i told you that to tell you this...
in preparation for that tale, i sat down with my run of our sensational spider-mans and, though i don't mean to pat myself on the back--damn! those things are fun! i have gotten a bit misty from time to time looking at a page or a gag that reminds me of the fun we had doing it, but it is truly some of mike's finest work! if you don't have them, hop on over to your local comic shop and check out the back issue boxes. my recommendations are that youy pick up issues;



8--our first and the first looter story







9 and 10--swarm!







13, 14, 15--the savage land saga








16, 17, 18--(18's a fill-in, but it's the conclusion fo the prowler/vulture storyline)







21, 22, 23--guest-starring doctor strange!







27 and 28--spidey as...the hornet! the 2-part "identity crisis" storyline featuring, once again, the hilarious looter and the vulture!







31--spidey vs, the rampaging rhino!







also, don't miss

sensational spider-man # -1--the flashback tale that received so much attention.
if i seem like i'm blowing my own horn here, well, i'm sorry. i don't mean to be. i really just think that this is some of mike's best work--and i really wawnt everybody to see them...
so go check 'em out.
or, hopefully, in the very near future, marvel will be collecting these "best of 'ringo" spideys in a few cool trades!
that would be awesome!

anyway, i really wanted to include a "five for friday" trivia, but i gotta get back to work!
so why don't you try to stump me? submit YOUR five (or less) questions in the comments section and we'll see how i do.

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

25 comments:

Christian D. Leaf said...

The 'Ringo/Spidey tribute book sounds like a winnah, Todd. I look forward to procuring a copy as soon as it hits the shelves. But until then I'll have to hit up my comic shop for a good portion of those Spectacular issues as I only have the Savage Land trade that Mafus hooked me up with.

I'm a little short of questions as it's 4:30 on Friday and Beer o' clock is a calling. Have a good weekend, sir.

Christian D. Leaf said...

Oops. I meant Sensational issues. Sorry, long week.

Scott Weinstein said...

Wednesday night was a great time. I'm glad I got to make it.

And yes pat yourself on the back for that Spidey run. Yes, Mike's artwork on those books is amazing. But, your stories were the other half of what made them so great. Light-hearted fun in a time when Spidey was way, way too dark and confusing. And "-1" continues to be one of my favorite Peter Parker tales all all time. Nice work.

Pablo said...

I had a great time on Wednesday. it was good to see you again, I'm glad I could go. I've always been a huge fan of Mikes (and he always seemed do personal in his blog i felt like I knew him) and being there let me see how much other people loved him and his work.

Anonymous said...

I'll take 2 of those tribute books, if'n they make em.
As for some o' the Sensational issues, I already got most of those. I recently dug them out and reread them.
Ya'll have a great weekend.

todd said...

D'oh!

what an idiot i am!
in my lists of everyone who attended, i had intended to have a separate paragraph to thank scott (weinstein) and chris (zaccone) for coming to not only support the cause, but to support me and be "my boyz". (also for finding me when they thought i was lost on 22nd street) (which i wasn't...)
thanks to both you guys for being there!
it meant a lot to me!
t.

Adam Hutch said...

I'm glad to hear that the other night went well, and raised so much money in Mike's honor. The EBay auctions seem to be doing really well.

I have a few of those Sensationals and believe me you have every right to be proud of them. I'm hoping when "Brand New Day" starts Amazing will capture a bit of the vibe you guys had 10 years ago.

Brian said...

Glad to hear you had a good time and that a ton of money was raised in Mike's honor and, as Adam noted, those ebay auctions are off to a good start.

As for trivia, lets see:

1) The last name of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

2) The first name of Miss Gulch, the Wicked Witch of the West's Kansas alter ego?

3). The Wizard's Kansas alter ego was Professor who?

4). Neither the Wicked Witch of the West nor her sister have names in the movie, but they do have names in the Broadway Musical, "Wicked." What are their names?

5). In the official credits of the film, what group played the Munchkins?

renecarol said...

Is it cheating to go watch the Wizard of Oz? Cause I don't know any of them.

Matt Wieringo said...

I'm looking forward to the tribute book. My favorites in your and Mike's Sensational Spider-Man run were the Swarm issues (one of my favorite villains) and the Prowler story. When Mike found out the Prowler was my favorite Spidey supporting character, he gave me the splash page where Prowler is sneaking in through a window. I always told him he was born to draw that book and he was. Tellos was his favorite of his work. The Flash was MY favorite. But he really shined when he was drawing Spidey and especially when you were writing it.

todd said...

gah! wizard of oz questions!
nice one, brian.
i loved the movie as a kid and know all the characters/actors--but these are good.
i only really know the first one for sure--the rest are guesses.
and, yes, renee, that would be cheating... : )

don't read if you're playing along
1. gale
2. margaret hamilton played her--was her first name elvira?
3. professor marvolo
4. listened to the book years ago, but can only remember elsipa (bet i'd remember them better if i'd read it)
5. the little people?

how'd i do, bri?

Anonymous said...

I've got all those issues except for the Rhino one! How did I miss that?!?!

And I've been waiting to Stump Todd! Ok, here we go... we'll start out easy and get harder

1. Why wasn't TK421 at his post?
2. Why did Dr.Doom and Dr.Strange team up and battle Mephisto?
3. According to Urban Legend who replaced Paul in the Beatles when he "died"
4. What issue of the Fantastic Four did they finally get costumes?
5. According to the Bible, how many "Clean" animals was Noah to bring w/ him into the Ark?

todd said...

rich~~

good ones!
and i don't know them all...

1. star wars. he was dead. han (or luke?) was wearing his armor. (or did you want the explanation they gave over the com? "there was an explosion in the...thingy..." ?)

2. mephisto had doom's mom's soul. i don't remember why doc strange helped doom though--just 'cause he's a nice guy?

3. billy shears

4. fantastic four #3? says it right on the cover!

5. hmmm...ALL of them?
dunno. i read that a long time ago.

good ones!

Heywood Jablomie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heywood Jablomie said...

Edited to fix a typo!

Hey Todd!

I have most of those issues, and I just got 8 & 9 on ebay so I can't wait to get those in! The Spider Family book sounds like it's going to be great can't wait for it!! Glad the night was a great turn out. I wanted to go but got stuck at work late and couldn't get into the city in time for it, even though I'm only like an hour and a half away.

Here's a couple of questions, they're not the best but I was thinking of them myself so here ya go(They're old 80's marvel questions):

1. Who kidnapped the Silver Surfer's love Shalla-Bal to try and trick him so he could kill him?

2. Who was the first woman who got the Surfer to fall in love with her after Shalla-Bal?

3. When the West Coast Avengers were formed who did Hawkeye want as their final member?

4. Who did he pass up for his choice?

5. What was the name of Wonder Man's and the Vision's other 'brother' and what was his moniker?

renecarol said...

I don't think I'm smart enough for trivia. Actually I do alright with answers to the HSM game - but only cause I listened to my daughter and her friends play so much I've just memorized the answers. I wouldn't know from having actually watched the movie a thousand times. So I wouldn't be any better with Wizard of Oz or anything else.

Cooper said...

Todd!

As a lover of cryptozoology, I just wanted to call your attention to Stephen's Colbert report on the chupacabra the other night, in case nobody else has (#3 on his Threat-Down...):

http://www.videosift.com/video/Colbert-Threatdown-92007-El-Chupacabra-and-US

Brian said...

Todd,

1 for 5 bro, but 3 close calls that would have scored you points in a game of horseshoes.

Brian said...

Silver Surfer Trivia:


Mephisto?

Alica?

Fearless Forbush

Fearless Forbush

? and The Grim Reaper

Unknown said...

Hey Todd-

Thanks for posting these glimpses from Mike's tributes. Wish I could have been there. The Mike-tributed Spidey issues sounds like a great idea, with the Looter no less, Mike's fave villain.

And for the record, I had a great time working alongside you guys on the Sensational run, honored to have been invited along for the ride. My personal favorites were the Swarm issues, (despite inking all them bees), the Savage Land issues and the flashback issue. Peter and Uncle Ben at the fishing hole with Kirby monsters galore!!!
FUN!!!

--Rich

Brian said...

Wizard of Oz answers:

1. Gale.

2. Almira

3. Professor Marvel - Bonus points if you knew his horse was Sylvester

4. Elphapa and Nessarose (Todd, you'd really remember them if you saw the musical - highly recommended)

5. The Singer Midgets - pre-PC Hollywood.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Hey Brian-Good shot on these. The answers I had were:

1. Mephisto-good job!

2. While I believe Alicia only showed him compassion and some other human emotions, I was thinking more along the lines of Mantis.

3. Hawkeye really wanted the Thing, and eventually got him for like a few issues.

4. Firebird was the passover.

5. Grim Reaper and his name was Eric Williams

Brian said...

Thank Heywood.

After I listed my guesses, I fired up the internet, but wasn't able to find the answers to the West Coast questions and didn't bother to look past Alicia Masters since the Thing was so sure she "loved" the Silver Surfer.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Brian-

Hmmm....You might be right. I'll have to look into the Alicia thing a bit more. I never read the first run of Silver Surfer, but in the second run, he's with Mantis for some of it and he says in there that she's the first one to make him feel 'love' for another woman since Shalla Bal. So that's what I went with. i totally didn't think of Alicia haha.

todd said...

heywood (mike)--

i didn't really get a chcne to answer before they were posted (which is okay), 'cause i only really knew one and a half.

i knew the grim reaper and woulda said alicia for #2.
i don't remember a lot of the 80's surfer stuff. now the ORIGINAL series...