Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman

Today's Guest: Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Rick Kirkman, comic strip co-creators, "Zits," "Baby Blues" Order Jeremy and Mom: A Zits Retrospective You Should Definitely Buy for Your Mom (Zits Treasury) by Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! Not too surprisingly, when my son Charlie was born, it didn’t take long for me to see the humor in the “Baby Blues” comic strip by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott. It was so relatable! And when Charlie hit 6 or 7, he started reading it himself and thought it was hysterical. He was sooo cute then! CHARLIE: DAAAAAAAD! What? You’re interrupting my introduction! CHARLIE: Yeah, well, you’re embarrassing me! AGAIN! Here’s a plotline I’ve never seen in a comic strip: Dad invites son to co-host his international, hit podcast and all he does is whine! CHARLIE: DAAAAAAAD! What now? CHARLIE: You’re hardly an international hit! I don’t even think Mrs. Logan knows about this show and she knows everything about us! Thanks kid. Do you mind if I continue? CHARLIE: If you must… Actually, let me finish, okay? WHAT-evah. CHARLIE: My Dad’s right about one thing – I really do like “Baby Blues.” And one of my other favorite strips is “Zits,” which I found out is written by the same man who writes “Baby Blues,” Jerry Scott. He and artist Jim Borgman produce the daily adventures of Jeremy, his parents, and Jeremy’s best friends Hector and Pierce. We’re really excited to welcome to Mr. Media all three creators of these two strips – artists Rick Kirkman and Jim Borgman and writer Jerry Scott. Rick Kirkman Website • Baby Blues blog • Baby Blues website • Rick Kirkman video interview with Mr. Media (2013) Jerry Scott Website • Baby Blues on Facebook • Order Baby Blues from Amazon.com Jim Borgman Zits website • Zits on Facebook • Cincinnati Enquirer's Jim Borgman archive of political cartoons • Order Zits from Amazon.com > > Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Howard Cruse, cartoonist, Stuck Rubber Baby I met cartoonist Howard Cruse in March 2004 at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. He was one of the featured guests at the college’s “Comics Summit on Diversity,” an event that included Mary GrandPre, illustrator of the Harry Potter novels and American master Will Eisner, whose biography I was just finishing at the time. Howard and I had corresponded a few times via email at that point as part of my research. To be honest, I only knew him as a cartoonist; I don’t recall connecting that he was attending this event as a gay cartoonist. I just knew that Eisner held him in high esteem—as did the teaching staff at the school—and that was good enough for me. Since then, I’ve learned more about what an important role Howard played over the years as both a cartoonist with a strong social voice and as a gay advocate. He illustrated his own coming out over the years in his comics and no doubt gave other young men strength in their own decisions to take pride in their identities as well. HOWARD CRUSE podcast excerpt: "Everyone in my personal life knew (I was gay), but I was worried about sacrificing my cartooning career. And yet I recognized the need for getting rid of the secrecy of this."  Howard’s work has been everywhere from Playboy and Starlog magazine to The Advocate. He was the founding editor of Gay Comix, started by our mutual friend, Denis Kitchen. His groundbreaking graphic novel, Stuck Rubber Baby, won numerous awards including an Eisner and a Harvey. The occasion of our conversation today is the publication of his latest book, From Headrack to Claude: Collected Gay Comix by Howard Cruse. Howard Cruse Website • Facebook • Blog • Order The Other Sides of Howard Cruse from Amazon.com Order 'Stuck Rubber Baby' by Howard Cruse, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! You might also enjoy these more recent Mr. Media® video interviews with cartoonist Howard Cruse!           Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!   The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Paul Fitzgerald, Stuart Henderson, Cindy Jackson, authorities, Will Eisner and "PS Magazine" Will Eisner and PS Magazine In the pantheon of comic book masters, Will Eisner’s name is at or near the top of pretty much everyone’s list. He was there at the birth of the genre in the late 1930s – he famously turned down a submission from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of a comic book about a character named Superman. Will suggested they go back to art school in Cleveland and get a little better at his craft. Will Eisner, co-founder of the U.S. Army's long-running PS Magazine, during his own military service in World War II Eisner himself is best known as the creator of an enduring but little known character called "The Spirit." This is a big year for The Spirit, with a major motion picture written and directed by Frank Miller currently in post-production and scheduled for release in January 2009. Eisner is also known as the grandfather of the graphic novel for producing one of the genre's earliest and most enduring works, 1978's A Contract With God. I spent three years with Eisner, interviewing him and researching his life for the biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, which was published by M Press/Dark Horse in 2005. There is a period of time in Eisner’s life, however, that is less known than all the others. From 1951 through 1972, he produced PS Magazine for the United States Army. It was a digest-sized comic book, essentially, that taught preventive maintenance to American soldiers from Korea through Vietnam. A week ago, the Virginia Commonwealth University library announced it had scanned more than 140 issues of PS and made the magazine available to the general public, online, for the first time. Will Eisner and PS Magazine by Paul Fitzgerald Because so much interest is being concentrated on Eisner’s work this year – and because it is a personal interest of my own, I’ve invited a trio of experts on PS Magazine to join me for a conversation about “The Unknown Eisner”: • Cindy Jackson is Archival Assistant for Comic Arts & Digital Collections in the Special Collections & Archives Department of the James Branch Cabell (rhymes with rabble) Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. • Paul Fitzgerald is a retired journalist who spent 10 years at PS Magazine where he worked alongside Will Eisner and formed a life-long friendship. Paul’s first book, Will Eisner and PS Magazine, will be published in May 2008. • Stuart Henderson joined the PS staff in August of 1993, and he has been production manager of the magazine since March of 2002. He is also the Army magazine’s unofficial historian. PS Magazine Website • Facebook • Wikipedia • Archive of all Will Eisner issues of PS Magazine at Virginia Commonwealth University • RadioNerds PS Magazine cover slideshow • Order Will Eisner and PS Magazine Order 'PS Magazine: The Best of The Preventive Maintenance Monthly' featuring the work of Will Eisner, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Nat Gertler, author, The Peanuts Collection: Treasures from the World's Most Beloved Comic Strip Order 'The Peanuts Collection' by Nat Gertler, available from Amazon.com by clicking the book cover above! When you’re done reading your favorite comic strip today, wouldn’t it be cool to have some lasting ephemera to put on your desk, in your school locker, in the kitchen or on your nightstand? Something that will remind you of the laughs you shared with a beloved cartoon character? Me? Today I’d like a plush Satchel stuffed dog from Get Fuzzy, or a replacement of my long-lost Opus doll from Bloom County. Or anything from Calvin and Hobbs or Pearls Before Swine. But when I was kid, long into my teen years and even at college, it was anything Snoopy. I had a poster in my room of Snoopy lying prone on his doghouse, staring at his empty food dish, waiting for the round-headed kid to fill ‘er up. I also had stacks of the paperback collections of daily Peanuts strips and a treasured hardbound volume as well, that I couldn’t wait to later pass on to my daughter when she was barely old enough to study the pictures and begin reading. NAT GERTLER audio excerpt: "My wife, when I married her, still had her Snoopy lunchbox, which my daughter now has."  Order 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel' by Nat Gertler, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! There’s a reason, years after cartoonist Charles Schulz’s death, that Peanuts remains a popular feature in hundreds, maybe thousands of newspapers around the world. It’s funny, it’s sweet and, at times, it’s brilliant. This is the third show I’ve done dedicated largely to Schulz. The first was an interview with his controversial biographer, David Michaelis; the second was with Schulz’ son, Monte, a novelist and author of This Side of Jordan. Today, I’m pleased to welcome Nat Gertler, a collector of Peanuts memorabilia who worked with the Schulz family and the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center to write and compile a fabulous Charlie Brown coffee table keepsake, The Peanuts Collection: Treasures from the World’s Most Beloved Comic Strip. It’s a fabulous assemblage of images and actual reprints of all kinds of cool stuff from 60 years of the world’s favorite newspaper strip. (Sorry, Tintin.) Besides being the man behind a website featuring a collectors’ guide to Peanuts books titled, AAUGH.com, Gertler is also the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel. Nat Gertler Website • Facebook • Twitter • Order The Peanuts Collection from Amazon.com Order 'Will Eisner: A Spirited Life' (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Bret Carr, writer, director, star, RevoLOUtion RevoLOUtion, film by Bret Carr. Order your copy today by clicking on the movie poster above! Bret Carr made a movie. Lots of people make movies these days. Every idiot with a digital camcorder thinks he is Scorsese, Tarantino, or Apatow, but Carr approached his first feature film, RevoLOUtion, a little differently. He landed Quinn Redeker, the man behind The Deer Hunter, to write his screenplay. Rocky composer Bill Conti created the title song. Paul Michael Glaser, best known as Detective Starsky from the classic TV series “Starsky & Hutch,” is a producer. Carr even convinced Burt Young, who played Sylvester Stallone’s brother-in-law in the Rocky films, to be himself in RevoLOUtion. But who to play Lou Benedetti, the stuttering, somewhat brain-damaged, yet ultimately inspirational star of the film? That would be Carr himself, who also produced and directed RevoLOUtion. And wait until you hear about his unusual ideas about marketing. Bret Carr IMDB   Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As A Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom by Ritch Shydner. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Joel Meadows, editor, Tripwire: The Genre Magazine   Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Joel Meadows by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of international fanboys who swear they get all the jokes in “The Big Bang Theory” … in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida!! Tripwire: The Genre Magazine celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017. Zines dedicated to comic books, science fiction, and genre TV shows and films come and go pretty quickly around the world. They all start with a singular dedication – perhaps obsession – but most vanish in the face of long hours, hard work, little or no compensation and an equal amount of recognition. JOEL MEADOWS podcast excerpt: "Before 'Tripwire,' I would read a magazine called 'Speakeasy.' I'm not sure if it made it to the States, but it was a very snarky British comics magazine. They used to have a column from Grant Morrison. It was sort of a template for us." Cover of Tripwire: The Genre Magazine, 2008 issue And then there is Tripwire: The Genre Magazine, the UK’s enduring cornocopia of interviews, reviews, analysis and previews of everything from Marvel and DC comics to James Bond, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Dredd and much, much more. Tripwire is celebrating its 25th anniversary in print and online in 2017, a phenomenal accomplishment by any media survival standard. And remaining at its helm for the entire quarter-century is its editor and founder Joel Meadows, whom I’m honored to call a personal friend for almost four years. This is his second appearance on the show. JOEL MEADOWS podcast excerpt: "For decades, 'Doctor Who' wasn't popular in the States. Then you had this reboot with Christpher Eccleston and suddenly everything clicked. Why hasn't 'Dredd'? That's a fair question; I don't know! '200 A.D. just had its 40th anniversary, but 'Dredd' still feels like a cult thing where 'Doctor Who' is insanely huge in the U.S." Joel Meadows Website • Tripwire on Facebook • Joel Meadows on Facebook • Download Tripwire Digital Magazine from iTunes Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Eric Balfour, actor, "Haven," "Six Feet Under" Mr. Media is recorded live before a rapt studio audience of Gary Spivey look-a-likes in the NEW new media capitol of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Haven's Eric Balfour and Emily Rose (Photo by Brian Dowling/Syfy) Have you watched “Haven,” the first season sensation on SyFy? If you had asked me after the first two weeks if I thought the show had legs, my answer would probably have been “No.” Too much didn’t make sense, too many story elements seemed wobbly and aimless, and the relationship between the two stars at the top — Emily Rose as FBI agent Audrey Parker and Lucas Bryant as police officer Nathan Wuornos —seemed flat. Why couldn’t they figure out a better and more consistent use for Eric Balfour’s Duke Crocker? ERIC BALFOUR audio excerpt: "The last four episodes of the season feel really indicative of where 'Haven' could go and what it could be. Except for maybe episode 12. I'm still arguing with them about my storyline in episode 12. It didn't make any sense to me. But 10, 11 and 13 are awesome. Emily's storyline in episode 12 is awesome; I was just grumpy about my storyline because I didn't understand it." Order Haven: The Complete First Season by clicking the DVD cover above! And was everyone in town crazy or supernatural? Why wasn’t the National Enquirer crawling all over Haven, Maine? Well, like last year’s outrageously wonderful SyFy series, “Warehouse 13,” it took Haven a few weeks of on-the-road tinkering to smooth out its ride and find its voice. Now you can watch an episode and the writers seem to know that Audrey and Nathan make good co-workers but they need other characters to breath life into them. Balfour is finally getting some meaty opportunities. And the stories about the residents of Haven are insane-insanely great. Halfway in, we have no idea where we’ll wind up when our 60 minutes in town is over. I’m eager to see what the writers have lined up for Balfour, once a star of HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” who I suspect will eventually cozy up to Rose, herself once an HBO star, on the to—short-lived “John From Cincinnati.” Eric Balfour Twitter • Haven on Syfy Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Worst Week: The Complete Series, starring Kyle Bornheimer and Erinn Hayes. Order your copy today by clicking on the DVD cover above! Today's Guest: Nancy Lenehan, actress, "Worst Week" It takes a certain kind of woman to play Angela, Sam's mother-in-law on the hysterical new CBS sitcom, "Worst Week." Nancy Lenehan is that woman. Nancy Lineman, actress, Worst Week One week, she and her husband—the judge—are getting busy under his desk. Another week, she rides a cello down a flight of stairs. Oh, and did you happen to see the one where Sam walks in on her in the gynecologist's office and sees her you-know-what? And then writes a magazine column about it? Lenehan has been a guest star on dozens of hit sitcoms over the years, ranging from "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Malcolm in the Middle" to "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and she’s Earl Hickey’s mother on "My Name is Earl." To me, “Worst Week” is one of those show—like “The Office” and even “Seinfeld”—that marches to its own rhythm and needs time to find its audience. It is slapstick funny and yet has moments of warmth and tenderness like no other sitcom on the air today. If you haven’t watched it yet. You should. Now. Nancy Lenehan IMDB • Wikipedia • Facebook   Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As A Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom by Ritch Shydner. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Bruce Jay Friedman, author, Lucky Bruce, Steambath, The Dick, The Lonely Guy, Splash, Stern   Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience of famous writers, brand name celebrities and their heirs who are mentioned in Lucky Bruce and are standing by to see what Mr. Friedman might say about them next… in the NEW new media capital of the world, St. Petersburg, Florida! Order Lucky Bruce: A Literary Memoir by Bruce Friedman by clicking the book cover above! How many guys can write an autobiography that is part Andy Warhol Diaries, part Zelig and part Forrest Gump? Even if you’ve never read a lick of Bruce Jay Friedman’s voluminous career output, or seen one of his movies or Broadway productions, I guarantee you’ll find his new memoir, Lucky Bruce, delightful. BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN audio excerpt: "In the beginning I didn't think I knew enough to fill up a whole book. Now, with the clock ticking, I don't have enough time to fill out all the ideas I have." Why delightful? Because it’s not the story of a guy standing on his mother’s step begging you to notice him and pay attention. His substantial collection of life stories and career anecdotes weave a history of a guy who, by his own telling, wandered in and out of history. The Accidental Success, you might call it. Or American Splendor, Manhattan Edition. There is Friedman, who fell into a top editing job at Magazine Management Company, run by Martin Goodman (who also created Marvel Comics, which employed his nephew, Stan Lee). While there, Friedman hired and befriended a guy named Mario Puzo. Along the way to Lucky, Friedman declines the top editing job at Playboy, gets into a street fight with Norman Mailer, parties with Crazy Joe Gallo, takes a leak next to Muhammad Ali, writes the screenplays for Splash and Stir Crazy, and… well, frankly, I dog-eared so many pages of note that my dog ears have dog ears. (I should note that this wonderful opportunity to interview Bruce came about as a result of my friendship with his son, famed caricaturist and illustrator Old Jewish Comedians, Drew Friedman. Drew has been a guest here and it was he who suggested a conversation with his dad and open that door. Thanks, Drew!) Watch the Mr. Media interview with Bruce Jay Friedman's sons Drew, Josh Alan and Kipp, below!         Order 'Will Eisner: A Spirited Life' (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!