Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 543 of Sneaky Dragon – the podcast voted least useful!
This week: be ourselves; betrayed by Elton John; what’s the thing with sandals; greasy living; urinal entries; fed by the bell; stomp and protect; metaphorical cup of tea; don’t tread on Maria Bamford; comedy bites; nude sketches; pornography tonite; whither the Mad maple; everybody knows; candid observations; lost letters; uncelebrated failures; British bachelor bundles; prime impressions; unconvincing hair; persona-to-persona; double brother; comic book artist trading cards; sometimes a cigar is just gross; tough milkman; unmemorable troll; our best friend Sergio; wandering meatball; Ian, the jury; ID entity; teenagers and housewives are dumb; Dork Shadows – Tell Laura I Love Her; mummy issues; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; playing the plano; brogue Sneakers; classical cats; ice cream is good; chicken-based adventures; a suit off; and, finally, beating up Ken Jennings.
Question of the Week: What was your favourite comic book as a kid?
Sub-question of the Week: What is something nice that someone did for you recently?
Thanks for listening.
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‘Sup dragons,
FYI should you have any interest, Plano, Texas is pronounced plain oh.
This in reference to Edward’s response to my response to last week’s, guess now two weeks ago, show where I talked about the “Growing Up With The Beatles” book specifically and Fort Worth in general.
So well, uh, yeah. Keep smiling.
Matt
Matt! You’ll be happy to hear we already mispronounced it – twice!
Yes, “Plain-Oh” is the pronunciation, so much that we’ve always said things in Plano are just “Plain Old” …like do you live in just a Plain Old home? It’s stupid but it’s been a thing for ages.
So Matt, do you still live west of me in Fort Worth? We could team up and fight crime.
Another director who suits up nicely is Christopher Nolan. My brother was an extra on the set of “The Dark Knight” when filming in Chicago and got to meet him personally, Nolan wore a tie and a matching scarf the entire time. He spent about three days as a Gotham Police Officer and I can pick him out of the film where he appears for about one-tenth of a second.
I have to pull up my past email to you guys from last podcast you took questions from us so I don’t repeat any. Was that back on the 450th episode? Just the 50th ones right?
Good day, kind sirs.
In response to your question of the first order, my answer is thus: in my youth, every summer my family would go to our cabin at Quesnel Lake, and just before we turned off the highway onto the gravel road to complete the final 1 hourish journey, we would stop at the last vestige of civilization, the booming metropolis of 150 Mile House, which boasted a general store and a gas station. We would always go into the store where my mom would buy a copy of Horse Illustrated, while I for some reason would choose Sgt. Rock and then some other comic that I can’t remember the name of, but it usually involved a story of some impossible thing like a guy being granted eternal life only to find himself not 5 minutes later sinking in quicksand at which point he then realized he would be choking as he breathed sand for the rest of eternity. Great holiday reading!
Re: questions 2: this past Sunday was Mother’s Day, and a couple of days before, I was off work due to some medical appointments and in between those, was out walking the dogs when a familiar car drove up and stopped. It was my youngest, Eve, who had driven 45 min. to our house in the middle of her split shift so that she could surprise me by putting up some hanging baskets and vacuuming the house. but I ruined the surprise by being home 🙁
On Mother’s Day I spent the whole day at a horse show leading ponies around, many for kids I didn’t even know. Anyway, the dad of one of the kids I do know/teach got me a rose for Mother’s Day, and the mom of a different girl I know/teach got me a bubble tea.
If there was ever an episode where I was dying to communicate with you two, this was it. The comics talk always grabs me. Great conversation! Jim Starlin, Sergio Arogonés, Mark Gruenwald and I thought I’d go to my grave before I heard anyone mention Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman ever again! That was my Lone Star Comics Manager’s favorite comic and I remember Dave Thomas being tied to a film adaptation. What were those cards you had with all the comics creators on them?
Before going further, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the two comic book greats we recently lost, Neal Adams and George Peréz, both legendary in their own ways. Adams work has always perplexed me with his extreme foreshortening and dynamic movement. His characters were the first to actually look semi realistic with accurate body tone and facial features. This was all part of the comics Bronze Age with Denny O’Neil, penning stories about real social issues. In the last few years seeing Adams at cons, he had kind of evolved into a huckster of sorts, doing his best to sell you his prints and signed comics but his style never waned. His Superman is still the best in the biz. I also wonder if they buried him in that French Blue shirt was always wearing.
Peréz I met so many times, usually running up and down the line waiting on to get into the con. Signing comics, hugging fans and taking selfies, the man was a beast when it came to connecting with his fans. Peréz was the first comic artist I took a true liking to and collected, most notably in Avengers and Fantastic Four and then later in Teen Titans. Peréz had the uncanny talent to perfectly illustrate a crowded scene without making it overdone or busy. The way he showed energy was effective and powerful, I remember a story with Nuklo in the Avengers and the way he illustrated the nuclear power was off the charts. And Peréz drew really good rocks and debris with such attention to detail. Everyone loved him and George Peréz leaves this realm with zero enemies.
Also, I posted a Groo sketch Sergio Aragonés drew for me back in 1986 on the Sneaky Dragon Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159730951632567&set=p.10159730951632567&type=3
I almost hit Aragonés with my car in a hotel parking lot at a con in 1986. The next day I visited him at his booth to apologize and he said it was his fault and he should have been paying better attention. Then he drew me the Groo The Wanderer sketch.
Favorite comic as a kid….I went through so many phases. The John Byrne X-men, George Peréz Avengers and the Ditko Spider-Man are all notable but I’d have to say if you measured my fandom by readership and comics bought, it would be The Fantastic Four. From Jack Kirby to John Byrne, I was a huge fan of The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine, I read them for years. I was a Marvel brat and didn’t discover DC until my teens, but I loved the older stuff for a good while, like the The Imaginary Stories from the 60’s. I had a Cerebus phase and a huge Miller Daredevil phase then when I got my job at Lone Star Comics, I enjoyed WATCHMEN, Byrne’s Superman, Dark Knight Returns and the surge of the Independent titles, like Miracleman and Concrete. I worked at Lone Star during one of the greatest growth spurts in comics, it was wonderful. In full consideration though, The Fantastic Four reigns supreme as a young reader and collector. You have no idea the pressure I have for the MCU at the wheel of their films now, fingers crossed.
As far as a nice, unexpected gesture, my son Alec surprised me out of nowhere with a Captain Kirk Funko Pop! He knows I don’t collect them myself but has on occasion bought me a few from one particular set, like the Fantastic Four Pops. I could call my son as an enabler because once he buys me a few, I feel the need to buy the rest of the set at my own expense. I’ll describe this one as a kind gesture for now since all I had to buy was a Spock Pop to sit beside my Kirk.
Time to brainstorm some new questions for you guys! Have a terrific weekend and an even better week to all the Sneakers around the World!
I didn’t have a favourite comic as a kid but I can weigh in on topic of top hats! Yes, they were already being worn in Regency period. So you’ll see Mr. Darcy wearing one in adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. In Victorian times, all classes wore them. They were even part of a lady’s riding habit so you’ll see Blanche Ingram wearing one in adaptations of Jane Eyre. (Do I get all my historical fashion knowledge from film and television?) Maybe. The caricature of the rich fat cat with the top hat came in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Top hats were falling in popularity except with the upper classes, nouveau riche and politicians who were still wearing them to formal society events and ceremonies.