Chris Hayes, creator of Amazon Archives, came to visit!
Chris has been our hero with his extensive Wonder Woman comic history at amazonarchives.com, but he certainly doesn't fit the old image of the typical historian! Despite being a walking WW encyclopedia, he is a delightful conversationalist on any subject. Chris is charming, urbane, ridiculously modest - and just plain wonderful!
During Chris' all-too-brief visit - in between exploring the museum and comparing respective homes - we also snuck in a viewing of "Irwin', thanks to Dan Makara's very kind invitation; count on it, the golden age of comic books was very expertly discussed between the comic book historian and the comic book artist filmmaker!
photo,left: Since we'd never met, we made sure Chris could find us when he arrived. That's his own Amazon Archives logo banner conceived by Chris, and drawn by Al Rio that WW was holding aloft. [altho since it has been used so widely by news services and online, we were a little concerned that it might just draw random WW fans! [hate to leave the airport with the wrong person in the car...]
Meanwhile, Chris came with a huge surprise - he had commissioned a drawing from Al Rio for our Wonder Woman Museum!!
Al Rio is Chris' regular site artist, and he does a WONDERful job keeping WW real! Be sure to check the links below to examine some of the cover recreations that Chris has commissioned over the years! [especially the 2 WW's fighting...]
At right: Chris and Pete showing off a copy of Al Rio's sketch; the original is enroute from Al Rio's home in Brazil.
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'Irwin' update!
'Irwin: A New York Story'
premiered at FilmColumbia Festival last fall. This spring the film is is playing at The Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art [MOCCA] in NYC.
from FilmColumbia site:
"A fascinating bird's eye view of the history of comics through the life of 92 year-old Irwin Hasen, one of the last of the great pioneering illustrators, brought to us by first time documentary filmmaker Dan Makara. A colorful subject, Hasan is most famous for his strip "Dondi", which ran in hundreds of newspapers from 1955 to 1986. Hasan also created "The Green Lantern", "The Justice League", and "The Flash", while contributing to many other DC comics, including "Batman", "Superman", "Wonder Woman", and more. Anyone who loves comics will love this film."
original post, for a little background:
'Irwin: A New York Story' is a new film on the path to the public.
Connecticut artist Dan Makara has created an absolutely wonderful documentary film about 90-something year old cartoonist Irwin Hasen.
WAIT!! Don't even THINK of shrugging it off because "oh... yeah... documentary, oh boy" is floating through your mind. I had just met Irwin, so I knew it would be entertaining because the man himself is entertaining, but... this is a far cry from any documentary that I ever watched - I won't ruin the fun for you, but Dan Makara is an artist, and it shows!
Dan warns that the film - like Irwin! - is not intended for kids... believe me, Irwin is a very entertaining storyteller; he's a real life-of-the-party kind of guy. Funny! (often outrageous, but... funny!!) And Dan... this guy needs to do films full time! That this is his first film is mind-blowing. His innovative creativity and artistic grace caught me and left me grinning and 'wow'-ing for a good long time after the movie ended. (ok, so I'm still at it a month later... what can I say?? I love this movie!)
About Irwin Hasen:
Irwin did many Wonder Woman covers back when the original artist, Harry Peter, was still drawing the comic (quick aside - most of Irwin's Wonder Woman covers were erroneously credited to Harry Peter; corrections are underway now), but that's just a tiny part of his creative history; Dondi is his baby (that kid never aged a day over 30 years in print!), as is Wildcat. And Irwin did covers for Green Lantern, Justice League and many many more... but enough of that - both the comic industry history and Irwin's part of it are very interesting, but it's far more entertaining to learn it from the movie than from anything I could write here.
Right: Irwin Hasen and Dan Makara dropped by for a visit. The moment Irwin walked into the museum and spotted the life size Wonder Woman on the dias at the far end of the room, he called out "Hi, Doll! Been awhile - did you miss me?"
Below: a few of Irwin's covers and the piece he did for a public service ad (maybe that should be back in print, hmmm?)
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Suffering Sappho! Wonder Woman is creating quite a stir with her shiny new outfit...and new attitude
I don't think that there has been this much attention to a change of wardrobe since The Emperor got his new clothes...
uh... she carved a 'W' into his forehead???? wow. she sure ain't my Grandmother's Wonder Woman... and I always thought my Grandmother WAS Wonder Woman!!
This should be interesting!
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"Look! Wonder Woman signed my shirt!"
Pete thoroughly enjoyed himself at Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ celebrating Wonder Woman Day!
From the desk of M “Pete” Marston 10/26/09:
I was fortunate to be able to visit the Wonder Woman Day event at Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ.
The weather was perfect and the folks at Comic Fusion are really nice, honest, and solid people who always make me feel welcome. The day was a success and I got to spend time talking to owners, artists and customers as well as the nice Ladies who represented “Safe In Hunterdon”, the caring center for battered women and children. Another big plus for the day was to spend some time with Stacy Korn, the NJ organizer for WW Day and also with Beth Delaney who was the costumed Wonder Woman. What a Doll!
October 25, 2009, the celebration of Wonder Woman Day was a resounding success, both in Flemington, New Jersey at Comic Fusion, and Portland, Oregon at Excalibur Comics.
Wonder Woman Day is the brainchild of internationally known creative genius Andy Mangels. His concept was to create an event that could financially contribute to organizations for helping battered women and children by auctioning original comic art and other related items.
October has been declared National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and attention plus focus on support have been successful. Andy Mangel’s concept was to involve a nationally recognizable name to focus attention on the program and by making Wonder Woman the figurehead for the effort he has been increasingly successful each year.
Portland, Oregon is a big city and Excalibur Comics has put a tremendous effort in creating a special day by making room for an incredible number of donated art works and items that Andy Mangels has been able to have donated by many nationally and locally well known artists.
In Flemington, New Jersey, Stacy Korn and her partner, Bill Meccia at Comic Fusion have also done a fantastic job. Stacy has gone all out to recruit artists including James Fiorentino of Visionary Art to contribute, and, while she was busy with that effort, her partner Bill anchored the store. This year they went over the target mark for fund raising and also had their Wonder Woman gal, Beth Delaney in her WW costume to help. She stood outside the store for much of the event on Sunday and has such a dynamite smile that passing motorists honked and waved and kids yelled “Hi Wonder Woman”!
A very special event at the New Jersey Wonder Woman Day was the daylong appearance of Joe Sinott, nationally known for his art in comics like The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X men. He did sketches for the event and also signed comics. His son Mark, and grandson Trevor accompanied him. A really nice and talented man!
Comic Fusion website: www.ComicFusion.com
Andy Mangels website: www.wonderwomanmuseum.com
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