The Death of Bruce Banner

Fans are asking me about my opinion on the death of Bruce Banner as portrayed in Civil War II. What do I think of the abrupt passing of a character on whom I spent twelve years of my writing career.

I pondered a response for some time and ultimately I have come to this conclusion:

Seriously, guys? As 2016 progresses and beloved person after beloved person dies, THIS is what you ask me about? The death of a fictional character whom I could bring back to life in three panels? And would not hesitate to do so if Marvel asked me?

Sheesh.

PAD

Jerry Doyle

I would be lying if I said I knew Jerry particularly well. Somehow I never wound up discussing politics with him, which was probably a good thing. But there was one thing I really enjoyed, and that was writing for him. It’s odd that someone who effectively backed into the acting profession and did not hesitate to fabricate stuff in order to accomplish that (he listed a stint as a performer with the Dance Theater of Harlem on his resume and no one ever questioned it) was so dámņëd good at it. I will never forget the scenes I wrote for him in “Soul Mates,” particularly the ones with him and Keith Szarabajka, and how they just crackled when the two of them went at it over the affections of Talia (Andrea Thompson, Jerry’s wife at the time). He was always a fun presence on the set and his fellow actors just adored his company.

He will be sorely missed.

PAD

My San Diego Comic Con Schedule

Want to know where I’ll be the next few days? I’ll tell you right now, then Tweet it which will crosspost it to Facebook. And I’ll *still* read dozens of posts from people saying, “I couldn’t find you at San Diego!”

My regular hangout: Artist’s Alley, table HH16.

My panels:

Thursday, 10:30 AM, Room 4: “Spotlight on Peter David”

Saturday, 10 AM, Room 7AB: “I Read It Before (And After) It was a Movie”

Sunday, 11:15, Room 5AB: “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends”

Also, Caroline will be on a panel as well:

Thursday, 11 AM, Room 29AB: “Spotlight on Maggie Thompson.” Maggie is going to interview Caroline and two other kids of “Nerd Families.” Naturally with five days of programming, they scheduled my daughter against me. * sigh *

San Diego Comic Con

I will be attending this year, along with Kathleen and Caroline. I am an actual guest this year and will be doing panels and also have a table in Artist’s Alley. I will have copies of “Pyramid Schemes” among other things, so come by and visit.

PAD

Weight Loss Update

For the first time in years, I was able to walk into a standard box store rather than a Big & Tall shop and buy several pairs of pants. A necessary purchase because I’ve dropped four inches off my waist and so the trousers I’d been wearing kept threatening to slip off.

I’ve lost a total of 57 pounds so far. Still have a long way to go, but at least I can shop for clothing without having to go to special stores anymore.

PAD

Marvel Renumbering

I’ve noticed fans lately commenting on the fact that Marvel is routinely renumbering and relaunching series. Some fans see this as a relentless marketing gimmick while others seem to understand the need for doing so: to attract new readers.

If it were up to me–if I were running Marvel–I would do away with numbering entirely.

There’s no point to it anymore.

It’s not like in the days where I was first buying comics, where I could cheerfully buy “Action Comics” or “Detective Comics” and not feel compelled to obtain the previous several hundred issues worth of books. Nowadays the longer a book goes, the more the numbering serves as a disincentive. If a book gets up even to the twenties or thirties, new fans won’t be bothered to pick it up because they don’t want to invest in the considerable capital required to purchase the previous books; and no one wants to come into a story that is already underway, no matter how much Marvel might be putting summaries on the title page. So the numbering discourages new readers from coming aboard while simultaneously you’ll lose readers through attrition, if nothing else.

As far as I’m concerned, numbering has outlived its usefulness. When was the last time anyone gave a dámņ which issue number “Time” or “Entertainment Weekly” was up to? I would simply put the month and year on the cover for reference and be done with it. This is the July 2016 issue of “Spider-Man 2099.” What more do you need to put it in the correct order in your longbox?

If Marvel just does away with numbering, yes, they’ll lose the advantage of relaunching with a new number one. But the more number ones they produce, the more they make people tired of the obvious promotion. On the upside, they’ll stop losing potential new readers, so to my mind, that’s a wash.

PAD

“Pyramid Schemes” now available as an ebook

Yes, the latest adventure of “Sir Apropos of Nothing” is now an ebook. You can get it here.

Now please, for God’s sake, don’t start asking me about half a dozen other formats because you only read things on iTunes or ePub or anything else. It’s out in two formats which is one format more than when I was reading books back in the day. Just go buy it.

PAD