Year: 2007

My debut issue for “She-Hulk,” designed to have two, if not three, WTF moments. Whad’ja think?

ADDED 10/31–Check out THIS review. Doesn’t get more glowing than this.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34631#2

PAD

I’ll be appearing today at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Midtown Manhattan (near the Empire State Building) from 6 to 8 PM along with Dan Slott for a sort of “passing of the torch” appearance vis a vis “She-Hulk.”

Hope to see you there.

PAD

Okay, so now I *am* going to United Fan Con. Apparently their money situation has sorted itself out (the fact that Aaron Douglas dropped out probably freed up some funds, I’d think) and I was reinvited.

Honestly, I toyed with the idea of saying forget it, but that didn’t seem fair to all the fans who’d written me expressing dismay over my not being there, especially since they’d purchased nonrefundable tickets.

So I’ll be there.

PAD

Things actually went reasonably smoothly for opening night of “Man of La Mancha.” I’d say the venue was about 3/4 full, which isn’t bad at all. My castmates did a great job, with high energy and everyone on top of their cues. We had a few mishaps with microphones, but they were easily fixed on the fly.

The one heart-stopping moment came toward the very end. A stairway/bridge is supposed to lower as Cervantes and his servant (me) are summoned to the Inquisition. But the bridge only came 3/4 of the way down (the mechanism got hung up on one of the side curtains.) I was supposed to make my exit up the bridge, but it was dangling a foot above the stage. I could have just walked around it and exited off to the side, but that would have broken the illusion. On the other hand, if I stepped on the bridge and forced it down, I was worried I could shatter the entire mechanism. Opting to maintain the illusion, I walked forward carefully, placed my foot on the bottom step and pushed down as hard as I could. It slammed the bridge down to the floor and I was able to walk up it. I didn’t hear any accompanying breaking noise, so I’m hoping I didn’t break the stairs.

Ah, the excitement of live theater.

Howard Margolin was in attendance. Hopefully other web denizens will be able to make it.

PAD

What would you consider the most iconic covers of Peter’s career? Or, for that matter, what would you consider iconic images from Peter’s career?

(Yes, we know this is kind of an odd question to ask: what are the images that define a writer? But we’re curious.)

You may remember some weeks back that I announced I was playing “Sancho” in a community theater production of “Man of La Mancha” in Bellport, Long Island.

Well, the show opens this Friday, and runs for four evening performances–the 19th and 20th, and the 26th and 27th. Ticket information can be found below: (and yes, that’s me in the picture on the right.)

http://www.bellport-playcrafters.com/Main.html

PAD

I was one of the first people to accept an invite from United Fan Con up in Springfield, MA, in November…and, as of last night, was the very first one (and, to my knowledge, the only one) to be disinvited. As opposed to Orlando where I was simply summarily dumped from the roster, this time I was contacted by the convention organizer who explained that, well, they only had so much money to go around, and they were so busy paying for the appearance fees and hotel rooms for the–y’know–important guests, and their advance registration or interest in purchasing photo ops or signed pictures in advance had been so far below projection, that they could no longer afford to have me out even though I don’t charge appearance fees. They had to cut the budget somewhere and apparently I’m it. They couldn’t afford hotel stay and travel costs for the guy who signs tons of comic books and such for free because they needed to be able to accommodate all the folks who charge fans $20/$30 a pop for signatures.

I doubt that anyone was coming to United Fan Con just to see me–certainly the convention organizers are banking on that–but if you were, and you were hoping to get free autographs, you’re out of luck.

You know, I just can’t get enough of having regional conventions use my name for initial promotion and then dump me at the last minute. Actually, now that I think about it…I can. I’m going to be thinking long and hard before accepting invites for any smaller conventions; I’m just tired of having my face stepped on.

PAD