Passing

We lost two celebrities this week: Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. McMahon was 86, Fawcett was 62. (Oddly enough, she's the same age my dad was when he passed away, also from cancer.)

It's enough to make me reflect on their place in my growing-up years.

Sometimes when we traveled for summer vacation from Wisconsin to Mississippi (or back again), we would stay in a motel to get a break from the road. Dad liked to drive until late, so that "break" might not happen until after 10pm Central (which is 11pm Eastern--it sounds early but it was late for us). We'd trudge into the room, worn out and cranky, and turn on the TV to settle down for the night. We'd almost always watch THE TONIGHT SHOW with Johnny Carson. Carson's routine was funny even to us kids (most times), but it was Ed McMahon that told us when things were really funny. His big, booming laugh was a barometer for "okay this is funny" or "it wasn't funny but we're laughing anyway."

It was a nice part of my childhood, those motel room nights with the family, watching a little TV and sharing a laugh together.

As for Farrah, I never owned the infamous red swimsuit poster, but I know guys who did. Heck, there was one hanging in an office in my high school. She embodied the California girl ideal of the mid-70s, fluffy hair and sparkling smile and all. I was disappointed when she quit Charlie's Angels after one season (I thought even then it was a bad career move to trust in one season's work on TV--a lesson David Caruso didn't learn), but times moved on and there were other "It girls." Still, nobody was quite the same as Farrah. She had that kind of charisma that's impossible to define but unmistakable.

In saying farewell to both of these folks, I'm reminded that life moves on for all of us. The people I loved watching as a kid are aging (or, in many cases, gone), while the newest crop of celebrities are people I don't recognize. It's a generation gap thing.

But thanks, Ed and Farrah, and rest in peace.

WildStorm Odds and Ends

Dredging up memories of WildStorm, I came across a few random thoughts I'll toss onto the blog here. I remember...

--Jim Lee calling me at 11:30 at night in 1995, to go in and discuss the card game. (I was already in bed but got to the studio in about 20 minutes, since I lived maybe a half-mile away.) Probably one of three times I was in Jim's office talking one-on-one. Gotta say, he really is one of the nicest guys in the biz. I still have the notes from that meeting, where he sketched a Grifter profile while we were talking. (Yes! Jim Lee original art! :) Even better, Jim's a smart guy, asked a lot of great questions about games, and was eager to see the game come out. There's days I wish I was still working for the dude.

--watching the OJ Simpson verdict in Jim's office, along with the rest of the day shift, and wondering if we'd have riots in La Jolla too.

--hanging out in the offices of various artists, chatting with folks like Whilce Portacio, Scott Williams and his assistant JD, Joe Chiodo and his assistant Martin, Trevor Scott, Sandra Hope, Wendy Fouts, Mat Broome, Jeff Rebner and Tom McWeeney, John Tighe (who played the WildStorms game to win!), and a bunch more...

--talking Gen13 backstory with Adam Hughes while he worked in the studio (great guy, btw)

--going to lunch with Tom Harrington (my office mate) and Barb Kesel to talk WildStorm history in preparation for her series (a lunch that got my higher-ups furious with me, 'cause the book wasn't my project)

--the 1994 WildStorm/Homage Studios Christmas party, where we went bowling, eating and riding around on a huge bus, very possibly the most fun office Christmas party I've been to save Activision's

--doing endless comic book runs to Diamond Distribution and picking up the books for the whole studio (being an assistant editor does have its unglamorous side, kids)

--getting to write hundreds and hundreds of card backs for Ted Adams (founder of IDW, btw)

--and going to San Diego Comic-Con twice on the company dime... the second time after I'd been fired, through the courtesy of a friend.

Wow, memories. Funny thing-- I saw Warren Ellis in NYC back in '01 and we talked WildStorm for all of three minutes. He asked, "Do you miss it?" And I told him, "Sometimes, yeah."

Still do.