Saturday, May 14, 2016

Going Dark for a While!


Ever see those Blogs that don’t get updated for weeks, maybe months, and sometimes even a year or more? 

Of course, you have!  We all have.  Some of them are even operated by very good friends of mine. 

Well, since beginning this Blog in August, 2008, I would strive to never let that happen.  And, until very recently I’ve been successful at honoring the commitment between Blogger and Readers. 

But, circumstances have become such that I can no longer provide the “level of service” that the readers of and visitors to this Blog have both become accustomed to – and truly deserve.  So, for the foreseeable future, and rather than “let you down” or keep you wondering as to this Blog’s operation, I will (hopefully, temporarily) suspend all such activity.  

Rest assured the primary reason for this suspension is that old culprit “Horrific Busyness”, primary caused by the Day Job becoming more complex and all-consuming almost by the day – added to certain other life circumstances that have also contributed to the tumultuous mix.

Know that, whatever those circumstances, it is nothing harmful or injurious to me, to Esther, to our health, property, or relationship.  It is merely a multitude of events conspiring to severely limit my time at the computer.  Something (actually, MORE than any one thing) had to go and, unfortunately, this was it. 

Do know that, while the Blog may be in blackout, you will continue to find me in the pages of the IDW Disney comics and Fantagraphics’ series of Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse hardcover books.  Please continue to support both these worthy endeavors, as this is one golly-wower of a time to be a Disney comics fan!     

I have every intention of returning to this Blog.  I enjoy it – and especially your support of it – too much to walk away!  It may be weeks, or months, or for the remainder of the year.  I cannot honestly predict, but we will return to resume our regular merriment.  I thank ALL of you for the many years of support.  It has given me great joy! 

We’ll close (for now) with a few less-somber items…

As I said, you will continue to find me in the pages of the IDW Disney Comics…


MICKEY MOUSE # 13: “The Twelve Buttons of Napoleon”.  Long lead story by Romano Scarpa with with Pete, Trudy, Morty, and Ellroy (who you met in Issue #12, courtesy of Scarpa and Thad Komorowski).

WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES # 733: “Night of the Living Text” written and drawn by the great Casty!  An amazing, outlandish, genre-parodying adventure that goes where few, if any, comic book stories have gone before – and I’ve read a lot of ‘em, folks!  

I’ve just seen the first lettered proof of it, and this may very well be one of my favorite comic stories of all time!  Certainly of this modern era, at least!  I cannot say enough about what Casty has done with this, and I’m honored to have helped bring this story to the United States!  If you liked “Plan Dine from Outer Space”, you will LOVE “Night of the Living Text”!

MICKEY MOUSE # 16: “Rain, Rain Go Astray” Another short Super Goof back-up drawn by Jack Bradbury – with a somewhat different version of “Dr. Dunk”. 

And, in some stage of completion, a wonderfully bizarre team-up for Mickey, Donald, and Goofy… with two utterly amazing “guest stars”.  Giorgio Cavazzano really pulled-out all the stops for this one!  I don’t exactly know where this will appear, but I suspect it’s destined for a future issue of WDC&S.

Over the next two Fantagraphics Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson releases, I will discuss the introduction of Eega Beeva into the strip – and his decades-delayed entry into American Disney comic books, as well as his lasting impact since that entry.  And, a wonderfully bizarre Outer Space Adventure for Mickey and Eega – courtesy of the limitless and fantastic imagination of the strip’s writer Bill Walsh, with some great cartooning by Gottfredson to pull it off! 


I hope you'll be there for all of it!  

And finally, some DVD recommendations…  

Remember how utterly fantastic the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION DVDs used to be?  Few, if any, animation DVDs have lived up to that standard since – especially lately! 


However, there is a new series of DePatie/Freleng Enterprises theatrical animation DVDs that come as close to that grand old GOLDEN COLLECTION feeling as any new animation DVDs are ever likely to come!  


Imagine commentaries on individual cartoons, and special documentary features, with respected animation historians such as Jerry Beck, Greg Ford, and our very good friend Mark Arnold! 


There will be sets for every non-Pink Panther theatrical DFE series, and I suggest you get them all! 


And, although it’s been out for several months, any fan of LOST IN SPACE must get the 50th Anniversary Blu-ray set – even if you have the earlier season-volume sets of a decade ago. 

Beyond episode transfers far in excess of the previous, sorta-inferior ones, there are episode commentaries and features with surviving cast members, certain episodes optionally offered as their initial CBS network presentations with bumpers and mid-sixties era commercials inserted, promos from both the original run and years of syndication, the Hanna-Barbera animated pilot, a 2000s era animated pilot test sequence, the Jonathan Harris segment of the A&E TV series BIOGRAPHY, and more than I can even think of at the moment!   


This is the ultimate, Holy Grail for any LOST IN SPACE fan! 

And, there’s a new LIS comic out that has just released its second issue!  Gotta love THAT!    


It’s been a tremendous amount of fun (though bittersweet) preparing this final entry – and that makes me want to continue!  So, we will return. 

Meanwhile, thank you all for making this such a great time!   

19 comments:

joecab said...

Life getting busy is perfectly understandable. Looking forward to hearing from you here again once things relax a smidge.

Joe Torcivia said...

It’s going to take much more than a “smidge”, JoeC!

But we WILL be back, even if it takes a long while.

Thanks for being with us, all these years! Appreciate it very much!

Elaine said...

Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your blogposts...it's clear why this is not something you can just toss off in the odd ten minutes of free time. I also look forward to the skies clearing for you enough to resume the blog, one of these months.

We'll miss you in cyberspace, but we'll keep on enjoying your work in the comics! Yay, IDW Disney!

Joe Torcivia said...

Thank you, Elaine, for all the support and enthusiasm! I truly loved doing this, and will return to it someday.

And yes… YAY, IDW Disney! And Fantagraphics, too!

Sérgio Gonçalves said...

I'm sorry to hear you're too busy to keep this blog going, Joe. Life can really take some unexpected turns. It seemed from your last post like your "Horrifically Busy Period" was coming to an end, but then, instead of winding down, it turned into a "Horrifically Busy Era"!! I guess the "chicken soup apocalypse" cover turned out to be prescient, then.

I'm glad to know you and Esther all right, though. That's the main thing. I have to say, I was starting to get rather worried after 2 weeks went by without you updating this blog.

Thanks for all the good times your blog posts gave me, even though I joined the TIAH community very late in the game. Thanks also for taking the time to respond to every poster's comment, every time. I have never seen that kind of dedication on any other blog. I really enjoyed my online conversations with you.

It's good to know that you'll be back, and that you'll still be doing your work for IDW and Fantagraphics. I'll be stopping by and reading your older blog posts from time to time, and I'll see if I can buy some more IDW comics, particularly those featuring your work, one of these days.

As for those DePatie-Freleng DVDs, all I can say is si... I mean, oui!! I love "The Inspector" and "The Ant and the Aardvark." I'm looking forward to checking these DVDs out someday!! Now if I only they would release a legitimate, non-pirated DVD set of "Super President" and "Spy Shadow." Am I the only person in the world who actually likes "Super President?"

Retro-Deb said...

Sorry to see your blog "blotted out", but sometimes life gets in the way. I'm glad we'll still get to read your contributions to IDW and Fantagraphics' Disney titles, though. We'll get the Captain Retro-Duck fan club to shoot off a few Retro-rockets to give your blog a true Retro-Ranger's send-off, until we can meet here again.

ramapith said...

Say it ain't so... er, Joe! Even I didn't realize you were going to "go dark" on us. But it seems your blog is suffering the same exact fate as mine.

Immense support for your having persevered much LONGER—and here's hoping we both, again, can return to those days when "the very air abounds in Blogs!"

Joe Torcivia said...

Sergio:

You write: “Thanks for all the good times your blog posts gave me, even though I joined the TIAH community very late in the game. Thanks also for taking the time to respond to every poster's comment, every time. I have never seen that kind of dedication on any other blog. I really enjoyed my online conversations with you.”

That is so very kind of you! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.

Yes, that which I enjoyed most about the Blog was the interaction with readers and followers. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again, I respond to every poster’s comments, not because I like to have “the last word”, but because I so appreciate that you have taken the time to comment on what we do here – and, because of that, each of you deserve a personal answer or comment in return. …Kinda like the “old days” of fandom, when we actually WROTE LETTERS to one another!

I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it, and I expect to see you back here… someday, when we return.

Joe Torcivia said...

Retro-Deb:

Consider me “Retro-honored”… “Retro-actively”, of course!

Joe Torcivia said...

David:

Thank you for the kind words – and, of course, for the opportunity to help create some of the very comics I wrote about on this Blog!

Hey, wanna RACE to see which one of our Blogs come back first? I’ll be Donald and you can be Two-Wheel McHeel!

…Wak! I can hear those wasps coming noowwww! ZIP!

Huwey said...

Thanks for yer great reviews of comic books and DVDs, they were ever awesome to read! I hope yer job ain't so exhausting as you described! ;)

Joe Torcivia said...

Unfortunately, Huwey, it’s become exactly that. Didn’t used to be, but now it is!

Appreciate the kind words, and that’s why I fully expect to come back – after what will probably be an absence of serious length.

Another funny thing, at the end of the day as I walked out of all that difficult work-stuff yesterday to perfectly clear blue skies, and while still full daylight the Moon was fully visible as the only object in those clear skies, I thought… What a wonderful place the Earth is! …And, we all too rarely stop to appreciate it! …Especially me!

TheKKM said...

Here's hoping to that future, then ;)

Also I'll risk a guess that the team-up story you're talking about is the one where they meet Salvador Dali, in which case, yeah, amazing art by Cavazzano. It's great stuff. Glad to know you're having fun with such great stories, at least.

Joe Torcivia said...

Yes indeed, it is that story, KKM!

And, with Walt Disney as well as Salvador Dali! An incredible job by Cavazzano, down to “earlier design versions” of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, too!

What with this and July’s “Night of the Living Text” by Casty, I am having SO much fun with these stories, it’s the one thing that I wish I could do for the rest of my life!

Jon Gray said...

NO!

How I can I get someone to bug me to read his blog if I start reading his blog and the blog goes dark?! I've been deblogged before I could read the blog at all. :(

(Hope everything eases up buddy)


....


BLOG.

Joe Torcivia said...

Well, there ARE 850 Posts for you to catch up on!

At your rate of reading, I’ll be back before you finish five! :-)

Seriously, always glad to see you here – and GREAT JOB on “Scrooge’s Last Adventure”! Wish I was able to write about it!

Killer Moth said...

I fully agree about the LIS Blu-Ray set, as I don't own it, but, man, it looks so gorgeous. And I need to read the two Lost Adventures issues -- I partially read the first one, due to time constraints, liked it, but need to re-read in depth. I'm glad Carey Wilber is having his due, and these scripts are finally seeing the light of day. His work was rather respectable among LIS' regular writers, behind Barney Slater and Robert Hamner (and, sometimes, Peter Packer on one of his good days).

On an equally depressing note:

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/alan-young-dead-dies-mister-ed-1201779957/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3601836/Mister-Ed-star-Alan-Young-played-straight-man-talking-horse-dies-96.html

Farewell, Scrooge McDuck.

Anyway, blogging does eat up its share of time and effort, and there are other priorities in life. Fortunately, you gave us plenty to read, as I seriously need to catch up on your other LIS entries (and everything else at 850).

Best of luck to you, as always.

Joe Torcivia said...

KM:

Sorry for not posting your comment for a long while. When this Blog returns, probably late in the year, I hope you’ll be around to contribute to the fun. I hope, by now, you’ve managed to get the LIS Bru-ray set. It’s amazing… and I still haven’t gotten anywhere near through with it.

Just for creating “Captain Tucker”, Carey Wilber is high on my list of writers. And, Peter Packer DID have many “good days” (…often some of the BEST), but he DID have those “bad days” as well.

Alan Young BECAME Scrooge McDuck for me! He will be missed.

Killer Moth said...

"Sorry for not posting your comment for a long while. When this Blog returns, probably late in the year, I hope you’ll be around to contribute to the fun. I hope, by now, you’ve managed to get the LIS Bru-ray set. It’s amazing… and I still haven’t gotten anywhere near through with it."

And I didn't know you finally replied to my reply until recently, so I'm late, too. Call it even?

I still don't own a Blu-Ray, alas, so can't comment on the awesome LIS Blu-Ray set being awesome. Though, your prior blog entry about it was just fine. I wish they did cast commentary on all the episodes rather than select episodes. Or that's my understanding of the various extras that have been publicly written about. Still, it's a minor complaint, as they included everything else.

"And, Peter Packer DID have many “good days” (…often some of the BEST), but he DID have those “bad days” as well."

I don't want to be too hard on Packer, as he did write "The Girl from the Green Dimension" and fleshed out Lorelei/Athena's personality rather nicely. Since she's one of my favorite canon characters, I sincerely appreciate Packer's effort there. At least until the epic fail part with the funeral by the end. And I have a soft spot for his more serious "The Derelict", which pleased me to see it having actual payoff in Season 2, via "Prisoners of Space." (I first watched/taped LIS during my high school days in the late 90's, but didn't get to watch every episode at the time. I didn't even see Prisoners of Space or early Season 2 until recently.)

And even Packer's final episodes had their interesting points. I now understand why "Great Vegetable Rebellion" is TV history, like it or not. Score-wise, it's probably my favorite one in the series. So melodic.

As for the Disney comics, still trying on the IDW comics, but I also like Joe Books' Darkwing Duck revival. Latest issue I can find, issue #7 has a good team-up between Bushroot and Darkwing, continuity from two of Bushroot's animated canon episodes -- his origin and the Posey episode, the latter of which I don't like, but I do like how the comic handled those elements -- and Gizmo Duck is foreshadowed in the final cliffhanger page. Good stuff.

And it even included a Duck Avenger reference. A kid asked DW if he was the Duck Avenger, and he handled it better than I thought he would. Too bad we haven't gotten a proper DW/Donald crossover, as that would have been hilarious to see.

As always, I wish you luck with your 2017 projects. And I'll do my best to comment occasionally, as well.