Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Conflict on the sidewalk

Two years ago this month, I made someone angry. And that was the part of the story I left out when I blogged about it.

For some reason, I feel now is the time to tell the rest of the story.

Bryant Park in New York City was culminating its summer outdoor screenings with Superman: The Movie. I learned that a week before the show.

I contacted the Bryant Park Corporation to ask if I and an established bookstore could sell Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman before the screening. The book had come out only a month earlier, was (and still is) the only standalone biography of writer Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and seemed like perfect synergy with the crowd that would be coming to the movie that night: young parents with young children. And the book was not a chintzy souvenir that wouldn't survive to the next yard sale. It was something of educational and entertainment value, a behind-the-scenes story of the very passion that drew people to the movie that night.

But Bryant Park said no. Had I contacted them earlier, they said, we might have been able to work something out. And they said they did try to find a way to make it work even with the short notice. But they usually didn't allow vendors during the films so attendees would not feel bombarded. Besides, the park would be too crowded.

I tried to convince them that attendees would not be offended by such an innocuous (and thematically apropos) product. In fact, I suggested the venture only because I felt those particular attendees would actually be appreciative to learn about the book. I said we wouldn't be barking at passersby; we'd simply give them the option of drifting over if they wanted to. I explained that all we needed was a table (which we'd provide) and the footprint to place it on. We would not be in the way.


Bryant Park said they own even the sidewalks surrounding the park so I was forbidden from setting up a table there. However, I learned from a list maintained by the Department of Consumer Affairs that Bryant Park doesn't own all of that sidewalk. The city approves part of it for vendors. So I contacted a bookstore friend and they were keen and kind to partner with me. I told them Bryant Park had declined me but they said they'd done this before and, essentially, the list is the law. However, I did also e-mail my Bryant Park contact to tell him about the list. He wrote that I still could not sell there. When I clarified what the list said, he didn't respond.

The afternoon of the screening, with that list in hand, we asked a Bryant Park police officer if we could set up our table in a spot that was both authorized and unobtrusive. He looked at the list and said yes. So we did. The bookstore was wonderfully supportive.

Maybe it's self-serving salesperson delusion, but somehow it seemed heartfelt to promote that book just before that movie screened. The book had come about because I love Superman and I love Superman because I read many Superman comics as a kid and I read those comics because I became fascinated with the character in Superman: The Movie. It felt like I had to have the book there, at that event in the city in which the film was shot and the character was first published. And the gracious crowd bore that out.

We started at about 5 p.m. and sold for two hours. It was not the kind of synergy people expected to see. That is part of what made it special. And not a single person complained to or questioned us.

Until a bit before the movie began. That's when a woman and man I didn't recognize came up to me. The man introduced himself and it was the Bryant Park staff member whom I'd contacted by e-mail. He and his colleague were steamed—pretty close to livid, actuallythat I'd set up there even though they told me not to.

And even though I agreed to their request. Yes, when he told me by email that they owned the sidewalk, I did agree not to set up there. But when I found out that they actually did not own that portion of the sidewalk, I was no longer beholden to him—objectively, anyway.

He told me that the sidewalk technicality didn't matter—I still broke what he had taken as a promise (though I as a rule don't use or agree to that word). And he was right. I did go back on my word to him, but I wasn't betraying him legally. I felt badly that I ended up doing what he asked me not to, but it was within my right. I apologized for upsetting him but not for selling.

It's a moral question that Superman would've answered differently. If Superman gave his word, he would not go back on it even if he was lied to (or unintentionally misinformed). The bookstore continued to try to assure me that I acted appropriately and the park staff was out of line to speak to me the way they did.

What do you think?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Book on the bayou

I was honored to learn that Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman is one of the titles nominated for the 2011 Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Awards for grades 3-5. New Orleans is high on my list of places to visit. Maybe I'll hitch a ride by holding on tight to Superman's cape. Thank you, LA!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My first trip to Australia...

...in any form: Kids' Book Review, a blog from Down Under, has kindly run an interview with me. Here's an excerpt:
What other genres [besides narrative nonfiction and humor] have you written in? I’ve written books with a scientific bent and even a couple of math books—buyer beware! I rarely had a mind for math. (On the first day of 7th grade, we were given a printed schedule of classes and I was thrilled that math was not on it—until a friend told me that “algebra” is math.)
One of the people I eventually want to write a book about is an Australian. Perhaps Kids' Book Review hasn't heard the last from me!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Even a two-year-old knows just his silhouette

A two-year-old I know (okay, live with) proved something today.

He looked at this cover

and knew who that silhouette is. Granted it's possible he somehow remembers that the book does indeed involve the Man of Steel, but while he's seen the cover every so often, he's had relatively little exposure to the inside. (And though I don't expect there will be any question, no, he can't read.)

Batman may have a more iconic silhouette (maybe because he appears in it more often)...

...but fun to learn that Superman can hold his own.

Monday, August 23, 2010

"Know Your World Extra" play 5

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).




Sunday, August 22, 2010

"I did not help"

A good friend (and fellow author) e-mailed me these photos of books displayed at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in conjunction with an exhibit about Jewish comic book writers and artists:


Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman was seated in the front row! I was thrilled...but skeptical. I asked my friend if she had been kind enough to perhaps move books to give mine place of pride.

"This is exactly how it was arranged," she said. "I did not help."

I did not question.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

"Know Your World Extra" play 4

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.




Friday, August 20, 2010

"Rescue in the Bermuda Triangle"

My first graphic novel is newly out. Rescue in the Bermuda Triangle is an adventure on the high (and deep) sea that incorporates facts about the region in the Atlantic Ocean where mysterious ship and plane disappearances have been reported for centuries.

I was honored that Joe Staton was one of the illustrators. He is one of the comic book artists whose work I noticed as a kid.

I love certain kinds stories involving the supernatural (ghosts yes, vampires no; Bermuda Triangle yes, crystal skulls, no) and really enjoyed writing a nonfiction book wrapped inside a fiction one. I especially enjoyed the "wink" of the bookend story and the fact that the editor allowed me to let the reader come up with an explanation for what happens at the end of the Bermuda Triangle portion...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

"Know Your World Extra" play 3

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Man of Steel, Land of Enchantment

I was excited to learn that not only Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman but also several other nonfiction picture books (including the luminous The Day-Glo Brothers by friend Chris Barton) were nominated for New Mexico's 2010-2011 Land of Enchantment Book Awards. (That link may be temporary.)

Two other books on the list I read and highly recommend:
  • the swaggering Bad News for Outlaws, sporting one of my favorite covers in recent memory
  • the charming Pippo the Fool from Charlesbridge, the publisher of my 2012 Batman/Bill Finger book

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

"Know Your World Extra" play 2

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.




Monday, August 16, 2010

The original gimmick book

Those who know anything about Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator and original writer (and designer) of Batman, probably know he was known for using what he called "gimmick books."

They were those simple composition books with the speckled black and white covers:


Bill would jot down any bit of information that intrigued him. When he needed inspiration for a story he was to write, he'd search through his growing collection of gimmick books.

I recently learned of another American great who beat Bill to the gimmick book by roughly half a century: Mark Twain.

According to the article on Twain in the 8/9/10 Newsweek: "In little leather-bound notebooks that he carried with him all his life, he set down dialogue he overheard, story ideas, weather conditions, anything that caught his fancy."

The story I heard says that after Bill died in 1974, his son Fred offered the gimmick books to DC Comics, publisher of Batman...but DC declined.

Alas, that means, most likely, that Fred then threw them out.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

"Know Your World Extra" play 1

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.




Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Jerry Siegel as Superman?

First, a note to regular readers: I apologize for posting so infrequently since early July. I moved several states away and it's taking longer than anticipated to get organized...plus I'm preparing something big that will hopefully make up for these silent weeks.

In the meantime...

I came across a surprising message board post in a thread about the casting of actors as superheroes for movies. To be specific, the thread asks if it's still possible to cast an actor who does not resemble the comic book character he is playing, as this particular poster says Tim Burton did when choosing Michael Keaton for Bruce Wayne in 1989.

The poster goes on to speculate about the possibility of casting an "ordinary" looking person as Superman...perhaps a person who looks like...
What if someone had taken the character idea of Clark from the novel It's Superman! [by Tom De Haven] and we would've had a Superman who was an average guy (let's say like Jerry Siegel, his creator, kinda like his appearance in Boys of Steel)?
(This statement has been lightly edited for punctuation. Sorry, I can't restrain myself.)

An interesting if unlikely thought. And I was blown away by the casual mention of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, as if any reader would know it without elaboration! I know this is not the case, but like Jerry Siegel, I am allowing myself to dream. Thanks anonymous speculator!