Cheater

I'll admit it, I cheat on this blog.

I've often written long blogs that I've placed on my MySpace site and not posted here. Worse, I'm a bit of a blog whore. I blog for my workplace.

I know, I know. You're shocked and appalled, but at least my work blog is about something I love. Cartoons and comics. You can find it here if you wish too, or you can not bother. Either way, I'll still respect you in the morning.

I'd not posted anything in some time, for various reasons, but found myself with a little spare time last night and decided to let everyone know that I was back and that a new Wonder Woman cartoon is coming out on DVD in March.

This morning, I came in to find that a fellow, who will go unnamed unless you check the blog, posted this:
I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND THE APPEAL OF ALL THIS COMIC STUFF TO ADULTS. IT SEEMS SO SILLY, SUCH A WASTE OF MONEY, SO JUVENILE, SO IMMATURE. WHY NOT SPEND THE MONEY ON BOOK, ART OR MUSIC LESSONS?

Yes, it was in all caps in it's original posting.

It struck me as odd on multiple levels, not the least of which is that my blog doesn't spontaneously leap onto your screen. You actually have to seek the darned thing out. So he'd sought it out and unleashed this mild venom.

I though, initially, not to post the comment. I thought it seemed a silly place for such a poorly written comment. Ultimately, I decided that this fellows opinion could be considered valid and he was not vulgar in his language. So I posted it along with this response:
Actually, I spend a great deal more on books and art supplies, since I produce art myself. My music career was a wash as I was sent back to beginner band after the first year.
Still, I would not balk at any of the activities suggested without trying them out first. And really, if someone decides that comics aren’t for them, I have no problem with that.

In fact, I lent a copy of a comic that I greatly enjoyed to a friend She gave it an honest try but decided that the medium wasn’t for her. That didn’t mean that I treasured her friendship any less. And I greatly enjoy her view on various art mediums including visual art, film, music and especially literature. She’s the one who recommended the book Geek Love as well as The Women of Brewster’s Place and I’m extremely thankful to have read those books.
That said, there is still room for comic books and I’d dare to guess that many naysayers have no experience outside of the kiddie books they remember from yesteryear.

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight is one of the most gritty and stunning stories ever put to paper. I’d say that Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid and painstakingly painted panel by panel by the incomparable Alex Ross is a masterpiece of word and sequential art.

Still, paintings of soup cans seem silly and a waste to some, as do some books, movies and music. So to each their own.

For myself, I’ll take it all. Sequential storytelling by artists who can produce beautiful pieces on a tight deadline. Moving tunes by audio artists from Mozart to Bowie to Gnarlz Barkley. Cinematic masterpieces like Citizen Kane and Blazing Saddles. I can’t imagine closing myself to any form of art.

But to each their own.

I don't know if the fellow will bother to read it, but I felt I had to say it. Silly though it may be, I've tried to allow myself an open mind in all things. Tasting dishes I thought I'd not enjoy, reading books in genres I thought I would not enjoy and trying techniques in arts in virtually any form available to me.

I guess, in the end, this fellow didn't understand my personal enjoyment. But that won't stop me from reading my comics and allowing myself to believe that a man can fly. To imagine that a teen can take the lesson of power equaling responsibility to heart. Or imagine a child fashioned of clay could grow to be an Amazon princess blessed with divinity, beauty and above all, compassion.

And I'll read as voraciously as I did when I first developed my love of the written word. A love that stemmed from reading the words of a fellow who dreamed of writing the great American novel. A native of New York born to Romanian-born Jewish immigrants who hid his family name of Stanley Martin Lieber under the nom de plume, Stan Lee.

That first Spider-Man comic soon led me to read The Old Man and the Sea and To Kill a Mockingbird before my age reached the double digits. And draws me to read still today.

Of course, Mr. Lee's loquacious nature and affinity for alliteration are with me still. Which is probably why I allowed this post to go this long.

Swimingly

When I was first hired at the paper I work for now, part of the reason was that they were about to launch an entertainment supplement in tabloid form.

Well, that, in and of itself, isn't much of a reason. But, the tab was to launch in 2 weeks and there was no design save for a logo that no one liked. And so I was now gainfully employed.

Actually, doubly so as they wanted me to start immediately and I had an obligation of two weeks at my first job ... Oh, and I was a full-time student supporting my family as well. So, y'know, no pressure.

Shortly after being hired we made plans for the future issues. One thing that came up was a swimsuit issue.

For myself, I could have cared less. I had so much going on and the need to make sure that the mag was done better than about 3 pre-existing magazines in the market. My hands were somewhat full.

But when I was given the photos and designed the pages, even female coworkers were gathering around my desk freaking out at how they liked it. (In those days, this happened to me pretty regularly as most of the stuff at the paper was designed pretty old school.) And the issue flew of the racks.

I was actually a little impressed as I didn't think I'd done so good a job and had been pretty unimpressed by the photos. They were almost great but didn't quite make it over that ridge. I was impressed by a pair of sisters that had modeled for the issue. Beautiful is easy to find, models are harder.

For anyone that doesn't believe that modeling is an art form, try grabbing a good looking person and take their photo. Chances are they are diminished in the image. Talented shooters can still get a beautiful photo but models can make an image much more. The ability to show ease and confidence as well as project emotion and tell a story with one's form and face. It's pretty tough.

The next year the section editor, myself and the mag's editor were planning out the issues when the SE noticed that there was no plan for a swimsuit issue. The editor said that he thought it was more hassle than it was worth but we were still getting feedback from it so I volunteered to organize it.

I had no idea how much work that would entail but the editor had gotten the suits from stores the year before so I contacted the same stores and a few more and managed to get us some suits. They just gave me whatever they wanted to so I had little control. But I did manage to get suits costing from $20 to $250. We used the same location as the year before, but I had an idea of the images I wanted leading to an organized crop of images.

Though I was given no budget (the models all worked TFP) I'd managed to get the two sisters to return, D had become more confident in the passed year and her sister helped her in posing. Another model joined us that year as well and Cindy was pushed as the cover photo. I didn't particularly like the photo as the photographer hadn't accounted for the lighting filtering through canopy of the tree she was under and what the yellow of the suit would do to her skin, giving her a bit of a sickly color. I tried to fix it but I don't think I did a good enough job. Still, I'm proud of the final product.

The issue got more buzz than the first and got no angry letters from conservative readers, as had the first. (The first angry letter was from someone upset that I'd put the tease to the story about the Christian singing group 'Out of Eden' next to the models breast. If you look at the photo, there were two places I could have put the tease and stand by my choice.

I noticed that we didn't have accessories in the first two issues and decided that that had to change. So still having no budget, I put in a couple of hundred dollars on various hats, sandals and jewelry. Nothing very expensive, but I wanted to make certain that an overall feel was created.

Wanting a more urban look, I arranged to shoot the next issue in the storage area of a local building. The sisters and Cindy returned as did a new model and one from the original issue. I also managed to find a male model. Juber was great and funny and confident. Women get a bum wrap about being body conscious but try asking a guy to pose in a swimsuit sometime.

The shoot was actually pretty fun as the models were all laughing. Knowing that I was going to be pretty busy but would want some things being set up so as to move quickly, I had a friend come and help arrange mini sets within the area.

The shoot was actually fun until the mag editor came by. Being a photographer, he'd been shooting something himself that day. I wasn't the one to say that he detracted from the shoot actually but a pair of the models, my friend and model's mother asked what was going on with him there. He'd been at the shoots the previous years but that year it was just odd. Maybe it was that he showed up partly into the shoot when there was already a comfort level crated. I'm not sure and I've wondered about it over the years. One thing that did steal a lot of the feel, I found later, was that he and the photographer were chatting and thought themselves unheard when they made some - I'll say - unprofessional remarks about one of the models. I don't know exactly what was said as her cousin relayed it as the reason that she chose not to participate the next year.

I was pretty ashamed that had happened so I sought out the SE who let me know the mag ed never had to know the location or be on set from there on out. That came to a head the next year when in an open meeting he angerly said that I'd not told him where the shoot was. The SE said, firmly but not agressively, "Everyone that needs to know about it does."

The photographer arranged to have a pair of new models come and I brought both male models we'd used before as well as the E and D and Cindy.

I wanted another urban but definitely a fun feel so I wanted to shoot on a roof downtown. We had some honkers, but other than being told "no stilhettos" there were no problem.

I'd actually not planned for any stilhettos as I'd wanted to create a fun feel reasoning that we're supposed to be showing these suits off, not the models and if you see people having fun, the clothes look more appealing. The other change was that I was getting the suits straight from the manufacturers. They were a little trepidatious but said it was OK for me to get the suits wet, something we'd not been allowed to do in the past. Still, I was not suppossed to let them get in a pool only splash and such. So I went with water guns.

The idea was for it to just be a fun setting, as if we were all just on the roof playing around.

This is probably my favorite issue for the level of fun that the shoot was. As no parents were going to be at the shoot, I had my (now ex-) wife come as well. I felt this would put the new models a bit at ease since I wasn't about to do anything stupid in front of my wife. I'd bought hats, water guns and other accessories but had also made plans to take everyone to dinner after as well.

The photog was still trying to get glamour shots and if I turned my back on him, he would have one of the two new girls posing for glamor shots. One of them smuggled some heals onto the roof despite my specifically telling her to leave them behind. Remember stilhettos were specifically not allowed. I asked her to set them aside and got angry when she snuck them out again.

No idea why she was so adversarial but she kept pulling aside the other new model and dripping poison in her ear as well. The other new model, Berta, lookes beautiful and had a great smile. She didn't like one of the suits but wore it anyway and didn't show any displeasure at it. I wound up using one of her photos as the main photo for the center spread and found out later that the other model had been telling her that I had my favorites already picked out and that none of the two's photos would make it in.

I used them both actually but the other one choose to leave early and took Berta with her so there wasn't a lot of shots of them. Still, Berta realized that I was professional and that saved me the next year.


I wrote a swimsuit fashion story for that issue and we also ran the Spring Break story on the bottom of the page. On the jump page I ran a pic of E as the main image. I added a lot more bricks and ran other photos and the story in a section that looked like it had been knocked out. The photo had been set up as a traditional pretty girl laying on a wall shot, but I handed E a watergun and told her to look like she planned to use it. The expression was fantastic and she shot me almost immediatly after the shutter clicked.

E had started working for a major swimsuit manufacturer and was not going to be allowed to shoot with us that year. I'd asked her to come along because I liked having her on set. She always laughed freely and constantly offered constructive critiques. I've never seen her offer advise to a model wher the photo didn't come out 10-times better for it. Fortunately, the specifics of why she could't model were that she couldn't be photographed in anyone elses designs. As the manufacturere never returned any of my calls or e-mails we were stuck. Until she pointed out to her boss that she'd recently bought three suits from them for her honeymoon trip. So we sidestepped the issue by having her wear only those outfits.

E's sister D is also stunning and professional and fun on a shoot. Cindy impressed me by showing up and looking fantastic despite having the flu. She didn't want to let us down and the photos were fantastic. She is always professional and funny. And all three ofthe models impressed me with their willingness to try something and then add to it.

The boys were funny too. Richard was quiet but smart and funny and Juber was much louder but also funny and sharp. I think everyone there got to hear him joke about his being thankful of getting a Brazillian when he gamingly donned the bannana hammocks (as he called them).

My editors didn't let me use any of the photos of him in the speedo style suit but I still argue that good for the goose should have applied and women's suits are no less revealing. Still, the photos are some of my favorites and I used a pair to do something of a 007 spoof. Or at least it's one in my head.

The next year, the sisters were unavailable, the boys were unavailable and Cindy had become a band teacher at a local Jr. high so modeling in a swimsuit issue could have been a problem. So I really had no models. A friend of my sisters, B, said she'd do it and I managed to find Berta from the year before but didn't hold out much hope when I called her. That's when I learned what she'd been told and came to learn was false the year before. She promised to check her schedule and would call me the next day.

That night she called me to let me know that she and pointed out that she had some friends that were models and some wanted to be in the issue as well. She e-mailed me photos and confirmed who could do the shoots. She really saved me that year as I'd had only a single inexperienced model and I now had 5 with experience as well.

I arranged the suits and now that the manufacturers had seen the issue from the previous year, they let me get the suits wet allowing that the girls could even dive into the water's at the local beach, South Padre Island. I also arranged a primary shoot at a local hotel where we were allowed to use the pools and grounds.

The next weekend we went to take photos at the beach and most of the models were actually booked so there was just B, Berta and her friend Mari who was very professional and because of her skills, provided me with the first shoot where I had a makeup and hair artist. She also switched up the way she tied one of the suits making it work even better than the standard over the shoulder's style. We shot most of the day with the three until B had to leave and the rest of the ladies joined us for night shooting and brought along another model with curly locks.

It's always fun to be on a set where everyone gets along and to watch the girls swarm around the new model (I always take model release forms to shoots fortunately) and help choose the best suits for her and giving her advise was one of the sweetest moments I think I've experienced. One of the ladies had her heart set on one suit but thought her new friend Naria would look great in it so she deferred the suit to Naria. I remembered that selflessness when designing the pages making sure that the two jump pages included images that showcased her legs (her favorite feature) and added the splashing out of the water to the double truck. I would have used the photos of the suits either way, but selflessness should never be unrewarded.

It was one of the most fun shoots I've ever been at and on the drive home I felt a warm feeling when I realized the shooter had deferred to me throughout the day and the previous shoot as well. (He'd fought me tooth and nail to make sure the images were glam until that year. He actually told me later that he'd realized I would make his pix look great no matter what so he'd stopped worrying.) I'd managed to pull off a pair of professional and wonderfully fun shoots.

As usual I let the models keep the accessories that they wanted and provided each of them with a CD of their efforts as well.

The mag was cancelled later that year but the swimsuit issues still stand as bright spots in my carreer. I was able to organize them from knowing nothing about doing such. I also think I improved the issue every year, the last year the section editor, whom I've a great deal of respect for, said that he was surprised by my story as I had been pretty rough when he'd started there three years previously. He said my story felt like an AP fashion story. He'd only added a pair of commas and a paragraph break.

While I've been told by the SE, the previous SE and many others at the paper that I was doing 90% of the work on the mag, I was never allowed to just take it over except for the swimsuit issues. And, while my name was never in the editor slot, I was always the one congratulated for it by co-workers. Which is another great feeling.

People assume that I liked the swimsuit issue because I got to work with photos of beautiful women. The truth is, I think I did a great job on it. Not because it was photos of beautiful women, but because it did what it was suppossed to, and I knew I was responsible for every inch. And others did too.