Don Bibliography: A Flash-Gram 

Yay! I just got DC's Flash #126 (February 1962) from mycomicshop for a nice price! (It had been packaged beautifully and arrived in great shape! Thanks, mycomicshop!)

Why did I want it? I no longer had a copy and I needed one to help complete my collection of Our Stuff.

The installment of the "Flash-Grams" letters column is copyright 1961 National Periodical Publications, Inc., and I've trimmed extraneous from the scan. What's here is Don's letter - and the response by Editor Julius Schwartz.

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 Memories: Charles Schulz

Today's Morning Edition on National Public Radio included a feature on Peanuts creator Charles Schulz (November 26, 1922-February 12, 2000). It brought back memories of his kindness to fans.

When we'd written to ask him how we could buy the original art for strips that touched us, he replied that there was no charge. All we had to do was write to the syndicate, where such requests were given away on a "first come, first served" basis.

Don worked for the Cleveland Press - which carried Peanuts. That meant that Don saw comic-strip proofs in advance. It also meant that we had an added obligation to play fair. In 1972, when Don saw the strip for October 4 (copyright 1972 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.) days before it was to appear, we made a plan. Don went to the Post Office when it opened October 4 and sent our request via Air Mail Special Delivery.

No trouble for us. Thank you again, Mr. Schulz!

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Credits Where Due: Arthur Curtis

As I worked on the Don & Maggie Bibliography, I came across a credit for "Time Travel" The Fantasy of Science Fiction" in Marvel Preview #15 (Summer 1978) for Arthur Curtis.

Hmm. Don's middle name and my maiden last  name? What was up with that? And the contents-page credit called Arthur Curtis "One of SF's most perceptive critics." Um?

Then I saw why. The article was an introduction to the adaptation of Don's "Worlds Enough," which had originally appeared in Sandra Ley's 1976 Pocket Books anthology Beyond Time. Marvel Editor Rick Marschall clearly needed a perceptive critic to introduce it. Hee!

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 Memories: CBG in 1996

This photo ran in Comics Buyer's Guide #1162, as we celebrated the anniversary of the publication's creation by Alan Light, who had transferred its ownership to Krause Publications with #482.

Standing left to right in the February 23, 1996, issue: Advertising Sales Staffers Jim Owens, Cheryl Clementi, and John Diser; Advertising Sales Asst. Lori Hauser; News Editor Michael Dean; and Associate Editors John Jackson Miller, Joyce Greenholdt, and Brent Frankenhoff

Seated left to right: Advertising Sales Manager Jim Felhofer, Publisher Greg Loescher, and Editor Maggie Thompson.

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Don & Maggie Bibliography

Unknown Worlds 1976

As I began to compile a bibliography of Don and Maggie Thompson Published Stuff, I came across this. The bibliography entry would read something along the lines of Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction (Marvel) Vol. 1 1976 "Fantastic Worlds." (The table of contents says it's "A look at the fantastic world of SF fandom, conducted by two of its most celebrated members." Also on the contents page, I note that we're listed as "Staff and Such," along with Gary Friedrich, Ralph Macchio, Jim Novak, and Denise Wohl.)

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