Forgive me if this one gets a little personal. My very long-time
friend, comics store pioneer Joe Sarno, died today from a fall that followed a
severe, long-standing illness.

A long-time science fiction fan dating back to the 1950s,
Joe started The Fantasy Collectors of Chicago in 1969, a comics-oriented pop
culture club. It was an outgrowth of the weekend gatherings he held in the
basement of his Albany Park home, which turned into a marketplace for fans to
trade and sell comics. As a teen-aged fan I was first exposed to a great many
(then) hard-to-find classics in Joe’s basement: Justice Society, Caniff’s Terry
and the Pirates, EC Comics, The Spirit. As Joe also featured related popular
culture ephemera such as movie serials, old teevee shows, old time radio and
the like, just going to his place provided a valuable education.

In 1971, Joe opened his basement to the public, becoming one
of the nation’s first dedicated comic book stores. Slightly more than a year
later, he took his basement store out to the neighborhood, opening The
Nostalgia Shop at Lawrence near Pulaski, next door to Emil’s Meat Shop. For
comics fans, it was a joy to behold. He attracted quite a number of customers
who were notorious, or would go on to assume some notoriety on their own:
Hilary Barta, Max Allan Collins, Don Glut, Jim Harmon, Walter Koenig, John
Ostrander, Alex Ross, Chuck Schaden, Mark Silvestri, Gene Siskel, Terry
Zwigoff… to name-drop but a very few. 

Over time, The Nostalgia Shop evolved into Comic Kingdom and
it changed and added locations until March 1, 2003, when age, health and a
diminishing market encouraged Joe to move his operation to the Internet.

Joe’s boundless sense of wonder and enthusiasm for the
medium was quite infectious. He loved to turn people onto stuff he enjoyed and
was always willing to listen to recommendations. He took his friendships deeply
– long after I moved to the New York area, Joe would open his store to accommodate
my schedule (and that of fellow-Chicagofan George Hagenauer, who moved to
Madison and would join me and my wife Linda), where we’d pluck goodies from his
shelves and then share lunch at the corner greasy spoon. I treasure those days.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Joe was also a
co-founder of the original Chicago Comicon, joining people including Larry
Charet, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala, Ron Massengil, George Hagenauer and myself in
producing what quickly became one of the preeminent comic book conventions in
the nation. Long since sold to Wizard World, Joe made one of his last public
appearances at the 2009 show.

Joe Sarno is survived by his wife Joan and his children
Laura, Jamie, and Adrienne.

A special tribute to Joe will be held at the Chicago Comic
& Entertainment Expo (a.k.a. C2E2) http://www.c2e2.com/  in McCormick Place on Saturday, April 17
from 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM. Panelists will include JJ Sedelmaier, George Breo,
Larry Charet, Jim Engel, Ron Masengill, Jim Wisniewski and myself. The event
will be held in room E352.

As sophists worldwide are aware, HaRav, HaGoan, HaWriter Adam-Troy Castro’s “Dear Magneto” essay is currently challenging more than 3000 years of Talmudic wisdom on the subject of homo-superior-phobia. Consequently, we stood in line, knee-deep in rain and runoff, for nearly sixteen hours along with hundreds of the revered Talmudist’s loyal chassidim, just waiting for a brucha from the tzadik… and once we’d gained an audience, we, in our unmitigated chutzpah, dared post these four kashas to the scholarly sage in the spirit of the coming festival of the Passover.

Why is Magneto different from all other super villains?
Unlike the vast majority of super-villains (among them Graviton, who “can crack the planet in two and still can’t get laid”), Magneto has character; he’s been wronged, he has a case, he’s pursued his ideals to their logical extreme and, like a tragic Shakespearean villain, it has brought him nothing but personal tragedy. He has lost his friends (Xavier), his wife (Magda), the love of his children (Wanda and Pietro), the respect of the people who could have become his community (the X-Men) and his potential (which, it’s clear, was limitless; a man with his smarts could have changed the world for the better). Magneto is a guy who made all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons, and my “open letter” can be seen as an attempt at an intervention.

How does a serious science-fiction writer read comics—sitting or reclining?
Eating.

Your X-essay is getting lots of attention–and rightly so. Is it read best when dipping or not dipping?
It must be read, footnotes and all, at one sitting for the full effect.

Which Jewish comic character would you like to write and would Doc Samson eat matzoh, or is that too high in carbs?
Benjamin J. Grimm. Or that other famous Jew, Kal-El. (Actually, I always suspected the ’70s Oliver Queen of being Jewish; he had the attitude.) I don’t know if Doc Samson eats matzoh or not, but I’m sure as hell happy that Bruce Banner doesn’t. The last thing we need is the Hulk, constipated.

Rashi notes that HaRav Adam-Troy Castro (the Hugo-, Nebula- and Stoker-nominated author who has also penned four Spider-Man novels) is also responsible for the Andrea Cort novels, EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD and THE THIRD CLAW OF GOD; and the upcoming illustrated books Z IS FOR ZOMBIE and V IS FOR VAMPIRE, both with Johnny Atomic. There’s some secret projects that he’s working on, too, but that would be telling.

For more Semitic ado about nothing, visit EVERYONE’S WRONG AND I’M RIGHT (the blog of author Clifford Meth) at thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com.

Well, you just can’t keep a good Doctor down.

76 year-old Tom Baker, the longest-running Doctor to date, will once again return to the role of the fourth Doctor in original adventures – this time for Big Finish’s full-cast audio productions. This follows this year’s Baker’s successful six-hour full-cast audio, Hornets’ Nest, for the BBC.

All Baker requested was total control to create his own stories; Big Finish, having worked with Doctors five, six, seven and eight along, agreed. They’re no fools. Thus far Big Finish has produced several hundred hours of original full-cast adventures featuring the Doctor(s) and one or more of his companions, including spin-off adventures featuring Sarah Jane Smith, the Daleks, UNIT and others.

Rumors continue to persist about Baker someday returning to the hit television show, although if you pay attention to the noise it seems he’s more interested in playing a villain than in appearing as the fourth Doctor in a crossover, although charity events might create that opportunity. Until then, we can listen to his new work and let our imagination do the heavy lifting.

All of this is according to Baker’s website, The folks at Big Finish have yet to confirm or deny.