ComicSource Newsletter No. 18

Cartoon Museum to Close in Boca Raton

Was Located Across Street from ComicSource

August 20, 2001, BOCA RATON, FL. - The International Museum of Cartoon Art, located across the street from the original ComicSource building, has run out of money and must leave its ritzy Boca Raton address.

Founded by "Beatle Bailey" creator Mort Walker, the troubled museum is facing a $2 million debt, despite inital huge government grants and private donations. Walker admitted the museum has put its prime real estate Boca Raton building, valued at $3.8 million on the market in an effort to clear debt.

The museum is home to more than 160,000 comic strips, classic cartoon films and other works. Its most famous donated work is a 36-panel storyboard from the 1928 Walt Disney animated short ``Plane Crazy,'' an early Mickey Mouse appearance.

Local observers cited mismanagement and poor attendance as problems that had plagued the museum.

Cartoon Museum

The cartoon museum's income plunged from $4.2 million in 1994 - 1995 to $884,000 in 1998-1999, according to an investigation of its tax records by the South Florida Sun-Sentinal newspaper.

A museum spokesman was quoted as stating that the museum would probably relocate out of the state. The museum was founded in Connecticut in 1972 , then moved to Rye Brook, New York, before opening in Boca Raton in 1996.

Herblock Dies

Legendary Political Cartoonist

Herbert Lawrence Block, the political cartoonist who signed his editorial cartoons as "Herblock", died October 7, 2001, of pneumonia. His work won him three Pulitzer Prizes in the 55 years he worked for the Washington Post.

Block, born in Chicago on Oct. 13, 1909, began his career with the Chicago Daily News in 1929, as a conservative political cartoonist, but as the Great Depression continued, Block became an increasing critic of the Republican Hoover administration.

Four years later, Block joined the Cleveland - based Newspaper Enterprise Association, a Scripps - Howard feature service, and became a strident New Dealer.

Block won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1942, his second in 1954, and his third in 1979.

In 1946, he joined the Washington Post staff, where he remained for more than half a century.

Early in 1943, he was drafted into the Army at the age of 33. He drew cartoons, wrote articles and edited a "clipsheet" that was distributed throughout the Army, until his discharge in 1945.

Herblock

He took on Senator Joseph McCarthy, and coined the phrase "McCarthyism," as a euphemism for one who engages in political witchhunts.

A strong believer in civil liberties, he directed his cartoons against McCarthy and the House Committee on Un- American Activities.

He said he felt that there was something wrong witha group of congressmen deciding what, and who, was un-American."

During the 1952 Eisenhower - Stevenson presidential campaign, Blocks' employer, the Washington Post liked Ike, but despite the paper's official endorsement, Block supported Stevenson and continued to take shots at the general.

Eventually, his cartoon was dropped by his own paper during the final days of the campaign, but since his work continued to be syndicated in other papers, it was the Washington Post which looked ended up with egg on its face. Its competitor, the Washington Daily News ran a headline: "Where's Mr. Block?

Herblock died a week before his 92nd birthday.

Other
Herblock
Links:

Lambiek

Washington Post

The Guardian

What Is News?

You may have noticed that lately the ComicSource Newsletter has seemed more like an obituary column than a newsletter.

Depressing as it may seem, there are two very good reasons for this. Since comic books originated in the 1930s, most of the important creators and founders of the medium are reaching the end of their lifespans.

We believe that when someone who was instrumental in creating some aspect of the hobby we all enjoy has died, that that is major news of importance to all comic fans.

Whereas the latest marketing ploy by a publisher, be it this month's cross-over or a temporary superhero costume change, is of minor importance in the long run (and there are now many comic websites that provide daily updates on storyline development).

Our newsletter will remain devoted to major news events in the comics industry, such as Marvel's bankruptcy and the death of Superman's creators, and other "real world" events. And occasionally, we'll note milestones in the "comics world" (such as Superman's wedding) where appropriate.

While there may be nothing more depressing than reading obituaries, we feel it is important to memorialize those individuals without whom there might not have been a comics industry as we know it, and also, to introduce newer comics fans to those individuals.

News That's Not New

Then there's news that's not new. But we'll bring it to you anyway, as soon as we hear about it, even if it is after the fact. Case in point is the news we just received of the death (this past January) of G.B. Love.

RBCC Founder G.B. Love Dies
Was Early Fandom Pioneer

G.B. Love

G.B. Love was the driving force of comics fandom in South Florida and one of the main forces of comics fandom in its infancy.

G.B. published The Rocket's Blast, a comics fanzine, in the early 1960s, which later merged with another fanzine to become The Rocket's Blast ComiCollector, known to most simply as the RBCC. The RBCC was an expensive ($5) magazine-size publication with fan (and future pro) art and articles and tons of ads from comics fans and dealers. It was one of the first and largest forums for fans to buy and sell comics through the mail. This was in the days before comic stores and before The Buyer's Guide (later known as Comic Buyer's Guide) existed. Often, the only way for fans to get back issues was through ads in RBCC.

The RBCC also showcased fan art and many whose work appeared within its pages often went on to professional comics careers. The RBCC was also an educational forum, with rich articles devoted to comics and creators long absent from the newsstands, such as EC Comics.

If that were all that G.B. Love had done, he would definitely have earned his place in the annals of comics fandom, but he was also active on the local level. He organized the first comic book conventions in South Florida, beginning in the late 1960s in the unairconditioned Fireman's Hall in Coral Gables, and later at various American Legion Halls in Coconut Grove.

Of course, he had help from a cadre of fellow comic fans, including Jim Van Hise, Andy Warner, John Ellis, and Rick McCoy. The nucleus of South Florida Fandom would spring from those conventions, bringing together fans like Joe Kimbro, Vince Lavarello, Phil Beracha, Sam Ennis, Glen Lightfoot, Keith Sillman, Rob Miller, Jim Campbell, Mike Zeck, Mike and Rob Zarillo, Jeff Young, and Dennis Lambson (whose uncle was Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck, who had retired to Miami).

But most incredible about G.B. was that he accomplished all this while

suffering from Cerebral Palsy. Before the Americans With Disabilities Act, before handicapped ramps and handicapped parking spaces, in a time when being disabled was equated with being less than a whole person, and presumably helpless as well, G.B. Love rebuffed the stereotype.

"You didn't see young handicapped people at public gatherings back then. Society was not as accepting, there were many physical impediments, and the handicapped often felt shunned. G.B. couldn't really use his fingers, but he would sit at the admissions table and grasp the dollar bills with his gnarled hands. When he spoke, his speech was so badly affected that it often sounded more like seal utterances. But you knew that trapped in that body was an amazing person, who began each day with a reserve of more bravery and determination than most of us have to tap in a lifetime," Sillman said.

G.B. left Florida in 1974 and moved to Houston, Texas, where he co-edited a series of Star Trek books entitled "The Best of Trek." In November of 2000, he was injured in a car accident and never fully recovered. Gordon Belljohns Love died on January 17, 2001. He was 61.

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