San Diego Comic Con
Here’s My 2024 San Diego Comic Con Schedule!
Are you going to the San Diego Comic Con next week? If so, you can see me on two different panels, one of which I’m moderating, and one of which I’m not. Here’s the pertinent info for both:
On Friday, July 26th at 7:00pm, in Room 29AB, I’ll be moderating the “Epic Myths and Legends” panel. You see, I wrote an upcoming nonfiction book called The Encyclopedia of Epic Myths and Legends, and like the book, this panel will be all about the influence that ancient mythology had on modern-day pop culture. Here’s the official description of the event from the SDCC site:
The Encyclopedia of Epic Myths and Legends is a forthcoming nonfiction book by Arie Kaplan that details the influence of classic stories on contemporary pop culture. Without these myths, many of the most beloved fictional universes— everything from the Marvel and DC superheroes to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—wouldn’t exist. Moderator Arie Kaplan (Frankie and the Dragon, LEGO Star Wars: The Official Stormtrooper Training Manual) and panelists Jonita Davis (The Black Cape, We Gon’ Be Black Today: Exploration of Black Nerd Culture), Mark Hoffmeier (Legend Quest: Masters of Myth, Avengers Assemble), and Jesse J. Holland (Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther?, Star Wars: The Force Awakens—Finn’s Story) will discuss the influence these ancient myths have had on Hollywood blockbusters and comic book worldbuilding.
More info on the “Epic Myths” panel HERE.
And the second panel – the one I’m not moderating – is called “Neurotic Superheroes Across the Multiverses,” and it’s happening on Sunday July 28th at 2:30pm in Room 29CD. It’s moderated by Travis Langley and Danny Fingeroth. Here’s the official description of the event:
Dr. Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology; Spider-Man Psychology) and Danny Fingeroth (author, Superman on the Couch; editor, Spider-Man) lead this lively discussion of superhuman angst, guilt, suffering, and pain: Is Spidey the most neurotic superhero? Did Wolverine, Deadpool, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or another take the title? Or has Batman topped the list all along?
For a comparison of how superhero neuroses have manifested over the years, across multiverses, and between different media depictions, join Gerry Conway (Amazing Spider-Man; Detective Comics), Deric A. Hughes (Arrow; The Flash), Natasha Lee (Insomniac Games), Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton), Justine Mastin (Blue Box Counseling; Starship Therapise), and maybe a surprise multiverse wrecker. Could the most neurotic superhero be the most human of them all?
More info on the “Neurotic Superheroes” panel HERE.
Who will end up being the most neurotic superhero? Will it be…ME? I mean, I can hope, right? Speaking of which: I hope to see you at both of these pulse-pounding panels! (See what I did there?)
This Year, I’m Going To Comic Con…Without Going To Comic Con
Much like other big public events that are involve thousands of people huddled together in a confined space, the San Diego Comic Con is not happening this year. Not the live, in-person, analog version of Comic Con, anyway. However…
This year, SDCC is having a series of virtual panel discussions and other online events. They’ve christened the event “Comic-Con@Home.” It started yesterday, and the online programming goes until Sunday July 26th, 2020.
I’ll be appearing on a “Comic-Con@Home” panel discussion celebrating the history and legacy of E.C. Comics. The panel will be happening tomorrow, Friday July 24th, 2020, at 6pm PST/9pm EST. The other panelists will be Grant Geissman (Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics!) and Dr. Travis Langley (The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them), and the moderator will be Danny Fingeroth (A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee), who is the Walter White to my Jesse Pinkman, the Eddie Murphy to my Arsenio Hall. Together, we’ll look back on the lasting impact E.C. has had on comics and on popular culture in general. For more info (and to view the panel on YouTube), click HERE.
E.C. holds a very special place in my heart, especially since I’ve served as a writer for two E.C. titles, MAD Magazine and Tales from the Crypt. Over the years, I’ve written approximately 30 humor pieces for MAD Magazine. I was also one of the writers who worked on the 2008 relaunch of Tales from the Crypt, published by Papercutz.
More Like “The DORK Knight,” Am I Right?
Did you know that 2019 is Batman’s 80th birthday? It’s true! What would happen if the Caped Crusader actually WAS a burden on society – er, I mean an elderly person? Here’s a Nerdist article about my upcoming MAD Magazine story, “What If Batman Were Actually 80 Years Old?”
It’ll be published in the pages of MAD #9, which comes out on August 6th. Artist Pete Woods illustrated the story, and he did an incredible job. Check out the Nerdist piece (and my “What If Batman…” story in its entirety) via the link above. And click on the thumbnail on the right to see a sneak peek of the first page!
Here are a few more announcements, but if you’ve been to my blog before, you’ll know that afterwards I’ll reward your patience with a humiliating anecdote from my writing career. (So keep reading!)
Two weeks ago, at San Diego Comic Con, I signed copies of Star Wars Adventures #23. Here’s a picture of me at the signing, which took place at the IDW booth! (I wrote “Majordomo, Major Problems,” the Tales from Wild Space backup story in that issue. The story was illustrated by the amazing Drew Moss.) I’m not the only person who’s excited about Star Wars Adventures #23. The issue got a wonderful review from SciFi Pulse.
Journalist Jonita Davis interviewed me for The Black CAPE, an online publication that caters to older millennial and Gen X film and TV nerds. In the interview, I talked about “Majordomo,” as well as some of the Little Golden Books I’ve written for Penguin Random House (e.g. The Doctor Strange Little Golden Book).
In other news, I wrote the recent Scholastic children’s book Hungry Shark: The Official Shark-Tastic Guide, which is a guide to all of the characters in the Hungry Shark video game franchise. The book was the subject of a blog post on the Scholastic blog, as well as a post on the Ubisoft blog. (The Hungry Shark games are developed and published by Future Games of London and Ubisoft.)
And now that you’ve made it through the gauntlet of my announcements, I shall reward you with a humiliating anecdote. However, this anecdote will not involve my writing career. No, this anecdote is from before I even had a career. This anecdote comes from my childhood! (Ooo, spooky, right?) And it has to do with Batman, so it’s relevant to the “Batman at 80” theme of this post! Anyway, here goes…
1989 was Batman’s 50th anniversary. That’s why the first Tim Burton Batman movie was released in June of that year. But at the beginning of 1989, a TON of Bat-merchandise was unleashed upon the general public, in anticipation of the film.
Guess who bought as much of that merch as humanly possible? Guess who bought as much of that wearable merch as humanly possible? Oh, it was me, dear reader. It was me.
Allow me to elaborate: One day (in 1989), I showed up to school wearing ALL of the following:
- A Batman baseball cap
- A Batman sweatshirt
- A Batman T-shirt, worn UNDER the sweatshirt *
- A Batman belt
- Batman socks
- Batman shoes
- A Batman doll **
* See, just in case I had to remove the sweatshirt, I still wanted to show that I was an enormous Batman geek. Hence, the T-shirt.
** Okay, you can’t really WEAR a doll. But I gripped the doll tightly in one hand, signifying that it was part of the ensemble.
Yes, I showed up to school wearing all of that…stuff. And since the Batman sweatshirt was black, and so was the baseball cap, and so were the shoes and socks, I also wore black pants. They weren’t black BATMAN pants, but I’m pretty sure I was just hoping that I could somehow WILL them into being Officially Licensed Batman Pants.
How did I show up to school like that and not get endlessly bullied?
I mean, I DID get bullied, sort of, in that people walked up to me, their eyes bulged, and they exclaimed “Wow.” Then they got their friends, showed THEM what I was wearing, and their friends ALSO said, “Wow.” So I became the freak of the day, a sideshow-style curiosity that my fellow students could use to brighten up their otherwise dreary lives. Yay for them!
And it’s not like I didn’t bring it upon myself. If you drive an ice cream truck and you drive by a school, the kids are going to shout, “Hey, ice cream!” If you dress like a weirdo and walk through a school the kids are going to shout, “Hey, weirdo!”
That’s what I get for dressing up like the world’s shortest Batman movie poster. And as I’m typing this, I’m realizing that this probably also explains my present-day reluctance to wear any item of clothing that has a fictional character – or a logo advertising a fictional character – emblazoned on it. It’s a rule I have. I don’t wear clothes that turn me into a walking billboard.
But I’m trying to break that rule, especially when sticking to said rule hurts other people’s feelings. For example, as I sit here typing this blog post, I’m wearing a Star Wars T-shirt which has a picture of Han Solo and Chewbacca on it. Laid over that image is a page from the Star 
Wars screenplay. My wife bought that for me. Since I’m a writer, and I’ve worked on a few Star Wars-related projects, she thought I’d like it.
And I do. If I didn’t wear it, she would be upset by that. But what about my rule?
I mean…
I guess I can break it, just this once…
Right?