MEGACON 2007 FLASHBACK: DICK GIORDANO PANEL

[MattBrady]

by Steve Ekstrom

By chance, I was on the second floor of the Orange County Convention Center at MegaCon on the afternoon of Saturday, February 17th, when a blur that resembled George Perez whizzed by me. I watched as he ran through a bevy of costumed convention goers only to duck into one of the meeting rooms. Being curious and apparently one of the very few bystanders who recognized George Perez immediately, I followed him inside.

I stumbled upon a panel that was setting up to surprise comic book legend, Dick Giordano, who is considered one of the greatest inkers in the history of comics. He was also Managing Editor at DC Comics during the ‘80s—and can be attached to DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, the inception of DC’s Vertigo line, and the successful revamps of a number of their flagship characters.

The panel, hosted by Hero Initiative President, Jim McLauchlin, was supposed to be a surprise lunch—where friends of Giordano’s were leading him to the room to eat. Dick was greeted by packed room, giving him a standing ovation.

McLauchlin introduced himself saying, “Dick has been a member of our disbursement committee [for the Hero Initiative] since day one. Dick is one of the guys who helps decide where this money goes. Dick is an absolutely huge hearted man; he’s been a rock in the organization. He’s done a million things to help us out with fundraisers—and he’s done tremendous things to keep money in our coffers so that we can turn around and give to the people who really need it. Even more importantly, the actual work, the actual artwork that he is doing for the auctions—just his mind and his heart and his conscience—that I can tell you unequivocally that I consider myself honored beyond honored to call this man a friend. Dick Giordano has been a legend in this business and he is still a legend today.”

He continued to laud Giordano saying, “[Dick] is a gentleman among gentlemen.” This brought the crowd to another standing ovation to which Jim McLauchlin then introduced several of Dick Giordano’s friends and members of the industry who had praises for Dick.

Legendary artist, George Perez said, “I can’t think of a person I’m prouder to honor than Dick. Dick was one of the first artists who gave me my first criticism.” He went onto say, “Anyone who knows Dick knows that he was always encouraging new ideas and always wanted to help new talent. It was a great pleasure having Dick Giordano who inked some of my first work—including the New Teen Titans. I was really honored that the boss man had his hands on my work. We became friends during our entire time [at DC Comics]. Dick finally hung up his editorial hat and left DC Comics—for quite a while, there was a hole in DC’s production, in DC’s heart. They are starting to get back to that and now with Dan Didio I’ve gotten to know Dan and the biggest compliment I ever gave Dan Didio […] is that I compared him to Dick Giordano. I am so happy to see bit of Dick’s heart going back into a company that I’ve loved working with so much. You couldn’t honor a nicer, gentler, more talented man than Dick Giordano. I’m very proud to have called this man a friend for a lot of years and Dick, you really deserve this.”

Adam Kubert was the next to approach the podium, saying, “Dick’s name was bandied about my house when I was about ‘this tall’. Obviously from my dad, I couldn’t speak more highly about [Dick]—his work and his career.” He closed by saying, “It was great to see you, Dick—I never thought I would get to be one of the people to honor someone as great as you.”

Drew Geraci, inker of 52, said, “You might not believe this but I always wanted to be an inker. I could tell that a good inker could elevate the quality of an artist—from one month to another, the main penciller would look substandard one month and magnificent the next—[…] when their work looked magnificent it generally meant that it had someone of your caliber on there.” Drew added, “I want to thank you for never turning in a hack job in your life. I always thought that your stuff was great. I always admired your consistency. When I look at your body of work, it was like a scrapbook of my life. I’m just grateful to be in the same business as you.”

Mike Martz said in regards to Dick Giordano, “Today is the first time I’ve ever met Dick but in the five short months I’ve been at DC, I feel like I’ve grown to know him. His presence is felt all throughout the halls, up and down, with every writer and artist who comes into the office to work on a book. It’s an honor to be here with you and on behalf of Paul Levitz, Dan Didio, Mike Carlin, and all the others at DC I thank you for your contributions to DC and the industry as a whole.”

Creator of Lady Death, Brian Pulido stated, “There is really a short list of people who have made the impact that you have made on this business not only as an administrator but as a creator. Your inks kick my ass.”

Jim McLauchlin returned to the stage to mention that a number of people who wanted to be there to honor Dick Giordano could not attend, including the Mayor of Orange County, Florida—Richard T. Crotty. The Mayor was unable to attend but he sent word via special proclamation deeming February 19, 2007 as official “Dick Giordano Day” in Orange County, Florida.

After a final standing ovation, Dick Giordano (who has hearing difficulties) took the stage, jokingly closing the panel by saying, “There were a number of great people here saying nice things about me. It’s a shame I couldn’t hear most of it. Thank you.”

[linnen]

This is wonderful to read. Mr. G was running the show when I first got into the 4-color adventures big time, and I have often said that mid-80s DC was the high-water mark for comics.

Thanks for so many years of fantastic work, sir!!

[vbartilucci]

Artists today could learn so much from Dick Giordano. His art was clean, bold, unique, didn't overshadow the pencils, and it was on time.

We need about 50 more like him.

[Garth Rockett]

A great artist who shepherded DC through some of its best years. Even today when I'm reading an old DC comic from the mid 80's I'll reread his "Meanwhile..." columns. I really liked how much behind the scenes info he shared in those columns, like why JLA/Avengers didn't happen, or how excited he was about a proposal from Alan Moore for a story about the Charlton characters (although he suggested Alan create original characters for the story instead), or the special new Frank Miller project that takes place in Batman's future....

[CitC]

his "Meanwhile..." columns

Are these the yellow boxed short pieces that showed up in the Batman book's letters pages, or is that something else? I really enjoyed reading the ones in the Bat books

[dalegon]

Dick Giordano is a wonderful guy

I remember him personally answering a letter of mine, re: my concerns on not being able to get The New Teen Titans as it had gone "direct" on me. He took time to explain what was happening in the market and why direct distribution was necessary.

His "Meanwhile..." column was always a treat and that was where I read that John Byrne was going to be re-vamping Superman, Alan Moore would be doing Watchmen and Frank Miller would be doing Dark Knight and Batman Year One.

His accounts of the day to day runnings at DC made you feel like a part of the family and is probably what made me always prefer DC over Marvel, even to this day.

I have never heard of a pro making a negative comment about him.

[Cully Hamner]

I was part of the last wave of freelancers who got into comics when Dick was still running Editorial up at at DC. I was a huge fan of the man, and still am. Not only is he simply one of the finest inkers ever to grace this business, he's one of the greatest editors ever, period. My first rejection letter as a teen was signed by Dick-- in ball-point pen, no less, so I knew it was really him!-- and I was so proud of it that I promptly framed that bad boy, and kept it on my wall for years.

I don't see him all that often these days, except maybe at a con here and there, but I'm fiercely proud to be able to consider myself a friend of his.

P.S. And as an aside, it would criminal not give a round of applause to Pat Bastienne here, too. She was DC's Talent Liaison, as well as being Dick's right arm for many years, and now she manages his art studio. Those two are a team without peer.

[Garth Rockett]

Originally Posted by CitC

Are these the yellow boxed short pieces that showed up in the Batman book's letters pages, or is that something else? I really enjoyed reading the ones in the Bat books

No, "Meanwhile..." was a full page column than ran in all DC books from around 82/83 until 87 or so (although it continued in the direct market books for a while after that, but with other DC editors or publisher Jenette Khan writing). You might be thinking of Dennis O'Neil's "From The Den" column, which I also enjoyed.

[Rob Jones]

You can check out pictures from the panel here:
http://harborcomics.com/DickGiordanoDay.htm

I've been lucky enough to work with Dick for the last couple years, and he has not only been a great techer, but also a great friend.

Not to mention all the great "behind the scenes" stories I get from him and Pat...

[Cully Hamner]

And passed along from my studiomate, Brian Stelfreeze (who doesn't have a membership on this board):

I was also one of the last members Giordano's "Easy Company." Words cannot convey the level of respect and admiration I have for this guy. I've always considered DC Comics a good company, but when Dick worked there, I considered it a great family. A quick glance at the quality of work from his hands and under his leadership can tell you more about the man than I ever could.

Dick, both the fan and pro in me thank you for being there.

[Zugernaut]

It's great to see creators honored while they're still around, rather than posthumously. And Dick Giordano is certainly deserving.

[steven_eks]

Originally Posted by Cully Hamner

P.S. And as an aside, it would criminal not give a round of applause to Pat Bastienne here, too. She was DC's Talent Liaison, as well as being Dick's right arm for many years, and now she manages his art studio. Those two are a team without peer.

Cully, you're right.

Yeah I'm sorry I had to cut the part of the program out that mentioned her--it was very brief and the background noise just overtook my little digital handheld recorder. She was on the other side of the room from me.

I couldn't make out her name--she was mentioned during Adam Kubert's passage. He mistook her as Dick's wife--she exclaimed, "I'm not his wife!" Adam kind of got embarassed (I think) and rushed off the stage--I think that's why he didn't say more.

Funny Anecdote.
Steve Ekstrom

[Cully Hamner]

It's an easy mistake to make, as inseparable as those two are...

[SaturnKnight]

Dick Giordano is one of my personal heroes in the comics industry.

It was under his tenure at DC Comics that we had such true classics of the modern comic book era such as The New Teen Titans, the Levitz/Giffen run of Legion Of Super-Heroes, Mike Grell's The Warlord, Camelot 3000, Watchmen, the DeMatteis/Giffen/Maguire Justice League, Ronin, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, George Perez's Wonder Woman, John Byrne's Superman and so, so many other truly amazing comics.

God Bless Dick Giordano. You, sir, are my hero.

[Dav G]

I started reading DC in as a kid in the late 1970s, about a year or two before Dick became the Executive editor. By 1980 or so, I was bored with a lot of DC's stuff. I took a break for 6 months, and when I eventually checked out the latest DC stuff, it was...reinvigorated.

Titles had better art, more dynamic stories, new ideas. And pretty soon, Meanwhile... columns that talked about the books, the creators, the business, that made you excited to be reading comics. It was obvious that this turnaround was achieved by Dick Giordano - he brought excitement back to DC.

Dan DiDio should be flattered to be compared to this guy; a legendary artist, and a great Exec. editor. And from all accounts - a very nice person.


Edited to echo the statement of my GL brutha SaturnKnight:

Originally Posted by SaturnKnight

God Bless Dick Giordano. You, sir, are my hero.

[Kolimar]

Very well deserved. Dick is a good combination of professionalism and talent. A true example. Whenever I read his name I get a warm feeling of satisfaction and nostalgia for those good old times.

[scarnath]

Don't know if any of you would care about this, but a year or so back I bought a book on how to draw comics written and illustrated by Dick Giordano. It was really very good. The section on inking was particularly excellent, but I guess that's no surprise, given that inking seems to be one of Mr. Giordano's greatest strengths. The book is called Draw Comics with Dick Giordano (I suppose that's appropriate!). It's pretty new, so I imagine you could find it on Amazon, or one of the book stores. I found a writing book by Peter David as well, entitled Writing for Comics with Peter David. It is also excellent.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by SaturnKnight

Dick Giordano is one of my personal heroes in the comics industry.

It was under his tenure at DC Comics that we had such true classics of the modern comic book era such as The New Teen Titans, the Levitz/Giffen run of Legion Of Super-Heroes, Mike Grell's The Warlord, Camelot 3000, Watchmen, the DeMatteis/Giffen/Maguire Justice League, Ronin, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, George Perez's Wonder Woman, John Byrne's Superman and so, so many other truly amazing comics.

God Bless Dick Giordano. You, sir, are my hero.

Seconded.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by steven_eks

I couldn't make out her name--she was mentioned during Adam Kubert's passage. He mistook her as Dick's wife--she exclaimed, "I'm not his wife!" Adam kind of got embarassed (I think) and rushed off the stage--I think that's why he didn't say more.

Heheheh... ouch... I would have turned all red and purple after that.

[GregHatfield]

I've had the opportunity to work with Dick. Impact Books, of which I am the Publicity Manager, is the publisher of Draw Comics with Dick Giordano (as well as Writing for Comics with Peter David).

Dick came up from Florida in 2005 to appear at the San Diego Con, where he participated in our Impact University panel and signed copies of his book at our booth. It was amazing to see all the people who came by, including pros, who wanted to say hi. Dick hadn't been to San Diego in a while and they were happy to see their old friend. Dick couldn't have been more gracious. It was our pleasure to work with him and we're thrilled to have his book on our list.

This honor for Dick at MegaCon is well-deserved. He's a terrific guy and we only wish him the best.

Greg Hatfield
Publicity Manager
Impact Books

[Marc Patten]

Dick Giordano has been a hero of mine since I was old enough to read the credits on the splash page. If I saw that a comic was either inked or edited by Dick, it was a keeper, and I knew I wouldn't be disappointed after I read it.

Fast forward to years later, and it's 1990. I was graduating college and I sent him a letter and asked about editorial opportunities at DC. I interviewed with him several times and although I didn't get the job (I was number 2 out of 45 candidates), we stayed in contact.

In 1996 I was living in New York City and was an editor for Crusade Entertainment. I had inherited the companies line of quality black and white titles and one book in particular, called Thundergod (a great series written by novelist Christopher Golden and pencilled by Albert Debnam) was in need of an inker. I had only one guy in mind, and that was Dick Giordano, who had retired from DC corporate life and was a full time freelancer again. The pages that came in were stunning. What was more amazing was that he fit in inking the book betweeen all his other committments and still handed it on on time. That's the sign of a true professional.

Forward a few more years and DC was coming out with a team book called "The L.A.W." featuring the Charlton characters which Dick was doing the artwork on. I pitched a feature article to Comic's Buyers Guide on the series with the hook that I was going to do a retrospective of Dick's glorious career starting with his work at Charlton in the 1960s. Dick's hearing wasn't great even then, but we still conducted the entire interview by phone, and it was a glorious 2 hours plus follow-ups that I'll never forget.

These days of my few comics related projects, I'm the freelance cover art director for CBG, and in November, we decided to do a cover feature on the new Brave and Bold comic from DC. After going around and around with DC's publicity manager, Alex Segura, on what artists might be a good fit for a cover, I suggested, Dick. What many don't realize is that while Dick is a phenomenal inker, he's also a great penciler, and had penciled and/or inked a ton of the original Brave and Bolds. As always he was a gentleman, and a true professional, and with the aid of one of my top colorists, This was the result:

http://cbgextra.com/portals/1/NtForu...1112010703.jpg
OR
http://cbgextra.com/default.aspx?tab...4&postid=19201

Dick graciously sold me the original art to this cover, and it hangs proudly in my office. He is truly an amazing living legend, and I'm proud to have know him for the last 17 years.

Congrats, Dick, you deserve all the alcolades one hundred-fold.

Marc
Destination Entertainment

[vfxdammerung]

Dick's the man. He is right up there in terms of being one of the most influential (and just flatout damn good) inkers that ever graced the funny pages. Not a single art team has excited me more than his collaboration with Neal Adams on the legendary Hard Traveling Heroes run. That was pure seminal work.

[Beetle Bomb]

Artists today could learn so much from Dick Giordano. His art was clean, bold, unique, didn't overshadow the pencils, and it was on time.

We need about 50 more like him.

I agree totally. Dick Giordano was one of the first names that really got ingrained into my head back when I was a kid reading comics. He was one of those guys, like Jim Aparo, that I just KNEW his art (and inking) right off when I saw it.

His inking of Ross Andru's art on the first Superman/Spiderman crossover is still one of my favorite things to look at. His handling of Batman is right up there with Aparo's and Adams' versions as some of the definitive/favorite version for me.

Glad he's getting his due. He's not just old school, he's professional. These guys nowadays who are too late with their work and too lazy to care should read one of his old Meanwhile columns. I remember one where he described his typical day. Starting really early in the a.m. pencilling or inking some pages, then going about other behind the scenes stuff at DC, meetings, editorial duties, etc., then back home for more art and then back up again early early to hit it all again. And he described it all with not one bit of a bragging tone.

Hey Dick, you're awesome dude! You're one of the good guys! Thanks for making me glad to be a comics reader growing up. I still enjoy hearing your name involved with things now and then.

[Cully Hamner]

Two things:

First, I just heard from Pat B. and she wanted to clarify that the incident described above involving Adam Kubert did NOT happen like that, and that Adam is well aware of who Pat is, given that she actually gave him his first job.

Second, Beetle Bomb... I'm glad you appreciate Dick as much as the rest of us do. I do, however, think it's possible to compliment him without insulting an entire generation of artists (of which I'm a part). Whether you meant it that way or not, I see this kind of thing way too often on the 'net. It's pretty rude.

[Beetle Bomb]

Second, Beetle Bomb... I'm glad you appreciate Dick as much as the rest of us do. I do, however, think it's possible to compliment him without insulting an entire generation of artists (of which I'm a part). Whether you meant it that way or not, I see this kind of thing way too often on the 'net. It's pretty rude.

4 Things...

1. I wasn't insulting a whole generation of artists. There are PLENTY of young guys/gals out there that are kicking the whole thing up a notch in terms of what's possible to do with a simple pencil. I salute them, as well as buy their books to support keeping them in the lineup.

2. I was comparing Dick's work ethic, (as did the poster I quoted), to the percentage of artists out there, many of whom WE ALL KNOW who they are, that don't have the professionalism, and/or work ethic, and/or respect for the medium that they're working in that Dick has in his little finger. I did it without naming specific names. I did it as nicely as I could. I still am. Look again at what I said:

These guys nowadays who are too late with their work and too lazy to care should read one of his old Meanwhile columns.

3. Sorry if you took it a certain way, and I might point out that one of the main reasons why you see "this kind of thing" way too often on the 'net is not necessarily because of little comic book trolls hiding behind their keyboards in cyberspace, but because longtime readers like me are consistently seeing books show up late, as well as cancelled, because of the ever-increasing throng of a small percentage of people.

4. It's also pretty rude to lump me in with those of whom you're saying you "see this thing all to often" before you've adequately thought about what I was actually saying. But I forgive you. I jump the gun sometimes myself.

BB