Message from M.A.C. « Friends/Family/Fans of Max Allan Collins

Davenport Events & Phantom Release

Tuesday, August 5th, 2014

This has been such a busy writing year so far, Barb and I did not set up a signing tour. We figured between San Diego Con this summer and Bouchercon in Long Beach this fall, a good number of fans would have access to us. But this coming weekend, we are doing two events in our home area.

First, Barb, Matt Clemens and I will be signing on Saturday, August 9, at Books-a-Million in Davenport, Iowa, 4000 East 53rd Street, from 1 pm till 2:30 (approximately). We’ll be signing SUPREME JUSTICE, ANTIQUES CON and KING OF THE WEEDS. That particular BAM! has a deep shelf of Collins (and Barbara Allan) books going beyond the new releases. Barb, Matt and I have done very few of these joint signings.

Second, the very next day – Sunday, August 10 at 2 pm – I’ll be speaking and then signing at Barnes & Noble in Davenport, 320 W. Kimberly Road. Barnes and Noble has been doing a salute to comics and pop culture over the last few weeks, and my talk will touch on ROAD TO PERDITION going from book to film. Barb will be there. Not sure yet about Matt – it will depend on whether this B & B was able to get copies of SUPREME JUSTICE in (the chain has a policy against stocking Amazon-published titles).

Also, on Paula Sands Live (KWQC TV, Channel 6, 3 PM) this coming Wednesday, August 6, Barb and I will be appearing in support of these events. Some of you outside the Channel 6 viewing area may recall Paula Sands from MOMMY 2: MOMMY’S DAY, where she appeared as herself very good-naturedly kidding her own show. I realize this appearance only means something to our section of the Midwest, but Paula has the highest-rated local show in the region.

Though we’re not doing a tour by any means, Barb and I will also be appearing this coming September 14 at Centuries & Sleuths in Chicago (actually, Forest Park). We have cut way back on book signings, for lots of reasons, but C & S is one of our favorite bookstores. It’s devoted to history and mystery and couldn’t be a better fit for us. Owner/manager Augie Alesky is one great guy – fun, funny and knowledgeable…even if he doesn’t believe in author’s discounts. (More about this signing later).

* * *

The terrific Shout! Factory has released a wonderful blu-ray of PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, which regular readers of these updates may recall is one of my favorite movies. Here’s what I said about it here a few years ago:

How ironic that that steaming piece of cheese, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, is so popular, and the great rock ‘n’ roll PHANTOM remains a cult item. Paul Williams delivers a fantastic performance and a score equal to it, parodying various rock styles and prescient about several fads to come (a Kiss-style group pre-dates Kiss here). Jessica Harper is charismatic and sings hauntingly well, and William Finley is the perfect sad, crippled, demented Phantom. For a long time Brian De Palma was my favorite contemporary director. He’s had some bad stumbles over the years, but at his best he’s hard to beat. This is the only time, however, that he perfectly merged his comic and melodramatic impulses.

Some day I may write about PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE in more depth, as I think it’s a masterpiece and one of the best films of the ‘70s – certainly my favorite film of the ‘70s. The Shout! Factory release is superior to the foreign blu-rays previously snatched up by PHANTOM phans like me, with a great transfer and wonderful special features stretched out over the blu-ray and the DVD version that’s also included. A new Paul Williams interview is particularly good, making me realize that the film is so special in the careers of Williams and De Palma because the two collaborated on this (and only this) film. Williams is revealed as virtually co-director/writer, when you realize how thoroughly he controlled the songs and their presentation. There’s a minor but annoying glitch in the commentary, where Gerrit Graham and Jessica Harper recordings overlap, but Shout! Factory (rating the only “boo” related to this release) is just shrugging that off as minor, not offering replacement discs. Get it anyway.

If you think you don’t like Paul Williams because you consider “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainbow Connection” and so on to be easy-listening fluff, well…two things. First, you’re wrong – he’s always been a great songwriter; his Three Dog Night material alone proves that (“Out in the Country,” “Family of Man,” “Old-Fashioned Love Song”). Second, the genre-hopping/slicing songs in PHANTOM are his greatest, most sophisticated work, and many of them genuinely rock. If you have avoided this film because it’s a musical (I’m talking to you, Matt Clemens), it isn’t, not in the Broadway sense. All songs here are either performed for an audience (the “Paradise” theater of the title) or on the soundtrack.

Williams, having had post-PHANTOM substance problems, cleaned up in a major way and is having a nice third act in a unique career. He is on the very short list of celebrities I’d love to meet. There’s an interesting recent documentary about him (STILL ALIVE).

By the way, I once said here that I’ve never seen a movie more times than I have KISS ME DEADLY. It’s possible I’ve watched PHANTOM more often. Back in the day, Terry Beatty and I (often accompanied by Barb) saw PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE in various movie theaters every chance we got. I’m guessing a dozen times, easy. And I’ve owned it on Beta, VHS, laserdisc and three different blu-rays.

If you’ve never seen it, get real, get with it, and you are such a lucky bastard.

A few other quick movie notes: don’t miss LUCY, the best thing Luc Besson (admittedly a wildly uneven filmmaker) has ever done. It’s a cross between a Hong Kong action movie and 2001. Very few of the critics have been smart enough to get this one. Once again, the rule pertains: if you have exposition to deliver, hire Morgan Freeman.

Don’t go near SEX TAPE. I am a Jason Segel fan going back to FREAKS AND GEEKS, but every laugh in this wretchedly written film is in the trailer…and work better in the trailer.

* * *

SUPREME JUSTICE continues to ride the Kindle bestseller charts, and has racked up (as of this writing) a dizzying 1938 reviews and an averaged four-star rating.

Here’s a very favorable SUPREME JUSTICE review from Bookgasm.

Here’s another from Bob’s on Books.

And one from Coastal Breeze News.

And this from Kingdom Books, though you have to dig a little.

For a change of pace, here’s a WRONG QUARRY review from the aptly named Point Blank.

The articles about non-superhero comic-book movies continue, with ROAD TO PERDITION scoring well.

Finally, here at my pal Lee Goldberg’s site is the full list of Scribe winners. We’re sending out the UK trophies today!

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Con, Appearances, Barbara Allan, King of the Weeds, Mike Hammer, Movie Reviews, Road to Perdition, Signings, Spillane, Supreme Justice, Trash 'n' Treasures
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Comic-Con 2014 Wrap-Up

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

Sunday, the final day of the con, found the dealer’s room surprisingly crowded, considering how many people checked out of their hotels and were gone by noon. Signings and giveaways continued, and the great last minute deals of yore were few and far between. At a major t-shirt booth, a sleazy seller told me they were doing last-day deals, and proceeded to give me the same prices that had pertained throughout the con. Still, there was a feeling of letdown and even sadness on this last day, as if air had gone out of the balloon. My day began with a very good meeting with Nick Landau of Titan over breakfast, with plans for the futures of Quarry, Mike Hammer and others you would be familiar with. I spent most of the day buying books and looking at art, while Nate and Abby got away from the con for lunch with friends, and Barb took the trolley to Mission Valley for shopping, finding some great bargains. My signing at the Hermes booth allowed some hardcore fans to find me (since my usual signing in the autograph area did not happen) and I posed for quite a few pics, including some for an X-Files site where my having written X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE makes me a minor celebrity…emphasis on minor. Hermes Books founder Dan Herman and I spoke about possible book projects.

A few overall observations…lots of foreign languages being spoken on the dealer’s room floor – this really is an international con now; poor people skills run rampant, as attendees do not know how to move effectively in a crowd, stopping mid-aisle to gawk at a booth or to do something with their phone or to take a picture; costumes are almost the rule now, with the con turning into Halloween essentially, meaning those costumes have to be really something to attract attention now (and many of them are and do); lots of older fans and pros are just not part of it anymore, and I see fewer and fewer of my contemporaries and peers. Spotted only a small handful of celebrities. Still, I had a great time, though whether we go back next year is a cliffhanger. This is one expensive experience.

Comic Con 2014
M.A.C. with Hermes Press prez Daniel Herman

Comic Con 2014
Steve Leialoha and Sergio Aragonés at M.A.C.’s signing

Comic Con 2014

Tags: Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2014
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Comic-Con 2014 Day Four

Sunday, July 27th, 2014

This was family day for us, with only a brief late afternoon foray into the packed convention center’s dealer’s room. On the elevator, I ran into an old friend, artist Jim Steranko, who looks terrific, like something out of one of his own drawings. Very nice man and always extremely gracious to me. On the same elevator, a fan told me how much he loved ROAD TO PERDITION the graphic novel and preferred it to the film – not a bad way to start the day. Barb, Nate, Abby and I spent most of the morning in and around the Marriott pool, before heading to Old Town for Mexican food at Casa Guadalajara and some fun touristy shopping. Then the con for just a little while, before going to a movie at Horton Plaza – unfortunately, the theater’s air conditioning was on the fritz and it was more like a sauna. The film, A MOST WANTED MAN, featured a dramatic performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of his last), but was perhaps too leisurely and less twisty than you’d expect from John LeCarre source material. Tomorrow is our last full day here, with a business breakfast tomorrow with Titan before going over to the con, where I have a 1 pm signing at the Hermes Booth (#1821), signing till at least 2 pm. Officially it’s for the MIKE HAMMER COMIC STRIP book, but if you’re at the con, bring anything of mine around for inscription.

Comic Con 2014

Tags: Appearances, Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2014, Signings
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Comic-Con 2014 Day Three

Saturday, July 26th, 2014

A memorable day at the San Diego Comic Con for the Collins contingent. We started off with a great breakfast at Richard Walker’s Pancake House, a tiny place with some outdoor seating and incredible food. We were seated by Richard Walker himself. Turns out the first of three Richard Walker’s Pancake Houses was and is in Schaumburg, Illinois, where Nate once worked and Barb and I frequently go on post-novel getaways. Fortified, Barb hit Horton Plaza for some shopping, while I did an art deal for a 1952 Buck Rogers strip from the Donnelly booth, where mindboggling comic art is for sale…pricey but great examples. In the afternoon, Leonard Maltin’s wife Alice got us into the very high demand panel (huge ballroom at the Hilton) announcing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s new TV show. Leonard moderated, good-naturedly taking feelthy abuse from Trimuph (and apologies from Triumph’s “trainer,” Robert Smigel.) This panel was crushingly hilarious, enlivened by the presence of Triumph’s new co-star, Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock (and Second City). This promises to be a classic duo, the sweetness of McBrayer and the sourness of Triumph. It should be a great show…”for me to poop on.” Then Barb and I (exhausted from laughter) returned to our hotel room for naps (yes, we are that old) before I returned to the convention center for a meeting with my producing partner, Ken Levin, about possible movie and TV projects. Next up was the Scribe awards, where I moderated a huge TV/movie tie-in panel (including one Nathan Collins) – there was just time for one question per panelist. I’ll provide all the winners later, but for now I’ll just announce that “So Long, Chief” by Spillane & Collins won Best Short Story, and that the panelists did just fine (and Barb helped greatly in what could have been a logistical nightmare). The evening ended with tropical drinks around the pool at the Marriott Marina.

Comic Con 2014