Titan has a wonderful new take on doing Spillane/Hammer covers, as this advance look at LADY, GO DIE! reveals. I’m a little concerned that I seem to be getting top billing here, but Mickey’s name at the bottom of the image is somewhat larger and I’m assured will catch the eye first. (The official billing, as always, puts Spillane in first position.) But it’s a striking design, isn’t it?
Speaking of Spillane, THE CONSUMMATA continues to garner fine reviews, like this widely circulated one at Blogcritics. Funny thing about this one – the presence of a comics reference (specifically Batman and Catwoman) convinces the critic that I wrote that particular line. Apparently he’s unaware of Mickey’s affiliation with (and affinity for) comics – Batman was a favorite of Mick’s, and he claimed to have written some stories for the feature, though we’ve never been able to confirm that (Mickey worked for Funnies, Inc., and a lot of his stuff was at Timely/Marvel).
The Simon & Kirby Crime Comics book that I introduced has continued to rack up great notices, often with kind words about my intro. Check out this one, and this one.
My friend and collaborator Terry Beatty and I began work on SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT over the weekend – I plotted it and provided him with script for his chapter intros and the Ellery Queen-style “Challenge to the Reader.” Terry gave an interesting interview here.
I made a mid-week Chicago day trip with another frequent collaborator, Matt Clemens, to continue preliminary work with sports radio star Mike North. Matt and I are prepping to write an “as told to” autobiography for Mike. We met with a publisher and confabbed at the great restaurant Gibson’s (on the site of Mr. Kelly’s!), and made the Sun Times. Usually me having lunch doesn’t rate major media attention….
M.A.C.
