Press Release from New York Center for Independent Publishing:

New York served as the model for Gotham City, inspired Will Eisner as he created the noirish adventures of The Spirit, and became a recurring character during the 1960s resurgence of Marvel in comics such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. Comics expert Peter Gutiérrez will moderate a high-energy round-table on the relationship between superheroes and their favorite hometown, followed by a wine and cheese reception provided by GraphicNovelReporter.com!

Join us and learn how comics culture has promoted potent and memorable images of New York to readers worldwide.

When:  Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: 20 W. 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

Tickets $15 for general admission, $10 for CIP Members, and $5 for students – and they’re tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Please email contact@nycip.org or call 212-764-7021 to reserve!

Speaker Bios:

Danny Fingeroth was the longtime group editor of Marvel’s Spider-Man line and the writer of many comics featuring Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men and other iconic characters. He is the author of Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society; Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, and the Rough Guide to Graphic Novels.

Peter Gutiérrez is an Eisner-nominated comics creator and a born-and-bred New Yorker who hopes that people don’t learn that he now lives in New Jersey.  Peter has written about pop culture for Graphic Novel Reporter, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Montclair Times, Screen Education, School Library Journal, Rue Morgue, the ALAN Review, and ForeWord Reviews, where he is the graphic novels columnist.

Gene Kannenberg, Jr. is the author of 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide(Collins Design, 2008) as well as articles about comics for the Comics Journal, Hogan’s Alley, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the International Journal of Comic Art, and several academic essay collections, some of which come from his 2002 Ph.D. dissertation on comics.  His new publishing house specializing in books on comic art will debut later this year.  Currently he writes graphic novel reviews for the “Ulysses ‘Seen’” website and is the director of ComicsResearch.org.

Frank Tieri is an award-winning writer and creator who has worked on some of the biggest franchises in comics including Wolverine, X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man and Batman. His current work includes: Wolverine/ Wendigo, Wolverine/Mr. X, Web of Spider-Man, and Deadpool Team-Up.

Billy Tucci is an award-winning illustrator, writer and filmmaker best known for his modern-day samurai fable Shi. Shi has been featured on every major American TV network while also garnering praise in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The character has also crossed over with many comic book icons including Daredevil, Witchblade and Wolverine. He recently completed illustrating Jonah Hex, as well as a new Shi series and several other creator-owned projects.

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• Listen Up! – “Radio Star” Tells A Tale Of Dames, Dicks And Double-Crossers

While sitting in the audience of Tanya O’Debra’s Radio Star (Directed by Peter Cook) you may be tempted to close your eyes and pretend you’re sitting around the 1941 Philco radio with Dad smoking his pipe nearby while little Sally sits on the floor doing her arithmetic and Billy works on his model air plane.  Breathe in deeply enough and you can smell that meatloaf mom is cooking!  Yes, you may be tempted, but I’d suggest keeping your eyes open to enjoy every delicious hand-in-a-tap-shoe bit of foley art you can drink in.  For while it would be just as much fun to stage direct the story in your mind’s eye, the real joy of Radio Star is watching Ms. O’Debra seamlessly transform herself from saucy dame Fanny LaRue to hard-boiled private dick, Nick McKittrick, to dopey company schlep Wally, to hearty Irish Cop with little more than a change of facial expression.   Welcome to Radio Star, where the year is 1941, the story is decidedly campy, and the anachronisms are made of easter eggs.

This show is an homage to the days of radio, and as such, you can forgive the Mac planted solidly atop Mr. J. Lincoln Hallowell, Jr.’s desk from which all the little cleverly disguised hissing and popping commercials and other Andrew Mauriello-composed ditties emerge … just as you can forgive the water bottle Ms. O’Debra sips from.  (What did radio personalities drink from back before plastic?  Glass bottles of Nehi Grape Soda?)

Radio Star is a show within a show; we’re not there to watch a woman put on a show, we’re there to pretend we’re in a different era watching a woman putting on a show – a “radio star” who has no problem acknowledging that her audience is there to watch her work, but then quickly lowers the invisible shield which allows her to get down to business. O’Debra’s version of a radio star is charming as well as talented, and while she easily could turn an arched brow toward the audience during her down time moments, throwing us an “ain’t I great?” kinda wink, she doesn’t, and that’s nicely played.

Radio Star (photo by Molly Peck)

The innuendos are plentiful and when they’re in danger of becoming too plentiful there’s a nice self-referential hand smack that acknowledges how part of  Ms. O’Debra’s joke as a playwright is seeing just how far a joke can go.  In her deft hands, she manages to give more steam to some than you’d expect.

Every now and then there was a reference that stuck out a bit and played for cheap laughs, pulling me out of the rhythm of the piece  . . . but those moments were rare.  Still, if there was any criticism I’d give to Ms. O’Debra it’s that the overall pacing of her show is so snappy and quick that slowing it down with a few clunkers isn’t necessary when laughs were already so plentiful and dialogue already so deft.  Then again, you never know what’s gotten a big laugh at a prior show, and Ms. O’Debra may know her audience better than I do … I have a feeling that if she’s keeping that Clinton joke in there, she knows it’s working for her.

Radio Star is actually on its second go-round; it’s been extended from its January run and I highly suggest that if you can get over to the Red Room over these next few days that you do so.  Radio Star will leave you with a huge appreciation for the very talented Ms. O’Debra, and a bit of a hankering for those good ole days.

~~~

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