BSBdG: Trevor Von Eeden

Sending out one of those super-duper multi-cover tribute Bacardi Show Birthday Greetings to Trevor Von Eeden, 51 years young today.

Looking for Thriller News and Information, TCJ reader?

Way back in 2002, I created my first (and only to date) website, dedicated to spotlighting a comics series I love more than just about any other, DC's Thriller. Full of good intentions, I worked on it for months, intending for it to not only be a place where people could find out about the book, but also where I could keep people posted on the further work of the series' creators, Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden. To that effect, I put in a "News and Information" page, with a link to this blog (just in its infancy at the time!), promising to update when news came along. When I was able, via connections, to make the acquaintance of both gentlemen, and talk to them extensively on the phone as well as via mail, both snail-and-e varieties, I felt certain I would be able to do just that.

Well, as it so often does, Murphy's Law reared its ugly head.

About a year after the site went live, I had some problems with my good ol' 1999-vintage iMac, and felt like I needed to do a clean reinstall of the system files. Having been to a few rodeos, I knew I'd need to back up the important files I had on there, especially the working Freeway files that made up the pages of the website. Using a CD burner I had recently purchased, I burned the files on a disc. Or so I thought. After I had successfully reinstalled the system files, I got ready to put the Thriller site files back on, and discovered to my horror that the disc didn't burn them properly, and they were lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry. Of course, hindsight being 20/20, I know now that I should have checked the disc before I proceeded with the reinstall. Be that as it may, the upshot is that I now have no way of editing the files that you see on that site, because they're merely picture files, like jpegs, with no elements for me to select and manipulate.

And it's been that way now for almost six years. As with so many things in my life, I keep saying that I'm going to get around to redesigning the damn thing, and create new files that I can edit, and for the love of Pete back them up properly. I also want to get it off Angelfire.com, with its multitudes of popups, and on a domain of my very own. But I am nothing if not a procrastinator, and also have the disadvantage of having created it initially on Freeway, an application that I have for Mac OS9 but nothing newer. Also, I've kinda forgotten how to do a lot of the stuff I did to create the site in the first place- as I know from my jobs in printing and graphic design, sometimes software apps are like riding bicycles, things will come back to you if you get going with it, but unfortunately the good ol' indigo iMac isn't working so well anymore and the only other place I have access to OS9-enabled computers is at my job, and frankly, I don't want to spend the time there to do anything more than I have to. I have been trying to learn to use Adobe Dreamweaver on my laptop (which isn't really mine, and will have to be sent back soon), but it's not so easy to just fall right in and get started with that. Also, I've had Wordpress suggested to me, but it seems more geared towards creating and maintaining a blog, rather than the dedicated website I want the new Thriller site to be. Plus, I downloaded it at work and it made no sense, plus, it seemed like I needed to have my domain in place, which I don't. So. SOMEDAY I will get my ducks in order and redo the website. I want to get a new laptop, and I'd build it on that. But it doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon, so we're stuck with what I have right now.

Sorry to ramble on like that, but I just wanted to explain to those of you who are coming here from there what's going on with the site, and why it hasn't been updated since 2003. I have tons of cool stuff to share that I didn't have then, including copies of Fleming's scripts for issues #'s 1-7, and some Von Eeden art which he did for me, as well as some correspondence that mentioned a lot of the controversial things he discusses in the Comics Journal interview which comes out this week, today as a matter of fact. If I can ever get the site redone, all of it will be there.

And as far as news and information goes, of course, there has been no sign of the Thriller series, at least in the pages of DC comics today. No hints of a revival, either, which, given the way things tend to be brought back at DC these days, may be a very good thing. Bob Fleming was out of comics for several years in this decade, but recently made a return, along with co-scripter Keith Giffen, to the title for which he's probably best-known, Ambush Bug, via the recent miniseries that has yet to see its final issue released. Hopefully we'll see more from him in the future. Trevor Von Eeden has had a somewhat higher profile, especially in the last few years via his Jack Johnson bio comic that ran on Comicmix.com for a while, as well as the Journal interview which may be the reason you're here, due to its citing of the Thriller site (for which I owe Michael Fiffe big-time; I've always wanted to be published in the Journal, and it looks like that's as close as I'll ever get!). Trevor also has really increased his online profile as well via a Facebook page and a brand spankin' new website, for which I'm supposed to write a Thriller summary, and of course I'm way overdue in getting it done.

OK, that's all I got- thanks for reading, and if any news pops up about Thriller or its creators, be sure I will relay it here.

BTW, the page excerpt above is from Thriller #7, Bob and Trevor's last issue together. Von Eeden wasn't happy with his art in this later period, but I think it looks just fine.

Thank You and Bad Afternoon.

As I slowly, but surely, do comics reviews (12 capsules done, 28 more to go...), I thought it might be neat to put this up for all to see, having recently...acquired...a set of scanned issues of that comics series that I tend to run on about,Thriller.

Of course, one of the issues included in this set was the last one, #12. And in those dim and distant days, comics used to have these things called "letters pages", in which people just like you and me could sit down at a typewriter and bang out a missive of condemnation or praise or just plain weirdness. As I was growing up, I did a fair amount of said letter writing, desiring to get my opinions out there, and this was the only game in town for that sort of thing. These days, we have blogs for that but like I said, this was a long time ago, 1984 (beware the savage lore) as a matter of fact. Young David Allen Jones, every bit of 24 years of age, in the prime of his life and infatuated with that weird-ass Thriller comic that DC had been putting out, was nevertheless quite dismayed by recent events involving his beloved book, seeing original creators Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden suddenly bail on the series that they had (by all appearances, not a half-year ago) sought to hitch their respective wagons to stardom on, with very little in the way of explanation...and they were replaced by Bill Dubay, whose previous work had mostly been in service of Jim Warren, and the even-then-legendary artist Alex Nino, also a Warren vet but also branching out into other endeavors- and if DC had drawn names at random out of a hat (and I'm not sure they didn't do this), they couldn't have come up with two less likely people to continue the series, especially in the unique style which had captivated young Dave (and precious few others, it seems) so.

OK, I'll stop the cutesy third person stuff now.

Anyway, I was quite dismayed by what I saw after reading Thriller #9, and sat down at the typewriter at my in-laws' office (mine was busted) to compose what would be my last appearance in a lettercol (short for letter column, another fannish name), well, probably ever. I still remember sitting in the empty office (it was on Saturday, I think) and batting that thing out. Anyway, and I think you've figured this out by now, you will see that letter, in its entirety, above. It features a less jaded me, I think, as well as a more naive one, and certainly not one who is as, shall we say, knowledgeable about the way things go in the comics biz these days. Remember, we didn't have access to the people who made the funnybooks in 1984 like we do now...even at 24, these men were distant and mysterious, and I wouldn't have dreamed that 18 years later, I would go on to contact, and even dare I say befriend, both of the men responsible for the creation of the comic I cared about so deeply and grabbed my even-then fading imagination so hard. When I reread this thing now, I am alternately proud and cringing inside- I make some truly dumb assumptions and sound like the kind of geek we all make fun of now mercilessly in others. Still, I think I made my point- this new team was nowhere near a patch on what we had been given before- and hey! I got a letter printed in what was left of my favorite comic series of the 1980's! The beer offer still stands, by the way.

So here it is, make of it what you will. Of course, click to embiggen.

Oh, and yes, this scan acquisitioning is part of my long-delayed commitment to revamping my Thriller webpage; to get it off Angelfire with its myriads of popups, and add a lot of the neat stuff I've gotten from both Trevor and Bob since it went live back in 2002. I'm taking a crash course in Dreamweaver at this very minute, and despite the fact that I will soon lose my laptop, and thusly will have less Web time until I get a new one, I hope to get started with the reconstruction this Fall, maybe later this Summer even. These scans will help immensely, keeping me from having to dig out and rescan my copies. Keep watching the skies!

FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

After a break of a few weeks, I'm stepping back in to Spacebooger's virtual squared circle. The theme this time is onomatopoeia, and I think the above is a fine example of that in spades as Robin kicks obscure bad guy booty. Credit Where Credit is Due Dept.: This page is from 2002's Legends of the Dark Knight # 151, writing by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Trevor Von Eeden, and inks by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and originally was scanned by LJ user Zegas as part of his ongoing Von Eeden appreciation series on scans_daily, something I can certainly get behind.

SPACEBOOGER SAID KNOCK YOU OUT.

Sending out Bacardi Show Birthday Greetings to Thriller artist TREVOR VON EEDEN.

Don't know what the status of the Jack Johnson project is right now; hopefully the rough spots are being smoothed out so we can see this thing sooner rather than later.




Oh- also, My dear Mrs. B is celebrating another trip around the sun as well...but she said not to write about it on the blog. Oops!

A JBS EXCLUSIVE!



I recently had occasion to exchange an email or two with artist Trevor Von Eeden, and he passed these scans along to me of his latest work-in-progress: an ambitious-sounding biography of boxer Jack Johnson in which he not only plans to detail the man's life, but also comment on the issue of racial strife in our country. In his words:

My book will be the first about America's first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson--that was NOT written by a white man! It's my view of American Racism--from the p.o.v. of one man, who conquered Racist Early America--simply because he, himself was NOT racist! Most books talk about Jack's material successes. Mine will be about the reason behind those successes.

My book is intended to show that the heady narcotic of self-delusion that is racism, hurts BOTH the racist and his victim. An entire country bet money against the giant Jack Johnson, in favor of first Tommy Burns--a midget who was half Jack's size, then Jim Jeffries--an old man past his prime, simply because they were white, and Jack was black. I look at the films of the Burns fight, when Jack won the title, and I still can't believe that any man in his right mind would even consider betting on Burns to win! But they did--an entire country did. That's how much racism can distort a man's perception of even the most basic facts of reality.

My book deals with the solution to racism--Humanity. As far as I'm concerned, EVERY human being represents the Human Race. You can be human, or you can be racist. Simple. It's about choice, not color. "Black" racists are just as vile as "white" racists.

Here's the last sentence in Jack's Autobiography--and the reason I chose to write about him: "As I look back on the life I've led, and compare it to the lives of my contemporaries, I feel that mine has been a full life, and above all, A HUMAN LIFE." My emphasis on the last three words. That's the man I'm writing about.


To the best of my knowledge, this is one of, if not THE first, attempts at scripting by Von Eeden, and more than the art in the samples above, which is some of the most committed I've seen from him since the 1980's, it's his writing that impresses me- it's not overheated or excessive, and it gets across what he's trying to say very well. As I understand it, it's going to be 240 pages, and will be serialized at ComicMix- hopefully, it will someday see print.

Thanks to TVE for passing it along, and giving me permission to post these images.