I was at the shore last week and went to the newsstand where I had bought comics at as a kid. The proprietor said comics were selling like hot cakes, but he couldn't get enough of them into his store. He reminisced about the late 1960s, when comic books covered the whole back wall of the store. Now they were in one mostly-empty spinner rack.

He said it was mostly empty due to sales.

The first time, I went in on a Tuesday, and he said his comics would come in on Friday. I stopped back on Saturday, and the rack didn't seem to have anything new. I picked up an issue of JUGHEAD. Done-in-one and summer-y. Archie comics make great beach reading! I just wish there had been other "done-in-one" titles there that I could have picked up.

Thanks for the birthday greetings. CBG still has me being born in 1955, but, in fact, I turned 61 this August.

I read your "Middle of the Trilogy" column in CBG #1555 and was pleased to read that there was a panel with Larry Leiber, Mark Evanier, and you. I knew Larry at about the same time you did. I agree that he was the hardest working guy in comics. Also a perfect mensch. He helped me a lot with very straight-forward advice when I was penciling and sometimes inking covers for the British editions of Marvel Comics.

I have one great regret concerning Larry. Back in those days, I was coloring a lot of books. One of my "second-string" accounts was Larry's beloved RAWHIDE KID. I was so busy at that time that my ex-wife ghosted some of my coloring. I handed her the job and didn't check it.

Larry had written a sensitive Civil War era story concerning races where the final panel showed a black man. This man's race was key to the meaning of the story. My esteemed ex-mate obviously didn't bother to read the story and colored him white. It destroyed the story. Marie Severin balled me out for the gaff, but Larry never said a word.

What I really want to say - in public - is that I failed to formally apologize to Larry back then.

Larry, my friend, I'm so sorry.

Tony, could you print this apology, and possibly e-mail it to Larry as well?

This type of thing began in the British weeklies I edited for Marvel in the early 1970s. Our UK partners objected to what they called our "Reds under the bed" stories and wanted us to remove any references to Russia and Red China.

I created a new country--Bodavia--for these reprints. It was so large it encompassed citizens who looked European AND Oriental. It was also utterly evil, sworn to destroy our democratic society. The hammer-and-sickle and red star insignias on aircraft and tanks were replaced by a lightning bolt in a circle or sometimes just a lightning bolt. This didn't satisfy our UK partners entirely, but they stopped bitching and moaning when they realized we wouldn't go any further or skip these stories in the reprint cycle.

Personally, even though I thought the commie menace stories were silly, these changers struck me as even sillier. Had this decision been up to me, I would have told the Brits to go pleasure themselves.

A month or two ago, I would have said CATHY...but then the strip started getting interesting. Why? Because the Cathy/Irving relationship became the story and actually started moving forward. If this trend continues, it'll be good for the strip.

BLONDIE and HAGAR are classics. Not always funny, but funny more often than not.

I used to love ROSE IS ROSE, but it has gotten so cloying and trite I rarely read it. It would be my second choice to drop, but be prepared for outraged complaints from the religious folks. They will say it's another example of the liberal media trampling their rights by removing angels from the comics page. God save us from these people.

I'd pick GET FUZZY, which has never worked for me. I have friends who think it's terrific, but I've seen it before and better in strips like GARFIELD and LIBERTY MEADOWS.

Hmm...a new strip. Well, unless you're running BLOOM COUNTRY reprints, that's out. The new OPUS strip is Sundays only.

Is it NANCY? That's an absolutely charming strip with great artwork by the Gilchrist brothers. I met one of them at a New York City convention and they will be guests at Mid-Ohio-Con in Columbus this November. That strip would be an excellent addition to the Beacon Journal.

POPEYE remains excellent, but ANNIE is crap. Even though it's drawn by an old NYC pal of mine.

THE PHANTOM has improved of late. I have been approached to write this character three times in the past; the money was never good enough. Not surprisingly, the strip has adopted some of the ideas I proposed during these talks.

PEANUTS reprints? I'm already getting those in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and there's too much duplication of strips between the two papers as it is.

Among newer strips, there's 9 CHICKWEED LANE and JANE'S WORLD. I don't expect the latter would be seriously considered on account of its heroine is gay. The former would probably raise flags for its often sexy drawings.

Am I getting warm?

Come on, Tony! Brooklyn Bums Publications, publisher of WEIRD FAN FICTION, was none other than Chuck Spanyay and Co. My copy of issue #3 must be packed away somewhere. My copy of #1 is readily available in my file cabinet, nestled between two other arcane, oddball publications: THE WANDERING FAN and THE WILD ITRALIAN. I wonder who published those?

Perhaps Spanyay has a copy of WFF #3 that he could spare you. The bum!