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Steve Ogden
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Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1263
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| Posted: 26 September 2010 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | 1
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Yes, he is outspoken, but I believe to a fault. I always remember the "uproar" he caused in The Comics Journal around 1980. It just seemed mean spirited to me. And, his responses in TCJ #57 was not any better.
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Chad Carter
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Joined: 16 June 2005
Posts: 9584
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| Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | 2
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It just seemed mean spirited to me. You want to clarify? What was the "uproar'?
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Derek Gardner
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Joined: 01 August 2008
Posts: 402
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| Posted: 26 September 2010 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | 3
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I admire Harlan, but find the prospect of meeting him utterly terrifying.
Based on what I've gleaned from his essays, I imagine he'd make me cry, if I so much as stuttered.
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Gary Olson
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Joined: 11 September 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 382
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| Posted: 26 September 2010 at 9:46pm | IP Logged | 4
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I met Harlan at Syncon '83, a Sydney sf con in 1983. He was a wonderful reader of his stories... he did all the voices... and speaker generally. He was also very nice to your humble correspondent. And he said something to us that I've never forgotten: "Take risks, folks... for even if you fail, you will be rewarded."
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Kevin Sharp
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Joined: 09 December 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 326
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 9:41am | IP Logged | 5
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My favorite Ellison encounter...
I was working at my LCS during college & Harlan came to town to do a reading at the bookstore down the street. He stopped into our shop to browse beforehand. I was a fan, but content to just stay behind the counter & not bug him.
We had a wall section of employee picks-of-the-week, where we each hung our favorite current issue.
He came up to me & asked (in his gruff way) "Who's Kevin?"
"I am."
He held out his hand to shake mine. "It's nice to meet someone with good taste."
Then he left.
(My issue that week was HELLBLAZER # 3.)
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Matthew McCallum
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Joined: 03 July 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 2711
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | 6
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You want to clarify? What was the "uproar'? HARLAN ELLISON AND THE COMICS JOURNAL
The lawsuit with Michael Fleischer came from comments made by Ellison during Comics Journal interview. On being asked if he, Ellison, followed any comics at the moment he mentioned that he enjoyed Michael Fleischer's work on the Spectre, making a comment to the effect that he thought Fleischer was crazy. Fleischer sued Ellison & the Journal for $2 million for defamation of character. Although the case was eventually decided in favor of Ellison & the Journal, it was during the course of this case that Ellison & Gary Groth, publisher of the Journal, began their intense feud. This feud has continued to this day with Groth's reprinting of "The Book On The Edge of Forever" by Christopher Priest and with his association with Charles Platt and the "Enemies/Victims of Ellison" Society. For more details on the lawsuit see issue 53 of the Comics Journal. For more details on the feud see issue 9 of Gauntlet, a magazine detailing issues of Free Speech and Censorship. Here's a good link that details the Fleisher lawsuit: http://news.ansible.co.uk/c_platt.html For more details on the Ellison / Groth feud, this link details a lawsuit launched by Ellison against Groth in 2006. Don't know if it's true or not, but I LOVE the phrase used to describe Groth in Ellison's complaint (which you'll see at the top of the link). Even in a legal complaint he's Harlan Ellison! http://archives.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&tas k=view&id=413&Itemid=70
Edited by Matthew McCallum on 27 September 2010 at 12:47pm
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Frank Stone
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 178
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | 7
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Since we seem to be sharing stories:
In early 1997, I attended a small convention near Fresno at which Harlan was billed as Writer Guest of Honor. The room where the guests gave their presentations was essentially a cafeteria with a small stage at the front of the room. While I was waiting in Harlan's autograph line to one side of the stage, fellow guest Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica) appeared to begin his talk/Q&A. Since the acoustics in the room were not exactly friendly to those on stage and there were a lot of people talking, Harlan asked the autograph-seeker in front of him to pass the word down the line for everyone to please quiet down out of respect for Mr. Hatch. I thought that was pretty classy of him.
When it was my turn at the head of the line, Harlan autographed my copy of Detective Comics #567, containing his Batman story "The Night of Thanks, But No Thanks", drawn by Gene Colan. He told me it was one of his favorite stories that he'd written.
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Jason Czeskleba
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Joined: 30 April 2004
Posts: 4648
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | 8
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I think the "uproar" Steve was referring to was an Ellison interview conducted by Groth in TCJ , in which they talk about Don Heck being the worst comics artist ever. If I recall correctly, Ellison began discussing an artist he considered to be awful, but couldn't recall the name. Groth offered "Don Heck?" and Ellison agreed that was him, and they went on to bash Heck for awhile. Ellison later said that he was mistaken, Heck was not the artist he was thinking of, and he apologized to Heck.
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Matthew McCallum
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Joined: 03 July 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 2711
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | 9
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Same interview. LOTS of controversy from that one! (At least Heck never sued...) For those interested, Ellison was Interviewed in TCJ Issues 53 (that's the imfamous one), 57, and 65. Issue 103 features a conversation between Ellison and Stan Lee. And Issue 115 covers the Fleisher Lawsuit in depth.
Edited by Matthew McCallum on 27 September 2010 at 4:22pm
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Jason Czeskleba
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | 10
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I've never understood why Fleisher filed that lawsuit. It seems clear that Ellison's comments about Fleisher were intended to be complimentary, and that he was not seriously questioning Fleisher's sanity.
The comments about Heck are ugly, but are part and parcel of the thuggish environment Groth cultivated in his magazine back then.
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Chad Carter
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Joined: 16 June 2005
Posts: 9584
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| Posted: 27 September 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | 11
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Fleisher sounds a bit bitchy, but maybe he didn't care for Ellison and was waiting for an excuse. Ellison is still one of comic books' most ardent, immutable supporters. I remember his boyish enthusiasm on "The Tom Synder Show" in the 1990s, when Frank Miller did a cover for Ellison's short novel just-released. Ellison is probably one of the guys who wanted to elevate the form, but I think he felt television, movies and comics were so rich with potential to do So Much More with a moron society. A society which allowed itself to be coddled, manipulated, and dumbed down. His Daredevil story "The Deadliest Night of My Life" with David Mazzuchelli is fantastic, inventive, and pulpy fun, with nary a wink or a nod to CONTINUITY.
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Tony Midyett
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Joined: 25 January 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 2834
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| Posted: 28 September 2010 at 5:45am | IP Logged | 12
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I like Ellison's runs on Hulk and Avengers. I came across them in some boxes at a flea market when I was about nine, and I credit them as being a big part of what hooked me on Marvel.
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