It might not mean anything to some of you but it means something to me.
20 years ago my very first full length comic work Diary of the Black Widow was published!! First as a three parter and then as a graphic novel. And then much later collected with it's sequel The Spaghetti Strand Murder.
Enjoyed by some. Reviled by some others. Love it or hate it, it was a graphic novel.
And I'm planning on releasing a 20th Anniversary edition. So stay tuned!!
Actually the first anthology I worked on with him was titled the Big Sleep. A lot of fun and it was my first deep dive into actually finishing a comic art project which would lead me to completing my first graphic novel Diary of the Black Widow. So I owe a lot of that to Andy.
The last few days have been rough. I've been through it before but it never gets any easier. Besides Andy, two friends of mine lost a loved one as well. One lost their Father and the other their Mother. And I went to pay my respects to both.
My wife and I went to Andys calling hours on Tuesday. It was such a nice turn out and it spoke volumes the kind of person he was and how many people's lives he touched just by being a good person. They also had a lot of his comic art and illustrations on display as well as the toys and memorabilia he collected and decorated his studio with. Even the quote on his prayer card was from The Wolfman. Andy loved the Universal Monster Movies.
The memorial service was sad but a nice send off for Andy. His son's did him proud talking about their father and again, it was a nice turn out.
I don't do well with grief. I never have. But I feel like the statement "You'll get over it" is callous because you never really do because there's a void in your life where that person used to be. I have an Aunt who passed in 1999 and I'm still brought to tears when I hear Claire de Lune by Debussy. My grandparents have been gone for over 20 years. And I still tear up when I hear We'll Meet Again sung by Vera Lynn or Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller.
I feel like grief changes over time as the fond memories of the person come to the forefront of your mind more and more. But "get over it"? I don't think so.
I'll remember the good times I had with Andy. The lessons I learned. The advice he gave me. Talking endlessly about old movies and Batman. A character we both enjoyed despite Bob Kane being a first class putz.
It's going to take a while to process my grief. But I won't be "getting over it".
Andy was like the older brother I would have wanted. I didn't have an older brother because I WAS the older brother. But I would have wanted him to be just like Andy.
Andy had also helped me through by own grief back in 2005 and 2006. In the stretch of a year I lost both my Grandparents. Andy knew them as well and had a great deal of fondness for both of them.
He especially had a great deal of respect and admiration for my grandfather. That and my Grandfather was just a very easy person to like. He had a very kind soft spoken nature and made everyone he talked to feel like the most important person in the room.
My grandfather's death hit me the hardest. I had been very close to him. Andy knew how much it affected me and we talked about it quite a bit.
Andy at one point said, "Your Grandfather seemed like the type of person that would have lived forever" and honestly I couldn't have agreed with that statement more.
And I feel like that statement applies to Andy as well.
If he was short with you, it meant he liked you. He was the type of person who couldn't be bothered with someone he didn't like. And if he was giving you a "older brother" type of talking to, it came from a place of experience and he was hoping to steer you on the right path from his own experiences.
Andy also taught me not to be jealous of anyone else's successes. And to be honest, THAT'S the best outlook to have. Its a pointless and destructive to be hateful and bitter. It's all too easy to look at someone else's success and fall into that trap of constantly saying "Why did they get all the luck"?
Well, that person you're accusing of having nothing but "lucky breaks"might've worked their collective tails off to get where they are. You don't know their story. And being in the right place at the right time isn't a bad thing.
Thats why us creative types do all these shows. You could do 86 of em where you're basically the invisible man and make enough for gas money.
Heck, I did a show where what little I made went into lodging and I barely had enough for gas money. I did another where I barely broke even and then almost broke my neck driving 16 hours straight. By the way, never drive 16 hours straight. It's just as dangerous as driving intoxicated. Maybe worse.
But then there's that one show where you meet that one right person (or persons) who likes your work. And the next thing you know you're working on that dream project. Or string of projects.
That's the outlook Andy Fish imparted on me. You need to work hard to get where you want go. Sitting around and complaining about how everyone gets all the breaks won't do anything. You've got to get out there and make your own luck.
I have always been proud of both Andy and Veronica's success because I know how hard they've worked to achieve it. And in return they've always been kind and encouraging to me.
I have been very moved by the outpouring of love towards Andy I've seen over the past few days since he left us. It speaks volumes to the type of person he was and the lives he's touched just by being a decent human being.
Andy lives on through his wife Veronica (who was the best person to be with him), his three sons (all great people who made Andy proud) and all the family and friends who were blessed to know.
It's going to take some time to process my grief. Something I feel like I've never been good at. But it definitely would have been a much sadder world if I never met Andy Fish at all.
I feel like I've known Andy Fish forever. His son Joe would come over to my grandparents house to play when my cousin Jae was visiting from California.
But I feel like I got to know Andy better when we worked at the Worcester Art Museum together. A talented artist and writer. Honest and never pulled his punches.
We both shared a love for old movies of the 30s and 40s. Especially film noir, movie serials, the Marx Brothers and Andy even eventually won me over on the Basil Rathbone WWII Sherlock Holmes series (although we both agree Nigel Bruce is the most slappable Watson of all the various adaptations) which I avoided but admittingly find enjoyable.
We both also shared an appreciation for Batman. And a shared dislike for Batman co-creator Bob Kane. Who, as Andy has stated, lived the life of Bruce Wayne while leaving Bill Finger to die in poverty.
We both enjoyed the 1966 Batman television series and the storied Andy told me about working with Adam West on projects were incredibly entertaining and made me appreciate Wests offbeat sense of humor all the more.
He was very particular about his Batmen and we'd have longish discussions on the subject of Batman adapted onto the screen.
Above all, Andy was a good father to his son's Matt, Joe and Adam. And a loyal husband to his wife Veronica. And a good friend to many of us who had the privilege of knowing him.
I'll miss you Andy and my heart goes out to Veronica, Matt, Joe, Adam and all his family and friends right now.
My Grandfather (who Andy had a great respect for) used to end his letters home during WWII with the words "Goodbye for now". Which I feel like is fitting.
Goodbye for now, Andy. You will be missed.
Sometime between 2013 to 2016 I decided to learn ukulele. I've never been musically savvy. I can't sing and I throughout my younger years learning an instrument was something I wanted to do but I had trouble wrapping my brain around. But I loved the videos of Peter Sellers playing the ukulele on talk shows as well as George Harrisons love for the instrument. He used to keep ukulele's in the boot (trunk) of his car because as he put it, "You never know when you might need a ukulele".
So for my 37th Birthday my wife got me my first ukulele (as seen above) and thanks to the tutelage of a talented friend from Worcester, I got a basic understanding of the general mechanics of the instrument.
I own probably about 12 now.
Do I have delusions of a recording career? Heavens no!! I just like to sit down in quiet moments and strum to myself. Or from time to time play along with friends. It's just fun for me.
I've done a couple of projects over the past couple years where I felt like I needed to take a back seat in the art department and handed over the wheel to two VERY talented artists.
The first is Paul Loudon.
Second Beach in Middletown RI is my wife and my go to beach day destination. We had our honeymoon down in Newport back in 2011. It's an area we both love.
Movie studios weren't as precious about keeping deleted scenes as they are now. But I was able to find a script online which did contain the scenes ultimately removed from the final film.
My dream project would be to do a graphic novel of the Private Life of Sherlock Holmes which includes ALL the scenes left on the cutting room floor.
I started towards doing that by adapting one if those scenes into a quick comic book which I brought to 221B Con a couple years ago.
Cover seen above.
But I may try to adapt another scenes before 221B Con next year. We shall see...
Late July I did what was probably my longest journey. Which I think beat out both Atlanta and Chicago by an hour or so going to my very first Sherlock Holmes conference in St. Louis.
I had a lot of fun. Met a lot of great fellow Sherlockians. Did a few nice commissions. And I got to see the World's Fair Exhibit at the Historical Museum.
Unlike my last trips, I decided to break my journey into three separate stops. First in Ohio, and then Indiana before finally making it to my destination. The last couple years to Atlanta, I'd drive 13 hours to North Carolina before making it to Atlanta. And its honestly exhausting. Doing this definitely helped. But here are a few highlights from my trip out to the Midwest.
