Yes...I was once...a CARRIER. I grew up in Berwyn, IL. This was in the BERWYN LIFE in '69 or '70, when I was in 8th grade. I liked English class, but the writer of this piece didn't seem familiar with it. The SPORTS thing was total BS. As stated elsewhere, I HATED sports as a kid, but you filled out a questionnaire for this, and of course a BOY would LOVE sports, right? Answering this way was designed to lessen the heat I was taking at the time for sucking at sports. The owning a comic store never happened, but that was for the best. By the time I'd have been old enough to run one, I wouldn't have been willing to sell the books coming out at that time...

Me, in my upstairs bedroom in Berwyn, IL...I'd guess around 1969 (check out the vending machine PEACE SIGN necklace hanging from the ceiling).... mandatory felt PEANUTS banner on the wall (I loved those), framed picture I'd colored (from a BATMAN coloring book--contemporary comics fans don't know what it was like to grow up in an era where you practically HAD to make your own room decor to declare your love of comics...My artist friend Gary Ricker used to do these huge watercolored Kirby panel blow-ups...Another artist friend, Russ Maheras papered his wall with actual comic covers...I used to send favorite books to work with my dad, so I could hang BLACK & WHITE XEROXES on my wall...), and of course, a COMIC BOOK.

I was a full-blown MARVELMANIAC by then, but I've always loved and collected all kinds of comics. I loved Dan DeCarlo's ARCHIE work (this book wouldn't be DeCarlo, except for the cover), and I always felt a strong identification with Jughead...

My earliest "Fandom" photo--1972--In Joe Sarno's basement "comic shop" (this was before his ACTUAL store,( which was one of the first in Chicago) with Gary Ricker, Gary John Reynolds, Chuck Fiala, George Breo, and the man himself!

The 2 Garys, Chuck & I "made the rounds" every Saturday to Joe's and other shops (Larry's, MGM, George's)...

Chuck published the fanzine FVP, Ricker GARY RICKER'S ALL-TIME ALL-TIME, Breo CHRONICLE...Reynolds & I contributed.

I met Alan Jim Hanley, Russ Maheras, & other friends-to-be here... Chuck Schaden's "THOSE WERE THE DAYS" OTR show was probably playing on the radio...those WERE the days! — with Me, Charlie Brown, Gary Ricker, Gary John Reynolds, George Breo, Chuck Fiala, Mmmmm...COMICS!!!, Joe Sarno and Basement Door (Entry).

I loved Bob Clampett. He made loads of my favorite Looney Tunes, and Beany & Cecil, which I loved as a kid (still do). Chuck Fiala & I got to be friends with him thru his appearances in Chicago, and our trips to S.D., as well as letters & phone calls. He was everything I'd want a wacky veteran cartoonist to be like---he LOVED all forms of cartooning & cartoon history, he was witty and a prankster, and extremely generous and encouraging to young cartoonists like Chuck & I. Knowing him (and Sody!), and counting them as my friends, was one of the great joys of my life.

At the '76 con, we were having breakfast with Bob & family & friends (that's his daughter Cheri cracking up on the left, and the gal on the right was--I think--a niece?) , and Bob asked Shel Dorf to take a picture of us... then, just as Shel's about to snap the picture, Bob says "Have you got JIM in the picture?", and feigning like he's simply pointing at me over his shoulder, jams his index finger up my left nostril!

He left it there while insisting Shel take a couple more, to be sure we "got it".

On at least two future instances when the Clampetts, Chuck & I were together, Bob had us "re-create the finger-in-the-nose picture" while Sody snapped it (And he always remembered our postions perfectly--"Jim, you're behind my right shoulder---Chuck, you're reaching over my left shoulder--then I reach back like THIS..."). In fact, the last time we saw him before he died, at a post-speaking engagement at the U. of Chicago, we took it again. THAT'S what cartoonists do! --I loved Bob Clampett. He made loads of my favorite Looney Tunes, and Beany & Cecil, which I loved as a kid (still do). Chuck Fiala & I got to be friends with him thru his appearances in Chicago, and our trips to S.D., as well as letters & phone calls. He was everything I'd want a wacky veteran cartoonist to be like---he LOVED all forms of cartooning & cartoon history, he was witty and a prankster, and extremely generous and encouraging to young cartoonists like Chuck & I. Knowing him (and Sody!), and counting them as my friends, was one of the great joys of my life.

At the '76 con, we were having breakfast with Bob & family & friends (that's his daughter Cheri cracking up on the left, and the gal on the right was--I think--a niece?) , and Bob asked Shel Dorf to take a picture of us... then, just as Shel's about to snap the picture, Bob says "Have you got JIM in the picture?", and feigning like he's simply pointing at me over his shoulder, jams his index finger up my left nostril!

He left it there while insisting Shel take a couple more, to be sure we "got it".

On at least two future instances when the Clampetts, Chuck & I were together, Bob had us "re-create the finger-in-the-nose picture" while Sody snapped it (And he always remembered our postions perfectly--"Jim, you're behind my right shoulder---Chuck, you're reaching over my left shoulder--then I reach back like THIS..."). In fact, the last time we saw him before he died, at a post-speaking engagement at the U. of Chicago, we took it again. THAT'S what cartoonists do!

The COMIC READER-type guys at the 1978 CHICAGO COMICON: Back Row (L to R) Russ Maheras, Mike Tiefenbacher, John Tiefenbacher, Chuck Fiala. Middle: Ron Massengill, Me, Jerry Sinkovec. Bottom: (Keno) Don Rosa. Photo taken, I believe, by Joe Sarno.

At the Chicago Comic-Con.

Minneapolis Con, 1979--(L-R) John Tiefenbacher, C.C. Beck, Bob Clampett, Mike Tiefenbacher, me.

A lousy photo, but a great memory. One of the most legendary of all Disney animators, Ward Kimball toured the U.S. with a cartoon retrospective as part of Mickey Mouse’s 50th Birthday celebration, and I was able to meet him at Chicago’s famed Biograph Theatre.

In my office at DIAMOND TOYMAKERS/IMAGININGS 3, circa 1985. Beany & Cecil video poster, Captain America blacklight poster, Marx Bros AT THE CIRCUS poster above that, Steranko superGraphics Avengers #4 mini-poster, Honeymooners postcard, "MARVEL SUPERHEROES ARE HERE" black light poster (upper left), my own David & Goliath poster for David C. Cook under that, family pix, some kinda Popeye pic, my Squirrel drawing under fampix, and my Daryl Cagle MUPPETS mug on the board...

With Stan Lee in Hollywood, in his Marvel Productions office.

Animation great CHUCK JONES with yours truly, circa 1988... Despite my skeptical looking expression, i was thrilled to be chatting with Mr. J, at a CIRCLE GALLLERY Jones exhibition/birthday party in Chicago. I'd met him several yrs earlier, when Gary Ricker, Chuck Fiala & I had driven to the Detroit Triple Fan-Fair specifically to meet him (I pissed him off by asking about "BUGS BUNNY SUPERSTAR" during a Q&A)... For this event, I made a card depicting Wile E. Coyote removing his head (mask) revealing himself to be Jones. I remember giving him a copy of CRITTERS with my "LEGGO LAMB" strip in it, and him saying something like "This is really lively--that's what we like to see."

My 1987 Chicago Comic Con houseguests Don Rosa (L), Mike Tiefenbacher (R), & I pose with some of our favorite characters. (Don defiantly not garbed in yellow & white, and ironically holding the only character of the three that came from an egg...)

1995 marked the 45th anniversary of PEANUTS, and the syndicate prevailed upon Schulz to travel back to his home town of Minneapolis for a dinner (luncheon, I guess) in his honor. It was held at O'Gara's, a restaurant that stands on the original site of Schulz's father's barbershop (note art in background).

Schulz stipulated it not be attended by all media-types, but rather other cartoonists. My friend Dave Mruz was responsible for the guest list, and so I (along with my friend Neal "Pogo" Sternecky) flew from Chicago to attend. It was one of the most enjoyable days of my life, as you might assume. (Photo by Neal)

I fell in love with Dan DeCarlo's art (and Betty & Veronica) as a kid in the '60s. He's THE Archie Comics artist, but he's also just one of my favorites, period. His work was always so "fresh" & contemporary feeling--poses, costuming, patterns & psychedelia...

It's his '60s ARCHIE work that IS Dan DeCarlo for me. His earlier and later stuff (particularly for other publishers) does not hold much appeal for me, but his '60s ARCHIE work is PERFECT. It's a look and a class all its own.

He drew the cutest girls in comics (besides B&V, Josie & Melody in "Josie")...HIS Archies were the ones I wanted--BETTY & VERONICA, BETTY & ME, SHE'S JOSIE (and JOSIE--no "Pussycats", thanks), and THAT WILKIN BOY...

I met him (and his wife, Josie) once--see above--in the late '90s at this small con in Chicago, & got to tell him what his work meant to me. I don't think he'd been to a lot of cons, or met a lot of fans so into his work--he was great, but I think he thought I was a bit nuts...

He autographed my ARCHIES LP sleeve (still one of my favorite drawings by him), and the 7 pgs. of original art to a Betty & Veronica story I'd really liked as a kid (and that I'd bought in the '80s for $75.00 total!).

Visiting my pal Rich Koz on the MeTV SVENGOOLIE set to present him with a canvas print of my “Svengoolie’s Burnin’ Rubber Chicken” portrait.

Backstage in preparation for Bill Jackson's triumphal return to Chicago---in AN EVENING WITH BILL JACKSON---at the Museum of Broadcast Communications on April 5, 1995. Here Bill sculpts an aged version of The Blob, as emcee me & Cal look on... This was my first produced (CO-produced actually, cuz Bill & I put the whole thing together TOGETHER) event for the MBC. For the big Blob reveal that night, Bill called for the elderly Blob, and Calvin Engel---gamely dressed as a ditzy blond nurse---rolled the new column stand my father-in-law built for the occasion, bearing "senior citizen" Blob onstage where Bill RE-sculpted him into a newly envigorated YOUNG Blob (who was happy to be "home again"). I remember Bill sending me--in advance of his arriving in town--to the very same clay supplier he'd gone to back in his Chicago TV days to get just the right stuff... Bill wrote on the back of this photo "B.J. presents proof of his mis-spent youth playing with clay."

I first met Gary Ricker when I was around 12...I lived a block and a half away on the same street in Berwyn (Wesley Ave). I'd learned from a friend who lived across the street from him that he "collected MARVELS!" He regularly sat on his front porch, so eventually I crossed the street & met him. We became friends, and I became a regular on the front porch.

When Gary was profiled in MARVELMANIA #1 (as the very first "MARVELMANIAC OF THE MONTH"), he was contacted by Marvelmania member Chuck Fiala of suburban Burbank, Il. (a good haul from Berwyn), who wanted to "rap comics"...this led to an ongoing phone-pal scenario, and eventually to Chuck's folks driving him to Berwyn to meet Gary. Gary invited me to meet him, and the 3 Caballeros were born.

Gary's porch was the focal point of our fannish hanging out. Chuck would bring HIS fan-pal, Gary John Reynolds into the fold. I guess that made us the 4 Caballeros..or the 4 Marx Brothers (with 3 would-be Grouchos, and Reynolds as Zeppo, or Margaret Dumont--I'll let him pick)...

In my office—-the cranky look was a joke…

A gala event held in the Ballroom of the Chicago Historical Society. I made the giant Birthday card you can see in the background, which was on the dais with Studs & host Rick Kogan. My friend Abe & I were put in the VIP section, with Roger & Chaz Ebert across the aisle from us. As a Studs fan since the ‘70s, it was too cool to be there.

Me with pix from my two favorite shows, at the Chicago History Museum a few years back. I was giving a lecture on Chicago Kids TV as part of a TV History seminar series...

With Judy Hsu on the Channel 7 Morning News, promoting the "ADVERTISING'S GREATEST ICONS" exhibit (which opened the next day at Chicago’s MUSEUM OF BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS). The Raid Bugs & Pillsbury Doughboy were there, too.

From one of my guest appearances on the Dave Plier Show, discussing Kids’ TV of some sort—(puppet shows, cartoons, clowns…)

An early lunch with the WIZ-GANG--good food & better company (Heck--with three of the best artists on the planet!)...Left-me, Right-Alex Ross, Top-Hilary Barta, Bottom-Jim Wisniewski!

One of my all-time favorite music people—the great Neil Innes, of THE BONZO DOG BAND and THE RUTLES, as well as his own amazing body of personal work. This was at Beatlefest a couple years before his death. I’d met him on two occasions before—Beatlefest 2001, and at the Chicago premiere of the documentary about him, THE SEVENTH PYTHON. Each time was a treat.