Meeting Neal Adams

 [With the sad news today of Neal Adams’ passing at age 80, I thought I’d post this piece I’ve been holding back for a while.  baggsey (Ian)]

© Forbidden Planet. Neal Adams at Forbidden Planet 16th June 1979

My good chum Nigel Brown tells me that we first met Neal Adams in Forbidden Planet at their old premises in Denmark Street, London on June 16th 1979 at a signing that Neal Adams was doing to promote a Ms Mystic art portfolio. Nigel reminds me that we had to queue around the block to get in. My mate Geoff Cousins tells me the same thing ; that he has a note in his pocket diary from those days that we headed to London on June 16th 1979 and met the great man himself. Nigel relates how Neal signed one of his comics.

I have no strong memory of any of this. Well, perhaps an inkling of remembrance of the queue outside the shop. I have no idea why. Okay - at that time I was approaching twenty and my interest in comics had waned considerably, and I was getting into pulps and private detective fiction, but surely I would remember meeting Neal Adams?  Surely I got something signed by him? But I have only the vaguest memory of it, and even the photo that Forbidden Planet published in their 40th anniversary magazine (reproduced above)  does not trigger a strong memory.

So it was 30 years later, on the evening of Friday Oct 16th, 2009 that I came across an ad that the New York Comic Con was being held at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC over the next 2 days (I’d already missed opening day ), and on a whim I resolved to head to New York City the following Saturday morning on the off-chance that  I could meet my teenage idol Neal Adams. I’d heard that he was working on a new Batman comic in collaboration with Frank Miller (which would eventually be Batman Odyssey (sans Miller)), and thought that this might be my one chance to meet the guy. 

American Airlines had a promotion for return tickets from Chicago to New York for $69 return from O’Hare to La Guardia, so I took the plunge. I could get up early, drive to the airport, get a 6:30am flight, head to the con, have lunch, and be back home that evening. I mentioned my intentions to both sons (aged 17 and 15 at the time) and they voiced their desire to accompany their middle aged Dad (presumably to stop me getting lost).

So the following morning at quarter past 10am all three of us, having landed in New York, found ourselves  in a taxi traveling past Long Island City and by 11:25am, I was shaking hands with the great man himself.

It happened this way.

When we got to the con, the doors had already opened, and as we entered the complex we were confronted by crowds of people in cosplay milling around. There were multiple Rorschachs (remember this was the year of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen).

Almost immediately I was button-holed by a number of art dealers who pressed their business cards on me (presumably assuming I was in the business). Although the NYCC is probably still the largest comic con on the East Coast (and probably has the largest number of well-known dealers) it is increasingly dominated by individuals in costume who have trouble discerning the line between reality and fantasy. This makes for an uneasy mix of professional artists and writers, long-time dealers and hordes of people for whom the Marvel and DC films dominate their waking hours (but have little interest in the comics themselves).

Anyway, having spent a while looking at original art on display behind glass display cases, we headed further into the arena along celebrity row, where actors of cult TV shows had individual booths.

We passed David Hedison of “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” fame in his own booth standing next to a model of the Nautlius on display. I didn’t ask if he’d made it himself.

Jackson Bostwick (Captain Marvel from the 1977 “Shazam!” TV series) looked lonely and depressed in his booth, with no-one stopping by. It probably didn’t help that he was lounging back on an orange plastic chair with his feet propped on the low fence at the front of the booth.

Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) was grinning, flexing his biceps, and posing with fans for photographs. Seemed a very approachable guy.

Silver haired, sharp-suited Jim Steranko was being interviewed in the main lobby by Mickey Dolenz of Monkees fame (wearing Pork-Pie hat) for a news segment.

Adam West, Julie Newmar and Adam West’s son were setting up their table getting ready for punters to pay $50 a time ("cash only please") for a photo with Mr West. [I cannot fault this approach, as both actors and comic artists rarely have Pension plans].

But we pushed further on into the hall, first past one of the many George Barris-designed  Batmobiles, then past a table where Joe Kubert had a number of fans clustering around , and then further back to the Neal Adams table, where there he was. Surrounded by his books and artwork, and no-one, NO ONE, else around. He seemed glad at the prospect of someone to talk to.

What a great conversationalist! Full of energy and ideas. He was interested in why a Brit was there on a Saturday morning? Had I flown from the UK? What did my lads think of their dear old Dad being there? We got talking. I told him what an impact the splash page of Batman #234 (Half an Evil) had had on me as a 12-year old, how it had cemented me as a Batman fan and set me off on a lifetime of comic collecting. He told me some of his future ideas for Batman Odyssey - bringing in Deadman, having Deadman inhibit the Joker’s body in the Batcave ; the attraction of straightening out long-time continuity issues in the Batman canon.

That’s when Mr Adams asked me if I’d like to get a view of the artwork he was working on for Batman Odyssey, and invited me to come behind the table and sit down further to continue our chat. He then produced his art portfolio from under the table - basically a folder comprised of two bits of hinged hardboard, sandwiched between which were all the pages he’d drawn so far for Batman Odyssey #1. Some were still pencils ; others were partially inked. He let me read them all and asked for my opinion.

You can see the smile on my face in the photo below. 

© Ian Baker. baggsey and Neal Adams, 2009

Mr Adams then mentioned that he had to head over to participate in a panel with Joe Kubert discussing their work during the Bronze Age, and would I like to sit in on it? 

So we traipsed over to a break-out conference room and my sons & I spent a couple of hours first sitting in an audience of about 40 people asking Neal and Joe questions about the genesis of many of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Sgt Rock comics, and then Joe Kubert conducted an impromptu art class, developing a comic page in real time with input from the audience. Andy Kubert teamed with his Dad in the art workshop. Considering the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fans at the Center that day, I despaired that so few were motivated to attend these sessions by the masters of the Bronze Age.

After the panel and class wrapped, my sons and I grabbed a hamburger and then caught a taxi back to La Guardia and on to home.

As we left the Jacob Javits Center my last memory is of the long Adam West table with his son managing the queue of fans, holding a fistful of tens and twenties as he collected the funds before shepherding fans alongside the trestle table to meet his Dad and Julie Newmar.

I’d turned 50 that year and meeting Neal Adams in person was quite a transformative event for me. It re-ignited my enthusiasm not only for comics, but also for my day job - reminded me that anything was possible as long as I got on my hind legs and made it happen. I remembered how back in 1971 I’d pored over Brave & Bold #93 - the Batman….and the House of Mystery team-up issue “Red Water, Crimson Death” issue - and seen the drawing of one of my heroes in the ACBA ad -  Neal Adams - and could never have imagined that one day I would meet the man who had made Batman real to me fifty years ago.