Arlen’s Events Blog
*Click on each Event to enlarge!*
CHRIST in COMICS webinar via NY Adventure Club 4/7
FRIDAY, APRIL 7 @ 5:30pm EST:
“CHRIST IN COMICS” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
“For Jor-el so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men!”
Ever since superheroes first burst upon the American scene in the late 1930s, they have always used their mighty super powers defending the causes of “truth, justice and the American way,” to quote the famous motto of the first superhero, Superman.
But there is something more, something embedded in the superhero mythos that goes deeper than their surface feats of derring-do. Because for all of their mighty displays of super-strength, speed, flight, heightened senses or occult, supernatural powers, the greatest superpower of them all is the power of love: the love every superhero has for the people they’re protecting from harm or rescuing from the forces of evil.
Some of the most memorable stories in the history of comics have been about superheroes sacrificing their lives for their friends, families, or mankind itself. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” from John 15:13, is one of the most memorable passages in The New Testament.
So come join comic book-style illustrator and historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he explores how superheroes in American comic book history have always reflected Christological aspects of heroism and self-sacrifice, whether overtly, subconsciously or unconsciously; you’ll see some of your favorite superheroes and comic book art in ways that will make “all seem new again”!
JEWS & COMICS webinar via NY Adventure Club 4/4
TUESDAY, APRIL 4 @ 8:00pm EST:
“JEWS & COMICS: a Past & Present History” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
One day in 1933, printing salesman Max Gaines (nee Ginzburg) came up with a novel idea for newspaper promotion: he took pages of some tabloid-sized Sunday newspaper comics, folded them over twice, and stapled them on the side—creating the comic book as we know it!
That same year, two 18-year-old aspiring newspaper cartoonists from Cleveland, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, created a character whom they hoped to sell to the very newspaper syndicates who worked with Gaines: Superman! Thus began the history of comic books and superheroes, largely created by American Jews like Gaines, Siegel and Shuster, and so many others that followed!
So join comic book and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he explores the specific Jewish creation of the American superhero and its antecedents in older, ancient myths—from the Golem to Ben Grimm, as it were—and how they sparked a 20th Century American pop culture explosion that has only gained in prominence and popularity here in the 21st Century!
COMIC BOOKS & THE TWILIGHT ZONE free webinar 3/22/23
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 @ 6:00pm EST:
COMIC BOOKS & THE TWILIGHT ZONE free webinar!
According to Rod Serling’s widow, Carol, Serling was “…an admirer of fantasy and horror tales…his library was full of books by Poe and Lovecraft, Shelley and James, and work by their ‘great-grandchildren,’ published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Galaxy and If.”
But did Serling’s library include comic books, like the 1950’s E.C. science-fiction stories with twist endings that so many Twilight Zone episodes resemble?
For the answers to these and other questions—like how The Twilight Zone influenced comic books that came after the series—come to comic book and Twilight Zone historian (Visions from The Twilight Zone and The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) Arlen Schumer’s free webinar, and you’ll see The Twilight Zone, and the comic book stories that both influenced, and were influenced by, the legendary series, in ways that will make you see them all as if for the first time!
ZOOM MEETING: https://bit.ly/3ZxjqON
MEETING ID: 856 0593 2628
PASSCODE: 621743
GENE COLAN free webinar 12/22
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22 @ 5:30pm EST:
THE MARVELOUS MILIEUS OF GENE COLAN free webinar!
With the obvious exception of Jack Kirby, no other Marvel Comics artist defined the look of as many major characters as GENE COLAN (1926-2011) did during The Silver Age of Comics (1956-70)!
Upon his arrival at Marvel comics in 1965, Colan first drew the underwater hero Sub-Mariner; Colan’s figures, graceful yet powerful, were perfect for an athletic swimming hero, and gave the character a regal aura that suited his title, Prince Namor. When Marvel gave Iron Man to Colan in 1966, he commented after, ”I wanted the reader to feel his emotion at times, not just be a metal figure always looking the same. So I took some poetic license. I tried to be very subtle with it, add a little humanity to the face.”
This quality of bringing to superheroes a realistic, human side made Colan perfect for the nascent Marvel style of heroic—yet somewhat tragic—protagonists. The blind hero Daredevil blossomed under Colan’s stewardship, because he convincingly depicted the swashbuckling side of the character as well as his civilian alter ego of lawyer Matt Murdock. And Colan’s Dr. Strange stories, drawn in cinematic, chiaroscuro shadings, with panel layouts and compositions that wended and warped their way through the page, befitted the ectoplasmic, otherworldly dimensions they were set in, and are a testament to Colan’s atmospheric style, one of the most unique in the history of comic book art.
So come join comic book art historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he presents an overview of Colan’s illustrious Silver Age career, dynamically displaying his comic book panels, pages and covers so that you’ll feel like you’re seeing them for the first time!
ZOOM MEETING: https://bit.ly/3uO9LX2
MEETING ID: 880 8172 3705
PASSCODE: 628618
1964 webinar (Part 2) via NY Adventure Club 12/19
Monday, December 19 @ 5:30pm EST:
“1964: When The ’60s Became The ’60s (Part 2: July-Dec)” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
While the 20th century is packed with culturally defining moments in American entertainment history, no year was more transformative than 1964!
In a single year, American popular culture changed forever with musical moments like The Beatles’ debut on American television and Bob Dylan’s declarative “The Times They Are a-Changin'”; theatrical debuts like Fiddler on the Roof and Funny Girl (featuring Barbara Streisand); and film debuts like Mary Poppins and Goldfinger! And so much more!
So join New York Adventure Club and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as we go month-by-month through the year (Part 2 covers July-December, while last week’s Part 1 covered January-June), presenting a plethora of classic still images and vintage film clips, to uncover the artistic moments and stories that shaped 1964 into one of the greatest years in American pop culture history!
•••CAN’T MAKE IT LIVE? Register and get access to the full replay for one week!•••
GIL KANE free webinar 12/15
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15 @ 5:30pm EST:
THE ATOMIC AGE OF GIL KANE free webinar!
If the human figure is the foundation of comic book drawing–indeed, of all drawing–then its epiphany is found in the distinctive, dynamic style of Gil Kane (1926-2000), one that matured demonstrably during lengthy runs on a pair of DC Silver Age superheroes, Green Lantern and The Atom. Kane’s figurework was both a primer on structural anatomy and musculature, and a lifelong quest to endow his characters with all the grace and lyricism his drawing prowess could muster.
When he began to illustrate for Marvel in 1966, Kane paid homage to his mentor Jack Kirby by incorporating all of Kirby’s new dynamism into Kane’s own idiosyncratic style. This caused a quantum developmental leap in Kane’s own artistry, which he fed back to the field in two unlikely vehicles: a Grade-B superhero for Marvel (Captain Marvel) and a toy-based superhero for DC (Captain Action).
So come join comic book art historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he presents an overview of Kane’s illustrious Silver Age career, dynamically displaying his comic book panels, pages and covers so that you’ll feel like you’re seeing them for the first time!
ZOOM MEETING: https://bit.ly/3HmjYS6
MEETING ID: 874 7226 6598
PASSCODE: 372544
1964 webinar (Part 1) via NY Adventure Club 12/12
Monday, December 12 @ 5:30pm EST:
“1964: When The ’60s Became The ’60s (Part 1: Jan-June)” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
While the 20th century is packed with culturally defining moments in American entertainment history, no year was more transformative than 1964!
In a single year, American popular culture changed forever with musical moments like The Beatles’ debut on American television and Bob Dylan’s declarative “The Times They Are a-Changin'”; theatrical debuts like Fiddler on the Roof and Funny Girl (featuring Barbara Streisand); and film debuts like Mary Poppins and Goldfinger! And so much more!
So join New York Adventure Club and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as we go month-by-month through the year (Part 1 covers January-June, while next week’s Part 2 covers July-December), presenting a plethora of classic still images and vintage film clips, to uncover the artistic moments and stories that shaped 1964 into one of the greatest years in American pop culture history!
•••CAN’T MAKE IT LIVE? Register and get access to the full replay for one week!•••
VIVIAN MAIER webinar via NY Adventure Club 11/25
BLACK FRIDAY NIGHT, November 25 @ 8:00pm EST:
“VIVIAN MAIER: The Greatest Photographer of the 20th Century?” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
The life, career, and truly unbelievable story of American photographer VIVIAN MAIER (1926-2009) gives truth to the adage that “truth is stranger than fiction.”
How else to describe how a woman with no formal artistic training could take over 100,000 photographs in her lifetime, hardly develop or print any of them, die unknown and unmourned—and then, in the quirkiest of fates, have her works accidentally discovered posthumously by a young photographer, who brings them to public exposure and subsequent acclaim, fame and renown?
So join New York Adventure Club and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as we explore the life and career of Maier, and how her esteemed body of photographic works measures up to some of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century!
TICKETS ($10): https://bit.ly/3GzyDZr
•••CAN’T make it LIVE? Register and get access to the full replay for ONE WEEK!•••
DR WHO VisuaLecture @ DR WHO Convention 11/19
Saturday, November 19 at 6:00pm EST at MEGLOS 2022: Long Island’s DR WHO Convention:
THE VILLAINS OF DR WHO & THE ART OF PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: A VisuaLecture by Arlen Schumer
illustrator Arlen Schumer takes you through his entire process of creating the 18 individual villain portraits for his wraparound book cover illustration for the just-published book of essays, A WORLD OF DEMONS: THE VILLAINS OF DR WHO (Fayetteville Mafia Press), from photo reference to pencil drawing to final computer-colored art!
You’ll enjoy the visual journey Schumer (writer/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) takes you on, as you’ll watch from the start finished illustrations almost magically appear, step-by-step!
ALSO: Schumer will also be signing & selling 24″ x 36″ POSTERS of the wraparound book cover at his table both days of the convention!
TWILIGHT ZONE: EYE OF THE BEHOLDER free webinar 11/11
TWILIGHT ZONE: EYE OF THE BEHOLDER free webinar!
Friday, November 11th is the exact 62nd Anniversary of the original broadcast of what many consider the greatest episode of the legendary television series The Twilight Zone, “Eye of the Beholder,” written by series creator and head writer, Rod Serling (1924-75).
The script is a hallmark of Serling’s style: strong on theme, poetic dialogue, morality, and suspense, as he takes the age-old adage about beauty and gives it a thorough Twilight Zone treatment, capped by a truly unforgettable ending that burns into your brain forever. The deft direction by series luminary Douglas Heyes, stunning lighting and camerawork by TZ D.P. George T. Clemens, and the makeup masterworks of William Tuttle, are artistically audacious and utterly memorable.
So come join Twilight Zone aficionado Arlen Schumer (author/designer, Visions from The Twilight Zone) as he discusses and disseminates this timeless classic, via still images from the episode, from the series, and from the broader pop culture, itself influenced by the tremendous, lasting impact of this single, and singular Twilight Zone episode–which will, of course, be screened in its unedited-for-commercials entirety!
ZOOM MEETING: https://bit.ly/3NBn45L
MEETING ID: 849 7838 4478
PASSCODE: 124483