PREVIOUS NEWS • NEXT NEWS

May 23, 2001

WHAT A SHOCK to hear that Rich Morrissey died yesterday afternoon of a heart attack at age 47.  I was going to write, "My pal, Rich Morrissey," but that's insufficient.  Rich was a friend of everyone who loved comic books, especially vintage comics.  He was a frequent contributor to fanzines, comic book history projects and even to newsgroups and message boards.  A lawyer by schooling — though he preferred not to practice law — he was one of the people DC often called upon to identify writers and artists in work for which they did not have credits. A lot of history is known today — and a lot of veteran writers and artists received credit and reprint fees — because of Richard Morrissey.

And among his many other contributions to our heritage was that, in '98, he arranged for veteran DC writer John Broome to attend his one-and-only San Diego Comic Convention.  Rich not only set it all up, he paid a large chunk of the travel expense, just because he wanted to pay Broome back for all the joy his work had given to the world of comic art.  (You can read a partial transcript of the wonderful panel that took place that year by clicking here.)  Rich did it, not for personal gain, but because he just believed it oughta be done.  He was a true super-hero.

I'M TOO UPSET — and occupied, writing a lengthy obit for Comics Buyer's Guide — to post the usual recommended links 'n' gossip here.  But I did want to call everyone's attention to Joe Conason's excellent article on George W. Bush in this week's New York Observer.  Here's the link.  Even if you like George W., you might want to read it.  I personally think that a tsunami of scandal is heading his way, having to do with energy prices.  With control of the Senate edging away from the G.O.P., a lot of Republican senators are going to be hard-pressed to explain why it was necessary to investigate every rumor about the Clintons making a dollar but we needn't look twice at The Friends of Bush-Cheney making billions off oil and electricity shortages.  (Here's the joke you'll be sick of receiving in your e-mail by this time next week: "The balance of power is shifting in Washington.  The Democrats control the Senate, the Republicans control the House, and the Oil Companies control the Oval Office.")

Click here to read the previous NEWS FROM ME