Julie’s memorial

That’s where I was Thursday morning.

I was listening to luminaries of the comics field pay tribute to the, alas, no-longer-living legend, Julius Schwartz. Tributes came in from far and wide– Harlan’s toast was read by Brian Thomsen, tributes were given by Denny O’Neil, Michael Uslan, Mike Carlin, Jack C. Harris, Karen Berger, Tony Tollin, and the always lovely Ricia Mainhardt, amongst others, and numerous emails were read at the podium– Bob Greenberger reading for Len Wein, Neil Gaiman reading– or rather, channeling– Alan Moore.

Also saw people that I literally haven’t seen in a decade or so– Mike Catron, the publisher of Apple Press, publisher of my first comic, 101 Other Uses For A Condom (there, now you know everything), Paul Curtis, John Workman, Allan Asherman, Arlene Lo, and a few dozen others. And many folks who I see on a regular basis– Mike Friedman, Paul Kupperberg, Esther Friesner, John Ordover, and Kathleen and what’s his name. And of course, Maggie Thompson of the Comics Buyer’s Guide.

Maggie asked me for my additional notes on Julie, things I would have said at the memorial had there been time. So, onward:

I suspect that I might be the youngest person to have actually worked with Julie during his regular employment at DC Comics– I started in 1989 at about the same time Julie was retiring, and I was 20 at the time.

We didn’t interact much– I was in the production darkroom most of my hours there (which in retrospect was a blessing, as it gave my eyes a respite from the wallpaper at 666 5th, and as a result I still have the ability to differentiate between most colors of the spectrum). Julie knew my name, but that was more from the man’s memory than anything particularly outstanding about me.

How he came to really remember me: a year or so later, Julie was at I-Con, and the con had assigned him a very tall, slender pale brunette with straight hair down to her belt, named Carol. I came over and said hi to Julie– and then hi to Carol.

“Carol? You know this lady?”

“Sure I know Carol– she’s my college roommate.”

From then on, every time I saw Julie, it was usually, “Hey, kiddo,” and then after a little chit-chat, he would invariably ask, “So– how’s Carol?” And for that matter, everytime I’d see Carol afterwards, she would invariably ask, “So– how’s Julie?”

This is not unheard of. Production behind the scenes story: When DC produced the Green Lantern Archives, they didn’t reprint #1 from the film negatives– Tony Tollin had the original artwork for the entire issue. How did he get the art? Well– it seems that Julie had sent the entire artwork to a girl who had written him a letter way back when, and Tony had bought the work from her. And every time I’ve heard that story told, everybody’s response was invariably, “Yep, that’s Julie.” (And if the story isn’t true, well gosh darn it, it should be.)

The wails of hundreds of broken-hearted women are the fanfares that ushered Julie into the great beyond. Hail and farewell, big guy.