Tandra Page 1201, June 17, 2012
Created on 06/17/2012
by Hanther
 
I met Julie the first time at a comic book show in Atlanta. I was selling Tandra and Julie was selling DC Comics. Julie came by, glanced over the books on my table, smiled and said they looked interesting. Then he went his way. He had other things for which he was required to attend.

I was neither annoyed nor disappointed. Tandra was simply beyond his range of interest as DC Comics were beyond my range of interest. Our two orbits simply did not connect.

I knew who Julie was, of course. He was long time editor for the Superman folks and Adam Strange, a character I loved, had been his baby. It was Julie with his footnotes at the bottom of a story panel advising me to refer to previous issue number whatever for background details of the adventure at hand that convinced me to start buying comic magazines on a regular basis and to begin saving them. Previously I only bought comics on occasion and tossed them after I had read the issue. Julie later told me the footnotes were not his idea and that he opposed their use.

I met Julie the second time at a show in Dallas / Fort Worth. I and a lady who modeled at the time for Tremaine were seated at the banquet table with Julie. The lady had been at Atlanta and talked with Julie. It was she who guided him to our table in the Dealers’ Room. Julie did not remember the lady from their Atlanta encounter. After all, as he told us, he met so many people at shows. But he was obviously taken with her and I passes the banquet dinner sitting back as the lady and Julie talked across me. The next day, a Sunday, he came to our table to talk to the lady.

When we arrived in Dallas / Fort Worth the next year, Julie was sitting at the Dealer’s Table we had reserved. He invited my lady, and reluctantly included me, to dinner with him and I had a great time listening to his tales of events in his life and people he had known. I offered to pay for the dinner, but Julie declined. He was on expense account and DC Comics would be picking up the tab.

After the dinner, I released the lady to spend as much time with Julie as he wished. They appeared to get on well together. At breakfast Sunday morning, we sat with Julie and, when I stood up to go to our table, I told my lady to remain with Julie as long as she wanted. I took the opportunity to sneak up to the pay desk and pay for Julie while I was paying for myself and the lady. DC Comics expense account be damned, I was going to buy a meal for Julie.

Julie apparently looked over the Tandra books we had for sale and made a few editorial suggestions to my lady, though he never made suggestions to me except one. He asked to be included in the Tandra story line as a butler by the name of Julie. Any request from Julie was a done deal, though it has taken ten years for Julie to appear in Tandra and Julie has, unfortunately passed away since.

But perhaps the delay is for the best.

Julie mentioned his proposed appearance and DC Comics executives claimed such an appearance would be a violation of his DC Comics contract. I can see the appearance from their perspective and understand their concern. Many corporations frown on their employees working for the competition.

But, contrariwise, Tandra has never been competition for the Superman people. Most of our readers have limited interest in cartoon figures with long underwear. I can also see there might be the concern a rogue publisher could wish to use a connection with Julie to some advantage from the DC Comics corporation. That concern is totally groundless. There is nothing I want from the Superman people and, judging from their recent and mostly club footed handling of the Superman character, there is nothing the Warner Brothers Conglomerate could do to advantage for Tandra except to stay as far away as possible. My relationship with Julie was born of respect and sustained because I came to dearly love the man as a wonderful person and I believe he chose to add me to his long list of friends. I never entertained any consideration for using Julie to promote business advantage. The issue is not that I chose to reject possible marketing advantages for matters of principle. The point is such considerations never entered my mind.

Possibly, had I introduced Julie to Tandra while he remained alive, such introduction would have made Julie uncomfortable. He could have felt I was violating a trust. Now that Julie has passed on, he is no longer under contract to the DC Comics organization. There should be no problem with the introduction of a butler in Tandra as my friend requested. I can only hope the real Julie I came to know and love can look down from that great beyond and see that the proposed butler by the name of Julie has joined the Tandra cast of characters.

Ya see, Julie, I have kept my promise.

Note on the lady referred to above. Her name is not given by purpose. She left Hanthercraft years past and has gone on to other things. I have no current contact with her and no idea what occupies her time these days. She presently has no connection with Hanthercraft by her choice and might have no wish to be reminded of activity with which she was involved years ago. Of consequence, her name is omitted by intent.

May the sun always shine on your parade!

Next Week; Introducing the Tandra Third Generation. He is armed. He is dangerous. He is ten years old. Be here for the free download Tandra Page 1202 titled “Syn” available Sunday, June 24 for your enjoyment.

Tandra...more than escapist fantasy, it’s a revolution!

Hanther