October Sad Month For Pop-Culture Fans

While nowhere as prolific as this year's infamous "summer of death," October has been a sad month for pop-culture fans, with several passings that I wanted to take note of but haven't had the chance to until now.

First, kiddie TV host Soupy Sales has just passed. By the time I was a child of TV-viewing age (you know, three months+), his show had been off the air – but I got to know him through his many appearances on talk shows, game shows, etc. The Soupy Sales show was like interpretative jazz for youngsters...I don't know how else to explain it. He never talked down to his viewers, and often seemed to be maintaining a private joke with his crew.

In this clip, an older Soupy explains the importance of "micro-payments":


Second, as I'm sure you are well aware, pro wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano died. It was my privilege to meet Lou at a comic book convention several years ago, and he was an extremely nice guy. Yes, as a child I regarded him as an Italian role-model on national TV. By the time I was old enough to be embarrassed at the portrayal of Italians in the Super Mario Bros game and TV show, the role-model thing had lessened a bit. But I'd take Lou over Bob Hoskins any day of the week. As a recent South Park episode spotlighted, a lot of the best pro wrestling involves more acting than wrestling; Lou could do both, and it's as an excellent and entertaining performer that I will remember him.

And Addams Family composer Vic Mizzy died! I always remember Mizzy's name in the old Addams Family TV show closing credits:

Did those closing credits, where the cast had to stand still through the entire thing, make you nervous? I was a very sensitive kid: it made me nervous, watching the actors twitch and fidget slightly as they tried to stay still.

Joseph "Dr. No" Wiseman also passed on. He played the first Bond movie villain, and the last surviving actor to have played a Bond villain in the Sean Connery era.
Finally, comic book great George Tuska died on Oct. 15th at the age of 93. There's an oft-quoted description of his work from A.V. Club that patronizingly/derisively refers to his art as follows: "Tuska was perfectly competent, and his art for titles like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk is decent, though unspectacular. But his drawing was so quickly assayed, and so essentially flavorless, that he became the King Of The Fill-In Issue, hopping in to provide bland, forgettable work whenever someone else blew a deadline."


And I really want to say: that opinion is crap! Artists like Tuska not only brought in the work on time, but their renderings and page compositions were of a superior illustrative quality that you just don't see much of anymore. Maybe some would call it "classic," and say that this style just isn't relevant anymore; I hope not. I appreciate the work of people like Tuska a hell of a lot more now than when I was a kid and buying books from "flavor of the month" artists.

As for A.V. Club's assignation to Tuska of the "King Of The Fill-In Issue" title – as a former comic book editor, I THANK GOD for pencillers and inkers who can turn around clean, tight, well-composed comic art quickly for whatever reason. Some of these artists work on such crazy break-neck schedules that it would make your head spin. And I think they are often taken for granted because they seem like they're always there and ready to take the work.

And that's it. Let's hope that the last week of October proves not to be as "busy" as the first three weeks. I want my childhood idols alive, dammit!