SDCC 2025 Report

To go straight to the photogallery from the show, click here.

Although I’m still catching up and recovering from the show, I can confirm that this year was my best ever San Diego Comic-Con in terms of straight comic book sales! On top of that, I sold sketches and original art and still have some sketches and orders to fulfill now that I’m home.

As always, there was the usual mix of returning readers and new people discovering the series for the first time. Though people find their way to the series in different ways, I continue to be cheered by the appeal of Rob Hanes Adventures to a broad audience—it's been nice to discover that the series appeals to readers beyond what I assumed was a more specific target audience of classic comics. 

Some love the art, with many “getting” the Jonny Quest/Tintin/old adventure strip vibe right off the bat. (The last couple of years, a lot of people have told me that my work reminds them of Archie comics!) Others dig the done-in-one adventures without the need to know an extended continuity, while others latch onto specific stories, like the baseball issue, the Comic-Con issue, the drawing room murder mystery story, or last issue’s “time travel” adventure that took Rob to the 1940s. (One person immediately recognized the film, Black Hawk Down, as an influence on issue 9 from the cover alone, before I even brought it up in my spiel—that reference is always a draw and he immediately picked it up.) I’m also glad that people today don’t get too hung up on the issue numbering, often picking up random issues based on what grabs them—and often coming back for more! 

Best of all, with so many issues under my belt, I’m glad that people don't get hung up on having to start with number one and are open to picking up random issues—of course, it helps that all my stories are stand alone. And many do come back to complete their collection. 

Though there is always an ebb and flow each day, Wednesday's Preview Night, Thursday and Friday were strong—my weakest day was Saturday. Back in the day, Saturday was often anticipated as a big sales day since, being a weekend day, that was when a big influx of attendees arrived. But my experience has been that the dominance of big draw programming in Hall H and other panels often sucked people off the floor. On Saturday, the size of the crowds was fine, but sales for some reason were much more difficult to make and close.

Panels and Exploring the Floor

The main drawback of being an exhibitor is that I rarely have time to explore the floor, go out to visit people I know, or attend many panels and programming. Nevertheless, I did still see many friends and colleagues at the show, many because they stopped at my booth. 

I also was invited by artist-writer David Blake Lucarelli (Tinseltown) to participate in a Writing for Indie Comics panel on Friday at the Omni Hotel. I hadn't participated on a panel for years, so it was a great experience. Some people at the panel did come by my booth later during the show.

Colleagues and friends I saw included Andrew Pepoy (Simone and Ajax/Little Orphan Annie), who invited me to a  dinner he traditionally organizes each year during Comic-Con, which also included Lucarelli, Ted Sikora (Hero Tomorrow Comics), and John Lustig (Last Kiss); comics writer Ron Ingersoll; comics writer Tom Mason; comics editor David Olbrich; Matthew Schofield (Steamroller Man); New Yorker cartoonist Lonnie Milsap; writer and Lucasfilm PR veteran Craig Miller, and more. In addition, while strolling through Artist’s Alley with my son, I bumped into Jackie Estrada, the night before she oversaw her very last Eisner Comics Industry Awards show after an amazing 35 year run! (I regret I didn’t think of taking a photo with her!)

I did attend some after-hour panels with my wife. I went with my wife and friends to see Kevin Smith’s after-hours panel in Hall H, as well as the Bad Medicine podcast panel she has taken to attending every year that features actual physicians—this year, in a panel entitled, “The Unbearable Weight of Medical Mixups,” they discussed the injuries and maladies seen in Nicholas Cage films. (Last year, they covered the many deaths of actor Sean Bean in films and television!) My wife separately also attended a podcast recording of a Comic-Con Hollywood Babble-On with Smith and Ralph Garman that was held at a local club in San Diego.  

I also attended part of a “playback” panel where they re-play some of the big panels of the previous days (but cut any exclusive footage scenes)—though I saw part of the DC/HBO Max Peacemaker panel, I really wanted to see the Ryan Gosling and Ghosts panels, but ended up deciding to grab a late dinner with friends and family instead. Those panels often can be later found on YouTube anyway!

I also took time on Friday to explore the floor, primarily traversing to the opposite end of the floor to see the DC Comics booth and Artist’s Alley. On Sunday, I also made a quick run to the LEGO booth to see its impressively massive recreation of both the interior and exterior of the San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con (seen in picture at right)!

Hiccups

Of course, there were also the occasional hiccups and obstacles. Over the past few years, I’ve experienced an intermittent issue with completing credit card orders on my mobile device that’s become worse over time—tap payments from a credit card have become particularly hit-or-miss unless it’s phone-to-phone. Though I fortunately still have my old plug-in card reader, even that was not going through. I even consuted with the IT/wifi folks at the exhibitor’s help desk! However, on the first day of the show, a customer (in fact, the one who bought issue 9 based on the Black Hawk Down cover) gave me a tip that really saved my bacon! He suggested I switch my data from 5G to LTE, saying that everyone at the convention center was clogging the 5G network—and that turned out to resolve my problem!! I had hoped to see the customer come back so that I could thank them, but they never did. In any case, what a lifesaver of a tip!

Though I didn’t mention it to many people during the show outside of family, I also caught a stomach bug the first night that woke me up at 3 a.m. each night and kept me occupied until it was time to prepare for the show. While I was fine the rest of the day, strangely, it would strike me again at the same exact time each morning. This went on for the duration of the convention! All things considering, since it didn’t affect me during the day and put me out of commission during the convention, it could have been worse. 

While the current political climate has reportedly created a chill on international travel to the U.S., I must admit, I was happy to see some of the people who regularly come to the show from overseas stop by my booth. I always pointedly asked how it was coming into the country and, fortunately, none had any horror stories. These included people from Europe, Mexico and Canada.

News Coverage

My appearance at this year's San Diego Comic-Con generated some appreciated coverage at First Comics News (June 10), The Beat (July 11), and Bleeding Cool (July 13)!

In addition, an article about the show on, of all places, The National Review, included in its photo gallery a shot of the floor where you can clearly see me in the middle of the shot! (Photo below—you can clearly see my booth and me in the center, bottom third of the shot. My banner with the orange background pops pretty well!)

Lovely San Diego

As I've mentioned, this was my 28th appearance as an exhibitor. Though in many ways I have my system down pat, I've also learned to be flexible. Traditions come and go...

In recent years, we've begun staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which is one property over from the Marriott Marquis next door to the convention center. We've stayed at both over the years, but have come to prefer the Grand Hyatt—it's close enough to walk but still provides a little distance from the frenzy of the convention that often bleeds into the Marquis. With Seaport Village in the back, a nice restaurant (and hotel commissary and bar in the lobby), it provides a more convenient alternative to having to forage for dinner in the Gaslamp. This year, I even discovered the pool!

Anyway, it was a fun and exhausting show, I’m already looking forward to next year—and already have the script for Rob Hanes Adventures #27 completed and ready to be drawn!

Below are additional photos from the show. Click here to see the entire photogallery. 

SDCC '25 Coverage at Bleeding Cool

Even More Sketches for SDCC '25

More Sketches for SDCC '25

SDCC '25: I'm a Scheduled Panelist

Naked Gun Screening

Go, Big Blue!

Coverage from The Beat: SDCC '25: Rob Hanes Adventures #26 to Make Its Debut

The pop culture news site, The Beat, has coverage of my appearance at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con and the release of Rob Hanes Adventures #26!

Click here or on the screenshot below to read the article...

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See You at SDCC '25!

The formal press release about my appearance at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con is available here.

 

For the Fourth

At this moment in history, July 4th is a moment to remember that this country was founded on the fundamental principle of equal protection under the law. This encompasses the right to due process, prohibitions against the unlawful detainment of individuals, and protecting people from unreasonable searches and seizures, including arrests and detentions. 

These are fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution, extended to citizens and non-citizens alike. Any departure from these values and ideals is a violation of what the Founders intended and what we're supposed to stand for, and serves as a threat to our democracy and our individual rights. It's really not much more complicated than that. 

 

RIP Jim Shooter

I was sorry to hear about the passing of comics writer, creator and editor Jim Shooter. Though I never met him personally, he loomed large in comics during a period I became serious about entering the industry. To say that he was polarizing would be an understatement. His tenure and influence as editor in chief of Marvel Comics from 1978–87 was both legendary and notorious. He got the company back on track and oversaw some great series and ushered in new talent (encompassing Chris Claremont's run on X-Men, John Byrne on the Fantastic Four, and Frank Miller's Daredevil) and implemented a royalty program. Shooter would occasionally go on to found and/or start several other companies, such as Valiant and Defiant, neither of which lasted long.

But during this time, Shooter also emerged as a "villain" in the industry. These included defending Marvel's indefensible position of not returning Jack Kirby's artwork in order to leverage a promise that he not ever attempt to claim ownership of the characters he had a big hand in creating for the company (they didn't call it "The House that Jack Built" for nothing), and issuing edicts on the creator side that people chafed under so much that many left.

Starting around that time, I became as interested in the business of comics as much as the comics themselves and, during these days before the Internet, much of this was covered breathlessly in the weekly and monthly comics media press. So though much of my impression of Shooter was shaped by comics industry media coverage (particularly that of the Comics Journal), since I had no real skin in the game—and given the insular nature of the industry—I tended to read such reports with a grain of salt and almost solely for the entertainment value in a soapy sort of way. (There's an old adage about academia that probably applies to comics at this time—the politics are so vicious because the stakes are so low.) 

In any case, I have to admit it's been touching to read so many fascinating stories and personal anecdotes at his passing, which provide a warmer and more rounded view of the man. Despite some of his notoriety, he clearly could be warm and generous, and clearly did much to benefit and protect creators, and it's good to know that he was nevertheless respected and appreciated by many of his peers, many of whom found opportunities to share their sentiments with him over the years. At the end of the day, he leaves behind a solid legacy, so it's nice to hear so many remembering him fondly.

For a nice overview of some of these stories, see the Comics Beat coverage. 

My Comics Stash (3)

As mentioned in recent posts, I’ve been sorting through and re-organizing my comics collection. Though I don't buy as many, I still had boxes of comics going back years (and, yes, decades) that I haphazardly threw my purchases into.

I began by separating them out into groups by publisher and/or series, like DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, as well as some key runs and characters like The Spirit, American Flagg, Batman, etc.—indie comics are also a separate category. I’ve often found issues of both longterm and limited runs scattered among different boxes, so it’s been satisfying to consolidate some of these runs together, though I still have missing issues—I never considered myself a serious “collector," often just picking up whatever fancied my interest, so many of these gaps are simply comics I didn't purchase.

It’s been fun finding out what I have in my collection, even discovering that some items have some value. I must admit my long term goal is to unload some of this collection at some point—and to be honest, my primary goal is to shrink my collection, not to milk as much profit as I can. My preference would be to sell my collection in lots with the key issues as part of the mix, rather than simply sell individual key issues—otherwise, I’d just be left with comics nobody might otherwise want.

Years ago I began using a website, StashMyComics, to inventory and index my comics. It allows you to easily find a series and check off the issues you have, then save them in user-defined categories—in my case, I assigned each of my boxes a code number and use that number as the category in my account to identify the box where each item is stored. Though this data is saved in the user's account, it can also be downloaded as a spreadsheet, so the user can have their own backup copy. Though the website is still active, I recently learned that the website actually hasn't been updated with more recent comics. (Indeed, our of curiosity, I checked to see if Rob Hanes Adventures is in the system—I found that it is, but only up to issue 14!) This generally has worked out fine for me since many of my comics are older. 

There are some comics—mostly small obscure indies and publishers—so I keep a separate spreadsheet list of those, using the StashMyComics spreadsheet as a template so that I can combine it with the master spreadsheet to create one single spreadsheet of my collection.

I actually plan to take a break since because this project has been extremely time consuming the past few weeks, and I need to attend to other priorities. I actually still have a few boxes to get through, but getting a good portion of my collection sorted out, seeing what I have on hand, and placing them into boxes in a more organized fashion has been gratifying.

For more photos and past posts, visit my Comic Book Collecting tag.

My Comics Stash (2)

Part two of an ongoing series...

 

My Comics Stash (1)

Since I have a little downtime between issues and the lead up to the San Diego Comic-Con, I've decided to return to an ongoing, longstanding project to re-sort and organize my comic book collection. Here's

 the first in a series...

 

Rob Hanes Adventures #26 Goes Into Orbit!

Official announcement about the next issue of Rob Hanes Adventures! For the formal press release, click here.

2025 Tonys Best Musical

Good Night and Good Luck LIVE!

If the embedded Facebook post doesn't appear below, click here.

Capsule Reviews – What I’m Watching Now

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning 

While we’ll see whether Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is indeed the final entry of the series, it’s a great send off. As I have said before, this is a franchise that has gotten better and bigger with each succeeding film, an impressive feat.

Concluding a saga that began with the previous film where we saw a powerful AI entity—called The Entity—essentially become sentient while nations and bad actors compete to gain dominion over it so that they, in turn, can control the world. Of course, it’s up to Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his Impossible Mission team to stop and destroy it.

I greatly enjoyed the film’s many twists and turns, and the fact that many characters got a chance to step up and shine, and enjoy a hero moment. These include mainstay co-stars like Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames; new team members played by Hayley Atwell and a very fine Pom Klementieff; and cameo appearances by people like Nick Offerman. And while I mentioned this film wraps up a story begun in the prior film, the movie also circles back to storylines that reach back into earlier films, including several characters and callbacks from the very first M:I film.

Doctor Who (Season 3) (Disney+)

A year and a half ago, I reviewed the Doctor Who specials that introduced the new Doctor, played with wonderful exuberance and energy by Ncuti Gatwa. Though I greatly enjoyed the specials, I never returned to it, though it remained on my to-watch list.

But an episode involving an animated character coming off a movie screen in the 1950s (Season 2, Episode 2: “Lux”) piqued my interest. So I started watching it again, picking up a few episodes before that one in season 1. And every single episode turned out to be amazing, so now I have been all in. Nearly every single episode  has managed to knocked it out of the park—by turns funny, thrilling, clever, and deeply moving and emotional. It really has it all. 

The Studio (AppleTV+)

The Studio is a self-described cringe comedy limited series about Hollywood, centered around new studio head Matt Remick of Continental Studios, played by Seth Rogan who co-created the series. In addition to featuring topnotch production values, the show also is distinguished by long single take scenes—in fact, one episode is entirely in one take.

Hollywood often likes nothing more than poking fun at itself and this series leans into that, perhaps a little bit too much at first, featuring people who often, of course, come off as terrible human beings. While Remick actually is a fairly good guy, he nevertheless manages to always make the worst decisions, especially in the early episodes, usually making things worse. 

While this ran the risk of making the series and Remick tiresome, the series picked up for me in the last several episodes, particularly the two-part season finale, which truly made me laugh my ass off. 

Rogan is surrounded by a terrific cast, including Catherine O'Hara, Patty Leigh, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn, as well as memorable recurring turns by an always strong Michael Krum and a deliciously unhinged performance by Bryan Cranston as the studio company’s CEO. Playing themselves in both guest and cameo appearances are a host of Hollywood icons, including Martin Scorcese, Charlize Theron, Antony Mackie, Ron Howard, and in hilarious substantive appearances, David Franco and Zoe Kravitz. 

The Residence (Netflix)

The Knives Out film franchise has launched a plethora of delicious mystery shows and series like Murders In the Building, The White Lotus, Elspeth, and Poker Face. In addition to being great whodunnits, they are fun mystery romps, often featuring a somewhat off-kilter lead detective and a plethora of big name guest stars.

One of the more recent, The Residence, is particularly high concept—in addition to featuring a “world’s greatest detective” in the form of bird watcher Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), this is essentially a drawing room murder mystery set at the White House, with the homicide occurring during a state dinner. As the story slowly unwinds and reveals its many layers and red herrings, we are treated to a zany cast of characters played by an amazingly diverse cast, including Giancarlo Esposito, Ken Marino, Randall Park, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot, and others. Framing the story is a Senate hearing looking into the investigations, with a perfectly cast Al Franken (of course an actual former senator himself) and comedic actress Eliza Coupe. And, of course, the White House and its storied history also is a character.

This is yet another mystery that builds great momentum each episodes, coming to an exciting and thrilling climax and reveal—and its pleasures are as much about the journey as it is the solution.

Murderbot (AppleTV+) 

Based on its first five episodes, Murderbot is a deft blend of dystopian science fiction and action comedy, with a compelling mystery at its center.

Set years in the future, earth has expanded into the galaxy, apparently dominated and run by an interplanetary corporation known as the company. Murderbot is a robot/android security unit (SecUnit) who secretly disables his control mechanisms so that he essentially has free will and is sentient. (It secretly names itself Murderbot).  

While keeping his autonomy a secret as he decides what to do—his primary interest being to download and stream in his head hundreds of hours of entertainment shows—he is assigned to provide security for a group of researchers on a mission to a remote planet. Though he finds humans and their behavior completely illogical (in fact, he considers humans assholes and idiots), as the story unfolds, he gradually begins to form bonds with his human companions as they begin to respect and appreciate him. For me, the show was somewhat reminiscent of Resident Alien.

The show consists of zippy half hour episodes which usually end with great cliffhangers that compel you to watch the next episode, and I have found it incredibly fun and engaging.

 

Report on the 2025 Pasadena Comic Con

I posted a report about the Pasadena Comic Con over on Facebook here), but this is a slightly expanded version. Click here to see the full photo gallery from the event. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience exhibiting at the Pasadena Comic Con! I was pleasantly surprised by sales, but though I always enjoy engaging with people, my conversations and interactions with attendees at this show were especially fun and memorable! It was heartening to have people go out of their way to stop and tell me they loved my work, even if they didn’t end up buying anything. It’s always fun when I see people get struck by my work enough to stop dead in their tracks and come over, with many immediately “getting” the series based on the art and banners.

What also helped was that the exhibitors next to me didn’t show up for some reason—the organizers stopped by to tell me to just use the extra table for myself. So it was nice to spread out my original art on that table, which immediately turned me into a corner booth!

All-in-all, it was a pretty relaxed, chill show.

A few highlights:

A fairly young teen who liked the art and bought a random issue, before I could ask and curate what kind of story he might like. I wasn’t sure he bought an issue that might be the best fit (#25), but less than a couple hours later, he came by to enthusiastically tell me he already read it and loved it lol. Then later in the show, he stopped by with a Funko Pop he had purchased and asked me to sign it (I had already signed the issue he purchased from me). I confirmed that  he really wanted my signature on it—he said, “You’re my favorite booth here!” I’m sure that was a bit of youthful exuberance, but appreciated nonetheless!

I mentioned to one woman who purchased a 4-pack after my usual pitch, that I have enjoyed discovering how many women liked my work. She said, “Oh, I’m a criminal defense attorney, so mystery, crime and spy stories stories are right up my alley!” She added,  “My family all love the Marvels and DCs, but I love to support the indies!” 

The guy who liked my American Flagg sketch (and the American Flagg inspired Rob Hanes Adventures banner at my booth), who said he didn’t like creator Howard Chaykin’s work and thought my Reuben Flagg was better. I immediately said emphatically, “NO IT’S NOT!” but thanks. After he acknowledged he’d never read a lot of it, I told him he should, and that it was actually as much a satire and a comedy as much as science fiction/action. (He also was wearing full army camo fatigues and kinda looked like actor Shea Whigham, complete with mustache, and from the way he spoke—the more we talked, I wasn’t sure if he was actually in the service or cosplaying, especially after he mentioned being an educator. I thought about asking but never found the chance to lol).

As I mentioned in a previous post during the show, I was just across the way from the celebrity autograph section. The longest line always seemed to be for a voice actor (whose name I can’t recall and didn’t recognize), but fortunately, the queue for her was in the aisle behind me, not in front of my booth. But actor/comedian/voice actor Tom Kenny (SpongeBob Squarepants) hung out there quite a bit, meeting fans and taking photos with them. That was catty corner behind me—directly catty corner to me was Eric Roberts who was in the same row as Jerry Mathers (Leave It to Beaver), Greg Evigan, and Parker Stevenson. Also nearby were Charles Fleischer (voice of Roger Rabbit), Michael Gross, and Morgan Fairchild. I also saw little person actor Tony Cox there. 

I got to say a quick hello to Gross when he arrived just as I was going to my table to set up and tell him I was a big fan. And when Roberts walked by, he good naturedly yelled out loudly, “When’s Rob showing up?!” During the show, I had a chance to say hello to Evigan and Mathers as they walked by. 

I have to admit, other than the voice actor’s line (where Tom Kenny was hanging about), that was the only booth that drew a real crowd. The other celebrities (like us booth people) had steady foot traffic but also occasional downtime. 

Above: Morgan Fairchild's booth—actor Michael Gross
was behind her and at right in this photo

Living in L.A., I occasionally make the joke about how everyone in Hollywood knows each other, and it’s at events like this, when you see Parker Stevenson, Greg Evigan and Morgan Fairchild deep in conversation, or actor Tony Cox stopping to talk to Eric Roberts and others.

I know at some conventions, the celebrity guest crowds can sometimes overwhelm and overshadow the comics and other booths, but that fortunately wasn’t the case here, even given my proximity to them. The show was pretty laid back—that said, I did feel a bit separated from other comics booths, as everyone around me primarily sold toys, t-shirts, memorabilia and the like. Not sure if that affected my foot traffic, but as I said, I was still happy with sales. 

This was my first time exhibiting at this show. Though I’m familiar with Pasadena, I’d never been to the convention center before, so didn’t have it all down pat (like I do at San Diego!). As a result, I ended up in a parking structure a little further away from the convention center that required me to go up to street level, walk down the block, and into the convention center—versus the parking area just underneath the venue.

However, it turned out to have its advantages since I didn’t have to wait in the lines I saw for the freight elevators at the convention center. (This was also the case at the end of the show when I had to break down and everyone was departing at the same time!) Though it took two trips to unload my car, I was able to tetris all of my booth items onto the wagon for the return trip—though, from observing someone else with a cart who had cargo straps, it convinced me to purchase a cargo net for the future!

I definitely hope to attend next year!

Click here to see the full photo gallery from the show. 

Rob Hanes Adventures Featured on Comic Tropes After Dark

I've been a fan of Chris Piers' Comic Tropes YouTube channel since discovering it during the pandemic. He does deep dives on a variety of subjects related to comics, including comics news and history.

In late 2024, I sent him a package of my work as an appreciation and introduction. He's a strong supporter of indie work and, as part of his live show sister channel, Comic Tropes After Dark, he often opens live on the air packages he's received and offers first reactions, which include Indie Showcase episodes where he goes through such samples in marathon episodes. I'm sure he gets inundated with such packages, and I never do such things with set expectations, though of course I was hopeful it might some day get covered.

So on May 21, it was a thrill to have my series, Rob Hanes Adventures, featured on the show!! His first reaction to the series was incredibly complimentary—it helped that I included a cover note that introduced the series and me, mentioning my Xeric and Inkpot awards. He was also impressed by my influences, including Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, and especially Roy Crane. (He actually skimmed and read parts of my letter on the air!) He leafed through the first issue and a later issue to see if I'd improved, pointing out panels he liked, and complimenting camera angles and storytelling. He summed up his reaction as "Impressive!"

It was a few days before the Pasadena Comic Con, so it was a great way to head into the show. 

Below is the video and I've cued it to around the 1:31:00 mark here to where my book gets covered. But be sure to check out the whole episode and the channel, highly recommended!

Fantastic Comic Fan Review: Rob Hanes Adventures

Reviews: Four Nights/Four Shows in NYC

To see all the posts from this trip, click here.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the primary reason we traveled to New York City at the beginning of April was to see Broadway shows. The announcement of Glengarry Glen Ross last fall triggered our trip, so when dates for the spring were announced in February, we immediately purchased our tickets. These were followed by tickets for Good Night and Good Luck and Maybe Happy Ending. As recounted in the earlier post, we obtained tickets for a fourth show, Boop, on opening night the same morning as the performance!

Below are my reviews of all four shows. But first a few observations about the New York theater experience versus our experiences theater-going in Los Angeles.

Interestingly, all our shows started at 7 p.m.—versus 8 p.m. for evening shows in L.A. The earlier start allows theatergoers to grab dinner afterwards. This was reinforced by the fact that, after Maybe Happy Ending, when the cast came out after the curtain call to fundraise for Broadway Cares, an AIDS charity, they promised the audience they wouldn’t keep us long and people would still be able to make their restaurant reservations! In L.A., the late start is likely to accommodate the fact that most people have to navigate L.A.’s busy freeways to get to the venue. As such, this means shows usually end anywhere between 10 or 11 p.m. In L.A., by that time, most good restaurants are already closed so theatergoers usually head home. 

By contrast, we found that many restaurants (and, of course, bars) were still open and serving diners in the theater district. Indeed, nearly all the shows we watched clocked in at a surprisingly crisp two hours (two, Good Night and Good Luck and Maybe Happy Ending, didn’t even have intermissions!). And the show with the longest runtime, Boop, which is about 2-½ hours, started at 6:30 p.m.

In addition, because New York City’s theaters generally have smaller footprints, the mezzanine sections feel close to the stage, nearly atop the orchestra seats. In contrast, in L.A., the mezzanine sections tend to be fairly recessed back, away from the stage and the orchestra section. As such, at most of the shows where we were in the mezzanine, we were surprised at how close we still felt to the stage, like we were right on top of the actors!

Now on to the reviews (in the order watched):

Maybe Happy Ending 

Maybe Happy Ending is an original new romantic comedy musical one act that originated in South Korea in 2016 and made its American debut in Atlanta in 2020. It made its Broadway debut in Fall 2024, featuring a diverse cast that includes Tony Award winning Darren Criss (who is half-Filipino) and Helen J. Shen as the leads. (The show has a relatively small cast, with only two additional actors, one playing multiple roles.) 

The musical is a deft blend of the modern and traditional, and thoroughly charming, heartfelt and delightful. Though it’s a fairly small, modest production, it nevertheless features dynamic and innovative staging and stage craft that gives the show plenty of life and energy.

It's the story of two helpbots—android companions that are very human-like—who have been retired and abandoned many years before, and while searching for new meaning to their existence, find each other. As the story unfolds, we learn their backstories, including the reasons they were abandoned. Hanging over their blossoming romance is their fear that they will soon shut down forever due to the inability at some point to re-charge themselves, or to replace aging, obsolete parts. But this self-awareness of their pending expiration dates clearly is clearly a commentary on the audience's own mortality and limited shelf-life. How to best make use of that time and our fleeting lives—and whether love is worth pursuing even if it will inevitably end in loss and heartache—is very much the heart of this story.

Much of the show's charm comes from the performers. Criss and Shen have great chemistry and wonderfully bring out the heart and humor of the play. (As an older helpbot model, Criss subtley projects a slightly more robotic demeanor that is not too different than someone on the spectrum.) Kudos as well to Dez Duron, who provides musical interludes—though he never really interacts with the leads, he possesses a silky smooth voice that I could have listened to all night. 

In truth, of all the productions we saw, Maybe Happy Ending is the one I would recommend to anyone unreservedly.

Glengarry Glen Ross

As I said up top, this Broadway revival of playwright David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is what triggered our travels. It's probably the play I’ve most wanted to see on stage and the announcement of this show—with actors Bob Odenirk, Keiran Culkin, Bill Burr, and Michael McKean—made it too irresistible to pass up.

I first encountered the play, of course, through the 1992 film adaptation, featuring a stellar cast that included Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Jonathan Pryce, and, in what I consider one of the most electric and commanding cameos ever captured on film, Alec Baldwin. 

I knew going in that the film adaptation (also written by Mamet) was very different than the play, though I had heard that some productions had incorporated aspects of the film into the stage show.

Of course, I can’t speak to other productions, but this one seems solely based on the original play. Indeed, it has a very different structure. Whereas the film opens up the story a little and unfolds in a fairly straightforward chronological manner, the play is more impressionistic and primarily told in two acts. The first consists of three vignettes—all set in a Chinese restaurant—that establish the play’s main tensions. The second act, following an intermission, consists of what is the last extended climactic scene of the movie, in which all is revealed and resolved. (Indeed, as much as I love Alec Baldwin's scene in the film, which gets the story rolling in an explosive and immediate manner, it actually would not work in the play without major restructuring.)

While the film, of course, somewhat overshadows and colored my viewing of the play, the production and actors do their best to make the story its own thing and the roles their own. While all are solid, Bill Burr is a standout, perhaps the one performance that transcends the film and, perhaps, even surpassed his film counterpart (Ed Harris). Burr is a perfect fit for the role, projecting more of a lived-in sliminess that isn't quite there in the film. In contrast, Culkin has the unenviable task of trying to make you forget Pacino as Richard Roma…which, of course, given the actor’s presence and line readings in that film, is very difficult.

Revelations in recent years about Mamet’s views and politics also somewhat affected my response to the play. In the original film, the obsession with alpha maleness and what it means to “be a man” are somewhat undermined by the film’s humor, leading one to see the movie as somewhat of a satire of hypermasculinity. In contrast, Mamet’s views make clear that these are themes he is seriously exploring in the play, which makes the play feel somewhat dated and badly aged.

It’s hard to tell how much of the audience had seen the film, but going in knowing the story is somewhat of a disadvantage since the revelations at the end are not a surprise. That said, the play is a smaller and more intimate piece, while the film plays more like Shakespearean tragedy.

Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck is a stage adaptation of the 1995 film of the same name about television journalist Edward J. Murrow that was directed and co-written by actor George Clooney. In the film, Clooney played Murrow’s producer and partner-in-crime, Fred Friendly, but for the stage adaptation, Clooney plays Murrow himself.

The piece tells the story of Murrow’s efforts to stand up to and challenge U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy during the infamous Communist 1950s witch hunts. It hews fairly closely to my memories of the film, complete with the use of the framing device of Murrow speaking at a dinner event in his honor, which bookends the opening and closing of the film, as well as of musical interludes featuring a jazz singer recording in the same studio.

To be clear, this play only happened because of Clooney. The actor clearly believed that the story's message of the importance of journalism as the Fourth Estate and its role of speaking truth to power—while also acknowledging the challenges that our news media face as subdivisions of corporate entities whose goals are commercial and avoiding offending its audience, rather than the public good—remain as relevant as ever. Like the film, the production has Clooney (as Murrow) interacting with real footage of celebrities and other figures. The production and performances are solid, with actor and comedian Ilana Glazer particularly a standout as journalist Shirley Wershba.

What really elevated the production was the final coda, which returns to where the play began, with Murrow speaking to the audience at a lectern at an event. It segues into a cacophony of media clips over the years from the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iraq War, and the Obama years, culminating in a powerful final image that directly connects the show to the modern day, which brought a collective gasp to the audience.

Below: Curtain call from the night we saw Good Night and Good Luck

Boop

Boop is a traditional family-friendly big Broadway musical about animated star Betty Boop, filled with show stopping numbers. It opens in the black and white cartoon world of Betty Boop (giving a nice nod to the Fleischer Studio), who eventually finds her way into the “real” world, where she tries to find herself and navigate the modern world, though the show also makes clear that the character was an early symbol of feminism and self-agency.

While the show was entertaining enough and the performers topnotch, we never felt fully engaged or invested with the characters in the same way as, say, Maybe Happy Ending. Nevertheless, we’re glad we were able to see it—and on opening night, no less! 

Below: Curtain call from the opening night of Boop.

Retro Review: Top Secret

Weeks ago, when our local theater announced a film series called "Springtime Spoofs ‘N Goofs," my wife said she wanted to see one of the films on the slate, Top Secret, Val Kilmer’s first film, from 1984. Kilmer’s passing a few weeks later, of course, made seeing it even more poignant, which was acknowledged by the theater staff introducing the film.   

I found it amusing, if not a bit disconcerting and ironic, that in an early scene, to show how oppressive the (somewhat fictionalized) East German regime in the film was, a senior official demands over the phone that they “seal the borders and cancel all visas!” All they needed to add is "tariffs" to hit the trifecta. 

Coming off the heels of the success of Airplane, Top Secret is not really a great film—it's a mishmash parody of World War II and teen rock and roll films with not enough laughs to sustain a full-length movie though they try to maintain interest with a barebones story. But you do get to see a pre-Batman Michael Gough, a very pre-Downton Abbey Jim Carter, and Omar Sharif sending up his reputation as a gentleman with one indignity after another.

A New York State of Mind

Though I posted about our trip to New York City while still on the road on Facebook and other social media, most of which were re-posted on this blog, below is a more comprehensive account of our trip. Or click here for the full photo gallery from our trip. 

Over the past year or so, we’ve contemplated a major vacation, particularly with our 25th wedding anniversary looming this year. While Europe was on the table, so was New York City, primarily to see some Broadway shows.

The announcement last October of a new production of the David Mamet play, Glengarry Glen Ross, with Bob Odenkirk, Keiran Culkin and Bill Burr, was what convinced us to pull the trigger. I’ve always wanted to see it on stage and my wife agreed that this might be the show to plan our trip around.

I put myself on a mailing list for the show and, in February this year, learned that the dates for the production had been scheduled. After grabbing tickets for the April 3 show, we soon found flights and a great deal for a hotel in the heart of Times Square and Broadway (via Expedia—my plan was to see if I could find a better price for a hotel later, but learned that we indeed got a terrific deal).

Almost at the same time, George Clooney’s stage production of Good Night and Good Luck was announced, based on his 2005 film, about journalist Edward J. Murrow. We purchased tickets for that as well and, after a little research, thought that a new stage musical, Maybe Happy Ending, which received some nice reviews, sounded like good counter programming for the two stage dramas we signed up for.

Flight and Arrival

We’d booked an early morning flight so scheduled a Lyft pickup for 5:30 am for a 7:45 am flight. All went smoothly except for one little glitch. After going through the TSA checkpoint and settling in our gate, I was paged over the terminal loudspeaker by my full name, telling me to report back to the TSA security checkpoint. My wife said later half-jokingly that she wondered if she’d ever see me again when I walked off. It turned out I simply left my ID in the bin at the checkpoint!

Though I’d heard horror stories about JetBlue, we found the flight and crew perfectly lovely. The free wifi on board was a great boon, as it allowed me to be productive and get a lot of social media done while en route.

On our trip to Seattle back in 2023, my wife taught me a great life hack for flying that we took advantage of on this flight. Like most people, we don’t check in our luggage to save on the baggage fees and just use carry ons. However, when a flight is fully booked, at the gate the airline often asks people if they are willing to check in their bags, for no charge. On our trip to Seattle, I opted not to accept this offer while my wife did, but on this flight, I agreed—and it was rather nice not having to board the plane with any luggage. (This trick worked for us on the flight home as well!)

We arrived at JFK at about 3:30 pm EST. I’d researched in advance options for getting into Manhattan and, similar to our last trip to NYC in 2010 with our kids, there was a set price by taxi, though considerably higher than our last visit: about $85, but after tolls and tip, $105.

Our lodging, the Millennium Broadway Times Square, was on 44th Street (with a rear entrance on 45th). Though the room could’ve used fresh paint or wallpaper, and new carpeting (or perhaps a good steam cleaning), it was otherwise good sized and the bathrooms looked like they’d been updated fairly recently. That all said, we did get it for a reasonable price for the area, and the location couldn’t be beat: we were a half block from Times Square and within walking distance of all the theaters we were going to, as well as to Rockefeller Center. Conveniently, a 24-hour Walgreens was next door! In addition, two of the four shows we were seeing were on the same street as our hotel (one just at the end of the block); the third only a block over; and the last about 4 blocks north of us. Since my wife tends to like to sleep in and I am an early riser, I often used the mornings to get breakfast (usually a croissant and orange juice) that I ate either in the lobby, or often just while sitting in the middle of Times Square, while posting to social media and catching up with the news and on email.

The evening of our arrival, we explored our surroundings a bit and had a lovely dinner at an old school Italian restaurant, Tony di Napoli, and ordered waaaay too much food!

Day 2

Our first full day in Manhattan, we took the subway down to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. (We loved the ease of riding the subway by simply using a tap on our mobile devices to pay our fares, though early on we had trouble with the subway turnstiles properly reading them.)

Though I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, I told my wife there was no need to visit the borough as we have on previous trips—a trip to Staten Island would essentially kill a day and there was no need for me to revisit my old haunts as I have done in the past. Nearby Battery Park was unfortunately closed for renovations, but we could still see the Statue of Liberty from the terminal. From there, we walked up to the Financial District/Wall Street, briefly stopped at Trinity Church, and then visited the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial.

After that, we took the subway up to the Society of Illustrators—where I saw a piece from a longtime fellow comics pro, Lonnie Milsap, on display in the museum’s 100 Years of the New Yorker exhibition. We initially thought about then walking across Central Park to get to Strawberry Fields, a favorite spot in the park of John Lennon’s, across the street from his building co-op, the Dakota, but thought better of it and took a taxi instead. (Our visits to the Society of Illustrators and Strawberry Fields are detailed in earlier posts.)

We got back to the hotel around mid-afternoon, so as to have some time to relax before going to our evening show, a schedule we kept on the other days as well. That evening, we saw the first of our four shows, Maybe Happy Ending (I will detail my thoughts and reviews about all the shows we saw in another post). This was followed by a dinner at an Irish bar, O’Donaghue’s Pub.

Day 3

The next morning, before my wife got up, I visited Midtown Comics (reported here). Once my wife was awake, we visited the FDNY’s Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company in Tribeca—we’d actually meant to visit the day before when we were more downtown, but forgot, so took a quick subway ride there to see it, then shot back uptown where we saw the Ed Sullivan Theatre, home to the Late Night with Stephen Colbert show, which enabled to discover the location of the Winter Garden Theatre where we’d be seeing Good Night and Good Luck later that week, about 4 blocks north of our hotel. We also grabbed a lovely lunch across the street at an upscale dim sum palace, Din Tai Fung. (I later learned from my wife that this restaurant has a location near us in L.A., in Century City.)

We also found time to visit the Empire State Building—though it had been cloudy all day, the weather cleared up enough that we had great views atop the building. To get there, our subway stop was at Penn Station. We took the opportunity to see the commuter trains and platforms while there.

That evening, we saw Glengarry Glen Ross, followed by dinner at Brooklyn Diner (which frankly was our only disappointing meal on the trip).

Day 4

Our 4th day, Saturday, April 5, happened to be the date of the nationwide Hands Off rallies. Though we were 3,000 miles away from home and would have participated in L.A., we happily took time to participate in the NYC protests, at Bryant Park/New York Public Library.

Due to timing issues, we got afternoon tickets to tour Radio City Music Hall. After getting our tickets, we took a taxi to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side in Central Park. Though we did spend quality time there, we did not get to see the entire museum and did have to leave after a few hours to make our Radio City tour, which was another taxi ride back.

One of the most interesting factoids from the Radio City tour was that the nearly 100-year-old hydraulic system beneath the stage is still being used—when the theater underwent a major renovation years ago, after inspection, that was one feature the engineers said did not need work or an upgrade. The system was an engineering marvel in its day, such that, before World War II, military engineers studied it for use on aircraft carriers. According to the tour, for this reason, a military presence was kept at the site during the war to safeguard the technology.

In the evening, we saw Good Night and Good Luck at the Winter Garden Theatre. This was followed by my favorite dinner of the evening at Gatsby’s Landing, where I had duck.

The restaurant happened to be directly across the street from the Belasco Theatre, where we had seen Maybe Happy Landing two nights before (as well as just a half block from our hotel). That night’s performance had also just let out and people milled around in front of the theater, hoping to get autographs and catch a glimpse of the show’s lead star, Darren Criss, and other members of the cast. As we waited for dinner, Criss did indeed come out. So I took the opportunity to run across the street to take some photos!

Day 5

We toured NBC Studios and 30 Rockefeller Center on Sunday, just before departing for the airport, and saw Studio 8H, where SNL is broadcast. No photos were allowed at any time during the tour. (I also looked into getting tickets months before. It turns out, they offer tickets during a week’s window in August and you are given a take-it-or-leave-it date, though they do also offer stand by tickets.) As noted in an earlier post, we ended up on the same flight back to L.A. as one of the musicians who had performed on the episode of SNL that had aired the night before, featuring host Jack Black. (This reminds me of another celebrity close encounter when I was once in NYC back in the day—we saw actress Téa Leoni at an ice cream shop with what I assume were her children and perhaps her parents!)

It was a memorable, terrific trip that confirmed for us that NYC is indeed one of the world’s great cities, with an incredible energy and vibe. I’m usually ready to go home near the end of my vacation, and while I didn’t feel the vacation went by too quickly, I happily could have stayed longer.

Click here to see the full photo gallery from our trip. 

Click here to see all the posts from this trip.