Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 22:37:56 CDT Sender: COMICS Discussion List <[COMICS L] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]> From: Bill Hayes <[IANR 012] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]> Subject: Volume 4 Issue 19 Part 1 May 24, 1994 The Comics List Weekly Vol. 4 No. 19 Pt. 1 This Week: Our company is diminished - CBG's Don Thompson is dead +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 23 May 94 14:30:03 PDT From: [t--mp--n] at [clipper.robadome.com] (Mark Thompson) Subject: Re: Advisory Don Thompson. I can't fathom it yet. He will be sorely missed. When Jack Kirby passed on earlier this year, the industry lost an enormous figure, a man of such legendary abilities and all-encompassing influence that it is hard to imagine what the comics world would be without him. And yet (my being under 30), the bulk of his work was before my time, and personally I didn't care for his style. I recognized his abilities and the respect held for him by people *I* respected, but Jack Kirby's death brought forth for me no memories of curling up with a Captain America, no images of the early FF. Don Thompson, however, was a man I have personally respected and admired for years. I've read his reviews, valued his opinions, admired his dedication to a thankless and ceaseless struggle to "get the paper out" for us. His and Maggie's CBG has been my lifeline to the comics world during times when I was disenchanted enough to not even walk by a comic store for months. Still, I couldn't pass up my weekly CBG. Their paper has been a weekly anchor for me, through good times and bad, boom and bust, week in, week out. It introduced me to artists and books I would never have seen (much less bought). Mark Martin and his 20 Nude Dancers. Wolff & Byrd. Marc Hansen. Bumpkin Buzz. Don's passing brings to mind so many memories. Reading and nodding at his sober reviews. Laughing at "The Bitter Half". Smiling at the obvious joy he got from reading Carl Barks books. My exasperation at the format changes (and my subsequent liking them). Re-subscribing to CBG against the wishes of my frustrated parents (why are you spending your hard-earned money on *that*?). Digging through back issues looking for that Dangermouse episode guide they ran - once. Clipping stories. Highlighting ads. Eagerly calling advertisers the day CBG came in, hoping to beat others to the great deals. Every issue was a bounty of secret pleasure. Hours of fun to read every article, savor every panel of each cartoon, scour every ad for that elusive comic. And every issue, you could *feel* Don and Maggie laying it out, typing it in, adding their personal touch to the mix. And now Don's gone. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I don't know if it will. I hope and pray that Maggie is all right - I know she and Don have friends aplenty to help her through this crisis. We, all of us in comic fandom, have lost someone dear to us: a mentor, someone who had been with comics since the early ages of fandom. A public figure and a renowned reasonable man. An inestimable gentleman. And a friend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Thompson | ROLM PhoneMail Prompts / UI [t--mp--n] at [clipper.robadome.COM] | A Well-Rounded Individual. More cookies please! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 May 94 07:34:25 EDT From: John Ostrander <[72717 453] at [CompuServe.COM]> Subject: Re: Advisory - CBG's Don Thompson is dead What a strange and sad convergence we have with Don Thompson's passing: first Jack Kirby, the king of comics, then T.M. Maple, who was THE letterhack of his era, and now Don, who co-edited the CBG, was one of the medium's biggest FANS, and was something of a bridge between the professional world of Jacky Kirby and the fan world of T.M. Maple. And all in such a short span of time. They all helped define a certain era in comics and each death, in turn, seems to be announcing that time has passed. Like Jack and T.M., Don will be missed. We mourn not only these men but an era each seemed to typify. And I feel older today. -- John Ostrander ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: [rogers cadenhead] at [chrysalis.org] Date: Mon, 23 May 94 19:26:22 Subject: ADVISORY Wow ... what a sad bit of news. Don and Maggie Thompson gave me some of my first writing assignments in the field of comics, back in the mid-1980s. I was a fan of theirs from the Beautiful Balloons column they wrote for CBG back in 1980, when I couldn't get to a comics shop and the publication was my lifeline to the field. I'm really sorry to hear of his passing; I thought his health problems were behind him. Rogers ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 08:34:29 GMT0BST From: "Rich Johnston" <[R J Johnston] at [newcastle.ac.uk]> Subject: Re: Advisory It was when I was first beginning to expand my comics collection beyond the simple Spider-man and X-Men comics, that I first encountered the Comics Buyers Guide. It showed me a whole world of comics that I had never heard of before. And it was Don Thompson that is probably the primary reason why I still enjoy comics today... he made me feel obligated to buy Sandman. Then Desert Peach. Then Bone. Before you knew it my comics habits were completely flipped. If not for Don, his easily accessible CBG and the warm friendly feeling that he and Maggie gave to the CBG, that made it such a comfortable read, I doubt I'd be reading comics and posting to Comics-L today. Thanks Don. I owe you a great deal, and you'll never know it. Thank you. Richard Johnston ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 May 94 14:55:11 EDT From: [s--i--t] at [express.ctron.com] Subject: Re: Advisory I'm deeply saddened at Don Thompson's passing. I hope he rests well. I comfort myself with the thought that Don and Jack Kirby are together right now, playing straight poker and laughing at life's trivialities. Comics have lost two giants in a short time. Surely, only the good die young. If I can contribute a fraction to the comics industry of what Don Thompson has, I'll be ecstatic, and a very accomplished man. In some way, somehow, he touched us all and we were more the fortunate for it. My most heartfelt condolences to Maggie and her family. I hope their pain is quick, as I hope Don's was. I owe them a great deal for a simple decision they made. Rest in peace, Don. And know you were respected, admired and loved. Gary St. Lawrence ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 May 94 11:27:50 PDT From: [j r d] at [frame.com] (James Drew) Subject: Re: Advisory >From: [j r m] at [elm.circa.ufl.edu] (Jeff Mason) >Don Thompson, the co-editor of the Comics Buyer's Guide, has just passed away. Yowch. Don Thompson's review in Comics Buyer's Guide (over the past seven years that I have been reading the paper) have been very important to me. Regardless if people on the net or elsewhere recommended or disrecommended a particular comic, I knew Don's was a review I could trust. Omaha the Cat Dancer, Bone, and dozens of other favorites are favorites precisely because Don recommended them. (Mind you, I didn't always agree with his reviews. I haven't picked up an issue of Superman in years, and I never could figure out why he couldn't keep track of the storylines in Levitz' Legion stories. But on most comics, our opinions were spot on with each other.) I refuse to try and pithily sum things up here. I think I'll just be depressed instead. Jim Drew [j r d] at [frame.com] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 May 94 15:35:41 EDT From: Len Strazewski <[73710 2552] at [CompuServe.COM]> Subject: Re: Advisory Very sad news! Please pass on my condolences to Maggie. Len ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 May 1994 12:37:53 -0600 (CST) From: SCOTT PAUL <[BREITZ S P] at [CNSVAX.UWEC.EDU]> Subject: Re: Advisory What happened?!!! I thought that he was getting much better?! Shocked, Scott Paul -------------------------------------------------------------------------