Monthly Archives: June 2014

Meanwhile, Behind the Scenes, Herding Cats

Star Wars Celebration 6 – For those of you with magnifying glasses, Dave is 4th from the right

So I sent a quick media pitch to CHICAGO TONIGHT yesterday on Dave’s reaction to the new museum and they liked it. Right as Dave was rushing out the door to buy groceries, I told him he would be on TV tomorrow night. Always the comic book artist introvert, Dave remains my most reluctant “client.”

Jack’s reaction: “Yay! That means we get pizza tomorrow night!” (I have no idea why he said that. And that would make the 2nd time this week we’d have pizza. I’m so over it.)

Dave’s reaction: “Really? I have to get dressed up and drive into the city?”

For dramatic impact, he added a heavy sigh and his famed eyeball rolling. Dave lives in a t-shirt and sweat pants. He creates his own reality. He cannot fathom why the rest of the world isn’t on board with his fashion code. The thought of putting on jeans just unglues him.

And then we argued about whether or not WTTW had their own makeup person. Dave says yes, I say no.  (I will be bringing makeup, just in case.)

But it’s never just as simple as Dave just driving into Chicago to be on TV. This kicked off a whole series of madcap events. We had to meet friends at the last minute who used Dave’s favorite Star Wars “Darkside Alley” bowling shirt as a pattern to make him another shirt. This meant driving to Stone Cold Creamery at 8:30 last night. Dave can’t be on TV without his lucky shirt.

Dave Dorman with Faith, Hawk and Kim Evans Worley last night, in the new shirt made by Hawk

And then there was the mad scramble on Facebook to find the needle in the haystack–the person who had the high-resolution version of the Star Wars Celebration group photo for the TV producer. Fortunately, the 501st cosplay group are the most organized and responsive in the world, so we had an answer almost immediately. Now we’re scrambling to find the high-res version of this image for the studio:

Dave Dorman and George Lucas

And oh yeah, did I mention I run a business, I have a 9-year-old interrupting me every 5 minutes, I’m still in my PJs at 11:45 a.m. setting a grand example for our son, and the doorbell keeps ringing with endless package deliveries for my aging parents living downstairs? And that I didn’t get to sleep until after 3 a.m. due to my anxiety-inducing heart palpitations? Through clenched teeth, I declare, “Today will be FUN!”

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Chicago Tonight, Comics, Entertainment, Geek Culture, George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Nerd Culture, Pop Culture, Star Wars, Star Wars Art, The 501st, TV production, WTTW • Tagged Chicago Tonight, Dave Dorman, George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Publicity, Star Wars • 6 Comments

My Partner in Crime Jock Hedblade Wins His 3rd Emmy!

Jock Hedblade is probably the best media trainer I’ve ever seen or hired in my 20+ years in PR. And that is why I now manage him. With his 25 years of nationally syndicated producer experience in radio and TV, there is no one out there who can outperform Jock when it comes to getting the best results from C-suite executives and future TV pundits. No one.

Jock Hedblade, Producer and Media Trainer Extraordinaire.

Jock, Summer 2014, on a much-needed break.

 Dave Dorman and I are so proud of Jock, and we know how hard he has worked to earn this third Emmy. He has earned it, ten-fold.

 

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Entertainment, Geek Culture, Nerd Culture, Pop Culture • Tagged Emmy Award, Entertainment, Jock Hedblade, Media Trainer, Radio, Radio Producer, Talk Show Producer, TV

#1 Star Wars Artist & Chicagoland Resident Dave Dorman “Thrilled” About Chicago Star Wars Museum Announcement

Dave Dorman Lecturing on His Epic Piece “Lord Vader’s Persuasion of the Outer Rim” at the Milwaukee Discovery Museum, October 2013.

 

A collective “Whoop!” went up this afternoon in the Dorman household as the news broke that we had won the Star Wars Museum here in Chicago. Of course we’d been in touch with the Chicago Mayor’s office on and off over the past few months, and they suggested Dave come down to take meetings, but Dave was deep in the throes of pulling together his  series for San Diego Comic-Con (a new Omnibus, a new comic, a new card game and more premiering at SDCC this year) so he could never pull away from his own projects to take a meeting. That being said, whether it’s strictly as a fan, as an advisor, as a vendor, or as a guest lecturer, Dave looks forward to working with the new Star Wars Museum on whatever he can do to help make it successful in its new home…Sweet Home, CHICAGO. Here’s a brief taste of Dave Dorman’s iconic Star Wars pieces over the years:

Darth Vader by Dave Dorman

Crimson Empire by Dave Dorman

Darth Maul by Dave Dorman

Some Book Covers by Dave Dorman

A Slight Disturbance in the Force on the Battle of Hoth by Dave Dorman

Jabba’s Palace by Dave Dorman

Dewback Patrol by Dave Dorman

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Comics, Entertainment, Geek Culture, Lucasfilm, Nerd Culture, Pop Culture, Publishing, Star Wars, Star Wars Art, Star Wars Museum • Tagged #1 Star Wars Artist Dave Dorman, Battle of Hoth, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Dave Dorman Wasted Lands, Dewback Patrol, Jabba's Palace, Lucasfilm, San Diego Comic-Con, Star Wars Art, Star Wars Books, Star Wars Comics, Star Wars Museum in Chicago, The Crimson Empire • 3 Comments

Dave Dorman: Assistant Football Coach

Yesterday, against the backdrop of Chicago Bears 1985 Super Bowl champion quarterback Jim McMahon discussing his early onset dementia from playing football (he’s in the class action suit v. the NFL) Dave Dorman not just insisted, but demanded that we spend the $500 to sign Jack up for football. Fireworks erupted over the Dorman household yesterday morning as I was scrambling to get out the door to chef Ina Pinkney’s cooking demonstration and book signing.

Dave Dorman assistant coaching Jack’s team 2 years ago.

Football is a sport I not only vehemently dislike because of the potential for lifelong lasting injury, I don’t understand it at all, and I have zero interest in ever understanding it. It’s boring to watch (unless it’s 1985 and The Fridge is making a touchdown), and given my penchant for personal comfort, the last thing you’ll find me doing at 8 a.m. on a Saturday is sitting on a hard, cold aluminum bleacher seat and freezing my ass off to watch a sport I despise.

Add to this the practices Jack is required to attend three times a week from 6 to 8 p.m. until November, and the games every Saturday, and this is really starting to destroy any semblance of a sane family schedule. As Jack enters fourth grade, homework will only increase in magnitude and difficulty. I’d prefer he get his college scholarships from his 95% percentile grades (which are sure to dip from this stupid practice schedule) than from a volatile sport where an injury could sideline him in a flash and end his college money. Why can’t he just be a nerd? Nerds don’t need organized sports to do well in life.

While Dave never watches professional sports – an attribute I love – he did win the first Maryland state championship for high school football–and scrimmaged against the team from Remember the Titans–so he remembers his glory days, choosing to ignore the physical and emotional pain of his torn-up knee during the Homecoming game his senior year, which ended his college scholarships.

Clearly, testosterone was behind inventing football, wrestling, boxing, licking toads, The Three Stooges, the way Michael Hutchence died, eggs Danny Thomas-style, and other stupidities in which people engage. Here’s how I imagine it went down:

Football inventor: “Hey, let’s invent a sport where we go beat the shit out of each other!”

Football inventor’s yes man: “Yes! Let’s do that!”

Someone with actual balanced thinking–probably a left-handed person–invented TENNIS. TENNIS requires skill. Finesse. Strategy. And TENNIS is the only sport for which I’d sit on a hard, cold aluminum bleacher seat at 8 a.m. on a Saturday and freeze my ass off to watch our son partake in it.

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Uncategorized • Tagged Chicago Bears, class action suit, college scholarships, Dave Dorman, Dorman, early onset dementia, Football, Ina Pinkney, Jim McMahon, Michael Hutchence, Nerds, Organized Sports, Parenting, Remember the Titans, Tennis, The Three Stooges

Happy Father’s Day!

I think our son Jack is the luckiest little boy in the world, because he has Dave Dorman as his father. And that makes me the luckiest co-parent in the world. While Dave is a quiet and gentle soul, he is firm-but-patient with Jack, and the best dad a child could have. Dave is responsible for Jack’s exposure to football, art, animation, science fiction, horror, fantasy, famed artists, writers and cool people — truly unlike any childhood I’ve ever known. Someday maybe Jack will realize his growing up years weren’t “normal,” and here’s hoping that moment won’t occur on Freud’s couch.

This photo was taken at PensaCon in Pensacola, FL this past February 2014 by my photographer friend Fred Turnbow, and I think it says so much. It’s a stolen moment when they are both unaware the camera is on them, but you can just feel the love and tenderness Dave bestows on Jack.

Dave & Jack Dorman, Pensacon, February 2014

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Uncategorized • Tagged Animation, Art, Dave Dorman, Fantasy, Father's Day, Geek Culture, Horror, Nerd Culture, Pop Culture, Science Fiction

Groundskeeper Willie: My Not-So-Secret Crush

 

 

The View from My Desktop: Best Hubs Ever Dave Dorman’s Gifts to Me Include Groundskeeper Willie Action Figures & My Cthulhu Easter Toy

Call me crazy–you won’t be the first or last to do so–but my friends were astounded when I revealed my Peter Dinklage crush (and no, I haven’t even begun binge-watching Game of Thrones yet) so the very idea of my crush on The Simpsons’ Groundskeeper Willie character–an animated cartoon man whose very skin tone denotes impending kidney failure–was one of my more surprising revelations. Yet, I urge you to take a moment to consider that Groundskeeper Willie offers women all of these benefits & more:

#1. Red hair (and the right shade of red hair)

#2. Six pack abs / immense physical strength

#3. A Scottish brogue

#4. The ability to do maintenance work and handle power tools with aplomb

#5. Unharnessed abs flashing: 

I remember when I first fell for Groundskeeper Willie. It was The Simpsons’ Season 5 episode called “Radio Bart“ where Sting and Groundskeeper Willie had to save Timmy O’Toole from the well. Sting, my favorite singer, performed “We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well” to raise awareness. It was episodic perfection. The only thing missing was Peter Dinklage.

I am not alone in my fervor for Groundskeeper Willie. Websites all over the world are dedicated to him. Check out this soundboard, and the first clip of Groundskeeper Willie teaching French: “Bonjourrrr, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys!” http://www.soundboard.com/sb/groundskeeper_simpsons_clips

In a perfect world, an animated version of Dave Dorman would battle Groundskeeper Willie for my hand in marriage, and we’d all live happily ever after in Springfield.

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Animation, Groundskeeper Willie, The Simpsons • Tagged Animation, Entertainment, Game of Thrones, Geek Culture, Groundskeeper Willie, Peter Dinklage, Pop Culture, The Simpsons • 1 Comment

Star Wars Toy Based On My Dark Empire 2 Cover Art and Creature Design

Sometimes, you have to teach a client to toot their own horn, even if it’s your own husband.

Dear Friends,

In my garage cleaning frenzy, I’ve discovered a lot of fun items and toys (many of which I’m going to be selling online, so I will keep you posted), but this particular one fascinated my wife, who had no idea I had designed this Star Wars creature for Lucasfilm for the Dark Empire 2. A fan at Celebration Europe came up to me and gave me 2 of the actual toys created from my creature design & comic book cover art, so here are some images of them:

My Star Wars comic book cover, the creature I designed, and the toy based on it

And here’s a side view of the toy:

If you are the fan from Celebration Europe who gave me these wonderful toys, please speak up so I can give you proper credit publicly – I thank you so much.

–Dave

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Uncategorized

Dave, This is Our New Dog.

My Media Training Crew June 2014, Destin, FL

So I’m in Destin, Florida doing media training for a client. My and I brainstormed the idea for this blog over breakfast. I called Dave to check in, and he overheard me whispering, “No, I’m not mentioning the blog yet.” I was calling home from a high-rise condo near Eglin AFB, so cell phone sound quality is, shall we say, less than optimal. So he heard, “I’m not mentioning the dog yet.”

Dave freaked. Made me promise not to come home with a dog. I spent the better part of our five-minute conversation reassuring him I wasn’t coming home with a D.O.G. while avoiding the topic of the new blog.

Surprise, honey! This is the dog I was talking about! 

So Jack’s not getting a dog. Yet. But ComicBookWife.com will get regular feedings. And I promise to take it for a walk every once in a while.

Posted on by DaveandDeniseDorman in Uncategorized