Well, of course the topic came up at last night's CGC Forum dinner. The Centaur collector sitting next to me brought out a magnificent copy of Amazing-Man #22 (May 41), with a view of, not one, but two Nazi gorillas. (They had swastikas on their hats, in case you were wondring.) So do you know any other comics with Nazi gorillas on the cover? One other one was cited last night. Any ideas, folks?

NOOOOOoooooo! This will NOT descend to that level of bloggery! No breakfast menu blog! I talked with several people who asked if I'm going to the Baltimore show this year and, frankly, the summer has been so frantic, I hadn't thought about it. But the chance to combine a fun con with another view if Steve Geppi's museum? Man, that'd be fun. Are you going?

Exuberant? Well, the people I saw were clearly having a good time. Many were sharing the excitement of the Dark Knight panel and trailer: both deemed worth all the fooferaw attendees had to endure prior to the event. And at the CGC Forum Dinner ... Well, it's not every day that collector Kenny Sanderson volunteers to eat an entire bowl of sour cream, if everyone in the room will kick in $5 to The Hero Initiative to have him do it. HI is now $270 better funded, and I have video of the eating challenge. Stay tuned.

As I was still getting breakfast, the intrepid Ray called to say he was 600th in line for the Dark Knight panel and had just been told he wasn't allowed to bring his camera in. Could I come get his camera? Well, no. What would help would be Press Sign-In information including such restrictions for any venues in which they'll be in force. My suggestion: Tell the folks in line that you'll be back, go to the Press Sign-In Booth, ask them to take care of the camera, and get back in line. I'll keep you posted. Geez.

As schedules turned out, I won't be heading for Wizard World Chicago until tomorrow morning -- and it'll take about five hours or more to drive there. So at the moment, it's back to packing and trying to remember what to take along.

As was the case last year, Comics Buyer's Guide will be (as we say) walking the floor, rather than staking out a booth -- so I can't guarantee where I'll be when (though I'm hoping to contribute somehow to Mr. Silver Age's Friday panel at 3:30 p.m. in the Marshall Rogers Room). And Friday night I'm heading to a silent movie (thanks to the ongoing enthusiasms of Andrew Pepoy, who makes the arrangements in advance). And and and. You can see what I look like, if you check this blog's header, above. Say hi!

You'll also spot me from the cameras I'll be toting. I don't know whether I'll ever be able to post it, but I've got video from the February Javits Center show and the San Diego show. Let's see what I can get in Chicago!

I'm sure you've already seen lots of photos of Jonathan Ross kissing Neil Gaiman at the July 27, 2007, Eisner Awards. Heck, we posted some of my shots of The Snog at CBGXtra.com.

But I thought you might enjoy a couple of other photos.

Top one is Neil taken aback to be receiving the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for the Many, Many Good Things He Does. (His comment on his website: "I said that the world of comics was a family, and you look after your family.")

Second photo is of The Dynamic Duo of the Evening: Award Wrangler Jane Wiedlin (of The Go-Go's) and Master of Ceremonies Bill Morrison (of Bongo). One Eisner Award winner had been presented with a sort of World Wrestlers Belt and had left it onstage, which was just as well, because it looked great on her, don't you think?

Wow! Running Press has just sent me a copy of The Marvel Vault by Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson, a so-called "A Museum-in-a-Book" that looks to be a gem of considerable luster. The promotional material said it's scheduled for release in October, but Rory Root had copies at his Comic Relief booth at Comic-Con International: San Diego. (The only reasons I didn't buy a copy there were the combination of its being heavy and my concern that it'd get damaged in shipping. The copy I just received here, by the way, came through fine.)

I'd drooled over it at the show, after a fast glance through its pages -- and I still haven't had the chance to do much more than gloat over it in the presence of other CBG staffers: "Nyah, nyah! I got a copy of this incredible volume! Weep with jealousy!"

It's a spiral-bound volume, full-color, its 192 heavy pages packed with information. But wait! There's more! It's the sort of thing we always dreamed of: not only a history of Marvel from 1932 (with a photo of Publisher Martin Goodman) to 2007 (complete with promotional images from 2007) and beautiful reproductions of lots and lots and lots of art, but also ...

Also plastic pockets containing stunning goodies in carefully designed formats. "Sketches" from 1941 and 1942, reproduced to look as if they were, indeed, pencilled on aged drawing paper that had been stored away ever since. Faithful (albeit reduced) reproductions of postcards Bill Everett sent to his daughter in 1956. A repro of Stan Lee's original synopsis for Fantastic Four #1. And more, more, more.

And that's just from an initial glance through the first 70 pages. This is a must-buy for any Marvel fan. ISBN 0-7624-2844-9. $49.95. Wow.