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Subject: John Simpson: Ruminations on a life well spent with comics | Author | Messages | 
Brent Frankenhoff
Posts: 3930
 | Posted: 10/11/2007 8:35:26 AM | Editor's Note: John Simpson of Nashville, Tenn., a longtime comics fan, died of cancer Oct. 10. Earlier this year, he asked his friend, ComicBase's Pete Bickford to send the following letter upon his passing. You can read Pete's tribute to his friend here.
Ruminations on a life well spent with comics!
Electrifying announcement! Hawkman joins the Justice League! Justice League of America #31, "Riddle of the Runaway Room!" Gardner, Mike, Bernard, and Julie in their prime. Likely my first (of many, many more) Julie Schwartz-edited comics, autographed by him and with me always.
Many an enjoyable turn scorekeeping for Quizmaster Emeritus Jim Hay at the San Diego Pro Fan Trivia Challenge. Greetings, effendi, from your faithful Indian companion..
Being the first customer of George and Dorothy Tuska to buy a sketch for a friend at their first convention in San Diego. We all learned together how to do it. Years later, I bought his great Marvel heroes montage at an AACC dinner. Dorothy was thrilled!
Mark Evanier -- panel moderator and blogger extraordinaire.
Harlan Ellison -- a treasure, a jewel, a master.
Denny O'Neil -- from being tongue tied the first time I met him at my local comics shop to easily bantering with him in a Wonder Con elevator (Oakland days). I finally got over being shy.
Dave Siegel -- he can find anyone, anywhere -- Thanks for all the great creators we met because of you.
Gene and Adrianne Colan -- a great artist, a great lady, and a great team -– and even better friends.
Jim Johnson -- scary how often I agree with his reviews. Spooky when we realized that Chicago ComicCon in '81 was the first big con for each of us.
Tom Galloway -- his never-ending quest to out-geek the Purple Prose and Mark Waid in trivia.
Maggie Thompson -- a lady of particular distinction, and a friend.
Ray Bradbury -- still as sharp as a tack and feisty as ever.
Neal Adams -- I came of age reading his comics.
The Great Escape of Nashville, Tenn. -- Gary and Peggy Walker, Shawn Hamilton, Todd Furhman, Susan Burch, Mike Stephens, and the dedicated staff of My Only Comic Shop -- ever! The World's Greatest Comic Shop!
Taking a "vacation" to the Bay Area and ending up spending a day laboring as a goon helping to move Human Computing/ComicBase to their new offices. But I was fed well.
ComicBase booth babes -- Shiaw-Ling, Loretta, and Candace.
ComicBase beef cake? -- Andrew and Mark.
Carl the Sub-Mariner -- refreshing to know someone who actually has more comics than I do.
Finally cataloging my collection in ComicBase -- what a great feeling -- but even better was becoming great friends with Pete, Carolyn, Neil, and Kelly.
My Polaroid from '96 with Julie Schwartz and Gil Kane, taken by my best comics pal.
Rich Morrissey -- thanks so much for bringing John and Peggy Broome to San Diego. Rest well!
Synchronicity -- finally getting to tell Elliot S! Maggin how much I enjoyed his novelization of Kingdom Come and sharing with him (and his genuine interest in) a brief passage from the "Citizen Wayne" chapter to be used in my funeral service. The opportunity to meet him was because of our attendance at the Julius Schwartz memorial panel in San Diego in '04.
"He had many luxuries, but the greatest of them was knowing where he belonged in the world, and knowing that was where he was."
-- Kingdom Come, inscribed by Elliot and with me always.
John Simpson, 1956-2007
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Brent Frankenhoff
Posts: 3930
| Posted: 10/11/2007 8:42:46 AM | Another friend of Simpson's, Mike Pascale, shares his thoughts here.
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Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 10/11/2007 7:52:46 PM | This is very sad news, indeed.
Those who knew John also knew that he had been sick for some time. Yet, as cold as it might sound, it was all too easy to forget that he was battling cancer. Knowing that he was fighting a horrible illness, John came to appreciate every single remaining day of his life. His attitude was not one of a man facing his own mortality; it was one of a man who truly understood that each day was the first one of the rest of his life.
And such an outlook was contagious; John’s fun-loving spirit not just made it hard to remember he was sick; it made it impossible. Whatever pain he might have been suffering, physical or otherwise, was buried or otherwise unseen behind his impressively optimistic mindset. And who were we to shed a tear for our friend, when he himself refused to do the same? John would rarely mention his condition, but when it would come up, he would discuss it with a frankness that neither sugar-coated it nor sensationalized it; his frankness was stark, and it was clear that while he undoubtedly hoped for a miracle, it was also apparent that he had come to terms with the odds he faced.
I’ve known John for the past several years, but sadly our get-togethers were limited to seeing each other once a year during the San Diego Comic-Con. I’m sure many reading this can relate to the regrettable infrequency of such get-togethers. And this infrequency was compounded by the frenzied pace of the con; another thing those reading this can understand. But John was always among those who I made it a point to see, and I’m now very, very glad that I did so. Despite the limitations that such annual reunions might impose on a friendship, I have no doubts whatsoever about calling John a good friend.
And it was only last year that I realized what a good friend he was; as I was emotionally reeling from going through a divorce, John was among those who called to voice his sympathy, support, and good wishes. And when the time came shortly thereafter to put my dad into a nursing home, John was the first person I contacted, having recalled that he had gone through a similar ordeal with his mother the year before. His advice and support were invaluable. It was at this point that I truly recognized what a true friend I had in John; a guy who by all rights should be the one getting support was instead giving it.
While John’s biggest claim to fame in comics might have been that he had won an actual Marvel No-Prize (he really did), anyone who’s ever checked out Human Computing’s ComicBase / Atomic Avenue booth in San Diego has undoubtedly seen John, who as noted above, was a close friend of Human Computing founder Pete Bickford, hanging around the booth and often helping Pete extol the virtues of ComicBase.
I was truly surprised and very moved to see my name among those whom John was thinking of in his final days. I can think of no higher testament. Amidst the loss of a good friend, John’s final words gave me a great sense of comfort and fulfillment; here was a guy who enjoyed my reviews and columns enough to warrant mention even as he’s called home. Even in death, John continues to evoke feelings of joy in those who now mourn him.
As one can see from John’s final letter above, he was a true comics fan, and he loved being a fan. He would occasionally write to me stating his agreement with some of my reviews in CBG, but never missing an opportunity to point out factual errors, like he did in regards to John Petty’s and my recent retro-Obligatory Fight Scene covering Fantastic Four #1. John (Petty) and I covered that comic as though it really was 1961, the year it came out, and John (Simpson) all-too-gleefully pointed out that my mention of frozen Icee drinks in that review was out-of-place, since those didn’t debut until 1965. Sigh.
Although I saw John a couple of weeks after that in San Diego, that email turned out to be the last one I ever received from him. And now, it turns out that this summer’s SDCC was the last time I and many other people would ever see him. I remember saying good-bye, although I wasn’t saying good-bye in That Way. I made sure that he and I and anyone else in earshot understood this by making sure I uttered those final words.
See you next year.
. . .
Well.
You are going to be missed, my friend. SDCC won’t be the same without you. Life won’t be the same, for that matter. You’ve brought more inspiration and joy to people than you will ever know.
It’s time for all of us who knew you to shed that tear now.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 10/11/2007 7:52:46 PM | This is very sad news, indeed.
Those who knew John also knew that he had been sick for some time. Yet, as cold as it might sound, it was all too easy to forget that he was battling cancer. Knowing that he was fighting a horrible illness, John came to appreciate every single remaining day of his life. His attitude was not one of a man facing his own mortality; it was one of a man who truly understood that each day was the first one of the rest of his life.
And such an outlook was contagious; John’s fun-loving spirit not just made it hard to remember he was sick; it made it impossible. Whatever pain he might have been suffering, physical or otherwise, was buried or otherwise unseen behind his impressively optimistic mindset. And who were we to shed a tear for our friend, when he himself refused to do the same? John would rarely mention his condition, but when it would come up, he would discuss it with a frankness that neither sugar-coated it nor sensationalized it; his frankness was stark, and it was clear that while he undoubtedly hoped for a miracle, it was also apparent that he had come to terms with the odds he faced.
I’ve known John for the past several years, but sadly our get-togethers were limited to seeing each other once a year during the San Diego Comic-Con. I’m sure many reading this can relate to the regrettable infrequency of such get-togethers. And this infrequency was compounded by the frenzied pace of the con; another thing those reading this can understand. But John was always among those who I made it a point to see, and I’m now very, very glad that I did so. Despite the limitations that such annual reunions might impose on a friendship, I have no doubts whatsoever about calling John a good friend.
And it was only last year that I realized what a good friend he was; as I was emotionally reeling from going through a divorce, John was among those who called to voice his sympathy, support, and good wishes. And when the time came shortly thereafter to put my dad into a nursing home, John was the first person I contacted, having recalled that he had gone through a similar ordeal with his mother the year before. His advice and support were invaluable. It was at this point that I truly recognized what a true friend I had in John; a guy who by all rights should be the one getting support was instead giving it.
While John’s biggest claim to fame in comics might have been that he had won an actual Marvel No-Prize (he really did), anyone who’s ever checked out Human Computing’s ComicBase / Atomic Avenue booth in San Diego has undoubtedly seen John, who as noted above, was a close friend of Human Computing founder Pete Bickford, hanging around the booth and often helping Pete extol the virtues of ComicBase.
I was truly surprised and very moved to see my name among those whom John was thinking of in his final days. I can think of no higher testament. Amidst the loss of a good friend, John’s final words gave me a great sense of comfort and fulfillment; here was a guy who enjoyed my reviews and columns enough to warrant mention even as he’s called home. Even in death, John continues to evoke feelings of joy in those who now mourn him.
As one can see from John’s final letter above, he was a true comics fan, and he loved being a fan. He would occasionally write to me stating his agreement with some of my reviews in CBG, but never missing an opportunity to point out factual errors, like he did in regards to John Petty’s and my recent retro-Obligatory Fight Scene covering Fantastic Four #1. John (Petty) and I covered that comic as though it really was 1961, the year it came out, and John (Simpson) all-too-gleefully pointed out that my mention of frozen Icee drinks in that review was out-of-place, since those didn’t debut until 1965. Sigh.
Although I saw John a couple of weeks after that in San Diego, that email turned out to be the last one I ever received from him. And now, it turns out that this summer’s SDCC was the last time I and many other people would ever see him. I remember saying good-bye, although I wasn’t saying good-bye in That Way. I made sure that he and I and anyone else in earshot understood this by making sure I uttered those final words.
See you next year.
. . .
Well.
You are going to be missed, my friend. SDCC won’t be the same without you. Life won’t be the same, for that matter. You’ve brought more inspiration and joy to people than you will ever know.
It’s time for all of us who knew you to shed that tear now.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
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