There are two events coming up – one Peanuts event, one non-Peanuts – that have me thinking about some somewhat bigger matters. Forgive me if I get a bit off-topic for this blog.
The events are (in the order they’re taking place):
- 24 Hour Comics Day lands on October 3rd this year. On that day, hundreds (maybe thousands) of people worldwide will gather at comic shops, schools, museums, and other locales to spend 24 hours together, each person trying to create a 24 page comics story in 24 hours. This is the sixth year for this event.
- The new exhibit in the Schulz Museum, Peanuts Cooks, runs October 14th – February 15th. It features the original art to Peanuts strips about food, displays of Peanuts cookbooks, and other Peanuts-and-food-related items.
I’ll probably make it up to the museum at least once during the new show’s run… and it will be a little odd for me. Y’see, a couple things I’ll be looking at there, just some minor ones, will actually be mine — books on loan from the AAUGH.com Reference Library (they’ll say “Courtesy of Nat Gertler” on the little display sign; the paperwork came too close to the event for me to start going “hey, can I get the AAUGH.com name on them?”). One other item, something that they’ve been hyping a bit, is something that the museum knows about because I told them about it, steered them toward it. And to me, realizing that is just one of those moments when I realize that I’ve become That Somebody.
I’m sure you think about That Somebody a lot. You’re looking for some sort of information, and you’re sure That Somebody has made a list. You need to know how to do something, and you assume That Somebody, some sort of expert, has figured it out. There’s something wrong out there, but you’re confident That Somebody will fix it. That was true when I started collecting Peanuts books. After all, this was a major line of books, licensed by a major corporation, and with lots of fan interest – I was certain That Somebody had a full, well-organized list. This was back in the days when the Internet was still young, when “Google” was just Snuffy Smith’s city pal, so we didn’t have the same thought that if there was information out there, one could find it. And so I ended up making the start of what become my list, not because the information wasn’t out there (and as it turned out, there were a couple of other lists out there, although with a different set of strengths and weaknesses than mine), but because I didn’t have access to it. Might as well make it myself. But I still for a long time assumed that there was a master list, that the people more deeply involved in the creation of these books had access.
One day I was talking with a friend of mine, and mentioned a question I had been unable to answer about the publication of the Peanuts books adapting the TV specials… and my friend whipped out his phone and called Lee Mendelson, producer of the specials, who happened to be his pal. And Lee didn’t know the answer, but he heard That Somebody had a list on the Internet… yup, it was my list he was referring to. This is a moment that I realized that for this one minor thing, I had become That Somebody. This situation with the CMS Museum and Research Center – I mean, if you think of anyone being That Somebody who would have all the info, it would be them, and they have a lot of good info and take care of it, but they still have to rely from time to time on the fact That Somebody has the information or the items, and in this particular case, That Somebody was me.
24 Hour Comics Day is another case where I was that somebody. For years, people had been going up to the inventor of the 24 hour comic, Scott McCloud, and saying That Somebody should publish a book collecting 24 hour comics. This had been going on for a decade before I went up to him and said that I wanted to publish it. I got a strong-selling book out of it. To promote it, I put together the first 24 Hour Comics Day, what I thought was going to be a small, one-time deal, and it ended up not only being quite large but with people expecting it as an ongoing event. I certainly believed That Somebody should do that, but also knew that in this case, I’d be taking on the role of That Somebody. I ran the event for a few years before turning it over to some folks who I hoped could grow it further, and in doing so freed myself up to participate in the event. (If anyone’s near Winnetka, California between noon Saturday and noon Sunday, stop by Collector’s Paradise and say hi; I’ll be up all night. Not sure if the doors will be open the whole time.)
Why am I saying this? Because I’m sure there are times in your life where you will realize That Somebody should be doing something. Maybe it’s something small, maybe it’s something important. Just realize that you can be That Somebody. Perhaps you’re not the ideal person to do it – that doesn’t matter, because you cannot assume that the ideal person will surface and actually get it done. The person who recognizes the need and chooses to take on the effort is the person that can make a difference. It would be great if it were something truly important, like bringing food to the foodless or building homes for the homeless, instead of some of the picayune stuff I do, making lists for the listless — but even the small stuff counts. It is a mistake to think that there is some race of great people out there who will do all the things that matter, and that normal people are just there to go along and do the simple, the minimum. If you see a need, fill it. Great things are done by normal people. And there are far too many things out there That Somebody should be doing…
