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On 2/24/14 (actually, it was 1:30 a.m. on 2/25/14), I was a guest on pop culture savant Nick Digilio’s show on WGN Radio 720. 

No Bob Kane defenders here!

Of the various radio interviews I have done, the 7/25/13 one with Jon Waterhouse on “Pop Culture King” on Atlanta’s AM 1690 was one of the most fun. Partly because it was the first on my “Girl in the Video” series, and partly because Jon is such a polished radio personality.

Oh, and partly because I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve shared a headline with this guy:

With the release of Man of Steel, Voice of America asked me about Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman.

On 1/11/13, at 11:30 p.m., I was interviewed for the second time by a radio show out of New York called Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction. 

• Bill the Boy Wonder interview 1/11/13
• Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman interview 10/10/08
• Ty Templeton interview 8/21/87

On 8/26/12, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman was featured in a splashy spread in la Republicca, which, according to Wikipedia, is the largest-circulation Italian daily newspaper. I still do not know what it says. 

Librarian and children’s book prophet Mr. Schu (secret identity: John Schumacher) kindly interviewed me about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, including some of the most fun questions I’ve been asked about the book, including “Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about...”

Oh, Mr. Schu read more books last year than you…and me…and those three other guys…combined. I think he read a complete book just since you have been reading this post.

On 10/4/12, I was interviewed for a TV show called Meet the Author.

 

Defies the odds…stellar, surprising…Nobleman distinguishes himself as a four-leveled talent…he sparkles as an author.  … Be sure to read to the last page. The revelation is a true-to-life happy ending that would make even the Caped Crusader smile.

Beside the fact that this book is about Batman…this book is about copyright and attribution and acknowledgement, something we all try to teach in our classrooms. While the Internet makes it so easy to pilfer someone else’s work and not give [him/her] credit, BILL the Boy Wonder delves into the effects that has on one man’s life. It’s easy to extrapolate how it might affect others. An extensive bibliography and author’s notes are just as interesting to read as the narrative. Nobleman describes his research, showing that he’s just as much a detective as Bruce Wayne.

High school and middle grade classrooms will value this book for its readability and its discussion-generating possibilities.

On 6/29/12, I had the privilege of being a guest for the second time on The Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius satellite radio.

The first time, in 2008, was in-studio; this time was by phone. And unlike the first time, this time I knew going in that Frank’s show is aimed at the gay community.

The first time, Frank posed a riddle: which superhero is secretly gay, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) or Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)? I played along and guessed Hal because he accessorizes with a shiny green ring. But Frank zinged me: obviously the correct answer is Oliver Queen.

I was ready for him this time!

Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman has three gay connections, all of which we touched on:

1. Bill’s son Fred was gay and for 10 years (1992 to 2002) Fred’s partner was getting Batman money instead of Fred’s only child, Athena (Bill’s granddaughter)

2. Bill actually weighed in on whether or not Batman and Robin were gay

3. Bill’s other big hero creation was the original Green Lantern, who was reinvented as gay in 2012

Thanks for having me again, Frank.

That is the title of the podcast episode I recorded with "The Book of Life" in Miami in February 2012. I love it, especially since the underdogs that podcaster Heidi Rabinowitz Estrin are referring to are creators of the opposite of underdog—superheroes.

Checkpoint, a new site that promotes “Short Interviews with Interesting People,” kindly interviewed me about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.

Extra points for titling it “NobleBatman.”

An excerpt:

What prompted you to write your latest book, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman?

As a lifelong superhero fan, the chance to write professionally about Batman (like Superman before him) was in the “dream come true” neighborhood. As an author, the chance to write a story about a subject well known in one respect but completely mysterious in another was an exhilarating challenge. As a marketing person, the chance to write a nonfiction book on a subject that hasn’t been the focus of its own book before was strategically appealing.

We all start off as cartoonists because we all have access to the simple tools needed for it—pencil (or crayon), paper (or wall), and imagination.

Oh, man, it was a long, often bleak, always unmarked route! I conceived, researched, and wrote it after I sold Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (2005) but before it came out (2008). My Boys of Steel editor turned it down—three times starting in 2007. She didn’t feel it had the same fuzziness as the Superman story—and she was exactly right. However, the Superman story is actually dark, believe it or not, and the Batman one—perhaps appropriately—is even darker.

...read picture books constantly, read books on the craft of writing, strive to tell stories with vibrant and well-drawn characters, and revise till your fingertips chafe. Do homework before submitting and devote as much energy and cleverness to your queries as to the works themselves.

I talked extra slowly because they told me to. I didn't smile because they didn't tell me to. And upon seeing this finished cut, I wish I had talked slightly faster and flashed teeth more.

But overall, it was fun and I am pleased, especially with the zooming-backwards-through-bookshelves effect, which was not a typhoon (common in those parts) but rather just some movie magic.

Angela Santomero, co-creator of Blue's Clues and Super Why, plus all-around nice person, kindly interviewed me for her PBS series The Parent Show.

Watch the full episode. See more The Parent Show.

To promote my 10/25/10 talk at the Jewish Community Center of Houston, the Houston Chronicle blog "Iconia—Wherever faith meets art" kindly interviewed me about Superman's religion and a Hitler rumor, for lack of a better word.

The West Orange (NJ) Patch, a community news site, interviewed me in conjunction with my two school visits in town.

Of note: the kind writer of the piece, Joyce Kaffel, is the daughter of longtime Superman editor Mort Weisinger.

...in any form: Kids' Book Review, a blog from Down Under, has kindly run an interview with me. Here's an excerpt:

What other genres [besides narrative nonfiction and humor] have you written in? I’ve written books with a scientific bent and even a couple of math books—buyer beware! I rarely had a mind for math. (On the first day of 7th grade, we were given a printed schedule of classes and I was thrilled that math was not on it—until a friend told me that “algebra” is math.)