Google Alerts

Thanks to Google Alerts, I get regular notifications when my name pops up in an online article or a blog or on a string on a message board. And when something I wrote goes on sale on eBay.

This week, for example, a complete set of 'Mazing Man is up for auction, along with the four issues of Superman: The Secret Years and an issue of Freedom Fighters. In the case of the latter, the shipping cost is higher than the asking price of the issue. I doubt there is anything I wrote that is commanding astronomical prices and if I were sell off my extra copies of everything I've written, I don't think it would fund more than a few days of retirement.
Copies of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Office Politics, which Laurie and I wrote pop up various places as well. Most recently, someone offered a copy for sale in Bulgaria. (Who knew that we would become authorities on Office Politics in Bulgaria?)

There is an ongoing debate on one of the message boards about DC characters who exist on one Earth or another. It is long and ponderous and would make most folks wonder why these people are devoting so much time to such a topic.
In any case, my name came up in connection to my use of the original Batwoman and Bat-Girl in stories in Batman Family, Teen Titans, and Freedom Fighters. One (or perhaps more than one -- I lost track) poster proclaimed that I had violated the rules for Batman stories set out by editor Julius Schwartz and writer Denny O'Neil when I brought the two characters back. It would seem that, somewhere, Julie and Denny had decided which characters of the Batman family were on Earth-1 and which were on Earth-2 and that I had ignored this. This poster uses as proof that Denny wrote a story in which he killed off "my" Earth-1 Batwoman because she was never supposed to exist. He (or someone else) says that I should have consulted with Denny before using her in the first place. Amusingly, Julie was the editor of Batman Family when I brought back the two characters... and Denny was not writing many, if any, Batman stories at the time.

A few weeks ago, a review of "The Touchdown Trap," my first Robin story (and my first published tale) appeared on a blog, along with scans of the entire tale. Google Alerts pointed me to that... and many other blogs that link to that one. Similarly, a review of "Clark Kent's Lonely Christmas" took me to a blog location and a posting on Facebook as well.

Perhaps the most amusing Google Alerts I get are when I do new installments of this blog. In fact, one should be coming along as soon as I post this...