Author: Ed Catto

A voracious reader, Ed has been enjoying “books on comics” ever since he’d read Jule’s Feiffer’s classic The Great Comic Book Heroes a chapter at a time at a local book store. The cover price was $14.95 and he knew that he could never afford such an enormous sum to actually buy this treasure. Things changed, and Ed could eventually afford the books he loved. His reading, and history illustration and art has guided him through a life-long love of comics, collections and graphic novels. As a branding and advertising executive, Ed’s career has evolved to include a focus on entertainment marketing in many ways: A founding partner of Bonfire Agency, Ed helped establish the world’s first marketing firm focused on connecting brands, in authentic ways, to passionate and enthusiastic fans of comics, graphic novels, games and movies. Ed has also shepherded the rebirth of the iconic 60s toy, Captain Action, in collectibles, books, comics and even a national toy line. An animated television series is currently being shopped for development. A convention enthusiast, Ed helped develop Reed Pop’s New York Comic-Con (now the nation’s largest con) and is currently doing the same for Syracuse’s Salt City Comic-Con. 
Ed speaks nationally as a panelist and moderator at conventions, leading conversations on entertainment marketing and comics history. Ed has also appeared on CNBC’s Squawkbox, BNN Business News Network , and PBS’s Superheroes documentary. Ed recently started teaching at Ithaca College, sharing his experiences and enthusiasm for business and entrepreneurship to both MBA’s and undergraduates. As an artist, Ed also leads graphic novel classes for kids of all ages. In October of 2018, The Adventures of Captain Graves will mark Ed’s debut as an illustrator for publisher Airship27. Ed and his wife Kathe currently live in New York’s State’s Finger Lakes Region, enjoying the area’s local comic book shops and wineries. Between consulting, teaching and drawing, Ed continues to work very hard to whittle down the teetering tower of books on his nightstand.
Pop Culture Squad > Articles by: Ed Catto
With Further Ado #415: To Boldly Go

With Further Ado #415: To Boldly Go

Posted on by Ed Catto

I admit it; I tried to play it cool. I tried not to go all fanboy. But after about, oh, one-and-half minutes I was as a giddy as a seven-year-old feasting on birthday cake and ice cream.

But, like I told my wife,  it was a work thing. And yeah, she just rolled her eyes too.

As a part of my day job as an Assistant Professor at Ithaca College, I teach the Practicum Class for the MBA candidates. It’s a unique program focusing on entertainment, media and live events.  So for this program, unlike, say, Wharton’s or even Cornell’s, we graduate fewer Investment Bankers and more brilliant/innovative creatives who work for entertainment or sports companies.  I wish this type of MBA program existed for me back in the day.

And one of the annual trips in this program is a trip to the Adirondacks, where the students meet a plethora of entrepreneurial start-ups and volunteer at a live event. It’s a fantastic way to get some hands on learning, a hallmark of the Ithaca College School of Business.

This year, while in Ticonderoga, NY we participated in The Star Trek Original Series Set Tour.  It was arranged by our friends at ANCA (the Adirondack North Country Alliance) and TACC (The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce). Continue reading “With Further Ado #415: To Boldly Go” →

With Further Ado #414: Supercharged with Climate Optimism

With Further Ado #414: Supercharged with Climate Optimism

Posted on by Ed Catto

At San Diego Comic-Con this past July, I noticed an indie booth with two covers by one of my favorite artists: Mark Schultz.

(He’s also one of my favorite writers, and I read his Prince Valiant every Sunday, where art is provided by the phenomenal Thomas Yeates.)

I was fascinated and wandered up to this curious booth. And it was there I started to learn about the term Climate Optimism.

Here’s how the booth’s owners described this concept on their site:

What Climate Optimism Actually Means

Climate optimism contradicts both doom-paralysis and naive positivity: it is specifically optimism anchored to known solutions and ongoing action, not a belief that outcomes will simply work out. As Anne Therese Gennari writes: “Climate optimism is not about taking a step back and hoping for the best to happen. It’s about meeting these times with an unwavering curiosity for change and choosing a path of resilience, action, and hope!”

Climate optimism is:

• A belief the outcome is still possible
• Grounded in measurable results
• Paired with Urgency
• A Reason to Act

Climate optimism is NOT:

• A belief that everything turns out fine
• Grounded in mood
• A Reason to Relax
• A Reason to Wait

Still with me? Sounds like a smart approach, doesn’t it? Continue reading “With Further Ado #414: Supercharged with Climate Optimism” →

With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share

With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share

Posted on by Ed Catto

Titan’s Andrew Sumner is a fascinating guy with so much to say. You might be enjoying his impressive publishing and collectible output from Titan, you might have seen him on so many SDCC or NYCC panels, and maybe you’ve even see his podcasts & YouTube interviews.

I must admit: I have the great privilege of hosting Andrew as a Guest Lecturer at Ithaca College. He’s always one the very favorites of the students.

Well, now the tables are turned. He’s the one being interviewed. Eoin McAuley provides an outstanding interview in the latest episode of Creator in Conversation..and it’s available here!

* * *

At San Diego Comic-Con in July, I always enjoy the small press area. Someone once gave me good advice: walk up and down the small press aisles with a little cash in your pocket and spend it with these talented creators.  And I always do.

Let me tell you about just two of the folks I chatted up there this year. Continue reading “With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share” →

With Further Ado #412: The Authentic Experience That Was All Made Up

With Further Ado #412: The Authentic Experience That Was All Made Up

Posted on by Ed Catto

Sometimes, a really good book inspires you to learn more or investigate further. This book, a biography, I just finished sure did that to me. I just finished it and now I want to:

  • Research this book’s fascinating entrepreneur more
  • Buy some Hawaiian/Polynesian records (I did buy one!)
  • Spend a Happy Hour at some Tiki Bar
  • Order a pu pu platter
  • Ask my bartender to make me Zombie (the rum drink, not Walking Dead style)

Korero’s latest book is called Searching for Don the Beachcomber, Inventor of the Tiki Bar. It’s lovingly researched by Tim “Swanky” Glazner.  I didn’t know this before reading the book, but the whole notion of Tiki Bars and Polynesian restaurants was all made up. Several people contributed to what is now called Tiki Culture, but the guy who started it was Ernest Gantt, who later became Donn Beach and/or Don the Beach-comber. Continue reading “With Further Ado #412: The Authentic Experience That Was All Made Up” →

With Further Ado #411: Will Murray, Man of Bronze

With Further Ado #411: Will Murray, Man of Bronze

Posted on by Ed Catto

They say to never meet your idols. I dunno, I’ve had pretty good luck over the years. I especially had good luck with writer, researcher, and historian Will Murray. Sadly, Will passed last week.

In retrospect, it seemed like Will Murray was an author that I always reading. He seemed to know so much about all the cool stuff I loved: pulp heroes (like Doc Savage, the Spider,  and The Shadow, old TV shows, comics, famous actors, even old books.  I read a zillion of his articles then started diving into his novels.

I even reviewed one, The Sinister Shadow (a Doc Savage + Shadow team-up) here.

How much fun his novels were, and all the better that they written by a fan just “like us”.

Admittedly, a fan with a lot more talent, but still. He was one of us.

I met Will a few times at conventions over the years. As I got more involved, I was over-the-moon thrilled when he accepted my invitations to be a convention panelist once or twice.

But more recently, I’ve become the Editor-in-Chief for RetroFan magazine. I inherited the job from my friend, Michael Eury, and it’s been a joy. Will Murray had long been a contributing writer to RetroFan. His regular feature, Will Murray’s 20th Century Panopticon was always one of my favorite parts. So you can imagine I was eager to work with him as EiC. Continue reading “With Further Ado #411: Will Murray, Man of Bronze” →

With Further Ado #410: Reading Is Fundamental

With Further Ado #410: Reading Is Fundamental

Posted on by Ed Catto

As the nation mourns the passing of Dolly Parton, her many accomplishments have been recited and celebrated. And they certainly should be. What an impressive person she was.

Last year when we visited Nashville, we chose not to see that Dolly Boadway-esque show that was in previews. Not because we weren’t interested, we were, but because the tickets were really expensive. ($300+ each, as I recall.) Now, I’m kinda regretful. That would have been the time and the place to have seen that one.

In addition to everything else Dolly did, there’s one thing that I haven’t seen much in this week’s coverage.

Up until my daughter clued me in last year, I had never heard of Dolly’s Imagination Library. It’s a program she founded, back in the ‘90s, that sends free books to children. They are sent to children in the US and internationally.  Over the years, it’s distributed over 300 million free books and currently serves three million children. Continue reading “With Further Ado #410: Reading Is Fundamental” →

With Further Ado #409: The Sonic Days of Scott Shaw!

With Further Ado #409: The Sonic Days of Scott Shaw!

Posted on by Ed Catto

Have you ever had that strange feeling when you don’t know much about a book’s subject —and don’t even have a little affinity for it—but you absolutely love that book?

Me too! That’s the case (for me) with the wonderful new hardcover, Scott Shaw!’s Sonic Days. I’m not a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan. I’m not sure if I’m too old, too young, or too square. It just never was my cup of tea. I don’t really get it. Although I’m in awe of the enduring staying power of this IP. Continue reading “With Further Ado #409: The Sonic Days of Scott Shaw!” →

With Further Ado #408: The Return of the (UK) Avengers

With Further Ado #408: The Return of the (UK) Avengers

Posted on by Ed Catto

Maya Angelou probably was not the first individual to say this particular quote, or a variation of it, but over the years it has been most frequently attributed to her.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

That’s just the way I feel about one of my favorite TV shows, from the UK; The Avengers. This stylish spy/thriller drama wasn’t so much about the stories themselves.  The adventures were all outlandish, and the supporting characters were over the top, but it was all about how it made us (the viewers) feel.

And as we watched every stylish episode, we couldn’t help but feel the elegance, with panache, of the lead characters. We all wished we could all be more unflappable, more poised, more dashing, more flirtatious under pressure. It was less about if they would get the villains each week, but instead about how they got them.

At San Diego Comic-Con this summer, I was fortunate enough to spend a little time with a very busy man, Andrew Sumner, the Chief Operating Officer of Titan Entertainment Group. He moderated about a zillion panels while also leading his team all week at their Titan booth. It was one of the highlights of the convention’s exhibition floor.

I don’t quite know how this happened. Between with my visits to the Titan booth, and my time with Andrew, I somehow missed the fact that Titan was publishing a new Avengers (the UK Avengers, as noted) adventure in a paperback.

It’s written by David Crichton and is called Death in Downing Street.

The Avengers have a rich history of print adventures, and fandom has embraced this property/these characters again and again.

As I missed the brief SDCC “on sale window” for this book, I immediately ordered a copy as soon as I learned about it. I just finished reading it. It’s a breakneck thriller, filled with all the bits and gags that fans have loved over the years.

There are even a few parts that border on risqué, or ribald, humor. I laughed out loud a few times as a I was reading, in fact (much to my wife’s surprise).

Author David Chrichton is able to bring something new to the party too. As this is a sixties historical thriller, he allows Steed and Mrs. Peel to interact with real people, including the UK prime minister Harold Wilson.

Cheers to Chrichton, to Titan and to Andrew Sumner. And just when I thought that San Diego Comic-Con didn’t have any more surprises. Well done all.

When’s the next one going to be published?

The Avengers: Death in Downing Street
By David Crichton
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 14, 2026
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1835416204

* * *
Need more of the Avengers? I did write about their many publications, and a Herbie J Pilato’s new Diana Rigg book recently here.

With Further Ado #407: Kubert and Comic Art Collides with Academia

With Further Ado #407: Kubert and Comic Art Collides with Academia

Posted on by Ed Catto

Even though I’m teaching a lot of classes these days, there are some classes I’d really like to take! It turns out The Kubert School has just merged with County College of Morris.

The Kubert School, the brainchild of the brilliant Joe Kubert, was established in 1976 essentially as a technical school for artists wanting to get into comics, illustration, and/or animation. So many of your favorites have graduated from this illustrious school. Here’s just a few:

• Thomas Yeates
• Amanda Conner
• Stephen R. Bissette
• Andy Kubert
• Adam Kubert
• Rick Veitch
• Jan Duursema
• Tom Mandrake
• Timothy Truman
• Thom Zahler
• Eric Shanower
• Steve Lieber
• Scott Kolins
• Dan Parent
• Sergio Cariello
• Matt Hollingsworth
• Ed Piskor

I worked with Joe and The Kubert School on a couple of projects, and it was always a joyously fun spot to visit. And yes, I always had FOMO that I didn’t enroll way back when.

But today, I’m so encouraged that academia now embraces it all and provides a pathway for talented folks to break into comics (and so much more).

The article is here and below: Continue reading “With Further Ado #407: Kubert and Comic Art Collides with Academia” →

With Further Ado #406: SDCC 2026 Cosplay Pics

With Further Ado #406: SDCC 2026 Cosplay Pics

Posted on by Ed Catto

I think I’ve used, and reused, that old saw about a picture being worth a thousand too many times. But still, you get it. Everyone loves the cosplay pics from San Diego Comic-Con.

So..here’s a few good ones from last week’s event for you to enjoy!

Continue reading “With Further Ado #406: SDCC 2026 Cosplay Pics” →