Missed this: Netzer interviewed at SBC

And, aside from an overly self-referential interviewer, it's a fairly good chat. Most interesting to me was Netzer's recollection of his 2004 reconciliation with former mentor Neal Adams, at the Big Apple Comic Con.:

Young: I’ve actually been reading through parts of your daily blog, and I noticed that you mention that you recently mended your relationship with Neal Adams after almost 12 years of not speaking to each other. For me, that’s almost like the time Frank Sinatra brought Dean Martin on stage during one of Jerry Lewis’s telethons so Martin and Lewis could mend their relationship (I know many of our readers may not get my reference, but they can look it up). Anyway, after a big build-up in the blog about the anxiety you were experiencing about approaching him, you didn’t report on the actual meeting where the two of you made up. Would you want to add anything to that here or did you leave it out of the blog because it was too personal and something you weren’t needing to share?

Netzer: You’re right in that it was a very personal encounter and that may be the reason I omitted it. It’s interesting that you liken it to the Martin/Lewis reconciliation on stage, because it also happened, albeit with a little less fanfare, on a stage at the NY Big Apple convention in the fall of 2004. It’s important to note that the incident took place within days of my sending out press releases for The Comic Book Creator’s Party web site that includes a long essay, Blood Which Flows from the Heart, that explained for the first time the circumstances that led to the litigation I brought against Neal in the mid 1990s. As I said in that article, Neal had only wanted that I understand his intentions behind the issues that led to the litigation. By explaining it all in the article, I hoped that Neal and his family would accept the regret expressed there. I went to the convention with all this in mind, and was in a somewhat emotionally charged state upon arriving there. Neal and his entire family were at their table and this made the situation even more precarious for me. It’s important to understand, in light of the relationship Neal and I have had, that the action I brought against him was a serious blow to the trust between us, especially with regards to his family. I actually approached the table several times and was warmly received by everyone there-but had virtually no communication with Neal, who was very busy with the crowd coming to see him. The next day, at the panel where Neal was interviewed by Frank Miller, I simply stepped up to the stage and approached him after the interview extending my hand and congratulating him on the excellent discussion. Neal reciprocated by also extending his hand in return. The handshake had pretty much answered my question as to whether my plea was heard. I did the same with Frank, by the way, who’d also previously pointed rather harsh criticism my way over the same subject. Later that day, towards the end of the con, I spent some time with Neal and his family at their table after sitting in on his Science Project presentation. To say the least, the whole affair was for me a good-sized helping of the special Adams family grace that I’d missed for so long-and I wouldn’t be truthful if I said it wasn’t accompanied by a few tears. We later bid each other farewell, and I made my way back to Israel the next day.