The Marvel Super Heroes' Guide to New York City, premiered on the TRAVEL CHANNEL last night. I enjoyed and was glad I popped in a tape.

Probably a great thing for Marvel to show at conventions or to make available to comic shops. Nice seeing Stan Lee, Joe Simon (talking about Captain America and the Golden Age), and the Romitas (father & son). Even though I spent over sixteen years living in Brooklyn, I never had a chance to actually check out all the places I read about as a kid growing up. I never knew that the Baxter Building & Avenger's Mansion were based on real places in the city.

I'll also never forget the first time I was up-close to one of those rooftop water towers, I'd always seen in the Ditko SPIDER-MAN panels. I was attending a party given by Ken Gale and Mercy van Vlack, way back in mid-1980s. Some of us were taking a breather from the overcrowding in the apartment and were up on the roof chatting. Elayne and I had were dating, and I was talking to our friend The Dude (names changed to protect the innocent). I happened to be glancing around and there was one of those towers on the building across the street. I almost expected to see Spidey, swinging by on his way cross town.

Hat's off to the folks at Marvel and the Travel Channel for putting together a nice tribute, including a very good section on how the comics industry reacted to 9/11.