Get ready to get nostalgic — or rather, listen to me get nostalgic — on an episode of Eating the Fantastic which features a guest I believe I’ve known longer than any other — comics legend Paul Levitz.

Paul and I go way back, all the way to Phil Seuling’s 1971 Comic Art Convention, when I would have been 16 and him 15, both fans and fanzine publishers, long before either of us had entered the comics industry as professionals. We later, along with a couple of other friends, roomed together at the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention in Washington D.C. As you listen, think of us as were were in the old days — that’s us in 1974 compared to us now —

In 1976, he became the editor of Adventure Comics before he’d even turned 20. He ended up working at DC Comics for more than 35 years, where he was president from 2002–2009. He’s probably best known for writing the Legion of Super-Heroes for a decade, scripting the Justice Society of America, and co-creating the character Stalker with Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko. He was given an Inkpot Award at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2002 and the Dick Giordano Hero Initiative Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2013 at the Baltimore Comic-Con. And if you try to lift his massive and essential history 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, you’re going to need to see a chiropractor.

We discussed why even though in a 1973 fanzine he wrote he had “no desire to make a career for myself in this industry” he’s spent his life there, how wild it was the suits let kids like us run the show in the ’70s, the time Marv Wolfman offered him a job over at Marvel (and why he turned it down), what he learned from editor Joe Orlando about how to get the best work out of creative people, the bizarre reason Gerry Conway’s first DC Comics script took several years to get published, how he made the Legion of Super-Heroes his own, which bad writerly habits Denny O’Neil knocked out of him, the first thing you should ask an artist when you start working with them, why team books (of which he wrote so many) are easier to write, our shared love for “Mirthful” Marie Severin, how glad we are there was no such thing as social media when we got started in comics, why Roger Zelazny is his favorite science fiction writer, and much, much more.

Here’s how you can listen in as we chow down at the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill in New York’s Greenwich Village —

1) Subscribe over at the iTunes store, where I hope you’ll also be moved to check out some of the 81 previous episodes.

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3) Or click right here on the embed below.

And while you do, vicariously enjoy our meal via the photos below—

Bread

Caesar Salad

T-Bone Steak for Two

T-Bone Steak for Two (Served)

Cheesecake

And if comics are what brought you here, you’ll want to track down my two previous episodes with old comics comrades of mine — Episode 54’s lunch with Marv Wolfman and Episode 76’s dinner with Don McGregor.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support my mission of breaking bread with creators of the fantastic while letting you eavesdrop, there are a few ways you can help bring this podcast to the attention of potential new listeners looking for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comics ear candy—

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As for who’s up next, that must remain a mystery for now, because with this episode, I’ve run through Eating the Fantastic’s backlog. I’ll be heading off to Chessiecon in Timonum Maryland this weekend, and have two episodes scheduled there, but until I actually manage to pull off those meals, I’d prefer to keep that information to myself. (Though I do keep my Patreon supporters fully informed.) I wouldn’t wouldn’t want you to blame a potential guest should circumstances prevent us from getting together. But I hope you’ll subscribe so you’ll be among the first to find out who I’ve convinced to join me at the table.

Meanwhile—enjoy!