As many of you have probably already read elsewhere, national treasure Marie Severin has been recovering from her recent stroke, and now that her health has improved, she’s just moved into an assisted living facility. All of us who love her look forward to her continuing with that recovery.

In addition to Marie quite possibly being the nicest person to have ever worked in the comics industry, she is also one of the funniest and most talented people I know.

Now, this might seem a rather strange and silly comparison, but back when I started working at the insane zoo that was the Marvel Comics of the ’70s, the wild and woolly Bullpen actually seemed like the Alan Brady Show to me (that fictional show within the Dick Van Dyke Show, remember?), and Marie was our Sally Rogers, the sassy wisecracking dame (a term I don’t think she would find objectionable) who always spoke her mind. She was one of the reasons it was so much fun to go to work each day at 575 Madison Avenue.

Marie is famous not only for her hilarious personality, addictive art style, and nuanced coloring, but also for her caricatures, going all the way back to her EC days. During my years on staff at Marvel, I was lucky enough to have had her draw my mug a number of times.

The two black-and-white illustrations seen here were both originally published in FOOM, Marvel Comics’ fan magazine. The one above, with Tony Isabella sitting on my shoulder, appeared on the editorial page the first issue I was in charge of that magazine. In the other, I’m shown gathering gossip for the magazine’s news column while hiding from a rather angry Conan the Barbarian.

The color image you see as my new icon above left is but a small detail from the enormous going-away card she drew for me that was signed by everyone from Stan Lee to Archie Goodwin to Dave Cockrum and presented at my farewell party the day I left my staff job as Assistant Editor to go freelance. You’ll be seeing that icon from now on whenever I get to reminiscing about my time working in comics.

Those who know me will be able to attest to the fact that another one of Marie’s skills is the ability to make me look more handsome than I actually am. Thanks for that, Marie!

And keep getting better!