While destroying hundreds of pages of bad poetry I scribbled as a teenager, I made a few surprising discoveries which cause me to reminisce about my poem “Ode on Comic Book Company Loyalty,” written 18 days after I was hired by Marvel Comics, my extremely rough sketch for the second Scarecrow splash page, my team-up with Quicksilver and 7-Eleven to freeze your brain with Slurpees during the summer of 1975, Tony Isabella’s heavy edit on my early Avengers script assist (and why we should all be grateful), my forgotten horror pitches bounced by Marvel in 1974, and much more.

You can eavesdrop on those memories via the embed below or download at the site of your choice.

Here are some images which will enhance your listening experience, and probably won’t make much sense without it —

My 1975 Park Slope Apartment

My Scarecrow Splash Page Sketch

Notes for a Stan Lee Crazy Ad

Noddling with a Bullpen Bulletins Header

7-11 Slurpee Cup Scripts

Avengers #145

My Marvel Spotlight #26 Splash Page Layout

My 1974 Notes for”Picasso Fever”
pitched to Marvel in 1974 and published by DC in 1978

For a detailed analysis of the difference between that initial pitch and the eventual published story, check out this post.