Listen in as I look back half a century on what it was like being in the room with Len Wein and Dave Cockrum (or as much as I’m willing to admit) as they plotted Giant-Size X-Men #1, why my mid-’70s likeness still hangs on the wall at Marvel Comics HQ, my freelance income during the first six months of my life as a comics professional, the collaborative short stories my friends and I stayed awake 24 hours to write on Harlan Ellison’s 39th birthday, an article I commissioned for F.O.O.M. about collecting comics in 1975 which should make you weep 50 years later, how my meeting with Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton ended up being a Marvel Comics caption contest, and much more.

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

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

My caricature on the wall at Marvel HQ

Marie Severin’s cover to F.O.O.M. #16
with her caricature of me circled

Call It Fate #1
with the first short story I ever wrote on the cover

“How to Collect Marvel Comics”
from a 1975 issue of F.O.O.M.

My 1974 Marvel Comics 1099
with my SSN obscured, of course

Me and Eric Shalit on the back cover of Kong
as drawn my Bill Kresse

Bill Kresse at a Central Park comics event

Bill Kresse’s college sendoff art

George Ward’s college sendoff art

Joe Papin’s college sendoff art

Scalzo’s college sendoff art

A selection of Reuben Awards banquet sketches

Me and Margaret Hamilton

The caption contest entries