I’ve been attending the Maryland-based indie comics convention SPX — that is, the Small Press Expo — for 15 or so of its 36 years, and this time around took the opportunity to dine with artist Paul Kirchner, who breathed the same comic industry air I did during the ’70s.

Paul broke into comics in the early ‘70s through a fortuitous series of events which had him meeting the legendary comics artist Neal Adams, who introduced him to DC Comics editor Joe Orlando, and within the week getting a gig as assistant to Tex Blaisdell helping him out on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip and stories for DC’s mystery books. He also worked for awhile as assistant to the great EC Comics artist and Daredevil innovator Wally Wood. He moved on from mainstream comics to draw two wonderfully surrealistic strips — “Dope Rider” for High Times and “the bus” for Heavy Metal. His wide-ranging creative resume also includes a graphic novel collaboration with the great writer of detective novels Janwillem van de Wetering, designs for such toy lines as Dino-Riders and Spy-Tech, and much more.

Paul and I had dinner once the con wound down at the nearby and recently opened Commonwealth Indian restaurant, which had been favorably reviewed by the Washington Post.

We discussed how a chance encounter in art school led to him assisting cartoonist Tex Blaisdell on Little Orphan Annie, the life lessons he learned during his apprenticeship with EC Comics legend and Daredevil innovator Wally Wood, the ruse he used to convince the editor of Harpoon into commissioning more installments of his famed Dope Rider strip, how the office of Screw magazine was nothing like you thought it would be and the office of High Times was everything you thought it would be, where he learned “the only thing that’ll kill you bigger than a flop is a hit,” the techniques he uses to dream up new episodes of his surrealistic strip “the bus,” his druggiest fan encounter, our joint memories of “Fabulous” Flo Steinberg, Marvel’s “Gal Friday,” his graphic novel collaboration with famed writer of detective fiction Janwillem van de Wetering, the first person he ever met in comics, and much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on our conversation at Commonwealth Indian restaurant —

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Here’s what we ate during our meal (except for my Nariyal Konju — spicy, sauteed shrimp, reduced coconut milk, tamarind pulp — for which my photo was unfortunately so blurry it would be pointless to share) —

Samosa Chips
potatoes and carom seeds rolled pastry

Lamb Biryani

Garlic Naan

Gulab jamun
milk dumplings served warm in rosewater syrup

Badam Halwa
almond pudding traditional way

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Please come back in two weeks when my guest will be comics artist, writer, and editor Larrupin’ Larry Lieber, the co-creator of Thor, Iron Man, and Ant-Man, who I met at the beginning of my comics career, and who also happens to be Stan Lee’s younger brother.