Another look back on my early comics career has me considering the possible reason Robert De Niro’s Max Cady character cared about Captain Marvel in the 1991 movie Cape Fear, the day Jim Shooter and I parachuted out of an airplane (and why an ambulance was called), my surprise over a 1974 House of Mystery submission to editor Joe Orlando, why 2025 Scott is curious about what Crystal leaving the Fantastic Four meant to the 1970 fanboy I was, the reason Doc Savage and Scooter Pies are inextricably linked in my memory, my regret over not having defended artist Herb Trimpe from his detractors, 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 illustrate some of what I talk about this episode —

Captain Marvel and Black Bolt in Cape Fear

A record of my two parachute jumps

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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

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I’ve known writer/editor/artist Larry Hama for at least half a century now, but his career started long before that, when he sold his first cartoon to Castle of Frankenstein magazine in 1966. He’s probably best known as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro toy line, writing nearly every issue of the book’s 13-year run.

He’s also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He worked as an editor at both DC and Marvel, and at the latter edited the humor magazine Crazy, as well as Conan, The ‘Nam, and Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham. He co-created the character Bucky O’Hare, who not only appeared in comic books, but as a television cartoon. Last year, he was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

We discussed how cataract surgery changes the way an artist perceives the page, what really happened at a mid-’70s penthouse comic book party, Bernie Krigstein’s anger at being asked questions about comics, why Wally Wood felt it was so important for his assistants to learn how to letter, what it was like being part of the famed Crusty Bunkers inking collective, why getting to edit Crazy was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream,  which Marvel Comics Bullpenner was the visual inspiration for Obnoxio the Clown, why getting his freelancers to hit their deadlines was never a hassle, the editing advice Archie Goodwin gave him early on, the real reason he needed to create that famous silent issue of G. I. Joe, the differing zeitgeists of Marvel vs. DC during the ’70s, his approach to taking over the editing of legacy characters, our joint confusion over memes of previous generations, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us for lunch at New York’s Anjappar — (more…)

Join me as I look back at the trouble I had getting out of an elevator at the first Star Trek convention, what my ballot looked like when I voted for the 1968 Alley Awards, the composers who wrote the music to match the lyrics I had Rick Jones sing in Captain Marvel #50, what teen me got wrong (twice!) about Jim Steranko, the three comics characters I almost cosplayed as at the 1972 Rutland Halloween parade, the mystery woman who would have been my Beautiful Dreamer on a Forever People float, 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 to accompany the listening experience —

The cover to my 1969 Poetry Journal

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If you’ve been following me on social media lately, you’d have learned that earlier this month while trying to verify some information I wanted to talk about on an episode of my Why Not Say What Happened? podcast, I discovered a box containing some early teen writing which had somehow escaped my previous purge of that work. And you’d also know that since my discovery, as of this date, I’ve shredded 1,850 pages of poetry, short stories, and a novel, too, written from 1971 through 1974 … that is, from ages 16 through 19.

Some of you are aghast, and we can discuss that another time, but for now, let me assure you it’s only my own unsatisfactory words which are being made into confetti, not any writing or documents created by others. All those have been saved and will probably be turned over to a university archive someday. One forgotten find within that batch — my invitation from Tom Fagan to the 1972 incarnation of his famed Rutland, Vermont Halloween parade, as well as our correspondence about my attendance there, all from two years before I began working professionally in comics.

When I posted the interior of that invite on social media, someone responded with awe that the 1972 incarnation of that event was the same one celebrated in a crossover commemorated in the pages of DC’s Justice League of America #103, and Marvel’s Amazing Adventures #16 and Thor #207.

Not quite. (more…)