Join me as I demonstrate the limits of my memory by telling tales of why my first Worldcon was supposed to have been my second Worldcon, the question I never got around to asking my cousin, the actor Herb Edelman, which song I sang while dancing across a Manhattan rooftop with Larry Lieber, what Fantastic Four moment motivated the first letter I ever wrote to a comic book company, the string of serendipities which led to one of my DC horror stories being adapted as an episode of Tales from the Darkside, how the Washington Post got me a job editing Science Fiction Age magazine, and more.

And to illustrate a few of the topics touched on during this episode —

My membership card in the Merry Marvel Marching Society

My appearance in Tales of Suspense #69 (September 1965)

Carl Gafford, Paul Levitz, Steve Gilary, and me during the 1974 D.C. Worldcon

And head here if you’re in the mood to subscribe.

I first met comic book artist and writer Larry Lieber when I worked in the Marvel Comics Bullpen of the mid-‘70s. Though perhaps that’s not really accurate — because that was only when I first met him in the flesh. I really first met him when I was seven, the year I picked up copies of Tales of Suspense #39, in which he co-created Iron Man, Journey into Mystery #83, in which he co-created Thor, and Tales to Astonish #35, in which he co-created Ant-Man.

Larry also contributed to comics in many other ways, with long stints working on the Marvel western comic Rawhide Kid, the syndicated newspaper strips devoted to Spider-Man and The Hulk, and so much more. He’s also responsible for one of the most memorable moments of my early comics career. During a party hosted by Bullpen pal Tony Isabella at his midtown Manhattan penthouse apartment atop the Hotel Edison, he and I and Tony sang “New York, New York” from “On the Town” while we danced back and forth across the roof, pretending we were Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munchin.

A week before Larry’s 88th birthday, we met for dinner at his favorite French restaurant, Bistro Le Steak, on the corner of Third Avenue and East 75th Street in Manhattan, where we chatted about the old days, as well as what he has planned for the days still to come.

We discussed the old-time radio shows which most influenced him, what he learned about humanity from reading Margaret Mead back in the ’50s, how the only reason he became a writer was because he was too slow to make a living an artist, who told him back at the start of his career that comics was a “dying industry,” the tips Stan Lee gave to make him a better writer, why his attempts to work for DC Comics never worked out, the warning artist Syd Shores offered he wishes he hadn’t heeded, how a quote he heard in a movie about Irish playwright Sean O’Casey helped him understand the arc of his own life, the three best-selling books he read before writing his own novel, his mixed feelings on winning the Bill Finger Award, how Jim Shooter helped him relearn how to be an artist, which comics assignment he enjoyed the most, what Stan Lee told him about the Rawhide Kid that made him decide to take it over from Jack Kirby, why he feels like Don Quixote, the surprising thing he thinks is the best thing he’s ever written, and much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on our conversation — (more…)

After waking up at 4:15 a.m. East Coast time, driving 100 miles to Dulles Airport, flying to San Diego, wandering the never-ending exhibit hall of Comic-Con International for hours, and then hitting the Random House and IGN parties in the evening, I’m wiped out, much too exhausted to fully caption the many photos I took today.

But I figure I should make some noise to prove that I was actually at the con today. So here’s a photo of me with Larry Lieber, co-winner of this year’s Bill Finger Award (which he shares this year with the late Archie Goodwin, a former boss of mine). He was the first scripter of stories about Iron Man and Thor, and wrote many of Marvel’s beloved pre-superhero monster tales, such as “Fing Fang Foom.”

And, oh, by the way, he also happens to be the younger brother of Stan Lee, yet another former boss of mine.

One of my fondest memories of Larry is being in attendance with him at a party at Tony Isabella’s penthouse apartment on top of the Hotel Edison in (I think) 1975), at which he and Tony and I ran back and forth across the rooftop bellowing “New York, New York,” from the musical On the Town. I call it bellowing because I dare not call it singing.

Anyone who wishes more con reportage right now can click on the link above, but you’ll have to forgive me for the lack of captioning … I blame the fact that body time, it is now past 2:00 a.m. Friday. If it’s coherency you want, you’d better check back tomorrow.