I found another treasure in the collection of my late sister-in-law Ellen Vartanoff — an unused cover design for Iron Man #24 (April 1970).

It’s clearly not done by Marie Severin, as were so many of the other sketches I’ve shared with you. Though it’s unsigned, I believe it was drawn by Johnny Craig, who also drew that issue’s interior. (more…)

Irene and I accomplished many things during our extended weekend trip to New Jersey and New York—she while attending the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, me while recording three new episodes of my Eating the Fantastic podcast—but the most important thing we did was to spend Sunday hanging out with our dear friend Marie Severin.

And as usual when visiting Marvel’s Mirthful One, there was much kibitzing involved.

Did you recognize Marie? No?

Then about about now? (more…)

Sunday afternoon was one of the highlights of my year, because at the end of an extended weekend in New York—during which I recorded four new episodes of Eating the Fantastic—I got to take Marie Severin to lunch and then spend several hours sitting outside in the sun with her on an unseasonably warm October day.

And when I say I did those things, I of course mean we did those things—for any visit to the Mirthful one must include the Impish one—my wife, Irene Vartanoff. (more…)

I accompanied my wife this weekend to New Jersey so she could attend the annual NJ Romance Writers convention, and while she was occupied there, I dashed into Manhattan and Brooklyn for adventures about which more will be revealed later. But we joined together yesterday for what to me is always the highlight of any trip to the New York City area—a visit with our comics friend Marie Severin, my favorite among all the people I met in comics. (Well … except for my wife.)

While typing these words, it occurred to me that I’ve known Marie for most of my life, even longer than I’ve known Irene, with the weekend of the 1972 EC Fan Addict convention being the latest possible date we would have met. And I’ve loved her from the start. If you knew her, too, you’d know … how could anyone not? (more…)

Last weekend, I accompanied Irene to the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, but I didn’t hang around there with her. All of my fun occurred outside of New Jersey. And serendipitously, each of the three days of my trip delivered a comics-related delight.

On Friday, I headed to the Comics at Columbia exhibit, which was held in the Butler Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Highlights for me included a George Herriman Archy and Mehitabel illustration, a nostalgia-inducing photo of Chris Claremont taken around the time I would have met him in the ’70s, Jerry Robinson’s sketch of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne made during class in 1940 when he was supposed to have been taking notes, and this 1970 letter in which Joe Shuster thought he and Jerry Siegel were “very close” to settling the Superman lawsuit.

That last one made me a little sad.

The Columbia University exhibit will continue through January 23, 2015 and is well worth your time. It’s one of the better comics exhibits I’ve seen.

Saturday, I visited the Society of Illustrators to catch an exhibit on Dick Dillin, who was the primary Justice League of America artist of my youth. (more…)

Back in 1972, I attended the first (and as far as I know only) EC Fan Addict Convention. Almost every former staffer or freelancer then alive was there, and publisher Bill Gaines, who’d retained all of the company’s original artwork, put on one of the greatest art shows I’ve ever seen at a comic book convention.

The program book was filled with Marie Severin’s caricatures of her coworkers, as well as the creators’ reminiscences of each other. Because Al Feldstein passed away the other day, I scanned the pages that pertained to him so you could all learn why he was a “reluctant dragon.”

You can find the spread about Will Elder from that program book here.

Irene and I drove to New York Tuesday and spent the night, which as it turned out wasn’t the best time to have done so, because it meant we woke Wednesday to an ice-coated car. (On April 16?) And the long drive home last night, which didn’t get us to bed until after 3:00 a.m., exhausted us. But it was all worthwhile, because the purpose of our trip was to spend another delightful afternoon with dear friend and comic book legend Marie Severin.

We love Marie, and always have. It’s been decades since either Irene or I worked in comics, and since then, she’s the only one we met back in those days whom we make a consistent effort to connect with rather than leaving it to chance encounters during conventions. Marie feels like family, that zany aunt we all wish we had but which most of us only get to meet in movies or on TV. (more…)

My wife attended the New Jersey Romance Writers convention this weekend, and as I’ve done many previous years, I tagged along … but then split immediately, making a beeline for Manhattan on Friday and Saturday for good food and good friends. (About which more later.) The highlight of the trip wasn’t any of that, though—it was what occurred Sunday, when we trekked out to Long Island and spent the afternoon with the person we love most from our time in comics (other than each other)—Marie Severin.

If you know anything about comics, you already know and love the public side of Marie. But Irene and I, from working with her in the Marvel Bullpen, got to know Marie in a more personal way. She’s warm, friendly, and one of the funniest people we’ve ever met. (more…)

Last month, while I was off at San Diego Comic-Con, my wife was having a Comic-Con of her own. And while she was envious of my trip, I was even more envious of hers—because she got to spend the day with Marie Severin.

Of all the people we’ve met in comics, she’s the one we love the most. (Well, other than each other.)

Marie turned 84 today, and the photo above shows how mirthful she was (for those who don’t know, “Mirthful” was her Marvel Comics nickname) exactly one month ago at 83 years, 11 months.

And yes. That is the Incredible Hulk on her chest.

Can’t wait until we see each other again in October, Marie!

Back when I was on staff at Marvel Comics and writing the Bullpen Bulletins pages (well, all of it save Stan’s Soapbox), I kept a suggestion box on my desk in which people could drop notes with things they thought worthy of mention.

One day, I opened the box to find this card from Mirthful Marie Severin …

Oh, Marie … I love you!