Prolific comic-book artist Jim Mooney, who as far as I and many other people are concerned was the greatest Supergirl artist who ever lived, passed away on Sunday.

He and I only worked together once, in 1976. We only met face to face once, in 2006. And strangely, without realizing he had passed, I was talking about him on the day of his death.

The panel above, from the March 1977 of Omega the Unknown, in which the character Gramps grieves for Mamie while Omega watches, captures a little bit of my mood today. (more…)

I was contacted last week by a reporter for Back Issue magazine. He wanted to interview me about an obscure short feature I wrote starring the X-Men character the Angel when I worked for Marvel Comics in the ’70s. In addition to picking my brain about the creation of that story, which appeared way back in Marvel Treasury Edition #27, he was hoping I might still have my written Marvel-style plot or some of the original artwork. It turned out that I had neither of those, but during my search through the dusty Edelman archives, I did find two other bits of Marvel memorabilia which took me way back—ID cards which marked two very important stages in my life.

The first was my membership card in the Merry Marvel Marching Society, the fan club created by Stan Lee back when I was nine years old. I can still remember packing my pennies, nickels, and dimes into an empty Junior Mints box and then taping it shut before sealing it inside a envelope. I’m amazed that my lumpy, jingling package made it through the mail all the way to Madison Avenue.

Weeks later, after I received my kit of Marvel paraphernalia, I carried that MMMS card wherever I went. My membership number was 3656, and I memorized the Merry Marvel Pledge that was printed on the back. (more…)

With all of the love currently being shown online to the high-profile projects Steve Gerber had been involved with—including Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown, and Man-Thing—I want to make sure that everyone also remembers his absurd work as editor of Crazy magazine.

Crazy was intended by Marvel to be just another MAD clone, and while it did have the standard movie spoofs everyone has come to expect from that sort of knock-off magazine, it also featured Bob Foster’s bizarre “History of Moosekind” series, artwork by Lee Mars, Will Eisner, and Marie Severin, and strange photo features starring unidentified members of the Marvel Bullpen.

And, oh, yes, then there were Steve’s offbeat editorials.

Here’s one of them, titled “Beat the Scuzzies,” from the August 1975 issue of Crazy. It includes Steve’s recommendation for a 1976 presidential candidate, so it’s timely again now.

The inside front cover of the same issue of Crazy spotlights another piece of Steve’s writing, this one a spoof ad featuring one of those undercover Marvel staffers I mentioned.

Me. (more…)

Perhaps I was a little quick yesterday to discount the characters I’ve worked with over the years at my various staff jobs in publishing, because Pearl Harbor Day brings back memories of Morrie Kuramoto, who I worked with many years ago at Marvel Comics when I was an editorial assistant and he toiled in the production department.

Morrie had worked at the company for so many years that he was jokingly referred to as “The Ancient One.” On Pearl Harbor Day, he would wear a WWII leather pilot’s cap while sitting at his drawing board, and toss paper airplanes at his coworkers and anyone else who happened to pass by. I’m not sure that this sort of thing would be tolerated in today’s politically correct times, but in the Marvel Bullpen, at least back then, you could get away with almost anything.

Morrie is no longer with us, but each time Pearl Harbor Day rolls around, I remember him, and so many of the others who’ve gone on to that great Marvel Bullpen in the sky.

Banzai, Morrie.

It’s a good thing when you look back at old writing and shudder—isn’t it? At least I hope it is, because I’ve been given many opportunities to shudder lately.

More than thirty years ago, back when I was working at Marvel Comics, I created a character called the Scarecrow, who debuted in Dead of Night #11 (August 1975), continued his adventures in Marvel Spotlight #26 (February 1976), and then faded away as the horror explosion imploded, popping up only occasionally thereafter handled by other writers. I haven’t done any work for either Marvel or DC since the early ’80s.

Marvel has recently begun packaging some of my old stories as a minor part of its compilation volumes, and the latest of these is the hardcover book Legion of Monsters, which stars Morbius the Living Vampire, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing and others on the cover, and relegates the Scarecrow only to the two tales inside. This is the fourth reprint volume I’ve been a part of lately, and they bring about mixed emotions. (more…)