Roger Stern—longtime comics editor and writer, known for his scripting on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers, as well as for helping create the “Death of Superman” storyline.

Ralph Macchio—comics writer turned editor who was in charge of Daredevil for more than a decade and who most recently oversaw the transformation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower novels into a comics.

But once … once they were fans.

I was remembering that thanks to the issues of FOOM, Marvel’s fan magazine, that I dug up last week.

Here’s the editorial I wrote for FOOM #9, the March 1975 issue, in which I mentioned them both. None of us had any idea of what was to come.

As you can see, back in those days, Sterno worked for WXLW Radio in Indianapolis and published the fanzine C.P.L., while Ralph was a letterhack who won a contest judged by Don McGregor. Their comics futures still lay ahead.

Hey, we all have to start somewhere, right?

When Irene and I went through our old photo albums earlier this week as part of our anniversary celebration, I found a few photographs taken in the Marvel Comics Bullpen during the mid-’70s. So get ready for another flashback …

First up is me at my desk, in a picture probably taken in 1976. My sleeves are rolled up and I’m ready to work. I could probably figure out the exact month and year by tracking down the dates of the issues on the wall of covers behind me, but I’ll leave that exercise for some other time.

Next up is a group shot. That’s me standing with Bonnie Smith, while Chris Claremont kneels between us and takes a photo of our photographer. We’re bracketed by my future wife Irene Vartanoff on the left and Roger Slifer on the right. (more…)