{"id":38412,"date":"2026-01-21T14:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/?p=38412"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:16:54","slug":"don-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2026\/01\/21\/don-simpson\/","title":{"rendered":"Chat over calamari with Megaton Man creator Don Simpson in Episode 273 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for a trip to Baltimore Comic-Con, where I had the chance to chat with comics creator Don Simpson, whose work I\u2019ve been reading for more than 40 years, ever since the first issue of Megaton Man<\/em> in 1984.<\/p>\n

Back at the beginning of that series, it seemed (incorrectly) as if Don\u2019s interest was solely in satirizing the Marvel tropes of my childhood, with characters such as Stella Starlight (the See-Thru Girl) and Bing Gloom (Yarn Man) spoofing Sue Storm (the Invisible Girl) and Ben Grimm (the Thing). But he soon started focusing on the natural outgrowth of the characters rather than limiting himself to metafictionally commenting only on the comics themselves. There was some pushback on that from those who wanted him to stick to the nostalgia game, as you\u2019ll hear us chat about a bit. <\/p>\n

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He also created the science fiction backup Border Worlds<\/em>, which eventually expanded into its own comic, as well as Bizarre Heroes<\/em>, plus underground comics such as Forbidden Frankenstein<\/em>, that last project under the pseudonym Anton Drek. Don celebrated Megaton Man’s 40th Anniversary last year with two major projects — the 608-page The Complete Megaton Man Volume I: The 1980s<\/em>\u00a0 and Megaton Man: Multimensions<\/em> — with more planned collections forthcoming.<\/p>\n

Even those who haven\u2019t been privileged to experience Don through those many comics projects might have encountered him via the illustrations he created for Al Franken’s 2003 bestseller Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We discussed why he splurged on a special issue of Captain Marvel<\/em> at the Baltimore Comic-Con, how the business practices of comics affect the artistic side, the way two early visits with artist Keith Pollard taught him he didn’t want to be a Marvel Comics penciller after all, where he feels the Silver Age ended and the Bronze Age truly began, how classic cinema and the auteur theory influenced his creative choices, the lessons he learned from the first few issues of Love & Rockets<\/em> vs. the unfortunate expectations set up by the first few issues of Megaton Man<\/em>, how working on DC’s anthology title Wasteland<\/em> caused him to reinvent himself, what path his publishing life would have taken had Megaton Man<\/em> been only a one-shot as originally planned, the career differences between Basil Wolverton and Will Eisner, why he’s able to let others play with his characters without feeling proprietary, the alternate universe in which he would have been a Crusty Bunker or one of Romita’s Raiders, how 9\/11 caused him to head back to school for a PhD, why he wrote a Ms. Megaton Man<\/em> prose novel, whether he already knows the final chapter to his comics universe, and much more.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can join us at Little Italy’s La Tavola<\/a> — <\/p>\n

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts<\/a> — or wherever<\/a> you choose to consume your podcasts — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 272 previous episodes.<\/p>\n

2) Listen via the RSS feed of http:\/\/eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com\/rss<\/a> on the device of your choice.<\/p>\n

3) Or simply use the embed below.<\/p>\n