You’ve got a lengthy history as first a small press comics publisher, and then what I would refer to as an Independent publisher who’s getting more and more noticed in the industry. Could you give us a recap of your career as a comic book publisher?
Blue Moon Comics was something I started back in 1988. I placed a “talent wanted” ad in the Comics Buyers’ Guide, a top-notch newspaper about comics and one of the most trusted and long-running fan publications in history. It came out every week, so in no time I was getting tons of submissions. My original plan was to publish a 64-page color anthology comic, but the distributors advised me, since I was a green, start-up publisher, to focus on black and white 32-page comics. We started putting books together (totally 80s titles like Awesome Comics and Power Corps), but the 80s B&W boom started to go bust, and a lot of things started going south for me, personally (not the least of which was a major flood in my area) which forced me to shelve Blue Moon’s plans. I did work out a deal with a fanzine to publish much of the Blue Moon material, but all they managed to get out was one Power Corps (an Avengers/JLA-style super-team) story. Up until that point, I was the typical comicbook fiend, buying every comic I could get my hands on and dreaming of working for Marvel or DC someday. 
I tried my hand at art, as well as writing, back then, but after working with guys like Brian Pimenta (the Power Corps’ artist) and Warren Montgomery (publisher / writer / artist / letterer / colorist at Will Lill Comics), I decided that I wasn’t anywhere near where I needed to be as an artist. I loved writing, though, and stuck with that. Anyway, after the original BMC closed down, I kept up correspondence with my good friend and fellow Blue Moon alumni, Canadian writer Jonathan A Gilbert, over the years, and Jon kept trying to get me to start Blue Moon back up again. I finally gave in, which led to a fairly successful revival of the line. This time, using the power of the Internet, we gathered talent from all over the globe and put together some pretty well-received (and reviewed) comics— which I printed on a photocopier and hand-mailed to our readers. We started with magazine-sized black and white books, first The Blue Moon Comics Special, followed by seven issues of Mystery Adventure Tales. Those books were loaded with comics and comic-related articles, running 64 to 84 pages per issue. Those books had black and white covers on colored paper, and I kept trying to find a way for us to have color covers. I found a local printer who “thought” they could do the job, so we put out two magazine-sized issues of Infinite Tales with full color covers. 
The printer was a hassle, and I’d gotten a computer and color printer, so the idea hit me to publish comics by printing them sideways on regular typing paper, making a comic a bit smaller than the norm but larger than a digest. I was able to print full-color covers myself, so I went wild and expanded the line to several comics: Infinite Tales, Vault of Shadows, Power Corps, and Blue Moon Superheroes. Once more, life pulled me away from Blue Moon. I took on a new teaching job that took up all my time, so comics and writing even fell by the wayside for a while. I eventually developed writer’s block–which was ironic since my new job was to teach writing to middle school-aged students. Eventually, the writer’s block was beaten by Midnight Stranger. I’d come up with an origin story for a character inspired by The Spectre and Mr. Justice right after my good friends Mark Davis and Warren Montgomery started reprinting my old Blue Moon work. Warren dug Midnight Stanger, so that led to more stories featuring that character, as well as Ash-Aman. I went on to write for The Creeps magazine, Lucky Comics, and Golden Era when I finally decided I was ready to publish again. This brings us to today’s Blue Moon Comics Group!
Approximately how many comics to date has the New Blue Moon released, and where are they currently available?
Since 2020, we’ve released twenty-five comics. Sixteen issues of our Diversions anthology, five Special Editions, Donnie’s Pages, the first issue of Commodore Dinosaur, our horror anthology Dark Side of the Blue Moon, and The Steve Skeates Special (in tandem with Golden Era). All of them are available digitally at DriveThruComics and GlobalComics. Most of them are or are soon to be, available in both print and digital formats from IndyPlanet, as well.
Which characters are foundational to you as you continue this impressive venture? And why?
Night Spider, Kragor, and Ultimus, for sure. Not only because they’re characters I created when I was a teen, but they’re the characters that have grown with me the most. I’d love to have one or more of those characters in a single issue of Diversions–I’d consider that a perfect issue. They’re the archetypes, the mish-mash of my all-time favorite characters. Night-Spider is the straight-up superhero; the ultimate Good Guy. It’s obvious that Batman and Spider-Man are inspirations, but there are dollops and doses of The Lone Ranger and Doc Savage in there, too. 
Kragor is my version of Conan, but I have lots of secrets buried under the stories I’ve told so far. He started Howard, but there are mixes of Moorcock, Burroughs, Grell, and Kirby-inspired characters in the mix, too. Ultimus started as a character called “Heros” and I was ripping off Starlin’s Warlock and tossing in favorite X-Men and Avengers bits. But in the nearly fifty years since I created him, Biblical characters, historical folks, Kirby, and even some manga/anime have been grafted into his DNA. I guess you’d say they’re “foundational” in the sense that they’re my earliest, dearest creations, but they’re NOT foundational as far as having a cohesive “Blue Moon Comics Universe.” At this point, I don’t plan on doing such a thing. There are too many worlds and characters to create and discover to bind myself into tying them all together. Oh, I have a device I can do that with if I choose to use it, but right now, I’d rather just let ideas and concepts flow freely. Even with the upcoming Night Spider/Midnight Stranger team-up, I’m going all Brave and the Bold Bob Haney. Is this a team-up between the “real” Night Spider and the “real” Midnight Stranger we’ve been making stories about? Maybe. Maybe not. I feel like JW and I can explore and grow both characters in this story and decide later what parts (if any) we want to have directly impacted the characters. JW is even giving Midnight Stranger a new outfit in this story–but we’re not going to mention it in the story. It’s just part of it. If we decide to keep it, we will. That’s the fun of creating your comics–FREEDOM! No rules except those you want to follow.
For years you had what I thought was the best comic book blog on the internet in DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND. I’ve seen several big-name comic creators say they greatly appreciated that blog, and I did as well. Just how much traffic did that blog get back in the day, and do you think the notoriety you achieved from it has helped with your Blue Moon Comics sales?
That blog kept me going during the time I was too busy to think about making comics. It eventually helped me overcome my writer’s block, so I’m grateful for it beyond words (weird for a writer, I know). In its heyday (pre-2020), depending on the topic I’d get 800+ to a couple thousand views–sometimes three or four thousand if the topic was really hot. A LOT of past and current creators chimed in and left nice messages, many of them were regular followers, and some (like Rich Buckler) even did posts for DotGK. It was a ton of fun, but very time-consuming. It was like my third job (after teaching all week and singing with a gospel trio on weekends). I honestly thought a lot of my blog followers would flock to my comics (part of the reason I named our flagship title “Diversions” was because of the blog–the other part is that it’s a perfect title for an anthology), but not many have. I know there’s a big difference between loving old comics and trying new comics with an old comics vibe, so I get it. No hard feelings! (Laughter) I still love my Groove-Ophiles (which, by the way, gives me an excuse to mention that DotGK is still doing well on FaceBook)!
Kragor is your barbarian character. Could you tell us a bit about his history and adventures? I’ve seen some very nice art produced for his stories.
I created Kragor in 1976 when I was in the eighth grade. I was (and still am) a huge Conan/Robert E. Howard fan, so Kragor was created, honestly, to be my Conan. (A cool aside–my late father helped me name Kragor, a play on the name of the grocery chain, Kroger.) Of course, over the years, I’ve sneaked in little things and dropped hints that will show that Kragor is far more than a Conan clone. Time will tell if anyone catches on to what makes them different. In the meantime, I just keep those ideas to myself and wait to see if anyone starts putting the pieces of his puzzle together. It’s a fun exercise, to say the least. Kragor first appeared in Infinite Tales #1 in the spring of 2000. That story has been reprinted a few times. It has great art by Luis Sollune, who, back then, worked under the pen name of JP Dupras. Since then, Ian Groff, David Johnson Jr., Kent Clark, and Marcello Rosmini have done a fabulous job of drawing Kragor as he battles evil wizards and witches, monsters (usually in the basements of old temples), and cursed towns. JW Erwin has done some covers and a “Snazzy Snak Cake” faux ad featuring Kragor. Marcello Rosmini and I are currently crafting a new Kragor tale which teams him up with a new female S&S character called Daenja. I’ve written (and published) more stories featuring Kragor than any of my other characters so far.
What are some of the most recognizable names of creators whose work you have published in the past, and what did they work on for you?
By far, the most well-known creators I’ve worked with are Steve Skeates and Dick Ayers. I found Steve’s address in an early issue of Comic Book Artist and sent him copies of the first couple of Blue Moon magazine-sized comics. He loved them and sent me some of his homemade comics. It wasn’t long before he was ready to write some stories for us. My favorite was when I talked him into doing a Plop!-style story. It was 1999 and he felt that the Plop!-style humor might be outdated. I challenged him to make it work and he came through with a fun story involving the Internet, the occult, and Santa Claus! I also found Dick Ayers’ address in an early issue of Comic Book Artist (I LOVED that magazine!). He was advertising for commissions, so I sent him copies of the mags and he loved them. We managed to scrape together enough money for him to ink a five-page feature for us, “No Man Can Stop…Toombora!” Drawn by the great Philip Fried, that’s turned out to be the most popular and most reprinted story we’ve ever done! Lots more pros have done work for us–and even more who SHOULD be pros, but those two are the best known.
Which comics have you published that perhaps mean the most to you personally?
They all mean a lot–tons of TLC goes into them, but Donnie’s Pages is probably the most special because it celebrates the talents of my good, gone-too-soon friend. I promised him that I’d get all of his Blue Moon work into print–and getting to do it in color would have made him especially happy. I think the Ash-Aman Special Edition is one of the best things I’ve ever written, and co-creator/artist Russ Martin made it even more special with his beyond-amazing ideas, art, and designs. (I am thrilled that I’m getting to write a new Ash-Aman story with the massively talented Dana Black on the art. He’s finished a few pages and it’s a thing to behold!) Kragor, I’ve already talked about it, and Night Spider with JW Erwin is another of my favorite things to work on. Our upcoming Night Spider/Midnight Stranger team-up is going to be mind-boggling. I also have strong feelings of pride about G.R.U.N.T. Unit 8. Stories about a post-apocalyptic zombie soldier are hard to write–but they have turned out so well! We’ve only published one so far, wonderfully illustrated by longtime Blue Moon artist David Vance, but I’ve written more. Fingers crossed that they’ll eventually see the light of day.
Thanks for your time, old chum.
You’re welcome, Mark.
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