How did you get interested in comics?
Started when I was a kid. I was around 7 years old. My mom used to bring me and my brother to a store on Lexington Avenue and 88th Street to get newspapers. On the wall was a floor-to-ceiling rack of comic books. I had never seen anything like that before. Comics were 25¢ back then so I asked my mom if I could have a few quarters. I saw Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk on the rack and picked those up. I was immediately hooked. The bright colors, the amazing artwork, and the lettering mesmerized me. Didn’t take long for me and my brother to start making our comics on looseleaf paper.
From there did you continue more interested in Marvel Comics, or did other brands draw your interest as well?
I was a Marvel person from day 1. I never liked DC. Must have come from seeing the old TV shows for Batman and Superman. I thought they were stupid. My friend Frank from grammar school would talk about DC comics to me. I would look at them in the comic stores and newsstands and never felt drawn to them. Not once. When I was 12 I saw some Jack Kirby 4th World comics in a back issue bin and for a fleeting moment thought DC was good. I snapped out of that quickly.
Did you have any favorite Marvel characters back then, and if so, what made them your favorites?
I loved the Thing, the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and Captain America. Each character was colorful, over-the-top, and in some ways relatable. My childhood was pretty crappy and to immerse myself with these characters and storylines helped me escape reality.
Did you have favorite creators growing up?
Jack Kirby is my favorite creator. Anything he worked on I purchased and treasured. When I was a teenager and started making money I was buying back issues of Kirby’s work. Loved when Kirby came back to Marvel and did Captain America, The Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, and Machine Man. His writing was weird to me but the artwork more than made up for the storylines. I loved John Byrne on the X-Men. Roy Thomas and Keith Pollard on the Celestial Saga for Thor. Ron Wilson on Marvel Two-In-One. Joe Sinnott inking on anything. John Buscema on anything he did. Mike Zeck and John Beatty on Captain America. Herb Trimpe and later Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema on the Incredible Hulk. Rich Buckler on the Fantastic Four was always somewhat Kirbyesque so that was a treat. Marvel also published reprints of The Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner by Stan Lee and John Buscema with inking by Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins, and Joe Sinnott.
How did you break into working for Marvel Comics? That must’ve been such a great feeling to do that, given your love for the company and its characters.
It was January of 1985. I was a senior in High School. I was allowed to be an intern at a company in NYC for school credit. As I hated going to class I figured why not pursue this? I heard in previous years students from my school got an internship at Marvel. I asked my guidance counselor about it and he said they don’t offer that anymore. I was bummed. I asked him to call them anyway. Michael Higgins who worked at Marvel was an alumnus of my high school. He worked with the coordinator at Marvel and by February of ’85 I was I was an intern for Marvel. Suffice it to say I was very scared and intimidated. I met fellow interns on my first day and we sorted fan mail and made xeroxes of original artwork. I worked there 2 or 3 days a week after school. Incredible experience. I loved what I did and they hired me on over the summer as an editorial assistant for $4 an hour! I was in heaven!!!
Would you speak to some of the experiences you had as an intern at Marvel?
Sure. I worked for Lynne Cohen who was the coordinator of the interns. She was the executive assistant for Jim Shooter. Whenever I would check in we would go to the “bin” on her desk. That bin is where the original art or scripts would be placed with post-it instructions on how many copies, what size, and for whom. When not making copies I would file comic books in drawers or sort through bags of fan mail with my fellow interns. Once a week we would be bullpen interns where we would be gophers for food and they would teach us about lettering corrections, paste-ups, and mechanicals. All behind-the-scenes work. On Fridays, I would sometimes give a tour around the office for fans who would sign up. Friday mornings were tour days.
By that point had you met any Marvel creators?
Yes, I met many creators who would drop off work at the office or visit from out of town. John Romita Sr worked in the office and I would see him every day. I met Trimpe, Sinnott, Vinnie Colletta, Mike Kaluta, to name a few.
How long were you assistant editor, and where did you go to after that?
I was hired as an assistant editor in the spring of 1986. I worked for editor Michael Higgins on the New Universe titles- –
NightMask, Star Brand, Justice, and Kickers Inc. We also worked on the new Silver Surfer by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers and the bi-weekly Marvel Comics Presents. I was an assistant editor for 4 years. During that time I worked for Terry Kavanagh, Howard Mackie, and Ralph Macchio. I was promoted to full-time editor in 1990.
Where did your career in comics go once you became a full-time editor for Marvel?
I was given several titles to edit. Conan the Barbarian, Savage Sword of Conan, Conan Saga, Power Pack, Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Saga of the Sub-Mariner. I worked on those for a few years then I was given Thor, Captain America, Dr Strange, Fantastic Four Unlimited, and the Secret Defenders. I was a full-time editor for almost 5 years before I was laid off during the first round of Marvel’s bankruptcy. By early ’95 I was home collecting a paycheck every two weeks from an editorial contract that renewed right before the layoffs. I would have rather been working but Marvel was imploding at that time.
What were your favorite comics to work on, and why?
Thor as I was always a fan. Captain America as he is one of the oldest characters in existence. Conan because of the sword and sorcery aspect as well as the lack of tie-in to the Marvel Universe.
Did you work in other creative capacities for Marvel other than editing?
Yes, I did. I did production work-pasting up word balloons on artwork for $15 a page. I also colored many comics- – Thor, X-Men, Wolverine, Dr Strange, Thunderstrike. I wrote one comic and scripted a Machine Man story with Steve Ditko.
After being laid off by Marvel in ‘95, did you get back into creating comics, or did you seek work in a different industry?
I took a year off. I drove across the country a few times and was offered a job at Image Comics. My old friend Mike Heisler was editor-in-chief at Wildstorm Studios. He offered me an editor job there. I moved to San Diego and worked on some Image comics- – Grifter, Wetworks, Gen13, Stormwatch. I wasn’t a fan of the studio or the comics themselves. When Heroes Reborn came about a few Marvel titles, Iron Man, FF, and then Captain America went to Wildstorm. I was back on Cap again. Mark Gruenwald passed away and I was not happy working on Captain America for another company 3,000 miles away from home. So I quit and moved back East. I did freelance computer coloring work- – mostly covers until early 2000. I was sick of the business, the people, and the direction it was going in. I changed too. I was in my 30s, got married, became a father to 2 wonderful children, and needed stable work. I got into the world of educational publishing-working for the Princeton Review, Random House, and McGraw Hill. I was doing page production work- – I managed teams in the office and overseas. The work was busy and rewarding. There wasn’t as much drama and butt-kissing as there was in comics. Since 1999 I have remained in this field- – in 2005 switching to the technology side. I worked on delivering digital content using content management publishing systems.
What a great ride you had at Marvel! Thanks for doing the interview, Mike.
Great, thank you!
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