Episode 10: Why I Was Questioned by the Police for Wearing a Mister Miracle Mask
Release Date: 12/10/2024
Episode 22: The Conundrum of Condensing Marie Severin into 1,200 Words
Why Not Say What Happened?
This time around, I grow anxious over a dream discovery of long-lost original comic book artwork, realize I was wrong about a certain Alan Moore/Frank Miller memory, contemplate the difficulty of condensing the life of Marie Severin into a mere 1,200 words, share the meager remains of what was once a massive comic book collection, remember there's an issue of <em>Fantastic Four</em> I need to track down to solve an early fannish mystery, rededicate myself to Marie Kondo-ing my creative life, and more.
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Episode 21: My Long Weekend Annoying MAD Magazine Publisher Bill Gaines
Why Not Say What Happened?
My latest look back at what I was doing in comics during the '70s has me remembering the weekend I couldn't stop myself from teasing Bill Gaines about the <em>National Lampoon</em>'s satirical slam of <em>MAD</em> magazine, why famed con-runner Phil Seuling castigated us fans one afternoon for mistreating our mothers, the words Gerry Conway wrote for Daredevil's girlfriend Karen Page in the basement of a Times Square Nathan's, how my 1980 DC Comics vampire story ended up as an episode of <em>Tales from the Darkside</em>, the continuing mystery of the martial...
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Episode 20: The Barry Smith Comic Book Which Caused Me to Disobey My Parents
Why Not Say What Happened?
In my latest look back at the comics field of the '70s, I share about the home away from home Phil Seuling built for fandom which earned his recent much-deserved accolade, whether the Ethics columns I wrote for <em>The Comics Journal</em> during the '80s burned any bridges (and if I even cared those bridges were on fire), the kung fu comic book series I'd completely forgotten I'd pitched to Marvel, why my job in the Bullpen stunned writer/editor/artist Bob Budiansky, the Barry Smith <em>Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.</em> comic which caused me to disobey my parents, my initial...
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Episode 19: What Gerry Conway Wasn’t Allowed to Say About Gwen Stacy in F.O.O.M.
Why Not Say What Happened?
While shredding another old notebook from my early comics career, I reminisce about the many wretched one-act plays I created while being taught by famed playwright Jack Gelber, the lie I told Marv Wolfman and Len Wein which got me hired at Marvel, the most wrongheaded conclusion Fredric Wertham reached in <em>Seduction of the Innocent</em>, my plot for an <em>Inhumans</em> strip starring Karnak which had no reason to exist, the most ridiculous method any writer ever conceived of for killing a vampire, what Gerry Conway said about Gwen Stacy which was censored out of...
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Episode 18: The Day I Should Have Defended Herb Trimpe
Why Not Say What Happened?
Another look back on my early comics career has me considering the possible reason Robert De Niro's Max Cady character cared about Captain Marvel in the 1991 movie <em>Cape Fear</em>, the day Jim Shooter and I parachuted out of an airplane (and why an ambulance was called), my surprise over a 1974 <em>House of Mystery</em> submission to editor Joe Orlando, why 2025 Scott is curious about what Crystal leaving the Fantastic Four meant to the 1970 fanboy I was, the reason Doc Savage and Scooter Pies are inextricably linked in my memory, my regret over not having defended...
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Episode 17: How My Meeting Margaret Hamilton Became a Marvel Comics Contest
Why Not Say What Happened?
Listen in as I look back half a century on what it was like being in the room with Len Wein and Dave Cockrum (or as much as I'm willing to admit) as they plotted <em>Giant-Size X-Men</em> #1, why my mid-'70s likeness still hangs on the wall at Marvel Comics HQ, my freelance income during the first six months of my life as a comics professional, the collaborative short stories my friends and I stayed awake 24 hours to write on Harlan Ellison's 39th birthday, an article I commissioned for F.O.O.M. about collecting comics in 1975 which should make you weep 50 years later, how my...
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Episode 16: What Teen Me Got Wrong (Twice!) About Jim Steranko
Why Not Say What Happened?
Join me as I look back at the trouble I had getting out of an elevator at the first <em>Star Trek</em> convention, what my ballot looked like when I voted for the 1968 Alley Awards, the composers who wrote the music to match the lyrics I had Rick Jones sing in <em>Captain Marvel</em> #50, what teen me got wrong (twice!) about Jim Steranko, the three comics characters I almost cosplayed as at the 1972 Rutland Halloween parade, the mystery woman who would have been my Beautiful Dreamer on a Forever People float, and much more.
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Episode 15: My Mysterious Mid-'70s Comic Con Meeting with Anthony Bourdain
Why Not Say What Happened?
Shredding hundreds of pages torn from notebooks filled by my teen and twentysomething self causes me to reminisce about my collaboration with artist P. Craig Russell which could have been, the poem 18-year-old me wrote about <em>Action Comics</em> #1, my mysterious mid-'70s New Jersey comic convention meeting with Anthony Bourdain, why when it comes to the process of writing I'm a voyeur but not an exhibitionist, the complete lyrics to a song I had Rick Jones sing way back in <em>Captain Marvel </em>#50, my joy upon seeing Superman co-creator Joe Shuster's name in my...
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Episode 14: Tony Isabella's Essential Edit of My Early Avengers Script Assist
Why Not Say What Happened?
While destroying hundreds of pages of bad poetry I scribbled as a teenager, I made a few surprising discoveries which cause me to reminisce about my poem "Ode on Comic Book Company Loyalty," written 18 days after I was hired by Marvel Comics, my extremely rough sketch for the second Scarecrow splash page, my team-up with Quicksilver and 7-Eleven to freeze your brain with Slurpees during the summer of 1975, Tony Isabella's heavy edit on my early <em>Avengers</em> script assist (and why we should all be grateful), my forgotten horror pitches bounced by Marvel in 1974, and much more.
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Episode 13: How Joker Co-creator Jerry Robinson Predicted I’d Work in Comics
Why Not Say What Happened?
As I consider the way getting rejected by the Clarion Workshop in 1974 helped me break into comics and getting accepted by the Clarion Workshop in 1979 helped me break out of comics, I remember the writing schedule suggested by Harlan Ellison which proved impossible for me, the terrible comics-related advice I got from Damon Knight, Thomas M. Disch's tips for building better characters, the questions Robin Scott Wilson wanted us to ask when critiquing short stories, the night Joker co-creator Jerry Robinson predicted I'd work in comics someday, the Barbie artist who painted me with tattoos and...
info_outlineStaring at the hole in the ground which used to be NYC's Statler Hilton Hotel, home to my first comic book convention in 1970, has me remembering the time I heckled publisher Jim Warren (and what he shouted back), the original art I bought for a buck a page, why the <em>National Lampoon</em>'s Michael O'Donoghue doused me with a pitcher of ice water, the reason I was locked in a dealers room overnight, the early morning I was stopped by two NYC police officers while wandering Penn Station in a Mister Miracle mask, and much more.