We had a virtual birthday party for David Anthony Kraft, anyway! He had too much cheer for the happiness and friendships to end. So! Peter Benno Gillis also wrote the title which has become signature DAK, The Defender, by Marvel Comics Group. Dwight Zimmerman here became friends in art class back in North Dakota. One day, he put in a year's notice and joined Dave the Dude in the Big Apple! Jim Salicrup? Only the founding Mad Genius Associate. The Spider-Editor of my youth, and uncredited writer of Spidey Super Stories. He's busy with the Papercutz imprints today. Jo Duffy? She makes it over the roped bridge, past the gorilla, and gives DAK a sterling tribute. She pioneered writing and editing at Marvel, wrote Power Man and Iron Fist, Catwoman , and something called Star Wars . She's quick to explain, he basically WAS his Dollar Bill supporting character, dropped into the midst of the Defenders via Valkyrie's attempt to attend Empire State University...camera...

Or Download it, here! Download this episode (right click and save) "> David Anthony Kraft tells the story behind the story about writing The Defenders for Marvel Comics Group. He goes into the heads of some of the characters and provides some unique insights as well as some creative background. It's actually part two! Take a look at my August posts.

Hope your Mother’s Day is happier than most superheroes. I’m sure you can think up someone with a good relationship with their mom, but in the four color fictional worlds there’s usually missing parents, if not downright antagonism! It’s true of their cinematic variations as well, as per witness Iron Man/ Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War. I’ll skip the Stark ending pun. But sure, Batman, Spider-Man- maybe it’s the removal of the single most comforting relationship of more childhoods than not, or removing authority figures from the story, but Mother’s Day’s twisted in some way for most super heroes. Our mother, after all, is part of everyone’s origin story, you know. And speaking of both mothers and origins, let me pick up with the Defenders, and their run by writer Steve Gerber, as mentioned in my Gawdy Yarns of the Galaxy Original Volume Two post. First, I’m not sure Stephen Strange’s mom’s been in a story-when a character’s kicked around this long, there’s little w...

The story goes, a motorcycling youth fresh from a stint traveling with the carnival came to New York City, all of 20, 21, hoping to join Marvel Comics Group. David Anthony Kraft arrived with counter-cultural rebellion and a head full of imagination. His high school years spent reading science fiction paper backs in the back of the classroom led straight to a professional status: he took the initiative and inquired about becoming estate executor to pulp writer Otis Adelbert Kline! (I discovered Kline's initials presented as OAK and wondered if that wasn't the inspiration for the "DAK" nomenclature.) Science fiction writer Leigh Brackett (who famously drafted The Empire Strikes Back script) and Marvel's Stan Lee were also formative influences. Fictioneer also published hard back editions of Jack London, Frank Baum, the autobiography of A.E. van Vogt, Robert E. Howard, and E. Hoffmann Price, a colorful ex-soldier and pulp writer who became an early ...

Science that's more art than science! How today's tall tales are told with Rick and Morty! by C Lue t's fun to think Rick's interdimensional career kicked off about the same time as Reed Richards did as a fictional character in 1961. If Rick's 80 and 54 years have passed, then a breakthrough like the prototypical portal gun by the time he's 26 sounds credible. Super geniuses, particularly in more abstract mathematical fields, physics, etc, that is to say, IQ's over 180 that manifest in anything but the self-destruction of the person in question, tend to have their signature breakthroughs fairly early in life. Many of our most accomplished minds complete their most difficult concentration to a breakthrough of sorts before 35. For skills where supply overwhelms and washes away one's contribution until the right attachment arises, like writing, it's all bullshit, anyway; objectively speaking, critical reflections of your work are possible, an...

Never heard of Devil Slayer? Well, that's our point!!! When he's not editing award-winning programs for the Pentagon, my college pal Joe Braband, a fine artist by training, loves a creative challenge for its own sake. My recent thoughts to revive the Defenders as a movie-ready renewed franchise---but first and foremost, a fun and intriguing story--- led me to dig into B and C list characters that aren't really busting any blocks, so to speak. I chose Devil Slayer in particular because my friend seemed to have an affinity for this obscure character, much like my enjoyment of, say, Machine Man. His pitch for developing the character is Awesome Sauce. Here's his rejoinder to the return of Vera Gemini (thanks, Patti Smith) and Devil Slayer. Hit it, Joe! I think it is important for a writer to understand the characters that he's going to write before writing, especially in the case of those who have significant backgrounds that can be harvested for some really great...