My biggest leap forward in freelance writing in a long time. I talked to such great people, too. That's Back Issue #110! Steve Englehart and Annie Nocenti fans shouldn't miss it. How do you not miss it? Here! http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=98_54 The site! Order yours! Ships January 16th. My thanks again to John Workman, Scott Edelman, Sam Maronie, Harold Parker, Will Alovis, Ken Segal (now there's a sound guy), the Marvel Comics Fans 1961-1986 page on Facebook (for bringing me together with fans and photos) - and especially our hard-working editor, Michael Eury, who also pulled off a move in the middle of a hurricane and got this one out in fine form. NOw that's how you Face Front! I was wrapping up burritos and wrapping up wrapping up burritos when I pitched for this assignment. I tried Marv Wolfman, John Workman...even hovered over a possible phone number for John Romita, Sr. I stayed on the trail, one lead to the next. I ...

My recent date at Putt Putt made me remember my visits there in 1981. Thinking of those times has taken me back to a special day that year. Dad asked if I'd like to go somewhere, just me and him. Off we went that afternoon to Riverbend Mall, during a spell his sister and her three kids – four, there was a baby!- had moved in with us. Mom thought I might be lonely to get a bit of Dad’s attention- I probably said as much, knowing me. I cried over garbage when I was three, because the things in the rubbish bin would no longer be part of our life, and wouldn't they be sad, to not be wanted anymore? > Here's the original page that inspired most of the Reel B battle, set up with Doc's tragic origin and Spidey's mysterious, almost sinister peep into the facility before the battle at the end of Reel A. I clicked through the story, bereft of Stan Lee’s script and captions, funky and quirky drawings so different than the usual commercial way I saw Spidey represe...

Bullpenner Scott Edelman recounts working with Stan Lee personally on the content for Marvel's very first company comics convention in 1975. We also talked earlier, as you'll find in my December podcasts. Hey, I'm thinking of changing the name of my podcast to Creating Wonders, as I always meant the title to be a double entendre on the creators as well as the creations...but would like to make it feel more open to non-Marvel Comics folks, as I have so many coming up! Copy and paste this to listen or download instantly! What do you think? Ol' Sparkling in 1975!

Photo, Sam Maronie Harold Parker was painfully shy, but he wandered down the right hallway at the right time and had a once-in-a-lifetime meeting. It could never happen these days. :-D Enjoy a five minute CM Podblast!

CAP #110 “Alone No More!” From the first panels, we get the essence of noir, and a very cinematic approach: the figure, against a repeating background, advances to the fore. The deft caption tells us it’s Steve Rogers- the man who is Captain America. The star literally walks up from the anonymous streets, towards a concert appearance poster of his star-spangled public identity, hanging on a wall. If you happened to be a lonely young person yourself, this moody opening is a sure-fire grabber. Steve lights a pipe- maybe he was depicted smoking occasionally back then still, it’s so out-of-character for the interpretation with which I grew up, but maybe that one was too lilly-white anyway. The dark overcast on his countenance is the beginning of a recurrent visual, where Cap will be presented in silhouette in key moments where our fearless hero feels angst. I love how literally he becomes ‘alone no more’- but we’ll get to the Hulk’s hands bursting through the wall momentarily. ...

MARVEL VISIONARIES: Jim Steranko, 1999 Whether you’re talking about transforming the sheer optical design of a comics page as a piece of art, pop culture history writing, graphic novel pioneering, or simply raw ideas, there’s no denying the impact of surf guitarist-turned escape artist- turned graphic designer, Jim Steranko. If I have anything critical to say about any of the gentleman’s work, it’s absolutely within the context of his breath-taking contributions. Comics moved on to different styles, sure, but they evolved under the energetic care of the Pennsylvanian wonder. He was so perfectly charming and gracious in person- I can’t overlook that in light of any of his controversial remarks in recent years. I spent an entire afternoon in his company, at a Comic Con before AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. made him so in-demand. I came back to visit awhile the next day, too- he had read the short story I gave him! This experience could shape anyone’s perceptions of a guy. It’s nothing n...

The End of Spider-Man Two degrees and a lifetime living away from my hometown later, I still find Amazing Spider-Man, by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita, eminently readable. Even when I want to strangle Peter for behaving anti-socially, there’s something in either alter ego that draws me cozily back up to those original issues. I read much of the last year of Ditko’s run and the first year of Romita’s- reprinted from 1965 and 1966- when I faithfully collected Marvel Tales. I’ve never owned it, myself, but my absolute favorite was a 1964 issue where Spider-Man becomes the first costumed adventurer to try, out of his sense of responsibility, to hang up his super-hero career. What an inversion of formulaic comics! I was maybe eleven when I read that one; I borrowed it multiple times, a worn back issue with a rolled spine. That battered 1983 reprint left one of my strongest adolescent memories. I can still smell the near-century-old elementary school building on whose ...

The second issue of Amazing Spider-Man, cover dated May, 1963, featured the wall-crawler’s first super-powered enemy. A conflict of youth versus age, the Vulture was an inventor who used his then-rare advantage to become a daring thief. The second story in the issue introduces another villain featured in Spider-Man: Homecoming- The Tinkerer, another rogue inventor, played by Michael Chernus. Courtesy USA Today His post-retirement plans were quite a bit more exciting than a 401 K and a house in Florida. We’re still so early in the Marvel Age at this point, a foe whose power was, primarily, flight and strength, makes a formidable challenge- maybe not as imaginative as what is to follow, but a nice use of visual and a great combatant for the neophyte wall-crawler. As super-villains go, The Vulture was not a bad start. For one, he makes a terrific test of Spider-Man’s new combat skills, as dizzyingly depicted by co-creator Steve Ditko. His technology-based abilities provide an obs...

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/07/comic_con_2011.html Comic Con's the big news in San Diego downtown. But at the core of all its Hollywood spectacle and major product release frenzy, amidst the swirling robes of wizards and the sound of clanking Storm Troopers, San Diego International Comic Con was a celebration of fans of comic books, and easily, one of the most iconic, the most representative, of all super hero comics, it's Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's two issue battle featuring the Hulk and the Thing, as presented in early 1964! Yep, before the Beatles were even off the plane, Marvel's greatest monster men were smacking each other through a hapless New York City! After a decidedly offbeat issue before (following a classic struggle with Doctor Doom), now we get to the place where the modern world of super hero comics evolves. Not only does the Hulk react in anger to a newspaper announcing Captain America joining the Avengers, but in the brutal revenge sch...