For kicks, I played along with a status suggesting you type in your first name plus Marvel Comics. That's how I discovered Cecil the Hacker. He's a character from The Unbelievable Gwen Pool, which means he is from a set of stories so far outside the Marvel I grew up with, I may have never gotten around to discovering him in this decade. There's an entire other Marvel world where Gwen got the spider bite that made Peter Parker, Spider-Man. That's fine with me. I understand they've had a lot of fun with the character. Cecil looks like he's a pretty fun guy, too. I can't judge how inspired he really is without reading the comics. I tend to put a lot more effort into these posts, which makes them much more rare than if I would update them with a paragraph and a couple of downloaded pictures every day or so. Right now, all my comics-related energies are devoted to Firestorm. I have been editing a Creating Marvels audio file where I talk with Patrick...

Gerry Conway- famed writer for Marvel, DC Comics, and many television shows (Law & Order, Matlock, Father Dowling Mysteries) in the late 80's and throughout the 90s- sat down with me one recent afternoon. Well, our story begins with CRAP. We could start with the Kirby-flavored cover- that’s no surprise, when you consider the artist, Allen Milgrom, has been inking the King’s covers for Marvel. But it wouldn’t be Conway-era Firestorm without a few laughs, right? The Coalition to Resist Atomic Power (Conway's little joke, with the un-addressed acronym, CRAP- thanks, Fire & Water podcast- if you love this character or Aquaman, or just DC Comic-crazy) recruits the new kid in town, an athletically-gifted teenager who’s been bouncing from town to town with his father, named Ronnie Raymond. All Ronnie really wants is to impress this cute girl he’s met named Doreen Day. He’s not really a dumb jock, but his rival for the girl, Cliff Carmichael, is both a brain and a bully...

Along with its pop culture phenomenon theme song, the original ABC run of Spider-Man , and its many reincarnations in syndication around the world (but especially in native-content-loving Canada!), gave the superhero a platform which I think launched his popularity ever skyward! Already a surprise smash hit for Marvel Comics from his 1962 inception by writer/editor Stan Lee and designer/plotter Steve Ditko, the wallcrawler's exposure through the Grantray/ Lawence animated series took him into homes for Saturday mornings- and then, afternoons ever after- to fascinated children of all ages everywhere. The series debuted on September 9th, 1967, which prompted me to share a bit of my re-discovery of the hero's famous, jazzy, funky and sometimes hilarious adventures. The second regular series writer on Amazing Spider-Man in 1972, a teen named Gerry Conway, told me he was eager to consume any iteration of his favorite Marvel characters. He watched Spider-Man every week, followi...

ONe of a series of talks with Firestorm creators- like Gerry Conway, Al Milgrom, Pat Broderick, Rafael Kayanan, Tom Mandrake, even early editor Jack C. Harris, we have a philosophical afternoon with John Ostrander. Writer of the modern Suicide Squad, Star Wars: Legacy, The Spectre, and his own creation, Grimjack at First Comics (a very philosophical, satirical space adventure), John began his career as a stage actor in Chicago, providing his connection with Mike Gold. Brought aboard to craft the Legends line-wide crossover, John's fill-ins on Firestorm won him the job when it was vacated by Firestorm's talented parent, Gerry Conway. At one point, I posited to John, this: Firestorm was not generally considered frightening in his earlier incarnation. I think of your Firestorm as a Scary Outlaw-like you said, the danger. There were some questions inside Firestorm himself. Don’t take for granted that he’s going to do the right thing...he’s got to come to it. When you ha...

A conversation with writer John Ostrander and your host, C Lue Lyron! We chat about breaking in at DC during the Legends crossover; the influence of socially conscious writing by --and vegetarian dinner with-- Denny O'Neil. We discuss how John's always been inspired to mix real life, philosophy and imagination. Here's the episode link, too: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-wmdxb-98ab40 Feel free to copy and share! Our talk began like so: C Lue: What did Mike Gold ask you to accomplish when you came aboard to do Legends? John: He sort of laid it out for me. Now, Legends was the first mini-series after Crisis On Infinite Earths, which was a twelve issue run. He said he wanted to do this one in six. Crisis sort of blew up the DC Universe, took things apart. Our goal was to bring it back more together, and to launch some new books, as well. So Legends would show how the new, single DC Universe worked together. C Lue: What were you thinking as...

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...

Thirty three years ago, today! (That is, August 27th, 1985) Oh, the stories these opened up for me. Alphabetically, fans could find every character still living who'd made at least three appearances, as well as many brand new lights. Origins, major life events, stories from twenty-five years of great Marvel continuity. You could even find out how tall, how heavy, or what color eyes the character should have, which sort of personalizes them and makes them all the more easy to imagine. You could find some description of every single power a character has, and often, see an Eliot R. Brown- illustrated blueprint for their best known weapons, vehicles, and acoutrement. But what could ever be more fuel for debate than : STrength Level! I was eleven when the series started, so of course I still found this part cool and interesting. Fans have been debating the strength levels of their favorite heroes and villains since comics began, so here was the sometimes controversial but ...