All annotations in square brackets [ ] have been made by the interviewer
Let's go back to the beginning. Prior to "GRUB" ("CREEPY" #28, August 1969), have you ever written anything, whether comics
scripts, narrative stories, poems, etc.?
I wrote several poems and short stories but they were mostly done for my own amusement and were never published. I did publish a humorous story and a comic strip in my college satire magazine, "The Gadfly" but that was about it. My first professional story was "Grub".
After that first sell, you started working regularly for WARREN PUBLISHING. Was writing your only source of income, at that moment? According to an article on you that appeared in issue #26 of the Spanish edition of "CREEPY", you also had to work as dishwasher, truck driver, bartender, etc. Is that true?
Writing is similar to a career
in acting. There are several top actors who do nothing but act but there is a
saying in Hollywood that if you ask any waiter if he has a script he will pull
one out of his pocket. Writing is the same way. There were periods when I was
able to live exclusively on my writing but most of the time I was forced to
take jobs as a draftsman, security guard, or marketing designer. I also did
those other jobs -- dishwasher, truck driver, bar tender -- as well.
At first, you worked for WARREN from August 1969 to November 1971 (I'm
talking cover dates here), then moved over to WALLACE WOOD's studio, then
CHARLTON, and finally you came back to WARREN from September 1976 to September
1982. With WARREN you only published scripts. Did you ever show WARREN your art
samples?
I did show Jim Warren my art samples but he
suggested that I keep writing stories. He was right. My work wasn't slick
enough for comics.
You also worked in an editorial capacity, as "Contributing Editor",
or "Assistant Editor", or "Consulting Editor", so I suppose
you had to be in the offices all day. How did you manage the day-to-day
routine? Before you went into the service, you were living in Valley Stream
with your parents; did you have to move to New York, to be nearer the offices?
Did you write your scripts at the offices or at home?
The titles "Consulting
Editor" and "Contributing Editor" were honorary designations and didn't require me to go to the
office. However, as "Assistant Editor" to Louise Simonson, it was necessary for me to go to the office on a
daily basis. By then I was married, with a daughter, and living in Flushing
Queens so my ride to New York wasn't a very long one.
I wrote all my scripts at
home.
What exactly were your duties as Assistant Editor?
At Warren my duties were basically to deal with artists and writers,
read scripts and make recommendations to the editor, keep track of the
schedules and do whatever Louise
asked me to do.
How was the process of putting together any given magazine? Were the
stories specifically written for each magazine?
That was not part of my
responsibility at Warren. Louise Simonson worked out the makeup
of each magazine; I was only there to help her.
Being a writer as well as an editor, did you ever write a script
specifically for any given issue?
If the issue had a theme, I
was asked to write a story based on that theme. At one time Jim asked me to come up with a theme
and I picked stories around the planet Mars ["Creepy" #87, March
1977].
I understand that the scripts were commissioned first, and then assigned to
the artist, so the writer had no say in the selection of the latter, but, did
the artist have any say in which script to draw? How was the process?
The process was pretty much
the way you described it. The script was written first and then turned over to
an artist. But there were always exceptions. A writer could request a specific
artist but since scripts were given out according to the availability of an
artist, it was rare that the writer's whishes were granted. We had systems but
we were always flexible.
Again, as a writer as well as an editor, did you ever managed to have some
of your scripts assigned to any given artist of your liking?
One time, I was told, a batch
of scripts were given to Russ Heath
and he chose one of mine, "Dime novel
hero" [in "Creepy" #105, February 1979). As a fan of Russ' art, I was thrilled and years
later when I moved to Hollywood to work in animation, I worked with Russ at Marvel Films and we became friends.
In the case of the artists who lived abroad, like the Filipino artists or
the Spanish artists that were represented by JOSEP TOUTAIN's SELECCIONES
ILUSTRADAS agency, how did you decide on which scripts to send overseas? Did
you send them with certain artists suggestions attached?
We more or less left it up to Selecciones Ilustradas which artist to
assign to which scripts but as I mentioned before, we were always flexible.
Sometimes we did request a specific artist for a specific script.
We also did some work with the
foreign artists at Charlton and at
the animation houses in Hollywood with some hilarious results. A writer had
written that the Mighty Ducks were
"armed to the teeth". The foreign artists, unfamiliar with the
expression, sent back drawings of the Mighty
Ducks with guns for teeth and directions on how to shoot them.
What can you tell us of the senior editors you worked for at WARREN? (BILL PARENTE, ARCHIE GOODWIN,
BILLY GRAHAM, JOHN R. COCHRAN, BILL DUBAY, LOUISE JONES, JIM STENSTRUM.)
I was on fairly good terms
with most of them. Being human, we occasionally had our differences of opinion.
I only knew Jim Stenstrum as a writer. I never
worked with him as an editor.
The vast majority of your scripts were stand-alone stories. You only wrote
two serials. One was "CRONK", in "EERIE" #77 and #80, with pencil art by CARMINE INFANTINO and inks by WAYNE
HOWARD (#77) and AL MILGROM (#80). MILGROM says that a third story exists in
pencil form. Why didn't this series take off?
That was an editing decision and I have no idea why "Cronk" was dropped.
The second serial was "THE FOX". The first
chapter, drawn by JOSÉ ORTIZ, was published in "CREEPY" #100 (August
1978), as a stand-alone story. Almost three years later, you revived it in "VAMPIRELLA" #95 (April 1981), with art by LUIS BERMEJO. Why did you decide to
create a series out of this standalone story?
When I wrote the first "Fox" story it was intended to be a
one-time tale. I had no intention of turning her into a series. Her uniqueness
was the fact that she was a Chinese Princess who could change into a fox. She
was imprisoned by her ambitious uncle and replaced by a look-alike whom her
uncle could control. The twin made the mistake of visiting the Princess in her
prison cell and when the guards came to bring the Princess to her execution the
guards found the look-alike and a fox in her cell. The faux Princess was
dragged off to the execution while the real princess trotted away in the form
of a fox. Bill DuBay, the editor at
the time, liked the character so much he asked me to do "The Fox" as a series and out of
friendship for Bill I reluctantly
wrote more stories but my heart wasn't in it. I just wrote fewer and fewer
"Fox" stories until she
was forgotten.
The "FOX" serial had a
peculiar development. The first three chapters -- the aforementioned, plus
another one in "VAMPIRELLA" #98 (August 1981) -- tell one story arc,
starring PRINCESS MING-TOI. The three following chapters ("VAMPIRELLA" #101-103, December 1981 - March 1982) form the second story arc, but
there is a huge leap in time and now the lead character is SHA-MING (MING-TOI's
granddaughter). The final three chapters ("VAMPIRELLA" #104, #106
and #108, April - September 1982) are standalone SHA-MING stories. Is there any
particular reason for such changes?
As I mentioned, my heart
really wasn't in doing the stories beyond the first one and so I tried
everything I could to inspire myself by bringing in new versions of the
character including putting her in different eras.
There was still one further chapter (in "VAMPIRELLA" #112, March 1983) but you were replaced by JOHN ELLIS SECH as writer,
although BERMEJO continued as artist. Was it your decision to leave the series?
I had no problem with being
replaced. If Warren Publishing liked
the character so much then someone who really cared should write her.
The bulk of WARREN's magazines were original stories, but there were also
some reprints from non-WARREN magazines (such as "CHRISTOPHER LEE'S TREASURY OF TERROR"). At one point, WARREN started buying some
French and Spanish stories, but instead of just having the dialogues and
captions translated into English, he decided to have them rewritten. Do you
know what was the reasoning behind this practice?
Jim called me into his office one day and told me he
was buying some French and Spanish stories in order to fill the magazines with
less expensive stories, however, he wasn't satisfied with the translations
since they were often accomplished by people unfamiliar with American idioms
and rhythm of language, such as contractions. He asked me, and I assume, other
writers, to make the language more palatable for American audiences.
Out of 105 stories that you published at WARREN, in 5 of them you were
credited alongside another writer. WARREN writers didn't usually work together
on the stories, so a dual credit apparently means that one of the writers
rewrote a previous script from the other writer. Can you remember what was your
input in these particular cases?
As you said, they were
probably rewrites by other artists and writers. The only time I ever worked
with another writer at Warren was
with Bill Mohalley on "Deathball 2100 A.D." ["Eerie" #8, November 1977]. I vaguely remember writing "The Einstein Factor" ["Eerie" #93, June 1978] as a
complete script but I think Pepe Moreno
Casares [the artist] rewrote parts of it to make it more visual.
Did you develop any close friendship with any of the WARREN artists? (Apart
from TOM SUTTON, whom you lured afterwards to work for you at CHARLTON.)
I didn't lure Tom over to Charlton. He just showed up at Charlton
one day looking for work and we hired him. Since I knew Tom from Warren, we did
become friends. He was a big guy with a mass of curly hair and a curly beard so
I used to call him "The Bear". My friendships with other artists, Warren, DC, Charlton, etc. came
about by running into them at various companies and since we knew each other
from elsewhere we naturally gravitated together. I did become close friends
with Ernie Colón and Bill DuBay from Warren but mostly I was only friendly with most of them.
Why did you leave WARREN for the first time in 1971?
The reason for the gap in 1971
with Warren was because Jim Warren and I had a falling out over
the proposed magazine "Pow!",
where I sued Jim over some unpaid
stories. Jim had felt he didn't owe
me for those stories because I had lost my temper during a meeting with him and
told him what he could do with the stories. But during a calmer moment I felt I
should be paid for the stories. Jim
disagreed and with Woody's
encouragement, I sued him. We became bitter enemies until we bumped into one
another at a comic convention and I shook his hand. Jim smiled and told me I was the only person who ever won a lawsuit
against him and said if I ever needed a job I would be welcomed at Warren Publishing. Years later Jim kept his word.
After leaving WARREN, you worked for WALLACE WOOD as one of his assistants.
Previously, you had already met WOOD, when you approached him with your art
samples. He liked MOONCHILD and commissioned you a MOONCHILD story for his "WITZEND" fanzine. But when you delivered the
artwork, "WITZEND" was now owned by BILL PEARSON, who
rejected the pages because the magazine was being criticized by its nudity and
PEARSON wanted to avoid any more controversy. What year was that? 1969?
I don't recall the exact year
but 1969 sounds about right. I was stationed in Bangor, Maine at the time,
visiting New York whenever I could, so it does ring true.
After that
first encounter with WOOD, GRAY MORROW helped you get a job at KRANTZ ANIMATION
STUDIOS because MORROW knew RALPH BAKSHI there. Do you remember which movies or
TV shows did you work on?
I had met Gray over at Bill Pearson's
apartment when he was turning in a story for "witzend" magazine. I mentioned I was looking for work and he
suggested Krantz Studio with Ralph Bakshi as the art director. This
was about 1969. Ralph, under the
strength of Gray's recommendation,
hired me as cell colorist. The job consisted of taking the celluloid drawings,
flipping over the transparent cells and filling in the color with thick paints.
I worked on two ads for him, a Canadian
Club [a brand of whisky] commercial and a Peter Max cartoon but most of his crew was laid off before he had
begun "Fritz the Cat" [1972] or "Spider-Man" [1968-70].
Around 1971,
you bumped into WOOD at a convention and he hired you as his assistant. You
lived by then in Valley Stream, and WOOD lived in Woodmere, Long Island, so you
both used to go over to each other's houses, until WOOD decided to rent a
studio, which you found on Rockaway Boulevard, in Valley Stream. Later, SYD
SHORES and JACK ABEL would join the studio, and others like LARRY HAMA, WAYNE
HOWARD, TONY TALLARICO, and RALPH REESE would occasionally drop by and help on assignments.
As far as I
know, the working procedure with WOOD would be as follows: He would turn the
script into layouts and you would go through WOOD's "swipe" and
research files and pick out whatever images would be needed (vehicles, guns,
human figures, etc.). You would use the Art-O-Graph machine to project the
pictures onto the drawing paper and trace them. WOOD would do the final
pencilling and most of the inking, leaving all the areas for solid black for
you to ink, and indicating wherever he wanted gray tones or additional effects
to be added.
Your description of our
routine is very accurate. Most of my work at Wood Studio was Art-O-Graph photos, tracing them onto the final
sheet, inking solid black areas and cutting the Ben Day dot sheets onto the
art. Except that Woody knew I had
sold several stories to Warren
Publishing and so we worked on a few scripts together, especially on "Cannon", "Sally Forth", and "Shattuck". Sometimes he would come
up with the story and I would write the script and other times we'd reverse the
task.
I jumped from project to
project as needed. It was all very casual.
You worked
for WOOD on some advertising work and, at least, on these particular comics:
"CANNON" and "SALLY FORTH" for "THE OVERSEAS WEEKLY" (July 26, 1971 - April 22, 1974)
Aside from
your art assistance, you wrote some stories for both series. Do you remember
which ones? Did WOOD write the final draft of the script, as I believe was his
custom?
It was kind of casual. We'd
just toss ideas back and forth. I recall one day Ralph Reese was at the studio and Woody had Cannon on a
beach facing his deadly enemy, Madame
Toy. She was armed with a machine gun and there seemed to be no escape for
him. I said, "Let's just have him drop to his knees and beg for
mercy". Ralph broke in with,
"And while he's on his knees have him pick up a rock and beat Toy with it". All three of us
laughed and that became the ending of that particular episode.
The only stories I specifically remember, as being completely mine was a "Cannon" tale where this character, Charlie, would pretend to be a hit man, threaten a gangster and when the gangster offered money to spare his life, Charlie would collect and disappear.
There was also a "Sally Forth" story about a South American dictator who disguised himself as the leader of the rebels so he could control both his country and the opposition.
Otherwise, as I said, we just
tossed story concepts around.
"SHATTUCK" for "THE OVERSEAS WEEKLY" (1972)
This
short-lived series was created by WOOD for his colleague SYD SHORES to draw. SHORES
liked Westerns and was an occasional WOOD assistant, but eventually rejected
the project. WOOD co-wrote all or some of the scripts, and did some
layouts. HOWARD CHAYKIN was the first artist, as both penciller and inker, but
WOOD disliked his inking so much that the inking went to WOOD himself, JACK
ABEL, SYD SHORES and yourself. CHAYKIN is credited in pages 1 - 2 and is
clearly recognizable in page 3, but pages 4 - 15 are uncredited (and I can't
imagine whose art is that), until the arrival of DAVE COCKRUM (pencils) and
JACK ABEL (inks) in pages 16 - 29.
That's mostly true,
except I don't recall Woody hating Howard's work. I think since Howard was just beginning his career,
he was unsure of his work and just decided to leave the studio. We tried to
keep it going with Jack Abel and Dave Cockrum, but no one seemed
interested so we let it drop.
What was
your contribution to this series? Just an inker in the first pages?
I may have done some assistant
work on "Shattuck" such as
looking up swipes and inking in solid blacks or cutting the Ben-Day sheets but
I was mostly just the writer.
"WONDER WOMAN" #195 (August 1971)
You helped
WOOD ink this story over MIKE SEKOWSKY's pencils. (You are not credited, neither
on the original print, nor on the subsequent reprints, or on the Grand Comics
Database.)
Before we found Wood Studio on Rockaway Avenue, Woody and I worked over each other's
house and one time he called me because he had been ill and needed help on
inking a "Wonder Woman"
story for DC. This was one of my few
inking jobs and Woody and I worked
for three days straight, day and night, over Mike Sekowsky's pencils. At one point, Woody went to the bathroom and I took the break to take a quick
nap. Three hours later, Woody's
wife, Marilyn, arrived home and woke
me asking where Woody was. I told
him in the bathroom. He had fallen asleep on the pot for three hours and we
knocked on the door until he woke up. We completed the job and I drove into DC to deliver it.
Assistants rarely get credit
for their parts in different assignments. We follow the master's instructions
and we're grateful for the learning experience. I wouldn't trade my time with Woody for all the credit in the world.
"VAMPIRELLA" #10 (March 1971): "WAR OF THE WIZARDS"
A story
written & drawn by WOOD for WARREN, where you just added Ben-Day dots?
And I filled in the solid
black areas. Please don't forget that.
"CREEPY" #38 (March 1971): "THE COSMIC ALL"
Another WARREN story written & drawn by WOOD, with art assistance by you and WAYNE HOWARD (who added some machinery). (Maybe we could talk here about HOWARD, one of WOOD's many assistants. He had previously illustrated your "GROWTH" script in "WEB OF HORROR" #1, December 1969, and will later reappear in the CHARLTON era.)
I first met Wayne when I visited Woody at one of his New York studios.
Later, when I was hired at Charlton,
he was a regular artist there and we became very close friends. As a follower
of Woody we had a lot in common and
when he came up with his series, "Midnight
Tales" he called me over his apartment for a meeting. Together we
worked out the details. I suggested that each cover should be a gag and there
should be a theme for every issue. Wayne
liked my ideas and we did the first ten issues together.
He was an easygoing guy, who
had this donkey-like laugh and loved to laugh. He also always wore the same
outfit of a white shirt, black tie and pants and tan bush jacket. One time I
discovered that he had a closetful of these outfits. He married one of the Charlton secretaries [Carol Zavednak] and moved away and we
lost touch. I read where he had passed away [December 9, 2007, aged 58, in
Derby, Connecticut] and I suspect it was because of his constant smoking. I
miss my good buddy.
"CREEPY" #41 (September 1971): "PRELUDE TO ARMAGEDDON"
You are
credited as the writer of this WOOD-drawn story for WARREN, although you have
stated having NOTHING to do with the script, and that the credit was given to
you by Wood as a "reward" for the "CANNON" and "SALLY FORTH" stories you wrote anonymously. But I
assume you did assist WOOD in the art?
That's right, I did assist Woody with the art but I had nothing to
do with the script. Woody was just
being kind.
"GHOSTLY TALES" #107 (October 1973): "THE ANYWHERE MACHINE"
You kept in
touch with WOOD after you entered CHARLTON and, at one time, he said he would
like to do some work for CHARLTON. You wrote a science fiction story
specifically for him, but WOOD just did the pencilling and let SID CHECK do the
inking. You then had TOM SUTTON re-ink the whole thing. To me, the printed art
looks sketchy and rough, and I don't recognize neither SUTTON's style nor WOOD's,
as a result (I guess) of SUTTON being forced to work in a hurry and not having
the possibility of working directly from WOOD's pencil art?
I did write "The Anywhere Machine" for Woody, making sure I added all the things that Woody liked to draw in the story. He gave the story to Sid Check to ink and I was worried because I wasn't familiar with Sid's work so I looked up Sid in my EC files and saw that he had done a fantastic job over Woody's pencils. I was relieved until I received the final art all rolled up. There was so much cross-hatching; I knew when the color was added it would be a blobby mess. I called Woody and he apologized, saying Sid wanted this to be his masterpiece and had over rendered it. Since we already had a great cover, completed by Wayne Howard, we only had something like three days to get the story to the printer. I called up the fastest artist I knew, Tom Sutton, and asked him if he could re-ink the story? He said he could, using the basic layouts by Woody and he came through big time. It's not anyone's finest work but it was a workable story done under tremendous pressure.
"1984" #5 (February 1979): "I WONDER WHO'S SQUEEZING HER NOW?"
(Written by WOOD and you,
pencilled by ERNIE COLÓN, and inked by WOOD) In the early 70s, WOOD devised a
new type of adult magazine for WARREN, to be called "POW!", that never came to fruition because both
WOOD and WARREN wouldn't reach an agreement on the terms of the project. At one
time, WOOD proposed you as the editor, as a way to avoid any direct
confrontation between him and WARREN. But then it was you who clashed with WARREN
over who would have been the official editor of the magazine, and the project
was officially cancelled. But some art had already been commissioned. FRANK
FRAZETTA created a cover that later saw print as the cover to "EERIE" #81 (February 1977). A story then titled "LAST TRAIN TO LAURELHURST", was finally published in "1984" as "I WONDER WHO'S SQUEEZING HER
NOW?" By that time, you were
back in WARREN again. Do you have any idea why the title was changed? Were you
ever consulted on the use of the material that was left over from "POW!"?
I've already gone over the clashes and egos, my own included, involved in
the near-creation of "Pow!"
but you seem to have the story correct. No, I was never consulted as to the
final use of the material. At that time Jim
Warren and I were not on the best of terms. I'm happy to say we buried the
hatchet and became friendly again.
Aside from "I WONDER…", there was one another story that was
written by you, that MIKE KALUTA drew and later published in a fanzine without
the balloons (just the artwork). Later at CHARLTON, you rewrote the story for
another artist. Can you remember the titles of both stories? (Your name doesn't
appear in any KALUTA checklist.)
I do recall writing the story,
originally for Gray Morrow who passed
it on to Mike, but I don't recall
the story or even the title. Sorry.
You've said
in an interview that you wrote a story for MARVEL ("TWIN BURIAL") where you used a pseudonym (CHRIS ROBINSON), because you were on the
outs with MARVEL at the time. There's a 10-page MARVEL story titled "TWIN BURIAL", published in "TALES
OF THE ZOMBIE" #2 (October
1973), drawn by RALPH REESE (whom you might have met at WOOD's studio) and
written by one "CHUCK ROBINSON". Is this in fact the story you
wrote?
I must have made a mistake on
the first name, because it was credited to "Chuck" Robinson and
not "Chris". I did not use
the pseudonym; it was Marvel who did
it.
Ralph and I were working at Wood Studio
when he had asked me to write a horror story for him for one of the Marvel horror books. I wrote one of my
favorites, "Twin burial"
and Ralph did a fantastic job on the
art. At the time I was not favorably looked upon at Marvel and I suspect it was Jim
Shooter who ordered the change in name. This infuriated me when I saw it in
print because I loved the story and was disappointed that I would not get
credit for it.
Why didn't
you do more stories for MARVEL at that time (you would work for them steadily
later, in 1977-78)?
Jim Shooter, the editor-in-chief and I were not friendly.
There's
another story written by one "CHUCK ROBINSON" worth mentioning: "SWORD OF DRAGONUS", art by FRANK BRUNNER, in the fanzine "PHASE" #1 (September 1971). You would later work with BRUNNER on "WEREWOLF GOES WEST" ("THE MONSTER TIMES" #24, July 1973), so, are you indeed the
writer of "SWORD OF DRAGONUS"?
Sorry, but that wasn't me. I
did like Frank's work and was
grateful to have him illustrate my "Werewolf
goes West" story.
As you weren't
getting that much money as WOOD's assistant, when artist TONY TALLARICO told you that they were
looking for an Assistant Editor over at CHARLTON, you applied for the job. SAL GENTILE had retired as Editor and GEORGE
WILDMAN got promoted to replace him, and hired you soon after. You worked at
CHARLTON from May 1972 to January 1978 (again, according to the cover dates of
the magazines in which you are credited). This is the longest period of time (6
years) you've worked for any given publisher, in one continuous stretch of time
(your 7 years at WARREN are split up in two different terms). Any particular
reason for that?
I have rarely worked at any
company more than 3 to 6 years for various reasons. The reason I left the post
of Assistant Editor was because I wanted to write as a freelancer, which I did
for a few years, until a nosey bookkeeper noticed I was making more money as a
writer than I did as an Assistant Editor and I was fired. As for other
companies, some of them went out of business, others laid off their people
after the project was over and with others I felt it was time to move on.
The CHARLTON
building (the production offices as well as the printing plant) was in Derby,
Connecticut, so you had to move from Valley Stream to Connecticut?
I moved to Beacon Falls,
Connecticut where my daughter was born. It was a short distance from Derby.
At first,
you concentrated on your editorial duties, because the bulk of the stories were
written by JOE GILL, but eventually you were allowed to start writing some of
your own?
Joe Gill, an incredibly talented and prolific guy wrote every comic book story, which Charlton published. I asked if I could write a few and Joe graciously said he had no problem with it. Joe was a legend to me especially when I mentioned to him some of my favorite early comic book stories and he told me he had written them. We used to go camping together where he told me tales of his early career and of his buddy Mickey Spillane, the famous detective storywriter. Joe is another great friend I really miss.
The stories
were not commissioned for any specific title or issue. They were stored in a
shelf (so to speak), and when the time came to put together any given issue,
you would choose the right amount of stories needed. The heads of the hosts of
the stories were then pasted in the art boards after the stories were drawn and
selected, and some dialogue added to accompany those heads. I assume all
this procedure was made exclusively by you, including the additional writing?
There were other
people working in the production department including Frank Bravo, Paul Delpo
and Barbara (I forgot her last
name). As Assistant Editor, I was in charge. George Wildman, the editor, trusted me choose the stories but, of
course, he had final approval.
WILDMAN would be in charge of the creation of the stories, commissioning
or supervising scripts? Or did you have any input in those matters as well?
George was in charge of
the stories and who would get the scripts but when George was on vacation he turned the task over to me. Joe Gill wrote most of the stories.
As an Assistant Editor, you were responsible for hiring young talents
(such as DON NEWTON and MIKE ZECK), as well as attracting veteran artists (such
as TOM SUTTON and WAYNE HOWARD).
I was in charge of
looking over the portfolios we received, about two a day, and if I saw anyone
who showed skill and talent, I would show them to George but the only people I discovered were Don Newton and Mike Zeck.
Wayne and Tom came to Charlton on
their own.
Can you talk about your personal friendship with TOM SUTTON, when did it
begin and how did it grow?
Tom had illustrated my
first professional story, "Grub"
and several other stories at Warren
Publishing and we met at conventions but we didn't become close friends
until Tom moved to Massachusetts in
order to work at Charlton. Since he
was between wives and I was a bachelor we used to go out drinking together, bar
hopping and meeting girls. Several times we would just have dinner together at
his house where I would hang out and look over his latest jobs, both Charlton jobs and other freelance work.
We would also talk on the phone about politics, comics, women, and philosophy.
I do recall our
last conversation where he said he was becoming exhausted on short trips to the
post office and had planned to see a doctor. Then, a few days later I saw a
tribute to him online where he was referred to as "the late" Tom Sutton. I called him immediately
only to receive a message from the phone company that his line had been
disconnected. I hate losing such good friends. [Tom Sutton died May 1, 2002, age 65, apparently of a heart attack.]
At some point, the number of magazines at CHARLTON increased so much
that you decided to leave your post as Assistant Editor to become a freelance writer.
Besides you had gotten married in 1972, had had a baby girl and needed more
money. Did you get to regret that decision, or did you really get to raise your
monthly income?
I never regretted
going freelance. I made much more money and I loved the work. My only regret
was that it didn't last longer.
To me, the most striking notion of your CHARLTON career is that you
wrote for all kinds of different magazines: mostly horror stories, but also
action/adventure ("EMERGENCY", "THE SIX MILLION
DOLLAR MAN", "SPACE: 1999"), love/romance, and humor/children stories, including a great deal of "POPEYES". Were you more comfortable this way, changing genres as needed, rather
than specializing on horror?
I enjoyed the
variety. As much as I love writing Science Fiction and Horror the well can run
dry from time to time and nothing gets you over a dry spell better than a good "Popeye"
story.
Even though CHARLTON published horror stories, like WARREN did, the
comic-book format, subjected to the Comics Code, didn't allow the freedom that
the WARREN black & white magazines had. Did you have to drastically change
the way you envisioned your scripts, to accommodate the Code?
The first story I
wrote for Charlton came under
criticism from the Code. I resented the comments but I realized we had to keep
our stories under the umbrella of the dreaded Code. I dislike censorship for
adults but I know it is necessary where children are concerned and so I
adjusted.
The short story "BOOKWORM" was first drawn by ALEX TOTH, but he eventually withdrew his permission to print it, over a dispute with CHARLTON about rates? The script was re-drawn by CHARLES NICHOLAS, inked by WAYNE HOWARD and published in "CREEPY THINGS" #4 (February 1976). TOTH's original version first saw print in a French magazine, "SPÉCIAL USA" #10 (October 1984), as "ANOBIUM". What do you remember about this situation?
Alex Toth was friends with Charlton artist, Artie Cappella [?],
and had mentioned he might be interested in working for Charlton, even at their drastically low rates. He had his eye on
licensing properties such as "Emergency", "The Six-Million Dollar Man", and "Space: 1999". When he heard that Gray Morrow had received the contract for "Space: 1999" he became furious and
in a very heated phone call he told George
Wildman exactly how he felt. At the time, he had my script for "Bookworm" and had completed
drawing it but due to his falling out with George,
he didn't turn it in. Therefore, the script was handed over to Charlie Nicholas and Wayne Howard.
Years later, after
I had left Charlton, Alex asked me
if I could get the rights to the story from Charlton because a fan magazine was interested in publishing it and
for my trouble he would split the fee with me 50-50. I procured the rights and
it was published in "Monsters
Attack!" [#4, September 1990]. The money came in
handy since it was Christmas and my wife and I didn't have enough money to buy
my daughter presents. Because of his generosity, my little daughter had a very
merry Christmas.
I didn't know
anything about the French magazine.
Another
great artist of this period is WAYNE HOWARD. You first met him in WALLACE
WOOD's studio and his art certainly shows WOOD's influence, in a good sense:
highly detailed backgrounds, moody atmosphere, gorgeous women, solid
storytelling... Of special interest is the anthology book "MIDNIGHT TALES", which he created. He drew many stories,
all the covers, and eventually wrote some scripts. You wrote many scripts, and
JOE STATON, DON NEWTON and TOM SUTTON also collaborated on the art. What can
you tell us about this impressive book?
As you said I had first met Wayne at one of Woody's studios in New York and later, when I had begun my job at Charlton, I met him again and we became close friends. One evening Wayne called me to his apartment and told me about his idea for a new horror anthology called "Midnight" (later it was changed to "Midnight Tales") and asked for my thoughts on it. He wanted two major hosts, Professor Coffin and his niece Arachne who would have their own story in each issue. I suggested having a gag cover and a theme for each book. He liked those two ideas and he presented his new book to the publisher, which they green lit. Then it was simply a matter of doing the book each month.
At that
time, CHARLTON did no longer published superheroes. GEORGE WILDMAN thought of
creating a new line of them, and started the development of several brand new
characters, but when the SANTANGELOS rejected the idea, he decided nevertheless
to go ahead with just E-MAN (created by you and JOE STATON) and YANG (a martial
arts hero created by JOE GILL and WARREN SATTLER). In other accounts I've read,
both E-MAN and YANG were commissioned AFTER the SANTANGELOS rejection. What's
your recollection of these series of events?
I recalled that George went to a publisher's meeting, a
fairly regular event, where all the editors of the various magazines Charlton published gave their ideas to John Santangelo Jr. When he came back from the meeting George said he had talked John Santangelo Jr. into giving super
heroes another try. I came up with E-Man
asking for Joe Staton as the artist
and Joe Gill came up with Yang. George also wanted have Steve
Ditko contribute and suggested using back up stories in "E-Man" to try out new super hero
ideas. Of all the heroes we tried in "E-Man"
-- The Knight [issue #1, script by Nicola Cuti, art by Tom
Sutton], Killjoy [issues #2 and #4, script & art by Steve
Ditko], Travis [issue #3, script by Nicola Cuti, art by Wayne
Howard], and Liberty Bell [issue
#5, script by Joe Gill, art by Steve Ditko]
-- only Rog 2000 seemed to catch on
with the fans. He probably would have gotten his own book had the super hero
experiment caught on but Marvel and DC proved to still be the giants when
it came to super heroes and the fans would have no other heroes.
JOE STATON
had already illustrated some of your CHARLTON stories, and you involved him
early on in the development process. You went along with his comments on your
first script ideas, and you rewrote E-MAN's origin story.
I liked Joe's art style very much, especially his work on "Primus" [a 7-issue Charlton series written by Joe Gill] and Joe proved to be so very easy to work with that we eventually
became friendly. In fact Joe and his
wife Hilary, had met us in Richmond,
Vermont, where E-Man appeared in a
Halloween Parade and I was on my honeymoon. My new bride and Hilary got along very well.
As for Joe's comments on the origin story; I had Alec Tronn blow himself up in a factory accident and become E-Man; but Joe hated that idea and asked that I come up with another origin. I
had been reading "Challenge of the stars"
by Patrick Moore and David A. Hardy when I came across a
paragraph concerning star Novas, where stars would erupt or, as in the case of
a Super Nova blow up completely, and I felt I had found E-Man's origin as a packet of energy given off by the eruption of a
star. Joe liked the idea and we went
ahead with the first script.
"E-MAN", the series,
lasted only 10 issues (October 1973 - September 1975), but spawned three
memorable characters that refused to disappear into oblivion: E-MAN, MICHAEL
MAUSER and ROG-2000. Let's start with E-MAN. After the initial run, the rights
to the character were sold to FIRST COMICS, who published new stories in a
25-issue series (April 1983 - August 1985), and also a 7-issue reprint of the
original stories ("THE ORIGINAL
E-MAN"). Do you know the
business details of this operation? Did JOE STATON, being Art Director at FIRST
for a time, have anything to do with it?
Joe had bought the rights to "E-Man"
from John Santangelo and so when he was hired as Art Director of the new First Comics, he brought "E-Man" with him.
At the time
you were working for DC COMICS. Is that the reason why the new stories were
mostly written by MARTIN PASKO, and then by STATON himself? You just wrote the
final two issues in the series (#24 and #25).
That's correct. Later, Paul Levitz, Vice President of DC, said he felt it was wrong to keep E-Man's creator from writing the
character and said I should feel free to pen as many
"E-Man" scripts as I
wanted. Unfortunately, "E-Man"
only lasted for two more issues.
After FIRST
COMICS, several other companies (COMICO, ALPHA PRODUCTIONS, and DIGITAL WEBBING
PRESS) have kept the character alive over the years with new mini-series or one-shots.
In 2017, "THE CHARLTON ARROW"
magazine began publishing new short stories. The artist has always been JOE
STATON. Any new plans with the character?
Not at the moment but if a
company offered to renew "E-Man"
I know I would be ready to pen some new stories.
The original
series was re-colored and reprinted in the "E-MAN: THE EARLY YEARS" TPB, which has been long out of print. Any
plans for more reprints?
You would have to contact Ken F. Levin, who owns First Comics but presently I know of no such plans.
MICHAEL
MAUSER, PRIVATE DETECTIVE was created as a secondary character in "E-MAN" #3, appeared also in #9, and then starred
in a series of back-up stories, also drawn by JOE STATON, in the 6-issue series
"VENGEANCE SQUAD" (July 1975 - June 1976). How come a
private detective sprung out of a sci-fi/superhero series?
Mauser was intended for just that issue but both Joe and I loved the character so much that we brought him back for
several issues and when Joe Gill
created "Vengeance Squad" we saw the opportunity to feature Mauser in his own stories.
After "VENGEANCE SQUAD" folded, MICHAEL MAUSER, like E-MAN, would
reappear in further stories, but not so many times as E-MAN. Is he a less
demanded character?
I enjoy Film Noir but,
unfortunately, the comic book fans are not fans of detective fiction. "Noir" magazine only lasted two
issues [in fact, it lasted three issues, but Michael Mauser was only published in two of them, Winter 1994 and
Fall 1995] and that was the last time Mauser
appeared in his own story. He has been reduced to guest appearances.
There was one other Super Hero/Detective team up that I know of and that was Plastic Man and Woozy Winks.
ROG-2000 was
the third major character to be featured in the "E-MAN" magazine. It had been created by JOHN BYRNE and ROGER STERN in "CPL" #11 (1974). BOB LAYTON and ROGER STERN, who were already publishing "THE CHARLTON BULLSEYE", asked you to run ROG-2000 as a back-up in
"E-MAN" (#6-7 and #9-10). The new stories were
drawn by JOHN BYRNE but written by you, instead of ROGER STERN. Why was that?
I never really thought about
it until you asked. I just assumed I would be writing "Rog". I certainly didn't mean to
bump Roger Stern, a very nice
fellow, out of the job.
Why did
CHARLTON abandon ROG-2000, after "E-MAN" folded in issue
#10? JOHN BYRNE was assigned a new series, "DOOMSDAY + 1", so his
art must have been appreciated at CHARLTON.
To Charlton, Rog was just a
back-up character so when the main comic, "E-Man", tanked Rog
went with him. If Rog had his own
title then perhaps he would have gone on. He was a good character, but at least
Charlton recognized John Byrne's talent. It was Joe Gill who had requested him as the
artist on "Doomsday + 1".
Incidentally,
"DOOMSDAY + 1" was created and written by JOE GILL, but
rumor has it that JOHN BYRNE himself rewrote the scripts for #2-6. Do you know
anything about this?
Joe had always said it was fine if an artist wanted to rewrite any of his
scripts, but I was not so understanding. I didn't mind if an artist rewrote a
script in order to improve the script but most often an artist rewrote a script
so they wouldn't have to draw a complicated scene, even if it was necessary for
the story. I recalled a surprise party for a teen girl turn into one-on-one
with her boyfriend because the artist didn't want to draw a lot of people and
decorations. So many stories made no sense because the artist was lazy. In the
case of John Byrne I'm sure he
improved the story because he is an excellent
storyteller as well as a great artist and never shies away from complex scenes.
Very early
on during your CHARLTON tenure, you wrote an instructional book, "THE COMIC BOOK GUIDE FOR THE
ARTIST • WRITER • LETTERER"
(1973). Whose idea was to publish this kind of book?
It was my idea. I was getting
somewheres near two portfolios and scripts a day from artists, who had no idea
what comic book art and scripts were all about. I hated printed rejection slips
so I used to comment on each portfolio before sending it back. This took up too
much of my time, so I asked George
if I might publish a booklet describing what was required for comics. George thought it was a fine idea and when
I finished the final booklet it worked out so well that the publicity
department saw it as a gimmick for subscriptions and gave a copy of my booklet
away with each subscription.
Hadn't you
been fired from CHARLTON, would you have continued working for them?
That's hard to say for
certain, but yes, I probably would have kept working for them until the
company's demise.
After
CHARLTON, you worked for both WARREN and MARVEL simultaneously. For MARVEL
(1977 - 78) you just wrote a 2-page story for "CRAZY MAGAZINE" #24 (April 1977) and a few unspecified
stories for "SPIDEY SUPER
STORIES" (all the writers in
issues #29, #30 and #37, December 1977 - November 1978, were billed together in
the credits page, and there aren't individual credits for each story). Is there
any particular reason for such short stint at MARVEL?
I was "persona non
grata" at Marvel for a few
reasons. One of the reasons was that Jim
Shooter, Editor-in-Chief, and I did not like one another, and one time I
dared to invade the Marvel bullpen
in search of an artist who was woefully behind on work he owed me when I worked
at DC. I have no problem with
artists working for other companies, I've done it many times myself, but they
should meet their obligations to each company.
Around 1979,
JOSEP TOUTAIN, owner of SELECCIONES ILUSTRADAS, who had established himself in
Spain as a successful editor, approached you with two projects. One of them was
a science fiction idea, conceived by artist FERNANDO FERNÁNDEZ. You submitted the
scripts for the first few chapters, but they were eventually rejected, and
FERNÁNDEZ wrote his own script and published "ZORA Y LOS HIBERNAUTAS"
in issues #22-27 and #31-37 of the Spanish version of "1984" (September 1980 - February 1982).
The story, as far as I recall,
began with a tale I had penned for "1984"
#2 [August 1978] called "The Microbe Patrol", a satire on
"Fantastic voyage". It
seems several Microbe Patrols, humans reduced to microbe size in order to hunt
viruses and deadly bacteria, had vanished and so
a Microbe Patrol was launched to discover the cause of their disappearances.
They discovered there was in the hospital a promiscuous nurse who was sleeping
with the patients and all of the patrols had ended up in her body. Josep Toutain so loved the story they
requested that I be the writer on "Zora"
but the problem is that I am a lone writer. I follow my own concepts but I am
bad working on other people's ideas. They gave me a basic idea and I did my
best but my story was too conventional for their
tastes and the artist, much to my relief, preferred to write his own story.
The other project was a comics adaptation of J.R.R. TOLKIEN's "LORD OF THE RINGS" trilogy (RALPH BAKSHI's animated movie version of the story had been released in November 1978). With art by LUIS BERMEJO, three 44-page books were published in Spain in 1980, as well as in other European countries, but not in the United States. What's funny about this project is that it covered the same material from TOLKIEN's novels than BAKSHI's film, but it was not an official comics adaptation of the latter (the designs were entirely BERMEJO's creation). Why was that?
(In spite of the unsuccessful "Zora" script), when Toutain was given the contract to do a
3-album version of "The Lord of the
Rings", they requested that I write it. I met with the people of Tolkien Enterprises, and they said I
had a free hand to adapt Tolkien's
stories into comic-book form, however, I was only to write the segments of the
film done by Ralph Bakshi. Since
they were paying me to do a dream job, I did what they told me to do. Besides,
I had worked for Ralph at Krantz Animation Studio and had
developed a respect for my fellow Brooklynite. Here was an adaptation and not a
collaboration. I can handle an adaptation. Luis
Bermejo did a beautiful job illustrating my script.
The strange part of the
project was that I never saw the finished product until one day when I happened
to wander into Brentano's Book Store in New York and wandered over to the
foreign language section and there was the 3-volume set I had written, in
Italian. I don't speak Italian. I bought the set anyway and asked Toutain if there was a version in
English? He sent me a Spanish version and to this day I've never seen an
English version of my adaptation.
Did you ever get to meet JOSEP TOUTAIN during these projects?
I did have a meeting with Josep Toutain in New York and I remember him as a very svelte, distinguished, well-dressed gentleman who, in spite of the language barrier was able to communicate his needs for his projects. Other than that meeting, we never communicated directly.
From WARREN
you moved over to DC COMICS (January 1983 - February 1986) where you started
out working for JOE ORLANDO in Special Projects (which you described as working
on SUPERMAN peanut butter buckets and BATMAN coloring books). Given your
already impressive résumé, I find this outrageous on the part of DC!
Dick
Giordano recruited me from Warren and why I wasn't put into
comics, instead of special projects, I have no idea. I loved working with Joe Orlando, he was a terrific guy but
eventually I did ask to be transferred to comics.
I believe my major problem at DC was that I wasn't a super hero
writer and had no desire to become one. My genre was Sci-Fi and Horror and I
was happy to do a variety of other genre but super hero just was not my thing.
Aside from E-Man, I had never
created a super hero and that may have been the
reason. I have always considered super heroes as one-note Johnnies. Hero
"A" battles and defeats villain "A" and then moves on to
villain "B" and then villain "C" and so on.
At DC you worked primarily as an editor. Your DC writing credits are minimal:
- "THE GREAT GNUDINI", a 7-page humor story in "CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW!" #18 (August 1983)
- Two 6-page CREEPER stories (art by CHUCK PATTON), that ran as back-ups in "THE FLASH" #322-323 (June - July 1983)
- Two 6-page PHANTOM STRANGER stories (art by FRED CARRILLO, who'd drawn four of your "CREEPY" stories), that ran as back-ups in "THE SAGA OF SWAMP THING" #12-13 (April - May 1983)
- "SPANNER'S GALAXY", a 6-issue sci-fi mini-series (December 1984 - May 1985), with art by TOM MANDRAKE
Why did you
do so little writing for DC?
It was because I did not
embrace super heroes.
"SPANNER'S GALAXY" is
your major opus for DC. What can you tell us about this series?
"Spanner's Galaxy" was entirely my idea. I wanted to see if a
sci-fi series could exist at the present DC.
They had several sci-fi series before and I thought this would revive the genre
for them but it didn't.
One odd
story that you wrote for DC, "SELINA", an 8-pager in "SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE" #14 (October 1978), predates this era. How
come did you write this isolated story for DC back in the 70s?
I have absolutely no memory of "Selina" except that Selina is a favorite name I've used many times. She is a Moon goddess. Could you email me a copy? [After I sent him the copy, Cuti replies:] Funny, but I DO remember the story, however, I don't recall writing it or submitting it to DC for publication.
There's yet
another script for DC, "JOHN CARTER OF MARS: THE BRAIN SHIP (CHAPTER 1)", that went unpublished until "EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS NEWS DATELINE" #37 (February 1990). It was to be the
beginning of a new JOHN CARTER storyline. Why was it cancelled?
I very much enjoyed the Burroughs' John Carter books and when Dick
Giordano offered me the series I was thrilled. However, like many projects,
it was dumped. That is a common occurrence.
You were
Senior Editor in several reprint magazines, most importantly in "THE BEST OF DC" #33-69 (February 1983 - February 1986)
(the so-called "DC Digests" due to their smaller size). Were there
more freedom and less pressure in these reprint books? Because you stayed with
them for the whole of your DC stint.
I think DC wanted me to succeed as one of their editors but didn't know
what to do with me and so they tried me in a variety of formats but none of
them seem to fit me. Eventually, Dick Giordano called me into his office
and told me to take my time but find somewhere else to go.
You were
Assistant Editor in several superhero comic-books, mostly with LEN WEIN as
Editor. You were there with WEIN when new, groundbreaking series like "BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS" and "CAMELOT 3000" were
first published.
Len was my mentor at DC. He did his
best to bring me into the fold. The one bright spot was "Camelot 3000". I thought Brian Bolland's renditions were incredible and I became a big fan of the
legends of King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table. My interest exists to this day and I have several
volumes of the tales. But in spite of Len's
best efforts, I was not able to become a loyal member of the DC editors' staff.
Other
Editors you worked with were ROY THOMAS ("ARAK, SON OF THUNDER", "ALL-STAR SQUADRON" and "CAPTAIN CARROT"), JOE KUBERT ("ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS" and "SGT. ROCK"), MARK
EVANIER ("BLACKHAWK"), ROSS ANDRU ("CONQUEROR OF THE BARREN EARTH" and "THE WARLORD"), GERRY
CONWAY ("THE FURY OF FIRESTORM") and MICHAEL FLEISHER ("JONAH HEX"). Any memories about them?
I never worked with Roy Thomas, although I had met him
several times.
Joe Kubert was great. Whenever he came to the DC
offices he would stop at my office for a chat and I so admired his School.
Mark Evanier was a very nice guy but we had only occasional contact.
Ross Andru was a fine person, very energetic and dedicated to his work.
Gerry Conway was close to being a friend. We went to lunch together and we used to have
several phone conversations at DC.
Michael
Fleisher was an odd ball and I liked
that about him. He told me he had spent a vacation in a country where the
natives had never seen a white man. That's admirable.
Concurrently
with DC, you also worked for other employers. For "HEAVY METAL" magazine you wrote & drew, between December 1982 and September
1985, ten stories (mostly 1-page science fiction parodies), plus another
1-pager drawn by TOM MANDRAKE. How did you contact the HEAVY METAL publishers?
My contact was mostly with John Workman, who was the Art Director.
I loved working at "Heavy Metal"
because my work wasn't slick enough for comics but it was perfect for the
offbeat art of "Heavy Metal"
AND they were mostly science fiction, my favorite genre.
I've noticed
that, every now and then, and between your regular assignments, you've managed
to squeeze this short, humorous stories, even 1-panel gags, drawn by yourself,
like "MOONCHILD/MOONIE", "HEAVY METAL", and "THE WEIRDLINGS" for CHARLTON. I assume you do them just
for fun?
Mostly for fun, but I had high
hopes for Moonie as a means toward a
career.
For ECLIPSE
COMICS, you just wrote two stories, both in "ALIEN ENCOUNTERS" #12 (April 1987), and drew the cover for
issue #13 (May 1987). ECLIPSE was publishing these anthology books, with
stand-alone, science fiction/horror stories, that are your forte. Why didn't
you do more work for ECLIPSE?
In order to answer that I
would have to know exactly where I was in my career at the time. I don't think
"Alien Encounters" existed
for very long. [Only one more issue was published.]
In 1982 you
started to devote more of your time to your art abilities, and began a new
career as a science fiction illustrator. You did interior illustrations for
magazines like "TWILIGHT ZONE" (1982 -
1983), "AMAZING STORIES" (1988 - 1993), "ANALOG" (2003 - 2005), and "ALFRED
HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE"
(?), and at least for two books, the anthology "HOKA!" and the novel "GREATHEART SILVER" (which had a cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN, your
"SHATTUCK" collaborator).
My continuity art, that is
comic book art, is not slick, but if I concentrate on a single illustration or
painting, I am able to do a fairly good job. So, for a while I was able to make
a fairly good living as an illustrator.
By the way, it was Howard Chaykin who got me the contract
for "Greatheart Silver".
Around 1986,
BILL DuBAY, who was working at MARVEL PRODUCTIONS (the company founded in 1981
by MARVEL in California to produce animated cartoons), lured you into the
animation industry. Why did you accept his proposal?
That was when Dick Giordano had called me into his
office and told me to take my time but find work elsewhere. When I returned to
my office, discouraged and feeling like my career was over, I received a call
from Bill DuBay saying he wish he
could convince me to move out to California to work in animation. I told him he
wouldn't have to do a lot of convincing and moved my wife and daughter to
Hollywood.
Your first
animation credit was "DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH"
(1986), for MARVEL PRODUCTIONS. BuBAY was one of the story editors, and you’re
one of the "Model Designers". This series is most interesting for
comics fans: aside from being the first-ever joint adventure of KING FEATURES'
major characters (MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN, FLASH GORDON and THE PHANTOM), there
were several comics artists in the staff: PAT BOYETTE, NÉSTOR REDONDO, RUDY
NEBRES, ALEX NIÑO, THOMAS WARKENTIN, BILL DuBAY and you, among others. Was that
intentional on the part of MARVEL, to hire as many comics artists as possible?
I have no idea if that was Marvel's intentions but I suspect it
was Bill DuBay's intention because
he not only recruited me but also my old friend/office mate Carmine Infantino, who eventually
decided it wasn't for him and went back to New York. I remained and wound up with
a 16-year career in the industry.
Your credit
was "Model Designer". I gather that you were in charge of designing
characters and then drawing "model sheets": sheets of paper that show
each character in different poses, to serve as a guide to the animators?
That must have been a misprint
because I was a background designer. There were three categories for designers
and they were: model (characters), props (anything from a toothbrush to a
starship) and backgrounds. I preferred to design the cities, castles, starship
interiors, swamps and forests -- the environments where the characters have
their adventures. In college I studied engineering and architecture, so this
was a natural transition for me.
From then
on, you had occasional credits as "Assistant Layout Artist",
"Layout Designer" and "Prop Designer", but you mostly
worked as "Background Designer". Was this your personal choice? Or
did you work in whichever capacity was needed?
I did do props occasionally
but as you said, it was a matter of what jobs were available. My portfolio was
as a background designer but I slipped in a few props in case that was all that
was offered.
Sometimes
your credit was "Art Director". I suppose this means that you were
the overall supervisor in charge of backgrounds?
I was Art Director at a few
studios and it was the job to give the look for the project.
Another
interesting series is "CONAN THE ADVENTURER"
(First Season, 1992, 13 episodes). You were Assistant Art Director to RUSS
HEATH, who once illustrated one comics script of yours ("DIME NOVEL HERO"). What can you tell us about RUSS HEATH
and your work on this series?
Russ was one of my favorite persons. He was a gentleman in every respect and I
delighted having lunch with him at his favorite restaurants where he would tell
me stories of his experiences at the Playboy Mansion. He was one of the
cartoonists on the Playboy strip, "Little
Annie Fanny". One time he told me he was offered a glass of a bottle
of $500 wine. He said it was delicious but not much better than a $50 bottle. I
met him not too many years ago at the San Diego convention and we renewed our
friendship.
You worked
on the second season of "GARGOYLES" (1995 - 96,
52 episodes) as Layout Designer. What are the duties of a Layout Designer?
Again, that must have been a
misprint because I was a background designer on "Gargoyles".
What can you
remember of your work on "GARGOYLES"? Any
memories of MICHAEL REAVES, CARY BATES, STEVE PERRY, TED BLACKMAN, BUTCH LUKIC,
BOYD KIRKLAND, FRANK PAUR, to name a few?)
I worked mostly with Frank Paur and Dennis Woodyard. Dennis
was my art director and I submitted my drawings to him and he sent them to Frank for final approval. I knew Ted Blackman but didn't work too much
with him. Wasn't Carey Bates a writer?
In
animation, you worked as a free-lancer. Did you like it better that way, or
long-term contracts were not that usual in the animation field?
I'm sure there must have been
long-term contracts but I never saw them. I preferred being a freelancer. The
length of employment was very uncertain but I loved the variety.
Would you
like to talk about any other particular series?
My favorite series were "The Brothers Flub" and "Fat Dog Mendoza" for Sunbow. Not only was I the only background designer but also the
people there were the greatest. I wish Sunbow
would have gone on forever.
When and why
did you stop working in animation? The last credit of yours that I've found is "THE CRAMP TWINS" (2001 - 05).
The industry eventually hadn't
any use for artists like me. Computers had taken over and work was being sent
overseas. There was no way for me to compete with youngsters right out of
college who would work for next to nothing and were wizards on the computer.
Dinosaurs like me no longer had a place in the changing environment.
Simultaneously
with your animation jobs, you did some minor comics work (short stories for
HAMILTON COMICS, and the "CAPTAIN COSMOS"
mini-series). I assume it was just for fun?
No, it was so I could eat and
feed my family.
How did you
contact the guys at HAMILTON COMICS?
My good buddy from New York, Bill Pearson, was mostly responsible.
He was from Arizona and moved back there when his job at Charlton ended. Hamilton
Comics was based in Arizona and with Bill's
recommendations, I was able to publish my first issue of "Captain Cosmos" with Hamilton and later do some work for
them.
Once you
left the animation field, did you stay over at California, or did you move
again?
I stayed in California for
about a year but when the work didn't come I moved to Florida where I had
family.
In 1997 you
reunited with JOE STATON for "CAPTAIN COSMOS, THE LAST STARVEYER", a comic-book published by HAMILTON COMICS. A second comic-book was
published in 1998 by YBOR CITY PUBLISHERS. Finally, under your own NI-COLA
PRODUCTIONS banner, two additional issues were published in 2001 and 2006. It's
my understanding that all four issues are in fact a complete mini-series. Were
the scripts written in advance, in 1997, or did you write them one by one, as
the comic books were being released?
I wrote the scripts one by one since I had no idea if there was going to be another issue. The comics were supposed to support the Captain Cosmos movie "Pirates of the Forbidden Zone", which can still be purchased at Amazon. The entire series of comics is collected under the title of "Captain Cosmos Cosmic Theater".
In 2000, in
between the comic book mini-series, you wrote a CAPTAIN COSMOS novel, "SPIN A WEB OF DEATH". Any relation to the comic book?
The novel was part of the Captain Cosmos mythos but it was an independent story.
The cover + two interior illustrations (by Cuti himself) to the novel "Spin a web of death"
You brought
CAPTAIN COSMOS to the screen with "CAPTAIN COSMOS AND THE PIRATES OF THE FORBIDDEN ZONE". You wrote this project as a 5-episode TV
series. The first episodes were directed by JIM JANES (a colleague artist from
the WARREN days) and the rest by JOHN C. LEWIS, with you serving as executive
producer, editor, and lead actor!
The original "Captain Cosmos and the Pirates of the
Forbidden Zone" was completed in 1998, and offered by Amazon. Three
more episodes were shot: "Rockets", "Terraforming Mars", and "Planet of the Reptiles", which were collected with a
connecting narration ("The Gray
Ghosts") under the heading, "Captain
Cosmos and the Gray Ghosts" in 2007.
"Pirates" was directed by Jim
Janes. "Rockets" and
"Terraforming" were
directed by me. All three of those episodes were shot in California. "Planet" and "Gray Ghosts" were shot in Florida
and directed by John Lewis.
Although they were intended as
a TV series, they were never seen on television.
How did you
get the part of CAPTAIN COSMOS? Did you ever had any acting experience prior to
this?
I got the part of Captain Cosmos the old fashioned way I created the series. Ever since I was a kid and grew up on the Flash Gordon, Captain Video space operas, I wanted to be the lead of my own space opera series as the captain of a starship. I actually constructed a control room interior in the dining room of my apartment and conned several of my animation friends into helping me shoot my script.
In 2005, you
moved to Florida, and got together with JOHN C. LEWIS, of CREATURE PRODUCTIONS,
to shoot your first published story, "GRUB". From then on, you started a new career in live action cinema, as
writer, producer, director, or even camera operator, editor, assistant
director... At some time you founded your own production companies, but
nevertheless you continued to help you friends in whichever capacity was
needed. It seems that your film career is a happy, relaxed experience, among
friends.
When I moved to Florida I was
introduced to the independent movie industry where anyone with a camera just
shot their friends with no script or any indication where they were going.
Since I had shot "Pirates of the
Forbidden Zone" in California, I knew I could do better than the awful
tripe that was being produced. At first I worked with Creature Productions but eventually I formed my own companies Ni-Cola Entertainment, LLC and Moonie Productions. Those who helped me
on my movies often produced their own movies and I was happy to loan my
equipment and experience on their projects. We were a kind of community and had
a terrific time working on movies.
How are the
films released? Are they intended as direct-to-video?
They were all direct-to-video
but some were shown in small theaters.
The last
film of yours listed on the Internet Movie Database is "DANGEROUS PEOPLE" (2015), as Boom Operator, and "THE INEVITABLE" (2015), as Producer, Production Manager
and Assistant Director. Any projects in the works?
Right now I am concentrating on my novels. If I am able to spark an interest in turning any of them into a movie then my interests will change.
What can you
tell us about the novels of your new female, sci-fi character, STARFLAKE? Are
they really "for children", as I've read somewhere?
I was at a convention with my
Business Partner, Nakoma DeMitro
when she mentioned how I had written a series of novels for boys, "Captain Cosmos", and a series for
adults, "Moonie", but
nothing for girls. I did have a character called Starflake but I had never developed her. As I began writing stories
for the character I discovered I enjoyed writing Starflake stories more than any of my other characters and I even
went as far as holding a contest, Nakoma's
idea, for an actress [Alicia Sage]
to play Starflake at conventions. It
is a series for girls but there is plenty of adventure, so boys will enjoy the
action. She is a Cosmic Sprite who can live in outer space without any life
support. Her teacher is a giant blob and she rides from planet to planet on a
rocket cycle. And yes, Starflake is
for kids.
In 2015 you
started to write scripts for "THE CREEPS", an
independent, black & white comics magazine, published by one "WARRANT
PUBLISHING", that pays homage to the old WARREN days. You have
collaborated on all the issues so far, starting with issue #4, and are credited
also as Associate Editor. How did this gig come about? What can you tell us of
the artists you've worked with? Are they young artists? Do they come from
overseas?
Rich Sala contacted me as a former Warren
writer and asked me to write for "The
Creeps". The quality of the magazine and the talent of the artists was
the best. I was delighted to write stories for him and he asked me to accept
the title of Consulting Editor. There are no duties connected with the title.
It is an honorary position.
I've never met any of the
artists. I only know them by their work.
What are
your current projects?
Starflake.
Finally,
would you care to inform your fans, or prospective employers, of where do they
can reach you?
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