Sean Howe • Earl Norem • Mark Waid • Les Daniels • Joshua Dysart The
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™ $8.95 in the USA A TwoMorrows Publication No. 3, Fall 2013 THE NEW VOICE OF THE COMICS MEDIUM # Batman TM & © DC Comics 0 3 1 82658 97073 4 also inside: Sean Howe • earl norem • mark waid • leS danielS • JoSHua dySart Fall 2013 • The New Voice of the Comics Medium • Number 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Ye Ed’s Rant: Hero worship — the pathetic allegiance of many comics fans ................ 2 BAT-W©©DY CBC mascot by J.D. KING COMICS CHATTER ©2013 J.D. King. Sean Howe’s Untold Story: The bestselling author talks with Ye Ed About Our about his acclaimed history of “The House of Ideas,” now in paperback ........................ 4 Cover Incoming: Kerfluffles & kudos dominate our first letters column .................................. 10 Art by NEAL ADAMS The Good Stuff: The Fifth Beatle, a new graphic novel about Color by CORY ADAMS, the Fab Five(!), is examined by Jorge Khoury .................................................................. 14 CONTINUITY STUDIOS Hembeck’s Dateline: Our Man Fred chats with some of the audacious artist’s memorable characters about Hair — we mean, Herr Adams ........................................ 17 Aushenkerology: Complete with gallery, Michael Aushenker talks with legendary cover painter Earl Norem ............................................................... 18 Irving on the Inside: Part one of a Mark Waid career retrospective by Christopher Irving covering the work of the renowned comic book scripter .................. 22 REMEMBRANCE Les Daniels, Facts & Fictions: Part two of a look at an amazingly creative life ....... 28 L’Amour, Mon Amour: A look at the new Louis L’Amour graphic novel adaptation .... 35 Batman TM & © DC Comics. Dysart Out of Africa: Michael Aushenker interviews writer Joshua Dysart about With superb hues by Continuity his popular Harbinger, visiting wartorn Africa, and working with Neil Young ............... 37 coloring queen Cory Adams, CBC is grateful to feature COVER STORY what was the first version intended as the cover of Neal Neal Adams’ Odyssey: An epic interview with the fabled artist/writer about Adams’ Batman Odyssey his graphic novel, Batman Odyssey, and the man’s response to his critics .............42 hardcover collection, though the artist decided on a less Creator’s Creators: The Story & Glory of Gentleman Jorge Khoury ............................. 79 “busy” layout. Revised version below. Thanks to Neal, Cory Coming Attractions: Be here next time when we feature a career-spanning & Continuity Studios! conversation with the great artist and raconteur, Russ Heath! ......................................... 79 A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: A remarkable Neal Adams rarity — art you didn’t know he did — Aurora’s 1966 Robin, the Boy Wonder, model kit! .......... 80 Right: Detail from Batman Odyssey. Pencils and inks by Neal Adams. We kid you not! Every issue of COMIC BOOK CREATOR includes a 16-page (sometimes more!) PDF bonus freesection containing cbc! exclusive material free not found in the cbc! printed edition. Sofree go and get your freecbc! CBC now! TM & © DC Comics. www.twomorrows.com freestuff Comic Book Creator ™ is published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing,/ 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Jon B. Cooke, editor. John Morrow, publisher. Comic Book Creator editorial offices: P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892 USA. E-mail: [email protected] subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Four-issue subscriptions: $36 US, $50 Canada, $65 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective copyright owners. All material © their COMIC BOOK CREATOR is a proud joint production of creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter ©2013 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Comic Book Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows Creator is a TM of Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. TM & © DC Comics. comics chatter Howe’s Untold Story The author of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story talks about Stan Lee’s House of Ideas Interview conducted by JON B. COOKE CBC Editor then later, other people who had grown up with Stan Lee’s idea of what the Bullpen was kind of willed something like [Thank heaven for the Blizzard of 2013, when Casa Cooke that into existence in the ’70s and ’80s. Under Mark Gruen- was without power in sub-freezing temperatures and the wald’s watch [in the 1980s], there were actual practical jokes snow was threatening to trap us indoors. Why the gratitude and crazy things going on. for the second disastrous weather event to hit my region CBC: Ultimately, what was the reality of the bullpen overall? in six months? Because the downtime — no electricity, no Sean: One major difference, of course, is that there were a computer — finally gave me a chance to read, old-school lot of people who were doing heavy lifting who weren’t even style, all of Sean Howe’s coming to the office. So that, right there, was a huge gap finely-scribed history of the from what we thought. You didn’t get the idea that people House that Stan, Jack and were working from home in Long Island all the time and Steve built, Marvel Comics: having pages delivered in or walking them in themselves. The Untold Story. Sean and I You thought it was kind of like Santa’s workshop. Another dif- have been in touch for some ference is that there were egos involved. They were actual time and I’m delighted he’s human beings who were interacting with each other and that agreed to be interviewed is always going to have some drama. Some people get along in Comic Book Creator. The better than others and some people feel unrecognized and Brooklyn-based author’s some people get a better deal out of things. bestselling tome, now in I don’t want to concentrate too much on the negativity. its seventh printing as It’s just that there was that schism between what everybody hardback, is imminently due grew up thinking about it and this Utopian community that for paperback release. We couldn’t possibly have been real. I don’t particularly think spoke via phone on June 10 that working for Marvel in 1974 was a bad place to work; I and Sean copy-edited the just think there is something that’s thrilling about uncovering Q&A for accuracy and clari- the mystery behind… I don’t know about you, but Marvel ty. Steven “Flash” Thompson Comics was one of the first workplaces into which I felt like I provided the transcription. had a peek. There was the school where my parents worked — Ye Editor] and then there was reading about Marvel. I was like, “This sounds amazing! If you grow up and you want to work in a Comic Book Creator: fun place, this is perfection!” So I guess that roots itself so How’d the idea for Marvel deeply in your mind that you really want to know what the Comics: The Untold Story truth was. come about? CBC: What’s your background? Sean Howe: It was really Sean: I worked in film. I worked at a DVD company called just a book I was waiting the Criterion Collection for a few years. So that certainly for other people to do. I’d served me well in terms of having a real feel for archival say for 10 years I’d been research. reading a lot of interviews CBC: What movies did you work on? in publications like Comic Sean: Only a couple hundred. [laughs] The ones I felt the Book Artist and thinking that closest to were the movies of John Cassavetes. I worked for there was a great shadow a long time on a box set of five of his films. Everything from history of the company that old Kurosawa to more recent Wes Anderson movies. And wasn’t really been collected a lot of it was just digging for archival material and finding in any one place. Like a lot what had been written about it previously. of comic fans, I grew up CBC: Is most of that digging done on the Web? reading this different version Sean: More and more. In terms of this book, I would say I of what the bullpen was used the Web a lot in order to find the resources that weren’t Above: Courtesy of CBC’s own like, you know? One thing that I’ve said to a lot of people on the Web. Does that make any sense? fantabulous photographer is that learning more about the actual behind-the-scenes For instance, one thing that I might have Googled would Seth Kushner, his portrait of the events was kind of like learning that your uncle had a second be to find out, say, where Jim Starlin had given interviews in author in question, Sean Howe. family nobody knew about. I was captivated by the idea that the 1970s. The interviews themselves wouldn’t be online but the personalities that I had grown up with functioned a bit I could maybe get a sense of which fanzines he spoke to be- differently than I had thought for all those years. cause, up until very recently, the mainstream media wasn’t CBC: What was your childhood impression of the mighty really paying much attention to Marvel Comics. You can find Sean Howe portrait ©2013 Seth Kushner. Marvel bullpen? a People magazine interview with Stan Lee — you can find Sean: I think exactly what Stan Lee intended. [laughs] It a lot of interviews with Stan Lee — but if you wanted to read was this idea that this place of just laughs and hi-jinks and about what, say, Gerry Conway was thinking in the 1970s, creative people just pulling pranks on each other while they you’re going to have to dig quite a bit harder. The Comics did these amazing stories.