I explore the writing process and list the must-haves of a superhero story. Working with John Buscema. Differing tastes in comics. Remo Willams! Mike Baron! The psyche of the Punisher!
John Buscema’s Avengers comics were like that in the mid-late 80s. The credited him with “breakdowns” most of the time, and Tom Palmer inked. Palmer had worked with Buscema for so long that he instinctively knew what the finished artwork should look like, exactly as Chuck describes here.
Palmer had a history of doing that. He did it with Walt Simonson on Star Wars, allowing Walt to work on a series requiring a lot of sci-fi detail despite his busy schedule. I loved how the results turned out.
In defence of Stan, I heard Romita saying that becase he came from romance comics, he couldn't help drawing Peter handsome. So Stan wrote around it and turned him into a late bloomer. But I did like the Ditko era Parker, I liked how Flash gave him crap for being antisocial and Peter gave him crap back for being dumb. The classic nerd vs jock rivalry. And then Peter gets the ultimate victory over dumb jock Flash by becoming handsome on top of his smarts.
The Punisher to me is a guy who was fine being a family man and was good at being a family man, but when his family was killed he willingly crossed a threshold and accepted that normal society would label him a monster for the choices he was going to make. He doesn't care, he just wants to avenge his family and take down as many criminals as he can before they get him. But they never will get him because he's awesome.
Those early Spider-Man stories are favorites of mine too. I think Steve Ditko told an amazing three year story, sometimes with Stan and , in the third year, in spite of Stan. In Steve's last issues, I think a reader has to basically "tune out" Stan's captions and dialogue tweaks to get at the subtler things that Steve was doing in those issues. Peter's story arc was complete. He had grown from the nerd being picked on to a mature man who looked at his fellow classmates with bemusement if not quite condescension. The Stan-Romita Spider-Man after Ditko was fun, yes (I love all eras of Spider-Man), but it was more or less a different character. Ditko's Spidey was self-contained and complete.
Hah! After I got out of the Army and no longer had access to the word processor they kept me ankle chained to, I bought myself a bone simple Brother word processor. Not the same thing you did, I'm sure, because it was years later for me. Wrote a lot of gun articles on that bad boy. It had very little in the way of built-in memory, most of the data had to go on removable, square plastic hard discs. Super-slow built-in printer, it took about 10-15 minutes to print out an article. The keyboard to screen response time was so slow I could literally outrun it and had to stop typing on a regular basis until it caught up. Ah, good times. Thanks, man, haven't thought of that thing in years. I know people today read that and think, "Wow, grandpa, tell us more about back when cars had wooden wheels!" :D
That photo of Rob Liefeld you pulled up just needed some white paint on the face, red lipstick and a green wig and his demeanour would easily pass as the Clown Prince of Crime😆😅🤣😂
The reason G.I. Joe worked is that it would be awesome even if there was never a single toy you could buy for it. It's just a great idea for a comic/cartoon show. It could have been an awesome movie, if only they weren't terrified of being American. (That's the reason the second movie is a little better than the first.)
Good comment. That ties back to Chuck's point that GI Joe wasn't just a paycheck to Larry Hama. I always contrast it to DC's MASK around two or three years later, which had Michael Fleischer (and Curt Swan) attached. He was a genuinely legendary writer, but it was just a paycheck. His heart was with Jonah Hex, and the toy comic was just something to pay the rent because Hex wasn't selling as well by this point. And, as a result, this toy-based series tanked within a year. GI Joe would have been the same if it weren't Larry putting his heart and soul into it.
I don't know, doesn't matter what his motivations are, in his world, Punisher would be considered a serial killer, probably one of the biggest, which in a world with super powered killers to compete with wouldn't be an easy feat. It's simply okay to us because we know he's only killing bad guys and if guys like Wolverine get a pass for killing, why not him?
I can think of no activity more tedious to learn, or more ultimately useful, than learning how to type. Certainly being able to type over 100 words a minute has done me no damage as a pro writer.
A quick search online finds no mention of a Mike Baron Destroyer novel, so I would say that, for whatever reason, it was never published. Too bad, I'd like to read it.
There's a ton of new superhero content and characters out there, in games like Champions, but almost none of the creators have the time, connections, money, and/or talent to get them out in print. And L'Amour noted he could write sitting in the middle of a road, he pumped out hundreds of books.
I mention similarities and differences between Professor X and DOOM PATROL'S Chief in my upcoming superheroes with disabilities article, coming in August's BACK ISSUE #146 I don't recall if I mentioned the coincidental release of the debuts of DOOM PATROL and X-MEN or not. Your kind, fascinating and informative replies to my Barbara Gordon/Oracle questions from ASK CHUCK DIXON #119 will appear in that piece. I'll make sure you receive a comp copy if my editor didn't already put you on his list for one. On a different note, when I moved to Italy in 2001, I noticed Marvel Italia had continued CONAN after Marvel USA ceased doing their CONAN books. Now, they've done reprinted translations of your SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN stories in beautiful hardcover editions. I ran out of shelf space before I could get them, though. All The Best, James Heath Lantz Freelance Writer Staff Writer for Back Issue magazine 2021 Eisner Award nominee, 2019 winner, "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism"
Hey chuck, not sure if I need to submit my questions here or somewhere else, but I’m gonna shoot my shot. I have recently been rereading your phenomenally Nightwing run, and I came across one of my favorite moments; The bout between Slade and Grayson in issue 18. In the fight, Nightwing notes that “slade could kill him in seconds” but then Nightwing proceeds to obliterate slade in their fight. Was Nightwing just selling himself short?
Do you at all find it frustrating how a character like The Punisher is only seen as a murdering psychopath nowadays thanks to Garth Ennis' or Jason Aaron's run in the books? Personally I find it annoying how not just your work but other writers like Carl Potts and Mike Baron's contributions to Punisher are eclipsed. There were some fun stories before the 2000s, but few ever make the clickbait top 10 lists. I like Ennis' run in Marvel Knights, but I take his work with a grain of salt because he hates the superhero genre.
After Gamergate, we learned just what great fighters the geeks are. I am grateful to them for that. The woke has a hard time because the nerds are more dedicated for their lore than others.
This is a good view of the Punisher, though I would add he sees his mission as a war. Ennis ruined Castle, especially in Born. Aaron is continuing the ruining. Why can't they retire him and use Punisher 2099? I also don't like how he is portrayed in the TV series. (The movies are better, especially the one from 2004.) I don't see Castle as very mentally ill, and the moralizing they did about his methods was dumb. He would be saner and safer for society than Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Batman. The Destroyer, Buscema, G.I. Joe, and Transformers are metal. The end of Odyssey is ruggid. The Iliad is brutal. Conan is more similar to the ancient "heroes" than most other characters. Doom Patrol was based on the Fantastic Four. (And earlier there were Doc Savage and Challengers of the Unknown.) This could be part of the reason it was similar to the X-Men. Byrne's comics at IDW are great and underrated, especially his Next Men continuation and his Star Trek comics.
John Buscema’s Avengers comics were like that in the mid-late 80s. The credited him with “breakdowns” most of the time, and Tom Palmer inked. Palmer had worked with Buscema for so long that he instinctively knew what the finished artwork should look like, exactly as Chuck describes here.
Palmer had a history of doing that. He did it with Walt Simonson on Star Wars, allowing Walt to work on a series requiring a lot of sci-fi detail despite his busy schedule. I loved how the results turned out.
In defence of Stan, I heard Romita saying that becase he came from romance comics, he couldn't help drawing Peter handsome. So Stan wrote around it and turned him into a late bloomer. But I did like the Ditko era Parker, I liked how Flash gave him crap for being antisocial and Peter gave him crap back for being dumb. The classic nerd vs jock rivalry. And then Peter gets the ultimate victory over dumb jock Flash by becoming handsome on top of his smarts.
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The Punisher to me is a guy who was fine being a family man and was good at being a family man, but when his family was killed he willingly crossed a threshold and accepted that normal society would label him a monster for the choices he was going to make. He doesn't care, he just wants to avenge his family and take down as many criminals as he can before they get him. But they never will get him because he's awesome.
It's amazing that Larry Hama was able to write a book with a cast of thousands so well.
Those early Spider-Man stories are favorites of mine too. I think Steve Ditko told an amazing three year story, sometimes with Stan and , in the third year, in spite of Stan. In Steve's last issues, I think a reader has to basically "tune out" Stan's captions and dialogue tweaks to get at the subtler things that Steve was doing in those issues. Peter's story arc was complete. He had grown from the nerd being picked on to a mature man who looked at his fellow classmates with bemusement if not quite condescension. The Stan-Romita Spider-Man after Ditko was fun, yes (I love all eras of Spider-Man), but it was more or less a different character. Ditko's Spidey was self-contained and complete.
Was so happy to hear Chuck’s comments on Buscema. He’s always been my favorite comic artist and imo no one draws anatomy better.
Hah! After I got out of the Army and no longer had access to the word processor they kept me ankle chained to, I bought myself a bone simple Brother word processor. Not the same thing you did, I'm sure, because it was years later for me. Wrote a lot of gun articles on that bad boy. It had very little in the way of built-in memory, most of the data had to go on removable, square plastic hard discs. Super-slow built-in printer, it took about 10-15 minutes to print out an article. The keyboard to screen response time was so slow I could literally outrun it and had to stop typing on a regular basis until it caught up. Ah, good times. Thanks, man, haven't thought of that thing in years.
I know people today read that and think, "Wow, grandpa, tell us more about back when cars had wooden wheels!" :D
That photo of Rob Liefeld you pulled up just needed some white paint on the face, red lipstick and a green wig and his demeanour would easily pass as the Clown Prince of Crime😆😅🤣😂
I completely agree with you on The Punisher.
Welcome back, chuck. you are a legend to me anyway . Was reading hunter ninja bear while you were taking a break. What an amazing comic chuck.
The reason G.I. Joe worked is that it would be awesome even if there was never a single toy you could buy for it. It's just a great idea for a comic/cartoon show. It could have been an awesome movie, if only they weren't terrified of being American. (That's the reason the second movie is a little better than the first.)
Good comment. That ties back to Chuck's point that GI Joe wasn't just a paycheck to Larry Hama. I always contrast it to DC's MASK around two or three years later, which had Michael Fleischer (and Curt Swan) attached. He was a genuinely legendary writer, but it was just a paycheck. His heart was with Jonah Hex, and the toy comic was just something to pay the rent because Hex wasn't selling as well by this point. And, as a result, this toy-based series tanked within a year. GI Joe would have been the same if it weren't Larry putting his heart and soul into it.
Welcome back Chuck!
I don't know, doesn't matter what his motivations are, in his world, Punisher would be considered a serial killer, probably one of the biggest, which in a world with super powered killers to compete with wouldn't be an easy feat. It's simply okay to us because we know he's only killing bad guys and if guys like Wolverine get a pass for killing, why not him?
Thats ok Chuck, I just started catching up on ur old vids...my new pastime lol
I can think of no activity more tedious to learn, or more ultimately useful, than learning how to type. Certainly being able to type over 100 words a minute has done me no damage as a pro writer.
A quick search online finds no mention of a Mike Baron Destroyer novel, so I would say that, for whatever reason, it was never published. Too bad, I'd like to read it.
There's a ton of new superhero content and characters out there, in games like Champions, but almost none of the creators have the time, connections, money, and/or talent to get them out in print.
And L'Amour noted he could write sitting in the middle of a road, he pumped out hundreds of books.
Because they people.
I just realized that Odysseus' dog is older than is realistic. Isn't he gone for 15-20 years?
Good, clean living
I mention similarities and differences between Professor X and DOOM PATROL'S Chief in my upcoming superheroes with disabilities article, coming in August's BACK ISSUE #146 I don't recall if I mentioned the coincidental release of the debuts of DOOM PATROL and X-MEN or not. Your kind, fascinating and informative replies to my Barbara Gordon/Oracle questions from ASK CHUCK DIXON #119 will appear in that piece. I'll make sure you receive a comp copy if my editor didn't already put you on his list for one.
On a different note, when I moved to Italy in 2001, I noticed Marvel Italia had continued CONAN after Marvel USA ceased doing their CONAN books. Now, they've done reprinted translations of your SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN stories in beautiful hardcover editions. I ran out of shelf space before I could get them, though.
All The Best,
James Heath Lantz
Freelance Writer
Staff Writer for Back Issue magazine
2021 Eisner Award nominee, 2019 winner, "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism"
The link for My Sister Suprema is not in the description.
Hey chuck, not sure if I need to submit my questions here or somewhere else, but I’m gonna shoot my shot. I have recently been rereading your phenomenally Nightwing run, and I came across one of my favorite moments; The bout between Slade and Grayson in issue 18. In the fight, Nightwing notes that “slade could kill him in seconds” but then Nightwing proceeds to obliterate slade in their fight. Was Nightwing just selling himself short?
Thanks for saying I am awesome! Could you remind my wife? John of John’s Longbox ( my UA-cam channe)
Agree about GI Joe as best toy comic series but mention must be made for Rom Space Knight. That was a great comic despite its source.
Thomas Jane was the best live action punisher.
Do you at all find it frustrating how a character like The Punisher is only seen as a murdering psychopath nowadays thanks to Garth Ennis' or Jason Aaron's run in the books? Personally I find it annoying how not just your work but other writers like Carl Potts and Mike Baron's contributions to Punisher are eclipsed. There were some fun stories before the 2000s, but few ever make the clickbait top 10 lists. I like Ennis' run in Marvel Knights, but I take his work with a grain of salt because he hates the superhero genre.
After Gamergate, we learned just what great fighters the geeks are. I am grateful to them for that. The woke has a hard time because the nerds are more dedicated for their lore than others.
Because of social media
That's the quick answer
This is a good view of the Punisher, though I would add he sees his mission as a war. Ennis ruined Castle, especially in Born. Aaron is continuing the ruining. Why can't they retire him and use Punisher 2099? I also don't like how he is portrayed in the TV series. (The movies are better, especially the one from 2004.)
I don't see Castle as very mentally ill, and the moralizing they did about his methods was dumb. He would be saner and safer for society than Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Batman.
The Destroyer, Buscema, G.I. Joe, and Transformers are metal. The end of Odyssey is ruggid. The Iliad is brutal. Conan is more similar to the ancient "heroes" than most other characters.
Doom Patrol was based on the Fantastic Four. (And earlier there were Doc Savage and Challengers of the Unknown.) This could be part of the reason it was similar to the X-Men. Byrne's comics at IDW are great and underrated, especially his Next Men continuation and his Star Trek comics.