A Little Back Story Sergio Aragonés came to visit me one day to pitch an idea for a humorous comic book starring a funny, cheese-dip-loving barbarian character. Just one thing—he said he knew that Marvel had to “own everything,” but he wanted to retain some small interest in the character. He knew Marvel had to […]
First, this….I’m very grateful for your comments. I appreciate your knowledge, wisdom and insight. I love it when you fill in details that I leave out, when you deepen the discourse and especially when you catch me if I slip up. You’re the best editors anyone could hope for. I look forward to reading what you […]
Reinforcements arrive. And NO GREEN BACKGROUNDS! When I was promoted to Editor in Chief, I was supposed to move from the small office I was in to the larger, nicer Editor in Chief office down the hall. I couldn’t take the time to move, though. I was too busy being overwhelmed. After that office sat […]
Early 1978. Dark days for Marvel Comics. Bad sales, late books, bad books, waste, corruption, contentions over the new copyright law, general unrest, chaos in the ranks…. Stormy seas. The ship was sinking. I was the captain. It was my job to right the ship. One big problem was that some of the sailors didn’t […]
JayJay here. Oops… I left a whole bunch at the end of the Dazzler story off when I first posted it. So if you read the Debut of the Dazzler before… please read the end. Here it is and it’s also been added to the original post. Sorry! – Continued from below the People magazine […]
(NOTE: “Righting the Ship” will start tomorrow. Here, now, by popular demand is some secret and not so secret intelligence on the origin of G.I. JOE.)Marvel’s involvement with G.I. JOE started in a men’s room. Marvel President Jim Galton and Hasbro CEO Stephen Hassenfeld met at a charity fundraiser in the men’s room, or so […]
As previously mentioned, Marvel was a mess throughout the mid-1970’s and during my two years as “associate editor,” from the beginning of 1976 through the end of 1977. Almost every book was late. There were unscheduled reprints and fill-ins, and we still just plain missed issues here and there. Many books, despite my best efforts […]
JayJay here. Oops… I left the whole bunch at the end of the story off when I first posted it. So if you read this before… please read the end. Sorry! Wikipedia has much of it wrong…. Sometime in early 1979, Marvel’s in-house counsel and V.P. of business affairs Alice Donenfeld proposed that we create […]
I came across a few miscellaneous pictures…. Visiting the family home in suburban Pittsburgh around my birthday, 1985. I’m the taller one. My sister Carol hooked that rug hanging on the wall. (JayJay here – He’s 6′ 7 1/2″ in case you’re wondering.) […]
The Guild and Ditko’s Declaration Now, I know what you’re thinking…. That Jim Shooter was the champion of Work Made for Hire. Nah. I had been on the creator side of the desk too long before the Editor in Chief gig. I was the champion of Best Deal Possible for all creators. If I’d had […]