Hidden away in this massive 2011 collection are reprints of two of my Marvel backup stories, one starring the Falcon (from Captain America #220) and the other...
Two stories of mine were reprinted in the Pet Avengers collection NOT because of the heroes I'd originally chosen to write about, but because those heroes...
My Thanos story from the 1977 comic book Logan's Run #6 got a heck of a lot easier to find when Marvel reprinted it in 2008 as part of Annihilation Classic...
Not content with reprinting my mid-'70s Scarecrow stories from Dead of Night #11 and Marvel Spotlight #26 in Essential Marvel Horror Vol. 2, the company...
If you want to read my Thanos story “The Final Flower," and are having trouble getting your hands on a copy of Logan's Run #6 from the long ago and far away...
Thank you, Jonathan Lethem! If not for your novel The Fortress of Solitude, and the pomo street cred it gave to the character Omega the Unknown, which...
In 2008, my mid-'70s Scarecrow stories from Dead of Night #11 and Marvel Spotlight #26 were collected in Essential Marvel Horror Vol. 2, along with stories...
This 2005 hardcover volume celebrating the career of John Romita, Jr. reprints his first comic book story, which was written by ... guess who?
“Chaos...
Some superheroes are tastier than others. Take Captain Carvel, for example. Just thinking of him zooming around the planet in that flying saucer of his is getting...
A special effects wizard is murdered after completing work on the film Trek Wars—and I can assure you that if you track down the story, you'll see that...
I'm willing to bet that my supernatural tale in this issue was the only time a story from one of DC's horror comics was ever adapted into an episode of a TV show....
Marvel Treasury Editions were much taller and wider than regular comic books, and it was cool to see a story of mine spread across pages that large.
"Joyride...
With "My Mother, the Witch," I got the chance to work with one of my all-time favorite comic book artists—Ramona Fradon. Raise your hand if you remember...
I'm stunned at the number of holes in my collection of my own comics. I'm missing (among others) House of Mystery #272, so all I can tell you is that "Take...
Can you tell a scary comic book story in only three pages? With "A Model Murder," I sure tried! Tenny Henson drew this story about a designer of model...
Another deal-with-the-Devil story—and also another cover story. This tale was set during the time of Louis XIV, and showed what happens when a swordsman...
I wish I could tell you all about the Supergirl story I wrote called "Nightmare in New Athens"—but I can't, because I've somehow managed to misplace...
How did a (then) all-new story about Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid end up in the back of the 100th issue of the reprint comic Marvel Tales?
I had no idea...
My contribution to 1979's special Halloween issue of House of Mystery was about merry-go-round horses taking revenge on the man who killed their owner...
That Superman sure has a BIG family—Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Nightwing, Flamebird, and more. But the character I ended up writing was Supergirl ... with...
I wrote science fiction comics and war comics, but this was the only one I ever wrote that managed to be both. Because sometimes the ghosts that haunt...
My third installment in the WWII adventures of Robert Starr, Frogman, was also his final installment, for as far as I know, no one else has revisited the character...
I have an extremely active dream life, but hardly anything I dream ever turns up in one of my stories. The five-page story "Nobody Believes in Vampires...
I was lucky enough to have TWO spooky stories in this issue, the only time I think that's happened. One was about a mummy, the other about a knight, yet both...
First are fantastic, especially in comics, so I loved being part of the first issue of Army at War. In fact, my story "To Trap a Traitor," set two months...
I didn't just write superhero and supernatural stories for comics, but war stories as well, and even created a new character who appeared across three...
My deal-with-the-Devil story "Go to Hades" made the cover of this issue, yet again thanks to Mike Kaluta, who seemed to be doing many of the covers for DC horror...
The Madame Xanadu tale "The Day of the Devils" was, at 25 pages, the longest comic book story I ever published. The interior of the issue was drawn by penciler...
We newer comic book writers loved what was known as the Dreaded Deadline Doom. Marvel was so behind schedule that fill-in issues were commissioned for every...
If you've read the titles of some of my early short stories, you already know that I once had a weakness for bad puns—a weakness I hope I've overcome....
We were encouraged, when writing brief stories to fit in the back of Marvel comics, to find cracks and crevices between storylines that could be filled...
My seven-page story "Picasso Fever," a twisted tale about an art thief who gets stuck in a warped world inspired by that painter's artwork, also inspired...
Was it a coincidence that Gabe Kotter, the character who starred in Welcome Back, Kotter, lived in a Bensonhurst apartment, and that I wrote scripts for the comic...
I've always been a sucker for the short, twist-ending horror tale. That's why I loved EC Comics and the Twilight Zone, and that's what I tried to replicate...
My final issue of Captain Marvel opened doors for my characters that I never got to step through with them.
Once I'd made the decision to separate Marvel...
What qualified me to write a comic book about the Welcome Back, Kotter gang? I'd like to think it's because the editor thought I was funny guy, but it's...
When I was a kid, George Tuska was THE Iron Man artist, so to have him draw an issue of Captain Marvel for me once Al Milgrom moved on was amazing. I was supposed...
Nick Fury may be starring in almost every Marvel movie these days, but the Nick Fury that's most important to me starred in the five-page back-up feature...
What I remember most about this issue isn't averting the War of the Three Galaxies, but how cool it was to get a chance to write about Black Bolt and the Inhumans,...
Poor Captain Marvel. As soon as he finally gets separated from Rick Jones, our Kree warrior gets accused of kidnapping him! But isn't that always the way it is in the soap-opera...
A lot of the fun of fooling around in the Marvel playground is getting to bring back characters that haven't been seen in years, and in my third issue...
Readers expect that they're going to get something special in the 50th issue of a comic, and even though I only started writing Captain Marvel with issue...
I should never have had the opportunity to work on a fill-in issue of this title. That I wrote Omega the Unknown #7 was purely the result of being in the right...
I loved playing around with a character I'd been reading about since the late '60s. I can still remember my 12-year-old self biking to the candy store...
Of all the comic books I've written, it's the back-up story in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 of which I'm most proud. And it's not entirely because of what's...
Due to the horror implosion, which killed many a supernatural comic book at Marvel in the '70s, my character The Scarecrow never got to continue his solo...
Marvel used back-up stories both as a training ground for new talent and as a way to allow the creators of regular titles to catch up on their deadlines...
Tony Isabella has been very, very good to me. I won a prize in a contest he ran in a fanzine long before I became a comics professional. He got me in the door...
I remember the Scarecrow's second appearance more for the mention of Andy Kaufman I squeezed into the script than for the story itself.
I'd spent most...
When I started working as an assistant editor at Marvel Comics, the comic book field was in the midst of a horror boom. Comics were being published about...
One of the fun things about working on staff at Marvel Comics in the '70s (but back then, wasn't it all fun?) was that you'd often get pulled into impromptu...
