Anyone who reads this can guess that I have a lot of pictures of the Marvel offices. So many that I can’t recall what’s in most of them. The best way to find something is to look for something else. That is how I drifted up against this series of images.
These pix were all taken in the span of 20 minutes but were a sign of how exciting the Marvel Comics office could be. Heated, even!
Here is Terry Austin looking over Ron Wilsons’ shoulder. Both of these guys are such big names it’s hard to give a run-down. But the time of these pictures was mid-1980-81. I think. So let’s pretend all I have to consider it what was going on then.
Terry, Inker-Who-Was-More-Than-An-Inker, was cruising along on Uncanny X-Men. This was right at the point in time when Terry, John Byrne and Chris Claremont were tossing the expectations of comicdom on its ear. Terry’s looking rather cool and unpressured.
Ron Wilson, artist and creator, was clobbering the pencils of Marvel Two-in-One and/or The Thing. Like any good freelancer, one can always find a drafting board in the office to finish entire pages, if need be. [Ron did become even famous-er for Wolfpack in just a few years. Okay—yes; that’s in the future.]
This corner of the hallway is showing an open door. That leads to the “Black & White” Department; Ron could be touching up a page for The Hulk B&W. Off-frame in front of Ron is the doorway to editorial offices of that department.
Now it’s getting crowded. Why this area is such a nexus are the electrostatic copiers. The one Terry is leaning over is the pretty good IBM Copier II (although it works well enough—kids these days, those who remember “paper” at all, will take pause at the thought that this machine used a large-ish roll of paper to copy on! Yes, there was a cutting station somewhere in the guts that would trim your 11” or 14” sheets for you. Remarkable).
Terry to the left. X-Men Editor Jim Salicrup, Jim was one of those quiet guys who would speak up to blow everyone else’s ideas out of the water with a better one. Next is John Byrne—do I have to say more? John is still larger than life, so sure: Because John and Terry were penciler, inker on a Salicrup edited book—it’s easy to see why they’re here. John hardly ever came into the office even when he lived in Brooklyn. A more open and jovial fellow you could not hope to meet in comics. [AND! He can sing the lyrics to “Why Can’t A Woman Be More Like A Man” extempore! (from My Fair Lady).]
Next, rightward of John’s head, is Bill Sienkiewicz. [Maybe it’s me and all my time spent in the shtetls of Bensonhurst, but I never had trouble with Bill’s name. He’s fed up with people mangling it, so as a public service and a boon to my old comrade, here goes: Sin. Stop right there, just “sin.” You’re swallowing now, looking at the ‘k’ and you want to say it but wait. What you’re building up to is “KAY!” Because that’s where the emphasis to the name is. One more tick, what all the Poles I know do is choke on that ‘k.’ So it sounds more like, “sink—AYY” –Fonzie style (for those of you who know the leather-wearing tough guy with a heart of gold from TV’s Happy Days). Now, I know you’re really wishing there was an easier part than that “wiecz.” One thing you have to know, is over in Europe, there’s no “W” sound. It looks like a ‘w’ but it’s always said ‘v.” Now, the ‘iecz’ chunk is longhand for “itch.” Really. Put together, it’s “vitch.” Add it all up and you’ve got: “sinkAYYvitch.” So easy after a few times. Sing it to the refrain from “Maria” from West Side Story.]
So that’s Bill, young and full of beans. Well, he’s still full of beans but that’s another story. At this point he is riding athwart Moon Knight (not Batman-like at all, there’s Egyptian stuff in him.) Moon Knight started off in The Hulk Magazine (part of the Black & White Dept.) whose offices are suspiciously close by. Bill started with a bang and is still crashing around comics. [Sorry to leap into the future, but his work on Elektra bolstered the use of fine art as a comic medium. I know it’s been done before, but not like Bill! About a year or so after this picture, Bill was doing strange creative things with The New Mutants. Strange in the best possible way. I told him the characterization of Warlock, all bio-techno styled, was the most innovative look I’d yet seen for an “alien.” He confided he destroyed an inking nib per panel!]
Finally, slouching against the column is Bob Budiansky. True But Unknown Fact: Bob went to school to be a Civil Engineer! That would explain why the burning stretches of asphalt that the Ghost Rider lays down follow that perfect highway steering radius. And, yes! Bob was doing very well penciling the arcane and fear-inducing Ghost Rider! But he himself is a very mellow personage. He also could ink and write, but was a strong penciler. [Some time after that he became one of my bosses. Yep; in the future.]
Just above—is Roger McKenzie, wrestling with the other, large-format electrostatic copy machine, the vile and disgusting Savin Copier (liquid toner—ewww). But it made full-sized copies of 11×17 artboard. Writers liked to copy penciled pages and spot word balloons while they were writing dialog. (It was more laid back then… ) Roger had been around, at this time, he was writing Daredevil. At about this time, that shave-tail punk, Frank Miller would turn up and, yeah, re-write the art of sequential storytelling.
Right now, Roger had it easy… take care of the beard and no one gets hurt.
Last but not – okay, but least – is Ralph Macchio. No, not that one… ours. At this point, he is Editorial Assistant to Editrix Lynn Graham, pictured below, lost in thought. Which brings us to:
Howie Chaykin! This proto-Man in Black comes barging in with an all new pitch. I think it’s for Dominic Fortune but I could be wrong. I think this is too early for American Flagg! (Such an iconic name tends to take over memory.) But Howard Chaykin did the heavily illustrated The Stars My Destination – a superlative science fiction novel by Alfred Bester. Pretty much stands alone in that field. And so does Howie—though I should be more respectful as I do admire the man. Alas, I had been brain-washed by Staff Everything Paty Cockrum, who always referred to him as Howie Chicken. And that’s what I blurted out when I moved to say hello.
He gave me a truly affecting look of illness. I think I replied, “Paty made me do it!” and he nodded understanding. That’s the kind’a guy he is. [Among dozens of other projects, he moved on to TV and movies! His editing work – we’d probably refer to it as “show runner” today – made the first Flash TV show the reference standard on how to adapt a comic book.]
In this line-up: Bill Sienkiewicz, Howard Chaykin, Lynn Graham holding her nose (okay, not really), Denny O’Neill, Ralph Macchio and I believe, but could be wrong, Roger Stern. Just can’t tell from the hair. [Denny, again another living fossil/legend who was much more spry here, was one of those creator/writers who could hop across the DC/Marvel pond easily. He was already an institution from working on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with artist Neal Adams.
Who was Lynn Graham? I don’t know well enough. She came from “print” as I heard the scuttlebutt and was recommended by Denny O’Neill, who ought’a know and Editor In Chief Jim Shooter needed an editor. In she slipped.
There you have it! A wonderful late afternoon in the Marvel Editorial offices.
Silly story surrounding Howard Chaykin. He had visited the office several times. On occasion, bringing his then wife, Leslie with him. I believe I have seen more beautiful women, but not up to that point. She even slummed with not a dab of make-up on. I did my usual Cool Hand Napoleon Solo moves, no doubt impressing this gal as a bumbling idiot.
Very soon after that, I was out with some office chums, at a lunch in a nice restaurant. I think it was nice, because a couple of seats away was this astonishing beauty. This gal had on one of those crazy circular hats you only see in fashion magazines. Not that I look at those much. It was easily two-foot across and standing upright on her head. Dressed in black from head-to-toe in a décolletage emphasizing top half (because she was sitting down) and topped with a “ruby slash” of lipstick. Big dark eyes that, aside from the hat, drew my attention.
Much more shocking was the occasional smiling eye back at me. Hold the phone, guys, this hoodoo dame is looking at me! I believe it was younger-but-wiser comrade-at-arms, Jack Morelli, who played out the string for a while but had to slam me to the deck and let me know, “Eyes back in head, Brown, that’s Leslie Chaykin.” She was all dolled up for a business meeting.
The world returned to its proper axis. After a few fortifying belts of coffee, I could then eat my dessert in relative peace.