In the late 80s to early 90s, Marvel decided to throw its doors open to any group who could get there for a real, in-depth tour! It was controlled, to be sure. You shouldn’t have just walked in and said, show me everything. But set up a time and entire bus-loads of kids could show up. The exciting part was that the office went to the trouble to have a super-hero show up.
Now today’s kids are pretty hardened. The internet gives you enough snark and memes to act and sound like a cross between James Bond (the Roger Moore era…) and Dorothy Parker (any age!). But back in the simpler times of 1991, kids were less affected. Why, sneakers only cost $60 and schools still taught recognizable education and by that I mean pre-scatter-shot-clip-art-textbooks.
But the heart of a child still beat a little faster in the House of Ideas…
Let me jump ahead to this picture; see what I mean:
That kid in the striped shirt—just to the right of the fellow in the white shirt? Sure, you, I and any late-80s bullpenner, know that’s Ed Laz’s butt, far too close to eye level—but to that kid… To that kid, Spider-Man is real. REAL. Maybe not for long after (as Tour Guide Dan asks some leading questions and “Spidey” coughs up some shop-worn one-liners) but, “—could be!”
I guess that idea sums up what all us comic-pros, ex and current, are doing in the business (and when I say ‘the business’ I mean the industry). At one point we knew if just the right thing happened to us, whether it be bitten by that radioactive spider or inoculated with mongoose blood extract, we could have super-powers. We would proceed to do right and good. (Unless we were like that childhood nemesis of mine, Alan Eugster, who wanted to be Egghead… )
Then, at another point, the only thing that made us happy was having a letter from the Rate Review Committee wherein our page rates were bumped up $5. Times changed.
Here is the start of one of the tours!
It’s on par with getting a tour of a United Biscuit facility. You mean there aren’t real elves, Keebler or otherwise, making these cookies? Making comics is arduous and many people are involved. As pretty as that ink line is in the printed book, it took one heckuva trip getting there.
Tour Guide Dan! Dan Slott—whom we all know now as a much feted and lauded writer/creator, started out life in the Art Returns Department with his trusty sidekick, Assistant Freddie Mendez (who is not featured in these pictures—if anyone is lucky enough to have or ever find a copy of Marvel Age #106, you can see a poorly reproduced image of him). Returning artwork did allow Dan & Freddie to get to know everyone in the business, from to bottom.
The above picture shows one detail of the office during one of these tours—it didn’t stop! Ecitor in Chief, Tom DeFalco’s Executive Secretary, Mary “Mac” MacFerran, is on the phone as Dan speaks!
Comics never rest!
These hoary old falling-apart display boards may have started out life in good form. 4 or 5 runs out on the floor and man, what a sagging mess! But, their Junior High School science fair design belies the careful display of the woof and warp of comic-book making. Short of enrolling at The Kubert School or somehow apprenticing yourself to a pro, this was the only way of learning that any comic book is made by lots of people. (The Try-Out Contest Book notwithstanding.)
Right here, I would send you back up to the top of the page to refresh your memory of Spidey bounding in on the group. Ed Lazelleri was a member of the Bullpen (“Production” by then)—I am thinking he was chosen to wear the red-and-blue because a) he fit in the costume from Marketing or b) he was still spry enough to jump up on a desk, squat on his haunches and still be able to talk.
“Hey, Ma! Spider-Man needs 5 bucks to get pills for Aunt May!” (Okay, now that is a joke; the tours were free and Spidey’s autograph was also free.)
Bullpenner Joe Rosas gets to show off a little. If you guys see a comic page, perhaps at a convention or a comic shop, take a close look at it. It is the very rare Marvel page that has nothing done to it. There’s art corrections that can take a number of forms, anything from simple moving around panels to rebuilding an entire page. Lettering is a whole world of simple to dizzyingly complex corrections or changes. An example of modern lettering madness is just what Joe is doing. The book he is working on is so late, the lettering is done at the same time as the inks. Thus one has the lettering on a piece of Vellum tracing paper and the finished art is an art board. Joe has taken a small bucket of “Sno-Paque” (now we know you shouldn’t touch it with your bare skin or inhale the vapors or bathe in it or use it to whiten teeth… NOW we know…) and slop it on the back of the Vellum—this has the effect of backing the ink lettering with white. Then use rubber cement (making sure to place your head directly over it so as to better inhale the fumes… mmmm) to put each element in its place on the artwork. Touch up as necessary.
Here’s a better shot of the page Joe was working on—you wonks out there can compare it to the printed page!
Joe’s desk is quite close to editorial team, Evan Skolnick and Fabian Niciese’s office. A quick step to the right and the kids are all in there. (I think that’s Assistant Editor Dan Matias holding up the artwork—seen below, in his office (the kids are moving around), is Editor Evan Skolnick pointing at evidence.)
This fellow is Creator Evan Dorkin! He of the amusing Milk & Cheese franchise! Quite by coincidence, he was in the offices discussing his up-coming series Bill & Ted (look that up; you’ll be delighted at the comic as well as the source material). These days, you can find Evan working away at his own website and presenting his latest effort: Dork(!).
Right after this, clutching their free comics and their heads filled with comic production tips n’ tricks, the kids went on their way.
A special personal note: if you DO ever see that Marvel Age #106, you’ll note how much more of the story is told and how much better those pictures are than these. These, you see, are the second-bests or discards from the shoot. Editor Steven Saffel continued his fine habit of not returning any of those “good” slides. I must admit that as clever and original as Steve was in the handling of MA, he had not quite risen above the tradition of comic editors not knowing what to do with photographic originals. He is not the only one.