So… ahh… I took a lot of the pictures used in the Marvel Fumetti Book. Not all, legendary Inker Vinnie Colletta and Creator/Writer Danny Fingeroth took a lot. It was a strange time for me—on the cusp of being an Assistant Editor and working for Mr. Big. I actually was in the room with a very nearly nude Stan Lee. Who must be the Best Good Sport in comics.

I was generally taking pictures of my pals and co-workers. Editrixe Bar None Annie Nocenti got freelancers, normally twitchy and guilt-plagued, to hole still for picture-taking. Mike Carlin was practically the head writer of the whole book. Astonishingly, all the ‘talent” was well practiced at making funny faces. And angry faces too.

Now—something happened between the Marvel Editorial offices and the pre-press/publishers. No one is really sure what or how it happened. It seems that the protective Vellum overlay was left in position on every page when the separators shot their film. This was also a point in time when one could not preview the book to check for mistakes. So the printed book looks… bad. Which is a shame. The film is of the corrupted imagery so it cannot be reprinted. The originals have to be collected from the four corners of creation, re-lettered, put together and re-shot.

But! As I said up top, I have some of the pictures that were taken in their original form. Which was a Black & White film negative. Some are in print form—in the original pasted-up version, usually without any of the type. So just what is going on is left up to anyone who owns the book. Marvel does not like it when interior book pages are “published” on line. Since my ties to Disney/Marvel are still extant, I do my best not to print their pages. [Covers, yes—they are by definition, in the “Public Domain.”—I-only-look-like-a-lawyer Brown!]

I also am presenting here, for the first time anywhere, clear versions of the images.

Bob Harras—you know him, you love and/or hate him. He is the only person who was Editor in Chief of both mighty houses of comic madness! So enemies and friends are all over the place! It’s like being the Mayor of New York City. When these pics were taken, he was Assistant Editor to Editor Ralph Macchio! [Who is enjoying a new chapter in his career on Netflix with the continuation of the Karate Kid franchise—I recommend you watch it to see how Ralph kicked the butts of late freelancers! Five-finger-death-punch Brown] He was also a researcher for the massive Marvel Universe project—which explains what he is doing playing with unstable molecules (better than unstable freelancers!).

In the meantime, here is Bob, so young, so hammy—spinning some kind of yarn about “unstable molecules.” I can tell you a few things about this series. I put together the hanging styrofoam balls and sticks, hanging it from the ceiling with fishing line (or did Mark Gruenwald? Hmm…). There is a “remotely triggered” flash unit on the floor, pointing up between Bob and the desk. Finally, there was a “taking” flash on the camera which happened to trigger the flash on the floor. You can see Bob strongly bottom-lit.

Some of these are alternate shots– find your copy of the Fumetti Book and see!