Howard Chaykin Continues His Pitch

A while back I blogged about catching Howie Chaykin pitching what I believe to be Dominic Fortune to Denny O’Neill and Lynn Graem. It was one of those “office moments” that just happened back then. A fairly random bunch of artists were in, delivering work, visiting with a chum or even pitching an idea.

But then! I spotted another batch of pictures that seemed more formal. The sludge of time (–I’d like to remind everyone this blog is copyrighted) has obscured what went on that far back. It could be, Lynn, who was the Editrix of the entire Black & White Books line plus EPIC Mag, liked the idea of busting out comics with pictures—could be, I say, saw me taking pictures and thought it would be nice to have better pix of Howard making that pitch.

Little else explains this change of venue. Except for one thing. Back at good old 575, most of the Editorial offices looked more like a hoarders’ convention. The furniture was mostly off the street or stolen from corporate upstairs… Staff Colorist Andy Yanchus was talking about the nice but painfully utilitarian desks we all had. Then he whipped open the top drawer and howled that he found a Coast Guard Serial Number in the back…

If you’ve seen that first article you can think that area is not such a bad place to show off some graphic novel art. But then there was always Barry Kaplan’s office!

Who was Barry Kaplan? His title was Comptroller, which I enjoyed saying with just a bit of spit when I was talking to him but a lot of spit when he was elsewhere. He had a lot to do with money. Y’know, money stuff that big corporations need doing. I was a little looser around Barry than most of the execs because I was on-staff during his first day.

I should back up a bit—to remind all you True Believers of my somewhat earlier time at Marvel. A full year around 1974-5, I was part of the Marketing Satisfaction Department. I sent out posters, back-issues and whatever they told me to!

And there was Barry with, what I can only refer to as a sidekick (because I think of executives in comic terms), a fellow named Ed DeLuca. I have no idea what he did aside from stand next to Barry while Barry addressed us Satisfiers during a Mail Room speech. This was at 575 Madison Ave—only three years later I was back on-staff as a stat camera operator and the rest is history.

One of my favorite pictures of Howard’s expressiveness.

Barry didn’t really understand what comics was all about. One odd conversation we had was about the pursuit of color in costumes. If it varied from issue to issue, who on Earth cared? I think he was bemoaning having two people on staff fixing such variations, etc. I stuck up for my comrades, pointing out that the fans cared. That it involved a thing called “continuity” – at the very least “brand fidelity.” Yes, I really talked like that.

Barry eventually came around—why, in the waning days of the Marvel offices, during a time when cost-cutting was a thing and the heads of editors were rolling around like tumbleweeds… he became an Editor of custom books and Special Projects. He didn’t really care then, but he knew to let people do their jobs.

It must be noted that Howie is smoking. During a pitch meeting. In an office. There’s a Spider-Man Cigarette Lighter next to his Viceroys (I think). Different times. It should also be noted that Barry had some original art over his very nice couch. That set him apart from other execs by far.

Suddenly, without warning, Editor in Chief Jim Shooter came bounding in. He jammed his enormous body into that couch (probably only made for three…) and got Howard to start over.

I like these last two shots, above and below, because Jim is particularly animated. I hardly ever catch Jim smiling. Not because he’s a glum sort of fellow, but generally every-day stuff is him being serious. Of further interest is that Barry had a small kid’s banana-seat ape-hanger bike by the door. I think in case he needed a quick, non-monetary bribe to clinch a deal.

The pitch went well! Dominic Fortune was a pretty big hit. I also tried to figure out what that novelty ash tray was of—Marvel had done several. But that seemed like a kid show piece of art—can’t tell. PS: Barry didn’t smoke!