This does not get easier. Lest you think I am being flippant, “Death Day” was an invention of Mark’s… 24 years ago, on a Monday morn, Mike Carlin and I were planning to “invade” Marvel and accost Mark to go to lunch. I had moved upstate but was coming into town on a regular basis to work at Penthouse Comix. Mike was an Editor– not yet Editor In Chief — at DC.
Instead, I got a gut-wrenching call from Mike, in a tone of voice I’d not only not heard from Mike but not ever heard. He thought Mark was dead. I forget now how he had heard. I called the office and spoke to a young, somber voice, who indeed confirmed that Mark had died.
Mike and I conferred and went to lunch anyway. Shaken and tear-filled we spent the time talking about our pal.
Here below is a pic of Mark with our mutual pal — and my good friend — Rick Marschall. We coincidentally were attending the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. I was accompanying Rick; trying to help his publishing business.
In the shot, which was taken on the last day of the fair and Mark was in his civilian garb, packing up the Marvel booth. Rick of course was teasing and poking fun at something… This was November, 1989. (Yes, the very week of the Fall of the Berlin Wall…)
Whooo, photographs do not lie. I think the Berlin Wall fell that week because I leaned against it.
Ah, Grueny. I can still hear his voice. I can still DO his voice. Funny, wise, smart. Damn. The brightest candles burn down the fastest, I guess.
The Last Time I Saw Mark
It was that summer of ’96, after the big shake- up at Marvel, I had to go up to the office for some reason.
So many had already lost their jobs, or had their projects cancelled–and those who hadn’t were hiding in their offices with the shades drawn, expecting the axe to fall on them at any minute.
Stepping off the elvator you could feel it in the air. Gloom and Doom. The hallways were empty in the middle of the morning. Entering the Bullpen, I came upon Mark. He seemed dis-oriented, at loose-ends, almost as if he had no work to do. (He was always working.) A couple of sombre figures scurried past as we greeted each other. He was excited about something he had just put up on the wall at the end of the hallwayand wanted to show me. I can’t remember what it was exactly. Some kind of game you play.
What I do remember is how he seemed to be trying to re-kindle the old Marvel excitement–the sense of fun that it was to work there.
His upbeat demeanor was in sharp contrast to everyone else. It was odd. He was almost like a small child trying to give artificial respiration to some big creature whom he loved, which lay dying. I realize now that big creature was Marvel–and he was trying to breathe life back into it with his own particular brand of wackiness.
You gotta love a guy like that–and we all did.
The only comfort in missing someone so much and for
so long is that you realize that everyone feels exactly the same way …and as deeply. We all had had A piece of their heart ripped out never to be replaced or healed by Mark’s untimely exit.
Those were the days my friend….
Such a special time… Mark made Frankfurt and Bologna Book Fairs fun with his making a game out of everything mundane… (contrary to popular belief these travels were exhausting and 24/7 work!) but Mark gave the cliche ‘life is what you make it’ a new meaning!
Still sorry for your loss and the loss of a brilliant mind in the comics industry.
It never gets easier. =(