Mark Evanier

And if you're going to have that kind of conversation, I can only think of two people to have it with.

Both are named Mark, Mark Evanier and Mark Waid.

And true to his form, Mark and I talk a lot about that.

We also obviously talk about the great work he's doing.

We all have artists and writers who we have certain opinions of when we come into comics that we look back and go, oh my God, look, I was missing the most important stuff right in front of me.

Dana Gould, by the way, this week dropped his latest episode of the Dana Gould Hour podcast.

He had Mark Evanier on, and a lot of the discussion revolved.

First of all, a lot of stuff about all the schlock TV that Mark worked on, both Preston and Marty Croft and the various cartoons and things.

um back in the day um

yeah I want to um talk about that a little bit yes because like in the collection uh Mark um Evanier Evanier talks about yes the background to that and apparently you know Jack Kirby was at DC Comics, having been at Marvel for years, went there in a contract from like 1970 to 75, and got there started with his kind of great original work.

Most of his work was original work, but the Fourth World books, including The New Gods, Mr.

Miracle, Forever People, and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen, which was a tie-in.

And so the Planet of the bandy uh last boy on earth yeah and the horror one was the demon and evan year says that um he had kind of had this assignment to do some kind of like supernatural hero like a monster hero kind of thing and what had no real attachment to the horror genre as much as like westerns and superheroes and other things but um They went to dinner at Howard Johnson's, basically.

And they were just kind of sitting there.

Mark Evanier and Jack Kirby and Kirby's family.

And some other people, yes.

I, I, I'm just jumping in here for a second.

Uh, Mark Evanier, who has the lovely News From Me website, it's around this time every year that Mark posts the theory that, you know, they stopped making candy corn back in the 1930s.

[laughs]

And Mark sincerely believes that what happens is that we all buy bags of candy corn, we put it in the little bowl, we all eat one and go, "Ew." Uh, and then we don't eat the rest.

They are on the bookshelf to my right as I'm talking because they are still – entertaining and really interesting.

And I have to think, you know, there were many steps along the way, but I think the part of the reason of my current kind of real movie obsession at this, like later the back nine of my life comes from getting these insights from, Into the world of Hollywood and TV, thanks to Mark Evanier, because they just didn't have that kind of thing, right? This is the 80s.

It's pre-internet.

But him telling all these stories about just dealing with people and salaries and all the nuts and bolts of the business end of show business, I just thought was so fascinating.