Paul Levitz

Now, that is important because...

Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen talk about that issue, talk about that special, as being a way to push DC into doing funny books.

And, you know, Keith Giffen says, without that issue, we may not have gotten Justice League International.

because they dared to take the substitute heroes and do something silly with it, you know, and it was successful.

And it was really, um, I'm not sure if I recount this in the book or not.

Uh, but it was Paul Levitz when I approached him, who, who, uh, basically said he would talk to me once I had a publisher involved.

And so that's what prompted me to go straight to tomorrow's and, uh, then we're off and running so yeah and as a documentary I think you know ultimately I think this book works or sorry this project works better in a book form because you can go into a lot more detail in a book than you can in the documentary and I think the audience for this type of book cares about details and maybe I cared a little bit too much about details I don't know because the book is it's pretty long and it was a lot longer but i just wanted to be a completist as much as i possibly could and really you know leave no stone unturned and i think in terms of a book it gives you a lot more latitude to do that than when you're trying to fit it within say you know a 90 minute film there's really only so much you can cover

well i'd say that you you may say you left no stone unturned but the first few chapters are very give a lot of historical context And I think that is a strength to the book and to the content because you really don't get an appreciation for what was happening in DC and in the industry in 1985 without understanding how they got there.

And DC's comics department were just shut down completely.

So that was a big revelation to me because it's something... i'd sort of heard as a passing thing but i didn't realize how much how close it came to actually coming to fruition

well it wasn't the first time so i think uh that deal had been floated around at least a couple of times in the let's say late 1970s early 1980s and you know you talk to different people you get different versions of events like paul levitz he kind of downplays the state of dc at the time but uh you know jim shooter who I really wish I could have interviewed for the book.

I didn't really reach out to him for an interview because I felt, you know, I'm already way over doing this.

Welcome to a very special bonus episode of DC Special Cast, a proud member of the Fire and Water Podcast Network.

I'm your host, Paul Kent.

Normally, this podcast is an exploration of DC's special comics of the Bronze Age, which included such titles as the aptly named DC Special and Special Series, but also many others.

But joining me today is the legendary artist Joe Staton.

At this time, you also started your toe in the water with Karate Kid over at DC.

No, I think I had given up Marvel.

I got a call one day from Paul Levitz to come over and talk to him at DC.

I was still at Marvel then.

Absolutely.

Uh, when we did that, that original miniseries, that Justice Society miniseries, the eight-parter, um, Levitz, Paul Levitz, who was publisher, comes in my office.

He's a big JSA fan.

He says, "That's not gonna work.

People forget this.

This is a great interview with Paul Levitz where he talks about this.

No one knew.

No one was prepared for how well-received this thing was going to be.