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Posts tagged Martin Pasko
Martin Pasko Returns
Feb 19th
Well, Martin never really went away. But he’s returned to our periphery to comment on and correct a whopping mistake I made in the previous post about Kobra: Resurrection credits. It’s the first time we’ve been in touch since I last saw him around 1978 at DC Comics. But first about the mistake:
FYI, my name is listed first in the solicitation because I am the character’s co-creator with Kirby. Kirby did not, in fact, write the first issue of KOBRA, nor was his original concept the basis of the series. Surely you must have known this at some point and simply forgotten it; didn’t you drew at least one issue of the original title before the story reprinted in this volume?
I actually drew the last two issues of the original Kobra series, #6 and #7. They were of my earliest comics work, after the Kamandi backups and a Legion of Super-Heroes fill in. Martin’s right though, and has reminded me, that I knew he was co-creator and writer of the original series with Jack Kirby. It likely slipped my mind because I’d always instinctively associated it with Kirby creations… and it was done so early in my career and rarely mentioned with regards to my work. These 2 Kobra issues came at a very early stage of my learning curve as a comics artist. They stand in notable quality contrast to the DOA Conspiracy, co-starring Batman, which Martin also wrote, and was intended to be the next Kobra issue before the book was cancelled.
But then again, had I done a little minimal snooping around, it would have jogged my memory enough so as not to make such a misrepresentation. Sincerest apologies to Martin Pasko, who adds more info about Kobra’s creation in the comments thread.
Anyway, for your readers’ benefit: Gerry Conway was handed a single issue of something called KING KOBRA, which had been done for FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL and was considered unprintable. Gerry wanted no part of it and offered it to me, asking if I had any ideas about what to do with it. I did, starting with making the twins, who were 65-year-old men in Kirby’s original, a college student and a twin brother he never knew he had.
I requested stats of Kirby’s originals be made up with all the balloons whited out. Working with only the bare bones of Kirby’s story, I reworked it from the ground up, cutting up the stats, shuffling panels and pages, requesting art changes (which ended up being executed by artists other than Kirby and pasted up over the existing art), and writing all new dialogue. It was a desperate patch job, but management liked it enough to make an ongoing title out of it. The character caught on, as you know, in the sense that it has been a staple of the DC mythology ever since.
Good behind the scenes info for Kobra enthusiasts, and much appreciated. Kobra does remain a revered villain of the DC Universe. I’ve run across many comments on the web over the years from fans who’d like to see more of him. Not sure what you’re up to these days Marty, but if the new directorship at DC were to consider bringing back the Pasko/Netzer team for a new Kobra adventure, then at least the Netzer half of the team would certainly consider it favorably. Your connections are likely a little better than mine for advancing such an idea.
Martin also comments about his online presence in the comics community.
And now you know something else, too: I’m not as rarely “heard [from]” as you seem to think!
Right again. I should have looked around a little more before saying that, which wasn’t meant as a slight in the least. I simply haven’t seen or heard about Martin except for a Facebook friendship that neither of us advanced past the “accept” button. Which is understandable knowing Facebook and that we both sport more than 3,000 friends whom we can never keep track of. This is the place to say that though our acquaintance was relatively brief during the first few years of my career, Martin stood out amongst his peers in the good natured wit he exuded, which made my visits to DC Comics where we usually met an especially pleasureful affair. That said, Martin maintains a blog, Still Pesky… (named after a Julius Shwartz nickname given him back in the days), where he puts forth insightful commentary on comics and entertainment news, along with anything else that comes into his periphery. Good reading and worth a visit.
It’s good to hear [from] Martin Pasko again. Having learnt my lesson, I’ve done a little snooping around and found his Wikipedia biography also in need of a copyright free image. Along with an opportunity to add another entry to Portraits of the Creators Sketchbook, that’s good enough reason to have produced the image below.
Martin Pasko – Portraits of the Creators Sketchbook.
Kobra Reprint Credits Muse
Feb 18th
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NOTE: Martin Pasko comments on this post, which renders its thrust completely superfluous. I’m leaving it as is, however, so as to keep the exchange coherent. A follow up response to and about Martin here.
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I’ve been watching this since the first press release for Kobra: Resurrection appeared a few months ago. Now that the book is out and the solicitation has remained the same, it makes me wonder somewhat. Here’s how DC lists the graphic novel (color highlight is mine):
Written by Martin Pasko, Jack Kirby, Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann and Ivan Brandon; Art by Mike Nasser, Jack Kirby, Joe Bennett, Julian Lopez and others Cover by Andrew Robinson
This graphic novel features the secret origin of KOBRA, the epic tale of their battle with CHECKMATE, the original KOBRA tale with Art by Jack Kirby and more. Collected from KOBRA #1, DC SPECIAL SERIES #1, CHECKMATE #23-25 and KOBRA: FACES OF EVIL #1.
The GN reprints the first issue of Kobra, created, written and drawn by Jack Kirby, undisputed all time king of the comics narrative, along with other stories, including the Batman/Kobra: Dead on Arrival Conspiracy I drew back in ’76-’77 for DC Special Series #1, written by Martin Pasko and inked by Joe Rubinstein.
One would wonder why the solicitation carries the credits in the order it does. It’s clearly more appropriate to have Kirby’s name appear first in the main blurb. He was creator of the character – and artist/writer of the first story in the book. Kirby towers much higher in stature and marketability over all the other contributors, and would certainly have more appeal as a top billing, such as was given in the description byline.
Some might suggest that such credits are often ordered arbitrarily and don’t necessarily indicate much intent, which really isn’t true considering how a solicitation is compiled. Credits, whether in such listings, or in the comic books themselves, or even in other media such as television and film, are always meticulously crafted and ordered for a variety of reasons, the first of which is to achieve maximum promotional appeal. The order of credits in such a solicitation helps define the desirability a book will have on the market. It is usually a thoroughly considered decision and rarely made in haphazard fashion.
One possible reason for this is that someone has an ax to grind with Kirby, but it’s not a convincing assumption because it rubs the grain of commercial concerns. Regardless what the considerations were, it’s not likely that such an arrangement was arrived at out of any personal issues towards the Kirby legacy.
Another possibility is that someone thought the names Pasko and Nasser are also popular enough to help sell the book, and thus worthy of top billing. This must, however, be based on some reality in the comics scene. Martin Pasko is barely heard of these days. His name doesn’t appear often in the comics web community. And although I have a relatively persistent presence due to publicity from projects such as the campaign to save J’onn J’onzz or founding Facebook Comic Con, it still leaves me wondering somewhat.
Whatever the reasoning behind it, or whether it was done without any reasoning, the muse is that some good folk at DC are favorably remembering my work these days. If this leads to a good comics project with the publisher I’m most identified with, then we can perhaps overlook downplaying Kirby’s importance in this case. The King is no longer with us, after all. He’s certainly not a candidate for an upcoming project at DC and his impeccable reputation doesn’t suffer from this in the slightest.
As for myself and an entire generation of colleagues who aren’t working much in mainstream comics these days… well, we can certainly make use of any opportunity to enhance our visibility in the industry. More so, it was especially nice to find a royalty payment today in the mail from DC Comics for this reprint. Good to know I’m still in the address book. And much appreciated.
A Groovy Diversion
Feb 14th
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems there are more and more sites and blogs uploading entire stories of comics from back in the days. Comics that might be hard to find today, if you didn’t collect them when they were published. Though it seems such sites have been around for some time, it’s only in the last while that I’ve run into the phenomenon. Most of the ones I’ve seen focus on the Broze Age of comics, from the early 1970′s into the mid ’80′s, and carry a wealth of comics stories from that era. Young readers who haven’t yet seen these treasures would be greatly enriched by them.
My first encounter with such a site was a few months ago when I stumbled upon Diversions of the Groovy Kind, which after snooping around I discovered is one of several sites produced by Jonathan A. Gilbert. The site, full of wonderful treasures and commentary is maintained by The Groovy Agent (not Jonathan, and keeps his civilian identity well concealed). There, he reviewed an origin of Doctor Fate story that I inked over Joe Staton in DC Special Series #10, 1978, Secret Origins of Super Heroes. The Groovy Agent had a few good words to say about the art, and specifically the inking:
The coolness factor was ramped up about 6,000 notches when Mike Nasser (now Michael Netzer) stepped in to ink the tale. His psychedelic-yet-realistic inking style perfectly complemented Staton’s cartoony style to create a truly unique visual that perfectly suited the mood of Levitz’s script. Dig it, baby!
Today’s comicbook creators take note of how faithful Levitz, Staton, and Nasser were able to stay true to the source material, and yet give it a new shine and gloss that fit the era it was created for. That’s how ya make good comics!
Well, that was enough for me. First, there was the reality that this is the first time I’d seen the completed story in print since around the time it was published. Throughout my wanderings from that time, I simply haven’t held on to or maintained a comics collection to speak of, especially a collection of the comics that I drew myself. The internet remains the best source for me to see my old work, including convention sketches, commissions and anything else. So when such web sites upload entire stories, it’s a big treat and very nice way to see the work again – and finally at least have a digital copy of it. Secondly, that was a very nice comment, of the type that isn’t often heard about my work from a time many people prefer to characterize me as an Adams clone. Not that they don’t have reason to, mind you, but it seems to miss the point about whether the work possesses a notable independent quality as good comics that are fun to read and worthy to collect. So, that was enough for me to thank the Groovy Agent in the comments to that post, where he responded in kind, and also invited me to contribute some reminisces from my career to his blog, if I was inclined.
Some time later, The Groovy Agent uploaded the entire issue of World’s Finest Comics #244, which also included the first of the 3 issue mini-series of Green Arrow and Black Canary I penciled, that was inked by Terry Austin. Again The Groove chimed in with a few nice words.
And man, did Teen Groove flip for that hip Nasser/Austin art!
So I sent out an email thanking him again and said that reminiscing about that era at his site sounded like a good idea. Upon hearing the enthused response, I tried to summarize those early years in a short piece that has now become published in a Groovy Guest Post:: “Reminiscing” by Michael Netzer and carries the first ever professional comics work I did for DC Comics, a back-up in Jack Kirby’s Kamandi.
Ol’ Groove is proud and honored to have none other than one of my favorite Groovy Age artists, Michal Netzer (known back in the Groovy Age as Mike Nasser) as today’s Groovy Guest Poster. I’ve written about Michael’s prodigious artistic talents a few times, and each time the ever-gracious Mr. Netzer has responded with nice things to say about the articles in particular and the Diversions in general. As a way of thanking him for his generosity, I had the gall to ask him if he’d be interested in doing a guest-post, can you believe that? Thing isthat Michael actually responded in the positive–and below is the proof! I truly believe that you’re going to be blown away by Mr. Netzer’s first-hand memories of a magical time in comicbook history. Enough yakkin’ from me! Ladies and gentlemen…Michael Netzer!
If you’re inclined, do the jump and read this reminiscing about a magical time in the comics. A few web friends have already chimed in with nice words about it, including Steven Thompson, keeper of Booksteve’s Library and John Mundt, Esq., keeper of The WOMP blog, both of whom I became friends with through similar circumstances, here and here respectively. Another nice comment comes from blogger Joe Bloke:
Mike, you are a legend, mate. and you, Groove? well done, fella.
Joe has also recently uploaded a couple of stories of mine into his blog, which likewise sports a very groovy name:
GRANTBRIDGE STREET & OTHER MISADVENTURES
Chock-full of good old time treasures maintained by Joe Bloke. I’ve spent hours reading through a lot of fabulous comics there that have slipped under my radar. Back in May, 09, Joe uploaded the entire Batman/Kobra story I penciled for DC Special #1: 5 Star Super Hero Spectacular, written by Martin Pasko and inked by Joe Rubinstein.
But the real caveat at Grantbridge Street was a post from about two weeks ago, carrying a B/W story I penciled for Warren Publishing’s 1984 magazine: The Box, written by Len Wein and inked by none other than Filipino legend Alfredo Alcala. This is a very special story for me, which came at a time that I’d somewhat slipped away from the comics scene and was experimenting with other approaches, mainly driven by the overall experience I was endeavoring into, and which demanded its own presence in the art. Though, I can’t remember the text being so “pointless”, as Len Wein writes in the story itself (I likely worked “marvel style”, from a plot, and never actually saw any finished text while drawing it). More so, I’d never seen this story published before and never actually saw Alcala’s finishes, though I knew he was slated for the job. This is a wonderful treat for me and might surprise anyone not familiar with it, so do have a look and spend some time perusing another great archive of good ol’ time comics at Grantbridge Street & Other Misadventures.
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