Comics Interview — Issue #033

Weiss discusses his Epic limited series Steelgrip Starkey, a six-issue creator-owned book about a construction worker who wields an advanced all-purpose power tool called Technalchemy, presented as a positive, non-violent American folklore hero in the mold of John Henry. He describes the book as a character-driven adventure without supervillains, pitched to Jim Shooter in 1983 and finally reaching publication after years of delays, with Jim Sherman inking and coloring all six issues. Weiss also previews the Marvel graphic novel Wonderwar and praises titles like Rocketeer, Mr. Monster, and Judge Dredd.

Power, a British-Australian cartoonist turned Hollywood storyboard artist and second-unit director, recounts his career path from working with John Dixon on the Australian syndicated strip Air Hawk and studying under Alex Toth at Hanna-Barbera, through to storyboarding major films for Spielberg (*Goonies*), Tony Scott (*Top Gun*), and John Hughes (*Pretty in Pink*). He shares colorful anecdotes including getting drunk with John Milius on the Red Dawn set and landing the Goonies gig after Spielberg noticed him as an extra. Power is a vocal advocate for creator rights and independent publishing, argues that Marvel owes Jack Kirby a pension, and promotes his own in-development project East Meets West.

Engel, head of the experimental animation department at Cal Arts, reveals that he conceived the choreography and storyboard for the Chinese and Russian Dance sequences (the mushrooms) in Disney's Fantasia but received no screen credit due to internal studio politics. He traces his career from Disney (*Fantasia*, Bambi) to co-founding the original UPA group that created Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing Boing, and later producing Alvin and the Chipmunks at his own Format Films studio. He argues that today's animation talent is technically superior to the golden age but is hampered by cost-cutting and overseas outsourcing.

Parker, a self-described "unknown letterer," recounts an eccentric life before comics: drafted into the Army (testing Pershing missiles at White Sands), studying fine art at Pratt Institute, driving a New York taxi at night, and maintaining the Barking Dog Museum of found-object assemblages. He began lettering at Marvel in 1973 after never having heard of Spider-Man, worked staff and freelance for both Marvel and Harvey Comics, and currently letters RIP Kirby and Prince Valiant for King Features Syndicate. Parker views lettering as a genuine art form analogous to inking and describes his Stick Man self-published comic project.

DAK ruminates humorously on the difficulty of explaining what a publisher actually does, comparing it to the perennial frustration of explaining that comics writers don't draw, and references J. Jonah Jameson's damage to the public image of publishers.

Readers respond to previous issues, with the featured letter offering extended commentary on Crisis on Infinite Earths (praising the story while mourning the loss of DC's parallel Earths), Stan Drake's interview, and a debate about censorship and free expression.