Comics Interview — Issue #059

Waller traces the origins of Omaha the Cat Dancer from erotic funny-animal strips in the amateur press association VOOTIE (launched 1976), through publication in Bizarre Sex #9 and subsequent issues from Kitchen Sink Press. Worley explains how she came to co-write the series after Waller got blocked mid-story, evolving from plot outlines to full scripts with scene descriptions. They discuss their intentional inclusion of adult themes — explicit sexuality, a wheelchair-using character, male homosexual scenes, and mental illness — as reflections of real life rather than shock value, and note their readership has grown to nearly 50% women.

Colan recounts his career beginning at Fiction House in 1944, his years at Timely/Atlas under Stan Lee, his use of the alias "Adam Austin" for early Marvel work to avoid issues with DC, and his definitive runs on Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, and Tomb of Dracula. He describes auditioning for Tomb of Dracula by sending sample Dracula designs in one day, reveals he modeled Dracula on Jack Palance, and speaks candidly about how Jim Shooter's editorial style forced him out of Marvel.

Baran, director of Fondation Herge and a personal acquaintance of Herge since childhood, explains why no new Tintin books will be produced after Herge's death per the creator's own wishes, and how Studio Herge has been dissolved and replaced by the foundation. He discusses ongoing negotiations with Steven Spielberg for a Tintin film — noting that neither the current script nor Roman Polanski's considered involvement has yet produced a workable adaptation — and outlines efforts to launch a new Tintin-philosophy-based children's magazine within six months.

Stanley, a printing sales representative at Sleepeck Printing in Chicago, explains the heat-set web offset printing process used for comic books, from paper stock choices (Dixon #101, Britewight, Baxter) to four-color dot printing, folding, perforating, and stitcher/trimming. She describes Sleepeck's role in making affordable full-color printing accessible to small independent publishers, including their work with Comico, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink, and Renegade.

Vogel warns about the danger of expanded RICO laws that now include pornography without any legal definition of the term, arguing the government has effectively granted itself power to destroy any business selling potentially objectionable printed material through the threat of asset confiscation upon a second conviction.

Dean Mullaney of Eclipse Comics corrects a claim from issue #55 that Pacific Comics was the first to offer creator ownership, asserting Eclipse has had that policy since 1978 and noting earlier precedents. Brian Bolland issues a stolen art alert for approximately 115 missing pages of his Judge Dredd artwork from 2000AD/Fleetway.