DUTCH
FAN J.P.DeVRIES INTERVIEWS BOB
How
old are you and where were you born?
I
was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1953.
For my European friends, that’s located in the Midwest section of the
U.S.
Tell
us something more about you!
Bob:
I’m married and live in the Tampa area in Florida. I love to cook and,
since I work at home, I prepare a lot of meals for the two of us (Indian food is
my specialty). I have two dogs (a Lab and a Sheepdog) and two black,
brain-damaged cats that Jill and I adopted when we were still living in N.Y.C.
And--
I love American Football (Go Jets!!)
How
did you get in the comics business and when did you start writing?
Bob:
I learned to read from comics when I was only four years old.
Subsequently, I was skipped a grade when I entered the school system and wound
up graduating High School at barely 17 years old. After High School, I met Roger
Stern (who worked for a local radio station in Indianapolis.) and we began
publishing comic fanzines out of my little apartment.
CPL
(an overblown title which stands for Contemporary Pictorial Literature) was an
extremely popular fan publication for its day. It eventually led us into a
working alliance with Charlton Comics, with Sterno and me producing and
publishing the now-famous Charlton Bullseye magazine.
The
close association with Charlton led to my meeting Wally Wood and becoming one of
his apprentices. Once I went to work for Woody up in the state of
Connecticut, doors started opening up for me all over the place. While
apprenticing with Wood, I stared getting inking work with Charlton and DC while
continuing to publish my fanzines.
While
I was working under Woody, I would occasionally deliver pages for him to Marvel
and DC’s offices in NYC. While I was in the Marvel offices…handing in
Woody's pages to the production department, I used the opportunity to show my
samples around while I had 'my foot in the door'. One day, while at Marvel, I
passed the Art Director's office and I heard John Romita on the phone,
frantically trying to find someone to ink a desperately late issue of Iron
Man. Like an idiot, I stuck my head in his doorway and said I could get
the job done in the four or five days that was left on the schedule. It
was an utter fabrication…but I REALLY wanted to work for Marvel Comics!
Johnny gave me the pages and said, "Show me what you can do, Kiddo."
Panicking,
I ran down Madison Ave. to Continuity Associates, where a lot of my fledgling
contemporaries worked for Dick Giordano & Neal Adams. (The gang at that time
comprised of Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Joe
Brosowski, Carl Potts and a host of others) To my eternal relief, they all
pitched in on the inking and we finished the entire book in less than four days.
Once
I turned the job in, I never heard from anyone from Marvel for weeks. I
was sure that I had permanently destroyed any chance of ever getting work there
again.
Then,
about a month after the Tuska job, a package arrives on my doorstep. I open it
to find an entire issue of pencils on the Champions. I presumed that it
was sent to me in error, so I called the Marvel offices to see where they want
me to forward the material.
But
my utter amazement, Romita tells me that I 'm the new regular inker on the
book.
Bless
his Italian heart.
After
a long collaboration with David Michelinie on Iron Man, I really wanted to
strike out on my own as a writer/artist. So, once we were done on Iron
Man, I began my first scripting work on Hercules: Prince of Power, the comic
industry’s first-ever mini-series.
By
which artists are you inspired?
Bob:
Dick Giordano would be my most prominent artist influence. Dickie has been
mentoring me for the last thirty years—that’s a significant contribution to
my general neurosis.
Wally
Wood was the other major contributor to my craft. As a writer, it would be
David Michelinie and Archie Goodwin.
Arthur
C. Clarke, Julia Child, Stanley Kubrick and Rod Serling are my biggest general
influences.
With
which artists/editors/penciller do you like to work?
Bob:
Ron Lim, Dan Jurgens and Dick Giordano (of course).
As
far as editors go—there aren’t many of them that I like to work with.
Unfortunately, editors today don’t have a fraction of the creative acumen of a
Denny O’Neil or Archie Goodwin.
We
all know of your stories with David Michelinie on Iron Man. How did this
plotting exactly work?
Bob:
David Michelinie and I (we had first formed our partnership at DC, working
together on Star Hunters and Claw-the Unconquered) had agreed to leave DC for
greener pastures.
Together,
we went to Marvel and interviewed to work as a team there. We were given a
choice of lower end books to work on and I jumped out of my seat when I realized
that Iron Man was one of those choices. That was the one book in the
entire industry that I wanted to do more than any other. Dave was
unfamiliar with the character but immediately sensed my unbridled passion for
the character. Together, we retooled the series into the way I had always imaged
it could be. David's lack of history with Iron Man mythology proved to be a
tremendous asset--translating into his fresh approach to the character.
So
every month, David and I would sit down and plot out the events of each story
together. Annually, we would do an overview of the series to plot out
where we intend to take the character over the next twelve issues.
Later,
when we moved away from each other, we continued to do the same plotting process
by phone.
What
is your fondest memory of working in comics and what is the worst one?
Bob:
Good question. My fondest memory was the day that Valiant won “Publisher of
the Year” from Diamond in 1993 (as voted on by all the comic shop retailers in
America and Canada). My little company (born of controversy, blood, sweat
and tears) had beaten out the Big Two companies—a feat that had never been
done before. I fondly recall making my acceptance speech in front of hundreds of
cheering retailers. I was a pivotal moment for me.
The
worst moment was probably leaving Valiant and watching the company go down in
flames.
We
all know your love for the Iron Man character. How do you see him and how does
it affect and relate to the current Iron Man?
Bob:
Tony Stark doesn't play superhero. I believe he uses the Iron Man persona
for two reasons; to protect his various business interests globally and to
ground himself to the 'real world'. Keep in mind, as Tony Stark, he is
supposed to be living in an ivory tower…surrounded by people who tell him what
they THINK he wants to hear. He has a celebrity status equal to a movie or rock
star. This guy does NOT live in the 'real world'. In many ways, his being
Iron Man is much like the tale of 'The Prince and the Pauper'. Strangely enough,
as Iron Man, he becomes a 'hands-on' guy, interacting one-on-one with people and
using that anonymous identity to maintain perspective of how he's (Tony Stark)
perceived by the world at large. Again, it fair to say that it's another aspect
of his obsessive/compulsive personality. Iron man is 'a fix' that he needs to
maintain his stability.
As
far as the current Iron Man: the editorial powers fail to comprehend the
character. They prop up the title with the “flavor of the month” artist or
writer and they change the armor design more frequently than I suspect they
change their own underwear.
However--the
real trouble lies firmly in the fact that they don’t honestly understand, or
have a passion for, the character—but they’re trying to convince the readers
that they do. The current regime simply doesn’t understand the Iron Man/ Tony
Stark character—not one damn bit.
What
do you think of this series after you have left them?
Bob:
I believe I just answered that. It kind of sucks. I think Busiek and Chen
gave it a good try—but no one else was even close to getting it right.
“The fish stinks at the head”, as the saying goes. Iron Man’s a
victim of editorial incompetence.
How
did you end up with Valliant and how did it work out?
Bob:
I was approached by Jim Shooter in 1988 to leave Marvel and come help him
create properties (as a junior partner) for his new start up company—Valiant.
I
was originally brought in to handle the superhero line--only to find out that we
were going to sit on those properties and pursue Nintendo and WWF.
Valiant
couldn't give the damn Nintendo things away After millions of dollars were lost
to those ill-conceived projects, Shooter finally decided to go to the Gold Key
super-hero properties, which now became a last ditch effort to save the company
from insolvency. In a repeat of his history at Marvel, Shooter's relationship
with Valiant’s upper management and owners (Triumph) was already in big
trouble. Jim was spending vast sums of money but had nothing to show for it but
a massive load of debt. The initial investment by Triumph was for only two
million dollars. By the time that Unity premiered, we owed them almost four
million. Needless to say, Shooter had to go.
Once
Shooter was ousted, I was offered the Senior V.P. position (after all—I did
co-create most of the characters there with Jim) and I was given the task of
pulling the company out of debt.
As
you know, I succeeded in accomplishing that task--with a lot of help, of course.
You
were, for some time, editor-in-chief for Valiant. Why did you decide to return
to Marvel for the Captain America inking?
Bob:
After Valiant, I retired for a few years, moved to Florida and got married in
the process.
The
trouble was that retirement was boring! After about nine months, I was climbing
the walls—coming up with new ideas but having nowhere to create them.
As
a result, Giordano and I started working together again at DC, doing several
Batman projects together.
One
day, shortly after returning to comics, I got a call from Dan Jurgens. Dan
Jurgens had recommended me to Cap editor, Bobby Chase, as his inker. Bobby
called and offered me the job. I believed it to be a good career move…it was a
high-profile title that would allow me the opportunity to re-establish my name
in a market that had pretty much forgotten that I had ever worked at Marvel.
On
your site, there is an article in which you speak of your relationship with
Marvel and Joe Quesada. You also react to Iron Man. Why such strong
words and remarks?
Bob:
Because I still care—and they don’t.
Do
you still have contact with other people in the business?
Bob:
Sure. I connect with many fellow professionals on a regular basis,
including folks like Dick Giordano, Don Perlin, Ron Lim, Sean Chen and Paul
Ryan. And, of course, Michelinie and I speak over the phone on a regular
basis. He’s still my best friend—even after having worked together for
almost 30 years.
Do
you also read comics next? If so what do you recommend?
Bob: No, I don’t. And I couldn’t recommend them to anyone either. With rare exceptions, most of today’s comics are…simply awful.
What
do you hope to accomplish, or in other words, do you have some kind of
dream project you would like to be fulfilled?
Bob:
Yes—getting one of my creations onto the big screen as a major motion
picture. I came damn close several times in recent years with the Future
characters. However, the executive producers would back out at the last
minute, citing one lame excuse after the other. Hollywood is a very
difficult place to do business sanely.
In
the latest issue of Wizard, you and Mr. Michelinie are named the greatest team
that has ever been on Iron Man. What does this mean to you and how did
David Michelinie reacted to it?
Bob:
Of course, I’m honored that anyone remembers our work from so long ago.
But, it also reinforces my argument about the current Iron Man being lame, when
what is considered “the best stuff ever” was done over 25 years ago. And--I
don’t know how David feels about the achievement—I never asked him.
What
can you tell us about the future of "Future Properties?"
Bob:
They continue to be under consideration in Hollywood. David and I still
have a Rep out there who continues to push the Future properties (and new
creations) to potential producers.
Anything you would like to say the Dutch fans/readers?
Bob:
Yes—and I’d like to say it in your language:
Ik
wil de vele Nederlandse lezers bedanken voor die mijn inspanningen in de loop
van de jaren zijn blijven volgen. Hopelijk moet het beste nog komen.