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Saturday, April 7, 2012

MYTHSPEAKING

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on the MythSpoken podcast, talking about the early days of my career, the Imagination 101 writing workshops, my new projects and the strange magic of the creative process.  All in sixteen minutes!  Click here if you'd like to listen.

Big thanks to Mike and all the folks at Modern Myths for their support.

14 comments:

  1. Wasn't that originally put up as a video? I watched a good portion of it before things came up.


    Wishing you nothing but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars,
    Jack

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  2. The video was a talk I gave at the Modern Myths store, Jack; the podcast is an interview I did a week or two later. As always, good will and hipness right back at you!

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  3. Ah, I see... it was the use of myth in both that shook me. Sorry.


    Wishing you nothing but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars,
    Jack

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  4. Nothing to be sorry about, Jack! : )

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  5. Hey J.M, I actually read Moonshadow ( 4 times ), Blood ( did not like it much ), Justice League and the amazing story of the Martian Hunter ( loved both, but they were poorly edited here in Brazil, quality of the paper would not last more than 10 years, the reduced the size of the comics them selves to half the American size). I have been away from comics since 2001, I know I should have not. Given the fact that Moonshadow is probably one of my top 3 items for a desert island, what other works of you do you recommend me. When I saw your adaption of Alan Moore's "For the Man who has everything" on Batman The Brave And The Bold, when watching with my kids, I kind of spoke about it a week. My kids are 6 and 9 and they already know your name and Neil Gaimans :-)

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  6. Thanks for the kind words, Daniel. With such a long career, there are many stories that I hold dear to my heart: MOONSHADOW, BROOKLYN DREAMS, ABADAZAD, my SPIDER-MAN work at Marvel, my collaborations with Keith Giffen, THE STARDUST KID, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAVIOR 28, MERCY, THE LAST ONE, BLOOD (sorry you didn't like it!), so many more. I also think your kids might enjoy my novel, IMAGINALIS. Should be right up their alley!

    Thanks for checking in, Daniel! All the best -- JMD

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  7. Regarding the Spider-Man work:

    If you go the TPB route, Daniel, here's the easiest way to get your hands on JMD's work:

    KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT: Collects the six-part arc in its entirety.

    SON OF THE GOBLIN: Collects portions of the JMD/Buscema run on SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, including SSM 189 and 200. The book is designed to give you a broad look at Harry Osborn's career as the Green Goblin, which is cool, but it means there's gaps. Most notably, JMD's "The Child Within" is not collected, which is worth checking out in single issues.

    THE COMPLETE EPIC CLONE SAGA: I recommend the first volume on the strength of JMD/Romita Jr's THE LOST YEARS alone. The third volume includes ASM 400, "The Gift."

    I'm pretty sure there's a TPB that collects JMD's work on WEB OF SPIDER-MAN VOL. 2 #1, 5, and (I think)7. A great Kaine story called "Echoes", followed by two Ben Reilly backups. Worth checking out.

    On the Batman side, you should definitely check out GOING SANE.

    --David

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  8. Thanks so much for the tour through Spiderland, David! I'm sure Daniel will appreciate it.

    I was just doing a podcast interview this morning, saying how much I would love to see all the Harry Osborn material from my SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN run collected in one edition. Actually, I'd love to see ALL of that run collected (minus "Maximum Carnage," which has already been collected and really stands outside the rest of the material). Marvel, are you listening?

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  9. Your SSM run is one that comes up again and again in the Spider-Man forums at CBR. There's a lot of fans who want to see this collected in a single Omnibus. I'm a little surprised that Marvel hasn't done this already--especially considering that we're getting a slew of Spider-Man material that isn't in as much demand. I'm pretty sure it will happen, I'm just not sure when!

    --David

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  10. From your mouth to God's ear, David!

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  11. Hey J.M, I really liked MOST of your work on Spider-Man (Although I have to say that I really didn't like your take on Mysterio Doc Ock and Electro. Electro was always a cocky SOB, and Doc Ock has been WAYYY to brutal in the past and has never showed anything but contempt for Spidey.). Among my favorites are : Spectacular #189, The Child Within, Amazing #399 (Love that Jackal.), Funeral Arranagements, #200,Spectacular #250 (LOVED IT! Norman Osborn was so calculating.), and a few more. I read some of your Captain America work as well, and I have a few of your Silver Surfer issues. I would love to read Moonshadow and I hear great things about Abdazzad. I just have a few questions if you don't mind:

    #1. Didn't you create the Baron Zemo 2 persona in Cap #275 (?) was it? What do you think of what later writers have done with him? Specifically what Roger Stern did with him in the classic Avengers: Under Siege arc, and what Kurt Busiek and other writers did with him in Thunderbolts. If I recall correctly, you redeemed him somewhat in Captain America #299 before you killed him off, so were you planning for him to stay dead for good?

    #2. How did you feel about Mark Gruenwald resurrecting the Red Skull in Cap #350? Personally I thought that it was GREAT, and that the backstory that we got about his life and history was great.

    #3. Again,you created Kraven the Hunter's son didn't you? Later writers have done a lot of things with him, they primarily made him a villian, and Ron Zimmerman has done, god knows what that was about. Would you want writers to console with you first, or let them do your own thing? Thanks, I'll be checking out your blog. Good to see you as an online presence. By the way, I really like Oblivion and that Scrier character as well.

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  12. You''ve got questions, I've got answers!

    1) The son of Zemo character was originally a one-off villain called The Phoenix, created by the great Roy Thomas. I brought the character back, had him take his father's name and developed him into one of Cap's major opponents. And, no, I didn't believe for one second that he was dead for good. In fact, I'm pretty sure I brought him back in a Spider-Man story years later, as a tie-in to the origin of Vermin.

    I didn't follow what other writers did with him, so I can't comment.

    2) I had no problem with Gruenwald resurrecting the Red Skull. When I killed the Skull off, it was, in my mind, for good; but I had no illusions that other writers would leave him dead. And if anyone was going to bring him back, I'm glad it was Mark, who was my editor on CAPTAIN AMERICA. The back story on Skull's life was actually from one of my stories, "The Life and Times of the Red Skull." (CAP #298, I think.) One of my favorites from my Cap run. (Unless Mark added to that later on.)

    3) Yes, I cooked up that particular son of Kraven (there were others, I believe). As for other writers consulting with me...honestly, once a character's been unleashed in the Marvel Universe, he's fair game for any writer who wants to take a crack at him. That's the way shared universes work and I'm fine with it!

    Glad you like Oblivion and Scrier and I hope you enjoy their game of cosmic chess in the upcoming MIGHTY THOR ANNUAL.

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  13. One Spider-man story written by you that I would like in a TPB is the league of losers. Those stories were a lot of fun with a lot of humor in it. It is surprising that the same person that wrote Kraven's Last Hunt, also wrote those Spidey issues (although it is not as surprising once you consider the same person wrote those funny Justice League issues).

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  14. I had great fun with the Legion of Losers, Quique—especially Grizzly and the Gibbon when they set off the change their ways and become (hopelessly ineffectual) super heroes.

    Part of the fun of writing Spider-Man was doing change-up stories: following a big, dramatic arc with something goofy; or weaving a little bit of goofy INTO the big dramatic arc. The Legion certainly provided opportunities for that!

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