NY Comicon 2011

A fine time was had by all! Met friends old and new, talked some business, took some pictures:

Me and the cover to the first LIFE WITH ARCHIE collection at the Archie Comics Booth

Power Girl and me

Me and Supergirl

Me and Plastic Man

From left to right: letterer extraordinaire John Workman, DC writer/production whiz Bob Rozakis, me (kneeling), DC writer/editor Jack C. Harris, writer/producer Michal Uslan, and DC Comics librarian Allan Asherman

Above was one of the best moments of the show for me (photo courtesy of Jack Harris). While I wasn't a member of the early-1970s group of young talent hired by DC Comics that became known as the DC Woodchucks, I was a fan on the fringe and friends with lots of these guys, and best pals with another Woodchuck, Paul Levitz. What's a Woodchuck? An explanation, courtesy of Bob Rozakis' blog, Anything Goes:

Back in the very early days of our careers at DC Comics, then VP/Production Manager Sol Harrison decided that we "kids" should put together a company-backed fanzine called Amazing World of DC Comics. He came to my desk and said, "Go get the rest of your pals and bring them to my office." So I went to my compatriots and said, "Sol wants to have a Junior Woodchucks meeting." I was making a joke, using the name of the faux-Boy Scouts that Huey, Dewey and Louie of Donald Duck fame belonged to. But the name stuck...and we became DC's Junior Woodchucks.

I Confess! I Killed Miss Grundy!

Looks as though the events in Life With Archie: The Married Life #6 (on sale December 29) have struck a chord. I'll admit, when I wrote the issue I got a bit choked up, so I'm not surprised at the response, from the New York Times to the fan press.

I'd like to remind everyone that way back in the mid-1970s, I also offed Aquababy in Aquaman, and ten years later I did the same to Vigilante (the Aquaman story is scheduled to be reprinted in the Death of the Prince trade paperback next summer). Someone stop me before I kill again!

Click on the images below to see them at a readable size!

LIFE WITH ARCHIE ©  Archie Comics

Striking Gold(berg)

When I started writing for Archie Comics about a year ago, the first script I turned in was a 10-page story entitled "All the Doggone Day!"

When I saw veteran Archie artist supreme Stan Goldberg at the NY Comicon earlier this month, I told him that my Archie-writing experience wouldn't really be complete until he drew one of my scripts. He said he believed he had already done just that, though it was months ago and he didn't remember the title.

Needless to say, the story Stan had drawn was "All the Doggone Day!" and what a beautiful job he did! See...

Hilarity, you can be sure, ensues! And it's going to be published next week, in Archie's Pals 'N Gals Double Digest #146!

C'mon! You know you wanna...!

From the Midtown Comics Ballroom Overlooking Lexington Avenue...

I'm on the air!

Or on a podcast, courtesy of New York's Midtown Comics! I talk about Archie Comics, Captain Action, and other topics ranging from my old series Checkmate to superhero fashion. Have a listen here!


And, over on pal Rob Kelly's All In Black & White For 75¢ blog, is an interview with yours truly covering my work for Marvel's Crazy Magazine, as well as the single issue of Savage Sword of Conan I wrote.

Everything's Archie!

Archie Comics had such success with their "Archie Marries..." storyline in Archie #600 - 606 that they decided to continue the stories in an ongoing series. Michael Uslan (comic book fan/historian/writer and producer of the Batman film franchise, among others), who originated the idea and wrote the miniseries, was unable to stay on as writer due to time considerations, and, with only a handful of short stories for the regular Archie titles under my belt, editor-in-chief Victor Gorelick tapped me to write the new series (after the first stories were written by Uslan).

Now, according to the story on CBR: ":With the storyline generating renewed interest in the Riverdale brand around the world, Archie Comics recently announced a new magazine containing two brand new storylines launching in July: The Married Life: Archie Loves Betty and The Married Life: Archie Loves Veronica." Michael wrote a series bible for the first six issues, and, even as we speak, I've begun working out the story beats for issues #7-12.

CBR posts a few pages of Norm Breyfogle's pencils from the first chapter of the Veronica story; old friends and colleagues Josef Rubinstein (Archie Loves Betty) and Andrew Pepoy (Archie Loves Veronica) ink Norm's beautiful work.

Life With Archie: The Married Life #1 is on sale in comic shops July 28, 2010 (August 10 on newsstands). My "first" issue, #2, appears in late August).

Oh, sugar! Honey, honey...

Sugar, Sugar!

Having recently started writing for the good folks over at Archie Comics, I was invited to the opening of "The Art of Archie Comics" exhibit at New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art this Thursday evening past (curated by, among others, old friends Alex Simmons and Arie Kaplan). It is a great exhibit, full of fascinating art and memorabilia from the 65+ years of Archie and the gang, and the comics industry came out to see it, from Archie execs to DC Comics honchos, including Paul Levitz, to scads of old friends, from Charlie Kochman (Abrams Books) to Heidi (The Beat) MacDonald, to Michael Uslan, writer of the ongoing "Archie Marries Veronica" storyline, and many others. I even got to meet the granddaughter of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson...he was the man who pretty much invented the comic book industry and started that company which would one day become DC Comics.

On hand to help raise much needed funds for the richly deserving Museum were Archie artists Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz. They spent the entire evening behind a table banging out sketches for donations, to which I was happy to contribute, especially as I was rewarded with the following for my generosity:


If you're going to be in the Lower Manhattan area any time between now and the end of February, I hope you'll check it out.

Oh, and while I was in the neighborhood, I chatted with the Archie folks about my participation in what promises to be a major new project for the company from Mamaroneck, NY coming in 2010! Can't wait to be able to share the news and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be playing a part in the exciting things to come.