🗾Joining Marvel
A look back at early days
Welcome to March! Episodes of Storymaze feature: writing tips or a work-in-progress; something creative I’m digging; + a quote that’s got me thinking.
Cedric Cecchinel was kind enough to invite me to take part in a rather epic interview for Bruce Lit. But as I don’t read a word of French, I’m sharing out my answers in what still passes for my native tongue. (More cultured readers can find the whole thing — and jump ahead on future Storymaze shares — by visiting https://www.brucetringale.com/interview-d-g-chichester/)
I read that you worked for Marvel a few months in order to get money for your studies, then left, then being called back by Mary Jo Duffy to become an assistant editor at Epic. Were you working with Greg Wright at the time ? What was it like working alongside people like Archie Goodwin?
That's basically right. I had run through my funding in film school, and then had taken a job at Marvel. Luckily they had listed something in the student employment office for a typist, which then became a assistant to the assistant to the editor-in-chief job. So I was sitting outside Jim Shooter's office and learning by watching: osmosis while running all sorts of strange errands and doing all sorts of menial to interesting tasks around the office on an as-need basis.
I'd left at the end of the semester, and then over the summer I was called by Jo Duffy, who was one of the primary editors at Epic, and they were looking for an assistant. But I was still going back to school for another semester. And I explained this to her, that I would be interested in trying it out, thinking that this would be another way to sort of get ahead: to get out of school with a job in hand.
Not that comics were to be my long-term solution, but that they would be an opportunity for a bridge to work in film. And as I put that to her, she was okay that I would work the rest of the semester on that part-time basis, and then from there would become full-time, which again fit my goals.
My thinking was I'm gonna go west, I'm gonna go to Hollywood, I'm gonna make my fortune and career there. At that time I wasn't working with Greg Wright. We were best friends from college on. After school we had become roommates. And I was working at Marvel and he was thinking of taking a job after graduation someplace not too interesting: I want to say like the meat packing room at a local grocery store.
And I said that “That's ridiculous!” If you're gonna take a menial job of some kind, the group that I'm with now, Epic Comics, needs a receptionist — essentially. It'd be more fun, be more interesting, it's a more creative environment, and you can then get your legs under you and decide what else you want to do.
And so at that point he came in as that receptionist — which would then be a bridge to other things for him, to then become an assistant editor and then an editor in his own right. Much better process than chopping up a pork tongue or whatever at the supermarket.
Working alongside anybody at Epic — Jo Duffy, Margaret Clark, Robbin Brosterman, who was our designer, and especially Archie Goodwin — was just fabulous. These were all people who had the highest regard for creative standards, for creators of comics, for just doing better comics overall. And I learned a lot by leaning into that creator-owned ethos that they were promoting, because it gave me a lot of respect for the creator's vision.
To try to attain higher standards of comics in terms of production, because of what Epic represented, we were working with higher grade paper, higher grade artwork. You had to learn a lot, and I did through those associations and with those people.
Archie was just a remarkable opportunity to get to know the man behind the credits. I knew Jo a little bit from her writing, but Archie was really somebody whose name stood out: from the Warren comics, from the fabulous Aliens adaptation that he had done with Walt Simonson.
I never thought this is somebody I'm going to meet, and that was not a goal of mine. But to suddenly work with this individual, work for this individual — who had a fierce sense of humor, with a fierce commitment to creativity — it was just a joy. I was intimidated, but I also took what I could from those lessons.
And I think the biggest lesson was that respect for the creator and the creative process. Which meant that I could be a better editor, I think, for the people that I represented, when I would edit my own books. But also to think about how I would want to create my own work, and the standards I would hold myself up to, in terms of trying to tell a story and tell it clearly, and have it have meaning as well. So I was very fortunate, to get into the circle without any real plan, and it happened in a very “stars aligned” of way for me.
I expect you will appreciate Wicked for all the obvious reasons: excellent performances, wonderful songs, fab choreography (where you can actually see people dance and not just quick cut-cut-cut), and its deft ability to defy gravity. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
But watch it again and admire it anew for this extraordinary accomplishment: you don’t have to know one single thing about its world to enjoy the movie. You don’t have to have read the book, seen the musical or even be aware of The Wizard of Oz to be part of this story and characters and be energized by where they’re coming from and where they’re going. Sure, if you know any/all of that, you’re going to get a kick out of that reference or another connect-the-dots moment.
But if you’re not — it’s all truly self-contained. In this media world that’s gotten so overwrought with feckless fan-service, pointless callbacks and multiverse manure, this is a lesson in how to tell a story.
Axles Infernal #2 is my new comic in pre-launch on Kickstarter — I’d be grateful if you took a look and sign up for an alert when we’re ready to go. You’ll get Day 1 news of early bird rewards. Last year Graham Nolan was good enough to help get the word out on issue #1 via his YouTube channel: give a watch to see more of what this weird, wicked world is all about. (And thanks again Graham!)
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
— Anaïs Nin
End of the month I’m at GalaxyCon in Richmond, VA! Will I meet some of you fine folks face to face? First guest of the show to come by my table with a copy of any Daredevil: Black Armor issue or trade — the autograph is free. Show up in a Black Armor cosplay: get a full set of the original Fall From Grace comics!
Amazing Times
I’m D.G. Chichester. Seems pretentious to me, so if you’d rather just call me “Dan”, and have a go at the last name as Chai (like the tea) Chester (like it looks).
I earned my word-cred writing comic book titles like Daredevil, Terror Inc., Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. I like weird tales, so if things here bend that way — now you know why!
Folks seem to like the comic book adventures I’ve written, so if you haven’t checked one out — please do. Many are now available in fab collected editions — including the recent rad retro
For the moments between newsletters…
There were a lot of epic mullets in those days: it may have been a price of admission to work at Marvel! 🤪 Greg Wright and Howard Mackie come to mind as particular masters of the hair craft. I can't recall ever covering the subject with Clive directly, but maybe I should give him a call about it? 🤣
Wonderful recollections, Dan. That’s wonderful you got into Marvel that way. Your marvelous mullet reminds me of Clive Barker around that time too. Maybe another reason why you were destined to work together? 😉 Thanks -as always- for sharing.