Talking points include some of my favorite stories.

I realized recently that some of the best comics from the 70?s feature the same writer?Steve Englehart. I decided to poke around the internet to see what I could find on him and ran across this cool interview from Comic Book Resources (CBR). The following are some excerpts from that interview (see my favorite issues in parenthesis):

Tue, October 11th, 2005 at 12:00AM PST

If you've not checked out any of CBR's recent chats with comic creators, you're really missing out. Last week writer Steve Englehart stopped by and answered questions from his fans. This lengthy chat covers his work at Marvel, DC Comics and with Malibu's Ultraverse titles. Sit back and enjoy.

Messchird: What was your first gig, Steve?

Steve Englehart: I did a 6-page monster story for Marvel, "Terror of the Pterodactyl." They liked it and offered me the Beast (Amazing Adventures #16), so that was my first superhero thing.

Steve Englehart: We came in when comics were on their way to their peak, we learned from masters, there were still greats from earlier eras alive...so we put together a pretty good package of skills and knowledge. I think today a lot of people lack that breadth of knowledge and then, we were a lot more interested in character than a lot of what goes on today.

Steve Englehart: Times change. Sometimes they change for the worse...

Jellobay: Any Marvel projects coming up?

Steve Englehart: I dunno if there are any Marvel projects coming. We were asked to do some, but we're not making much progress in that direction.

Brian Cronin: What was the reaction to your Beast at the time? Shock, horror, or acceptance?

Steve Englehart: My Beast was well-received, by fans and - more importantly - by Marvel.

Steve Englehart: I made use of his intelligence, and Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway had set up a good situation for him, so I ran with that.

Steve Englehart: The cool thing, in retrospect, was that it was the only X-Men book at the time.

Brian Cronin: You ended up using your Beast characters in your "Avengers" run. Is that something that you like to do? Stick with characters you enjoy, no matter the book?

Brian Cronin: It worked really well with Patsy and Hank in "Avengers."

Steve Englehart: Yes. When I did the Beast, there was no other X-book-- and when it came time to revamp the Avengers lineup, there was no other X-book, so he was available, and I really did like him.

Jellobay: Speaking of the Avengers, what are your thoughts of the new team?

Steve Englehart: I hate to give this answer, but I really don't comment on other people's work. It just seems like common courtesy if I don't like the stuff, and if I only talk about stuff I do like, it points up what I'm not talking about-- if you follow me. So, I take a pass.

Brian Cronin: Hehe. Good system.

Jellobay: Understand completely.

Stephane Garrelie: The first story by you that I read was Cap/Falcon/X-Men of your Secret Empire/Watergate story in "Captain America" (Captain America #173). Do you think that so political a story would be possible in the comics today?

Brian Cronin: Excellent point, Stephane. It is funny how stuff like Richard Pryor on SNL, or Steve's Cap, couldn't be done today, and yet we act like we are so "advanced" culturally.

Steve Englehart: I was asked about doing some "Captain America" today-- I said it would have to include politics-- they said "well, never mind."

Steve Englehart: But that specific story? On the one hand, I was writing about events that all of America was interested in, so it wasn't some ad hominem attack on Nixon. On the other hand, a lot of people are interested in what's going on now...

Messchird: Sometimes, I feel comics are dead here. But there's a rise in comics as movies ("Sin City," "Batman Begins," "Hulk"). What's your opinion on that?

Steve Englehart: It's tricky. I think movies are doing a lot of good for comics-- certainly making the general public aware of them as "acceptable" media, and reminding a lot of people that they liked these guys were they were "unacceptable." But at the same time, that's led to some people wanting comics to be movies, and they're not.

Steve Englehart: Case in point-- I used thought balloons in my "Dark Detective." It came as a great surprise to me that thought balloons aren't generally used any more. And why? Because you rarely have voice-overs in movies. But these aren't movies. In comics, thought balloons are a tool at the writer's disposal and it's stilly to toss it away.

Steve Englehart: Moreover-- a guy at San Diego pointed out something else-- thought balloons allow you to carry on the "D" story-- the underlying story that isn't in the main character's foremost thoughts. You can say, "Hmm, I wonder how Cap's project is going" just in passing, so that when you get to the real story about Cap's project, you've kept it in the readers' minds. Does that make sense?

Brian Cronin: Agreed. Can you imagine a novel written without any inner voice, just dialogue?

Stephane Garrelie: I read that you documented yourself a lot to write "Doctor Strange"... was it exceptional or is documentation an important part of your work?

Steve Englehart: When I wrote Doc in "Defenders"(Defenders #8), I wrote him as "one of the heroes, with magic powers." When I got his solo book, I thought, "I really ought to learn more about this, to write a credible magician" so I started reading up. I do stuff like that a lot-- it makes for better stories, yes, but also, I learn stuff I don't know.

Brian Cronin: Did you get any resistance at Marvel to your Patsy and Buzz reworking? Or did Marvel just say "do what you want with them."

Steve Englehart: I got no resistance to anything from Marvel in the '70s. The editorial theory was "we're giving you these books. If you can make them sell and meet your deadlines, you can keep doing them." That was it. This is why it was so great then. We were encouraged to be as creative as possible, so long as people kept buying-- and really, why should it be any other way?

[Complete article: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=5785]

[Avengers Vs Defenders: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1429944]

***