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Direct Conversations: Talks with Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators
By the mid-1970s, the comic book industry was undergoing one of the most significant shifts in its 40-year history. [jk1] An older readership was demanding more sophisticated art and storytelling even as the medium’s entire distribution model was pivoting from traditional newsstands and mom-and-pop retail shops to a growing network of comic book specialty shops appearing around the country.
Even the old-guard management at DC Comics recognized that the new generation of readers called for a new generation of creators, writers, and artists closer to the age and interests of these new fans than the 20-, 30-, or even 40-year veterans still responsible for most of the publisher’s output.
And the timing couldn’t have been better. The growth of the 1960s fandom movement had produced countless young wannabes anxious for the opportunity to “go pro.”
Brooklyn-born Paul Kupperberg made the jump from fan to professional writer in 1975. Now, nearly half a century later, he’s sat down to reminisce about the good- (and some not-so-good-) old days of their Bronze Age beginnings with ten friends and colleagues from the Howard Chaykin, Jack C. Harris, Tony Isabella, Paul Levitz, Steve Mitchell, Bob Rozakis, Joe Staton, Anthony Tollin, Bob Toomey, and Michael Uslan.
Even the old-guard management at DC Comics recognized that the new generation of readers called for a new generation of creators, writers, and artists closer to the age and interests of these new fans than the 20-, 30-, or even 40-year veterans still responsible for most of the publisher’s output.
And the timing couldn’t have been better. The growth of the 1960s fandom movement had produced countless young wannabes anxious for the opportunity to “go pro.”
Brooklyn-born Paul Kupperberg made the jump from fan to professional writer in 1975. Now, nearly half a century later, he’s sat down to reminisce about the good- (and some not-so-good-) old days of their Bronze Age beginnings with ten friends and colleagues from the Howard Chaykin, Jack C. Harris, Tony Isabella, Paul Levitz, Steve Mitchell, Bob Rozakis, Joe Staton, Anthony Tollin, Bob Toomey, and Michael Uslan.
- GenresComics
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2023
About the author
Paul Kupperberg
768 books52 followersPaul Kupperberg is a nearly 50-year veteran of the comic book industry as a writer and editor for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Marvel, Bongo Charlton, and many more. He is also the author of more than three dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, as well as of short stories, articles, and essays for Crazy 8 Press, Heliosphere, Titan Books, Stone Arch Books, Rosen Publishing, Citadel Press, Pocket Books, TwoMorrows, and others.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 11, 2023
Yes, I wrote the intro and that makes me biased.
But, if you are a fan of Bronze Age comics and/or DC Comics, this book is a treasure trove of anecdotes and stories, recreating a never-to-be-repeated era. These are the recollections of the first real generation of comics fans who gained employment, notably at DC.
Paul, who was there and got in during the era, talks with those who preceded him by a few years or even a few months. While telling their unique stories, you get overlapping versions of events from 1970-79, or thereabouts.
I really appreciated Paul tracking down Bob Toomey, who was briefly a regular name in the credits. And while I knew many of their stories, it was fun to see the likes of Toomey, Anthony Tolllin, Howard Chaykin, Joe Staton, Bob Rozaakis, Jack C., Harris, Tony Isabella, Steve Mitchel, and Michael Uslan recount these early moments from their long careers.
In retrospect, unsung heroes from Sol Harrison to Murray Boltinoff get their (over)due praise. The men and women discussed here are complex people, and you get a sense of them from these stories.
But, if you are a fan of Bronze Age comics and/or DC Comics, this book is a treasure trove of anecdotes and stories, recreating a never-to-be-repeated era. These are the recollections of the first real generation of comics fans who gained employment, notably at DC.
Paul, who was there and got in during the era, talks with those who preceded him by a few years or even a few months. While telling their unique stories, you get overlapping versions of events from 1970-79, or thereabouts.
I really appreciated Paul tracking down Bob Toomey, who was briefly a regular name in the credits. And while I knew many of their stories, it was fun to see the likes of Toomey, Anthony Tolllin, Howard Chaykin, Joe Staton, Bob Rozaakis, Jack C., Harris, Tony Isabella, Steve Mitchel, and Michael Uslan recount these early moments from their long careers.
In retrospect, unsung heroes from Sol Harrison to Murray Boltinoff get their (over)due praise. The men and women discussed here are complex people, and you get a sense of them from these stories.
April 9, 2023
Wonderful book! “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” by Paul Kupperberg (Crazy 8 Press, 2023). A sort of follow up to his “Directs Comments: Comic Book Creators in Their Own Words” book also self-published by the author through Crazy 8 Press in 2021).
Kupperberg joined DC Comics in 1975 as a freelance writer and then went on staff there (the first of a couple times) two years later in 1977. But he was already a familiar name and face for many working at DC’s New York City offices because of his many visits there for the DC weekly office tours open to the public, his activity in the very active comics “fandom” (those who not only read the comic books but also created amateur “fanzines” and who attended the early comic book conventions), and because of his older brother, Alan Kupperberg, who was hired onto DC’s production staff in 1971 straight out of high school.
“Direct Conversations” is a book of ten newly conducted interviews by Kupperberg with his fellow comics creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, and editors) who were not only all but one co-workers with him at one point or another at DC, but who all were part of that first great influx of new comic book creators and editors to come in at the start of the 1970s who had all started out as comic book readers and collectors. The older artists, writers, and editors already there at DC that they would be joining (and learning from) had basically been the same ones from the start of the American comic book industry in the late 1930s and 1940s on up to the beginning of the 1970s. There were a few exceptions, like artist Neal Adams, and writer, Roy Thomas, but for the most part DC Comics was a “closed shop” (very difficult for anyone new to come into it) throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But the changing nature of the industry—including the drying up of the traditional newsstand distribution system in favor of what would become the direct market system selling most comic books through dedicated comic book shops, which resulted in expanded line ups and the short term return of anthology type titles requiring as many as four to six additional “back-up stories” per issue—as well as the inevitable aging out of the older generation opened the doors to many young new faces like Kupperberg and those he interviews here.
His interview subject’s (following an introduction by Robert Greenberger, who also came to work at DC but just a bit too late to qualify as one of the ten subjects interviewed) are, in the order they appear, Paul Levitz, Anthony Tollin, Steve Mitchell, Joe Staton, Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Howard V. Chaykin, Bob Toomey, Tony Isabella, and Michael Uslan. I’m not going to go into who all of these people are here but for anyone who regularly read DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s, many if not most of these names are very familiar. As are the legendary figures they reminisce about working with and for back in those early years: Julius Schwartz, Sol Harrison, Carmine Infantino, Jack Adler, Murray Boltinoff, Joe Kubert, plus many many less familiar names and those that only they who worked there would have any reason to know, like the various secretaries, proofreaders, reprints editors, etc.
Some of the ones interviewed here were unofficially known at the time as “the Junior Woodchucks” (after Disney’s Huey, Dewey, and Louie comic books). Others, including Kupperberg, escaped that particular label, but they all share a very interesting bond in the shared experiences at DC during what later became known as comics “Bronze Age”.
(I was born in 1972 and was reading comic books by the end of the 1970s, so this was my own personal entry point into comic books, the later part of the Bronze Age, late 1970s/early 1980s. And at that time, older issues from the early 1970s were still quite plentiful and easy to acquire.)
I give “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” my highest recommendation for all of the Bronze Age DC Comics fans out there, plus anyone in general who likes to read about comic books “behind the scenes”/history. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Checked out from my local public library, Tampa/Hillsborough Public Library, which added it to their collection upon my request.)
Kupperberg joined DC Comics in 1975 as a freelance writer and then went on staff there (the first of a couple times) two years later in 1977. But he was already a familiar name and face for many working at DC’s New York City offices because of his many visits there for the DC weekly office tours open to the public, his activity in the very active comics “fandom” (those who not only read the comic books but also created amateur “fanzines” and who attended the early comic book conventions), and because of his older brother, Alan Kupperberg, who was hired onto DC’s production staff in 1971 straight out of high school.
“Direct Conversations” is a book of ten newly conducted interviews by Kupperberg with his fellow comics creators (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, and editors) who were not only all but one co-workers with him at one point or another at DC, but who all were part of that first great influx of new comic book creators and editors to come in at the start of the 1970s who had all started out as comic book readers and collectors. The older artists, writers, and editors already there at DC that they would be joining (and learning from) had basically been the same ones from the start of the American comic book industry in the late 1930s and 1940s on up to the beginning of the 1970s. There were a few exceptions, like artist Neal Adams, and writer, Roy Thomas, but for the most part DC Comics was a “closed shop” (very difficult for anyone new to come into it) throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But the changing nature of the industry—including the drying up of the traditional newsstand distribution system in favor of what would become the direct market system selling most comic books through dedicated comic book shops, which resulted in expanded line ups and the short term return of anthology type titles requiring as many as four to six additional “back-up stories” per issue—as well as the inevitable aging out of the older generation opened the doors to many young new faces like Kupperberg and those he interviews here.
His interview subject’s (following an introduction by Robert Greenberger, who also came to work at DC but just a bit too late to qualify as one of the ten subjects interviewed) are, in the order they appear, Paul Levitz, Anthony Tollin, Steve Mitchell, Joe Staton, Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Howard V. Chaykin, Bob Toomey, Tony Isabella, and Michael Uslan. I’m not going to go into who all of these people are here but for anyone who regularly read DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s, many if not most of these names are very familiar. As are the legendary figures they reminisce about working with and for back in those early years: Julius Schwartz, Sol Harrison, Carmine Infantino, Jack Adler, Murray Boltinoff, Joe Kubert, plus many many less familiar names and those that only they who worked there would have any reason to know, like the various secretaries, proofreaders, reprints editors, etc.
Some of the ones interviewed here were unofficially known at the time as “the Junior Woodchucks” (after Disney’s Huey, Dewey, and Louie comic books). Others, including Kupperberg, escaped that particular label, but they all share a very interesting bond in the shared experiences at DC during what later became known as comics “Bronze Age”.
(I was born in 1972 and was reading comic books by the end of the 1970s, so this was my own personal entry point into comic books, the later part of the Bronze Age, late 1970s/early 1980s. And at that time, older issues from the early 1970s were still quite plentiful and easy to acquire.)
I give “Direct Conversations: Talks With Fellow DC Comics Bronze Age Creators” my highest recommendation for all of the Bronze Age DC Comics fans out there, plus anyone in general who likes to read about comic books “behind the scenes”/history. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Checked out from my local public library, Tampa/Hillsborough Public Library, which added it to their collection upon my request.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews