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All right gang, we are gonna start talking live callers from around the world. Sal, there’s ten people in this chatroom that want to talk to you. You’ve got fans around the world buddy.

All right gang, we are gonna start talking live callers from around the world. Sal, there’s ten people in this chatroom that want to talk to you. You’ve got fans around the world buddy.

Oh my gosh, I’m overwhelmed and I mean that sincerely.

All right.

Something I’ve never gotten used to.

We’re gonna add one. Here were go. This is Kevin Cushing; he’s an aspiring comic book writer. Kevin, welcome.

Hi Kevin, how are you?

Hey, how is the show going so far?

All those guys…wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hello folks, this is an honor.

What’s your question for Sal?

Yes, it is.

How you doing Kevin?

Doing good. How you doing sir?

I’m just doing fine.

What’s your question for Sal, Kevin?

Sal, well, I heard, and Brad already introduced me as an aspiring comic book writer, so my question was as regards to writing…J. M. Straczynski has been quoted as saying that his twenty two page comic scripts often run up to fifty pages because he puts so much details in the panel descriptions. I was wondering…(breaks up)…writer…do you like…

I’m sorry Kevin, you broke up a little bit there and I didn’t quite hear you.

Huh, well the question is do you prefer the incredibly long descriptions on the panels like Mr. Straczynski does where you really can visualize exactly when you read it, exactly what the writer wants, or prefer when you’re given more creative freedom where you can add your own spin to it.

Oh well, the answer to that is fairly obvious: I prefer the freedom. When I first started working at Marvel, when Stan first gave me some assignment, his whole approach to comics was to allow the illustrators to illustrate; you were just given a brief outline. When I worked with Roy Thomas, although Roy’s plots were probably just a bit more detailed than Stan’s, they were still very loose and allowed the artist a tremendous amount of freedom. You know, it was a very successful formula; it made Marvel number one in the industry and I can’t understand why it is changed - I definitely prefer the latter approach. No question about it.

So you’re not a full script fan at all?

Not at all, not at all, as a matter of fact, I despise it with a passion. (Laughter)

So what’s your recommendation, or Tom too, for Kevin, how do you break into the business?

I think Tom would be the logical one to answer this question. Go ahead Tom.

Well, what I always suggest, you know, is, if you want to be a writer, then become a writer first, as opposed to just being a comic book writer. You know, I think it’s very important that you learn how to control your craft because whether you do fiction or non-fiction, the world is always gonna need storytellers. The comic books may be with us five years from now or maybe evolve into a whole new beast on the Internet, you know, or in print or something else like that. I always use Pulp magazine as an example. Many years ago, there were pulp magazines, do you even know what they are?

Yes, yes, I do actually.

Okay, well, today they still exist but today we call them Star Trek novels. (Laughter)

(Laughing) I love that, that’s awesome

But, you know, if you are a writer and can tell stories and can tell them in a variety of media, then you will always have work.

That’s very good advice sir.

Well, actually, If I may, Tom is absolute right. Always approach it as a craft, because you actually do yourself a disservice if you get too far into the whole tree as an artform thing. Because if you want to do this for a living, you’re gonna have to recognize it as a craft and more than an artform. And where the line is, IMO, the line is in how people respond to it; that’s what elevates it to art. I think what Tom is saying by becoming a writer first, if you’re able to tell a story, then the format and the way, the template, for whatever industry you are working in, however they prefer to see it, becomes secondary to being able to construct a story and execute a story under whatever format you’re given. It’s gonna make you infinitely more hirable if you’re a just good writer that can adapt. Right Tom?

That’s an incredible amount of wisdom to gain in these few minutes.

You just got a fantastic amount of wonderful advice from two of the consummate professionals in the business, Kevin, and if I can just add my two senses from an (inaudible) point of view, where Ron was talking pretty much about writing. I tell young artist the same thing. You got to learn to get down to the very basics – what I tell them is: “learn how to draw”. If you can draw, I think this is what Tom and Ron were trying to get across to you, so far as writing is concern, …if you learn how to draw and learn that art and become proficient at it, then you can not only do comics, you can do anything, because drawing is the key. And I wish I could put it as eloquently as Michelangelo did about 550 years ago but essentially he said the same thing. Who drew better than Michelangelo, one of the greatest draftsmen that ever lived: learn how to draw and you can do anything. So the same thing applies to your writing craft.

I forgot to mention that Kevin is from Kentucky, so the first one from the United States.

Well, I guess the deck is stacked against you then Kevin. You’re actually literate. (Laughter)

But we wish you a lot of luck (Laughter)

Yes we do Ron…are there any comic book companies in Kentucky. Maybe Tom, Ron and I could get a little bit more work (inaudible).

You’d think they all be in Kentucky (Laughter)

Well Kevin, as always, thanks for calling buddy.

Well, happy anniversary Mr. Buscema and thank you all for answering my questions. You were great.

Thank you so much Kevin and I appreciate your call.

All right, one down, nine more to go.

Let’s knock them off.

We’re gonna go to Virginia and it’s a girl.

Cool.

This is an all-boy’s club, until we have.

This is probably my daughter-in-law. (Laughter)

Hey Stella, how you doing...it’s Spider-Girl from our website.

I’m doing well, how are you all doing?

Doing fine Stella, how are you doing dear?

I’m good…waiting for the semester to being tomorrow unfortunately

Waiting for what to begin tomorrow?

Semester.

I wouldn’t envy you…I wish I was going to school again.

She’s an architecture major, is that right Stella?

Yes.

Fantastic, congratulations, wow, what a wonderful profession.

That’s a great field.

Stella, what is your question for Sal?

My question is what has been your greatest challenge over the years, whether in art or in the comic book industry and how have you grown from that experience?

Working with Tom and Ron is always a challenge because I have to save these guys every month. You know, it’s really difficult and the strain is overwhelming.

Amen.

No, I’m just kidding. I think the greatest challenge…Danny Fingeroth, I don’t know if you heard the first part of this little session…Danny Fingeroth touched upon it. If you stay current and try to improve constantly because art is a lifetime…any creative endeavor, including your architecture is a lifetime learning endeavor….you never stop learning. When you stop, when you think you know it all…when you think you don’t need to learn anymore…you don’t need to improve anymore, that is when you begin to diminish. Because you have to continue to grow, as an artist, as an architect, as a writer. If you do not, the alternative to that growth is death. I believe that and I’ve always believed it and that, to me, has been the biggest challenge. I’m gonna be 73 years old this month; I’m amazed that I’ve even made that admission. But the simple fact of the matter is that, for an entire, certainly for my whole adult life, I have been in this commercial art business, including comic books, which is certainly a part of commercial art, and I’ve always tried to continue to grow as an artist. It is inevitable, this is what you have to do. I have given this advice to so many young artist…and this is what I would say to you. Does that help any?

It does, yeah.

That is my greatest challenge. Constantly trying to improve and get better and better and better.

Sal, don’t you have a daughter. She just did a Spider-Girl variant cover, I think.

That is actually my grandniece. That is John’s granddaughter who did that cover.

See, it still grows in the family, the Buscema family…well Stella…

(Interrupts) Evidently it does. I have a son who is pretty talented. I thought for a period time that he might pursue an art career, but he really didn’t have the desire to do it. And that desire, it’s a must and it’s got to be there.

You got to have it in your blood and burning desire to do it.

Well, Stella, I appreciate you calling in.

Yeah , thank you.

Thank you Stella.

Congratulations.

Good luck in your career.

Thank you so much…you too…I hope you buy yourself some jewelry to celebrate this momentous event of forty years.

You hope I what?

Buy some jewelry for yourself…you know get some bling. (Laughter)

Ooohh…My wife will probably talk me into buying jewelry for her. (Laughter)

What’s the medal for forty years…isn’t it gold…50?

I think it’s a pin…lead…(Laughter)

It’s lead! (Laughter)

Pepperoni! (Laughter)

It’s pepperoni…yes…thank you Tom. (Laughter)

Tom (is) still thinking about his pizza. (Laughter)

I love it. Thank you Stella.

Thank you.

Thank you Stella, nice talking to you.

You too.

I love it. All right.

Have you guys noticed…Brad did you notice? Sal just, you kow, very generously quoted Danny Fingeroth in talking about how Sal always evolved and everything…do you remember what my opening comments were about Sal Buscema, about how he was an inspiration to me. Does he quote me, does he quote me? No, he quotes Danny Fingeroth! (Laughter)

That’s because you require a commission when we quote you.

Ahh…nice.

You see what I have to put up with on a monthly basis Brad? I mean…it’s (Inaudible)…

Ron, nobody ever listens to anything you say.

That’s the problem, that’s the problem.

Now, we’re gonna try Zack one more time in Texas. He said he’s fixed his computer and he’s ready to go. Let’s see if this works…try one more time. Zack, are you there?

Can you hear me now?

Zach, there you are.

Hey Zach, how are you?

I’m doing great, how are you sir?

We thought there for a minute you flew the coop.

I had my microphone on mute so I could hear your guys but you guys couldn’t hear me.

Zack, hold your microphone close to your mouth. (Laughter)

I’m not hearing you too well right now, Zack.

Okay, can you hear me now.

Yeah that’s better.

There you are.

Zack is a big clone saga fan, big Spider-Girl fan. He’s about the biggest fan we have on our message board.

How big are you Zack?

He’s 420…no, I’m just kidding. (Laughter)

Well, I now have every single issue ever published. I finally got my hands on What If #105. So, I’ve pretty much been a fan from the beginning. There was a time where I wasn’t reading and they weren’t, huh, putting them out at the shop I was getting them at. So I couldn’t really get them; there was no access to them. I wasn’t going to a comic shop at that time..

Hold on a second guys, we just lost Tom. Let me add Tom one more time.

Oh-ho.

Hi Ron! How are you sir?

The pizza probably got in the way or something.

I’m fine Zack.

Zack, you’re bad luck. You’re making me cancel my stuff.

Oh Zack, it’s not your fault.

Tom, you’re back. We lost you buddy.

Yeah, listen, did you lose me or did you ditch me? (Laughter)

Tom, don’t make him answer that.

Ron made me do it, I’ll just tell you right now.

(Inaudible)

Zack, what is your question?

So, quick question, I know you probably may have already answered this before, but on the Amazing Spider-Man Family with you guys doing Spider-Girl in there, is it gonna be 17 pages or is it gonna be a full issue?

Gee, I don’t know, you have to ask Tom and Ron.

What’s the latest on that Tom?

The first story, they told me, is 22 pages.

How many?

22 pages.

The first one is going to be 22. After that, I have been told that it could be 16 pages, maybe it’s 22 pages, or maybe it’s 20 pages, I don’t know, I think it’s 16, no, I think it could be 22. (Laughter)

Zack, we don’t know. (Laughter)

I think what’s gonna happen Zack is they’re gonna keep reducing it until it gets down to one page and then we’re gonna disappear.

Yeah, well, I don’t think the loyal fanbase is gonna let that happen.

Obviously, I’m just kidding. But I…

I think it’s actually gonna be the opposite Zack. I think they’re gonna keep adding pages as the month progresses, depending on what other work they’re getting in. Tom is gonna be getting phone calls like, can you add another five pages? (Laughter) Can you add another ten pages?

You know what’s that is going to do to our deadline Ron? (Laughter)

What deadline Sal…that’s modern comics!

Sal has never missed a deadline, this book is gonna do it!

Sal has never missed a deadline…he’s the anchor man.

I’m slowing down in my old age.

Sal, my question for you sir is, after all these years, is there one writer that you’ve always wanted to work with?

That I always wanted to work with?

Tom DeFalco!! (Laughter)

There’s your answer Zack! (Laughter)

Oh, come on now!

Well, if you want to hear something funny…Sal and Tom, you guys were the first writer/artist combo of the very first comic book I have ever read.

Is that right?

That is correct. Spectacular Spider-Man #223, right in the midst of the Clone Saga.

Oh my gosh.

Tom is right. Every issue is somebody’s first.

Exactly, and I’ve been reading ever since so I thank you guys for providing me the link to be doing what I’m doing today, which is help hosting a podcast with Brad Douglas.

To answer Zack’s question and this is gonna seem very strange, because Stan was on just a short while ago…

I knew it was gonna be this!

Believe it or not. I have been so blessed because I’ve been able to work with some many terrific writers…I don’t know…maybe Tom (Laughter)…anyways. I really had the privilege of working with so many terrific writers, where the chemistry was just fantastic between us. And seriously, Tom and I had that going for us too. At least, I thought about it in those terms as far as I was concerned. But I never really got to work with Stan. Stan is the only guy I had never really work with. He called me one time to do an Amazing Spider-Man but he didn’t actually send me the plot or didn’t tell me…a lot of times he would give the plot over the phone…and he said the reason he wanted me to do it…he said John Romita was gonna be on vacation – he was doing the book at the time. And he said he had given John the plot an John was doing very very rough breakdowns…I mean very very simple breakdowns on it. They wanted me to finish the book, to tighten it up, finish the penciling and ink it. That was the only time that I worked on a Stan Lee book. And, you know, Stan is, as they say, a legend in his own time. I never had the pleasure of working with Stan. But I had the pleasure of working with so many other terrific writers.

Although, If I may Sal, you did work with Stan for a couple of sunday Spider-Man strip.

Oh, that’s right.

You came on the Sundays after I left and you work on those for quite a while.

I knew there was a reason you had to be on this show. (Laughter)

In fact, you were working full script with Stan, so tell the world how much you hated that! (Laughter)

Well, there was only, what was it five, panels, for God’s sake.

I don’t know, well you just said you hated full scripts!! (Laughter)

Well, I did, and I still do, right. You’re right though Ron, I totally forgot about that.

Ron, what year are we talking about with the Sunday strips?

Oh my gosh, they’re easy to find Brad. Look for the really good ones that I did and then look for a slide in quality. (Laughter) No it was…we were all getting inked by Joe Sinnott. It was after, I think, we were on (Fantastic) Four, Tom, remember? Because I told Stan…

That would have been what…the early nineties?

Late eighties.

That’s as close as we can come Brad.

RF: Unfortunately it is.

Unfortunately it is.

That’s three minds and we got early nineties.

(Chuckling) Yeah right.

It was late seventies. We were cranking on Thor and I told Stan the instant it starts to affect my Thor deadlines, I’m gonna have to give this up. I ended up doing like nine weeks. And Sal was the guy he tapped to pick up the slack and run with it. And I don’t even know how many, you did quite a few Sal, I don’t know how many you did Sal?

I may have a done about a half a dozen, I think Ron. I’m not sure I did that many.

Was that before Alex Saviuk and after Paul Ryan, I’m not sure?

I think it was before Alex, yes. And, huh, oh my gosh, I can’t, I say a half a dozen but I may be exaggerating there. It may not have been that many. I did a bunch of the dailies too…but usually when they had deadline problems. (Laughter)

Well, Zack, I appreciate you calling in as always my friend.

Thank you very much Zack and good talking to you.

Thank you and congratulations on our achievement sir.

Well, thank you, I appreciate that greatly, thank you.

Okay, we’re going out of the United States for this next one

Oh my gosh…Zimbabwe (Laughter) Do they have comic books in Zimbabwe? (Laughter)

It’s another guy that you beat at pool. (Laughter) We’re going to New Brunswick, Canada, with Sebastien.

Sebastien, you on the line?

Yes I am Brad.

Hey Sebastien.

Hi Sebastien.

Hi Sal, how are you?

I’m doing just fine my friend, how are you doing? I just had a wonderful vacation in your country, just this past spring. We went to Banff, and what an absolutely spectacular place to visit.

I have to tell you a little bit about Sebastien Sal. Sebastien runs the Sal Buscema fan website…Sebastien, I’m getting a little bit of a feedback from you …turn your speakers off if you can.

That was the site I was telling you about Sal… you checked it out remember?

Yeah, yeah.

He’s the webmaster of it. What’s your question for Sal, Sebastien?

Sal, first of all, it’s a real honor, I guess, to be able to talk to you. I’m really glad Brad was able to get you on.

Thank you Sebastien, the honor is all mine really.

My first question, I guess, is, you know, you’ve been an artist for 40 years with Marvel (and DC) and, I was gonna ask this question last time when you weren’t there, so I tried to remember what it was and basically, out of those 40 years, was there ever a time where you questioned yourself, where you said, you know, “comic books are not for me” and maybe I should take my art and go into another field, maybe more commercial art, or was it because you love of comics that you always came back to penciling comic books.

Sebastien, honestly…hello.

He’s still here.

Oh we’re getting more feedback.

Honestly, I can say no. That thought never occurred to me. You would have no way of knowing this, but I was a commercial artist for about 15 years before I got into comic books. And I did practically everything that you can do in commercial art. As a matter of fact, I was even learning, from a couple friends of mine, learning animation, which is now a dead art, so I’m glad I didn’t get any further with that. (Laughter) I had done just about everything that I could do in commercial art, and comic books were something that was always close to my heart, and I always wanted to do them. And when I finally got the opportunity to do them, it was just great. The first few years was a struggle for me because frankly I was learning how to illustrate comic books. Once I got to a point where I felt comfortable about what I was doing, it was just a lot of fun…it really was…when I think back about it…to be able to earn a living this way is just beyond anything I could have imagine. It’s been wonderful…I’ve been a very blessed guy and as I tell everybody, it sure beats working. (Laughter) It’s not work really…it’s just a lot of fun…you sit around and draw silly pictures. And now is the best part of it because my first love has always been inking and I get to ink, in my estimation, one of the best pencillers in the business and that is Ron Frenz. Also, able to work with Tom, because together these guys they turn out an absolutely magnificent book, which is just a joy to work on. I hope this answers your question.

I thought we were supposed to blow sunshine up your behind Sal, not the other way around.

I don’t hear a damn thing coming from you Ron, so I figured I better say something.

What is it about Sal’s art that you love so much because it’s fair to say he’s your favorite?

Yeah, I’m fascinated to hear this myself.

I don’t know what it is…I guess…

Neither do I Sebastien. (Laughter)

I always love drawing ever since I was a kid and I still draw now. And, you know, I was first attracted to European comics because I’m French, you know, and when I came into starting to love comic books, it was back in the early nineties and Sal, you were the Penciller on Spectacular Spider-Man and, I don’t know…I guess…

(Interrupts) and the inker too If I recall.

That’s right, you were doing both jobs. And I always thought, and I believe I even read that somewhere, and I personally agree with that, that you always preferred when you were able to ink your own pencil, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, and there’s just something about your art, to me, every time, I could take all the words away from the comics, and just looking at your page layout and the way you had things presented on the page, I could almost put my own thoughts in the word balloons and just kind of almost make up my own story, I guess.

Sebastien, you’re very very kind. I don’t know what to say, except thank you very much.

You’re very welcome.

A wonderful compliment indeed.

I mean, you are, and Brad will agree to that, you, and Ron as well, you guys are phenomenal storytellers.

Hey, don’t worry about me Sebastien, it’s all about Sal. Where do you think I learned it? (Laughter)

I just want to make sure you don’t feel abandon Ron

That’s okay.

He says he’s learned it from me, but now the pupil has become the master.

(Laughter)

I look at you guy’s work on Spider-Girl and, you know, Ron is also a phenomenal artist, in my opinion. I think you guys are doing work, you’re from the old school of Marvel Comics and nowadays, you don’t get guys that are great storytellers like you guys are, I’ll tell you that right now. You blow my mind every time I open and old comic book and I look at it, it’s just crazy, I love it.

You’re absolutely right Sebastien (Laughter).

You are Sebastien, you know. What you said about storytelling and that you don’t see a lot of it today. That’s truly unfortunate because that’s what comic books are all about, the storytelling. And if the storytelling is not there, you know, what good are they?

Exactly.

What I suggest is that everybody gets fired and Ron and I do all the comic books for Marvel.

Sal, I thought you were semi-retired. (Laughter)

Yeah, that’s what they tell me Brad, but I think I’m working harder now than I ever did. (Laughter) I’ll keep on going as long as I can.

Sebastien, I want to mention, this would be a great time for me to interject something with Sebastien being such a big Sal fan and everything. In issue 27 and in issue 28, actually it might be 28 and 29? There are panels; there is a panel in the next issue that comes out on Wednesday that Sal Buscema penciled.

Oh, wow.

Is that right?

And if you can pick, if you can accurately pick the panel that he penciled, there is gonna be a huge prize in it.

I penciled the whole panel?

Well yeah, you penciled, I don’t want to give away what it was, but you did. And slowly, what we’re gonna try to do is I’m gonna try to screw up at least enough every issue that Sal will have to pencil more and more. And in 29, he had to pencilled something too. There’s something in 29 that he penciled; Sal Buscema penciled and inked. And I’m gonna try to screw up more and more so that as we get into Spider-Man Family, if I screw up enough, we’ll actually have new Sal pages…

(Interrupts) And I want to get paid for this! (Laughter)

…that all Sal fans can look at and go “ooh” and “aah”

As a matter of fact, my price has just gone up.

Sebastien has one more question…what do you got for Sal?

I have two, but we can do one, it doesn’t matter. Sal, you’ve done the most issues of Spider-Man. Of all the artists that have pencilled Spider-Man, you’re the one who has done the most pages.

I guess…I don’t know…John Romita Jr. might challenge that because he’s been on Amazing for the longest of time, I think.

(Inaudible)…still working on the current title I guess.

But, huh, is there a story or an arc in particular, let’s say out of Spectacular Spider-Man, that you were a big fan of, that you just loved penciling, if you can remember that far, it would be maybe in the late eighties.

It’s difficult for me to say Sebastien because first of all we’re talking about a few years ago and talking about a long run. (Inaudible due to feedback) I’m sorry…am I hearing myself, is that feedback that I’m hearing?

A little bit but go ahead Sal.

I think…I really enjoyed the clone stories that Tom and I did. I also enjoyed a couple of the books that I worked on with Mark Dematteis. Mark wrote some extraordinary stuff. As a matter of fact, the one story, I’ve told this story before, huh, I think it is the death of Harry Osborn.

Right..number 200.

Was it 200? Okay, you see, who knew what number it was…I sure didn’t. Mark told me the last two pages, which I, the last two pages that I penciled. He decided not to put any dialogue in them because he thought that the pictures told the story and he didn’t want to add anymore so that just blew me away and I was really gratified about that.

I think, it just goes to show your storytelling abilities, I guess.

I learned it all from Ron. (Laughter)

Actually, that story was just reprinted in Amazing Spider-Man Family #3.

More royalties. Man, I’m gonna be getting checks this year coming out of the woodwork. That’s fantastic.

Sebastien, before you go, let’s give a plug for your website. Your Sal Buscema fan site.

Sure. It’s www.angelfire.com/ca/Entertaining. That’s Entertaining with a capital E.

Oh my gosh, Sebastien, you have to repeat that. Can you say it slowly.

Okay, it’s triple “W” dot angelfire.com.

angelspider?

angelfire

angelfire

Okay, you know this Ron?

Yes.

Okay, I’ll get it from Ron, don’t worry, cause I’m not hearing you too well.

It’s also on my link page at the spidermancrawlspace.

Okay.

Actually Sebastien, Sal has looked at it because he was all creeped out that you knew where he went to school and everything (Laughter) so I said: “Welcome to the age of google”.

Well, you know, I forgot where it was.

I love it…Sebastien, thank you for calling in my friend.

As I leave, I know there are other people that I want to talk, I find…I can tell, it seems you are a very private person because I would look on the Internet and I could not find anything. There is very little information out there. So, I kind of tabulated the information from various sources.

It’s because nothing has ever really happened to me Sebastien…it’s been a very dull life, you know. (Laughter)

I almost feel like I’m a stalker or something. (Laughter)

No, not at all Sebastien…if you go on google maps though, Sal will lean out his window and wave (Laughter)

That’s, right. (Laughter)

Sebastien, thank you again sir.

Thank you so much. Good talking to you.

Nice talking to you Sal.

Take care Seb.

That was great. All right, who else do we have? We’re gonna go…

(Interrupts) By the way Brad, before you get the next caller in, I did the Spider-Man strip in 1992 and it was the end of 1992, beginning of 1993, so Sal would have picked up right after that.

All right, we’re going to Staten Island, New York.

The three that I did right. (Laughter)

Staten Island, New York.

I’m sorry, what, where we going Brad?

Staten Island, New York.

Staten Island!! Well, I was next door in Brooklyn

Here’s Will, welcome Will.

Hi Will, how are you?

Hey, pretty good, pretty good.

Turn your microphone up Will.

Boy, you can tell he’s from NY huh (Laughter).

Will, speak louder sir.

Too low…too low?

Too low, a little higher.

Oh boy…

There you are.

So far, so good.

We can hear you fine.

Will, what’s your question for Sal buddy?

All right, from my understanding, both Sal and Ron are there?

And Tom!

Yes, and Tom DeFalco too. You’ve got a triple threat here buddy.

Awesome, this is my main question here; I had a few questions but I just whittled it down to one. My question is to Sal, and this applies to Ron as well. Sal, I find your inking on Ron Frenz to be a natural fit, given that both of your styles bear similarities to each other but retain their own uniqueness; would it be fair to say that you find Ron to be, in essence, your artistic successor?

Heck, why not, you know…to be succeeded by Ron would be a privilege.

(Laughter) Why not! I love it. Why not!

Guys, guys, I’m gonna mention something that neither of these two guys have mentioned. The only person in the world who cannot see Sal Buscema’s influence on Ron Frenz’s pencils is Sal Buscema. (Laughter) Everybody else in the world look at Ron’s stuff and can see the influence, except for Sal.

That is the truth. I think it may very well have been you Tom that told me that Ron was very influenced by me earlier in his career. I said, words to the effect, obviously, I have to paraphrase: “Are you kidding? Ron Frenz influenced by me? I don’t see that at all”. To me, he was influenced by John primarily, and certainly by Jack Kirby. But anyway, I certainly appreciate that. But, as I said, if he was the “pupil” at one time, he is now the master.

That’s not true…but thank you. That’s very appreciated Sal. I don’t want people to walk away from this thinking that Sal, you know, is goofy or something. Because, we never recognize ourselves in other people, ‘cause I’ve had it happened to me and it’s not something that you really…if you see somebody do something in a way…and I think it blends to the question at hand, that we work very hand-in-glove. And I think what the rest of us see as Ron doing Sal or Ron has obviously learned that from Sal. To Sal, that just says Ron draws correctly; he understands correctly, know what I mean? It’s kind of, you know, that’s the way he would draw it so he drew it right, you know, that kind of thing. One of the things that I think works so naturally with Sal and I, and I’ve spoken to it before, and it’s not that we just speak the same language, because I learned from the Romitas and Buscemas, Kirby and Kubert, and all that kind of stuff. It’s not just that. I was so Buscema-centric. I have learned so much from Sal, and taken in so much from Sal through Osmosis. We not only speak the same language, we speak the same dialect of that language. I don’t think it’s very often that Sal is gonna look at a page and go “what the hell is that supposed to be”? Because, we learned…(inaudible)

I do that every time. (laughter)

(Laughter) Because I learned the shorthand, in a lot of ways, from him. So, you know, if I draw a foot that look a little more cartoony, or it’s a shoe or something, he knows it’s a shoe. I don’t anticipate ever getting phone calls from Sal, like I have from other inkers going: “What were you going for with that hand gesture at the bottom of page 5?” because I learned so much of that dialect from Sal that I think it just kind of moves pretty naturally, and kind of goes hand-in-glove. What’s amazing to me is that there is a huge translation that has to take place between pencils and inks. There are just certain things that you can do in pencils that work but certain things that you can do in inks that work in ink; the translation has to take place. That’s why so few people are like great Gene Colan inkers and things like that. But Sal always amazes me with. He’s a brush guy; he never uses a pen, which is just amazing to everybody I know. You look at his stuff and go “there is no pen in there”, you know that kind of thing. He’s one of the few guys I know that can do really cool cross-hatching with a brush because cross- hatching is generally something you tend to do with a pen. It’s more of a fine-tip scratchy type of a thing. And yet, he can execute it with a brush and make it look just like the pencils and it’s like “holy crap that was cool”, you know. So it’s amazing working with not just a guy who was such an influence on me, but professionally, if I may be so bold, to hand this stuff off to somebody that you know there is not gonna be any problems in translation, that you’re gonna get back what you put into it. I’ve rarely been in a creative situation where I’ve been this comfortable, that what I hand off is going to, you know, appear in the book when I buy it off the racks and flip through it. There are never any surprises when I read through the book. I buy the books and I read them for Tom DeFalco’s scripts because I never get to see that in advance, but I never sit there, flipping through a book, going “well, that didn’t work”, you know, that kind of thing, visually, because Sal and I are tend to be so hand-in-glove, which is an amazingly gratifying thing for me and I’m glad Sal enjoys working on the book. We’re gonna try to keep him as long as we can.

Will, I appreciate…

(Interrupts) Ron, I’ll send you the cheque in the mail a little later.

Will, I appreciate you calling in and give a plug to your podcast. You’re also a fellow podcaster.

I do the Avengers Assemble podcast. It’s been fun all this time and it’s been great talking to you guys, Tom and Ron, and especially Sal, keep up the great work on Spider-Girl and I look forward to see you guys doing anything in the future. Basically, I’ll buy it hell. (Laughter)

Well, thank you so much Will, we appreciate that, and as long as they want us, we’ll keep doing it.

All right, thank you Will.

Thanks Brad. Keep up the good work.

Take it easy guys.

Take care Will and good talking to you. Bye Bye.

We have three more after this next guy. (Laughter) You’re popular Sal!

We gotta start working with one word answers. (Laughter)

I know (Laughter)

We got these nervous people that are coming out and they’ll take five minutes to ask a question and Sal will go “No”! (Laughter)

We’ll talk to Chris next and he’s from Salisbury, Maryland.

My gosh, he’s a neighbor practically

Yeah, he’s from Maryland, welcome Chris.

Hi Chris, how are you?

I’m doing good, how are you doing?

Doing just fine my friend.

What do you have for Sal Chris?

I don’t have any questions prepared. I couldn’t think of anything that you probably haven’t been asked a million times in the past. I just wanted to come on and…

You can send me some money you know! (Laughter) Just kidding, go ahead…go ahead.

I just wanted to come on and just tell you that I really enjoyed your stuff on Spectacular and just congratulations on all the wonderful work you’ve done at Marvel over the years.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means and how much it’s appreciated. I feel like the last 40 years haven’t been a waste when I hear kind words like that. Thank you very very much. I really appreciate it.

Chris, when you first started reading, wasn’t Spectacular one of the first books you picked up.

Yes it was, it was around the time the Clone Saga was going on.

Oh, were you offended by that series.

The Clone Saga gets a lot of heat. Chris?

Yeah, boy, did it get heat! Go ahead.

I was young at the time so I ate it up, you know, but I can understand some long-time fans being a little bit agitated by Ben Reilly suddenly swinging in and taking the Spider-Man role as the Clone Saga went on.

Let me tell you briefly a story. A friend of mine; his son became, I believe, a career Navy man and I got a letter from him during that period, telling me that he had been following the Spectacular Spider-Man books for years, ever since he had been a youngster. And that because of the clone stories, the Clone Saga, he decided that he would never buy another Spectacular Spider-Man because he felt totally betrayed by it. I had no idea how to react to that. I wanted to send back a letter and say: “Get a life you know”, it’s a comic book we’re talking about, you know, but I decided not to. And I felt badly that the sales went down one issue that month. So, anyway.

But yeah, it sold well Sal. In the overall scheme of things, people had problems with it but it sold very very well.

Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact Ron we decided upon that direction at one of these meetings that we had, that all the Spider-Man people had, that Danny Fingeroth organized. Tom was gracious enough to say that he would work on the book, that he would write the books for us. It was at this meeting that we decided to do the Clone Saga and I remember saying, there was lots of pros and cons about it, and I said well you know maybe some people will love it and some people will hate it, but the fact of the matter is everybody is gonna be intrigued about it. They can’t ignore it; it was going to be a grabber one way or another. Some people did hate and some people loved it.

Historically though, it’s remembered a certain way, but it sold incredibly well. The reason that it tended to be hindering and go on forever is because the people upstairs loathed to let it end because it was selling so well. You know so, I mean, rarely are the fans perceptions really reflective of what was going on at the time, where the sales were. Now would be a good time to thank the people that are currently on Spider-Man for making the Clone Saga look like a picnic on a sunny day (Laughter).

What are they doing with the books? I have no idea.

Well, they just did this retcon, where, you know, and we’ve talked about it Sal, where he made a deal with the devil to save Aunt May and he is no longer married to Mary Jane. It’s taking a heck of a lot more heat than the Clone Saga ever did. (Laughter)

In hindsight, we’re talking about a story that took place ten years ago, so something must have worked.

I guess, I guess so.

Well Chris, I appreciate you calling in my friend

Thank you very much Chris, it was great talking to you and I appreciate your very kind words. Thank you.

It was great talking to you Sal and thanks for allowing me the opportunity to come on Brad.

Oh, no problem. Thanks Chris, Bye-bye.

You take care Buddy. Bye-bye.

Okay, two more, we’re going overseas for this next one. Let me scroll up here real quick.

President Sarkoszy of France. (Laughter) He’s been a big fan of mine for year.

We’re gonna talk to Jay, that’s his name, and he’s from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Hi Jay, how are you?

Jay, are you there?

Hi, yeah, thanks, nice to meet you guys.

You’re in a hole Jay, Are you okay? I got an echo. (Laughter)

I guess I’m from far away…I don’t know.

Are you on speakerphone Jay?

No, I’m using a microphone.

Okay, what’s your question for Sal, Jay?

Mainly, I just wanted to say thanks, especially for the beginning of Sal’s run on Spectacular Spider-Man in the late 80’s; that was my personal favorite period of Spider-Man stories.

Thank you very much.

Some of those covers…

(Interrupts) Are you saying you didn’t like the way it ended? (Laughter)

I was gonna say…

I’m kidding you…

Particularly some of the covers from that time are probably still the most memorable Spider-Man covers for me and that got me to wondering how much practice would you say it takes to drawing Spider-Man or any other character before you feel that you’re happy with your work.

Huh, how much practice does it take for just one character?

Yeah, can you like step right in and just start [going at it].

Yeah, yeah, I think if you have drawing ability, and I suppose I have a certain amount of drawing ability, I don’t consider myself a fantastic draftsman in the sense that, Ron Frenz, I think, is a fantastic draftsman.

Oh, will you stop it…just answer the man’s question please! (Laughter)

Ron, this is my interview, you wanna keep quiet please. (Laughter)

Or, you know, in the sense I don’t consider myself as good a draftsman as my brother was but I still had drawing ability. If you have that drawing ability, you can pretty much just jumped right in and do anything, which is pretty much what I did for Marvel for 40 years. I mean, while I was penciling, up thru to the middle nineties, I worked on just about every character that they had and I never had any problems with them. I would use reference, obviously, for costume details and stuff, but, if you can draw, you can pretty much do anything. That’s where I guess I succeeded, I supposed. I don’t know, some people maybe thought that I failed miserably. I hope that answers that question.

Jay, do you have a favorite cover that Sal drew, Jay?

Hum. I don’t know if I have a favorite but the ones that stick out of mind for some reason are the various ones that had Tombstone on them.

Oh yeah!

I loved the character too. It was a fantastic character and I’m sorry they didn’t do more with him.

Did you design Tombstone Sal?

Did I what Ron?

Did you design him?

Huh, gee, you know, I may have, but I don’t remember. (Laughter)

Yes.

Tom says yes.

Tom said you did.

You were working with Gerry Conway at that point right…all that stuff Gerry wrote.

Yep.

I don’t know, did he write those books? Did he write? I don’t know. Who the hell knows.

Never mind Sal, we’ll talk about your career without you, thank you very much. (Laughter)

Yeah, don’t ask me to remember things okay? (Laughter)

I’ve been wanting to get Tombstone into Spider-Girl because he was such a distinctive character. And you’re absolutely right. Those covers were terrific. There were some wonderfully graphic covers around that time.

Well, thank you Ron. I appreciate that.

Tombstone is living well in the Spectacular Spider-Man animated eries that’s on right now.

Yeah, yeah, they kind, they lost a little bit of the design.

Is that right?

Yeah, they are using him Sal.

He’s still in the cartoons.

Oh, fantastic.

Jay, thank you for calling my friend.

Thanks very much Jay, nice talking to you.

You too, take care.

You too.

Okay, one more live caller and then we’re done with live callers and then we’ll take a break. This is…you had a lot more people call in that I expected.

We’re gonna have dead callers or something. (Laughter)

I’ll tell you what man, I’ve never had that many calls Sal. You are quite popular sir.

You da man! You da man!

Oh my gosh…I paid them all off Brad! (Laughter)

You did…this is our last one. We’re going to my state…of Missouri…this is Greg calling from Saint Louis.

Show me.

The “Show Me” State. Greg, are you there?

Yes I am.

Hey Greg, welcome…

Hi Greg, how are you?

My Missouri brother. (Laughter)

Hi thank you. Sal, congratulations on forty years at Marvel.

Well, thank you Greg, I appreciate that. It’s been a heck of a run.

What’s your question for Sal, Greg?

I’ve been collecting for years and enjoyed your work on Peter Parker (Spectacular Spider-Man). Recently, I’ve started reading Spider-Girl and I’ve really been enjoying that too. I know Tom and Ron are on here too and guys, I have to say, I’ve been enjoying Spider-Girl more than anything I can remember in years.

Thank you man.

Greg, thank you so much. I think these guys do a fantastic job on that book. It is just a beautiful book and it’s a joy to work on. I have said it before and I’ll continue to say it. It is a terrific book. Beautifully illustrated, beautifully written and the inking is not bad either.

Greg, what was the first time you noticed Sal. What book was it? What was the issue, do you remember?

Honestly, I don’t. I’ve been basically reading since issue 1 with Spectacular and kind of gone on through the whole run.

Fantastic, you have them all?

Huh, I’m missing a few. Trying to go back and get them now.

I wish you luck. I hope you get them.

Thanks.

Greg, what is question for Sal?

Other than talking on the podcast with a bunch of spider-fans, how has technology changed the way you guys work over the years?

It hasn’t affected me one bit.

Really?

I still use my signature, a brush and ink. (Laughter) It hasn’t done a thing for me.

Sal and I are not a point yet where I’m scanning pages and sending him blue lines or anything like that. At one point, my art dealer was actually, you know, he was saying: “Do you think Sal would be interested in maybe, mailing me the pages, I can scan them, send them to the office, and then there would be a physical page, so we wouldn’t have to wait for art return from Marvel anymore, you know, that kind of thing?” And I’m going: “I can only assume that it probably would leave Sal unsettled, because right now I’m very scared at the prospect”. (Laughter) There is something about putting those pages in Fedex and knowing their winging their way somewhere, you know, it’s the way we’re used to working and, you know, one of the reasons I love comics, is because it is one of the last bastions of sitting down with a blank piece of board and a pencil, and being creative. Because so many other forms, and people are finding new ways to even screw with that, but you know it is one of the final forms to do that, you know, so we’re still kind of in a bubble when it comes to that kind of stuff…aside from speaking to people magically to a computer box. (Laughter)

I was just gonna say that. You know that’s changed a little bit, Sal, over the years. Used to, you couldn’t talk to the fans, except for a letter or maybe at a convention. You have the Internet now, with emails and stuff like that.

I know. It’s amazing isn’t it. (Laughter)

He sounds [still] doesn’t he. (Laughter) That’s so many more ways for his privacy to be invaded.

You’re talking to a complete computer illiterate here. I’m lucky I know how to turn the darn thing on.

You know how to email…we’ve been emailing Sal.

Yeah, I learned that. Whoopeedoo. (Laughter) It’s just, I don’t know whether it’s just age or laziness, I just haven’t really bothered…let me give you an example. My sons, I have three sons and they’re all very computer-savvy and they just...they’re infuriated that I still have dialup, that I don’t have a high speed…that I don’t have high-speed. And one of my boys has finally talked me into getting high-speed, which I will get when my current subscription with AOL ends in March. I will be going to high-speed. It’s taken them like two to three years to get me to that point. The less I have to do with it, the better, you know. I look at my email, and I think I’ve mentioned this to you one time Brad, I look at my email about maybe once every two week, it’s that often.

Yeah. (Laughter)

Which is not really brilliant. I don’t know. I break out in hives when I turn the thing on.

We are all like that, it’s what it comes down to.

Tom, what were you saying?

Sal, I hate to tell you this but you can get high-speed and use AOL with high-speed.

Oh yeah, I know that…

(inaudible) …you just won’t have…

I should have clarified. I live in a community where we have Comcast cable television and also telephone service. We get kind of a package deal and if I had Comcast high-speed to it, I get a deal on that too. They give us a big discount because we’re old and feeble, that’s why, they’re being kind to us. That’s what happens, that’s what you guys are looking forward to when you get to be my age.

Well, my Saint-Louis friend, I appreciate you calling and talking to Sal.

Thanks for having me on.

No problem.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you calling. Thanks. I’ve enjoyed talking to you.

Sal, I just found out that I forgot one person in the chat room that hasn’t been on yet and he’s taking me to task (Laughter). Just kidding.

Go ahead.

We have Thomas, he’s from Clearwater, Florida. You ever been down to Florida?

Many times.

Many times…to see a mouse I imagine (Laughter).

Actually, I’ve only been there twice. Actually my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Florida.

Thomas, welcome, you’re on the line. We’re just talking about how Sal’s been to Florida before.

Many times.

Oh…wonderful.

He got lucky in Florida! (Laughter)

Yes, I did.

So you mean that he’s been in God’s waiting room.

He’s what?

I’m sorry. What was that…I didn’t get that.

I said: “He’s been to God’s waiting room”.

I never heard head being called that.

Yes, your wonderful sunshine state.

Thomas, what is your question for Sal?

Oh yeah…okay…my question is pretty simple. With all these new writers and artists that are seemingly coming into – they’ve been in comics – that are coming into comics that have been inspired people of the seventies and age and that stuff. I was wondering, is it a good thing that these guys are getting control of these comics, because some are doing really good stories but a lot of them seemingly are doing stories that are basically recreations of story that were done in the seventies and it seems like they’re trying to recapture that magic, you know, I don’t want to name certain names or certain stories.

Well, Thomas, I’ll tell you, I think Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz would be a little bit more up to speed, as far as answering that question is concerned because frankly, I don’t look at comic books anymore, expect for Spectacular Spider-Girl – it’s the only comic book that I look at. Every now and then, I will be at a bookstore like Borders or something where they carry a few comic books on a stand and I’ll open one up and I’ll look at the first page or two and then close it and put it back on the shelf.

Yeah, you don’t want to have a phone conversation with Sal after he’s had one of those experiences.

(Laughing) I’m not too thrilled with what I see, you know, so. Tom and Ron are a lot more involved in what is being done today and I’m not, so I’ll let them answer the question.

I actually think there are a lot of fascinating things being done these days. I think it is intriguing to me to see all the different styles and stuff. I will confess that I have a problem with decompression; I find it very annoying to me. It’s hard to pick up a comic that isn’t part one of, you know, usually twelve. They say six for the trade paperback but sometimes you buy the whole trade paperback and the story isn’t even completed yet. Huh, but aside from that, I think there are a lot of wonderful things going on. You know, I’m gonna (inaudible) my head with a lot of new stuff that’s coming out is, I think, a lot of writers have forgotten what medium they’re working for. There are certain people that are essentially writing radio scripts…scripts that are all about the dialogue and don’t need visuals. And that sort of stuff annoys me. If you’re gonna be doing comic books, you should be doing comics. Comics are a visual medium and require a lot of interesting visuals. But, you know, I think that, you know, every new generation that takes the characters, it is their job to take them in different directions, and to create new things and to constantly be pushing the boundaries and constantly being making people like, you know, the past generations look and say “what the hell are they doing?”

Which we say all the time, as a matter of fact (Laughter).

Yeah, but, you know, I’ve always believed that you have to keep pushing and doing new things. I can tell you that, a lot of times when Ron and I were on books like Spider-Man and Thor. We were constantly getting criticisms because instead of using the old characters, we used to create new villains and stuff like that. So we were being criticized for that.

And, that wraps up the second hour of our interview with artist Sal Buscema. We have another half hour of the show to go, where we answer your written questions from our message board. I will release that one in a couple days. In the meantime, I would like to thank mailordercomics.com for sponsoring the show month-in and month-out. They’re still accepting January orders and you can check out their amazing discounts of 38 up to 75% off the cover price of new comics and trade paperbacks. An example is the Essential Marvel Team-Up Volume 2. It features some more great Sal Buscema artwork and the cover price is $17.00 and mailordercomics.com has it for $10.53. Gang, I’m your host Brad Douglas and thanks so much for listening and visiting the Spider-Man crawlspace.com.