We've promised not to spill the beans on what the story's about, so without further ado, here's our short chat with Mark Evanier (he's a busy guy!).
SE: Describe your start in the comics industry:
ME: The so-called golden age of comics ended when I got into the business I was the limiting factor to it. In 1969 I met Jack Kirby, who invited me to be his assistant. And it took a long time for me to accept the offer -- it took about four seconds. I apprenticed with Jack and then got into writing Disney comics and Warner brothers comics. Since then I have worked every place on the principal that if you keep getting fired, you can build up a very impressive resume of different employers
SE: It's kind of like building up an immunity to diseases, too right?
ME: Right!
SE: You also currently have an ongoing gig with Comics Buyers' Guide called "Point of View." How did that come about for you?
ME: In the back of my various comics I was writing silly little essays for a while about my career, or what you'd laughingly call my career, and people kept asking for more of them. But when my comics were canceled, I had no outlet for them. So one day Maggie Thompson, editor of the Buyers' Guide said "Why don't you do them for CBG?", and I said okay! Fascinating story, huh?
SE: Extremely fascinating. And somewhere in the midst of all this work and excitement you met Sergio Aragonés. Tell us about that first meeting.
ME: I met Sergio Aragonés in 1968. He was a guest speaker at our old comic book club. I was the president of the club, and he was the only guest speaker we ever had at a meeting. And he was one of the first professional cartoonists -- alleged professional cartoonists -- I'd ever met. We quickly became friends and for several years kept saying "you know, we oughtta work together some day," and unfortunately we said it often enough that we felt legally obligated to make it happen. So when Sergio started Groo, he came to me and said "I'm not taking the rap for this on my own . . ."
SE: What else have you two collaborated on?
ME: Well, we did 8000 issues of Groo. We did a book for Malibu called Mighty Magnor . . .
SE: I have a couple of those . . .
ME: We recently did a series called Boogeyman for Dark Horse. We've done a lot of little miscellaneous stories for various publishers. We did a story for DC which is coming out in January called Fanboy, which is basically another excuse for us to have meals together, which is what this whole thing is about. The whole point of this thing is for Sergio to come over and we go to Sizzler and eat together and Sergio draws on napkins and we laugh and we call this a collaboration.
SE: So is that the entire creative process -- going to Sizzler?
ME: There is no creative process. This is Groo we're talking about. We just re-read old issues and say "Let's use this joke again."
SE: Like, "Let's rehash the cheese dip thing?"
ME: Actually, we gave up the cheese dip thing a few years ago, and people just didn't even seem to notice.
SE: Somehow the cheese dip took on a life of its own, I guess. Anyway, Sergio always speaks very highly of his experiences working with you . . .
ME: He knows I'm always willing to accept compliments in lieu of pay . .SE: Does that make up for it?
ME: Not really, but you know, after you finish paying taxes, it comes about even anyway. But I do enjoy working with Sergio. He's an amazing talent and a very clever man -- a true original. There's nobody else quite like him.
Catch the latest barbaric action from Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier as they present Groo & Rufferto -- an all new adventure debuting December 23 from Dark Horse Comics.