That is such an awesome story. Some years ago, I wrote an award-winning article about Marvel writer Bill Mantlo, and how he fell through the cracks of the modern healthcare system. One of my sources for that was Chris Claremont, who was a friend of Bill's. Before I interviewed Chris, I said out loud, "You will be a professional. You will not tell him how much you love the X-Men." And I didn't. And it was a great interview and did a lot to help the story. (Which, in turn, did a lot to help Bill.) But it was a year later, at ComiCon, when I met Chris at his booth, I thanked him for his help, and he thanked me for the story. To be thanked by a hero like that is no small thing. To be thanked by Stan the Man? There's only one word for that: EXCELSIOR!
So, the publication I wrote it for has been bought and sold since, so the version I am linking to is a legacy version. But it's the whole thing. It's fairly long, though.
There's a funny story to all of that Marvel imagery we used in it. I reached out to Marvel about this story and asked if they had any images from Mantlo's comics that we could use with permission. Marvel sent me these two utterly crappy images that I just could not use. So, I found imagery online that was certainly not put there with Marvel's permission, and we used that. But before we published, I showed it to Marvel, fully disclosed where I got the imagery, and were they okay with it? I got a resounding "hell yes" from Marvel. We won a design award for the cover and layout, too. :-)
The best part about this whole story is how it helped Bill Mantlo. The story reunited Bill with his stepson Adam, whom he had not seen in many years. That truly mattered to me. Also, I won a $3,000 prize for the story, which I donated to Bill's care. The story went viral and unbeknownst to me, Marvel was beginning work on Guardians of the Galaxy, so when they learned the creator of Rocket Raccoon was in a bad way, they made a sizeable donation to his care.
I have published many things in my life, from journalism to role-playing games to novels. I doubt I will publish anything I am more proud of than this story, though. We caught lightning in a bottle with this, and it really helped someone. Things just converged in a very special way.
Almost forgot: I also interviewed Jim Shooter for this article, which was also pretty interesting. Shooter had a rough exit from Marvel, and he still seemed a little salty over it. He felt really bad about Mantlo, though. He had worked hard to get Marvel authors a percentage stake in what they created (which is how Claremont got so wealthy), but that didn't all take root until after Mantlo got hurt. Mantlo was so prolific, he just created new characters all the time without thought of not owning them. But he could have had a piece of Rocket Raccoon, which would have changed his life.
Really empathize with your comments on early Marvel. I grew up with that stuff in the 60's (yeah, I'm really that old!). As a kid it was an unbelievably exciting time; those great sci-fi stories in the FF and elsewhere, the characters and artists. Nothing around like it at the time - Star Trek didn't arrive till late '66 by which time Kirby and Lee were well into the Surfer/Galactus storyline. Nail biting times waiting for the new issues to hit the newsstands! Shouldn't forget, at the same time Jim Steranko did his incredible tech noire Shield/Hydra series in Strange Tales - my goodness his artwork was cutting edge and still stands up today. Plenty of inspiration for the book series I'm writing.
That is such an awesome story. Some years ago, I wrote an award-winning article about Marvel writer Bill Mantlo, and how he fell through the cracks of the modern healthcare system. One of my sources for that was Chris Claremont, who was a friend of Bill's. Before I interviewed Chris, I said out loud, "You will be a professional. You will not tell him how much you love the X-Men." And I didn't. And it was a great interview and did a lot to help the story. (Which, in turn, did a lot to help Bill.) But it was a year later, at ComiCon, when I met Chris at his booth, I thanked him for his help, and he thanked me for the story. To be thanked by a hero like that is no small thing. To be thanked by Stan the Man? There's only one word for that: EXCELSIOR!
Excelsior indeed! You nailed it.
That's amazing you met Chris Claremont. He was pivotal in re-creating the X-Men. What an opportunity.
So where's your article? Is it posted anywhere we can see? That's a big deal.
So, the publication I wrote it for has been bought and sold since, so the version I am linking to is a legacy version. But it's the whole thing. It's fairly long, though.
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale/
If you want to see it in its original form, here's a link to a PDF of the magazine when it came out.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NeGzTowXhKvY5qE8y6O0I212kF_hR1v4/view?usp=sharing
There's a funny story to all of that Marvel imagery we used in it. I reached out to Marvel about this story and asked if they had any images from Mantlo's comics that we could use with permission. Marvel sent me these two utterly crappy images that I just could not use. So, I found imagery online that was certainly not put there with Marvel's permission, and we used that. But before we published, I showed it to Marvel, fully disclosed where I got the imagery, and were they okay with it? I got a resounding "hell yes" from Marvel. We won a design award for the cover and layout, too. :-)
The best part about this whole story is how it helped Bill Mantlo. The story reunited Bill with his stepson Adam, whom he had not seen in many years. That truly mattered to me. Also, I won a $3,000 prize for the story, which I donated to Bill's care. The story went viral and unbeknownst to me, Marvel was beginning work on Guardians of the Galaxy, so when they learned the creator of Rocket Raccoon was in a bad way, they made a sizeable donation to his care.
I have published many things in my life, from journalism to role-playing games to novels. I doubt I will publish anything I am more proud of than this story, though. We caught lightning in a bottle with this, and it really helped someone. Things just converged in a very special way.
Almost forgot: I also interviewed Jim Shooter for this article, which was also pretty interesting. Shooter had a rough exit from Marvel, and he still seemed a little salty over it. He felt really bad about Mantlo, though. He had worked hard to get Marvel authors a percentage stake in what they created (which is how Claremont got so wealthy), but that didn't all take root until after Mantlo got hurt. Mantlo was so prolific, he just created new characters all the time without thought of not owning them. But he could have had a piece of Rocket Raccoon, which would have changed his life.
That's amazing Bill. You made real changes in Mantlo's life. Such a fascinating story.
Maybe we could tell part of it on this substack in a future post? I think this is really interesting stuff.
Congrats on writing such an impactful piece. That's something to be proud of.
By all means, Adam! Happy to help however I can.
Really empathize with your comments on early Marvel. I grew up with that stuff in the 60's (yeah, I'm really that old!). As a kid it was an unbelievably exciting time; those great sci-fi stories in the FF and elsewhere, the characters and artists. Nothing around like it at the time - Star Trek didn't arrive till late '66 by which time Kirby and Lee were well into the Surfer/Galactus storyline. Nail biting times waiting for the new issues to hit the newsstands! Shouldn't forget, at the same time Jim Steranko did his incredible tech noire Shield/Hydra series in Strange Tales - my goodness his artwork was cutting edge and still stands up today. Plenty of inspiration for the book series I'm writing.
Excelsior!
Ade