Direct Conversations Talks with Fellow DC Comics

Argumento

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 time: Howard Chaykin, Jack C. Harris, Tony Isabella, Paul Levitz, Steve Mitchell, Bob Rozakis, Joe Staton, Anthony Tollin, Bob Toomey, and Michael Uslan.