Tony Isabella in the Land of Frost

By Alex Ness

I came to know Tony Isabella three times, in three different decades. While I was a kid in the 1970's his comics were fun and fit my tastes. In the 1980's I grew snooty and his work fell from my favor. In the 1990's I came to realize that grim and gritty has its place, but fun is good too. Through Tony's columns and comic book work I became his fan. We have exchanged a number of e-mails and letters, and I began to post on his message board. It is a strange, but fun, experience to be in contact with a talent of a field you enjoy, on a nearly daily basis. But Tony is very kind, and the magic has not yet worn off. He is amidst a number of projects, but has nothing currently on the stands, so let us all write and e-mail the companies we enjoy and say "we want Tony!" I have told a number of people that without Tony and Beau Smith I'd still be reading other people's work, rather than creating my own. In this manner I am something of a son of two VERY different fathers.

Alex: Where are you from, are you married, how did you get into comics?

TONY: I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, moved to New York City for several years when I first got into the comics industry, moved back to my home town, and now live in Medina, Ohio, with my wife Barbara and my children, Eddie and Kelly. After nearly having my face stepped on by the horse of a mounted policemen during a Cleveland newspaper strike, I called Roy Thomas at Marvel, learned he had an opening for an assistant editor there, and took the job on the spot.

AN: Who were your earliest friends and colleagues in the industry? Have you done any comic book work with them since?

TONY: My earliest friends in the comics industry were the fans who came into the field about the same time I did: Mark Evanier, Dwight Decker, Carl Gafford, Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg. I haven’t had the opportunity to work with any of them of late, though I’m sure if I did that a good time would be had by all.

AN: What was your first published work? Who was the first artist you worked with?

TONY: If you’re talking professionally-published work, I’m a little foggy on the details. It was either an article or short comics story in an issue of THE MONSTER TIMES, or “Haunt and Run,” a short comics story in Marvel’s CHAMBER OF CHILLS #5. If it’s the former, the artist would have been a guy named Tom Armstrong. If the latter, the artist was Paul Reinman. The first artist I worked with on a regular series was Dick Ayers on “It, the Living Colossus” in ASTONISHING TALES.

AN: Who were the major influences on your work?

TONY:Narrowing it down to the major influences on my work before I got into comics: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas, Julius Schwartz, Denny O’Neil, Len Wein, Neil Simon, William Shakespeare, Lester Dent

AN: You speak about your Christian/Catholic faith somewhat often. You had a somewhat famous run-in with then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter at Marvel with one of your stories (Ghost Rider). Would you briefly explain what happened?

TONY: When I was assigned to write GHOST RIDER, two things were obvious to me. Without artist Mike Ploog, the supernatural-based stories weren’t working as well as they had during his stint on the book, leading me to consider whether or not that book might sell better if I emphasized the super-hero aspects of the title. The second thing was that there were plenty of Satan avatars active in the Marvel Universe, but precious little evidence of the loyal opposition. I hit a point in the extended storyline where it made wonderful sense to have Jesus Christ prevent Satan from claiming Johnny Blaze’s soul. Response to that issue was so positive that I determined to follow through on this incident with an aim towards having Johnny accept Jesus as his Lord and hand Satan a defeat which allow me to then pretty much dispense with the supernatural element in the series in favor of more super-hero-oriented stories. Three editors – Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman - approved this storyline. However, as the conclusion of the story was going to press, Shooter pulled it back and had it rewritten and partially redrawn to reveal Jesus to be Satan in another form. He completely changed the rationale of my two-year storyline because, as a Marvel staffer told me, he was an agnostic and objected to the appearance of Jesus in a Marvel comic book. He refused to remove my name from the issue and then threw a typical Shooter hissy-fit when I placed a notice in THE COMIC READER to the effect that the issue did not contain the story as I had written it. I don’t know if I’d call this a “run-in” as that would presume some give-and-take. With the tyrannical Shooter, it was his way period. The comics industry is better for his absence from it.

AN: The opinions of Tony Isabella regarding Jim Shooter are his own and in no way should be considered the opinion of Robingoodfellow.com. But Tony is correct. The comics industry has lately struggled with sales and readership. Why do you think this is? Also, I believe that there are many qualified and beloved talents in the industry who have been shut out of the industry, why do you think that is?

TONY: The short answer to your first question is that comics aren’t as accessible, available, as good an entertainment value as they once were. There is some amazing work being done in many comics genres, including super-hero comics, but it isn’t always easy for a reader to get into and isn’t always easy to find. I think there’s also an element of “sticker shock” at work when a new reader sees what the comic books and graphic albums/novels cost. I wish I knew the answer to the second question. Considering the sales some of these talents delivered on a consistent basis, one would think editors and publishers would be eager to work with them. But that’s clearly not the case.

AN: You created and wrote the series Black Lightning (actually two series). Tell us about why the character is so important, why he resonates with so many people, and why he has no ongoing series at the moment?

TONY: I think Black Lightning, or rather, Jefferson Pierce resonates with comics readers because, no matter their background, they recognize something of themselves in him. His concerns are tied more to the real world than the fantastic. He doesn’t seek the limelight, but feels honor-bound to use his gifts, human and metahuman, for the greater good. Why doesn’t he have an ongoing series at the moment? I’d tell you to ask DC Comics, but you wouldn’t get any two people there to give you the same answer. What I know is that I am available to write as many Black Lightning stories as DC is willing to publish ...and that, if they really don’t want to use my creation, I would gladly lease or outright buy the property back from the company. If I had my druthers, no writer other than myself would ever write a Black Lightning story.

AN: I love Captain America. You wrote a paperback novel CAPTAIN AMERICA LIBERTY'S TORCH. What was your inspiration for the novel and is it still available?

TONY: I began researching militia groups after the Oklahoma City bombing and read an article about their bogus “court” system wherein they charge judges and the like with various crimes. That gave me the idea for a story in which Cap would be captured and put on trial as a representative of the federal government. My original plan was to pitch it was a comic-book mini-series, but, at the time, Captain America was one of the characters Marvel had entrusted to Image creators. My friend and sometimes collaborator Bob Ingersoll mentioned my idea to Keith R.A. De Candido, then the editor of the Marvel novels, who thought it would work as good or better as a novel. Bob and I wrote the novel together.

AN: You've established a very active yet polite message board. How is this possible in such an anonymous "I'm so important" world. What are your philosophies regarding it and are you an active participant upon it, or a benevolent overseer?

TONY: What is possible is often (but not always) the result of how hard someone is willing to work at it. Having seen the viciousness of so many online forums, I was determined not to host a board of that nature. My board isn’t perfect in that regard and I’ve been less so on occasion, but it was created and is maintained with civility as its goal. A key point of my “philosophy” is that the board is akin to my own home. Posters are guests and I expect them to behave themselves. I’m a semi-active participant. I post every day, but don’t always have the time to carry on long conversations. Am I benevolent overseer? That depends on who you ask. I suspect those whose behavior got them bounced from the board would have a very different opinion from those who remain. AN: I remain to post there and should say that Tony is a very benevolent overseer.

AN: Inform us if you will of your future projects.

TONY: Generally, I prefer not to talk about my future projects until they are scheduled. Currently, I’m writing a weekly column for COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE. I’m also posting my CBG columns online at World Famous Comics and, when I do so, I usually add new material to the presentation. While I am working on other things as well, some of them comics and some of them not, none of them are at the point where I would feel confident announcing them. Thanks for your interest.

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