Friday, February 14, 2020

definitely not "all on acid"

"I visited the offices of Marvel Comics, and wrote my visit up for the LA Free Press.  It was almost as easy to visit the Marvel offices in 1966 as it had been to visit the Mad offices ten years earlier.  Flo Steinberg (although I didn't know at the time it was her) was sitting at the front desk, subbing for the receptionist who was on a break.  I told her the purpose of my visit.  She took one look at me -- I was wearing the shortest miniskirt in New York City -- went back to the bullpen and told them, 'You gotta see this.'

Stan Lee was nice to me.  Everybody was nice to me.  Roy Thomas showed me around the office and took me to lunch.  I took one look at the guys in the Marvel bullpen, with their pens and pocket protectors, and realized that they were definitely not 'all on acid.'  Later, in the subway, on my way back to Marty's, I ran into Marvel writer Denny O'Neil, the only guy in the Marvel office who had looked the least bit bohemian.  He told me that once he had worn a 'Legalize Pot' button to the Marvel offices, and Stan Lee had told him to take it off, please."

-- Trina Robbins, Last Girl Standing

This was a fantastic read by an artist who started off in the world of underground comics and later became the first female to work on the mainstream Wonder Woman series.  Along the way, she was a successful fashion designer (made dresses for Cass Elliot), a friend to many in the 60's counter-culture in New York, San Francisco, and L.A., slept with Jim Morrison (not surprisingly, he turned out to be a total jerk), and later in life, a breast cancer survivor.  Highly recommended!

The joke in this passage, if it isn't clear, was that the guys behind the cosmic weirdness of Doctor Strange and Fantastic Four (Jack Kirby, basically) must have been doing no small amount of hard drugs.  Turns out, they were basically squares.  Very talented and creative ones, no doubt.

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