Hi Uncle Rog,

It has been said that the post-Crisis Superman was a "Marvel style" DC comic book. What does that concept mean to you?

Was Starman similarly a "Marvel style" DC book?

What prompted you to have Will Payton be from Arizona?

What ideas did artist Tom Lyle bring to the Starman project?

To me "Marvel style" is a just a method of writing ... also known as the plot/script style (as opposed to the full script style) ... wherein the writer first comes up with a plot, breaking down the scenes and the action for the penciler, and then writes the dialogue and other copy based on what has been drawn. The plot/script style actually pre-dates the Lee-Kirby era. Murphy Anderson once told me that he worked that way with Jerry Siegel on the Lars of Mars feature for Fiction House.



Yes. With a few exceptions, I usually write plots first and then script from the art.



1) I have relatives in Arizona, and knew the area pretty well, and 2) I thought that having Will based in the southwest would be a good change of pace.



Tom was a great collaborator, designing the entire look of the series and the characters. And he's an accomplished storyteller, which made my job easier. I still miss working with him.

-- Uncle Rog

I've said at ImWAN before somewhere that I really think Starman was some of your finest work and I miss it, still. It was everything I like about superhero comics and very well done. The climactic fight with the Power Elite is one of the most satisfying action sequences ever and his triumph was sweet.

Thanks for the memories and the example.

Thanks for remembering. Few in the DC offices seemed to understand Starman ... or super-heroes in general.

If not for Mike Carlin, I probably would have been out of there after a year. Thanks to him and the rest of the Superman team, I put in about a decade at DC, and got a chance to write a New York Times bestseller.

Considering what has followed, I have no trouble believing that DC doesn't understand what they've been charged with. Let me take this occasion to say that your Starman is quite possibly the last new superhero I took a shine to and thank you for him.

Thanks.