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ERB 100-Word Drabbles
JANUARY VI Edition :: Days 16-31
by Robert Allen Lupton
Back to Days 1-15 at ERBzine 7786
With Collations, Web Page Layout and ERBzine Illustrations and References by Bill Hillman
FLYING INTO THE EARTH
January 16: On this day in 1937, Argosy Weekly published the second installment of “Back To the Stone Age,” under the title “Seven Worlds to Conquer.” Artist V, E. Pyles did the cover illustration for the story “Sword of the Sahara’ by Robert Carse, who wrote nearly 100 stories for the pulps.
“Back to the Stone Age” is the fifth novel in the Pellucidar series. It follows ‘Tarzan at the Earth’s Core.”
Publication details and several illustrations for Back to the Stone Age: https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0745.html
The drabble for today, “Flying Into the Earth,” is excerpted from the prologue to the Argosy Weekly publication of the novel, written no doubt by some unnamed, uncredited, and underpaid editor toiling away in the back rooms of the Argosy offices.The tale of the pioneer flight of the giant Zeppelin O-220 has been told. In the Log Book of Great Adventures, written in red, are inscribed the perils, privations, the victories, and defeats, of those gallant companions from this land of ours who braved the mysteries of Pellucidar. FLYING INTO THE EARTH
Pellucidar—mocked by smug scientists who blind themselves to the proofs that our Earth is a hollow sphere, containing a habitable world within its interior!
Pellucidar—scorned and derided by timid savants who fear to see beyond their own knotted brows, scoffing that here is no great opening at the frozen poles.
MEAN GIRLS
January 17: On this day in 1972, actress and government agent, Rochelle Hudson, a long-time friend of the Burroughs’ family died at age 55 in Palm Desert, California. She was born in Oklahoma City where she studied dancing, drama, piano, voice. Her family moved to California and she signed a contract with RKO when only 14 years old.
She was extremely busy prior to WW2 and rumors were that she’d angered ‘The Powers That Be” in Hollywood. The truth was Rochelle had been working as a spy of the Naval Intelligence Service in Mexico. She and her husband located a hidden supply of aviation fuel stashed in Baha by German agents. We thank her for her service.
In spite of her close relationship with the Edgar Rice Burroughs family, she never appeared in a Tarzan film, but her film credits included “The Savage Girl,”which was released in Spanish as “La Mujer Tarzan,” “Imitation of Life,” “Les Mserables,” “Curly Top,” “Konga, the Wild Stallion,” “Island of Doomed Men,” and “Rebel Without A Cause.”
Her classmates shunned her because of her fame and Rochelle often road to school with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ sons, Jack and Hulbert. She vacationed with the Burroughs’ family and sixteen year old John Coleman Burroughs drove Rochelle and her mother to Oklahoma City.
Details about the actress: https://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2757.html
The drabble for today, “Mean Girls,” is a fictional conversation between Rochelle and John Coleman Burroughs on their way to school one morning. Rochelle’s final line in the drabble is an actual quotation from her.Rochelle asked, “Jack, can you give me a ride to RKO after class?” MEAN GIRLS
“Sure, but I thought you had cheerleading tryouts.”
“I decided not to. The girls vote and they all hate me because I’m a movie star. They say I’ve changed.”“You could go home.”
“No, then Mom would know I didn’t try out.”
“I don’t see you any differently. Do you think Hollywood’s changed you?”“It's not Hollywood that's to blame -- it's the individual. No one has to be changed unless he's weak enough to want to be changed.”
“Pretty insightful. Are you sure you’re only sixteen.”
January 18: On this day in 1913, Metcalf at All-Story Magazine notified ERB that they were rejecting “The Return of Tarzan,” saying that the story ‘lacked balance.’ Undaunted, Edgar Rice Burroughs submitted the manuscript to “New Story Magazine,” which purchased it for more money than the All-Story rates and serialized this second Tarzan novel from June through December of that year.
N. C. Wyeth drew the covers for the June and August issues. Each installment had an interior headpiece illustration, but there’s no record of who the artist was.
Details about the novel, which had the working titles, “The Ape-Man,” and “Monsieur Tarzan” are available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0484.html
The 100 word drabble for today is excerpted from the formal rejection letter from Thomas Metcalf dated January 27, 1913.I’ve given "The Ape Man" very careful consideration and I’m very much afraid that as it stands I cannot use it. This makes me feel very bad, because of course I was keen indeed, for your sake, for mine and for the sake of all those insistent readers who wanted a sequel to Tarzan. If you’ll fix this thing up for me, you know I’ll be delighted if you will. I know you appreciate how regretful I am to return the manuscript and how hopeful I am that you will fix it up so that I may not be disappointed. TARZAN RETURNED
HAVEN'T CHANGED ALL THAT MUCH
January 19: On this day in 1997, the Gray Morrow, Desaro and McKay Tarzan Sunday Page story arc, The Fossil Hunters and the Terrorists, began. The Story ran for sixteen weeks.
All the Gray Morrow Sunday pages are available on erbzine.com. Here's the index to find them:https://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3499.html Tarzan guided a group of fossil hunters into the Great Rift Valley, the cradle of humanity. A group of terrorists followed and waited until Tarzan left to confront the fossil hunters. Tarzan, however, waited nearby. Tarzan snuck into the camp to rescue the archeologists, but they refuse to leave, having found evidence of a two million year old murder. The terrorists planted explosives around the encampment threatening the discovery and the scientists.
Under the cover of darkness, Tarzan moved the bombs into the terrorist’s trucks and when the villains tried to destroy the camp, they blew up their vehicles. The defeated leader murdered one of the scientists. Two murders in the same place, two million years apart.
The drabble for today, “Haven’t Changed All That Much,” was inspired by “The Fossil Hunters and the Terrorists.”Tarzan tricked the terrorists and they blew up their own vehicles. Tarzan said, “You can run, but you won’t get far. The Jungle Patrol is coming. You might as well surrender now.” HAVEN'T CHANGED ALL THAT MUCH
Several men put down their weapons, but the terrorist’s leader pulled a knife and he attacked the defenseless men. Tarzan tried to stop him, but the jungle lord was too late, and the leader stabbed a man to death. The body fell into an archeological dig which had exposed an ancient murder.
Tarzan said, “Frustrated men committed murdered a million years ago. Things haven’t changed all that much.”
WHO DAT DO THE TARZAN YELL?
January 20: On this day in 1984, athlete and actor Johnny Weissmuller died. He was buried in the Valle de La Luz, just outside of Acapulco in the Valley of Light Cemetery. Weissmuller played Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man, Tarzan and his Mate, Tarzan Finds a Son, Tarzan Escapes, Tarzan’s Secret Treasure, Tarzan’s New York Adventure, Tarzan Triumphs, Tarzan’s Desert Mystery, Tarzan and the Amazons, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman, Tarzan and the Mermaids, and Tarzan and the Huntress. He also made several Jungle Jim films and played Jungle Jim in 26 television episodes,
Several tributes to Johnny are on the erbzine.com website. https://www.erbzine.com/mag3/0394.html is a good place to start.
The drabble for today, “Who Dat do the Tarzan Yell?” was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his last Tarzan novel, Tarzan and the Foreign Legion. Consider it a tribute to Johnny.WHO DAT DO THE TARZAN YELL? The tiger's great frame went limp and sank to the ground. The man rose, put a foot upon it and, raising his face heavenward, voiced the victory cry of the bull ape. Corrie was suddenly terrified of this man who had always seemed so civilized and cultured. Even the men were shocked.Suddenly recognition lighted the eyes of Jerry Lucas. "John Clayton," he said, "Lord Greystoke—Tarzan of the Apes!"
Shrimp's jaw dropped. "Is dat Johnny Weissmuller?” he demanded.
Tarzan shook his head as though to clear his brain. His thin veneer of civilization consumed by the fires of battle.
JEALOUSY
January 21: On this day in 1981. Bo and John Derek, along with cast and crew, arrived in Sri Lanka to begin filming Tarzan the Ape Man. The couple encountered scheduling difficulties, poor accommodations, and a rebellious staff, frustrated by what the crew felt was the inability of the couple to manage the production. Firings were a daily occurrence. Nevertheless, the Derek’s managed to complete the film. The man originally cast to play Tarzan, Lee Canalito, was fired for unspecified reasons and Miles O’Keefe took over the non-speaking role. The “R” rated film, the only Tarzan film so rated, was nominated. The Burroughs estate allegedly sued the production company over the nudity in the film and one scene where she was reportedly making out with an orangutan, but they lost. However three minutes of who-knows-what were deleted from the film.
Read all about it at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag21/2150.html
The drabble for today, Jealousy, inspired by the film, is a fictional phone call between Lee Canalito and Miles O’Keeffe.Lee Canalito said, “Hello, Miles, welcome back to America.” JEALOUSY
“Thanks, Lee. I never found out why you left the film.”
“And you won’t. I promised not to talk about it. How did it work out for you?”“Not all that well. There was a lion that tried to kill me if I got too near Bo and, not that I’m jealous, but there was this orangutan who got all the juicy scenes.”
“Well, look at it this way. It’s a career starter.”
“I think not. I had exactly the same number of speaking lines as the ape and the lion.”
BLANK PAGES
January 22: On and this day in 1942, the last week of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Laugh It Off columns appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The columns, envisioned a moral boosters, were discontinued, not because they didn’t work, but because Edgar Rice Burroughs became increasing discouraged by the level of censorship by the military and by the newspaper. The soon to be world’s oldest war correspondent was fine with military censorship in regard to not giving any information to the Japanese (loose lips sink ships), but excessive editing by the newspaper about what he could and couldn’t say offended him and he stopped writing the column.
All of his “Laugh It Off columns are available to read at https://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1754.html
This wasn’t the first, nor the last time Burroughs encountered problems with censorship from well-meaning self-righteous individuals who claimed to know what the rest of us should and shouldn’t read or should and shouldn’t see. It was almost like he anticipated the issue when he wrote in “Tarzan of the Apes,” “The time has arrived when patience becomes a crime and mayhem appears garbed in the mantle of virtue.”
His books were banned. The Weissmuller film Tarzan of the Apes was protested against in 1970.
The drabble for today, “Blank Pages,” is inspired by those who believe that their version of morality should be inflicted on everyone. Those who are the spiritual descendants of Cotton Mather, Torquemada, Doctor Bowdle, Fredric Wertham (Seduction of the Innocent), and the man whose name gives us the word, Gaius Marcius Rutilus Censorinus. To quote Clare Booth Luce, “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there”Edgar Rice Burroughs sat with Julian XI. “So tell me, do people still read my books in your time?” BLANK PAGES
“We have no books or newspapers. Such things were torn apart and outlawed.
“Perhaps on the radio?”
“No radio and no drawings of any kind. We had those things, but everyone was offended by something. Everything offended someone. In an effort to resolve that issue, one thing after another was not allowed until one day nothing was allowed.”“I remember a quotation from Matthew. “If your right eye offend you, pluck it out.” It doesn’t say pluck out everyone else’s eyes.”
ZALDAR, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER
January 23: On this day in 1941, Edgar Rice Burroughs began writing The Wizard of Venus. The novel wasn’t published until April 27, 1964 when it was included in Canaveral Press’s Tales of Three Planets, along with Beyond the Farthest Star, Tangor Returns, and Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw. A comic book of the story was also published that year by Habblitz and Broadhurst as an illustrated souvenir of the Los Angeles World Science Fiction Convention. Habblitz did the cover, Mike Royer did the interiors, and Dale Broadhurst adapted the story. Attendees received the souvenir on September 4, 1964
Wizard of Venus, combined withPirate Blood, was later released as an Ace Paperback.
The novel revisits one of Burroughs themes, the power of the human mind. At one point the Wizard, Morgas attempts to turn Carson Napier into a zaldar, but is unsuccessful. Carson was trained in a master of telepathic powers, having be trained in India as a young man. When Carson arrived in the land ruled by the evil wizard, Morgas, the locals ask him and his companion, “Are you wizards?” For just a moment, I thought I was in the land of OZ.
Details about the book and the complete Worldcon illustrated version of the story are available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0752.html
The drabble for today, “Zaldar, It’s What’s For Dinner,” was inspired by the issue of mind control, as presented in The Wizard of Venus.The Wizard, Morgas, said. I’m gonna turn you into a Zaldar.” ZALDAR, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER
“Oh, yeah. Take your best shot. What’s a zaldar?”
Ero Shan, Carson’s companion said, “Zaldars are like cattle where you come from.”
“Look deeply into my eyes,” said the Wizard. “You’ll grow horns. You’ll eat grass. Perhaps, you may even give milk.”“You can’t turn me into anything,” said Carson. “My mind is stronger than yours.”
“I command you to transform. I turn all my enemies into cattle!”
Carson resisted easily. “Why turn them into cattle?”
“The harvest was poor this year. We need the milk and the meat.”
SHAVE LIKE A PIRATE
January 24: On this day in 1943, the world’s oldest war correspondent, Edgar Rice Burroughs, visited Isle Nou, New Caledonia, the location of a former French penal colony. Burroughs learned that fewer than one hundred of the convicts still lived on the island. After the visit, ERB returned to Noumea, where the SS Lurline, now commissioned a ship he’d rode occasionally from Hawaii and the mainland US, and back, was in port. Ed had dinner on the ship after giving a lift to some Marines who were stranded on a barge in the harbor.
The drabble for today, “Shave Like A Pirate,” was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and is excerpted from his journal, “Diary of a Confused Old Man.” The entire journal is available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag68/6800.htmlThe captain of the USS Argonne was a Tarzan fan with standing order with the fleet librarian to immediately send him every new Edgar Rice Burroughs book. Got another nostalgic thrill when I saw the Lurline anchored nearby. SHAVE LIKE A PIRATE
Later, we went out to the Lurline for dinner. On the way out, we saw a bunch of Marines marooned in mid-harbour. We picked them up and delivered them to a converted yacht which appeared to be manned by pirates, judging by their fierce beards. Sailors in this war seem to be running to beards. I hope it doesn't start a vogue.
SAY WHAT
January 25: On this day in 2020, actress, Monique van Voreen, Tarzan and the She-Devil died at age 92 in Manhattan. Monique, who played Lyra, the She-Devil in the film, was a championship level skater and a beauty queen in her home country of Belgium. She was a polyglot, able to speak English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch. She claimed to be able to read Greek and Latin.
Signet Books published her novel, “Dark Sanctuary,” in 1983.
Details about the film “Tarzan and the She-Devil,” may be found at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1952.html
Her career included appearances in Gigi, Batman on television, The Decameron, and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein.
In 1983 she was found guilty of lying to a federal grand jury and ordered to get psychiatric help and perform community service.
The drabble for today is “Say What,” and it was inspired by the short film career of Monique van Vorren and her trial for keeping her dead mother’s social security payments.The prosecuting attorney said, “Miss van Vorren, frankly I’m at a loss here. You were a film and television actress. Why would you need your dead mother’s social security payments?” SAY WHAT
“Hollywood likes its women young. Like everyone, I got old.”
“I understand that you speak and read several languages. Why couldn’t you just find work in other countries?”“Believe me, I tried.”
“I submit that you didn’t try hard enough.”
The judge pounded his gavel. Counselor, just move on. Stop badgering the defendant. I’ve seen her on the silver screen. Her acting won’t be improved by a changing the language.”
January 26: On this day in 1942, Edgar Rice Burroughs second to last “Laugh It Off’ column appeared in the Honolulu Star Bulletin. That’s not entirely correct. The column would be reinstated for a brief period after World War Two concluded. All of the columns may be read at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag17/1754.html
The column was intended to raise the morale of the residents of Hawaii, civilian and military. Burroughs discontinued the columns over censorship issues with the editors and the military. The column laughed out the instructions issued by the government.
The drabble for today is “Empty Pockets in the Dark,” written by Edgar Rice Burroughs for his January 26, 1942 column. ERB uses the term ‘oke,’ which was a term for moonshine.Our governor is allowing us $200 in our jeans. We are now eagerly awaiting a general order telling us where to go to get it. EMPTY POCKETS IN THE DARK
A famous journalist wrote: “We haven’t any conception of what a real blackout means.” Oh, yeah?
Whenever you get fed up on the blackout, think of the fuel savings. It must take a lot of that vital commodity of war to light the island of Oahu. Just figure it out for yourself. If one quart of oke will light up one citizen, we must be saving the equivalent of 260,000 quarts of oke every night.
THE BEST ABILITY IS AVAILABILITY
January 27: On this day in 1918, the first Tarzan film, Tarzan of the Apes starring Elmo Lincoln and Enid Markey, premiered in New York. Three people played Tarzan in the film, Gordon Griffith played Tarzan as a child, Stellan Windrow played Tarzan in the trees and Elmo Lincoln played him on the ground. Stellan left the production to enlist in the US Navy, where he served in World War One. Stellan filmed all of the location jungle scenes used in the film, but was paid $1000.00 to not receive screen credit.
Young Gordon Griffith, one of Hollywood’s first child actors, was the first person to appear as Tarzan on screen. Stellan was the first man to sign a contract to portray Tarzan. Later, Griffith played Tom Sawyer in Huckleberry Finn and was cast in The Adventures of Tarzan film serial as Tarzan’s son, Korak.
Enid Markey, the first screen Jane, provided her own wardrobe.
A massive amount of information about the film is at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag5/0503.html
The drabble today is, “The Best Ability is Availability” for today was inspired by the three Tarzans in the film. It’s a fictional conversation at the premiere of the film.Stellan Windrow approached producer Bill Parsons at the premiere of “Tarzan of the Apes.” THE BEST ABILITY IS AVAILABILITY
“Bill, I’m not in the credits. I did all the jungle scenes. Elmo couldn’t even climb a tree.”
“Yeah, you weren’t here to help with publicity.”
“There was a war.”
“That doesn’t sell tickets. You were gone, Gordon’s a kid, but Elmo was here. Besides, we paid you a thousand bucks to not want screen credit.”“I didn’t sign anything.’
“Your agent did. I think he invested your money in good whiskey, which he’s hiding in his stomach in case the Reich counterattacks and threatens Hollywood.”
January 28: On this day in 1926. Methuen and Company published the first British edition of “The Bandit of Hell’s Bend.” Sir Algernon Methuen had encourges Ed to write westerns. The British readers loved them.
The novel had been previously serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly and A. C. McClurg had published the first US edition. The first pulp installment and the first edition used the same illustration by Modest Stein.
The novel has been published in several editions, some authorized and some not, but almost always the jacket illustration is of the Bandit, robbing or preparing to rob. The Methuen edition cover jacket pictures a fight between two men, a ranch hand and Native American Warrior, while Diane Henders, holds a loaded pistol, ready to defend her ranch. The Boris cover for Ace Books pictures Diane defending her property against an attack by Bandits.
Details about the book and it’s publishing history are located at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0771.html
The drabble for today is “Preemptive Strike,” and it has inspired by the novel, “The Bandit and Hell’s Bend.”Bull, a ranch hand suspected of being the Bandit of Hell’s Bend, had proved himself to the ranch’s owner Diane Henders, and he took charge of the ranch’s defense against the Bandit’s men. PREEMPTIVE STRIKE
He heard a shot behind him and turned. A bandit lay dead and Diane stood with a smoking pistol. “Bull, he was gonna back shoot you.”
“Diane, you shouldn’t be involved in gunplay.”
“Gunplay? I wasn’t playing. I was as serious as a heart attack when I killed him. If I’d have killed him instead of hiring him, there’d be sagebrush growing on his grave by now.”
January 29: On this day in 1929. Edgar Rice Burroughs signed the contract with A. C. McClurg for publication of “The Monster Men.” The novel was originally published in the November 1913 edition of All-Story Magazine using the title, The Man Without a Soul,” a title later used by Methuen in the UK for The Return of the Mucker. A working title for the story was “Number Thirteen.”
J. Allen St John drew the dust jacket and one illustration for the title page. The first edition was published on March 15, 1929 with a print run of 5,000.
There’s some similarity between this novel and The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells which was published in 1896. Both stories take place on a remote island where a mad scientist performs experiments to create humans. Wells' scientists performs experiment on animals to raise them to humanity, while ERB’s mad scientist creates his manmade humans in a vat. It doesn’t work out well for either of them.
The history of the novel is available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag7/0756.html
The 100 word drabble for today, “Just a Number,” was inspired by “The Monster Men.”Virginia Maxon was saved from the horde of monsters by a handsome young man. She held her torn blouse over her breasts. “Thank you. Who are you?” JUST A NUMBER
“Thirteen.”
“No, not your age. You look older than that, anyway. Listen, me Virginia, and you?”
“I’m thirteen.”
“That’s a number, not a name, and an unlucky number at that.”
“What means unlucky?”
“When bad things happy for no reason, that’s unlucky.”
“Are you the bad thing or am I the bad thing.”
Virginia looked him over and smiled. “Well, I think I’m pretty darn good and you don’t look too bad, yourself!”
January 30: On this day in 1894, Edgar Rice Burroughs and others founded the cadet newspaper. “The Military Mirror.” It was generally that Burroughs was the founder and editor, an interesting position for a future writer, who wasn’t always pleased with his editors, to be in.
The drabble foJanuary 31, 2024 and twenty-four years ago on this day in 2000, artist Gil Kane died in Miami, Florida. Kane, who was born as Eli Katz, worked for almost every comic book publisher and drew almost every character. Green Lantern, Hulk, Atom, Spider-Man, Rex, the Wonder Dog, Tiger Boy, Captain Marvel, Iron Fist, Blackmark, Tigra, and along the way he had time to illustrate the comic book, “John Carter Warlord of Mars,” the dust jacket for “Beyond Thirty and the Man-Eater,” the Tarzan newspaper Sunday comic strip. There are so many more, you can virtually pick a character.
He received several award from the National Cartoonists Society, a Shazam award, an Inkpot award, and is a member of the Eisner Award Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.
The drabble for today, “Write What You Want to See,” is taken from comments by Gil’s collaborator on the Spider-Man “death of Gwen Stacy” story line.
Gil was a marvelous draftsman and an idiosyncratic storyteller. I learned that working with him Marvel-style (the writer gives the artist a plot and the artist breaks down the story, panel by panel, resulted in lopsided storytelling; the first two-thirds of a story would be leisurely paced, and the last third would be hellbent-for-leather. After doing a few stories in my usual loosely plotted style, I gave him tighter plots, indicating where the story should be by such-and-such a page. He seemed to prefer this, and I'm generally happier with the later stories we did together than the first few.r today is “Divine Right, a fictional exchange between Edgar Rice Burroughs, the editor in chief of the cadet newspaper, and one of his volunteer writers.George, the writer, stormed into Ed’s room and shook his copy of “The Military Mirror” at him. “What the devil, Ed, you cut my story about the football team from a thousand words to only five hundred.” DIVINE RIGHT
“George, that’s all there were room for.”
“Even worse, you changed the headline “Philips Prevails” to “Big Blue Blasts Boston Boys!”“I did. You’re welcome.”
“What gives you the right to change my stuff?”
“I’m the editor and editors always know best.”
“Do you ever listen to yourself? The day will come when you’ll regret those words.”
‘Perhaps, but this isn’t that day.”
WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE
January 31: On this day in 2000, artist Gil Kane died in Miami, Florida. Kane, who was born as Eli Katz, worked for almost every comic book publisher and drew almost every character. Green Lantern, Hulk, Atom, Spider-Man, Rex, the Wonder Dog, Tiger Boy, Captain Marvel, Iron Fist, Blackmark, Tigra, and along the way he had time to illustrate the comic book, “John Carter Warlord of Mars,” the dust jacket for “Beyond Thirty and the Man-Eater,” the Tarzan newspaper Sunday comic strip. There are so many more, you can virtually pick a character.
He received several award from the National Cartoonists Society, a Shazam award, an Inkpot award, and is a member of the Eisner Award Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.
The drabble for today, “Write What You Want to See,” is taken from comments by Gil’s collaborator on the Spider-Man “death of Gwen Stacy” story line.Gil was a marvelous draftsman and an idiosyncratic storyteller. I learned that working with him Marvel-style (the writer gives the artist a plot and the artist breaks down the story, panel by panel, resulted in lopsided storytelling; the first two-thirds of a story would be leisurely paced, and the last third would be hellbent-for-leather. After doing a few stories in my usual loosely plotted style, I gave him tighter plots, indicating where the story should be by such-and-such a page. He seemed to prefer this, and I'm generally happier with the later stories we did together than the first few. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE
