Comic Book Historians

Comic Book Historians

As featured on LEGO.com, Marvel.com, Slugfest, NPR, Wall Street Journal and the Today Show, host & series producer Alex Grand, author of the best seller, Understanding Superhero Comic Books (with various co-hosts Bill Field, David Armstrong, N. Scott Robinson, Ph.D., Jim Thompson) and guests engage in a Journalistic Comic Book Historical discussion between professionals, historians and scholars in determining what happened and when in comics, from strips and pulps to the platinum age comic book, through golden, silver, bronze and then toward modern Support us at https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistorians. Read Alex Grand's Understanding Superhero Comic Books published by McFarland & Company here at: https://a.co/d/2PlsODN Series directed, produced & edited by Alex Grand All episodes ©Comic Book Historians LLC.

Episodes

June 1, 2026 38 mins

David Armstrong interviewed Golden and Silver Age great, John Broome in 1998 on set at San Diego Comic Con about his entry into comic books and pulps in the 1930s, working at Quality Comics and DC Comics, knowing Otto Binder, his favorite comic book genre, his science fiction stories synergizing with the space race,  trying to gather support for creators to claim reprint rights from Jack Liebowitz, his stories of the 1950s, if comi...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Jim Shooter in a career spanning biography.  Travel thru his life as he brought in and worked with Frank Miller on Daredevil,  behind the curtain scenes into Marvel's sale from Cadence to New World, the transition from him to DeFalco in 1987 (6:32:00),  raising money to bid to buy Marvel from New World in 1989,  his long professional relationship w/ Steve Ditko, his professional re...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Jim Shooter in a career spanning biography.  Travel thru his life as he discusses the Ant-Man Wasp controversy, the dead Korvac saga sequel, oversaw Roger Stern create Monica Rambeaux, improving access to opportunities in the comics industry to African-American, Asian and female creators like Denys Cown, Ron Wilson, Larry Hama and Louise Simonson, how both Star Wars and the Superman fil...

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David Armstrong interviewed Platinum and Golden Age great, Martin Filchock in 2000 on set at his home in Rogersville, Tennessee about his entry into comic books in the 1930s with Tidbits Magazine, his blue collar background working the railroad, meeting Bill Cook at Comics Magazine Company,  working on Mighty Man and other comics at Centaur, his life in the Civilian Conservation Corps and how it reflected in his C.C. Kid strip, wor...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Jim Shooter in a career spanning biography.  Travel thru his life as he joined Marvel as associate editor under Marv Wolfman and his first encounter with the Marvel Method in 1975, the editor-writer wars of the 1970s, origin of Jim Galton, working w/ Editor-in-Chief Archie Goodwin, plotted the Spider-Man news-strip w/ Stan Lee, became Editor-in-Chief in 1978,  and wrote the Avengers com...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Jim Shooter in a career spanning biography.  Travel thru his youth as Mort Weisinger's 14- year-old apprentice created the  rogue's gallery of the Legion of Superheroes, Princess Projectra, #KarateKid,  Ferro Lad's death & intended race,  drew layouts with his scripts for DC artists Gil Kane, Wally Wood, and Neal Adams, Captain Action teaching him Toy-Comics synergy, ...

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David Armstrong interviewed Platinum and Golden Age great, Creig Flessel in 1998 on set at Long Island, New York about his early training in the Grand Central Art School, his entry into comic books in the mid 1930s with Vincent Sullivan on More Fun Comics for Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications, his covers for Detective Comics, other artists like Leo O'Mealia, Bert Christman, Jerry Siegel and Jo...

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David Armstrong interviewed Golden Age great, Joe Simon in 1998 on set at San Diego Comic Con about his entry into Hearst comic strips in the 1930s, comic books in Funnies Inc and becoming Timely/Marvel Comics' first editor, meeting Jack Kirby at Victor Fox comics, Wonder Comics with Will Eisner's Wonder Man, Eisner and Iger's split, creating Captain America, leaving Timely for DC Comics, his relationship with Jack L...

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In 1955, comic book companies were struggling to stay afloat after a rough five years of censorship, a changing readership, and the invention of television. During an editorial meeting at National Periodical Publications, somebody suggested bringing back the company’s superheroes. National settled on a redesign of an old character—The Flash—and the world would never be the same. This created Marvel Comics and the Marvel Age. Michae...

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Panel description: Before Gotham had shadows, writer Bill Finger cast them. Comics scholar Alex Grand (*Understanding Superhero Comic Books*) moderates a lively conversation with Athena Finger (Bill’s granddaughter and advocate), historian Bill Field (Field of Comics), and playwright/filmmaker Leonard Schwartz (Bill Finger: Rise of the Bat), and now with Mark Evanier (Bill Finger Awards). Together we trace Finger’s career across co...

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Rob Liefeld returns to the CBH podcast talking about Youngblood hitting its stride, Extreme Studios becomes a hothouse of new series: Brigade, Bloodstrike, and nearly two dozen more, all while he mentors rising talents Dan Fraga, Norm Rapmund and more. Mounting costs inside Image spark sharp discussions with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Mark Silvestri, nudging Liefeld to open Maximum Press for experiments like Battlestar Galactica ...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Don McGregor on his career in a final fourth of a four parter discussing his work with Dean Mullaney at Eclipse, Ragamuffins, working at DC Comics with Nathaniel Dusk, Julius Schwartz, Dragonflame with David Anthony Kraft, work for hire with Marvel, Black Panther's Quest for Marvel Comics Presents, Detectives Inc sequel with Gene Colan, the Detectives Inc Movie, Topps, Zorro, Dracu...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview comic writer Don McGregor, in a third parter on discussing Black Panther fighting the KKK, antagonism with editorial, Archie Goodwin & Jim Shooter, the personal issues he was dealing with in the middle to later 1970s that affected his writing output, writing Michael Golden's first Marvel work, Dagger, and Sabre with Eclipse.  Images used in artwork ©Their Respective Copyright h...

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Ditkoverse publications are here: http://www.igg.me/at/ditkoverse1

Alex Grand speaks with Steve Ditko’s nephew, Mark Ditko, and longtime Ditko collaborator Mort Todd about their DitkoVerse publishing venture, a project dedicated to “remastering” and re-presenting classic Steve Ditko stories in high-quality editions . They describe their upcoming Indiegogo campaign, which kicks off a broader plan to keep Ditko’s independent...

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David Armstrong interviewed Golden Age great and Graphic Novelist, Will Eisner in 1997 on set at San Diego Comic Con about the early history of comic books, comic strip reprints, his entry into comics, WOW What A Magazine!, his partnership with Jerry Iger, the growing concept of early comic books with original material, starting the Eisner and Iger shop, partnering with Everett M. Arnold at Quality Comics on the Spirit Newspaper In...

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Alex Grand & Filippo Marzo interview Jerry Ordway for an hour in a co-interview process where the english version is here at Comic Book Historians, and the italian version is at Comics Reporter.  Jerry is asked about his DC Comics career highlights from the 1980s through the 2000s with All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc with Roy Thomas, Crisis on Infinite Earths with George Perez, Adventures of Superman with Marv Wolfman and Jo...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Bob Hall part 2, from his early days as a comic reader, his University education in Theatre, his turned in first work for Charlton Comics, studying at the John Buscema Comic Art School, getting into Marvel under editor Archie Goodwin, then under new editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the Yellowjacket Wasp story, Squadron Supreme with Mark Gruenwald, co-creating West Coast Avengers, Emperor Do...

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Craig Yoe’s biographical interview highlights his creative journey through personal struggles and reinvention, who transforms adversity into creativity while remaining true to his innovative spirit. He discusses his graphic novel Woman & Man+, a psychedelic reflection on leaving the U.S., a painful divorce, and using art therapy to rebuild his life. Raised in the Midwest, Yoe credits his parents for encouraging his creativity, ...

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Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Bob Hall, from his early days as a comic reader, his University education in Theatre, his turned in first work for Charlton Comics, studying at the John Buscema Comic Art School, getting into Marvel under editor Archie Goodwin, then under new editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the Yellowjacket Wasp story, Squadron Supreme with Mark Gruenwald, co-creating West Coast Avengers, Emperor Doom, Val...

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In today's special episode, Alex Grand and Bill Field delve into a fascinating phone conversation from August 27, 1994, between comic book historian and writer, Steve Ringgenberg and the legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta. Steve Ringgenberg, known for his deep knowledge and contributions to the comic book industry, chats with Frazetta about his then-upcoming projects and his return to comics, albeit in a supervisory role.

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