Though some of its more youthful fans might wish it were not so, working in the comic book industry involves most of the same everyday frustrations of other jobs, according to an 18-year industry veteran.
Jim Starlin, a 40-year-old New York-based artist/writer perhaps best known for killing off the second character to wear the Robin costume in the DC Comics "Batman" book, told the Deseret News recently because of those frustrations he no longer works with one of the two largest U.S. comics companies ."I like getting paid regularly so I worked for the big two (DC and Marvel, for which Starlin still continues to do work). Around the time of the ("Batman") movie, things got really crazy over there (DC's New York offices), and I'll never work with them again."
Starlin, appearing at Cottonwood Mall's Nightflight Comics as part of a book-signing tour, said he originally toyed with the idea of killing the second Robin (Jason Todd, as opposed to Dick Grayson, who now avenges under the name of Nightwing) as early as six years ago, though he was working for some independent publishers at the time.
"I proposed the idea to Denny (O'Neill, who edits the three "Batman" comics), and he liked it. Then, he and some of the other higher-ups got the idea of a telephone poll for the readers, to give them the choice."
However, when the move paid off with multimedia coverage of the now-infamous "Batman" Nos. 426 to 429 (titled "A Death in the Family"), Starlin said O'Neill and some of the others basked in the spotlight and took credit for the move.
Later, though, when Warner Brothers (which owns DC Comics) was producing the film, executives were called to task for the move, which Starlin said spoiled their marketing plans.
"Someone had to explain why there wouldn't be Robin on all those thermoses, so they basically looked at me and said, `It's his fault.' "
Starlin said he wasn't surprised that DC officials decided to place another character (Tim Drake) into the familiar red, yellow and green Robin garments.
"It's not something I'd think they'd really be happy with, but I knew they'd do it. It's just sort of disappointing, really."
Starlin now has begun writing Marvel's "Silver Surfer" comic, the tale of a silver-hued cosmic wanderer without a home that many consider a '60s icon and one of Marvel's finest efforts to date.
"He's really a fascinating character. Most of all, though, he's got the one prerequisite I look for when I take over for someone else's character - the surfer was really slumping before I took over. It was one of the reasons I took over Batman, too."
Other Marvel characters Starlin has left his indelible trademarks on are Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel (no relation to the '40s character who shouted "Shazam" to make his super-transformation).
Like Starlin's "Batman" run, both his Warlock and Captain Marvel work ended in the death of a main character (actually both lead characters). So far, though, Starlin doesn't have such plans for Silver Surfer, nor for resurrecting any of the others.
"One of the two dead characters (Adam Warlock) will be appearing in an upcoming Silver Surfer storyline, but he won't returning, we'll just put it like that."
Additionally, Starlin has of late gotten into writing novels with his wife, Daina Graziunas, who also appeared at the signing. Their first collaborative prose effort, Among Madmen, recently sold out of its initial 70,000-print run, and Graziunas said film executives have contacted them about writing a motion picture script.
"It's not something we were looking to get into, but it's been wonderful that it's worked out like this, with Jim and me working together," she said.
Starlin said he will continue to divide time between his comic-writing efforts (though he was perhaps more well-known for his artistry during the '70s) and novel-writing with his wife. In fact, the two have separate projects in mind, though none of Graziunas' are comic-based.
"I kind of feel like that (comic writing) is more Jim's domain, while he really supports in our prose work. We really don't know how we'd if I actually got to be more famous in that area."