Something Groovy

Years ago, comics creator and publisher David Miller asked Mike Baron, Roy Thomas and me to contribute to the Writer's Block #1. Each of us was given the same six pages of a story to dialogue. We weren't even told the plot or the premise. Here's the cover of that comic book: Dumb title, I think, one of those reach-for-any-familiar-pairing-of-words things, no matter how much of a stretch or how inappropriate. Like the local radio station that refers to people calling in from the road as "cell mates." Good grief.
But I think the Writer's Block results are intriguing. I was very interested in seeing how the other guys' analysis and execution compared to mine, and to read the short interviews in which each of us explained his approach. I guess it was interesting to readers, too, because subsequently David did the same sort of thing with Peter David, Jo Duffy, Gail Simone, Roger Stern and Fabian Nicieza.   
David informed me that there's now a trade paperback that collects all the Writer's Block work. I don't often plug things here, but in case this unusual, experimental book sounds appealing, you can get a copy here:
www.createspace.com/3676520
Other Groovy Stuff Someone asked about the effect of Spider-Man's black costume on sales. Here's a letter, one of hundreds sent from our national wholesaler to local Independent Distributor Wholesalers:

Just because it's groovy, here's a birthday card/gift I got from Stan:
Some crazy thing I happened to come across. Tart art? The web site is jayjayjackson.com, now. Seriousillustration.com is languishing. 

Here's a copy of Communicadence, the parent corporation's newsletter, from about the time I started at Marvel. I didn't make it into this issue but there's a nice picture of Marie Severin and also some new guy who aspires to write a sleazy novel.
NEXT:  Originals Sin, or Who Deserves Pages and Who Doesn't?  Bonus! Rooting Out Corruption at Marvel Part 5 Starring Me as the Perp