Double Feature John Romita Jr Part One - Denys Cowan Panel from Summit City Con

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On this episode of Word Balloon we present a double feature with two artistic masters.

First up, part one of a conversation with John Romita Jr. We talk about his current run on Avengers
with Brian Bendis and Kick Ass 2 with Mark Millar. John also previews a creator owned series in the works
with Howard Chaykin. A 1970's New York crime/fantasy pastiche called Schmuggy and Bimbo. Part of the Romita interview will be recorded later this month.

Then Milestone founder Denys Cowan heads a panel recorded at this past weekend's Summit City Comic Con with fellow artists Angel Gabriel and Jeff Newman. Cowan and company recall their early days assisting Deathlok creator Rich Buckler when Denys was 14.

Our reaserch exposed a dark secret to the audience, forcing Gabriel and Cowan to confess to their time in the 80's in Regional TV Wrestling on a show called POWERSLAM with infamous stars like Dick The Bruiser and Ox Baker.Gabriel was known as The Dark Angel, and Denys was a manager.

Then Denys talks about his days on titles like The Question, Black Panther, Power Man
and Iron Fist, and a classic Batman run with Sam Hamm (the screenwriter of the 1989 Tim Burton film).

He also tells the story of the formation of Milestone and the creation of their line of multi-racial heroes He reminisces about his friend the late Dwayne McDuffie, who was the first creator he approached to join the venture,and talks about the successes and struggles that came after the company debuted. The panel talk about the creation of Hardware and the symbolic metaphor of the glass ceiling struggle the creators dealt with.

Then Denys hints at 2 new upcoming projects a 5 part Batman story about the 5 phases of accepting death by Paul Levitz, and a new Vertigo mini series with Selwyn Hinds, who worked on Case 21 with Cowan in the recent STRANGE ADVENTURES anthology.