In “Origins,” comics creators talk about their formative experiences with comics. This time, we were lucky enough to talk to Bob Layton–a writer, artist and editor with a very long and impressive history in the business, including several fondly-remembered runs on Iron Man, as well as a series of Hercules projects at Marvel.
What was the first comic book you ever read? What do you remember about it?
I learned to read from comics when I was only four years old, after my older sister became bored with reading the same comic to me about fifty times. Subsequently, I was skipped a grade when I entered the school system and wound up graduating from high school at barely 17 years old.
My first comic was a DC Showcase issue featuring the Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby and Wally Wood. I have to say that it made such an impact on me that it set me on my career path. The story was about the Challs discovering Pandora’s Box.
Due to that classic comic’s influence, my personal tastes as a creator have tended to gravitate towards characters (like the Challengers, Batman and Iron Man) who possess no inherent super-powers.
Who were your favorite comics creators when you started getting into reading comics?
The late, great Dick Giordano would be my most prominent comics influence. I was a huge Sarge Steel fan during his Charlton era and loved all of those characters he created there. Dickie was my mentor for the last thirty something years–and that’s been a significant contribution to my general neurosis! Since I was a kid, Giordano admonished me to learn every single aspect of the business–because that knowledge would insure me continuing to get work when times are tough. I have to say that he was correct.
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For the majority of my career, I’ve been able to function as an editor, writer, penciller, or inker–depending on what’s available at the time–thanks to Dickie’s sage wisdom. I’m privileged that we stayed close friends over the decades, right up to his recent passing. He was father, mentor and friend to me and a creative giant to the comics industry. And my apprenticeship with Wally Wood was a dream come true, having grown up reading Challengers, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and his other great works. I was very blessed to have been tutored by two such industry giants.
And, without a doubt, I’d have to include one of my co-collaborators at Marvel and Valiant, Barry Windsor-Smith. Barry is one of the few, true geniuses of comic art that I’ve been privileged to be associated with during my career. I was a huge fan of his Conan the Barbarian series as a kid.
I’d have to say that I was also heavily influenced by Gil Kane and Jack Kirby, as well. As a writer, it would be Stan Lee, David Michelinie and Archie Goodwin.
Did you make comics in your pre-professional days? What were they like?
After high school, I met Roger Stern (who worked for a local radio station in Indianapolis), and we began publishing fanzines out of my little apartment. CPL (an overblown moniker which stands for Contemporary Pictorial Literature) was our main ‘zine. It was an extremely popular fan publication for its day, and eventually led us into a working alliance with Charlton Comics, with Sterno and I producing and publishing the now-legendary fanzine The Charlton Bullseye. The close association with Charlton (and production wizard, Bill Pearson) led to my meeting Wally Wood and becoming one of his apprentices. Once I went to work for Woody, doors started opening up for me all over the place.