INTERVIEW: Harlan Ellison, part 2

Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases brought more comics to the attention of more people than anyone else in the industry. Her work promoting The Death of Superman made an entire nation share in the tragedy of one of our most iconic American heroes. As a freelance journalist, she has been published in the Village Voice, High Times, Spy, the National Lampoon, Metropolitan Home, and more. For Marvel comics she created the series Dakota North. Martha worked as a researcher and assistant for the author Norman Mailer on several of his books, including the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Executioner's Song, On Women and Their Elegance, Ancient Evenings, and Harlot's Ghost.

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5 Responses

  1. Clifford Meth says:

    One of the best Ellison interviews I've read. Except for the typos. Shame on you Martha–it distracts from a fun read. Go fix 'em!

  2. John McCarthy says:

    Great stuff, Martha. I always love hearing what Mr. Ellison says. It's akin to sandblasting: it's loud and messy and a little dangerous, but when you're done, you've blasted away all the crap.

  3. Russ Rogers says:

    Wow. So the halves of the coin contain the location to Ta Moa's father's colon, which is where the formula seems to be hidden!Now, I can see why a giant corporation, like Takada Energy, would be willing to use deadly force in getting their hands on a formula for making petroleum-free plastics. It's priceless. I just don't see why a giant corporation would entrust that job to a sword wielding Mexican wrestler and a mob of drunken bandits. Ta Moa and the White Viper have been hiding in the village for at least 15 years. Takada Energy isn't just going to FORGET about Ta Moa! Are they really going to let the search for an invaluable secret formula be run by Gur Khan, a line-backer in a fur kilt, and his brigade of pony-riding thugs for more than a decade with no results?If Takada Energy had any clue where Ta Moa was, the hills would be swarming with mercenaries within ten days. SO, Takada Energy doesn't know where Ta Moa is. Then why does Ghur Khan want both halves of the medallion? Is Gur Khan really Jigaro, the head of Takada Security instructed to take care of this matter? Has Jigaro decided that endlessly holing up in the mountains is better than returning to Takada empty handed?

    • Russ Rogers says:

      Sorry, Brother Zhou took the formula and hid it somewhere in or around the Monastery. The formula isn't still hidden in Ta Moa's father's colon. But, how do we know Brother Zhou could be trusted? And when one half of the coin containing the location to the formula was lost, placing the location of the formula at risk, why couldn't Brother Zhou just MOVE the formula to another secret location? Why is there only ONE copy of the formula for petroleum-free plastics? Did Ta Moa not only steal the formula, but kill ALL the research scientists who developed it? Why not just give the formula back to it's rightful owners or make the formula public? Why must the formula remain hidden? In the 15+ years that Ta Moa's been in hiding, couldn't someone at Suko Research or Takada Energy reinvent the formula?

      • Glenn Hauman says:

        You'd be surprised re: corporations and formulas. A few years ago, McDonald's admitted they'd lost the original formula to the special sauce for Big Macs. McDonald's changed the original special sauce recipe to cut costs and lost the original. When a returning exec wanted to return to the original special sauce, no one could find the recipe. The exec remembered the name of the California company that supplied the sauce 36 years ago. They still had the sauce in their record books, and McDonald's was able to recover the recipe.And let's not even get started on the formula for Coca-Cola. Come to think of it, there was a Jon Sable story that did that back in the 80's.