ComicMix’s Mike Gold Babbles Non-Stop for 42 Minutes

Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger is best known to comics fans as the editor of Who's Who In The DC Universe, Suicide Squad, and Doom Patrol. He's written and edited several Star Trek novels and is the author of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. He's known for his work as an editor for Comics Scene, Starlog, and Weekly World News, as well as holding executive positions at both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

You may also like...

4 Responses

  1. Marc Alan Fishman says:

    Just listened to the cast here at work. Suffice to say it was both informative and interesting (from a business perspective, as well as a creative one.) I really enjoyed the discussion of the medium in the future, and was blown away from the readership of comicmix (having never heard of it before meeting you in Chicago, and now of course, I'm a daily comicmixer). I can only hope in given time, I'll be a part of the ranks. Keep on gabbing.

  2. Andrew Bergstrom says:

    Not a bad interview, but Mike was steered into expanding on webcomics rather than expanding on ComicMix's mission and the future plans for the 'site.I will take Mr. Gold to task on his assessment that "Black & White" is shunned in comics & webcomics. While some of his points about Turner color-izing were reasonable, there are many shades of grey/gray between his opinions on the subject YMMV (your mileage may vary.)If "Black & White" isn't a popular medium for younger readers, then how does he take into account the success of Frank Miller's "Sin City"? What about the Eisner award winning PVP by Scott Kurtz? The popularity of GWS (Girls With Slingshots), Brad Guigar's Evil Inc. that is still offered in B&W as well as color (and will have a daily Pennsylvania newspaper circulation of 1.2 Million by January 2009), and many other manga/comics out there on the web and in print that still manage to gain in popularity? Dave Sim's monumental 300 issues of 'Cerebus', again in this medium…I respect Mike's opinions, especially due to his experience in the industry, and his vision that brought ComicMix to fruition. I just don't agree with him on this point. I have recently acquired the complete DVD box set of "The Dick Van Dyke Show", which ran in B&W from 1961-66, and my children love it! My 7, 5, & 3 years old daughters run to the TV every time they hear the theme song. My oldest did ask why it was not in color, but after explaining that the show is almost 50 years old only bounced her jaw off of the floor a few times (yes, daddy is THAT old!) The lack of color has never diminished their enjoyment of the show, which is a testament to all of the talent that backed Carl Reiner on this landmark show.The point of this roundabout diatribe is that Mike is a great innovator, and willing to take chances on new ideas. He is a smart businessman who knows how to get a job done. Not to play the race card, but color isn't everything…

    • Marc Alan Fishman says:

      I think in reference to the black and white issue… I think Mike was meaning that black and white falls on blind eyes to the younger generations. The youth of the nation are a bit more "colorized" in their tastes… whether that's a good or bad thing, it's hard to say. Sin City, Cerberus, PvP, and all the other B and W books you mentioned are all great, but I'm guessing their audience skews a bit older. I think as Mike said, if comicmix did a BW series, I'd check it out, and hope it did well… but you won't know till it's done.

      • Russ Rogers says:

        I don't know. Take a look at "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". That breaks the mold on what expectations should be for color, format, original presentation and sales. Is this a singular phenomenon? Or will others be able to capitalize on it's success?