John Carbonaro passes away at the age of 58

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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10 Responses

  1. Lee Houston, Junior says:

    For once, I'm actually close to a story and I honestly don't know what to say.I knew JC. He was a nice man who always somehow managed to pick himself up again and soldiered on no matter what life threw at him. But he definitely deseved better than what he got.I remember talking to him a few times whenever he was at Nan's Comics and Games in Houston back inbetween the initial rounds of trying to get his legal troubles straightened out. He was a nice guy to hang out at a comic book store with and talk "shop". Even autographed a couple of books for me.Just wish things could have gone better for him though.

  2. dadiceguy says:

    Wow thats a damn shame. Hope THUNDER Agents doesnt slip back into a legal morass again.

    • Vinnie Bartilucci says:

      "back into"? It never rose from it. DC's been doing the reprint series, but they backed off the new series a few years back. Supposedly John complained at the changes DC wanted to make to the characters, and I feel DC just didn't want to get into another situation where they had to get approval for everything they did. One wonders what sort of oversight Archie has with the Red Circle characters. Jim Shooter wanted them for Marvel back in the day. The Tower reps showed them what they had, and he realized they didn't have a single piece of signed paperwork from Wally Wood saying he transferred copyright. They didn't have the standard verbiage on the back of the paycheck. NOTHING. He realized he could take these facts to Wally's estate, but they wouldn't have the money to make a case. He recognized a minefield when he saw it, and he retraced his steps back out. There's more than a few companies who'd LOVE to do new THUNDER Agents stories, but nobody'll go near it, because of the tar baby it's become. Damn shame, DAMN shame.I will make a prediction right now – there are offers being drafted right now for the characters. And I hope and pray DC wins.

      • mike weber says:

        It may be possible to do reprints, because the copyrights may be defective.However, they can't do new without a license, because the trademarks may well still be valid.

  3. Michelle Mauceri says:

    Hi I'm Michelle John's niece. He was really an avid fan of Comics. I glad he was liked. He was very strong willed and very, very stubborn at time. LOL probably were I got it from. At least that what my mother tells me LOL. He did suffer for a long time. He was a Diabetic. Complications soon led to congestive heart failure, which is what resulted in his death. I am glad he will be missed from others as well as from his family. He is survived by his mother Katherine Carbonaro 85, and his sister Constance Mauceri 60.

    • Bob Pinaha says:

      Michelle, your Uncle was a very nice caring man. I met John at the old Creation comic book conventions back in the late 1970's. As fans, at every convention, I would get together and purchase a dealer's table with fantasy painter, Marcus Boas and other classmates from the art school we all attended. John was always welcome to sit with us at our table as he always had stories and anecdotes about the industry. And though we lost track over the years, he reappeared in a mutual friend's e-mail list. Though those e-mail communications were all too brief, he will be missed!

  4. Michelle Mauceri says:

    Thanks Bob. He was full of anecdotes its true. Some I got a kick out of. Thanks for the nice words.

  5. David LeVack says:

    Weird, I just saw him online it seems like the other day. It may have been someone else on the computer. His niece was right, he was stubborn too from my conversations with him :) But was genuine.

  6. Steve Chaput says:

    I exchanged some e-mail with John about a decade ago, dealing with a difference of opinion. I understood his position, so we let the whole thing drop.I'm sorry he didn't get to see his ideas for new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents titles come about. They were great characters and I sincerely hope that John's legacy will be their return to greatness.My sympathy and condolences goes out to his family at this time.

  7. Robert J. Sodaro says:

    Let's get a couple of things clear. Yes John was very stubborn in regards to the Agents, they were his property, he bought them fair and square from Tower (I was there at the hearing, I've seen the paperwork from the State of NY. The Agents belong to John, and now his heirs). He was jerked around pretty hard by some very unscrupulous people early on in regards to his legal rights and ownership (which I detailed at length in the article cited above). So yea, he was real specific and careful as to what rights he was willing to assign, and what types of stories he wanted written about the agents (he didn't want the characters retconned gay (as one writer wanted to do) or re-imagined as women (as someone else wanted), nor did he want them turned into Saturday Morning kiddy tunes (as someone else wanted). He wanted the THUNDER Agents as envisioned by Wally Wood). Given that John was the one holding the copy and publishing rights, he gets to make those kinds of decisions. If that made him "difficult" then let me make this analogy that John made to me on a number of occasions. Let me move into your house with all of my friends, rearrange all your furniture, and knock out a few walls, just for the fun of it, and not pay you for the "privilege" of all of this. See how you like it.No, John wasn't difficult. most of the people with whom he was dealing were flat-out unreasonable. I knew John for 30 years, and he was nothing but fair, and generous to a fault. He was one of the last good guys.