Tripwire Talks To Veteran Editor, Writer And Colourist Gregory Wright About A Career In Comics

The Wright Stuff

Tripwire’s contributing writer Paul N Neal just chatted to veteran writer, editor and colourist Gregory Wright about a long career in comics…

Gregory Wright has had a long career working for both Marvel and DC as an editor, writer and a very accomplished colourist. His experiences and stories are wonderful insights into a fascinating period in the comic industry.

Paul: Can I start by asking simply where your relationship with comics began? What was the first comic you ever read? And how did you come to have it?

Gregory: The first comics I read were likely Archie Comics and Harvey Comics like Casper the Friendly Ghost.  My grandmother used to buy them for me at the five and dime for 15 cents each! I also liked the Gold Key Comics and Classic comics.  I tended to look for comics that were also TV shows at the time…and Disney Comics. My first super-hero comic was Batman# 234.  Two Face…Half an Evil.  I was upset at first to see that the comic was nothing like the Batman TV show.  But Neal Adams’ art totally won me over and influenced my taste in comics art for years after that. My grandmother bought me that one as well.

Paul:  Were you always a Marvel fan rather than a DC one?  I ask because you’ve worked much more for Marvel. As a fan, how would you compare the companies?

Gregory:  As a fan, I read more DC because of Batman.  But when I started reading Marvel Comics, I found that they were better because the characters had more real problems and personalities. I don’t compare companies, I compare comics that I’m enjoying reading. It usually comes down to creators.  I did more work for Marvel because they paid better and I was more familiar with the Marvel Universe, the characters and the editors.

Paul: Can you describe how you got your first foot in the door at Marvel? I gather it was at the Epic imprint. Did that involve the greatly missed Archie Goodwin?

Gregory: I got my start in comics as an editorial assistant in the Epic Comics division of Marvel Comics, working under the great Archie Goodwin , Jo Duffy, Margaret Clark and my friend DG Chichester who got me the job! I moved on to become Mark Gruenwald’s assistant and, shortly after that. an editor for both Marvel and Epic Comics.  While I was an assistant editor I began to colour and write actual comics books, which was such an incredible rush.  I mean – you write a story, and a real artist brings it to life?? Incredible.

Paul: It is an incredible feeling.

Gregory: My dear friend DG Chichester had got an assistant editor job with Epic after an internship, and he got me an interview for an editorial assistant job.  Archie was indeed our boss.  During my interview with Jo Duffy, he came into the office with a bag of candy to refill his jar. He introduced himself and I was completely starstruck.  He said: “Hi, I’m Archie Goodwin, don’t mind me, I’m only in charge.  Would you like a piece of candy?”

Paul: So inevitably I have to ask how did your relationship with Mark Gruenwald begin? …and can you describe what he was like at all?

ABOVE: Mark Gruenwald (Top.) Left to Right: “Me in the striped shirt, Howard Mackie with the tie and Mike Carlin, dark Jacket.”

Gregory: In the middle of Jim Shooter firing editors who didn’t agree with him, Mark’s assistant, Howard Mackie, was promoted to New Universe editor leaving his spot with Mark open. I applied for that job and Archie and the entire Epic department vouched for me to him.  So, when I did my interview, after taking a proofreading test, Mark only wanted to discuss favourite Twilight Zone episodes. He actually did a little public access comedy show at the time. Mark was a quirky and incredibly intelligent editor and writer who loved pranks and new ideas. He also wouldn’t allow anything on our desks:  Everything including the phone had to be in the desk.  On the shelves, everything was in these magazine holders and turned backwards so you wouldn’t know what was inside. He also had an entire wall that showed the page-by-page progress of the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. We got along really well. He was a dear friend and mentor who gave me a tremendous amount of responsibility very quickly.  He also made us all sing on command.

Paul: What tune?

Gregory: Songs he made up. Sometimes we sung to the Spider-Man theme.

Paul: That sounds hilarious.

Gregory: It was.  Mark was the heart and soul of Marvel and kept everyone in good humour.

Paul: You mentioned Mark did a public access comedy show. Did you see it? Did he do stand-up comedy?

Gregory: No. Mark didn’t do stand up.  It was more like a sketch comedy show.  It was called Cheap Laffs, and it also utilised other Marvel staffers like Mike Carlin and Eliot Brown. I always wished he was going to do more so I could work on it, which was one of things we talked about during my interview.  But we never did.

Paul: Can I ask, how do you describe yourself? Are you a writer at heart or an editor or a colourist?

Gregory: Generally, a writer/colourist. It all kind of blends together. I’ve had people at conventions shocked to discover I was the same person as the writer, editor or colourist…they thought I was three different people.

Paul: I must confess as a younger man I might have thought the same.

Gregory: There weren’t a lot of people who were writer/colourists or writer/artists. There were artist/colourist yeah.

ABOVE LEFT: Cartoon one with black shirt was drawn by Steve Buccellato.  He was another assistant editor and went on to be a writer/artist.
ABOVE RIGHT: The second is my Profile Pic from the Marvel Bio pages.  Drawn by the late Hector Collazo, best known for inking Scott McDaniel on Daredevil.

Paul: Mark’s Captain America run was very impressive. In a way, it was one of the first comic book runs that truly engaged me. How much story input did you have on that series of comics. Were you a sounding board on it at all?

Gregory: He was working on the Super Patriot storyline that led into Steve Rogers quitting and being replaced by John Walker. I was usually invited to the plot conferences.  Frequently a few of us would have lunch together to discuss various storylines.  I took special interest in this storyline and was also good friends with artist Kieron Dwyer.  We all had a good time thinking up stuff for that storyline. I also wound up colouring a lot of that storyline.

Paul: It must have been gratifying to see some of that storyline realised for Captain America and The Winter Soldier on Disney Plus. Did you enjoy the series? Do you think Mark would have approved?

Gregory: Yeah, that was really fun.  I enjoyed all the Captain America movies as well as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier used a lot of the material we did in Nick Fury Vs. SHIELD. I thought they did a good job with John Walker…even if it was somewhat different. I do think Mark would be thrilled with the Captain America stuff, as well as most of the Marvel movies.

Paul: You mentioned the Jim Shooter era at Marvel? A lot has been said and written about that time. Do you have a perspective to share at all?

Gregory: When I was at Epic, he really left us alone.  He respected Archie and let him run Epic as he saw fit.  When I moved over to the Marvel side, things were very different. This was what I call the New Universe Era.  He had become convinced that HIS way was the only way and was not only micromanaging the New Universe specifically, but ALL the books.  He felt only HE knew what made good comics. Many creators left Marvel due to his feudal approach to accept anything but his way, so others were forced out because he didn’t like their work. Many editors were fearful for their jobs as he was firing people left and right, so they were trying to create comics that wouldn’t get them fired and that Shooter wouldn’t allow to leave the building. It was pretty stressful unless whatever you were doing happened to fit in with what Shooter wanted.

 Paul: That all sounds rather stressful.

Gregory: Mark had figured out how to work with him, and Shooter respected Mark so we didn’t usually find ourselves in his crosshairs until he had a problem with some artists and I, being naïve, felt the need to disagree with him.  He never fired me but some other staffers were afraid I was going to really piss him off. Some editors like Larry Hama didn’t seem to have an issue, mostly because Larry knew way more than Shooter and Shooter knew it.  But I always liked to think Shooter was actually scared of Larry, lol.

Paul: Were you involved in the Secret Wars crossovers at all. It may be an unpopular opinion amongst comic fans, but I prefer Secret Wars 2 for several of the spin-off issues.

Gregory: Nope.

Paul: You worked on X-Men: The Hidden Years I believe. Did you have much interaction with John Byrne?

Gregory: Not really, he wasn’t interested in colour.  Mostly I spoke with Tom Palmer.  Tom was another great friend as well as a mentor to me regarding colour.  He and I first worked together on the Avengers when I was an assistant, and later on when I coloured and he inked Byrne.

Paul: Tom Palmer sadly recently passed away. I adored the Avengers Under Siege storyline he inked. From all the online tributes I saw, it sounds like he was a lovely gentleman.

Gregory: Yes, he was.  If you look at my page, (Facebook) you can find a nice tribute and stories about him.

Gregory wrote the following on his Facebook wall:

Gregory: “Tom was a wonderful friend and mentor to pretty much everyone who knew him, the MASTER of finishing inks over anyone, one of the must genuine, generous people you could ever know or work with.  His brilliance over Gene Colan, John Buscema, Neal Adams and others can never be equalled. He was also a brilliant colourist and painter! He spent hours discussing colour theory with me, and how to really use the limited pallet of 64 colours to its maximum use. His colour guides looked like little paintings…only using the available colour…he introduced me to artists like Dean Cornwell and showed me why certain types of inking worked and others didn’t.  He was always so supportive and fun. He gifted me my very first piece of art, this Avengers page. It hangs in my studio, and I look at it every day and think about him.”

Paul: It must be satisfying I would think to count yourself amongst the great names that have written issues of Daredevil. It is a title that has such a rich history. Can you discuss the character and your time on the title?

Gregory: I always liked Daredevil because he’s living in two very different worlds.  One, he’s a lawyer and two a vigilante.  He can see where the law doesn’t work and then he has to go out and make things right. He’s always in conflict with himself.  Then of course the challenge of writing a blind character who can do what he can do with his enhanced senses is real challenge. I always liked the character but after Frank Miller did his runs with the character, I could really see the potential for writing the sort of stories I really liked, especially with a character whose stories were more street level.

Gregory: I started out writing back-up stories very early in my writing career for Ralph Macchio on the Daredevil Annuals.  He and everyone else liked my back-up stories better than the main story and I was given the annuals to write every year. When Ann Nocenti left the book as writer, I sent in a proposal to write the regular series and nearly got chosen, but my pal D.G. Chichester, who got me into Epic, had also done a proposal and his was better, so he got the assignment.  Nevertheless, I still got to do the annuals, and when he needed a break to write the Elektra series, I got to do an actual five-issue story arc with Tom Grindberg.

Gregory: When you aren’t the series writer, you have to really stick to the continuity of the actual writer and not make any real changes to the status quo.  So, I had to write stories that wouldn’t cause any potential harm to D.G.’s continuity. What really sucks, is that after my story arc Daredevil was transferred out of Ralph’s office and given to one of the new 5 editor-in-chiefs to control.  D.G. was replaced as writer and given 6 more issues, which he took his name off of.  That really soured my run for me: D.G. didn’t deserve that sort of treatment. I really took a shine to a lot of Daredevil’s supporting characters like Ben Urich as well as characters created by Ann Nocenti like The Fatboys, The Wild Boys and Bushwhacker.  I even utilised them in other comics.  Daredevil was always one of those characters every writer wanted to take a crack at, so it was really satisfying to get to write as much of the character as I did.

Paul: That sound like such an exciting opportunity.

Gregory: I prefer to write stories that aren’t world changing.  I like stories that are more realistic and closer to what we might actually experience ourselves and Daredevil was the perfect character for those stories.

Paul: What did you think of Daredevil on Netflix?

Gregory: I really liked it. I think they really got the essence of the character and his world, and the fight scenes were fantastic. I liked most of the Marvel Netflix shows, except for Iron Fist which was just bad casting of the main character, but Colleen Wing was fantastic.

Paul: Technology has certainly altered the comic industry over the last few decades. During your career as a colourist, can you comment how this may have impacted your work. Has it been a help or a hinderance?

Gregory: Great question.

Paul: Thank you.

Gregory: I began colouring when comics were done with colour guides and simple separations.  We had 64 colours and had to figure out how to make everything look great…FAST. I would frequently have to colour a book overnight. We had to colour code every colour for the separators as well. When computers were foist [upon us] being used to separation, we were suddenly able to use any colours we wanted and could ask for some limited graduation effects as well as colour holds. Now, they didn’t want us to CODE the colour, and this presented a big problem because even though the possibility for some awesome colour was there, most of the places that did the separation work were terrible and oversaturated the colour and used all the wrong colours. Some places were good, but you never knew what you would get so I went back to coding everything and writing a lot of notes and suddenly colour took much longer.  But we got paid MORE. Yay. Guys like Steve Oliff and others started doing their OWN separation and guides together and made some fantastic colour. I was lucky to get Steve and some of the good guys to do my stuff sometimes. We all figured we should learn to do this as well, and it was a much steeper curve than I had thought it was going to take me. It was about 4 times longer to do a page than it did currently, when I was doing these highly detailed guides.

(Some examples of Gregory’s colouring are below in the rest of this interview.)

Paul: It sounds like a huge adjustment.

Gregory: I was actively dissuaded from moving to doing all my work digitally by both Marvel and DC because they preferred to be able to utilise me on MORE titles. Then Marvel decided to fire all of us doing guides and hire studios to do all the colour. They never asked the editors or creators. They just assigned studios and we were screwed.

Paul: So, would you say computers and working digitally helped and made the process faster or more efficient, despite perhaps a few teething problems? Or do you miss the old ways of working?

Gregory: Well, DC on the other hand kept doing guides a little longer and, when they decided to move to colourists doing their own “seps”, they asked each of us if we could, and for samples so we could shift from guided to computer. For me this meant I could no longer do anywhere near the volume of work I was used to doing. I needed a full two weeks or more to colour a book.  The schedules frequently were way behind so I couldn’t work at the level I really need to.  On the other hand, being in full control of the images was and is wonderful.  I can do things with the colour I could never do with guides. To answer your question, it did not make things FASTER. No colourist can colour a comic on a computer as fast as we did with guides, mostly because we have unlimited options with the computer and with guides, we had very few. I also liked doing PAINTED blue lines – we’d actually paint on watercolour paper and the backlines would go on top and the image scanned. It’s hard to say what I prefer.  I really liked painting for real, but it was such a crap shoot about how it would look. Digitally I can do anything, but it takes me way longer.

Paul: How does it truly work nowadays?

Gregory: Editors now, thanks to digital everything think nothing of demanding massive changes because it’s possible.  So that’s not so great. It has definitely made it more convenient.  No more sending off art to creators and creators sending it into the office.  Everything is done through email. Yet that’s another issue.  I have worked for people I never speak to.  I prefer at least speaking on the phone. I used to hand deliver work and meet with artists. Plus, now there is very little original art. Certainly no colour. Many people have moved to full digital pencils and inks too.

Paul: On the flip side, technology has also altered the way comics are read and enjoyed. As a fan do you have any thoughts about this development? Do you personally enjoy reading comics on a tablet or laptop etc…  or are you “old school” and prefer your comics to be made of paper?

Gregory: I love reading everything as a physical copy, but I do read some comics on a tablet, and the colours are always better. I do like that some comics are being made specifically to be scrolled and when that works it’s great because the audience is moving away from anything else on a phone or tablet. So yeah, my preference is a physical copy.

Paul: I sometimes wonder if the issue with colour comes down to the quality of the screen (or settings in question) much like the colours on paper may depend on the paper stock or the choice of printers.

Gregory: Well, we have to adjust our screens to look close to the paper it’s printed on so we can do accurate colour. Everyone’s screen is a little bit different, so everyone is seeing the colour a little different.  But the colour differences on screen are nothing compared to how different the colour can look on different paper stocks or different ink or just different printers.

Paul: Can you discuss your work for DC please? I suspect you’ll always be best known for you time at Marvel, but how did your time with DC come about?

Gregory: That was Archie Goodwin. Archie had his power as editor-in-chief of Epic reduced when Shooter was fired.  So, he eventually left Marvel/Epic and went to DC. Once there, he called me up to work for him on Batman Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special with Tim Sale.  He then offered me Starman.  I continued to work with Archie until he passed away.  He was a good friend and mentor, similar to Mark Gruenwald. Once I started to work for Archie, other editors like Mike Carlin (who also used to work for Marvel) called me up to do work.  I wound up doing a LOT of the big companywide crossovers with Marvel/DC like Superman/Fantastic Four and Marvel VS DC.  I also did Batman/Grendel and Batman Aliens.

Paul: That is certainly impressive.

Gregory: Mike also had me do Zero Hour which included I think every single DC character ever created. It was really an honour to be trusted with so many of their important crossovers. I had a really fantastic time working with Kelley Jones on Batman for a few years.  He and Tim Sale were two of my favourite artists to work with.

Paul: I believe you coloured Savage Dragon. Can you say anything about working with Erik Larsen and image in general?

Gregory: Erik and I did a lot of work on Spider-Man at Marvel and really enjoyed working together. Erik’s a pal and asked me to colour the first 3 issue run he did on Savage Dragon.  He paid me better than Marvel, got me great separations and treated me great.  I loved his work, and he loved mine. So, he was great to work with. However, he wasn’t thrilled with the separation on the first issue done by Digital Chameleon because he felt the colour was too bright and pastel-like when my colours were more subdued and dirtier.

Paul: That sounds awkward.

Gregory: So, he introduced me to Steve Oliff, who he wanted to have separate the rest of the series and Steve and I got along great, and Steve understood what I wanted the book to look like.  He showed me a few tricks with my guides to get better results and I was sold. I jokingly told Erik I’d cry if he DIDN’T have Steve do the seps. Erik told Lovern Kindzierski at Digital Chameleon that I said I’d cry if he didn’t replace them with Steve… D’OHHHH!

Gregory: So Lovern, who I had a good relationship with called me up to ask me about this, very concerned.  At the time I was a VERY popular colourist for all the major companies, and he was concerned that I might badmouth Digital Chameleon, or that I really didn’t like their work and he wanted to make sure that they were okay.  Boy, was this embarrassing! So, I had to explain the whole situation to him and admitted that yes I had said that, but it was only because Steve had fully understood what I was going for and showed me how to get it even more like what I wanted and it really had nothing to do with the work Digital had done.

Gregory: I told them YES, the colour was a bit brighter and pastelly than I wanted, but it was still the best seps I had gotten and that I would be happy to have them separate my work anytime and that I would really be happy to message that to Marvel and DC. We had a nice talk about how to communicate with them to get exactly what I wanted from them in the future. Digital Chameleon did beautiful work on Thor and Superman/Fantastic Four with my guides. So, crisis averted, and they did even better work with my guides every time. Erik and I remained friends so all was good in the end, but man I would have liked to continue that book.

Paul: With a long career in comics, you must have been to quite a lot of conventions. Do you have any particular favourites? How do you feel the convention scene has changed over the years?

Gregory: My favourite convention was in Charlotte NC, Heroes Con. It was the last show that I did where comics and comic book creators and fans were what it was all about.  Great crowd, great guests and the folks running it were superb. Conventions have changed a lot. They didn’t used to be so big and they weren’t so all encompassing.  They used to be about comics. There would be tables with comics pros doing sketches, a few panels about comics, lots of vendors selling comics and comic related stuff.  The fans could get a decent chat in with their favourite creator, and it wasn’t all about money. Once it started to include video games and TV and movies, it just got too big. The last San Diego convention I went to sealed the deal for me not going to conventions for a very long time.  If you wanted to see a friend, you made an appointment because everyone was in meetings. People started charging for autographs while companies had huge booths that were less about comics and more about stuff inspired by comics and the fans weren’t that interested in comics. Cosplay was becoming much more competitive, and it was drawing attention from creators while vendors started selling knock-off versions of creators’ art and I just decided it wasn’t for me. Plus, it cost me a fortune to attend that I wouldn’t make back.  When I was a paid guest, it was okay, but after that, nope. Now I attend NYCC as a pro on the free day and all I do is visit with my artist friends in artist alley.  Some fans find me and I’m happy to sign an autograph or chat.

Paul: Do you have any especially memorable convention stories you can share?

Gregory: At San Diego, at the height of my popularity, I was setting up my table and a large line of fans gathered.  My wife looked at this and asked, “What are they doing?”  I replied. “They are lining up for me. They want an autograph and…”  She responded by laughing in my face and then leaving the convention to go to an art gallery.  LOL.  One of those moments when my ego was put in check. I got to meet Jack Kirby. I told him I worked at Marvel but not to hold that against me.  He laughed and we had a nice chat.

Paul: Were you a little starstruck?

Gregory: No, by this time I had met and worked with so many people that I was no longer starstruck by anyone. What was interesting is that he was at his booth, all by himself and no one was around trying to meet him or get an autograph.  It was kind of sad to see that he wasn’t swarmed. It was strange at conventions sometimes because classic artists who SHOULD be overwhelmed weren’t and new popular guys were. Steranko wasn’t getting a huge amount of attention either. Fans were not really that interested in anyone who wasn’t new and on top at that moment. CREATORS on the other hand were thrilled to get to meet and spend time with them.

Paul: That is a little upsetting to hear.

Gregory: I remember Jim Lee did a drawing at a panel and he pulled it off the stand and basically offered it to whoever wanted it and there was this surge of fans running at him and we had to get him out of there. It was surreal…and hilarious.  No one had expected him to be that popular at the moment…he was at the beginning of his Punisher War Journal stint.

Paul: Blimey, that was before he was on X-Men at that stage. He must have been treated like a rock stage by then in that case.

Gregory: It was crazy once he got on X-Men. He wasn’t really ready for that.

Paul: Being in the UK, I have not made it to an American convention for a few years, but I guess they are mostly much more film-orientated now, even if they are comic-related movies. Would that be sadly true?

Gregory: Pretty much.

Paul: Being a jack of many trades (multi-talented shall we say), have you even been tempted to make your own creator-owned material?

Gregory: Of course. The issue is that finding an artist willing to do a bunch of work for free is tough. Plus, I was never enough of a name to be able to sell myself unlike say Jim Lee.

Paul: Career-wise wise are there many ambitions left? What do you see yourself doing in the next few years?

ABOVE: A page from The Girls from Dimension 13:  Bret Blevins artist and  Graham Nolan writer.

Gregory: I’ll continue to colour various things as they come up. but I would like to get some more writing done in comics. I may have to take chance and try a creator owned something. I recently had a great time colouring Bret Blevins on Girls from Dimension 13. He and I have been discussing some more work together.

Paul: Can you say what genre it may be or any clues as to what you’d consider creating?

Gregory: I’d love to do some creepy horror comics, like back in the EC days. Or a surprising dramatic, realistic character…noirish.