Marvel’s Toy Story: ’s Sal Buscema and
Interview
by
Dan Johnson
13, 2005 conducted December
’ Jackson Guice Attempting to spin off a successful comic-book series from any line of toys is never child’s play. Still, Marvel Comics managed to do quite well with two titles, Rom: Spaceknight (which ran 75 issues from 1979–1986, with four Annuals) and The Micronauts (which originally enjoyed a 59-issue run from 1979–1984, with various continuations in later years). Recently BACK ISSUE sat down with two of the men who helped make these books wildly popular with comics fans: Sal Buscema, the artist who lent a hand in giving Rom a proper launch, and Jackson “Butch” Guice, the artist who came on board in time to help bring the original adventures of the Micronauts to a conclusion. —Dan Johnson DAN JOHNSON: Tell our readers how you each came to work on your respective books. JACKSON GUICE: Actually, Micronauts is my first credited work in the industry. Ironically enough, a year prior to that, I had ghosted a chapter on Rom Annual #1 for Pat Broderick. Both were breaking points for me getting into comics. I had been doing a little bit of fanzine work, and at the time I was designing patches and emblems for a small company in North Carolina. [One day] I came home from work and there was a phone call from Al Milgrom. I guess Bill Mantlo, who had written the Rom Annual, had seen some of my
And you thought The Graduate’s Dustin Hoffman knew how to bust up a wedding . . . Page 19 of Rom #15, penciled and inked by Sal Buscema. From the collection of Michael Romanenko. Rom TM & © Parker Brothers.
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