Suspended Animation Michael Vance Comic Books For Sale

Interview with: Michael Vance, Writer/Critic/Reviewer of Suspended Animation!

by Paul Dale Roberts

Question: Tell us something personal about yourself? Your family
life, where you were born and raised, what schools you attended? Maybe
some details from your resume?

I began to write at the age of eleven (about 1961). I was inspired to do so because of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells. This novel changed my life, and has impacted everything that I have since written. At eleven, and living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I watched a Saturday
morning television show called "The Professor's Story Hour". A professor in a town about sixty miles from Oklahoma City encouraged his viewers to write stories and send them in. I did. I won one first place and two second place trophies for my stories, and appeared on the show. That first place story was also published in a little chapbook. I still own a copy. And I was on my way.

I also published an off-campus paper called "The Shadow" at the college I attended in the late and turbulent '60s and early '70.

After college I worked in radio for five years, then published my own weekly advertising tabloid. This lead to my first job in newspaper at The Seminole Producer in Seminole, Oklahoma. That nine year stint turned into a 24 year career in newspapers in advertising sales, as advertising manager, and as an editor and writer.

I currently work at the largest boys home in Oklahoma. Approaching my sixth year, I am their Communications Director, producing all of their printed materials, writing grants, doing news releases, a newsletter, and much more.

Question: What was the first comic book you ever read?

I am not sure what comic book first caught my attention. I was first hooked on comic strips, and saved Alley Oop, Superman and other strips out of my local newspaper before I was ten years old. In the '50s, I read all of the DC titles; in the '60s, I added Marvel from the beginning of their expansion. I also read ACG titles, and later wrote a book about the company called "Forbidden Adventures: The History of the American Comics Group" (Greenwood Press) which is still in print and can be found at your local library (if not, ask; they will get a copy). My favorite comics writers in the '50s included Gardner Fox and John Broome. My favorite characters were Superman, Green Lantern and The Atom (Gil Kane was a terrific artist and person).

Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up?

My list of favorite comics would also have to include: Adventures Into the Unknown, the first runs of Spiderman, The Hulk, Daredevil, the X-Men and Fantastic Four, the Warren line of magazines: Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella. Although I didn't get to read them under first publication, I grew to love the EC line of comics. I still consider them to be the best overall line of comic books ever produced. I also grew to love Popeye and Pogo, my two favorite comic strips.

Question: Can you please tell us something about your new creation called Lights End?

The first Light's End story was a continuity within a comic strip I created and wrote for five years, Holiday Out. Holiday Out, in turn, was born out of an assignment from Jack & Jill Magazine to write an article on Alley Oop artist, David Graue. I wrote the article and
gave Graue a story idea. He bought it. I wrote Alley Oop for awhile. When that ended, I created my own comic strip, Holiday Out, that ran in about 40 publications, and that was, in part, republished by Renegade Comics as Holiday Out #1-3.

My influences for Light's End were and are H.P. Lovecraft, William Faulkner and Ray Bradbury.

Light's End is a fictional town based on a real town relocated to Maine. These short stories are interconnected, and will eventually become a trilogy. But the stories are also designed to stand alone as complete stories within themselves. To date, the stories span about 400 years, and are horror, fantasy (not the elfin kind), SF and mainstream tales. I am now writing the 21st story; most have been published in various magazines. When I did a book signing in April or May of 2001, I did so with the legendary actor William Windom (more than 50 movies, hundreds of TV shows including Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Barney Miller; he won an Emmy in, I believe, 1970 for his tv series "My World and Welcome To It". We hit it off, he liked my stories, and I love his work. So we decided to produced an audio tape series to sell at personal appearances. The first tape is out (all 20 Light's End stories have ALREADY been recorded by Windom), and we have also signed a contract with Plan 9 Publishing. They have also released the first tape which contains two stories: "A Change of Heart" and
"Cross Purposes".

I read a question in a magazine once that went something like this:"as bad as it was and is with Hitler and Stalin, and serial killers, and horrible wars, imagine how hopelessly worse it would be if there really were no God.

The town of Light's End was founded to answer that question.

Question: How can someone go about purchasing Lights End?

The first 12 stories or so are available in a chapbook I sell at personal appearances. These chapbooks also contain material that will never appear in a book (if and when the first Light's End book is released) including poems, maps, and photographs. You can get that autographed from me for $15 at 1427 S. Delaware Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74104. The first Light's End tape is available fromwww.Plan9.org . Look under "Titles" and then "Lights End". Copies signed by Windom are also available. I may also be reached at MiklVance@Yahoo.com .

Question: Tell us about your other projects.

Outside of Light's End stories, and my Suspended Animation review column, I am no longer working on other projects, nor do I have plans to do so. I might, if approached, write other things again, but I consider my Light's End stories my focus for the rest of my (already) 30 plus year career of writing features, comic books, comic strips, book(s), and about anything else you might mention.

Question: Tell us about the history of the Suspended Animation review column. How long have you been doing this? Where can we find your column?

To my knowledge Suspended Animation is the longest running, continuously published, WEEKLY reviews of comic strips and books around. It is read by about 270,000 folks. It appears on about 60 different web sites, and has run in many print publications as well. It is 13 years old as of Jan. 2002.

I created the column with comic book writer R.A. Jones because we believed that comics deserved the same respect and serious treatment as other art forms. We also believed that there were books that adults who don't read comics would enjoy if they only knew that they
existed. That is why we try very hard to place in in NON-COMICS related places as well as in publications dedicated to comics. It runs in your fanzine, of course, and on the Jazma web site. I have, basically, two "home pages" who distribute the column for me. Folks interested in carrying it, or just reading it can find it at www.starland.com and www.digitalwebbing.com .

Question: Who is the other staff member that assists you with Suspended Animation?

Currently, a young man named Mark Allen is writing half the columns.

Question: Do you have a website and if you do what is the URL address?

I do not have a website.

Question: How can somebody contact you?

I love to talk with folks. They can write me at Michael Vance, 1427 S. Delaware Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74104,or email me. They may also stop by and chew the fat with me at conventions. I am available for convention appearances, and have done so for twenty years.

Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why?

What: The Bible. Food. Clothing.

Why: Spiritual hunger. Physical hunger. I sunburn.

Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry?

I am not certain that it will survive. I believe it is one of the few, real artforms created in America, and has as much potential as any other form of literature. I don't believe it has reached that potential yet. Unless comics publishers begin to publish material that adults will read, and find some way to let them know those titles exist, the industry will eventually die.

Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why?

Boy, that is a tough question. I just can't limit it to three. Let's try Superman, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes. Pogo (under E.C. Segar). Popeye. Alley Oop (under V.T. Hamlin). Favorite comics artists: Ingles (EC), Wally Wood, Wayne Boring, Frank Frazetta, Alex Raymond, V.T. Hamlin,
Walt Kelly, Gil Kane; the list is just too long to continue. Favorite writers: William Faulkner, Charles Dickens, Ray Bradbury, H. G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Victor Hugo, C. S. Lewis.

Question: Here's an off-the-wall question. Have you ever experienced anything of the paranormal? If you do please explain.

Yes. Jesus Christ is my savior, and, through him, I experience the ultimate and only real Paranormal (outside of angels), God.

Question: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?

I want to reach as many people as possible with my Light's End stories. I want to still be writing.

Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why?

I really have no "real life" heroes. He who comes closest: my father.

Question: What cons are you going to?

I will attend Trek Expo in June of this year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I will attend any other convention that invites me and pays my expenses.

Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites?

King Kong (the original). Psycho (the original). The Alamo.

Rocky and Bullwinkle. King Leonardo. The Flintstones. The Simpsons. Super Chicken. George of the Jungle.

The Prisoner. All in the Family. The Twilight Zone. Andy Griffith. Our Gang. Currently: Everybody Loves Raymond.

Question: What books do you read?

I have never stopped reading; I have read tens of thousands of books, I am currently reading the collected short stories of O'Henry, the Quotable C. S. Lewis, and re-reading Light in August by Faulkner.

Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities?

Writing.

Question: What comic books do you read now?

I read everything that is sent to me for review in Suspended Animation. That is quite a few books. I'd like to receive more.

Question: That ends the interview, any last words?

Not until I die.

	Michael Vance Mark Allen Michael Vance Books The longest-running comics review column in America perhaps the World!

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