Joe Cavalieri
Superman titles (Editor)

Former Huntress writer, and editor of the Superman titles for DC Comics (at the time of this interview). This interview is © 1996 Joey Cavalieri, and the opinions expressed herein are solely his and do not reflect those of DC Comics.

#1.
Q: When did you become interested in comics?
A: When did I first become interested in comics? Actually, an uncle brought a stack of 'em over to my house when I was a mere tadpole. Apparently, a girl in his neighborhood, named Michelle, was through with 'em. I couldn't've been more than two or three, actually, at the time, but I could already read, thanks to overexposure to television, and the newspaper funnies. I had few playmates at the time, and I really, really liked Michelle. (I've often wondered if I was interested first in girls or comics: now I know: girls first, and a girl turned me on to comics. Whaddaya know?)

  Anyway, Michelle came over & we went through the entire stack. Most of the stack was Betty & Veronica, Chili, Millie the Model, and there were the odd one-shot Classic Comics, or the tv-based Real McCoys. I have no real gender bias toward material, and I didn't then ('cause I wouldn't have known better). On the whole, however, it was not stuff that would have ordinarily made a lasting impression. BUT. The first comic I picked off the stack was a Donald Duck. A reprint of an earlier edition. It was a story everybody in comics knows, and if they don't they should. It's Carl Barks's "Lost in the Andes." Most people who don't know the title know it as the "square-egg story." This book had everything: high adventure, comedy, exotic locales, kid interst, the works. And Donald can't be beat: his personality was my very first exposure to sarcasm. Donald gets off the best smart remark in the book: "Yes! 'Chickery Chick Cha-La Cha-La!'" Well, context is everything. It was brilliant.

  I was hooked. I remember very clearly trying to draw Donald. Kneeling on the floor, using the slanted part of the toy chest as my "drafting table," and swinging that pencil around to imitate Carl Barks' drawings of Donald. Because, after all, I was too young to bop down to the store to get more of these babies...so I could only get more by making my own! I remember having real trouble following Donald's beak. It looked like he had two mouths, and I couldn't get the hang of it. I abandoned drawing in disgust for some time after that. Later, another aunt & uncle of mine took me to their bungalow in Rockaway Beach, a place called Cynthia Court, where there were tons of kids my age & older. I was just as nutty for the girls there, too. Particularly one named Debbie.

  Anyway, all the girls really admired this one kid, Kevin. You know what about Kevin? He had all the comics in the world. He was real big on Sad Sack and Little Lotta, and had the first couple of Justice Leagues I'd ever seen. When summer was over, my aunt told my father how messed up on comics I'd become, so there was a huge stack my father'd found second-hand, waiting for me back at our apartment. Including one of my all-time faves, the first Batman Annual! A kid's practically never seen a comic book before, and sees one that says, "How to Be the Batman" on the cover...how can you resist this?

#2.
Q: How did you first become professionally involved in comics? Professionally?
A: I think it was predestined. I spent most of sixth grade making my own comics on looseleaf, using my classmates as superhero characters. But I didn't get into it professionally until college. One of my teachers hipped me that DC was looking for a proofreader. I passed their proofreader test, but they didn't hire me for the gig.

  As sort of a consolation prize, however, Joe was impressed enough by my writing samples to want me to submit stuff to what were then called "the mystery books": House of Mystery, Unexpected, that sort of thing. Did that for a while, and eventually 1) got to write some series monthly and 2) got a job on staff working for Joe.

#3.
Q: How did you become involved with the Superman line?
A: Simple enough. Mike Carlin heard that I was "on liberty" from Marvel. (ed.note: Joey was editor of Marvels now defunct 2099 line of comic books before taking the helm of the SUPERMAN titles.) About a week after I hit the pavement, Mike called & asked if I'd be interested in becoming the Superman editor. Since everybody, and I mean, everybody knows how serious & sentimental Mike is about the Superman titles, the offer he sincerely trusted me.

  Under those circumstances, the offer was hard to turn down. So I didn't.

#4.
Q: What big plans do you have in store for the Superman line?
A: Can't tell ya.

#5.
Q: One of the complaints fans have about the Superman comics is the inconsistancy of storyline quality. (A fantastic storyline followed up by a series of lackluster fill-ins.) How do you try to prevent/fix problems like this?
A: "Fill-ins" are usually a deadline problem and a deadline necessity. usually, if everything's going smoothly, you might never see a fill-in. But as life gets wackier, there's no telling what can screw you up: a courier foul-up, snowstorms that snarl air traffic, bomb scares. It's getting to the point where any & every event in the NY Times can affect your book!

#6.
Q: Are there any crossovers in the future for Superman and characters from any other companies other than Marvel?
A: Yes. But I can't tell ya.

#7.
Q: Do you interact with any other departments of Warner Bros. (film, TV, etc.) and if so, in what capacity?
A: Nope.

#8.
Q: Do you have any input into the "S" books that you don't edit?
A: Nope. Occasionally, someone will ask my advice, but that's about it.

#9.
Q: Are there any plans at all, even vague ones, to someday re-introduce Kara - the REAL Supergirl - back into DC continuity, or will she just languish on the last page of the Superman/Aliens crossover?
A: Aw, c'mon, you'll grow to like the new kid.

#10.
Q: Are there any pros you've never worked with that you'd kill to do something with?
A: I dig working with just about everybody. Everybody has something worthwhile to bring to the table generally. If Adam Warren gets a little less busy in the future, I'd really enjoy working on a project with him. I've been calling Dave Gibbons for quite some time now. I've been trying to do something with Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer forever. Mark Waid and Gene Ha, definitely. I still dig D'israeli. Ask me tomorrow, it's a totally different list. And, every day, I go nuts for another of the Superman artists' work. Some days it's Stuart Immonen's approach I like best. Other days, I'm enthralled by Jon Bogdanove's and Dennis Janke's style. Paul Ryan is about the best draftsman currently working in comics on a par with Jerry Ordway. This is not to leave out Tom Grummett or Ron Frenz, either...have you seen their stuff lately? Also, it's no secret that I miss all the guys I worked with on 2099: Tom, Humberto, Jimmy, Warren, John, Steve, Scott, Peter, Ron, Harry and all the rest. I'd like to do something like that with them all again soon.

#11.
Q: Who are your idols, past & present, in the comics industry?
A: Yikes. First and foremost, there's Joe Orlando, who taught me just about everything. I've worked with, or had projects associated with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Curt Swan and Julius Schwartz (just TRY finding any of this stuff!). Among my teachers at SVA were Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman, and both of whom have affected me profoundly. Somebody who doesn't get enough mention is Marie Severin, who is probably my favorite cartoonist, period.

#12.
Q: Other than the usual "work hard & persevere" advice we always hear, do you have any tips for people trying to break into the industry?
A: Publish yourself. Your stuff seems to carry more weight and authority with people when it's printed in a book, as opposed to loose and disjointed comic book pages in a vinyl portfolio. Plus, it will force you to finish an entire story. Plus, you will get to see what your stuff looks like printed. This is extremely important: you want to make sure that the sweat you're putting into your comics shows up on the page.

#13.
Q: What are your favorite books being published today?
A: Of the past? Again, the list'd be different tomorrow. Actually, it changes HOURLY. At DC, I like "The Invisibles" pretty well. Currently, I'm crazy for a lot of the stuff that comes out of France & Belgium, particularly "Docteur Poche" and "Jeanette Pointu," by Marc Wasterlain. I like the Spirou books. I like the "Broussailles" series. I like "Obscure Cities" series with Schuiten's amazing stuff. As for Japanese stuff, Akira Toriyama, who created "Dr. Slump" & "Dragonball" and some time ago Scott McCloud turned me on to Shotaro Ishinomori. And who doesn't like Tezuka's Astro Boy? Tip o' the iceberg, as you can guess.

#14.
Q: Do you attribute the decline of the number of comic book readers to anything in particular?
A: "Free" entertainment is cheap & plentiful. A spillion cable channels, video rentals, video games, all featuring the same stuff we sell every month in comics: the same genres, characters and situations! That's gotta hurt. We gotta figure out what we can do that other media can not. Also, too much current stuff reads like somebody forgot the secret formula, if you know what I mean. Worse, it's usually informed by other comics and not much else. Stan Lee's first stuff betrayed the obvious influences of everything he'd ever read, from Shakespeare on. Why shouldn't that be true of guys workin' now?

#15.
Q: What sort of formal training/education do you have, or are you simply a product of the streets?
A: I graduated from the School of Visual Arts.

#16.
Q: Do you believe that comics have finally smacked into a price wall and will have to revert back to a cheaper form in order to survive comfortably?
A: I just write 'n' edit them, I don't price 'em. I'd say more about this, and you obviously have strong feelings about it, but it's useless if I'm not part of that decision making process.

#17.
Q: What, exactly, does an editor do, anyway?
A: Lots. I'm the cheerleader, the scout, the memory bank. And occasionally, I have to pass out the checks.

Well, that's all for Joey C. He declined to answer the last several questions, probably due to the fact that, as I look at them now, they were totally nonsensical. Ah, well. I'd still like to thank him for taking his time to answer what he did, and hopefully he'll be up for a return bout at some point in the future.