A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

With great pleasure, we introduce you to Laurie Sutton, one of the comic industry’s first women editors! She handled the chores on The Great Darkness saga, considered one of the best Legion of Superheroes stories of all time! Her list of credits makes fanboys drool. And fangirls, too. She was the woman behind the Element Lad, the comic book hero who inspired my lifelong schoolgirl crush!

And consider this: she used to be Paul Levitz’s boss!

Thanks so much to Laurie Sutton for giving us this look at her life on Memory Lane.

A FEW OF MY ADDRESSES ON MEMORY LANE

# 0978 Memory Lane
As a newbie to New York City, I look in the Yellow Pages under “Comics” and see an entry for “The Comics Code Authority”. Having no idea what it is, I call the number. The cold call is fate in disguise. I’m hired. I read/review pre-publication Xerox copies of EVERY COMIC BOOK BEING PUBLISHED. (Well, the Code members, anyway.) I get to write such review copy as: “Breechclout too small. Please Revise.” To which editor replies: “What’s a breechclout?” I also have access to file cabinets full of Xerox copies of rejected art. (The file contains joke art drawn by Romance Comics artists that I wish I had copied at the time. O, but it still burns in my memory!)

# 0278 Memory Lane
I meet with Paul Levitz, who is editor of HAUNTED HOUSE and UNEXPECTED. He says he liked my query letter (hand-written in purple ink!) about writing for comics. He tells me to write a plot for a story.

# 0378 Memory Lane
Paul Levitz tells me he likes the plot, and says to write a script for the story.

# 0378 Memory Lane
I write the script and turn it in.

# 0378 Memory Lane
Paul says the check for the story is in the mail. (WHAAAT? I thought it was just a training exercise!) (And that is how I wrote my first story for DC Comics.)

# 0478 Memory Lane
I meet Mike W. Barr in the DC offices. I’m wearing a Deerstalker hat. He thinks it’s because I like Sherlock Holmes. It’s because I’ve been living in London and it’s the kind of hat I wear. No matter. We become BFF.

# 0878 Memory Lane
Mike Barr invites me to join a group of friends to play volleyball in Central Park on Sundays. I LOVE volleyball. I played in a high school league. I get to the Park and all his friends are comic book people: Jim Shooter, Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, Al Milgrom etc. etc. We play volleyball in the park every Sunday and go to Nathan’s for hot dogs and beer afterward. Best ’O Times!

# 0479 Memory Lane
I get stolen away from the Comics Code by DC. (Well, that’s how my boss at the Code saw it, even though he’d reduced my hours by two-thirds and knew I was looking for work.) My job at DC is to proofread captions, word balloons, and every bit of the art for panel-to-panel consistency: every capsule on Batman’s belt, the lines on Superman’s boots, details, details, details.

# 7980 Memory Lane
I get promoted to the DC Special Projects department and get to work with Joe Orlando. We do “Mad Libs” using vintage DC SF art! We oversee packaging and labels for Superman Peanut Butter! We put together the “Superheroes Super Healthy Cookbook”!

# 0081 Memory Lane
I get promoted to comic book editor. I’m now responsible for WARLORD, ARAK, WONDER WOMAN (for about a week), and LEGION OF SUPERHEROES. (Element Lad is mine!)

# 0081 Memory Lane
Control of Element Lad escapes my greedy grasp. Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen are brilliant juggernauts on “The Great Darkness Saga”. A classic comic is born. I am the midwife.

# 0582 Memory Lane (Penthouse Apartment)
Life and work at DC are great. But I want more. I want to write. My supportive boyfriend of three years encourages me to leave the steady job and go freelance.

# 1182 Memory Lane (Basement Apartment)
I’m blindsided. Boyfriend leaves me. I am now without job or apartment (the lease is in his name).

# 1282 Memory Lane
Thank goodness for volleyball. Word gets out that I need full-time work. Archie Goodwin is in charge of a Heavy Metal-style SF/Fantasy magazine at Marvel and needs an assistant. I get the job.

# 0083 Memory Lane (First Floor Apartment)
I become Associate Editor of EPIC ILLUSTRATED. I get to work with John Bolton & Chris Claremont, Charles Vess, Mike Kaluta, and Jon J. Muth.

# 0084 Memory Lane (I’m back in the Penthouse)
Epic Illustrated expands to EPIC COMICS – the first creator-owned line of comics from The Big Two. I am one of the three founding editors. Wow. I get to work with Thomas Yeates, Doug Moench & Paul Gulacey, Mike Kaluta & Elaine Lee, John DeMatteius & Jon J. Muth. Double Wow.

# 0385 Memory Lane (Another Basement Apartment)
Once more I am blindsided. My co-workers demand that Archie fire me. He asks me to leave. I do so, but not before completing my last month of editorial commitments. (Later it is revealed that one co-worker had made up lies about me, the second co-worker believed them, and the two of them together had told Archie it was “me or them”. The poor guy never had a chance. I’m very glad I got to clear the air with him before he died.)

# 0086 Memory Lane (Change of Address)
Forced into freelance! O woe. At last I got what I’ve always wanted – the freelance life. But not so fast are the celebrations. I have no job. My NYC rent is more than I can afford. What to do? Move to New Jersey! (It’s okay, I have family there.)

To Be Continued…

© 2009 Laurie S Sutton. Used with Permission.