You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 113
This is a first for us. A creator that one of us has had the opportunity to meet in person before we interviewed them. Fred Van Lente wrote three of the Power Pack all ages mini series as well as many other works, but of course we are going to ask him about Power Pack, I mean….that is the height of his career, right?
Known initially for his work on Action Philosophers with Ryan Dunlavey, Fred has developed a very good bibliography of writing credit within the comic community. He also has had the opportunity to work with other fantastic creators. Plus, he is a pretty funny guy with some interesting stories to share.
But how does someone become a writer, what is catalyst to move a person into this realm where many dare but few succeed. The first step is to find yourself in a place you want to get out of, followed by choosing a career path that you quickly realize is not for you. These were, fortunately for Fred, the exact elements that put him on the path to where he is today.
But it is not all about Zombies and big headed creations bent on evil. Sometimes Fred give back something for the kids. Like we mentioned at the top of this rant, Fred worked on some wonderful Power Pack story lines. And while he did not get the opportunity to pull out a full series, he was able to produce a set of work to be very proud of.
So sit right back and take a listen as we bother this nice man about his past and what makes him such a fascinating writer.
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Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jeff and Rick Present 
Hey there!
Boy was this interview informative to me. I had recognized Fred’s name in Hercules and Alpha Flight but had never gotten to buy them. He seems like a good guy with an acerbic wit. As usual your interview subjects have me searching mycomicshop.com for their work. I am most intrigued with his miniseries Power Pack First Day primarily because it sounds as if he gives the story a chance to expand and grow from Louise and June’s initial story. (Happy belated birthday to the title!) I was also fascinated by a few other things you gentlemen chatted about.
1) The inter office politics Fred gave some minor detail to is pretty intriguing. It reminds me of Sean Howe’s book about Marvel Comics towards the end. At some point in the mid 90s there were group editors overseeing titles and there was some push pull between them and freelancers on the book. The fact that Marvel is incorporated into Disney and most certainly seems to have even more hurdles to clear before a green light bums me out a little. It seems like getting a pitch approved is really just a small victory compared to what is ahead.
2) I did not know that Gurihiru was a duo! I had always thought it was like a studio. I too really enjoy their art. That was a nice surprise!
3) I have flirted some with the Alpha Flight title over the years and considered giving it a read through. I had enjoyed the Seagle run in the early 2000’s but being a little older and reading some comments regarding volume 1, it seems Seagle and collaborators had actually taken some of the stories and did them over. Rick, which volume or incarnation of Alpha Flight would you recommend?
Overall it was another solid interview! I look forward to more content in the future. I hope you and your families are doing well.
Yours truly,
Jeremy
a prince
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Jeremy!
I am glad that we are getting to do interviews. It is great getting a chance to talk to creators and see what makes them tick. Also, it really humanizes them for me. When they are just a name on a page, I can mentally edit them out of existence. When I get to talk to them for an hour plus they become a wholly formed person and I have an anchor to grip onto with them. Plus, they have all been pretty great people to talk with.
Getting the behind the screen picture is something that I love to no end. Hearing about the fun and the unfun is so interesting as the industry on the whole is a great void to me. I can see the big picture of it but to see how the sausage gets made is surprising. Finding out how easy or problematic borrowing a character from another desk is baffling and disheartening on occasion. His tale about how he could and couldn’t use North Star springs to mind in that regard.
Yup, they are a duo. I got to learn that froooooom Jeremy Whitely I believe? Don’t fully remember, which is sad. I can totally see how you would think that they were a studio though. Studio Gurihiru flows off the tongue really well.
I dipped pretty hard into Alpha Flight back in the day. That said, can I remember anything more than snippets about the stories that I read? No, no I can not. 🙂 Still, I remember liking it.
Glad you liked the interview. We should try and set a couple more of them up. Any suggestions of who we should go for?
Be well.
-Jeff
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Hmm, I was thinking Ryan North who had written the miniseries from 2021… there was a genuine appreciation emanating in the script for the characters. The other person I thought of was Bob Wiacek who inked I think most of June’s pencils in that first run of books. I figured his long career has no shortages of bullpen tales. My controversial pick would be Terry Austin for reasons lol.
Jeremy
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I think that Ryan North and Nico Leon are on our list for the future when we get closer to their work. At least I think that they are, need to heck with Rick about it.
Bob Wiacek is a great pick, I think that I had trouble tracking him down when I thought about him before, so I just found him on Facebook in like 1 minute…sigh.
Terry Austin, want him as well. Have looked for him several times and can’t find any contact info for him. He is a friend of Fred Hembeck and I contacted him trying to get to Terry…no luck. My google fu is weak. Failed to find him again tonight.
-Jeff
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