“Resonating fanfare throughout the world. Replay it lightly towards the stage that you’ve been aspiring to. If your dreams aren’t able to come to an end yet, don’t give up.” — From Fanfare, written by Louise Frick Sveen, Atsushi Shimada, Kenichi Sakamuro, and Chiemi Ishiyama
I envy the hell out of Al Milgrom. He landed the best editorial gig in Marvel history, and then he proceeded to put himself right in the middle of it.
Al edited Marvel Fanfare, the linear anthology title that featured the work of a plethora of amazing writers and artists, all working on Marvel characters out-of-continuity. This is a “What If” scenario twisted so that the stories are not “What if,” but the talent is. So Al looked around, glanced at his magic Rolodex (google it), and turned out a ton of great stuff.
Contributors include Frank Miller, Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Michael Golden, Mike Mignola, Charles Vess, Bill Sienkiewicz, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane, George Pérez, Bill Mantlo, Trevor Von Eeden, Paul Smith, Craig Russell, Kerry Gammil, Steve Grant, Jo Duffy, Mike Barr, Rick Leonardi, George Freeman, Terry Austin, Joe Rubinstein, and a whole lot of other people of exactly the same caliber.
My favorite of all these remarkably gifted folk was the one consistent presence in Marvel Fanfare: Al Milgrom himself. He’s even better than his Rolodex, and his “Editori-Al” one-pagers were clever, funny, self-effacing, and brilliant. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Fanfare? Tahh-Daaah!!!”
