All in Black & White Interview with Larry Hama - 2010

Welcome to another interview at All In Black & White For 75 Cents!

After far too long since the last one, today we have another interview, this time with longtime comics pro and Savage Tales major domo Larry Hama.

I remember buying Savage Tales #1 at a newsstand in August 1985, while we were on family vacation in the Poconos. I was still fairly young, and the cover to that first issue (by Michael Golden) clearly indicated it was not the kind of material I normally bought--which of course made me want to buy it all the more.

While I was working on this new week of posts, I realized once I had decided to look back at an issue of Savage Tales, it would be great to wrap up the week with an interview with Larry. I contacted him, and he was generous enough to talk with me for the blog:

All In Black and White: How did the idea for a new Savage Tales come about?

Larry Hama: It was an already existing title. I think it started out as a vehicle for Ka-Zar stories in black and white. Have no recollection at all of how it came about. Reviving the title probably wasn't my idea. The content was.

B/W: This second Savage Tales series was definitely going for a more adult, non-traditional Marvel feel. Was that the plan from the beginning or did it evolve into that?

LH: We were shooting for the Savage Sword of Conan market, which was definitely not your usual "long-underwear" market.

B/W: You have a very definitive, in-your-face editorial hand in the book, right from the first couple of pages of the first issue. It feels a bit like early Stan Lee, but with an obviously more adult bent. The series feels very much like it could be called "Larry Hama's Savage Tales." Was this very-present editorial style intentional?

LH: The main reason for that editorial was that we were short a page and I needed to fill it right quick. That's why the type is so big! There was no strategic planning. We were just putting out a book of stuff we liked.

B/W: Will Jungkuntz, who had material in the first few issues of Savage Tales, died just as he was really "breaking" into mainstream comics. What was he like to work with?

LH: Will was a really nice guy and a major developing talent. I needed people to do continuing series with strong characters, but I didn't want to ask people to sign over their own creations to Marvel in the work-for-hire-contract.

As a salaried editor, everything I came up with already belonged to Marvel (unless otherwise contractually stipulated) so I just came up with stuff and had folks just fill in the blanks. I think all I gave Will was the title, "Blood and Gutz" and a sentence or two of description let him take it from there. His death was a real shock to all of us.

B/W: Savage Tales debuted just as comic books went from mostly newsstand distribution to almost entirely comic book stores. Did Marvel have any sort of plan to get this series in front of its target audience, which was presumably not mid-teen superhero fans?

LH: Marvel marketing and distribution had no idea what to do with Savage Tales. It should have been on racks next to Outlaw Biker and Guns and Ammo.

B/W: Savage Tales had material from an amazing roster of talent, many of them who were famous for working in superhero comics (Archie Goodwin, Herb Trimpe, etc.). Was it difficult to get writers and artists to do material for the series, or did they jump at the chance to do this kind of work?

LH: I had to beat creators off with a stick. All I had to say was "no sissy stuff here, just lock-and-load and let it rip on rock and roll."

B/W: Was Savage Tales successful from the beginning and then slowly fade, or did it struggle from the beginning? When it was canceled, was there a lot of material left unpublished?

LH: Great product, but a marketing and sales department with no clue about that particular genre or an understanding of who the readers were.

I believe we used up most of it [the material]. It wasn't like we ever had a big inventory. In previous generations of editors, (when writers were allowed to be their own editors) there had been serious abuse of inventory, with some titles having years worth of material stockpiled and growing obsolete.

B/W: I've read in other interviews with editors of anthology books that its an extremely difficult, time-consuming process, at least compared to non-anthology series. Was this your experience as Savage Tales' editor?

LH: Savage Tales was the easiest book I ever edited. Look at the quality of the contributors. Archie Goodwin, John Severin, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Pepe Moreno, Bob Larkin, Gray Morrow, Herb Trimpe--total pros who were totally into it.

Even the "new" guys like Chuck Dixon, Bob Camp, Vince Waller and Will Jungkuntz were so good that they needed little direction or correction. I also had Pat Redding as my assistant editor on the book, which was a big plus because all the guys wanted to come into the office and hang out with her!

B/W: Of all the stories published in Savage Tales, do you have any particular favorites?

LH: That's like asking "which of your kids do you like the best?"


As interesting as it is to talk and learn about the big successes in any given field, I find it just as informative and interesting to talk about those projects that never quite made it, like Savage Tales.

There's a lot of great material in those handful of issues, and its a real shame that Marvel didn't really know what to do with the magazine. I really appreciate Larry Hama taking time out to talk to me about Savage Tales. Thanks Larry!


I thought this was a great way to wrap up our latest week of new posts--thanks to everyone who likes this blog enough to follow its (very)erratic posting schedule. I wish I could put more stuff up here on a regular basis, but for now these occasionaly weekly updates will have to suffice.

But don't despair, All in Black & White For 75 Cents will be back before you know it!