Martin Pasko

I was sad to hear on Monday that Martin Pasko had died.

And with his passing, another part of my childhood died as well.

Martin Pasko was a writer for DC comics back in the 1970s and 1980s. What made Pasko special to me was seeing him come up through the ranks as a fanboy made good. 

Martin Pasko was a frequent contributor to DC's letter columns. So frequent that editor Julius Schwartz bequeath him with the sobriquet of "Pesky" Pasko. Pesky he may have been but Julie liked what he saw and gave Marty Pasko a chance to write for DC.  

From letter writing fan, Pasko moved to writing various back up features for Schwartz like The Private Life of Clark Kent for Superman and The Atom in the back of Action Comics. 

From there, Pasko began writing full titles, taking over as the writer of Wonder Woman, I presume because no one else wanted to write it. From there, Marty Pasko would write for Justice League of America and other titles including Kobra, Metal Men and Freedom Fighters. 

For me, Martin Pasko really first made his mark as the regular writer for Superman. During his tenure, Pasko added sub-plots emulating Marvel's soap opera inspired plotting. He played with the toys from the Silver Age toy box as well as adding his own cast of antagonists like the Master Jailer and the Atomic Skull.  

Martin Pakso also wrote Action Comics#500,a 64 page telling of the life story of Superman. 

I remember a sequence that Pasko wrote that was beautifully drawn by ace Superman artist Curt Swan. Superman tells off Lana Lang for acting like a magpie, attracted to things that are shiny. Her attention towards Superman were not true love but the desires of a woman who wanted to bask in the glow of being on Superman's arm. Superman flies off and in a wordless sequence, a sobbing Lana pounds on the glass door of her apartment balcony.  

Oh, here's that page now. Sorry for the small size. It was the best scan I could find. 













Martin Pasko would take on the daunting task of writing Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing gets a lot of attention for the work of Len Wein that came before and the work of Alan Moore that came after but Pasko's run on the title deserves it's recognition. "In the White Room" remains one of the most powerful Swamp Thing stories ever written. 

Pasko also did great work with Blackhawk in Action Comics Weekly and in it's own title.  

Martin Pasko's writing turned eventually to TV but not too far from his comic book roots. He was a writer and editor on the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series as well as writer for what many consider the best Batman movie ever, The Mask of the Phantasm.  

Pasko had his missteps. In Superman, he introduced the concept that the lenses of Clark Kent's glasses, taken from Kal-El's rocket, projected his super hypnotism to make people see Clark as shorter and older than Superman. It addressed the age old question of how can people not see that Clark Kent is Superman just because of a pair of glasses. But it was an answer no one wanted and was subsequently forgotten.  

In doing some research for this post, I found this interview with Martin Pasko where Marty makes it clear this was not his idea.   

NerdSpan: Which of your Superman stories has inspired the most questions from fans?

Martin Pasko: Well, if by questions you mean things like, “What the hell were you thinking?” it would probably be “The Master Mesmerizer of Metropolis,” the one I’m most embarrassed by — that story that posited that people see something more than just Superman with glasses when they look at Clark Kent, that he is constantly and subliminally using his “super hypnosis” power to will others to see Clark as a much less handsome and frailer-looking guy. As I’ve said elsewhere, that wasn’t my idea and I was kind of commanded to develop that concept by the editor. Today I’d be within my rights as the regular writer of record to say, “Thanks, but no, thanks.” But back when I was doing SUPERMAN, the prevailing notion of professionalism was that a writer complies dutifully with editorial fiat. And that I did, to my everlasting regret.


Another of my favorite Martin Pasko series at DC was his run on Plastic Man. Pasko teamed up with artist Joe Staton and Bob Smith for a series of Plastic Man stories that captured the wild and wacky nature of Plastic Man's creator, Jack Cole. 

I'm including an installment from that series in today's post. My thanks for Diversions Of the Groovy Kind for the scans. 

From Adventure Comics#469, Plastic Man battles the albino assassin,  Codename: Pinkeye.

Also here is the cover to Adventure Comics#469 with art by Jim Sherman (the Starman inset is by Jim Aparo).   

Martin Pasko was a formative part of my childhood comic book reading experience and I am grateful for his contributions. He will be missed. Rest in peace, "Pesky".