I recently sat down with comics historian and bestselling author Andy Mangels. Here, he talks about his early days at the old comic-book news zine Amazing Heroes. Check out the full interview on YouTube.
FCF: Today, I’m joined by Andy Mangels — bestselling author, pop‑culture historian, and longtime comics commentator. Andy, as a first‑time guest, I always start with the same question: What’s your origin story?
Andy Mangels: My origin story… it’s amazing to me. I’ve been in the industry for 40 years now, which makes me—I guess I’m Bronze Age, but sometime
s I feel a little Silver Age‑y. The first comic I actually remember owning was Teen Titans #7, I think it was, “A Killer Called Honeybun.” I got it from a neighbor kid. My dad had some comics. I remember an old Incredible Hulk comic that was coverless, a Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. comic, which is odd that I remember it was Steranko. I didn’t know his name, but I remember the visuals so strongly. A war comic of some sort, I think it was a Sgt. Fury. And then I got this Teen Titans one from a neighbor friend.
I remember being way more enthralled by Teen Titans than I was by the Marvel books. I think part of the reason was that kids want somebody to identify with. And as a kid, that’s exactly what I was doing. The Teen Titans were kids—slightly older than me, but still kids—fighting crime, as opposed to adults, grownups, or superspies. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, a lot of the adventure stuff that was kid‑popular had young protagonists. But the mixture of the visual element of comic art and the text element of well‑written comics really captured me. Although I read books—I was never not reading three books at once—once I got into comics, that was it for me.
One of the early comics had—actually, I’m wearing a T‑shirt with the cover ad from an Aquaman issue. I remember seeing this ad, and it just blew my mind. It looked so cool. I had to have that book. I didn’t have it until years later. My first exposure to Wonder Woman was actually in an ad for Pacific Palisades Park. They had a little head of Wonder Woman in their ad. That was the first time I was introduced to her. From that introduction and from this ad for Aquaman, I fixated on those characters. Even though I didn’t know much about them, they became my favorite comic characters.
I grew up in Bigfork, Montana. There weren’t comic stores in the ’70s. You had spinner racks in grocery stores, and used bookstores would have piles of comics on the floor. My dad was always going to secondhand shops to buy motorcycle parts, so he’d park me next to the comics and go off. If you had money, you bought off the spinner rack. If you didn’t, you saved pennies for coverless books. Or you traded toys with friends. That’s how I got that first Teen Titans comic.
It’s ironic that Teen Titans led to me working in the comic industry. In the ’70s, letters pages talked about creators. Marvel had Stan’s Soapbox. I had a sense that comics were an option as a career, but I didn’t know how. I used to draw on big poster paper—election signs were great because the backs were blank. I remember talking my mom into letting me call DC Comics. I told the woman who answered, “I really want to work for DC Comics. I have so many cool ideas. I’ll give them to you for free if you just let me work there.” She verbally patted me on the head and said, “That’s not how the industry works.” That was my first rejection letter.
FCF: So you always knew comics were the goal?
Mangels: Yeah, pretty much. My parents thought I’d wise up and become a museum docent or librarian. I loved books. I loved categorizing things. I was very unlike the other kids. Back then, they didn’t have the words for neurodivergent. I was a grade ahead and reading at a college level because of comics. I was disruptive in class because I was bored. They classified me as a “hyper‑genius.” Their punishment was sending me to the library. My mom laughed—she said that was a reward. So they started making me sit in the corner silently, and that worked.
I connected with fans through letters pages. They printed addresses back then, so you could write to other fans. That’s how early fandom began. That’s how Richard Pini met Wendy Pini—through a letters page.
I started noticing one particular artist from a Fantastic Four cover he did—the Eliminator, rubble everywhere, gleaming red armor. That was the first time I noticed George Pérez. I was aware of artists, but I didn’t have a favorite until Pérez. When they announced he was doing New Teen Titans, it was my favorite team and my favorite artist. I got very attached.
In the letters pages, they talked about a Titan fan club and APAs—Amateur Press Associations. They were like message boards before the internet. Through that, I met people who wanted to work in comics: Rob Liefeld, Hank Kanalz, Mercy Van Vlack, others. In 1985, Rob and Hank told me Fantagraphics was doing a book on George Pérez. They said, “You know more about him than anyone. You should do something.” I was 16 or 17. I contacted them. They didn’t want to assign me the lead interview, so they let me write the checklist of George’s work and a trivia page. That was my first published work. I’d always thought I’d be an artist, but it became clear my real talent was writing. That first job changed everything.
FCF: Amazing Heroes was a huge part of my reading life. What was it like working there?
Mangels: Amazing Heroes was fantastic. It has such a legacy because it was the first real prozine that was fun to read. Comics Journal was academic and confrontational. Comics Buyer’s Guide was ads. Comics Reader was fading. But Amazing Heroes had breathless fans writing hero histories, interviews with creators, great covers, reviews, and humor. It was awesome.
Mark Waid guest‑edited a crisis issue, and we clicked. We had the same kind of brains for DC history. We split the DC preview specials—he’d take half the books, I’d take the other half. I’d call editors like Denny O’Neil and ask about the next six months of their titles. If they didn’t know, I’d call the writers. I built up a lot of contacts. I interviewed Dave McKean before Black Orchid, Dennis Cowan, Jim Valentino. Jim and I remember that interview because a drag‑queen Darth Vader wandered up to us, and because we saw Stan Lee and Jack Kirby talking privately—at a time when everyone thought they hated each other.
I worked on the Women in Comics issue and the Blacks in Comics issue. That led me to something never addressed in the field: gay comics. I approached the editors about doing an article on gays in the comics industry—characters and creators. They asked if I knew anyone gay in comics. I said no, but I knew there were. Every creator I talked to was terrified to come out. Many agreed to be interviewed anonymously. What started as a small piece grew into two issues—Amazing Heroes #143 and #144, summer 1987.
About Author
