Mark Stephen Evanier (born March 2 1952) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, particularly known for his humor work.
Evanier is of ethnic Jewish heritage. He chose to be a writer after witnessing the misery his father felt from working for the
Internal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. It is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for interpretation and application of Federal tax law. The official U.S...
and contrasting that with the portrayal of a writer's life on
The Dick Van Dyke ShowThe Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom which initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 and ran until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. A three-camera/studio audience format was used during production...
.
He made his first professional sale in 1969 and almost immediately was taken on as a production assistant to the legendary
Jack KirbyJacob Kurtzberg , better known by the pen name Jack Kirby, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pseudonyms, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby...
.
Mark Stephen Evanier (born March 2 1952) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, particularly known for his humor work.
Biography
Evanier is of ethnic Jewish heritage. He chose to be a writer after witnessing the misery his father felt from working for the
Internal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. It is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for interpretation and application of Federal tax law. The official U.S...
and contrasting that with the portrayal of a writer's life on
The Dick Van Dyke ShowThe Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom which initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 and ran until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. A three-camera/studio audience format was used during production...
.
He made his first professional sale in 1969 and almost immediately was taken on as a production assistant to the legendary
Jack KirbyJacob Kurtzberg , better known by the pen name Jack Kirby, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pseudonyms, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby...
. Several years later Evanier began writing foreign comic books for the Walt Disney Studio Program, then from 1972 to 1976 wrote scripts for
Gold Key ComicsGold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands.-History:Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when Western switched to in-house publishing rather than packaging content for branding and distribution by its business partner, Dell Comics...
, along with comics for the
Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
estate.
In 1974 he teamed with writer Dennis Palumbo and wrote for a number of television series, including
The Nancy Walker ShowThe Nancy Walker Show was a short-lived situation comedy produced by Norman Lear and starring Nancy Walker. It aired for half a season on ABC, premiering on September 30, 1976 and running until December 23, 1976. The series was a starring vehicle provided to Ms...
,
The McLean Stevenson Show and
Welcome Back, KotterWelcome Back, Kotter is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979.-Premise:...
.
After the cancellation of
Kotter, on which he was one of the story editors, Evanier and Palumbo amicably ended their partnership. Evanier subsequently wrote for the
Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. , was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
comic book division and a number of variety shows and specials, and he began writing for
animated cartoonAn animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
shows, including
Scooby Doo,
Plastic ManPlastic Man is a fictional comic-book superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1 ....
,
Thundarr the BarbarianThundarr the Barbarian is a Saturday morning animated television series, created by Joe Ruby and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. It lasted 2 seasons, 1980-81 and 1981-1982...
,
The ABC Weekend Special,
Richie RichRichie Rich is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired on ABC from 1980 to 1984. Based upon Harvey Comics' popular Richie Rich comic book characters, shared time slots with Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Little Rascals, and Pac-Man over its original broadcast...
,
The WuzzlesDisney's Wuzzles is an American animated television series created for Saturday morning television, and was first broadcast on September 14, 1985 on CBS. An idea of Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the Wuzzles are animal creatures composed of half of one animal and...
, and
Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is an American animated television series based on TSR's Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. A co-production of Marvel Productions and TSR, the show was popular in the United States and ran for three seasons on CBS...
. But he is most noted in animation for his work on
Garfield and FriendsGarfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from 1988 to 1994, and on Nickelodeon from 1997 to 2000...
, a seven-season series for which Evanier wrote or co-wrote every episode and acted as voice recording director.
He also wrote a script and provided "'technical advice' about comic books" for
BobBob is an American television situation comedy starring Bob Newhart. It was the actor's third series for CBS and proved to be far less successful than The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, his previous outings with the network....
,
Bob NewhartGeorge Robert "Bob" Newhart is an American stand-up comedian and actor who is best known for playing psychologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Hartley on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show and as innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s sitcom Newhart.Newhart also appeared in film roles such as Major Major in...
's unsuccessful third
sitcomA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
for
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
He has produced a number of comic books, including
BlackhawkBlackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by National Periodical Publications, the primary company of those that evolved to become DC Comics...
,
CrossfireCrossfire is a comic book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle originally for Eclipse Comics. It was a spin off from DNAgents, which was also written by Evanier.-Plot:...
and
Hollywood Superstars (with
Dan SpiegleDan Spiegle is a comic book and cartoon artist and illustrator .-Life and career:He began his professional cartoonist career in 1949 drawing Hopalong Cassidy for the Mirror Syndicate...
),
Groo the WandererGroo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book series written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, rewritten, coplotted and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai, and colored by Tom Luth...
(with
Sergio AragonésSergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
), and
The DNAgentsDNAgents is a comic book created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Will Meugniot and published by Eclipse Comics in 1983. It was later picked up briefly by Antarctic Press...
(with
Will MeugniotWill Meugniot is an American writer, storyboard and comics artist, film producer and director.- List of works :* The DNAgents * Exosquad * G.I. Joe: Valor vs...
). For the Spiegle comics, Evanier contributed lengthy essays on the entertainment industry.
Evanier has been nominated for the
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
s numerous times for his writing but has yet to receive one.
On May 26, 2006, Evanier checked into Cedars-Sinai Hospital in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
and underwent
gastric bypass surgeryGastric bypass procedures are any of a group of similar operations used to treat morbid obesity—the severe accumulation of excess weight as fatty tissue—and the health problems it causes...
. Having peaked at around 344
poundsThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
(156
kgThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
) by then, he has since lost nearly 130 pounds (45 kg) by June 2007 and is grateful for the overall health benefits, though he had to learn to adjust his eating habits.
Evanier's illustrated
Jack KirbyJacob Kurtzberg , better known by the pen name Jack Kirby, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pseudonyms, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby...
biography,
Kirby: King of Comics, was published February 2008 by Abrams Books.
Mr. Evanier credited himself with convincing Jack Kirby to stop using
Vince CollettaVincent Joseph Colletta was an American comic book artist and art director best known as one of industry legend Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during the 1950s-1960s period called the Silver Age of comic books...
as an inker, and considers himself one of the "main vilifiers" of Colletta.
Comics
- Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC
Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC is a comic book written by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier and published in 1996. The book is a satire of DC Comics characters. They also produced an equivalent at Marvel Comics, called Sergio Aragonés Massacres Marvel....
(with Sergio AragonésSergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
, one-shot, DC Comics, June 1996)
- Sergio Aragonés Massacres Marvel (with Sergio Aragonés, one-shot, Marvel Comics, June 1996)
Awards
- 1992: Won "Best Humor Publication" Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, commonly shortened to the Eisner Award, is a prize given for creative achievement in American comic books. It is named in honor of the pioneering writer and artist Will Eisner, who was a regular participant in the award ceremony until his death in 2005, and...
for Groo the WandererGroo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book series written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, rewritten, coplotted and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai, and colored by Tom Luth...
- 1997: Won "Best Humor Publication" Eisner Award for Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC and Sergio Aragonés Massacres Marvel
- 1999: Won "Best Humor Publication" Eisner Award for Sergio Aragonés Groo
- 2001: Won "Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award"
- 2009: Kirby: King of Comics won "Best Comics-Related Book" Eisner Award
External links