397 Michael Uslan, comic book writer, "Archie Marries Betty" (2010)

Today's Guest: Michael Uslan, comic book writer, "Archie Marries Betty" Betty   Archie Marries Betty by Michael Uslan I remember the first time I encountered Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose, Mr. Weatherbee, Miss Grundy, Hot Dog and the rest of the Riverdale gang. It was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1971, and we were visiting our cousins, the Sirotkins. Fred Sirotkin, the youngest of the three children, had a basement filled with shelf after shelf of neatly ordered comic books. It was nirvana for me—and probably still would be, if not for the great flood that hit Wilkes-Barre a year later, obliterating Fred’s collection and everything else in the wall of water’s path. MICHAEL USLAN podcast excerpt: "Yes, we take the Archie story one step beyond anything it's ever been taken before... This has become a firestorm on the Internet on a worldwide basis. The Today Show took a poll on who Archie should marry. It was 80% Betty, 20% Veronica--and Jughead came in a strong third." Fast-forward to January 2010 and America’s oldest teenager, Archie Andrews—sorry, Dick Clark—has graduated college and announced his engagement to Betty Cooper. The writer of this six-part Archie Comics series, which takes us through the characters’ future, is as much a surprise, perhaps, as Archie choosing girl-next-door Betty over girl-with-a billion-bucks Veronica. His name is Michael Uslan, and while he’s written a few comic books before, he’s based known as an executive producer behind some of the biggest comic book movies of all time, including Batman and The Dark Knight. This is Michael’s second visit to Mr. Media Radio; he was previously a guest to discuss The Spirit movie, of which he was a producer. Michael Uslan Website • Facebook • LinkedIn • Wikipedia • IMDB • Order The Boy Who Loved Batman from Amazon.com Order 'The Boy Who Loved Batman' by Michael Uslan, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! MORE COMIC BOOK CREATOR INTERVIEWS WITH MR. MEDIA! Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) Monte Wolverton (The Wolverton Bible) Craig Yoe (Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster) Gary Groth, Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics) Mark Wheatley, Robert Tinnell (EZ Street, Lone Justice) Gene Colan (Iron Man,” “Daredevil,” “Howard the Duck,” “Batman) Bill Schelly (Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert) Mike Gold (ComicMix.com editor) Blake Bell (Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, I Have to Live With This Guy!) Blake Bell and Michael Vassalo (The Secret History of Marvel Comics) Daniel Pink (The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, Free Agent Nation, A Whole New Mind) Jonathan Riggs (Prism Comics: Your Guide to LGBT Comics) Arie Kaplan (Speed Racer, MAD Magazine) Paul Fitzgerald, Cindy Jackson and Stuart Henderson (Will Eisner & PS Magazine) Paul Fitzgerald (Will Eisner & PS Magazine) Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Superman, Superman on the Couch) Danny Fingeroth & Roy Thomas (The Stan Lee Universe) Wendy Pini and Richard Pini (Elfquest, Masque of the Red Death) Pete Von Sholly (Capitol Hell, Morbid) Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four, Brush Strokes with Greatness) Chuck Dixon (The Simpsons Comics, 2007) Peter Kuper (Stop Forgetting to Remember, 2007) Peter Kuper (Drawn to New York, 2012) Trina Robbins (The Brinkley Girls, 2009) Trina Robbins (GoGirl! 2007) Drew Friedman (Old Jewish Comedians, 2007) Drew Friedman (Too Soon?, 2010) Drew Friedman (Even More Old Jewish Comedians, 2011) Dennis O'Neil (Batman, 2007) Mike Richardson (Dark Horse Comics, 2007) Aaron Warner (The Adventures of Aaron, 1997) Jim Lee (Heroes Reborn, 1996) David Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare, 2008) Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!