You're looking at a photo of my long-time friend Tony Isabella. We met via mail around (I'm guessing) 1967. We met in person at my first comic book convention in New York in 1970. I took the above picture in a hotel room at another New York Con in either 1975 or 1976. We'd brought a pizza back to the room and in so doing, actually managed to find lousy pizza in New York. Being Jewish, I had an excuse…but you'd think an Italian guy could find decent pizza.
Tony was at the time working for Marvel as a writer and assistant editor. He was pretty good at it, just as he's been pretty good at all the writing and editing he's done for other companies in the years since. He's recently been writing a comic called The Grim Ghost for a new incarnation of the seventies' comic company, Atlas. I've only read two issues but if they're all that good, this book deserves a lot of attention. And I need to pick up the issues I don't have yet.
During all the years we've been pals, I don't recall Tony and I ever having a fight. Disagreements? Certainly…plenty of 'em. But good friends have a way of resolving disagreements without becoming disagreeable and we've somehow managed that. I can't speak for Tony but I intend to keep it that way for another 44 years.
Happy 60th birthday, Tony. Hope the next sixty are even better.