| Ralph Macchio | |
|---|---|
Ralph Macchio at the 2007 New York Comic-Con |
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| Born | December 28 Queens, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer, Editor |
| Notable works | Daredevil Thor Captain America Spider-Man Ultimate Marvel |
Ralph Macchio (born December 28)[1] is an American comic book editor and writer, who has held many positions at Marvel Comics, including executive editor. Macchio is commonly associated with Daredevil, the Spider-Man line of comics and the popular Ultimate Marvel line. In Macchio's words, he "made probably the longest run on Daredevil of anyone."[2]
Macchio is not related to the actor Ralph Macchio, but is nicknamed "Karate Kid" after that actor's famous role.[3]
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As a young man, Macchio was a comics fan and "letterhack," and had many letters printed in Marvel comic books. His background, however, was in English literature, and he considered teaching as a career. In no hurry to get such a job, Macchio happened to meet Killraven writer Don McGregor at a comic book convention.[2]
Knowing Macchio from his many letters, McGregor asked Macchio if he wanted a tour of the Marvel offices. During the tour, Macchio was asked by writer Chris Claremont to interview editor-in-chief Roy Thomas for FOOM (Marvel's self-produced fanzine). During the course of doing the interview, Macchio met many more Marvel employees, and eventually was asked by writer/editor John Warner to join the staff and assist Warner with Curtis Magazines, Marvel's black-and-white magazine line, which included Doc Savage, Planet of the Apes, Marvel Preview, and The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Macchio, having "nothing else to do after graduate school,"[4] agreed and has been at Marvel ever since.[5]
Macchio's most consistent early credits were as writer of Marvel Two-in-One, which he co-scripted with Mark Gruenwald from 1978 to 1981; and Thor, which he wrote (also with Gruenwald) from 1980 to 1981. Macchio shifted to mostly editing in 1982, though he wrote the scripts for the 1985-1986 The Sword of Solomon Kane mini-series, based on Robert E. Howard's Puritan swordsman; and had a stint as writer for Avengers in 1987 to 1988, and parts of 1989. He has also written for Marvel Fanfare and X-Men Adventures, and the premiere issue of Transformers, among others.
After working as an assistant editor for Warner on Curtis Magazines (Marvel's black-and-white magazine line), Macchio became Dennis O'Neil's assistant editor. Graduating to full editor in 1981, Macchio's first major editing job was Master of Kung Fu, which he helmed from 1982–1983. His first line of books was The Saga of Crystar (which he co-created with John Romita, Jr. and Mark Gruenwald), Dazzler, ROM, U.S. 1, and Micronauts.[2] (During this early period, Macchio's assistant editor was Bob Harras,[6] later to become Marvel Editor-in-Chief).
From 1984 through 1995, Macchio was Daredevil editor. He also spent close to ten-year stints on Thor and Captain America, and shorter periods on Avengers and Fantastic Four. Along way he edited movie adaptations, Star-Lord, and personal favorites like the barbarian book Kull the Conqueror.
In 1996, Macchio took over the Spider-Man line, which he helmed into the early years of this century. Since 2000, he has edited the entire Marvel Ultimates line.
In 2007, Macchio oversaw the adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels into a comic book series. (Macchio is a long-time fan of King's work.)[3]
Jim Shooter (former Marvel editor-in-chief), writing about Macchio's job as editor of Moon Knight:
| “ | The best things, the most important things he did were, for him, perhaps, the easiest — being interested, involved, caring, supportive, and enthusiastic about the works he was helping to bring together.[7] | ” |
The satisfactions of being an editor:
| “ | [it was great to watch] people like John Romita, Jr. become a great penciler of [Daredevil] and come out from his father’s shadow; working with Bill Sienkiewicz on Moon Knight when he went from a Neal Adams thing to a Ralph Steadman thing to becoming his own guy, to become his own artist. The most satisfaction I get is when a creator can achieve his potential on the book you’re editing. [Giving them] latitude and letting them achieve their potential — there is nothing more rewarding, at least for this editor.[2] | ” |
The high points of his Marvel editing career:
| “ | . . . Working on Daredevil and Thor with guys such as Frank Miller and Walt Simonson. Working on Moon Knight with Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. These were great projects because of the caliber of the talent. Just watching them take these characters to new heights. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed becoming the Spider-Man editor during the midst of the Clone Saga and being given the responsibility of pulling it all together and making sure the ending paid off in a big way. I was pleased with the group effort it took to get that character back to where I felt he should be.[5] | ” |
His long tenure at Marvel Comics:
| “ | . . . the immense satisfaction of putting out a good comic book that will entertain readers the same way I was entertained as a kid. It is great to be able to do something for a living that you really have a passion for, that doesn’t make you dread going to work or is just bringing home the bacon, done not just for those reason but do something you love, and contribute to the Marvel Universe which is a great, enormous fantasy world that we continue to add layers of depths and fantasy to every month.[2] | ” |
While Marvel Comics was doing profiles on its editors, when questioning Ralph Macchio about if Hollywood were to do a movie about his life, coincidentally, he would like to see actor Ralph Macchio portray him.[8]
| Preceded by David Anthony Kraft, Roger Slifer |
Marvel Two-in-One writer (with Mark Gruenwald) 1978–1981 |
Succeeded by Tom DeFalco |
| Preceded by Roy Thomas |
Thor writer (with Mark Gruenwald) 1980–1981 |
Succeeded by Doug Moench |
| Preceded by Roger Stern |
Avengers writer 1987–1988 |
Succeeded by Walt Simonson |
| Preceded by Walt Simonson |
Avengers writer 1989 |
Succeeded by John Byrne |