Ralph Macchio (comics)

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 Ultimate Marvel line.

Macchio is not related to the actor Ralph Macchio, but is nicknamed "Karate Kid" after that actor's famous role.^[2]

Early life

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.^[3]

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 Marvel's black-and-white magazine line. Macchio, having "nothing else to do after graduate school,"^[4] agreed.^[5]

Career

Writing

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 miniseries, based on Robert E. Howard's Puritan swordsman; and wrote The Avengers from 1987 to 1988, and part of 1989. He has also written for Marvel Fanfare and X-Men Adventures, and the premiere issue of Transformers, among others.^[6]

Editing

After working as an assistant editor for Warner on 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 to 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.^[3][6] During this early period, Macchio's assistant editor was Bob Harras,^[7] later to become Marvel editor-in-chief.

From 1984 through 1995, Macchio was Daredevil editor. He also spent nearly decade-long editing stints on Thor and Captain America, and shorter periods on Avengers and Fantastic Four. He additionally edited movie adaptations, Star-Lord, and the barbarian book Kull the Conqueror.^[6]

In 1996, Macchio became editor of the Spider-Man line, which he helmed into the early 2000s. Starting in 2000, he edited the Marvel Ultimates line. In 2007, Macchio oversaw the adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels into a comic-book series.^[2][6]

Macchio retired from Marvel in 2011.^[8]

References

External links

• Ralph Macchio at the Comic Book DB=
• Marvel Videos: Spider-Man Week in NYC: Ralph Macchio, Marvel.com
• Sampling of Macchio's 1970s fan letters to comic books