“The upshot is that it was mismanaged or not even managed at all, you know, cookie cutter, same old--same old. Shit.”

“I don’t wanna talk about that guy anymore. At the time I chose Dark Horse I detested Marvel more than words can say, after all that they’ve done to the creators, friends of mine, with their inept management. It goes beyond inept, it’s so destructive. The only thing that I worry about is the people, the artists, the creators, just diddled senseless by Marvel Comics.”

This I understand, and it is true. I have friends who thought they’d grow old with Marvel, get some sort of retirement plan. “Yeah, it’s sad, there are people whose whole lives were drawing for Marvel Comics and they don’t know what they’re going to do with themselves.”

Windsor-Smith looks angry. “People who just . . . It’s a deep disgrace, you know?” The waitress chooses that moment of passion to bring over a fine looking assortment of luncheon dishes.“Um, this is pretty. Don’t look at my food! Why don’t you look somewhere else?”

“I haven’t got mine yet!”

“That’s catfish and that’s . . .”

“Orange.”

“It’s a special thing.”

“It’s orange.”

“Oh, that’s an orange”.

 

“It’s orange.”

“No, it’s a carrot mousse, you’re the one with the orange . . .” He looks at Bialy’s plate. I suspect that any moment he is going to start tasting everyone else’s lunch. The food looks so good, we may be forced to defend our plates from each other. “Oh, you’ve got the same as me.” He sits back, satisfied.

I’m still unsure about the orange I so heartily defended the honor of “This looks like sweet potato.”

“Bon appetite. What was I rattling on about? Marvel? Fuck Marvel.”

Later we talk in the charming yellow building that is Windsor-Smith Studio. I wonder why he hasn’t marketed his prints and other fine art work to the mainstream print market.

“In the latter days of Gorblimey Press, we were mainstream. Mostly in California. I was real big in California. We sold quite a lot of stuff to galleries, print shops and stuff like that. A couple in New York City, some in the midwest, but mostly the west coast. Far as I know from the publishers of The Drawing Collection, they were bought as portfolios then individually framed and sold. I think OPUS will probably turn it around, put the work out there again. Because I haven’t put anything out in the art world for a very long time. Either I’m a comic artist or I’m not. I’ve got to be committed. But OPUS will resurrect all that stuff, all the pictures that have never been seen . . . all these drawings, twenty years worth of drawings. So that should probably get the ball rolling again.”