Mark Evanier

Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and blog News from ME, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, such as his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, '' Kirby: King of Comics''.

Early life

Evanier identifies as Jewish. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic. He chose to be a writer after witnessing the misery his father felt from working for the Internal Revenue Service and contrasting that with the portrayal of a writer's life on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show''. He graduated from University High School in 1969. Evanier attended UCLA but left before graduating.

Career

Evanier was president of a Los Angeles comic book club from 1966–69. In 1967, he suggested the titles of the officers of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. He made his first professional sale in 1969; that same year, through a mutual association with a Marvel Comics mail-order firm, he was taken on as a production assistant to Jack Kirby. Several years later Evanier began writing foreign comic books for the Walt Disney Studio Program, then from 1972 to 1976 wrote scripts for Gold Key Comics—including one memorable story, "The Greatest of E's", where he revealed that the E in Wile E. Coyote stands for "Ethelbert"—along with comics for the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate.

In 1974 he teamed with writer Dennis Palumbo and wrote for a number of television series, including '' The Nancy Walker Show'', ''The McLean Stevenson Show'', and ''Welcome Back, Kotter'', on which he was a story editor.

After leaving ''Kotter'' in 1977 and amicably ending his partnership with Palumbo, Evanier wrote for and eventually ran the Hanna-Barbera comic book division. He also wrote a number of variety shows and specials, and he began writing for animated cartoon shows, including '' Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo'', ''The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show'', ''Thundarr the Barbarian'', ''The ABC Weekend Special'', '' Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper'', '' Richie Rich'', '' The Wuzzles'', and ''Dungeons & Dragons''. He is most noted in animation for his work on ''Garfield and Friends'', a seven-season series for which Evanier wrote or co-wrote nearly every episode and acted as voice recording director. Since 2008, Evanier has been the co-writer and voice director of '' The Garfield Show'', which won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for June Foray.

Evanier credits himself with convincing Jack Kirby to stop using Vince Colletta as an inker, and considers himself one of the "main vilifiers" of Colletta.

He wrote a script and provided "'technical advice' about comic books" for ''Bob'', Bob Newhart's unsuccessful third sitcom for CBS.

He has produced a number of comic books, including ''Blackhawk'', ''Crossfire'' and '' Hollywood Superstars'' (with Dan Spiegle), ''Groo the Wanderer'' (with Sergio Aragonés), and ''The DNAgents'' (with Will Meugniot). For the Spiegle comics, Evanier contributed lengthy essays on the entertainment industry. In 1985, he launched the '' DC Challenge'' limited series with artist Gene Colan

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