What was it like working with "Big" John on your long run on the Avengers, Roger? Any particularly fond or strong memories of your working together?

Big John was, hands down, the greatest artist I've gotten to work with. Some artists might be slightly better storytellers, and others might have greater dynamics to their work, but John just drew better than anyone else.

I once saw him give a talk at a convention, sketching away on a big pad as he spoke and producing these incredible figure studies. No kidding, you could see jaws drop amongst the other artists who were watching.

John had a matter-of-fact gruffness to him, but that was a bit of a facade. He would interact with small children with an almost grandfatherly gentleness. Down deep, he had a good heart and a great, great laugh.

My biggest regret is that I was never able to come up with a character that he loved drawing as much as he did Conan.

-- Uncle Rog

Cool. And Thanks! Neat to hear. Some people don't love Big John's work, but I think that's mostly their tastes, which is fine of course; loved his artwork for a long time, but the more I've learned about art, the more I'm able to respect how incredible an artist he was. He knew his stuff(!) and knew how to put it to use.

If you don't mind my asking (and I know this kind of runs over similar territory from another thread's question, but...): What was your communication between each other like in making an issue?

Where you mentioned your wishing you could have created a character he loved to draw as much as Conan... I noticed you incorporated into your run a lot of the classical mythology type stuff that Marvel had available as part of it's universe. Read interviews where John Buscema said he enjoyed drawing those Marvel characters more than the other costumed superheroes, specifically he mentioned Thor. Anyhow, though, I really dug the characterization of Hecules, Thor, and the Greek & Norse gods that you guys did, too. Some of my favorite stuff from that run.

Probably would have been tough to beat out his love for Conan, he even said once that he thought Tarzan would have been what he dreamed of doing in comics, but when he got the chance, he really loved working on Conan more. It was really his great love to work on Conan, I guess.

To get to my point from all this rambling! Was some of the mythology storylines done for that reason of doing something you'd both dig?

Thinking about your account and impression of his character, I think it's a hoot to see him in that "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" video, BTW. Funny and kinda charming to see him next to Stan, not being able to keep a straight face and put on an act for the video (in comparison to how Stan does it so well, anyways). He seemed kind of uneasy about his parts where he talks (not where he draws, though), being on camera, and there's a couple of segments where you sort of see him embarrassingly rolling his eyes and smiling at Stan's showmanship. You see this gruff/pro/outstanding artist, but you really see this big kid shining through in that video as well.