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Tom Palmer Lunch
2007-11-08 17:33:38

Cover Painting by Tom Palmer

Went to what we refer to as a "Tom Palmer lunch" yesterday, named after our host, long-time Marvel inker Tom Palmer. As one of the true gentlemen in this business, every couple of months Tom gets a bunch of people together, and we go downtown to a nice restaurant for a good meal and some pleasant conversation. And Tom insists on picking up the tap—heck, he'll try to force cab money on you for the trip down and back. In attendance yesterday were Axel Alonso, Ralph Macchio, Mark Paniccia and myself, as well as Tom.

Palmer's a truly gregarious individual, dignified, modest, accomplished. He'd brought along a number of books by various artists, both painters and comic book artists from abroad. Later in the day, he would be making his way to the Society of Illustrators to meet up with a number of them—this is the fan side of Tom, the guy who appreciates great art and great artists.

I can't tell you about anything that was discussed at the lunch, though—what's talked about at the table stays at the table at a Tom Palmer lunch. But any number of subjects were touched on, about the industry past and present. Tom's career dates back to when Stan ran the place, so he's got dozens of first-hand stories about those days that he can share, and war stories of one sort or another going right up to the present day. He's also got the kind of perspective on the business that you can only get from having worked in it for so long.

(His son, Tom Palmer Jr., is an editor over at DC, but we rarely hold that against Tom.)

It's a rare pleasure to get to spend time and break bread with the people who worked on the books you grew up reading—let alone having the time to take an extended lunch with your peers to kick back a little bit and decompress. So each Tom Palmer Lunch is a much-valued event whenever they come up.

Tom also sends most of the editorial staff lush cakes and pies at Christmastime, but he's be really embarased if I told you all about that.

More later.

Tom B

ah that sounds so cool. tom p sounds like a such a great guy!

Posted by bomaya on 2007-11-08 18:38:51

Inker
That sounds like a really fun little event.

You know, now that you mention him being an inker I'm curious about how editors interact with inkers.

I have a pretty good idea of how editors work with writers, that's something you've talked about several times. I have a vague idea of how you guys work with pencilers. But inkers, letterers, colorists and everyone else I'm fairly blank on. I wouldn't mind a blog entry or three dealing with your experiences with these other parts of the machine.

Posted by CodeGuy on 2007-11-09 01:14:09

: clearly off-topic
La-rry- Stroman-on- 'Sleepwalker'
-la-....

Posted by notapotatoe on 2007-11-09 09:34:49

Wow
You are living the dream. I come from a small country town in Australia so finding people who share my intrests let alone know what they are talking about is very rare.
I moved to Jersey last week to follow in the foot steps of my hero and mentor JMD and hearing about gatherings like this puts a huge smile on my face.

It is awesome to know there are still pro's out there that value the past.
I hope that one day I might join you fellows at that table and we can all share a laugh.
I'd love to hear some of those old war stories!

Posted by Doop+Molly on 2007-11-09 17:12:27

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