Walt Now Studios

08/28/2024

All kids going back to school are heroes. These heroes are going back to school! Our comic characters KNOW BOY and KNOW GIRL, aka THE KNOW PATROL™, are ready to offer mini-lessons on mighty subjects, using the super-power of knowledge!

In this sample adventure, the duo demonstrates the difference between sound-alike words “it’s/its,” “they’re/their,” and “you’re/your.”

Read the story! Then download a FREE, 11 x 17” poster version of this comic, ready to print. https://ko-fi.com/s/f5be9280ba Donate copies to school classrooms, office break rooms, or the halls of Congress. THE KNOW PATROL! You know it!

Concept and copy: Walt Jaschek. Art: Lorenzo Lizana. Colors: Don Secrease. THE KNOW PATROL is trademarked and ©2024 Walt Now Studios. All RAD reserved!

07/05/2024

Here come the Herobots™ -- or rather, here they come back! HEROBOTS COMICS #1 features the return of the superheroic robots in an ALL-NEW, 24-page bot-battle-bonanza by Walt Jaschek, Don Secrease, Craig Skaggs and Dave Zimmerman! Stay tuned for info on the print edition; meanwhile... download a FREE 8-page sample from Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/HEROBOTSTM-Comics-Super-powered-black-white-ebook/dp/B0D6F8CD7W/ref=sr_1

06/18/2024

PLUG FOR A PLUG: Thrilled to see Denny O’Neil as the cover subject in COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine #35 coming in July. Also delighted the article’s writer, Bob Brodsky, includes in it material from my 2023 book THE DENNY O’NEIL TAPES, and gives it a lovely plug! Writes Bob in the piece:

“This article contains excerpts from a 1970 group interview with Denny taped by then 15-year-old Walt Jaschek. Walt was a member of GRAFAN, The Graphic Fantasy Society of St. Louis, Denny’s hometown. The writer, then somewhat new to comics, chatted with group members about his work at DC Comics and other topics. Denny was on a creative high, and the discussion with the club shows his insight, wit and honesty. The full conversation … along with a copy of Denny’s full script for Green Lantern #63, are collected in Walt’s one-of-a-kind book, THE DENNY O’NEIL TAPES (Walt Now Studios.) The book is available on Amazon.com is highly recommended.”

Thanks, Bob — and congrats on the cover feature! As for that plug… “It’s this kind of spontaneous publicity that can make or break a person!” - Steve Martin, seeing his name in the new phone book, in “The Jerk.” (1979.)

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #35 can be advance ordered from TwoMorrows Press: https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_132&products_id=1793

THE DENNY O’NEIL TAPES: A CONVERSATION ABOUT COMICS, CULTURE AND AMERICA can be purchased in hardback or paperback here: https://www.amazon.com/DENNY-ONEIL-TAPES-Conversation-Culture/dp/B0CHL46ZVR

05/11/2024

Here are some of the comics and books Walt Now Studios is taking to the St. Louis Comic Book Show Sunday, May 12. In addition to our own creations for sale and signing, we’ll have a $1 box of comics from Walt’s personal collection. Stop by! Bring cash!

03/30/2024

Here's the first episode of Walt Thoughts, short, comic essays communicated telepathically. First topic: Bucket Lists, and why you should have one, STAT. Or at least semi-STAT...

In the first in a series of Walt Thoughts video essays, comedy writer/actor Walt Jaschek "thinks" "thoughts" on a given topic and communicates them to you te...

03/21/2024

The guys at High Adventure Comics have me in their “Spotlight” this week as featured creator -- https://www.highadventurecomics.com/spotlight.html -- and they've assembled a Sampler Platter of my comics from the past! Thanks, guys; an honor! As for the future, my next comic is a spotlight, too… on THIS guy!

03/10/2024

From Walt Now Studios! “Guy Oldman: Prime-Time Detective.” How this old guy still solves crimes… is a mystery! (( audio up ))

02/27/2024

Detective Oldman™ | Episode 01: “The Distant Roar of Dragons.” First in a series of new comics coming from Walt Now Studios. Created by Walt Jaschek

02/15/2024

Denny O'Neil wasn't the only comics writer from St. Louis I interviewed as a young whipper-snapper. In 1975, as a 20-year-old college student and comic book super-fan, I had the exciting opportunity to interview Steve "Man-Thing" Ge**er, the Marvel Comics writer then rapidly gaining fans and traction for his groundbreaking concepts, characters and stories. This resulting article... https://youtu.be/2-fjUixcaP4?si=7sdzi5oPYJKZwWvF ... first appeared on July 1, 1975, in The UMSL Current, the student-run newspaper of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, which Steve Ge**er attended in the early 1970s. (And where I was attending and working as a student journalist and as one of the paper's editors.) Although the original story and pics were reprinted in the popular fanzine Comics Buyers Guide, this article has been little seen until recently. Here's the whole thing on YouTube, read by ...me. https://youtu.be/2-fjUixcaP4?si=7sdzi5oPYJKZwWvF

P.S. That little seen photo of Steve, taken on the day of the interview, is by my friend and pop culture historian Sam Maronie.

02/01/2024

Slightly Bent Comics #1 and #2 are black-and-white anthology comic books written and designed by Walt Jaschek, starring original, creator-owned characters. Top St. Louis comic artists supplied visuals. There's a set autographed by Walt here: https://ko-fi.com/s/e8e3a67bf5

This 2-issue, self-published series, was distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic book stores across the United States in 1998. Walt Jaschek designed the Slightly Bent logo and the covers, and hired his talented friends to draw scripts for his creator-owned characters. Don Secrease served as art director on both books.

The comics feature the second and third print appearances of the original Mel Cool: Mall Cop, with art by Secrease. They also showcase the first appearances of Dude-Guy, with art by Craig Skaggs; Danger Dad, with art by Jaschek and Darren Goodheart; Corp Rut and Smirk du Jour with art by Tony Patti; Attorneys in Space, with art by Paul Daly; and Dang Gnats, a comic strip by Jaschek, who also wrote humorous editorials for both issues.

Reviews of these issues are on Steve’s Reads and on Flooby.

Says Walt: "The series was a fun experiment, a deep-dive immersion into self-publishing during the black-and-white comics boom, and a launch for characters and concepts bouncing around in my brain. It was also a nice, creative distraction from my day job writing funny radio commercials."

Approximately 800 copies of Slightly Bent Comics #1 were ordered by comic book stories, according to statistics from Diamond. Approximately 400 copies of issue #2 were ordered. These are the only copies of these two issues in circulation. Some issues are often spotted on eBay and other "back issue" platforms.

02/01/2024

Book update! My new book, THE DENNY O’NEIL TAPES, is in hardback and paperback on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/DENNY-ONEIL-TAPES-Conversation-Culture/dp/B0CFWZ271F

This admittedly “niche” book for comic book fans and pop culture historians spotlights a long interview with the late, great writer from St. Louis about his work on SUPERMAN, BATMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, etc. It was conducted by a small group of comic fans in July, 1970 – including me. I was 15 years old.

The book includes some of Denny's published comic book work for historical context; ample biographical information; and scans of Denny's full, typewritten script for GREEN LANTERN #68, with published pages for comparison.

P.S. THANKS to the readers of the preview edition of helping me get this across the finish line. I know it isn’t the only Denny O’Neil interview from that era; it certainly isn’t “the ultimate.” It’s just the one I feel responsible for — the one I’m “steward” of, I guess. Back in the day, I transcribed the interview for our small circulation fanzine GRAFAN, but it has been little seen until now. I am happy to make it more permanently available to folks looking for it.

THE DENNY O’NEIL TAPES: A CONVERSATION ABOUT COMICS, CULTURE AND AMERICA.

Now on sale.

01/31/2024

He's the greatest hero... of the mall.

In 1995, when Paul Blart was just a boy, there was a mall cop named Mel Cool, self-proclaimed "sentinel of stress-free shopping." The comic creation of Walt Jaschek and Don Secrease starred in some humor-packed independent comic books throughout the 90s, pre-dating that other Mall Cop by more than a decade.

Now in our store: a Mel Cool digital download!: https://ko-fi.com/s/0ece2859c3 This 36-page comic collection reprints, in digital form, Mel's first three print adventures, in all their black-and-white, Duotone glory. If this collection doesn't flash you back to black-and-white indy comics of the 90s, we'd have to interrupt Mel Cool: Mall Cop before his donut break.

Stories include: "Ugly Incident on Level 90" and "The Mystery of the Missing Morons." Writer: Walt Jaschek. Artist: Don Secrease.

Here is the afterward to the comic by Walt.

•

AFTERWORD TO THE COMIC

Mel Cool has been glaring at me for a long time.

It’s a suspicious glare (of course,) on that seems to say, “Hey! No loitering… lowlife!” The comic you hold in your hands is an attempt to get the guy off my case.

It’s like this.

I doodled an early incarnation of MC:MC in the summer of ’86. I pitched the concept to friend and ace illustrator Tony Patti, who drew the splash page from the first script, then moved to Italy. Just for a few years.

Enter Don Secrease, another old friend and inventive comics artist, whose work has appeared in DC Comics, pal. Don got into the concept, and drew up the crewcut-clad Mel we see and defer to today.

In 1987, Don and I produced t-shirts bearing the character and distributed them to friends and clients, as a holiday present and promotion for our respective freelance businesses. The achieved fun-osity.

Be there Mel stood, frozen, as we got deeply distracted by, you know, our jobs Meanwhile, the guy on the those shirts seems to gripe: “When do I get my own comic… lowlife?”

Hence: when we decided to create mini-comics showcasing the characters in our arsenal, Mel was already showered and dressed.

We looked out upon the sea of grim, humourless, self-important, vigilante “heroes” flooding modern comics, and we said to ourselves, “room for one more!”

This sample is a mere taste of the Mel Cool milieu. Waiting within Massive Mall are despicable villains, loyal comrades, secret lovers, and people looking endlessly for the food court.

Observing from a hidden berth, the Secret Masters of the Mall, mysterious rules who, if provoked, could present civilisation from ever shopping again.

Maybe this mini-comic will stop Mel from glaring at me, at least for a while. But, then, look at the guy:

Maybe it won’t.

— Walt Jaschek, 1995

——————————————————

QUESTIONS WITH WALT JASCHEK REGARDING PAUL BLART

(Published online in 2009)

Q. Are you getting a piece of the action from the new movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," opening January 16, 2009, in theaters everywhere?

A. No.

Q. Why is that?

A. Paul Blart: Mall Cop is not (as far as we know or can legally prove) based on Mel Cool: Mall Cop®, the long-running comicbook and web series created by Don Secrease and me in 1995, even though there was both a Mel Cool feature film screenplay and a cartoon series pilot script floating around Hollywood for years.

Q. What is your reaction to that?

A. Existential sadness mixed with raging anger.

Q. Really?

A. No, I'm just playin' with you.

Q. What?

A. I'm cool with it. Mel Cool with it. I'm philosophical about the whole thing.

Q. "Philosophical?"

A. Yes. In fact, let me put on this toga. [Rummages through a box of costumes, looking for the toga.]

A. [Finds toga, puts it on.] Ah, here it is! My philosophy is, "live and learn."

Q. All that for that?

A. "Live and learn." To the victor, the spoils. That is, to the first one to actually get a star and a deal and Happy Meal tie-ins, the spoils. Have we gleaned nothing from "Entourage"? Next time we bring a comedy concept to Hollywood, we dig in like a pit bulls on amphetamines.

Q. [quickly changes subject] So: you're not bitter?

A. No. I really think it's just great comic minds thinking alike. The movie looks really funny, actually. Kevin James. He knows from funny.

Q. We believe you. Um, are you going to leave that toga on?

A. Yes. I think it's flattering to my shape.

Q. Thanks, Walt.

A. Thanks, Q.

— Walt Jaschek, 2009



Mel Cool: Mall Cop™ is trademark and © 1995-2023

01/26/2024

Our semi-famous fanzine SON OF GRAFAN 13, with the Jim Theis sequel to his famous fantasy story, "Eye of Argon," is now available as a digital download EXCLUSIVELY in my Ko-Fi store. See description below!

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James "Eye of Argon" Theis, the man fantasy fandom thinks “never wrote anything again,” most certainly did – in fanzines my friends and I published. Like this one, SON OF GRAFAN 13.

SOG #13 was edited and designed by 17-year-old on mimeograph stencils, and published in April, 1972, by the St. Louis Graphic Fantasy Society, a fan club consisting mostly of aspiring, teen-age writers and artists. It originally had a circulation of less than 100 mimeograph copies.

But big news! A digital download of a pdf containing scans of all 22 pages of SOG 13 is available in my store: https://ko-fi.com/s/a91046d9a0

Main feature in this issue is Part 1 of a heroic fantasy fiction novella by my friend, the late Jim Theis. “The Sacred Crest” features Jim’s ongoing character, Grignr the Barbarian, a spirited homage to Conan, Robert E. Howard, and the pulp adventures Jim loved.

I’ve recently discovered Jim is famous (or infamous) in science fiction fandom for his first Grignr story, "Eye of Argon,” published a couple of years earlier in OSFAN #10, a different fanzine published in St. Louis, from the Ozark Science Fiction club... separate from GRAFAN. I had nothing to do with publishing the original “Eye of Argon,” and have never had anything to do with poking fun at it.

Quite the opposite.

As a 17-year-old fanzine editor and GRAFAN member, I published the sequel “Sacred Crest” with a down-the-middle, “oh-boy-I-have-new-content-to-print” mindset of a fanzine editor looking for readers. I admired and still admire Jim’s commitment to finishing long fiction, something I could not have dreamed of when I was 17 and he was 18. (He was 16 when OSFAN crudely typed and printed his first story.)

Speaking of typing, *I* typed the first couple of pages of the story on mimeograph stencils here in SON of GRAFAN #13; I believe production supervisor Walt Stumper, also a friend of Jim, finished the rest. I also drew directly onto a mimeograph stencil my original illustration of the hand clutching the sword that launches the story on page 7 of this issue. I designed that spread. I was committed to what I thought was the coolness of it all.

SON OF GRAFAN #13 also features a cover by St. Louis cartoonist Larry Nolte; editorial by me; a “Fandom Report” with news of GRAFAN meetings to come and past; a “Coming Attractions” column by Paul Daly about science fiction and fantasy movies; fanzine reviews by me; and a 1971 Comic Fan Awards ballot.

But the star, of course, is James Theis. And Grignr.

11/18/2023

THE DENNY O'NEIL TAPES by Walt Jaschek is now on Amazon in paperback and hardback. https://www.amazon.com/DENNY-ONEIL-TAPES-Conversation-Culture/dp/B0CFWZ271F Here's a trailer by Walt Now Films and a news release about the book, below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/10/2023

When comics writer and St. Louis native Denny O’Neil died in 2022, he left behind decades of still-studied superhero stories for Marvel and DC Comics, including Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. He is known for helping to bring “relevancy” into comics in the 1970s via his award-wining, influential runs on Green Lantern and Justice League.

Cut to present: local author and comic book fan Walt Jaschek rediscovered a long interview with O’Neil conducted by a group of young, St. Louis comic fans during a July, 1970 visit by the writer to his hometown. Jaschek was a participant in that interview, recorded it and transcribed it for a local fanzine. He was 15 years old at the time.

"The Denny O’Neil Tapes: A Conversation About Comics, Culture in America,: Jaschek’s new book, re-presents that interview in its entirety. Topics discussed included his takes on the superheroes he writes; the evolving definition of heroism in society; the passion and quirks of his creative collaborators; and the fate of comic books themselves.

The book offers samples of the late writer’s published works from the early 1970s; thorough biographical background; and a complete, typewritten O’Neil comic book script for a Green Lantern comic book, with published pages for comparison. The 111-page book is available in paperback and hardcover on Amazon.com.

“My first goal in publishing this book is to honor Denny O’Neil as a writer of great pop culture influence who many in his own hometown might not know.” Jaschek says.

“Until I can help get him a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame,” Jaschek says, “I hope this book can be a first step toward more posthumous recognition in the region.”

Jaschek’s secondary goal is, he says, “to preserve for comic fans and historians that little-seen, 1970 interview we did during the writer’s early ascendency. It was a thrill to be part of it.”

O’Neil was born in St. Louis in 1939 to a family who owned a grocery in North City for decades. He graduated from St. Louis University, served in the U.S. Navy, and began a writing career that led him to New York and the comic industry, where he stayed and worked as both writer and editor for more than 45 years. He is the winner of multiple industry awards and accolades.

Jaschek is a retired, Ballwin-based advertising copywriter whose career creating campaigns for national brands earned him in 2018 induction into the St. Louis Media History Foundation Hall of Fame. He is currently writing books, comics and screenplays.