Martin Pasko

Martin Joseph "Marty" Pasko (born Jean-Claude Rochefort; August 4, 1954 – May 10, 2020)[2][3][4] was a Canadian comic book writer and television screenwriter.

[2] As a teenager, he was a regular contributor to comic book letter columns and co-published a fanzine,[5] Fantazine, with Alan Brennert, who is now a novelist.

[6] His first published work, however, was a story titled "Eye Opener," in Vampirella #20 (October 1972), which was erroneously credited to his friend and professional benefactor, Doug Moench.

His campaign to become a "lettercol regular," as a way of breaking into comics writing, was inspired and encouraged by his friend and benefactor, writer Mike Friedrich, who advised Pasko that a name that was recognizable from the letter columns would have an advantage in terms of over-the-transom, or "slush pile," contributions, by being more likely to be read before the submissions of writers unknown to the editor.

DC Comics Presents, a team-up title starring Superman, was launched in 1978 by Pasko and artist José Luis García-López.

[10] From 1979–1982, Pasko contributed stories to the Superman Family anthology title, including runs as the regular writer of the Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl features.

A solo Doctor Fate story in 1st Issue Special #9 (December 1975), written by Pasko and drawn by Walt Simonson, led to an important development in the life of the character.

In 1982, this led to DC featuring Kent and his wife Inza in a series of back-up stories, written by Pasko, in The Flash.

Other titles Pasko wrote for DC included Wonder Woman from 1975–1977, featuring a major story arc documenting the heroine's attempt to gain readmission to the Justice League of America.

Pasko began a long career in television animation in 1980, writing several episodes of Thundarr the Barbarian with Steve Gerber.

Pasko's many other animated TV writing credits comprise series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Exosquad, Teen Wolf, Berenstain Bears, G.I.

After leaving the sitcom world at the end of the 1980s, Pasko wrote for such series as Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars, The Tick, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (which he redeveloped in order to produce scripts acceptable to the network), and The Legend of Prince Valiant.

Pasko in the 2000s has worked on nonfiction about various aspects of pop culture history, as a writer-researcher and consultant, as well as writing children's fiction and videogame dramatics.

These projects include writing The DC Vault, published in 2008;[18] working on the dramatics for Freaky Creatures, Abandon Interactive Entertainment's massively multiplayer online game; co-writing The Essential Superman Encyclopedia with Robert Greenberger;[19] writing the children's book Superman: Prankster of Prime Time;[20] and acting as researcher, consultant, and supplemental copywriter on 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking.