The Randall Frenz Interview
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| Superman #149, brothers Randall and Ron Frenz credited on the cover. |
The Randall Frenz Interview
When I first read the issues of Thor #400 and #401 back in high school (this would have been in the early 2000s, years after they were first published in 1989), I saw the name of Randall Frenz. I was familiar with Ron Frenz, the penciler of Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Girl, but who was Randall Frenz? Was it Ron's real name? Was it his alter ego? I even admitted as much when Ron wished Randall a happy birthday on Facebook.
However, I saw that there was confusion from others online as to who Randall Frenz is.
The above commenter is correct, but they should have written is, not was. Years later, with the advent of YouTube and a book written by Tom DeFalco titled Comics Creators on Spider-Man, I also learned that Randall Frenz is Ron's older brother through various interviews that Ron has conducted.
Randall wrote 13 published comic book stories for Marvel and DC from 1989 to 1999. He got a chance to write for Superman, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. Thanks to the current Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, almost everyone has heard of the last three characters. Still, the other commenter was correct in that there's not a lot of information out there about Randall's professional career in comics. Confusion still reigns where even on the Marvel Fandom web site, several of the entries of the stories he wrote credit his brother Ron Frenz as the writer.
What I knew of Randall from the interviews Ron gave with the aforementioned Tom DeFalco and on YouTube with Alex Grand, Jim Thompson and Scott Larson, was mostly on their formative years. Ron recalls that the first comic that he and his brother remember was a 1964 World's Finest Comics, starring Batman and Superman. Since Ron was 4 and Randall was 7, Ron credits Randall as having been the one who brought the comic into the house.
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| World's Finest Comics #141. The comic Ron and Randall remember being in the house. The cruel prank Robin and Jimmy Olsen are playing on Batman and Superman is known on the Internet as Superdickery. |
Ron and Randall were fans of the TV shows Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, and the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon, the latter they watched while eating their cereal in the morning. Ron had a subscription to the Amazing Spider-Man comic, while Randall had subscriptions to Captain America and Action Comics. As they got older and as comic book prices increased over the years from 12 cents to 25 cents, they would buy, according to Ron, "Pretty much every Marvel and DC Comic." When Randall went off to college, he took the DC comics and Ron kept the Marvels. However, Ron did say that Randall really enjoyed one Marvel character in particular, "My brother, especially Rand, was deeply into Dr. Strange. Still to this day. It's still one of his favorite characters."
With their names having the same initials, their shared interests and once you get to know them, it probably would be easy to get Ron and Randall confused. Both are very nice guys who have encyclopedic knowledge of comics and are more than happy to engage with their fans. Still, since I could not find an interview with Randall or much discussion about his professional career in comics, I decided that someone who wrote for some of the biggest titles for Marvel and DC deserved an interview. I made contact with Randall and he very graciously took my questions and answered them. Randall is a Lutheran minister and this was the week before Easter, so I doubly appreciate him sparing the time for me.
Randall's answers gave me an insight to someone who was freelancing in the 1980s and 1990s, a period of publishing at Marvel that I am very interested in. Even though his career has not been in comics, Randall is an interesting man in how he's lived a life in service to others as a counselor and minister.
The interview:
RJ: If you could please tell me a little about yourself?
RF: I was born a long time ago in
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I am currently working as a chaplain at a facility for
adjudicated children. I am an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America.
I began trying to sell my stories
to Marvel back in 1983. I was a very poorly paid counselor working with street
alcoholics. Ron had broken into Marvel
in 1981 as a penciler and he seemed to be doing well. I was arrogant enough to think I could write
(How hard could it be, after all?). I submitted plots to many editors,
primarily Editor- in- chief Tom DeFalco, Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Jo
Duffy, Denny O’ Neil, Carl Potts and maybe a few others I can’t remember quite
well. During this time, I got a lot of valuable feedback from these people
saying “You got talent kid, do this or that and keep trying” and I did. I kept
trying and kept submitting. Finally, I got a package in the mail from Carl
Potts, who was the Dr. Strange editor. It contained a book called “The Art of
Dramatic Writing” by Lajos Egri. He said
“You’re almost there. Read this book and apply what it says and you should be
good to go!” The next story I wrote I sold to Mark Gruenwald for a title called
Solo Avengers. It was a Black Knight story that never saw print. I’ll never
forget that phone call. It was in December, 1987. I was 30 years old. It took 4
years and it was a lot harder than I thought! My first published story was
“Evil Aborning” that was commissioned by Ralph Macchio for Thor #400.
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| The book an encouraging Marvel editor sent to Randall. |
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| Mark talks about how he gave a Solo Avengers assignment to Roger Stern. Click to enlarge. |
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| A Black Knight story was published around that time in Solo Avengers written by Roger Stern after he was removed from the main Avengers title by editor Mark Gruenwald. |
RJ: In Thor #400, you wrote a story that Charles Vess
illustrated. How did that collaboration come about?
RF: I had been contacted by Ralph Macchio to write an 8-10 page story for
Thor #400. I submitted a plot to him and he said he liked it and was going to
give it to Charlie Vess. I loved Charlie’s work and was very excited. When I
saw the pencils I was blown away.
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| Pages drawn by Charles Vess, a frequent collaborator of writer Neil Gaiman. |
RJ: How did you receive the assignments for Thor #401 and Iron
Man #257?
RF: Thor #401 was a fill in to give Tom and Ron a break after Thor #400.
Iron Man #257 was a fill-in as well, though I don’t remember the exact
circumstances. I think initially it was supposed to be inventory but I got a
call from Nel Yomtov saying he needed it for #257, which put me on a deadline.
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| A Hitchcockian-like cameo in Thor #401. Loki's spell in Norse runes says, "Rand Frenz Marvel's Newest Super Star!" |
RJ: Rich Yanizeski was your most frequent collaborator for your
Marvel stories. How did you two know each other?
RF: Rich was a friend of Ron’s from art school. I met him through Ron. We
used to hang out sometimes back in the day. Nice guy.
RJ: There was a story published in Marvel Super-Heroes #9 that
seems to take place between Thor #408-419. I figured that since Eric is bonded
with Thor and Kevin still lives with him. Was that originally supposed to be a
fill in or was it an inventory story in case Tom and Ron needed a fill in?
RF: All of the stories that I did
that ended up in annuals and specials were inventory for the shelf. I was lucky
because, for whatever reason, they all got scheduled pretty quickly after they
were finished.
Only one of my stories was
finished but remained on the shelf. That was a Dr. Strange story penciled by
Andy Smith and finished by Alfred Alcala. Ironically, it was one of my
favorites.
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| This is where one of Randall's Thor stories was eventually published. |
RJ: How did your collaboration with Ron on the Strange Visitor
stories come about?
RF: By 1995, I wasn’t submitting stories anymore. I just didn’t have time.
I was the Director of Human Services at a local hospital and I didn’t have time
to write on speculation and then harass editors to buy them. By 1997 I was in
private practice and looking for ways to supplement my income. I mentioned to
Ron in passing that I regretted my decision to let my writing career go. About
a month later he called me and asked if I was serious about getting back in. I
said yes and he told me about Strange Visitor. Originally, he and DeFalco were
going to do it as a regular series. Initially, it was a go to the point that
Ron gave up his Superman title in order to do it. For whatever reason, Tom
wasn’t able to do it, So he asked if I would step in. Idid, and we co-plotted a
years’ worth of stories and did beat sheets for a second year. I don’t know the
whole story, but It ended up as a 4 issue miniseries that Joey Cavalieri, the
editor, and Ron worked out. I took Ron’s notes, added my two cents and wrote up
the plots. He drew it, I scripted it (using a lot of his liner notes). It ran
in all four Superman titles in consecutive weeks. I’m certainly no Tom DeFalco
by any stretch, but I thought it turned out ok given the mess it turned into.
RJ: When writing, did you write using the legendary Marvel
Method?
Wouldn’t have done it any other way.
RJ: For Marvel, you got
to write stories for Thor, Captain America, the Howling Commandoes and Iron Man
and Superman for DC. Was there a hero you wish could have written for?
RF: I already mentioned the Dr. Strange story. He is my favorite Marvel
hero. I wish that story had been published. I put my name in to be considered
for the Dr. Strange Job. At that time (around 1990) they were restarting the
book. I don’t know if Ralph ever seriously considered me, but Roy Thomas came
back from DC and expressed interest in it, so that was that. Ralph went with
Roy and quite frankly, I would’ve too! I also was told at one point that they
were going to do a “Tales of Asgard” book and that I was the guy. I did a few
plot synopses for it, but it never happened.
I would’ve tried my hand at Spider-Man eventually, maybe Daredevil.
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| A page from a Captain America story Randall wrote. Art by Mark Bagley. |
RJ: As far as I know, you’ve only published with Marvel and
DC…unless you’ve worked in underground comics?
RF: No. I just wanted to run with the big dogs.
RJ: Would you like to return to write some comics if you have
the chance?
RF: If I could work Marvel style. If I was offered a shot at Dr. Strange. I
wouldn’t actively pursue it at this point, I am very blessed to be doing what
I’m doing. But, as Sean Connery said “Never say never again”.
Again, I thank Randall for his time. Wow, with an unpublished Dr. Strange story sitting on the shelf, Marvel should find a way to publish it because of the new Dr. Strange movie coming out in May. Though I mentioned them above, I'll again thank the interviews Ron Frenz did with Tom DeFalco, Alex Grand Jim Thompson and Scott Larson.
If you're interested in seeking out Randall's work, below is his bibliography of published comic books:
Randall Frenz and Rich Yanizeski. "The Wager." Thor #401. Marvel Comics. March 1989.
What a great interview! All the best to Mr Randall Frenz and I hope we see his unpublished story see the light of day.
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