Tom DeFalco

The only Editors-in-Chief with longer service than him were Stan Lee (1941–1942, 1944–1972), Shooter (1978–1987), and Joe Quesada (2000–2011).

Early in DeFalco's run as editor-in-chief, executive editor Mark Gruenwald remarked, "Tom does not seem to have as strong a personal vision for Marvel [as Shooter], and as a result he's more open to other people's visions. It remains to be seen if that's good or bad."

In an interview with The Comic Book Gazette, DeFalco described his experiences as editor-in-chief as being "A lot like those old Bullpen Bulletins comic strips, but with significantly more yelling!"

He was a key member of the management team that took Marvel public, and under his leadership, Marvel's net profits from publishing rose by over 500%.

Under DeFalco's guidance, Marvel entered a phase of expansion that provided an opportunity for "new talent" to enter the comic book industry, and released a number of new titles with original characters.

Tom DeFalco (born June 26, 1950) is an American comic book writer and editor well known for his association with Marvel Comics, with long runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, and Fantastic Four.

DeFalco briefly wrote for DC Comics in the late 1970s.

While in college, DeFalco "wrote for a few local newspapers, a weekly comic strip and did a few short stories", and after graduation "got in touch with the various comic book companies", which led to him beginning his comics career as an editorial assistant with Archie Comics in mid-1972.

During his tenure with Archie Comics, he "initiated and developed the Archie Comics Digest Series, which is still being produced today and remains the company's most profitable publishing series".

Learning fast, DeFalco was soon writing for the flagship title Archie as well as for other titles including Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussycats.

During this time he helped co-write the "Clone Saga" which revealed (temporarily, at least) that Peter Parker was a clone of the original that had been active since 1975.

Peter would be replaced by the original Spider-Man under the alias "Ben Reilly".

He scripted several Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stories for the Superman Family title; the final issue of Starfire (Oct.–Nov. 1977); and a Cain story in House of Mystery #258 (May–June 1978).

DeFalco then moved to Marvel, where he would spend the next twenty years of his career.

While writing Dazzler, he wrote a couple of issues of Marvel Team-Up, before taking over from Dennis O'Neil as editor of that title, as well as assuming editorial duties on Ghost Rider, What If...? and the Spider-Man titles, which he edited throughout the early 1980s.

DeFalco worked closely with toy manufacturer Hasbro in the early 1980s, heading the creative team that "produced the backstory and dossiers that served as the basis for the relaunch of the phenomenally successful G.I. Joe toy line and animated television show", in 1985.

There he wrote two issues of The Avengers and the final five issues of Machine Man plus a Machine Man issue of Marvel Team-Up, before launching Dazzler in March 1981.

DeFalco wrote Marvel Two-In-One stories featuring team ups with the Thing from 1981-1982.

As part of this relaunch, Marvel produced a comic titled G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in June 1982.

DeFalco personally edited the first six issues (handing over to Denny O'Neil in January 1983), as well as assorted issues of the G.I. Joe series' throughout the 1980s.

The core G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series would run for 155 issues over the next 12 years.

In August 1983, DeFalco wrote the first four issues of the third series of Red Sonja and after shedding his Spider-Man editorial duties to Danny Fingeroth, he took over from Roger Stern as writer of The Amazing Spider-Man.

The two collaborated on April–May's #251–252 (the Secret Wars crossover issues), before DeFalco took over fully with #253, for a two-year run, chiefly in collaboration with artist Ron Frenz.

Concurrent with editing Jim Shooter's Secret Wars, DeFalco introduced Spider-Man's "black costume" in the pages of Amazing.

DeFalco co-created the Rose, Black Fox, and Silver Sable during his tenure on the series.

DeFalco and Frenz were both removed from The Amazing Spider-Man by then Spider-editor Jim Owsley, who stated that they had chronically failed to meet deadlines.

DeFalco and Frenz both state they met their deadlines more diligently than any other Marvel creative team at the time, and that Owsley caused them to miss deadlines by repeatedly changing his production schedules.

DeFalco later wrote a Machine Man limited series in 1984, with art by Herb Trimpe and Barry Windsor-Smith.

DeFalco was the chief designer and author for Dazzler, and later became one of the writers for the Spider-Man comic book series while at the same time rising through the editorial ranks.

DeFalco was "part of the creative team that introduced the Transformers to the American public" in 1984.

Issue #285 (Feb 1987) was their final issue, after which Owsley assumed writing duties.

While writing Amazing, DeFalco continued editing various comics.

After co-writing two issues of Fantastic Four (#301–302; April–May 1987), DeFalco took over writing duties on Thor With #383 in September.

DeFalco became Marvel's tenth editor-in-chief on April 15, 1987.

This change was effective in comics cover-dated November 1987.

He served from 1987 to 1994, making him one of the longest serving individuals to hold that post.

Defalco was one of the writers on the "Maximum Carnage" storyline in 1993.

After clashing with the company's upper management, DeFalco resigned in 1994.

During his tenure as editor-in-chief, DeFalco had continued to write as well, with noted runs on Thor where he created the New Warriors with artist Ron Frenz and the spin-off Thunderstrike, as well as Fantastic Four with artist Paul Ryan, and comics for Marvel children's imprint Star Comics.

His resignation as editor-in-chief coincided with a run on The Spectacular Spider-Man (#215–229 Aug. 1994 – Oct. 1995), after which he returned to The Amazing Spider-Man in January 1996 for issues #407–439.