Columnist PAUL KUPPERBERG’s warm birthday remembrance of his late friend, writer Martin Pasko… — UPDATED 8/4/26: The late Martin “Pesky” Pasko was born 72 years ago. Perfect time to reprint this lovely piece by columnist PAUL KUPPERBERG, from when Pasko died in May 2020. Right on. — Dan — By PAUL KUPPERBERG We interrupt the regularly scheduled series of shameless plugs for my book Direct Comments: Comic Creators In Their Own Words for a tribute to my late friend, Martin Pasko (Aug. 4, 1954–May 10, 2020). Shortly after his birth in Montreal, Jean-Claude Rochefort was rocketed across the border to New Jersey where he was adopted by a kindly couple named Pasko who raised him as their own. Now known as Marty Pasko, the child grew to maturity, knowing he possessed talents and abilities far beyond those of mortal fans, to one day pen the adventures of that orphan from the stars, Superman. Not to mention hundreds of other heroes of comic books, animation and TV. I don’t remember the circumstances of our first meeting; in my memory, Marty was always in my life, like family. My guess is we first crossed paths at one of the very early-1970s New York Comic Art Conventions, although I knew his name from the many (many!) letters he had printed in the comics of the day, particularly those edited by Julie Schwartz. It was in those letter columns that Julie gave Marty the nickname “Pesky,” but I know for a fact from later talks with Julie that the crusty old editor loved getting intelligent letters from thoughtful fans and he often found Marty’s insights as useful as they were “pesky.” When we did finally get together, Marty and I bonded instantly. It didn’t hurt that I had the unfailing ability to make Marty laugh. He was the Jack Benny to my George Burns (look it up, youngsters!) and it cracked me up that I could crack him up, that I could lay him out on the floor, literally gasping for breath, with as little as a sincere recitation of “Direct dialing” or “Wankel rotary engine.” At the beginning of my career, which followed his by about two years, Marty became a sort of creative mentor to me. While he had only two years on me by the calendar, he was already about...