Evanier identifies as Jewish. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.[4][5] He chose to be a writer after witnessing the misery his father felt from working for the Internal Revenue Service and contrasting that with the portrayal of a writer's life on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He graduated from University High School in 1969. Evanier attended UCLA but left before graduating.[6]
Evanier was president of a Los Angeles comic book club from 1966–69.[7] In 1967, he suggested the titles of the officers of the Merry Marvel Marching Society.[8] He made his first professional sale in 1969;[9] that same year, through a mutual association with a Marvel Comics mail-order firm, he was taken on as a production assistant to Jack Kirby.[7] Several years later Evanier began writing foreign comic books for the Walt Disney Studio Program, then from 1972 to 1976 wrote scripts for Gold Key Comics, including "The Greatest of E's", where he revealed that the E in Wile E. Coyote stands for "Ethelbert" and comics for the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate.[10]
Evanier credits himself with convincing Jack Kirby to stop using Vince Colletta as an inker, and he considers himself one of Colletta's "main vilifiers".[13]
He wrote a script and provided "'technical advice' about comic books" for Bob, Bob Newhart's unsuccessful third sitcom for CBS.[14]
In 1970, Evanier attended the Golden State Comic Con in San Diego, the first annual gathering of what came to be known as Comic-Con International. Evanier is one of a small group of people (estimated at six or fewer) who have attended every year. In 1973, he first hosted a panel at the yearly event and the volume soon escalated to the point where he was hosting as many as fourteen over a four-day convention. They usually include Quick Draw!, which pits fast cartoonists against one another to respond with drawings to challenges Evanier throws at them; the Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel, Cover Story (artists discussing the skills involved in creating covers for comic books), and several panels about the art of providing voices for animated cartoons. For years, he hosted the annual Golden Age Panel featuring artists and writers who'd worked in comic books in the 1940s but it ended after 2010 due to a lack of available panelists and was replaced by That 70's Panel, celebrating comic book creators from that era. Evanier also serves as Administrator of the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. Several of the panels he hosts at Comic-Con also appear at the annual WonderCon in Anaheim, California.[citation needed]
In April 2022, Evanier was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[21][22]
2009: Kirby: King of Comics won "Best Comics-Related Book" Eisner Award;[30] "Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation" and "Special Award for Excellence in Presentation" Harvey Award[31]
^Evanier, Mark (December 7, 2011). "About ME". News From ME. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. 'Evanier' is not French; it was probably made up by some Immigration Officer at Ellis Island one day who said, 'Hey, here come some more Jews! Let's give them real stupid last names!
^Evanier, Mark (December 9, 2019). "ASK me: College". News from ME. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
^DeFalco, Tom (2008). "1960s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.). Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 120. ISBN978-0756641238. Mark Evanier...wrote [to Marvel Comics] suggesting that the M.M.M.S have officers: anyone who bought a Marvel comic was entitled to the rank of RFO (Real Frantic One) and a published letter elevated him or her to QNS (Quite 'Nuff Sayer) status.
^Evanier, Mark (May 5, 2007). "About Vince Colletta". News From ME. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. I don't think I've ever gotten through a major comic convention without someone coming up to me and bestowing thanks for my role in getting Jack Kirby to dump Colletta as his inker around 1971. It could easily be my greatest contribution to the world of comics.
^Evanier, Mark (December 1, 2007). "Briefly Noted…". News From ME. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. The show was created, produced and largely written by Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner and Phoef Sutton. I merely wrote one episode and, in an unofficial capacity, provided some "technical advice" about comic books and the comic book business.
^DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 220: "Marvel's Epic Comics imprint also launched their longest running and most successful title, Groo the Wanderer. It was drawn by Sergio Aragonés...and was written by Mark Evanier."
^Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1980s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 215. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. A mad experiment, DC Challenge was a fun adventure, starring many DC icons. Its debut issue was penned by Mark Evanier and drawn by Gene Colan.
^Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 296: "Writer Mark Evanier and artist Joe Staton produced a cool and wacky adventure that featured many of DC's greatest heroes and their cartoon counterparts."
^Evanier, Mark (September 15, 2007). "Where I'll Be". News From ME. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014.
^Evanier, Mark (May 26, 2007). "A Sense of Loss". News From ME. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. My highest-ever weight was around 365...The lowest I've hit on my scale has been 245, just one maddening pound shy of an even hundred since the operation.
