Brief History
After Flo graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1960 with a degree in History, she went job-hunting in New York City until she was called on for a job-interview by Magazine Management. As she recalls in an interview: "After a couple of interviews, I was sent to this publishing company called Magazine Management. There I met a fellow by the name of
Stan Lee, who was looking for what they called then a 'gal Friday". Stan had a one-man office on a huge floor of other offices, which housed the many parts of the magazine division."
It clicked and Flo happened to find a workplace at Marvel Comics. At the time she was not too familiar with the world of comic books although this changed quickly. She started to get a great fan-base as she was the person who replied and answered readers questions to every single fan-letter that was written to a mayor Marvel Comic at the time. During the buildup of the so called "Marvel Age of Comics" in the early to mid 1960's Flo was the only Marvel staffers besides Stan Lee.
Flo , or "Fabulous Flo" as she was nicknamed now, was in charge of answering fan mail and eventually published letter-pages in each major Marvel title. Another part of the job for Flo was to keep young fans from invading the Marvel Comics workplace, as well as protecting the sanctity of Stan "the Man" Lee's office. Flo made the madcap nature of the so called "Marvel Bullpen" her own. For example, Flo wrote a humorous letter in Amazing Spider-man 25 taking the blame for printing the same letter twice in a previous letters page.
Flo stayed at the Marvel offices until the late 1960's. At that point the pressure of Marvel Comics becoming bigger and bigger (and so her responsibility's where getting larger and larger) was too much for Flo. She left Marvel, looking back on her work there with a smile on all she had accomplished. She was a big influence on many artists and writers at the time. As artist
Jim Mooney once recalled in an interview talking about Flo:
" She was wonderful! You’d go to DC comics and it was a business-like thing and I’d come out of there and I’d feel, 'Oh, God, I need a drink'. [
laughter] I’d go to Marvel and I’d come in and Flo would say, 'Hello, Jim! Oh, I'll call Stan right away! Stan!!! Jim Mooney is here!!!' And I'd think, 'Oh my God, who am I? I’m a celebrity'. [
laughter] She was great. It wasn't just me, believe me, it was everybody and anybody, but I still felt, well, it was really just me."
After her time at Marvel Comics she was one of the first persons who established s small independent press and published her independent "
Big Apple Comix." She always had a strong connection to Marvel and returned there in the early 2000's as a proof-reader where she still is today.
Flo in Comics
Flo made some cameos in Marvel Comics. For more info on Flo's Marvel Comics counterpart, see
Flo Steinberg.
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