Queens Gazette

Local-Express


 

 

Born and raised in Rosedale, Mark Torres has been involved in comics and movies all his life, first as a fan, and later, his passion led him to work both in video stores and movie theaters and he eventually found himself hosting a weekly syndicated radio show (Thursdays at 4 pm), It Came From The Radio (88.1 FM, WARY in Westchester county, and online at beyondthedawnstudios.com). The show is on numerous platforms on demand as well, on iTunes, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and many more, or you can listen on Google Play Music, as well as the Alexa Skill Store. They are all listed at itcamefromtheradio.blogspot.com, where you can listen to it on the embedded player.

Mark has also co-authored a comic book about his character, Sunburst, with RZG Comics publisher Mariano Nicieza, “Sunburst & Phazer, War of the Independents: Crossover,” and it is number two in a series. Legendary Marvel Artist Jim Steranko was the cover artist and interior art was by John Hebert, Sam Carlin, Phillip McNulty, James Graham, Deena Simmons, Matthew Wachnicki and Nick Lorefice. (For more info, visit www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JAN121251.) He hopes to put out more comics in the near future. For more on Mark Torres, visit itcamefromtheradio.com.

 

 

QG: Tell us about your times in the Green Acres and Sunrise Movie Theatres.

MT: Being born and raised in Rosedale, the best option for going to see a movie, which I had done quite often growing up, was none other than the Sunrise Multiplex – and to a lesser extent the Green Acres Cinemas, which by the way, eventually was owned by the same company. In fact, my very first memory of seeing any movie at any theater was at Sunrise. It was the original Jaws, as a drive-in movie no less! I remember as a kid, I used to say, “One day I’m going to work here.” And happily, I did. I started at Green Acres in the box office and worked my way up to booth manager (running the projection booth) at Sunrise. While it was all digital by the time they closed, for a brief time, I was actually threading the film through the projector. As a side note, I played the final film to be shown at Sunrise, a “Mark only” screening of the original Transformers: The Movie, which is my favorite movie of all time. It was an amazing experience.

QG: What is your favorite thing to do in Queens?

MT: Growing up I used to love to watch the planes land at JFK. My house was in the flight path, so I used to see them all the time as they flew by. Every so often my Dad would say, “Let’s watch them land,” and he drove us up “Snake Road” (Brookville Blvd.) and we parked off of the highway to see them touch down. Of course, once a plane overshot the runway in 1984, he put an end to that!

Now, surprisingly enough, I do enjoy going to the Queens Zoo. It’s small enough to cover in one outing, but big enough to make a day out of it. Make sure you time your trip to watch them feed the sea lions. Other than that, I enjoy going to Dickeys BBQ in Five Towns, in Lawrence, Long Island. The food is great and the customer service is the best I have ever experienced.

QG: Your syndicated radio show sounds interesting. What can listeners expect?

MT: I host a weekly syndicated radio show called It Came From The Radio, which airs on both a terrestrial radio (WARY 88.1 FM in Westchester county) and an online radio station, beyondthedawnstudios.com, as well as 25 other podcast media outlets. Just do a search for “It Came From The Radio” and you should be able to find us quite easily. We talk about movies, comics and entertainment with a focus on the independent comic book writers, artists and filmmakers. We do have a big-time guest every so often – Mark Hamill, William Shatner and even the ladies from The Magic Garden, who still perform, have visited! We air a new show each week and we also have a Facebook live “Behind the Scenes” recording of our show every Wednesday at 2 pm. In addition to that, we also host a live monthly show in front of a studio audience at the Source Mall (courtesy of the East Meadow Public Library, in Long Island).

QG: Impressive guests! How did you get into radio and comics in the first place?

MT: I was a HUGE fan of the Incredible Hulk TV series (starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno). It’s actually my first memory I have of watching any TV show. That led me to start reading comics, which in turn, made me want to create comics. Back then, comics weren’t the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. After taking YEARS to try and get my book published, an opportunity presented itself. I remember driving home from the cemetery one New Year’s Eve (a story for a different time) and I heard on the radio, WGBB 1240 AM, that they were looking for people to host their own show. I thought that it would be a great way to network and meet comic book guys and hopefully, finally, get my book published. I enjoyed it so much, I kept at it all these years later. The first show was in February of 2003, where we discussed the original Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck.

QG: You must’ve been properly respectful at the cemetery for you to have had that stroke of luck! Where and when is your next live radio show going to be?

MT: Once a month, usually the second Wednesday of each month, we record our show in front of a studio audience. On November 13 it will be in the Source Mall (in Long Island) in the art gallery next to the food court (which is next to P.F. Chang’s and Cheesecake Factory).

Whoever our guest is – we have a different one each month, ranging from authors to artists, and even comic book publishers – they always bring something to give away in our free raffle to those in the audience. Sometimes we also have free tickets to a convention or two in addition to that. For example, this month, on November 13, we have author/ actress Leanna Renee Hieber, the award-winning, bestselling author of 12 gothic, gaslamp fantasy and supernatural suspense novels for adults and teens, including the Strangely Beautiful saga. She’ll be giving away a copy of one of her books, and we’ll also have two passes to the Wintercon at the Resorts World Casino, November 23-24! Seating starts around 6:30 pm and we start recording at 7 pm. It’s a free event.

This column was originated in July 2013 by Nicollette Barsamian.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.