Mike Kazaleh in cartoon form.

Mike Kazaleh has earned a name for himself not only as a respected animation artist (director, animator, layout artist, etc.) but as a creator, writer, artist, packager and publisher of comic books as well.

I interviewed Mike on my telephone, which sits on my desk just a few short miles away from Mike's telephone, which sits on his own desk, which is, coincidentally, just a few short miles away from my desk.

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Will Ryan: Mike, how did you get started in animation?

Mike Kazaleh: I'm from Detroit, so I used to go out and visit these little animation shops. They were usually two-man operations that already had their two men, because they were the owners. One day, one of these shops gave a quote for an animation job to an ad agency. It was a job they really didn't want to do, so they purposely gave a high quote -- $20,000 -- the kind of money that would make a Midwestern ad man cringe. They were turned down, but they tipped me off to the possible job. So I did it for considerably less than $20,000, and I was in business.

WR: When you were checking out these places in Detroit, was Jam Handy long gone?

MK: No, they were still around. They were known then for making cheesy live-action educational films. It wasn't until Leslie's book (The Fleischer Story by Leslie Cabarga, originally published in 1976) that I found out that they had made cartoons.

WR: So you never visited there, right?

MK: Actually I did. I went down there to Grand Boulevard and met Jam.

WR: You mean Jam Handy was a real guy? I just thought it was an odd corporate name.

MK: No, this guy's real name was Jamison Handy. He owned the place.

WR: What was it like?

MK: It was a nice building, mostly empty. They were leasing a section of the building to a UHF station that was making a religious TV show, you know, one of those shows where you send in money. The only clue that they'd done cartoons was a flat planning table for camera moves. Jam offered to sell it to me for $1200.

WR: Did you buy it?

ML: I'm still thinking it over.

WR: Well, while you've been thinking it over, you've certainly been on the move.

ML: That's true. I've animated for studios in Detroit, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and a few other places.

WR: Including Florida. How did that come about?

ML: Ken Mitchroni was starting up a studio there. I was doing a lot of freelance work, and Florida seemed as good a place as any.