American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s

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by KEITH DALLAS

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American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s is © 2019 TwoMorrows Publishing, a division of TwoMorrows Inc. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical. Photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. All reproductions in this historical overview of comic books are copyright by the respective copyright holders, and are used here strictly for historical purposes. Attempts have been made to properly attribute copyrights for use in this book; if you are a valid copyright-holder and have not been properly credited, please contact TwoMorrows so that this can be corrected in any future printings. The viewpoints expressed in the text are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TwoMorrows Publishing.

Dedication Dedicated to the generation of fans who grew up reading comic books during the 1980s.

Writer/Editor: Keith Dallas Contributing Writers: Jason Sacks, Jim Beard, Dave Dykema, Paul Brian McCoy Layout, Logo and Design: Bill Walko Cover Photographer: Luis Benitez Proofreader: Rob Smentek Publisher: John Morrow

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • 919-449-0344 email: store@twomorrows.com Second Printing • December 2019 Printed in China ISBN 978-1-60549-046-5

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TM & © Scott McCloud

Table of Contents Introduction and Acknowledgements............................................... 4 Introductory Note about the Chronological Structure of American Comic Book Chronicles................................... 6 Note on Comics Book Sales and Circulation Data............................ 7

Chapter One: 1980 Dark Phoenix and the Darkness Before The Direct Market by Keith Dallas . ...................................... 8

Chapter Two: 1981 The Roy Thomas Renaissance, Royalties, and The Return Of The King by Keith Dallas......................................... 24

Chapter Three: 1982 New Publishers, New Formats, New Talent, and New Mutants by Keith Dallas.................................................... 46

Chapter Four: 1983 Controversy Over A Proposed New Comics Code

by Keith Dallas......................................................................................... 72

Chapter Five: 1984 Teenage Turtle Takeover by Keith Dallas.................................... 104

Chapter Six: 1985 Crisis and Creation

by Jason Sacks......................................................... 128

Chapter Seven: 1986 Watchmen and the Watchers of the Comics Industry by Jason Sacks........................ 152

Chapter Eight: 1987 Bubbles Burst, Back to Basics

by Jim Beard.......................................................................................... 186

Chapter Nine: 1988 Killing Jokes and Killing Calls

by Dave Dykema.................................................................................. 216

Chapter Ten: 1989 The Year of the Billionaire, the Bat, and the Brits

by Paul Brian McCoy........................................................................... 246 Works Cited........................................................................................... 279 Index....................................................................................................... 286

Ask comic book aficionados about the 1980s and many will immediately reference such seminal publications as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Dark Knight, and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Others will mention such crowd-pleasing series as Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, or Secret Wars. Even others will point to the decade’s plethora of new creator-owned titles, like Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, or Los Bros. Hernandez’s Love and Rockets.

This book’s most prevalent message is that none of these publications would have been printed if not for the proliferation and ascension of a new sales venue for comic books: the specialty comic book stores known as The Direct Market. As the 1980s dawned, the comic book industry was in critical condition due to the dwindling sales supplied by newsstand outlets. By the time the 1980s ended, however, the industry’s fortunes had reversed as the Direct Market had fully replaced the newsstand as the principal pointof-sale for comic books.

INTRODUCTION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Times they were a’

Changin’

Unquestionably for the comic book industry, the 1980s were boom years, both financially and creatively. For the first time in their histories, the two biggest publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics, offered royalties to writers and artists working on their best-selling titles. The lure of royalty payments incentivized professionals to be imaginative and strive for excellence. And then there were the many writers and artists who released their own creations exclusively to the Direct Market and found themselves financially and critically rewarded for doing so. Their success encouraged many more professionals (and publishers) to take the Direct Market plunge. In turn, because the Direct Market wasn’t beholden to the restrictive standards of the newsstand’s regulatory Comics Code Authority, contents of comic books became more explicit. Along with that, the norms of the medium changed. Narrative techniques became more sophisticated, and embracing it all was a comic book readership that was more mature than it had ever been before.

But the decade had its share of misfortunes too. A glut of product in the mid-1980s threatened to undermine the Direct Market just as it was flourishing. There was also a pervading fear that if the comic book industry didn’t police itself, outside watchdog groups would find the explicit content produced in comic books unacceptable and demand censorship. By the end of the 1980s, some grew concerned the comic book industry was becoming too reliant on the Direct Market for its success, and it was a concern that turned prophetic…

But that’s a tale to be told in a different volume of American Comic Book Chronicles and by a different author. As far as this volume goes, I cannot emphasize enough that it was as much a collaborative project as an individual one. This book was produced through the efforts and assistance of many, many people. Foremost among them are four writers who were called upon to help me finish this volume in a timely manner: Jim Beard, Dave Dykema, Paul Brian McCoy and Jason Sacks. I designate them my “cavalry” because they rode in and saved the day.

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Love and Rockets TM and © Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t single out the contributions of two individuals: John Wells and Bill Walko. John Wells’ knowledge of comic books (and comic book history) is unparalleled. I cannot overstate how much of a vital resource he was during the production of this book. The manner in which John checked facts, offered advice, and responded to my (near daily) queries went above and beyond the call of duty. Similarly, I cannot ask for a better designer than Bill Walko. He is this book’s true maestro.

My prose doesn’t deserve—as it cannot hope to match— the visually stunning work that Bill provided for American Comic Book Chronicles.

So I am eternally grateful to both men, and I can only hope they—and my cavalry of writers—are all gratified by the experience of producing this book.

Keith Dallas November 16, 2012

Left: 'Mazing Man makes off with a rack full of 80s-era comics on the cover of Amazing Heroes Preview Special #3. Above: The girls of Love and Rockets enjoy some of the best-selling comics of the 1980s, on the cover of Amazing Heroes #62.

And then there are those who offered direct testimony about the 1980s comic book industry, who verified (or corrected) information, who provided much needed scans of 1980s comic books, or simply offered feedback as each chapter was finished. In other words, these people provided the kind of invaluable aid this kind of book couldn’t do without, and they include: Tom Brevoort, Rich Buckler, Rich Cincotta, Dr. Brannon Costello, Brian Cronin, J.M. DeMatteis, Dave Elliott, Steve Englehart, Robert Greenberger, Fred Hembeck, Rand Hoppe, Thomas Iaiello, Scott Kolins, J.T. Krul, Paul Kupperberg, Ralph Macchio, Andy Mangels, Jonathan Mankuta, Ron Marz, Mark McKenna, John Jackson Miller, Doug Moench, Doug Murray, Zane Reichert, Bill Reinhold, Bob Rozakis, James Sherman, Jim Shooter, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Dr. Matthew J. Smith, Joe Staton, Roy Thomas, Chris Tolworthy, Mark Waid, Dave Wallace, Len Wein, and the “Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Fans” Facebook page. A special mention goes to Glenn Fischette and his entire staff at Fourth World Comics in Smithtown, New York for their support and for allowing me to use their (very well stocked) store as an essential library.

Of course, I am grateful to John Morrow for approving American Comic Book Chronicles and for trusting me to turn it into a publication worthy of the distinguished TwoMorrows Publishing brand.

American Flagg! TM and © Howard Chaykin.

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NOTES

Introductory Note about the Chronological Structure of American Comic Book Chronicles The monthly date that appears on a comic book cover doesn’t usually indicate the exact month the comic book arrived at the newsstand or at the comic book store. Since their inception, American periodical publishers—including, but not limited to, comic book publishers—postdated their issues in order to let vendors know when they should remove unsold copies from their stores. In the 1930s, the discrepancy between a comic book’s cover date and the actual month it reached the newsstand was typically one month. For instance, Detective Comics #1 is cover-dated March 1937, but actually went on sale one month earlier in February. Starting in 1940, comic book publishers hoped to increase each issue’s shelf life by widening the discrepancy between cover date and release date to two months.

In 1973, the discrepancy was widened again to three months. The expansion of the Direct Market in the 1980s, though, turned the cover date system on its head as most

Direct Market-exclusive publishers chose not to put cover dates on their comic books while some put cover dates that matched the issue’s release date.

This all creates a perplexing challenge for comic book historians as they consider whether to chronologize comic book history via cover date or release date. The predominant comic book history tradition has been to chronologize via cover date, and American Comic Book Chronicles is following that tradition. This means though that some comic books that were released in the final months of one year won’t be dealt with until the chapter about the following year. Each chapter, however, will include a yearly timeline that uses a comic book’s release date to position it appropriately among other significant historical, cultural and political events of that year.

Zot! TM and © Scott McCloud.

- Keith Dallas, with the assistance of Ray Bottorff, Jr.

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NOTES

Note on Comics Book Sales and Circulation Data certain east coast warehouses that illegally sold 'affidavit returns' comic books (“Tales from the Database” 99).

Determining the exact number of copies a comic book title sold is problematic, regardless if the sales outlet under consideration is the newsstand or the Direct Market. The best one can hope to learn is a close approximation of a comic book’s total sales. This is because the methods used to report sales figures were (and still are) fundamentally flawed.

It’s perhaps even more understandable then why comic book publishers in the early 1980s looked to the Direct Market as a replacement sales venue. However, the fact that Direct Market retailers couldn’t return comic books sent to them doesn’t necessarily make determining exactly how copies a comic book title sold less problematical. That’s because Direct Market distributors didn’t require their retailers to keep track of how many comic books were purchased by their consumers and how many comic books became unsold inventory. Famously, Direct Market retailers ordered 428,000 copies of Marvel’s first Direct Market exclusive comic book, Dazzler #1 (cover date March 1981). The ongoing historical inquiry though is how many copies of Dazzler #1 did retailers order to satisfy consumer demand and how many copies did they order as a speculative investment for themselves. This inquiry can be transferred to any comic book sold exclusively to the Direct Market.

During the 1980s, most comic books sold on the newsstand would print an annual “Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation” in one of their issues as was required by the United States Post Office for all periodicals.

These statements divulged—among other information—a comic book title’s average print run, average paid circulation, and average returns from the newsstand. The data in these statements were as accurate as the publishers could provide. The publishers certainly knew how many copies they printed, but they relied on the distributors to inform them of how many copies were sold on the newsstand and how many unsold copies were being “returned” for a refund. Most distributors actually didn’t return unsold copies—or even stripped covers of the unsold copies— back to the publishers; instead they sent to the publishers affidavits of the number of unsold copies they destroyed.

In essence, an “honor system” was in place that relied on the newsstand distributors to be truthful about the number of copies bought by consumers and the number of unsold copies being destroyed. And perhaps unsurprisingly, once the publishers couldn’t dispute what the distributors were reporting in their affidavits, the whole system became corrupted.

American Comic Book Chronicles then recognizes the flawed nature of newsstand and Direct Market circulation data but is resigned to the fact that it is also the only data available and will consider it a close approximation of a comic book’s total sales numbers.

Nexus TM and © Mike Baron and Steve Rude.

In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Jim Shooter detailed a scenario that he described as emblematic of the newsstand system’s corruption: Let’s say a distributor orders 1000 copies of a comic book. So the publisher sends him 1000 copies. But because the distributor doesn’t really care about comic books, he maybe only sends 300 copies to his newsstand dealers. Of those 300, maybe 200 are bought by the consumer. That’s a 66% sellthrough. That’s pretty good. But that’s really only 200 out of the 1000 that was ordered. Now because affidavit returns are the industry standard, the local wholesaler will skew the sale numbers in his favor. So he’ll report total sales of 125 copies. Even though he really sold 200 copies, he’s only paying the publisher for 125 copies. Then the remaining 800 copies he received from the publisher—which he’s supposed to destroy—he puts into bricks and sells to the local Costco OR throws them into the paper wolf and sells the pulp OR sells them for a nickel apiece through the black market.

Left: Zot is crazy for comics on the cover of Amazing Heroes Preview Special #1.

Above: Nexus and friend enjoy some indie comics favorites in Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2.

Indeed, in his milehighcomics.com column, comic book retailer Chuck Rozanski relates how he became aware of 7

1980

Dark Phoenix,

and the Darkness Before the

Direct Market

On January 23, 1980, President Jimmy Carter opened the first State of the Union address of the new decade with a despondent acknowledgment: “This last few months has not been an easy time for any of us.” The President was specifically alluding to the 52 American diplomats being held hostage in Iran since November 4, 1979 as well as the Soviet Union’s invasion of its neighboring nation of Afghanistan beginning in December 1979. But the United States was facing other considerable challenges, including a skyrocketing inflation rate that reached 13.9% by January 1980, a seemingly unshakeable dependence on foreign oil that weakened the national economy, and an omnipresent possibility of a global nuclear war. In the face of America’s adverse circumstances, President Carter concluded his address with a rally call, “Together let us make of this time of challenge and danger a decade of national resolve and of brave achievement.”

As the 1980s dawned, the comic book industry faced considerable challenges of its own as the last few years had not been an easy time. As comic book historian Mike Benton notes, “Distribution problems and inflation… were undermining efforts of the comic-book companies as they struggled out of the 1970s. Many of the traditional comicbook outlets were vanishing, and comics were being displayed less frequently on magazine racks” (81). The grim reality was that since 1977 monthly comic book sales had been significantly declining. In 1980, the average number of comic books sold per month was 5.4 million for Marvel Comics and 2.8 million for DC Comics. Just three years earlier, Marvel and DC were respectively selling on average 7 million and 4.2 million comic books per month (Tolworthy). It was evident to all interested parties that the comic book industry had seen better times, but many fans and professionals didn’t expect a recovery. Instead they foretold aloud that the industry’s death knell was about to ring and that the comic book medium would soon expire from its many wounds. One person who didn’t share the pessimistic outlook though was Jim Shooter, Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief since 1978. In an interview with The Comics Journal’s Gary Groth in September 1980, Shooter declared: I keep seeing letters from people, and I keep hearing people at conventions and so forth talking about the imminent demise of the comic book industry… I don’t know what I have to do to correct this erroneous information. We’re not going out of business. We’re making good money. We’re not setting the world on fire, but at this point, in this country, very few people are. We’re doing well.

Marvel is a healthy company… It’s not a bad year, or even a mediocre year. It’s a good year. (60)

CHAPTER ONE

While Shooter could assure readers that Marvel was prospering, the fact of the matter was that by 1980 the comic

by Keith Dallas 8

book industry had shrunk so considerably that only a handful of comic book publishers remained in business. With Marvel Comics and DC Comics leading the market, Archie Comics continued to offer its Riverdale High Schoolfocused titles, and Harvey Comics produced Casper The Friendly Ghost and a slew of Richie Rich books (Richie Rich Cash, Richie Rich Diamonds, Richie Rich Profits, among others). Long standing publishers Charlton (Billy the Kid, Fightin’ Army, Fightin’ Marines, Ghostly Tales, War), Gold Key (Battle of the Planets, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Looney Tunes, Mickey Mouse, The Pink Panther, Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Uncle Scrooge) and Warren Publishing (Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella), on the other hand, were all struggling, and none would last to the end of the decade. In fact, at the start of 1980, Gold Key re-branded itself as Whitman Comics and began packaging three different comic books together in a single plastic bag in order to distribute them exclusively to retail outlets like K-Mart. It was a cost saving move that still didn’t save the publisher. Charlton had been reduced to reprinting previously published material, like Fightin’ Army. The one title that presented new material, Charlton Bullseye, didn’t even monetarily compensate its creators. Instead, creators received complimentary copies of the issue in which their work appeared. The idea of the title was to give aspiring professionals needed exposure of their talents. Finally, Fawcett Comics—whose Captain Marvel titles were best-sellers throughout the 1940s— abandoned comic book publishing altogether in 1980 with its final issues of Dennis the Menace: Pocket Full of Fun and Dennis the Menace and His Friends.

The decade began with one of Marvel’s most celebrated story arcs: “The Dark Phoenix Saga.”

Newsstand Wasteland What was crippling the comic book industry was its continued reliance on the newsstand market (e.g. supermarkets, stationary stores, convenience stores, toy stores, magazine vendors) to sell its product. Comic books had been part of the newsstand since the comic book industry’s infancy in the 1930s, but by 1980 it was clear that the newsstand wholesalers had lost the incentive to provide its retailers with comic books to sell, primarily because their profit margin distributing $0.40 and $0.50 comic books was significantly lower than what could be had distributing the more expensive magazines, like Time and Sports Illustrated—both of which retailed for $1.50 in 1980. As DC Comics editor Dick Giordano explained in a 1981 Comics Journal interview, comic books had become an afterthought to the newsstand market:

The X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

truck.” Is that a way to sell a comic book? (Groth, “Brushes & Blue Pencils” 54) Consequently, the sell-through rates—the percentage of shipped books which actually get sold to consumers—kept falling. Since the newsstand market could return all unsold copies to the publishers for a full refund, the financial consequences for the comic book industry become obvious: when wholesalers don’t bother to distribute comic books to their retailers, only to get a refund for them, the publishers can’t even recoup the cost of printing, never mind the greater cost of production. While that is a worst case scenario, consider the sales figures for Justice League of America, one of DC Comics’ better selling titles in 1980.

According to its Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation located on the letters page of issue #190, the average print run per issue of Justice League of America during 1980 was 329,301 copies. But of that print run, the newsstand returned on average 194,574 copies per issue.

Comic books are considered fodder. If [the newsstand distributor has] that much room in the back of the truck, they’ll put that many comics, and they don’t bother to check them by title. “Just grab a handful of comics, Charlie, and throw it in the 9

1980 TIMELINE

June: As of this month, the retail price of a standard comic book is $0.50; DC Comics’ titles now have eight additional story pages while Marvel Comics adds five more story pages a couple of months later.

April 22: Untold Legend of the Batman – DC Comics’ second foray into the miniseries format – debuts on newsstands.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

April 22: Roy Thomas – after writing and editing Marvel Comics for the previous 15 years – signs exclusive contract with DC Comics.

January 1: Marvel Comics’ Star Trek comic book debuts on newsstands; its first three issues reprint Marvel Comics Super Special #15, which adapted 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

March 1: Dick Dillin – Justice League of America penciller since 1968 – dies at the age of 50.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

April 24-25: The U.S. military “Operation Eagle Claw” attempts to liberate 52 U.S. diplomats being held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Ultimately, the mission is aborted with the death of eight U.S. servicemen.

APRIL

February 22: In a “Miracle on Ice” the United States men’s hockey team – composed of amateur and collegiate players – defeats the heavily favored Soviet Union team during the Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid, New York; the United States team would go on to win the gold medal after it defeats Finland.

Batman, The Justice League of America and The New Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics. Epic Illustrated, Moon Knight, Howard the Duck, Daredevil, Captain America TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Star Trek TM and © Paramount Pictures. Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back TM and © Lucasfilm, LTD., Pac-Man TM and © NAMCO Games

“The old business was dying,” Paul Levitz remarked in an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles. “If something didn’t replace the newsstand system, the old comic book business would probably have been extinct by 1984 or 1985, in my opinion. The comic book as it was born in America—cheap, casual purchase, impulsively bought, disposable— lived a life cycle beginning in the 1930s that was pretty clearly ending as we got into the 1980s.”

The Burgeoning Direct Market Fortunately for the comic book industry, it wasn’t married to the newsstand until death did it part. An alternative method of distributing comic

June 17: Jean Grey dies in Uncanny X-Men #137 as the soon-to-benamed “Dark Phoenix Saga” story arc concludes.

JUNE May 22: The arcade game Pac-Man debuts in Japan.

May 21: The Star Wars sequel, Empire Strikes Back, premieres in movie theatres.

February 12: Epic Illustrated – a Marvel Comics magazine modeled after then-popular Heavy Metal, featuring content aimed at a more mature audience – debuts on newsstands.

This means that in 1980 far more copies of Justice League of America were returned than sold. Contrast this to the World War II era when many comic books averaged sell-through rates higher than 60% (Rozanski, “Evolution of the Direct Market: Part I”).

M AY

June: The Comics Code Authority refuses to approve a Roger McKenzie-written/Frank Millerdrawn story intended for Daredevil #167 depicting children using (and addicted to) drugs. “Child’s Play” is shelved until 1982 when it is published in Daredevil #183.

books was already in use: the Direct Market. Comic book art dealer and convention organizer Phil Seuling created the Direct Market in 1972 when he proposed a new distribution system to DC, Marvel, Archie, Harvey and Warren. According to Seuling’s Seagate Distributing arrangement, the comic book publishers agreed to package and ship new comic books directly to retailers that specialized in comic books. In exchange, these books were non-returnable. Under this system, everyone benefited. The publishers wouldn’t have to worry about refunding unsold copies, and the retailers received comic books at a better discount than if they had purchased them through a newsstand wholesaler. Comic book retailers in the 1970s and early 1980s also didn’t consider unsold new comics a burden on them. On the contrary, in those days comic book retailers wanted stock for their back issue bins—the product they offered that the news10

May 20: 710 families in the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, New York evacuate due to toxic chemical contamination.

May 18: In the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history, Mt. Saint Helens erupts in the state of Washington.

May 8: Norman Mingo – longtime Mad magazine cover artist as well as the man who formalized the image of Alfred E. Neuman – dies at the age of 84.

stand didn’t. The very few comic book stores that existed back then had control over the supply of back issues.

But the scarcity of comic book stores at that time testified to the Direct Market’s limited influence. The number of comic book stores operating in the world had grown from 30 in 1974 to 800 in 1979 (Tolworthy), and several other Direct Market distributors, like Pacific Comics and Capital City, emerged to compete with Seagate.

While an impressive expansion, this was still not considerable enough to designate the Direct Market as the apparent cure to the industry’s ailments. As Mile High Comics owner Chuck Rozanski describes the situation, “While the Direct Market comics shops did manage to transfer a great number of fans to themselves that otherwise had been purchasing through newsstand outlets, the harsh reality was that newsstand sales were dropping far faster than the Direct Market was growing” (Rozanski,

September 8: Whitney Ellsworth – DC Comics’ Editorial Director from 1939 to 1953 – dies of a heart attack at the age of 71.

September 15: The television mini-series Shogun, an adaptation of the James Clavell novel of the same name and starring Richard Chamberlain, debuts on NBC.

August 14: Written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez and Romeo Tanghal, the first issue of DC Comics’ New Teen Titans arrives on newsstands after being previewed a month earlier in DC Comics Presents #26.

September 30: Having drawn Daredevil since early 1979, Frank Miller becomes the title’s writer/artist with issue #168, which also introduces the character of Elektra.

December: The second issue of RAW – a black-andwhite anthology comic magazine – features the first installment of Art Spiegelman’s Maus, which would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

November 4: Republican Ronald Reagan – former Hollywood actor and California governor – is elected the 40th President of the United States in a landslide victory over Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter.

December 2: Dazzler #1 – the first comic book that Marvel Comics offers exclusively to the Direct Market – arrives in stores with pre-order sales of 428,000 copies.

December 9: The Roger Stern/ John Byrne collaboration on Captain America ends after nine issues with issue #255.

July 19: The 22nd Olympiad opens in Moscow, Soviet Union. Sixty-one countries, led by the United States, boycott the Summer Olympics as a form of protest against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan which began in December 1979.

J U LY

December 8: John Lennon is assassinated outside his Manhattan apartment by Mark David Chapman.

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

August 19: Written by Doug Moench and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz, the first issue of Marvel Comics’ Moon Knight arrives on newsstands.

August 29: Steve Gerber files a federal lawsuit against Cadence Industries (Marvel Comics’ parent company) over copyright infringement of Howard the Duck, a character over which Gerber claims ownership.

Expediting that test was an anti-trust

lawsuit filed by Irjax Distributing against all the comic book publishers claiming that Seagate had unfairly received better trade terms than any other Direct Market distributor. The publishers recognized that Irjax’s grievance was entirely valid, and rather than lose an expensive court battle, each of them settled with Irjax out of court. Marvel Comics’ management though took the additional steps of creating an internal direct sales department—inaugurally headed by comic book scribe Mike Friedrich— and allowing anyone to become a distributor of Marvel Comics as long as it could purchase at minimum $3000 worth of Marvel books at the wholesale level per month. Because Marvel offered better credit terms than Phil Seuling would, many of Seuling’s accounts left Seagate to accept Marvel’s offer during the summer of 1979. In turn, this initiated the rapid creation of new comic book stores throughout the 1980s… as well as the unanticipat11

DECEMBER December 23: “Dial ‘H’ for Hero”– with super-heroes created by DC Comics’ readers – becomes the new feature for Adventure Comics with issue #479 after being previewed a month earlier in Legion of Super-Heroes #272.

October 9: Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes – DC Comics’ third foray into the mini-series format – debuts on newsstands.

October 4: Thundarr The Barbarian – the creation of Steve Gerber with art design by Alex Toth, Jack Kirby, Mike Ploog, Doug Wildey, and Gil Kane – debuts as a Saturday morning cartoon on the ABC network.

“Evolution of the Direct Market: Part VI”). Jim Shooter though took it upon himself to research how well Marvel titles were selling through Seuling and discovered that Seagate alone accounted for as much as 6% of the sales of certain Marvel titles, like X-Men. What’s more, Shooter learned that the Direct Market supported titles that the newsstand mostly disregarded, like Jack Kirby’s Black Panther and Machine Man, for instance. According to Shooter, “While Jack’s numbers on the newsstands were the lowest, they were far and away the highest in the comics shops… By the time Jack left [Marvel Comics in 1978] his books were selling something like 30,000 copies direct, while other Marvel comics were lucky to be selling 7,000 or 8,000. That’s almost enough to sustain a book exclusively!” (Morrow 28).

All this convinced Shooter of the necessity of testing the Direct Market further.

NOVEMBER

November 21: Viewers learn “Who Shot JR?” in an episode of the popular television show Dallas; the episode draws more viewers than any other show in television history up to that point. (The culprit was revealed to be Kristin.)

December 23: An 80-page celebratory Detective Comics #500 – with contributions from Jim Aparo, Mike W. Barr, Cary Bates, Alan Brennert, José Luis García-López, Walter Gibson, Dick Giordano, Joe Kubert, Paul Levitz, Walter Simonson, Carmine Infantino, Len Wein, and Tom Yeates – arrives on newsstands.

ed plethora of new comic book publishers that offered their titles solely to the Direct Market.

By 1980, a small group of independent and self publishers had already chosen the Direct Market-only route, most notably Dave Sim (Cerebus), Wendy and Richard Pini (Elfquest), and Eclipse Comics, which had been publishing graphic novels for the Direct Market since 1978. Eclipse was scheduled to publish a Fred Hembeck book in 1980 (like it had in 1979) but relinquished the project to new publisher FantaCo—an Albany, New York-based comic book store and mail order business that would go on to publish three new Hembeck books for the Direct Market during the year— Hembeck 1980, Abbott and Costello Meet the Bride of Hembeck, and Bah, Hembeck!—along with a reprint of Eclipse’s Hembeck: The Best of Dateline: @!!?# . In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Hembeck reminisced:

Marvel Comics: Shooter’s Ship But the supremacy of the Direct Market was still more than a few years away.

In 1980, the primary sales venue for comic books was, again, the shrinking space given to it by the newsstand, and this space was dominated

by Marvel Comics, then owned by Cadence Industries. In 1975, Cadence hired paperback publisher Jim Galton to be Marvel’s President with the directive that he make Marvel profitable again. Then in 1978, associate editor Jim Shooter was promoted to become Marvel’s seventh Editor-in-Chief since 1970 (following Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway and Archie Goodwin).

By 1980, at the age of 28, Jim Shooter was already a grizzled comic book industry veteran, having started his career as a 13-year-old in 1965 selling Adventure Comics’ Legion of Super-Heroes stories to DC Comics editor Mort Weisinger. After leaving the comic book industry in 1970 to pursue advertising work back in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Shooter returned to DC Comics in 1975 to once again script Legion of Super-Heroes stories in Superboy. The following year, then Marvel Editorin-Chief Marv Wolfman hired him to be associate editor, Marvel’s secondin-command. Upon arriving at Marvel though, Shooter was struck by how the inmates had taken over the asylum:

The Fred Hembeck drawn cover to The Comics Journal #60 features Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter.

The Comics Journal TM and © Fantagraphics

It was a very exciting time….

Wendy and Richard Pini lived in nearby Poughkeepsie, and our paths crossed constantly in those days, as we were all doing plenty of convention appearances. I ran into Dave Sim as well several times, including at an Ontario convention. There seemed to be an almost esprit de corps between the three (or four) of us at the time. Before us, there was Jack Katz’s First Kingdom and the various Star*Reach titles, but by 1980, the direct market was really gearing up, and we (read: Fantaco) did our best to make the best of

it. In a more crowded marketplace, who knows if my stuff would have made as much of an impression, but being out there virtually alone, alongside only the Pinis and Sim, allowed me to stake out a nice chunk of territory.

Even DC Comics had released one of their books exclusively to the Direct Market in the form of Superboy Spectacular #1 (March 1980), a 64-page one-shot originally intended for elementary schools. Despite being mostly comprised of reprints of Superboy stories from the 1950s and 1960s, Superboy Spectacular #1 was DC’s bestselling title on the Direct Market that month.

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When I became editor at Marvel, it was like running a kindergarten. It was like, “this one’s catterwauling, and that one’s throwing a tantrum,” and they hated it if you told them the simplest things.

Like, “Look, we really have to introduce the characters.”

“Rarrh! Nobody tells me anything!” Stuff like that. It had become normal [for a creator] to be a prima donna. (Cadigan 96) Besides wrestling with obstinate freelancers, Shooter also had to serve under Marvel’s President who, like most everyone else, was convinced that the comic book business was about to perish. Shooter argued with Galton that the reason why comic books weren’t selling well was because they weren’t good (an evalua-

tion that many comic book critics at the time agreed with). Improve the quality of the stories, Shooter contended, and sales will improve.

So when Shooter became Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief in 1978, he set about getting Marvel’s creative house in order by hiring more editors, demanding that books be released on time, forbidding writers from being their own editors, and striving to amass the most talented professionals in the business.

In 1980, Marvel produced books that were edited by Jo Duffy, Archie Goodwin, Louise Jones, Al Milgrom, Denny O’Neil, and Jim Salicrup; written by Chris Claremont, Tom DeFalco, J.M. DeMatteis, Steven Grant, Mark Gruenwald, Roger McKenzie, David Michelinie, Ralph Macchio, Bill Mantlo, Doug Moench, Roger Stern, and Roy Thomas; and drawn by Pat Broderick, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Michael Golden, Bob Layton, Bob McLeod, Frank Miller, Jim Mooney, George Pérez, Don Perlin, John Romita Jr., Bill Sienkiewicz, and Walt Simonson.

At one point in the 1970s, Marvel was publishing 45 titles a month. By 1980, that output had been reduced to less than three dozen titles, the great majority of which featured super-heroes. Amazing Spider-Man was Marvel’s best-seller with monthly sales averaging 296,000 copies, but many of Marvel’s other super-hero titles averaged over 200,000 copies sold per month, including Fantastic Four, Avengers, Marvel Team-Up (featuring Spider-Man), Spectacular Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Savage She-Hulk, the first issue of which was scripted

by Stan Lee.

from her already gamma-irradiated cousin. While publication of the comic book may be seen as an attempt to capitalize on the success of the television show, in actuality, Stan Lee was concerned that the television show producers were going to create their own female version of Hulk that the production company would then own the rights to. Something similar happened a few years earlier when the Bionic Woman character was introduced in a 1975 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, a series based on Martin Caidin’s novel Cyborg. A Bionic Woman spin-off series—owned by Universal Pictures—debuted in 1976.

The She-Hulk comic book protected Marvel Comics against a similar maneuver (DeFalco 197).

CBS had also aired a couple of Captain America specials in 1979. Starring Reb Brown as a motorcycle-riding Sentinel of Liberty, the specials failed to generate enough viewer interest (or network confidence) for the production of more Captain America TV shows. Similarly, Marvel’s Captain America comic book had been struggling for the past few years to hold on to its readership. By summer 1979, the regular Captain America creative team of writer Roger McKenzie and artist Sal Buscema left the title for other projects, forcing editor Roger Stern to petition other creators to provide him with Captain America stories until he could find a suitable

Ostensibly Marvel Comics’ publisher, Stan Lee nonetheless had moved to Los Angeles in 1980 in order to supervise the Hollywood production of Marvel’s properties. One such property was The Incredible Hulk, a highly rated CBS television series, starring Bill Bixby as Dr. David Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk.

The series was in the middle of its third season when Savage She-Hulk #1 (Feb. 1980) was published. The comic book introduces Bruce Banner’s cousin, Jennifer Walters, who could transform herself into a greenskinned behemoth due to an emergency blood transfusion she received 13

Above: 1980-era pictures of Jim Shooter and John Byrne, originally appearing in the pages of The Comics Journal. Below: Stan Lee created the She-Hulk to ensure Marvel Comics had ownership of a female Hulk.

She-Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

long-term creative team.

The problem was solved when Stern stepped down as Marvel editor and was subsequently asked to write Captain America.

John Byrne, looking for another title to draw besides X-Men, asked to come aboard. Beginning with issue #247 (July 1980) then, Stern and Byrne collaborated on a fondly remembered Captain America run that included the introduction of love interest Bernie Rosenthal (issue #248), Cap’s refusal to become a presidential candidate for an independent political party (issue #250), and a celebratory issue commemorating the 40th anniversary of Captain America’s first appearance (issue #255).

Another creator at the start of a definitive run on a title was Frank Miller.

After beginning his comic book career in 1978 with fill-in work on Gold Key’s Twilight Zone, DC Comics’ Weird War Tales, and Marvel’s John Carter, Warlord of Mars, Miller drew a couple of issues of Spectacular Spider-Man and then requested to become the regular artist on Daredevil, a position just vacated by Gene Colan, the long-time Daredevil artist who had returned to the title for a few issues.

Evidently, Marvel knew what kind of talent it had in its stable as in his first issue as Daredevil artist Miller was bombastically introduced to the reader: “From time to time a truly great new artist will explode upon the Marvel scene like a bombshell!

[We] confidently predict newcomer lanky Frank Miller is just such an artist!” (Daredevil #158, May 1979).

By issue #165 (July 1980), Miller was co-writing Daredevil with Roger McKenzie, and soon the two found themselves at the forefront of a controversy. The scheduled story for Daredevil #167 (Nov. 1980) was titled “Child’s Play”; it featured Daredevil and guest star Punisher confronting drug dealers who sold PCP (a.k.a. “Angel Dust”) to children. The story opens with a girl throwing herself out her second story school window and falling to her death because of PCP-induced delusions she was experiencing.

Above: The Comics Code Authority disapproved of this Frank Miller drawn three panel sequence. As a result, the planned story for Daredevil #167 had to be replaced. Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

The Comics Code Authority (CCA), however, refused to approve the story, principally because of a threepanel sequence that presents a boy smoking a drug pipe. The CCA prohibits the depiction of drug use, a policy that made little sense to Frank Miller who complained, “What the code was trying to do was kill a story that has a very strong anti-drug point to it. It’s not like we’re advocating the stuff” (“Comics Code Rejects Daredevil Story”).

Initially, Marvel intended on publishing the issue without the CCA’s seal of approval, which was the course of action Stan Lee and then Marvel 14

publisher Martin Goodman took nine years earlier when the drug use-themed Amazing Spider-Man #96-8 (MayJuly 1971) was published. But on the week Daredevil #167 was set to arrive in stores, Jim Galton decided to shelve the tale and replace it with a David Micheliniewritten/Frank Millerdrawn inventory story.

Jim Shooter proposed to publish “Child’s Play”— and its subsequent conclusion—as a Direct Market exclusive “collector’s album,” but Daredevil editor Denny O’Neil balked at that proposal, claiming the reach of the book’s anti-drug message would be minimized. Eventually, “Child’s Play” was published two years later in Daredevil #183 (June 1982) with the CCA’s approval and a revised three panel marijuana smoking sequence (where the pipe doesn’t actually touch the boy’s mouth). The incident though proved to be a harbinger of the kind of material Daredevil would become renowned for with Frank Miller at its helm… as well as the kind of stance Miller would take on future censorship matters.

Marvel didn’t just publish super-hero books. It remained committed to publishing titles directly tied to movies, television shows or toy lines. The results varied though. The Star Wars comic book sold well (over 255,000 copies sold per month on average during 1980), and Micronauts, Star Trek, and Rom all had respectable sales figures. Both Battlestar Galactica and Shogun Warriors, however, were cancelled by the end of 1980. Marvel also planned Benny Hill and James Bond comic books—the latter to be written

by Cary Bates—until producers for both properties dropped the endeavors.

Also cancelled in 1980 were half of the eight titles reprinting Marvel stories originally published during the Silver Age. Amazing Adventures (X-Men), Fantasy Masterpieces (Silver Surfer/Warlock), Marvel’s Greatest Comics (Fantastic Four), and Tales to Astonish (Sub-Mariner) were all cancelled, leaving Marvel Super

This John Byrne/Terry Austin X-Men illustration appeared in Marvel Comics’ 1981 calendar. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Action (Avengers), Marvel SuperHeroes (Hulk), Marvel Tales (SpiderMan), and Sgt. Fury as the reprint line. The differing story page counts between a comic book published in 1980 and one published in the 1960s/ early 1970s posed a unique problem for these reprint titles. In the opening months of 1980, comic books retailed for $0.40 and contained 17 story pages. DC Comics decided that starting with cover date September, the price of its standard comic books would be raised to $0.50, and the length of its standard comic books would be increased by eight pages. After some initial resistance, Marvel too decided

to raise the price of its titles to $0.50 (also starting in September), but Marvel only added five more story pages.

The page count of stories being reprinted, however, varied between 20 and 24. So Marvel’s reprints either had to abridge the original story by several pages in order to fit their 1980 page limit or spread out the original story over two issues and include additional reprint material to reach their 1980 page limit. For instance, Amazing Adventures #8 (July 1980) reprints the final 11 pages of X-Men #4 (March 1964) and the five page Cyclops/Iceman back-up story from XMen #45 (June 1968), and then adds 15

a new title splash page drawn by Al Milgrom. So while these reprint titles offered material that by 1980 was expensive to acquire on the secondary market, the manner of its presentation was unpalatable to many collectors.

X-Men: The Making Of A Franchise Without a doubt, the one Marvel title that made its mark in 1980 was X-Men, written by Chris Claremont, penciled by John Byrne, and plotted by both. Five years after their introduction in 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1, the “Uncanny” X-Men was barely among Marvel’s top ten best-selling

Paired together, penciller John Byrne and inker Terry Austin became one of X-Men’s (and Marvel Comics’) fan-favorite artistic teams.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

titles. The title’s average monthly sales for 1980 (191,927 copies) put it just above Rom (182,000 copies). But that was about to change—quickly and permanently. The back issue secondary market indicates perhaps just how popular the X-Men became within the span of a year. R.M. Overstreet’s Comic Book Price Guide #10, released in early 1980, listed Giant Size X-Men #1 as being worth $9 in near mint condition. Later in the year though, a Michigan retailer’s advertisement in The Comics Journal #60 (Nov. 1980) sold the same issue for $50.

16

Why were readers of 1980 abuzz about The X-Men? Perhaps it was the artwork of rising star John Byrne, who arrived on the Marvel scene in 1975 and contributed primarily to Iron Fist, Marvel TeamUp, Champions, and Avengers before taking over art duties on X-Men from Dave Cockrum with issue #108 (Dec. 1977). Byrne’s expressive, organic style, in combination with Terry Austin’s meticulous inks and detailed backgrounds, produced an addictive visual grandeur, full of energy and impact.

Perhaps it was how the readers related to the title’s theme.

Nearly every issue of X-Men ran a credit page banner that described the protagonists as “MUTANTS – feared and hated by the world they have sworn to protect. These are the STRANGEST heroes of all!”

Put another way by Marvel editor Roger Stern, the X-Men were—like many of their devoted adolescent readers who weren’t the most popular kids in school—social outsiders who sought to remove themselves from scorn and ridicule by associating with people just like themselves (Cooke 28).

Or perhaps the book’s sudden rise in popularity resulted from the culmination of a year’s worth of issues that would become one of the most celebrated super-hero story arcs in the history of comic books: “The Dark Phoenix Saga” (as it would later be termed). Back then, the X-Men consisted of Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus, with precocious 13-year-old Kitty Pryde—yet another vicarious connection for the adolescent readers—waiting in the wings. For years, one of the book’s ongoing sub-plots was the threat of Phoenix’s awesome power being too much for Jean Grey to control. This calamity came to pass when Mastermind’s elaborate, seductive illusions unhinged Jean Grey’s mind so drastically that she became a remorseless, unrelenting angel of annihilation: the Dark Phoenix (X-Men #134, June 1980). After subduing her mutant colleagues, Dark Phoenix launched herself into space, traversing the cosmos until her appetite for de-

Above: In X-Men #136, the Dark Phoenix is seemingly defeated.

Below: a page from the original (and scrapped) ending to X-Men #137.

X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

struction consumed a star, subsequently obliterating an inhabited world of five billion sentient beings. When she returned to Earth, she was confronted anew by the X-Men, which allowed Professor Xavier to subdue the Phoenix “within an unbreachable network of psionic circuit breakers” (X-Men #136, Aug. 1980). This remedy wasn’t good enough though for the interstellar Sh’iar Empire who abducted the X-Men and demanded that Jean Grey be executed as retribution for the Dark Phoenix’s genocidal actions. The X-Men hoped to save Jean’s life through a duel of honor against the Sh’iar’s super-powered Imperial Guard, but the melee proved one-sided, and not in the X-Men’s favor.

Outnumbered and with fading hope of victory, Cyclops and Jean Grey—the title’s two young lovers—pressed against the Imperial Guard one final time… which unleashed the Phoenix once again. In a poignant scene, Jean Grey, realizing that she will never be able to contain the malevolent Dark Phoenix entity within her, bid Cyclops farewell and killed herself, leaving her lover alone to mourn and a nearby Uatu the Watcher to comment on humanity’s inherent heroism (X-Men #137, Sept. 1980). It’s a heart-wrenching ending…

But one that wasn’t originally intended.

As documented in Marvel’s Phoenix: The Untold Story #1 (Apr. 1984) as well as in many creator interviews since 1980, Claremont and Byrne didn’t intend for Jean to die; instead, they originally planned for her to undergo a “psychic lobotomy” in X-Men #137 that would essentially wipe her mind and permanently rid the threat of Phoenix,

17

to rescue (?!) her and that the story would become a loop.

I said that then he should come up with an ending…

The next morning, Chris stormed into my office and said that there was only one answer—they’d have to kill Phoenix. I said fine.

I don’t think he expected me to say that, since killing characters just wasn’t done in those days. Chris waffled a bit, but then I became insistent! She’s dying. That’s it (Nickerson 9).

Claremont immediately called Byrne to inform him of Shooter’s decision.

The artist was just as nonplussed as Claremont and just as unsuccessful at appealing Shooter’s verdict. The two creators grudgingly crafted the story their boss directed them to tell.

In doing so, Claremont and Byrne accomplished two feats: first, they established themselves as two of the decade’s most significant—and popular—comic book creators; second, they catapulted The X-Men into the upper echelon of comic book publications. Indeed, after the “Dark Phoenix Saga” sales of X-Men increased seemingly exponentially year after year until in 1985 it had attained average monthly sales of 449,870 copies, far and away the industry’s best-selling comic book. Among the comic book success stories of the 1980s, The XMen earns the highest honors as it became transformed from a mostly ignored cult-favorite title to a household-recognized brand of comics within the course of a decade.

This splash page would have appeared in X-Men #138 if not for Jim Shooter mandating that Chris Claremont and John Byrne change their story. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

allowing Jean to remain with the XMen, albeit with a now child-like disposition. However, once Jim Shooter saw the printer’s proofs for X-Men #135—the issue in which Dark Phoenix caused the death of five billion beings—he asked then-X-Men editor Jim Salicrup how the story was going to be resolved. When he learned of what Claremont and Byrne had worked out, Shooter balked, arguing that a character who committed such a heinous crime could not be so easily let off the hook:

I told Chris [Claremont] that the ending proposed in his plot didn’t work. It wasn’t workable with the characters, and in fact was a totally lame cop-out, storywise. I demanded a different ending. Chris— enraged—asked me just what that might be. I suggested that Phoenix be sent to some super-security interstellar prison as punishment for her crimes. Chris said that the XMen would never stop trying 18

By the end of 1980 though, John Byrne wanted no more part of it. Late in the year, he stepped down as X-Men artist, officially claiming he was burned out on the series. What John Byrne was truly burned out on though was collaborating with Chris Claremont as he confessed many years later: I’ve always described [my relationship with Claremont] as being kind of Gilbert and Sullivan, and we ended up splitting up because we argued over the color of the carpet in the theater… The ultimate breakdown, really, was that we could never entirely agree on who those characters

were, just personality-wise.

And one day it suddenly dawned on me that as much as I thought Cyclops was this guy and Storm was this gal and Wolverine was this guy, Chris was writing it his way, which I didn’t agree with, and that was what was seeing print, was the way that Chris was writing it, because he had the last hand. So if I didn’t like Chris’ interpretation of those characters, then I didn’t like the characters, because that was who they were, that was who the fans were liking. And when I hit that wall, I sort of went, “Wow. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t like these characters anymore” (Cooke 33).

one of a handful of double-sized DC books whose sales lagged far behind the rest of the line. With its 496th issue though (November 1980), Detective Comics became a standard comic book again with its $1.00 retail price halved to $0.50.

In 1980, DC Comics was still recovering from the infamous “DC Implosion” of 1978 when in one fell swoop company executives cancelled 30 titles (some of which had not even been released). On a monthly basis in

1980, DC Comics published about two dozen titles of varied genres. DC had Mystery titles (Ghosts, House of Mystery, Secrets of Haunted House), War titles (G.I. Combat, Sgt. Rock, Unknown Soldier), Sword and Sorcery (Warlord), Westerns (Jonah Hex, Weird Western Tales), Sci-Fi (Time Warp, Mystery in Space), and even a Horror/War hybrid (Weird War Tales).

Of DC’s super-hero titles, very few didn’t feature either Superman or Batman. Julius Schwartz, a DC

So Dave Cockrum—the artist who John Byrne replaced in 1978—returned to X-Men (officially re-titled Uncanny X-Men with its 1981 issues), while Byrne asked for and was assigned writing duties on Fantastic Four. Initially, Bill Sienkiewicz was scheduled to remain as the Fantastic Four artist, but when he opted to devote himself exclusively to Moon Knight, that allowed Byrne to become the writer/artist of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” with issue #232 (July 1981). Byrne aspired his work on Fantastic Four to “recapture the power and emotional impact of the Stan [Lee] and Jack [Kirby] years.”

He added, “I’ve always felt [Fantastic Four] should be selling the way the X-Men are. It should be the flagship book” (“John Byrne Leaves X-Men for FF”).

DC Comics: Turning The Page DC Comics’ flagship book, Superman, was that publisher’s best-seller in 1980. The caveat to that distinction is that with sales averaging 178,946 copies per month, Superman was outsold by at least a dozen Marvel titles and its sales had dropped over 25% in a year’s time. (Superman sold 246,276 copies per month on average in 1979.)

The rest of DC’s slate sold between 64,000 and 134,000 copies per month, with Detective Comics at the bottom of the pack with monthly sales averaging 64,635 copies; with each issue retailing for the then-daunting sum of $1.00, Detective Comics was

A 1980 DC Comics house ad promotes both DC’s increased page count and its new back-up features.

TM and © DC Comics

19

established characters like Aquaman (Adventure Comics), Firestorm (Flash), Adam Strange (Green Lantern), Huntress (Wonder Woman), Air Wave, and The Atom (both in Action Comics) to receive new publication life.

Another DC publication of note was Untold Legend of the Batman, a threeissue mini-series recounting the Batman mythos. It was DC’s second foray into the mini-series format with 1979’s three-issue World of Krypton series being its first. Following the example of such successful television mini-series as Roots (1977), the comic book mini-series was an attractive, cost-effective format for DC, especially given their reluctance to authorize any new ongoing monthlies in the wake of their “Implosion.” As such, by late 1980, DC announced more threeissue mini-series for 1981. Besides the already scheduled Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes, DC would release Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, Krypton Chronicles (initially titled Heroes of Krypton), and The Phantom Zone, the latter two series intended as tie-ins to the release of the 1981 Superman II movie. DC’s achievements with its mini-series encouraged other publishers to use the format, and it can be argued that the decade’s most enduring and celebrated comic book publications were conceived and produced as finite series.

Out With The Old, In With The New Teen Titans

First page of the New Teen Titans preview that appeared in DC Comics Presents #26.

Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics

Comics mainstay since 1944, shepherded the Superman line of titles: Action Comics, Superman, DC Comics Presents, New Adventures of Superboy, and Superman Family, along with the tie-in to the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends. Paul Levitz edited the Batman titles—Detective Comics, Batman, and Brave and the Bold—and served as DC’s Editorial Coordinator.

That left Len Wein, Jack C. Harris, and Ross Andru to edit DC’s remaining super-hero titles (along with their other genre assignments): World’s Finest

Comics (still primarily a Superman/ Batman team-up book), Flash, Green Lantern, Legion of Super-Heroes, Wonder Woman, Adventure Comics (featuring Plastic Man and Starman), and Justice League of America.

Other super-heroes received the spotlight though once DC increased the price of its standard comic book to $0.50 starting with its September 1980 releases. The new story page count of 25 meant the addition of a back-up story for most of DC’s titles, and that meant the opportunity for 20

DC’s “Implosion” shell-shock didn’t mean it wouldn’t publish any new ongoing titles, only very few of them.

One of them though became DC’s most popular title for most of the 1980s, even though it featured a cast of characters that had become a bit of a laughing stock by 1980: The Teen Titans. Editor Len Wein explained how he and writer Marv Wolfman went about convincing then-DC Comics publisher Jenette Kahn to approve their proposed series: [Teen Titans was] a book that had not done terribly well creatively in its last couple of incarnations. [Marv Wolfman and I] went into Jenette and said together, “Hi, we have something we’d like to do,” and she said, “Sure! Anything you guys want to do!” and I

said, “We want to bring back the Teen Titans,” and she gave us the “Springtime for Hitler” look. You know, that “What!?”

She said, “The last time we cancelled that book [in 1978], it was making a profit when we cancelled it, one of the few occasions in history that we cancelled a successful book because we were so embarrassed by the creative content. Why in Heaven’s name would you think I would let you revive the book now?” and without missing a beat, Marv and I looked at her and said, “Because we’ll do it right,” and she went, “Oh, okay. Good! Go!” (Cadigan 89) Each a comic book professional since the late 1960s, Wein and Wolfman both left Marvel for DC in 1979. Wein was wooed by the opportunity to write Batman. Wolfman, on the other hand, objected to Shooter’s stipulation that writers couldn’t be their own editors, so he reached out to DC who welcomed him with open arms and assigned him to write Green Lantern, DC Comics Presents, and Brave and the Bold. Wolfman conceived The New Teen Titans in order to get himself out from writing one of the teamup books, whose contrived format he found a chore to write (Cadigan 93-4).

His vision for New Teen Titans was a mixture of established characters (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Changeling—formerly Beast Boy of the Doom Patrol) and new creations (Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven), each with a distinct personality to create a multi-faceted emotional dynamic for the team, and each serving as a catalyst for differing sets of stories.

Wolfman went to Marvel’s offices to recruit George Pérez, who at the time was a freelancer drawing Avengers and had collaborated with Wolfman in 1979 on Fantastic Four Annual #14 and What If? #15. Pérez began his comic book career in 1973 as a 19-year-old assistant to artist Rich Buckler, but it didn’t take long for Pérez to earn his own assignments, and during the ’70s he worked on a variety of Marvel titles, most regularly on Avengers and Fantastic Four.

When Wolfman approached him to be the New Teen Titans artist, Pérez saw it as his stepping stone to Justice

League of America, the one DC title he really wanted to draw (Cadigan 108).

Indeed, Pérez accepted the New Teen Titans assignment with the assumption that he wouldn’t be on it for very long: I thought [New Teen Titans] would be cancelled after six issues…. Realistically, I was doing a new book for DC, and DC’s track record being what it was at the time, I figured the book was going to die. Even if we produced our best work, I didn’t think e n o u g h people were going to take a look at it….

It was a book I did strictly as a favor to Marv and a shot to do one issue of the JLA (Ringgenberg 55).

Since he knew that most of DC’s comic books sold poorly, Marv Wolfman also assumed that New Teen Titans would be cancelled before the end of its first year. But after Wolfman and Pérez had finished the first issue, DC’s brass was so impressed with their work that Jenette Kahn made an unprecedented decision in the hope that it would sufficiently generate reader interest in the new series: she told the creators to produce a 16-page New Teen Titans prelude story that would be inserted as a “Free Preview” into DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980). This preview appeared on stands one month before New Teen Titans #1 debuted. So while the New Teen Titans first officially appeared in DC Comics Presents #26, the preview is actually the second New Teen Titans work produced

by Wolfman and Pérez.

DC’s faith in New Teen Titans was immediately rewarded as the sales figures showed that its first issue sold 21

Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics

Above: Photo of George Pérez and Marv Wolfman that originally appeared in Comics Scene #11. With New Teen Titans, the two created a comic book that would become one of DC Comics’ most popular titles for the duration of the decade. Wolfman and Pérez would also collaborate on other DC best-sellers.

Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics

four times better than most of the titles DC Comics was publishing, and according to Wolfman, while sales dipped for issues #2 through #5, they shot back up with issue #6 and all issues thereafter (Cadigan 96). With New Teen Titans, DC Comics had a commercial and critical sensation on its hands, and one that remained a sensation throughout the decade. As far as why this was so, perhaps Michael F. Hopkins explained it best in a 1984 issue of Amazing Heroes, “The keys to the Titans’ success lay in the balance achieved by its co-creators…

It is a firm balance of the greater

characterization suggested by Marvel in the ’60s; the social issues deeply focused on by Gardner Fox, Don McGregor, and Steve Englehart; and rollicking super-hero action” (43).

New Teen Titans gave DC Comics the shot in the arm it desperately needed by providing it a title whose sales were on par with Marvel’s best-sellers. The work of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez validated DC Comics to its readership. What the two creators would produce in the years ahead though wasn’t just further validation but greater glory for DC Comics.

22

CHRONICLES FLASHBACK: 1980

“Meanwhile, Back In The Caption Boxes...”

Third-Person Omniscient Narrators and Thought Balloons While the norms of comic book narrative changed radically throughout the 1980s, two decades-old comic book story telling devices remained prevalent as the 1980s dawned: third-person omniscient narrators and thought balloons. As they had in the past, both devices often either described actions already clearly conveyed by the artwork or clarified actions that the artwork wasn’t conveying clearly. One page from XMen #139 (publication date August 1980) typifies both. Written by Chris Claremont with artwork by John Byrne and Terry Austin, the issue opens with a scene in the X-Men’s Danger Room. On page 4, Angel and Nightcrawler accidentally collide. In the second panel as Angel watches Nightcrawler fall toward plainly visible flames, he thinks, “Nightcrawler--! I knocked him off his trapeze— right towards that fire pit! He isn’t teleporting to safety; I must have stunned him!” While the artwork makes obvious that Nightcrawler was indeed knocked off his trapeze and is falling toward open flames, the thought balloon informs the reader that Nightcrawler is stunned (and that he has the ability to teleport himself for any new readers unfamiliar with the book’s characters). The next panel shows Wolverine using his claws to tear into the Danger Room’s metal wall, and the panel’s caption box reads, “With unbelievable speed, Wolverine lashes out with the retractable claws that extrude from the backs of his hands. The miracle metal slashes through the room’s omnium steel wall like it was made of paper.”

All the information stated by the narrator can already be discerned from the artwork.

These story telling devices may have been employed specifically for the principal consumers of comic books at the time: adolescents. Since adolescents aren’t experienced readers, many comic book writers may have felt it necessary to use omniscient

explanation on why comic book presentation had changed: “When guys like Frank Miller started doing some innovative things, they started a trend. As is always the case with the comic book business, when one guy does something differently, others see it and follow him. So when Frank Miller began writing in that terse, hard boiled style, other writers began to copy him. When Watchmen came out, everyone else began to write in that gritty style. More than anything, that’s why comic book writers stopped using third-person narrators and thought balloons: something else had caught on. “

Two-panel sequence from X-Men #139.

The X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

narrators and thought balloons to point to aspects of the story that adolescent readers may overlook or not otherwise readily grasp. Essentially, the writers were making sure that their readers understood the story.

However, in an interview conducted for this book, Len Wein disavowed that premise and instead stressed that these story telling devices “were traditional in the style of the comic book” and that comic book writers of the early 1980s used them primarily because of their familiarity with them growing up as comic book readers during the 1960s.

As the 1980s progressed though, many comic book writers abandoned third-person narrators and thought balloons in favor of first-person narrative captions or a dialogue-only style. For American Comic Book Chronicles, Jim Shooter offered his 23

Len Wein offered a different explanation, “This is a total supposition on my part, but I think in the late 1980s the younger comic book writers were trying to emulate the narration styles they were seeing on television and in film. With few exceptions, television shows and movies do not have omniscient narrators. So these comic book writers were trying to make comics more like TV and less like comics, which I always thought was a mistake because if you want something that’s like TV, you watch TV. There is nothing like comics but comics. But if you try to make comics a different medium, you lose what’s special and unique to the comic book format.”

1981 The

Roy Thomas Renaissance,

Royalties,

and The

Return of the King

January 20, 1981 marked the end of a crisis as Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage since November 4, 1979.

It was the end of a 444-day ordeal that simultaneously dismayed and united the American people. It sparked a resurgence of American patriotism as well as partly contributed to Jimmy Carter’s defeat in the November 1980 Presidential election.

January 20, 1981 also marked the beginning of a new American era as Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States. In his inaugural address, Reagan outlined his remedies for the economic maladies America was suffering. In doing so, he declared, “We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding—we are going to begin to act, beginning today.”

By January 1981, DC and Marvel Comics had both already begun to act in order to preserve their tomorrows. Executives from both publishers recognized that the newsstand— comic books’ primary sales venue since the 1930s—could no longer sustain the comic book industry. An economically viable alternative was required, and scrutiny was turned to the Direct Market. But to embrace the Direct Market, the publishers needed proof that it could be relied upon to generate far more revenue than it had up to this point.

For Marvel, that proof came in the form of the first book they sold exclusively through the Direct Market: Dazzler #1 (March 1981).

CHAPTER TWO

The Dazzler makes her debut in these panels from X-Men #130.

Dazzler TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

by Keith Dallas 24

Dazzling The Direct Market The Dazzler was a disco music-themed super-heroine Marvel Comics had been tinkering with for three years. She was originally conceived in 1978 as “The Disco Queen” for a multi-media cross-promotion proposed by Casablanca Records. Artist John Romita Jr. even modeled the character after Jamaican-American singer Grace Jones.

When Casablanca elevated Jim Shooter’s treatment for an animated special into a featurelength film project, the endeavor seemed destined for greatness. Financial concerns, however, forced the record label to bow out of the undertaking completely. Despite this, the film project moved forward, even having its name changed from “The Disco Queen” to “The Dazzler”—courtesy of writer Roger Stern. “The Dazzler” eventually became attached to 10 It-Girl Bo Derek—which meant the character’s physical features had to be changed to resemble the blonde actress. However, Bo Derek ultimately passed on the project when the film company refused to let her husband—John Derek—direct the film, and Marvel was left searching for new film partners. Dazzler’s official first appearance in a Marvel comic book came in X-Men #130 (Feb. 1980), but according to Dazzler writer Tom DeFalco, the long-planned publication of the character’s own title was cancelled five or six times because of all the Hollywood false starts (as quoted in Cronin).

So Dazzler could accurately be categorized as “stuck in limbo,” never mind the fact that the character was tied to a form of music whose popularity was waning quickly. Nevertheless, Jim Shooter saw Dazzler as the perfect candidate for Marvel’s first Direct Market-exclusive book. Shooter set out to prove to Marvel’s upper management that the Direct Market could support Marvel titles on its own, but at the same time he was concerned about upsetting the newsstand consumers. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Shooter explained that the reason he didn’t want an issue of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thor, or any other established Marvel title to be sold exclusively to the Direct Market was because those titles already had acquired a devoted newsstand audience. Since they didn’t patronize comic book stores, newsstand readers wouldn’t take kindly to the prospect of one of their favorite Marvel titles being distributed solely to an outlet they didn’t frequent (or possibly didn’t even know existed considering how few Direct Market stores existed in 1981). Dazzler, however, was a new character, albeit one that Marvel had been developing over the past few years. If such an untested character as the Dazzler could sell well on the Direct Market, Shooter would prove his point to his superiors while simultaneously avoid incurring the wrath of the newsstand audience.

Dazzler #1 was the first comic book that Marvel sold exclusively through Direct Market stores.

Dazzler TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

newsstand (DeFalco 200). By any measure, it was a tremendous success, but Shooter wasn’t surprised as he believes the comic book retailers simply showed their eagerness to sell a Marvel product given exclusively to them: “I think the comic book store owners felt, ‘Hey, we alone are getting this comic book. We’re not competing with the newsstand.

People have to come to my shop to get this book.’”

While Shooter’s ploy did indeed avert widespread newsstand reader outrage, some were nonetheless still put off by the Direct Market-exclusive release, and others saw Dazzler #1 as a harbinger of a future where comic books disappeared altogether from the newsstand. In the pages of their favorite fanzines, they voiced their concerns. Mike Friedrich—then head of Marvel Comics’ Direct Sales department—wrote to The Comic Reader to assuage its readers’ fears by emphasizing the Direct Market’s potentially massive expansion:

When Marvel Comics solicited Dazzler #1 solely to the Direct Market, the comic book store retailers rewarded the publisher with total orders of 428,000 copies, almost double the number of copies most Marvel titles sold on the 25

1981 TIMELINE

April 21: John Byrne begins his five-year stint as the writer/artist on Fantastic Four with issue #232.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 8: Fourteen years after relinquishing art duties on The Flash in order to become DC Comics’ editorial director, artist Carmine Infantino returns to the title with issue #296.

March: After a dispute with Marvel’s editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, artist Gene Colan leaves Marvel for DC Comics.

January 20: Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States; the same day 52 American diplomats who had been held hostage in Iran for 444 consecutive days are freed.

JANUARY

April 23: DC Comics’ Madame Xanadu one-shot – a Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers collaboration originally intended for the cancelled Doorway into Nightmare – arrives exclusively to the Direct Market where it sells over 100,000 copies.

March 30: Outside the Washington D.C. Hilton hotel, John W. Hinkley Jr. shoots and wounds President Ronald Reagan and three others.

Claiming he was attempting to impress actress Jodie Foster, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity at his 1982 trial.

Consequently, many states rewrite their laws regarding the insanity defense.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

April 12: After many delays, the first space shuttle, Columbia, makes its maiden voyage when it launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

April 24: IBM introduces its Personal Computer with an operating system designed

by Microsoft and microprocessor circuitry manufactured

by Intel.

APRIL

March 18: The Greatest American Hero – starring William Katt as a school teacher who is given a super-powered suit by an alien race to help him save the world – premieres on ABC-TV.

April 14: Marvel Treasury Edition #28 is a joint Marvel/DC publication teaming Superman and Spider-Man against Doctor Doom and The Parasite in a 68-page oversized book written by Jim Shooter and Marv Wolfman with art by John Buscema.

You express a very valid concern about the future of comics if the comics publishers “restrict” themselves to specialty shop sales. However, I feel you needn’t worry too much… We are trying at Marvel to reach the widest number of people with our comics. Our enthusiasm for the Direct Sales program comes precisely because we believe these wholesalers are creating new business for us, first by servicing the specialty shops, and second, by reaching out and bringing their expertise to other outlets and thereby help them sell comics to more people.

Dazzler TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

June 4: DC Comics launches The Krypton Chronicles and Arak, Son of Thunder, the latter created and written by Roy Thomas. Another Thomas creation, All-Star Squadron, debuts June 18.

M AY

June 5: The Centers for Disease Control publishes the first report of a mysterious outbreak of a sometimes fatal pneumonia among gay men. Originally called “gay related immune deficiency” (GRID), the syndrome is re-named Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1982.

JUNE

May 25: Wearing a Spider-Man costume, Daniel Goodwin scales Chicago’s Sears Tower – then the tallest building in the world – in seven and a half hours.

Batman and Superman TM and © DC Comics. Fantastic Four, Hulk, Marvel Fanfare, Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers TM and © Jack Kirby estate. MTV TM and © Viacom Media Networks.

John Romita Jr.’s original design for Dazzler was modeled after Jamaican-American singer Grace Jones.

June: Mike Gustovich’s Justice Machine debuts on the Direct Market as a magazine-sized comic book.

April 24: Veteran comic book artist Howard Purcell dies of complications from emphysema. He drew the first adventures of Golden Age heroes like Sargon the Sorcerer and Johnny Peril and contributed to Marvel and DC into the 1960s and early 1970s.

February 13: DC Comics president Sol Harrison retires. Publisher Jenette Kahn becomes DC’s president as well as its editor-in-chief. Joe Orlando becomes DC’s vice president-editorial director.

February: Writer Michael Fleisher files a $2 million lawsuit against Harlan Ellison, The Comics Journal, and its editor Gary Groth for published statements Fleisher perceives to be libelous. (When the matter is decided in court in 1986, Ellison and Groth prevail.)

June: Amazing Heroes – a Fantagraphics magazine featuring comic book industry news, interviews, reviews and articles – debuts.

Only the first issue of Dazzler was offered exclusively to the Direct Market.

Subsequent issues could be bought at the newsstand. With the success of Dazzler #1, however, the Direct Market had passed Marvel’s viability test, 26

May: Cerebus #26 – which begins the two year long “High Society” story arc – arrives in stores.

June 19: Superman II – with Christopher Reeve reprising his role as the Man of Steel – opens in movie theaters; the film grosses $24 million in its first week of release, a record at the time.

June 12: George Lucas’ Raiders of the Lost Ark – directed

by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones – opens in movie theaters. It grosses more money at the box office than any other film released during the year.

effectively giving Jim Shooter the green light to make more titles Direct Market exclusives. Late in 1981, Micronauts, Ka-Zar, and Moon Knight became those titles, principally because, according to Shooter, they sold well at the Direct Market but not at the newsstand. Removing these titles from the newsstand saved them from cancellation.

Moon Knight, though, was one of Marvel’s six titles that sold on average over 200,000 copies per month in 1981. The others were Dazzler, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Star Wars, and Uncanny X-Men. Average monthly sales for nearly every Marvel title dropped from the previous year (Uncanny X-Men was a notable exception), and therefore total publishing sales dropped from 1980 to 1981 (Tolworthy). This was partly due to—again—the declining newsstand market, but Marvel also published fewer comic books in 1981 compared to 1980. That’s because in January

September 1: DC Comics’ Production Manager Jack Adler retires to be replaced by Bob Rozakis who will serve in that capacity until 1998.

July: Distributor Pacific Comics launches into the comic book publishing business with Jack Kirby’s Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, selling 70,000 copies in Direct Market stores.

September 12: The Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends Saturday morning cartoon debuts on NBC network.

September 24: DC Special Series #27 is a joint DC/Marvel publication teaming Batman and The Hulk against The Joker and the Shaper of the Worlds in a 68 page oversized book written by Len Wein with art by José Luis GarcíaLópez and Dick Giordano.

July 19: Mike Grell becomes writer-artist on the Tarzan Sunday comic strip.

July 29: Britain’s Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London; 700 million worldwide television viewers watch the wedding.

J U LY

AUGUST

August 1: MTV, a 24 hour a day cable network channel devoted to music video, launches at 12:01AM with the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”.

August 12: Under direct orders from President Reagan, U.S. fighter jets attack targets in Libya.

Seven days later, in a dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra, two U.S. Navy F-14s shoot down two Soviet-built Libyan jet fighters that had attacked a U.S. aircraft carrier.

1981, Jim Shooter concluded his editors were “horribly overworked.” To relieve this, Shooter cancelled several titles over the course of the year, specifically Man-Thing, Marvel Premiere, Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Super Action, Sgt. Fury, the Children’s Television Workshop tie-in Spidey Super Stories, and Star Trek, a series that was doomed to fail before its launch, as Shooter explained in an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles: We got screwed six ways to Sunday on Star Trek. We wanted from Paramount all of Star Trek: the motion picture, the 1960s television series, everything. But what we got was only the motion picture. Once we already committed to all these publishing plans, we were told we couldn’t do what people wanted: the television series. We got the lame first movie. Not only

October 18: Responding to a reporter’s question, President Reagan acknowledges for the first time that the United States is in an economic recession.

Five days later, the U.S. national debt reaches $1 trillion.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

October: Beginning this month, the retail price for a standard DC or Marvel comic book increases to $0.60.

October: Marvel Comics’ Ka-Zar The Savage and Moon Knight are now sold exclusively to the Direct Market; Micronauts joins them the following month.

October: Eclipse Comics publishes Jim Starlin’s The Price – a blackand-white graphic novel continuing the “Metamorphosis Odyssey” story arc started in Marvel’s Epic Illustrated.

November: DC Comics announces that retroactive to its July 1981 releases it will pay royalties to its writers and artists working on comic books that sell over 100,000 copies per issue.

December 1: Russ Manning, best known for his work on Magnus, Robot Fighter and Tarzan (both the comic book and comic strip) dies of cancer at the age of 52.

November 2: Award winning comic book writer-artist Wallace Allan (“Wally”) Wood commits suicide at the age of 54.

November 18: Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham – whose 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent indicted the comic book industry for corrupting America’s youth leading to a U.S. Congressional hearing on the matter as well as the creation of the Comics Code Authority – dies at the age of 86.

NOVEMBER

November 24: As of this date, DC Comics and Marvel Comics jointly own the trademark to the term “super-hero”.

November 24: Comic book distributor Capital City becomes a comic book publisher when the first black-and-white, magazine-sized issue of Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus arrives in Direct Market stores.

December 3: DC’s Justice League of America celebrates its 200th issue with a 72-page story written by Gerry Conway with art contributions from George Perez, Jim Aparo, Brian Bolland, Pat Broderick, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, and Joe Kubert.

December 8: The first issue of Marvel Fanfare – a Marvel Comics bi-monthly anthology book printed on magazine style slick paper and retailing for $1.25 – debuts exclusively in Direct Market stores.

DECEMBER December 17: Keith Giffen begins his decades-long association with DC Comics’ super teens from the future with Legion of Super-Heroes #285.

December 22: Marvel Comics announces it will begin paying royalties to creators, writers and artists working on books that sell over 100,000 copies per issue.

December 24: The first issue of DC Comics’ Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew – featuring the sentient animal super-heroes of “Earth-C” – arrives on newsstands.

did people not want to buy anything associated with just the Star Trek movie, my creators didn’t want to work on the comic book series!

I couldn’t get anybody to pay attention to the damn thing! So that was a disaster, but it was a disaster that was foisted upon us. If we had gotten what we thought we were originally going to get, I think that would have worked out fine. It wouldn’t have been Star Wars, but I think it would have been a success.

In January 1981, Shooter also tried to aid Marvel’s exhausted editors by hiring David Anthony Kraft and Lynn Graeme as “interim editors.”

By February though, Graeme and Jo Duffy were out as editors (Duffy would continue working for Marvel as a freelance writer), and Tom DeFalco was added to the existing 27

In this 1981 house ad Marvel Comics informs its readers that three of its titles will be available only at comic book stores.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

ecutives that the publication of more movie adaptations would be lucrative. Jim Shooter didn’t agree with the reasoning though as he considered Star Wars a “once in a lifetime deal.”

Nonetheless, he was under orders by his superiors to do more. So in 1981 Marvel published adaptations of the new James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (written by Larry Hama with art

by Howard Chaykin and Vince Colletta), the medieval fantasy Dragonslayer (written by Denny O’Neil with art by Marie Severin), and the George Lucas-Steven Spielberg blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark (written by Walt Simonson with art by John Buscema and Klaus Janson). Months before Raiders was released in theaters, Shooter had read the film’s script and was so unimpressed with it that he staff of Louise Jones, Al Milgrom, Denny O’Neil, and Jim Salicrup.

Marvel Comics Goes Hollywood Despite all its title cancellations and editorial turbulence, Marvel could hardly be categorized as a company on the decline. In fact, they were branching out to other media. In 1981, Marvel purchased Depatie-Freleng Enterprises animation studio, which they renamed Marvel Productions and put to immediate use by creating two Spider-Man animated series. The more popular of the two was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which debuted as a Saturday morning cartoon on the NBC television network on September 12, 1981. The cartoon had the friendliest neighborhood web-slinger fighting alongside former X-Man Iceman and a new heroine created just for the series, Firestar. The animated series guest starred heroes and villains easily recognized by devoted Marvel Comics readers: the Green Goblin, Doctor Doom, Thor, and Captain America, among many others.

In her civilian identity, Firestar even resembled long-time Spider-Man love interest Mary Jane Watson. All in all, the cartoon attempted to adapt the Marvel comic book universe to the small screen.

Back in New York, Jim Shooter was stuck with the task of adapting several motion pictures into Marvel comic books. The success of the Star Wars comic book convinced Marvel’s ex-

Top: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends concept art by John Romita.

Above: Panels from Marvel Comics’ adaptation of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Star Wars TM and © Lucasfilm.

28

actually turned down the proposed comic book adaptation: “I thought the movie was The Perils of Pauline and then God comes down and saves the hero at the end.” But Lucasfilm was so pleased with Marvel’s work on the Star Wars comic book that they sent representatives to New York to show Shooter a 25-minute segment of Raiders of the Lost Ark. That was enough to amaze Shooter thoroughly, and the comic book adaptation was a go once again.

These 1981 movie adaptations are notable in that they were Marvel’s first use of the mini-series format (soon to be dubbed “limited series” by Marvel).

Prior to 1981, Marvel published movie adaptations as one-shot Marvel Super Special magazines (like 1979’s Meteor or 1980’s Xanadu) or as ongoing titles (e.g., Star Wars, Star Trek). In 1981 though, Marvel’s three movie adaptations were published as limited series and one-shot Marvel Super Specials.

One might surmise that Shooter was testing the viability of the limited series format with these adaptations, but by this time Shooter was already convinced the format could succeed.

As he explained in an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, he had little opportunity to use the format prior to 1981, and his principal reason for its use for these movie adaptations was as “a defense against getting trapped into an ongoing series which then would have to be cancelled right away.”

Frank Miller makes his mark on Marvel Comics’ Man Without Fear.

Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Miller Time One ongoing series Jim Shooter wasn’t going to cancel in 1981 was Daredevil, even though it was one of Marvel’s lowest selling books. Truth be told, since its debut in 1964, Daredevil was never one of Marvel’s best-sellers, and its sales had decreased every year throughout the 1970s. But with its January 1981 issue (Daredevil #168), 23-year-old Frank Miller, already the title’s artist, became its writer as well, 29

and within two years he would make Daredevil Marvel’s second best-selling book, outperformed only by Uncanny X-Men. What many readers and critics recognized was that Daredevil was in the hands of a bonafide auteur. Or as Jim Shooter put it in Marvel’s February 1982 “Bullpen Bulletins”: “Frank Miller is good… real good… too good.”

Frank Miller was a storyteller like no other, and Daredevil became a super-

hero comic book like no other. Foremost, it was violent, far more violent than the other early 1980s newsstand comic books. Characters were shot, stabbed, impaled, maimed and thoroughly bludgeoned. Indeed, in an early 1982 Comics Journal interview, Miller asserted that violence was the book’s theme (Decker 76).

But Miller’s depiction of violence never relied on gore, and not just because the Comics Code Authority wouldn’t allow it. Miller’s art style was simultaneously naturalistic and e x p r e s sionistic. Miller’s figures had realistic poses and proportions, but they often inhabited surreal environments: rooms that seemed to extend to infinity, jail cells with barred ceilings and floors. The characters performed actions in extreme shadows or brightness, ably manipulated for effect by colorist Glynis Wein and inker Klaus Janson (who in 1982 assumed colorist duties as well). The result was a title that was part noir, part martial arts super-hero fantasy, and part abstract portrait of New York City.

In many ways then, Daredevil didn’t fit within Marvel’s existing publishing line. Miller fashioned a fictional universe practically disassociated from Marvel’s other titles. Daredevil didn’t team-up with The Avengers or Spider-Man, and he didn’t square off against Dr. Doom or the Red Skull. Instead, the protagonist’s world seemed self-enclosed, inhabited by the insane mercenary Bullseye, Daily Bugle investigative reporter Ben Urich, The Punisher, The Black Widow, smalltime loser Turk Barrett, martial arts master Stick, the mystical ninja organization known as The Hand, criminal mastermind Kingpin and his sai-wielding assassin Elektra.

Introduced in Miller’s first issue as Daredevil writer, Elektra quickly

became one of Marvel’s most popular supporting characters. Miller established the back-story of Elektra and Matt Murdock as college lovers, until the death of her father caused her to leave Matt’s side. In Japan, The Hand trained her to be an assassin, so when she returned to Matt’s life, she was his thematic foil. As a result of his father’s murder, Matt Murdock devoted his life to promoting law and order. As a result of her father’s death, Elektra lost faith in the world and instead dedicated herself to lawlessness and cold-blooded violence. In principles, motives, and actions, Daredevil and Elektra opposed each other, and the conflict between them would reach a tragic resolution in 1982.

In the first issue of Daredevil that he both wrote and drew, Frank Miller introduced Daredevil’s thematic foil, Elektra.

Daredevil and Elektra TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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On the way to that resolution, however, Frank Miller sought to innovate how he narrated Daredevil. At the start of his Daredevil writing tenure, Miller used the traditional comic book story telling devices of thought balloons and third-person omniscient narrator captions. He felt though that “there are far too many words in most comic books” (Decker 78), and after studying Japanese samurai comics— which Miller assessed as being totally reliant on their visual images to tell their stories—he decided to conduct an exercise: write and draw a story without any thought balloons or captions. That exercise was published as a 10-page black-and-white Elektra story in Bizarre Adventures #28 (Oct. 1981). In the coming months, Miller steadily made Daredevil more concise by reducing his use of thought balloons and captions. He also began substituting first-person narrators for third-person omniscient ones. What aided Miller’s narrative experimentation was the fact that he encountered little editorial opposition. Jim Shooter

For a story published in Bizarre Adventures #28 that featured Elektra, Frank Miller deliberately avoided using captions and thought balloons.

and Daredevil editor Denny O’Neil pretty much left Miller alone to his own endeavors.

Shooter-Induced Headaches Other Marvel creators didn’t enjoy that luxury, chief among them Roger Stern and John Byrne at the end of their tenure on Captain America. Years after the fact, John Byrne explained how an editorial edict ended his and Stern’s brief collaboration on the title: Shooter woke up one morning and decided that [Marvel] should only do one-part stories. And the thing about Shooter, in those days, all of his ideas were retroactive.

He would come in on a Monday morning and say, “Why aren’t you doing this? I just had this idea, why isn’t it already in place?” So Roger and I had already started part one of a three-part story—Cap and Red Skull. And [editor] Jim Salicrup calls me up and says, “This has to be a onepart story.” And then Roger’s calling me saying, “They say it’s gotta be a one-part story.”

It’s a three-part story, we plotted it. All of a sudden, Shooter wants nothing but one-part stories. And that was something that went away, that was his thing of the moment.

Roger just said, “No, I refuse to compromise my artistic integrity. This is a three-part story. We will be happy to do

one-part stories from then on, but this is a three-part story.”

“No, this has to be a one-part.”

So Roger quit. (Cooke 41) With Stern gone, Salicrup offered the Captain America writing duties to Byrne. At the end of his run on XMen and already assigned to write and draw Fantastic Four, Byrne didn’t 31

feel comfortable accepting the assignment. For one, he didn’t feel a Canadian should be the writer of a comic book about an American icon, but he also didn’t want to undermine Stern’s reasons for resigning. So Byrne turned down the offer and quit drawing Captain America too (Cooke 42).

Top: John Byrne-drawn spread page from Captain America #255, the final issue of Byrne and Roger Stern’s collaboration on the title.

Above: A 1982 photo of John Byrne at the drawing table, from Comics Scene #2.

Captain America TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Gene Colan, on the other hand, decided to quit Marvel altogether rather than continue working under Jim Shooter. A professional comic book artist since 1944, Colan had been drawing for Marvel Comics for the past 16 years, producing lengthy, memorable runs on Tales of Suspense, Daredevil, Captain America, Tomb of Dracula, and Howard the Duck. Jim Shooter, though, felt that the quality of Colan’s artwork had diminished.

His assumption was that the artist had become more focused on drawing pages quickly than drawing them to the best of his ability. Consequently, Shooter began to demand that Colan redraw pages that didn’t meet his approval. That didn’t sit well with Colan, and the two even had a heated argument in 1979 over Colan’s refusal to redraw pages for the second issue of the Howard the Duck magazine (“Gene Colan Leaves Marvel” 11). After Stan Lee intervened to reconcile the two men, Shooter proposed a compromise: whenever Shooter obligated Colan to redraw pages, Mar32

vel would monetarily compensate the artist beyond his usual page rate.

Colan agreed to the arrangement, but by 1981 he found Shooter’s revision stipulations too burdensome, especially since the two were now paired together on Avengers. After reaching out to DC Comics and learning they would be willing to hire him, Colan told Marvel Comics President Jim Galton that he would continue to work for Marvel only if Shooter no longer required him to revise his artwork.

Galton had no desire to arbitrate the dispute, so he passed the matter back to Shooter who teamed up with Marvel’s Vice President of Publishing Michael Hobson to patch up matters with Colan.

The two sides found themselves at an impasse: Colan wanted artistic carte blanche, but Shooter refused to capitulate. So in March 1981 Colan left Marvel by signing a three-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. He was promptly assigned to draw Batman.

When asked by The Comics Journal to

explain Colan’s defection, Shooter offered, “Since I’ve been in charge, Gene and I have been having discussions over what I feel Marvel’s approach to storytelling should be and that proved to be something that Gene just couldn’t handle. He had his way that he had developed and I guess he’s very committed to it. He’s a very nice man, I like him very much, he’s a hell of an artist—but that does not meet my requirements” (11). This provoked Paul Levitz to remark wryly, “If Gene Colan is being positioned as having been rejected from Marvel Comics, we can only say we dearly hope Marvel will continue to reject all their talents of comparable stature” (12). For his part, Gene Colan declined to elaborate the reasons for his departure. Instead he gushed about his new employer, complimenting DC Comics’ professionalism and labeling it “a completely new organization” (12).

More New Changes from the New DC

business affairs.

One of the most definitive indications of a “New DC Comics” was the February 13, 1981 retirement of its president, Sol Harrison—a man who worked for DC Comics for 38 years, having served, in order, as its production manager, vice president of operations, and finally its president since 1976. His departure prompted a slew of executive level changes for DC Comics over the course of the year. Jenette Kahn, DC’s publisher since 1976, was now its publisher and president. As DC’s new vice president-editorial director, Joe Orlando coordinated all of DC’s creative efforts while former assistant editor—and “Ask The Answer Man” columnist—Bob Rozakis now headed DC’s production department.

Karen Berger filled the editorial coordinator position vacated by Paul Levitz when he became DC’s manager of

With his promotion, Levitz eventually relinquished the editing of the Batman titles to DC’s new managing editor Dick Giordano. One of the final issues of Levitz’s editorial tenure was Detective Comics #500 (March 1981), an 80-page celebratory issue containing seven stories, the principal of which featured Batman and Robin journeying to a parallel Earth to prevent history from repeating itself: they succeed in stopping the Crime Alley murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, saving that Earth’s Bruce Wayne from becoming an orphan (but not necessarily from becoming that Earth’s Batman). Contributors to the issue included Jim Aparo, Alan Brennert, Dick Giordano, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, Walter Simonson, Len Wein, and Walter Gibson, the creator of

Many artists contributed to this cover to Detective Comics #500. Among them was production staffer Bob LeRose who signed the cover, the only time DC Comics allowed someone from its production department to do so. All depicted characters TM and © DC Comics.

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dynamically progressive era for DC Comics. In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Paul Levitz described 1981 as a time of “an enormous amount of exciting change going on.” The crux of that change was DC’s decision to innovate its sales approach. It was in 1981 that DC created its own Direct Sales department, hiring Paul Kupperberg to handle the creative end of Direct Sales marketing (e.g., press releases, solicitation copy, poster designs, et al.). Throughout the year, Levitz met with Leon Knize, a distribution consultant loaned to DC by parent company Warner Communications. After thoroughly analyzing distribution data and interviewing numerous wholesalers and comic shop retailers, Knize confirmed many of the executives’ instinct that DC Comics should dedicate its sales efforts to the growing Direct Market.

Levitz explains, “We spent an intense six to eight months working with the consultant. He assisted us in building new sales terms and new sales techniques that could work for that market. We did an off-site for the entire staff where we introduced them to the concept of marketing that we were going to be making a part of our conversations.”

A 1981 house ad promotes the titles offered by DC Comics.

All depicted characters TM and © DC Comics.

fabled pulp hero, The Shadow.

Detective Comics #500’s wrap around cover is one of the most unique in DC Comics’ history. Besides being an artistic “jam”—where each of the issue’s interior artists drew a different character—the cover also displays many other Detective Comics covers from years’ past. This cover montage was produced by DC production staffer Bob LeRose who—in those pre-desktop computer publishing days—used

a time-consuming hand mechanical process to shape and photograph the various covers in varied angles and positions. LeRose’s efforts were so admired that according to Levitz, it was the only time DC Comics allowed a production staffer to sign his name on a comic book cover.

But Paul Levitz was now removed from monthly editorial endeavors, and his promotion—along with all the other management changes—augured a 34

And like Marvel Comics did several months earlier, DC Comics released its own Direct Market exclusive comic book in the form of Madame Xanadu #1 (June 1981). Priced at a dollar, Madame Xanadu #1 cost double the standard comic book while offering 32 story pages with no ads instead of the typical 25 story pages with ads.

According to The Comic Reader, the Direct Market bought 100,000 copies (“DC News”). While not as impressive as the orders for Dazzler #1, the total sales—combined with the issue’s higher retail price point—showed DC where their future sales efforts should be focused.

DC made clear to Direct Market consumers that Madame Xanadu was a comic book intended solely for them with the cover tag declaration “Special Collectors’ Only Edition!” What’s more, the cover also advertised the issue’s creators: writer Steve Englehart and artists Marshall Rogers and Brian Bolland. Prior to 1981, only such comic industry luminaries as Jack Kirby or Stan Lee were heralded on DC or Marvel comic book covers. That trend

changed with Detective Comics #500 and its cover that listed all of its contributors. For Madame Xanadu, DC calculated that collectors—more so than newsstand consumers—were better aware of the professionals working in the comic book industry and would purchase a comic book based on their admiration of certain professionals. Englehart and Rogers had achieved a fan following in 19778 during a distinguished collaboration on Detective Comics. Their lead story in Madame Xanadu #1 was actually produced during their Detective Comics run and originally intended for Doorway to Nightmare, a series featuring the mystical Tarot reader Madame Xanadu that ran for five issues before being cancelled in 1978. (The J.M. DeMatteis/Brian Bolland backup story for Madame Xanadu #1, incidentally, was originally intended for Mystery In Space, a series which had been cancelled by cover date March 1981.) With its insinuations of drug abuse and sexual activities, the Englehart/Rogers Madame Xanadu story was likely too “mature” for a Comics Code Authorityapproved newsstand release, making it more suitable for a Direct Market exclusive release.

CCA’s seal of approval does not appear on the issue’s cover nor does a warning about the issue’s content.

No longer writing for DC Comics by 1981, Steve Englehart received no forewarning that his three-yearold story was being dusted off for Madame Xanadu #1. He was mostly puzzled though that the comic book was billed as a “Fabulous First Issue” considering that the story he and Rogers produced was self-contained. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Englehart described how he related his surprise to DC Comics and was in turn encouraged to create

two more stories for Madame Xanadu: “So I did. The editor promised me a certain page rate, and when I came to turn the new stories in, he reneged, so I took those stories and walked out, with no hope of making any money at all off them, since they featured a DC character.” DC Comics didn’t publish a

DC Comics released Madame Xanadu #1 exclusively to comic book stores.

Madame Xanadu TM and © DC Comics.

subsequent issue of Madame Xanadu until 2008. Steve Englehart, on the other hand, held on to the new material he created for the series and didn’t take as long to find some use for it.

While Steve Englehart had no plans to return to DC Comics any time soon, one creator returning to its fold was its former publisher and president Carmine Infantino. Working as a pro35

fessional comic book artist since the mid-1940s, Infantino designed and drew some of DC Comics’ most successful properties in the 1950s and 60s, most notably the “New Look” Batman and the Silver Age Flash. Indeed, Infantino’s uninterrupted artistic run on The Flash lasted from 1959 until 1967. It was then that he became DC’s art director and after a series of promotions, Infantino had full run of DC by 1971. But a dispute occurred between Infantino and Warner executives in 1976 over DC’s financial losses the previous year. The end result was Infantino’s acrimonious departure, leaving him a freelance artist again, drawing for Warren Publishing, Hanna-Barbera animation studios, and Marvel Comics from 1976 to 1980. As Infantino explains in his autobiography, the man responsible for bringing him back to DC Comics less than five years after his exodus was his good friend Joe Orlando: “[As DC’s editorial director, Joe] called me regularly and tried often to get me to return to The Flash. I’d given DC my all, and was very hesitant to return. But Joe was relentless, assuring me I’d only be dealing with him. Ultimately, because of our close personal relationship, I caved in and accepted” (141). Infantino drew an Adam Strange story for Green Lantern #137 (Feb. 1981) and a Deadman/Batman team-up for the aforementioned Detective Comics #500. He then got paired up with Marv Wolfman on “Dial ‘H’ for Hero,” which premiered as an insert in Legion of Super-Heroes #272 (Feb. 1981) before becoming the new Adventure Comics feature with issue #479 (March 1981). The following month Infantino was assigned art duties to the title he left fourteen years prior: The Flash. It was a dream

from the 1940s—like Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, and Robotman—as well as 1940s characters published

by Quality Comics, which DC Comics acquired in the late 1950s (e.g., Plastic Man). Thus, with artists Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway, Thomas created a veritable tribute to the Golden Age of comics: All-Star Squadron.

This “Dial H for Hero” house ad features artwork by Carmine Infantino.

TM and © DC Comics.

come true for Flash writer Cary Bates who adored Infantino’s work when he was an adolescent fan (Scott 78), and the two would go on to produce Flash stories for the next four years.

The Roy Thomas Renaissance Also about to produce many years’ worth of comics for DC was Roy Thomas. A Marvel Comics mainstay since 1965, Roy Thomas practically contributed to Marvel’s entire line of titles, writing lengthy runs on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, The X-Men, The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Conan the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, The Invaders, Thor, Red Sonja, and Star Wars. He even served as Marvel’s editor-in-chief from 1972 to 1974. Like Marv Wolfman before him though, Thomas objected to Jim Shooter’s stipulation that Marvel’s writers couldn’t serve as their own editors. Indeed, when it came time to negotiate the renewal of his contract in 1980, Thomas made clear to Shooter that he wouldn’t work for Marvel if he couldn’t edit his own work. A preliminary telephone conversation with Shooter led Thomas to believe that he would indeed remain employed as a writer/editor and Shooter directed Thomas to have his lawyer draw up a new contract. When Shooter received the new contract, however, he rejected its writer/editor proviso. Thomas felt deceived and betrayed, particularly because he had to pay for the drafting

of the contract out of his own pocket.

The affront compelled Thomas to call Paul Levitz to see if he could write for DC Comics (Amash 59-60).

Levitz essentially hired Thomas over the phone, offering him a three-year contract. The move revitalized Thomas’s creative energies. Beginning his DC Comics career with some co-written 1981 issues of Green Lantern, DC Comics Presents, Superman Family, Batman, and Legion of Super-Heroes, Thomas confessed in an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles that he really had no desire to write these titles (or the characters featured within them). Instead, since he was no longer editing his own work, he sought assignments that allowed him more creative freedom.

Luckily for Thomas, Jenette Kahn, Joe Orlando, and Paul Levitz looked to him to create some new DC titles.

First, they let Thomas take the reins of his favorite group of comic book characters since his childhood: The Justice Society of America. After the cancellation of its revived All-Star Comics in 1978 (a victim of the “DC Implosion”) and its brief appearances in the anthologized Adventure Comics in 1979, the JSA seemed like a concept that could no longer interest readers.

For a fresh approach, Thomas wrote the future of the JSA by retconning its past; he presented new stories set during World War II. But fighting alongside the Justice Society members were other DC Comics characters 36

Like it had done for The New Teen Titans in 1980, DC Comics demonstrated its enthusiasm for All-Star Squadron by previewing it as a “special free 16page comic” inserted into another DC comic book—this time Justice League of America #193 (Aug. 1981). All-Star Squadron’s story begins on December 6, 1941—the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor—as various Justice Society members are confronted and defeated by foes from their future. By the end of All-Star Squadron #1 (Sept. 1981), President Roosevelt petitions the mobilization of all the nation’s “mystery men” into a single unit—an All-Star Squadron—dedicated to protecting the home front as American forces went overseas to engage in World War II. With a roster that swelled to dozens of characters, All-Star Squadron featured plenty of super-heroic feats and action. But Thomas also went to great lengths to evoke wartime America, not only by referencing specific historical events but also by having the characters use colloquial slang and through cameos of famous personages (like professional football quarterback Sammy Baugh).

All-Star Squadron lasted nearly six years, spawning two spin-off series along the way: Infinity Inc. (1984) and Young All-Stars (1987). Of everything he accomplished in his career, All-Star Squadron was the project Roy Thomas was most fond of and most proud of: “I prefer All-Star Squadron over anything—over Conan, over Avengers, over anything I ever worked on.”

The same month that All-Star Squadron premiered in Justice League of America, another Roy Thomas creation debuted as a 16-page insert in Warlord #48: Arak, Son of Thunder. Because of Thomas’s decadelong stint as writer of Conan the Barbarian—a very lucrative license for Marvel Comics—Thomas and DC mutually agreed than he should cre-

In 1981, Roy Thomas created two new DC titles: All-Star Squadron and Arak, Son of Thunder.

Above: Photo of Roy Thomas, courtesy of Alan Waite.

All depicted character TM and © DC Comics.

ate a new sword-and-sorcery title.

Thomas initially hoped DC could acquire another Robert E. Howard barbarian property, like Cormac Mac Art. Thomas’s wife, Dann, however, conceived the idea of a Native American warrior in the Conan mold. Thomas developed this concept into a character initially named (and initially promoted by DC as) “Bloodwolf, Son of Thunder.” Thomas eventually found that name unappealing. “It seemed too comic-booky a construct,” he explained in the interview for American

Comic Book Chronicles. “Arak” worked much better for Thomas since he felt it invoked the classic comic book character, Turok, Son of Stone. Along with series like Sgt. Rock, Jonah Hex, and House of Mystery, Arak demonstrated DC’s commitment to publishing a variety of genres. Arak itself would last 50 issues, and Remco even produced an Arak action figure in 1982 as part of a line based on DC’s Warlord (despite the fact that Arak wasn’t in any way part of the Warlord universe).

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With All-Star Squadron and Arak on his slate, Thomas also hoped to write a Captain Marvel/Shazam title. His contract even specified that should DC Comics decide to feature the character in his own title, Thomas would have the right of first refusal. DC though seemed to be in no rush to publish a new Shazam comic book, so Thomas would have to wait several years for that opportunity. Until that time, Thomas remained very busy and a principal attraction of DC’s line of books.

Marv Wolfman and George Pérez meet the characters that were earning them some good royalty checks in these panels from New Teen Titans #20. Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics.

With the successful debut of All-Star Squadron and Arak, Son of Thunder— and the continued sensation of New Teen Titans—sales of DC’s publishing line improved by close to 10% from 1980 to 1981, the beginning of a threeyear upward sales trend (Tolworthy).

The overall physical quality of DC’s publishing line was about to improve too. Following Marvel’s lead, in 1981 DC decided to begin the transition from letterpress printing—which produced pages at 65 dpi (dots per inch)—to the more expensive offset printing—which at that time produced pages at 120 dpi. Higher dot densities translate to clearer color reproduction, especially when printed on sturdier paper. Paul Levitz explains DC’s decision: We had been approached for years by offset printers, but nobody had an economically viable pricing model because for the newsstand side of the business—if we were going to take the kind of returns we did—we couldn’t afford to invest more in the physical product. We were paying for three copies for every one we sold.

So in essence if we were to in-

vest in the physical product, we were tripling the damage.

But with DC shifting more toward the no-returns Direct Market that catered to consumers who might pay more for a better product, offset printing became a sensible (and attractive) improvement. So DC connected with Bob Spivak—a representative of Ronalds Printing in Montreal, Canada—who offered both DC and Marvel an affordable pricing and distribution plan.

While DC and Marvel wouldn’t debut an offset printed comic book until cover date 1982, their 1981 decision meant the days of letterpress printed comic books were numbered.

Royalty Treatment As they innovated how their books were being printed, DC and Marvel also innovated how they paid their creators. Since its infancy, the comic book industry was principally a page rate business with only a handful of Direct Market publishers—like Eclipse—sharing its profits with its creators. That all changed in November 1981 when DC announced that in addition to their page rate pay, its creators would now earn royalties if they contributed to comic books that sold 38

in excess of 100,000 copies. Four percent of the revenue generated by sales above a 100,000 copy threshold was divided among the writer (who received 2%), the penciller (who received 1.40%) and the inker (who received 0.6%). If the art duties for an issue consisted of a layout artist and a finisher, they would each earn 1%. This new royalties system went into effect retroactive to DC’s October 1981 cover date releases, and in that month 13 of DC’s 29 titles sold over 100,000 copies.

Consequently, many DC creators had their income supplemented by up to several hundreds of dollars per issue.

Marv Wolfman and George Pérez benefitted the most since they respectively wrote and drew New Teen Titans.

The explanatory letter that DC sent to its freelancers in November 1981 even used New Teen Titans #12 as an example of the kind of royalty money they could receive. Since New Teen Titans #12 sold 217,000 copies, writer Wolfman earned $1404 in royalties while layout artist Pérez and finisher Romeo Tanghal split the other $1404 (Thompson, “DC Creates New Royalties System for Freelancers”).

In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Paul Levitz explained DC’s rationale for instituting royalties in 1981: If we accepted the logic that we were going into a world where more and more of our customers were buying based on who is doing the work and how well the work was done, then we wanted to create an environment that first of all aligned the creative people’s interests with the company (‘If we succeed, you will succeed’) and then secondly, motivated them to take more time and trouble with their work. And then, we did hope that we would have the opportunity to pull some talent from Marvel if we made the move first.

It didn’t take long though for Marvel—which was already paying royalties for graphic novel work—to respond. In late December 1981, Jim Shooter announced that it too would pay royalties to its freelancers on all titles that sold more than 100,000 copies. Marvel’s plan would go into effect for its cover date April 1982 titles

and its terms were virtually identical to DC’s with the main exception that Marvel increased its royalty share for artists from 1% to 1.5% if they drew from “Marvel style” plots. At a press conference, Jim Shooter conceded that DC’s implementation of a royalty plan forced Marvel to follow suit, but he also stressed that he had wanted to institute a royalty plan at Marvel as early as 1977 but couldn’t work out an equitable payment structure (Thompson, “Marvel Announces Royalties Plan”). Marvel’s freelancers stood to earn more than DC’s freelancers since Marvel’s titles sold better than DC’s by a wide margin, a fact that Shooter emphasized during the press conference.

Sniping at (and Collaborating with) The Distinguished Competition In fact, throughout the year, Shooter never seemed to pass up the opportunity to diminish DC Comics and assert Marvel’s superiority over their “Distinguished Competition.” For instance, it was in 1981 that Shooter paradoxically declared that even though DC Comics started publishing mini-series before Marvel did, it was Marvel who first conceived the idea of a comic book mini-series (“Marvel Drops Two Books, Demotes Two to Bi-Monthly” 15). Trade magazines like The Comics Journal—or its sister publication Amazing Heroes, which

debuted in June—documented Shooter’s statements as well as those of his detractors, specifically the former Marvel creators who defected to DC. It was for a 1981 issue of The Comics Journal that Roy Thomas professed, “I have no respect at all for Jim Shooter as a professional, and not much left for the whole Marvel organization” (Gustaveson 85). In a separate 1981 Comics Journal interview, Gerry Conway said, “There are so many people who have stories of the things Jim [Shooter] has done that we have to weigh the possibility that Jim really is… [laughter] as bad as they say” (Decker 82). Conway also managed to

Clockwise from top left: front cover, back cover and promotional ad for the collaborative DC Comics/Marvel Comics tabloid, Superman and Spider-Man. Superman, Wonder Woman and Parasite TM and © DC Comics. Spider-Man, Hulk and Dr. Doom TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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slip in a subtle shot at one of Marvel Comics’ flagship properties in Justice League of America #200, which reached newsstands in December.

Late in the issue as the assembled Justice Leaguers charge out of their old headquarters, the narrator declares, “They have no battle cry—nor do they need one! They are fifteen of the greatest heroes this weary world has even seen—and their strength resides not in simple slogans, but in their very identity: for they are The Justice League!” The notion that the Justice League doesn’t need a battle cry implies they are more formidable than The Avengers who famously— and frequently—shout “Avengers Assemble!”

Above: Paul Levitz hard at work, as captured in Comics Scene #4.

Right and below: Front and back covers to the Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk tabloid.

Batman TM and © DC Comics. The Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

To be clear, DC and Marvel have been sneaking in playful digs against each other within the pages of their comic books for decades. But one might conclude from all the back and forth sniping that relations between DC and Marvel had greatly deteriorated. The days of informal inter-publisher poker games being held regularly at Paul Levitz’s home that attracted the likes of Shooter, Len Wein, Denny O’Neil, Marv Wolfman, Jack Abel, Marty Pasko, Al Milgrom, among others, were seemingly now a distant memory, even though they stopped only in late 1980 and specifically because Levitz got married.

Despite all the salvos, DC and Marvel still collaboratively published a Superman and Spider-Man crossover— written by Wolfman and Shooter with art by John Buscema—followed later in the year by a Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk crossover—written by Wein with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Dick Giordano. According to Shooter, these collaborations were the brainstorm of DC Comics’ publisher Jenette Kahn. Getting her inspiration from the successful 1976 Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man cross-over, Kahn proposed to Shooter that DC and Marvel publish a crossover every year.

Although he considered Kahn’s plan a bit idealistic, Shooter was nonetheless amenable to it and got approval to implement it from his superior, Jim Galton.

In a couple of years, this cross-over arrangement would be the cause of a major—and publicly played out—rift between DC and Marvel, but as far as 40

Above: This John Byrne drawn piece became the cover to Noble Comics’ Justice Machine #1.

Right: Splash page from Justice Machine #2.

Justice Machine TM and © Mark Ellis.

1981 goes, in separate interviews for American Comic Book Chronicles, both Jim Shooter and Paul Levitz asserted that no genuine animosity had developed between the publishers. Instead, Levitz offered this explanation: You go through a period in the early 1980s when Jim Shooter’s role running editorial at Marvel goes through a very rough time with a bunch of talent, and certainly DC tried to take full advantage of that, welcoming anybody who wasn’t happy with him at that stage. That didn’t mean we particularly “hated” Jim. There were times when whoever was DC’s editor-in-chief or business leader pissed off people too and driven them to other publishers. That’s kind of the natural ebb and flow of the industry.

New Kids on the Comic Book Block Beyond DC and Marvel, new work opportunities became available to comic book creators, mostly in the form of new publishers that offered their books solely to the budding Direct Market.

For instance, in 1981 writer/artist Mike Gustovich co-founded Noble Comics in order to publish his Justice Machine comic book, which featured a group of super-powered policemen serving a military dictatorship on the

planet Georwell (a fusion of the name of dystopian novelist George Orwell) until they are branded as traitors and banished to Earth. Gustovich hired top talent for his endeavor, including John Byrne who drew the first issue cover. Subsequent issues involved such industry veterans as Terry Austin, Bob Layton, Rich Buckler, and Keith Pollard. Besides launching the professional careers of both Bill Reinhold and William MessnerLoebs, Justice Machine would also prove to have a steady publishing existence throughout the 1980s.

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Perhaps no one was better suited to create new comic books for the Direct Market retailers than the companies that controlled the flow of product to them: the Direct Market distributors.

And in 1981, two comic book distributors indeed ventured into comic book publishing.

The Madison, Wisconsin based Capital City Distribution created its own publishing arm, Capital Comics, with Richard Bruning serving as its editor-in-chief and art director. Capital City owners Milton Griepp and John

Top: Photo of Steve Rude and Mike Baron that first appeared in Amazing Heroes #58. Left and Above: Capital Comics house ads promoting Nexus.

Nexus TM and © Mike Baron and Steve Rude.

Davis wanted their first publication to be a black-and-white super-hero comic book. Upon learning this, fellow Madison residents Mike Baron and Steve Rude—who had been collaborative partners since 1979 and tried unsuccessfully to get their work published in both Heavy Metal and Eclipse Comics when Bruning was its art director—got together and brainstormed. Baron recalls, We said, “All right, super-hero. What would be dramatic?”

Well, somebody who kills people is dramatic. That is your ultimate drama: an executioner-judge… so we want-

ed to do a guy who was an executioner, but I didn’t want to reprise some of the many characters who were running around delivering justice out of their hip pocket (Collier 32) Instead what Baron and Rude created for Capital Comics was Nexus a.k.a. Horatio Hellpop, a super-powered young man living in the 24th century who suffers prophetic nightmares about mass murderers. Horatio’s nightmares are so torturous they cause him physical pain, even threatening to kill him. The only way to relieve his agony is to hunt down the murderer he’s been dreaming about 42

and execute him. The first person he is forced to kill is his own father, a military governor who ordered the genocide of an entire planet before Horatio was even born. As he executes his father, Horatio says, “I love you, dad.”

Amazing Heroes tagged Nexus “one of the most innovative super-heroes to emerge from the alternative press” (Collier 28). Nexus was innovative in other ways too. For one, the manner in which writer Mike Baron and artist Steve Rude collaborated was rather unique: Baron actually drew his scripts. Whereas the great majority of comic book writers formatted their scripts like a screenplay, Baron drew each page as if he were the (self-professed frustrated) artist himself, complete with dialogue and captions. He would then hand deliver his finished comic book to Rude at his apartment.

Baron preferred this method of writ-

ing as it forced him to think visually and helped him to communicate to the artist what exactly was needed on each page (Bennett 57, 64).

arms. He became a concept designer for the Steve Gerber-created/RubySpears produced Saturday morning cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian.

The innovations didn’t end there.

Nexus #3 included an audio “flexi-disc” to be played on a turntable. Essentially, readers were provided with a 20minute Nexus soundtrack of sound effects, music and character voices.

The Schanes brothers were already friendly with Kirby when they reached out to persuade him to create a new comic book for Pacific. The Schanes assured Kirby that he would retain full ownership of whatever he created, and they would even provide royalty payments—an offer that came months before DC and Marvel unveiled their royalty plans. The Schanes only wanted the publishing rights (Sanford). Kirby remembered a science fiction graphic novel he had begun a few years earlier for an entrepreneur who wanted to publish a line called “Kirby Comics.” Due to lack of funding on the entrepreneur’s part, that endeavor was aborted (Ro 209).

So Kirby pulled those pages out of his pile of unpublished material and offered them to the Schanes as the first two issues of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. He agreed to produce more issues. Kirby described his series as a deliberate rejoinder to Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Whereas the aliens who came to Earth in Spielberg’s film sought peaceful relations with the human race, the aliens in Kirby’s series had a different goal: world domination. Earth’s only chance to repel the alien invaders lies with Captain Victory and his comrades. As Kirby historian Chris Knowles explains,

Devoted to Saturday morning cartoons when he was a boy, artist Steve Rude modeled Nexus after HannaBarbera’s Space Ghost and when asked what his expectations for the comic book were, Rude remarked, “We believe that we’re going to have a really big thing going with Nexus, if not right now, then in a few years. I think people are going to be talking about it… because it’s different” (Collier 34).

And people did talk about it. Baron and Rude’s work on Nexus became so acclaimed they eventually earned multiple Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards because of it.

The second issue of Comics Scene magazine had a feature story on Jack Kirby that included the below photo of “The King” admiring his work.

The Return of the King The other Direct Market distributor to venture into comic book publishing in 1981 was Bill and Steve Schanes’ Pacific Comics. By the late 1970s, the Schanes brothers had parlayed their San Diego comic book mail order business into four comic book retail stores.

They then closed those stores and sold off its inventory in order to raise the capital necessary to expand its Direct Market distributorship. In 1980, serving 500 accounts, Pacific Comics’ gross revenues approached a million dollars (Sanford). Although Pacific had dipped its feet into publishing waters by releasing artist portfolios and Marvel Comics indices, the Schanes brothers decided the time was right in 1981 to jump into the ocean, and the way Steve Schanes saw it, “if you want to get people’s attention with a new comic book, who better to do it with than the King of Comics, Jack Kirby!”

(Sanford).

As Schanes’ declaration makes clear, by 1981, Jack Kirby had already been crowned comic book royalty. Along with Stan Lee, Kirby was the most respected and celebrated creator in the industry, having co-created some of its most recognizable (and profitable) properties: Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The Avengers,

The X-Men, and the list goes on and on. His comic book career during the 1970s, however, had been tumultuous. After creating “The Fourth World” for DC Comics, Kirby returned to Marvel Comics in 1975 where he went on to write, draw, and self-edit such titles as Captain America, Black Panther, The Eternals, Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur. Alas, none of his new Marvel series proved to be commercial—or even critical—successes. What’s more, Kirby was put off by Marvel’s constant editorial interference as well as its young staffers who were—sometimes publicly—disrespectful toward him and his work. He dubbed Marvel “The Viper’s Nest” (Knowles 6). So in 1978, Kirby declined to renew his contract with Marvel and instead turned his artistic talents to animation studios that welcomed him with open 43

Kirby was disgusted by the rosy optimism of [Close Encounters of the Third Kind]….

Kirby was a student of history and of nature and he reckoned that the only reason an alien race would cross the vast reaches of space to visit us would be to conquer and subjugate the Earth, not take a few of its inhabitants on an interstellar joyride. In fact, at the end of the original 48-page graphic novel, Jack promised a sequel to be entitled “Encounters of the Savage Kind.” (14) The Schanes scheduled Captain Victory for bi-monthly release. When the first issue reached Direct Market stores in July, it sold almost 70,000 copies, and Kirby agreed to let Pacific

considering submissions and enticing established writers and artists with the prospect of having their creations published while still retaining ownership. By doing so, Pacific Comics incited the creation of other comic book publishers, and their arrival onto the scene would come shortly enough.

The Sad Death of One of Comics’ Greatest On November 3, 1981, the owner of Nuance Publications entered the Van Nuys, California apartment of comic book artist Wallace “Wally” Wood and found him dead. At the age of 54, Wood put a gun to his head and shot himself. He left no suicide note, but it wasn’t difficult to determine his state of mind when he ended his life. Wood had been in very poor health for several years. A few mild strokes left him with slurred speech, and high blood pressure caused severe vision problems. He was forced to draw with one eye closed which consequently ruined his depth perception as well as the quality of his work. On the day he was found dead he was also scheduled to begin dialysis treatments for kidney failure (Catron). Physically, Wood was a ruined man.

Above: cover to Pacific Comics’ first publication: Jack Kirby’s Captain Victory and his Galactic Rangers #1.

Below: Kirby with Pacific Comics Editor-in-Chief Howard Zimmerman, from Comics Scene #2.

Captain Victory TM and © Jack Kirby estate.

Comics publish another of his projects, Silver Star (Sanford). Even though there weren’t any immediate plans to release Silver Star, the comic book world had been alerted that “The King” was back, and Pacific had him.

The Schanes had designs of expanding Pacific Comics’ line to include other genres and other creators. Indeed, they wanted Pacific Comics to seriously challenge the DC/Marvel hegemony. While Bill Schanes handled the accounting end of the enterprise, Steve took on the role of recruiter, getting the word out that Pacific was 44

He wasn’t faring well professionally either. By 1981, Wood no longer worked on assignments for DC or Marvel or even one of the new publishers that serviced the Direct Market. Instead, Wood was reduced to drawing pornography for Nuance Publishing. While Wood was no stranger to provocative material (e.g., Sally Forth, Cannon), his artistry had become a degraded echo of the kind of magnificently detailed visuals he created in his heyday in the 1950s and 60s, working on such varied titles as Will Eisner’s The Spirit, MAD magazine, and even Marvel’s Daredevil.

Wood earned his reputation drawing a plethora of war, horror, crime and science fiction titles for EC Comics, and during a November 18 memorial service at Warner Communications auditorium, the former publisher of EC Comics, William Gaines, commemorated Wood as “the greatest science fiction artist there ever was” (Decker/ Thompson 12). Undoubtedly, Wood’s work left an indelible impression on those who read it. Neither the man nor his work would be forgotten.

Above: Photo of Wally Wood near the end of his life. Below and right: Examples of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents work.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

One of Wood’s most fondly remembered creations was T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a group of United Nations operatives equipped with fantastic gadgets that helped them combat would-be world conquerors and nefarious Chinese communists. The concept was part James Bond/part Justice League of America. Indeed, the original Justice League of America artist, Mike Sekowsky—along with other established artists like Dick Ayers, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Joe Orlando, and George Tuska— contributed to the series that Tower Comics published from 1965 to 1969.

Despite all the talent that worked on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, it was truly Wally Wood’s brainchild as it was Wood who Tower contracted to create

and develop the concept.

But in 1981, Tower licensed T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to comic fan John Carbonaro who planned on both reprinting the 1960s Tower material and publishing new adventures through his newly formed JC Productions.

In 1982, Carbonaro would go one step further. After Tower went bankrupt, rights to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents ended up with Dorchester Publishing Co., who agreed to sell them to Carbonaro for $2,000 (Heintjes 9). As Carbonaro tried to come up with the money to 45

make the payment, he had a license from Dorchester to use the characters.

Once he made the payment, he would own T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents outright.

Or at least Carbonaro thought he would own them outright. Others argued differently. And the fight for control over T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents would be one of the most compelling conflicts of the comic book industry during the 1980s.

1982

New Publishers,

New Formats, New Talent, and

New Mutants

As 1981 came to an end, an editorial in The Comics Journal celebrated the year’s successes and foretold more great times for comic book readers: I’m so excited, I just don’t know where to begin! It’s no secret that these are thrilling times for comic book fans!... The fan market has grown so large that it’s now able to financially sustain individual titles and specialty magazines…. Pacific Comics is now publishing comics that are every bit as good as Marvel’s or DC’s…. And Marvel and DC are rising to the challenge of the alternative press that are calculated to appeal directly to this market— and what could be better than that? Alternative publishing efforts like Eclipse, The Justice Machine, Nexus, and Galaxia are providing true alternatives and giving the fans just what they want. Despite the whining of a few grumpy critics, we are, without any doubt—dare I say it?—entering into a renaissance of comics art. (Decker)

The editorial is actually a bit of a sham as TCJ’s new managing editor Dwight R. Decker decided to have some fun by masquerading as TCJ’s executive editor Gary Groth in order to write a gushing assessment of the comic book industry that flew in the face of Groth’s usual jaded negativity.

Nonetheless, the editorial reflected many readers’ optimism that with the doldrums of the late 1970s behind them, happy comic book days were here again. And some comic book professionals even took the time to fan their fans’ enthusiasm even further. Take, for instance, Marv Wolfman’s remarks in the Green Lantern #154 letters page (July 1982): “For too long, DC [Comics] was a sleeping giant. Well, we’re awake and rarin’ to go ahead at full steam.

In the next few months we’ll be coming out with all new comics and ideas…. DC’s on the move—so climb aboard the wagon. We think you’ll enjoy the ride!”

DC Comics: Where the Action Is! The wagon ride that Wolfman wanted readers to take equated to the biggest expansion in DC Comics’ line since the ill-fated “DC Explosion” of 1978. Clearing some room on its slate was necessary, so DC cancelled several longrunning titles that executives felt would no longer perform well as the industry became more reliant on the Direct Market for sales. In order, Secrets of the Haunted House, The Unexpected, and Ghosts all published their final issues between cover date February and May 1982. DC’s managing editor Dick Giordano had some qualms about the cancellation of these horror/mystery anthologies because for years they had been used as training grounds for promising, inexperienced artists hoping to break into the industry. After proving himself on a couple of short stories for one of the mystery titles, an artist could earn promotion

CHAPTER THREE

by Keith Dallas

46

Superman established that these super-heroes existed within DC continuity on the parallel world “Earth-C.” With each issue, the series parodied a recognizable character or genre (e.g., “Frogzilla,” “Bow-Zar The Barkbarian,” The Indiana Jones-inspired “Oklahoma Bones”), and from its start, the series sold well, over 100,000 copies per issue, making it one of DC’s best-sellers that year. ABC television even optioned Captain Carrot for a Saturday morning cartoon, but plans never progressed beyond the pre-production stage, despite a proposal to pair up the funny-animal super-heroes with Wonder Woman (Roy Thomas 16).

to a regular DC assignment. Alex Saviuk and Paris Cullins—to name just two professional artists—began their careers in this fashion. But now DC’s sole remaining horror title was House of Mystery, and the combined inventory of completed stories from the three cancelled horror titles would have to be published there. That inventory was so considerable that Giordano estimated it would take three years before DC needed to commission new work for the title. Therefore, House of Mystery could no longer serve as an artist’s training ground. Giordano’s solution to the problem was the creation of a workshop at DC Comics for promising new talent. While DC couldn’t pay the artists who participated in this workshop, Giordano hoped that the expansion of DC’s line of books would mean these artists could soon graduate to paid assignments (Kim Thompson).

Wonder Woman, by the way, received a new costume emblem in 1982. Unveiled in a preview insert in DC Comics Presents #41 (January 1982), the new emblem—mandated by Jenette Kahn and designed by Milton Glaser (who had created DC’s bullet logo in 1976)—consisted of two connected “W”s, and as such, had greater potential as a merchandising insignia than the eagle emblem found on Wonder Woman’s costume since 1941. The emblem change also inaugurated Roy Thomas and Gene Colan’s short tenure on Wonder Woman, which began with

The cancellation of the three horror/mystery titles cleared the way for new books of a variety of genres. The first was something that billed itself as “Not Just Another FunnyAnimal Comic!” in a 16-page insert debut in New Teen Titans #16 (February 1982): Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew. The concept’s origins dated back to Roy Thomas’ tenure at Marvel Comics. A childhood fan of funny-animal super-heroes, Thomas had designs as far back as 1969 on reviving Marvel’s Golden Ageera Super Rabbit. Nothing ever came of the idea at Marvel, though. In 1981, Thomas pitched to his new DC Comics bosses a funny-animal super-hero title to be drawn by Herb Trimpe who was ready to jump Marvel Comics’ ship because of dissatisfaction with his page rate. Marvel eventually gave Trimpe the pay raise he desired, leaving Thomas without an artist.

By this point, Thomas had expanded his idea—with the help of his then-fiancée Danette Couto and fellow writer Gerry Conway—into a funny-animal super-hero version of the Justice League of America: “Just’a Lotta Animals.” DC publisher Jenette Kahn and editorial director Joe Orlando liked the idea but not the name. So the title became changed to “Super-Squirrel and the Super-Animal Squad.” When Joe Staton declined DC’s invitation to serve as the series’ artist, Hanna-Barbera animator Scott Shaw came on board, and he and Thomas produced a two-page sampler of the funny-animal JLA confronting a giant carrot version of Galactus. For licensing reasons though, the two creators were then directed to create new characters that didn’t resemble existing DC properties (Roy Thomas 10-14). Thus was born Captain Carrot whose Amazing Zoo Crew included Alley-Kat-Abra, Fastback, Pig-Iron, Rubberduck, and Yankee Poodle. Their introductory team-up with

Above: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s Wonder Woman sheet for DC’s in-house Style Guide shows the Amazon warrior’s new emblem. Right: Roy Thomas and Gene Colan’s collaboration on Wonder Woman began with issue #288.

Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics.

47

1982 TIMELINE

June 4: The second Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan, opens in movie theaters.

June 5: Budapest, Hungary hosts the first Rubik’s Cube World Championship.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 8: American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) agrees to divest itself of its regional and local “Baby Bell” phone companies in order to settle a U.S. Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against the company.

January 12: The first Marvel Comics graphic novel – The Death of Captain Marvel, written and drawn by Jim Starlin – goes on sale exclusively at Direct Market stores.

June 12: Over a halfmillion anti-nuclear demonstrators protest in Central Park, New York City.

March 2: Science Fiction pioneer Philip K. Dick dies five days after suffering a stroke.

March 2: Priced at $1.50, the first issue of Marvel’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – featuring characters from Hasbro’s new action figure line – goes on sale.

Television commercials promoting both the toys and the comic book soon follow.

May 1: The World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tenn. The event attracts over 11 million people during its six-month run.

January 13: Soon after take-off, an Air Florida 737 jet crashes into the Washington D.C. 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River, killing 78 people.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

M AY

JUNE June 1: The first issue of Marvel’s Wolverine limited series – written by Chris Claremont with art by Frank Miller and Josef Rubenstein – goes on sale.

April 2: The Falklands War begins when Argentine troops seize the south Atlantic Falkland Islands from Great Britain. The conflict lasts until June 14 when Argentina surrenders.

March 5: At the age of 33, comedian John Belushi is found dead of a cocaine and heroin overdose at a rented Hollywood bungalow.

January 20: Heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne bites off the head of a bat during a performance at a Des Moines, Iowa concert.

June 30: The Equal Rights Amendment, intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for all Americans regardless of their sex, is ratified by 35 states, three states short of the minimum of states needed for Constitution ratification.

February 19: Directed and written by Wes Craven, Swamp Thing – based on the DC Comics character – opens in movie theaters.

Batman, Swamp Thing, the Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics. Captain Marvel, The New Mutants, Wolverine, and the X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. G.I. Joe TM and © Hasbro.

issue #288 (February 1982) and ended with #296 (October 1982). Thomas quickly lost his patience with the Wonder Woman assignment when an editorially-directed three-issue arc was foisted upon him. Wonder Woman #291 launched a story that guest starred almost a dozen other DC super-heroines. After that, Thomas had to deal with the unwanted intrusion of a Huntress back-up feature. Writing nine issues of Wonder Woman was all Thomas could muster: “I felt [DC] had sabotaged what they had wanted us to do… If they had just left us alone…, I’d have stayed on it for a long time” (Cassell 30).

Gene Colan had no particular fondness for his Wonder Woman assignment either: “[DC] asked me to do it, but I really didn’t want to do it. It had nothing to do with the writing…

Whatever [DC] gave me to draw, I did it. I felt I had to” (Cassell 29-30).

So despite Thomas’ departure, Colan stayed on Wonder Woman, and he

also co-created another title added to DC’s lineup in 1982: Night Force. Originally titled The Challengers and then The Dark Force, Night Force was written and conceived by Colan’s 1970s Tomb of Dracula collaborator, Marv Wolfman. It introduced and featured the sorcerer Baron Winters who would dispatch from his Washington, D.C.-based Wintersgate Manor a team of hand-picked operatives—his “Night Force”—to combat supernatural threats in various time periods.

As a nod to their previous Tomb of Dracula work, one of Baron Winters’ operatives created by Wolfman and Colan was Vanessa Van Helsing, the granddaughter of Dracula’s fabled arch-enemy, Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Night Force debuted as a 16page insert in New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982) before the first issue of its own title premiered the following month. Besides writing Night Force, Wolfman also served as its editor, his first opportunity to be a writer/editor 48

since leaving Marvel in 1980.

Along with these new properties, DC revived several characters already in its catalog. One was Swamp Thing, the plant monster created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson in 1971. The character’s original series was cancelled in 1976 after 24 issues. The new series, The Saga of the Swamp Thing—written by Martin Pasko, drawn by Tom Yeates, and edited by Wein—involved the title character in a complex year-long story that saw him pursued by the evil Sunderland Corporation and ultimately pitted against the Antichrist.

The February 11 release of the first issue of the new comic book preceded the theatrical premiere of the Wes Craven directed Swamp Thing movie by one week. DC even published an “official” adaptation of the film in The Saga of the Swamp Thing Annual #1, written by Bruce Jones, drawn by Mark Texeira and Tony DeZuniga, and edited, again, by Len Wein.

September 7: The fourth Marvel Comics graphic novel – introducing The New Mutants – goes on sale exclusively at Direct Market stores.

July: The Coca-Cola company introduces Diet Coke.

July 25: Harold “Hal” Foster, creator and artist of Prince Valiant, dies at the age of 89.

August 10: Marvel and DC Present: The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #1 joins both publishers’ top selling teams against Darkseid and Dark Phoenix in a 64-page offset printed book written

by Chris Claremont with art by Walt Simonson and Terry Austin.

October 1: Disney World’s EPCOT Center opens in Orlando, Florida.

October 7: The longrunning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats opens on Broadway.

November 10: Washington D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, presenting the names of every serviceman who died during the Vietnam War, officially opens.

November 10: Soviet Union’s Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev dies at age of 75 of a heart attack. Yuri Andropov becomes the new leader of the most powerful Communist country in the world.

December 4: The U.S. unemployment rate reaches 10.8%, its highest rate since 1945.

December 16: Batman #357 – introducing young circus trapeze artist Jason Todd – goes on sale.

September 16: Camelot 3000 #1, printed on high-quality Baxter paper, goes on sale exclusively at Direct Market stores.

J U LY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

August 12: film actor Henry Fonda dies from heart disease at the age of 77.

August: Commodore Business Machines (CBM) releases the Commodore 64 home computer, retailing at $595. Over the next four years, the Commodore 64 dominates the home computer market and becomes the best-selling home computer up to that time.

August 1: Israeli planes bomb West Beirut in an attempt to force the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to withdraw from Lebanon, which it did on August 30.

Another character revival title edited

by Len Wein was The Fury of Firestorm. As a result of a nuclear reactor disaster, high school student Ronnie Raymond and physicist Martin Stein are fused into the super-hero Firestorm with the power to rearrange the molecular structure of inanimate objects. The creation of Gerry Conway and artist Al Milgrom, Firestorm’s inaugural series lasted only five issues, another casualty of DC’s 1978 “Implosion.” But the character remained a visible presence in DC Comics’ fictional universe. He joined the Justice League of America in issue #179 (June 1980) and became the back-up feature of The Flash with issue #289 (Sept. 1980). On cover date February 1982 though, Flash editor Mike W. Barr replaced Firestorm with Dr. Fate for the book’s back-up feature.

Barr did so because he considered Firestorm “a tremendously derivative character” and one whose adventures were too similar to the book’s lead

OCTOBER September 30: Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide kill seven people in the Chicago area, prompting Johnson & Johnson to recall and destroy 31 million bottles as well as create a triple-sealed safety package.

September 30: sit-com Cheers premieres on NBC-TV. September 23: Gene Day, artist most famous for his work on Master of Kung Fu, dies at the age of 31 of a coronary.

September 15: The first issue of USA Today hits newsstands.

September 14: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, dies at the age of 52 of injuries suffered from a car crash the day before.

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER December 26: For the first time in the publication’s history, Time magazine’s Man of the Year is not a human being; it’s the computer.

December 2: 61-year-old Barney Clark receives the world’s first permanent artificial heart in a surgery conducted in Salt Lake City. He will live for 112 days before dying of multi-organ failure.

November 30: Singer-songwriter Michael Jackson releases the album Thriller, which will become the best-selling record ever.

feature (Dallas 100-1). Like The Flash, Firestorm was a brightly colored super-hero who grappled with an array of brightly colored super-villains.

Dr. Fate—as a mystical super-hero engaging supernatural enemies—offered Flash readers something different from the lead feature. That, at least, was Mike Barr’s line of reasoning, and Len Wein—the former Flash editor who instituted the Firestorm back-up in the first place—disagreed with it. Privately, Barr and Wein argued about Firestorm’s removal as a back-up feature, but the bottom line was that Barr wanted nothing to do with the character. If Firestorm wasn’t going to be a back-up feature, then Wein figured there was only one other sensible course of action: let the character have his own ongoing title again (Dallas 101).

For the Firestorm relaunch, Gerry Conway remained at the writing helm, joined by artist Pat Broderick who had been drawing Marvel’s 49

DC Comics house ad promoting the launch of a new Swamp Thing series.

Swamp Thing TM and © DC Comics.

Micronauts since 1980.

According to Broderick, Jim Shooter prompted his departure from Marvel in 1981 when the editor-inchief told Broderick that he wasn’t fond of the artist’s work and therefore would never give him a page rate increase (Offenberger).

So Broderick left for DC, which assigned him to Legion of SuperHeroes, a title he intended on drawing for at least a year.

When he was subsequently offered Fury of Firestorm, Broderick felt the opportunity to launch a new DC title was too good to pass up (Cadigan 138). In Fury of Firestorm’s first issue letters page, Conway explained that Firestorm was intended to be a super-hero who just got pleasure out of being a super-hero, “a hero… who still feels a little joie de vivre,” unlike his dour and insecure contemporaries. And with Broderick, Conway shaped Fury of Firestorm into a lighthearted super-hero romp with its protagonist confronted by nemeses both already established (Killer Frost and Hyena) and new (Black Bison and Plastique).

Wein had one more revival to edit in 1982, a decades-old property whose movie rights had just been optioned

by Steven Spielberg: Blackhawk.

Rather than relaunch Blackhawk with a new first issue, DC instead continued the series’ numbering where it left off in 1977 with issue #251.

Written by Mark Evanier and drawn

by Dan Spiegle, with covers by Dave Cockrum, the Blackhawk comic book of 1982 returned to the concept it began with in 1941 when introduced in Quality comics: The Blackhawks were a team of World War II-era multi-national fighter pilots battling the Axis powers.

By late summer, Wein inherited editorial responsibilities on the Batman titles (Batman, Detective Comics, The Brave and the Bold) and consequently had to relinquish the reigns on some of the other titles he was editing. So

sword-and-sorcery title about an immortal mage protecting the kingdom of Atlantis in pre-historic times.

Created by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Jan Duursema, Arion first appeared as a back-up feature in Warlord, from issue #55 (March 1982) to issue #62 (October 1982), before graduating to his own title (November 1982).

1982 house ads promoting two new DC Comics series: The Fury of Firestorm and Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.

TM and © DC Comics.

with issue #252 (November 1982) Marv Wolfman assumed Blackhawk editing duties. There is perhaps no better indication of Wein’s burdensome workload than the fact that his adventure hero comic book Pandora Pann—which early in the year DC announced as part of its 1982 lineup— had to be postponed indefinitely because Wein never found the time to write it (“DC News”).

Replacing Pandora Pann on DC’s schedule was Arion: Lord of Atlantis, a 50

Kupperberg also wrote DC’s final new addition to its 1982 slate: The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, whose first issue (cover date November 1982) was published two months after the cancellation of Superman Family. DC’s second attempt at giving the “maid of might” her eponymous title had Linda Lee Danvers enrolling as a psychology major at Chicago’s Lake Shore University—this despite the fact that in her civilian identity Supergirl had already graduated from Stanhope College in Adventure Comics #406 (May 1971) and completed post-graduate drama work at Vandyre University in Superman Family #165 (July 1974). Handling art on the title was Carmine Infantino, who also continued to draw The Flash every month.

One of DC’s 1982 publications couldn’t be bought at either the newsstand or the Direct Market. Instead Atari Force—created and written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru and Gil Kane— was published as a serialized insert in five Atari 2600 video games: Defender, Berzerk, Star Raiders, Phoenix, and Galaxian. Operating in the (then-distant) year 2005, the Atari Force was a multi-national team of astronauts, charged with searching other dimensions for humanity’s new home to replace the war-ravaged, ecologicallydevastated planet Earth. Their adventures mimicked the game play of the Atari cartridges themselves.

Even though the Atari Force accomplished its mission by the end of its

“Galaxian” chapter, the final panel promised readers “the new Atari Force” was coming soon.

Like the previous year, DC Comics underwent several managerial changes in 1982. Artist Ernie Colón became a junior editor under Marv Wolfman before assuming full editor duties late in the year on The Flash, Green Lantern, and Arion. Michael Flynn— who created The Legion Outpost fanzine in 1972 at the ripe old age of 13—was hired as DC’s Promotion Manager for the Direct Sales market.

Andy Helfer was now working under Joe Orlando as the Special Projects Editor. In mid-November, Dick Giordano was promoted from Managing Editor to Vice President—Executive Editor while earlier in the year Paul Levitz became DC’s Vice President of Operations whose responsibilities included licensing, marketing, legal affairs and administration.

A Better Tomorrow with The Legion of Super-Heroes While Levitz’s climb up DC’s corporate ladder was a considerable achievement in and of itself, his name would soon become inexorably associated with a different task he performed for DC Comics: writing The Legion of Super-Heroes. With Legion of Super-Heroes #284 (Feb. 1982), Levitz relieved Roy Thomas as the title’s scribe. This was Levitz’s second go-round with DC’s “teens from tomorrow”; he previously scripted Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes between 1977 and 1979. Truth be told, the Legion wasn’t a much sought after professional assignment. With over two dozen main characters to keep track of, writing—or drawing—the Legion of Super-Heroes amounted to a daunting undertaking. What’s more, the general consensus amongst fandom was that the Legion was DC’s

most puerile of super-hero team offerings, much less mature than the Justice League of America or the New Teen Titans (Broertjes 6). And Legion fans were generally accused of being peculiar. Even for comic book fans, the Legion devotees were regarded as peculiar, with their preoccupation on costumes and alien cultures and other seeming minutia of the series. Consider this fan letter printed in Comics Scene #6 (Nov. 1982): “I feel rather sorry for… the pathetic ‘thousands’ of fans of the Legion of Super-Heroes, because try as I might, I cannot understand anyone liking, much less following, this series of inept beach bums through padded and inane plots of adolescent banality!” (“Lettering” 7). Neither the prospect of labor intensive writing nor the lack of fan appreciation affected Levitz though; his love of the Legion of Super-Heroes dated back to his childhood. So when

These Keith Giffen-drawn Legion of Super-Heroes pages appeared in the 1982 DC Sampler. Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

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ry wasn’t the cause of the Legion’s newfound popularity. Instead, the catalyst for the team’s success was the unique creative collaboration between Levitz and the Legion’s new artist, Keith Giffen.

By 1982, Keith Giffen was looking to atone for the professional sins he committed only a few years earlier.

He began his career at Marvel in 1976.

That same year Gerry Conway—then a DC Comics editor—hired Giffen to draw breakdowns for Wally Wood on All-Star Comics. That led to other assignments from both DC and Marvel like The Defenders, Challengers of the Unknown, and Claw the Unconquered.

But Giffen was unreliable and erratic, and in 1978 he simply left the industry, abandoning projects without notice. After a period of living in New Jersey as a repo man and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, Giffen approached Joe Orlando in 1980 to see if Orlando would give him a second chance at DC. Orlando did, but he effectively put Giffen on probation (Cadigan 141). After first drawing a few horror stories for Dick Giordano, Giffen proved himself and Mike Barr offered him two ongoing assignments for 1982: the Dr. Fate back-up feature in The Flash and The Legion of Super-Heroes.

Keith Giffen-drawn cover to the penultimate chapter of “The Great Darkness Saga”: Legion of Super-Heroes #293.

Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

Legion editor Mike Barr invited him to return to the title, Levitz quickly accepted and he sought to make The Legion of Super-Heroes more “new reader friendly” (Cadigan 146-7).

In 1982, the Legion could be found in an array of DC Comics publications.

They guest starred in DC Comics Presents #43 (March 1982) and World’s Finest Comics #284 (Oct. 1982). With its relaunch as a digest with issue #491 (Sept. 1982), Adventure Comics began

reprinting the earliest adventures of the Legion in chronological order, starting with their introductory appearance in 1958’s Adventure Comics #247. Finally, the Best of DC #24 digest (May 1982) not only offered a new Legion tale—written by Levitz and drawn by Carmine Infantino—it also presented a 16-page George Pérez Legion of Super-Heroes gallery.

But the elevated visibility of DC’s super-teens from the 30th centu52

Giffen’s tenure on Legion actually began with a back-up story featuring Dream Girl in issue #285 (March 1982). With issue #287, Giffen had replaced Pat Broderick as the title’s regular penciller, and what he made immediately clear was that he was going to let his imagination run wild for the book’s visuals. With a style evocative of Jim Starlin as filtered through George Pérez, Giffen created a futuristic universe filled with bizarre aliens, astounding architecture, and intricately designed machinery and gadgets. As he drew pages that often had more than seven panels—and on occasion 11 or 12 panels—Giffen committed himself to depicting a future so technologically evolved as to be almost unfathomable to the comic book reader of 1982.

Or put more simply by Giffen, “In the Thirtieth Century, if it’s got wheels, it’s wrong!” (Cadigan 141).

Levitz and Giffen embodied contrasting creative processes. Levitz described himself as the “linear,

literal” storyteller, but Giffen was the “unrestrained, creative thinker” (Schweier 35). Put together, the methodical writer and the free spirited artist found their opposing tendencies weren’t at odds with each other.

Instead, Giffen’s imagination infused Levitz’s intricately laid out plots. By doing so, they made each other better creators, and they went on to produce a nearly three year long collaboration that many consider to be the standard by which all other Legion of Super-Heroes eras are judged.

the Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans in the late summer 1982 Marvel/DC cross-over special. Darkseid’s appearance in Legion of Super-Heroes was a plot development few readers could have anticipated, which is one reason why “The Great Darkness Saga” made such an impression.

The story concluded in Legion of

And the most celebrated story of the Levitz/Giffen Legion run came near the beginning of their collaboration: “The Great Darkness Saga.” Legion of Super-Heroes #289 (July 1982) bills “The Great Darkness Saga” as “The Most Monumental Battle-Epic the Legion Annals Have Ever Recorded!”

That wasn’t empty hype.

The story begins with super-powered “Servants of Darkness” seeking out magical artifacts for their mysterious master. Even with Superboy’s help, the Legion proves to be little match against these servants. The conflict’s stakes escalate with the shadowy villain boasting he is destined to reign over all the cosmos, and at the end of the penultimate chapter, he stands revealed. The Legionnaires find themselves up against none other than… Darkseid.

For those who first read “The Great Darkness Saga” when it was collected into a trade paperback, the appearance of the ruler of Apokolips came as no surprise; he’s featured on the TPB cover. But those who read “The Great Darkness Saga” as a monthly serial in 1982 were treated to a jaw-dropping reveal. Darkseid had never before confronted the Legion of Super-Heroes, and readers were more accustomed to seeing one of Jack Kirby’s finest creations fight the New Gods, Superman, the Justice League, and the combined forces of

places a curse on the Legion, prophesying the team’s self-destruction.

As a publication though, Legion of Super-Heroes was anything but cursed.

In the aftermath of “The Great Darkness Saga,” The Legion quickly became DC’s second best-selling title with only New Teen Titans above it.

The two titles would remain DC’s top two sellers for the next three years, but being second best was no consolation to Giffen as he confessed many years later, “Oh, I wanted to knock [New Teen Titans] off #1 so bad back then! We were always chasing them, and I wanted to just get one month where we could just knock them off the perch” (Schweier 35). Alas for Giffen, there was no stopping the sales juggernaut that was New Teen Titans. In 1982, DC even further capitalized on the team’s popularity by publishing the four-issue Tales of the New Teen Titans mini-series.

Barr, Bolland and King Arthur on Baxter Paper

The cover to Legion of Super-Heroes #294 makes clear who the villain of “The Great Darkness Saga” is: Darkseid.

Darkseid and Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

Super-Heroes #294 (Dec. 1982), a 41page issue priced at a dollar, featuring not only every Legionnaire—and again, there are a lot of them—but also practically every supporting character in the history of the team: Superboy, Supergirl, Legion of Substitute Heroes, Wanderers, among many others. Their combined might forces Darkseid’s retreat, but not before he 53

While New Teen Titans remained DC’s most successful publication in 1982, its most ambitious one of the year was its first 12-issue “maxiseries”: Camelot 3000. As the editorial page of Camelot 3000 #1 details, writer Mike W. Barr first conceived the story during his college years at the University of Akron in the mid-1970s.

Enrolled in an Arthurian literature course, Barr contemplated writing a sequel to Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. He created Pendragon, an epic tale about King Arthur’s messianic return in the year 3000. With Earth under siege by alien invaders, the planet’s populace desperately needs a legend to inspire them. From his Glastonbury, England tomb Arthur rises to resume his heroic duty.

As a freelance writer in 1980, Barr almost agreed to have Marvel Comics publish his King Arthur sequel as a Marvel Preview feature. He chose not to, instead putting the project aside

as he became a DC Comics editor in 1981. When he heard DC’s executives wanted to create a “maxi-series” format, Barr offered Pendragon, soon to be renamed Camelot 3000. Barr opted for the maxi-series treatment since he figured his story wouldn’t work as an ongoing series. He had concerns though that a 12-issue series would require some padding on his part, but Len Wein assured him otherwise (Greenberger 33). Wein also suggested the artist for the project: Brian Bolland. After achieving considerable recognition drawing “Judge Dredd” for the British anthology 2000 AD in the late 1970s, Bolland was recruited by DC Comics to provide them some covers, most notably for Green Lantern, Justice League of America, and the 1981 mini-series Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, co-written by Barr and Wein. By 1982, Bolland had also drawn a couple of short pieces for DC—a seven-page sci-fi story in Madame Xanadu #1 and a five-page segment in the celebratory Justice League of America #200—but Camelot 3000 was his first protracted commitment for an American publisher.

With production underway by the beginning of 1982, DC Comics realized it had a special series on its hands.

Camelot 3000 was previewed for attendees at the summer comic book conventions in New York, San Diego and Chicago, and it became the first DC Comics series sold exclusively via the Direct Market as well as the first DC Comics series produced via offset printing on sturdier, whiter Baxter paper. In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Paul Levitz admitted that Camelot 3000 was originally intended for release on the newsstand, but DC’s executives agreed the series seemed tailor made for the Direct Market audience.

The higher quality paper and superior printing process would make Bolland’s art look even more stunning, and the standards of the Direct Market would allow Barr to take his story in more mature directions.

Even though DC initially scheduled to release Camelot 3000 #1 in May 1982, the first issue didn’t get published until September. That would prove a harbinger of future delays. The series was planned and promoted as a monthly publication, and it held to that schedule for five issues. But by the time its

Camelot 3000 was the first series DC Comics offered exclusively to the Direct Market as well as its first Baxter paper, offset printed comic book.

Camelot 3000 TM and © DC Comics.

concluding issue arrived in stores, Camelot 3000’s publishing schedule became ironically legendary.

Doug Moench Quits Marvel Comics Jim Shooter During 1982, artists George Pérez, Pat Broderick, and Gil Kane all signed contracts to work exclusively for DC Comics. And then in late August, one of the industry’s most prolific writers also settled into DC’s stable: Doug Moench.

Since 1973, Moench had been writing for Marvel Comics. His 1982 assignments included Moon Knight, Thor, King Conan, and Master of Kung Fu. In fact, it was an argument between 54

Moench and Jim Shooter about Master of Kung Fu that precipitated Moench’s departure from Marvel. Moench had been writing the title for the previous eight years, and while each issue sold over 100,000 copies, it remained one of Marvel’s lowest performers.

Both Jim Shooter and Master of Kung Fu editor Ralph Macchio felt the title had stagnated and needed a change in creative direction. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Moench claims that one August day in 1982 Shooter called him to tell

Moench what changes he needed to make. Shooter specifically ordered Moench to kill the protagonist of Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi, and replace him with a ninja who would become the new master of Kung Fu. Moench explained to Shooter that the suggestion made no sense since Kung Fu is a Chinese form of martial arts while ninjas were Japanese. Undeterred, Shooter insisted that Moench write the death of Shang-Chi. What’s more, over in Thor, Shooter wanted Dr. Donald Blake dead so a new character could happen upon Blake’s walking stick, accidentally tap it on the ground and thereby be transformed into Thor.

According to Moench, the deaths of Donald Blake and Shang-Chi were the initial steps of a grand scheme dubbed “Jim Shooter’s Big Bang Theory of the Marvel Universe.” It involved the death of nearly the entirety of Marvel’s catalog of super-heroes, to be replaced by those same super-heroes with new secret identities.

Someone else would assume the role of Captain America after Steve Roger’s murder. Someone else would wear Iron Man’s armor after Tony Stark suffers a fatal heart attack. And someone else would be bitten by a radioactive spider to become Spider-Man after Peter Parker dies.

The Marvel fictional universe would be essentially rebooted, purportedly for the sake of new readers who now wouldn’t be overwhelmed trying to fathom twenty years of continuity.

But Doug Moench wanted no part of it. With the exception of his upcoming Six from Sirius work for the Epic imprint—which he considered beyond the reach of Shooter’s imperial grasp—Moench resigned from all his Marvel assignments, but he emphasized in his interview that “I didn’t quit Marvel; I quit Jim Shooter.” The

day after he quit Jim Shooter, Moench was at DC’s offices with Dick Giordano asking him what titles he wanted to write for DC. Moench replied that he was always fond of Batman. Since Gerry Conway was soon ready to move on from both Batman and Detective Comics, Moench was handed those two books, along with the Superman/Batman team-up title,

An issue of Comics Feature magazine focused on the rumor that Jim Shooter ordered the death of every major Marvel Comics character.

Comics Feature TM and © New Media Publishing.

World’s Finest Comics. In addition, because of his fondness for Moench, DC editor Ernie Colón removed Paul Kupperberg from Arion, Lord of Atlantis and asked Moench to write the book, starting with issue #4. Moench obliged, and he would continue to write for DC Comics for the remainder of the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Jim Shooter’s designs to reformat the Marvel Universe went public, thanks principally to Cat Yron55

wode. Quoting Moench and other unnamed sources, Yronwode detailed Shooter’s supposed plans in her “Fit to Print” column in The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom #461. When her report went viral, the fan press erupted. The Comic Reader’s executive editor Mike Tiefenbacher wrote a particularly scathing editorial, labeling Shooter’s plans self-serving and “repugnant” and accusing Shooter of having no affection for the very fictional universe he was responsible for caretaking (Tiefenbacher 57-9).

That so many would treat Yronwode’s report as fact perhaps is unsurprising given the kind of public statements Shooter had made in the past.

For instance, in 1981, Shooter told an interviewer for FantaCo’s X-Men Chronicles that he planned on retconning Wolverine’s history in order to establish that the character never killed anyone.

Shooter didn’t want Marvel’s heroes to be killers (Broertjes 10).

Ultimately though, that revision to Wolverine’s history never occurred. By this point, Marvel’s creators and editors were used to Shooter rescinding one of his mandates almost as quickly as he implemented them.

As recounted earlier, Roger Stern and John Byrne’s collaboration on Captain America ended due to their objection to Shooter’s stipulation that all stories be self-contained, a stipulation that Byrne described as Shooter’s “thing of the moment” that quickly went away (Cooke 41).

But in this case, Shooter repeatedly, publicly denied ever having ordered Moench to kill off any character, never mind Shang-Chi or Don Blake. In his “Bullpen Bulletins” column, for publications like Comics Scene and Comics Feature, and even for “Bad Moon Rising”, a Cincinnati radio program

devoted to sci-fi and—occasionally—comic books, Shooter insisted that he hadn’t ordered Moench to change the course of Master of Kung Fu in any specific way.

Instead, as he explained to radio interviewer Chris Barkley, Shooter wanted Moench to create a new direction for the book and that the sky was the limit as far as what changes could be made: As a rhetorical example, I said that there are no sacred cows, meaning that if some writer came to me with a brilliant plan to revamp or make Captain America more exciting that it would be considered.

I chose Captain America particularly because I thought that was probably the most extreme, unlikely example I could think of. [I was] trying to demonstrate to [Doug Moench] that he shouldn’t be fettered, he shouldn’t let his mind be shackled by imaginary constraints. (Steven Thompson) Shooter claims he gave Moench the option of killing off the entire Master of Kung Fu cast and creating a new one. The essential goal was re-energizing reader interest in the title, and Shooter was willing to entertain all possibilities. Moench, however, felt Master of Kung Fu was fine just the way it was. In Shooter’s estimation, Moench left Marvel because he didn’t want to make any changes. Shooter concedes that in his conversation with Moench, he may not have expressed himself perfectly clearly, but he did want to make one thing perfectly clear, “I never told anyone to kill anyone. Not Tony Stark, not Don Blake, not anyone else” (Schuster 7).

Some comic book professionals and fan press commentators came to Shooter’s defense. In a letter printed

requiring Shooter’s intervention (“Moench Goes Freelance” 10).

Above: 1982 Michael Golden-drawn poster features dozens of Marvel Comics characters.

Below: Photo of Jim Shooter at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con. Courtesy of Alan Light.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Moench contends that in the aftermath of his departure from Marvel, Shooter began lying about what he had told Moench and what he wanted to do to the Marvel universe. And those other Marvel creators and editors who confirmed Shooter’s version of the events? Moench believes they were either ignorant of what Shooter intended to do or too scared to tell the truth for fear of being fired. The way Moench understands the situation, Shooter’s “Big Bang Theory” was ultimately squashed when Stan Lee caught wind of it, thanks to the fan press furor.

In an interview conducted in 1983, writer/artist Jim Starlin added one more angle to the story. Allegedly, Starlin witnessed Jim Shooter’s supposed maniacal planning first hand:

in The Comic Reader, Roger Stern blasted Mike Tiefenbacher for what Stern called Tiefenbacher’s irresponsible journalism—that he likened to National Enquirer standards—and labeled the report of Shooter’s plans as “a pack of lies” (“TCR Mailboat” 10).

In response to Stern, Tiefenbacher apologized to Shooter. Similarly, in a Comics Feature column, Hal Schuster doubted the accuracy of Yronwode’s report, especially after Schuster spoke with Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald, Iron Man writer Denny O’Neil, and Jim Shooter himself, all of whom denied that Shooter had ordered the death of any Marvel character (Schuster 6-7). What’s more, Comics Scene reported the existence not of a “Jim Shooter Big Bang Theory” but of a Marvel interoffice “Bang List” or “Bang Program” that identified Marvel’s weakest selling titles, thereby 56

[Jim Shooter, myself, Tom DeFalco, and Mark Gruenwald] went out for a drink after work and as comic writers and artists tend to do, after we had a few drinks in us we began speculating on what could be done with what. There was talk of Captain America being replaced and Tony Stark and Iron Man. It was all just speculation. There was no fact to it… At one point it was suggested that the entire Marvel Universe be destroyed and the next month all the books start off again with new origins at issue number one… It was all just talk. I don’t know who got the story to who, but nothing was ever going to be done with it, but it was reported as a fact. (Harris 33) So as Starlin tells it, “Jim Shooter’s Big Bang” was a Happy Hour frivolity amongst colleagues that later got circulated around Marvel’s

office. As to why Doug Moench would subsequently feed the story to the fan press, Starlin theorized that Moench had an ax to grind, especially a month after his departure from Marvel when he was mourning the sudden death of a close friend, one who Moench felt never received appropriate recognition (or equitable compensation) from Shooter: artist Gene Day. Howard Eugene “Gene” Day had been working on Master of Kung Fu since 1979, first as an inker over Mike Zeck’s pencils and then, beginning with issue #102 (July 1981), he performed both pencil and ink duties. By 1982, Day’s work was just beginning to receive deserved accolades from fans and pros alike. By all accounts though, Day didn’t take care of himself. He worked long hours at the drawing board, didn’t exercise, maintained a poor diet and chain smoked.

On September 23, 1982, Gene Day died of a heart attack in his sleep. He was 31 years old. Memorializing him, Moench wrote of how he had tried to get Day to be more conscientious of his health, but Day would only tell his creative collaborator that in order to pay the bills, he had to shackle himself to his drawing board. Moench used that admission to assert that Marvel (i.e. Shooter) didn’t compensate Day fairly: “New artists, even as we spoke, were being hired to start at 20 dollars per page more than Gene was making after years of ‘loyal service’” (Moench 24).

Regardless of where the truth of this story lies, the most unlikely of comic book creators got in the final word: Fred Hembeck. He ended up writing and drawing a one-shot comic book published later in the decade titled Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe, inspired by the events played out in 1982.

Marvel Comics: New Address, Same Success In 1982, Marvel Comics was on the move, both creatively and literally. In May, the publisher moved its Manhattan offices about 30 blocks downtown, from 575 Madison Avenue to 387 Park Avenue South. For the year, Marvel’s sales improved by over 19% (Tolworthy), and with its new royalty plan in place, Marvel ended up paying $2 million in bonuses to its

creators (Michael Thomas). In fact, Marvel’s entire line was selling so well that all of its creators received royalty bonuses because no title sold less than the 100,000 copy royalty threshold. Predictably, the most popular Marvel title was Uncanny X-Men, which sold on average 313,000 copies per issue. The other Marvel titles that sold on average over 200,000 copies per issue were Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, and Star Wars. And the title whose sales most dramatically increased was Frank Miller’s Daredevil, improving the 130,000 copy average it had in 1981 to 180,000 in 1982.

With its 181st issue (April 1982), Daredevil produced one of Marvel’s most illustrious publications, and not just for 1982 but for all of its voluminous, decades-spanning history.

The 38-page issue—dedicated to the memory of Wallace Wood—begins with Daredevil nemesis Bullseye breaking out of prison. Once free, he attempts to reclaim his position as The Kingpin’s chief assassin by hunting down the assassin who replaced him: Elektra. After a lengthy, sparsely narrated sequence, B u l l s e y e stabs Elektra through the chest with her own sai. It is a vivid image, brutal for its time. With her last vestiges of life, Elektra stumbles through Manhattan to reach the home of her lover, Matt Murdock. She then dies in his arms.

By issue’s end, Daredevil puts Bullseye in the hospital with a

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shattered spine, a physical crippling that matches the emotional one suffered by Daredevil. Subsequent Daredevil issues showed Matt Murdock coming to grips with Elektra’s death, confronting The Punisher in the “Child’s Play” story that was originally meant to be published in 1980, and dealing with amplified sensory perceptions that overwhelmed him.

Daredevil reached a creative and commercial zenith.

But as 1982 drew to a close, Frank Miller had already committed to walking away from the title. His energies were more focused on a new project for 1983, one he created himself, and one that was going to be published solely for the Direct Market… by DC Comics.

Matt Murdock mourns the death of Elektra in this image taken from the cover to Daredevil #182.

Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

most popular creators and promising new talent. Indeed, at one point during its inception, the series had been titled Marvel Showcase before being renamed Marvel Fanfare (“Marvel News: August” 6). The first issue’s content includes a Spider-Man/Angel main feature by writer Chris Claremont and artist Michael Golden (the story had originally been slated for Marvel Team-Up), a Spider-Man/Silver Surfer inside cover spread by John Byrne, a back cover drawn by Frank Miller, and a Daredevil back-up story by writer Roger McKenzie and artist Paul Smith (officially Smith’s first professionally published work). Guiding Marvel Fanfare was Al Milgrom, who not only edited the title’s stories but also wrote and drew its “Editori-Al”, a nine-panel grid cartoon in which Milgrom, as himself, introduces the issue’s contents while poking fun at such Marvel luminaries as Claremont and Jim Shooter.

Printed on magazine quality glossy paper, Marvel Fanfare was the first ongoing series that Marvel Comics offered exclusively to the Direct Market.

Angel, Marvel Fanfare and Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Direct Market Marvels Marvel had its own Direct Market plans for 1982, starting with the oneshot Star-Lord: The Special Edition #1 (Feb. 1982). Ostensibly a colorized reprint of Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin’s first collaboration from Marvel Preview #11 (June 1977) as well as a seven-page Dave Gibbons drawn story from Dr. Who Magazine (May 1981), Star-Lord #1 was “special” because it was Marvel’s first foray into

offset printing on Baxter paper stock, sold exclusively to the Direct Market.

The following month, Marvel published the first issue of an ambitious, Direct Market exclusive, ongoing title that had been in the works since 1980: Marvel Fanfare. Released bi-monthly, priced at $1.25, printed on magazinequality glossy paper, and boasting 32 pages of content with no ads, Marvel Fanfare was a slick super-hero anthology, showcasing both Marvel’s 58

Marvel’s plans for the Direct Market didn’t end with Marvel Fanfare. Following European publishers’ lead, in 1982 Marvel launched an ongoing line of graphic novels with larger dimensions than a typical comic book (8-1/4” x 11” as compared to the typical comic book’s 7” x 10-1/4”) and a much higher price point (either $4.95 or $5.95 depending on the graphic novel’s page count). The first graphic novel Marvel published in this new line was The Death of Captain Marvel (April 1982), written and drawn

by Jim Starlin. Marvel actually intended on debuting its graphic novel line in 1981, but as The Comic Reader announced in its Nov. 1981 issue, Stalin suffered a dislocated finger on his drawing hand while playing volleyball. That injury pushed back the release dates of all the scheduled graphic novels to 1982 (“Marvel News: November” 3).

Like its title makes clear, The Death of Captain Marvel relates the demise of Kree-born soldier Mar-Vell, a.k.a. the appointed “Protector of the Universe,” Captain Marvel. On his death bed on the Saturn moon of Titan, Mar-Vell is paid his final respects by the pantheon of Marvel Comics super-heroes—Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Defenders—and even by some of his adversaries—the Skrulls officially honor Mar-Vell as their greatest single enemy—before

he passes away from cancer. With his last breath, Mar-Vell finds himself in another dimension, confronted by his arch-enemy, Thanos, who introduces him to the robed figure of Death.

When Mar-Vell’s heart beats its last beat, Mar-Vell, Thanos and Death walk hand-in-hand into a bright light, presumably the threshold to the afterlife. With that, Mar-Vell’s vital signs go flat. And he is pronounced dead.

Made famous for its spectacular, super-heroic melees, Marvel presented one of its most restrained, solemn stories with The Death of Captain Marvel. Readers were enrapt nonetheless.

In a “Bullpen Bulletins” column, Jim Shooter claimed the graphic novel at one point was the best-selling trade paperback in the country as over 50,000 copies had been sold by the beginning of the summer (Kim Thompson). All told, The Death of Captain Marvel sold out eight print runs, totaling 200,000 copies (Schmuckler 31).

But that graphic novel was just the first of several Jim Starlin books to be offered exclusively to the Direct Market in 1982. Late in the year, Marvel published Warlock #1 (Dec. 1982), the first of a six-issue mini-series, reprinting Jim Starlin’s Adam Warlock saga from the 1970s. In the same format as the Star-Lord one-shot, Warlock offered 48 story pages on Baxter paper, priced at two dollars. It gave Marvel “a chance to showcase a series which met with critical acclaim but little commercial success its first time out,” as reprint editor Al Milgrom attests in his introduction to the first issue.

An Epic Imprint Jim Starlin was also involved in a new Marvel imprint: Epic Comics. Due to the success of Marvel’s Epic Illustrated magazine, which let creators retain copyright of their work, several creators—chiefly, Sergio Aragonés, Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, and Jim Starlin—proposed to Jim Shooter that Marvel publish new creative properties but with the stipulation that the creators—and not Marvel—retain, not just copyright, but ownership of these new properties. Won over by the propositions, Shooter turned to Epic Illustrated editor Archie Goodwin to edit a new line of books—Epic Comics—that gave creators the freedom to present more mature mate-

rial and more importantly, let creators own their creations. Instead of being paid a page rate, creators would earn a percentage of their book’s sales.

Upon hearing the offer, Goodwin berated Shooter right out of his office.

Goodwin had no time to coordinate the launch of a new Marvel imprint; his workload was already too burdensome. So Shooter asked Al Milgrom if he wanted to be the line editor.

Upon learning that Milgrom heartily accepted the assignment, Goodwin stormed into Shooter’s office and berated him again, this time for taking Epic Comics away from him (Michael Thomas). With that, Epic Comics was under Goodwin’s control, Mary Jo Duffy was his assistant, and Shooter left them alone to do their jobs.

Despite what his tirade against Shooter might suggest, Archie Goodwin was one of the most amiable professionals in the industry. As Shooter himself explains, “Archie had a manner about him that you just couldn’t not like him. While he was tough as nails, and he was probably the best 59

Top: Mar-Vell, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, on his deathbed.

Above: The Death of Captain Marvel was the first of many Marvel Comics graphic novels.

Captain Marvel TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

that passed through this business, he managed to do it without offending anyone. He managed to be respected and remain friends with everyone and do his job” (Michael Thomas). Put another way, there was perhaps no better person than Archie Goodwin to convince comic book professionals to bring their creations to Epic who would otherwise have nothing to do with Marvel Comics as long as Jim Shooter was in charge. Whether Goodwin could stem the tide of creators taking their work to the new independent publishers remained to be seen.

The first comic book published under the Epic imprint was Jim Starlin’s space opera, Dreadstar. The bi-monthly Epic series was the fourth chapter of Starlin’s “Metamorphosis Odyssey” with the previous chapters appearing in 1980-1 issues of Epic Illustrated, the 1981 Eclipse graphic novel The Price, and finally Marvel’s third graphic novel of 1982, Dreadstar. The Epic series features the super-powered Vanth Dreadstar, whose desire to live a peaceful existence is shattered when a war between the Monarchy and the Instrumentality wipes out most of the population of his planet, including his wife. Dreadstar dedicates himself to ending the war with the aid of a small—but formidable—crew of adventurers.

Thanks to the launch of Epic Comics, the new graphic novel line, Marvel Fanfare, the Direct Market exclusive reprint series, and even just the continued growth of new comic book stores opening up around the United States, twenty percent of Marvel Comics’ total 1982 sales came from the Direct Market (Rozanski).

Marvel Super-Heroes (Un)Limited In 1982, Marvel finally began publishing mini-series that featured its super-heroes. Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions was the first comic book to carry the “Marvel Comics Limited Series” banner, and as its first issue boasts, it features “every single super hero on Earth” (or at least every one that Marvel owned). As such, Contest of Champions became the precursor of a new kind of “event” book that in later years DC and Marvel would both use religiously to promote their individual publishing lines.

Ironic then that Marvel previously aborted the Contest of Champions story in 1980. Back then, Marvel published an oversized Spider-Man/Hulk Treasury book tied to the Winter Olympics taking place in Lake Placid, New York. A house ad in that Treasury promised readers that a “Marvel Super Heroes at the Summer Olympics” book was “coming this summer.” But when President Jimmy Carter boycotted the United States’ participation in the Summer Olympics—being held that year in Moscow—because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, Marvel’s Olympics book became a moot point and was appropriately cancelled.

Living in South America at the time and unaware of Marvel’s change of plans, artist Pablo Marcos continued inking John Romita Jr.’s pencils on the Summer Olympics book. Since no one had provided him a deadline, Marcos inked at his leisure until one day in 1981 he brought the completed pages to Marvel’s New York offices and asked for the remaining pages so he could finish the assignment. What

Al Milgrom draws himself for Marvel Fanfare’s “Editori-Al.” Marvel Fanfare TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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another editor might have seen as wasted labor on Marcos’ part, thenAssistant Editor Mark Gruenwald saw an opportunity too good to pass up. Gruenwald proposed to Shooter that the story be revised—foremost by removing all 1980 Summer Olympics references—and published

by Marvel as a three-issue limited series. When Shooter agreed, Bill Mantlo was tapped to revise the script originally written by Gruenwald and Steven Grant back in 1980 (Tandarich 12). Many of Marvel’s characters had undergone drastic changes in the past couple of years (e.g., Ms. Marvel had lost her powers, Yellowjacket and Black Goliath were no longer superheroes, Captain Marvel died, et al.), so Bob Layton was given the task of updating the artwork. Layton is credited in Contest of Champions #1 as providing “additional art.”

In Contest of Champions, every Marvel super-hero is mysteriously transported to an arena in Earth’s orbit (no longer Moscow’s Olympic Dome they were intended to travel to in 1980). Included are international super-heroes that were created specifically for the 1980 Summer Olympics book: Israel’s Sabra, France’s Le Peregrine, Argentina’s Defensor, Australia’s Talisman, Ireland’s Shamrock, West Germany’s Blitzkrieg, China’s Collective Man, and Saudia Arabia’s Arabian Knight.

Enter Elder immortal The Grandmaster and a hooded figure identified as The Unknown. The Grandmaster explains the stakes: while Earth has been placed into a state of suspended animation, its super-heroes will partake in a tournament. Two opposing teams will hunt for four pieces of the “gleaming globe of life,” hidden on Earth. If the Grandmaster’s team collects the most pieces, his deceased brother—and fellow Elder immortal—The Collector will be restored to life. If the Unknown’s team wins, the Grandmaster will “join his brother in oblivion.” The Grandmaster’s threat that Earth will be released from its suspended animation only upon the completion of the tournament coerces the super-heroes’ participation.

Then, like modern day fantasy sports rotisserie owners, The Grandmaster and the Unknown draft their teams, which—given the story’s Olympic roots—deliberately exhibit an international composition. The Grand-

own life. Not one to quit any game, The Grandmaster forfeits his life. As Death and an indignant Collector vanish from the arena, Earth is restored with its super-heroes returned to it.

That would have been the end of the story if not for the fact that a survey of each team’s lineup reveals someone at Marvel goofed. Since The Grandmaster collected two pieces of the globe through Daredevil and Thing, and Death collected two pieces through Arabian Knight and Shamrock, The Grandmaster did not truly win the match. It actually ended in a tie. But no one at Marvel caught the error as the final issue went to the printer. The readers noticed though, and many wrote to Marvel to point out the gaffe. Tom DeFalco describes what happened when he and Gruenwald were summoned to Jim Shooter’s office: Jim was holding all three issues of Contest, and he wasn’t smiling. Seems we screwed up. The game was actually a tie, and neither Mark nor I realized it. Jim was not pleased.

He asked us what we were going to do about it. I, of course, had no idea. Mark not only did, but he immediately informed Jim that the mistake was put in deliberately to set up a sequel. I don’t think Jim ever fell for that line, but Contest had certainly sold well enough to deserve a sequel so he approved it on the spot.

(Tandarich 17)

Marvel’s super-heroes are gathered for the 1980 Summer Olympics a tournament arranged by the Grandmaster.

All depicted characters TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

master selects Captain America, Wolverine, Thing, Daredevil, She-Hulk, Captain Britain, Darkstar, Talisman, Defensor, Le Peregrine, Sasquatch, and Blitzkrieg. The Unknown, on the other hand, goes with Iron Man, Invisible Girl, Storm, Iron Fist, Black Panther, Angel, Sunfire, Arabian Knight, Sabra, Vanguard, The Collective Man, and Shamrock.

Divided up into groups of three, the super-heroes are scattered across

the Earth. They combat each other as they hunt for the four pieces of the globe. In the third issue, the final piece gets collected by Shamrock.

The other pieces were secured by Daredevil, Arabian Knight, and The Thing. With that, The Grandmaster is declared the winner of the contest, but The Unknown—who is revealed to be Death—discloses a final deceit: in order to resurrect The Collector, The Grandmaster must sacrifice his 61

The follow-up to Contest of Champions wouldn’t get published until 1987. And a few years before that, Jim Shooter would recycle the heroesmysteriously-collected-into-an-otherworldly-arena plot for one of the most successful comic books of the 1980s. But until then, Marvel made frequent use of the limited series format to showcase its second-tier characters. In 1982, that included the Bob Layton written and drawn Hercules: Prince of Power, and the Bill MantloRick Leonardi collaboration Vision and Scarlet Witch, the fourth issue of which revealed Magneto to be the father of the sibling mutants Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

a plot in which Darkseid and Dark Phoenix joined forces. DC, however, overruled Darkseid’s usage on the grounds that he isn’t a Teen Titans villain. At a lunch conference, Marv Wolfman produced the solution acceptable to all parties: New Teen Titans’ villain The Terminator (a.k.a.

Deathstroke) would serve as Darkseid’s agent (Nolen-Weathington 42-3).

Titled “Apokolips… Now,” the story has Darkseid resurrecting Dark Phoenix to use her power to turn Earth into a new Apokolips. Eventually, the New Teen Titans and the X-Men turn Dark Phoenix against her evil ally. With Darkseid in her fiery clutches, Dark Phoenix traverses the cosmos and fuses the Lord of Apokolips within the Source Wall, ensuring his demise.

The New Teen Titans and The X-Men introduce themselves in this splash page from the Marvel and DC Present: The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans one-shot.

Teen Titans TM and © DC Comics. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Marvel and DC Present…

For the Final Time It was Marvel’s turn to produce the next DC/Marvel cross-over, and on August 10, 1982, Marvel released the 64 page Marvel and DC Present: The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans. According to Jim Shooter, the original plan for the book was to pair The X-Men with the Legion of SuperHeroes, but DC swapped in the New Teen Titans in order to feature the characters of their current best-sell-

ing title (Broertjes 11). The original plan also assigned Dave Cockrum to draw the book, but he became too busy handling the regular Uncanny X-Men art chores. No replacement had been named until one day artist Walt Simonson walked into the office of his wife—X-Men editor Louise Jones—and overheard her and Chris Claremont discuss using Darkseid for the cross-over. He told them, “If you guys are using Darkseid, I’m drawing the book” (Nolen-Weathington 42).

Together, the three of them fashioned 62

By the time the Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans one-shot was published, the next DC/Marvel crossover—this one teaming up the Justice League of America with The Avengers—was already in the works. In fact, in his “Meanwhile…” column printed late in the year, DC Vice President Dick Giordano not only announced the summer 1983 release of the JLA/Avengers team-up but also announced a second X-Men/Teen Titans book would be out around Christmas.

What hardly anyone could have foreseen, though, was that despite Giordano’s announcements, no other DC/ Marvel collaboration would be published for the rest of the decade.

NeXt Gen In 1981, Uncanny X-Men was Marvel’s best-selling title by a considerable margin, so considerable that a second X-Men title seemed a logical business decision. That’s at least what Jim Shooter’s superiors thought. However, in an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Shooter claimed he had no desire in the early 1980s to dilute the success of Uncanny X-Men with another XMen title. He instead preferred the X-Men to appear—either individually or as a group— as guest-stars in other Marvel titles (such as ROM, Micronauts, Dazzler, and Marvel Team-Up) or in their own limited series.

The first X-Men-related limited series featured one of Marvel’s most popular characters: Wolverine.

As Claremont detailed in his 1987 introduction to the Wolverine trade paperback, he and Frank Miller brainstormed the limited series during a shared six-hour car ride on a California freeway as they left the 1981 San Diego Comic Con. Neither had any interest in presenting Wolverine as the “berserker psycho-killer” (as he had been commonly portrayed up to that point). Claremont offered to Miller that Wolverine was more of a “failed samurai” than a maniac.

He was a man who failed his duty by allowing his primal animalistic instincts control his actions. That kind of characterization brought Miller on board the project. With Claremont writing, Miller drawing and Josef Rubenstein finishing Miller’s pencils, Wolverine became a four-issue exploration of a fallen hero attempting to redeem himself to the woman he loves. The first issue opens with Wolverine’s soon-to-be-memorialized signature catch phrase: “I’m the best there is at what I do. But what I do best isn’t very nice.” Those lines open a narrative that’s heavy on first-person captions but almost completely devoid of the thought balloons one usually

found in a Chris Claremont scripted comic book of the 1980s. Wolverine seems closer in storytelling style to Miller’s Daredevil than Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men, which could make one assume that despite only being listed as the book’s penciller, Miller co-wrote Wolverine. That’s not so, according to Wolverine’s editor Louise Simonson (nee Jones). In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Simonson stressed that Claremont tailored Wolverine’s narrative to complement Miller’s visuals.

Claremont, however, resumed his usual method of storytelling for an XMen spin-off published late in 1982.

It was a book that Claremont and 63

The next group of X-Men, The New Mutants, debuted in Marvel Comics’ fourth graphic novel in advance of their own ongoing series.

The New Mutants TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Louise Jones had spent many months formulating and fine tuning, keeping all of their planning to themselves as they waited for the right artist to become available. But their problem was that, despite Shooter’s disinclination to publish a second X-Men book, other Marvel creators approached him to pitch one anyway. One such proposal came in 1981 from Mark Gruenwald who wanted to collect the castaway members of the original XMen (Angel, Iceman, Beast, Havok, and Polaris) and set them up on the West Coast as an “X-Men West” team.

Shooter brought Gruenwald’s idea to Jones and asked what she thought of it. Fearing that Shooter wouldn’t authorize two X-Men spin-offs, Jones told him that she and Claremont had already created a new team of mutants: a group of teenagers who Professor Charles Xavier takes under his wing to help master their newly emergent powers (Sanderson 57).

The original X-Men reunion would have to wait as Shooter opted for Claremont and Jones’ proposal, swayed perhaps by its bringing the X-Men back to its inaugural school concept, something he quite admired (Broertjes 11). Thus, The New Mutants headlined Marvel’s fourth graphic novel, a 48-page story drawn

by Bob McLeod. The ongoing monthly New Mutants title would debut early in 1983, and it would prove to be not only one of Marvel’s strongest sellers for the remainder of the decade, but also the first of a long line of X-Men spin-off titles.

enough, Shooter also had publishing agreements Marvel’s licensing executives made with toy companies foisted on him. Team America was a line of stunt vehicle toys, endorsed by famous daredevil Evel Knievel and produced by Ideal Toys, and Shooter became charged with turning it into a Marvel Comics property (sans Knievel). The team of motocross heroes first appeared in Captain America #269 (May 1982).

Their ongoing title was scheduled to debut the following month

A Real American Comic Book One of the crosses that Shooter continued to bear was his superiors’ demand that Marvel publish movie adaptations. In 1982, the feature films Annie, Blade Runner, Time Bandits, and Conan the Barbarian were all given the “Marvel Movie Special” treatment. However, the plans to adapt the first two Rocky movies in advance of the theatrical release of Rocky III were shelved (“Marvel News: September” 3).

As if dealing with unwanted movie adaptations wasn’t burdensome

Wolverine TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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with David Anthony Kraft and Mike Vosburg as its assigned writer and artist. But the day before Team America #1 was going to be shipped out to the color separators, Jim Shooter read the issue and came to a firm opinion of it: “It was a train wreck. Pathetic.

Lousy. Stupid beyond human imagining. An embarrassment. Totally unprintable” (Aushenker 73). To meet deadline, he had no choice but to

rewrite the script himself and call in some friends—particularly inker Vinny Colletta and colorist Christie “Max” Scheele—to redo the issue overnight. The issue shipped on time, but that inauspicious start became a bad omen as Team America struggled to find its readers—and its creative team as no one seemed eager to work on the book—and was cancelled in a year’s time.

Another toy property Marvel converted into a comic book series in 1982 also initially seemed destined for failure, although at least Marvel was the beneficiary of the most expensive television advertising campaign in comic book history. In 1982, Marvel began a long-lasting business relationship with toy company Hasbro Industries, who were re-launching their military-themed G.I. Joe line as 3-1/4” action figures (similar in size to the Star Wars action figures that Kenner produced). Like every other toy company, Hasbro was hamstrung by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s restrictions on how toys could be advertised on television. Specifically, the FCC restricted the amount of animation a toy commercial could use (under the assumption that animation could fool a child into believing that the promoted toy could do on its own the fantastic deeds presented in the commercial).

Most toy commercials of that era resorted to showing children handling the toys, a rather dull approach but the regulations ostensibly curbed creativity. Hasbro’s advertising agency, Griffin Bacal, proposed a clever sidestep of the regulations. The FCC placed no restrictions on television advertising of comic books, so if Marvel were to publish a G.I. Joe comic book based on the new action figure line, Hasbro could produce fully animated commercials that solely pro-

moted the comic book along with non-animated commercials that solely promoted the action figures.

Since the action figure commercials recycled some of the animation used in the comic book commercials, the two sets of commercials effectively formed a cross-promotional gestalt.

project. For G.I. Joe’s backstory and characters, Hama returned to a comic book proposal he previously worked up for Marvel about a group of specialized S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives called “Fury Force.” That pitch had been shot down, but Hama salvaged many of its concepts and characters for G.I. Joe (like Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Hawk). Goodwin then conceived the Cobra terrorist organization as the Joe’s principal antagonist (Cronin). The resulting comic book expressed the nationalistic zeitgeist of “Reagan’s ’80s”: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. The first issue of the monthly ongoing— written by Hama with art

by Herb Trimpe and Bob McLeod—debuted cover date June 1982.

Despite the commercials, the G.I. Joe comic book wasn’t a runaway bestseller out of the gate. In fact, when Shooter introduced the book at a Direct Market distributors’ meeting, it was met with such apathy that he had to offer G.I. Joe #1 to the Direct Market retailers on a returnable basis, and even then, only 100,000 copies were presold (Irving). It wouldn’t be until the airing of the syndicated animated cartoon—which launched as a five-episode mini-series in September 1983—before sales of G.I. Joe really took off. Consequently, G.I. Joe TM and © Hasbro some of the earliest G.I. Joe comic books became And Hasbro was willing to spend a hot commodities on the secondary lot of money to make it all work, $3 market, even into the early 1990s. million on the animated ads alone Overstreet’s Comic Book Price Guide (Miller 619). #19, released in 1989, values a near mint copy of G.I. Joe #2—which was It was too good an offer for Marvel rarer than the first issue because of to turn down, so Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Tom DeFalco, and Larry its smaller print run—at $30. In the Hama took on the task of developing 1989 pages of Comics Buyer’s Guide, the new G.I. Joe into a comic book sevarious back issue retailers adverries (and a prospective animated teletised G.I. Joe #2 for $40. vision series) (DeFalco 206). With his G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero would Vietnam War military service and exprove to be one of Marvel’s most sucpertise in firearms and martial arts, cessful titles. That success just wasn’t Hama seemed the perfect fit for the evident in 1982.

65

The Fight Over A Duck

lications.

Specifically, Kirby claimed he didn’t know Marvel reused his Depatie-Freleng Fantastic Four cartoon storyboards for the anniversary Fantastic Four #236 (Nov. 1981) until after the issue saw print. This contradicted the declaration within FF #236 that Kirby consented to Marvel’s use of his storyboards. Kirby also said he didn’t receive any monetary compensation for the reuse.

An evident success in 1982 for FantaCo Enterprises was their Chronicles series, spotlighting various Marvel Comics titles. Their 1981 X-Men Chronicles sold out its 50,000 copy print run, but it was published without Marvel’s permission.

Prior to its publication, FantaCo editor Roger Green approached Jim Shooter and was assured by him that as long as The X-Men Chronicles was a “journalistic piece,” there was no need to obtain a license from Marvel. And then Shooter matter-of-factly added, “If you violate our copyright, we’ll just sue” (Green). Marvel turned out to be very appreciative of FantaCo’s spotlight on their X-Men, so on November 18, 1981, Marvel’s vice president Michael Hobson approved a license for the production of the next two Chronicles editions.

This allowed FantaCo to run a “Marvel Comics Group” banner on the covers to Fantastic Four Chronicles and Daredevil Chronicles, which respectively received 70,000 and 80,000 copy print runs.

But in March 1982, when Jim Shooter actually read the contents of The Fantastic Four Chronicles, he erupted, showering Mitchell Cohn—another FantaCo editor—with profanity via telephone (Green). Subsequently, Marvel declined to license FantaCo’s upcoming Avengers Chronicles and Spider-Man Chronicles, a move which actually didn’t hinder FantaCo from publishing those books in the summer of 1982. The cause of Shooter’s ire was an interview with Jack Kirby in which the former Fantastic Four co-creator made comments about Marvel that one might be surprised to read in one of its licensed pub-

Top: Proceeds from the publication of Destroyer Duck helped fund Steve Gerber’s lawsuit against Marvel Comics. Above: Photo of Jack Kirby at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con. Courtesy of Alan Light.

Destroyer Duck TM and © Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby estates.

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More inflammatory was Kirby’s steadfast commitment to writer Steve Gerber’s lawsuit against Marvel with regards to the ownership of the Howard the Duck character. Created by Gerber for a 1973 Man-Thing story, Howard the Duck had gained a cult following along with critical acclaim as he earned his own title in 1976 and even a syndicated newspaper strip in 1977. But when Jim Shooter removed Gerber from the strip in 1978 for chronic lateness, Gerber felt his contract had been violated and had his lawyers threaten Marvel with legal action. Marvel volleyed that threat with the termination of Gerber’s contract. So Gerber found himself not only removed from the Howard the Duck newspaper strip but from the Howard the Duck comic book as well.

Gerber made the next move: on August 29, 1980 he sued Marvel for the rights to Howard the Duck, a bold act considering the prevailing presumption that comic book publishers owned all the characters appearing in their pages. Lawsuits, however, are lengthy matters, and Gerber needed money to maintain his. He hoped a new comic book would raise some necessary funds, so Gerber turned to his friends and colleagues to help him out. Chief among them was Jack Kirby. The two creators were already well acquainted: they collaborated

on both the Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon and an unpublished adventure comic book called Roxie’s Raiders.

When Gerber apprehensively asked Kirby to draw a full comic book without pay, Kirby immediately replied, “Sure, sounds like fun” (Knowles 16).

Kirby had the utmost sympathy for Gerber’s cause since he felt Marvel had cheated him of due compensation for all the characters he created (or co-created) in the 1960s that were making Marvel millions of dollars by that time.

Together, Gerber and Kirby created Destroyer Duck for a ground-breaking comic book offered exclusively to the Direct Market in January 1982. Priced at $1.50 and published by Eclipse Comics, Destroyer Duck #1 was blazoned with a “Special Lawsuit Benefit Edition” banner. The story introduces Duke “Destroyer” Duck, whose only friend— a fellow duck named “The Little Guy”—gets transported to another spacetime continuum, where he is exploited and held subservient to the all-powerful GODcorp: “Grab It All, Own It All, Drain It All.” Eventually, The Little Guy becomes too troublesome for his worth so GODcorp dissects him. He then arrives back home to die on the Duke’s floor. Destroyer Duck travels “across the expanse of Nega-Space” to battle GODcorp and avenge his friend. Kirby historian Chris Knowles accurately describes Destroyer Duck #1 as “a hilarious screed against the increasing corporatization of Marvel Comics and Reagan’s America” (Knowles 16).

The Little Guy serves as an analogue to both Howard the Duck—the exploited fictional character—and its creator, Steve Gerber—the figurative “little guy” going up against the big Marvel Comics corporation.

Along with its lead feature, Destroyer Duck #1 also included shorter contributions from Mark Evanier, Dan Spiegle, Martin Pasko, Joe Staton, and

Scott Shaw. Sergio Aragonés’ Groo the Wanderer—a Conan the Barbarian parody—made its debut in the issue.

And none of these creators got paid.

Eclipse Comics—which previously published Gerber’s Stewart The Rat graphic novel in 1980—didn’t even take any profit for publishing the issue. As Gerber details in the issue’s

tle more than 20% of his substantial legal costs (Morrow 16A).

But Gerber didn’t let Destroyer Duck serve just as a personal fundraiser.

The comic book also served notice that a new era was dawning in the comic book industry; Gerber told his readers, “Whatever the outcome of my lawsuit, the advent of the direct sales market is shifting the emphasis in the industry from the companies to the creators.”

Old Faces in New Places By 1982, many long-established comic book creators had already staked their professional future with the new publishers servicing the Direct Market.

Don McGregor—who distinguished himself in the 1970s writing Killraven and Black Panther stories for Marvel—re-launched his post-apocalyptic Sabre as an ongoing Eclipse series. The first two issues reprinted (and colorized) the pioneering 38-page Sabre “comic novel” that Eclipse published in 1978.

Mike Grell originally created Starslayer in the late 1970s for DC Comics, but he was able to buy back the rights and have Pacific Comics publish it as a creator-owned series.

Starslayer TM and © Mike Grell.

editorial page, all profits from the sale of Destroyer Duck #1 went to support his legal efforts against Marvel. Gerber explained on a Los Angeles science fiction talk radio show in 1986 that the 80,000 copies sold—along with the proceeds collected from the sale of a 1982 “F.O.O.G.” (Friends Of ‘Ol Gerber) Portfolio—helped cover a lit67

Pacific Comics expanded its publishing line by recruiting an impressive roster of veteran talent with the same lure used to hook Jack Kirby: full ownership of their creations plus royalties. Writer/artist Mike Grell had actually accepted Pacific’s offer before Kirby had, but Grell’s obligations to the Tarzan newspaper strip and Warlord comic book delayed the publication of Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger until cover date 1982. DC Comics originally planned to publish Starslayer in the late 1970s as a counterpoint to Warlord; Grell explains, “Instead of a modern man in a primitive society, I decided to go the other way around and take a primitive man and put him into the middle of a very futuristic society and watch what happened there” (Sanford). But Starslayer instead became yet another casualty of the “DC Implosion.” Grell bought back

the rights from DC and turned it into a creatorowned series for Pacific.

Inadvertently, Starslayer launched the career of another comic book creator, one soon to be regarded as one of the best in the industry: Dave Stevens. By 1982, Stevens already had an impressive résumé, having inked Russ Manning’s pencils on the Tarzan newspaper strip as well as drawing storyboards for animated shows like Super Friends and movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Stevens was also familiar with Pacific Comics’ co-owners, Bill and Steve Schanes, as he frequented their San Diego comic book store. At the 1981 San Diego Comic Con, The Schanes brothers approached Stevens with a dilemma: the second and third issues of Grell’s Starslayer were going to be short on pages and needed a six page back-up feature to fill them out. They asked Stevens to create something they could use (Cooke).

Stevens went home, mulled it over and created an homage to Commando Cody and all the other movie serial heroes of yesteryear: The Rocketeer.

In 1930s Los Angeles, pilot Cliff Secord discovers a rocket backpack and uses it to become a high-flying adventurer dubbed The Rocketeer. By the time the character made its second appearance in Starslayer #3, readers had flooded Pacific with fan mail.

Artist Michael Kaluta wrote a letter that gushed, “Your Rocketeer stories are, for me, the most fulfilling experience in years.” The Schanes brothers knew they had something special on their hands, even before Stevens’ beautifully evocative artwork won him the Russ Manning award for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con. So Pacific began producing Rocketeer postcard sets, prints, and T-shirts, and hoped Stevens would commit to an ongoing title. But the artist already had a well-paying, full-time job, and he had

Neal Adams’ considerable fan following was all abuzz about the publication of Ms. Mystic #1 (Oct. 1982)… but little did they know they would be waiting a long time for the publication of Ms. Mystic #2.

Rounding out Pacific Comics’ 1982 slate was a reprint of John Byrne’s 1970s Rog2000 work, Bruce Jones’ EC Comics-inspired anthologies Alien Worlds and Twisted Tales, Scott Shaw’s Wild Animals, and Sergio Aragonés Groo The Wanderer. As stated earlier, Groo debuted in Destroyer Duck #1, but it almost became part of Marvel’s Epic Comics line. Prior to 1982, Aragonés had asked Jim Shooter if Marvel would publish a comic book that Aragonés would retain ownership of. Shooter said he would, but before he could implement the Epic Comics imprint, Aragonés had accepted Pacific’s offer to publish Groo the Wanderer (Michael Thomas).

Besides expanding its publishing line, Pacific Comics also expanded its Direct Sabre TM and © Don McGregor.

Market distribution opno stomach for the comic book arterations, adding an Illinois ist’s life with its deadline pressures warehouse to the ones it already and long hours at the drawing board had in Los Angeles and Phoenix. By (Cooke). Instead, he agreed to have September 1982, Pacific had already The Rocketeer be the lead feature of grossed over $3.5 million for the year the publisher’s next new title, Pacific and expected 1983 to be an even betPresents. ter year (Sanford).

Sharing Pacific Presents was Steve The First And The Next/ Ditko’s “Missing Man,” which was The Old And The New previously introduced as a back-up feature in Jack Kirby’s Captain VicIn 1980, the comic book industry tory #6 (Sept. 1982). Earlier in the seemed like an Old West ghost town year, Captain Victory #3 previewed with little prospect of renewal. Two Neal Adams’ Ms. Mystic. Adams’ first years later, the direct sales market significant comic book work since turned the industry into a burgeonthe publication of the Superman vs. ing metropolis, with new comic book Muhammad Ali tabloid in 1978, Ms. publishers keen on taking residence.

Mystic stars a witch burned at the In June 1982, former DC Comics public stake in the late 17th century whose relations director Mike Gold formally soul migrates to the late 20th century introduced his Evanston, Illinoiswhere she is resurrected by a group based First Comics. Gold had been of environmentally-conscious scibrewing First Comics since May 1981, entists. With her magic powers, she but it wasn’t until 1982 that Gold had resolves to rid the Earth of pollution. all the essential staff in place: him68

self as President and Managing Editor, Rick Obadiah as Publisher, and Joe Staton as Art Director, among others.

He also had assembled enough creators—including Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell, and Frank Brunner—to produce a small group of titles that would distinguish itself in the comic book market. Appreciating the spectacular failure of Atlas in the mid1970s as a warning that a comic book publisher’s reach shouldn’t exceed its grasp, Gold stressed First’s publishing line of five titles would be rolled out slowly over the course of 1983 (Kim Thompson 13). As far as how Gold came up with name “First Comics,” he explained years later that he was evoking DC and Marvel’s penchant for trumpeting premiere issues: We called it “First Comics” because way back in 1982, publishers liked to put a big ol’ #1 on their covers wherever they could. Sometimes it was the third or fourth #1 on that title; sometimes it wasn’t the first issue but merely the first from that publisher… As far as I was concerned, every time DC or Marvel would do this, they were promoting First Comics. (24) Later in the summer, Archie Comics announced its plans to revive its Red Circle imprint, this time exclusively for the Direct Market. Archie first created Red Circle in the early 1970s for a few short-lived, non-Riverdale High titles. In its re-launch, Red Circle would feature The Mighty Crusaders, a super-hero team Archie published during its mid-1960s “Mighty Comics Group” days. John Carbonaro had originally licensed the Mighty Crusaders from Archie to pair them with his recently acquired T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in his own JC Comics line (which he hoped Archie would fund).

In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, artist Rich Buckler said it was with this license that Carbonaro approached him to be involved in the Mighty Crusaders revival. Carbonaro even set up a meeting between Buckler and Archie Comics’ publishers Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater, who subsequently hired Buckler to write and draw The Mighty Crusaders. It didn’t take long though for the Archie publishers to contemplate an expanded

Above: Photo of the Pacific Comics booth at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con. Courtesy of Alan Light.

Below: Two new titles Pacific Comics released in 1982: Groo The Wanderer and Ms. Mystic.

Groo TM and © Sergio Aragonés. Ms. Mystic TM and © Neal Adams.

line of books featuring all of the Mighty Comics Group super-heroes.

But according to Buckler, Silberkleit and Goldwater knew nothing about the Direct Market, and the artist had to educate them about the crucial differences between publishing for the newsstand and publishing for the Direct Market. In addition, it was clear to Buckler that Silberkleit and Goldwater had no faith in the professionally-inexperienced Carbonaro. They had much more confidence in Buckler’s ability to get the job done. So when the re-launch of the Red Circle line was announced, the Archie pub69

lishers had reneged on its license to Carbonaro and instead handed the reins to Rich Buckler. Carbonaro got the consolation prize of a freelance editing contract (Mougin 10). As managing editor, Buckler planned the Red Circle imprint to have six bimonthly or quarterly books, all to be launched during cover date 1983. At the time of the announcement, no creative assignments had been firmly set (other than, again, Buckler writing and drawing the flagship Mighty Crusaders title). But Buckler did stress to the fan press that he would rather recruit “new talent” than steal

creators from other publishers (“Red Circle on the Move” 19).

However, some of the new talent weren’t interested in working for other companies.

Some of them wanted to start their own publishing enterprises to bring their own creations into the Direct Market spotlight.

For instance, Gerry Giovinco, Phil Lasorda, and Bill Cucinotta were so eager to burst onto the comic book scene, they dropped out of art school and formed Comico. Their inaugural title was a black-and-white anthology called Primer, whose first issue featured the soon-tobe-forgotten Slaughterman, Az, Mister Justice, and Skrog.

Primer #2, though, introduced the work of a fellow art school dropout, someone who would eventually become one of the most distinguished creators of the 1980s and beyond: Matt Wagner.

Twenty-one years old at the time Primer #2 was published, Wagner presented artwork similar to his fellow dropouts: mechanically flawed and unrefined. But twenty-five years after his debut, Wagner insists he isn’t ashamed about it. At the beginning, what Wagner lacked in professionalism, he more than made up for in zeal and vision. He likens his earliest work to the early ’80s punk music that stressed rebellious earnestness, often times at the expense of finesse.

His creative approach was personal and visceral: “I wanted to read (and ultimately create) comics that spoke to me on a gut level and not something that had to answer to years and years of corporate ‘continuity.’ I wanted to make my own myths and not sponge off the diluted efforts of those spawned in past generations” (Wagner 1).

1982 advertisement promoting Comico’s upcoming titles, including Matt Wagner’s Grendel.

Comico TM and © Andrew Rev. Grendel TM and © Matt Wagner.

What Wagner created in 1982 was Grendel, a concept that cleverly inverted the traditional hero/villain trope in that the story’s hero wore villain’s clothing and vice versa. Suave, sophisticated Hunter Rose was secretly the ruthless, criminal mastermind Grendel, pursued by the feral yet noble monster named Argent.

Together, Grendel and Argent create a symbiotic opposition, their hatred for each other destined to bring about their mutual destruction. For Matt Wagner, Grendel would prove to be but the first of many innovative comic books he would go on to create.

Yet arguably, no comic book of the 1980s was as innovative as Love and 70

Rockets, created, written, and drawn by Southern Californian siblings Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez (and joined initially by their older brother Mario).

Released in the summer of 1982 as a magazine sized, 66-page collection of interspersed, black-and-white stories, Love and Rockets #1 defies classification, or even simple description.

Summarizing the plots of the stories would misrepresent the book’s raison d’etre completely. Love and Rockets is part highminded sequential art experiment and part profane farce, presenting characters with names like Rand Race, Penny Century, Harold Penis, and Cha Cha Charlie. A homicidal horror named Bem, recently escaped from an island prison, is pursued by a super-detective named Castle Radium who mourns the loss of Jayne, “a great woman, a brilliant scientist, a good mother, a crack plumber.” Radium swears to end Bem’s reign of terror “if only for the memory of Jayne’s great curry.” In Love and Rockets, anything went. The fantastic seemed mundane, and the ridiculous seemed reasonable.

“Los Bros Hernandez” originally selfpublished Love and Rockets in 1981 as a single issue fanzine, with an 800 copy print run. That’s when it got the attention—and admiration—of The Comics Journal’s executive editor Gary Groth who soon offered to publish the book as an ongoing series in his Fantagraphics line. Love and Rockets would go on to be recognized as one of the industry’s most avant garde publications, and it—and its creators—would be nominated several times for an Eisner award in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Down and Out The Direct Market served a feast of comic book entrees bought to its table by publishers large and small, new and old, professional and amateur.

Some venerable publishers, though, continued to eschew the Direct Market for the traditional newsstand. Unfortunately for these publishers, they now found themselves not only behind the times, but also going out of business. Harvey Comics suspended its publishing operations in the autumn of 1982, and Warren Publishing followed suit in December. Meanwhile, Charlton Comics cancelled Charlton Bullseye, its only title that presented new material. Charlton’s monthly offerings now consisted solely of reprints, a publishing line

that had no chance of long term success—or even survival.

Irjax’s warehouses and formed Diamond Comic Distributors (Rozanski).

And in a development some of the Direct Market distributors probably found poetic, Irjax Distributing—whose 1978 anti-trust lawsuit against the comic book publishers instigated the remarkable growth of the Direct Market—went out of business. Irjax had used the settlement money from its lawsuit to create a chain of distribution warehouses along the East Coast. It then offered substantial discounts to retailers. The plan was to undercut the competition, drive out the other distributors, and then negotiate better terms with the publishers. By 1982, Irjax only succeeded in driving itself out. A Baltimore retailer, Steve Geppi, acquired

All in all though, the industry had expanded considerably in 1982, but there was room for more… as 1983 would prove.

Above: head shots of characters appearing in one of the most avant garde comic books in the history of the medium: Los Bros. Hernandez’s Love and Rockets.

Love and Rockets TM and © Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez.

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1983

Controversy

Over A Proposed New

Comics Code

In 1982, comic book publishers—both new and established—provided the Direct Market consumer with innovatively fresh material of varied genres: sci-fi epics like Camelot 3000 and Dreadstar, adventure stories like “The Rocketeer” and Starslayer, horror anthologies like Twisted Tales, and even eclectic, experimental fare like Love and Rockets. What’s more, every Direct Market-exclusive comic book publisher was profiting, as First Comics’ Managing Editor Mike Gold asserted at the time: Comics are a boom industry right now. New comic sales, comic stores and the like have never been stronger. In an environment where the unemployment rate is more than 11 percent, the economy is absolutely horrible, and people are starving and freezing to death, comic book sales are going up.

(Johnson 51)

In 1983, even more new publishers introduced more new titles to the Direct Market, but some industry professionals began to scrutinize all these new titles, and upon finding provocative material in some of them, they grew concerned. They had foreboding visions of outraged parents, highly publicized litigation against retailers, congressional hearings and a new Dr. Fredric Wertham-like authority figure taking center stage to vilify the comic book industry. They argued that labeling comic books would prevent troublesome attention from outside sources. Others disagreed. Ultimately, the debate over the merits and flaws of a new self-imposed ratings system would dominate the comic book industry discourse of 1983.

First Impression But that debate wouldn’t begin until the summer. Until then, publishers kept rolling out their new offerings, starting with First Comics. The very first First comic book was Warp #1 (March 1983), a spin-off of a science fiction stage play trilogy of the same name, originally performed in 1971 by Chicago’s Organic Theater Company. The trilogy—about a bank teller who discovers he is truly Lord Cumulus, “avenger of the universe”—remained in production since its inception and even had a Broadway run in February 1973. Rick Obadiah served as the managing director of the Warp stage plays in 1980, when it performed at—among other venues—Mike Gold’s Chicago Comicon.

In 1981, Gold and the Organic Theater Company co-produced a 16 page promotional comic book titled Weird Organic Tales, drawn by Joe Staton, reproducing scenes from several of Organic’s plays, including Warp. After that, Obadiah and Gold discussed adapting Warp into an ongoing comic book, consequently becoming the impetus for the formation of First Comics, with Obadiah as its publisher and Gold as its managing editor (Johnson 52). Writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Frank Brunner were hired to collaborate on Warp’s twenty-page feature story while other

CHAPTER FOUR

by Keith Dallas

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creators, principally writer John Ostrander, contributed to the title’s eight-page back-up stories. For Frank Brunner, it was a return to regular comic book work after a long hiatus. Brunner distinguished himself as a comic book artist in the mid-1970s—most notably on Marvel’s Doctor Strange—until he turned to other artistic endeavors, like paperback novel cover illustration and fine art painting.

When he returned to the comic book industry, he made clear that he would never again work for the “House of Ideas.” In an open letter printed in the cover date March 1983 fanzines, Brunner condemned Marvel’s “medieval dictum” (a.k.a. its work-for-hire contract) which stipulated creators relinquish their rights to anything they’ve written or drawn for Marvel. Brunner labeled Marvel a “fascist organization” and even chastised fellow artists Jim Starlin and Barry Windsor-Smith for acquiescing to Marvel’s demands, thereby “allowing themselves to be exploited.”

Brunner disseminated his letter the same month that Marvel released Doctor Strange Special Edition #1 (March 1983), a Direct Market-exclusive reprint of four 1974 Doctor Strange issues by Steve Englehart and Brunner.

equation as a chest emblem.

After purchasing the rights to E-Man from Charlton, First transferred them to Staton, who repaid First’s expenses via deductions in his page rate. Originally, Staton was to be paired with his E-Man co-creator, writer Nick Cuti, but Cuti’s editorial obligations with DC Comics made him unavailable. Substituting for Cuti was Marty Pasko, whose approach to E-Man was drastically different than that of his predecessor. With Cuti at the helm, Chalton Comics’ EMan was a lighthearted, action-packed romp. With Pasko at the helm, First Comics’ E-Man was a no-holds-barred, action-packed parody, taking vicious jabs at various targets. After ridiculing Steven Spielberg in E-Man #1 (April 1983), Pasko took aim at the most popular comic book of the 1980s. In the second and third issues of E-Man, Alec Tronn encounters a group of super-heroes calling themselves “The Unhappy F-Men”, led by its blind founder, Ford Fairmont. The allusions to The Uncanny X-Men and its writer, Chris Claremont, were obvious. They were made even more obvious by the physical appearances of the FMen closely resembling Marvel Comics’ best-selling mutants, never mind the fact that The F-Men had names like

It was also the same month that Warp #1 was released, and initially, First Comics planned to publish Warp as its first and only title. Business manager Rick Felber, though, convinced Gold and Obadiah to publish a whole line of comic books (Johnson 54). So in 1982, when Joe Staton was hired as First’s art director, he was given the opportunity to create his own comic book. At that time, Staton was concerned he was being pigeonholed as a “funny super-hero” artist. To buck that stereotype, Staton created a NASCAR-themed Southern/ Midwestern super-hero that he felt former Daredevil scribe Roger McKenzie would be the perfect writer for because of his familiarity with Southern culture. Staton spent months developing this new concept, but just before he could figure out an appropriate name for the character, Mike Gold rhetorically asked why he was creating a new super-hero when an existing one could be revived, a character that Joe Staton’s fans were already very familiar with (Read 38).

With that, First’s next title was put on its 1983 schedule: a re-launch of the funny super-hero published by Charlton from 1973 to 1975, E-Man. Created in a star gone nova, a glob of sentient energy wanders through space until arriving on Earth where he turns himself into a human male.

The first person he meets, exotic dancer Nova Kane, christens him “Alec Tronn.”

With the ability to transform himself into pure energy, alter his physical appearance into any imaginable shape, and fire energy bolts from his hands, Alec Tronn is inspired by the reading of comic books to become the super-hero E-Man, complete with an orange costume emblazoned with Einstein’s famous “E=MC2”

First Comics revived Joe Staton’s 1970s creation, E-Man, for the 1980s.

E-Man TM and © Joe Staton.

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1983 TIMELINE

May 19: The first issue of Batman and the Outsiders – in which Batman quits the Justice League in order to form a new super-hero team – goes on sale.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 28: 1970s Superman inker Frank Chiaramonte dies of cancer at the age of 40.

March 8: President Reagan labels the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire.”

April 18: 63 people die when the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is attacked by a suicide bomber.

April 25: Soviet Union leader Yuri Andropov invites Samantha Smith, a 10 year old schoolgirl from Maine, to visit the USSR after reading her letter in which she expresses fears about nuclear war.

April 26: The Dow Jones Industrial Average moves past 1200 for the first time in its history.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

M AY

June 13: The U.S. space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, becomes the first spacecraft to leave the solar system.

May 25: Return of the Jedi, the third Star Wars film, opens in movie theaters.

June 17: Superman III, starring Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor, opens in movie theaters.

JUNE June: The first issue of First Comics’ American Flagg! – written and drawn by Howard Chaykin – goes on sale exclusively at Direct Market stores.

March 23: President Reagan proposes the “Strategic Defense Initiative”: the development and deployment of technology to intercept incoming enemy missiles; the media dub the plan “Star Wars”.

June 1: Synchronicity, the fifth and final album by rock band The Police, is released and includes the number one single “Every Breath You Take.”

April 28: Priced at $2.50, the first issue of Frank Miller’s Ronin goes on sale exclusively at Direct Market stores.

February 28: The last episode of M*A*S*H, the award winning and popular television show about a “mobile army surgical hospital” operating in the Korean War, airs on CBS.

Superman TM and © DC Comics. Ronin TM and © Frank Miller. Marvel Comics, Thor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi TM and © Lucasfilm.

Snott Slummers, Ororeo, and Kitty Porn. Not content just to send up the X-Men characters, Marty Pasko also lampooned Claremont’s X-Men narrative style, providing the F-Men with overwrought, verbose thought balloons, like this one for Ororeo as she confronts E-Man’s partner: “By the positive role model! Nova is fantastic—such power, such ability, such beauty! I admire her, even as I know I must bash her upside the head and kidnap her, though I am loathe to do it.” E-Man #2 also featured unflattering caricatures of Stan Lee, Jim Shooter and John Byrne. To be sure, throughout 1983 E-Man sought to give anyone and everyone a bloody nose.

A late 1983 house ad lists First Comics’ line-up.

TM and © First Comics.

But in an editorial printed in the 1989 Comico revival of E-Man, Joe Staton admitted that he didn’t appreciate First Comics using his creation for “heavy-handed put-downs and unintelligible in-group jokes.” He felt his E-Man property was being damaged, 74

perhaps irrevocably so. Fortunately for Staton, he didn’t have to wait long for a creative change to occur; with E-Man #9 (Dec. 1983), Pasko was no longer the regular writer on the series, allowing Staton and editor Rick Oliver to restore E-Man to its former benign flippancy.

As mentioned earlier, Joe Staton served as First Comics’ art director.

In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Staton explained the position was a misnomer; Staton really didn’t have the authority to edit or “direct” artists, nor did he want that authority since the titles First was publishing were creator-owned.

That is to say, Staton felt he didn’t have—and didn’t want—the right to impose himself on books that were very personal projects to the professionals who created them.

Case in point: Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!. By the time American Flagg! arrived in Direct Market stores in June 1983, Chaykin had been

September 1: Korean Air Lines 747 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed.

October 1: Billy Joel’s 1978 album 52nd Street September 5: Tom Brokaw becomes the first compact becomes lead anchor for NBC disc (CD) available for Nightly News. purchase.

July 15: The Nintendo Entertainment System goes on sale in Japan.

November 2: President Reagan approves the creation of a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor Martin Luther King Jr. November 3: The Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

November 9: Marvel Comics’ parent company, Cadence Industries, becomes a private corporation.

November 20: The Day After, a television movie dramatizing a fictitious nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union, airs on ABC. Almost 100 million viewers tune in.

J U LY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

September 19: The Love Connection, a Chuck Woolery-hosted television game show that sent its contestants out on dates, begins airing in syndication.

August 2: Thor #337 – introducing Beta Ray Bill in the first issue of Walt Simonson’s new tenure on the title – goes on sale.

a comic book professional for over ten years, having written and drawn for Marvel, DC, Warren, Red Circle, Atlas, and Heavy Metal magazine. In 1977, he became a star on the rise when he drew Marvel’s comic book adaptation of Star Wars. But Chaykin had no interest parlaying his Star Wars success into opportunities to work on any of the commercially popular super-hero titles. Instead, Chaykin chose to tackle subject matter that engaged his personal interests, like graphic novel adaptations of Samuel R. Delany’s Empire and Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination. None of these works proved commercially successful though, so by the early 1980s, Chaykin found himself in considerable debt. Despite his financial situation, Chaykin’s experiences with unproven, new comic book publishers (e.g., Atlas) made him reluctant to work with First. Once Mike Gold detailed how profitable a creatorowned comic book published by

September 17: Vanessa Williams becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America.

NOVEMBER

October 25: A military force, led by 1,800 U.S. Marines and Rangers, invade Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. President Reagan says the action is intended to protect American medical students in Grenada.

October 23: 241 U.S. Marines die and 80 others are injured when a Muslim terrorist crashes his explosive-filled truck into the Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon.

First could be, Chakykin’s concerns were alleviated. He then formulated American Flagg! which the self-professed “patriotic liberal” would later describe as “the apotheosis of all the things he’d been reading, studying, and learning since a teenager” (Schweier 3). It would also become one of the 1980s’ most critically acclaimed comic books.

Written and drawn by Chaykin, American Flagg! presents the planet Earth in the year 2031 governed by the corporate entity called “The Plex.” A series of economic, political and environmental calamities in the late 20th century forced the United States government to relocate to Mars. Reuben Flagg, a famous actor, gets drafted to serve as a law enforcement “Plexus Ranger” in the Chicago Plexmall. He quickly learns the country’s status quo consists of graft, rampant paramilitary gang violence, and a population agitated by televised subliminal messages. With bold audacity, Flagg 75

DECEMBER

December 2: The music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is broadcast for the first time.

acts to obliterate the status quo.

Just as bold and audacious as its protagonist, American Flagg! was a dystopian tale in which Chaykin extrapolated a nightmarish future from conditions that disconcerted him in his present. Through American Flagg!—and its portrayal of an America taken over by corporations, consumerism, ideological zealotry, and vulgar popular culture—Chaykin expressed his viewpoint of “Reagan’s 80s” and what it would yield. Or perhaps Mike Gold put it best, “If Howard [Chaykin] was the creative spirit doomed to always be ahead of his time… then American Flagg! was uncannily in its time” (Schweier 5).

American Flagg!’s content was energetic, satirically profane and often risqué, but the manner in which Chaykin presented this content garnered as much praise as the content itself. For an unconventional comic book, Chaykin used unconventional storytelling techniques. He designed

jagged panel arrangements.

He dropped out borders to cause elements of one panel to spill into adjacent panels. He had sound effect lettering serve as visual effects. And perhaps most noticeably, he created a grainy shaded art style through the use of Craftint artboard. For American Comic Book Chronicles, Chaykin authority Brannon Costello explains American Flagg!’s significance: American Flagg! was a major contribution not just to comics but to the comic book. The eye-popping formal innovations, the political satire, the depth of characterization, the snappy dialogue— American Flagg! was proof that while comics in their monthly serial form tended to be disposable and forgettable, they didn’t have to be. Chaykin showed that the comic book didn’t need to be “transcended” in order to be sophisticated, that the supposed limitations of the comic book were really only limitations of imagination, dedication, and ambition.

American Flagg!’s brilliance was immediately recognized by comic book readers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean as the comic book’s 1983 output earned it—and its creator—ten nominations for Great Britain’s prestigious Eagle Award (Favorite Penciller, Favorite Inker, Favorite Writer, Favorite Comic, Favorite Character, Favorite Supporting Character, Favorite Story, Favorite New Comic Title, and twice for Favorite Comic Cover).

It ultimately won seven of those categories.

A fellow Eagle Award nominee also became part of First Comics’ inaugural roster of creative talent: writer/ artist Mike Grell. Having been acquainted with Mike Gold for years— and with his tenure on the syndicated Tarzan newspaper strip ending in February 1983—Grell eagerly seized the opportunity to create a title for First. A fan favorite on such sci-fi,

super-hero and fantasy titles as Superboy and the Legion of SuperHeroes, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Warlord, and Starslayer, Grell produced a more down-to-earth comic book for First. Using his military experience as inspiration, Grell created Jon Sable, Freelance. The titular character is a New York City-based costumed mercenary whose alter ego is a best-selling children’s book author. Written and illustrated by Grell, Jon Sable was one part James Bond, one part Mike Hammer, with no shortage of gunplay. In the series’ first issue (June 1983), Sable saves President Reagan from an assassination attempt.

First Comics’ inaugural lineup was consummated with another Mike Grell title, one that had already debuted with a different publisher.

With issue #7 (August 1983), Starslayer was no longer published by Pacific Comics; its home was now First Comics, where it would remain for the rest of its volume. Grell partly brought Starslayer over to First because of his friendship with Mike Gold and partly because he felt Pacific had insurmountable organizational problems (Sanford). Even though he removed 76

Top: An example of the innovative layouts Howard Chaykin designed for American Flagg!

American Flagg! TM and © Howard Chaykin.

Starslayer from the problems he saw at Pacific, Grell had no time to devote himself to the title. His hands were tied writing and drawing Jon Sable, so he left Starslayer after issue #8, passing the baton to writer John Ostrander and newcomer artist Lenin Delsol.

To be expected, Bill and Steve Schanes—Pacific Comics’ publishers—weren’t happy with Grell’s departure. It was a public relations black eye that potentially threatened Pacific’s viability if other creators fol-

With its focus on a group of super-heroes who are “Homo-Geneticus” and a villain obsessed with the destruction of all life, Silver Star (first issue, cover date February 1983) evoked both Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men and Kirby’s previous work on The New Gods. Besides now regularly working on three comic books (Pacific’s Captain Victory and Silver Star and Eclipse Comics’ Destroyer Duck), Kirby still managed to produce a Captain Victory Special for a summer release. Far less productive than “The King,” Neal Adams couldn’t finish the second issue of Ms. Mystic for cover date 1983, but he did find the time to write and draw the roller-skating super-hero one-shot Skateman. Bruce Jones, on the other hand, collaborated with his wife April to create both the crime noir mystery Somerset Holmes—drawn by Brent Anderson—and the futuristic, racially themed Silverheels, with artist Scott Hampton. Jones also continued to produce his Alien Worlds and Twisted Tales anthologies. Twisted Tales #5 (Oct. 1983) proved notable for its controversial “Banjo Lessons” story, which depicted the murder and cannibalism of an African-American at the hands of a group of white hunters. Many readers found the story racially insensitive and gratuitously gruesome, even for Twisted Tales’ standards.

Jon Sable, Freelance TM and © Mike Grell

lowed Grell’s lead and took their projects elsewhere. Despite the defection, all seemed profitable for Pacific in 1983. Besides the continued distribution of art portfolios and autograph prints exclusively to the Direct Market, Pacific also considerably expanded its line of comic books. It included Berni Wrightson: Master of the Macabre, Jeffrey Jones’ Ravens & Rainbows, and Jim Starlin’s Darklon the Mystic, all of which reprinted 1970s material. It also included the debut

of two anthologies—Bold Adventure and Vanguard Illustrated—as well as Roy Thomas, P. Craig Russell, and Michael T. Gilbert’s adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s Elric fantasy novels. Meanwhile, three Pacific Comics mainstays—Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, and Bruce Jones—all introduced new titles for the publisher. Jack Kirby’s next Pacific Comics project was a sixissue adaptation of a screenplay he tried to sell to Hollywood movie producers in the mid-1970s: Silver Star.

77

Trouble, though, was headed Pacific Comics’ way, and it had nothing to do with the contents of its books. Boasting one of the comic book industry’s largest publishing line-ups (surpassed only by DC and Marvel), Pacific Comics’ prosperity was about to be sabotaged by the other—equally considerable—part of its enterprise: its Direct Market distribution operation.

In 1984, The Schanes brothers would learn that the manner in which they distributed material to the Direct Market retailers carried a high cost, one which they couldn’t pay.

Archie’s Red Circle Revival Wreck Archie Comics experienced a lot of tribulations in 1983, all of them self-produced. In 1982, Archie Comics agreed to license its Mighty Crusaders characters to John Carbonaro who had Rich Buckler on board as his writer/artist. Archie quickly changed its mind, however, and revoked Carbonaro’s license. The new exploits

of the 1960s super-hero team would instead be published under Archie’s revived Red Circle imprint with a new line of Direct Market-exclusive comic books. Archie Comics’ publishers Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater dismissed Carbonaro from the endeavor and hired Buckler as Red Circle’s Managing Editor.

In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Buckler stressed that despite being ousted—and despite being understandably bitter about his ouster—Carbonaro continued to help Buckler formulate the initial concepts for the Red Circle books.

Carbonaro did so, Buckler believes, because of his genuine affection for the “Mighty Comics Group” super-heroes: The Shield, The Fly, Fly Girl, The Black Hood, The Comet, The Web, and The Jaguar.

When Silberkleit and Goldwater handed the Red Circle reins over to Buckler, they asked him what he needed to launch their new line of comic books. A comic book professional since the late 1960s, with many distinctions on his resumé, including a long run on Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s, Buckler had unsurpassed knowledge of comic book production and the professionals who worked in the industry, so he told the publishers, “Give me an office and a telephone, and I’ll take things from there!” (Buckler). After an initial impulse to use the new writers and artists that Carbonaro had recruited from the fan ranks, Buckler ultimately decided to hire seasoned professionals to produce the new Red Circle titles. Many of these creators were no longer getting work from other comic book publishers. Artists Gray Morrow,

Alex Toth, and Dan Spiegle contributed to the new Black Hood comic book while Tony DeZuniga inked over Dick Ayers’ pencils for Shield back-up stories. Former DC Comics editor Jack C. Harris and former Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes artist James Sherman worked on The Fly. Producing the covers to the first two issues of The Fly (May & July 1983) was Jim Steranko, the legendary artist whose pay rate Richard Goldwater felt was too expensive for Archie. Buckler remembers convincing Goldwater that Steranko’s covers would give the Red Circle imprint immediate credibility with the Direct Market retailers and consumers. In addition, writer/ editor Bill DuBay was culled from the now defunct Warren Publishing and he brought artists Rudy Nebres and Alex Niño with him. Robin Snyder, formerly an assistant editor at DC

Rick Buckler’s original pencil art for the wraparound cover to The Mighty Crusaders #2. Courtesy of Rich Buckler.

The Mighty Crusaders TM and © Archie Comics.

78

The Mighty Crusaders and Comet TM and © Archie Comics.

Comics, became Buckler’s assistant, and Amazing Heroes contributor David M. Singer was hired to write introductory text pieces to familiarize new readers to characters not published in nearly twenty years. Besides managing the production of the other titles, Rich Buckler also handled the task that brought him to Archie in the first place: writing, drawing, and editing The All New Adventures of The Mighty Crusaders.

According to Buckler, The first issue of that Red Circle flagship title (cover date March 1983) sold over 100,000 copies, an impressive feat for a Direct Market-exclusive title at that time.

Unfortunately for him (and Archie), that debut would prove to be the zenith of the Red Circle imprint. The publishing venture went downhill from there, and rather quickly too.

For one, despite a considerable lead time as well as a bimonthly publication schedule for each of the new titles, production delays were rampant. Part of the problem was that, by his own later admission, Buckler was in over his head. Buckler had never previously served as a comic book editor, and keeping track of everything associated with the production of half a dozen titles proved more than he could handle (Buckler). Also, some creators received conflicting deadlines. For instance, James Sherman was greatly looking forward to drawing the new adventures of his favorite super-hero, The Fly. Richard Goldwater gave him a six-issue art assignment on The Fly and also told the artist that he would have two months to draw, letter and color each issue.

But a week after receiving the script to Fly #1, Sherman was told by Buckler he had seven days to finish the issue. So two months suddenly became two weeks. Annoyed but undeterred, Sherman worked around the clock to meet the deadline. When he submitted his finished pages at the Archie offices, Buckler informed Sherman that he hired another artist to draw The Fly #2. Rather than resume his work on the title with Fly #3, a miffed Sherman quit on the spot. As a result, the story that ends with a cliffhanger in Fly #1 gets resolved rather abruptly in Fly #2: a Buckler-drawn splash page is followed by two Sherman drawn pages, the last two pages that Sherman handed in for Fly #1. And

then the story just ends. The next page starts a Fly-Girl story. In the Fly #2 letter column, Robin Snyder declares, “A few of you will grumble and gnash your teeth but it won’t do a bit of good. Face it: James Sherman has moved on.” Snyder then announces Steve Ditko as The Fly’s regular artist.

Production on the Red Circle titles was not only delayed, it was expensive, at least by the publishers’ standards. Buckler insisted to the Archie publishers that the writers and artists he was hiring be paid the same page rate they would receive at either Marvel or DC Comics. Those page rates were considerably higher than what Silberkleit and Goldwater were accustomed to paying for work on Archie’s Riverdale High School books.

By Buckler’s estimation, a Red Circle title cost two or three times more to produce than one of Archie’s newsstand titles. No doubt, Silberkleit and Goldwater were in uncharted waters, dealing with these kinds of budgets as well as the kind of experienced talent Buckler (and later, DuBay) was hiring. An argument even occurred between Goldwater and Carmine Infantino, who had been hired to draw Red Circle’s six-issue Comet mini-series. According to Infantino, Goldwater was upset with the fact that Infantino was keeping his Comet original artwork. Legally entitled to the artwork, Infantino wouldn’t give it back free of charge, but he did of79

fer to sell it back to Goldwater. Apparently, that offer rubbed Goldwater the wrong way; he fired the artist and swore Infantino would never work for him again (Amash 141). Subsequently, Red Circle published only two issues of Comet.

The Red Circle delays and costs quickly made Silberkleit and Goldwater question whether it was all worth it.

By May 1983—barely a year into Rich Buckler’s editorial reign, and only five months after Red Circle debuted in stores—Silberkleit and Goldwater relieved Buckler of his managing duties. Editing was now dispersed amongst Buckler (still responsible for The Mighty Crusaders), Bill DuBay (handling The Black Hood as well as his own writing on Comet), and Robin Snyder (on The Fly, Shield, and Blue Ribbon Comics). The demotion disheartened Buckler. He had spent months setting up a line of titles focused on super-heroes he had been fond of since childhood, only to have it taken away with an explanation that made no sense to him: Once DuBay came on board, I was told by Richard Goldwater and [Archie Production Manager] Victor Gorelick that all they ever wanted from me was to draw their Mighty Crusaders flagship title. An obvious lie, since Goldwater and Silberkleit hired me for much more. Why was I set up as

CHRONICLES FLASHBACK: 1983

“A Fly On The Wall...”

James Sherman Reflects On -hadn’t been enough time for the contract to show up in the mail, and I was fairly certain I could get the 18 pages done. So, I spent the second week lettering dialog, inking pages, and painting color guides.

That next Friday the contract still hadn’t arrived.

I walked into the editor’s office with all 20 pages lettered and inked and 20 color guides. He stood behind his desk turning through my finished pages and color guides and asked, “Where’s the rest of the pages?”

Only had one issue of The Fly, but Tommy Troy was my all-timefavorite character. I read the comic book as a kid, same age as Tommy, but he could defy gravity, had a ring that gave him an alter ego, and a Buzz Gun allowed him to shoot bad guys without killing. I spent that summer pretending to be Tommy/The Fly defying gravity with snorkel goggles underwater in seaweed gardens off a Long Island beach. Had a toy ray gun to shoot villainous fish and occasional dog sharks.

Dumbfounded, I said, “You asked for the first 18 by today. This is 20.”

Years later, as if some weird destiny at play, Archie Comics’ Richard Goldwater offered me the 6 issues of the 1983 relaunch of The Fly with 2 months per issue to pencil, letter, ink, and color (guides).

His editor handed me a 30-page script for issue one, written by Jack C. Harris. I’d worked/talked with Jack at DC Comics and was glad for the team-up again.

Inspired by Jack’s script, and my favorite comic book, I went straight to work on the story that day. Had so much fun, I’d done a cover design sketch and rough penciled the first 20 of the 30 pages the first week. The editor called that Friday; asked how much I had done.

I told him.

He announced, “I have somebody else doing the cover, and the story has to be split to fit the first 2 issues. I need the first 18 pages penciled, inked, lettered, and colored by next Friday.”

He informed me, “Doesn’t matter, I’ve got another guy doing issue 2.”

At that moment I stopped caring about the assignment, told him, “Get him to do 3 to 6.”

“You’re quitting?”

“You were an artist: how can you treat people like this?”

“Don’t be naïve.”

Jim Steranko drawn cover for The Fly #1.

The Fly TM and © Archie Comics.

I walked out. Had other work waiting.

“You said I’d have 2 months per---”

When The Fly #1 appeared in print, I saw credits had changed, bits of dialog had been rewritten/relettered, and some of Jack Kirby’s art had replaced some panels.

“There’s nothing I can do about it.

You’ll have 3 months on the next.”

Wow. Where was a Buzz Gun when needed?

“This’s a helluva lot of sudden pressure to p---”

– James Sherman

I asked, “What, you’re reneging?”

He interrupted, “Reneging on what?”

“Just do it or I’ll find somebody else to do the series.” He hung up.

Should have quit right then, but there 80

official Managing Editor, given free reign and the power to hire virtually all of the talent necessary to launch their line of super-hero books?

Privately, Buckler became convinced Snyder and DuBay had schemed to supplant him and hijack the Red Circle line for their own purposes. Since DuBay was married to Buckler’s sister, the office politics were made even more personal for Buckler.

The editorial maneuvering, however, did nothing to improve Red Circle’s fortunes. Sales continued to slide.

The production budgets got more expensive. The critical reception was mostly uncomplimentary. And with no coordination among the editors, continuity among titles was non-existent. In November, Goldwater and Silberkleit rebranded all the Red Circle titles as “Archie Adventure Series” under the logic that an Archie banner had more recognition and value than a Red Circle one (Cobb). The price point was dropped from a dollar to 75 cents, and the paper quality was reduced as well.

At the beginning of the year, Bob Greenberger reviewed Mighty Crusaders #1 for The Comics Journal. He unflatteringly described the issue as “an average comic book story with average comic book art” and also predicted that Red Circle would be the first casualty of a glutted comic book market (41-2). His forecast ended up being both right and wrong. While “Archie Adventure Series” wouldn’t fold until 1985, it was already evident by the end of 1983 that comic book readers considered Archie’s superhero imprint an afterthought.

Thunderstruck Even though John Carbonaro had been excluded from Red Circle, his publishing pursuits were nonetheless affected by the office politics being played out by Goldwater, Buckler, Snyder, DuBay, and company. That’s because the man who held the rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents property remained linked to Archie through an arrangement where Carbonaro paid for the production and packaging of a new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents title while Archie printed and distributed it (Sodaro).

Carbonaro considered himself ben-

One of the prevalent super-hero role playing games of the 1980s was Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Villains and Vigilantes. Villains and Vigilantes TM and © respective copyright holder.

efiting from the arrangement since it meant he wouldn’t have to foot the entire publishing bill as he had previously for the one-shot black-andwhite magazines JCP Features in 1981 (starring the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) and Basically Strange in 1982. Neither of those magazines proved financially successful, so Carbonaro welcomed the funding that Archie provided. Even with the printing costs taken care of, Carbonaro still couldn’t match the kind of production budgets DC, Marvel, or even Red Circle had for their comic books.

Therefore, he turned to creators who worked on his 1981 magazine— writer Chris Adames and artist Lou Manna—as well as newcomer inker Will Blyberg to produce his JC Comics’ T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (May 1983) which he trumpets with beaming pride in the issue’s editorial page: “Hey, we did it, new stories and art for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in a color comic.”

In the same editorial, Carbonaro declares T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2 would arrive in stores in August. In actuality, it wouldn’t come out until October, and it would be the final issue printed and distributed by Archie. According to Carbonaro, Archie wanted JC Comics to remain subordinate to the larger Red Circle imprint, so an eight-month lead time was imposed on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, which practically halted production (Cooke 115).

The Archie publishers also believed 81

the JC Comics title that reprinted the 1960s Tower material—Hall of Fame Featuring The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents— would be more profitable than the title presenting new stories (Cooke 116). Three issues of Hall of Fame were published in 1983.

But Carbonaro found other opportunities to showcase his beloved T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. In 1983, he loaned out the characters for Justice Machine Annual #1, written by William Messner-Loebs, drawn by Bill Reinhold, with a wrap around cover

by Michael Golden. The 64 page oneshot was co-published by Noble Comics—its final publication—and Houston-based newcomer Texas Comics.

While the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents/Justice Machine team-up may have been the Annual’s main attraction, the book’s back-up feature, written and drawn by Bill Willingham, would prove to have a more lasting legacy.

In the early 1980s, Willingham drew for both the Dungeons & Dragons and Villains And Vigilantes role playing games, but in his own words he “desperately wanted to draw comic books,” preferably Marvel Comics (Deppey 73). By 1982, Willingham wasn’t able to secure any work assignments from any of Marvel’s editors, so he decided to draw some sample pages—featuring a set of generic characters he created solely for the sample pages—to submit to the independent publishers as demon-

strations of his artistic talent. One of the publishers Willingham contacted was Noble Comics, and they very much liked what Willingham had sent them. They asked Willingham to relocate to Grand Rapids, Michigan— their base of operations—and work

for them. Willingham accepted the offer. But once he moved to Michigan, he discovered that Noble didn’t hire him to draw Justice Machine or Cobalt Blue, their existing titles. Instead, Noble hired him to draw a new comic book featuring the characters in his submitted sample pages, characters Willingham had considered disposable. In other words, with his sample pages Willingham didn’t

just pitch himself; he inadvertently pitched a whole new comic book. And now he had very little time to flesh out the characters and create a story for them. By his own admission, Willingham went into “make it all up as I go along” mode. He even looked back at his recent Villains And Vigilantes work and, for expediency sake, took the super-villains from his “Death Duel With The Destroyers” module and used them as opponents for his new super-hero team: The Elementals (Deppey 75).

Magically risen from the dead, Morningstar, Vortex, Monolith and Fathom obtain superpowers that correspond to the four elements of nature: fire, air, earth and water. Together, they are the Elementals!

Noble Comics publisher Mike Gustovich intended to add The Elementals to his publishing lineup, but by 1983, Gustovich was being pulled in two different directions: he was performing duties as an independent comic book publisher, and he was inking regularly for both Marvel and First Comics. One of those pursuits had to be relinquished, and Gustovich decided it would be the publishing one.

He closed up Noble Comics.

Upon learning of this development, the newly formed Texas Comics quickly seized the opportunity to license both Justice Machine and

Left: Michael Golden’s back cover to Justice Machine Annual #1 (above) displays Bill Willingham’s Elementals.

Justice Machine TM and © Mark Ellis.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

The Elementals TM and © Andrew Rev.

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Willingham’s Elementals.

The aforementioned Justice Machine Annual #1 serves not only as the first appearance of The Elementals but as the official passing of Noble’s baton to Texas Comics. A house ad in the back inside cover of that issue promotes the impending debut of Texas Comics’ two bi-monthly ongoing titles: Justice Machine #1 would arrive in stores in October while The Elementals #1 would come out in November.

However, despite their ambitions, Texas Comics folded before they could release either of these issues.

In the course of publishing Justice Machine Annual #1, they ran out of money (Deppey). This meant The Elementals were back in Willingham’s hands without a home, but it wouldn’t take long for another publisher to ask the creator to bring his title into its stable. For Bill Willingham and his Elementals, 1984 would prove to be a breakout year.

Fan Press Furor By 1983, The Direct Market had been deluged not only by new comic book publishers, but also by new periodicals focused on the comic book industry. David Anthony Kraft—a comic book writer since the mid-1970s, working most notably on Marvel’s Defenders and Savage She-Hulk titles—debuted his Comics Interview magazine in February. Unlike other comic book periodicals (i.e., The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes, Comics Feature), Comics Interview eschewed news and feature articles in order to provide—as its title indicates—a slew of interviews of comic book professionals. While Comics Interview would eventually be recognized as one of the finest publications of its kind, one of its initial readers—a well known letter hack—wanted more from the magazine. In a letter printed in Comics Interview #3 (May 1983), this reader made clear he enjoyed the premiere issue but prodded the

A Texas Comics house ad promotes its two upcoming titles: Justice Machine and The Elementals.

Justice Machine TM and © Mark Ellis.

The Elementals TM and © Andrew Rev.

more professional-looking newspaper than what Light had produced. While Light’s Buyer’s Guide had typewritten, pasted-up columns (along with many handwritten advertisements), Krause’s CBG was entirely typeset. Not everyone applauded the change.

Some readers argued the typeset was a poor substitute for the charm of The Buyer’s Guide’s pasted-up layout. Cat Yronwode—author of The Buyer’s Guide’s popular “Fit to Print” column—arguably had the most reason to complain about the change in ownership as she now had editorial guidelines imposed on her that restricted the kind of commentary she had been accustomed to writing (Thompson 22).

Nonetheless, as co-edited by longtime Buyer’s Guide contributors, Don and Maggie Thompson, CBG would soon become one of the standard bearers of comic book news journalism. The husband and wife team would put the newspaper on the road toward industry greatness.

editors to make the interviews more in-depth. Kraft accepted the criticism and invited the reader to be one of Comics Interview’s contributing editors. This reader, however, was too busy getting his own professional career off to the right start as the regular writer of Marvel’s Power Man and Iron Fist title. His name was Kurt Busiek.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Comics Scene. After the publication of its eleventh issue, the bi-monthly comic book magazine was cancelled by its publishers who were unhappy with Comics Scene’s sales numbers. Before its cancellation though, one of Comics Scene’s articles started a debate that gained the attention of every comic book publisher, creator and distributor, as well as many of its retailers and readers.

A different comic book periodical with considerable industry standing changed owners in 1983: Alan Light— who founded The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom in 1971—sold his weekly newspaper to Krause Publications, a Wisconsin-based publisher specializing in hobby magazines.

Light’s final issue was The Buyer’s Guide #481 (cover dated Feb. 4, 1983).

With issue #482, the newspaper was redubbed Comics Buyer’s Guide. As published by Krause, CBG was a far

In a guest editorial printed in Comics Scene #10, comic book writer Jan Strnad foresaw a crisis for the comic book industry, produced by two opposing trends on a collision course: what Strnad described as “the relaxed standards of the comic book industry and the constricting standards of a conservative public” (Strnad 31).

To elaborate, Strnad took notice of the sex, violence and profanity being presented in many Direct Marketexclusive comic books, material that

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Federal Government could mandate the creation of a new external regulatory agency that would police all Direct Market-distributed material.

Before the industry had to deal with this kind of disastrous situation, Strnad proposed a solution: comic book publishers should implement the same ratings system used by the movie industry. A comic book rated “G” could be sold to anyone while a comic book rated “R” couldn’t be sold to anyone under the age of 16. (In letters printed in The Comics Journal #88, Kitchen Sink Press publisher Denis Kitchen and Pacif1983 subscription form for The Comics Buyer’s Guide newspaper. ic Comics’ editorial director The Comics Buyer’s Guide TM and © F+W Media, Inc. David Scroggy both point couldn’t be found in newsstand-disout that the comic book tributed comic books because of pubindustry couldn’t use the same exact lishers’ adherence to the regulatory ratings system as the movie indusComics Code Authority (CCA). Comic try because of copyright issues, but books that didn’t satisfy CCA’s stanStrnad’s essential point remained that dards weren’t provided to newsstand comic book publishers could create a dealers. The CCA’s jurisdiction, howrating system similar to the one used ever, didn’t extend to the Direct Marby the movie industry.) With a ratket, so publishers could provide (and ings system in place, Strnad believed Direct Market retailers could sell) the industry would effectively shield whatever material they cared to proitself from any outside criticism. duce. Some of the new material inWith that, the debate began, one cluded gore, nudity, and various four that many comic book professionals letter words that couldn’t be said on participated in throughout the year. primetime network television shows.

And to say there was little consensus Material, in other words, that was on the matter is an understatement. more appropriate for an adult than What ensued wasn’t a simple mata child. The problem, as Strnad saw ter of people advocating or opposit, was that in the eyes of the Ameriing Strnad’s ratings system proposal. can public, comic books were still Some appreciated Strnad’s concerns intended for children. Since comic yet still felt comic books didn’t need books weren’t being labeled as inapto be rated. Others liked the idea of a propriate for children, Strnad anticiratings system but for different reapated an inevitable chain of events: a sons than what Strnad articulated. minor would purchase a comic book And even others couldn’t fathom intended for a more mature reader Strnad’s perspective at all. and eventually the parent(s) of that minor would peruse the comic book, For instance, in the same issue that see the “inappropriate material,” and Strnad’s editorial appeared, Comics subsequently raise hell. In the worst Scene editor-in-chief Howard Zimcase—yet plausible—scenario, the ofmerman argued that Strnad was fended parents would contact their prescribing a cure for a non-existent local authorities and demand the malady. “This is not the 1950s,” Zimcomic book retailer be arrested and merman cried (66). By that, Zimmerprosecuted. Strnad warned that with man meant there was no modern sufficient public outrage, not only counterpart to Fredric Wertham. No would many Direct Market retailone in the 1980s was preaching to ers be forced out of business but the the American public that comic book 84

reading contributed to juvenile delinquency. In addition, the conservative vanguards had bigger fish to fry. The fledging cable television networks surely presented itself as a more inviting (and appropriate) target than the comic book industry.

Steve Geppi, the president of Diamond Comics Distributors, didn’t agree. Based on the complaints he had received from his retail accounts, he felt the industry had a legitimate problem on its hands, caused—in his view—by the publishers’ refusal to provide advance notice of the explicit content contained in their books. The fact of the matter was that retailers were pre-ordering comic books in complete ignorance of the gore or nudity presented within them. In a letter sent to both publishers and retailers in spring 1983, Geppi claimed he previously conveyed his retailers’ complaints to the publishers but since nothing changed, the publishers must not be taking the concerns seriously. To show the publishers the sincerity of Diamond’s concerns, Geppi issued them a warning: If [publishers] do not clearly identify the contents of their books, specifically mentioning whether or not nudity, sex or excessive violence appears in them…, they can expect Diamond to be returning the copies that its retail accounts are forced to eat because they cannot risk violating leases they may have that strictly forbid the sale of pornographic material. (“The Ratings Debate—Part One” 73) Dick Giordano—then DC Comics’ vice president-editorial director— entered the fray with a guest editorial printed in Comics Scene #11. He found Strnad’s—and presumably Geppi’s—concerns entirely valid. He went on to argue, though, that an industry-wide ratings system could accomplish nothing or even exacerbate the problem. The “R” rating—or “For Adults Only” warning—could turn comic books into enticing “forbidden fruit” in young readers’ eyes. That is, like adolescent boys coveting issues of Playboy, young readers would seek out comic books explicitly labeled as inappropriate for them. Even in the unlikely event that the publishers

came to a meeting of the minds and formulated a set of ratings guidelines, Giordano believed it would all be wasted effort as a ratings system wouldn’t deter a group of outraged citizens, determined to wage a crusade. Rather than expect the creation of an industry-wide set of publishing standards, DC Comics instead adopted an internal code, one that wouldn’t allow for “gratuitous use” of violence, sex, or profanity. What’s more, DC was utilizing three distinct cover formats, targeting three distinct age groups: one for the youngest of readers, the traditional cover format for the adolescent consumer, and a third format with higher production values (and price tag) that would appeal to the mature reader while simultaneously repel the adolescent one (Giordano 31).

How comic books were presented, packaged, and priced would help consumers determine which titles were appropriate (and inappropriate) for them.

Marvel Comics’ editorin-chief Jim Shooter found that kind of marketing strategy untenable. In July, at a Philadelphia comic book convention panel devoted to the subject, Shooter said, “I don’t see that a graphic novel is necessarily a more adult package than a comic book.”

He then pointed out that the most “adult” comic book Marvel had published recently, The Life of Pope John Paul II (a one-shot of supposed little interest to an adolescent reader), was printed on pulp paper to make it as inexpensive as possible (“The Ratings Debate—Part One” 76). Throughout the panel, Shooter made clear he opposed any kind of ratings system for several reasons, including the fact that publishers can’t accurately anticipate what readers—or their par-

ents—would find to be “objectionable content.” Shooter claimed to receive letters from people who were offended by Marvel’s use of euphemisms like “blast” (82). Given that, Shooter stressed that the solution to any bur-

The Comics Journal #88 provided transcripts of comic book convention panels that debated a new labeling system for the comic book industry.

The Comics Journal TM and © Fantagraphics.

geoning problem about the content of comic books is not a ratings system but “open lines of communication” among the retailers, distributors and publishers. Publishers need to inform the retailers of the kind of material they’re providing to them, and the retailers need to be vigilant about to whom they’re selling this material (77).

The debate continued at a Chicago Comicon panel on July 24 where First Comics’ managing editor Mike Gold asserted that the differing standards of taste across America made it im85

possible for publishers—or a ratings board—to determine whether or not a comic book contains objectionable material: “How am I going to edit for twenty million community standards?” (“The Ratings Debate— Part Two” 87). First’s publisher Rick Obadiah then argued that a ratings system would produce the exact opposite situation than what Jan Strnad prophesized; by labeling some comic books as inappropriate or “adult,” a ratings system would actually draw—rather than avert—the attention of conservative crusaders, effectively situating the comic book industry for highly publicized contempt from televangelists like Jerry Falwell (93-4). By its end, the Chicago Comicon panel degenerated into a scene where audience members shouted out comments while Jan Strnad and Gary Groth on one end traded barbs with Gold and Obadiah on the other end. It was emblematic of the industry-wide debate as a whole: a cacophony of opinions with no agreed upon consensus anywhere in sight. But the debate over comic book ratings was far from over. In fact, it was only just beginning.

Direct Market Growth Spurt Meanwhile, the Direct Market kept growing with more new publishers presenting more new Direct Market retailers with more new titles. There were new books like Megaton, featuring artwork by Jackson “Butch” Guice and Erik Larsen. Some existing publishers even expanded their catalog in these prosperous Direct Market days. Wendy and Richard Pini’s WaRP Graphics—which up to this point had only published Elfquest—introduced Colleen Doran’s A Distant Soil.

Similarly, joining Dave Sim’s Cerebus in Aardvark-Vanaheim’s slate was

Arn Saba’s Neil the Horse and William Messner-Loeb’s Journey. Capital Comics, on the other hand, not only offered more new titles, it upgraded its production values. With its new volume, the previously black-andwhite Nexus switched to color and a sturdier paper stock. Capital’s two other new titles were also printed in full color on superior paper: Mike Baron’s new super-hero The Badger, and Steven Grant’s female ninja book, Whisper.

Kitchen Sink reprinted the postWorld War II years of Will Eisner’s magnum opus in chronological order, starting with its December 1945 installment. Eisner’s new work was being showcased in Kitchen Sink’s new Will Eisner’s Quarterly.

Not that Kitchen Sink had a monopoly on Will Eisner material. Eclipse Comics also offered an Eisner comic book, one containing never-beforepublished stories. In 1948, at the height of The Spirit’s popularity, Eisner attempted to expand his body of work. Among other characters and concepts, he created police detective John Law with the plan to showcase him in his own comic book. But when two other new titles by Eisner failed at the newsstand, John Law was shelved, almost permanently since Eisner decided to use his John Law stories for Spirit (mostly by swapping out John Law for Spirit). Thirty four years later, Eisner’s friend and Eclipse Comics editor Cat Yronwode discovered a set of stats of three John Law stories while scouring through Eisner’s files (Gropper).

With Eisner’s blessing, Eclipse then collected the three stories into a 32page Baxter paper oneshot titled Will Eisner’s John Law Detective #1 (April 1983).

British publisher Eagle Comics provided color to stories previously published in 2000 AD, the black-andwhite, weekly anthology that was foreign—both literally and figuratively—to the majority of American readers. Since the late 1970s, 2000 AD had been made available to American retailers, but its pulp paper covers, weekly publication frequency and anthologized format didn’t translate from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. It was just too anomalous for the American market (Plowright 51).

Altering the packaging to conform it to American standards, Eagle bundled chapters of 2000 AD’s most popular feature into a Direct Market-exclusive monthly: Judge Dredd, featuring the eponymous post-apocalyptic lawman who—with the power of judge, jury, and executioner—patrolled the crime-ridden MegaCity One. The first issue (Nov. 1983) reprinted stories written by John Wagner, drawn by Brian Bolland (whose work American readers were now very familiar with because of DC Comics’ Camelot 3000), and originally published in 197980.

Almost simultaneously, Kitchen Sink Press began reprinting material much, much older than that.

With the first issue of its new bi-monthly Spirit comic book (Oct. 1983),

Top and Above: Two 1983 house ads promoting new creator-owned series: Steven Grant’s Whisper and Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty’s Ms. Tree.

Whisper TM and © Steven Grant. Ms. Tree TM and © Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty.

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John Law wasn’t the only detective character published by Eclipse in 1983. Ms. Tree—the female detective created by mystery novelist Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty—received her own ongoing series after first appearing in Eclipse Magazine the previous two years. Other creator-owned titles debuted by Eclipse included Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ Scorpio Rose (appearing in stories Englehart originally intended for DC Comics’ Madame Xanadu character) and Mark Evanier and Will Meugniot’s

genetically engineered super-hero group, The DNAgents.

The (Very) Short-lived Return of the Charlton Action Heroes Meanwhile, Paragon Publications’ publisher—and principal artist—Bill Black decided to ditch black-andwhite printing and jump on the full color comic book bandwagon. He found a printer in his home state of Florida that could provide color at an affordable price. What’s more, Black’s business manager also convinced him to target the Japanese market since Japanese society indulged in comic book reading and was, in general, fixated on American culture. The manager’s assumptions were based entirely on anecdotal information passed on to him by his wife and adopted son, both of whom were Japanese. All Paragon needed to do, this manager asserted, was create a comic book about the rock band Cheap Trick—enormously popular in Japan—and change Paragon’s name to something more indicative of the United States (Offenberger). With all this in mind, Bill Black renamed his company Americomics (abbreviated as AC Comics).

While Americomics’ business manager dealt with Cheap Trick—and while his wife traveled to Japan to arrange overseas distribution—Bill Black turned his attention to something else. Since 1980, Black had been drawing for Charlton Comics, mostly covers for their two Western reprint books, Billy The Kid and Gunfighters.

For Charlton Bullseye #7 (May 1982), though, Black wrote and drew a story about Nightshade, one of the “Action Heroes” Charlton introduced in the 1960s. Black then began inking some Blue Beetle stories for subsequent Bullseye issues, but before he could finish, Charlton editor Bill Pearson informed him that the comic book was being cancelled, leaving 250 pages of completed Bullseye work in limbo (Borax 56). Black had a solution: he offered to publish the abandoned stories as part of his new color line.

Charlton subsequently gave him permission to do so, which left the former Bullseye creators encouraged by the prospect of their hard work seeing print after all. Charlton also gave Black a one-year license to its superhero characters: Captain Atom, Blue

Beetle, Nightshade and The Question (Offenberger).

So with Americomics #1 (April 1983) Black began printing material originally created for Bullseye. It wasn’t until Americomics #3 (Aug. 1983) that he published a story featuring one of the Charlton-licensed super-heroes.

That third issue stars both the Dan Garrett and Ted Kord versions of the Blue Beetle in two stories by Rik Levins, Leo Laney, and Bill Black.

The same month, AC Comics released Americomics Special #1 presenting a 25-page story

by Dan St. John and Greg Guler that assembles Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, and The Question as “The Sentinels of Justice.” Together, the heroes oppose villains last seen AC Comics’ brief possession of Charlton’s Action Heroes included Americomics #3. Blue Beetle TM and © DC Comics. in Captain Atom and Blue Beetle comic books The Question, DC also acquired Peacefrom the 1960s: Iron-Arms, Fiery Icer, maker, Judomaster, Sarge Steel, and and The Madmen. The story ends Son of Vulcan. Giordano admitted in with a mysterious behind-the-scenes his column, though, that DC’s plans mastermind who vows to destroy the for these characters were “tentative.”

Sentinels of Justice. Readers looking Regardless, Bill Black’s one-year liforward to learning the identity of cense of the Charlton characters came the evil mastermind—or even lookto a premature end. His Sentinels of ing forward to new Charlton Action Justice lived on but with completely Heroes adventures—in subsequent new super-heroes. issues were greeted with an immediUnfortunately for Black, his disapate disappointment: they were being pointments didn’t end with the loss of told that there would be no subsethe Charlton license. Later that year, quent issues. In a caption box beneath his business manager’s wife returned the final panel of the issue, Bill Black from Japan without any distribution rhetorically asks (and answers), “Who arrangements in place. Apparently, is this shrouded figure who vows to Japan wasn’t as fond of American destroy the Sentinels? Alas, we will comic books as she remembered. She never know because the Charlton also discovered that Americomics characters have been sold to another was late to the Cheap Trick party. Japublisher!” pan’s fascination with the rock band That other publisher was DC Comics. was spent. Instead of proving eager The same month that Americomics to buy a Cheap Trick comic book, the Special #1 appeared in stores, Dick Japanese market instead proposed Giordano’s “Meanwhile…” column anto sell surplus Cheap Trick merchannounced, “[DC] just completed negodise to Americomics (Offenberger). tiations with Charlton Comics which Thus ended Americomics’ plans for a gives us the rights to most of their Cheap Trick comic book… as well as its ‘Action Heroes’!” Along with Captain employment of its business manager.

Atom, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, and 87

The New DC Comics: There’s No Stopping Them Now While DC Comics had no immediate plans for the Charlton Action Heroes, they had plenty of changes in store for their own super-heroes, starting with their flagship characters. In Action Comics #542 (April 1983), Superman tells Lois Lane that his responsibilities—to Metropolis, to the world, to the universe—prohibit him from romantic commitments. Even though Lois refuses to accept the explanation, a rift develops between the two lovers, effectively ending their relation-

ship. This occurs a few months prior to the June 17 theatrical release of Superman III whose story—amongst the Richard Pryor hijinks that rubbed every faithful comic book reader the wrong way—replaces Lois with Smallville sweetheart Lana Lang as Superman’s love interest. Then in Action Comics #544 (June 1983)— an issue celebrating the 45th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance— two long time nemeses of the Man of Steel receive a makeover to help them become more formidable opponents: Lex Luthor dons a hi-tech battlesuit while Brainiac evolves his

robotic form.

Meanwhile, over in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne took on a new ward.

Batman #357 (March 1983) introduces young circus trapeze artist, Jason Todd. Like Dick Grayson before him, Jason would lose his parents to a mobrelated murder, this time by gang boss Killer Croc. Within the three months that span Batman #357 and Detective Comics #526 (May 1983)—an issue celebrating Batman’s 500th appearance on the title—Bruce Wayne would adopt the now-orphaned boy and begin training him to be his new crime-fighting partner, thereby paving the road for the debut of a new Robin.

That debut wouldn’t happen until cover date 1984, and Batman still had plenty to do in 1983, including quitting the Justice League of America. It occurred in the opening pages of Batman and the Outsiders #1 (Aug. 1983), written by Mike W. Barr and drawn

by Jim Aparo. During a business trip to the small European nation of Markovia, Wayne Enterprises manager Lucius Fox goes missing. Batman enlists the Justice League to help find him but is told by Superman that the United States government has asked the Justice League to avoid entering Markovia for fear of escalating a revolution going on in that country.

Furious, Batman resigns his membership and goes to Markovia with Black Lightning alongside him. Once there, the two encounter Metamorpho along with new heroes Katana, Halo and Geo-Force, all of whom first appear in an insert preview in the final issue of The Brave and the Bold, #200 (July 1983). Eventually, the six heroes become The Outsiders.

A 1983 house ad highlights the changes in DC Comics’ Superman titles.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

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As Barr explained in the first issue’s editorial, Batman and the Outsiders emerged from an idea Marv Wolfman had about a new super-hero team consisting of unaffiliated DC characters. With the decision to cancel the low-selling The Brave and The Bold— the Batman team-up book to which Aparo had been long attached—Giordano proposed Batman could serve as that new team’s leader. Both Barr and editor Len Wein felt that having Batman as the leader of one team and a member of another team was having Batman on one too many teams. So it was Barr who came up with Batman’s

Left: A DC Comics house ad featuring the new team Batman would lead after quitting the Justice League of America.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

Flash #324 (Aug. 1983), The Flash kills his long-time nemesis The Reverse Flash to order to prevent the death of his bride-to-be Fiona Webb. The event served as a prelude to the “Trial of The Flash” story arc—which would end up being far longer than either the readers or the creators anticipated— and was the brainchild of Flash editor Ernie Colón (Greenberger 36). Colón wanted to shake up a title whose sales had been on the decline since 1980.

motivation for leaving the Justice League, and it was Barr who created the three new super-heroes for Batman to lead. Of the three, Barr was particularly fond of Geo-Force, the Prince of Markovia who can tap into the Earth’s geomagnetic energies for various powers. Barr was so proud of his new creation that he described him in minute detail to Marv Wolfman one night in the hallways of DC’s offices. Wolfman listened to his colleague’s exuberance, waited patiently for an opening, and then informed Barr that a nearly identical character was about to be introduced in New Teen Titans, a young girl named Ter-

ra. He even showed pages penciled

by George Pérez that featured Terra.

But rather than discard Geo-Force as an unnecessary duplicate, Wolfman proposed that Geo-Force and Terra be siblings (or more specifically, halfsiblings). That solved the problem, and by the end of the year, the two writers—with their two new similar characters—teamed up for a New Teen Titans/Batman and the Outsiders cross-over (Dec. 1983).

While Batman quit the Justice League, The Flash faced expulsion from the team because he had been arrested and charged with manslaughter. In 89

But Colón wouldn’t be around to see if his gambit proved successful. After serving a year as a DC editor on such other titles as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Arion, and Blackhawk, Colón stepped down in order to work as a freelance artist again, drawing the syndicated Star Trek newspaper strip as well as Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, a new DC maxi-series previewed in Legion of Super-Heroes #298 (April 1983).

Roy Thomas, on the other hand, renewed his DC contract, assuring he’d be around for at least another three years. With his renewal, he became DC’s official “Earth-2” editor, in charge of all the “Golden Age” characters under DC’s control. The new contract stipulated Thomas would write and edit a new Justice Society or All-Star Squadron-related mini-series every

year (“DC News” 3-4). That would at least replace his assignment on Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew, which was cancelled due to poor sales with issue # 20 (Nov. 1983). Other DC titles that met their demise in 1983 were House of Mystery, Weird War Tales, the Adventure Comics digest, and Marv Wolfman’s Night Force.

Wolfman’s highest profile title, New Teen Titans, remained DC Comics’ best-selling comic book for the third consecutive year. The second New Teen Titans Annual introduced a new Marv Wolfman-George Pérez creation for 1983: The Vigilante. Adrian Chase is a Manhattan district attorney devoted to ridding New York City of organized crime, but when the mob murders his family, he decides to take the law into his own hands and become the lethally armed Vigilante.

The end of the year saw the release of the first issue of the character’s eponymous Direct Market-exclusive title, written by Wolfman and drawn

by Keith Pollard. In the second issue’s letter column, Wolfman took pains to explain to readers the distinction between The Vigilante and other similar gun-toting protagonists, like Marvel’s The Punisher: “The character, his unique perspective of the law—having once been a District Attorney—and his method of operations make him different from virtually all the other characters of this type in pulp novels or in

comics.” Nonetheless, with his new character, Wolfman tapped into a distinct zeitgeist of the early 1980s.

Like Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” movie Sudden Impact or the Michael Douglas thriller Star Chamber—both of which were released in 1983—The Vigilante expressed prevalent American concerns about the nation’s rising crime rate and the belief that the criminal justice system fails because it lets guilty criminals go free due to “legal technicalities.”

While The Vigilante may have provided Wolfman’s perspective on America’s “War on Crime,” one of his other works was being used for the

Above: New Teen Titans Annual #2 introduces The Vigilante.

Right: The Teen Titans stand with their “other” leader: The Protector.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

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country’s “War on Drugs.” The United States Customs Bureau approached DC Comics to produce a public service comic book that would inform— and warn—pre-adolescents about drug abuse. While the agency had requested the use of Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, DC Comics instead recommended that superheroes closer in age to the intended audience would be more effective role models (Metzger 31). So included in a kit co-produced by DC Comics and the Keebler cookie company was a 28-page comic book written by Marv Wolfman, penciled by George Pérez, inked by Dick Giordano, and starring The New Teen Titans. DC initially printed a million copies of the issue for the public school system and then printed another million to meet the schools’ demand.

In July, DC offered the comic book

as a Direct Market exclusive, priced at one dollar with all profits being donated to two drug prevention organizations: the Youth Rescue Fund and the National Federation of Parents for Drug-Free Youth (Metzger 32).

In order to make the story more appropriate for a pre-adolescent reader, Wolfman made it less violent than a typical New Teen Titans issue. For the same reason, Pérez made Starfire’s costume less provocative and raised Wonder Girl’s neckline. The most noticeable change, however, was the substitution of the New Teen Titans’ leader, Robin, for an entirely new character, The Protector. The reason for the substitution was the licensing of Robin to Keebler’s competitor, Nabisco. Because of Keebler’s sponsorship of the drug awareness special issue, Robin couldn’t be used. But this was realized only after the entire story had been drawn with Robin in it. Subsequently, editor Dave Manak was tasked with whiting-out Robin’s costume throughout the issue and replacing it with a new costume he designed (Mangels 47, 49). Thus, through the magic of correction fluid, Robin became The Protector.

Time as the two villains sought to obtain a magical stone that would grant them absolute power. As the book’s editor, Len Wein found the proposed plot acceptable and subsequently forwarded it to Jim Shooter for his approval on February 23, 1983. Two days later, Shooter read the proposal and rejected it. According to an anon-

Aborted Team-Up Manak’s alteration of his artwork was the least of Pérez’s problems in 1983.

By summer’s end, he found himself abandoning a project he dreamed of drawing since before he became a professional: JLA/Avengers. The inter-publisher cross-over had been placed on DC’s 1983 publication schedule as early as November 1981 with Gerry Conway and Pérez attached as the book’s respective writer and artist. Conway’s original plot pitted the Justice League against the Avengers in battles across time, both teams unwitting pawns of Kang the Conqueror and the Lord of

What could have been: The Avengers and the Justice League square off in this George Pérez cover for Comics Interview #6.

The Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics.

The Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

ymous article published in Marvel Age #19 (later revealed to be written

by Shooter), Shooter’s explanatory response to DC was curt and decisive, “I’m afraid that the first try at The Avengers/JLA plot isn’t acceptable, or even close. The problems are many, but there’s no point in listing them 91

and getting bogged down in details because the whole thing just doesn’t make sense” (9).

In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Shooter explained that the proposed story was so bad that he couldn’t believe Conway—whose writing skills Shooter admired—could have produced it. Not only did Shooter find the plot developments ludicrous, he also could tell that Conway hadn’t read recent issues of The Avengers because the writer’s depictions of Marvel’s characters were cripplingly outdated. Shooter didn’t find Conway’s depictions of DC’s characters much better: “There was a scene where Superman travels back in time and finds himself on Galactus’ ship. On one of the ship’s walls Superman sees, essentially, Galactus’ ‘menu’—all the planets he’s going to ‘eat.’ Number one on the menu is Krypton (not yet destroyed because we’ve traveled back in time).

So what does our ‘noble’ Superman do? He moves Krypton down on the menu! So someone else’s world will get eaten first! Now I was the Marvel editor. I wasn’t supposed to get upset over Superman’s character being violated, but I had to wonder why someone over at DC wasn’t upset.”

Dick Giordano wasn’t upset because up to that point, he had not read the proposed plot.

Shooter’s rejection prompted him to do so and ultimately, he agreed the story had problems. Even though Shooter hadn’t specified his objections, Giordano felt he understood how the story failed and assured Shooter it would be fixed. With Pérez’s help, Wein altered the plot and then called Shooter to explain how it had been changed. When their conversation ended, Wein had the impression that the revisions satisfied Shooter,

even though Shooter insisted a hard copy of the updated plot be sent over to him so he could formally approve it. With the production of JLA/Avengers behind schedule, and with the presumption that Shooter had no qualms about the revised plot, Giordano directed Pérez to start drawing.

The artist didn’t need to be told twice.

Pérez tackled his dream assignment with relish. Within two weeks, he had penciled 21 pages (Kraft 8).

But shortly thereafter, in May 1983, Shooter informed Giordano that the revised plot he received was still unacceptable. In fact, he considered it fundamentally unchanged. He refused to approve it, recommending instead the creation of a completely new story. DC now had a dilemma on its hands: if JLA/Avengers was to be completely rewritten, not only would the book be published much later than scheduled, it would also mean

the 21 pages Pérez had drawn would have to be discarded. But if JLA/ Avengers wasn’t completely rewritten, it seemed unlikely that Shooter would ever grant permission for it to be published.

Giordano realized he had erred in telling Pérez to get started before he had gotten Shooter’s official blessing. As he detailed later in his “Meanwhile…” column, Giordano apologized to Shooter and asked him to compose a list of all his objections with the plot. A month later—by which time Gerry Conway was already off the project—Shooter presented his list.

Giordano forwarded it—along with Pérez’s 21 pages and all the drafts of the plot—to Roy Thomas and asked him to revamp the plot so that it reconciled Shooter’s reservations with Perez’s progress. After poring over the material, Thomas brainstormed a revision that required Pérez to dis-

card only one page and redraw a few panels on some of the others. Thomas submitted his revision on July 28, and Giordano immediately sent it on to Shooter, hoping the Marvel editorin-chief could read it by the time the early August San Diego Comic Con rolled around.

Shooter, though, didn’t read Thomas’s revision before the convention. He didn’t get the chance to read it during the convention either. By convention’s end, Giordano pressed Shooter to get to it as soon as possible since the book was already woefully delayed. But weeks passed, and still no decision from Shooter. The clock kept ticking, and Pérez found the wait unacceptable. He privately suspected Shooter of deliberately stalling in order to force the book’s cancellation, tarnishing DC’s image amongst readers and retailers. On August 22, Pérez issued an ultimatum: if Shooter

George Pérez pencilled pages for the aborted JLA/Avengers cross-over.

The Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics. The Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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didn’t make a decision about Thomas’s revised plot by five o’clock that afternoon, Pérez would remove himself from the book (Kraft 11). When Shooter didn’t respond, Pérez made good on his threat and walked away from it all, but not without regret: “I lived for waking up to get started on those pages. It’s the most heartbreaking decision I’ve ever had to make. I regret making it, but I don’t trust Jim Shooter. I just don’t think he wants the project done” (Kraft 11).

According to the same Marvel Age article referenced earlier, Shooter steadfastly refutes Pérez’s presumption. The article claims that Shooter informed Giordano in mid-August that he needed to pass Thomas’s revision on to Mark Gruenwald and Roger Stern—the respective Avengers editor and writer—to make sure the new plot corresponded with the Avengers’ current continuity. From the time he received Thomas’s revision in late July, it took Shooter two months to get back to Giordano with his decision—a turnaround which, according to Shooter, was still quicker than the four months it took DC to approve Shooter’s Superman/Spider-Man plot in 1981. On September 28, Shooter notified Giordano by letter that he approved Thomas’s plot as long as “minor problems” were corrected (e.g., Ant Man couldn’t be included in the story since he wasn’t an Avenger, Quicksilver shouldn’t race The Flash since the Marvel speedster wasn’t remotely as fast as his DC counterpart, et al.). Aware that Pérez had quit the project, Shooter also stated in his letter that he had no objections to DC’s proposed replacement for Pérez— Don Heck—but offered to discuss alternatives if Giordano wanted to go with someone else (11). The problem with Heck was that he was an artist respected by his peers but not a fan favorite by any stretch of the imagination. After Heck replaced Gene Colan on Wonder Woman half way through 1983, the title suffered a 23% sales drop. Heck’s replacement of Pérez—arguably the most popular comic book artist at that time— undoubtedly would have meant greatly diminished sales for JLA/Avengers.

For DC, that just simply wouldn’t do.

Giordano didn’t bother to respond to Shooter’s letter, but in late October, DC’s vice president of operations Paul

Levitz met with Marvel vice president Mike Hobson to try to resolve the inter-publisher differences and get JLA/ Avengers back on track.

The meeting produced some promising agreements between the two men on how to move forward, but over the course of the ensuing weeks—and despite prodding on Levitz’s part—nothing was acted on. By the end of the year then, JLA/Avengers was a dead project.

So too was the planned X-Men / New Teen Titans sequel. The book’s demise meant the loss of considerable anticipated revenue for both publishers, and the back-and-forth recriminations further widened the rift between DC and Marvel.

None of this stopped fans from anticipating Another Pérez-pencilled JLA/Avengers page.

JLA TM and © DC Comics. The Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. JLA/Avengers or professionals from talkGiffen also was involved in the curiing about it for years ous case of Green Lantern #171 (Dec. to come, but the fact of the matter 1983). The issue was co-plotted by was that DC and Marvel wouldn’t colGiffen and Robin Snyder, but artlaborate on another project for the reist Alex Toth—as was his wont— mainder of the 1980s. changed the story as he drew it to suit his whims. The final result beGiffen Burn Out came a radical departure from what DC Comics’ busiest artist in 1983 was was scripted, so radical that Snyder Keith Giffen. Besides continuing to and Giffen requested their names be draw and co-plot Legion of Superremoved from the issue’s credits. Joey Heroes on a monthly basis, Giffen Cavalieri was then tasked with reinvolved himself with several other writing the dialogue to align it with projects. He plotted and provided art Toth’s changes, but once Cavalieri breakdowns for DC Comics Presents learned about Snyder and Giffen’s #59 (July 1983) in which Superman stance, he requested not to be listed and the Legion of Substitute Heroes in the credits as well. Subsequently, corral Ambush Bug, a villain Giffen the credited writer of Green Lantern created for a previous DC Comics Pres#171 is “Noel Naïve.” ents issue. Ambush Bug was more of Besides Levitz and Snyder, Giffen a troublesome pest than a megaloalso collaborated with writer Roger maniacal menace, so Giffen deliberSlifer on a new title DC sold excluately constructed DC Comics Presents sively through the Direct Market: #59 like “an old Warner Bros. Road The Omega Men. Created by Marv Runner cartoon” (Kraft 7). Goofy hiWolfman and Joe Staton for a 1981 jinks and pratfalls abound, and the Green Lantern issue, The Omega Men story ultimately became a precursor are a vast group of super-powered to the kind of humorous material freedom fighters opposing The CitaGiffen would be associated with later del, tyrants of the Vegan star system. in the decade.

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The core members of the Omega Men include (from left to right) Harpis, Kalista, Primus, Broot and Demonia.

Omega Men TM and © DC Comics.

Wolfman thought that after making guest appearances in various issues of Green Lantern, Action Comics and New Teen Titans over the previous two years, The Omega Men deserved their own title. With his burdensome workload though, he couldn’t take on another writing assignment. Instead, Wolfman chose to edit the new book, recruiting Slifer and Giffen as its creative team. As a Direct Market exclusive title, The Omega Men was unfettered from the Comics Code Authority restrictions, a freedom Slifer

and Giffen took advantage of. While it didn’t present the kind of gore found in some of the independent publishers’ titles (e.g.

Pacific Comics’ Twisted Tales), The Omega Men displayed brutally violent acts—rape, dismemberment, wholesale slaughter—that one wouldn’t expect to find in a DC published comic book of its time. Omega Men #3 (June 1983) even introduces a villain who revels in torture and murder, a chalkcolored force of wanton violence who would go on to become one of the comic book industry’s most popular characters in the 1990s, a mercenary named Lobo.

All things considered, Keith Giffen found himself in a very good spot at the beginning of 1983. He was working on two monthly comic books—one of which was DC’s second best-selling title—and he hoped to contribute to several other projects as well. Not bad for an artist who had made himself an industry pariah by the late 1970s.

As he began his Omega Men run, Giffen declared, “I’m satisfied. I’m not going to leave The Legion and I don’t want to leave Omega Men” (Kraft 8).

However, what Giffen didn’t want to

do ended up being what Giffen had to do. By taking on so much work, he had badly overextended himself. It didn’t take long before Giffen found himself behind schedule on both Legion and Omega Men. Something had to give, and that give became The Omega Men. After issue #6 (Sept.

1983), newcomer Tod Smith assumed the title’s penciling duties.

Unfortunately, quitting The Omega Men didn’t solve Giffen’s problems.

That’s because he continued working on a project that would prove to be his undoing: a Legion of Super-Heroes poster measuring 40 inches wide by 15 inches high that featured every hero, villain, and supporting character in Legion history. That equated to 275 overlapped characters, forming a stunningly crowded mosaic. It was the first poster DC produced to sell to the Direct Market. And after Giffen finished that poster, he was cooked: “That poster came along and blew me out of the water. Every line was like sweating blood… I did that Legion poster and fried myself. After I was done with that poster I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’ and sort of wandered off” (Cadigan 143).

The Comic Reader #211 (June 1983) announced Giffen would write and draw a Creeper mini-series but ultimately, that never happened.

By the end of 1983 then, Giffen was spent. Figuring out how to reinvigorate his creative energies was going to take him a while.

The Legion of Super-Heroes poster that Keith Giffen drew in 1983 for a Direct Market release featured 275 characters.

The Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

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Higher Prices on Better Paper Late in the year, DC’s comic books began displaying both a cover date month and a cover date year. The same month (cover date December 1983) the price of a regular DC Comics title sold at the newsstand increased from 60 cents to 75 cents, and all titles were switched to Mando paper.

By comparison, titles sold exclusively to the Direct Market—like Omega

Men, Camelot 3000, and Vigilante—cost $1.25 and were printed on Baxter paper. Of course, the pricing model had some exceptions. For instance, each 48-page issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow—which reprinted Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams stories from the early 1970s—cost two dollars.

And then there were the 64 page DC graphic novels which retailed for $5.95. The first DC Comics graphic novel, appearing in Direct Market stores in August, was Star Raiders, written by Eliot S. Maggin with art by José Luis García-López. Atari originally commissioned Star Raiders as a series of inserts for its cartridges, much like it had commissioned DC to produce the Atari Force inserts in 1982. But 1983 was a year of stark contrast for the comic book and home video game industries. While the comic book industry experienced remarkable growth and success, the home video game industry crashed and burned. Atari, in particular, suffered as it produced lackluster games that didn’t sell anywhere near expectations. Getting squeezed out by the thriving personal home computer market, Atari was reportedly losing $10,000 a day in 1983. Consequently, Atari cancelled its deal with

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Above: 1983 DC Comics house ad promoting The Omega Men. Left: 1983 DC Comics subscription form for Vigilante.

Omega Men and Vigilante TM and © DC Comics.

DC to produce Star Raiders, but García-López had already finished drawing 40 pages when word of Atari’s decision came down. Rather than waste García-López’s work, DC directed Maggin to reduce Star Raiders from a 120-page mini-series into a 64-page graphic novel that was subsequently used to launch DC’s graphic novel line (Cronin #278).

Frank Miller’s Big DC Experiment One publication received more fanfare in 1983 than any other that DC published. It was the project that lured Frank Miller away from Marvel Comics. Back in 1982, Jenette Kahn— DC Comics’ publisher and president— met with Miller to see if she could bring him into DC’s fold. He presented her with a story he conceived while doing martial arts research for his acclaimed run on Daredevil. Miller’s proposed story emerged from his study of samurai ideology and reading of Japanese comic books, particularly Kozure Okami (“A Wolf and His Cub”).

Kahn eagerly agreed to publish it, and the two of them—along with Dick Giordano—worked out publishing details (Salicrup 7-9). The six-

issue series would be trademarked by DC Comics but copyrighted by Miller.

Its title was Ronin.

Literally translated, ronin means “wave man,” but the term is more commonly understood as “masterless samurai.” And while Ronin does indeed feature a masterless samurai as its protagonist, Miller used the ronin concept as a metaphor for late 20th century Western civilization. He told Comics Interview that the theme of Ronin was disenfranchisement; modern men were attached to nothing, they believed in nothing, and

they committed to nothing (Salicrup 9).

With the promotional tagline “If you intend to die, you can do anything,” Ronin takes place approximately fifty years in the future. Surrounded by an economically devastated, anarchic Manhattan, the Aquarius Corporation develops and markets biocircuit technology with the aid of both a sentient computer and a limbless telekinetic boy named Billy Challas. Billy though experiences visions of a nameless ronin in Feudal Japan who seeks to avenge his fallen master

DC Comics house ad promoting the project that brought Frank Miller into DC’s fold.

Ronin TM DC Comics and © Frank Miller.

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against the demon Agat. By the end of the first issue (July 1983), both the ronin and Agat have seemingly been transported to 21st century Manhattan with the ronin possessing—and transforming—Billy’s body. But all is not what it seems in the dystopian, cyberpunk, manga-inspired adventure that is Ronin. Miller himself described Ronin as “science fiction/ sword-and-sorcery/urban nightmare/ samurai drama” (Salicrup 7).

But no Frank Miller story can be reduced to a plot synopsis and a genre categorization. To do so would ignore the manner of Miller’s storytelling.

And how Miller tells a story is just as compelling as what story Miller tells. Readers who picked up Ronin expecting to see the same kind of art style and narrative techniques that Miller used on Daredevil were in for a surprise. Ronin was a radical departure from the work he produced for Marvel, principally because it was a more ambitious, personal endeavor for Miller. He confessed at the time, “This whole project is a very big experiment for me” (Sanderson 46), one that entailed meticulous construction of every image, every page layout and even every panel shape. It was an experiment that completely relied on dialogue to execute its narrative. Miller deliberately avoided the use of thought balloons and captions in order to force his readers to process the dialogue and artwork more precisely. Rather than being spoonfed exposition and interpretations, the readers had to produce their own understanding of the story. Additionally, with its 60 lb. paper stock (even better than the Baxter paper used for the Direct Market exclusive titles) Ronin allowed Miller to add more texture to his artwork than he previously had. As a result, Ronin features a cross-hatched, impressionistic, Japanese and French influenced art style, blended with a finely attuned palette by colorist Lynn Varley. It all made for an extraordinary, sophisticated publication, which DC clearly marketed as such, since every 48-page, Direct Market-exclusive issue had no ads (not even house ads) and retailed for $2.50.

Unquestionably, Ronin was DC’s boldest publication of 1983. Jenette Kahn herself would later argue it was a watershed publication of her

tenure: “Ronin was really the beginning of a new era for [DC Comics]. It showed we were committed to comics as an art form and also showed our tremendous respect for creators, that we supported creators and supported sophisticated storytelling, too” (Greenberger 19). Along with Camelot 3000, Ronin ushered in, what Kahn described as, “an Elizabethan Age for DC Comics” (Greenberger 21).

It would include Miller’s next project, something that would become one of DC’s most celebrated publications in all its history.

Marvel Comics Marches On Frank Miller ended his nearly fouryear long tenure on Daredevil with a flourish. The thirty-eight-page issue #190 (Jan. 1983) presents the resurrection of the assassin Elektra, and then in issue #191 (Feb. 1983) Daredevil plays Russian Roulette with the paralyzed Bullseye in a self-contained story that Miller considered the finest of his Daredevil run (Salicrup 13). But now Miller was “across the street,” leaving a void at Daredevil’s writing helm. It was soon filled by Miller’s former editor, Denny O’Neil, and despite Miller’s absence, Daredevil would remain one of Marvel’s best-selling titles. In fact, its average sales during 1983 of 259,000 copies per issue was surpassed only by Uncanny X-Men, which averaged almost 337,000 copies per issue.

Short of providing the X-Men with a second monthly title—a move Jim Shooter still vehemently opposed— Marvel showcased its most popular characters in other ways. The X-Men were the featured stars of Marvel’s fifth graphic novel, “God Loves, Man Kills,” in which the super-heroes team up with their longtime foe, Magneto, to oppose a preacher on a holy mission to wipe out the mutant race. Special Edition X-Men #1 (Feb. 1983) reprinted 1975’s Giant Size XMen #1, an issue skyrocketing in value on the secondary market. And the X-Men even appeared in Alan Kupperberg’s campy one-shot Obnoxio the Clown (Apr. 1983).

As the scribe for both Uncanny XMen and its spin-off, The New Mutants, Chris Claremont was one of comic book fandom’s most popular creators. Comics Scene went so far as

Fantastic Four #250 (Jan. 1983) featured this John Byrne drawn pin-up.

Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

to label him a “superstar” (Schutz 20).

That didn’t impress artist Paul Smith enough to continue penciling the industry’s best-selling book. His yearlong tenure on Uncanny X-Men— which includes the introduction of both the Morlocks and Jean Grey-red herring Madelyne Pryor—ended with issue #175 (Nov. 1983). Amazing Heroes reported Smith left due to “disagreements” (presumably creative) with Claremont (Thompson 18). Replacing Smith was long-time Amaz97

ing Spider-Man artist John Romita, Jr. who would remain on the title for the next three years.

John Byrne knew how Paul Smith felt. Three years earlier, Byrne also left X-Men because of creative differences with Claremont. But since then—and despite working on mutually exclusive titles—Claremont and Byrne found ways to get under each other’s skin. For starters, Byrne got irritated when Claremont used Doctor Doom for an Uncanny X-Men story

(issues #145-7, May-July 1981) just before Byrne started his run as the writer/artist of Fantastic Four. Byrne suspected Claremont of attempting to sabotage his own plans for the villain. Byrne struck back by confiscating Claremont’s precious X-Men for a Fantastic Four story… or so it seemed.

Fantastic Four #250 (Jan. 1983) reveals that the featured X-Men are actually disguised Skrulls. Then Fantastic Four #259 (Oct. 1983) makes clear that the Doctor Doom who appeared in Claremont’s 1981 X-Men story wasn’t the “real” Doctor Doom but one of his robots. It was tit for tat between Claremont and Byrne, and both creators brought their complaints about each other to Shooter, which only made Shooter feel more like a referee than an editor-inchief (Thomas).

As if dealing with bickering creators wasn’t bad enough, Shooter also had to contend with Lucasfilm representatives who had a bone to pick with Marvel regarding two of its comic book adaptations.

Marvel accidentally distributed its adaptation of the third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, three weeks prior to the scheduled movie theater opening of May 25. This error allowed the New York Post to obtain a copy of Marvel’s adaptation and print a detailed plot summary of the movie on May 5. As part of damage control, Marvel told the Direct Market distributors to order its retailers to remove all copies of the adaptation from its shelves and withhold selling the comic book until May 26.

Several months earlier, Lucasfilm proved reluctant to grant Marvel a license to produce an ongoing Indiana Jones comic book because of Marvel’s 1981 comic book adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Bottom line: Lucasfilm didn’t like the adaptation.

To get Lucasfilm to acquiesce, Shooter had to provide assurances that one of Marvel’s most popular creators would produce the new book. That creator turned out to be John Byrne, who had petitioned for the assignment. Byrne wrote the script and provided the

layouts for The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #1 (Jan. 1983), but after he layed out the second issue, Byrne quit the series. He found Lucasfilm’s licensing personnel impossible to deal with, mostly because they didn’t seem to understand the nature of comic book production. At one point Lucasfilm requested an issue’s plot— one that Lucasfilm had previously approved—be revised after the issue

pions, Incredible Hulk, and once again in Uncanny X-Men. Given the positive reader reaction to the characters, the time seemed ripe in 1983 to give Alpha Flight its own comic book. And what better person to write and draw the exploits of a Canadian super-hero team than the person who not only created the team but also grew up in Canada? That was Marvel’s thinking at least. And that’s how John Byrne became the writer/artist of Alpha Flight.

But for Byrne, Alpha Flight was an uninspiring project foisted upon him. Years later, he summarized his creative struggles on the title: “Alpha Flight was never much fun.

The characters were created merely to survive a fight with the X-Men, and I never thought about them having their own title. When Marvel finally cajoled me into doing Alpha Flight, I realized how incredibly two-dimensional they were, and spent some twenty-eight issues trying to find ways to correct this fault.

Nothing really sang for me.

If I have any regrets, it would probably be that I did the book at all! It was not a good time for me” (Thomas).

Marvel Age #2 promotes John Byrne’s new series for 1983, Alpha Flight.

Alpha Flight TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

was already fully drawn. That request prompted Byrne to move on to his next project (Cronin #246).

Byrne’s next project though didn’t prove any less frustrating. In 1983, Marvel launched a new ongoing title featuring its established Canadian super-hero team, Alpha Flight. After first appearing in 1979 as X-Men antagonists, Alpha Flight guest-starred in various issues of Machine Man, Marvel Two-In-One, Contest of Cham98

Despite his aversion to the characters, Byrne produced one of the decade’s most fondly remembered Marvel comic books. Consider the sentiment of Scott Kolins, a professional comic book creator who in 2007 drew the Alpha Flight-inspired Omega Flight mini-series. For American Comic Book Chronicles, Kolins described his affection for Alpha Flight when he first encountered it as a young reader: “John Byrne’s Alpha Flight really excited me. Byrne’s artwork was still great, and his stories had a great mixture of boundless imagination and heroics shrouded by hints of complex characters and dark secrets. Alpha Flight still holds a magic place in my heart that I would love to visit someday.”

Alpha Flight was different than the other super-hero team books of that time, and not just because its stories took place in Canada. In many ways,

Alpha Flight defied the conventions of the superhero team genre. Most noticeably, during Byrne’s run on the book, the entire team rarely assembles. Instead, most stories involve only one or two members.

And then there’s the fact that readers didn’t know what to expect from one issue to the next. New Alpha Flight member Marrina is introduced in Alpha Flight #1 (Aug. 1983) and suddenly leaves the team three issues later. By the end of the title’s first year, the most unlikely of Alpha Flight members dies in unexpected, spectacular fashion. It was an event that dropped readers’ jaws and, again, solidified Alpha Flight as one of Marvel’s—and John Byrne’s— most memorable titles.

All in all, John Byrne’s 1983 workload was very demanding. Besides writing and drawing Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight, Byrne also scripted the new Thing series (with Ron Wilson penciling). To avoid the kind of burnout that Keith Giffen suffered, Byrne streamlined his artistic process; he stopped doing full pencils. After breaking down a page, Byrne would move on to inking it. He described it as “penciling with ink” (O’Neill 10).

of creating a line of books aimed at pre-adolescent children. Ultimately, Harvey and Marvel couldn’t reach an agreement, but that didn’t deter Marvel from continuing to develop its youth-orient imprint, one that would see print in 1985.

Above: Marvel Comics house ad announces the impending death of an Alpha Flight member.

Below: John Byrne uses Fantastic Four #1 as the inspiration for his cover to Marvel Age #14.

Marvel Age and Alpha Flight are TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A Fanzine and Encyclopedia All Its Own Thing replaced the cancelled Marvel Two-In-One—which had also starred The Thing—in Marvel’s lineup. Other Marvel titles cancelled in 1983 included Ghost Rider, Master of Kung Fu, Spider-Woman, and Team America. Marvel’s video game magazine Blip and highway trucker comic book U.S. 1 had the unenviable distinction of being both launched and cancelled during the year, yet both titles demonstrate Marvel’s continued attempts to branch out into non-superhero territory. In fact, in 1983 Marvel sought to acquire characters from the recently defunct Harvey Comics (i.e., Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, among others) for the purpose 99

Seeing print in 1983 were three Marvel Comics resource books. Published first was The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, a twelve-issue series that its editor Mark Gruenwald described in the first issue’s editorial as “[Marvel’s] first attempt to catalog the wonderful and multifarious inhabitants and phenomena that exist within the Marvel Universe.” The impetus for the Handbook originated with 1981’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 and its three-page section that ranked the strengths of Marvel’s super-heroes.

Unexpectedly, that ranking generated significant reader interest; Marvel received twice the amount of fan mail for that ranking than an issue of Uncanny X-Men normally received (Sanderson 13). Then one day in 1982, while perusing a Manhattan Barnes & Noble, Shooter came across Jane’s Fighting Ships, a book that provided detailed “spec sheets” on various battleships.

Remembering the readers’ reaction to the previous year’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual feature, Shooter believed Marvel could produce something similar to Jane’s Fighting Ships, a “Super Specs” book for Marvel’s fictional universe (Shooter). The Handbook then served as Marvel’s official encyclopedia with entries on every notable Marvel fictional character, team, alien race, organization, and landmark, ordered alphabetically.

With painstaking detail, the entries document the characters’ physical attributes and summarize their personal histories. What’s more, superpowers are explained with all the technical panache of an engineering manual. For instance, according

1983 subscription form to Marvel’s very own news comic: Marvel Age. Marvel Age TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

to Handbook #5 (May 1983), Iceman triggers his cold-based powers when he mentally over-rides his hypothalamus. He can also lower his body temperature to -105.7 degree Fahrenheit “within the span of a few tenths of a second.” The Handbook would prove popular enough for Marvel to issue an updated volume in a couple of years.

The next Marvel Comics resource book published in 1983 gave its readers the opportunity to become professional Marvel creators. The brainchild of Jim Shooter, The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book provided 11” x 17” artboard pages from an unfinished Spider-Man story as well as explanations on the roles the writer, penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer have in the comic book production process. Readers were invited to fulfill one of the production roles, complete the Spider-Man story and submit their work to Marvel. The best sample from each production category would win a paid Marvel Comics’ assignment. The winners included Mark Bagley (penciler), Doug Hazlewood (inker), and Robin Riggs (letterer). All three would go on to have productive careers in the comic book industry, particularly Bagley, who became one of the most popular Spider-Man artists in the 1990s.

Ironic then that Bagley initially had no interest in Marvel’s Try-Out Book: I thought [the Try-Out Book] was a gimmick… something Jim Shooter came up with, and I didn’t buy it. Luckily, Cliff Biggers, the guy who publishes Comic Shop News, was a friend of mine. He owned the comic book store

that I went to at the time. He told me, “If you don’t do this, you’ll hate yourself.” So, he gave it to me. And I won first place. (Allred) The third resource book Marvel published in 1983 was its own fan magazine, Marvel Age. Priced at $0.25, each issue of Marvel Age presented previews of Marvel’s upcoming publications, interviews with its creators, news of future projects, and editorials.

In other words, Marvel Age presented the same kind of material found in industry publications like The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes and Comics Buyers’ Guide, except without the occasional unfavorable commentary (or in Comics Journal’s case, constant unfavorable commentary). With Marvel Age, Marvel essentially expanded its Bullpen Bulletin column into a full issue, and it took promotional matters into its own hands, rather than solely relying on the fan press.

With Marvel Age, Marvel also got even with the fan press. One of the first news items posted in Marvel Age

#1 (April 1983) is an admission that Marvel perpetuated a hoax the previous year. At a fan press conference in September 1982, editor Tom DeFalco announced that the cover date April 1983 issue of Amazing Spider-Man (issue #239) would be printed backwards in order to promote a newly released Spider-Man hand mirror.

The idea was that the issue needed to be read by holding it up to the mirror and seeing the reflection. DeFalco perpetuated the hoax further during the October 1982 fan press conference after outlets like The Buyer’s Guide and The Comic Reader, among others, reported the “Mirror Image Spider-Man story” as a genuine upcoming Marvel publication. Marvel Age #1 insinuated that the fan press had only themselves to blame for believing the bogus story as during the press conferences DeFalco provided several hints that he was pulling a prank (for instance, at one point DeFalco alluded to April Fool’s Day). The Comic Reader though surmised that the hoax was in retaliation for the fan press’s coverage of Jim Shooter’s supposed “Big Bang” destruction of the Marvel Universe (Tiefenbacher 9).

While Amazing Spider-Man #239 wasn’t printed backwards, it did feature the webslinger’s first battle with new nemesis, The Hobgoblin.

Introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983) and created by the title’s writer Roger Stern, The Hobgoblin wore a costume reminiscent of the Green Goblin. He even flew around on his own “Goblin Glider.”

The design was deliberately evocative as Stern sought to fuse two disparate desires: “[The readers] wanted the Goblin back. I wanted to create a

1983 Marvel Comics house ad for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Left: Beta Ray Bill symbolically smashes the Thor logo.

Above: Comics Interview #9 focuses on Walter Simonson’s work on Thor.

Beta Ray Bill and Thor are TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Beast, Iceman, and Angel.

new villain… so I decided to do a villain who is sort of a new Green Goblin” (Ringgenberg 13). Stern even took a page out of Stan Lee’s Green Goblin playbook by not letting readers initially see whose face hid behind the mask of his new villain. Readers only knew that the Hobgoblin was an already established Spider-Man supporting character, and Stern rolled out further clues over the course of the year. Everyone would be guessing about Hobgoblin’s true identity for years to come…, everyone including Marvel’s editors.

Walt Simonson’s Thor Ballad Several Marvel titles had their status quo shaken-up in 1983. With Iron Man #170 (May 1983), struggling alcoholic Tony Stark relinquishes his armor and his role as a super-hero to his pilot, Jim Rhodes. Meanwhile, in Defenders #125 (Nov. 1983) Hulk, Dr. Strange, Namor, and Silver Surfer relinquish their collective role as The Defenders to a different group of heroes, one which includes three members of the original X-Men: 101

But no Marvel title received more of an overhaul than Thor. Sales on the series had been on the decline since 1979, and Marvel even considered cancelling it until editor Marc Gruenwald offered the title to Walter Simonson with the creative freedom to do as he pleased. Simonson previously drew Thor in 1978, and since the God of Thunder was his favorite super-hero, he accepted the assignment (Harris 24). Not only did Simonson end up saving Thor from cancellation, he would go on to produce one of the most celebrated runs on the title, second only to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s legendary collaboration during the 1960s. Just as Daredevil became synonymous with Frank Miller, and Fantastic Four became synonymous with John Byrne, Thor became synonymous with Walter Simonson.

To understand the grandeur of Simonson’s Thor, one need only look at the first caption from Simonson’s first Thor issue (#337, Nov. 1983): “Far beyond the fields we know, the core of an ancient galaxy… explodes!” The caption begins with an invocation to Lord Dunsany’s fantasy writings and then concludes with the description of a cataclysmic cosmic event. In this sense, Simonson redefined Thor by integrating science fiction and soap

which was possible, would’ve done a great deal of harm not only to me, but to other people who might have to sue another comics publisher or the same publisher on the same basis. I didn’t want to take that risk. (Morrow 16A)

Stu Potts provides his take on Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber’s return to Marvel Comics in this editorial cartoon printed in The Comics Journal #89.

opera elements to the book’s existing super-heroic and mythological underpinnings.

It begins with the introduction of Beta Ray Bill, a bio-engineered warrior guarding the lives of an alien civilization seeking a new home after the destruction of their home galaxy. Beta Ray Bill proves himself worthy of holding the fabled Norse war hammer, Mjolnir—a surprising development since that privilege had previously been limited to Thor alone—and after winning a round of unarmed combat against Thor, Beta Ray Bill earns from Odin his own enchanted hammer, Stormbreaker, which he subsequently uses in battle against the fire demon Surtur. The four-issue story would eventually be known as “The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill,” and it was like nothing Thor fans had ever read before.

This makes the cover to Simonson’s first Thor issue symbolic. It shows Beta Ray Bill smashing Mjolnir through the Thor logo—a logo that served as the character’s banner since his Journey Into Mystery appearances in 1964. Thor #338 (Dec. 1983) displays a new title logo, so the destruction of the old logo both foreshadows Beta Ray Bill’s victory over the God of Thunder and signifies the beginning of a new era for the comic book.

Prodigal Sons Return A new era for Marvel Comics began on November 9, 1983 when its parent company, Cadence Industries, became a private corporation. The majority of shareholders of the formerly public Cadence voted in favor of privatization, but perhaps the most interesting comic book industry news gleaned from the ensuing press conference was that Marvel had reached an out-of-court settlement with writer Steve Gerber regarding the ownership of Howard the Duck. The agreement between the two parties had Gerber—whose Destroyer Duck comic book helped fund his lawsuit—resigning all rights to the character he created in 1973 to Marvel (Spiewak 1). In return, Marvel would provide Gerber with new writing opportunities, including the development of the screenplay for a Howard the Duck movie, already optioned by Universal Studios for production by George Lucas. Years later, Gerber explained his reasons for not pursuing his litigation further: We were prepared to go into court, and at the last moment we were able to reach a settlement which I thought was fair and equitable, and in many ways less chancy than going to court with something like this. A decision against me, 102

Five years after Marvel terminated his contract, Gerber was back at the House of Ideas. Also returning was Steve Englehart who quit Marvel in 1976 when then editor-in-chief Gerry Conway relieved Englehart from his Avengers writing assignment.

Now Englehart brought Coyote—his creator-owned series which Eclipse Comics launched in 1981—to Marvel to become the second title under the Epic Comics’ banner. In the front inside cover of Coyote #1 (April 1983), Englehart remarked about his return to Marvel, “It will suffice to say that the Marvel of ’76 is no more, that all the rights which could never be had then are had now through Epic, and that bygones are bygones.”

Not everyone agreed with that sentiment. Some critics argued that given their publicized ideological stances, Gerber and Englehart effectively obliterated their status as anti-establishment mavericks by reuniting with Marvel. The Comics Journal printed a particularly scathing cartoon that branded the two writers as Marvel lapdogs.

Jim Shooter had more on his mind than the fan press commentary.

One of his foremost concerns was how well Marvel’s titles sold, and by year’s end, Marvel’s sales had dipped slightly, down nearly 5.5% from its 1982 numbers (Tolworthy). The performance didn’t presage a downward trend, however, as Marvel would rebound in a big way, and late in 1983, Marvel teased its readers about what was coming their way in 1984. First shown in Comics Buyer’s Guide #523 (Nov. 25, 1983) was a model sheet of Spider-Man. He’s wearing a black costume.

CHRONICLES FLASHBACK: 1983

“I Can’t Read Your Thoughts...”

Dialogue and Absent Narrators By 1983, writers like Frank Miller and Howard Chaykin were producing a sea change in how mainstream comic books were narrated. They eschewed traditional storytelling devices to create more sophisticated comic book stories. Information was no longer being spoon-fed to the readers via thought balloons and third-person omniscient narrators. Frank Miller, in particular, challenged his readers to “participate” in a story’s comprehension. There’s no better example of this than his Ronin mini-series. Ronin is executed solely through dialogue.

There are no thought balloons, and there are no captions, not even captions to mark time or location. This places the onus on the reader to process Miller’s sequence of visual images into an understandable story.

In 1983, Miller explained his artistic intentions to Amazing Heroes’ Peter Sanderson: “I think Ronin is very likely to throw readers. I don’t think it’s going to make them particularly comfortable or be particularly relaxing. But I don’t know if readers necessarily want to be comfortable or relaxed… There’s no real life equivalent to a thought balloon. I can’t read your thoughts. In stories I like to imitate real life in this way. When I get to know someone, generally it takes a while. You learn who people are through their actions mostly, and sometimes through their speech” (50). Throughout Ronin then, characters’ facial expressions and actions are presented without explanatory commentary. This forces Ronin readers to make interpretations.

Clearly, Miller and other like-minded creators, like Chaykin, were targeting a more mature readership with their stories. In doing so, they accurately anticipated a demographic trend: the average age of comic book readers increased as the 1980s progressed. Unlike previous decades—when comic book readership was expected to turn over every few years as new adoles-

Sequence from 1983’s Ronin #2.

Ronin TM DC Comics and copyright Frank Miller.

cent consumers replaced the teenagers who “outgrew” their comic book habit—comic book readers of the 1980s tended to stay with the medium as they aged. And the comic book market provided them with publications that suited their maturing tastes.

Yet despite the impact of books like Ronin and American Flagg!, comic book narration wasn’t totally overhauled in the 1980s. Thought balloons and third-person omniscient narrators were put to good use for years to come. (One need only look at Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men or Paul Levitz’s Legion of Super-Heroes for proof.) But those devices would fall out of favor among comic book 103

creators, either because they became inspired by groundbreaking comic books and wanted to produce similar works or because they perceived an older comic book readership demanded a more unobtrusive narrative.

Whatever the case, the comic book industry entered an era of bold narrative innovation, and some of the most nuanced comic book stories in the history of the medium would be produced by the end of the 1980s.

1984 The

Teenage Turtle

Takeover

From Jim Shooter’s point of view, Marvel Comics’ state of affairs had completely turned around from the time he became the company’s editor-in-chief in 1978. In the early 1980s, not only had Marvel become a more profitable publisher, its operations and staff morale improved considerably as well: We were in comfy new offices. We had gotten more or less on time, relieving, to some extent, the grinding oppression of the schedule. The books were selling like Popsicles in Death Valley. The business was expanding so there was plenty of work to go around. Rates had escalated dramatically. There were creator-owned opportunities, incentive plans, benefits and royalties. People were making money—some, a lot of money. Funny how when people are making good money, a lot of the stress drains away. (Shooter, “More Strange Tales: War at Marvel”)

Apparently, enough stress drained away that Shooter let Marvel’s cover date January 1984 slate go goofy for an event dubbed “Assistant Editors’ Month.”

The pretense of Marvel’s “Assistant Editors’ Month” was that Shooter left the assistant editors in charge while he and the editors traveled west—attending San Diego Comic Con and then meetings in Los Angeles. With the bosses away, the assistant editors—led by Mike Carlin—ran amok. Aunt May became a herald of Galactus in Marvel Team-Up #137.

Comics humorist Fred Hembeck drew Spectacular SpiderMan #86. In Avengers #239, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes appeared on the Late Night With David Letterman television show. The covers to Mike Carlin’s books displayed DC Comics’ 1960s-era “Go-Go checks” (with an “MC” bullet logo).

Other covers paraphrased the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about smoking: “Warning: Surgeons Have Generally Determined That Assistant Editors’ Month Is Dangerous to Your Health.” Across Marvel’s line, either in the stories or in the letter pages, hilarity ensued, all because without Jim Shooter keeping them in line, the assistant editors couldn’t help but indulge themselves.

That was the pretense at least. The reality was something else as Danny Fingeroth—Marvel’s Spider-Man line editor at the time—explains, “it was the most carefully planned, plotted, and strategized stunt that we had probably ever done, up to that point” (Fingeroth 33). While the assistant editors did indeed take over Marvel’s helm for a month, they did so under the direct supervision of not only the senior editors but also Jim Shooter who brainstormed the stunt as an opportunity to give Marvel’s readers a change of pace. Since the cover date January 1984 books were conceived and approved—and in some cases completed—well in advance of the editors’ West Coast trip, the assistant editors had their bosses sitting right next to them as they worked on the comic books.

CHAPTER FIVE

by Keith Dallas 104

Carlin recollects the whimsically irreverent stunt didn’t sell particularly well, possibly becoming Marvel’s worst selling month ever, according to one legend he heard (Fingeroth 33). Given the flourishing mid-1980s comic book marketplace and the high volume of titles Marvel was producing at that time, this most assuredly could not have been the case. In fact, Assistant Editors’ Month was a sales failure only if judged against the performance of the next Marvel event that began four months later.

of the characters in their care. If David Michelinie were assigned to write Secret Wars, Shooter knew Chris Claremont would throw a fit over Michelinie handling “his” XMen. Likewise, if Shooter tapped Claremont, John Byrne wouldn’t let Shooter hear the end of how he didn’t want Claremont touching “his” Fantastic Four. In Shooter’s own assessment, “allowing any one of the writers to handle pretty much everyone else’s characters in Secret Wars… would have led to blood-

Secret War Profiteering For years, Jim Shooter received fan mail begging Marvel to publish a story that starred all of its prominent superheroes and super-villains. A request from a toy manufacturer created the opportunity for Marvel to do just that. Despite already producing the popular Masters of the Universe action figures, Mattel didn’t want to make the same mistake it made eight years earlier when it passed on George Lucas’ offer to have Mattel produce Star Wars action figures (Levisohn). The Star Wars licensing rights fell in Kenner’s lap, allowing Mattel’s competitor to sell millions of toys based on the movie series, starting in 1977. In 1984, Kenner was set to unveil its DC Comics-themed Super Powers action figure line.

On the chance that super-hero action figures would become the next toy sensation, Mattel approached Marvel Comics, seeking to license Marvel’s characters for a similar toy line. To cement the licensing agreement, Mattel required from Marvel a special comic book that the action figure line could tie into. Shooter suggested Marvel produce the star-studded story many of its readers have been clamoring for, which he had tentatively titled “Cosmic Champions” (Kraft 17). Mattel, though, recommended a title that included the words “wars” and “secret” after focus group tests indicated that young boys reacted positively to those words (Shooter, “Secrets of the Secret Wars”). So the title of the event was changed to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. It would become Marvel’s best-selling comic book of the decade.

The twelve-issue limited series featured far more super-heroes and super-villains than Mattel’s action figure line which only offered eight Marvel characters (Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Dr. Doom, Dr. Octopus, Magneto, and Kang). Shooter lured penciller Mike Zeck and inker John Beatty away from their two-year run on Captain America to handle art duties.

Assigning a writer to the series wasn’t going to be as easy.

The problem was that Marvel’s writers were possessive

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would have a surprisingly transformative impact on the comic book industry.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TM and © Viacom International Inc.

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1984 TIMELINE

June 1: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock opens in movie theaters.

June 4: Ghostbusters – starring Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson – opens in movie theaters.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 1: The court-ordered reorganization of AT&T into seven independent regional telephone companies takes place.

January 10: A Wendy’s restaurant television commercial asks, “Where’s the Beef?” The question would soon become part of the American lexicon.

April 1: Soul singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death during an altercation with his father.

March 7: Carl Burgos – creator of The Human Torch that first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 – dies at the age of 67.

April 3: Motorola introduces a brick-sized cell phone, costing $3,995.

May 23: Directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom opens in movie theaters.

January 31: Spider-Man’s new black costume is introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #252.

February 8: The Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

June 4: Former vice president of Marvel Comics Sol Brodsky dies after a brief illness at the age of 61. Brodsky became Marvel’s production manager in 1964.

Stan Lee described Brodsky as his “right hand man.”

MARCH

APRIL

M AY

JUNE

May 1: The first issue of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goes on sale. The initial 3000-copy print run immediately sells out.

January 24: Apple Computers unveils its Macintosh personal computer.

February 28: First Comics files a federal lawsuit against Marvel Comics and World Color Press claiming the two separately engaged in anti-trust and anti-competitive activities since November 1982.

January 24: The first issue of the 12-issue limited series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars – which would become Marvel’s best-selling comic book of the decade – goes on sale.

February 9: At the age of 69, Yuri Andropov dies, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev as the Soviet Union’s General Secretary. He is succeeded by Konstantin U. Chernenko.

June 18: Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA album lands on the Billboard Top Ten; it will remain there for 84 weeks.

June 28: Artist Pete Costanza dies at the age of 71. He illustrated dozens of Captain Marvel stories for Fawcett during the 1940s and then drew for DC Comics in the 1960s mostly on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.

June 29: Conan the Destroyer – with a story by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas and with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Robert E. Howard’s famous hero – opens in movie theaters.

Marvel Age, Secret Wars, Spider-Man, and Human Torch TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TM and © Viacom International Inc. Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics. Void Indigo TM and © Steve Gerber estate and Val Mayerik. Transformers TM and © Hasbro.

SECRET WARS SCORE CARD

Mike Zeck and John Beatty’s cover to the first issue of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Super-Heroes Spider-Man Hulk Captain America Iron Man Thor Wasp Hawkeye Captain Marvel She-Hulk Mister Fantastic The Thing Human Torch Cyclops Wolverine Storm Colossus Nightcrawler Rogue Professor Xavier Magneto

Super-Villains Dr. Doom Galactus Dr. Octopus The Lizard Ultron Kang Absorbing Man Enchantress Molecule Man The Wrecker Thunderball Piledriver Bulldozer

106

shed in the hallowed halls” (Shooter, “Secrets of the Secret Wars”). To avoid this, Shooter had to select a writer who (1) was experienced at writing stories with a large cast of characters, (2) was up to date on the goings-on of all of Marvel’s titles, and (3) could withstand being hated by the rest of Marvel’s writers. Given that criteria, Shooter felt only one person was qualified to write Secret Wars: Jim Shooter. Assigning himself to the task didn’t stop the other writers from arguing with Shooter about how he was misusing “their” characters, but they all knew that Shooter always had the last word as editor-in-chief, and that eliminated the prospect of any protracted arguments.

In advance of Secret Wars’ launch, Marvel Age #12 (March 1984) unabashedly declared it “the most cataclysmic development in the Marvel Universe since the origin of the Fantastic Four!” (Lerer 9). The following month, several Marvel titles

September 16: Miami Vice – a New Wave police procedural drama produced by Michael Mann and starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas – premieres on the NBC television network.

July 18: Oliver Huberty, an unemployed security guard, enters a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, CA and opens fire with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, killing 20 and wounding 16 before he is killed by police sharpshooters.

September 20: The Cosby Show, a sitcom starring Bill Cosby, debuts on the NBC television network.

July 19: “Justice League Detroit” – composed of Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, and new members Vixen, Steel, Vibe and Gypsy – debuts in Justice League of America Annual #2.

September 24: Canadian customs officials seize a copy of the Void Indigo graphic novel – written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Val Mayerik – on the suspicion it violated the country’s pornography standards.

July 23: Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign her title. Nude photographs of her had been published in Penthouse magazine.

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

July 30: Prince’s album Purple Rain becomes the best-selling album in the nation and will continue to be for the next six months.

July 12: Democratic Presidential nominee Walter Mondale selects New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.

Ferraro becomes the first woman to be placed on a presidential ticket.

July 12: Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” video premieres on MTV.

November 11: The Transformers cartoon show debuts on syndicated television.

October 31: Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. In the ensuing riots, some 2,700 Sikhs are killed.

July 28: The 23rd Summer Olympics opens in Los Angeles. It is boycotted by the Soviet Union and other Communist countries like Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, and the Eastern Bloc as well as by Iran and Libya. The United States would go on to win 83 gold medals.

J U LY

November 6: Ronald Reagan is elected for a second term as President of the United States, defeating Democratic nominee Walter Mondale with a record 525 electoral votes.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

August 21: Comic book distributor and convention organizer Phil Seuling – credited for creating the comic book industry’s Direct Market distribution system in 1972 – dies at the age of 50.

(Amazing Spider-Man #251, Avengers #242, Incredible Hulk #294, and Uncanny X-Men #180, among others) show their protagonists investigating an enormous alien construct that mysteriously appeared in Manhattan’s Central Park. The heroes all feel compelled to enter, and when they do, they vanish in a flash of light. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 (May 1984) reveals where they all went: “the distant reaches of the universe, far, far from planet Earth.” Floating in space are two alien constructs: one holds 20 super-heroes, the other holds 13 super-villains. After they all witness the destruction of a galaxy and the construction of a new planet— later dubbed “Battleworld”—a light shines from the void of space, and a voice declares, “I am from Beyond!

Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours.” They’re all then transported down to Battleworld where the conflict begins. Over the course of twelve issues, the heroes and the

December 19: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher guarantees the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, when Great Britain’s 99-year lease on the territory expires.

DECEMBER November 29: “Band Aid” – a collection of British musicians brought together by Bob Geldof that includes Phil Collins, Duran Duran, U2, Sting, George Michael, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney – releases the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

August 30: Pacific Comics ceases its publishing operations.

August 19: Comic book artist Don Newton – best known for his work on DC’s Comics Batman and Detective Comics – dies of a heart attack at the age of 49.

December 3: In Bhopal India, gas leakage from a Union Carbide pesticide plant causes the deaths of more than 2,000 people and injures more than 500,000 others, some of whom will later die from their injuries.

October 26: The Terminator – directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a homicidal cyborg from the future – opens in movie theaters.

November 21: Supergirl – starring Helen Slater as Superman’s cousin – opens in movie theaters.

December 22: While riding on the New York City subway, Bernhard Goetz shoots four black youths, who he claims were about to rob him.

villains battle each other. Many, many times. Over and over again.

While the first melee on Battleworld gets under way at the end of Secret Wars #1, that very same month other Marvel titles show its heroes returning from the conclusion of the conflict. Readers would have to wait eleven more months before they had the chance to buy the final Secret Wars issue, but revealed to them immediately were the changes ultimately wrought by the event. Instead of returning to Earth with his colleagues, the Thing chose to remain on Battleworld. She-Hulk took his place on the Fantastic Four roster. The X-Men had a determined new combat leader in Professor X as well as an emotionally devastated Colossus who ended his romantic relationship with Kitty Pryde. The most significant Secret Wars development, however, was Spider-Man’s new black costume.

Secret Wars #8 explains how Spider-Man obtained his black costume.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

107

The (Spider-)Man in Black

costume would confuse the SpiderMan brand among licensees. Given the clamor that came both internally and externally, Shooter decided to return matters to the previous status quo. He told DeFalco, “The costume is introduced in [Amazing Spider-Man] #252. Get rid of it in #253” (Johnson 49). DeFalco, however, felt that reversing course would undermine the Secret Wars event, which at some point would have to introduce the black costume, months after it was ditched for good in Amazing Spider-Man. After some passionate arguing, DeFalco persuaded Shooter to let the black costume stay, at least until it made its appearance in Secret Wars.

In 1982, a comic book fan named Randy Schueller contacted Jim Shooter and pitched him a story in which Spider-Man donned a black costume that would let the hero blend into the night and better cling to walls. Shooter paid Schueller $220 for the proposal and assigned thenSpider-Man editor Tom DeFalco to help Schueller shape the idea into a publishable story (Cronin). After months spent guiding and tutoring the would-be professional writer, DeFalco threw in the towel; Schueller just wasn’t up to the task of crafting a professional-quality story. So the black costume idea got discarded sometime before DeFalco got promoted to executive editor and handed the Spider-Man editorial reins to Danny Fingeroth in 1983. But as Mattel and Marvel began coordinating their Secret Wars plans, Shooter remembered the black costume idea and decided to incorporate it into the event (Johnson 48). Shooter’s decision mostly affected two people: the Secret Wars editor and the Amazing-Spider-Man writer. In 1984, one person held both those positions, and as fate would have it, it was the same person Shooter assigned to deal with the black costume concept in the first place: Tom DeFalco.

Shooter’s decision also obviously affected the artists drawing the comic books featuring Spider-Man. At the start of 1984, Ron Frenz had the art duties on Amazing Spider-Man. When Frenz received the plot for Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984)—the second issue of Frenz’s nearly three year long tenure on the title—it included design sketches by Mike Zeck of Spider-Man’s new black costume.

Having been given no forewarning about the costume change, Frenz at first thought a new Spider-Man villain was being introduced. When he was finally informed of the development, Frenz had one reaction: “You’ve got to be kidding me! I waited all my

Spider-Man’s black costume makes its debut in Amazing Spider-Man #252.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

life, since the age of eight, to draw Spider-Man, and now he’s got a new suit!” (Johnson 48).

The initial fan reaction to SpiderMan’s black costume was equally vociferous. Before issue #252 even arrived in stores, outraged readers flooded Marvel with letters demanding the character return to wearing his traditional red and blue costume.

Even Marvel’s own licensing personnel were unhappy with the change.

They were concerned that the new 108

When Amazing Spider-Man #252 reached the newsstands and Direct Market stores, the unexpected happened: suddenly the mainstream media wanted to report on Spider-Man’s costume change. Major national newspapers and news outlets contacted Marvel for interviews about the new costume. Subsequently, sales of Amazing Spider-Man—already one of Marvel’s best-sellers—skyrocketed. Issue #252 sold nearly double the number of copies the preceding issue sold (Shooter, “Something Groovy”). The issue also instantly became a hot commodity on the secondary market, selling for $50 in some areas mere days after its release (Johnson 50).

Six months later, Amazing SpiderMan #258 revealed that the black costume is actually a sentient alien parasite seeking to graft itself permanently onto its host. With the help of Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man separates himself from the parasite, which is then isolated in a sealed chamber. The following month the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #259 (Dec. 1984) featured Spider-Man in his familiar red and blue costume with the declaration,

“The original is back!” That same month Secret Wars #8 shows how the black costume was created via an alien machine Spider-Man found on Battleworld. This would hardly be the last time readers would see the black costume, or the alien parasite, for that matter. Both would prove to have much longer publication histories than anyone at Marvel originally anticipated.

As well as Amazing Spider-Man sold, Secret Wars sold substantially better, averaging nearly 700,000 copies per issue (Schmuckler 31). That meant considerable royalty payments for Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck and John Beatty.

When production of Secret Wars was finished, Shooter sent Zeck and Beatty each a bottle of Dom Perignon with a card that read “The War is Over.” Zeck drank the entire bottle of champagne as soon as he got it. He couldn’t have been happier Secret Wars was over because while financially rewarding, the project was a creatively frustrating experience for him. The frustrations began right from the start when Zeck learned that Shooter had a very rigid vision of what Secret Wars’ aesthetic should be. Whenever Zeck deviated from that vision, he found himself, at best, being told to redraw his artwork, and at worst, seeing his art substituted by the work of another artist, like Butch Guice. That led not only to a reduction of Zeck’s creative input on the book but also an intensification of deadline pressures. To publish the issues on time, other artists had to be called upon to help out.

Bob Layton penciled Secret Wars #4 and #5, while Jack Abel, Mike Esposito, and newcomer Art Adams pitched in to ink parts of other issues. All in all, Zeck didn’t find Secret Wars to be a “definitive example” of his art style (Witterstaetter 27-29). He would have to wait for another year and another Marvel project to reclaim it.

New Styles, New Characters, New Captain America?

On the other hand, a new monthly assignment provoked Bill Sienkiewicz to redefine his art style. He replaced Sal Buscema as the artist on The New Mutants with issue #18 (Aug. 1984). Already moving away from the Neal Adams-influenced realism that made him such a popular artist on Moon Knight, Sienkiewicz became

Mike Zeck’s design sheet for Spider-Man’s black costume.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

influenced by conversations about animation with Marvel assistant editor Peter Sanderson (Zimmerman 44).

With Chris Claremont supplying him with stories that featured mystical demon bears, techno-organic aliens and bizarre mindscapes, Sienkiewicz began developing an unorthodox art style that fused the representational and the abstract. He juxtaposed ink blotches with intricately fine lines.

He exaggerated light sources and shadows and perspectives. For a super-hero comic book, the art style was untraditional, so much so that it polarized the readership. Some found it bizarre and unappealing while others found it original and invigorating. By Sienkiewicz’s estimation, The New Mutants lost as many readers as it gained during his run on the book.

The mixed reaction to his new style didn’t bother the artist though. In 109

fact, it suited Sienkiewicz just fine because he considered the creation of something controversial and distinctive a more worthy endeavor than the duplication of past successes (Thomas).

While Bill Sienkiewicz was evolving his artwork, Louise Simonson was adjusting to her new career in the comic book industry. Since 1980, Simonson had been serving as a Marvel Comics editor, most notably on Uncanny X-Men. Her editorial duties left her with no free time to write, so at the end of 1983 she resigned her position. The first project she created as a freelance writer was Power Pack.

Co-created and drawn by newcomer June Brigman, Power Pack stars four pre-adolescent siblings who are given super-powers—and a sentient spaceship—by a dying alien attempting to save the Earth from destruction. Not

Above: 1984 house ad featuring Bill Sienkiewicz artwork. Left: Sienkiewicz’s tenure on New Mutants began with issue #18.

The New Mutants TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

only did the new series garner critical acclaim—deemed one of the best ten comic books of 1984 by Amazing Heroes—its characters were featured, along with Spider-Man, in a giveaway comic book produced for the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse. With Power Pack, Louise Simonson began a long, productive and distinguished comic book writing career, exclusively with Marvel Comics until the end of the decade and then with other publishers beyond that.

J.M. DeMatteis was already several years into his long, productive, and

distinguished comic book writing career. In 1984, DeMatteis’ tenure on Captain America—which began in 1981—came to an end with the shield slinger’s final battle with the Red Skull in issue #300 (Dec. 1984). Not that DeMatteis originally wanted to leave the title after that issue. On the contrary, for the aftermath of issue #300, DeMatteis proposed a year-long story arc that would culminate in an event that Doug Moench claimed Jim Shooter wanted to do back in 1982: the death of Captain America. DeMatteis intended on having Captain America 110

experience a profound epiphany after Red Skull’s demise. The character would come to the revelation that his violent means of upholding American ideals were doing nothing other than perpetuating more violence. Steve Rogers would then use his standing as a super-hero to advocate nonviolent methods of changing the world. The world, however, would turn a deaf ear to Rogers’ new pacifist mantra, and America itself would label its former champion a traitor. Ultimately, Captain America’s partner, Nomad, would be manipulated by Cap’s enemies into assassinating Rogers. A new Captain America would then wield the shield: a Native American super-hero named Black Crow who DeMatteis previously introduced in Captain America #292 (April 1984). Captain America’s editor Mark Gruenwald approved DeMatteis’s proposal, and the writer began plotting the story arc.

Prior to the publication of Captain America #300, however, Jim Shooter got wind of DeMatteis’ plans and, without any hesitation, nixed them.

Shooter deemed it all an arbitrary manipulation of the character. That is to say, given Captain America’s established history, Shooter felt Steve Rogers’ pacifistic change of heart wouldn’t be true to his character. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, DeMatteis explained that he

With artist June Brigman, writer Louise Simonson created Power Pack.

Power Pack TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

eventually came to understand—and respect—Jim Shooter’s point of view; as the custodian of the Marvel fictional universe, Shooter was obligated to protect the integrity of the characters as he saw fit. DeMatteis’s proposal was indeed radical, especially when placed within the context of the renewed nationalistic pride America was experiencing in the mid-1980s.

Also, a comic book whose protagonist denounces super-hero tropes risked undermining Marvel’s entire line of super-hero titles. In 1984, though, DeMatteis was extremely upset by Shooter’s veto of his story, so much so that he quit the title. In order to abort DeMatteis’ plans, Shooter had Captain America #300 rewritten, a task handled by Gruenwald. The revision didn’t satisfy DeMatteis, and he asked his name be removed from the issue’s credits (DeMatteis). Gruenwald preferred not having DeMatteis’ name removed from the issue altogether, so the two men worked out a compromise: the issue would list DeMatteis as its plotter and the fictitious, Monty Python-inspired “Michael Ellis” as its scripter. Though he was upset, DeMatteis didn’t quit writing for Marvel Comics altogether. At the time that he left Captain America, DeMatteis had begun scripting a few Marvel miniseries as well as an Epic Comics series that would debut in 1985.

In 1984, though, Epic Comics was responsible for the return of two authors whose relationships with Marvel were strained (to put it mildly).

Doug Moench—the writer who quit Marvel in 1982 when he could no longer tolerate Jim Shooter’s editorial decisions—co-created the suspenseful sci-fi mini-series Six from Sirius with artist Paul Gulacy. The series had been in works for several years, and Moench had no qualms about it being published under the Epic imprint, which was guided by editor Archie Goodwin, far away from Jim Shooter’s reach in Moench’s mind. On the other hand, Steve Gerber—the man who sued Marvel over the rights to Howard the Duck and ultimately reached an out-of-court settlement in late 1983—produced the mythic Void Indigo with Val Mayerik. Debuting as an Epic Comics graphic novel and then continuing as an Epic comics miniseries, Void Indigo starred an alien who comes to Earth to avenge himself against seven demons that killed him in his previous life. Readers were immediately struck by the book’s explicit scenes of slaughter, torture, and sex. In perhaps the understatement of the year, Gerber told Marvel Age magazine that “Void Indigo is not for everybody” (Zimmerman 11). Canada wondered if Void Indigo was appropriate for anyone within its borders.

On September 14, 1984 Canadian customs officials seized a copy of the Void Indigo graphic novel on the suspicion it violated the country’s pornography standards. While the Canadian government deliberated over whether or not to deem Void Indigo an acceptable publication, the United States Direct Market most assuredly decided it wasn’t. Many distributors, retailers and commentators alike judged the comic book as disgustingly gruesome. One distributor expressed dismay that Marvel wouldn’t allow the comic book to be returned for credit: “Marvel feels [retailers and distributors] were sufficiently warned about the book’s contents, but they didn’t tell us it was going to be grotesque” (Heintjes 13). The marketplace rejected Void Indigo so much that orders for the second mini-series issue dropped below 40,000 copies. After discussing the matter with Gerber, Goodwin cancelled the six-issue series after the second issue (Heintjes 11).

111

Marvel’s Near Miss at the Man of Steel?

DC Comics had increased the price point of its newsstand-distributed comic books to 75 cents starting with cover date December 1983. Marvel, on the other hand, maintained the 60 cent price point throughout 1984, with the exception of its limited series whose price point was raised to 75 cents beginning with cover date September 1984. In his “Bullpen Bulletins” column, Jim Shooter explained to Marvel’s readers that the price increase for limited series was less due to the increased cost of the sturdier, whiter Mando Roto paper—which was only slightly more expensive than newsprint—and more due to the attempt to keep the rest of Marvel’s newsstand line at 60 cents. Marvel didn’t increase its price point until cover date April 1985 when the retail cost became 65 cents.

Maintaining a lower price point gave Marvel a competitive advantage over all other comic book publishers.

Combined with the boost given to the comic books that featured characters simultaneously appearing in Secret Wars (i.e., Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Thor, and Uncanny X-Men), the price advantage meant many Marvel titles had their average monthly sales improve over the previous year.

Marvel Age #21 featured Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik’s Void Indigo.

Void Indigo TM and © Steve Gerber estate and Val Mayerik.

The way Jim Shooter saw it in early 1984, the time couldn’t be more ripe for a bold move. In an interoffice memo to Marvel’s executive vice president of business affairs, Joe Calamari, Shooter wrote, “I think we should consider making an offer for DC Comics” (Shooter, “Superman—First Marvel Issue!”). Shooter proposed that Marvel license DC’s characters for comic book publication in exactly the same way that they licensed other properties, like the Star Wars characters: an upfront advance supplemented by royalty payments with DC keeping the licensing and merchandising rights.

According to the interoffice memo, this wasn’t the first time Marvel attempted to pry DC’s characters away from them. Marvel tried a few years earlier, but given DC Comics’ declining sales, Shooter felt this time DC’s parent company, Warner Communications, would jump at the chance to eliminate the significant overhead costs incurred by DC Comics’ operations. Marvel’s President Jim Galton wasn’t impressed. He didn’t see the point of wasting effort and resources on a group of characters that were— as far as Galton could tell—unpopular. But once Shooter argued that DC’s characters had great publishing potential, and once Marvel’s circulation department told Galton they anticipated a license with DC would generate more than $7 million of profit for Marvel, Galton moved forward with Shooter’s plan. He met with Warner Communications chairman Bill Sarnoff to negotiate a licensing agreement.

Press charged First Comics a higher rate for printing than it did for Marvel or DC Comics, and (2) that Marvel flooded the Direct Market with product with the intention of driving new comic book publishers out of business (Freitag 8). In 1982, Marvel published 414 comic book issues.

Marvel increased its comic book production to 456 issues in 1983 and increased it again to 496 issues in 1984 (Stevenson).

First Comics argued this kind of amplified output had a predatory effect on the comic book marketplace. Other comic book publishers agreed. In an editorial printed in Nexus #5 (cover date January 1984), Capital Comics’ editor Richard Bruning lamented: All characters TM and © DC Comics.

The end result was Marvel’s sales—in terms of number of copies sold during the year—increased by 17% from 1983 to 1984. With DC’s sales decreasing by 10% in that same period, Marvel sold more than twice the number of comic books DC did in 1984, a feat Marvel had never before accomplished (Tolworthy).

Meanwhile, Jim Shooter claims John Byrne somehow got wind of the possibility Marvel could soon be publishing comic books starring DC’s superheroes. Without anyone directing him to do so, Byrne provided Shooter with a cover and plot synopsis for the first Marvel Comics issue of Superman (Shooter, “Superman—First Marvel Issue—Byrne’s Plot”). By doing so, he made clear what assignment he expected Shooter to give him if a deal went through. Byrne, however, asserts that he drew no such cover and that the first issue plot he wrote was unrelated to any rumor that Marvel was attempting to license DC Comics’ characters. Instead, Byrne’s plot synopsis was merely “one of countless little fantasy exercises in which I have indulged over the years” (Byrne).

Regardless, Byrne would have to wait a couple of years before getting the opportunity to write and draw the iconic Man of Steel. Marvel and DC never agreed to a licensing arrangement, and whether or not DC seriously entertained Marvel’s proposal is up for debate. From Shooter’s point of view, though, the only reason why a deal didn’t happen is because of unrelated litigation. On February 28, 1984, First Comics filed a federal lawsuit against Marvel Comics and World Color Press claiming the two separately engaged in anti-trust and anti-competitive activities since November 1982. First Comics principally contended two transgressions: (1) that World Color 112

Marvel… has decided that if they released enough material every week, the average comic buyer would spend all their money on them first and forego the “competition.”

It’s definitely had its effect.

Whether anyone likes to admit it or not, everyone’s sales are down, including DC’s.

Some of the smaller publishers are gone and others will be soon. Marvel’s ploy is working.

By 1984, Marvel’s market share approached 70%. Acquiring a license from DC would have only increased Marvel’s market share further, which would have been problematic for Marvel since it would lend credence to First Comics’ claim that Marvel was seeking to monopolize the comic book industry.

First’s lawsuit wouldn’t be resolved for years to come. In the meantime, Marvel became embroiled in other legal matters. In 1984, Marvel told British publisher Quality Communications to cease using the name “Marvelman” in its comic books on the grounds it infringed on Marvel’s trademarked name. This came despite the fact that

the Marvelman character predated the Marvel Comics moniker. In the early 1950s British publisher Len Miller released a weekly comic book titled Marvelman that reprinted Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel stories. In order to settle National Periodical Publication’s lawsuit that asserted Captain Marvel was an illegal imitation of Superman, Fawcett agreed to discontinue publishing comics in 1953, effectively exhausting Miller’s supply of material to reprint. So in 1954 Miller directed writer/artist Mick Anglo to create a surrogate Captain Marvel to continue the Marvelman title. Anglo copied the Captain Marvel mythos and used the title of Miller’s comic book as the name of his new super-hero: Marvelman. Miller published Marvelman comics until 1963, two years after Atlas Comics changed its name to Marvel Comics. Quality Communications acquired the copyright to Marvelman in 1982 and began publishing new Alan Moore-written exploits in its Warrior anthology. It wasn’t until May 1984 when Quality published Marvelman Special #1—a 52-page magazine reprinting Marvelman stories from the 1950s and ’60s—that Marvel Comics balked. Marvel Comics Limited—Marvel’s British division—looked upon a comic book titled “Marvelman” as a deceptive attempt to associate Quality Communications with Marvel Comics. Quality’s managing director Dez Skinn, however, saw Marvel’s threat of litigation as an attempt to bully a smaller publisher, and Skinn vowed not to capitulate to Marvel’s demands (Heintjes 13-14).

Declining sales forced Warrior’s cancellation by the end of the year, effectively ending both Quality’s plans for Marvelman and Marvel’s dispute with Quality. But the legal wrangling over Marvelman would carry over into 1985 to involve a comic book publisher on Marvel’s side of the Atlantic Ocean.

A different matter that would carry over into 1985—and beyond—was Marvel’s decision to return its back-

stock of original art to its creators.

Marvel had instituted the policy of returning original art to its pencilers and inkers in 1976, but original art produced prior to that year was kept

by Marvel in storage, much to the chagrin of those who argued that original art belonged to the artists, not the publishers. From all accounts, Marvel would have had great difficulty returning its backstock of original art if only because its storage room was a disorganized, cluttered mess. Separating and cataloging the original

Marvelman appeared in the British anthology Warrior from 1982 to 1984.

art from the 1960s and early 1970s became an onerous, time consuming task. Marvel’s lawyers were also concerned that the return of original art could weaken the publisher’s copyright ownership of characters created in the 1960s. When the original art from that era had been organized, and when Marvel’s lawyers worked out the legalities, Marvel announced in late 1984 that it would send back pre-1976 original art pages to the artists who produced them. All Marvel needed in return was the artists’ signature on a release form.

And therein lied the rub. Besides defining the delivery of the original art 113

to the artist as a “gift” from Marvel, the release form also officially classified the original art as “work made for hire,” thereby cementing Marvel as the exclusive copyright owner of any and all material appearing in the artwork. Upon signing the release form then, the artists would effectively—and irrevocably—relinquish any claim of ownership to the characters and concepts they created for Marvel. When he learned of the release form and its stipulations, artist Neal Adams—an outspoken advocate of creators’ rights—made this assessment: “Anyone who signs that form is crazy.”

His recommended course of action to his fellow artists was unequivocal: “Do not sign that piece of paper—do not sign it! At least take it to a lawyer, so he can tell you what a mistake you’re making” (Heintjes 9).

Marvel, though, made clear that original art wouldn’t be released to any artist who didn’t sign the release form. As a result, and in spite of Adams’ exhortations, many of Marvel’s most prolific artists during the 1960s—including Dick Ayers, John Buscema, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr., Don Heck, Vinnie Colletta and Joe Sinnott—chose to sign the release form. Heck was troubled by the release form’s language and considered modifying it but ultimately decided “it’s not worth the trouble” (Heintjes 9).

For one artist, fighting the stipulations of the release form was worth the trouble. After all, unlike the other artists who drew for Marvel during the 1960s, Jack Kirby co-created most of the properties that remained popular—and lucrative—in the 1980s.

Therefore, Jack Kirby had the most to lose if he agreed to define his work for Marvel as made for hire. The time was approaching when Kirby could attempt to sue for at least partial ownership of the characters and concepts he co-created. The Fantastic Four, for instance, was due for copyright renewal in 1989, and Kirby could challenge that renewal—and subsequent other renewals—in court.

Recognizing the unique legal matters between them, Marvel didn’t send Jack Kirby the same one page release form the other artists received. Instead, Marvel sent Kirby a four-page form.

Whereas the one-page form declared Marvel was delivering “as a gift to the Artist the original physical Artwork,” the four-page form further specified that Kirby was receiving—again, as a gift—the “physical custody” of the original artwork. Similar to the onepage form, the four-page form defined the art itself as work made for hire, but it also further stated that Kirby “shall never contest or dispute, or assist others in contesting or disputing, Marvel’s complete, exclusive, and unrestricted ownership of the copyright in the Artwork.” Furthermore, Kirby’s original art couldn’t be publicly displayed or sold, and if it was given to another person, that person was obligated to sign and deliver to Marvel the fourpage release form as well.

Finally, Marvel could, “with reasonable advance notice,” regain access to the original art for copying purposes (Dean).

When Kirby scrutinized the release form drafted specially for him, he became enraged by its terms (Ro 223).

He refused to sign it and his subsequent attempts to negotiate a compromise proved futile. As Marvel stood firm to its demands, it became clear this was a dispute that wouldn’t be settled in 1984. In fact, Kirby’s fight to get Marvel to return his artwork to him wouldn’t be resolved for years to come. For Marvel, the matter would become a public relations debacle.

Direct Market Volatility While Marvel had the beginning of a protracted fight on its hands, other comic book publishers came to the end of their fight to remain in business. Whitman Comics—the Western Publishing imprint that had been rebranded from Gold Key Comics, one

1984 Marvel Comics house ad drawn by Michael Golden.

All characters TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

of the 1960s most prominent comic book producers—had attempted to capitalize on the burgeoning comic book market by soliciting its Walt Disney licensed titles to the Direct Market distributors in the early 1980s.

However, when Mattel sold its Western Publishing subsidiary to investor Richard Bernstein in December 1983, his auditors frowned upon Whitman’s unprofitable bottom line. The decision was then made to shut down the comic book imprint, and by April 1984, Whitman had printed its last comic books.

A month earlier, Capital Comics announced the suspension of its publishing operations. According to its editor and art director, Rich Bruning, Capital had been publishing at a loss since the autumn of 1983, mostly because of two factors. First, the glut of titles released to the Direct Market reduced orders for Capital’s comics, 114

and second, several distributors were tardy in paying Capital’s invoices (Freitag 8).

Consequently, suitors were courted to publish Capital’s three titles: Steven Grant’s Whisper and two Mike Baron scripted books, Nexus and Badger. Negotiations with other publishers involved both the series’ creators and Capital, which coowned the three titles.

Marvel and Pacific Comics expressed interest in publishing the critically acclaimed Nexus, but Capital sought an arrangement where all three titles would be transferred to the same publisher. While DC Comics and Eclipse were willing to do so, the three titles were eventually all adopted

by First Comics. Nexus and Badger were added to a 1984 First Comics slate that also débuted Jerry Bingham’s Beowulf graphic novel and two other new ongoing series: John Ostrander and Tim Truman’s Grimjack and Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley’s Mars. At the 1984 Chicago Comic Con, First Comics also announced an agreement with DC Comics to produce annual cross-over specials that would team-up DC and First characters, much like the defunct DC/Marvel collaborations. The inaugural DC/ First special was slated for summer 1985 (“First Comics News” 26). However, no such crossover ever appeared.

Capital, meanwhile, continued operating as a Direct Market distributor and later in 1984, it even acquired a new warehouse courtesy of the collapse of a competitor: Pacific Comics. As the year began, Pacific had increased its comic book line up to over a dozen titles, including new ones from artists Arthur Suydam (Demon Dreams) and Pat Broderick (Sun Runners). From all indications, Pacific remained a pillar of the independent comic book market. By the summer, however, the pillar was crumbling, and quite rapidly at that. Despite some notable flops

like Three Dimensional Alien Worlds and Neal Adams’ Skateman, Pacific’s woes didn’t result from its publishing endeavors. Instead, how Pacific conducted business as a Direct Market distributor got itself into the kind of financial trouble it couldn’t get itself out of. For one, retail accounts began abandoning Pacific for other distributors. Many retailers opened a new account with another distributor just to avoid paying what they owed Pacific for months of sales orders. What’s more, many of these competing distributors were getting their books via Pacific and they too disregarded Pacific’s invoices (Sanford). Events were conspiring against Pacific, and by the time the attempt was made to rectify the problem, it was too late. The San Diego-based company had accumulated nearly $750,000 worth of debt and was catastrophically short on cash. Co-publisher Steve Schanes explains: The reason Pacific Comics failed can be summed up very simply. We had two lines of activity: publishing and distribution. Most of our comic books still made money hand over fist, but there was a big problem in distribution. We extended too much credit to retailers who didn’t pay us on a timely basis, and we were already working on a minuscule profit margin, maybe 5 percent to 8 percent.

We didn’t push hard enough to get the money from receivables, who owed us hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you had to boil down the single biggest reason we blew it, that would be our poor cash management on the distribution side. (Sanford) On August 30, 1984, Pacific shut down its publishing efforts. A month later, on September 22, Steve Schanes turned his corporation over to the San Diego Wholesale Credit Association for liquidation. Rather than declare bankruptcy, Schanes chose to liquidate Pacific in order to avoid court, lawyer and accounting costs (Heintjes 10). Liquidation, though, obliterated any chance that Pacific Comics could resurrect itself through reorganization or restructuring. A mere three years after its birth then, Pacific Com-

ics, once the exemplar of Direct Market-exclusive publishing, was now dead.

To be expected, Pacific’s loss was other comic book distributors’ gain.

After acquiring both Pacific’s Los Angeles warehouse as well as over 150 of its former accounts, Direct Market distributor Bud Plant essentially controlled the Southern California comic book market. Similarly, Capital obtained over 200 accounts as well as the warehouse Pacific had in Steeleville, Illinois.

Of course, creators who owned the titles being published by Pacific now had to find new homes for their work.

Neal Adams, who had an agreement with Pacific to distribute his upcoming Continuity Publishing titles, simply chose to carry on as his own publisher. Continuity Comics released the science-fiction themed Zero Patrol #1 late in the year. Bruce Jones’ situation, on the other hand, wasn’t as simple. As the writer/editor/copyright owner of the Pacific anthologies Alien Worlds, Twisted Tales and Pathways to Fantasy, Jones was in a predicament; each anthology utilized several artists, and Jones now had completed stories from these artists but no means to publish what they produced. Jones described the painful solution to his dilemma:

When [Pacific Comics] went belly-up and stopped with the paychecks, including mine, I was left holding the bag with the other creators to the tune of several thousand dollars. I wanted everyone I’d used on my books to get paid for what they did, even if it wasn’t going to be published, so I did that by emptying my own bank account... There’s a price to pay for creative freedom, sometimes quite a high one. (Sanford) Fortunately for Jones, Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds as well as the crime noir Somerset Holmes were picked up by Eclipse Comics, which allowed Jones to continue all three series.

Eclipse Comics became the eager recipient of several other former Pacific comic books as well, including Sergio Aragonés’ Groo and Dave Stevens’ Rocketeer along with titles that Pacific intended to introduce in 1984, like Siegel and Shuster: Dateline 1930s.

Also transferred to Eclipse were Pacific’s plans to reprint stories originally published in the British Warrior magazine, specifically the aforementioned “Marvelman” as well as “Axel Pressbutton,” the story of a homicidal cyborg assassin with a hatred of plant life as written by Steve Moore (under the pseudonym “Pedro Henry”) and the unrelated Alan Moore with artwork by Steve Dillon and Brian Bolland.

In 1984, Eclipse inherited Pacific’s role as the industry’s foremost independent publisher, not only by continuing many of Pacific’s books but also by adding many other new titles like Doug Moench’s time travel adventure Aztec Ace and the DNAgents spin-off books Crossfire and Surge. And then there was the new series that would become one of the most beloved comic books of the entire decade: Zot!, created by then 24-year-old writer/artist Scott McCloud.

Early 1984 house ad promoting First Comics’ slate of titles.

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The cover to Comics Interview #18 (Dec. 1984) bills Scott McCloud as a “rising star” of the comic book industry, but unlike almost all of his contemporaries, McCloud wasn’t a lifelong comic book reader. In fact, it was Kurt Busiek who first turned Scott McCloud onto the medium by loaning him a complete run of the original

Right: opening page to the first issue of Scott McCloud’s Zot! Zot! TM and © Scott McCloud.

X-Men in the summer of 1974 (Salicrup 21). Two years later, McCloud had a set career goal: he wanted to become a professional comic book artist. He and Busiek—now fellow students at Lexington High School in Massachusetts—even produced a 60-page comic book titled “The Battle of Lexington,” which featured various Marvel Comics characters battling each other.

Upon graduating Syracuse University, McCloud was hired by Bob Rozakis to work in DC’s production department. By that point, McCloud’s comic book interests had shifted to Japanese manga, particularly the work of Astro Boy creator Osama Tezuku, which would have a tremendous influence not only on McCloud’s own artistic

style but also in his understanding of comic book storytelling.

After eighteen months, McCloud felt he learned all he could at DC. It was time to fulfill his boyhood dream. So McCloud created Zot! He pitched it to six publishers: First, Eclipse, WaRP, Pacific, Marvel’s Epic imprint, and DC. While Epic passed, the others all reacted positively to Zot!, and WaRP and Eclipse both offered to publish it.

McCloud went with the company he felt provided him with the best creator ownership terms and was best equipped to publish a color comic book. For McCloud, that was Eclipse (Salicrup 32-3).

The first issue was published in 116

March 1984. It shows dejected teenager Jenny Weaver being transported—along with her bully of an older brother, Butch—to the world of the rocket-boot-flying, ray gun-wielding adventurer named Zot. It’s an alternate Earth that McCloud characterizes in the first issue’s introductory page as “an earth of futures”: “these are the bright and sunny tomorrows that didn’t quite pan out in the long run; worlds foretold in books and dramatic works of years gone by that seem so far-fetched and innocent next to what we actually got.” This retro-futuristic setting—combined with McCloud’s manga-influenced art style—made Zot! both a unique comic book and irrepressibly charming to

many readers.

Zot! would win the Jack Kirby award for Best New Series before garnering numerous Eisner award nominations in later years. But McCloud wasn’t just interested in producing award winning comic books. He was also an earnest advocate of the comic book medium, illuminating its potential sophistication to the unenlightened. For instance, in a June 1984 New Yorker piece written by William McKibben (another Lexington High School alumnus), McCloud asserted, “The basic misconception most people share is that comics are a genre.

They’re not—they’re a medium.

When people say ‘comic books,’ they mean either Donald Duck or superheroes. But comic books can encompass anything; it’s a form of literature—sequential literature” (32-3). McCloud wasn’t alone in his thinking. In 1985, Will Eisner would author a book titled Comics and Sequential Art in which he breaks down comic book storytelling and explains how the juxtaposition of static images form a visual narrative. McCloud would soon expand on Eisner’s groundbreaking work and prove himself the foremost scholar of “sequential literature.”

with churning out Marvel and DC books. Other printers didn’t offer newsprint for the kind of low print runs Comico requested. Instead, these printers used sturdier, more expensive paper stock. So Comico took the plunge, cancelling its black-and-white titles in order to launch a full-color, Baxter paper line with higher print runs (Giovinco “The Comic Company: True Colors—Part 1”). That meant the end to Comico’s Primer anthology as well as such short-lived comic books as Az, Skrog, Slaughterman, and even Matt Wagner’s Grendel. They were replaced with four new titles, each of which took full advantage of new color separation techniques. First came Evangeline, a book featuring a vigilante nun created by newcomer writer Chuck Dixon and his then-wife artist Judith Hunt.

That same month Comico released the first issue of Matt Wagner’s

Mage: The Hero Discovered, starring Kevin Matchstick as an everyman who discovers he possesses superhuman abilities. Wagner described the book’s protagonist (who wears a black Captain Marvel T-shirt and physically resembles Wagner) as “the essence of the Eternal Hero”: “I’m working on the idea that throughout history, there’s always been one hero—the same essence popping up in different people throughout eternity, and it’s that heart that pushes the Hero on and on” (Chadwick 41). With its Arthurian overtones and its refined hand painted artwork, Mage exemplified how far Wagner had progressed as a comic book creator in a little over a year since his professional debut.

Mage, though, didn’t sell as well as Comico had hoped.

Comico Starts Over One title Eclipse would no longer be publishing was Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty’s female detective series Ms. Tree, which moved in mid-1984 to Aardvark-Vanaheim, the home of Dave Sim’s Cerebus, Arn Saba’s Neil the Horse, and William Messner-Loeb’s Journey. Early in the year, Aardvark-Vanaheim also added to its slate Jim Valentino’s spoof series normalman and Bob Burden’s surreal super-hero parody Flaming Carrot Comics. (Evidently, super-hero parodies were all the rage in 1984 as Kitchen Sink Press began publishing Don Simpson’s Megaton Man that year as well.)

Meanwhile, Comico decided it was time for an upgrade. Like every other independent comic book publisher, Comico had difficulty getting onto World Color Press’s schedule because the printer seemed forever occupied

Front cover to Bill Willingham’s Elementals #1. The Elementals TM and © Andrew Rev.

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Seattle-based Elementals—composed of four super-heroes whose powers correspond to the four elements of nature: fire, air, earth and water—are attacked by The Destroyers, a supervillain group that serves a mysterious patron. That patron turns out to be Saker, a millennia old wizard who has divined a way to tap into the dark energies of a demonic dimension.

Saker’s rise to power threatens the natural order of the universe, so in reaction, the Lords of the Natural Order create the Elementals to act as their agents against him.

1984 house ad promoting Comico’s three titles.

Since large print runs of each issue had to be secured in order to minimize unit costs, Comico was left with significant Mage overstock. Rather than write off these unsold copies as a loss, Comico devised a way to reuse them. The Mage overstock was stored in a warehouse until the fourth issue was published. Comico then bound undistributed copies together within a new cover to form the first Comico trade paperback. Essentially, Magebook was a collected edition of Mage #1-4 without Comico having to pay for a new print run (Giovinco, “The Comic Company: Origins of a Graphic Novel”).

Comico’s other new color offerings for 1984 were Robotech: The Macross Saga (an adaptation of a popular Japanese animation series and the first of many licensed properties Comico would publish over the next few years) and Bill Willingham’s Elementals. When Texas Comics folded in 1983 after publishing all of one issue (Justice Machine Annual #1), Willingham got new work penciling back-up stories for First Comics’ Warp and DC Comics’ Batman and the Outsiders.

While doing this, he continued to look for a new home for his super-hero group, and Comico soon offered to be its publisher (Deppey 75). Elementals #1 (Aug. 1984) continues the story begun in Justice Machine Annual: the

Elementals was a super-hero comic book unlike any offered by DC or Marvel at the time. As historian Brian K. Morris explains, “Writer/artist Willingham’s stories didn’t shy from shining the spotlight on televangelistic hypocrisy, transgenderism, the rewards and penalties of celebrity, contemplated suicide, and other issues that would still resonate with today’s reader” (81). Since Fathom, Monolith, Morningstar, and Vortex all died before being resurrected as the Elementals, death was a prevalent theme of the title. And to emphasize that theme, Elementals didn’t hold back when it came to depicting violence. Many scenes are downright gory. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most violent super-hero comic books of its time, so violent that the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse declined Comico’s invitation to be associated with Elementals Special #1, a one-shot whose explicit purpose was to raise awareness of child abuse.

In 1984, Bill Willingham was a genuine talent on the rise, and Elementals was one of the industry’s biggest surprise hits of the year. Its first issue sold out its print run, and before long, some retailers were selling it for as much as $9.

That sum pales in comparison to what another 1984 comic book debut would eventually sell for on the secondary market.

Teenage Turtle Takeover As 1984 began, comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had received enough rejection letters from independent comic book companies that they had decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed Mirage Studios to self-publish their 118

next creation: a Cerebus-like anthropomorphic parody of Frank Miller’s Daredevil and Ronin, starring four young radioactively mutated, ninjatrained turtles. Named after famous Renaissance painters, Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

To pay printing costs for the inaugural 40-page, black-and-white issue, the New Hampshire housemates not only had to empty their bank accounts and use all of Eastman’s income tax refund, they also had to borrow money from one of Eastman’s uncles. They agreed to order a 3000-copy print run for a May 1 release date, but only after much argument as the monetary outlay greatly concerned Eastman: “Peter’s like, ‘Let’s do five thousand [copies]!’ and I’m like, ‘This is my money and I borrowed money from my family to do it. Let’s do a thousand and hope.’ I figured that if we could sell five hundred books and make our money back, and just keep the rest to give to friends or whatever, then we were doing good” (Waldron 31-2). Suffice to say, they weren’t going to have any unsold copies of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 to give away.

Eastman and Laird petitioned the Direct Market distributors to carry their comic book and disseminated a fourpage press release to publications like The Comics Journal and Comics Buyer’s Guide. Evidently, the free press did its job as distributors bought 1,500 copies before the issue was even printed.

By the time Eastman and Laird had the physical product in hand, the other half of the print run had been sold as well. The two creators then ordered an additional 6,000 copies for a second printing. That, too, sold out.

That’s when the two creators knew they had created something special.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wasn’t just going to be a one-shot, as Eastman and Laird originally intended. They quickly got to work on a second issue, to be published five months after the first. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 (Oct. 1984) had an initial print run of 15,000 copies, but even that didn’t prove to be enough to meet demand as a second print run for 30,000 copies had to be ordered (Waldron 35). By the end of the year then, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had become one of the

best-selling independently published comic books in the industry.

Pinpointing the exact reason why Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became so popular is an elusive task.

Even the creators were hard pressed to explain it. Eastman declared at the time, “I’d love to say, ‘Oh, they love our artwork,’ but a lot of people say it’s just the need for something different. They really enjoy it because it’s different” (Waldron 32). As described earlier, several comic book parodies were being published in 1984. What may have set Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles apart from the rest of the field, though, was that its parodic elements didn’t ridicule or lampoon the source material. Instead, they venerated it.

The first issue’s artwork betrays the kind of flaws and inconsistency one would expect from unseasoned talent, but it was still distinctive. Finally, while the story itself is derivative— the Turtles avenge the murder of a ninja master—it is presented with energy and earnestness.

One can also make the case that interest in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was driven by how expensive the first issue became on the secondary market. A year after the first issue’s release, the Price Guide section in Comics Collector #8 (Summer 1985) valued a near-mint first printing copy at $40.

A note declared, “The price on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, however, is still going up.” No truer statement

has been told. By 1986, Virginia-based retailer American Comics was selling the issue for $125. It didn’t stop there.

In fact, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 became something of a holy grail for back issue collectors, more coveted and cherished than even the New X-Men’s first appearance in Giant Size X-Men #1. Twenty years after its initial publication, The Comics Buyer’s Guide valued the debut issue at $300 (Miller 1366).

In short order, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had become a phenomenon, and its impact on the comic book industry cannot be overstated. Its success encouraged the proliferation of scores of new comic book publishers, almost all of them producing black-

Above: photo of Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman that first appeared in Comics Interview #27.

Left: page from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TM and © Viacom International Inc.

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and-white titles. In fact, many of these new companies tried to capitalize on TMNT’s success by offering their own pre-adult/mutant/martial arts/animal book. In other words, Eastman and Laird’s parody was itself parodied, countless times. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a subgenre onto itself.

A black-and-white comic book boom ensued. Enabling it were the Direct Market retailers who ordered anything and everything to satisfy the growing number of speculators who hoped to acquire the next comic book with a skyrocketing secondary market value. At first, everyone profited: publishers, retailers and distributors alike. Eventually though, the black-and-white boom became an industry bane.

His friend John Carbonaro had a licensing agreement with Dorchester Publishing as a prelude to purchasing T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents outright. So Singer offered to buy the characters from Carbonaro once his purchase from Dorchester Publishing was finalized. Carbonaro wasn’t interested. Instead, he proposed that Singer license T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for $65,000.

Singer negotiated the fee down to $50,000 and a 3% royalty on sales.

Carbonaro accepted (Heintjes 9).

By May 22, two months after Carbonaro and Singer came to their agreement,

David Singer’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents In 1984, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird produced a comic book they hoped would sell well enough to cover their expenses; they ended up as arguably the decade’s greatest comic book success story. David M. Singer, on the other hand, had grand ambitions in 1984, but within two years, he ultimately found himself an industry pariah.

With his law degree, Singer had already occupied several comic book industry roles during the early 1980s. He co-founded two trade magazines: The Comic Times and Comics Spotlight. He was one of the original staff writers for Amazing Heroes, and he served as a research editor for Archie’s Red Circle imprint. Eager to jump into the inviting Direct Market waters, Singer next pursued comic book publishing.

Singer’s research revealed only one genre was lucrative as far as comic book publishing was concerned: super-heroes. But getting readers interested in new super-heroes was a crapshoot. A book like Elementals was the rare exception to the norm. Better to go with a known quantity, and Singer knew of one: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

George Perez drawn cover for Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, published by David M. Singer’s Deluxe Comics.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

Carbonaro paid Dorchester what he owed and as such, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents now belonged solely to him.

Carbonaro still hadn’t received any money from Singer, though, so he told Singer he was voiding their deal. But 120

as Carbonaro would soon learn, that didn’t stop Singer from moving forward with T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

On June 19, Carbonaro met with Archie Goodwin to discuss licensing out T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for use in Marvel Comics’ Epic line. Goodwin informed him that Singer had stopped by four days earlier looking to strike a similar deal. Singer told Goodwin he owned the rights to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and he used his letter of agreement with Carbonaro as proof of ownership.

Goodwin informed both men that Epic had no interest in the property until the ownership matter was clarified (Heintjes 9).

That clinched it for Carbonaro. He forbade Singer from associating himself in any way with the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. As far as Carbonaro was concerned, he was done dealing with Singer.

Likewise, Singer was done dealing with Carbonaro.

He concluded he didn’t even need Carbonaro’s permission to publish a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic book. That’s because, according to Singer, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were in public domain. In 1965, when Wally Wood first created the characters, Tower Publishing failed to print the appropriate copyright notices beyond the title’s first issue. To protect their rights to a creative property, publishers must print copyright notices in every issue.

Since Tower had failed to do so, it allowed its characters to fall into public domain.

The argument goes, then, that Tower didn’t have the legal right to sell—or even l i c e n s e — T. H . U. N . D. E . R .

Agents to John Carbonaro, or anyone for that matter. Marvel Comics, in fact, backed out of a deal to purchase the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in 1978 when Tower couldn’t provide any legal documents to prove it owned the characters (Cooke 147). Singer himself performed a search of trademark records and found no registered mark of the characters. Carbonaro copyrighted T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents with the U.S.

the other Thomas, Dann, whose professional experience, at that point, only involved co-written work with her husband. Assuredly, upon seeing Dann’s name in the WWTA credits, some readers assumed Roy Thomas also somehow contributed to the comic book (Cooke 143).

Copyright office on September 13, 1984, but as one attorney pointed out to the fan press at the time, characters already in the public domain can’t be copyrighted: “It’s not up to [the Copyright office] to judge whether the matter’s legal or not” (Heintjes 8).

Singer issued a press release to announce his plan to publish his own T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents title through his newly created Deluxe Comics. “How can we publish the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents?,” the release rhetorically asked. “We have the rights to publish them. You have the rights to publish them. All God’s Chillun’ got the rights to publish them!!!” (Heintjes 9). While Singer avowed anyone could publish the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, he still needed to distinguish his version of the characters from John Carbonaro’s version. To that end, Singer received permission from Bill Pearson, the executor of Wally Wood’s estate, to use the artists’ name as part of the comic book’s title. By the end of the year, then, Singer released Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (Nov. 1984), a 48-page anthology with a cover price of two dollars.

As expensive as that cost might have seemed to some 1984 comic book readers, it was nothing compared to what it cost Singer to produce the issue. After convincing unnamed Wall Street investors to provide him with financial backing ($250,000 according to letterer John Workman) (Cooke 144), Singer went about publishing one of the best-looking comic books by hiring the industry’s best artists to draw it: Dave Cockrum, Jerry Ordway, Steve Ditko, and Keith Giffen. Without a doubt, the pièce de résistance was the cover by George Pérez, who also drew one of the interior stories.

Singer secured the services of these creators by offering them double their usual page rate. Even more money was promised to some others. Writer Doug Moench informed The Comics Journal that Singer offered him a page rate of $125, which Moench described as nearly triple the industry standard.

While severely tempted, Moench ultimately turned Singer down because of his personal preference to work only on characters he owned when writing for independent publishers (Heintjes 11). Some of the WWTA creators claimed Singer’s recruitment

Blue Ribbon Comics #12 was the final Archie Comics issue presenting John Carbonaro’s version of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

of them involved expensive gifts. For instance, Dann Thomas, who would write Raven stories for WWTA, once disclosed that Singer took her and her husband, Roy Thomas, to dinner in New York City’s Chinatown and then offered the couple tickets to a Barry Manilow concert. She described Singer as “very generous” and her own involvement with WWTA as “fun and lucrative” (Cooke 143). George Pérez, though, viewed Singer with a suspicious eye: “Dave did try to create a humble, personal relationship, but I felt that the personal relationship was based on him getting on my good side so he could get work from me. He reminded me more of a used car salesman than a lawyer” (Cooke 136).

Like any good salesman, Singer understood the power of association.

Comic book fans recognized Pérez as an artist who only drew for DC Comics. Indeed, Pérez agreed to work for Singer during a brief gap between his DC Comics-exclusive contracts. If Pérez’s participation in WWTA made some fans mistakenly think Deluxe Comics was a DC imprint (complete with duplicated initials), Singer wasn’t going to complain. Similarly, after Roy Thomas informed Singer he couldn’t work for him because of his DC Comics’ exclusivity, Singer hired 121

Singer intended Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to be the launching point of a larger publishing enterprise, one whose market share he hoped would eventually be on par with the likes of DC and Marvel Comics. High aspirations, no doubt, but attainable ones from Singer’s perspective at the time: “It probably sounds completely preposterous to talk in terms of wanting to catch DC or Marvel. But this isn’t an operation by a couple of kids out of a garage. We feel that if the fans like what we’re doing, and we’re around long enough and given the time to grow, these are reasonable goals” (Zimmerman 61). By year’s end, Singer already had other works in the pipeline, foremost Dave Cockrum’s ongoing Futurians comic book, the rights to which Singer outbid Marvel Comics for. Also planned were a Keith Giffen project and a second T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents book to be titled Tales of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Other professionals also contacted Singer in the hope that he would agree to publish their creator-owned projects (Zimmerman 61).

Meanwhile, two comic books featuring John Carbonaro’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were released during cover date 1984. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2 (Jan. 1984) continued into Archie Comics’ Blue Ribbon Comics #12 (Sept.

1984), and that would be the final T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents issue that Archie Comics would publish.

In December 1984, just after the publication of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, Carbonaro initiated a lawsuit against Singer for copyright infringement, seeking $450,000 in damages. The equivalent of an Old West duel ensued. The comic book industry wasn’t big enough for both Carbonaro and Singer, and the two were now meeting in the center of town for a High Noon showdown. When the dust cleared from their shootout, many would be surprised to see who was left standing.

DC Comics: Happy, Healthy and Profitable As Jim Shooter observed, DC Comics’ market share trailed Marvel Comics’ share by a sizeable margin. Nearly every 1984 DC title sold less than 100,000 copies a month on average.

The exceptions were Justice League of America, Legion of Super-Heroes, New Teen Titans, Superman, and Warlord, and even those titles sold fewer copies in 1984 than they had in 1983. These facts didn’t stop then-Vice President Paul Levitz from describing DC Comics as a “happy, healthy, profitable little company” (Salicrup 23). He wasn’t sugar-coating the matter. Truth be told, DC’s cover price increase from 60 cents to 75 cents meant many DC titles generated more revenue even though they sold fewer copies. That was also true of DC’s Baxter paper books (e.g. Camelot 3000, The Omega Men, Thriller, and Vigilante) which retailed for $1.25 and were sold exclusively to the Direct Market. Given this, DC decided its best course of action going forward was publishing even more Direct Market-exclusive titles. In 1984, DC did so with books like: • Nathaniel Dusk, a four-issue private detective mini-series written by Don McGregor with art reproduced directly from Gene Colan’s pencil work;

Roy Thomas’s next Earth-2 creation for DC Comics, Infinity Inc., was offered exclusively to the Direct Market.

Infinity, Inc. TM and © DC Comics.

• Infinity Inc., starring the next generation of Earth-2 super-heroes as written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Jerry Ordway; • Sun Devils, a twelve-issue sci-fi adventure maxi-series written by Gerry Conway with art by Dan Jurgens.

DC believed the Direct Market was well on its way toward becoming the principal comic book sales venue, and nothing indicated that belief more than DC’s decision to re-launch its two best-selling titles as Direct Market-exclusives. Starting with cover date August 1984, DC was publishing two Teen Titans comic books and two Legion of Super-Heroes comic books.

New volumes of New Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes debuted as Baxter paper titles that could only be purchased at specialty comic book stores. The books that previously had those titles were renamed Tales of the Teen Titans and Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes. They could be bought at both Direct Market stores and the newsstand, and they continued the numbering where the previous Titans and Legion volumes left off. (New Teen Titans was actually rebranded as Tales of the Teen Titans four months before the publication of the new Titans book.) DC planned to have both Tales books present new stories for one year, at which point they would begin reprinting the stories published in the Direct Market-exclusive titles.

DC called this the “hardcover/softcover” plan. Like the book publishing industry, the idea was that a book would be published first in the more expensive format and a year later in the less expensive format. This would ensure that readers who don’t frequent comic shops still had access to every new Titans and Legion story.

Therefore, Tales of the Legion of SuperHeroes #326 (Aug. 1985) reprinted Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (Aug. 1984), and Tales of the New Teen Titans #60 (Dec. 1985) reprinted New Teen Titans #1 (Aug. 1984).

Despite DC’s attempt to appease both its newsstand and Direct Market consumers, the plan bothered some.

Comics Feature magazine, for one, predicted considerable frustration for consumers who only purchased comics at the newsstand, which in 1984 122

was still a significant portion of the overall readership. If a major plot or character development occurred in the Direct Market title, any reference to it in the newsstand title will be lost on those who don’t frequent comic book stores (Harris 6).

But if some Titans and Legion fans had problems with the new publishing arrangement, they soon had worse news to be concerned about.

In 1984, their favorite titles lost two of their longstanding (and arguably irreplaceable) creators: George Pérez and Keith Giffen. After burning himself out in 1983 on the creation of a poster that displayed 275 Legion of Super-Heroes members, villains, and supporting characters, Giffen trudged along on Legion, even changing his art style to maintain his own interest (Cadigan 143). When Legion re-launched as a Direct Market title, Giffen remained attached as its co-plotter and penciller… but not for long. Legion of Super-Heroes #3 (Oct. 1984) was penciled by Steve Lightle, an artist who began working for DC Comics only six months earlier with New Talent Showcase #4 (April 1984). Lightle wouldn’t be formally introduced to Legion readers until issue #4, when Paul Levitz announced in the letter column: “A belated welcome to Steve Lightle, who joined our regular LSH team last month.

Steve is penciling the Legion over rough breakdowns by plotter/storyteller Keith Giffen, whose energies have worn thin after three years of constant service to our Thirtieth-Century superstars…

Keith will continue to be part of the LSH team, but Steve will be playing a more and more important role in the months to come.”

While the plan may have been for Giffen to continue working on Legion, in reality he stopped contributing after just one more month. Legion of Super-Heroes #5 (Dec. 1984) concluded a story arc that featured the death of longtime Legion member Karate Kid. Since becoming the Legion artist in 1982, Keith Giffen made no bones about how much he despised Karate Kid. At comic book conventions and in fanzine interviews, Giffen expressed his contempt as often as he could, and

In 1984, DC Comics re-launched its best-selling New Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes as Direct Market-exclusive titles. New Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

he seemed eager to depict the character’s demise (Cadigan 144). Fate, however, would stop Giffen from carrying out that satisfaction. Karate Kid perished in issue #4, two issues after Giffen stopped drawing the title.

Giffen’s association with the Legion of Super-Heroes was far from over, though. In fact, not only would he soon become involved in Legion crossover books like the Legion of Substitute Heroes Special one-shot (July 1985) and the Legionnaires 3 miniseries (1986), but by the late 1980s, he would return full-time to Legion for its most controversial run. George Pérez, on the other hand, wasn’t experiencing the burnout Giffen was suffering. Instead, after signing a new three-year exclusive contract with DC Comics, Pérez stopped drawing New Teen Titans because he was being shifted over to a new project, one that wouldn’t be published until 1985 but that would forever alter DC’s statusquo.

Cancelled Comics Cavalcade Weekly While Pérez focused on his new assignment, Giffen dispersed his creative energies among several projects, like Ambush Bug, various fill-in jobs for DC Comics and work for the aforementioned David Singer.

Giffen also became attached to an ambitious new DC series that was announced to the comic fan press in late 1984. Blockbuster Weekly was conceived by Dick Giordano as the

first American weekly comic book. Each issue would not only reprint a week’s worth of Superman newspaper strip installments but also offer several new two- to fourpage stories starring the former Charlton Action Heroes that DC acquired in 1983. Development of Blockbuster Weekly progressed so far that characters had been provided with specific creative teams. Judomaster and Peter Cannon—Thunderbolt were back in the hands of their respective creators, Frank McLaughlin and Pete Morisi. Writer Steve Englehart and artists Dave Ross and Alex Niño were handling Blue Beetle while Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming collaborated on Peacemaker (with Gary Martin inking Giffen’s pencils). When his executive responsibilities became too burdensome, Giordano passed the editorial baton of the project to new DC editor Bob Greenberger who renamed the book Comics Cavalcade Weekly (Delano). Greenberger also finalized the book’s creative assignments: Mike W. Barr, Stan Woch and Rick Magyar on The Question; Andy Helfer, Trevor Von Eeden and Dick Giordano on Sarge Steel; and Paul Kupperberg and newcomer artist Paul Chadwick on Captain Atom. (Denys Cowan promptly replaced Chadwick when the latter proved too slow in producing artwork.)

With a Brian Bolland-drawn cover, 123

a mock-up copy of the first issue of Comics Cavalcade Weekly was presented to Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz. Unfortunately, the work didn’t meet the executives’ approval. Kahn and Levitz assessed the contents of the issue as being particularly weak, and they were also hesitant to publish a weekly comic book that featured little-known characters. Thus, the project was aborted (Eury 117). DC’s foray into publishing a weekly comic book would have to wait for another year.

The DC debut of the Charlton Action Heroes, on the other hand, was imminent.

Also announced in 1984 was a new line of DC titles targeting pre-adolescent readers. Initially, DC wanted this new line to feature Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes animals (e.g. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, et al), but Whitman Comics still held the license to those characters. So DC instead tapped one of its oldest—and most celebrated—humor comics as the flagship title of this new kids line: Sugar and Spike, to be written and drawn by Sheldon Mayer, the legendary creator who began working for DC Comics (or National Allied Publications as it was known then)

shortly after it was founded in 1935.

Sugar and Spike starred two toddlers who communicated via “baby talk” that adults couldn’t understand.

The comic already enjoyed a very successful publication run, from 1956 to 1971, and new Sugar and Spike stories even appeared as recently as 1983 in The Best of DC digest #41. Joining Sugar and Spike in DC’s new line would be three new concepts: powers! (starring an Archie Comics-inspired team of super-powered teenagers co-created by Roy Thomas and Stan Goldberg), Thudd and Blunder (about a bumbling sorcerer’s apprentice and his barbarian companion as co-created by Roy Thomas, written by Jim Engel, and drawn

by John Costanza), and an unnamed John Costanza project that Dick Giordano described in his “Meanwhile…” column as “a loveable bunch of kids whose funny adventures begin as their computer-controlled spaceship blasts off from their treehouse” (Wells 47).

Despite considerable work on the creators’ part (some issues were even fully completed), DC’s new kids line was called off. Its plug got pulled just as Marvel Comics prepared to roll out its own kids line of comic books in 1985.

The only work to see print was Funny Stuff Stocking Stuffer, a Christmasthemed one-shot that was published in early December 1984.

Super Powered Jack Kirby

Super Powers was a multi-faceted merchandising program that involved not only comic books and action figures but television cartoons, video cassettes, and dozens of other products as well.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

DC’s line-up changed plenty in 1984.

Cancelled were Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld with issue #12, New Adventures of Superboy with #54, Supergirl with #23, Blackhawk with #273, and Thriller with #12. In their stead came new titles like New Talent Showcase (which, as its title indicated, featured work by novice creators), Atari Force (written by Gerry Conway with art by José Luis García-López), Star Trek (new 124

adventures of the starship Enterprise crew by writer Mike W. Barr), and Blue Devil (starring a new super-hero created by writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin and artist Paris Cullins).

And then there was Super Powers, a five-issue mini-series that pitted DC’s most iconic super-heroes (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman) against Darkseid in an out-of-continuity story. The comic book was one component of an ambitious, multi-faceted merchandising campaign that was chiefly centered on a DC Comics action figure line produced by toy manufacturer Kenner.

Super Powers action figures outsold Mattel’s comparable Secret Wars action figure line by a two-to-one margin, but more than that, Paul Levitz was encouraged by the prospect of Super Powers merchandise introducing new, young readers to comic books (Salicrup 23, 25).

The Super Powers action figure line included several “Fourth World” characters, chief among them Darkseid, Mr. Miracle, and Orion. Jack Kirby created these characters for DC in the early 1970s, a time when comic book publishers owned everything appearing in their pages. For Super Powers though, DC gave Kirby a contract that paid him a percentage of licensing revenues (Knowles 20). At the time, Levitz boasted, “One of the proudest statements I can make is that Jack’s going to make more money from Darkseid and the New Gods than he did from the whole cast of characters he created for Marvel… We expect to hand him some extraordinarily largesized checks in the next couple of years” (Salicrup 25). Kirby redesigned some of his Fourth World characters for Kenner, and he also plotted the Super Powers mini-series which has Darkseid providing Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Joker, and the Penguin with new powers. Scripting Kirby’s plots was Joey Cavalieri while Adrian Gonzales and Pablo Marcos performed art duties. Besides drawing all the covers for the series, Kirby also penciled the fifth and final issue.

With his Pacific Comics titles prematurely ended because of the publisher’s dissolution, Kirby now had plenty of time for the other project DC offered him: a return to his New Gods.

Back in 1972, DC had cancelled The New Gods (and its companion Fourth World title, The Forever People) in order to have Kirby create more commercially promising properties: Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth and The Demon. New Gods ended without Kirby providing a conclusion to the epic struggle between Darkseid and his son, Orion. Twelve years later, DC gave Kirby the opportunity to present that ending. DC started by reprinting all the 1970s New Gods issues in a Baxter paper series with new covers by Kirby. The final issue of that series, New Gods #6 (Nov. 1984), includes a new 48-page story, written and drawn by Kirby, that wraps up the New Gods saga.

But Kirby’s initial draft of that wrapup story—one in which most of the characters die—was rejected. Simply put, the editors didn’t feel the story was a satisfying conclusion, prompting Kirby to protest, “What do you mean you don’t like it?” (Knowles 22).

Kirby ended up crafting a completely different ending while the rejected version was salvaged as the Hunger Dogs graphic novel that was published in early 1985. Unfortunately, neither New Gods project resonated with the comic book readership. Part of the problem was that Kirby was being asked to revisit his past work, and as his close friend Mark Evanier described it, “Jack was not good at going backwards. Jack had left [the New Gods] behind and was no longer interested in that particular story or the emotional underpinnings of those characters” (Knowles 22). The other problem, though, seemed to be that, at the age of 67, Kirby’s hand-eye coordination had severely deteriorated. His work was marred by glaring flaws: inconsistent anatomy, awkward poses, and unappealing perspectives. Kirby would end up drawing a follow-up Super Powers mini-series in 1985 where the drop-off in artistic quality was even more evident. By the mid-1980s, then, a sad fact had become clear to both publishers and readers alike: the Kirby Age was over.

Alan Moore Comes to Our Shores While the career of one comic book legend was coming to an end, another’s was just beginning. In a very short time, Alan Moore established himself as Britain’s most prolific comic book

writer. His work for Marvel UK, 2000 AD, and Warrior earned him the respect and attention of many American comic book professionals. DC Comics editor Len Wein was one of them. He called Moore directly to offer him the writing assignment on Saga of the Swamp Thing (Khoury 83). Moore accepted, and he would become one of the most important hires in DC Comics’ history.

Holland. Instead, Swamp Thing was a plant elemental who only thought he had once been Alec Holland. It had absorbed Holland’s consciousness by digesting the research scientist’s swamp-decomposed remains.

By the end of issue #21, Swamp Thing had become aware of its true nature.

With that, the character was forever altered, and the series had an invigorating new direction.

Unfamiliar with the Swamp Thing title or its protagonist, Moore nonetheless felt the opportunity suited him as he explained years later: “One of my strengths [as a writer] was that I could take almost any idea thrown at me and do something interesting with it” (Khoury 83). After reading every Swamp Thing issue up to that point, Moore recognized the series had a self-crippling premise: “It was obvious to even the slowest reader that Alec Holland—the Swamp Thing— was never going to find some way to turn himself back to Alec Holland because the moment he did, that would be the end of the series” (Khoury 85). So the challenge facing Moore was figuring out how to revamp the driving premise of the Swamp Thing series without disregarding its existing continuity.

Succeeding Martin Pasko, Alan Moore began his tenure on Saga of the Swamp Thing with issue #20 (Jan. 1984). Moore used that issue—appropriately titled “Loose Ends”—to wrap up Pasko’s story threads. Then, with issue #21, Moore definitively took creative possession of the title. He established that Swamp Thing wasn’t who everyone—including Swamp Thing himself—thought he was. He wasn’t Alec Holland mutated into a plant organism. In fact, Swamp Thing was never Alec 125

Opening page to Saga of the Swamp Thing #21, the issue in which Alan Moore established that Swamp Thing isn’t who he—or the readers—think he is.

Swamp Thing TM and © DC Comics.

ing the romance between Swamp Thing and a character introduced during Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson’s original Swamp Thing run: Abby Cable. Swamp Thing’s relationship with Abby would become the driving impetus of the series.

With Alan Moore at its helm, Saga of the Swamp Thing became one of the most unconventional publications in DC Comics history.

It was certainly one of the most mature—and most literate— comic books DC ever published.

As of issue #31 (Dec. 1984), the newsstand-distributed title no longer carried the Comics Code Authority’s stamp of approval. Instead, Swamp Thing covers displayed the descriptive banner “Sophisticated Suspense” which indicated not only the comic book’s genre but also its intended audience. This was no adolescent fare.

Additionally, Swamp Thing made clear that Alan Moore was an unparalleled wordsmith. In issue after issue, the comic book showcased elegantly poetic narration. Consider the opening to Saga of the Swamp Thing #21: “It’s raining in Washington tonight. Plump, warm summer rain that covers the sidewalks with leopard spots. Downtown, elderly ladies carry their houseplants out to set them on the fire-escapes, as if they were infirm relatives or boy kings.”

The former Boy Wonder becomes Nightwing in Tales of the New Teen Titans #43.

Nightwing TM and © DC Comics.

Along with artists Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, Moore transformed DC’s “misunderstood monster” into a supernatural super-hero, so much so that he steadily incorporated DC’s neglected supernatural characters into his narrative. The Demon, The Spectre, The Phantom Stranger, and The House of Secrets’ Cain and Abel all made appearances. Swamp Thing Annual #2 maps out the supernatural realms of the DC universe while simultaneously cement-

Probably because of its sophistication, Swamp Thing didn’t sell well in a comic book market that was still dominated by teen-aged consumers. But the title did go on to receive the highest possible accolades from the fan press, including four Eagle Awards in 1986 and six Jack Kirby Awards between 1985 and 1987. Moore’s groundbreaking work on Swamp Thing foreshadowed other comic books he would write for the remainder of the decade for DC, works that would be regarded as some of the most exceptional comic books in the history of the medium.

126

Robin Grows Up, The Justice League Goes To Ground While Alan Moore was revamping Swamp Thing, changes to other DC characters garnered more notice.

None were more significant than what happened in Batman #368 (Feb. 1984) when Dick Grayson passed the costume—and role—of Robin over to Bruce Wayne’s new young ward, Jason Todd. A new Boy Wonder was born, but readers would have to wait four more months before seeing what new costumed identity Grayson assumed. He re-establishes himself as Nightwing in Tales of the New Teen Titans #43 (June 1984).

The change was monumental: one of DC Comics’ founding super-heroes had been radically transformed. Pop culture’s most famous kid sidekick now had an autonomous identity, one that was completely divorced from his mentor. No longer would Dick Grayson’s role in the DC fictional universe be defined in association with Batman. He had been allowed to grow up, and as such, he no longer had to be the static character that Robin had been as a corporate icon. As George Pérez told Amazing Heroes in 1984, “we’re going to have fun with [Dick Grayson] now. He’s definitely become a character independent and mature” (Hopkins 45). A new dynamic formed between Batman and his former protégé. In many ways, Nightwing transcended his previous role as Batman’s sidekick to become Batman’s foil. He became a character whose disposition and outlook opposed what the famed Caped Crusader exhibited.

Nightwing makes his grand entrance during the second chapter of “The Judas Contract.” In that soon-to-be celebrated story arc, the Titans have to contend with a traitor in their midst.

Their newest member, Terra, has been secretly working for Titans adversary, Deathstroke the Terminator.

The tables are turned in the heroes’ favor with the help of Deathstroke’s son, Jericho. As the conflict concludes in Tales of the New Teen Titans Annual #3, Terra is killed. Despite Terra’s treachery, the Titans mourn her death. Jericho then takes her place on the team roster.

But the Titans’ membership changes paled in comparison to what

happened to the Justice League of America in 1984. Thanks to writer Gerry Conway, the JLA’s lineup was almost completely overhauled. Sales of Justice League had been steadily decreasing every year since the beginning of the decade and years later, Conway explained his dilemma, “There was pressure to make [Justice League] more like New Teen Titans. And since nobody quite knew what that meant except to say that Marv Wolfman knew what he was doing with New Teen Titans. So the question became, how do you accomplish that?” (Browning 51). Conway came to recognize that one of principal attractions of the New Teen Titans was its exclusive roster. The Teen Titans only appeared in New Teen Titans. That allowed Marv Wolfman to develop his characters’ personal lives and relationships to each other without having to worry about how another writer was handling them in a different DC comic book.

By way of emulation then, Conway extracted from the Justice League all the super-heroes who had their own titles: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and the Green Lantern. This left Conway with Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, the Atom, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Zatanna, the Red Tornado, Elongated Man and Firestorm to serve as the “World’s Greatest Super-Heroes.” It was a group of characters no other DC writer was handling, giving Conway the freedom to do whatever he wanted with them. But Conway wanted to alter the roster further by skewing it younger (Browning 51). With that, a new course was set for the Justice League.

To implement it, Conway first had the Earth-orbiting satellite the Justice League had been using as a headquarters since 1970 damaged beyond repair in JLA #230 (Sept. 1984). Then in Justice League of America Annual #2, Aquaman publicly disbands the team. “The old League is finished,” he declares. Aquaman then challenges his former teammates to make the commitment to help him form a new Justice League, one that can better serve the public by living and

training together. Only Zatanna, Elongated Man and the Martian Manhunter accept Aquaman’s challenge.

They are soon joined by two Conwaycreated characters, Vixen and Steel.

DC intended on introducing Vixen in her own title in 1978, but the infamous “DC Implosion” caused the cancellation of her series before it could even be published. She ended up debuting in a 1981 issue of Action Comics and then reappearing in DC

I hadn’t seen at DC, which was a ground-level superhero team that was rooted in a neighborhood…. I wanted to make these superheroes feel like they were part of the neighborhood, and my thought was to plunk them down in the middle of a city that was in deep, deep crap, a city that needs heroes” (Browning 50). Once in Detroit, the JLA finds its final two new members: Vibe, a Puerto Rican gang member fond of break dancing (continuing the long established comic book tradition of characters being linked to pop culture fads that wouldn’t last; see Dazzler), and Gypsy, a young girl with a mysterious past.

“Justice League Detroit”—as readers would soon call the team—was less powerful than previous JLA incarnations. As such, they dealt with more down-to-earth villains. Both were deliberate moves on Conway’s part to make this Justice League different from previous versions. But unfortunately for Conway, “different” didn’t mean “more popular.” The new direction didn’t rekindle reader interest in Justice League of America as sales of the title didn’t improve. In fact, they only got worse. As a result, “Justice League Detroit” had a relatively short publishing life and would be remembered as one of the most ignominious versions of the JLA.

Justice League of America Annual #2 presented a radical change to the team roster. This incarnation would soon become known as “Justice League Detroit.”

Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics.

Comics Presents #68 (April 1984). Steel, on the other hand, is the grandson of the super-hero of the same name whose 1978 series only lasted five issues (another victim of the DC Implosion).

The teen-aged Steel offers the use of his Detroit warehouse-bunker as the new JLA training facility and headquarters. Conway explains his decision to relocate the Justice League to Detroit: “I wanted to do something 127

Ultimately though, all the changes made to individual titles during the year were trumped by what DC was about to do in 1985. Its entire fictional universe was about to reformatted, and that would impact every DC comic book. Writer-editor Cary Bates learned firsthand what was in store when he was told his poorly-selling Flash title was being cleared from DC’s lineup. In reaction, Bates decided to extend his “Trial of the Flash” story arc to the end of the series. In his mind, there was no point in starting a new story arc right before the comic book’s cancellation (Scott 80).

Bates learned something else about DC’s plan for the Flash: The “Fastest Man Alive” wasn’t going to be alive for much longer.

1985

Crisis and Creation DC Comics celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1985 with the release of a special publication titled Fifty Who Made DC Great. The comic-sized, 58-page book profiled fifty individuals and companies who contributed to DC Comics’ success. This included company co-founders M.C. Gaines and Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Batman co-creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, actors who portrayed DC Comics’ characters in television and film (George Reeves, Adam West, Burt Ward, Christopher Reeve, Lynda Carter, Helen Slater) as well as such contemporaneous comic book creators as Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, and Frank Miller. The book also featured short comments by a diverse group of prominent men and woman like United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, science fiction author Ray Bradbury, horror novelist Stephen King, musician Gene Simmons, Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee, actress Whoopi Goldberg and social activist Gloria Steinem.

As DC’s anniversary began, though, not everything at the venerable company was festive. While profitable, DC still dealt with a troubling status quo: despite possessing some of comic books’ most recognizable characters, DC’s sales were much lower than Marvel’s, particularly in the burgeoning Direct Market. Thanks to Marvel’s blockbuster Secret Wars, the sales gap between the two publishers had widened even further. Comic book fans in 1984 were buzzing about Spider-Man’s black costume and the presence of She-Hulk on the Fantastic Four rather than about the latest adventures of Superman or Infinity Inc. According to one Phoenix, Arizona-area dealer, Marvel outsold DC ten-toone in the Direct Market in 1984 (Webb 17).

Fueling this sales disparity was the widespread reader perception that much of the DC Universe was too stodgy. DC’s most famous characters were in titles that were written and illustrated by veterans who no longer commanded fan devotion (like Curt Swan on Superman, Carmine Infantino on The Flash, and Don Heck on Wonder Woman). Parts of DC’s line were truly moribund. Sales on The Flash, for instance, had dropped from a monthly average of 102,297 copies in 1980 to 67,881 copies in 1985, a disastrous 33% decline in five years, and a shocking 80% drop from the title’s late 1960s high (Webb 14).

Add to this the concern that the DC Universe had grown too complex over the years. The idea of multiple parallel dimensions had been intriguing and exciting when Infantino and Gardner Fox collaborated on 1961’s classic “Flash of Two Worlds!” in Flash #123. But over twenty years later, DC had created so many alternate universes that it became near impossible for the casual fan to keep them all straight.

Each major DC character had two (or more) iterations. One Superman was married, one Wonder Woman had a daughter, and one Batman was dead!

CHAPTER SIX

Long established was the idea that the super-heroes that DC introduced during the late 1950s/early 1960s “Silver Age” inhabited Earth-1 while their Golden Age predecessors

by Jason Sacks 128

hailed from Earth-2. Earth-3, on the other hand, positioned DC’s familiar super-heroes as villains. The Fawcett Universe characters (headed by the Captain Marvel family) resided on Earth-S while Earth-C was where Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew lived. It didn’t stop there. DC’s whole complex universe was an alphabet soup of letters and concepts that required readers to keep an encyclopedic amount of information in their heads. Unfortunately, DC’s line of titles was perceived as too boring to inspire such fanaticism in many fans. It was clear to some that DC needed to take the radical step of simplifying its universe.

ously thinking about it again, and started talking this old project over with Len Wein and some other people as a special series at DC. They loved it, because they saw it as a way of getting around all the convoluted, confusing series of universes and Earths and futures and pasts. (Waid 24) Giordano added, “I’m happy to relate that at a mass out-ofoffice meeting attended by all the in-house editors, Jenette Kahn, Paul Levitz, and myself, a lively exchange of ideas gave us confidence that all parties would, at least outwardly, participate. There were no threats and Jenette, Paul, and myself were there to contribute creatively, not as managers” (Eury 35).

And thus was born Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The idea to reduce the number of parallel Earths was one that writer/editor Marv Wolfman had carried around since at least 1982. He had been discussing the prospect of simplifying the DC Universe with his lifelong friend Len Wein and with other DC editors and executives, including DC publisher Jenette Kahn and executive editor Dick Giordano. Wolfman takes credit for presenting Crisis to DC’s management:

DC played the long game with Crisis, and the series was the result of several years of diligent planning. In 1982, DC brought in Peter Sanderson as staff researcher, and he was assigned to read and take notes on every DC comic published since 1935. The reams of paper that Sanderson filled with his research helped create the back-story and panel margins of not only Crisis but also its companion book, Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe.

Because of a letter I printed in Green Lantern saying, “You really should fix up DC continuity,” to which I answered, “Yes, we should,” I began seri-

Once DC’s executives gave Wolfman the formal green light for Crisis, he started planting seeds for the event through-

George Pérez’s wraparound cover for Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. All characters TM and © DC Comics.

129

1985 TIMELINE A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 3: The first issue of DC Comics’ ultimate status-quo altering maxi-series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, goes on sale.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

March 11: The day after the death of Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev is chosen to succeed him as General Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.

MARCH

May 27: Starring Roger Moore in the final time he will play British super-spy James Bond, A View To A Kill opens in movie theaters.

April 16: Four months after the final issue of Secret Wars is published, the first issue of its sequel, Secret Wars II, goes on sale.

June 14: A TWA jet carrying 139 passengers is hijacked

by Lebanese extremists shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece. A 17-day intercontinental ordeal ensues that includes the murder of a U.S. Naval officer.

APRIL

M AY

JUNE

February 26: Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” wins Grammy Awards for Record and Song of the year. Cyndi Lauper wins Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

March 3: Moonlighting, a romantic comedy/private investigator television show starring Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis, premieres on the ABC television network.

May 11: Chester Gould – creator of the comic strip detective Dick Tracy – dies at the age of 84.

Crisis on Infinite Earths and Supergirl TM and © DC Comics. Alpha Flight, Hulk, Secret Wars and the X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Dick Tracy TM and © Tribune Media Services. Calvin and Hobbes TM and © Bill Watterson.

out various DC titles starting with 1982’s New Teen Titans #21. In that issue, the cosmic being called The Monitor makes his debut. In 1984, the Monitor unleashed villains in the pages of Green Lantern and Flash and then began observing such heroes as the Justice League, the All-Star Squadron, and Swamp Thing.

DC Comics house ad that teases the impact of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

TM and © DC Comics.

Just as the Monitor’s appearances became more frequent and involved more DC titles, fan-favorite artist George Pérez was assigned to illustrate Crisis on Infinite Earths. As Pérez explained, he was called to duty “for the sense of grandeur that [Crisis] required, and because I’m capable of juggling as many characters as it took to tell the story.” Pérez also admitted that he was excited to take a little bit of vengeance on Marvel Comics: “It was to get revenge for not being able to do the JLA-Avengers book, as well as a way of getting back at Secret Wars, which did phenomenally well with a minimum of effort” (Waid 55130

56). Since their tremendous success with New Teen Titans had made Wolfman and Pérez DC’s team supreme, it was only fitting that they collaborate on DC’s most important project in decades.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 hit the stands at the beginning of January 1985 (cover dated April). Pérez’s spectacular wraparound cover features an array of heroes juxtaposed against a countless array of Earths.

Astute readers recognized Firestorm, The Teen Titans’ Cyborg, The Outsiders’ Geo-Force, and the John Stewart Green Lantern on the cover, but they had to be surprised at seeing former Charlton hero Blue Beetle, a character never previously seen in a DC comic book (despite DC acquiring him and most of the other Charlton Action Heroes in 1983). The cover to Crisis #1 also presented the Earth-2 Superman (complete with white hair in his temples) and two other unidentified characters.

September 1: The wreckage of the Titanic, which sunk in 1915, was located by a U.S.-French expedition over 500 miles from Newfoundland, Canada.

July 4: Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 – featuring the death of Supergirl – goes on sale.

July 13: Live Aid, a Bob Geldof-organized dualvenue concert in London and Philadelphia featuring dozens of popular musical artists, raises money to relieve famine in Ethiopia.

J U LY

December 6: The San Francisco Chronicle describes a “super cocaine” that is being sold on the streets. It soon becomes known as “crack” or “rock” cocaine.

September 3: Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men – the Ethiopian famine relief comic book with contributions from over 100 creators, including Stephen King – goes on sale.

September 22: FarmAid, a concert organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young and performed by rock and country music artists, takes place in Champaign, Illinois and raises over $9 million for struggling American farmers.

September 27: Hurricane Gloria makes landfall in North Carolina and moves northward, eventually causing over $900 million in damage.

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

October 16: Intel introduces its 32-bit 80386 computer chip.

July 7: Starring Michael J. Fox as a time-travelling teenager, Back to the Future opens in movie theaters. It would become the highest grossing film of the year.

August 1: Three weeks after the final issue of his own series is published, The Flash dies in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8.

The issue opens with a universespanning spectacle unlike any other: the Big Bang. That display transitions to an Earth that is quickly being consumed by antimatter. On that world is a mysterious cloaked man who desperately tries to stop the utter destruction of an entire universe. Clearly the stakes of this series were high and getting higher. A turn of the page reveals an equally intense battle on Earth-3, where slightly familiar characters like Ultraman, Power Ring, and Superwoman try in vain to stop the flood of antimatter from destroying their world. One by one, the heroes of that alternate Earth attempt to save their world, only to be destroyed by all-powerful cosmic forces.

The rest of that issue spans both time and space, from the 30th century future of the Legion of Super-Heroes to the distant past of Arion, Lord of Atlantis, and from Gorilla City, African home of the infamous Gorilla Grodd, to Manhattan, Firestorm’s base of op-

September 10: The creative teams of Alpha Flight and Incredible Hulk titles trade places. John Byrne assumes control of Hulk with issue #314. His run would end five issues later.

DECEMBER

November 18: Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson’s comic strip about a six year old boy and his stuffed toy tiger, makes its first appearance in newspapers across the country.

October 7: The Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by four PLF (Palestinian Liberation Front) gunmen who demand Israel release 50 Palestinian prisoners. After two days, the hijackers surrender to Egyptian authorities and are turned over to Italy.

October 2: Film star Rock Hudson dies of AIDS complications at the age of 59.

erations. A ragtag group of heroes are gathered. Ultimately, in a majestic final page, the person responsible for bringing them together is revealed in all his glory: The Monitor.

The opening chapter of this cosmic story was epic in scope and surprisingly intimate in its details. The worlds that were destroyed were populated by empathetic heroes who were instantly relatable and almost as instantly killed. The quick pace of Wolfman’s script, combined with the meticulous details of Pérez’s artwork, made this first issue immediately intriguing for new readers and kicked the twelve-issue maxi-series off in great style.

Just about the only thing that marred the first issue was its horrible printing via the flexographic press, which produced blurry, off-register pages.

The printing process caused Pérez’s artwork to lose much of its definition.

After completing the series, Pérez confessed, “The one thing that almost 131

December 16: Organized crime boss Paul Castellano is shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

The hit was ordered by John Gotti who uses Castellano’s death to seize power in the Mafia.

took me off the book was the flexograph printing on issue #1. I threatened to quit the book on the spot if issue #2 was as bad as the first one” (Waid 58). But thankfully for comic fans, DC abandoned the flexograph process and the printing quality promptly improved. Pérez remained on the series.

And Pérez’s involvement was essential because few other artists had the ability (or stamina) to draw the enormous collections of DC heroes and villains that the series showcased. The artist had a boundless enthusiasm for depicting characters both famous and obscure. Crisis on Infinite Earths #5, for instance, has pages that feature literally dozens of characters in incredibly dense shots.

The spread on pages 7 and 8 includes a mind-bogglingly huge group of nearly 180 heroes. Undaunted by what the series tasked him to do, Pérez took great pride in what he produced: “It was a lot of work, but the

Spread page from Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 that features almost 180 different characters. All characters TM and © DC Comics.

reaction has been very gratifying. The incredible amount of characters to be drawn, and trying to make a coherent storyline with a cast of hundreds, was a true challenge” (Waid 58).

to do the book. This way, they figured by waiting, they’d at least get one complete issue out of me” (Waid 59).

Ordway would ink the remainder of the series.

Dick Giordano inked Pérez’s pencil work for the first three issues. Despite a desire to complete the series, executive duties impeded Giordano from continuing beyond the third issue.

DC Editorial Coordinator Pat Bastienne unceremoniously removed her close friend from the job rather than force him to work all nighters to complete his inking assignments. After Mike DeCarlo inked Crisis #4, Jerry Ordway took over the inking chores with issue #5. Ordway was originally scheduled to start with issue #6, but as he explains it: “there was a deadline problem and [DC] sent the pages to issue #5… all but pages 7 and 8, the massive 178-character double page spread. Those were the last two pages of the book that I got. I guess they figured that if I took them too early on, they’d have to look for someone else

As Crisis on Infinite Earths progressed, it involved virtually every hero and villain ever seen in the DC Universe.

They become united to battle the horrible threat of the Anti-Monitor, a soulless destroyer bent on annihilating all life across the infinite universes through the use of his antimatter devices. As the heroes traverse space and time to protect cosmic tuning forks that will prevent the merger of the various universes, they end up in epic battles against the Anti-Monitor’s deadly shadow warriors.

And as one might expect from epic battles, casualties occur.

A Super Farewell Along with streamlining the DC Universe, Crisis needed to clear out some dead wood and do it in a way that 132

would grab fans’ attention. In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Bob Greenberger—who served as a DC Comics editor in 1985—claimed that as Crisis was being put together, a “death list” of characters that would be killed in the series was circulated around DC’s offices. Though the list went through several iterations, two names were always on it: The Flash and Supergirl.

Both characters starred in lackluster eponymous series for many years. Supergirl, in particular, had been an irrelevant character for a long time. She had wandered from one solo series to the next for over a decade, never selling many copies of whatever book she starred in. The Supergirl series that launched in 1982 as The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, was cancelled in 1984 as one of DC’s lowestselling comics. Furthermore, Supergirl had appeared in a 1984 feature film that was a major flop. While the box office bust didn’t put Supergirl on the proverbial chopping block, it did,

according to Greenberger, prevent Jenette Kahn and Dick Giordano from ultimately giving the “Maid of Might” a stay of execution.

Besides, Kahn and Giordano both wanted to use Crisis to reboot Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, along with their respective “families” of supporting characters. Pruning the Superman mythos—which had accumulated an enormous collection of characters over the preceding decades—was particularly important.

In 1985, Supergirl was at her absolute lowest ebb in terms of her merchandising worth, her popularity among comic book readers, and her importance to the future of the DC line.

Those facts added up to making Superman’s cousin expendable.

But Pérez and Wolfman didn’t treat Supergirl as an unpopular character who needed to be discarded like so much flotsam. With Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (Oct. 1985), the two creators actually made their readers care about a character they hadn’t paid attention to in years. With what would be recognized as one of the most iconic covers of the 1980s, the death of Supergirl in Crisis #7 was an immediate classic.

In this issue, the female Kryptonian is transported, along with a group of a dozen heroes from six Earths, to the antimatter fortress of the Weaponers of Qward. In that seemingly impregnable fortress, the band of heroes fights a frantic battle to prevent the nefarious plans of the AntiMonitor from coming to fruition. As the battle rages on, it seems more and more likely that the Anti-Monitor will succeed in destroying the entire multiverse with his antimatter cannons. Rather than give in to despair, Supergirl marshals her heroism. Kara reminds herself of the inner strength of Superman: “I may never be as good as he is, but Kal always taught me to do my best. Nothing else matters. Be true to yourself. Be the best that you are able to. Don’t ever give anything but your best. I’ve lived with his ideal, and heaven knows I’ve tried my hardest to live up to it. And I think for the most part I have.” The Anti-Monitor proves mightier than Supergirl, but the Kryptonian heroine refuses to succumb. She takes horrifying damage, but she battles through her pain

and takes strength in her struggle.

The Anti-Monitor’s power soon grows to a level that can ravage the entire multiverse. Supergirl, though, will not yield.

With a fierce intensity that readers had seldom seen in her before, she fights.

Pérez masterfully illustrated the strength of Kara’s will, and readers see an emotional power that belied the character’s lack of direction in recent years.

Through horrific pain, Supergirl finally destroys the Anti-Monitor’s body as she sacrifices her life for her friends’ survival.

In a heartbreaking denouement, Supergirl greets her final fate with class and equanimity as she tells Superman, “Y-you’re crying. Please don’t.

You taught me to be brave… and I was…. I… I love you so much for what you are. For how… good you are.” And with those final words, Kara Zor-El passes from the multiverse. It was one of the most classy and most moving character deaths that ever appeared in any comic, and it instantly made Supergirl a character that fans actually missed instead of one they were apathetic to.

Wolfman gave much of the credit for the success of Crisis #7 to Pérez: “The thing I want to make clear to everyone is that George’s work on the Supergirl issue, specifically more than any other issue, really made the story work. The way he set scenes up is just so great” (Waid 55).

Top: Page from Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 that displays the death of Supergirl. Above: one of the most iconic comic book covers of the 1980s.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

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longtime fans and alienating potential new ones. By 1985, as “The Trial of the Flash” continued unabated, sales of The Flash had dropped precipitously. It was all a sign, perhaps, that not only the Flash’s alter ego, Barry Allen, but also his longtime creative team, artist Carmine Infantino and writer Cary Bates, had become stale, dull, and behind the times.

These circumstances made the Flash an ideal fatality candidate for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Considering that the Flash was one of DC’s most iconic characters as well as the super-hero whose revival in 1956 launched the Silver Age of comic books, his death in Crisis would allow DC to make an important symbolic statement about the commitment they had to changing their status quo. If a character as important as the Flash could be killed, fans had to believe that any DC super-hero could die next. And if the Flash symbolically passed his red suit to the next generation, it was an important comment about how DC would now refresh itself.

Top: The Flash runs his final race in these panels from Crisis on Infinite Earths #8.

The Flash TM and © DC Comics.

A Fast Farewell Much like Supergirl, The Flash had hit hard times by 1985. The “Fastest Man Alive” had become mired in “The Trial of the Flash,” a storyline that began in 1983 when the Flash killed his longtime nemesis, Professor Zoom, to stop him from murdering his bride-to-be, Fiona Webb. Unfortunately, that story failed to hook comic book readers. In fact, it only succeeded in driving away

But when the Flash’s name first showed up on the master list of characters to be killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wolfman balked. He felt that many of the problems with the Flash had been self-inflicted and that there was no reason why the character couldn’t be made popular once again.

Jenette Kahn, however, disagreed, so much so that Wolfman soon realized there was no point arguing the matter. Flash’s fate had been sealed. Acquiescing to the decision, Wolfman determined to give the Flash a death worthy of his standing in comic book history (Dallas 109).

Crisis was so tightly plotted, though, that the Flash couldn’t play a central 134

role in the story (Dallas 110). Instead, the character continually lingers in the background of the series as a kind of harbinger of impending doom.

When the Flash first appears in Crisis (in issue #2), he’s like a ghost, warning Batman that “the world is dying” before mysteriously disintegrating.

Then Crisis #3 shows Barry in the far future confronting the Anti-Monitor’s wall of antimatter. He leaves his idyllic life in order to journey back to the past and warn his friends of the evil destructive force that they will soon face. It’s the Flash’s ability to travel through time and across dimensions that marks him as dangerous in the Anti-Monitor’s eyes, so in Crisis #5 (Aug. 1985) the villain captures the Fastest Man Alive and puts him under the emotional thrall of the Psycho-Pirate.

Two months later, DC published the final issue of The Flash. Issue #350 (Oct. 1985) concludes the “Trial of the Flash” story with the Scarlet Speedster traveling to the 30th century to be reunited with his wife, Iris. The cover image shows the Flash and Iris walking off into the sunset hand-inhand, and the issue ends with the narrative caption, “And they lived happily ever after… for a while.” Unfortunately for the romantic couple, it wouldn’t be much of a “while” as the events of this final issue of The Flash occur before the start of Crisis. Whatever happiness Barry and Iris enjoy together is short-lived.

The following month Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (Nov. 1985) opens with the Flash still a captive of the Anti-Monitor and the Psycho-Pirate serving as his jailer. When the Psycho-Pirate becomes paranoid about what the AntiMonitor will ultimately do with him, The Flash takes advantage, breaking the bonds that were holding him in place and pummeling the Psycho-Pirate for all the emotional torture the villain inflicted upon him.

But then the Flash discovers the antimatter cannon that the Anti-Monitor uses to destroy universes. Barry determines he must destroy the weapon, no matter the risk to his own life.

As he speeds around the cannon, the Flash feels his energy being drained, but the hero keeps running. With the Anti-Monitor’s weapon crumbling to rubble, Barry Allen begins to age and

wither. He feels himself going back through time, and then he speaks his final noble words: “Th-there’s hope… there is always hope. Time to save the world! Time… back in time… do what you have to... we must save the world… we must save the world…” And with that, the first hero of the Silver Age is gone. All that remains is his costume and ring.

ning abilities, but the young hero didn’t let that fact stop him from donning his mentor’s red suit and ring, triumphantly declaring, “I am no longer Kid Flash. From this day forth – the Flash lives again!”

Along with the deaths of the Flash and Supergirl, the Crisis also accomplished its goals of removing dozens of other characters from the DC Universe. A 1986 issue of Amazing Heroes lists some 40 heroes who were killed in the Crisis, including Aquagirl, Earth-2 heroine the Huntress, the Earth-2 Robin and the pacifist super-hero Dove.

Their deaths added dramatic weight to the maxi-series, but Wolfman expressed regrets about showing so many casualties: “In retrospect I probably would not have had so many on-stage deaths; I probably would have kept it down and just said the others died offpanel or something. I feel that we gave short-shrift to some characters, and as we moved on in the series, it got a little worse.

Flash and Supergirl, though, I stand by completely” (Waid 23).

Flash’s death stunned readers, especially since it happened only one issue after Supergirl died in dramatic fashion. As Wolfman explained years later, he wanted to keep readers shocked and off-balance: My feeling was that having two major characters die in consecutive issues would really surprise people. Remember, Crisis was published before the Internet and before detailed solicitations for advance issues, so we were actually able to surprise people and do this ‘one-two punch’ that I thought was really solid for the story and showed the readers that DC was a new company in many ways. (Dallas 110) But even as Wolfman went to great lengths to provide the Flash with the kind of noble death he felt the character deserved, he also planted a “secret plot device” (as he called it) to bring Barry back (Wolfman). Again, from the start, Wolfman opposed having the Flash die in Crisis. He insisted that all Barry Allen needed was a more compelling characterization to make him fit into the 1980s as much as he once fit into the 1960s. On the chance that DC’s executives would change their minds about the Flash and request that he be revived, Wolfman fashioned a new approach for the character: I came up with the idea that as Barry was racing back through time just prior to his death, he would get plucked out of the time stream and thrown back into the world.

This cover to ICG’s Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Index depicts all the heroes who perished in the event.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

Barry would realize then that he was living on “borrowed time” since at any moment the time stream could reclaim Barry and send him back to the point of his impending death. This situation could make him more aggressive in helping others because he would never know when his time would be up.

He would become a driven hero, haunted by the knowledge of his inevitable fate.

(Dallas 111) Wolfman proposed this idea to several editors after Crisis wrapped up, but none of them accepted it. After five or six years of attempts, Wolfman stopped pitching the idea (Dallas 111).

Instead, the former Kid Flash, Wally West, assumed the mantle of the Flash at the end of Crisis #12. Wolfman had previously reduced Wally’s powers from Barry’s multiverse-span135

Roy Thomas’s Crisis with Crisis As Crisis on Infinite Earths was being published, DC promoted it across nearly its entire line of comic books, primarily by designating certain issues as “Special Crisis Cross-Overs.”

While some of these issues added depth to the overall Crisis story, most of them related to the event only in superficial ways. Often the only common denominator between Crisis and one of its cross-over issues were the bizarre “red skies” that the Crisis event brought to the DC Universe.

Wolfman recommended publishing cross-over issues as a way to compensate the writers and artists of other DC titles: “I came up with the concept of doing the crossovers as a way for them to make some money with Crisis as well. It’s a mercenary thing, and one of the many compromises that had to be made on the book” (Waid 55). Money aside, many writers were excited to be part of the Crisis, none more so than Dan Mishkin, the writer of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld

other title, Infinity Inc. illogical. That series had always been intimately involved with the continuity of Earth-2, a continuity that no longer existed. The backstories of several Infinity Inc. members, therefore, had been pulled out from under them.

The super-heroine Fury, for example, had been established as the daughter of the Earth-2 Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Neither of those characters existed anymore.

and Blue Devil. Mishkin offered a tremendous amount of feedback on the event and on his characters’ involvement in the storyline (Waid 26).

One DC writer, however, had no choice but to immerse his titles in Crisis, and that’s because Roy Thomas was DC’s official Earth-2 editor, the custodian of the Justice Society’s universe. Unfortunately for Thomas, the aftermath of Crisis made those designations irrelevant. With the epic defeat of the Anti-Monitor in Crisis #12, the DC Universe had become a radically different place. The multiple Earth paradigm was gone. Earths 1, 2, 3, S, C, etc., were no more. In their place was a single Earth with a completely rebooted continuity. No longer were there multiple versions of Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman.

Now there was only one version of each character, and as far as the new continuity was concerned, there always had only been one of each.

Ultimately, Thomas felt betrayed by these changes. As Crisis got underway, he had been assured that the World War II-era versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman would remain available for his use in All-Star Squadron. When Crisis ended, that no longer proved to be the case.

DC’s plans changed, and most gallingly for Thomas, they changed without him being consulted or even properly notified by DC’s editorial staff. Thomas learned the news at a 1985 comics convention in London (ironically enough, it was a convention he hadn’t originally planned to attend). He was told there that he wouldn’t be able to use the World War II-era versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman (and even other characters like Green Arrow, Aquaman and Robin) because DC’s new continuity established that none of these heroes were around during World War II. The lack of communication resulted in a tremendous break of trust between Thomas and DC Comics.

Years later, Thomas described it as,

Thomas was forced to retcon Fury’s lineage, and he hoped to establish EC Comics heroine Moon Girl as Fury’s mother. Moon Girl and Wonder Woman shared several attributes, so Thomas reasoned the former would be an appropriate substitute for the latter. He requested that Dick Giordano arrange for him to use Moon Girl as a replacement for Wonder Woman. Months went by without Thomas hearing back from Giordano about his request. While appreciating Giordano’s demanding workload, Thomas still felt like he had been waiting for too long a time for a response. Ultimately, Giordano forgot about Thomas’s request, which forced Thomas to install Quality Comics character Miss America as Fury’s mother instead (Amash 41).

Top: As a result of Crisis, the members of Infinity, Inc. were no longer based on Earth-2.

Above: House ad for the America vs. the Justice Society mini-series, written by Roy and Dann Thomas.

Justice Society of America and Infinity, Inc. TM and © DC Comics.

“another nail in the coffin of my relationship with DC” (Amash 25, 38). In the wake of Crisis, Thomas’s enthusiasm for All-Star Squadron evaporated.

Thomas declared in 1986, “I had no interest in continuing All-Star Squadron as it is” (Mangels 62).

If Crisis gutted the cast of All-Star Squadron, it made Roy Thomas’s 136

Essentially, Roy Thomas’s calamity was that his creative interests and DC’s post-Crisis plans weren’t compatible. All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc. were, in part, celebrations of DC Comics’ history. Crisis on Infinite Earths, however, broke DC Comics away from its history. Crisis set a new course for DC’s future. It rebooted DC’s fictional universe in order to attract new readers and regain some equal footing with Marvel Comics.

Truth be told, though, DC didn’t close the sales revenue gap between itself and Marvel. In fact, in the short term, the gap actually widened. In 1985, the sales on some of DC’s mid-range titles—like Blue Devil and All-Star Squadron—dropped between 10 and 20 percent from their pre-Crisis levels

figures had plummeted in recent years, but DC was unwilling to cancel Wonder Woman because of a contract with the estate of the character’s creator, William Moulton Marston, which stipulated the reversion of publication rights going back to the Marston family if Wonder Woman didn’t appear in her own DC Comic for an extended period of time. The Amazon’s solo series wrapped up with issue #329 (Feb. 1986), but DC had grand plans for Wonder Woman that would include one of the Crisis creators.

The Batman/Superman team-up book, World’s Finest, ended with issue #323.

Batman and Superman TM and © DC Comics.

(Amash 39). Evaluating Crisis solely on DC’s 1985 sales performance, however, would be truly shortsighted.

Without a doubt, Crisis succeeded in rejuvenating a moribund line of titles and re-energizing DC’s creators. DC’s fan base seemed satisfied, too. Crisis was the talk of the industry. It won the 1985 Eagle and Kirby awards for Favorite Limited Series, while Pérez won the 1985 Eagle for Favorite Artist.

The Beginning Creates an Ending Considering the radical changes wrought by Crisis, it should be no surprise that several of DC’s longestrunning series concluded while the maxi-series was appearing on newsstands.

Besides the aforementioned Flash, DC also wrapped up the long-lasting Superman/Batman team-up title, World’s Finest Comics, with issue #323 (Jan. 1986) after a run that began in 1941. World’s Finest was never a fan-favorite series, and in its final years it featured an everchanging roster of often very inexperienced creative talent, but the devoted DC Comics fan had to at least shed a small tear at the cancellation of one of the company’s most esteemed titles.

The other long-running series that ended because of Crisis was Wonder Woman. The title’s sales

Crisis also brought about the cancellation of other DC titles, even ones that didn’t feature super-heroes.

With August 1985’s Jonah Hex #92, DC cancelled its only western comic.

In that issue, the scar-faced cowboy has a showdown against several opponents in the 1880s. A second after the confrontation begins, however, the hero finds himself transported to the far future. At that point, the issue—and the series—ends. One month later, Jonah’s new series, Hex, reveals that a mysterious white energy has brought DC’s infamous gunslinger to the mid-21st century where he battles for survival in a post-nuclear dystopian world reminiscent of Mel Gibson’s Road Warrior films. Documenting this strange, dramatic change for DC’s final western comics stalwart were writer Michael Fleisher and artist Mark Texeira. Unfortunately for DC, the new series became a notorious laughingstock among Jonah’s fans and ended up cancelled after 18 issues.

A series that ended in 1985 that had no connection to Crisis was Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland’s epic maxiseries Camelot 3000. Issue #12 of that series finally appeared in April 1985 after an unprecedented ninemonth delay from the publication of the previous issue. No series released by a mainstream publisher had ever been delayed for three-quarters of a year, but Bolland’s meticulous work demanded more time than DC had allocated for him. The fact that DC permitted this kind of delay showed just how much the company was willing to stand by its creators and allow them to produce the best possible work. Struck by DC’s patience, Bolland developed a loyalty to the company, which paid off a 137

few years later as he delivered for DC one of the best remembered comics of the decade.

Perhaps the most important new DC character to appear in 1985 was John Constantine. First appearing in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985), Constantine was a chain-smoking, working-class mystic whose physical appearance was based on thenpopular musician Sting. Alan Moore was intrigued by the idea of creating a working-class magician and using him as a mentor for Swamp Thing (Millidge 117). Constantine became such a popular supporting character that DC decided to give him his own series later in the decade.

A DC character who was introduced in 1984 reappeared in 1985: the 1930s detective Nathaniel Dusk returned for a second mini-series written by Don McGregor and printed from Gene Colan’s penciled pages. “Apple Peddlers Die at Noon” told a gritty mystery tale torn out of the pages of vintage newspapers and full of intense action scenes. The first Dusk mini-series had also been printed from Colan’s pencil work, but that work appeared washed out and dreary. For Nathaniel Dusk II, however, DC’s production department solved the problem of printing from Colan’s pencils, and presented some of the most beautiful work of Gene Colan’s

House ad for Hex in which old west gunfighter Jonah Hex time travels to a post-apocalyptic future.

Jonah Hex TM and © DC Comics.

long career. In 1985, McGregor and Colan also collaborated on Eclipse’s one-shot Ragamuffins. Like Nathaniel Dusk, Ragamuffins’ art was shot directly from Colan’s pencil work.

Figuring Out Who’s Who DC’s other major maxi-series of 1985 was Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, a 26-issue catalog of nearly all the characters that have appeared in DC Comics in its 50 years of existence. To give Len Wein some much needed help on Who’s Who (as well as Crisis), Dick Giordano hired Bob Greenberger away from Starlog magazine and handed him two threering binders filled with the research Peter Sanderson conducted on the DC Universe. Greenberger found Sanderson’s handwritten work invaluable… when it was legible. The problem was that many of Sanderson’s notes proved difficult to collate. Clearly, Who’s Who

was going to be no easy task.

Len Wein realized this early on. He knew the project was so massive that it would require all of his attention.

Subsequently, Wein moved away from his developmental editing on Crisis to devote himself full-time to the DC character directory. Inarguably, that was for the best as traffic management for Who’s Who proved so complicated that it required someone of Wein’s experience and skill.

Take, for instance, all the artists who were needed to draw character pinups for the series. Wein determined early on for Who's Who that if the inaugural artist of a particular character was still alive, he should get first claim on drawing that character. Because of that edict, Who’s Who provides a Carmine Infantino-drawn Silver Age Flash, a Gil Kane-drawn Silver Age Atom, a Joe Kubert-drawn Enemy Ace, and Jack Kirby illustra-

tions of many of the New Gods characters. Wein and Greenberger then contacted DC’s mainstay artists of the time and asked them all what character(s) they wanted to draw for Who’s Who. As a result, the directory received contributions from Jim Aparo (drawing the Outsiders), Joe Staton (Green Lantern), and Jerry Ordway (members of Infinity, Inc.), among many other DC artists. Finally, Wein dictated that every Who’s Who issue feature at least one artist who had never worked for DC before. Greenberger helped recruit artists like Dave Stevens (who provided pin-ups of Catwoman, Dolphin, and Phantom Lady), Jaime Hernandez (Shrinking Violet), Peter Laird (Flash villain The Turtle), and William Messner-Loebs (Human Bomb) to do their first DC work on Who's Who. Unlike Marvel’s engineering manuallike Official Handbook of the Marvel

George Pérez’s wraparound cover for the first issue of Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe. All characters TM and © DC Comics.

138

Universe, DC’s Who’s Who just supplied basic information about the DC Universe characters. Providing the book’s design was Neal Pozner. According to an interview conducted with Peter Sanderson for American Comic Book Chronicles, not only did Posner create the Who’s Who logo, he also chose a font that was easily available from local typesetters and devised the page design that cleverly incorporated DC’s famous 1960s-era black-and-white gogo checks.

other. Secret Wars II brought the Beyonder to Earth as he became firmly human in an attempt to understand mankind.

The Beyonder literally could do anything he wanted, but he became obsessed with figuring out why humans demonstrated so much free will.

As Secret Wars II progresses, the Beyonder tries to learn about normal human life. He practices sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom, among other basic human activities. He slowly becomes more and more involved in America’s consumer culture of the 1980s. In the nine-issue series, he rides a Cuisinart-equipped Lamborghini, acquaints himself with hookers and mobsters, and even kidnaps X-Men member Dazzler and mutant Boom Boom to try to seduce them. And unsurprisingly, the Beyonder fights virtually every hero in the Marvel Universe.

One War After Another Marvel Comics countered DC’s major cross-over event with one of its own: Secret Wars II. Fandom couldn’t have reacted to the two competing story arcs more differently. While Crisis on Infinite Earths garnered numerous awards and positive fan press reviews, Secret Wars II didn’t.

The first Secret Wars series was a runaway best-seller in 1984.

Indeed, it sold more copies than any other comic book in the previous 25 years (Hart 21). That kind of success would have convinced anyone to green light a follow-up series, but Jim Shooter had been planning on a sequel even before the first Secret Wars got published. He suggested Secret Wars II simultaneously to proposing the original mini-series with the important caveat that there would be no sequel if the first Secret Wars series became a financial failure (Zimmerman10).

The first Secret Wars series was an unqualified financial boon… and an equally unqualified critical bust.

By the time the series ended, it was widely mocked as uninspiring, juvenile fare. It was so reviled, in fact, that at a 1984 comic book retailer summit in Baltimore, when Marvel’s Direct Sales Manager, Carol Kalish, announced the plan to produce Secret Wars II, she was loudly booed (Gold).

Undeterred, Kalish quickly responded, “Let’s be honest. Secret Wars was crap, right? But did it sell?” With the crowd assenting, Kalish continued, “Well, get ready for Secret Wars series two!” The meeting room then erupt-

Secret War II’s list of guest-stars reads like a 1985 who’s who in Marvel Comics. The Avengers, Spider-Man (still wearing his black costume from the original Secret Wars), the Fantastic Four, Power Pack, Alpha Flight, and many other characters all appear in SW II. In addition, several of Marvel’s cosmicthemed characters—like Eternity, the Celestials, Death, and the demon Mephisto—do battle against their cosmic-powered opponent from beyond.

Top: John Byrne-drawn cover to the first issue of Secret Wars II. Above: Marvel Comics house ad listing all the titles tying into Secret Wars II that month.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

ed into cheers (Howley).

As Kalish assured, Secret Wars II became 1985’s bestselling comic book.

With a first issue published in April (July 1985 cover date), the sequel inverted the plot of the first Secret Wars series. In the original Secret Wars, the unseen, godlike Beyonder transported various super-heroes and supervillains into the far reaches of space in order to pit them against each 139

As he did with the original Secret Wars, Jim Shooter assigned himself the task of writing Secret Wars II despite his crushing workload as Marvel’s editor-in-chief. Shooter initially assigned veteran artist Sal Buscema to illustrate the series. Buscema wasn’t thrilled about having to draw a comic book that involved so many characters, but Shooter convinced him that the royalty payments that Buscema would be receiving would justify the amount of work the artist would have to do. So Buscema acquiesced and drew the first issue. When his art pages arrived at Marvel’s offices, though, Shooter wasn’t satisfied with the work. Rather than force Buscema to revise artwork for a comic book that he wasn’t enthused about

had to purchase not just all the issues of one title but all the ancillary issues as well. When all was said and done, that reader would have spent more than $30 to possess the entire Secret Wars II saga. Evidently, that cost didn’t discourage most Marvel Comics consumers as the cross-over issues sold extraordinarily well. Avengers #261 (Nov. 1985), for example, was the best-selling single Avengers comic of the 1980s, with sales of 277,400 copies, which included 151,900 copies sold to Direct Market stores (Miller).

While many of the cross-over stories read well, there was tremendous tension behind the scenes to produce them. Shooter was often tardy in writing the Secret Wars II scripts and his lateness necessitated changes in the cross-over issues. Shooter even removed the writers of some of the cross-over comics and ended up writing the issues himself. This happened with writer Denny O'Neil on the Daredevil cross-over issue (#223, Oct. 1985). Doctor Strange scripter Peter Gillis later claimed, “Every crossover got redone about three times because Jim just didn’t like it.” Along with the relentless script revisions, costumes were also changed without sufficient warning. Those changes meant that much of Avengers #261 needed to be redrawn at the last moment, which caused much stress in the Marvel offices (Howe 280-1).

Uncanny X-Men #200 presented “The Trial of Magneto,” a story that would end with Professor Xavier putting Magneto in charge of his mutant school. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

drawing, Shooter instead had the issue completely redrawn by then-editor Al Milgrom. Inking duties were given to Steve Leialoha (Cronin). Milgrom and Leialoha would illustrate the entire nine-issue core series.

Like DC did with Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marvel promoted Secret Wars II by crossing it over into nearly its entire line of existing titles. The original Secret Wars was pretty much a self-contained story, but its sequel

crossed over with 22 separate titles for a total of 33 other issues. Every month over the course of SW II’s nineissue run, several titles presented side stories of the Beyonder’s time on Earth. Series as varied as ROM, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four each displayed a triangle on the top right corner of their covers that boldly declared “Secret Wars II continues in this issue!” For the first time in the history of Marvel Comics, someone who wanted to read an entire story 140

Secret Wars II became one of the most despised comics of the year, at least as far as the fan press was concerned.

The series wound up on most “worst comics of the year” lists and was the subject of many negative reviews in the fan press. Despite many fans’ hatred of the mini-series and the chaos that the comic’s production wreaked behind the scenes, the series sold phenomenally well. The first issue sold around a half-million copies with each Direct Market store ordering on average over 300 copies (Christie). The third issue sold 300,000 copies. This all meant that while Secret Wars II wasn’t a runaway blockbuster hit like its predecessor, the sequel could hardly be called a sales failure.

The Fate of Magneto and Professor X The industry’s second most popular comic book of 1985 was Uncanny X-Men. In the summer, the series reached a major milestone as

Uncanny X-Men hit issue #200 under the guidance of writer Chris Claremont, penciller John Romita Jr., inker Dan Green, and editor Ann Nocenti.

The anniversary issue presented “The Trial of Magneto,” a major turning point in the Marvel Universe and the culmination of years of hard work that Claremont had invested in making the X-Men’s nemesis more threedimensional.

Leading up to the anniversary issue, Magneto had been arrested in Europe by the Freedom Force. In issue #200, he is placed on trial in Paris at the International Court of Justice for alleged crimes against humanity. The trial is a flashpoint for rioting by both anti-mutant and pro-mutant activists around the world. Some activists embrace the mutant cause, others despise it, but the most important figure in the trial is an ailing Professor X. Nearly dead from saving innocent civilian humans who were attacked by mutant terrorists, Professor Xavier is desperate to keep the cause of mutant rights alive. The founder of the X-Men ultimately passes control of his school over to Magneto, simultaneously his friend and lifelong nemesis, resulting in a major change in the status quo for the world’s greatest group of mutants.

Will the great villain find redemption as a hero? As Professor X says, “[Magneto’s] fate—and the X-Men’s—is now before the court of public opinion. The people of the world will determine their innocence or guilt—and whether their story has a truly happy ending.”

Claremont, Romita Jr., and Nocenti spent May 1985 on a combined research and promotional tour through France, Holland, Spain, and England.

The trip had the dual purpose of promoting the X-Men titles abroad and allowing the creative team to prepare to set the anniversary issue in Paris and The Hague. The trip gave Claremont and Romita, Jr. a strong sense of the locations in which they set the story and gave the anniversary issue a sense of verisimilitude that was unusual for a Marvel Comic of the time.

With its grand operatic story of death and growth, change, and horror, and with a subplot focused on the threat of terrorism (not to mention a final page showing Cyclops’s wife, Madeline Pryor, going into labor with the

couple’s first child), X-Men #200 was a massive crowd pleaser. The anniversary issue was the month’s top seller at Capital City Distributors, breaking the stronghold on the top spot that Secret Wars II had enjoyed. All told, XMen #200 sold 410,300 copies, including 237,300 copies through the Direct Market (Miller).

With Secret Wars II and Uncanny XMen leading the way, Marvel’s sales were by far the highest in the comics industry throughout 1985. Every newsstand distributed Marvel title sold over 100,000 copies per issue. Despite that success, Marvel Comics’ executives still pressured Jim Shooter to cancel the line’s lowest-selling series (Shooter, “An Answer to a Comment”).

In 1985, that meant titles like Power Man and Iron Fist, Dazzler, ROM, Micronauts: The New Voyages, The Thing, and The New Defenders were all on the chopping block, and as fate would have it, none of those series would survive past 1986.

One had to wonder if those cancellations would be joined by another long-running Marvel title: Captain America. By 1983, sales of the shield slinger’s comic book had plummeted to under 140,000 copies per issue, and 1984 had shown only a slight improvement to that average. After writer J.M. DeMatteis left Captain America with his plans for the series unfulfilled, the title fell into a few issues of drift. At the time Captain America editor Mark Gruenwald claimed that he had no knowledge that the star-spangled Avenger’s title was being considered for cancellation, and Jim Shooter assured the fan press, “We’d never cancel someone like Captain America – that would be like cancelling the Constitution” (Heintjes 17). Fears were put to rest when Captain America’s sales improved to a final 1985 average of almost 170,000 copies per issue. During the year, Gruenwald and Mike Carlin switched roles on the title. With Captain America #307 (July 1985), Gruenwald was now its writer and Carlin its editor. Gruenwald wouldn’t relinquish the writing chores on the series for over a decade until September 1995’s issue #443.

One cancellation Marvel made in 1985 was purely strategic. Marvel Team-Up, the long-running Spider141

Above: Marvel Team-Up ended with issue #150.

Below: A second Avengers ongoing series, West Coast Avengers, launched in 1985.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Man co-star title, ended its 13-year run with issue #150 (Feb. 1985), a giant-sized team-up with the X-Men. Two months later, the new Web of Spider-Man appeared on newsstands, giving the webslinger his third ongoing solo title. Marvel’s staff felt that idea of Marvel Team-Up had become too convoluted and that the book was too formularized, so that series was cancelled in favor of a new title that would focus on Peter Parker’s travels as a photographer for Now Magazine.

Of course, Marvel would never have considered reducing the number of Spider-Man titles on the stands. As editor Jim Owsley said, “there are a lot of Spider-Man fans out there, and we feel we can sell [Web of Spider-Man]” (Sodaro 135). With an inaugural creative team of writer Louise Simonson and artist Greg LaRocque, the series ran for over a decade. The first issue of Web served as a minor epilogue to the first Secret Wars series. In Web of Spider-Man #1, the black costume from Secret Wars attempts to re-bond with Peter Parker. The alien symbiote is defeated through the ringing of church bells.

Besides Web of Spider-Man, Marvel introduced some other new titles in 1985. The longest lasting was West Coast Avengers, which received a full series after a pilot mini-series was published the year before. Scripting this new series was someone who already had a fabled run with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes during the 1970s: Steve Englehart. Joining him were Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott who handled the series’ art chores.

After a long run as a Direct-only title, Moon Knight returned to newsstands with the new Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu by Alan Zelenetz and Chris Warner. And Cloak and Dagger finally received their own ongoing bi-monthly series with a creative team of Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi. And then there was the six-issue mini-series Longshot, which introduced a character with the power to alter his “luck.”

Longshot puts his power to good use to escape an alien dimension called Mojoverse, but the comic book’s real star wasn’t its eponymous protagonist; Longshot’s real star was its cocreator/artist, Art Adams. While not representing his first professional work, Longshot put Adams on the comic book industry map in spectacular fashion. Adams had a sleek, tight art style that evoked the work of both Michael Golden and Walt Simonson but remained distinctive nonetheless.

Adams’ work would soon inspire a new generation of comic book artists who would become some of the most influential professionals in the industry by the end of the decade.

My Canadians for Your Hulk Bill Mantlo was involved in one of the odder Marvel events of 1985 when he and John Byrne traded titles. Byrne decided to give up writing and drawing Alpha Flight, a title that he had created and for which he had written and drawn the first 28 issues.

He had become increasingly bored with his Canadian super-hero team and increasingly frustrated by Alpha Flight’s declining sales. Meanwhile, Mantlo—who had been writing Hulk for the past six years—felt he had done all he could with the character and desired a new challenge (Sanderson 23-24). So one day Byrne called Mantlo, and after the two creators shared their frustrations, they decided to swap titles. Jim Shooter approved the exchange after some reasonable consideration.

Alpha Flight #28 continues into 142

With the Longshot mini-series, artist Art Adams arrived on the comic book scene in spectacular fashion.

Longshot TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Incredible Hulk #313 (both cover dated Nov. 1985) as Marvel’s Green Goliath battles the Canadian super-group, and then the book’s creative teams (including the editors) switched places. With Incredible Hulk #314, Byrne took the title character back to his basics, as in all the way back to Stan Lee’s original 1962 conception of the character. Bill Mantlo, on the other hand, took Alpha Flight in a new direction.

The Alpha Flight and Incredible Hulk creative teams traded places in 1985.

Alpha Flight and Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Baby, I’m a Star

During his run on Alpha Flight, Byrne rarely had the entire cast assembled at the same time, preferring instead to present stories that featured only one or two characters. Mantlo immediately made Alpha Flight more conventional, bringing the characters together to fight as a team.

Byrne and Mantlo’s creativity may have been revitalized by their new assignments. The same couldn’t be said for artist Mike Mignola. His horror and fantasy-inspired art style was perfectly suited for a monster book like Incredible Hulk (or even the sci-fi mini-series Rocket Raccoon which he drew earlier in the year). But now Mignola was stuck on a conventional super-hero book, and it was an assignment he couldn’t tolerate. Mignola drew only three issues of Alpha Flight before departing.

Ironically, John Byrne’s tenure on Incredible Hulk didn’t last much longer than that.

With sales booming throughout its line, Marvel decided to diversify by targeting the younger brothers and sisters of its existing readership. The time was particularly ripe since three years earlier, children’s publisher Harvey Comics had gone into hiatus and no other publisher had stepped forward to fill the void. Not that Marvel didn’t immediately try. Shortly after Harvey Comics suspended its operations in late 1982, Marvel offered to acquire Harvey’s intellectual properties for $3.2 million. When that offer was declined, Marvel opted to create its own kids comics (Heintjes 23-4). So in 1985, Marvel launched Star Comics as a new line of comic books featuring characters for younger readers.

The brainchild of Marvel’s vice president of publishing Mike Hobson, the Star Comics line was two years in the making as overseen by Marvel executive editor Tom DeFalco and veteran Harvey Comics editor, Sid Jacobson.

In turn, Jacobson recruited his longtime Harvey associates Lennie Herman and Warren Kremer to create and manage new characters for the line (Massara 23). Jacobson, Herman, and Kremer had spent much of their professional careers chronicling the 143

Harvey Comics adventures of Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Little Lotta. The experience and professionalism of these Harvey veterans were to be the hallmarks of the Star Comics line.

The creation of Star Comics, though, was a rocky ride, with many ideas thrown around the editors and creators. Star suffered a major early setback in its development when Lennie Herman unexpectedly passed away.

Herman was to be the principal creator on one of the new series, and his death set the project back several months. The prolific creator had only written a handful of Star Comics scripts before his passing, forcing a reconsideration of the core of the line (Massara 23).

The most successful Star titles showcased licensed characters. The initial wave of Star Comics had such kidproven characters as The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Heathcliff the cat, as well as the Ewoks from the Star Wars movies. But Star Comics was committed to original material as well.

Legendary Little Archie writer/artist Bob Bolling created Wally the Wizard, the adventures of a medieval-era apprentice wizard. Herman and Kremer came up with two other titles for the line: the sci fi space adventure Planet Terry, and a book about an incredibly rich boy named Royal Roy. Star premiered six titles during cover date April 1985 (Fraggle Rock, Heathcliff, Planet Terry, Wally the Wizard, Top Dog, and Strawberry Shortcake) and five more titles during May

The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the Star characters were licensed to appear on boxes of General Mills cereals, an ideal way to capture the attention of young children.

When Harvey’s attorney heard about the cereal deal, however, he wrote General Mills and persuaded the cereal maker to scuttle its arrangement with Marvel (Heintjes 23-24). Marvel then countersued. The legal matter ended when Harvey dropped its lawsuit after Marvel cancelled Royal Roy with its sixth issue.

The Star Comics line would continue into early 1988, at which point all the titles got rebranded as Marvel books in order to secure better newsstand distribution (DeFalco 220). Care Bears, for instance, was published under the Marvel banner for a year.

Groo Wanders Over To Marvel Marvel Comics house ad promoting its new line of Star Comics.

Star Comics TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

(Ewoks, Get Along Gang, Muppet Babies, Royal Roy, and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham), with three more titles following by the end of the year (Care Bears in November, and Misty and Thundercats in December).

Unfortunately, one of Star’s new characters seemed too familiar—in both appearance and concept—to a longtime Harvey Comics property.

The accusation was made that Star’s Royal Roy was a blatant copy of Harvey’s Richie Rich. Because two of Richie Rich’s longtime contributors had created Royal Roy, the similarity between the two characters seemed more than a mere coincidence. In late 1984, Marvel shared preliminary sketches of their Star characters with Harvey Comics’ managers. Upon poring over the work, Harvey concluded that Star Comics did indeed copy its creative properties, so Harvey initiated a copyright infringement lawsuit against Marvel claiming that three Star characters were too similar to three of Harvey’s: Tog Dog was argued to be too much like Harvey’s Dollar the Dog; Planet Terry was analogous to Harvey’s Timmy Time; and most egregiously, Royal Roy, “a Prince of a Boy,” had an appearance and nickname too similar to Harvey’s Richie Rich.

Marvel published another new series in 1985 that had a young reader appeal. It starred the bumbling barbarian created by Sergio Aragonés called Groo the Wanderer. After first appearing as a four-page strip in Steve Gerber’s benefit comic Destroyer Duck #1, Groo became a staple series at Pacific Comics from 1982 to 1984. Prior to that, though, Aragonés had pitched his creation to Marvel. He met with Jim Shooter and Mike Hobson to discuss whether Marvel would publish Groo as an ongoing series but allow Aragonés to retain some rights to the character. According to Aragonés, he couldn’t get the guarantees he wanted:

of Marvel’s nascent Epic Comics imprint featuring creator-owned titles.

But Aragonés didn’t believe Shooter’s (or even Shooter’s superior Mike Hobson’s) assurances, so the cartoonist made a deal with Pacific Comics instead (Shooter, “EPIC Interference”).

Aragonés and his collaborator Mark Evanier produced eight increasingly madcap issues of Groo for Pacific Comics, as well as one additional issue for Eclipse after Pacific’s dissolution.

Aragonés and Evanier’s efforts were creatively and financially rewarding but the duo became dissatisfied with the distribution limitations placed on Groo as a Direct Market-exclusive title. Evanier felt that the comic could thrive on the newsstand market. He conversed with a number of different publishers before contacting Carol Kalish. That bore fruit as after other individuals were brought in, Marvel agreed to publish Groo. Aragonés and Evanier negotiated a deal with Marvel’s lawyers that allowed the creators to retain their copyrights on the characters and pay them a good royalty on the series (Evanier). Indeed, if there was any question as to who owned Groo, readers needed only look at the title of Marvel’s new comic book for the answer: Sergio Aragonés Groo the Wanderer.

Evanier persuaded Marvel to do two things with Groo: first, set the

“I would go there and they would say, ‘There is no way that we can ever give any rights to anybody.’

They would take books out to prove to me that it was impossible.

And every time that I talked to the tall fellow at Marvel, he said it was impossible. And I didn’t have any contacts at Marvel, so there was no way they were going to do it.”

(Thompson 78) Shooter, however, remembers their discussion much differently. He recalls proposing Marvel publish Groo under a “normal, real publishing agreement” with Aragonés retaining all rights to his creation. Shooter’s intention was for Groo to become part

Star Comics Royal Roy prompted a lawsuit by Harvey Comics who claimed the character was a copy of their own Richie Rich.

Royal Roy TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

144

comic’s cover price at Marvel’s standard 75¢ and second, arrange distribution to the newsstand market.

The latter made Groo available at the same venues in which readers could find Aragonés’ famous marginal illustrations in MAD Magazine. Marvel’s first issue of Groo was cover-dated March 1985 and displayed both a Comics Code seal and an Epic Comics logo—the first time a comic from the previously Direct Market-only Epic line appeared on newsstands.

For the first Epic released issue, Aragonés drew himself on an introductory page that explained how Groo became a Marvel comic book. On that page, Aragonés states, “I wanted to tell the tales of Groo for years—but all the comic companies insisted that they had to own him! I, of course, said no!” In the same issue, Mark Evanier wrote a text page titled “50 Important Facts About Sergio Aragonés.” One fact stated, “For years [Aragonés] wanted to do a comic book chronicling the exploits of Groo the Wanderer but was unable to find a publisher he trusted.”

Jim Shooter wasn’t in the habit of inspecting Epic Comics before they were shipped to the printer. He had enough faith in that line’s editor, Archie Goodwin, to get the job done right without his supervision. Therefore, Shooter didn’t see Groo #1 until after it had been printed, and when Shooter read Aragonés’ introductory page, he was livid. As far as Shooter saw it, Aragonés was lying to his readers. What made it worse was that the lie had been printed in a Marvel comic book. Shooter stormed into Goodwin’s office and lambasted him for allowing the introductory page to be published. By Shooter’s account, it was the only time he lost his temper with his mild-mannered editor (Shooter, “EPIC Interference”).

As a Marvel comic book, Groo had an impressive 120-issue run, plus specials and collections. Groo’s success at the newsstand led Marvel to offer two other previously-Direct Marketexclusive titles to the newsstand: Elfquest (licensed from Wendy and Richard Pini) and a reprint series of the first six issues of Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar. Evidently, there was a place for creator-owned material at the newsstand.

The Day Jim Shooter Attended a Jack Kirby Panel Sometime afterward the publication of Groo #1, Shooter confronted Aragonés at a comic convention in British Columbia, demanding an explanation for the cartoonist’s claims in that first issue introductory page. Aragonés, however, evaded Shooter’s questions, so much so that Shooter suspected that someone else was responsible for the introductory page.

Someone who either was ignorant of the earlier negotiations Aragonés had with Marvel or had personal reasons for making Marvel look bad. From Jim Shooter’s perspective, it was the person who wrote Groo #1’s text page: Mark Evanier.

Evanier was a close personal friend of Jack Kirby, and in 1985, Kirby had Marvel Comics house ad promoting Sergio Aragonés Groo The Wanderer.

Groo TM and © Sergio Aragonés. become utterly frustrated with Marvel’s treatment for him. By signing the form, Kirby of him. Unlike DC Comics—which would acknowledge that the work he was now providing Kirby with royproduced for Marvel during the 1960s alty payments for his Fourth World was “made for hire,” thereby relincreations—Marvel offered Kirby no quishing his rights to it forever. For monetary compensation for his work many reasons, Kirby refused to sign, in building the Marvel Universe and and he brought the news of Marvel’s its increasingly popular characters. treatment of him to the public. His Despite the fact that many of the Sesituation quickly became a cause cécret Wars action figures were based lèbre of the entire comic book induson characters that Kirby had a hand try. Both the fan press and industry in creating, the artist received no professionals stepped forward to money from the sales of those toys support Kirby and attack Marvel for (Evanier 200, 202). what was perceived as reprehensible treatment of the man whose art had Above and beyond that grievance, shaped the fortunes of the company.

Kirby continued to fight Marvel in Even though Jim Shooter wasn’t reanother, more public battle: the responsible for the situation, the lion’s turn of thousands of original art pagshare of industry outrage was dies that he produced for the company rected at him, simply because he was during the 1960s. Starting in 1984, Marvel’s most visible executive. Fairly Marvel began returning some Silver or unfairly, Jim Shooter became the Age-era original art to the artists who symbolic figurehead of an inflexible, drew them. callous corporation. The 67-year-old Before it would return any art, Marvel Kirby, on the other hand, presented stipulated each artist sign a release an extremely sympathetic figure to form. Kirby, however, wasn’t sent the his colleagues and fans, especially same release form provided to every because of his health problems and other Marvel artist from the 1960s. especially when he made statements Instead, Kirby received a much lonlike, “It’s not as if we’re selfish, or ger release form drafted specifically 145

didn’t have to encourage his writers very much. He was joined in his anger by some of the most prominent comic book creators of the day. Frank Miller, for instance, started a petition drive for the unconditional return of Kirby’s artwork. Signing that petition were Marv Wolfman, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, cartoonist Matt Groening, Harvey Kurtzman, Harlan Ellison, Jules Feiffer, Art Spiegelman, and over 150 other creative professionals. They all agreed to the petition’s declaration that “Marvel Comics should place no conditions on the return of Jack Kirby’s original artwork.”

Above: Cover to the program guide for the 1985 San Diego Comic Con. Below: In its 1985 comic books, Comico reprinted a Comics Journal form petitioning Marvel Comics to return original art to Jack Kirby.

want the art for ourselves. They’re robbing our grandchildren” (Heintjes 15).

Comic companies such as Comico and Eclipse published full-page ads backing the Kirby family, and DC executives wrote an open letter of support of Kirby. Gary Groth, publisher of The Comics Journal and Amazing Heroes, seized every opportunity within his power to push Marvel to return Kirby’s art. Groth wrote several editorials in the Journal and encouraged news coverage in his magazines to be devoted to Kirby’s plight. But Groth

The controversy reached a high point on August 3, 1986, during that year’s San Diego Comic-Con. A special panel featured comic book luminaries Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Marv Wolfman, and Gary Groth testifying to Kirby’s influence on the comics industry. Jim Shooter sat in the back of the panel room as each of the industry stars spoke about their respect for Kirby and their outrage at Marvel’s treatment of the great creator.

After about 45 minutes of listening, Shooter spoke up at the panel. He told the audience that he “very, very much” admired Jack Kirby and that he wanted the original art to be returned to him. Shooter assured everyone that he, Marvel, and Kirby would come to a mutually satisfying resolution, but he also described the convention panel as a “kangaroo court” and responded to their criticism of Marvel’s work-made-for-hire contract: “You’re sitting there in moral outrage about the people who choose to work for Marvel Comics, and who allow Marvel to be the author of the work, but this includes a lot of people with six-figure incomes” (Heintjes 9).

After Frank Miller confirmed that he enjoyed working for Marvel and that he was satisfied with the money he made doing work for Marvel, Shooter continued the point: A lot of people presume that there’s something about owning your characters that makes you better off. Once in a while, your characters will become Star Wars, and you’ll become George Lucas, but I think that 999 times 146

out of 1000, you’re better off working for hire at huge page rates, big royalties, making lots of bucks, getting your insurance paid, having all your work materials paid for, as opposed to owning PotatoMan lock, stock, and barrel.

(Heintjes 10) At that point, Jack Kirby’s wife, Roz, who had been sitting four rows in front of Shooter, stood up, turned around and said, “Mr. Shooter, excuse me but I’d rather own Captain America, and you can keep your medical plan” (Heintjes 10). The audience applauded.

Shooter went on to relate how when he was writing for DC Comics as a teenager in the 1960s he created characters that went on to attain some popularity. Shooter was later advised by a lawyer that he could sue DC Comics for ownership of those characters, but he chose not to because at the time he created them, he knew he was working for hire and that he knew DC would own everything he created. Again, Roz Kirby spoke up: “I hate to interrupt you, but during the whole thing, we’ve never tried to get the copyrights back from Marvel. It’s you people who keep bringing it up.

Marvel seems to be worried about something, and I don’t know why you people worry. All these years we’ve been fighting—not just lately, it’s been going on for years—just for the artwork” (Heintjes 11).

The panel ended with Shooter asserting, again, that he wanted Kirby to receive all his original art back but also contending that the matter needs to be resolved privately between Marvel and Kirby. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that resolution didn’t happen anytime soon.

They Are The World The evening news of the mid-1980s brought reports of horrible tragedy in Africa. A horrific famine in Ethiopia was killing hundreds of thousands of people. Musicians and other creative professionals from all around the world formed charitable causes to raise money to alleviate the crisis.

Band Aid, USA for Africa, and Live Aid became the most famous relief organizations, but there were also causes like Car Aid, Sports Aid, and a slew

of other charities arranged by jazz, heavy metal, and gospel singers.

Watching the news, Bernie Wrightson and Jim Starlin decided that the comic book industry should do its part to help with famine relief. Starlin called Jim Shooter at home and proposed the idea of Marvel publishing a “jam comic” benefit. Shooter immediately approved and brought the idea to his superiors, Mike Hobson and Jim Galton, who likewise instantly signed off on it.

All three Marvel executives agreed that if the creators involved with the comic would donate their services, Marvel would in turn donate all the profits from the book to an appropriate charitable organization.

Thus was born Heroes for Hope Starring the XMen. Chris Claremont recruited the writers for the project while Wrightson and Starlin recruited the artists, leaving editor Ann Nocenti to coordinate it all. Together, over 100 creators worked on the jam comic, including luminaries from outside the comic book industry like Stephen King, Edward Bryant, Harlan Ellison, and George R. R. Martin. They joined an all-star list of the most popular comic creators of the day: Stan Lee, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Howard Chaykin, Alan Moore (paired with Richard Corben), Charles Vess, Steve Rude, and John Romita, Jr. There were so many volunteers that the organizers even had to decline some creators who wanted to be part of this project. Each writer/ artist team was given two to three pages to tell their section of the story.

The seasoned comic book professionals handled their assignments without any problems, but the writers who weren’t experienced at scripting comic books needed help. Stephen King, for instance, submitted a script

that was so overwritten that it would have been impossible to fit all his dialogue and captions onto three comic book pages. Claremont, Nocenti, and Shooter collectively whittled down King’s work to a manageable length

Marvel Comics’ Heroes for Hope—with contributions from dozens of writers and artists— raised money for African famine relief.

X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

(Shooter, “Heroes for Hope and Why I Don’t Like Oxfam America”).

The one-shot fundraiser told the story of the X-Men battling a horrific supernatural creature that feeds on despair, thereby creating a zone of terrible desperation in Africa. While the plot wasn’t particularly original, it worked well as a small framework to hang a loose jam story that contained 147

some spectacular and heartfelt art and writing.

Released in early September 1985, the 48-page Heroes for Hope had a cover price of $1.50. Marvel Comics’ Public Relations Director Pam Rutt had arranged for all proceeds to be donated to the non-profit Oxfam America organization, but Oxfam stipulated it needed to see Heroes for Hope before it would agree to accept any donation. In advance of printing, Marvel sent Oxfam a mock-up copy of the comic book. After reviewing Heroes for Hope, Oxfam refused to be associated with it.

To them, the contents of the comic book were repugnant. They considered the manner in which the comic book depicted women was sexist and the manner it portrayed Africans was racist. One Oxfam executive even accused the artists of attempting to capitalize on Michael Jackson’s fame by making all the Africans in the comic book look like the world famous pop singer. This same Oxfam executive personally told Shooter and Galton that Marvel would face a public relations calamity if it went ahead and published Heroes for Hope.

He urged Marvel to cancel the book (Shooter).

Needless to say, Shooter and Galton dismissed Oxfam’s advice and instead directed Pam Rutt to find a different organization to donate to.

She found American Friends Service Committee whose African relief efforts were directed not only at Ethiopia but at other impoverished areas as well. AFSC enthusiastically agreed to accept the Heroes for Hope proceeds, which Shooter calculates was in excess of $500,000 (Shooter).

Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson’s relief efforts didn’t stop with Heroes for

Hope. They also helped coordinate the DC Comics benefit book that was released the following year, in late May 1986. Heroes Against Hunger was a 48-page one-shot retailing for $1.50. Similar to Heroes for Hope, the DC book was a “jam story” featuring work by over 100 creators, including famed horror writer Robert Bloch, along with comic book industry greats such as Jack Kirby, Barry Windsor-Smith, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, and Howard Chaykin. Heroes Against Hunger had Superman and Batman battling an extraterrestrial creature called The Master, who was hindering the effects of famine relief.

Both the fan press and the mainstream media saluted the efforts of these two benefit books. That doesn’t mean there weren’t critics, though.

More than one commentator noted that no African-American creators were involved with Marvel’s comic, despite the fact that the comic was specifically about Africans. More importantly, as noted commentator Leonard Rifas remarked at the time, the two comics were a shallow attempt at providing help for the people of the Horn of Africa without understanding the deeper reasons why the famine was created or what could really be done to prevent similar future tragedies. By treating the famine as an extra-dimensional force that was imposed on the Ethiopian people, the comic books failed to address the famine’s complicated—and sometimes conflicting—origins. The Ethiopian crisis had been growing organically for some time, not that anyone would have grasped that from reading the benefit comic books (Rifas 26-29).

Alan Moore’s Marvelman Miracleman One writer who contributed to Heroes for Hope was Alan Moore. In 1985, Moore was a rising star in the comics industry, thanks principally to his watershed run on Swamp Thing. Moore’s poetic narrative and dark plot twists helped make Swamp Thing one of the

the ongoing features of his anthology magazine Warrior.

Alan Moore wrote the new Marvelman stories, initially with artist Garry Leach and later with artist Alan Davis.

House ad promoting DC Comics’ African famine relief benefit comic book, Heroes Against Hunger.

TM and © DC Comics.

most highly regarded comic books of the decade.

DC kept Moore busy with other assignments, such as stand-alone pieces in Green Lantern, Omega Men, The Vigilante, Detective Comics, and DC Comics Presents. That workload didn’t stop Moore from writing for other publishers, though. In 1985, he also produced material for seven consecutive issues of First Comics’ American Flagg!

Eclipse Comics hit upon a different way to get Moore into its fold: it licensed Moore’s revival of a classic British super-hero. Created by Mick Anglo in 1954, Marvelman was a deliberate imitation of the Fawcett character Captain Marvel. By saying the word “Kimota” (or “atomik” backwards), Mickey Moran transformed himself into the super-powered Marvelman.

The character’s initial adventures lasted until 1963. In 1982, British publisher Dez Skinn acquired the rights to Marvelman and made him one of 148

By late 1984, however, Dez Skinn had to cancel Warrior due to declining sales. Prior to the cancellation, he tried selling the magazine’s features to American publishers, including DC and Marvel Comics. DC was intrigued by some of the Warrior characters, but Marvelman was not one of them. DC had no interest acquiring a character with a name that mimicked its biggest competitor.

For its part, Marvel declined to acquire Marvelman because of concerns that readers would mistakenly view Marvelman as its flagship character. Besides, Marvelman was just too offbeat for the House of Ideas’ taste. In fact, prior to Warrior’s cancellation, Marvel disapproved of Marvelman so much that it sent Skinn several letters demanding the character’s name be changed (Heintjes 13-14).

Rebuffed by the two biggest American comic book publishers, Skinn realized none of the independent companies would risk Marvel’s wrath by acquiring a character named Marvelman.

Skinn had no choice but to rename the property in order to sell it. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, longtime comic book creator and editor Dave Elliott revealed that Alan Moore tried to persuade Skinn to leave Marvelman’s name unchanged but instead have the comic book starring the character adopt the title of his first Marvelman chapter, “A Dream of Flying.” Similarly, Garry Leach proposed a comic book title of “MM,” the character’s chest symbol.

In the end, though, Skinn just didn’t like the prospect of trying to convince a publisher to purchase a character named Marvelman. So Skinn renamed the character Miracleman.

Skinn pitched Miracleman to Pacific Comics and the San Diego-based publisher purchased it… and then

Pacific Comics shut down its operations before it could even schedule a Miracleman comic book, never mind publish it. During Pacific’s liquidation sale, Eclipse acquired several former Pacific series as well as the rights to Miracleman. So from Dez Skinn through Pacific Comics, Miracleman became a new Eclipse comic book.

The first issue of Miracleman reached comic shops in July 1985 at the low retail price of 75¢. That cost rivaled most Marvel Comics’ titles and was significantly cheaper than the $1.75 cover price of most Eclipse comics. In its house ads, Eclipse proudly advertised that its comics broke the “Buck Barrier.” Three other titles in Eclipse’s “bargain line” followed shortly afterwards: New Wave, Airboy, and The New DNAgents.

contact Davis. From Davis’s point of view though, the fact of the matter was very simple: “What Eclipse reprinted they stole” (Davis). As Dave Elliott elaborates, Davis and Moore had a falling-out over the Captain Britain series that the pair had co-created for Marvel UK in 1981. In disgust, Davis assigned his rights to Marvelman over to Garry Leach, which made Leach the controller of the largest portion of the rights to the character. In 1985, Davis and Leach chose not to pursue

The first six issues of Miracleman reprinted stories originally published in Warrior. American readers unfamiliar with the material became captivated

by Alan Moore’s vision of a grown-up Captain Marvel who rises from a deep sleep to embrace his freedom.

Miracleman starts as a fairly traditional character revival. While the earliest issues display his usual dark plot twists, Moore would eventually use Miracleman to push the boundaries of super-hero narratives, generating tremendous controversy while doing so.

But as it reprinted Warrior’s original Marvelman stories, Eclipse neglected to secure the permission of one of its artists. Alan Davis contended that no publisher had the right to re-publish his Marvelman work, since he had given Dez Skinn permission to publish only the first English language printing. Any subsequent reprinting had to be renegotiated with him.

Therefore, Eclipse’s reprints of the work illustrated by Davis were legally unauthorized.

Davis also claimed ownership to several characters he cocreated for Marvelman. Convinced it acquired the rights to the Marvelman stories from Dez Skinn via Pacific Comics, Eclipse never felt the need to

legal action against Eclipse after finding it impossible to get the fan press to listen to their side of the story.

The artists felt the deck was stacked against them. But even without Davis and Leach pressing the matter, Miracleman wasn’t free of legal wrangling. Years later, the property would become the subject of a contentious ownership battle that wouldn’t be resolved for many years.

Along with Miracleman, Eclipse premiered two other notable series in 1985. Tim Truman ended his popular run on Grimjack to create his own Scout, a post-nuclear holocaust action adventure comic that features a guntoting Native American in an almost mythical land. Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster was Scout’s opposite: a madcap, tongue in cheek heroes vs. monsters yarn that was never quite on solid ground.

One independent comic that led the way towards the future was Mike Saenz’s Shatter. The first commercially published all-digital comic, Shatter told the adventures of a hardboiled detective in the future—a kind of Blade Runner in comics form. The series was created on a first generation Apple Macintosh using MacPaint and other applications, and printed on a dot matrix Apple ImageWriter printer. Saenz’s creation process was laborious and grueling. Among other problems, Saenz couldn’t see the whole page when he was drawing it, and it took Saenz six months of testing in order to feel confident enough to be able to produce pages that could be published in comics.

1985 house ads promoting Eclipse Comics’ Miracleman.

Miracleman TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

149

The art pages were printed out in black-and-white and then colored in the traditional handdone method of the times. Shatter appeared first as a back-up feature in First Comics’ Jon Sable Freelance series (and simultaneously in the British computer magazine Big K) before emerging into its own series in December. While the comic is a mere footnote today for many comics fans, it is important as the very first comic that included computers as a major part of its production process (Meyerson 13).

stop with Singer or some of the Direct Market distributors that carried Singer’s comic book. Carbonaro also threatened to sue just about anyone who dared help David Singer promote his version of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

For instance, Carbonaro personally telephoned Comics Buyer’s Guide editor Don Thompson to tell him that CBG would be sued for libel for printing Singer’s press release. Similarly, after CBG writer David Campiti conducted an interview with Singer, Carbonaro informed the writer that if the interview got published, Campiti would be held responsible for what Carbonaro characterized as Singer’s libelous statements. Carbonaro also targeted one of the creators working for David Singer. Dave Cockrum was contacted by one of Carbonaro’s friends who told the artist that Carbonaro would sue Cockrum if he continued to draw Singer’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (Heintjes 9).

It was a threat that Cockrum didn’t take seriously, and ultimately, Carbonaro limited his litigation just to Singer. In 1985, the three Direct Market distributors were released from the lawsuit in a partial settlement.

Carbonaro told The Comics Journal that he knew they weren’t at fault, “I had to bring the distributors into the suit to let Singer know that I was serious, but I don’t have anything against the distributors” (Heintjes 13). None of the three distributors carried the January-published Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2, and Singer’s revenues from the issue were significantly reduced. This would prove a harbinger of things to come.

David Singer’s (Short-Lived) Victory

Top: George Pérez-drawn cover for Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

After David M. Singer published the first issue of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in late 1984, John Carbonaro sued him for copyright infringement, claiming the characters belonged solely to him and were not, as Singer claimed, in the public domain. Included in this lawsuit were three Direct Market distributors: Glenwood, Capital City, and Comics Unlimited.

But Carbonaro’s litigiousness didn’t 150

Singer put Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents on hold until the lawsuit’s resolution. He made five different settlement offers, but Carbonaro turned them all down (Heintjes 7).

The suit was headed to court. In an effort to distance himself from his legal problems, Singer formed a new comic book company: Lodestone Publishing. Through Lodestone, Singer released Codename: Danger—by Rich Buckler, Keith Giffen, and Robert Loren Fleming—as well as Dave Cockrum’s Futurians.

But several months after Singer started up Lodestone, he scored a legal victory: the court ruled in Singer’s favor. The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were

indeed in public domain, as far as the court was concerned (Heintjes 13).

After the verdict was handed down, Singer immediately ran a full-page ad in CBG promoting Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3. The ad had a big lettered banner that read, “WE WON!” The issue was published in November 1985 and featured stories

by Dave Cockrum, Keith Giffen, and Steve Ditko.

But if David Singer thought his legal woes were finally behind him, he was in for a big surprise. Carbonaro appealed the court’s decision, and the fight for control of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents carried on.

Direct Market Livelihood/ Newsstand Fatality The Direct Market’s relentless expansion continued in 1985, as more new publishers rushed into the field. They included Strawberry Jam Comics, Fishwrap, Independent Comics, and Blackthorne Comics, which emerged from the ashes of Pacific’s liquidation.

Steve Schanes explains: After we closed down Pacific and laid everyone off, it took Bill and me about six or eight months to work everything out with the bankruptcy attorneys, the liquidators, and all the grueling stuff that entailed. That takes a lot out of you, but one has to make a living. I decided that with what I now knew about publishing, and since I still had a lot of creator contacts, and since I now needed a job, my wife and I would form our own comic-book company.

We needed to create a corporation quickly, so we set up a company headquarters in our two-story house and took the name of the street that we lived on, Blackthorne Avenue, and called it Blackthorne Publishing. (Sanford) Blackthorne focused on the new rage in the industry: black-and-white comic books. Blackthorne’s first publication was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, a one-shot of reprinted material with a new cover by Dave Stevens.

The company gradually expanded, first with more reprints (such as Dick Tracy) and later with a small line of

1985 house ads promoting Blackthorne Publishing’s Sheena 3-D Special and Continuity Comics’ Armor.

Armor and Continuity Comics TM and © Neal Adams

creator-owned and licensed titles.

The black-and-white comic book boom arose from the unparalleled success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was so successful that it assured the emergence of a slew of other single creator publishers, all of whom released their publications solely to the Direct Sales market.

There was perhaps no better indicator of the comic book industry’s shift away from the newsstand and toward specialty comic book stores than the news that one longtime newsstand comic book company closed its doors in 1985. The Connecticut-based Charlton Comics, which had been in business since 1946, released its final comic book, Professor Coffin #21, in October 1985. Over the years, the venerable company had published comics by such industry greats as Neal Adams, John Buscema, Steve Ditko, Dick Giordano, Joe Staton, John Byrne, Tom Sutton, and dozens of other creators. But since 1982, Charlton released only reprinted material and unpublished backstock, and it was all out of step with the times. While comic book readers embraced such independent comics as American Flagg! and Nexus, the Charlton-produced Timmy the Timid Ghost, Dr. Graves, The Private War of Willy Schultz, and Atomic Mouse failed to find an 151

audience. The Charlton line averaged abysmal sales of 22,900 copies per comic issue, but the company had to sell an average of 24,000 copies to break even financially.

In Charlton’s final months, its owners negotiated with both the holders of the Harvey Comics properties and with Marvel. The initial plan to license characters such as Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost from Harvey went nowhere, so Charlton’s owners then turned to Marvel as a friendly partner. The two publishers negotiated for a time, with Charlton proposing that its line of comics be renamed Whiz-Bang Comics in order to differentiate itself from its old corporate name. However, a deal was never struck between the two companies (Heintjes 10-11). With that, Charlton’s demise was assured.

Going forward, if a comic book publisher didn’t have a strong Direct Market presence, it had no chance of survival, never mind success.

1986

Watchmen and

the Watchers of the

Comics Industry

By 1986, Marvel was beginning to be seen by the showbiz industry as a major entertainment company rather than just a comic book publisher. The September 17, 1986 issue of Variety ran a story headlined “Marvel Now $100-Million A Year Hulk.” In that story, writer Dan Gilroy reported that “Marvel publishes some 350 comic book titles per year, selling roughly 7,000,000 copies per month. Rounding out Marvel’s publishing line are limited-run books and special editions, which have been tied in with the release of feature films” (81).

The article emphasized the diversity of Marvel’s titles, quoting Marvel President James Galton as he discussed how the comics group had progressed over the years: “Marvel was a one-product company in 1975. It published comic books, for boys primarily, and had a very narrow demographic. I decided to take the core business and build from that.” The article notes that Marvel had expanded to an adult line, Epic Comics; a children’s line, Star Comics; into graphic novels, into coloring books, and into licensing and animation, which, according to Galton, was “all part of an ongoing process, and that is to keep Marvel characters in the forefront of the American consciousness” (Gilroy 92).

Marvel’s New Universe Is a Big Bang June 1986 marked 25 years since Fantastic Four #1 appeared on the newsstands, and hence the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the “Marvel Age” of comics. This was to be a big event, and the planning began early for it.

Jim Shooter reports, “Eighteen months or so before Marvel’s 25th anniversary, there was a meeting called by Galton to discuss how to ‘celebrate’ the anniversary – that is, how to capitalize on it and make money on it” (Johnson 21). At that meeting, Shooter proposed a radical break from the past: “I proposed that we do a Big Bang – that is, bring the Marvel Universe to an end, with every single title concluding – forever – in dramatic fashion in May of 1986 and in June begin relaunching the entire universe.

We’d start each title again from #1” (Johnson 21). It was the same kind of reboot of Marvel’s fictional universe that Doug Moench claims Shooter wanted to do back in 1982.

Shooter now had the political capital inside Marvel to execute the idea as part of the discussion of the company’s 25th Anniversary celebration.

Marvel’s executives at the time, however, feared loss of the company’s market share—nearly 70% of the entire American comics market in 1986—and so shot down Shooter’s grand idea. In doing so, they might have been considering the declining sales of Marvel’s “Distinguished Competition.” After DC Comics rebooted its line in the wake of the historic Crisis on Infinite Earths, its group-wide sales dropped by over 20% between 1985 and ’86, and its

CHAPTER SEVEN

by Jason Sacks

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like our ‘real world’ until yesterday when the White Event occurred. Then things got a bit stranger, but not so much that you would notice it every day” (Johnson 22).

market share dropped by five percentage points in two years (Tolworthy).

Rebuffed in his first proposal, Shooter offered a slightly less radical idea: “Since they wouldn’t let me do Plan A, I proposed Plan B—celebrate the 25th anniversary of one universe by creating another one—a New Universe.

That flew. I was given a budget of $120,000—big money in those days—to develop eight new titles with which to launch the New Universe and promised a massive advertising, promotional and PR campaign as well as other support—staff, bonus money to insure that we’d be able to get top-drawer creators” (Johnson 23).

In his “Universe News” column in the first issue of the first month of the New Universe comics Shooter summed up the approach of the line this way: During the summer of 1986, Archie Goodwin, Tom DeFalco, a number of other people at Marvel Comics and I created the New Universe. Or, more correctly, we simply decided to use a universe hitherto unused in comics. Our own. The one we live in. Real pipes. Real people. Real bathrooms. No mer-people. No repulsors. No unstable molecules. In fact, no fantasy or fantastic elements at all except for the very few we introduce. Carefully. Does it make sense? You bet. As much as the universe outside your window does. A universe where time passes and things change, and… well, you know. You live in it. Startling.

However, as quickly as that large budget was committed, it was pulled away. Marvel’s parent company, Cadence Industries, was preparing to sell Marvel Comics and pocket some major profits. To prepare for the sale, Marvel’s expenses were cut to the bone. Among those expenses was the budget for the New Universe. The Cadence executives allowed Shooter to go ahead with his plans for the New Universe but determined that no extra expense would be spent on the new line. Shooter had pushed to promote the line outside of the comics industry, advocating for TV ads and magazine placements, but the best that Marvel management at the time would muster were some point-ofsale store displays for comic shops.

It was a “ground-level” universe that deliberately and strongly contrasted with the fantasy-filled universe of the Marvel superheroes, a universe that was intended to provide a new brand for Marvel.

The New U. was to be based more on reality than the great leaps of imagination that the standard Marvel Universe required.

The financial aspects of the pending sale also affected the creative teams on the New Universe series. In early promotional materials and conversations about the line, Shooter noted that he hoped to get some of the most popular creators in comics to work on the New Universe titles; however, due to the tightness of the budget, books were mainly filled with standard rank-and-file Marvel writers and artists. This approach decreased the fan buzz about the New Universe, since the creative teams didn’t seem all that different to fans from the creative teams working on many ordinary Marvel titles.

Four titles in the New Universe line premiered in July 1986:

After some initial work on the New Universe line, in which series such as Speedball and Strikeforce: Morituri were considered for inclusion, the founding editors made a major decision about the direction of the New Universe titles.

Shooter and his editorial staff decided the New Universe would represent what would happen to “the world outside your window” if suddenly people gained super powers. As editor/writer Mark Gruenwald put it in a memo during the planning stages of the New Universe, “The world was absolutely

To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, Marvel Comics unveiled a “New Universe” of titles.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

153

1986 TIMELINE

April 2: Garry Sher, the owner of Garry’s Comic Stop in Edgebrook, Illinois, is cited with selling harmful material to a minor. The charges will eventually be dismissed, but not before Sher chooses to close his store.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

April 26: The world’s worst nuclear accident occurs in the Ukraine as one of the reactors at the Chernobyl atomic power plant explodes, killing 31 people and exposing thousands of others to near lethal amounts of radiation.

Parts of the Ukraine and Belarus become uninhabitable.

January 28: A rocket booster failure causes NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger to explode 73 seconds after launch. All seven crew members are killed. Space shuttle flights are suspended until 1988.

February 7: Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier is ousted from power. He flees to France as Henri Namphy becomes the new leader of Haiti.

JANUARY

June 5: The first issue of DC Comics’ 12-issue Watchmen series – written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons – arrives in stores.

February 9: Halley’s Comet reaches its closest approach to the Sun during its visit to the solar system which occurs every 75 years.

February 25: Corazone Aquino, wife of murdered senator Benigno Corazon, becomes the 11th president of the Philippines after the People Power Revolution opposes Ferdinand Marcos’ fraudulent re-election. Marco and his wife Imelda go into exile in Hawaii.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

April 15: President Reagan orders air strikes against Libya in retaliation for the April 5 West Berlin discoteque bombing that killed three U.S. servicemen.

The airstrikes cause the deaths of at least 15 Libyans and injure at least 100 more.

March 20: DC Comics publishes the first issue of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, written and penciled by Frank Miller with inks

by Klaus Janson and colors by Lynn Varley.

June 26: Julius Schwartz’s tenure as DC Comics’ Superman editor comes to an end with the publication of Action Comics #583, a special send-off issue written by Alan Moore, penciled

by Curt Swan, and inked by Kurt Schaffenbeger.

M AY

JUNE

May 25: At least 5,000,000 people participate in “Hands Across America” by forming a human chain that extends from New York City to Long Beach, California for the purpose of raising money to fight hunger and homelessness.

May 16: Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, opens in movie theaters. It will gross more money at the box office than any other movie that year.

May 13: Marvel Comics publishes Fantastic Four #293 – the final issue of John Byrne’s five-year run on the title.

Batman, Legends, Superman, Watchmen and Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics. Fantastic Four, Star Brand and X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Maus TM and © Art Spiegelman.

Mark Hazzard: Merc by Peter David and Gray Morrow, telling the story of a soldier of fortune; Nightmask by Archie Goodwin, Tony Salmons and Bret Blevins, about a hero who can enter and manipulate dreams; Spitfire and the Troubleshooters

by Eliot Brown and Herb Trimpe, featuring a woman trying to prevent the armor that her family created from being taken by the government; and Star Brand by Jim Shooter, John Romita, Jr., and Al Williamson, starring a regular guy who suddenly is granted powers from space but isn’t quite sure how to use them.

In August, the final four titles appeared: 1986 house ad announcing Marvel Comics’ New Universe.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

D.P. 7 by Mark Gruenwald, Paul Ryan, and Romeo Tanghal, about young paranormal people coming to grips with their powers; 154

Justice by Archie Goodwin and Geof Isherwood, about a man whom aliens appoint as a violent peacekeeper; Kickers, Inc. by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, and Sal Buscema, telling the story of a super-powered football team; and Psi-Force by Steve Perry, Mark Texiera, and Kyle Baker, featuring another set of paranormal teens on the run, who can combine together to create the powerful Psi-Hawk.

The creative teams quickly shifted on most of the New Universe titles soon after their release. DeFalco and Frenz left Kickers, Inc. after issue #2, and Brown left Spitfire after plotting issue #1 (he was fired as a Marvel editor in July). Goodwin also only took part in the earliest issues of his titles, leaving Nightmask after issue #2 and only scripting Justice #1. Gruenwald and Shooter stayed with their series, however, and those ended up being

November: New World Pictures purchases Marvel Comics from Cadence Industries for $45.5 million in cash.

September 8: Oprah Winfrey begins her syndicated TV talk show.

July 8: The “Mutant Massacre” begins with Uncanny X-Men #210, an 11-issue story arc that will involve five different Marvel titles (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Thor, Power Pack) over four consecutive months.

September 15: The first episode of L.A. Law airs on NBC network television.

September 15: Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale arrives in book stores. The work will earn Spiegelman a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

July 15: Marvel Comics’ New Universe launches with the publication of Jim Shooter and John Romita, Jr.’s Star Brand #1.

November 25: The Iran-Contra scandal begins as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese reveal that profits from secret arms sales to Iran have been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels. National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, begin shredding incriminating documents.

December 10: Michael Correa, the manager of Friendly Frank’s Comics in Lansing, Illinois is arrested for intent to disseminate obscene material. Publishers Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press and Ron Turner of Last Gasp Publishing donate money to aid in the store’s legal defense. These donations initiate the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

December 19: Written and directed by Oliver Stone, and starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen, the Vietnam War movie Platoon opens in theaters.

July 16: Directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, the sci-fi action movie Aliens opens in theaters.

J U LY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER November 26: The fourth Star Trek movie, The Voyage Home, opens in theaters.

October 12: After two days of discussion in Reykjavik, Iceland, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev fail to reach an agreement about nuclear arms reduction.

July 10: Courtesy of writer/artist John Byrne, Superman is revamped with the publication of the first issue of Man of Steel, a six-issue mini-series released bi-weekly.

August 26: Written by Len Wein and John Ostrander with art by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, the first issue of DC Comics’ Legends mini-series is published.

November 6: Wonder Woman #1 – written by Greg Potter and plotted and penciled by George Pérez – goes on sale. The issue redefines the Amazonian Princess for DC’s post-Crisis continuity.

the best-selling New Universe books.

dropped 42 per cent” (Fryer 14).

Despite all the hype around the new line, the New Universe failed to generate huge sales from the start. An article published in The Comics Journal #111 (Sept. 1986) surveyed a number of comic shop owners about the New Universe’s sales performance.

Reports were that at its premiere the line sold mediocre numbers at best; sales then trailed off as additional issues of each series were released. On average, New Universe books sold like mid-range Marvel titles. Star Brand, the best-seller, sold as well as an average issue of Amazing Spider-Man, while Kickers, Inc., the worst-seller, sold as well as an issue of Incredible Hulk. The article notes that “Capital City’s Comic Dealer’s Newsletter for August listed drops in orders for five New Universe titles; in two issues D.P. 7 dropped 27 per cent; Psi Force dropped 33 per cent; Justice dropped 32 per cent; and Merc dropped 40 per cent; and in three issues Star Brand

Retailers’ complaints were perhaps best explained by Richard Finn of Second Genesis in Portland, Oregon who said, “I didn’t like [Marvel’s] marketing techniques. Eight new titles in the space of one month is way too much at one time to expect collectors to buy. [Marvel] were way too conservative in publicity. They kept [the New Universe] under wraps too long.

They sent out lots of promotions too late” (Fryer 14).

Star Brand ended up being perhaps the most critically acclaimed title in the New Universe line, garnering strong reviews from R.A. Jones and Gerard Jones in Amazing Heroes for the obvious passion that Shooter put in his writing and for the book’s realistic atmosphere. While some critics faulted Shooter for appropriating aspects of Green Lantern’s origin—specifically that the title’s protagonist received his powers via an artifact given to him by an alien—the 155

November 13: Batman #404, presenting the first part of “Batman: Year One” by writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli, goes on sale.

December 24: At the age of 75, comic book writer Gardner Fox dies. Having written thousands of stories since the comic book industry’s “Golden Age,” Fox is perhaps most famous for creating both the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.

consensus was that the series had a strong launch. Gruenwald’s D.P. 7 also proved to be popular, achieving a consistent level of quality that many of the other New Universe comics lacked.

A New World for Marvel The biggest news for Marvel in 1986 was that the company was sold from Cadence Industries to New World Pictures in November. Cadence had been looking to sell Marvel for some time, positioning the company’s financial statements and comics line to make it attractive for sale. After initial nibbles from American Greetings and Western Publishing, an agreement was reached with New World, whose executives agreed to buy Marvel from Cadence Industries for $45.5 million in cash. Cadence’s shareholders received $17 per share, less than half of the stock’s actual value at that time.

The sale netted large profits for Cadence’s executives but also cost

many of Marvel’s rank-and-file employees significant amounts of money. The executives cleaned out the pension fund, diminished health coverage, and even threatened to reduce the company’s generous and revolutionary royalties plan – all in an attempt to decrease the company’s costs and increase their personal wealth. Marvel was extremely profitable in the mid-1980s, dramatically increasing its already huge market share and expanding the merchandising of its characters. However, the conditions around the sale to New World contributed to a general sense of malaise for the company’s employees. There was a sense that upper management didn’t care about the company’s ordinary staffers and that the staffers had little or no say in the future direction of the company for which they worked. Furthermore, Stan Lee and Jim Shooter had to spend much of their time working as liaisons for the sale and transfer of assets, which distracted them from the comics line and other important comic related matters.

inked the covers for all the books.

None of the Tender Hearts books ever appeared on newsstands or in comic shops.

Make War, Not Love

In the same year that film audiences would see Oliver Stone’s Platoon, Marvel released its own Vietnam War comic book: The ’Nam. The ’Nam TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

with the always-popular Harlequin Romance books.

Make Love, Not War

The first of the series was slated to be released in the summer of 1986.

Tender Hearts would have consisted of black-and-white, 116-page paperback-sized books presented with two or three panels per page. The books were aimed to be part of the then-thriving young adult/teenager romance genre, through Harlequin’s Silhouette series. Line editor Bob Budiansky described Tender Hearts as “somewhere between a comic book and a paperback story in that there’s a lot of narration” (Busiek 13). Each book in the line was intended to have a woman’s point of view with a tight focus on the main character of each story as well as a very contemporary feel with its fashion, slang and attitudes. The books were to be sold everywhere paperback romances were sold, including bookstores, supermarkets, bus stations, and drugstores.

While Marvel journeyed into a New Universe, the company also announced plans to return to an old standby of its comics group: Romance comics. Marvel’s last romance books had been cancelled by the mid-1970s, but Marvel Age #40 (July 1986) announced the creation of a new line of Marvel Comics called “Tender Hearts.” The four new series were to be developed in collaboration

Four books were announced as initial releases: Blue Ribbon Summer by Danny Fingeroth, Jackson Guice, and Vince Colletta; Love at First Sight by J. M. DeMatteis, Mary Wilshire, and Vince Colletta; Blue Jay of Happiness

by Louise Simonson, Mary Wilshire, and Bob Wiacek; and Discoveries by Don Kraar, June Brigman, and Ray Richardson. John Romita, Sr. and Joe Sinnott respectively laid out and

Shooter claims that he was a whistleblower for corrupt aspects of the transaction: “I wrote a letter to Bob Rehme, our new, New World CEO, telling him of some of the totally corrupt, self serving, potentially illegal things that Marvel’s top brass had done/were engaged in” (Shooter “Even More Questions and Answers”).

That status as a whistleblower, along with the relative financial failure of the New Universe, Shooter’s continuing tensions with some staffers and his unpopularity in the fan press— which blamed him for the ongoing controversy about the return of Jack Kirby’s art, among other things— proved to be writing on the wall for major changes in Shooter’s career in 1987.

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Joined together by editor Larry Hama, writer Doug Murray and artist Michael Golden had built a rapport while collaborating on the series “Fifth to the 1st” for Marvel’s Savage Tales magazine. While short-lived, the “Fifth to the 1st” feature generated significant fan response, which encouraged Hama to pitch to Shooter a revival of another neglected comic book genre: the war comic. Shooter approved, and Murray, a Vietnam War veteran, conceived this new series as an important look into the brutality of war, as a way of cutting through all the propaganda about the morality of war. The threat of a nuclear and traditional war between the United States and the Soviet Union was very strong in the mid-1980s, and Murray was inspired by that threat to create a new series that portrayed warfare as authentically as a comic book would allow.

As a result, in September of 1986, one of the most unique comic books Marvel published during the decade made its debut: The ’Nam. The series was a portrait of the Vietnam War through the perspective of an American infantryman. The ’Nam begins with Private First Class Ed Marks as he leaves his civilian life and gets deployed to Vietnam to be part of the 4/23 Infantry (Mechanized) Division. Over the course of the first twelve issues, PFC Marks lives the typical American G.I. life: the tedium and the terrors, the camaraderie and the corruption.

With many of the comic book’s events mirroring Murray’s own combat experiences, The ’Nam focused on the human side of war, not Rambo-style action. That approach gave The ’Nam a strong sense of verisimilitude, emphasized further by Murray’s deliberately sparse dialogue, Golden’s obsessive attention to detail in his art, and a glossary printed at the end of each issue that defined all the jargon and slang being spoken by the characters.

The ’Nam was an existential exploration of modern warfare, presented in a realistic and compelling style.

The creators were very aware of the

power of the comic page to educate those who picked up the series. They sought to change the outlook of young people toward war. As Murray states in the introduction to the The ’Nam’s third trade paperback collection, “The ’Nam is an attempt to teach some of the lessons of the Vietnam War to the most important audience of all—the people that’ll end up fighting in the next little brush war our ignorance thrusts us into… We’ve got to remember Vietnam. Remember that it was a dirty, badly-led and ultimately futile war, and, with that memory, stop it from ever happening again.”

it made him fantastic money. Shooter claimed at a San Diego Comicon panel that Byrne made $325,000 in 1985 (Heintjes 9). Years later, Shooter also claimed that “John was making a bloody fortune at Marvel…. One time I handed John a $30,000 royalty check for one issue of one title. That was by far not the record, by the way” (Shooter, “Another Question, Another Answer”).

Nevertheless, Byrne got caught up

The ’Nam’s narrative unfolded in a unique manner: each issue followed the previous in “real time.”

The monthly publication schedule of the series meant that each issue of The ’Nam moved the story ahead by one month. By the beginning of The ’Nam #13—one year after the first issue had been published—Ed Marks had been in Vietnam for a full year.

Murray intended the comic book to be, essentially, an eight-year limited series; he wanted to produce one issue for every month the United States had been in Vietnam. Unfortunately, Murray didn’t get to follow through on his plan: The ’Nam only lasted 84 issues, one year short of eight years, and Murray left the series after issue #51 (January 1990).

Maybe most intriguingly, the first issue of The ’Nam was released three months before Oliver Stone’s Platoon, a movie about the Vietnam War that would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.

Clearly, by 1986’s close, the attention of media consumers was on Vietnam, and The ’Nam essentially anticipated the popularity of Vietnam War narratives—including movies such as Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, and Casualties of War, and television shows such as Tour of Duty and China Beach—that lasted until the end of the decade.

A Fantastic Farewell Even while working to diversify its line, Marvel was still concerned most about its best-selling mainstream super-hero titles. John Byrne arguably remained Marvel’s biggest star in early ’86. His Fantastic Four was one of Marvel’s bestselling books, and

Top: With issue #293, John Byrne’s five year run on Fantastic Four came to an end.

Above: John Byrne drawn cover to FantaCo’s Fantastic Four Chronicles.

Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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later, Al Milgrom found the rejected book in a drawer and brought it to me. He liked it. So did I. I thought it was great” (Shooter, “Another Question, Another Answer”).

in a bit of Marvel office politics that drove him off of not only Fantastic Four, but away from Marvel altogether. After 10 years at Marvel, John Byrne was just not happy working under Jim Shooter. He felt impacted by what he perceived as a negative work environment. So when a better offer came along, Byrne bolted (Thomas).

The precipitating event happened when Byrne turned in an issue of his short-lived run on Hulk that was composed entirely of splash pages.

Denny O’Neil, the editor of the Hulk at the time, didn’t object to such an experimental storytelling approach but ultimately felt in this case that the approach didn’t work (Heintjes 11). What’s more, O’Neil believed Shooter wouldn’t approve Byrne’s story either. Without getting confirmation from Shooter that this was indeed the case, O’Neil simply told Byrne that Shooter had rejected the story. Byrne became furious at the perceived interference from Shooter in his work, and then quit Marvel entirely (Shooter, “Another Question, Another Answer”). In Byrne’s mind, the Hulk story was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back, stating “I just reached my threshold on everything” (Heintjes 11).

Ironically, Shooter states, “I never even saw the rejected book! I assumed that Denny had given it back to John.

I didn’t even know why Denny had rejected it, only that he did. I didn’t know it was all splash pages. Months

The all-splash page issue was planned to be published as Incredible Hulk #320 (cover date June 1986) and would eventually see print as Marvel Fanfare #29 (cover date November 1986). Byrne remembers the events differently from Shooter. As he recounts in an interview years later, Byrne left the Hulk and Fantastic Four because of personal politics between him and Shooter: “I took on the Hulk after a discussion with Shooter, in which I mentioned some of the things I would like to do with that character, given the chance. He told me to do whatever was necessary to get on the book, he liked my ideas so much. I did, and once installed he immediately changed his mind – ‘You can’t do this!’ Six issues was as much as I could take” (Thomas).

The argument would lead to Byrne ending his very popular five-year run on Fantastic Four effective with issue #293 (August 1986). He was replaced on the book by the team of Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway, and Al Gordon.

Top Left: page from Byrne’s all-splash-page Hulk story.

Above: John Byrne drawn cover to Comics Interview #25.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Byrne also wrapped up his short sixissue run on Incredible Hulk with issue #319 (May 1986), which featured the wedding of Bruce Banner to his longtime love Betty Ross. The couple had been dating off and on since the Hulk’s very earliest stories scripted by Stan Lee. Though Byrne didn’t expect to leave Hulk so quickly, his final issue provided a nice capstone to his short run on the title.

Byrne left Marvel as perhaps the most popular creator in their popular comics group. The series he had already agreed to take on next—even before his departure from Marvel— would make him even more popular and more controversial among comics readers.

Dare to Change Frank Miller also left Marvel in 1986, a decision brought on by the departure of his collaborator David Mazzucchelli from Daredevil after issue #233 (August 1986), the final chapter of the team’s classic “Born Again” storyline.

Miller had rejoined Daredevil after a three-year absence with issue #227

(cover date January 1986). At that time, he paired up with Mazzucchelli, who was then the resident artist on the book, and the two creators pushed Matt Murdock through an existential and physical journey unlike any that had faced any hero before.

Miller wondered how a good man might react when all of his worldly trappings were stripped away and forced Daredevil to live through that gauntlet in “Born Again.”

In the first issue of Miller’s new run, Daredevil’s world is systematically destroyed by his arch-nemesis, the Kingpin. By laying waste to Murdock’s career, his friendships, his investments, and even his house, the Kingpin turns Daredevil into a man with literally nothing left in his life. Murdock is emotionally devastated by those losses, but after reuniting with his former girlfriend, Karen Page, who had similarly lost everything, he is able to begin a new life. The story reveals that Matt Murdock’s mother was a nun working in a homeless shelter, and through his mother’s tender ministrations, our hero is born again as a different man: happier, calmer and more at peace with himself and the world around him.

The “Born Again” storyline was highly acclaimed, and drove a massive increase in the sales of that venerable comic series. Daredevil #227 won the 1986 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue, and Miller and Mazzucchelli won the Kirby for Best Writer/Artist team.

Miller had originally planned to write two more issues of Daredevil after the conclusion of “Born Again,” to be illustrated by Walter Simonson, after Miller’s original choice for the story, John Buscema, proved to be too busy to work on the project. In fact, Miller did write the first part of the two-part story, titled “The Devil’s Own,” which dealt with Satanism and would have featured Doctor Strange. The Miller/Simonson collaboration was to be a dark psychological horror story, a supernatural adventure that mixed sex and terror in a grisly and dark way. However, Simonson never took pencil to paper to illustrate either issue. The Miller/ Simonson Daredevil was originally put on hold for several months, but as often happens in comics, a sto-

ry put on hold is never completed (Mithra). Simonson moved on to a different Marvel project while Miller left Marvel altogether to wrap up work on a different blockbuster series.

One of the reasons that Miller and Simonson didn’t complete their issues was because of pressure from new Daredevil writer Steve Englehart, who wanted his first issue on the run to come out at the beginning of the summer, traditionally the best sales period of the year (Mithra). Ironically, the only issue of Daredevil that Englehart scripted was issue #237, an issue that doesn’t even credit him as the writer. He was slated to take over the title full-time, and issue #237 was hyped in Marvel Age #44 as beginning the work of “an exciting new creative team.” Marvel Age Annual #2, published in June 1986, featured a blurb about Englehart’s surprising new direction for Daredevil. He planned to have Murdock move to San Francisco as a way to get himself away from all the temptations that would have dragged him back to his old dissolute life. Daredevil and the Black Widow would then have joined the West Coast Avengers (whose title was scripted by Englehart), and the writer would have created a romantic triangle between Murdock, the Black Widow and Karen Page.

Amazing Heroes Preview Special #3, also published in the summer of 1986, presented a long preview of Englehart’s plans for Daredevil, but it was one that conflicted with the plans printed in Marvel Age Annual #2. According to the Amazing Heroes Preview Special, Daredevil would have teamed with the Black Widow as a pair of international crime fighters, traveling around the world from their base in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen to fight drug wars at the places where the drugs come from. Englehart was excited to take the newly cleanedup Daredevil and use the character’s openness to help move him closer to his high adventure roots.

Regardless of whatever his true plans were, Englehart only ended up writing one issue of Daredevil. As Englehart explains it, sometime after he began plotting his run on the book, editor Ann Nocenti decided she wanted to write Daredevil herself (Englehart).

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Frank Miller returned to Daredevil in 1986 for a soon-to-be celebrated story arc titled “Born Again.”

Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

With that decision, Englehart was out and Nocenti was in. Englehart did write Daredevil #237 but refused to have his name credited: “since all the plotlines I set up went to waste, I put my ‘John Harkness’ pseudonym on it” (Englehart). Ann Nocenti remained the writer on Daredevil for almost five years, keeping Daredevil in the Hell’s Kitchen setting that Miller established, and having Daredevil fight street-level crime.

After some initial grumblings and protests, Epic line editor Archie Goodwin acceded to Shooter’s request, which meant not only that Miller and Sienkiewicz would now receive enhanced royalties for their Elektra work, they had the green light to create a book that was entirely unlike anything on the stands at the time (Shooter, “EPIC Interference”).

Elektra’s Crazy World Miller’s other comic for Marvel in 1986 was the bizarre eight-issue Epic Comics series Elektra: Assassin, created in collaboration with artist Bill Sienkiewicz.

The first issue of the mini-series arrived in Direct Market stores in July 1986. Sienkiewicz brought his usual intensely surreal style to bear on the series, presenting a dreamlike tale in which Elektra and her paramour, sleazy S.H.I.E.L.D. agent John Garrett, fight to keep an evil monster from taking office as the next President of the United States. Miller and Sienkiewicz had brought their idea to Jim Shooter and asked their editor-in-chief to give them the chance to create a much edgier version of Elektra than could be shown in standard comics. Despite the fact that Elektra wasn’t a creatorowned character, Shooter proposed that the series be published under the Epic Comics banner. His reasoning was based on the fact that Epic’s sales were flat and needed to improve in order to stave off Jim Galton’s proposed cancellation of the imprint.

As an adventure story in which Elektra fights to save her identity, Elektra: Assassin presents helicopter chases and high tension battles along with large slivers of humor, romance, espionage thrills, and political commentary. Miller took advantage of Sienkiewicz’s well-known impressionistic style to present a narrative through Elektra’s subjective and emotionally shattered eyes. The book had a complex visual palette that was unique in comics of that time. Sienkiewicz notably painted the comic—one of the first painted series ever released from Marvel—which required some sophisticated technical work from Marvel’s production department.

Because of its strangeness, Elektra: Assassin treaded the thin line between surrealism and comprehensibility. The story is told in a linear way, but that linear story is told in an unconventional manner. For example, in issue #3, Garrett is stitched up after an operation with a sewing machine. And issue #1 depicts Elektra’s mother’s belly and the sight of Elektra in utero. Miller often complements the unorthodox artwork with surreal writing, making for a bizarre comics experience.

As a series, Elektra: Assassin sold over two million copies (Shooter, “EPIC Interference”). It finished fifth in the 160

The Elektra: Assassin mini-series featured painted artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Elektra TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

1986 Comics Buyers Guide fan awards for Favorite Limited Comic Book Series, but it would also prove to be the final material that Miller would produce for Marvel until 1993. Elektra’s success took Epic Comics off of the executive chopping block and finally gave that line a runaway best-seller.

Even as it was enjoying Elektra’s accomplishments, Epic lost one of its most popular titles. In a then-unprecedented move, Jim Starlin moved his science fiction adventure series Dreadstar from Epic to First Comics.

The numbering of the series continued with #27 (cover date November

1986). This was the first comic book of any type that was moved away from Marvel’s auspices.

At the time Starlin said, “I can’t work with Marvel anymore. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting paid anywhere near on time.

Sometimes I’ve had to wait as long as three or four months on checks.

I’m of the opinion at this point, though people up at Marvel deny it, that Marvel is less than enthusiastic about continuing creator-owned characters and wouldn’t be sad to see them all go” (Smay 30).

At the same time as Marvel lost one science fiction adventure comic book in Dreadstar, it gained another in the form of Strikeforce: Morituri. Writer Peter Gillis landed his pet series at Marvel after shopping it around to several different companies.

Gillis had been writing Doctor Strange at Marvel under the auspices of editor Carl Potts, who would become Strikeforce’s editor as well. Potts suggested that Brent Anderson be assigned as the artist on the series that told the tale of an alien invasion of Earth that was defended by an ever-changing group of superhuman fighters whose powers would kill them.

Strikeforce: Morituri was actually slated to be the first series in the New Universe line before Shooter changed the direction of the New Universe slightly. Originally, the New Universe was to have a more expansive feel, before Shooter changed it to reflect his concept of “the world outside your window.” The title was moved from the New Universe to “Marvel central,” though the stories in this series did not have specific call-outs to the Marvel Universe (Potts).

Mutants Resurrected and Massacred For years, various creators pitched a new Marvel comic book that would reunite the original X-Men, but Jim

wasn’t available because she had killed herself in order to save the universe from the all powerful threat of the Phoenix in the now famous Uncanny X-Men #137 (Sept. 1980).

In Jean Grey’s stead, Layton chose the lightmanipulating mutant Dazzler to round out XFactor’s roster (Layton). In Dazzler #42 (March 1986), the series’ final issue, Beast even recommends Dazzler join X-Factor.

Uncanny X-Men #210 presented the first chapter of the “Mutant Massacre” story arc.

X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Shooter was ever fearful of diluting the popularity of the X-Men brand.

The best Shooter allowed was letting three of the original X-Men (Beast, Angel and Iceman) form the core of the “new” Defenders in 1983. Two years later though, the presence of those three former X-Men did nothing to improve sales of Defenders, so Shooter approved an original X-Men pitch from Bob Layton.

Defenders was subsequently cancelled, which meant Beast, Angel, and Iceman were now available— along with deposed X-Men leader, Cyclops—to form a new super-hero team called X-Factor. Reluctant to limit X-Factor’s roster to four men, Layton felt the group needed a female super-hero. As all devoted Marvel readers knew, the fifth original X-Man, Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl, 161

She never would, however. That’s because someone figured out how to resurrect Jean Grey and actually figured it out several years earlier. Back in 1980, when the death of Phoenix was being leaked to the comic book fan base, Carol Kalish, Richard Howell and Kurt Busiek— all of whom would shortly become comic book professionals—collectively conceived Jean Grey’s resurrection, one that honored Jim Shooter’s stipulation that the character couldn’t come back if she remained linked to the genocidal crimes committed by Dark Phoenix.

Amongst themselves, Kalish, Howell and Busiek postulated that the Phoenix force had not truly possessed Jean Grey back in X-Men #101 (Oct. 1976). Instead, the Phoenix had created a duplicate of Jean Grey’s body, one that it could occupy. The “real” Jean Grey was at the bottom of New York’s Jamaica Bay where she recuperated from her near fatal injuries in a state of suspended animation. The idea remained a figment of the three comic book fans’ imagination until 1983, when Busiek—now a professional comic book writer—casually mentioned it to Roger Stern at a comic convention. Stern subsequently relayed it to John Byrne. Two years later, upon learning the original X-Men would be reunited for X-Factor, Byrne approached Layton and recommended the idea that had been forwarded to him as a means to resurrect the final original X-Man (Cronin 29).

to release its content: a young red-haired woman who they eventually recognize as Marvel Girl. Jean Grey is subsequently reunited with her original teammates in X-Factor #1 (Feb. 1986).

With the help of Angel’s seemingly limitless funds, the original X-Men hatch a plan to use the public’s growing anti-mutant hysteria against itself: they will pose as a private investigation agency that can be called upon, Ghostbustersstyle, to apprehend suspected mutants. In actuality, they are taking mutants out of harm’s way, back to X-Factor’s headquarters where the mutants can be taught how to control their powers and better assimilate themselves within a society that hates and fears them.

Mutants are saved from the mutanthaters, and the mutant-haters themselves get the satisfaction of having their lives rid of mutants, so everyone’s happy.

Above: Image originally printed in Marvel Age #33 that teased readers about the identity of the fifth member of X-Factor.

X-Factor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Layton eagerly appropriated the idea, and Shooter had no problem with it since it effectively divorced Jean Grey from the Dark Phoenix’s sins. One person who did have a problem with it, though, was Chris Claremont. Irate at the news of Jean Grey’s impending return, Claremont felt it cheapened the character’s original demise, as if a fast one was being pulled on the readers: “What was the point of the death of Phoenix?... what do you say to all the readers who were moved by that?” (Irving). Claremont also saw the character’s return as simply restoring old story directions (most specifically between Jean and her former lover, Cyclops) that have already been played out. Claremont presented Shooter with an alternative: instead of resurrecting Jean Grey, her previously introduced sister, Sara, could manifest mutant powers and as such, join the team. With Sara part of XFactor, a new romantic interest could be created for one (or more) of the male characters, and Cyclops would have to deal with Sara constantly reminding him of his dead lover. Shooter admired Claremont’s proposal but ultimately decided the return of Jean Grey was a more compelling hook for readers to buy the series.

Marvel gave X-Factor a huge marketing push that included a feature in Marvel Age #33 (Dec. 1985) that teased the identity of the fifth member. Readers were encouraged to mail their guesses on who the fifth member could be to Marvel’s offices. The following month in Avengers #263 (Jan. 1986), Earth’s Mightiest Heroes discover an energy-emitting cocoon on Jamaica Bay’s floor. They bring it back to Avengers Mansion. The story continues in Fantastic Four #286 (also Jan. 1986) where Mr. Fantastic examines the cocoon and manages 162

Well, everyone, that is, except Jim Shooter. When the first issue was finished and presented to Shooter for his approval, he judged it unacceptable. It was so unacceptable to him that he stipulated it be completely rewritten and re-drawn. The dilemma was that the issue was double-sized (42 story pages) and was due at the printer in a few weeks. Unless Shooter was willing to reconsider, Layton and artist Jackson “Butch” Guice were destined for marathon pencil and ink sessions just to meet the printer deadline. Shooter didn’t reconsider, so in mid-September 1985, the two men—joined by inker Josef Rubenstein—holed up in a Manhattan hotel and worked around the clock. As they hunkered down, Hurricane Gloria came barreling up the east coast of the United States. Dubbed “The Storm of the Century” by then National Hurricane Center Director Neil Frank, Gloria was forecast by many meteorologists to head right into New York Harbor. That prediction caused many Manhattan residents to evacuate the city. But the X-Factor creators didn’t join them. Concerned more about their impending deadline

disaster than the natural one headed their way, they remained hunched over their drawing tables in their hotel room. Upon learning this, the hotel concierge came to their room and handed Guice a roll of masking tape so that the windows in the room could be taped up in preparation for the coming storm. After wishing the gentlemen good luck, the concierge then evacuated the city too (Cronin 204).

Fortunately for the comic book creators, Gloria didn’t land in Manhattan. Instead, it landed east of New York City on Long Island.

Guice describes the day after Gloria passed through, “the next day [dawned] bright and clear like a scene from the movie, The Omega Man. For several hours we could ill afford to lose, Bob [Layton] and I wandered the deserted streets of downtown New York looking for any open deli or restaurant in order to eat.

It was a very unique experience” (Cronin 204). After Layton, Guice, and Rubenstein finished penciling and inking the issue, their pages got rushed to Marvel’s bullpen for coloring. With only hours to spare, the completely rewritten, re-drawn, re-colored, and re-lettered version of X-Factor #1 was sent to the printer.

It was a good thing for Marvel, too, as the issue became the month’s best-selling Marvel title at the Direct Market.

Some critics, however, argued that it would have been better if X-Factor hadn’t been printed at all. Comic Buyer’s Guide’s editor Don Thompson’s reaction typified those who had a problem with XFactor’s premise. His complaint was that the team’s method of operation overtly encourages the very bigotry it claims to be combating. As such, the comic book sends the wrong message about how to confront prejudice and intolerance.

To illustrate, Thompson rhetorically asked, What’s next? A comic book in which B’nai B’rith takes out

ads offering to clear Jews out of the neighborhood, then rounds them up and teaches them to pass for Christians?

Or one with the NAACP offering to purify neighborhoods terrorized by the presence of blacks, then rounding them up and teaching them how to pass for white? There is no difference that I can see between those two obvious evil premises and the one on which this comic book is based. (Don Thompson 41)

The original X-Men reunite as X-Factor.

X-Factor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Six months after Thompson’s review was published, similarly outraged CBG columnist Robert M. Ingersoll labeled X-Factor “offensive” and then detailed how the characters committed a variety of felonies (including abduction, extortion, and fraud) all in the name of “saving” mutants. Inger163

soll concludes his commentary with “I’ve been told by a reliable source that X-Factor is about to undergo some radical changes, which may undo many of my complaints about it. Such changes could not possibly come too soon” (Ingersoll 46).

Indeed, a note printed at the end of issue #5 succinctly announces “creator/writer Bob Layton takes leave of X-Factor.” No explanation for his departure was given. (Butch Guice’s tenure on X-Factor didn’t last much longer, ending after issue #7.) Layton’s final issue presents a new group of X-Factor adversaries: the Alliance of Evil, and the final page of X-Factor #5 introduces that group’s leader, someone destined to become one of the greatest villains in XMen history: Apocalypse. But even though Bob Layton is credited as the issue’s writer, he had no part in the creation of Apocalypse. In fact, in his original script the mastermind revealed at the end of the issue was long time Daredevil villain, The Owl. Layton planned on augmenting the Owl into a more formidable foe but left the series before he could do so. Layton’s successor, Louise Simonson, replaced the Owl with her own creation, Apocalypse, and to compensate for the switch, X-Factor editor Bob Harras ordered revisions to the final page of X-Factor #5 (Callahan).

Simonson would remain at the X-Factor’s helm for the next five years. Like New Mutants, X-Factor became yet another best-selling X-Men spin-off series, and it was joined later in the year by Classic X-Men. Each issue of Classic X-Men had three components: a reprint of an early story of the New X-Men, a bonus continuity implant story in the back of the issue, and several pages of new story and art stuck in the middle of the reprint as a means of supplementing the lead story.

Much like George Lucas would later do with the Star Wars films, the lead reprint in Classic X-Men contains two

pages of continuity added to the original story. These short segments add bits of characterization or context to scenes that Claremont wanted to flesh out in the original comics. The back-up stories, by the team of Chris Claremont and his former Black Dragon collaborator, British artist John Bolton, explore important moments in the lives of the X-Men. For instance, issue #2 shows the growing friendship between Jean Grey and Ororo. Classic X-Men #3 presents Thunderbird’s funeral, and issue #8 revises the origin of Phoenix in light of her later transformation to the planet-killing Dark Phoenix.

To no one’s surprise, Marvel’s bestselling comic continued to be Uncanny X-Men, with average monthly sales of 417,000 copies. July 1986 began the “Mutant Massacre” storyline that crossed over several titles, specifically Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Thor, and Power Pack.

In this storyline, a nasty new group of villains, the Marauders, are assigned by an unknown benefactor to exterminate the Morlocks, the sewer-dwelling mutant outcasts. The X-Men and X-Factor are able to stop the Marauders, but only after hun-

dreds of Morlocks are wiped out by the evil-doers—one of the most horrific events ever to happen in mutant history. The X-Men eventually defeat the Marauders with a little help from friends like Thor, Power Pack and the New Mutants, and after a pitched battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth that helped establish Sabretooth as a popular super-villain.

The X-Men and X-Factor teams didn’t emerge from the battles unscathed, either. X-Factor’s Angel was crucified by two Marauders, eventually forcing him to have his wings amputated.

Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat of the X-Men, became stuck in her intangible form, while Colossus was briefly rendered quadriplegic by events of the battle, and Nightcrawler was beaten into a coma. All of this trauma resulted in major changes to the X-Men team.

Havok, Dazzler, Longshot, and Psylocke joined the X-Men to replace their fallen comrades. What’s more, in the battle Sabretooth destroyed Cerebro, Professor Xavier’s brilliant invention to help find mutants from all around the world.

This was the first epic mutant crossover event, and it was a big hit with

The “Mutant Massacre” story arc established Wolverine and Sabretooth as mortal enemies.

Wolverine and Sabretooth TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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readers. Claremont’s popularity as a writer continued to climb, and the X-Men stayed on the top of Marvel’s sales charts throughout 1986, in large part because this storyline really raised the stakes for the mutants.

Nothing sells like death.

A Punishing Schedule And death certainly epitomizes Marvel Comics’ resident vigilante, The Punisher. The character’s eponymous 1986 mini-series became a major hit, even though there was initial reader—and Marvel production department—confusion as to whether the comic book was intended to last four issues or five. That’s because the banner on the cover of Punisher #1 reads, “#1 in a four-issue limited series.”

The cover to Punisher #2, though, is labeled “#2 in a five-issue limited series.” The covers to Punisher #3 and #4 then reassert the limited series as four issues, but that didn’t stop Marvel from publishing Punisher #5, the final issue of the limited series. In Marvel Age #43’s letter page, an unnamed editor responds to a reader’s complaint about the numerical mixup with sarcasm: “okay, we’ve gotten hundreds of letters about that little screw-up, so here’s the official word.

The Punisher was a three-issue Limited Series. Anyone who has copies of the fourth or fifth issue is requested to destroy them, as they do not actually exist. Thank you.” The incorrect banner was simply a mistake by Marvel’s production team; Punisher was always meant to be a five-issue series, but since nearly all Marvel limited series at that time lasted four issues, Marvel’s production department merely assumed Punisher was intended to be four issues as well (Cronin 196).

Confusing Punisher matters didn’t end with the series’ labeling, however. The creative team also abruptly changed between issues #4 and #5.

The first four issues were created by writer Steven Grant and artist Mike Zeck, but issue #5 was written by Mary Jo Duffy and illustrated by Mike Vosburg. The reason for the abrupt switch in staff was the dreaded deadline doom. The Punisher mini-series was originally planned to be scheduled when two issues of work was already done on the title, but Marvel’s

marketing department, sensing a hit, moved the mini-series up in the schedule in order to fill the product pipeline for the summer. This meant that the book was already behind schedule even before Grant and Zeck really got going on the series. Zeck was only halfway through the first issue when the schedule for the book was decided upon, meaning he was immediately late with his work.

Zeck didn’t have the time to produce the quality of art that he wanted to produce in the shortened time frame.

He was torn between meeting his deadlines and producing professional quality work on the book. This schedule compression was especially disappointing for Zeck because Punisher represented his first interior work since Secret Wars. Zeck was tremendously disappointed with how his work turned out in that 1984 series, so Punisher gave Zeck the opportunity to reclaim his style. Unfortunately, that redemption was fleeting due to the extremely tight schedule for the series (Witterstaetter 27-9).

When Zeck got a call that he was being removed from The Punisher because of his lateness, Grant opted to stand by his friend and leave the comic as well. Marvel wasn’t ready to drop The Punisher from its schedule since it had already been solicited, so the company commissioned an unprecedented fill-in for the last issue of this mini-series. At the time, Potts referred to the comic as “the latest book I’ve ever dealt with in my life” (Heintjes 26).

The Punisher was a hard-boiled action thriller featuring a prison escape, a gang war, a nasty bit of brainwashing, and an ending that does nicely sum up the series (even if it’s not by the same creative team that produced the first four issues). The massive popularity of this mini-series would pave the way for an ongoing Punisher comic in 1987.

Wars’ End The most notable Marvel series to end in 1986 was Star Wars, which completed its run with issue #107 in April.

Appropriately titled “All Together Now” (though perhaps issue #105’s title “The Party’s Over” was more appropriate), the comic that saved Marvel in 1977 reached a peaceful end nine

Two years after working on Secret Wars, Mike Zeck reclaims his art style with The Punisher.

The Punisher TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

years later. It had been three years at that time since Return of the Jedi hit movie theaters, and though Star Wars still outsold many of Marvel’s secondline series like Captain America, Lucasfilm’s restrictive approach to the movie’s characters made working on the title quite cumbersome for Marvel.

As writer Mary Jo Duffy put it, “Star Wars was still selling over 100,000 copies per month, better than most 165

of the mid-range super-hero books, up until the end. The restrictions from Lucasfilm are what effectively cancelled the book. It got to the point where they said I couldn’t do this and that with the characters I created. I was at my wit’s end. We got the feeling that whoever was in charge of approving all this at Lucasfilm didn’t want there to be a comic book at all anymore” (Greenberg 14).

Lucasfilm claimed at the time that

and should not be used; 4) In the reformatted DC Universe, previous stories, incidents, and characters never happened unless a writer brings back those elements (Heintjes 14).

To help readers understand the entire history of the rebooted DCU from the dawn of time to the far future, DC published the two-issue Prestige Format mini-series The History of the DC Universe, written by Marv Wolfman with art by George Pérez. The two issues firmly established DC’s history in 96 pages that worked as a kind of Crisis epilogue.

The final issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths heralded major changes for DC’s fictional universe.

TM and © DC Comics.

the Star Wars comic was not actually cancelled but was just on hold until the next film was released. However, continuing tension between Marvel and Lucasfilm over the series, including the comic introducing creatures called the Lahsbees who were similar to Ewoks, resulted in Marvel pulling the plug on their Star Wars (Petach 19). Marvel’s Star Comics line did continue its run of The Droids through 1987, though.

After the Crisis, a Rebirth As 1986 began, DC Comics had a completely rebooted fictional universe, thanks to Crisis on Infinite Earths which concluded with issue #12 (cover date March 1986). In its wake, DC’s multiverse was now combined into one universe. Some titles were essentially unchanged by the events of the maxi-series, while others, such as Infinity Inc. and All-Star Squadron, which took place on Earth-2, were deeply affected.

Executive Editor Dick Giordano sent out a list of strict post-Crisis rules for DC’s writers to follow. They included: 1) Only DC’s heroes remember that the Crisis occurred; 2) DC’s parallel universe is retroactive to the beginning of time. No alternate universes have ever existed; 3) The Golden Age versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman never existed

While the completely new timeline was a radical change to the longstanding DC Universe, it was less radical than the idea that Marv Wolfman pushed to implement: having the DC Universe fade to black at the end of Crisis #12 and starting a brand new DCU from scratch. Instead, DC chose a piecemeal approach to the post-Crisis universe, doing a full restart on characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman while only making small or incremental changes in titles such as The Fury of Firestorm and Vigilante.

Even with a slate that was only mostly wiped clean, DC’s postCrisis world seemed ripe for fresh ideas and opportunities. Proposals for new characters and new titles were continually being bandied about DC Comics’ hallways and meeting rooms. While many of these proposals never saw the printed page, some of them got presented to the fan press as impending publications. Case in point: a brand new Flash comic To help readers understand its revamped continuity, DC released the two-issue History of the DC Universe.

TM and © DC Comics.

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book. According to a short article in Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2, DC was going to publish the exploits of a new Flash, one who would have no relation to the previous Flash (who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8) or any members of the Scarlet Speedster’s extended family. Instead, the new Flash was MacKenzie Ryan, a single dad who worked in Metropolis as a S.T.A.R. Labs technician. Ryan would gain the power to manipulate various forms of energy, such as light and sound, to defeat his foes. The announced creative team attached to this new Flash comic book was writers Marv Wolfman and Len Wein,

editor Mike Gold, and “most likely” artist Chuck Patton (Waid 52). Despite the announcement, Ryan never appeared as the Flash. Instead, a more familiar speedster became the new “Fastest Man Alive,” the same character readers saw assume the role of The Flash at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earth #12: Wally West.

Another proposed project that was never published was a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths titled Crisis of the Soul, a 12-issue series to be plotted by Paul Levitz, scripted by Len Wein, penciled by Jerry Ordway, inked by Karl Kesel, and edited by Robert Greenberger. An intimate story with galactic implications, Crisis of the Soul would have introduced the Corruptor, a seductively handsome young man—almost an angel in human form—who also happens to be a living catalyst for evil who has come down to Earth to feed on ruined souls. The Corruptor’s actions would unleash a deadly cosmic cat-and-mouse game that would have corrupted society by turning man against man, eventually destroying society. Some of DC’s major heroes would have been among those being corrupted. The Corruptor would then fall in with the Manipulator, a capitalist looking to exploit the chaos for his own gain. The Manipulator’s actions would have amped up the horror that the Corruptor unleashed.

The story was to begin slow and grow into a major cosmic event. The series would have started with several comparatively quiet issues that dealt with individual heroes slowly becoming more corrupted before it morphed into a massive cosmic adventure featuring time-traveling members of the Legion of Super-Heroes and the incredible event of the cosmic Controllers quarantining Earth from the rest of the cosmos as a way to contain the Corruputor’s evil (Eury 47-48).

Several significant events would have happened in Crisis of the Soul: • Catwoman would have returned to a life of crime; • Star City would have been destroyed; • Uncle Sam would have formed a new team of Freedom Fighters with members of the Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, Outsiders, Jus-

tice League, and Infinity Inc., to be spun off in a new Freedom Fighters title; • The Creeper would have tasted blood and become evil, leading to a Creeper mini-series; • And the original, classic Justice League would have returned to print (Eury 50).

After several months of preparation for the series, DC’s editorial team pulled the plug on it before any pages were produced. Though proposed artist Jerry Ordway cleared his schedule to work on Crisis of the Soul and produced many pages of sketches for the series, none of his work ever appeared in print. Instead, story elements were reused for a different DC Comics event.

plotted by John Ostrander, scripted by Len Wein, penciled by John Byrne, and inked by Karl Kesel—explored the relationship of heroes to the society in which they live as the evil Darkseid decides to relieve Earth of all its heroic legends so that people will worship him rather than their heroes. Despite spinning off into other DC titles, Legends couldn’t capture fans’ imaginations in the same way that the Crisis did.

Heroic Legends That event was released in August. Its title was Legends. And after so many successes earlier in the year, and after the aborted Crisis of the Soul, Legends had to be considered a relative disappointment for DC. The book was born out of thinking inside DC about how best to followup the very popular Crisis on Infinite Earths. Dick Giordano approached editor Mike Gold, who had recently arrived at DC after several years as President at First Comics, and asked Gold if he wanted to create a “Crisis 2.”

The new mini-series didn’t need to be a direct sequel to Crisis but did need to provide a contrast to the mega-hit of 1985 and explore the DC Universe from a different angle. Gold hit upon the idea of using the event to open up the DCU, in contrast to how Crisis shrank the multiverse (Eury 49).

In that vein, Legends showcased a varied cast of established DC icons (e.g. Superman, Batman) and other second-tier characters that DC wanted to feature before launching their own titles (e.g. Captain Marvel, The Flash, Dr. Fate, and Suicide Squad).

One prominent character of the story actually had already received his own title before Legends began: the former Charlton Comics action hero The Blue Beetle whose eponymous title—written by Len Wein and illustrated by Paris Cullins—debuted in March.

The six-issue Legends mini-series— 167

Above: DC’s first post-Crisis cross-over event was the Legends mini-series. Below: 1986 house ad promoting DC’s new Blue Beetle series.

TM and © DC Comics.

Superman Becomes Super Popular

to restart the Superman titles.

The most important change coming out of Crisis was the complete reboot of the Superman mythos. Action Comics and Superman had been edited by the great Julius Schwartz since the early 1970s. Once the best-selling comic books in America, the Superman titles had fallen into hard times by ’86. Schwartz’s Superman line presented done-in-one stories that were dramatically out of touch with most 1980s comic books. In addition, the look and tone of the Superman titles were remarkably different from those found in the most popular comic books of the day. Well before Crisis on Infinite Earths had completed, DC recruited John Byrne

It’s difficult to overstate the seismic shock of Byrne taking over the Superman series in 1986. The Superman line was generally seen by most fans as being nearly unreadable and sold extremely poorly both in the Direct Market and on newsstands.

In fact, Superman sold slightly more than half of the number of copies per month in 1986 than it sold in 1980.

Byrne, on the other hand, was one of the most popular comic book creators in the U.S., and had long dreamed of working on his all-time favorite character. He had strong ideas about how he could restore Superman’s lost popularity.

And even before his deteriorating relationship with Jim Shooter provoked him to leave Marvel altogether, Byrne got the opportunity to implement those ideas, thanks to the initiative of Marv Wo l f m a n .

Because

John Byrne’s sketches of Superman and Clark Kent that originally appeared in Modern Masters: John Byrne.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

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of the character’s poor sales, DC had been vaguely shopping around for a new version of Superman for several years. Creators like Steve Gerber, Frank Miller, and Wolfman had submitted proposals for the character that DC ultimately declined. DC finally found their ideal Superman creator because of a fateful phone call.

In 1985, when Byrne’s exclusive contract with Marvel had expired, Wolfman called Byrne to ask the artist to collaborate with him on an issue of New Teen Titans, which would be published in 1986 as New Teen Titans Annual #2 (Sanderson 23-24).

As the phone conversation proceeded, Wolfman mentioned that DC planned to revamp Superman in the wake of Crisis, and he encouraged Byrne to throw his hat into the ring.

Upon hearing this, Byrne broke into a cold sweat at the prospect of not only taking over Superman but reshaping him for a new generation. Soon after, Byrne moved to Connecticut, and two of his guests at his housewarming party on July 20, 1985 were Wolfman and Dick Giordano. At that party, Byrne laid out his broad plans for Superman if given the opportunity. It was on that fateful day that Giordano and Byrne really started to connect on the character. Several weeks later, Giordano and DC editor Andy Helfer visited Byrne at his home to discuss the character further. All parties decided they were nearly simpatico on the character (Sanderson 25). So the deal went forward for Byrne to write and draw an introductory Man of Steel mini-series that would redefine Superman for post-Crisis continuity.

Once that mini-series ended, Byrne would be at the helm of a relaunched Superman series. Alan Moore was initially assigned to write Action Comics—which would continue its numbering as a Superman team-up series that would replace the recently cancelled DC Comics Presents—but Moore ultimately declined because he was overcommitted, so Byrne became the writer/penciller of that book too (Sanderson 28). Meanwhile, Wolfman would be teamed with Jerry Ordway on Adventures of Superman, which continued the numbering of the original Superman comic.

As Byrne took over Superman and the post-Crisis era dawned on the Superman line, Julius Schwartz opted

of Silver Age Superman comics, from Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch to Krypto the Superdog to appearances by the Bizarros, the Luthor/Brainiac team, and the Legion of SuperHeroes.

The book was tremendously critically acclaimed, and there was wide agreement that “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” was the perfect goodbye to the Silver Age Superman. The book’s opening statement, “This is an imaginary story.

Aren’t they all?” has become one of the most quoted lines Moore ever wrote.

Steeling Superman DC went into overdrive to promote John Byrne’s Superman reboot.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

to retire as a DC editor at the age of 71. Schwartz had been with DC for 42 years and was one of the industry’s most respected and beloved editors, having been instrumental in the creation of the entire Silver Age of Comics at DC. Schwartz didn’t stop promoting the Superman titles, however: he accepted a lucrative offer to become a kind of goodwill ambassador for DC, traveling to conventions and lectures around the world promoting DC’s characters and comic line until shortly before his death in 2004.

Julius Schwartz’s long and august run on the Superman line was given a special send-off in the two-part story “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Curt Swan, George Pérez and Kurt Schaffenberger, and published in Action Comics #583 and Superman #423 (Sept. 1986), the two-part story became the final Superman comic books of the Schwartz era. The issues were an affectionate goodbye to the classic Silver Age Superman and were hyped as “The Last Superman Story.”

In this story, Superman confronts Mr. Mxyzptlk and other enemies at the Fortress of Solitude. But the real focus of the book wasn’t its fights. Moore took pains to embrace all the tropes

Following the conclusion of the Schwartz era, Action Comics and Superman both went on a three-month hiatus to make way for John Byrne’s Man of Steel. That six-issue bi-weekly miniseries told the origin of Superman through Byrne’s personal filter.

This was a new Superman, stripped away from all so many of the tropes that were felt to make the character burdened by a complex backstory. In other words, it was a real post-Crisis take on the classic super-hero.

In Man of Steel, Byrne worked hard to make many aspects of Superman’s life different from what readers had been used to. His vision of Krypton was stark and austere, a desert planet with emotions as parched as its landscape. In Byrne’s reboot, Kal-El was the only Kryptonian to survive the explosion of his planet, setting aside the old Silver Age tradition of Superman continually finding survivors of his planet’s destruction.

Once on Earth, Clark Kent’s life takes subtly different directions than what was presented in previous years.

For instance, in a very controversial 169

move, the new continuity has Ma and Pa Kent surviving into Clark’s adulthood. Additionally, Lois Lane is portrayed as a super-confident reporter who is not at all concerned about Superman’s secret identity or about Clark’s double life. Superman also meets Batman for the first time in Man of Steel, with the relationship between the two heroes portrayed as

rather tentative and halting. This was a dramatic contrast to the deep and abiding friendship that the “world’s finest pals” had prior to Crisis. The idea of Clark Kent as Superboy was also removed from the DC mythos, which had a dramatic effect on the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team that was formed specifically because its members had been inspired by Superboy’s exploits. (LSH writer Paul Levitz would address Superboy’s absence from the title in 1987.) And perhaps in the most long-lasting and influential revision, Lex Luthor was changed from a mad genius to a power-hungry billionaire who devoted much of the resources of his corporation, Lexcorp, to destroying Superman.

sive media hype over the “new Superman,” flocked to their local shops and bought copies of Man of Steel #1 in unprecedented numbers.

That speculator market was additionally spurred by the presence of the mainstream comic industry’s first variant cover on Man of Steel #1. To celebrate the excitement of the reboot—and perhaps to boost speculator sales—Byrne provided two covers for Man of Steel #1. One cover followed the same style guide as the rest of the series, juxtaposing an image of Clark Kent opening his shirt to reveal his Below: covers to all six issues of Man of Steel, John Byrne’s bi-weekly mini-series that redefined Superman for a new generation.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

The reboot of Superman attracted massive media attention from outside the comics industry. The NBC Nightly News discussed Byrne’s changes in a three-minute story on its November 4, 1985 edition. Byrne was featured on camera discussing how the character had accumulated a bit of rust and how his changes would make the character much more contemporary. The AP wire services picked up on the story, and the story of Superman’s relaunch was published in newspapers across the country. Clearly, the hype machine was in full swing for this title.

Superman uniform against an image of an exploding Krypton. The other cover was a close-up of Clark opening his shirt to reveal the familiar Superman chest emblem. The latter cover immediately became iconic, capturing readers’ imaginations and inspiring a slew of parodies. The cover commenced an industry-wide practice of creating variant covers, which would become pervasive by the end of the decade.

Under the strong guiding influence of John Byrne, Superman would fulfill its mission perfectly: the series that had been among DC’s lowestselling titles immediately reversed its fortunes. Man of Steel #1 became the bestselling comic book of 1986, selling over a million copies, and fanzines of the era were buzzing about John Byrne’s changes to Superman. It had been a long time since a DC title sold twice as many copies as the most popular Marvel title.

The Knight Rises Earlier in 1986, DC published an even more influential comic book than Man of Steel: Batman: the Dark Knight

by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley. A square-bound four-issue mini-series presented on slick paper, Dark Knight set the gold standard for comics in terms of both popularity and professional quality. The series would deeply influence the industry for years to come,

And that hype paid off. Man of Steel was a massive sales success, and the follow-up solo Superman series was nearly as popular. New and lapsed comic fans, prompted by the mas-

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$2.95—four times as costly as a standard comic—it sold in phenomenal numbers. In part boosted by feature articles in publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin, the AP newswire, and major newspapers, the series was a runaway blockbuster hit, selling out at comic book shops nationwide and quickly receiving second and third printings of its first and second issues. Retailers ordered relatively low on the first issue of DK because of both its high cover price and the memory of the sales failure of Miller’s 1983-84 Ronin mini-series.

However, lapsed and current readers flocked to the stores in order to pick up copies of DK, telling their friends to buy copies only to find out that their local shops had sold out of their copies… if they even received the book.

Some stores immediately boosted up the price of the brand new comic to as much as $30 and still had problems keeping copies of Dark Knight in stock (Groth 13). The extended waits for issues #3 and #4—issue #3 shipped three weeks later than planned—only added to the buzz around the title.

for better or for worse, becoming one of the most significant comic books ever published.

DK begins with a long-retired Bruce Wayne who hung up his cape and cowl years before in favor of a less dangerous life. But Bruce’s complacency is about to come to an end. He realizes Gotham City has become a massive cesspool of crime and violence and is compelled to allow his alter ego emerge from the Batcave yet again. The series has an intense, operatic feel as Miller and Janson mix super-hero action, a frighteningly effete version of the Joker, some thoughtful satirical commentary on the contemporary world, and a charming female version of Robin into a heady brew that immediately commanded the attention of the entire comic book industry.

Dark Knight reflected Miller’s anger and fear of crime, built up during his years living in New York City. Miller spoke frequently in interviews about the impotence of those living under the fear of crime, of the compromises and sacrifices that an ordinary person had to make on a daily basis to make peace with himself in order to be part of a society embattled by crime (Thompson 66). Miller saw Batman as a counterpoint to all the despair and evil that was represented by that debased society, so he depicted Batman as a man in relation to his fictional and satirical world of the future rather than in relation to a world of other super-heroes. In fact, when Superman appears in this miniseries, Miller uses the Man of Steel as a symbol of everything that is wrong with modern society, depicting the desperate fight between Batman and Superman as an epic struggle of individual good versus collective evil, of morality versus immorality. No matter Batman’s weaknesses, he is depicted as a hero of deep emotional

Frank Miller sketch of Batman and his new Robin: Carrie Kelly.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

strength, a man so wracked with anger about everything that was happening around him that he has no choice but to rise from his easy chair, re-enter the battles, and work tooth and nail to repair the broken society that he lives in. Unquestionably, The Dark Knight was a grand spectacle.

Despite the fact that each 48-page issue of The Dark Knight retailed for 171

The sellouts happened despite the fact that DC set the print run at 40% above initial orders—a giant overage at that time. The comic had actually even sold out before copies of it reached the West Coast from Eastern Canada-based Ronalds Printing (Groth 12). The book’s popularity caused headaches for some distributors and retailers because it was so hard to get copies.

This resulted in lost sales and money that was never earned by retailers, a problem that many blamed on DC’s inefficient distribution system (Groth 13). In other words, DC was too good at generating publicity for the book; the demand was so strong that it completely outstripped the supply of the series.

about the politics of Dark Knight.

Miller himself had his own take on the character’s fascist implications: “That’s one of the things I’m really having fun with in the series. I think that in order for the character to work, he has to be a force that in some ways is beyond good and evil. It can’t be judged by the terms we would use to describe something a man would do because we can’t think of him as a man. I do this series at a very good time for me, because it’s very clear to me that our society is committing suicide by lack of a force like that. A lack of being able to deal with the problems that are making everything we’ve got crumble into pieces. As far as being a fascist, my feeling is… only if he assumed public office. [laughter]” (Thompson 66) While many readers loved Batman: the Dark Knight and venerated Miller for the story, it did receive its share of criticism. Some reviewers were offended by the effeminate way that the Joker was portrayed, seeing in the character an obnoxious satire of homosexuality. But the criticism that stuck the most was that the story portrayed Batman as a fascist.

Village Voice reviewer C. Carr saw Batman of DK as “Rambo in a cape,” and he complained about the “cleverly disguised racism” of the second issue’s Mutants, concluding that the comic was “neoconservative propaganda” (Sacco 10). Cartoonist Art Spiegelman called the series “fascistic” (Sacco 9).

Similarly, Comics Journal editor Gary Groth found the series to be morally reprehensible and debated Miller on stage at the 1986 Dallas Fantasy Fair

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An unexpected fallout of The Dark Knight was that Miller and his longtime collaborator Klaus Janson came to a parting of the ways. Janson was frustrated by what he described as the static tone and pace of DK, feeling that he was underutilized because he didn’t have enough room on the art pages to do really interesting work.

The team had a serious argument over Janson’s work on the books, with both creators eventually agreeing that Janson’s inking on Batman: Hunt the Dark Knight (issue #3 of the

mini-series) was not up to his usual standards. In fact, Janson was almost removed from DK before getting the chance to ink Batman: the Dark Knight Falls (issue#4), though cooler heads prevailed and Janson was allowed to finish his work on the series (Elliott 31).

By the end of the year, DC reprinted the four issues as Batman: the Dark Knight Returns in several collections, including a $39.95 limited edition hardcover, and mass-market hardcover and softcover editions that were sold both inside and outside the Direct Market, one of the first collected graphic novels to be shelved in the popular mall chain bookstores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks.

Everyone Watches the Watchmen DC had a trifecta of illustrious publications in 1986. Besides Man of Steel and Dark Knight, there was also Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The series premiered in June after months of hype and compelling advertising, arriving at a time when Moore was approaching the zenith of his popularity and acclaim.

Anticipation for Moore and Gibbons’ reinterpretation of the Charlton Comics super-heroes was extremely high from its announcement to its release, and the creative team stunned the entire industry with what they produced.

The plot of Watchmen grew from an idea that Moore had been carrying around for years. His first thought wasn’t that his story would depict the super-heroes that DC acquired from Charlton Comics but instead the abandoned super-heroes that DC could possibly license from Archie Comics: The Mighty Crusaders.

Moore imagined his story beginning with the dead body of the Shield being pulled out of a river, triggering a plot about that hero’s murder (Cooke).

The idea was to take a second-rate set of super-heroes and do some radical things with them. Moore eventually refocused his story on the Charlton action heroes (e.g. Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, The Question, Nightshade, Peacemaker, and Peter Cannon— Thunderbolt), with Moore using the working title “Who Killed the Peacemaker” (Gaiman 80). DC, however, had plans to integrate the Charlton

Frank Miller sketches of Batman.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

heroes into the mainstream DC Universe (indeed, Blue Beetle’s own title was already in the works), so Dick Giordano persuaded Moore and Gibbons to create a new set of odd, tragically flawed, and thoroughly complex characters that tantalize with their similarity to many other heroes.

The result was an intense clockwork super-hero epic that perfectly reflected the late Cold War political tensions of the mid-1980s. In a manner that is captivatingly suspenseful, sophisticated, profane, vulgar, gory, erotic and bleak, Watchmen tells an intricate, multifaceted tale in many shades of gray that starts with a simple murder. In the opening pages of the first issue, a man named Edward Blake is flung out his apartment window by a mysterious foe. After the police investigate and find no clues, the vigilante 173

Rorschach looks into the crime scene.

He quickly discovers that Blake is his former teammate the Comedian. He begins to uncover clues that reveal a conspiracy is afoot to kill costumed crimefighters. Rorschach warns several of his former teammates of the conspiracy: the god-like Dr. Manhattan; Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre; the flabby Batman analogue Dan Dreiberg, the Nite Owl; and the imperious and super-rich Adrian Veidt, Ozymandias. The murder of Blake/Comedian sets the wheels of Watchmen’s plot in motion.

But while Watchmen’s plot was enthralling, the manner it presented that plot was unprecedented brilliance. For one, Watchmen has an elaborate structure that alternates between issues that advance the core plot and issues that profile the prin-

cipal characters. Two of the most impressionable profile issues are Watchmen #4—which shows how Jon Osterman became the omniscient Dr. Manhattan at the expense of losing his humanity—and Watchmen #6—which provides the gruesome circumstances that transformed Walter Kovacs into Rorschach.

Just as important as Watchmen’s alternating structure is the manner in which the comic interweaves several narratives simultaneously, including a seemingly non sequitur pirate comic book story being read by a nameless boy at a street corner newsstand. As a comic book within the comic book, “Tales of the Black Freighter” serves as a meta-commentary on the bleakness of the world presented within Watchmen.

Watchmen is often cited as one of the finest comics ever created, a relentlessly detailed masterpiece that employed innovative comic book storytelling techniques. But the story wasn’t originally planned as meticulously as many fans believe it was. It was only after Watchmen #3 was completed that Moore took stock of the details and complexity that Gibbons was adding to the story and saw that as a good reason to try new effects. Many of the innovations of the series emerged from the story as Moore and Gibbons were telling it. Moore let the story drive the structure and vice versa. In that way, the story feels both uniquely organic and thoughtful (Khoury 111).

Watchmen’s details were deliberately placed, from the graffiti on the walls (usually a slightly obscured version of the phrase “Who Watches the Watchmen?”) to the futuristic vehicles and fashion, to repeated phrases, panels,

1986 DC Comics house ad promoting Watchmen.

Watchmen TM and © DC Comics.

and images. Moore was proud of the multilayered world that he and Gibbons created: “What we were trying to do was to create something which has a structure that is multi-faceted enough and has enough layers to it so that each subsequent issue redefines bits of the ones that have come before. So that you can check back to a scene that’s repeated, check back to when you saw it earlier, see the little bits that are going on, find out more.

So that it does reward multiple readings” (Stewart 91).

What’s more, Watchmen’s very design was unorthodox, defying standard comic book norms. For instance, most comic book covers provide a 174

visual encapsulation of the issue’s contents.

Watchmen’s front covers, however, show an extreme close-up of whatever object appears in the first panel of the issue’s first page: a blood-stained smiley face button, a fallout shelter sign, a Rorschach test card, a perfume bottle, et al.

The title logo is placed vertically on the front cover’s left side contrasting it to nearly every other comic on the stands whose logos are bannered across the top. The material presented at the back of each issue isn’t extraneous padding but supplemental information that added depth and complexity to the main contents.

The back covers show a nuclear countdown clock, with each issue showing the clock getting one minute closer to midnight. Each Watchmen issue also contained no ads, very unique for a DC comic book from that era. All of these elements were designed by Gibbons and Moore before the books appeared, with slight tweaks made by DC’s chief art director, Richard Bruning, who fought with DC’s accountants for the book to be free of ads, as it was designed to be (Bruning 68-70).

But it wasn’t just the design and plot that fans responded to. Watchmen also expressed late Cold War concerns and anxieties. With nuclear tensions continuing between the United States and the Soviet Union, there was a feeling that a nuclear war could be launched at any minute. President Ronald Reagan’s gallows joke from 1984, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes” was terrifying for many people because of the widespread

belief that a nuclear conflict was inevitable. So the nuclear paranoia on display in Watchmen was quite resonant to a readership of the mid1980s. Readers really could fathom the actions of the father in Watchmen #5 who kills his whole family rather than subject them to the horrors of an imminent nuclear war.

That visceral feeling applied to the entire series. Watchmen was an intense ride that didn’t hesitate to present mayhem and slaughter (as in a bloody prison escape scene in Watchmen #8 or dead body strewn streets that lead off Watchmen #12) or shy away from showing sex in a more realistic manner than most comics do (notably the rape of the original Silk Spectre in Watchmen #2 and the initially failed and later successful sexual relationship between the new Silk Spectre and Nite Owl in Watchmen #7).

Clearly, Watchmen was radically different from any other comic book being published in 1986, and fans almost unanimously extolled it, especially since it confirmed to the adult comic book reader that the medium could be finer and more mature than many non-comic book readers believed. Watchmen #1 sold out immediately at comic shops, and each subsequent issue sold extremely well. The series was both tremendously popular and hugely critically acclaimed, sweeping nearly every comic book industry award for which it was eligible in 1987 and 1988. In addition, Moore was interviewed by various national newspapers as well as Time and Rolling Stone magazines. Watchmen was awarded the prestigious Hugo Award in the “Other Forms” category, and in 2005, it was the only graphic novel listed in Time magazine’s 100 best English language novels list.

Ironically, the success of Watchmen has actually worked against its creators in one sense. A unique clause in Moore and Gibbons’ Watchmen contract with DC stipulates that if the book ever went out of print, the rights would revert back to the creators. In early publicity about the series, Moore was ebullient about that unique clause. He obviously didn’t anticipate what happened next: since the time Watchmen was first published, it has never gone out

of print.

One legacy of Watchmen that Moore laments is that the series helped precipitate a “grim and gritty” era for comics. Simply put, too many comic book creators took the wrong lessons from the series; they attempted to capture the surface mood of the book rather than its underlying satirical and storytelling qualities. Watchmen became a trailblazer for both great

Top: Rorschach departs after a tense conversation with the former Ozymandias.

Watchmen TM and © DC Comics.

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and terrible comics. Without Watchmen there likely would have never been a Vertigo Comics line, and without Watchmen, creators like Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman might never have had a chance to create groundbreaking works like Animal Man and Sandman. Moore and Gibbons’ masterwork was a brilliant guiding light for ambitious creators to formulate great works that embraced complex storytelling and themes.

Watchmen helped demonstrate that comics did not have to be disposable entertainment for children anymore.

ist Rick Veitch, who finally saw his name in the credits as sole penciller after assisting his friends Steve Bissette and John Totleben for many issues. The comic was still riding high in ’86, winning awards and garnering endless praise for Moore. It seemed he could do whatever he wanted in the series by this point, creating two double-sized issues within four

As for Moore’s other DC work, his run on Swamp Thing continued in 1986, officially joined in issue #51 by art-

Perhaps DC’s most controversial book of 1986 was Howard Chaykin’s violent, sexy, and satirical take on the classic pulp hero, The Shadow. Subtitled Blood and Judgment and premiering in February, Chaykin’s Shadow was much more in the tradition of his American Flagg! than the slightly less wild take that was published in Walter Gibson’s famous pulp stories of the character and his agents.

Dick Giordano sought out Chaykin at the 1985 San Diego Comic Con to ask him to take on the Shadow. Chaykin was initially reluctant to accept the assignment because he had been well known for his work on characters set in the 1930s (like Dominic Fortune and the Scorpion) and did not want to be pigeon-holed as a retro 1930s artist. Chaykin felt he had done all the work he wanted to do that was based in that era.

But the inspiration too many creators took from Watchmen was a license to destroy the purity of costumed heroes, create nihilistic stories, and try to ride Moore and Gibbons’ coattails. As Moore states, “I think that what a lot of people saw when they read Watchmen was a high degree of violence, a bleaker and more pessimistic political perspective, perhaps a bit more sex, more swearing. And to some degree there has been, in the years since Watchmen, an awful lot of the comics field devoted to these very grim, pessimistic, nasty, violent stories which kind of use Watchmen to validate what are, in effect, often just some very nasty stories that don’t have a lot to recommend them” (Millidge 132).

In early publicity for the series, Moore mentioned that he and Gibbons had considered a 12-issue prequel to the mini-series to be called Minutemen that would focus on the adventures of the Golden Age heroes that Moore and Gibbons created for Watchmen. Moore’s career plans, though, changed after the conclusion of Watchmen, and his career trajectory moved him away from the proposed series.

Dark Shadow

But as Chaykin thought about the book and the main characters, as well as the inherent difficulty of the Shadow concept, he decided to move the character to the 1980s and adopt an updated approach, incorporating strong elements of ’80s fashion and sexiness to the series, changes that he knew would anger longtime fans of the character (MacDonald 19).

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were interviewed for the Watchmen-themed Comics Interview #65.

months with issues #50 (containing the grand conclusion to his epic “American Gothic” storyline) and #53 (featuring Swamp Thing’s adventures in Gotham City, including a fascinating confrontation with the Batman). The cover date year concluded with Swamp Thing #55 where the presumed dead protagonist was just about to start some spooky and intriguing adventures in space.

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Howard Chaykin’s Shadow was not a super-hero but instead a street-level crime fighter, albeit one whose adventures brought him around the world. The writer/artist deliberately set his character in a different world than that of Crisis and other cosmic events. The Shadow’s world was one of crime, deeply influenced by the hard-boiled novels of Jim Thompson, W.R. Burnett, and Elmore Leonard. Chaykin presented a globe-trotting adventure that took the Shadow from China to New York to Washington to Seattle and to many other stops in between.

The present-day setting of the series triggered some interesting fan concerns around how Chaykin would manage the cast of the revival. His approach was interesting but controversial: while the Shadow’s agents aged from their previous appearance in the 1930s, and were portrayed as elderly men and women who suffered the weight of their years, the Shadow himself didn’t age in the interim. In fact, the Shadow had not just survived but had prospered: wealthy beyond reason and dressed snappily in Armani clothes, the Shadow was a violent reflection of the materialism of the Reagan era. Chaykin’s Shadow was a man certain of his approach and attitudes, always ready for a deadly battle with the forces of evil.

The comic was attacked by critics for its hyper-violence and its perceived lack of respect for the Shadow and its supporting characters. For instance, writer Harlan Ellison referred to the series as “vile and detestable…”, adding that Chaykin has turned the Shadow into a “sexist pig who uses people, sacrifices people, hasn’t one grain of decency in him. He’s a psychopathic killer” (Sacco 17). Despite the criticism, the Shadow mini-series found a large enough audience to compel DC to launch an ongoing Shadow comic in the summer of 1987.

Bye, Bye to the Boy By 1986, Roy Thomas’s second exclusive contract with DC was expiring, and the experience hadn’t gone as he had hoped. He considered himself the victim of numerous broken promises from DC, and he was continually working on projects that did not turn out as planned due to company politics and meddling.

In the post-Crisis era, Thomas’s beloved All-Star Squadron struggled to find its place in a DC Universe that no longer had an Earth-2. Just as bad for Thomas was that in the wake of Crisis On Infinite Earths the Justice Society was written out of DC’s continuity.

Dick Giordano vowed that “as long as I’m editor, the JSA will never come back” (Amash 47). It was a decision that Thomas, of course, didn’t agree with and wasn’t happy about, but he decided that if that was the case, he should be the one to deliver the JSA’s killing blow. If anyone was to write the end of the JSA, it should be him.

Thomas did so by creating a wrapup story titled The Last Days of the Justice Society, which provided closure to long-time fans of the august heroic team. In Last Days, the members of the Justice Society are shunted to a Limbo-like realm in which they have to fight alongside the Norse gods in trying to prevent a Ragnarok from arising. The JSAers, aside from Power Girl, the Star Spangled Kid, the Spectre,

Writer/artist Howard Chaykin ramped up the violence for his updated take on The Shadow.

The Shadow TM and © Condé Nast.

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and Doctor Fate, are consigned to fight a battle that literally never ends.

But as seemed to be typical of Thomas’s relationship with DC at the time, the company couldn’t stop itself from disappointing him. Thomas wanted to send the JSA off in as luxurious a comics format as possible. In his mind, the team that helped start DC’s success deserved special treatment, and DC editorial did indeed initially promise that Last Days would be published as a Prestige Format oneshot. Unfortunately, before it got sent to the printer, Last Days got downgraded to standard format. Thomas sensed at the time that DC was a bit embarrassed by its past, and that they didn’t want to give the JSA any more exposure than necessary. Once again, it seemed that Roy Thomas was on the outside looking in at DC. That same level of editorial meddling was applied to Thomas’s new post-Crisis series, Secret Origins. The plan for Secret Origins was to retell the origins of Golden Age characters in chronological order as the characters appeared in the DC Universe. As Thomas remembers, “DC loved the idea, although the first few issues they kept changing their minds every little bit as to what the book was supposed to be” (Amash 48). Thomas’s issues of Secret Origins featured inspired combinations of artist to strip: Wayne Boring drew the origin of

series. The Golden Age origin stories ended shortly thereafter (Amash 4950).

The Maus that Roared In a year in which comics like Watchmen and Batman: the Dark Knight showed that the graphic story medium could produce works of tremendous quality, Art Spiegelman’s epochal Maus: A Survivor’s Tale stood out for its deep sophistication and remarkable artistic passion. Even though it was only half of the entire story that Spiegelman would eventually present, this first of two books stood well on its own and garnered massive critical acclaim.

Maus told the story of Spiegelman’s extremely difficult relationship with his father Vladek, of his mother’s suicide, and, perhaps most importantly, of Vladek’s experiences as a Jew caught up in the Nazi Holocaust. In the book, Jews are drawn as mice and the Nazis as cats (with other nationalities also presented as animals: Poles are pigs, Americans dogs). Vladek’s experiences are presented directly and clearly, without an excess of sentimentality and also with clean and crisp line-work. By this point, Spiegelman was already an acknowledged comics innovator, presenting stories like “Two-Fisted Painters” that played with the twodimensional space of the page and the interesting ways that it explored space and time.

Roy Thomas scripted—what was intended to be—the JSA’s final adventure in The Last Days of The Justice Society of America one-shot. Justice Society of America TM and © DC Comics.

Superman, Carmine Infantino drew the origin of Adam Strange, Murphy Anderson drew the origin of the Black Condor, and Gil Kane penciled an origin of the Ray, which was never published.

However, office politics doomed Thomas’s run on Secret Origins, as they doomed much of his other work during his second DC exclusive con-

tract. Before the series even launched, there was confusion about which issues would feature Golden Age characters and which would feature other origins (Waid 105, 107). Then with issue #6, the comic expanded to double-sized length to feature two stores per issue, once again revealing editorial uncertainty on the title. Before too long, a backstage power grab at the company pushed Thomas off the 178

But for Maus, Spiegelman eschewed fancy effects to tell an incredibly harrowing story in an extremely direct and affecting manner. Readers endured the same horrors that Vladek did: his life as a Polish soldier and his terrified reaction to killing a German soldier, the rounding up of Jews into cattle cars, and the unspeakable horrors of Auschwitz. But the combination of Spiegelman’s thoughtful and straightforward line work, the distancing effect of the use of animals as a design element, and the contrasting story of the exploration of Art’s relationship with Vladek made the events of the book at least a bit more palatable for many readers.

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale did not spring full-born into the Pantheon Books volume. Spiegelman had actually been exploring these ideas for quite

a few years. His 1973 expressionistic story “Prisoner of the Hell Planet”— published in an underground comic of the time—told the story of his 1968 nervous breakdown brought on by his horrified reaction to his mother’s suicide. That same year brought his first story called Maus, a three-page summary of the events that would be told in the longer book. Finally, in 1980 in the pages of RAW #2, Spiegelman began serializing the story that would eventually be published in a collected edition by Pantheon Books as Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.

diminishes his book’s intensity and immediacy by representing humans as rather simply and inexpressively drawn animals – Germans as cats, Poles as pigs. However, the animal metaphor is ineffective because this single element of fantasy is contradicted by Spiegelman’s detailed realism.” Pekar also took Spiegelman to task for what he sees as a condescending and difficult depiction of his father (Pekar 55).

Harvey Pekar was always quite a character in the comics movement of the 1980s. On October 15, 1986, Pekar made the first of his eight appearances on Late Night with David Letterman show. Pekar’s confrontational style, working class sentiment and aggressive attitude towards NBC’s corporate parent GE made him a minor star on the show. And Pekar immortalized his first appearance on the show in the pages of American Splendor #12 in a story illustrated by his frequent collaborator Gerry Shamray.

Maus immediately sold well. Two months after the book’s release on September 15, 1986, Maus sold out its first and second print runs of 35,000 copies. It made the Village Voice bestseller list and was featured in Time, Rolling Stone, People, the Washington Post and many other publications.

Maus was also immediately acclaimed upon its publication, receiving rave reviews from readers all across the spectrum, from holocaust survivors to comic fans to those interested in history. Spiegelman was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for the work after the second half of the book was released, and his original art pages have been displayed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. While those interested in the subject matter appreciated the thoughtful, serious and unmanipulative manner in which Spiegelman told the story, comics fans celebrated how the book showed the nearly limitless boundaries of what could be accomplished with the artform. Here was a true graphic novel that showed that comics could be about more than super-heroes, and Maus opened the door for a truly new era for the perception of comics as art. Perhaps most importantly, it was seen as an actual book rather than a graphic novel, allowing people who would not be caught dead in a comics shop to enjoy a quality work in the medium.

One major comics creator who did not appreciate aspects of Spiegelman’s work was Harvey Pekar, writer of American Splendor. Pekar frequently criticized Maus for not using realistic depictions of its characters. While praising the book as being “a good and significant work,” Pekar nonetheless complained that “Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman’s Maus became one of the most distinguished graphic novels in the history of the medium.

Maus TM and © Art Spiegelman.

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prove to be a controversial year for that title. In Miracleman #9, Moore and Rick Veitch radically departed from the super-hero action the series was known for in order to show a real miracle, perhaps the most commonplace miracle in nature: childbirth.

The issue, titled “Scenes from the Nativity,” featured the birth of Miracleman’s daughter, Winter. Rather than keep the reader’s eye away from actually seeing the baby being born, though, Moore and Veitch chose to do something that had never been presented in comics up to that time: a graphic depiction of childbirth. It is a slow and detailed close-up of the birth of Miracleman’s baby, expressed as the difficult, intense experience that any parent would recognize.

As required, Miracleman #9’s solicitation detailed the issue’s contents, and in doing so, several comic book retailers and distributors expressed concerns about the appropriateness of childbirth in a comic book. Their alarm drew the ire of Eclipse editorin-chief Cat Yronwode who couldn’t believe that the depiction of one of life’s most natural events could cause such anxiety. She made a decision: “So I, in my anger, decided that because there was a lot of stuff about the Surgeon General’s report against cigarette smoking, I would put on a warning label that would be in the same typeface and size as the cigarette-warning label” (Khoury 115).

On the cover to Miracleman #9 is a prominently displayed white-boxed warning: “ATTENTION PARENTS: This issue contains graphic scenes of childbirth.” It is a warning that Cat Yronwode referred to as “an obviously bitter joke” (Khoury 115).

Upset over the outrage that preceded the publication of Miracleman #9, Eclipse Comics editor Cat Yronwode placed a parental warning on the cover.

Miracleman TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

The Miracle of Birth Thanks primarily to Watchmen, Alan Moore was the talk of the comics world in 1986. But months before the first issue of Watchmen was even published, Moore expressed the desire to write more diverse comic books. As 1986 dawned, he mentioned a new series—to be published

by Fantagraphics—that would be novelistic in approach and completely devoid of super-heroes. In fact, he intended the first issue to be a vicious

black comedy about a comic book convention, mocking fans and pros alike. The second issue would be a biography of 19th century English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, whose work often explored bizarre sex and sensuality (“Alan Moore on (Just About) Everything!” 39). Moore, though, was already overcommitted, so he never found the time to write this new comic book.

One of his commitments was Eclipse Comics’ Miracleman, and 1986 would 180

Moore and Veitch went to great lengths to depict child birth as sincerely and accurately as possible.

Veitch referenced A Child Is Born, Lennart Nilsson’s book of photographs which was routinely cited at the time by such authorities as the American Medical Association and Parents Magazine as recommended reading material for anyone interested in the details of childbirth. The book was specifically recommended as a great resource for curious children expecting a new brother or sister. It had been in print continuously since 1965 and had sold over a million copies in ten years. It was in open cir-

culation in public libraries around the country. In fact, Yronwode checked A Child Is Born out of her local public library in order to photocopy the relevant pages for Veitch (Khoury 115).

Furthermore, on Sept. 19, 1986, NBC’s popular morning program Today Show televised graphic scenes of childbirth. The Today Show segment was preceded with a warning that was virtually identical to the warning appearing on the cover of Miracleman #9. By 1986, the public might have been ready to see childbirth on network television, but childbirth presented in a comic book was evidently a different matter.

While some readers wrote to Eclipse to praise Moore and Veitch’s work for its beauty and honesty, others called the comic disgusting and even exploitative. And then there were the retailers and distributors, many of whom felt the fears they had when the issue was solicited were confirmed now that issue was released.

Ken Kruger, the Los Angeles representative for distributor Bud Plant, informed retailers that Miracleman #9 could cause legal problems and should not be sold in shops. In response, Golden Apple Comics only sold the comic behind the counter and upon request (Fryer 11).

to educate children on such matters.

Geppi went on to assert, “Diamond has been deluged by phone calls and letters from irate retailers who insist on return privileges on this book.

Distributors who attended a sales conference in Las Vegas this month indicated they had received the same response.” Geppi further indicated in his letter that Diamond would take returns from retailers on the book and then pass those returns back to Eclipse Comics. Yronwode denied that Miracleman’s sales suffered due to the controversy (Khoury 116).

Geppi stated that the response to his letter was overwhelmingly positive, with staff of both DC Comics and Americomics pledging to help Diamond ensure that the industry would produce material that would not face the wrath of censorship. He advocated a self-censorship movement, a concept which would have major impact on DC Comics in 1987 (Fryer 11).

Comic Shops Under Fire If comic book retailers were concerned that Miracleman #9 might get them into trouble with the communities they served, it’s because throughout 1986 comic book retailers were getting into trouble with the communities they served.

On April 2, 1986, Garry Sher, the owner of Garry’s Comic Stop in Edgebrook, Illinois, was cited with selling harmful material to a minor. The minor in question was eight years old, and the comic in question was Alien Encounters #5, published by Eclipse Comics, which featured two stories that contained topless women as well as a cover featuring a revealing painting of a woman covering her naked breast. The comic contained a “mature readers” advisory and was placed out of reach of young children in an area that was specifically marked as containing comics that were not for sale for children under the age of 17.

While the charges were eventually

Steve Geppi, President of Diamond Comics Distributors, was much more strident in his criticism of the issue, stating in an October 23, 1986 “Special Report” to his sales outlets that Miracle Man (sic) #9 was the straw that broke the camel’s back…. It appears to be a classic case of poor judgment (not to mention poor taste) on the part of the publisher, when right above that warning label is the slogan proclaiming Miracle Man #9 to be America’s number one Super Hero…

What is the purpose of this outrage? I have four children of my own ranging in age from ages six to fifteen, and each of them knows where babies come from. I never found it necessary, however, to graphically describe to them how a baby is born!

I’m certain that most, if not all parents, would agree that they don’t need comic books

A panel from Miracleman #9 showing the hero’s newborn daughter, Winter.

Miracleman TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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dismissed, Sher chose to shut down his store rather than live in fear of being hounded by overly aggressive police. “I was afraid of being set up,” Sher stated at the time, adding that he was harassed by members of his community, including the principal of a local school, who claimed to be appalled by the material that he was selling (Fryer 10).

It was a similar story 37 miles away in Lansing, Illinois, where Michael Correa, the manager of Friendly Frank’s Comics, was arrested on December 10, 1986, for intent to disseminate obscene material. Plainclothes police officer Anthony Van Gorp had entered Friendly Frank’s about two weeks previously and bought copies of 10 comics, including issues of Omaha the Cat Dancer, Bizarre Sex, Weirdo, Murder, The Bodyssey, and Heavy Metal. Van Gorp also claimed that he had seen a child looking through an issue of Heavy Metal in the shop. Because of these charges, not only was Correa arrested, but the police actually shut down the store for five days, as they stated it was in violation of a Lansing city ordinance forbidding the sale of adult materials within 1200 feet of a residential area.

The store was only allowed to reopen when all allegedly obscene materials were removed from the shelves of the store.

Amazingly, Correa had been notified by the store’s owner, Frank Mangiaracina, to be extremely careful about selling copies of adult comics to minors in light of the Garry’s Comic Stop case, but he never felt the need to be concerned about selling the comics to adults, especially since nearly every book that was purchased contained a Mature Readers label on its cover.

The arrests in Illinois may have been sparked by a state law that went into effect on January 1, 1986. Chapter 38, section 11-20 of the Illinois Revised Statutes allowed for a rather broad definition of obscenity in line with the community standards in which the material was presented, whether the consumer of the obscene and prurient material was an adult or child.

Publishers Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press and Ron Turner of Last Gasp Publishing, who published Omaha and Weirdo, respectively, do-

David Singer’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents title ended with issue #5.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM and © John Carbonaro estate.

nated cash to help Correa and Mangiaracina in their legal defense. These donations were the beginning of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Goes Silent The year 1986 brought major successes in the comics industry.

Unfortunately for David Singer, his Deluxe Publishing wasn’t one of them. In October 1986, Deluxe released the fifth issue of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, eight long 182

months after the previous issue had appeared. The series that made such a high-profile debut in 1984 headlining such renowned creators as George Pérez, Dave Cockrum, Steve Englehart, Keith Giffen, and Steve Ditko was now introducing new talent like Jose Marzan Jr. and Anthony Pereira and parading relative newcomers like Ron Lim (Ex-Mutants). In his editorial, Singer claimed the fifth issue’s main T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents feature—written

by Roger McKenzie and art by Jerry

Ordway—was the first chapter of a three-part crossover with The Next Man and Codename: Danger. Those latter two titles would be released by Singer’s Lodestone Publishing.

That’s at least what Singer told his readers. The Next Man, however, never formally became a Lodestone title after its cancellation by Comico.

It wouldn’t be the only title Singer would prematurely announce as part of Lodestone’s lineup. Singer also claimed that Lodestone would publish a comic book written by Roger McKenzie and drawn by Paul Smith titled The Mime. Smith, though, claimed to have never even discussed The Mime with Singer (Heintjes 27).

But Singer’s hasty publishing announcements were moot points.

That’s because shortly after Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 was released, David Singer stopped publishing comic books. That meant there would be no second chapter to the story begun by McKenzie and Ordway because there would be no more Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. There would also be no more Deluxe Comics. And after publishing a reprint of Chuck Dixon’s Evangeline, the third issue of Dave Cockrum’s The Futurians, and the debut issues of Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming’s The March Hare and a Honeymooners comic book (also written by Robert Loren Fleming), there would be no more Lodestone Publishing.

What collapsed Singer’s “empire” was the civil action John Carbonaro had brought against him. By 1986, Singer’s ongoing defense against the lawsuit effectively impaired his ability to pay his bills. Carbonaro’s legal representatives didn’t just sue Singer for violating Carbonaro’s copyright to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, they also sued Direct Market distributors— specifically Glenwood, Capital City and Comics Unlimited—for supplying copies of Singer’s Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to comic book retailers. Wanting to avoid legal entanglements, these distributors complied with Carbonaro’s demands (Irving 175). With Glenwood and Capital City being two of the industry’s biggest distributors, their refusal to carry Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents inevitably meant sales of the title plummeted. That, of course,

meant less money in Singer’s coffers.

The Black-and-White Boom Blows Up

Singer’s money flow was systematically being cut off, and since Carbonaro’s lawyers were working pro bono, they could extend the legal process for as long as they wanted without any financial hardship to their client.

Singer didn’t enjoy the same luxury.

He had to pay a legal team to defend his interests, but as the legal process carried on and on, that only meant more money Singer had to pay his lawyers. Inevitably, without sufficient revenue coming from his publishing endeavors, Singer no longer could continue his fight. The game was up. Singer had no choice but to settle his differences with Carbonaro, and he would pay a heavy price: not only did Singer agree to discontinue publishing the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and not only did he agree to never dispute Carbonaro’s ownership of those characters, he also relinquished to Carbonaro all rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents stories that he published since 1984 (Irving 175).

The overnight success of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its immediate derivatives encouraged a flood of new companies producing black-andwhite titles. As a result, an unprecedented number of new publishers released their first comics in 1986, including ACE Comics, Adventure Publications, Aircel, Apple Comics, B-Movie Comics, Crystal Publications, Dark Horse Comics, Entertainment Comics, Eternity Comics, Fantagor Press, Fantasy General Gladstone Comics, Imperial Comics, Malibu Comics, NOW Comics, Pied Piper Comics, Pyramid Comics, Quality Comics, Silverwolf Comics, Slave Labor Graphics, Showcase Publications, Solson Publications, Spotlight Comics, U.S. Comics, and a score more publishers, large and small.

Despite finally putting Carbonaro’s lawsuit behind him, Singer simply had no more money to continue publishing comic books. With that, the publisher who came onto the scene in 1984 with grandiose plans and financing effectively divorced himself from the comic book industry, never to be heard from again.

The success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spawned a slew of imitators, like Eclipse Comics’ Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters.

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Some of the books produced by these companies were of high quality but the vast majority of new comics were simply exploitative. Comic shops were filled with parodies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with imitative “age-group/martial arts/animal” creations like Cold-Blooded Chameleon Commandoes, Pre-Teen Dirty Jean Kung Fu Kangaroos, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Naïve Interdimensional Commando Koalas, and Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils.

Gary Brodsky, son of the late Marvel Comics vice president Sol Brodsky, launched Solson Publications to release such titles as Texas Chainsaw Samurai, Reagan’s Raiders, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Authorized Martial Arts Training Manual, Codename: Ninja, Samurai Santa, Bushido Blade of Zatoichi Walrus, Sultry Teenage Super-Foxes, Those Crazy Peckers, Woodchuck Warrior, and even some training guides like Rich Buckler’s Secrets of Drawing Comics. Meanwhile, Silverwolf produced Gary Amaro’s Fat Ninja and Ron Lim’s The Eradicators.

Wonder Color Comics solicited and then never published a slate of a halfdozen comics.

It’s little wonder Amazing Heroes ran a feature titled “Industry Held Hostage” that listed the number of black-and-white parody comics then on the stands: a breathtaking 41 of them offered by distributors in December 1986 alone. One fact crystallizes the black-and-white comic book boom: the number of black-and-white titles that Capital City Distributors carried ballooned from 39 in January 1986 to 170 in December, an increase of over 400% (Groth 8-12).

Even Eastman and Laird participated in the boom they created. They released several issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1986, as well as one-shots featuring Turtles Donatello and Leonardo. TMNT #8 (July 1986)—with a guest appearance by Dave Sim’s Cerebus character—sold between 90,000 and 100,000 copies (Nickerson).

While most of the publishers that launched during this boom proved short-lived, one at least would thrive for years to come. Portland, Oregonbased Dark Horse Comics was founded by longtime friends and APA-5 members Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley. The first book they released was Dark Horse Presents, an anthology series featuring work by Chris Warner, Paul Chadwick, Stradley, and Randy Emberlin. But Dark Horse’s second comic book was the one that really inaugurated their success.

James Dean Smith created Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters, a parody comic that really caught the mood of the era. The violently silly

Adventurers and Ex-Mutants were just two of many new titles released during the 1980s black-and-white boom.

Adventurers and Ex-Mutants TM and © respective copyright holders.

comic sold 80,000 copies after DHP sold 50,000. With those two hits, Dark Horse began its rise to prominence in the comics industry.

However, Dark Horse’s comics were the exception to the rule. The distribution system in place in 1986 worked against wholesalers and retailers in the sense that neither could gauge the quality of the publications offered to them. Retailers were forced at that time to essentially order their comics blind. They had to look at the sometimes small amount of preview material and make purchasing decisions in expectation of future sales.

Many retailers, especially brand-new ones, were caught flat-footed when their customers began rejecting these new comic books as unacceptably terrible.

At the beginning of the black-andwhite mania, almost any book sold well as a gold rush mentality consumed the collectors. A surge of speculators frequented comic shops to find comics that they thought would skyrocket in value like the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Speculators in the summer of 1986 bought up titles in bulk. Fish Police was a major post-Turtles smash with those readers, as was Hamster Vice, which was so popular that it sold out two printings of its first issue and helped its publisher, Rip Off Press, shake off the effects of a devastating 184

fire (Shade 21).

But many titles released during this era were considered by most readers to just not be of a professional quality. That didn’t stop publishers from continuing to rush out exploitative but highly profitable comics that sold to the stores, which just encouraged the publishers to create more terrible titles. Because production costs were so cheap for black-andwhite comics, the barrier to entry to the field was extremely low, meaning that profits versus costs could be astronomical for publishers. Meanwhile, readers began balking at any black-and-white titles of whatever quality, thereby creating a cash flow crisis that would reach tsunami levels beginning in January 1987.

CHRONICLES FLASHBACK: 1986

“Let Me Tell You How It Happened…”

First-Person Narrators By 1986, comic book readers were well acquainted with first-person narrators. The storytelling device had been used in comic books for decades.

It could be found in many 1950s-era EC Comics, and from the 1960s to the 1980s writer Bob Kanigher often had DC Comics’ World War II-era heroes, Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace, narrate their own adventures. In 1976’s Marvel Preview #2, Gerry Conway introduced Punisher’s diary-like “War Journal” as a narrative device for the character, and even Chris Claremont used a first-person narrator for select issues of Uncanny X-Men as well as 1982’s Wolverine mini-series. Despite this, first-person narrators were not as common a storytelling device as third-person omniscient narrators or thought balloons.

Blake (a.k.a. The Comedian) and panels that flash back to that murder being committed by a mysterious assailant. As the detectives leave the scene of the crime, they enter an elevator and tell its occupant they need to go to the ground floor. The occupant’s response (“Ground Floor Comin’ Up”) appears on the next panel which flashes back to Blake being thrown out of his apartment window to his death. In other words, Blake was on his way down to the ground floor too.

neering masterpiece, so much so that it’s no exaggeration to claim that Watchmen paved the way for future comic book writers, like Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman, to break new comic book narrative ground with their own innovative works by the end of the 1980s.

These kinds of visual-linguistic witticisms are strewn throughout Watchmen and overall, the series is a pio-

That changed in 1986 when writers like Art Spiegelman, Frank Miller and Alan Moore ushered in an era of first-person narrated comic books.

This is not to say that third-person narrators and thought balloons completely disappeared from the comic book landscape. Instead, by the late 1980s, comic book writers—inspired by publications like Maus, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen—utilized the first-person narrator more often than in previous years.

Alan Moore’s work on Watchmen was particularly nuanced as it shuffled the subjective perspectives of several characters. In addition, Moore put considerable thought into how words and images can complement, supplement and even contradict each other.

In a 1984 interview, Moore stated, “Much of comics writing comes down to finding interesting ways to change scenes, and I use overlapping dialogue a lot” (Lawley 23). This technique is demonstrated in the opening pages of Watchmen #1 as the story alternates between panels that show two New York City police detectives investigating the murder of Edward

Sequence from 1986’s Watchmen #1.

Watchmen TM and © DC Comics.

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1987

Bubbles Burst,

Back to Basics

And the tsunami created a wave and the wave created bubbles, then one giant bubble. And then, as these things go, the bubble burst.

By all accounts, the end came quickly. The explosion of comic companies churning out black-and-white product continued throughout 1987 despite portents of doom all around them. Some industry professionals like Bud Plant had predicted the crash as early as 1985, but the flood of quickie cash-in books increased as the final crash drew nearer. An industry that sustained ten or so independent publishers in 1984 had mutated into one that had 170 houses by the end of 1987 (Frankenhoff).

February’s bitter chill brought the first bad news: the first of the companies stopped sending their product to distributors. Then, in March, a Comic Buyer’s Guide report showed that the sales of more than a few titles had dropped anywhere from 80% to 90% as compared to only the previous summer (Frankenhoff). But, again, the glut of black-andwhite books continued unabated through the remainder of the year, the comic book equivalent to the string quartet playing on while the Titanic sank.

One enterprising distributor tried to keep the boat afloat, or at least as much as he could. Scott Rosenberg, president of Sunrise Distribution, took it upon himself to shore up six different publishers in early 1987 when the writing was on the wall for each of them. Aircel, Adventure, Eternity, Malibu, Imperial, and Wonder Color could keep their work and some of the staff above water for a while through the efforts of Rosenberg; at first he kept the companies separate, due to their widely different output, but eventually he merged them into one company: Malibu.

Rosenberg claims that it was the lure of Direct Market distribution that led many of the black-and-white companies to the edge of the precipice: “What happened was a lot of creators and entrepreneurs who wanted to start up little companies…said, ‘Gee, we can get distribution, so let’s start making comic books!’” (Brady). He, too, predicted the crash, noting its inevitability as a “supply and demand thing,” the fire being fed by fans who jazzed on the great breadth of titles and genres available during the glut, but whose appetites for it all too quickly sated (Brady).

Or as publisher and pundit Gary Groth put it, “you cannot shovel shit into a finite market forever” (Groth 8). Groth also pointed out that speculators carried much of the blame for the bust, buying immense quantities of the small print runs of black-and-white material and essentially driving up those runs to ridiculous numbers. A book that would have gotten a 10,000 copy print run just a few years earlier wound up with a 100,000 copy run: “[The speculators] were cutting their own throats because the audience for black-and-whites was never that large to begin with and it wasn’t likely the audience would grow exponentially just because a gang of speculators started buying up tons

CHAPTER EIGHT

by Jim Beard

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of the stuff” (Groth 8). Furthermore, he theorized that retailers moved forward into 1987 with blinders on because “no retailer wants to believe a consumer frenzy is over and dead” (Groth 9).

But dead it was, and by the end of the year the industry was littered with causalities, including publishers, distributors, retailers and consumers. Very few got out alive and virtually none of them unscathed in some way.

The story of Glenwood Distributors’ fall is a prominent example of the tone and timbre of 1987’s crash. The company was ordering more than it could sell, reorders were in the toilet and unpaid invoices from out-of-business comic shops were piling up. Glenwood’s funds began to run short and when they began to miss payments to the large publishers like Marvel and DC, they were cut off. One moment Glenwood was one of the industry’s prominent players, the next it was yesterday’s news (or black-and-white comic). The doors were closed forever on Glenwood. Its warehouses were stacked to the ceilings with boxes of comics no one wanted and no one had paid for (Biggers).

There were a few bright spots among the independents: the year saw the extension of a more global feeling with a wave of Japanese comics called manga. Fueled by a consumer interest in Japanese animation, sometimes referred to as “Japanimation,” American publishers looked to manga to expand the trend. Lone Wolf and Cub, a manga series about a Shogun’s executioner that was first published in Japan in the early 1970s, was translated into English and republished by First Comics with new covers drawn by Lone Wolf and Cub enthusiast Frank Miller.

Other manga being introduced to an American audience in 1987 included the Eclipse ComicsViz Comics joint production of Mai the Psychic Girl. In fact, that book is considered to be the first manga to have its entire series published in English. Mai the Psychic Girl #1 (May 1987) told the tale of a 14-year-old girl hunted by a world-dominating group bent on controlling children with powerful psychic abilities. The series reprinted the translated work for over a year and then Viz also published it in four digest-sized books, approximating the original Japanese format.

Frank Miller provided the covers for First Comics’ translation of Lone Wolf and Cub. TM and © respective copyright holder.

“golden age” of video/computer games during the 1980s.

Super-heroes still prevailed in the 1987 comic book industry, though smaller houses tended to publish alternative genres and left the costumed antics to Marvel and DC. “Events” proliferated at this time, with the Big Two houses putting out line-wide stories that promised major changes in their respective fictional universes. That trend would continue to grip the industry for years to come. DC, in fact, crafted an entire cottage industry using 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths house-cleaning as a foundation to rebuild its line of titles. It started with the biggest foundation block of them all.

The Direct Market continued to increase in distribution and sales in 1987, but the dwindling number of comics on traditional newsstands meant fewer “civilians” were being exposed to the medium. In addition, video/computer games increased in popularity after a 1983 crash of that industry led to a fourth-generation of gaming consoles being introduced in 1987. Young people who a generation before may have looked to comic books for entertainment now devoted increasing amounts of time and money to computer and arcade gaming. The year produced many popular games, including Maniac Mansion, Metal Gear, Street Fighter, sequels to the popular Zelda and Castlevania and the first in the long-running Final Fantasy franchise. The games’ increasingly in-depth stories and characters began to supplant those of comic books, inaugurating a kind of

DC Comics Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore Heading into her eleventh year as DC Comics’ president and publisher, Jenette Kahn, along with vice-president Dick Giordano, steered the company into what had to have been its most ambitious period to date. Throughout the year DC wrought an across-the-board revamping 187

1987 TIMELINE

May: Jack Kirby receives and signs an amended version of Marvel’s original art release form. The artist will soon receive almost 2000 pages of original art that he drew for Marvel in the 1960s.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 23: E. Nelson Bridwell – a writer and editor for DC Comics since 1964 – dies of lung cancer at the age of 55.

February 26: After probing the Iran-Contra affair, the Tower Commission issues its report, rebuking President Reagan for allowing his national security staff to mislead him.

JANUARY

March 2: The Macintosh II computer goes on sale for a retail price of $3,898. This first color Mac had a CPU speed of 16 MHz.

June 5: In a ceremony presided

by Stan Lee, Spider-Man marries Mary Jane Watson at home plate of Shea Stadium prior to a New York Mets baseball game.

All attendees receive a copy of Spider-Man Annual #21, which features the wedding of Peter Parker and Watson. The annual arrives in comic book stores four days later.

March 5: Flash #1 – written by Mike Baron and penciled by Jackson Guice – goes on sale. It presents the former Kid Flash, Wally West, as DC’s new “Fastest Man Alive.”

April 5: The Fox Broadcasting Co. makes its prime-time television debut by airing the premiere episodes of Married ... With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

M AY

JUNE

March 4: President Reagan addresses the nation on the Iran-Contra affair, taking full responsibility and acknowledging mistakes had been made.

February 20: Wayne Boring – artist most famous for his Superman work during the Golden Age of comics – dies at the age of 80.

June 12: At Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, President Reagan publicly challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev by saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

April 15: After serving nearly 10 years as Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter is fired from the company. He is replaced by Tom DeFalco.

February 5: Justice League #1 – written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire – goes on sale.

June 23: Web of Spider-Man #31 – written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod – goes on sale. It begins a six-issue story that will be published over two months, involving all three Spider-Man titles. Eventually, the story will be known as “Kraven’s Last Hunt.”

Flash, Justice League of America, Superman TM and © DC Comics. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Star Trek: The Next Generation TM and © CBS Paramount Studios.

to nearly all of its major characters and titles, plus a host of new first issues and experiments. The venerable company touched upon almost every single property and concept in its extensive library and changed them to one extent or another.

But just as Kahn and Giordano were getting the revamp started, they introduced a matter that threatened to undermine DC’s relationship with its creators. For 1987, DC intended on implementing new editorial standards that included a labeling system. Appearing on the cover of every DC title would be one of two labels: either “For Universal Readership” or “Suggested for Mature Readers.” The “Universal Readership” titles were meant for readers of any age as they were devoid of profanity, nudity or excessive violence. “Mature Reader” titles, on the other hand, didn’t automatically preclude adolescent readers, but they might be considered inappropriate by an adolescent’s

parents. In a letter sent out to all of DC’s freelancers Kahn acknowledged that more adults were reading comic books than ever before, but since the general public still considered comic books as entertainment solely directed towards children, a labeling system became necessary to help parents identify material that was (and wasn’t) suitable for their children (Fryer 16).

Even before DC’s new guidelines were made public, the industry’s creative community cried foul. Led

by Frank Miller, 24 prominent comic book writers, artists, and editors signed a petition to denounce the fact that the guidelines (described in the petition as “new standards of in-house censorship”) were formulated without any creator’s consultation (Fryer 17). An outraged Miller declared, “I really thought it was a sign of contempt all around… [creators] simply never heard that it was being contemplated” (Fryer 18). He 188

found the new guidelines would inevitably neuter the content of comics and he also theorized they were produced solely to appease the demands of censorship from distributors such as Diamond’s Steve Geppi (who in 1986 had vociferously objected to the graphic depiction of childbirth in Eclipse Comics’ Miracleman #9) and retailers like Lone Star Comics’ Buddy Saunders (who in an open letter demanded that comic book publishers self-censor the content of their titles).

The petition turned DC’s new guidelines into an industry preoccupation for months, drawing in fans, retailers and professionals alike as they debated and argued the matter in the pages of Comics Buyer’s Guide and The Comics Journal. For some creators, though, petitions and guest editorials in the fanzines weren’t protest enough. Some took an additional step. On January 19, 1987, a letter co-authored by Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Howard Chaykin, and Marv

September 22: Two days into the new season, NFL players go on strike in an effort to gain free agency and other benefits. Football owners respond by continuing the season with substitute players. The strike ends 24 days later without a new labor agreement.

September 26: Starring Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation debuts on syndicated television.

July 1: DC Comics Publisher and President Jenette Kahn informs DC’s freelancers via letter that DC has decided not to label books with the term “for universal readers.” DC continues to use the “for mature readers” label.

J U LY

AUGUST

December 8: President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev sign the INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, under which the two countries agree to dismantle their arsenals of intermediaterange nuclear missiles.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

October 19: The stock market crashes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, amid frenzied selling, plunges 508 points. It’s the biggest one-day decline up to that point. The day becomes known as “Black Monday.”

October 16: An Iranian missile hits a Kuwaiti ship guarded by the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. retaliates by bombarding Iranian oil platforms.

July 7: Lt. Col. Oliver North begins testifying at the Congressional IranContra hearings. He soon becomes a household recognized figure.

Wolfman was sent to Jenette Kahn.

It stated that they would each honor their contractual obligations with DC but beyond that, they would all refuse to produce new work if DC’s new guidelines remained in place. The letter was subsequently printed in the February 13 issue of Comics Buyer’s Guide.

For his public display of defiance, Marv Wolfman was fired from his position as DC editor, a role he had served since 1982. Wolfman told The Comics Journal that he intended the letter to be a private matter between his compatriots and DC’s leadership.

But when it became clear that DC was turning a deaf ear, Miller urged his fellow creators to go public with their complaints. Soon after the aforementioned CBG issue was published, Wolfman was let go via a phone call from Dick Giordano and then formally through a letter. As for the official reasons given, the writer had this to say in a press release:

September 22: The first Marvel Masterworks hardcover – reprinting Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1-10 – goes on sale with a retail price of $29.95.

October 14: 18-month-old Jessica McClure slides down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas. Her dilemma rivets the attention of the nation as hundreds of rescuers work to free her. She is saved two days later.

October 11: Over 200,000 homosexual rights activists march through Washington D.C. to protest discrimination and demand more federal money for AIDS research and treatment. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is also presented for the first time.

For publicly speaking out against possible censorship, DC Comics fired me as creative editor. It is easy for me to say I am disappointed, but I am certainly not surprised.

DC has made it policy to fire any editor or part-time editor who negatively comments on DC policy in public. It is a shame that they feel they must rule through fear… (Fryer 10).

Rumors abounded that a rift had been developing between Wolfman and Dick Giordano for some time, even before Wolfman had signed the petition against DC’s new guidelines.

One report even had Giordano’s assistant, Pat Bastienne, offering XMen scribe Chris Claremont the job of writing New Teen Titans, a title Wolfman had been helming since he created it in 1980. Claremont declined the assignment and relayed the offer back to Wolfman who was informed 189

Photo of Marv Wolfman that originally appeared in The Comics Journal #115.

by Giordano that it had been made in jest (Sacco 19). Although dismissed as an editor, Wolfman continued on as a DC writer, most notably on New Teen Titans and The Adventures of Superman.

And then DC altered its editorial policies once more. In a letter dated July 1, 1987, Kahn informed DC’s freelancers that, “we have decided not to label books of more general interest with the term ‘for universal readers.’ Feedback convinced us that this was not necessary” (Powers 11). So before any DC title could be labeled “For Universal Readership,” the tag was dumped.

At a panel at the August San Diego Comic Con, Giordano added that the “Suggested for Mature Readers” tag— which by that point had already appeared on the covers to The Question, Swamp Thing, and Vigilante—would remain in use. Furthermore, Prestige format books that contained profanity, sex, or gore wouldn’t be labeled. Kahn felt that the near three dollar cost of a Prestige book along with its square bound spine was enough of a signal to consumers that it wasn’t intended for children (Groth 82).

The changes appeased most of the creators.

Frank Miller announced, “I do not believe DC has a rating system any more… the issue is resolved. I’ve no longer ruled out the possibility of working for DC” (Powers 12). Howard Chaykin and Marv Wolfman reiterated that sentiment with Wolfman declaring, “I’m very pleased and I’m anxious to get started on my new work with DC” (Powers 12). Alan Moore, however, remained dissatisfied with DC’s initial handling of the matter. He still refused to produce any more new work for DC, so he set about fulfilling his contractual obligations as quickly as he could.

“It’s Your First Issue, Superman…”

Kahn and company began the realignment of the DC Universe in grand fashion, with the first issue of the second volume of their most iconic character’s title – a publication that had not been restarted or revamped or, essentially, remodeled in its entire decades-long history. It was a bold move, to make a statement of the company’s intent to refresh and modernize its line by rebooting the Man of Steel himself, inarguably one of the most-recognized fictional characters on the planet.

Superman #1 (Jan. 1987) arrived on the heels of 1986’s Man of Steel. To keep the momentum going and to set

the cornerstone of the new DC universe created during 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths series, the new Superman #1 moved past the Man of Steel’s origin and accelerated the action to the present. The book was joined by The Adventures of Superman, which picked up the numbering from the first volume of the original Superman run, and a re-purposed Action Comics, which teamed-up the Man of Steel and other DC characters.

Writer/artist John Byrne, the man who’d garnered praise for orchestrating Man of Steel’s success the year before, eschewed the common practice of a representational image for Superman #1’s cover. Instead, as if to signal his and DC’s intentions to truly shake up the status quo, he adorned that first cover with an image of Superman defeated.

As he says in his text piece in Superman #1, Byrne viewed what he had done on Man of Steel and what he’d be doing going forward not only as a statement on the character and his universal standing, but also on himself as a professional:

The first issue of the relaunched Superman title.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

190

First off, the response was overwhelmingly favorable. For that, and for all who made their approval known, heartiest thanks. I was nervous, to say the least.

I was messing with a Legend, and there was ample opportunity to end up with super-egg on my face. (I say “I” here not to exclude the others associated with the revamping of Superman, but because the Fan Press and much of the reading public perceived it as John Byrne messing with Superman. If the project was a disaster, I was the one who was going to

catch all or most of the flack.

If it was a success, well…)

his mind possessed and body used for evil.

It was a success, to be sure. In 1985, Superman sold on average about 98,000 copies per issue, but by the end of 1987 the new book was selling well over 161,000 copies per issue.

The revamped Action Comics, also by Byrne, showed even higher gains. As the premier super-hero, Superman was rightfully on top again.

Over the following eleven issues of Superman, Byrne introduced the series’ supporting cast, again with a mix of new and old characters.

Capt. Maggie Sawyer of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, one of comics’ first openly gay characters, was a timely addition: October 11th, 1987, saw the first National Coming Out Day and the second National March on Washington D.C. for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

Byrne endowed Superman #1 with an eclectic mix of new and old, basically jumping into the Man of Steel’s adventures as if this new version had been operating all along. Clark Kent is reintroduced as a muscled, cleancut farmboy-in-the-big-city type, a clear departure from the nebbish, clumsy Clark of old. The biggest departure from form would have to be Superman’s complete thrashing in the issue by a revamped Metallo, a villain with kryptonite emanating from his eyes – a substance this new Superman is unaware of. (He’s also unaware of his planet of origin.) Byrne seemed to want to make it clear to the reader that this was definitely not “your father’s/grandfather’s Superman,” the one who could move planets effortlessly. In fact, the writer/artist hammers this home in Action Comics #584 (Jan. 1987), his first on that series, wherein Our Hero has

The post-Crisis Superman revamp portrayed Lex Luthor as a megalomaniacal billionaire industrialist.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

Byrne also addressed such issues as Superman’s secret identity with a fresh, new take: no one would ever suspect that a mask-less hero had anything to hide, so the public is unaware that Superman lives another life as a “normal” man.

The writer-artist rhetorically asked, “When was Superman so stupid that he told people he had a secret identity? Why would he do that?” (Daniels 192). To streamline the Man of Steel’s career, Byrne erased Superboy, the Superman-as-a-boy character, out of continuity. (Since Superboy’s legendary adventures inspired super-powered youths of the 30th century to form the Legion of SuperHeroes, writer Paul Levitz, in turn, had to create a new Superboy—one from a Time Trapper-constructed “Pocket Universe”—in order to keep the Legion’s continuity relatively unaltered.) In all, Byrne’s own proclivities, such as an obsession with the DC concepts created by the legendary Jack Kirby and an eye for mysteries and large-scale destruction, made for a colorful first year for the new Superman and Action Comics.

191

Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway were the inaugural creative team on Adventures of Superman.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

With a creative team of writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jerry Ordway, the first issue of The Adventures of Superman, #424 (Jan. 1987) picked up the numbering of the original run of Superman, which had begun in 1940. Its cover offered a more traditional “first issue” image of the Man of Steel basking in the setting sun and sporting a bald eagle on one arm. Wolfman used

the same set pieces as Byrne, but with perhaps a bit more emphasis on Superman’s cast, such as Perry White, Lois Lane’s family, the Daily Planet’s new gossip columnist Cat Grant, and the new businessman version of Lex Luthor.

The Adventures of Superman also began much as Superman #1, as if nothing had changed and it was business-as-usual in Metropolis.

[Byrne’s] Superman act. We’re not planning to change Batman’s origin, nor anything else that’s been established about Batman, his friends, foes, locales. Rather, we’re regressing them, purifying them.”

That purification process began in 1986 with Frank Miller’s blockbuster Batman: The Dark Knight limited series and continued in 1987 with a four-part story titled “Batman: Year One” in the ongoing Batman title.

All three Superman titles made strides towards unveiling new adversaries for their main character, yet few of them made enough of an impression on the readers— or their creators—to stand the test of time.

Revamped version of traditional villains like Lex Luthor, Darkseid, and even Mister Mxyzptlk seemed to resonate more with fans than 1987 newcomers like Bloodsport, Klaash, or Concussion. A reducedstrength Superman meant more possibilities for villains to succeed in their schemes, but the Man of Steel would carry on with a rogues gallery that fell far short in creativity and staying power, unlike that of his fellow hero, Batman.

Batman’s “New Adventures” Whereas the Man of Steel changed, the Caped Crusader stayed the same in 1987. DC seemed to have no interest in rebooting the “Dark Knight” after Crisis on Infinite Earths, just restrengthening his origins and his ties to the darkness. Batman line editor Denny O’Neil gave readers a headsup in a text piece in Detective Comics #568 (Nov. 1986): “What’s happening with the Batman? Well, for openers, we’re not going to follow John

On the heels of his Dark Knight series, Frank Miller’s next Batman project was titled “Year One.” Batman TM and © DC Comics.

192

For regular readers who perhaps were not paying attention to DC house ads or other sundry announcements, Batman #404 (Feb. 1987) must have come as something of a surprise. With its terse Frank Miller prose, artist David Mazzucchelli’s nononsense, almost expressionistic art and Richmond Lewis’ somber colors, the first chapter of “Batman: Year One” heralded a new look and style for the character that so gripped readers that it was allowed to commit a onceunpardonable sin: the costumed Batman was nowhere to be found within its pages. That would come in the second chapter, in Batman #405 (March 1987), and when it did, it offered up a Caped Crusader sporting a costume that was almost realistic.

This Batman’s colors were muted, his belt a bulky thing with pouches and his chest symbol a large stylized bat sans yellow oval. For the first time since 1964, Batman wore no bright, garish bulls-eye over his heart.

Covers to the four issues of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s “Batman: Year One” story arc.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

If any of the Batman’s supporting cast received the kind of make-over that Superman experienced in 1987, it was the series’ femme fatale Catwoman and the Boy Wonder himself, Robin.

Selina Kyle was re-introduced during “Year One” as a man-hating prostitute in Gotham City’s squalid red-light district, who received a punch in the jaw from a disguised, pre-Batman Bruce Wayne. This grittier portrayal became the standard Catwoman origin for many years to come. Ironically, the original version of the character, with her purple-green 1940s-1950s costume, appeared in Detective Comics #569-570, written by Mike W. Barr and published just one month prior to the launch of “Year One.”

catches a returned Jason in the act of trying to snatch the remaining tires. By Batman #410, the boy was in costume as Robin. Little did anyone know, especially at DC, that this Boy Wonder’s days were numbered.

For the oldest Batman title, Detective Comics, O’Neil brought in the team of writer Mike W. Barr and artists Alan Davis and Paul Neary, who kicked off a run that featured many of Batman’s most popular adversaries. Barr played with the relationship between the Caped Crusader and Catwoman, and pitted Batman against such villain-

But it was Jason Todd, a.k.a. Robin, who received the more extreme reboot during this time. With Crisis on Infinite Earths providing DC the opportunity to alter the past and forge a new future, gone was Jason’s circus origin, a virtual clone of Dick Grayson’s beginnings. In its place, Batman #408 (June 1987) introduced readers to the new Jason Todd, a homeless street youth who brashly stole the wheels off a parked Batmobile. To cement the change, the new masthead logo on the front cover proclaimed these were the “New Adventures” of the Dynamic Duo. Batman #408 provided the surreal sight of Batman discovering his wheel-less vehicle… and then laughing uproariously. “It takes stones to rip off the Batman’s buggy—,” he thinks admiringly to himself, then

ous luminaries as the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, and Two-Face.

1987 was also punctuated with Detective Comics #572, an “anniversary” issue celebrating fifty years of Batman headlining the book, and Barr’s follow-up to Batman’s “Year One” storyline, “Batman Year Two,” for which future comic book superstar Todd McFarlane took over art chores from Davis.

Barr had conceived the story in 1984, something he called “Batman: 1980,” but DC turned him down then, choosing to look forward, not backwards.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barr would be given his chance to finally tell the tale as a counterpart to the “Year One” story, though it appeared at the time as if he was only riding Miller’s coattails (Cronin #53).

The cover of Detective Comics #575 (June 1987), the first part of “Year Two,” attempted to provoke readers with a bold image of the Dark Knight Detective sporting a pistol. The story itself addressed the character’s early use of firearms and his eventual ban on them. The shock must have been enough to resuscitate fans, as Detective Comics’ sales numbers soared from a lackluster 70,000 monthly average in 1986 to a healthy 128,000 average in 1987. “Back to basics” for Batman was best for business.

Batman #408 re-introduced Jason Todd (a.k.a. Robin) to DC’s post-Crisis continuity.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

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And that business model, good enough for DC’s top two titans, would remain true for its third big hero, a certain Amazonian Princess.

Then, the company outright killed her during the climax of Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (March 1986), or rather “devolved” her back into the clay from which she was formed all those years ago. Either way, the slate had been wiped clean, and DC began to think of a way to make her a viable, lucrative property once again.

To fill the gap between her last issue and the proposed relaunch, DC published a four-issue mini-series called The Legend of Wonder Woman at the beginning of 1987. It was a legal move to fulfill a decades-old contract with the Marston estate; if the company didn’t publish four issues of a Wonder Woman title in a given year, the entire ball of wax – or clay – reverted back to the family of her creator.

Something Other Than a “Female Superman” Superstar artist George Pérez believed in the most-famous of fictional heroines, but by mid-1986, Wonder Woman was, literally and figuratively, dead. The third spoke of DC’s Trinity of lead characters was an official also-ran.

Since re-invigoration was in the air and virtually every other character at the company was getting the re-boot, Wonder Woman also began anew in 1987. Jenette Kahn called her a “national treasure,” and “one of the three most important DC characters ever created, perhaps the first feminist in pop fiction” (Daniels 194). Unfortunately, Wonder Woman just couldn’t sell like Superman and Batman.

A DC Comics 1987 house ad promotes George Pérez’s reboot of Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics.

The title dedicated to the adventures of Princess Diana of Paradise Island was selling only 52,000 copies on average per issue when DC pulled the plug on her with Wonder Woman #329 (Feb. 1986). For the first time in over forty-five years, there was no Wonder Woman title on the racks.

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Surprisingly, DC had a wee bit of trouble finding a creative team to re-imagine the Princess. According to artist George Pérez’s text piece in Wonder Woman #1 (Feb. 1987), the company had scraped up a writer, the relatively-unknown Greg Potter, but claimed that artists were not beating down the door for the artistic bragging rights. Pérez raised his hand to volunteer, thinking he’d only help out until a more suitable illustrator could be found, but ended up staying on the title for five years, first as artist and co-plotter, but eventually handling the full writing chores. Pérez had a clear vision of the new path that the princess walked, “I wanted to get back to the mythology. I wanted to purify the concept.

I was trying to do a humanist as opposed to a strictly feminist point of view, because I didn’t want her to be a confrontational character” (Daniels 194).

Mythology turned out to be the allimportant key, and the new Wonder Woman title relied heavily on the Greek legends and tales that the character’s preceding versions only obliquely referred to since the passing of Marston in the late 1940s. Pérez ramped up the mythology angle and revamped the heroine’s adversaries and her supporting cast, sacrificing a few sacred cows along the way.

Gone was the young, vital, beefcake Colonel Steve Trevor who’d enjoyed romancing Diana for decades; in his place, Potter and Pérez introduced an older, more mature Trevor whose

previous romantic inclinations toward Wonder Woman were replaced with decidedly paternalistic feelings.

Absent, too, was the roly-poly “Woo Woo” girl-sidekick Etta Candy. Echoing a 1980 reboot of the previous WW series, she was replaced by a tougher, no-nonsense Etta who wore a U.S. Air Force uniform and was more concerned with her boss Trevor than the pursuit of candies.

To put the new Amazonian warriorprincess through her paces in her first year, Pérez called forth such mythological terrors as Phobos and Deimos, the Medusa’s daughter Decay, the legendary Hydra, the god of war Ares, and a revamped, classic Wonder Woman villain, the Cheetah. So too was Diana’s origin tinkered with, and, unlike DC’s rebooting of Superman, this new Wonder Woman began her career in the present-day, dispensing with decades of stories of her interacting with her fellow super heroes. In fact, Legends #6 (April 1987), the final issue of DC’s company-wide event for the year, told of the princess’ first meeting with the DC pantheon, which took place some time after the others had begun their costumed careers.

This was another bold move on DC’s part, if somewhat piece-meal in its

George Pérez’s wrap around cover to the first issue of the new Wonder Woman series.

Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics.

execution.

Regardless, sales on the new Wonder Woman in 1987, while not reaching the heights of her male counterparts, proved the old girl still had some life in her. In that first year, her series sold a respectable average of 118,000 copies each month, and DC looked down upon the work and proclaimed it good.

Now all DC needed was a new clubhouse for all these refreshed heroes and heroines to hang out and swap

stories about their respective rebirth experiences.

A Return to Greatness For the mighty Justice League of America to be reborn, it, like Wonder Woman before it, had to die. What had begun in 1960 as a vehicle for DC’s top characters to co-exist in the same book had by 1987 devolved into the antithesis of that grandiose idea. Since 1984, the venerable Justice League of America title had harbored a clutch of lower-tier heroes like Aquaman and Elongated Man who babysat a few nobody-newbies like Vibe and Gypsy in a headquarters not orbiting the Earth, but set in an old building in Detroit, Michigan.

The fans had come to understandably loathe them and the book had fallen from its 1960s heyday of 300,000plus copies sold per issue to its mid80s embarrassment of an average of barely above 80,000. Without the “big guns” of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the Justice League was running on fumes.

A new thought struck DC’s PowersThat-Be and, after a death-knell for “Justice League Detroit” in Legends and in Justice League of America #258-261 (Jan.-April 1987), a new team entered the fray, as different as what had come before as the day is long.

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the United States and, interestingly, serious crimefighting.

Artist-writer Keith Giffen, who tackled both the plotting and art breakdowns on Justice League, was joined on the book by former Justice League of America scripter J.M. DeMatteis to spruce up Giffen’s dialogue. Originally, DeMatteis had no interest in working on the book, desiring nothing more than to move ahead to other projects. But editor Helfer convinced him to look at what Giffen had wrought in the first issue and before he knew what he was doing, DeMatteis was delivering dialogue over the artist’s plots. “Writing Justice League,” DeMatteis explained, “was like a relaxed game of tennis: Keith would lob the ball to me, I’d lob it back to him, he’d lob it back again, and, with each whack of the racket, the stories would grow far beyond what either of us intended” (DeMatteis). Together, in this fashion, the two ushered in a singularly unique take on the Justice League.

A new era for the Justice League began in 1987, courtesy of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire.

Justice League TM and © DC Comics.

DC editor Andy Helfer had a problem on his hands. Tasked with launching a brand-new Justice League book that would be presented as a “return to greatness,” he found himself limited to which heroes he could use. With the splashy reboots of Superman, Wonder Woman, and (soon to come) Flash at hand, the respective editors of those titles nixed any use of their stars in the new League. Helfer’s one coup came with permission from

Batman’s Denny O’Neil to allow the Caped Crusader to mix freely with the nascent team (Cronin #199).

The new League came together first in the final pages of Legends #6 (April 1987) and shortly thereafter in its own title, Justice League #1 (May 1987). Readers noted that “of America” was missing from the masthead, but that was a purposeful omission

by DC. The new group would far exceed the borders and boundaries of 196

The big surprise on the creative team had to be the inclusion of relative newcomer Kevin Maguire as Justice League’s penciler. Though one of Marvel’s famous “Romita’s Raiders” from the mid-1980s, Maguire had very few professional comic book credits to his name before the Justice League assignment. The artist’s name on the roster was an interesting choice for one of DC’s highest-profile series. Regardless, Maguire soon garnered admirers for his clean art and his character’s almost-photorealistic facial features; one had to wonder if the artist spent a lot of time making faces in the mirror while he drew. Maguire’s cover for Justice League #1 showed the entire cast standing together, staring up at the reader with expressions that ranged from stoic and heroic to outright aggression. It has since become one of the most copied and parodied covers in comic history.

If the names on the credit line were an odd assortment, the roll call of heroes in Justice League quickly cemented the idea in readers’ heads that the traditions of the past were out the window. Batman led the team as the “Big Gun” concession, bringing with him League alumni Black Canary and the Martian Manhunter, and an old Brave and the Bold co-star Mister Miracle.

After that, DC took advantage of its post-Crisis universe to bring in Doctor Fate, a Golden Age hero formerly from Earth 2’s alternate reality, and two characters that the company had acquired from defunct comic publishers: Fawcett’s Captain Marvel and Charlton’s Blue Beetle. Giffen, as both writer and artist, even parlayed Fate into his own four-issue mini-series in 1987, which paved the way for an ongoing Doctor Fate book the following year.

Perhaps the true break-out star of Justice League was the book’s resident Green Lantern, a red-headed macho man named Guy Gardner. Guy’s prickly behavior set up many of the situations in the first few issues of the book, until a single punch from a disgusted Batman in Justice League #5 (Sept. 1987) brought about a new personality for the character, that of a pacifist dreamer. In fact, “one punch” became something of a catchphrase for both fans of the book and the characters who inhabited it.

It became quickly apparent that Giffen and DeMatteis’s objective for Justice League was to shoot down a few clichés of comic book super-heroes and to take very little in the continuing stories seriously. The title of the series actually changed to Justice League International with its seventh issue and the inclusion of a Russian teammate, Rocket Red. With the very next issue the book’s raison d’etre changed forever from super-hero adventure with comedic moments to outright ongoing comedy. With its nowlegendary inauguration of the “Bwah-Ha-Ha!” war cry in Justice League International #8 (Dec. 1987), the title would earn the eternal sobriquet of “Justice League Ridiculous.”

League in 1987 were as varied as the heroes themselves. Faux terrorists in the first issue gave way to a trio of inter-dimensional heroes from an early 1970s Justice League of America story, only to be topped in outrageousness by the Royal Flush deck of losers and the sinister Gray Man. One of the elements of the series that piqued readers’ interest the most was enigmatic businessman Maxwell Lord, introduced at the end of Justice League #1. While Maguire asserts he didn’t

model Max on anybody, the character nonetheless resembles actor Sam Neill as he appeared as Damien, the son of the Devil, in the 1981 film Omen III: The Final Conflict. And Max was indeed devilish, as he attempted to conform the fledging League to his own specifications. However, Max soon became a kind of erstwhile guiding force for the team and a character that later grew into a major player in the wider DC Universe.

Justice League took the more lighthearted approach of 1987’s Superman and Wonder Woman relaunches to goofy extremes. It bucked the trend of popular “grim and gritty” comic books and because of that, the creators uniformly assumed the new Justice League would be a sales disaster. Looking back, Giffen states, “We really thought we’d get killed, we thought the book would die. I was ready to go show my portfolio to Marvel. I thought we were doomed because of our silly little sitcom of a book” (Johnson 8). Maguire shared similar apprehensions: “When I was waiting for [Justice League #1] to come out, I was walking down the street with one of the assistant editors and said, ‘That’s it, it’s over, man. No one’s going to like this’” (Johnson 24). Much to everyone’s surprise (and relief), the book didn’t just sell well, it cemented itself as one of DC’s biggest successes of the year with a solid average of 165,000 copies sold per issue, passing the Man of Steel’s sales, but falling short of League leader Batman’s own title.

With one punch, Batman knocks out Guy Gardner in Justice League #5.

TM and © DC Comics.

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But Superman #1, Wonder Woman #1, and Justice League #1 weren’t the only inaugural issues that set 1987 apart as a year of beginnings. DC had only just begun providing new reasons for readers to turn out their wallets.

The Costume’s the Same, Everything Else is Different!

And the new #1’s just kept on flowing out of DC as 1987 progressed. Virtually every concept and character was fair game for a new take, and the company rolled the dice with wild abandon. Two red-costumed, lightning bolt-wearers were up next for new beginnings, but only one would rate as a success, while the other, ultimately, never truly rose to the occasion.

The Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen, had been disintegrated in the pages of 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths #8, and while DC could have brought him back from such a fate—a la Wonder Woman—there was another angle for resurrection that some of Barry’s other chums didn’t have: a sidekick.

From the ashes of the Crisis rose a new Flash to honor the old: Wally West, the former Kid Flash. And the legacy of the Scarlet Speedster would never, ever be the same.

Once again, the Legends mini-series provided a springboard for Wally, wearing his mentor’s red suit and golden boots but running at only a fraction of Barry Allen’s faster-thanlight top speed. This was to be a Flash who had to work harder for his fleet footing and be reminded of its cost.

The grittier industry of 1987 demanded a more realistic hero.

Flash #1 (June 1987) gave readers a glimpse of the life of the first sidekick in comics to take over his mentor’s codename and costume. Writer Mike Baron, along with artist Jackson Guice, painted a picture of a young man with the weight of legacy on his shoulders and a healthy appetite for food, fun…and fillies. Whereas Barry Allen was a happily-married, monogamous male, Wally West was very clearly playing the field, and readers were treated to a super-hero whose sex life was all-too visible. Plus, the red-haired speedster was something of a jerk. As The Flash Companion describes it, “What readers of the new Flash had to adjust to the most… was Wally’s newly developed obnoxious personality. In his own title the Flash was depicted as an insensitive, materialistic, immature dunce. It was ultimately established that this behavior emerged from Wally’s low self-worth” (Dallas 133).

The Flash is re-launched with the former Kid Flash, Wally West, assuming the role of his former mentor.

Flash TM and © DC Comics.

When the original Flash title ended its race to the finish line in 1985 after a 26-year run, it was barely selling 70,000 copies per issue. By contrast, just one Direct Market distributor— Capital City—bought 31,500 copies of 1987’s Flash #1. Beset by personal problems at the time, writer Mike Baron still managed to strike a coherent enough chord with the fans and made them root for one of the most unlikable young heroes of all.

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As for likable young heroes, DC had Captain Marvel, who, perhaps, was too likable for a 1980s audience. By 1987, no one knew what to do with the character that once outsold the Man of Steel himself. “Captain Marvel was always a problem character for the DC Universe, even in the slightly more innocent 1980s,” explains former DC editor Bob Greenberger. “His world was of a simpler time, and it never seemed to fit as things got

grimmer and grittier” (12). But someone believed in the vintage character and that someone was veteran comic creator Roy Thomas.

artist) Tom Mandrake moved on, we had every reason to believe a regular Shazam! would be a good seller. (10)

aging editor Dick Giordano to create a new book that might better embrace DC’s new revamped version of World War II (Thomas 192).

Roy Thomas disagreed with Greenberger’s assessment. In 1983, Thomas set about the process of resurrecting—and revamping—one of the most popular Golden Age greats of them all. “[In 1983] DC was still a year or three away from owning The Marvel Family outright, and merely licensed them,” he remembers. “I was told it might be tricky to get Fawcett’s permission to radically revamp one of the trio. Truth is, I got the distinct impression that nobody at DC even wanted to ask Fawcett” (9).

But it just wasn’t to be. The exact reasons why the concept once again wallowed in a kind of comic book limbo are under contention between Thomas and Greenberger, the editor to whom the ongoing book would have fallen. Suffice to say that DC was still unsure of Captain Marvel’s place in the down-and-dirty modern world of comics. Thomas would continue to grow more discontented with his position at DC, after both this stillbirth of a new Shazam! and the elimination of his beloved Earth 2 with Crisis on Infinite Earths. Perhaps in his corner of the DC Universe, Roy Thomas felt the sting of loss a bit more than his fellow writers.

Young All-Stars #1 (June 1987) debuted with an eclectic band of kids in the lead spots, but the series failed to capture the interest from readers that its predecessor had enjoyed during its near-six-year run. Thomas also still had his Infinity Inc. book in 1987, but that series wound down in the following year and the writer couldn’t help but feel as if his beloved Golden Age of heroes had been forever pulled away from him. He had already moved to save the Justice Society of America characters from what he felt was DC’s urge to write them out of continuity all-together in Crisis on Infinite Earths by, essentially, putting them in a safe deposit box with 1986’s Last Days of the Justice Society special.

With dark days ahead for both Young All-Stars and Infinity Inc., something had to give for Roy Thomas, and love for his dear heroes of DC’s Golden Age would not be enough to curb his wanderlust.

Captain Marvel, who Thomas calls “one of the great pop-culture myths of the twentieth century” in his text page in Shazam: The New Beginning #1, got his chance for resurrection when, after a stint in the Legends mini-series, the character once again donned his cape and smile for his own four-issue try-out book. In Shazam: The New Beginning readers met the Captain and his alter-ego Billy Batson for the “first” time.

Thomas wiped the slate clean for the character and, similarly to Superman’s new start, pared away the overgrowth from his mythos. Absent was the rest of the Marvel Family. In their stead, the writer brought Billy into the present day and had him go it alone against nemeses Black Adam and Doctor Sivana. By the end of the fourth issue, Thomas had dove-tailed the story with Captain Marvel’s appearance in Legends and laid hints of an ongoing series to come. Shazam: The New Beginning had sold well, according to its scribe: The direct orders on Shazam: The New Beginning, while declining in the usual pattern from #1 to #2 through #3, jumped up again nicely with the 4th issue and final issue, which outsold the previous two. When that occurred, I was told, it meant that sales of #1 in comics stores had been good, since the last issue of a four-part monthly series was the first one whose orders reflected actual sellthrough. The mini-series was a hit – and, though (series

In the final issue of his World War II-era series All-Star Squadron, the writer-editor announced that 1987 would bring a new title which would continue in the same vein but feature a new cast of younger heroes fighting for democracy in the 1940s. AllStar Squadron had been, in his words, “fatally wounded” by the plucking of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman from “Golden Age” continuity, and instead of marching on with that series, Thomas agreed with man-

Off The Beaten Path Like the Wally West Flash, not every character at DC was a paragon of virtue, cloaked in a billowing cape; some wore shrouds on their backs. Two new series for 1987 illuminated the darker corners of the DC Universe and proved that a few old concepts still had some life in them.

Suicide Squad took a name from a fictional team of plainclothes agents from a 1959 issue of The Brave and the Bold and turned that name on its ear with a modern flair. According to the text pages of Suicide Squad #1 (May 1987), editor Bob Greenberger had suggested to writer John Ostrander that the name had potential, and over the following months the new ideas flowed until a consensus was reached: the new Squad would be made up primarily of super villains.

Roy Thomas attempted to update Captain Marvel for a 1980s audience in the Shazam: The New Beginning mini-series.

TM and © DC Comics.

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It was one of the most eclectic comic book teams ever assembled, perhaps even more than the new Justice League. Rick Flag, son of the man who headed up the original Squad, held together a loose-knit covert band of ne’er-do-wells on behalf of the American government. The idea was that if the bad guys agreed to perform

X-Men—and pitched a revival of the concept in 1977’s Showcase #94.

“It was well received,” explains editor Mike Gold in Doom Patrol #1 (Oct. 1987) of Kupperberg’s Showcase experiment. “And there was some talk about spinning it off into its own series in 1978 when market conditions shifted and DC cancelled a number of titles. It wasn’t a good time to launch a new series.”

In a twist, Suicide Squad starred DC Comics’ super-villains.

Suicide Squad TM and © DC Comics.

dangerous missions, their prison sentences would be converted to time served. If they were disagreeable, they were fitted with a “bracelet” that could be triggered to explode.

There was to be no confusion between the title and Justice League, despite all the bluster and hot air they both shared.

But 1987 was a good time, perhaps the best, to try something a bit different, and the Doom Patrol was certainly that. “1986-88 was the postCrisis period and a pretty fertile time at DC,” the writer said in an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles. “DC was looking to put out more product and there were lots of opportunities to pitch new ongoing [series] and minis, especially those that helped define the ‘new’ DCU.” Headed up by original Patrol member Robotman, the new team was made up of misfits again, all of them with their own particular chips on their shoulders and secrets to hide. The first issue was a eulogy of sorts to the original members who died in Doom Patrol #121, in a very rare example of permanent death in a Silver Age comic book. Robotman didn’t exactly like his new teammates Celsius

(the wife of the late Chief), Negative Woman, Tempest, and Lodestone, but he tried to make it work.

In 1987, angst was all the rage in super teams, and DC had even darker paths to explore with only a few fringe characters serving as guides.

Questions and Answers In 1986, DC debuted two ongoing titles starring Charlton Comics’ former “Action Heroes”: Blue Beetle and Captain Atom. The former-Charlton heroine Nightshade found herself serving under the questionable ethics of the Suicide Squad in 1987, but it was a mysterious man without a face who, arguably, represented one of the strongest examples of grittier, more realistic “mature readers” story-telling that year.

In The Question #1 (Feb. 1987), DC took legendary comic creator Steve Ditko’s trenchcoated hero and brought him to his knees, both literally and figuratively. The Question embraced both martial arts and Eastern philosophy under the tutelage of an obscure DC character named Richard Dragon. The Question tended to be more about ideas and social movements than simply action and fisticuffs. As a result, the series had a flavor not found in DC’s mainstream offerings.

The resident villains included the assassin Bronze Tiger, the magical Enchantress, the repulsive Captain Boomerang, the sullen Deadshot, the explosive Plastique, and the enigmatic Mindboggler. The latter didn’t make it back from the first mission, thus the book’s title, and Boomerang became the book’s breakout star.

Readers seldom knew what to expect from the Squad’s missions, as they ranged from confronting superpowered terrorists and inter-galactic girlgangs to invading Soviet sovereignty.

Between Ostrander’s often sarcastic dialogue and Luke McDonnell’s art, Suicide Squad became a minor hit for DC and lasted five years and 66 issues. The villains came and went, but the diehard fans stayed.

The Doom Patrol, on the other hand, finally got its next chance in the big leagues. The original team’s demise came in 1968’s Doom Patrol #121.

Writer Paul Kupperberg was a fan of the team of misfit super-heroes— which predated Marvel’s similar

Steve Lightle’s wraparound cover to the first issue of Doom Patrol.

Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.

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Writer Denny O’Neil, who in 1987 was working primarily as a DC editor, crafted a book that he himself might have liked reading when he was a socially and politically minded youth of the 1960s. The man who almost single-

handedly put the nail in the coffin of “camp” for Batman in 1969 and put the “dark” back in the Dark Knight Detective, infused The Question with stories of social import, internal conflicts, and corrupt politicians. This new series was something of a departure from the original Charlton concept created by Ditko, who had embraced the tenets of objectivism in his life and his work.

Of any former Charlton hero, Captain Atom would go on to have the longest-running DC series, an admirable 57 issues.

The Question, though, managed a respectable thirty-six issues, and he did it without benefit of super powers, a flashy costume, or a Justice League connection—just the shadows and a strong sense of social justice.

DC also allowed one of its own characters to slip into the darkness in 1987, in a high-profile miniseries that boasted production values worthy of one of DC’s top tier heroes. That character was Green Arrow, who had run with the big boys since 1941 but more often than not took a back seat to them. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, a Prestige format three-issue story, pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in a mainstream super-hero comic and raised the bar for what could be done to re-align a long-standing character.

In 1987, Green Arrow and The Question both received radical make-overs.

Green Arrow and The Question TM and © DC Comics.

Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1 (Aug. 1987) showed readers an aging Oliver Queen, recognizing his mortality and frustrated with his life and career as the Emerald Archer. Writer-artist Mike Grell, who’d worked on the character in the 1970s with writer Denny O’Neil, painted a picture of a hero who was questioning his very reasons to continue on a path he’d walked for years. In a bold move, Grell ditched Ollie’s trademark “gimmick” arrows, remodeled his costume as a more sober hooded affair, and set him on Seattle’s mean 201

streets hunting not super villains, but a prostitute-dispatching serial killer who was modeled on Seattle’s notorious Green River Killer.

The series also addressed Green Arrow’s longtime paramour and partner Black Canary. In a shocking turn of events, Grell has Oliver find the love of his life strung up by a madman, tortured and quite possibly sexually violated. Green Arrow then crosses the ultimate line for a superhero: he kills. As writer Jayme Lynn Blaschke describes it: The graphic nature of Oliver’s rage and pain is overwhelming as he instantly changes from a playboy hero who had never willingly taken a life to one that would sacrifice everything to save the woman he loves. Critics have blasted Grell for the “rape” of Dinah [Black Canary], but her suffering isn’t glamorized, and isn’t minimized—the full impact of what she went through is felt for years to come in the following regular Green Arrow series. Of a more immediate nature, it is the pivotal event in Oliver’s life. Crime fighting stops being a game, and becomes deadly serious.

Oliver, too, becomes deadly serious, and while he still champions the underdog, he has far less respect—or mercy—for those who do evil.

Disturbing and shocking, this is still one of the most powerful comic issues ever printed, and it only works because Grell succeeds in making the reader believe the characters are living, breathing people.

(Blaschke) In effect, DC had moved one of its heroes into a darker realm of vigilantism, popularized that same year by Marvel’s Punisher. DC Comics also inaugurated an era of comic artwork that eschewed the traditional pencil and ink method for a multimedia style that incorporated paints, charcoals, and other tools. All this, plus its radical content and squarebound publication, made Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters stand out on the racks like no other comic book before it.

Moore or Less Alan Moore’s refusal to produce any new work for DC beyond his contractual obligations assured the demise of his proposed DC Universe crossover event. He titled it Twilight of the Superheroes, and as one would expect from a late 1980s Alan Moore pitch, the scope of the series was epic and its outlook bleak. The story begins with a time-traveling Rip Hunter and a future version of John Constantine visiting the present-day Constantine to warn him of an impending, catastrophic “Götterdümmerung.” In the future, the super-heroes have become the rulers of the planet, and they have divided themselves into eight “Houses”:

the corpses of super-heroes. That battle, though, only serves as a prelude to an even bigger conflict (Cronin #162).

This is the future that the time-traveled Constantine narrates to his present-day self. With an implanted vision of the apocalyptic twilight of the DC Universe in his head, the presentday Constantine then seeks out the

• The House of Steel (formed by the married couple of Superman and Wonder Woman, along with their brood); • The House of Thunder (composed of Captain Marvel and his Marvel Family); • The House of Titans (as in Teen Titans); • The House of Mystery (which includes DC’s magic-based characters); • The House of Secrets (at-large super-villains); • The House of Justice (a collection of unaffiliated super-heroes); • The House of Lanterns (aliens driven from Earth); • The House of Tomorrow (made up of time travelers).

The Houses of Steel and Thunder plan to merge with the marriage of Superboy (the son of Superman and Wonder Woman) and Mary Marvel, Jr. (the daughter of the incestuous Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel). But the other Houses oppose the union, and they attack. The wedding ceremony becomes a killing field, littered with

By 1987, Alan Moore was arguably the comic book industry’s biggest superstar. His work for DC Comics would soon come to an end.

world’s heroes in an attempt to turn them off the path to disaster. He does this with the assumption that his future-self wants him to change the course of history. In fact, the opposite turns out to be the truth: the older Constantine has tricked his younger self into taking steps that will insure the future he has described to him will indeed transpire.

In many ways, Moore’s lengthy pro202

posal to DC’s hierarchy was simply too far ahead of its time. The pitch includes a future where super-heroes have fallen into many sordid circumstances, including murder, sex, the ghettoizing of their elderly members and a lust for power. Though its story outline and themes were dark and emphasized the shadows that were creeping into mainstream comics at the time, the writer offered up a vision of the future of the DC Universe that, presumably, went a bit too far. Regardless, in 1987, Moore refused to write it anyway.

As a result, the Twilight of the Superheroes proposal remained “lost” until the 1990s when all sorts of documents began proliferating on the nascent World Wide Web. While Alan Moore was no longer willing to proceed with Twilight of the Superheroes, DC seemed very willing to proceed without him on a different project.

According to Barbara Randall, a DC editor during the late 1980s, shortly after Watchmen’s completion in 1987, plans were being laid for Watchmen prequels that would include early tales of the Minutemen, the Comedian and Rorschach. These plans didn’t involve either Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons, and DC wasn’t legally obligated to involve either of the Watchmen creators in order to publish new Watchmen comic books. At the time, Randall vehemently opposed what DC was planning: “Although I’m sure all those ideas would have made money, I felt they would have damaged (through dilution, not quality) a unique property and that DC would be much better served by leaving it alone” (Johnston). Randall felt obligated to sabotage the proposed prequels, so she contacted Alan Moore directly and tipped him off to DC’s plans. Allegedly, Moore then contacted Jenette Kahn. DC closed the year without publishing—or even announcing—any Watchmen prequels.

Unified Universe?

Back in the real DC Universe, the remaining titles continued on with little or no hiccups from the Crisis that boiled multiple Earths into one. But there were creators at the company who shared Roy Thomas’ disappointment in not only what changes DC wrought in 1986 and 1987 but also how those changes were implemented. One such was Robert Greenberger, who joined the firm in 1984 and had risen to a full editor by 1986. In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Greenberger gave his point-of-view on the behindthe-scenes story of DC’s post-Crisis approach to their new output: After Marv [Wolfman]’s notion of restarting all the titles with a #1 was not accepted

by Dick Giordano, Marv more or less stopped trying to deal with the aftermath of the Crisis. He was really burned out from that and New Teen Titans. It fell to [Executive Vice-President] Paul Levitz to hold a series of meetings designed to deal with a unified universe and timeline. He wanted different groups of editors to address things like compiling a consistent list of DC Universe people, places, and things so if we needed a high tech corporation, we had a few already on hand as opposed to making one up every time.

The most contentious of those may have been his insistence that time travel now be defined and more restrictive. After a series of meetings it was determined that a person was altered each time he or she traveled in time so that after a third such trip, your body could no longer withstand the rigors. You were stuck wherever you were on the third trip. We came up with the appropriate pseudo-science and wrote up the rules, which most of the editors decided to ignore. By then, Dick had larger editorial matters to deal with as we rebooted the Big Three so he tacitly let the editors thumb their noses

Above: DC Comics' cast of characters. Below: Stephen Bissette’s head sketch of the Rasputin-like Alan Moore originally appeared in Amazing Heroes #58. All characters TM and © DC Comics.

at the consistent universe.

Dick was a great editor and had a keen mind for good storytelling but things like continuity, rules and consistency to that degree were not his strong suit. As a result, the post-Crisis DCU almost immediately fell into contradictory patterns that required Zero Hour to attempt to straighten out, followed time and again with other attempts. Had Dick and Paul presented a unified front, and forced the editors to adhere to the new single Universe, the books might have turned out very differently.

DC Comics scored big with its revamping of major characters and teams, improving its sales by over 22% in one year’s time (Tolworthy). Additionally, for the months of August and September, DC beat Marvel in comic shop market share. Up to that point, DC had never beaten Marvel in comic shop market share for any given month 203

(Thompson). The feat was made even more impressive given the industry’s transformative shift away from the newsstand and toward the Direct Market. By 1987, 70% of Marvel’s gross sales came from the Direct Market (up from 20% in 1982) (Rozanski). Those newsstand sales

(even as shrinking as they were) still gave Marvel a sizeable advantage over DC. When combined with its Direct Market grosses, Marvel’s newsstand dominance helped maintain Marvel as the best-selling comic book publisher, a position it had kept since 1972 (Thompson 3).

Marvel Comics: Shake It Up Yet Marvel Comics in 1987 stood in stark contrast to DC; whereas DC went into the year with sweeping continuity-revising changes to its core titles and a solid president-publisher/executive editor team in place, Marvel’s bombshells fell not in its titles, but at the very top of its management situation. As of April 15, 1987, Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was cleaning out his desk after almost ten years at the top of heap.

Word of the change came officially in Marvel titles cover dated November 1987, in the hyperbolic “Bullpen Bulletins” text section: THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH! After guiding Marvel Comics to dazzling new creative heights for the past nine and a half years, Jim Shooter has stepped down from his position as the Editor in Chief.

Unquestionably one of the most talented creative people in the entire comic book industry, Jim was always spearheading the development of new formats, new concepts and exciting new comic book series! (Like The ’Nam! X-Factor! Power Pack!

The Punisher! New Mutants!

And others!)

and writers who had worked under Shooter related tales of the man’s alleged ego and demanding tendencies. One striking 1987 example of creators’ feeling towards their former boss can be seen in DC’s Legends #5 (March 1987). In the course of the story, writer Len Wein and artist John Byrne, both former Marvel veterans, pit Green Lantern Guy Gardner against a one-shot would-be villain named Sunspot… an obvious visual and thematic stand-in for Shooter.

Costumed and sporting powers not dissimilar to Shooter’s New Universe character Star Brand, the tall, lanky despot spouts lines like, “The ultimate power is finally mine --,” “I will remake this sorry world in my own image!,” “I am always in control!,” and “I wield the ultimate power – the power to create a new universe --.”

Ultimately, the villain ends up ignorantly burning off his own foot to escape Guy’s emerald snare.

At the time of Shooter’s dismissal, Marvel’s management refused to provide an official reason for it. All Marvel spokesman Steve Saffel would say was, “Jim had been editor-in-chief for ten years. The time just came for a change” (Fryer 13). Many, though,

speculated that months’ long friction between Shooter and his superiors led to his ouster. Soon after Cadence sold Marvel to New World Pictures in late 1986, Shooter alleges he wrote a letter to the New World managers, detailing the improprieties committed by Marvel’s still-in-power upper level management. He waited for what he saw as justice to be meted upon guilty parties. That justice would never come: “Ultimately, I was fired… so, the bad guys won. They got away with the money, I was no longer there to hassle them” (Shooter “A Recent Question and an Answer”).

Almost immediately after news of Shooter’s termination from Marvel broke, independent comic book company Blackthorne Publishing publicly announced it would offer him a job, and Marvel editor Larry Hama assured, “[Shooter] had standing offers from other companies. Some that would be pretty surprising” (Fryer 14). Shooter, however, painted a different picture of his post-Marvel situation: “I was the pariah of comics. I couldn’t get a job. No one would hire me. The phone never rang. So, I started all over again” (Shooter).

Ironically, in Marvel’s August 1987

The May 8, 1987 edition of The Comics Buyer’s Guide announces Jim Shooter’s dismissal as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. The Comics Buyer’s Guide TM and © F+W Media, Inc.

Marvel produced its very first Graphic Novels, Limited Series, and “Direct-Only” comics under his superb editorial leadership. His accomplishments are too numerous to list here. Suffice to say that he will be missed.

Which all sounds very benign on the surface, but the fact of the matter was that Shooter hadn’t “stepped down.”

He was fired.

The tremendous commercial success that Marvel Comics enjoyed with Shooter at the helm could not be denied, but for years some of the artists 204

“Bullpen Bulletins” section Shooter was highlighted in a “Pro File” piece with his “pet peeves” listed as “narrowmindness [sic] and shortsightedness” and his Marvel freelance credits note that, “By popular demand, I’m not writing anything at the moment.” This was true, because when the piece was published, the man had already been shown the door.

Industry reaction to Shooter’s sacking ran the gamut. Writer Mark Evanier told the fan press that upon learning the news, he wrote on a CompuServ computer network, “Ding-dong, the witch is dead.” That sentiment was then echoed by many of the other professionals who shared the network (Fryer 14). Writer David Michelinie, on the other hand, described the reaction from the other end of the spectrum: on the day Jim Shooter was fired, the Marvel staffers loyal to him were “stunned” with “looks of gaping surprise” on their faces.

Michelinie credited Shooter for remaining calm and dispensing with anger at the time of his firing and for the “anti-Shooter faction” to have the “good taste” not to express their supposed-joy while the man cleaned out his desk (Fryer 13). Shooter though claims the people who packed up his office were “cretins who particularly hated” him. As such, they made sure to damage Shooter’s personal effects as they boxed them up (Shooter).

One freelancer’s strong sentiments managed to top all others. Controversial longtime inker Vince Colletta wrote a scathing, vitriolic letter to the company’s editors that not only expressed his support for his friend and former employer, but, in a stream of profanity, attempted to put Shooter’s detractors in their place. In part, it read: Marvel Editors, you are the droppings of the creative world…. [Jim Shooter] gave you a title, respectability, power and even a credit card that you used and abused. He made you the highest payed [sic] editors in the history of the business. He protected you against all that would tamper with your rights, your power and your pocketbook.

The roof over your head. The clothes on your back. The car

manner than his predecessor.

Evanier explained the stakes of DeFalco’s promotion by declaring, “how Marvel will be different will have everything to do with Tom DeFalco” (Fryer 14). Roy Thomas forecasted: The new regime, based on statements that Tom has made, will let editors and writers play around with the format more, make the page layout a little less standard, just for experimentation… don’t look for a great change in direction from Marvel… expect more mutations than cosmic changes. The fine-tuning type of thing. (Fryer 14) By the time Jim Shooter appeared on the cover to The Comics Journal #115, he had been fired as Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief.

The Comics Journal TM and © Fantagraphics.

you drive and the trinkets you buy for your blind wives and girlfriends. You owe to the Pittsburgh kid….

Not the slightest whimper or cry or tear came out of this man. With you still biting at his ankles, he put on his coat and walked away. Displaying more class and poise in defeat than all of you did in victory.

Jesus has one Judas, Jim had many, those that speared him and worse, those that watched. (Bryant 109) Colletta even attempted a turn as power-broker when he called up Marvel alum Roy Thomas and inquired as to Thomas’s interest in taking Shooter’s place. Thomas informed Colletta that he had no desire to relocate from California to take a position he already once had in the early 1970s (Bryant 111).

Instead, Marvel’s new editor-in-chief was Tom DeFalco, who had acted as executive editor under Shooter. DeFalco had also come up through the ranks, having once been an assistant editor at Archie Comics and then a Marvel writer before finally gaining editorial control of the Spider-Man titles in 1981. With editor Mark Gruenwald promoted to the executive editor spot, DeFalco got on with business-as-usual at the vaunted “House of Ideas,” albeit in a less-conspicuous 205

Finally, Marv Wolfman attempted to define the incoming editor-in-chief as a different sort of manager than Shooter, one who had introduced what Wolfman saw as a more conciliatory atmosphere at the company.

That conciliatory atmosphere didn’t take long to exhibit itself. A little more than a month after Shooter’s termination, in a matter that didn’t involve DeFalco, Jack Kirby received and signed an amended version of Marvel’s original art release form.

The form had been altered at Kirby’s request. As Kirby’s lawyer, Greg Victoroff, put it, “Jack got just about everything he wanted” (Fryer 15). For two and a half years, a very public battle had been conducted against Marvel by a variety of individuals and organizations that all pressured Marvel to return to Jack Kirby the original art he drew during the 1960s. That battle was finally over.

Although many questions of Kirby’s rights in terms of the art and his claim to co-ownership of the characters he created with Stan Lee remained unanswered at the time, he was to have almost 2,000 pages of artwork returned to him. Kirby estimated that he had drawn approximately 13,000 pages for the company in total, but over the years, many of these pages had either been mistakenly discarded or stolen (Fryer 15). Coincidentally, artist Neal Adams also began receiving back original art he had drawn for Marvel, except he hadn’t signed any of the release forms that Marvel had sent him (Fryer 15).

On the final page of Amazing Spider-Man #290, Peter Parker pops “the BIG question” to old flame, Mary Jane Watson.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

wedding and the number of attending guests never got clearly communicated between creative teams.

As far as the Spider-Man comic books went, the prelude to the wedding began in Amazing Spider-Man #290 (July 1987) as Peter pops what the cover to the issue called “The BIG Question!” In the very next issue Mary Jane issues an emphatic “No!” She sees reason, though, by the end of Amazing Spider-Man #292, and the two love birds plan for nuptials to take place in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (Oct. 1987).

The Wedding of the Year Shooter’s departure didn’t mean the abandonment of projects begun at the end of his tenure. One such 1987 project actually began at a 1986 Chicago Comicon panel where a fan asked Stan Lee—who was authoring the Spider-Man newspaper strip—if Spider-Man was ever going to get married. Lee seemed keen on the idea of having Peter Parker marry old flame Mary Jane Watson, so he turned to the person sitting next to him and asked if he would allow it.

That person was Jim Shooter, and

as far as Shooter was concerned, anything Stan Lee wanted, Stan Lee should get. The two men agreed that the wedding should occur simultaneously within the comic book and the newspaper strip, and they began coordinating the project. Unfortunately, Shooter admits, “we blew that all to hell” (Shooter “Three Comic Book Weddings”). Marvel’s sale to New World Pictures occurred soon after the convention, and both Shooter and Lee became understandably preoccupied by the details of the sale. As a result, details like the location of the 206

Written by David Michelinie and Jim Shooter and drawn by Paul Ryan and Vince Colletta, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 was offered with two different covers by John Romita, Sr. One cover shows Mary Jane on Peter’s arm with friends and family in the background. The other has Spider-Man as Mary Jane’s groom with heroes and villains squaring off behind them.

“The Wedding!” reads as much like a soap opera than a super-hero comic.

Peter and MJ have their respective bouts with cold feet and jealousy before the ceremony, but by the annual’s end they are happily wed and firmly entered in the ledger of comic history.

Publicity for the marriage involved

Above: One of two covers John Romita Sr. drew for Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. Right: The 1987 Spider-Man newspaper strip that presents Peter and Mary Jane’s wedding.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

more than just a “Giant-Sized Annual” and a newspaper strip. Marvel attempted to marshal as much mainstream media coverage as it could.

Fashion designer Willi Smith was commissioned to create MJ’s wedding dress (one of his final projects as he died on April 17, 1987). The wedding was announced in the “Style” section of The New York Times, and on June 5—four days before the Annual arrived in comic book stores—SpiderMan married Mary Jane Watson on Shea Stadium’s home plate before the start of a New York Mets baseball game. Captain America, The Hulk, Iceman, Firestar, and Green Goblin— or more accurately, actors portraying them—witnessed a ceremony that Stan Lee officiated. Everyone in the stadium received a commemorative gift bag adorned with a picture of Spider-Man holding up a baseball in a mitt. The bag reads, “I caught SpiderMan’s wedding,” and inside were souvenirs that included a poster featuring the Marvel super-heroes posing with four New York Mets players as well as Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 itself. Later that night, a wedding reception was held at “The Tunnel,” a trendy lower west side Manhattan night club. Not a bad way to celebrate not only a fictitious wedding but the 25th anniversary of Spider-Man’s

first published appearance in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15.

But back in the comic books, SpiderMan didn’t have time to enjoy a honeymoon. Three weeks after the publication of the wedding annual, a new epic story arc began in Web of SpiderMan #31 that continued over the next two months in Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132, and Web of Spider-Man #32. It would soon become recognized as one of the character’s best tales: “Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt” (later referred to as just “Kraven’s Last Hunt”). The story is a down-and-dirty serial that in many ways exemplifies the grittier trend in 207

comics that year. It features Kraven the Hunter, one of Spider-Man’s oldest adversaries, though not as notable an enemy as the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus. Writer J.M. DeMatteis set out to change that.

Essentially, it’s the tale of Kraven’s last-ditch effort to conquer his foe, Spider-Man, by killing him and then stepping in to replace him. It came as something of a shock to readers to witness their hero so roundly defeated, shot and then buried in a grave. Kraven replaces Spider-Man by becoming a more ruthless, violent version of the wall-crawler, almost crossing over into Punisher territory by gifting other criminals with brutal beat-downs. Spider-Man, as it turns

caused both within and outside of comic fandom, even claiming one woman wrote to the company asking why they advocated suicide and criticizing them for “destroying literature.” “Many people wrote us expressing their views that Spider-Man shouldn’t be involved with such intense storylines,” the editors wrote in the collection’s Afterword. “One would infer that they believe everything about the wall-crawler should be candy coated and totally escapist. We, on the other hand, feel that anyone who believes such nonsense doesn’t understand who Spider-Man is or what he represents. From the very outset, Spider-Man (the comic) explored mature themes” (Herdling).

In 1987, Spider-Man comics also represented and explored the ability to sell a lot of copies. That year, Amazing Spider-Man averaged sales of more than 284,000 copies per issue, Web of Spider-Man 242,000 copies, and Spectacular Spider-Man a respectable 213,000. Those numbers were almost double that of the competition’s biggest characters, but they still paled in comparison to a group of mutants and a guy with a gun.

Punishments and Rewards Perhaps the finest barometer on consumer buying habits in 1987 comes in this little factoid: cover date July’s best-selling comic book was the first issue of The Punisher. The previous 1986 Punisher mini-series paved the way for what would become the guntoting vigilante’s first ongoing title and his eventual plethora of bloodsoaked books.

Mike Zeck drawn cover to the fifth chapter of the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” story arc.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

out, isn’t really dead, just in a druginduced coma and he returns to the land of the living to get his life back.

Kraven, satisfied and claiming to be at peace, commits suicide. Marvel treated it as a “permanent” death, making for an even greater impact on readers.

The tale had a labyrinthine origin.

DeMatteis originally conceived it for Marvel as a Wonder Man story that involved his evil brother, the Grim Reaper, but the writer subsequently

pitched the story to DC as a “Joker kills Batman” epic. Turned down with that proposal, the writer re-jiggered the story to feature Bat-baddie Hugo Strange, but that too found no favor at DC. Ultimately, the idea landed back at Marvel, this time with the writer crafting it as a Spider-Man vehicle (Cronin #218).

In the 1989 trade paperback collection of “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” editors Glenn Herdling and Jim Salicrup noted the controversy that the story 208

Capital City Distribution alone ordered 62,500 copies of that first issue, more copies than for any other comic book for that month. Frank Castle, the Punisher, was, essentially Number One with a bullet. A 1987 Amazing Heroes article trumpeted the news: Look out, X-Men! Move over, Superman! There’s a new top gun in the comics marketplace. And gun is the operative word! The newest hit title is The Punisher, starring every Marvelite’s black-and-white clad, violence-incarnate vigilante. The new series, crafted by comics veteran Mike Baron and Klaus Janson,

debuts March 17 and is already the best-selling book for that month. Advance orders for the first issue ran 10 to 20% higher than the next title. “X-Men and Silver Surfer are duking it out for second place,” Janson cheerfully relates. (Elliott 27)

militant flag-waver named John Walker who had his own ideas about patriotism. Of course, he and Cap clash, and in Captain America #332 (Sept. 1987) Steve Rogers throws down his shield and, in protest of government interference, walks out, leaving Walker to fill the costume and name of Captain America. To perhaps emulate the 1970s team of a white Steve Rogers and a black sidekick, the Falcon, Gruenwald introduced a partner for the new Cap, a black man named Lemar Hoskins who at first went by the tried-and-true codename “Bucky” until he is told that it sounded like a racist slur. The character was later renamed Battlestar.

Baron, the fan-favorite creator of another dark avenger, the Badger, was reportedly hand-picked for the gig

by Punisher editor Carl Potts. Baron promised that he was making the new book as violent as possible: “You take a character like the Punisher and you certainly cannot shy away from the implications. My God, this is the most action-explosion, blood-oriented character they [Marvel] have. It’s stupid to try to tone down the violence, so I don’t try to. I let the editors deal with it” (Elliott 29).

Marvel also threw caution to the wind when, late in 1987, it brought back Steve Rogers, but not as Captain America.

The legendary hero of World War II now sported a black version of his old duds, a new shield, and the simplified codename of “The Captain.”

The Punisher’s world was also noted to be moving from stark black-andwhite to shades of gray in the ongoing series. For the first time, Frank was gifted with a small supporting cast and a bit of a nagging conscience over how he acquired his weapons.

Still, The Punisher didn’t seem to shirk from pleasing its readers and the success of this series led directly to Marvel expanding the anti-hero’s shooting range over the following two years.

Meanwhile, over in Captain America, the Sentinel of Liberty took some punishment at the hands of writer Mark Gruenwald.

In a move that echoed Steve Englehart’s “Captain America Must Die!” story from 1974, the hero resigned his famous status as a living American flag and allowed someone else to step into his big red boots.

Captain America #327 (March 1987) brought back a character introduced four issues earlier. Super-Patriot was a

Top: cover to the first issue of The Punisher ongoing series.

Above: 1987 Marvel Comics house ad promoting the new Punisher title.

The Punisher TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

209

In 1987, Mark Gruenwald also continued to edit Iron Man, a title its creative team felt Marvel was neglecting. As writer David Michelinie recounts in his introduction to the Iron Man: Armor Wars trade paperback collection, one night in early 1987 plotter/inker Bob Layton gathered with other members of the Iron Man team—Michelinie, assistant editor Howard Mackie, and Jim Shooter—for a brainstorming session at an Italian restaurant. Layton expressed dismay at the lack of publicity he felt Marvel was giving the book. Layton thought that he and Michelinie, along with penciler Mark Bright, were producing good stories. So why couldn’t they get some press? Shooter answered that quality wasn’t enough because quality was the standard at Marvel. To get

Right: 1987 Marvel Comics house ad promoting the “Armor Wars” story arc that began in Iron Man #225 (above).

Iron Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

noticed, they’d have to do something special: “You need an EVENT. Give us something to push and we’ll push it!”

Musing a little more, Shooter then said, “What about this? What if someone got hold of Tony Stark’s armor designs and gave them to his ENEMIES? So that, in a moral sense, HE could be considered responsible for the results of their evil deeds?”

With that, Iron Man had a new direction and an event worthy of promotion. House ads teased “Time for the Avenger to start Avenging.” “Armor Wars” (actually titled “Stark Wars” within the issues themselves) began in Iron Man #225 (Dec. 1987) when Tony Stark learns a mercenary named Force was wearing armor based on designs stolen from Stark International. Stark goes on to discover that his armor designs have been widely— and illegally—disseminated. Stark resolves to find all the people he believes to be using his stolen designs and relinquish them of their armor.

While tracking down his technology, Iron Man clashes with many foes, among them Stilt Man, The Controller, Crimson Dynamo, and Titanium Man. But Iron Man also feuds with allies, such as Captain America (who is protecting the Guardsmen) and Nick Fury (who is keeper of the Mandroids). Soon the country begins to

question the actions of the armored Avenger, but Stark’s crusade continues, and the story raises the question of how far Iron Man is willing to go to retrieve what belongs to him.

“Armor Wars” lasted eight issues, and by its end, Iron Man had a new streamlined suit of armor, devoid of shoulder pads and neck collar. Perhaps most symbolically, the new armor’s color scheme returned to the classic red and gold.

Despite experimentation with new faces under the masks and the seedi210

er, shadowy side of the street, Marvel still had another familiar cash-cow to prop up the entire line should the readers not embrace the company’s 1987 changes. The X-Men franchise in 1987 was hale, hearty, dense and diverse, and it continued to have one principal architect: Chris Claremont.

The writer had been handling the characters regularly since their resuscitation as the “New X-Men” in 1975, and twelve years later, he was still scripting the core title, Uncanny X-Men, as well as the first X-spinoff,

New Mutants. Midway through 1987, Claremont handed the latter book off to writer Louise Simonson, leaving her to juggle both it and the third house in Marvel’s mutant cottage industry, X-Factor. Sales were the envy of the industry, with Uncanny X-Men in the lead with a whopping 1987 average of 430,000 copies sold per issue. X-Factor, the relative new kid on the block then, checked in with a 340,000 copy average and New Mutants, which really was about kids, sold roughly 223,000 per issue.

One of the stand-out unveilings from Claremont that year came in the dark form of Mister Sinister, a foe for the “merry mutants” that would stand the test of time and return for later engagements. Debuting in Uncanny X-Men #221 (Sept. 1987), the former 19th-century doctor was utilized by Claremont for more musings on such heady topics as genetics and immoral medical practices. Readers would soon learn of Sinister’s far-reaching hand and his involvement in the early development of X-Factor’s Cyclops.

The year also brought two mini-series that pitted Marvel’s main mutants against their fellow heroes, a triedand-true comic book cliché that just never seemed to get old. First up was Fantastic Four vs. X-Men, a four-issue mini-series that delivered what the title promised, thanks to, yes, writer Chris Claremont and artist Jon Bogdanove. The second series, X-Men vs. The Avengers, laid out its four-part story sans Claremont and with even more drama behind the scenes than on its pages.

X-Men vs. The Avengers #1-3 were written by Roger Stern, who was also writing the ongoing Avengers title in 1987. However, the wrap-up to the mini-series, issue #4 (July 1987), was written by Tom DeFalco, then on the cusp of being promoted to Editor-inChief. Stern explained the situation in 1997: Tom [DeFalco] was tapped to script the last issue all by himself (I never touched it), after a previously-agreed-to plot was changed by editorial fiat. The story was supposed to end with Magneto showing himself for the bastard he really was. After the plot was changed on me (not by

Tom), I decided the miniseries was too much grief to deal with any further. And [series artist] Marc [Silvestri] was yanked away from the mini-series to draw Uncanny X-Men, which was in need of a penciler. And, of course, I didn’t leave in a huff.

I continued to work at Marvel full-time… until I was finally fired from Avengers in May of 1987. (Seitz) That sacking would end Stern’s fiveyear run with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but not before the writer had a few last things to say about them.

In Final Battle…

The prolific Roger Stern had been writing Avengers since 1982, but in 1987 he hit a snag that his long tenure wouldn’t survive. Stern had begun the year in the middle of a storyline that is considered to be the pinnacle of his run, a high-water mark wellremembered by readers of the time.

Known today as “Under Siege,” Stern’s Avengers #273-277 (Nov. 1986-March 1987) pitted the team against a new Masters of Evil, made up of some of the nastiest Marvel villains around.

The story put the heroes through the ringer, both physically and emotionally, and some of them barely survived. It was a wake-up call to fans: the Avengers were not untouchable.

They did bleed.

Above: Marc Silvestri drawn cover to the first issue of the X-Men vs. the Avengers mini-series.

Below: Marvel Age #46 promotes the Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men mini-series.

All characters TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Sales were good on the title as the year dawned, placing Avengers as a mid-to-high-level Marvel seller with an average of 220,000 copies per issue.

Stern’s line-up included a mixture of stars, like Captain America and Thor, and a few lower-tier stalwarts, like the Black Knight and Hercules, but if there were any shirkers in the group, the John Buscema-Tom Palmer art more than made up for them.

But then the credit box for Avengers #286 (Dec. 1987) noted that only the plot was by Roger Stern. The script was handled by writer Ralph Macchio. By issue #288, Stern’s name was gone all together. That issue’s “Mark’s Remarks” column by Avengers editor Mark Gruenwald noted a “Changing of the Guard” and that a few words on the change might have been in order to “help illuminate the writer/editor working relationship.” Gruenwald 211

further claimed his remarks were made with Stern’s indulgence: Sometime mid-April [of 1987], I had Roger fly to New York for a conference to map out the next year’s Avengers story line and coordinate them with our two component books Captain America and Thor. In an afternoonlong session attended by the

various concerned writers and editors…we worked out what I thought to be an interesting, innovative direction.

It seemed like all participants agreed. However, when Roger got back home and began to work out the specific details to the scenario, he reported that he couldn’t come up with any way to make the scenario work without doing injustice to some of the characters involved. The bottom line was that he didn’t want to proceed with the story line we all discussed.

I was not interested in doing any injustices to any characters either, but I also believed that the story line could be done without hurting any characters. I was also not interested in forcing a writer to write something he didn’t want to. So, despite our five years’ plus of amicable working relations, we had developed what seemed to be irreconcilable differences.

Something had to give. I informed Roger that I wanted to proceed with the agreedupon story line and thus, I would hire another writer who could get behind the scenario enough to do it justice.

Gruenwald wrapped up the column by thanking Stern for “five years of good hard avenging,” and allowed the writer to make a brief, yet somewhat bittersweet statement of his own. On the surface, it sounded like a relatively amicable divorce, but, as he stated in 1997, Stern maintains that he was let go in a one-sided firing. He had instituted one of his own creations, the African-American female Captain Marvel, as Avengers leader, but claimed that in 1987 Gruenwald asked him to replace that captain with another, specifically Captain America. Furthermore, the editor also wanted the writer to show that Captain Marvel had proven herself “inferior” in the role as Avengers leader, a development that Stern insisted would make himself appear racist and sexist to his readers. For his opinion on the matter, Stern was removed from the book (Cronin #11).

Macchio picked up the pieces and stayed only for that one dissembling storyline, which featured a band of artificial intelligences. He was then replaced by Walter Simonson who went along with Gruenwald’s wishes as to the question of leadership. Roger Stern took the opportunity to jump ship to DC and write for, among other things, a certain Man of Steel.

Looking Back/Moving Forward

that were sold on the newsstand, Marvel Masterworks could be bought not only at Direct Market shops but also at the more ubiquitous retail book stores. That meant solid sales, despite a thirty-dollar price tag for each volume.

Marvel’s other good choices during the 1987 regarded the talent it hired and retained. One such talent was a recent Princeton University graduate who opted to change his career path.

He seemed predestined to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor, but an art class during his senior year at Princeton reinvigorated both his interest in comic books and his desire to draw. He decided to postpone his entry into medical school, a decision which tested the patience of his parents. To appease them, he promised that if he didn’t earn a living as a professional comic book artist within a year’s time, he would begin his medical studies. He brought

At its core, Marvel made good choices throughout the year, whether under the auspices of the more visible and vocal Jim Shooter or the more lowkey Tom DeFalco. One of those choices was to promote Marvel’s history through a series of expensive hardcover reprints dubbed the Marvel Masterworks. The line grew out of a need for new editor-in-chief DeFalco to balance the budget after the sales shortcomings of Shooter’s experimental New Universe line of titles (DeFalco 232). The Masterworks volumes reprinted stories from the very beginning of “The Marvel Age,” presenting the first ten issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Avengers, each grouped in its own volume. Of course, for years Marvel had reprinted its 1960sera comic books in the form of titles like Marvel Tales (which reprinted early issues of Amazing Spider-Man), Marvel Super Action (which reprinted The Avengers) and Amazing Adventures (which reprinted The XMen), among others.

The difference in 1987 was that these decades-old comic books were now being presented on glossy, sturdy paper within a dust-jacketed, stitch-bound John Buscema/Tom Palmer drawn cover to Avengers #276, hardcover. Also, unthe penultimate chapter of the “Under Siege” story arc. like the reprint titles Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. 212

his art samples to a New York comic convention and showed them to Marvel editor Archie Goodwin. Those samples were evidently good enough for the aspiring professional to earn an ongoing assignment as the penciler of Alpha Flight. He made his debut with issue #51 (Oct. 1987), and he stayed on the title for eleven issues.

It was an inauspicious start, but suffice to say, Jim Lee never enrolled in medical school. It wouldn’t take him long to become recognized as one of the most promising young artists in the industry.

Another promising young artist, and one of Lee’s future partners, Todd McFarlane, also benefited from Marvel’s good choices in 1987. He got paired with prolific writer Peter David on Incredible Hulk, starting with issue #331 (May 1987). The two creators would stay together on the book throughout the year, cementing both of their stars in the Marvel firmament and leading up to a Hulk-Wolverine battle in early 1988 that would become a fan-favorite for many years to come.

underwear guys, exaggerated them beyond reason as a good parody should, and distilled them into the grimmest, grittiest superhero of all” (Markstein).

Once the transition from Shooter to DeFalco was past, Marvel settled back into the business of making comics and looked forward to even bigger mile markers ahead. Marvel continued to dominate the industry’s market share, but that didn’t mean that the independent comic companies weren’t making an impact.

Independent Thinkers

Above: Credit page from Peter David and Todd McFarlane’s Hulk #333. Below: Cover to the first issue of Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshal Law. Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Marshal Law TM and © Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill.

Marvel also embraced both the thencurrent crop of British creators and the poke-in-the-eye violent trend of comics in a single book, Marshal Law. Part of Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint, Marshal Law skewered the super-hero genre with a healthy heaping of parody, satire and adults-only visuals. Writer Pat Mills and artist Kevin O’Neill, both British, took pains to address matters of United States governmental policy and other purely American tropes with a free hand, essentially producing a comic book for a company that stood at the center of their wry aim. As Don Markstein’s Toonpedia describes it, Marshal Law “took all the grim and all the gritty characteristics of contemporary long-

In some ways, Paul Chadwick personified the nitty-gritty of 1980s comic books. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design in 1979, Chadwick provided storyboards for such film studios as Disney, Warner Brothers, and Lucasfilm. His resume includes contributions to movies like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, The Big Easy, and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, among many others. He became a professional comic book artist in 1985 while drawing Marvel’s Dazzler, but it was for Dark Horse Presents #1 (July 1986) that Chadwick introduced the creation he would become most famous for: Concrete. Ronald Lithgow is an everyman whose brain gets involuntarily transplanted by aliens into a colossal concrete-like artificial body.

After being featured in several short tales in subsequent issues of Dark Horse Presents, the character earned his own eponymous black-and-white title. Concrete #1 arrived in stores in March of 1987.

While Concrete did go on “adventures,” they were of the mundane, non-super-heroic variety. Indeed, Chadwick shaped his series as a piece of realism, with the only fantastic element being the protagonist’s hulking,

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Left: Roll Call page from Concrete #1.

Concrete TM and © Paul Chadwick.

alum Tony Isabella scripting—gave the inter-dimensional super-powered police force its second ongoing title, one that lasted until the end of the decade.

Where There’s Thunder…

Interestingly enough, a group of characters that once co-starred with the Justice Machine in a 1983 one-shot sat squarely in the middle of a messy 1987 copyright matter. The saga of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents hit a strange note with not one, not two, but three different 1987 appearances – all of them disputed as illegal.

stony frame. A seriously contemplative book, Concrete ruminated on existential, political, and even sexual matters. It was also a bit of a throwback in its extensive use of thought balloons, a narrative device that had fallen out of favor among comic book creators by 1987. Concrete would go on to earn the highest of industry honors in the form of Eisner Awards in the consecutive years of 1988 and 1989, and also became one of the

most enduring parts of Dark Horse Comics’ catalog, with new Concrete stories and mini-series being published for decades to come.

Another writer/artist, Michael Gustovich, revived his Justice Machine concept, which he had previously published through his Noble Comics with little success. But now at Comico, Gustovich finally hit his stride. Justice Machine #1 (Jan. 1987)—featuring Gustovich on art chores and Marvel 214

David Singer, the man who declared that Wally Wood’s legendary 1960s characters were public domain, had ceased publication of his own take on them, Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, in 1986. Singer did so because of legal pressure from the man who asserted legitimate ownership of the characters, John Carbonaro. But Singer’s departure from the comic book scene didn’t end Carbonaro’s headaches. Instead, Carbonaro found that Singer’s efforts had so confused the industry about his possession of the “T-Agents” that other companies began publishing their own versions of the super-heroes too. So when Solson Publications released T.H.U.N.D.E.R. #1—written by Michael Sawyer, penciled by James Lyle, with art direction

by Rich Buckler—Carbonaro knew he

had a troublesome situation on his hands: On the basis of Singer’s premature declaration [that the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were in the public domain], [Solson publisher] Gary Brodsky and many others – without properly checking sources – started to produce new T-Agents books. I had to put out brush fires all over, ones started by people who had been, in effect, also sucker-punched by Singer. Brodsky was upset because he had already put together a book but couldn’t publish it, yet because I believed Gary and the creative team to be innocent (if foolhardy), I licensed the deal for a minimal fee. (Cooke 148) T.H.U.N.D.E.R. #1 would be the only cameo of the team under the Solson banner, but Carbonaro would have two other messes to clean up that year, namely Dark Horse Comics’ Boris the Bear #11 (June 1987) and Apple Comics’ Thunderbunny #11 (Sept.

1987), both of which prominently featured the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

When Carbonaro received assurances from both Dark Horse and Apple that they would never use T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents again, he let these copyright transgressions slide. Years later, he explained, “Understand that I was never looking for money but rather just to protect the characters I owned” (Cooke 157).

For the remainder of his life, Carbonaro sought a publisher who would not only produce a new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents book, but one that fell completely in line with his own vision of the property. Yet besides a couple of false starts with Penthouse Comix and DC Comics, Carbonaro would never live to see another T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic book. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 58.

Darker Days Ahead The independent comic book scene of 1987 was rounded out by a few other notable publications, including Gladstone’s Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #219 (July 1987), which featured an inaugural Uncle Scrooge adventure

by Carl Barks-aficionado Don Rosa.

Up to this point, Gladstone’s publish-

ing line was built on reprints of select artists like Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson, and if you asked Uncle Scrooge and Mickey Mouse fans, anything not created by those artists was irrelevant. The occasional new stories Gladstone published were truly produced just for foreign licensees and didn’t garner much fan enthusiasm. Don Rosa’s “The Son of the Sun,” however, broke through the fan bias and turned the writer/artist into a bonafide superstar in the Disney/funny animal arena, attracting the attention of people who’d otherwise dismiss the duck comics as kid stuff. Not only was “The Son of the Sun” nominated for a Harvey Award, it proved there was an audience for good, new Uncle Scrooge stories and paved the way for other popular contemporary cartoonists like William Van Horn.

Meanwhile, Apple Comics published Vietnam Journal #1 (Nov. 1987), written and drawn by Vietnam War veteran Don Lomax. If Doug Murray’s The ’Nam was as authentic as a standard Marvel comic book was allowed to be, Lomax’s Vietnam Journal took that authenticity up to its highest level by refusing to filter out war’s inevitable gore. As a result, Vietnam Journal presented horrific images: disfigured civilians, dismembered soldiers, bayoneted babies. Nothing was censored.

Future comic book writer Jason Aaron described Lomax’s work as “without a doubt, the most brutal and disturbing comics I’ve ever read…. Vietnam Journal is one of the most gritty and brutally honest war stories ever published” (Aaron).

The distinction between The ’Nam and Vietnam Journal also epitomized the difference between the years in which those two titles were first published. If 1986 set the trend of violent comic books with bleak world overviews, 1987 not only continued that trend but tried to amplify it to an even more extreme degree. In the name of presenting “mature” material, more and more comic books began featuring protagonists embodying questionable morality who fought blood-splattering conflicts that had despairing resolutions. As a result, the comic book industry ended up publishing both innovative narratives of sophisticated execution and derivative tales that simply wallowed in their own nihilistic outlook.

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Gladstone’s Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #219 featured “The Son of the Sun,” the first Scrooge McDuck story by writer/artist Don Rosa.

Uncle Scrooge TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Books like Giffen and DeMatteis’s Justice League deliberately went against the grim and gritty grain and were rewarded for it, but the fact of the matter was that every comic book publisher witnessed how incredibly well books like The Dark Knight and Watchmen sold, and the common assumption that was drawn was that the fan base wanted comic books of a similar tone and perspective. And when new books with those story elements sold well, that guaranteed the production of even more of them.

This all meant that 1988 was sure to deliver more “dark” narratives. The form that darkness took, though, would end up shocking many comic book readers, especially those who were fans of the Batman family.

1988

Killing Jokes and Killing Calls American Conservatism continued its political reign in 1988 as George H. W. Bush easily bested Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis in the November general election. In doing so, Bush became the first sitting Vice President of the United States to be elected President in 200 years.

Social Conservatism remained in its heyday as well, and those who seemingly violated the nation’s conservative values found themselves under fire. Case in point: Michael Correa, the manager of Lansing, Illinois comic book store Friendly Frank’s who was arrested on December 10, 1986 for attempting to disseminate obscene material, specifically copies of select issues of Catalan Communications’ The Bodyssey, Last Gasp’s Weirdo, and Kitchen Sink Press’ Omaha the Cat Dancer and Bizarre Sex. Correa’s trial before Illinois Judge Paul T. Foxgrover began in October 1987 and included testimony from Eclipse Comics’ editor-in-chief Cat Yronwode (who paid her own way to travel to Illinois and aid Correa’s defense). With Yronwode on the stand, Illinois prosecutor James Knibbs asked her to read and describe several comics, panel by panel. When Knibbs got to Weirdo #17, specifically a parody of the television sitcom Gilligan’s Island called “Isle of Lust,” Yronwode had to testify to the sexual shenanigans of the Skipper’s little buddy.

When she quoted, “My ass hurts,” Yronwode saw the court clerk “laughing so hard she could barely type” (“Filth on Trial” 103).

Ultimately though, the trial was no laughing matter. On January 13, 1988, Foxgrover found Correa guilty, fined him $750, and gave him a one-year probationary sentence.

With regards to Yronwode’s testimony, Foxgrover found it very weak. In his decision he declared, “The Court … disregards the purported testimony of the young woman who testified in this case…. She added nothing to the case as to the basic question of obscenity” (Powers 5). Correa subsequently appealed the verdict but also resigned his position as manager of Friendly Frank’s.

Back in December 1986 after his manager’s arrest, Friendly Frank’s owner, Frank Mangiracina, reached out to Kitchen Sink founder Denis Kitchen for aid. Kitchen recalls, “Frank called me because I was one of the publishers who got him busted. He was pretty distraught…. What frustrated me was that Frank was struggling to take care of this himself and it didn’t seem fair” (“CBLDF Case Files — Illinois v.

Correa”). So Kitchen set out to rally the troops, asking artists and creators to donate work to help raise funds to cover Correa’s legal costs. This included a gathering of comic book professionals at Hollywood’s Golden Apple Comic Shop exactly one month after Correa’s guilty verdict came down. A virtual who’s who of industry names attended: Frank Miller, Steven Grant, Harlan Ellison, Sergio Aragonés, Marv Wolfman, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Gary Groth, Dave Stevens, Doug Wildey, Brent Anderson, Paul Smith, Mike Barr, Jan Strnad, Mark Evanier, among others. Original artwork was auctioned off and autographs

CHAPTER NINE

by Dave Dykema

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were sold. Approximately $1,500 was collected, and this money went to Kitchen’s now officially named Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF). Several other fundraising efforts sprang forth, more portfolios were auctioned off, and the address of the CBLDF was printed in comics-related publications for interested parties to contribute to the cause (Powers 6).

Ultimately, the CBLDF gave its financial support to help hire Burton Joseph, a Chicago attorney with 36 years of constitutional law experience. On November 16, 1989, Correa’s conviction was overturned on appeal. The appellate judge found the specific comics “bizarre” but not obscene (“CBLDF Case Files — Illinois v. Correa”). For his part, Kitchen had a surplus of $20,000 from his money raising efforts. He used that money to incorporate the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund as a non-profit organization, which, according to its website, is dedicated to “the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.”

A Creators’ Bill of Rights As 1988 began, Diamond Comic Distributors had already taken steps to protect its retailers from the kind of legal troubles Friendly Frank’s found itself in. The previous year Diamond president Steve Geppi explained to his retailers why Diamond was deliberately steering clear of books he found morally questionable:

1988 was dominated by two events featuring The Joker: The Killing Joke and “A Death in the Family.”

Diamond values its retailers too much to take chances on such a dangerous situation…. We are not censors. We no more want someone deciding for us than you do. We cannot, however, stand by and watch the marketplace become a dumping ground for every sort of graphic fantasy that someone wants to live out. We have an industry to protect; we have leases to abide by; we have a community image to maintain (Duin 125-6).

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

publisher Dave Sim chose not to have Diamond carry his Cerebus graphic novel High Society. Diamond countered by refusing to distribute Aardvark’s Puma Blues. In a letter printed in Puma Blues #15 (Feb. 1988), Diamond representative Bill Schanes declared, “If it is your intention to pick and choose which products you want distributors to carry, it should be our privilege to choose what we wish to distribute. Therefore, it is our feeling we should no longer carry and promote Puma Blues.” At the time, Diamond was responsible for one-third of Puma Blues’ print run, and obviously the refusal to distribute the book meant a significant loss of revenue for the Puma Blues’ creators: writer Stephen Murphy and artist Michael Zulli. Through an open letter, the two creators vowed to continue production even without Diamond’s support.

To that end, Diamond stopped carrying both Vortex Comics’ Yummy Fur and Kitchen Sink’s Omaha the Cat Dancer, along with most underground titles. Many publishers— and retailers, for that matter—considered Diamond’s decision an arbitrary one, mostly because the distributor had no problem carrying Marvel’s Elektra: Assassin and DC’s Green Arrow, both of which had adult content. In late April, Geppi admitted Diamond’s policy was “being applied unequally.”

He then announced that going forward, Diamond’s decision on whether or not to carry a title would be based on artistic quality and financial terms (McCubbin 20).

Diamond eventually relented, agreeing in late March to distribute Puma Blues once again (McCubbin 7). Nonetheless, the dispute incited Sim. Throughout the year he held a series of summits where he spoke out about creators’ rights and publishing. “A Bill of Rights for Comics Creators”

Earlier, though, Diamond chose not to distribute a comic book for a completely different reason: payback. It began when Aardvark One International/Aardvark-Vanaheim 217

1988 TIMELINE

May 29: President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union for a summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The two ratify their nuclear arms treaty from December.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

January 12: Amazing Spider-Man #300 – revealing the origin of Venom in a story written by David Michelinie and drawn by Todd McFarlane – goes on sale.

February 4: Comic book inker Frank Giacoia dies at the age of 63.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

April 3: Milton Caniff – cartoonist most famous for creating the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon newspaper strips – dies at the age of 81.

March 4: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.7 percent.

April 5: With its 601st issue, Action Comics once again becomes an anthology comic book as it changes its title to Action Comics Weekly.

March 25: In New York City’s so-called “preppie murder case,” Robert E. Chambers Jr. pleads guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin.

Chambers is sentenced to a 5-to-15 year prison term.

MARCH

May 15: The Soviet Union begins withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces had entered the country. At least 40,000 Soviets troops died during the conflict.

APRIL

M AY

March 29: Batman: The Killing Joke – a 48-page Prestige format one-shot written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland – goes on sale. In the story, the Joker shoots Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon through the spine, crippling her.

January 13: Illinois Judge Paul T. Foxgrover finds Friendly Frank’s comic book store manager Michael Correa guilty of possession with intent to disseminate obscene material.

February 13: The Winter Olympics begin in Calgary, Canada.

March 7: Two years into his run on Superman, John Byrne resigns as its writer and artist.

June 23: NASA climatologist James Hansen tells Congress that worldwide temperature increases are probably a sign of human alteration of the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is brought to the attention of the American public.

JUNE

May 17: The first issue of DC Comics’ V for Vendetta – a dystopian adventure by writer Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd – goes on sale. The first seven issues reprint material originally published in the British magazine Warrior. The final three issues present new material. V for Vendetta is the last original work Moore will write for DC Comics.

Batman, Invasion!, The Joker, Superman and V for Vendetta TM and © DC Comics. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

ended up being drafted in November at the Northampton Summit, held in Northampton, Massachusetts and hosted by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Zot! creator Scott McCloud was the principal author of the bill that stressed full creator rights of ownership as well as control over licensing and guarantees of the return of original artwork after its use. Years later, McCloud observed that one of the bill’s main relevancies is that “comics creators already have the right to control their art if they want it; all they have to do is not sign it away” (McCloud). McCloud downplayed the influence of the Creators’ Bill of Rights, but while the original summits Sim put together were going on, DC Comics’ Jenette Kahn announced to freelancers on June 7: “…from now on DC Comics will acquire wholly new properties on a basis more favorable to you, our creators. We will no longer purchase these properties under the work-for-hire provision and the copy-

right will be in your name or [your] company’s name” (McCubbin 5). DC was the last major comic book publisher to retain full ownership over characters created by its freelancers.

As such, some freelancers expressed the belief that the new policy helped DC keep its competitive edge within the industry (McCubbin 5).

Diamond extended its competitive edge by purchasing the nation’s third largest comic book distributor, Bud Plant Comic Distributors, on July 15.

For the Eastern U.S.-based Diamond, this opened up the West, as it gained warehouses in San Diego, Los Angeles, northern California, and Denver.

The purchase gave Diamond a 40% market share, leapfrogging over the Wisconsin-based Capital City Distribution to become the country’s biggest comic book distributor (Powers 9). Astoundingly, Diamond would only become bigger before the end of the next decade.

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Comic Glut Punch in the Gut The headline read “New Glut Predicted.” It appeared in the April 1988 issue of The Comics Journal. The adjoining article warned of a major influx of product that retailers wouldn’t be able to move that spring. Buddy Saunders, the owner of the Texas-based Lone Star Comics chain, sounded the alarm in a guest editorial published in Comics Buyer’s Guide #749 that The Comics Journal reprinted: The glut is coming from the super-hero genre and is being brought about primarily

by DC and Marvel. Both are fighting for the first place in the industry. Both are publishing more and more highticket items. Many titles have gone to new, more costly formats. Weeklies and bi-weeklies are coming on line.

Marvel has boosted the cover

December 5: A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicts Christian televangelist Jim Bakker on fraud and conspiracy charges.

He is later convicted of all counts.

October 8: The first episode of Superboy – starring John Haymes Newton as the Boy of Steel and Stacy Haiduk as Lang Lang – premieres on syndicated television. The series will last four seasons.

July 3: An Iranian passenger jet is shot down by the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.

All 290 people aboard are killed after the plane is misidentified as an Iranian F-14 fighter jet. In 1996 the U.S. pays over $131 million in compensation for the incident.

J U LY

October 11: The first issue of DC Comics’ next crossover event – Invasion! – goes on sale.

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

November 8: Sitting Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected the 41th President of the United States in a landslide victory over Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.

December 21: A bomb causes a Pan Am passenger jet to explode over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

Years later, Libya accepts responsibility for the bombing.

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

November 30: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. takes over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

November 15: At the close of a four-day conference in Algiers, The Palestine National Council proclaims the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

September 17: The Summer Olympics begin in Seoul, South Korea.

price of better selling titles by 33%. Several of Marvel’s flagship titles, X-Men included, will be bi-weekly through the summer. All these things can’t be absorbed by a retailer’s budget without some give elsewhere (McCubbin 5).

Saunders found that his budget for April’s books was completely consumed by DC and Marvel product that had recently increased in price.

After adding his orders for independent publishers to the total for his April books, he was 28.5% over budget—a rate he couldn’t sustain because he predicted that consumers’ spending budgets wouldn’t increase commensurately. Rather than spend more money to obtain the same number of books, consumers would simply spend the same amount of money they have been spending to obtain fewer books. Just like with the black-and-white glut that occurred in 1987, Saunders believed this new

October 18: Batman #428 – the penultimate chapter of the “Death in the Family” story arc – goes on sale.

In the issue Batman discovers the lifeless body of Jason Todd. Robin is dead.

glut would produce casualties, both among retailers and independent publishers (McCubbin 6).

In its defense Marvel claimed it wasn’t glutting the market; instead, Marvel contended the entire industry was producing “a great diversity of product” (McCubbin 6). Bud Plant Distributors (before it was sold to Diamond) advised retailers to reduce their stock of a greater range of titles and to reorder best-sellers instead of getting stuck with large amounts of stagnant material. “As Marvel and DC put out more highly priced titles it sucks away money from less popular independents,” Steve Bond, purchasing manager for Bud Plant, told The Comics Journal (McCubbin 6). But many independent publishers also got on board. The main goal was to break into the expanding bookstore market where a softcover book had a better chance of selling than floppy periodicals. Slave Labor Graphics and Blackthorne both took conventional 219

comics they were publishing and converted them to graphic novels in hopes of saving the books. Eclipse, First, and Fantagraphics all upped their output in early 1988. The Amazing Heroes Preview Special announced more than 140 graphic novels and trade paperbacks scheduled for the first half of 1988.

Comics on the Screen While more comic-related material moved into mainstream bookstores like Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Waldenbooks, the television and movie studios cast their eyes toward comic books too. Word reached fandom that plans were underway for a slew of Hollywood super-hero projects, among them Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, The Flash, Sgt. Rock (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), Watchmen, and Superman V. And they were all going to be live-action entertainment, not cartoons. While—

at least at the time—none of those projects got off the ground, the rights to the comic book properties were optioned and studio discussions took place. Some, like Watchmen, were even scripted. Sam Hamm penned that screenplay. He also wrote the script for a movie that did go before the lens in July of 1988: Batman. “After eight years Batman is finally going to be made!” director Tim Burton announced. “We’re not going to turn this movie into a psychological poem.

The basic theme is along the lines of ‘Here’s a child who has a life-changing experience. Instead of getting therapy, he deals with it by fighting crime’” (Shapiro). Before shooting began, Burton mentioned that he and Hamm struggled with whether or not Robin should star in the movie, but in the

end “we want to make this movie for everybody so we decided to include him” (Shapiro). Evidently, the Batman script still had some revisions to go through, since Robin didn’t appear in the final film. Burton’s take on the Dark Knight would swoop into theatres June 23, 1989.

Meanwhile, DC Comics’ other iconic super-hero hit television screens in the syndicated Superboy. Ilya Salkind, the executive producer for Superman I, II, & III, as well as Supergirl, produced this series about Clark Kent and Lana Lang as college students.

Clark attended the Siegel School of Journalism at Shuster University.

The show lasted four seasons. John Haymes Newton played Clark during the show’s first season before being replaced

by Gerald Christopher for the rest of the run. Stacy Haiduk played Lana for all four seasons.

The show’s story was set not in Kansas or a fictional Metropolis but in Florida where production for the show took place. Filming occurred at both Disney/MGM and Universal Florida.

ABC television had taken a chance on a comic-based series in the fall of 1987 with Sable, about a children’s book writer who changes into a costumed vigilante at night.

Based on First Comics’ Sable, it was the first independent comic to be adapted for TV or film, but it was cancelled in early 1988. An early Saturday timeslot didn’t help matters, but creator Mike Grell also had qualms about how his creation was brought to cinematic life: “Every time they did something stupid, I cringed; every time they made a material change in one of my characters, it made

me want to hide my head.” Grell conceded there was only so much control he could have over the production and was glad it wasn’t messed up too badly (Kim Howard Johnson).

One indie comic that would eventually go on to have two TV series was the super-hero parody The Tick. It first became an animated show on Fox that ran three seasons in the mid-1990s.

It then later became a short-lived— though cult favorite—live-action show on the same network in 2001.

Before all that happened, The Tick was a 300-pound, 7-foot-tall, blue-suited buffoon first created in 1986 as a mascot for the New England Comics (NEC) chain of comic stores by 18-year-old cartoonist Ben Edlund. The Tick appeared regularly in NEC’s newsletters until 1988 when NEC gave the character his own comic book, publishing The Tick #1. The issue was an instant hit, somewhat ironic given the fact it took Edlund a year and a half to write and draw it. Speed was never Edlund’s forte as he confessed years later, “I strung The Tick fans along with a minimum amount of material—twelve issues in five years” (Reber). He attributed the popularity of his creation to the detail-orientated storylines and the densely written humor: “each issue that came out provided a reasonably enjoyable experience for the reader” (Reber).

Superboy, starring Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang and John Haymes Newtown as the Boy of Steel, premiered on syndicated television on October 8, 1988. Superboy TM and © DC Comics.

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The Death Throes of the New Universe

Ben Edlund originally created The Tick as a mascot for comic book retailer New England Comics.

Tick TM and © Ben Edlund.

Jim Shooter Takes Aim At Marvel Despite his ouster from the company in 1987 (or perhaps because of it), Jim Shooter tried to buy Marvel Comics in 1988. He spent a “nightmarish” year putting together a partnership of investors, calling it a “full-time job” (Thomas). At the time, New World Entertainment owned Marvel, having acquired it in 1986 for $45.5 million.

As a Hollywood production company, New World “garnered very limited payoffs from made-for-television movies featuring the Incredible Hulk and other Marvel Comics superheroes. New World had gone flat and wanted to pump itself up with new genres of TV and movies” (Raviv 11).

So New World went looking for buyers, putting Marvel on the auction block. Shooter and his investors offered $81 million. Years later, Shooter explained their intended business plan: We were going to liquidate Marvel Studios and Marvel Books. I could drop twelve million dollars to the bottom line like that, because those operations were losing a fortune—and comics publishing, my area, was making a fortune. Comics were making hand over fist money. The British publishing did okay, and I would’ve left them alone for a while. Licens-

ing was a train wreck, and I would’ve improved that. Anyway, we had a good plan, and we would’ve tried to bring them all home. (Irving) With his $81 million bid, Shooter thought he’d won. He even signed a letter of intent (Thomas). To hear his account, the rug was pulled out from under him at the last minute and Marvel was sold behind his investors’ backs to Ron Perelman for $82.5 million: “[Perelman] was an insider, because he owned 20% of New World Entertainment. Legally, he needed an ‘arm’s length bid’ to be allowed to buy Marvel, and we provided that, unwittingly…. It was a totally corrupt deal” (Irving).

An “arm’s length” transaction meant that the buyer and seller are familiar with each other or the property—in this case Marvel—and therefore the agreed upon price might differ from fair market value. Since Shooter already ran the company once, it provided the loophole for Perelman to make his winning bid.

It would be years later, when Marvel entered bankruptcy proceedings in the mid-1990s, before Shooter would try to buy the company again. Before then, though, Shooter would regain industry prominence with a completely different publishing venture.

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In 1986, Jim Shooter brought Marvel’s New Universe imprint to life and nurtured it as best as he could. Two years later, the New U. was on life support.

Four of its inaugural eight titles— Kickers, Inc., Mark Hazzard: Merc, Nightmask, and Spitfire and the Troubleshooters a.k.a. Codename: Spitfire—had been cancelled in 1987. The newly appointed showrunner for the New U., Howard Mackie, tried to revive the line by recruiting some new blood for the titles. He called a creator he considered a personal friend: John Byrne. Mackie recounts, “That was, honestly, one of the most absurd phone calls I had ever made… I said, ‘You don’t have to give me an answer now, but if you happen to think of any Star Brand stories, let me know,’ and I hung up” (Dan Johnson 30). An hour and a half later, Byrne called back: “It turned out that indeed he did have some stories in mind. That was how I got John Byrne involved with New Universe. All I needed to do was plant the seed, leave it in a dark room somewhere, and it would sprout” (Dan Johnson 30).

That seed grew into a story that would set the New Universe off into a radical new direction: a graphic novel titled The Pitt (March 1988). After Byrne agreed to take over Star Brand, he, Mackie, and New U. editor-in-chief Mark Gruenwald got together one day and sat on Byrne’s side porch to throw around ideas. They discussed how the Star Brand that affected character Ken Connell could only be passed along to animate objects.

As the men talked, they considered what would happen if the Brand was passed on to an inanimate object (Dan Johnson 32).

In the story arc they brainstormed, Connell learns that his recurring nemesis, the Old Man, has been branded, just like Connell. The brand, however, has driven the Old Man insane. To avoid the same fate, Connell immediately decides to rid himself of the Star Brand. He flies into space to release the energy on the other side of the moon, but on the way there, he second-guesses himself and releases the energy closer to Earth in case he has difficulty trying to return from outer space. While releasing the energy at the end of The Star Brand #12

(March 1988), Connell explodes in a blinding ball of light, ten miles above Pittsburgh. The Pitt graphic novel, written by Byrne and Gruenwald with art by Sal Buscema and Stan Drake, continues from that point. It shows Ken Connell’s released energy erupting outward in a perfect 50 mile diameter sphere. With 15 miles of destructive energy impacting the Earth, the entire city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs get annihilated.

In their place is a perfectly symmetrical concave pit.

Many readers have interpreted the fictional destruction of Pittsburgh in The Pitt as a symbolic slight toward Jim Shooter. Shooter grew up in Pittsburgh, and Star Brand was one of the few comic books he wrote while serving as Marvel’s editor-in-chief. Given this, many feel Byrne, Gruenwald, and Mackie took the opportunity to revenge themselves on their former boss, a man who was known to have strained relationships with several Marvel staffers and freelancers during his tenure. It is an assumption Mackie refutes: I know a lot has been read into the changes we made and that they were attempts by us to take swipes at Jim Shooter…. That really was not my intent. We made sure that anything we did was developed out of what had been previously established with the characters…. In terms of blowing up Pittsburgh, it re-

ally was determined by the way Jim chose to establish the character in that town….

I can’t speak for John Byrne, but I really had no issues with Jim. Jim hired me, he gave me my promotion… I think he did a hell of a lot for Marvel and the last thing in my mind was to try and take a swipe at him. (Johnson 32-3) But if The Pitt wasn’t an attempt to annoy Jim Shooter, it also didn’t succeed in reversing the New Universe’s fortunes. Rather than bringing the imprint back to prominence, The Pitt instead laid the foundation for its demise. The Pitt’s sequel, The Draft, came out in the summer of 1988. It shows the repercussions of the “Black Event” as the United States government reinstates the draft in order to assemble soldiers with paranormal abilities to fight the Soviet Union, mistakenly believed to be the cause of Pittsburgh’s destruction. Several characters from cancelled New Universe books sign up for the upcoming war.

Before that conflict gets underway, the final issues of the New Universe’s remaining titles—D.P.7, Justice, and Psi-Force—were published, each with the intriguing cover banner “#32 in a thirty-two-issue limited series.” After those issues were released, the fourissue mini-series The War then got underway. Written by Doug Murray and drawn by Tom Morgan, The War wrapped up dangling New Universe storylines.

As The War was being published, Gruenwald announced in Marvel Age #77 (Aug. 1989) that “the great experiment known as the New Universe is dead.” He provided several reasons why the New Universe ultimately failed, including the opinion that the imprint was “too different, too off the beaten track, for its own good.”

Elaborating, Gruenwald argued that in abandoning super-hero costumes, codenames and conflicts, the New Universe titles became too unorthodox for a reader base that enjoyed those genre conventions. Perhaps the most damning assertion Gruenwald made was that the New Universe was ill-conceived: “The birth of the New Universe was hyped to be a way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Universe, but it must be admitted that establishing a rival cosmos is a somewhat strange way to celebrate a cosmos…. Asking readers to love two universes may have been too much to ask.”

Of course, Marvel was already offering its readers multiple fictional universes in the form of licensed property adaptations. As the year began, Bullwinkle and Rocky, Care Bears, four different Conan books (Conan Saga, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the King, and Savage Sword of Conan), Elfquest, The Flintstone Kids, Foofur, five G.I. Joe books (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe Comics Magazine, G.I. Joe Special Missions, G.I. Joe Yearbook, and Tales of G.I. Joe), two Healthcliff the cat books (Healthcliff and Healthcliff’s

John Byrne’s work on Star Brand led to The Pitt and The Draft graphic novels. Marvel’s New Universe line of titles was coming to an end.

TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Funhouse), Madballs, Masters of the Universe, Muppet Babies, Star Comics Magazine, ThunderCats, and three Transformers comics (Transformers, Transformers Comics Magazine, and Transformers: Headmasters) filled the racks. Joining them as the year went on were Akira, ALF, ALF Comics Magazine, Captain Justice (from the short-lived TV series Once a Hero), Count Duckula, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Fraggle Rock, G.I. Joe: European Missions, Pinocchio & the Emperor of the Night, Sledge Hammer, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and an adaptation of George Lucas’s Willow.

The vast majority of these were children’s books published under Marvel’s Star imprint, but that corner of the publishing powerhouse folded after cover date February 1988, and the books were absorbed under the parent Marvel banner.

ALF even got his own Annual, one that (sort of) crossed over into the larger Marvel Universe.

The Evolutionary War Traditionally, Marvel’s annuals presented a stand-alone story in the form of a double-sized, double-priced comic book. The House of Ideas had a unique plan for its 1988 annuals, however; they would all connect into one big story. The transparent purpose of this plan was to entice readers to purchase every annual in order to read an entire story. The plan obviously worked as inter-connecting annuals would become the norm for Marvel (as well as DC) for years to come.

Starting in April and ending in July, “The Evolutionary War” was presented across 11 annuals (X-Factor Annual #3, Punisher Annual #1, Silver Surfer Annual #1, New Mutants Annual #4, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, Fantastic Four Annual #21, XMen Annual #12, Web of Spider-Man Annual #4, West Coast Avengers Annual #3, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8, and Avengers Annual #17). It

told the tale of the High Evolutionary and his quest to evolve mankind into the supreme rulers of the universe. First appearing in The Mighty Thor #134 (Nov. 1966), The High Evolutionary was a master geneticist named Herbert Edgar Wyndham who unlocked the secret of evolution and evolved himself into a higher state, becoming a godlike being. He had run-ins with various Marvel characters over the years, but eventually he felt it necessary to evolve everyone on Earth into a god like himself. To do so, he plans to set off a genetic bomb which the Avengers race to stop. In a desperate act, the Avengers use the High Evolutionary’s own equipment to hyperevolve Hercules “beyond godhood.”

Hercules and the High Evolutionary wage battle as both of them continue to evolve, seemingly out of existence.

Robbie accidentally gets bombarded with a strange energy source. He soon discovers he can generate kinetic energy as strange spheres form around him, repelling any physical attack against him. With his new powers, Robbie chooses to become the costumed crime-fighter named Speedball.

In the course of the “Evolutionary War”, a new Marvel super-hero got introduced in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22. Robbie Baldwin is a teenager who works part-time at Hammond Laboratories. During an experiment,

Speedball was originally intended for Jim Shooter’s New Universe imprint. Tom DeFalco developed Speedball while the New Universe was still being put together. In fact, before Shooter’s New Universe budget was

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One of the developments of Marvel’s 11-part “Evolutionary War” was the introduction of Speedball (top left).

All characters TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Todd McFarlane drawn cover for the celebratory Amazing Spider-Man #300.

Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

drastically cut by the Marvel executives above him, Speedball was one of the few prospective titles that had money spent on it, only to not become part of the New Universe at all (Cronin #23). Two years after the debut of the New Universe, with DeFalco now entrenched as Marvel’s editor-in-chief, Speedball finally made his debut within the Marvel Universe. A mere two weeks after Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 arrived in stores, Marvel published Speedball: The Masked Marvel #1 (Sept. 1988), plotted and penciled by Steve Ditko, scripted by Roger Stern, and inked by Jackson Guice. Even though his series would only last 10 issues, Speedball would go on to become one of Marvel’s most popular characters in the 1990s.

A tongue-in-cheek postscript to “The Evolutionary War” came in the form of ALF Annual #1, published two weeks after Avengers Annual #17, the final installment of the crossover event. ALF Annual #1 serves as an unofficial “Evolutionary War” tie-in where the High Evolutionary meets ALF. (He’s much surprised to learn of the existence of a Melmacian on Earth.) As to not offend continuity purists, the story was written so it could be interpreted as a dream sequence.

Todd McFarlane’s Venomous Debut But Marvel’s biggest 1988 attraction wasn’t an ALF Annual or the introduction of Speedball or even the “Evolutionary War.” Instead, that honor went to Amazing Spider-Man and its new artist Todd McFarlane. Hardly a newcomer, McFarlane had been drawing comic books since 1985, most notably on DC’s Infinity Inc. and Detective Comics’ “Batman: Year Two” story arc. In 1987, Marvel paired him up with writer Peter David on Incredible Hulk before moving him to Amazing Spider-Man with issue #298 (March 1988).

One of the first things McFarlane wanted to do with his new assignment was change the web-slinger’s appearance. He described his goals in an interview with Comics Scene magazine: “The biggest thing I saw in looking through past SpiderMan comics is once he got into his costume, the artists placed too much on the man in Spider-Man. I’m trying to 224

place more on the spider, put him in positions where he’s triple-jointed and crouched. I want to put him in positions nobody else could ever get into in the whole Marvel universe or comic books, period.

If you just saw him in silhouette, you would still know that he was Spider-Man” (Dickholtz 32).

True to form, McFarlane’s Spider-Man contorted and swung through New York City unlike any previous version.

But McFarlane didn’t stop with SpiderMan’s appearance; he also changed how Mary Jane Watson looked. He felt her original John Romita hippieera design desperately needed an update. To that end, McFarlane made Mary Jane more sexy and contemporary, someone who truly looked like a model. All told, McFarlane brought a distinct, dynamic artistry that not

Left: In this page from Amazing Spider-Man #300, Eddie Brock reveals himself as Venom.

Above: an example of the unique contortions that artist Todd McFarlane provided for Spider-Man. Spider-Man and Venom TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

tually finish that storyline, Michelinie left Web of Spider-Man. All for the best, perhaps, as readers might confuse a woman in the symbiote costume with Spider-Woman who wore a similar black-and-white costume (Dickholtz 31).

only made Amazing Spider-Man one of the most visually appealing comic books on the market but also quickly propelled him to “superstar” status within the industry. It was quite obvious in 1988 that Todd McFarlane was destined to accomplish great work for many years to come.

Amazing Spider-Man’s 300th anniversary issue hit stores a few months after McFarlane began working on the title. “People wanted a big thing,” editor Jim Salicrup said (Dickholtz 30).

Salicrup, though, didn’t want to force an artificially created story onto the celebratory issue. He wanted the sto-

ry to flow more organically from the preceding issues. The previous year, writer David Michelinie had started a storyline in Web of Spider-Man where someone was going to bond with Peter Parker’s black alien symbiote costume. The symbiote hadn’t been seen since Spider-Man defeated it in a church in Web of Spider-Man #1 (April 1985). This time, Michelinie was going to have the symbiote bond with a woman who hated SpiderMan for fighting a gigantic creature that stepped on her car as she and her husband rushed to the hospital to deliver her baby. Before he could ac225

Michelinie instead dusted off his discarded story for the build up to Amazing Spider-Man #300. Someone new would merge with the black alien symbiote, someone who would become one of Spider-Man’s most famous nemeses: Venom. That someone turned out to be Eddie Brock, a respected journalist who ruined his reputation when his series of interviews with the villainous Sin-Eater turned out to be bogus. (The real Sin-Eater was captured by SpiderMan.) According to Michelinie, Brock was based on real-life New York City reporter Jimmy Breslin, who had been approached by someone claiming to be the Son of Sam serial killer during the notorious summer of 1977. Brock’s disgrace sowed the seeds of his hatred for Spider-Man. He inadvertently enters the same church that had been the symbiote’s last battleground. Lured by Brock’s intense feelings for Spider-Man, the symbiote merges with him. Thus, Venom is born.

And he looked like a monster. With his mass and height and sharp teeth, Venom was as visually nightmarish as a super-villain can get. McFarlane confessed that “the reason he has this big, demonic smile is because when I first drew Venom, I didn’t know there was a man underneath the alien costume” (Dickholtz 31). Regardless, the look stuck, and Venom would be plaguing everyone’s favorite webslinger for years to come.

The Death of the X-Men Cover date 1988 launched with a major X-title crossover. “The Fall of the Mutants” played out between cover dates January and March in Uncanny X-Men #225-227, X-Factor #24-26, and New Mutants #59-61, as well as tie-ins with several other Marvel books—including the popular Hulk vs. Wolverine battle by Peter David and Todd McFarlane in Incredible Hulk #340.

“The Fall of the Mutants” wasn’t serialized among all the titles; rather, the crossover was thematic as each team dealt with a different threat. For instance, X-Factor contended with Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen, which included former teammate Angel (now called Archangel). The X-Men, on the other hand, opposed a demon who could only be stopped with their own deaths.

The team goes to Dallas to search for their missing member, Storm. While there, they battle the Freedom Force,

Marc Silvestri drawn cover to Uncanny X-Men #227. “The Fall of the Mutants” story arc ends with the world believing the X-Men have died. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

a super-powered group of ex-cons led by Mystique, now working for the government. Freedom Force is intent on pummeling the X-Men for refusing to comply with the Mutant Registration Act. During the battle, Freedom Force member Destiny has a vision that whoever is inside Eagle Plaza at dawn will perish. Heroes that they are, the X-Men enter anyway.

Storm, meanwhile, is on a quest of her own: in search of her missing powers.

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Her hunt takes her to a strange land and Forge, a mutant who served in the Vietnam War. During the war his entire platoon was killed, save for himself. To take revenge, he cast a spell, summoning the Adversary, who used the nine souls of his dead comrades to take the lives of their Vietcong killers.

Years later, that spell is still causing havoc, as Dallas is overrun with dinosaurs, cavemen, Indians, and other assorted time-displaced warriors

and creatures. Forge gives Storm her powers back, and the two of them construct a gateway and try to return to Dallas.

They end up captured by the Adversary on Celestial Guardian Roma’s Starlight Citadel. He wants to destroy the world and remake it in chaos. To stop him, Forge must recast his spell, but it will take nine feely given souls to do it. The eight X-Men (Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havoc, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot), along with Madelyne Pryor, Cyclops’s ex-wife, offer themselves up. They die, and the Adversary is stopped.

But then at the end of Uncanny X-Men #227, Roma resurrects the nine heroes, saying that the X-Men are “entitled to a reward commensurate with your sacrifice. You literally hold your future, your fate, in your hands.” They choose to go into hiding, allowing the world to believe they are dead.

The mourners included two of their teammates not involved in the battle: Shadowcat and Nightcrawler.

Even though these characters were no longer part of the X-Men roster, writer Chris Claremont had no intention of abandoning them. Doing so would have left them to the whims of other Marvel writers: “I knew if I didn’t do anything with them, other people would leap forward like rabid wolves to heist them” (Sanderson 24).

Instead, Claremont joined the two mutants with Rachel Summers (a.k.a.

Phoenix, who hadn’t been seen since 1986), Captain Britain (a character he created in 1976), and Captain Britain’s changeling girlfriend Meggan, to form the X-Men’s first foreign franchise: Excalibur. Excalibur: Special Edition (a.k.a. Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn) establishes the new team in Great Britain in a 48-page, square bound one-shot, written by Claremont and illustrated by Alan Davis and Paul Neary. The book sold well enough to earn two additional print runs and an ongoing series launched later in the year with Excalibur #1 (Oct. 1988) hitting the Direct Market.

At the time, Davis told Comics Scene that “it was nice to be in on something since its inception” and that “by starting on Excalibur with issue #1, I was able to put a lot of myself into it” (Andersen). He must have, because editor Ann Nocenti started calling Excalibur

a “cosmic comedy”—an appellation that surprised Davis. “I was told it was because my artwork was so comedic, and while it wasn’t my decision, there was a definite intention to put more humor into Excalibur” (Andersen).

One might wonder why Marvel didn’t simply continue its trend of putting the letter “X” on X-Men spin-off titles and title this new book “X-Calibur.”

The truth is that in 1988 someone else owned the nearly identical name of 227

Top: Excalibur is formed in the final page of the Excalibur: Special Edition one-shot (above).

Excalibur TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Welcome to Marvel’s Future

“X-Caliber.” That someone happened to be long-time Marvel scribe Steve Englehart who created a character named “X-Caliber” for Coyote #6 (June 1984), which, ironically enough, was published by Marvel within its creator-owned Epic Comics imprint. As Englehart tells it: I created “X-Caliber” when having a name like that was no biggie. Then later, Marvel decided they had to own all such names. They asked me to give them the rights. I proposed they buy them.

They proposed not giving me any more work if I didn’t give them the rights. But I didn’t, so they created “Excalibur.”

Later, at Valiant, they were hassling Shooter over “X-O Manowar,” so I offered to let him use X-Caliber; leased him the rights for a buck. (Cronin) Along with Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, and X-Factor, Excalibur became Marvel’s fourth monthly XMen-related title. Marvel now had an X-Men comic book for every week of the month. The proliferation of XMen titles didn’t hurt sales. In 1988, Uncanny X-Men sold on average over 430,000 copies a month while X-Factor and Excalibur both averaged over 300,000 copies a month. While New Mutants didn’t perform anywhere near that well, its 210,000 monthly average still made it one of Marvel’s top sellers. Given this, one might wonder why Marvel simply didn’t publish more mutant books.

In 1988, Marvel did. For starters, Marvel tried yet again to give two of its most popular supporting characters their own ongoing series, this time with the mutant theme more emphasized; the title of the series

Marvel’s Epic imprint published the first computer generated graphic novel: Iron Man: Crash. Back in 1985, artist Michael Saenz drew First Comics’ Shatter via an Apple Macintosh computer. For Iron Man: Crash, however, Saenz used a computer not only to draw but also to color and letter. The graphic novel’s back cover announces “Welcome to the Future.”

It was both an indication of an Iron Man story that takes place in the future and a prediction about where comic book production was headed. Through the computer, people like Saenz contended, tasks like coloring, inking, and lettering could be accomplished more efficiently. Despite the innovation, however, computer generated comic books didn’t immediately catch on, perhaps because the technology hadn’t reached the point where it could produce an aesthetically pleasing art style.

On the other hand, very few people were complainThe Punisher TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. ing about the art found in the new Punisher spin-off was The Mutant Misadventures of title, Punisher War Journal.

Cloak and Dagger (the first issue even It was being produced by 24-year-old guest-starred X-Factor). Meanwhile, Jim Lee, who got pulled off Alpha Marvel’s most popular mutant, WolFlight by editor-turned-writer Carl verine, headlined a new bi-weekly Potts. Unlike Alpha Flight, Punisher anthology comic book titled Marvel War Journal helped Lee gain some Comics Presents. He was the featured recognition, but it would be nothcharacter until issue #10 when the ing like the recognition he would get spotlight was moved on to fellow Xwith the assignment Marvel gave Man, Colossus. Along with his slot him in late 1989. in MCP, Wolverine also got his own Writer Doug Murray received a difongoing title—written by Claremont ferent kind of recognition. For his and drawn by John Buscema—that work on The ’Nam, the Brotherhood began with a Casablanca/Terry and Rally of All Veterans Organization the Pirates-inspired tale set in the (BRAVO) bestowed Murray with the fictional Southeast Asian country of “Best Media Portrayal of the VietMadripoor. nam War” award, beating out Oliver Marvel ended the year setting up the Stone and his Platoon film. The critinext X-Men mega-crossover, “Infercal (and sales) success of The ’Nam no,” with Uncanny X-Men #239 (Dec. encouraged Marvel to publish a new 1988) and the X-Factor spin-off miniwar-themed series: Semper Fi’: Tales series, X-Terminators. of the Marine Corps, written by Michael Palladino with art by John Jim Lee drew over Carl Potts’ layouts in this page from Punisher War Journal #2.

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Severin and Sam Glanzman. Unlike The ’Nam, which featured the same characters month after month, Semper Fi’ featured different members of the Whittier family month after month, but in various time periods.

They were all involved in the Marine Corps. Stories took place in all sorts of military engagements, ranging from the Revolutionary War to the then current conflict in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, the series couldn’t duplicate The ’Nam’s success; it only lasted nine issues.

No Man DC Comic Escapes the Manhunters If DC ended cover date 1988 focused on how its comic books were being labeled, it began cover date 1988 rolling out its next annual crossover event.

Arguably, it was DC’s most logistically complicated crossover event to date. It was an eight-issue mini-series pitched by Steve Englehart titled Millennium, and the rub was that it was

DC Comics Straightens Out Its Cover Dates One of the goals DC Comics had for 1988 was bridging the gap between its books’ cover dates and publication dates. The three-month gap between a comic book’s cover date and its actual publication date was intended to extend the amount of time comic books were displayed on the newsstand before a dealer pulled them for newer material. Since the Direct Market had more efficient distribution than the newsstand, Direct Market retailers sometimes received the latest comic books two or three weeks sooner than newsstand dealers did.

That kind of quickness could extend the gap between a comic book’s cover date and publication date to four months (Voiles). With the comic book industry growing ever more reliant on the Direct Market, there became no good reason to have a three (or four) month gap between an issue’s cover date and its publication date.

Direct Market retailers didn’t return unsold comic books; they moved them to their back issue bins.

Above: Joe Staton drawn cover to the first issue of DC’s weekly event, Millennium.

Below: The first issue of DC’s promotional Focus magazine focused on Millennium.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

So DC set out to reduce the gap between an issue’s cover date and publication date to (at most) two months.

To accomplish this, DC had to remove cover dates altogether from books being sold in October and November of 1988. (Some titles displayed the terms “Winter” and “Holiday” on their covers.) DC comic books arriving in stores in December 1988 subsequently had a January 1989 cover date. This created the unique oddity (or aggravation for comic book indexers) of two issues of every DC title having neither a 1988 cover date nor a 1989 one.

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released weekly. That kind of publication schedule concerned many within DC’s halls, as Englehart acknowledged in an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles: “I remember [editor Andy Helfer] and others were a little dubious, for the same reason Roy Thomas was dubious when I proposed [in 1973] the bi-weekly Avengers/Defenders crossover: screw up anywhere along the line and everything goes off the rails.

But as I told Andy, as I told Roy, that I wouldn’t screw it up, and I didn’t. I really wanted to make that two-month megastory as intense as it could be.”

After Dick Giordano approved Englehart’s proposal, Helfer hopped on a plane to Houston, where Englehart was attending his brother’s wedding. The two of them holed up and plotted a story outline. (In doing so, Helfer also taught Englehart how to spell the title of his comic book correctly. Englehart kept misspelling “Millennium” as “Millenium,” and he soon learned he wasn’t the only one guilty of committing this error (Englehart).) Millennium involved one of the Guardians of the Universe and his Zamaron mate arriving on Earth to announce that they would hand pick ten new Guardians to lead mankind into the next stage of evolution. Earth’s super-heroes are consigned to collect “the Chosen,” but unbeknownst to them, the Manhunters—an interstellar robot force created by the Guardians but believed destroyed—have been operating undercover as “sleeper agents,” patiently waiting for the opportunity to attack the Chosen before they can be gathered. Many of the disguised Manhunters are revealed to be regular supporting characters of the DC Universe, including Superman’s childhood sweetheart Lana Lang, the Flash’s father, and one of the newest members of the Justice League, Rocket Red. As they reveal themselves, the Manhunters vow “No Man Escapes the Manhunters!,” and the superheroes are tasked with stopping them before they can succeed in sabotaging the Guardian’s plans.

Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, and Superman. A few other DC titles were left out of the Millennium event, though, mainly the ones labeled “Suggested For Mature Audiences”: The Question, Vigilante, and Swamp Thing. As Englehart explained in a text piece printed in Millennium #5, “The logic, I think, is pretty obvious: you don’t want to say to an eightyear-old, ‘You’re not supposed to read Swamp Thing’ and then hand him an issue of Millennium that says ‘You have to read Swamp Thing.’”

1988 house ad promoting DC’s Millennium spin-off series, The New Guardians.

TM and © DC Comics.

Over the course of two months, nearly the entirety of DC’s super-hero line of titles tied into Millennium. Like Marvel’s “Evolutionary War” crossover, Millennium was intended to entice readers to purchase not only the mini-series but as many other comic books that tied into the mini-series as well. Again, for American Comic Book Chronicles, Englehart explained his objectives: “What I wanted to do was really turn DC into one long story for the duration of the series. I set about working out how every DC series could fit together into the two-month run, and I was completely aware that I would be asking other writers to do some bending to make it work, so I kept things as loose as possible and opened myself to any and all feedback. Most of the writers gave me feedback and I made sure to accommodate them, reworking the plot as necessary to make everybody happy. What surprised me was one writer, *cough* John Byrne *cough*, who told me he wasn’t going to play at all.

He would do whatever he felt like.”

Evidently, Byrne did capitulate, as he wrote Millennium tie-in issues for

Because of all the tie-ins, the Millennium mini-series reads a bit disjointed: one issue ends with characters rushing off, and the next issue begins with them all back in the fold.

Dialogue and flashbacks admirably try to fill in gaps, but Millennium seems incomplete when read on its own. However, the problems Englehart had working out the Millennium narrative pale in comparison to the problems the entire creative team had in finishing each issue on schedule. Production began later than it needed to for an eight-issue series being released over eight weeks. Joe Staton was removed from Green Lantern Corps—a book written by Englehart— so he could pencil Millennium. In an interview conducted for American Comic Book Chronicles, Staton recalls: “For starters, I was brought onto Millennium late. And then there’s the fact that it was a company-wide event. It had so many different parts, and it was all being done by the seat of our pants. For some reason, while we were doing all this, a lot of the characters’ costumes got changed, and I would find out too late, so [inker Ian Gibson] would have to make changes to the pages. But then the costumes would change again once Ian sent the pages to DC’s production department. So many pages were made up of photostats. I don’t think it was the finest hour for me or Ian or anyone else associated with that mini-series, but it was truly a triumph for DC’s production department to put together so many pieces and get these books out on time.”

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As Millennium unfolds, the Chosen ten gets whittled down to six. As a group, they accept the offer to lead mankind and they become the New Guardians.

Englehart originally wanted to call them something else, “I wanted to call them Trumps, but DC was afraid The Donald would object, so the name was changed.” The group’s membership embodied different races, sexes, and orientations. Extraño, a Peruvian, became the first openly gay superhero in comics. The group’s eponymous ongoing title reunited the Millennium creative team of Englehart and Staton and debuted cover date September 1988. Englehart wanted the comic book to be progressive in its tone and subject matter, but he found himself at odds with his editor, Helfer, as well as Dick Giordano: “[New Guardians] was supposed to be an advance in comics comparable to Coyote—the next step in a more realistic approach to superheroes—and to that end I got a promise from the highest powers at DC that I could do sex, drugs, and politics, unhindered. I put all those into the first issue and they were taken out. I went to [Dick Giordano] who’d given me the promise, and he reneged.

So I walked away.” (Englehart) Englehart only wrote the first issue of New Guardians and plotted the second. Cary Bates took over the writing chores for the series which subsequently only lasted 12 issues.

Superman’s 50th Birthday 1988 marked the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), and the promotion machine of DC’s parent company, Time Warner, went into overdrive to celebrate it. On February 26, DC rented part of Manhattan’s Puck Building to throw a Superman birthday party. In attendance were DC’s publisher and president Jenette Kahn, its executive vice president Paul Levitz, retired editor Julius Schwartz, long-time Superman artist Curt Swan, and then New York City mayor Ed Koch. Several thousand fans paid $12 (or $6 for children aged 12 and under) to watch Superman film clips, eat cake, and reminisce about

their favorite comic book character.

Part of the proceeds was donated to the National Foster Parent Association because as Kahn noted during the event “Superman is the world’s most famous foster child” (McKernan).

Three days later, on February 29— Superman’s “official” birthday—CBS broadcast a prime-time special titled “Superman’s 50th Anniversary: A Celebration of the Man of Steel,” hosted by comedian Dana Carvey. Through June the National Museum of American History exhibited Superman comics alongside one of Lois Lane’s old dresses from the 1950s TV show (Goulart). Other celebrations took place at Washington D.C.’s

Smithsonian Institute, which held the awkwardly-phrased “Supermanobilia” exhibition. Metropolis, Illinois refurbished its large Superman statue that proclaims it as “Superman’s hometown,” while in Cleveland, the hometown to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, a nonprofit organization calling itself “The Neverending Battle” sponsored an “International Superman Exhibition” from June 16 to June 19. Unfortunately, attendance for the expo fell way below expectations, forcing the Neverending Battle’s president—comic book writer Tony Isabella—to liquidate the organization (McCubbin 11). Perhaps most notably of all, Time magazine featured Superman in its March 14th issue with an Otto Friedrich article that commented on the history of the Man of Steel. The John Byrne drawn cover to the issue declares “He’s 50!”

Byrne, of course, remained the featured architect of the Superman comic books, continuing to write and

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Above: The March 14, 1988 issue of Time magazine featured a cover story about the 50th anniversary of Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1.

Below: The opening pages to the Time article that includes artwork John Byrne and Jerry Ordway drew just for the magazine.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

draw both Superman and the Superman team-up book, Action Comics. As cover date 1988 began, writing duties for the Marv Wolfman-vacated Adventures of Superman were added to Byrne’s workload.

By this point, readers were all too familiar with how different the rebooted version of Superman was from the version that preceded it: Lex Luthor was now a cunning businessman, Clark’s foster parents were still alive, Lana Lang knew Clark’s secret identity, Superman never a dv e n t u r e d as Superboy, etc. Despite all these changes, some fans, corresponding through the letter columns, held onto the hope that their beloved Kara ZorEl—the Supergirl who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7—would be reintroduced in this new Superman mythos.

Supergirl (sort of) returned to the DC Universe in Superman #21—the first chapter in the “Supergirl Saga” story arc.

And Byrne fueled that hope in the build-up to perhaps the most memorable Superman story of 1988: the three-issue “Supergirl Saga,” published in Superman #21-22 (Sept.-Oct. 1988) and The Adventures of Superman #444 (Sept. 1988). The first hint that Supergirl could be returning came on the final page of Superman #16 (April 1988) where a familiar looking female gets unearthed from Antarctic ice. She’s unconscious yet dressed like the Man of Steel. After recovering with scientists for a few issues, she flies off toward Smallville to find Superman. When Kal-El first sees her in Superman #21, he grabs the young woman’s ankle and says, “Great Guns! A flying woman

Superman and Supergirl TM and © DC Comics.

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Superman #22—in which the Man of Steel executes three genocidal Kryptonians—would be the last issue of John Byrne’s tenure on the title.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

in a variation of my costume! Is it… some kind of illusion…?” On the next page she introduces herself as Supergirl, but then morphs into Lana Lang, proving she has chameleon-like powers. Evidently, this is not Kara Zor-El somehow brought back to life. Instead, this Supergirl is a protoplasmic entity (“a matrix”) created by the Lex Luthor from the same Pocket Universe where the Legion of SuperHeroes found their Superboy.

Indeed, Supergirl needs Superman to return with her to the Pocket Universe Earth which is being destroyed by three Kryptonian villains (including General Zod) who were accidentally freed from their Phantom Zone captivity. Unfortunately, Superman and Supergirl arrive too late: General Zod and his companions have already burned away the Earth’s atmosphere, effectively annihilating the planet’s population. After a pitched battle, Superman is able to depower the rogue Kryptonians through the use of Gold Kryptonite. Vowing to the dying Pocket Universe Lex Luthor that he won’t let the three criminals commit genocide ever again, Superman performs the harshest act he’s ever done: he decides to act as judge, jury, and executioner by exposing the rogues to Green Kryptonite. Fighting amongst themselves and pleading for

their lives, the three Kryptonians die.

Superman killed them. He returns to his own Earth, and after putting Supergirl in the care of his adoptive parents, Superman flies off to reflect on his actions.

John Byrne had been doing some reflecting of his own. After completing the “Supergirl Saga,” he quit. Years later, Byrne used four words to explain why he ended his two-year association with both Superman and DC Comics: “The fun was gone” (Thomas). He was worn down. He described his time on Superman as a “death of a thousand cuts” and the final cut was the aforementioned Time magazine article (Cooke 51). The way Byrne looked at it, Time and DC Comics were “sister” publications as both were owned by Time/Warner. Given this, Byrne bristled when he read Time’s article about Superman, especially when its author, Otto Friedrich, described Byrne’s version of Superman as “the most radical alteration.”

Friedrich also openly criticized Byrne’s attempt to modernize the most iconic of super-heroes for a more mature audience: “There is in this a deplorable element that might be called adultification, in which a figure created for children is subjected to adult concerns, much as though Tom Sawyer or Alice in Wonderland were updated by being made to confront sexual problems….

DC Comics is delighted that its newest Superman has doubled sales, to 200,000, but that is a relatively paltry number compared with the millions who cherish an older image from their childhood.”

(Friedrich 74) Byrne could only read the article and sarcastically think of Time, “Gee, guys, thanks for your support” (Cooke 51). But it wasn’t just Time magazine that Byrne had a problem with. He also felt that DC Comics didn’t fully support him, not even at the very start of his run: “DC hired me to revamp Superman, and then immediately chickened out. They backed off at the first whiff of fan disapproval, which came months before anyone had actually seen the work” (Thomas).

With Byrne gone, writer Roger Stern and artist Kerry Gamill became the new collaborators on Superman, while Adventures of Superman artist Jerry Ordway assumed writing chores on that book as well. Meanwhile, the book behind all the birthday celebrations, Action Comics, went under the knife for some radical changes of its own.

Action Comics Weakly Weekly In a statement to Comics Buyer’s Guide, Giordano explained that the success of Millennium earlier in the year led DC to believe it could pull off another weekly comic, adding that readers were eager for “a series that they can buy and read each week, every week” (Myers 1). To that end, DC launched a weekly anthology— each 48-page issue containing six stories—and Mike Gold was tapped to edit it. Gold promptly dispersed the individual features to several other editors (Denny O’Neil, Mike Carlin, Barbara Randall, among others) in order to manage the deadlines.

According to Gold, DC’s original title for the anthology was Adventure Comics Weekly (Leong). The book’s main attraction was going to be Green Lantern. In an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Green Lantern Corps writer Steve Englehart said that Dick Giordano told him that because of GLC’s success—its sales had doubled during Englehart and Joe Staton’s run—DC wanted to make Green Lantern the lead feature of the new anthology. Green Lantern Corps

was cancelled with issue #224 (May 1988), but Englehart didn’t want to be confined to the cramped space the anthology stipulated: “We’d been doing two or three-full-issue arcs, with a large cast of characters and cosmic sweep and grandeur. Joe Staton and I talked it over and decided that we couldn’t do the GLC we wanted to do in seven page segments, so we bailed.

Basically, we were the victims of our own success.”

Adventure Comics Weekly was a go until Byrne’s departure altered DC’s plans. Rather than keep Action Comics as a Superman team-up book (or restore it as a solo Superman title), DC decided to transfer its anthology plans to Action Comics. With its 601st issue, then, Action Comics became Action Comics Weekly with an initial line-up that consisted of Green Lantern, Deadman, Blackhawk, Secret Six, and the new vigilante Wild

With its 601st issue, Action Comics became a weekly anthology.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

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Dog. Of course, even as an anthology, Action Comics wouldn’t be Action Comics without the character that anchored it for 50 years, so Gold tasked Mike Carlin to edit a two-page Superman strip—written by Roger Stern and drawn by Curt Swan—that would be an ongoing feature of the book.

editors later in the year, and making sure the book got to press on time was a responsibility that gave him nightmares for years to come. Describing Action Comics Weekly as a comic book with “an unintentionally doubly fitting title,” Waid remarked “just about the time the beleaguered

Superman and Green Lantern would be the only long-term features of Action Comics Weekly. The other characters would be replaced as their story arcs finished. Later issues of the anthology starred Black Canary, Phantom Stranger, Catwoman, Nightwing & Speedy (billed both together and separately), Starman, Captain Marvel, Demon, Phantom Lady, Hero Hotline, and Human Target.

In fact, according to Johnny DC, Rob Liefeld “wowed everyone” with his Bonus Book work in Warlord #131 (Sept. 1988). The same year, the 20-year-old California native also drew pin-ups for Who’s Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes, the cover to Checkmate #3, and a Nightshade story for Secret Origins #28. His first extended professional assignment was DC’s Hawk & Dove mini-series, which debuted cover date October 1988. The series sold well, in no small part due to Liefeld’s energetic artwork, which showed the potential for greatness.

The young artist was already attracting his fair share of admirers.

True to any anthology, some stories were stronger than others; forgettable and memorable material was mixed in together. Gold said that the book’s multiple editors helped from an organizational standpoint but ultimately led to Action Comics Weekly not having “a firm identity”: “if I had to do it all over again, I think I’d put it in the hands of one very tight editorial team which shared a strong common vision and had no other responsibilities” (Leong).

Gold himself would describe the contents of Action Comics Weekly as “skittish.” Perhaps that’s one reason why the anthology never caught on with readers. In 1988, Action Comics Weekly sold on average just under 98,000 copies per issue. That’s almost half the number of copies Action Comics sold in 1987 as a Superman team-up book (181,000 copies per issue). DC personnel were quickly coming to the conclusion that Action Comics Weekly might be more trouble than it was worth, especially given the oppressive grind involved in producing a weekly publication. Mark Waid became one of the anthology’s

second feature,” written and drawn by fledgling comic book professionals. A “Johnny DC” editorial even touted these inserts as “where tomorrow’s megastars are making their debut.” While that was the hype, the reality depended on one’s perspective.

Of all the Bonus Book contributors, the true newcomers who went on to have notable professional careers were writers Tom Joyner and Hank Kanalz and artists Jim Balent, Dean Haspiel, Gordon Purcell, and Rob Liefeld.

1988 house ad promoting DC Comics’ Hawk & Dove mini-series, written by Karl and Barbara Kesel and drawn by newcomer artist, Rob Liefeld.

Hawk & Dove TM and © DC Comics.

production department was finally readying its torches and rakes, wiser heads finally realized that the company’s internal resources might best be served (might best live to see 1989) if Action Comics Weekly were relegated to that age-old honorific of Noble Experiment” (Waid).

One of DC’s previous Noble Experiments, New Talent Showcase, was revived in 1988 in the form of a “Bonus Book” program. Throughout the year, various DC titles had a “free 16-page 234

But not everyone was a fan. An editorial comment in the letter column of Hawk & Dove #5 claims Liefeld “showed something new to an editor who thought he’d seen everything.” The comment goes unelaborated, leaving readers in the dark as to its meaning. The anonymous editor was Mike Carlin who was perplexed by Liefeld’s decision to draw parts of Hawk & Dove #5—the parts that take place in the “Chaos Dimension”—sideways. When Carlin asked for an explanation for his “landscape” layouts, Liefeld told him that Erik Larsen drew the Chaos Dimension in that fashion for a recent issue of Doom Patrol. Unmoved, Carlin cut and re-rotated the landscape panels to lay them out in the usual vertical manner. The pages were then

sent on to Karl Kesel for inking (Cronin 36). This would hardly be the last time Rob Liefeld became the subject of controversy.

DC Writers Across The Pond While new DC talent was being showcased in the Bonus Books, DC brass continued looking across the Atlantic Ocean for new creators, and a Scottish writer by the name of Grant Morrison caught their attention. Hardly a novice by 1988, Morrison had been a professional comic book scribe since the late 1970s. His work had been published by a number of smaller UK imprints—including Galaxy Media (Near Myths) and DC Thomson (Starblazer)—as well as

by Marvel UK (Spider-Man and Zoids and Doctor Who Magazine). But it was his work on the 2000 AD serial “Zenith” that really impressed DC. Morrison was subsequently asked by DC to pitch stories with a particular focus on updating “dusty old characters languishing in DC’s back catalogue” (Morrison 3). A DC contingent flew to London, and Morrison brainstormed ideas on the train en route to his meeting with them.

He had already worked out an Arkham Asylum pitch, and as the English landscape rolled by, his “feverishly overstressed brain” came up with one other, Animal Man:

Above: Grant Morrison’s first work for DC Comics was Animal Man. Below left: Final page from Animal Man #5 introduced the metatextual theme to the series.

TM and © DC Comics.

This minor character from the pages of Strange Adventures in the ’60s had always, for heaven only knows what murky reason, fascinated me and, as the train chugged through a picturesque landscape of Tudor houses and smiling bobbies on bicycles, I began to put together a scenario involving an out-of-work, marriedwith-children, thirdrate super-hero who becomes involved with animal rights issues and finds his true vocation in life. (Morrison 3)

DC accepted both of Morrison’s pitches.

Arkham Asylum wouldn’t see the light of day until 1989 while Animal Man received a green light for a four-issue miniseries starting cover date September 1988. DC was so impressed by Morrison’s initial scripts, however, that the decision was almost immediately made to promote Animal Man into an ongoing title. Morrison consciously wrote the first four issues of Animal Man in the “Alan 235

topics, Morrison opens up with the first volley in what will be the guiding thematic approach to his Animal Man run. The final page of the issue begins with a close-up on Crafty as he dies, killed by a silver bullet, with Animal Man kneeling over him. Each consecutive panel pulls back to reveal that Crafty is lying in a crucifixion pose at a crossroads. And the final two panels present the artist’s brush filling in the red of Crafty’s blood in the panel, revealing to the reader that Animal Man exists in a narrative reality exactly the same as Crafty’s original world. Crafty’s story is actually a microcosm of Morrison’s entire Animal Man run.

Moore” style, which meant poetic captions and fancy transitions between scenes, but with Animal Man #5, “The Coyote Gospel,” things changed dramatically.

Above: In 1988 the anti-heroic John Constantine got his own series, Hellblazer. Top: Credit panel from Hellblazer #9.

Hellblazer TM and © DC Comics.

The series’ animal rights preoccupation continues here but this becomes the first of several issues where Animal Man sits back and observes other characters’ stories, passively witnessing or actually failing to effect any change in the narratives. “The Coyote Gospel” (which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Single Issue in 1989) tells the story of an anthropomorphic coyote, modeled on Wile E. Coyote, who confronts his animator/ creator and is condemned to exist and suffer in the “real world” in the same way he did in the cartoons. Crafty the Coyote can’t be killed no matter how violent and painful the damage he suffers. At the same time, he is being hunted by a delusional truck driver who thinks Crafty is the devil.

But what could have ended there as a commentary on violence in media, animal rights, or any number of other 236

This metatextual approach of telling the story of a comic book character who slowly begins to realize that he’s a comic book character was, according to Morrison, inspired by the 1960s Flash adventure where the Flash “would get on his cosmic treadmill and turn up on Earth-Prime or wherever and meet Julius Schwartz in the DC office. That idea was present, but they never really explored it and they didn’t ally it to things that were going on in literature or films” (Hasted 61). Building up the metatextuality and taking it seriously, especially in the context of a comic company that had just a few years earlier destroyed entire narrative universes in order to streamline continuity, turned Animal Man into one of the decade’s most ground-breaking comic books.

DC recruited a different British writer for a new series starring John Constantine: Hellblazer. DC originally planned to title the comic book Hellraiser, but an alternative had to be used after Clive Barker’s Hellraiser movie came out in September of 1987 (Carroll). Constantine first appeared in Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985) as an incidental character written by Alan Moore. Much like Grant Morrison, Hellblazer writer Jamie Delano says he was wined and dined by DC brass during one of their visits to England. As Delano saw it, he had the right nationality for the Hellblazer job: “Either [DC Comics] or Alan [Moore], I’m not sure which, were responding to some popularity of the Constantine character in Swamp Thing,

and decided they’d risk spinning him off into a monthly series of his own. Alan didn’t want to write it, he wanted to get on with his Watchmen and various other projects, and they wanted a British writer because it was a British character, and he’d be mainly UK-based, and fortunately I was offered the chance to have a crack at it.” (Carroll) With its cynical preoccupation with contemporary British politics and culture, Hellblazer was as much about Great Britain as it was about the demons and obscene supernatural terrors it featured in its stories.

Unquestionably, though, Hellblazer’s principal allure was the anti-heroic Constantine, a foul-mouthed, arrogant “tosser” who nonetheless manages to make a lot of friends. Not that being John Constantine’s friend actually helped anyone. It usually only meant the assurance of an early death. As such, Constantine holds himself responsible for his friends’ miseries. Despite any (momentary) noble intentions he may have, Constantine almost always just makes matters worse.

Unlike Constantine’s friends, Hellblazer would go on to have a long life.

Its popularity was instrumental in the formation of a new DC Comics’ imprint in the early 1990s.

cluding a T-Shirt, a blood-splattered smiley-face watch, and a portfolio of artwork. Actually, according to DC, they weren’t truly selling Watchmen “merchandise”; instead, DC claimed to be selling Watchmen “promotional items.” The word choice wasn’t just a matter of semantics. It meant the difference between the Watchmen creators—Moore and Dave Gibbons—being owed royalty payments for the sale of all Watchmen-related “merchandise” and being owed nothing for the sale of Watchmen “promotional items.” Moore and Gibbons argued DC was in violation of their contract, and to appease the creators, DC offered a 1.6% “gratuity” to be split between them. When Moore and Gibbons wouldn’t drop their complaint, DC relented and paid them the contracted 8% royalties (Plowright 20).

The matter only left Moore with a bad taste in his mouth, so much so that in the aftermath he declared his independence from DC Comics: “I’m now eager to put mainstream comics behind me as far as possible” (Plowright 20). To that end, he started up Mad Love Publications with his wife Phyllis and their mutual lover Debbie Delano. Its first publication was a 76-page, black-and-white anthology titled AARGH! (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) that included contributions from such tal-

ents as Los Bros Hernandez, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, David Lloyd, Dave Gibbons, Bill Sienkiewicz, Harvey Pekar, Art Spiegelman, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, Robert Crumb, Brian Bolland, and Frank Miller, among many others. As a non-profit publication, AARGH!’s raison d’etre was to oppose “Clause 28,” a controversial attempt to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality by local British authorities.

But as Moore was moving on to that, he was also fulfilling his remaining DC Comics obligations. Fortunately for Moore, one project was already finished, a 48-page Prestige format one-shot that would become recognized as one of the greatest Batman stories ever published: Batman: The Killing Joke. Ostensibly, The Killing Joke is the Joker’s origin story, but not one which completely discarded continuity as readers were becoming accustomed to in the post-Crisis DC universe. Instead, The Killing Joke embellishes the Joker’s “Red Hood” beginnings that were first presented in 1951’s Detective Comics #168. As the Joker recounts his own origin, he never reveals his true name but he does provide details about his former (now deceased) pregnant wife and his previous unremarkable life as a floundering comedian. Forced by his accomplices to put a red dome over his head, he tries to do one big job to

No More Moore?

While Grant Morrison and Jamie Delano became the latest members of DC’s “British Invasion,” the British creator who essentially inaugurated that invasion was now leaving DC for good. That’s because Alan Moore no longer respected (or trusted) the company that had been publishing his work for the past four years: “I’ve always known how greatly comic book creators have been abused by publishers, but it’s only recently that I’ve begun to feel it” (Plowright 20). The bottom line was that Moore wasn’t satisfied with how DC resolved its dispute with creators over its proposed implementation of a ratings system in 1987. To that moral insult, DC added financial injury.

Over the course of several weeks in January 1988, DC released a variety of Watchmen merchandise, in-

Two 1988 house ads promoting the final two works Alan Moore would produce for DC Comics: The Killing Joke and V for Vendetta. TM and © DC Comics.

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doesn’t consider himself unique. He theorizes that one bad day can turn anyone insane. To that end, he chooses Commissioner Gordon as his test subject and, in one of the most controversial events in comics history, he shoots Gordon’s daughter Barbara at pointblank range through the spine.

Batgirl (as she is known to us) becomes paralyzed. Joker then strips her nude and takes photos. Next he kidnaps Gordon and takes him to a re-jiggered amusement park. Stripping the bereaved father naked, the Joker forces the commissioner to see the photos he took of the bleeding and naked Barbara in an attempt to drive Gordon crazy. But Gordon doesn’t succumb to madness, and the Batman arrives to apprehend the Joker. With the police on the way, Batman offers to help cure the Joker’s insanity if only to stop the two of them from inevitably killing each other.

But the Joker declines by telling a joke that re-emphasizes the insanity of both of their lives. And the story ends with the two of them laughing hysterically at each other.

The controversial final page from Batman: The Killing Joke.

TM and © DC Comics.

score the money he needs to support his family. But everything gets bungled, and in order to escape from the Batman, he jumps into a chemically polluted river. When he surfaces, he finds himself permanently disfigured… and insane. He’s become The Joker. That’s at least the story as told by the Joker, and whether or not he is a reliable narrator is up for debate.

Indeed, the Joker himself casts doubt on his own truthfulness. As The Killing Joke reaches its climax, the Joker

surmises the Batman has suffered a tragedy in his past, and as the Joker draws out the similarities between their lives, he says, “Something like that happened to me, you know. I… I’m not exactly sure what it was.

Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another… If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”

Through his origin story, the Joker stresses how one bad day turned him criminally insane. But the Joker 238

It’s an ending that has troubled many readers. To have Batman laugh with his archenemy after the Joker shot one of his closest friends and traumatized another seems grossly out of character. Other readers found fault with the story’s violence, considering it gratuitous. One critic even declared the story “sadistic to the core” (Packer 210). And then there was the matter of what happened to Barbara Gordon. A popular supporting character had been crippled, perhaps even permanently. Since The Killing Joke was published as a one-shot, unconnected to any of the monthly Batman titles, DC could have assuaged any reader outrage by simply declaring The Killing Joke as apocryphal, a tale that wasn’t going to be included in Batman’s ongoing continuity. DC chose instead to do the opposite. The crime-fighting heroine was officially retired in Batgirl Special #1, written

by Barbara Randall, penciled by Barry Kitson, and published exactly one week before The Killing Joke’s release.

Perhaps no one was a harsher critic of The Killing Joke than the person who wrote it. Alan Moore deemed it “a terrible book” (Stone). His explanation illuminates why he wanted to distance himself from mainstream

(read: super-hero) comics: “The only problem I’ve got with [The Killing Joke] is my writing. And I think that the problem was that I wrote it while I was writing Watchmen, or just after. But, I was still too close to Watchmen, I was bringing the same storytelling approach to Batman as I had for Watchmen. I was also bringing the same kind of quite grim, moral sensibility to Batman…. Ultimately, at the end of the day The Killing Joke is a story about Batman and the Joker; it isn’t about anything that you’re ever going to encounter in real life, because Batman and the Joker are not like any human beings that have ever lived. So there’s no important human information being imparted.”

(Khoury 121-3) Despite these criticisms, it bears mentioning that the general response to The Killing Joke in 1988 was overwhelmingly positive, if not gushing with praise. And the book sold tremendously well. Capital City Distributors alone ordered over 660,000 copies. As such, The Killing Joke’s first print run sold out quickly, triggering additional printings, and that subsequently made a first print run copy skyrocket in value in the back issue market. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland both won Eisner Awards for their work on the book, and The Killing Joke itself was awarded an Eisner for Best Graphic Album. Decades after its release, The Killing Joke continues to be honored as one of the best Batman stories ever told.

Alan Moore also garnered acclaim for the other book of his that DC published in 1988. V for Vendetta began in 1982 as a serialized feature within the British anthology comic Warrior.

Before Moore could finish the story, however, Warrior was cancelled in 1984. Subsequently, DC acquired the right to publish V for Vendetta and offered it as a ten-issue Deluxe format series, starting in 1988. The first seven issues that DC published reprinted the Warrior chapters with David Lloyd’s original black-and-white artwork now subtly colored with a limited palette by Lloyd, Steve Whitaker

and Siobhan Dodds.

(Groth 80)

The final three DC issues presented new material and concluded the dystopian story about a masked mystery man named V who wreaked havoc on post-WWIII Britain by engaging in anarchist acts against a fascist regime. But what began in 1982 as a standard “one man against a corrupt political system” story concluded at the end of the decade as something else as Moore explained in a 1990 interview: I started to realize that there was the possibility here to at least attempt to put down some of my own thoughts about the possibilities of anarchy, the things that might be wrong with it, that things that were wrong with fascism, and the things that might be right, or unavoidable about fascism....What V was doing, in the context of the adventure strip that I had originally plotted and laid down, was attempting to say something about the different options open to us now and in the future—the idea that the two basic poles of human politics are not capitalism and communism, that they are fascism and anarchy.

So by V for Vendetta’s end, Moore’s original intention to have V “instigate an anarchist utopia” was jettisoned as he felt “that that would be a betrayal of the entire series because it would be wildly unrealistic and not take into account any of the basic facts of human nature – that we are greedy and suspicious and cowardly and frightened and brutal, with a will to dominate” (Groth 80). Instead, V for Vendetta’s ending was left open, which not only reflected Moore’s disillusionment with politics of all stripes, but with the adventure genre as a whole: Saying something with my strips has become more and more important until it’s the only thing that’s important.

I think it’s a point of having outgrown the adventure genre. That sounds snotty and pretentious and condescending to all the people who still enjoy working with adventure characters, but I’d have to say that if I was to try and tackle the themes that I tackled in V for Vendetta again today, I wouldn’t tackle them in a near-future science fiction scenario, I wouldn’t tackle them using a semi-

David Lloyd’s wraparound cover to DC Comics’ first issue of V for Vendetta.

V for Vendetta TM and © DC Comics.

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1988 house ad promoting the reunion of Marv Wolfman and George Perez as The New Teen Titans changed its title to The New Titans.

TM and © DC Comics.

super-human protagonist, I wouldn’t tackle them in a series of tightly-paced adventure stories with cliffhangers and twist endings. (Groth 80) V for Vendetta represents the last original work Alan Moore produced for DC Comics.

Formatted Events The Killing Joke and V for Vendetta were hardly the only non-standard books that DC published in 1988.

The fact of the matter was that DC’s entire line used various formats. As a result, DC’s price points ran the gamut. Iconic titles like Superman and Batman maintained the same $0.75 price point they’ve had since late 1983 while other newsstand distributed comic books (i.e. Flash, Wonder Woman) increased in cost to one dollar at different points during 1988.

Prestige format books like Superman: The Earth Stealers—a 48-page oneshot written by John Byrne, penciled

by Curt Swan and inked by Jerry Ordway—and Howard Chaykin’s three-issue Blackhawk series retailed for $2.95. “New Format” books like Checkmate and The Spectre cost $1.25, and DC’s original Baxter paper, Direct Market-exclusive monthlies—New Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes—cost $1.75. With its 50th issue,

Bart Sears drawn cover to the first issue of DC Comics’ Invasion mini-series. TM and © DC Comics.

New Teen Titans became New Titans, as artist George Pérez reunited with writer Marv Wolfman for “Who is Wonder Girl?,” a story arc which sought to reconcile Wonder Girl’s place in DC’s new fictional continuity that had recently been upended by Wonder Woman’s reboot.

A different Baxter paper comic book earned the distinction of being the first DC maxi-series to be prematurely cancelled. Billed as a twelve240

issue series, Sonic Disruptors ended after the publication of its seventh issue (July 1988). Conceived as “The United States Army vs. the United States of Rock,” the book dealt with a future America run by fundamentalist Christians who have outlawed rock ‘n’ roll. Hip outcasts, led by Sheik Rattle Enroll, try to right that wrong.

Song titles and lyrics fill the prose, as do allusions to the Moral Majority, Nancy Reagan’s “Just say ‘No’”

campaign, and Top Gunlike military air battles.

The book sold very poorly and Sonic Disruptors’ writer, Mike Baron, admitted years later that “he was pretty much winging it [writing the book] and that the decision to kill the series was a mutual one” (Weiss).

DC ended 1988 with its next crossover event. Invasion! was a three-issue series, with each 80-page issue printed in squarebound format with no ads. Its plot involved a conglomerate of aliens attempting to conquer Earth. Led by the Dominators, the group consisted of Citadelians, Durlans, Gil’Dishpan, Khunds, Psions, Thanagarians, and the Warlords of Okaara.

Daxamites came along as observers. Most of these alien races previously appeared in either Legion of Super-Heroes or Omega Men, two titles previously drawn and written by Invasion!’s plotter Keith Giffen. Bill Mantlo scripted the series while art chores were divided among three pencillers: Todd McFarlane drew the first issue and half of the second.

Giffen himself finished the second issue, and Bart Sears drew the last issue and all the covers.

As it did for Millennium, DC’s entire line of super-hero titles tied into Invasion!, including one title Millennium refused to link up with: the “Suggested for Mature Readers” Swamp Thing. Invasion!’s lasting legacy, though, was its introduction of the “metagene”: a biological variant that gives select people the potential to exhibit superpowers. In other words, the metagene explains how superheroes gain their powers in the DC universe. It was a term used for years within DC’s fictional continuity.

Starlin’s Return to the Stars Three months prior to Invasion!’s launch, DC released a different spacethemed series: Cosmic Odyssey. Ac-

1988 house ad promoting Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola’s Cosmic Odyssey mini-series.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

cording to its writer, Jim Starlin, DC approached him to create a series that mapped out its science-fiction heroes and universe. It took Starlin about a month to hash out a plot, one that Starlin laughingly confessed “had nothing to do with mapping anything out, of course, other than we picked out three planets DC had in their universe, because I wasn’t about to go look through a bunch of back issues to map things out. That’s Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s territory” (Johnson 17). Starlin started drawing the first issue, but when scheduling conflicts with Starlin’s other projects arose, the decision was made to find a substitute artist. That substitute ended up being Mike Mignola, who jumped at the chance to collaborate with a comic book creator he grew up idolizing (Johnson 17).

The four-issue Prestige mini-series 241

revolves around Darkseid’s attempt to stop the threat of the Anti-Life Equation.

To do so, he must join forces with the New Gods and heroes from Earth, specifically Superman, Batman, Green Lantern John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, the Demon, and Starfire (who became Wonder Woman’s replacement when the Amazon princess proved unavailable for the story’s use). Aspects of the AntiLife Equation are located on four planets—Earth, Rann, Thanagar, and Xanshi—so the group splits— in the time-honored way of comics—into teams to deal with the threats. The Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern John Stewart go to Xanshi, where they meet horrific defeat. Stewart is overly cocky about the threat, believing he can defuse a bomb all by himself. When he gets to the bomb seconds before its explosion, he finds it has been painted yellow. Since his power ring can’t affect anything yellow, the bomb detonates, wiping out the star system and killing millions.

Stewart suffers immense guilt and almost kills himself, but the Martian Manhunter talks him out of it.

The incident became canon for the John Stewart character, but other than that, the events of Cosmic Odyssey almost seem out of continuity for the DC Universe. In fact, despite the Cosmic Odyssey trade paperback collection receiving numerous reprintings for decades to come, the book received little fanfare in 1988, at least from the perspective of its creators.

Mignola reflects that when Cosmic Odyssey was first published, “It didn’t cause much of a stir. I remember when DC talked me into doing this book, it was talked about like it was going to be a big, giant, turning point book. Then it just became a fun, goofy thing that didn’t change the world” (Johnson 20). While Mignola enjoyed working on Cosmic Odyssey, the experience made him realize that more super-hero work wasn’t for him. He

redirected his career in a bold new direction. Starlin, on the other hand, was extremely satisfied with how Cosmic Odyssey turned out: “It came at a time when I was doing a lot for DC. It was probably the last good project I worked with them on” (Johnson 22).

A different Jim Starlin DC project that was released almost simultaneously with Cosmic Odyssey was the four-issue series titled Batman: The Cult. It was an almost-horror story approach to the Dark Knight, and in a fitting move, premier horror genre artist Bernie Wrightson came aboard to illustrate it. Starlin and Wrightson had collaborated earlier in 1988 on the four-issue DC mini-series The Weird, and Starlin was well aware of Wrightson’s tendency to abandon half-completed projects that lost his interest. To make sure Wrightson finished The Cult, Starlin implemented a direct plan of intervention: “We were living in the same area and Bernie was beginning to get to a point where if he didn’t have enough stimuli on the job he would never finish it… I was around and I’d come over and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing great. Keep it up. Good work.’ And so he’d have the juice to go back to it” (Clancy 39).

The Cult follows Batman on an investigation of a series of brutal murders of street criminals. The trail leads to the city’s sewer system. One night, Batman is caught off guard while fighting some punks and is shot by one of them. Just before a killing blow can be delivered, a mysterious savior stabs Batman’s assailant from behind, rescuing Batman. As Batman rises to thank his savior, he blacks out and gets dragged under the city.

There he meets Deacon Blackfire, a cult leader who indoctrinates Batman into the fold by using the timehonored methods of isolation, starvation, drug-induced hallucination, and finally suggestion when Batman is most vulnerable. Batman then accompanies The Cult, made up of homeless people, cast outs, and other crusading wayfarers, on a couple of killing missions. He struggles, sensing what they’re doing is wrong, but he doesn’t stop them nor does he participate, at least lethally.

Batman: The Cult is a violent book.

Undoubtedly, DC wouldn’t have al-

me, Robin.” His shoulders slumping, he goes on to say, “I just wasn’t strong enough to resist him.”

Above: 1988 house ad promoting Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson’s Batman: The Cult mini-series.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

lowed it to be sold on the newsstand. In the story Deacon Blackfire bathes in a pool of blood, beheadings abound, and blood slathers many panel borders. In one sequence in the first issue, Batman fantasizes about finally doing to the Joker what he’s always wanted to do: hacking the smiling maniac to bits with an axe.

Perhaps the most telling moment of the story comes in issue #3, after Robin rescues Batman, and the Dark Knight confesses: “The Deacon broke 242

By the time The Cult debuted, Starlin was already the regular writer for the ongoing Batman monthly series.

For that book, Starlin wrote a different violent Batman story titled “Ten Nights of the Beast.” Running from Batman #417 to #420 (March-June 1988), “Ten Nights of the Beast” introduces new villain KGBeast, a KGB trained assassin whose strength was cybernetically enhanced. Upset by the improving relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, the KGBeast’s superiors send him to Gotham City to assassinate ten people connected to the Strategic Defense Initiative (a.k.a. the U.S. military’s “Star Wars program”), including President Ronald Reagan. At one point in the story, artists Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo produce a crowd shot of 80 dead people, facedown in their food, as the KGBeast has his assistant poison the soup at a luncheon to kill one targeted victim.

The story’s conclusion proved even more shocking. Batman lures the KGBeast into Gotham’s sewers. In the final pages the KGBeast runs into a dead end, a room with a metal door.

KGBeast taunts Batman to enter the room and finish their fight. Instead of doing so, however, the Dark Knight Detective calmly closes the door, locking in the KGBeast, effectively killing him. Aparo’s Batman is inexpressive, cloaked like the grim reaper. DeCarlo’s inks are so black that not a facial feature can be seen. Some fans applauded this severe twist, while others renounced the loss of their hero’s nobility. It’s a chilling moment… but ultimately not very lasting, as a year later Batman #439 (Sept. 1989) reveals that Batman reported the KGBeast’s whereabouts to police a few hours after locking him up.

1-900-Dead-Robin But “Ten Nights of the Beast” was only a prelude to the most controversial Batman story of the year, if not the decade. It centered on Batman’s sidekick, the Jason Todd version of Robin. “The initial reaction to Jason was a positive one,” John Wells wrote in 2004, “and he provided a fresh viewpoint to many familiar relation-

ships and characters” (11). To all appearances, the new Boy Wonder was still well accepted in 1988, thanks in part to Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis’s popular Batman and Robin stories in Detective Comics a year earlier. If there was any discord, it was over the replacement of the 1983 version of Jason’s introduction with a new account written by Max Allan Collins in 1987. While some readers loathed “that stupid ‘new Robin origin’” (as Tim Dwyer called it in Batman #420’s letter column), most still seemed to like Jason himself.

During Dennis O’Neil’s first two years as Batman editor, exactly one anti-Jason letter (in Detective #575) appeared in his text pages.

reflected on premium rate telephone numbers and how they could be used to let fandom determine the outcome of a comic book story. Obviously though, something meaningful had to be presented to readers to entice them to spend 50¢ on a phone call, and what could be more meaningful than letting the readers determine if Robin lives or dies?

Jim Starlin was solidly with that lone dissenter; not only didn’t he admire Jason Todd, he objected to the whole notion of Robin: “Who goes out to fight crime with a child that you dress up in bright primary colors, while you shroud yourself in dark clothing?

In the real world, that would be called child abuse” (Franklin 73). Entrenched as Batman’s writer, Starlin suggested a story where Robin dies. The suggestion was rejected. Alternatively, Starlin tried to avoid using Robin as much as possible.

An opportunity came in the form of a telephone gimmick. By the late 1980s, premium rate telephone numbers were becoming more and more prevalent.

In this pre-internet era, 1-900 numbers were used for an assortment of services like daily horoscopes, celebrity “hotlines,” sex chats, updated weather information, polling, etc.

Callers were charged 50¢ every time they dialed a premium rate number.

One night after an editorial retreat, O’Neil was sitting in a hotel room with several other DC staffers, and in the course of their conversation they

The final page of Batman #427 directed readers to determine Robin’s fate by calling a premium rate telephone number.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

Thus was born “A Death in the Family,” a four-issue arc beginning in Batman #426 (Dec. 1988). “A prologue (Batman #422, 424, and 425) saw a seismic shift in the characterization of Jason Todd,” Wells observed. “Now surly and confrontational, the second-generation Robin was none-too243

subtly implied to have tossed a freed rapist from a roof” (6). It was a startling departure from the traditionally sunny portrayal that Barr, Collins, and (in New Teen Titans) Marv Wolfman had written previously.

Batman #426 has Jason Todd journeying by himself to the Middle East in hopes of discovering his real mother.

Meanwhile, the Joker has acquired a nuclear missile, which he plans to sell to terrorists. As the Batman tracks the Joker to the Middle East, he happens upon Jason. The two assist each other in their searches, which leads them to Ethiopia and the discovery of Jason’s real mother, Dr. Sheila Haywood. Little does Jason or the Batman know that Dr. Haywood is being blackmailed by the Joker.

After Bruce Wayne excuses himself to give the reunited mother and son some privacy, Dr. Haywood betrays Jason by handing him over to the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime proceeds to use a crowbar to beat Jason to within an inch of his life and then leaves both Dr. Haywood and Jason tied up in a warehouse with a bomb counting down to detonation. As Batman #427 draws to a close, a revived Robin is unable to either defuse the bomb or help his mother exit the locked warehouse. The bomb explodes just as Batman arrives on the scene, and the issue ends with a house ad that informs readers that “Robin will die because the Joker wants revenge, but you can prevent it with a telephone call.” By dialing one number, readers could vote to have Robin survive the explosion, and by dialing a different number, readers could vote to have Robin perish. There was a 35-hour window for readers to call, starting from 9:00 AM EST Thursday, September 15 and ending at 8:00 PM EST Friday, September 16.

Observers smirked that the 1-900 number to kill Robin ended with the number 666.

The next day things got a bit better for Jason as he reversed the deficit in the early afternoon and took a five-vote lead to save his life. DC staffers started to feel the tension as the end drew near, feeling as if they were pulling for a loved one to make it through surgery, ordering sandwiches and not going home. O’Neil tells the rest: Dan [Raspler, Batman assistant editor] made his final check Friday at 7:30, and it was bad news for Jason: 5081 [sic] for, 5148 [sic] against.

But with 30 minutes left, and a margin of a mere 67 votes, there was still hope for the kid. And at 7:45, it looked like he might make it, with 5,221 for him, and 5,259 against.

Only 38 calls difference.

There must have been a lastminute surge of Jason-haters.

When, at 8:30, I finally spoke to a human being instead of that semi-articulate computer, the final count was 5,271 to 5,343. Rest in peace, Jason Todd.

Overall, 10,614 votes were cast. A difference of 72 callers sealed Robin’s fate. Starlin’s wish to write a Robinless book came true after all.

Above: 1988 house ad promoting the first two issues of the “Death in the Family” story arc.

Opposite page: Batman cradles a lifeless Robin in this splash page from Batman #428.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

Starlin made no bones about what final tally he wanted to see. At the 1988 Chicago ComiCon—two months before the telephone voting got under way—Starlin told an audience, “I’ve got an awful lot of great story ideas that’ll be messed up if [Robin] lives” (Myers 1). Starlin also wanted the opportunity to fulfill the prophecy of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight: that Jason Todd would die in the line of duty. Starlin’s interpretation of Dark Knight has the Joker killing Jason,

even though Miller’s story never explicitly provides that detail (Franklin 74).

In the editorial column that appeared in Batman #429, O’Neil described how the vote tally unfolded. At first check-in, Robin had 243 well wishers and 199 calling for his head. Through most of the first day of voting Robin was set to live but then around 8:00 PM the “no kill” voters were overtaken by the “kill” voters: 2,104 to 2,195.

244

In Batman #428, the Caped Crusader rummages through the debris of the explosion. He eventually finds Dr. Haywood who dies explaining how her son tried to shield her from the bomb blast. Several yards away lies Jason’s lifeless body. Batman checks for a pulse even though he knows it’s a futile gesture, and then in a splash page devoid of captions and dialogue, Batman cradles Robin. The Boy Wonder is dead.

And then the mainstream press got wind of the news. DC received calls from dozens of news organizations, even from such distinguished periodicals as Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. For three days, O’Neil spoke to newspaper journalists, radio show hosts, and television reporters to explain what happened (O’Neil). Unsurprisingly, most were unaware that the Robin costume had been transferred from Dick

Grayson to Jason Todd.

Meanwhile, reaction to the earlier story in Batman #424 earned a flurry of anti-Jason letters that serendipitously ran in issue #428, the very issue in which Robin died. Pulling a quote from one’s fan’s missive, The Chicago Tribune described Jason as a “vindictive, vengeful little brat” in an October 27 article and declared that “readers [had] protested” his existence ever since Dick Grayson “quit the biz” in 1984. The Tribune also quoted an unnamed DC spokesman who when asked who killed Robin answered that “readers did it.” That much, at least, was true, but the margin calls into question whether there was really as much anti-Jason sentiment as later accounts would claim.

After all, nearly as many readers voted for him to live as to die.

As was becoming the industry norm, DC quickly collected the “Death in the Family” issues into a trade paperback to be sold in bookstores. On the trade’s back cover, placed below several testimonials from various newspapers, is a declaration from Denny O’Neil. As if to reassure readers as to the finality of Robin’s death, O’Neil wrote, “It would be a really sleazy stunt to bring him back.”

That would become a declaration that O’Neil would regret making. And soon.

245

1989 The

Year of the Billionaire, the

Bat and the Brits

As the 1980s sped to a close, Marvel Comics kept building larger and larger crossovers while DC Comics pulled on the reins. One of the largest independent publishers, Comico, struggled to pay its bills, and a couple of young writers from the UK were poised for superstardom. It was a year marked by controversy both legal and social, as Revolutionary Comics pushed the boundaries of free speech and everyone was put on alert to all the sex and violence in the pages of America’s most popular comics.

Marvel, as had been the case for the previous five years, reinforced its hold on the marketplace by producing event comics that coerced readers to pick up titles they might not have normally purchased in order to be able to read the event’s entire story. At the same time, Marvel spun out popular characters into two or three separate titles each.

DC Comics, on the other hand, mainly focused on two things: expanding its new, Post-Crisis Universe with reimaginations of classic (and not-so classic) characters and, to put it simply, the Batman.

For DC, it was all Batman all the time in 1989 as not only was the publisher gearing up for the 50th anniversary of Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27, parent company Warner Brothers began to build the marketing juggernaut that would lead to the June release of Tim Burton’s big-budget Batman film. Fandom didn’t just raise their collective eyebrows at the announcement that Michael Keaton would be playing Batman; they lost their collective mind. Many fans accused Warner Brothers of planning a secret sendup of Batman rather than a serious attempt to present the character on-screen (Hughes).

Batman’s creator, Bob Kane (who also served as a consultant on the film) even had to speak out in an attempt to calm fan anxiety, saying, “The movie isn’t a comedy at all. It’s going to be heavy melodrama… [and the Joker] is a psychotic murderer, a maniacal killer. It’s all very evil” (Hughes). But even that didn’t settle things down, and Don Thompson, co-editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide observed, “No one seems to have taken [Kane] seriously.” He added that CBG had received over 500 protest letters decrying the film—all before anyone had seen any footage (Hughes).

Code? What Code?

The final revision to the Comics Code went into effect in 1989, and it was the most dramatic revision yet. Of course, by this point, the Comics Code Seal meant very little, thanks to the rise of the Direct Market. Newsstands and other sources of comic book distribution may have continued to pay attention, but the publishers didn’t seem to worry. Given the coming summertime fuss that would be made over sex and violence in comics, there were very few real repercussions to violating the code, and comics were more violent and sexual than ever.

CHAPTER TEN

The 1989 revision was no longer concerned with things like what types of monsters could be used (thanks to the

by Paul Brian McCoy

246

1971 revision). Instead the code focused on maintaining a responsible and respectful tone regarding social changes. The most notable change was the fact that the Code openly mentioned homosexuality, sexual orientation, and sexual preferences and instructed that they all be treated with respect, rather than hinting surreptitiously that they shouldn’t be mentioned at all under the catch-all description of sex perversions (“Sealed With Approval 1989”).

And it worked for a while, as Perelman kicked off “an era of gimmicks meant to goose sales and impress corporate bosses” (Raviv 36).

Crossover Nation Perelman’s arrival inaugurated Marvel’s “Event Storytelling” as a way to increase profits. Marvel had been developing mini-series events for the better part of the decade.

Up to this point, though, these events generally stayed focused around a single mini-series that would have tie-in issues throughout the Marvel Universe of titles (e.g. 1985’s Secret Wars II). 1989 was, however, the first time that the

The ban on rape was also dropped, so there was bad to go with the good. Regardless, it appeared that what the companies wanted most, was the freedom to make as much money as possible, by virtually any means necessary (Irving).

Meet the New Boss, Almost the Old Boss Marvel started the New Year with a dramatic change in ownership. The Marvel Entertainment Group’s made-fortelevision movies featuring The Hulk and other Marvel Comics super-heroes had garnered little profit for New World Entertainment (Raviv 11). Ronald O. Perelman, the chairman of Revlon, then stepped in and bid $82.5 million dollars for the company, snatching Marvel away from Jim Shooter’s partnership and their $81 million dollar bid (Thomas).

MacAndrews & Forbes, the shell company owned personally and wholly by Perelman, cut a check for just $10 million. More than $70 million was borrowed from a syndicate of banks, led—as was becoming standard for Perelman—by Chase Manhattan. Chase would handle all the paperwork and formally make the loan offer, while recruiting other banks to take on portions of risk. (Raviv 11) At the time this seemed like a great move both for Perelman and for the company, even though the Marvel Productions unit was excluded from the sale because it had merged with New World’s television and movie business (Hicks). Right out of the gate, Perelman had a plan: “Marvel’s operations were analyzed, top to bottom, stem to stern. Departments deemed unprofitable or unpromising were shut down and writers were fired. Net income quickly doubled” (Raviv 15).

When discussing his interest in and goals with the company, Perelman was clear: “[Marvel] is a mini-Disney,” he said.

“Disney’s got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters” (Raviv 12). As such, Perelman believed that Marvel “should waste less time and money on artists thinking up new ideas that were slow to develop popularity and should concentrate instead on cash flow, selling more licensing rights based on the comic book characters that were already hot” (Raviv 36).

The villainous Mr. Sinister headlined Marvel Comics’ premiere 1989 event, “Inferno.”

All characters TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

247

1989 TIMELINE

May 8: DC Comics’ Piranha Press imprint launches with the publication of Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman’s Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children #1.

A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.

March 5: Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. announce a deal to merge into the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate.

January: Ronald Perelman purchases the Marvel Entertainment Group, the parent company of Marvel Comics, from New World Entertainment for $82.5 million, outbidding Jim Shooter’s partnership.

March 24: The oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history up to that point; more than 11 million gallons of oil are dumped into the Sound, resulting in massive damage to its environment and wildlife. Exxon spends over $2.5 billion to clean up the spill.

January: Comico and DC Comics reach an agreement where Comico will pay DC a fee to print, solicit, and distribute its titles.

March 26: Ballots are cast in the Soviet Union’s first democratic national election since 1917’s October Revolution. Boris N. Yeltsin and other anti-establishment candidates are subsequently elected.

January 4: U.S. fighter planes shoot down a pair of Libyan MIG-23s over international waters off the coast of Libya.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

January 20: George Bush is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States.

MARCH

February 14: Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini sentences author Salman Rushdie to death for his book The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims deem sacriligeous.

APRIL

April: Archie Goodwin submits his resignation as editor of Marvel’s Epic imprint. A month later, Goodwin is working for DC Comics while Carl Potts becomes Epic’s new line editor.

March 30: Former Justice League of America and Wonder Woman artist Mike Sekowsky dies at age 65.

Batman, Captain Marvel and Superman TM and © DC Comics. Epic Comics and The Punisher TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

crossover events continued virtually without pause from one to the next for the entire year.

It began with “Inferno” whose seeds were planted in late 1988 with Uncanny X-Men #239 (which served as a prologue to the story) which then led into the X-Terminators mini-series.

As 1989 dawned, Marvel upped the ante and instead of sticking mainly to the X-Titles as previous X-Family crossovers had done, the “Inferno” logo was displayed on the covers of The Avengers, Cloak and Dagger, Damage Control, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Power Pack, Amazing SpiderMan, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Web of Spider-Man. The main “Inferno” storyline ran through New Mutants #71-73, Uncanny X-Men #239-243, X-Factor #3638, and Excalibur #6 and #7, telling the tale of a demonic invasion from Limbo that transforms New York into a demonic state. But New York wasn’t the only thing undergoing a trans-

formation. The story centered on the corruption of Madelyn Pryor into the Goblin Queen and Illyana Rasputin into the Darkchilde, and it stayed center-stage through April.

April also debuted “Atlantis Attacks,” which replicated the format Marvel used the previous year for “The Evolutionary War.” “Atlantis Attacks” was a 14-chapter crossover story spread through nearly every Annual Marvel released that summer, beginning with Silver Surfer Annual #2 (released alongside comics cover dated June) and ending in July’s Fantastic Four Annual #22 (released alongside comics cover dated November). But unlike “The Evolutionary War,” “Atlantis Attacks” was written as a serial with many of the Annuals ending with cliffhangers that led directly into the next chapter.

The story revisits themes of invasion and transformation from the “Inferno” crossover, as The Silver Surfer inadvertently awakens and frees 248

May 12: The Return of the Swamp Thing, starring Louis Jourdan, Heather Locklear, and Dick Durock – reprising his role as Swamp Thing – opens in movie theaters. The movie grosses less than $200,000 at the box office.

M AY

May 24: George Lucas’s third Indiana Jones film – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford and Sean Connery – opens in movie theaters.

June 4: Chinese troops crush a pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square where for weeks hundreds of thousands had been protesting official corruption and calling for democratic reforms. Hundreds die in the assault.

June 13: Tim Drake – who will eventually become the third Robin – is introduced in Batman #436.

June 21: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.

JUNE

June 23: Directed by Tim Burton and starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker and Micheal Keaton in the title role, Batman opens in movie theaters. It would set a then-box office record of $100 million in its first 10 days of release, and go on to become the highest grossing film of the year.

the Deviant High Priest Ghaur, who then returns to Earth and attempts to restore the Serpent Crown and unleash the seven-headed serpent god, Set, on Earth. As such, the titular attack from Atlantis is a bit of a bluff.

The real story involves the search for mystical artifacts, the mutating of ordinary humans into serpent-people, and the gathering of seven brides for Set. Ultimately, the combined efforts of The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and Namor defeat Ghaur’s plans and maintain Set’s banishment from this dimension. In addition, each Annual also contained a back-up story, “The Serpent Crown Saga,” which explored the history of one of the Marvel Universe’s most mysterious and dangerous artifacts.

Without missing a beat, books cover dated December 1989 initiated the next Crossover Event, “Acts of Vengeance,” which would run through February 1990. This time out The Avengers, rather than the usual

October 3: Written by Grant Morrison with painted art by Dave McKean, the 212-page Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth graphic novel arrives in stores.

October 5: The Punisher, starring Swedish muscleman Dolph Lundgren as Marvel Comics’ resident vigilante, opens in movie theaters… in West Germany.

The movie would not be seen in the United States until March 1990 when it is shown at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. In 1991, the movie is released in the U.S. video market.

August 8: Co-creator of the Green Arrow and 1950s Superboy artist, George Papp dies at the age of 73.

J U LY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER October 10: Billed as “The First New Batman ‘Solo’ Book Since 1940!”, Legends of the Dark Knight #1 arrives in stores with five different covers.

August 24: Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose from Major League Baseball for gambling.

autumn crossover focus, The X-Men, were at the center of the event which spanned over twenty titles. The main thrust of the story involved Loki attempting to defeat the Avengers by manipulating Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Wizard, Mandarin, and Red Skull (a.k.a. the “Prime Movers”) into the confrontation. Their plan involved engineering a super-villain jailbreak and then shuffling up the villains to attack the heroes, so that the heroes would be caught off-guard in battles against foes they’d never faced before. As such, the event was essentially a series of unexpected match-ups between heroes and villains (including the Fantastic Four being attacked while appearing before Congress to argue against a Superhero Registration Act) with no real immediate impact on the Marvel Universe as a whole. “Acts of Vengeance” did, however, feature the first appearance of Psylocke in the body of Kwannon, transforming her from the twin

October 17: Just minutes before the start of a World Series baseball game at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hits the San Francisco Bay area, causing $7 billion worth of damage and the death of 67 people.

November 6: The Batman newspaper strip is revived with an opening story by Max Allan Collins and Marshall Rogers.

November 9: The Communist government of East Germany collapses. For the first time in decades, travel between East and West Germany is unrestricted, and Germans begin to tear down the Berlin Wall.

November 22: Captain Marvel creator C.C. Beck dies at the age of 79.

NOVEMBER

December: Alan Moore finishes his run on Miracleman with issue #16. He transfers his 30% share of ownership in the character over to new Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman.

December 20: U.S. troops invade Panama in order to capture that country’s ruler, General Manuel Noriega, for his role in international drug trafficking. Noriega seeks political asylum with Vatican officials in Panama City but eventually surrenders to U.S. authorities in early January 1990.

DECEMBER December 22: A pro-democracy revolution causes Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu to flee from power. He and his wife Elena are eventually captured and executed.

November 14: Written by Brian Augustyn with art by Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell, Gotham by Gaslight: An Alternate History of the Batman imagines the Batman as a Victorian-era detective.

sister of Captain Britain into an Asian ninja assassin. Also appearing for the first time were The New Warriors in the pages of Thor #412 (Dec. 1989).

One aspect of Perelman’s takeover came to light as these crossovers developed, particularly during “Atlantis Attacks.” According to Dan Raviv, author of Comic Wars, “[w]riters and editors of the various books inevitably clashed when trying to coordinate the stories, and the staff ultimately felt that the Atlantis series was way more trouble than it was worth” (36).

Better to Byrne Out Than Fade Away!

John Byrne had returned to Marvel in 1988 to take over and revamp the failing Star Brand title in Jim Shooter’s New Universe, but sales weren’t improving so the title was eventually cancelled with issue #19 (May 1989).

Byrne’s tenure at DC had been controversial, to say the least, and his return to Marvel brought controversy, and sales, as well.

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The multi-chapter/multi-title “Acts of Vengeance” story arc included Avengers #313.

The Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

The first mainstream Marvel title he took on was The West Coast Avengers.

His debut in issue #42 was a clearing of the decks, and characters who had been gone (like Wasp and Hank Pym) were suddenly back in the line-up with no explanation. Previous team leader, Hawkeye, was demoted and played as less competent than he’d been during the previous 41 issues, and by issue #46, he took a leave of absence from the team. Pym took over the leadership position and reunited with his estranged wife as per Byrne’s inclinations (Sanderson 22).

But it was Byrne’s treatment of The Vision that really ruffled feathers.

Byrne’s first West Coast Avengers story arc was titled “Vision Quest.” It

focused on the Vision’s abduction by an international group effort to neutralize him as a worldwide security threat. This was in response to the “Unlimited Vision” storyline from Avengers #251-4 (Jan.-April 1985), where Vision went rogue. Once captured, Vision was disassembled and his memory erased, so by the time the West Coast Avengers rescued him, he had been reduced to a logical, inhuman android with no history or emotional connection to his wife and family. And if that weren’t enough, Byrne completely erased Vision’s origin in an attempt to provide a fresh start for the character. No longer was Vision built by Ultron from the android body of the original Human Torch.

The Vision’s wife, The Scarlet Witch, fared even worse as her husband was essentially replaced with an emotionless machine. Then she discovered that their twin sons were actually made from pieces of a demon called Pandemonium, unknowingly incorporated into them through the spell she had cast to cause her pregnancy. This was revealed when Pandemonium arrived and violently reclaimed them.

John Byrne drawn cover to Sensational She-Hulk #1.

She-Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Before long, Byrne was also writing The Avengers, taking over with issue #305 (July 1989) and initiating a rotating roster that allowed him to essentially recruit whichever groups of heroes were appropriate for an adventure.

Writing both books allowed for more overlap and interplay between the titles, although it was with Avengers West Coast (renamed with issue #47) where he seemed to be the more comfortable, 250

John Byrne’s first issue on West Coast Avengers began the controversial “VisionQuest” story arc.

West Coast Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

providing both the scripts and art until leaving (again with some controversy) with issue #57 (April 1990).

One of the few non-controversial things Byrne did during his tenure with Avengers West Coast was create the fan-favorite team of amateur superheroes from Wisconsin, The Great Lakes Avengers in issue #46 (July 1989). The sense of humor displayed with these characters found another outlet in the Byrne-written and illustrated Sensational She-Hulk, which debuted cover date May. Sensational She-Hulk was a straight humor comic from its very conception. The main source of the comedy was, in Byrne’s words, “the fact she knows she’s in a comic book. So her reactions are based on that knowledge” (Sanderson 13). She-Hulk would regularly comment on the events going on around her and break the fourth wall, addressing the readers directly.

The rogue’s gallery for the title was drawn from the odder villains in the Marvel Universe, echoing, for the first few issues anyway, The Incredible Hulk’s original run-ins with The Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime as well as the alien Toad Men. But Byrne left the title with issue #8 (Nov. 1989) due to editorial interference. As Byrne tells it:

I went on with producing the book, and, quite by accident, discovered that [editor] Bobbi [Chase] was, indeed, making changes. To my scripts!...

Without telling me. I complained to Tom DeFalco, then editor in chief, and he told me he did not want to be “like Shooter”, so he would always, arbitrarily, support his editors over the creative team....

So I suddenly found myself booted off She-Hulk. (qtd. in Tipton)

and Anderson, each of whom claimed that the decisions to remove Englehart were theirs and theirs alone.

They also denied that Fantastic Four was doing as well as claimed (McCubbin 49). According to its published circulation notice, Fantastic Four sold on average 180,000 copies a month in 1989, well less than half of Uncanny X-Men’s average sales of 406,000 copies per month for the same year. Silver Surfer sold 165,000 copies per month, a 25% drop from its 1988 average of 221,000 copies per month.

With the FF, [DeFalco] came and said he wanted Reed and Sue back, he wanted Ben un-mutated, he wanted Ms. Marvel to go away... Crystal, as you may have noticed, just vanished in the middle of the storyline without any explanation.... In fact, we had a very long-term plotline worked out with Crystal and Alicia and Johnny and Ben. Tom said, “I don’t care.” So [Crystal] just sort of vanished, and nobody talks about where she went, or why she’s not there.

(McCormick 47)

Without missing a beat, he stepped in and began penciling a seven-issue Wolverine run with writer Archie Goodwin, starting with issue #17, thus wrapping up the year working on one of Marvel’s highest-profile titles.

Comings and Goings Byrne wasn’t the only Marvel writer blaming Tom DeFalco for causing him to leave titles; Marvel veteran Steve Englehart left the company in 1989 under bizarre circumstances and charges of editorial interference that were denied by everyone else involved. Englehart’s situation was fairly unique in that he was actually fired in the summer of 1988 but was allowed to stay on-board West Coast Avengers, Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four to finish storylines that were underway. This meant that his final issues were actually West Coast Avengers #39 (Dec. 1988), Fantastic Four #333 (Nov. 1989), and Silver Surfer #31 (Dec. 1989). (For the seven-issue span between Fantastic Four #327 and #333, Englehart wrote under the pseudonym “John Harkness”.)

On the bright side, Silver Surfer continued with hardly a bump as scripting duties were taken on by someone who had made a name for himself in the mid-1980s as the creator of normalman: Jim Valentino. He took over Silver Surfer with issue #32 (Dec. 1989). The Fantastic Four was not so lucky. The majority of storylines and plot developments that Englehart had incorporated into the series during his two-year run were editorially mandated to be reset as though they had never happened:

Despite being fired from the titles in the summer of 1988, Steve Englehart continued to write Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer until the end of 1989.

Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Englehart claimed that DeFalco also mandated the use of single-issue stories in Silver Surfer, saying “No more of these complex storylines. We want simple stories with morals... oneissue stories” (47). In the same interview, Englehart expressed his excitement for his next project: a revival of Archie Comics’ The Fly. Unfortunately, that never happened.

While Englehart was on the way out, another classic Marvel writer was making his return. Steve Gerber was back, writing a bi-weekly 12-part Man-Thing story for Marvel Comics Presents from late 1988 through cover date February 1989. He was then assigned scripting duties on Freddy Kruger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, a black-and-white Marvel magazine set to launch with an October 1989 cover date, but that title was cancelled after the second issue, despite having the first five issues plotted with writing begun (Kim Thompson 28). He wrapped up 1989 by taking over the now Byrne-less Sensational She-Hulk with issue #10 (Dec.) and producing a 12-issue run. 1990 would be a much more productive year for him.

According to a 1989 Amazing Heroes interview, Englehart claimed that his firing was due to personality conflicts between himself and editor-in-chief DeFalco, stemming from DeFalco’s reneging on a promise to raise salaries. Because of this, DeFalco had him fired despite excellent sales figures (“X-Men numbers,” Englehart says he was told), but thanks to the support of his editors Ralph Macchio and Craig Anderson, he was allowed to finish his work before leaving (McCormick 46, 48).

Most of these statements were immediately disputed by both Macchio 251

Above: Newcomer writer Dwayne McDuffie created Damage Control for Marvel in 1989.

Right: 1989 closed with the end of Todd McFarlane’s tenure on Amazing Spider-Man. Damage Control and Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Finally fed up with his treatment at DC Comics, Roy Thomas returned to Marvel’s fold in the late 1980s. After a brief stint closing out New Universe’s Nightmask in 1987, Thomas co-wrote with his wife Dann a 12-issue limited series titled Saga of the Sub-Mariner that retold the origins of Prince Namor. Then they both took over Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme with issue #5 (July 1989). This marked Roy Thomas’ return to writing both characters at the same time, just as he did in the late 1960s. Co-plotting with them and writing a back-up feature that explored the lore of Doctor Strange was an old collaborator: French writer Jean-Marc Lofficier.

The Thomases had previously worked with Lofficier on DC Comics’ Arak and Young All-Stars. Together, the three writers brought a bizarre new energy to Doctor Strange that continued on through the early 1990s.

After working on a She-Hulk special and a Hawkeye short story in Solo Avengers #13 (Dec. 1988), young up-and-comer Dwayne McDuffie introduced his first original Marvel creation, “Damage Control,” in the Marvel Age 1988 Annual before getting the go-ahead for the first of a series of mini-series. Damage Control was a construction company in the Marvel version of New York City that specialized in rebuilding the damage

caused by superheroic battles. The series was characterized by a sit-com style of humor that drew on the “reality” of the Marvel Universe. McDuffie’s inspiration for the series came from the 1960s Batman television show: I was watching one day – this is years ago – and after the Batmobile released its drag parachute, a little blue laundry van pulled up with a sign on the side that said, “Batman Drag-Chute Pick-Up and Dry Cleaning Service.” I thought it was great that these guys waited around all day for Batman to release the DragChute, and I wondered what other kinds of businesses would be around with superheroes. (Cadenhead 41) Series artist Ernie Colón had nothing but praise for the young writer, joking, “If I call Dwayne brilliant one more time, he’ll ask me to marry him” (43). This was just the first of many successful and popular projects McDuffie would develop over the coming years, and as 1989 drew to a close he wrote a Captain Marvel Giant-Size Special (Nov. 1989), featuring the Monica Rambeau version of the character, before launching a threeissue run on Avengers Spotlight (#26252

28) and a two-part Iron Man adventure (#251-252). The end of the year brought the beginning of his second Damage Control mini.

Images of Spiders, Mutants and Mercenaries Marvel’s most popular titles of 1989 (Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Punisher, Punisher: War Journal, and Amazing Spider-Man) proved to be the training grounds for the next generation of artistic superstars. But as 1989 began, there was only one already recognized visual superstar on that group of titles: Todd McFarlane. His work with writer David Michelinie on Amazing Spider-Man had revitalized the title, making it one of Marvel’s most consistently successful books almost from the day he started with AMS #298 (March 1988). When he finally left the title in January 1990 to launch his own Spider-Man as writer/ artist, its first issue (Aug. 1990) “sold a record 2.85 million copies” (Raviv 36).

As popular as McFarlane was, Uncanny X-Men was 1989’s unrivaled top seller for Marvel, even though after kicking off the year with “Inferno,” the title saw its sales dip slightly.

This popularity was mainly thanks to

the creative combination of Chris Claremont’s scripts and the dynamic art of Marc Silvestri who had been with Marvel since 1981. Silvestri had been the penciler on Uncanny X-Men since issue #218 (June 1987), and he would remain on that title until cover date May 1990 before his shift to another X-Family book, taking over art duties on Wolverine.

Another hot Marvel artist, Whilce Portacio, had risen through the ranks at Marvel, first as an inker on Alpha Flight from 1986 to 1988 before penciling Punisher from issue #8 (May 1988) through issue #18 (April 1989).

The Punisher had really taken off since the first Steven Grant/Mike Zeck mini-series in 1986, with his solo series remaining a consistent top-ten Marvel title from its launch in 1987.

Its popularity, in fact, encouraged Marvel to publish not only the regular Punisher series, but a second title for the character, a black-and-white magazine, and a couple of graphic novels.

Marvel in Black-&-White In 1989, Marvel also expanded its black-and-white magazine line, which allowed the company to expose its brand to a market outside of the traditional comic reader. The Punisher was supposed to launch with an original adaptation of the Punisher film, starring Dolph Lundgren which was due to premiere in August (Fisch 15). However, due to the financial difficulties at New World Entertainment (which led to Ron Perelman’s subsequent purchase of the company in 1990), the film never received an American theatrical release (although it did premiere around the world). Because of this, the official Marvel adaptation didn’t see print until the following year. In its place, Punisher Magazine #1 (Sept. 1989) opened with reprints of Steven Grant and Mike Zeck’s 1986 mini-series, followed by reprints of the Mike Baron and Klaus Janson ongoing series.

With an October cover date, the Nightmare on Elm Street black-andwhite magazine joined the line-up (for its two-issue run, anyway) with the other two magazines already being produced: Conan Saga Magazine (which reprinted stories from Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian comics and The Savage Sword of Conan magazine), and The ’Nam Magazine (which featured black-and-white reprints of the ongoing The ’Nam series).

In what seemed to be a bid to corner the market on testosterone-fueled adventure magazines, Marvel then released Destroyer Magazine in cover date November 1989. The Destroyer novels, originally co-written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, had been published since 1971, with over 75 novels on the market by the time Marvel launched the magazine. The magazine series

When Portacio moved on from Punisher, Erik Larsen was waiting in the wings for his shot, stepping in with issue #21 (July 1989). He worked on Punisher through issue #25 (Nov.) while also producing a series of bi-weekly Excalibur stories in Marvel Comics Presents #31-38 (Nov.-Dec.).

His big break would come as 1990 began when he took over Amazing Spider-Man after McFarlane’s departure.

If there was to be another rival to the popularity of McFarlane and Silvestri, it was in the line work of Jim Lee, who really made his mark in 1989 on Punisher: War Journal. But it was filling in for Silvestri on Uncanny X-Men #248 (Sept.) and during the “Acts of Vengeance” crossover in Uncanny XMen #256 (Dec.) through #258 (Feb. 1990) that led to him becoming that title’s regular artist with issue #267 when Silvestri moved to Wolverine.

Left: Whilce Portacio drawn cover to Punisher #17. Right: From John Byrne drawn cover to Wolverine #17.

Punisher and Wolverine TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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was written by Will Murray, who at the time was the sole ghost writer for the paperback series. Illustrator Lee Weeks, who had recently penciled the New Universe series Justice, served as the core artist with rotating artists working on the even numbered issues. Creator Warren Murphy oversaw the entire project, approving the plots, and ensuring the lead character, Remo Williams, stayed “true to his roots” (Dutter 14).

Toasters (Jan-April 1989). It was an ambitious but low-selling story that is at times “a murder mystery, in which author and criminal psychologist Egon Rustemagik tries to track a serial killer” wherein Sienkiewicz’s style of painting is sometimes such a “nightmarishly distorted fashion that it’s initially impossible to tell fantasy from reality” (Robinson).

Epic also produced another fullypainted mini-series cover dated from March through June, this time utilizing two artists with previous Epic experience. Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown was written by Walt and Louise Simonson and illustrated by Jon J. Muth and Kent Williams. Both painters had previously worked on Epic titles with J.M. DeMatteis, and in order to cash in on this more high-profile work, Epic re-released Blood: A Tale as a graphic novel in May, and Moonshadow in July. For Meltdown, the painters split the work right down the middle with Muth doing all of the Wolverine art and Williams handling the Havok duties.

Epic Drama Along with the more mature edge of the magazines, Marvel’s prestige imprint, Epic Comics (under the hand of line editor Archie Goodwin), continued to break new ground in American comics by importing and translating some of Europe and Japan’s most critically-acclaimed works, particularly Akira (translated by Mary Jo Duffy with computer colors by Steve Oliff, who was hand-picked for the role by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo) and the Incal works of French creators Jean (Moebius) Giraud and Alejandro Jodorowsky (English translations by Jean-Marc Lofficier and his wife Randy Lofficier).

Particular effort was put into bringing Moebius’ work to an American audience. December 1988 and January 1989 saw the release of the Stan Lee/Moebius collaboration, Silver Surfer (renamed for its 1998 rerelease as Silver Surfer: Parable), followed quickly by a hardcover collection a month later. Lee and Moebius had met the previous summer at the San Diego Comic-Con, where Lee proposed the Silver Surfer collaboration. Moebius then “took Stan’s outline and flew with it, utilizing his superb sense of storytelling and polished, cinematic pacing to create pages that Stan found a delight” (Nelson 20). Parable won the Eisner Award for Best Finite Series of 1989.

In addition to these works, Epic also produced a fourissue mini-series written and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz called Stray

An Eisner Award was awarded to Stan Lee and Moebius’s collaboration on a two-issue Silver Surfer series.

Silver Surfer TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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However, early in the year, there were rumors of trouble between Goodwin and Marvel’s new owners—Ron Perelman’s Andrews Group Inc.—and in April, Goodwin turned in his one-month notice and resigned on May 19, taking a job at DC eleven days later. After purchasing the company, Andrews conducted “a routine financial examination of Marvel” and was “dissatisfied with the sales performance of most Epic titles,” and there were more rumors that Epic would be “dismantled and its titles merged with the regular Marvel line” (Baisen & Hargitt 26). As Goodwin put it in an interview with Comics Buyer’s Guide, “my actions [grew] out of a growing unhappiness with the reorganization of Epic. Originally, it seemed it would work out fine. In practice, many of the working details of the arrangement bothered me a great deal” (Maggie Thompson).

Epic’s Shadowline Saga took the brunt of the new restructuring, with all three Shadowline titles, Doctor Zero, Power Line, and St. George, being cancelled after their eighth issues due to poor sales. Issues #9-13 were then published in a seven-issue anthology called Critical Mass, beginning in January 1990.

With Goodwin’s departure, Carl Potts was named Epic’s new executive editor and was responsible for finding, developing, and orchestrating the release of new Epic titles as well as running a number of editorial teams (Ellis). This included the first of Epic’s Clive Barker adaptations/short story collections, Hellraiser (Dec. 1989), along with November 1989’s 48-page painted graphic novel Neuromancer: an adaptation by Tom de Haven and Bruce Jensen of the first two chapters of William Gibson’s classic cyberpunk novel. Unfortunately, no further chapters were completed even though the plan was to adapt further chapters every two years or so (Witterstaetter 25).

The February 1989 issue of Amazing Heroes reported that Epic planned to collect and re-present Sergio Aragonés’ pre-Epic comic adventures of Groo the Barbarian. The Groo Chronicles (July 1989) were released “to commemorate Groo’s ‘lost years’... in a six-issue bookshelf format” featuring two stories per issue, collecting all the Pacific and Eclipse Comics material to accompany the current ongoing Epic series (“Lost Years of Groo Set for Epic Series” 11).

Potts continued Epic’s work with Moebius, releasing three graphic novels cover dated November and December of 1989: Blueberry #1– Chihuahua Pearl, Blueberry #2 – Ballad for a Coffin (both by Moebius and Jean-Michel Charlier), and The Art of Moebius. The Blueberry books were the first of five planned volumes set for release on a bi-monthly basis.

Writer Charlier had co-founded the French weekly magazine Pilote, where he and Giraud originally began telling the Blueberry adventures in 1963, and this was the first time Giraud would use his Moebius pseudonym with regards to his Blueberry work. This was ironic, since “Giraud first coined the ‘Moebius’ pseudonym precisely because he wanted to keep

his two bodies of work separate.” But with “Moebius” being more known in America, he consented to marketing these new collections differently.

It was around this time that Moebius began work on a sequel to The Airtight Garage, originally intended to be published by Epic (Lofficier 21). Instead, it would eventually be published by Dark Horse in 1996 as The Man from Ciguri.

Three Archie Goodwin-created titles—St. George, Doctor Zero and Power Line—formed Epic Comics’ “Shadowline Saga.” All three titles were cancelled in 1989 after their eighth issues. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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and Will Jacobs’ The Trouble with Girls, effective in July, leaving Matt Wagner’s Grendel and Bill Willingham’s Elementals as the only ongoing titles alongside a few minis and specials (Baisden 5). By May, however, Fish Police and Trollords had been picked up by Apple Comics, and The Trouble with Girls returned to its former publisher, Eternity (Murphy 13).

The Trouble with Girls and Trollords: Death and Kisses were both back with July cover dates with Fish Police following in August.

Originally a Malibu title, Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones’ Trouble with Girls also got published by Comico and Eternity before the end of 1989.

Trouble with Girls TM and © Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones.

Independence Days: Comico, The Crow, and Rock ’n’ Roll But the 1989 marketplace wasn’t entirely friendly to fringe publishing efforts. In fact, if Epic hadn’t been a Marvel imprint, it’s doubtful it would have lasted as long as it did, even after its restructuring. For example, Comico ended 1988 with serious cash flow issues, and in January 1989 a deal was announced where Comico would pay DC an undisclosed fee in exchange for DC printing, soliciting, and distributing Comico’s eight titles (Baisden 17). With DC’s distribution fee added to Comico’s burden of debt, the only way the struggling publisher could dig itself out of the substantial hole it found itself in was through a dramatic increase in sales.

And that didn’t happen. After increasing the number of press runs in an effort to provide enough volume to cover the DC handling charge, sales did not go up. In fact, Blackthorne Publisher Steve Schanes estimated that Comico’s sales actually decreased by as much as three percent (Baisden 6). In March, the other shoe dropped as Comico announced that it would be cancelling four titles: Steve Moncuse’s Fish Police, Mike W. Barr and Adam Hughes’ The Maze Agency, Paul Fricke’s Trollords, and Gerard Jones

The Maze Agency took a little longer to land, eventually releasing issues #8 through #23 with Innovation Comics starting with cover date December 1989. In a 2004 interview, writer Mike W. Barr blamed the situation on Comico not being up-front about the actual status of The Maze Agency; Comico first claimed Maze Agency was on hiatus, allowing Barr to shop the title around to other publishers, but then Comico backpedalled and told Barr his title wasn’t really on hiatus and they were still considering publishing future issues. Comico also held onto unpublished artwork and Barr was forced to hire a lawyer to fight for its release. At the same time, DC Comics swooped in at the first notice of Maze Agency’s possible cancellation and offered artist Adam Hughes the opportunity to pencil Justice League America. Hughes would still do pencils on Maze Agency #8, #9 and #12, as well as a short piece in The Maze Agency Annual #1 (August 1990), and Comico’s Elementals #12 (Feb. 1990), but was already gaining fame for his Justice League debut work (Eury 24).

Comico continued publishing Bill Willingham’s Elementals and Matt Wagner’s Grendel, along with a handful of minis, before finally suspending regular publication in mid-1990.

That meant by the end of 1989, First Comics was the only major independent publisher still keeping a regular slate of books on the market, month in and out. Dark Horse, though, was beginning to gain ground, and Eclipse continued to publish erratically with the occasional Tales of the Beanworld, Zot!, and Miracleman (which concluded Alan Moore’s acclaimed run at the end of the year).

Outside of those larger independents, smaller presses maintained their 256

By the end of 1989, Mike W. Barr’s Maze Agency — featuring art by Adam Hughes —moved from Comico to Innovation Comics.

Maze Agency TM and © Mike W. Barr

traditional position in the comics marketplace, with a few companies actually building a healthy stable of titles. Caliber Comics, founded by comic store owner Gary Reed, burst onto the scene in 1989 after acquiring two titles from Arrow Comics: the zombie adventure Deadworld and the fantasy The Realm. With Arrow’s folding, the company turned over the rights of Deadworld to artist Vince Locke and The Realm to artist Guy Davis. Both artists frequented Reed’s shop, and he opted to begin publishing them, continuing each title from its previous numbering. Reed explains: Guy Davis already had a few issues of the unpublished Realm completed and wanted to move into something else.

It was an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories but set in an alternative universe where punks had made a bigger impact on culture. We discussed the ideas, both good and bad, so I came in on the writing end and Baker Street was born. I thought that was a good nucleus to start the company with Deadworld, Realm, Moontrap [a film adaptation], and Baker Street.

(Smith)

After launching Caliber Comics with the release of Deadworld #10 at the end of 1988, Reed released the anthology comic, Caliber Presents (January 1989), which featured the debut of James O’Barr’s original creation, The Crow. O’Barr had been developing The Crow since 1981, while he was a U.S. Marine stationed in Berlin. His enlisting had been motivated by the death of his fiancée, Beverly, in 1978, and The Crow was a way of dealing with that personal tragedy (Blair). The story follows the Crow, a young man named Eric, who returns from the dead to avenge his and his fiancée’s murders. After the initial short piece in Caliber Presents, The Crow #1 was released the following month (Feb. 1989). The series ran for four issues through 1989, with this first arc dedicated to Ian Curtis, the deceased lead singer of the band Joy Division. In November, The Crow went to a second printing, having sold out its initial 10,000 copies.

Boy series. At the end of the year, NOW also launched a long-running Green Hornet series—initially written by Ron Fortier and illustrated by Jeff Butler—that attempted to reconcile all of the previous incarnations of the Green Hornet and Kato into one multigenerational epic. The series’ story began in 1945 and worked its way up to the present day (even in-

While that all sounds controversial, there was only one publisher that seemed to have no trouble (or qualms) about using controversy to sell its comic book. Revolutionary Comics published the unlicensed rock star biography Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics, which garnered more press than most independent comics in 1989.

Throughout 1989 Caliber released three to four issues each of Deadworld, The Realm, Baker Street, and the Crow, while also publishing seven issues of Caliber Presents.

Over at Dark Horse, Paul Chadwick (Concrete) left comics for the year to work as the production designer on the horror anthology film After Midnight, producing only a few short pieces (including two Concrete shorts for Dark Horse Presents #28 (March 1989) and #32 [August 1989]), which caused promised new work for Dark Horse to be pushed back to 1990. In the meantime, Dark Horse published three collections of Concrete, reprinting Concrete #1-4 and work from Dark Horse Presents #1 and #2.

NOW Comics maintained a steady stream of licensed work with its Ghostbusters and Speed Racer families of comics, as well as the ongoing Terminator, Fright Night, and Astro

short pieces on a variety of subjects along with regular episodic adventures of Young Dan Pussey. The centerpiece of the first ten issues, however, was the darkly surreal “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron.” The story takes its name from Russ Meyer’s film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and follows the attempts of a man named Clay Loudermilk as he searches for his estranged wife, Barbara Allen. What follows is a nightmarish journey through sexual fetishism, deformity, and obsession.

1989 house ad promoting the characters and licenses found in Dark Horse Comics’ lineup.

TM and © Dark Horse Comics.

corporating the 1966-7 TV version of the character).

Fantagraphics continued to publish the critically acclaimed Love and Rockets, by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, along with Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo, and late in the year began publishing the daring experimental anthology, Eightball, by Fantagraphics regular Daniel Clowes. Each Eightball issue contained a number of 257

Founder, Todd Loren, had worked selling music memorabilia for most of the decade before launching Revolutionary Comics, and depending on the source, he was described as everything from a shrill carnival barker to a First Amendment crusader. The Comics Journal’s Gary Groth even penned an editorial about Loren in 1990 titled, “Todd Loren – First Amendment Advocate or Lying Sack of Shit?” Regardless of what people thought of him, Loren was responsible for some of the highest selling independent comics of 1989. Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics #1 (July 1989) told the unauthorized story of Guns N’ Roses, and after Rolling Stone reported that the band’s lawyer Peter Parerno had sent Loren a cease and desist letter, the comic almost immediately sold out its entire 10,000 copy print run (Sanford). The series then moved on to Metallica, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and rounded out the year with The Rolling Stones, all the while rallying behind the First Amendment, but quietly agreeing to not reprint issues once lawsuits were

actually filed by both Bon Jovi and Motley Crue (Groth 5). The lawsuits resulted in Revolutionary Comics having to build its own distribution network outside of traditional comics outlets, making Revolutionary independent from even the independent scene.

But Archie Comics Chairman, Michael Silberkleit, also served as President of the Comics Magazine Association of America, which administers the Comics Code Authority. As such, he had been called on to comment on the sex and violence scandal. While consistently condemning mainstream comics, Silberkleit reinforced Archie Comics’ wholesome image. Archie Comics President, Richard Goldwater, echoed these remarks, stating that there “seems to be a growing trend toward excessive violence in some areas of the industry. Archie Comics has enjoyed years of success by promoting healthy, wholesome values. We will not compromise our principles for the additional profits that might come with trying to compete with those publications.” As a result, Spectrum was cancelled before it had really even begun (“Archie Cancels Spectrum” 12).

Revolutionary Comics wasn’t the comic book industry’s biggest controversy in 1989, though. Instead, an April 30 feature article in The New York Times Magazine by Forbes Senior Editor Joe Queenan, titled “Drawing on the Dark Side,” spurred a barrage of unflattering media scrutiny of comic books over the summer (Baisden, “Violent Comics Draw Unfavorable Media Spotlight” 5). Queenan did praise independent publishers for providing alternatives to the mainstream sex and violence, citing Love and Rockets, American Splendor, and Maus, in particular, but characterized the majority of independents as “practic[ing] downscale me-tooism, churning out poorly drawn versions of the major publisher’s superheroes” (6).

“There is no better symbol for the direction comic books have taken,” Queenan wrote, “than the devolution of the Joker from the deranged prankster of the 1960s to the homicidal, sexually aberrant monster who beats Robin to a pulp in the enormously popular 1988 Batman series, published by DC comics [sic] and now collected in booksize format under the title ‘A Death in the Family.’” “The Joker’s depradations [sic] may be lethal to Robin,” Queenan continued, “but they have had a salutary effect on the nearly $300 million comicbook industry, which has more than doubled in size in this decade” (5).

The article was followed by comic book-focused coverage on CNN’s Larry King Live on May 2, and then more on NBC’s Today show on May 4 and May 11. Then, on May 18, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) issued a report by NCTV Director Dr. Thomas Radecki, titled “Comic

The Joker TM and © DC Comics.

Where to Draw the Line?

The Violence Debate

The Year of the Bat Robin Books Now Much More Violent.” Marvel and DC were the primary targets of the reports, citing Daredevil, Green Arrow, Sandman, The Punisher, and Black Orchid, amongst others, for excessive violence (8). The final assault on comics came from a June 12 Time magazine article by Anastasia Toufexis, titled “Our Violent Kids,” which attempted to draw connections between violent entertainment like comics and youth crime (9).

The comics industry weathered the assault with hardly a ripple. Marvel’s Nightmare on Elm Street magazine was quietly cancelled after the second issue (Nov. 1989), but there was no formal explanation tying the cancellation to the summer’s controversy. The only clearly connected cancellations came from Archie Comics, which had been developing Spectrum Comics as the return of its super-hero line. These new takes on characters like The Hangman (to be written by Len Wein) and The Fly (by Steve Englehart) were promoted as grittier, more violent versions of the originals in an attempt to fit into the contemporary comics marketplace.

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As noted by Queenan, DC Comics had closed out 1988 with a bang – literally. The death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, at the hands of the Joker in Batman #428 was a startling end to the character’s run, and a bizarre way to kick off the 50th anniversary of Batman and the build-up to the big-budget Warner Brothers’ film. As it turned out, Jason’s fate was sealed before the callers even finished voting. As one would expect in a situation like this, there were two endings written: one where Jason died and one where he lived. But even if the readers voted for Jason to live, he was being retired as Robin. And just a few months after the conclusion to that story was published, Batman writer Jim Starlin would be retired from DC for over a decade. As he put it during a 2011 interview: When [“Death in the Family”] began, [Batman editor] Denny O’Neil showed up on all the morning TV talk shows, reportedly taking full credit for the project. Jim Aparo and I were never mentioned. But when the merchandising department suddenly realized

they had all these licensing deals involving Robin being on PJs and lunchboxes, they kicked up a real stink. All of a sudden DC’s bestseller that year became a horrendous mistake. Guess who got blamed for it? I was off Batman within weeks and gone from DC, as soon as I finished [the 1989 mini-series] Gilgamesh II. (Franklin 74) In the April 21, 1989 issue of The Comics Buyer’s Guide, Starlin was quoted as saying that “the death of Robin was planned all along, because DC intends to introduce a new version of the character” (Salerno). DC denied the accusations in the very same issue, but refused to comment in any detail. Looking back, Starlin also denies it, saying, When [CBG] ran the interview, they started it off with a headline that heavily hinted that the whole call-in stunt was a hoax; that we planned to kill off Robin all along.

They did this, even though I never said anything like that in my interview. Of course, most folks up at DC never read past the headline and that pretty much finished me up at DC for more than a decade. (Franklin 74) Regardless, one thing was fairly certain: a new Robin was indeed on the way, one that was a bit more palatable to the general public (or at least to the suits at Warner Brothers). Starlin’s explanation for this at the time was that “for some reason DC seemed to think that Robin was also going to be in the Batman movie” (Salerno 3). Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm confirmed that Robin was in the early drafts: Yeah, Robin was in there because Warner Brothers was hot to have him. Their basic string of demands when we first came in to talk about doing it was to have the Batman, to have the Joker, to have Robin... It became somewhat of a

Left: DC Comics house ad promoting the “Batman: Year Three” story arc.

Above: Batman #436 introduced Tim Drake.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

nightmare to stop the story and do a major introduction sequence for a whole new character who doesn’t really have a dramatic function.

He’s just in there because he’s obligatory. What wound up happening was that, surprise, surprise, somebody thought “We can do this without Robin.” All the hoops we had to jump through getting him in there turned out to be wasted effort. (Mangels 48) But the wheels for Robin’s return were already in motion in the pages of Batman. Coinciding with the release of the film in June, writer Marv Wolfman began a four-part, bi-weekly storyline called “Batman: 259

Year Three” (Batman #436-439 [Aug.Sept.]) which focused solely on retelling the origin of the original Robin, Dick Grayson, parallel to a contemporary storyline that draws Dick back to Gotham in his current Nightwing identity. Beginning immediately after the conclusion of that story was “A Lonely Place of Dying,” a five-part arc that included Batman #440-442 and The New Titans #60-61, which culminated in Batman #442 (Dec. 1989) with a new Robin, the previously introduced Tim Drake. The debut of this third “Boy Wonder” came one year, to the month, since the published death of Jason Todd. This was done thanks to demands from Warner executives, and despite Denny O’Neil’s desire to wait even longer before introducing a new Robin (Rogers).

Wolfman had a very specific plan for creating a Robin that the fans would accept in the role:

My thoughts were that this Robin should want to be Robin and not Batman....

That he have parents, to differentiate him from all other kid partners, and that he not only be a good athlete, but incredibly bright and intuitive. To accomplish some of that, I had him at the circus, as a very young child, when [original Robin] Dick [Grayson]’s parents were killed; I thought that would be something he’d never forget and would cement the memory of Dick’s performance in his mind. The rest followed out of that. (Rogers)

The Year of the Bat Detective Above: DC Comics house ad promoting the “Lonely Place of Dying” cross-over. Top right: In Batman #442, Tim Drake became the next Robin.

All characters TM and © DC Comics.

Meanwhile, over in Detective Comics, after the January and February issues, Alan Grant, the series’ writer since issue #583 (Feb. 1988), was shunted aside to prepare for the big Fiftieth Anniversary Adventure, “Blind Jus260

tice,” written by Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm in his first foray into scripting comics. Issues #598 and #600 were each 80 pages and priced at $2.95 (as opposed to the regular $0.75), containing three chapters apiece along with pin-up pages and text pieces commemorating Batman.

Issue #599 was regular-sized and contained only one chapter of “Blind Justice” with extra text and illustrations.

Hamm’s story introduces character Henri Ducard, the man who helped train Bruce Wayne in Paris during his years preparing to become the Batman. Outside of that, there’s not a whole lot to distinguish the adventure from any other Batman story.

The “Fiftieth Anniversary Adventure” seemed more like a marketing ploy than anything else, making sure to emphasize the fact that the screenwriter of the film was writing the comic in the months leading up to the film’s release. Outside of the writer’s name, there was no other connection to the film. As Hamm put it at the time: Well, when I approached it, I didn’t really want to try to do a definitive Batman, because there seem to be about eight “definitive Batmans.”... I wanted to do something that would fit into the regular con-

tinuity of Detective Comics, and try to do Bruce/Batman as he is in the comic books as opposed to the revised version that is being introduced to the mass movie audience.

It’s really a pretty straight story in Batman continuity.

I’m not really trying to add another aspect to the legend or come up with anything which is going to be incorporated into the mythos on a running basis. (Mangels, “Part II” 61) Alan Grant’s return to the title with issue #601 (June 1989) was marked by nothing more than a return to quality short Batman stories that rarely utilized Batman’s traditional Rogues Gallery. The only classic Batman villains Grant used in 1989 were each of the four Clayfaces for the story titled “The Mud Pack” (#604-607 Sept.-Oct. 1989) when the title went bi-weekly for two months, ensuring there was a new Batman title on the shelves nearly every week during the film’s premiere and in the months just after.

Grant’s 1989 run was capped with the introduction in Detective Comics #608-609 (Nov.–Dec.) of one of his most popular and enduring creations, Anarky, a twelve-year-old anarchist vigilante. Grant intended Anarky to be positioned as the next Robin, but evidently he didn’t run that idea

by Denny O’Neil. Grant didn’t know about DC’s plans with Tim Drake until Wolfman’s introduction was already approved and in motion (Berridge 7).

The Year of the Bat Legends The same time that Alan Grant was introducing Anarky and Tim Drake was about to pick up the Robin costume, DC debuted what was hailed on its cover as “The First New ‘Solo’ Batman Book Since 1940!” Legends of the Dark Knight was written by Denny O’Neil with art by Ed Hannigan and purported to tell the very first Batman adventure, slotting it into continuity by overlapping it with events in Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. Initially, Legends was promoted as a series of stand-alone five-issue stories, but after a while that became less strict a standard as the series continued its run of 214 issues.

The opening story, “Shaman,” told of

In 1989, Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm penned a three-issue arc for Detective Comics and DC launched a new Batman series: Legends of the Dark Knight. Batman TM and © DC Comics.

Bruce Wayne’s near-death in Alaska while bounty hunting a murderer.

After almost dying, he is rescued by a Native American girl and her grandfather who tell him the story of how The Bat gained its wings, providing a little bit more insight into Wayne’s eventual choice of crime fighting identity.

Perhaps the most notable thing about the launch of this new series, aside from the intent to produce high261

quality graphic novel-style stories in a monthly serial format, was the use of multiple covers to take advantage of the collectibles market. Legends of the Dark Knight #1 shipped with four variant covers, each with a different color. Because Batman didn’t actually appear in the book, DC’s marketing opted for a Bat-silhouette as the cover, which allowed for the easy incorporation of four different background colors.

Gotham By Gaslight TM and © DC Comics.

The Year of the Bat Elseworlds And if untold stories from Batman’s past weren’t enough to broaden the Bat-market, editor Mark Waid had an idea to bring back the imaginary stories that DC had retired with the 1986 publication of Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” The first of what would become DC’s Elseworlds imprint was released in November 1989. Gotham

by Gaslight was written by Brian Augustyn with stylish, atmospheric art by Mike Mignola and inking by P. Craig Russell, telling the tale of a Victorian-era Batman on the trail of a Gotham transplanted Jack the Ripper.

While the story itself was notable mainly for reimagining Batman as though he were a steampunk-styled adventurer in 1889, what really captured the imaginations of readers was the art. Mignola had been known mainly for his inking, along with some pencils on Marvel titles like Incredible Hulk, Alpha Flight, and the 1985 mini-series Rocket Raccoon, but he had just finished art for DC’s Cosmic Odyssey (1988), and after spending nearly a year using Jack Kirby as his inspiration for that work, he found himself gaining a reputation for super-hero work.

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It was not a reputation he wanted.

In a decision that would change the course of his career, Mignola jumped at the chance to take the more abstract stylistic elements he’d developed while studying Kirby and apply them with an expressionistic approach to creating mood and realizing period architectural details (Boucher). This would become his distinctive signature style, finding expression in adaptations of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (Epic Comics, 1990) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Topps Comics, 1992), and finally the development of his own original property, Hellboy, in 1994.

The success of Gotham by Gaslight opened up the possibility to tell alternative stories of DC’s heroes, although initially these stories focused mainly on Batman. Unlike Marvel’s What If...?, though, these were not just changes in continuity to tell alternate takes on established stories.

The Elseworlds imprint provided creators the opportunity to tell stories with fully self-contained continuities with the only connection to the DC Universe being the appearance of DC characters in fresh takes on their established roles.

The Year of the Bat Transvestite?

October saw the release of Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s longawaited painted/collage, hardcover graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.

On the surface, the story is simple enough: The Joker and other inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over the hospital, have hostages, and demand that Batman be turned over in exchange for them. They plan on defeating Batman once and for all.

Around this standard plot, Morrison and McKean constructed an elaborate symbolic narrative inspired by Jungian philosophy, Crowley’s tarot, mythology, psychotherapy, and the myth of the hero. The graphic novel opens and closes with epigraphs from Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, appropriately linking the madness that Alice finds in Wonderland with the madness that Batman confronts in the insane asylum.

Providing further thematic depth is Arkham Asylum’s subtitle, “A Serious House on Serious Earth,” which is taken from the final stanza of Philip

A serious house on serious earth it is, In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, Are recognized, and robed as destinies.

And that much never can be obsolete, Since someone will forever be surprising A hunger in himself to be more serious, And gravitating with it to this ground, Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in, If only that so many dead lie round. (lines 55-63) And while at the time Arkham Asylum was the top-grossing comic book ever sold—eventually selling over 500,000 copies and earning more than $2.5 million—it was also one of the most poorly received Batman stories by its contemporary Batman fans (although many comic critics today rank it as amongst the best). As Morrison himself put it in a 1995 interview, “[o]ver 200,000 people bought it… [and] 199,000 people regretted it” (Hasted 68).

Dave McKean also felt that it ultimately failed creatively: “[B]y the end of it I’d really begun to think that this whole thing about four-color comics with very, very overpainted, lavish illustrations in every panel just didn’t work. It hampers the storytelling. It does everything wrong” (Chritton). Grant Morrison, on the other hand, argued that the “comics audience is fairly conservative oddly enough, so it’s no surprise that they found Arkham Asylum ‘difficult.’

People who DON’T read comics regularly seemed to really enjoy the book” (Ness). The fan reaction was so poor that Morrison felt he had to write “Batman: Gothic” in Legends of the Dark Knight #6-10 (April-Aug. 1990) “to show people that [he] could just write a straight thing as well” (Hasted 70).

port, Steven J. Ross, then President of DC-parent Warner Communications had “taken exception to the ‘dark’ Batman, which could jeopardize further merchandising of the hero” (Baisden, “Arkham Asylum” 19).

There were also reports that the project had been cancelled, which were confirmed by Morrison in the same article: “It was cancelled for about a month, but we were able to convince them to let us continue. It’s a fairly difficult situation – the problem lies with Warner Brothers themselves rather than DC” (19). According to Morrison, “concerned parties at Warner objected to his portrayal of the Joker as a Madonna-inspired transvestite who uses that image to challenge Batman’s sexual self-image” (19). Due to the mandated rewrites, the release date for Arkham Asylum was pushed back to October, well after the release of the film.

The Year of the Bat! But DC and Warner Brothers weren’t the only people worrying about how Batman was being represented this year. The Batman movie was beset by anxieties from all quarters, particularly from the fan community, with nearly every announcement made along the way from pre-production up until the actual release. The main Arkham Asylum TM and © DC Comics.

Larkin’s poem “Church Going” (which describes an abandoned church):

Regardless of the creators’ opinions, DC editorial definitely had issues with the work. According to one re263

Casting Keaton as Batman was producer Jon Peters’ idea, Burton says. “I was shocked at first, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. I started out with the classic square-jawed hulk guys. But then I just couldn’t visualize them in a batsuit… And I thought with Bruce Wayne… if he’s so handsome, rich and strong, why is he putting on a batsuit?

With Michael, I can see him putting on a batsuit.”… Adds Keaton, “Tim said, ‘Look, you look like a guy who’d put on a batsuit and go out and do damage.’ Once he said that, I knew how to act accordingly.”

(Carr) Luckily for everyone involved, Batman (with a shooting budget of $35 million) was a smash hit, earning over $40 million in just its opening weekend (June 23-25, 1989), and by the time it left theaters in December, the film had made over $251 million in the U.S. alone. Those totals meant that Batman had the best opening weekend of the year and ended up being 1989’s number one film. It was only beaten out in worldwide box office totals by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

point of contention early on had to do with just how “serious” Tim Burton’s approach was going to be, especially after casting Michael Keaton as Batman. It didn’t help matters that up until this point, Burton had only directed Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985) and Beetlejuice (1988), two surreal comedies that didn’t hesitate to embrace juvenile humor. Similarly, Keaton was best known for comedies like Night Shift (1982) and Mister Mom (1983).

Michael Keaton is Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature film.

Batman TM and © Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Burton’s own explanation for the casting of Keaton shifted the blame a little, but he didn’t hesitate to own the decision: 264

The question was how much of this success was dependent on the quality of the film and how much was due to the Warner Brothers marketing machine. The critical response from mainstream critics was mixed, with more critics enjoying the film for what it was than denouncing it as poorly made or written. The fan response was also mixed, with a lot of the vocal fears about Keaton and the film’s tone being satisfied with the dark, almost surreal look and the occasionally borderline psychotic edge that Keaton gave Bruce Wayne. This was a major step forward for comic book films, particularly after the failures of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Batman established to the studios that superhero films could not only be financially successful, but could also appeal to adult audiences as well as children and teens.

With the Batman film being such a huge hit, there were other fears and

anxieties about just how the merchandising would affect the comics marketplace. For DC there was no question that it was going to be a banner year as DC Publisher Paul Levitz promised that all of the Bat-books would stay in print at least through the end of the year. The September 1989 issue of Amazing Heroes noted that DC already had gone through “eight printings of Dark Knight, four printings of Son of the Demon, and three each of Year One and Death in the Family” (“DC Promises” 9). In addition to these, DC went back to press for their first time ever for a standard-format comic and issued a second printing of Batman #436 – the first chapter of “Batman: Year Three” (9). When the record-breaking financial success of Arkham Asylum was factored in, there could be no doubt that DC benefited from the Batman film promotion.

Other publishers weren’t so lucky, of course. Comics Journal surveyed retailers, distributors, and publishers for an article in its November 1989 magazine and learned that while most retailers found Bat-Mania to be a boon to sales, “small-scale publishers, and publishers of alternative comics, found the market soft, and targeted the Batman movie and its attendant merchandising mania as a major factor” (Baisden, “Bat Summer” 9). And while some retailers claimed that independent sales were dropping due to the increase in Bat merchandise, distributors didn’t note any real change. All of this led to DC beating Marvel’s market share in September, an extraordinarily rare accomplishment at the time.

Not the Year of the Swamp Thing But Batman wasn’t the only DC film released in 1989, nor was it the only one to impact its comic book counterpart. The Return of the Swamp Thing premiered in May and eschewed the more serious tone of its previous 1982 film outing, which had been directed by horror superstar Wes Craven. The sequel was directed by Jim Wynorski, “best” known for directing Chopping Mall (1986) and the Tracy Lords sci-fi vampire film, Not of This Earth (1988), before moving on to low-budget action and soft-core porn in the following decades.

DC’s comic book adaptation of the Batman movie was written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Jerry Ordway.

Batman TM and © DC Comics.

The film saw the return of actors Louis Jourdan as Dr. Anton Arcane and Dick Durock as Swamp Thing, while adding television star Heather Locklear as Abby Arcane. Even though it tried to touch on elements of the comic, the movie’s comedic approach was not well received and the film failed at the box office, bringing in a domestic gross of just under $192,000. This didn’t stop a successful syndicated television series from launching in 1990, with Dick Durock continuing to play the title role.

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But on March 9, a day after DC announced that President Jenette Kahn would be shifting her executive position from Publisher to Editor-in-Chief (Baisden, “DC Announces” 16), the current writer of the Swamp Thing comic series, Rick Veitch, resigned after Kahn rejected his previously approved script for issue #88, despite it already being three-quarters penciled. Writers Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano, who were scheduled to script the series after Veitch’s planned exit, both declined the assignment in a show of solidarity with Veitch (Baisden, “Rick Veitch” 7).

Just a few months later, in the June 15, 1989 issue of Amazing Heroes (No. 167), Veitch announced that he would be launching his own publishing company, King Hell, that fall. The first release would be a trade paperback collection of his six-issue 1984 Epic comic, The One, to be followed shortly thereafter by a new mini-series called Brat Pack, which would “examine the ‘kid-sidekick’ experience in excruciating detail” (“Rick Veitch” 13).

The issue was to be a continuation of the ongoing Swamp Thing time-travel storyline with Swamp Thing being drawn through time to witness the crucifixion of Christ. Veitch “cast Swamp Thing in the role of the angel [who offered the cup to Christ in the garden]” (8). Apparently, it was a combination of this and pressures from Warner Brothers that led to the last-minute refusal to publish the story. Swamp Thing editor Karen Berger claimed “an unnamed Warner Executive reaffirmed Kahn’s decision” and added that “two years ago, we could have published this story... but couldn’t now because the current political climate [determines] we can’t have a religious icon with a monster in a comic book” (8).

That political climate would have been the pending Time/ Warner merger, which was announced less than a week prior, on March 5 (Norris). Warner was already actively intervening with DC to make sure that the Batman franchise didn’t stray too far from what was marketable with its demands for a new Robin and its requirements that Morrison and McKean’s Arkham Asylum didn’t get too risqué. Protecting the Swamp Thing marketing made financial sense, seeing as along with the upcoming film, the television series was on the horizon.

Comics Scene #7 had a feature story on the second Swamp Thing movie.

Crossovers?

What Crossovers?

On cover date January 1989, DC released both the final issue of the Invasion! crossover and the “Invasion Aftermath” issues that tied up storylines between Invasion! #2 and #3.

The main repercussions of the event weren’t really felt in the mainstream titles, instead finding its most influential expression in the launch of Keith Giffen’s L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89 and the 266

creation of Crazy Jane for Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol. There was also the forgettable Blasters Special #1 (March 1989) where the Blasters (a group of metahumans and the newly-powered Snapper Carr) fight off the Spider Guild before deciding to leave Earth behind.

With Invasion! completed, DC prepared to roll out its next crossover event. For 1989, DC planned a sixissue mini-series titled Seventh Generation, to be co-written by John Ostrander and Roger Stern.

A news article in Amazing Heroes #165 (May 16, 1989) claims the plot of the postapocalyptic story involves “the seventh-generation descendents of 20 survivors of WWIII, all with the meta-human gene, as they attempt to travel back in time and prevent the final war” (Cranston 8). But with Batmania taking over the DC Universe, Seventh Generation was jettisoned under the rationale that a crossover event wasn’t needed for the year. Ostrander was even paid a “kill fee” for his work on the aborted series (Ostrander, “Seventh Generation”).

Consequently, DC’s only real crossover event in 1989 was a smaller affair. Beginning in Checkmate! #15 (May 1989) and continuing bi-weekly in tandem with Suicide Squad (beginning with issue #27, May 1989) through June, writers Paul Kupperberg, John Ostrander, and his wife Kim Yale, scripted “The Janus Directive.” The story would also cross over into Manhunter #14 (June 1989), Firestorm #86 (June 1989), and Captain Atom #30 (June 1989), but the main thrust of the story was contained in DC’s two covert operations titles.

It was a surprisingly low-key crossover, given that the last one, Invasion!, had leaked into nearly forty other DC titles. “The Janus Directive” served mainly as a way to realign the covert agencies Checkmate and Suicide Squad. The story followed Suicide

DC Comics house ad promoting the “Janus Directive” cross-over event.

TM and © DC Comics.

Squad leader Amanda Waller going rogue in an attempt to discover who had tried to have her assassinated and replaced (with a doppelganger).

The villain of the piece was Kobra, the cult leader and international terrorist, who was attempting to manipulate various governments into activating a space-based microwave pulse cannon in the eastern United States, setting off the Kali Yuga, the age of chaos he believed would signal his dominion over humankind.

Who’s That Girl?

Just prior to the launch of the “Janus Directive,” Ostrander and Yale introduced a character who would become a controversial keystone in the DC Universe. In Suicide Squad #23 (Jan. 1989), a mysterious voice identifying itself as Oracle contacts The Suicide Squad’s computer technician, Flo, through her computer network. Over the next few issues of both Suicide Squad and Manhunter (which was also written

by Ostrander and Yale), Oracle continues to provide intelligence, eventually becoming an important part of both ongoing series.

In Suicide Squad #38 (Feb. 1990), a little over a year after Oracle’s introduction, Ostrander and Yale revealed (although hints had been dropped along the way) that Oracle was actually the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, who had been paralyzed from the waist

Barry Kitson drawn profile of Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Oracle, that originally appeared in Who's Who in the DC Universe. TM and © DC Comics.

down after being shot in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Killing Joke (1988).

Ostrander and Yale’s motivation for bringing back Barbara Gordon, but not healing her, was fairly straightforward: “Kim and I, when we created Oracle for the Suicide Squad, felt the action [being shot by the Joker] should have repercussions. Barbara Gordon should be crippled as a result.

However, it should make her no less of a ‘hero’ so we armed her with a mess of very high-end computers and made her the research person for the DCU” (Ostrander, “Comic Reality Bytes”).

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More Number Ones Than You Can Count!

Barbara Gordon wasn’t the only character returning to the DCU in 1989.

In fact, while Marvel was concentrating on epic crossovers and expanding its audience with Epic comics and graphic novels, DC chose to focus on its mainstream universe and licensed projects. Over the course of the year, DC launched approximately thirty inaugural issues of new ongoing series, mini-series, and specials, compared to the dozen or so that Marvel premiered.

In 1989, DC Comics released numerous new titles, specials, and mini-series like Catwoman, Blackhawk and Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography. TM and © DC Comics.

The year began with the return of Mister Miracle (Jan. 1989) under the guiding hands of J.M. DeMatteis and Ian Gibson. The title spun out of the Justice League International ongoing and had a more comedic approach than Mr. Miracle’s earlier series. The following month saw the release of New Gods #1 (Feb. 1989), a continuation of Jack Kirby’s classic work, spinning out of Jim Starlin’s recently completed Cosmic Odyssey mini-series.

Starlin was scheduled to write the series with Paris Cullins doing the art, but after completing three issues, Starlin was pulled from the project due to the fallout from the CBG interview about the death of Robin. Mark Evanier was then hired to carry it onward. Evanier had been a production assistant to Kirby in the early 1970s, when Kirby was originally writing the New Gods saga, and he took the job, saying that Kirby had asked him to do New Gods if it was ever offered (“Mark Evanier”). Unfortunately, it is not work that Evanier is happy with: “What happened was that I was brought onto a series that had already been started and I had to step into someone else’s storyline and work with an artist who had his own ideas about the comic.

His ideas were probably fine but they weren’t my ideas and the book was already on

the schedule so we were immediately racing deadlines with no time to sit down and reconcile my concepts with his. (“Mark Evanier”) A four-issue Catwoman mini-series

by Mindy Newell (who would return to writing Wonder Woman with issue #36 (Nov. 1989), scripting George Pérez’s plots) and J.J. Birch also debuted with a February cover date, picking up where Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One (1986) had left off. It was not the job Newell had hoped it to be and she prefers not to speak of it (Simone). It was marketed as a Mature Readers title and explored Selina Kyle’s time as a prostitute before becoming Catwoman. In the story, her pimp, Stan, kidnaps and violently abuses her sister Maggie (a nun), before Selina kills him. The mini-series essentially just expanded and detailed Catwoman’s new origin as established in Year One, without leaving much room for Newell to add to the narrative. Newell’s time on Wonder Woman was much more creatively satisfying both for her and for the readers (Simone).

Cover date March brought the release of The Phantom #1, carrying on from the mini-series of the previous year.

While that mini had been written by Peter David with artists Dennis Janke and Joe Orlando, Mark Verheiden took the reins for the ongoing series, 268

with art supplied by Luke McDonnell.

Their job was to write a modern-day incarnation of The Phantom, so Verheiden researched modern Africa to find socially relevant subject matter and read some of Phantom creator Lee Falk’s Phantom novels. The end result pitted an angrier-than-usual Phantom against threats like modern-day pirates, toxic dumping, racism, and hunger. The series lasted just over a year before it was cancelled due to a combination of low sales and licensing issues. Once all was said and done, though, Falk wrote to Verheiden complimenting him on his stories (“Mark Verheiden”).

That same month, DC launched Blackhawk #1, an ongoing series that failed to live up to expectations after the concept’s run in Action Comics Weekly and the Howard Chaykin mini-series from 1988. Writer Martin Pasko told solid stories, but without the edginess of Chaykin’s mini, the concept lost some of its appeal to readers. Rick Burchett did an admirable job illustrating the book in a manner that recalled Chaykin’s distinctive style while maintaining his own flair.

Another character, like Catwoman, who made it through Crisis on Infinite Earths but emerged fundamentally altered was The Huntress, and longtime Huntress writer (as a back-up feature in Wonder Woman through the early 1980s) Joey Cavalieri was

assigned to write this new version of the character, with Joe Staton on art.

Huntress #1 (April 1989) gave readers a Huntress who was no longer the Earth-2 daughter of Batman and Catwoman, and instead presented her as Helena Bertinelli, daughter of one of Gotham City’s most prominent Mafia families. After being raped as a child, she was sent off to boarding school with a bodyguard, but at the age of 19 she witnessed her entire family being murdered in a mob-hit. So she trains with her bodyguard Sal and crusades against the Mafia.

Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography was released with a July cover date. Written by James D. Hudnall with art by Eduardo Barreto, the 48page special tells the story of the murder of investigative reporter Peter Sands who was working on an unauthorized biography of Superman’s arch-enemy Lex Luthor. It expands on events from John Byrne’s The Man of Steel (1986) and subsequent Superman reworking, explaining how the poor boy from Suicide Slum became the evil corporate executive Byrne imagined. It serves as an interesting and wellconstructed companion piece to 1988’s Killing Joke, which provided a similar introspection of The Joker.

troubled that he had begun fighting crime in his sleep as a violent vigilante calling himself Gangbuster.

“Exile” was an introspective tale, punctuated with a bout of alien gladiatorial games and some secrets about the history of Krypton, beginning in Superman #28 (Feb. 1989) and followed by Adventures of Superman #451 (Feb.). The story alternated between the two titles and was also featured in Action Comics Annual #2 (May 1989). Both titles also included a Lex Luthor back-up called “Hostile Takeover” beginning in Superman #30 (April), with the second chapter a week later in Adventures of Superman #453, followed by the same pacing the next month for its conclusion.

DC Comics house ad for Action Comics Annual #2, part of the “Exile” story arc that involved all three Superman titles.

Superman TM and © DC Comics.

A Pause For Superman and Wonder Woman And speaking of Byrne’s Superman, with the completion of Invasion! and no other major crossovers on the horizon, Adventures of Superman and Superman writers Jerry Ordway and Roger Stern sent Superman into exile for six months, as Superman is overwhelmed with guilt for breaking his oath against killing. The execution occurred back in Superman #22 (Oct. 1988) when Superman felt he had no alternative but to kill three Kryptonian criminals in John Byrne’s final controversial addition to the new Superman mythos. In the aftermath of that event, Superman had become so

At around the same time, Action Comics ended its weekly schedule, going monthly again with issue #643. It also reverted back from an anthology title to focusing exclusively on Superman. The final weekly issue was Action #642 (March), a full-length crossover between the various featured characters, but focusing on Green Lantern. Neil Gaiman wrote an initial script, but its central conceit relied upon Superman and Green Lantern knowing one another’s secret identities, which contradicted then-current continuity. So Gaiman’s script was scrapped and Elliot S. Maggin wrote a replacement script, where Abin Sur’s ring had originally summoned Superman before choosing Hal Jordan as Green Lantern (Darius).

Superman returned to Earth in Action Comics #643 (July 1989), written and drawn

by George Pérez, with Roger Stern taking over the writing with the next issue while Pérez continued penciling. Pérez also initially wrote Adventures of Superman beginning with his return in #457 (Aug. 1989) before handing the title over to co-writer/penciler Dan Jurgens. Jerry Ordway shifted over from Adventures of

269

Superman to Superman with issue #34.

Meanwhile, George Pérez also continued his acclaimed run writing Wonder Woman, spending most of the year telling a long-form reworking of the origin of The Cheetah. In the post-Crisis DCU, Barbara Minerva underwent a blood ritual to become a living avatar of the cheetah god of the Urtzkartaga tribe. But the ritual was meant to be performed on a virgin, so instead of being granted youth and strength, Minerva was stricken with sickness, pain, and frailty when in her human form, along with a blood-thirsty euphoria in her Cheetah form.

Even More Number Ones!

In the mid-1980s, Grimjack co-creator Timothy Truman, spoke with Gardner F. Fox (creator of the Golden Age Hawkman) about doing a pulp sci-fi story – something with “swordmen [sic] and great, tall towers” (Holtorf). Before they could get the story together, Fox died on Dec. 24, 1986. A few years later, DC Editor Mike Gold began trying to entice Truman to do some DC work. Truman suggested his Hawkman story but laid it out as a “Hawkman: Year One” tale, telling the origin of Thanagarian lawman, Katar Hol. The first issue of the three-issue mini-series, Hawkworld, was released cover date August 1989 and was a smash success.

Wonder Woman spent most of 1989 dealing with The Cheetah.

By incorporating themes of class conflict into his story, Truman created a modern Hawkman that had rebelled against a corrupt social system and paid the price. After ten years in exile, he returned to Thanagar, and with the help of Shayera Thal, a lower-class police officer, defeated the renegade police captain, Byth, who had orchestrated both Katar’s father’s death and

Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics.

270

Katar’s own exile. By the end of the mini-series, Byth had transformed into a shape-changing monster due to his bizarre drug abuse. Truman completely reimagined Thanagarian society as one based on religious intolerance and institutionalized violence, and in doing so he struck a chord with readers.

Unfortunately, he also struck a chord with DC Editorial. The mini-series was so successful that DC decided to make it an ongoing series, starting the following summer. But where Truman had written the book as an exploration of Katar Hol’s early years, DC decided that the ongoing series would take place on Earth in the present day—even though it was titled Hawkworld—thereby compromising the established continuity that had only recently been reset with Crisis on Infinite Earths (Holtorf). This meant that Hawkman’s first postCrisis mini-series The Shadow War of Hawkman (1985-6) and his solo series, Hawkman (1986), were essentially erased from continuity, as well as his appearances in The Outsiders, Action Comics, and Infinity Inc. He had even briefly joined the JLI during Invasion!. All of these appearances reinforced the fact that Katar Hol was Hawkman and had been for years.

But at the beginning of the Hawkworld series, when Katar and Shayera arrive on Earth, hunting the escaped shape-changer, Byth, they are treated like strangers. And thus, the first in a long line of editorial attempts to reconcile Hawkman’s tangled continuity began.

Also released with an August cover date was a re-imagining of a classic DC Western hero, El Diablo. This time, however, editor Brian Augustyn conceived of the character as a “small city Tex-Mex protagonist in the hope of reaching an untapped market.”

This new El Diablo is Rafael Sandoval, a “lawyer, streetfighter, and the first Chicano to serve on the city council” of the border town of Dos Rios, Texas (Martinez 58-60). Augustyn picked Gerard Jones (The Trouble with Girls) to write and newcomer Mike Parobeck to provide the art. It was a fresh and well done take on the costumed vigilante cliché, never straying too far into super-heroics while paying attention to real-world issues like

small town politics and racism. The title lasted sixteen issues.

After the extremely inventive Andrew Helfer and Kyle Baker Shadow run was cancelled earlier in the year, an announced Shadow Special promised to wrap up the story. Unfortunately, it never came together.

Instead, the creative duo produced a two-issue mini-series titled Justice, Inc. (Aug.-Sept. 1989) which revealed the “truth” behind another pulp adventurer’s origin: The Avenger.

Baron, with disturbingly gaunt, zombie-like visuals by artist Kelley Jones. Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #1 was the first in a six-issue retelling of Green Lantern’s origin in the post-Crisis DCU. The series featured art by Mark D. Bright, and the first issue was written by Jim Owsley, but subsequent issues were written by the prolific team of Keith Giffen and Gerard Jones.

The following month, DC launched The Shadow Strikes!, scripted by Gerard Jones with art by Eduardo Barreto. This was a far more traditional approach to The Shadow, as there were rumors that Shadow licenseholders Conde Nast objected to the satirical updating of the character that Helfer and Baker had done, threatening to pull the license if changes weren’t made. Regardless of the reasoning, eight months after the cancellation of one series, this new Shadow series launched, telling tales of the Shadow set in the 1930s, as in the original pulps. It also provided an opportunity to eventually cross over with DC’s concurrently running Doc Savage comic.

October saw the release of two more licensed titles: Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although DC had been publishing a Star Trek series since 1984, that volume had drawn to a close in November 1988. The new series was written by Peter David with art by James W. Fry and was set in the film continuity after Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (which DC had adapted just two months prior to this relaunch). The Next Generation series was written by veteran Star Trek novelist Michael Jan Friedman with art

by Pablo Marcos. Both titles ran until 1996, when DC lost the Star Trek license.

DC rounded out the year with two more Number Ones with December cover dates. Deadman: Love and Death #1 (of 2) was written by Mike

DC Comics house ad promoting Tim Truman’s Hawkworld mini-series.

TM and © DC Comics.

Giffen It His All! 1989 was the year Keith Giffen really began dedicating himself to building up the DC Universe, providing plots, scripts, and pencils for between two to five titles a month all year long – and the only months he had two titles on the stands were cover dated January and March. February was the real start of the busy year for Giffen as DC launched the JLI spinoff, Justice League Europe, and the 271

Legion of Super-Heroes spinoff, L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89. As Giffen explained years later, those two titles came about only because openings in DC’s production schedule weren’t being filled: “At the end of Invasion!, we were waiting for [creators] to come and want to do spin-off books, because at the end of any crossover, a lot of spin-off books come out. Nobody stepped up. The reason I did L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89 and JLE was because there were all these openings for spin-off books, and I felt, ‘Well, if no one else is going to do them, I’ll grab them.’…

You have to understand, Invasion! as a mini-series was not very popular among the professional rank and file up at DC. I guess no one wanted to play in our playground” (Cadigan 194).

Giffen served as plotter on both series while continuing to provide the plots for JLI and the art for Legion. As with JLI, Giffen plotted the JLE issues, with JLI co-conspirator J.M. DeMatteis on scripting duties. Bart Sears, who had penciled Giffen’s Invasion! #3 (Jan. 1989), provided the art. The tone of JLE was fairly close to JLI, focusing on inventive plotting and witty banter, but failed to really recapture the magic of those early JLI issues.

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Property TM © Copyright Holder.

Keith Giffen was involved with several new DC series that launched in 1989, including Justice League Europe and L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89. TM and © DC Comics.

Meanwhile, over in JLI (renamed Justice League America with the launch of the companion title), Kevin Maguire, whose distinctive art and flair for capturing facial expressions and body language had helped establish Justice League International as one of the most refreshing comic experiences on the shelves, left the series with issue #24 (Feb. 1989), unable to keep up with the demands of a monthly schedule (Johnson 25). He restricted himself to doing only cover work and pin-ups for the rest of the year, continuing to do the covers for JLI/JLA and moving over to provide covers for Giffen’s other new title, L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89.

L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89 grew from seeds laid during Invasion!, as Vril Dox II (Brainiac II) and his allies escaped from a Dominator prison. This series was conceived as a way to establish an intergalactic police force in the wake of the dissolution of the Green Lantern Corps (Green Lantern Corps #224 – May 1988) while also providing a

science fiction title with a darker edge than the contemporaneous Legion.

According to Giffen, With L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89, none of them want to be there. There are some really nasty people in L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89. So far, there are not many role models in there.... Vril Dox, let’s not mince words, is a bastard.

He’s an egomaniacal creep....

The reason these guys are sticking around with him is just basically to protect people from him.... L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89 is going to be more along the hard edge. It’s going to be a meaner book [than Legion of Super-Heroes]. (Berganza and Dickholtz 26) The first year of the title was spent laying the groundwork for this group of characters to come together and form L.E.G.I.O.N., an acronym whose meaning Giffen hadn’t determined when 272

the series began but eventually stood for “Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network.” Barry Kitson provided the art and Alan Grant scripted Giffen’s plots for the first twelve issues before assuming full writing duties as the title changed to L.E.G.I.O.N. ‘90 (the title would change with each new calendar year for the series’ entire publication run).

That summer, Giffen was also behind the return of Aquaman, with both a Legend of Aquaman special (May), and a five-issue limited series simply titled Aquaman (June-Oct.). Actually, Aquaman had already returned in a critically acclaimed 1986 four-part mini-series by Neal Pozner and Craig Hamilton. But continuation of that interpretation of the character fell apart due to creative problems, leaving the door open for Giffen and scripter Robert Loren Fleming to retell the origin with Curt Swan penciling over Giffen’s breakdowns. While Pozner and Hamilton’s series had been originally

intended to re-introduce Aquaman to a post-Crisis DC Universe, Giffen said he received no editorial push to continue their story ideas: In all honesty, when I took on Aquaman, I asked what exactly could I do, not having read that mini-series. I had no idea what had gone in there. When I went to Barbara [Kesel], I said “What are the parameters of this job?”

She said, “Just do Aquaman.

How do you see Aquaman?”

When I told her, she and DC said fine and I sat down and plotted it out. I never read what Pozner and Hamilton did; it was no intention of mine to invalidate anything they did or to lessen anything they did. I hope that both approaches are equally valid if they’re that different and that people are going to say, “Hey, they’re both good stories.” I’m not that continuity conscious.

(McPherson 34) While all of this was going on, Giffen continued to co-plot and pencil The Legion of Super-Heroes. That title’s writer, Paul Levitz, became DC Comics’ Publisher in March while retaining his Executive Vice-President title.

As such, he was now responsible “for business management – including publishing, marketing, and licensing duties” (Baisden, “DC Announces” 16).

This promotion left Levitz with no time to continue writing Legion. According to Giffen, Levitz had been discussing leaving the title for a while, and Giffen decided that he wanted to be the one to carry on with the series. But he didn’t want to reboot continuity and he didn’t want to dismantle Levitz’s work just to be able to tell his own Legion stories. In order to preserve the sanctity of Levitz’s Legion run then, Giffen pitched jumping the story forward five years from where Levitz left it (Cadigan 193-5).

DC agreed, re-launching the Legion with a new first issue (Nov. 1989), which appropriately opens with a full page star field with three words centered on it: “Five Years Later…” Giffen received scripting and plotting assistance from writers Tom and Mary Bierbaum—who previously collaborated with Giffen on Deluxe Comics’ Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents—

and inker Al Gordon. Thus began the “TMK” era of Legion history, the three letters representing the first initials of the first names of the three principal writers: Tom (Bierbaum), Mary (Bierbaum), Keith (Giffen).

New editor Mark Waid was vocal in defending both the time jump and the new numbering, declaring that it was “not a stunt – it’s to show that there’s an end to this era that’s been going on for 10 or 15 years in Legion of SuperHeroes” (Eury, “Five Years Into the Future” 27). While many fans saw this new era as creatively ambitious, many others expressed their dissatisfaction with it, responding in a manner Waid 273

The most controversial era of the Legion of Super-Heroes began in 1989, when Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum re-launched the series.

Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.

in the Miracleman character over to a friend who later split the share with artist Mark Buckingham (Raphael 16). The friend was someone inspired by Moore’s work to become a comic book writer: Neil Gaiman.

was presumed dead).

TMK’s Legion of Super-Heroes began as a super-hero book without super-hero costumes, presented with a nine-panel art grid that Giffen used on every page. He chose the ninepanel grid to pack more story into every issue, but Giffen’s critics accused him of merely imitating Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen style (Cadigan 194).

Neil Gaiman’s Morpheus, a.k.a. Dream, was introduced in the first issue of Sandman.

Sandman TM and © DC Comics.

described as similar to that when Michael Keaton was announced as playing Batman (Eury, “Five Years Into the Future” 27). No doubt, the transition from Levitz’s version of the Legion of Super-Heroes to TMK’s was jarring.

Whereas Levitz depicted a culturally harmonious far future with the Legion protecting the United Planets from intergalactic threats and terrors, TMK’s future was bleak and dystopian, ruled over by an oppressive Earth government with the Legion nowhere to be found. The first issue makes clear the Legion had disbanded during the five years of story time between series.

As a result, the cast of characters was radically altered, not only with the introduction of new characters but with drastic changes made to longtime Legionnaires (Cosmic Boy, for instance, had lost his powers, and Phantom Girl

Giffen and company weren’t just dealing with fan outrage over their work; they also found themselves the target of interoffice editorial interference.

Specifically, Superman editor Mike Carlin decided that Legion of SuperHeroes could no longer reference the Superman mythos in any way, forcing the Legion writers to remove the pocket dimension Superboy from continuity (Cadigan 201). The subsequent creative decisions made TMK’s Legion one of DC’s most controversial comic books of the early 1990s.

Dream A Little Dream As Alan Moore promised in 1988, he was putting mainstream comics behind him. As a result, he produced very little new material for the 1989 comic book marketplace. He fulfilled his V for Vendetta obligations, which DC published as the year opened.

He also wrote his final Miracleman script, which Eclipse released as issue #16 (Dec. 1989). In fact, Moore was so done with Miracleman that he transferred his 30% share of ownership 274

Gaiman’s inspiration to dip his toes into the waters of comics scripting came in 1984 after he picked up a copy of the Alan Moorewritten Swamp Thing #28 (Olsen 18). In 1985, Gaiman sent a complimentary note to Moore and was surprised to receive a call from him a few days later. Over the next few months, Gaiman sent Moore scripts and Moore sent Gaiman notes.

It was a chance encounter with artist Dave McKean that pushed Gaiman to the next stage in his comics career as the two of them began working on a graphic novel titled Violent Cases, to be published in 1987. In September of 1986, Gaiman introduced himself to DC editor Karen Berger and then, five months later, he and McKean met with her and DC’s vice-president, Dick Giordano, to pitch a number of story ideas (Olsen 23-24).

This led to Gaiman and McKean’s Black Orchid, a three-issue prestige format comic, beginning at the end of 1988. Black Orchid was essentially Gaiman’s attempt to work in the format that Moore had established for “quality comics” wherein an older character is reinterpreted for a modern audience, with a darker edge to the characterization. In this case, Black Orchid, a character created by Sheldon Mayer and Tony DeZuniga for Adventure Comics #428 (July-Aug. 1973), was never given an established origin (although many were hinted at over the years). Gaiman took a note from Moore’s book and established that Susan Linden-Thorne was actually a human-plant hybrid, linking her thematically and narratively with Swamp Thing and other characters associated with the Green—the mystical realm inhabited by the minds of Plant Elementals and connecting all botanical life on earth.

The series garnered critical acclaim, but Gaiman and McKean were not

happy with the end result. As Gaiman put it: It was quite genuinely us trying to put out the kind of comic that we thought should be there. With, I suppose, all the good and bad things that that implied. To be honest, I think the only thing that we did that was of any real interest was at the very end. In mainstream comics, a pacifist protagonist is simply somebody who it takes until the end of the story to say, “Now you’ve made me really angry. Yes, I am a pacifist, but you just killed my brother and pushed me farther than...” you know.

And I really liked getting to the end of that story and having the two dumb henchmen say, “No, we’re not going to kill her; we think she’s wonderful.” (Kim Thompson 71) The fully-painted, mature-themed mini-series combined with a quality pitch for another character ripe for reworking led Berger to offer Gaiman an ongoing series. Sandman #1 (Jan. 1989) initially had virtually nothing to do with the previous Sandman DC published. That Sandman starred in an eponymous DC series from 1974 to 1976 that was written by Joe Simon and Michael Fleisher with illustrations by Jack Kirby and Ernie Chan.

The Sandman protected children from their nightmares and occasionally fought real-life threats. Gaiman’s Sandman was decidedly different, making the character, Dream, part of a pantheon of god-like entities called the Endless.

In an interview with the British magazine, Speakeasy, Gaiman said he wanted to see if he could write a monthly book and do “some of the stuff that would give people the same sort of pleasure that I get, or that I used to get, from good, competent, scary dark fantasy” (qtd. in Cochran 80). He plotted out the initial twelve issues, in the hopes that DC would at least give it that, even if it was a commercial failure, but by “issue eight [it was] selling more than anybody had ever done in the horror-comics context” (Gresehover). However, the original penciler, Sam Kieth, not being used to the pressures of working

The ethereal Sandman, as depicted in Who's Who in the DC Universe. Sandman TM and © DC Comics.

on a monthly comic, bowed out and inker Mike Dringenberg took over the art. Together, they crafted one of the most groundbreaking works of the ’80s and ’90s.

There was a definite effort on my part ... to explore the genres available: “The Sleep of the Just” was intended to be a classical English horror story; “Imperfect Hosts” plays with some of the conventions of the old DC and E.C. horror comics (and the hosts thereof); “Dream a Little Dream of Me” harks back to the kind of dark fan275

tasy found in Unknown in the 1940s; “Passengers” was my (perhaps misguided) attempt to try to mix super-heroes into the Sandman world; “24 Hours” is an essay on stories and authors, and also one of the very few genuinely horrific tales I’ve written; “Sound and Fury” wrapped up the storyline; and “The Sound of Her Wings” was the epilogue and the first story in the sequence I felt was truly mine, and in which I knew I was beginning to find my own voice.

(Gaiman 609)

a plant-human hybrid like Black Orchid, and Brother Power as an imperfect elemental tied to all human simulacra.

More Morrison Alan Moore had already established himself as a game-changer in the comics field; Neil Gaiman burst into the upper stratosphere with the release of Sandman; 1989 would also be the year that Scottish writer Grant Morrison cemented his position as the third voice in the Power Trio of UK writers who would change the creative landscape of American comics for decades to come.

After introducing himself to the American audience in 1988 with Animal Man, Morrison next took over the failing Doom Patrol. It would be a mixed bag with both readers and critics. Influences for his approach to this title ranged from “the films of people like Jan Svankmajer, Kenneth Anger, and Maya Deren, to the mathematics of Godel, Escher, Bach, to the multiple-personality account of When Rabbit Howls, to the fiction of Jorge Luis Borges, to the actions of avant-garde poster-boy Tristan Tzara and beyond” (Callahan, location 2329 par. 2). But Morrison was clear that the first inspiration for his approach was the original Doom Patrol series from the ’60s:

Death lets her brother know what she thinks of him in this page from Sandman #8. TM and © DC Comics.

By the time Gaiman made his way through the initial storyline, the stylistic echoes of Moore’s influence had already begun to fade (as had the overt guest-appearances by DC super-heroes). When Dream’s sister Death is introduced in Sandman #8 (Aug. 1989), something about the character’s visual design (by Dringenberg) and her playful, almost innocent, personality immediately made her very popular with readers, prompting re-appearances in each subsequent story arc.

Back in the regular DCU, Gaiman also provided short pieces providing glimpses into the origins of Batman villains Poison Ivy (Secret Origins #36 – Jan. 1989) and the Riddler (Secret Origins Special #1 – Oct. 1989). He wrote Swamp Thing Annual #5 (Aug. 1989), which starred Brother Power, The Geek (a character created by Joe Simon and Al Bare and not seen since 1968). Both the Poison Ivy origin and the Brother Power stories connected the characters to the Swamp Thing mythos, reimagining Poison Ivy as 276

When I sat down to work out what I wanted to do with this book, I decided straight away that I would attempt to restore the sense of the bizarre that made the original Doom Patrol so memorable. I wanted to reconnect with the fundamental, radical concept of the book – that here was a team composed of handicapped people. These were no clean-limbed, wish-fulfillment super-adolescents who could model Calvins in their spare time. This was a group of people with serious psychical problems and, perhaps, one too many bats in the belfry. (Morrison 187) His approach to the comic was also fed by an urge to just do a superhero adventure comic that made the reader “feel the way the Kirby Fantastic Fours did. Where you would have

fantastic concepts, mind-boggling ideas every issue, but at the same time it was a good riotous rollicking read” (Hasted 59). Unfortunately, the series wasn’t financially successful (although it did better than it had been doing before Morrison took over) with many readers finding it obtuse or pretentious, despite critical acclaim.

The success of Arkham Asylum, however, helped DC to justify Doom Patrol’s continued existence. And the critical success of these UK writers opened up a window for another UK writer, Peter Milligan, to propose a six-issue science-fiction crime series called Skreemer (May-Oct. 1989) which was praised critically but didn’t sell. Milligan, along with Gaiman, Morrison, and Delano (to be joined later by Garth Ennis and Rachel Pollack), would eventually form the creative foundations of DC’s alternative comics imprint, Vertigo, in 1993.

That Press Has Teeth Before Vertigo would arrive, DC experimented with another alternative imprint, Piranha Press. Originally discussed during one of DC’s editorial retreats in 1986, it wasn’t until June of 1987 that Mark Nevelow, a self-taught business entrepreneur, was hired to get the press off the ground. In order to not jump the gun and launch with a handful of titles but then be scrambling to maintain down the line, Nevelow was allowed to move at his own pace, developing titles and preparing for a steady release schedule (Sellers 47): With Piranha Press, we’re trying to reach an audience that’s not necessarily reading comics today.... We’re going after an adult, intelligent, sophisticated readership that’s interested in mainstream culture. Piranha Press won’t be doing heroic fantasy of any kind.... I feel one of the problems that other companies of a similar bent have faced is the inability to reach out to a hardcore audience who is looking for something different. But we have greater access to marketing and distribution facilities than smaller

companies, and we’ve really been pushing and promoting our upcoming line since the idea for Piranha Press was conceived two years ago.

(Sellers 46) When asked if Piranha Press was DC’s answer to Epic, Nevelow was emphatic that this was not the case: “The Epic line of books was intended, from a marketing point of view, to hold onto comic fans as they grew up,” he said. “Marvel simply bumped everything up a notch as readers aged and matured. We’re not necessarily trying to hold onto DC readers; we’re trying to reach new ones. And to do that we’re creating the kind of storylines those readers wouldn’t expect to find in comics.” (Sellers 46) Case in point, the first Piranha Press title to hit the marketplace was Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman’s Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (June 1989), a startlingly experimental work with each issue serving as a stand-alone illustrated short story.

The only unifying principle was Louapre scripted each issue and Sweetman provided the art. Even more daring was that the stories were filled with very dark humor, sometimes bordering more on disturbing than funny.

Sweetman’s art varied from issue to issue depending on the demands of the story, sometimes using bare pencils, sometimes pen277

and-ink, sometimes black-and-white paint wash.

Beautiful Stories was followed the next month by Etc. by Tim Conrad and Michael Davis, a five-issue series set in the year 2051 and examining a world obsessed with media culture.

Each issue focused on a different character, but they all orbit the tale of a faultily programmed clone, thrust into the media spotlight and struggling to regain control of her life.

Each of the next three months brought a new Piranha Press graphic novel. First came The Sinners (Aug.), a 48-page black-and-white story written and painted by Alec Stevens about an old beggar looking back over his life. This was followed by Desert Streams (or Miriam’s Search for Divine Bliss) (Sept.), a 120-page half-size trade paperback. Written

Writer Grant Morrison took over Doom Patrol with issue #19.

Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.

Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children, Gregory and Etc. were three of DC Comics’ inaugural Piranha Press offerings. Piranha Press TM and © DC Comics.

and illustrated by Alison Marek, Desert Streams is the tale of a little rich girl who goes from boarding school, to life as a child model, to running away from it all. Another 120-page book, Gregory (Oct.) by Marc Hempel, collected darkly comic short stories about the titular character, Gregory, a tiny straight-jacketed person with a huge head, living in a padded cell.

Piranha Press rounded out the year with the launch of a four-issue limited series by Gerard Jones and Mark Badger called The Score (Nov.), a “taut, psychological thriller with political overtones” (50). Then came the release of Epicurus the Sage, Volume One (Dec.) by William Messner-Loebs with illustrations by Sam Kieth. Epicurus is a satire of fourth century Greek philosophy set in an imaginary time when all the famous philosophers (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, etc.) are all alive at the same time.

Unfortunately, even though Piranha Press was never really expected to be a hit-maker, none of the titles ever really garnered a large enough following to put the press on the map, regardless of the critical acclaim some works received. (As an exception, Kyle Baker’s 1990 Why I Hate Saturn won an Eisner Award and received several printings.) In 1993, the imprint was renamed Paradox Press and continued to publish high-quality maturereader graphic novels, but by that

point, the more experimental work was being done through DC’s newly launched Vertigo Comics.

Batman movie helped launch comics into the mainstream public consciousness.

Drawing the Curtain on the Eighties

Perhaps the most notable thing about where the decade ended up wasn’t the overall success, but the fact that a comics industry that most people felt was on the verge of collapse in 1980 was now supporting both standard super-hero fare and avant-garde material like Gaiman’s Sandman while also introducing a new American generation to classic European comics. It wasn’t just an expansion of content. The methods for structuring stories in comics had matured over the decade, moving from the dependence on thought balloons and thirdperson omniscient narrators to the use of first-person narrative captions and sophisticated scene transitions, allowing for more realistic, and also experimental, modes of storytelling.

A new day was dawning for the comic book industry; the sun was shining, and the weather would remain perfect...

As 1989 drew to a close, Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, and other financial partners began gathering the money to launch their own publishing company. They formed Voyager Communications and began publishing Nintendo licensed comics under the Valiant Comics banner in 1990, followed by World Wrestling Federation comics in 1991. They really began to make a name for themselves with the licensing of three 1960s properties, Magnus Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, and Turok Dinosaur Hunter, and would go on to be one of the more prominent publishers of the 90s.

Given where the decade began, this was an amazing turn of events. In 1980, most pundits were predicting the end of the industry was nigh. Jim Shooter, though, was the lone voice in the wilderness decrying the pessimism of the rest of the crowd. And then, at the start of the 1990s, he was back with a new company, a new slate of popular titles, and the comic book industry was healthier than it had maybe ever been. It wasn’t going to last long, but the change over the course of ten years was nothing if not dramatic, as the Direct Market opened up new opportunities and the 278

...for at least the first few years of the 1990s.

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Leong, Tim. “Mike Gold on Action Comics Weekly.”

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Aug. 1988: 5-6.

---. “Neverending Battle Ends.” The Comics Journal (No. 121). April 1988: 11-12.

McKernan, Brian. “Remembering Superman’s Fiftieth Birthday – Exclusive Superman Birthday Article.”

CapedWonder.com. Feb. 2008 <http://www.capedwonder.com/superman-birthday/>.

Morrison, Grant. “Intro.” Animal Man. New York: DC Comics, 1991: 3.

Myers, Greg W. “‘Action Comics Weekly’ to be launched in 1988.” The Comics Buyer’s Guide (No. 729). Nov. 6, 1987: 1-2.

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Carr, Jay. “Can ‘Batman’ Reach the Pot of Gold?” The Boston Globe. 18 June 1989. The Tim Burton Collective. <http://www.timburtoncollective.com/articles/bat4. html>.

Chritton, Kirk. “1991 Comics Career Interview.” The Art of Dave McKean Website: Readings. <www.mckean-art.co.uk>.

Clancy, Shaun. “A Chat with Jim Starlin.” Back Issue (No. 48). May 2011: 21-46.

Cochran, J.R. “Sandman #1 Review.” Amazing Heroes (No. 158). February 1989: 80.

Cranston, Darren. “DC Announces All Kinds of New Comics Coming in 1989 and 1990.” Amazing Heroes (No. 165). May 15, 1989: 7-11.

Darius, Julian. “Green Lantern: Action Comics Weekly (1988-1989).” Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. <http://www.sequart.org/continuity-pages/dcuniverse/green-lantern/action-comics-weekly/full/>.

“DC Promises Bat Books to Stay in Print for the Rest of the Year.” Amazing Heroes (No. 171). Sept. 1989: 9-10.

Dutter, Barry. “The Destroyer.” Marvel Age (No. 80).

Nov. 1989: 14-15.

Ellis, Jonathan. “Interview: Carl Potts.” Popimage. May 2000. <http://www.popimage.com/may00/interviews/pottsinter.html>.

Eury, Michael. “Barr and Hughes Revisit: The Maze Agency.” Back Issue (No. 2). Feb. 2004: 7-27.

---. “Five Years into the Future: A Preview of DC’s New Legion of Super-Heroes.” Amazing Heroes (No. 172). October 1989: 26-30.

Fisch, Sholly. “The Punisher Magazine.” Marvel Age (No. 77). August 1989: 15.

Franklin, Chris. “Dead on Demand: Jason Todd, The Second Robin.” Back Issue (No. 48). May 2011: 67-76.

Gaiman, Neil. “Afterwords.” The Absolute Sandman, Volume One. New York, DC Comics. 608-609.

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Groth, Gary. “Todd Loren: First Amendment Advocate or Lying Sack of Shit?” The Comics Journal (No. 139).

Dec. 1990: 5-6.

Hasted, Nick. “Grant Morrison Interview.” The Comics Journal (No. 176). April 1995: 52-82.

Hicks, Jonathan. “The Media Business; Marvel Comic Book Unit Being Sold for $82.5 Million.” The New York Times. 8 November 1988. <http://www.nytimes. com/1988/11/08/business/the-media-businessmarvel-comic-book-unit-being-sold-for-82.5-million. html>.

Holtorf, Tim. “The Writers: Timothy Truman.” Hawkworld. <http://www.dcuguide.com/hawkworld/creator_truman.php>.

Hughes, Kathleen A. “Beetlejuice Batman Has Fans in Flap.” The Toronto Star, 26 December 1988. The Tim Burton Collective. <http://www.timburtoncollective. com/articles/bat7.html>.

Irving, Christopher. “Paul Levitz: The History of the Past and Future.” NYC Graphic. 4 January 2012. <http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2012/01/ paul-levitz-history-of-past-and-future.html>.

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Lofficier, R.J.M. “Before Nick Fury, There was ... Lieutenant Blueberry.” Marvel Age (No. 79). October 1989: 20-21.

“Lost Years of Groo Set for Epic Series.” Amazing Heroes (No. 158). 1 Feb. 1989: 11.

Mangels, Andy. “Andy Mangels Backstage with Sam Hamm.” Amazing Heroes (No. 159). Feb. 1989: 45-49.

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INDEX AC Comics 87 Adams, Art 142 Adams, Neal 68, 77, 95, 113, 115, 151, 206 Andru, Ross 20, 50 Aparo, Jim 33, 88, 138, 242 Aragonés, Sergio 59, 67-68, 115, 144-145, 216, 255 Archie Comics 9, 69-70, 77-81, 258 Austin, Terry 16, 23, 41, 58 Avengers, The 32, 91-93, 102, 140, 211-212, 248-250 Ayers, Dick 45, 78, 113 Baron, Mike 42-43, 86, 188, 198, 209, 241, 271 Barr, Mike W. 52-54, 88, 123-124, 137, 193, 216, 243, 256 Bates, Cary 11, 14, 127, 134, 230 Batman 33-34, 40, 88, 124, 126, 137, 171-173, 192-193, 220, 237-239, 242-246, 258-265 Berger, Karen 33, 266, 274-275 Bolland, Brian 34-35, 54, 86, 123, 137, 218, 237, 239 Bolling, Bob 143 Broderick, Pat 13, 49-50, 52, 54 Brunner, Frank 69, 72 Bruning, Richard 41, 114, 174 Buckler, Rich 21, 36, 41, 69-70, 77-81, 150, 215 Burden, Bob 117 Buscema, John 26, 28, 40, 113, 151, 159, 211, 228 Buscema, Sal 13, 109, 139, 154, 222 Busiek, Kurt 83, 116, 161 Byrne, John 13-19, 23, 26, 31, 41, 58, 68, 74, 97-99, 105, 112, 142, 147, 151, 157-158, 162, 167-170, 190-191, 204, 218, 221-222, 230-233, 240, 249-251, 269 Captain America 13-14, 31, 55-56, 61, 64, 110-111, 141, 209-210 Captain Marvel (Shazam) 37, 198-199 Capital Comics 41, 114 Carbonaro, John 45, 69-70, 77-78, 81, 120-121, 150151, 183, 215 Carlin, Mike 104-105, 141, 233-234, 274 Cavalieri, Joey 93 Chadwick, Paul 123, 184, 213-214, 257 Charlton Comics 9, 71, 87, 151, 200-201 Chaykin, Howard 28, 68, 74-76, 147-148, 176-177, 188, 190, 240, 268 Claremont, Chris 13, 15, 17-19, 23, 58, 62-64, 73, 9798, 105, 109, 141, 147, 162, 164, 189, 211, 227-228, 253 Clowes, Daniel 257 Cockrum, Dave 50, 62, 121, 150-151, 182 Colan, Gene 26, 31-33, 47-48, 93, 122, 137-138 Colletta, Vince 28, 65, 113, 156, 205, 207 Collins, Max Allan 86, 117, 243, 249 Colón, Ernie 51, 55, 89, 252 Comico 70, 117-118, 146, 214, 248, 256 Conway, Gerry 39, 47, 49-50, 52, 55, 91-92, 102, 122, 124, 126-127 Daredevil 10-11, 14, 29-31, 57-58, 61, 95, 97, 140, 158159

characters TM and © DC Comics.

Dark Horse Comics 184, 213-215, 256-257 David, Peter 154, 213, 224, 226, 268, 271 Davis, Alan 148-149, 193, 227, 243 Dazzler 24-26 Day, Gene 57 DC Comics 8, 19-22, 33-41, 47-54, 88-97, 121-139, 148, 166-178, 187-204, 229-245, 256, 258-278 DeFalco, Tom 13, 25, 27, 61, 65, 100, 108, 143, 154, 205, 211-212, 223-224, 251 Delano, Jamie 236-237, 266 DeMatteis, J.M. 13, 35, 110-111, 141, 156, 188, 196197, 208, 215, 268, 271 Ditko, Steve 68, 113, 121, 151, 182, 201, 224 Dixon, Chuck 117, 183 DuBay, Bill 78-79, 81 Duffy, Jo 13, 27, 59, 164-165, 254 Eclipse Comics 11, 27, 67, 115-117, 144, 146, 148-149, 180-181, 187, 256, 274 Eisner, Will 86, 117 Elektra 30-31, 57 Englehart, Steve 34-35, 73, 86, 102, 123, 142, 148, 159, 182, 209, 228-230, 233, 251 Evanier, Mark 50, 67, 86, 125, 144-145, 205, 216, 268 FantaCo 11-12, 66 Fantastic Four 19, 66, 97, 157-158 Fawcett Comics 9 Fingeroth, Danny 27, 104, 108 First Comics 68-69, 72-77, 112, 114, 148, 256 Flash, The 20, 26, 35-36, 49, 51-52, 124, 127, 134-135, 166-167, 198 Fleming, Robert Loren 123, 150, 183, 273 Frenz, Ron 108 Friedrich, Mike 11 Gaiman, Neil 237, 249, 266, 269, 274-276 Galton, Jim 12, 14, 32, 40, 112, 147, 152, 160 García-López, José Luis 33, 40, 95, 124 Gerber, Steve 66-67, 102, 111, 144, 146, 168, 251 Gibbons, Dave 58, 173-176, 202, 237, 274 Giffen, Keith 27, 52-53, 93-94, 121-123, 150-151, 182183, 188, 196-197, 215, 241, 266, 271-274 G.I. Joe 65 Gillis, Peter B. 72, 140, 161 Giordano, Dick 9, 33, 40, 46, 51-52, 55, 62-63, 84-85, 87-88, 90-93, 95, 123-124, 129, 132-133, 151, 166-168, 173, 176-177, 187-190, 199, 203, 229-230, 233, 274 Gold, Mike 69, 72-73, 85, 166-167, 200, 233-234, 270 Golden, Michael 13, 58, 114, 142, 156-157 Gold Key Comics (see Whitman Comics) Goodwin, Archie 13, 59-60, 65, 111, 120, 145, 154, 160, 213, 248, 251, 254-255 Grant, Steven 13, 60, 86, 164-165, 216 Greenberger, Bob 81, 123, 132-133, 138, 167, 199, 203 Grell, Mike 27, 67-68, 76-77, 201, 220 Groth, Gary 8-9, 26, 46, 70, 85, 146, 172, 186-187, 216, 257

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Gruenwald, Mark 13, 56, 60-61, 93, 99, 101, 110-111, 141, 153-155, 205, 209-210, 212, 221-222 Guice, Jackson “Butch” 85, 109, 156, 162-163, 188, 198, 224 Gustovich, Mike 41, 82, 214 Hama, Larry 28, 65, 156 Hamm, Sam 220, 259-261 Harras, Bob 163 Harris, Jack C. 20 Harrison, Sol 33 Harvey Comics 9, 71, 99, 143-144, 151 Heck, Don 93, 113, 128, 146 Helfer, Andy 51, 123, 168, 196, 229-230 Hembeck, Fred 11, 57 Herman, Lennie 143 Hobson, Michael 32, 66, 93, 143, 147 Hughes, Adam 256 Hulk, The 40, 142, 158, 213 Indiana Jones 28 Infantino, Carmine 26, 33, 35, 50, 52, 128, 134, 138, 148 Iron Man 55, 61, 210-211 Jacobson, Sid 143 Janson, Klaus 30, 171, 173, 209 Jones, Bruce 48, 68, 77, 115 Jones, Louise (see Simonson, Louise) Jurgens, Dan 122, 269 Justice League of America 21, 40, 91-93, 126-127, 188, 195-198 Justice Machine 41, 82-83, 214 Justice Society of America 36, 89, 177-178, 199 Kahn, Jenette 20, 33, 36, 40, 47, 95-97, 123, 129, 133134, 187-190, 194, 203, 218, 230-231, 266 Kane, Gil 50, 54, 138 Kesel, Karl 167 King, Stephen 128, 147 Kirby, Jack 43-44, 66-67, 77, 113-114, 124-125, 138, 145-146, 148, 188, 191, 205-206, 268 Kremer, Warren 143 Kubert, Joe 33, 138, 148 Kupperberg, Paul 34, 50, 55, 123, 200, 266 LaRocque, Greg 142 Larsen, Erik 85, 234, 253 Layton, Bob 13, 41, 60-61, 161-163, 210, 278 Lee, Jim 213, 228, 253 Lee, Stan 12-13, 74, 147, 156, 206-207, 254 Legion of Super-Heroes 35, 50-53, 62, 93-94, 121-123, 167, 191, 240-241, 271-274 Levitz, Paul 10, 20, 33-34, 36, 38, 40-41, 51-54, 93, 122124, 129, 167, 170, 203, 230, 265, 273 Liefeld, Rob 234-235 Lightle, Steve 122, 200

Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Lloyd, David 239 Lomax, Don 215 Macchio, Ralph 13, 55, 212, 251 Mackie, Howard 210, 221-222 Maguire, Kevin 188, 196-197, 272 Manga 187 Mantlo, Bill 13, 60-61, 142, 241 Marvel Comics 8, 12-19, 24-33, 54-65, 97-102, 104114, 139-147, 151-166, 204-213, 221-229, 247-255, 258 Mayer, Sheldon 123 Mazzucchelli, David 158-159, 192 McCloud, Scott 115-117, 218 McDuffie, Dwayne 252 McFarlane, Todd 193, 213, 218, 224-226, 241, 252 McGregor, Don 67, 122, 137 McKean, Dave 249, 263, 266, 275 McKenzie, Roger 13, 58, 183 McLeod, Bob 13, 64-65 Messner-Loebs, William 41, 85, 117, 138, 278 Michelinie, David 13, 105, 205, 207, 210, 218, 225, 252 Mignola, Mike 143, 241-242, 249, 262 Milgrom, Al 13, 28, 40, 49, 58-60, 140, 142 Miller, Frank 13-14, 29-31, 57-59, 63, 95-97, 103, 128, 146-147, 158-160, 168, 171-173, 188-189-190, 192, 216, 237 Moebius (Jean Giraud) 254-256 Moench, Doug 13, 54-57, 111, 115, 121 Moon Knight 26-27 Moore, Alan 113, 115, 125-126, 137, 146-149, 168-169, 173-176, 180-181, 188, 190, 202-203, 218, 236-240, 249, 274, 276 Morrison, Grant 235-237, 249, 263-264, 266-267 Murray, Doug 156-157, 222, 228 Nexus 42-43 Nocenti, Ann 141, 147, 159-160, 227 O’Barr, James 257 O’Neil, Denny 13-14, 28, 40, 56, 95, 140, 158, 192, 196, 201, 233, 243-245, 259-261, 265 Ordway, Jerry 36, 121-122, 132, 138, 158, 167, 169, 183, 191, 233, 240, 265, 269 Orlando, Joe 33, 35-36, 47, 51-52, 268 Ostrander, John 114, 167, 199-200, 266-267 Owsley, Jim 142 Pacific Comics 10, 27, 43-44, 67-69, 76-77, 114-115, 144, 148-149, 151 Pasko, Marty 40, 48, 67, 73, 125, 268 Perelman, Ron 221, 247-248, 253-254 Pérez, George 13, 21-22, 38, 52, 54, 89-93, 121-123, 128, 130-133, 137, 148, 166, 169, 182, 194-195, 240, 269-270 Pini, Richard & Wendy 11 Portacio, Whilce 253 Potts, Carl 161, 165, 209, 228, 248, 255 Pozner, Neal 139, 272-273 Punisher, The 30, 164-165, 209, 253 Rogers, Marshall 34-35, 249 Romita, Jr., John 13, 25, 60, 97, 113, 141, 147, 154 Rosa, Don 215 Rozakis, Bob 33, 116 Rozanski, Chuck 10 Rude, Steve 42-43, 147 Saenz, Mike 149, 228 Sakai, Stan 257 Salicrup, Jim 18, 28, 31, 225 Schwartz, Julius 19, 168-169, 230 Sears, Bart 240-241, 271 Seuling, Phil 10 Shaw, Scott 47, 67-68 She-Hulk 13 Sherman, James 78-80

Shooter, Jim 8, 11-14, 18, 25-29, 31-32, 38-41, 54-57, 59-66, 74, 85, 91-93, 98-100, 102, 104-106, 108, 110112, 121, 139-140, 142, 144-147, 152-158, 160-162, 168, 188, 204-207, 210, 212, 221-223, 247-248, 278 Sienkiewicz, Bill 13, 19, 109, 160, 237, 254 Silvestri, Marc 211, 253 Sim, Dave 11, 85, 117, 217, 237 Simonson, Louise 13, 27, 62, 64, 109, 142, 156, 163, 211, 254 Simonson, Walt 13, 28, 33, 59, 62, 101-102, 142, 159, 212, 254 Singer, David M. 78, 120-121, 150-151, 182-183, 214215 Skinn, Dez 113, 148-149 Smith, Paul 58, 97, 183, 216 Spider-Man 28, 40, 55, 58, 108-109, 141-142, 188, 206208, 223-225 Spiegelman, Art 146, 172, 178-179, 237 Spiegle, Dan 50, 67, 78 Starlin, Jim 27, 49, 52, 56, 58-60, 73, 77, 147-148, 161, 241-244, 259, 268 Star Trek 27 Star Wars 14, 28, 98, 143, 165 Staton, Joe 47, 67, 69, 72-74, 93, 138, 151, 230, 233, 269 Stern, Roger 13, 17, 25, 31, 56, 93, 101-102, 158, 161, 211-212, 224, 233-234, 266, 269 Stevens, Dave 68, 115, 138, 151, 216 Supergirl 50, 124, 132-133, 232-233 Superman 19, 39-40, 88, 124, 137, 168-170, 190-192, 230-233, 269 Swamp Thing 48 Swan, Curt 128, 169, 230, 234, 240, 273

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents 45, 81, 120-121, 150-151, 182183, 214-215 Toth, Alex 78, 93 Trimpe, Herb 47, 65, 154 Truman, Tim 114, 149, 270 Valentino, Jim 117, 251 Veitch, Rick 176, 180-181, 237, 266 Waid, Mark 234, 262, 273-274 Wagner, Matt 70, 117-118, 256 Warren Comics 9, 71 Wein, Len 20-21, 23, 33, 40, 48, 50, 54, 88, 91, 125, 129, 138, 166-167, 204 Whitman Comics 9, 114 Willingham, Bill 81-83, 117-118, 256 Windsor-Smith, Barry 73, 148 Wolfman, Marv 12, 20-22, 35, 38, 40, 46, 48, 50-51, 62, 89-90, 93-94, 127-131, 133-135, 146, 148, 166, 168-169, 189-192, 203, 205, 216, 240, 243, 260-261 Wolverine 17, 19, 23, 48, 55, 61, 63-64, 105-106, 164, 213, 219, 226-228, 251, 253-254 Wonder Woman 47, 124, 137, 194-195, 270 Wood, Wally 44-45, 52 Wrightson, Bernie 48, 147-148, 242 X-Men 9, 15-19, 23, 26, 57, 62-64, 73, 97, 140-141, 147, 161-164, 211, 226-228, 248 Yronwode, Cat 55, 83, 86, 180-181, 216 Zeck, Mike 57, 105, 108-109, 164-165, 188, 208

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 118-120, 151, 183-184 Teen Titans 20-22, 38, 53, 62, 89-91, 121-122, 126-127, 167-168, 240 Thomas, Dann 37, 121, 252 Thomas, Roy 13, 36-39, 47, 50, 77, 89-90, 92, 121-122, 124, 136, 146, 177-178, 199, 203, 205, 229, 252 Thor 55-56, 101-102

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Richard B. Hood Ronald Hood Kristian Horn Brian Houltham Jason Hussa Roderick R. Ingram Paul y cod asyn Jarman John Jarrett Rod Keith Stephen Vincent Kempton Paul Kienzle Kevin T. King Ryan W. Kirk Daniel Klos Walt Kneeland David Kobussen Kevin Kropp Zack Kruse Max Kuliev Nathan Kurtz Tyler Lafferty John Lahr Mark R. Largent Jeff Lemire Jim Lesniak David Levine John Littrel Steve Loiaconi John Luiso Steve Lundy Eric Lyden Kyle Mack David Mandel Lee Markowitz Rob Marshall Eric Martel Radley Masinelli Kevin Mathews Michael Mazzacane James McArdle Gerald McCarthy Patrick McCook Patrick McEvoy Travis Meidell Keith Mello Captain Phil Merkel John Miyasato Patrick Mohlmann Glenn Møane Jack Mulcahy George Munoz Sean Nethery Michael Niederman Matt Norton Greg Nyman Bob O’Leary Ty Owens Jeff Owens Dante Pacella Dudley Pajela Joe Palmer John Papadatos Lionel Peillon Matt Phillips Mike Pierce Bob Pinaha

Richard Pini Robert J. Plass Steven Prince Dustin Prisley Nate Pritts Shawn Pryor Erich Randall Brian O. Randolph Douglas M. Rawald Brian Reaves Philip Reed Robert C. Reichle Bryan Reynolds Charles P. Rhoads Murray Roach Dennis F. Rogers Jimmy Rohrich Rob Rooney Matthew Rose Sharon Roseberry Eliseo Ruiz Jr. Conall & Emmett Sanders Raymond L. Schaff Jr. Martin Scherer Frederick Schroeder Lars Schumacher David E. Schwartz Antonio Serra Arianna & Laurence Shapiro Pete Shevenell Rick Shurgin Stephen Simeone Patrick Simonovits Dave Skaar Bill Slankard Gary Slatus Douglas D. Smith Steven (South Aussie) Smith Dr. Scott Smith Stuart Somershoe Mark Soper John Spruhan Joe Staton Kaleb Swenson Raymond Tam Jim Tang Daniel Thingvold Bob Thomas David Thornton Richard Topp Jon Trainer Maxwell C. Traver Brad Treiber Jeff Troutman Steven Tsai Tommy Vernale Marc “Bones” Vujovich John Waclawski Ryan Walker Joe Walsh Todd Weber Jacob Wegman William Wentworth-Sheilds Chad Wilson Kevin Yong

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GROOVY

MARK VOGER’s time-trip back to 1957-1972, to explore the CREEPY, KOOKY MONSTER CRAZE, when monsters stomped into America’s mainstream!

A psychedelic look at when Flower Power bloomed in Pop Culture. Revisits ‘60s era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, TV, MOVIES, ART, COMICS & CARTOONS!

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $11.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-064-9

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9

MIKE GRELL

LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER Career-spanning tribute to a comics art legend!

(160-page FULL-COLOR TPB) $27.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-088-5 (176-page LTD. ED. HARDCOVER) $37.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-087-8 (Digital Edition) $12.95

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID

Digs up the best of FROM THE TOMB (the UK’s preeminent horror comics history magazine): Atomic comics lost to the Cold War, censored British horror comics, the early art of RICHARD CORBEN, Good Girls of a bygone age, TOM SUTTON, DON HECK, LOU MORALES, AL EADEH, BRUCE JONES’ ALIEN WORLDS, HP LOVECRAFT in HEAVY METAL, and more!

(192-page trade paperback) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-081-6

(176-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-094-6

THE MLJ COMPANION

Documents the complete history of ARCHIE COMICS’ super-heroes known as the “Mighty Crusaders”, with in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ history: The GOLDEN AGE (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero), the SILVER AGE (spotlighting the campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), the BRONZE AGE (the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published by DC Comics), up to the MODERN AGE, with its Dark Circle imprint!

(288-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION

In 1978, DC Comics implemented its “DC Explosion” with many creative new titles, but just weeks after its launch, they pulled the plug, leaving stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished. This book marks the 40th Anniversary of “The DC Implosion”, one of the most notorious events in comics, with an exhaustive oral history from the creators involved (JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and others), plus detailed analysis of how it changed the landscape of comics forever!

ER EISN RD AWAINEE! NOM

(136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4

(272-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $36.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1

IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

EXPANDED SECOND EDITION—16 EXTRA PAGES! Looks back at the creators of the Marvel Universe’s own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and television interviews, to paint a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s complicated relationship! Includes recollections from STEVE DITKO, ROY THOMAS, WALLACE WOOD, JOHN ROMITA SR., and other Marvel Bullpenners!

ED AND EXP COND SE ION! IT ED

HERO-A-GO-GO!

MICHAEL EURY looks at comics’ CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, and TV’s Batman shook a mean cape!

JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE

The final complete, unpublished Jack Kirby stories in existence, presented here for the first time, in cooperation with DC Comics! Two unused 1970s DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales, plus TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE and SOUL LOVE magazines!

(176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES:

8 Volumes Covering The 1940s-1990s

LOU SCHEIMER CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION

Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which for over 25 years brought the Archies, Shazam, Isis, He-Man, and others to TV and film!

(288-page paperback with COLOR) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-044-1

AND THESE MAGAZINES ABOUT COMICS & POP CULTURE:

FOCUSING ON GOLDEN & SILVER AGE COMICS

OR -COL FULLDCOVER HAR RIES SE nting me f docu ecade o d y! c ea h s histor ic com

COMICS OF THE 1970s, ’80s and TODAY! THE NEW VOICE OF THE COMICS MEDIUM TM

C o l l e c t o r

CELEBRATING THE LIFE & CAREER OF THE “KING” OF COMICS

THE CRAZY COOL CULTURE WE GREW UP WITH

TwoMorrows.

The Future of Pop History.

Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

It was the

1980s

It was a decade of notable successes and equally stunning failures for the comic book industry. It was the decade when Jim Shooter’s Marvel Comics dominated the marketplace, with the Uncanny X-Men attaining unparalleled popularity. It was the decade when a Crisis relaunched DC Comics’ fictional universe and its readers saw a Dark Knight Return and asked who watches the Watchmen. Most of all, the 1980s was the decade of the Direct Market when the proliferation of specialty comic book stores provoked the creation of new publishers like First, Malibu, Comico, Pacific, and Dark Horse and new creator-owned properties like Los Bros. Hernandez’s Love & Rockets and Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was one of the most successful decades the comic book industry would ever have. It was the 1980s.

American Comic Book Chronicles documents every decade of comic book history, from the 1930s to today. Each volume presents a year-by-year account of the comic book industry’s most significant publications, most notable creators, and most impactful trends.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-046-5 ISBN-10: 1-60549-046-6 54895

Printed in China

9 781605 490465

All characters shown TM & © their respective owners.

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina $48.95 in the US ISBN 978-1-60549-046-5