Back Issue #14 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

ISSUE!

FUTURE LEGION “PRO 2 PRO” WITH COCKRUM & GRELL • “ROUGH STUFF” WITH MCLEOD & FRIENDS JACK KIRBY’S KAMANDI • GARCÍA-LÓPEZ’S HERCULES • AL WILLIAMSON’S STAR WARS

T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

Febru

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PER-HEROES LEGION OF SU

Explore the world of tomorrow in our The Ultimate Comics Experience! Volume 1, Number 14 February 2006 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael “Editor Boy” Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

FUTURE ISSUE PRO2PRO: Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Two of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ most popular artists in their first interview together! PRO2PRO PLUS: The Parallel Worlds of the Imperial Guard and the Legion . . .18 A comparative look at Cockrum’s LSH and Shi’ar Imperial Guard FLASHBACK: Unbound For Glory: The Epic Story of Hercules Unbound . . . .20 With commentary and/or art by Conway, Michelinie, García-López, and Simonson

PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

BEYOND CAPES: Killraven: A Martian Iliad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 A critical analysis of Marvel’s “War of the Worlds” series, with art by Adams & Russell

COVER ARTISTS Mike Grell and Bob McLeod

BACK IN PRINT: Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel Return to MARS . . . . . .34 The genesis of the acclaimed First Comics series, with rare artwork

COVER COLORIST Tom Ziuko COVER DESIGNER John Morrow SPECIAL THANKS John Allison Kevin Stawieray Brent Anderson Alan Steele Terry Austin Daniel Tesmoingt Alan Bahr Mark Texeira Mike Burkey Roy Thomas Glen Cadigan Alex Toth Dave Cockrum Al Williamson Gerry Conway Thomas Yeates Mark Evanier Keith Giffen Grand Comic-Book Database Mike Grell Ben Herman Heritage Comics Richard Howell Tony Isabella The Jack Kirby Collector Dan Johnson Bruce Jones Jim Kingman Scott Kress Ted Latner Paul Levitz Jonathan Mankuta Don McGregor Bob McLeod Darrell McNeil David Michelinie Guy Mills Dan Mishkin Brian K. Morris Mike Napolitano Alex Niño Gene Philips Rose Rummel-Eury P. Craig Russell Walter Simonson Tom Smith

BEYOND CAPES: Marvel’s Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . .39 John Allison, Bruce Jones, Alan Steele, Tony Isabella, and Roy Thomas recall this ambitious series ROUGH STUFF: Bob McLeod and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 The artist/inker hosts a spotlight of the pencils of J. Buscema, Byrne, Jurgens, Keown, McFarlane, Miller, Romita, Jr., Sienkiewicz, Starlin, Zeck, and McLeod himself FLASHBACK: Riding into Comics’ Future: Hex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 The grim cowboy’s time trek, with Mark Texeira and Keith Giffen interviews FLASHBACK: War in Space: Goodwin and Williamson’s Star Wars Strip . . .65 The behind-the-scenes tale of one of comics’ most celebrated collaborations WAY BEYOND CAPES: Kamandi: The Last Boy at DC! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 From Kirby to Conway, a look at Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth—with unpublished art BEYOND CAPES BONUS: Planned it for the Apes: Marvel’s Ape-daptations . . . .78 Remembering Marvel’s Planet of the Apes, with Bob Larkin and Mike Ploog art COMICS ON DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 New releases of interest to the comic-book fan OFF MY CHEST: Alex Toth on Black-and-White Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 The acclaimed artist weighs in on BI #10’s article on 1970s’ B&W mags BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Reader feedback on issue #12

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. E-mail: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Legion of Super-Heroes TM & © 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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Schweier Philip “Interview Boy”transcribed by

5, and Conducted April 19, 200 Lad” Morris. Brian K. “Transcription

DC’s 2004 relaunch of the Legion of Super-Heroes represents a new future for the teen super-team. Since their very first appearance in 1958 in Adventure Comics #247, the Legion has known many chapters. Leaving Adventure Comics behind in the late 1960s, they resurfaced as an occasional backup feature in Action Comics before settling into the more appropriate Superboy title. In 1972, DC reprinted a handful of the Adventure Comics stories in the Legion’s own featured title, perhaps testing the waters. The super-team would go on to co-star in the pages of Superboy, which they eventually took over. Dave Cockrum was the artist on deck at the start of this new era for the Boy of Steel and his futuristic friends. Cockrum gave the team a significant makeover before leaving, and art chores were assumed by newcomer Mike Grell. Throughout the 1970s, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes proved to be one of DC’s bestselling titles, and both Cockrum and Grell were fundamental to that success. We caught up with Dave and Mike for a retrospective we call:

Looking Back at the Future 2

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PHILIP SCHWEIER: I guess we’ll start with the early days. For both of in comics. What sort of projects led up to your days on the Legion? MIKE GRELL: Dave better take that one. I will bow to seniority. DAVE COCKRUM: Well, I did several jobs over at Warren my first year in the business, all black-and-white stuff. Then I got an apprentice job, like background inking, for Murphy Anderson and Tony DeZuniga, and it was working with Murphy that actually put me in a position to be able to do the Legion, because I learned a lot from him and I got the Legion assignment on the basis that since I was working for Murphy, [editor] Murray Boltinoff figured

Beginnings:

for Creepy and Miscellaneous features Anderson on y rph Mu ng isti ass / Eerie as backup h suc es, tur various DC fea Superboy in g nin gin be ries sto Legion pton” backKry of d orl “W #184 (1972) / ) 72 up in Superman #248 (19

Milestones:

ion of SuperSuperboy starring the Leg graphic novel ns Heroes / X-Men / Futuria lsearchers Sou / s erie nis mi / Nightcrawler cs) mi Co l and Company (Claypoo

Work in Progress:

that Murphy could guarantee that I would turn in proper work.

New Futurians story nearing completion, release date to be determined

Y’know, if I didn’t do it right, Murphy would fix it. SCHWEIER: Mike, how about you? GRELL: I got totally lucky. In my early days, of course, I worked

Cadigan. Photo courtesy of Glen

you, the Legion represents some of the earliest work either of you did

Cyberspace:

with Dale Messick on the Brenda Starr comic strip, but I was trying

www.davecockrum.net (tribute site)

to peddle my own strips at the same time and didn’t have any luck there so I wandered off to New York for a comic convention and

DAVE COCKRUM

had some better luck there. I ran into Irv Novick and Allan Asherman who looked at my stuff and told me in no uncertain terms that I should get up to Julie Schwartz’s office. Julie gave me my break by looking at my portfolio and showing it to Joe Orlando, and he gave me an Aquaman story to illustrate and I delivered that. I picked it up on a Monday and delivered it the following Monday and picked up another story and by the time I got that one done, for the Legion. Apparently, Dave and I passed each other in the hall. I was walking in as he was walking out, and Murray Boltinoff was on vacation, destined to come back and discover he didn’t have an artist for the Legion of Super-Heroes. So Murray gave me the job inking—destroying—Dave’s pencils on a long short story as a tryout, and then I ended up full-time on the book. It was really funny because Murray said, “Well, congratulations, you got the job. Now for the bad news: You’re going to get hate mail.” And I said, “Whaddaya mean?” and he said, “Well, number one, you’re replacing the most popular artist we ever had on the Legion, and number two, we’re killing off one of their favorite characters.” And he was right. It was a long time before anyone mentioned me

Beginnings:

Dale Messick’s assistant on Brenda Starr / Aquaman backup feature in Adventur e Comics #435 (1974)

Milestones:

Superboy and the Legion of Super-He roes / The Warlord / Green Lantern/Green Arrow / Starslayer (Pacific Comics) / Jon Sabl e, Freelance / Green Arrow / Shaman’s Tears (Image Comics)

Work in Progress:

New Jon Sable series (IDW) / lates t Sable trade paperback due February 200 6 (orders taken at Amazon.com)

Cyberspace:

without comparing me unfavorably to Dave, justifiably so.

www.mikegrell.com (official site)

COCKRUM: If I recall, you had great timing coming in at that point anyway. If I remember right, DC had pissed off a lot of artists— GRELL: It’s a knack, cultivated over decades.

MIKE GRELL

COCKRUM: —and a lot of artists were leaving DC, with a lot of becoming work available. SCHWEIER: So, Dave, you took on the feature back around

Photo from Amazing World of DC Comics #12 (1976).

Joe called up again and asked if I minded him recommending me

Superboy #184. The name of the story was “One Legionnaire Must

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“Well, we can do good things with it.” SCHWEIER: Part of this process involved you pretty much redesigning and updating the whole Legion into the 1970s. COCKRUM: Well, I didn’t do the costumes until about the fifth episode, and I really had to fight Murray over it. He was very conservative. He didn’t like it, but he finally, very reluctantly, let me go ahead with some costume changes. I did about four the first time—that was for the story, “The War Between the Nights and the Days” [Superboy #193]. SCHWEIER:

Right—the

redesigned

Legionnaires

were

Chameleon Boy, Duo Damsel, Shrinking Violet, and Karate Kid. COCKRUM: And a lot of people think I actually redesigned Matter-Eater Lad, too, but I didn’t. They just got the colors wrong.

Dave Cockrum’s first solo pro work for DC, from Superman #248’s (Feb. 1972) “World of Krypton” backup series. Dave decided to redo the page after inking it, so this is the unpublished version of page 1. Courtesy of Ted Latner. Art © 2006 Dave Cockrum. Characters © 2006 DC Comics.

Go.” At the time, were you just a hired hand to draw the story as a backup, or was it DC’s intent to kind of rebuild the Legion’s popularity with you at the drawing board? COCKRUM: Well, the Legion was dying, and I think they figured I couldn’t do it any harm, you know. But I don’t think they had any great plans for it at that point, they just needed to fill the space and they were reluctant to let go of the Legion at that time. After three or four episodes, readers began to comment favorably more and more on the Legion, and Murray Boltinoff figured,

An early Mike Grell gig: The title page to “The Alien Among Us,” an unpublished mid-1970s Weird War Tales story written by Jack Oleck. From The Amazing World of DC Comics #12 (Aug. 1976). © 2006 DC Comics.

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Te d L a t n e r

In X-Men #107, a strangely familiar-looking group of characters appeared. The group was led by a powerful visitor from another planet wearing red and blue with a yellow logo on his chest. He was joined by a team whose young members were from multiple worlds and backgrounds. They were drawn with unique and stylish costumes designed by Dave Cockrum. Could it be... the Legion of Super-Heroes? Nah—it was the Shi’ar Imperial Guard.

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The Imperial Guard started off as parody and/or homage of the Legion of

Here’s the rundown of the Imperial

Super-Heroes, similar to what Marvel did with the Justice League-like Squadron

Guard members pictured here. I’m using

Supreme. Why did Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont use these characters?

their original names, as some have been

Most likely it was just an inside joke for fans of Dave’s earlier work. Perhaps it was

renamed in later appearances. On the left

also a way for Dave to take a dig at DC. Dave was rightfully irritated that DC

side, we have Starbolt (inspired by Sun

refused to return the original artwork to the double-page splash of Lightning Lad

Boy), Midget (based on Shrinking Violet),

and Saturn Girl’s wedding

Tempest (based on Lightning Lad) and

from Superboy starring the

Impulse (based on Wildfire). On the right

Legion of Super-Heroes #200.

is Fang (based on Timber Wolf). Fang’s

He had also been subject to

costume was stolen by Wolverine during

lots of restrictions while working

the fight and he ended up wearing it for a

on the Legion, especially with

few issues. It might have been permanent

regard to costume changes.

if Cockrum had continued on the book,

Dave designed several brilliant

but John Byrne hated the Fang costume

new costumes for the team

and couldn’t wait to get rid of it. To the

and the editor had stopped

right of Fang is Mentor (based on Braniac

him from continuing due to

unfounded fears about alienating

Superboy/Superman),

readers. In the case of Karate

Smasher (based on Ultra Boy), Astra

Kid,

costume

(based on Phantom Girl) and Hobgoblin

appeared for only one issue

(based on Chameleon Boy). Below Astra is

and then reverted to the old

Electron (loosely based on Cosmic Boy

one. It wasn’t until after Mike

having a bad hair day). Flying above

Grell took over the book that

Mentor is Oracle (based on Saturn Girl).

Dave’s

new

and

then

Gladiator

(based

followed

the Cockrum costume reap-

To her right is Quasar (very loosely based

peared (and it was then also

on Star Boy) and then Titan (based on

used for the Karate Kid series,

Colossal Boy) and Nightshade (based on

well after Dave had left DC).

Shadow Lass). Whew!

Dave’s editor had also nixed

While Claremont and Byrne added several

some new characters that he

other team members during the classic

wanted to introduce, including

“Death of Phoenix” storyline in X-Men

a strange-looking one called

#137, they had no resemblance to Legion

name

characters. Other Imperial Guard members

sounds familiar for some reason

have been introduced since then, some

doesn’t it?).

resembling the Legion and some not, but to

Nightcrawler

(that

The Imperial Guard gave Dave a chance to design

me, the only authentic group is the original Cockrum version.

over

The Imperial Guard appearance in X-Men

again. Showcasing his incredible

#107 allowed Dave Cockrum to draw the team

talent as a costume designer

he loved again—sort of. Oh, and by the way,

throwaway

he did get the original art to this two-page

actually

spread returned. I just happen to have been

improved on many of the Legion costumes. If that wasn’t enough, this issue also

fortunate enough to buy it a few owners

introduced the Starjammers, another well-designed (and much more original)

down the line after Dave had decided to sell.

all-new

costumes

basically

characters,

all

team of characters.

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Jim Kingman In Greek mythology, the strongest man and greatest fighter in the world was Herakles. In Roman mythology, he was known as Hercules, which is the popular usage of his name. Hercules was the offspring of Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods, and Alkmene, Queen of Sparta. The man-god sailed for some time with Jason and the Argonauts. He was driven temporarily mad by Hera and killed his wife, Megara, and their three sons. In penance to King Eurystheus, Megara’s father, Hercules performed twelve fantastic, legendary labors. After his death by poison Hercules became an Olympian god. In the Marvel Universe, Hercules teamed with the Avengers and the mighty Thor for many adventures on Earth and throughout the cosmos, even landing a teaching job at UCLA before becoming a founding member of the Champions. Yet the man-god’s most noble undertaking was in DC’s speculative future. There, Hercules became humankind’s last hope of survival! When writer Gerry Conway departed Marvel Comics in 1975, he left the Marvel Hercules behind him and made a successful pitch for a new take on Hercules to DC, then National Periodical Publications. At that time DC was meeting the challenge of Marvel’s saturation of the newsstands and spinner racks by themselves releasing a multitude of titles. Joe Orlando would be the comic’s editor. “I’m going to try mixing it with sword and sorcery to get Hercules,” Orlando revealed in an interview in The Amazing World of DC Comics #6 (May 1975). Also in that issue of DC’s in-house “News and Behind the Scenes” magazine, Hercules Unbound was originally announced as The Power of Hercules and set during World War IV. The first issue was scheduled for an October 1975

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release. But sometime after the publication of that

where Cerberus was killed in battle with the man-god.

“Sneak Previews” article and the official listing in “Direct

Some time later and having reached England (HU

Currents” for July 1975 releases (in which there was no

#4, Apr.–May 1976), Hercules, Kevin, and Jennifer

entry for HU), The Power of Hercules became Hercules

were attacked by the humanoid-animal legions of

Unbound, with issue number one hitting the comics

Hunter Blood, a mutant with death-dealing vision.

spinner racks during the last week of July.

Hercules learned the origin of the humanized animals

Conway wrote the first six issues, setting the story

from a gorilla-man as the two of them sought out

in 1986, the same year of the atomic war that would

Blood (HU #5, June–July 1976). The explanation

give birth to the Atomic Knights. The Atomic Knights

involved Cortexin, a man-made drug that gave

series

animals intelligence. Cortexin was originally introduced

ran

sporadically

Strange Adventures during the early 1960s and was written by John Broome and illustrated by Murphy Anderson. “I think tying it into the Atomic Knights

was

intentional,”

remembers Conway, “as I was a fan of that series.” “The Power and the Glory of” Hercules Unbound #1 (Oct.–Nov.

1975)

began

shortly after the widespread cataclysmic and radioactive destruction brought on by the outset of World War III. Hercules, who had been imprisoned on an Aegean island by Ares, his half-brother and god of war, broke his chains after a thousand years of captivity. He teamed with a blind boy, Kevin, and his dog, Basil (named after Basil Rathbone, the British actor who played Sherlock Holmes), and began striking

in Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #16 (Apr. 1974).

The artistic pairing of

back, first in Rome, against his foe. In Paris, Hercules

Finally, a connection had been made to another

then-newcomer

and Kevin met three more survivors of war, Jennifer

of DC’s speculative futures. After Blood’s defeat,

García-López with

Monroe, David Rigg, and Simon St. Charles (HU #2,

Hercules soon tracked Ares down in Stonehenge,

the venerated Wood

Dec. 1975–Jan. 1976). They were soon attacked by

England and battled him for the lives of Simon St.

made Hercules

Ares’ deputy Cerberus and his two-headed dogs of

Charles and Dave Rigg (HU #6, Aug.–Sept. 1976).

Unbound a visual

war. Cerberus captured Jennifer in order to lure

Having won the battle, Hercules inexplicably let

feast. Issue #1/page

Hercules to a battle in Pluto’s realm, Hades (setting up

Ares go free.

25, and #1/page 29,

a sequel of sorts to Hercules’ twelfth labor). With the

With Conway’s departure from both HU and DC

aid of Orpheus (HU #3, Feb.–Mar. 1976), Hercules

Comics, writer David Michelinie came in to script

Richard Howell and

and Kevin were able to rescue Jennifer from Hades,

Hercules Unbound #7 (Oct.–Nov. 1976). “As a fill-in

Carol Kalish.

from the collecton of

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writer I didn’t think it was my place to establish any

Levitz, “I probably signed on for Hercules on the

kind of direction for the book,” Michelinie recalls.

assumption that Conway was going to add more

“Since someone else was going to be writing the series,

writer/editor titles and drop Herc. Then Gerry left DC to

why saddle them with circumstances they might not

become Marvel’s editor-in-chief, his DC assignments

like, and would have to spend time changing?” Artist

were divided, and I was promoted to editor and got

Walter Simonson also came on board to pencil the

All-Star Comics, which probably replaced Herc on my

one issue, while Wood remained as inker. With

schedule. David and Walt had a ball working together,

Hercules’ quest to defeat Ares fulfilled, the man-god

they were neighbors on the upper West Side of

and friends traveled to Scotland and battled Casper

Manhattan at the time... and that was why David

Zedd, a disciple of the Titan Oceanus. Zedd hoped

stayed on the series.” Unfortunately, García-López

to restore his master’s strength by sacrificing Kevin,

did not return to HU, having picked up the assignment

but Hercules was able to thwart his plans.

to illustrate the adaptation of Tarzan the Untamed in

How did Simonson feel about working with the

the Lord of the Jungle’s DC book. However, on the

legendary Wally Wood? “I was delighted,”

plus side, Simonson remained as penciler on HU for

Simonson reveals. “Actually, the fact that Woody

the rest of the comic’s run.

was doing the finishes on the book was the reason

At this time, in an article in Amazing World of DC

I took the gig in the first place. I already knew his

Comics #12 (Aug. 1976) published between Hercules

work, of course, and I was acquainted with Woody

Unbound #7 and 8, Paul Levitz outlined the “confusing

himself some because I used to see him at

continuity” of DC’s speculative future. He effectively

Continuity, the Neal Adams/Dick Giordano studio

tied many of DC’s future elements together, including

on E. 48th Street. We all hung out at Continuity in

the final battle between Darkseid and the New Gods,

those days and I’d met Woody there. Denny O’Neil,

Ares’ involvement in World War III, OMAC’s history, the

HU’s editor, asked me to take over doing the layouts

rise of the Atomic Knights, Wonder Woman’s Paradise

for Woody after José Luis García-López left the title. I

Island, and the Natural Disaster that transformed our

had only been in comics

Earth into Kamandi’s world.

maybe four years at the

Levitz also noted how the

time and had never done

DC Universe was gearing

layouts for another artist at

toward a crucial moment

that point. Mostly, I finished

that would cause history to

my own work. But, hey—

this was Wally Wood and I

Kamandi’s world or lead to

jumped at the chance. In

the formation of the Legion

the end, Woody left the

title after I’d laid out two

years in the future. The

issues but I love having

pivotal moment in time:

‘inked by Wally Wood’

October 1986.

According to the letters column in Hercules Unbound

path

Super-Heroes

into

1,000

In Hercules Unbound #8

on my résumé!”

the

(Dec. 1976–Jan. 1977) and #9

(Feb.–Mar.

#7, Paul Levitz was scheduled

Hercules,

to take over scripting HU

Jennifer were forced to

García-López’s HU #3

with issue #8, with García-

take part in a “war game”

cover art, courtesy of

López also scheduled to

played with real weapons

Mike Napolitano.

return. However, recalls

“copied” from the past as

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Kevin,

1977), and

Gene Philips Following the first Martian attacks on England in H.G. Wells’ classic novel The War of the Worlds, a panicky character asks the narrator, “What are these Martians?” The narrator replies, “What are we?” Few later alien-invasion tales have pursued themes as sophisticated as those of H.G. Wells, who made his Martians emblematic of mankind’s tendency to dominate and destroy other living beings. Wells even heightened the resemblance by suggesting that his tentacled BEMs might have evolved from life very like that of human beings. In 1973 Marvel Comics wrote a new chapter to Wells’ Martian saga (then safely in public domain), but despite using the trappings of the then-popular barbarian comics, Marvel’s “War of the Worlds” (henceforth “WOTW”) both did justice to Wells’ original theme and forged its own identity as well. The new chapter began in Amazing Adventures (henceforth “AA”) #18 (May 1973), conceived by Roy Thomas, scripted by Gerry Conway, and illustrated by Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin. Conway and Chaykin returned for only one more issue, but the first stories left subsequent creators a strong template on which to build. On the surface, the series looked more like Robert E. Howard than H.G. Wells, depicting the hero Killraven as a sword-swinging hero battling assorted monsters in a post-apocalyptic future Earth. The hero even shared Conan’s lack of background prior to becoming a mature monster-slayer. Yet Conan’s

past was simply ignored, while Killraven’s lack of a personal history

Of Course, You Know This Means War!

proved a source of concern. WOTW’s other supporting characters all had

John Romita, Sr. and Mike Esposito’s cover art to Marvel’s first “War of the Worlds” issue, Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973), reprinted in 2005 as the cover of Essential Killraven, where it was wonderfully colored

memories of their existence before the Martian invasion—particularly of their fathers—but Killraven, who remained fatherless throughout the series, never experienced more than fragments of pre-invasion memories. To be a tabula rasa, of course, is to start from square one, like an infant, and as the hero’s only “teachers” were the enslaving Martians and their

by its contributor, Tom Smith.

pawns, there was a touch of the Oedipal in WOTW.

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The first story in AA #18 goes six pages without

infant brother Joshua as all three flee the invaders. The

even mentioning the Martians. We see only Killraven

fugitives escape the Martians, but are betrayed by two

fighting various guardsmen, both humans and

humans, Saunders and Raker, who are collaborating

monstrous mutants, in order to break into a stronghold

with the aliens. The traitors kill Jonathan’s mother and

of an old man called “the Keeper.” After dispensing

divide up the two children. Saunders takes Joshua

with the guards, Killraven deals a fatal blow to the

away to some fate that will not be disclosed for many

Keeper. Yet after completing his mission, Killraven feels

issues, while Raker forces young Jonathan to become a

“empty.”

gladiator who fights other humans for the amusement

Fortuitously, the Keeper revives long

of the conquerors. Killraven escapes his captors, and, along with other fugitives, becomes a roving freedom fighter. The flashback ends, and it is at last clear that the Keeper is Raker, some 20 years older. Before Raker (finally!) dies, he tells that the Martians mentally coerced him into serving them, © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

and that at some point he eluded their mental control just long enough to bestow upon Killraven some mysterious “power” via his advanced science. In Freudian terms, Raker thus becomes

This unfinished Neal Adams-penciled page was intended for AA #18, Killraven’s first outing, but was not published. Courtesy of Kevin Stawieray.

both a “bad father” and a “good father” to Killraven. Bad, because he slays the hero’s mother and in concert with the Martians gives the hero his slave-status and his gladiatorial nickname. Good, because he gives Killraven a gift that enables the hero to escape that enslavement, even though it means the Keeper’s death. WOTW’s opening scenario strongly recalls a segment of Wells’ novel in which a

militiaman speculates that though the Martians may conquer humanity, humans will continue to fight the aliens with guerillawar tactics. He also predicts that the Martians will keep some humans as slaves or pets, to be controlled through various brainwashing stratagems, including some sort of enough to tell the warrior (and the readers) the entire

“eroticism” (about which the militiaman does not

backstory of the series: how the Martians invaded in

elaborate). Conway’s take on this is to reveal that

1901, were defeated by Earth’s bacteria, and how the

his Martians can create not only ugly mutants, but

survivors returned to Earth in 2001, immune both to

beautiful ones as well: scantily clad “Martian

germs and all Earth’s military defenses, both nuclear

sirens” able to charm men with both their beauty

and biological. (The unleashing of such weapons helps

and hypnotic powers. In AA #19 the sirens focus

populate Killraven’s world with the usual post-

their powers on Killraven, whereon he learns that

apocalyptic monsters, not to mention those created

his mysterious “power” makes him immune to

by Martian science.) The long flashback then shifts to

their mesmerism. More monsters attack, and the

how the Keeper met Killraven, the same year the

issue is finished with standard fight scenes, but not

Martians invaded. The hero is first seen as a small boy,

before Conway introduces some of Killraven’s rebel

Jonathan Raven, in the company of his mother and

allies, the “Freemen.”

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Original cover art to Amazing Adventures #25 (July 1974), penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Mike Esposito. Courtesy of Mike Burkey (www.romitaman.com).

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Strange Land—is bestowed upon Grok by Carmilla as

black man named M’Shulla and a mutton-chopped

a symbol of “hope,” but Grok doesn’t look like a very

Caucasian named Hawk, both former gladiators like

hopeful case. He resembles an orangutan with

Killraven. In AA #20, scripted by Marv Wolfman and

sucker discs growing from his fingers, and is said to

drawn by Herb Trimpe, the Caucasian Hawk is trans-

be the result of a botched cloning experiment

formed into an Amerindian with a surly attitude,

supervised by Carmilla. The name of the man from

presumably to give the feature greater racial diversity.

whom Grok was made is revealed many issues later,

In addition, Wolfman’s single script sets up one of the

but given that Carmilla never talks about anyone

feature’s long-running motifs: an ongoing humorous

from her past life but her late father, it doesn’t take

guy-banter between Killraven and M’Shulla. Herb

Sherlock Holmes to guess the clone-donor’s identity.

Trimpe remains the artist on the “War of the Worlds”

In a strange way, just as Killraven’s symbolic “father”

feature through issue #24, but his art proves unsuited to

Raker is both enslaver and benefactor, Grok mingles

the feature’s swashbuckling requirements. As

multiple identities: he is both Carmilla’s father and

compensation, however, in AA #21 Don McGregor

her “son” (because she “creates” him in sole-parent

debuts as the permanent (and

Frankenstein fashion). If there is any real “hope” in

definitive) writer of the feature,

Grok’s existence, it lies in his capacity to return the

and scripts all the remaining

characters (and the series) to the theme of “the lost

stories in the series save for two

family.” Indeed, this becomes WOTW’s raison d’être

fill-in stories by Bill Mantlo.

from then on (though not until AA #23 does

Of his assignment to the

Killraven remember that he has a lost brother he

feature, McGregor wrote (in e-

needs to seek out!) Additionally, though Conway

mail, September 2005) that, “I

transmitted the basic notion of seeing the creations

wanted to come into it doing

of modern mankind through the lens of a Wellsian

my own stories, not someone

apocalypse, McGregor uses words with a greater

else’s.” This is evident in that

sense of poetry as he evokes mankind’s shattered

the

history—sometimes with nostalgia (Yankee Stadium

Wolfman is finished up as

is described as “a place of summer afternoons”),

expeditiously as possible,

sometimes with irony (the Watergate tapes of

emphasizing the new charac-

Richard Nixon are found by Killraven in AA #24, and

ters McGregor introduces.

are thought to symbolize a time of “trust” between

One is Old Skull. He appears

politicians and their constituency).

plotline

begun

as a background figure in

AA #22–24 gives us McGregor’s first continued

#20 but has no character as

story, as well as the last of his collaborations with

such. In addition to giving

Herb Trimpe. The Martians devise a plan to subjugate

him a name, McGregor

humanity not just by force but also by perverting all

makes him another former

of mankind’s cherished social myths: for instance,

gladiator, but one with a

holding slave auctions before the remnants of the

childlike “diminished capacity.” Another is Carmilla

Lincoln Memorial. Because Killraven has become a

Frost, a scientist who claims that she only worked with

legend to enslaved humanity, the Martians want to

the Martians under duress. Because she helps the

execute him in a way that will crush all of mankind’s

Freemen escape a Martian prison, Killraven reluctantly

hopes for independence. This plot is supervised by

allows the scientist to join their company. He remains

the “High Overlord,” a Martian who, though he is a

suspicious of her, in part because she brings along a

tentacled blob like his fellows, is always seen in a

monstrous servant named Grok.

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In AA #19 only two Freemen are given names: a

•

“human” form, in that he constantly wears a suit of

The name, patently drawn from another

human-form armor. (No other Martian follows his

“Martian novel”—Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a

example, though.) The Overlord uses various

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Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel Return to

Joseph McCabe

Mission to MARS

MA R S

Whether or not man ever strides gallantly

“New” MARS art penciled by Marc Hempel in the mid-

across the surface of the red planet, comic-book fans, at least, will have no trouble imagining such a visit thanks to

1980s and inked by Mark Wheatley in 2005 for use as a sales incentive signed print from Westfield Comics’ subscription service.

MARS, the pioneering First Comics series that marked the twin debuts of fan-favorite creators Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel. MARS, like its fellow First titles Grimjack and Jon Sable: Freelance, has been honored with a new collected edition from IDW, a collection Wheatley (who’s re-

colored the book) describes as “the best printed comic book I’ve ever had.”

In speaking with BACK ISSUE, longtime collaborators Wheatley and Hempel explain the unorthodox way in which they sold their science-fiction saga to First. “Marc and I had just done the paperback book series Be an Interplanetary Spy,” says Wheatley. “I had been working for Heavy Metal, I was doing some strips for Epic Illustrated, but mostly we were doing a lot of local advertising work, and designing imprinted balloons for a local balloon company.

There’s a moment where you’re doing all that stuff, where you go, ‘Well, this is earning us money, and this is fine, and this is drawing...’. And we really

Pencil art by Mark Wheatley from the 1983 presentation art used to sell the MARS series to First Comics.

wanted to do comic books, but the market was dead. There was no creator-owned anything. I mean, nobody did this. It just didn’t happen. “I worked this deal where we went out to San Diego [Comic-Con] in ’82, and we got a table. And I

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had done this little proposal for MARS, this pitch. I had this whole routine, y’know? It was like an acting

The first character design sheet penciled by Mark Wheatley. This was before Hempel joined the project.

job, I acted it out for the publishers. Then I heard there’s this new company just announced, First Comics, at the show. I grabbed them and I said, ‘Who do I talk to?’ So [then-art director] Joe Staton listened to the pitch. He left with his jaw down. Actually, the only people that turned us down on

the spot were Pacific Comics. First Comics wanted us, Marvel wanted us, DC wanted us. We had callbacks from everybody, saying, ‘Yeah, let’s talk about doing this.’ And the only people that ever completely followed through were First. Partially, [MARS editor] Mike Gold told me later, because he thought everybody else wanted it. (Joe had brought the proposal back and did the pitch for Mike.) “For a long time after that, our proposal was the model they used in the industry for how to present

a new series. Because it was a new thing at the time. People hadn’t been presenting new series. So, in ’83, we had our first issue out in September.” The tale of a paraplegic astronaut named Morgana Chase, her shipmates, and their journey through time, space, and consciousness, MARS was inspired in part by a friend of the creators. “Her name is Marion Vessels,” says Wheatley. “She was Miss Wheelchair America at the time, a paraplegic, who’s been on the governor’s committee here in Maryland, and has worked with the president’s council, and was instrumental in developing the access laws

Marc Hempel looking like he’s ready to run out to the woods and do some hunting.

that are currently in place. “One time we were having a conversation when we were out at a movie together. She said it had been so long at that time since her accident that even if she did get reconnected with her nerves in her legs she would probably never be able to walk again, because she wouldn’t be able to move her legs enough to exercise them, to build strength, to get back to the point where she could stand on them. Also the bones may have become brittle through disuse. Astronauts have run into this, that’s why they can’t stay up there forever. And so I got to thinking, ‘But if you were on the moon, where you had very little gravity, you

Mark Wheatley at the fall 2005 Baltimore Comic Con.

could slowly build up to it.’ And then from that point, it was like, ‘Oh, cool, then if they went to

Painted and penciled by Mark Wheatley and inked by Marc Hempel, this image was the “money shot” that graced the cover of the presentation that sold MARS as a series to publisher First Comics. At the time almost everyone at First and even Mark and Marc were surprised that the original presentation image survived the development process to end up as the cover for the first issue of MARS. MARS TM & © 2006 Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel.

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Zack Smith

In 1975 and 1976, Marvel published seven issues of a black-and-white magazine called Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. While the magazine was short-lived, it was a true labor of love, featuring adaptations of SF and fantasy authors of all eras, interviews with SF’s best writers, reprints of rarely seen stories by some of comics’ top creators, and early Marvel work by future comics superstars. Looking at the lineup from Unknown Worlds’ brief run is like a who’s who of great names from the Bronze Age: Neal Adams, Frank Brunner, Gene Colan, Howard Chaykin, Archie Goodwin, Michael William Kaluta, Denny O’Neil, Alex Niño, and Wally Wood, just to name a few. Famed SF artists such as Frank Kelly Freas and Michael Whelan contributed covers, while the authors adapted ranged from Golden Age favorites such as Alfred Bester and A.E. Van Vogt to “New Wave” writers such as Michael Moorcock and Harlan Ellison. A true labor of love, Unknown Worlds was a book for and by true science-fiction fans... and, unfortunately, never caught on. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Still, it made a definite impression on its readers. One of these readers was Allen Steele, who would go on to become an acclaimed SF author and winner of two Hugo Awards. Steele still has his issues of the magazine, which he says he keeps filed with his SF magazine collection, rather than his comic collection. “Until Unknown Worlds came out, all comics seemed like SF to me,” Steele says. “What was different about Unknown Worlds was that it didn’t have super-heroes and super-villains, but

Alex Niño’s rendition of the Ticktockman, commissioned at the 2003 San Diego Comic-Con. All artwork in this article was submitted by Zack Smith.

instead adaptations of then-current SF stories. I’d already seen the Ballantine reprints of the old E.C. comics adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s stories, but somehow those seemed old-hat to someone growing up in the ’60s and ’70s. The Ellison, Moorcock, and Niven stories were still fairly new, though—the paperback anthologies that contained the originals were still available in bookstores. “So there was a real sense that you weren’t reading just another comic book, but rather a sciencefiction magazine that happened to be done in graphic form.” Unknown Worlds even helped Steele to discover several major SF writers after reading the interviews featured in the magazine. “I sought out Frank Herbert’s Dune after reading the interview with him in one issue, and went

into a serious Larry Niven binge after reading both his interview and the adaptation of ‘All the Myriad Ways,’” Steele says. “Those interviews are the major reason why I keep my old issues of UW filed with my SF magazines

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rather than with my comic collection.”

named “Sandson O. Tyme,” who enticed customers

The magazine was masterminded by Roy Thomas, already an acclaimed comics writer and

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with slow glass images of the issue’s stories. “Working with Gene was a pleasure,” Isabella

editor, and a lifelong fan of SF. “I was practically

recalls. “He put so much emotion into the faces and

a charter member of the Science Fiction Book

body language of characters that a writer could

Club!” Thomas said.

‘imagine’ what the characters were saying and thinking.

At first, the magazine was attempted as a standard-

My main challenge in adapting Bob Shaw’s classic

sized color comic called Worlds Unknown, which

story was trying to make my adaptation worthy of it.

mainly featured adaptations of, among other stories,

Shaw wrote me to tell me how pleased he was with

A.E. Van Vogt’s “Black Destroyer” and Harry Bates’

it, but I think Gene made me look good.”

“Farewell to the Master.” In his introduction to

While no Bradbury adaptations appeared in

issue #1 of Unknown Worlds, Thomas recalled how

Unknown Worlds, the magazine did try to tie some of

the creators felt frustrated by the lack of room in

its adaptations into authors interviewed in a particular

the color comic, and wanted to do something that

issue. Thus, Alfred Bester was interviewed by Denny

focused on a larger scope of stories.

O’Neil in issue #2, who also scripted an adaptation of

Originally, the plan

Bester’s “Adam and No Eve.” A Frank Herbert

was to use Ray Bradbury’s

adaptation appeared along with an interview in #3,

Illustrated Man as a framing

#4 featured an A.E. Van Vogt interview along with an

sequence for the book,

adaptation of “The Enchanted Village,” and Larry

with one Bradbury story

Niven was interviewed alongside an adaptation of

being adapted per issue.

“All the Myriad Ways” in #5.

When this didn’t work

Along with the first part of an adaptation of John

out, Gerry Conway, who

Wyndham’s “The Day of the Triffids,” the framing

published

sequence and the Shaw adaptation were the only

books in the 1970s,

several

original comics in the first issue. The remaining part of

came up with the idea

the magazine was made up of reprints from fanzines,

of using Bob Shaw’s

featuring an A-list group of talents. The reprints

“Slow Glass” concept

consisted of Neal Adams’ thought-provoking anti-

from his story “Light of

Vietnam story “A View from Without”; Wally Wood

Other Days.”

The

and Al Williamson’s “Savage World!”; Michael Kaluta’s

story dealt with a kind

“Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me A...”; and Frank

through

Brunner’s pulp SF parody “Smash Gordon,” which,

which light traveled

glass

Thomas said in the first issue, was a parody of the

slowly, meaning that

kind of SF Unknown Worlds intended not to publish.

the images shown in

Using the reprints gave Unknown Worlds two

it would be from the

advantages. First, it did not have to rely on reprints

past. Why not use

from older Marvel SF comics to fill out space when

slow

from

an issue came up short. In addition, it gave Marvel

other times and other worlds, with the issue’s stories

fans the opportunity to read rarely seen works by

playing out in each piece?

some of the biggest talents in comics.

glass

Thomas liked the idea, and the team of Tony

“They were things that I had seen around, and I

Isabella, Gene Colan, and Tom Palmer brought the

thought, ‘Well, we could have some very nice stuff

idea to life in the framing sequence for the issue,

some by some nice artists,’” Thomas said.

which also featured a “Light of Other Days” adaptation

In addition, the first issue featured interviews with

by Isabella, Colan, and Mike Esposito. In each issue,

Ray Bradbury and Frank Kelly Freas. Freas did the

readers were taken into the shop of the improbably

cover for the first issue, showing a young couple

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ntributions ns, and art co Feature, captio eod by Bob McL

I guess most people would think something this rough [John Buscema’s splash-page breakdowns from Nova #22 (1979)] couldn’t be inked, but really, all the essential drawing is there. Tom Palmer was the regular inker on the book. Josef Rubinstein and I each inked half, both of us trying to ink like Palmer. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

“Rough Stuff” is a very apt name for what I was often assigned to

Milgrom, Ross Andru, Don Heck, Bob Brown, Carmine Infantino,

ink back in the ’70s and ’80s. Unlike so many of today’s pencilers,

Mike Vosburg, Frank Miller, George Pérez, Rich Buckler, John Romita,

who usually draw in every feathering line, strand of hair, and

Jr., Mark Texeira, or Bill Sienkiewicz. While they were all very good

lighting indication, in the good old days of the ’70s most of that

artists, even fan-favorite artists, most of today’s pencilers would never

was usually left up to the inker. It was considered the penciler’s job

dare turn in work as sketchy as theirs was back then. These pencilers

to lay out the panels, compose the scene, and loosely draw the

expected the inker to bring a lot of style and drawing ability to the

figures and backgrounds. How much other detail he added was up

table, along with the good brush and pen control every inker needs.

to him, but it was considered the inker’s job to lay down the exact

As Bill Sienkiewicz once said to me, speaking about his rough,

line needed and to add a rendering style and often even to decide

sketchy pencils: “If I have to take the time to clean it up and draw it

where to add black areas and lighting.

exactly the way I want it to look in print, I may as well ink it myself.”

Today, people often joke about inkers being just “tracers.” Inking

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And he was right, of course. Bill was an excellent inker himself, but

is a far more complex affair than that, of course, but there is often a

he figured it was the inker’s job to polish up his rough drawing and

lot of tracing involved in inking today’s tight pencilers. No one in the

make it shine. So many of today’s pencilers pencil the job, then ink

’70s or ’80s could ever accuse an inker of “tracing” when he was

the job on a lightbox with a pencil, leaving the inker little to do but

inking true “rough stuff” artists like Val Mayerick, Billy Graham, Al

try his best to reproduce the same sweeping pencil lines in ink.

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This Frank Miller job [Spectacular Spider-Man #27 (1979)] was inked by Frank Springer, and I really wish I could have inked it. Miller was really starting to develop here and there’s a lot of potential inking fun. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Some pencilers, like the young Frank Miller I inked (on his first

pencils on Action Comics were breakdowns. Breakdowns were

two jobs at Marvel), hadn’t yet developed a finished style. He didn’t

always my favorite work. As an inker, there was nothing quite like

really “do” inking at first, so I had a great time taking his raw,

getting John Buscema breakdowns in the mail. His breakdowns

undeveloped pencils and adding lighting and rendering of my own

were notoriously loose; just broken-line sketches. What a thrilling

choosing to finish the jobs up. This is in no way meant as an insult to

challenge to have his marvelous dynamic layouts with which to do

Frank, either. Everyone at Marvel was very excited by Frank’s first

whatever you wanted to take them to the finish line. I have several

penciling jobs, and I was thrilled at the chance to add my inks to his

examples of his breakdowns before and after inks on my web site at

dramatic pencils. He, in turn, was appreciative of my ability to take

http://www.bobmcleod.com/befaft.html.

his drawing and add the finish he hadn’t yet learned how to do. My

Over my career, I made Xerox copies of the pencils and inks of

jobs with Frank, and most other comics from that period, were a true

most of my jobs, for several reasons. It’s helpful to have a copy of

collaboration between penciler and inker, creating artwork wholly

the pencils to refer to while inking, because pencils can get

different and usually better than either artist could have done alone.

smudged and erased, and inadvertently changed during inking.

There is also the matter of “breakdowns,” where the pencil artist

Pages have also occasionally been lost or damaged in the mail, and

just supplies a rough layout, with no blacks or lighting or rendering,

copies can prevent the need to re-do an entire job. And it’s also just

and the inker finishes the drawing and inks it. Does anyone even do

nice to have a record of past work. I’m happy to

breakdowns anymore? I was lucky enough to ink breakdowns over

have this chance to share with you some of the

John and Sal Buscema, Ron Frenz, George Pérez, Jim Starlin, Mike

pencils I’ve saved by so many fine pencilers over the

Zeck, Rich Buckler, and Mike Golden. I also penciled breakdowns for

years. I hope you enjoy them. – Bob McLeod

my idol Tom Palmer to ink on Star Wars, and most of my Superman

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John

IRON MAN #117 cover (1978): JOHN ROMITA, JR. / BOB McLEOD This was about as tight as JRJR’s pencils got; more like semi-breakdowns. Most inkers just did ellipses freehand back then, and so did I.

Riding into Comics Future:

Dan Johnson

Jonah Hex was one of the last great holdouts from a

issue of Jonah Hex was published (issue #92, cover-

time when mainstream comic books weren’t just

dated Aug. 1985), the book had been demoted to a

about super-heroes. The character was one of DC

bimonthly status. Fleisher estimated in the letter

Comics’ most popular and successful Western stars

pages of Hex that the Western book might have lasted

and one of the company’s first anti-heroes whose

only another year, maybe two, when the decision

gritty stories often read like comic-book adaptations

was made to try something new and different.

of a Sam Peckinpah film. Jonah Hex’s longevity was

According to accounts Fleisher shared with readers in Hex #2, inspiration hit him when

owed largely to writer Michael Fleisher. Even though Fleisher didn’t create the

Ed Hannigan came into the DC

character, he was responsible for filling in

offices with the Hex logo that he

much of Hex’s backstory and he gave the

had designed and hand painted in

series much of its intensity and emotional

violet and pink. Fleisher didn’t

depth. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE

think it would be of much use for

#12’s interview with Tony DeZuniga for

Jonah Hex, but then a thought hit

the story of Jonah Hex’s beginnings.]

him. What if Hex was taken from the Wild West and transported to

other gunslinger in DC’s stables, but by

the war-torn future? The result was

1985 it looked like he was ready to ride

the monthly series Hex; its first issue

off into the sunset. By the time the final 6 2

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was cover-dated Sept. 1985.

Texeira’s Clint Eastwood-esque interpretation of Hex. In a response to a letter that had been written by

risk. Under the hand of Fleisher, though, who had over

T.M. Maple, and published in Hex #5, Fleisher addressed

ten years experience writing the character already, it

the main reason for the jarring change in Hex’s setting.

paid off. Fleisher changed Jonah’s surroundings, but

“[The] decision to catapult the scar-faced gunslinger into

he didn’t alter what worked

the post-holocaust world of Hex was a creative decision

about the character. No matter

and not a business decision,” wrote Fleisher. He went on

where you go, there are always

to explain that the business heads at DC had asked that

going to be bad men who do

he create a totally different character and let him be the

bad things. Sometimes the

one to go have adventures in the 21st century. DC felt

only person who can deal

that new readers would be more readily accepting of

with them is an even badder

a new character in that situation than one who had

man. With the world having

been around for as long as Jonah had. “Graciously,

gone to hell in a hand basket,

however, DC left the final decision to me,” continued

there were more owlhoots

Fleisher in the same response. “And it was my feeling

and desperados than ever

(judgment) that transplanting Jonah Hex—always a

that needed to be taught a

powerful character—into a nuclear-devastated future

lesson. The fact that they

would give the series a depth and meaning impossible

were packing lasers and

to attain in any other way. If the idea succeeds, I

riding motorcycles instead

deserve full credit for it. If it fails, I’ll take the blame.”

of slinging six-shooters and

The initial penciler on Hex, Mark Texeira, helped

riding horses made “no

to keep the flavor of the old West in the way he drew

never-mind” to Hex. Hex was not sent to

Jonah, basing his interpretation of him on Western star Clint Eastwood. Even though Texeira was credit-

the

Comics

Code

ed with helping to create the look of Hex’s new

Authority for approval,

world and the characters who inhabited it, Fleisher

duplicating a move DC had earlier made by not

called the shots. “I started Hex with Michael,” recalls

submitting Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing to

Texeira. “He clearly had his vision, and it wasn’t my

the “standards” board. Without the Code and with

vision. With Mike, it had to be his vision.” “[Fleisher]

Fleisher’s active imagination, the sky was the limit for

was generous, always interested in your input, but he

Hex. “[DC] sort of left us to our own mini-universe,”

certainly had set ideas about the way comic books

recalls Texeira. “As long as the deadlines were met,

should be done,” says Keith Giffen, who penciled the

they left us alone.” Jonah spent 18 issues looking for

last four issues of Hex, echoing Texeira’s sentiment.

a way back to his own time. In those issues, Fleisher

Changing Hex from a bounty hunter in the 1870s

introduced such characters as Reinhold Borsten, a

to an adventurer in the mid-21st century was a huge

time-traveling dictator who had brought Hex to the

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Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart “Kirby is coming!” It was splashed across ads in DC comics in the early ’70s. It was the biggest thing to hit the ever-shrinking comics world since the Batman TV series. Jack Kirby, a (the?) mainstay of Marvel Comics and the erstwhile partner of Stan “the Man” Lee, was leaving the company he’d help lift to popularity with his sheer talent and going to Marvel’s greatest rival, DC Comics. Worlds shook that day. Jack Kirby was an idea machine... no, an idea fountain. His New Gods series burst with new ideas, concepts, and characters so rich that DC continues to mine them to this day. Jack came to DC to change the world of comics for good. When people told him the industry was dying, Jack didn’t know what they were talking about. How can an industry with so much untapped potential be dying? What the industry needed was not more foot draggers slowing things down, but people with vision, who could imagine a world of new formats, genres new and neglected, markets overlooked, and talent that was raring to go. Jack Kirby felt he had that vision. Jack proposed magazines. He proposed hardcover books to be sold in bookstores. He saw a universe of fresh creations that could save comics and save DC. Kirby would be the idea man and editor, seeding the new books then passing them off to handpicked talent to carry them forward. DC, though, wanted Kirby, not Kirby as editor of a line of Kirby creations turned out by other people. DC wanted one big, wet, sloppy hit of a book that publisher Carmine Infantino could point out to the new bosses at Warner’s and say, “See, I told you I could do it! I can save this company!” Kirby had come at the right time, when DC was casting about, ready to try anything that looked good at the moment. Kirby had come at the wrong time, when DC

The King’s pencils to an alternate version of the cover for Kamandi #1, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector (TJKC).

would try anything... but not long enough to make it work. DC wanted to change, but was too rooted in the “We’re the oldest, biggest company out there” mantra to make the changes that were necessary, and too insecure to push reluctant distributors to try a format they self-fulfillingly declared dying—dead. DC half-heartedly put out a couple of Jack’s magazine ideas, and gave a parental “We’ll see” to the rest. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #10 for more details on DC’s black-and-white magazines of the 1970s.]

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A format change had undercut sales just as Kirby and DC were launching its new books. Remember the •

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25-cent comics (new lead stories fleshed out by

In the late 1950s Kirby produced this and a few other pencil samples for his proposed but unreleased newspaper strip Kamandi of the Caves. Courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector.

this was to be the basis of his new book, originally

reprints)? We love picking up these issues now at the

planned to be titled Kamandi of Earth. By the time

cons for way too much money, but they were a

Jack had finished spinning the story of his new

disaster for DC. Marvel briefly matched DC’s 25-cent

comic, the only thing that remained was the boy

price, then cut back to 20 cents while DC maintained

named Kamandi. And the occasional cave.

its price. Marvel took the lead in sales and didn’t

This may not have been Jack’s regular sort of

look back. Rumors flew: DC was to be sold, DC was

thing, but Jack was going to do the best he could

closing, DC was firing everyone and going to all

with it. It was a challenge, to take an “end of the

reprints. In this siege of despairing gossip, Infantino

world... foolish mankind destroyed themselves”-type

cast around for something popular with the audience,

of premise and try to find some of the Kirby optimism

something that could be “that hit” he was looking

in it. Kirby’s stories were all about optimism, about

for, and found Planet of the Apes. He called Jack in

hope. Even New Gods was about hope. What is New

Thousand Oaks, California. Could Jack Kirby do a Planet of the Apes-type book, but not so close as to cause trouble with Apes’ 20th Century Fox? “Sure! I can do that!” As Kirby’s one-time assistant Mark Evanier says of Jack: “Jack took great pride in his ability to make anything work. It didn’t matter what the genre: romance, super-heroes, Westerns, funny animal. He would consider it a challenge... I don’t think Jack ever saw Planet of the Apes, but he knew the basic plotline. He wanted to change it enough so fans wouldn’t think he was ripping off the movie, but some said that anyway.” Jack still had the dream of starting a book off and

then, once underway, handing it off to another writer and artist, editing from what would amount to a “DC West.” Evanier was to be the recipient of Kamandi, Kirby’s “Planet of the Apes.” Mark watched

A penciled page from Kamandi #1, courtesy of TJKC.

as Jack pulled out some old samples of a strip Kirby had once thought of submitting to the syndicates back in the 1950s, Kamandi of the Caves. Jack said

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The movie version of Planet of

Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

the Apes hit the screens in 1968 (okay, if you haven’t seen the many Planet of the Apes movies, the TV series, the cartoon show, or the remake, or if you never played with a Dr. Zaius Mego figure in your backyard, DON’T READ ANY FURTHER, because I’m gonna give the whole thing away),

featuring a future Earth, ruined and nearly destroyed by man’s warlike nature. A

Bob Larkin’s original cover painting for Marvel’s Planet of the Apes #17 (1976). Courtesy of Heritage Comics.

planet now ruled by... apes! Talking

APES!

Twentieth

Century Fox managed to get five movies out of what was essentially a one-joke premise (It was Earth! “You

fools, you blew it up, you damn

fools!”)

declining

before

popularity

forced it onto primetime

television

and

Saturday morning for a season,

then

into

reruns. The first Apes comic book was Beneath the Planet of the Apes put out by Gold Key in 1970. They did the one issue based on that one movie, and then dropped the title without wetting their toes with a possible series. Marvel Comics, at this point getting itself into the expanding black-and-white magazine business, picked up the license and did its own Planet of the Apes mag in 1974, only about three years too late to catch the crest of the popularity of the movies. The first several issues adapted and expanded upon the movies, with Doug Moench Planet of the Apes TM & © 20th Century Fox.

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scripting and George Tuska doing the art on the first film. This was spread over six issues, then issues #7–11 did •

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