Back Issue #23 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

BONUS ADAM HUGHES COLOR ART GALLERY!

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HA PPY 2 0 , SP IDEY & MJ ! TOP SPIDER-MAN FF CREATORS SOUND O ON PETER PARKER’S LOVE LIFE!

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st a t r e kr a writers’ roundtable... & WRITE NOW! crossover!

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MARY JANE TM & © MARVEL. SECRETS OF ISIS TM & © 1976 ENTERTAINMENT RIGHTS PLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FLASH TM & © 2007 DC COMICS. MICKEY MOUSE TM & © DISNEY. STAR TREK TM & © PARAMOUNT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

T H IS IS S U E : C O M IC S G O H O L L Y WO O D !

Volume 1, Number 23 August 2007 Celebrating the Best Com ics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

COVER ARTIST Adam Hughes

PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Twenty Years of Webbed Bliss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 An all-star assemblage of Spider-Man creators—including Stan Lee, Sal Buscema, John Romita, Sr., and Jim Shooter—discuss Peter Parker’s marriage and love life

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving SPECIAL THANKS

Jim Alexander Jim Amash Mark Arnold Roger Ash Joanna Pang Atkins Michael Aushenker Mike W. Barr Cary Bates Russell Bates BCI Eclipse Patrick Bennett Danny Bilson Geoffrey Blum Fletch Bowling Jerry Boyd Bob Burns Sal Buscema John Clark Gerry Conway Raymond A. Cuthbert Brian Cutler Susan Daigle-Leach Peter David Darren G. Davis Fred L. deBoom Tom DeFalco Paul DeMeo Shelton Drum David Dworski Juan Epstein’s Mother Byron Erickson Mark Evanier Lisa Everetts Danny Fingeroth Michael Jan Friedman Grand Comic-Book Database Glenn Greenberg Bob Greenberger David M. Gutierrez P.C. Hamerlinck Dustin Harbin Jack C. Harris Ray Harryhausen Heritage Auction Galleries Gail Hickman Jim Hoff Benjamin Holcomb Jim Hollifield Adam Hughes Tony Isabella Daan Jippes

Dan Johnson Bob Kline Jon B. Knutson Arnold Kunert Henry Lange, Jr. Erik Larsen Gary Leach Stan Lee David Levine Ronalda Douglas Lompardo John Lustig Andy Mangels Scott Martin Marvel Comics Yoram Matzkin Andy McKinney Bob McLeod Darrell McNeil David Michelinie John Francis Moore Richard Morgan Dean Munday Paramount Pictures Martin Pasko John Romita, Sr. Don Rosa Bob Rozakis Rose Rummel-Eury Paul Ryan Jim Salicrup Todd Sawvelle Lou Scheimer John Wesley Shipp Jim Shooter Steve Skeates Anthony Snyder Allison Sohn Steve Stanley Tom Stewart Laurie Sutton William Van Horn J. C. Vaughn Mike Vosburg Walt Disney Productions Warner Bros. John Watson Dean Webb Len Wein Howard Weinstein Todd Wethington David Whittaker Marv Wolfman Eddy Zeno

WHEN TITANS … WED?! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 The super-heroes who tied the knot before Spidey and Mary Jane BACKSTAGE PASS: Lift Me Now So I Can Fly: The Secrets of Isis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Hollywood historian Andy Mangels goes behind the scenes of the ’70s Saturday morning television series FLASHBACK: The Mighty Isis in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Comics historian/Captain Marvel authority P.C. Hamerlinck looks back at the short-lived DC comic book based on the TV show BEYOND CAPES: A Gander at Gladstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Disney comics in the 1980s, with art and quotes from Daan Jippes, Don Rosa, William Van Horn, and other creators BACKSTAGE PASS: The Flash: Racing for Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Star John Wesley Shipp and other contributors recall the one-season Flash TV series ART GALLERY: Adam Hughes Goes Hollywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Eight jaw-dropping pinups of media stars by one of comics’ most popular artists PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Star Trek Writers’ Roundtable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 A crossover with Write Now! #16! Bob Greenberger beams up Barr, David, Friedman, Greenberg, Mangels, Pasko, Sutton, Wein, and Weinstein for Part One of a discussion FLASHBACK: The Christopher Reeve Superman Movie Adaptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Cary Bates and Bob Rozakis remember DC’s Super-movie comics BACKSTAGE PASS: Superman vs. Cyclops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Another find from Bob Burns’ Basement: photos of the 1964 NY World’s Fair exhibit BACK IN PRINT: Ray Harryhausen Presents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 An exclusive interview with the movie stop-motion master on the new line of comics based upon his screen properties WHAT THE--?!: Welcome Back, Kotter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 “Comics Savant” Tom Stewart hits the books with his report on this utterly odd “DC TV Comic” OFF MY CHEST: A Boy and His “Unca” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 Animator Darrell McNeil’s recollection of his relationship with the late Alex Toth BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Reader feedback on issue #21 FREE PREVIEW of WRITE NOW #16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 When you pick-up the second part of our Star Trek Writers’ Roundtable, you’ll also find the complete version of this Todd McFarlane interview! 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. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $40 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $90 Surface International, $108 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Adam Hughes. Mary Jane Watson TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. The Secrets of Isis © 1976 Entertainment Rights plc. The Flash TM & © DC Comics; Flash TV images © Warner Bros. Star Trek TM & © Paramount Pictures. Mickey Mouse TM & © Disney. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2007 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. C o m i c s

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COVER DESIGNER Robert Clark

Marriage isn’t an institution for the timid, especially in today’s world. Most husbands and wives are under terrific stress as they strive to have it all while balancing their careers and their home life. But can you imagine what it must be like to also have to deal with the likes of the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, and the Kingpin on top of everything else? No doubt about it, it’s not easy being Mr. and Mrs. Parker, but Peter and Mary Jane have been making a go of it for an incredible 20 years since tying the knot in 1987 in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. In honor of their anniversary, BACK ISSUE gathered together some of Spider-Man’s most famous creators— Stan Lee, Sal Buscema, Gerry Conway, Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth, Erik Larsen, David Michelinie, John Romita, Sr., Paul Ryan, Jim Salicrup, Jim Shooter, and Marv Wolfman—to examine:

Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: Stan, as the creator of both Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, I was wondering what it was in 1987 that made you realize it was time for these two kids to finally tie the knot. STAN LEE (Spider-Man cocreator): I had always wanted the Spider-Man series to be as realistic as possible. After a few years of Peter and MJ having a romance, their marriage just seemed like the most natural event. It had to happen. JOHNSON: Jim Shooter, what were your first thoughts when you found out that Stan wanted to have Peter and Mary Jane get married? JIM SHOOTER (Marvel editor-in-chief at the time of the wedding storyline): First of all, that’s not the way it happened. It was my decision. The way that came about is this: Both Stan and I were guests at the Chicago Con the summer before the wedding, 1986 (I think). Stan was supposed to do a one-man panel Q&A, but at the last minute, he asked me if I’d come up onstage with him because he knew that most, if not all, of the questions would be about things going on in the comics, with which he was very out of touch. I was happy to help. We worked pretty well as a team in such situations, with me handling the comics questions and Stan adding color commentary, anecdotes, reminiscences; essentially doing snappy patter and being entertaining, as only he can. Starting in 1979 or 1980, Stan was based at the animation studio in L.A. I don’t remember what his title was, but his job was more or less just being Stan. He served as a creative advisor to the animation people and our face to Hollywood, trying to get film people interested in Marvel properties. Who wouldn’t take Stan’s call? He also wrote the Spider-Man strip, of course. Other than that, he wasn’t in charge of anything. I don’t think anyone reported to him except his secretary. I was EIC [editor-in-chief] and VP of Marvel then, head of creative for everything but the animation studio. I reported to the president, Jim Galton, and on some business affairs and other matters to publisher Mike Hobson, who was mainly in charge of Marvel Books, the children’s book line. As Stan used to say, I was Marvel’s “entire editor.” I used to say I had Stan’s old job. I did, actually, and I was the only one besides Stan ever to hold that lofty position. No one else, before or since, has had exactly the same job with the same authority and clout.

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Technically, even the Spider-Man strip fell under my authority because the “Special Projects” department reported to me. That said, I didn’t mess with the strip at all, ever. Sometimes, when he had a little spare time, Stan would call me up and ask for work! Talk about surreal. I recall an Erik Larsen job that he scripted on one of those occasions. This is not meant to diminish Stan in any way. It’s just that, at that point in his career, he was just not involved in the governance of the properties and uninvolved with publishing except as a writer of the strip, and occasionally a comic book. Technically, the wedding was my call, and Stan respected that, because that’s the kind of guy he is. That said, all technicalities aside, he was still Stan Lee, my mentor, the resident legend/genius, and I would have deferred to him about almost anything. So there we were on this panel and someone asked whether Spider-Man and Mary Jane were ever going to get married. Stan said that it was up to me but that he thought they should. He turned to face me and asked me, extra politely, if they could get married. The audience was screaming. Trapped! Nah. Actually, if Stan thought it was a good idea, I sure didn’t have a problem with it. TOM DeFALCO (former Amazing Spider-Man writer): I guess you could blame the whole marriage thing on Ron Frenz and me. When we were on The Amazing Spider-Man, we proposed a storyline where Peter asks Mary Jane to marry him, she accepts but eventually— in true Spider-Man fashion—leaves him at the altar. Jim Owsley was our editor and took the idea to Jim Shooter, who mentioned it to Stan … who thought the couple really should get married. Shooter agreed and went ahead with the idea after Ron and I were taken off Amazing. At the time, I thought it was a veryyyyyy bad idea. History has proven me wrong. I now think Mary Jane and Peter really work well as a couple and their relationship is one of the cornerstones of my Spider-Girl series. SHOOTER: Tom is mistaken. I never asked Stan about his proposed story. It happened exactly as I said. There were no preliminaries. JOHNSON: It’s still pretty interesting though to hear about what might have been with the Peter and Mary Jane relationship. What else can you tell us about this idea? RON FRENZ (former Amazing Spider-Man penciler): One way to look at it is the best way to write a Spider-Man story is to make a list of all the sh*ttiest things that can happen to a human being, then you eliminate all the things that other writers have already done, and what is left are some story ideas. Certainly being left at the altar is the hugely sh*ttiest thing that can happen to a human being.

First Loves No one is as dear to Peter Parker’s heart than his Aunt May; here she’s terrorized by the Green Goblin in a Ron Wilson/Mike Esposito illo for a 1975 British reprint. And Peter’s first crush, Betty Brant, tied the knot in Amazing Spider-Man #156 (May 1976); cover art by John Romita, Sr. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Lift Me Now So I Can Fly

to Hapsethsut, “Oh my Queen,” said the royal sorcerer ts are endowed by “with this amulet you and your descendan ls and the elements. the goddess Isis with the powers of anima with the speed of You will soar as the falcon soars, run sky and the earth.” gazelles, and command the elements of the teacher dug up Three thousand years later, a young science the secrets of Isis. this lost treasure and found she was heir to , Rick Mason And so, unknown to even her closest friends : Andrea Thomas, and Cindy Lee, she became a dual person ender of the weak, teacher, and Isis, dedicated foe of evil, def champion of truth and justice.

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Andy Mangels

By the 1970s, in the fever of women’s liberation, superheroines had still not made a splash on television. Batgirl was a memory in the live-action Batman reruns, and a 1974 Wonder Woman telefilm with the very blonde Cathy Lee Crosby in the title role had been critically lambasted. Although some animated heroines showed up on Saturday morning—say hello to Super Friends’ Wonder Woman—it wasn’t until September 1975 that kids and adults alike could embrace a live-action Saturday morning superheroine of their own in The Secrets of Isis. Dressed in a white sleeveless top and short tennis skirt with Egyptian-themed accoutrements, Isis flew alongside Captain Marvel into both television and superpowered history.

THE ORIGINS OF ISIS

Filmation Studios had begun doing live-action television—a complement to their thriving animated side—in 1974 with Shazam!, a spin-off from the 1940s Captain Marvel character from Fawcett that

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We dig Andrea Thomas! JoAnna Cameron as teacher Andrea Thomas captivated girls, boys, and their dads! All photos in this article are courtesy of Andy Mangels. The Secrets of Isis © 1976 Entertainment Rights plc.

was then published by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics). The series was extremely popular, and executive producers and Filmation co-founders Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott wanted to build a companion piece for it in season two. “It was easy for me to come up with wanting to do a show that involved a heroine,” says Lou Scheimer today. “I was surrounded by females at my house with my daughter, Erika, and my wife, Jay. I had thought about this for a long time. You’ve got to think about doing shows that relate to girls, too. I went to Fred Silverman at CBS and said, ‘I’d like to do a live companion show to Shazam!,’ and they put it together as The Shazam!/Isis Hour.” What Filmation needed now was a concept, which is where writer Marc Richards came in. Richards had been writing animated series for Filmation for some time, and in 1975, he created the concepts for both The Secrets of Isis and a liveaction spook-chasing series called The Ghost Busters. “I can’t talk about Isis without talking about Mark Richards,” Scheimer says. “The man was phenomenally gifted. He was the fastest writer we ever had. He was incredible. He could do a half-hour show in a day, and they would be good half-hour shows. He was doing comedy stuff all the time, and I was wondering how he could work on developing a live-action adventure show. And he came up with the concept of doing it as an archaeologist, a teacher who was on an archaeological trip, digging up an ancient Egyptian piece of jewelry that gave her all sorts of powers. I went back to CBS, showed them what we had done, as well as a bunch of drawings—almost like the stuff we used in the main title—and they bought it.” Richards, who passed away in late 2006, was apparently a fan of Egyptology, but although he worked in Andrea Thomas as a schoolteacher into the presentation for CBS, Isis was originally going to be a very different kind of super-hero series. Richards wrote the original bible for the series, but when he moved over to write the complete series of The Ghost Busters, other Filmation writers took over, including Russell Bates, who had been a co-writer of the Emmy-winning Star Trek episode for Filmation that year. “I was apprised by D. C. Fontana, who had spoken with Marc Richards and Arthur Nadel at Filmation, that I should be given my shot at the new series, Isis,” Bates says. “I was sent the bible and descriptive materials and, over the next three days, conceived three stories: ‘The Lights of Mystery Mountain,’ ‘Two Eyes, Two Serpents’ (which was rich enough to become a two-part episode complete with midway cliffhanger), and ‘Wilderness Trek.’ These went to Filmation and within two weeks, they bought all three. With those amounts in hand, I moved myself to LA and was able to go directly to the studio for any assignments.”

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Even with a jump-start from Captain Marvel, zephyr winds still couldn’t whisk Isis away from cancellation doom. Like the TV series it was based on, the comic book soon became a relic of ’70s pop culture.

TV TO COMICS

Hoping to repeat the success of the live-action Shazam! TV show, Filmation developed a similar program that could tie in with Shazam!—but instead feature a female lead character to captivate young girls (and adolescent boys as well, just as teen idol Michael Gray had attracted adolescent girls to Shazam!). Filmation created Isis (perhaps inadvertently) as a hybrid between Captain Marvel and another magical Fawcett hero from the Golden Age of comics: Ibis the Invincible. But other than playing back-to-back with Cap on The Shazam!/Isis Hour and appearing in a few crossover episodes, her connection to the World’s Mightiest Mortal was fairly sparse. High school teacher Andrea Thomas gained her Isis powers from an amulet necklace that once belonged to the lone female Pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut, and which was made by an ancient Egyptian wizard (it was only hinted that the wizard was Shazam). Isis, portrayed on TV by JoAnna Cameron, who donned a costume in what the actress herself once described to me as a “very nonEgyptian, white miniskirted tennis outfit,” had soon captured even a greater audience than Shazam! (While Cameron expressed absolutely no admiration for Filmation executives, she still “loved playing the role of a super-hero.”) Meanwhile, back at DC, the struggling Shazam! comic book had already succumbed to an all-reprint status and quarterly frequency. When Carmine

Woman of Steel Original cover art to Isis’ first DC appearance, Shazam! #25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), signed by a terrific trio: its artist, Kurt Schaffenberger; “Isis” herself, JoAnna Cameron; and TV Captain Marvel Jackson Bostwick. From the collection of Fred L. deBoom. The Secrets of Isis © 1976 Entertainment Rights plc. All Rights Reserved. Shazam! © 2007 DC Comics.

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Infantino had been replaced by the more mediasavvy Jenette Kahn as DC’s publisher, she took immediate steps to capitalize on the popularity of TV’s Shazam!/Isis Hour. Under a licensing agreement with Filmation, Kahn set forth to establish Isis as a DC hero. Denny O’Neil wrote an 11-page introductory tale, “Isis … As in Crisis!,” appearing in Shazam! #25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), launched with a dramatic Isis/Captain Marvel front cover by the incomparable Kurt Schaffenberger and accompanied by fine story art by Dick Giordano (the latter of which only suffered from stiff C. C. Beck swipes for the Big Red Cheese’s cameo in the story). The Isis solo comic would begin the following month, and both titles (along with Super Friends and Welcome Back, Kotter comic books) fell under the new “DC TV Comic” banner. Shazam! had tucked away the reprints (for the time being) and took off in an Open Road motor home as writer E. Nelson Bridwell masterfully merged elements of the TV show into the comic-book scripts. But the marriage of media would prove tumultuous for the Egyptian goddess super-hero.

ISIS #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1976)

The debut issue of Isis showed a great deal of promise, but the artwork was to be the issue’s only saving grace with another stunning Schaffenberger cover and interior art by Ric Estrada—gorgeously inked by the one and only Wally Wood. But O’Neil, known for having injected “realism” into comics, was seemingly ill-suited to write specifically for the younger crowd (as had been the case with him previously on Shazam!). Attempting to mesh components of the TV series with fantastic, super-villain storylines proved awkward, not only to faithful DC readers, but also to the (apparently) few and quickly alienated individuals who had simply picked up the comic because they happened to enjoy Isis on TV. “Scarab—The Man Who Would Destroy” merely set

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Roger Ash

By 1985, Disney comics had been missing from American comic racks for six years. Their publisher, Western/Whitman, gave up the Disney license. No longer was there an inexpensive way for fans of Disney comics to read adventures of their favorite characters, such as Donald Duck stories by the legendary Duck Man, Carl Barks. Barks created Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, Flintheart Glomgold, and many others, and established the basis for the Disney Duck universe that is still in place to this day. Enter Gladstone Comics. Gladstone was the brainchild of Bruce Hamilton. “Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran’s first Disney license was for The Fine Art of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck, a lavish coffee-table book that featured all of Carl Barks’ Disney-themed oil paintings that had been produced up to that time (1980),” says John Clark, associate editor at Gladstone and current editorin-chief of Gemstone’s Disney comics. “Disney was so impressed with that book that Hamilton and Cochran were able to get a license to produce a series of lithographs based upon oil paintings newly commissioned from Barks.” Their company, called Another Rainbow, also published The Carl Barks Library, a set of 30 oversized hardcovers in ten slipcases that featured the complete Disney stories by Carl Barks, along with essays on Barks and the comics themselves. It was from the people at Another Rainbow that Hamilton brought together the team for Gladstone, including editorin-chief Byron Erickson and associate editors John Clark and Geoffrey Blum. “On a visit to Disney in Burbank, Bruce Hamilton found out that Western Publishing (who had licensed the rights to publish Disney comics for almost 50 years) was giving up their license—their comics weren’t profitable anymore,” relates Erickson. “Bruce figured that a small company with a low overhead could succeed where Western had failed, so he immediately started putting together

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From Heritage Auctions hails this Daan Jippes-sketched prelim for the cover to Uncle Scrooge #223 (Nov. 1987). Note Jippes’ changes to Scrooge’s facial expressions in the published version.

a proposal to apply for the license, although the Disney executive in charge of Another Rainbow’s account—a nice man named Wayne Morris—didn’t think we had a chance. To make a long story short, Bruce’s eventual proposal was accepted (although that might be because none of the other comics publishers were sufficiently interested) and Another Rainbow was given a three-year license.” The name “Gladstone” was chosen as the publisher’s name because of the character Gladstone Gander’s legendary good luck. The Gladstone books reprinted classic Duck stories by Carl Barks; Donald Duck newspaper strips by Al Taliaferro; Floyd Gottfredson and Paul Murray Mickey Mouse stories; and, for the first time in America, many stories produced for the European market by artists including Daan Jippes, Freddy Milton, and Romano Scarpa. Gladstone’s titles included Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, DuckTales, Mickey and Donald, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, and others. The job of selecting which European stories to run fell to Erickson. “I chose, at first, what was recommended by knowledgeable fans (the Dutch Jippes stories, for example),” Erickson says, “but mostly it was a matter of going through the various foreign magazines we started receiving and ordering proofs of stories that looked good (I couldn’t read them, mind you, so my orders were based just on looking at the pictures). It was always interesting to read the rudimentary

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English dialogue that eventually came with the proofs. Man! Some stories were not at all what I expected. Many stories could be used with just minor adjustments to the dialogue. Others needed to be extensively rewritten to add character or humor. And in some cases, we wrote a completely new story to go with the artwork because the original story was stupid beyond belief!” Erickson also scripted some of the European stories, as did Geoffrey Blum. According to Blum, the English dialogue they were sent wasn’t translations: “The impression I had was that the stories were written in English, that serving as a lingua franca among the various European publishers who then hired their own translators to cast the comics they selected into their particular language and idiom. At the time of Gladstone One, I was told that many of the scripts were cranked out by moonlighting BBC hacks trying to scratch up an extra shilling. Since the writers knew the stories were not going to see print in English, they took no special care to polish their dialogue.” In addition to standard comics, Gladstone also launched a popular line of albums that featured oversized reprints of classic stories. They also had a line of digests that didn’t fare so well. “When we began production of the digests, we learned from our distributor that Archie [Comics] had sewn up all of the digest pockets for comics at supermarkets and drug stores, and that we would fail with digests if we couldn’t get into those locations,” says John Clark. “Bruce struck a deal with Archie to co-distribute the first of our digests, Uncle Scrooge Goes to Disneyland and Disneyland Birthday Party (both 1985), and those were successful, but subsequent titles that Archie was not involved with did poorly. And that seems to be the case to this day. Exactly why that is, I don’t know. Perhaps because the books get ‘lost’ to consumers if they’re not right there in your face, and the direct market has never been big for digests.” If there was a “look” to the early Gladstone comics, one could argue that Daan Jippes provided it, as he did most of covers for the first two years of Gladstone’s existence. “At the time of Gladstone’s start with the Disney comics, I was employed at the Walt Disney Consumer Products Division in Burbank, at Publications, under Greg Crosby,” recalls Jippes. “I had met with Bruce Hamilton earlier on. On the occasion of one of Bruce’s visits to the Studios, he proposed I should give it a shot, doing Gladstone’s covers.” Erickson says that Jippes was a perfect choice for Gladstone’s cover artist because “he’s the world’s best Disney standard character artist.” Jippes received the cover orders from Erickson for either a gag cover or a story-specific cover, but the details were left up to him. “The gags were 99% mine. The same goes for the ideas behind the story-related covers.” Besides having a style of his own, Jippes was also adept at aping the styles of Barks, Gottfredson, and Walt Kelly: “If a given cover acquired a Barks- or Gottfredsonflavor, that was always dictated by the style of the artist of the story inside the comic,” says Jippes.

D av id G u t ie rre z

On September 20, 1990, the “Fastest Man Alive” hit the airwaves, introducing millions of viewers to DC Comics’ Scarlet Speedster, the Flash. Brought to life by producers Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, CBS-TV’s The Flash broke new ground in special effects and became one the earliest in a wave of series based on comic-book heroes that took its four-color roots seriously.

BURTON PAVES THE WAY

In 1989, the planet shook when Batman made silverscreen history. Finally leaving behind its kitschy reputation from the Adam West Batman TV series of the ’60s, director Tim Burton’s Batman was a comic movie done right. Hollywood realized that comics were readymade franchises and greenlit a handful of shows based on comic properties. Among those was The Flash. Having adapted The Rocketeer for Disney, Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo wrote an original pilot for CBS called Unlimited Powers (detailed in BACK ISSUE #19), which featured an aged Flash forced into retirement. Considered by Bilson to be the best thing he and DeMeo have ever written, it never came to be—but it did give CBS an inkling of what could be. The production pair took great care to keep The Flash close to its comic-book roots. Firstly, they wanted to keep the Flash’s alter ego and origin identical to the Silver Age version of the super-hero. At the time of production, the speedster mantle in comics was assumed by one-time Kid Flash Wally West, the third man to wear the lightning and first sidekick to take the role of his mentor. Bilson and DeMeo wanted to keep things classic and decided to use as the Flash police scientist Barry Allen, the Silver Age version of the character that premiered in Showcase #4 (Sept.–Oct. 1956). “We thought that [Golden Age Flash] Jay Garrick and his costume wouldn’t work too well on television in 1990,” explains Bilson. “The [character’s] helmet, the shirt, and exposed face would have been difficult. And we would have had to have set it in the ’40s.” According to DeMeo, “We had to use a Flash that, at least visually, was the most familiar to our current audience, whether it was Barry or Wally.” Another key characteristic of Allen’s was his police background. The series’ creators decided it was an element they could capitalize upon to open up story possibilities. Allen’s scientific know-how would play a key role in the pilot and in later episodes. The police department, Allen’s lab assistant, his parents, and his brother were all created and fleshed out by Bilson, DeMeo, and the writing staff. Iris West, Allen’s longtime girlfriend—and later, wife—made it to the pilot, albeit in a very different form. Iris’ reporting background was jettisoned in favor of an artistic one. Bilson attributes the shift to wanting to make her different from another famous reporter: “I think we wanted to get away from another Lois Lane. We didn’t need another franchise to drive crime stories.” West’s character would never move

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Meet the Fastest Man Alive Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, debuted in Showcase #4 (Sept.–Oct. 1956). Although dead in DC Comics’ continuity by the time The Flash was developed for television in 1990, Allen was “resurrected” and wonderfully portrayed by John Wesley Shipp on CBS. The Flash and Showcase TM & © 2007 DC Comics.

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(above) Part of the Central City exterior sets, on the Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood. (right) John Wesley Shipp, star of The Flash. All photos in this article are courtesy of Andy Mangels. © 2007 Warner Bros. Television.

beyond the pilot in order to keep Barry available for other possible love interests, namely another scientist. Not to be left out, some of Wally West’s Flash comicbook elements would make it into the television series— most noticeably, the main female role of Tina McGee of S.T.A.R. Labs. Linda Park, Wally West’s own reporter girlfriend and future wife, made a cameo appearance. Luckily, what set West’s early comic-book adventures apart from his forebears made it to the series: “We took his eating [large amounts of food] to regenerate his energy,” notes DeMeo. “We thought it would fun to play with that.” They also chose to include the powered-down abilities from writer Mike Baron’s Flash issues, keeping the speedster maxing out at breaking the sound barrier. DC Comics, which owns the Flash, had a very good relationship with the show. “[DC] certainly had a say in how [the Flash] looked and was protective of its property,” says DeMeo. “They wanted the same things Danny and I did, to make a reasonably faithful version of the character that wasn’t treated condescendingly like other super-hero shows had done. We came from a place of love and affection. We wanted to do this right, not some slapdash, cheap-o version.” Bilson adds, “They were very supportive all the time, very helpful, and never had any problems with anything.” The comic company never mandated any storylines. “We did our own stories. It was better that way,” remembers DeMeo. “We did our own versions of things. Certainly, [DC] had done the Rogues’ Gallery villains before, but we never took any stories [directly from the comics].” DC Comics set itself apart from other comic-book companies early on by making the cities protected by its heroes characters in their own right. The Flash show would take the same stance. Barry Allen’s home of Central City evolved into a patchwork of eras. Men in suits and hats from pre-World War II were seen alongside the colorful (and now odd) fashions of the 1990s. A reporter using an old radio microphone would

compete alongside a reporter with a video camera. Old gangsters would convene in neon bars with sci-fi-armed hitmen. Central City was one of a kind. Partly influenced by Anton Furst’s design work in Batman, the city of the Flash included avenues familiarly named Garrick, Fox, and Broome, and even a hotel named after Silver Age Flash artist Carmine Infantino.

BRINGING THE FLASH TO LIFE

Cameras rolled in the summer of 1990. The Flash was made flesh by up-and-coming actor John Wesley Shipp. “I didn’t know anything about comic books and very little about super-heroes when I took the role of the Flash,” reminisces Shipp. “I just looked at it as a character. You have Barry Allen with a difficult relationship with his father—the unblessed child syndrome— who suddenly has super-human powers that he can’t tell anybody about.” Like other actors who have assumed iconic roles, Shipp described feeling “fear and trepidation” over accepting the part. He explains, “Because of [super-hero adaptations] done before—the send-ups, spoofs, the cheap productions—I was afraid of the baggage that might come along with it.” Still, Shipp was won over with the script. “I loved the whole thing about the superpowers, when it started happening, how it freaked [the Flash] out. Of course, I loved the comic elements. The fact that underneath that it’s not ‘Hugh Hollywood Hero’ who discovers he has this wonderful thing and he’s going to go about saving the world. He says, ‘I want to get rid of these C o m i c s

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Superman ÂŠ 2007 DC Comics.

Gold Key boldly went nowhere any comics publisher had gone before when they debuted their comic-book adaptation of Star Trek in the summer of 1967, right after the science-fiction series completed its first season on NBC. Ever since, with varying degrees of fidelity and commercial success, Star Trek has usually been found on the racks. Star Trek has remained a viable license for Gold Key, Marvel, Malibu, DC, WildStorm, and now IDW because it has a devoted following among fans who also read comic books. When Marvel Comics acquired the license timed to the first feature film’s release in 1979, they were hampered by restrictions limiting them to only what was seen in the movie and little else. Additionally, they never had a stable creative team, making the title feel inconsistent. DC, at Marv Wolfman’s urging, took the plunge in 1983, based on the box-office success of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. They published the title for many years, and that run saw the first hardcover graphic novel, Debt of Honor, and the beginning of trade collections of the best storylines. After DC lost the license, Trek moved to WildStorm, then back to Marvel for a much more successful and satisfying second round, and then it faded away. Even though there is no current television series called Star Trek on the air, interest remains high. Checker Books has been reprinting the Gold Key run while Titan Books has been repackaging the early DC Comics material. IDW, in January 2007, began new adventures and on Christmas Day 2008, a new feature film, rebooting the franchise, is expected from Paramount Pictures. To acknowledge the past and present, BACK ISSUE and WRITE NOW! decided to query a handful of the comic-book scribes who have handled the property. The roundtable discussion was conducted entirely by email between October and December 2006 and proved lively and engaging. —Robert Greenberger

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Feed me, Seymour! You’ll find nary a phaser, uniform insignia, or celebrity likeness to I.D. painter George Wilson’s otherwise fabulously rendered image as a Star Trek cover, but it is indeed just that, from Gold Key’s Star Trek #29 (Mar. 1975). The action depicts the Enterprise crew’s struggles on “The Planet of No Return” (interior story title), in a reprinting of the very first ST comic-book tale from issue #1 (July 1967). Original cover painting courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com); unless otherwise noted, all art in this article comes from Heritage. Star Trek TM & © 2007 Paramount Pictures.

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a quick introduction to the dramatis personae:

mike w. barr

Mike was a long-time DC Comics writer and short-time DC Comics editor with twin passions for Star Trek and mystery fiction. He was the debut writer for DC Comics’ run of Star Trek and has also written the Trek novel Gemini.

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peter david

The self-proclaimed writer of stuff’s credits include a wellregarded run on DC’s version of Star Trek in addition to numerous novels for Pocket Books. He also co-created the fiction-only series Star Trek: New Frontier.

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michael jan friedman

A novelist who is also a Star Trek fan, Mike sold one story to Pocket Books, which brought him to DC’s attention, and he became a successful writer for them in the 1980s and 1990s. Mike has written countless novels for Pocket Books and more recently has tackled the Wolfman, Aliens, and Predator for DH Books.

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glenn greenberg

“I am a former editor and writer for Marvel Comics, which is where I wrote the Star Trek: Untold Voyages limited series. Currently, I’m an editor and writer for Scholastic Inc. and a recurring writer for Simon and Schuster’s Star Trek: Corps of Engineers line of e-books. My first e-book has already been published, and I’m currently writing my second one.”

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andy mangels

A long-time fan, Andy turned his passion into a career as a comic-book writer, critic, historian, and novelist. He and writing partner Michael A. Martin have written for several of the Trek franchises at Pocket Books.

martin pasko

“I have more experience than I’d care to admit with branded entertainment properties in a variety of media. While still in my teens, I began a comics career working for many publishers, including a long association with DC, both freelance and on staff. I’ve also written and story-edited for TV, both live-action (Twilight Zone, Max Headroom, Roseanne) and animated (the original Batman [The Animated Series] and many other series). After a long stint at DC as an editor and Creative Services manager, I now freelance and run my own consulting business, creatively developing clients’ toy and game properties into storydriven entertainment. I’m told I’m the only one on this panel to have written both the Trek comic books and the comic strip, as well as having supervised the comics’ production as an editor.”

laurie sutton

“I’ve written DS9 for Malibu and Voyager for Marvel, and have enjoyed being an editor for both DC and Marvel. I first encountered the once-in-a-lifetime, original-run Star Trek in 1966 when I was 13 years old

and visiting Brownsville, Texas, while on a family road trip vacation (our own ‘trek’ if you will!). It was dinner time and we were all going to go down to the Holiday Inn restaurant, but this program came on the TV and that was it for me! I was fascinated, entranced, hooked! I sat like a five-year-old with my face as close to the screen as possible. Thank goodness my parents observed the obvious and let me miss dinner and watch the show. Their simple, single ‘indulgence’ set the course of my life, to a large extent. If they’d made me come to dinner, I might not have followed the Trek path with the sort of joy and freedom I have to this day.”

len wein

Len can count among his earliest comics writing assignments several issues of Gold Key’s Star Trek title. Years later, after co-creating Swamp Thing and serving as editor-in-chief at Marvel and Batman editor at DC, Len returned to the 23rd century with a multi-issue stint on the title, in time to celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary.

howard weinstein

At 19, while attending the University of Connecticut, Howard sold the script to “The Pirates of Orion,” which was aired during the second season of the animated Star Trek series (now available on DVD). Additionally, he provided story help to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He subsequently wrote several novels and short stories for Pocket Books and Star Trek comics for DC, WildStorm, and Marvel.

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BOB GREENBERGER: What do you find the largest challenge in adapting Star Trek from television to comic books? LAURIE SUTTON: My first reaction is to say movement. That may sound obvious, but there’s a delicate balancing act involved. After all, what is TV but a series of still images, moving? That’s where TV and comics meet, and diverge. But that being said, I have never found the transition all that difficult. I think visually. I see pictures in my head. (I grew up reading comics; the process must be hardwired by now.) And after watching the ST programs from the very beginning of their run, they’re hard-wired in my brain, too. I can see the pacing. And I can hear the voices. But printed words on a page simply cannot convey the inflection of an actor’s voice. That’s my greatest frustration. GLENN GREENBERG: For me, there were several large challenges when I was writing Star Trek: Untold Voyages for Marvel. First was coming up with Star Trek

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stories that haven’t been done before. After five TV series and ten movies, that’s a major challenge! I think I was only partially successful in that area. Another challenge was getting the characters right through dialogue. When you’re reading a Star Trek comic, you want to “hear” the voices of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, etc. in your head as you read the dialogue. If the dialogue doesn’t ring true, it pulls the reader right out of the story. Looking back, I think I did a pretty good job. I tried as best as I could to follow the examples set by Mike Barr and Peter David. These guys were a big influence on me, because I grew up reading their Star Trek comics, and I loved their work on those comics. HOWARD WEINSTEIN: I think the biggest challenge in comics is creating the illusion of movement using sequential still images, and avoiding pages of static, talking heads.

TV and comics are both visual media, of course, but TV images really do move and comic images obviously don’t. Well-made TV shows get visual interest from the variety of camera angles used, and how the actors play a scene—voice, mannerisms, movement. In comics, we don’t hear the characters speaking, and they don’t move, so it’s not easy to make those pages feel like they’re in motion. It took me a while to learn how to do that. For example, Star Trek has lots of fairly static bridge and briefing room scenes. How do we keep those from being visually boring? Writers need to carefully choose the words going into those speech balloons—when it comes to dialogue, less is definitely more! I also made sure my scripts prompted the artists to vary the pictures we chose to tell the story and present information. I always tried to make sure those scenes mixed wide angles, two-shots, closeups, viewscreen images, etc. It takes some extra thought and effort, but there’s really no excuse for a Star Trek comic page to be one face-shot after another. SUTTON: I totally agree with Howard. The writer must become the “director.” You’re responsible for the pacing, how quickly or how slowly the story moves, as well as the visual liveliness. Writing the stories full-script gives you that power, but also demands accountability. It’s your own fault if the story lags anywhere in any way. MARTIN PASKO: Absolutely. And I think the best way the writer can serve the reader as de facto director is in inventing stage business for the characters (like Spock and another crew member playing three-level chess), to keep the dialogue scenes from being closeup-closeupcloseup, or having the scenes play in interesting, infrequently seen locations such as private quarters. But that’s how I’ve always written comics (not TV or film; “directing on paper” is considered gauche and a sure sign of inexperience)—there’s only one writer I know of who writes more specific and detailed shot directions than I do, and that’s Alan Moore. As for the difficulty question, I was working from the original TV series and first feature only, as opposed to the later, differently structured material, so I didn’t find the assignment that challenging. That’s because of what episodic television has in common with comics: Both have to be carefully structured to accommodate finite lengths, page counts, and running times respectively; they can’t be “open-ended” like a feature film. It also seemed easy to me because I think about comics as film in jump-cuts. Just before I started work on the first Marvel Comics run of Trek, I’d begun a parallel career in writing for filmed entertainment, and almost unconsciously moved away from treating comics as a hybrid of prose and a visual dramatic form. I stopped leaning heavily on text to tell the story, either with narrative captions or worse, soliloquizing thought balloons, and developed a more cinematic style. So telling a Star Trek story in comics was easy as long as I paid careful attention to the finer points of scene structure, such as taking the latest possible point of attack; getting out of a scene as early as possible; and buttoning it with a hook or eliding dialogue, and a clever visual transition such as a match-cut, to pull the reader eagerly into the next scene. Truth be told, I found Trek even easier to write than most other comics, because the established format of the TV series had all sorts of built-in devices that helped with graceful exposition, such as the Captain’s Log and the briefings. So the “adapting” was really more a matter of “importing” Trek into comics format than having to invent ways to make Trek work in the comics medium.

Star Trek: Unpublished

MIKE W. BARR: Keeping the sense of movement and pacing consonant with filmed Trek. Of course, that’s the challenge with adapting virtually any filmed property. But Trek is especially difficult because it’s developed its own style over the years, and because filmed Trek is so dependent on musical cues, stings, camera intercutting, and other audio and motion-reliant techniques that you can’t do in comics. SUTTON: You know, Mike, the musical aspect never entered my comic-oriented head. Sound effects, now that’s altogether different. Sound effects translate into graphic elements in comics and can have the potential to become an integral part of the page design. PETER DAVID: There was the practical challenge and the creative challenge. The creative challenge is that, for much of the time, Star Trek is mostly talking heads. Yes, there are action sequences, but there are only so many ways you can have the characters display a sense of urgency on the bridge, or fire the phasers. On TV, in the movies, it’s not that much of a problem; with the silent medium of comic books, where you don’t have actors, sound effects, and music, you have to come up with ways to make the story visually compelling while not wandering too far away from the basic feel of Star Trek. In my case, the practical challenge was that there was someone who shall go nameless—Richard Arnold—set up at Paramount, shooting down stories C o m i c s

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Writer John Warner’s script page 1 for what was intended to be Gold Key’s Star Trek #62. According to the good folks at Heritage Auctions, this story was slated to have been drawn by Frank Bolle, but Gold Key axed the title with issue #61 (Mar. 1979) and “Trial by Fire” went unfinished and unpublished. © 2007 Paramount.

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DC Comics’ adaptations of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies began not with the first film, 1978’s Superman: The Movie, but with the third and fourth films. Superman and Superman II instead appeared as large-format, tabloid-sized “Collectors’ Editions,” All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-62 and DC Special Series #25. Both stated on their covers that articles would focus on the “stars, costumes, set designs, and special effects.” They appeared in 1979 and in 1981, priced at $2.50 and $2.95, respectively. Actual movie photos, along with preproduction and production sketches and paintings, were used. In both specials, comic-book artist Ric Estrada provided pen-and-ink drawings of the director and camera crew filming on-location. And to further denote the comics connection, past comic-book panels were juxtaposed next to similar movie scenes throughout. Bob Rozakis was listed as a contributor to the first movie special and by the time of the second, he’d become the production manager at DC. Rozakis doesn’t remember what his specific roles were in the movie editions, but does recall that “I had a lot to do with the second movie contest, which had readers answering a variety of questions. I got to meet Christopher Reeve when he came to the DC office to pick the winning postcards. I also was the one who ‘smuggled’ him out of the building via the freight elevator, when crowds started forming in our lobby and in the main lobby of the building.” When asked why the actual screenplays of the first two movies weren’t made into comics, Bob responds, “As far as the policy on doing the adaptations of the movies, I believe there was something in the contract with [Superman screenwriter] Mario Puzo that would have required DC making a substantial payment to him for adapting his script and they weren’t willing to do that. The deals for Superman III and IV were different.”

Eddy Z e n o

Superman: The Movie Comic Our fantasy cover for a DC adaptation that didn’t happen. Special thanks to artist Steve Stanley (you must check out his site at www.stanleyart.com!!) for his dead-on interpretation of Christopher Reeve as Superman, and to designer Rich Fowlks for cobbling this together. Superman TM & © 2007 DC Comics. Superman: The Movie © 1978 Warner Bros.

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SUPERMAN III

A friend in London called the Superman III and IV movies “rubbish.” My brother asked why I’d write about two films that so many people hate. With less respect for scientific principles than the comic books would have dared, the suspension of disbelief in both was certainly pushed beyond its limits. Superman III (1983) was remembered for its camp and attempts to be funny; Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), for its reduced budget and bad special effects. By choice, I had not seen the films since they were first released and, though determined to find the good in them, I knew there would be some drudgery upon their re-viewing. I also knew that discussing the adaptations would be more pleasant in that, at least, both contained artwork by Curt Swan. In terms of the writing, though difficult to add anything to the adaptations that wasn’t in the films, I trusted that, upon rereading, the capable writers of both had the skill to do so. Longtime Superman and The Flash comic-book scribe Cary Bates scripted the third movie/comic tie-in and Bob Rozakis penned the fourth. One way Cary was able to improve III was by showing what Clark/Superman was thinking. Bates’ well-placed thought balloons allowed some of the scenes to make more sense. There was another way Bates made the comic book more logical and consistent. In the film, when Superman and Clark split into separate beings and were doing battle, Kent kept alternating between seeming mortal in some scenes, yet as powerful as his alter ego in others. One minute he was easily kayoed, rolling toward a metal shredder on a conveyor belt. Then, after crying out while supposedly being crushed in the junkyard where the fight took place, he suddenly appeared unscathed and fought back with super-powers. In the adaptation, Cary showed the same scene but there was no groaning with faux pain, no histrionics to milk the audience for sympathy; we knew Clark

And Da Winna Is…

wouldn’t die. Instead, the dramatic effect came from seeing the shredder implode into dust due to Clark’s invulnerability. Bates simply had two evenly matched beings super-duke it out. Cary Bates discusses how it felt to capture the essence of something from another medium compared to creating his own tales from scratch: “On balance it’s actually kind of a drag, since by definition you’re so firmly locked in to the screenplay. The main problem is usually figuring out where to cut, since a two-hour movie must be considerably compressed to fit in a 22–30 page comic book.” [Bates actually had 48 pages for the retelling of Superman III.] Cary added that his editor, the late Julius (Julie) Schwartz, “...probably felt a bit constricted creatively, too, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned.” In the Superman III comic, at times artist Curt Swan worked to capture Christopher Reeve’s and Robert Vaughn’s looks, but he didn’t appear to try for Richard Pryor’s likeness in the Gus Gorman character. When asked whether there might have been a legal reason for this, Bates doesn’t remember. He notes, however, that “considering what a gifted artist Curt was, I’m sure he would’ve drawn a more accurate likeness had he been legally permitted to do so.” Director Richard Donner was fired during the making of the second film, and many viewers felt that Richard Lester’s directorial vision in III did not live up to the quality of the first two. Thanks to two actors, there were a couple of things to like in the third film that could not translate to the comic: Annette O’Toole is a self-professed lifetime fan of the Man of Steel, which showed in the honesty of her performance as III’s Lana Lang, and it is still evident through her portrayal as young Clark’s mother in the Smallville television series. And though Chris Reeve got to play Clark as the comic buffoon a fair amount and shine in some warm scenes with Lana and her son, his Superman was under-utilized in Superman III. An exception was when Superman became malevolent due to artificial kryptonite. In the few lines he uttered during those scenes, Superman’s underlying desperation was briefly evocative of actor Jimmy Stewart’s performance in the film It’s a Wonderful Life. C o m i c s

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Christopher Reeve pulls the winning postcard for the 1978 “Great Superman Movie Contest,” observed by Bob Rozakis (left) and thenDC president Sol Harrison. Photo courtesy of Bob Rozakis.

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Those of you old enough to have been reading comics during the time of the 1964 New York World’s Fair (or who have collected comics from that era) might have been intrigued by a DC Comics house ad (at right) promoting a wax museum exhibit featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and the one-eyed myth-monster Cyclops. BACK ISSUE reader Jim Alexander had for years wondered if photos of that exhibit existed … and his curiosity led him to sci-fi historian, uber-collector, and actor Bob Burns (whose collection of memorabilia from sci-fi, horror, and fantasy films is unrivaled—and chronicled in the book It Came from Bob’s Basement, by Burns and John Michlig). Burns tells Alexander and BI, “A friend of mine saw this exhibit at the fair, and knowing that I’m a big Superman fan took three pictures for me. I wonder what ever happened to these wax figures, as Superman really looks like Kirk Alyn and is great.” Although these photos predate BACK ISSUE’s ’70s/’80s realm, they are too good a discovery not to share, and we thank both Bob Burns and Jim Alexander for providing them to us….

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If you were to poll comics professionals on their influences outside of comic books, you’d find Ray Harryhausen’s name topping many lists. If you spoke with these pros personally, you’d see their eyes twinkle as they recalled Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation in the fantasy films to which they devoted countless childhood Saturday afternoons. That twinkle might fade to awe for the artists among the lot, since Harryhausen’s meticulously crafted models (especially the monsters!) torch-lit their own attention to detail which today guides their pencil, brush, or mouse. Like those artists who drew inspiration from this stop-motion master, Harryhausen himself found a muse in Willis O’Brien, the trailblazer effects wizard behind the animated title star (among other creatures) of King Kong (1933). Harryhausen’s fingerprints—as a visual effects director, producer, and even writer—can be found on a range of inventive movies released throughout the second half of the 20th century, including Mighty Joe Young (1949), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Valley of Gwangi (1969),

Michael Eury

Ray Harryhausen Presents: Wrath of the Titans Four issues, May through Aug. 2007 Writers: Darren G. Davis and Scott Davis Penciler: Nadir Balan Colorist: Joey Campos

Ray Harryhausen Presents: 20 Million Miles More Four issues, June through Sept. 2007 Writer: Scott Davis Penciler: Alex Garcia Colorist: Joey Campos

Ray Harryhausen Presents: Sinbad: Rogue of Mars Five issues, Sept. 2007 through Jan. 2008 Writer: Greg Thompson Artist: Jeff Cruz

Ray Harryhausen and some of his creations. Photo courtesy of Arnold Kunert.

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Harryhausen’s SFX process was eventually called “Dynarama.” The poster to this 1974 Sinbad entry is courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), and Clash of the Titans (1981). It might not be entirely accurate, however, to regard Ray Harryhausen as someone from “outside of comic books.” Upon occasion, films featuring Harryhausen’s scaly behemoths and mythological misfits have been adapted into comic-book form. Thanks to BlueWater Productions, three of Harryhausen’s landmark film properties—20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), Sinbad (the star of a franchise of movies), and Clash of the Titans— are the basis for a trio of all-new miniseries, part of a line of Ray Harryhausen Presents titles which launched in May 2007. BlueWater president Darren G. Davis (with whom we spoke in this issue’s Isis in comics article) joins the mastermind himself—Ray Harryhausen—for this exclusive BACK ISSUE interview about these new movie-inspired comic books.

Interviews conducted by email between May 3rd and 8th, 2007.

MICHAEL EURY: Mr. Harryhausen, it’s wonderful to have your characters back in comics again! But why comic books as a medium to continue your film franchises? Why not animation, or computer games, or mobile or online downloads? RAY HARRYHAUSEN: Darren Davis approached me and my producer Arnold Kunert when we were in Bellingham, Washington, as part of my 2006 book tour to promote The Art of Ray Harryhausen. We liked what Darren had to say about doing comic books about the continuing adventures of some of my characters, so we agreed to collaborate. It’s possible that video games and other items may eventually be developed, but not at this time. EURY: Beyond the story conception and develop© 2006 Ray Harryhausen. ment, how involved are you with the actual production of the comic books’ writing and art? HARRYHAUSEN: Darren and his artists are developing the storylines for the comic books. I have final approval on the subject matter. Darren, Arnold, and I have a contract which stipulates that Arnold and I have final artistic control over the comic books’ content. EURY: Ray, tell me about your artwork that’s being reprinted in the comics. HARRYHAUSEN: Darren is reprinting some of my artwork which is already being sold in signed and limited-edition versions by the Every Picture Tells a Story gallery in Santa Monica, California. DARREN DAVIS: We will also be doing a couple of colorized covers by Ray based on some of his original artwork. The one for 20 Million Miles More will be for issue #3. EURY: Is it true that the Ray Harryhausen Presents concepts are also being developed for film and TV? HARRYHAUSEN: We are in the process of discussing possible Ray Harryhausen Presents projects for theatrical and television presentation, but nothing has been finalized at this time. EURY: The 1957 film 20 Million Miles to Earth involved the lizard-like Ymir, who grew to colossal size

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Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

The Blackboard Jungle Those wacky Sweathogs gave a new meaning to “higher learning.” From page 25 of Welcome Back, Kotter #5 (July 1977). Art by Ric Estrada and Bob Oksner. Courtesy of Yoram Matzkin. © 1976 Komack Company.

UP YER NOSE…

In the ’70s, DC Comics was in trouble, as was most of the industry. Carmine Infantino, a man who’d risen through the ranks from artist to editorial director to, finally, publisher of the whole line, had just been handed a cardboard box and the door and the same time. DC was in upheaval at the worst of times. Marvel had passed DC in sales, and the home of Superman and Batman was reduced to spitting out Marvel’s dust and trying to play catch-up. Mr. Infantino had been the one who’d been driving when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and the boys roared by, and now Jenette Kahn (who had no real comic-book experience) was in the driver’s seat, trying to adjust it at the same time she was trying to stay on the road (that was my car metaphor quota for the year). During such times, a certain amount of

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desperation is bound to set in as a bunch of middle-age guys (and one young woman!) sit in a cramped editor’s office, look at each other, and try to figure out “what today’s kids want.” What DC came up with was, well, trying everything, and more of it. In the beginning days of Ms. Kahn’s reign as publisher of DC, and under the scrutiny of Warner Communications, DC tried new super-heroes, old super-heroes, new genres, and lots of old genres, with something of a twist. Anything that someone could make a case for working was tried. Gothic romance? Reprints? Dollar Comics? How about TV comics? Which brings us to Mr. Kotter and his lovable Sweathogs. Almost. DC had been in the character-licensing biz in the ’40s–’60s with titles like Bob Hope, Alan Ladd, Jerry

Lewis, Fox and Crow, and Dobie Gillis, but they had petered out in the ’70s, with an attempt at a Laurel and Hardy title and brief talk of a M*A*S*H adaptation (feel free to write to BACK ISSUE editor Michael Eury suggesting titles I missed). One-time TV comics champ Gold Key was slowly dying the death of poor distribution, as was runner-up Charlton (well, a pervading cheapness had something to do with the gasping of Charlton, but that’s for the “Big All-Charlton Issue”), so why not try TV comics again? Why not. So DC Comics (with the possible help/shove of new corporate parent Warner Communications) went back into the TV comics business. But only so far and for so long.

…WITH A RUBBER HOSE

In the 1975–1976 TV season, the classroom-set comedy Welcome Back, Kotter was the big hit for ABC and the show’s producer, the Komack Company. Based on the comedy of Gabe Kaplan (who based it on his own life), Welcome Back, Kotter launched the career of John Travolta, whose face (and those of the rest of the cast) was to be plastered over lunchboxes, notebooks, puzzles, dolls (okay, sorry, Mego’s were action figures, not dolls), and records (remember Travolta’s hit “Let Her In”? Yeah, me neither, just testing). Comics seemed a suitable vehicle for yet more Kotter spin-offs. The very busy Joe Orlando got the editorship, and he assigned the first issue to writer Elliot S! Maggin, with Jack Sparling and Bob Oksner on art. Welcome Back, Kotter #1 carried a Nov. 1976 cover-date. The sales were slow. Orlando thought maybe the second issue could use a lift. He called on Black Lightning creator, Tony Isabella. Tony? “While on staff, Joe Orlando asked me to punch up the second issue of the series,” Isabella says. “He liked what I did and asked me to write the next issue. He loved what I did on my solo issue [issue #3, Mar. 1977,

(below left) DC’s 1976 house ad for its new “DC TV Comic” line. (below) From Welcome Back, Kotter #3 (Mar. 1977), writer Tony Isabella’s solo issue and the first issue laid out by Ric Estrada (with Bob Oksner finishes). Courtesy of Yoram Matzkin.

which also featured Ric Estrada replacing Sparling as penciler] and wanted me to write the book regularly. The problem was … for me to write Kotter and write it well, I had to labor over each and every page. Though I was given a small raise, it wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for how much time it took me to write Kotter. I began work on what would have been my second Kotter script but abandoned it after four pages. I couldn’t pay my bills writing that book. How was the mood at DC at the time? “Jenette Kahn was the new publisher, but she seemed to be getting a lot of guidance from old hands like Sol Harrison and Joe Orlando,” Isabella recalls. “Paul Levitz was starting his amazing climb to the top. There were other young staffers being given opportunities and there were a few new people like myself coming in. I’d describe the mood as ranging from ‘cautious optimism’ (from those who had been promoted and the newer people) to ‘moderate concern’ (from the older hands). I fell somewhere in the middle of that range.”

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We hope you enjoy this FREE

WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH (former Marvel Comics editor and Spider-Man writer), WRITE NOW!, the magazine for writers of comics, animation, and sci-fi, puts you in the minds of today’s top writers and editors. Each issue features WRITING TIPS from pros on both sides of the desk, INTERVIEWS, SAMPLE SCRIPTS, REVIEWS, exclusive NUTS & BOLTS TUTORIALS, and more! Issue #16 features reflections on writing the Silver Surfer by the character’s greatest scripters of all time, including STAN LEE, STEVE ENGLEHART, JIM STARLIN, and J.M. DeMATTEIS! Plus, an in-depth interview with TODD McFARLANE, giving his unique point of view on topics ranging from SPAWN, the status of Image Comics in 2007, what makes great comics writing, and more! Also: Incredible Nuts and Bolts script and pencil art previews of BRIAN BENDIS and FRANK CHO’s MIGHTY AVENGERS, and of DAN SLOTT’s new Marvel project! And the conclusion to the amazing STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable (begun in BACK ISSUE #23), with insights from PETER DAVID, MIKE W. BARR and MICHAEL JAN FRIEDMAN, a FREE PREVIEW of DRAW #14, and more! (80-page magazine) SINGLE ISSUES: $9 US SUBSCRIPTIONS: Four issues in the US: $26 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $60 Surface, $72 Airmail).

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HOWARD CHAYKIN, PAUL DINI, KURT BUSIEK, DENNY O’NEIL

X-MEN SCREENWRITER, AGENTS, WRITING MANGA, BREAKING IN

BRIAN BENDIS, STAN LEE, PETER DAVID, JIM STARLIN

ABADAZAD’S DeMATTEIS/PLOOG, “52” WRITERS, JOHN OSTRANDER

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

THE TODD McFARLANE INTERVIEW Interview conducted by Danny Fingeroth via telephone 5-30-07 Transcribed by Steven Tice Copy-edited by Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth and Todd McFarlane

odd McFarlane’s comic book career spans more than twenty years and dozens of popular characters. As artist, his work has graced the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man (where he cocreated Venom), The Incredible Hulk, and Detective Comics. His professional writing career kicked off with the launch of one of the bestselling series of all time, Spider-Man. After years as one of the industry’s top creators, Todd joined several other popular comic book artists to form Image Comics. There, he launched his own creator-owned series, Spawn, which soon caught the attention of Hollywood and was the inspiration for a live action movie and an animated series. In addition to his comic book work, Todd also heads up his own toy and collectible company, McFarlane Toys. A busy man of many interests (including part-ownership of the Edmonton Oilers NHL hockey team), Todd was able to give us some time to speak about the subject of Write Now: writing for comics and related media. —DF DANNY FINGEROTH: Did you write as a kid at all, or in school, Todd? Was that anything you were interested in then? TODD McFARLANE: I was pretty good at sort of short story stuff, but I think that was just a byproduct of my wild imagination as a whole. DF: What kind of short stories? What would they be about? TM: The teacher would assign us to do a factual composition about, say World War II, I couldn’t do something like that. But if they said, “Go home and come up with a made-up story and bring it in,” and you could add fantasy stuff and big, dramatic melodrama to it—the equivalent of the Jack-in-the-Beanstalk stories—then I could put in a flying elephant, and purple dinosaurs a thousand feet tall, and I could do it easily. DF: This was in elementary school? TM: Oh, yeah. You know, the “creative writing” classes. DF: What about in high school or college? Did you do any writing then?

TM: Not nearly as much. The writing there was more serious so a lot of it was more historical reports and dissertations in some of the classes. And you had less of a chance, or at least in the classes that I was taking, to just have fun with writing like I did when I was in high school or younger. DF: I’ve read that you didn’t really read comics until high school. How’d you avoid them? TM: Umm…I played a lot of sports. You know, when we went on road trips, Mom and Dad would stop at the 7Eleven and buy a couple of Slurpees and a couple of comics and throw them in the back to me and my two brothers, so it’s not that I was devoid of comics. I’d read a handful, so I was aware of what comic books were. I never bothered collecting them, though. But at the age of about nine I started collecting baseball cards and football cards, so I was collecting, it just was in a different place. Later, all of a sudden I went, “Hey, you know what? Let me check out these comic books that I keep sort of walking by.” WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW | 93