Back Issue #25 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

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U EE !! II SS SS U IRON MAN & DEATHLOK TM & © MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC. • SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN TM & © UNIVERSAL TV. • WARLORD TM & © DC COMICS.

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Rich Buckler’s first-ever Deathlok interview!

Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman!

Interview with Warlord’s Mike Grell!

IRON MAN

IN THE ’80S! BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE

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LAYTON/MICHELINIE ERA

MACHINE MAN • BYRNE’S ROG 2000 • STEEL THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN TV’S LEGENDS OF THE SUPER-HEROES • AND MORE!

Volume 1, Number 25 December 2007 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 BEYOND CAPES: Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 The story behind Charlton Comics’ adventures of Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers INTERVIEW: Full Metal Junket: Deathlok the Demolisher’s Rich Buckler . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 The artist/creator of Marvel’s trailblazing cyber-crusader in his first-ever Deathlok discussion

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, CookieSoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

FLASHBACK: Deathlok: Beyond Buckler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Joe Casey, J. M. DeMatteis, Dwayne McDuffie, and Daniel Way follow in Buckler’s footsteps

PROOFREADER Eric Nolen-Weathington

INTERVIEW: Blade of Steel: The Warlord’s Mike Grell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Enter the lost world of Skartaris, courtesy of the popular writer/artist

SPECIAL THANKS

FLASHBACK: “Call Me Mister… Mister Machine!”: The Story of Machine Man . . . . . . .37 Barry Windsor-Smith, Herb Trimpe, Tom DeFalco, and Mike Royer on the Jack Kirby-created 2001: A Space Odyssey spin-off

Michael Ambrose Brad Sanders Terry Austin Philip Schweier John P. Barker Richard A. Scott Jerry Boyd Alex Segura Aleisha Brevard Rick Shurgin Mike Burkey Zack Smith John Byrne Anthony Snyder Joe Casey Joe Staton Dewey Cassell Tom Stewart Sean Clarke Herb Trimpe Mike Cross George Tuska Nick Cuti Keith Veronese Chris Darley Daniel Way Tom DeFalco Bob Wiacek Michael DeLeRee Barry Windsor-Smith J. M. DeMatteis Alfie Wise Mark Evanier Marv Wolfman Angela Fowlks Peter Gallay Grand Comic-Book Database Mike Grell Jack C. Harris Allan Harvey Heritage Comics Auctions Dan Johnson Arvell Jones Scott Kress Paul Levitz Andy Mangels Luther Manning Kelvin Mao Marvel Comics Yoram Matzkin Dwayne McDuffie Chris Murrin Warden Neil Herbie J Pilato Michael Rankins Mike Royer Rose Rummel-Eury

COVER ARTIST Bob Layton

PRO2PRO: Marvel’s Metal Men: Iron Man’s Bob Layton and David Michelinie . . . . . . . .44 The duo who took Tony Stark to new highs and lows in an exclusive chat—with never-beforepublished Layton Iron Man art! BACKSTAGE PASS: Super Friends Live: The Strange Saga of Legends of the SuperHeroes . . . .59 Holy Reunion Movies, Batman! Go backstage with the steel-nerved actors who sported spandex in 1979 INTERVIEW: Brainiac vs. the Man of Steel: Paul Levitz Remembers The World’s Greatest Superheroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 DC Comics’ president and publisher looks back at his days as the writer of the Supermancentric comic strip FLASHBACK: Steeled for a Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 The story of DC’s retro-fitted star-spangled sentinel, Steel the Indestructible Man FLASHBACK: John Byrne’s Bucket of Bolts: ROG-2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 From mascot to star to mascot again, Byrne’s spunky robot keeps popping up where you least expect him WHAT THE--?!: H.E.R.B.I.E.! The World’s Most Hated Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Why, oh, why doesn’t anyone like the Fantastic Four’s robo-pal? BACKSTAGE PASS: MoCCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Visit New York City’s Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art in this photo tour BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Reader feedback on issue #23, plus a special treat for Transformers fans! 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, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. 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 Bob Layton. Iron Man and Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. The Six Million Dollar Man TM & © Universal TV. The Warlord TM & © DC Comics. 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

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Dewey Cassell

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was … stronger, faster.” Before Deathlok and Darth Vader, and long before the Terminator and RoboCop, there was the Six Million Dollar Man. But before the Six Million Dollar Man, there was Cyborg. The novel Cyborg, written by Martin Caidin and published in 1972, introduced the character of Steve Austin. Lt. Colonel Steve Austin was an Air Force test pilot and former astronaut who crashed while flying an experimental NASA aircraft over the Mojave Desert. With the financial backing of the Office of Special Operations, represented by Oscar Goldman, Doctor Rudy Wells and a team of surgeons replaced the arm, legs, and eye that Austin lost in the accident with state-of-the-art bionics, giving him superhuman abilities. The gift, however, was not without a price. Austin became an agent for the OSO, undertaking missions that no normal human being could possibly accomplish. Herbie J Pilato, author of The Bionic Book, published by BearManor Media in September 2007, indicates that Martin Caidin knew the potential for Cyborg. “Caidin very much wanted to bring Cyborg to life in film, whether it was for the small or big screen. He had done so with one of his previous books (Marooned, which was released as a theatrical film in 1969). So he made the studio rounds, and met with Richard Irving, an executive with Universal. Universal then convinced ABC to produce what ultimately became the TV-movie pilot called The Six Million Dollar Man.” However, ABC did not then immediately launch into a weekly series. In fact, there were a total of three movies, as Pilato goes on to explain: “ABC was still trying to find its way in the early 1970s. It was the youngest of the only three major networks at the time, so they were very cautious with any property that [was] placed on the air. With The Six Million Dollar Man, they knew they had a great show, but they wanted to proceed gingerly. So they had a regular movie series

“This one’s for my buddy Chewie!” Steve Austin wallops Bigfoot in this dynamite Geoff Isherwood commission, from the collection of Mike Cross. [Isherwood fans, Geoff’s back next issue in our Suicide Squad spotlight!] Six Million Dollar Man © 2007 Universal.

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called the ABC Suspense Movie, which was broadcast on Saturday nights. The first three Six Million Dollar Man films—which featured a very James Bond-like Steve Austin—would alternate Saturday nights with various other TV movies and early episodes of Kung Fu. Once The Six Million Dollar Man became a weekly staple on Friday nights in January 1974, its playing time was cut from 90 to a regular 60 minutes, and Steve Austin became less like James Bond and more like a regular man, which contributed to the show’s appeal.” Casting for The Six Million Dollar Man was not a trivial matter. The lead role demanded an actor who could be both strong and vulnerable, while at the same time believable in extraordinary situations. The studio turned to an up-and-coming actor familiar to TV viewers, Lee Majors. Pilato explains why: “Lee himself had been looking for a lead series. He was one of the many co-stars on The Big Valley, and he was second lead to Arthur Hill on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, but he wanted his own show. At the time, too, he was newly married to Farrah Fawcett. And though his being cast as Steve Austin pre-dated Farrah’s superstardom on ABC’s Charlie’s Angels, the network knew they had a power-couple on their hands. So they cast him as the Six Million Dollar Man. Lee left Owen Marshall and became TV’s first realistic superhero.” The show was a hit. Every week, Steve Austin was called upon to deal with a new threat, from the theft of the Liberty Bell to an encounter with Bigfoot. In 1975, a two-part episode introduced an old flame of Steve Austin named Jaime Sommers, a professional tennis player portrayed by actress Lindsay Wagner. Austin and Sommers rekindled their relationship, but when a skydiving accident left Sommers seriously injured, Austin persuaded Oscar Goldman and Dr. Rudy Wells to give Jaime bionic replacements for her damaged legs, arm, and ear, and she thereby became the Bionic Woman. Although Jaime Sommers “died” at the end of the episode, the character was very well received and ABC brought her back to life, ultimately launching a spin-off

He’s No Fall Guy Artist Bob Larkin provided a dead-on likeness of Lee Majors in this illo from Charlton’s Six Million Dollar Man black-andwhite magazine. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 2007 Universal.

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series the following year. There were periodic crossovers between the two series and supporting characters Oscar Goldman, played by Richard Anderson, and Dr. Rudy Wells, played by Martin E. Brooks, appeared in both. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman ran until 1978, and were followed in later years by three made-for-TV reunion movies, featuring both Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner. Merchandising for The Six Million Dollar Man, and to a somewhat lesser extent The Bionic Woman, was broad and aggressive. Kenner produced a 12-inch Six Million Dollar Man doll that featured a “bionic” eye you could see through and “skin” on one arm that could be rolled back, revealing bionics underneath, as well as myriad variations and accessories. There was also an Oscar Goldman doll and several villains. A Bionic Woman doll was also produced, as well as designer fashions and a Bionic Beauty Salon playset. In addition, there were Six Million Dollar Man lunchboxes, posters, puzzles, board games, trading cards, and even a Bionic Action Club Kit.

CHARLTON COMICS

And, of course, there were comics. In 1976, Charlton Comics launched The Six Million Dollar Man comic book. The title was initially published every other month, although after a few issues publication became more sporadic. The comic book typically included one or two feature comic stories, as well as a short text story that included a few illustrations (typically panels reprinted from a comic story.) The series was written by Charlton house

Full Metal Junket TM

WELL, ’PUTER. WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND MY EXISTENCE?

DIRECTIVE RECEIVED, LUTHER MANNING. DECYPERHING PROCESS ACTIVATED. MONDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER, 2006, 10:00:00 HRS. CONVERSATION CONDUCTED WITH DEATHLOK THE DEMOLISHER CREATOR RICH BUCKLER. This was not by accident. What better interview subject, on the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, than the creator of a prescient futureshock series, published more than three decades ago, that was set in a near-future dystopia rife with crumbling Manhattan skyscrapers against doomsday horizons. Even in the funky 1970s—when Marvel Comics characters practiced voodoo, descended from Satan, brandished flaming skulls, drank blood, and suffered from lycanthropy—no American comic-book series was as cinematic, offbeat, and downright weird as “Deathlok the Demolisher.” As the character first appeared in Astonishing Tales #25–36 (Aug. 1974–July 1976), Deathlok was clearly the dark horse of the Marvel Universe. The titular cyborg, once a mere mortal US Army soldier named Luther Manning, struggled to reclaim his humanity while fighting a wily, power-hungry adversary in the midst of a cavernous, deserted New York City. Set in the far-flung future of 1990, Deathlok’s machine/man Manning grows increasingly disillusioned as he crosses a decaying Manhattan island and uncovers the truth— that he is a pawn in an evil plan hatched by his former superior, demagogue-run-amok Major Ryker, whose Savior-Machine scheme intends to consolidate all computer power for ultimate control. Deathlok was the creation of artist Rich Buckler, who was given rare carte blanche by Marvel to take an underselling title and present within it a deeply personal and brooding vision of societal decay; an epic battle of humanity versus a rapidly encroaching technology cinematically executed, in collaboration with writers Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo, and artists including Keith Pollard and a budding Klaus Janson. In just 12 issues, series architect Buckler delivered a short-lived yet quietly groundbreaking and influential story arc that, a decade later, became a font of inspiration for Hollywood. Readers at once embraced the series’ experimental storytelling style and flinched at its

Don’t Mess with This Cyborg From the Heritage Comics Auctions archives, the demolishing Deathlok penciled by the character’s creator and our esteemed interview subject, Rich Buckler, and inked by Greg Adams. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Michael Aushenker

unvarnished honesty, which did not shy away from exploring brutal violence or complex themes (interracial relationships, suicide, biblical allegory). In this BACK ISSUE exclusive, Buckler, for the first time ever, discusses Deathlok the Demolisher in print. In this candid conversation, a revelation emerges that is nothing short of “astonishing”—despite an ostensible nihilism and cynicism toward a Vietnam/Watergate-era US Government—the Deathlok series was, in fact, an apolitical metaphor conceived with none of those objectives in mind. —Michael Aushenker [Editor’s note: Although this interview was conducted just over a year ago, due to its subject matter its publication was delayed until this “Men of Steel”themed issue.] MICHAEL AUSHENKER: Five years ago today, at almost this very hour, the ominous events of September 11th, 2001 took place. You reside in Manhattan. Where were you at the time? RICH BUCKLER: Where I was living you could literally see [the terrorist attacks by] looking out the window. When it happened, I was both horrified and not quite surprised. I just couldn’t believe what was going on. And when I understood that the buildings were in danger of collapsing … I just felt a jolt. I don’t give a damn for buildings … I know it’s a powerful symbol. I just felt the huge loss of life. It was a tremendous blow. AUSHENKER: As these terrible events unfolded, what goes through the mind of the creator of the quintessential futureshock comic? BUCKLER: Where was the security? Where are the planes that were supposed to intercept this? Where is the control, where is the technology … why did it even happen? My thinking hasn’t changed too much regarding the technology. It’s flawed, we rely too much on it, we’ve got way too much information, and everything is going way too fast. We live very artificially … I felt that back when I created Deathlok and what I wanted to bring out was what it means to be human and explore that. While he looked like a monster and was plugged into the technology, the computer, the programming, the modern world, or what I perceived as the future (only ten or 12 years from there), it was really something that was going on in me internally as I was seeing where we were going in a general with this, and I wanted the character to personify that and go through some of the changes that I was going through … I didn’t, by the way, have anything to do with computers. I had an aversion to them, not a hatred of them, but I thought, “Now this is not really the way to go.” Now I’m very well-versed on computers. AUSHENKER: I want to quickly read a passage from Astonishing Tales #35, where Deathlok is locked in battle with Ryker.

Beginnings:

Penciler of “The Symbionts” (inks by Neal Adams) in House of Secrets #90 (Feb.–Mar. 1971)

Milestones:

Creator of Deathlok the Demolisher for Marvel Comics (Doug Moench, co-creator) / creator of Demon Hunter (Atlas Comics), Devil Slayer (Marvel), and Darkling (member of the Mighty Crusaders, for Archie/Red Circle) / co-creator (with Roy Thomas) of All-Star Squadron, Invincilbles!, Forever Warriors, Saga of the Human Torch, and Saga of the Sub-Mariner / Fantastic Four / Black Panther in Jungle Action / Superman / All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58 (Superman vs. Shazam!) / Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (“Death of Jean deWolf” storyline) / World’s Finest Comics / artist of Hulk, The Phantom, and Flash Gordon newspaper strips

Works in Progress:

How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books (Vanguard Productions, released in Aug. 2007) / Secrets of Drawing Comics (Vanguard, forthcoming)

Cyberspace:

www.richbuckler.com (for surrealism and comics) / www.myspace.com/art_of_rich_buckler www.surrealismnow (surrealist paintings only; go to gallery, alphabetical listing)

RICH BUCKLER, SR.

Courtesy of richbuckler.com.

Man-Made Manning

RYKER: Because they represented disorder, Deathlok! And chaos.

The rebuilding of Luther Manning, as seen on page 10 of Deathlok’s premiere outing, Astonishing Tales #25 (Aug. 1974). Courtesy of

[Ryker explains he has relocated all citizens to Long Island.]

Deathlok art collector supreme Kelvin Mao.

DEATHLOK: You moved everyone in Manhattan?

RYKER: “Look down again, Deathlok! Explosions … tearing Manhattan apart! But who…? We never learned who … a terrorist perhaps! Maybe just a madman … or maybe the enemy! Our system began to crumble, Deathlok! Because of them! DEATHLOK: Who’s they, Ryker? And why’d they scare you?

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RYKER: It was essential! The enemy had disrupted day-to-day functioning! We had no choice! DEATHLOK: Bull! There was no enemy, Ryker! You just wanted control—total, complete order...! RYKER: It was for their own good! People need someone to watch over them! DEATHLOK: So you elected yourself! Dictator and God all rolled into one! You’re mad, Ryker!

In the Bombastic Buckler Manner

It’s eerie how scenes such as this one anticipates not only the destruction in Manhattan but the suspicion of government today in the wake of 9/11; the perception many have of our leaders exploiting the enemy as an excuse to trample over our civil liberties—the Patriot Act, phonetapping, Guantanamo, etc. My intent is not to get into a political discussion but just to show how prescient your book was. BUCKLER: Ryker’s ambition to connect up to all the computers in the world and become a god and run everything—that’s probably the ultimate goal of anyone who has a lot of power and is seeking more and has

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gone over into that area of insanity or megalomania. So he’s sort of the quintessential mad guy, who is just totally absorbed in himself and has decided that nothing else exists and he’ll have ultimate control. AUSHENKER: There are many elements in Deathlok—a distrust of government, military, authority—that are in the cultural atmosphere now. BUCKLER: Well, Deathlok was a soldier and that was his world. I was never in the military. But I have friends and family members who are and were … but I wasn’t taking a stand against the military. [Deathlok’s] world was the military. That provided order for his life. But as a character, for the reader to identify with him, it was necessary for him to go through problems that the reader could relate to in a personal way. Everyone has felt from time to time that their world, it doesn’t make sense—I don’t fit in, why am I not connecting, what’s going wrong here. And I’m not talking about government or military, I’m talking about [when] your sense of reality is shaken a bit. Of course, 9/11 shook up everyone’s sense of reality. AUSHENKER: Were you reacting to the fallout from Vietnam/Watergate, since Deathlok was first published in 1974? BUCKLER: Undoubtedly, since I was fully aware of things going around me and I had my view of things. Understand where I’m coming from—my view usually consists of a number of points of view, because I’m a very surrealist-type thinker … seeing things from multiple points of view. AUSHENKER: So you were not trying to be on-the-nose about anything going on back then or trying to predict anything… BUCKLER: I wasn’t trying to predict anything. Certainly I was making commentary with storytelling elements, but what I was doing was pointing out—What are we? Why are we here? Where are we going? At the same time, I was dealing with this myself, so of course if

Zack Smith

Beyond Buckler At comic-book companies such as Marvel and DC, unraveling the history of a long-running character can be like playing a game of “Telephone.” Each time a new creative team uses a character, they add a new chapter to that character’s history, sometimes taking it in a wildly unpredictable direction. And when that character is a cyborg soldier named Deathlok from an alternate, post-apocalyptic America … and when there have been at least three characters to use that name … things can get even more convoluted. The formula for Deathlok has always been the same: an unwilling participant’s brain is transplanted into a powerfulbut-hideous cyborg body. Over the years, many different creators have offered their own take on this formula, making the man inside the machine a soldier, a pacifist, and even a comic-book publisher (sort of). In talking to some of the different writers who’ve worked on Deathlok over the years, we found that in each case, Deathlok represented a unique turning point in their respective careers. As you’ve read in our Rich Buckler interview, the original Deathlok was Luther Manning, a morally wounded soldier in a future America ravaged by war. This series ran for 12 issues of Astonishing Tales, and ended with Manning’s humanity somewhat restored in the form of a clone of his original body, while the cyborg-Deathlok was sent through a time-portal by an underwearclad being called “Godwulf.” Still with me, folks?

“DEATHLOK LIVES”

The time-lost Manning made a few appearances in Marvel Twoin-One (where, among other things, he was nearly made to brainwash Jimmy Carter) as did a Deathlok robot that the Thing thankfully destroyed. The character wandered around in limbo for a few years until the memorable Captain America story “Deathlok Lives,” by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck. DeMatteis recalls that the story was the brainchild of Marvel editor and future Cap writer Mark Gruenwald, who had noticed that Deathlok’s “future” was actually the early 1980s. “Since we were rapidly approaching the date of Deathlok’s ‘future,’ it was Mark’s idea to do a story that would address that directly,” DeMatteis recalls. DeMatteis had enjoyed the original stories, which he now sees as “ahead of their time. That fusion of cold computer consciousness and hot human emotion is a fascinating mix,” DeMatteis says.

“Deathlok Lives”… …and the Star-Spangled Avenger had better duck for cover! Mike Zeck’s recreation of the cover he originally produced for Captain America #286 (Oct. 1983). From the collection of Kelvin Mao. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Gruenwald helped put together a timeline to sort out Deathlok’s already-twisted continuity. DeMatteis tried to give his friend a co-plotting credit on the book, which Gruenwald then promptly took off. “Gruenwald was a terrific guy,” DeMatteis recalls. “He didn’t just understand the Marvel Universe, he believed in it with all his heart and soul.” Still, there was the matter of both cleaning up the continuity and telling a good story in the process. “There was one point where I told Mark I didn’t think I could do it,” DeMatteis relates. “We were very close to dumping the whole idea. Then I suddenly realized that Deathlok’s story was, above all, a search for personal identity. He was a fragmented self trying to achieve wholeness. That theme gave me the hook that made the story work.” “Deathlok Lives,” which ran in Captain America #286–288 (Oct.–Dec. 1983), saw the Luther Manning clone head back in time to rescue the original Deathlok. After recruiting Captain America to his cause, the two found the brainwashed cyborg working for the criminal organization Hydra, having denied all links to his past or his humanity. Mortally wounded, the Manning clone managed to reawaken the cyborg’s humanity … but Deathlok was still a cynical, burnt-out killing machine. Captain America followed Deathlok back to his ruined future, where they encountered Godwulf. Godwulf explained that he was actually one of the scientists who had helped neutralize the superheroes in Deathlok’s timeline. Now, in an effort at redemption, he was leading a group of freedom fighters to overthrow Hellinger, a cyborg who had once been Harlan Ryker—the man who had put Luther Manning’s brain in Deathlok. Godwulf’s group had sent Deathlok to the past to temporarily hide him from Hellinger, but he had gotten lost. Now, with Deathlok back, he could lead them against Hellinger—a symbolic hero, as Captain America had once been. Deathlok was reluctant, but Cap convinced him that even within this cyborg body, there was still a human soul. In a final confrontation, Hellinger took control over Deathlok’s systems and forced him to knock out Cap … but the part of Luther Manning that still lived within Deathlok was able to overcome his programming. Screaming, “I’m a man!” Deathlok killed Hellinger, saving both Cap and the world. His shattered psyche healed, Luther Manning found a new purpose in rebuilding his shattered America. Cap went back to his own time, musing to himself that “the future is in good hands.” The story proved popular with fans, and was even reprinted years later. DeMatteis says that he considers it the “peak” in his Captain America run with Zeck, whom he calls “one of the all-time greats.” “One of the great things about working with an artist like Zeck is that the writer doesn’t have to belabor things in the captions and dialogue,” DeMatteis says. “The action, the movement, the surface emotions— everything’s crystal clear on the page. That leaves the writer free to go deeper into the character’s psyches. Which is exactly how it worked with the Deathlok story: There was one level of story happening in the pictures and a whole other level, an interior journey, happening in the captions.” The Deathlok story, the writer says, helped provide a “jumping-off point” for the DeMatteis/Zeck team to collaborate on “Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt” a few years later. That intensely psychological swan song for one of Spider-Man’s classic villains is widely considered one of the best superhero stories of the 1980s … and, as it turns out, it had its roots in Deathlok.

Accept No Imitations (below) Luther Manning, the original Deathlok, junkheaps his successors in this awesome Arthur Adams commission. (right) Also, Deathlok by Cry for Dawn’s Joseph Michael Linsner. Both from the collection of Kelvin Mao. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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In 1975, DC Comics was expanding its comics line with several sword-and-sorcery titles such as Beowulf, Stalker, and Claw the Unconquered. The genre had often proved a hard nut to crack for comics publishers, and most of the titles launched at this time died quick and early deaths. Note that I said “most.” Enter The Warlord, which ran for 133 issues before ending its run in 1989. The Warlord told the adventures of Travis Morgan, a modern man who discovers a barbaric world inside the hollow crust of the Earth. Created by Mike Grell— who at the time was illustrating one of DC’s best-selling titles—Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes— Warlord was healthy mix of mythical creatures, evil sorcerers, and blade-wielding heroes inspired by the works of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and J.R.R. Tolkein. But every legend has its roots, often shrouded in the mists of a forgotten age. Join creator “Iron” Mike Grell as we return to the lost world of the Warlord. – Philip Schweier PHILIP SCHWEIER: Let’s talk about The Warlord. MIKE GRELL: Do that. SCHWEIER: You had started kind of developing the creation when in college, is that right? In art school? GRELL: Ah, no. Well, I suppose you could say that; art school, post-college, post-Air Force. I was at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art when I started doing “The Warlord,” and I was also moonlighting in commercial art at the time, and “The Warlord” had his genesis as a comic strip called Savage Empire. SCHWEIER: Then you offered it to … was it Charlton? … no, it was Atlas— GRELL: Atlas [aka Seaboard, a mid-1970s publisher]. I was already working at DC Comics, and I found out that Atlas was offering a hundred bucks a page,

Iron Mike’s Lost World Hero Travis Morgan, aka the Warlord, in a commissioned painting by the swashbuckler’s creator, Mike Grell. Courtesy of Scott Kress of Catskill Comics (to inquire about commissions by Grell and other artists, visit www.catskillcomics.com). © 2007 DC Comics.

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Philip Schweier

conducted July 18, 2006 and transcribed by Brian K. Morris

which was about two and a half times what DC was offering at the time, and it sounded like a real good idea. But when I pitched the thing to [Atlas editor] Jeff Rovin, I explained to him that I already had a commitment to DC and I wanted to make sure that I demonstrated to them that I could meet all my commitments, and asked him to keep it under his hat until I had a couple of issues in the can. He said, “No problem,” and I walked from his office to DC, which was about 20 minutes across town. And by the time I got there, [then-DC publisher] Carmine Infantino was waiting for me in the hallway. He said Jeff Rovin had just called and told him that he had me tied up for two books a month. And Carmine, of course, wanted to know why I hadn’t brought the concept to DC instead, and I explained to him that I honestly didn’t think DC would be that interested because they hadn’t had any success, really, with fantasy and science fiction, non-action/adventure kind of stuff. And he said, “Well, why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” So we walked into his office and as we walked in, the telephone was ringing and he excused himself to take the call, which was just as well because as we were sort of going through his door, almost in that moment, it dawned on me that there was no way he was going to buy it, not in the form that it was. So while Carmine was on the phone for about two or three minutes, I completely revised the concept from The Savage Empire into The Warlord. Savage Empire was the story of an archeologist who stumbles through a time portal and winds up in Atlantis. It was sort a “Connecticut Yankee in Atlantis” instead of King Arthur’s court. And my story changed to become the story of a US spy pilot who stumbles on a portal into the world at the center of the Earth where creatures from mythology and Earth’s ancient past co-exist, leftovers of the civilization of Atlantis and other things as well. About the only thing that I kept in there was the name of the villain, Deimos. I was going to change that to “Phobos,” but it was just such a cool name that I decided to keep it. SCHWEIER: “Deimos” has a much more threatening sound and is worthy of being Travis Morgan’s archnemesis. GRELL: Well, it’s taken from the moons of Mars, Phobos. SCHWEIER: Exactly. Now, this was not your first writing gig for DC. You had done a Green Arrow story. GRELL: Yes. SCHWEIER: How did that Green Arrow story lead to writing The Warlord for you at DC? Did it kind of prove yourself in the eyes of the editorial department? GRELL: I think so, to a certain extent, maybe to a large extent. I had always thought that if you were capable of creating an interesting story in pictures, why shouldn’t you be able to put the words with it as long as you have the basic English Lit skills, which I never had a problem with. I sort of aced it in college so storytelling kind of came natural for me. I had an idea that I pitched to [editor] Julie Schwartz, and [one-time Green Arrow writer] Elliot Maggin was writing at the time, and I wanted to do this story with me doing Green Arrow’s basic plots and all the lines and then everything else, and Elliott doing the dialogue. And I kind of was all finished. The first one came out pretty good. The second time around, I thought that Julie’s ending was a little heavy-handed. It was changed from a story about a female counterpart to Green Arrow to a story of a

Beginnings:

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

Milestones:

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes / The Warlord Green Lantern/Green Arrow / Starslayer (Pacific Comics) / Jon Sable, Freelance / Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters / Green Arrow James Bond 007: License to Kill and Permission to Die graphic novels Shaman’s Tears (Image Comics) / Iron Man / Jon Sable, Freelance: Bloodtrail / The Complete Jon Sable trade paperbacks

Works in Progress:

new Jon Sable, Freelance graphic novel (ComicMix) / The Pilgrim graphic novel

Cyberspace:

www.mikegrell.com (official site) www.catskillcomics.com (commissions)

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

young boy who is the reincarnation of King David. Instead of a bow and arrow, he’s using a sling to knock off bad guys. You know, I pretty much threw my hands up in the air and said, “Okay, I’ll let somebody else write it, but I’ll draw it.” I pretty much shelved the idea and pulled it out again—at least the basic concept of it—years later for Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. But, yeah, in all of that, as I was getting going, I had already shown Joe Orlando my portfolio, which included The Savage Empire, and I had shown him the old Iron Mike stuff that I had done years before that, a private-eye comic strip. And that, I think, swayed him as much as anything else. Plus, I had a great line of B.S. and, well, I got the shot. You know, Carmine promised me a one-year run on the book, and I thought that was a lot better guarantee than a crapshoot with Atlas. And it turned out that Atlas wasn’t around for very long. You know, they only published a few issues of the books that they did bring out. Some of them were brilliant, but unfortunately, the company didn’t last and the titles went down with it. [Editor’s note: Join us next issue for a history of Altas Comics.] And Carmine, of course, wasn’t very good for his word because he canceled The Warlord after story number three, issue #2, I think it was. SCHWEIER: It debuted in First Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975). GRELL: Correct. SCHWEIER: And then there was The Warlord issue #1 (Jan.–Feb. 1976) and 2 (Mar.–Apr. 1976), it was canceled.

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GRELL: Well, at the end of the third story [Warlord #2], imagine my surprise when I’m reading through and looking at the lettering and I read “The End” at the end of it. I was very surprised and DC said, “Well, Carmine canceled it,” and there was nothing I could do. But fortunately, Jenette Kahn replaced Carmine very shortly after that and it turns out that Jenette had been a big fan of The Warlord, thought it had some merit, and had it put back on the schedule. [Editor’s note: The Warlord #3 was cover-dated Oct.–Nov. 1976.] SCHWEIER: That … hiccup in the early issues—did that affect you at all in terms of production? Or was it just a quick jump-in-the-saddle again to launch that third issue and the ongoing series? GRELL: It was pretty easy. The story had already been planned out, there was no question about where it was going. I had the first year’s worth of stories already plotted out, so jumping in and continuing with the production was no big deal. This part of the big “DC Implosion” thing where everything that wasn’t canceled went from bimonthly to monthly, so there wasn’t that much of a gap, actually. SCHWEIER: A lot of different elements were borrowed to go into Warlord, such as Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and some of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar material. But what else did you include in the mix? A little bit of everything, from what I understand. GRELL: A lot, a lot. Before the turn of the century, the 20th Century, there were something like 57 or 58 different titles written on the theory of Hollow Earth, and I drew on several of those that I had at my disposal, along with the inspirations of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar, and combined some of those aspects. For instance, the world of Skartaris is named for the mountain peak in Journey to the Center of the Earth that points the way down into the volcano that shows the party the proper tunnel to take that leads them to the center of the Earth, except it’s spelled “S-c-a-r” instead of “S-k-a-r.” “Shamballa,” of course, is from [the '70s rock band] Three Dog Night: “How does

Mr. and Mr. Warlord Travis Morgan and Tara, from page 1 of Warlord #17 (Jan. 1979). Art by Grell and Colletta. (next two pages) Warlord commissions by Grell, courtesy of Catskill Comics. © 2007 DC Comics.

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the light shine in the halls of Shamballa?” which is actually, again, spelled differently, spelled with a “C.” But it’s the fabled golden city that’s supposed to be in a hollow mountain in Tibet someplace. There’s supposed to be a tunnel or a cave, a cavern, that leads to this golden city somewhere buried in the Earth. SCHWEIER: Kind of a Shangri-La. GRELL: And that had a bit to do, with Shamballa, with the world at the center of the Earth as well. SCHWEIER: Let’s talk about supporting characters. There was Tara, Morgan’s wife, and they had something of a rather dysfunctional relationship. GRELL: Morgan himself was pretty dysfunctional. Here’s a guy who starts out with all these noble intentions. And among them is to put an end to things like slavery, the abuse of power, and all of that has to do with the fact that he’s a victim of those things. And as soon as he’s no longer a victim, he sort of forgets about it, kind of like the people during the '60s who were protesting the war in Vietnam and wanting to make the world a better planet. Well, the planet we have right now is a byproduct of that generation. That generation is now the people who are running things and is it better? You could say maybe so, but maybe not. Not a lot has changed, really. And the fact is that after the Draft was abolished, it was no longer any concern to them. They were less concerned with making things right in the world, with taking care of the planet, with taking care of their fellow man, because it wasn’t of immediate importance to them, and Morgan is very much like that. Plus, you have a strong, independent woman who is, just coincidently, the queen of her own nation. Now she has responsibilities and understands the responsibility that she has. And so to her, her duties to her people come first. And Morgan, of course, is always just running around, swinging his sword, he’s having a great old time: “Bye, honey. See you later. I’m off to the wars. I’m off to have some adventures,” and he leaves her, ditches her to go off and have fun. And every single time he comes back, she breaks his nose. Every single time, she punches him in the nose, knocks him on his ass, and for the life of him, he can’t figure out why. He doesn’t have a clue. SCHWEIER: Sadly, most men are like that these days. GRELL: Oh, yeah! SCHWEIER: I mean, he’s hardly acting out of type, whether he’s in Skartaris or 20th Century America. GRELL: Exactly, exactly. He’s sort of the quintessential caveman. He’s a modern man in a primitive society, but the primitive is just barely below the surface in him, which is one of the things that makes the character interesting. He makes all of the mistakes that we make, that ordinary people make—but in the end, he has a tendency to at least want to try to do something good. He just stumbles and fumbles and bumbles and along the way, he’s lost track of what it was that he set out to do. Ultimately, that’s going to be his downfall. SCHWEIER: Getting back to Deimos, he was Morgan’s arch-nemesis … and a rather powerful one at that. GRELL: Right. He combined at least the rudimentary knowledge of Atlantean science that he acquired by experimenting with machinery that had been left over from this lost race with mystical, magical abilities that made him a pretty formidable enemy, and tough to kill. SCHWEIER: Yes, he came back a number of times.

!Call Me Mister … Mister Machine!" TM

THE STORY OF

Allan Harvey

Upon his return to Marvel Comics in late 1975, writerartist Jack Kirby was offered a peculiar assignment. 2001: A Space Odyssey had been a hit movie in 1968, telling the story of mankind’s evolution from primitive man-ape to godlike Star Child. Now Kirby was tasked with developing a comics adaptation. It’s not clear as to why anyone at Marvel thought such a project would be a success eight years after the movie’s release.

BEYOND 2001

The adaptation duly appeared in mid-1976 as a tabloid-sized Treasury Special. While Kirby was no doubt fascinated with the premise of the movie, his bombastic, action-packed art style was almost the antithesis of that required for a faithful adaptation of what was a very ponderous film. Kirby then had the chance to go beyond the movie. As a monthly comic 2001: A Space Odyssey was something of a mixed bag, being an anthology series featuring plots similar to the film. Following #7, however, Kirby—or Marvel—had a rethink. Anthologies were a notoriously difficult sell, and so the decision was made to create an ongoing character for the 2001 title. Running over the final three issues of 2001 (#8–10), “Mister Machine” features a secret military/scientific establishment that has developed “thinking computers in the form of men.” Labeled the “X-series,” these machines appear almost human, but are in fact robots intended for space exploration. However, when a number of the X-series exhibit signs of madness, they are all marked for destruction. X-51 is different. He has been allowed to stay at the home of scientist Abel Stack. Stack has taken such a shine to X-51, he’s renamed him Aaron, and begun to treat him as a surrogate son. Aaron has a humanlooking facemask and wig that hides his robotic visage. Informed that X-51 is to be terminated, Stack is understandably distraught.

Avenging Automaton Signed by the King himself, original cover art to Machine Man #8, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Bob Wiacek. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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He removes an explosive device from Aaron’s interior and sends his “son” out to be amongst real humans. Aaron is excited and relishes this chance to experience humanity. Stack dies when the device explodes. Unaware of the fate of his “father,” Aaron explores the world at large. Flying over a city, he soon attracts the attention of a police SWAT team and is chased away, only to fall foul of a small army unit that blasts him with sonic weaponry. Held captive on a military base, Aaron is confronted by Colonel Kragg. Kragg hates the X-series for costing him an eye. Project head Doctor Broadhurst, meanwhile, attempts to understand Aaron. He is convinced that X-51 is different from the other X-models, and won’t similarly go mad. Kragg is far from convinced. Aaron is visited by the Monolith, that mysterious alien artifact from 2001. While it’s not explicitly stated, the implication is that the Monolith helps Aaron evolve into something more than the simple machine he was. Aaron escapes his confinement, more sure of his humanity than ever, and Doctor Broadhurst arranges

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for him to be allowed to leave the base. Unaware that a tracking device has been secreted on him, Aaron tells the soldiers that next time they meet he will insist on being called “…Mister! Mister Machine!” The Monolith appears again and imparts more quasi-mystical knowledge, then vanishes (never to be mentioned again), leaving Mister Machine (MM) alone with a small boy, Jerry Fields, whose elder sister requires help with a flat tire. Observing these events is the mysterious Mr. Hotline, and his chauffeur, the wonderfully named Kringe. Hotline is keen to secure an X-model for his own purposes. He sends a small force to attack, but MM overcomes them very quickly. Young Jerry Fields idolizes MM, believing him to be “a Marvel Comics super-hero” (clearly Kirby intended this story to take place outside the Marvel universe). Sadly, Aaron is treated with fear and resentment by almost everyone else he meets. Mr. Hotline and Kringe ponder their failure to capture X-51. Kringe believes that X-51 is “veritably human! He thinks like a man! He acts like a man! That machine possesses the faculty of free will!!” Hotline threatens him into silence, for Hotline is a member of the Brotherhood of Hades, a society that opposes free will. Meanwhile, at the home of the Fields, Aaron is made welcome. It is the first real kindness he has known since he left Abel Stack’s care. Suddenly, Hotline’s soldiers burst in and attack the family. They threaten the Fields with harm unless MM comes with them. Reluctantly, he does so. Technicians dismantle him, and take his head to Satan-like Mind Monitor. MM’s electronic brain is probed to discover the programming that allows him free will. Thus defined, the Mind Monitor will then eliminate free will from humanity and enslave the planet. MM takes remote control of his limbs, which kick and punch their way free and reassemble themselves in the Mind Monitor’s chamber. He then blasts the Monitor with his weapons system. The truth is revealed: The Monitor is just a super-computer. Aaron destroys it and flees, freeing the Fields family from their captivity. As he watches the Brotherhood’s complex burn, Aaron ponders his destiny. It’s an interesting story—and a strangely low-key one. Kirby was attempting something different. The vast majority of comics he produced in the 1970s followed a set layout: a page-one splash, followed by an all-action double-page spread. However, in all the 12 comics Kirby drew featuring MM, only one has a double-page spread. It seems that Kirby deliberately intended MM’s story to be more cerebral than action-packed. Through MM, Kirby was exploring themes such as alienation, place within society, the rights of the individual, and whether a machine that looks like a man, acts like a man, and thinks like a man should be considered a man— all questions later posed by the film Blade Runner. That Aaron Stack is hounded at every turn, and feared by the very people he tries to help, is essentially a continuation of themes Kirby had explored before with the Silver Surfer. They’re ideas that must have fascinated him, as he would return to them once again in his late masterpiece, Silver Star.

Dan Johnson

cond ucte d July 12, 2007

If you want to succeed in business, you have to tap into your full potential. While on the comics page Tony Stark may have learned that lesson a long time ago, some of the writers and artists who were crafting tales of his alter ego, Iron Man, had not. All that changed though when inker Bob Layton and writer David Michelinie were given the nod to helm the adventures of Ol’ Shellhead from Iron Man #116 (Nov. 1978) to #153 (Dec. 1981). During their run on the book, Iron Man became a major power player in the Marvel Universe and a huge hit with fans of Marvel Comics. More importantly, the man in the Golden Armor, Tony Stark, took center stage in the series and was finally fleshed out as a character. The world that the man behind Stark Industries inhabited, and comics in general, became richer for this new emphasis. Indeed, Layton and Michelinie’s initial run was so successful and fondly remembered that they were asked to return to the book for a second time during Iron Man #215–232 (Feb. 1988–July 1989). Recently BACK ISSUE caught up with Layton and Michelinie and got the story about their two times with the Golden Avenger, and we also got the inside scoop about how they are returning to the character once more in an effort to yet again build a better Iron Man. – Dan Johnson DAN JOHNSON: Thank you both for sitting down and doing this “Pro2Pro” interview with BACK ISSUE. The theme of this particular issue is “Men of Steel,” and you certainly can’t do an issue like this without talking about Iron Man. Tell our readers how you two came to work on this character. DAVID MICHELINIE: We had worked together at DC on Claw the Unconquered and we had become friends over that [series]. We had both recently left DC to work for Marvel and we were offered Iron Man by Jim Shooter. I had never read Iron Man before, and it was one of Bob’s

Iron Men Tony Stark and his temporary replacement as Iron Man, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, in a 2001 Bob Layton commissioned illustration. From the collection of Chris Murrin. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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favorite books, so we made a good team. Bob knew all the stuff that had happened in the past, and I knew absolutely nothing, so I was coming to it with fresh eyes. BOB LAYTON: If I remember correctly, there were three books offered to us and Iron Man was one of them. They were three books that were at the bottom [in sales rankings]. Do you recall that? MICHELINIE: It may well have happened, but I have no memory of that. LAYTON: I think I was just so excited to find out Iron Man was one of the books they had available. MICHELINIE: If so, then that’s probably the reason I picked it. The advantage of having you know the character was probably a factor. LAYTON: It’s safe to say that Dave kind of rolled with this. I was always such a huge fan of armored characters anyway, from my King Arthur obsession on, that Dave just listened to all my ranting about this character from my childhood and he formed his take on Iron Man from my opinions. Is that fair, Dave? MICHELINIE: [slight pause] Okay. LAYTON: [laughs] MICHELINIE: I don’t know if I formed my opinions, but I certainly got a great deal of background, and your enthusiasm bled off into my viewpoint, I’m sure. LAYTON: I was a lot more excitable in those days. MICHELINIE: I don’t know if that has diminished. LAYTON: [laughter] Thanks! JOHNSON: You said Iron Man was selling poorly when you took over. When you sat down together to discuss what needed to be done to improve the sales, what conclusions did you draw? What changes did you think had to be made? LAYTON: Get rid of the Ani-Men! [laughter] Wasn’t that our first agenda, Dave? MICHELINIE: I think our first agenda was to push the character into a more realistic direction, looking at Tony Stark as a real guy and determining what would a real guy in his position do. That’s why one of the first storylines we wanted to do was “Demon in a Bottle,” an alcoholism storyline. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying to take over his company and [Stark] had all kinds of women problems. As some would say, you wouldn’t give his problems to a monkey on a rock. [Faced with these problems,] what would a real person do? A real person would look for some kind of safety valve and at the time, with Tony being a millionaire playboy in the 1980s before crack cocaine became such a popular item, drinking seemed to be the logical way to push him. That was our main thrust, to try and take this character and change him as a real person and see where that led us.

Corner symbol art by Bob Layton used during the Iron Man run penciled by John Romita, Jr.

Beginnings: Inker on Charlie Nichols’ pencils for “By the Dawn’s Early Light,” published in Charlton Comics’ Beyond the Grave #5 (Apr. 1976)

Milestones: Co-creator of the Huntress / plotter and inker on Iron Man / writer and artist on Hercules limited series / writer on X-Factor / co-founder of Valiant Comics / co-creator of X-O Manowar / co-founder of Future Comics

Works in Progress: Iron Man: The End one-shot / a new miniseries featuring the third installment of the Iron Man/Dr. Doom/Camelot trilogy for Marvel Comics / writer and inker of the online monthly web-comic, Colony, at www.boblayton.com

Cyberspace: www.boblayton.com

BOB LAYTON Photo courtesy of Bob Layton.

Beginnings: “Puglyon’s Crypt,” published in DC’s House of Secrets #116 (Feb. 1974)

Milestones: Co-plotter and scripter of Iron Man / The Avengers / Star Wars / The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones / The Unknown Soldier / The Bozz Chronicles / The Amazing Spider-Man / creator of Venom / Action Comics / co-founder of Future Comics

Works in Progress: Co-plotter and scripter of Iron Man: The End one-shot and Iron Man/Dr. Doom/Camelot trilogy miniseries for Marvel Comics / short stories for Moonstone prose anthologies including The Phantom Chronicles and Moonstone Monsters: Werewolves

DAVID MICHELINIE Photo courtesy of Bob Layton.

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Andy Mangels

“For centuries the world has been protected by a group of extraordinary men and women, who have dedicated themselves to fighting crime ...” (opening announcer for Legends of the SuperHeroes) For those who opened their TV Guides in the third week of January 1979, a surprise awaited. An ad showed liveaction versions of various DC Comics superheroes, fighting the world’s worst supervillains! Even more interesting: Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin were headlining, returning to their iconic roles as Batman, Robin, and the Riddler! What was this oddity that brought Green Lantern, the Flash, the Huntress, Black Canary, and Hawkman to the small screen? Who conceived of a rogues’ gallery containing Mordru and Dr. Sivana, as well as Solomon Grundy, Giganta, Sinestro, and Weather Wizard? In the article that follows, you’ll get a comprehensive look at the mystery that was Legends of the SuperHeroes, the campy pair of 1979 live-action telefilms. While it has later been argued by critics that the real villains were NBC and Hanna-Barbera for foisting the shows on the American public, fans who’ve obtained the specials on bootleg videos, DVD, or YouTube find them—although anachronistic and campy— oddly entertaining and true-to-comics as a whole. We’ll first take a look at the plots of the shows, then delve into the behind-the-scenes creation of the questionable cult “classics.”

LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES: The Challenge

The Heroes: Batman (Adam West), Robin (Burt Ward), Black Canary (Danuta), Captain Marvel (Garrett Craig), Green Lantern (Howard Murphy), Hawkman (Bill Nuckols), Flash (Rod Haase), Huntress (Barbara Joyce), Retired Man/Scarlet Cyclone (William Schallert). The Villains: Riddler (Frank Gorshin), Sinestro (Charlie Callas), Weather Wizard (Jeff Altman), Mordru (Gabe Dell), Dr. Sivana (Howard Morris), Solomon Grundy (Mickey Morton), Giganta (A’Leshia Brevard).

LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES: The Roast

Additional Cast: Atom (Alfie Wise), Ghetto Man (Brad Sanders), Hawkman’s Mother (Pat Carroll), Aunt Minerva (Ruth Buzzi), Rhoda Rooter (June Gabel). The Creative Team: Directed by Bill Carruthers and Chris Darley (associate); written by Mike Marmer and Peter Gallay, with additional material by Mort Greene and Ken Harris; consultant was Sol Harrison; based on an idea by Sheldon Moldoff; narrated by Gary Owens.

Suck in Those Guts! The heroic cast of The Challenge (credits at right). All photos in this article are courtesy of Andy Mangels. Legends of the SuperHeroes © 1979 DC Comics Inc. and Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.

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LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES: The Challenge January 18, 1979, NBC-TV, 8:00–9:00 PM

The episode begins with a heroic roll call, wherein each hero poses and/or demonstrates their power. Then, we cut to a secret hideout located in a hidden swamp on a remote island, where the arch-enemies of the SuperHeroes have gathered to hatch a diabolical plot. After a roll call of the villains—who sit semi-circle in a hall with curving architecture that brings to mind the headquarters of the Legion of Doom on Hanna-Barbera’s Challenge of the Super Friends (coincidentally on ABC Saturday mornings at that time)—Dr. Sivana introduces his Doomsday Device which will destroy the world by the end of the show (i.e., 60 minutes). The SuperHeroes, meanwhile, are deep in their own secret cave fortress, honoring the aging super-hero Scarlet Cyclone, now known as “Retired Man.” But when the Riddler sends them clues, the heroes break into action to find the Doomsday Device and deactivate it before it explodes. Batman and Robin soon encounter Solomon Grundy at a gas station, where he further sabotages the already-sabotaged (by Sinestro) Batmobile, forcing the heroes to race off without their famous car. Then, Green Lantern discovers that a strange gypsy fortuneteller is really Sinestro; after a short battle, he presses on. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin buy a motorcycle and sidecar from “Honest Hal” (really Weather Wizard), which splits up the Dynamic Duo when it splits in two. But horrors, Hawkman and Black Canary are captured by Grundy at the gas station, and are rescued later by Captain Marvel, who’s narrowly escaped a Freudian psychologist who is really the Riddler. Later, Sivana slips a potion into lemonade, which strips several heroes of their powers, but soon, Batman is chasing Mordru on a jet-ski at Hidden Island Lake! Toasting their impending victory, the villains accidentally drink the anti-power formula. The heroes—who have mysteriously and without explanation gotten their powers back between commercials—eventually converge on the villains’ hideout with only minutes left. After a brief slapstick battle, the heroes are triumphant and stop the doomsday machine with only a second to spare! COMMENTS: With a very heavy emphasis on Batman, Robin, and the Riddler, this was obviously supposed to play on the popularity of the original Batman show. Slapstick is prevalent, logic is non-existent, and Flash, Huntress, and Giganta act largely as set decoration. Robin’s moronic “Holy expletive” dialogue lends the funniest moments, although the Solomon Grundy scenes (with Greek chorus-like Marsha Warfield of Night Court providing a running phone commentary) were relatively funny. And just in case viewers didn’t catch the jokes, a “helpful” laugh track was there to aid them. Still, how cool was it to see Black Canary and Hawkman versus Solomon Grundy?

(top) Villains unite to challenge the SuperHeroes. Left to right: Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Dr. Sivana, Mordru, Giganta, Riddler, and Weather Wizard. (center) Gotham’s grooviest: (left) Ward and West back in tights, and (right) Barbara Joyce as the Huntress. (bottom) Sinestro’s up to no good under the Batmobile’s hood. Legends of the SuperHeroes © 1979 DC Comics Inc. and Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.

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The World’s Greatest Superheroes A newspaper syndicate ad, illustrated by George Tuska, for the strip starring DC’s Justice League heroes. Unless otherwise noted, all art in this article is courtesy of its author, Dewey Cassell. © 2007 DC Comics.

Dewey Cassell

“Look, down in the newspaper! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Superman!” For DC Comics, 1978 was a year of branching out for its flagship character. Production was underway on a major motion picture adaptation of Superman, starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, which would be released in December. Witnessing the success of the Spider-Man newspaper strip, launched in 1977, the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate approached DC Comics editor Julie Schwartz about developing a strip based on Superman and the Justice League of America, and replete with all the action typically found in the comic books. The World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip was launched in May 1978 with Golden and Silver Age artist George Tuska tapped to pencil the strip, fresh off a successful run illustrating Iron Man for Marvel Comics. Vince Colletta, then art director at DC Comics, supplied the inks. Marty Pasko wrote the early story arcs, which featured various members of the Justice League, including Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Batman, Robin, and Black Lightning. However, the focus of the strip ultimately shifted to just Superman and his supporting cast of characters, including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White, with only occasional guest appearances by other heroes. The villains of the strip were a rogues’ gallery of DC Comics’ best of the worst, including Vandal Savage, Lex Luthor, Doctor Destiny, the Prankster, the Weaponer of Qward, the Joker, and Brainiac. Some of the newspaper storylines actually mirrored the comic books, although not necessarily in the same timeframe. (There were no “synchronized” storylines between the newspaper and comic books, like Marvel Comics did with the wedding of Peter Parker and Mary Jane.) One great example of The World’s Greatest Superheroes (TWGS) strip is the Brainiac storyline, which was written by Paul Levitz, who assumed the writing chores from Marty Pasko in the fall of 1979. Brainiac was first seen in comic books in issue #242 of Action Comics (July 1958), in a tale written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye. In the TWGS newspaper tale, which began in January 1980, Brainiac kidnaps Lois to lure Superman into a confrontation. Brainiac then sends a robot to attack M e n

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Beginnings:

The Comic Reader fanzine (1970s)

Milestones:

Writer: Justice Society in All-Star / Stalker / Aquaman in Adventure Comics / co-creator of Earth-Two Huntress / Legion of Super-Heroes / JSA Editor: Adventure Comics / Batman, Detective Comics, and The Brave and the Bold Executive: an unmatched climb up the DC corporate ladder in a celebrated career spanning over three decades

Work in Progress:

President and publisher of DC Comics

Cyberspace:

www.dccomics.com

Dynamo No-No George Tuska’s sketch of the Crimson Dynamo (right), and the Dynamo-like robot from the 1/11/80 TWGS strip (below). Crimson Dynamo © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. World’s Greatest Superheroes © 2007 DC Comics.

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Superman. When the robot fails to dispatch Superman, Brainiac shrinks Metropolis (à la Kandor), along with Lois, Jimmy, and Superman. Superman ultimately outwits Brainiac, reversing the polarity of the shrinking ray and restoring himself and the rest of Metropolis to normal size. Superman damages Brainiac’s spaceship in the process, forcing it to crash land, and confines Brainiac to the wreckage of his ship. Using his superior intellect, Brainiac manages to construct another shrinking weapon from the remains of his ship, but when he attempts to use it on Superman, it backfires and Brainiac himself is reduced to subatomic size. One interesting anecdote about this storyline surrounds the robot sent by Brainiac to battle Superman. Notations on the original artwork indicate that Tuska was asked to go back and add antennae to the robot, probably because without them, the robot bore a striking resemblance to an Iron Man villain, the Crimson Dynamo. I talked with Paul Levitz, now president and publisher of DC Comics, about The World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip and the Brainiac storyline. DEWEY CASSELL: By the time you started on The World’s Greatest Superheroes strip, the editorial reins had shifted from Julie Schwartz to Joe Orlando. I take it Joe had a different approach to the strip. PAUL LEVITZ: They came to the process with very different experiences. Joe had written the Little Orphan Annie newspaper strip for a stretch by that time, probably about four or five years previous. He was a great fan of the earlier newspaper strips. Julie, as far as I know, had never come anywhere near the newspaper strip side of the business. He didn’t have any particular interest in or passion for it. I think Julie started out approaching it as a more literal translation of the comic books and Joe had more interest in what the synthesis of the two could be. CASSELL: Many of the storylines, like Brainiac shrinking Metropolis, were adapted from the comic books. Was that a conscious decision? LEVITZ: I don’t recall. Obviously, it wouldn’t have been an unconscious theft. We were towards the end of a period in which there was an assumption that most of our readers of comics turned over every few years, so people wouldn’t remember older stuff anyway. CASSELL: It seemed like most of the villains used in the strip were comic-book villains, not new villains. Was that deliberate? LEVITZ: It was a combination of two things. One, there was probably some effort at familiarity, but also I’m a fairly bad villain-creator over the course of my

wart Tom “The Comics Savant” Ste

Throughout the 1930s, America was dealing with the worst depression of the new century. People were out of work in record numbers, jobs being scarce; in big cities the problem was worsened by the crush of people coming from the countryside looking for work that wasn’t there. Drought and delinquent loans were closing farms. The last thing a struggling America needed was to get embroiled in Europe’s war. It was far away and not the USA’s problem. Hitler made a lot of noise, but he was just a little man who liked to yell, nothing to be really worried about. America was consumed with its own problem, not those of the Germans and the Japanese. It was the era of hope for “Peace in Our Time.” In DC Comics continuity, in the late summer of 1939 biology student Hank Heywood was returning from Munich, Germany, with his mentor Doctor [aka Professor] Gilbert Giles. They’d literally been run out of the country after presenting their findings on “biological retardents,” a process that would allow surgical replacements of damaged limbs and organs … not sure why that would be called a “retardent” [Editor’s note: Or why it wasn’t spelled “retardant”]. On their way out of the hall, Hank tried to put a stop to a couple of Nazi Brownshirts beating a defenseless old man.

Steel the Imploded Man Original cover art to the unpublished Steel the Indestructible Man #6, penciled by Don Heck and inked by Al Milgrom, from the collection of Rick Shurgin. Steel was axed with issue #5, a casualty of the DC Implosion, but issue #6’s material received a second lease on life on two occasions: first in the black-and-white, low-print-run grab bag of remaindered comics stories, Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 (1978), then serialized (with Jerry Ordway re-inking the Heck pages) in the two-part All-Star Squadron #8–9 (Apr.–May 1982). © 2007 DC Comics.

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Pre-war Protagonist

The old fellow covered for Hank and Giles, misdirecting the Nazis, but ended up dying in a hail of bullets while they made their escape. Heywood knew what he had to do. When the boat docked in New York weeks later, Hank joined the Marines, readying himself for the war he felt would be inevitable. In stopping some saboteurs that were trying to break onto the base, Hank was caught in a blast and almost killed. His friend Professor Giles then rebuilt him, making him better and stronger, using the new discoveries they had both developed, replacing his pulped and damaged bones and organs with steel and steel tubing, installing micro-motors to power and move all that new weight, and using the bio-retardent to re-grow the burned and charred skin. Hank Heywood was now, literally, a “man of steel.” He soon adopted a colorful costume and the name “Steel,” then started after the German Bundists who, working with Baron Death (sent right from Hitler himself), were trying to undermine America. The USA had its first flagwearing hero. Well, first in a retconned sort of way. The Shield was really the first, punching his way through the MLJ [Archie] line in 1940, then Captain America in 1941 (he got to punch out Hitler right on the front cover— now that’s a hero!). Steel was really a late-’70s addition to the patriot game, arriving full blown in Steel the Indestructible Man #1 (Mar. 1978).

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SHE’S A WONDER, WONDER WOMAN

To find the alloys that made up Steel, you have to go to a certain scantily clad Amazon. In the mid-’70s, former Marvel Comics writer (and editor-in-chief) Gerry Conway was working away on the scripting of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman. The WW comic book, in accordance with the then-current Wonder Woman TV show, had been set back to the time of the superheroine’s creation, World War II, where the Amazon Princess fought the good fight against the Nazis and the advances of Steve Trevor on the home front. As in any period writing, this involved a lot of research, digging into the history and social mores of the time. Gerry became interested not only in the period of the war, but the time before the war. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America—its people, government, and industries— threw itself headlong and wholeheartedly into defeating the Nazis and the Japanese. So much so, it almost erased the time before December 7th, 1941, when America didn’t really want a part of “Europe’s War.” Yes, war protests are nothing new—the ’60s didn’t invent them. “America First” groups formed with the intent of keeping America free of “European entanglements” and the German Bundist movement (German-American organizations here in America) was rife with German spies, acting to keep America out of the war. On the other side, some saw the world situation and felt America must act before it would be forced into another world war unprepared. This included President

Al N ickerson

THE BIRTH OF A ROBOT

John Byrne’s spunky robot, ROG-2000, first appeared as a mascot in Bob Layton and Roger Stern’s comic-book fanzine Contemporary Pictorial Fanzine (also referred to as CPL) #6 (1973). ROG (or Rog) is short for “Roger” and rhymes with “lodge.” Where did ROG-2000’s name come from? Legend has it that Bob Layton named him. Byrne confirms that “there were several Rogers working on CPL, Layton’s Indiana-based fanzine, and when I sent in a spot illustration of a robot, Bob declared him to be the new editor and dubbed him ROG-2000.” Byrne recalls that “Rogie began as a spot illustration of a rather different-looking robot. Layton put ‘ROG-2000’ on its chest and asked for more. I didn’t keep copies of the stuff I sent in to ’zines, so I designed a whole new robot along basically the same configuration. I added the cigar, and his ‘personality’ was set almost immediately.” A ROG-2000 story, “The Coming of the Gang,” was the first published ROG-2000 story. It appeared in Contemporary Pictorial Fanzine #11 (1974). “The Coming of the Gang” featured ROG-2000 with the CPL Gang as they try to find a way to get to Duffy’s Tavern in Brooklyn, New York. “The Coming of the Gang” was written by Roger Stern with artwork by John Byrne and Bob Layton. Thus began the heroic adventures of ROG-2000.

ROG-2000 AND E-MAN

Charlton Comics’ Nick Cuti (also the co-creator and writer of E-Man) played a very important role in getting ROG-2000 to appear in backup stories for Charlton’s E-Man. John Byrne remembers that “Nick had seen the CPL stuff, and was looking for a backup for E-Man, since Steve Ditko’s Killjoy had run its course. Nick asked me if I would be interested in doing ROG, with Nick writing.” Cuti confirms “that was in the early 1970s during my tenure at Charlton as assistant editor to George Wildman. We received a small publication from a group of guys from Indianapolis, Indiana, who called themselves the CPL Gang. The ringleaders of the group were Bob Layton and Roger Stern. They were interested in doing a Charlton fanzine called The Charlton Bullseye and wanted to pay us a visit. Even though their fanzine was half-size and printed in black-and-white, the artwork in it was very professional in quality, especially John’s art where he drew this little robot which he called ROG-2000. They did come to visit us and they did publish The Charlton Bullseye just as they said they would.” So, whose idea was it to have ROG-2000 appear in E-Man? As Cuti continues, “Actually, the CPL Gang suggested it. When we started E-Man, we decided to devote a few pages in the rear of the book to try out other superheroes. We ran a few, which just didn’t take off. Then, at a convention, the CPL Gang approached me about the possibility of running ROG-2000 as the E-Man backup. Well, the fans loved ROG.” M e n

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How did Byrne feel about ROG-2000 appearing in E-Man? Did Byrne think that he made it to the big-time in comics at that point? “Medium time, maybe! But it was fun working at Charlton, and working with Nick.” Byrne continues, “ROG stayed the backup until E-Man was canceled, with issue #10. That was when I moved on to ‘greener pastures’ with Doomsday + One.” ROG-2000’s first backup story was the seven-page “That Was No Lady,” which appeared in E-Man #6 (Jan. 1975). “That Was No Lady” also featured a fictional inventor by the name of “Burns,” who had an uncanny resemblance to ROG-2000’s real-life creator. John Byrne points out that “that was Nick’s idea. It was probably the first time I drew myself in a professional publication.” ROG-2000’s adventures continued with “Withering Heights” in E-Man #7 (Mar. 1975). “Withering Heights” is Byrne’s favorite ROG-2000 story: “I liked the story with the big blob living in the closet of the old hotel. The artwork really clicked on that one, for me, although unfortunately, I inked it with felt tip pens, and Charlton’s poor printing dropped out many of the lines. (I used a pen with blue-based ink, to avoid fading, and Charlton’s camera had trouble reading some of the thinner lines.)” “The Wish” in E-Man #9 (July 1975) was where ROG-2000 discovers that it really stinks being a flesh-and-bone human being. “The Wish” is Cuti’s favorite ROG-2000 story: “ROG saves an old lady from muggers and she grants him what she believes he wants more than anything else, to become human. It turns out, however, that ROG hates being human and now must track down the little old lady so she might turn him back to the way he was. The reason I like ‘The Wish’ is because of the lesson it explores which is that everyone believes everyone else would prefer to be like them.” The last ROG-2000 backup story appeared in E-Man #10 (Sept. 1975). In “ROG vs. the Sog,” ROG-2000 valiantly defends New York City from a giant, slushy, “living garbage heap” of a monster.

ROG-2000 AND STAR TREK

There were Star Trek references in “That Was No Lady” and “Withering Heights.” In these two stories, ROG-2000’s cars had “NCC-1701” listed as license plate numbers. As most Star Trek fans know, “NCC-1701” is the USS Enterprise’s registry number. Who was the Star Trek fan: John Byrne, or Nick Cuti, or both? Byrne comes clean: “I don’t know if Nick is/was a Star Trek fan. I’m a big fan of the original series. If you see any visual Star Trek gags, they are almost certainly mine.”

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Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

First of all, there is the myth to deal with. No, Herbie was not created to allay parents’ fear of a burning man on their TV screens. Since even before the Saturday Night Live skit with Dan Aykroyd as Irwin Mainway, huckster for the “Johnny Human Torch” Halloween costume (consisting of a bag of oily rags and a lighter—get yours today!), parents have long suspected that kids really wanted to light themselves on fire (who needs cosmic rays?) and join a group of misfits in a large downtown Manhattan office building to fight intergalactic villains bent on world domination. I mean, who wouldn’t? Nope, Herbie was created to fill a gap in the Fantastic Four created by Hollywood. See? Hollywood is out to destroy all! In the ’70s, Marvel Comics made a deal with Universal Studios to produce television movies and series using their characters. The package included Captain America (two TV movies starring Reb Brown as a motorcycle-driving Cap), The Incredible Hulk (the hour-long drama starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby), The Amazing Spider-Man (featuring Nicholas Hammond with mirrored, sunglasses-like eyes), Dr. Strange (with a perm), The Sub-Mariner, and, of course, The Human Torch (sans the FF … I think that’s kinda like making a Robin the Boy Wonder TV series. You’d sit around wondering when Batman was going to drop by). Johnny (Torch) Storm was to be a racecar driver who was able to set himself on fire, which would save some time, I suppose. A pilot script was developed, and sent into “devo” hell, where it bounced around, slowly giving in to the laws of physics, bouncing less and less with each rejection and turnaround.

HOLLYWOOD STRIKES!

Over at the other end of the Hollywood biz, Hanna-Barbera was looking for new projects to pitch. After running though new versions of the old H-B favorites, someone suggested another try at the Fantastic Four, something H-B had done back in the ’60s. Sounded like a good idea, so master designer Iwao Takamoto was assigned to make up some presentations. Enter writer and friend of Jack Kirby, Mark Evanier (for those who came in late, Jack Kirby co-created the FF and most of the Marvel Universe. He has a whole Eisnernominated magazine dedicated to him). Mark, noting the Kirby comics Iwao had for reference, told him he should get Kirby himself to do some presentations. Iwao didn’t realize that Jack now lived and worked in Thousand Oaks, right in sunny California itself. Mark handed over Jack’s phone number and encouraged him to give him a call. Takamoto did. At this point in his career, Jack Kirby looked at his future with a growing depression. He felt stuck at Marvel and he didn’t see a way out of doing the same thing he’d been doing for the last

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Richard A. Scott

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art 594 Broadway, Suite 401 New York, NY 10012 Telephone: 212-254-3511 Hours: Friday through Monday, 12:00 PM till 5:00 PM By appointment only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Admission: General Admission: $5 Children 12 and under: Free Group Rates: Call ahead! “MoCCA Mondays” begin at 6:30 PM and are free to all! Doors open at 6:15. Attendees are advised to arrive early, as seating is limited. For additional information, visit www.moccany.org.

MoCCA—it’s not just coffee anymore. No, what MoCCA is, is a scholarly examination of all things comic- and cartoon-related. A 501(c)3 non-profit, MoCCA’s stated purpose is the “collection, preservation, study, education, and display of comic and cartoon art.” MoCCA was founded in October 2001 by Lawrence Klein, a lawyer and comics fan. It has been in its current Soho location for roughly three years. Prior to that it had office space in Union Square, and before that MoCCA was a virtual museum on the Internet. MoCCA continues to maintain exhibits on its website: As of this writing in July 2007, online MoCCA exhibits are “Cartoons Against the Axis!,” “NOW THEN!” (covering artists’ earliest and current works), and “DUCK!” The museum frequently features rotating displays. Recent exhibits included “Stan Lee: A Retrospective,” which due to popular demand was extended beyond its February 23–July 3, 2007 schedule to August 3; “Looking For a Face Like Mine,” covering the landscape of African-American artists and writers in the comics industry; “New York Artists Showcase: Jim Salicrup,” featuring the career of one of comicdom’s notable editors; and “The MoCCA Art Festival 2007,” a celebration of comic and cartoon arts! Many individuals have donated time and materials to the exhibits. There were many wonderful items showcased during my summer 2007 visit. I saw original artwork by Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Stan Goldberg, Gene Colan, Todd McFarlane, and many others. 8 0

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We hope you enjoy this FREE

DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

Edited by top DC and Marvel Comics artist MIKE MANLEY, the Eisner Award-nominated DRAW! magazine is the professional “How-To” magazine on comics, cartooning, and animation. Each issue features in-depth interviews and step-by-step demos from top comics pros on all aspects of graphic storytelling, as each artist invites you into their studio to reveal their working methods and tricks of the trade! #15 is our BACK TO SCHOOL issue, covering the major schools that offer comic art in their curriculum, through interviews with faculty, students, and grads, to give prospective students the best overview to date of collegate-level comic art classes. Plus, there’s an interview with B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS, discussing (and showing) how he produces the fan-favorite series; MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ Comic Art Bootcamp series, chock full of drawing tips; product reviews, a color section, and more! Includes a FREE Preview of WRITE NOW #17! (88-page magazine) SINGLE ISSUES: $9 US SUBSCRIPTIONS: Four issues in the US: $26 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $60 Surface, $72 Airmail). NOTE: Most issues contain nudity for purposes of figure drawing. Intended for Mature Readers.

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Drawing Your Best Foot Forward By Bret Blevins and Mike Manley

hey say a person should always start out on any journey putting their best foot forward, and this is just as true for an artist as it is for anyone embarking on a sequence of grand actions or events. This being so, it is of course vitally important that we visual artists have a solid grasp on the anatomy of the human body as a whole, with extra attention given to the head, hands and feet, which offer every artist a great challenge.

One of the main judgments of an artist’s ability is their skill in drawing people, and especially the face, hands and feet. Where would the portrait artist be—or the fashion artist or comic artist—without these skills? Probably mostly underemployed. Drawing the figure well clearly separates the A-level artists from the C-level artists. And it seems artists who don’t draw the figure well, and are weak on their drawing of hands and feet, will go out of their way, try anything to avoid drawing them.

Feet of Clay? Nay, Feet of Smoke! It is sometimes surprising to see how poorly so many artists (pro as well as amateur) draw the foot, as well as shoes. Often they will employ an amateurish bag of visual tricks to avoid drawing the feet altogether. In the ’90s, during the boom and rise of the Image Comics look, it became the rage for artists to 90

DRAW! #15 Preview

avoid drawing the feet by “fading them away,” hidden in some ever present mist or low lying ground fog that perpetually surrounded and obscured the characters’ feet in any drawing. It could be outer space, it could be the bottom of the ocean; it mattered not what time of day it was... nope, those pesky feet were a problem to draw, and so they were eliminated in puff of smoke or series of “fade-away lines.” I can’t tell you how many portfolios from prospective artists I saw doing the “fade-away feet” back then, and still do now. It’s one of the biggest deficiencies I see in the work of artists I meet at conventions who are looking to break into the business. They draw the foot like they’ve never seen one, don’t have two themselves dangling at the end of their own legs. As a result, the shoes are poorly drawn to boot, their figures often awkward, clumsy looking and off balance. Nothing can ruin an otherwise good drawing of a sexy girl or super-heroine faster than big, ugly or clumsy feet. Since this is such a big hurdle for so many artists, Bret and I decided right away one of the earliest “Comic Art Bootcamp” articles should be devoted to drawing the foot. To get started on

COMIC ART BOOTCAMP

the right foot, let’s begin with some basic anatomy to give you some solid knowledge of how the foot is constructed and how it fits or is attached to the tibia—one of the shin bones of the leg. Fear not loyal DRAW! reader, Professors Bret and Mike won’t leave you with feet of clay, after the mini-lessons in the next few pages you will be able to blow away the fog of ignorance and draw feet that not only stand on solid ground, but are dynamic, powerful, sexy and fashionable. To start off let’s cover some basic construction fundamentals about the foot. It doesn’t matter if you are drawing realistic feet or

BLEVINS & MANLEY

a more stylized foot, say for an animated character where you must eliminate detail and rendering, the basic construction is still the same. The foot breaks down into these basic parts: • The Heel (The Oscalcis) • The Ankle • The Arch • The Toes (Phalanges) DRAW! #15 Preview 91