Back Issue #3 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

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

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N$5o..935 PR O 2 P

O O'NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS, STARLIN, and BOLLAND reveal the Joker's journey from clown to killer!

EV ER T SN

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S T ORIE

n/ fe / Gif teis a t e’ s M E ir D gu Ma STICE U E! J GU LEA

D OL sti c man in t he mo vies !

GREATE

MYY OOFFFF M

ve twel nists o o t c ar t u c e! loos

H ST U F UG

ST CHE

with mark r! evanie

Bugs Bunny Meets The Supe rHeroes!

AT TH-H W

LAUGHING MATTERS: GIFFEN! MAGUIRE! BOLLAND! EVANIER!

The g n i t ra th e Ce leb mic s of day! Co o t T s & Be ’80s, , s 0 ’7

Bwah-Ha-Ha! SAM AND MAX, LIVE!

The cartoon on this page was

drawn by Steve Purcell, the creator of one of my favorite funnybooks, Sam and Max: Freelance Police, a comic I edited in its 1988 Comico incarnation. Caricatured (and quite well) are yours truly as Sam Sam & Max © 2004 Steve Purcell.

(the dog) and my buddy Rick Taylor as Max (the bunny)—and yes, I did make the mistake of wearing a stupid Panama hat to the San Diego con of ’88, and yes again, Rick has that much energy.

Bwah-Ha-Ha! 17 YEARS IN THE MAKING!

On November 21, 2003,

at the Wizardworld Texas show, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez announced that they were reuniting to complete the long-dormant New Teen Titans: Games “Laughter is the best medicine.”

graphic novel for DC Comics. You’ll recall that in the

Someone—it might’ve been me, or maybe it was former

Wolfman/Pérez “Pro2Pro” interview in BACK ISSUE #1,

surgeon general C. Everett Koop, or was it singer/actor

George remarked that it was unlikely that he’d ever

Harry Connick, Jr.? I really don’t remember—once

complete Games. Lucky for us he changed his mind.

said that. But from the looks of many comic-book fans,

Bwah-Ha-Ha!

they need a major dosage.

issue’s guest columnist,

former Jack Kirby protégé Mark Evanier, informs us that

ninjas, vigilantes, and constipated bad asses have

the hand-colored guides for the covers of Superman’s

taken comics hostage. Comics coloring is dark, and

Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 and Forever People #1 depicted

the storylines are darker. And most comics readers

on our first issue’s back cover were probably not the

have forgotten how to laugh.

work of the King—although the mystery now is, who

No, I’m not some old fart who’s whining a tired “In my day. . . ” story. I’m just a guy who believes that you need the light to appreciate the dark, and there ain’t much light these days in comics. You might argue that this is a reflection of a more cynical world. Were that true, then there’d be little comedy on television, and sitcoms and cartoons remain TV staples. Same with movies: Comedies are churned out by the chuckleload. So why are there so few humorous comic books?

teehe e. . . snort

NO LAUGHING MATTER! This

For the past 20 years, serial killers, psychotics,

colored them? Does anyone know?

Bwah-Ha-Ha! BACK ISSUE’S PALS ’n’ GALS!

In BACK ISSUE #1

we inadvertently forgot to thank Spencer Beck, Jon Mankuta, Marcus Medes, and Vu Nguyen (webmaster of the ultra-cool Pérez site, www.george-perez.com) for their Pérez art contributions. Thanks, guys!

Bwah-Ha-Ha-Uh Oh! BACK ISSUE #1 ERRATA!

A few errors snuck into last

In this issue, some clever contributors offer their

issue’s Comico story at the 11th hour. To set the record

theories. Maybe you have your own. Write us and

straight, the following are not copyrighted properties

share them, won’t you?

of Comico: E-Man © Joe Staton, Grendel © Matt Wagner,

And while most of our features this ish spotlight

Gumby © Art Clokey, Justice Machine © Michael

comics’ lighter side, our inaugural “Bring on the

Gustovich, Star Blazers © Westchester Films, Inc., and

Bad Guys” column targets the gruesome, grinning

Trollords © Paul Fricke and Scott Beaderstadt.

gargoyle who’s given Batman the what-for since 1940: Michael Eury, editor

the Joker!

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Remembering the Super-Hero Comic About Nothing:

Giffen and DeMatteis Talk Justice League hnson

by Dan Jo ribed An interview , and transc er 30, 2003 . ob ct O on d is te rr uc o nd co .M by Brian K

I was a teenaged comic-book fan the year that it really mattered to be a comic-book fan: 1986. That was the year Frank Miller gave Batman his “edge” back in The Dark Knight Returns. That was the year Alan Moore forever changed the way super-heroes interacted within their fictional world (and with each other) in Watchmen. That was the year Howard Chaykin took the Shadow back to his ultra-violent roots in a DC miniseries. Indeed, to be hip at DC in 1986, you had to be downright depressing at times. In 1987, an old favorite of mine from when I

interview

was just a kid (all of five years before) was getting a relaunch, and I was excited about it. Justice League was coming back! That book had THE Batman in it, so it had to be pretty bad to the bone (yeah, I really talked like that back then). I missed the first issue, so when I saw the second, it was a must-read. And at the time, I don’t think I was more disappointed with a comic book in my entire life. This wasn’t dark! This wasn’t edgy! I wasn’t depressed at all! And where was Superman? Where was the

Test-Market Variant This alternate cover for July 1987’s Justice League #3 was used in a regional newsstand distribution experiment. In addition

Flash? Where was the Green Lantern (note I said

to its different DC “bullet,” it features a rarity:

THE Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, not this schmoe

DC’s Captain Marvel being identified by name

with the Moe Howard haircut). I made up my mind

on the cover. Courtesy of Adam Philips.

that Justice League wasn’t for me, not now, not ever.

uh-hu h. . . yeah. . .i se e

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I promptly forgot about the book and went off searching more “adult” material. I was doing just that a few months later when I stumbled across Justice League’s seventh issue and its first annual. #7 had a familiar face in it (although very briefly), Superman, and the annual had the League dog-piling on the Martian Manhunter. A little voice said, “Buy these books.” When I read them, something beautiful happened. That time, finally, I got the joke. Justice League was funny as hell, and the characters were very real and loaded with personality that I had missed the first time (maybe it was because no one had shot anyone or had hinted to sexual deviance in the second issue). Did I say Justice League was not for me (never was, never would be)? I changed my mind that day and realized that depressing may have been hip at DC, but cool was not caring if you were hip or not. That is Keith Giffen and J.M. (Marc) DeMatteis in a nutshell (both then and now). All they wanted out of Justice League was to have fun. Thankfully enough people who were tired of dark and dreary comics back in the day were willing to support one of the most light-hearted (and perhaps one of the best super-hero) comic books of the 1980s. BACK ISSUE recently caught version of Justice League, and their take on it

Trendsetting Cover Pose

today (the wonderful Formerly Known as the

Kevin Maguire and Terry Austin’s cover to

Justice League and the upcoming I Can’t Believe

Justice League #1 (1987) has been frequently

It’s Not the Justice League miniseries). Also, we

imitated—even by Kevin himself, as seen in the

got a chance to talk with (in separate sidebar

cover to Formerly Known as the Justice League #1,

interviews) their partner-in-crime, original JL artist

inked by Joe Rubinstein.

up with Keith and Marc to discuss their 1980s’

Kevin Maguire, and their old boss who kept the original circus train on track, editor Andy Helfer. –Dan Johnson

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DAN JOHNSON: How did you guys get involved with

After Conway left the book, I actually wrote three or

Justice League back in ‘87?

four issues before they cancelled it. There was a three-

KEITH GIFFEN: Well, Marc, I want to hear your story

part story where I got to kill Vibe and all those people.

for the first time, because I have no idea how I wound

GIFFEN: Cool. I had no idea you were a part of Justice

up hooked up with you.

League Detroit.

J.M. DeMATTEIS: Really? I know that I’d been after

DeMATTEIS: But that was kind of like this little interim

[editor] Andy Helfer for a year [to do] Justice League

gig. Andy said, “Conway started it, could you fill-in

before they finally cancelled Justice League Detroit [the nickname for writer Gerry Conway’s Detroit-based previous version of the JLA], and they decided to give me a shot. Look, I respect Gerry Conway. I liked Gerry Conway. I mean, I was respective of his talent, but I’d poke my head into Andy’s office and go, “Isn’t it time to fire Conway now?” I did this about a year. Every time I saw him, I asked about it until it was put up or shut up. It was really that simple.

dialogue in the last couple of issues and write that last storyline for me?” Well, I did that. And then I was busy doing other stuff, and the relaunch of the Justice League came up and Andy basically said, “Do you want to dialogue?” and I went, “No.” And he said, “Well, Keith’s plotting it, but he doesn’t have a lot of confidence that he can actually dialogue it.” And Keith had actually dialogued the first issue, hadn’t you?

Beginnings :

“The Swor d and the S tar” backup Marvel Pre in view #7 (197 6)

Beginnings :

Milestones : In

First sale: “T he Lady Kill er Craves B in House of lood!” Mystery #2 82 (1980) First in prin t: “The Blood Boat” in Weird War Tales #70 (1 97

dustry high lights: Legion of S uper-Heroe s (two separa memorable te but stints) / Ju stice League Personal hi / Lobo ghlights: A mbush Bug / Mars Atta cks! Works in P ro g re ss: I Can’t Belie ve It’s Not th e Justice Le Thanos / To ague / yko Pop’s B attle Vixen I.D.W.’s Com s/ mon Foe an d Gut Wrenc her

Milestones : M

oonshadow / Blood: A Ta Vampire / A le / Greenbe mazing Spi rg the der-Man / Ju Seekers in stice League to the Myste / ry / Brookly n Dreams

Works in P ro

Ambush Bu g©

gress: I Can’t Belie ve It’s Not th e Justice Le CrossGen’s ague / Abadazad / episodes of Network’s Cartoon Justice Leag ue / Keith G iffen and I have anot her project up our sleeves (can ’t talk about it yet)

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GIFFEN: Not really, no. DeMATTEIS: Well, there were a lot of words there. GIFFEN: I did my usual little scribbled plot. DeMATTEIS: What I remember—now we can contradict each other—there was a lot more in that first issue. There was, for me, it was practically a finished dialogue job. [Andy said] “Well, Keith’s not happy with it, I’m not happy with it. Would you at least look it over?” I looked it over and it was a great story and my first response was, “[Keith] doesn’t need me.” But Andy is kind of like the male comic-book editor equivalent of an old Jewish mother. He will needle you, and then pinch your cheeks, and do everything he can to get what is needed. GIFFEN: (groans, in a Helfer impression) “Keith, you’re

“My usual little scribbled plot.”

that?

Keith Giffen draws

DeMATTEIS: So I read the thing. I remember reading it

his plots in the form

on an airplane, and I said, “This is great.” Andy finally

of mini-comics. Editors

convinced me to do it. I figured I’d do this one issue and

and pencilers see Keith’s work in this format, but it never appears in print this way—until now. This is the opening page from May 1987’s Justice League #1, courtesy of Andrew Helfer. © 2004 DC Comics.

killing me here! Arrgh!” How many times did you hear

that would be the end of it. I don’t remember there being a great sense of commitment on my part. GIFFEN: There wasn’t a great sense of commitment on anybody’s part. We all thought we were going to get fired. DeMATTEIS: I thought, “Keith knew what he’s doing. What the hell did he need me for?” So I basically did a rewrite on his script. I don’t feel like I did anything that phenomenally major with it, you know? And then he said, “What about the next one?” Now the next one, of course, that was when Keith kind of backed up to the way he used to work, where there would be a couple of balloons in each panel—he drew these little comic books, like mini-sized comic books—and the basic dialogue to indicate the direction of the story would be in there, but that left all this room for me to play and bring a lot of stuff to the table, and goof around with the characters and even the characterizations. And if Keith put in one joke, then I’d add eight more jokes to that panel, or 12 more jokes to that panel.

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GIFFEN: We were big fans of “more is less.” DeMATTEIS: And I still am. We’re doing this miniseries, the new one, and [then-editor] Dan Raspler called me up and he had counted the balloons on one page and he said in all the years of business, he’d never seen so

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many balloons on one page. GIFFEN: I guess we broke a record. I think on one page, we’re close to—oh, God, what was that number? Something like, 32. DeMATTEIS: I think Dan said 36. GIFFEN: Why not? DeMATTEIS: The problem that I had within the first few issues [of the 1980s’ JL]—and it sounds really funny— was that it was too easy and I was having too much fun. And I was locked into this idea of, (whispers dramatically) “But my writing is supposed to be this struggling, and stretching, and going deep in it,” and I was having fun and it was easy, so I thought there must be something wrong. Why are they paying me? I’m having fun, you know? And there was a point around issue #4 or #5 when I actually quit the book. GIFFEN: I had no idea. DeMATTEIS: It was for 20 minutes or something. They were going to get Mike Carlin to come in and take over it. And then, I guess either I thought about it again, or Andy convinced me, and I suddenly thought, “Oh, wait. I’m having fun and they’re paying me. And the book is a hit. What am I doing?” So then I stuck around and the next thing I knew it was five years later. GIFFEN: It was weird because here was Justice League in the middle of Dark Knight and Watchmen and deconstruct-

“Grim was the thing.”

ing super-heroes. At Marvel, they were doing The Punisher.

Mike Zeck’s awe-inspiring pencils for the cover of

Everything was grim and gritty.

November 1987’s Amazing

DeMATTEIS: I was doing it, too. That’s around the time

Spider-Man #294, part five

I wrote “Kraven’s Last Hunt” [a six-parter that started in

of Marc DeMatteis’ six-part

Amazing Spider-Man #293]. Grim was the thing. GIFFEN: When Andy first mentioned your name, the first

“Kraven’s Last Hunt.”

thing I thought was you’d be so diametrically opposed

Courtesy of David Hamilton.

to what I was trying to do here because your body of

The inset depicts the

work doesn’t exactly say, “Ha, ha,” you know? Although,

final version.

like you mentioned before, you’d showed more than a

few funny moments. But that’s interesting, Marc. I never knew any of this. Okay, we wound up on Justice League book. We really thought we’d get killed, we thought the book would die. I was ready to go show my portfolio to L a u g h i n g

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Remembering the Super-Hero Comic About Nothing:

Artist Kevin Maguire Talks Justice League hnson

by Dan Jo ribed An interview , and transc er 30, 2003 . ob ct O on d is te rr uc o nd M co . by Brian K

In the Mighty Marvel Manner Can you name the Marvel characters that inspired

Justice League #2’s Blue Jay, Wandjina, and Silver Sorceress?

DAN JOHNSON: How did you get involved with the Justice League series back in the ‘80s? KEVIN MAGUIRE: I was a “Romita Raider” [production artist] at Marvel doing art corrections, and Kurt Busiek was trying to get a book launched at DC called Wild Card. Andy Helfer was the editor, and we actually did the first issue. It never was inked. It was just 22 penciled pages,

interview

the project. But upon seeing that, I was offered Silver Surfer at Marvel and on account of that, Andy offered me Justice League. [Marvel editor/writer] Fabian Nicieza, he was one of the keys. He assumed it was going to be Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, and all that. He was, “Oh, you get to do all those characters. That would be such a great thing to do.” JOHNSON: What were your thoughts when you first saw what Keith and Marc were cooking up with the direction of Justice League? MAGUIRE: I felt my career was over. JOHNSON: That’s exactly what they were thinking too.

JL #1 Revisted Kevin combined a number of comics faves in this commissioned drawing. Courtesy of Spencer Beck. Animal-Man, Big Barda, Dr. Fate, and Mr. Miracle ©2004 DC Comics. Sandman ©2004 Neil Gaiman. Black Bolt, Daredevil, and Sub-Mariner ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. Hellboy ©2004 Mike Mignola.

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MAGUIRE: When I was waiting for it to come out, I was walking down the street with one of the assistant editors and said, “That’s it, it’s over, man. No one’s going to like this.” JOHNSON: What did you think when it became such a big success and such a hit for DC?

MAGUIRE: Well . . . um . . . the word I’m groping for . . . a relief? JOHNSON: One of the things that worked for Justice League was your artwork—the character stances, the facial expressions. At the time, you didn’t get a lot of that in comics. Which artists inspired that? MAGUIRE: When I look back at the first year or so, and I just cower, because being a perfectionist, I look back and there’s, like, “Aw, that’s terrible. It’s terrible, it’s terrible, it’s terrible.” I don’t know that there was one particular artist that was inspiring, beyond Chuck Jones, because it’s all about character animation for me. JOHNSON: As I understand it, originally, Keith did the breakdowns for the pages, right? MAGUIRE: Yeah. JOHNSON: What was the ratio there as far as what Keith said absolutely had to be on the page and what he said, “We’ll let Kevin do this. Let Kevin fill in these pages”? MAGUIRE: Keith didn’t even care. That was just the easy way for Keith to plot, as opposed to actually typing it out. For him, it was ideas of what they were supposed to be doing, and it wasn’t necessarily to guide me along, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was Andy Helfer’s thought, me being the new guy. I stuck kind of close to it, but I didn’t have to. There were times when I would completely change it around and it was all very casual, especially on Keith’s part. JOHNSON: What was your take on the working relationship with Keith and Marc? MAGUIRE: There really wasn’t a lot of interaction. It was mostly through Helfer, so everything sort of filtered

Maguire’s Dark Knight

through him. You know, it wasn’t like the three of us were in the same room. There wasn’t any animosity at

A commissioned Batman illustration by Kevin Maguire.

all. It was all good.

Courtesy of Kevin Boyd.

JOHNSON: Why did you eventually leave Justice League?

MAGUIRE: Because I’m not a monthly guy.

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JOHNSON: I think you definitely left an impression on the book, and I think, for the longest time there, until the time that Keith and Marc left, it seemed like a lot of the artists were trying to copy that feel. MAGUIRE: That’s flattering. I honestly didn’t pay too much attention after I left, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Andy was sort of trying to create a sense of consistency, as opposed to, like, going to a [radically different] Bill Sienkiewicz style, or something. Then maybe a lot of it had to do with the way Keith plots, where they all get the layouts. So maybe there’s some consistency there. JOHNSON: How did you come to be involved with Formerly Known as the Justice League? MAGUIRE: Just a random call from Dan Raspler, saying, “I was talking to Keith, and talking to Marc, and they said they’d be up to it if you’d be up for it.” I was supposed to do this miniseries at Marvel, but the writer just, for like, literally months, was not handing in a plot. And I’m sitting around waiting for something to do and I just called Raspler and I said, “You

Fastest Girl Alive

know, if you can get this together in the next couple

An inked page from Just Imagine: Stan Lee

of weeks, I’m on because I have nothing to do.” So he

Creating The Flash. Courtesy of Larry Shell.

called Keith, and being the machine that Keith is, he

knew what he was going to do and he just knocked it out. It took off kind of quickly. JOHNSON: It seems like you guys had just picked up where you left off at. MAGUIRE: Or either that we just haven’t grown at all. JOHNSON: In talking with Keith, he absolutely refused to call any of the characters by their super-hero names and always referred to them by their first names, or real names. I think that shows a comfort with the characters, and an ability to kind of draw things out from those characters that a lot of other writers couldn’t do. Was this a project you were comfortable coming back to after all these years?

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No, That’s Not Sylvester Stallone When the Plastic Man animated series (see sidebar) was syndicated in the early 1980s, 130 live-action intros, inter-show shots, and outros were filmed with this unidentified actor in the red stretchy tights. Photo courtesy of Andy Mangels.

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i wan t my.. . .. . y m t i wan

V!! Plas-T

ury Michael E

In 1990, DC Comics’ then-president Jenette Kahn announced to the DC editorial staff (of which I was a member) that Plastic Man was in development as a movie. Cinema giant Warner Bros. had recently replaced Warner Publishing as DC’s parent company, and the ink was still drying on the Time-Warner merger. DC was now deemed, by Kahn’s own admission, the WB’s “garden” of film and television ideas, as evidenced by director Tim Burton’s blockbuster movie Batman (1989) and the CBS-TV weekly drama, The Flash (1990–1991). That came as no surprise to the editors. What was shocking, at least for me, was Jenette’s revelation that Paul Reubens—better known as Pee-wee Herman—was being considered for the role of Plastic Man. “He’s too short,” scoffed one editor. “He’s Pee-wee, not Plastic Man!” chimed another. Most of the editors liked Reubens as Pee-wee, but thought he was wrong for a super-hero, even a goofy one (although he did play The Spleen in 1999’s super-hero satire Mystery Men). I recommended Jim Carrey as Plas, drawing blank stares from most of my colleagues. When I identified Carrey as “the white guy from In Living Color,” the proverbial light bulb of recognition was switched on, and some of the editors in this pre-Ace Ventura/The Mask/Dumb and Dumber reality nodded in agreement. Sure, Reubens boasted the Pee-wee clout at the time, but Carrey, who had been performing comical acts of contortionism on the standup circuit for years, had the rubbery body and face to truly become the “Pliable Pretzel” even without the benefit of special effects (the guy used to dislocate his shoulder and let his arm wag loosely on stage!). But the WB was banking on Reubens.

PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE Screenwriter Charles Gale (whose credits include 1991’s Ernest Scared Stupid,

Springing onto Saturday Morning TV His amorphous antics made Plas an animated hit in 1979 in The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure

starring Jim Varney, another malleable madman who could have pulled off the

Show. Courtesy of Andy Mangels.

Plastic Man role), completed a second draft of his screenplay for Plastic Man on

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February 16, 1989. Set in 1941, before America’s involvement in World War II, Gale’s Plastic Man introduces ne’er-do-well mechanic, Neil “Eel” O’Brien, who works by day in a garage owned by mobster Ace Morgan and by night as one of Morgan’s thugs. Mrs. Rafferty, who runs the boarding house where O’Brien lives, knew Eel’s late mother and has faith that he will one day realize his potential, despite the protestations of other tenants, fearful of his rumored criminal tendencies. O’Brien’s girlfriend, Cookie Williams, is a chanteuse in a swing club and regards Eel as a loser, dumping him for a sophisticate named Peter Roepell, who has promised to make her a star. Eel doesn’t trust Roepell, and is convinced this guy is no good. As if Eel has any right to judge. Late that night, O’Brien and his fellow

mechanics Nickels and Tonto pull a heist for Morgan, robbing a pharmacy’s safe. Eel, wearing tinted goggles, drills into the safe but inadvertently ignites some experimental chemicals and is swallowed in a “ball of fire and smoke.” His clothes are tattered, revealing red long johns underneath that are, like Eel himself, doused in a chemical bath from the explosion. The crooks vamoose, and when Eel awakens the next morning, he’s in for a surprise. His fingers are limp like “an empty glove.” A series of slapstick scenes follow where stymied O’Brien’s wrist plops, his arm oozes, and his neck elongates, with observers narrowly missing each episode. Eel returns to the scene of his crime for help. Pharmacist William Ogilvie, a German defector, is incensed upon discovering the thief responsible for trashing his lab the previous night, and is then intrigued when he spies Eel’s supple condition. The solution responsible for O’Brien’s metamorphosis, created by Ogilvie in a top-secret experiment for the United States Army, is a synthetic rubber. Ogilvie becomes Eel’s mentor, keeping the elastic man within arm’s reach (and studying his pliable properties) while frequently providing a voice of altruism to the mechanic/crook from the wrong side of the tracks. O’Brien ultimately makes his first public appearance in his now-stretchable red underwear and goggles to rescue—now here’s an original idea—a baby who

I Know You’re Plastic, But What Am I?

has crawled onto an eighth-floor ledge. Onlookers gasp stereotypically:

Paul Reubens, at the height of his Pee-wee’s Playhouse popularity, was pegged as Plas by Warner Bros.

SPECTATORS Look at that guy! . . . How does he do that? . . . It’s impossible! . . .It’s like he’s some sort of---plastic man!

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feature

Dave Johnson’s truly wacky space “dudes”—Earth Boys—published in various issues of Dark Horse’s Dark Horse Presents. Here: A penciled page by David, and one of eight unpublished pages (pencils, inks, and zip-a-tone effects by Johnson).

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EARTH BOYS • DAVE JOHNSON

Hamilton

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GROO • SERGIO ARAGONéS

Sergio Aragonés (the guy waving “madly” in this self-portrait from 1977) drew these sketches on the back of the original art for his cover for Mark Evanier’s newest collection of columns, Superheroes in My Pants (due out in May ’04, from TwoMorrows, of course!).

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it almost seems as though these images follow one another perfectly. But that might just be me. (Yet, considering that these covers are marked #1 and #4—yep, it is just me; or is it?)

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L O B O • VA L S E M E I K S

Depending on what order you, the viewer, absorb these two gems—well,

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Two covers by Val Semeiks, for DC Comics’ Lobo series.

THE JOKER REBORN: From CLOWN PRINCE of Crime to

Homicidal

Maniac

anderson by Peter S

Imagine that you are in the year 1966 and someone

asked you who the Joker was. Whether you were a comics fan or not, the image you would probably come up with is that of actor Cesar Romero, disguised in a green wig and whiteface makeup, laughing merrily as he concocts a new way to trick his enemies, Batman and Robin, on one of America’s most popular new television series. Through the Batman television series of the mid-1960s, the idea of “camp” humor went mainstream. The show made affectionate but condescending fun of super-hero comics through deadpan presentations of absurd dialogue and ludicrous situations. The Joker turned up on the show on a regular basis, and seemed a rather likable arch criminal. Just let him rob banks and he’d be happy. Oh, sure, he wanted to kill Batman and Robin, but nobody else, and he never succeeded in harming anyone. But was he really anyone’s favorite villain on the show? Weren’t Frank Gorshin’s

As Seen

giggling Riddler and Burgess Meredith’s quacking Penguin

on BAT-TV

both funnier and nastier? The TV show Joker was a rather

Latin lover Cesar

pleasant chap who came in third compared to those two.

Romero (left) hopped

The Joker wasn’t always like that, however. When he

from the big screen

made his debut, in the very first issue of Batman, in 1940, the Joker was not funny at

to the boob tube

all. He was a cold-blooded serial killer who, when readers first saw him, was not even

on ABC-TV’s Batman

smiling. This grim-faced figure, with his eerily chalk-white skin and green hair,

(1966–1968).

looked like death warmed over, and when he did smile, it was a macabre sight. In the course of this first story, the Joker commits a series of murders, daringly warning the victims and the police ahead of time of his intentions. He will predict 5 8

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that his intended target will die at the stroke of mid-

derive from an early talkie, The Bat Whispers, which

night. Somehow, no matter what precautions are

was in turn based on a stage melodrama, The Bat. As

taken—a locked room, or a police guard—the Joker’s

you might expect from the title, this film, with its

prophecy comes true, and the victim, poisoned, falls

mysterious figure garbed as a bat, was one of the

dead, his features paralyzed in a ghastly grin that imi-

inspirations for Batman himself. But the “Bat” in this

tates the Joker’s own.

movie is actually the villain, who, as the Joker would,

The man who originated the idea for the Joker

sends his victims warnings, mysteriously

was Jerry Robinson, who was then Bob Kane’s assis-

murders them at the time he predicted, and leaves

tant on the art for Batman; that first Joker story was

behind a calling card. The Bat leaves cards with a bat

drawn by Kane, inked by Robinson, and written by Bill

insignia; the Joker would leave Joker playing cards.

Finger, the unsung hero in co-creating so much of the

(The Bat Whispers was also issued on DVD some

Batman mythos.

years back.)

In part, the Joker’s face is inspired by the tradi-

Throughout the Golden and Silver Ages of comics,

tional Joker imagery on playing cards. But Robinson

the Joker never had a true origin story: We never

was also inspired by a 1928 silent film called The

learned his real name or saw what he looked like with-

Man Who Laughs, adapted from a novel by the great

out the garish, clown-like coloring on his face and

19th century French author Victor Hugo (best known

hands. Indeed, early Batman readers must have

for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

assumed he was wearing makeup like an actual circus

The principal character, Gwynplaine, played by

clown.

Conrad Veidt, is disfigured in such a way that he

The closest the Joker came to an origin story was

appears always to be smiling. Certain stills from the

“The Man Behind the Red Hood” (Detective Comics

film make Gwynplaine look menacing indeed, the

#168, February 1951), the tale of a criminal, garbed in a

image of the Joker come to life. Today Veidt is proba-

hood that completely concealed his face, whom

bly best known to film buffs for playing the mur-

Batman had failed to capture early in his career. In

dering somnambulist in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

this story, the Red Hood returns years later, and

and Nazi Germany’s Major Strasser in Casablanca. So

Batman captures and unmasks him only to discover

one might expect that Gwynplaine, the inspiration

he is the Joker. Then it is revealed that the Joker used

for the Joker, is also a villain. But, in fact,

to be a criminal gang leader whose sole departure from

Gwynplaine comes off in the movie as a figure of

convention was to wear a red hood to conceal his iden-

pathos; like Canio in Pagliacci, he is the archetypal

tity. In his clash with Batman, the Red Hood fell into a

Chilling Inspiration

sad clown. In fact, this role was originally intended

pool of chemical wastes, which permanently dyed his

The Man Who Laughs,

for Lon Chaney, Sr., who played similar melancholy

skin white, his lips bright red, and his hair green.

a Joker template.

clowns in Laugh, Clown, Laugh and He Who Gets

Seeing his garish new appearance, the Red Hood

Slapped. (Readers who saw the Cartoon Network

created a new criminal persona for himself, the

Justice League two-parter featuring the Joker will

Joker.

now understand why his front organization was

The enormous success of the Batman TV show of the

dubbed “Gwynplaine Entertainment.”) For years it

1960s pumped up the sales of the comics, and since

was rare to see screenings of The Man Who Laughs, but

the show used costumed criminals every week, edi-

it is now available on DVD from Kino International; the

tor Julius Schwartz put villains like the Joker and the

green tint on the cover picture of Veidt may make

Penguin into the comics more frequently than he

you wonder if someone at Kino also knows about

had before. But the camp treatment of Batman was

the film’s link with the Joker.

really no more than a single joke that quickly wore

The Joker’s modus operandi in this first story seems to

J-man ’s da bomb ! . hah.. haha

ohoho ...hoh

out its welcome. Speaking of the TV show, longtime

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rogues’ gallery of costumed villains in these new adventures. But longtime comics readers know that concepts essential to a long-running series may be discarded, but they eventually, inevitably work their way back. The Joker was an essential part of the Batman mythos, and soon Schwartz would find the means to fit the “Clown Prince of Crime” into Batman’s once more grim and somber world. As with Batman, the key would be to return the Joker to the original concept back when he made his debut in 1940.

“THE JOKER’S FIVE-WAY REVENGE” Mad Cow

Batman writer and editor Denny O’Neil observes,

“The Joker’s Happy

“I’ve never put down the television show anything

Victims,” (above

more than to say it was not at the time to my taste. I

right) a miniature

think it was right for the time. Yeah, absolutely. I think

Batman comic

it dated very quickly, and I think the really good stuff

produced in 1966

doesn’t date.” The fad ended, the show was cancelled

and distributed as

with its third season, and super-hero comics sales collapsed.

a giveaway inside

Julie Schwartz had already successfully revitalized

Kellogg’s Pop Tarts

the Batman series in the early 1960s, discarding

breakfast treats,

The story that set the Joker on his new path was “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge,” in Batman #251, cover dated September 1973, and written and drawn by the now legendary team of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams. “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” has a plot somewhat reminiscent of Finger’s original Joker tale. The Joker is out to murder, one by one, five people who crossed him in the past. Of course, for decades the Joker had never actually succeeded in killing anyone

dated, more juvenile concepts like Batwoman,

exemplifies the

Bathound, and Bat-Mite, and taking a more serious,

silliness of the

realistic approach in both the stories and artwork.

Silver Age Joker.

Now, with plummeting sales, Schwartz found him-

Art by Carmine

self faced with the challenge of revamping the con-

Infantino and

cept again, and yet again he succeeded brilliantly.

Murphy Anderson.

This time he and his writers, now including Denny

O’Neil and Frank Robbins, went not only for a more adult approach to the series, but one far darker in tone than the frivolous television series. Robin was packed off to college, and Batman returned to his roots from the late 1930s and early 1940s. He was again “the” Batman, the lone, driven avenger, prowling a world that combined film noir with Gothic horror. This is the version of Batman that we see not only in the comics, but in film and television today. Perhaps to make it clear that the comics were divorcing themselves from the television version, Schwartz initially did not use any of Batman’s

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The comic-book world is full of stories and characters strange enough to give most mental hospital workers pause, and yet occasionally, something entirely too bizarre or strange will pop up in the four-color pages of history. All too often, these oddities will be some encroachment of the outside world coming to mingle with the comic-book realm, a confluence so out of the ordinary that those looking in from a distance can only gasp ...

BUGS BUNNY MEETS THE SUPER-HEROES

gels y Man by And

Long before DC Comics released the Superman and Bugs Bunny mini-series in 2000, or Duck Dodgers became Green Loontern in 2003, millions of children worldwide already knew that the Looney Tunes cast and DC’s pantheon of heroes and villains were old friends. And in 1976, while the term “corporate synergy” wasn’t an everyday part of the business-person’s lexicon, that melding of properties led to five theme shows that mixed Catwoman and Sylvester the Cat alongside Tweety Bird and Robin. Showman Rodger Hess was working for Licensing Company of America (LCA, a sister company of Warner Brothers) in the 1970s, managing such Warner properties as the Looney Tunes cartoon stars and DC’s comic book heroes. “My background had always been in the entertainment business,” says Hess. “I had an idea and I went to the Powers That Be at LCA and asked them if they would give me money to construct costumes of the Warner Brothers characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, etc.” In 1974, using these characters—and voice tracks recorded by Mel Blanc—Hess produced a number of small shopping-center and state-fair shows, at which actors wore the costumes and did song-and-dance-and-joke routines.

casting crawl

BEHIND THE MASKS . . . Because cast lists changed for Bugs Bunny Meets the Super-Heroes , and actors doubled on characters, ISSUE have been able to assemble for a cast and character list: BUGS BUNNY: Donna Tchapraste, Ros Dun . . . BATMAN/FOGHORN 7 6

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was quickly set, though this

One of the 20–25-minute segments was The Batman & Robin Safety Show. “The super-heroes were interest in teaching the boys and girls safety,” says director/

time, Hess asked Gene Patrick

choreographer/early Bugs Bunny actress Donna Tchapraste. “That was pretty

to help him write the new

trendy at the time. Robin was going to plug the toaster in and Batman would run

show. Patrick was the enter-

out and say, ‘Stop! You should never plug in an old worn cord!’ Or he was going

tainment director for Marriott’s

to drink something awful. The villains were only there by imagination. There was

Great America, and Hess had

Dr. Danger and that was really a cartoon cut-out.

already licensed them the Warner Brothers characters.

“Bugs Bunny was going to the fairs, and Batman and Robin had quite a good career in the shopping malls,” says Tchapraste. “You have to think back in time

“I got acquainted with Roger

because shopping malls didn’t really exist. They were growing, and it turned to be

when I was working for

a good marketing ploy for entertainment to go to the mall. All of those little shows

Marriott Corporation,” says

were developed in the smaller settings.” Larger character shows such as Disney on

Patrick. We were just begin-

Parade had played stadiums in the 1960s and

ning to plan the theme parks

early 1970s, but the House of Mouse was dormant

and all that stuff. Rodger liked what we were doing. He had

on stage, developing Disney on Ice. Sesame Street Live and other shows had yet to be planned. The time was right for something new.

seen what we were doing even pre-opening. I had built a pretty strong relationship with Mel Blanc, and did a lot of recording and writing for him. Rodger asked me to help him and work on his show for a bit. I helped him lay it out and write the first draft script and

pull it together. I remember writing a very lengthy first-draft script from a treatment.” For Bugs Bunny Follies II, Patrick and Hess crafted a story that not only incorporated the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters, but other heroes and villains from DC Comics’ pantheon as well. “I spent a lot of time trying to think of theatrical reasons why Bugs Bunny would ever know any of the [super-heroes],” says Patrick. “I do recall that I managed to come up with some scenarios to cause them to meet. Some of it was pretty out of left field. That was the biggest challenge. When was the last time Bugs Bunny was on Krypton?”

In 1976, a decision was made to change the format; that strategy would prove beneficial

Still, some stylistic differences were in the brewing, common enough in stage production. “It was Rodger’s show, and he had his

for almost a full decade to come. Tchapraste (now Donna Emerson) recalls that

take on what it ought to be, and I had mine,” says Patrick. “He really

the genesis of a show-to-be was very spontaneous. “As a choreographer I could

saw it as a kid’s show and I saw it a little bit different than that. The kids will go

create things on my feet and we eventually became involved with the Marriott

look at the characters doing things, including just standing there, but we have to

Corporation. We went to a business theatre meeting where we thought we were

be careful not to make it an ordeal for the parents. So my shows were considerably

going to be going there to perform our small show, and we found out that we had

more hip for the parents. The shows came down on two planes all the time. I tried

to create a whole show on the spot. I think that was my audition piece for Rodger.

to inject a little bit of that into Rodger’s thing. His take was very much a kid’s show,

It was very spontaneous. We needed it right then and there. From that business

like we’d do Barney today. When I went off on my own, I did things a bit different.

meeting we created a new show.” Associate producer Jamey Cohan explains further,

If you saw one of mine, they were little theatrical musical comedies, where the kids

noting that, “We took ‘The Tweety & Sylvester Show,’ ‘The Bugs Bunny & Porky

get off on the characters bouncing around stage, and the adult audience laughs

Show,’ and ‘The Batman & Robin Safety Show’ and we put all these little 20–25

at the jokes that the kids don’t get.”*

shows together almost like an Ed Sullivan show.” The new vaudevillian-style revue, Bugs Bunny Follies, had an emcee who introduced the acts. “It was very successful, and toured the country playing arenas and large auditoriums,” says Hess. After Madison Square Garden bought into Rodger Hess Productions—as a bid to get involved in the touring show business—a sequel to Bugs Bunny Follies

Patrick brought onboard musician and lyricist Tom Merriman to help create new songs. Merriman was a composer/arranger who had worked solo (and with Patrick) on a lot of show music at the MGM Grand, the Hilton, the Flamingo, and other Vegas shows, as well as for lots of television and radio jingles. For Bugs Bunny Follies, Merriman wrote such songs as “What’s Up Doc” and “Pig O’ My Heart”

* In later years, Patrick would write, direct, and produce over a dozen other Warner characters stage shows for Marriott’s Great America, mostly with Bugs Bunny. He never again worked with DC super-heroes though. In one of his shows, The Bugs Bunny Story, he established the rascally rodent’s past, including his parents Harry and Edith and his little sister Debbie. In one scene in which Dad called Bugs into the room, Patrick left the name intentionally blank to see if Mel Blanc would fill in Bugs’ real first name on the fly in the recording studio. “He didn’t even blink an eye,” Patrick says. “He just said, ‘Hey, Benjamin, is that you?’”

assembling a look at this cast (and that of later shows with the same characters) is difficult, but in various interviews, here’s the best we here at BACK LEGHORN: Shakespearean actor Doug Boyles, W. W. Smith, Bill Covington, Joe Douquette, James Rebhorn . . . Robin/Sylvester the Cat: Uriel Menson, L a u g h i n g

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Jack Cole’s Plastic Man. And at The Fox and the Crow by James F. Davis and Cecil Beard. And though this is blasphemy to some, I enjoyed and laughed at a lot of non-Barks funny-animal comics, particularly in the Dell/Gold Key Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera comics. Also, a man named Sergio Aragonés has reportedly drawn some humorous pictures and there have been loads of undergrounds and small press books and. . . Well, it’s not a long list, at least insofar as mainstream comic-book publishers is concerned. But it is a list and the reason it’s not longer is because so few of them have even attempted funny comics, especially in recent years. Somehow, a lot of them got it into their heads that “comic” meant “grim,” and laughing at a graphic story was something for the kiddos. I think that’s wrong. I think we should stop treating those comics as if they’re the aberrations. And if, like that con organizer, we’re going to use realism as a benchmark for maturity, then the funny ones have it all over the non-funny ones. . . because life is funny. At least, mine is. Most of the time.

bonus

If yours isn’t, perhaps you’re missing the punch lines, overlooking all the delicious ironies and lapsed logic in which the real world abounds. Human beings are hilarious and I don’t mean that in a bad way. We say outrageous things, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. We do absurd things—again, often by design. The lesser tragedies are best handled with a chuckle, a wry smile and sometimes, if you’re fortunate, a laughout-loud sensibility. To whatever extent it’s possible, you should try to approach the biggies that way, as well. I guess that’s why as I get older, I sometimes feel out of sync with the content of the mainstream American comic book. You see, I view reality as a series of funny incidents interrupted by the occasional uncharacteristic moment of pain and horror. And in too many comic books, it’s other way around. My world is a lot more like an issue of Fox and Crow than it is like a copy of X-Men. And am I ever glad.

Normally, this is where I add the disclaimer citing that the views of the guest columnist do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of BACK ISSUE, but in good conscience, I can’t do that, ’cause I agree with every word Mark said. —the other M.E.

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The Last Laugh!

This cartoon com es to us from John Lustig of Disney comics , Comics’ Buyer’s Guide, and Last Kiss (www .lastkisscomics.co m) fame. It’s a reworking of a Lee Elias-drawn panel from Harvey Com ics’ Witches Tales #8 (1952). The art is courte sy of Heritage Co mics.

end

Three Must-Have Books about Comics

book reviews

While this trio of terrific tomes

ry Michael Eu

has little to do with this issue’s

“Laughing Matters” theme, each book is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Arlen Schumer’s The Silver Age of Comic Book Art is a feast for the eyes. At 9" x 13"—just a hair smaller than those tabloid-sized treasuries that DC and Marvel published in the 1970s, as well as TwoMorrows’ own The Jack Kirby Collector—each page of The Silver Age explodes with brilliant color and flashy graphics. Schumer is an acclaimed advertising artist who incorporates comics-inspired elements into his work. He’s also renowned as a historian of comic-book art, and expertly infuses his bold design sense and his knowledge of the comics medium into The Silver Age, a frenetically visual examination of the work of eight masters: Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert,

Gene Colan, Jim Steranko, and Neal Adams.

The Silver Age of Comic Book Art by Arlen Schumer Collectors Press, Inc. • 2003 • softcover • 176 pages, color • $29.95

500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes by Mike Conroy Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. • 2003 • softcover • 376 pages, color • $18.95

The Will Eisner Sketchbook by Will Eisner Dark Horse Books • 2003 • hardcover • 200 pages, b&w • $49.95

um-d andy. .. i see e ye ca ndy

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The Silver Age wastes little space on text—Schumer allows the artwork to do the speaking through enormous images enhanced by the artists’ anecdotes and by his own commentary, mostly conveyed in a comic-book lettering font. An increasing number of books published within the past few years have verbally touted the impact of comics luminaries, but Schumer’s The Silver Age shoves it right into your face, big and bold, with its celebration of the giants of an era who cornered the market on excitement. (A deluxe hardcover edition, with 16 extra pages, is available for $49.95.) Measuring 7" x 7", Mike Conroy’s 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes is as small as The Silver Age is large, but it’s certainly not short on content. Journalist Conroy is the founder of the comics industry’s coveted Eagle Award, and is the news editor © 2004 DC Co mics.

of the U.K. trade periodical Comics International. In 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes, his research of the history of the comics industry, its trends, and its social ramifications is impeccable. But this is no plodding scholarly treatise: 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes is abundantly illustrated, with hundreds of cover reproductions and additional artwork, and succinct dossiers of 500 influential characters. Conroy’s survey cov-

ers the gamut from iconic staples (Superman, Batman, Hulk, Spider-Man) to esoteric heroes (John Constantine, Asskickers of the Fantastic, Bat Lash, Grimjack). 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes benefits from its author’s British heritage: The book discards the myopic blinders worn by most American publications and explores comics as a global medium, including heroes like Astro Boy, Judge Dredd, Marshal Law, and Blueberry into its eclectic, fascinating mix. The Barron’s edition of 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes is an American reissue of Conroy’s book, which was originally published in the U.K. in 2002. Last fall, while in the office of Dark Horse Comics editor Diana Schutz, I asked Di about which of her upcoming projects she was most excited. With an ear-to-ear grin she placed a ream of illustration paper into my lap. These were original sketches by the legendary Will Eisner, penciled roughs of everything from Spirit magazine covers to Eisner’s graphic novels ranging from A Contract with God (1978) to Minor Miracles (2000). Examining these drafts was a rare treat, but after gingerly handling many of the pages I got a bit nervous—after all, this was comics history in my hands! This history has been collected into The Will Eisner Sketchbook, a 9" x 12" showcase of Eisner’s magnificent rough stuff. Edited by Schutz, the ner. © 2004 Will Eis

Eisner Sketchbook is printed on 100 lb. archival-quality paper. The paper stock is

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similar in weight to the Bristol board used by most comics pencilers, and Dark Horse’s stellar reproduction values makes the graphite look so real, you think you

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