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THE ULTIMATE COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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All the world’s waiting for it!

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 5 August 2004 Celebrating the Best Comics (and Comics Cinema) of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael Eury

“COMICS in Hollywood” issue

EDITORIAL .............................................................................................................................................................................................2 The intertwined worlds of comic books and cinema MARVEL ON TV: Lou Ferrigno interview .................................................................................................................3 An all-new chat with television’s Incredible Hulk, and a special cartoon by John Lustig

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Robert (Wonder Boy) Clark PROOFREADER Eric Nolen-Weathington SCANNING AND IMAGE MANIPULATION Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Alex Ross Adam Hughes WONDER WOMAN CREATED BY William Moulton Marston SPECIAL THANKS Mike W. Barr Anina Bennett John Byrne Lynda Carter Dave Cockrum Ken Danker Thomas Derenick Donfeld Dick Durock Jim Emmons Jeannie Epper Lou Ferrigno Dick Giordano William Goldberg Mark Goldblatt Frank Gorshin Grand ComicBook Database Paul Guinan Linda Harrison Heritage Comics Walt Howarth Adam Hughes Internet Movie Database Klaus Janson Phil Jimenez Dan Johnson Ted Latner Cloris Leachman John Lustig

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Rick Magyar Andy Mangels Charles McKimson Darrell McNeil Todd and Johna Miller Brian K. Morris Mike Nasser Jerry Ordway George Pérez Adam Philips Melissa Prophet John Romita, Sr. Alex Ross Stanley Ralph Ross Steve Rude Rose RummelEury Peter Sanderson Saundra Sharp Robert Shields Joel Thingvall Anne Timmons Alex Toth TV Tome Ricardo Villagran Lyle Waggoner B.J. Ward Jim Warden Mike Zeck

MARVEL ON TV continued: Marvel Super-Heroes, As Seen on CBS-TV ....................................7 Cast and episode lists for Marvel Comics’ live-action series and specials THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Greatest Series Never Sold...............................11 Scooby-Doo Meets the Super-Heroes, Teen Titans, and other toons you didn’t see BACKSTAGE PASS: Lynda Carter: She’s Still a Wonder ...........................................................................17 An exclusive interview with television’s Wonder Woman, with photos and rare art galore BACKSTAGE PASS continued: Wonder Woman: TV Allies and Associates Dossier.....................................................................................37 Lyle Waggoner, Cloris Leachman, and others ruminate on the TV series and heroine COLOR ART GALLERY: Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman .....................................................................50 Costume designs by Donfeld, plus pinups by Giordano, Guinan, Hughes, Jimenez, Ross, and Timmons OFF MY CHEST: John Romita, Sr. .................................................................................................................................57 The legendary Marvel Comics artist discusses Spider-Man on screen in a guest editorial ROUGH STUFF: Jerry Ordway ..........................................................................................................................................61 Spotlighting the pencil artwork of one of comics’ most popular artists BEYOND CAPES: Mike W. Barr’s Star Trek Comic-Book Memories...........................................................................................71 The Enterprise’s foray into funnybooks, courtesy of a writer who’s boldly gone on the ride with them DVD BACK ISSUES, PART ONE........................................................................................................................................78 A checklist of comics to film to DVD CALLING THE SHOTS: An Interview with Punisher (1989) Director Mark Goldblatt .......................................................................................................................................................83 A behind-the-scenes look at the Marvel-inspired film BACK IN PRINT: The Doom Patrol Archives ...........................................................................................................89 Are these upscale reprints worth their price tags? NEW IN PRINT: The Doom Patrol by John Byrne ............................................................................................91 A chat with the writer/artist about his reworking of DC’s strangest heroes BACK TALK.........................................................................................................................................................................................93 Reader feedback on issue #3, with a wonderful Pérez pinup BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BACK ISSUE Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $30 Standard US, $48 First Class US, $60 Canada, $66 Surface International, $90 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Teen Titans, Rima the Jungle Girl, Super Friends, Superman, Aquaman, Blackhawk, B’wana Beast, All-Star Squadron, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Power of Shazam!, the Joker, and the Doom Patrol TM & © 2004 DC Comics. The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, the Punisher, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and all other related characters TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. Bobbie Joe and the Outlaw © 1976 American International Pictures. Hawkeye © 1994 Stephen J. Cannell Productions. Inc. Scooby-Doo TM & © 2004 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. All American Girl and Spirit of ’76 TM & © 2004 Gold Medal Productions. Star Trek TM & © 2004 Paramount Pictures. Wildstar TM & © 2004 Al Gordon and Jerry Ordway. TV Guide® Magazine TM & © 2004 TV Guide Magazine Group, Inc. The Archies TM & © 2004 Archie Comics Group. All editorial matter © 2004 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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nson Dan Joh

arvel’s Television Muscle: Lou Ferrigno

interview

Talks The

Incredible Hulk

If you were a child in the late ’70s and the early ’80s, then you knew the place to be on Friday nights was parked in front of the television set tuned into CBS’ The Incredible Hulk. The show, a live-action adaptation of Marvel Comics’ popular comic-book character, featured Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner. Just like his counterpart in the comics [Dr. Bruce Banner], whenever Banner grew mad or outraged, he

Alter Egos Bixby and Ferrigno personified the roles

would transform into the

Mean and Green

living personification of his

Lou Ferrigno as TV’s not-so-jolly green giant.

anger, the Incredible Hulk

Photo courtesy of Andy Mangels.

(played by Lou Ferrigno). In

the hands of a less talented producer, the idea for this series might have been strictly reserved for CBS’ Saturday-morning kid block.

of Dr. David Banner and

But thanks to the guidance of seasoned television producer Kenneth (V, Alien Nation) Johnson, The

his “angry” alter ego for

Incredible Hulk became one of the best dramatic/adventure series of its day.

five seasons and three

The character of David Banner was a role that was owned by the late Bill Bixby. He infused Banner with

reunion movies—with a

a likable “everyman” quality that made it easy for other characters to trust him, and in the end aid his flight

fourth outing planned!

from relentless reporter Jack McGee (played by Jack Colvin). Bixby’s performance as Banner was so real and

Photo courtesy of

honest, the idea of him becoming a giant, green creature was believable even to the most jaded television viewer.

Andy Mangels.

But I was a kid when the show was first on the air. While the stories that were spun around David Banner’s

quest for a cure for the monster that dwelled within him appeal to me now as an adult, I, like most people my age back in the day, tuned in to see Banner’s alter ego, the Hulk.

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attracted the attention of Hollywood in the documentary Pumping Iron. He was very young when he took on the part of the Hulk, in his mid-20s, but youthful accomplishments came easily for Ferrigno. He was only 19 when he entered his first bodybuilding competition. At 21, Ferrigno won the title of Mr. Universe, becoming the youngest man to claim that title. As for the role of the Hulk, it was a part that the Brooklyn native was eager to take on. “I grew up reading comic books, like Superman and The Incredible Hulk,” admits Ferrigno. “I knew about the Hulk and admired that character and his physique.” Although Ferrigno replaced Kiel as the Hulk early into the pilot film’s shooting, Ferrigno recalls that some of the Kiel footage was deemed salvageable, specifically “the scene with the little girl at the lake.” The makeup application that transformed Ferrigno

It’s Easy Being Green

into the Hulk was originally a grueling three-and-a-

Screen Swamp Thing Dick Durock as “The First,”

half hour ordeal, but was eventually cut down to

from an Incredible Hulk two-part episode. Photo courtesy

two-and-a-half hours with experience. The Hulk make-

of Dick Durock and Dan Johnson.

up didn’t afford Ferrigno much of a chance to interact

with the guest stars who appeared on the show. “I had to stay in this air-conditioned trailer they had for me

JAWING WITH TV’S HULK Recently it was my pleasure to sit down with Lou Ferrigno, the man who brought the Hulk to life. I was surprised to learn that he wasn’t the first choice for the part of the Hulk. “Originally the producers had hired Richard Kiel [the villain “Jaws” from the James Bond films] to be the Hulk,” Ferrigno tells BACK ISSUE. “They shot about two weeks’ worth of material, and the son of one of the directors came onto the set and told his father [after seeing Kiel],

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says. Despite his lack of interaction with the guest stars, Ferrigno did get to know and come to admire his two co-stars, Bill Bixby and Jack Colvin. “Bill was a great guy, and I learned a lot from him. I loved watching him on the set. Bill took me under his wing, and was a mentor for me. Jack Colvin was also great, too, a terrific actor.”

FAVORITE EPISODES

‘That’s not the Hulk, daddy. The Hulk has big, huge

“My favorite episode was ‘King of the Beach,’” Ferrigno

muscles [that wasn’t the case with Kiel].’ When you

is quick to add when reflecting upon the show. In that

think of the Hulk, you think of bulging muscles.”

episode, the actor did double duty. He not only played

Indeed, while Kiel’s stature was quite impressive, his

the Hulk, but he also stepped out of the green body

frame lacked the physical presence of the Hulk.

makeup to play a bodybuilder in this somewhat auto-

When the shadow of doubt about Kiel was cast by

between takes so the makeup wouldn’t run,” Ferrigno

biographical story. “I liked it because I really got to

that young Hulk fan, the producers of the show

act in that episode,” he smiles. Another favorite of

quickly realized that they would need someone who

Ferrigno’s is “The First,” a two-parter where David

could amply fill the “shoes” of the Hulk. That was

Banner encounters another Hulk-like creature that had

where Lou Ferrigno came in. Ferrigno had already

terrorized a community 20 years before. This original

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See Dick. See Dick run (at super-speed?). Alex Toth’s classic Super Friends rendition, with Norman Maurer’s proposed additions of Dick and Jane, teenage shapeshifting aliens, and their pet, Mighty Monkey, who later became Zan, Jayna, and Gleek in the series. Wonder Twins powers, activate! © 1976 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman © 2004 DC Comics.

“The “The

Greatest Series

Never Sold”

cNeil Darrell M

When “Mad Mikey” ruminated with your not-so-humble correspondent re the possibility of doing for this fine publication a piece about past proposed animation series concepts, he came to the right dude. . . ’cuz I’ve had a little more than 30 years’ experience dealin’ with them shadowy li’l buggers. I started in the early ’70s, when I used to make my yearly trek to the local Hanna-Barbera (H-B) studio to “bug” then production design supervisor Bob Singer into hiring me to be a character designer there. (And no, I wasn’t going to let my being of high-school age stop me!) Anyway, one year (late ’72, I think), after his standard “You’re too young, come back when you graduate” speech, he decided to assuage me by showing me some large, colorful “presentation boards” showing scenes of various show ideas that H-B

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was pitching to the three networks (this was before the days of Fox, MTV, and the Cartoon Network, chilluns!) as potential series for the following season. The first one Singer showed me was of then (and, amazingly, now) studio stalwart Scooby-Doo with Batman and Robin, who had teamed up in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. “Cool,” sez I. “Wrong,” sez he, as he pulled out another presentation board showing Scooby. . . this time with Superman! “Whuzzat?” axed I. That, he replied, was the new concept H-B was presenting to CBS after the Batman/Robin appearances were the two highest-

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rated guest stars the Scooby Movies had had. The concept, Scooby-Doo Meets the Super-Heroes, would’ve replaced Scooby’s usual companions (Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy) [Scooby-Doo without Shaggy??! Blasphemy! – M.E.] with a different quartet: Batman, Superman, and. . . you ready?. . . Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four! “But. . . but. . .,” I stammered, “aren’t they Marvel characters?” “Yes,” Singer replied. “In a show with DC characters?” “Yes,” Singer again

a a d d n y n Ly L r r e t e t r ar Ca C

Title credit photo from Wonder Woman. (far right) Courtesy

She’s Still a Wonder!

An Interview by Andy Mangels, conducted on April 18, 2004, and transcribed by Brian K. Morris.

interview

of Andy Mangels.

Although the character has been battling evil in her star-spangled outfit since 1941, the vast amount of the public pictures only one thing when you mention the name of Wonder Woman: statuesque beauty Lynda Carter, hands on hips, satin tights, shiny bracelets and tiara, and a gleam in her smile. Born Linda Jean Cordoba Carter in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 24, 1951, Lynda eventually changed the spelling of her name and embarked on the rocky road of entertainment. Performing as a singer with some touring bands, Carter had modest success, but she hit her stride by winning the Miss USA pageant in 1973. Hollywood beckoned soon thereafter, and Carter had a series of minor roles on television, and one feature film, Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976).

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But it was her title role in the 1975 ABC pilot telefilm The New, Original Wonder Woman that rocketed Carter to superstar status almost overnight. In her star-spangled costume, Carter seemed born for the role of Wonder Woman. She played both Wonder Woman—and dowdier alter ego Diana Prince— with complete seriousness, even though the scripts were sometimes campy. ABC continued a series of high-rated Wonder Woman special presentations, then ordered a truncated first season. In 1977, ABC dropped the series, but CBS immediately picked it up, updating it to the modern “disco” era from its World War II roots. Ratings were strong, but silly stories, changing timeslots, and other factors eroded them. The show ended in the fall of 1979, having shot 60 episodes total. Carter rebounded quickly, landing five of her own variety specials (including one which won an Emmy Award), guest appearances on other series and telefilms, and a high-profile series of ads for Maybelline and other products. She also released her first album, Portrait, and headlined in Las Vegas, London, and other venues. In 1984, Carter married her second husband, Robert Altman, and moved to Washington, D.C. Over the next two decades, she would try her hand at series television twice more—Partners in Crime (1984) and Hawkeye (1994)—as well as numerous telefilms and a few features, but mostly, Carter stayed home to raise her two children, Jamie and Jessica. She has also worked with numerous charities, including her latest role as spokeswoman for I.B.S. Almost 30 years after its debut on television, Carter’s Wonder Woman is making its DVD debut in its first boxed set (newly on sale as you read this). Carter is still closely associated with the role, and at 50+, still looks amazing enough to appear on the TV Land Awards show in a low-cut gown, and convincingly whirl into Wonder Woman (though a younger double filled out the costume this time). As you’ll see in the following interview, Lynda isn’t afraid to tackle some of the controversies of her time in tights, but it is the strength and warmth she imbued in the character which are still evident in her own personality and discourse. Wonder Woman has always been my favorite super-heroine, and it’s fantastic that the woman who portrayed her is every bit the Amazon princess as Diana was. Hawkeye © 1994 Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

You’re a wonder, Lynda Carter! — Andy Mangels Special thanks to Christina at Melissa Prophet PR, to all the interviewees in the Dossier—especially Donfeld— to all the artists who contributed to this issue, to Kehvan Zydhek for photo scanning, to Jon Sauer, and to many unnamed others who have helped fuel my passion for Wonder Woman. See a portion of my Wonder Woman memorabilia collection at www.wonderwomanmuseum.com. .

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ANDY MANGELS: The most obvious starting question

or girlfriends or mothers, but I wouldn’t even say

for most interviews talks about how you got the role, and

“supporting roles.” They were usually just window-

I know you went and auditioned. But in one of the articles

dressing types of roles. Particularly in television, there

I was reading, it said that you had actually auditioned

just wasn’t any material being written for women. So

for the first telefilm as well: the Cathy Lee Crosby one?

I was out there with the same group of women I always

LYNDA CARTER: That’s right. You have to put it into

see when I walked into the room [for the first Wonder

context of the time and, I suppose, our kind of basic

Woman], you know, sitting there, reading sides, and

generation of women; young women in Hollywood

that it was kind of a general casting call, and I went in

in the early to middle ’70s, that kind of went out

and I didn’t even get a callback. [Later,] ABC wanted to

on interviews for everything. There weren’t many jobs

try it again, or Warner Brothers pitched it again to ABC

available. Most of them were secretaries or prostitutes

with a different producer and something that was very

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true to the comic book itself, even in its time period.

Lucy . . . and then there was Laverne and Shirley.

Between that first [Wonder Woman] and the second one,

[chuckles] Doug Cramer and I just finished doing the

I had done a screen test for Larry Gordon, who’s a

audio supplement for the first year [of Wonder Woman]

producer.

on DVD, and we had a few laughs, going over some of

MANGELS: That was for The Fan?

the stuff. It was pretty funny.

CARTER: Right, and I did that [screen test]. Doug Cramer,

MANGELS: Do you remember anything about that

who was the new producer, saw that. I was never very

early test?

good at cold readings. They’re very hard to do.

CARTER: I know I tested as both. I tested as Diana

Certainly on the first cut, so much of it is subjective, and

Prince with Steve and then I tested as Wonder Woman,

if you look like the kind of a person that they want to

but what they wanted me to do as Wonder Woman was

cast—so I went in, all nervous as usual, and ready to

just athletic, more than anything, and what could I do

read, and they said, “Oh, you don’t have to read. We

athletically and how I looked in a thrown-together sort

just want to test you.” And I said, [excited] “Really? Well,

of costume. And then I waited and I waited. It felt like

Cathy Lee Crosby in the

why’s that? How’s that?” They told me that Doug and

it was a year that I waited. I called my poor agent

first Wonder Woman TV movie.

Alan Shayne, who was the casting guy [had seen the

twice a day, “Have you heard anything? Have you heard

screen test]. I was so excited and went on an immediate

anything?” [firm] “I haven’t heard anything. Stop

diet, [laughs] and picked up everything I could to read

calling. When I hear something, I’ll let you know.”

about Wonder Woman, and made choices about how I

He was really one of those old-fashioned, wizened guys.

wanted to approach the character, and how I wanted to

Then when he finally called me, he said, “Hello, Wonder

present myself in the test. It was all very exciting.

Woman.” And I screamed and called my mom and

I’m very athletic and had taken quite a bit of

my dad, and I just couldn’t believe it. The next day,

dance when I was growing up, and so that was also part

I went in to start fitting with Donfeld, who did the

of the screen test for Wonder Woman. I tested with Lyle

costumes . . . He was a character and he was great. I’ve

Waggoner, and I think that was their first choice for

enjoyed working with him.

Steve Trevor.

I went into fitting, and I took one of my girlfriends,

MANGELS: Right.

and I remember there were a couple of fitters there that

CARTER: So, that was good. I think that Doug Cramer

were just so nice to me. And [one of them] took me

sort of had it in his mind that that’s what I’d look like.

aside. She said, “You know, this is your time and it’s very

And then he had a hard time convincing the network to

exciting. Maybe you don’t want to bring your girlfriend

use me. The network balked at my inexperience. They wanted to cast someone who had a lot more experience. Added to that, they were a little dodgy about women in lead roles in television anyway, let alone a dual role. They just didn’t think we had a TVQ. [Editor’s note: TVQ is a television marketing measurement term.] They didn’t think viewers would tune in to see a woman on television. They would tune to see men, but not women. I don’t know © 2004 Warner Bros.

what their thinking was. MANGELS: [laughs] In retrospect, it was so old-fashioned. CARTER: And that’s not that long ago. It’s pretty scary, but they just didn’t think there was any money to be made with women in television unless you were a comedienne like Carol Burnett or Mary Tyler Moore or

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LINDA HARRISON • Original TV Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman pilot “Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?” (1967) Interview by Andy Mangels, transcribed by Brian K. Morris When the live-action Batman television series became a smash success in 1966, executive producer William Dozier commissioned a script for a live-action Wonder Woman pilot for Greenway Productions and Twentieth Century-Fox Television. The script for the episode—“Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?”—was penned by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel, with later work by Stanley Ralph Ross. Director Les Martinson shot almost five minutes of pilot footage, using three actresses: comedienne Ellie Wood Walker played Diana, Maudie Prickett was her whiny suburban mother, and Linda Harrison was the busty Wonder Woman whom Diana saw when she looked in the mirror. The “joke” was that plain-looking Diana—even in her Wonder Woman costume—only thought she had the beauty of Aphrodite; she was actually the only one who saw the Linda Harrison version! The pilot got little interest at the networks, and today remains a regularly seen commodity on the video-trading market. Linda Harrison was a beauty queen who came to Hollywood and got her first acting job on Batman. She quickly became a contract player at Fox (and was dating its president, Richard Zanuck)

when she filmed Planet of the Apes and the Wonder Woman pilot. Here, she recalls a few facts about the job: On being a contract player: “I think, after I did Planet of the Apes, I had a certain stature as an actress. They just said, ‘Go over and do this pilot.’ [Fox] utilized their contractees. It’s automatic. If it went to series, then they’d still pay me the same salary. There’s not really too much that you have to contract for because you’re already under contract. The fact that I went over and did it, there was a possibility I could have done that role if it was picked up.” On her memories of the pilot: I just remember it was kind of fun to do because [I was] in that very sexy costume, and [I was] playing a very sexy role. I don’t remember a whole lot of things, but I did remember that it was a real compliment to be asked to play Wonder Woman. I mean, there were quite a few other contract people, and they wanted me.” On her “alter ego” Ellie Wood Walker: “I never met her. What they did is they just shot me in a way that I would appear, like, in the mirror. There was no other actress. I was the one that she, when she looked at the mirror, she saw me.” Shortly after filming the Wonder Woman pilot, Linda Harrison would become famous as Nova in the Planet of the Apes films. She’s appeared in a number of other film and television roles since that time, and often guests at nostalgia conventions. Visit her at www.lindaharrison.com.

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DONFELFD • Costume Designer

The New, Original Wonder Woman pilot and series (1975–1977) The New Adventures of Wonder Woman series (1977–1979) Interview by Andy Mangels, transcribed by Brian K. Morris

was the heroine’s costumes, which managed to fully evoke the comic books while being original to television as well. The designs were the work of Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld), a world-famous costume designer who began working for Fox and Warner studios in the 1960s, with his

On the tiara: “The Wonder Woman tiara was made of a wonderful first-quality leather. It was like a gold—like a bouillon leather. It came from a wonderful store that we dealt with that did all the beading for [Marlene] Dietrich. I went to a lot of trouble to get the right stuff. And the hair stylist was spraying the tiara, unbeknownst to me. When she would spray Lynda, she would spray the tiara, so they kept sending the tiaras back. I said, ‘You know,

Jacqueline Bissett, and many more. He was nominated

we don’t have a lot of this leather.’ Ladies shoes are

for four academy awards, most recently for Prizzi’s Honor.

made of it. It was very hard to come by and we were hav-

In 1979, Donfeld was nominated for the “Outstanding

ing a hard time eking the tiaras out. We had a lot of

Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama or

them. We did the photo doubles out of something else

Comedy Series” Emmy Award for the Wonder Woman

but that leather. The maintenance on the show was just

episode “Anschluss ’77.” Today, Donfeld is mostly retired

a nightmare.”

from costuming, and is working on an autobiography

On the cape: “I wanted accessories. I was just getting

about his decades in Hollywood. He took quite a bit of time out for an interview, but many of his irascible and hilarious tales can’t be printed. Here are a few stories we can share with BACK ISSUE readers:

tired. I said, ‘You know, I would love to start doing some cover-ups. If there’s a chance that she’s going to turn or twirl. . .’ And they said okay, so we had to decide a budget in such a way. When you have 26 shows to do, you

On the Crosby costume: “They’d already done it once

can take money from show 12, but when you get to

with Cathy Lee Crosby and they’d had a designer, a

show 11, you can’t spend money on show 12 because

sweet man named Bill Thomas. Cathy Lee was, like, in a

you know you already did that show, right? So you can

jumpsuit. I think that was done to accommodate the

take the money out of the front. It’s called ‘amortization.’

actor’s ego, which generally means it wasn’t the same

We do a lot of it. I could go and get an overage, or I’d

interpretation. Then I met with Stanley Ralph Ross, who

just write it up as an overage if there was something I

wrote [the new Wonder Woman]. I don’t think we had

couldn’t live without. I wanted something that would be

an actor for it at that point. I said, ‘Well, let me try to put

dramatic and something that would be just a cover-up,

together some ideas.’ And at first, they were going to go

for the look. So I came up with the cape, then we made

strictly Forties, kind of keeping it in the comic-book

it work. I wanted texture on the screen, and we weren’t

genre.”

getting any texture, and I didn’t want it to look like a tel-

On reaction to his designs for the Lynda Carter ver-

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was startling enough, but the second one was really startling. We could do anything we wanted for the second

Ann-Margret, Debbie Reynolds, Natalie Wood, Jane Fonda,

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what it was going to look like, and I knew what I wanted it to look like. They pieced it together, and the first one

one.”

with Elvis Presley, plus many of Hollywood’s golden age

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[laughs] I had a wonderful crew around me, and I knew

most memorable elements of the Wonder Woman series

of diva stars, from Judy Garland and Bette Davis to

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to wear the costume.’ I said, ‘Well, we’ll see about this.’

Other than the actors and the theme song, one of the

first credit on Sanctuary in 1961. Donfeld got to work

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‘There’s no way on God’s Earth that this girl was going

evision show.”

sion: “When we started the show, I took the sketches up

On the motorcycle suit: “It was spandex all over. It

to [producer] Doug Cramer’s house, and they just went

was almost like a Navy SEAL’s outfit, [and] she’d take the

crazy, but they weren’t sure the production could afford

helmet off and run. The motorcycle thing I adored, and it

it. I said, ‘You’ve already done it once and it didn’t work.

was a custom-made helmet that the stuntman tried to

Why would we do it if we can’t do it right?’ So we kind of

run off with it. We wouldn’t let him do it. He decided that

started building [the costume], and I think they finally set

he was going to own that helmet. Well, he’d have to step

her, and then we started testing then for it. They said,

over my body to get it.”

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Artist Tom Derenick (Smallville, Catwoman movie adaptation) captures Lynda Carter’s wonder smile. Art courtesy of Tom Derenick at www.pmkane.com/tomderenick/.

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LY N DA CA R T E R a s

Art Gallery Te x t b y

Andy Mangels

Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld) was the costume designer for the Wonder Woman television series (for more information about this colorful costumer, see the Donfeld dossier accompanying the Lynda Carter interview in this issue). Pictured are some of his designs for the costume worn by Lynda Carter. The smallest of the above designs was auctioned in spring 2004 on eBay for $4000.

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DONFELD

Dick Giordano was born and raised in New York, and began inking comics at the Iger Studios in late 1951. Over the following decades, he would pencil, ink, and edit comics for Charlton, DC, Marvel, and Atlas, a n d d r e w advertising art for Continuity Studios. In 1968, he began inking Wonder Woman (with issue #178), eventually taking over the art chores full-time for several of the “nonpowered” Wonder Woman issues. Giordano would return to ink Wonder Woman on-and-off throughout the years, as well as producing much of the licensing art for the character (including most 1970s’ Wonder Woman licensing). Today, he’s hard at work drawing and writing a 128-page book for North Light Books: the working title is Drawing Comics Step by Step with Dick Giordano. He’ll also be working on a miniseries for Marvel, has just finished the pencils on a graphic novella for Metron Press, and will produce some Phantom stories for Swedish publisher Egmont. Visit his website at www.dickgiordano.com and read the TwoMorrows book, Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time.

When Mego released a line of outfits for the 12-inch Wonder Woman doll in Canada, they used Giordano collage art on the back of the packaging. After producing the new “Wonder Biker art” for BACK ISSUE, Giordano said, “Lynda Carter was Wonder Woman! Her regal beauty and stature convinced me that here, at last, was the real Wonder Woman. I only wish that show could have been produced today. It would have been even more of a standout with Lynda’s presence enhanced by the production values possible today, particularly in the area of special effects. Nevertheless, I never felt cheated watching this tall, beautiful woman doing her stuff every week! She was a Wonder Woman!” Mego art courtesy of Jim Emmons.

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Paul Guinan is a multimedia artist with a particular interest in comic-book storytelling. He co-created Chronos for DC Comics and co-created Heartbreakers with his wife, Anina Bennett. Heartbreakers was the first science-fiction comic to feature female action heroes as lead characters. Paul’s innovations continue with the Heartbreakers’ latest outing, a graphic novel rendered in a unique combin a t i o n o f p h o t o g r a p h y, painting, and drawing. Examples of this revolutionary technique can be seen on Paul and Anina’s website, www.BigRedHair.com (and while you’re there, take a look at Boilerplate). A history buff since childhood, Paul was disappointed when the Wonder Woman TV series moved from the 1940s to a contemporary setting. Wonder Woman nevertheless continued to be a source of inspiration for him, and the strength of character she possesses Artwork courtesy of and © 2004 Paul Guinan. Wonder Woman © 2004 DC Comics.

found its way into Paul’s Heartbreakers work.

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Lights . . . Camera . . . Web-Slinging Action!

Spider-Man’s Climb

Up the Hollywood Ladder Editor’s note: When it comes to comic-book super-heroes making a big splash on the TV and silver screens, one of the greatest success stories is your friendly neighborhood SpiderMan. But the web-slinger’s stardom didn’t come overnight. Legendary Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita, Sr.

Up in Arms If John Romita, Sr.’s cover to Amazing

I remember very well

when Marvel was first discussing

the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four cartoons in early 1967. There was

Spider-Man #88

discussion of Hanna-Barbera doing one of the shows and Grantray-Lawrence

(September 1970)

Animation doing the other one. I remember hoping that it would be Hanna-

doesn’t grab ya, we

Barbera that got to do Spider-Man. They had a good track record of doing

don’t know what will! Courtesy of

animation. Also, my kids grew up with Hanna-Barbera, and I was also a fan of Tom and Jerry from their old MGM days [Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were MGM animators before opening their own animation studio]. But I had never heard

of the other company [partners Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson, and Robert

guest editorial by john romita, sr.

Heritage Comics.

shares some behindthe-scenes

anecdotes

about Spidey’s history in Hollywood.

Special

thanks to Dan Johnson for contacting

Mr.

Romita and for his invaluable assistance in making this “Off My Chest” a reality.

Lawrence executive-produced season one of Spider-Man]. So I was a little disappointed when Hanna-Barbera took on the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man went to Grantray-Lawrence. I was asked to do some very simple adaptations of the Spider-Man characters—like Peter Parker and Spider-Man—that the animators could follow. Whenever we discussed how the show was going to look, I was always disappointed. The animators were trying to do it on a commercial basis where they would do it not cheaply, but as economically as possible. It must have been a hell of a chore to put all those webs on Spider-Man, thus they left them off his arms and chest. When Hanna-Barbera did the Thing in Fantastic Four, they ran into a similar problem with his orange, rocky skin. The animators just looked for shortcuts and left blank areas. I had a discussion with Stan Lee [about these shortcuts], because he used to ask my opinion a lot of the time. In regard to the first Spider-Man animated series, I used to tell Stan that I would rather this not get to the screen than be done badly. Stan absolutely pooh-poohed that suggestion every time.

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positive). Looking back now, I know what a great move

Look Out! Here Comes the Spider-Man!

this cartoon series was. Down through the years,

A frequently used stock web-slinging shot (left)

every time I’ve gone to conventions, I have spoken

from the 1967–1970 Spider-Man TV cartoon.

to hundreds of people who have told me they had

never heard of Spider-Man before the cartoon show. They would tell me how much they loved it and they

Spider-Man Theme Song Lyrics

would sing the theme for me. I never learned the He would say, “John, believe me, getting this on

words myself, but my kids knew them [see sidebar]. I

Spider-Man, Spider-Man,

television is the first mountain to climb. Even if it’s

realized that these people became familiar with the

Does whatever a spider can.

not as good as you would like it to be, it’s going

character and had never seen the comic-book version

Spins a web, any size.

to be great.” I doubted it very much. I had great

before. I now realize it was one of the best deals we

misgivings about it. It wasn’t like I created Spider-

ever made.

Catches thieves, just like flies. Look out! Here comes

Man—that was Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. But I was

the Spider-Man!

very much involved with the character. Everything

makes the leap to live-action television (thanks

being done then with Spider-Man, from designs

to executive producers Sandy Fries and Daniel R.

for toys to advertising drawings, I was in charge of

Goodman). I remember the producers of that series

those. I was always very protective of Spider-Man.

wanted to change Spider-Man’s costume and not

Is he strong? Listen, bud! He’s got radioactive blood. Can he swing from a thread?

When I saw one of the finished Spider-Man cartoons,

Take a look overhead.

Fast forward now about ten years: Spider-Man

make it blue and red. Stan called me up from

I was very disappointed. I felt they were too crude and

California when they were shooting the first two-

too hastily done. Of course, that was unreasonable

hour film and he said, “Johnny, they’re going to

of me considering the television technique at the

make Spider-Man’s costume black and red.” Actually,

In the chill

time, where they had to grind them out for a week-

it was supposed to be black and red. In comics we

of night,

ly show. Looking back now, in hindsight, makes me

used blue for highlights. Unfortunately, down through

At the scene

understand what a chore that must have been. But

the years, Ditko and I had used less and less black

of the crime.

at the time I was very demanding, and I was of a mind

to save time, and it became the blue-and-red costume.

Like a streak of light,

where I said, “I hate this; I wish to heck we had

I told Stan, “He’s become associated with the blue-

He arrives just in time.

never started it.” But Stan would always tell me to

and-red costume. The black-and-red will be a little

be positive (I was always negative and Stan was always

bit different.” It didn’t really bother me all that much,

Hey there, there goes the Spider-Man!

Spider-Man, Spider-Man,

but I asked Stan why they couldn’t make him blue

Friendly neighborhood

and red. Stan said, “Whenever they are doing the

Spider-Man.

matte shots, the blue in Spider-Man’s costume would

Wealth and fame,

become invisible because they were using a back-

he’s ignored.

ground matte that was blue.” I asked Stan, “Why

Action is his reward.

don’t they paint [the background matte] green?” Spider-Man at the time was also on the Children’s

To him, life is a

Television Workshop’s The Electric Company in little

great big bang-up,

daily appearances. I told Stan that Electric Company

Wherever there’s

didn’t have a big budget, and all they did [to get

a hang-up, You’ll find

Marvel Confab

the Spider-Man!

Stan “the Man” Lee (left) and “Jazzy” John Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Romita in a mid-1970s photo.

Music by Bob Harris, Stu Phillips, and D. Kapross

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THE JOKER’S JUKEBOX

2003

This was drawn for DC Comics’ Licensing department, to be used as blown-up displays while waiting in line for the new Joker’s Jukebox ride at Six Flags (New Orleans). I have done a few things for Six Flags through DC, courtesy of Hank Kanalz, who used to be involved with Theme Park Licensing.

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2003 This was the first shot of Wonder Woman in Walt Simonson’s story, halfway into the issue. I tried to make it memorable, and still read as Diana, despite the lack of her normal costume. Whether I succeeded, I don’t know. I liked drawing her in the white 1960s-inspired outfit, though. Editor’s note: Thanks to Jer for taking the time to scan this art and write the captions for this issue. Ordway fans (and who isn’t?), for more of Jerry’s fabulous artwork, visit his site at www.jerryordway.com. —M.E. 7 0

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WONDER WOMAN

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Star Tr ek k o MIKE W. BARR’S

- BIEoo Co miEc M MO R S by

arr Mike W. B

Icons of two of America’s favorite decades, the 1950s and the 1960s, each passed away at about the same time. On March 28, 1969, President Dwight D. Eisenhower died, initiating a long series of commemorations of the life of this president, war hero, and cold warrior. News of Eisenhower’s death and retrospectives of his life preempted scheduled network programming, including the last episode of Star Trek, “Turnabout Intruder.” First generation Trek fans like myself had to wait until June 3, 1969, when the third season was rerun, to see the final television voyage of the Starship Enterprise. After that, it was thought that Trek would go gentle into that good night of cancellation, as had hundreds of television shows before it, remembered only as a source of trivia for future generations. But Star Trek, like the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, has a way of going up against formidable foes and emerging triumphant. The show, never a ratings hit on network TV, immediately went into syndication where it proved enormously popular, not only maintaining its established fan base, but gaining new devotees. It wasn’t long before there was a cartoon show—the only animated show in history that is better watched with eyes closed—immediate talk of a movie that would not come to fruition for ten long years, and, of course, the comic book. GOLD KEY’S STAR TREK Yes, the Star Trek comic book, published by Gold Key, durable producer of TV and movie tie-in comics for decades. The first issue appeared nine months after the show itself premiered, and lasted until long after the show was cancelled. Though the comic is not necessarily remembered fondly by Trekkies (or Trekkers, or Trekkists, or whatever the hell they call themselves nowadays), it was nonetheless the only source of new Trek available for a long time. “Not remembered fondly?” you ask? Have you ever seen the Gold Key Trek comics? In early issues, at least, the Enterprise was drawn with fumes trailing from its nacelles, as if they were rocket engines. Though the overall art wasn’t bad, the likenesses were apt to be more miss than hit, and some scripts betrayed no understanding of the Trek universe. In one issue, the Asian Lt. Sulu was even drawn as a black man! These oversights can be attributed to the fact that the Gold Key comic was pretty much generated overseas, at least as far as the art was concerned. Most of the artists who drew the comic had never seen the show, and were working from photo reference supplied by Gold Key, who in turn had pried whatever they could out of Paramount Pictures, the owner of Star Trek. Nowadays the Star Trek office has a full-time licensing department to approve the mountain of novels and merchandising produced, but such was not the case in the late 1960s, especially after the show was cancelled.

The first two issues of the Gold Key series were drawn by Italian artist Nevio Zeccarra (or Zeccara). Interviewed in Comic Book Artist v.1 #22, Zeccarra recalled: “. . . Gold Key sent me photos of the principal actors . . . the starships, etc., but I made up all other aspects of the stories from my imagination.”

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MARVEL’S STAR TREK That wish came true in late 1979. For years, Trekkies (or whatever) had devoured every tidbit of rumor, innuendo, and fact to come out of Hollywood concerning new filmed Trek. And there was a lot to devour; Paramount announced a new Trek TV series in the middle 1970s, then went back and forth several times on whether to make the project a TV series or a big-screen film. Then a little film called Star Wars opened in May of 1977, “proving” to know-nothing execs that an audience—and, more importantly from Tinseltown’s point of view, a box office—existed for that crazy Buck Rogers stuff. (Even Buck, the premiere s-f hero, was dusted off for a lackluster TV series in the late ’70s. And don’t get me started on Battlestar Galactica. Those efforts proved you could spend millions of dollars, employ hundreds of people, fill a screen with spaceships, cute robots and special effects, and still miss what made Star Wars a hit— integrity.)

After Zeccarra, Alberto Giolitti, long-time artist on the durable Turok, Son of Stone, took over with the third issue, and worked on the book for over ten years, drawing scripts by Gerry Boudreau, Arnold Drake, Allan Moniz, Len Wein (who would later write the series at DC), and Dick Wood, along others. Alden McWilliams also served a hitch as artist. Some of the Gold Key Trek comics would be collected as The Enterprise Logs, and Checker Comics has announced plans to reprint the Gold Key title in trade-paperback format. Despite its problems, props must be given to the Gold Key Star Trek comic as the only source of visual Trek available consistently for the ten years between the cancellation of the TV show and the debut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The Gold Key Trek comic lasted almost 12 years, from #1, dated July 1967, to #61, March 1979. (The first four issues were very irregularly produced, their publication dates being 7/67, 6/68, 12/68, and 6/69. [Everyone who thinks it’s funny to razz me over the schedule of Camelot 3000, remember the above!]) And issue #49, “A Warp In Space!” written by former DC editor and writer George Kashdan, was lauded by Robert T. Jeschonek as one of the “Ten Best” Star Trek comic-book stories in an article for Amazing Heroes #181 (July 1990). Still, it must be conceded that the Gold Key series wasn’t as. . . (pause for Shatner-like phrasing). . . exciting as it could have been. If only, we Trekkies sighed, DC or Marvel could get their hands on Trek. That would be something to conjure with.

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Fortunately, Star Trek has plenty of integrity of its own. Whereas every science-fiction big-screen project initiated since Star Wars has been full of cute robots and cuter aliens, it’s hard to cite a science-fiction film since 1977 that was less influenced by Star Wars than Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Whether you loved it, loathed it, or beamed in somewhere in between, the movie did big boffo box office and proved Trek was back in an equally big way. A comic-book adaptation followed, by Marvin Wolfman, Dave Cockrum, and Klaus Janson, then an ongoing series, the first three issues of which reprinted the adaptation before embarking on new voyages. I, as a nascent comics scripter, readily informed Marvel my services were available, only to be told that the team who handled the adaptation would do the monthly title. At the time, Marvin Wolfman seemed an odd choice to helm the book. Not only had he never expressed any particularly strong feelings to me about Trek one way or another, he also referred to Trek novelists (in those days, the market for Star Trek novels was just taking off) as “housewives,” claiming that the only people who could be found to write them were otherwise unemployable domestics, even though several scripters of the original show and established s-f writers supplied several of the books. And how is it that writing a Trek novel is somehow soulless hackwork, but writing a Trek comic book is sublimely creative? At any rate, Marvin’s tenure on the title didn’t last long. After scripting and editing issue four, the first new issue of the series, he went to DC after either quitting or being fired from Marvel (depending on whom you ask), in the middle of a continued story. New editor Denny O’Neil asked me to write

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the next issue in something of a hurry. I readily agreed, but the task proved trickier than I had thought. No written plot for #4 could be found; we had only Dave Cockrum’s pencils and liner notes, the latter of which were of little help. (One of the alien characters introduced in #4 was named “Raytag.” Dave’s liner notes consisted mainly of jokes about how Raytag was angry because his name was so similar to that of a brand of washing machine. This was as funny the nineteenth time as it was the first.) Fortunately, dialogued pages soon arrived from the letterer, which made the process of trying to figure out the story a lot easier. But there was still the lawsuit.

NO MUDD-SLINGING ALLOWED Though I was never privy to the details, there had apparently been some sort of legal action— between Marvel and Paramount Pictures, was all I was told—that forbade Marvel from using any aspect of Star Trek that had not appeared in the movie. (For example, the movie made no reference to the character of Harry Mudd from the TV series, so that character could not be used, nor referred to.) This became a factor in crafting #5 when my plot called for Spock to use a Vulcan mind-meld. O’Neil wasn’t sure if we could use this facet of Spock’s character until he was told that Spock did perform a mind-meld in the movie. Another crisis averted, whew. (This all occurred in late 1979, before the film debuted or the novel or comic adaptations had shipped. My request to read the movie’s script was denied, making such snippets of info all the more tantalizing. After Marvel’s Trek title was cancelled, Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter told me Paramount had finally given their okay to use the entire universe of Trek, but this came too late to save the title.) I was able to fashion a story based for #5 by changing only one word in #4. (Marv later told me my story was considerably different than his would have been, but that he understood the circumstances under which it had been produced.) It was cool to be writing the characters I’d loved for thirteen years, and working with Dave Cockrum, whose art I’d admired on [Superboy and the] Legion of Super Heroes, was a thrill. Though I realized Marvel had a new regular team lined up for the book, I told everyone involved I’d love to do it again, if the chance ever arose. . . . . . Which it did, far more quickly than I’d have thought. Some days after finishing #5, I was in editor Denny O’Neil’s office at Marvel, just shooting the breeze, not even looking for a gig. The imposing presence of Jim Shooter entered, telling Denny that Marvel had just signed a deal to reprint their run of Trek comics in mass-market paperback format. Jim

D DV ck Issues : Back

o t s c i m o C

D D V o t m l i F e n O t ar by

Andy Mangels

The relationship between comics and film is a long one. Consider Superman,

Adventures of Captain Marvel, The Artisan (1941, 216m) Comments: Considered one of the best comic-book serials ever released, this violent 12-parter features Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel as he fights against a sinister plot by the mysterious Scorpion. This is an unrestored transfer on one disc. DVD Extras: Trailer.

Captain Marvel, and Captain America, each of whom was less than three years

Adventures of Captain Marvel, The

old when work began on serials and cartoons which transferred their adventures

Serialsquadron.com (1941, 216m) Comments: The 12-part serial is spread over 3 discs and restored by the Serial Squadron, a serial preservation group. More expensive than the Artisan version, but worth the cost. DVD Extras: Featurette, bloopers, tinted scenes, trailer.

to the movie screen. And even before those heroes from comic-book pages made their celluloid debuts, characters from the comic strips—Annie, Popeye, Buster Brown—were caught in Hollywood’s flickering light. Over the last decade, the number of comic-book series translated to film has risen dramatically. The reasons are varied: special effects have gotten easier, quicker, and cheaper in the digital age; younger movie executives have grown up

special feature

reading comics; some companies, such as Dark Horse, have deals with movie stu-

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dios; and super-hero films offer the potential for a franchise. Technology for getting the films into the hands of fans has also changed over the last decade, especially with the rise of DVDs. The DVD technology allows video and audio images to be stored (with crystal clarity) on a small disc also gives room for a host of extras: widescreen theatrical images, director and star commentaries that can be played over the film, isolated music scores, deleted scenes, outtakes, uncensored footage, behind-the-scenes clips, alternate endings, music videos, foreign language subtitles, and more. For fans, the ability to get their favorite comics film on DVD—with all the bells and whistles—is irresistible. There are many good sources for DVDs, but some comic book-based DVDs are tougher to find. First, check with your local comic book store to see if Diamond or other distributors they use might carry the disc in question. Failing that, to get the best price, go to www.dvdpricesearch.com. What follows is a comprehensive look at what comic-book DVDs are available on the market. It does not include CrossGen or Marvel Comics “Comic on DVD” releases, but instead is a look at live-action and animation.

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American Splendor Warner/HBO Video (2004, 101m) Comments: An autobiographical film about the life of cartoonist/curmudgeon Harvey Pekar, this was critically acclaimed. It features a variety of styles to tell its story, including actors, the real Pekar and wife Joyce Brabner, and animation. DVD Extras: Widescreen, commentary, featurettes, easter eggs, music track.

Annie Sony/Columbia TriStar (1982, 127m) Comments: The story of Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie was transferred to Broadway stages, and then filmed by John Huston. Despite an impressive cast, this musical fails to thrill, though kids will like it. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, advertising, cast bios, production notes, trailers.

Annie - Special Anniversary Edition Sony/Columbia TriStar (1982, 87m) Comments: A new version of the stage-to-film project. DVD Extras: Fullscreen, featurette, game, sing-along, trailer.

Annie Disney (1999, 90m) Comments: Disney remakes the stage play for television, adding an eclectic Tony-and-Oscar-winning cast that brings the project to vibrant life. Look for a cameo from Andrea McArdle, the original Annie! DVD Extras: Fullscreen, trailers.

Batman: The Movie

Batman and Robin (#4)

Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero (2)

Fox (1966, 105m) Comments: Produced concurrently with the campy television series, this Bat-film finds our heroes up against the villains Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman. The best scene is one in which Batman finds he just can’t get rid of a bomb. DVD Extras: Widescreen, commentary by Adam West and Burt Ward, featurette, Batmobile tour, still gallery, trailers.

Warner Bros. (1997, 125m) Comments: George Clooney does his best in a story that features 2 overacting villains, Robin, and the introduction of Batgirl. A campy, colorful mess. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, production notes.

Warner Bros. (1997, 67m) Comments: A tie-in to the feature film had deeper characterization for the title villain, plus Batgirl. DVD Extras: Game, how to draw, music montage, cast and crew info, trailers.

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

Batman (#1)

Warner Bros. (2002, 91m) Comments: Based on a little-known independent comic, this clichéd uberaction film stars Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu. Also available in 2-packs with either Femme Fatale or Exit Wounds. DVD Extras: Widescreen, featurette, game, trailers.

Warner Bros. (1989, 126m) Comments: Michael Keaton proves the fans wrong by turning in an understated and grim performance, Tim Burton dazzles with direction, and Jack Nicholson overacts like mad. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, production notes.

Barbarella

Batman Returns (#2)

Paramount (1968, 98m) Comments: Jane Fonda stars in this campy and sexy cult film based on French cartoonist Jean-Claude Forest’s heroine. The first of producer Dino De Laurentiis’ comic films. DVD Extras: Widescreen, trailer.

Warner Bros. (1992, 126m) Comments: Michelle Pfeiffer doesn’t hit a single wrong note as Catwoman, but Danny DeVito’s Penguin muddles Tim Burton’s mix just a bit. The best of the new Bat-quartet though. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, production notes.

Barb Wire Universal (1996, 98m) Comments:Pamela Anderson Lee is the titular guns-and-leather heroine of this trashy extravaganza based on the Dark Horse comic series. Without this, TV might never have gotten VIP. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, outtakes, photo gallery, trailer.

Warner Bros. (1989-1997, 499m) Comments: Boxed set featuring 4 Batman movies.

Batman: The Animated Series (1): The Legend Begins Batman: The Animated Series (2): Tales of the Dark Knight Batman: The Animated Series (3): Out of the Shadows Batman: The Animated Series (4): Adventures of Batman and Robin: The Joker/Fire and Ice Batman: The Animated Series (5): Adventures of Batman and Robin: Poison Ivy/The Penguin

Archie Show, The - The Archie Show Vol. 1 Archie’s TV Funnies - Archie’s TV Funnies Vol. 1 Archies, The: The Jugman U S of Archie, The - Archie’s Classic Cartoons Vol. 1 Nostalgia Ventures (1968-1976) Comments: The animated adventures of the gang from Riverdale are brought to DVD by this small company. DVD Extras: Unavailable to review.

The Batman Superman Movie (3)

The Batman Legacy

Batman Forever (#3) Warner Bros. (1995, 122m) Comments: Val Kilmer is Batman and Chris O’Donnell is introduced as Robin, but the silly plot gives free reign to the manic Jim Carrey’s Riddler, and encourages Tommy Lee Jones to go over the top as well. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, production notes.

Warner Bros. (1992-1993, 88-110m) Comments: 4-5 episodes each of the Dark Deco hit series from Fox that redefined DC’s animated future. Batman was never better on the big or small screen. DVD Extras: Interview, featurettes, game, how to draw.

Batman: The Animated Series (Subscription) Warner Bros./Columbia House (1992-1993) Comments: Offering 4 episodes per DVD, Columbia House has released 10 volumes. To order, call customer service 800-262-2001.

Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1 (4 discs) Warner Bros. (1992) Comments: This 4-disc set includes the first 28 episodes of the initial season of the WB show. DVD Extras: Commentaries, featurettes. Unavailable for review. Release Date 07/06/2004

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1) Warner Bros. (1993, 76m) Comments:The first feature-length animated film hews close to the popular animated series, but is darker and more violent. DVD Extras: Widescreen, fullscreen, trailer.

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Warner Bros. (1997, 61m) Comments: A lead-in to the animated Superman series, this pitted the World’s Finest team against Joker and Lex Luthor. DVD Extras: Interview with Bruce Timm, game, how to draw, music montage, cast and crew info, trailers.

Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (4) Warner Bros. (2003, 75m) Comments: When Penguin and Boss Thorne join forces, Batman and Robin get help from a new heroine, the mysterious Batwoman. Also includes a DVD-exclusive short adventure. DVD Extras: Interviews, featurette, game, character bios, art.

Batman Beyond: The Movie (1) Warner Bros. (1999, 127m) Comments: Six early episodes of the popular WB cartoon show include “Rebirth I and II,” “Meltdown,” “Dead Man’s Hand,” “Gotham Golem,” and “The Winning Edge.” DVD Extras: None.

Batman Beyond: School Dayz/Spellbound (2) Warner Bros. (1999) Comments: More episodes from the first season are “Spellbound,” “A Touch of Curare,” “Hooked Up,” “Golem,” “The Winning Edge,” and “Dead Man’s Hand.” DVD Extras: Unavailable for review.

Batman Beyond: Tech Wars/Disappearing Inque (3) Warner Bros. (1999) Comments: More episodes from the first season are “Splicers,” “Heroes,” “Lost Soul,” “Black Out,” “Disappearing Inque,” and “Shriek.” DVD Extras: Unavailable for review.

dvd list continues next page

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special feature

An Interview with Punisher (1989)

Director Mark Goldblatt

Taking Direction Director Mark Goldblatt (right) on the set of 1989’s The Punisher, with star

There are

two things for certain about comic-book fans: We are opinionated about comic books,

and we are opinionated about the film and television projects that spin off from comic books. The release of the new Punisher movie has sparked a lot of debate at comic-book shops since it was first

Dolph Lundgren.

announced, as well as new rounds of discussion regarding New World Pictures’ 1989 take on the Punisher. For

Photo courtesy of

those who haven’t seen the original film, the story has the Punisher landing right in the middle of a shooting

war between members of the mob and the Yakuza, Japanese gangsters. The film stars Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle—aka the Punisher—a police officer whose family is killed by the Mafia. Louis Gossett, Jr. plays Jake Berkowitz, Castle’s ex-partner, determined to stop his friend’s one-man war on the mob. The first Punisher film has taken some heat in the past, and it is heat that I really don’t think it deserves. If you haven’t taken a look at the 1989 version of The Punisher lately, you really should.

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When Mark Goldblatt got the job directing The Punisher, he had already established himself as a noted film editor who had worked on The Howling and The Terminator; he has since worked on such movies as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Starship Troopers. The greatest testimony to his skill is that he is a man who has worked repeatedly with such top-notch genre talent as Joe Dante, James Cameron, and Paul Verhoeven. As it was, Goldblatt’s foray into directing was all too brief, and The Punisher was only his second (and last) film as director. “I had [directed] a movie called Dead Heat (1988, recently released on widescreen DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment) with Treat Williams, Joe © 1989 New World Pictures.

Piscopo, and Vincent Price,” Goldblatt reveals. “Before

Dead Heat came out and bombed at the box office, [New World Pictures] was very high on me. They thought I did a good job, especially given its low budget. Basically, New World was offering me a choice of projects. I was approached by producer Robert Kamen, who created The Karate Kid [the film series that began in 1984]. He had shepherded the Punisher project and had engaged Boaz Yakin to write the screenplay. Boaz has since had a lot of success: Remember the Titans and Fresh, and a few others.”

Men at Work The Punisher proved to be an interesting exercise in low-budget filmmaking for Goldblatt. The film was a 50-day shoot, had no second unit crew, and was budgeted for only $9.5 million, a very low sum for a film even in 1989 (that was for everything, including the actors’ salaries). New World got creative, though, and early on realized that they could stretch their dollars farther by taking a step that is very common these days: shooting the film outside of the United States. According to Goldblatt, the first non-U.S. site discussed was British Columbia. In the end, the producer settled on Australia. “One of the issues about the movie, which is a little interesting, is that we were told we were supposed to start scouting locations in Australia,” Goldblatt explains. “If I had had my choice of wherever I would have shot it, in terms of what the movie called for, it would have been New York. I always felt New York and New Jersey was really Punisher territory. We went to Sydney, which doesn’t look anything like New York, though it’s a beautiful place—I love it. For the [limited] budget we had, I knew we could get really great people [there] compared to the people that might have been available at that time in the States.” As it turned out, there were other reasons besides economic concerns for making The Punisher in Australia. “It became apparent that New World had a company that they had set up in

Filming Down Under

Australia, New World Pictures Australia, a company that had raised

Australian as well as

a lot of money,” says Goldblatt. “It

American actors got

had been around for some years, but

kicked in the head

had never made a movie. If we would

by the Punisher.

agree to go to Australia, [New World]

Photo courtesy of

would agree to make our movie.

Andy Mangels.

If we didn’t agree on going to

Australia, they probably wouldn’t

have made our movie at all. It was that simple.”

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DOOM L O R PAT

collected editions review

The

A R C H I V Eby S Arnold Drake

and Bruno Premia ni

Reading the original Doom Patrol is like watching a marathon of Outer Limits episodes—there’s a robot, a 50-foot woman, a radioactive man with a bandaged face, an immortal mastermind, an intelligent talking gorilla, a far-Eastern mystic, a green-skinned alien conqueror, a snobby jetsetter with a “Mento” helmet, bubbling lava monsters, a repugnant sea beast, an animal-vegetable-mineral menace, and even an evil brain in a jar!

The Doom Patrol Archives Volume 1: My Greatest Adventure/ Doom Patrol #80–89 DC Comics • 2002 Hardcover • 226 pages color • $49.95 US Volume 2: Doom Patrol #90–97 DC Comics • 2003 Hardcover • 218 pages color • $49.95 USA

I loved The Outer Limits (1963–65) during my wee years, and followed it in reruns for years after that, but DC’s Doom Patrol just didn’t register on my radar. I wasn’t alone. Grade-schoolers like me were suckered in by flashier funnybooks like Batman, Superman, and upstart Marvel Comics’ hyperbolic offerings, but most of us ignored the Doom Patrol throughout its five-year run, perhaps discovering the oddball team during its 1977 Showcase revival, or in the early 1980s in the pages of The New Teen Titans. The Doom Patrol, now the subject of two DC Comics Archives editions (presumably with more to follow), commanded a loyal, but small, cult audience during its original run. Much has been written about the coincidental timing of the debuts of DC’s tragic team of societal outcasts—Robotman (Cliff Steele, a former daredevil whose body was destroyed in an accident, his brain being encased in a robotic form), Elasti-Girl (a babelicious starlet named Rita Farr who could grow or shrink), Negative Man (Larry Trainor, a living mummy from whom an electromagnetic super-being could burst forth), and their wheelchair-bound, big-brain leader, Niles Caulder, aka the Chief—and Marvel’s similarly themed X-Men, who first appeared three months after the DP (another famous DC/Marvel “who came first?” fluke, Swamp Thing and Man-Thing, is the subject of next issue’s “Greatest Stories

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Never Told” feature). Less ink has been devoted to

Third, The Doom Patrol subtly, and sometimes

why the 1960s’ Doom Patrol series never made it past

not so subtly, explored the themes of self-image and equal rights. No one in the Doom Patrol wanted

second-banana series. Since The Doom Patrol Archives places those original stories on chronological display, impeccably reprinted

that gave them their powers, especially the tormented

in DC’s upscale hardcover format, it’s now clear to me,

Robotman. And while the public wasted no time

as an adult reader, why this comic book struggled to

calling the Doom Patrol to the rescue when some

find an audience and was cancelled after only five

curious creature slithered forth, they mostly kept

years of bimonthly adventures.

these bizarre heroes at a comfortable arm’s length.

First and foremost, the original Doom Patrol tales

as DC’s most non-DC book of the 1960s. With its

manner by artist Bruno Premiani. Absent were the

freakish, bickering characters, Doom Patrol seemed

exaggerated body types so commonplace in super-

like a Marvel comic masquerading as a DC title,

hero comics. Premiani’s expressive linework and

particularly when compared to the charming but

concise storytelling make his DP adventures a joy to

innocuous then-contemporary DC stories featuring

behold for the discerning eye, but for the reader of

Lois Lane’s latest attempt to expose Clark Kent’s

the day, accustomed to the clean but simplistic ren-

Superman identity and Batman parading around

dering of other DC super-hero series, his Patrol work

Gotham City in rainbow-colored costume variations.

and shapeshifter Madame Rouge.

hints at the social ostracism felt by the DP but never

timeline:

was uncharacteristic for DC’s mid-1960s’ fare. Drake’s

this shortcoming: The readership of the era was not

DP displayed a broad range of human emotions—

prepared for the psychoanalysis of tortured super-

anger, jealousy, self-pity, and humor—during a time

psyches. And on the occasions that he and Premiani

when DC’s super-heroes were largely one-dimension-

steered the DP into traditional super-heroics in their

al. The Doom Patrol frequently squabbled, their banter

battles against stereotyped villains—issue #92’s Dr.

rivaling that of the early days of Stan Lee and Jack

Tyme and #94’s bird-controlling Claw (both in

Kirby’s Fantastic Four. And their rogues’ gallery hated

Volume 2)—the tales falter. Those relatively minor

the Doom Patrol so intensely that they constantly

weaknesses aside, The Doom Patrol Archives captures

tried not merely to thwart but to actually kill the

some of DC’s smartest super-hero adventures from

“world’s strangest heroes.”

the 1960s and comes highly recommended.

1973

1977

Three-issue

New version

My Greatest Adventure

all-reprint

of DP premieres

Patrol with #86. Last issue is #121. I S S U E

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revival of Doom Patrol.

adequately explores it, but he is not to be blamed for

Second, Doom Patrol scribe Arnold Drake’s writing

in Showcase #94. Appears sporadically.

Doom Patrol

Doom Patrol Archives are flawless. Drake repeatedly

#80. Retitled Doom

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This is not to say that the tales reprinted in The

outlandish adversaries like super-ape Monsieur Mallah

1963–1968

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Those three attributes earmarked The Doom Patrol

were masterfully illustrated in a pseudo-realistic

was quiet and easy to overlook—despite the DP’s

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to be a super-hero, lamenting the twists of fate