Back Issue #6 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Marvel,s GODZILLA! Charlton,s HORROR LINE! And Thomas and Giordano,s DRACULA adaptation! GRE W P RO

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 !

4 r 20 0 O c t ob e

N$o5..965

2 PRO O O R

LEN WE IN & BE R WRIGHT NIE SON pl us STEVE BISSET TE & RICK VEITCH

R TOLD VE

TSTORIES NE S E AT

ating Celebr st The Be of the s c i m o C 80s, ’70s, ’ y! & Toda

MAN-TH ING or SWAMP THING: WHO CA ME FIRST?

TUFF S H UG

THE—!? HAT

HORRO R & HE RO ES PENCIL ART

look att A bit ing &

olan & C e n e G lfma n’s o W v a r M COMICS TE RS CHARAC FOR ENT PRESID

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 6 October 2004 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael Eury

Wa nna see some thin g r e a l y l sc ary? r u o It’s

n e e w o l l Ha issue! EDITORIAL .............................................................................................................................................................2 Hear ye, young patriots! An appeal from your Uncle Euryman!

PUBLISHER John “J-Mo” Morrow DESIGNER Robert Clark

PRO2PRO INTERVIEW: LEN WEIN AND BERNIE WRIGHTSON ............................3 The creators of Swamp Thing discuss the monster’s roots and the sequel that never was

PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: MAN-THING OR SWAMP THING: WHO THE MUCK CAME FIRST? ................................................15 Burying the debate once and for all

SCANNING AND IMAGE MANIPULATION Rich Fowlks

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: THE TOMB OF DRACULA ............................................19 An in-depth look at one of comics’ most celebrated series, with rare Gene Colan art

COVER ARTISTS Gene Colan (pencils) Dave Gutierrez (inks)

BEYOND CAPES: MARVEL COMICS’ GODZILLA.............................................................33 Remember when the terror from Tokyo stomped into the Marvel Universe?

COVER COLORIST Tom Zuiko

ROUGH STUFF: HORRORS AND HEROES..............................................................................38 Art by Ploog, Kaluta, Brunner, Potts, Paul Smith, Dave Ross, and Alcala, plus Wrightson and Colan

SPECIAL THANKS Michael Ambrose Val Mayerick Pat Bastienne

Adam McGovern

Stephen Bissette

Doug Moench

Brian Bolland

Brian K. Morris

Frank Brunner

Bill Pearson

John Byrne

Adam Philips

Len Callo

Mike Ploog

Gene Colan

Carl Potts

Gerry Conway

Dave Ross

Nick Cuti

Joe Simon

Steve Ditko

Paul Smith

Steve Donnelly

Anthony Snyder

Dick Durock

Joe Staton

Tom Field

Roger Stern

Steve Gerber

Roy Thomas

Joe Gill

Herb Trimpe

Dick Giordano

Rick Veitch

Dave Gutierrez

Jim Warden

Grand Comic-

Len Wein

Book Database

Bernie Wrightson

Heritage Comics

Mike Zeck

Dan Johnson Michael Kaluta Ted Latner Jonathan Mankuta

PRO2PRO EXTRA: AN EVENING WITH ALAN MOORE .............................................67 Ever hear of DC Comics’ Swamp Thing promotional video? OFF MY CHEST: GUEST EDITORIAL BY ROY THOMAS ............................................68 The story behind the writer’s unfinished Dracula adaptation, with art by Dick Giordano BEYOND CAPES: CHARLTON COMICS’ HORROR LINE ...........................................71 Comics’ sleeping giant was more influential than you might realize WHAT THE--?!: SUPERMAN OF THE PEOPLE .....................................................................77 The unlikely stories of some very odd Presidential candidates BACK IN PRINT: ALAN MOORE: ACROSS THE DC UNIVERSE ...........................83 Moore’s mainstream DC work is collected; plus looks at Hellboy: Weird Tales, Morbid, and Aurora model kit “fantasy” boxes BACK TALK.........................................................................................................................................................86 Reader feedback on issue #4

Marv Wolfman

David Hamilton Wayne Howard

PRO2PRO INTERVIEW: STEVE BISSETTE AND RICK VEITCH ..............................48 Recalling Swamp Thing’s 1980s renaissance, with rare Bissette art

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. Tomb of Dracula, Man-Thing, Doctor Strange, and Howard the Duck TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. Swamp Thing TM & © 2004 DC Comics. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. 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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Wein Wein and and Wrightson: Wrightson:

interview

by Dan Johnson

conducted on April 27, 2004, and transcribed by Brian K. Morris.

Roots of the

Murky Beginnings Bernie Wrightson’s memorable cover art to Swamp Thing #1 (1972), in ghoulishly glorious blackand-white.

SWAMP THING When Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson created Swamp Thing for what was intended to be a one-shot story in House of Secrets #92, both men suspected they had given birth to something special, but neither knew how much their creation would capture the imaginations of comic-book fans, or the attention of their bosses at DC Comics. In the early 1970s, readers were rediscovering horror comics, thanks to the revision of the Comics Code. Fans hungry for things that went “bump in the night” got more than they bargained for with Swamp Thing: There were monsters galore, enough to make any diehard horror fiend foam at the mouth. Also, since Swamp Thing had to share the newsstands with titles like Superman and The Amazing Spider-Man, there was plenty of action to please super-hero fans. But anyone who has read the ten classic issues by Wein and Wrightson can tell you that it was the heart and soul of Swamp Thing that made the book a worthwhile read, and that also allowed it to stand out from the creepy crowd rising up to haunt spinner racks in drugstores and convenience stores. Wein and Wrightson made Swamp Thing a memorable character by laying the terror on thick, but never at the expense of the humanity of the monster’s alter ego, Alec Holland. —Dan Johnson

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DAN JOHNSON: What can you tell us about the origin

Beginnings: First sale: “The Final Day of Nicholas Toombs,” for House of Mystery (never published) / First printed work: “Pizza Pie in the Sky,” co-written by Marv Wolfman, for The Adventures of Jerry Lewis (1968); followed by Teen Titans #18 (1968)

of Swamp Thing? Was it just going to be a one-time story in House of Secrets? LEN WEIN: Basically, it was. It’s one of those things that I came up with on the subway on my way to the office one day. I was selling mystery stories and I had to come

Milestones: Swamp Thing / The Amazing Spider-Man / Incredible Hulk #180–181 (introduction of Wolverine) / Giant-Size X-Men #1 / Batman / The Human Target in Action Comics

Works in Progress: The Victorian (Penny-Farthing Press) / Cross (TokyoPop) / Swamp Thing screenplay (finishing the second draft for producer Joel Silver)

up with some ideas, and I honestly could not say exactly where that particular idea came from. But all I know is it came to me while I was on the subway on the way to the office, and I pitched it to [editor] Joe Orlando, and he liked the idea, and I started to write the script. In fact, my favorite part about the story is that the character’s name comes from an accident. BERNIE WRIGHTSON: Yeah, that’s a funny story. WEIN: People would occasionally ask me what I was working on, and I kept talking about this “swamp thing” I was writing. And the “thing” at that point meant the story, not the character. By the time I was done, that ended up being the name of the story and the character. WRIGHTSON: Yeah, I remember the time came to title the story and they kept asking, “What’s the title going to be?” and nobody could come up with anything. So we just called it “Swamp Thing.”

Beginnings:

First sale: DC’s “Nightmaster” in Showcase #83 (1969) / First published art: “The Dead Can Kill,” House of Mystery #183 (1969)

JOHNSON: Bernie, how did you wind up being the artist on this feature? WRIGHTSON: I had been working at DC for a couple of

Milestones:

Swamp Thing / Frankenstein / House of Mystery / Batman: The Cult / Creepshow / Captain Sternn / numerous unforgettable covers

Works in Progress:

Covers for DC’s Toe Tags (by George Romero and Tommy Castillo) / Monsters HD opening logo for new All-Monsters, All the Time cable channel / developing Captain Sternn for animation

Cyberspace:

www.berniewrightson .com

years at that point, and Len and I had already done some House of Mystery things together, horror stories. And House of Secrets, that was really just another one, you know. [“Swamp Thing”] was just another story. WEIN: Well, not exactly. In this case, I remember specifically how it happened. WRIGHTSON: Really? WEIN: Yeah. WRIGHTSON: Okay, your memory is a lot better than mine. WEIN: Marv Wolfman, my frequent collaborator and oldest friend, had just moved out to Lake Ronkonkoma, out on Long Island, and was having a housewarming party. Bernie and I were among the guests at the party. I remember, Bernie, you had just broken up with some girl you were seeing.

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WRIGHTSON: Right, I remember.

think, was like all of us, to some degree,

WEIN: And we ended up just chatting, and Bernie and

a frustrated actor. You know, he just

I went out to my car, just to sit and talk for a while about

loved posing for the photos and

life and our problems. Bernie was telling me about this

playing a role.

breakup he’d gone through. I said, “My God, I just

JOHNSON: I had no idea they were

wrote a story that has exactly that same emotional

involved in posing for the characters.

tone.” I said, “You’d be perfect for it.” And I told him

WRIGHTSON: Oh, yeah. I was the

about the story and he said, “Count me in.”

hero, of course.

WRIGHTSON: That’s right, yeah. I remember that night,

WEIN: You were Alex [Olsen, the

yeah. It was absolutely clear, the moon was out and it was

original tale’s precursor to Alec

unbelievably cold.

Holland].

WEIN: Yeah (chuckles), that’s why we were sitting in the

WRIGHTSON: Yeah. (laughs)

car. We were freezing our asses off. (laughs)

JOHNSON: What was the first

WRIGHTSON: We were in the car with the motor running

reaction from DC Comics? When

and the heater on, yeah. (laughs)

did they first start realizing that

JOHNSON: What were your thoughts on this going

this was something that could

in? Was this just another story for House of Secrets, or

be spun off from House of

was there any inkling about what was to come with

Secrets into its own book?

the character?

WEIN: House of Secrets #93 was the bestselling book DC

Do You Dare Enter. . .

WRIGHTSON: I knew that it was a particularly good

had that month. Through all of the super-hero books, it

. . . The House

story, and I remember to this day, wishing I had more

outsold everything.

of Mystery?

time on it. There wasn’t a lot of time, as I recall, so I took

WRIGHTSON: We got lots of mail on it, too. I remember

Bernie Wrightson did,

a lot of photos of friends [for reference]. Mike Kaluta’s in

talking with Dick Giordano about this and he was

in issue #191 (1970).

there and Jeff Jones’ ex-wife. Kaluta actually helped me

very impressed with it. I can’t remember, was Dick an

Art courtesy of

with some of the drawings, Jeff Jones did some pencil-

editor yet?

Heritage Comics.

out in like a week because of the deadline. And when I was finished with it, I was really very proud of it because I thought it really, really looked good. We worked our butts off on it. WEIN: Of all of the characters in the thing, Kaluta’s the villain and Louise [Jones] Simonson is the heroine. She’s on the cover [see inset] and in the story. WRIGHTSON: Right, right. And Kaluta had this great mustache, remember?

WEIN: Yeah, Dick and Joe had come in together. They

were both editors at the same time. WRIGHTSON: Okay. And Dick was telling me he was just really surprised and delighted at all the fan mail that they’d got on that particular story from that issue. And then, at the same time, practically in the same breath, [he said] something to the effect of, “Well, we can’t do a series based on the fan mail. If we put out a comic book based on fan mail, this company would go out of © 2004 DC Comics.

ing, Al Weiss did some work. And we had to turn this

business in a week.” Because in those days, DC, much

WEIN: Oh, God, yes.

more so than Marvel, really underestimated the numbers

WRIGHTSON: And he slicked his hair down, parted it in

and the power of fans.

the middle and he looked like a 19th Century snake oil

WEIN: Yeah, pretty much. They didn’t decide they

salesman. (laughs)

wanted to do a book until three months later, when the

WEIN: He could not have looked more “weasely” if he

numbers came in. And then they went, “Oh, what do

tried. (laughs)

you know? The sales actually match the reader reaction.”

WRIGHTSON: Yeah, he looked great. And Michael, I

(chuckles)

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nson Dan Joh

One of the greatest debates in the history of comics centers around Marvel’s Man-Thing and DC’s Swamp Thing. Is it possible that one is an original creation, and the other merely a copy? Close similarities surrounding both characters have kept the flames of speculation going for decades. Consider these facts: Both first appeared within a month of each other, Man-Thing in the black-andwhite magazine Savage Tales #1 (May 1971), and Swamp Thing in House of Secrets #92 (June–July 1971). © 1971 Marvel Comics Group.

In their origin stories, both were scientists who became hulking plant monsters because of the treachery of others. Eventually, both characters were spun off into their own books, but not until a delay of over

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a year each. Also, their series shambled onto the stands at the same time: ManThing arrived in Adventures into Fear #10 (Oct. 1972) and Swamp Thing in issue #1 of his own comic book (Oct.–Nov. 1972). How could two characters so very much alike been spawned at the same time, totally independent of one another? The idea of similar concepts premiering simultaneously is not unheard of. The Doom Patrol launched in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963), three months before the very similar X-Men appeared in the first issue of their own comic. Mere coincidence? Probably.

, COMICS FIRST BOG BEASTS Neither Man-Thing nor Swamp Thing was the first creature to stumble out of the swamps and onto the comics page. The first true marsh monster, the one that set the template for many to follow, is the main character from the story “It,” written in 1940 by famed science-fiction author Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon’s story concerns a plant creature that forms itself around the skeleton of a dead man who then rises to seek revenge; “It” was adapted by Marvel [above left] in Supernatural Thrillers #1

From Man-Thing #2 Man-Thing slithered from Adventures into Fear

(Dec 1972). Long before It’s Marvel debut, the Heap, comics’ first muck monster, thrilled readers beginning in Hillman Periodicals’ Air Fighter Comics #3 (Dec. 1942). The Golden Age Green Lantern faced off against Solomon Grundy for the first

into his own title, where Val Mayerick was among

time in DC’s All American Comics #61 (Oct. 1944); more zombie than plant monster,

the artists on the series; inks by Sal Trapani.

Grundy was born (on a Monday) in the swamps outside Gotham City. Man-Thing’s

co-creator Roy Thomas introduced readers to the Glob [above far left], a convict exposed to radiation in a bog, in The Incredible Hulk #121 (Nov 1969).

, TWO S COMPANY But the waters from which Man-Thing and Swamp Thing arose are murky. Len Wein, Swamp Thing’s co-creator, and Gerry Conway, the man who co-wrote the first Man-Thing story with Roy Thomas, were roommates at the time their characters first appeared, creating much of the debate over which creature was the original. Wein notes that the first Swamp Thing story and the series that came afterwards was his own idea, in collaboration with artist Bernie Wrightson. On the other hand, Gerry Conway was not the creator of Man-Thing, nor was he the only writer to work on the character’s origin story. “Stan [Lee], back when we decided to do Savage Tales, decided he wanted one of the features in there to be [what] he called ‘Man-Thing,’” Roy Thomas tells BACK ISSUE. “[Stan] had a couple of sentences: ‘A guy is cooking up chemicals in a swamp. He falls in, comes out as this monster.’ That was about it. I took it and fleshed it out into a twopage plot. I didn’t want to write it, so I gave it to Gerry Conway, who I assume wrote a script in advance for [original “Man-Thing” artist] Gray Morrow. By the time the story was done, it kind of had three writers in a sense.” In the outline for Man-Thing’s first story, Thomas originally wrote, when describing an attack by the monster on those who tried to kill him, “The two guys are killed brutally—perhaps not torn limb from limb as in Sturgeon’s original

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Dracula Lives! Twenty-Five Years After its Death, Marvel’s TOMB OF DRACULA is Still Remembered as One of— Maybe THE—Best Horror Comics Series. Ever. by

Nobody knew.

To m F i e l d

Not Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee, who decided in 1971 that Dracula should be the first monster in comics history to star in his own ongoing series, nor writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, who crafted the vampire lord’s heralded debut.

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Not veteran artist Gene Colan, who wanted the

others, and a team of the world’s most titanic

Dracula assignment so badly he auditioned for it. Nor

scripters, headed by Marvel’s merry masters, Smilin’

even Marv Wolfman, the young, unproven writer who

Stan and Rascally Roy themselves! May we modestly

reluctantly took the reins with issue #7, but then saw

say—it ain’t to be missed!

the book—and his career—take off like the proverbial Hell-bat.

- “Item” from July 1971 Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page

Arguably, this Dracula series was the godfather of today’s

Strange but true, Tomb of Dracula owes its life to the

Vertigo Comics, but who knew?

Comics Code Authority. When the restrictive code

No one knew that The Tomb

was liberalized in 1971, vampires, werewolves, and

of Dracula [TOD], which began

other man-monsters were freed to star in mainstream

as just another trendy horror

comics. Marvel tested the market with Morbius, the

comic, would last eight years

Living Vampire, introduced as a villain in Amazing

and 70 issues, spawning a host

Spider-Man #101. When this “real” bloodsucker

of memorable characters, four

proved popular, Stan Lee—ever eager to anticipate

spinoff films, and a devoted fan

the next big trend—quickly ordered an entire line of

base that today celebrates TOD

monster comics featuring the usual stalkers: the

as the best horror title of the

Frankenstein Monster, a werewolf . . . and Dracula.

1970s. Maybe the best comic of the decade, period.

Bearded Bloodsucker A panel from TOD

Although the werewolf struck first—Werewolf by Night’s debut in Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972) beat

Today, 32 years after its

TOD #1 to the newsstands by two months (Dracula

debut, TOD and its creators

was actually intended to be Marvel’s premier horror

retain their loyal audience, and

star). His series was announced nearly a year earlier

the long-defunct series continues to attract a new

in the Bullpen Bulletins (see above) as the subject of

generation of fans through reprints and the ongoing

Marvel’s second experimental “M-rated” (for mature

films featuring TOD’s Blade the Vampire Slayer.

readers) black-and-white magazine.

In 2002, as a tie-in to Blade II, Marvel issued a

#2, depicting Drac

Alas, it wasn’t to be. Three months after the initial

trade paperback reprinting TOD #45–53—Blade’s

with a beard, as

showdown with arch-villain Deacon Frost. That

announcement (and after “howlin’ hit” Savage Tales

drawn by Colan

collection was followed in 2003 by volume one of The

and Colletta.

Essential Tomb of Dracula, reprinting issues #1–25 and Giant-Size Dracula #1. That book sold so well that

Marvel quickly came back in mid-2004 with Essential TOD volume two, reprinting issues #26–49 and Giant-Size #2–5. Not bad representation for a book that died 25 years ago. To commemorate TOD’s remarkable longevity— and to honor the creators who gave the characters life—let’s examine the history of the horror comic that made history.

THE BIRTH OF DRACULA

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suspended publication after one issue), Marvel declared that TOD would instead be a 25-cent, 52-page color comic. Soon after, the title was downsized yet again to Marvel’s new 20-cent, 32-page format. The forthcoming project also had a new writer— Marvel’s newest and youngest scribe, Gerry Conway. Although only 19 at the time, Conway already had an impressive résumé of work on Daredevil, SubMariner, and Thor, so it wasn’t pure luck that this high-profile assignment would fall to him. And while Conway ultimately received sole credit for writing TOD #1, he had ample assistance from Lee and Thomas, the latter of whom recalls the book’s origins. “I plotted TOD #1 based on a couple

Savage Tales looks like such a howlin’ hit that we’re

of sentences from Stan, then gave it to Gerry to

following it up with a ghoulish 50-cent goodie

dialogue,” Thomas says. At the time, Lee was cutting

called The Tomb of Dracula (or The House of

back on his own writing assignments, gearing up to

Dracula. We haven’t decided yet). It’s a wholly new

be Marvel’s next publisher, so the TOD pinch-hit

concept, starring Dracula himself, as he is—was—

made sense. And Thomas, Lee’s hand-picked succes-

and perhaps will be. With art by Gene Colan,

sor as Marvel’s ace writer, had no interest in writing

Berni[e] Wrightson[,] and Gray Morrow among

the new monster books. “I wasn’t really into horror,”

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Toei’s Dracula

Thomas says. “Gerry was, which is why he ended up dialoguing from my plots on the first stories of Tomb

The Animated Adaptation You’ve Probably Never Seen

of Dracula, ‘Man-Thing’ (in Savage Tales #1), and Werewolf by Night.” In establishing Marvel’s Dracula, Thomas clearly recalled the Universal monster movies of his 1940s

What’s the most faithful comics-to-film adaptation ever done? Prior to X-Men and Spider-Man, the answer to that question was: Tomb of Dracula. In 1980, Japan’s Toei Animation/Harmony Gold Ltd. released a feature-length animated film, Yami No Teio Kyuketsuki Dracula (aka Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned), that quite faithfully adapts that last two years of the Wolfman/Colan/Palmer TOD, including Dracula’s marriage, the birth (and death) of Janus, the showdown with Satan, Dracula’s loss and reacquisition of vampiric powers, and the final showdown with Harker. There are some odd name changes in the storyline— Quincy Harker is renamed Hans; Lilith is Lila; and Domini is Delores—and the Japanese-to-English translation is occasionally uneven (some versions of the film credit the story to “Mary Wolfman and Jean Colan”). But the film generally retains the flavor and even the Colan/Palmer look of the original comics.

youth. His basic plot for TOD #1: Frank Drake, ne’erdo-well descendant of the legendary Count, inherits Dracula’s Castle (shades of Son of Frankenstein). Frank’s “friend,” Clifton Graves, schemes to turn the castle into a tourist attraction, and the two of them—along with Frank’s fiancé Jeanie, who also happens to be Clifton’s ex—travel to Transylvania to tackle the fixer-upper. There, while plotting to kill Frank, win back Jeanie, and get rich quick with the castle, Clifton stumbles upon Dracula’s tomb. He opens the coffin, finds the bones, yanks out the stake (like Karloff in House of Frankenstein), and next thing you know . . . Dracula lives! Before the 25-page story’s end—after the vampire’s resurrection incites the ubiquitous torch-wielding villagers to raze the castle— Clifton is left for dead in a dungeon, and poor Jeanie succumbs to Dracula’s bite, leaving grief-stricken Frank alone to seek vengeance. Conway, who recalls having no input into TOD #1 until after the story was completely drawn, sought to

Much at Stake From TOD #2, a climactic page that was meant to depict Frank Drake hurling a hunk of wood like a spear into vampire Jeanie’s

distinguish himself with purple prose. “I tried to

heart. But apparently Stan Lee and crew

bring to it a kind of an eerie, dark, misterioso style of

thought that task a little too incredible, so

writing and dialogue—pretentious, let’s say,” laughs

art director John Romita was brought in to

Conway, a TV writer today. “I mean, I was 19 years

draw Frank staking Jeanie up-close-and-

old—what did I know, really?”

personal. See that Romita-drawn Drake

Artist Gene Colan, on the other hand, was 45 years old, a lifelong horror buff (ever since age 5, when he was terrified by a matinee screening of Boris

Karloff’s Frankenstein), and he saw Dracula as his dream assignment. A veteran illustrator known for

recalls telling his boss—a rare stand for an artist who

his lush depiction of human expression, Colan had

typically kept to himself and drew what he was told.

extensive experience in all comics genres, including

Asked “why?” by Lee, Colan said firmly, “Because I

memorable stints on DC’s Hopalong Cassidy in the 1950s

know it’s something I’d love to do.”

and Warren’s black-and-white horror magazines in the

According to Colan, Lee promised him the Dracula

mid-’60s. But his real fame came in Marvel’s heyday,

assignment, but then absent-mindedly offered the

drawing Iron Man, “Sub-Mariner” (in Tales to

same job to Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett. Upon

Astonish), and especially Daredevil (DD), which he’d

learning of the mixup, Colan anxiously reminded

penciled steadily since 1966, establishing himself

Lee of their verbal agreement, but to no avail; the job

clearly as the definitive DD artist. By 1971, though,

was now Everett’s. Devastated, Colan resigned him-

Colan was bored; he wanted a new challenge. So

self to the loss. But his wife Adrienne didn’t. Inspired

when he learned through the Bullpen grapevine that

by the stories about Marlon Brando, who famously

Marvel would publish Dracula, he leapt for the

stuffed cotton in his cheeks and auditioned for the

assignment. “Stan, I’d literally beg for this,” Colan

lead in The Godfather after being told the studio

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This film has not been released officially on DVD in the US, but bootlegs can be found at many comics conventions (caveat emptor), and a 1992 Vestron Video

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wash, and the results (no fault of Colan’s) were as muted as Conway describes. And although Colan went on to pencil all 70 issues of TOD’s eventual run, he never inked another.

Did you know. . . ?

April 1972: the debut. Finally, after nine months of preparation and anticipation, TOD #1, sporting a

That TOD #24

memorable Neal Adams cover (of a

was a near-disaster

Dracula that, frankly, bears little

after the first 11

resemblance to the character depicted

penciled pages were

inside the book), premiered to a

stolen from the Marvel

primed audience. And the initial

offices? Thankfully, Gene

response was . . . lukewarm. The book

Colan’s artwork had been

sold well enough to justify continua-

photocopied, and Tom Palmer

tion, certainly. Most first issues do.

was able to ink over these

heads “didn’t see him in the role,” Adrienne urged

duplicates. If you see these

Gene to tryout for Dracula. So, he did. He worked up

salvaged art pages today,

a full-page, pencil and ink/wash character study of a

you’ll note that they are

raven-haired, bearded Dracula, including a portrait of

double-thick (photocopies

the Count, and a montage of the vampire king in

pasted to art boards)

different poses. He based his interpretation not on

with the ink applied

any of the classic Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee

directly to the paper,

portrayals, but rather on film actor Jack Palance,

and the lettering pasted

who impressed Colan with his version of Dr. Jekyll/

atop. Also note: At

Mr. Hyde in a 1968 Dan Curtis-produced TV movie.

least one of the

“He had that cadaverous look, a serpentine look on

“liberated” pages

his face,” Colan says. “I knew that Jack Palance

reappeared in the

would do the perfect Dracula” (and later he did in a

collectors’ market

1974 Curtis TV film). “I sent [the montage] to Stan,

recently, partially

and the next day he called and said only, ‘You got

inked by someone

it!’” Colan says. “That was it!”

named “Fisher,”

Not quite. In addition to penciling TOD, Colan

but with no clue

also wanted to ink the book—which he’d rarely done

as to where it

at Marvel. At first Lee resisted—after all, Colan’s value

had been or

was as a penciler of multiple titles, not a complete

where the

artist on one—but he eventually acquiesced. Conway

other

remembers Lee relenting only because TOD was

ten pages

intended as a black-and-white magazine, and Stan

are today.

knew Colan was a master of ink/wash tones. “Gene’s work, when he inks it, looks best with a wash—he does such nuanced shadows and shapes,” Conway

TO MB A VIIA RIIV TR T # #

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tive, the art restrained, some readers said. Others didn’t like Dracula’s pale-white skin color, or how his bite created instant vampires (as opposed to the customary three-day wait). One fan, Margaret McClelland Watson of Urbane, IL, a self-described doctoral candidate in Medieval History of the Balkan States, wrote a long letter detailing how Marvel’s vampire lore was all wrong. But some fans also saw TOD’s promise. Among them, a young Louisville, KY, correspondent named David Michelinie, who was just a few short years away from establishing himself as a big-name comics writer. In his letter in TOD #3, Michelinie writes, “The only thing I uncategorically liked about issue #1 was the potential of the general concept. A horror mag with a full-length, non-reprint story featuring a continuing lead character (and a monster at that) is something new to today’s comic world, and much can be done with it. Intelligently written tales of the vampire’s deeds, travels, and adventures both in bleak Transylvania and around the world could be as entertaining and innovative as have been your efforts concerning that barbarian, Conan.” In closing, Michelinie adds prophetically, “Let me

go-ahead to ink it himself if [TOD] were intended as

say that you have a very good idea—if you play it right.”

line doesn’t really adapt very well to the standard Indeed, when the book was converted to color comic, Colan’s self-inked artwork appeared without

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GROWING PAINS If Marvel had a master plan for Tomb of Dracula, it

printing.”

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TOD #3 and #4, included several complaints about Marvel’s version of Dracula. The plot seemed deriva-

says. “[Lee] probably would not have given Gene the a regular comic book because the fineness of Gene’s

But the earliest fan letters, printed in

I s s u e

wasn’t evident in the first six issues. Beginning with #2, TOD underwent the first in a

l l e H e h T d e v o L s Kid Out of Godzilla:

Godzilla vs. ! s c i m o C l e v r a M by

nt” Stewart Tom “The Comics Sava

By the mid-1970s, the Big Two—Marvel and DC, of course (used’ta be the Big Three, with Dell at #1, but that’s another article)—had been changing the two basic truisms of the last 40 years of the business: that is, that comics are for kids, kids, say, about eight to 13 years old, and that the audience for them turns over about every four to five years. Oh, and it’s mostly boys! Comics fans were skewing older, high school, college age, and beyond (still mostly boys, tho’). Oldtime publishers must have scratched their heads at the letters they were getting from university students, goggled in wonder, and then said, “There’s money there!” And there was. All this, of course, is the start of another article (but it hooks up). The start of this one is Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe, both getting the call about Godzilla. Yep, the Tokyo-stompin’, Smog Monster-fightin’, friend of small, whiny Japanese schoolboys, Godzilla. Doug Moench, writer of such rightly acclaimed series as Master of Kung Fu and Moon Knight—yeah, that Doug Moench— writing Godzilla, with Herb Trimpe of the Hulk penciling. Marvel had acquired the rights to the big, green rubber monster from ToHo Studios and was looking for an approach to the property. Godzilla was a well-known brand name, one that

Stomping into the Marvel Universe Cover art to Godzilla #1 (1977). Courtesy of Jonathan Mankuta (Jon is looking for the cover art to Godzilla #3;

could attract a lot of new readers, if done right. Doug saw an opportunity: “I had mentioned I wanted to do something lighter. I got the call, ‘Hey! What about Godzilla?’” Godzilla? Doug:

if you have it for sale, contact him

“Godzilla? Well, maaaaybe. If I [can] do it the way I want . . . lighter. A comic

at jonmankuta@aol.com).

book actually aimed at kids. What we were doing at Marvel was geared to older and older readers; there were no comics for kids anymore!” This was the problem

as Doug saw it (see how I connect this up?); kids were being shouldered out of a medium that had been theirs for 40 years. Marvel really wasn’t publishing a kid’s comic anymore. Godzilla could be that comic. Doug:

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wacky ideas that maybe the older readers would respond to as well.” Doug must have decided he wanted a challenge, one that took on the then-current view of the old monster: “One of the reasons, besides wanting to do a change of pace, was that the typical Marvel Comics fan at that time would look down on Godzilla. At that time it was considered to be cheesy, crappy kid’s stuff, but we had a chance to get a bunch of the kids who loved the movies.” Marvel Zombies? Could they be Marvel SNOBS? (I was a DC snob, so I know the attitude.) Yes, it could be a challenge, but one with possible rewards: “We do have a chance to get more kids who love the movies . . . get some of the other Marvel characters into it, and get the kids to try some of the other books. “I think that’s when Stan said, ‘Great! Go to it!’” All they needed was an artist who could draw big, green, uh, well . . . hulks!

Never Part of the Inner-Circle Crowd You never knew what might happen to you, walking through the Marvel offices in the ’70s. Could be,

Look Out, America! The splash page from Godzilla #1; art by

“I knew that kids just loved the hell out of

you might see Stan Lee being interviewed by French

Godzilla and I was looking for a change of pace

filmmakers, or Jack Kirby’s old cigar pinned up near

from the grim, more adult kind of stuff I was

Marie Severin’s desk, awaiting the mid-’70s’ return of

doing.” With a “fun, free-wheeling” comic book

its master, or you might be stopped and asked, “Hey,

Herb Trimpe and Jim

in mind, all he had to do was consult the old

how do you feel about doing Godzilla?”

Mooney. Courtesy of

monster master himself.

Steve Donnelly (who is

“I actually had to go to Stan and give him the

offering Herb Trimpe

And if you were Herb Trimpe, what would your reply be?

whole spiel: ‘I want to aim this at kids, the kind

Godzilla pages for sale/

“I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

of kids who love Godzilla, but yet I want to do it

trade; contact him at

Herb had just come off a long run on The Incredible

in a way that the older readers will get a kick out

ValNStevez@aol.com

Hulk, and would have been looking around for his

of it’ . . . ” Doug reminded “The Man” of his

next book. “Godzilla was at a time I was doing Defenders

own time at the Mighty Marvel Monster-Making

and Transformers and stuff like that. I did a lot of the

Machine. Stan’s reply?

licensed books after getting off The Hulk . . . I never

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(And repeat this line in your best Stan Lee.)

really did another feature book after The Hulk, I mean,

“Great! Go to it!”

nothing really long. I never was part of the inner

Now Doug was stuck. He actually had to do it.

circle. I wasn’t that close in to what was going on there

“I tried to capture that youthful, freewheeling

[at Marvel], even working there [in the bullpen]. And

innocence, and use the kind of soap opera and

anything looked interesting to me, and I thought,

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MIKE PLOOG

Horrooaanrnrdd es Herooes

Mike Ploog—possibly the most underrated artist in comics! Here’s a magnificent piece of Hollywood history (courtesy of Heritage Comics): the character/monster design for director John Carpenter’s The Thing (1981), the sequel/remake (is it both?) of The Thing from Another World (1951), based on John W. Campbell’s 1938 short story, “Who Goes There?” Mike Ploog was a big part of the “look” of this $15 million fright-wonder—$1.5 mil was spent on the effects (all in-camera) alone. Mr. Ploog provided the visual schematics (and storyboards) for the 40-man technical crew, headed by Rob Bottin (who wound up in the hospital due to the pace of the production). To quote Ploog: “You should’ve seen some of the ideas we came up with for the Thing. They’re the most absurd-looking monsters you’ve ever seen!”

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JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING

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ilton e” Ham n o b m Ha David “

MICHAEL KALUTA

Mike Kaluta’s unused (in this form) cover for DC’s gothic horror anthology, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #7 (1972). Compare it against the printed cover, in the inset, and you’ll see the “sand people” underwent some changes. Enjoy, folks!

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Bissette and and Veitch: Veitch: Bissette

Old Monster,

interview

by Dan Johnson

conducted on April 17, 2004, and transcribed by Brian K. Morris.

New Tricks

Swamp Thing creators Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson are a hard act to follow. After the first Swamp Thing series was cancelled 1976, many readers felt the character’s best days were behind him. But DC Comics’ muck monster got a new lease on life when Saga of the Swamp Thing was launched in 1982 as a tie-in to the Wes Craven-directed Swamp Thing film. At first, the book didn’t really set anyone’s field on fire. Just under two years into the revival, writer Alan Moore took over the series and deconstructed everything fans thought they knew about Swamp Thing. By the end of Moore’s second issue, he had managed to turn the medium of comics on its ear. Alan Moore wasn’t alone in this renaissance. Working with him was a group of artists who gave shape to his imagination. Two of these illustrators, Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch, share with BACK ISSUE their insights into their roles in transforming the legend of the Swamp Thing. —Dan Johnson 4 8

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Comics Journal Cover Steve Bissette’s pencils for a fanzine cover, which was painted by John Totleben. The final product encouraged DC Comics to allow the team to produce its first painted comics cover, on Saga of the Swamp Thing #34. (Unless otherwise noted, all art accompanying this interview is from the SpiderBaby archives, compliments of S.R. Bissette.)

Beginnings:

“Grave Concern,” First alternative sale: & Stories #2 (1977) x mi Dr. Wirtham’s Co n Sally,” le: “A Song for Saigo First mainstream sa Sgt. Rock #311 (1977)

Milestones:

tory / 1: The Illustrated His Abyss / Sojourn / 194 Tyrant / / 3 196 / oo Tab / Thing Saga of the Swamp Spider Baby Comix

Works in Progress:

ema Green Mountain Cin Writer/illustrator for es (short ath Lo ft cra ve Lo That (film magazine) / All ver and Co / ) tes th Roderick Ba story collection, wi by l ve no a ul, So ng Drifti illustrations for The Matt Spencer

Cyberspace:

/ www.comicon.com bissette discussion board: www.fanboy.info/ yabbse/index.php? board=13

DAN JOHNSON: Steve, I take it that you and Rick have known each other for quite a while. STEVE BISSETTE: Well, we first met at the Kubert School. Rick and I were members of the first class ever at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. We were both from Vermont, Rick from Bellows Falls, and I was from Northern Vermont, the Duxbury and Waterbury area. I was aware of Rick’s existence. In fact, I was a big fan of his brother Tom Veitch’s underground comix. I read somewhere, while I was still going to college, that Tom and Rick were from Bellows Falls. It may have been in reference to Two-Fisted Zombies, which was the one piece of work of Rick’s that I’d read before we actually met. My thinking at that time was, “If these guys from Bellows Falls can get into comics, I can get into comics.” Rick was a motivating factor for my career even before we met.

Beginnings:

First sale: Two-Fist ed Zombies (1972), script by Tom Veitc h, art by Rick Veitc h

Milestones:

1941: The Illustrate d Story / The One / Saga of the Swamp Thing / The Maxim ortal / Supreme / Tomorrow Stories / Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset

Works in Progress:

Can’t Get No Vertig o graphic novel / Qu estion miniseries (DC) / Sw amp Thing: Regene sis Vertigo collected edition / Crypto Zoo (King He ll Press)

Cyberspace:

RICK VEITCH: (joining the conversation) If only you’d

www.comicon.com / bissette

known what mad machinations it took to get me from Bellows Falls into comics! (chuckles) BISSETTE: If only I’d known. (laughs) VEITCH: Anyway, I’m here. Sorry I’m late. I was inking and completely spaced out the interview. BISSETTE: That’s good. I can get it in print that I was on time with a deadline and you were late. (laughs) JOHNSON: So, Rick, Steve was just telling me about H a l l o w e e n

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how you two had first met at the Kubert School.

The first one of us [from the Kubert School] to work

VEITCH: I didn’t get Steve’s

with Tom on Saga of the Swamp Thing was John Totleben.

name the first day we met.

John started assisting Tom Yeates with the second issue.

But the minute I met him, I

If you go back and look at those early issues, John’s

had that connected kind of

work is melded pretty seamlessly with Tom Yeates’

feeling you have for certain

work, because Tom Yeates was doing the inking. But

people when you meet

now and again, you’ll hit a figure (laughs) that you just

them. And he gave me a

go, “Hey, that’s Totleben.” By issue #7 or 8, Tom was

copy of his book, which

starting to sneak in credits to John.

was—

JOHNSON: So when did you jump on board, Steve?

BISSETTE AND VEITCH:

BISSETTE: I laid out Saga of the Swamp Thing #8, and

(together) Abyss.

Tom snuck my name in under the tail of a dinosaur on

VEITCH: There were three

the splash page, upside-down. John, I think, was co-

strips in it that just knocked me

credited on at least one or two of the later issues, after

out. One was “Cries of the

#10, and John and I started on the book with #16. Our

Vegetable Kingdom,” one was

buddy Tim Truman, who was in a later class of the

“Rudy Dreams,” and I can’t

Kubert School, was doing a job with TSR, Incorporated,

remember what the third one

the folks who do Dungeons and Dragons, and he got us

was. But when I saw Steve the next day,

all a gig where we were put up at a hotel in New Jersey,

I went, “Wow, whoever did those three

designing—were they toys, Rick?

strips is great.” And then he kind of sheep-

VEITCH: Yeah. Action figures.

ishly looked at me and went, “Oh, that’s

BISSETTE: Right, we were doing toys. During the day,

my stuff.” (chuckles) So my immediate,

we’d work with Tim Truman. I think Tom Mandrake was

right-out-of-the-box first meeting with

part of that. Mandrake came in for at least one of the

Steve was like finding an unknown genius.

afternoons. There was a group of us that were working

JOHNSON: How did each of you get

on those. And at night, Totleben and I would work on

involved with Swamp Thing?

our sample pages that we were going to give to Tom

BISSETTE: Rick and I were very good

Yeates to bring up to Len Wein, the editor of Swamp

friends and classmates with Tom Yeates.

Thing, and that’s how we got the gig.

Tom Yeates was in our 1976–1978 class,

We later found out that we were up against some

Swamp Thing by Tom Yeates

and was the first one of us to really break through at DC

stiff competition. Dave Gibbons was one of the folks try-

Comics. We’d all been trying to get work at DC and

ing out for it. This was long before Watchmen (chuckles).

Splash page from

we’d all done work for Joe Kubert, backup stories for

Art Suydam was one of the artists in the running, and

Saga of the

Sgt. Rock and some of the war books. Nobody did more

there were a couple other people. You know, after the

Swamp Thing #3

of those than Rick, by the way. But we couldn’t get

fact, we found out who was vying for those positions.

(1982), and the

work at DC apart from the jobs we’d done with Joe, and

But Len ultimately decided that we were the ones, and

unpublished pencil

my memory is, Tom was the first to break that logjam

Tom really paved the way for us.

version of issue

and he became the regular artist on Saga of the Swamp

JOHNSON: Wow. That’s awesome that you guys have

Thing from issue #1 up to issue #15.

had such a close-knit friendship all these years.

Courtesy of

VEITCH: Actually, I remember hearing from someone at

BISSETTE: Yeah, and it’s amazing we stuck through it

Heritage Comics.

DC that Paul Levitz supposedly said the only way he’d

because we’ve all been through a lot of sh*t. (laughs)

#9’s cover (1983).

relaunch [Swamp Thing] was if Yeates would draw it.

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BISSETTE: And don’t forget the other catalyst was the

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VEITCH: We really have. From the beginning because we were sort of like this flying wedge crashing

Alan Moore

Without fanfare, not unlike the arrival of the new

with a gentle smile, “and there you go.”

creative team on Saga of the Swamp Thing

He spoke with

(SotST), DC created A Chat with Alan Moore,

humor, to say nothing

a 22-minute videotape produced in 1984 and dis-

of astounding pre-

tributed to its direct-sales accounts.

science, about a variety

Assembled by Lynn Vannucci Productions, the

of subjects, including

tape began with the title crawling silently up the

his focus on basing

screen. Narrated by Ms. Vannucci (we must assume),

horror in the audience’s

the program interspersed numerous images by Steve

fears; the potential

Bissette and John Totleben throughout the inter-

dwindling of the

views, including an art sample that won them the

comics-buying audi-

assignment on SotST.

ence; the lack of respect

Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein began the

for comics from outside

interviews with his approval of the title’s new direc-

the industry and with-

tion. “People don’t realize I picked [Moore] to do

in; the growing support

that. I have no problem with that.” In fact, he

for Swamp Thing from

insisted (as mentioned in this issue’s interview) on

outside comics-based

getting copies of Moore’s scripts upon their arrival.

fandom; his method-

Next, Karen Berger briefly spoke of the creative team’s

acting approach to

shared vision. The two returned toward the end of

writing and the result-

the video, briefly adding more insights, but then the

ing stress for his family;

guest of honor arrived.

the support from his

Alan Moore, wearing a black T-shirt, sat against

art team (“an pair of

a dark blue background. His famous mane of dark hair

absolute maniacs”) and

and full beard framed his eyes when articulating his

his editors; and his new

passion for the subject at hand, as well as demon-

project called Watchmen.

strating his dry humor.

video review

by Brian K. Morris

A chat with

Unlike those who used comics as a stepping

On SotST’s losing the Comics Code, he stated that

stone to work in other media, Alan Moore declared

he felt “very smug about that. I sort of hug meself

his hope to write comics ten years from then,

in the middle of the night when I think about that.”

holding his head up proudly as the public might

With a twinkle in his eye and nary a glimmer of

put comics on the same cultural level as film or

contrition, he claimed the controversy was based

literature. He stated with authority that “if comics

on the cultural difference between Britain and America.

aren’t the art form they should be, it’s the fault of

“Like I didn’t realize that incest and necrophilia

me and the other people in the field. We should be

were still frowned upon socially over here . . . of

doing something about it.”

course, in England, they’re all part of the whole

And given the fine work and inspiration he’s

social culture there. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t

given his readers before and since, Alan Moore has

have done the story. But it happened,” he concluded

done plenty.

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. . . And Off The Shelf!

Drac’s back-and Dick and I are ready to sink our teeth into him! guest editorial by roy thomas

It shouldn’t come as a revelation to anyone who reads

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between the lines (and sometimes on the lines) in Alter Ego that I’m no fan of the way so many comics veterans, both artists and writers, are often prematurely assigned to the trash heap of history by editors in today’s youthobsessed, starstruck, Hollywood-happy comic-book industry. While we were hardly unique in that regard, Stan Lee and I were two among various editors who strove to find ways to keep longtime comics pros in the field, rather than reveling in pushing them out of it and making way for “new blood,” as if the latter were in and of itself a virtue. It ain’t. Older work is often elbowed rudely aside, as well, as irrelevant and even inconvenient. New re-tellings are concocted of stories which were told quite well enough the first time, thank you very much. Not that there’s anything wrong with modernizing 1940s or even 1960s-or-later origins and adventures, per se, but ofttimes there seems to be a conscious effort to have the new versions fully supplant the originals, not simply to augment them. This often amounts to pure hubris on the part of the editor, writer, and/or artist(s)—the belief that the way they tell a story today is de facto superior to the original edition, simply because it’s the new, dare we say “ultimate” version. The venerable New York Times drama critic Walter Kerr used to refer to this attitude as “delusions of adequacy.”

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All this is by way of saying that you could’ve

ment under which I’ve

knocked me over with a bat-wing not too many

always felt I did my

months back when Marvel editor Mark Beazley con-

best work.

tacted Dick Giordano and me out of the blue and

In our mid-1970s

asked us to finish our comics-format adaptation of

rendering of Dracula,

Bram Stoker’s 1890 novel Dracula. Earlier, Dick and I

we were simply a

had produced a total of nearly 80 pages of art and

hardworking writer-

story over a period of a year and a half, adapting

and-artist team, turning

approximately 40% of the classic horror tome. Then

out the best and most

the two black-and-white magazines which had car-

faithful adaptation we

ried the serialized rendition perished. . . and our

could muster. We were

adaptation of Dracula went onto the shelf.

naturally quite unhappy when the mags folded

For, you see,

under us, and there was

Chapters I–VII of our

no longer any berth at

adaptation appeared

Marvel for the 60% of

in six issues of Dracula

it that still remained

Lives! and in a single

to do.

issue of its successor The Legion of Monsters —in 1974 and 1975! A n d n ow — o r a t least, sometime in the next few weeks—

For nearly 30 years!

Over the years, Dick and I often talked about finding a way to complete our adaptation. At one point we nurtured plans to approach

Dracula Lives!

Marvel about the possibility of buying back or at

it’s baaaack, with a vengeance—and this time we

least “licensing” our adaptation from them, and

don’t intend to quit till it’s completed, nearly a

finishing it off at a company to be named later.

hundred pages later!

Once, in the 1990s, we even spoke with a couple

Dick Giordano and I had enjoyed each other’s

of top guys at Marvel about the company itself

company since 1965, when he (recently appointed

publishing the whole thing, and an editor whose

editor of Charlton Comics) and I (new to New York

name I forget seemed very enthusiastic about that

City, to Marvel, and indeed to the comics field)

possibility. But it never jelled.

Page 2 from Chapter 2 (“Into the Spider’s Web”) of the Dracula adaptation, originally printed in Dracula Lives! #6 (1974). Scanned from one of the few surviving original pages owned

began getting together for the occasional lunch

And then along came Mark Beazley, who in 2004

by the artist. Courtesy

when Dick journeyed down to Manhattan from the

felt strongly that the adaptation should finally be

of Dick Giordano and

company offices in Derby, Connecticut. In the

finished—by the two guys who had started it, three

Pat Bastienne.

1970s, when he was not tied by contract to either

decades earlier.

Charlton or DC, as a Marvel editor I happily lined

Dick and I leaped at the chance, even though (for

him up as inker and sometimes full artist on a goodly

Dick) it meant redrawing the 78 previously published

amount of Marvel material, including (but hardly

pages, since Marvel had no good proofs of the pub-

limited to) Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword

lished pages, nor did he still own the original artwork.

of Conan. In the 1980s, when he became managing

(He’d had it for the first two decades or so, but at

editor of DC’s line, he in turn arranged for me to

some time during his shuttling back and forth

assume the same “writer/editor” title and functions

between Connecticut and Florida he had elected to

I’d enjoyed at Marvel during the 1970s, the arrange-

sell the originals.)

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The Sleeping giant:

Charlt on Horror Comics of the 1970s by

Michael Ambrose

Ah, Charlton comics. In the ’70s, they were the stuff you pushed aside to get to the Marvels and DCs. When you could find them, they were often badly printed on cheap paper, with ragged trimming and weird coloring. In their profusion of genre titles they seemed to blend together. Most comics fans dismissed them. After all, with the notable exception of Dick Giordano’s short-lived “action-hero” line of the mid-1960s, and a brief, bright run of E-Man from 1973 to 1975, Charlton just didn’t do super-heroes. Then, as today, the super-hero was king. But if you looked a little closer, you could find rare gold in Charlton’s horror comics. Charlton in the 1970s was a sleeping giant, slowly ending a long slumber, grasping toward wakefulness. Haphazardly self-distributed, second-tier Charlton faced stiff competition from Marvel and DC. The Big Two were heavy into super-heroes but virtually ignored everything else. In contrast, Charlton sought the mass audience for westerns, war, adventure, romance, hot rods, cartoons. . . and horror, a genre it had long exploited. Early-’50s Charlton series The Thing and This Magazine Is Haunted were as

Lost in a Crowd

graphically gruesome as anything on the stands;

This detail-rich splash page by Joe Staton is just one of the gems you might’ve

post-Comics Code, Charlton watered itself down

missed if you overlooked Charlton’s horror line. From The Many Ghosts of Doctor

and continued a series of mostly lackluster weird

Graves #43 (1973). All artwork in this article courtesy of Michael Ambrose.

and science-fiction comics throughout the 1960s’

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super-hero explosion. By 1970, the line had settled

Woody paid me what he could but it wasn’t enough

down to three titles: The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves,

to make a living.” Cuti was young and came with a

Ghost Manor, and flagship book Ghostly Tales. Editor

deep comics background. He soon proved his worth,

Sal Gentile offered a steady, if bland, diet of traditional

writing an increasing number of stories for the ghost,

ghost stories with twist endings, almost entirely scripted

romance, and humor books. Cuti suggested using

by staff writer Joe Gill and illustrated by the Charlton

painted covers, urged full story credits, and designed

stable of Steve Ditko, Peter A. Morisi (PAM), Pat

new ghost hosts Baron Weirwulf and Colonel

Boyette, Sanho Kim, and the Charles Nicholas-Vince

Whiteshroud. He wrote and designed the Comic Book

Alascia team. But changes were in store.

Guide for the Artist-Writer-Letterer in 1973, a pocketsized pamphlet promoted as a subscription premium.

A WILDMAN SHAKES THINGS UP

But Cuti gives primary credit for Charlton’s new

In January 1972, Gentile moved up to Charlton’s

direction to editor Wildman. “George was the major

magazine division, and assistant editor George

innovator at Charlton,” Nick says. “He was really the

Wildman, hired in 1969 to draw the newly licensed

captain of the Charlton ship during that era.”

Popeye, was promoted to comics editor in chief.

Though regular credits began to appear only in

Wildman brought 20 years’ experience in advertising

1973, it’s a safe bet Joe Gill had written at least three

and cartooning. And he began to shake things up—

quarters of all Charlton comics since the mid-’50s. “It

not just in the ghost books, but across the entire line.

was nothing for me really to do 40 pages total

Wildman exploited Charlton’s unique position

between the morning and 9:30 or 10:00 at night,” Joe

as an all-in-one publisher—editorial, printing, and

recently recalled. “Sometimes I’d work Christmas

distribution under one roof—to organize the produc-

Day and Thanksgiving. No great amount of effort

tion flow and improve quality. “I knew there were

went into any one. We did the best we could, and

two kinds of editors—passive and dynamic,” Wildman said in the 1974 fanzine Charlton Portfolio. “Since I have never been content with being just a new cog in an old machine, I decided to execute several major policy changes.” Among these were trimming deadwood, trying new titles, promoting properties licensed from strip and TV features, and making cross-country goodwill trips, visiting the local hospital ward to sketch Popeye on a kid’s cast. Wildman set

Unmistakably Ditko

about enhancing Charlton’s image: He designed the

A page (right) from

new “bull’s-eye” logo, opened the bullpen to new

The Many Ghosts

artists and writers, cleared covers of excess verbiage,

of Doctor Graves

improved coloring, and cooperated with fandom’s gnawing hunger for news.

#31’s “The Heart

Wildman also hired a new assistant editor. Nicola

of Jeremy Mith.”

Cuti had been working with Wally Wood when long-

time Charlton artist-agent-packager Tony Tallarico mentioned that Wildman was looking for an assistant. “I left Wood Studio when Tony told me about the job at Charlton in 1972,” Nick recalls, “only because I couldn’t afford to continue working at Woody’s studio.

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cGove Adam M

The unlikely stories of a teen, a duck, a masked soldier, and three very odd presidential campaigns A high-school friend of mine used to tell anyone who would listen that organized crime should be running the country. “But they’d use your money for immoral purposes,” dismayed fellow students would say. “They’d use my money for immoral purposes and provide a service,” he’d reply; “The government we’ve got now uses my money for immoral purposes and doesn’t provide a service.” This pragmatic view of government efficiency is certainly reflected in the sinister yet savvy management of Lex

Get Down, America!

Luthor, longtime arch foe of Superman

Howard the Duck’s

United States. Of course, there’s a short

but recent President of the DC Universe’s

distance between the benevolent scheming of the public President Luthor in the mainline DC comics and the unambiguous tyranny of the behind-the-scenes version in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Strikes Again, and either one can be seen as an allegory of people’s distrust of politics in a country where less than half of those eligible ever cast a vote.

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But other comics characters, in the grand super-heroic

recently lowered voting age with what they feel will be

tradition, have represented political wish fulfillment

a naïve puppet Senatorial candidate. In the speed of an

more than reflecting real-life fears. Few comics fans

amphetamine binge, the electrified teen electorate also

haven’t heard of (though perhaps few have also read)

gets the presidential age minimum lowered, sweeping

Joe Simon’s Prez (“First Teen President of the U.S.A.”),

Prez into the White House instead. The brainchild of

and readers of a certain age will well remember when

Captain America co-creator Joe Simon (now setting his

Howard the Duck, that not-so-funny animal from

sights higher than that rank for a patriotic hero), Prez

another dimension, ran a 1976 campaign as the ultimate

foils his corrupt handlers and elevates a multicultural

Washington outsider. Even Captain America came close

cabinet to push a peace-and-love agenda. Since we’re

to the logical conclusion of his role as a pumped-up

still in a comic book, he also finds time to fend off

patriotic problem-solver by almost throwing his mask

malevolent robot chess pieces from the Soviet Union

into the ring in a landmark 1980 issue.

(superior chess players being one of the USSR’s real-life

As we make our way through another election

PR weapons in those days of cold war stalemate), and a

between aspirants who aren’t always what they seem,

vampiric invasion from Transylvania (your guess is as

BACK ISSUE feels the time is right to take a look at some

good as mine).

of the fully fictional characters who have sought the nation’s highest office.

Whether meant as a swipe at the surrealistic climate of then-President Nixon’s misrule, a spoof of the flower-

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THE PRIMARY

then sweeping more straight-faced super-hero comics,

When it comes to super-powered presidents, the world

the general readership ordered a recall and Prez didn’t

of animation actually beat comics to the punch, with

make it past a fourth issue (though a fifth was produced).

the serviceably titled Super President, a 1967 TV cartoon

The character was purged from DC continuity quicker

from DePatie-Freleng. The title character was a noble

than you can say

if irradiated chief executive with molecule-changing

“Saddam statue,”

powers, souped-up crime-chasing vehicles, and a secret

though before

subterranean HQ later used by Ollie North. Having

cancellation he

been born just too late for JFK in a household where

did inconveniently

his myth was alive and well, this all greatly appealed

complicate both

to me, though Super President was a one-termer, lasting

comic-book and

for only a single season that few remember and even

political reality as

those of us who do tend to doubt we really saw. No

the guest star (and

one thinks about the seven guys who ran the country

acknowledged current

before George Washington, either (under the Articles

president) in an issue

of Confederation), so we might as well move on.

of Supergirl (which

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must be the real reason they had to kill her). Nonetheless, Simon remembers the Prez administra-

The first comic-book character to run for public office was

tion with fondness. Speaking from his New York home,

created to do so, but couldn’t have been more surreal

he recalls the character’s pop-culture forefather: “I was

had he been a caped-and-bootied vote-seeker: Debuting

sitting in a movie theater watching Wild in the Streets,”

for DC Comics in 1973, Prez was an enterprising teen

he recounts with a laugh, in reference to the 1968

from a fictional Anytown, USA (foresightedly named

exploitation classic about a rock star intemperately

“Prez” Rickard by a prematurely proud mom), who meets

elevated to office by 15-year-old voters, “and I loved it and

his destiny when powerful interests seek to exploit the

thought it would really go over big [as a comics series].”

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far-out Teen of the west wing!

power generation, or relief from the wave of “relevance”

trade paperback reviews Across the Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore DC Comics •

2003 Softcover •

208 color pages •

$19.95 US

Michae

l Eury

“Interstate 55 bakes in the oven of noon, the horizon rippling and churning as if viewed through boiling water.” Reading that makes me crave a shower and deodorant, but such is the power of the words of Alan Moore. That line, the opening caption from “The Jungle Line,” starring Superman and Swamp Thing and first published in DC Comics Presents #85 (Sept. 1985), is one of 13 of Moore’s 1980s-era tales reprinted in Across the Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore. Were Moore an ’80s rock star, this eclectic mix of super-hero tales would be the Rhino Records collection of his “B”-side tracks. Across the Universe opens with a bang: 1985’s “For the Man Who Has Everything,” from Superman Annual #11. Paired with the artist with whom he’d next collaborate on Watchmen, Dave Gibbons, Moore’s impeccable characterization is expertly displayed in this exploration of Kal-El’s deepest desires, a rather creepy tale that evokes the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for.” It’s unfortunate that Moore so seldom wrote Superman stories: His edgier take on the hero hinted at the not-so-kinder-and-gentler Superman that would premiere the next year in the Man of Steel revamp, while maintaining the

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utmost respect for the character’s Silver Age canon. Super friends Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin the Boy Wonder (an early appearance of second Robin Jason Todd, whose naïveté is perfectly captured by the author) are additional hallmarks, as is Moore’s handling of Mongul, a supervillain who in other hands has often appeared as no more than a bargain-basement Darkseid. Across the Universe’s other Superman entry, the aforementioned Swamp Thing team-up, is equally as powerful, and is bolstered by vigorous storytelling by one of this issue’s “Pro2Pro” interviewees, Rick Veitch (ably inked by the legendary Al Williamson). Other standouts in Across the Universe: three “Tales of the Green Lantern Corps” short stories, including the fanciful “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize,” a Gibbons-rendered about the Corps’ most unusual member (fan-favorite GL, the fin-headed Tomar Re, narrates

collection—but Across the Universe’s remaining tales

the tale), and a Bill Willingham-drawn adventure

remind us that Moore is just a man. His two-part

about GL Katma Tui’s most challenging recruitment

Green Arrow/Black Canary tale from Detective Comics

effort; Moore’s “origin” of the Phantom Stranger, a

#549–550 and his pair of backups for the mostly

Vertigo-worthy parallel parable of fallen angels,

forgotten The Omega Men series are functional but

highlighted by a rare artistic offering from EC/DC

quickly fade from memory after the pages are

the opening tale of

master Joe Orlando; and “Mortal Clay,” from Batman

turned, and his two-issue, two-part stint on Marv

Alan Moore and

Annual #11 (1987), a boy-loves-mannequin tale that

Wolfman’s 1980s’ New Teen Titans spinoff, The

Klaus Janson’s

flirts with predictability but rises above the mire thanks

Vigilante, is one issue too long. Yet Moore’s weaker

Detective Comics

to disturbing dialogue from Bat-wacko Clayface III

stories are masterfully constructed and feature more

and to George Freeman’s powerful artwork.

imagination and convincing dialogue than the

Taking a Shot at Green Arrow Page one from

two-part backup.

His peers and followers regard Alan Moore as

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average comics stories of the day. Across the

a deity—“He possesses a remarkable command of

Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore shows

language and is a master of description and dialogue,”

how Moore raised the bar for comics writing of the

pens Dave Gibbons in his introduction to this

1980s, one story at a time.

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