Back Issue #8 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

2005

N$5o..985

StormS TURN

30!

Y Y CCH HEE M M S FF

FLASHB DENNY O’NEIL & PHIL LaMARR

CK BLA E RSUP O HE R Y OR HIST

30 S YEAR W E N OF N E X-M

2P PRO RO

ROUGH

BLAC LIGHTN K ING’S C REAT ORS SPEAK

UFF ST

BLACK VULCAN • BLADE • CYBORG • BROTHER VOODOO • LUKE CAGE • VIXEN • AND MORE!

Fe b r u a r y

K K AACC

SALUTING THE BLACK SUPER-HEROES OF THE 1970S AND 1980S!

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 !

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 8 February 2005 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNERS Robert Clark and Corey Bryant PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington SCANNING AND IMAGE MANIPULATION Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Kyle Baker SPECIAL THANKS Arthur Adams Neal Adams Terry Austin Kyle Baker Spencer Beck Lee Benaka Al Bigley Jerry Boyd M.D. Bright Mike Burkey John Byrne Chris Claremont Dave Cockrum Gene Colan Denys Cowan Alan Davis Steve Englehart John Eury Steve Fastner Tom Field Sean Galloway Grand Comic-Book Database Mike Grell David Hamilton Cully Hamner Ben Herman Heritage Comics Richard Howell Mark Huesman Adam Hughes Tony Isabella Roger Janecke Dan Johnson Phil LaMarr Rich Larson Ted Latner Jim Lee Steve Lightle Andy Mangels

FLASHBACK: AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEROES .............................................................................................................................................................................................. A history of blacks in super-hero comics, plus “New in Print” looks at The Superhero Book and Black Images in the Comics

INTERVIEW: MARV WOLFMAN ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. A chat with the creator of Blade and Cyborg

OFF MY CHEST: BLACK MARVELS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. Relive the 1970s House of Ideas with guest commentator Jerry Boyd

ROUGH STUFF: 30 YEARS OF THE NEW X-MEN .................................................................................................................................................................................... X-Men pencil and unpublished art by Adams (Neal and Art), McLeod, Sienkiewicz, Mazzucchelli, Stroman, Hughes, Davis, Lee, and Kane

David Mazzucchelli Dwayne McDuffie Bob McLeod PRO2PRO: DENNY O’NEIL AND PHIL LAMARR ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 32 Darrell McNeil Clifford Meth The original writer and the TV voice of John Stewart discuss Green Lantern Will Meugniot Gina Misiroglu PRO2PRO PLUS: NEAL ADAMS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Brian K. Morris John Stewart GL’s co-creator fills us in on . . . Lincoln Washington?? Eric NolenWeathington Dennis O’Neil 43 BACKSTAGE PASS: BLACKSTAGE PAST.................................................................................................................................................................................................... Mary Beth Perrot Animator Darrell McNeil on the black super-heroes of TV toons John Petty Adam Philips OFF MY CHEST: TONY ISABELLA ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 48 Fabrice Renault Black Lightning’s creator in a guest editorial John Romita, Sr. Rose Rummel-Eury Peter Sanderson INTERVIEW: TREVOR VON EEDEN............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 52 Rick Shurgin The original Black Lightning artist offers his perspective—and rare art! Bill Sienkiewicz Barry WindsorFLASHBACK: THE PERFECT STORM .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 Smith Tom Stewart From 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 to today, an in-depth look at the X-Men’s Larry Stroman Ororo Roy Thomas Bruce Timm INTERVIEW: DWAYNE MCDUFFIE ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 77 J.C. Vaughn One of comics’ and animation’s top writers, on characters of all colors Visible Ink Press Trevor Von Eeden David Walker BACK TALK ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 88 Jim Warden Reader feedback on issue #6 Tony Washington Len Wein Mike Wilbur BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Marv Wolfman Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034.

Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $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. Storm, Falcon, X-Men, and New Mutants TM & © 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. Green Lantern, Justice League, and Black Lightning TM & © 2005 DC Comics. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2005 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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AfricanAmerican

Heroes: A History

of Blacks in

American

Comic Books by

Giordano was asked by one of his young

The following essay

staff editors why virtually all of the DC super-

is reprinted from The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons

heroes were white: “Because they were created in the 1940s by Jews and Italians who wrote and drew what they knew,” he replied.

and Hollywood Heroes,

FROM INVISIBILIT Y

edited by Gina Misiroglu

TO COMIC RELIEF

(Visible Ink Press, 2004). © 2004 by Visible Ink Press®. Reprinted by permission of Visible Ink Press. The images appearing herein are not from The Superhero Book and were selected by author and BACK ISSUE editor Michael Eury.

Super-hero comic books have mirrored societal trends since their inception, and when the medium originated in the late 1930s, African-Americans cast no reflection: Segregation made blacks invisible to most whites. When African-Americans did appear in the early comics, they were abhorrently stereotyped with wide eyes and exaggerated pink lips, portrayed as easily frightened to elicit a chuckle from the white reader, and characterized as utterly depend-

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the Black Panther,

In 1990, DC Comics editorial director Dick

Editor’s Note:

Characters, Inc.

Prince T’Challa,

l Eury

Comics’ First Black Super-Hero

Michae

ent upon their Caucasian benefactors. The cover of The Spirit #1 (1944) promised “action, thrills, and laughs,” the latter provided by black sidekick Ebony White, nervously tiptoeing through a graveyard while sticking close to his protective mentor, the white Spirit. Timely (later Marvel) . ht Holders e Copyrig e Respectiv Th 05 20 ©

Comics’ kid team the Young Allies included an African-American teen named Whitewash Jones— the “comic relief” equivalent of Buckwheat from the Our Gang (aka “The Little Rascals”) theatrical shorts—who was frequently rescued by white heroes Bucky and Toro. No black sidekick was more offensive than Spirit-clone Midnight’s aide Gabby, the talking monkey, drawn in some stories to resemble a chimp-sized black person with a tail. Other portrayals of people of color depicted them in subservience. A black butler answering the door in the Vision story in Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (1940) announced to white visitors, “Ise sorry, gennilmun, de doctor is pow’ful busy, experuhmintin!” Lothar, the aide to comic-strip hero Mandrake the Magician, “served for many years as the dumb, faithful factotum of the intelligent white man,” wrote Reinhold Reitberger and Wolfgang Fuchs in their book Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium (1972). “This black man, dressed in a lion skin and wearing a fez, could be trusted at first to perform only the simplest of tasks for the intellectual Mandrake.” Sidekicks and servants aside, the integration of white and black Americans was mostly avoided during comics’ Golden Age (1938–1954). DC Comics, however, published at least two stories in the later Golden Age that included early attempts at enlightenment. World’s Finest Comics #17 (1945)

The Res pective Copyrig ht Hold ers.

shows African-American World War II servicemen on leave being denied service in a “white-only” restaurant, and in Batman #57 (1950), the hero stops a fight between a white man and a black man. But instances such as these were rare. African-Americans remained in the background, if seen at all, in comic books of the late 1940s and 1950s, although a handful of titles specifically targeted a black audience: All-Negro Comics (1947), Negro Heroes (1947–1948), and Negro Romance (1950).

THE FIRST BLACK SUPER-HERO During the early Silver Age (1956–1969), African-Americans were nonexistent in the pages of DC Comics’ super-hero series like Superman, The Flash, or Green Lantern. Remarked historian Bradford W. Wright in his tome Comic Book Nation (2001), “Handsome super-heroes resided in clean, green suburbs and modern, even futuristic cities with shimmering glass skyscrapers, no slums, and populations of well-dressed white people.” The burgeoning Marvel universe, commencing from the release of Fantastic Four #1 (1961), occasionally depicted a token person of color amid Manhattan crowd scenes, or in an urban school class with Peter (Spider-Man) Parker. By 1965, war— ”the great leveler,” according to Reitberger and Fuchs—afforded African-Americans equality in the fictional realm of war comics, with black soldiers like Jackie Johnson (from the “Sgt. Rock” series in DC’s Our Army at War) and Gabriel Jones (from Marvel’s Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos) valiantly fighting alongside whites in stories set during World War II. Marvel made history by introducing the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (1966). Whether the comic’s writer, Stan Lee, intentionally named the hero after the militant civil rights group, the Black Panthers, is uncertain. The Panther—actually Prince T’Challa of the affluent, industrialized African nation of Wakanda—was highly educated, extremely noble, and amazingly lithe, becoming a colleague of the Fantastic Four’s resident brain, Reed Richards (aka the immodestly nicknamed Mr. Fantastic). The Black Panther broke the color barrier for African-Americans in the world of super-heroes and was

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portrayed as an admirable role model for readers of any race. The impact of his introduction, however, was not apparent from an examination of the cover: The Black Panther’s full facemask provided no hint as to his ethnicity. Though the 1966 premiere of the Black Panther is regarded as acutely influential from a long-term historical perspective, the hero appeared sporadically at first, and no other African-American super-heroes followed his lead. The comics industry was experiencing a superhero boom during the mid-1960s and regarded black super-heroes as a financially risky venture given the social unrest playing out on college campuses and in American streets of the day. Yet through the actions of real-life activists, most notably the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—the greatest African-American hero of

vehemently resisted by the ignorant, and violently opposed by the bigoted. Avengers #52 (1968) took the next giant step for African-American heroes in comics by admitting the Black Panther into the roster of Marvel’s mighty super© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

team—and this time, the color of T’Challa’s skin was clearly evident on the cover (and in the interiors), as his facemask was modified to reveal his nose, mouth, and chin. Scribe Roy Thomas dropped the “Black” from the hero’s name to distance Marvel’s Panther from the militant group, and showed no fear in chronicling white America’s distrust of people of color. When T’Challa arrived at Avengers headquarters to report for duty, he discovered three of his new teammates apparently dead, and was suspected of and arrested for the crime by Caucasian operatives of the covert

timeline:

organization S.H.I.E.L.D. The Panther was soon cleared, and his fellow Avengers, unlike S.H.I.E.L.D., were colorblind, accepting T’Challa with no hesitation. Then came the Falcon, a black hero flying into Captain America #117 (1969). Behind his feathered fighting togs was Harlem social worker Sam Wilson, who guest-starred with Marvel’s “Star-Spangled Sentinel” before actually becoming his teammate, sharing cover co-billing. Noteworthy is the fact

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Black Panther.

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The Falcon.

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1970 The Prowler.

1969

1966

Black Super-Heroes of the BACK ISSUE Era

the decade—a blending of cultures was transpiring across America, warmly welcomed by the progressive,

Mal Duncan.

that Captain America, the super-heroic embodiment of American ideals, was the first white super-hero to partner with a black super-hero; he also endorsed the Black Panther’s membership in the Avengers. Cap’s actions tacitly endorsed racial equality, imprinting the mores of many of Marvel’s readers. “Alienated super-heroes like the Hulk and the Silver Surfer especially empathized with African-Americans,” historian Wright observed. “The green Hulk befriends an impoverished black teenager and explains to him, ‘World hates us . . . both of us! . . . Because we’re different!’” African-Americans were now a part of the Marvel universe. Outside of the occasional in-house public-service announcement extolling racial harmony, however, DC’s world—its super-heroes, its supporting cast, and its incidental background characters—was almost exclusively white. But DC was about to receive a wake-up call.

"THERE’S SKINS YOU NE VER BOTHERED WITH" Writer Denny O’Neil grabbed DC Comics and its readers by their collective collar and forced them to address racism in the landmark Green Lantern/ Green Arrow #76 (1970). A haggard old African-

Controversial Content

American man asked Green Lantern, the power-ringwielding, conservative cosmic cop, the question at left.

Author Don McGregor

On the 2003 History Channel documentary, Comic Book Super-Heroes: Unmasked, O’Neil revealed his rationale

pulled no punches as

behind that speech: “It was too late for my generation,

the writer of the Black

but if you get a real smart 12-year-old, and get him

Panther’s first solo series,

thinking about racism” [then change can be effected].

in the inappropriately titled comic Jungle Action.

A “relevance” movement swept DC’s comics, and people of color at last gained visibility. “It’s important that I live the next 24 hours as a black woman!” asserted Metropolis’ star reporter to the

From issue #22 (1976);

Man of Steel as Lois Lane—now with brown skin and an Afro hairdo—exited

art by Rich Buckler and

a pigmentation-altering “body mold.” This scene played out on the cover of

Jim Mooney. Courtesy

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #106 (1970), in a tale titled “I Am Curious

of Tom Field.

(Black),” described by writer Les Daniels in his book, Superman: The Complete

John Stewart, the African-American “substitute” Green Lantern, first seen in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 (1972). Stewart so extolled “Black Power” that GL/GA #87’s cover blurb touted, “Introducing an unforgettable new character who really means it when he warns . . . ‘Beware My Power.’” Even DC’s romance

Black Racer.

John Stewart.

Vykin the Black.

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Conducted via email on September 14, 2004

EURY: You conceptualized Blade the Vampire

creator of what you call “arguably the two

Slayer before writing Tomb of Dracula for

most famous black super-heroes,” Blade and

Marvel. When did you come up with the

Cyborg. Hey, what about Spawn?

character, and what were your original,

MARV WOLFMAN: I don’t think anybody

pre-Dracula plans for him?

ever thinks that Spawn is black—

WOLFMAN: I came up with him while at

which is good, by the way. It

Warren. I was the editor there and trying

means they just see him as a

to do something with the books that were

character and not by color.

different. The Warrens always had 5-7 non-

But to cover myself, I did

related short stories in every issue and I

say “arguably.”

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decided to do a couple of theme issues. So I had planned and commissioned the history of vampires for one issue of Eerie and assigned stories to my writers from the first vampire to the last. Had I used him at Warren, Blade would have been in my “current”-day story, the only one I would

interview

by Michael Eury

MICHAEL EURY: You are the creator or co-

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write. I also commissioned a history of werewolves issue and I think a few others. As I say, I was trying to come up with new ideas for the book and I thought since Warren at that time didn’t do series, that theme books would make them special.

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did his ethnicity evolve as you developed

Beyond Wolfman

the hero?

Chris Claremont,

WOLFMAN: Because Joshua, the black hero

not Marv Wolfman,

EURY: Was Blade envisioned as black, or

Len Wein and I created for the original Teen

wrote this Blade solo

Titans story way back in the late ’60s was

story (illustrated by

never printed (some of the Nick Cardy pages

Tony DeZuniga) in

for that story as well as its cover did see

Marvel Preview #3

print but incorporated into a new story

(1975)—although

Neal Adams wrote and drew utilizing as

Marv was involved

many of Nick’s pages as he could) I swore

with the tale,

the next hero I created would be black. So

as editor.

Blade was black from the moment I came

up with him. EURY: Blade followed the footsteps of Black Panther and the Falcon as one of Marvel’s few characters of color. What was the reader reaction to Blade? WOLFMAN: Blade was, I believe, the first non spandex-costumed Marvel hero type, unlike the others, to fit in better with the Dracula comic. The readers seemed to like him, enough for me to commission some spin-off Blade stories written by me, Steve Gerber and I think others for our other vampire black-and-white title. I really loved the character

EURY: Were you consulted for any of the Blade movies?

and as I developed him and realized how good he was,

WOLFMAN: No. And I had to pay my eight-ten bucks to

I actually pulled him out of Dracula to rethink him a bit. I

see the movie like everyone else. So did Gene [Colan],

was getting antsy about the Marvel clichéd black dialogue

by the way.

I was using and wanted to fix him up. My own writing

EURY: So, does the creator of Blade see his character on

was getting better and I wanted Blade’s dialogue to reflect

screen when watching Wesley Snipes in the role?

my improvement. Don’t know if that came through or

WOLFMAN: I really liked the first movie portrayal—that

not. Then I did something very different—at the end of

was 90% Blade. I could have hoped for a bit of humor—

his story, when Blade found Deacon Frost and killed him,

he was too stoic—but I can’t imagine anyone else doing

I wrote him out of the book. He didn’t appear again. His

a better job. The perfect Blade. Second film was a pretty

story, as far as I was concerned, was done and unlike the

decent vampire film but I thought it was a poor Blade

other Marvel characters who kept coming back, I let him

movie—it had nothing to do with him, really. I’m anxious

ride off into the sunset. When we did the later four-part

to see the third movie when it comes out.

Dracula series, which I thought was just plain awful, by

EURY: If Blade fought Buffy, whose butt would get kicked?

the way, I brought him back, but as someone who had

WOLFMAN: Why would they fight? They both hunt

gone insane over what he’d been doing all his life. I

vampires.

wanted, however unsuccessfully, to show the ramifications

EURY: In 1980, when you were developing the new Teen

of his life till then.

Titans with George Pérez and Len Wein, how much empha-

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A Look at the House of Ideas’

Black Super-Heroes of the 1970s Who’s Stronger, Black Panther or Daredevil? The author assesses T’Challa’s super-powers (or lack thereof). This commissioned pencil drawing by Gene Colan comes to us courtesy of Ted Latner.

guest editorial by jerry boyd

During the height of the 1960s civil-rights movement, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took a famous pause in his crusade to ask actress Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura of TV’s Star Trek) to not abandon her role to take an active part in the movement. As one of the few blacks regularly seen on a dramatic (if futuristic) program, she’d inspire thousands of young black children to “seek the stars one day in their endeavors” by her positive example, as King put it.

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Ms. Nichols has told this wonderful anecdote at many

Still, there were problems.

a convention over the years,

The Panther, though well-conceived by Stan Lee and

and this African-American

Jack Kirby, was the least powerful of all of Marvel’s

writer was proud to have

prince/kings, with the exception of the Inhumans’

heard it.

Maximus (whom he never had to battle). Black Bolt,

There are no records I’ve

Thor, Loki, Hercules, and Sub-Mariner were all rulers or

discovered of Dr. King com-

heirs to a throne and incredibly powerful as individuals.

ing across the Black Panther

Unfortunately, the Panther, the son of T’Chaka, was not.

in the pages of Marvel

Though he possessed the “speed of a bounding cheetah,”

Comics, but if he’d seen or

which should have placed him behind Quicksilver but

heard about the first black

alongside Spider-Man (in my assessment) in quickness,

super-hero, I’m sure he’d

the Jungle Lord seemed no faster and no physically

have been very pleased.

stronger (though he’d outfought a giant panther

Dignified, upstanding

conceived of Klaw’s sound in Fantastic Four #53) than

images in the media were

Daredevil, whose sole super-powers came from his

happy by-products of the

heightened senses. In addition, the Panther’s two

era and millions of blacks

greatest single enemies, Klaw and the Man-Ape, were

supported their new heroes

more powerful than their catlike foe. Can you picture

on the small screen. Don

the Red Skull or Zemo being able to back up Cap every

Marshall (Land of the Giants), Ivan Dixon (Hogan’s

The Panther’s Quest

tifully, in my opinion.

time they fought?

Heroes), Peggy Fisher (Mannix), Bill Cosby (I Spy),

The problem was (and remains today) that the

A Gene Colan

Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad), Don Mitchell

Panther needed to be more of a black superman. He

penciled page from

(Ironside), Diahann Carroll (Julia), and the elegant,

had no shield, no utility belt, no billy club, enchanted

“The Panther‘s Quest,”

outstanding Sidney Poitier in films were all the rage.

hammer, webs, repulsor rays, etc., to defend himself

writer Don McGregor‘s

The Marvel Universe eased into integration a lot

or to neutralize his foe’s attack, hence he stood

serial appearing in the

easier than its competitors, but Stan Lee and his

unprotected in many situations and out-muscled just

early 1990s anthology

coworkers instinctively knew that black characters

as often.

Marvel Comics Presents.

came with a set of “odd baggage” that an often-hostile society had placed on them.

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It was somewhat ironic in a time in which real “black supermen” began to emerge from the stereotypes

With race riots erupting in the nation’s larger

and societal constraints of the world (and often rising

cities, it made sense for the Black Panther to not only

to the pinnacles of their chosen endeavors)—Muhammad

combat the Masters of Evil and Kang as a member of

Ali in boxing; Dr. King, Adam Clayton Powell, and

the Avengers, but also to battle the hooded bigotry

Malcolm X in the socio-political arena; Bob Gibson,

of the Sons of the Serpent (Marvel’s KKK). With the

Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson in baseball; Bill Cosby

proliferation of illegal narcotics becoming common-

and Dick Gregory in comedy; Miles Davis in jazz; and

place, it made sense for the Falcon, Captain America,

Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, and Deacon Jones in football

Luke Cage, and others to tackle the crimelords of the

—that the first black super-hero seemed so less super

inner city. And black characters, newly emerging from

in a dimension filled with supermen.

the old stereotypes, had to be treated with sensitivity.

These days in Marveldom, the African Avenger fares

It was all in the name of realism, something Marvel

better, I’m told. But the lack of continuity, the change-

had invested in heavily for some time. The Marvel

ups in creative teams, and the lack of a consistent

Bullpenners responded to their new characters beau-

editorial vision for the character has led to a degree

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Before we cover the thirtysomething “new” X-Men, let’s honor the “old”: Neal Adams’ magnificent cover for X-Men #56 (1969) was reportedly rejected on the baseless notion that the figures obscured the logo! (News flash: Given the poor sales of X-Men at the time, that might’ve helped the book!) The inset shows the published version.

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ORIGINAL X-MEN • N EA L A D A M S

milton e” Ha n o b am vid “H by Da

Arthur Adams (no relation) started

LONGSHOT • A R T H U R A D A M S

his series career at Marvel with the 1985–86 miniseries Longshot, an X-Men spinoff written by Ann Nocenti. Yes, these detail-rich pages are Art’s

pencils!

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looked. This is his cover for Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1982), premiering the New Mutants, scanned from his original rough.

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NEW MUTANTS • B O B M c L E O D

Many people know Bob McLeod as a very slick inker—but his pencil artwork is sometimes (unfortunately) over-

Beware His Power,

John Stewart’s Might

An Interview with Denny O’Neil and Phil LaMarr

Samurai John Bruce Timm’s mega-cool painting of Green Lantern in Samurai Jack-style can be seen in color on Phil LaMarr’s site (see datacard for info).

interview

by Dan Johnson

Conducted on August 20, 2004

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Very few names in comics are as revered as that of Green Lantern, possessor of the amazing power ring. For decades, various heroes have fought for justice under that moniker. One of the most unique men to wear a power ring is John Stewart. When the character was first introduced in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972), he not only took on the assignment of becoming GL Hal Jordan’s back-up, but also DC Comics’ first costumed African-American hero. It has been over 30 years since John Stewart first took flight, and a

really thought out what the Guardians’ requirements would be to become a member of the [Green Lantern] Corps. In the original story, Hal Jordan was

lot has since changed for both the character and in how African-

fearless. Well, Hal Jordan would

Americans are portrayed in comics. When deciding who would participate

have to be a moron to be fearless.

in this Green Lantern “Pro2Pro,” the conclusion was drawn to chat with

We kind of skipped over that.

two men who have given John Stewart “voice”: Denny O’Neil, the writer

LaMARR: And Darwyn Cooke

who crafted the hero’s origin story, and Phil LaMarr, the voice actor who

[writer/artist of the retro series,

plays John Stewart on the Cartoon Network’s Justice League Unlimited. —Dan Johnson

DC: The New Frontier] thanks you for skipping over that!

“Ancient” History

O’NEIL: Right, right! Some later writers did explore that there was

Denny O’Neil in

some sort of genetic deposition

1974, two years

DAN JOHNSON: Gentleman, I want to thank you both for

to using the ring, I don’t know. The original John Stewart

sitting down with BACK ISSUE to do this special “Pro2Pro.”

was an angry black man and it sort of fit in with the political

after co-creating

PHIL LaMARR: I just want to say that this is an honor for

tenor of that series, which was pretty angry.

John Stewart. This

me, Denny. I was a big Batman fan when I started [read-

JOHNSON: I would have to say you handled the portrayal

photo originally

ing comics] in the late ’70s. You had a huge impact on

of John Stewart as a black character better than Marvel

appeared in The

my imagination.

was handling some of their black characters in that same

DENNY O’NEIL: That’s very complimentary, thank you.

Amazing World of

time period.

Now, I think you were born about two years after I started

LaMARR: Yeah, they handled him a lot better because they

[writing comic books], in 1967?

didn’t call him Black Lantern. That was the going formula,

LaMARR: Right.

back in the day.

O’NEIL: Wow, that makes me feel ancient.

JOHNSON: True. With John Stewart there seemed to be more

JOHNSON: Denny, get us started—tell us about the history

characterization than with Marvel’s efforts. It is really

of John Stewart.

painful today to look at the original Luke Cage with the jive

O’NEIL: I run into this problem all the time. That was 30 years

talk and everything. At least with John there was an attempt

ago and no one was taking notes. Nobody thought that

to make him realistic.

anyone would remember [the character] beyond four or

O’NEIL: Ideally, of course, he would have been written by

five years. With the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, Neal

a black writer, but there were virtually none in the field back

[Adams] and I were kind of aware that we were pushing the

then. I always feel a little awkward when I’m doing an ethnic

envelope a little bit. I think it was just a consensus between

character because it’s not Irish Catholic, but sometimes you

the two of us and [editor] Julie Schwartz that we needed a

have to do what you have to do.

black character. The rationale for being a Green Lantern made

LaMARR: Well, yeah, to tell a story. Was there any thought

it very easy to create an African-American [Green Lantern]

to the character [being used] beyond that first story?

because there is no reason that a guy like that couldn’t get

O’NEIL: I don’t know that we thought about it. If we had, we

the ring.

would have certainly realized it would have had an afterlife.

LaMARR: Right. Abin Sur was magenta.

LaMARR: Was continuity as big an issue for you guys

O’NEIL: Exactly! I don’t think until this day anyone has

writing then?

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The Art of Diversity:

Neal Adams on the Creation of John Stewart Unforgettable Character, Unpublished Version Neal Adams’ self-rejected original cover art to Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87, courtesy of the artist. The inset shows the published version.

interview

by Dan Johnson

conducted August 27, 2004

You know that when a character makes his first appearance on a Neal Adams cover, he is off to a flying start—the only thing that could weigh more in his favor would be if Neal has a hand in his creation. That was certainly the case with Green Lantern John Stewart. The artist who drew Denny O’Neil’s script for Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 reveals that his contributions went well beyond adding pencil to paper. —Dan Johnson

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DAN JOHNSON: You’ve previously mentioned that you thought the creation of John Stewart was a logical extension of the idea behind the Green Lantern concept. . . .

NEAL ADAMS: I was sitting with Julie [Schwartz, Green Lantern editor] and I was talking about the idea of doing another Green Lantern. Of course, Julie showed me how stupid I was because someone had already done that with a guy named Guy Gardner. I asked Julie about that character, and he pulled out a comic book and showed [Guy] to me. Julie then asked me what I had in mind for a new Green Lantern. I said I thought it would be nice to have a Green Lantern who shows up and perhaps is a little more adventurous, someone who could really take over and who could really be an interesting character. I said, “Let me just ask you a question, Julie. If you were to do another Green Lantern, do you think you would make him a white guy?” Julie said yes, he thought so, to sell comics. “Why are you asking?” I said, “Well, you have a Green Lantern who came to Earth, Abin Sur, and he was going to die. So he sent out the ring and the ring was to find the most noble and bravest guy on Earth to become Green Lantern. Presumably the Green Lantern Corps is able to do this. They can find the best [candidate] on any given planet and [the ring] found Hal Jordan. It makes sense to me that it would find Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan was a test pilot, who under various people’s tutelage seemed to have been a pretty good fella. Then the ring went out and found a replacement [for Hal] and it turned out that this replacement, Guy Gardner, happened to be a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, blond-haired gym teacher. Now this has to be straining the edge of credulity, that the second best guy on Earth [to become Green Lantern] is a white guy.” I personally had a little problem with this Guy Gardner fella already. It seemed to me that if the ring was going to go out a third time, I don’t think it’s going to find a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant guy. It’s going to find an Oriental guy or a black guy. The gist of my question to Julie was, “Can’t we find a black Green Lantern?” Julie, overpowered by awfully obvious logic, said, “All right, I’ll talk to Denny.” JOHNSON: What were your thoughts when you read the script that Denny wrote to introduce John Stewart? ADAMS: Troubled. I got the first pages of the script, and [the story was originally about] this fellow named “Lincoln Washington.” I [went to Julie] and said, “I’m having a little trouble with this name.” Julie, in his generation’s innocence, asked why. I said, “Julie, that’s a slave name. I don’t think you could find a more slave name than Lincoln Washington.” There were black guys in America then who were changing their names to Muslim names to avoid slave names, I explained. Julie asked me what I thought his name ought to be. I said, “I don’t know if you want to go to the Muslim thing, but just give him a regular name, like John Stewart, that would be a really good name.” I had originally asked that he be made an architect, and be given a profession that anyone who is black would look at it and say, “Yeah, I could buy that.”

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JOHNSON: In speaking with Phil LaMarr, the actor who does the voice for John Stewart on the Justice League animated series, I get the impression that as an African-American reader he liked the fact that John Stewart was handled the way he was, having been written and drawn realistically. ADAMS: On an adjacent subject, there are also artists who, when they draw black people, draw a standard face. They have a face they think of and many of the things they do are controlled by their desire not to offend. In fact, some of these artists are Afro-American themselves. That’s why my John Stewart looks unique and singular and like no other black face I’ve done. I ran into a couple of other problems when I did John Stewart. Julie mentioned I was doing [John’s] lips a little big. I said to Julie, “You know, one of the things about an African’s face is that their lips tend to be big, that’s not a bad thing. Their noses are broad too, and that’s not a bad thing.” No offense, but many people in America, and many people around the world, have a really bad standard of beauty. It’s what I see [an as an artist], and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Putting thick lips on John Stewart was the right thing to do. They weren’t overly thick, they were handsomely thick. He was a very handsome guy, John Stewart. DC Comics had this rule that said if someone had dark skin, you were supposed to color them YR2B2. That’s solid yellow, red 25% and blue 25%, that was [their] color for black people. At Marvel Comics, it was Y2R2B2, which essentially is a grey. At DC Comics, YR2B2 is also the color of khaki uniforms in the war books. Not many people of an African persuasion had that color skin. On the other hand, most people who are African-American have fairly dark skin, so I made John’s skin darker. I did it YR3B2, which is a richer, redder brown, using 50% red. When I did that, the head of production, Sol Harrison, came to me and said, “Neal, this is awfully brown. Don’t you think some black Americans might be offended?” (You can see my life in those days was filled with questions that were asked of me that I never thought would enter a human mind.) I told him I thought they would be [more] offended if you colored their skin khaki or colored their skin grey. I said, “I’m sure that if I had brown skin, I would want you to color it brown, I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be, don’t you, Sol?” JOHNSON: You made changes to the cover of the first comic with John Stewart. Did any of those changes have to do with the way John was presented? ADAMS: No, I did that cover over because I didn’t like the [first] drawing. I just wanted it to be a very strong cover. [The new] cover was essentially this new Green Lantern taking over after [Hal Jordan] has collapsed and is unconscious and [John’s] standing over him, flashing his green ring, protecting him. It’s an indication of the kind of story that I wanted to do and the kind of story on the inside. If I were a black kid reading that comic book, and I saw that cover, I’d get it and I’d keep it. The first try was essentially the same, but I didn’t draw it very well. I rejected it myself.

ADAMS: I think that is an impression people like to play on. I think there were some rumors about that, I just don’t think that’s true. You could find one freaked out, crazy distributor who might be reluctant to put the copies on the newsstand, but once it makes it to the newsstand, you know darn well what’s going to happen. Black guys in the neighborhood are going to buy [that issue], and the white guys are going to buy it, too. Everyone was following Green Lantern and Green Arrow. I did a syndicated strip based on the Ben Casey television series. This might be a longer story than you want, but I’ll tell it to you anyway. JOHNSON: That’s okay, I would love to hear it. ADAMS: This was a couple of years before Green Lantern and Green Arrow, and you have to remember we’re going through an evolutionary time in America. If you grew up in the ’50s, you didn’t know you lived in a bigoted country. Let me tell you, it was a bigoted country. When I was working for a company called Johnstone and Cushing, I was asked whether or not I would do a comic book that was being produced for a Southern state that was pushing the idea of “separate but equal” schools and how “good” they were. They were actually producing a commercial comic book that they would hand out to millions of kids in schools, and the people in the community, talking about how it was good to have “separate but equal” schools. I didn’t work on it, and I couldn’t believe that the company I had done work for would want to be involved with such a thing unless they were in financial difficulties, and even that wouldn’t be a good enough reason alone to participate. Yet, that was the kind of thing being done in those days. There were definitely people who were against any movement forward, and were in fact pushing things backwards. Two years later, I had the Ben Casey strip and every once and awhile, I would put a black person in the strip. Seems odd to even say this today, doesn’t it? One day I had a Sunday page and I had an ambulance [scene], and there were two guys in the front seat talking about somebody who was being brought to the hospital. The guy in the passenger’s seat was black, and the guy in the driver’s seat was white. I thought it was interesting to make the guy in the passenger’s seat black. It was of little interest to me that this person was black. I thought nothing of it. I handed the Sunday page into my syndicate, which was in Cleveland, Ohio. I mention it was Cleveland, Ohio, because there is nothing [there] that was any more bigoted than, say, New York. It was a regular, Midwestern good place. Nothing bad went on there. Well, I got a proof of that Sunday page, and I noticed somebody at the syndicate had taken the head of the guy sitting in the passenger’s seat and traded it with the head of the driver. They actually physically cut the head’s off and reversed them. I called [the syndicate] up and asked them, “What’s going on?” They said, “Neal, please understand, we’re not prejudiced here, of course,

but doesn’t it seem odd to you that the guy sitting in the passenger’s seat of an ambulance, which is usually the seat for the doctor, is black and the guy who is driving is white? Wouldn’t it be the other way?” I said, “No, why would it be the other way? Aren’t there black doctors?” They said, “We felt it would be more sensible if the guy driving the ambulance were black and it would offend fewer people. You know you have to worry about that, Neal. This is a newspaper syndicate, and there are some people, who when they see something like that, will actually drop a comic strip.” JOHNSON: The scary thing is that I can believe that, considering the Ben Casey strip was produced in the ’60s. ADAMS: I asked them, “Am I living in some kind of fantasy world that’s turned upside down that you think, 1) People would do this, but 2) if they do it, you actually think that’s a good reason for cropping the heads off of people and changing them so those people would be satisfied?” They said, “Well, Neal, we’ve been doing this for many years.” Now, I’m talking to people from the Midwest, not the South, who were themselves newspaper reporters. This syndicate was managed and run by ex-newspaper reporters who were sort of semi-retired. These were guys who had bylines, guys who were well known in the newspaper business, [and] they were doing me a big favor to help me avoid rocking the boat. So I hung up the phone a little stunned, but I sent them a letter. [It was] a two-page letter, single spaced. I think I started the letter with, “If anybody at this syndicate ever decides to masturbate on my work again, I will personally come down there and punch them in the face.” That’s how I started the letter. Basically, the letter was about hidden bigotry.

JOHNSON: Denny O’Neil said the response to this issue was fairly positive, but he did mention that there was one negative letter that DC had gotten. He also said that in some parts of the country, the book didn’t even make it off the trains.

[I wrote,] “You can’t believe that you’re not a bigot if you do this. If you do, you’re just fooling yourself. I don’t really think you guys are bigots, but on the other hand, you’re acting like bigots. We can’t do this. I want you to understand, no matter what you think, or for whatever reason, if anyone ever does this to my strip again, I am no longer doing the strip, I’m out. I will look for work elsewhere.” It was a pretty hostile letter. Of course, anytime I would send letters to the syndicate, they would pass them around to everybody in the place. I got a phone call from the fellow who was in charge of the syndicate, Ernest Lynn (a famous reporter in his day) and he said, “Neal, you’re right. If you feel that if we lose papers on your strip, and that’s okay with you, then that’s okay with us. It’s a little hard to be called a bigot. We’re taking it as well as we can, and you’ve made us feel ashamed, unfairly, we think, because we felt we were helping you. . .” “Well, you weren’t helping me,” I interrupted. He said, “We all understand your point exactly. This will never happen again.” I said, “You know, I’m going to test you.” He laughed, “I bet you do.” The next time, I had a scene in the strip with two guys who were members of an orchestra and they were talking about the orchestra leader. One of them said, “Well, he seems to be a whole lot nicer these days.” And the other one says, “Yeah, he’s acting way more human.” I made that the black guy saying that last line. It may not seem like much to people these days, but in the ’60s, to have a black guy say that line, was a very big deal.

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DC’s Newest Hero. . . . . .and its first black headliner was previewed in this Jan. 1977 edition of The Comic Reader. Cover art by Trevor Von Eeden and Joe Orlando; courtesy of David Hamilton.

guest editorial by tony isabella

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OUT of fairness Jefferson Pierce, perhaps better known as Black Lightning, was the best character I ever created and represents the best work that I ever did in comics. The two questions I get asked most often at conventions and in emails are: Why did you create Black Lightning? How did you create Black Lightning? The “why” comes from ideals taught to me by my parents and the comic books I read as a child and as a teenager. I was raised to believe that the world should be what it never was and likely never will be . . . fair. To this day, my views on the comics industry and the larger world beyond it are shaped by the dual concepts that things should be fair and, if they aren’t, we should do something about it. There were no African-Americans in my Cleveland neighborhood, in my elementary school, or in my high school. My first African-American friends were the ones I met B l a c k

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Jefferson Pierce Black Lightning’s alter ego in pencil form, courtesy of artist Trevor Von Eeden. If the names were a bit blaxploitation, it was because

through the comics industry. Our backgrounds might

those were the movies I was seeing with Arvell and the guys.

have been different—though not so different as some

With Black Goliath, I wanted to visit some new territory.

might think—but we had the love of comics in common.

The Panther was an African king. Cage was a streetwise

I had African-American friends who read comic books.

ex-convict, albeit an unjustly convicted one. The Falcon

Going to comics conventions and writing for fanzines, I

was revealed to be a brainwashed criminal. Blade and living

became aware there were many African-American comics

mummy N’Kantu were based in Europe and the Mideast.

readers. It didn’t seem fair to me—then or now—that

Misty was as streetwise as the characters which had inspired

there were so few African-American heroes in comics.

her. It was all foreign or street with little middle ground.

Prior to the first issue of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, we had

My intention for Black Goliath was, as a change of pace,

supporting characters Jackie Johnson (a member of Sgt.

was to involve him in more traditional “save the world”

Rock’s Easy Company), Mal (of the non-costumed Teen

and “stop the super-villain” stories. But neither I nor his

Titans), and the then one-shot John “Green Lantern”

book were around long enough for that to be realized.

Stewart at DC. Marvel had Gabe Jones in Sgt. Fury, Robbie

While completing my exclusive arrangement with

Robinson in Amazing Spider-Man, the Black Panther in

Marvel, I kept thinking about creating a new African-

Fantastic Four, scientist Bill Foster in Avengers, and Captain

American hero. I wanted to create a character to whom

America’s new ally, the Falcon, the only one getting shared

all of our young readers could relate, a character who would inspire them as Superman and Captain America had

That didn’t seem fair.

inspired me. Unexpectedly, a DC Comics editorial misstep

After going to work for Marvel Comics in the fall of

would give me that opportunity.

conventions, reading their fan letters, and working with

I keep trying to find a shorter way to explain the next part of my story. I’ll have another go at it:

young talents like Ron Wilson, Keith Pollard, Arvell Jones,

DC purchased two scripts for a planned new series called

and Aubrey Bradford, I quickly came to feel the imbalance

The Black Bomber. The hero, who would be their first

between a significant portion of our readership and the

“black” character to star in his own title, was a white racist

insignificant number of characters reflective of them

Vietnam vet, who, as a result of taking part in chemical

was something we needed to address.

experiments to allow soldiers to blend in better with the

Out of fairness.

jungle, turned into a black super-hero in moments of stress.

Excited young comics pro that I was, it never occurred

It gets worse.

to me at the time that I was making political/social

In each of the two well-intentioned scripts, the hero

statements by trying to add more such characters to

would, in his white racist persona, save a person he couldn’t

comics. I just wanted the world to be a little more fair.

see clearly and, on finding out the person was black,

At Marvel, the 1970s were an exciting time in this

exclaim something along the lines of—and this is a quote

regard. In addition to Cage, the Panther was now starring

—“You mean I risked my life to save a jungle bunny?”

in the unfortunately named Jungle Action, brilliantly written

And it gets worse.

by Don McGregor, and Marv Wolfman’s Blade made his debut in Tomb of Dracula. In Supernatural Thrillers, the Living Mummy was black underneath his wrappings, but you would have had to read the comic to know that.

1972, and meeting more African-American readers at the

title billing. That didn’t seem like enough.

through comics fandom and, not so many years later,

on The Black Bomber with the third issue. I begged

I was writing the renamed Luke Cage, Power Man and,

them to reconsider the series. I warned of protestors

for that matter, the Living Mummy series, but it didn’t seem

marching outside their offices with me in the front lines.

like enough. I added a Pam Grier-inspired Misty Knight

Ultimately, I convinced them to consign the Bomber to

to the Iron Fist series and turned Bill Foster into Black Goliath.

limbo with a question: “Do you actually want your first

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Talent, like Suicide Slum Smackdown An unpublished version of Trevor Von Eeden’s cover to Black Lightning #4 Courtesy of the artist.

interview

by Brian K. Morris

Conducted on June 26, 2004, transcribed by Brian K. Morris (copyedited by Trevor Von Eeden)

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lightning Beginnings:

In 1977, boredom paid off for Trevor Von Eeden. Born in Guyana, South America, in

Black Lightning #1 (1977)

1959, Trevor and his family moved to America in 1970. An “A” student and voracious

Milestones:

reader, he found himself bored by the teachers’ constant repetition for the slower students,

Black Lightning / ”Dial ‘H’ For Hero ” in Adventure Comics / Green Arrow in World’s Finest Comics / Detective Comics / Power Man and Iron Fist / Batman / Batman Annual #8 / Gree n Arrow miniseries / Blue Ribbon Comics #2 / Thriller / Black Canary limited series / Batman and the Outsiders / Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1 / Lege nds of the Dark Knight #16–20

so Trevor began sketching in the borders of his books in the style of the comic books he’d come to love. His best friend, fellow comics fan and harshest art critic Albert Simonson (no relation to Walt), convinced Trevor to submit art samples to their favorite company, DC Comics. Imagine the 16-year-old’s surprise when a form rejection letter contained a hand-written invitation: ”If you’re ever in the area, drop by and just say hello.” After a couple of tryout jobs, Trevor left his medical studies at Columbia University to draw a new title, Black Lightning, created by Tony Isabella. This was the first DC

Works in Progress:

Satan, the Hero (Cochran Publishin g) / Black Lightning and Thriller proposals

title with a black lead character, drawn by the first black artist hired by the company, also one of the youngest. Trevor remained on the title throughout its entire 11-issue run before moving to other DC titles, most notably Batman Annual #8, the “Venom”

Photo courtesy of Trevor Von Eeden .

storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight (which indirectly spun off the character of Bane), and the cult favorite, Thriller. As his career progressed, Trevor concentrated more on his work than “selling” himself to fandom at large, having attended very few comic conventions, either as a guest or a fan. Just as the repetitive nature of early American schooling bored Trevor, a lack of originality in the medium diverted his attention from mainstream comics until a friend showed him Outsiders #10 (2003) and he saw the current incarnation of Black Lightning. Trevor is a man who loves to learn, who sees the value in the English language, in education, in pride, and self-improvement. When he’s not drawing, Trevor attends classes at Columbia University with the goal of sharpening his writing skills. Now, with almost 30 years of comics experience behind him, he’s knocking on the door again. —Brian K. Morris BRIAN K. MORRIS: How’d you get your start in comics? TREVOR VON EEDEN: I went up [to the DC offices] and met Jack C. Harris who became my first editor up there. He showed me around, then took me to meet Joe Orlando. Now, the thing you’ve got to remember that I was 16 years old and I was from another country, an entirely different culture. All I knew about American culture was what I saw in the movies, television, or learned in school. Where I’d come from in South America, it’s very country, very rural. All low buildings and all that kind of stuff. No skyscrapers, no television, nothing. So anyhow, this whole culture was like a big adventure for me at the time. Of course, with DC Comics having me come in and see the place, and meet them in person, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. MORRIS: I’ll bet.

Family Matters

VON EEDEN: They met me and realized that I was black, which they couldn’t from my

The artist (center), flanked by his older sister,

drawings. Coincidentally, they were thinking about starting Black Lightning, so the timing was perfect. They hired me to design the costume and I was going to draw the first appear-

Mrs. Lorraine Von Eeden Williams (left), a nurse

ance of the character. That’s when I was officially introduced to Jack C. Harris. I wanted to

practitioner, and his mother, Mrs. Baban Von

mention him because in my entire career, I’ve only had three editors that actually had any

Eeden, also a registered nurse and, in the words

kind of effect on me because most editors, especially after I became famous, just took what I gave them and that’s it. I wanted to learn, so I had to teach myself. But Jack C. Harris, he was one of the nicest, most supportive people that I’d ever met. It was because of him that

of her loving son, “an all-around great person.” Photo courtesy of Trevor Von Eeden.

I felt comfortable working at DC from the start.

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So [Joe] said, “We have a black book we want

who has black appeal, rather than a black super-hero, per

you to do.” I didn’t know a thing about racism,

se. I don’t honestly recall any particular issue that Tony and I

I didn’t know a thing about black people in

did from a sociological point of view. I think they interspersed

America. All I knew is what I was taught in

a couple of characters who were students and had an impact

school so I had no idea what he was talking

on Jefferson’s [Pierce, Black Lightning’s alter ego] life, but I

about. I gave him a blank look and he went on,

don’t think they ever directed a message to black people.

“You’ll be creating this black super-hero and

There was the one issue with Superman where Black Lightning

we’d like you to draw the book.” I had no idea

sort of lectures Superman at the end about the slums and

that this was their first black super-hero. I had

not taking care of the blacks, but that wasn’t the main

no idea it meant anything. It’s just that I heard

thrust of the series. I believe at the time, we were just focusing

I was going to be drawing a comic book at 16

on selling a super-hero with a couple of neat adventures

years old and I was standing there, almost

and a cool costume. That he was black just happened to be

fainting. [laughs] He asked me if I’d do it and

a footnote in history, but we never really stressed on that

I said, “Sure, I’d be happy to.” He said, “We’re

a lot as far as exploiting it.

going to give you $22,” and I thought he meant

They treated me pretty well, overall. My only real criticism

for the whole book [instead of per page]. I was

was that I wish I’d had more critiques from them as an

Black Lightning Strikes!

so ecstatic. To me, that was an unheard-of sum. That was

DC Comics touted

I was their youngest artist, and I was happy to have the

Adams. He was always very nice, very understanding. Just

job, the opportunity, so Jack kind of guided me through

being around the guy, watching him work, he just sat there

this hot new series

the rough spots and answered all my questions. I also met

in the middle of his studio, with people all around, and he’d

in the January 1977

Tony Isabella, who created the character. He was a short

turn out these beautiful masterpieces, one after the other.

Italian, very, very nice guy.

And he was always willing to listen. He’d listen to you while

like manna from Heaven.

edition of its Coming

artist, from an editorial and commercial point of view. The most significant thing at that time was I met Neal

MORRIS: And would you say that Tony had captured the

he was working. He’d talk, give advice. He’s like this wonder-

“Black Experience” in the ’70s?

ful father figure once you didn’t come to him with ulterior

Courtesy of Trevor

VON EEDEN: Back when Tony was writing the first series,

motives, which is part of what he liked about me.

Von Eeden.

I believed they were just going for more of a super-hero

Attractions newsletter.

Anyhow, that was significant in my career because about the same time I was drawing Black Lightning, I started working for [Neal], doing advertising work. He asked me to

come in and while I was at his studio, I discovered Alex Toth’s work, discovered this whole new way of thinking in abstract black-and-white forms. So my first years were spent between Black Lightning, working for Neal, and then just meeting all the different people. But before I forget, the other editor who had an effect on my career was Dick Giordano. MORRIS: You worked with him on Thriller. VON EEDEN: Right. It was because of Dick that I was able to do the Batman Annual, which got me some notice. Neal’s studio sat next to where I met Dick. He’s completely generous with his time, his information and his knowledge. He was just very, very nice to me. [chuckles] Anyway, I had that inspiration to do my best—Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. I remember Neal once correcting me on the pronunciation of Dick last name; “Gee as in ‘G-Force,’ not “Gi” as in the karate outfit. Andy Helfer, who’s the third editor I mentioned, had an

The Roots of Black Lightning

impact on me because he was the only other guy who actually sought to make it better or say something about the work that he appreciated, because he noticed. He and I

Pencil art to page 17

did the 5-part “Grimm” storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight

of issue #1, courtesy

#149–153. It was inked by [José Luis] García-López and

of Trevor Von Eeden.

featured Robin’s first kiss, with a young African-American girl.

were all very friendly to me, but they always taught me

Dick Giordano, Andy Helfer, and Jack C. Harris, they

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The Perfect by

Peter Sanderson

When Giant-Size X-Men #1 came out in 1975, people referred to the international roster of mutant super-heroes it introduced as the “new” X-Men. But here we are in the early 21st century, and the new X-Men are now 30 years old. Several of these veterans, like Nightcrawler and Colossus, became mainstays of the Marvel Universe; Wolverine turned into a star nearly as popular among comics readers as Spider-Man himself. Yet perhaps the most innovative character among the new X-Men was Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm, who has the mutant ability winds that carry her aloft in flight, discharge

Storm by John Romita, Sr.

lightning bolts, and, as her name suggests, create

From The Uncanny

actual storms. She was one of the first of a new

Dave Cockrum Benefit

wave of super-heroines who were shown to be the

Book (see ad in this

to manipulate the weather. She can conjure up

equals of their male colleagues in courage, skill, and

issue). Courtesy of

power. Like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Black Panther, she was one of the first super-heroes with an African

John Romita, Sr.,

cultural heritage. Storm was also the first significant

Clifford Meth, and

African-American super-heroine, and today remains

Heritage Comics.

THE GATHERING STORM How was Storm created? “Boy, this is a complicated one,” says her co-creator Len Wein. It is indeed. Nor only were several people involved in the initial creation of Storm, but the original writer’s concept for the character was almost immediately radically revised by his successor. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the original X-Men series in 1963, but, strange as this may seem to today’s X-Men fans, the book was eventually canceled due to low sales. In the mid-1970s, it was decided to attempt to revive the series, revamping it to feature a cast of new X-Men from various countries. The team assigned to the project consisted of one of Marvel’s leading writers, Len Wein, and artist Dave Cockrum, a fan favorite thanks to his B l a c k

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memorable work on DC’s [Superboy starring the] Legion

company. “I know that he created Nightcrawler to be

of Super-Heroes.

a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes,” Byrne

The story starts with artist Dave Cockrum and his

states, “and DC said no, he’s just too weird. [laughs]

astonishing creativity. “Dave, of course,” comments John

What does this tell us?” (Maybe that DC had changed

Byrne, “is one of those guys who was designing, creating

since it published the aggressively weird Doom Patrol

characters all the time.” Byrne says that Cockrum has

in the 1960s, a series that Byrne himself has since revived.)

“Tons and tons of sketchbooks full of drawings of all these

“Somewhere along the way,” Wein continues, “she

really cool characters,” but adds that “only a few of them

got the name Storm.” Though Wein and Cockrum had

ever see the light of day.” Agreeing that Cockrum’s prolific

dropped the character’s cat motif, they kept her cat-like

creativity is Kirbyesque, Byrne says that Cockrum “could

eyes. “Even though they no longer fit the character, we

hand some little publisher a sketchbook and say, ‘Here’s

liked them too much to drop them.”

a universe.’”

As for her “real” name, “I came up with the name

“Storm sort of started as a sketch in Dave’s book,”

research on the new character,” Wein says. “‘Ororo,’ as

Wein adds, “It’s why she had those cat’s eyes, by the way.”

I recall, means ‘beautiful’ in Swahili.”

(Cockrum’s Black Cat had the same name as a celebrated

Ah, but some of you are thinking, Storm’s full name

Golden Age super-heroine. Of course, that Black Cat was

is Ororo Munroe. But Len Wein didn’t come up with

white; there weren’t black super-heroes in mainstream

“Munroe,” a name that is decidedly not African. That

comics back then. Cockrum’s Black Cat also preceded her

would not fit with his original concept of the character.

namesake in the Spider-Man series, who debuted in 1979 and is also white.)

When Professor Charles Xavier invites Storm to join

weather powers, but another of his sketchbook creations

the new X-Men in the landmark Giant-Size X-Men #1,

did. “There was also a male character who controlled the

she lives on the Serengeti plains of Kenya, close to

is, neither character was jelling properly. While we liked the Black Cat visual, her powers were unnecessary. While we liked Tempest’s powers, his personality wasn’t working out.” So now another important figure in Marvel history enters the tale. I’ve been writing about X-Men history for over 20 years, and I had never known before writing this article that Roy Thomas played a key role in the creation of Storm. Thomas had taken over from Stan Lee as writer of the original X-Men series in the 1960s, and in the 1970s Thomas succeeded Lee as Marvel’s editor in chief. It was Thomas’s idea to revive the X-Men as an international team. “It was Roy Thomas who suggested taking the Tempest powers and giving them to the Black Cat character, thus solving the problem,” Wein reveals. “We did so. David

Artist Dave Cockrum’s

did a redesign to the Black Cat costume, adding the

original interpretation

headpiece and the glider cape, among other things.” “Dave showed me his sketchbook years ago,” John

of the character

Byrne says, and he not only saw Cockrum’s Storm

who would become

sketch but also his original drawing of Nightcrawler.

Storm. Courtesy of

“The original version of Nightcrawler had red and yellow

Dave Cockrum and

stripes on his boots and gloves, but other than that was exactly the same.”

Roy Thomas.

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know as Nightcrawler for a different series at a different

•

JUNGLE GODDESS

Cockrum’s Black Cat didn’t have Storm’s familiar

weather whom we called Tempest,” Wein reveals. “Trouble

The Black Cat

‘Ororo’ on my own, going to the local library to do

recalls Wein, “but as a character called the Black Cat.”

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From Mainstream to Milestone: Jive-Talkin’ Juggernaut

Dwayne McDuffie

Did Luke Cage The first black super-hero I ever saw was

speak to black

Marvel’s Luke Cage, Hero for Hire (aka

comics readers of the

Power Man). My grandparents bought

1970s? This splash

some comic books for my cousin and me

from Hero for Hire #8

at a 7-11 in Virginia, and one of the books

(1973) is from the

was an issue of Hero for Hire. As black kids growing up in the 1970s, surrounded

original art collection

by big Afros and bellbottoms, my cousin

of Richard Howell

and me were transfixed by this strange super-hero who had the same skin color as

and Carol Kalish.

we did, but had a really strange way of

interview

by David Walker

Conducted on September 8, 2004, transcribed by Brian K. Morris

talking. We read the dialog from that issue out loud, over and over again, laughing louder each time. But despite the silly nature of Luke Cage—his sense of fashion was poor, he had trouble articulating himself, and his villains were the most stupid in comics—he represented to us the fact that there was a place for black superheroes in the universe. The first black comic-book creator I ever met was the legendary Ron Wilson, who at the time had just done his graphic novel Super Boxers. This meeting came at a time when I wanted to make a living as a comic-book creator, and served as a profound inspiration because up until that moment, in my mind, the world of comics was something exclusively meant for white guys. Ron offered me a few words of encouragement, which at the time seemed like the most sage-like of wisdom, and sent me on my way. Nearly 30 years after first discovering Luke Cage, and almost 20 years after meeting Ron Wilson, my career path had steered me away from comics. At the same time, I had kept the medium near my heart and the industry within my sight, and as I contemplated a serious, headfirst leap into comics, I reached out to Dwayne McDuffie. Towering at over six feet tall, the Detroit-born Dwayne McDuffie was someone that I had been aware of for years. His most notable accomplishment was as one of the co-founders and editor in chief of Milestone Media, which during the 1990s turned out such seminal comic-book series as Icon, Static, Hardware, and Blood Syndicate. Milestone stopped producing comic books after four years, but would remain in the public eye when one of its stable of characters, Static, would make the move to Saturday morning cartoons with Static Shock. Quick with a joke, Dwayne also possesses a pragmatic sensibility about black characters in comic books, and black creators in the medium. For me, he’s always been easy to talk to, encouraging me when I’ve needed it, without ever blowing smoke up my butt. Although he would probably never admit it, he has become a role model for many black comic creators. Through the accomplishments of his award-winning career, Dwayne McDuffie has served as an inspirational reminder that there is a place in the industry for creators of color, and that there can be black characters in the medium that are more than token sidekicks or jive-talking caricatures. — David Walker

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Luke Cage’s Second Appearance

DAVID WALKER: What got you into comics as a kid? What were the super-heroes that first pulled you in?

Luke Cage. But I wanted to like him and I didn’t understand why at the time. What I did like, and what really

DWAYNE McDUFFIE: Okay, my first memory of actually

seriously got me into comics, it was about half Steve

picking some comics, I’ve been able to figure out I must

Gerber on Howard the Duck and half Jungle Action, the Black

Hire #2 (1972), written

have been four years old, and I bought Adventure Comics,

Panther, which I was just fascinated with. And it wasn’t until

by Archie Goodwin,

I think, with the Legion of Super-Heroes, because it had a

years later that I really understood what was going on there

whole bunch of super-heroes on it, and I thought that

because all of a sudden, there was a world where it was

was a good value and I was really interested. There was

possibility. Black people could be anything. They could be

like this fat guy who could bounce and I had to know

the king, they could be the street sweeper, they could be

(Below) From Hero for

penciled by George Tuska, and inked by Billy Graham.

about him. And I also bought Sugar and Spike. And that

the good guy, they could be the bad guy. You know, they

Courtesy of Tom Field.

may still be the best Wednesday I ever had, you know?

were human beings and it really appealed to me.

[chuckles]

WALKER: Yeah.

WALKER: I still have a beat-up copy of the first comic my

McDUFFIE: And I still think of that “Panther’s Rage” run as

mom ever got me. It was an issue of Batman. Nothing was

one of the great comic-book runs, adventure comic-book runs

the same after that.

ever, black character or not. Where’s that trade paperback?

McDUFFIE: I was always into it. My dad always had comics

WALKER: [chuckles] Well, it’s interesting because the first

around so I read a lot of the early Marvel stuff. They used

black super-hero I remember seeing was Luke Cage as

to have these Marvel Collector’s Item Classics and I forget

well. And if you gave me an hour to look at all the covers

what the other one was, where they’d have four of the

of all the issues from the 1970s, I could pick out the first

old stories reprinted in them. And I loved those because

issue of Power Man I ever bought. Me and my cousin bought

those were like Dad’s books, so I got a good education on

it and we both read it and tried to figure out exactly who

early Marvel and that stuff. So I always read them, me and

talked like this.

my pal Alan Tumpkin, when we were both like ten or 11

McDUFFIE: I know which one mine was. They used to have

years old. We’d trade our comics and argue about whether

these illegal ones, three for 19 cents. Now I just told every-

the Hulk would beat Thor. [laughs] Obviously, Hulk would

body how old I was [laughs] because comic books were

win. [chuckles] Alan’s not here to defend himself. [chuckles]

20 cents and what people would do is that the newsstands

And so comics were

had to return the logos at the time to get their money

always around.

back, to claim they were destroyed. Then they would take

WALKER: I still re-

the books with the logos cut off and sell them to guys who’d

member the first

put them in plastic bags, and they’d sell them three for

black super-hero that

19 cents at the—we called them “party stores” when I

Beginnings:

Damage Control #1 (1989)

I saw. What was the

Milestones:

Co-founder and creator of Milestone Media / Story Editor on WB’s Static Shock / 2003 Humanitas Prize winner for “Jimmy” Static Shock script / Damage Control / Deathlok II / Icon / Static / Xombi / Hardware / Legends of the Dark Knight / Spider-Man / X-O Manowar / (The Artist Formerly Known as) Prince / Captain Marvel / What’s New, Scooby-Doo?

first black super-hero that you saw? McDUFFIE: Okay, the first one I saw, I didn’t like. The first one I saw was Hero for Hire, which I desperately

Works in Progress:

wanted to like. I

Producer and Story Editor on Cartoon Network’s Justice League Unlimited / The Road to Hell

remember I bought it for a long time,

Cyberspace:

wanting to like it. I

www.dwaynemcduffie

just didn’t get it. I didn’t understand him, I didn’t know any black people who acted like that, I certainly didn’t know any who talked like that. Spider-Man seemed more like me than

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