Back Issue #101 Preview

ROCK ’N’ ROLL COMICS ISSUE No.101

$8.95

December 2017

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAM J. JONES STAR OF THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL SCI-FI CLASSIC FLASH GORDON

SCHOOL’S OUT, TRUE BELIEVER! ALICE COOPER, MARVEL HERO KISS OFF, DOC DOOM!

Flash Gordon © 1980 Universal City Studios, Inc. Other characters © their respective copyright holders. All rights reserved.

KISS IN COMIC BOOKS

I THINK YOU LOVE ME!

PARTRIDGE FAMILY, THE COMIC

T.REX’S MARC BOLAN INTERVIEWS STAN LEE! SIR PAUL McCARTNEY, FEARLESS FRONT-FACER! 82658 00115 MARVEL’S STEELTOWN ROCKERS & LILA CHENEY! COMIC-CON’S HOUSE BAND, SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT! 1

5

Volume 1, Number 101 December 2017 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury“thmics” PUBLISHER John “Cougar” Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich “Earth, Wind &” Fowlks COVER DESIGNER Michael “MC5” Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob “Zombie” Smentek

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Remembering Seduction of the Innocent, the band… and Miguel Ferrer

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Neal Adams Zeea Adams Isabel Addie Terry Austin Nick Barrucci Arvin Bautista Stuart Bell Al Bigley Chad Bowers Jarrod Buttery Paul Castiglia Amy Chu Chris Claremont Zal Cleminson Paty Cockrum Max Allan Collins Robert V. Conte Kelly Corvese Peter Criss Kelly Sue DeConnick Dynamite Entertainment Jackie Estrada Fayetteville Comic-Con Tom Florio Stephan Friedt Catherine Glen Chris Glen Dito Godwin Grand Comics Database Larry Hama Ed Hannigan Alex Harvey, Jr. Tyro Harvey Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Andy Helfer Heritage Comics Auctions James Hogg Dan Johnson Sam J. Jones Ken Kelly Mike Kelly Rachel Kilbury Reuben Kincaid Rob Kirby Scott Kolins Hans Kosenkranius David Anthony Kraft Bruce Kulick Elaine Lee Stan Lee Steve Leialoha Paul Levitz

INTERVIEW: Sam J. Jones, Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A chat with the coolest cosmic hero from the rockin’ sci-fi classic

Richard Makinson Scott Manson Bill Maus Max Maxwell Hugh McKenna Bob McLeod Robert Menzies Tim Moen John Francis Moore Bill Mumy Allan Murray Fabian Nicieza Luigi Novi Kevin O’Rourke Dan Parent Keith Partridge Scott Pentzer Carol Rambo John Romita, Sr. Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Chris Ryall The SAHB Fans Facebook Group Jim Salicrup Shannon Steve Sherman Louise Simonson Chris Sims Spike Steffenhagen John S. Stuart Roy Thomas Steven Thompson Mort Todd Gerry Turnbull Peter Vassallo Dennis Woloch

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal download, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at

www.twomorrows.com

CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG BIGLEY: Cartoon by Al Bigley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Take the last train to fanville to replay the Monkees’ comics connections FLASHBACK: Sir Paul McCartney, Fearless Front Facer! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Maybe we’re amazed by this Beatle’s mighty Marvel honor BACKSTAGE PASS: The Sensational Alex Harvey Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The story of the little-known (in the USA) musical Marvelite INTERVIEW: Marc Bolan Interviews Stan Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Man and T.Rex’s front man, plus Angie Bowie as Black Widow FLASHBACK: Saturday Morning Supergroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Tunes from toons, with multimedia stars from your childhood BEYOND CAPES: Partridge Family, David Cassidy, and Bobby Sherman . . . . . . 30 A psychedelic school bus and two teen idols, in Charlton Bronze Age comics FLASHBACK: Forty Years of KISS in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 From Marvel to Dynamite, KISS continues to conquer comic books GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: KISS Unplugged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 My KISS Story author Robert V. Conte reveals the KISS comics we didn’t see INTERVIEW: KISSing Up to Amy Chu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Meet the latest KISS comics writer BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Hypno-Hustler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The disco-era do-badder Marvel just can’t forget FLASHBACK: Alice Cooper: From the Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 School’s in for Professors Hannigan, Salicrup, and Austin as they revisit Marvel Premiere #50 PRINCE STREET NEWS: Cartoon by Karl Heitmueller, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Comic and cartoon characters’ favorite music artists FLASHBACK: Lila Cheney: Marvel’s (other) Mutant Musician . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The story of the New Mutants’ teleporting, rock-’n’-rolling super-singer PRO2PRO: Steeltown Rockers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Larry Hama, Elaine Lee, and Steve Leialoha, and their offbeat Marvel miniseries BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Reader reactions BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025.

Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 Standard US, $116 International, $31 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.

Flash Gordon © 1980 Universal City Studios, Inc./TM & © King Features Syndicate. Alice Cooper © Alice Cooper. KISS © Kiss Comics, Ltd. Partridge Family © Sony Pictures Television. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2017 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing, except for Confessions of a Young Bigley TM & © Al Bigley and Prince Street News TM & © Karl Heitmueller, Jr. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by

Dan Johnson

Flash! Ahhh… …Savior of the Universe! The affable, inspirational star of the 1980 film Flash Gordon, at a convention appearance. Photo courtesy of Sam J. Jones.

Movie © 1980 Universal City Studios, Inc. Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate.

When it comes to comics and rock ’n’ roll, there is no better fusion of the two than the 1980 cult movie classic, Flash Gordon. With its spot-on casting, special effects, and a killer soundtrack by Queen, Flash Gordon has become legendary, with new fans discovering it all the time. At the 2016 Fayetteville Comic-Con, BACK ISSUE got the chance to sit down and talk to the star of the film, Sam J. Jones, to discuss how he came to play one of the greatest space legends of all time, the making of the movie, and the impact the film has had on his life and the fans.

– Dan Johnson DAN JOHNSON: First off, how did you get your start in the movie industry, Sam? SAM J. JONES: I was in the Marine Corps playing football and I had this brilliant idea that I would serve one hitch and then I would go play pro football with the Seattle Seahawks. So I got out, and went to Seattle to visit my grandparents, who were living there.

JOHNSON: When was this?

JONES: This was in 1976. I met with part of the coaching staff and they said, “We don’t want you to play for [the Seahawks], we want you to play for our semi-pro team, the practice team.” So I played one season there and I wasn’t feeling it. You know how we have that spark and that passion to do something and nobody’s gonna stop us? I was 22 and didn’t have that spark anymore.

At the same time, I read an article about Clint Eastwood. By ’77, he had already been in [show] business 22 years. I said to myself, “I don’t know if

I can accomplish what he has in those years, but I’d like to give it a shot.”

I got prayed up—I really wanted God’s blessing on this, and I felt if I was going to do it, I would give myself six-month intervals. If I went to Hollywood, and I found myself progressing in any way, shape, or form, I would give myself another six months. But if I found myself backstopping, or regressing, in any six-month interval, I was just going to try something else.

JOHNSON: Sounds like a solid course of action. I take it you never had cause to second-think the decision?

JONES: Actually, the first month I got connected to a really good acting class doing scene study and improvisation, and a month later, we had agents auditing the class and we were doing showcases. [Then I got] a commercial representative, so I was being submitted for TV commercials.

Three months later, after about 200 auditions, I ended up getting hired for a Schaefer Beer commercial with the legend, Jerry West of the L.A. Lakers. I did the Schaefer Beer commercial, and that really built up my self-esteem and confidence. From there, I ended up getting a theatrical agent, and then I was being submitted for movies.

JOHNSON: How did that process go?

JONES: My first 50 to 80 auditions were the same thing. There’s going to be a lot of rejection, for whatever reason, and you can’t take it personally. I reached a point, even at that young age, where I had to dismiss all the negative stuff. [Regarding other actors up for the same roles,] I dismissed the fact that this was not my competition. My only enemy is me, and I needed to walk in that room and be prepared.

Once I started doing that, and thinking, “If they want Sam Jones, they’re

4 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

gonna get Sam Jones. If they don’t want Sam Jones, they’re gonna get somebody else.”

JOHNSON: Now, when you did make it, your first role was in 10 with Bo Derek.

JONES: Yeah, 10. But even before that movie, I reached a crossroads in my life. I was up for a sitcom, and it was my first job other than a commercial. This was a real acting gig. The show was called Co-Ed Fever and I was a guest-star. [The show featured] David Keith and Heather Thomas, very big names in the ’80s.

We were rehearsing for a couple of days, and then we have a live audience and we’re getting ready to roll cameras. I was getting ready to go on and I’m really nervous and I’m starting to stutter and stammer, and in my mind this voice was saying, “Just tell the director you’re sick and you can’t do it.”

That fear thing came in. Then this other voice said, “If you start making up excuses now, Sam Jones, you’ll be doing this the rest of your life. Just go out there and literally make a fool of yourself. Forget about the fear factor.”

I went out there and immediately I started to stutter and stammer a little sam j. jones bit, but that was fine—it’s natural— and then I went right into it.

That was my crossroads. I broke that barrier of fear and it freed me up and liberated me. Then I got the audition with Blake Edwards [for 10] and he was an icon in the ’70s. He directed all the Pink Panther movies and his wife was Julie Andrews. During the audition piece I made a fool of myself, and Blake hired me.

JOHNSON: 10 was one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1970s. What was it like working on that film?

JONES: It was incredible. I sort of embellished the part while we were making it. I was in the movie a lot, but only had one line of dialogue, and I think it was, “I’m gonna get a surfboard,” or something like that.

But that film catapulted me. And while I was making the movie, I got a call that Dino De Laurentiis wanted to see me for the part of Flash Gordon.

JOHNSON: What was the process like auditioning for the part of Flash?

JONES: The auditioning process for Flash Gordon went on for eight or nine months. It was in the early stages of development, and things went back and forth.

Finally, in early 1979, Dino flew me to London. This was the old Hollywood screen test that actually used film, and you treated [the screen test] like you were shooting a real movie. They did hair, makeup, and costume, and we got with the same partner and rehearsed together. Now back to me!” And he is brilliant at that. A lot of other That [lasted] 30 days. actors would get upset and mad because they can’t talk, JOHNSON: Tell us about your costars from Flash Gordon. but we just sit back and watch the show. It’s amazing.

The entire cast is just stellar and mighty impressive in JOHNSON: Tell us about your Dale Arden, Melody Anderson. regard to star power.

JONES: Melody, my leading lady, we’ve travelled a JONES: Max Von Sydow [Ming the Merciless] was great. couple of times [to do conventions together] in the past He was a mentor to me and gave me some great advice few years, and we’re like this comedy team of Jerry and was just wonderful.

Lewis and Dean Martin. She is hysterical. [We do shows] Brian Blessed [Prince Vultan] is incredible. He kept and we both have the tables and sit in front of my big everybody laughing on the set. banner and some of the fans will come up to her table We went to London last November [2015] for our 35th and look [at what she has to sell], but they won’t really anniversary reunion, and Brian is such a character. We do buy anything. Then they come to my table and purchase these Q&As, and it will be Melody [Anderson], myself, a poster or something. When they leave, I’ll look at and Brian. All of a sudden, in the middle of this, Brian will Melody and go, “Nah, nah, nah,” and she just flips me grab the microphone and he’ll sit downstage and that’s off. [laughter] We’ve been like brother and sister. When where he’ll remain. He’ll get into a ten- to 15-minute speech I was with my wife in London, Melody lived with us for and he is incredible. He takes authority over the room, three months. She actually denies it and says it was only he’s hysterical, and he’s a bit R-rated, too. Every now and for a couple of days, and I remind her, “Believe me, dear, then, he’ll look back at Melody and me and say, “Oh, my you were with us for three months, and I locked my God! Look at Melody! Look at Sam! Aren’t they beautiful? bedroom door. I need my privacy!” [laughter]

Who Can Save You Now? We know who!

The main movie poster for Flash Gordon. Painted art by Richard Amsel. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

Movie © 1980 Universal City Studios, Inc. Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

10 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

by

Know Ye That Sir Paul McCartney Has Faced Front!

McCartney as Titanium Man, by John Romita, Sr., and a listing of “The Hallowed Ranks of Marveldom,” taken here from the lettercol of Iron Man #42 (Oct. 1971).

Images in this article courtesy of Robert Menzies.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

As one of the most successful musicians and singersongwriters of all time, James Paul McCartney has many accolades to his name. Solo or with the Beatles, he has won a mountain of awards including Grammys, Brits, and an Oscar, as well as the most prestigious national honors from Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama.

What is less well known—in fact, almost completely unknown—is that Stan Lee also presented McCartney with Marvel Comics’ highest accolade, a Fearless FrontFacer award! It’s a remarkable irony that Sir Paul can simultaneously be the most famous holder of this title, and yet practically no one knows he has one. This is the story of how it all happened… and what came after.

“MAGNETO AND TITANIUM MAN”

It’s not exactly sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, but the story begins with childcare. After the Beatles, Sir Paul formed Wings. The core members were Sir Paul and Linda McCartney and ex-Moody Blue Denny Laine, although other band members came and went.

In the autumn of 1974, the McCartneys, taking a break from recording and touring, had chosen to vacation on an isolated Caribbean island. It was to be a working holiday, with Sir Paul aiming to get some writing done before his return to the recording studio.

However, what would be paradise for an adult can, somehow, be dull for a child. Such was the reaction of

12 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

Robert Menzies

Heather, Mary, and Stella McCartney, aged 12, 6, and 3, respectively. They were, to quote Sir Paul, driving him “bonkers.” The savior of the situation was a liquor store selling Marvel Comics. Almost inevitably, Sir Paul, who appeared in Help! (1965) with Superman comics on his piano, couldn’t resist having a look at these four-color adventures himself, and this led to the single “Magneto and Titanium Man” being written.

After returning home, three of the recordings for the Venus and Mars album, Wings’ fourth LP, were laid down in London’s Abbey Road Studios in the second week of November 1974. Later, the band flew to the States and completed the recordings in New Orleans. It was there that Wings’ tribute to Marvel’s villains was recorded sometime between January 20 and February 20,1975.

On May 27, 1975, the Venus and Mars album was released, soon becoming the number-one album in the US, UK, and around the world. An album consisting of live recordings made during the world tour that followed also sold four million copies and reached number one in the US album charts.

The “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” single, with “Magneto and Titanium Man” as the B-side, was released in October 1975 in the US and a month later in the UK. Most copies of the single came in the standard plain paper sleeve that nearly all 45s wore up to the 1980s.

There was also a second, much rarer version with artwork cut and pasted from comic books. While the title only

names two supervillains, the song’s narrative actually has three, as the sleeve artwork shows.

FOOM #12 (Dec. 1975) claimed that Paty Cockrum (then Greer) in Marvel’s production department created the montage. However, when I asked her about this she kindly replied with a detailed email: “This particular piece was definitely not done by me. It was probably done by Tony Mortellaro. We would glean art from the silverprints we had of every book, clean up the art, take out blurbs and word balloons, and finish the art.”

The central Magneto figure, with original art by George Tuska and John Tartaglione, appears in the opening splash of X-Men #91 (Dec. 1974). Titanium Man is by George Tuska and Mike Esposito (under the pseudonym Joe Gaudioso). It is a reversed half-splash image taken from page 6 of Iron Man #22 (Feb. 1970). The Sal Buscema/ Joe Staton Crimson Dynamo figure taken from page 11 of Avengers #130 (Dec. 1974) has also been flipped.

It is worth pausing here to remember—and emphasize—that Wings started recording in November 1974, so comic release dates (not cover dates) must predate that date to coincide with the holiday. With this information in mind, the choice of characters is very informative.

Magneto, Titanium Man, and Crimson Dynamo all appeared in comics released in October of 1974: Avengers #130 for the Russians and X-Men #91 for the mutant leader. While it may be a coincidence that all three characters made appearances in October 1974, and that this is also the same period when the McCartneys were on holiday, it is an implausibly large one.

Knowing the date of the holiday and being able to confirm what issues the McCartneys were reading, it’s intriguing to consider what other comics came out that month. In other words, what other villainous characters could Sir Paul have written songs about? We can rule out the mags with more adult, violent, or horror-based content as unlikely purchases for young girls. The villains in the core superhero titles that month were fairly unimpressive—FF villain Mahkizmo being the nadir—so perhaps it’s no surprise that it was classic characters that appealed most to Sir Paul.

There was also an interest in a certain sightless hero.

In the May 1976 Soapbox, Stan wrote: “Didja know that Paul McCartney’s MAGNETO AND THE TITANIUM MAN [sic] single is a sensation wherever it’s played?,” before adding the bombshell, “And wait’ll you hear his new DAREDEVIL disc!” Nothing else is heard about that song except for a solitary appeal to Sir Paul in a 1977 edition of FOOM: “[W]hen are you gonna finish that blamed Daredevil disc?”

Anatomy of a Record Cover

MARVEL’S BIGGEST-EVER MASS AWARD

In 1964, Marvel launched the Merry Marvel Marching Society. This fan club instituted the tradition of six ranks of Marveldom which could be awarded for four reasons: buying at least three titles a month, having a letter printed, introducing someone to Marvel, or explaining a mistake (i.e., getting a No-Prize). If you achieved the first four ranks, which was tricky but not impossible, you gained the fifth rank. It was, however, the sixth rank that eluded nearly every fan. This was the FFF, which stood for Fearless Front-Facer. This was a rank given only for devotion to Marvel above and beyond the call of duty and in practice only very rarely awarded.

Jump forward to late 1975. British Marvel attempted a short-lived and short-sighted experiment: landscape

“Magneto and Titanium Man” single cover image, and the Marvel Comics’ sources for its figures: Magneto from page 1 of X-Men #91 (Dec. 1974, art by George Tuska and John Tartaglione); Crimson Dynamo from Avengers #130 (Dec. 1974, art by Sal Buscema and Joe Staton); and Titanium Man from page 6 of Iron Man #22 (Feb. 1970, art by Tuska and Mike Esposito).

Also, a Wings concert photo showing the menacing metal men. © MPL Music Publishing, 1975.

Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

by

Robert Menzies

In the Silver and Bronze Ages, the prominent musicians singing about comic-book characters were, surprisingly, not usually American, they were British. Which is not to say, of course, that there weren’t superhero songs in the States. For example, in 1969, mail-order band the Traits complained that “Nobody Likes the Hulk,” and a year later Jimmy Buffett twanged his way through a bizarre love letter to Captain America.

The difference was that in Britain, it wasn’t almost exclusively obscure novelty acts releasing songs with superhero references. It was some of the most influential and respected recording artists, a claim that could not be made about the American music scene until the 1980s and 1990s when the likes of Blondie, Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Prince, Bon Jovi, and the Ramones reclaimed the heroes as their own.

The lineup of talent singing about comic characters in the 1960s and ’70s was far more impressive in Britain than anywhere else. The Beatles name-checked Captain Marvel and Sir Paul McCartney’s Wings sang about Iron Man villains; the Kinks proudly announced their reading habits with hits about Superman, Captain America, Marvelman, and even Plastic Man and Johnny Thunder; Queen sang about Superman; David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Elton John tipped a cap to 1950s legend Dan Dare, pilot of the future; the Who, the Jam, and others sang Neal Hefti’s Batman theme, and Genesis mentioned the Caped Crusader as well; T.Rex’s Marc Bolan was fascinated with the Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange; Donovan referenced Superman and Green Lantern; and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band dedicated a track to Nick Fury.

That British culture was ahead of America in celebrating four-color heroes was no more clearly signaled than in the pages of the music bible Rolling Stone. Many fans are aware of the Rolling Stone edition from September 16, 1971.

Behind a bold cover dominated by a Herb Trimpe drawn Hulk is an early and detailed analysis of Marvel Comics. However, almost two years earlier, there had been a feature on Marvel inside the UK edition of Rolling Stone (#44, dated Oct. 18, 1969), an edition that displayed a Jim Steranko-drawn Captain America figure lifted from issue #110 (Feb. 1969) of the Avengers’ own title.

This article won’t, however, be a dreary recounting of each song reference, but will instead look at Britain’s most notable comic-fan musician. While a strong case can be made for that crown best fitting the Kinks or Marc Bolan (more on him in a companion article), the bearer of that title is actually someone else.

“SERGEANT FURY TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING I KNOW”: ALEX HARVEY

Something Borrowed, Something New The Sensational Allan Harvey Band’s True Story program cover (artist unknown), and Marvel Comics swipes from which the band’s poses were based. All images in this article are courtesy of Robert Menzies. © SAHB. Spider-Man art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

To my great delight, the British musician who was the biggest comic fan, hands down, was my fellow Scotsman and Glaswegian Alex Harvey. While relatively unknown outside Britain, Harvey was a hugely charismatic live performer who defies easy categorization or description. Active since the 1950s, he opened for the Beatles, or three-quarters of them anyway, on their very first Scottish gig in May 1960, and shared billing with the Fab Four in Hamburg.

His most famous period came leading the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (SAHB), Britain’s most popular live band in the mid-1970s. They played countless gigs across Europe and the US, touring with—and regularly upstaging—the likes of Frank Zappa, the Who, Yes, and Chuck Berry.

SAHB’s music shifted from rock to blues to music hall, and many more stops in between, with hugely diverse song subject matter that included the American Revolution (“The Boston Tea Party” was in the UK charts over the Bicentennial summer), a witch (“Isabel Goudie”), and hunting crocodiles (“Amos Moses”). The band’s theatrical, literary, and sometimes outrageous appearances often featured Alex adopting a persona, like a Phillip Marlowe-type private eye. On one occasion he performed “Framed” dressed as Jesus, dragging a large cross around the stage! Unpredictable as ever, Harvey even took time off from the band to go hunting for the Loch Ness Monster!

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17

Band on the Run (top inset) Sleeve of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s single “Sergeant Fury” (full title, “Give My Regards to Sergeant Fury”). (top right) Ad for the single from New Musical Express (July 20, 1974).

The Fury figure is a redrawn John Severin image swiped from (top center) Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #74 (Jan. 1970). This may have been one of the issues stolen when the band was on tour. (bottom left) Alex Harvey wearing a WMMS Cleveland T-shirt, with their famous Buzzard logo. WMMS was/is an influential radio station that promoted SAHB. At a concert at the Cleveland Agora in 1974, Harvey said to the audience, “This feels like home to us.” (bottom right) Harvey and two glowering police officers. Alex had just suggested, innocently but unwisely, that he was considering going on stage in blackface like Al Jolson!

Image taken by Janet Macoska, probably in Louisville, Kentucky, 1974.

In a two-page article by UK editor Neil Tennant, himself a future pop star, Harvey is described as “one of Stan’s greatest fans” and a “Marvel fan since he was a kid” (Spider-Man Comics Weekly #102, Jan. 25, 1975). What it does not say (probably due to it happening after this issue went to print) is that in November–December 1974, Harvey fulfilled one of his lifelong ambitions when he met Marvel Comics boss Stan Lee during a special luncheon given in honor of the band at the swanky Plaza Hotel. A breathless [Harvey] told the NME [New Musical Express]: “Can you imagine? … Any man like that who would just come to my party, well, it’s fantastic. Charles Shaar Murray [famous English music journalist and comic fan] met him in London and told him how much I idolized him. … I’ve got so many of his comics.” (The Sensational Alex Harvey by John Neil Munro, p.141.)

Harvey especially admired the humanistic point of view in Lee’s tales and also saw him as a modernday storyteller in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson. That love of comic books had a tangible influence on Harvey’s performances. In MWOM #199, Harvey is quoted as describing their shows as “The World’s Only Rock and Roll Marvel Comic!,” a quote originating with Murray. In fact, the band members, all from Glasgow, were sometimes depicted in comic-book form, most notably on The Impossible Dream (1974) album cover and the “One True Story” tour booklet from 1976.

© SAHB. Sgt. Fury TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

18 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

The latter is worth looking at closely because it contains a comic strip story starring the group.

The cover was drawn by an unknown and, to be frank, unskilled artist who was clearly swiping John Romita, Sr. Spider-Man poses from the Marvel sample art in The Penguin Book of Comics (1971).

The cover figures, left to right, are Alex Harvey (singer) as the Teacher, a swipe that originally saw print as the page 1 splash from Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) #48 from May 1967. Then behind Harvey is Hugh McKenna (keyboards), a.k.a. the Professor, inspired by the leaping Web-Slinger from page 13, panel 4 of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 (1966).

The middle-rear image of Ted McKenna (drummer) as the Buffer is only a head image and not copied.

Second from right is Zal Cleminson (lead guitarist) as the Actor (ASM #48’s page 11, panel 4). Far right is Chris Glen (bass guitarist) as the Punk, lifted from ASM #48, page 11, panel 3. The art would also feature a set of five character badges sold at concerts. Three decades later, Max Maxwell, comic fan, artist, and replacement SAHB lead singer, would update—and greatly improve—this art with his own witty homage.

One of Harvey’s recurring on-stage personas was the heroic Vambo, who the singer described as being a cross between Santa Claus and SpiderMan, Harvey’s younger brother’s favorite character.

(Harvey alternated Spidey with Captain Marvel.)

Saturday Morning Jam Session From Heritage’s archives (www.ha.com), cels from The Archies, Groovie Goolies, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and The Jackson 5ive.

Archies © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Groovie Goolies © Filmation Associates. Fat Albert © Filmation Associates/Bill Cosby.

Jackson 5ive © Rankin-Bass Productions/Motown.

Synergy is something that is sorely lacking in comic books today. We see a plethora of big-budget feature films starring our favorite Marvel and DC characters, but the huge box-office returns do not guarantee increased comic-book sales. In fact, many times one does not mention the other, where in the past, comic books would bear legends such as “Look for me on TV” and TV shows would say, “Based on the copyright feature appearing in Action Comics and Superman Magazines.” Today is different.

The synergy of media seems to be a lost art today and appears to be a strong reason why you don’t see a proliferation of Saturday morning supergroups today, coupled with the fact that there isn’t a Saturday morning cartoon TV schedule anymore.

The peak period for this phenomenon was roughly from 1968–1973, where supergroups would star in a TV series, a record album, and, of course, a comic-book series. Sometimes the music came first, sometimes the show, and sometimes the comic book.

24 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

THE FIRST CARTOON SUPERGROUP

Though cartoon characters had theme songs from virtually the very beginnings of the talkies, expanding the song into an album collection sung by the starring characters didn’t occur until 1961 with The Alvin Show.

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were sped-up “Chipmunk” voices created by David Seville, a.k.a. Ross Bagdasarian.

In early 1958, Bagdasarian had a hit with a single sped-up voice on a record called “Witch Doctor.” Later in the year, Bagdasarian figured that if one sped-up voice sold millions, imagine how three sped-up voices would sell.

It turned out to be a lucrative gamble as “The Chipmunk Song,” a.k.a. “Christmas, Don’t Be Late,” became a massive hit at Christmas 1958, and soon, a Christmas perennial. Bagdasarian expanded this one Chipmunk song to two, and then eventually an album.

By 1961, the Chipmunks had three albums under their belt. The next step was to break into television.

Although Bagdasarian had appeared with puppet Chipmunks on The Ed Sullivan Show, the decision was made to opt for a cel-animated series from Format

by

Films. It was also decided to make the Chipmunks more cuddly looking and less realistic. The original Chipmunks drawings looked like they could bite!

In the meantime, the Chipmunks started appearing in comic books, initially as part of Dell’s Four Color series with #1042 (Oct.–Dec. 1959), where they were billed as The Three Chipmunks. Later, the series began proper with Alvin #1 (Oct. 1962), also published by Dell. The series ran 28 issues, through October 1973 (cover date).

Strangely, at the time, The Alvin Show concept didn’t spawn any imitators. Even when real-life rock band the Beatles became a Saturday morning cartoon series in 1965, The Beatles didn’t beget a comic-book series.

The next cartoon show to record a music album— but without an accompanying comic-book series— was The Beagles, starring Stringer and Tubby, two dogs who played a guitar and a standup bass. The series was created by Total TeleVision productions (TTV), best known for their previous series such as King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, and Underdog. Unfortunately, The Beagles and the associated album were both flops.

Mark Arnold

KIRSHNER’S SUPERGROUPS

The next successful synergistic music group that did have a comic book and a TV series (but not on Saturday mornings) was The Monkees.

Unlike the Chipmunks, The Beatles, and The Beagles, The Monkees debuted on TV and then released an album and had a Dell comic-book series that ran for 17 issues, from March 1967 to October 1969 (cover dates).

The TV series aired in primetime from 1966–1968, and then began a new life in reruns on Saturday mornings from 1969–1973.

The Monkees caught on like wildfire and actually started touring in 1967. Their ongoing popularity has led to numerous reunion tours as recently, at this writing, as 2016.

The main impetus behind the Monkees’ success initially was Don Kirshner. As The Monkees’ actor/ singers fought for their independence in 1967, Kirshner moved on and eventually worked with animation studio Filmation and Archie Comics to create The Archie Show, which included music by the supergroup, the Archies. Singer Ron Dante was recruited to sing

© Bagdasarian Productions.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

Partridge manager played by, and drawn here as, Dave Madden.

So while Don Sherwood was peppering the parent book with real people, this title, about a real person, was not just purely and completely unreal but also downright surreal!

From covers to stories to almost every single page of ads, pretty much the whole package was about the adventures and misadventures of the real-life David Cassidy himself! Said adventures were, however, sanitized greatly for your protection.

According to his autobiography, C’Mon, Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus (revised and re-released as Could It Be Forever?), the oh-so-human David spent much of his time during this period making out with groupies and fans after his weekend concerts, stumbling through the TV production schedule due to lack of sleep and some highly questionable pharmaceuticals, and fighting off-stage with his famous father, Broadway, TV, and film actor Jack Cassidy. In these comics, however, David spends his time helping people and trying to get dates with nice girls.

In that 1993 interview, in regard to the image the fan mags created, Cassidy said, “It was very frustrating. I would sit down and have an interview with them and say, ‘Really and truly, my favorite music is Hendrix or Clapton.’ They’d write, ‘David loves the Monkees.’ I could tell them that I was into bondage and they would have written, ‘David loves to go to sleep with his puppy at night.’ ” Most of the David Cassidy stories were signed by Su Gumen. At a time when there was a heavy influx of cheap labor into the US comics market from the Philippines, it would have been easy for fans to presume Sururi “Su” Gumen was yet another talented Filipino, but he was actually from Turkey. In fact, he’d been in the US since the mid-1950s, ghosting mainly for Kerry Drake’s ostensible creator Alfred Andriola on various projects as well as cranking out the occasional romance or supernatural story for Charlton beginning in the 1960s. Eventually, Gumen would become a mainstay for Cracked, but in the meantime, he became the main artist on the David Cassidy comic book.

The Other Partridges (right) A Danny pinup from Charlton’s romance title, Sweethearts #130. (inset) Don’t look for this one in your Price Guide! It’s Steven Thompson’s fantasy cover for Reuben Kincaid’s own comic! © Sony Pictures Television.

Ironically, Andriola, like Don Sherwood, had not actually created his biggest strip. That was Allen Saunders. Nor had he likely ever drawn it at all, according to various sources! There were always ghosts. Toward the end of the run in the 1970s, Gumen was finally given co-credit, at least.

Along with being better drawn overall, Charlton’s David Cassidy comic was generally more entertaining, too, in spite of—or perhaps because of—its surreal qualities. You’d see him occasionally on the Partridge set—with cameos from his pre-teen co-stars—but mainly he was out surfing, scuba diving, playing tennis, dating cute girls, or helping friends and strangers alike. There’s also a surprising amount of guns and fights and implied—and sometimes explicit—violence as David protects friends from kidnappers, motorcycle gangs, and potential rapists.

The script does a fairly good job with hip lingo of the period with words like “groovy,” “dig,” “pad,” “threads,” and such, but the uncredited writer dates himself with words like “beatniks” when he means “hippies.”

Joe Gill, who would have been in his 50s at that time, is presumed to have written most, if not all, of the David Cassidy solo series.

CHARLTON, DO YA LOVE ME?

Debuting in the exact same month as David Cassidy was Bobby Sherman.

Charlton’s Bobby Sherman comic was in no way a spin-off of its Partridge Family book, but Bobby Sherman’s TV sitcom, on which its early issues were based, began as a pilot at the end of the first season of the TV Partridge Family. Got it?

As noted earlier, Bobby Sherman had been in David Cassidy’s shoes.

Twice. Once on Shindig in 1965, and more recently as the co-star of the TV series Here Come the Brides, which helped sell Bobby’s albums and singles and posters and love beads and...! But then Brides was canceled. Bobby filled the gap with hipper fashions and more music, but he was no longer hitting the top of the charts. David Cassidy had replaced Bobby in the all-important and ever-fickle hearts and minds of the American public. Almost ironically, it was on The Partridge Family where Bobby was given one last shot at reviving his quickly sagging career. In spite of the teen mag rumors of a feud between he and David, Bobby appeared on a firstseason episode as a singer/songwriter who needed a lyricist. That role was filled by Wes Stern, a quirky young actor with an improbable name who had made a small impact in a few countercultural movies on the big screen in the years just prior.

The backdoor pilot was enough to get Bobby another series. Getting Together debuted in the fall of 1971 and was quickly followed by an LP highlighting some of the not-bad pop songs from the series. The new show expanded on the pilot’s premise with the two struggling songwriters, Bobby Conway and Lionel Poindexter, now living in an antique store with Bobby’s kid sister, Jennifer. The latter was played by Susan Neher, formerly of the TV series To Rome, With Love, and rumored in Tiger Beat at the time to be an item with Danny Bonaduce! Our heroes’ transportation was a hearse, and the show’s only other regulars were Pat Carroll as their landlady and Jack Burns as her police officer beau.

Presumably on the strength of its Partridge success, Charlton licensed Bobby Sherman and the new Getting Together series. Apparently the comic originally was originally to be named

34 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

Over the past four decades, only one rock ’n’ roll band has consistently transcended to and from music to the four-color world of comic books—KISS! Although they have endured multiple incarnations, the group remains stronger than ever with the support of its legion of devout fans—the KISS Army!

The band’s eternal declaration “You Want the Best, You Got the Best” applies to their illustrated adventures dating back to 1977 when Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss first appeared in Marvel Comics Group’s Howard the Duck, created and written by the late Steve Gerber. Howard had already become a sleeper hit, but KISS’s appearance in issues #12 and 13 (May and June 1977), penciled by the late Gene Colan and inked by Steve Leialoha, sparked unusual interest.

“My then-partner David and I were having lunch with Steve [Gerber] at the recently closed Carnegie Deli in Manhattan, New York,” recalls then-Mad Genius Associates co-founder and now Papercutz editorin-chief Jim Salicrup. “We had helped him package the Howard the Duck for President buttons and campaign package and he mentioned how Stan [Lee] wanted him to write a KISS comic.”

“This was exciting, and I flew up to Toronto, Canada, to see KISS in concert,” recalls comic-book writer, editor, and music journalist David Anthony Kraft.

“As fate would have it, I wound up escorting Gene to a comic-book shop in the area. He knew all the great stories, writers, and artists—including me! I was astonished and soon realized no one knew who he was because, back then, KISS was never photographed without their makeup!”

Teaming KISS with Marvel seemed like a natural fit. After all, two of the band’s founding members, Simmons and Stanley, grew up reading comics and knew people that would eventually become industry pros including Marv Wolfman and Howard Chaykin.

“When we were teenagers, Marv and I wrote and published our own fanzines,” said Gene Simmons in a 1994 interview. “I would write Marvel all the time about how much I loved their characters.

One day I received a postcard from Stan Lee himself with a handwritten note that I ‘will do great things.’

Life changed for me at that moment. Marv wanted to become a comics writer, so that’s what he did.

I wanted to be different and went into another direction.”

“Gene has an incredible photographic memory,” remarked Stan Lee from a 1995 interview. “He also has one of the most bright marketing minds I’ve ever encountered. He was the one who suggested making the KISS comic magazine-sized with bonus features so it could be racked next to People and Time. I wasn’t so sure about that at first, but we went along with it.”

Bloody Good Comic Front cover to 1977’s legendary Marvel Comics Super Special #1, the magazine-sized first KISS comic!

Cover art by Alan Weiss and Gray Morrow.

TM Kiss Catalog, Ltd. © Kiss Comics, Ltd.

36 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

by

R o b e r t V. C o n t e

MARVEL COMICS SUPER SPECIAL #1: KISS (1977)

A magical case containing an enchanted talisman transforms four teenagers into KISS who, with help from Marvel heroes including the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Dr. Strange, combat Dr. Doom to thwart his evil intentions!

To meet a quick publication date, each chapter of writer Steve Gerber’s story was assigned to different artists including Alan Weiss, Allen Milgrom, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, and Rich Buckler.

With the headline “The Sight of Blood,” Marvel Comics Super Special #1 was offered as a mail-order item inside KISS’s Platinum-selling Love Gun album. Another unprecedented gimmick propelled sales: each band member added drops of their own blood into the red ink of the first printing!

Original KISS drummer Peter Criss (www.petercriss.net) has interesting recollections about the first official KISS comic, which he shares with BACK ISSUE readers: “Even though I wasn’t into Marvel Comics as a boy— I was more into [Warren Magazines’] Creepy and Eerie—it was an honor to meet Stan Lee. Such a great talent.

“I thought putting my blood in a magazine was crazy,” Criss recalls. “The guy who put the needle in me screwed up and my blood was all over the place!”

Jim Salicrup adds, “In those days, it was unheard of to sell magazines direct to customers for full cover price and not risk having unsold copies returned.

Marvel was unprepared for this and quickly reprinted it without the band’s DNA in the ink. This was before later printings were identified in the indicia, so you can’t tell which is which.”

Reportedly, Marvel was initially involved in the film, but its participation was not to be. The movie had been a disaster on multiple levels.

This, however, did not prevent a second KISS comic-book story from being published, in Marvel Super Special #5 (Sept. 1978). [Editor’s note: This full-color Marvel comic magazine’s first four issues were titled Marvel Comics Super Special, but with issue #5 the “Comics” was dropped from the title.] Written by Ralph Macchio and Alan Weiss, the script pits the band against the evil sorcerer Khalis-Wu in the land of Khyscz. It was illustrated by John Romita, Jr. and Tony DeZuniga.

As the Superheroes of Rock ’n’ Roll seem immortal, the same could not be said of their comic-book counterparts. Sales of the second special were good but paled in comparison to the previous effort. Readers expressed disappointment that KISS was taken out of the Marvel Universe and wanted them to return.

By several accounts, initial negotiations began for KISS to return for a third Marvel comic book, but

First KISS (right) KISS is trapped in a world they never made on the cliffhanger last page of Howard the Duck #12 (May 1977).

By Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, and Steve Leialoha. (left) The first Marvel Special’s title page.

Howard the Duck TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. KISS TM Kiss Catalog, Ltd.

MARVEL SUPER SPECIAL #5: KISS (1978)

By the end of 1977, KISS was not only the biggest band in the world, they became the biggest comic-book stars around. The concept of “real-life superheroes” was relatively new and the idea to make a KISS made-fortelevision film, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, had already been green lit by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37

®

Adams Unplugged Man, to think that we missed out on a third Marvel KISS comic—drawn by the amazing Neal Adams! Here’s a glimpse at what might’ve been.

(Visit the Neal Adams Gallery in New York City: nealadams.com/theneal-adams-gallery/.)

Art © 2017 Neal Adams.

KISS TM Kiss Catalog, Ltd.

44 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

Alice Cooper is a comic-book character with a long pedigree.

She came to prominence in the Silver Age as the only adult who would allow the rock band the Archies to practice in her home. Even today, she appears as a major character on the primetime television drama Riverdale.

Of course, we are speaking of Alice Cooper, mother of Betty Cooper, in Archie comics. But readers are probably more interested in rock star Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier, whose music career stretches back to the late 1960s and is still going strong today.

Cooper has also enjoyed a sporadic life as a comic-book hero. He was first graced with a one-off story published

by Marvel in 1979. This was followed in 1994 by a deluxe, three-issue miniseries, penned by Neil Gaiman and published by Marvel’s short-lived Marvel Music imprint (since reprinted by other publishers). In recent years, Cooper’s adventures have been told by Dynamite Entertainment, including a crossover with such Chaos! characters as Evil Ernie, Chastity, and Purgatori. Here, we shall address Cooper’s groundbreaking initial foray into a four-color universe.

ORIGINS

Ed Hannigan, who provided the comic’s script, gives some insight into the project’s origin: “Some of us around the office, particularly Dave [David Anthony] Kraft (DAK), Jim Salicrup, and I, were the other alice cooper very interested in doing some kind of rock comics. We were all Alice fans. © Archie Comic I had a Time magazine cover on my Publications, Inc. wall with President Gerald Ford’s picture on it that I had drawn Alice Cooper makeup on. It got lots of remarks. This led to talk about doing some kind of Alice project.

“At some point Paul McCartney had gotten in touch with Marvel asking about doing a project. I remember some of the powers-that-be were cold about the idea, thinking Paul and the Beatles were passé. This was just before [Wings’] Venus and Mars came out, which became a monster hit, with references to Magneto and the Titanium Man, so obviously Paul was not passé.

“DAK, Jim, and I were not happy that the thing went nowhere. David Bowie was also interested in Marvel.

I remember his wife at the time, Angela, came into the office with their son, Zowie.

“My recollections might not be totally accurate, but I think Dave and Jim somehow got Stan to do an adaptation of the Sgt. Pepper movie that was coming out then, and I think that got the idea of doing rock comics going.

“The KISS comic came out of that, and so did the Alice Cooper comic. Jim asked me to write it and I jumped at the chance.”

Jim Salicrup, credited as one of the tale’s three plotters (alongside Roger Stern and Cooper himself), reiterates

Welcome to His Nightmare Alice Cooper’s comic debut, Marvel Premiere #50 (Oct. 1979).

Cover by Tom Sutton and Terry Austin. © Alice Cooper. Comic © 1979 Marvel Comics.

58 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

by

Jack Abramowitz

Hannigan’s fondness for Cooper’s music in his retelling of the comic’s genesis: “It probably started because Ed Hannigan liked Alice Cooper, and I remember he had some kind of Alice Cooper poster hung by his drawing table in the Marvel Bullpen. Ed knew a lot about so many things that this was just one more thing I discovered because of Mr. Hannigan. Once I got into Alice Cooper, I was sold! I loved everything about Alice and I still do!

I couldn’t get enough of Alice Cooper! At one point during the Alice Cooper band’s huge success, Marvel was contacted about becoming involved with creating an Alice Cooper comic that would’ve come packed in with his next record album. I thought that was sheer genius and would’ve loved to work on that, but I wasn’t in a position at that time at Marvel to help make it happen, and like a few other projects like that, it unfortunately fell through the cracks.

“Later on, after the original band had broken up, Alice’s PR people contacted Marvel again because some kind of snake-inspired villain was appearing in the syndicated Spider-Man comic strip. It wasn’t the Cobra but a new villain Stan created for the newspaper comic strip. They were hoping that Stan would work in a mention of Alice Cooper into one of Spidey’s clever one-liners, but when I got wind of this, I saw this as my chance to finally put together an Alice Cooper comic. I was assistant editor to Roger Stern then, and Roger was getting ready to leave staff and become a full-time writer. So I was getting ready to move up and become a full editor, taking over Roger’s titles, which included Marvel Premiere, a title designed to try out new characters and concepts.

“David Anthony Kraft, Ed Hannigan, and I had been talking about doing comics like this for some time—to bring in new audiences to the world of comics. In fact, it was David Anthony Kraft and I who convinced Steve Gerber to actually do the KISS comics. Stan Lee had mentioned the idea to Steve, who didn’t know much about KISS, and wasn’t all that interested in doing it. But when he casually mentioned ‘the crazy idea’ Stan mentioned to him at a dinner at the Carnegie Deli to David Kraft and me, we insisted that he go for it! I saw Alice It cost no more than any other issue ed hannigan Cooper again recently at a horror of Marvel Premiere, as the Alice Cooper convention. He said he had just run © fumnov / Marvel.wikia.com. people were looking at this as promotion into Stan Lee the weekend before at for the album and not as a licensed a comic-book convention, and Stan told him how he project designed to generate royalties. In fact, all they remembered being there when Gene Simmons put a wanted was copies of the comic to sell through the drop of his blood into the red ink at the printers for the Alice Cooper fan club.”

Unlike the KISS specials, which were played as fairly KISS comic. Alice said he told Stan Marvel should’ve used the rest of their blood to print the Alice Cooper comic!” straightforward superhero tales, the Alice Cooper comic was presented in a more humorous vein. According to ADAPTING THE ALBUM Hannigan, such an approach just “seemed like a natural.

While Alice Cooper and KISS are thematically similar in The album (From the Inside) was kind of a horror parody a number of ways, the manner in which Marvel chose to thing, kind of a parody of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s present their adventures varied widely, not the smallest Nest. I think taking those characters seriously would have of which was format. KISS starred in two magazine-sized been a mistake. It’s not high drama.”

“The comic was an adaptation of Alice’s comeback issues of Marvel [Comics] Super Special, complete with special features about the band, while Alice headlined a album, From the Inside, which Alice wrote with Bernie regular comic-sized issue of Marvel Premiere—impressive, Taupin,” details Salicrup. I think the only way to have but certainly more modest. Why did Marvel opt for such adapted that album in a Comics Code-approved comic was to do it humorously, which is not to say there isn’t different approaches?

“Alice had been away for some time at that point, a lot of humor in the album. But just look at the songs and KISS had sort of stepped into the void that Alice’s on the album. I know if we tried to do a straight version of, absence had created,” Salicrup explains. KISS was super- say ‘Cold Ethel,’ it would’ve been impossible. It’s about hot when their comic came out, whereas Alice had making love to a corpse!”

Salicrup provides another reason for the comic’s almost faded away. I managed to put that deal together so it wasn’t as risky as doing a full-color magazine. humorous slant: “Tom Sutton was one of my favorite

Go Ask Alice Splash page to Marvel Premiere #50.

Script by Alice Cooper, Jim Salicrup, Roger Stern, and Ed Hannigan. Art

by Tom Sutton and Terry Austin. © Alice Cooper.

Comic © 1979 Marvel Comics.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

In his superb book, Comic Creators on X-Men (Titan Books, 2006), Tom DeFalco admitted that he suggested a new title to Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter: “If X-Men was our biggest seller, why not do a second X-Men book?”

Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont and editor Louise Jones [Simonson] declared that a) if there was going to be a second X-Men book, they were going to do it, and b) it would focus on the school. Thus was born The New Mutants.

Debuting in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (Jan. 1982), and continuing in New Mutants #1 (Mar. 1983), the next generation of mutants solidified their corner of the Marvel Universe. Claremont told DeFalco: “We could be more idiosyncratic. We could do stories about kids without putting them in the high level of jeopardy that we used in X-Men. We felt we could go in different directions with New Mutants, try different things.”

THE COSMIC CANNONBALL CAPER

In New Mutants Annual #1 (1984), the kids attend a rock concert by Lila Cheney. During the sound-check, Lila is almost crushed by a sabotaged speaker tower—saved only by the quick-thinking and speed of Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball. A second attempt on Lila’s life—during the concert itself—precipitates Sam and Lila’s disappearance.

For not only is Lila the hottest gig around, she’s also a mutant teleporter. And not just short-range teleportation powers like other familiar X-characters, but Lila can teleport interstellar distances. (Technically, she can only teleport interstellar distances, and only to places she’s visited before, but the rules are frequently bent.)

Sam finds himself with Lila on a Dyson Sphere light-years from Earth. She is grateful— very grateful—to Sam for saving her life.

However, we soon discover that Lila is an interstellar thief, currently involved in a shady deal to sell the entire Earth to alien Vrakanín slavers. Fortunately the rest of the team (via Warlock) are able to follow our protagonists, free the captured Sam and Lila (who had been double-crossed), defeat the Vrakanín, and stop an alien stargate from exploding. Lila subsequently bob mcleod teleported everyone home, promised © Luigi Novi / not to try stealing the planet again, and reaffirmed her attraction to Sam. Wikimedia Commons.

Bob McLeod, New Mutants co-creator and artist on their graphic novel and the first four issues of their ongoing book, returned for this story, set between issues #21 and 22: “I have to thank my editor, Louise Simonson, for offering me that job,” McLeod tells BI. “She just called and asked if I’d like to do it, and I was very excited to get another shot at penciling and inking them. I wasn’t fast enough to pencil and ink the monthly comic, which is one of the reasons I left the series, so I really enjoyed doing the Annual.”

McLeod penciled, inked, and lettered the story. “I always prefer inking my own pencils whenever possible,” he

Debut Gig Lila Cheney first took the Marvel stage in New Mutants Annual #1 (1984).

Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

66 • BACK ISSUE • Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue

by

Jarrod Buttery

by

Stephan Friedt

Real-life in comic books… you wouldn’t think the two things went together… but theyy havee for decades.

Classic and long-running comic strips like Reex Morgan, M.D. (created in 1948) and Judgee Parkerr (creat reated in n 1952) still attract readers today withoutt the use of capes, spandex, or superpowers. Within n the pages g of comic books reality is less common, on, but ut single g isssuess depicting the biography of a famous ous person p n or event were once staples. DC’s Real Fact Com mics raan fo or 21 1 issues from 1946–1949, presenting “True ue stories from the drama of life!”

There have also been decades of stories of kkids and young adults putting together bands, ands, mostly in the h movies, including the Busby Berkeley-directed rkele ey d ected Strike Up ey-directed the Band (1940) with Mickey Rooney Ro oone and d Judy Garland, the John Landis-directed The Blues ues B Br o t h e r s (1980) with John Belushi and Dan Aykro oyd, the Alan Park oyd e r - d i r e c t e d The Commitments ( 1 9 9 1 ) , and t he T To om Hanks-directed That Thing You Do! (1996 6)… and many more in between.

Put “real life” comic-book storytelling telling and d “kids in a band” together and you have Marvel Comics’ Steeltown wn Rockers, a six-issue miniseries from 1990.

The idea for the series came from m LLarr y Hama.

Larr y has worked in comics since ce the e mid-1960s, with his first published work in The Castle of Frankenstein IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, magazine. He’s worked in the undergrounds ergrounds u and as an CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS. assistant to Wally Wood on Sallyy Forth h and d Cannon C ISSUE IN PRINT Continuity OR DIGITAL FORMAT! Larr y was part of Neal Adams’ Contin nuity Studios, Sttudios, where he co-created Bucky O’Hare. He’s been een an editorr,, a writerr,, and an artist for Marvel Comic Comics cs on a variety of series, but is most well known for his work on the licensed series G.I. Joe, where he e garnered nered a strong following including an abundance of female readers thanks to his strong female characters. ers. Hama also spent time as an editor at DC Comics and nd worked ed for Atlas/ Seaboard and several other independent pendent nt companies.

His work with longtime friend Ralph h Rees Reese se was as featured in many issues of National Lampoon. Larrry also spent ent a couple of years as an actor on stage ge and nd screen, with appearances in the TV series M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live . Beginning in 2012, he released ased his first novel, the three-part vampire series The Stranger St .

At this writing, Hama is working with filmmaker M Markk BACK ISSUE #101 Cheng on the original Ghost Flash S Gordon Sour rce cee Z Zero . J. JONES interROCK ’N’film ROLL COMICS! star SAM view, KISS in comics, Marvel’s ALICE Rex’s MARC writCOOPER, ter,, an nT. actress, Elaine Lee is an award-winning BOLAN interviews STAN LEE, PAUL McCARTNEY, Charlton’s Para playwright, andtridge a producer .

She he received a Daytime Family, David Cassidy, and Bobby Sherman comics, Marvel’s Emmy nominationSteeltown for her performance mance Mildredband Trum Rockers, Monkees comics,as & Comic-Con Seduction of the Innocent.

ALLAN COLLINS,work JACK KIRBY, BILL ble in NBC’s The Doctors. With HerMAX well-known with MUMY, ALAN WEISS, and others!

Michael Wm. Kaluta, Starstruck, was an n off-Broadway (84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 re$3.95 b play that she wrote and acted(Digital in before it became a Edition) comic-book serieshttp://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1342 and series of graphic novels. s. Elaine was a writer and co-producer for the e AudioComics oComics Company anyy, which specializes in audio-book a adaptations of comic books and other original works. orks. She’s worked orked in

Rock This T Town own The band’s first gig on the com comic-book ic-book stage, Steeltown Rockers #1 (Aprr.. 1990) 1990).

Cover art by Steve Leialoha. oha a a.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Rock ’n’ Roll Comics Issue • BACK ISSUE • 71