Back Issue #104 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond! ™

June 2018

No.104 $8.95

FOURTH WORLD AFTER KIRBY J ack K i rb y ’ s Ne w Go ds in Comic s and M e d ia

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An all-star lineup, including the work of: Byrne • Cullins • Englehart • Evanier Golden • Hoberg • Mignola • Rude • Simonson • Starlin • Timm & more!

Volume 1, Number 104 June 2018 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Steve Rude (Variant cover originally produced for DC Comics’ Covergence #5. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.) COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Karen Berger Jerry Boyd Alan Burnett Marc Buxton John Byrne Gerry Conway Paris Cullins DC Comics J. M. DeMatteis Steve Englehart Mark Evanier Funky Flashman Grand Comics Database Larry Hama Tim Hauser Ben Herman Heritage Comics Auctions Rick Hoberg Dan Johnson Dan Jurgens

Karl Kesel Paul Kupperberg James Heath Lantz Paul Levitz Brian Martin Mike Mignola John Morrow Tom Peyer Joe Phillips Rachel Pollack Mark Reznicek Steve Rude Walter Simonson Jim Starlin Roy Thomas Bruce Timm James Tucker Rick Veitch

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 FLASHBACK: The Post–Kirby New Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 An exhaustive examination of the never-ending efforts to reboot the Fourth World BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Darkseid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 A look inside the mind of the Tyrant of Apokolips THE TOY BOX: Jack Kirby, Super Powers Toy Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 The King’s designs for a Mister Miracle figure and an unproduced Darkseid playset FLASHBACK: Miracle Master: The Post–Kirby Mister Miracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Why can’t the World’s Greatest Escape Artist escape cancellation? FLASHBACK: The Forever People Miniseries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Kirby’s super-hippies become super-yuppies in this DeMatteis/Cullins/Kesel mini ART GALLERY: Forever Your Girl: Beautiful Dreamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 A superstar-powered lineup of sketches of the Forever People’s fetching flower child BACKSTAGE PASS: The Animated New Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 The Fourth World, as seen on TV and in direct-to-video cartoons GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The New Gods Animated Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 The story of the full-length animated epic intended for the big screen BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 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: $76 Standard US, $125 International, $32 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Steve Rude. Superman, Jimmy Olsen, the New Gods, and related characters TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2018 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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“The great one is coming! The Boom Tube! So powerful in concept it’s almost terrifying!”

Brian Martin

Those words appeared in full-page ads in DC comic books dated August 1970. They were trumpeting the arrival of “the King.” Jack Kirby was coming to DC and bringing with him a number of concepts he had been holding back during his final days at Marvel. The triumvirate of books that Kirby initiated, The Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle, combined ® with him taking over the already-existing Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, introduced a staggering number of concepts that have since become universally known as Kirby’s Fourth World. The problem was, according to most sources, the books didn’t sell phenomenally. And books that don’t sell get canceled. [Editor’s note: After strong initial sales, Kirby’s titles commanded mid-range sales, but not the huge numbers that were expected due to the King’s Marvel profile.] Despite that, pretty much all of the characters, situations, and core concepts introduced in those books have been fixtures in the DC Universe ever since, and along with the original Kirby issues are viewed with almost universal reverence. So when everyone loves the creations, it makes sense that people will use them and even try to revive them in standalone books. Again, though, it is pretty much the common belief that while a few have come close, no one has handled them as well as their creator. Maybe the concepts are just too big, too… “Kirby” for anyone else to get a grip on. Of course, that doesn’t mean that over the years a lot of people haven’t tried!

THE LAST FIRST ISSUE

1st Issue Special was the brainchild of Carmine Infantino during his tenure as publisher of DC. The series was given the BACK ISSUE treatment in issue #71 in which Gerry Conway, who edited some of the series, explained its premise. gerry conway “Carmine came up with this rather brilliant notion that first issues sell better than subsequent issues, so why not put out a magazine that’s entirely first issues?” Though the concept did not fly in the ’70s, you have to wonder how it would have done in later years when first issues and appearances became all the rage. With the 13th and final issue of that series (Apr. 1976), it was decided to try and revive the Kirby concept of the New Gods, but the impetus for that decision may have come from a very unlikely source. None other than Roy Thomas reveals, “Sometime soon after Kirby left DC entirely, Gerry Conway, then back at DC, said Carmine would love to meet with me. So the three of us got together briefly at DC. We talked about a lot of things, including Carmine’s desire to see me come over to DC, which I wasn’t ready to do just yet. Just to see if I could influence Carmine to do something, I told him that one

Kirby Kontinued 1st Issue Special #13 (Apr. 1976), featuring “The Return of the New Gods.” Cover by Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

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Fourth World Revival (top) The New Gods, back in print. A Kirby-conjuring, bombastic Al Milgrom cover graced issue #12 (July 1977). (bottom) Return of the New Gods’ versatile penciler Don Newton (who was profiled way back in BACK ISSUE #19) was adept at both the tranquility of New Genesis (left) and the cosmic chaos of intergalactic warfare (right). Page 3 of New Gods #14 (Oct. 1977), inked by Dan Adkins, and page 4 of issue #16 (Feb. 1978), inked by Joe Rubinstein. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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good thing about Kirby leaving was that now he was free to being back New Gods, etc., with a different writer/approach. Carmine sparked to the idea, and soon afterward the revival was published.” Gerry Conway received the writing assignment for the issue with dialogue help from Denny O’Neil and art by Mike Vosburg. The story attempts to follow Kirby’s final issue, referencing events from it several times while also mentioning a truce that is surely intended to explain what the characters had been, or rather, had not been doing since the original series was canceled. Most readers were probably a little shocked, though, as the characters seem to take a definite turn towards being portrayed as superheroes more than gods. There is no better indication of this than early in the issue when a pack of Parademons attack New Genesis and Highfather calls on Metron to create a Boom Tube to dispose of them. Later, the duo engages in some plotting together, certainly not things the scholarly character would have done under Kirby. From there the story moves on to Orion tracking Darkseid. He first travels to Earth, where he battles Kalibak and Granny Goodness, then to Apokolips and a confrontation with Darkseid, which ends in a stalemate. Though it took a while, a later letters page did mention that the issue of FIS did “prompt” the full revival that followed.

Rachel Pollack herself scribes the story in Showcase ’96 #5, which features Highfather’s daughter Atinai, a character Pollack introduced during her New Gods tenure. The story takes place in the distant past and touches on themes Pollack would echo in the main book. A series connected to the gods also ran during the same time period. Takion was the creation of Paul Kupperberg and Aaron Lopresti and ran for seven issues in his own title, beginning with a June 1996-dated issue. Created by Highfather from a blind Earthman, Takion was a Source elemental and is supposed to have been created to help clean the taint from the Source, though he is later revealed to be After the events that ended issue paul kupperberg created more as an avatar for Highfather. #11, Byrne begins with basically a clean © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. At the same time his series ended, John slate as Metron is the featured character, Byrne began to use him in New Gods, a series Kupperberg and he initially has no memory! Byrne had a track record of edited. Kupperberg himself states, “I was happy John instituting a “Back to basics” approach when he took over wanted to use him and if I thought there was a problem with a book, having done so when he assumed the reins of how he handled the character I would have spoken up.” Fantastic Four and Superman. His thinking in that area is taken to another level here. He stated in TJKC #12 that “since BYRNEIN’ FOR YOU Kirby’s last issue of the first series was #11, and my first issue As mentioned, with issue #12 (Nov. 1996) of the New will be #12, I cannot quite resist approaching it more or less Gods title, John Byrne, with the assistance of inker Bob from the direction that mine is the ‘next issue’ after Kirby’s Wiacek, takes over, with Walt Simonson installed as last.” Rachel Pollack’s feeling on that idea is, “At that time cover artist. Byrne had previous experience with the in comics there was an approach that new writers would characters as the penciler of the Legends miniseries and sweep away what came before them and make their mark writer/penciler of parts of the Superman titles’ Legends on a series by starting fresh (or going back to an original crossover. During that same stretch he featured Big version). I don’t know that that was Byrne’s idea since we Barda and Mister Miracle in two issues of Action Comics did not communicate, but that was the sense I had.” and, collaborating with George Pérez, utilized Darkseid The amnesiac Metron is discovered in an alley on Earth as the villain in the lead story in issue #600 of that title. by a young boy, and accompanies him to a friend’s. Closer to his takeover of New Gods, Byrne produced Metron jury-rigs the kid’s computer so that he can play the 1995 DC/Marvel crossover Darkseid vs. Galactus: back the data-core in his suit. The pictures projected show The Hunger, and had the leader of Apokolips menace Metron himself dragging Apokolips towards New Genesis Wonder Woman when he began his run on her title. and thus out of its shadow, purportedly to reverse the

“Wall of Souls” (right) José Luís García-López illustrated Walter Simonson’s New Gods tale in Showcase ’94 #1 (Jan. 1994). (left) Takion #1 (June 1996). Cover by Aaron Lopresti and Gary Martin. TM & © DC Comics.

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john byrne Corey Bond / Wikimedia Commons.

Enter John Byrne (left) The superstar writer/penciler, inked by Bob Wiacek, took over the series with New Gods #12 (Nov. 1996). (right) Walter Simonson provided covers for the series. Shown here is #13’s cover. TM & © DC Comics.

roles of the two worlds. Disaster ensues as the two worlds crash together. Byrne may have been paying homage to Kirby’s last work on his characters as The Hunger Dogs graphic novel ended with Metron towing a planet. Metron meets up with Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Takion, who corroborate his tale that something is wrong with New Genesis and Apokolips, but we are made to feel that the scene Metron relived may not have been real. Meanwhile, Orion crashes to Earth in front of the group of humans he teamed up with in the early Kirby issues, while Lightray and the Forever People reappear on Earth in a different locale. As Orion is cared for on Earth, Desaad arrives and wants answers as to what has happened to his home world. Orion revives and confronts him, causing Desaad’s weapon to send them both into the Source. The various groups eventually travel to the Source Wall to discover the truth behind what is happening. Arriving there, they find Highfather and Darkseid both imprisoned in the Wall, but they meet up with avatars of the pair who explain that in reality, they never entered the Source at all, they just became trapped on the Wall with a number of other denizens of their respective worlds. It seems this is all part of a very long-range plan of Highfather’s. Darkseid’s avatar tries to employ the Forever People’s Mother Box, but instead all of the characters are swept into a whirlpool of energy. We are given a long view of the supposedly destroyed planets, showing that they have actually merged into one, with one half being New Genesis, the other half, Apokolips. This scene ends issue #15, and this run of New Gods as well. Thankfully, although the title ends there, it was not another instance of the series leaving everyone hanging. In this case there was merely a title change, and another first issue. Rechristened Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, the book would carry on as if there was no break between issues, starting with JKFW #1 (Mar. 1997). Walt Simonson even retained his position as cover artist. Why the change in name? On his Byrne Robotics site John commented, “DC had realized the current state of the industry and fandom was such that they could no longer feasibly publish the Fourth World books as separate entities. So we put all the eggs in one basket and launched the new series with a new title.” Along with New Gods, DC also folded the Mister Miracle and Takion titles into JKFW.

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BREAKING THE FOURTH WORLD WALL

To begin the new book, now written and illustrated solely by Byrne, the creator finally answered an age-old question that had probably vexed readers of these characters since the very beginning: Why the heck is this stuff called the Fourth World anyway? The Source was the First World. Inside of it developed the world of the Old Gods. This was the Second World. These gods were destroyed in a monumental battle. The energy created from their destruction spread to Earth and was catalyst for the creation of the pantheon of Greek gods, the Third World. The remains of the Second World reformed as New Genesis and Apokolips, the Fourth World. After that lesson in nomenclature and the requisite summation of the history of the conflict between the two worlds, Byrne continues where he left off with his revision of past tales. Those revisions did have a foundation the creator had thought through. “Too many writers and artists over the years have tried to put their own spins on Kirby characters and ideas,” Byrne stated on Byrne Robotics. “What Kirby created was usually so simple, so PRIMAL, that messing with it just, well, messes with it.” It seems the tainting of the Source in the previous series was merely a lie perpetrated by Highfather to combat a longstanding scheme of Darkseid’s. As well, he had removed Metron’s memory and moved all those gods to the Source Wall while he combined the two worlds solely to distract Darkseid from that scheme, the details of which will unfold as this series progresses and form the foundation of pretty much all of Byrne’s run. To facilitate his plan, for years uncounted, Darkseid has been killing gods throughout the universe and stealing their power. Only the gods of Asgard have escaped his wrath to this point as he considers them too close to the Old Gods for comfort. The association of the Old Gods to the Asgardians does seem to permeate a number of creators’ work on the series. Remember Paris Cullins’

“People of Earth, I am Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips! Here is your savior, bound and broken! I have crushed him as easily as I have crushed all who have dared to oppose me throughout the cosmos. I am power unlike any you have known: absolute, infinite, and unrelenting! You have no choice but to prepare for a long, dark future as my subjects… and my slaves.” – Darkseid, from the Superman: The Animated Series episode “Apokolips… Now!” Few beings in comic-book fiction can be called pure evil. Yet, Darkseid, tyrannical ruler of Apokolips, can be described in such a way. In addition to striking fear into the hearts of his subjects and using his powerful Omega Beams, Darkseid’s need for universal domination and his obsessive quest for the Anti-Life Equation make one wonder if he wants to destroy all that exists in his efforts to control it. BACK ISSUE will look at ol’ Stone Face’s post–Kirby history in the Bronze Age of Comics while, at the same time, look inside the character to see what makes him such a diabolical villain.

APOKOLIPTIC HISTORY

James Heath Lantz

When looking at the mind of DC Comics’ most malevolent despot, one needs to also look at his history. It’s been said that Darkseid’s look was based on actor Jack Palance, who had played his share of baddies in television and cinema, including Gotham City’s mob boss Carl Grissom in Tim Burton’s 1989 blockbuster Batman. [Editor’s note: As reported in BACK ISSUE #6, artist Gene Colan also drew inspiration from Jack Palance with his original illustration of the bloodsucking protagonist of Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula.] However, the King of Comics modeled the Fourth World villain’s character after the most evil dictator of the 20th Century, Adolf Hitler, whose atrocious acts of genocide still have an impact on humanity today. Jerry Boyd’s “Fascism in the Fourth World” in The Jack Kirby Collector #22 examined Kirby’s interpretation of Adolf in Darkseid in detail. “Hitler is mirrored somewhat in Darkseid,” Boyd wrote. “In writings on and recollections of the Fuehrer, his desire for war is apparent. In his book Mein Kampf, the young Hitler expresses his desire for a large Germanic living space—Lebensraum—which would take place not in

The Omega Man The diabolical Lord of Apokolips, as rendered by Chris Burnham for the cover of the 2017 Darkseid Special #1, part of DC Comics’ Kirby 100 celebration. TM & © DC Comics.

Four th World After Kirby Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

colonial possessions overseas, but in Europe. What if the Europeans (the present possessors) object? ‘Then the law of self-preservation goes into effect; and what is refused to amicable methods, it is up to the fist to take.’ He went on to write, ‘Mankind has grown great in eternal struggle, and only in eternal peace does it perish…’ “Darkseid is the archenemy of peace,” Boyd continued. “ ‘Wielder of holocaust! Disciple of power and death!,’ Orion describes [Darkseid] as he stands before the demon’s statue in New Gods #1.” Adolf Hitler was not the only inspiration for Darkseid, as TwoMorrows publisher and Jack Kirby Collector editor John Morrow tells BACK ISSUE. “As for his [Darkseid’s] creation, this would’ve been the late 1960s, while Kirby was still at Marvel Comics, before he jumped ship to DC, Mark Evanier is on record saying Jack was channeling Richard Nixon when writing Darkseid’s dialogue. Kirby hated Nixon.” Evanier also stated that Jack Kirby would “cast” his characters, meaning he’d model or base aspects of their looks or personality on someone he saw or knew. He wrote in his text piece in DC’s Darkseid Special #1 (2017) that Jack Kirby didn’t model Darkseid on Jack Palance: “All Kirby took from the man [Jack Palance] was a certain manner in his speech and a certain swagger in his facial expressions… john morrow and those were just points of personal reference for Kirby. I defy you to find any trace of one Jack in the work of the other.” Another way to understand the mind of Darkseid is to look into his philosophy. This is something Jack Kirby delves into in New Gods #7’s “The Pact” from 1971 and much later, in the year 2000, Walter Simonson looks at this in his Orion series. However, Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala also explored this in Swamp Thing vol. 2 #62 (July 1987) after the title character saved Metron. A four-page conversation between Metron and Darkseid takes place afterwards. The High Lord of Apokolips states that he needs knowledge to solve the Anti-Life Equation, and that there will be no room whatsoever for intellectuals in the universe when he solves it. The reason Veitch decided to discuss Darkseid’s ideology becomes clear in what he informs BACK ISSUE: “My own goal in bringing the Darkseid character into Swamp Thing was to return him to his original nefarious and complex glory after years of being a generic Super Friends villain.” One can also see similarities in Darkseid’s origins in biblical tales and Greek tragedies and myths. King Yuga Khan and Queen Heggra of the planet Apokolips had two sons—Uxas and Drax. Uxas was second in line for Apokolips’ throne. However, the ambitious prince follows Drax to the Infinity Pit, kills him, and takes the Omega Force, a birthright intended for his brother, who later becomes the Infinity Man. Uxas is transformed into a being with gray rock skin, taking the new name of Darkseid after one of the most

Dark Sides (top) Adolf Hitler and Richard M. Nixon imprinted Kirby’s Darkseid. (bottom) Writer/ penciler Rick Veitch’s interpretation of Darkseid, from Swamp Thing #62 (July 1987). Inks by Alfredo Alcala. Original art courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions (www.ha.com). Hitler photo credit Heinrich Hoffman / Wikimedia Commons. Nixon photo credit US Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Darkseid and Metron TM & © DC Comics.

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New Printing Of Back Issue #61 At Magazine Size! If you missed the sold-out tabloid-size BACK ISSUE #61, it’s now back in print at standard magazine size! BACK ISSUE #61: LONGBOX EDITION features “Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s, and a checklist of reprint treasury editions. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $4.95 NOW SHIPPING!

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After Kenner’s initial wave of Super Powers action figures, which were released in 1984, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World began to propel the narrative of this DC Comics superhero toy line. Thanks to DC top executives Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz, Kirby was brought in to adapt many of his characters for toy exploitation. As our own fearless leader John Morrow tells BACK ISSUE, the Mister Miracle illustration below was part of “the ‘redesign’ of the Fourth World characters for Super Powers, spearheaded by Levitz and Kahn, to work around the rules so Kirby could have some royalties from the characters’ (re-)use in toys and comics. There’s a whole series of these: Darkseid, Orion, Kalibak, Mantis, Heggra, Desaad, etc.” (George Pérez received a similar Super Powers deal for Cyborg.) Not all of the aforementioned Fourth Worlders made it to the toy racks, but many did: Darkseid, Desaad, Kalibak, Mantis, Parademon, and Steppenwolf in Series Two (What? No Granny Goodness?), and Mister Miracle and Orion in Series Three. Kenner also produced the Fourth World-inspired accessories the Darkseid Destroyer and the Kalibak Boulder Bomber… …but if Jack had gotten his way, the whopper of a Darkseid-themed playset shown on the opposite page would have been available at a toy store near you. The Darkseid Bunker Silo went unproduced, but Kirby’s designs show that the King’s unbridled imagination was not limited solely to the comic-book page. Jack Kirby original art scans courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Special thanks to John Morrow and Mark Evanier.

Michael Eury

Mister Miracle TM & © DC Comics.

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NEW FOR 2018! JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST: CENTENNIAL EDITION

This final, fully-updated, definitive edition clocks in at DOUBLE the length of the 2008 “Gold Edition”, in a new 256-page LTD. EDITION HARDCOVER (only 1000 copies) listing every release up to Jack’s 100th birthday! Detailed listings of all of Kirby’s published work, reprints, magazines, books, foreign editions, newspaper strips, fine art and collages, fanzines, essays, interviews, portfolios, posters, radio and TV appearances, and even Jack’s unpublished work! (256-page LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $34.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-083-0 • SHIPS APRIL 2018!

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #75)

This first-of-its-kind examination of the creators of the Marvel Universe looks back at their own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and television interviews, to paint a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s relationship—why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed. Also here are recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, JOHN ROMITA SR., and more Marvel Bullpen stalwarts who worked with both Kirby and Lee. Rounding out this book is a study of the duo’s careers after they parted ways as collaborators, including Kirby’s difficulties at Marvel Comics in the 1970s, his last hurrah with Lee on the Silver Surfer Graphic Novel, and his exhausting battle to get back his original art—and creator credit—from Marvel. STUF’ SAID gives both men their say, compares their recollections, and tackles the question, “Who really created the Marvel Comics Universe?”. (160-page trade paperback) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-086-1 • SHIPS FALL 2018!

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION

AN ORAL HISTORY OF DC COMICS CIRCA 1978

Things looked bleak for comic books throughout the 1970s because of plummeting sell-through rates. With each passing year, the newsstand became less and less interested in selling comic books. The industry seemed locked in a death spiral, but the Powers That Be at DC Comics had an idea to reverse their fortunes. In 1978, they implemented a bold initiative: Provide readers with more story pages by increasing the pricepoint of a regular comic book to make it comparable to other magazines sold on newsstands. Billed as “THE DC EXPLOSION,” this expansion saw the introduction of numerous creative new titles. But mere weeks after its launch, DC’s parent company pulled the plug, demanding a drastic decrease in the number of comic books they published, and leaving stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished. The series of massive cutbacks and cancellations quickly became known as “THE DC IMPLOSION.” TwoMorrows Publishing marks the 40th Anniversary of one of the most notorious events in comics with an exhaustive oral history from the creators and executives involved (JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and AL MILGROM, among many others), as well as detailed analysis and commentary by other top professionals, who were “just fans” in 1978 (MARK WAID, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, TOM BREVOORT, and more)—examining how it changed the landscape of comics forever! By KEITH DALLAS and JOHN WELLS. (136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.95 • SHIPS SUMMER 2018! ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: The 1990s

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: THE 1990s is a year-by-year account of the comic book industry during the Bill Clinton years. This full-color hardcover documents the comic book industry’s most significant publications, most notable creators, and most impactful trends from that decade. Written by KEITH DALLAS and JASON SACKS. (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $44.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.95 • SHIPS FALL 2018! ISBN: 978-1-60549-084-7

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THE 1990s was the decade when Marvel Comics sold 8.1 million copies of an issue of the X-MEN, saw its superstar creators form their own company, cloned SPIDER-MAN, and went bankrupt. The 1990s was when SUPERMAN died, BATMAN had his back broken, and the runaway success of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to DC Comics’ VERTIGO line of adult comic books. It was the decade of gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers. But most of all, the 1990s was the decade when companies like IMAGE, VALIANT and MALIBU published million-selling comic books before the industry experienced a shocking and rapid collapse.

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Come to the center ring, ye old gods and ye new, and behold the daring wonder of the World’s Greatest Escape Artist—the man known as Scott Free, the astonishing Mister Miracle! No trap can contain him! No prison can hold him! A hero! A showman, created by the boundless imagination of the King of Comics, Jack Kirby! Mister Miracle! A hero that can escape anything! Except for one thing—cancellation! That’s right—since Jack Kirby exited DC Comics in 1975, one year after his Mister Miracle ended with issue #18 (Feb.–Mar. 1974), DC has tried and tried again to recapture that old Kirby magic and forge Mister Miracle into a solo success. So now, let us turn our house lights to center ring, where we examine the post–Jack Kirby history of one of DC’s most fascinating and colorful characters—the great Mister Miracle!

BIG SHOES TO FILL DURING THE SECOND GREAT ESCAPE

DC must have known that any character created by “the King” could lead to great creative and financial success. After all, Marvel Comics is indeed the steve englehart House that Kirby helped build. So it stands to reason that DC tried to steveenglehart.com. squeeze more juice out of the Fourth World family of characters, and leading the way was Mister Miracle… sort of. Two months after the cancellation of Kirby’s Mister Miracle, the World’s Greatest Escape Artist teamed with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #112 (Apr.–May 1974) in a Bob Haney/Jim Aparo story that is probably best considered out of continuity—especially since it paid no heed to events in Kirby’s last MM issue. Mister Miracle also was seen in a Fourth World revival in the “Return of the New Gods” tale in 1st Issue Special #13 (Apr. 1976), which gave way to a New Gods revival (as detailed in this issue’s lead article), and shortly thereafter Haney and Aparo re-teamed Batman and Mister Miracle in B&B #128 (July 1976). DC’s Fourth World revival was now underway. The first writer to get a post–Kirby crack at a solo Mister Miracle series was scribe Steve Englehart, freshly arrived at DC. “I came to DC to do Batman and Justice League of America,” Englehart revealed via his blog at steveneglehart.com. “But Marshall Rogers and I had some free time so they revived Mister Miracle for us (continuing the numbering from where Jack Kirby had left off years before).” Which begs the question, did Englehart feel any trepidation in following in the footsteps of Jack Kirby? “Not really,” Englehart reveals to BACK ISSUE. “I’d followed him, in some sense, on Captain America, and then Avengers, and so forth. Though his Fantastic Four was directly responsible for my wanting to do comics, I wasn’t in awe of him. And in the case of the Fourth World, I’d been severely disappointed to discover what a bad writer he was. So I knew, as a professional writer, I could outdo him there.

Miraculous Comeback The World’s Greatest Escape Artist returns, in the pages of Mister Miracle #19 (Sept. 1977). Cover art by Marshall Rogers. TM & © DC Comics.

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Marc Buxton

Meanwhile, On Earth-B… The first two Batman/ Mister Miracle team-ups, written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Jim Aparo, in The Brave and the Bold #112 (Apr.–May 1974) and 128 (July 1976). TM & © DC Comics.

I guess my only trepidation was, the Fourth World was very identified with him, and I would be showing him up. But as I say, I was assigned to it by DC.” Nothing if not bold, Englehart journeyed into the Fourth World with the mission statement of taking what Kirby created and bringing it to the next level. DC was willing to let Englehart do his thing. “DC had hired me to revamp every character I could,” Englehart says. “And I’d made clear that I could only do that right if I had the same freedom I’d been given at Marvel, so they just wanted Englehart on Mister Miracle, whatever that meant.” Aiding and abetting Englehart was his frequent collaborator, the great Marshall Rogers. Englehart and Rogers would go on and do a legendary run together on Batman in Detective Comics, but the writer and artist team supreme cut their DC teeth on bringing Mister Miracle back to prominence for DC. While Kirby was brash and unrestrained, delivering mind-bending creations at the speed of thought, Englehart was meditative and took more of a contemporary sci-fi take on Mister Miracle and his extended family of allies and adversaries. Englehart recollects that “Kirby’s creativity on the non-writing side was still working great. I just had to find the essence of those guys inside the word-salad they’d been wrapped in,” and in Mister Miracle #19 (Sept. 1977), Englehart and Rogers, along with editor Denny O’Neil, began to attempt to do just that. A Rogers cover featuring an exaggeratingly huge Granny Goodness battling Mister Miracle greeted readers as Mister Miracle returned to comic racks. The issue kicks off with a splash-page reintroduction of Scott Free as Englehart informs readers that Mister Miracle is really four beings: a god, a man, a superhero, and an escape artist. The writer opens things on New Genesis with Scott Free and Barda lamenting that they cannot participate in the war between New Genesis and Apokolips. Highfather shows up to remind his son that he once willingly gave Free to Darkseid and the tortures of larry Apokolips and will not do so again. Then, the familiar “BOOM” fills the bottom panel of page three as the action begins. Dr. Bedlam, Granny Goodness, Vermin Vundabar, and Kanto all emerge from the Boom Tube and take the fight to Scott and Barda. Quickly, Mister Miracle and Oberon use Mother Box to track the evil gods to a mine in Utah (from New Genesis to Utah in just a few

pages—not bad). Granny Goodness appears as a hologram and tells Scott that if he wants to ever see Barda again, he must strip himself of Mother Box and enter the mine without his greatest weapon. This loss of Mother Box allows Englehart to address a weakness the writer perceived in the character. “Kirby’s problem, throughout the Fourth World, was he thought good ideas and good visuals were all he needed,” Englehart contends. “Thus, Mister Miracle could do almost anything and, if he bothered to explain how, it was just hand-waving. I tried to get to the reality of the escapes, and really, the reality inherent in the whole series. That was my goal in rejuvenating the book.” Mister Miracle #20 (Oct. 1977) presents a tale that sees Scott Free race to the Moon to rescue Barda. Where issue #19 is grounded in character and conflict, issue #20 starts out with that ol’ cosmic Kirby magic. As Miracle frees himself from the mine, he quickly tries to reconstruct his discarded Mother Box. Scott Free taps into Mother Box and converses with his greatest ally. Mother Box tells Scott that the power of a god was within him all along, and all of a sudden, Mister Miracle no longer needs to rely on gimmicks and gadgets as Mother Box awakens his godlike powers. Some might think that simply giving Mister Miracle superpowers strips him of what makes the character so special because with powers, Scott Free isn’t a superhero Houdini anymore, but an atypical cosmic hero. Whether one likes a superpowered Mister Miracle or not, the idea is still an interesting direction to debate. One month after Mister Miracle #20, Scott Free returns to Brave and Bold for another continuity-blind Batman team-up (in issue #138, Nov. 1977). Englehart was not the only creator bringing daring changes to the world of Mister Miracle. Marshall Rogers’ art was almost sedate when compared to Kirby’s, but his visual stylings added a level of relatable humanity to the pedal-to-the-metal Fourth World adventure. “Marshall brought the same craft he’d brought to hama the Batman,” Englehart says. “Marshall’s pencils were sort of gray overall… But in terms of working with Marshall—we were a well-honed team by then.” Issue #21 (Dec. 1977) features Larry Hama’s debut as editor as Mister Miracle’s search to cure his wife begins. Hama was a relatively new editor at DC and was assigned a range of titles. Hama tells BACK

Four th World After Kirby Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37

BWAH-HA-HA BEGINS

The classic cover to plotter Keith Giffen, scripter J. M. DeMatteis, and penciler Kevin Maguire’s Justice League #1 (May 1987) features many unexpected faces. Gone are the familiar Leaguers like Superman, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen Flash, and Hal Jordan Green Lantern. Instead, heroes like Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Blue Beetle, a newly introduced female Dr. Light, and our god of the hour Mister Miracle are front and center, along with League stalwarts Martian Manhunter and Batman. Mister Miracle isn’t the only unexpected inclusion in this new and fresh Justice League as Scott’s Free’s pal Oberon also plays a major role on the team. Even with a legend like Jack Kirby at the helm, Mister Miracle was always a tough sell to readers, but now, as a part of a genre-changing book like 1987’s profoundly humorous Justice League, the bright spotlight of success was shining on Scott Free like never before. Why was Mister Miracle, a character that had always existed on the edges of the DC Universe, now part of the company’s premiere super-team? “All those decisions were made before I came aboard,” DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE. “But my understanding is that the team was pretty much dictated by the powers-that-be. That said, I was delighted, because Kirby’s Fourth World books are among my favorite comics of all time.” Right away, Mister Miracle fit into the unique, over-the-top, sitcom–like dynamic introduced by the daring creative team. Mister Miracle served as a bridge between the more serious characters like Batman and Dr. Fate and the more tongue-and-cheek/zany heroes like Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, and the soon-to-arrive Booster Gold. Mister Miracle was able to utilize his awesome abilities to help his crew of unlikely Leaguers escape any situation, but he was also able to be just one of the boys and stand in when stooges like Beetle and Booster needed a “Shemp” for an issue or two. In the pages of the Justice League, Mister Miracle had finally found a home, and so did Oberon, who served as somewhat of a de facto strategist and babysitter to the often-wacky League. DeMatteis himself enjoyed finding a unique role for Scott Free in the League’s team dynamic: “As with all the relationships in our League, it really evolved naturally. The characters led us, we didn’t lead the characters. There’d be a bit of conversation on the page and something would spark between the characters. They would define themselves, their relationships, and, in many ways, our job was to allow those relationships to unfold on their own and stay out of the way. Sounds crazy, but it’s true.” Justice League #1 has become one of the most iconic single issues of the post–Bronze Age period, and the third and fourth new members of DC’s flagship team to step into the pages of Justice League were Mister Miracle and Oberon. Oberon tells Scott that being part of the League will “skyrocket” box office, but Mister Miracle seems reluctant, an emotion Oberon soon shares when Guy Gardner famously calls Oberon “Sneezy” and asks Miracle’s best friend where the six other dwarves are. This exchange pretty much defines the rhythms and dynamic moving forward. Mister Miracle becomes a key element of this unique team’s foundation from the opening moments of the first issue, but Oberon as part of the League may seem like a strange inclusion. Think about it: Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman aren’t part of the League, but Oberon is? Yet, it’s an inclusion that DeMatteis would not change for the world. “I always thought Oberon was a great character: smarty, feisty, heartfelt, grumpy,” DeMatteis recollects. “As noted, he was in place from the beginning—so it wasn’t my decision—but I was glad he was there. That he became such a pivotal part of the team goes to what I said earlier: the characters leading us. His chemistry with Max[well Lord], with Fire, these all happened on the page and led us forward. I can’t imagine Justice League without Oberon.” In the first year or so of Justice League, Mister Miracle basically stays in a supporting role, although outside of its pages, he appears in a Superman team-up in the John Byrne-produced Action Comics #593 (Oct. 1987), the conclusion of a controversial two-parter that started the previous issue with Big Barda. In this tale, Sleez tries to force the mind-controlled Barda and Superman into making a porn film. Back in Justice League, the more attention-grabbing, zany characters like Beetle, Booster, and Guy command the page, but Mister Miracle is a stable presence in the book. In issue #7 (Nov. 1987) of Justice League’s new direction, the book changes its title to Justice League International, and in this issue, Giffen and DeMatteis foreshadow the future direction for Mister Miracle and his extended family. Firstly, Oberon becomes the

assistant to the new owner and operator of the League Maxwell Lord. This new position allows Oberon to be front and center in many important moments of League history as he ironically begins to rub shoulders with all of DC’s power players. As for Scott Free, in issue #7, Mister Miracle contacts Big Barda, who chews out her husband for always being away on League business. This is Barda’s first appearance in the “Bwah-ha-ha era,” but it will not be her last. This new dynamic as Scott Free as the henpecked hero and Barda as the powerhouse housewife who just wants to live a normal life in the suburbs would propel the characters moving forward as Giffen and DeMatteis found a humorous direction for Miracle after the World’s Greatest Escape Artist spent the opening issues of Justice League in a supporting role. As the series progresses, Mister Miracle bounces back and forth between competent New God strategist and screwball. It may not have been synching with some of the directions and

42 • BACK ISSUE • Four th World After Kirby Issue

Jack Kirby’s Forever People made their debut in the first issue of their ongoing series, cover-dated Feb.–Mar. 1971. Five teenagers from New Genesis who journeyed to Earth to oppose the tyrannical machinations of Darkseid, the Forever People played a key role in Kirby’s ambitious Fourth World saga. Unfortunately, as with the other series Kirby had created to chronicle his modern-day myth arc, The Forever People was abruptly canceled by DC Comics, bringing the saga of the young gods to a premature end. Issue #11 (Oct.–Nov. 1972) concluded with the Forever People stranded on the mysterious paradise world of Adonn, their ally the Infinity Man seemingly destroyed in combat with Darkseid’s agent Devilance the Pursuer.

BIG CHILL-ING KIRBY

Ben Herman

Over the next several years DC would attempt to revive a number of the characters and concepts from the Fourth World with different creators. But the Forever People would remain in limbo, both figuratively and literally, for the next decade and a half. When the Forever People finally did return, it was in a six-issue miniseries (Feb.–July 1988) written by J. M. DeMatteis; penciled by Paris Cullins; inked by Karl Kesel (#1–2, 4–6), Bob Smith (#3), and Roy Richardson (inking assists on #4–6); and edited by Karen Berger. In his text piece in the first issue of the miniseries, DeMatteis revealed he had been a fan of Kirby’s original Fourth World comics, especially The Forever People: “But to my sixteen-year-old eyes, the real magic was in The Forever People. They were cosmic hippies, super-powered flowerchildren: the embodiment of youth and naïveté and idealism and dreams.” DeMatteis still feels just as passionj. m. dematteis ately about the Forever People today. As he explains to BACK ISSUE, “Kirby’s Fourth World comics are among my favorite comic books of all time. Kirby at the absolute peak of his powers. And, of all those books, The Forever People was closest to my heart. The energy, the idealism, of those characters always touched and inspired me.” How did DeMatteis come to write the 1988 revival of Forever People? “If memory serves,” recalls DeMatteis, “I approached Karen [Berger]—a superb editor and an old, dear friend—with the idea (born out of my love of the characters). She liked my proposal, got it approved, and we were off!” DeMatteis, speaking warmly of his working relationship with Berger, reveals that she allowed him a great deal of latitude: “Karen’s not the kind of editor who sits over a seasoned writer’s shoulder, questioning every decision. So I was allowed to tell the story the way I wanted to, always knowing that Karen was there to catch me if I went off a cliff, offering her wisdom and advice whenever it was needed.” The miniseries needed a penciler, and Berger reached out to an artist she had worked with recently. “My editor Karen Berger, who I dubbed ‘the burger,’ asked me if I

Forever More DC Comics house ad from late 1987, promoting the Forever People miniseries. TM & © DC Comics.

Four th World After Kirby Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

MARK BODÉ

SHAWN ATKINSON

Four th World After Kirby Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

Dan Johnson

When Jack Kirby came to DC Comics in 1970, he brought the blueprint for a saga that reshaped the landscape of Marvel’s Distinguished Competition and elevated it onto a cosmic level. The Fourth World was a sweeping masterpiece of intertwined series that brought a new mythology to the already-rich DC Universe and added to it in a way that was underappreciated at the time. Originally deemed a commercial failure, the characters that Kirby created, such as Mister Miracle, Kalibak, Orion, Desaad, Granny Goodness, Highfather, and the figure at the heart of it all, Darkseid, were eventually given their rightful place in the DC pantheon. As DC began to aggressively branch out into other mediums, especially animated shows and movies, Kirby’s creations were obvious choices for adaptation. This article explores their history in animated form, going back to where it all began on ABC in the Fall of 1984…

SUPER FRIENDS: THE LEGENDARY SUPER POWERS SHOW AND THE SUPER POWERS TEAM: GALACTIC GUARDIANS (1984–1986)

Super Friends had been a staple on Saturday mornings for over ten years when Kirby’s characters were added to the mix. The addition of Darkseid, Kalibak (both voiced by voice actor legend Frank Welker), and Desaad (voiced by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Rene Auberjonois) helped to breathe new life into the series and helped create some of the strongest episodes in the show’s final two seasons. Darkseid, along with the recently revamped versions of Lex Luthor and Brainiac, brought a real sense of danger to the previously “safe” world of Super Friends. Also, since the show was now tied in with the recently released Super Powers line of toys from Kenner, there was a push to have the program

mirror the actual comics, especially in the final season when the original Alex Toth designs for the main characters were discarded for all new ones based on the work of José Luis García-López. The Legendary Super Powers Show was made up of two stories per episode. Many of these were short mini-episodes, but Darkseid and company took centerstage for this season’s only two-parters, “The Bride of Darkseid,” which saw the lord and master of Apokolips trying to claim Wonder Woman as his own, and “Darkseid’s Golden Trap,” where Darkseid comes in possession of the most valuable item on the criminal black market: gold kryptonite, the one substance that can rob Superman of his powers. Other appearances in mini-episodes during this season saw Darkseid teaming up with Brainiac in “The Wrath of Brainiac” and Luthor in “No Honor Among Thieves.” He would return in one final episode before the season finale, “The Royal Ruse.” Galactic Guardians saw Darkseid used only four times, first in one of the mini-episodes, “The Ghost Ship”; in a pair of two-parters, “The Darkseid Deception,” where he tries to trick Wonder Woman into thinking he is Steve Trevor, and “Escape from Space City,” where he takes over an orbiting Earth colony, Star City; and the final episode produced, “The Death of Superman,” where he strikes against the Super Friends after the apparent death of the Man of Steel. Even with the action amped up, these versions of the Fourth World characters were toned down considerably from what readers were used to in the comic books. Still, even with these alterations, getting Darkseid on screen was an especially bumpy road for the show’s producers. “The Broadcast Standards group thought he looked too scary, even in an animated model, which tends to soften features,” says Alan Burnett,

64 • BACK ISSUE • Four th World After Kirby Issue

characters like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter.” While the attempt to spotlight the newer characters helped the show find its footing, avoiding past storylines and conflicts made for missed opportunities elsewhere. “This attempt resulted in what we felt were a mixed bag of episodes that often didn’t meet our high standards,” continues Tucker. “By avoiding the storylines that were set up for ten years prior, we felt we had gotten off course. By Season Two, we needed to come out the gate strongly, so going back to the New Gods and Darkseid was a no-brainer. It made sense to pick up those threads left dangling in Superman: The Animated Series, which lead to the first two-parter teaming Brainiac and Darkseid [‘Twilight’].” The Season Two opener saw Superman and the League forced to help save Apokolips from Brainiac, who has come to collect the planet’s raw data and then destroy it. At first, Superman is all for letting the planet burn until he is goaded into action by Batman. Too late—the Man of Steel learns Darkseid has already struck a deal with the living computer, and the call for help is a ploy to trap their mutual enemy. As Superman, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter take on this deadly duo, Batman and Wonder Woman travel to New Genesis and meet several of the citizens there including Highfather (voiced by Mitchell Ryan) and Orion (now voiced by Ron Perlman), along with Lightray (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Forager (voiced by Corey Burton). The story ends with a rematch between Superman and Darkseid that ends with the apparent death of Darkseid. This, viewers would later learn in Justice League Unlimited, would lead to civil war between the forces of Granny Goodness and Virmin Vundabarr and a struggle for power in the absence of Darkseid.

Fourth World Unlimited From Justice League Unlimited: (above) Darkseid, and (below) Mister Miracle and Big Barda, from the episode “The Ties That Bind.” TM & © DC Comics/Warner Bros. Television.

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Other Fourth World connections in the second season of the show were relatively minor. In the episode “The Secret Society,” a group of villains under the leadership of Gorilla Grodd frees Clayface from Morgan Edge (voiced by Brian George), who, in the pages of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, had been the original leader of Intergang. Here he plays a minor role as a collector of oddities who is quickly dispatched by Killer Frost. Kalibak would join forces with four other villains— Metallo, Toyman, Livewire, and Weather Wizard—to get revenge on Superman in the second-season episode “Hereafter,” which saw the “death” of Superman. Before the Last Son of Krypton’s return, Kalibak would face a beatdown from the Main Man, Lobo, who was seeking to take Superman’s place in the League. The conflict brewing on Apokolips was explored further in Justice League Unlimited. In the episode, “The Ties That Bind,” Mister Miracle (voiced by the live-action Mister Fantastic, Ioan Guffudd), Big Barda, and the Flash must save Kalibak, who has been captured by Vundabarr, and in the process save Oberon, who is being held hostage by Granny Goodness, who wants Kalibak for herself. The episode gave the viewers their best look yet at the Fourth World setting, and it came from the man Kirby took inspiration from for Scott Free, the great Jim Steranko. “I believe Steranko pitched an idea about Mister Miracle, but I don’t remember the details,” says Tucker. “I kind of think the resulting episode had very little to do with what was pitched, but I could be wrong. We were pitched stories often but it usually came down to Bruce, Dwayne McDuffie, either Stan Berkowitz or Matt Wayne, and myself sitting in a room hammering out the fine points of the plot then sending it to a writer pretty much figured out. We did almost all our Justice League Unlimited shows that way. I love ‘Ties That Bind,’ by the way. Virmin Vundabarr was hilariously brought to life by Arte Johnson in that one.” Throughout the first season of Justice League Unlimited, Kirby’s shadowy think tank, Project Cadmus, which premiered in the pages of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, also played a central role in the series, although there were some alterations from the concept Kirby presented in the comics. “It’s quite a bit different,” said Bruce Timm in the DVD documentary Cadmus Exposed. “The Cadmus thing in the comics wasn’t quite as political. It was more like a mad scientist think tank. We connected to this whole big, shadowy, government-conspiracy thing. When we plotted the very first episode in that arc, which was ‘Fearful Symmetry,’ we realized we had done a lot of different shadowy government conspiracies from previous episodes, especially in Superman. It expanded the scope of our show beyond just Justice League Unlimited. It expanded backwards to Superman and Batman and even forward to Batman Beyond.” The Cadmus storyline featured Lex Luthor’s efforts to further undermine the trust in Superman, and by association, the Justice League, that was laid down in “Legacy.” Indeed, Superman is shocked to find one of his oldest, but now former friends, Dr. Emil Hamilton, even working against him. The storyline ends with the League having to go head-to-head with a Luthor and Brainiac hybrid. With two of his greatest foes defeated, Superman suggests disbanding the League, and is surprised to find that there are those who would have the League continue, and for it to do so, it needs the Man of Steel. In the end, the faith that was left wavering towards Superman at the end of his own series is restored, and had the series ended here, as it was intended after an episode set in the Batman Beyond future, it would have been a fitting conclusion to the storyline that had carried over from Superman: The Animated Series.

Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? Those were the happy days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties—our childhood—and that is the era of TwoMorrows’ newest magazine, covering

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RETROFAN #1 cover-features an all-new interview with TV’s Incredible Hulk, LOU FERRIGNO, and introduces a quartet of columns by our regular celebrity columnists: MARTIN PASKO’s Pesky Perspective (this issue: The Phantom in Hollywood), ANDY MANGELS’ Retro Saturday Mornings (Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon), ERNEST FARINO’s Retro Fantasmagoria (How I Met the Wolf Man—Lon Chaney, Jr.), and The Oddball World of SCOTT SHAW (the goofy comic book Zody the Mod Rob). Also: Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy; RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC, the real-life Mayberry; an interview with BETTY LYNN, “Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show; the scarcity of Andy Griffith Show collectibles; a trip inside TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles; RetroFan’s Too Much TV Quiz; and a RetroFad shout-out to Mr. Microphone. Edited by Back Issue magazine’s MICHAEL EURY!

Home of the Superman Celebration

Michael Eury

On September 29, 2016, Comic Book Resources One might assume that Bruce Timm, the co-architect (CBR.com) posted a news item sharing illustrator of Warner Bros. Television’s animated version of the Mike Mignola’s character designs for an DC Universe, would be involved with such a unrealized New Gods animated movie… and project—especially since his love of Kirby’s over the next few days, these images Fourth World crept into episodes of swarmed the Internet faster than a Superman: The Animated Series. “I had plague of Parademons. no involvement in that particular As you’ve read elsewhere in this issue, Fourth World development,” Timm the denizens of Jack Kirby’s Fourth informs BACK ISSUE. “That was with World have populated DC Comics’ the short-lived WB Feature Animation animated and cinematic universes as division (Quest for Camelot, Iron Giant), well as its comic books, but the notion I think. The feature people were a of a standalone animated film exploring completely separate division, in a this epic saga, featuring the visual designs different building, even a different part of of Hellboy creator and Cosmic Odyssey town—us lowly TV folks had literally artist Mike Mignola, is mindboggling. no connection to them whatsoever. My Mother Box is currently mum Afraid I’m a dead end.” mike mignola Actually, Bruce, you were a very about the subject, so let’s see what we can discover without her help. Join me Photo by Christine Mignola. helpful first step—now we know this as we unravel a mystery second only to the Anti-Life wasn’t a made-for-TV or home-video movie project, Equation—the Greatest Story Never Told of the New Gods but instead an animated movie intended for animated movie… theatrical release.

Mother Box Office A Mike Mignoladesigned New Gods animated movie almost became a reality! (above) Inside the screen: detail from Cosmic Odyssey #1’s cover. Art and characters TM & © DC Comics.

Four th World After Kirby Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73

Warner Bros. Pictures started its Feature Animation division in 1994, in response to the box-office success of Disney’s The Lion King. It remained in operation until the mid-2000s, with Space Jam and Osmosis Jones among its other credits. So that gives us a ballpark date for the Fourth World animated project, which Mike Mignola himself confirms: “All I remember was that we were living in downtown Portland, [Oregon,] [when I did the designs,] so that means sometime between 1996 and 2001.” Next I turned to former DC Comics executive (and DC historian extraordinaire) Paul Levitz to ask about what he recalled about the project. According to Paul, “It was a wonderful script, by Tim Hauser, I think, and I loved Mike’s work. Definitely WB’s short-lived Feature Animation division.” That “PING!”-ing you hear is Mother Box cheerfully chirping in agreement. Animation producer, writer, and book author Tim Hauser IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, (not to be confused with the Manhattan Transfer singer of the same CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS name) was indeed heavily involved with the production, and tells BACK ISSUE IN several PRINT drafts OR DIGITAL FORMAT! ISSUE, “My recollection is that I wrote of an extended treatment for The New Gods while an in-house Producer in Development at Warner Bros. Feature Animation (back when it was a separate unit from the TV animation group). During that time there was an abandoned script started by Dan O’Bannon, followed by several drafts of a full-length script by Kirk DiMicco.” You’re no doubt wondering, What was the storyline of the animated feature? From the Mignola sketches accompanying this article, Young Darkseid and Young Scott Free are among the characters, indicating that this movie may have been a prequel to the saga that Kirby began, or would at least reveal such information in flashbacks. “I don’t know that I ever had any idea what the story was,” Mignola says. “Almost certain I never had an outline or script. I think I was just given lists of characters to do and maybe just a little explanation as to what characters were to be used for—but I had no real sense of what the big story was.” BACKplot ISSUE #104 Tim Hauser, however, is happy to share details, and FOURTH WORLDmore AFTER KIRBY! Return(s) of the Newbrings Gods, Why Miracle Escape the Forever People, the project into a clearer focus Can’t for Mister the benefit ofCancellation?, BACK ISSUE’s readers. MIKE MIGNOLA’s unrealized New Gods animated movie, “Here’s what I remember about the pitch without having read Fourth the World in Hollywood, and an all-star lineup, including the work treatment again in many years:of JOHN BYRNE, PARIS CULLINS, J. M. DeMATTEIS, MARK EVANIER, GOLDEN, RICKrival HOBERG, WALTERwith SIMON“New Genesis and Apokolips wereMICHAEL long-battling planets SON, and more. STEVE RUDE cover! extreme polar-opposite characteristics, ruled by Highfather and FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 Darkseid,” Hauser relates. “In a peace (84-page pact, (Digital the young scions of each Edition) $4.95 planet (Orion and Scott Free) were swapped, each as a hostage to the http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1354 other, and grew up not knowing who they really were. As they matured, their true natures began to emerge. Darkseid schemed to break the pact and planned to obliterate New Genesis, but when Orion and Scott meet (after initially battling) they team (along with Big Barda) to defeat his plan and discover their true identities. I don’t recall the nature of the ‘machine’ aspect of the plot, but the device that was intended to eliminate New Genesis was altered (with the help of Metron, perhaps), and instead, the two ‘half planets’ were merged into one ‘whole planet’ with a balance of darkness and light—and our heroes emerge as the new leaders for this new, hopeful world.” By the Source, Warner Bros. Feature Animation was sticking close to the source material, as envisioned by Jack “King” Kirby lo, those many decades ago. Surely, someone within the division had to be a comic-book fan. That person? Tim Hauser. “We were also trying to find ways to do a project that was stylish and theatrical quality on a relatively limited budget,” Hauser reveals. “A DC reader much of my life, in my job I was exploring the library of properties available to us at the time (not the Big Three) that I thought would make good standalone films that had the requisite visual storytelling aspects and a mythic feel and dramatic character arcs. I had worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation prior and was interested in sci-fi/superheroes as sort of modern fairy tales. Familiar with the Kirby comics from the ’70s, the story pitch was sort of a one-shot interpretation of his many ideas and characters (no wider DCU tie-ins). Of all the DC stories we pitched as an in-house team, The New Gods consistently got the best reaction from management, so we were given a go-ahead to proceed with further development. The execs seemed to respond well to the epic Star Wars–ish nature of the concept. But the visual development gradually veered away from Kirby (sadly), as a more illustrative look got a better reaction. 74 • BACK ISSUE • Four th World After Kirby Issue