Back Issue #10

T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

June

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BATMAN AND RA’S AL GHUL TM & © 2005 DC COMICS. THE SHADOW AND DOC SAVAGE TM & © 2005 CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. JON SABLE FREELANCE TM & © 2005 MIKE GRELL.

reveal the history of BATMAN’s arch-foe

RA’S AL GHUL

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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Setting our sights on comics noir

and street-level heroes in our

PULP FICTION

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 10 June 2005 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

PRO2PRO: DENNY O’NEIL AND M.W. KALUTA ON THE SHADOW .....................................2 Learn the genesis of DC’s first “grim and gritty” series in this one-on-one chat

DESIGNERS Robert Clark and Rich J. Fowlks PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

SPECIAL THANKS Jason Adams Mark Tomlinson Neal Adams Jaume Vaquer Terry Austin Jim Warden Mike W. Barr Len Wein Spencer Beck John Workman Jerry Boyd Jim Young Mike Burkey Jim Cardillo Catskill Comics Howard Chaykin Rich DeDominicis Steve Englehart Mike Fleming Shane Foley William Foster Ron Frenz Dick Giordano Grand Comic-Book Database Jason Greenfield Mike Grell David Hamilton Allan Harvey Heritage Comics The Jack Kirby Collector Dan Johnson Michael W. Kaluta Mike Keane Scott Kent Joe Kubert Ted Latner Richard Martines Adam McGovern Brian K. Morris Stuart Neft Al Nickerson Dennis O’Neil Adam Philips Roland Reedy Bob Rozakis Rose Rummel-Eury Peter Sanderson Jeff Singh Roger Stern Roy Thomas

ROUGH STUFF: BATMAN PENCIL AND SKETCH GALLERY .......................................................16 The Dark Knight by N. Adams, Bingham, Bolland, Cockrum, Hannigan, Hitch, Mazzucchhelli, Nasser, Rude, Sienkiewicz, Simonson, P. Smith, and Von Eeden BEYOND CAPES: THE HUMAN TARGET ......................................................................................................28 Len Wein and Dick Giordano recall comics’ great imposter, Christopher Chance FLASHBACK: JON SABLE, FREELANCE ...........................................................................................................34 Mike Grell discusses his children’s author/mercenary, with gobs of great Grell art BACKSTAGE PASS: SABLE .........................................................................................................................................42 Jon Sable’s short-lived TV series featured Rene Russo and “Cheesecake” GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: THE BLACK AND WHITE OF DC MAGAZINES .......................................................................................44 Why did DC bypass one of the biggest fads of the 1970s?

We ask Neal Adams, Joe Kubert, Bob Rozakis, Roy Thomas, and Len Wein BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: RA’S AL GHUL..............................................................................................50 Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil analyze their megalomaniacal co-creation, with rare Adams artwork PRO2PRO: ROGER STERN AND RON FRENZ ..........................................................................................66 Rediscover the fondly remembered “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” through the eyes of its writer and artist BEYOND CAPES: DOC SAVAGE ...........................................................................................................................69 The Man of Bronze’s golden comics journey, courtesy of one of his writers, Mike W. Barr BACK IN PRINT: INTERVIEW WITH BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE’S STEVE ENGLEHART ...............................................................................79 An insider’s look at the reunion of one of the greatest Batman teams, with preview art and commentary by Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, and John Workman—plus a review of Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 BACK TALK ..............................................................................................................................................................................86 Reader feedback on issue #8

Art © 2005 Chris Bachalo. Batman © 2005 DC Comics. Courtesy of David Hamilton.

COVER ARTIST Neal Adams

INTERVIEW: HOWARD CHAYKIN ..........................................................................................................................9 With career-spanning insights and Chaykin art galore

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034.

Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $30 Standard US, $48 First Class US, $60 Canada, $66 Surface International, $90 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.

Ra’s al Ghul and Batman TM & © 2005 DC Comics. The Shadow and Doc Savage TM & © 2005 Condé Nast Publications. Jon Sable, Freelance TM & © 2005 Mike Grell. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2005 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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conducted December 17, 2004

interview

by Dan Johnson

They Knew

The Shadow Knows A 2000 Michael Kaluta commission, courtesy of Jerry Boyd.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

(Far right) Page 9 of The Shadow #1 A Kaluta Shadow

(1973) reveals the

sketch contributed

power of the character,

by Mike Fleming.

his writer, and his artist.

Original art courtesy

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

of Heritage Comics.

Art © 1973 DC Comics. The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

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What Evil Lurked in the the Hearts Hearts of of Men Men in

DAN JOHNSON: First off, what can you gentlemen tell us about how DC came to publish The Shadow?

DENNY O’NEIL: I don’t remember how we came to do it.

I remember the character had been enormously popular.

I had liked him in his radio incarnation. I guess somewhere along the line, I became aware of the much more interesting pulp magazine incarnation.

MICHAEL WM. KALUTA: Denny, I look back at the stuff DC was publishing at the time and I wonder, “Where in the

world did idea to publish The Shadow come from?” Except for the Batman, it didn’t sit with anything else DC had in its stable.

O’NEIL: I think that’s one of the reasons it caused a stir when we first brought it out. That first issue got a lot of attention, probably because it wasn’t like anything else out there.

KALUTA: I recall one of the unnerving aspects of that first issue coming out where the letters people wrote in saying they liked that the character was “judge, jury, and executioner,” something we hadn’t seen in comics up to that point, at least our kind of comics. It was something that certainly pointed towards the future, wasn’t it?

O’NEIL: I think it was Jim Steranko who said, “The Shadow didn’t believe in the death penalty, he WAS the death penalty.”

KALUTA: You did give [the bad guys] an out, that choice [to do wrong or not do wrong]. But, of course, the criminals

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The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

It was midnight when the writer heard the rustling of cloth behind him. He turned around in his chair quickly, but saw nothing there. The writer shook his head. “I’m so tired, I’m imagining things,” he thought.

As he turned back around to his computer screen and his latest assignment, the writer glanced up at the wall in front of his desk. That’s when he saw it, the dark shadowy profile with the hawk nose and hat pulled down over its brow. The image startled the writer, and a cold shiver ran down his back when a disembodied voice addressed him.

“You are Dan Johnson, a writer for BACK ISSUE.” The voice stated it as a fact, not as a question.

The writer nodded his head. Terrified, he managed to spit out a faint “Yes . . .”

The shadow on the wall grew larger. “I have been in contact with your editor, Michael Eury,” the voice said. “After conferring with him, I have decided you will be the one to write about two of my most trusted agents: Denny O’Neil and Michael Wm. Kaluta. You know who they are?”

The writer, too afraid to turn around, simply nodded his head. “Over three decades ago they wrote about my exploits for DC Comics,” the voice said. “They were most valuable in my war against crime. O’Neil’s scripts captured my essence as a dark avenger during the Depression. Kaluta’s artwork won me many loyal followers who share my disdain for the evil men do. No doubt both their efforts kept many a youngster in the early ’70s from straying off the path of truth and justice. The story of how they came to relay my legend deserves to be told. You understand what needs to be done, Johnson?”

The writer nodded his head as the shadow began to grow smaller on his wall. “I expect your best work then,” the voice said as the shadow finally vanished.

“Be warned. I’ll be back if you don’t give it. After all—the Shadow knows!”

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generally did what the Shadow told them not to do.

O’NEIL: Of course, this goes directly against all my “sissyCommie-Pinko-liberal” ideology [laughs].

My way of dealing with it, as a writer, was that we never got into [the Shadow’s] head. I always thought he was something a little beyond human.

He was the guy who would not make a mistake, was not capable of making a mistake. Any soap opera came from the subsidiary characters, Margo, Shrevvie . . . who was the good-looking guy?

KALUTA: Harry Vincent.

O’NEIL: Yeah, Harry. Lamont [Cranston], or whoever his name was, it depends on what time period of the character’s arc you’re talking about, he was not exactly human, and he was not going to make a mistake. Batman might make a mistake, therefore he doesn’t kill. The Shadow, though, [made] no mistakes.

KALUTA: My point of view as I was drawing the book, reading the stuff Denny was handing me: If the Shadow appeared to make a mistake, it was only because we, the readers, didn’t have all the facts. It only appeared that the Shadow made a mistake.

JOHNSON: When the book was first announced, there was a promotional piece by Bernie Wrightson that looked awesome.

KALUTA: It was brilliant.

JOHNSON: Wrightson was attached to The Shadow at one point, as was Jim Steranko. Why did neither of them do the book?

O’NEIL: I think the problem with Jim was he wanted more control than either DC or I was willing to concede.

It would have certainly been a pleasure to work with Jim, but I couldn’t reach an agreement on how we were going to operate. I’m not pointing any fingers, [there] was nothing good, nothing bad, just a disagreement amongst peers.

KALUTA: Had it been a case of nobody thinking about the Shadow up at DC, and Jim Steranko appearing and saying, “Look, how about we do this character, I’ve got this great idea. I can do this, that, and the other thing,” people might have said, “Not a bad idea.” As it was, Denny had invested his thought process in it, kind of gotten the ground softened up, and [Steranko] seemed to say, “This is a great idea, let me do it!” In that instance, Denny

Here’s an interesting team-up: Madame Xanadu and the Shadow.

To see this painting in color, visit www.kaluta.com.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

Madame Xanadu © 2005 DC Comics.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane in a Kaluta commission, courtesy of Jerry Boyd.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

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and DC Comics had to say, “No, no, no! I’m/we’re doing this, but you can help.”

O’NEIL: At that time, editors had to have control. They weren’t letting freelancers edit their own work. That seldom works.

KALUTA: I was [Bernie Wrightson’s] roommate, and as far as I know, he was the man [chosen for the book]. As far as he was concerned, it was just the next job. It was going to be a good job, and a fun job, and he jumped right into it with that promotional piece that still haunts my work. Then Bernie and Len [Wein] started talking over doing Swamp Thing [as a regular series]. That was [their] baby, that was something they had done before and the bimonthly version developed all of a sudden. Bernie said, “I can’t do two books at once.”

O’NEIL: That sounds right. I hadn’t thought about the Swamp Thing connection, but it makes all the sense in the world.

JOHNSON: Mike, how did you come to be the artist on the book?

KALUTA: I’ve been taken to task by Ron Sutton by not including him in this story. I do not recall that Ron Sutton was anywhere even in the same state, but he apparently was. This took place at the DC offices in the FDR post office building on Third Avenue. They had a coffee room that they shared with the Independent News Distribution Company, and that’s where I, being freelance, would hang out and just hope something would happen. Maybe a secretary might walk in that I could admire, or an editor might walk in with a job! [laughs] I was sitting with my friend Steve Harper, and Denny came in with Steve Skeates.

While making small talk, I asked what was up, and I remember Denny said they were contemplating who would draw The Shadow. I asked, “Well, who would you want?” Denny said, “Oh, Jim Aparo, but he’s drawing everything else.” Harper started nudging me on the side,

saying, “Ask him if you could do it.” So I asked, and this may be the Hollywood version, but as I recall, Denny held up his hand, palm out towards me, and said, “Wait a second.”

He got up, left the room. We waited three or four beats, then he came back and said, “Okay. It’s yours.”

O’NEIL: That sounds very likely the way it happened.

KALUTA: Now, Ron Sutton says he was there. I wish I could remember. Apparently he helped convince everybody I was good enough for the job. In my memory I’ve got no fifth person in the room. It’s Denny, Steve Skeates, Steve Harper, and me. Off stage, obviously, was Carmine Infantino, who Denny had gone to see.

O’NEIL: Yeah, I imagine that’s what I had to do was go speak your name to Carmine and get him to agree.

KALUTA: Still to this day I’m shocked you came back and said yes. I had done a couple pages of “Carson of Venus,” and I had done a few covers on the mystery books, and some short stories for the mystery books. I don’t know if there was anything in that other work that could have informed anyone that I could do the 1930s/1940s look. As it turns out, I could. It was a surprise to me, and a delight. Drawing the period material in The Shadow was like putting on a comfortable pair of socks.

JOHNSON: What kind of research did each of you do before jumping into the character?

O’NEIL: I got DC to buy some of the vinyl recordings of the old radio show and I read six or seven of the original novels.

This was wonderful for me because it was stuff I loved any-

way, and I was getting paid to do it.

KALUTA: In my case, I called my other Steve friend, Steve Hickman, and asked him about the Shadow. When I first met him, Hickman had a painting of the Shadow in his bedroom that he had done in phosphorus paint. When the lights went out, the ring would glow or the eye sockets would glow, or something. I figured this man had to know everything there was to know about the Shadow. It turned out he had not been a big reader of the Shadow, but he

Beginnings: Patsy and Hedy, Marvel Comics (1960s)

Judge, jury, and executioner. From www.kaluta.com.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

Beginnings: “Carson of Venus” in Korak, Son of Tarzan #46, DC Comics (1972)

Milestones: Batman / Green Lantern/Green Arrow / Slaughter of the Innocents / The Shadow / Batman: Knightfall / The Question / Justice League of America

Works in Progress:

Milestones: “The Spawn of Frankenstein” in The Phantom Stranger / The Shadow / Galactic Girl Guide / Metropolis / Madame Xanadu / covers for Batman, House of Mystery, and Books of Magic

Hero’s Quest (forthcoming novel) / Batman Begins (film novelization)

Cyberspace:

Works in Progress: Echoes: The Drawings of Michael William Kaluta (Vanguard, 2004) / Wings of Twilight

www.comicscommunity.com/boards/dennyoneil

Cyberspace: www.kaluta.com

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knew a little bit more than me. In short order I found out that I needn’t try to find a lot of information on the Shadow stories. When [Shadow fans] figured out it wasn’t Bernie but me [doing the book], packages arrived mysteriously at my door from all over the country. There were tons and tons of character information, covers of the pulp magazines, and other visual information that kept flooding in. So I sat like a spider in my studio as the Shadow reference piled up.

JOHNSON: You brought up something that should be addressed. Your version of The Shadow was very violent, more so than any other comic on the stands at that time. The closest parallel might have been Marvel’s Punisher, and even that character was toned down to the point where he never actually killed anyone.

KALUTA: The idea that there was a DC Comics character who came into a room with guns blazing and left corpses behind seemed to be a startling new concept. For some reason, I equated it with The Untouchables on television.

I find in later years people say [The Untouchables] was a very violent show, and what I remember was being fascinated by the show in its own context, and not making the connection of what it might be saying about the morality of people watching people machine gunning other people. Working inside the Shadow’s world I felt it was true to itself.

The Shadow #2 (1973), story page 5, perfectly captures the character’s pulp roots. Courtesy of Heritage Comics.

Art © 1973 DC Comics.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

(Right) The Shadow flies the unfriendly skies in this Kaluta illo from the artist’s website.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

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O’NEIL: I think it helped that we did not try and modernize it. It was a period piece, which worked against it commercially, but I think it did give us a lot of a freedom than if we had tried to make it conform to contemporary morals.

KALUTA: The backgrounds were as nearly as much a character as the characters. The atmosphere, or the environment, was a player.

O’NEIL: Absolutely. Like Gotham City is a character in Batman, when it is done well, that 1930s New York ambiance was a character in The Shadow.

JOHNSON: In the third issue, the art is co-credited to Bernie Wrightson. Tell us about that, Mike.

KALUTA: Doing the first issue, there was no deadline, and I took as much time as I needed to do it and I got it in. [By the second issue], I had never really had a deadline [for an assignment] that was 20 penciled and inked pages in two months (or, more ideally, six weeks), and I stumbled badly. I got the book out late, and when the third one came up, I was in this quandary: How am I going to get this one done in the now very compressed time. For some reason, even though he was as busy as could be with Swamp Thing, Bernie came in and helped on the third Shadow issue. I then thought, “Good, now we’re finally getting ahead of ourselves.” Well, we barely caught up.

Bernie, of course, was a natural guy to grab if you could: he was terrific, and fast! Every once and a while, just for kicks, we’ll sit around and try to figure out who did what on that issue #3. It wasn’t a “penciled by” or “inked by” credit.

I would be penciling pages, and he would be penciling pages, and then we would hand them to each other and would start inking.

O’NEIL: That’s a real collaboration. That’s about as tight as it gets.

JOHNSON: What about the art credits on issue #4?

old Warner Bros. movies and what was in the media, and that actually didn’t work against the stuff we were doing.

JOHNSON: Mike, you came back to do the last three covers. Was there ever any temptation to take over the book again?

KALUTA: I was winded by the effort I had on it before, and I was probably chastened realizing I was letting down the company, I was letting down Denny, and I was letting down the fans even by whatever wrestling I was doing with my own artwork.

Also, at the time I was drawing the Shadow books, I was also writing and

Michael Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson collaborated on the art to The Shadow #3.

Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics.

Art © 1973 DC Comics.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

Batman © 2005 DC Comics. The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

KALUTA: My friend Steve Hickman was in town and he wanted to ink on this issue. I said sure; I was happy to have him. [Howard] Chaykin, a few pages later, was over at my house, dived in and inked some faces and characters. Then Bernie came over and said, “Let me ink that big face on the splash page,” so he did that. While this was just guys stopping by having fun, I decided to give them some credit. On the splash page to issue #4, there is a truck barreling across the page. The license plates on the front bumper of the truck have got each artist’s name and little page numbers to tell what pages they work on.

JOHNSON: That’s so cool!

O’NEIL: Only in comics.

JOHNSON: Mike, why did you eventually leave the book?

KALUTA: The first Frank Robbins fill-in issue [#5] is there because DC Comics is a comic-book company, not my private printing office. I was spending a lot of time staring at my own navel, being afraid that every line I put down was going to be the wrong line and other times getting so involved in the story that I over-polished it. I got way off deadline. DC Comics needed to get someone on the book who was a professional, who could do the job, get it in there and get it out there. These were the days before our modern comics solicitation. The book really needed to come out on time, or within a week or so [of its original release date]. My big problem with drawing the book was being on time. It didn’t matter that the artwork looked damn good to the troll in the truck who dropped these bundles off at the distribution point. The sellers had to have a physical book. I don’t know why DC Comics picked Frank Robbins [for issue #5], but he did a great job, he was there on time, and it allowed me the extra time to do the next issue (the last one I did), “Night of the Ninja” [issue #6]. I had just as much fun with that one as I did the other [stories] because it was New York City in the rain with ninjas running around. But it was the last issue I drew.

JOHNSON: Denny, what insight can you give us about Robbins’ involvement on the book? How did you choose him to replace Mike on The Shadow?

O’NEIL: There ended up being three artists on the book, Mike, Frank [who did issues #4 and issues #7—9], and E.R. Cruz [who did #10—12]. Frank was a guy who had done Batman. Obviously he had a feel for that “creature of the night” material, and he was a pro who was always on time.

KALUTA: If E.R. Cruz only had three issues, that says something for the power of his work because I have him doing five or six issues in my mind. That’s interesting.

O’NEIL: What’s interesting about Cruz was that he had never been to this country. All he knew about America was

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drawing “Carson of Venus” and drawing the backup feature, “Spawn of Frankenstein,” for The Phantom Stranger, so penciling and inking all that was around 30 pages I was doing every two months. Today I am impressed with myself [that I got so much accomplished], but back then I was mortified that I couldn’t keep all the plates spinning.

After Frank Robbins had done the book, I thought, “Let me just buckle down, let me just get into it, forget whatever else might come along and let me just focus in on this.” But I talked it over with Carmine, and he was of the opinion that it probably would be better if I go and do the other things and let [The Shadow] just speed on. I thought, “I really can’t do a 20-page book again. I’ll stick with the five-page and eight-page stories and covers.”

JOHNSON: Denny, tell us about the end of the series.

O’NEIL: I learned the book was cancelled by looking at an ad for subscriptions where the DC books were in alphabetical order and there was a blank space in the “S”s where The Shadow should have been. So, comes the dawn, I guess that means we’re not doing it anymore.

That was kind of the way it was done.

Sometimes they didn’t bother to tell you [your book was cancelled].

JOHNSON: After The Shadow was cancelled, there seemed to be an effort to inject him elsewhere in the DC Universe via Batman with two crossover stories.

O’NEIL: Yeah . . . I don’t know what the legal ramifications of that was. I would hope somebody did whatever was necessary to make that usage legal.

I just did the stories. I assumed everybody else was knowledgeable about the stuff that I didn’t know about. We just trust the universe to make it all come out even.

KALUTA: All I got do was one of the crossover Batman/Shadow covers. To this day people still say, “That was my favorite cover.” I think I have signed as many of the first Batman and Shadow teamup cover [in Batman #253] as the first issue of The Shadow book itself.

The man behind the mask—or scarf—in two Kaluta sketches courtesy of Jerry Boyd.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta. The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

Plastic Man gets the last laugh on the Shadow in this Kaluta sketch from the collection of Jerry Boyd.

Art © 2005 M.W. Kaluta.

Plastic Man © 2005 DC Comics.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

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JOHNSON: Denny, considering how you found out about the book’s cancellation, I was wondering if there were any Shadow stories you would have liked to have told that maybe you didn’t.

O’NEIL: No, I was really making it from month to month back then. I based the first one on one of the radio shows.

I just sort of adlibbed it from there. I would have been happy doing The Shadow, but I didn’t feel that there was anything I was burning to get out there that I was denied a venue for.

JOHNSON: It seemed like the only thing the fans were really clamoring for was an origin story. I personally don’t think it was something that was really needed. What do you gents think?

KALUTA: [His origin] was never put into the pulp books.

Little bits and pieces would surface, and the fans would make up their own stuff as they tried to find out who the guy was.

O’NEIL: He was really Kent Allard, and not Lamont Cranston.

KALUTA: Exactly! He had a whole history before becoming the Shadow as a pilot and an undercover spy in Germany during WWI and all sorts of stuff that is very rich, and unnecessary to know. I personally believe the popularity of the Shadow was that you didn’t know who he was.

O’NEIL: That works into that unstated notion that he’s really a bit more than human.

My Lunch with

Howard Chaykin H

The Cover You Didn’t See

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Howard Chaykin’s cover to Atlas Comics’

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The Scorpion #2 (1975) was not published; a different version by Ernie Colón (see inset) ran in its place. Courtesy of Jeff Singh.

conducted on November 13, 2004

interview

by Philip Schweier

© 1975 Seaboard/Atlas.

In November 2004, the Savannah College of Art and Design hosted its annual Comic Arts Forum, a three-day series of seminars and portfolio reviews conducted by industry pros. Freelance writer and comics fan Philip Schweier took the opportunity to sit down with the multi-talented Howard Chaykin prior to one of his workshops, inviting him to reflect on his career in comics and adventures in television.

PHILIP SCHWEIER: I just want to do a quick overview of your career.

HOWARD CHAYKIN: Sure, okay.

SCHWEIER: In the ’70s, in the early ’70s, you were doing comics. . .

CHAYKIN: When I was 11.

Let’s accept that right here and now.

SCHWEIER: (laugh) Okay.

CHAYKIN: I was a tad, I was a child, I was the Mozart of comics.

SCHWEIER: I always thought so.

CHAYKIN: Well, there you go. What a guy.

SCHWEIER: At a time when super-heroes dominated the landscape, you were kind of all over the place, what with “Iron Wolf” at DC, Scorpion at Atlas—“Dominic Fortune” at Marvel came later, I think— CHAYKIN: Hm-mm.

SCHWEIER: —at a time when super-heroes were so

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down the fort until the generation after ours, like Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, could come in and then do super-hero comics. So all of us came as Johnny-come-latelys to the superhero world, and I was a super-hero fan as a boy, but as I became a professional, the skills that I had weren’t really applicable to what was expected of a super-hero artist. So, I did everything else I could. I did pulp fiction, and I liked dirty stuff later on, and science fiction, sword and sorcery. I was just testing the waters on everything I could get.

Told ya, ask a question, get an endless answer.

SCHWEIER: I don’t mind that at all. Now, when you did [Marvel Comics’] Star Wars, the movie hadn’t broken yet.

When you were working on it, did you have any idea where it was going to go, how big it was going to be, or was it just another job?

CHAYKIN: Not the faintest. I was talking to Phil Noto about this, because he was six years old when the movie came out, for which I’m going to kill him. And I said flat out that I wish I’d been 15 when the movie came out because A) I would have been an obsessive fan, and B) my life would have been very different. I would probably still be a nose-picking geek— no offense. . .

SCHWEIER: None taken.

CHAYKIN: At any rate, I was in Burbank in ’75, before the picture came out, when they were doing the post work, and I went to the post studio, and met with George (Lucas) and Marsha (Lucas) and I guess it was with Gary and the whole bunch, and I walked away from that with a box of 4000 stills.

They were great on-set stills, and the McQuarry portfolio, the Ralph McQuarry material. The stills were incredibly dead and inert; they looked like a high-school science project. They really did look sh*tty. What freaked me out when I saw the film—because I saw it a week before it opened at a special screening in New York City—was the film ended up looking like the McQuarry paintings, and that was the most profound effect, that they managed to do all the work in post. It’s a tribute to what was done to that film after it was shot. And I’m not talking about the added scenes and digitizing, I’m talking about what was done in the ’70s.

So I had no idea. Had I known, I probably would’ve worked harder on it. I still haven’t gotten over the resentment of the fact that it existed in the pre-royalty times so I got chump change for those books and I sold millions. The book sold millions, I didn’t sell them. C’mon, I have no illusions about that, but I’m perfectly willing to attach my own ass to someone else’s coattails.

prevalent, you took the road less traveled. Why is that?

CHAYKIN: Well, I think I take issue with the superheroness of it all. One of the things that—and again, you ask me a question, a short one, you get three hours of answer—the reality is I’ve always said that as my generation came in, super-hero comics were being done by men our fathers’ age. The Marvel Bullpen in those days was old guys, and most of us were E.C. fans, or pretentious illustration fans, and came out of an entirely different world view. Very few of us were super-hero-based types. Rich Buckler was the most super-hero-appropriate character in the bunch. [Bernie] Wrightson was doing the horror and mystery stuff, [Michael] Kaluta was doing the same. [Walter] Simonson came in shortly after I did, with a science-fiction portfolio. So none of us were really prepped to do super-heroes. All of us had grown up on that material, but by the time we’d become professionals— and I’m speaking for myself, and fairly certain I speak for most of those guys—were interested in a wider range of material.

Since we all assumed—and this is not a joke—that we were the last generation of comics talent. You’re probably too young to remember the idea of the paper shortage of the early ’80s.

The perception was that paper would disappear, with the advent of the personal computer, hardcopy was going to go away. So what we didn’t realize we were actually playing the role of the 300 Spartans at Themopolis. We were holding

Star*Reach #1 (1974), featuring Chaykin’s Cody Starbuck. © 1974 Star*Reach Productions.

Beginnings: Assisting Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Gray Morrow, and Neal Adams

Milestones: “Iron Wolf” in Weird Worlds / Sword of Sorcery / “Cody Starbuck” / The Scorpion / Star Wars / miscellaneous Batman projects / American Flagg! / Black Kiss / The Shadow / Blackhawk / The Flash TV series / American Century / Mighty Love / Challengers of the Unknown

Works in Progress: Solo #4 (DC) / Legend (WildStorm) / City of Tomorrow (WildStorm) / Midnight of the Soul

Photo by Scott Kent.

SCHWEIER: (laughs)

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CHAYKIN: Why lie?

SCHWEIER: Now it was shortly after that that you started getting into more book publishing, like with Byron Preiss stuff, Empire, Stars My Destination, also paperback covers. When you came back to comics with American Flagg!, what new sensibilities and interests did you bring with you?

CHAYKIN: You’re good. You ask good questions. You ask questions I feel like answering. My eyes aren’t rolling into the back of my head.

SCHWEIER: The last thing I want to come across is as a fanboy, even though I am one.

CHAYKIN: At any rate, there was a period between that stuff, and when I went to do paperbacks, when I was back into regular mainstream comics again. I had a big screaming match with one of the mainstays with one of the major companies, and I was sort of driven out of the business for two years, and it was great. I went and made my living as a paperback guy doing Westerns and romance. . .

SCHWEIER: I have some of them.

CHAYKIN: I’d love to see some, I can’t find mine.

Around the time that the Reagan revolution sort of, ah, whipped the ass of the American economy, the bottom fell out of the money in the paperback business. There was no money anymore, and also that coincided with a developing conservatism in paperbacks. It was the rise of Pino and Elaine Dewillow.

Very, very slick, very unpainterly, almost photographic stuff. It was the year of the bodice-ripper. I was doing fairly graphic stuff, and more influenced by Bob Peak and David Grove, and those guys, and that disappeared.

That coincided with a call from First about doing a new book for them. My then-wife and I had long talk. We decided that it would be an interesting process to work with a company with no baggage, where there was no history, and I would say I would take everything I’d been working on, all my notes— I’m an enormous note-taker, I’m a list-maker and I compile endless ideas—and it all coalesced, or some might say congealed, into American Flagg!

Flagg was really the apotheosis of all the things I’d been reading, studying, learning since I’d been a teenager. I make no secret of the fact that I’m a left-leaning kind of guy and unfortunately, unlike a lot of my fellow left-leaning friends, I also have really complex ideas about multiculturalism, and I’m profoundly patriotic, because I don’t feel the right has any right to hijack patriotism, although they’ve done a fabulous job of doing it. So it was just an opportunity to vent all of my spleen and get paid for it. What a concept.

SCHWEIER: We should all be so lucky.

CHAYKIN: Hey, one of the things about my life and my career I’ve always said is I am absolutely blessed. I am one lucky bastard. And I look good, too.

SCHWEIER: And a snazzy dresser.

CHAYKIN: Actually, I used to be. I’m not anymore. I used to be a real clothes horse, and I stopped doing that because I realized that when I put on a suit I looked like an agent or an attorney. Nobody should look like an agent or an attorney without wanting to be one.

SCHWEIER: So following American Flagg! you still eschewed a lot of the super-heroes— CHAYKIN: You used the word “eschewed” in a sentence.

That’s fabulous.

SCHWEIER: I try.

CHAYKIN: Do you use “ennui” or “jejuen”?

SCHWEIER: Not today.

CHAYKIN: But you will.

SCHWEIER: Getting into the late ’80s, you were doing Blackhawk, The Shadow, as I said, eschewing the superhero genre, except for Batman. With Batman you did Dark Allegiances, Night of the Flyer with Gil Kane, your mentor, and, um, there was a third one, Thrillkiller. Batman seemed

Chaykin illustrated the Shining Knight chapter of a multi-part Seven Soldiers of Victory story featuring contemporary artists drawing a previously unpublished Golden Age script by Joe Samachson.

This page hails from Adventure Comics #438 (1975). Courtesy of Jeff Singh. © 2005 DC Comics.

Chyakin dropped in for this cover to Blackhawk #259 (1983); original art courtesy of Jim Cardillo. © 2005 DC Comics.

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to be rather prevalent in your super-hero work. What is it about him?

CHAYKIN: Well, yeah, I’m fascinated by Batman, I really am.

I don’t care about Superman particularly. I take that back, it’s not that I don’t care. One of my favorite comic books is that last Superman story that Alan Moore wrote. But I have no idea, I wouldn’t know where to begin writing Superman because there’s something, for me, so innately goofy about this guy.

He’s huge, he’s powerful, he’s all-powerful. Y’know, what if God and Superman had a fight? Superman would probably trip him, so I can’t imagine writing Superman.

I’ve always been much more interested in Bruce Wayne than Batman. Bruce Wayne’s a really interesting guy. I want to do a story about Bruce Wayne involved in an Enron-type

Kull and the Barbarians #2 (1975), a blackand-white Marvel magazine, featured a Red Sonja tale by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin.

Original art courtesy of Jeff Singh. © 1975 Marvel Comics Group.

scandal, and Bruce Wayne at Bohemian Grove.

SCHWEIER: I’m sorry?

CHAYKIN: At Bohemian Grove. It’s where all the rich Republicans and celebrities go up in Northern California and run around naked. You know, “Eliminate rage,” and they dance naked around a bonfire. I want to see Bruce Wayne doing that.

SCHWEIER: Without the cape.

CHAYKIN: Well, maybe. Or maybe naked with the cape. But Batman is a physical specimen, a guy who is completely and totally his own self-product, and that’s as close as I can get.

You know, when you start giving a guy super-powers, my own innate goofiness comes in. I always felt the stuff that [MAD artist Harvey] Kurtzman did, the Super-Duperman, the Plastic Sam, was closer to the way real people would behave. And I’ve always said that super-hero comics are based on a kind of absent altruism. The average comic book fan doesn’t have to behave in a moral way as long as he reads Superman comics because Superman picks up the moral slack. Since I believe that super-heroes should have feet of clay to bring them down to size and to make them more fun to be surprised by.

SCHWEIER: As you did with The Shadow and Blackhawk.

CHAYKIN: I’m going through a period where I’m reading a lot of World War II fiction right now, both fiction written during the war and about the war. And I’m fascinated by what really is the absurdity of war. Not the absurdity of war as sold in movies, but the utter non-ironic nature of war. War is not ironic, it just is. I was a fan of Schindler’s List and of Saving Private Ryan. My favorite World War II movie is The Americanization of Emily, and that was my source material.

And the Shadow is a man of the ’30s, and in my version he’s a man of the ’30s running around in the ’80s. Men of the ’30s had certain attitudes.

SCHWEIER: The chauvinism.

CHAYKIN: Well, it’s the nature of the beast. We are a society that is constantly victimized by presentism. You know, you’ve got a contemporary culture doing period material that imposes contemporary ideas on period ideas. I can read Dorothy Sayers— I haven’t in years, but I could read Dorothy Sayers when I did— and Dorothy Sayers is a rampant racist and bigot. She was a flaming anti-Semite, but she was a perfect example of an over-educated Catholic woman of her time in society. I can read P.G. Wodehouse, and Wodehouse is excoriated for collaborating—I don’t believe he really collaborated, I think he was just around. My favorite conductor of Bach and Beethoven is probably Evan Kariak, who was Hitler’s favorite conductor.

So I can separate myself from the politics to appreciate the art. I like Lenny Regenstadt’s work. Well, I don’t like it, but I can look at it and be awed. It’s like different. So when I do period work, I try to convey period sensibility, and buyer be damned. And I’m frequently damned by the buyer because they want presentism, and they can find it elsewhere.

Chaykin’s chilling two-page spread from DC’s The Shadow #1 (1988).

Thanks to Jeff Singh for the original art.

The Shadow © 2005 Condé Nast.

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SCHWEIER: Speaking as a Shadow fan, when I read yours, I thought “Well, of course, [the violence is] because he’s coming from the 1930s.”

CHAYKIN: Well, right. I find it’s a really funny book. I had a great time. I was only annoyed at how much they had to censor the second issue. The second issue was incredibly censored; character names, attitudes, just stuff. Oooh! It was so much uglier before Andy [Helfer, editor] imposed a lot of censorship on that second issue. I was appalled. But I was in California so I couldn’t go to the office and scream.

SCHWEIER: Getting into the ’90s, you were also working in TV: Flash, Viper, Earth: Final Conflict; so for lack of better term, a “debtor’s prison,” was it?

CHAYKIN: Hardly. No, it was whore money. No, I moved to Southern California in 1985—[noise in the hallway] shut up, I’m working here—with the specific intention of getting into show business. I was working in movies, but I stumbled into TV. I started out a rung above the bottom and finished a rung below the top, and I had a great time. I guess in 13 years I had 11 jobs, you know 11 years of staffing work, because you can’t make a living freelancing in television. It’s a staff world. I learned a great deal, I had a great time, and I finally started working myself into an early grave, and I came to a parting of the ways with the last show I was running— SCHWEIER: Mutant X. CHAYKIN: —yep, but it was a great job, a good ride. I realized after I left the show I dropped 35 pounds, I started sleeping, and my life just got easier. And I was really lucky, really blessed.

I’d not drawn in close to ten years. I’d done some individual pieces here and there, but I hadn’t really done any work of volume, and I discovered to my surprise and delight that my chops were still in pretty good shape, and further that I had developed a jazz musician’s improvisation that I didn’t have before. I’d always been an anal structurist in every sense of the word. I’m a great believer in order and geometry, and for some ungodly reason, and I have no idea where it came from, I developed a jazz musician’s improvisation, a lack of fear about not knowing exactly where I was going with an idea, which is a very new idea for me. It’s brand new.

I’m having a great time, because a lot of guys my age are sort of stultified and atrophied in their abilities and in their attitudes toward the material. I’m really lucky in the sense that I’ve always reinvented myself every couple of years anyway.

I’m really lucky to have the work that I’ve got to do. I’m really having a great time.

SCHWEIER: One last question because I know you have other things you need to do.

CHAYKIN: F*ck ’em. Just kidding. I didn’t mean that, that was a joke. That was just a throw-away, devil-may-care kind of thing to say.

SCHWEIER: What can you tell me about Midnight of the Soul?

CHAYKIN: Where’d you get that from?

SCHWEIER: I have my sources.

CHAYKIN: Okay. Midnight of the Soul is I believe a very commercial product, and I’ve yet to find anybody willing to publish it.

It’s a transliteration of the Greek myth of The Journey through a single 12-hour experience in a guy’s life. It’s about a guy who

is mortally wounded during the liberation of the death camps who’s carried around a belief system that he’s supported for five years through addiction to morphine and cheap wine.

In this 12-hour period, where for the first time in five years he hasn’t had a drink or a drug, he begins to learn that his memory is a screened memory, and it’s all a lie, and things begin to evolve and change. By the end of the 12 hours his life is changed dramatically. It’s violent, it’s funny and it’s very, very dark.

SCHWEIER: And you’re writing and drawing as well.

CHAYKIN: Yeah. Sooner or later. It’s also something that I may very well self-publish. I’ve danced around the idea of selfpublishing it. It’s come close to being published by various companies but it’s something I really want to control, and structurally it’s about the concept.

It’s—here I’m digressing—the only kind of science fiction

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A pinup promo for Time 2: The Epihany, from First Comics Graphic Novel #9 (1985); original art courtesy of Jeff Singh. © 2005 Howard Chaykin.

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Howard Chaykin greeting fans at the Savannah Comic Arts Forum in mid-November 2004.

Photo courtesy of Scott Kent.

that I continue to read with any consequences is alternate world stuff. I’ve always been a fan of the alternate world, and I’ve just read Philip Roth’s Plot Against America, and this is a book about—one of the things he does is he writes failed stories about alternate universes not realizing he’s living in one. He is obsessed with the fact of ignoring his own reality. It’s personally derived, there are metaphors from my own life in this job, but in a world where super-hero comics are held in the regard they are, this is not an easy sell.

I like crime fiction, but I’m not a huge fan of retro crime fiction. I’m not a Mickey Spillane fan. I like Mickey personally, I’ve met him a few times, he seemed like a really nice guy, but I don’t really care about his work. I don’t like Race Williams

An eye-catching page from Blackhawk #1 (1988); original art courtesy of Jeff Singh. © 2005 DC Comics.

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and all that pulpy guns, gats and gangs.

SCHWEIER: Dames and washed-up gunsels.

CHAYKIN: Yeah, I’m not interested—but that’s not what gunsels means. Great thing about Hammett of course is actually that gunsel means a catamite. It does not mean a gunman, it means a butt-boy—and I’m more interested in contemporary stuff. Even in doing period stuff, I’m more interested in [James] Ellroy. The new Jeffrey Deever novel is an incredible opportunity that I believe he squandered enormously. It’s about an American hitman in Germany during the Olympics.

I’m sure he’s a lovely man.

SCHWEIER: Okay, I guess that’s it. I won’t take up any more of your time.

CHAYKIN: Good questions, good questions.

SCHWEIER: I try.

CHAYKIN: I’m serious, you took me by surprise a number of times.

SCHWEIER: Thank you for your time.

Philip Schweier is a freelance writer based in Savannah, Georgia, focusing on comics history and pop-culture criticism. His column, The Thought Bubble, can be found at www.comicbookbin.com.

A double dose of Reuben Flagg sketches

by Howard Chaykin, submitted by Jeff Singh (below) and Stuart Neft, respectively. © 2005 Howard Chaykin.

(Below left) Feast your eyes on Howard’s remarkable cover to American Flagg! #18 (1985); original art courtesy of Richard Martines. © 2005 Howard Chaykin.

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BILL SIENKIEWICZ

© 2005 DC Comics.

lton Hami ” e n ambo id “H friends) v a D by (and

the

BATMAN

Pencil and sketch Gallery We teased you with this on our cover, and here, courtesy of Mark Tomlinson, is Bill Sienkiewicz’s amazing rendition of the Batman. Join us in saying, “Wow!!”

Batman TM & © 2005 DC Comics.

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© 2005 DC Comics.

D AV I D M A Z Z U C C H E L L I Batman: Year One, drawn by David Mazzucchelli and written by Frank Miller.

Mr. Maz is another super-star from Hoboken, New Jersey (Sinatra’s the other).

Fine example of David’s rough layout—with Catwoman!

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STEVE RUDE © 2005 DC Comics.

“The Dude” is one of the world’s finest artists—and here’s a penciled page from his unforgettable World’s Finest miniseries. Along the borders are Steve’s Batman roughs.

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An unpublished page of pencils by Trevor (Thriller, Black Lightning) Von Eeden. This was originally drawn for World’s Finest #305 (July 1984), part of a really neat David Anthony

TREVOR VON EEDEN

Kraft-crafted story with Null and Void. (Some of the most purely dynamic storytelling I’ve ever seen in modern

© 2005 DC Comics.

comics!!)

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ED HANNIGAN

© 2005 DC Comics.

This is what can—sometimes—go into the creation of a comic book’s cover: three versions of Ed Hannigan’s Batman cover for Detective Comics #523 (Feb. 1983).

The third one (bottom right) was the version used.

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© 2005 DC Comics.

NEAL ADAMS This is the Batman: Neal Adams set the standard for the visual language, as you see in this collection of his sketches of everybody’s favorite Dark Knight.

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JERRY BINGHAM Son of the Demon. Thanks to Rich DeDominicis for sharing this with us!

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© 2005 DC Comics.

A commissioned illo by Jerry Bingham, artist of the graphic novel Batman:

Also from the collection of Rich DeDominicis comes this dynamic duo of Batman sketches by British Bri(y)ans Bolland (Batman: The

B R I A N B O L L A N D & B R YA N H I T C H

© 2005 DC Comics.

Killing Joke) and Hitch (The Ultimates).

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D AV E C O C K R U M

of story pencils from the Batman/Blackhawk team-up in The Brave and the Bold #167 (Oct. 1980).

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© 2005 DC Comics.

D AV E C O C K R U M The Golden Age Batman, as drawn by Dave Cockrum of X-Men/Futurians fame. This is an original page

© 2005 DC Comics.

NASSER, SMITH, & SIMONSON Mike Nasser (aka Netzer) produced this commissioned piece for Batman fan Todd Reis. Todd has amassed quite a collection of all-original “Bat-Art”—most in full color—from Rich Buckler to Jack Kirby . . . what a fan! In the insets, these Batman illos by Paul Smith and Walter Simonson may not be in pencil, but we thought you’d like ’em!

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In Your Face: The Story Behind Comics’

Greatest Imposter,

the Human Target by

cGovern Adam M

Nobody Does it Better From Who’s Who in the DC Universe #4 (Nov. 1990), the many faces of the Human Target, drawn by Dick Giordano. © 2005 DC Comics.

For as long as there have been comics, there have been

legendary Carmine Infantino’s first art job in some years

mortal adventurers operating in the shadows of the

(after becoming DC’s editorial director), and though he

super-beings soaring overhead. Their presence is only

left right after launching the series, Infantino’s elegant

fitting, since in fact these hardboiled detectives, big-

hand was matched by regular artist Dick Giordano,

game hunters, et al. predate the costumed characters in

whose tasteful realism suited one of the more sophisti-

the colorful medium they share. One of the most inter-

cated series of the time. Wein injected the stories with an

esting is Christopher Chance, the master of disguise

uncommon sense of humor at the absurd situations

known as the Human Target for impersonating clients

Chance found himself in (deep-sea diver! tightrope

marked for death with the aim of exposing their pursuers.

walker!), and instilled Chance himself with a nuance

Debuting as a discreet backup story in an everyday

quite apart from the at-most two-dimensional whole-

issue of DC’s Action Comics [issue #419 (Dec. 1972), to be

someness of DC’s contemporary heroes or fashionable

exact], Chance’s first run stretched across 14 stories in

neuroses of Marvel’s.

eight years, an under-the-radar character who nonethe-

Chance was an outwardly unflappable but oddly

less caught and held the attention of editors who gave

unknowable figure, committed to doing good deeds yet

the death-defying adventurer more than nine lives

coolly sarcastic with his hapless clients; solidly moral

between publication limbos.

Though perhaps hard to find, the series itself was

© 2005 DC Comics.

nothing to ignore; conceived by respected Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein, it auspiciously began with the

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yet ever mindful of his fee; a dogged champion whose successes were almost a secondary satisfaction to his skillful (if patently bizarre) role-playing.

In one typical case, Chase impersonates a threatened

orchestra conductor, eventually appreh e n d i n g t h e r e a l m a n ’s would-be assassin in the middle of a concert by using a bow-and-cello as a bow-and-arrow, only to be berated by his client for having given a lousy performance. In Chance’s world, nothing need be what it seemed, and anything could suddenly turn either deadly or humorous.

These dimensions made the Human Target a “real person” not just in his

© 2005 DC Comics.

lack of superpowers, but in his unpredictable shades of mood and motivation, and thus more believable than many comics characters in or out of capes. BACK ISSUE spoke to two pivotal members of the creative team that first gave Chance flesh and blood, Wein and Giordano.

Wein explained that the Human Target underwent the first of many identity swaps before even seeing publication. “Originally the Target was gonna be Johnny Double” [DC’s private eye first seen in Showcase #78 (Nov. 1968)], Wein says of the character’s formative name. “At the very beginning stages of my career it was pitched to [then-editor] Dick Giordano at DC when Marv [Wolfman] and I were working together. Dick was interested in doing a detective character, back when there was a range of kinds of comics you could do, but he wasn’t interested in the ‘human target’ idea. So he said, ‘Can I just use the name “Johnny Double,” and we’ll make it a straight detective [character].’ And at that stage, to get into the business, [we said], ‘Sure!

Anything you want, whatever changes you want to make.’ [laughs] The name didn’t make any sense [any more], but that’s where the [first] character came from. “[Later], Julie Schwartz was [editing] Action Comics and decided he wanted to make some changes; they were going to rotate two or three backup features, “The Atom,” etc., and he was looking for a detective character; he said, ‘I want someone who’s not a super-hero, I just want some variety.’ And I still had the concept, [though] I didn’t have a name; I said, ‘Well, I’ve got this concept I’ve been wanting to use for years,’ and I pitched it to Julie right there in the office, and he said, ‘Oh, I like that, let me go talk to Carmine,’ and he came back ten

Giordano on Target A page from Dick Giordano’s first solo Human Target tale, and the character’s second appearance, from Action #420 (Jan. 1973). Courtesy of Jaume Vaquer.

minutes later and said, ‘Go, you’ve got a strip, go do it.’”

© 2005 DC Comics.

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History records Infantino as not only giving

And he said, ‘I’d love to do a detective strip of some

Christopher Chance the green light but helping to

sort.’ I said, ‘Well look, you just okayed this Human

When You Need

give him life; I wondered how his co-creator credit

Target idea of mine, why don’t you draw it?’ He said,

a Fill-in Artist. . .

came about.

‘No, I can’t do that; it’s been a long time; I can’t draw

. . .count your

“Back in those early days a lot of the staff and the

anymore.’ And I said, ‘Of course you can, don’t be silly.’

blessings when it’s

freelancers used to go out to dinner together after work

So I basically went into his office early the next week

Neal Adams. From

on Friday nights to a place called Friar Tuck’s,” Wein

and said, ‘Look, at the very least, what about designing

Action #425 (July

recalls, “and probably the week after getting the go-

the visuals?’ So he designed the character. Then I said,

1973), written by

ahead for the Human Target, Carmine and I happened

‘Y’know, you’re already halfway into it; how about

Wein and inked by

to be the last two guys sitting around the place. And I

drawing the strip?’ And he said, ‘All right, all right, shut

Giordano. Courtesy

asked him if he missed drawing and he said he always

up, I’ll do it.’ [laughs] So he drew the first story, and as a

of Jaume Vaquer.

did, and I said, ‘Well, if you had the chance to draw

rule of thumb the person who drew the first story usually

something again what would you really like to do?’

gets co-creator credit.”

© 2005 DC Comics.

Still, the artist who would go on to be most associated with the character was Dick Giordano, and it’s an association all parties remain pleased with decades later.

“Dick really likes drawing real-world stuff more than he likes drawing super-heroes,” Wein says. “He loved doing it, and I loved the fact that I had one of the best pencilers and inkers in the business who desperately wanted to be involved in it, so you didn’t have to twist my arm!”

“Len knew of my love for the private eye genre and my general apathy towards the spandex-and-capes crew,” concurs Giordano, “and I think he more or less tailored it for me after Carmine’s issue . . . or even before! I remember that Carmine took seemingly forever to get that issue done and I was straining at the bit!

“I grew up in the comic business before it was defined as Super-Heroes Only,” Giordano continues. “I didn’t draw my first super-hero until I had been drawing comics for well over a decade, and during that time I came to enjoy drawing normally proportioned people, guns, planes, cars, and real places. Those elements were to be found in abundance in the Human Target series (along with some great characters). I was truly in my element!”

Giordano wasn’t the only artist who saw something special in this series; when deadline conflicts threatened, the strip featured some of the least-known cameos by some of comics’ best-known artists, specifically Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin.

“People liked working on that series,” Wein explains. “It was a chance to do something different, that wasn’t in tights.”

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Even so, Christopher Chance is far from an ordinary

Now Featuring the Human Target . . .

person, with psychological complexities and shifting identities approaching the fantastic, superpowers or

. . . but not for long.

no. I wondered if the early-’70s era’s questioning of

Jim Aparo’s version of

roles (from the gender-blurring of glam rock to the

Christopher Chance,

popular George Plympton reality-TV specials tracking

in the Bronze Age

his occupational impersonations) had any influence

Human Target’s only

on Chance coming to be when he did, and if the typi-

cover appearance,

cal need of realistic writers to “become” other people

from The Brave and

helped Wein get into Chance’s head.

the Bold #143 (Sept.–

“Never crossed my mind,” Wein says. “It was a char-

Oct. 1978). Reproduced

acter I’d wanted to do several years earlier, and I finally

from a scan of the

got a chance to do it. I always thought it was an interesting idea, and others have clearly agreed. [laughs] I’ve

original cover proof,

always been a very organic writer; I sort of feel my way

courtesy of Jason

into the stories and feel my way through them. I don’t

Greenfield of SatchJ3

sit back and do all this pre-thinking. I sometimes figure

Art, Comics, and

out what kind of character I want to write about—the

Collectibles (http://

personality—but every character, especially in a series,

stores.ebay.com/SATCH

is in a constantly evolving process. You watch any

J3-ART-COMICS-AND-

character over a period of several years and you’ll dis-

COLLECTIBLES).

cover there are changes, and sometimes, if it’s done well, slow evolution in their characterization.”

© 2005 DC Comics.

It’s only fitting that the creator of a man of a thousand identities was more focused on vivid characters than abstract themes, but Wein still set challenges for himself (and Giordano) with settings and situations, keeping a list of occupations to spark ideas for stories

Explosive Pacing

about the many worlds Chance could pass through.

A hallmark of Len

“When you pitch a television series,” Wein reasons, “and they like the basic idea, but it’s a ‘gimmick’ idea

Wein’s Human Target

like the Human Target is, the first thing they ask you is,

tales was their brisk

‘Okay, so what’s Episode 17?’ The trick is to be able to

setups, a necessity

come up with a concept that can sustain itself. So I

given their short

wanted interesting occupations—and visual ones. An

page counts. This

accountant isn’t going to be an exciting story, but a

installment was

big-game hunter, a deep-sea diver, even a cross-country

penciled by Howard

trucker, there were things that gave you action to start

Chaykin. From the

off with, and you could work your way back from there.

original art from

Or, not action, but interesting situations; one I really

Detective Comics #483

liked was the symphony conductor; the problem is, ‘I’m

(Apr.–May 1979).

gonna be standing in a room with my back to 3,000

Courtesy of Spencer

people, any one of whom could try to kill me.’” [laughs]

Beck (www.theartists

In fact, it was only in the shadowy forces of the market

choice.com).

that the Target could meet his match; as Wein remem© 2005 DC Comics.

bers, the rotating-backups device was judged not to be

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short-lived 1992 show strangely starred idol-of-thou-

"The Cat and the Canary Contract"

sands Rick Springfield as Chance (perhaps because, when

Page 1 of the

Streethawk star Rex Smith was busy). Wein has more nice

the ex-heartthrob acting agency was called, Daredevil/ things to say about the show than those of us who (full

Target’s B&B #143

disclosure) never actually saw it:

debut. Courtesy

“The TV show made one slight change in the

of Spencer Beck.

character that I wish I had thought of: He charged you ten percent of a year’s income, whether you were a

© 2005 DC Comics.

dishwasher or the head of AT&T. I had more of an arbitrary rate; he took on an assignment for a big-game hunter who was such a pain in the ass that he charged the guy twice what he planned to, and he took on a case for another guy who was essentially homeless and charged him a quarter. But he had to get paid something; [laughs] that was part of what he was.”

Other parts began to be added to Chance’s character in a one-shot tie-in comic published in 1991 (when the TV series was originally expected to debut). It was written

by Mark Verheiden, drawn by Rick Burchett, and inked working for Action, and “the series sort of died at that point. But [editor] Paul Levitz liked it enough to use it in The Brave and the Bold; then, when that book made an adjustment [to a shorter format], they moved it over to Detective Comics, which was really where the Human Target belonged from the beginning! So the character

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having a hand in almost every Human Target appearance to this point). And it was in this book that Chance’s personality started its evolution from the suave eccentric of Wein’s original conception to the hard-bitten social misfit known to more recent readers.

That second Chance was written by Peter Milligan

kept surviving.”

© 2005 DC Comics.

once again by Giordano (who upheld a tradition of

And he could have survived some more, but for the

in the ongoing series which ran from 2003–2005 under

lack of any spot for his series in an era of shrinking

DC’s Vertigo imprint, and which was in this journalist’s

page-counts, and so by late 1980 Christopher Chance

opinion the finest book then being published by either

had parted ways with his starring vehicle and its found-

of the Big Two. In it, Chance is a man of fierce morali-

ing creative team—though, true to his stealthy talents,

ty but one dangerously unmoored from a coherent

he would keep appearing from time to time where he was

identity of his own, vividly drawn but somehow both

least expected (impersonating Bruce Wayne to protect

more and less than human, his many faces holding a

Batman’s secret identity, playing a part in the cosmic

recriminating mirror to our own shifting impulses and

convolutions of Crisis on Infinite Earths, etc.). “There are

self-deceptions, his retributions seeming like the acts of

stories we never got around to doing,” Wein confirms,

a corrupt society’s disembodied, vengeful conscience.

and Giordano enthuses that “I’d [still] accept an assign-

Where Wein kept a list of interesting occupations,

ment to do the Human Target in a heartbeat. Most cre-

Milligan seemed to keep one of public pathologies, as

ative writers know that plot comes from character, and

Chance moved through the lives of false-prophet

I always felt that we would never run out of story ideas

evangelists, fugitive stockbrokers, and lots worse. The

or have to get silly because we ran dry.”

results were riveting and the insights important, though

In any case, after the Wein/Giordano era the master

it was a far cry from Wein and Giordano’s confident,

of disguise’s next major appearance was not as a comic-

good-humored hero-for-hire; I wondered what they

book hero, but being played as one on television: a

thought of it.

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“Like most writers,” Giordano replies, “I never read

heroes, and I’ve always written about heroes. They

a comic series that I was involved with in a creative

may have compulsions, they may have neuroses, but I

way, after I’ve left the series. It would be too painful

don’t think any of them have ever had psychoses—

and would lead to the inevitable comparisons that

including my Batman. The current Batman is as psy-

would frustrate.” Wein, however, has followed Chance’s

chotic as they come; my Batman was never that. He

further performances, including the newest comic: “It’s

was neurotic, but he wasn’t psychotic.” [laughs]

gotten better,” he said of the book (which was yet to

But regardless of how he may change, and how his

end its run at the time of our interview). “I didn’t like

creators may view him as he does, the Human Target’s

a lot of the almost-psychopathic aspects of what they

many lives speak to the relevance of the character and

did to the character in the beginning, but Milligan has

the durability of the concept, no matter what face he

backed off to some degree on a lot of that and I think

shows to the world.

it’s a much better strip for it now. I write about

© 2005 DC Comics.

Last Shot Dick Giordano’s eye-catching Human Target pinup from Who’s Who in the DC Universe #4 (Nov. 1990). © 2005 DC Comics.

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This 2001 Jon Sable commission by Mike

A friend has a saying: “Hey! It was

Grell was contributed

Stewart ics Savant” m o C e h T “ b y Tom

the ’80s!” This is something he uses to explain away

for publication by Roland Reedy.

everything from Ronald Reagan to Flock of Seagulls to

both.) Ah, yes, the ‘80s! It was only 15 years ago (depend-

Rambo III. Usually he’ll throw in a headshake or a shoulder

ing on where you start) and is now being remembered

shrug, or both. (Most of what he defends would call for

© 2005 Mike Grell.

all over again on VH1. Over and over again, usually by people you’re not quite sure were truly aware of the ‘80s at the time. For most it was a decade that seemed mostly to start out not wanting to be the ‘70s, especially in music and in fashion (they kept repeating the same formulas in TV, though, until MTV and Miami Vice, then they just repeated those, but I digress). For comics it was about not wanting to repeat the “business as usual” mantra that had typified the previous 40 years. Self-publishing, and true independent publishing (meaning not DC or Marvel), had been tried, failed, and tried again, and was now limping into a new decade. This was to be their decade, it was in the air. Eclipse was starting up, putting out one of the first graphic novels, Sabre, in 1978 (okay, I wussed out by saying “one of the first,” pinning down the first is one argument I don’t have space for . . . maybe in a future issue, or a meeting in a back alley where editor Michael Eury could hold my coat for me), and Pacific Comics started up with a coup, the great Jack Kirby writing and drawing Captain Victory, his first creator-owned title. It was the start of something big and exciting, and some creators stepped carefully into the water, while others had found exactly what they were looking for.

Like Mike Grell: “I was the first to sign with them, but Jack beat me to the stands!” The company was Pacific, the title was Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger. At the start of the 1980s, Mike Grell was restless with comics as the comics themselves were. Mike had created, written and drawn DC’s Travis Morgan, the Warlord. But he didn’t own it:

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“It was under the old ‘work for hire deal’ they had.”

The Warlord was one of DC’s most popular titles, a pure

was not owned by Mike Grell; Travis was owned, lock, stock and winged helmet, by DC Comics, Inc.

Burroughs-like adventure story of a savage middle earth

Mike had originally thought out Starslayer for DC.

and the modern-day man that falls into the middle of it.

He was a sort of reverse Warlord: instead of the jet pilot

The title appealed to the coveted older and younger read-

Travis Morgan falling into a primitive world, Starslayer

ers. Before Warlord, Grell had been getting plenty of fan

was a primitive man adrift in a future world. When

notice at DC, as the artist of Superboy and the Legion

approached by Pacific Comics’ Schanes brothers, Mike

of Super-Heroes:

decided to change course and throw in with Pacific. He

“I took over after a popular artist, probably the most popular Legion artist and one of their best, Dave

© 2005 DC Comics.

could own his creation, and be part of the next wave:

A Mike Grell pen,

independent comics.

ink, and watercolor

Cockrum, walked off the book!” Mike laughs. The

illustration of Jon Sable

to accept change. “There’s some that still haven’t

“I Don’t Believe in Batman.

I Don’t Do This for Free. I Get Paid.”

forgiven me for Cosmic Boy’s costume. But they were

The story is that a “certain executive” at the First Comics

full color on the site

loyal, they had heart; if they like you, they stick with you.”

would come up to would-be artists (and some pros),

of the art’s contributor,

While working at DC (Mike had a pencil in most of the

smile at them, and say, really, “I’m here to make you rich!”

Catskill Comics, at

characters that DC put out at the time), Mike man-

Such was the optimism of the early ‘80s, and the giddy

www.catskillcomics.com.

aged to sell his new strip (something he’d used for

excitement of independent comics that made many

his portfolio) “Savage World” to . . . Atlas Comics (?!).

people believe him, or want to. But the door on Starslayer:

Legion had a strong fan base that wasn’t always ready

that can be seen in

© 2005 Mike Grell.

Seems Mike didn’t think DC did well with the kind of fantasy that he envisioned with “Savage World.” He must have looked at the track record DC had with the Burroughs characters, and figured his concept would have more of a chance at the newly formed Atlas.

Now Atlas was a company partly formed in revenge, partly as an exercise in ego. Martin Goodman started the company after selling Marvel Comics, the company he’d founded over 30 years before, to Cadence Industries. He figured that the new owners would keep his son on to run Marvel. They didn’t. Goodman started his own company, put his son in, hired a bunch of people like Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Steve Ditko, and Larry Lieber, and then ran the company into a ditch.

Mike lucked out . . . sorta, when an Atlas editor called DC publisher Carmine Infantino to check up on Mike, something Mike did not want them to do. Barely had Mike finished his meeting at Atlas, barely had he walked back into the DC offices when Infantino met him in the hall, demanding an explanation of why he hadn’t offered the “Savage World” book to DC. While Carmine took a call, Mike rethought his concept, came up with a new pitch, and lobbed it at the DC publisher. Carmine swung. “Savage World,” now called The Warlord, would last over ten years, and would even get his own squat, pro wrestler-like action figure. But again, The Warlord

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The Log of the Jolly Roger was slammed shut after only six issues. Pacific Comics went

Mike conceived Jon Sable as a man haunted by guilt,

under after helping pave the way for

who smears on a battlemask of black soot from the cross

the crazy concept of “creator-owned

of his wife’s grave (“It scares the hell out of criminals!” Sable

comics.” Mike got a call from friend

says) then hunts down evil with a Mauser—for a price. His

Mike Gold who was Managing

best friend is a lonely ex-stuntman with a drinking problem

Editor at the brand-spanking new

who attaches himself to Jon and won’t let go. And after

company, First Comics. This time

failing to sell that novel, Jon turns to writing children’s books

Mike Grell would be the second

under the pen name B.B. Flemm. Books about elves who

creator signed to a new inde-

live in Central Park, and whose best friend is a wino. Sure,

pendent comics company.

© 2005 Mike Grell.

Art courtesy of Catskill Comics.

© 2005 Mike Grell.

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why not. It was really a brilliant move. Not only is it different

First Comics of Chicago

(I mean, I don’t remember it being done before), but it

signed up Mike Gold as

opens up a world of supporting-cast possibilities, not to

Managing Editor, then Joe

mention another side of what would have to be a pretty

Staton as Art Director (making

dark character.

Joe the first creator signed), there-

DC editor Julie Schwartz used to refer to the world

by beginning its run as one of the

of the Warlord as the “Grellverse.” This time Mike would

most successful independents of the

take his African bounty hunter and base him here in

‘80s—and one of the few to outlive

America. Sable would be someone who wouldn’t work

the decade (all right, I know what you’re

in the pleasant DC fictions of “Coast, Gotham, Metropolis,

thinking, it barely made into the ‘90s, and that

or Star” City, but would be part of the real world, in New

was completely on fumes. So, write your own arti-

York, as real as he could make it. Sable would be some-

cle next time). Gold then made his call to the recently

thing different, a twist on the “Bruce Wayne

available Grell.

Vengeance” formula. Bruce was a playboy by day, an

Mike had an idea. A deliberate change of pace.

avenger by night, but Sable? Sable wasn’t Batman.

And after years of drawing guys in tights beating up

“Sable was in it for the money. He had to get paid.

other guys in tights, Mike was ready to try something

Even if it wasn’t much, he got paid.” One time it was

new. He would combine his love of hunting and his

50 cents for catching an armed robber.

fascination with guns (“My gun collection is legendary

. . . And Sable could use the money.

. . . or mostly legend!”), and put into to contemporary

It’s one of those things about comics that bug people,

setting. His new hero would be a mercenary; a pentathlete

especially people who don’t read a lot of them: money.

who was part of the 1972 Olympics; a game warden in

How do they get the money to pay for the tights, cars,

Africa who, haunted by the murder of his family by poach-

the caves, the arrows? “I made Sable a mercenary, some-

ers, hunts the killers down for revenge.

one who gets paid for being a hero,” says Grell. Sable

I know. You see the problem, too? A man, whose

wouldn’t be like Bruce Wayne, “who’s just flat out rich

family is killed by crooks/terrorists/assorted bad guys, goes

and doesn’t have to work.” And in being a mercenary, he

on a killing spree, wipes them off the face of the earth,

travels to the hotspots; he doesn’t have to haunt rooftops

then turns his attention to hunting down the scum of

to find his fights. Mike: “You have Superman, who’s a

humanity. Seen it. Many, many times. Grell and Gold knew

reporter, which is just brilliant, I think, probably the

this, they had been in the adventure business too long

best occupation for a hero because he’s always there

not to know the readers would have seen this coming

one the spot, or he’ll hear about it first, and Peter Parker,

and would be a mile ahead of them along the expec-

Spider-Man, who’s employed by the Daily Bugle to take

tation path. Grell would have to make his bounty hunter—

pictures of Spider-Man!”

his mercenary—different. His mercenary didn’t start out

Before the money from the books came in, Sable

to be a mercenary. He became one after failing to sell

would have to turn to what he knew—hunting down

© 2005 Mike Grell.

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his adventure novel.

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people any way he could. And now that he’s a successful children’s author, who knows? He could make more money than Bruce Wayne. But first, as Faulkner might say, he must “endure.”

Storm Over Eden Sable’s origin is spread over four issues, #3–6. Grell drops hints about Sable’s past in the first two issues, while introducing the supporting cast: Captain Winters, the African-American policeman who is hunting Sable; Eden

© 2005 Mike Gre ll.

Kendall, Sable’s book agent and on again, off again lover; and the illustrator of his books, Myke Blackmon, a woman who’s going to figure prominently in the book as the issues pile up. Grell takes his time to set things up, make

Tim Vigil’s

you care about Sable, make you care about the family

interpretation of

that he loses. He frames the four issues of the origin around

Jon Sable, courtesy

Myke Blackmon, the illustrator who discovers Sable’s dou-

of Mike Fleming.

ble life in issue #1, reading the first rejected novel Jon wrote, A Storm Over Eden. It tells the tale of Sable meeting his wife Elise, a gymnast, during the ‘72 Olympics, their

he’d done years earlier, by writing the story of the

romance and marriage, then their moving to her native

experiences. Only no one is buying. Not even a little. Well,

Africa, where Jon tries to start his own “white hunter”

except one agent, Eden Kendall, who sees some promise

safari business. He also, to make extra money to support

in the stories of the wee folk he tells his children at bed-

his growing family of two children and Elise, decides

time. She signs him up as a children’s author, just as he

to join the game wardens, which in Africa means he’s

decides to return to being a mercenary. Both careers take

fighting the million-dollar illegal poaching business. A

off at once, giving him his double life, and a blond curly

very dangerous group of killers, as Jon finds out.

wig and mustache to wear at book signings. Whew! I told

A few years later, the killers come to take revenge on Sable, only he’s not home. They choose his wife and

Art © 2005 Tim Vigil.

Jon Sable © 2005 Mike Grell.

you it was four issues!

Jon Sable was a man of action, but that wasn’t always

children instead. When he arrives, his family is dead. He

the emphasis. Some issues were mood and character

buries them, burns his house to the ground, uses his

pieces, exploring the character’s thoughts and moti-

tracking skills to hunt down the killers, and kills them.

vations. One story, #19’s “Prey,” went for the first 14 pages

Brutally. One killer he stakes with a knife over a hill of

without dialogue. (While I hate articles that just regurgitate

soldier ants, so he’ll talk and lead Sable to the higher ups.

each storyline from a title [like I did for three paragraphs

When he does talk? Sable walks away, telling him it’ll

already], I’m afraid I’m going to have to review some

probably take several hours for the ants to eat enough

here.) The story finds Jon back in Africa, running from

to kill him. This is definitely not Batman.

the bounty hunters that want the price on his head. He

When Sable has the group hunted down and killed,

ends up back at the house of his former in-laws, literal-

he takes his face paint and weapons and hunts down

ly down to his last bullet, and is forced to confront not

other killers and scum, right? No, he becomes a boozer

only his own guilt over the death of his wife, but his

and frequent drunk tank resident, until he’s recruited by

father-in-law, the man who blames him for the death

on old Olympic rifle buddy to become a mercenary, a

of his only daughter. The issue explores Jon’s reasons for

soldier-for-hire in the worst of Africa’s hotspots. When

his anger, and how he’s afraid of what its fading could

betrayed and nearly killed, he’s kicked out of Africa, and

mean. Grell doesn’t tell you why Jon is in Africa, but you

comes home to America, and tries to return to the writing

get the idea that his growing feelings for Myke, and his

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© 2005 Mike Grell.

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IDW Publishing’s

love for the writing he pretends to have no real care

first volume of

for (“They pay me, pure and simple”) are fueling doubt in

Jon Sable, Freelance

his mission. He’s in Africa to feel his family once again

reprints includes the

and to touch his anger over being left alive: as Jon says,

mercenary’s origin.

“. . . to live with the horror . . . and the emptiness of

Mike Grell’s penciled

memories and dreams that will never come true.”

version of the TPB’s

Jon leaves his in-laws’ house, also leaving the ammo

cover (right) is

he came for. Wordlessly, his father-in-law picks up the

courtesy of

ammo and his own gun, kisses his wife, and follows Jon out the door. There the comic ends.

Catskill Comics.

“I got a bunch of letters asking ‘What happens next?’, © 2005 Mike Grell.

but that’s not the story,” Grell remembers. Sable may have been following the second or third oldest profession (killing people for money), but Grell strove at all times to make him contemporary: “I got most of the stories from the newspapers, from the headlines.” Sable took on terrorists planning to blow up New York by parking a nuclear bomb outside the U.N. (I winced when recently re-reading this one, I’m afraid), defecting Russian dancers, Olympic bombings, and terrorists hijacking planes and killing all on board. Most of this was before terrorists

© 2005 Mike Grell.

became a big part of our lives. As the series evolved,

Today article called “R-Rated Comics,” treating

Sable evolved as well. Myke Blackmon and Jon began a

American Flagg! like some kind of pervert manual) for

relationship after circling each other for 27 issues. Jon

a “Mature Readers” label. There were almost constant

began to reassess his path and his own humanity.

Grell’s art was undergoing a similar

letters in the cols about the level of violence in Sable. Any problem with the labeling controversy?

transformation: “I can tell you right where

“No, not that I recall. The first thing, children didn’t

it was, between drawing the cover for

read my comics. We did a survey that said the reader-

Sable #1 and #2. I picked up the

ship for Sable was between 18 and 35, [and had what was

books by Joseph Clement Coll (The

then] middle income . . . I don’t think most kids would

Magic Pen of. . .) and Paul Calle

have been interested.”

(The Pencil). After that, I finally got Bernie Wrightson! I mean it, I thought, ‘Oh, this is what the fans see!’”

Grell’s art became looser, more

Unless maybe it got stocked next to Bugs Bunny . . . “[laughs] Well, there is that!”

Did some of the controversy over American Flagg! have any impact on your work on Sable: “Oh, yeah, yeah it did. I was mad! I got censored because of [Flagg]!

expressive: “I wanted to get more

I had worked for two years on the relationship between

of a pencil feel, a more immediate

Myke Blackmon (the children’s book illustrator) and Sable.

feel to it. I started drawing on Mylar,

I didn’t have them just jump in the sack, I worked to

then later vellum, doing overlays, any-

build up the trust between the two characters, bringing

thing to keep the spontaneity.”

it along before they could commit to this relationship.

I wrote and drew the issue, and sent it off to the publish-

Damn American Flagg! © 2005 Mike Grell.

Art courtesy of Catskill Comics.

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ers. Well, what I didn’t know was that we had changed

During the ‘80s, during the time of the independ-

printers. [The new printers] were the same people that

ents, there was a call by some (I remember a Psychology

printed all of [Rev.] Billy Graham’s stuff, [primarily] a reli-

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gious printer. They got a look at an issue of American

Aragonés (in issue #33, Sergio brings Flemm’s elves to

Flagg! rolling off the presses and said ‘Oh, my God! What

life)! He even took time to visit the real Africa, going

is this?!’ When they got my issue, they refused it.”

on a safari and publishing a diary of the trip (and

Mike had drawn bare breasts. The gunshot wounds and blood? Fine, but bare breasts. . .

some truly beautiful pencil drawings) in the back of Sable. For a comic all about the struggles of man with

What happened to Mike’s sensitive portrayal of the Jon and Myke encounter?

his dark, violent nature, you wouldn’t think a hunt-

Grell’s gripping original

ing trip would cause much stir, would you? Mike?

“They censored it, without telling me! Yes, ‘I drew bare

cover art to 1984’s Jon

“I got all these letters from people about my hunting

breasts’! I drew an encounter between two adults. They

and shooting animals. They completely missed the fact

Sable, Freelance #13,

[First] butchered it.” If you check out the issue in question

that I killed 150 people in an airplane crash at the begin-

courtesy of Jim Warden.

(#27’s “Torch Song”), you’ll see Myke suddenly wear-

ning of the issue!”

© 2005 Mike Grell.

ing a nightgown she didn’t have in the panel before: “Yeah, the poorly drawn nightgown, and then they drew Myke and Jon in this sleeping bag thing.”

Covering up Jon’s bare bottom. One of the few times someone else has to cover Jon Sable’s ass.

One of the fan favorite (and one that was somewhat controversial) stories was #12–13’s “M.I.A.,” about Jon, the former Vietnam vet, going back to find the son of his friend Sonny Pratt, the son who’d been missing since his plane had crashed 14 years before. Jon spends two issues, slipping back into ‘Nam (this was before the normalization of relations), and with his team, hunting down the crash site. They find the remains of Sonny’s boy, but no living M.I.A.s. Something Rambo would do a couple years later. How was the reaction to “M.I.A.”?

“Positive, very positive. I mean, we didn’t know that much about (the real-world “M.I.A.” issue) at the time.” Vietnam was still a sore subject (and is to this day), and the stories of M.I.A.s were just getting broad exposure in the press. Mike didn’t feel the explicit “here’s a bunch of prisoners and I’m going to free them” approach would work for Sable. Sable can help one man find an ending, but can’t help a country find closure. Remember, he ain’t a super-hero.

Mike used humor throughout the series, alternating some of the heavier storylines with ones that sent Sable on a hunt for the missing Maltese Falcon, and col© 2005 Mike Grell.

laboration with Sergio

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Another fan and personal

“Backstage Pass” on TV’s Sable.]

favorite is Sable #20, “The

Grell’s impression of the show: “Yeah, they wouldn’t

Rookie.” In the issue, Sable is

listen to me. I had meetings where they would tell me

shot by a rookie patrolman

why my character was all wrong. They made him the

while trying to stop a robbery.

‘children’s author by day, avenger by night.’ They really

Mike: “The cop doesn’t say

focused on the ‘double life’ aspect. . . they didn’t get it.”

‘Police,’ he just says ‘Freeze.’”

Rene Russo played Eden Kendall at least, and she’s

The patrolman empties his

still Mike’s pick for a movie version. If that ever takes off.

gun into Sable, wounding him

So many ifs maybes and couldas in the comics biz. Like life.

five times. Sable doesn’t fire, although he has the cop dead

Sable Returns

in his sights. He even covers

Jon Sable, Freelance ran for 56 issues at First, then came

for the patrolman with the

back as Sable, this time without Mike Grell. It continued

review board. As Sable says:

for another 27 issues, until 1990, becoming one of First

“Someone once told me I

Comics’ longest-running titles.

wouldn’t last a week if I had

But wither now Jon Sable?

to play by your rules. He was

Sable came back in an unexpected place: a novel.

right.” What was the reac-

In 2000, Grell and Tor Books put out Sable, a novelization

tion to this story?

of the Sable origin story and a fulfillment of two of Grell’s

“Down the street from the

goals: bring back Sable and write and publish a novel.

Grell’s penciled

First offices, there in Chicago, was the police precinct.

Sable also had a guest appearance in another of Mike’s

cover art for

The cops would drop by every week or so, to check up

comic books, Shaman’s Tears from Image. Fan (and Grell)

the second issue

on things, but really to get some free comics. So on

favorite Maggie the Cat, the sly jewel thief who made

of the new Jon Sable,

the day the ‘The Rookie’ came out, the cops dropped

several tantalizing appearances in the original run, also

Freelance miniseries.

by like usual, got their comics, then headed back to

Courtesy of

the precinct. They came back and asked for more!

They got a case of the issue and passed ‘em out. I

Catskill Comics.

can’t think of a better compliment than that.” © 2005 Mike Grell.

So Good It Lasted Seven Whole Episodes!

Sable wasn’t (and wouldn’t be) only confined to comics.

Mike got the joy/pain of seeing Jon Sable turned into a TV series. A pretty poor TV series: “Oh, yeah, that!”

The series was originally slated to star KISS frontman Gene Simmons, and he started filming for a week, before being replaced by Louis Van Bergen. Sable has a blind sidekick, a black man named “Cheesecake.” Do we need to say more? [We do: See the accompanying

(Right) Grell earned his stripes on this penciled cover for IDW Publishing’s second volume of

© 2005 Mike Grell.

reprints of the original Jon Sable, Freelance series.

Courtesy of Catskill Comics. © 2005 Mike Grell.

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got her own comic at Image . . . but only

There’s no shortage

for two issues.

of detail in Mike Grell’s

“We lost our asses! Can I say that?

astounding pencil art

We looked at the numbers, and we just

for the first issue of the

couldn’t keep it going. We were losing

new Jon Sable, Freelance

about $4,000 an issue. I’d love to finish it,

miniseries. Art courtesy

though.”

of Catskill Comics.

Make a great trade paperback. . . © 2005 Mike Grell.

“Yeah, it would.”

“The Right Kind of Hero for Today’s World.”

Jon Sable is back in the comics shops.

Grell, Gold, and Sable have, as of this writing, returned in a six-issue miniseries from IDW, which started in March 2005.

Also, the old has gone shoulder to shoulder with the new—yep, the original series has been collected in both trade-paperback and signed-and-numbered editions, released in March.

“Not only is Sable my favorite among all the characters I’ve ever created, he’s also the right kind of hero for today’s world—less than perfect but doing his best, willing to face any danger for what’s right, and absolutely relentless when he’s on the hunt.”

You know, they’re all gone now, Pacific, Eclipse, Comico, and First Comics, collapsed under the weight of rampant expectations and crappy business practices leaving some headshaking crazy stories behind. But the characters

Sable’s back . . .

live on. GrimJack is back (also from IDW), Mark Evanier’s

thanks to IDW Publishing.

DNAgents and Crossfire (his masterpiece, IMO) were recent-

Art courtesy of

ly collected, and and now Sable is hunting once again.

Catskill Comics.

Hey. The ‘80s are back. No headshaking required.

© 2005 Mike Grell.

A big thanks to Mike Grell for giving me his thoughts on Sable and being so generous with his time. I’ve used several sources for info, from Mike Grell’s website (Mikegrell.com) to Mike Richardson and Steve Duin’s weighty tome Comics Between the Panels, and Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs’ book The Comic Book Heroes.

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Brian K. Morris

Few comic-book translations to live action are as faithful as Juliet to Romeo. For every cinematic Spider-Man, there’s Billy Batson in an RV. But in song, faithful in its own fashion, faithful in its own way.

Producer/writer/director Gary Sherman developed Mike Grell’s Jon Sable Freelance for the small screen following the success of Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987), a movie adaptation of the old television series. To bring Sable to life, Sherman turned to comics fan/musician/ entrepreneur Gene Simmons. During Simmons’ brief acting career, he’d portrayed villains, except for the rock-and-roll-all-nite “Demon” in KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Aside from Sable being a starring role, Simmons was used to working in heavy facepaint.

Sherman adhered to the comic’s core concept: Former Olympian Jon Sable lost his wife and children to poachers while living in Africa. Returning to the United States to sell his autobiography, Sable became an urban mercenary, taking only jobs that appealed to his strong sense of justice. However, the bedtime stories for his kids from the manuscript and published under a pseudonym turned Sable into a top-selling children’s author.

But while the character retained his basic “Sable-ness,” there were changes. This Sable carried an unloaded handgun only for intimidation. Haunted by the memory of his family and those he slew in revenge, Sable confessed, “I can’t stand to watch people pretend to kill each other (on screen) because it brings back the memory of what I did

. . . I’ve lived my life since then wanting to die.” And many of Sable’s scripts involved

perils to children, his admitted weak spot.

Gone was the Harpo wig and mustache of “B.B. Flemm,” whose name appeared in the titles of Sable’s books. Framed for the murder of his own family, Sable hid from the law behind the glasses of “Nicholas Flemming.” After all, eyewear concealment worked for Clark Kent, and the Fugitive scenario was a TV staple since David Janssen first spied the One-Armed Man. Instead of simple black turtleneck and slacks, this Sable wore a hood and vest, while his “battlemask” wasn’t the angular greasepaint of the comics. Instead, camouflage facepaint washed across his face in ebony waves, a look soon reflected in the comic.

Informant, hacker, and exposition provider, Joe “Cheesecake” Tyson (played by Ken Page) was introduced. A frustrated stand-up comic with carbon-dated material, he carried a personal laugh track in his pocket and could be swayed with desserts, hence his nickname.

Former model and future movie star René Russo played Eden Kendell, Sable’s agent and now-love interest. Holly Fulger’s Myke Blackmon was an artist who dressed like an © 1987 ABC-TV. Jon Sable, Freelance © 2005 Mike Grell

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© 1987 ABC-TV.

its brief time on television, Sable was like the old

© 1987 ABC-TV.

© 1987 ABC-TV.

© 1987 ABC-TV.

Ken Page as Cheesecake, upscale Cyndi Lauper. Marge Kotlisky rounded out the team

Only seven episodes were shown, starting November 7,

René Russo as

as Cynthia, the publishing firm’s non-surnamed receptionist.

1987, with Gary Sherman having a writing or directorial

Eden Kendell,

Where Grell used the entire planet as his backdrop,

hand in most of them. The final episode aired on January 2,

and Holly Fulger

1988, ending with the public “death” of Jon Sable.

as the totally ’80s

Sable was set and filmed in Chicago, using various Windy City landmarks and fixtures, including “Munden’s Bar” and Wasteland co-writer Del Close in a walk-on as Flemming’s publisher, Mr. Middlebury.

And though the television run was cut short, plans later The July 24, 2000 issue of Daily Variety reported that

After filming the pilot in the winter of 1986, ABC

Gene Simmons optioned Sable, intending to produce it

viewed it and demanded one change before they’d air

with Pacifica Entertainment, Chris Dubrow, and Moritz

the series: Gene Simmons. So Gary Sherman cast Lewis Van

Borman. At the 2002 Motor City Con, Mike Grell reported

Bergen in the title role. Simmons later claimed he wasn’t

that Simmons purchased his screenplay, although Steven

interested in doing anything more than the pilot film any-

DeSouza (Die Hard 2, Judge Dredd) did a fresh version

way, citing conflicts with his KISS work.

later. Scheduled to start production in 2001, the events

Van Bergen’s film work included The Passover Plot

of 9/11 soured studio interest in a violent film set on the

and Stir Crazy along with TV roles in The Dukes of Hazzard,

streets of New York. Eventually, Simmons and Pacifica

MacGyver, Airwolf, and a once-aired Modesty Blaise pilot.

dropped out and if there are still plans to revive Sable,

Although Van Bergen appeared in other roles, this would

nothing has been announced.

be his only TV lead. His Sable spoke in a menacing stage

But could Sable one day return to live action, just as

whisper that Michael Keaton used later in Batman. Balancing

he has in comic form? As well-wishers placed flowers on

the tormented intensity of Sable and the easy charm of

Sable’s TV grave, Eden asked, “Is Sable really dead?”

Flemming, the scripts played up the dichotomy between the two personalities, ably aided by Van Bergen.

Myke Blackmon

materialized to bring Sable to a bigger screen.

In response, Flemming gave his grim prophecy, “Jon Sable will never die.”

Sable Episode Guide (courtesy of the Internet Movie Database) Episode #1.1: "Toy Gun" (airdate 11/1/87) Guest cast includes Lara Flynn Boyle and Alex Ross (not that Alex Ross!)

Episode #1.4: "Serial Killer" (airdate 11/28/87) Guest cast includes Del Close Episode #1.5: "Copycat" (airdate 12/5/87)

Episode #1.2: "Hunt" © 1987 ABC-TV. Jon Sable, Freelance © 2005 Mike Grell

(airdate 11/14/87)

Episode #1.6: "Watchdogs" (airdate 12/12/87):

Episode #1.3: "Evangelist" (airdate 11/21/87)

Episode #1.7: "Mob" (airdate 1/2/88):

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Don’t Ask— You Can’t Buy It Jack Kirby’s pencil rough for the unpublished second issue of In the Days of the Mob, courtesy of The

By the early 1970s, comics were facing an uncertain future.

Newsstand exposure was dwindling and, whether as cause or consequence, sales were falling. The boost that Marvel had brought about by reaching out to the college audience—not to mention any interest spawned by the short-lived success of the Batman TV show—had faded.

Comics publishers were desperately trying to find that elusive “something” that would bring back their readership.

Black-and-white (B&W) comics magazines had been around as a niche market since the 1950s when E.C. switched its highly popular MAD comic to a magazine format.

While E.C.’s other experiments in that direction (the “Picto-Fiction” magazines) quickly faded from view, MAD went on to ever greater success becoming something of a publishing phenomenon.

In the mid-1960s, James Warren began publishing his magazine Creepy. Essentially a black-and-white re-creation of the E.C. horror line using many of the same creators, Creepy proved a reasonable success.

A sister publication, Eerie, along with

Jack Kirby Collector. © 2005 DC Comics.

© 2005 E.C.

Publications.

© 2005 Marve l Characters,

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Allan Harve

y

titles such as Blazing Combat, 1984, and, of course, Vampirella, ensured Warren his place as the premier publisher of black-and-white fare.

Perhaps inspired by Warren’s success, Marvel decided to publish a B&W magazine in 1968. Spider-Man was their bestselling character at the time and so was chosen to launch what was hoped to be a new line of magazines. Sadly, the time was not right, and The Spectacular Spider-Man sank without trace on the newsstands. A second issue was eventually published, but this time in color; it fared no better than its predecessor.

In 1971, Marvel tried another B&W title: Savage Tales.

They clearly felt that sufficient time had passed since the earlier magazine’s failure to risk another attempt. However, it should also be noted that, during the previous year, Marvel production chief Sol Brodsky had left the company to co-found Skywald, publisher of B&W horror magazines with titles such as Psycho, Scream, and Nightmare. In response to a recent email query, then-Marvel editor Roy Thomas explains that Brodsky “. . . saw [the B&W magazines] as a way to avoid [the content restrictions of] the Comics Code.”

It’s probable that the rise of Skywald was instrumental in Marvel’s decision to go into B&W magazine production.

The lack of Code supervision also seems to have held some appeal for the publisher. James Warren himself viewed Marvel’s sudden interest in B&W magazine production to be something of a personal slight. “James Warren was livid about this competition,” continues Thomas, “since he understandably saw it as a threat to his very existence.”

Savage Tales was not an immediate hit (the second issue didn’t hit the stands for almost two years!), but by the middle of the decade most of the major comics publishers had their own line of B&W magazines. Marvel alone had a dozen titles, mainly in the horror field, largely aping Warren’s output.

Having been burned once, the company was less than enthusiastic about trying superheroes in the new format, so the magazines remained largely costume-free.

Charlton Comics hedged its bets by using its B&W line to spotlight licensed properties such as Space: 1999 and The Six Million Dollar Man. Even young upstart Atlas made sure to have a range of magazines during its short life.

Why the sudden popularity of B&W production? The answer is two-fold: Firstly, costs could be saved if printing books without color; and, secondly, sales figures could be lower and the book still remained in profit. This came about because the magazines were able to benefit from a higher cover price than the regular fourcolor comics. The higher price being justified on the basis that they were aimed at a more mature audience, and on the already-established price points set for non-comics magazines. As Roy Thomas points out, “That’s why, at least for the duration of the latter 1970s, Savage Sword of Conan was probably just about Marvel’s biggest money-maker, even while Conan the Barbarian was one of its top-selling color books.”

The Human Torch Combustible pencil art from the unpublished Spirit World #2, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. © 2005 DC Comics.

© 2005 E.C.

Publications.

Inc. l Characters, © 2005 Marve

Kirby is Coming!

Meanwhile, ever mindful of the declining sales of regular comics, DC was experimenting with various—and often novel—formats for their output. They published 100-page comics, tabloid comics, digest comics . . . but they never really got into B&W magazines, even though, by that time, everyone else was having some success with the format.

In actual fact, DC did have a brief flirtation with B&W; “brief” being the operative word!

A disaffected Jack Kirby left Marvel in 1970 and arrived at DC brimming with ideas. For probably the first time in his 30-year career he was being given carte blanche to create the type of books he wanted. Living out on the West Coast he was to be his own boss, editing and over-

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s. © 2005 DC Comic

seeing his own line of comics, receiving what he hoped would be as little interference as possible from his masters in New York.

Working at the peak of his considerable powers, Kirby quickly set to work creating a unified line of comics: the Fourth World [New Gods, Mister Miracle, etc.]. At the same time, he wanted to expand the outlook for comics, moving beyond what he saw as the limitations of the traditional four-color format. Kirby had a vision of a line of magazines that would feature the highest production values, flashy advertising, glossy pages, short stories by name authors, and, most importantly, color comic strips. “Jack never liked B&W comics,” says Mark Evanier, who was an assistant to Kirby at around this time.

Kirby dubbed his proposed line of magazines the “Speak-Out” series, and initially submitted three titles to DC for their approval: Spirit World, In the Days of the Mob, and True Divorce Cases.

Not as excited about the “Speak-Out” material as Kirby was, DC rejected True Divorce Cases, perhaps because it wasn’t quite the “romance” book they had been

Buffy the Heartache Slayer A page from Jack Kirby’s unpublished Soul Love #1, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. © 2005 DC Comics.

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expecting. Work progressed on Spirit World and In the Days of the Mob, but the magazines were quickly downgraded to a B&W newsprint format, probably due to DC’s desire to match the look of Marvel and Skywald’s output. Kirby was disappointed but remained professional and produced the work to the best of his abilities.

Spirit World, when finally published, proved to be a magazine similar in tone to Creepy and Eerie. It featured supernatural, often terrifying, events being investigated by a certain Dr. E. Leopold Maas, who also acted as the magazine’s “host.” In this latter capacity, the bearded, rather earnest, Maas performed a function akin to that of the Crypt-Keeper in EC’s books, or Uncle Creepy in the Warren magazines.

On the face of it, In the Days of the Mob seems to have been an odd choice of subject matter. It deals with events, some real, some fictitious, from the Prohibition era: the Roaring Twenties and Thirties. However, just a few years previously, Bonnie and Clyde (1968) had been a big movie hit, and within a year of the publication of In the Days of the Mob, The Godfather brought audiences flocking to the theaters.

It should also not be forgotten that Kirby was born and raised during these turbulent times. Coming as he did from an underprivileged background in New York’s Lower East Side, Kirby knew his subject thoroughly—after all, he’d seen much of it going on around him as he grew up!

Like Spirit World, In the Days of the Mob had its own host: Warden Fry. Looking not unlike a bank manager, the pinstripe-suited Fry administered the inmates of Hell, here cleverly depicted by Kirby as a giant penitentiary. As Fry called forth each inmate, so we got to see the story of their nefarious deeds on Earth. Al Capone was featured heavily.

Published in the latter half of 1971, both Spirit World and In the Days of the Mob failed to find an audience.

Promotional posters were produced for retailers to help push the books, but it’s doubtful whether these made any difference. Indeed, it has been suggested that the books may have found their way to only a few outlets due to distributor indifference. Also, being neither comics nor true magazines, finding an ideal place to rack the books proved difficult: Comic fans weren’t expecting to look through the magazine section, whilst the potential “mature” magazine audience were hardly going to be aware of the new books if they were placed with the kids’ comics.

DC ran few advertisements in its regular four-color line, but otherwise seemed to have little faith in the new magazines. The “DC bullet” appears nowhere on the cover of either book, and readers were left to believe that an outfit named “Hampshire Distributors Ltd.” was responsible for its publication. The indicia does, however, list Kirby as editor alongside then-DC Editorial Director (and soon to be publisher) Carmine Infantino, leaving the keen-

eyed observer in little doubt as to the books’ true origin.

Perhaps not surprisingly, no second issue of either magazine was published. Whether killed by poor sales or, as some claim, by having the plug prematurely pulled by decisions at publisher level, Kirby’s dream magazines were dead. But what of the rest of the line?

No Chance to Speak Out True Divorce Cases, rejected outright at the time, can now be seen with hindsight, to be some of writer-artist Kirby’s strongest work of the period. A wonky romance book, this magazine tells lurid tales of love gone wrong and offers some genuine surprises.

One of the stories prepared for True Divorce Cases featured a young black couple. In an interesting development, someone at DC decided that this was the standout feature of the book and would provide the ideal basis for a magazine aimed at a black readership. Asked to develop this idea further, Kirby produced another complete book: Soul Love.

When penciling, Kirby made each of the characters in his strips visibly ethnic, but it seems that DC once again got cold feet and some of that ethnicity was toned down in the inking. This was all ultimately to no avail, as DC once again decided to reject the finished magazine.

Little progress was made on the other intended magazines in the “Speak-Out” line. There was to have been a humor book based around the work of MAD cartoonist Sergio Aragonés, who had already contributed several pages of cartoons to both Spirit World and In the Days of the Mob. There were also tentative plans for a faux underground, somewhat risqué magazine which was at one point to be called Uncle Carmine’s Fat City Comics. Needless to say, neither book got much further than a few sample strips: Kirby’s occasionally seen “Galaxy Green” pages were intended for the Fat City mag, alongside work by such notables as Steve Ditko.

Some of the strips Kirby had prepared for the aborted books did eventually see print. The first three issues of DC’s Weird Mystery Tales carried stories intended for the second issue of Spirit World, and a further one appeared in Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #6. Naturally, these four tales were printed in color. A single story from In the Days of the Mob #2 finally saw the light of day in Amazing World of DC Comics #1, printed in its original black-and-white, but even here DC had the strip re-lettered for some obscure reason. Artwork and strips from True Divorce Cases, Soul Love, and the other aborted magazines have been reproduced in various issues of The Jack Kirby Collector published by TwoMorrows.

With the failure of Kirby’s magazines, DC dropped any further ideas of attempting to exploit the B&W market opened up by Warren and Skywald. It appears that even after several years had passed, by which time Marvel

was fully into the market with a large line of books, DC still looked back to the sales disaster of the “Speak-Out” series and was reluctant to release anything else in the B&W format. “We were surprised DC didn’t do more with B&W comics,” admits Roy Thomas.

Len Wein, a writer for DC at the time and later a Marvel editor-in-chief, takes the opposite point of view: “[I was] not at all [surprised]. The B&W books were never a huge profit center for any publisher. When Jack’s efforts failed, what gain was there to try anything else?”

Former DC staffer (and “Answer Man”) Bob Rozakis concurs with Wein’s assessment: “Sales on [the Kirby magazines] were not that good and that played a large part in the decision to not jump into that market.”

While poor sales may well have been the primary reason for DC’s decision, there were possibly one or two other factors as well. Firstly, DC in the early 1970s was not really set up to produce magazines, whereas Marvel’s publisher, Martin Goodman, owned a company that had been churning out “men’s sweat” magazines for decades.

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Hard-Hitting Kirby Page 4 of the neverpublished In the Days of the Mob #2 (1971), courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. © 2005 DC Comics.

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Goodman himself was not particularly interested in publishing B&W comics magazines, however. Roy Thomas: “It was Stan [Lee] who was always the prime mover behind Marvel’s B&W [magazines].” In addition, Thomas points out that Goodman “seems to have looked for an excuse to pull the plug.”

In an email exchange, artist and writer Neal Adams, who was heavily involved with both DC and Marvel at this time, further explains the 1970s B&W magazine landscape: “Marvel was associated with a company that produced B&W men’s magazines. They had the technology and the set up. It was easy. “[James] Warren bought a company that produced B&W horror magazines, so that was the business he bought into—he just added comics to it. Later he added color [as well], which proved expensive.

“I don’t think it even occurred to DC to produce

Domestic Disturbance A penciled page from Kirby’s unpublished True Divorce Cases, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. © 2005 DC Comics.

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B&W magazines, and if not for Kirby they wouldn’t even have done that. Black and white was thought of as a backward step.”

Even though Stan Lee was keen to exploit the B&W market, Marvel trod a very cautious path at first. Roy Thomas: “Marvel edged into it pretty slowly . . . with many months between Savage Tales #1 and #2, several months between #2 and #3, etc. Savage Tales #1 was a failure because Marvel feared to push to have it displayed with Code-approved comics, since it wasn’t approved.”

This fear of the publisher’s is interesting. Though the Comics Code Authority guidelines had recently been revised, allowing for slightly more freedom in what could be shown in comics, it still cast a long shadow over the industry.

Marvel had been engaging the interest of the college reader for some years, but DC still saw itself primarily as a publisher of children’s entertainment. This reluctance to break the ties with the Code may provide us with a further reason for DC’s abandonment of B&W. True, In the Days of the Mob and Spirit World were not Code-approved, but neither were they officially DC magazines: remember Hampshire Distributors Ltd.?

If the Kirby magazines had been a success, it’s very likely that DC would have ventured more heavily into the market. Even as it was, DC reconsidered on occasion. Bob Rozakis: “The idea [of putting out more B&W books] was discussed in some editorial meetings as I recall, and there might have been some proposals put together—but it never went further than that.”

When asked what kinds of ideas were discussed in those meetings, Rozakis continues, “I don’t recall any specific details . . . but I suspect it would have included some variation on the mystery books. The Comics Code had no say in the contents of the B&W books, so being able to do a book along the lines of Creepy would have appealed to some of the editors and writers.”

This perhaps provides us with a further reason for DC’s reluctance. Did the creative personnel at DC back then actually have the desire to work on B&W magazines?

Asked, via email, if he would have enjoyed the greater freedom of a B&W Swamp Thing magazine, Len Wein replies, “Nope. I always thought color was an important part of the visual success of Swamp Thing. Besides, there was very little we were doing in the book that couldn’t be approved by the Comics Code.”

Neal Adams helped return Batman to his “creature of the night” roots in the early 1970s. Might a shadow-heavy B&W Batman magazine have been something discussed at those DC production meetings? “It never occurred to me to want to do a black-and-white Batman comic,” says Adams. “I worked quite well under the Comics Code, I was not limited. After all I had done work for Warren,

[so] if I wished to explore something else, I would have done so.”

DC artist, writer, and editor Joe Kubert concurs: “I never considered the Comics Code approval a problem, simply because I never tried to go overboard on violence or sexual illustrations. I never felt inhibited.”

Ultimately, the story of the DC B&W magazine experiment is a short one. The poor sales of Jack Kirby’s two efforts, a lack of desire to alienate the Comics Code, and little interest on the part of the DC writers and artists all contributed to DC’s failure to compete in the B&W market.

Had things been slightly different, perhaps DC might have tried a few more experiments once Marvel began publishing its line in earnest. While a reluctance to have

super-heroes in the B&W format would probably have made a Batman magazine unlikely, House of Mystery or House of Secrets would have converted nicely to the format and been handsome magazines. An Edgar Rice Burroughsinspired magazine helmed by Joe Kubert would have stood shoulder to shoulder with Marvel’s hit Savage Sword of Conan on the newsstand, bringing pulp fantasy to a wider audience. Who knows, perhaps some of these really were the greatest stories never told.

Want More Kirby?

Check out The Jack Kirby Collector #42, on sale now, for a closer look at his art for the

Writer, artist, illustrator and life-long comics fan Allan Harvey currently resides in London, but he speaks with a Welsh accent. See more of his work at www.allanharvey.net.

DC “Speak Out” series & other ’70s DC work.

sidebar sidebar sidebar sidebar sidebar sidebar

Crisis on Earth B&W Just imagine. . . In the vastness of the multiverse there are numerous—you

Joe Kubert: Kubert has the uncanny ability to produce a fully rendered

might even say infinite!—Earths. While the DC of our world published very

drawing from what seems like a very few sketchy lines. His Tarzan run was

few black-and-white magazines, perhaps things were slightly different on,

a masterpiece in the four-color format; imagine what he might have done

say, Earth B&W. Who might have been the top artists in the pages of those

given the long-form story format frequently found in B&W magazines such

imaginary mags?

as Marvel’s Savage Sword of Conan. A B&W Edgar Rice Burroughs Weird

Neal Adams: A Batman B&W magazine is one of those ideas that, in

Mars, and jungle tales. On the other hand, DC could have harkened back

hindsight, seems right. Marvel failed with the B&W Spectacular Spider-Man,

to one of Warren’s early experiments and tried a B&W war magazine built

but Spidey is not a creature of the night. The B&W magazine format would

around the exploits of Sgt Rock.

Worlds magazine would have fit the bill nicely, featuring a mix of Pellucidar,

have been an excellent showcase for the Darkknight Detective. As Adams puts it: "My approach, in anything I do, [is to try] to be different every time out. Compare each B&W Warren story I [drew] to each other and you’ll see a number of different approaches: zip-a-tone, grey markers, wash, simple ink with cross hatch, and tight wash." Indeed, in the late-1990s DC scored a sizeable hit with the Batman: Black and White project where the artists involved utilized many of these techniques to bring the shadowy world of the Batman to life.

Nestor Redondo: DC utilized the talents of the Filipino artists throughout the 1970s. Possibly the finest of these was Nestor Redondo. With his lush, heavy inking style it’s arguable that his work was better suited to the B&W format than four-color comics. If, for example, House of Mystery had been converted to a magazine, Redondo could have been its backbone, illustrating moody tales with an inevitable sting in the tail.

Michael Kaluta: The Shadow came to DC comics in the standard color format. What might Kaluta have been able to achieve given free rein in a moody B&W mag inspired by the character’s pulp roots?

Bernie Wrightson: His Swamp Thing (co-created with writer Len

Alex Toth: During his career, Toth has worked in almost every genre that

Wein) appeared simultaneously with Marvel’s own muck monster, the

comics has to offer. It’s arguable that his work looks at its best when print-

Man-Thing. The latter was featured in several B&W stories, and it’s fun to

ed in B&W; his understated mastery of form unencumbered by flat color-

imagine what Wrightson might have done with the format. His later

ing. A romance, or a sports-themed magazine showcasing Toth might have

Frankenstein book hints at what might have been possible had things been

been a roaring success.

different at DC.

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by

Peter Sande

rson

Ra’s Plays Rough Neal Adams shared with BACK ISSUE his original cover rough for Batman #232 (June 1971)— compare it to the published version, seen in the inset.

Characters © 2005 DC Comics.

Art © 2005 Neal Adams.

The Batman is one of the few super-heroes whose basic mythos is well known to the general public. When most people think of Batman’s adversaries, they think of costumed criminals, thieves, and tricksters who wreak havoc in Gotham City: the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, and the like. But in Batman Begins, Warner Bros.’ summer 2005 relaunch of its Batman movie series, the public at large is being introduced to a very different nemesis for Batman, a commanding, charismatic figure who takes not a city but the whole planet as his stage, who is as dedicated to his mission as Batman is to fighting crime, and whose ultimate goal is to remake the world: Ra’s al Ghul, the towering creation of writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams.

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THE ORIGINAL STORY In the comics, Ra’s first appeared nearly three © 2005 DC Comics.

and a half decades ago.

The saga began with Batman’s initial clashes w i th th e Lea gu e of Assassins, an arm of Ra’s worldwide network of operatives, and the League’s president, Dr. Ebenezer Darrk, who first appeared in Detective Comics #406 (Dec. 1970). The Batman tracked Darrk to his lair in Asia, where he first met Ra’s daughter Talia in Detective #411 (May 1971).

by Greg Rucka), Ra’s al Ghul has returned time and again, for over three decades, both to combat “the detective,” as he calls Batman, and to offer him further temptations to join his quest to purify the planet.

CONCEPTIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS Ra’s al Ghul has had such a powerful presence in the

time readers may feel they know the character quite

Watching “the Detective”

well. But readers are likely to have made assumptions

Ra’s al Ghul was

about Ra’s that, surprisingly, are not true. Let’s examine

an uninvited Batcave

them one by one.

guest in Batman #232.

Batman books for more than three decades that long-

THE NAME: Did Denny O’Neil coin the name “Ra’s

© 2005 DC Comics.

al Ghul”? O’Neil and Adams may be the co-creators

Having fallen out with Ra’s, Darrk had kidnapped Talia in retaliation. Batman rescued Talia, who returned the favor by killing Darrk to save Batman’s own life.

Only a month later in real time, Ra’s himself made his debut in a story written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams in Batman #232 (June 1971). After the original Robin, Dick Grayson, was mysteriously kidnapped, Ra’s al Ghul appeared in the Batcave, much to Batman’s shock. Ra’s calmly explained that he had discovered Batman’s secret identity, and proposed that they join forces to find both Robin and Talia, who he said had been abducted yet again. This led to a series of adventures around the world, ending in Batman’s discovery that it was Ra’s himself who had had Robin and Talia kidnapped in order to test Batman’s skills.

Having witnessed Batman’s prowess for himself, Ra’s declared Batman “worthy” of marrying his daughter Talia and thus becoming his son and heir.

But Batman soon learned of Ra’s ultimate goals: to wipe most of the human race off the planet and to begin civilization anew, with himself in command.

The original O’Neil-Adams storyline culminated with Batman and Ra’s’ dramatic swordfight in the desert, with Batman ultimately emerging triumphant. Yet despite his defeats and even his seeming deaths (most recently in Batman: Death and the Maidens [2003], written

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What’s in a Name?

Julius Schwartz’s editorial note in

the name of Batman’s newest adversary. © 2005 DC Comics.

every story, I would take photographs for the story:

their editor, the late Julius

essentially they would be photographs of myself. I

Schwartz, who came up

didn’t want to draw people who look like me in all

with the villain’s distinctive

the drawings. So what I would do is take my head as

name, which in Arabic means

a model and I would resculpt it in drawing, and I

“the Head of the Demon.”

made a person out of it. Girls, if I did the right kind

As for exactly why

of character, would romantically fall for him.” So this is

Schwartz and O’Neil decided

how Adams taught himself not only to draw realistic

to create Ra’s, the reason is

faces, but to keep them consistent in a story and to

lost in the mists of memory.

express the character’s personality through them. “Every

“I wish I had taken notes!”

person that I draw in a comic book,” Adams says, “is a

O’Neil exclaims. As he explains, back in the early

person that you can relate to, so that when you see him,

1970s no one thought that people over 30 years later

you know how he’s going to respond and how he’s

would want to know the details of how certain

going to be. . . And if you make those things a little

characters were created or certain stories came about.

bit of a caricature, then other people can follow.”

However, O’Neil hypothesizes that he and Schwartz

By the early 1970s, Adams continues, “I had learned

saw a need for a new Batman villain, a mastermind

that. . . I could do it without starting from a photo-

who would be different from the Joker and the other

graph. So now I could basically create a character and

costumed crooks associated with the character. “Robbing

stay consistent with the character all the way through.”

banks doesn’t cut it anymore” as O’Neil says; such

In the case of Ra’s al Ghul, Adams explains that

thieves no longer seemed to pose a sufficient threat for

“Normally when you have something like the Joker

Batman. “The business had evolved enough that we

or Sauron or these various characters, that are certainly

Detective #411 helped readers understand

of Ra’s al Ghul, but it was

had a sense of major villains and minor villains. We

based in fantasy, you have a lot of flexibility.” But, he

weren’t ever going to beat the Joker as the perfect Batman

says, Ra’s was meant to be “a character who is based in

villain. We didn’t want just another street thug with a

reality, which is sort of what our goal was at the time.

costume and a fancy name. We were going for grandeur.”

In other words, come up with a villain, like Superman

THE DEMON’S FACE: Neal Adams gave Ra’s such

has Luthor, who is in some ways the equal of Batman,

a distinctive physical appearance, so different from the

[and] not put him in a funny costume, but still make

cookie-cutter faces that so many comic-book artists

him striking.

give their characters. Was Ra’s look inspired by any

how can I take a human, and make him sufficiently

real person?

© 2005 DC Comics.

“At the time I didn’t have a visual in my mind for

striking that people will step back and go ‘Whoa!’? Now

him,” Denny O’Neil says. “It was a surprise when I saw

there are [real] human beings who are like that. If

what Neal had done with the idea, but it was a very

Sean Connery walked into the room, you’d go ‘Whoa!’

pleasant surprise.”

There are certain people who have that kind of presence.

In fact, Adams created Ra’s physical appearance entirely from his own imagination.

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“So I realized it was a bit of a difficult problem—

“So I said, ‘Well, there are things that I know that I would be impressed by. I’m impressed always by a person

Adams was well practiced in devising realistic-

with a high forehead.’ Not necessarily receding hair,

looking characters by the time he first drew Ra’s. He

but receding hair is good, too.” A high forehead is often

explains that “Before I did comic books, I had a syn-

regarded as a signifier of high intelligence, as, say, in

dicated comic strip. It was based on the Ben Casey

portraits of Shakespeare. But Adams views it differently.

television series. One of the things I did in almost

“There are some people with a high forehead who are

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not intelligent. But at least it shows that they have no

can identify deep-set eyes and can also make a person

Family Portrait

ego about ‘Oh, my forehead is too big; I’d better comb

look stupid. But there’s a way to do the same thing and

Talia and Ra’s al Ghul

hair over it.’” To Adams, for a character to display a high

make him look smart. One of the things about J’onn

in a pencil portrait

forehead demonstrates his lack of vanity. “A high fore-

J’onzz of Mars is he has a distinctive brow but he doesn’t

recreation of a panel

head means that to me that they’re a respecter of

look stupid.”

from Batman #244,

intelligence, and they don’t wish to comb their hair

In Ra’s’ case, “That would mean the rest of his face

in front of their forehead to hide the fact that they

would have to be aquiline and intelligent looking. The

have a high forehead. So a high forehead, very very

nose could be aquiline. The mouth is not romantic in

positive. It shows confidence. So I wanted to get across

any way; it’s given to sternness like, say, Sgt. Rock. And

the idea that he was what he was, and he was confident

the eyes can be deep set and the brow can be forward

in it, not ashamed or embarrassed like some teenager

and still look very intelligent.

or matinee idol. He was not looking to be Robert Redford.

“But I thought, ‘Here’s another thing I can do that

“At the same time I wanted his eyes to be very

might actually make the character even more signif-

deep and to be expressive. Well, in comic books that’s

icant: give him no eyebrows.’ I removed the eyebrows,

not quite so easy. You can set the eyes deep, but

and it really made the character striking. What has

bringing the brow forward and making it prominent,

happened in recent years is that there are people who

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courtesy of Neal Adams.

Characters © 2005 DC Comics.

Art © 2005 Neal Adams.

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“The idea was to pin down those things, even though they may be subtle, that you could describe if you were talking about a person. So you could say the same thing about Ra’s al Ghul. When he walks into a room, those dark eyes would look at you out from under these thick brows, his face drawn as if he’s lived a long time. . . . You get the feeling that he has a certain strength to his body even though he’s not bulging with muscles. He has a very strong presence, not the sort of person you want to mess with. Not afraid to look intelligent. Those are the sort of things you would say about Ra’s al Ghul.

“The fact of the matter is, this is a time-tested character now. He has no costume, sometimes he wears a cape, he doesn’t wear anything weird. But when you see him, you go, ‘Ah! Ra’s al Ghul.’ Just like when you see Professor X, you say, ‘Ah, Professor X.’ But perhaps more so.”

THE DAUGHTER’S BEAUTY: What about Talia?

Adams was not the first artist to draw her, but his version is the definitive one.

“There is a certain sexiness you can enter into a character,” Adams says, “and that was what I wanted to

Ra’s Reborn Neal Adams’ thumbnails for the last three pages of Batman #243, courtesy of the artist. Also shown:

from a European B&W reprint; courtesy of Shane Foley.

Thumbnail art © 2005 Neal Adams. Ra’s al Ghul © 2005 DC Comics.

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R a ’s a l G h u l

who exude a sexiness, and the question is, what are

and have put

those people? Well, it’s everyone that Adam Hughes

eyebrows on

draws. [laughs] But not everybody can draw that. You

him. Some-

don’t want to see steel breasts, you don’t want to see

times they’ll interpret texture lines as eyebrows, and

a lack of athleticism.

in my opinion, it takes away from the character.

that issue, scanned

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do with her, because I felt that in life you do see people

I don’t know why they do, but every time it’s done,

story page 23 from

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have drawn

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“So one of the things . . .that you know how to do, or learn how to do, is you learn to draw the same kind

“Why doesn’t he have eyebrows? Y’know, what’s

of sexiness that you may see in a girl, but replace the

interesting about that is if you don’t explain it some-

pockets of flesh with pockets of muscles that are well

times, it’s even cooler. So removing his eyebrows was

formed. Now, who can do this? Well, Adam Hughes

important to me in that it created an air of mystery.”

can do it, Frank Frazetta can do it, a few other people can

Summing up, Adams says, “Combing his hair straight

do it. I know how to do it. And so the idea was to take

back, more or less, setting his eyes deep, and [removing]

this woman, who is beautiful, and that is your first

his eyebrows and making his face very characteristic

conception of her, and make her capable. And that to

that when people looked at him, that they would

me was the most important thing, to be sexy and capa-

have that same feeling that I would have, which is

ble. In later times, as time has gone by, we’ve seen

that ‘whoa’ feeling. That’s the nature of that charac-

that same type of character in Lara Croft and other

ter. More than that, you don’t need.

people. In some ways I think of Lara Croft as a slightly

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Americanized Talia.” Hence, Adams agrees, Talia is a

That “Talia” went to the same high school as

forerunner of the action heroines who are so common

O’Neil’s son is quite a coincidence. O’Neil com-

in pop culture today.

ments, “Add to that that Batman and I were

“I don’t feel good about women being beautiful as simply the goal of their life,” Adams states. “I don’t think

both born in May of 1939 and the whole thing gets a little spooky.”

that’s an admirable trait. Creating goals for themselves

Talia does seem to be very, very proactive. You can even

THE DEMON AND THE DOCTOR

tell by looking at her. You don’t have to say ‘Is she a

In Heroes and Monsters, his book about Alan

model?’ If she did modeling, it’d probably be for an

Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Jess

ulterior motive. [laughs] She just has that look,

Nevins compiles a long list of characters that

predatory, almost.”

fit the archetype of the “yellow peril,” including

Denny O’Neil thinks that some artists have made

Marvel’s Mandarin and Yellow Claw. Sax

Talia look too much like a “showgirl.” He says, “It

Rohmer’s creation, Dr. Fu Manchu, was not the

depends on the kind of beauty you’re going

first “yellow peril” character, but he is by far

for. I’ve always seen Talia as dignified. Kind of a

the most famous, inspiring all subsequent villains

stately, Grecian statue.”

of this type. Nevins also places Ra’s on the list,

In fact, O’Neil thinks that the Greek-American actress Melina Kanakarades, who currently appears on

though Ra’s, in the comics, is Arabian, not Chinese.

the television series CSI.: New York, looks like his vision

There certainly are many parallels

of Talia. “My problem with the lady on CSI is that she’s

between Ra’s and Rohmer’s “Devil

a little too old,” he says. An even better candidate,

Doctor.” Each is

© 2005 DC Comics.

and achieving those goals makes a much better woman.

he thinks, is the actress Angie Harmon. “Harmon

a mastermind

would be just about perfect. She has that great,

who intends to

sexy voice. It’s also just about right for Talia.”

remake the planet

O’Neil also says that the 1990s Batman animat-

according to his

ed series “got her as right as she needs to be.”

vision of an ideal

The animated Talia was voiced by Helen Slater,

world. Each

who played the title role in the Supergirl

commands a

movie, and “who, to make the world

worldwide

even smaller,” O’Neil reveals, “went

network of

to my son’s high school and

assassins: in

graduated two years before he

Fu Manchu’s

did.

case, the

“Sexy and Capable” Talia reveals some of her assets in this arresting illo provided

by Neal Adams.

Characters © 2005 DC Comics.

Art © 2005 Neal Adams.

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The Four Faces of

Ra’s al Ghul

Si-Fan, and in Ra’s’ case, the League of Assassins. Each has a sultry daughter: Ra’s has Talia, and Fu Manchu has Fah So Luee. Ra’s and Fu each also has a perennial

nemesis

who

could

be

described as a detective: Batman and Sir Denis Nayland Smith, each of whom, in turn has been sexually tempted by his enemy’s daughter.

But was Ra’s al Ghul really inspired by Fu Manchu?

“That’s news to me,” replies Neal Adams, “because he”—Fu Manchu—“clearly was an Oriental.” And Ra’s al Ghul is not.

Denny O’Neil declares that “I’m certain to this day that I had never read anything

by Sax Rohmer.” His only experience of the character had been seeing Christopher Lee portray the Doctor in a movie. Yes, O’Neil edited Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu, whose hero, Shang-Chi, was Fu Manchu’s son, but O’Neil edited that series long after he co-created Ra’s. Moreover, O’Neil says, [Kung Fu writer] “Doug Moench and I didn’t get into Fu Manchu for the year or two I did that book.”

As a matter of fact, O’Neil was startled when the present interviewer told him that Fu Manchu, like Ra’s al Ghul, has a means of extending his life over centuries.

Ra’s employs his knowledge of alchemy to extend his life through the “Lazarus Pit,”

Irv Novick (top right), Don Newton (center), Michael Golden (above left) , and Jim Aparo (left) were among the artists who drew some of Ra’s al Ghul’s 1970s appearances.

and Fu Manchu and his daughter, too, sustain themselves through the “elixir vitae.”

Well, then, is it possible that the international criminal masterminds in the James Bond novels and movies influenced Ra’s?

(Bond’s enemy Doctor No is, of course, Bond creator Ian Fleming’s own variation on Fu Manchu.) “James Bond was my guilty pleasure,” O’Neil admits, but he says he was

© 2005 DC Comics.

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not thinking of Ian Fleming’s villains when

he came up with Ra’s. “I think it was more a sense of

Arabs, O’Neil says, “is the biggest hobbyhorse I’ve

beginning to understand that the grander the bad guy

got. The fact that Ra’s has an Arabic name is a coinci-

is, the grander your good guy is. Ian Fleming under-

dence. I doubt that I knew his name was Arabic when

stood the same principle.”

Julie gave me the name.”

The similarities between Ra’s and Fu Manchu,

Nor did O’Neil know anything of Arabic legend or

therefore, are accidental. Or perhaps it would be better

mythology at the time he co-created Ra’s. “All that stuff

to say that O’Neil found himself working with the same

I have learned about since. My real deep wide interest

mythic archetypes for characters and situations that

in mythology at this point goes back about ten years,

Rohmer had cast into different forms many decades

maybe twelve. But I was never really exposed to the

Pernicious Plastic Man

earlier. It was the psychologist Carl Jung who theorized

‘Arabian Nights’ or any other myth system except, I

Ra’s al Ghul, the

that humanity shares a “collective unconscious” that

suppose, the Greeks and Romans, at all, ever. I had one

action figure, from

contains these archetypal characters and situations.

teacher in college who departed from the syllabus

DC Direct.

“I don’t agree with Jung about everything,” O’Neil © 2005 DC Direct

states, “but that part of his theory seems to be irrefutable.

The archetypes exist.” The outward forms they take “may alter according to time and place, but the archetypes remain the same.” He adds, “It’s wired into our brains.”

By the way, there is an outright Fu Manchu imitation in the Batman’s rogues gallery: Dr. Tzin-Tzin, who debuted in Detective #354 (Aug. 1966), and who does not seem to have reappeared since Bill Sienkiewicz drew him in DC’s Who’s Who #7 back in 1985. And, oddly, Batman Begins bills Ken Watanabe, the Japanese actor best known to American audiences from The Last Samurai, as Ra’s as Ghul.

THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY One might also think that since Ra’s al Ghul has an Arabic name, that he is himself an Arab. But this was

long enough to give us a little Greek and Roman

not the intention of either of his creators.

mythology. I certainly didn’t read the stories that

Ra’s al Ghul that we’re talking about is not sufficiently

would be pertinent to what we’re talking about until the last ten years.”

an Arab that I would give him Arabic or Sephardic

O’Neil had not even been exposed to western pop

characteristics. On the other hand, if somebody said

culture versions of Arabian legends, like the movie The

of him he was Sephardic in characteristics, another

Thief of Bagdad. He explains, “It was never my favorite

person would be able to defend that and say, ‘That’s

kind of movie, saddle-and-sand things. I was more

really true.’ But he’s sort of Oriental, too. Don’t you find

a sagebrush-and-six-gun kind of fellow. It seems to be

his eyes a little Oriental? He has that kind of mixed

generally true of people my age, we have this fond-

breed type of character that you can see something of

ness for Westerns.

each culture. That was important to me.”

Pointing out that Ra’s is not meant to reflect on

© 2005 DC Comics.

Neal Adams responds that “it seems to me that this

So, then, just where did Ra’s come from? In 1992 O’Neil answered the question when he collaborated

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“The Demon Lives Again!”

Four pages of breakdowns from Batman #244, courtesy of Neal Adams.

Thumbnail art © 2005 Neal Adams.

Ra’s al Ghul © 2005 DC Comics.

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with artist Norm Breyfogle on the graphic novel, Birth

life, and the physician boasts, as if he were Dr.

of the Demon, Ra’s’ origin story.

Frankenstein, that “Neither priest nor philosopher

Readers will notice that in its opening pages Batman confronts Talia at a Lazarus Pit in North Africa, and

nor physician has ever restored breath to an empty corpse until now.”

when he asks, “This place—This is where it all began?”,

And like Dr. Frankenstein, the physician has created

she responds yes. Careful readers will also note that in

a monster. Driven temporarily insane by the pit, the

the flashback to Ra’s’ youth, an ally tells him, “Perhaps

Sultan’s son rapes and murders the physician’s wife. The

we can find a ship to bear us across to the Arabian

Sultan blames Ra’s for his son’s crime, and the Sultan’s

lands. . . .” In other words, Ra’s is not in Arabia and is

son sentences the physician to be imprisoned under-

not an Arab. Instead, O’Neil set Ra’s birth and early life

ground with his wife’s corpse.

in a fictional kingdom somewhere in North Africa.

The physician would have died there, but he

Most of Birth of the Demon takes the form of a series

was rescued by the grateful son of a former patient.

of flashbacks, set at the time of the Crusades. A myste-

Embittered by what he and his wife had suffered, the

rious hermit emerges from a storm in the desert to hear

physician allies himself with nomadic raiders, and con-

“the wail of a newborn infant.” The hermit tells the

ceives an intricate scheme of revenge. He kills both the

baby’s mother that it is the child’s “destiny to be either

Sultan and his son, and leads the raiders in slaughter-

mankind’s savior—or to destroy all that lives upon the

ing the people of the Sultan’s kingdom. “He wanted

Earth.” This infant, of course, will become the man

nothing of his people to survive,” Talia tells Batman.

known today as Ra’s al Ghul.

“That scene is a very conscious bow to mythology,”

© 2005 DC Comics.

So it is that, rather than being an Arab, according to O’Neil, Ra’s comes “from a place that no longer exists.”

O’Neil says: “the storm, mysterious stranger, who emerges to deliver a prophecy and vanishes.” Ra’s “was

RA’S AND RELIGION

born in strange, eldritch circumstances. I knew enough

Though Ra’s comes from a lost North African culture,

about mythology when I wrote that graphic novel. I’m

he is not a Muslim, nor was he intended as a precursor

pretty sure that was all conscious.”

of the Islamic terrorism that menaces the world today.

The story picks up the unnamed child at age 21.

“Absolutely not,” declares O’Neil. “There was no

Now he is a physician who strives to help his patients

Arab = Islamic terrorism that we were aware of back

stave off what he calls “mankind’s greatest and final

in the ’70s. I knew nothing about Islam. I’ve done a

enemy . . . Death,” he says, “How I do hate death.” What

little reading since. I’d like to emphasize that this has

the physician loves is his beautiful wife, Sora.

nothing whatsoever to do with current history. It doesn’t

When his brutish son falls mysteriously ill, the

reflect my feelings about anything. I am reasonably

Sultan of this kingdom asks the physician to save his

certain that if Julie were around, he would say the

life. That night in the desert, near his birthplace, the

same thing.” Indeed, O’Neil contends that he wants

physician dreams of being attacked and slain by Death

to steer clear in his fiction of such real life events as

in the form of a batlike (of course) demon, of falling into

the current threat posed by Al Qaeda.

what we recognize as a Lazarus Pit, and then rising from

So, then, what is Ra’s religious background, if any?

the dead, resurrected and newly empowered, battling

In Birth of the Demon, the Sultan does not worship Allah

and driving off the bat-demon.

or any other deity, but propitiates a demon named

Drawing upon the vision in his dream, the physician

Bisu through human sacrifice, which horrifies Ra’s.

constructs the first Lazarus Pit at a node for the “ley

But after massacring his own people, the physician

lines” said to transmit energy beneath the Earth’s surface.

tore the head from the Sultan’s idol of Bisu. “I proclaim

By this means the physician saves the Suktan’s son’s

myself mightier than Bisu—mightier than any,” he

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Tumultuous Triangle

declared. According to Talia, her father then “chose

Ghul, he figuratively overthrew and supplanted

Heartbroken Talia

a new name from a local dialect—one that

the Sultan’s demon.

witnesses her father

means approximately the same thing as

O’Neil states that Ra’s regards himself as the

and lover duel in

Bisu.” In other words, he took the name Ra’s al

potential “savior” of the world, even though he

Ghul, the Demon’s Head.

is willing to wipe out billions of people in order

Batman #244; from a B&W reprint courtesy

So O’Neil devised a fictional religion for Ra’s

of Shane Foley.

fictional homeland. And in becoming Ra’s al

to achieve his ends. “He’s a bad Messiah figure,” O’Neil says.

“If I had to start today to create this

© 2005 DC Comics.

character,” O’Neil reveals, “I’m sure part of what I’d be thinking about is fundamentalism. People who are unable to admit that they could be possibly be mistaken, and who for whatever reason are prone to violence as a means of bringing about change. “I think there is a style of mind that cuts across a lot of religions and a lot of ideologies. It’s the style of mind that’s the problem, not any given discipline or religion. Ra’s, now that I’m thinking about it, probably exemplifies the style of mind that I’m talking about.”

TALIA AND TRIANGLES Ra’s, Talia, and Batman comprise a Freudian triangle that lies at the dramatic heart of their stories. Talia and Batman are sexually attracted to each other, but she is (usually) devoted to her father, whom Batman regards as his enemy. Ra’s is Batman’s adversary, yet he would prefer that Batman marry Talia and become his heir and successor.

Batman, of course, was motivated to fight his war on crime by the murder of his father and mother, and yet here is Ra’s, his archenemy, who seeks to become his new “father.”

“Of the stories written, I think the ones in which that triangle is central to the plot have worked the best,” says Denny O’Neil.

Why did he create this triangle among these three characters? “Because it adds a tension to the relationships and a dimension

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that takes it out of mere good guy vs bad guy plot-

Harvey Pekar being the greatest example of that.

ting,” O’Neil replies. “Basically

Everything that I thought I knew

it’s a way to put dramatic tension

about writing comics, he ignored,

into a story and interpersonal

and still turned out stuff that I

conflict, which is a kind of

was really a fan of.”

conflict that comics and action

In the case of Ra’s, O’Neil says,

melodrama in general some-

“I was sort of surprised to learn

times ignore or slight. Most of

he has a second daughter!

the conflicts in the kind of stuff

[laughs],” which was revealed

we do are overt, physical, and

in Greg Rucka’s recent Batman:

that’s fine. But it’s okay to get

Death and the Maidens. “But I’m

the other kinds in too, and it adds

not objecting to it, as I said,

a kind of texture and dimension

because it’s sort of flattering that

to the story.”

that character I created has been

(Again. O’Neil seems to be

around long enough to evolve.”

working with an archetypal sit-

(And though Ra’s seemingly dies

uation for which other writers

for real in Rucka’s series, the key word here is “seemingly.”) © 2005 DC Comics.

In par, Ra’s wants Batman to

ten about Batman, Ra’s, and Talia, points out that the

be his successor because, according to O’Neil, Ra’s knows

situation of a criminal leader who wants a hero to marry

that the Lazarus Pits cannot extend his life indefinite-

his daughter crops up in Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s

ly, and that his death looms in the foreseeable future.

Secret Service and even in an episode of television’s

Hence, Ra’s requires a successor if he is to achieve his

The Wild Wild West guest starring Boris Karloff as an

vision of a renewed and perfect world. Who better than

Asian warlord, each of which preceded the creation

Batman, who is equally devoted to his own mission,

of Ra’s.)

his endless war on crime? In their obsessions with

O’Neil cautions that he is not saying that the

achieving their personal visions, Batman and Ra’s al Ghul

triangle must be a part of all Ra’s al Ghul stories.

are, according to O’Neil, “mirror images” of each other.

“Being in the business I am [in], I know much more

There’s another reason why Ra’s wants Batman to

about how pop culture . . . and characters change

be Talia’s mate. “It has to do with evolution,” O’Neil

with time. That upsets a lot of fans who have a fixed

reveals. “The two of them, something Ra’s realizes, are

idea of what a character should be, and I’m sorry, it

evolution’s gift to the human race, one of those rare

has to happen or the character dies. Batman and

instances where all the genes and chromosomes are lined

Superman are way different from when they started,

up right, and they are as intelligent and physically

because, mostly unconsciously, the creators have adapt-

capable as human beings get.”

ed them to fit the times. It happens usually very slowly

O’Neil continues, “I know of instances close to my

and gradually. If it doesn’t happen you have a Doc

own life, people marry a person [who] by consensus

Savage or the Shadow, great characters that have no

. . . was genetically superior, going to make a better

resonance with a young audience.

“Every time I think I know something absolutely how to do comics, somebody comes along and breaks my rules and does what I consider to be good work,

© 2005 DC Comics.

© 2005 DC Comics.

have found different forms.

Mike W. Barr, who has also writ-

mics. © 2005 DC Co

father or a better bread earner. It’s not anything to rail against because it’s kind of built into us. It’s part of the survival mechanism.”

O’Neil agrees that Ra’s is engaging in something

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6 1

give you.” According to O’Neil, Talia does not regard her father as a criminal; being loyal to him is part of her own system of morality.

RA’S’ DREAM Asked what makes Ra’s such an effective villain, Neal Adams responds, “Well, I think there are an awful lot of people who don’t really know whether or not Ra’s al Ghul is such a bad guy. [laughs] And I’m not altogether really sure that she [Talia] is really on his side.

She may have a goodness inside of her that is disappointing to him.

“If you make Ra’s al Ghul do something terrible, certainly you have to judge him. Another writer will write him and say, ‘There was a reason that he did that.’ You may not agree with his reason, but maybe history will show him to be right.

“And that becomes a real problem for a character like Batman, who has such very strong opinions about right and wrong and good and evil, to run into a character that is so hard for him to figure out, because their goals seem to be gray in nature.

Luthor would be a much better villain for Batman, because everything he does is for a dark purpose. Ra’s al Ghul seems to be a bit of an elitist, but how do you compare him to a president who wants good for the people, just as long as he can be king?” [laughs] Denny O’Neil was intrigued by the present inter-

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similar to the “master race” philosophy. “Can you imag-

viewer’s suggestion that Ra’s may even be more noble

Batman Forever

ine the child that Batman and Talia would have?” O’Neil

than Batman. After all, Batman has been doing his

exclaims “It could be a gnome with the IQ of a gerbil,

best to find and destroy Ra’s’ Lazarus Pits, hoping to

Our hero gets

but genetically the odds are that it would be an

doom him to [natural] death. However, since Ra’s very

the kiss of life

incredibly beautiful and able human being.”

first appearance, he has known Batman’s true identity;

from Talia in

But, O’Neil believes, Talia and Batman can never truly

Batman #244;

be united. To his mind, Talia will ultimately always be

courtesy of

too devoted to her father to leave him, while Batman

“Also,” O’Neil adds, making the same point as Adams,

Shane Foley.

will never be able to bring himself to have a relation-

“Batman’s kind of got blinders on: He only sees crime

© 2005 DC Comics.

ship with a woman he considers a criminal. Using

and the eradication thereof. Ra’s has a much grander

Freudian terminology, O’Neil asserts that “They both

view. He really wants to save humanity.”

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hence, he could easily have Bruce Wayne killed.

But Ra’s does not.

have superegos that get in the way of their happiness.

It was important for O’Neil to give Ra’s a purpose

In a way she’s like a Red Stater, I guess: you accept

that is admirable and defensible. Not simply a power-

without questioning the wisdom that your parents

hungry tyrant, Ra’s believes that the ever-increasing

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their world’s natural resources, and making Earth unfit to sustain life. Ra’s sees himself as the potential savior of the planet, embarked on a noble quest.

However, O’Neil says, Ra’s plans involve “destroying

So there is something admirable in Ra’s al Ghul; his love of the beauty of nature.

Denny O’Neil has not finished with Ra’s either: he has been busy writing the novelization of the film Batman Begins, in which Ra’s plays a major role.

ninety percent” of the human race. “I agree with his

Perhaps we can all agree with Neal Adams, when he

ends but not his means,” O’Neil explains. “I would also

sums up his reaction to Ra’s al Ghul. “In my balancing

like to preserve all living organisms at the same time,

scale of things, Ra’s is a bad guy. But I will admit he’s

and I don’t think we’ve reached a point yet where the

a better bad guy than most bad guys.”

© 2005 DC Comics.

population is destroying their environment, depleting

two things are mutually exclusive.”

Paul Gulacy Cover

Unlike Ra’s, Batman draws the line at taking even one human life. Referring to Batman’s stand on the

Peter Sanderson teaches “Comics as Literature” at New

To Year One: Batman/

matter, O’Neil contends that “He has a streak of

York University, co-wrote the documentary Sex, Lies and

Ra’s al Ghul #1,

authoritarianism and inflexibility in him. And that’s

Superheroes, and writes the weekly column “Comics in

available in June from

where it manifests.” But Batman’s on the right side.

Context” at filmforce.ign.com/comics.html

DC Comics.

“Yeah, well, authoritarian people often have been.”

O’Neil observes, though certainly not always.

On the other hand, O’Neil “absolutely” connects Ra’s with Friedrich Nietzche’s concept of the superman who regards himself as beyond conventional morality.

“I guess you could push it back to Plato’s Republic, the idea of the philosopher king. It’s not totally alien to Ayn Rand’s philosophy.”

O’Neil says there is one thing he had in common with Ra’s, and that is their mutual love of great empty natural spaces: deserts, mountains, snow-covered landscapes. Speaking of himself and his wife Marifran, O’Neil says, “We spent five days at a resort in Palm Springs a few years ago. I absolutely loved it. Going out at noon, it was 101°, it was just glorious. And I was depressed a couple of days ago, so I drove 20 miles north of here to Bear Mountain, it was shortly after snowfall, and that always cheers me up: drive up a mountain and look at some snow.”

Back when he co-created Ra’s, O’Neil recalls, “By this time I had hitchhiked from Missouri to California twice and driven it once. I had passed over the Rocky Mountains,” and once traveled through the Smoky © 2005 DC Comics.

Mountains as well. “And I had driven through the Salt Lake in Utah, now that I think about it, so I had seen some of this stuff. Probably that’s where the liking comes from.”

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sidebarr

“Can you imagine the child that Batman and Talia would have?” Denny O’Neil asked in this issue’s Ra’s al Ghul interview.

Actually, some people have, one of whom is another veteran Batman writer, Mike W. Barr.

Back in the mid-1980s, O’Neil had moved from writing for DC to editing series such as Daredevil at Marvel. Meanwhile, Mike W. Barr had become one of DC’s leading writers, best known for the Camelot 3000 maxiseries and co-creating Batman and the Outsiders.

“I had a contract with DC to do a Batman graphic novel,” Barr recalls, “and I had come up with the idea to do a Ra’s al Ghul story because I had always liked the character and Denny was over at Marvel at that time, so he had really no claim on it any more.” As Barr worked on the plot, “I came up with the idea of Talia being pregnant with Batman’s child. And then later on she would lose the child.” The status quo would thus be restored.

But Barr was dissatisfied with this ending. “I said to Dick Giordano, who was the editor of the project, that if the kids are going to pay some extra bucks for this . . . we have to give them something that they haven’t gotten yet in a regular comic book. And it occurred to me [that] the instant that they read the line where Talia says, ‘I’m pregnant,’ they’re going to be waiting for the scene where she says, ‘I’ve lost the baby.’ So I said to Dick that at the end if it turns out she really has not lost the baby, that the baby’s out there, that’s going to be a punch that they’re not going to be able to forget. [laughs] And I think I was right. I don’t know if anybody’s been able to forget it.”

The graphic novel was titled Batman: Son of the Demon, and it was drawn by Jerry Bingham. “I started the writing and Jerry started the drawing of it—it took a long time to get done, because it’s a fairly long story, and Jerry’s not fast. It took a couple of years or so to actually produce the book.”

During this time, O’Neil left Marvel and rejoined DC as Batman “group editor,” a post he would hold for well over a decade. “I was actually working with Denny on Detective Comics while I was still in New York,” Barr says. “And literally every time we had a plotting session for Detective, I would ask him if he had read the plot to the graphic novel yet.

And he said, no, he hadn’t, and knowing what was in the book, I said, ‘Denny, you really ought to read this because I guarantee you’re going to want to know what’s in there.’ And anytime I said this, he’d say, ‘Okay, I’ll do it first thing this afternoon,’ and he never did.”

Denny O’Neil responds, “I have no idea why I didn’t immediately read Mike’s manuscript. It might have been because I was brand new in a pretty complex job and other chores seemed more pressing.”

So Son of the Demon finally was published in 1987. But Barr reports, “There was no advertising for it whatsoever, which surprised me, because you’d think it’d be a fairly high-profile project with the

© 2005 DC Comics.

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popularity of Batman, and this being the first Batman graphic novel and all that.” Keep in mind that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns was originally published as a miniseries and was subsequently repackaged in its now familiar graphic-novel format. Son of the Demon was the first Batman project that was first published as a hardcover graphic novel.

“So DC did no advertising on it whatsoever,” Barr states, “and despite this the book did sell out anyway. In fact, in terms of sales, the revenue from Son of the Demon pushed DC ahead of Marvel in the direct market for the first time since 1971. Or rather, it was the first time since 1971 that DC beat Marvel in revenues. The second time, of course, was ‘The Death of Superman.’”

Barr notes that “The first time they advertised it is when they brought it out that Christmas as a softcover. And that did pretty well too.”

Barr continues, “So, as soon as I heard that this thing had done so well, I immediately contacted DC and said, ‘Let’s do a sequel.’ And they would not entertain any notion of it. They wanted to do another Batman graphic novel with me, but they didn’t want to do a direct sequel to Son of the Demon.”

Not only that, but as far as DC was concerned, Son of the Demon was not part of official Batman continuity. “It was dropped from the canon the instant that it hit print.”

But why? Is it because the child was born out of wedlock?

Well, Barr contends that the child wasn’t. “When presented with the idea of Batman and Talia having a child, Dick [Giordano] said they couldn’t do it because they weren’t married,” Barr recalls. “I showed him an O’Neil/[Michael] Golden story (“I Now Pronounce You Batman and Wife,” and he okayed the idea.” Barr claims that according to the O’Neil/Golden story, “They were legally husband and wife, at least according to the tenets of Ra’s al Ghul,” Barr explains. “We referenced the story in Son of the Demon, so we put out that fire before even a spark could be generated.” Barr concludes, “So the child is not out of wedlock, and there’s nothing immoral going on there.”

O’Neil, who, after all, authored the story in question, disagrees with Barr’s interpretation. “Bats and Talia were never legally married. The shipboard wedding in my story was performed under duress and the marriage was never consummated.

Hence, it would have been invalid. But that had nothing to do with our not mentioning the Batman-Talia offspring after Son of the Demon was published.”

Then what was the problem? Barr reveals that “I talked to some sources, some people at DC . . . and . . . I was told by a couple of different people that Denny had tried to have the book killed, because of the relationship between Batman and Talia. Because they consummated the relationship between Batman and Talia.” Barr cautions, “I can’t confirm this, I’m not saying this is the truth.”

O’Neil, however, states, “I did nothing to impede the publication of Son of the Demon, and virtually no editing on it. Although I didn’t agree with everything in the story, I felt that since it was begun before I was hired I had no right to meddle with it.” In his interview in this issue, O’Neil said that he considered it a “mistake” to have Talia bear Batman’s child, and explained why Batman and Talia’s different loyalties would prevent them from ever being united in a relation-

ship. O’Neil says he told Barr this as well. “This, in essence, is what I told him: The events in Mike’s graphic novel seemed inappropriate for the characters and storyline as we were then interpreting them.”

O’Neil explains, “I never liked making such decisions— the ongoing need to make them was one reason I took an early retirement—but doing so is very much a part of what editors get paid for.”

Barr admits that “We tried to some extent to change the dynamic of the relationship” between Batman and Talia in Son. Making them the parents of a son is actually a rather radical change.

Significantly, O’Neil said a few years ago in an interview on Silverbullet.com: “Mike wrote good stories. But I thought the dynamics of the relationship between Bats and Talia were changed in a way that did not serve the saga when they consummated their attraction.”

Barr contends that O’Neil had another reason for objecting to Son, as well. Barr says that decades ago O’Neil told him that “Batman would never have a child because Batman was unable to father children. In Denny’s view, Batman was permanently made impotent by the trauma he experienced when he saw his parents murdered.” Barr adds, “Obviously I disagree with this, now and then.”

O’Neil responds that Barr misinterpreted what he said: “For the record: I never said that his childhood trauma rendered Bruce Wayne incapable of procreation, merely that he was postponing the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood until he hung up the cape.” (Longtime readers may recall that this jibes with Paul Levitz’s origin story for the Earth-2 Batman’s daughter, the Huntress.)

Barr says that “the controversial nature of the book” influenced his idea for a proposed sequel to Son. “So I wrote them a very quick proposal that would basically take the kid out of continuity entirely. I forget the mechanism by which this happened, but essentially the adopted parents take him off somewhere, [and] say, okay, you’ll never hear from us again.” This may seem familiar to readers: many years later this is how The X-Files wrote out Mulder and Scully’s baby.

“At first Karen Berger was going to edit the sequel,” Barr recalls. “And then when Karen saw what a hot potato it was, she didn’t want any part of it, which I can’t blame her for. Then since Denny was back at DC as the Batman editor, he was of course assigned the sequel. And Denny told me that DC refused to publish any story that even made any reference to the child whatsoever.”

It may not have been DC’s decision to make. Barr had a phone conversation with Jenette Kahn, who was then DC’s publisher. “I was told by Jenette Kahn herself . . . that she had been told by the higher-ups at Warners that if there’s another graphic novel with the son of Batman and Talia in it, she would be fired.”

Barr isn’t sure this is true. “I think that may have been an excuse not to do anything with the book or the character.”

If it was indeed the case, it’s rather surprising that Warners was paying attention to a Batman graphic novel. With the 1989 Batman movie on the horizon, could it be that Warners simply did not want Batman to have a child, or even be (at least in Ra’s’ eyes) married?

So, then, if Warner Bros. and/or DC are so upset about Son of the Demon, why is the trade paperback version still in print?

“Because it makes money for them,” Barr observes. “I still get a royalty check for it every once in a while, so I think it’s been a pretty good seller for them, at least for a book that’s going on

18 years old now. And it’s still a good story.”

Not only that, but the son of Batman and Talia has turned up in some unexpected places. For one thing, he’s part of the Elseworlds alternate reality of Alex Ross and Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come. “There’s a character in there that he [Ross] calls the grownup son of Batman and Talia from Son of the Demon,” Barr explains. “He had a one-shot comic book when they did some Kingdom spinoffs . . . called Son of the Bat.” In fact, Son of the Bat is the English translation of the character’s name, Ibn Al Xu’ffasch. “I asked DC about royalties on that for Jerry Bingham and me,” Barr says, “and they said, no, we’re not going to do that.”

The son of Batman and Talia turns up in yet another Elseworlds, the alternate reality depicted in Batman: Brotherhood of the Bat and Batman: League of Batman #1–2. Denny O’Neil stated in his Silverbullet.com interview that “The kid in Brotherhood was not intended to be the one in Mike’s graphic novel.” Barr, however, believes that it was.

“To be perhaps brutally honest, I had forgotten about Son of the Demon when Doug Moench wrote Brotherhood of the Bat,” O’Neil replies, adding parenthetically that “Mike, among many others, can testify that I was never a champion rememberer; alas, I told Mike that. Apparently, he believes I was lying. I wasn’t.”

So, if the Kingdom Come continuity ties in with Son of the Demon, maybe that means that DC (or Alex Ross, anyway) considers Son to be an Elseworlds novel. “I’m sure they’re thinking of it as an Elseworlds; I’m not sure it’s ever officially been proclaimed one. To me whether it is or isn’t, that doesn’t affect the quality of the story at all.”

O’Neil agrees, “For the record: I consider Son of the Demon to be part of the Elseworlds canon.” O’Neil also says, “I’m bothered that Mike W. Barr might still be troubled by some minor disagreements that happened long ago. At the time, I explained the reasons for my decisions to him and I thought he was okay with them. Maybe I was wrong.

“For years afterward, my office continued to give Mike work. He might agree that, during one stretch, I was his biggest booster at DC. “To paraphrase what Mike told Peter Sanderson, none of the above affects the quality of Mike’s graphic novel.”

O’Neil concludes, “If I’ve been in any way presumptuous, I apologize. And, as always, I wish Mike well.”

The status of Talia’s son reminded this interviewer of Mopee.

Back in the 1960s, Flash editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox concocted a story that Barry (Flash) Allen had not acquired his super-speed powers by accident, but through the intervention of an alien being called Mopee. The readers virtually unanimously pronounced this to be a dumb idea, and Mopee was never mentioned in The Flash again. But that meant that Schwartz had not openly, officially dropped the tale from continuity either.

So is Batman and Talia’s son in the same category as Mopee?

Barr laughed, “I guess so, yes, and you know that’s prime company as far as I’m concerned. [laughs] Mopee was created

by Gardner Fox, and any time I can rub shoulders with Gardner Fox, that’s okay with me.”

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Batman and Talia as Mr. and Mrs. Dark Knight?? A page from “I Now Pronounce You Batman and Wife,” written by Denny O’Neil and illustrated

by Michael Golden and Dick Giordano, originally published in DC Special Series #15: Batman Spectacular (Summer 1978).

Original art scan courtesy of Mike Burkey. © 2005 DC Comics.

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The Creators that Collected

Spider-Man

Spidey Drops In The splash page to

Amazing Spider-Man #248 was released in 1983. This comic book included one of my favorite stories, “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.” “The Kid” was a backup story by writer Roger Stern, penciler Ron Frenz, and legendary inker, Terry Austin.

In the story, Spider-Man visits Timothy Harrison. Tim is a huge Spider-Man fan who collects various Spider-Man memorabilia. SpiderMan explains to Timothy how his powers work and the tragedy behind his becoming a superhero. Before leaving, Tim asks Spidey to reveal his secret identity.

I still have a soft spot for “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.” Even now, as an adult, I still find myself getting all choked up whenever I read this touching story.

—Al Nickerson

one of the 1980s’ most memorable tales.

Photocopy of original art courtesy of Roger Stern.

by Al Nickerson

conducted on October 21, 2004

© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

interview

AL NICKERSON: Amazing Spider-Man #248 was part of Marvel Comics’ Assistant Editor’s Month and “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” was a backup story. Roger, did you write the story specifically for that issue, or did you already have it lying around?

ROGER STERN: Both. I had come up with the idea for “The Kid” several months before; I literally woke up one morning with that story in my head. I figured that I’d eventually use it in an annual or something. But then Assistant Editor’s Month came along.

NICKERSON: Ron Frenz and Terry Austin did a spectacular job with the artwork. I was very impressed with Ron’s storytelling and overall mood in his penciling. Terry Austin is one of comics’ greatest inkers.

STERN: I can’t say enough good things about Ron and Terry. I’ve always loved working with them . . . though I believe that was the only time all three of us were together on a project. It was definitely the first time I got to work with Ron—although thankfully not the last.

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He perfectly captured what I was imagining; scripting the story was just a total joy.

NICKERSON: Ron, do you recall how you became involved in “The Kid”?

RON FRENZ: Yes, I do. It was during the editorial transition between Tom DeFalco and Danny Fingeroth. The plot had already been bought and slotted for Assistant Editor’s Month. Tom had planned to give me “The Kid” but was unsure if Fingeroth would concur, and it was Danny’s final call. Obviously, he, too, decided it would

be best to allow John Romita, Jr. to finish his “Thunderball” story from the previous issue and give me “The Kid,” for which I am forever in his debt.

NICKERSON: What did you think of the script, or probably the plot, in this case, when you got it?

FRENZ: I thought it was wonderful. Proof of what can be done in 11 pages by a skilled craftsman. I went with the heavy “Ditko” feel because I felt, as a heavy character piece with little super-hero action, the look would immediately identify and clarify the Spider-Man character. In those pre-McFarlane days, the Ditko influence caused a little consternation.

NICKERSON: Did you know this story was going to be so special?

FRENZ: I knew it was special. It was only a matter of [my] not screwing up the visual component so the readers could fully enjoy Roger’s story. The reader response was hugely gratifying and I’m proud to have played any small part in the presentation.

NICKERSON: What I really like about the story is that, as a Spider-Man fan, I could very much relate to Timothy Harrison’s fondness for Spidey. Spider-Man usually takes his lumps from the media and everyone else. But here’s a kid who admires Spider-Man, and fully understands his role in fighting crime. Tim “gets” SpiderMan. That doesn’t happen too often, does it? © 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. FRENZ: Not often enough. No. But the nature of Peter’s “calling” tends to prohibit these kinds of “heart-to-hearts.”

STERN: Exactly. People in real-life understand Spider-Man, because we know all his secrets.

(Spoiler warning! Reading the interview any further may spoil the ending to “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man.”) NICKERSON: It was touching how Spider-Man recounts to Tim the events that led him to become a hero. What is so great is that Tim reaches out to support SpiderMan and cheer him up. This is a powerful moment.

STERN: Thank you. Given the personalities of Tim and Spider-Man, it just seemed natural.

NICKERSON: When Spider-Man is about to leave, Timothy asks Spidey who he really is, and surprisingly, Spider-Man unmasks. I don’t recall Spider-Man revealing his secret identity in such a way before. This is a very important

Beginnings: “Guardians of the Galaxy” in Marvel Presents #8 (1976)

Milestones: Writer: The Incredible Hulk / Captain America / Amazing Spider-Man / Avengers / Fantastic Four / Superman / Power of the Atom / New York Times bestseller The Death and Life of Superman / Editor: Avengers / X-Men / Master of Kung Fu / Marvel Two-in-One

Works in Progress: Superman: The Never-Ending Battle (novel, Pocket Books)

Cyberspace: www.sterntalk.net

Beginnings: Ka-Zar the Savage #16–17 (1983)

Milestones: Ka-Zar the Savage / Star Wars / Marvel Team-Up / Thor / Amazing Spider-Man / Superman

Works in Progress: Spider-Girl

Cyberspace: www.catskillcomics.com

RON FRENZ

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“Conover’s Corner” newspaper “clippings” were a storytelling device in “The Kid.” © 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Al “Ink-Boy” Nickerson is a comic-book inker for Archie Comics, creator of “The ARGGH!!! Chronicles” comics (www.arggh.com), and author of “Ya Can’t Erase Ink. . .” (www.yacanteraseink.com).

© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

scene. Why mess with the status quo?

STERN: Because Tim is his greatest fan; he promises that he’ll never tell and Spider-Man knows that he’s as good as his word—the long-term status quo of the series itself was not in jeopardy.

FRENZ: As Rog said, the ending of the story demonstrates why the reveal doesn’t mess with the status quo.

NICKERSON: Afterwards, there seems to be an even stronger connection between the two, especially when Tim promises to keep Peter’s secret “forever and ever.” This is where I get a bit teary-eyed.

FRENZ: Pretty real, huh? I’ve heard it called “Peter Parker’s bravest act. Ever.”

NICKERSON: Roger, I like how you used “Conover’s Corner” to move the story along. It especially has an impact on the last page.

STERN: Thanks. I wrote the entire “Conover’s Corner” column (say that fast three times!) when I wrote the plot, so Ron knew which segments went with each scene.

NICKERSON: The last page is also so very powerful with the absence of word balloons. Was this all your idea, Roger, or did Ron have input to the mood here?

STERN: Oh, I wanted to keep the last page dialogue-free. Ron’s storytelling made that possible. He captured the mood perfectly.

FRENZ: Rog is a consummate storyteller and a pretty specific plotter. My job was

to just stay out of the way.

NICKERSON: What was the reaction from editorial when you submitted “The Kid”? Did anyone think it was too controversial at the time?

STERN: No, they loved it. Actually, I’ve yet to meet an editor who turned down a story because it was “too powerful,” and I’ve heard some pretty stupid things from editors in my time. And I don’t think that any of us ever saw “The Kid” as controversial.

NICKERSON: I don’t think any Spider-Man writer has touched on this story since it first appeared. That’s a good thing, don’t you think?

FRENZ: I agree. This was a very private “moment in time” for Pete, Tim, and the reader.

STERN: Absolutely. That story was complete unto itself. It needs no sequel.

NICKERSON: Did you guys ever think that this story would be remembered decades after it was first published?

STERN: I’m flattered that people are still talking about it. At the time, I was just enjoying myself, writing Spider-Man stories, and hoping that the readers would enjoy them, too.

FRENZ: If a story is someone’s favorite, why not? It has, of course, been reprinted a time or two owing to the inclusion of Spidey’s origin and its unique brevity. I know I remember favorite stories from decades ago.

NICKERSON: Many thanks for the interview.

STERN: My pleasure.

FRENZ: Mine, too.

by

M i k e W.

Barr

Doc Savage

by Bruce Timm This commission of the Man of Bronze is courtesy of Bruce Timm and Eric Nolen-Weathington.

Art © 2005 Bruce Timm. Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

Imagine this as a premise for a comic book: The exploits of the world’s greatest adventurer, scientist, surgeon, and aviator—in one person. He has skin that looks like bronze, has been raised since infancy to fight evil, and is wealthy beyond calculation because of his share of a gold mine in a Central American country whose people he saved from a deadly plague. He fights the schemes of dictators, evil scientists, and nationalist zealots. He lives in the tallest building in the world, surrounded by his remarkable inventions, and is accompanied by his five best friends, each one an expert in a specialized discipline; and occasionally by his gorgeous cousin, who’s as beautiful as he is handsome. They roam the world looking for adventure and justice, to do right toward all and wrong toward none.

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THE GOLDEN AGE OF BRONZE

few pointers from novelist Talbot Mundy, whose 1930

This is, of course, the premise of Doc Savage, the pulp

novel Jimgrim related the exploits of James Schuyler

series published by Street & Smith (S&S) from 1933 to

Grim, international spy and his crew: Jeff Ramsden,

1949. Several capable men each had a

“the amiable tower of strength;” Chullunder Ghose,

hand in the realization of Doc Savage,

“philosopher, psychologist, moralist,

including Henry W. Ralston, the busi-

henpecked husband;” Crosby, the novel’s

The Man behind the Man of Bronze

ness manager of Street & Smith; John

narrator; and various others. The premise

Nanovic, the series’ first editor; and,

of the matchless team was the same,

Lester Dent and the

most indelibly, pulp writer Lester Dent,

translated by S&S into Doc’s “Fabulous

Doc Savage cast,

usually working under the S&S house

Five,” and Doc himself, Clark Savage, Jr.,

illustrated by Franklyn

name of “Kenneth Robeson.” Dent wrote

who was more of everything than any

Hamilton for the book

most of Doc and Company’s exploits,

man before him ever had been.

The Man behind Doc

as well as many other pulp stories and

Savage, edited by

Though Doc was never quite the hit that S&S’s more famous series, The

crime novels.

Robert Weinberg.

Shadow, was, it did plenty well on its

Doc Savage contrasted nicely with Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

Courtesy of

The Shadow in that Doc told the exploits

Mike W. Barr.

of a team of adventurers, while The Shadow, despite

© 2005 the respective copyright holder.

own. And it was also—and several times

—a comic book, though never an incredibly good one.

his plethora of disposable agents, was always about the

Street & Smith also got into the burgeoning comic-

man in black. In this the S&S boys may have taken a

book business in the 1930s and ’40s, publishing Shadow Comics and Supersnipe (“the boy with the most comic books in America”). Three 1940 issues of Shadow Comics contained Doc Savage stories, and in July 1940 Doc Savage Comics joined the fold, its 64 pages telling the comic adventures not only of Doc and Co., but a variety of other characters such as Ajax, the Sun Man, Mark Mallory at West Point, Cap Fury, the Whistlin’ Kid, Danny Garrett, and Captain Death. The first few issues adapted Doc novels, with art by the Jack Binder studio, often in as little as eight breathless pages. (Such condensation should not be taken as a commentary on Dent’s stories. Lester Dent was probably the best writer of hero pulps who ever walked, and later wrote a series of hardcover detective novels as well as contributing to prestigious Black Mask magazine.) Doc Savage Comics lasted 20 issues, until October of 1943, at which point the character returned to Shadow Comics until 1949.

In 1964, Bantam Books began reissuing the Doc series in paperback, cultivating a whole new generation of fans, in no small part because of the beautifully detailed cover paintings by James Bama. This led to 1966’s oneshot adaptation of Dent’s novel The Thousand-Headed Man in a more reasonable 32 pages, drawn by veteran DC artist Jack Sparling and published by Gold Key Comics.

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IN THE MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER By the time Doc Savage next appeared in comics, the Marvel Comics Group ruled the comics roost, having recently ousted DC from its position as #1. And, since no corporation ever said “we’re making enough money,” Marvel was looking for Product, and lots of it. Doc Savage #1, dated Oct. 1972, began a two-part adaptation of the first Doc novel, The Man of Bronze. Roy Thomas plotted and edited the book, while Steve Englehart, Ross Andru, and Jim Mooney served as scripter, penciler, and inker, respectively. The adaptation was a little slapdash—it was never stated precisely in which decade the story was set; the characters tooled around in roadsters and a cool autogyro, but the villains used laser rifles—but it packed in lots of action, most of the novel’s plot, and gave Doc a good-looking “costume” of sleeveless blue vest and white pants. Ross Andru benefited from Mooney’s embellishing, somewhat softening the harsh line longtime inker Mike Esposito’s sometimes gave Andru’s pencils. Ernie Chua came aboard as inker for #2, with Englehart the sole writer, credited as “author,” a pretty lofty claim for a guy who was adapting another writer’s story, all behind a cover by Jim Steranko. Other cover artists included John Buscema, the ubiquitous Gil Kane, and Rich Buckler. If you missed #s 1 and 2, Marvel reprinted them in 1975 as Giant-Size Doc Savage #1, billed as an adaptation of George Pal’s 1975 film, Doc Savage, Man of Bronze. Though the Marvel books hadn’t been specifically prepared as a movie adaptation, Pal was obviously familiar with Marvel’s version; he used—with Marvel’s permission—several gimmicks that Thomas added to the plot

Death in Silver, now billed as set “in the

of #1, such as windows whose refractive

tumultuous 1930’s!” Palmer’s flowing

index throws off the aim of a sniper and

line and use of zip-a-tone made this not

a safe whose dial is geared to Doc’s

only the best inking ever received by

wristwatch. Marvel, in turn, made a few

Andru, but the best-looking comics ver-

changes to their version, such as redraw-

sion of Doc ever. Issue #5 continued the

ing Doc’s hairstyle and his vest and pants

ascent, with comics great Gardner Fox,

into a v-neck shirt and jodhpurs like those

recently blacklisted by DC for trying to

worn by Ron Ely. (This may be too much

form a union, coming aboard as scripter

detail, but I just love the word “jodhpurs.”)

over part one of Englehart’s adaptation

By Doc #s 3 and 4, Tom Palmer came aboard for a two-issue adaptation of Dent’s

© 1972 Marvel Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

Durable Doc Penciler Ross Andru as inked by Tom Palmer, from Marvel’s Doc Savage #5 (June 1973). Original art courtesy of Mike W. Barr.

Art © 1973 Marvel Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

of The Monsters.

Then the bronze started to tarnish

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eight issues the book went through seven different creative teams. No single writer ever had a chance to establish a consistent narrative voice, no regular art team ever was able to set a consistent artistic approach to the material. Marvel seemed to feel, as they would later in the decade with Star Trek, that the most important thing about Marvel’s Doc Savage comic wasn’t the content, it was the fact that it said “Doc Savage” on the cover. The last Doc letter column (hilariously titled “What’s Up, Doc?”) ended by declaring “. . . [W]e’ll have to rest content in the knowledge that, for however brief a time, we did Doc Savage right!”

Well, it’s fun to pretend.

Doc Savage #8 was dated Jan. 1974, by which time Marvel must have known of Pal’s upcoming film version. An ad in Giant-Size Doc #1 touted the upcoming black-and-white Marvel magazine by the team of Doug Moench, John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga.

Doc Savage #1 was dated Aug. 1975; the magazine was published quarterly, lasting until #8, the Spring 1977 issue. Stories were original with such energetic titles as “The Doom on Thunder Isle,” “Hell-Reapers at the Heart of Paradise,” “The Inferno Scheme,” and “The Crimson Plague.” Marvel took a little flak over a quote a fan got somewhere, allegedly from scripter Moench, saying he (Moench) had read only one Doc novel before writing the series. That was easy to believe. True or not, the problem with the stories was that, once you read them, they were almost instantly forgettable or worse, interchangeable. But Moench wasn’t alone in receiving this brickbat;

By Doc #6, part two of The Monsters, Palmer

John Byrne Does Jodhpurs A 1973 Doc Savage illo by John Byrne and Duffy Vohland, courtesy of Mike W. Barr.

Art © 2005 Byrne and Vohland.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

was gone, replaced by Frank Giacoia. Issues

Dent’s harsher critics had made this

#7 and 8, adapting Brand of the Werewolf,

claim for years. Nonetheless, perhaps

utilized Gardner Fox and Tony Isabella as

the lower budget of a black-and-white

scripters and Andru, Palmer, Rich Buckler,

mag was what Doc needed. The mag-

Frank Springer, and Jack Abel as artists. The

azine was published for over a year and

problem, as was the problem with a number

a half, which beat the color comic by

of middle-’70s Marvel titles that weren’t

a considerable margin, though each ran

core books, wasn’t the creators per se—any

the same number of issues. The mag-

single creative team culled from the pros

azine also experimented a little with format; #3 contained a Monk solo

mentioned thus far could have produced a superior Doc Savage comic—it was that in

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© 1975 Marvel Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

backup, “A Most Singular Writ of

Habeas Corpus.” All covers except #1’s photo

. . .And I never heard anything

cover of Ron Ely [augmented by artist Roger

more about it. I realized, later, that

Kastel] were painted, some of them by Ken Barr.

Doc Savage wasn’t what they’d

Marvel cross-pollinated readership for the

wanted to hear. They wanted some-

Bronze in Black and White

magazine in a way they never had for the comic.

thing new, something that hadn’t

A bombastic

You would have thought Doc would have been

been seen before. But I had sold all

John Buscema/

popping up all over the Marvel universe to flog

rights to Camelot as well as to the

Tony DeZuniga splash

the color book, but that didn’t happen until

new characters in Batman and the

from Marvel’s B&W

the Jan. 1975 issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man (#3),

Outsiders (at that time, DC’s third-

Doc Savage. Courtesy

when Spidey and Doc made “The Yesterday

bestselling title), and I regretted

of Jaume Vaquer

Connection,” by which time the color book

both deals. But I was told, more

had been dead for a year. The next year, Doc

© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

Art © 1975 Marvel Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

than once, that DC policy was “we

guest-starred with the Thing in Marvel Two-inOne #21 (Nov. 1976), “Black Sun Lives.” Both of these stories were accomplished by rather convoluted time-travel gimmicks and added little to the bronze man’s luster. Was it just me, or did the usually stolid Doc look embarrassed during these tales?

Even many faithful Doc fans are unaware that in 1979 Bantam Books, under its “Skylark Illustrated” imprint, published a 64-page adaptation of The Man of Bronze in a 5 1/4” by 7 5/8” paperback edition, by Horace J. Elias and Maurice Whitman. Billed as “easy and fun to read,” the book was geared toward younger readers, but is still the most faithful adaptation of the novel yet.

Doc Savage would not return to comics for another eight years. And this time, it’s personal.

DOC AT DC In early 1985, we were finally putting the last issue of Camelot 3000 to bed, and I was, for the first and only time in my storied career, considered a hot property.

I was taken to lunch by DC President and Publisher Jenette Kahn and VP Dick Giordano to ask me what I wanted to do next. This was a new experience for me.

Not that I had been treated shabbily before, but now I was . . . if not the flavor of the month, then the flavor of the minute.

What I told Jenette and Dick I wanted to do was a Doc Savage comic book. They looked interested, Dick said he’d get right on it, and see how much it would take to get the rights. . .

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don’t do creator-owned

As revisioned for the ’80s, Doc Savage has been in a

books,” and that that

kind of sci-fi time warp for the past few decades. He has

policy was absolutely set

missed the death of his son, from whom he is estranged,

in stone. Paul Levitz once

and emerges in 1987 to meet his resentful grandson,

told me, “We’re a work-

“Chip” (get it?), and the Fabulous Five, who are now

for-hire company, we’ll

tired old men. Oh, and Long Tom has betrayed him.

never publish creator-

Suddenly, the Marvel color series was looking

owned projects.” Until

pretty good.

they did. Until they

Okay, Lester Dent did always keep the series current.

found a creator to whom

But the means used to keep this comic series current is

they wanted to give that

unoriginal and the changes rung in the relationships

deal. And that wasn’t me.

of Doc and his aides just don’t play. Further, these

Cut to 1987 or so. I

changes disavow most of the last decade or so of Dent’s

learn DC is going to

stories, and anyone continuing Dent’s series ought to

publish a Doc Savage

have the respect not to dis his creation—or his work—

comic, and that Denny

thusly. The betrayal of Doc by Long Tom was described

O’Neil is going to be the

as a Christ/Judas parallel, which is the kind of jargon

writer. This I consider an

writers fall back on when attempting to rationalize

odd choice. While it may

their own disdain for a concept.

or may not have been

Additionally, O’Neil didn’t seem to have any clear

true that Doug Moench

concept of the Fabulous Five. He kept conflating the

had read only one Doc

personalities of Ham and Long Tom, and didn’t really

novel, I knew for a fact—because Denny O’Neil had

understand the uses the F5 can be put to while Doc is

“Easy and Fun to Read”

told me, in 1979, when the “lost” Doc novel, The Red

off somewhere else. They were often reduced to a quintet

Spider, was published—that he had never read any.

of octogenarian Gabby Hayeses. But less funny. O’Neil

A page from the

Perplexed, I repeat to editor Mike Carlin my earlier-

seemed more comfortable using the modern-day aides

1979 “Skylark

expressed interest in bringing Doc to DC. (I realized

he created for the series, which included an Israeli,

Illustrated” adapta-

a formal protest would have been useless; by this time,

Shoshanna Gold; a Russian, Anton Ivanovitch; and a

tion of The Man

Jenette and Dick would have long since forgotten our

cowboy, Beau Faulkner.

of Bronze. Courtesy

talk, or would have claimed to.) I wasn’t trying to take

To be fair, it may be that the changes rung cannot

of Mike W. Barr.

the assignment from O’Neil, I just wanted to get it on

be laid at the feet of Denny O’Neil

the record that I had proposed it earlier.

alone. DC had for years been skewing

Carlin seemed genuinely interested, and

more and more toward the “anti-hero” (a

we went our various ways.

concept that had been laid to rest in

Art © 1979 Bantam Books.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

DC’s Doc Savage #1, kicking off a

American pop culture over ten years

four-issue miniseries, was dated Nov.

earlier by the premiere of Star Wars).

1987, with script by O’Neil and art by

This was an attempt to reproduce what

Los Bros Kubert, Adam and Andy. It’s a

was

good thing the comic had a Doc Savage

appeal of the work of Frank Miller and

logo on the cover, as you sure wouldn’t

Alan Moore, a cynical sizzle with no steak.

have known by the story. If O’Neil had

Of course, this was only the surface of

read any Doc novels since 1979, he was

Miller and Moore, but it was all most

hiding it well.

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© 2005 DC Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

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believed—falsely—to

be

the

comic execs saw, like those barbarians on

the Star Trek episode who can recite the U.S. Constitution phonetically, but have no idea what the words mean. In the early 1980s, I had a conversation with DC VP Dick Giordano in which he said flatly, “no one believes in heroes anymore.” DC’s attitude seemed to be “If it ain’t broke, break it,” a philosophy carried over to other such revivals as The Question, Adam Strange, and Metal Men: keep the name and the visuals, but trash the underlying premise. The readers wanted Classic Doc, and DC gave them New Coke and the New Monkees.

However, the Doc Savage miniseries sold well enough

simply shift the book back to the 1930s. So I took what

to merit an ongoing series that began with a six-part story,

I could get. Doc was moved back into the Empire State

“The Discord Makers,” nine months after the miniseries

Building, and Pat Savage returned, still radiantly young,

Doc Savage Model Sheets

ended. Rod Whigham and Steve Montano came on

and lured Doc and Co. into a trap under the ruse of

Artist Gabrielle

board as art team, Denny O’Neil continued as scripter

restoring youth to the Fabulous Five. This woman turned

Morrissette’s

until issue #7, which is where I reenter the picture.

out to be Pam Savage, a youthful relative of Pat Savage

renditions of

(who was now as old as the F5), under control of the

Doc Savage and

THE BARR RUN

villain of the story, “The Mind Molder.” Turns out that

cast, courtesy of

Mike Carlin, perhaps recalling our earlier conversation,

MM had used a gas which changes the will of whoever

Mike W. Barr.

offered me the job as writer, which I took, knowing

inhales it on Long Tom decades ago, which is why he

there would be choppy waters ahead. I knew I would

betrayed Doc, so Major Thomas J. Roberts returned to

not be permitted to simply erase from continuity the

the fold, of course forgiven by Doc for a betrayal he

body blows Dent’s concepts had taken under the pre-

wasn’t responsible for. (The Jesus/disciples parallel does

vious administration, and neither was I permitted to

work, but only one way.) Pam Savage joined the team

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A Cover with Bite Adam Kubert’s cover layout for Doc Savage #16 (Jan. 1990), and the printed version.

Courtesy of Mike W. Barr.

Art © 1990 DC Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

and Chip took Long Tom’s place in the monastery the

as possible, within the parameters in which I was allowed

latter had retired to.

to maneuver. I was offered the opportunity to kill Chip,

This, I maintain to this day, was more than the

© 2005 DC Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

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but declined.

manipulations of an outraged fanboy (though I’ll gladly

So, with Doc running around the world with the new

cop to being that, too). It was an attempt to respect Doc’s

team at his side, and the original F5 usually working

creator, to restore as much of Dent’s original premise

behind the scenes, we had at least a viable platform

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for adventure. The troops went back to Hidalgo, the nation whose gold mines fund Doc’s work, in “The Golden God” (#s 9 and 10). Here Doc discovers his Mayan wife, here called Princess F’Teema, is still alive, but she is killed during the adventure. Doc vows to bring her back to life but instead brings back to life John Sunlight, the only pulp villain who ever fought Doc twice, in #s 11 through 14, “Sunlight Rising.”

Guest-penciler Gabrielle Morissette came on board for #15 and 16, “The Sea Baron,” a nautical-themed thriller.

This is not my favorite story of the run, but it brings good memories for the cover of #15, which put Doc in an old-fashioned death trap. But not one of my own devising. It’s easy to free a hero from a deathtrap of your own invention, that’s just working backward. It’s more difficult—and more fun—to devise an escape from a trap created by another party. This cover was suggested by one of the Kubert Brothers (they either tag-teamed covers or alternated on them), with editor Carlin suggesting I write a tale around it. Rod Whigham and Steve Montano were the regular art team, with Scott Hanna occasionally filling in as inker.

Somewhere in here Morissette, Rick Magyar, and I produced the 1989 Doc Savage Annual #1, “The Olympic Peril,” which told, against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics, the backstory of how Doc and the F5 met, guesting both Pat Savage and Adolf Hitler. Taking my cues from Philip Jose Farmer in his “biog-

With #17, Jonathan Peterson

raphy,” Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life,

became editor of Doc Savage.

I wrote the never-before-told tale of

With sales in a tailspin, I again

Drawing from the Master

Doc and the boys meeting in the World

proposed that we take the title

Rod Whigham’s

War I prison camp, Loki. However, I

back to the 1930s—but this

splash to DC’s

inadvertently caused some friction: It

time, I also suggested a cross-

Doc Savage #11

was unclear to me that Farmer’s refer-

over with another DC title,

(Aug. 1989)

ence to the “Loki” adventure was his

the recently inaugurated The

deliberately matches

own and not Dent’s. I assumed it was

Shadow Strikes, by Gerry Jones

the Man of Bronze’s

Dent’s, and went merrily onward,

and Ed Barretto, the series I

pose from James

earning the bad will, I learned years

consider the best Shadow comic

Bama’s cover painting

later, of Farmer, who wrote his own

ever published. Jonathan and

for the paperback

paperback original account of the

I liked the idea and Gerry

novel Resurrection

meeting. I’ve never read it, but I hope

and I, meeting at the San

Day. Courtesy of

the antagonist’s name doesn’t begin

Diego Comic Con of 1989,

Mike W. Barr.

with “B” and rhyme with “far.”

built the plot we called “The

Art © 1989 DC Comics.

Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

© 2005 DC Comics. Doc Savage © 2005 Condé Nast.

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Conflagration Man,” hoping this first-time meeting of

couldn’t possibly have written, as to speculate about

the two greatest pulp heroes, hopscotching between

the airship disaster in a pulp story in the 1930s would

See You in the Funny Papers. . .

Doc #s 17 and 18 and Shadow Strikes #s 5 and 6 would

have been in the worst possible taste. But over half-

cause a little steam. However, we were told there was

a-century later, it was just good fiction.

. . .or maybe not.

no budget for any promotion of the story. (Meaning

Issues #22–24 were the end of the series, begin-

This is a sample

that DC’s crack marketing department didn’t want to

ning in 1937 and ending in 1990, introducing Doc’s

installment of a

spend a lot of money promoting characters DC didn’t

mother, reuniting the Man of Bronze with his grand-

proposed but

own.) Mike Carlin, bless his heart, used some lettercol

son and saving the world from “The Asteroid Terror.”

unpublished

space to promote the crossover a little; I hope the

Armageddon and Deep Impact had nothing on us.

readers had as much fun as Gerry and I did.

Doc Savage comic

Comics would later issue their own Doc Savage comics,

strip written by

Fun, maybe, but few if any additional readers. By

Mark Hanerfeld

now the death of the title, with #24, probably the end

and illustrated by

of the license, was imminent, so we went out with a

So, though many Doc Savage comics have been

Dave Cockrum.

bang. Or more precisely, an air disaster. Doc #s 19–21

published, it remains for a top-notch creative team to

Courtesy of

told the story of “The Air Lord,” a villain who caused

provide a faithful adaptation of the Man of Bronze and

Mike W. Barr.

the explosion of the German airship “Hindenburg.” I

his Fabulous Five that hits the ground running. But

will put this story up against any original Doc comic

where there’s Doc, there’s hope.

© 2005 Condé Nast.

for sheer fun. And it was a story that Lester Dent

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And that’s the end. Dark Horse and Millennium

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but those are not in this magazine’s purview.

Feels Like the First Time:

BATMAN: by

© 2005 DC Comics.

Batman: Dark Detective DC Comics • 6-issue biweekly miniseries • 32 color pages • $2.99 US

Michael Eu

ry

We interrupt our regular collected-edition review column for a special announcement: One of the most legendary Batman creative teams has reunited for a six-issue miniseries!

In 1977 and 1978, writer Steve Englehart and penciler Marshall Rogers, joined by inker Terry Austin and letterer John Workman, whisked the anemic Detective Comics out of its doldrums. Englehart and Rogers and Company, under Julius Schwartz’s editorial orchestration, introduced crime boss Rupert Thorne, resuscitated Professor Hugo Strange and Deadshot, and helped redefine the Joker as the maniacal menace we know today. They also provided Bruce Wayne with a love interest—the fetching Silver St. Cloud—whose appearances can be counted on two hands but who still sparkles in the minds of readers almost three decades later. This popular Detective stint was one of the first series repackaged (as Shadow of the Batman) by DC in its 1980s deluxe reprint format, was later reissued as the trade paperback Batman: Strange Apparitions, and appreciably shaped at least three characters in the 1989 motion picture Batman. Longtime readers, and those who discovered these masterpieces through reprints, nurtured a dream that this titanic team would one day reunite on the Dark Knight . . . but as time passed, and as the creators moved on to other projects—and, in the cases of Steve and Marshall, out of comics entirely—that dream seemed as likely to happen as Catherine Zeta-Jones losing a movie role because she’s just not pretty enough.

Partially inspired by the success of the reunion of Formerly Known as the Justice League’s Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Joe Rubinstein, DC Comics released in early May 2005 the first of a biweekly, six-issue series that has Batman fans salivating: Batman: Dark Detective. In this exclusive BACK ISSUE “Back in Print” first look, we chat with Steve Englehart about the series, and grab quick soundbites from Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, and John Workman.

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© 2005 DC Comics.

new series PREVIEW

Dark Detective Reunites Classic Team

MICHAEL EURY: How did Batman: Dark Detective come

in our run, so there’s no reason to.

A BACK ISSUE

about?

EURY: What has Silver St. Cloud been up to since we last

“Rough Stuff”

STEVE ENGLEHART: [DC VP-Executive Editor] Dan DiDio

saw her?

decided to ask us back, Joey Cavalieri called us up, and

ENGLEHART: She’s put Bruce Wayne behind her and

we said yes. As many fans don’t understand, we only

gotten engaged to a good man, Evan Gregory, who’s

get to do the Batman if DC lets us, and until Dan, they

running for governor.

(Right)

exclusive: the penciled and lettered pages 2 and 3 of Batman: Dark Detective #5,

never did.

EURY: Did you have an agreement with DC to prohibit

EURY: What is the basic premise of Dark Detective?

other writers from using Silver?

ENGLEHART: As a story, it’s Volume 2 of the Englehart/

ENGLEHART: No, but over the years I’ve found that

courtesy of

Rogers/Austin/Workman Batman. It picks up “some

most writers know if a character is associated with

John Workman.

time” after the first, when all involved have gone on with

another writer, and they leave that character to him.

their lives, and throws them back together hard. As a

© 2005 DC Comics.

concept, it’s the challenge of doing something as good as, but different from, Volume 1. I like creation rather than re-creation.

Old “friends” drop

EURY: How has Batman, the character, changed in the

by the Batcave on

25-plus years since your original Detective Comics run?

the cover to Batman:

ENGLEHART: In the DC Universe, he’s become less of a

Dark Detective #2.

human being, so I play off that, but my guy is very human

Art courtesy of

and that hasn’t changed.

Terry Austin. © 2005 DC Comics.

JOHN WORKMAN on Batman: Dark Detective “I thought this whole experience would be bittersweet, but I’m amazed that all those years have just fallen aside and that we’re picking this up so smoothly. It’s as if those years have not gone by. I love the story and the writing and the sense of camaraderie among the creators. Marshall’s enthusiasm led this team

EURY: How has your approach to storytelling changed

back then, and it does again today. We do miss the

during those years?

original editorial team of Julius Schwartz and Nelson E N G L E H A R T: R i g h t

Bridwell, but Joey Cavalieri deserves a lot of credit.

after I wrote the first

Without him, this wonderful project would

run, I left comics and

not be happening.”—March 2, 2005

started doing other types of writing. Each and every one expand-

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ed my capabilities. So

EURY: Can you pinpoint why Silver St. Cloud, after

the first run was the

relatively few appearances, has endeared herself to

work of a comics writer

Batman readers?

and the second is that

ENGLEHART: She’s his perfect other half. That’s what she

of a writer who loves

was designed to be, and that’s the way she played out—

comics.

the only one who meshes with this very complicated man,

EURY: The Joker, your

so that he can be the Batman and a complete human

story’s main villain,

being. It’s the completeness that she gives him that seals

has committed several

the deal. And once that was replayed in the most success-

sadistic acts (crippling

ful Batman film, even when they called her “Vicki Vale,”

Barbara Gordon, killing

everybody’s seen how that works.

Jason Todd, etc.) since

EURY: “Vote for Me—or I’ll Kill You!” is the Joker’s guber-

your original run. Are

natorial slogan. Is he using Dick Cheney’s playbook?

you handling the char-

ENGLEHART: Other way around. I came up with that line

acter any differently as

back in February ’04, and as others started using similar

a result?

lines in real life, six months later, I told Marshall, “They’re

ENGLEHART: Well, he

going to ask us. . .”

started that approach

EURY: Dark Detective features the Englehart/Rogers/Austin/

Workman team’s first handlings of Two-Face and the Scarecrow. What do these two villains bring to your story?

ENGLEHART: Back when I did the first run, I wanted to use all the top villains I had room for. And whenever I get a chance to write Batman, I want to work my way through the list. Two-Face turns out to be far more interesting than I’d expected, while Scarecrow turns out to be less interesting (to me). But their presence brings to the story another factor I like, which is that Gotham City teems with life, and everything else. These guys—and all the other villains, really—are scheming all the time. They’re not waiting for someone else to get done with the Batman before they strike, and so their schemes overlap. It keeps the Batman very busy, as I believe he would be. (And then you throw in another thread, which is his personal life, and you see just how hard it is for this one man to be the Batman— and yet that’s exactly what he does.)

MARSHALL ROGERS on Batman: Dark Detective “I’m very excited about the project. It feels like we finished the first series last month and are continuing on with the next installment. A lot of the appeal of the original work was the mood and the background, that pulp feel that is the Batman, and we’ve captured that again. Everyone’s contribution is absolutely essential.

It feels as natural now as it did then.”

—March 2, 2005

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EURY: Dr. Double-X?? Outside of attracting a few confused X-Men readers to the series, what does this obscure villain offer your story?

ENGLEHART: Two things:

TERRY AUSTIN on Batman: Dark Detective

(1) Two-Face likes a guy

“For me, this project is a gift from

with a name like that for

the comic-book gods. As fond as I am

a duality project he has

of the original Detective Comics run, the

cooking, and (2) after

stiffness of my ink line had made me wish

Deadshot in the first run,

more than once over the years that I could go

it’s fun to do one of the

back and redo it. I have to remind myself that

guys who’s not a top villain.

EURY: Marshall and Terry’s cover to Dark Detective #6 is a pulp homage— and it’s pretty racy. Has

Marshall and I were just starting out then and that Steve was the experienced one of the team.

Marshall instinctively grasped the storytelling aspects of comics right off the bat; now his drawing abilities are on the same high plateau. It’s a genuine thrill for me to see his take on Batman again; like Steve, he just

anyone at DC pressured

‘gets’ the character . . . it’s all just so right. Me, I’ve

the team to change it?

had a couple of decades to work the stiffness out of

ENGLEHART: Not to my

my pen line, so every page is a joy to produce. As for

knowledge.

Steve, well, he was an excellent writer then and is an

EURY: Were you given more

excellent writer now (what a boring guy!). And John

editorial latitude from Joey

Workman, what can I say, he spells better than ever!

Cavalieri than on your Detective Comics stint with editor Julie Schwartz?

“I love this combination of characters done by this group of talents who mutually respect each other’s contributions to the whole. This is as good as it gets in this business.”

—February 18, 2005

Reunited, and it feels so good. The cover to Dark Detective #3,

ENGLEHART: Pretty much the same. Julie was the classic

scanned from a

editor, of course, but Joey has been right on par with him.

photocopy of the

Joey’s a very intelligent and knowledgeable guy, which is

original Rogers/Austin

what anybody wants in an editor.

cover art, courtesy

EURY: You stated your goal with Dark Detective was “to

of Terry Austin.

do something as good as, but not the same as, the first run.” That’s the eternal problem with a sequel: Recreating

© 2005 DC Comics.

the magic without remaking the first. How does Dark Detective differ from your original 1970s run?

Rogers and

ENGLEHART: Several things come to mind. (1) Bruce and

Austin’s rendition

Silver aren’t discovering each other for the first time this

of the Scarecrow

time—and yet, they are rediscovering each other. So their

on the cover to

relationship unfolds without the preliminaries of last time,

issue #4, courtesy

even though they’re essentially back at square one. Or maybe square negative one, since she’s engaged to another

of Terry Austin.

man. (2) The Joker had a classic bit last time with the laughing fish. He needed another one this time, “as

© 2005 DC Comics.

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good as but not the same as.” (3) The first run was eight

Paging

issues of 17 pages each. This one is six issues of 22 pages.

Dr. Wertham,

Do the math and it’s pretty much the same number of

paging Dr.

pages—but the difference, from a writer’s standpoint, is that a six-part story unfolds more quickly than an eight-

Wertham!

part one. That’s one of the things that led me to think about

Bondage, a

the intensity and complexity of the Batman’s world.

branding iron,

EURY: It was Bruce Wayne’s jaw that gave away his identity

and a bra—this

when Silver first spied Batman. Is this why Jay Leno isn’t

Rogers/Austin

a masked crime-fighter?

cover to Dark

ENGLEHART: No, it’s because Letterman is the Joker.

Detective #6

—interview conducted via email

evokes the days

on February 16, 2005

of the pulps.

Copied from

The author wishes to thank Terry Austin and John

the original

Workman for their contribution of artwork; Steve

artwork,

Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry and John for their participation; and Adam Philips of DC Comics for

submitted

sanctioning this coverage.

by Terry Austin. © 2005 DC Comics.

Also Recommended

© 2005 DC Comics.

Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams DC Comics Volume 1 (2003) • Hardcover • 240 color pages • $49.95 US Volume 2 (2004) • Hardcover • 236 color pages • $49.95 US

A Batman commission

by Neal Adams, courtesy of Heritage Comics.

Batman © 2005 DC Comics.

Art © 2005 Neal Adams

Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Volume 1 and Volume 2 chronologically reprint the eminent artist’s influential Batman art beginning with the cover for Detective Comics #370 (Dec. 1967), which he inked over Carmine Infantino’s pencils, and continuing through various stories from and covers for Batman, The Brave and the Bold, Detective, and World’s Finest Comics. Highlights include the first pairing of Adams with inker Dick Giordano, two Batman/Deadman team-ups, the first appearance of Green Arrow’s “new look,” and the coming of Man-Bat. Considering the importance of Adams’ contributions to Batman and the significance of collecting these landmark tales in keepsake editions, I find it curious that, at the time of their release, these books were controversial, particularly in online postings. Why? Because they are not “pure” reprints: Stories in the first half of Volume 1 and much of Volume 2 were digitally recolored by Adams’ studio, and some of the artwork was touched up and even redrawn by Neal. Adams felt it necessary to offer readers more than a strict reprinting to warrant each book’s $50 price tag. His improvements are exceptional, and help contemporize the coloring without detracting from the tales’ historical authenticity. Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Volume 1 and Volume 2 serve as the artist’s “Director’s Cuts”—and the inclusion of anecdote-rich Introductions and Forewords by Adams and Giordano, plus Neal’s random sketches and breakdowns, sizzle as juicy bonuses. If these books are not in your budget, they’re worth adding to your gift list, as they are must-haves for the BACK ISSUE reader.

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NEW In Print!

New Comics. Classic Appeal.

Some BACK ISSUE readers have remarked to me, in letters or in person, that they find many current comics continuity-saturated and utterly impenetrable. If you’re in that camp and yearn for an accessible series, with tons of verve and a sense of humor, then you’ve got to give Randy Reynaldo’s Rob Hanes Adventures a read. I’m a stickler for Jonny Quest-type adventures, and Rob Hanes is, from my eye, Jonny fifteen years later. From the few issues I’ve seen, soldierof-fortune Hanes is one of the most adaptable heroes in comics, hopping from a submarine voyage in issue #6 to a locked-room mystery in #7 . . . and an African adventure awaits in the forthcoming issue #8. Reynaldo’s characters are snappy and well-defined, and his crisp storytelling is reminiscent of Ty Templeton by way of Alex Toth. This black-and-white comic retails for $2.95; visit www.wcgcomics.com for more information.

Hometown boy makes good! Regular BACK ISSUE and The Jack Kirby Collector contributor Adam McGovern (author of this issue’s Human Target article) is about to become a published © 2005 Randy Reynaldo.

comic-book writer. He has scripted a three-page “Dr. Id, Psychologist of the Supernatural” tale (illustrated by Paolo Leandri) that is featured in the one-shot anthology Modern Age Men of Mystery, planned for a May 2005 release from Ape Entertainment. For more info, check out www.ape-entertainment.com. Congrats, Adam!

THE

BATCAVE C O M P A N I O N NOW SHIPPING! Batman. Is he the campy Caped Crusader? Or the grim Gotham Guardian?

Both, as The Batcave Companion reveals.

On the brink of cancellation in 1963, Batman was rescued by DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who, abetted by several talented writers and artists, gave the hero a much-needed “New Look” which soon catapulted Batman to multimedia stardom.

In the next decade, when Batman required another fresh start, Schwartz once again led a team of creators that returned the hero to his “creature of the night” roots.

Writers Michael Eury (The Krypton Companion, The Justice League Companion) and Michael Kronenberg (Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul Gulacy) unearth the stories behind the stories of both Batman’s “New Look” and Bronze Age (1970s) comic-book eras through incisive essays, invaluable issue-by-issue indexes, and insightful commentary from many of the visionaries responsible for and inspired by Batman’s 1960s and 1970s adventures: Neal Adams, Michael Allred, Terry Austin, Mike W. Barr, Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Adam Hughes, Sheldon Moldoff, Will Murray, Dennis O’Neil, Bob Rozakis, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Bernie Wrightson.

Featuring 240 art- and info-packed pages, The Batcave Companion is a must-have examination of two of the most influential periods in Batman’s 70-year history.

Written by Back Issue’s

MICHAEL EURY & MICHAEL KRONENBERG ISBN 978-1-893905-78-8 $26.95 in the U.S. plus shipping Batman, Robin, and all related characters and indicia are TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Send your comments to: Email: euryman@msn.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) No attachments, please!

Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor • BACK ISSUE 5060A Foothills Drive • Lake Oswego, OR 97034

A BIG BACK ISSUE apology and thank-you to the understanding Alex Chun—our acknowledgment of his contribution of the Tony DeZuniga Blade original page in issue #8 was inadvertently omitted.

Speaking of issue #8, its “Black Super-Heroes” theme garnered tons of mostly positive responses. Let’s examine a few of them. . .

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a college professor and the creator of a traveling educational exhibit entitled “The Changing Image of Blacks in Comics” My first book on this topic will be published this summer, and I am presently working on the second, specifically about black comic-book creators.

I was thrilled with BACK ISSUE #8. You, your staff, and contributors are to be congratulated on a job well done. Your tribute to Black Super-Heroes set an important historic precedent that I hope will be emulated by many others in the comic industry.

Please allow me to add my own humble contribution: Attached you will a find an addition to your “Timeline of Black Super-Heroes” (pages 4–13). It is the artwork that was used for the first comic book to feature a black character in his own title, Lobo. It was published by Dell Publishing in December of 1965—the year before the Black Panther’s arrival. I received the art sample from the original artist, Tony Tallarico.

And the artwork you featured on page 45 by Sean Galloway was originally created to accompany my article on “Blacks in Comics” in the Comic Collector’s Handbook by © 1965 Dell Comics.

Brad Johnson. This revised anthology has just been published.

Once again, thank you for your groundbreaking work and for aiding me in my research on this important topic.

– Prof. William H. Foster III Comic-Book Historian

Thank you for your kind words, Professor Foster, and for sharing this Lobo art with us.

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Questions? Comments? Exaltations? Send ’em to euryman@msn.com.

Thanks for helping make BACK ISSUE the ultimate comics experience!

I am writing to you about BACK ISSUE #8. I am angry about some of the assumptions made by you, one of your writers, and one of your interviewees. You all seem to assume that white people have it easier and that black people are still victims. In fact, one of your interviewees uses the racist word “whitey.”

Why did an issue that could’ve talked about the positive aspects of Black History Month degenerate into such a hate fest? Why not use the philosophies of Martin Luther King and talk about the positive aspects of African-American history?

I agree that black creators have been given a short shrift and not allowed to be as creative as they have wanted. That can be said about many creators in the comics medium. Look at the mundane and repetitive scripts out there. The comics medium as a whole is dying from boring mediocrity because it is owned by fanboys writing for themselves. At least Mr. McDuffie was able to take his character and make it work in the TV medium.

One last thing about how lucky whites are. I am a 47-year-old computer person who just left a job due to discrimination. They don’t promote people of my age as easily as they do people who are younger. I was constantly harassed by two Mexican Americans and one African-American (my supervisor) with no end in sight. The HR people are looking into it but I am not holding my breath. Where were my rights? What fancy Johnnie Cochran or Gloria Allred lawyer do I get to go to? Please note that bigotry is a two-way street! Everyone gets screwed and has to live with it.

– Keith Lee Keith, I wholeheartedly concur with your remark that bigotry knows no color barriers. As you’re experiencing, ageism is another means of discrimination, as are economic class and education.

I don’t agree, however, with your assessment of BACK ISSUE #8’s tone. “Hate fest”? Our intent was quite the opposite; sorry you didn’t perceive it that way. We saw our content as extremely positive, a sentiment shared by our other letter writers. Your reaction to BI #8 illustrates how sensitive a topic race is—that’s why the focus of the issue was upon black super-heroes, not African-Americans or race in general. There were many, many positive messages in the issue— hopefully they’ll become more apparent to you upon a rereading.

And it’s not my desire to censor the opinions of our commentators, guests, or readers, so sometimes you’re going to read statements with which you might not agree. A free exchange of perspectives and ideas is being systematically extinguished in our society by a permeating corporate-political vise. BACK ISSUE will allow its participants to speak their minds—so long as those comments pertain to the topic at hand.

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ON S U B M I S S IL I N E S GUIDE BACK ISSUE is on the lookout for the following comics-related material from the 1970s and 1980s:

© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours reading the latest edition of BACK ISSUE—nice work, and I’ve really liked every issue I’ve read so far.

“Black Super-Heroes of the 1970s and 1980s” is a big topic, and I thought you did a good job of covering it . . . and I know there’s not room to include everything . . . but I still can’t help but wish there had been a little more attention given to Don McGregor’s work during the period. With Jungle Action’s “Panther’s Rage,” Mr. McGregor wrote a compelling, epic 13-part mainstream story—something nobody else at the Big Two that I’m aware of was doing—with an entirely black cast—something nobody else at the Big Two that I’m aware of was doing—set entirely outside the United States. And how did he follow it up? By immediately embarking on another novel, pitting the Panther against the Klan! It was thoughtful, ambitious, and intelligent stuff, and Dwayne McDuffie is absolutely right—Marvel should reprint it in a trade (Mr. McGregor also returned to the character with thought-provoking stories in both the ’80s and ’90s, and those are worthy of reprinting as well).

At about the same time, Mr. McGregor was also over on Power Man for a brief stay. Frank Robbins wouldn’t be the first artist you’d expect to turn in a memorable run on a title like Power Man, but he and Mr. McGregor brought poetry to their inner-city stories that I still remember well after 30 years. It was the first time the character seemed like a real person to me. And they fall outside the topic of superheroes, but Sabre and Detectives, Inc. also prominently featured black characters as protagonists.

In the cases of all these books, Don made the characters complex and full, never idealized or stereotypical. In a time when so many exciting writers (Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, Jim Starlin, etc.) were trying new things in comics, Mr. McGregor’s work really stood out to an aspiring writer like me. It still does.

– Adam Beechen (and no, I’m not Mr. McGregor’s publicist!)

Unpublished artwork Original artwork Penciled artwork Character designs, model sheets, etc.

Original scripts

Photos Original sketches and/or convention sketches Rare fanzine material Other rarities

Creators and collectors of 1970s and 1980s comics artwork are invited to share your goodies with other fans! Contributors will be acknowledged in print and receive complimentary copies (and the editor’s gratitude).

Submit artwork as (listed in order of preference):

Scanned images: 300dpi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (e-mailed or on CD, or to our FTP site; please inquire) Clear color or black-and-white photocopies BACK ISSUE is also open to pitches from writers for article ideas appropriate for our recurring and/or rotating departments. Request a copy of the BACK ISSUE Writers’ Bible by e-mailing euryman@msn.com or by sending a SASE to the address below.

Artwork submissions and SASEs for writers’ guidelines should be sent to: Michael Eury, Editor BACK ISSUE 5060A Foothills Dr. Lake Oswego, OR 97034

Advertise In BACK ISSUE! FULL-PAGE: 7.5" Wide x 10" Tall • $300 HALF-PAGE: 7.5" Wide x 4.875" Tall • $175 QUARTER-PAGE: 3.75" Wide x 4.875" Tall • $100 Prepay for two ads in Alter Ego, DRAW!, Write Now!, Back Issue, or any combination and save:

Adam, your “there’s not enough room to include everything” statement is correct—which is one of my biggest challenges in assembling features for each issue. Eventually, we’ll give the talented Mr. McGregor his due in BI. Next issue: “Gods and Warriors,” from Conan to King Arthur, with oh-soglorious art by John Buscema, Joe Jusko, Nestor Redondo, Sergio Aragonés, José Luis García-López, and many other extraordinary illustrators. I’ll be here—won’t you join me?

Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury

8 8

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TWO FULL-PAGE ADS: $500 ($100 savings) TWO HALF-PAGE ADS: $300 ($50 savings) TWO QUARTER-PAGE ADS: $175 ($25 savings) These rates are for black-&-white ads, supplied on-disk (TIF, EPS, or Quark Xpress files acceptable) or as cameraready art. Typesetting service available at 20% mark-up.

Due to our already low ad rates, no agency discounts apply.

Sorry, display ads not available for the Jack Kirby Collector.

Send ad copy and check/money order (US funds), Visa, or Mastercard to: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 Phone: 919/449-0344 • FAX 919/449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

Unlock the FINAL secrets of the JUSTICE SOCIETY of AMERICA (& friends) !

THE

• Amazing new info on the Golden Age JSA—including every JUNIOR JUSTICE SOCIETY message ever—and an incredible index of the solo stories of the original JSAers, from 1939 to 1951!

• Sensational new JSA and INFINITY, INC. cover by JERRY ORDWAY, drawn especially for this volume!

• The OTHER 1940s Hero Groups Examined in Depth! THE SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY—THE MARVEL FAMILY—THE ALL WINNERS SQUAD— & M.C. Gaines’ own INTERNATIONAL CRIME PATROL! • Issue-by-issue 1980s spotlight on INFINITY, INC. & SECRET ORIGINS! • Rare, often unpublished art & artifacts by: ALEX ROSS * TODD McFARLANE JOE KUBERT * CARMINE INFANTINO ALEX TOTH * GIL KANE MURPHY ANDERSON * IRWIN HASEN WAYNE BORING * SHELDON MOLDOFF MORT MESKIN * GENE COLAN MART NODELL * HARRY LAMPERT DON NEWTON * GEORGE TUSKA PAUL REINMAN * JOE GALLAGHER CHESTER KOZLAK * LEE ELIAS E.E. HIBBARD * ARTHUR PEDDY JIM VALENTINO * ALAN KUPPERBERG MICHAEL T. GILBERT * RICK HOBERG MIKE SEKOWSKY * JACK BURNLEY MIKE MACHLAN * FRANK HARRY DICK DILLIN * BERNARD KRIGSTEIN H.G. PETER * MICHAEL BAIR —& many others!

VOLUM E FOUR

Companion

Edited by

ROY THOMAS $

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256 Big Pages ISBN 978-1-60549-004-5

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

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BOOKS by BACK ISSUE’s editor MICHAEL EURY

KRYPTON COMPANION Unlocks the secrets of Superman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, when kryptonite came in multiple colors and super-pets scampered across the skies! Writer/editor MICHAEL EURY explores the legacy of classic editors MORT WEISINGER and JULIUS SCHWARTZ through all-new interviews with NEAL ADAMS, MURPHY ANDERSON, CARY BATES, NICK CARDY, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, JIM MOONEY, DENNIS O’NEIL, BOB OKSNER, MARTIN PASKO, BOB ROZAKIS, JIM SHOOTER, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other fan favorites!

Plus: Super-artist CURT SWAN’s 1987 essay “Drawing Superman,” JERRY SIEGEL’s “lost” imaginary story “The Death of Clark Kent,” MARK WAID’s tribute to Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, and rare and previously unpublished artwork by WAYNE BORING, ALAN DAVIS, ADAM HUGHES, PAUL SMITH, BRUCE TIMM, and other Super-stars. Bonus: A roundtable discussion with modern-day creators examining Superman’s influential past! Cover by DAVE GIBBONS!

JUSTICE LEAGUE COMPANION A comprehensive examination of the Silver Age JLA written by MICHAEL EURY (co-author of THE SUPERHERO BOOK). It traces the JLA’s development, history, imitators, and early fandom through vintage and all-new interviews with the series’ creators, an issue-by-issue index of the JLA’s 1960-1972 adventures, classic and never-before-published artwork, and other fun and fascinating features. Contributors include DENNY O’NEIL, MURPHY ANDERSON, JOE GIELLA, MIKE FRIEDRICH, NEAL ADAMS, ALEX ROSS, CARMINE INFANTINO, NICK CARDY, and many, many others. Plus: An exclusive interview with STAN LEE, who answers the question, “Did the JLA really inspire the creation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four?” With an all-new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

BATCAVE COMPANION The writer/editor of the critically acclaimed KRYPTON COMPANION and the designer of the eye-popping SPIES, VIXENS, AND MASTERS OF KUNG FU: THE ART OF PAUL GULACY team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a musthave for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG. (240-page trade paperback) $26.95 US • ISBN: 9781893905788 • Diamond Order Code: NOV068368

(224-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905481 Diamond Order Code: MAY053052

(240-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905610 Diamond Order Code: MAY063443

COMICS GONE APE!

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

The missing link to primates in comics, spotlighting a barrel of simian superstars like Beppo, BrainiApe, the Gibbon, Gleek, Gorilla Man, Grease Monkey, King Kong, Konga, Mojo Jojo, Sky Ape, and Titano! It’s loaded with rare and classic artwork, cover galleries, and interviews with artists & writers including ARTHUR ADAMS (Monkeyman and O’Brien), FRANK CHO, CARMINE INFANTINO (Detective Chimp, Grodd), JOE KUBERT (Tor, Tarzan), TONY MILLIONAIRE (Sock Monkey), DOUG MOENCH (Planet of the Apes), and BOB OKSNER (Angel and the Ape)! All-new cover by ARTHUR ADAMS, and written by MICHAEL EURY.

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on his career milestones!

Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art (includes a color section)! Also includes an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, plus a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905627 Diamond Order Code: FEB073814

(176-pg. Paperback with COLOR) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905276 Diamond Order Code: STAR20439

CAPTAIN ACTION: THE ORIGINAL SUPER-HERO ACTION FIGURE (Hardcover 2nd Edition)

CAPTAIN ACTION was introduced in 1966 in the wake of the Batman TV show craze, and later received his own DC comic book with art by WALLY WOOD and GIL KANE. Able to assume the identities of 13 famous super-heroes, his initial career was short-lived, but continuing interest in the hero has led to two different returns to toy-store shelves. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 toy photos, this FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SECOND EDITION chronicles the history of this quick-changing champion, including photos of virtually EVERY CAPTAIN ACTION PRODUCT ever released, spotlights on his allies ACTION BOY and the SUPER QUEENS and his arch enemy DR. EVIL, an examination of his comic-book appearances, and “Action facts” that even the most diehard Captain Action fan won’t know! The original softcover edition has been sold out for years, but this revised, full-color hardcover second edition includes behind-the-scenes coverage of CAPTAIN ACTION’S TRIUMPHANT 2008 RETURN to comics shelves in his new series from Moonstone Books, and spotlights the new wave of Captain Action collectibles. Written by MICHAEL EURY. (176-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490175 • Diamond Code: APR091003

TwoMorrows Publishing 2009 Update WINTER/SPRING

Supplement to the 2008 TwoMorrows Preview Catalog

ORDER AT: www.twomorrows.com

SAVE

BATCAVE COMPANION

All characters TM & ©2009 their respective owners.

IT’S FINALLY HERE! The writer/editor of the critically acclaimed KRYPTON COMPANION and the designer of the eye-popping SPIES, VIXENS, AND MASTERS OF KUNG FU: THE ART OF PAUL GULACY team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-byissue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

15

WHE % N YO ORD U ONL ER INE!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95 US • ISBN: 9781893905788 • Diamond Order Code: NOV068368 • Ships April 2009

COMIC BOOK PODCAST COMPANION Comic book podcasts have taken the Internet by storm, and now TwoMorrows offers you the chance to go behind the scenes of ten of today's top comic book podcasts via all-new interviews with the casts of AROUND COMICS, WORD BALLOON, QUIET! PANELOLOGISTS AT WORK, COMIC BOOK QUEERS, iFANBOY, THE CRANKCAST, THE COLLECTED COMICS LIBRARY, THE PIPELINE PODCAST, COMIC GEEK SPEAK, and TwoMorrows’ own TUNE-IN PODCAST! Also featured are new interviews about podcasting and comics on the Internet with creators MATT FRACTION, TIM SEELEY, and GENE COLAN. You'll also find a handy guide of what you’ll need to start your own podcast, an index of more than thirty great comic book podcasts, numerous photos of your favorite podcasters, and original art from COLAN, SEELEY, DC's MIKE NORTON, and many more! By ERIC HOUSTON, with a spectacular new cover by MIKE MANLEY. (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 • ISBN: 9781605490182 • Ships May 2009

ALL-STAR COMPANION Volume 4 The epic series of ALL-STAR COMPANIONS goes out with a bang, featuring: Colossal coverage of the Golden Age ALL-STAR COMICS! Sensational secrets of the JUNIOR JUSTICE SOCIETY! An index of the complete solo adventures of all 18 original JSAers in their own features, from 1940 to 1951! The JSA's earliest imitators (Seven Soldiers of Victory, All Winners Squad, Marvel Family, and International Crime Patrol)! INFINITY, INC. on Earth-Two and after! And the 1980s SECRET ORIGINS series! With rare art by ALEX ROSS, TODD McFARLANE, JERRY ORDWAY, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE KUBERT, ALEX TOTH, GIL KANE, MURPHY ANDERSON, IRWIN HASEN, MORT MESKIN, GENE COLAN, WAYNE BORING, GEORGE TUSKA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, GEORGE FREEMAN, DON NEWTON, JACK BURNLEY, MIKE MACHLAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, DICK DILLIN, and others. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

CAPTAIN ACTION: THE ORIGINAL SUPERHERO ACTION FIGURE

(240-page trade paperback) $27.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490045 Ships June 2009

(Hardcover 2nd Edition)

CAPTAIN ACTION was introduced in 1966 in the wake of the Batman TV show craze, and later received his own DC comic book with art by WALLY WOOD and GIL KANE. Able to assume the identities of 13 famous super-heroes, his initial career was short-lived, but continuing interest in the hero has led to two different returns to toy-store shelves. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 toy photos, this FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SECOND EDITION chronicles the history of this quick-changing champion, including photos of virtually EVERY CAPTAIN ACTION PRODUCT ever released, spotlights on his allies ACTION BOY and the SUPER QUEENS and his arch enemy DR. EVIL, an examination of his comic-book appearances, and “Action facts” that even the most diehard Captain Action fan won’t know! The original softcover edition has been sold out for years, but this revised, full-color hardcover second edition includes behind-the-scenes coverage of CAPTAIN ACTION’S TRIUMPHANT 2008 RETURN to comics shelves in his new series from Moonstone Books, and spotlights the new wave of Captain Action collectibles. Written by MICHAEL EURY. (176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490175 • Ships July 2009

MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide

The comic book industry experienced an unexpected flowering in the early 1960s, compliments of Marvel Comics, and this book presents a step-by-step look at how a company that had the reputation of being one of the least creative in a generally moribund industry, emerged as one of the most dynamic, slightly irreverent and downright original contributions to an era when pop-culture emerged as the dominant force in the artistic life of America. In scores of handy, easy to reference entries, MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s takes the reader from the legendary company’s first fumbling beginnings as helmed by savvy editor/writer STAN LEE (aided by such artists as JACK KIRBY and STEVE DITKO), to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity.

With the history of Marvel Comics in the 1960s divided into four distinct phases, author PIERRE COMTOIS explains just how Lee, Kirby, Ditko, and others created a line of comic books that, while grounded in the traditional elements of panel-to-panel storytelling, broke through the juvenile mindset of a low brow industry and provided a tapestry of full blown pop culture icons.

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490168 • Ships July 2009

GRAILPAGES:

Original Comic Book Art And The Collectors GRAILPAGES brings to light the burgeoning hobby of collecting the original, hand-drawn art that is used to create comic books! Beginning more as a novelty, the hobby of collecting original comic art has expanded to a point where some of the seminal pages commonly run more than $10,000 each. Author STEVEN ALAN PAYNE lets you meet collectors from around the globe and hear their passion in their own words, as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to broad, encompassing collections of literally hundreds of pages of original comic art by such artists as JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Balancing out the narratives are incisive interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Fans of comic art, comic books, and pop culture will find in GRAILPAGES an appreciation for a uniquely American form of art!

(128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 • Ships March 2009

MAGAZINES

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

E

BRICKJOURNAL magazine is the ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, spotlighting the LEGO Community with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Edited by JOE MENO. ALTER EGO focuses on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

BRICKJOURNAL #3

BRICKJOURNAL #4

BRICKJOURNAL #5

BRICKJOURNAL #6

Event Reports from BRICKWORLD, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE WORLD FESTIVAL and PIECE OF PEACE (Japan), spotlight on our cover model builder BRYCE McGLONE, and interviews with ARTHUR GUGICK and STEVEN CANVIN of LEGO MINDSTORMS to see where LEGO ROBOTICS is going!

There’s also STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, TECHNIQUES, & more!

Interviews with LEGO BUILDERS including BREANN SLEDGE (BIONICLE BUILDER), Event Reports from BRICKFAIR and BRICKCON, plus reports on new MINDSTORMS PROJECTS, STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS and TECHNIQUES for all skill levels, NEW SET REVIEWS, and a report on constructing the Chinese Olympic Village in LEGO!

Features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus an interview with the head of the LEGO GROUP’S 3D DEPARTMENT, a glimpse at the LEGO Group's past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO'S IDEA HOUSE, instructions and spotlights on builders, and an idea section for Pirate builders!

Spotlight on CLASSIC SPACE SETS and a look at new ones with LEGO SET DESIGNERS, BRANDON GRIFFITH shows his STAR TREK MODELS, plus take a tour of the DUTCH MOONBASE with MIKE VAN LEEUWEN and MARCO BAAS. There's also coverage of BRICKFEST 2009 and FIRST LEGO LEAGUE'S WORLD FESTIVAL and photos from TOY FAIR NEW YORK!

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: JUN084415

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: SEP084428

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: DEC084408 Ships March 2009

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Ships June 2009

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

TM

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, plus rare and unpublished art. Edited by MICHAEL EURY. DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation, featuring in-depth interviews and step-bystep demonstrations from top comics professionals. Edited by MIKE MANLEY. ROUGH STUFF features never-seen pencil pages, sketches, layouts, roughs, and unused inked pages from throughout comics history, plus columns, critiques, and more!

Edited by BOB McLEOD. WRITE NOW! features writing tips from pros on both sides of the desk, interviews, sample scripts, reviews, exclusive Nuts & Bolts tutorials, and more!

Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

ALTER EGO #84

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood,

by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover

by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, in-depth art-filled look at Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, DC’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Dagar the Invincible, Ironjaw & Wulf, and Arak, Son of Thunder, plus the never-seen Valda the Iron Maiden by TODD McFARLANE! Plus JOE EDWARDS (Part 2), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: AUG084454

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: OCT084483

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: NOV084368

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: JAN094555 Ships March 2009

C o l l e c t o r

The JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine celebrates his life and career through INTERVIEWS WITH KIRBY and his contemporaries, FEATURE ARTICLES, RARE AND UNSEEN KIRBY ART, and more.

Edited by JOHN MORROW.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PRINT EDITION, AND GET THE DIGITAL EDITION FREE, BEFORE THE PRINT ISSUE HITS STORES!

BACK ISSUE #29

BACK ISSUE #30

BACK ISSUE #31

BACK ISSUE #32

“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work, NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot, McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants, the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series, lost Angel stories, Beast’s tenure with the Avengers, the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor, the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father, a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Saturday Morning Heroes!” Interviews with TV Captain Marvels JACKSON BOSTWICK and JOHN DAVEY, MAGGIN and SAVIUK’s lost Superman/”Captain Thunder” sequel, Space Ghost interviews with GARY OWENS and STEVE RUDE, MARV WOLFMAN guest editorial, Super Friends, unproduced fourth wave Super Powers action figures, Astro Boy, ADAM HUGHES tribute to DAVE STEVENS, and a new cover by ALEX ROSS!

“STEVE GERBER Salute!” In-depth look at his Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Defenders, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, Thundarr the Barbarian, and more!

Plus: Creators pay tribute to Steve Gerber, featuring art by and commentary from BRUNNER, BUCKLER, COLAN, GOLDEN, STAN LEE, LEVITZ, MAYERIK, MOONEY, PLOOG, SIMONSON, and others. Cover painting by FRANK BRUNNER!

“Tech, Data, and Hardware!” The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and GREENBERGER on DC’s Who’s Who, SAVIUK, STATON, and VAN SCIVER on Drawing Green Lantern, ED HANNIGAN Art Gallery, history of Rom: Spaceknight, story of BILL MANTLO, Dial H for Hero, Richie Rich’s Inventions, and a Spider-Mobile schematic cover by ELIOT BROWN and DUSTY ABELL!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: MAY084246

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: JUL084393

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: SEP084399

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: NOV084369

DRAW! #17

DRAW! #18

ROUGH STUFF #10

ROUGH STUFF #11

ROUGH STUFF #12

Interview with Scott Pilgrim’s creator and artist BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY on how he creates the acclaimed series, plus learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS works on his series.

Also, more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!

Features an in-depth interview and demo

by R.M. GUERA (the artist of Vertigo’s Scalped), behind-the-scenes in the Batcave with Cartoon Network’s JAMES TUCKER on the new hit show “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” plus product reviews by JAMAR NICHOLAS, and Comic Book Boot Camp’s “Anatomy: Part 2” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY!

Interview with RON GARNEY, with copious examples of sketchwork and comments.

Also features on ANDY SMITH, MICHAEL JASON PAZ, and MATT HALEY, showing how their work evolves, excerpts from a new book on ALEX RAYMOND, secrets of teaching comic art by pro inker BOB McLEOD, new cover by GARNEY and McLEOD, newcomer critique, and more!

New cover by GREG HORN, plus interviews with HORN and TOM YEATES on how they produce their stellar work. Also features on GENE HA, JIMMY CHEUNG, and MIKE PERKINS, showing their sketchwork and commentary, tips on collecting sketches and commissions from artists, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work, and more!

Interview and cover by comic painter CHRIS MOELLER, features on New Zealand comic artist COLIN WILSON, G.I. Joe artist JEREMY DALE, and fan favorite TERRY DODSON, plus "GOOD GIRL ART" (a new article about everyone's favorite collectible art) by ROBERT PLUNKETT, a "Rough Critique" of an aspiring artist's work, and more!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 US • Ships Spring 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: AUG084469

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: NOV084404

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships April 2009

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 US • Ships February 2009 Diamond Order Code: DEC084377

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

WRITE NOW! #20

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Focus on THE SPIRIT movie, showing how FRANK MILLER transformed WILL EISNER’s comics into the smash-hit film, with interviews with key players behind the making of the movie, a look at what made Eisner’s comics so special, and more. Plus: an interview with COLLEEN DORAN, writer ALEX GRECIAN on how to get a pitch green lighted, script and art examples, and more!

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BACK ISSUE #33

BACK ISSUE #34

BACK ISSUE #35

KIRBY COLLECTOR #52

KIRBY COLLECTOR #53

“Teen Heroes!” Teen Titans in the 1970s & 1980s, with CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, PÉREZ, TUSKA, and WOLFMAN, BARON and GUICE on the Flash, interviews with TV Billy Batson MICHAEL GRAY and writer STEVE SKEATES, NICIEZA and BAGLEY’s New Warriors, Legion of Super-Heroes 1970s art gallery, James Bond Jr., and… the Archies! New Teen Titans cover by GEORGE PÉREZ and colored by GENE HA!

“New World Order!” Adam Warlock examined with JIM STARLIN and ROY THOMAS, the history of Miracleman with ALAN DAVIS & GARRY LEACH, JIM SHOOTER interview, roundtable with Marvel’s post-STAN LEE editors-in-chief on the New Universe, Logan’s Run, Star Hunters, BOB WIACEK on Star Wars and Star-Lord, DICK GIORDANO revisits Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Post-Crisis DC Universe You Didn’t See,” and a new cover by JIM STARLIN!

“Villains!” MIKE ZECK and J.M. DeMATTEIS discuss “Kraven’s Last Hunt” in a “Pro2Pro” interview, the history of the Hobgoblin is exposed, the Joker’s short-lived series, looks back at Secret Society of Super-Villains and Kobra, a Magneto biography, Luthor and Brainiac’s malevolent makeovers, interview with Secret Society artist MIKE VOSBURG, plus contributions from BYRNE, CONWAY, FRENZ, NOVICK, ROMITA JR., STERN, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MIKE ZECK!

Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, his BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, and see original unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, DESTROYER DUCK, and more, including a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING (with lots of surprises)! Color Kirby covers inked by DON HECK and PAUL SMITH!

Spotlights THE MAGIC OF STAN & JACK! There’s a new interview with STAN LEE, a walking tour of New York showing where Lee & Kirby lived and worked, a re-evaluation of the “Lost” FF #108 story (including a missing page that just surfaced), “What If Jack Hadn’t Left Marvel In 1970?”, plus MARK EVANIER’s regular column, a Kirby pencil art gallery, a complete Golden Age Kirby story, and more, behind a color Kirby cover inked by GEORGE PÉREZ!

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NEW MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW, DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!

Volume 19: MIKE PLOOG

Volume 20: KYLE BAKER

Volume 21: CHRIS SPROUSE

Volume 22: MARK BUCKINGHAM

Volume 23: DARWYN COOKE

by Eric Nolen-Weathington & Roger Ash (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781605490076 Diamond Order Code: SEP084304 Now shipping

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by Eric Nolen-Weathington & Todd DeZago (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 97801605490137 Diamond Order Code: NOV084298 Ships March 2008

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by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $15.95 ISBN: 9781605490205 Ships June 2008

AGE OF TV HEROES Examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-thescene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with.

Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from ADAM WEST (Batman), LYNDA CARTER (Wonder Woman), PATRICK WARBURTON (The Tick), NICHOLAS HAMMOND (Spider-Man), WILLIAM KATT (The Greatest American Hero), JACK LARSON (The Adventures of Superman), JOHN WESLEY SHIPP (The Flash), JACKSON BOSTWICK (Shazam!), and many more!

Written by JASON HOFIUS and GEORGE KHOURY, with a new cover by superstar painter ALEX ROSS! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490106 Diamond Order Code: SEP084302 Rescheduled for July 2009

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EXTRAORDINARY WORKS KIRBY FIVE-OH! OF ALAN MOORE: LIMITED HARDCOVER Indispensable Edition Limited to 500 copies, KIRBY FIVE-OH! The definitive biography of the co-creator of WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA finally returns to print in a NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED VERSION! Features an extensive series of interviews with MOORE about his entire career, including a new interview covering his work since the sold-out 2003 edition of this book was published.

Includes RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ART, and private PHOTOS of the author, plus a series of tribute comic strips by many of Moore’s closest collaborators, a COLOR SECTION featuring a RARE MOORE STORY (remastered, and starring MR. MONSTER), and more! Edited by GEORGE KHOURY, with a cover by DAVE McKEAN! (240-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490090 Diamond Order Code: OCT084400 Limited Hardcover Signed by Alan Moore (100 hardcover copies) $49.95 US Only available from TwoMorrows!

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JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

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ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

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BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

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LIMITED HARDCOVER EDITION covers the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career in comics, including his 50 BEST STORIES, BEST COVERS, BEST EXAMPLES OF UNUSED KIRBY ART, BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS, and profiles of, and commentary by, 50 PEOPLE INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus there’s a 50-PAGE GALLERY of Kirby’s PENCIL ART, a DELUXE COLOR SECTION, a previously unseen Kirby Superman cover inked by DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER! Includes a full-color wrapped hardcover, and an individuallynumbered extra Kirby pencil art plate not included in the softcover edition! It’s ONLY AVAILABLE FROM TWOMORROWS, and is not sold in stores! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30, with looks at Jack’s 1970s and ‘80s work, plus a two-part focus on how widespread Kirby’s influence is! Features rare interviews with KIRBY himself, plus Watchmen’s ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBONS, NEIL GAIMAN, Bone’s JEFF SMITH, MARK HAMILL, and others! See page after page of rare Kirby art, including a NEW SPECIAL SECTION with over 30 PIECES OF KIRBY ART NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED, and more!

(288-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490120 Diamond Order Code: DEC084286 Ships February 2009

(168-page Limited Edition Hardcover) (500 hardcover copies) $34.95 US Only available from TwoMorrows!

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Subscriptions will start with the next available issue, but CURRENT AND OLDER ISSUES MUST BE PURCHASED AT THE BACK ISSUE PRICE (new issues ship in bulk, and we pass the savings on in our subscription rates). In the US, we generally ship back issues and books by MEDIA MAIL.

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR Volume 7

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

“HOW-TO” MAGAZINES Spinning off from the pages of BACK ISSUE! magazine comes ROUGH STUFF, celebrating the ART of creating comics! Edited by famed inker BOB McLEOD, each issue spotlights NEVER-BEFORE PUBLISHED penciled pages, preliminary sketches, detailed layouts, and even unused inked versions from artists throughout comics history. Included is commentary on the art, discussing what went right and wrong with it, and background information to put it all into historical perspective. Plus, before-and-after comparisons let you see firsthand how an image changes from initial concept to published version. So don’t miss this amazing magazine, featuring galleries of NEVER-BEFORE SEEN art, from some of your favorite series of all time, and the top pros in the industry!

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ROUGH STUFF #1 Our debut issue features galleries of UNSEEN ART by a who’s who of Modern Masters including: ALAN DAVIS, GEORGE PÉREZ, BRUCE TIMM, KEVIN NOWLAN, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, ARTHUR ADAMS, JOHN BYRNE, and WALTER SIMONSON, plus a KEVIN NOWLAN interview, art critiques, and a new BRUCE TIMM COVER!

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The follow-up to our smash first issue features more galleries of UNSEEN ART by top industry professionals, including: BRIAN APTHORP, FRANK BRUNNER, PAUL GULACY, JERRY ORDWAY, ALEX TOTH, and MATT WAGNER, plus a PAUL GULACY interview, a look at art of the pros BEFORE they were pros, and a new GULACY “HEX” COVER!

Still more galleries of UNPUBLISHED ART

by MIKE ALLRED, JOHN BUSCEMA, YANICK PAQUETTE, JOHN ROMITA JR., P. CRAIG RUSSELL, and LEE WEEKS, plus a JOHN ROMITA JR. interview, looks at the process of creating a cover (with BILL SIENKIEWICZ and JOHN ROMITA JR.), and a new ROMITA JR. COVER, plus a FREE DRAW #13 PREVIEW!

More NEVER-PUBLISHED galleries (with detailed artist commentaries) by MICHAEL KALUTA, ANDREW “Starman” ROBINSON, GENE COLAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, and STEVE BISSETTE, plus interview and art by JOHN TOTLEBEN, a look at the Wonder Woman Day charity auction (with rare art), art critiques, before-&-after art comparisons, and a FREE WRITE NOW #15 PREVIEW!

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NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED galleries (complete with extensive commentaries by the artists) by PAUL SMITH, GIL KANE, CULLY HAMNER, DALE KEOWN, and ASHLEY WOOD, plus a feature interview and art by STEVE RUDE, an examination of JOHN ALBANO and TONY DeZUNIGA’s work on Jonah Hex, new STEVE RUDE COVER, plus a FREE BACK ISSUE #23 PREVIEW!

Features a new interview and cover by BRIAN STELFREEZE, interview with BUTCH GUICE, extensive art galleries/commentary by IAN CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN DORAN, MIKE GAGNON looks at independent comics, with art and comments by ANDREW BARR, BRANDON GRAHAM, and ASAF HANUKA! Includes a FREE ALTER EGO #73 PREVIEW!

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Features an in-depth interview and cover by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

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ROUGH STUFF #9

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ROUGH STUFF #8 Features an in-depth interview and cover painting by the extraordinary MIKE MAYHEW, preliminary and unpublished art

by ALEX HORLEY, TONY DeZUNIGA, NICK CARDY, and RAFAEL KAYANAN (including commentary by each artist), a look at the great Belgian comic book artists, a “Rough Critique” of MIKE MURDOCK’s work, and more!

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Editor and pro inker BOB McLEOD features four interviews this issue: ROB HAYNES (interviewed by fellow professional TIM TOWNSEND), JOE JUSKO, MEL RUBI, and SCOTT WILLIAMS, with a new painted cover by JUSKO, and an article by McLEOD examining "Inkers: Who needs ’em?" along with other features, including a Rough Critique of RUDY VASQUEZ! (100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY084263

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THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go online for an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE! 6-ISSUE SUBS: $44 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($60 First Class, $70 Canada, $105 1st Class Intl., $115 Priority Intl.).

BACK ISSUE #1

BACK ISSUE #2

BACK ISSUE #3

“PRO2PRO” interview between GEORGE PÉREZ & MARV WOLFMAN (with UNSEEN PÉREZ ART), “ROUGH STUFF” featuring JACK KIRBY’s PENCIL ART, “GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD” on the first JLA/AVENGERS, “BEYOND CAPES” on DC and Marvel’s TARZAN (with KUBERT and BUSCEMA ART), “OFF MY CHEST” editorial by INFANTINO, and more! PÉREZ cover!

“PRO2PRO” between ADAM HUGHES and MIKE W. BARR (with UNSEEN HUGHES ART) and MATT WAGNER and DIANA SCHUTZ, “ROUGH STUFF” HUGHES PENCIL ART, STEVE RUDE’s unseen SPACE GHOST/HERCULOIDS team-up, Bruce Jones’ ALIEN WORLDS and TWISTED TALES, “OFF MY CHEST” by MIKE W. BARR on the DC IMPLOSION, and more!

HUGHES cover!

“PRO2PRO” between KEITH GIFFEN, J.M. DeMATTEIS and KEVIN MAGUIRE on their JLA WORK, “ROUGH STUFF” PENCIL ART by ARAGONÉS, HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, BYRNE, KIRBY, HUGHES, details on two unknown PLASTIC MAN movies, Joker’s history with O’NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS and BOLLAND, editorial by MARK EVANIER, and more! BOLLAND cover!

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“PRO2PRO” between JOHN BYRNE and CHRIS CLAREMONT on their X-MEN WORK and WALT SIMONSON and JOE CASEY on Walter’s THOR, WOLVERINE PENCIL ART by BUSCEMA, LEE, COCKRUM, BYRNE, and GIL KANE, LEN WEIN’S TEEN WOLVERINE, PUNISHER’S 30TH and SECRET WARS’ 20TH ANNIVERSARIES (with UNSEEN ZECK ART), and more! BYRNE cover!

Wonder Woman TV series in-depth, LYNDA CARTER INTERVIEW, WONDER WOMAN TV ART GALLERY, Marvel’s TV Hulk, SpiderMan, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, LOU FERRIGNO INTERVIEW, super-hero cartoons you didn’t see, pencil gallery by JERRY ORDWAY, STAR TREK in comics, and ROMITA SR. editorial on Marvel’s movies!

Covers by ALEX ROSS and ADAM HUGHES!

TOMB OF DRACULA revealed with GENE COLAN and MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN & BERNIE WRIGHTSON on Swamp Thing’s roots, STEVE BISSETTE & RICK VEITCH on their Swamp work, pencil art by BRUNNER, PLOOG, BISSETTE, COLAN, WRIGHTSON, and SMITH, editorial by ROY THOMAS, PREZ, GODZILLA comics (with TRIMPE art), CHARLTON horror, & more! COLAN cover!

History of BRAVE AND BOLD, JIM APARO interview, tribute to BOB HANEY, FANTASTIC FOUR ROUNDTABLE with STAN LEE, MARK WAID, and others, EVANIER and MEUGNIOT on DNAgents, pencil art by ROSS, TOTH, COCKRUM, HECK, ROBBINS, NEWTON, and BYRNE, DENNY O’NEIL editorial, a tour of METROPOLIS, IL, and more! SWAN/ANDERSON cover!

DENNY O’NEIL and Justice League Unlimited voice actor PHIL LaMARR discuss GL JOHN STEWART, NEW X-MEN pencil art by NEAL ADAMS, ARTHUR ADAMS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, ALAN DAVIS, JIM LEE, ADAM HUGHES, STORM’s 30-year history, animated TV’s black heroes (with TOTH art), ISABELLA and TREVOR VON EEDEN on BLACK LIGHTNING, and more! KYLE BAKER cover!

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MIKE BARON and STEVE RUDE on NEXUS past and present, a colossal GIL KANE pencil art gallery, a look at Marvel’s STAR WARS comics, secrets of DC’s unseen CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS SEQUEL, TIM TRUMAN on his GRIMJACK SERIES, MIKE GOLD editorial, THANOS history, TIME WARP revisited, and more! All-new STEVE RUDE COVER!

NEAL ADAMS and DENNY O’NEIL on RA’S AL GHUL’s history (with Adams art), O’Neil and MICHAEL KALUTA on THE SHADOW, MIKE GRELL on JON SABLE FREELANCE, HOWIE CHAYKIN interview, DOC SAVAGE in comics, BATMAN ART GALLERY by PAUL SMITH, SIENKIEWICZ, SIMONSON, BOLLAND, HANNIGAN, MAZZUCCHELLI, and others! New cover by ADAMS!

ROY THOMAS, KURT BUSIEK, and JOE JUSKO on CONAN (with art by JOHN BUSCEMA, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, NEAL ADAMS, JUSKO, and others), SERGIO ARAGONÉS and MARK EVANIER on GROO, DC’s never-published KING ARTHUR, pencil art gallery by KIRBY, PÉREZ, MOEBIUS, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, BOLLAND, and others, and a new BUSCEMA/JUSKO Conan cover!

‘70s and ‘80s character revamps with DAVE GIBBONS, ROY THOMAS and KURT BUSIEK, TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ on Spider-Man’s 1980s “black” costume change, DENNY O’NEIL on Superman’s 1970 revamp, JOHN BYRNE’s aborted SHAZAM! series detailed, pencil art gallery with FRANK MILLER, LEE WEEKS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, CHARLES VESS, and more!

CARDY interview, ENGLEHART and MOENCH on kung-fu comics, “Pro2Pro” with STATON and CUTI on Charlton’s E-Man, pencil art gallery featuring MILLER, KUBERT, GIORDANO, SWAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, COCKRUM, and others, EISNER’s A Contract with God; “The Death of Romance (Comics)” (with art by ROMITA, SR. and TOTH), and more!

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DAVE COCKRUM and MIKE GRELL go “Pro2Pro” on the Legion, pencil art gallery

by BUSCEMA, BYRNE, MILLER, STARLIN, McFARLANE, ROMITA JR., SIENKIEWICZ, looks at Hercules Unbound, Hex, Killraven, Kamandi, MARS, Planet of the Apes, art and interviews with GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KIRBY, WILLIAMSON, and more! New MIKE GRELL/BOB McLEOD cover!

“Weird Heroes” of the 1970s and ‘80s!

MIKE PLOOG discusses Ghost Rider, MATT WAGNER revisits The Demon, JOE KUBERT dusts off Ragman, GENE COLAN “Rough Stuff” pencil gallery, GARCÍALÓPEZ recalls Deadman, DC’s unpublished Gorilla Grodd series, PERLIN, CONWAY, and MOENCH on Werewolf by Night, and more! New ARTHUR ADAMS cover!

“Toy Stories!” Behind the Scenes of Marvel’s G.I. JOE™ and TRANSFORMERS with PAUL LEVITZ and GEORGE TUSKA, “Rough Stuff” MIKE ZECK pencil gallery, ARTHUR ADAMS on Gumby, HE-MAN, ROM, MICRONAUTS, SUPER POWERS, SUPER-HERO CARS, art by HAMA, SAL BUSCEMA, GUICE, GOLDEN, KIRBY, TRIMPE, and new ZECK sketch cover!

“Super Girls!” Supergirl retrospective with art by STELFREEZE, HAMNER, SpiderWoman, Flare, Tigra, DC’s unused Double Comics with unseen BARRETTO and INFANTINO art, WOLFMAN and JIMENEZ on Donna Troy, female comics pros, art by SEKOWSKY, OKSNER, PÉREZ, HUGHES, GIORDANO, plus a COLOR GALLERY and COVER by BRUCE TIMM!

“Big, Green Issue!” Tour of NEAL ADAMS’ studio (with interview and art gallery), DAVE GIBBONS “Rough Stuff” pencil art spotlight, interviews with MIKE GRELL (on Green Arrow), PETER DAVID (on Incredible Hulk), a “Pro2Pro” chat between GERRY CONWAY and JOHN ROMITA, SR. (on the Green Goblin), and more. New cover

by NEAL ADAMS!

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BACK ISSUE #19

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“Unsung Heroes!” DON NEWTON spotlight, STEVE GERBER and GENE COLAN on Howard the Duck, MIKE CARLIN and DANNY FINGEROTH on Marvel’s Assistant Editors’ Month, the unrealized Unlimited Powers TV show, TONY ISABELLA’s aborted plans for The Champions, MARK GRUENWALD tribute, art by SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, and more! NEWTON/ RUBINSTEIN cover!

“Secret Identities!” Histories of characters with unusual alter egos: Firestorm, Moon Knight, the Question, and the “real-life” Human Fly! STEVE ENGLEHART and SAL BUSCEMA on Captain America, JERRY ORDWAY interview and cover, Superman roundtable with SIENKIEWICZ, NOWLAN, MOENCH, COWAN, MAGGIN, O’NEIL, MILGROM, CONWAY, ROBBINS, SWAN, plus FREE ALTER EGO #64 PREVIEW!

“The Devil You Say!” issue! A look at Daredevil in the 1980s and 1990s with interviews and art by KLAUS JANSON, JOHN ROMITA JR., and FRANK MILLER, MIKE MIGNOLA Hellboy interview, DAN MISHKIN and GARY COHN on Blue Devil, COLLEEN DORAN’s unpublished X-Men spin-off “Fallen Angels”, Son of Satan, Stig’s Inferno, DC’s Plop!, JACK KIRBY’s Devil Dinosaur, and cover by MIKE ZECK!

“Dynamic Duos!’ “Pro2Pro” interviews with Batman’s ALAN GRANT and NORM BREYFOGLE and the Legion’s PAUL LEVITZ and KEITH GIFFEN, a “Backstage Pass” to Dark Horse Comics, Robin’s history, EASTMAN and LAIRD’s Ninja Turtles, histories of duos Robin and Batgirl, Captain America and the Falcon, and Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, “Zot!” interview with SCOTT McCLOUD, and a new BREYFOGLE cover!

“Comics Go Hollywood!” Spider-Man roundtable with STAN LEE, JOHN ROMITA, SR., JIM SHOOTER, ERIK LARSEN, and others, STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable Part 1, Gladstone’s Disney comics line, behindthe-scenes at TV’s ISIS and THE FLASH (plus an interview with Flash’s JOHN WESLEY SHIPP), TV tie-in comics, bonus 8-page color ADAM HUGHES ART GALLERY and cover, plus a FREE WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: SEP063683

(104-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV063993

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN073984

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR073855

(108-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY073880

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BACK ISSUE #24

BACK ISSUE #25

BACK ISSUE #26

BACK ISSUE #27

BACK ISSUE #28

“Magic” issue! MICHAEL GOLDEN interview, GENE COLAN, PAUL SMITH, and FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, Mystic Art Gallery with CARL POTTS & KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL WILLINGHAM’s Elementals, Zatanna history, Dr. Fate’s revival, a “Greatest Stories Never Told” look at Peter Pan, tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS, a new GOLDEN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

“Men of Steel!’ BOB LAYTON and DAVID MICHELINIE on Iron Man, RICH BUCKLER on Deathlok, MIKE GRELL on Warlord, JOHN BYRNE on ROG 2000, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Machine Man, the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip, DC’s Steel, art by KIRBY, HECK, WINDSOR-SMITH, TUSKA, LAYTON cover, and bonus “Men of Steel” art gallery!

Includes a FREE DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

“Spies and Tough Guys!’ PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

“Comic Book Royalty!” The ’70s/’80s careers of Aquaman and the Sub-Mariner explored, BARR and BOLLAND discuss CAMELOT 3000, comics pros tell “Why JACK KIRBY Was King,” “Dr. Doom: Monarch or Menace?” DON McGREGOR’s Black Panther; an exclusive ALAN WEISS art gallery; spotlights on ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS; NIGHT FORCE; and more! New cover by NICK CARDY!

“Heroes Behaving Badly!” Hulk vs. Thing tirades with RON WILSON, HERB TRIMPE, and JIM SHOOTER; CARY BATES and CARMINE INFANTINO on “Trial of the Flash”; JOHN BYRNE’s heroes who cross the line; Teen Titan Terra, Kid Miracleman, Mark Shaw Manhunter, and others who went bad, featuring LAYTON, MICHELINIE, WOLFMAN, and PÉREZ, and more! New cover by DARWYN COOKE!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL073976

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NEW STUFF FROM TWOMORROWS!

ALTER EGO #85

WRITE NOW! #20

ROUGH STUFF #12

DRAW! #17

BRICKJOURNAL #5

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Focus on THE SPIRIT movie, showing how FRANK MILLER transformed WILL EISNER’s comics into the smash-hit film, with interviews with key players behind the making of the movie, a look at what made Eisner’s comics so special, and more. Plus: an interview with COLLEEN DORAN, writer ALEX GRECIAN on how to get a pitch green lighted, script and art examples, and more!

Interview and cover by comic painter CHRIS MOELLER, features on New Zealand comic artist COLIN WILSON, G.I. Joe artist JEREMY DALE, and fan favorite TERRY DODSON, plus "GOOD GIRL ART" (a new article about everyone's favorite collectible art) by ROBERT PLUNKETT, a "Rough Critique" of an aspiring artist's work, and more!

Go behind the pages of the hit series of graphic novels starring Scott Pilgrim with his creator and artist, BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY, to see how he creates the acclaimed series! Then, learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS works on the series, plus more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!

Features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus an interview with the head of the LEGO GROUP’S 3D DEPARTMENT, a glimpse at the LEGO Group's past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO'S IDEA HOUSE, instructions and spotlights on builders, and an idea section for Pirate builders!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR094514 Now shipping!

(80-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC084398 FINAL ISSUE! Now shipping!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB094564 FINAL ISSUE! Now shipping!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 US • (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC084377 Now shipping!

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC084408 Now shipping!

KIRBY COLLECTOR #52

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE:

BATCAVE COMPANION

Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, & DESTROYER DUCK, a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING, unseen Kirby covers & more!

(84-page tabloid magazine) $9.95 US Diamond Order Code: DEC084397 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Now shipping!

COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 7 Reprints KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30 plus over 30 pieces of Kirby art never published!

(288-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490120 Now shipping!

GRAILPAGES

The definitive autobiographical book on ALAN MOORE in a NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED VERSION! Includes new interviews covering his work since the original 2003 edition of the book. From SWAMP THING, V FOR VENDETTA, WATCHMEN, and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and beyond – all are discussed by Alan. Plus, there’s RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ARTWORK, and PHOTOGRAPHS, tribute comic strips by NEIL GAIMAN and other of Moore’s closest collaborators, a COLOR SECTION featuring the RARE MOORE STORY “The Riddle of the Recalcitrant Refuse” (newly remastered, and starring MR. MONSTER), and more! Edited by GEORGE KHOURY, with a cover by DAVE McKEAN!

Explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490090 Diamond Order Code: JAN088702 Now shipping!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95 US ISBN: 9781893905788 Diamond Order Code: NOV068368 Now shipping!

Indispensable Edition

Go to www.twomorrows.com for FULL-COLOR downloadable PDF versions of our magazines for only $2.95! Subscribers to the print edition get the digital edition FREE, weeks before it hits stores!

2009 SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

Media Mail

Original Comic Book Art & The Collectors Examines the hobby of collecting original comic book art, letting you meet collectors from around the globe as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to hundreds of pages of original comic art

by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Features interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Written by STEVEN ALAN PAYNE. (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 Now shipping!

VOLUME 20: KYLE BAKER

(120-page trade paperback with COLOR) $14.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490083 Now shipping!

VOLUME 21: CHRIS SPROUSE

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 US • ISBN: 97801605490137 Ships May 2009 Each features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from the artist’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

1st Class Canada 1st Class Priority US Intl.

Intl.

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$50

$60

$60

$84

$136

BACK ISSUE! (6 issues)

$44

$60

$70

$105

$115

DRAW! (4 issues)

$30

$40

$47

$70

$77

ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

$88

$120

$140

$210

$230

BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

$38

$48

$55

$78

$85

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

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