Back Issue #112 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

“Nuclear Issue” starring THE FURY OF FIRESTORM! June 2

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DAVE GIBBONS Hulk UK interview • Nova • Dr. Manhattan • Radioactive Man • Bongo’s Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy • Holo-Man & more explosive features! with MARK BAGLEY • PAT BRODERICK • GERRY CONWAY • RON FRENZ • RAFAEL KAYANAN • TOM MANDRAKE • BILL MORRISON • FABIAN NICIEZA • JOHN OSTRANDER

Relive The Pop Culture You Grew Up With!

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

#5: Interviews with MARK HAMILL and Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! Poke fun at a campy BATMAN COMIC BOOK! Plus: “The First Time I Met Tarzan,” MAJOR MATT MASON, Moon Landing Mania, SNUFFY SMITH at 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV Dinners, Celebrity Crushes, and more fun, fab features! SHIPS JUNE 2019! #6: Interviews with crazy creepster SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, BUTCH PATRICK! Call on the original Saturday Morning Ghost Busters, with BOB BURNS! Uncover the nutty Naugas! Plus: “My Life in the Twilight Zone,” “I Was a Teenage James Bond,” “My Letters to Famous People,” the ARCHIEDOBIE GILLIS connection, the PINBALL Hall of Fame, Super Collector DAVID MANDEL’s comic art collection, Alien action figures, the RUBIK’S CUBE fad, and more fun, fab features! SHIPS SEPTEMBER 2019! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazines) $8.95 (Digital Editions) $4.95 Edited by Back Issue’s MICHAEL EURY! Please add $1 per issue for shipping in the US.

RETROFAN #1

RETROFAN #2

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #4

THE CRAZY, COOL CULTURE WE GREW UP WITH! LOU FERRIGNO interview, The Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon, “How I Met Lon Chaney, Jr.”, goofy comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy, RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC (the real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show), TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles, and Mr. Microphone!

HALLOWEEN! Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! The long-buried Dinosaur Land amusement park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, SINDY (the British Barbie), and more!

40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEAMONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman and Batman memorabilia, & more!

Interviews with the SHAZAM! TV show’s JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN HORNET in Hollywood, remembering monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the wayout Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic THUNDERBIRDS, Casper & Richie Rich museum, the KING TUT fad, and more!

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Volume 1, Number 112 June 2019 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Pat Broderick COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Mark Arnold Cary Bates Pat Broderick Gerry Conway DC Comics Cecil Disharoon Steve Englehart Robb Epps Gary Frank Dave Gibbons Grand Comics Database Robert Greenberger Hal Halbert Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Auctions John Higgins John Joshua Claude Kane III Donald Kasen Rafael Kayanan Paul Kupperberg James Heath Lantz Dave Lemieux Tom Mandrake Robert Menzies Al Milgrom Bill Morrison

Fabian Nicieza Luigi Novi John Ostrander Amanda Powers Tom Powers Gage Skidmore Roger Stern Bryan D. Stroud Roy Thomas Steven Thompson Mark Waid John Wells Michael Zeno

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Reader advisory: Contains mild nudity in Dr. Manhattan article (with sample images from Watchmen) INTERVIEWS: The Firestorm Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 We duck, cover, and roll with enough Firestorm creators to crowd a fallout shelter BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Radioactive Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Is he a Master of Evil or a Thunderbolt? The story of Marvel’s Chen Lu UNKNOWN MARVEL: The Incredible Dave Gibbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The Watchmen co-creator discusses his early work on the UK Hulk comic ROUGH STUFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Bask in the irradiated glow of glorious graphite ONE-HIT WONDERS: Meet Microwave Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Remember Cary Bates’ short-lived Superman villain? WHAT THE--?!: Holo-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 From the company that brought you Peter Pan Records came this colorful ’70s superhero BEYOND CAPES: The Dr. Manhattan Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 A blue man’s group of scholars dissects Watchmen’s god-hero; includes interviews with Dave Gibbons, John Higgins, and Gary Frank FLASHBACK: Lo, There Shall Come a… Radioactive Man! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Bill Morrison shares recollections of the Simpsons Universe’s nuclear knucklehead BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Reader reactions ART GALLERY: All-Star Squadron Lives! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Fantasy covers continuing Roy Thomas’ World War II-set superhero series BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $82 Economy US, $128 International, $32 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Pat Broderick. Firestorm, the Nuclear Man TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2019 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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PART ONE: THE COMING OF THE NUCLEAR MAN 1977: A new DC Comics hero explodes from his first issue cover—a smiling, scintillating super-being with… his head on fire? Welcome to Firestorm the Nuclear Man #1 (Mar. 1978). We’re flying from the heart of his inception, exploring the bonds of the creators at his core. How will this newest mystery man transmute the comics world? How will he become the elemental and terrifying outlaw of a transformed DC Universe? Which of his unique rogues will go on to multimedia stardom? Well, our hero’s story begins with… oh… C.R.A.P.! The reading public could start with the Kirby-flavored Al Milgrom cover. But it wouldn’t be Gerry Conway-era Firestorm without a few laughs, right? The Coalition to Resist Atomic Power recruits the new kid in town, an athletically gifted teenager named Ronnie Raymond, who’s been bouncing from town to town with his father. All Ronnie’s trying to do is to impress this cute girl he’s met, Doreen Day. He’s not really a dumb jock, but his rival for the girl, Cliff Carmichael, is both a brain and a bully, and undermines Ronnie from the start. Ronnie’s constantly overshadowed by Carmichael in class, since the teacher, Mr. Taubman, has little sense of balanced classroom management. Now, what’s up with the principal who’s keeping an eye on Ronnie is a story tied directly to that town-to-town gyro-vagueness, and one day, we’ll know why! Ronnie’s easy to get behind, for anyone who’s been the outsider… and as we’ll quickly see, he’s in over his head in every way. So the Coalition bunch presents themselves as protesters, and hey, here’s a way to make a difference! Away Ronnie sneaks into the night, invading the latest nuclear facility, designed by a buttoned-down fellow named Dr. Martin Stein. Along with his assistant Danton Black, Stein’s created the safest clean-energy facility in the world. In fact, it’s fully automated! Black, however, has sought an injunction to keep it from ever going online. The protesters turn out to cross a line from being Luddites to actual terrorists, who meet Stein’s rebuke with violence. They leave Stein and Black to their fate when they trigger the facility’s destruction. Ronnie Raymond’s left behind to become the proverbial fall guy. And then… something wonderful happens. Something born in the fervent imagination of Gerry Conway.

FIRESTORM CREATOR AND ORIGINAL WRITER GERRY CONWAY

Always a storyteller and reader, Conway made his own comics from childhood. “I don’t recall an epiphany where I decided to become a writer… I just always wanted to be a writer,” says Gerry, who then made a prolific life of this innate urging, beginning to be published while in his teens. Already a published science-fiction novelist when he began writing for first, DC, and soon, Marvel Comics, at age 19 Conway was tapped to relate Peter Parker to the times as the new scribe of The Amazing Spider-Man. “I watched anything and everything I could get my hands on related [to Marvel],” he reveals to BACK ISSUE,

A Daring DC Departure… … taking some cues from the Mighty Marvel Manner—and rather successfully, if you ask us. Al Milgrom’s explosive cover to Firestorm #1 (Mar. 1978). TM & © DC Comics.

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conducted by

Cecil Disharoon

Gerry’s Flame-heads (top right) Conway created Firelord, herald of Galactus, in Marvel’s Thor #225 (July 1974; art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott), followed by (top left) the blaze-bonneted Nuclear Man for DC in Firestorm #1. Thor and Firelord TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Firestorm TM & © DC Comics.

including the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon. Perhaps this approach—“a comedy that happened to feature an action hero”—influenced Conway creatively; he had also been reading Amazing Spider-Man “from issue #2 or 3.” The prolific scribe was entrusted with about a title a week, during a period where Roy Thomas served as the single editor of Marvel’s 40-title line—a time when writers, Conway says, excepting some care from the assistants, were pretty much their own editors. Gerry’s memorable contributions to the Spider-Man title are well documented, but before long, he had the Marvel approach nailed—he’d even helmed the line himself as Marvel’s editor-in-chief for one month in 1976— by the time he jumped ship for rival DC again. The layered roll-out of the early Marvel Universe, its Villain of the Month boom, and the success of the Amazing Spider-Man title Conway took over from Stan Lee all inspired Gerry’s Firestorm approach. His stay at DC generated what’s called “Conway’s Corner,” a proliferation of short-lived titles and characters with long-lasting connections gerry conway to the DC Universe: the villainous Kobra, Power Girl, the JSA revival, the Freedom Fighters, and the Secret Society of Super-Villains. With a new creative incentive in the works thanks to DC’s new publisher, Jenette Kahn, Gerry reached for a Promethean light, around which he oriented a genuine attempt to spin a Marvel style of character off into the world of DC. CECIL DISHAROON: How did you create the Firestorm dynamic? GERRY CONWAY: I’d been playing around with the idea of a teenage superhero for DC, who could sort of fill the whole that had been left in my heart by leaving Spider-Man behind. I’d been thinking about the tropes—one of which was the meek, mild alter ego, the brainy kid who, in wish fulfillment, gets superpowers, is extremely powerful… able to do things that he hadn’t been able to do before. That was, I think, the major motivating force—I wanted to play on that trope.

The Firestorm Family (middle) Poor Peter Parker! This tormented teen, shown here in a snippet from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s classic Amazing Spider-Man #1, imprinted (bottom) Gerry Conway’s alliteratively named Firestorm cast: Ronnie Raymond, Doreen Day, and Cliff Carmichael, from the first issue. By Conway and Milgrom, with Klaus Janson inks. Spider-Man TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Firestorm TM & © DC Comics.

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original picture, each successive copy would actually fade in strength. The assistant, [Danton] Black, turns out to be a real jerk, with his own nuclear-spawned power that fissures where Ronnie and Stein are a fusion. From the cover, we discover his rampage will apparently get no comeuppance from the guest-star Man of Steel! So Multiplex debuts in the second issue as the first of a colorful new pantheon, whose presence has inspired DC creators ever since. The introduction of brand-new rogues in each issue is another worthy callback to the creativity of the Marvel Age explosion. DISHAROON: What are your thoughts about Firestorm, the character? HARRIS: Here’s one important departure from the brooding Bronze Age: Firestorm may be having the most fun of any superhero of his era. Angst is on the way to be sure, but there’s a brightness that marks this character with euphoria. Villain Killer Frost, in the person of lovelorn Crystal Frost, will bring the tragedy and sadness. After all, thanks to a horrid accident that prefaces Dr. Manhattan, her emotional metaphor extends into her powers: she needs warmth to survive, while her new abilities plunge all around her into a cold abyss. Her Arctic Circle origin does have one funny touch: when colleague Frost transforms and begins threatening everyone’s life, Ronnie’s summoned into the Firestorm nexus. He finds himself kissing Killer Frost, which seems like a really fun problem, until his famous hair extinguishes. DISHAROON: Where did her name come from? HARRIS: We were having a very cold winter in New York and the forecasters kept using the term “killer frost” when they predicted the coming cold fronts. [Interviewer’s note: A blizzard in the northeastern United States from February 5th to 7th in 1978 contributed to a distribution snafu that triggered DC’s cancellations and DC Implosion.] I thought that would be a great name for a villain, one who would be Firestorm’s opposite: cold against heat, female against male. I called Gerry and pitched the idea and he did all the rest! Again, I was thrilled when a version of the character showed up on TV. I always loved working with Gerry and Al. I learned so much from both of them!

FIRESTORM CO-CREATOR AND ORIGINAL ARTIST AL MILGROM

Detroit-area native Al Milgrom, an old school pal of Jim Starlin’s, is known whose idea it was to use me, except for as an artist, inker, cover artist, editor, maybe the fact that I was available— and writer, with numerous credits you’d have to ask Gerry! Did they say, at both Marvel and DC including “Do you want to work with Milgrom?” Marvel’s Captain Marvel, the Guardians Or, “Did you want to work with of the Galaxy feature in Marvel Presents, Milgrom?” Or, “You have to work with editing the eclectic anthology book Marvel Milgrom”? [laughter] I remember getting the first script, Fanfare [which received the spotlight in BACK ISSUE #96—ed.], ROM: Spaceknight, reading through it, and enjoying it. Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Frankly, it seemed very much like a al milgrom Marvel comic to me, more so than a and West Coast Avengers. In 1977, © Marvel. he held down dual duties at DC Comics, DC Comic, but Gerry’s background editing—on titles including Superboy and the Legion of being what it was, you know, that’s not surprising. Super-Heroes, Karate Kid, Weird Western Tales starring It was a tight plot, and I remember roughing up Scalphunter, and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth—and sketches of all the major characters. Ronnie, Dr. Stein, freelance penciling. [Ronnie’s] girlfriend Doreen, Cliff Carmichael—his nemesis; it was Marvel, turned sideways. The popular DISHAROON: Tell us about Gerry Conway approaching jock kid, Ronnie Raymond, was being picked on by you to co-create Firestorm and the character’s initial the Carmichael kid, because he would make fun of his lack of intellect. Ronnie, instead of being a bully supporting cast, please. AL MILGROM: Yeah, when DC hired me to join the about it, said, “I can’t beat him up, I’m bigger and editorial staff, they were still allowing people to I’m stronger. That would look bad.” Meanwhile, freelance. During the Firestorm era, they were planning Cliff would bully him, intellectually… just give him this expansion [the DC Explosion—ed.]. I don’t know a hard time.

Capeless Crusader As shown in this 1979 sketch from the archives of Heritage Comics Auctions, Al Milgrom’s intention with Firestorm’s sleeves was for them to convey movement during flight, since the young hero does not wear a cape. The sleeves became puffier in the actual comic books, though. Firestorm TM & © DC Comics.

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Mean and Green From his first appearance as a Thor baddie to his more contemporary appearances with the Thunderbolts, the egomaniacal, irascible Radioactive Man has proven his mettle as a durable denizen of the Marvel Universe. (left) Journey into Mystery #93 (June 1963) cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. (right) Thunderbolts: International Incident #1 (Apr. 2008) cover by Marko Djurdjevic.

James Heath Lantz

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Since his debut in a Thor story published in the June 1963 cover-dated Journey into Mystery #93, Chen Lu, a.k.a. Radioactive Man has blazed a glowing green trail throughout the Marvel Universe, becoming a thorn in the sides of such heroes as the aforementioned Thunder God, Iron Man, and the rest of the Avengers. Whether battling the good guys on his own or as a member of the Masters of Evil and later, the Thunderbolts, this villain has earned his rightful place in the Rogues’ Gallery of the House of Ideas. Hold on to your reactors, BACK ISSUE readers, because we’re going to be looking inside the mind of Chen Lu as part of our nuclear-themed issue.

RADIOACTIVE HISTORY

Perhaps the best way to look at Chen Lu’s history, and his life in general, is to examine the character in his own words. Lu reflects on all of this during a conversation with former Beetle Abner “Abe” Jenkins in New Thunderbolts #9 (Aug. 2005). “I was arrogant… egotistical…,” begins Lu, “but able to back my words with deeds. When my government chose to create superhumans such as the Norse God, Thor, they came to Doctor 26 • BACK ISSUE • Nuclear Issue

Chen Lu, and I chose to experiment on myself. I became a Radioactive Man, capable of manipulating radioactive energy wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum.” This is how Lu perceives his origin and first appearance in Journey into Mystery #93. The People’s Republic of China sought to create beings with superpowers after seeing reports of them from the United States. Thor had thwarted a Chinese invasion of India. Lu, having gradually exposed himself to radiation in hopes to rule the world, introduces himself to his superiors as Radioactive Man. Even the Son of Odin and his hammer Mjolnir are not immune to the Radioactive Man, for Chen Lu is able to control the various spectra to hypnotize Thor into throwing Mjolnir, which Radioactive Man can deflect easily, into the river. The trance wore off once the Thunder God became Dr. Donald Blake. Blake retrieved the hammer, transformed into Thor, and created a whirlwind that sent Lu back to China, where he exploded in a mushroom cloud. Chen Lu was erroneously believed to be dead after his initial battle with Thor. Instead, Lu had been recruited by Baron Heinrich Zemo, an old foe of Captain America’s from World War II who had been responsible for the apparent death of Bucky Barnes, for his

Masters of Evil. Joining Zemo’s group was an opportunity for Lu to gain revenge on the Norse God who defeated him and made him “lose face” with the Chinese government. Radioactive Man’s pride had been hurt more than his body had in his confrontation with Thor. Yet it gets wounded even more in Avengers #6 (July 1964) when Giant-Man and Iron Man wrap him in lead foil. Chen Lu’s chronological history continues in a tale published more than three decades later in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16 (Dec. 1996), which takes place not long after the events of Avengers #6 and Amazing Spider-Man #14. Radioactive Man has escaped from prison in an attempt to return to China. Once again, he has taken some additional physical and psychological blows. Some of the latter came from Baron Zemo, who left him and the other original Masters of Evil to rot in jail, and others from both categories were dealt by Spider-Man. Ol’ Webhead uses carbon in the form of coal to shut down the atomic chain reaction going on in Radioactive Man. This hit to his self-esteem created deep anger and rage within Chen Lu. However, this does not stop him from returning for a vendetta against the Avengers. In actuality, one might call Lu by the name of the team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as he sought vindication for being beaten by Thor and Iron Man. They had left the Avengers at the time of issue #54 (July 1968), but fighting the adventurers in the roster then was a means to an end for Lu. Part of said means was another team of the Masters of Evil in Avengers #54’s “…And Deliver Us from the Masters of Evil.” This squad was led by the mysterious Crimson Cowl, originally believed to be Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis and later revealed to be Ultron-5. The Living Automaton helped Chen Lu escape his radiation-proof cell in which he was placed sometime after Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16. Lu joins the Masters of Evil to payback the Crimson Cowl for his freedom, but he clearly wants revenge. Radioactive Man even says this to Giant-Man when the villains infiltrate Avengers Mansion thanks to security plans given to them by a hypnotized Jarvis. Writer Roy Thomas gives BACK ISSUE his reasons for putting Radioactive Man in this incarnation of that team of villains: “Because he’d been in the original version, that worked well with my plan to introduce a new Black Knight to replace the villain who’d also been a member.” roy thomas The Masters of Evil create “Mayhem © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Over Manhattan” in issue #55 with their plans to drop a hydrogen bomb containing trapped Avengers on the Empire State Building if New York City doesn’t comply with their demands. The Black Knight Thomas had mentioned deactivates the explosive and frees the Avengers, allowing them to beat the Masters of Evil whose leader Ultron-5 escapes, vowing to destroy his foes.

RADIOACTIVE BRONZE AGE

We now move forward to 1970. The Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation movements were in full force. Reflecting the times, Avengers #83’s “Come on in… the Revolution’s Fine!” (Dec. 1970) told of the latter with the Wasp, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Medusa being led by the Enchantress, who is disguised as Valkyrie, as a new team called

Who is Chen Lu? (top) Writers Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein, with the Kirby/ Ayers art team, introduce Radioactive (Radio-active) Man in Journey into Mystery #93. (bottom) From the Heritage archives (www.ha.com), original art by Al Milgrom and Joe Rubinstein for Radioactive Man’s entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9 (Sept. 1983). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Robert Menzies

In the late 1970s, years before Watchmen, Dave Gibbons was already a superstar artist in the UK. One of the core creators in the early days of 2000AD, Gibbons’ résumé included being given the plum assignment of relaunching the legendary British comic character, Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, in early 1979 Gibbons’ art popped up for the inaugural issue of the new incarnation of the Hulk’s weekly UK comic book, a title closely tied to the live-action Incredible Hulk TV series. Sadly, any fans hoping that he was the regular artist were disappointed to discover that, strangely, he only stayed for one issue and was gone. I was keen to ask Dave Gibbons about this, and he kindly agreed to be interviewed at Glasgow Comic Con 2016, held over the weekend of July 2nd and 3rd, 2016. Alas, an unforgiving schedule—Gibbons was still Comics Laureate at the time and had to leave for the airport immediately after the final signing session—meant that there was no time to conduct an interview at the con, although I did manage to have a brief chat and take an image of him holding Hulk Comic #1 (Mar. 7, 1979). Gibbons suggested that I send him my questions, which I did, and within only two days he had sent on an audio file that I transcribed. Postscript: In the weeks after the interview, it came to light that Gibbons may have contributed art to the 1979 Marvel Superheroes Annual published by Brown Watson in September– October 1978. I contacted him about this and he replied: “I have absolutely no memory of doing that artwork, but have absolutely no doubt that I did! There are so many of my little visual tics there.” Gibbons then said this would be useful as he was writing his autobiography! He requested that I send him scans, which I did, and I also sent on my copy of the Annual that I had owned since boyhood. Gracefully, he thanked me by promising to send on a copy of his autobiography when it was released. When I then informed him the art was swipes, and that I could send on the original art for comparison, Gibbons was intrigued and admitted he found it “fascinating,” so I also sent on the information about sources. That information will accompany the images reproduced here, the only other examples of Gibbons depicting mainstream Marvel heroes from that era. – Robert Menzies

From Dan Dare to Bruce Banner (inset) Dave Gibbons holding a copy of Hulk Comic #1. Photograph taken by Robert Menzies on Sunday, July 3, 2016. (left) Cover to Hulk Comic #1 (Mar. 7, 1979). Cover art by Brian Bolland, with a Sal Buscema head cut-and-pasted onto the original art. Signed by Dave Gibbons. All scans in this article are courtesy of Robert Menzies. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ROBERT MENZIES: What was your first work for Marvel, Dave? DAVE GIBBONS: It was actually lettering. Anytime you see words like “colour” or “honour” or “centre” in the first 20 or so issues of The Mighty World of Marvel, chances are, I re-did the teeny, tiny lettering! [Interviewer’s note: Publication of MWOM #1–20 encompasses October 7, 1972 through February 17, 1973.] MENZIES: How familiar were you with the character of the Hulk before taking the assignment for Hulk Comic #1? Had you read many of his comics or seen any episodes of the TV series? GIBBONS: I bought all the Marvel superhero comics as they appeared in the early ’60s, and The Hulk was one of those. It was a while before I got the first issue, but I certainly had the other four or five issues of the initial run when they were drawn by Jack Kirby and, I think, also Steve Ditko did one of them. [Interviewer’s note: Ditko did indeed draw The Incredible Hulk #6 (Mar. 1963).] So I was very familiar with the idea of the Hulk and completely familiar with him in the comics by the time I came to draw this. I’d seen a couple of the episodes of the TV series, but that didn’t quite excite me as much. [Interviewer’s note: The Hulk TV series debuted in the UK on May 26, 1978. The rest of Season 1 was shown over June, July, and August. Season 2 started in November 1978.] I thought the Hulk worked much better drawn in the pages of a comic book. MENZIES: What is your general opinion of the Hulk as a character?

GIBBONS: Well, basically, it’s someone gets angry and breaks things, but given as that was a kind of shorthand description of a very prevalent human trait it was quite an easy thing to relate to. I’m sure everybody has lost their temper and broken things or been more aggressive than perhaps they needed to be. So I thought as a character, it had a good primal inspiration behind it, although particularly in the early run of The Hulk they could never quite get it right whether he really was bad and wicked and a complete Mr. Hyde or whether he was a sensitive flower who really regretted all the things that he did. MENZIES: And what about Hulk’s relationship with his tag-along sidekick, Rick Jones? GIBBONS: The position of his sidekick Rick Jones always seemed a bit ambiguous to me. They could never quite work out what to do with Rick. MENZIES: Did you have a particular artist whose version of the Hulk inspired you or that you were given as reference? GIBBONS: Well, obviously, once Jack Kirby has drawn someone, it becomes Jack Kirby’s character. He was the original artist on The Hulk and it’s his visualization I would always think of when I thought of the character… although Steve Ditko, with his ability to draw those really brooding faces and sunken eyes, I think he added something to it as well. MENZIES: Was it Dez Skinn who hired you for the job? GIBBONS: Yes. He was running Marvel UK at that time, and it had always been his idea to integrate the UK publications with the American publications

Dave Smash! (opposite page) Dave Gibbons’ rendition of the Gamma-spawned Goliath. Page 1 of the Steve Moore-scribed tale from Hulk Comic #1. (this page) Pages 2 and 3 from the Moore/Gibbons tale in Hulk Comic #1. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK

by JACK KIRBY

compiled by

Michael Eury

Born in a fiery explosion of a gamma radiation bomb, the Incredible Hulk rages forth in this 1977 commission by Ol’ Jadejaws’ co-creator, “The King” himself. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Bryan D. Stroud

Microwave Man made his debut in the pages of DC’s flagship Action Comics in the summer of 1978. A two-part story, the first installment arrived in issue #487, with a publication date of September 1978, and featured the “Super-Origin of Microwave Man!” by Cary Bates, who was in about his 12th year as a professional writer. The split splash page, depicting baby Kal-El’s departure from the doomed world of Krypton and the Metropolis police department making a futile attempt to stop a flying thief in a yellow costume, informs us that both these events took place “decades ago,” offering a foreshadowing of the importance that time will play in this Curt Swan- and Frank Chiaramonte-illustrated story. There is even a possible Star Trek homage phrase on the splash when Jor-El bids his son goodbye: “May you live long and prosper on Earth!” When asked about it, author Cary Bates relates to BACK ISSUE, “No doubt. I have never been averse to working in pop-culture Easter eggs.” Speaking of such, on the very next page, letterer Milt Snappin employs an interesting visual gimmick when he switches up the font to resemble the letter forms from the then-popular Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie, released in November of 1977, going so far as to describe “Super-encounters” of the first, second, and third kind while the Man of Steel goes on an intercept mission with an alien spacecraft. Cary does not recall precisely, but thinks this innovation was Snappin’s idea. The chase continues as Superman tries to find out what the mission of the spacecraft might be. At one point, through ray blasts from the craft, the word “peace” is engraved into the side of a mountain. During a break in the action, a beam emerges from the belly of the ship and a 1930s’ vintage automobile is deposited on the road below. The ship then vanishes into the stratosphere. Our hero investigates the car, only to be told by the kindly old gentleman at the wheel that he’s on his way to Metropolis. The story follows the elderly man as he spends a great deal of time reading up on the Man of Tomorrow. His thoughts reveal that Superman is at his peak, the same place he was many years ago, and that, save Superman himself, he’s seen more wondrous things than anyone else on the Earth. Consulting his vintage pocket watch, he soon realizes it’s time to attend a seminar. The seminar just so happens to take place at S.T.A.R. (Scientific and Technical Advanced Research) Laboratories, where various people are taking to the podium to describe encounters with aliens. Two of our favorite reporters are in attendance, Lana Lang and Jimmy Olsen, as the UFO fascination continues to roll forth. The next speaker is introduced as Lewis Padgett, our elderly gentleman, who explains that not only did he have his own close encounter, but lived with green-skinned

Radiating Reprobate Okay, Microwave Man’s costume may be goofy, but as deliciously delineated by José Luis García-López and Dick Giordano on this cover to Action Comics #488 (Oct. 1978), who cares? TM & © DC Comics.

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Famous Firsts (top) Our spotlighted bad guy didn’t appear on the cover of Action #487, but his handiwork did in this disaster that has created a job for… Superman! Cover by GarcíaLópez. (middle) In the swinging ’70s, the microwave oven—called a “science oven” by Christian Bale’s Irving Rosenfeld in the 2013 ’70s-set film, American Hustle—was the Next Big Thing. (bottom left) The logo font for Steven Spielberg’s popular Close Encounters of the Third Kind inspired (bottom right) Milt Snappin’s lettering style in several panels of Action #487, including panels 1 and 2 on the page shown. Script by Cary Bates, art by Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte. CE3K poster courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). CE3K © Columbia Pictures. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

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extraterrestrials for four decades, along with his trusty vehicle, while the spacecraft explored the Milky Way. Later, as the reporters are checking in with their respective bosses, Perry White and Morgan Edge, it’s apparent that the majority of the “eyewitnesses” lacked credibility, but then Jimmy mentions a unique factor in Padgett’s talk. Lewis added the additional claim that he was once the first super-scientific criminal on Earth, and that he called himself Microwave Man. The revelation causes Perry White to blanch and utter his famous line, “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” He mutters that perhaps Microwave Man has returned after all these years. Before the tale continues, readers are given a behind-the-scenes “Publishorial” by DC Comics publisher Jenette Kahn, noting the price increase with this month’s offerings (from 35 cents to 50 cents) and heralding it as the “DC Explosion,” with more bang for your comic-book buck with additional pages, etc. A scant three months later, that explosion would become the infamous “DC Implosion,” with a repricing effort among other initiatives. Cary Bates remembers that the Implosion was highly impactful to the company, but that he was “…one of the lucky ones to dodge that bullet…” [Editor’s note: TwoMorrows has produced the ultimate, cary bates in-depth look at this publisher-quaking event in the form of the 2018 book © DC Comics. Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978, by Keith Dallas and John Wells.] Returning to our story, Perry describes the villain he remembered from over 40 years ago, who boasted of his “micromatic powers” that ultimately led him to a breakthrough in making his body a walking receiver of microwave energy from radio transmitters. Editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz inserted a typically helpful note: “Microwaves are extremely high frequency radio waves, lying just below the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.”

Color Me Caped and Cowled The Bob Larkinpainted (over a Joe Giella layout) cover for The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man. © Peter Pan Music Company LLC.

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Steven Thompson

Every summer around the time of the various Pride Weeks and their festivals, I can’t help but remember Holo-Man. I have no earthly idea what Holo-Man’s sexual preference might have been if he weren’t an asexual fictional character, but it’s his costume that reminds me so much of Pride’s rainbow symbolism. Far from your typical four-color comic-book hero, Holo-Man’s outfit, in fact, featured every color of the rainbow, and his prism-based superpowers justified his variegated look.

HOLOGRAM HISTORY

In the pre-internet dark age that we called 1976, the world first learned of Holo-Man’s existence in a half-page ad for The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man that ran in Marvel comics. A quick history lesson is in order before we proceed, though. A Hungarian-British scientist, Dr. Dennis Gabor, is credited with coining the term “hologram” in 1947 during experiments designed to clarify the resolution of an electron microscope. What exactly is a hologram? Well, Wikipedia defines it in the following long-winded fashion: “Typically, a hologram is a photographic recording of a light field, rather than of an image formed by a lens, and it is used to display a fully three-dimensional image of the holographed subject, which is seen without the aid of special glasses or other intermediate optics. The hologram itself is not an image and is usually unintelligible when viewed under diffuse ambient light. It is an encoding of the light field as an interference pattern of seemingly random variations in the opacity, density, or surface profile of the photographic medium. When suitably lit, the interference pattern diffracts the light into a reproduction of the original light field and the objects that were in it appear to still be there, exhibiting visual depth cues such as parallax and perspective that change realistically with any change in the relative position of the observer.” [Editor’s note: ZZZZzz…] Me, I call it one of the absolute coolest things of the early 1970s! Laser images! I mean… WOW! Y’know? Sorry. Nostalgia can be an insidious thing. Anyway, it was not until 15 years after Dr. Gabor coined the term that the first three-dimensional “photos” were created using holograms that utilized the newly developed laser-beam technology. By the early 1970s, science continued to work on their development, but holograms had leaked out into the public as novelties. The first one I saw close up was probably around 1972, in the window of a bookstore. As you walked past, an odd, green, flickering image of a joe giella girl actually moved, and showed her eating an apple! If you walked the other © Luigi Novi / way, it was like the “film” reversed and Wikimedia Commons. the apple became whole again. Only there was no film whatsoever. There wasn’t even an image. Just an empty cylinder with light projected onto it.

He Blinded Us with Science (top) The father of holograms, Dr. Dennis Gabor (1900–1979), winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Physics. (bottom) Credits and indicia page, with Joe Giella artwork. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. © Peter Pan Music Company LLC.

A TURN-ON (TO HOLOGRAPHY)

At around that same time, Vincent Fusco and Donald Kasen were also fascinated by the new technology. The two musician friends went so far as to found Wavelengh Holographics, the first of two holography companies they would run in order to “turn people on to holography.” Kasen, now the CEO of Inspired Studios—which was formerly Peter Pan Industries—was also the co-owner of Power Records, the company that licensed and put out Nuclear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 51

Dr. Manhattan. His name is synonymous with writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons’ dystopian superhero masterpiece Watchmen. But his name signifies so much more. The explosion of an atom and the circularity of predestination are perhaps some of the images that may come to mind. Or perhaps a feeling of déjà vu, in that you have already read this article concerning this blue-skinned godlike character. In order to understand the paradoxes surrounding Dr. Manhattan, all of us must take into consideration the mystery of our own existence. We’re born, we live, we die, but when it comes to our memories and current lives, our sense of time collides. For Dr. Manhattan, the duality of choice and non-choice dictates his actions throughout his character arc in Watchmen. Please join us (or make the choice), dear reader, as two English teachers and their patient transcriber discuss the intricate brilliance of Dr. Manhattan and talk with Gibbons, Watchmen colorist John Higgins, and Doomsday Clock artist Gary Frank. – Hal Halbert and Tom Powers

DR. MANHATTAN: THE BLUEST-BLUE COMIC-BOOK CHARACTER?

TOM: Hal, since our discussion will literally attempt to explore, unpack, and hopefully not unravel too much of Dr. Manhattan’s enigmatic allure, I want to start with something light by telling you that I’ve been wondering if Dr. Manhattan is the most famous blue character in comics. If not, who are the other well-known blue characters? HAL: Beast, Iceman, Nightcrawler, the Tick, Thanos’ other daughter—Nebula, Mr. Freeze. TOM: Yeah, those are some strong examples. We could add Blue Beetle and perhaps Blue Devil to the list. But what is it about the color blue that makes Dr. Manhattan so memorable? AMANDA: Blue is cold. If you were going to be a positive character, you would want to exude warmth and passion. alan moore For instance, the Vision has a very strong red coloration. HAL: What you both are saying is cool Fimb/Wikimedia Commons. to me because if you are going to be specific about the nature of the color—it isn’t dark blue; it is light blue. When you think about other characters in Watchmen, there’s Rorschach with his flame-red hair and beet-red cheeks. In Dr. Manhattan’s case, blue is sort of devoid of emotion. It is rational and calm. TOM: True, even in the scene in Watchmen #4 (Dec. 1986), page 20, when the Vietnam War in the Watchmen universe is ending, and Moore writes in panel 1, “The Viet Cong are expected to surrender within the week. Many

Time is Running Out The god-hero Dr. Manhattan, as illustrated by artist Dave Gibbons and color artist John Higgins for the 1987 French Edition Watchmen Les Gardiens #2. Original cover painting scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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H a l H a l b e r t a n d To m P o w e r s transcribed by Amanda Powers

continued from page 55.

something that isn’t there? Having a crush on a comic character is difficult enough because of their lack of general realism, so if Dr. Manhattan is made to be even less human than the correlating characters, how can one find him to be an object of desire? He is just a beautiful observer, and almost every pose is simply statuesque. And he’s almost an alien, in the way we think about the Roswell green alien.

SCHOOL’S (BRIEFLY) IN SESSION: SOME OF DR. MANHATTAN’S LITERARY AND SCI-FI ROOTS

Secret Origin Cover and page 8 of Watchmen #4, the issue chronicling Jonathan Osterman’s transformation into Dr. Manhattan. TM & © DC Comics.

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TOM: Considering what you and I do as college English teachers, Hal, with your strong background in early American literature, what can we add to our appropriately nonlinear discussion of Dr. Manhattan in order to provide a better understanding of the character? HAL: I’m immediately thinking about Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which is where God’s omnipotence is used as a way for Edwards to say, “You should be really grateful God hasn’t tortured you” before the author goes on to list all the ways he can torture you. I think that’s a big part of this idea. But I think that occurs, also, in every one of these stories where the Puritans are looking for signs to interpret. All of the Puritans interpret that when they arrive in New England and a big earthquake happens, they assume that they pissed off God, and they need to figure out why and how to be good people. Or Mable’s cow died down the street, and before they get into the pointing to witchcraft thing, they just simply say that Mable did something wrong, so the cow was her punishment for that. As another example, in William Bradford’s piece “Of Plymouth Plantation,” he talks about how a sailor on the Mayflower kept mocking the Puritans for getting sick, and he got washed overboard. And there’s this joy with which Bradford describes this guy getting killed as a sign of God punishing him. However, the joy doesn’t rest so much in the fact that the guy died but as a confirmation of the Puritans’ belief they are good people because they didn’t die as well. That is one thing that I really enjoy about this perspective. The early Americans are constantly looking for proof they’re worthy of their place. What is interesting is that the Puritans won’t allow themselves to question God. Anne Bradstreet has a moment in her “Dead Grandbaby” poems where she actually says, “With dreadful awe before Him let’s be mute,/ Such was His will, but why, let’s not dispute,” which in effect means, “Let’s not question why because clearly God has a plan.” The idea that you cannot question why is the predestination problem. By contrast in Watchmen, the challenge that Dr. Manhattan faces is that he knows exactly what he is. He can see the strings, but it doesn’t empower him enough to stop things from happening. It is the other side of the predestination coin. What happens when you do know everything, but you can’t stop it anyway? Dr. Manhattan walks on water towards the end of the original series in issue #12 (Oct. 1987), which works as a Jesus reference. Although he was also once human, he’s accepting his godhood here, but his actions are like Jesus acknowledging that he is both human and God. At the same time, Dr. Manhattan cannot truly enjoy being God because he doesn’t have the freedom that we see a true god having. TOM: You’ve now got me thinking about T. H. White’s interpretation of Merlin from King Arthur’s perspective in The Once and Future King, in that he “lives backwards in time” or has a foreknowledge of future events, which perplexes Arthur. But it also shows that he’s similar to Dr. Manhattan since he’s able to see his own future, which likewise annoys the Comedian and Silk Spectre. But I’m more of a sci-fi guy, so I’m into the idea that Watchmen’s vision of Dr. Manhattan can be compared to the character of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five. Pilgrim’s “unstuck in time,” meaning he relives multiple points in his existence in a nonlinear way, including his experiences of being a soldier in World War II, living in an alien zoo on Tralfamadore, and finding

Mark Arnold

The TV series The Simpsons recently achieved another milestone in its over 30-year history with over 639 half-hour episodes, which has surpassed the total number of scripted episodes produced of the longrunning TV Western Gunsmoke. The Simpsons made their initial appearance on the third episode of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987, where they appeared in short animated linking gags, which eventually evolved into a sort of continuity throughout each episode. The initial characters introduced were the Simpson family of father Homer, mother Marge, son Bart, and daughters Lisa and Maggie. The characters were created by cartoonist Matt Groening and loosely based upon his own family. The design of the Simpsons characters evolved and eventually other characters were introduced and a half-hour animated TV special was produced and aired on December 17, 1989, followed by a regular ongoing series that premiered on January 14, 1990 and is still going strong. The Simpsons’ town of Springfield continued to add more and more eccentric and interesting characters, both fictional and nonfictional within its continuity. One of the characters introduced on the show was the initially nameless Comic Book Guy, whose name was later revealed to be Jeff Albertson. Comic Book Guy is the proprietor of the Android’s Dungeon and Baseball Card Shop.

LO, THERE SHALL COME… A RADIOACTIVE MAN!!

Radioactive Man first appeared in the first season Simpsons episode entitled “Bart the Genius,” where he briefly appears in a comic book that Bart discovers on a shelf at the mentally gifted school he is attending. This episode originally aired on January 14, 1990. Radioactive Man’s second appearance was in “The Telltale Head,” where Marge finds a Radioactive Man matt groening comic book among Bart’s possessions. Gage Skidmore. This episode originally aired on February 25, 1990. But it was “Three Men and a Comic Book,” a secondseason episode, that introduces the “fictional” comic-book character of Bart’s passions, Radioactive Man, in earnest. The episode originally aired on May 9, 1991. In it, Bart, Milhouse, and Martin pool their resources and buy Radioactive Man #1 from 1952 from the Comic Book Guy for $100.

Spawn of The Simpsons Bart Simpson’s favorite comic book reached its 1000th issue long before Superman’s Action Comics… in the made-up publishing history of Bongo Comics, at least. Cover to Radioactive Man #1000 (Jan. 1995), spoofing Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, by Steve Vance and Bill Morrison. © Bongo Entertainment, Inc. The Simpsons TM & © 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.

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Atomic Agent In the fictional Simpsons universe, the character of Radioactive Man was created by Morty Mann, and made (gutter, this page and following) his debut in Interesting Stories #27. The first issue of An atomic sampling of Radioactive Man Radioactive Man Comics appeared in 1952, as noted above. The character also appeared in a movie serial sponsored Bongo Comics appearances. (top) Two by Laramie Cigarettes and a campy 1970s series similar to the Adam West Batman TV series of the 1960s. screen grabs featuring Radioactive Man Starring as Radioactive Man in this fictional TV version from episodes of The Simpsons. was Dirk Richter, who was murdered in a brothel after the series ended, parroting the real-life mysterious death © Bongo Entertainment, Inc. of TV Superman George Reeves. There was also supposed The Simpsons TM & © 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. to be a movie version of Radioactive Man starring Ranier Wolfcastle (an Arnold Schwarzenegger parody) and Bart’s friend Milhouse Van Houten as sidekick Fallout Simpsons Comics and Stories was the first standardBoy, but the film was never completed. size Simpsons comic book published, and paved the From 1993 to 2012, Bill Morrison, currently the way for Bongo Comics. The issue was polybagged executive editor of the recently revamped and rebooted and featured a poster featuring Radioactive Man MAD magazine, was creative director of Bongo Comics, and Bartman (Bart’s super-alter ego). Radioactive the real-life publisher created to produce comics Man was also featured on the issue’s cover and in based upon The Simpsons and Futurama (another the issue’s lead story called “Lo, There Shall Come… Matt Groening-created animated TV series) cartoon a Bartman!!” characters. (Bongo ceased its publication of GroeningIn this issue, Bart is shown reading panels from a related titles in October 2018, with Simpsons Comics Radioactive Man comic book, but by the time Bongo #245 being its final title released.) Regarding Comics was created, the decision was made to give Radioactive Man’s first actual TV appearance, Radioactive Man his own six-issue miniseries on the “Three Men and a Comic Book” independent of The Simpsons. “When we decided to launch Bongo Simpsons episode, Morrison remarks, Comics with a Radioactive Man comic“Yes, his first full appearance was book series, we took the origin shown in that episode, but there was at least one earlier episode of The in the which was on IF episode, YOU ENJOYED THISbased PREVIEW, Simpsons that showed Bart reading the CLICK Incredible Hulk’sTOorigin, THE LINK ORDERand THIS a Radioactive Man comic book. fleshed recalls Bill Morrison. ISSUE itINout,” PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! He looked very different from how “We gave him a secret identity he appeared in the ‘Three Men and [Author’s note: In the Bongo Comics a Comic Book’ episode, though. version of Radioactive Man, his alter ego “Matt Groening told me once that was Claude Kane III], a cast of recurring Radioactive Man was designed to look friends and villains, and explained a bit like Homer,” Morrison reveals. that the lightning bolt in his head bill morrison “There was a built-in irony in that Bart wasn’t part of his costume—it was a worshipped Radioactive Man as a hero, Gage Skidmore. shard of metal that was lodged in his but his father, who really should be the object of Bart’s skull from the explosion that gave him his powers, respect and awe, was the real Radioactive Man because and that if he removed it he would die. So Matt and of his job at the nuclear power plant. So, it’s a pretty [writers] Steve and Cindy Vance and I did contribute safe bet that Matt is the creator of at least the name and to the character’s creation as well.” A decision was also made to give the illusion that concept of Radioactive Man.” Radioactive Man had been published consistently since RADIOACTIVE MAN EXPLODES INTO 1952 for over 1000 issues, and instead of issuing the books COMIC BOOKS chronologically, they would BACK be numbered randomly ISSUE #112 NUCLEARwith ISSUE! Firestorm, Manhattan, DAVE GIBBONS issues Dr. paralleling similar The very first comic-book appearance of Radioactive in order to correspond Marvel UK Hulk interview, villain histories of Radioactive Man Man actually predated Bongo Comics with Simpsons events published byandDC, Marvel, and other comic-book Microwave Man, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy, and the one-shot Holo-Man! PAT BRODERICK, GERRY CONWAY, Comics and Stories #1 from 1992, published by Welsh publishers. Later issues took jabs With at publishers Archie and GIELLA, TOM GRINDBERG, RAFAEL KAYANAN, TOM MANreveals, “That was idea hatched Publishing Group. Welsh had just completed Gold Key. MorrisonJOE DRAKE, BILL MORRISON, JOHNan OSTRANDER, STEVE VANCE, Steve Vance. publishing a Simpsons Illustrated magazine that lasted by Matt and editor/writer and more! PAT BRODERICK cover!They thought it at the dawn of the Atomic for ten issues and an Annual, from 1991 to 1993. would be fun to set his origin (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95

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bit.ly/BackIssue112