Featuring BLACK SUPER-HEROES OF THE 1970s! 2019
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The “Irreverent” BILLY GRAHAM • Black Panther • Black Goliath • Black Lightning • TONY ISABELLA interview • Mal Duncan • Black Bomber (who??) • DON McGREGOR & PAUL GULACY’s Sabre with CLAREMONT • ENGLEHART • O’NEIL • THOMAS • VON EEDEN & more
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Luke Cage, Hero for Hire TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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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! NOW SHIPPING! #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 114 August 2019 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow
Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!
DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Billy Graham (Produced for the 1975 ACBA Art Portfolio, contributed by Jerry Boyd.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Jeff Aclin Terry Austin Mike W. Barr Robert Barrett Jerry Boyd Dewey Cassell Ed Catto Shaun Clancy Chris Claremont Jon B. Cooke J. M. DeMatteis Steve Englehart Cliff Galbraith/ East Coast Comicon Mike Gold Shawnna Graham Grand Comics Database Paul Gulacy Dan Hagen Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Auctions Sean Howe Tony Isabella Rob Kirby
Paul Kupperberg James Heath Lantz Joseph Lenius Paul Levitz Ed Lute Ralph Macchio Don McGregor Marsha McGregor Robert Menzies Christopher Mills Evan Narcisse Luigi Novi Barry Pearl John Roche Bob Rozakis Rose Rummel-Eury Jason Schachter John Schwirian Andrew Standish Joe Staton Dan Tandarich Joel Thingvall Roy Thomas John Trumbull Gerry Turnbull James Warren John Wells
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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Bronze Age adventures of Marvel’s Power Man BACKSTAGE PASS: The Irreverent Billy Graham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 A biography of the revolutionary Luke Cage and Black Panther artist UNKNOWN MARVEL: Censoring “Panther’s Rage”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 British readers encountered an altered version of this ’70s classic FLASHBACK: Brains and Brawn: Black Goliath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Life and Times of Bill Foster, Black Goliath/Giant-Man II/Goliath III FLASHBACK: The Unsung Legend of Mal Duncan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 DC Comics’ first black superhero and his tumultuous Teen Titans tenure INTERVIEW: Tony Isabella and Black Lightning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 A candid conversation with the creator of Black Lightning GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Black Bomber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 One of comicdom’s most infamous narrowly avoided wrong turns ART GALLERY: Black Lightning by Trevor Von Eeden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 FLASHBACK: Black Lightning, Beyond Isabella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Tracking Jefferson Pierce’s journeys through backups and super-teams PRO2PRO: Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The Sabre writer/artist team looks back at their hero BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Reader reactions and a few never-before-published images NEW IN PRINT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The spirit of the Bronze Age is alive in Atomic Action’s new comics line
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 Billy Graham. Luke Cage, Hero for Hire TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. 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.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1
by M
It was with the introduction of Luke Cage, in Marvel Comics’ Hero for Hire in 1972, that the medium finally evolved to an acceptance of a non-white superhero starring in his own comic book. I cannot overstate how important this was at the time. First, for readers: Several of my black male friends have told me that with Luke Cage, they finally had a superhero “who was like me”; and for white fans, Hero for Hire was a cultural awakening (especially for those of us growing up in the South, which was struggling with integration, and in rural areas with little or no non-white populations). And second, for the comics business itself: As Shaft proved to Hollywood, commercial success was not relegated to the color of one’s skin. Throughout the ’70s, more African-American superheroes (and supervillains) premiered in comic books, often carrying the adjective “Black” in their names (a rather embarrassing trend that mostly faded after Hollywood’s “Blaxploitation” fad ran its course). It is their stories we share in this issue (although we’re saving the histories of Green Lantern John Stewart and Iron Man James “Rhodey” Rhodes for our December issue, BI #117). This issue is a sequel to our previous “Black Superheroes” theme, the critically acclaimed BACK ISSUE #8 (Feb. 2005). These two editions aren’t the only times we’ve explored the adventures of African-American characters in our pages. Please consult the checklist in this issue’s Back Talk column to direct you to our previous coverage of everyone from Black Lightning to Vixen. As I write this on February 25, 2019, the ugly specter of racism continues to taint the ideologically divided US in our daily headlines… but in brighter news, just last night Marvel Studios’ Black Panther won three Academy Awards®, and scored other Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture. We often look to our storytellers—our filmmakers, musicians, authors, illustrators, and comic-book creators—to inspire us with visions of a world where ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, body type, and disabilities don’t restrict us but instead help define us for the better. May this issue’s look back at these influential black superheroes and the gifted creative artists behind them play a small step in imagining a more inclusive society.
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Black Panther movie characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Contemporary superhero comic-book and movie universes are multicultural, reflecting the real world. But that wasn’t the case in 1970, at the dawn of comics’ Bronze Age. Then, the four-color pages of comic books predominantly featured characters—both starring and supporting—of only one color, white. From today’s perspective one might rush to judgment of this, but as my one-time boss at DC Comics, the late, great Dick Giordano, once told me, the primary reason that comics’ original icons—Superman, Batman, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Wonder Woman, the original Captain Marvel, you name ’em—were white is that, in Dick’s words, “They were created by Jewish and Italian men who wrote and drew what they knew.” However, even before the Man of Steel first leaped tall buildings in a single bound, in 1937 African-American cartoonist Jackie Ormes launched her Torchy Brown syndicated comic strip, featuring black characters. The comic book, the offspring of the newspaper “funnies,” was slow to follow. During the Golden Age, there were efforts to produce comic books with black stars. Perhaps the most ambitious was the product of Orrin C. Evans, an African-American Philadelphia newspaperman, who in 1947 published the first issue of All-Negro Comics. As explained in Evans’ editorial, this new comic book featured black characters written and drawn by black creators (and targeted toward black readers). The title’s main features were John Terrell’s Ace Harlem, a gumshoe, and George J. Evans, Jr.’s Lion Man, a jungle lord, with humorous characters fleshing out the rest of the book’s pages. A second issue of All-Negro Comics never reached newsstands, as the periodicals-distribution network was in those days as segregated as America’s communities and limited the circulation of material intended for African Americans. Over time, however, African-American characters began to appear in traditional comic-book stories, sometimes in crowd scenes, and on rare occasions, in “message” stories. Marvel’s first black headliner was the Tarzan knock-off Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who starred in short stories in mid-’50s issues of Jungle Tales. With the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s, comic-book publishers— and the distributors that circulated their wares—took small but important steps to include African-American characters in significant roles. The first black hero to star in his own comic book (outside of biographical comics) was Don Arneson and Tony Tallarico’s Lobo, a Western from Dell Comics that ran two issues in 1965. The next year, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced T’Challa, the Black Panther, into the pages of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, and the comics world began to change. This renaissance was not relegated solely to the confines of what was read within the panels: Creators of color, including the late Billy Graham, whose exhilarating cover art graces this issue, also began to find employment in the business.
ichael Eury
His rationale and his rage are all right there in his name: “Cage.” It’s the trap that he’s in, the prison where he began, and the symbol of his unyielding strength. Although he wasn’t the first black superhero when he debuted in March 1972, Luke Cage was arguably the one closest to readers—the street-level super-guy, not especially interested in saving the day, who was as tough and steamed-up as the Harlem pavement on a hot summer afternoon. And when he was introduced in Marvel Comics’ Hero for Hire #1 (cover-dated June 1972), he had plenty of reasons to be angry.
BRONZE AGE DIVERSITY
by D a n
Hagen
Cage was part of a second wave of Marvel superheroes that appeared a decade after the first wave, and has proven to be among the most durable of them. He began as an African-American Count of Monte Cristo—a masterful, wrongly imprisoned man who escapes and adopts a secret identity so he can use his abilities to exact revenge. Roy Thomas tells BACK ISSUE that he and the other creators of Luke Cage didn’t explicitly consider the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas during their character-development discussions. “But Stan [Lee] or Archie [Goodwin] may have read it, and it might’ve had a conscious or subconscious effect,” Thomas adds. The groundbreaking character would also take literary inspiration from a 1930 science-fiction novel by Philip Wylie and, in an odd way, anticipate headlines about a major American scientific scandal that would be exposed just a few months later. “Since none of these characters is real and the possibility of them ever existing is basically nil, superheroes become representations of human ideals, emotions, tragedies, evils and conflicts,” wrote Alex S. Romagnoli and Gian S. Pagnucci in their book Enter the Superheroes: American Values, Culture and the Canon of Superhero Literature. “These themes of difference, alienation and mutantism make superhero stories an excellent genre for exploring the concept of ‘the other,’ the person who is different and never quite gets accepted by society. When it comes to superhero literature, issues of otherness are also complicated by a nonfictional history that reflects monoculturalism among most of the comic creators. To a great extent, comic writers, artists, inkers, editors and other members of the many creative teams are predominantly white males.” Although his creators were mostly white, their intention in publishing the first comic-book title devoted to a black superhero was not condescension, but uplift. Cage had the good fortune to arrive at the point in history when American popular culture was finally ready to spotlight black heroes and protagonists. Superheroes represent an ideal of human perfectibility, and Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and the artists at Marvel Comics clearly thought that ideal ought to embrace a wider spectrum of humanity. So Marvel introduced the world’s first black superhero—the Black Panther, in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966)—then launched a female superhero into her own solo feature—the Black Widow, in Amazing Adventures #1 (Aug. 1970)—then unveiled an Asian superhero— Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, in Special Marvel Edition #15 (Dec. 1973). And in between, they debuted a Native-American superhero— Red Wolf, in Avengers #80 (Sept. 1970). In his book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Sean Howe noted that one of Thomas’ first responsibilities when he was named Marvel editor-in-chief in 1972 was to further diversify the Marvel Universe. Not as easy a task as one might think.
Uncaged Jazzy John Romita, Sr. provided Marvelites with this iconic cover art for Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972), and designed the hero’s appearance as well. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3
Trailblazers Black Panther, Black Widow, Red Wolf, and Shang-Chi paved the way for Luke Cage’s premiere in his own title. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“It’s kind of a shame,” Thomas says. “You could get blacks to buy comics about whites, but it was hard to get whites to buy comics in which the main character was black. And it was even harder to get boys to buy comics about women.” Comics historian Barry Pearl notes, “In 1972’s America, it took courage to produce Luke Cage, the first African-American hero to have his own national title.” The black audience for superhero comics was always large, but could be ambivalent. “The racist administrative government with its Superman notions and comic-book politics,” sneered activist Bobby Seale during the Chicago Seven trial in 1969. “We’re hip to the fact that Superman never saved no black people.” Seale had a point—in a Silver Age superhero comic, you were more likely to find a green face than a black one. But Marvel’s attitude on racial justice had long been clear. For example, in the Tales of Suspense storyline that culminated in Captain America #100, Cap tackled a redoubt of the Nazi supervillain Baron Zemo, the man who had
seemingly killed his partner Bucky and who now wielded a space death ray that threatened the entire planet. Odds against him, Cap met and teamed up with the African king who was the world’s first black superhero—a nice thematic irony given the fact that Steve Rogers’ archenemy was dedicated to the subjugation of “inferior races,” whether black or Jewish. It made perfect sense to me that, soon after, Cap would recommend the Black Panther as his replacement in the Avengers. They shared a similar power set and true-blue virtues, despite the fact that one was a democratic citizen and the other presumably a monarchist.
A MARVEL HERO FROM THE STREETS
Luke Cage arrived as both a complement to and a thematic reversal of Marvel’s Black Panther concept. While the Black Panther ruled a hidden, super-technological African kingdom, Cage walked the ordinary streets of a recognizable New York City. Where the Black Panther was a king, Cage was a common man. Cage was born in the era of the “Blaxploitation” films, although it’s not a term I particularly like. In movies like Shaft (1971), Hollywood wasn’t “exploiting” black audiences so much as providing them with stories they were eager to see—crime dramas about effective, independent black heroes and heroines. I count that a considerable step up from the virtual ghetto of sidekick, victim, and buffoon roles to which black actors had been confined since the beginning of the film industry. John Shaft, a character created by Ernest Tidyman in his 1970 novel Shaft, was an African-American heir to the knight-errant role played by figures like Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer—tough customers who must walk mean streets alone, dispensing justice where they can. The film proved extremely popular with both black and white audiences, and was one of only three profitable movies made by MGM that year. “A parade of copycats stalked the screen in the footsteps of the black private eye taken as a model soul brother,” noted Roland Leander Williams, Jr. in his book Black Male Frames: African Americans in a Century of Hollywood Cinema, 1903–2003. Nor was Shaft’s influence confined to one medium. “Publishers were eager to tap into a market segment that they had ignored for too long,” wrote Jeffrey A. Brown in his book Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics and Their Fans. “But instead of producing straight blaxploitation heroes, the comics publishers melded the superficial conventions of the film genre with the characters they knew best, the superheroes. The comicbook versions may have looked and talked like John Shaft, but they were given fancy costumes and superpowers. The comic-book blaxploitation heroes were also watered down for a younger audience so that such prominent film conventions as the hero’s sexual prowess were left out of the stories.” And just as John Shaft became the first African-American action hero with his own film series, Luke Cage became the first African-American superhero with his own comic-book series. “In the 1970s, Cage’s costume wasn’t a hoodie but a metal headband, bracelets, and a chain-link belt— attire inspired by the blaxploitation films,” noted Charles Moss in Atlantic Magazine. “Characters in these films typically rebelled against the white establishment and were considered more or less antiheroes—especially significant following the turmoil of the 1960s and the civil-rights movement.” Hero for Hire #1 begins in maximum security Seagate Prison, where militant inmates Shades and Comanche
4 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
are trying to force another tough prisoner named Lucas to join them in a demonstration against the warden. The 2016–2018 Netflix series Marvel’s Luke Cage, filmed in warm, golden hues in Harlem, features Theo Rossi as Shades and Thomas Q. Jones as Comanche. Mike Colter, who plays Cage, was introduced the year before as a supporting character in Netflix’s Jessica Jones. Cage flatly rejects Shades and Comanche’s scheme, but has already attracted the unwelcome attention of the racist guard Captain Rackham (played on TV by Chance Kelly). “It’s all the excuse we need to come down on that uppity…” says the guard Quirt. Writer Archie Goodwin lets the implied racial slur hang in the air. “Don’t go puttin’ personal pleasure aheada duties, Quirt,” Rackham replies. “There’s other possibilities.” Rackham wants Lucas to turn informer, but he’s not about to do that either. Quirt administers a beating to Lucas, but is interrupted by the arrival of the new reform-minded warden, who asks Lucas how he feels. “Boxer I knew used to say long as you’re standin’, you ain’t hurtin.’ I can stand.” Lucas is tough… and about to get a lot tougher. The new warden not only fires Quirt but leaves him locked alone with Lucas in a cell for ten minutes—with predictable results. While on the mend, Lucas gets a visit from Dr. Noah Burstein (played on TV by Michael Kostroff). “I’ve a medical project started that requires a unique breed of man, and I’ve a silly hunch you could fill the bill,” Burstein tells Lucas as lightning flashes outside, silhouetting the portentous bulk of Seagate Prison as if it were Frankenstein’s castle. Popular culture often provides a funhouse mirror view of a nation’s culture—the things it reflects are real enough, but distorted by imagination. And so Luke Cage’s origin anticipated dark aspects of the times in which he was created. No cosmic rays or radioactive spiders for him. He gained his powers through a prison experiment in a sinister, shadowy reflection of Captain America’s origin. As Luke Cage’s first adventures were being published, the infamous Tuskegee experiments were coming to light in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Between 1932 and 1972, the US Public Health Service studied the progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men in Alabama under the guise of receiving free government health care. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study’s ruthless mistreatment of black men seriously and permanently damaged the black community’s trust in US public-health efforts. Ironically, the experiments became a front-page scandal in July 1972, just four months after the first issue of Hero for Hire appeared on newsstands. “Probably no connection unless Archie, Stan, or I had seen earlier reports somewhere, since obviously Hero for Hire #1 was plotted out roughly half a year earlier,” Roy Thomas notes. “We just followed human nature, which is suspect in the best of times, even irrespective of race. The story was about powerful people experimenting on less powerful ones. Race wasn’t really a major factor in that part of the plot… Lucas just happened to be the unlucky recipient of the bad guys’ attentions because he was in jail.” Nevertheless, the comic book they created ended up echoing the zeitgeist, for the very reason Thomas cites. The less powerful the race, the bigger the target on its members. Cruel scientific experimentation on black men turned out to be no comic-book fantasy. The Netflix Luke Cage TV series debuted at a similar moment of cultural synchronicity in 2016, with the headlines carrying accounts of unarmed black men shot to death by American police and vigilantes. Who better to wade into that political minefield, metaphorically, than an invulnerable black man? Cage’s TV “action outfit” of a hoodie evokes the iconic images of Trayvon Martin— but this time, not as a victim. “Given the conversation around police brutality, to get a call to do something like this related to a very positive black superhero who is bullet¬proof and trying to make a difference in his community— that’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” composer Ali Shaheed Muhammad told Time Magazine.
The Men Behind Cage (top) Thomas and Romita helped co-create Marvel’s Hero for Hire, while (bottom) Tuska and Graham were the feature’s primary artists. From a 1975 Bullpen gallery from FOOM Magazine. © Marvel.
He’d Risk His Neck for Brotherman… …so sang Isaac Hayes. Writer Ernest Tidyman’s Shaft (1971), directed by Gordon Parks, made a star of Richard Roundtree and gave Hollywood its first African-American action hero. Poster courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). © 1971 MGM.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5
Meet Luke Cage (left) “The Man” touted the premiere of Luke Cage in his Soapbox appearing in Marvel’s May 1972 cover-dated titles. (right) This jugulargrabbing splash from Hero for Hire #1—with the Tuska/Graham art team recreating Romita’s corner-box illo of Cage, also seen in Stan’s Soapbox— proves that Stan’s praise was no mere hype. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
A MODERN-DAY GLADIATOR
In flashback, we learn that Lucas grew up on Harlem streets where “The name of the game is survival… an’ you learn to play it any way you can!” His playmate at that “game” was Willis Stryker, as good with blades as Lucas was with his fists. The best friends were finally divided by two things—Stryker’s involvement with organized crime, and their romantic rivalry over the beautiful Reva Connors. “Willis had the bread to show her the good times I never could,” Lucas recalled. But when Stryker was being beaten by mob thugs, Reva ran to Lucas for help. Despite the fact that Lucas saved him, the hospitalized Stryker turns against Lucas, blaming him because Reva had decided Stryker’s life of crime was too dangerous. The vengeful Stryker frames Lucas by planting drugs in his apartment and, while Lucas is in prison, manages to woo Reva once more. But Reva was right the first time. She is killed in a mob hit directed at Stryker. In the Luke Cage TV series, Reva (Parisa Fitz-Henley) is retconned into Cage’s prison counselor and later wife, the woman who is killed by the mind-controlled Jessica Jones in her own Marvel Netflix TV series.
Wrongfully imprisoned with his girl murdered, it’s no wonder Lucas’ prison files are “…nothing but depressing, brawls, attempted escapes,” as Burstein observes. Still, the powerful Lucas is ideally suited for Burstein’s experiment, which uses Tony Stark’s technology to create a bio-electrical system for stimulating human cell regeneration. “If successful, it could counter the damages of almost any disease,” Burstein enthuses. But Lucas rejects the offer of a possible parole, noting it would be no use to him if the experiment killed him. “Mankind’s done nothing for me, and I’m returning the favor,” Lucas says. However, he changes his mind when Rackham, now demoted to a mere prison guard thanks to Lucas, promises to turn Seagate into his personal hell. But Rackham, refusing to be cheated of his revenge, sneaks into the experimental chambers and amplifies Lucas’ electro-chemical “brimstone bath” to an agonizing, presumably fatal level. Lucas breaks free and, with a single open-handed slap, nearly kills Rackham. In frustration, Lucas punches a prison wall and is surprised to find it isn’t his fist that breaks. He has become a superman. Punching all the way through the wall, Lucas runs from the Alcatraz-like prison. Shot by guards, he plunges from a high cliff into the river. Naturally, the authorities presume him to be dead. Unnaturally, he is not. The experiment left Lucas with skin as tough and durable as prison bars, and muscles to match. Alex Abad-Santos, a culture reporter for Vox, observed “…deeper allegories and parallels woven into that first issue. Cage’s brown skin—a feature that sets him apart—is the source of his power and strength.” “It was always intended that he would be exceptionally strong,” Roy Thomas says. “I based his powers (minus the jumping) on Hugo Danner, hero of Philip Wylie’s 1930 novel Gladiator, that probably influenced Superman.” And the similarity is marked. Here’s Hugo Danner on the battlefields of World War I: “Across the gray ashes was a long hole. In front of it a maze of wire. In it—mushrooms. German helmets. Hugo gaped at them. All that training, all that restraint, had been expended for this.
6 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
American Infamy (top) The so-called “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” collaboration between Alabama’s Tuskegee University and the US Public Health Service subjected hundreds of unsuspecting African-American men to a duplicitous experiment. (bottom) History repeats itself in Hero for Hire #1, although at the time Luke Cage’s creators were unaware of the infamous Tuskegee Study. Photo courtesy of the US National Archives. Hero for Hire TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
They were small and without meaning. He felt a sharp sting above his collarbone. He looked there. A row of little holes had appeared in his shirt. “‘Good God,’ he whispered, ‘a machine gun.’ “But there was no blood. He sat down. He presumed, as a casualty, he was justified in sitting down. He opened his shirt by ripping it down. On his dark-tanned skin there were four red marks. The bullets had not penetrated him. Too tough! He stared numbly at the walking men. They had passed him. The magnitude of his realization held him fixed for a full minute. He was invulnerable!” Nor is Cage’s resemblance to the 1938 Superman merely physical. Both characters were created to be impervious to forces of oppression that were no joke at the time. Cage would even end up with a nom de guerre—Power Man— that strongly echoed Superman’s. By 1938, the Great Depression had dragged into its ninth year. Economic ground that had been painfully regained was lost in the recession of 1937–1938, when industrial production fell almost 30 percent. In 1938, Hitler seized control of the German Army and invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia. Fascist Italy enacted anti-Semitic legislation. Spain fell to the fascists. Events conspired to remind the ordinary American citizen that he was small and powerless and threatened by vast, mysterious, evil forces. It was natural, then, that he should dream of equally powerful and mysterious avengers. Superman, who had been knocking about without a publisher since 1933, certainly filled the bill. “What led me into creating Superman in the early ’30s?,” Superman’s co-creator Jerry Siegel once explained. “Listening to President Roosevelt’s fireside chats, being unemployed and worried during the Great Depression, knowing homelessness and fear, hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless oppressed Jews in Nazi Germany, and seeing movies depicting the horrors of privation suffered. I had the great urge to help the downtrodden masses, somehow. How could I help them when I could barely help myself? Superman was the answer.” The 1938 Superman singlehandedly razed slums so that the government would be forced to build decent public housing. He dramatically deposed dictators, occasionally harming criminals without apparent regret. He hurled the perpetrators of domestic violence into walls and the owners of dangerous mines right down into them. And Luke Cage, Superman’s conceptual heir, arrived just four years after the assassination of the African-American leader Martin Luther King, Jr., an event that ignited a firestorm across urban America from coast to coast. Outrage sparked riots in more than 100 cities. By 1972, the cultural ashes of that tragedy hadn’t yet cooled, and the conditions of oppression always create a rich soil for superhero fantasy. Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7
TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Hello, Nurse! Cage encounters Claire Temple on this original art page from Hero for Hire #2 (Aug. 1972), courtesy of Heritage. Written by Archie Goodwin, penciled by George Tuska, and inked by Billy Graham. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
8 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
CAGE CHRONOLOGY: Luke Cage’s Original Run • Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972)–16 (Dec. 1973) • Power Man #17 (Feb. 1974)–66 (Dec. 1980) • Power Man and Iron Fist #67 (Feb. 1981)–125 (Sept. 1986)
A HERO FOR HIRE
During the initial run of Cage’s comic-book title (see sidebar), another scaled-down variation on the Superman theme, The Six Million Dollar Man, was enjoying its long run on network TV. Luke Cage, too, would prove to be a fairly easy character to translate to television, because the comic-book superhero elements of the character were muted from the beginning. He had a costume, yes, but the yellow shirt and the chain belt could be confused with mere garish streetwear. The name “Luke Cage” was really a superhero identity chosen by Lucas, but didn’t sound like one. In fact, his second nom de guerre—“Power Man”—would be added later to make Cage’s superhero status clearer. archie goodwin And from the beginning, Thomas knew he didn’t want Cage leaping buildings in a single bound like Hugo Danner or the 1938 Superman (nevertheless, that sneaked in, as we’ll see). Was that to make sure Cage stayed literally a more “street-level” character? “I think that’s basically it, though I don’t remember precisely why ‘no leaping,’” Thomas replies. “People tell me he didn’t seem super-strong in the early issues, too, but he was always meant to be, as far as I was concerned.” After Lucas’ strength and durability enabled him to survive that high fall from the prison into the river, he surfaced again on the mainland. “No small task for a man officially dead, a man without modern society’s cards of identity,” Archie Goodwin wrote. “A man forever set apart from others by fantastic chemistry gone berserk. A man sustained solely by a driving need for… revenge!” Anonymously working his way to New York City, Lucas reflected that he was a “walkin’ sideshow” with power he didn’t dare use for fear of discovery. Fate suggested a solution when a fleeing armed robber ran straight into Lucas. “Hey, What are they servin’ in there that sends you flyin’ out like that?” Lucas asks. “Ya stupid fleabitten bum!” the robber tells him. “I’m servin’ THIS to anybody in my way!” But Lucas, unfazed by the point-blank handgun shot, casually backhands the thief into unconsciousness, replying, “Yeah, baby? Well, here’s your tip.” The grateful owner of the diner, noting that Lucas “dodged that shot” and apprehended the robber “like a real superhero,” gave him a cash reward—and an idea. Here in New York City, the mecca for Marvel’s champions, he could set himself up as something new—a mercenary superhero. A nearby costume shop is his next stop. The result is striking, though minimalist. “Yeah, outfit’s kinda hokey, but so what?” Lucas reflects. “And this way, when I use my powers, it’s gonna seem natural. A little Men of Bronze (Age) promotion work and I’m in business.” Shredded-shirt action in Marvel’s (top left) Doc Savage #1 In a later flashback, we learn that the costume shop clerk had originally offered Lucas something secondhand—a red, caped outfit (Oct. 1972, cover by John Buscema) and (top right) with a lightning bolt on the chest. “Turned back to us when the original Hero for Hire #3 (cover by Billy Graham)—which went owner got involved in a lawsuit,” the clerk explains, providing an in-joke for superhero fans. on sale only one week apart! (bottom) Graham originally A visit to a print shop provided Lucas with business cards and a new had an alternate take in mind for HOH #3’s cover. identity: “Luke Cage, Hero for Hire.” “I thought ‘Hero for Hire’ was a nice concept,” recalls Marvel Comics Rejected cover rough courtesy of Joel Thingvall. reader Joseph Lenius. “Hey, wouldn’t someone who acquired superpowers Doc Savage TM & © Condé Nast. Hero for Hire TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. use them to survive?” Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9
Sweet Christmas! That was Cage’s ’70s catchphrase, and (top) Hero for Hire #7 (Mar. 1973) featured a horrifying holiday tale that was reprinted two years later in (bottom) this Marvel Treasury Edition. Covers by Graham and Romita, respectively. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“[Artist George] Tuska gave Cage great strength and power, without the trappings of a costume,” noted Dewey Cassell in his retrospective on Tuska’s career in TwoMorrows’ own Alter Ego #99 (Jan. 2011). “Cage was, after all, the kind of hero that Tuska enjoyed drawing—big and strong—and he remained with the book for a total of 20 issues. His inker was most often Billy Graham, the only black artist at Marvel in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Graham also penciled several issues.” [Editor’s note: The “irreverent” Billy Graham, this issue’s cover artist, is spotlighted in a retrospective, following this article.] Although Graham had worked previously for Warren Publishing on their Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella titles, he was still developing his talents. Thomas said Graham was initially instructed to make sure that Tuska’s African-American characters looked African-American, noting that from the beginning, the creators likely also expected that Graham would take over penciling the title at some point. “The artist most closely associated with the book was Billy Graham,” recalls Marvel writer Steve Englehart, who took over Hero for Hire from Archie Goodwin with its fifth issue. “Billy didn’t do all the pencils—George Tuska often filled in— but he usually did at least the inks, and he helped me plot, so that by the end it was pretty much a co-production.” By the end of his first issue, Luke Cage not only has his own costumed identity but his first costumed opponent— Diamondback, which is what his former friend Willis Stryker calls himself. Having been inspired by Cage’s “Hero for Hire” cards, the racket boss has armed himself with trick knives that explode, release toxic gases, or emit sonic waves. On television, Erik LaRay Harvey plays Stryker, who is Luke Cage’s older half-brother. The first season of Luke Cage ends in a battle between the superhero and Diamondback, who has become a poor man’s Iron Man thanks to a battle-suit designed by Hammer Industries. Thomas says, “It does irk me a bit that, on the Luke Cage Marvel/Netflix series, Stan [Lee] isn’t listed as one of the creators, when he, not Archie, not me, was the main creative force behind it, shaping by acceptance or rejection the various thoughts Archie and I (and John [Romita, Sr.], with the costume) had… while George Tuska, good as he was, was only brought in, actually, after the character had been fully created and designed. But I guess they figured Stan had enough credits.”
TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREET
In his second issue, after watching Cage fend off two of Diamondback’s armed thugs, Dr. Claire Temple offers to treat Cage’s wounds. “Didn’t do as much damage as you might think, sister,” Cage replies wryly. “Your c-chest,” Temple exclaims. “Those bullets hit you, but left only bruises! It isn’t possible.” On TV, Claire Temple is a nurse portrayed by the superb actress Rosario Dawson. She’s appeared in the Marvel series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders. In whatever medium, she serves as a love interest for Cage. Cage is surprised to learn that Temple works at a 42nd Street clinic with Dr. Noah Burstein, his “creator.” Cage fears the physician will identify him as Lucas, but thinks, “I’ve changed in a year. Longer hair, cleaner shaven. Maybe, just maybe…” Cage goes seemingly unrecognized, but also unappreciated by his own personal Dr. Frankenstein. “The superhero fella,” Burstein says. “I’ve heard about how you’ve helped neighbor merchants against syndicate protection men… for a fee. Bit disillusioning from a so-called hero, isn’t it?” But Cage isn’t having any. “Folks hire security guards, Doc… Private detectives… Why not someone like me?” While Cage worries whether Burstein does in fact know who he is, Diamondback is pressured by the mob because the clinic’s drug program is costing his pushers customers. Arming himself with knives that function like Green Arrow’s trick arrows, Diamondback kidnaps Claire as a challenge to Cage. 10 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Mixin’ It Up in the Marvel Universe (left) Dr. Doom vs. Luke Cage, in Hero for Hire #9 (May 1973). Cover by Graham. (right) Spidey vs. Luke Cage, in Amazing Spider-Man #123 (Aug. 1973). Cover by Romita. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Big mistake. After shrugging off being rammed by a car and shot point blank, Cage is given some bad moments by Diamondback’s sonic attack, but grimly promises Diamondback payback for the dead Reva. In retreat, Diamondback is blown up by one of his own explosives. In the second issue, we are introduced to Cage’s seedy HQ above a movie theatre playing Clint Eastwood Westerns. “Beautiful thing livin’ where you work,” Cage muses. “Office hours are so flexible.” We also meet Dave “D. W.” Griffith, the nephew of the building’s owner and Cage’s own Jimmy Olsen. Jeremiah Craft plays the character on TV. It was the beautiful Billy Graham cover of the third issue (Oct. 1972) that convinced me to buy the title—with Cage riding a helicopter careening high over Manhattan, ignoring gunfire while smashing the tail rotor, his shirt shredded like Doc Savage’s. That was the kind of spectacular but recognizable superhero thrill I liked, as compared to Superman lifting an ocean liner or the Hulk a mountain—feats so outlandish they’re weren’t really relatable even in fantasy, I thought. Cage is up against ex-Colonel Gideon Mace, a fascist militarist who has replaced his shattered hand with his namesake. Mace’s “Operation Overpower” scheme to con disgruntled veterans into helping him loot Wall Street is thwarted by the “hired” hero (Cage secretly returns his fee to the widow and child of the vet who employed him to stop Mace). Nailed point blank by an M3 .45-caliber submachine gun, the bruised hero remarks, “Sweet sister! This may not be fatal… but it sure ain’t fun!” Goodwin’s script expresses sympathy for the plight of unemployed and largely ignored Vietnam veterans whom Mace cynically manipulates. “I share your bitterness, your outrage, for I, who might have been another Patton, have been neglected, abandoned, as have you!” Mace tells them. Cage also learns that Burstein, who has recognized him as Lucas, won’t turn him in to police as long as Cage doesn’t use his powers for criminal purposes. The fourth issue (Dec. 1972) begins with a sleeping Luke Cage assaulted by a glowing, cloaked figure—the Phantom of the Discount Theatre, apparently. Cage meets Phil Fox, an inquisitive Broadway columnist for the Daily Bugle, while unraveling the mystery. The fifth issue sees the introduction of Black Mariah, a morbidly obese criminal mastermind who wields her 400 pounds as a weapon.
On the TV series, Mariah Stokes Dillard is played by the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Alfre Woodard as an unscrupulous Harlem politician who descends into pure evil. (That marked Woodard’s second appearance as a Marvel character. She also played the mother of an American citizen killed in the battle of Sokovia in the film Captain America: Civil War.) The term “Black Mariah” was police slang for a horse-drawn prisoner van and, appropriately, Mariah’s comic-book scheme involves using a fleet of counterfeit official vehicles such as ambulances to commit crimes— until Cage sinks her fleeing motorboat with one well-timed jump. Marvel’s man of steel takes on actual steel men—robots disguised as suits of armor—in Hero for Hire #6’s (Feb. 1973) story “Knights and White Satin.” Cage learns that a blowtorch causes him some discomfort when applied to his naked skin, and also finally makes one of those super-leaps that Thomas wanted him to avoid, deflecting a falling chandelier that would have crushed two young women.
SWEET CHRISTMAS!
A madman plays the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future for Cage in the Dickensian Hero for Hire #7 (Mar. 1973), written by Steve Englehart. On Christmas Eve, someone who seems to be a disabled and deranged Vietnam vet attempts to shoot Claire, but Cage leaps between them. “Luke, he’s sick! He’s not responsible,” Clair shouts. “I know he ain’t, mama, but I know what is,” Cage replies. “Freakin’ guns! And the dudes that sent him over there to use ‘em! Ain’t never gonna be no peace on Earth if all the small people keep tryin’ to act like big people—and the big people keep tryin’ to act like God!” The “Vietnam vet,” however, reappears in futuristic costume as a time traveler from the totalitarian future of 1984, and attacks Cage again. He turns out to be a veteran not of the Vietnam War but of World War II—an OSS master of disguise who managed to steal an early atom bomb in 1946. And because he believes “the present is intolerable and the future nightmarish,” the lunatic plans to detonate the bomb, destroy Manhattan, and start World War III. Naturally, Cage stops him. This obscure adversary is followed by Marvel’s most infamous supervillain in Hero for Hire #8 and 9. Hired by an anonymous party to capture four thieves, Cage ends up fighting humanoid robots that
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11
Rebranded (top) With issue #17 (Feb. 1974), Luke Cage’s comic was now titled Power Man. Cover by Gil Kane and Romita. (bottom) It’s Cage vs. Cottonmouth on this dynamite cover—sans copy and titles—for Power Man #20 (Aug. 1974). Original Gil Kane/ Mike Esposito art courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
he traces to the Latverian embassy, where he finds himself being lectured by his unwilling host and secret employer, Dr. Doom. Cage is unimpressed. “Doctor What? C’mon, man… Nobody walks around with a tin can on his face and a jive name like that!” “Did you expect to gain superhuman powers and stay within your limited world of petty hoodlums and petty crimes?” Doom sneers. Doom hired Cage to track down his runaway robots because they had disguised themselves as black men in hopes of evading the monarch. “Latveria is European, Mr. Cage,” Doom explains. “I have no black subjects, and—sad to say—no one ever emigrates to my land.” The robots are destroyed in a life-and-death battle with Cage, who discovers that Doom has departed for Latveria without paying his fee. “When Doom walks out on his bill, Englehart’s purpose in pitting the title character against one of Marvel’s top bad guys is clear: he’s trying to juxtapose the street-smart bulletproof brawler with an aristocratic evil genius,” observes popular-culture writer Evan Narcisse. Borrowing a rocket from the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, Cage flies off to collect from Doom, who regards him as crazy for crossing the Atlantic to demand a paltry $200. Cage fights the mastermind, then saves him from an assassination attempt by the alien rebel leader the Faceless One before flying home with his money. “At this point, the only thing Luke truly has in his life is his honor, and Doom besmirched that,” noted comics historian Patrick D. Gaertner on his blog. “He treated Luke like an object, one not even worth paying. That $200 was a trifle to Doom, he didn’t give it to Luke out of spite, because he didn’t actually see Luke as a real threat. So Luke flew around the world to show Doom that not only is he a threat, but he’s a better man than him. He doesn’t kill Doom, nor does he let the alien kill him. It wasn’t about vengeance, it was about justice. Once of the best things about Luke Cage is his iron-hard principles.” Hero for Hire #10 and 11 (June and July 1973) pit Cage against Senor Suerte, a lunatic Puerto Rican gambling czar who, like Batman’s foe Two-Face, is obsessed with luck and gives his enemies a 50-50 chance of being electrocuted. And Cage’s luck takes a turn for the worse when Phil Fox discovers who he really is.
WANTED: ONE WALL-CRAWLER
Meanwhile, Fox’s reporting makes publisher J. Jonah Jameson aware of Cage, whom he decides to hire to capture Spider-Man. In Amazing Spider-Man #123 (Aug. 1973), we’re treated to a fresh look at Cage through the art of Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr. Jameson meets Cage just as the freelance superhero is throwing a disagreeable would-be client through his office door (a scene that would be repeated decades later, to equally dramatic effect, by Jessica Jones). For $5,000, Cage agrees to track down Spider-Man, who’s depressed because he’s just attended the funeral of Gwen Stacy. The heroes prove to be evenly matched, with Spidey dismissing Cage as “…the clown who sells his powers like some cheap, third-rate thug.” Their first battle ends in a stalemate, with Cage explaining defensively, “Some dudes have to do this for a livin’—we ain’t all rich playboys like Bruce Wayne.” The battle between Spidey and Cage finishes, surprisingly enough, in reasoned discourse and an apology from the Web-Slinger. “Maybe I have made a few mistakes, Cage,” he says. “Should have remembered—I started out in this game asking for pay, too.” 12 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
And that’s how Jameson ended up with his $5,000 stuffed in his mouth. Cage is hired to go after Chemistro (Marvel’s version of DC’s Dr. Alchemy) in Hero for Hire #12 (Aug. 1973). But the masked criminal turns out to be a black chemist who was cheated out of his share of the profits for his transmutation invention by the very CEO who hired Cage, and Cage’s victory is a bitter one. Fox attempts to blackmail Cage, but only gets backhanded in payment. New York’s mayor hires Cage after seemingly intelligent big cats kill a city auditor in Hero for Hire #13. They’re the “cat’s paws” of the supervillain Lionfang, a Bronx teacher named Alejandro Cortez who has developed thought transference technology. With their poisoned claws, Cortez’s mentally advanced lion, tiger, and panther nearly kill Cage, but it’s Cortez who ends up dead. This September 1973 cover-dated issue is a milestone because Billy Graham has taken over penciling and inking. A black artist is at last illustrating a black Marvel superhero. Cage’s secret past continues to stalk him as Comanche and Shades escape from Seagate in Hero for Hire #14 to seek revenge on Rackham, who has joined forces with the unfortunate Fox. The psychopathic prison guard ends up shooting the Daily Bugle columnist, and the innocent Claire Temple is blamed for the murder. In Hero for Hire #15, Cage leaps from the roof of a building across a city street to the Manhattan Detention Complex, a.k.a the Tombs, to visit Claire by hanging outside her cell. Stilletto, a vigilante armed with Justin Hammer projectiles, is added to the mix in Hero for Hire #16 (Dec. 1973), and the combination blows up in everyone’s faces. Rackham ends up dead, Claire is freed, and— because Cage has played fair with them—Shades and Comanche go back to prison without revealing his secret.
ENTER: POWER MAN
Marvel’s man of steel clashes with Iron Man in issue #17 (Feb. 1974), then teams up with him to stop the theft of Tony Stark’s latest invention. When the fleeing thief exclaims that Cage’s strength is impossible, the Hero for Hire replies, “Just chalk it up to black power, man.” “Black power, man?” Cage thinks. “Power Man? Hey, I kinda like the sound of that.” You won’t find Hero for Hire #17, penned by Len Wein, in the back-issue bins, because with this issue the title becomes Luke Cage, Power Man. Luke Cage’s rechristening with the straightforwardly superheroic name “Power Man” connected him to the heroes and villains of a Marvel history that, in only 11 years, had already and deliberately become complex and intertwined. “Power Man” was the heir to “Wonder Man,” the failed industrialist Simon Williams, a character who’d been born and died in The Avengers #9 (Oct. 1964). Introduced with a bold cover balloon that proclaimed “Marvel Proudly Introduces Wonder Man, the Newest, Most Dynamic Surprise Character from the House of Ideas,” Wonder Man appeared to be a standard-issue superhero, one who could be mistaken for a DC Comics character. In fact, Stan Lee’s surprise was that Wonder Man was a ringer, a villain posing as a hero in order to infiltrate and destroy the Avengers. Baron Zemo and the Asgardian villains Enchantress and Executioner, stinging from defeat at the hands of the Avengers, recruit Williams, a failed inventor charged with embezzlement who blames Stark for his downfall. Bathed in Zemo’s ionic rays, Williams becomes “a living engine of destruction” who can survive gunfire, rip trees from the ground, and fly with the aid of belt rockets. But he’ll also die within a week unless given regular treatments by Zemo. Wonder Man’s treachery causes the defeat of the Avengers, but he balks at Zemo’s plan to kill them and saves the superheroes while dooming himself. It was a good story—too good to end in a single issue. So a year later in Avengers #21 (Oct. 1965) we meet Erik Josten, a soldier of fortune who had served as a mercenary for the slain Zemo and is now
Will the Real Power Man Please Stand Up? (inset) Jack Kirby cover to Avengers #21 (Oct. 1965), featuring Power Man, whose name value outweighed his use as a character. (above) When Power Men Pummel, in issue #21 (Oct. 1974) of Cage’s book. Cover by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
on the run. With the aid of the Enchantress, Josten uses Zemo’s ionic-ray device to gain the powers of Wonder Man. “We must call you something worthy of your newfound power,” proclaims the Asgardian witch. “Just so long as it isn’t anything as childish as Wonder Man,” Josten replies. “That’s it!” the Enchantress says. “It will be an ideal name! It will make you a worthy successor to Wonder Man. Your name shall be Power Man!” The fact that Cage had adopted the name of a supervillain who was still knocking around the Marvel Universe provided a ready-made springboard for a future plot, of course. And the reason for the hero’s name change? “I suspect we thought that name might increase the sales,” Roy Thomas tells BACK ISSUE. “Don’t recall if it did or not… but it didn’t hurt. The first Power Man wasn’t much anyway.” In Power Man #18, Luke Cage goes up against a “hard-hat construction worker” white racist known as the Steeplejack. This masked and costumed supervillain is armed with a rivet gun/acetylene torch, calls Cage “boy,” and advises him to “keep his big flat nose outta
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13
business that don’t concern you.” While deconstructing Steeplejack, Cage mockingly refers to himself as “Captain Afro-America.” The fanged drug kingpin Cornell Cottonmouth offers Cage a job in Power Man #19 (June 1974) and—because it will get him closer to the source of the heroin that Stryker used to frame him—Cage accepts, but ultimately gets no closer to clearing himself. On TV, Mahershala Ali plays Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, a criminal mastermind who owns Harlem’s Paradise nightclub and is the cousin of Mariah Stokes Dillard.
WHEN POWER MEN CLASH
TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Bustin’ Loose Outside of his own series, in 1975 Luke Cage received a Giant-Size Power Man one-shot (reprinting earlier tales), a Comic Book Heroes sticker from Topps, and a Slurpee Cup from 7-Eleven. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Cage’s growing fame has consequences good and bad in Power Man #21 (Oct. 1974), in a script by Tony Isabella, with a plot assist from former Cage scribe Len Wein. Young black boys are beginning to look up to him, and he tells them, “I’m on vacation now, so I want you dudes to keep the street clean for me.” Meanwhile, the original Power Man, Erik Josten, wants to battle Cage for the title in the cinema below his office while another showdown, the classic 1953 Western Shane, plays on the movie screen. When Josten endangers a little girl, the angry Cage beats him into submission, and advises him, “You can call yourself Spider-Man. You can call yourself the Invisible Girl. You can stick a flag in your navel and call yourself the Spirit of ’76. But if you ever call yourself Power Man again, I will tattoo that name on your rib cage!” In The Defenders #17–19 (Nov. 1974–Jan. 1975), Cage mistakenly battles Marvel’s famed non-team, joining forces with them to stop the Wrecking Crew only after he has slugged Dr. Strange (whom he calls “Mr. Mustache”). Luckily, Power Man only had to contend with the Sorcerer Supreme and Nighthawk, not the absent Hulk. In Power Man #22, Stiletto returns with his brother Discus for a rematch against Cage. It’s only after defeating
them that Power Man learns they’re the troubled sons of Tyler Stuart, the only warden who’d treated him fairly at Seagate. So he lets them go. Cage and D. W. set off for LA by bus to search for Claire, who’d vanished while leaving behind only a cryptic note. But Cage, the escaped prisoner, is detoured into a society in which people have voluntarily imprisoned themselves. In Power Man #23 (Feb. 1975, at left), Cage and D. W. find themselves in “Security City… the Planned Community Where You’d Better Belong—or Else!” After being ambushed by armed guards, they discover that the isolated, authoritarian, and apparently all-white compound is run by Cage’s old enemy Gideon Mace. “You can’t stop this plan,” Mace boasts to Cage in this Isabella-penned story. “We’ve selected the perfect citizens for this town—sheep that can be led and molded into the patterns we want. Sheep, Mr. Cage—but dangerous sheep. Sheep that will build a new order with men like me at the top!” But those “sheep” turn on Mace in a bid for power, even as Cage and D. W. fight their way out. “Welcome to Security City” would be a fascinating story to see adapted for television. Power Man #24 serves as a springboard for Black Goliath, a new superhero intended for his own series [and chronicled later in this issue—ed.]. As scientist Bill Foster, he’d been around since Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966). He’s also Claire’s ex-husband, and Claire had left New York to help him. Trapped at a 15-foot height, Foster is hiding out with a circus that turns out to belong to the criminal mastermind Ringmaster. Just about every Marvel superhero has, at one time or another, delivered a beat-down to the Ringmaster’s Circus of Crime, and Power Man and Black Goliath prove to be no exception, in issue #25. After exposing a fake vampire in Power Man #26, Cage fights a simple-minded masked wrestler called X in Power Man #27. In Power Man #28, he’s up against a seedy assassin named Cockroach Hamilton, whose six-barreled shotgun blast sends Cage off a roof. Later, as Dr. Burstein sets his dislocated shoulder, Cage hides the pain he’s in for the sake of another patient, a hero-worshipping young boy who’s watching him. These kinds of quotidian touches are some of the best things in the title. Cage ends up in a classic superhero deathtrap—chained beneath the Harlem River drawbridge as it’s about to open for a tugboat, tearing him apart. Unfortunately for readers in 1975, a deadline screw-up forced writer Don McGregor to leave him hanging there for a full month while Bill Mantlo provided a fill-in story for Power Man #29 (featuring a mutated criminal named Mr. Fish). [Editor’s note: With issue #28, McGregor followed a revolving door of writers on the book, with Wein, Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Englehart, and even George Pérez providing plots and scripts during this phase of Power Man’s history. George Tuska anchored the book as its penciler during most of these issues.] In Power Man #30 (Apr. 1976), despite considerable pain, Cage’s super-strength enables him to tear the chains from his legs. The next issue sees him fighting both Cockroach and a Bond-style villain, the steel-toothed Piranha Jones, to save the city from the release of a carcinogenic gas.
14 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Power to the People Luke Cage was no stranger to Marvel’s mightiest throughout the ’70s, appearing alongside the Defenders, the Thing (in Marvel Two-in-One), the FF, and Spidey (in Marvel Team-Up). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
BURN, BABY, BURN!
The distinctive art of penciler Frank Robbins is featured in Power Man #32 (June 1976), with the costumed arsonist Wildfire trying to burn a black family out of Jamaica, Queens. Standing in the way of his flame gun is Luke Cage. “You think because you’re black you’re the only ones that got any rights!” Wildfire sneers. “Well, this is one dumb ‘honkie’ that’s gonna fry your hide!” But the racist villain only ends up accidentally killing the family’s young son, an act that fills him with self-revulsion. Cage went from fending off flame guns to shrugging off spear guns in Power Man #33, which introduced the masked assassin Spear. The emerging pattern is not lost on Cage, who complains, “I’ve about had it with every Mickey Mouse sharpshooter in the five boroughs of New York using me for target practice!” In a storyline running through Power Man #35, Spear and a masked misanthrope named Mangler terrorize Burstein, blaming him for killing their terminally ill brother with his experimental treatment—and the IRS shows up, wondering where Luke Cage’s income taxes are. Power Man’s first Annual (1976), a 50-center, opens with Cage in Japan, fighting high-tech ninjas who warn him that “…not even Iron Fist, the dragon son of K’un-Lun, could stand against our combined skill.” In this Chris Claremont-penned tale, the durable Mr. Cage protects a rich woman’s granddaughter from Moses Magnum, one of the Punisher’s enemies, while surviving an earthquake and a fall from a plane in flight. In late 1976’s Power Man #36–38, with Marv Wolfman now pushing the writing pen (over Bill Mantlo plots in the latter two issues), Cage finds he’s living in a glass office—literally—when a new Chemistro appears. Cage again demonstrates his leaping abilities by super-backflipping onto the roof of a speeding car. Power Man also survives being sunk in quicksand and slammed by a subway train. Power Man #39–40 introduces the cyborg superman Big Brother, the invisible Cheshire Cat, and the medieval menace the Baron. A no-nonsense super-speeding vigilante, Thunderbolt, debuts in Power Man #41–42, leaving his criminal victims with lighting bolts symbols tattooed on their foreheads. The high-tech master criminal Goldbug tricks Cage into battling Thunderbolt, who’s a black Flash to Cage’s black Superman. Then in Power Man #43 (May 1977), with the IRS about to track down his true identity, Cage decides to vanish again, this time in Chicago. Unfortunately, the train he catches at Grand Central Station also has old adversary Gideon Mace as a passenger, and a battle ensues atop the train. By the next issue, only Power Man stands between Mace and his planned military coup to save the US from being “run by weaklings.” In Power Man #45–46, Cage races to save Chicago from being vaporized by Mace’s cobalt bomb (which turns out to be a fake). Power Man #47 finds Cage fighting outside his weight class against the giant electrical menace Zzzax, an homage to Marvel’s (Atlas) pre-hero monster titles of the 1950s, who had been introduced in The Incredible Hulk #166 (Aug. 1973). Power Man #48 (Dec. 1977) saw the beginning of Cage’s historic pairing with Iron Fist. With art by John Byrne and writing by Chris Claremont, this new team achieved an elegant balance—an idealistic, naïve champion of graceful power joining forces with an embittered, streetwise hero who embodies blunt, brute force. [Editor’s note: The Power Man and Iron Fist series was explored in BACK ISSUE #45, while BI #105 featured an in-depth history of Iron Fist.]
And it was time for something new. In the 1970s, the Hero for Hire/Power Man solo title may have rarely realized the full potential implied in his character concept. But Cage was to become an enduring part of the Marvel Universe, a fact foreshadowed in the tale “Where Have All the Powers Gone?” in Fantastic Four #168 (Mar. 1976), when Cage temporarily replaced the Thing as the muscle on Marvel’s premiere super-team. “During the period when Ben Grimm had lost his Thing persona and powers, I felt having Luke Cage/Power Man, an African-American, replace him would be an interesting development,” Roy Thomas recalls. “That, plus the fact that his strength would fill the lack felt by the Thing’s absence. I’d helped Stan and Archie and John create the character a few years earlier, so I thought perhaps it was time I took a crack at writing him.” The alienated outsider had become a popular Marvel Universe insider, and so he remains today. DAN HAGEN, a writer who’s a former central Illinois newspaper editor and university journalism instructor, has won numerous awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, the Southern Illinois Editorial Association, and the Illinois Press Association, as well as the Golden Dozen Award for Editorial Writing from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. He’s written articles for several magazines in the US and Great Britain, as well as for Marvel Comics and NPR.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15
There have been a great number of African-American artists in every medium that have greatly influenced our world and its culture. Ernie Barnes, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Prince Rogers Nelson are just a few of the names that have made an impact on people of all races. However, one person that belongs among those mentioned is comic-book artist William Henderson Graham, better known as Billy Graham, or the Irreverent Billy Graham, as he was credited in his Marvel work. Artists such as Matt Baker and E. B. Stoner opened doors for other African Americans such as Graham to work in comics, but Graham himself blazed trails for those that followed him. BACK ISSUE will take a look at Billy Graham as we explore the career of a man who paved the way for the likes of Christopher Priest, Reginald Hudlin, Jamal Igle, Denys Cowan, and so many other African-American comic-book writers and artists who followed in his footsteps.
AN IRREVERENT LIFE
by J a m e s
16 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Heath Lantz
Black Panther and Hero for Hire TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Sabre © Don McGregor.
Art, especially comics, had been a part of Billy Graham’s life from a very young age. According to an interview published in Shazam/The Wonderful World of Comix #7, Graham, born on July 1, 1935, became interested in comics thanks billy graham to a cousin who read them regularly. This led to Billy tracing the panels. Graham’s interest in drawing grew through his youth. While still in elementary school, Billy participated in a “Keep Your City Clean” drawing contest in which he won $25 for his advertisement. This was the first time the Irreverent One was paid for his artwork, but it would not be the last. After attending New York City’s High School of Music and Art and the School of Visual Art, where he learned under Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth, Graham went into commercial art before applying his unique visual style in the comic pages. According to the Shazam interview, Graham got his start in comics by working in the mailroom at EC Comics. He’d show his artwork to the artists whenever they were in the office. “Al Williamson used to help me a lot,” Graham stated. “So did Johnny Craig, Marie Severin, and Bill Gaines.” Moving forward to 1969, the Irreverent One became influenced by fanzines and underground comix, producing adult-oriented strips. One piece of Graham artwork recently uncovered predates the October 1969 cover-dated Vampirella #1, one of Billy’s earliest mainstream comics. Page 16 of the June 6, 1969 Screw, issue #16, features a sequential serial that combines Graham’s style with one possibly inspired by Richard “Grass” Green. Meanwhile, one day before Apollo 11 lifted off for its historic trip to the Moon, Warren Publishing’s Vampirella #1 was released, on July 1, 1969. The 64-page magazine was not only the debut of the title character, it also served as Graham’s first outing as a mainstream comic-book artist. “Death Boat,” a vampire tale inspired by the film Lifeboat, features eerie images that seem to be influenced by Al Williamson, one of Graham’s idols, and many of the others who had
drawn EC horror stories less than two decades before “Death Boat” set sail. Graham went on to pencil and ink stories in Vampirella #2–12, experimenting with styles that paid tribute to the aforementioned Williamson, Frank Frazetta, and others, while adding details that were his own. Billy Graham was promoted to art director not long after by Warren Publishing’s publisher, having become the first African American in that position at Warren and in the mainstream comics industry. Graham is also credited as managing editor for the July 1971–April 1972 cover-dated Warren magazines Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella. Publisher James Warren recruited him to draw bloodcurdling scare-fests in Vampirella and guided him into becoming art director at Warren Publishing. Warren himself had stated an interview with Jon B. Cooke in Comic Book Artist #4 that he saw that Graham could handle the art directing job’s responsibilities. It had only taken the Irreverent One roughly a fortnight to learn the ropes. Warren said of Graham, “Certain artists and writers are great, but they can’t shift out of their specialty and do something else. Billy could. I taught him how to art direct during our slow period, and it only took a couple of issues—and he did pretty well, though I gave him a nervous breakdown.” That “nervous breakdown” led to some of the most memorable Warren magazines of the time with Graham working both behind the scenes and at the drawing board, creating pages that blended story genres and art styles in the same way Prince did for music in 1987’s Sign o’ the Times album. “Amazonia and the Eye of Ozirios,” written by Gardner Fox for Vampirella #12, combines horror and fantasy made popular in Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian and influences of Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta with Graham’s
own unique visual rendering. Readers get a look at which storytellers helped the Irreverent One hone his craft in images that pay tribute to his mentors and tell fans the way Graham sees the events shown on the pages. Of all of Billy Graham’s Warren work, perhaps “The Alien Plague,” published in Eerie #31, stands out the most. The eight-page tale was written and drawn by Graham, and it feels like it’s a nod to the classic sciencefiction tales of Wally Wood and other artists at EC who taught him about sequential storytelling in comic books. There is also a twist worthy of the best plots from Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling. As the title suggests, an alien plague has spread across the universe. A starship’s crew investigates, with one member of its away team finding an illustrated magazine about the disease. He even sees the story’s first page and Cousin Eerie’s introduction. The men find no trace of other paper, including books, throughout much of the debris. They surmise that like vampires who transform into bats, the extraterrestrial parasites, who make people sick, attack them with metal bits and mutate them into nothingness. The creatures would take refuge wherever paper can be found. The men end up in a garbage dump, struck by staples. The final page of Graham’s chilling tale shows a pair of photographed hands holding the comic, reading of the astronauts’ final fate.
Early Published Work Black-and-white Graham art from early in the artist’s career, from Warren’s (left) Vampirella #1 and (right) Eerie #31. © New Comic Company.
UNCAGED IRREVERENCE
Graham eventually left Warren Publishing to be part of the Marvel Comics Bullpen. While there, he got to work with one of his idols, George Tuska, inking a character Roy Thomas, John Romita, Sr., Archie Goodwin, and Tuska created. Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972) marked the debut the first African-American superhero to have his
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17
own title. Graham himself had become part of the creative team and described Cage as “a brother he could hang with.” Graham worked on all 16 issues of Hero for Hire, followed by the retitled Power Man #17, and later, Power Man and Iron Fist #111 and 114, as inker, artist, and/or co-plotter. “I had something to do, maybe a lot to do, with his being assigned to ink Luke Cage from the beginning in order to get the look of the characters right,” Roy Thomas tells BACK ISSUE about how Billy Graham came to be a part of Luke Cage’s adventures. Graham had inked three issues of Hero for Hire before tackling full art chores in the fourth issue of the series. “Cry Fear… Cry Phantom,” a mystery/ horror/superhero tale, not only gave Marvel readers a chance to see Graham’s art (inked here by Syd Shores) if they never purchased his Warren work, it gave Graham himself a chance to reach a wider comic-reading audience with artwork that hearkened back to his days with Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, and Vampirella and to his EC Comics influences. This continued in Steve Englehart’s debut as Luke Cage scribe, Hero for Hire #6’s “Knights and White Satin,” which was co-written by Gerry Conway, with Paul Reinman inking Graham’s pencils this outing. Graham had characters in a setting with the atmosphere of a Johnny Craig “dying rich old man in a mansion” outing from EC’s horror or suspense line, while putting his own irreverent spin on the baddest mother on 42nd Street. The team of Englehart, Tuska, and Graham worked together on Hero for Hire #7–12, pitting the title character against a Christmas bomber, Dr. Doom, a luck-obsessed Hispanic crimelord named Senor Muerte, and Chemistro, the Master of Alchemy. With the book’s 13th issue (Sept. 1973), Graham assumed full art chores on Hero for Hire. When asked in Shazam/The Wonderful World of Comix #7 if he preferred inking his own pencils, Billy Graham
replied, “Yes and no. When you have to lay out a story and pencil it, it has to be approved. The pencils are rough at first, and then you tighten them up. Then, when they are approved, you have to go over them with ink and be certain that the same quality comes out when it’s inked. That’s a lot of work. It’s very creative, and you feel awfully proud of the end result. When someone else does all that work and all you have to do is to ink it, there’s nothing to do. It’s not creative, but it’s easy.” While Hero for Hire #13 had Harlem’s resident superhero go up against a circus-obsessed villain bent on revenge in “The Claws of Lionfang,” it is perhaps the three-part saga “Retribution” in #14–16 that is the Irreverent One’s best-known work on the title. Graham not only drew the images in a tale that sees Luke’s past come back to haunt him, he served as co-plotter as well. “My fondest memories are pretty specific,” Steve Englehart tells BACK ISSUE of working with Billy Graham. “During the first year he, George Tuska, and I worked on Luke Cage, I probably interacted with Billy twice at the most. Writers talk to pencilers, and inkers aren’t in the loop. So it wasn’t until Billy became the penciler that we started really talking. Everybody involved with that book to that point, except Billy, was white, and I wanted to hear what I didn’t know, and he was happy— literally, happy—to tell me. He had a lot to say and as an inker he had little hope of getting it said. We had lunches together when we were both in the city, and they went on for hours. He contributed so much to Luke Cage that I immediately credited him as co-plotter. But only a few months later, Master of Kung Fu got green-lit and I had to drop Cage, and right after that I moved to California. So it’s those few months when he and I were a real team that I really knew Billy, professionally and personally. At those lunches, he was a fun guy to hang with, but he was also very focused on the work. Then again, he was teaching me stuff.” Upon Steve Englehart’s exit from Hero for Hire, Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella took on writing steve englehart duties for the title. “I met Billy once or twice,” Tony Isabella tells BACK steveenglehart.com. ISSUE, “but I didn’t know him well. We did two issues of Hero for Hire together, but these were rush jobs that never allowed either of us to discuss the stories with the other. My perhaps faulty memory is that I scripted existing pages for the first of the two issues and wrote a full script for the second. I wish I could have worked with him again and on more reasonable deadlines.” Perhaps if those deadlines had not happened, Graham wouldn’t have gotten involved with the Black Panther. His work on T’Challa’s adventures in Jungle Action not only made his artistic mark on the character, it led to a collaboration that will be remembered for many years to come.
THE IRREVERENT TEAM
Billy Graham began working on the “Black Panther” feature in Jungle Action with issue #10 (July 1974). The writer on that series was Don McGregor. Graham and McGregor’s Black Panther won critical acclaim, but the pair’s friendship began long before they voyaged to Wakanda. McGregor, according to what he said at 2015’s Black Panther panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, had confronted Warren Publishing’s Jim Warren about his magazines’ story quality at a convention sometime in the 1970s. Warren had asked McGregor to name one bad story in the magazines. Once McGregor did so, Warren told him to tell Billy Graham, who had drawn the comic, that his work is bad. “Jim,” McGregor said, “I didn’t say that. I said you were publishing bad stories. I didn’t say the art was bad.” From that moment on, a friendship was forged that led to working on Black Panther in Jungle Action and later, on Sabre #3–9. Graham even played Ted Denning’s father in an unreleased film version of McGregor
“America’s First and Foremost Black Superstar” Graham’s cover to Hero for Hire #15 (Nov. 1973) screamed, “Here! Take my 20 cents!” at the prospective buyer. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
18 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Terrific Titles Graham’s “Panther’s Rage” title splashes were astounding, each and every one. Original art to page 1 of Jungle Action #16 courtesy of Jason Schachter. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19
and Marshall Rogers’ Detectives, Inc. McGregor himself stated in an interview with Mile High Comics that he had Graham in mind for the role when the script was written. There were other artists working on both Jungle Action and Sabre with Don McGregor. Yet, there was something in addition to their friendship that made the team of McGregor and Graham loved by critics and fans alike. McGregor’s storytelling style seemed to be in sync with Graham’s larger-than-life images in both series. Whether the Irreverent One was rendering a scene in Wakanda or panels in the post-apocalyptic world of Sabre, he seemed to bring his best work to his drawing table when teamed with McGregor. According to various interviews with Don McGregor, Billy Graham was also the type who had no problems drawing whatever was needed for the comics on which he and McGregor had collaborated. The Irreverent One accepted the challenges thrown at him, and as a result, saw it as a chance to expand on his craft by giving readers panels, characters, and situations that leaped off the comics pages and were burned into readers’ minds. When doing the elaborate title and action sequences for “Panther’s Rage” in Jungle Action and depicting childbirth in Sabre, Graham hit an artistic home run with his pencils, inks, and drawing table. According to McGregor in interviews with Comics Bulletin on Black Panther and Sabre, Graham rose to the challenge of whatever he drew for Don. In addition to the rapport they had, the Irreverent One and Don McGregor became one of the most prolific creative teams in Bronze Age comics, with some of the most memorable sagas ever to grace the pages of the medium. [Editor’s note: While Don McGregor was unavailable to participate in this article, he is interviewed elsewhere in this issue for our “Pro2Pro” feature.]
AN IRREVERENT LEGACY
Billy Graham died on April 4, 1997. His style of comic art continues to leave an impact on fans and professionals alike. Some of those professionals took time out of their busy schedules to discuss Billy Graham and his legacy with BACK ISSUE. Graham’s granddaughter Shawnna Graham says this of her irreverent grandfather: “I would say what best describes my grandfather’s legacy in comics is his attention to details in his work. His work spoke volumes and could still be recognized to this day, compared to the work of others. His art told the story even without the words being present, making you feel as if you are right there being pulled into the story right in the moment.” In addition to describing his friend Billy Graham as effervescent, Don McGregor said in his interviews with Comics Bulletin, “I was good friends with Billy Graham and I knew Billy was not going to have any problems with gay characters and the childbirth happening or having Dearie Decadence be a transsexual; he’d have no problem with any of it. ‘Just get me the script, Don, and I’ll draw what you’ve written.’ Billy introduced me to much of the comics world. He took me to Louise and Jeffrey Jones’ comic gatherings. He embraced my scripts and drew a number of pages, many of which would never see print because he didn’t have time to finish them.” “Billy Graham, by his talent and hard work, became the first African-American artist to break into the comics field at the end of the Silver Age, or just after it,” Roy Thomas remarks of Graham, “continuing a temporarily interrupted legacy which had been begun by Matt Baker and a number of other artists in the 1940s. He contributed materially to the success of the Luke Cage and Black Panther series.” “When Billy got into comics, there were almost no black pros,” Steve Englehart tells BI. “I have no idea of what his life was like in that situation, but he did his job and became steadily more important in the field, and that opened doors for other blacks to (a) figure maybe they could do it, too, and (b) meet editors who’d maybe learned a little something from working
Sabre-Rattling Billy Graham re-partnered with Don McGregor in the early ’80s on McGregor’s Sabre (explored later in this issue), bringing his vitality and challenging layouts to the series’ mature storylines. (top) Page 1 from issue #3. (bottom) Sabre with a very expectant Melissa on the splash to issue #7. Sabre © Don McGregor.
20 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Family Pride (left) Billy’s son Mardine Graham and his daughter, Billy’s granddaughter, Shawnna Graham. (right) Mardine Graham at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s exhibit honoring Billy Graham’s artwork. Photos courtesy of Shawnna Graham. with Billy. So he’s definitely one of the pioneers in comics. But more to the point, he kept moving steadily forward. After comics, he wrote for the theater, where he could put his visual sense to work as well. So I’d say the legacy of Billy Graham, both professionally and personally, is ‘progress.’” “When I say I didn’t know Billy well,” Tony Isabella says, “I’m only talking about the man. I knew his artwork very well. His slick black-and-art art for Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella knocked me out. From the first time I saw his work in those magazines, he was one of my favorite Warren Publications artists. When he came over to Marvel, I loved the way he added grit to George Tuska’s Hero for Hire pages without diminishing the heroic nature of Luke Cage. When he teamed with Don McGregor on the Black Panther series, I quickly got used to being astonished several times each issue. Don had several fine artists on the series, but, for my money, Billy was the best of the best. I’m hoping the success of the Black Panther movie, which owes so much to Don and Billy, reminds fans what a great artist Billy was.” Even BACK ISSUE editor Michael Eury has this to say of Billy Graham: “Billy Graham was an artist of color during a time when the comics business was dominated by white creators and staffers. But that multicultural milestone aside, his energetic artwork is his best legacy.” With the visibility of the Luke Cage television series and Black Panther film, much has been said about those characters and their creation. The Irreverent Billy Graham’s contributions to both Marvel heroes have impacted many readers and creators of all races to this very day, including inker Bob Almond, who dedicated his work to Graham in 2000’s Marvel Comics’ Black Panther #17. Billy Graham’s legacy has been honored at gallery exhibits. One such exhibit began at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on September 27, 2018, and ended roughly a month later, on October 26. Graham’s granddaughter, Shawnna Graham, is making sure her irreverent grandfather’s art gets the exposure it deserves via social media. The Irreverent Billy Graham was a true artist in every sense of the word, having worked in theater, writing, drawing, and film. He left the comics industry to pursue a career in acting, but Shawnna Graham tells BACK ISSUE that he never lost his love for comics. Billy even did some unpublished Black Panther storyboards in 1992 with his own notes on character designs he created. Whether they were pitched to Marvel is unknown at this time. What is known, however, is the comic art of the late, great Billy Graham still lives on, with plans for those drawings to be shared in the future. Over two decades have passed since Billy Graham left us. Yet through Marvel Masterworks and Epic Collection editions of his Hero for Hire and Black Panther tales, and his horror and sci-fi stories reprinted in Dark Horse Comics’ archive editions of Warren Publishing material, Graham’s irreverence—and artistic excellence—will live on for many years to come. Special thanks to Shawnna Graham, Ed Catto, and Tony Isabella for their invaluable help and suggestions for this article. Dedicated to my beautiful and incredible wife Laura, whose irreverence stole my heart; Pupino, Odino, and our four-legged Heroes for Hire; my nephew Kento, whom even Erik Killmonger fears; the late Billy Graham; his granddaughter Shawnna, and their family and friends who keep the Irreverent One’s legacy alive. May angels always guide you forever.
JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer who was heavily influenced by television, film, old-time radio shows, and books—especially comic books—growing up in Ohio. He’s co-authored Roy Thomas Presents Captain Video with Roy Thomas. He also wrote the introductions for Pre-Code Classics: Weird Mysteries vols. 1 and 2 and Roy Thomas Presents Sheena – Queen of the Jungle vol. 3 (PS Artbooks), self-published his Trilogy of Tales e-book (Smashwords. com), and reviews various media for Superman Homepage. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.
Hungry Like the Wolf Original Billy Graham art to a plate from the Conan: The Thing in the Crypt Portfolio, published in 1985 by Sal Quartuccio. Acrylic on illustration board. Conan the Barbarian TM & © Conan Properties, LLC.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21
All characters TM & © their respective owners.
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by R o b e r t
Menzies
In the 21st Century, British fans experience the Marvel Universe like everyone else. We have dedicated comic shops, mail order, and digital subscriptions so that no one with money to their name will miss out on any American titles. That was not, however, the case in the 1970s. Back then, British fans were mainly exposed to Marvel through the reprint weeklies that the House of Ideas launched in late 1972, starting with The Mighty World of Marvel (MWOM). And that could mean a quite different reading experience of muddled continuity and sometimes even doctored stories. One of the most intriguing examples of the latter is the epic “Panther’s Rage” by Don McGregor, Rich Buckler, Billy Graham, Klaus Janson, and others. “Panther’s Rage” was the classic Black Panther story arc that ran in the bimonthly Jungle Action (JA) #6–18 (Sept. 1973–Nov. 1975). This lengthy storyline had not long reached its conclusion when its serialization began as a backup feature in Britain’s Planet of the Apes (POTA) weekly #58–83 (Nov. 29, 1975–May 22, 1976). In my opinion, it was the greatest series to appear in that title’s 123-issue lifespan, beating out worthy contenders like Thomas and Kane’s Warlock and Starlin’s Captain Marvel. For reasons that will become clear, few series in the British weeklies differed so much from the original in their presentation as did “Panther’s Rage.” While some of those differences are positive, most, however, are assuredly not. The central problem is, of course, the censorship.
THE POSITIVES
Black Panther in Black and White While UnKnown Marvel’s Robert Menzies rightly contends that Marvel UK’s reprinting of “Panther’s Rage” minus its color was unfortunate, this original art to a Billy Graham-drawn T’Challa pinup from the mid-1970s shows a sleek example of the illustrator’s linework. Courtesy of Jason Schachter. Black Panther TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Firstly, let me deal with the pluses for the British fans. British continuity operated at a faster speed than was found in the US editions. The original “Panther’s Rage” story took 26 months to run its course: in Britain, it was only six. For fans over here brought up on a traditional diet of weekly comics, a month’s wait between issues was alien and ridiculously long. Jungle Action wasn’t even that frequent: It ran on a bimonthly status—and a delay meant that there were four months between #8 and 9! Don McGregor himself has spoken about how he had to ensure that his rotating cast be featured regularly, so that he wasn’t expecting readers to maintain an emotional connection after a gap in appearances of four or six months. So, the British comics definitely had a massive advantage in that respect. The other positive, I would argue, is the extra art, even if it didn’t quite match the stellar heights of the original. The UK weeklies saw nine new splash pages. As each issue was bisected, a new splash was needed every fortnight. On occasion, the editor would repurpose the JA covers, but they switched to using entirely new splashes every fortnight for the final eight weeks. Thanks to researcher Jason Schacter, we now know that most of this art was created by regular British Department contributor David Wenzel, with the final one created by Mike Nasser/Netzer. These pluses notwithstanding, the British version was undeniably less satisfying, as we will see.
AND NOW, THE NEGATIVES
Few Covers As was normal, we missed a lot of covers. Under normal circumstances this is not ideal, and considering that we are talking classic covers by Gil Kane and Rich Buckler—the figure on #8 is an iconic Panther image— it’s an even greater loss. Although some were repurposed
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as splashes, fans only saw three covers out of 13. And one of those was altered. For the record, the cover to Jungle Action #6 resurfaced in POTA #59; the cover to JA #9 was inside POTA #65; and, JA #12 had its cover in POTA #71. Oddly, the latter had the original Buckler/Janson Killmonger figure replaced by one by John Romita, Sr., although it is not at all clear why. We also saw some of the extra features: the maps from JA #6 and 12 appeared in POTA #58 and 71, respectively. No Color The series suffered badly from the absence of color. “Absence” is being used pointedly here, as it is crucial to the feel of the original comics. The African landscapes, its fashions, sunsets, flora, and fauna, all combined to make Wakanda come alive in the original format. It’s a challenge to think of a better colorist at the time than Glynis Wein, and equally difficult to name any other series that is impaired so much by having no color. “Panther’s Rage” without color is a gray flower. There are many, many general and specific examples of how this lessens this masterpiece, but let me give just one. The use of color is necessary to see the moon in JA #8’s splash, and it’s entirely absent from the British comic, completely robbing the scene of its sense of time. McGregor discussed the effects he was aiming for with his colorists and had clear instructions about a limited range of blues for the Panther’s costume,
Fandom, Face Front! Don McGregor signing for UK convention fans in 1978. Photo courtesy of Robert Menzies and Don and Marsha McGregor.
REPRINTING THE PANTHER: “Panther’s Rage” in the UK • Jungle Action (JA) #6 (Sept. 1973) was reprinted in Planet of the Apes (POTA) #58–59 (Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 1975) • JA #7 (Nov. 1973): POTA #60-61 (Dec. 13 and 20, 1975) • JA #8 (Jan. 1974): POTA #62–63 (Dec. 27, 1975 and Jan. 3, 1976) • JA #9 (May 1974): POTA #64–65 (Jan. 10 and 17, 1976) • JA #10 (July 1974): POTA #66–67 (Jan. 24 and 31, 1976) • JA #11 (Sept. 1974): POTA #68–69 (Feb. 7 and 14, 1976) • JA #12 (Nov. 1974): POTA #70–71 (Feb. 21 and 28, 1976) • JA #13 (Jan. 1975): POTA #72–73 (Mar. 6 and 13, 1976) • JA #14 (Mar. 1975): POTA #74–75 (Mar. 20 and 27, 1976) • JA #15 (May 1975): POTA #76–77 (Apr. 3 and 10, 1976) • JA #16 (July 1975): POTA #78–79 (Apr. 17 and 24, 1976) • JA #17 (Sept. 1975): POTA #80–81 (May 1 and 8, 1976), • JA #18 (Nov. 1975): POTA #82–83 (May 15 and 22, 1976)
a Frank Frazetta Moon, etc. He comments on the importance of color in some detail in the introduction to Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther vol.1 (2010): “I had definite ideas about the color. … [T]he ambience of Wakanda should always show. It was distinct, magical reality.” Censorship The other major weakness in this format is the changes, including outright omissions. It is well known among British fans that our comics were subject to minor alterations, like the Anglicizing of US spelling. (Incredibly, the first person to “correct” the spelling was Dave “Watchmen” Gibbons!) [Editor’s note: Respectfully, with Mr. Menzies’ “UnKnown Marvel” articles, ye ed reverts his spellings to US-friendly usages.] Occasionally, they even toned down language. For instance, when Iron Fist #2 (Dec. 1975) was reprinted in The Avengers weekly #131 (Mar. 20, 1976), Chris Claremont’s original dialogue was watered down from “Blast you, Rafael Scarfe… Blast you to Hell” to “Don’t you think?” The art was also altered. Due to delayed continuity, the residents of the White House would sometimes have to be updated. References to the Cold War and the “Red Menace” were removed. In some cases a form of mild censorship was in operation, justified by the belief that fans of the reprint weeklies were generally younger than those reading the US editions. That may be true to a point, but there’s always been a major flaw with that thinking: As the letters pages made clear time and again, the original comics were not always available to everyone and so the weeklies were the only option for many fans, of which I was one. In other words, there was no choice being made in many cases, and any conclusion about a reader’s age is unreliable. Most British fans, when they reflect on this censorship now, think of the endless parade of underdressed women Conan encountered, and how their clothing was sometimes less revealing in the pages of his British adventures. In The Avengers #108 (Oct. 11, 1975), Colin O’Connor, Humberside, complained about a “cover-up of Queen Fatima’s clothing, which was very un-called for.” The reply is worth reproducing in full: Well, yes, we add a little clothing to [some] of the female characters in the Conan strip, and we’ve had some letter[s] of protest about it. But there’s no denying the fact that on this side of the Atlantic there’s a larger proportion of younger Marvel readers that there is in the States. We felt we were doing the right thing, and we’ll do it again if we think we should. Doubtless there are some people who, as a result, will hurl at us some terms such as “narrow-minded,” “censorious,” etc. But we’d describe our actions as a sense of responsibility to ALL our readers. And would anyone want to criticise us for that? The very first art sold to Marvel by New Yorker Jeff Aclin, one of the most prolific and popular artists in the British Department, was a Conan piece with a bikini-clad damsel in distress. By the time this appeared in print, she was wearing a shapeless dress (The Avengers #126, Feb. 14, 1976). We will, however, look here at the Black Panther tale, which is a more complex example of censorship and one that is uncommented on in fan forums. The Jungle Action run, as anyone familiar with it will tell you, has many depictions of graphic violence. This is not a typical superhero world of people being punched into the air and landing unconscious but
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undamaged. Violence is visceral, agonizing, cruel, and consequential. It is never sanitized and McGregor, Bucker, and Graham force you to look at it even when you’d rather turn away. As McGregor wrote, again in the Masterworks intro, “I wanted the hurt and loss of human life caught.” With hindsight, it seems amazing that the overly sensitive Comics Code Authority okayed these issues. The comic was essentially a “mature” title long before that label was used, and even a superficial recollection of some story elements makes it clear this was never intended to be kiddie fare: blood spilling down a corpse, dying children, domestic abuse, tree-hanging bodies being eaten by hyenas. It’s also no exaggeration to describe some scenes,
even entire issues, as T’Challa being tortured. None of this is edited in any way by the British comics. In fact, they actually added to the carnage, with two characters lying in pools of blood in the UK-only splash in POTA #79. None of this, apparently, qualified as needing censorship. The offensive material was, in fact, connected to female sexuality. The art changes and excisions all relate to the characters Monica Lynne, T’Challa’s love interest, and the villainess Malice. Malice’s first appearance, in a signal of things to come, is a shadowy figure in a preview box. This has been altered in POTA #61, from the original in JA #7, so that Malice, her sexuality neutralized, is now completely in silhouette, with a skirt added and her breasts downsized.
Splashdown British reprints of American Marvel stories included newly produced splash pages by artists different than the reprinted (and credited) stories’ artists. According to researcher Jason Schachter, these “Panther’s Rage” splashes from Planet of the Apes are by David Wenzel, except for #83’s, which is by Michael Nasser (#81’s is possibly by Pat Gabrielle). (top) POTA #63, 67, 69; (middle) #73, 75, 77; and (bottom) #79, 81, and 83. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Malice in Censorland Marvel UK masked Malice’s sexuality in (top) the teaser box for her first appearance, and (bottom) POTA #62’s reprinting of Jungle Action #8. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
In another example, Malice’s torn clothing reaches high on the hip in JA #8, yet the same panel reappears in POTA #62 with it now mid-thigh. The profile of her right breast has also been noticeably reduced. (Notice in panel one of that sequence that the man is near naked, and we can also see one of his nipples, something that was usually missing from drawings of the period.) Monica is affected even more. Her hemline in panel one of page 16 of JA #8 is lowered in the British version in POTA #62, while her cleavage, visible in a plunging neckline in JA #14, is removed in POTA #75. The censoring of Monica is most blatant in POTA #78. The sling bikini, or suspender bikini, Monica is wearing in JA #16 has been replaced with a bathing suit that covers her entire torso. To be fair, this storyline predates the advent of this style of one-piece suit in Europe in the 1990s, so it must have seemed quite daring at the time. However, even then they manage to botch this. In smaller panels or where Monica is distant, the sling bikini is unchanged, for instance on the opening splash page. Anyone paying attention would be slightly confused by the fact her costume kept morphing! Incredibly, two entire pages are missing from POTA #78. They are devoted to T’Challa and Monica sharing some much-delayed privacy. There is nothing racy in the pages, just some kissing, although both characters are shown in profile, almost as if naked, and that has already proved to be an area where art changes had been made in the past. The problem here, it seems, is bigger than mere partial or implied nudity: it is the idea that the scene is leading to sex. There was, surprisingly, a single comment in a letters page about the censorship. A Peter Farman, from Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, had this to say in POTA #89 (June 30, 1976). (Note that the editorial insertions are mine and not the original editor’s.) The Black Panther story in this issue was reprinted from No. 15 of the mag of the same name. [Actually, it was JA #16.] What I am angry about is the fact that it was not printed in its entirety. Monica Lynne’s costume has been re-drawn from sparse covering to an unrealistic-looking [19]30’s style costume. This is supposedly to protect the minds of the innocent little British readers, who, we are to assume, are too immature to look at the penciled bodies of bikinicovered female figures. And this is not all. Pages 4 and 5 [he means pages 6 and 7] of the story have been totally edited [excised is a more accurate description]. They show T’Challa and Monica kissing next to a lake. I think this type of editing is totally unnecessary and I hope you print my letter in order to explain your reasons for doing it. While Peter’s letter only locates one issue’s censorship, it was enough that—happily—we have a response and an explanation: Pete—we’ve already gone into the why’s and wherefores of the occasional changes we make to the original art. Okay—we’ll say it again. We make these changes because there is a larger proportion of younger readers in Britain than there is Stateside [sic]. Editorial responsibilities are manifold, Pete. After being with us all these long years, can’t you just see this particular problem our way? There seems to be a slight tinge of exasperation in the final sentence of the response. However, while in these cases overt sexuality was obviously a no-no, with clothing lengthened and rendered more modest,
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it is true that content seemed less prone to censorship after “Panther’s Rage.” The cover to POTA #82, with its bikini-wearing woman displaying her generous cleavage, isn’t altered. In the Ka-Zar story in POTA #101–103 (Sept. 22 and 29, Oct. 6, 1976), you again have a bikini-wearing character called Sheesha who emerges uncensored, despite her exaggerated assets. Perhaps this is just sloppiness or inconsistency on the part of the British comics, but, listing all the examples together, and there are others, it seems as if a subtle shift has taken place with the change of editors and the UK comics are more in line with the original editions. All things considered, it’s a muddled picture of what is and isn’t acceptable. This is, to be clear, not a criticism of their position that nudity or scenes of a sexual nature are unsuitable for children, as that is a position easily defended. It is rather the fact that they thought only one area to be of concern and left in all the other adult material, much of which I personally feel is more troubling for a young audience.
THEN IS NOT NOW
Perhaps what we have to remember is that this was another time with different—and less enlightened— sensibilities. The most glaring example of how perceptions have changed comes from a series of Frosties cereal ads starring Tony the Tiger that ran on the back pages of the British weeklies throughout 1976. Generally, the ads produced by Kellogg’s were good fun, slick, professional, non-controversial. However, one jaw-dropping example is called “Tony and the Witch Doctor” and depicts indigenous Africans as balloon-lipped cannibals with bones through their noses. (It’s on the back of POTA #89, 102, and 110, June 30, Sept. 29 and Nov. 24, 1976, as well as other reprint titles those weeks.) Considering McGregor, Buckler, and Graham were explicitly aiming for a diverse, intelligent, and modern representation of
black identity, having that advert appear almost contemporaneously is a distasteful irony. Of course, it should be pointed out that while the ad is quite appalling to modern eyes, Kellogg’s was not noticeably out of step with British popular culture back then. TV of that era was guilty of shocking insensitivity to women, ethnic, and religious minorities, other nationalities, anyone suffering from a mental or physical disability, and the gay community. Comedy programs in particular were serial offenders. Thankfully, however, this would not be tolerated today. Also, anyone reading Panther’s Quest (1991), the third part in a trilogy that began with “Panther’s Rage,” would be amazed at how times have changed. McGregor himself has stated he’s amazed that they were allowed to release a very coyly framed scene of Monica washing naked in a river, and less than two decades later his story can show her exposed breasts while in bed with T’Challa. I hope that most of the British fans who read “Panther’s Rage” in Planet of the Apes in the mid-1970s eventually managed to read the story in its original format. If they didn’t, and they see this article, I sincerely hope they take my advice and seek it out. It’s a wonderful read and an exemplary example of the lofty heights a comic book can scale. In color and uncensored, it is all but perfect storytelling. As British editor Neil Tennant wrote, with unknowing understatement, in Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives #94 (Aug. 4, 1976): “[T]his we know for a certainty—Panther’s Rage has been one of the successes of the year!” This article is dedicated to the memory of Billy Graham. Thanks to Don and Marsha McGregor, Jason Schachter, and Shawnna Graham. Thanks also to Jeff Aclin, Gerry Turnbull, Andrew Standish, Apes expert John Roche, and Rob Kirby. In the 1970s, the only US-edition comic books that ROBERT MENZIES could find with any regularity were Marvel Team-Up and Jungle Action. At age eight, totally engrossed, he studied “Panther’s Rage” with a dictionary, and to this day it remains one of his top five comic runs of all time.
Less of Ms. Lynne (top left) Similarly, Monica Lynne’s femininity, so vitally rendered by Billy Graham, was softened in this sequence from JA #14, reprinted in (bottom left) POTA #75. (above) This two-page spread of T’Challa and Monica from Jungle Action #16 (July 1975) was deemed too provocative and omitted from the story’s reprinting in Planet of the Apes #78. Script by Don McGregor, art by Billy Graham, colors by Glynis Wein. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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The Black Panther made his first appearance in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), with the distinction of becoming the first African hero in Marvel Comics. Two months later, William (Bill) Barrett Foster would debut in the pages of The Avengers, significant because of the rarity of African-American supporting characters in comics at that time. From scientist to superhero, Bill Foster went through the growing pains of becoming Black Goliath, a.k.a. Giant-Man, a.k.a. Goliath, hero at large. As the name suggests, Foster, in his many guises, could increase his size up to 25 feet, resulting in superhuman strength and the psychological advantage of towering over his opponents. Diversity had come to Marvel Comics, and Bill Foster helped lead the way.
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Henry “Hank” Pym started his career as a biochemist, one that studied the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in living organisms. Pym, a.k.a. the original Ant-Man, along with his partner-in-peril, Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, were founding members of the Avengers. Pym’s work as a scientist and his size-changing ability led him to become the original Giant-Man, and then Goliath. Complications arose when Hank became stuck at giant size. He needed help in the form of a lab assistant and went to Tony (Iron Man) Stark, who had money, knowledge, and resources. Tony knew just the right biochemist at Stark Industries in the plans and research division. Enter: Bill Foster! Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966), by Stan Lee and Don Heck, featured the first appearance of Bill Foster. It also featured the first appearance of the Sons of the Serpent, a racist hate group that believed, “As the original serpent drove Adam and Eve from Eden—so shall we drive all foreigners from this land!” In his introduction to these Avengers stories in Marvel Masterworks vol. 38 (2004), Avengers scribe Roy Thomas related, “Hard as it may be to imagine now, in 1966 it was rare to see matters of race and heritage handled in the pages of a ‘mere’ comic book, even obliquely. I say ‘obliquely’ because you’ll note that the Supreme Serpent keeps talking about driving ‘all foreigners’ from the U.S.— but everybody knew that, by ‘foreigners,’ he also meant people who had been born in America but with the ‘wrong’ skin color. To push the point home, Stan and Don gave Hank Pym a new assistant—Bill Foster, one of the first African-Americans to be given a meaty and non-stereotypical supporting role in a U.S. comic.” In “The Sign of the Serpent,” an attack on Bill by the hate group pulls the Avengers into the case. Foster demonstrated good-guy qualities in Avengers #33 and 34 and encountered his first real supervillain in the form of the Living Laser. Avengers #35 handed off the writing baton from Stan Lee to Roy Thomas, Roy’s first issue as scripter. Thomas cemented the partnership between Pym and Foster with the following dialogue: Pym: “We’ve still got a million experiments to perform… as a team!”
Walking Tall Cover to the Bronze Age classic, Black Goliath #1 (Feb. 1976). Cover art by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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by D a n
Ta n d a r i c h
Growth Spurts (top) Prior to Bill Foster’s big moment, (left) Hank Pym/Giant-Man (from Avengers #28, May 1966, cover below) and (right) Clint Barton/Hawkeye (from Avengers #63, Apr. 1969) become Goliath I and II, respectively. Scans courtesy of Dan Tandarich. (bottom) Stan Lee and Don Heck introduce scientist Bill Foster in The Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Foster responded: “That’s fine by me, big boy… as long as I don’t have to call you by a corny name like Ant-Man!” Thomas explains to BACK ISSUE his use of Bill Foster: “I simply felt that we needed more African-American characters, and since Stan had already introduced him, I simply wanted to solidify that.” Foster continued to assist Hank in the pages of the Avengers while encountering the likes of Diablo and Dragon Man (#41) and the Radioactive Man (#54). He then traveled for field study with Hank and Jan to the wilds of Alaska (#75). His partnership with Hank Pym was firmly established when he next appeared in Marvel Feature #9 (May 1973), standing up for the rights and interests of the “deceased” Hank and Jan while not giving up the idea that they could still be alive (they were!).
BLACK GOLIATH STEPS IN
Foster made no appearances for two years until he came back larger than life in Luke Cage, Power Man #24 (Apr. 1975), by Tony Isabella and George Tuska. As the cover blurb suggested, “Among Us Walks… Black Goliath!” Isabella filled in Bill’s missing years by having Foster married to Claire Temple, making them one of the first AfricanAmerican couples at Marvel, though they would be divorced by the time any reader knew of the marriage. BACK ISSUE corresponded with Tony Isabella about the creation of Bill Foster as a superhero. “I always tried to find ways to utilize characters who had not appeared recently or who hadn’t made the major impact I thought they deserved,” Isabella says. “When I needed a physically powerful foe for the Luke Cage story in which he reunited with Claire Temple and also a good reason for her to have left in the first place, Bill Foster, being both Claire’s ex-husband and a new Giant-Man, came to mind.” Isabella also related this idea of using lesser-known characters to greater effect in the Ant-Man/Giant-Man Marvel Masterworks vol. 3 (2018): “I have always hated to see good characters go by the wayside. It’s why I took Greer Nelson from her four-issue Claws of the Cat title and turned her into Tigra.” In Luke Cage, Power Man #24, Isabella revealed that Bill Foster continued to experiment with Hank Pym’s size-changing formula. Foster eliminated the harmful side effects of changing sizes, but he stayed trapped at 15 feet. Claire Temple explained to Luke Cage, “Bill’s sure he can bring his size-changing under control, but that’ll take money. He was too proud to go to either Henry Pym or to Stark for help. He joined this circus [unbeknownst to him, the Circus of Crime!] to get some fast money.” The rivalry between the new Black Goliath and Power Man for Claire’s affection continued in Luke Cage, Power Man #25 (June 1975), with a plot by Isabella but with the script by Bill Mantlo and art by Ron Wilson. The Circus of Crime were the antagonists galvanizing
the rivals into teamwork. But Claire walked out with Cage by the end of the issue. Of note on the letters page of Luke Cage #24: “The costume design for the new Goliath was the work of a promising young Canadian artist named John Byrne… an artist to watch.” The costume design came complete with an exposed abdomen, a belly window to show off Foster’s impressive six-pack. Regarding Foster’s superhero name, Isabella explains, “I can’t remember who told me I couldn’t use the ‘Giant-Man’ name for the newly enlarged Bill Foster. Apparently, Giant-Man had sold badly when he was headlining Tales to Astonish. That might be why Stan changed Hank Pym’s superhero nom de guerre to Goliath in those old issues of Avengers. Inspired by the black action films [Blaxploitation] I was seeing with Marvel artists like Ron Wilson and Arvell Jones in Times Square, I went with ‘Black Goliath.’ It would be years before Marvel writers would be allowed to use the ‘Giant-Man’ name as Bill’s superhero moniker.”
TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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hallway by production manager John Verpoorten, who informed me I was already late on all three series.” When BACK ISSUE asked how he convinced the editors to star the relatively unknown Black Goliath in his own title, Isabella said, “I didn’t pitch Black Goliath to Len and Marv. They pitched it to me. Upper management wanted more books and they had NOT ONE TO SHRINK FROM DUTY to come up with them.” In his first issue, the hero announces, “The name is Black Back to Black Goliath #1, credited as “conceived and Goliath, group. And, yes, I know that both halves of written by Tony Isabella, featuring the action artistry of that handle belabor the obvious.” Black Goliath #1 (Feb. 1976) debuted with the George Tuska, penciler, and Vince Colletta, inker.” Hank titular character announcing, “The party’s over, Pym welcomes Bill Foster to the world of superheroes, but Bill isn’t sure if that’s what he wants yet. In true punks! There’s a new super-hero in town!” That town would be Los Angeles, significant because Marvel-hero-with-feet-of-clay fashion, Foster, plagued not many Marvel characters at that time were in a by self-doubt, wonders, “And who can stop them location other than New York City. better than the third-string Goliath?” Foster also reveals Isabella chose Los Angeles for a “selfish reason. that, “The whole Goliath shtick was just a series of I wanted to base the titles I was writing far away dirty little lies I used to try and trick Claire into coming from the New York setting of most Marvel titles. back to me. I was never trapped at giant size. And I didn’t want to have to deal with crossovers, guest I’ve never been so short on cash that I’d be forced to chris claremont appearances, and other tie-ins to other titles.” join a circus. So before I put on that costume again, I’ve got to ask myself this: How can anything good BACK ISSUE asked, How did the new Black Goliath graduate from a guest-star to main star so quickly? Marvel needed come out of something that began as a lousy fraud?” Was self-doubt always part of the Foster character study? Isabella to ramp up its production schedule, and this meant creating and selling more titles, according to Tony Isabella. doesn’t remember exactly when he came up with the un-heroic element. In his introduction to the Ant-Man/Giant-Man Marvel Masterworks, “Certainly I was thinking of Stan Lee’s statement that no one is entirely Isabella explained, “The Marvel powers-that-be had ordered Marvel good or entirely evil,” he tells BACK ISSUE. “I didn’t want ‘stuck as a giant’ editors Len Wein and Marv Wolfman to add a bunch of new titles to be part of an ongoing series, because it would have complicated his to our already impressive line-up. I remember sitting down with human relationships. At one time, I thought he and Tigra might become them and, within an hour or two, walking out with new series romantically involved. It’d have been fun to write their flirty dialogue.” Black Goliath, The Champions, and Tigra [the Were-Woman, in the And what ongoing series would be complete without a supporting pages of Marvel Chillers]. I also remember being stopped in the cast? Enter: the Whiz Kids—Herbert Bell, Talia Kruma, and Dale West! This trio of ingenious scientists was Isabella’s way of acknowledging his affection for the Doc Savage pulps as well as providing Foster with his own team of assistants. Towards the end of the first issue, Foster finds his self-confidence and goes into action. The Atom-Smasher, a name that will haunt Bill Foster for years to come, raids laboratories all over L.A. During Black Goliath’s first hero/villain slugfest, Atom-Smasher lets loose with a radioactive blast, giving Foster radiation poisoning—in effect, cancer… not the most auspicious beginning for a first issue, an almost doomedbefore-he-gets-started scenario.
Roy Thomas adds, “Stan [Lee] had come to feel Goliath was a better name, and I agreed with him. Never liked the name Giant-Man.” Isabella laments, “All I know is that, whoever it was, they crushed my dream to someday write a Giant-Size Giant-Man special.”
SHORT-LIVED SERIES
For Black Goliath #2 (Apr. 1976), Chris Claremont picked up the writing baton with art by Tuska and Colletta. “White Fire, Atomic Death!” has Foster waylaid by the pure energy of Atom-Smasher. Claremont also started subplots including a mysterious top-secret box from Stark International and an unknown assassin. Claremont began the third issue (June 1976) with the assassin—X-Men adversary Warhawk—targeting Atom-Smasher and grazing the skull of Black Goliath. The hero’s exposure to the villain’s deadly radiation makes him feel immediately sick. Black Goliath #4 (Aug. 1976) continued with Claremont at the helm with the new art team of Rich Buckler and Don Heck. This round… Black Goliath versus Stilt-Man! The story gets a science-fiction twist when Stilt-Man unleashes his Z-ray on Black Goliath, which sends him— along with two supporting players, Celia Jackson and her nephew, Keith— into a different dimension. Meanwhile, the mystery box starts to glow.
Deck-Claire-ation Our heroes mix it up over Claire Temple on the cover to Power Man #24 (Apr. 1975), introducing Bill Foster as Black Goliath. Original cover art by Gil Kane, with inks by either Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito or Dan Adkins (the jury’s out on that credit, folks). Courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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On the “Greetings to Goliath” letters page, editor Marv Wolfman defended the book from some negative criticism: “As with any new book, though, it takes time to settle in, to find a voice and point-of-view uniquely its own. Some books can do that from the first issue—Spider-Man and Conan, for example—others have to struggle a bit to get there.” The fifth and final issue of Black Goliath (Nov. 1976), by Claremont and new artist Keith Pollard, continues the science-fiction direction. The characters find themselves on the distant world of Kirgar. With the sacrifice of a newfound alien companion Derath, Black Goliath and company make it home. A one-page interlude with the mystery box opens it to deadly effect. And with that, the Black Goliath title saw its last issue on the newsstands. The letters page cited poor sales for the demise of the book. Marvel’s fanzine FOOM #13 (Mar. 1976) solicited Black Goliath #4 as “…the beginning of a three-parter,” although Black Goliath #6 never surfaced. Chris Claremont shares his memories of writing the title with BACK ISSUE. “Sadly, the basic memory is Tony [Isabella] asking if I’d like to take over the book and me, needing all the writing work I could get, saying ‘Yes.’ And then wondering, as with Man-Thing, ‘How the heck do I pull this off?’ Basically, since the series had only just started, the first requirement was to try as hard as possible to give it an identity all its own, a supporting cast and adversaries who were unique to Black Goliath’s personal reality, which was not simply being black but also black intelligentsia, apparently also upper middle class. I also wanted to get him into the creative heart of the Marvel Universe, to try to give him some inherent credibility. And at the same time, try to do something different— which I guess was where the last issues fits in, a first-contact story where the extraterrestrial isn’t a comfortable visual yet and he and Bill Foster and especially Celia’s nephew become friends, enough so that the human boy gives the eulogy for their slain friend. Small steps, yes, but the hope was they’d lead to something larger and more enticing. That’s the thing about new series: hope springs eternal.”
TOWERING TEAMMATE
In two comics cover-dated February 1977, Black Goliath received double exposure in Marvel Two-in-One #24 and The Champions #11. In the former, he first befriends the Thing, and in the latter, he encounters L.A.’s premiere superhero group, the Champions. First, a little background. On the letters page of The Champions #6 (June 1976), Isabella reportedly wrote, “When I’d first conceived the
Mighty Marvel Mash-Ups Black Goliath steps into (top left) Champions #11 (Feb. 1977, cover by Kane and Layton), (top right) Defenders #63 (Sept. 1978, cover by Sinnott), (bottom left) Marvel Two-in-One #55 (Sept. 1979, cover by Byrne and Sinnott), and (bottom right) Spectacular Spider-Man #41 (Apr. 1980, cover by Milgrom and Rubinstein). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Champions, I’d tentatively put a three-man team together: the Angel, Black Goliath, and the Iceman. When the decision was made to give Black Goliath his own book, the line-up was changed to drop him and include the Black Widow and an all-time favorite, Hercules.” But, Isabella explains, only Angel and Iceman made up his original Champions. “I have no memory of writing the above. I was already on my way out from Marvel by this time and I’ve come across a few other instances of my words being rewritten by others to include what I will kindly refer to as ‘erroneous information’ or of some unknown person writing comments attributed to me. In any case… when the Champions changed into a more traditional but still kind of odd team, Black Goliath was definitely someone I considered for future membership. The same with Tigra.” Bill Foster did eventually join up with the Champions, although in a limited capacity. The credits of The Champions #11 heralded, “Script by Bill Mantlo, inks by Bob Layton, and introducing the pulse-pounding pencils of John Byrne— artist.” With an out of control Champs-craft careening through the sky above L.A., Foster adds his might and size to stopping the aircraft he designed through Stark Industries. He stays on to help them fix their air vehicle. By story’s end, Foster’s old foe, Stilt-Man, comes crashing into the Champions’ headquarters looking for that mysterious box that kept showing up in Black Goliath’s solo title. Now it’s finally revealed that the box belongs to the inscrutable cosmic character, the Stranger! The Champions #12 (Mar. 1977) opens with a splash page of a rematch between Black Goliath and the Stilt-Man! The Stranger arrives at the Champions HQ to reveal, “You possess a device of my creation—a bomb capable of destroying this entire star-system!” The Null-Life Bomb!
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Strange Sports Stories Unpublished page originally intended for the Treasury Edition Marvel Super Heroes at the Summer Olympics, produced in 1979 during Bill Foster’s time at Project Pegasus. Since the US did not participate in the 1980 Olympics, this project was shelved and reimagined in 1982 as the limited series Contest of Champions. However, by the time this was published Giant-Man was replaced by Jack of Hearts since Foster had since lost his growing powers. Courtesy of Dan Tandarich. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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The Champions #13 (May 1977) features Black Goliath encountering the Stranger inside the bomb while he realizes all of this started with the box stolen from his lab. But, not to worry, the Champions along with Black Goliath stop it from destroying the planet! Although Black Goliath doesn’t make any more physical appearances in the Champions title, he continues to be referred to as either their technical advisor as well as a part-time Champion. On the letters page of The Champions #15 (Sept. 1977), it states, “Black Goliath and Darkstar are both guest-members only, not officially a part of the team. Goliath will be appearing again…” But, whatever storylines might have been planned for him, they were shelved with the cancellation of The Champions title with #17. Bill Foster’s next big adventure would play out in the pages of Marvel Two-in-One, and his friendship with the Fantastic Four’s rocky member, Ben Grimm, a.k.a. the Ever-Lovin,’ Blue-Eyed Thing, the star of Marvel’s second team-up title, would keep him in the spotlight. Foster and Grimm first met in the pages of Marvel Two-in-One #24 (Feb. 1977), in a story by Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter with art by Sal Buscema and Pablo Marcos. Through Tony Stark, the Thing helps out on an experiment at Stark Industries West headed by one Dr. Bill Foster with his trusty supporting cast, the Whiz Kids. When the Hijacker, one of Henry Pym’s old foes, attempts to derail said experiment and sell the technology to the highest bidder, the Thing and Black Goliath go into action, and a friendship begins… a comradeship that will mean a lot for Foster in the years to come. Marvel Two-in-One will be Foster’s “home” for some time and will give Bill many things as a character—a new name, a new costume, and a long-running subplot.
oughtta know what radiation does.” Foster’s recklessness here foreshadows a diagnosis to come. In #58, in a suggestion of sacrifice, he confides, “I’m dying of radiation poisoning! I contracted it months ago while fighting the Atom-Smasher.” As Foster leaps into the depths of the personified space-warp known as the Nth Man, the Thing yells, “Don’t yer blasted brains grow with the rest ’a ya?” Foster’s near-sacrifice allows the new hero Aquarian to follow him and use his null-field to stop the Nth Man from within. Crisis averted! Goodbyes fill the epilogue THE PROJECT PEGASUS SAGA with the Thing saying, “Hang in there, In the pages of MTIO, Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio were about to Foster. I know what’s it’s like to wait for unleash an epic storyline entitled “The a cure. Don’t worry, you’ll make it.” Project Pegasus Saga,” running from Ever since Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), issues #53–58 (July–Dec. 1979). They the Thing has lamented his rocky were joined by artists John Byrne and exterior for a chance at a normal life. Joe Sinnott, and George Pérez and Gene Ralph Macchio elaborates on the Day. For this six-part super-saga, Bill inclusion of Bill Foster into the Project Foster, along with guest-stars Quasar, Pegasus storyline to BACK ISSUE: Thundra, Wundarr (Aquarian), and “We [Macchio and Gruenwald] liked the character. We liked the idea of Deathlok, would join the Thing for a ralph macchio roller-coaster ride of a story. an intelligent scientist-type and also Project Pegasus, a research facility © Marvel. one who had the superpowers, of the US Department of Energy, focuses on studying and getting the costume redesigned, we liked the blue existing sources of energy including superhuman. and white and all, and he just seemed to fit into the Wundarr, who later turns into the power-negating whole Project [Pegasus] thing that we were doing. Aquarian, finds himself there in a comatose state that Byrne liked him, too. We liked the idea of Giant-Man, leads to his friend, the Thing, to arrive to check on him. and I don’t believe we could have played with Hank Quasar patrols the hallways as Project Security Chief. Pym at that point because somebody else probably Project scientist Bill Foster makes his appearance in #54, had dibs on him either as Yellowjacket or had other where he reconnects with the Thing while transporting plans for him. Bill Foster was the kind of guy we could his old foe, the deceased Atom-Smasher, for study. keep without somebody laying claim to him and wanting Marvel Two-in-One #55 (Sept. 1979) marks a new to take him out of the book.” beginning for Bill Foster. In order to save both himself and the Thing, he utilizes his size-changing power and LIVING LARGE debuts his new costume. Foster reveals he had hope that Now, for a bit of a Marvel mystery: On the letters page the new outfit would help to change his image as, “I haven’t of Marvel Two-in-One #63 (May 1980), in response to exactly set the world on fire as a superhero.” The Thing positive praise for the new Giant-Man, the editorial team suggests, “…But as long as ya got yerself some new responded: “We didn’t give Bill Foster a new name and duds, why not complete the overhaul with a new name? a new set of duds just to toss him away. Giant-Man… I mean, it’s pretty obvious that you’re black—and if I played a major role during the last half of the Pegasus remember my Sunday school lessons, Goliath was a bad saga. There’s a good possibility of an appearance in guy. Why don’t ya just call yerself Giant-Man?” And with another upcoming issue of MTIO, and Ed Hannigan and that, the new and improved Giant-Man takes on the Bob Budiansky have already gotten together for a out-of-control Nuklo. The Thing cautions him to add some Giant-Man solo story for a future issue of Marvel Spotlight.” lead shielding to his fists while thinking, “A scientist Neither Hannigan or Budiansky recall this story. However,
Sizing Up Strength comparisons from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 (1981). Script and layouts by Mark Gruenwald, finished art by Bob Layton. Scan courtesy of Dan Tandarich. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Little-Seen Big Man (left) This rarity, penciled by Frank Miller and inked by Joe Rubinstein, was the back cover to Daredevil: Marvel Comics Index Part 9B. Scan courtesy of Dan Tandarich. (right) Things don’t look good for our hero on the cover to Marvel Two-in-One #85. Cover art by Ron Wilson and Chic Stone. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
an inventory story started with pencils by Budiansky with a plot by Jim Shooter did exist. Dwayne McDuffie later scripted the remaining pages and Don Hudson penciled the final pages. Titled “Not to Touch the Earth,” it featured a giant-size Bill Foster along with the supporting characters from his original title, Celia Jackson and Dale West, all while taking place at Stark Enterprises West. The story appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes Fall Special (1992). Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #41 (Apr. 1980) started out as a story slated for Marvel Team-Up as a co-adventure between Spidey and Giant-Man. Written by Tom DeFalco with art by Jim Mooney, Bill Foster, famed biochemist, had business at Empire State University as a representative of Stark International… however, the Meteor Man interrupted. Back to Marvel Two-in-One: Foster made cameos and guest-appearances while searching for a cure. Along the way, the concern the Thing feels for Giant-Man cements their friendship. Now it’s Foster’s turn to help the Thing in #82 (Dec. 1981), when Banshful Benjy Grimm gets mutated from radiation poisoning from Virus X! The Thing, Captain America, and Giant-Man attack Modok’s stronghold in order to find the antidote. Foster finds it and discovers that it could cure himself as well. But, in the end, he decides to help his friend. “…the world needs heroes like the Thing… not second-rate losers… like Giant-Man!” So the old self-doubt creeps in again.
Giant-Man did receive a redemption storyline, though not in the mainstream Marvel Universe. In the pages of the alternate-reality saga, What If? #37 (Feb. 1983), DeFalco told the tale of what would have happened if the Thing continued to mutate from the effects of Virus X and if Foster had used the serum on himself first. The Thing reverts to his old human self, Ben Grimm, who receives his happily-ever-after with plans to marry Alicia and leave the superhero trade. His replacement in the Fantastic Four? None other than Giant-Man, who exclaims, “This is my chance to make the grade! The Fantastic Four will mold me into a first-string superhero!” What If?’s omniscient narrator, the Watcher, explains, “On this world, Bill Foster achieves the fame… he never reached in your reality!” “The Final Fate of Giant-Man!” in Marvel Two-in-One #85 (Mar. 1982), by Tom DeFalco and Ron Wilson, shows a dying man ready to put his affairs in order back in L.A. Unbeknownst to the heroes, a new Atom-Smasher runs amok. Spider-Woman now enters and plays a pivotal role in Foster’s life. Her powers include the ability to gain immunity once exposed to toxins or radiation. She encounters the new Atom-Smasher first and gains that immunity during the battle. The key to saving Giant-Man now lies within Spider-Woman! Foster battles Atom-Smasher II, the brother of the original. The siblings created the process of turning humans into living nuclear energy together. But once his brother seemed too afraid to use his power to their fullest, the current Atom-Smasher hired an assassin to eliminate him. By story’s end, Foster lies near death— however, Spider-Woman sacrifices her immunity powers by giving him a blood transfusion with her unique antibodies. Foster overcomes the radiation poisoning, but, due to the damage already done, it seems unlikely his body could go through the stress of becoming Giant-Man again. Bill Foster now had a second chance at life, just not as a superhero. Or did he?
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I’m Still Standing Title page original art for the Giant-Man solo tale that ultimately saw print in Marvel Super-Heroes Fall Special (1992). As Dan Tandarich, who provided this scan, points out, close inspection shows the erased “Black Goliath” name visible behind the page’s top-lined title, and faint penciled lines of the hero’s original costume. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
BIG SHOTS
The letters page of Marvel Two-in-One #88 (June 1982) stated, “…Bill Foster did not join the ranks of the dearly departed, but his future as a superhero is somewhat up in the air at present. At this time, we honestly don’t know if he’ll ever don his Giant-Man costume again.” And #90 (Aug. 1982) continued, “You may have already witnessed the final fate of Giant-Man but, rest assured, you haven’t seen the last of Bill Foster.” Tom DeFalco shares his thoughts about Bill Foster with BACK ISSUE. “I always liked the character of Bill Foster. When I took over Marvel Two-in-One, Jim Shooter told me to make sure that my stories ‘mattered’ to the Marvel Universe, so I tried to resolve a number of dangling plot threads like Bill’s. I thought Bill worked well with Ben Grimm… I do think that my instructions were to set Bill up so that someone else could use him in a new series, but that new series never materialized.” As an editor at Marvel and a Bill Foster booster, Mark Gruenwald’s invisible guiding hand seemed to champion the character and make connections with him to the larger Marvel Universe. Foster appeared in Spider-Woman #47 (Dec. 1982), where he reconnects with the lady who saved his life and plays a role in the creation of new character Daddy Longlegs. Foster then returned to his original book, The Avengers, where he takes on the task of securing a location for the new West Coast Avengers Compound, assisting Hawkeye and Mockingbird, saying, “Avengers, welcome to L.A.” In Avengers #244 (June 1984), he continues to help with the construction of the Avengers’ second base using his Stark International connections. Foster stays quiet for a few years until West Coast Avengers Annual #3 (1988), by Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom, with a cover blurb, “Reintroducing Giant-Man!” Foster strengthens his body to the point where he can once again grow giant-sized. The Annual led into West Coast Avengers #39 (Dec. 1988), where Foster wants to reconnect with Hank Pym and says, “If my problem has been solved, maybe I can repay Hank for making me his lab assistant— by helping him cure his wife!” Foster received another revival in 1992 in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents (#113–119) in “The Third Life of Bill Foster” by Dwayne McDuffie and Ron Wilson. He goes up against former Pym foe Dr. Nemesis and the villainous Goliath. The part-time superhero goes back into the lab with Henry Pym in Marvel Double Feature: Avengers/Giant-Man #379–382 (Oct. 1994– Jan. 1995), by George Pérez and Jeffrey Moore. The four-part serial pulled together Hank Pym’s supporting cast including those that owed their superhero identities to him such as Foster and Scott Lang (Ant-Man II), as well as the winsome Wasp. In the end, Bill Foster grew for the last time in Marvel’s event book for 2006, Civil War, which had heroes picking sides either for registering their secret identities and receiving additional training with the US government or not. Foster, then going only by Goliath, stood strong on the side of anti-registration. He paid the ultimate price when a clone of Thor blew a hole straight through him. Foster became the turning point in the story, the “Before the killing of Bill Foster” and the “After the killing of Bill Foster” moments in time. He received his big character moment… unfortunately, he didn’t survive it.
Bill Foster, Black Goliath, had potential and a few shots at fame and glory in the Marvel Universe. Whether as a solo star or working alongside the likes of Henry Pym, Iron Man, or the Thing, Bill Foster proudly filled out his tall socks. Legendary storytellers and artists worked on the mythmaking of the brilliant biochemist who represented a minority in comics at a time when it was still considered groundbreaking. Mark Gruenwald named Foster as one of the “folks who seriously need to become Avengers” in Marvel Age #122 (Mar. 1993). And, lest we forget, Bill Foster went Hollywood in 2018. Isabella shares, “It was a thrill to meet Lawrence Fishburne, who played Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp, at the Hollywood premiere of that movie. I introduced myself as the comic-book writer who gave Bill his superpowers. Lawrence thanked me and we kidded that we would both like to see him have a ‘bigger’ role in the next Ant-Man and the Wasp movie.” Call him Black Goliath, Giant-Man, or simply Goliath, yet Bill Foster made giant strides across the Marvel landscape, showcasing intelligence, strength, and size. This article is dedicated to Stan Lee. Special thanks to Bob Budiansky, Chris Claremont, Tom DeFalco, Tony Isabella, Ralph Macchio, Jim Salicrup, and Roy Thomas. Appreciation goes out to Rebecca Busselle. DAN TANDARICH is an educator in New York City. Contact him at yellowjacket74@hotmail.com.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 35
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HERO-A-GO-GO!
Welcome to the CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, good guys beat bad guys with a pun and a punch, and Batman shook a mean cape. HERO-A-GO-GO celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. BACK ISSUE magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPERFRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), and many more! By BACK ISSUE & RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY!
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Schwirian
Mal Makes the Scene The first appearance of DC’s first black superhero, Mal (whose last name had yet to be revealed), in Teen Titans #26 (Mar.–Apr. 1970). Written by Bob Kanigher and drawn by Nick Cardy. TM & © DC Comics.
Mal Duncan holds the honor of being DC Comics’ first African-American superhero… well, not super, but DC’s first costumed black hero… Um, actually, it’s kind of complicated. While Marvel Comics introduced Black Panther in 1966 and the Falcon in 1969, DC only had Jackie Johnson, an African-American G.I. in Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company. Johnson debuted in 1961, making him DC’s first recurring black hero. However, this was a war comic, not a superhero feature. Molo, the African Sea Devil, made a one-shot appearance in 1965, and August Durant debuted in 1968 as a member of the Secret Six espionage team. Still, none of those characters were superheroes.
THE TITANS’ “BLACK STAR”
In 1970, Dick Giordano was the editor of Teen Titans, but he had not settled on a regular writer for the series. After experimenting with Marv Wolfman and Len Wein as scribes, he hired Robert Kanigher as part of a directive from publisher Carmine Infantino to “de-power” the Teen Titans and make them more relevant. Giordano felt that Kanigher was the best man for the job, as he had done the same thing with Wonder Woman the year before. Kanigher’s first issue (Teen Titans #25, Jan.–Feb. 1970) delivered everything asked of him. In the story, following their failure to prevent an assassination, the Titans take a vow to give up using their powers and costumes in order to train with the mysterious Mr. Jupiter.
Teen Titans #26 (“A Penny for a Black Star”) extends this idea as the heroes begin the new program. After a bizarre training exercise, Jupiter gives each Titan a penny and then leaves them to manage on their own in Hell’s Corner, a poor neighborhood in an unnamed major city. As per instructions, they start looking for jobs and lodging when Lilith informs them that there is another task to fulfill—find a “black star.” Confused by this cryptic message, they search the neighborhood for clues. They find a young black girl named Cindy selling lemonade for a penny and decide to buy a drink. However, an all-white gang called Hell’s Hawks resents the outsiders invading their territory and pulls the old protection racket on Cindy. When the Titans refuse to respond violently, the gang members grab Lilith and Wonder Girl for some “fun.” Suddenly, Mal leaps into the fray to defend his kid sister (Cindy), and the Titans fight back at last. Once the Hawks are driven off, Mal advises the Titans to head out, as they don’t belong there. Before long, the Titans find employment and a place to stay. Ten days later, at a boxing match at the local boys’ club, they watch Mal deliver a beat-down to Storm Trooper, leader of the Hell’s Hawks. Realizing the meaning of their mission to find a black star, they recruit Mal and take him to Mr. Jupiter for training. Despite his success in his initial testing, Mal still feels the need to prove himself and sneaks off to pilot a space probe destined for Venus with no return to Earth. Mal’s idea was to be “the first guy to wing outta Hell’s Corner—
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37
Is Mal Content? (top) Mal—in his original uniform— in his first cover appearance, on Teen Titans #32 (Mar.–Apr. 1971). Cover by Cardy. (bottom) The Titans’ newest member questions his team value on page 1 of the Mal solo story in TT #35 (Sept.–Oct. 1971). TM & © DC Comics.
into deep space!” Believing that Mal has flown off on a suicide mission, the Titans grab another flight and head off to rescue him. Up until this point, the story is pretty solid, but “Nightmare in Space” in Teen Titans #27 (May–June 1970) is full of plot holes. First, it is extremely convenient that there was a second rocket prepared to lift off so soon after the Venus probe, especially one that could accommodate six (and later, seven) people. Also, at what point did these teenagers complete astronaut training? Meanwhile, Mal has encountered turbulence when the probe passes through a strange energy trail. He manages to correct his flight, but now there is the additional plot complication of what created that cone of light. The Titans split up, dropping Hawk, Speedy, and Wonder Girl on the Moon to investigate the energy trail, while Dove, Kid Flash, and Lilith speed after Mal. This is plot hole #2: What is the likelihood of having a spacecraft that can fly faster than the probe, especially one built for human occupation? Suspending disbelief (partly because we know more today about the realities of space travel than we did in 1970), the reader watches the tricky transfer of Mal from one spacecraft to another and learns that friendly aliens have crashed on the Moon (the energy trail having been left by their damaged vessel). Wonder Girl promises that another Apollo mission will arrive soon to help the aliens and they wave goodbye as they blast off back to Earth. Herein lies plot hole #3—first contact with an intelligent alien species becomes little more than sending a mechanic to the Moon to lift the hood and fix the engine?!? Wouldn’t it be just a little bit more complicated than that?
BIRTH OF A TITAN
After three issues, Robert Kanigher’s writing stint on Teen Titans was over, but he most certainly achieved the goal of making the book more relevant. With the introduction of Lilith and Mal, he made the team more diverse in gender and skin color. Perhaps he was influenced by the television show Mod Squad, as there are certainly similarities between the two properties’ characters. One of the more puzzling aspects of this three-issue arc is the frequent use of the term “black star” in the second story. Now, this is pure speculation, but maybe Kanigher was building an origin story for Mal that would include superpowers and a codename? After all, Mal’s passage through the energy trail in space is similar enough to the cosmic-radiation exposure in Fantastic Four #1 to justify the development of superpowers, and the adoption of the name Black Star fulfills Lilith’s prophecy in Teen Titans #26. Unfortunately, there is no one still around who can either confirm or deny this possibility. Editor Dick Giordano hired Steve Skeates to take over as writer with Teen Titans #28 (July–Aug. 1970). Throughout the six issues Skeates wrote (Teen Titans #28–32 and World’s Finest Comics #205, the latter teaming the Titans with Superman), there is no further character development for Mal. He plays his role as an equal member of the team, but no effort is made to build on his character. Therefore, while Mal is the first black superhero in DC Comics history, Green Lantern John Stewart is the first with superpowers. When Giordano resigned as editor, with Murray Boltinoff taking over the title, Skeates was replaced with former Teen Titans scribe Bob Haney, who would stay on until the series was cancelled. Haney gave Mal his first and only solo story. “A Titan is Born,” the second tale in Teen Titans #35 (Sept.–Oct. 1971), written by Haney with art by George Tuska and Nick Cardy, deals with Mal’s doubts about his worthiness to the team. While taking his turn on solo watch at Jupiter Labs, Mal bemoans his lack of superpowers. “They just took me in to be nice,” he thinks to himself. “You know, give the ghetto kid a break!” Swimming in self-pity, Mal resolves to quit the team when he happens upon an intruder—Dr. Victor Heller—who claims to be there at Mr. Jupiter’s invitation. Suspicious, Mal digs through the team’s computer files and discovers that Heller is 38 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
More of Mal (left) With his fellow Titans alongside Superman in a startling story in World’s Finest Comics #205 (Sept. 1971). Cover by Neal Adams. (right) Mal and two of his teammates meet their evil twins on this creepy Cardy cover for TT #38 (Mar.–Apr. 1972). TM & © DC Comics.
really the Gargoyle, a villain the Teen Titans fought in 1968’s issue Dr. Light appears. His plan is to capture the teen sidekicks and use them #14. A short battle ensues, with Mal eventually trapping the Gargoyle to lure their Justice League mentors to their satellite headquarters— and banishing him back to limbo. Mal’s victory alleviates his despair, which Dr. Light will then destroy, killing his archenemies at last! Light succeeds by dividing and conquering the Titans, but can’t be and he feels that he truly does deserve to be a Titan. This tale is especially important as it establishes a connection between Mal and bothered with Mal, who is “no superhero!” Feeling like a helpless the Gargoyle that will become essential later. “benchwarmer” and “second-stringer,” Mal returns to Titans Lair to Mal appeared in ten Teen Titans stories scripted by Bob Haney (Teen determine a plan of action. Inspired by one of Hawk’s old costumes, Titans #33–35, 37–42, and the Batman/TTs team-up in Brave and the Mal starts digging around the storage area until he discovers an Bold #102). Other than in his solo story, Mal only plays a fairly active exoskeleton in Robin’s locker. The blue-and-gold armor makes Mal role in issues #38 and 41. In the former, Mal hallucinates that he is on super-strong, and he finishes his outfit by wearing the uniform and the Moon. His thoughts here are in direct contradiction of the shield of the Guardian, a retired superhero. Mal then flies to the JLA events of #27’s “Nightmare in Space.” In his delusionary satellite in the Titans mini-rocket and surprises Dr. Light with a potent punch to the jaw. He frees the Titans, who then state, Mal is amazed that he, the ghetto kid, is on the use teamwork to take down Dr. Light. Moon and admits to being agoraphobic—the fear of Under the guidance of Bob Rozakis, who assumed wide, open spaces. Despite his fears, Mal aids a robot full writing chores with Teen Titans #45, Mal remained in correcting a malfunctioning machine. By story’s end, Mal and the others learn that Mr. Jupiter used a prominent member of the team. In #45, Mal’s origin hypnotic gas to force them to face their greatest fears. story is revisited as he is given new superpowers and Three issues later, Mal is central to the events of given the name Hornblower. As Rozakis tells BACK ISSUE, Teen Titans #41’s “What Lies in Litchburg Graveyard?” the Guardian concept “was Paul’s [Levitz] idea. When Julie Schwartz took over as editor with the next issue, This time, Mal is pursued by the ghost of slaver Captain he said he did not want Mal to just be a retread of a Barstow, who haunts Mr. Jupiter’s “Aunt” Hattie, who escaped slavery as a little girl. Mal’s only purpose in ’40s character [Guardian], so we came up with the the plot is to attract the ghost’s attention. The rest Hornblower idea.” bob rozakis of the team is equally helpless as Hattie’s Moojum After being taunted by Speedy for being a seconddoll mysteriously animates and banishes the ghost. rate hero who uses “someone else’s powers and © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. someone else’s costume,” Mal storms out, determined THE EVOLUTION OF MAL to quit the team. After making a call to his girlfriend Karen Beecher, With the cancellation of Teen Titans with issue #42 in late 1972, he wanders into a bad Gotham City neighborhood and gets caught Mal would not be seen again until the series was revived in 1976. in an explosion that brings a condemned building down on top of Paul Levitz, with an assist from Bob Rozakis, wrote Teen Titans #44 him. Crushed beneath the rubble, he awakens to a vision of the (Nov. 1976), in which it is revealed that only Mal still “minds the store” Angel of Death. Not willing to die easily, Mal says he’ll fight to stay with weekly visits to the old TT HQ to maintain the equipment left alive. The angel likes this idea, and summons the angel Gabriel to behind by Mr. Jupiter. Thanks to a close-up view of a computer screen, referee a battle between them. Mal manages to defeat the Angel of Death, but he is a sore loser and vows that if Mal ever loses a fight Mal’s last name—Duncan—is finally revealed. Angry over the complete lack of communication from his former to anybody, his life will be forfeit. Gabriel steps in and gives Mal a teammates, Mal lashes out at them as they wonder who sent the shofar (ram’s horn), informing Mal that whenever he blows the horn, signal for an emergency meeting. As they argue, the trap is sprung and he shall be the equal of his opponent. Mal tests the horn and the Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39
A Whole New You (right) As touted on this Ernie Chua/ Vince Colletta cover, (left) Mal becomes the new Guardian (briefly) in Teen Titans #44 (Nov. 1976). Art by Pablo Marcos and Bob Smith. TM & © DC Comics.
Teen Titans appear. Together, they track down and arrest the street gang that blew up the building. In retrospect, the Hornblower concept seemed a bit odd, even for a comic book. “I do not recall how Julie [Schwartz] and I came up with the idea,” Rozakis clarifies, “but it was during the plotting of that story. It was more his suggestion than mine; I had no idea what a shofar was and had to do some research.” A shofar is a ram’s horn used in Hebrew ceremonies and is blown in synagogues at the end of Yom Kippur and every weekday morning during the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah. In Biblical times, Joshua blew a shofar to bring down the walls of Jericho. It was often used as a signal to troops to begin combat. The angel Gabriel, who will blow his horn to signal the beginning of Judgment Day, is not specified as having a shofar and is commonly depicted with a Torricelli’s Trumpet in art. Julius Schwartz, being Jewish, was very familiar with the shofar, so it is not so strange that he proposed this idea for Mal. The problem with Mal’s horn is that it is nearly omnipotent in power. How do you depict Mal
becoming the equal of each of his opponents? Rozakis had to express its results differently in every issue. For example, in Teen Titans #45, blowing the horn transported several team members to Mal’s side, while in #46, the horn neutralizes the effects of the Fiddler’s music. In issue #47, it gives Mal a slingshot, and in #48, it causes a bomb headed for the Guggenheim Museum to reverse direction and explode harmlessly at sea. Coincidently, Mal is also a horn-blower when he is not fighting costumed felons. He is shown as being quite adept at the trumpet and even plays along with Speedy’s rock band Great Frog at the opening of the Titans’ disco, Gabriel’s Horn, in Gotham City (#49). That same issue is significant for several reasons. One is the revelation that the Bumblebee (a mysterious costumed woman who fought the Teen Titans in the previous issue) is really Karen Beecher. This is also the issue where the seemingly unstoppable horn is lost forever. At the beginning, the horn is clearly shown hanging from Mal’s belt, but he does not use it in battle with the Rocket-Rollers. He even gets a new costume with a mask (designed by fan Dave Elyea) to firmly establish the Hornblower identity, yet still fails to blow his horn, relying on his fists instead against the skateboarding bandits. By story’s end, he has dropped the Hornblower outfit and is dressed as the Guardian once more, claiming that too many people knew that Mal Duncan and Hornblower were the same person, so Hornblower had to “retire” for his own protection. However, his thoughts reveal that “the real reason for the change [is] that my horn has been stolen!” When asked about the sudden switch, Bob Rozakis says that when “Jack Harris took over as editor (with Teen Titans #51), he wasn’t a fan of the storyline, so I came up with the ‘stolen horn’ subplot. (Actually, I think it was that Hornblower costume that finally did him in.)”
40 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
RARELY SEEN TITAN
Mal remains in the Guardian uniform throughout the three-issue West Coast Titans epic (issues #50–52), as well as Teen Titans #53 (Feb. 1978), the final issue of the original series. He attends Wally West’s high school graduation in the 1978 Flash Spectacular [officially titled DC Special Series #11—ed.] and makes his final appearance as the Guardian in Superman Family #191, a story that led the revival of the clone of the original Guardian. Several years pass before Mal was seen again, this time in Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (Feb. 1985), when he attends Donna Troy’s wedding. Storytellers Marv Wolfman and George Pérez have a slightly pudgy Mal explain that he and Karen are now married and retired from superheroics, and that Mal is now a successful novelist. Mal next appears in 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 to attend Dove’s [Don Hall] funeral, and receives a half-page entry that year in Who’s Who #14. Seeing as how Wolfman had little interest in the character, Mal remains absent from the post-Crisis New Teen Titans with only two exceptions, both in 1989. The New Titans #56 (July 1989) featured “More Than Human,” a flashback tale that gives insight to early Titans’ history in the new continuity. The tale starts in modern day, in Mal’s nightclub Gabriel’s Horn in San Francisco. Managing the club is Mal’s full-time job… that is, when he’s not playing the trumpet on stage. He and Karen are treating Cyborg’s girlfriend Sarah Charles to a night out, and they tell her the story of Gnaark, the caveboy, from the days of Titans East and Titans West. Mal makes his debut as Herald in a new blue-and-white uniform, and is shown using his mechanical Gabriel’s Horn—a device that he cannot always control. Just like the shofar, Mal can use the new horn to teleport people, and brings Gnaark’s form from a deep cave to the surface. Mal then ceases to be an active participant in the story, only appearing during the narrative sequences. A few months later, Mal is featured in a retelling of Teen Titans history (slightly altered by George Pérez for post-Crisis continuity) in Secret Origins Annual #3 (1989). This trip through memory lane is actually a nightmare from which Dick Grayson cannot escape—a nightmare created by the Antithesis (from Teen Titans #53) and the Gargoyle. The biggest changes in Teen Titans history actually center around Mal, who was living in Harlem when he met the Titans. The story stays the same until Dr. Light grabs the four sidekicks. This time, instead of an exoskeleton, Mal dons the Herald costume and uses the Gabriel’s Horn device that he created with Karen Beecher’s help. Using the horn’s ability to manipulate frequencies, Mal disrupts Dr. Light’s constructs, freeing his teammates. As the twisted dream progresses, Grayson determines that he is in limbo and confronts the Gargoyle. Mal is chained to a nearby wall, and he apologizes as he now understands that his horn, programmed through the Titans computers, had been corrupted by a virus planted by the Gargoyle when he fought Mal years ago. This virus is what allowed the horn to create wormholes while disrupting time and space. Every time Mal used it, he weakened the barrier that kept Gargoyle and the Antithesis trapped in limbo, until it thinned enough that the villains could pull Mal and Grayson into their realm. Grayson freed Mal, who blew a tune on the horn that sent the monstrous duo deeper into limbo. Back on Earth, Mal supposedly destroyed the horn. This issue also states Mal’s full name for the first time—Malcolm Arnold Duncan. Unfortunately, very little was done with Mal for nearly 20 years. Over this period, he makes cameos and plays small parts in various Titans stories. In 1990, he briefly attends a Titans West reunion in the Hawk and Dove Annual #1. He was next seen when he was captured by the Wildebeest in Jericho’s attempt to kill all the Titans (New Titans #78–85). Evidently, that near-death experience inspired him to rebuild the Gabriel’s Horn, as he uses it to aid the Seattle branch of the Team Titans. This horn even grants him the ability to fly (Team Titans #22–24). He appears in flashbacks in 1997’s Teen Titans #5 and 12–15, and a year later uses his horn to help his friends in the three-issue series JLA/ Titans. In Titans Secret Files #2 (2000), we learn that Mal’s nightclub is now a restaurant and has been renamed the Buzz. He makes a cameo
Mal, Come Blow Your Horn (top) The shofar. (center) Mal finds Gabriel’s Horn in Teen Titans #45 (Dec. 1976), by Rozakis, Irv Novick, and Colletta. (bottom) Mal gets the cover spotlight that issue. Teen Titans TM & © DC Comics. Photo © Zachi Evenor/ Wikimedia Commons.
appearance in The Titans #39 (May 2002) and helps the TTs against Dr. Light in Teen Titans #22–23 (May–June 2005), followed by a cameo in Teen Titans #29. A year earlier, the Teen Titans traveled to an alternate future, where they heard about Eastern President Duncan (Teen Titans #18). Big changes were in store for Mal when the DC Universe fell into an “Infinite Crisis,” DC’s big crossover event in 2006. Mal and Bumblebee joined an odd group of heroes on a journey to the center of the universe, where they discovered a rift in space with a pair of cosmic hands emerging from the tear. To make matters worse, the rift was caught in the middle of a war between the planets Thanagar and Rann. As cosmic events played out, the heroes were trapped at the epicenter of the rift when it started to close. Mal used the Gabriel’s Horn to transport them to Rann in order to catch a Zeta Beam back to Earth, but energies from the rift mixed with Mal’s wormhole and the Zeta Beam splintered
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 41
That Cat’s Got Chops! (top left) Mal gigs at his Gabriel’s Horn club in The New Titans #56 (July 1989). (top right) Later in that issue, Mal as Herald sounds his mechanical horn. Story by Wolfman and Pérez, art by Mark Bright and Romeo Tanghal. (middle) Mal, as Vox, now a member of the Doom Patrol, in Teen Titans #36 (July 2006). Cover by Tony Daniel. (bottom) Mal as Guardian, from TV’s Young Justice. TM & © DC Comics.
like light through a prism. Reality warped—time sped up, slowed down, and rewound—over and over again. The Red Tornado was destroyed at the same moment the Gabriel Horn exploded. Mal’s blood froze in the vacuum of space as parts of the Red Tornado’s android form sliced through Mal’s body. The shattered beam carried Mal and a few others to Earth, but the rest were transported to parts unknown. Exposure to these energies had various results on everyone exposed, with Bumblebee shrunk to the size of a doll and Mal’s lungs and vocal cords destroyed. Parts of the Red Tornado had fused to Mal’s body, including his voice box, which repetitively blurted, “It’s coming! 52! 52!” [Editor’s note: These events transpired in Infinite Crisis #2–3, Outsiders #32, and 52 Weeks 4–5.] Mal recovered with the aid of the Chief of the Doom Patrol, who replaced Mal’s lungs and vocal cords, but left him unable to speak except through the Red Tornado’s voice box. Calling himself Vox, Mal could now control every sound except his own voice. He and Bumblebee joined the Doom Patrol and would battle alongside them against Black Adam, the Brotherhood of Evil, and the new Secret Six. [52 Week 50, World War III #1 and 3, Teen Titans #35–37, and Secret Six #4.—ed.] Mal disappeared after that. When the new Doom Patrol series appeared, Bumblebee was there, but Mal wasn’t. At one point, it was stated that he and Karen were now divorced. However, in The Outsiders #29 (June 2010), a man named Harold Winer (who was obsessed with the Outsiders’ Looker) was given a ram’s horn by a villain named Veritas. Winer became the new Herald and appeared in The Outsiders #38–40, but had his horn destroyed by Metamorpho. Shortly thereafter, in 2011, the DC Universe was transformed once again, into the New 52. Mal made no appearances until the miniseries Titans Hunt (2015). In this tale, the original Teen Titans are reunited through the meddling of Brom Stikk (a.k.a. the Gargoyle). Mal is once again manipulated into weakening the fabric of reality, and the Titans begin to remember the world as it was before the New 52. Additionally, their defeat of Brom Stikk sets the stage for the return of Wally—and the start of the DC Rebirth! So, why has no one done much with ol’ Mal Duncan all this time? “No one has ever seemed to have the interest in developing Mal,” Bob Rozakis explains. “He started out with a disadvantage among the Titans: ‘I’m Robin, I’m Batman’s partner!’ ‘I’m Kid Flash; I work with the Flash!’ ‘I’m Speedy, partner of Green Arrow.’ ‘I’m Mal… um, that’s me, Mal.’ Neither the Guardian nor the Hornblower identities proved exciting to the readers.” The same seemed to hold true for the writers, as after Rozakis, Geoff Johns in Infinite Crisis was the first to try to do something with Mal, and even that did not last. Mal has, however, become enough a part of the Titans family to earn a smattering of appearances on DC TV shows: Mal as the Herald (voiced by Khary Payon) popped in on a Season Five episode of Teen Titans, and Kevin Michael Richardson voiced Mal, as Guardian, on episodes of Young Justice. In live action, Mal was even referenced as playing a nightclub gig in an episode of The Flash! As of this writing, Mal Duncan looks like he may finally have a role again in the DC Universe. It only took 37 years, but he has a recurring part in the Titans series, and is being included in Oscar-winning writer (12 Years a Slave) Justin Ridley’s miniseries, The Other History of the DC Universe, which examines events in DC history through the eyes of minority characters. By day, JOHN SCHWIRIAN is a mild-mannered college English professor, but by night, he dons the role of comic-book historian. In addition to his passion for Bronze Age comics, he explores the sunken regions of the DC Universe in his self-published fanzine, The Aquaman Chronicles.
42 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
TM
by J o h n
Tr u m b u l l
transcribed by Rose Rummel-Eury
Meet the Creator of Black Lightning (left) It all started here—Black Lightning #1 (Apr. 1977)! Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Springer. (right) As you’ll read, this interview panel featured a surprise walk-in from this unidentified Black Lightning cosplayer, who took a moment to meet Tony Isabella. Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics.
“Justice, like lightning, should ever appear, to some men, hope, and to other men, fear!” With that paraphrase from a Thomas Randolph poem, Black Lightning began. Since creating Jefferson Pierce and his superpowered alter ego for DC Comics in 1976, Tony Isabella has had a fascinating journey with his signature character, from Black Lightning’s original 1977–1978 series, to the title’s short-lived revival in 1995–1996, to today, with a primetime Black Lightning TV series on the CW television network and Isabella’s return to the character in the miniseries Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands. The following is a transcript of my conversation with Tony Isabella at the East Coast Comicon on April 28, 2018. It has been copyedited by Mr. Isabella and myself for clarity. – John Trumbull JOHN TRUMBULL: Welcome everybody. This is the Black Lightning panel. My name is John Trumbull. I write for BACK ISSUE magazine for TwoMorrows, and also for a website called The Atomic Junk Shop. We’re very happy to be speaking today to the guy who created Black Lightning, along with Trevor Von Eeden, Mr. Tony Isabella. [applause] TONY ISABELLA: Thank you everyone. Just to make this clear, I am the creator of Black Lightning, Trevor drew the first series. That does not make him a co-creator. However, the credits now read, and I wrote
the current credit line: “Black Lightning, created by Tony Isabella, with Trevor Von Eeden,” because “with” is nice and ambiguous, you can believe it means whatever you want it to mean. Also, the reason I did it that way is so Trevor can get money from Black Lightning, now that there is money to be made from Black Lightning. But yeah, my correct title on this character is “creator,” not “co-creator.” And it’s the thing I’m most proud of, so I kind of insist upon that. I’m not really this much of a prick, really. Sorry, kids, I didn’t say that, I said, “Rick.” TRUMBULL: You created Black Lightning over 40 years ago, back in 1976. ISABELLA: Yes, I created him in ’76, and the first issue came out in ’77. TRUMBULL: There is some interesting backstory about the character. Could you tell us about the Black Bomber? ISABELLA: DC Comics hired me away from Marvel because I had written a lot of the black characters at Marvel. I had written Luke Cage. I had written Misty Knight. I had written the Falcon and the Living Mummy, although not everybody realized the Living Mummy was black, because he was covered in bandages. But they called me, I went over to DC, and they handed me two scripts that had already been written of a character created by Gerry Conway and Bob Kanigher, called the Black Bomber. Now, the Black Bomber was a white racist who took part in chemical camouflage experiments while serving in Vietnam that would enable him to blend into the jungle better. And this gets worse and worse—
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now, nothing ever happened to him while he was in Vietnam, but when he came back to the States, in times of stress, he would turn into a black superhero. He didn’t know he turned into a black superhero; the black superhero didn’t know he was really a white racist. In all fairness to Gerry and Bob, both of whom were friends of mine— well, Gerry still is because he’s still alive, Bob was a friend of mine— they were trying to do their take on a movie called Watermelon Man, a great movie with Godfrey Cambridge, who plays this rich white guy who wakes up one morning and he is a black guy. And it was a pretty good movie, but it didn’t translate well. So we have this character, he’s a black superhero, but he’s really a white racist, and neither one of his identities knows about the other. They both have girlfriends, who witness the transformation, and never say anything about it. TRUMBULL: Sure. [laughter] ISABELLA: Now, maybe I’m just more traditional than a lot of people, [but] if my significant other goes through that big of a change in front of me, I at least ask a question about it. [laughter] “Gosh, dear, I didn’t know you were a vampire.” I would have asked something! It gets worse. In each of the two stories, in his white racist identity, he saves somebody that he can’t see clearly, and it ends up being a
Bolt of Inspiration The Amazon Princess’ word balloon on this Ernie Chua cover for Wonder Woman #225 (Aug.–Sept. 1976) provided Isabella with the name of Jefferson Pierce’s costumed alter ego. TM & © DC Comics.
black person. And he gets really angry that he risked his life to save a black person. To the point in one case it’s a child in a baby carriage and when he sees that he’s risked his life to save this black child, he says—and this is in the script—“You mean, I risked my life for a jungle bunny?” [Trumbull sighs] And then, his uniform was essentially a basketball uniform. DC wanted me to rewrite these two scripts. They said, “Just punch ’em up a little bit so they’re better, and then take over the book with the third issue.” I said, “No.” They said, “What do you mean?” I replied, “I’m not doing this.” “Why?” “These are the most offensive comic-book scripts I’ve ever read. You cannot publish this.” They said, “What do you mean? We paid for these scripts.” I said, “And you were foolish to do so. You cannot publish these scripts.” “Well, why can’t we?” “Because people will come to your offices with torches and pitchforks.” “How could you know that?” “I will be leading them.” [laughter] It took me two weeks to boil down this argument we were having to: “Do you really want DC’s first major black superhero to be a white racist?” And at that point, they said, “Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right.” And I basically had two weeks to create Black Lightning. I hope we can all agree that Black Lightning is a much better character than the Black Bomber would have been. TRUMBULL: I think we can go with you there. Now, you got the name Black Lightning from a Wonder Woman cover. ISABELLA: Yes. I had gone back to Cleveland to visit my family and spent those two weeks creating not Black Lightning, but Jefferson Pierce. I knew everything about Jefferson Pierce. I knew what he was capable of, what he’d done, I knew his whole background. And I came back to New York, and I suddenly realize that I had not come up with a superhero identity for him, and it’s less than two hours before the pitch meeting. So I’m wandering around the DC offices and I go into Julie Schwartz’s office, and there is a sketch for a Wonder Woman cover [#225] by Ernie Chua, and it’s got Wonder Woman standing on her robot plane or the top of a building or something, and she’s lassoing a black lightning bolt. She’s saying, because apparently you need to explain this on the cover, “Hera, help me stop this black lightning bolt from destroying the city!” And I’m going, “Black Lightning, that’s kinda catchy.” Okay, Jefferson Pierce will be Black Lightning, and I then came up with all the superhero stuff. I already knew the villains. I knew Tobias Whale, but I didn’t have a superhero identity for [Jefferson Pierce]. Literally the Black Lightning part was the last thing I created, and it was done just before the pitch meeting. TRUMBULL: Had you decided at that point if he was going to have superpowers or not? ISABELLA: No, I hadn’t. And in fact, he did not have superpowers in the initial issues, which quite frankly was a mistake on my part. He had an electric belt that could project a force field and shoot out electricity, and I did comic-book science, and those powers became internalized the more he used them, so he would have them naturally. Of course, in all the reboots, he’s a metahuman. He always had the metahuman gene and when it got triggered, he has these natural powers. TRUMBULL: That’s certainly a simpler set up than doing the belt stuff. ISABELLA: I thank God for [whomever] at DC—I’m not sure who it was at DC—that came up with the concept of the metagene, but I really liked that. TRUMBULL: It was Keith Giffen in the Invasion! miniseries. ISABELLA: Was he the writer of that? TRUMBULL: He was the plotter. Bill Mantlo did the dialogue. And Keith has told me that when he introduced the concept of the metagene, there was resistance from DC editorial. But all those editors came back to him and asked him to do stuff with the metagene later. [Author’s note: See BACK ISSUE #82 for more information.] ISABELLA: The metagene is so elegantly simple. Origin stories—unless your parents are shot down in an alley or your planet explodes—origin stories are pretty boring. And the metagene is a great shortcut for that.
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TRUMBULL: So you’ve created Jefferson Pierce, you’ve created Black Lightning, you’re getting ready to do the book. How did Trevor Von Eeden come into the picture? ISABELLA: Well, when I created Black Lightning, it was supposed to be a partnership agreement with DC, because Black Lightning did not exist in any way, shape, or form at DC before I created him and brought him to DC. So the deal was a partnership agreement: I was supposed to get 20% of anything they made on the character outside of the actual comic books. Decisions about the character were supposed to be jointly made. And it took all of about a week for them to violate that agreement. I was planning to steal an artist from Marvel, because I’d worked with some really fine young black artists like Ron Wilson, Keith Pollard, and Arvell Jones, and my plan was to steal one of them from Marvel and have them draw Black Lightning. DC said, “Oh, we’ve hired an artist for Black Lightning,” and it was like, “Wait a minute, you’re not supposed to do that.” Then I met Trevor and he was very young guy, very enthusiastic. His early work was not as good as he would become, but he put so much enthusiasm into his work, there was no way I was going to say, “No, not him.” So I was happy to have him on board. We had a costume design meeting and Trevor was there, Jack Harris… TRUMBULL: Who was the editor of the series. ISABELLA: …Bob Rozakis, who had been editor of the series until he got moved into production, and special guest appearance by Joe Orlando, and I was there. I think Jack Harris was probably the only guy who didn’t contribute anything to the costume, he just sort of rode herd over this group of people. I came up with the electric bolt piping and what I call the Captain America boots. TRUMBULL: The sort of buccaneer boots that fold over. ISABELLA: Bob Rozakis came up with the Afro mask, which I thought was a very clever idea. My story established that Jefferson Pierce could not fight the criminal element directly because they would take revenge on his students. So he had to have a secret identity. And so, you have this very educated teacher with a conservative haircut, and he wears an Afro mask that makes him look like he’s got an Afro and he talks in street slang to disguise the fact that he really is this schoolteacher. Then Joe Orlando came in, and Joe’s major contribution was: “Open up the collar more to show more skin.” Joe had this theory about that time that young male readers liked to see a lot of skin on male heroes. I don’t know where that came from. [laughter] I was editing The Challengers of the Unknown and I went back to the original Kirby costumes. TRUMBULL: The purple jumpsuits. ISABELLA: The purple jumpsuits, and Joe wanted them opened up, a big V-thing, which kind of defeats the purpose of a jumpsuit. I talked him out of that, so I felt I had to give it to him on Black Lightning. TRUMBULL: That open collar seems like a very 1970s thing. There were a lot of heroes who had their costumes opened to the navel, like the Falcon. ISABELLA: It was disco and the black action movies. I never call them “Black Exploitation Movies” [or “Blaxploitation”—ed.] because I used to go to them with Arvell, Keith, and Ron, and very often I was the only, or one of the few, white people in the audience. And I never saw anybody feeling exploited in that audience. They were cheering the fact that there was somebody who looked like them doing heroic and cool things. So I call them “Black Action Movies.” It was that era, because you would have those disco outfit
type clothes on these characters with the big hair, the bellbottoms, and stuff like that. TRUMBULL: It almost has a flared collar. ISABELLA: Trevor pulled all of these ideas together. So, I consider Trevor the primary designer of the costume, because he took all these ideas, plus his own, pulled them together, and we got this first costume. Which served well for a number of years. Now, I think it looks a little dated because disco is dead, for one thing. But Trevor pulled all those ideas together and that’s how we got the costume. TRUMBULL: You mentioned before that you wanted to steal an artist away from Marvel. It sounds like it was particularly important for you to have a black artist working on the book. ISABELLA: I was very cognizant of the fact that here I am, this white guy, who created probably DC’s most iconic black superhero, so I felt that I always wanted a black artist and I always have had it when I wrote Black Lightning. Trevor initially, then Eddy Newell in the 1990s series, and Clayton Henry in the most recent series. Because [while] I’m well read, and I go into the communities, I talk to people, I do as much research as humanly possible, to try and make these stories as authentic as possible, I like having the artist being black and can tell me if I’ve done something wrong. I write full scripts, so the artist knows exactly what characters are saying. A lot of comic-book artists over the years,
Media Circus The original Black Lightning artist was a mere teenager when tapped by DC Comics to illustrate Isabella’s new comic, as shown in this article from a late-1976 issue of Circus Magazine. Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics.
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Tough Teacher (top) Splash page from Black Lightning #1. Note the credits clearly state that writer Isabella is the concept’s creator. (bottom) From superhero to schoolteacher, from BL #1. Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics.
they basically have one or two faces they draw, so everybody in the comic looks like they’re related to everybody else. If I have a really good black artist, or a really good artist, on anything, that can make characters look different, that’s important to me, too. Because at their heart, these stories are about characters, and you want the characters to be their own people in these stories. Because often as you’re writing these characters, they take on lives of their own, and they tell you where they’re going. And that’s happened a lot with Black Lightning characters. I’ve now written the character three different times [over the years]. Every 20 years, like locusts, I’ve returned to write Black Lightning. TRUMBULL: Lightning has struck three times and counting! Now, you mentioned before that you had that 20% participation agreement with DC, and you said that DC violated it almost immediately. How did that happen? ISABELLA: The very first time—you have to realize that my solo credit on Black Lightning was the credit they used in the comic books for over two years, until I asked about buying the character back, buying out their interest in the character, and then they added Trevor to the [creator] credits. But the first time, and it’s why I quit the book the first time out, was Hanna-Barbera wanted to put Black
Lightning in the Super Friends. I was literally told that Black Lightning would be in the Super Friends. And according to our original agreement, I would have gotten… let’s say that DC got $1000 per episode, and there were ten DC characters in that show. Well, I would have gotten 20% of 1/10th of what DC got. And it would have come out of DC’s pocket. DC didn’t want to pay out even that kind of chump change to me. So DC told Hanna-Barbera that they had to pay extra for Black Lightning, and Hanna-Barbera said, “No, we’re just going to steal the character.” So Black Lightning became Black Vulcan. Amazingly—I got away with this because Joe Orlando has a sense of humor and satire… [but] my last Black Lightning story [in BL #10, Aug. 1978] was called “The Other Black Lightning.” It had a con woman named Barbara Hanna, who had a phony Black Lightning she was taking around the country. I was amazed DC let me do that! TRUMBULL: So Joe Orlando was the one who let that through? ISABELLA: Yeah. Joe was fine with it. TRUMBULL: That is amazing! Did anyone else at DC say anything to you about that story? Did they pick up on what was going on? ISABELLA: No, the suits weren’t reading the books. TRUMBULL: Did Jack Harris say anything to you about it? ISABELLA: No. Jack was never a heavy editor. I bent the deadlines a lot with Jack on that first series, but Jack never cared because, he said, “His script comes in and it takes me less than an hour to go over it, because Tony gets it all right. There’s no clumsy dialogue, there’s no clumsy captions. I don’t have to work hard on it.” And that was the way Jack and I worked on it. Throughout my career, I’ve had a couple of different kinds of editors. I’ve had the editors I hate, that want you to write their stories. And I’ve had editors who just leave me alone, because they figure I’ve been doing this for forever and he knows what he’s doing. I like those better than the editors who want me to write their stories. But the current series that I just wrote, with Jim Chadwick and Harvey Richards as editors, were the best editors I ever had. They gave me great notes; they never tried to make my story their story. Everything they did was to make my story a better story. And it was never carved in stone. TRUMBULL: So they were suggestions, not directions. ISABELLA: They gave suggestions, and they were often very good, and I would take their suggestions. TRUMBULL: We’ll talk a little more about Cold Dead Hands later. Let’s go chronologically. So you quit the book in protest over Black Vulcan. Other writers are writing the book now, and they’re doing some things with the character that you don’t necessarily approve of. Did you totally divorce yourself from the book, or were you still reading his appearances? ISABELLA: I was still reading them. Because I was reading everything— because back then you could still read everything. Then Mike Barr, who’s a friend of mine—he’s from Akron, Ohio, originally, which is close to Cleveland—said he wanted to use Black Lightning in The Outsiders. I knew Mike was a fan of the character and had respect for the character. He didn’t need my permission, but I was happy to see Mike work on the character. I liked what Mike did with the character. I didn’t like the fact that he played down Black Lightning’s super-strength. But he felt that he had Geo-Force for the super-strength stuff, but I was cool with Mike Barr writing him. TRUMBULL: You did use the powers in very different ways. I was reading your 1970s stories, and you had much more emphasis on his force-field, whereas Mike and Jim Aparo mostly had him slinging lightning bolts around. Different interpretations. ISABELLA: And that was part of the inspiration. I’ve said that the Black Lightning in Cold Dead Hands is the smartest Black Lightning ever, and he’s figured out different things to do with his powers. TRUMBULL: What sort of new things can he do now?
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ISABELLA: I don’t want to give away too much because some of the new uses are pretty cool. Some of them involve ways he can use his natural bioelectrical energy to power improvements to his suit and other gear. He’s a problem solver and he’s working with a tech guy who can make the solutions work. TRUMBULL: So you’re away from the character, and you’d done a few things for DC in the meantime. You did The Shadow War of the Hawkman in the ’80s, which I have fond memories of, but you didn’t come back to Black Lightning again until the mid-1990s. How did that come about? ISABELLA: [DC’s then-editorial director] Dick Giordano, who had liked my Hawkman work. And in fact it was Dick Giordano who asked me to pitch a Hawkman series to them, because he wanted to do something with Hawkman, and nobody came up with anything he liked. So Dick asked me to do the same thing with Black Lightning. So I started to think about what I wanted. I wanted to make it a little more modern, a little bit more urban, inner city, because that’s where my heart was for these stories. I found Eddy Newell. I was the guy who found Eddy Newell for DC, who had a great, gritty style. I actually wrote nine issues, but you only saw eight of them. But I wanted to do a very realistic Black Lightning, because the same issues that Black Lightning had faced in Metropolis were still there. [Tony laughs as a Black Lightning cosplayer enters the room] Speaking of which… Hi, Jeff! TRUMBULL: Ladies and gentlemen, Black Lightning himself has just walked into the room! Welcome. Actually, you walking in just now reminds me that Black Lightning made his television debut in the 1990s in a sketch on Saturday Night Live. ISABELLA: With Sinbad playing Black Lightning. Sinbad and I have become friends over the years. We only met recently for the first time in person. We’d talked over the phone. He’s a big Black Lightning fan; he’s a comics fan. He called me, I think, in December [2017]. He said, “I’ll be performing at the Cleveland [Hard Rock] Rocksino. You have to come and see me.” I go, “But the tickets are all sold out.” “You don’t need tickets! [laughter]” So I come down to the show. Great show, by the way. He wrote about ten minutes of new Cleveland-centric material. And apparently, he does this for every city. TRUMBULL: I’m a stand-up, and writing that much new material for each city is impressive. ISABELLA: He’s a terrific writer. Besides being a terrific performer, and he’s actually a great actor, a terrific writer. So I come down there, and after the show, we’re hanging out. We’re talking, and he really wants to do a cameo [in the Black Lightning TV series]. He said, “Even if it’s just a walk-by, I want to be on the TV
show.” And correct me if I’m wrong, I think the universe demands that somewhere there be a photo of Sinbad with Cress Williams. TRUMBULL: Absolutely! We need to see that. ISABELLA: So I’ve been asked, and I’m hoping this is going to happen, to pitch for the second season, and both of the two stories I want to pitch have roles for Sinbad in them. He’s a terrific guy, and he’s a big fan. And [CW Black Lightning producer] Mara Brock Akil, when she was just Mara Brock, actually worked for him as his receptionist on the Sinbad show. TRUMBULL: Wow. Small world. ISABELLA: It is. We were talking about the ’90s series. TRUMBULL: Yes, we got a little sidetracked. ISABELLA: Up until the new series, I think the 1990s series was the best work I’d ever done in comics, and it was going really well. Before I wrote it, I spent a year working in the inner city of Cleveland, working with schools, with police, with churches. I was tutoring gang kids. I had harrowing adventures, like the time the cops said, “Hey, come on with us on a drug-house raid.”
TM & © DC Comics.
Whale of a Time Tobias Whale makes trouble on the cover of Black Lightning #3 (July 1977). Rich Buckler (inked here by Vince Colletta) was tapped to draw the original series’ covers—but the Trevor Von Eeden Art Gallery later in this issue gives BL’s original artist the opportunity to reimagine a couple of those Buckler classics. Courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.
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I said, “No, no.” They said, “No, no, once we clear the building, then you can come in.” So we go in this building, that’s supposedly been cleared. And they’re upstairs doing something, I’m still on the first floor. I prop the door open, and there’s maybe a 17-year-old kid with a gun. Now, I don’t know a lot about guns, but this is the biggest gun ever made. At least it seemed that way to me. Fortunately, he was as scared of me as I was of him, so he just bolted, and he got away. And I went home and changed my underwear. [laughter] But yeah, stuff like that. One time, two sisters, twin sisters, they pulled knives on each other in the school, and I’m in between these two girls with knives! Don’t tell any of this to my wife; she has no idea I put my life in danger so recklessly. But I really tried to get everything right for the second series. And then, a new editor came in, Pat Garrahy, who wanted to replace me with his own guy. Now, I had written nine issues of the book before the first issue ever came out. I turned in the script for issue #9, which my name is not on because they changed it so much, I took my name off it. It was like, six to eight weeks before issue #1 hit. TRUMBULL: You were way ahead of your deadlines. ISABELLA: I had written nine issues of the book already, and he fires me for “lateness.” TRUMBULL: Okay… ISABELLA: Well, it was bulls---. But DC, they stuck by their editors, no matter how idiotic and stupid their editors were, and Garrahy was a mean, mean piece of s---. TRUMBULL: And that was the only reason they gave, lateness? ISABELLA: That was the official reason. The real reason was, he wanted to bring in this guy from Australia to write the book. He was editing Black Lightning and two books created by Marv Wolfman [New Titans and Deathstroke], and he wanted to get rid of both of us to bring in his own people, because he was trying to build a power base at DC. And quite frankly, if you are an Australian writer’s only contact with DC, that writer is going to be loyal to you.
We had had arguments along the way. He asked, “When is Black Lightning going to kill somebody?” I said, “He’s not going to kill somebody just for the sake of killing somebody.” I had a story in mind which would involve Black Lightning and Lynn Stewart getting remarried and going on a honeymoon, and Tobias Whale entering the picture again, and I would’ve had Jeff Pierce have to kill Tobias Whale to save Lynn, which is self defense, but it’s also not the thing that you just get to decide is self defense, so he would’ve turned himself in. And then he would not have had a secret identity anymore. Because my plan for the ’90s series was to do something every year. TRUMBULL: Some big event. ISABELLA: Something different every year. Which was also my plan for Hawkman. And if we ever do a Hawkman panel, we’ll talk about that. My first year was establishing everything. The second year would’ve been mostly defeating Tobias Whale and the 100, and the other gangs. Then he and Lynn would have been running a special school, kind of like a model school for the area. And then in the fourth year, with his identity exposed, he would face trial and at some point, within about five years, “Black Lightning” would not have referred just to Jefferson Pierce. It would’ve been the name of the organization he founded to help people take control of their own destinies, to get politically involved, to fight for change, beyond just beating up bad guys. So, every year it would’ve been something different. Because I like comics. I don’t like to do the same old thing over and over again, and that was my way of keeping it fresh. Because [once] you reveal the guy’s identity, you don’t go back from that. TRUMBULL: Right. Not without mind control, or something like that. ISABELLA: You’re always going forward. I love the phrase in Luke Cage: “Always Forward.” I have a couple of different Pop’s Barber Shop T-shirts with that on them, and I love the idea of “Always Forward.” And I think comics would be better if we did this. If the Joker didn’t get away with killing a hundred people, and then come back six months later and kill another hundred people. I’ll tell you right now that if I were writing Batman, the Joker would be so dead, so fast, you would never, ever, ever see him again on my watch. I’m tired of villains who do these horrible things and get away with it essentially, because the heroes are too impotent to put an end to them. Killing the Joker is self-defense, I’m sorry. You lock the Joker up, he’s going to get out
The Other Black Lightning (top) While the addition of Black Vulcan to Hanna-Barbera’s animated Super Friends led Isabella to depart the Black Lightning series, (left) Tony got the last laugh in his final issue (#10) through the characters Barbara Hanna and this BL stand-in. Art by Von Eeden and Vince Colletta. Super friends cel © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics.
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and he’s going to kill a thousand people. I don’t think there’s a jury in the land that would convict somebody for killing the Joker, even if they killed him when he was theoretically in prison or helpless. You know he’s going to come back and kill people. But yeah, I always want to go forward. Very few characters I would write in the series are invulnerable. Clearly, I’m not going to kill Jefferson Pierce, and there’s other characters I love too much to kill, but no, you should never be sure of what’s going to happen next. TRUMBULL: I find two things very interesting in what you just told us. One is how far ahead you had the series planned. Is that very typical for you? You had it thought out four years ahead. ISABELLA: Yeah, but in rough terms. On a new series, I would send in a synopsis, and we all knew the synopsis was not going to survive my actually writing the script, because in the middle of a script, I’d get a better idea. TRUMBULL: And you’d just toss it in. ISABELLA: Yeah. In the first script of the new series… In the 1990s series, Tommy Colavito was a male cop, a male detective. In Cold Dead Hands, in the first version of the first issue, he was still a male cop, and then I realized, “Wait a minute—the only strong women I have in this book are evil as hell. I need to do something about that.” The old Chris Claremont line is true, the “Why can’t this character be a woman?” And I go, “Yeah, why can’t Tommi Colavito be a woman?” No one from DC said I should do that. After I turned in the first script I said, “You know, I’m going to change this,” and it gave me a chance to write this brother/sister relationship between the two, something I hadn’t done in comics before. TRUMBULL: That really is one of the nice aspects of the new series. And that hits on the other thing that I was thinking of, is how you reconceived the character each time you’ve come back to him. The ’90s series is very different from the ’70s series. What you’re doing in Cold Dead Hands now is very different from what you did on the previous two series. ISABELLA: When they asked me to write this six-issue series, I asked them, “What Black Lightning do you want me to use?” because there have been so many different versions, and they said, “Do whatever you want.” And I decided what I wanted to do was to throw out all the old continuity. TRUMBULL: Even yours. ISABELLA: Even mine. And do things with Black Lightning that I’d never done before. Now when I say throw out the old continuity, I’m not saying necessarily it never happened. It just maybe didn’t happen the same way. Clearly, at the start of his career he didn’t fight Tobias Whale, because he doesn’t meet Tobias Whale until the current series. TRUMBULL: And he hasn’t been married to Lynn Stewart… ISABELLA: He hasn’t been married to Lynn Stewart, they don’t have kids together. He hasn’t even met her. You don’t even see her in the book until the fifth issue of the miniseries. She’s mentioned earlier on. He doesn’t have daughters, but he has cousins that will serve the same role. And one of the cousins says, “Have you seen the new teacher?” She’s trying a little matchmaking there. He’s younger, he’s smarter, He’s been around for a couple of years, but he hasn’t been active in the past year, because he and his father moved back to Cleveland, because his father was dying. Now his father is dead, just recently passed, when Cold Dead Hands opens. But Jefferson Pierce, for the first time I’ve written him, has an actual family. He has a grandmother, he’s got these cousins, and the presence of cousins means that there are other members of the Pierce family. His grandmother, his father’s
mother-in-law, is named Henderson, so that’s why I don’t have Inspector Henderson in the book. But if I do more, I suddenly realized that, especially after Damon Gupton played him so well in the TV series, that why couldn’t Inspector Henderson be in the book and be related to Jefferson Pierce? That adds a whole new layer to the relationship. My Lynn Stewart is British in the new series, because [Lynn Stewart actress] Christine Adams has this great voice. There are things you do not know about Lynn Stewart that you almost got to find out, but I ran out of pages. But if I do more Black Lightning, we’ll find out some really interesting things about Lynn Stewart. TRUMBULL: Let’s back up a little bit. Your return to the character in Cold Dead Hands was preceded by over a decade of other writers working with Black Lightning, doing some things like giving him two daughters, which you hadn’t ever conceived of, from what I understand. So, how did you and DC come back together? You had had two bad experiences with them. Was it because the television series was coming up? ISABELLA: What happened was, and this is biggest factor in why DC and I got back together—reunited and it feels so good—is because the management
Black Lightning, Second Strike Isabella returned to the adventures of Jefferson Pierce in 1995 with a new Black Lightning series for DC. Original cover art for issue #6 (July 1995), featuring Gangbuster from the pages of Superman, by artist Eddy Newell. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.
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changed. The previous management of DC had no respect for me or my creation. They can deny it all they want, they just didn’t. They screwed me over for decades. The new management reached out to me, specifically Geoff Johns, asked for my side of the story, checked it out, and found out I wasn’t making this crap up. So, we started working. I had a lawyer that was already representing me with Marvel, very amicably. So my lawyer and DC’s lawyer got together to work out an agreement to settle past differences and to go forward. But even before we had signed anything, because it took over a year to get a contract that both sides could agree to, people at DC knew that we were going to work together. That the stories that had been told about me, the slanders they had been told about me, were just not true. They also saw that I’d kept my style fresh, that I was very aware of modern trends. I knew things like TV and comics aren’t the same thing. So the first two things they asked me to do was look at a screener of [the CW’s DC’s] Legends of Tomorrow and write a critique of it for them. And I really liked Legends of Tomorrow, but there were two things I didn’t like about it. I thought Hawkman was really stiff, and I thought Vandal Savage was not nearly as menacing as the big bad should be. And in case you didn’t notice, they got rid of Hawkman. [laughter] TRUMBULL: They were both written out at the end of the first season. ISABELLA: …They were kind of stuck with Vandal Savage, but they got rid of Hawkman. And the next thing they had me write was a paper called “Black Lightning’s Core Values,” and that was the starting point for both my new series and the TV series. And all along the way. When they hired the Akils, we had phone conferences, and they’re asking me questions about comic books I wrote 40 years ago. They’d clearly studied the material. They’re passionate about it. They flew me to Burbank to talk to the writers. I was with the writers for about six hours. It was a long, very productive session; I have private messaged with about half the cast, who would ask me questions about their characters and everything.
TRUMBULL: Would it be questions about the characters’ backstories, as you saw them? ISABELLA: Yeah. Oh, I’ve got to tell you, Christine Adams, who knows the backstory of my new Lynn Stewart. When I told her, her face lit up and she went, “Spinoff!” [laughter] She is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s right up there with my wife and Maureen O’Hara from The Quiet Man. So yeah, they would ask about stuff like that. I always tell them, “Don’t tell the director Tony told you to do this.” Now, the writers and the showrunners, they were fine with my participation, but directors can be a little funny sometimes. TRUMBULL: So you’re sort of pushing them in certain directions behind the scenes? ISABELLA: I’m just telling them, but I say, “Run it by the directors.” Sometimes the actors would do stuff just because I’d suggest something, and they’d do it, and the director would say, “Okay, that’s good,” or they’d go to the directors beforehand. But they always make it seem like it was their idea, which is fine. There is a lot of me in this show, but I’ve gotten a lot of out of the show, too. People will frequently say, “Hey, we saw that on the show, and that’s in Cold Dead Hands. Did they get that from you?” and I honestly can’t tell you. It could be a coincidence, because we’re both starting from the same point, or it could be something that we batted around in the writers’ room. If you’ve ever been in a writers’ room, the ideas come fast and furious. Nobody’s taking notes on who came up with what. There’s somebody taking notes on everything, but it’s not specific to any one of the writers. I have a feeling that writers were assigned scripts, but I’m sure there were other participants in these scripts. But yeah, there’s a lot of me in the TV show, and things in the TV show have informed me. Like I said, if I do more stories with this new Black Lightning, I plan to add Inspector Henderson to the cast. Because I wanted to do different things, Tobias Whale is not an albino in the new comic-book series, but I promised Krondon, Marvin Jones, that I will create an albino superhero. Marvin Jones is a phenomenon. They’ve put more into Tobias Whale than I’ve ever done. I think my guy is pretty scary, but Krondon’s is very scary too. And he’s the nicest guy in the world. It took me weeks to get him to stop calling me “Mr. Isabella.” “Marvin, we’re friends, you can call me Tony!” Great guy. He’s done interviews where he’s given me props for creating Tobias Whale. He knows the backstory of how I came to want to do black characters in comics. And he’s been really good about giving me props. Cress has been, Salim [Akim] has been. In a lot of these interviews, the comic book never comes up, but whenever they get a chance, the cast and crew, they mention me. They really have made me a part of the family. TRUMBULL: That’s great. And it’s really cool that you guys have this symbiotic relationship, the comics and the show, because you’re influencing each other. And the setup you’re using in the comic is a bit different than the show. As you said before, the daughter characters in your version are his cousins. Jefferson Pierce is still a teacher, instead of a principal like he is on the show. And he’s just met Lynn, instead of them being divorced. ISABELLA: On their first date, they go to the Superman exhibit at the Cleveland Public Library. TRUMBULL: And that’s something else that’s interesting. You’ve changed the setting a bit each time you’ve done Black Lightning. When you started him in the ’70s, he was in Metropolis. ISABELLA: He was in Cleveland in the 1990s series, but we never called it that. It was Brick City, which is an actual neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland. It was relatively cheap housing built for
Paying Respect Black Lightning joins Superman and Wonder Woman in a solemn salute to the fallen of the New York City terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in this extraordinary illustration by and courtesy of Trevor Von Eeden. Characters TM & © DC Comics.
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Black Lightning, Third Strike Tony’s most recent (as of this writing) BL comic was the 2018 miniseries Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands. Pages 2 and 3 of issue #1 (Jan. 2018). Ary by Clayton Henry. TM & © DC Comics.
the returning servicemen. And then, as white flight hit, and people moved out to the suburbs, it became one of the predominant black neighborhoods in Cleveland. But the Brick City exists. That’s the name of the neighborhood. TRUMBULL: In the ’90s series, you called it Brick City, but it was just the name of the neighborhood, and you were kind of coy about the big city it took place in. ISABELLA: I didn’t want anyone else in the DC Universe to know where Black Lightning was, because I was trying to avoid them using him. [laughter] TRUMBULL: You didn’t want other writers mucking with your stories. ISABELLA: I’m not a big fan of crossovers. I know the fans like them, I know they sometimes boost sales, but these company-wide events… they never really leave you satisfied. You put all this effort in being intimate with this story, and showing them a good time, and then they finish before you do. [laughter] It’s just so unsatisfying. TRUMBULL: What made you decide to be explicit about putting him in Cleveland in this latest series? ISABELLA: Well, I’ve become kind of a minor celebrity in Cleveland lately. I felt that the city that created Superman deserved to have its own DC superhero. The stuff that’s been happening in Cleveland is just insane. I speak at colleges, I speak at schools. I am one of Cleveland Magazine’s “Most Interesting People in 2018.” So we go to this party, my wife and I go to this party for Cleveland Magazine. Great party. And they have a photographer there taking our pictures, and this photographer shoots 50 shots of me. He says, “Give me a superhero pose.” And I kind of grimace, because I know what’s happening. So I do the [superhero pose], and I talk to my wife, and I say, “That’s the one they’re going to use.” My wife said, “No, no, the others were much nicer.” I said, “Trust me, that’s the one they’re going to use. I’ll be surprised if they restrain themselves enough not to add lightning bolts coming out of my head.” [laughter] And they did restrain themselves on that level, but yes, that’s the photo they used, and to be honest, that’s the photo I would have used, too. TRUMBULL: Of course. That’s the most dramatic. ISABELLA: But the Cleveland Monsters hockey team—which is not a very good hockey team, but they’re nice—they’re owned by the same
people who own the Cleveland Cavaliers and everything. Well, they had a Marvel Monsters Night. And one of my neighbors works for them in the publicity department, and said, “I know this guy who used to work for Marvel Comics.” So they brought me in, me and my family, they gave us great tickets for Marvel Monsters Night, and during the intermission, they had me signing mini-posters of Daredevil and Luke Cage comics that I had written the stories for. During the intermission, I signed hundreds of these. I lost track, probably around 500 of these mini-posters that I had signed, and then afterwards they gave them to me, so I’m selling them at my table. But yeah, it’s just been incredible. And I like [the series] being in Cleveland, because Cleveland used to have some really great old buildings that no longer exist. But it occurred to me, why can’t they still exist in the DC Universe version? And in fact, the climactic battle in Black Lightning #5 and 6, between Black Lightning and Tobias Whale, takes place at an actual abandoned Coast Guard station. It’s called Whiskey Island in the real world; I called it Scotch Island in the comic book. I sent the artist reference on this abandoned facility, and that’s what you see in the comic book. And again, if I do more stories with Black Lightning and if you want to see more stories in the vein of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands, which unfortunately did not sell well, you need to let DC know. And if you haven’t bought the series, except for the fact that you’ll really enjoy the comic… TRUMBULL: It’s a good read. ISABELLA: Wait for the trade paperback. Because if the trade paperback comes back with really good sales, then there’s more of a chance that I’ll be doing Black Lightning, and he won’t go back to being the guy who says, “How high?” when Batman asks him to jump. Because it’s really important to me that Black Lightning never again be subservient to any other hero. I don’t care if it’s Batman or Superman, never again. He’s his own man. TRUMBULL: I think this is a good place to mention that there are reprints of Tony’s previous work on Black Lightning in this nice trade paperback that has all the ’70s stories, and the second one has the stories by other creators after you left. And there’s a third one in the works, right? That’s going to cover the ’90s series. ISABELLA: Yeah, the ’90s series was supposed to be reprinted right after the ’70s series, but I realized that they’ll never reprint those ’80s
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Black Lightning on TV (left) Cress Williams as our hero on the CW’s Black Lightning. (top right) Tony electrifies the lightning vest! (bottom right) China Anne McClain, who plays Jennifer Pierce on the CW show, and Isabella. Photos courtesy of Tony Isabella. (inset) Sinbad as Black Lightning in the Superman’s Funeral sketch on the November 21, 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live. Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics. Saturday Night Live © NBC Television.
stories if they don’t do them now. So I actually talked DC into making the second volume be these ’80s stories, even though they’re not written by me. I did write a new introduction for the book. But the next Black Lightning trade paperback will be the collection of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands and that will have a new afterword by me, because I want people to read the story before I talk about the story. TRUMBULL: We have time for some questions from the audience. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’m curious if you’re a fan of James Baldwin’s and if you’ve seen I Am Not Your Negro and if you’re familiar with the Lynching Museum? ISABELLA: I am familiar with the Lynching Museum. I know I’ve read James Baldwin. I can’t say that I’ve read him recently, but I have read black authors talking about the subject. I’m real familiar with the lynching stuff. And quite frankly, I had hoped if this series really takes off and eventually I get an ongoing series, and Black Lightning becomes a big hit in the comic-book world, I want to do Elseworlds stories that put Black Lightning into these different eras, so that I can examine some of these things. Like baseball, Jackie Robinson. Because I worked on Crankshaft with Tom Batiuk, and I created a character, Jefferson Jacks—you can guess where I got the Jefferson part of that—who was the first black ballplayer that Ed Crankshaft ever knew, and I did a lot of research into Jackie Robinson and the other black players. I mean, not that Jackie didn’t have it tough, ’cause he did— he was always getting death threats—but he always
had Branch Rickey at his back. The other guys didn’t. And in this comic strip, you see that. They’d go to restaurants and the black player can’t go in. They can’t always stay at the same hotels. They’d be put up by families in these communities. So there’s all these fascinating stories. I’m clearly maybe not the best guy to tell these stories, but I would like to tell these stories. I would like to put Black Lightning, or a version thereof, in these other eras to shine a light on these things, because it’s really important. We’ve got a resurgence of racists in this country that starts from the White House. It’s true, if you forget history, it repeats itself. I don’t to see a repeat of any of that s---. It’s wrong, it’s always been wrong. F--- your Confederate flags. Tear down those statues. I swear if I get Black Lightning down South or something in any new stories, he will f---ing blast those statues off the pedestals. Get over it. You lost. TRUMBULL: Anything else you want to say about Black Lightning, Tony? ISABELLA: If you want a Black Lightning true to the core values of my creation, you’re only going to get that in two places. New comic-book stories written by me, or the wonderful TV series. I’m not currently writing the character— which is DC’s choice—and he’s been regressed into just another Batman sidekick. That’s so insulting to the character, his creator, and his fans. He’s a headliner. He’s not Batman’s Support Negro. It disturbs me greatly that, 40-plus years after the Black Bomber, there are folks at DC who still don’t understand such things. But DC has underestimated both Black Lightning and myself in the past. I’m hoping I’ll be reunited with my creation sooner rather than later. Thanks to Tony Isabella for his permission to publish this conversation in BACK ISSUE, and to Cliff Galbraith and everyone at the East Coast Comicon for making this panel possible. You can read more about Tony Isabella and Black Lightning at http://tonyisabella.blogspot.com/ and at http://atomicjunkshop.com/ tony-isabella-on-black-lightningand-creator-credit. Opinions expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine or its publisher. JOHN TRUMBULL has been writing for BACK ISSUE since issue #64. He thankfully has not been replaced with Black Vulcan yet.
52 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
The Black Bomber has become one of comics’ most infamous behind-the-scenes stories. Was DC really planning to publish a black superhero who was secretly a white racist? It sounds too outrageous to be true. But it happened. Forty years after the fact, it’s difficult by J o h n Tr u m b u l l to find anyone to go on record about the Black Bomber. Writer Robert Kanigher, DC managing editor Joe Orlando, and DC publisher Carmine Infantino have robert kanighter all passed away. Former DC editors Caricature by Joe Bob Rozakis and Jack C. Harris did not Kubert. © DC Comics. become involved with Black Lightning until after the Black Bomber project had been scrapped. Former DC editorial coordinator Paul Levitz declined to comment, and Black Bomber editor Gerry Conway did not respond to emails. This much we know: In 1976, DC Comics planned to introduce a new black superhero, the first black character to headline his own title (rival Marvel Comics had already introduced Luke Cage, Hero for Hire in 1972). DC mainstay Robert Kanigher wrote two scripts for a proposed character called the Black Bomber, a black superhero who was a white man in his secret identity. The scripts were bought by DC editor Gerry Conway, but were never drawn or published. Writer Tony Isabella was asked to rework the scripts and take over the proposed series with the third issue, but Isabella instead convinced DC editorial to scrap the character altogether and let him create a brand-new hero as a replacement. Mike Gold, DC’s public relations representative shortly afterwards, tells BACK ISSUE, “Black Bomber has attained mythic proportions, to be sure. In fact, if Tony didn’t say he was given the shot at writing it, I might not believe it really existed. But, then again, after Lois Lane #106, I shouldn’t have been surprised.” [Author’s note: Gold is referring to the infamous story “I am Curious (Black)!” from Lois Lane #106 (Nov. 1970), in which Lois Lane is transformed into a black woman for 24 hours in order to better understand the plight of Metropolis’ African-American population. The tale was also written by Robert Kanigher.] Recalling the process on his Twitter account in September 2016, Gerry Conway wrote, “I suggested to Carmine DC needed a black superhero, Carmine suggested Bob, Bob wrote a script I couldn’t use.” In an interview with Robin Snyder in The Comics Journal #85 (Oct. 1983), Robert Kanigher recalled, “I suppose I was irritated with Conway for buying two scripts of a new character I had created. A white Archie Bunker by day, a longshoreman with all the racial and social prejudices, with a white girlfriend; and a black superhero at night, with a black girlfriend. A white and black Jekyll and Hyde. I took great care in quasi-scientific explanation for the change in pigmentation. Naturally, neither side of the character was aware of the other. It was during Conway’s brief tenure as editor. It would Before Black Bomber… have been DC’s first black superhero. I wanted to call it Black and White.” When asked what happened to …writer Bob Kanigher penned this notorious story for his scripts for the series, Kanigher replied, “Nothing. Conway just sat on it while I thought it was in production. Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #106 (Nov. 1970). Cover art When he left his desk and I encountered him in the hall by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. at DC, I wanted to know why nothing had been done. Conway just said: ‘You can’t win ’em all!’” TM & © DC Comics. Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53
You Dropped the Bomb on Me Scribe Dwayne McDuffie and artist Ed Benes’ Black Bomber takeoff, the Brown Bomber, from Justice League of America #26 (Dec. 2008). In the next-to-last panel, Bomber’s word balloon inappropriately asking if he can use the n-word while black was removed by DC. TM & © DC Comics.
Kanigher’s creation (which we backed away from as soon as he delivered those first scripts, and tried to fix but absolutely couldn’t) and the Black Lightning that came after. I feel protective of the older forgotten writers of the ’60s, especially Kanigher, who was treated horribly by DC at the time (though no worse than Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, and Bob Haney) when the company replaced them with a new generation of writers like me. In my desire to gain justice for Bob I did a major injustice to Tony. Obviously I was wrong. Sorry, Tony.” Mike Gold, arriving at DC in August 1976 (coincidentally inheriting Tony Isabella’s office from his six-month editorial stint), tells BACK ISSUE, “I handled the launch publicity for Black Lightning, and the phrase ‘Black Bomber’ never came up. I suspect I didn’t hear about Black Bomber until after BL was out, but, of course, that was over 40 years ago.” As the Black Bomber scripts that Kanigher turned in were considered problematic at best, it does not appear that any artwork was done for the book, outside of the costume design that Tony Isabella recalls. Mike Gold confirms that this was likely the case. “All I can say is, I’d been through the unpublished inventory when I put together Cancelled Comics Cavalcade,” Gold says. “I routinely fidgeted through the art and logo files, and I never saw any evidence that it went past those two scripts. Which, of course, I hadn’t seen. I doubt there was a conscious effort to purge the place of any evidence—it was just a really bad idea that a couple people didn’t realize was a bad idea at the time, but probably would have pretty soon thereafter. But if Spike Lee ever wants to make a sequel to Bamboozled… “Really, after that issue of Lois Lane, everybody at DC should have known better, and I suspect many staffers would have voiced their opinion at the time had they known about it, and had it gone any further than it did.” When asked if it was because of Tony Isabella’s pleas that the Black Bomber project was scuttled, Gold states, “DC didn’t need Tony to be motivated to write off those scripts. They just wanted to see if anything could be salvaged. They probably knew better, but what the hell. Give it a shot.” Like Rashomon, everyone seems to remember the Black Bomber story slightly differently. The main thing that everyone seems to agree on is that it’s best that the character never saw the light of day. Strangely enough, that is not the end of the story. In 2008, writer Dwayne McDuffie, co-founder of Milestone Comics and an outspoken critic of comics’ previous efforts at diversity (Google “Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers memo” sometime), inserted a parody of the Black Bomber into Justice League of America #26 (Dec. 2008). In a storyline where the JLAers were being replaced by versions from an alternate timeline, an overweight white man appears in Leaguer Black Lightning’s place. After offensively referring to Vixen as an “affirmative action hire,” he then demonstrates his power: With the magic words “Black Power,” he is transformed into a black man, complete with a ’70s-style Afro and medallion. He explains to Vixen, “I only have my powers when I turn black, or should I say African American? Anyway, they only last for one hour. I call it ‘C.P.T.’ ” The Brown Bomber’s next line, asking if he could use the n-word while he was in his black identity, was cut by editorial, rendering Vixen’s response, “No. You absolutely can’t,” somewhat nonsensical. Mike Gold offers one more humorous coda to the Black Bomber/Black Lightning story: “Back in the day, a bunch of folks were in my office and the subject got around to the creation of Black Lightning. Tony was in Ohio, but Bob Kanigher was there. At one point, he chirped up ‘Bulls---! I created Black Lightning!’ The room became so quiet you could hear the Elongated Man digest his lunch. Finally, a light bulb went off over my head. ‘You mean the horse? Johnny Thunder’s horse?’ Without missing a beat, Bob said yes. “And everybody slowly left my office. Including me. We went to dinner. Without Bob.” Thanks to Mike Gold and John Wells for research assistance.
54 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
TM & © DC Comics.
Describing Kanigher’s script in 2016, Conway wrote, “Like Trump, Bob insisted he understood ‘the blacks,’ so imagine a Trump-scripted black superhero.” Soon after, Gerry Conway left DC for six months and spent a short stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief starting in March 1976. Conway initially recalled that he was the one who gave Tony Isabella the Black Bomber scripts to revise and salvage somehow, and that Isabella retained some character names from Kanigher’s concept. Isabella vehemently disputed this account, insisting that Joe Orlando was the one who gave him the assignment and that he kept nothing from Kanigher’s scripts. Conway later recanted in a post on Tumblr, writing, “Honestly, my memory of the sequence of events is different from Tony’s, but given his firm adherence to his version, I accept it totally and offer my apologies. Rather than diminish Tony’s work (though that was the outcome) I simply wanted to acknowledge Bob Kanigher’s. In my memory there was more of a direct connection between
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Black Lightning TM & © DC Comics.
Trevor Von Eeden will forever be THE Black Lightning artist for many Bronze Age babies—and in this electrifying gallery, you can see why. The specialty illustration on this page and cover re-imaginings on the two pages following are courtesy of Mr. Von Eeden and Shaun Clancy.
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56 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57
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by E
d Lute
In the 1970s, while Marvel Comics was giving readers more diversity in its comics with characters such as the Black Panther, the Falcon, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Storm, DC Comics gave its readers the nonsuperpowered hero Mal Duncan, who first premiered in Teen Titans #26 (Apr. 1970), and John Stewart, who first took the oath in Green Lantern #87 (Dec. 1971). Otherwise, from the Golden Age forward, DC didn’t offer much in the way of diversity where its superheroes were concerned. DC’s offerings of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and others of their pantheon were not representative of the multicultural makeup of our country. But with a flash of lightning, Marvel’s Distinguished Competition struck back with one of the finest African-American characters to enter the comic-book field: Black Lightning. Although the House of Ideas’ premier black superhero, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, presented readers with an empowering depiction of an African American, DC Comics took its character Jefferson Pierce (Black Lightning’s alter ego) to a new level by making him a schoolteacher. In doing so, DC provided African-American readers with a superhero that not only looked like them, but presented a positive role model who was successful in an important and life-changing career. Writer Tony Isabella created Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning in Black Lightning #1 (Apr. 1977), with artist Trevor Von Eeden. However, Isabella would leave the book after the first ten issues over a dispute discussed in this issue’s interview with the Black Lightning creator. The question then became, Without Isabella’s guiding vision, would the character of Black Lightning survive? The answer was yes, but not without some growing pains, including a cancelled series, the loss of Black Lightning’s powers, the loss of Von Eeden, and the character’s lower-profile backup features in World’s Finest Comics and Detective Comics before finding his home in a team book. So let’s look at Black Lightning’s exploits beyond those originally chronicled by Isabella.
BLACK LIGHTNING IMPLODES
Dark Night in Suicide Slum Splash page to the first post-Isabella issue, Black Lightning #11 (Sept.–Oct. 1978), with Denny O’Neil as the new writer. TM & © DC Comics.
When Isabella left Black Lightning, scripting of the series was put into the hands of legendary comic-book writer Denny denny o’neil O’Neil. At the time O’Neil took over writing duties on Black Lightning, © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. he was best known for his work on DC Comics’ Batman and, along with artist Neal Adams, for bringing social issues such as racism, ecology, urban decay, and most notably drug use into the groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow run which began in Green Lantern #76 (Apr. 1970). For Black Lightning editor Jack C. Harris, no other writer at the time was better suited to follow Isabella. “Two of the writers I respected most for their professionalism and talent are Denny O’Neil and Tony Isabella,” Harris tells BACK ISSUE. “It seemed a natural selection for me.” O’Neil took over writing Black Lightning with issue #11 (Oct. 1978). So, what drew him to the character of Black Lightning? “I imagine that my interest in the character reflected my desire to get more diversity into comics,” O’Neil tells BACK ISSUE. In O’Neil’s first story, Jefferson Pierce as Black Lightning saved the life of one of his students from the villainous Major Corpo, who took advantage of illegal immigrants. Just like now, illegal immigration was an important, socially relevant topic when this issue was published. Although O’Neil layered the story with social commentary, the tale itself was a self-contained one that was the usual modus operandi for DC Comics at the time. The pencils for the issue were provided by Black Lightning’s defining artist, Trevor Von Eeden. Von Eeden recalls, “I’d penciled BL #11 in about three days (yep… seven pages a day, no kidding)—but I’m hard-pressed to remember why, to be perfectly honest. I was never the kind of artist to cut corners, or deliberately do a half-assed job (most especially at the very beginning of a dream-job career)—so I know that was neither a factor, nor the reason—but I definitely remember drawing that job in
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Von Eeden Unplugged …or make that uninked. A photocopy of Trevor’s pencil art from Black Lightning #11, page 2, and the completed, published page. Pencil copy courtesy of Trevor Von Eeden. TM & © DC Comics.
my 6’ x 9’ room in my mother’s house, the same way In case you don’t know: In the late 1970s, DC Comics that I’d drawn everything else: sitting on my bed, with a attempted to compete with Marvel Comics by raising drawing board propped up on my lap. I actually the price of its comics but providing more content never used a drawing table in those early per issue, offering readers a better value and years, except for the ones at Neal Adams’ newsstand retailers a bigger profit margin Continuity Studios, where I’d worked on DC titles. This initiative was called concurrent with my 25-year DC career.” the DC Explosion. Quickly on its heels, Black Lightning #11 was part of however, followed the DC Implosion, the DC Explosion initiative (explained an unfortunate market reversal where below). The Black Lightning story was a slew of weak-selling DC titles were the same page length as previous abruptly cancelled, and some staff stories, so the extra pages were taken personnel terminated. (See TwoMorrows’ up by a “Ray” backup feature. The Ray 2018 book, Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 by story was written by Roger McKenzie, with artwork by John Fuller and Bob Keith Dallas and John Wells, for more Wiacek. A second Ray backup story information on this complex, tragic comic-book industry incident.) would never be seen by the comictrevor von eeden reading public. Black Lightning was a casualty of the Courtesy of Trevor Von Eeden. Black Lightning’s solo title wouldn’t DC Implosion. The last issue of Black last long under O’Neil (only one issue, to be exact). Lightning to be published was #11, although #12 This wasn’t through any fault of the new writer, but a had been written and illustrated. That issue did appear result of the infamous DC Implosion. (along with the cover to issue #13) in black-and-white photocopy form in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #1 (June 1978), the first of two such issues that primitively published Implosion-canned material for copyright preservation. Neither issue was made available to the public. Comic buyers wouldn’t see the story until over a year later. Von Eeden states, “I found out the BL series was to be cancelled shortly after drawing issue #10—and I’d assume it was [Black Lightning editor] Jack C. Harris who told me. I was quite disappointed that DC Comics lacked such faith in their very first black superhero. I was already somewhat insulted that I’d been instructed to draw issue #10 ‘in a Carmine Infantino style’— something I’d never heard of any veteran comics artist ever being asked to do—yet there I was, a 17-year-old black kid, barely a freshman in college with no professional training in art, nor anything else
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Magnetic Personality Courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com), original Rich Buckler/ Vince Colletta cover art for the unpublished Black Lightning #12. TM & © DC Comics.
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ELECTRIFIED COLLECTIONS Until recently, Black Lightning’s non-Tony Isabella Bronze Age stories were hard to find in collected editions. However, DC Comics has since rectified this with these electrifying collections: • Black Lightning vol. 1 contains Black Lightning #11 and World’s Finest Comics #260 (the story that would have been Black Lightning #12), as well as Isabella’s complete run on Black Lightning’s original series. • Black Lightning vol. 2 features Black Lightning’s backup tales from World’s Finest Comics #256–259 and 261 and Detective Comics #490, 491, 494, and 495, as well as his appearances in DC Comics Presents #16, Justice League of America #173–174, and The Brave and the Bold #163. • The complete run of Batman and the Outsiders is collected in three hardcover volumes. Vol. 1 contains The Brave and Bold #200, BATO # 1–13, and New Teen Titans #37; vol. 2 contains BATO #14–23 and Annual #1; and vol. 3 contains BATO #24–32, Annual #2, and DC Comics Presents #83. • The first 25 issues of the BATO are also collected in glorious black and white in DC’s Showcase Presents line. The Adventures of the Outsiders and The Outsiders series have yet to be collected as of this writing. The World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip also hasn’t been collected, so hopefully DC Comics will eventually produce these editions so readers can complete their Bronze Age Black Lightning collections.
for that matter, being told to magically adapt my own drawing style into that of another artist—and a seasoned veteran professional, at that! I was never given a reason for this bizarre instruction/art direction, but I do remember being quite insulted by the directive. However, it was my job to do what I was told (at least so I’d thought at the time)—and I did.” When asked about why Black Lightning was cancelled as a part of the DC Implosion, DC Comics’ one-time “Answer Man,” Bob Rozakis, states, “The sales had to be lower than the books that remained on the schedule. I don’t recall what the cutoff point was back then, but it was pretty high. I suspect that most if not all of the books published today don’t reach the number that BL was selling when it was cancelled. I have no way of knowing. Given today’s sensibilities, it should be a hit—it certainly seems to be for the CW [which airs the Black Lightning live-action TV show—ed.]—but back in the ’70s was a different story.”
BACKING UP THE WORLD’S FINEST
With his solo series cancelled, Black Lightning was in limbo for a few months until he found a home as a backup feature in World’s Finest Comics. World’s Finest was an anthology series that traditionally featured main stories teaming Batman and Superman, as well as a variety of different characters presented in backup tales. At this time, Green Arrow, Black Canary, the Atom, the Creeper, and many others were included TM & © DC Comics. in the backup stories. Now Black Lightning was added to this roster. Even though Black Lightning was appearing in a new comic book, he wouldn’t be facing this change alone. His new backup feature was written by Denny O’Neil. However, Black Lightning’s first appearance in World’s Finest wasn’t in his own backup feature. He was introduced into the comic by way of a Green Arrow backup story that would set the stage for his first story arc in the anthology series. In World’s Finest Comics #256 (Apr.–May 1979), Black Lightning appeared in the Green Arrow story written by O’Neil with art by Dick Dillin and Frank Chiaramonte. In the tale, the Emerald Archer was on the trail of a criminal that led him to Metropolis’ Suicide Slum. There he met up with Black Lightning. They fought, and after realizing they were on the same side, they teamed up. Black Lightning informed Green Arrow that the villain they were after was named Tobias Whale— Lightning’s main adversary in his solo series. At the end of the tale, Green Arrow wished Black Lightning good luck and left him to face Whale alone. The storyline continued in Black Lightning’s solo feature in World’s Finest #257 and concluded in #258, with Black Lightning defeating Whale. George Tuska provided the pencils for the Black Lightning story that appeared in #257, while Bob Smith inked it. The art team of Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal was featured in the story from #258. “The Last Hideout” appeared in issue #259 (Oct.–Nov. 1979) and was a standalone 11-pager, where Jefferson Pierce helped save one of his students named Jerry Haslip, who was kidnapped by wannabe gangster Mohawk Shuck. The story was written by O’Neil, with layouts by Marshall Rogers, pencils by Michael Nasser, and inks by Vince Colletta. Up until Black Lightning’s relocation to World’s Finest, Trevor Von Eeden was the artist who defined the character. Why didn’t he illustrate these backup adventures? “I didn’t work on any BL backups because I was never asked,” Von Eeden tells BI. “I wasn’t even aware he appeared in WF and Detective Comics until [you informed me].”
Implosion Casualty A poor-quality photocopy of the title page to the Michael Nasser-penciled Black Lightning #12. TM & © DC Comics.
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Remember the story that was supposed to appear in Black Lightning #12? The comic-buying public was finally able to read it in World’s Finest Comics #260 (Dec. 1979–Jan. 1980). The story was written by O’Neil, with art supplied by Nasser and Colletta. In the story, Black Lightning helped one of his students who had run away while also battling an old Green Lantern villain, Dr. Polaris. Black Lightning made one final solo appearance in World’s Finest. The ten-pager “Return of the River Rat,” by O’Neil, Tanghal, and Colletta, appeared in issue #261. In the tale, Black Lightning became entangled in a plot to smuggle exiled criminal Sonny Rabb back into the country. The Black Lightning stories in World’s Finest Comics #256, 257, 258, 259, and 261 were good, and par for the course for most DC comics of the time period; however, they don’t contain any of O’Neil’s trademark social commentary. The shorter format didn’t seem to allow O’Neil to add the social relevance. While O’Neil is rightfully regarded a comic-book legend, his Black Lightning stories never achieved the stature of his other work. Starting with issue #262 (Apr.– May 1980), Aquaman took over Black Lightning’s slot in World’s Finest Comics. Thankfully, this wouldn’t be the last we’d see of our electrified hero.
METROPOLIS’ FINEST TEAM UP
While Black Lightning was still appearing in backup tales in World’s Finest Comics, he made an appearance in the Superman team-up book DC Comics Presents. In DCCP #16 (Dec. 1979), Black Lightning joined forces with his Metropolis neighbor Superman in a tale written by O’Neil and penciled by Joe Staton, with Chiaramonte inks. During the story, Black Lightning punched a criminal to stop him from robbing a citizen on a subway in the Suicide Slum section of Metropolis. The unnamed criminal fired his gun twice as he was hit. One of the bullets hit and killed Trina Shelton, a passenger on the subway. The other bullet damaged the controls on the subway car, which caused it to careen off the tracks. Thankfully, since Suicide Slum is a part of Metropolis, Superman was around and saved the subway train. Shelton’s boyfriend tuned out to be an alien lifeform that wanted Black Lightning to die for Shelton’s death. In an attempt to destroy Black Lightning, the alien took several shapes such as a Cro-Magnon man, a pterodactyl, and an energy being before he was stopped by the Metropolis super-duo. The alien had been living on Earth because he couldn’t escape its gravity. Superman helped him leave the planet and go back to his people. The story doesn’t allow Black Lightning to grieve over the death he inadvertently caused. The story itself is a fairly commonplace team-up, but its effects on Black Lightning would linger. The death of Trina Shelton would continue to haunt him for many years and play an important role in later storylines. While this story was important in the life of Black Lightning, neither the writer nor penciler remember it. Staton tells BACK ISSUE, “I’m afraid I don’t remember a thing about that job. I should have taken better notes back then.”
In World’s Finest Comics The art combo of Rogers, Nasser, and Colletta, on O’Neil’s BL tale from World’s Finest Comics #259 (Oct.–Nov. 1979). TM & © DC Comics.
NO JUSTICE
Black Lightning also appeared in Justice League of America #173 (Dec. 1979), an issue that went on sale the same day as his DCCP appearance. In writer Gerry Conway’s “Testing of a Hero,” Green Arrow suggested to the other members of the League that Black Lightning be considered as a prospective member. The other members of the JLA including Superman, Zatanna, Flash, and Green Lantern disagree on whether to admit him to the team or not. The League assessed Black Lightning to see if he was worthy by posing as villains to see if BL could defeat them. Black Lightning passed their tests and was offered membership, but he declined the offer. A subplot during the issue featured a villain named the Regulator who broke into the S.T.A.R Labs in Suicide Slum; this wouldn’t be resolved until the next issue. Black Lightning again appeared in issue #174 (Jan. 1980) of JLA, but didn’t even rate a cover appearance. Superman, Batman, Zatanna, Elongated Man, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow made up the Justice League in this issue. Black Lightning teamed up with the JLA to defeat the Regulator. The issue ended with the League again offering membership to Black Lightning, with BL declining again, saying he’s a solo act. Both issues were scripted by Conway, with artwork by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Black Lightning would eventually become a member of the Justice League, but not until many years later.
JUSTICE (KIND OF)
Even though he decided not to join with the Justice League of America, Black Lightning would team up with some JLAers in The World’s Greatest Superheroes, a daily comic strip distributed by the Chicago Tribune/ New York News Syndicate from April 3rd, 1978 through October 13th, 1979. The strip featured some of DC Comics’ most popular characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. The strip would change from one featuring multiple DC characters to a Superman-only feature. With this change, the strip was retitled The World’s Greatest Superheroes Presents Superman and ran from October 14th, 1979 until August 14th, 1982, before being renamed Superman until the final daily strip appeared on February 9th, 1985. Black Lightning appeared in “The Disco Disappearances” storyline of the newspaper strip, also featuring Superman, Batman, Robin, and Black Canary. Martin Pasko wrote this sequence, which ran from October 25th, 1978 until January 21st, 1979, with art by George Tuska and Vince Colletta. This was Black Lightning’s only appearance in the newspaper strip.
DETECTING BLACK LIGHTNING
Black Lightning’s backup solo feature was moved to Detective Comics starting with issue #490 (May 1980). Along with this move, Black Lightning also lost O’Neil. O’Neil had made the move to Marvel Comics, where he
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(Suicide) Slumming Black Lightning, guest-star, in (left) DC Comics Presents #16 (Dec. 1979, cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano), (middle) Justice League of America #173 (Dec. 1979, cover by Dicks Dillin and Giordano), and (right) The Brave and the Bold #163 (June 1980, cover by Jim Aparo). TM & © DC Comics.
became an editor. Writers Martin Pasko and J. M. DeMatteis Suicide Slum Olympic Games. A gang kidnapped some would chronicle Black Lightning’s adventures that appeared of the Olympians and held them hostage. Black Lightning in Detective Comics. As to why Black Lightning’s backup stepped in and rescued them, but not before one of the feature was moved from World’s Finest to Detective, athletes was killed. The leader of the gang showed signs Bob Rozakis tells BACK ISSUE, “Most likely just a juggling of mental instability because after killing the Olympian, to characters and who was editing which books.” he tried to force his own shooting in a death-by-cop Pasko took over chronicling Black Lightning’s exploits scenario. Black Lightning was able to save him. Metropolis first. In his first story, he had Black Lightning receive Police Department Inspector William Henderson, initially an electric shock as he attempted to use his powers a Superman radio and TV character who made his first while he was sprayed with water. The story ended with comic-book appearance in Action Comics #442 (Dec. 1974), Black Lightning unconscious as a result of the shock. saw the criminals only as animals who needed to be put down like dogs, but Pierce saw them In the follow-up tale in Detective #491 as human beings who needed help to rise (June 1980), Black Lightning found that he had lost his electric powers because of above their social surroundings. This story the shock. This would remain the represents one of the best post-Isabella status quo for him until 1983. These tales Black Lightning stories. were illustrated by penciler Pat Broderick Regarding the genesis of the and inker Frank McLaughlin. multifaceted story, DeMatteis tells BACK Although Pasko wrote only two ISSUE, “No clear memory, but I suspect it was inspired by the terrible Munich backup stories, they would have an impact on the character for several years to come. Massacre, when terrorists murdered Black Lightning’s next two appearances eleven Israeli Olympic athletes.” in Detective Comics were chronicled by This story marked the first and only DeMatteis. DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE, appearance of Pierce’s ex-wife, Lynn “[Those were] some of my very earliest Stewart, in his post-solo-series backups. martin pasko work. I started at DC writing for the Stewart was on scene to support her Courtesy of Martin Pasko. anthology titles—that’s where new ex-husband’s efforts with the Olympic writers were trained back then—and then Paul Levitz Games. Stewart would have a bigger and more important offered me the Black Lightning series in Detective. Around role in subsequent stories featuring Black Lightning. the same time I also wrote Red Tornado for Paul, Aquaman DeMatteis’s Black Lightning tales featured the depowered for Len Wein, and a few Hawkman stories for Jack Harris. superhero. What did the writer think of the depowered These, along with a one-off Batman story in Detective, superhero? “He was depowered?” DeMatteis asks. “It was were the first superhero assignments I ever had.” so long ago I don’t remember! In the end, though, it’s not In DeMatteis’ first story, “Explosion of the Soul” in powered or depowered that matters, it’s what you do with Detective #494 (Sept. 1980) [the Black Lightning feature the character. It’s all in the psychology and emotions.” took two issues off after Pasko’s last tale—ed.], Black Lightning, more than Superman, Batman, or Black Lightning fought and eventually defeated the Wonder Woman, was tailor-made to deal with social issues. Slime Killer, a vigilante who hunted and killed criminals. DeMatteis’ stories were engaging and thought provoking. The Slime Killer was the father of one of Jefferson Pierce’s “With Black Lightning, which dealt with (in its 1980s students. The father started to kill criminals when his comic-book way) the realities of life in a crime-ridden, wife was killed, and the law couldn’t catch her killer. urban neighborhood and a world where racism caged The Black Lightning story from issue #495 (Oct. 1980), people in subtle, and unsubtle, ways, then, yes, you have titled “Animals,” started with Jefferson Pierce holding the to go for stories of social relevance,” DeMatteis reflects.
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Issue #495 contained the last Black Lightning backup story to appear in Detective Comics. DeMatteis recalls, “I have no idea [why the stories were cancelled]. But I was offered a contract at Marvel when I was working on BL, and that’s why I left.” To answer DeMatteis’ question, it was at this time that Detective Comics went from 68 pages with issue #495 down to 32 pages with issue #496 (Nov. 1980). This only left room for one main feature and one backup story. Paul Levitz, who edited the series during this time, states, “Detective went slimmer, and I used Batgirl stories for most of the rest of my run as editor.” DeMatteis recollects, “I know that I wrote more than two stories for that run. In fact, I remember working like mad to get the other Black Lightning stories done before I jumped over to Marvel. Don’t know why they never appeared and I’m sure Paul Levitz doesn’t remember, either. It’s been a very long time!” However, Levitz does remember: “According to my records, we ‘wrote off’ three Black Lightning scripts by Marc [DeMatteis] and one by Marty [Pasko]. I assume that was because Detective was going to a slimmer format, and as I was nearing the end of my editorial time, I never found another spot for them. [‘Wrote off’] is an accounting term, in the world. Hargrave thought he could for when a decision is made that a accomplish this by taking over Arab oil fields to make America the foremost particular piece of inventory (in this oil-producing country in the world. case ‘work in progress’) is deemed Kupperberg tells BACK ISSUE, “I think valueless and discarded.” as clumsy as a lot of my early writing was, When asked if he remembered anything about the plots of the my instinct was always to go for written-off stories, DeMatteis admits, character over shtick, even if I couldn’t “Not much beyond the fact that there always successfully execute it. I’d grown J. M. Dematteis was a thread in there about police up on the DC Comics of the 1950s Federico Vinci. and early 1960s, when Batman and corruption and hints that Inspector Superman were pretty much one-note characters with Henderson was one of the corrupt officers involved.” the emotional maturity of ten-year-olds—which was THE BRAVE, THE BOLD, AND THE their target audience—but we’d since seen how much more could be done in comics by writers like Stan Lee, BLACK LIGHTNING Between Black Lightning’s appearances in Detective Comics Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas, and the next generation of #490-491 and #494-495, he teamed up with the creators coming into the business. I’d also recently Darknight Detective in DC’s other team-up book, The Brave written my first novel, one of the 1980 Marvel Novel Series and the Bold. Issue #163 (June 1980) featured a team-up edited by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, Spider-Man in between the Caped Crusader and Black Lightning Crime Campaign, and that experience helped open my written by Paul Kupperberg, with pencils and inks by eyes to how rich these characters could be versus what the great Dick Giordano. we had room on the comics page to portray. In retrospect, In what could be seen as a prelude to their later it’s good to know that not only was I was able to pull it adventures together, Batman and Black Lightning worked off, but that some readers noticed.” well as a duo. The team-up featured the two heroes When asked what comes first when writing a team-up battling a megalomaniac named Senator Hargrave, book such as The Brave and the Bold, Kupperberg replies, who was bent on making America the dominant country “The character always comes first. If you’ve come up
Syndicated Superhero (top) Before gueststarring in DCCP and JLA, Black Lightning was involved in a Martin Pasko-written storyline in the World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip. Art by George Tuska and Colletta. Original art courtesy of Heritage. (bottom) Black Lightning is covertouted on Detective Comics #494 and 495. TM & © DC Comics.
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with a generic story that you can plug any character into, there’s something wrong with your story.” So, how was Black Lightning chosen for the issue? Kupperberg states, “The criteria for choosing the characters that appeared in Brave and the Bold was, as I recall, pretty arbitrary. I suppose there were instances when they’d go with a character to give them more exposure or promote some other project, but in my experience it was usually a case of either someone walking in with an idea for a specific character, or the editor being desperate for a character that hadn’t already been overexposed in B&B. I honestly don’t recall whether it was editor Paul Levitz or myself who came up with using Black Lightning in that issue. I liked the character from the get-go. Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella is not only an old friend from way back when in fandom days, but I was a fan of his writing and I thought he’d created a cool, unique hero.” The team-up featured the newly depowered Black Lightning. Kupperberg wasn’t a fan of the depowered idea. He tells BACK ISSUE, “I’ve never really understood why characters would be depowered. [It’s] not a good idea. You want to depower and mess with them for an issue or two, go ahead, but making that their default condition is ridiculous. If the character is struggling in the marketplace with powers intact, what makes you think stripping them of their powers and turning them into ordinary people is going to suddenly attract readers? And when it’s done to minority and female characters, as seems to often be the case, there’s some potent politics being preached, consciously or not.” Kupperberg also relates to BACK ISSUE how he came to write the issue. “First and foremost, and I don’t recall if we ever discussed it, but I hope my take on Black Lightning met with [Isabella’s] approval (although knowing Tony, if it hadn’t, I’d’ve heard something by now). And, the true genesis of this assignment: In 1980 I was living in Chicago and editor Paul Levitz, a friend since childhood, was getting married in New York. I couldn’t afford the airfare to make the trip, so Paul gave me the B&B gig so I could buy the ticket. It was a lovely affair. The bride wore white and the groom wore a look of terror.” Levitz confirms this recollection to BACK ISSUE. “The book was using rotating writers at that point, and Paul K. was a regular DC writer, so it seemed like a good opportunity.” And reflecting on the artwork in the issue, Kupperberg beams, “It was Dick Giordano artwork. It was beautiful!”
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
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Diverse Hands Numerous artists got a shot at drawing Black Lightning over the years, including 1) Joe Staton (inked by Frank Chiaramonte) in DC Comics Presents #16; 2) Pat Broderick (inked by Frank McLaughlin) in Detective #490; 3) Gerard Forton, in Detective #495; 4) Steve Ditko (inked by Jerry Ordway), in Outsiders #13; and 5) Dick Giordano, in Brave and Bold #163. TM & © DC Comics.
After the conclusion of his solo series and several appearances in various comics, Black Lightning wouldn’t star in a comic until he became a member of Batman’s alternative to the Justice League… the Outsiders. In Batman and the Outsiders #1 (Aug. 1983), Batman quit the Justice League and formed his own superhero team consisting of two pre-existing characters— Black Lightning and Metamorpho—and three newly created ones—Katana, Geo-Force, and Halo. The series was written by Mike W. Barr. Why was Black Lightning chosen as one to be a part of the team since his solo series had been cancelled and his backup stories were cut short before all of them saw print? Barr recalls, “When BATO was created, we decided to create three new characters and use two existing characters as the Outsiders. I had always liked Black Lightning, felt he deserved more exposure, and felt that everyone after Tony [Isabella] had done a rotten job on him. So we brought him onto the team. DC wanted to keep the character in the public eye, so they thought that was fine.”
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The Blackboard Jungle (top) Gotham students roll out the unwelcome wagon for new teacher Jefferson Pierce in Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo’s Batman and the Outsiders #6 (Jan. 1984). (bottom) Jefferson Pierce visits Trina Shelton’s grave in BATO #8 (Mar. 1984). TM & © DC Comics.
This is arguably Black Lightning’s most popular time period. His time on the book brought him to a new audience that hadn’t read his solo series or his backup tales. Many fans picked up the series because of Batman but were won over by the exciting adventures of his fellow Outsiders. While BATO was a team book and all of the characters got their chance to shine, Black Lightning would have several important story arcs during the run of the series. This book also allowed the character to grow in several ways that weren’t possible in his short-lived solo series or in a short backup feature. Barr notes of BL’s growth during BATO, “I simply followed the course of the character’s trajectory from Black Lightning #1. He was a loner originally simply because he hadn’t met anyone he trusted, and he liked the other Outsiders.” In Batman and the Outsiders #1, Batman asked Black Lightning for help rescuing Wayne Enterprises’ Lucius Fox from the small country of Markovia. While there, both (as well as other members of the Outsiders) were captured by Baron Bedlam. The second issue (Sept. 1983) began with the heroes trying to escape captivity. Batman wanted Black Lightning to use his electric powers to help them escape, but Black Lightning informed Batman that he no longer had them. Batman correctly surmised that Black Lightning’s power failure was a result over his guilt for the death he inadvertently caused back in DCCP #16. BL fought past his guilt, became able to use his powers again, and freed himself and the other Outsiders. The heroes then defeated Baron Bedlam and decided to work together. As to why Black Lightning’s powers were restored in Batman and the Outsiders, Barr recalls, “Black Lightning without his lightning is essentially Captain America without the shield, and with Batman we already had a superb athlete.” However, this wouldn’t be BATO’s last reference to the events from DCCP #16. In BATO #5 (Dec. 1983), Black Lightning informed Kid Flash (during a memorable New Teen Titans/Batman and the Outsiders crossover) that he had once given up being a superhero because of a death he caused and only became active again because of his association with Batman. Pierce visited the gravesite of Trina this inadvertent death—even though it could be argued Shelton in issue #8 (Mar. 1984). In this issue we learned it wasn’t his fault—came from the deep humanism installed in his character from square one.” that Trina’s parents hired the Masters of Disaster to Issue #21 (May 1985) of BATO featured three solo kill Black Lightning for his role in their daughter’s death. In issue #9 (Apr. 1984), Black Lightning was captured tales, including one for Black Lightning. In the story by the Masters of Disaster. written by Barr and illustrated by Ron Randall, BATO #10 (May 1984) featured a recap of Trina Black Lightning fought the Ghetto-Blaster, who claimed mike w. barr Shelton’s death from DCCP #16. Black Lightning that by destroying buildings in the slums, he helped talked about the pain and regret he felt about Trina’s the people. But in reality, Ghetto-Blaster did it to Alchetron. death. His regret hadn’t been explored in the original locate some money that he had stolen and hidden story. During the flashback, BL was also shown ripping his suit and in the area. Barr remembers, “Some fans thought using a villain calling giving up his superhero identity. During the issue, Trina’s parents himself ‘The Ghetto-Blaster’ was racist, I never could figure out why. came face-to-face with Black Lightning and learned that he wasn’t the I thought Ron Randall did a swell job on that story.” Trevor Von Eeden monster they thought. Batman and the rest of the Outsiders located illustrated the Geo-Force story in the issue. the Masters of Disaster and engaged them in battle. The story ended Batman would leave the Outsiders in issue #32 (Apr. 1986). with the defeat of the Masters of Disaster, but not before Trina’s The Batman-less team would be featured in Adventures of the Outsiders/ mother was killed while trying to save Black Lightning, realizing she The Outsiders until being cancelled with The Outsiders #28 (Feb. 1988). had made a terrible mistake in wanting him dead. In The Outsiders #1 (Nov. 1985), the team relocated from Gotham Regarding this story arc, Barr tells BI, “After Black Lightning’s title City to Los Angeles. Part of Pierce’s reason for moving with the team was cancelled, DC had no kind of plan on how to handle the character, was that his ex-wife Lynn now lived in L.A. Pierce hoped to renew he just showed up in stories to give him as much exposure as possible, his romance with Lynn by moving to the West Coast. In The Outsiders and characterization be damned. Tony was incensed over the casual #9 (July 1986), Lynn was kidnapped by freedom fighters that wanted manner in which Trina’s death was handled, as was I. Though I generally to rid their homeland Mozambia from the rule of the tyrannical disapprove of re-litigating continuity points, I felt this was serious Edward Bentama. Black Lightning rescued Lynn, but she was then enough to make it worth the while, so the plot element was factored kidnapped by Bentama. The storyline then continued for the next into the Masters of Disaster’s first appearance. The regret BL had for several issues with the Outsiders going to Mozambia to rescue Lynn. Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 67
The team finally rescued Lynn and freed the country from Bentama’s reign in issue #12 (Oct. 1986). This storyline was the beginning of Jeff and Lynn rekindling their relationship. “It was clear from BL #1 that Jeff and Lynn may have been divorced, but they were never really separated,” Barr tells BACK ISSUE. “This was a very mature choice to make in the lives of comic-book characters in the late ’70s; it was Tony [Isabella] who deserves all the credit for it.” Most issues of The Outsiders contained a backup solo story featuring different team members. Issue #5 (Mar. 1986) contained a story with Black Lightning and Katana going Christmas shopping. The story had the two Outsiders stop criminals from robbing a mall during the holiday season. This story was a fun look at two characters that are very different. Barr recalls, “Many of the backup stories came from contrasting the characters’ personalities, and I thought such a take showcasing BL and the possible somewhat more frenetic Katana would be an entertaining story.” The story was even illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden. The Outsiders #13 (Nov. 1986) featured another Black Lightning solo tale. The story, illustrated by Steve Ditko with inks by Jerry Ordway, had Black Lightning stop crooks who attempted to rob a convenience store. While Batman was obviously the team leader when the series was called Batman and the Outsiders, Geo-Force became leader after Batman quit the group. Black Lightning, however, was not left out in the cold because he was second-in-command. Barr recalls, “Team leaders tend to be the big, strong, heroic-looking guys. I’m not sure how many readers noticed it, but Geo-Force was a terrible leader and lousy at strategizing. BL was always good at this and was glad to help the team, though he would never be so crass as to openly challenge Geo-Force. That’s not his way.” During the run of the series, many outstanding and fan-favorite artists were featured on the comic. “Jim [Aparo, original BATO artist] was unable to draw The Outsiders title in its entirety, so we were able to secure the services of a number of extremely talented artists who would not have been available for longer stories,” recalls Barr.
“Alan [Davis] was generally able to keep up the art chores on BATO on his own, but before and after his tenure a number of good artists also stepped in, including the late Don Heck.” Beyond the Black Lightning/Katana backup story and the Geo-Force tale, Von Eeden was involved with more BATO stories. “BL appeared in Batman and the Outsiders #15, as well as a few other Outsiders issues, but that period of my career is very hazy in memory—I was going through some particularly turbulent times in my personal life (some of which I’m happy just to have survived!),” he tells BACK ISSUE. “But I never had any say in the assignments I was given by DC. For the entire 25 years I’d worked there, I followed the same routine: I picked up a script, took it home, drew it. Then I brought it back to the offices, picked up a check, picked up another script, took it home, drew it… rinse, and repeat, ad infinitum. My entire social life consisted of people I’d met in the industry—either at the DC offices, or at Neal’s studio. Other than that, I was alone in my studio, working. “I remember very little about The Outsiders stories I’d drawn, other than I was quite disillusioned with DC Comics by that time, and extraordinarily depressed in my personal life—which I think shows in the work, much to my eternal regret. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve done great work, good work, and bad work in my career—but no matter what I’ve done, I’ve always expressed myself honestly in my artwork. Emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically speaking, I always drew exactly what I’d actually felt at the time—I faked nothing, when it came to honest self-expression in my work. Of that, at least, I remain proud. The quality of my work varied with my inner moods over my career, but the level of my expressive integrity never wavered— I always expressed exactly what I saw in my mind’s eye at the time— good, bad, or indifferent, it was, at least—all me.” When asked if there was any unknown information about BATO, Barr states, “Pretty much everything I wanted to say about Black Lightning and the Outsiders is there on the page. Readers seemed to enjoy the book, and I thank them for their support.” [Editor’s note: For a deeper exploration of Batman and the Outsiders, check out BACK ISSUE #73.]
Natural Born Leader Our hero takes charge in this Barr-penned, Von Eeden-drawn Black Lightning/ Katana team-up from The Outsiders #5 (Mar. 1986). TM & © DC Comics.
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The Jefferson Pierce Saga Continues Mike W. Barr did justice to continuing the vision of Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella with his portrayal of Jefferson Pierce/BL in the pages of Batman and the Outsiders and The Outsiders. Covers by Jim Aparo. TM & © DC Comics.
TEACHER MAN
As noted earlier, one of the most engaging aspects of Black Lightning is that in his civilian identity as Jefferson Pierce he is a high school English teacher. This aspect of his character didn’t disappear when Isabella left the series but continued to be an important facet of the character for many years. The comic-book creators who worked on the character feel the same way. Trevor Von Eeden tells BI, “For over 40 years, I’ve been saying that the very best thing about Black Lightning is that he’s a school teacher!! No people on the planet Earth need a good, solid education like black people in America do! We need to know who we really are (Americans), what we really are (Human), where we really are (in a country built on racist hypocrisy, and perpetuated by mass self-delusion), and how we can be happy, in both our present, and our future lives. The way to do that is actually easy: Learn from the past—and don’t make the same mistake of trading Human Compassion for the short-term hypocrisy of crass, material gain that others before us have made!! In the words of an undisputed prophet, and one of the greatest human beings ever to walk the face of the Earth: ‘I don’t have to be what you want me to be!’…” J. M. DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE, “I have so much respect for all teachers—teaching is perhaps the single most under-appreciated and vital profession out there—and I think making Pierce a teacher was a great move.” Black Lightning’s status as a teacher wasn’t only important in his solo series and backup tales. In BATO #4 (Nov. 1983), Jefferson Pierce moved to Gotham City to be closer to his new teammates. He also applied for and received his certificate to teach school in Gotham City. In issue #6 (Jan. 1984), Pierce began his first day of teaching in Gotham, but found it harder than when he was in Metropolis. A student named Luther challenged his authority and caused him to lose his temper. By issue #11 (Apr. 1984), Pierce had found his focus and as a result took control of his classroom. This showed that Pierce grew as a character from someone whom the students for the most part respected in Metropolis to having to regain the students’ respect in his new home city. With BATO’s shorter solo tales, these smaller moments in the classroom weren’t possible. Barr recalls, “Having Jeff overcome the
students’ resistance showed he had come to terms with his issues and wasn’t going to be pushed around.” Black Lightning’s role as an educator extends beyond the comics as well. In the hit Black Lightning CW television series, actor Cress Williams portrays the title character. The series revolves around an older Jefferson Pierce who has given up crimefighting to focus his energies on saving his community as a high school principal. Von Eeden tells BI, “What I especially like about the Black Lightning TV show is the call-and-response mantra between BL/Principal Pierce and his students (presented in the early moments of the very first episode!): ‘Who is the future?’ — ‘We are!’ / ‘How are you going to get there?’ — ‘By any means necessary!!!’ This is a brilliant restatement of Malcolm X’s famous dictum—one that has been perverted for over the past 60 years by racist propaganda to mean violence (as if Malcolm ever spoke about anything but self-defense, in a violently racist, institutionally hypocritical white supremacist culture!). I absolutely love the fact that it has now become synonymous with education, thanks to Black Lightning on TV!! Personally, I’d love to marry a teacher (2nd choice: librarian)— because the ones in my life have been inestimably invaluable to me—and I can’t think of any endeavor nobler than to share useful knowledge with another human being! It’s the very essence of human progress and civilization to me.”
BEYOND THE BRONZE AGE
After the end of The Outsiders, Black Lightning wouldn’t appear in a regular series until the next decade. His next major appearance was in a new solo series initially written by Isabella with pencils by Eddy Newell. The series lasted 13 issues from February 1995 until February 1996. Dave DeVries took over writing duties with issue #9 (Oct. 1995), when Isabella left the series. He remained the writer for the duration of the series. Black Lightning’s post-Bronze Age exploits continued the character’s growth. In his civilian identity as Jefferson Pierce, he became the United States Secretary of Education in 2000 under President Lex Luthor. Pierce accepted the position with the intention of keeping an eye on Luthor. Pierce went from a teacher in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum to the highest education official in the United States, a position that
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And the Bronze (Age) Medal Goes to… Black Lightning and his fellow Outsiders face off against Maxie Zeus and the New Olympians at the Summer Olympics in Batman and the Outsiders #9 (Nov. 1984), penned by Mike W. Barr and guest-illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden. TM & © DC Comics.
many African Americans would have considered unlikely when Black Lightning debuted in the 1970s. Black Lightning finally became a member of DC Comics’ premier superhero team, as well. Although Black Lightning assisted the Justice League of America starting with Justice League of America vol. 2 #1 (Oct. 2006), he wouldn’t officially join the JLA until issue #7 (May 2007). Even though there were several revivals of the Outsiders, Black Lightning wouldn’t appear with the team again until The Outsiders vol. 4 #15 (Apr. 2009). A new Batman and the Outsiders series, written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Dexter Soy, was supposed to premiere in December 2018. Although the first three issues were solicited, in late 2018 the series was put on hold until sometime in 2019 [at press time, the series had yet to make it onto DC’s schedule—ed.]. This incarnation of the team is to consist of Batman, Black Lightning, Katana, and new Outsiders Orphan (Cassandra Cain) and the Signal. Jefferson Pierce and Lynn Stewart had two daughters, Annisa and Jennifer Pierce. Both of the girls are metahuman superheroes. Anissa made her first appearance as the superhero Thunder in Outsiders vol. 3 #1 (Aug. 2003). Anissa has the ability of density manipulation and she can withstand bullets and cause shockwaves. She was created by writer Judd Winick and artist Tom Raney. Although Lightning made her first appearance in the Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996), her first appearance in regular DC Comics continuity was in Justice Society of America vol. 3 #12 (Mar. 2008), by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham. Jennifer has similar powers to her father. [Editor’s note: As discussed in this issue’s Tony Isabella interview, these characters’ backstories have been altered in recent continuity.]
BLACK LIGHTNING’S LEGACY BEYOND ISABELLA
Over 40 years after his creation, Black Lightning is more popular than ever, with a hit television series and the return of Isabella to writing his adventures. But even in the absence of creator Tony Isabella, Black Lightning not only survived, but he thrived. No matter how great of a character Black Lightning was and continues to be, without these excellent and memorable tales beyond Isabella, our electrified hero might only have been a footnote in DC Comics’ history.
Paul Levitz states, “He’s important as the first superhero of color DC gave his own title.” Jack Harris contends, “I think anything I might say would be like stating the obvious. [Black Lightning] was the first in many ways and I am thrilled by his current success and in my part in shaping his origin.” Trevor Von Eeden tells BACK ISSUE, “In general, I appreciate the fact that Black Lightning holds the place in comics history that he does—the very first original black superhero (preceded by GL knockoff John Stewart) to have his own title (comics series) published by the same company that had introduced the first superhero of them all to the world, Superman. That’s as valuable a distinction to future generations as the election of the first black president of the United States of America was, and will always be. But personally, I’ve always felt that Black Lightning, as he’s been presented in comics (to the best of my knowledge, since I haven’t read every BL story ever written)—has always been a white man’s idea of what a black man or hero is, could, and/or should be. The writing for the TV show is much better representative of how I see the character, and think he should be presented to the public—especially in this century, and in these political times, when we have a blatantly ignorant White Supremacist occupying the most important office in the land. Mass self-delusion is not what black people need more of in America!!! So between the excellent Black Panther movie, and BL’s awesome debut TV series, I’m hoping that this is the first step in providing actual good, honest, intelligent, and responsible role models for our kids to look up to in the coming generations— all of our kids, and of every color.” The author would like to thank Mike W. Barr, J. M. DeMatteis, Jack C. Harris, Paul Kupperberg, Paul Levitz, Denny O’Neil, Bob Rozakis, and Trevor Von Eeden for their time and recollections. Thanks also go out to Gerry Conway and Marty Pasko who responded to a query for this article but were unable to assist with it. Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine or its publisher. ED LUTE is an educator, geek, and freelance writer (amongst many other things) who wishes that he had lightning powers. He lives in southern New Jersey with his family.
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by E d
don McGregor © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.
Catto
paul gulacy
[Editor’s note: The final black hero of ’70s comics to be spotlighted this issue is the sci-fi buccaneer Sabre. While he isn’t a superhero like the other characters you’ve read about, Sabre is doubly significant, both as one of comicdom’s first African-American stars and for the format in which he premiered—in the first graphic novel (or “graphic novelette,” according to its author) to be produced for comic-shop distribution. The 1978 38-page Sabre black-and-white graphic novel, featuring the story “Slow Fade of an Endangered Species,” was written by Don McGregor and illustrated by Paul Gulacy. It pitted the swashbuckler and his allies against the mercenary Blackstar Blood in a topsy-turvy post-apocalyptic world. Following the graphic novel, publisher Eclipse Comics released 14 issues of a Sabre comic book, cover-dated August 1982 (#1) through August 1985 (#14). Issues #1 and 2 reprinted the graphic novel in color, and McGregor penned new stories beginning in issue #3, mining story territory that was quite daring and groundbreaking for its day (as he had done the previous decade at Marvel). Our cover artist Billy Graham penciled Sabre #3–9, while artist Jose Ortiz completed the rest of the run. In this interview, McGregor and his original collaborator Paul Gulacy recall the early days of Sabre.] ED CATTO: The first question is, to set the stage, can you give me, or remind me, a little bit of background about where you were in your careers when you started working on Sabre? DON McGREGOR: Okay, none of these are short answers; it is all fairly complicated. Sabre arose out of the fact that I was being taken off all the books I did at Marvel, including Killraven [McGregor’s “Killraven” feature Amazing Adventures, herewith Killraven] and the Black Panther [McGregor’s “Black Panther” feature in Jungle Action, herewith Black Panther]. Essentially when I was taken off the Black Panther after “The Panther vs. the Klan” [McGregor’s controversial 1976 storyline in Jungle Action #19–22], work at Marvel was scarce and money was getting very tight. Doing those books, as exciting as they were to create, The Black Panther and Killraven, especially working with Rich Buckler and Billy Graham on the Panther and Craig Russell on Killraven, came at a cost. Working with them, that part was very stimulating and exciting, but it was also very traumatic because the books weren’t believed in much by editorial. For me, it was like having to keep blinders on while you were doing those books in terms of keeping your focus on what it is you hoped to do with the stories. To do a big project like “Panther’s Rage,” that was a TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. two-and-a-half-year graphic novel or maxiseries (not sure what you want to call it). That meant that despite the fact that a lot of people didn’t believe in it, you have to keep not just a belief, but the focus and intent of what you originally saw in your head and hoped you could achieve. That part was very exciting because with the fans and the readers, they took much of those books to heart. They wrote about them and I met the people at conventions and that really showed me that there were people who cared and were affected by the stories, and they were reacting on a personal level to the different themes and levels I hoped I had successfully woven into the stories.
The Most Explosive Hero in Comics October 1978’s Sabre, the first graphic novel to be exclusively distributed in comic shops. Cover by Paul Gulacy. © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.
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Many of the readers didn’t want Wakanda to go back to being just a “concept.” They loved the idea of that place being unique and different from every other place, say, in the Marvel Universe mythos. PAUL GULACY: I already had alerted Marvel that at the that time that I was leaving Master of Kung Fu [as its artist]. In fact, I actually received a personal phone call from Stan [Lee], who was a huge fan himself of the book. He was a little disappointed to hear the news. He wished me well and told me the door was always open at Marvel. He said that he really loved what Doug [Moench] and I were doing with the book. Later that night, I recall sitting in the dark of my apartment with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other and asking myself, “What the hell did I just do?” McGREGOR: So, coming off of that and because now that work was very scarce, I realized during that time period that I was not a fast writer; I would probably never be a fast writer, it was all about telling the stories. What did the story need and what did it need next? Knowing that and realizing that about myself became—well, I just wanted more freedom to tell the stories I wanted to tell. That meant having to get out from underneath the companies like Marvel—I had not yet been to DC. Both the big companies had different rules. And so that feeling during that time period of creating those books was that you were kind of working in a cage and you had to keep trying to pick that lock. Their job was to put you in that cage, and my job as a storyteller was to pick that lock and try to explore different kinds of stories and make the stories richer in tone and purpose. I had no desire to do stories that had some vague boundaries that spoke of what was traditionally expected to be in comic-book stories. I love the medium and I don’t understand why we can’t have a diversified cast of characters. That was a big deal in those days. It wasn’t something that establishment and/or corporate people believed. I didn’t know why they didn’t want gays in comics or people of different backgrounds. If bottom line for the suits was the color green, why would you not include or alienate vast groups of people who could buy comics? CATTO: Yes, I understand.
McGREGOR: That said, that background dictates the beginning of how Sabre came about—the long version we’ll save for another time. But what I said earlier, this reflects the attitude I was facing when I created Sabre. CATTO: That was the short version, Don? [laughs] McGREGOR: Comic-book stores were just starting to exist at this time. There weren’t a lot of them, but there was a number of them. I had this idea that: Okay, if you took a name writer and took a name artist and put them together on a project and it included things that the readers/fans of comics could not get anywhere else, that there was an audience there. If people thought I was crazy putting an all-black cast of characters in Black Panther and Killraven and thought, “What’s wrong with him? Is he crazy? Now this guy’s telling us that comic-book stores can support a comic book?”… In those days, Ed, they truly believed (and I’m not making this up) that the comic-book stores were a very small percentage of their audience, like 10–15%, if it was that. Again, when I was shopping Sabre around and some people (not going to say who) said, “Hey, Don, who’s going to buy a book about a black guy with a lot of guns?” That was the typical response to the idea of Sabre. So now, with this new venture thinking that the comic-book store could support a book, “Okay, I’m going to try to create a vehicle aimed for that market. I’m going to create it and I’m going to own it. I want to have final say.” I didn’t want anyone screwing around with the copy. I’ve been very fortunate in this career. Very few books have been severely changed from what I saw in my head when I first decided on what the next story would be. If you look at my career, the more I wrote along, the more I wanted my rights and final say. I wanted to own the material because then it would allow me to tell stories I didn’t feel comprised on. I was lucky with both the Panther and Killraven because it was at a time period where the company was expanding so rapidly that what was considered low-profile books didn’t have time for a lot of scrutiny, and I had superb artists who did believe in me and the vision I had for the stories, and brought so much talent and energy to bring the stories alive. And they were so exhilarating to work with that they gave me the positive energy and partnership that did not exist in the editorial halls. Rich Buckler insisting on drawing those first three “Panther’s Rage” issues helped establish the visual storytelling approach I wanted, and Rich made it pages all look so dynamic that it took awhile for the negativity to rise, and by that time I was well on my way! Obviously, these scripts demanded a lot of extra work. It wasn’t just, “We were going to knock this out,” it was, everybody believed that we loved comics and wanted to try to bring something to the medium.
THE CREATION OF SABRE
CATTO: What are some of Sabre’s inspirations? McGREGOR: One thing element that inspired the creation of Sabre was, I was up late one night watching television and I had Errol Flynn’s Captain Blood on, and he’s playing a character who was captured from his homeland and put in a galley as a slave, and then he’s rowing the boats, and then he’s on a plantation somewhere turning and being whipped and pushing some kind of churning wheel or something. I remember thinking, “Wait a minute, this should be about a black guy as the lead.” Which is something Hollywood obviously wouldn’t have ever have done in the 1930s. It was all about slavery, except the white guy is the slave. Okay, well, he’s a pirate and there’s never been a black swashbuckler, and that began the real creation of Sabre. Sabre will be a swashbuckler character. Okay… I wasn’t on staff at Marvel anymore and I was all freelance. In that time period, Steve Gerber and Dave Kraft and Jim Salicrup started a company called Mad Genius. I can’t tell you the specifics about it, but they had an office up on 6th Avenue. I was hanging out there a
Master Blaster A 1980 sketch of Sabre by Paul Gulacy, from the Heritage archives (www.ha.com). The artist drew inspiration from the fistful of dollars-grabbing Clint Eastwood and sky-kissing guitar-lord Jimi Hendrix for the swashbuckler’s look. Art © Paul Gulacy. Sabre © Don McGregor. A Fistful of Dollars © United Artists. Hendrix poster © Russ Gibb.
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lot with Jim and Dave and Steve. Steve was doing a lot of the promotion at that time for Howard the Duck for President and Jim Salicrup had been talking about doing a weekly paper with some comics in it. I’m not sure how frequently Jim was going to come out with it—maybe he would remember—whether it was once a week or once a month. I actually started creating the [Sabre] strip then and it was being called Dagger at the time. I wasn’t comfortable with the name “Dagger.” It’s not that I didn’t like the name “Dagger,” and I know this is going to sound strange, but characters’ names… characters in many ways become real to you. “Sabre” was Sabre, his name just wasn’t “Dagger.” His name reflected the personality and everything that was a part of the essence of the character. Later on, when I went with Sabre and I ditched the Dagger name, I worked on, I believe, a week or two’s worth of scripts for Jim, but I realized it was way too ambitious kind of story to tell in a little segmented format. I wasn’t sure how often it was going to come out and it was going to be a difficult story to tell in that fashion. I decided, no, I’ll try to go elsewhere with the series and I talked to Jim about it. Because Jim and I were very close. CATTO: Paul, could Sabre ever have been pitched to Marvel? GULACY: I don’t recall Sabre ever being pitched to Marvel with Don. Don’t think that happened. It was Dean Mullaney [the eventual publisher of Eclipse Comics] who thought I was a good fit for the character, and he was the one who was a big fan of ours, and pals with Don. Dean’s brother, Jan, a musician, was in the wings, who financed the book. McGREGOR: But I hadn’t met Paul. I knew his work on Master of Kung Fu. He was an artist I wanted to work with. His art was very strong. I thought again: If you gave the readers names, talent, where they knew the artist, they knew the writer, and they got something they couldn’t get anywhere else, that should help sell the book and give the book a chance to survive. There is a lot of talk about historical placement, whether Will Eisner’s A Contract with God was the first graphic novel or whether it was Sabre. The main difference with Will’s A Contract with God is that it wasn’t just for comicbook stores. Will’s book could be sold in bookstores. Believe me, if Dean Mullaney and I knew how to get Sabre in the bookstores, we definitely would wanted to do it. While I was developing all the characters and story, Dean was shopping the proposal around.
THE SETTING
CATTO: The first adventure of Sabre has an unusual setting. What were the challenges of writing and illustrating that first one? Were there other challenges? McGREGOR: What do you do with any science-fiction story? You take look at where the world is at and where you kind of feel things look like they are going and it’s your hope by writing about it people will take a look at it and say, “Nah, I don’t want things to go that way!” GULACY: I used to look up Soldier of Fortune magazine, and there was plenty of reference on how war games can mess things up. I had those lying around my studio. My motto has always been: “An artist is only as good as his reference.”
THE CAST
CATTO: The sci-fi setting also gave you the chance to create memorable characters. McGREGOR: Take the second series of Sabre, “An Exploitation of Everything Dear,” which is drawn by Billy Graham. The lead villain is a character named Joyful Slaughter. Joyful is probably my favorite villain of all the villains I’ve ever created, including Killmonger.
CATTO: Really? McGREGOR: The thing I really liked about Joyful was, he is so outrageous and so over-the-top, and yet, you know, where we are right now in this time and place with people who have so much power and authority in our country, and so much divisiveness in the country now. Joyful was, of course, a presidential candidate running on a strict death-penalty platform, and basically the 1% are the only ones left who get to vote. And as Joyful makes clear, those people decide who gets to be nominated and who gets to run, but his whole agenda is, “The rabble’s not fair. Our government-military-industrial-union-mafiosi complex takes care of ’em, don’t we?” Anybody who doesn’t toe the political company line can find [himself] in an uncomfortable place. And Sabre really gets in trouble just as a young guy, because in this political climate he moons the politicians at one of their rallies… and they don’t find it funny. These people don’t take a joke, and are very earnest about their positions and because of that they end up trying to kill him. He becomes a focal point of rebellion to the
Silent Night Who needs dialogue when you’ve got Gulacy’s cinematic layouts? Original art from the Sabre graphic novel, courtesy of Heritage. © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.
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establishment—to the politicians. Joyful decides to make an example of him. He’s going to execute him over Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park (I forget what kind of system I was going to have that would take it and broadcast it all over the country so everyone could see how serious he was as a candidate), and it was going to help him get elected as president. Do know where we are these days, as outrageous as all of that sounds? It doesn’t sound as outrageous as it did in 1978 or 1979, or whatever, or maybe as late as 1980! I still love that storyline and I still love Joyful as a villain because he is so… so unique and has got this “good ol’ boy attitude,” and then next thing you know, he’s doing something completely horrendous. CATTO: Oh, yeah. Even like I remember he could never call Sabre by the right name. McGREGOR: No [laughter], he was called “Say Bree,” and he was chronically ill at ease, especially when riding in pursuit of Sabre because it made his herpes hurt terribly. It put him in a perpetually bad mood. CATTO: He was crabby. McGREGOR: You know, I couldn’t have done that at Marvel or DC! CATTO: No, you sure couldn’t have. For the lead character, Sabre, there’s a little bit of Jimi Hendrix and a little bit of Clint Eastwood in there. Paul, I’d love to learn more about the visual development of this character. GULACY: You nailed it. Two big heroes of mine back then—Clint and Jimi Hendrix. CATTO: The female lead, Melissa Siren, and her love for Sabre was unconventional for the time, although as an interracial couple they might not be viewed as unconventional today. What did you think of them at that time? GULACY: I thought it was pushing the envelope in 1978. I was, “Why rock the boat?” You rarely see it all today, if it all. It still seems taboo and everybody dances around it. Especially Hollywood. It’s still not rampant, but at the end of the day, love is love. Melissa didn’t know color. She was a test-tube baby and innocent to the cruel world outside. McGREGOR: Melissa Siren was the first [Sabre] character that I really started working on. This was in a timetable when there was a lot of speculation about test-tube babies and babies being birthed outside of the mother. This seemed to be an intriguing element to examine, and how would such an individual view their history when it essentially came to a test-tube. CATTO: Geez, I just had dinner just the other night with a guy who was a “test-tube baby”! It all changes so quickly. McGREGOR: Then, this allowed me to look at how this can affect us as a society, and as individuals: “Well, how do we discover family?” “What if the person had no parents they could point to?” There was a contrast just between Sabre and Melissa. She had a glass tube to look back on. Imagine if that’s the only kind of history you
really know. You go back and see, “This is where I was nurtured and people watched me gestate inside,” and then they want to cultivate the personality of that person. You had that contrast between Sabre, who had always had kind of a difficult relationship with his parents, and that would look beyond and examine how someone like Sabre would react to abusive authority figures. CATTO: Paul, if Sabre was based on Hendrix and Eastwood, was Melissa based on anyone? GULACY: The visuals of Melissa were made up based on no one in particular. McGREGOR: Bring these two together, and as much as the interracial aspect of the series and these different personalities who were thrown together and examine how that impacts on their relationship together. And this is where I guess I should state that one of the core elements of Sabre is that it is a love story between a man and a woman. I’ve said this before in interviews and I’ll say it again: It was kind of my version of in a way of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, and is much about relationship between Melissa and Sabre. If you look at the core of the story, it is about a man and a woman raising a family and trying to keep that closeness and love of family alive in a world that makes no sense and whose values have gone totally askew. At the heart of Sabre—not so much from the first series, because now I have to get into the limitations that were in there in that initial book. While I could do anything I wanted, there was one element set in cement that I could not change. We had 38 pages to tell a story. CATTO: That’s not a lot of pages for a graphic novel. McGREGOR: Do I think the original Sabre, “Slow Fade of an Endangered Species,” is a graphic novel? No, I don’t, Ed. How can you do a graphic novel in 38 pages? I think I called it a “graphic novelette” at the time but wasn’t sure what it should be called. I know they call all these graphic
Return Engagement (left) Gulacy cover to Eclipse Comics’ Sabre #1 (Aug. 1982). (right) Its opening page, beginning the colorized reprint of the graphic novel. © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.
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novels now. But in there you had to create that futuristic world of Sabre’s. You had to create all these characters and their backgrounds, and then you had to have this conflict with a major villain. And then themes that transcend, hopefully, the time and place, and more people intellectually and emotionally. My fans would certainly expect it, from their following The Black Panther and Killraven and Morbius [the Spider-Man spinoff “Morbius, the Living Vampire,” which McGregor penned in issues of Marvel’s black-and-white magazine Vampire Tales]—all those stories really having thematic depths, if you went past the surface of the story there were other things there that would really examine that would hopefully add some meaning if I had done it correctly, done it well. So, I literally had 38 pages that would have to compete with about two and a half or three years of books I did while I was at Marvel. If it didn’t go over, if the audience didn’t think they were getting something that they couldn’t get any other place, I’d be kind of dead in the water. On top of that, the expenses for the book, I know when Dean first started negotiating with Phil Seuling, who was one of the biggest distributors of comics in the mid-’70s. I know that Dean still has the notation Phil sent—“$6 for a comic book!”—with a whole bunch of exclamation points. “Who’s gonna pay $6 for a comic book?!!” When the book finally did manage to see print after two years—I always thought it would be out in 1977 and it got held up because of the race issues…. the book almost didn’t get finished—there were a lot of things that got in the way before we could get the book that the audience could hold in their hands. CATTO: What about the development of the other characters? McGREGOR: There was so much writing Sabre allowed me to do. When I got to do more Sabre, we they were longer stories and I had room to create Summer Ice, and Deuces Wild, who were two of the first gay male characters, as part of the supporting cast of a comic-book series in America. GULACY: I also threw in Woody Allen and Kirk Douglas, who were not in the script, for comedy relief.
THE LOST PAGES
CATTO: What’s the story behind the famous “lost pages” of Sabre, Paul? Weren’t several pages lost in the mail? GULACY: Yeah, a bunch got stolen. I think seven were dropped off at Don’s apartment stoop in Queens, I believe. There was no FedEx back in those days, and the package didn’t fit in the mailbox and got placed in front of the door. I had to redraw them all from memory. That sucked.
BREAKING GROUND
CATTO: My last question is, when you look back, would you have done anything differently? McGREGOR: I wish I’d had more than 38 pages for Sabre. I wish there hadn’t been the traumatic problems surrounding getting that project produced. It certainly put me in difficult straits, economically wise. Other than that, I always wish I could done better than what we did. I can look at the second series—literally, I probably should have put a halt on it and had corrections made and addressed certain [production] issues. The problem was, I didn’t know about them until it was all in kind of a finished state. If I had pursued it then I would have made the book late, and I didn’t want to do that to Dean because this was the first time his company was publishing books on a regular basis. If you make books late, it not only hurts the book, but it hurts the company. I wish Sabre #3 had been on better paper than newsprint. Maybe different inkers and colorists, especially colorists, on issues #5 and 6. I think it hurt the book tremendously and hurt the artwork. To me, the book really starts to become what I believed it could be from the very beginning in issue #7. That’s really when we got to show that Sabre was different from anything else on the marketplace. GULACY: [For the graphic novel,] I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It is what is. A groundbreaker. The first independent “so-called graphic novel” to break into the mainstream comic shops. Now we need the movie. ED CATTO is a marketing strategist with a specialty in pop culture. As co-founder of Bonfire Agency, Ed is dedicated to connecting brands with the “Geeks of the World” in innovative and authentic ways. And as a “retropreneur,” Ed leads a team specializing in rejuvenating brands (including Captain Action) for today’s audiences.
You Must Have Been a Beautiful (Test Tube) Baby (top) Sabre is introduced in this Hendrix-ish splash from Sabre #1. (bottom) Panels from Sabre #1 revealing the backstory of the star’s love, Melissa Siren. © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 75
AQUAMAN ISSUE MAKES A SPLASH!
Send your comments to: Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE 112 Fairmount Way * New Bern, NC 28562
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What an incredible issue #108 was! I look forward to the characterfocused issues, and Aquaman’s delivered the goods! Michael, your Bronze Age Aquaman Team-Ups article was fantastic. Those Brave & Bolds can be read over and over. Thanks for pointing out Superboy #171… made me pull it out of the long box and give it a reread. Fun stuff! [Rob Kelly’s] merchandise article was very interesting, especially seeing that photo of Mego’s Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark as I just happened to be in a toy store and saw the new Aquaman/ Momoa version on the shelves! The whole issue was a blast! Can’t wait for the Superman: The Movie issue in December. Thanks for paying such tribute to the King of the Seas… I can dig it!! – Jason Jaroslawsky
LIKED THE ISSUE, BUT NOT AQUAMAN BLACK COMIC CHARACTER CHECKLIST
Coverage of the following African-American characters can be found in these previous and upcoming editions of BACK ISSUE: • BLACK LIGHTNING (BI #8) • BLACK MANTA (BI #108) • BLACK PANTHER (BI #8, 27) • BLADE (BI #8) • BRONZE TIGER (BI #105) • BROTHER VOODOO (BI #8, 71) • CAPTAIN MARVEL (Monica Rambeau) (BI #90) • CLOAK (and Dagger) (BI #45) • CYBORG (BI #72) • FALCON (BI #8, 22, 71) • FAST WILLIE JACKSON (BI #49) • GREEN LANTERN (John Stewart) (BI #8, 117) • IRON MAN (James Rhodes) (BI #25, 117) • LIVING MUMMY (BI #92) • LUKE CAGE (BI #8, 45) • MUHAMMAD ALI (BI #61, 105) • SOUL LOVE (unpublished Jack Kirby magazine) (BI #88) • STORM (BI #8, 29) • TEMPEST (Doom Patrol) (BI #65) • VIXEN (BI #40) • THE WIZ (unpublished Marvel movie adaptation) (BI #11)
FACE FRONT, SQUA TRONT!
Our apologies to Robert Barrett for the exclusion of the photo below from BACK ISSUE #100’s Jerry Boyd-penned article about Squa Tront and EC fanzines. Our centennial edition was bursting at the seams with content and images, and lots of goodies were left behind on the cutting-room floor. But thanks to Mr. Barrett— and to Jerry Boyd himself—we’re able to share with you this snapshot of fandom history… which, to the best of our knowledge, has never before been published.
By the time I got around to reading BI #107, #108 ended up in my hands! So, if I may, I’ll quickly comment on both issues. I greatly enjoyed the Archie issue, an often-overlooked publisher. People may say that Archie comics are always the same and that they never disturb their status quo. But first, that could be said of a lot of DC and Marvel characters. Secondly, Archie comics do change with the times; their stories from past decades are neat little time capsules of Americana. And finally, I appreciate your pointing out the many offshoots and experimental titles Archie has produced, showing that they are willing to try something new. It was great coverage all around. When my wife saw me sit down with BI #108, I said, “It’s their Aquaman issue.” “I thought you didn’t like Aquaman.” “I don’t.” That’s when she frowned at me and wondered why I was reading it in the first place. And it’s true, I never had much interest in Aquaman. I never liked how any land-dwelling superhero could visit Atlantis, at the bottom of the ocean, and never seem to need anything more than the obligatory bubble helmet. (Water pressure at the bottom of the ocean is 500 times stronger than sea level. I can give Superman and Wonder Woman a pass on this, but why didn’t Batman ever just flatten like a lemon being run over by a tractor?) And, once underwater, nothing acted as it should. Capes hung normally instead of swirling around; people walked around instead of floating. It was just like being on land except with the occasional bubbles drawn in the background. The comics nerd in me just didn’t get Aquaman. So, why buy this issue at all? Because, even when the subject doesn’t interest me that much, BI still delivers. It’s as though you issue a challenge to me: Here’s our spotlight on a hero or genre that you don’t care for, and we’re going to make you care. I always find something interesting in your magazine. (And since most of your spotlights do interest me, it makes reading BI even more fun.) And your line on page 2 about Lloyd Bridges: “Looks like he picked the wrong week to give up snorkeling.” Surely, I saw what you did there… So, am I now a converted Aquaman fan? No. But did I enjoy BI’s coverage? Yes! I am always in awe of the varied themes you come up with. Keep up the good work. – Michal Jacot
The 1967 Burroughs Bibliophile meeting/luncheon, held in conjunction with the World Science Fiction Con, the convention where Jerry Weist premiered the legendary Squa Tront #1. (left to right) Jerry Weist, Roger Hill, Robert Barrett, and Helmut Mueller. Mr. Barrett tells BACK ISSUE, “The person just behind Jerry Weist might be Rich Hauser, but I don’t know for sure.” 76 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
We’ll do our best, Michal. Thanks for your support of BACK ISSUE, even when we explore subjects that don’t interest you.
WATERPROOF CRAYONS REQUIRED
As usual, the latest BACK ISSUE brought forth a jumble of recollections (from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory). I couldn’t help but recall the time that I was so irresistibly drawn in by the intriguing designs of a couple of the later-day Aquaman covers by my (eventual) friend Nick Cardy while standing in the checkout line at the local A&P that I was forced to leave the line to study them more closely (and later return to buy them as they continued to haunt my young brain long afterwards). I was then so impressed by the series of tales on the interior (by the unbeatable Skeates and Aparo pairing) that I wrote my first letter to a comic book on the occasion of issue #56, with its unusual story set in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. In return, I received one of DC’s standard beige postcards of the day, with the printed message in blue ink, thanking the recipient for writing (and buying) DC, and the heads of Superman, Jerry Lewis, Sgt. Rock, Wonder Woman, the Fox and Crow, Bob Hope, and Batman along the bottom. But someone had typed the following ominous message across the top: “Aquaman has been cancelled but watch out for his Giant!” And that is why, to this day, I nervously scan the tree lines before leaving my home! After finishing the issue, I was feeling kind of sad that I never got a chance to work on Aquaman in any capacity when it suddenly struck me that sometime in the early 1980s, Marshall Rogers and I had been hired to produce the art on an Aquaman Coloring and Activity Book (title my approximation) by a publisher whom I can no longer recall, beyond that our editor on the project was Mike Tiefenbacher, who had formerly edited the fanzine The Comic Reader. I don’t recall if he was the one who decided that the Batman: Dark Detective art team would be perfect for the Water-logged Wonder, but I do remember that we weren’t allowed to use black anywhere on the artwork and that I argued with Mike that Aquaman looked odd without his customary black trunks, but he insisted that since it was a coloring book the kids should have the option of blacking the trunks in if they wanted to (almost 40 years later, I still think that I was right!). As far as I know, the job remains unprinted to this day (and we certainly didn’t receive our artwork back), so the only record of it that I know of is the copies I made of the first half of the job— the second half was late and turned in in such a mad rush that, sadly, I didn’t take the extra time to copy the pages, but it wouldn’t matter as the book would eventually serve the same purpose, right? Wrong! I let that be a lesson to me not to take anything for granted in the wacky world of publishing! – Terry Austin
APPRECIATING AN UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO
Just wanted to send you my comments on BACK ISSUE #108 (just in time, too, since #109 arrives next week!). I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the King of the Seven Seas. Now, I admit that part of that may stem
TM & © DC Comics.
Terry, as always, your letters are a delight! Thanks for sharing the awesome Rogers/Austin Aquaman coloring book pages shown here. And for those of you concerned about Mr. Austin being threatened by a lethal leviathan version of the Sea King, the “Giant” mentioned on that postcard was Super DC Giant #S-26, a collection of early Silver Age Aquaman stories.
Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 77
TM & © DC Comics.
from the fact that Nick Cardy and Jim Aparo are two of my all-time favorite artists, but we won’t hold that against Mr. Arthur Curry. Like Rob Kelly, I was actually first exposed to the SAG [Skeates/ Aparo/Giordano] Aquaman in those wonderful Adventure Comics digests. Initially picking them up for their sequential Legion of Super-Heroes reprints, I quickly became enthralled by the Aquaman (and Spectre) stories as well. Being a Justice League fanatic, I was, of course, familiar with the Sea King and had even read his stories during his stint headlining Adventure Comics. Just as an aside, though, my earliest recollection of an Aquaman comic is my friend having a copy of Aquaman #41. An iconic Cardy cover and an SAG story inside… And people wonder why we came to love comics so much. Sigh. In an interesting parallel, just like Mr. Kelly, it was not long after Adventure was cancelled that I discovered back issues. In my case it was through conventions, and similarly I was able to acquire the entire SAG run. They are still some of my favorite comics and I revisit them often. Your Team-Ups article perfectly sums up the problem with teaming Aquaman with other heroes. The fact that it is almost a necessity to set the story in a watery locale must have been a test and possibly an off-putting restriction for many a writer. Goodness knows there were stretches where he was sparsely used as a member of the JLA! It does make you wonder if whoever came up with the “one hour out of water” limit realized how much of a limitation that would put on future story possibilities. Mind you, back when he was created, the prospect of regularly teaming him up with other heroes was probably not an overriding concern. The examination of the fishy tail (sorry, tale) intended for issue #57 was wonderful [in John Schwirian’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” article]. Those last few issues had backup stories and subplots that could have fed the series for quite some time. I have been aware of the Sub-Mariner connection for quite a while and even tracked down that issue because of its Aquaman connection. The other attempts I was not aware of, but it made for fascinating reading as an examination of how writers will reuse and rejig an idea. I would hazard a guess and say that a large portion of BACK ISSUE readers has fond memories of the Mego action figures. (Darn right, they were not dolls. Action. Figures.) I did laugh myself silly at your comment regarding the hand position of the Comic Action Hero. Ah, a more innocent time. Being at one time a proud possessor of the Superadventure Colorforms set, that box cover sure brought back some memories. As a final note on the merchandise section, it is interesting to note how much product was actually created spotlighting a character who seems to get ridiculed to the extent the Sea King sometimes does and to hear about it from someone who treasured so many of those items. Black Manta was always a very cool character with a distinct visual. Mr. [Bryan] Stroud did a fine job summarizing has career. I wonder how many fans are like me, and every time you read a story with Manta in it, he speaks in the voice he was given in the Challenge of the Super Friends cartoons. DC certainly has had a number of fits and starts with Aquaman, post-Crisis. John Trumbull was in fine form connecting the dots of all the incarnations and giving us a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes insights into why each creator pointed Aquaman in the direction they did. I think Peter David’s run always receives the lionfish’s share of the attention due to the fact that it really cemented our finny friend’s star power. Now, was it because of
the loss of his hand, the adoption of the facial hair, his more aggressive attitude, or just the fact that it proved just how viable the Sea King was, we may never know, but I don’t think the character has really looked back since. We know Aquaman has, for the most part, never received his due, but I think his level of respect through the years has certainly eclipsed what Aqualad received for so long. It seems like at various times [creators] could not wait to get him out of the Teen Titans. Personally, he is the focal point of one of my all-time favorite covers, another Nick Cardy gem, that adorns Teen Titans #28. It seems that a name change was the only way for him to gain any ground. I did not discover The Atlantis Chronicles until fairly recently, and upon reading the series mentally gave myself a good, swift kick. Though we are loath to admit it, I think a lot of us old comic fans were sort of superhero snobs back in the day and may have passed up a series such as this. Ah, well, that’s what back issues (and those mental swift kicks) are for. The series is a wonderful story, beautifully illustrated, and it was certainly a thrill to hear about it from someone who was intimately involved. Just as an aside, when I was transcribing the Peter David/Hulk: Future Imperfect interview, Mr. David stated that Atlantis Chronicles and Future Imperfect were the two series that came closest to turning out visually on the page the way he envisioned in his head. I’m sure I’m paraphrasing there, but you get the gist. Thanks again for another wonderful issue, and we’ll see you when issue #109 flies off of the shelf. – Brian Martin
Dreadstar and Company © Jim Starlin. Judge Dredd © Rebellion A/S. BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows. All Rights Reserved.
78 • BACK ISSUE • Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue
Brian, as we now know, Aquaman—at least in cinematic form—has had the last laugh on all of us, becoming the highestgrossing movie in Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe. Next issue: Sci-Fi Superheroes! In-depth looks at JIM STARLIN’s Dreadstar and Company, and the dystopian lawman Judge Dredd. Also: Nova, GERRY CONWAY & MIKE VOSBURG’s Starman, PAUL LEVITZ & STEVE DITKO’s Starman, WALTER SIMONSON’s Justice Peace (from the pages of Thor), and GREG POTTER & GENE COLAN’s Jemm, Son of Saturn. Featuring MARK BAGLEY, BRIAN BOLLAND, PETER DAVID, TOM DeFALCO, IAN GIBSON, ERIK LARSEN, CHRIS MARRINAN, FABIAN NICIEZA, JOHN WAGNER, and more. Dreadstar and Company cover by Starlin and ALAN WEISS. Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in thirty! Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief
© Christopher Mills.
by M
ichael Eury
I’ve lost count of the times that readers have told me, “I don’t read new comic books anymore, only BACK ISSUE, because it connects me to the Bronze Age comics I loved.” Well, Christopher Mills is doing something to offer you something to read in addition to BI. Mills, a Kubert School grad who has worked in the comics biz as an artist, writer, and editor since 1990 for a variety of publishers, is pouring his heart and soul into the Atomic Action project, roughly a dozen standalone series… that he’s working on simultaneously! “The conceit of these books is that they are comic books from an alternate timeline/universe, one where various Golden Age heroes that faded away into obscurity in the real world actually managed to continue up through the 1970s… and they all co-exist within one shared universe from one ‘company,’” Mills tells BI. Starring in those series are public-domain characters Mills deemed revival-worthy and ripe for development. “In some cases, I’m just continuing the adventures of the original characters, building on their history (rather than re-imagining them), and updating them as I think they would have been updated, had they been published continually into the ’70s,” giving the books a “Bronze Age aesthetic” unlike other companies’ revivals of heroes from the past. Even Mills’ clever art direction echoes the Bronze Age, most notably the books’ logo designs and cover graphics, their cover banners clearly a throwback to DC’s covers from the mid-’70s. Mills isn’t doing this alone, partnering with numerous artists he’s worked with in the past, like Rick Burchett, Joe Staton, and Neil Vokes, with cover contributions from everyone from Chuck Patton to Gene Gonzales. “I have talented friends,” he says. Yet Mills is writing, editing, lettering, designing, and publishing the Atomic Action books himself. Titles from the line have been available for a few months now, with more on their way. Unlike most comics, they aren’t being distributed through Diamond, but instead are mail order only. For more information, visit www.atomicactioncomics.com. Black Superheroes of the 1970s Issue • BACK ISSUE • 79
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JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE
In cooperation with DC COMICS, TwoMorrows compiles a tempestuous trio of never-seen 1970s Kirby projects! These are the final complete, unpublished Jack Kirby stories in existence, presented here for the first time! Included are: Two unused DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales (Kirby’s final Kid Gang group, inked by MIKE ROYER and D. BRUCE BERRY, and newly colored for this book)! TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE, the abandoned newsstand magazine that was too hot for its time (reproduced from Jack’s pencil art—and as a bonus, we’ve commissioned MIKE ROYER to ink one of the stories)! And SOUL LOVE, the unseen ’70s romance book so funky, even a jive turkey will dig the unretouched inks by VINCE COLLETTA and TONY DeZUNIGA. PLUS: There’s Kirby historian JOHN MORROW’s in-depth examination of why these projects got left back, concept art and uninked pencils from DINGBATS, and a Foreword by former 1970s Kirby assistant MARK EVANIER! SHIPS OCT. 2019! (160-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5
rs. ctive owne their respe All characte
In the latest volume, KURT MITCHELL and ROY THOMAS document the 1940-44 “Golden Age” of comics, a period that featured the earliest adventures of BATMAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, SUPERMAN, and WONDER WOMAN. It was a time when America’s entry into World War II was presaged Look for the 1945-49 volume by the arrival of such patriotic do-gooders as WILL EISNER’s Uncle Sam, HARRY SHORTEN and in 2020! IRV NOVICK’s The Shield, and JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY’s Captain America—and teenage culture found expression in a fumbling red-haired high school student named Archie Andrews. But most of all, it was the age of “packagers” like HARRY A CHESLER, and EISNER and JERRY IGER, who churned out material for the entire gamut of genres, from funny animal stories and crime tales, to jungle sagas and science-fiction adventures. Watch the history of comics begin! NOW SHIPPING!
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AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: 1940-44
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MAC RABOY Master of the Comics
Beginning with his WPA etchings during the 1930s, MAC RABOY struggled to survive the Great Depression and eventually found his way into the comic book sweatshops of America. In that world of four-color panels, he perfected his art style on such creations as DR. VOODOO, ZORO the MYSTERY MAN, BULLETMAN, SPY SMASHER, GREEN LAMA, and his crowning achievement, CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. Raboy went on to illustrate the FLASH GORDON Sunday newspaper strip, and left behind a legacy of meticulous perfection. Through extensive research and interviews with son DAVID RABOY, and assistants who worked with the artist during the Golden Age of Comics, author ROGER HILL brings Mac Raboy, the man and the artist, into focus for historians to savor and enjoy. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER includes never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics! Introduction by ROY THOMAS! ISBN: 978-1-60549-090-8 • SHIPS AUG. 2019! (160-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.95 Roger Hill’s 2017 biography of REED CRANDALL sold out just months after its release—don’t let this one pass you by!Pre-order now!
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SCI-FI SUPERHEROES! In-depth looks at JIM STARLIN’s Dreadstar and Company, and the dystopian lawman Judge Dredd. Also: Nova, GERRY CONWAY & MIKE VOSBURG’s Starman, PAUL LEVITZ & STEVE DITKO’s Starman, WALTER SIMONSON’s Justice Peace (from the pages of Thor), and GREG POTTER & GENE COLAN’s Jemm, Son of Saturn! With a Dreadstar and Company cover by STARLIN and ALAN WEISS!
SUPERHEROES VS. MONSTERS! Monsters in Metropolis, Batman and the Horror Genre, DOUG MOENCH and KELLEY JONES’ Batman: Vampire, Marvel Scream-Up, Dracula and Godzilla vs. Marvel, DC/Dark Horse Hero/Monster crossovers, and a Baron Blood villain history. With CLAREMONT, CONWAY, DIXON, GIBBONS, GRELL, GULACY, JURGENS, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN.
SUPERHERO STAND-INS! John Stewart as Green Lantern, James Rhodes as Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill as Thor, Captain America substitute U.S. Agent, new Batman Azrael, and Superman’s Hollywood proxy Gregory Reed! Featuring NEAL ADAMS, CARY BATES, DAVE GIBBONS, RON MARZ, DAVID MICHELINIE, DENNIS O’NEIL, WALTER SIMONSON, ROY THOMAS, and more, under a cover by SIMONSON.
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MIKE GRELL
LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER
Career-spanning tribute covering Legion of Super-Heroes, Warlord, & Green Arrow at DC Comics, and Grell’s own properties Jon Sable, Starslayer, and Shaman’s Tears. Told in Grell’s own words, with PAUL LEVITZ, DAN JURGENS, DENNY O’NEIL, MARK RYAN, & MIKE GOLD. Heavily illustrated! (160-page FULL-COLOR TPB) $27.95 (176-page LTD. ED. HARDCOVER) $37.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 • Now shipping!
DRAW #36
MIKE HAWTHORNE (Deadpool, Infinity Countdown) interview, YANICK PAQUETTE (Wonder Woman: Earth One, Batman Inc., Swamp Thing) how-to demo, JERRY ORDWAY’s “Ord-Way” of creating comics, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the latest art supplies, plus Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY! May contain nudity for figure-drawing instruction; for Mature Readers Only. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Ships Fall 2019
ER EISN RD AWAINEE! M O N
ALTER EGO #159
ALTER EGO #160
ALTER EGO #161
Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt writer/artist PETE MORISI talks about the creative process! Plus, his correspondence with JACK KIRBY, JOE SIMON, AL WILLIAMSON, CHARLES BIRO, JOE GILL, GEORGE TUSKA, ROCKY MASTROSERIO, PAT MASULLI, SAL GENTILE, DICK GIORDANO, and others! Also: JOHN BROOME’s bio, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY!
REMEMBERING STEVE DITKO! Sturdy Steve at Marvel, DC, Warren, Charlton, and elsewhere! A rare late-1960s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL— biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO— tributes by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, PAUL LEVITZ, BERNIE BUBNIS, BARRY PEARL, ROY THOMAS, et al. Plus FCA, JOHN BROOME, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Spider-Man cover by DITKO!
Full-issue STAN LEE TRIBUTE! ROY THOMAS writes on his more than 50-year relationship with Stan—and shares 21stcentury e-mails from Stan (with his permission, of course)! Art by KIRBY, DITKO, MANEELY, EVERETT, SEVERIN, ROMITA, plus tributes from pros and fans alike, and special sections on Stan by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, BILL SCHELLY, and even the FCA! Vintage cover by KIRBY and COLLETTA!
(100-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Now shipping!
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AMERICAN COMIC BOOK COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION ORAL HISTORY OF DC COMICS CHRONICLES: The 1990s AN CIRCA 1978! Marking the 40th anniver-
Year-by-year account of the decade when X-MEN #1 sold 8.1 million copies, IMAGE COMICS was formed, Superman died, Batman had his back broken, and Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to the VERTIGO line of adult comic books. Go behind-thescenes in that era of gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers. By KEITH DALLAS and JASON SACKS.
sary of the “DC Implosion”, one of the most notorious events in comics (which left stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished and spawned Cancelled Comics Cavalcade). Featuring JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and others, plus detailed analysis of how it changed the landscape of comics!
(288-pg. FULL-COLOR Hardcover) $44.95 (Digital Edition) $15.95 • Now shipping!
(136-page paperback w/ COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 • Now shipping!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.
BRICKJOURNAL #59
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #20
KIRBY COLLECTOR #76
KIRBY COLLECTOR #77
STAR WARSTM THEMED BUILDERS! Travel to a galaxy far, far away with JACOB NEIL CARPENTER’S DEATH STAR, the work of MIRI DUDAS, and the LEGO® photography of JAMES PHILIPPART! Plus “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOES! Interview with JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER (CRY FOR DAWN, VAMPIRELLA), a chat with JOE SINNOTT about his Marvel years inking Jack Kirby and work at TREASURE CHEST, JOE JUSKO discusses the Marvel Age of Comics and his fabulous “Corner Box Collection,” plus the artists behind the Topps bubble gum BAZOOKA JOE comic strips, CRAIG YOE, and more!
FATHERS & SONS! Odin/Thor, Zeus/ Hercules, Darkseid/Orion, Captain America/ Bucky, and other dysfunctional relationships, unpublished 1994 interview with GIL KANE eulogizing Kirby, tributes from Jack’s creative “sons” in comics (MUMY, PALMIOTTI, QUESADA, VALENTINO, McFARLANE, GAIMAN, & MILLER), MARK EVANIER, 2018 Kirby Tribute Panel, Kirby pencil art gallery, and more!
MONSTERS & BUGS! Jack’s monster-movie influences in The Demon, Forever People, Black Magic, Fantastic Four, Jimmy Olsen, and Atlas monster stories; Kirby’s work with “B” horror film producer CHARLES BAND; interview with “The Goon” creator ERIC POWELL; Kirby’s use of insect characters (especially as villains); MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, Golden Age Kirby story, and a Kirby pencil art gallery!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Ships Sept. 2019
(100-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Now shipping!
(100-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Now shipping!
(100-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Summer 2019
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