Back Issue #128 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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July 2021

No.128

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BRONZE AGE TV TIE-INS ISSUE

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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NUCLEAR ISSUE! Firestorm, Dr. Manhattan, DAVE GIBBONS Marvel UK Hulk interview, villain histories of Radioactive Man and Microwave Man, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy, and the one-shot Holo-Man! With PAT BRODERICK, GERRY CONWAY, JOE GIELLA, TOM GRINDBERG, RAFAEL KAYANAN, TOM MANDRAKE, BILL MORRISON, JOHN OSTRANDER, STEVE VANCE, and more! PAT BRODERICK cover!

BATMAN MOVIE 30th ANNIVERSARY! Producer MICHAEL USLAN and screenwriter SAM HAMM interviewed, a chat with BILLY DEE WILLIAMS (who was almost Two-Face), plus DENNY O’NEIL and JERRY ORDWAY’s Batman movie adaptation, MINDY NEWELL’s Catwoman, GRANT MORRISON and DAVE McKEAN’s Arkham Asylum, MAX ALLAN COLLINS’ Batman newspaper strip, and JOEY CAVALIERI & JOE STATON’s Huntress!

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!

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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.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ISSUE! A galaxy of comics stars discuss Marvel’s whitehot space team in the Guardians Interviews, including TOM DeFALCO, KEITH GIFFEN, ROB LIEFELD, AL MILGROM, MARY SKRENES, ROGER STERN, JIM VALENTINO, and more. Plus: Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon before the Guardians, with CHRIS CLAREMONT and MIKE MIGNOLA. Cover by JIM VALENTINO with inks by CHRIS IVY.

CONAN AND THE BARBARIANS! Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ROY THOMAS and BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH’s Conan #1! The Bronze Age Barbarian Boom, Top 50 Marvel Conan stories, Marvel’s Not-Quite Conans (from Kull to Skull), Arak–Son of Thunder, Warlord action figures, GRAY MORROW’s Edge of Chaos, and Conan the Barbarian at Dark Horse Comics. With an unused WINDSOR-SMITH Conan #9 cover.

Celebrates the 40TH ANNIVERSARY of MARV WOLFMAN and GEORGE PÉREZ’s New Teen Titans, featuring a guest editorial by WOLFMAN and a PÉREZ tribute and art gallery! Plus: The New Teen Titans’ 40 GREATEST MOMENTS, the Titans in the media, hero histories of RAVEN, STARFIRE, and the PROTECTOR, and more! With a NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED PÉREZ TITANS COVER from 1981!

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SUPERHERO ROMANCE ISSUE! Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark’s many loves, Star Sapphire history, Bronze Age weddings, DeFALCO/ STERN Johnny Storm/Alicia Pro2Pro interview, Elongated Man and Wife, May-December romances, Supergirl’s Secret Marriage, and… Aunt May and Doc Ock?? Featuring MIKE W. BARR, CARY BATES, STEVE ENGLEHART, BOB LAYTON, DENNY O’NEIL, and many more! Cover by DAVE GIBBONS.

HORRIFIC HEROES! With Bronze Age CREATOR-OWNED COMICS! Featuring histories of Man-Thing, the Demon, and in-depth histories of MATT WAGNER’s the Creeper, Atlas/Seaboard’s horrifying Mage and Grendel. Plus other indie heroes, and Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) sensations of the Bronze Age, including rides again! Featuring the work of CHRIS COLLEEN DORAN’s A Distant Soil, STAN CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, ERNIE SAKAI’s Usagi Yojimbo, STEVE PURCELL’s COLON, MICHAEL GOLDEN, JACK KIRBY, Sam & Max, JAMES DEAN SMITH’s Boris MIKE PLOOG, JAVIER SALTARES, MARK the Bear, and LARRY WELZ’s Cherry TEXIERA, and more. Man-Thing cover by Poptart! With a fabulous Grendel cover by RUDY NEBRES. MATT WAGNER.

“Legacy” issue! Wally West Flash, BRANDON ROUTH Superman interview, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Infinity Inc., Reign of the Supermen, JOHN ROMITA SR. and JR. “Rough Stuff,” plus CONWAY, FRACTION, JURGENS, MESSNER-LOEBS, MICHELINIE, ORDWAY, SLOTT, ROY THOMAS, MARK WAID, and more. WIERINGO/MARZAN JR. cover!

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Volume 1, Number 128 July 2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Mark Arnold Terry Austin Cary Bates BeachBumComics. blogspot.com

Douglas R. Kelly Paul Kupperberg Ed Lute Mike Main Ian Millsted BlogintoMystery.com John Francis Moore Richard Morgan Robert Brown Mario Morhain John Byrne Bill Mumy David Campiti The Museum of Ed Catto Uncut Funk Jon B. Cooke and Comic Book Artist Martin O’Hearn Alan Pinion Diversions of a Jim Salicrup Groovy Kind Alex Saviuk Kevin Dooley Scott Shaw! Mark Evanier Merrie Spaeth Four-Color Joe Staton Shadows 2.0 Ty Templeton Stephan Friedt Steven Thompson Grand Comics Toni Torres Database Robert Greenberger TVObscurities.com Marv Wolfman Heritage Comics Auctions Holly Interlandi Dan Johnson

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: As Seen on TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A history-packed editorial exploring the parallel worlds of comic books and television BEYOND CAPES: Dark Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Gold Key’s adaptation might as well have been called “Barnabas Collins Comics and Stories” FLASHBACK: Dell and Gold Key Tune In… and Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 The waning days of the traditional television tie-in comic book BACKSTAGE PASS: The Krofft Supershows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Comic books based upon puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft’s Saturday morning shows WHAT THE--?!: Hee Haw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Charlton Comics was pickin’ and grinnin’ over this cornpone TV variety series FLASHBACK: Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The de-evolution of the Saturday morning live-toon in comics BACKSTAGE PASS: Primus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Star Robert Brown and artist Joe Staton dive in to Charlton’s adaptation of this underwater-action show FLASHBACK: Emergency! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Bing-bong-buuuuzzzzz! Charlton’s adaptation of NBC’s rescue-hero show FLASHBACK: The Bionic Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Charlton’s short-lived spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man WHAT THE--?!: Wonder Woman: Made in Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 A little-known tie-in to the Lynda Carter-starring television hit BEYOND CAPES: V: The Comic Book Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 How the Visitors invaded DC Comics PRO2PRO: Jim Salicrup and Alex Saviuk on Sledge Hammer! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The writer/artist team recall Marvel’s two-issue tough-cop TV tie-in FLASHBACK: Superboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 DC’s tie-in to the four-season Salkind-produced syndicated TV show BEYOND CAPES: Lost in Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Bill Mumy and David Campiti’s oral history of Innovation’s continuation of the sci-fi classic BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Reader reactions BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $90 Economy US, $137 International, $36 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover montage by Michael Kronenberg. TV series and characters © their respective copyright holders. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2021 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by M

ichael Eury

The Parallel Worlds of Comic Books and Television

Golden and Silver Age TV Tie-ins (top row) Standard’s Television Comics (#5, Feb. 1950) capitalized on the new entertainment medium. Dell’s Howdy Doody #1 (Jan. 1950) was the first TV tie-in comic. This I Love Lucy cover (Four Color #535, Feb. 1954) combined a photo and art. DC’s Sgt. Bilko’s Pvt. Doberman #1 (June–July 1958) featured a traditional comic-art cover, by Bob Oksner. (bottom row) My Favorite Martian #1 (Jan. 1964) added a boxed interior panel to its photo cover. Gold Key’s use of bright colors and geometric patterns brightened many of their ’60s covers, such as Bonanza #17 (Dec. 1965). Dell used a comic-photo cover mix on Dell’s Get Smart #1 (June 1966), with its word balloons. And many of Gold Key’s TV tie-ins opted for painted covers like this one by the prolific George Wilson on Time Tunnel #1 (Feb. 1967). Howdy Doody © NBC. I Love Lucy and Sgt. Bilko © CBS. My Favorite Martian © MPC. Bonanza © NBC Universal. Get Smart © Paramount. Time Tunnel © 20th Century Television.

2 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

When the contagion called television infected American households in the 1950s, other media cried foul. To critics and stuffed shirts it was a boob tube, a one-eyed monster that discouraged young and old alike from reading books, its vast wasteland of lowbrow content dumbing down the populace. Hollywood studios deemed it both a substandard storytelling form and a threat to their market, forbidding their contracted talent from taking on television roles. And as the ’80s song reminded us, video killed the radio star.

THE NIFTY ’50s

The proliferation of television certainly didn’t help the comic-book biz’s sales. The industry boom that started in the late 1930s—when coin-strapped Depression-era kids could get 64 pages of thrill-amoment excitement, all in color for a dime—had peaked by the postwar mid-’50s, in part because TV was bringing into the American living room the same type of larger-than-life cowboys and crime-crushers, and kooky cartoon and comedy favorites, that they

found in comic books… only on TV, the pictures moved and the Giants, Star Trek, and The Wild, Wild West. Dell and Gold Key Comics were the primary homes for such TV tie-ins, including numerous characters talked. For free (the cost of a TV set aside)! So comics publishers began licensing popular television stars funny-animal and cartoon comic books based on animated series and properties, banking that their video visibility would equal as varied as Beany and Cecil, The Flintstones, Mister Magoo, The strong sales. During the Golden Age, comics had done the same Mighty Hercules, and Rocky and His Fiendish Friends [Bullwinkle]. Also with radio shows and movie personalities. Television tie-ins featured visible were Walt Disney’s and Warner Bros.’ cartoon stars, longtime either illustrated covers or photo covers, the latter becoming highly mainstays of comic books. Often TV tie-in titles would be produced desirable in the collector’s market today; occasionally the two were by creators whose artwork is familiar to superhero comic collectors, blended on a single cover, with a photo of a television series’ star such as Bob Oksner (Superman, Mary Marvel) on DC’s The Many juxtaposed against an illustrated background. The interiors, of Loves of Dobie Gillis, Jack Sparling (Eclipso, Green Lantern) drawing course, were always in the traditional comic-book format, its panels DC’s Bomba the Jungle Boy, Steve Ditko (Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor and word balloons featuring either adaptations of TV episodes or Strange) and Dick Giordano (Batman, the Human Target) doing Dell’s Get Smart and Hogan’s Heroes, original adventures of the characters. and Jose Delbo (Wonder Woman) on Throughout the ’50s, numerous Dell’s The Monkees. Dan Spiegle, comic books based upon television noted during the BACK ISSUE era series were published (some under for his work on Eclipse’s Crossfire and Dell’s ongoing umbrella title Four DC’s Blackhawk, drew numerous Color), among them Howdy Doody, TV tie-in comics, including Maverick, I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, Jackie The Rifleman, Sea Hunt, and The Gleason and the Honeymooners, Green Hornet. Captain Kangaroo, Crusader Rabbit, Harvey Comics, whose friendly Sgt. Bilko’s Pvt. Doberman, Our Miss ghosts and good little witches were Brooks, Circus Boy (featuring future widely viewed on TV animated Monkee Micky Dolenz), and Rin cartoons, embraced the impact of Tin Tin and Rusty. television starting in late 1959 by Conversely, the wildly successful revamping their cover graphics, Adventures of Superman TV series placing the company’s “H” corner brought a comic-book character logo inside the obvious shape to television; the show noted of TV screen. Most of Harvey’s in its closing credits that it was covers featured TV screen-shaped based upon characters appearing “bullets” along the left border in DC’s “Superman magazines.” spotlighting that title’s stars, clearly Also popular was TV’s The Lone signaling to readers that these Ranger, a series starring the Old were “as seen on TV” characters. West’s legendary masked man Harvey series such as TV Casper who originated in 1933 in radio and Company and Little Audrey TV adventures but soon galloped into Funtime fine-tuned their subjects’ other media, including no end of connections to the boob tube. comic-book publications including As with the George Reevesa spinoff starring his partner, Tonto. starring Superman series of the ’50s, During their TV runs, both Superman the ’60s sometimes turned to comic and Lone Ranger foresaw the advent characters for programming, none of color television and switched from more successfully than executive black and white to color during their producer William Dozier’s Batman, production in the ’50s, even though which took the world by storm in back in the day color TVs were rare early 1966—and spiked the sales and the vast majority of programs of DC’s Batman-starring titles as a were produced in black and white. result (Dozier’s The Green Hornet The television medium itself quickly followed; his pilots for Dick began to play a role in many comic Tracy and Wonder Woman failed books. Notable was DC Comics’ to be green-lighted). Occasional mystery-solver Roy Raymond, TV © TV Guide Magazine. Superman TM & © DC Comics. sight gags and verbal references Detective, who headlined a backup series originating in Detective Comics; in his comics feature, Raymond acknowledging the Batman TV show were inserted into random was the host of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not-like Impossible… But DC adventures, both Batman stories and non-Batman stories, True! television program. Also, TV as a brand became desirable to none more blatant (or wacky) than the cover story of 1966’s some comics publishers. DC’s Real Screen Comics, which started in Batman #183, where the Caped Crusader is apparently slacking 1945 as a vehicle for funnybook adventures of Columbia’s Screen off, watching himself on television. Later that year, the worlds of Gems animated shorts like The Fox and the Crow, retitled itself TV TV and comics collided again as real-life television host Allen Funt Screen Cartoons in 1959. Other publishers piggybacked onto the accidentally exposed Clark Kent’s Superman identity on the How is burgeoning medium to boost otherwise lackluster funny-animal and he going to get out of this? cover of Action Comics #345. During the era of Batmania and camp humor, television listings humor product, such as Avon’s Television Puppet Show and Standard began to look like your local newsstand’s comic spin rack, with Comics’ Television Comics. Filmation’s New Adventures of Superman cartoon (which also featured Superboy) garnering strong ratings on Saturday mornings THE SWINGIN’ ’60s Comic-book publishers continued to mine TV Guide and Nielsen and flash-in-the-pan, made-for-TV superheroes Captain Nice and ratings for titles throughout the 1960s. This might’ve been the Mr. Terrific soaring into primetime slots. CBS (home of Superman decade of campy crimefighters and the emergence of the Marvel and Mr. Terrific) in particular took notice of the popularity of Age of Comics, but television tie-ins proliferated alongside superhero superheroes when commissioning Hanna-Barbera Productions to series, among them Bonanza, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, The create a spate of them for Saturday morning television, including Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Lucy Show, I Spy, The Invaders, Land of the Space Ghost, The Mighty Mightor, The Herculoids, and Birdman. DC’s Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

The World’s Finest heroes appeared in animated vignettes in Season One of Sesame Street, as advertised in this Murphy Andersondrawn house ad appearing in 1969 DC comic books. TM & © DC Comics.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

rebrandings in subsequent seasons; The Archie Show also brought to animated “life” a fabricated rock band, the Archies (a feature that had previously appeared in Life with Archie), who for the next few years cranked out popular bubblegum-pop hits including the gold record “Sugar, Sugar.” The fervor spawned by that cartoon led to Archie Comics’ publication of the new series Everything’s Archie, the first issue of which depicted on its cover a group of teens dancing to the music of the Archies (who were shown on a television screen), as well as Archie’s TV Laugh-Out, cribbing its title from NBC’s Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In while parading its stars’ small-screen presence in its logo. Batman and Superman weren’t content to allow the Riverdale gang to overshadow their television presence in 1969, however; when public television launched its Sesame Street children’s program late that year, the Caped Crusader and Man of Steel both appeared in educational segments (animated by Filmation) in its first season—promoted in DC’s comic books in a house ad illustrated by Murphy Anderson.

THE SUPER ’70s

So now we enter the era of this magazine’s coverage, the Bronze Age, which began in 1970. TV’s Batman had, beginning in 1968, transitioned from liveaction to Saturday morning animation (although the ’60s live-action Batman series could still be found in syndication), while DC Comics’ Batman-starring Batman, Detective Comics, and The Brave and the Bold began to distance themselves from POW! CRUNCH! ZOWIE! sound effects and cornball villains and had returned to the feature’s original, “creature of the night” gothic roots. Also in the comics, the former Boy Wonder, Robin—now having matured into the Teen Wonder—packed his bags and bolted from Wayne Manor to Hudson University, splitting up the Batman and Robin team. In television animation, however, Robin remained eternally boyish and part of the traditional Dynamic Duo in everything from Hanna-Barbera’s long-running Super Friends franchise to Filmation’s 1977 The New Adventures of Batman cartoons—the latter of which kept alive the spirit of the live-action Batman show by employing its stars, Adam West and Burt Ward, to voice the Dynamic Duo. Television had, in the ’60s, played an active role in many superhero comic-book stories, from Peter Parker’s original exploitation of his Spider-Man powers on TV to the Creeper’s alter ego Jack Ryder’s job as a controversial talk-show host. DC Comics’ Julius Schwartz recognized how video was replacing print as the primary platform for news, and when taking over the editorial helm of Superman in late 1970 changed Clark Kent’s vocation from newspaper journalist for the Daily Planet to on-air news anchor and reporter for Metropolis’ WGBS-TV (see inset). While Kent continued to moonlight for the Planet throughout the rest of Schwartz’s long control of the Superman franchise, which concluded upon his retirement in 1986 when John Byrne revamped the hero in The Man of Steel, Clark’s primary job was in front of the live television camera—which made sneaking away to become Superman a much bigger challenge.

TM & © DC Comics.

rs. © the respective copyright holde

JLA on CTW

comic-book titles featured house ads promoting the television adventures of Batman and Superman (plus the Man of Steel’s Broadway debut in the musical It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!); a notorious 1966 DC house ad teased Filmation’s upcoming animated entries by promising cartoons for Metamorpho, Plastic Man, and Wonder Woman, which the company never produced. Other DC house ads listed TV stations airing syndicated reruns of the ’50s classic, Adventures of Superman. Also premiering in 1966, Grantray-Lawrence’s syndicated The Marvel Super Heroes television cartoons (featuring Captain America, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the Sub-Mariner in animated shorts) were marketed inside Marvel’s books, and the next year’s debut of The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man as Saturday morning cartoons proved successful… and attracted new fans to their four-color source material, as had Batman the year before. DC’s Saturday morning profile blossomed in 1967, as the half-hour Superman became The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, from Filmation, also featuring animated shorts starring the Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Justice League of America, and the Teen Titans. The following season, once the live-action Batman was cancelled, the Superman/ Aquaman show was rebranded The Batman/Superman Hour, with Aquaman moving out into his own halfhour series airing on Sunday mornings. This volleying between the two mediums included double-page-spread illustrated advertisements appearing in comic books, beginning in 1966, that promoted the new fall lineups of Saturday morning television, which remain cherished and iconic memories among many fans who grew up with them. Marvel Comics published a 1968 one-shot (see inset) titled America’s Best TV Comics, which promoted ABC’s toon lineup in comic-book stories, mostly reprints. Some comic books followed Harvey Comics’ lead by trumpeting their television kinship in their very names, such as Gold Key’s Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes. By the end of the decade, another longtime star of comic books—America’s favorite freckle-faced teenager, Archie Andrews—made the jump to Saturday morning television in an animated series that was a ratings smash and progenitor for numerous

After surveying the wonderful world of TV tie-in comics in my research for this feature, a few missed opportunities have become head-scratchers for me… and maybe for you. Gilligan’s Island (1964–1967): Producer Sherwood Schwartz’s other hit sitcom, The Brady Bunch, at least mustered a pair of ho-hum Dell Comics editions. But Schwartz’s first TV comedy and its cast of seven castaways—which even spawned a Filmation animated show in the 1970s!—had no comic book of its own during its original run. Imagine Gilligan’s bumbling, the Skipper’s grumbling, and Ginger’s wiggling as drawn by, say, Mike Sekowsky. Or Wally Wood. And then there’s the photo covers we could’ve had! Gilligan’s Island, for whatever reason, had very little merchandising during its original run, missing out on the items often associated with a hit show during that era—no lunchbox, View-Master reels, a Colorforms playset, nor, of course, a Gold Key or Dell comic. Too bad, little buddy!

Recolored detail from 1965 Gilligan’s Island trading card pack. © Warner Bros. Television.

AN EDITOR’S WISH LIST OF TV TIE-INS

The Green Hornet (1966–1967): Yes, I’m aware of the three Gold Key Green Hornet tie-in issues. While they were beautifully drawn by Dan Spiegle, I daresay that without their suitable-for-framing photo covers and the mystique behind co-star Bruce “Kato” Lee’s death, these comics would not be as highly regarded today. Imagine this: Given its relationship with executive producer William Dozier, what if National Periodicals Publications (DC) had licensed The Green Hornet in 1966, shoehorning him into the DC Universe as the publisher did two years later with Captain Action? DC’s Green Hornet would have been in good hands with either Gil Kane or Carmine Infantino as penciler. Feel the sting! Hawaii Five-0 (1968–1980): Hey, I would’ve bought a Gold Key Hawaii Five-0 comic based solely upon the merit of seeing Steve McGarrett’s plastered-down sideburns on a photo cover! But its exotic locale and flashy visuals would’ve been fun to adapt to comics. Dan Spiegle is my pick as the Five-0 artist. Comic book ’em, Danno! Wonder Woman (1975–1979): As we explored back in BACK ISSUE #37, in the mid-1970s DC briefly mirrored the World War II setting of TV’s Wonder Woman by telling 1940s-based stories of the Golden Age Amazon Princess in its WW monthly. But once the television series fast-forwarded to the then-current 1970s, a TV show-inspired Wonder Woman comic, bearing the “DC TV” imprint, might have performed better than the traditional WW book. Michael Netzer (then Nasser) drew a beautiful Lynda Carter likeness on the cover of Amazing World of DC Comics #15; he gets my vote as the artist of this tie-in comic, with Alan Weiss in rotation if deadlines posed a problem. All the world’s waiting for you! Saturday Night Live (1975–current): Larry Hama revealed to BACK ISSUE a while back that Marvel at one time was developing a never-released black-and-white Benny Hill comic magazine… which brings to mind the possibility of an SNL B&W mag. From Not Brand Echh to Spoof to Crazy, Marvel was no stranger to superhero, comic strip, TV, and movie parodies, and some of the same SNL characters which were spun off into films would’ve adapted well to comics (I’ll be dreaming of an Earl Norem Blues Brothers painted cover all day now). Too bad this one didn’t arise out of the Marvel/NBC partnership that birthed the Spidey/Not-Ready-forPrimetime-Players team-up of 1978. Live from New York, it’s Mighty Marvel! Charlie’s Angels (1976–1981): Sorry, ’70s DC, but in the era of TV super-sisters like Police Woman and Get Christie Love, Lady Cop didn’t quite cut it. One thing that 1st Issue Special curiosity gave us that’s hard to forget, though, was Lady Cop’s dynamite Dick Giordano cover. Giordano always had a flair for good girl art, and was adept at drawing real-world scenes and flashy cars. Since Charlie’s Angels was, for most of its run, a hit and merchandising cash cow—even surviving the departure of Farrah and her hair—Aaron Spelling’s police-academy graduates would have made the perfect addition to the DC-TV line, especially with Dick at the artistic helm. Good morning, Charlie! Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

Another memorable mash-up of the worlds of comic books and television occurred in 1974 when “Spidey Super Stories” premiered as a live-action skit on the educational TV program The Electric Company. These adventures featured a pantomiming Spider-Man who only “spoke” in word balloons as he foiled not-so-super bad guys. This feature inspired a spinoff comic book, Spidey Super Stories, a joint production of Marvel Comics and The Electric Company’s Children’s Television Workshop. Spidey was far from the only live-action superhero appearing on television in the 1970s. Filmation’s live-action Shazam! premiered on Saturday mornings in 1974, with The Secrets of Isis following in 1975. Primetime television experienced a superhero explosion throughout the 1970s, from made-for-TV features like The Six Million Dollar Man (based upon the novel Cyborg) and The Bionic Woman to live-action adaptations of comics’ Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and The Amazing Spider-Man (plus Captain America and Doctor Strange telemovies). The decade ended with two Legends of the SuperHeroes specials, live-action joke-fests returning Adam West and Burt Ward to their Batman and Robin roles, joined by a host of additional DC heroes and villains. Saturday morning kid-vid remained a safe haven for animated adventures of comic-book superheroes throughout the 1970s, including 1978’s Fantastic Four, which soured many fans by substituting the cloying H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot for the FF’s Human Torch. The comic books themselves continued to annually feature illustrated house ads for each fall’s Saturday morning kids’ shows, some ads featuring dynamite artwork by Neal Adams. TV tie-ins still heavily populated the spin racks throughout the 1970s. Gold Key Comics and Dell Comics started the decade pretty much doing business as usual, their television tie-ins sporting the traditional photo covers. Included in Gold Key’s lineup: Family

Affair, The Banana Splits, H. R. Pufnstuf, Adam 12, The Pink Panther, and Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Dell countered with The Mod Squad, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and Room 222 among its TV tie-ins, but those titles were short-lived as the publisher ceased its comics line not long into the 1970s. In terms of sheer volume, no publisher of TV tie-ins in the ’70s could outmatch Charlton Comics. Charlton, the Derby, Connecticut, publisher known for knockoffs, poor production values, and an inhouse printing press that ran 24/7, started dabbling in TV tie-ins, with properties including TV’s Bullwinkle and Rocky, Dudley Do-Right, Primus, The Partridge Family, Underdog, and Hee Haw. Charlton soon scooped up the Hanna-Barbera license from Gold Key (see next issue for details) and began a ballooning list of titles, including a Flintstones franchise that gave almost every resident of Bedrock their own book (sorry, Mr. Slate and Joe Rockhead, you didn’t make the cut). H-B

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Teaming Up with Easy Reader (left) Spidey Super Stories title ran 57 issues, starting with this John Romita, Sr.-drawn cover for issue #1 (Oct. 1974). (inset) Pantomiming Spidey meets Morgan Freeman on The Electric Company! (right) Original Jack Sparling cover painting (courtesy of Heritage) for Charlton’s Six Million Dollar Man comic, issue #4 (Dec. 1979). Spider-Man TM & © Marvel. Six Million Dollar Man © Universal.

’70s Flashbacks Introducing the DC TV Comics: (top) Shazam! #25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), intro’ing Isis to the world of comics, and its spinoff Isis #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1976). Covers by Kurt Schaffenberger. (bottom left) Super Friends #1 (Nov. 1976). Cover by Ernie Chua and Vince Colletta. (bottom right) TV’s Sweathogs hopped to comics beginning with DC’s Welcome Back, Kotter #1 (Nov. 1976). Cover by Bob Oksner. See the checklist accompanying this editorial to discover past BIs featuring articles about these series. TM & © DC Comics. Welcome Back, Kotter © Warner Bros. Television.

stalwarts like Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and The Jetsons were joined at Charlton by newer properties such as Hong Kong Phooey, Scooby-Doo, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch (featuring early John Byrne artwork), and The Great Grape Ape. In the summer of 1975, Charlton expanded its TV line by adding Gerry Anderson’s live-action Space: 1999 to its roster, in two formats, as a traditional comic book with all-ages stories and as a black-andwhite magazine with stories skewed toward older readers. In 1976 Charlton followed with The Six Million Dollar Man and Emergency! in both formats, but in late 1976 it temporary halted comic-book production, resuming the next year by releasing numerous reprint

titles, save for The Six Million Dollar Man and a short-lived The Bionic Woman comic. The company ultimately threw in the towel in the 1980s and stopped publishing comics entirely. DC Comics rolled out a “DC TV” imprint beginning in the summer of 1976, after Jenette Kahn, who hailed from the world of children’s magazine publishing, was hired as DC Comics’ publisher, replacing the ousted Carmine Infantino. This initiative folded in DC’s existing Shazam! series, in which writer E. Nelson Bridwell added nuances to make the comic continuity more recognizable to viewers of the live-action Shazam! show. The other DC TV comics were Isis, Super Friends (which enjoyed a long run), and a

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peculiar companion to this trio of superheroes, the schoolroom-based sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. During Charlton’s aforementioned temporary shutdown of 1976–1977, Marvel Comics, of all companies, reentered the kids-comic arena from which they had been absent for some time and acquired the Hanna-Barbera license. Four H-B titles launched Marvel’s initiative: Dynomutt, The Flintstones, ScoobyDoo, and Yogi Bear. The books’ cover graphics cited their source material by trapping the price and issue number inside a TV set shape; each cover included a border roster of headshots showcased inside a filmstrip design. A character-loaded Laff-A-Lympics title was added, plus various other publications including a short-lived TV Stars series with rotating features. Mark Evanier was the main creative force behind Marvel’s H-B product, which featured contributions from comic-book creators Paul Norris, Scott Shaw!, and Alex Toth, among others.

As Marvel’s market presence strengthened throughout the ’70s, beyond the Hanna-Barbera titles the House of Ideas acquired other media licenses for comic adaptations, pulling from the worlds of toys (Micronauts, ROM: Spaceknight), film (Star Wars and numerous one-shot movie adaptations), and, of course, television (Man from Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica). Across the great pond, UK fans were privy to comic stories featuring both British and American television series in periodicals such as TV Action and Look-in as well as annuals with hefty page counts. It seemed that no matter where comic books were sold in the 1970s, there was no shortage of TV-inspired offerings.

THE BIG ’80s AND BEYOND

It was still business as usual with the comic book/ television synergy in the fall of 1979 when DC’s Pliable Pretzel was brought to Saturday morning TV by animation house Ruby-Spears in The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (which featured live-action interstitials hosted by an actor portraying Plas), which ran a couple of seasons and ultimately gave the world Baby Plas. The show’s launch afforded DC

Mark Harris is All Wet! (left) An unused Gil Kane cover preliminary for the cover of Marvel’s Man from Atlantis #4 (May 1978), adapting the NBC adventure series. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (right) Considerable changes were made in what became the published Kane cover, inked by Tony DeZuniga. © NBCUniversal/Solow Production Company.

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Comics the chance to revive the Stretchable Sleuth, so Plastic Man starred in Adventure Comics #467 (cover-dated Jan. 1980), a title that became a “split book” halved between Plas and a new interstellar version of Starman (see BACK ISSUE #115). The animated Plastic Man show opened with a “From out of the pages of DC Comics” announcement, and DC’s house ads promoted Adventure’s Plas as “Saturday morning’s super-star.” Yet TV tie-in comics withered on the vine as the ’80s progressed. Traditional publishers were closing shop, and once-venerable Gold Key’s line had shrunk to mostly its time-tested Disney and Warner Bros. titles—save for a Battle of the Planets TV tie-in comic in the early ’80s (which we’ll cover next issue!)— before soon ending soon its comic output. Long gone were Harvey’s cover graphics linking their comics to television; instead, its vast Richie Rich franchise dominated the publisher’s offerings. Changes were afoot in the comic-book world that would soon alter the dynamic between the industry and television. Sales had been on a steady decline for decades, in part the result of television usurping the general reader from the market and newsstands and other outlets limiting their display of comics, which had lower profit margins than higher-priced and better-selling periodicals. The direct sales market was born and comics began appearing only in specialty shops, cultivating a smaller readership

of fans, a far cry from the broader, general-audience readership of days of yore. Marvel made a valiant effort to attract children to comic books in 1984 by launching its Star Comics initiative, editorially helmed by one-time Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson. Star Comics titles, distributed to traditional newsstands, were a hodgepodge of made-for-Marvel kid-friendly series such as Top Dog and Royal Roy, and properties popular with children that were licensed from other media, including television’s Muppet Babies and Thundercats. The line continued to grow, adding new TV tie-ins such as Defenders of the Earth and Camp Candy, and the titles’ branding shifted from Star to Marvel. After four years Marvel abandoned the project, its one enduring success story being Peter Porker, the Spectacular SpiderHam (see BACK ISSUE #39), a funny-animal character that has enjoyed a comeback in recent years. Throughout the ’80s, television cartoons largely became a vehicle to sell toys, with syndicated animated series timed to launch alongside actionfigure lines… often with an accompanying debut of a comic book. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was the big winner of this comics/toys/TV package phenomenon, becoming an extremely popular Marvel (not Star) title beginning in 1982. Other standouts: DC Comics brought He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to comics beginning with a Superman team-up in DC Comics Presents #47 (July 1982), while Marvel also

30 Rock Comics (left) Smilin’ Stan Lee hosts Saturday Night Live in the offbeat Marvel TeamUp #74 (Oct. 1978). Cover by Marie Severin. (right) My, oh my, look who’s on Letterman! Avengers #239 (Jan. 1984) cover by Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott. TM & © Marvel. SNL, NBC, and Late Night © NBC.

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scored a triumph with Transformers. Even the longrunning Super Friends was altered to hawk Kenner’s Super Powers action figures in its final incarnations, ending its TV run in 1986. During the era of ’80s toy-based comics, aside from the oft-revived perennial Star Trek, TV tie-ins were rare, sometimes popping out of nowhere, like Comico’s delightful Jonny Quest and Space Ghost, Now Comics’ The Original Astro Boy, Marvel’s A-Team and Sledge Hammer!, DC’s V, Triad’s The Honeymooners (featuring the 1950s classic sitcom), and Innovation’s Lost in Space (continuing the adventures of the 1960s TV sci-fi show). The days of photo-cover comic books based upon popular primetime shows was mostly a relic of the past. And man, did we miss out on some ’80s photo covers! Picture, if you will, KITT careening toward the reader on a Gold Key Knight Rider #1, with an inset headshot of the well-coifed David Hasselhoff. Or a neon-hued Miami Vice logo over a photo of an unshaven Don Johnson. Catherine Bach in short-shorts would’ve

moved some copies of a Dukes of Hazzard comic— and the same could probably be said about Tom Selleck in short-shorts on a Magnum P.I. comic. And c’mon, admit it—wouldn’t you like a “Who Shot J.R.?” photo cover on a Dallas TV tie-in comic in your collection? An oasis in this TV photo-cover desert was Now’s Married… with Children series, which came along in 1991 and often featured photo covers of its beleaguered Bundy clan. One throwback is noteworthy here, mainly because it’s a curiosity that probably escaped the eye of most BACK ISSUE readers: In the vein of Marvel’s 1968 America’s Best TV Comics, in 1991 Harvey Comics published NBC Saturday Morning Comics (see inset at left), a one-shot featuring comic stories starring NBC’s children’s programming lineup.

TV TIE-INS FOREVER!

As the direct market reshaped the readership of comics, both nostalgia and fan-skewed genre television programs have led to the rebirth of the TV tie-in comic book, some featuring photo covers. For 25 years Bongo Comics brought the Simpsons universe to comic books. DC and Marvel have produced numerous kid-friendly comics based upon their respective animated series (and in DC’s case, based upon the properties of its sister company, Hanna-Barbera), none more acclaimed that DC’s The Batman Adventures and its continuations, spawned by the success of 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series. Comic adaptations of live-action superhero TV shows have also appeared, like DC’s Superboy, which launched in late 1989 and ironically flew into the face of newly established continuity since the Teen of Steel had recently been sidelined in the Man of Steel reboot and the publisher’s overall Crisis on Infinite Earths initiative. From then-new properties like Alien Nation, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Babylon 5 to retro revivals like The Greatest American Hero, Batman ’66, and Charlie’s Angels, many television series new and old have inspired comic books during the past few decades. And more are sure to follow. In retrospect, perhaps the greatest benefit of the blending of the worlds of comic books and television is TV’s contribution to the preservation of the comicbook business—the very business whose sales had been damaged by the one-eyed monster. As DC publisher Jenette Kahn told her editors in the early 1990s after the success of Tim Burton’s Batman movie and several DC properties being developed as TV series, DC’s

’80s and ’90s Flashbacks (top left) Marvel’s G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero became a hit for the publisher. Issue #1 (June 1982) cover by Herb Trimpe and Bob McLeod. (top right) NBC’s family-friendly sitcom ALF enjoyed a 50-issue Marvel run. Issue #1’s (Mar. 1988) photo cover, also featuring Dave Manak/Marie Severin artwork. (bottom) Television’s The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, both cult faves of the 1990s, transitioned to comic books for long and popular runs. G.I. Joe © Hasbro. ALF © NBCUniversal. X-Files and Buffy © 20th Century Television.

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TV TIE-IN COMICS (LIVE ACTION)

like their television counterparts. (See BI #101 for our Partridge comic history.) © Sony Pictures Television.

parent company Warner Bros. regarded the comic-book house as “a garden of characters from which to choose.” These days, comic-book sales continue to shrink, and some longtime readers and creators are vocal with their criticisms and course-correction recommendations about the current state of the business. Yet we cannot deny that without this sometimes incestuous comics/Hollywood relationship, our beloved Green Lantern and Iron Man and their ilk might today be found only in flea market bins rather than on television, in movie theaters, on T-shirts and underwear, and in a plethora of media platforms. In this issue we dial back to the Bronze Age and examine many TV tie-in comic books of the 1970s, including Charlton’s The Bionic Woman, which received only a cursory look in BACK ISSUE #25’s Six Million Dollar Man article. In the pages that follow, our focus is exclusively upon live-action television series that were adapted to comic books (a theme suggested by Douglas R. Kelly, one of our contributing writers). Next month, we stay glued to the tube for an issue devoted to Bronze Age comic books based upon animated TV shows. Please note that many TV tie-in comics of the Bronze Age, based on both live-action and cartoon series, have been previously covered in these pages and are absent from this issue. Consult the accompanying checklist for more information about BI’s earlier coverage of live-action TV tie-ins; a similar checklist of previous articles about cartoon TV tie-ins will appear in our next issue. As you’ll discover when flipping through TV tie-in comic books, realistic celebrity likenesses were often as fuzzy as poor rabbit-ear reception. Sometimes the likenesses were dead-on, as with Charlton’s The Partridge Family, where artist Don Sherwood clearly worked with photo reference. Other times the shortcomings of an illustrator or the lack of celebrity licensor approval made the characters in TV tie-in comics look little like the actors playing them on the tube. That’s one reason many collectors are more interested in the tie-ins’ covers— especially photo covers—than the interiors. Like TV Guide photo covers and View-Master packets, TV tie-in photo covers are a nostalgic snapshot that, in a single image, take you back to simpler times. So kick off your shoes, prop up your feet, and tune in to some of the finest—and in a few instances, weirdest—television shows that comic books have to offer. No remote control is necessary!

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BACK ISSUE editor MICHAEL EURY was raised on ’60s and ’70s television, spending more time studying TV Guide than his schoolbooks. Today he commands the marginally impressive superpower of total recall of classic TV show themes and often sings them aloud, even if asked not to. No wonder he’s the editor of TwoMorrows’ RetroFan magazine!

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rs.

that the stars of Charlton’s The Partridge Family looked

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Artist Don Sherwood used photo reference to ensure

rs.

C’mon, Get Happy!

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The A-Team (Mr. T): BI #36 ALF: BI #77 Battlestar Galactica: BI #89 Bobby Sherman (Getting Together): BI #101 Doctor Who: BI #63 The Flash (live-action TV series): BI #23 The Green Hornet: BI #18 The Incredible Hulk (live-action series): BI #5 (Lou Ferrigno interview), 70 (series overview) Isis: BI #23 Korg: 70,000 B.C.: BI #43 Man from Atlantis: BI #55 The Partridge Family: BI #101 Saturday Night Live (Spider-Man and the Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players in Marvel Team-Up #74): BI #66 Shazam!: BI #30 (Jackson Bostwick and John Davey interviews), 33 (Michael Gray interview), 93 The Six Million Dollar Man: BI #25 Space: 1999: BI #120 Spider-Man (live-action and Japanese live-action series): BI #44 Star Trek: BI #5, 23 Swamp Thing: BI #36 Teen Titans: BI #122 The Twilight Zone (Carol Serling interview): BI #55 Welcome Back, Kotter: BI #23 Wonder Woman (live-action series): BI #5

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rs. © the respective copyright holde

This checklist will allow you to dig deeper into our backlist for more information about the comic books based upon, or the comics/TV connections to, the shows listed below.

by S t e v e n

Thompson

A Soap Opera You Can Sink Your Teeth Into A portrait of Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins. Color print by Ken Bald, artist of the Dark Shadows newspaper strip. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Dark Shadows TM & © Dan Curtis Productions.

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“My name is Victoria Winters, and although I was initially the main character on Dark Shadows, I was gone from Collinwood and the entire series by the time the Gold Key comic book arrived on the scene in 1969.” Producer Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows had premiered on ABC television in 1966 as a daily soap opera, aimed at cashing in on the trend of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights-style gothic romances. Initially it had centered on Miss Winters, who arrives in a small fishing village in Maine as the new young governess to ten-year-old David Collins at Collinwood, “a house filled with strangeness and mystery.” Critics in 1966 called Dark Shadows “television’s first continuing suspense drama,” and “exciting viewing for the young housewife.” Many of the initially released publicity shots for the daytime series featured young Victoria running away from the mysterious mansion on a hill, thus bringing to life a thousand mass market paperback covers then on display at the local Woolworth. From the beginning, the daily television series was shot so quickly that it had no time for retakes or fancy editing. What they shot was what you got, and the show became known for its jiggly props, chintzy special effects, doors that wouldn’t stay open or closed, and crewmen often seen in shots. There were so many of these bloopers that decades later they would be released on VHS tape. You have to admit, it doesn’t really sound particularly conducive to being adapted into comic-book form. But that was all before the phenomenon hit. After Barnabas Collins returned to Collinwood, all bets were off. The idea of a gothic TV soap may have been original, but it was not popular. Finishing in 13th place among other soaps in its first year, ABC gave the producers a limited period in which to up the show’s ratings or get the ax. According to legend, Dan Curtis decided to go out with a vampire story, and Barnabas Collins was created for a simple 13-week run. He’d bite some people, then he’d be hunted down and staked or locked back in his coffin and the show would go off the air. But Dark Shadows didn’t exist in a vacuum. Concurrent with the series was the peak period of the monster revival, which had seen magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland, Fantastic Monsters, and Castle of Frankenstein introducing young readers and teens to the classic Universal monster films and reviving interest in such actors as Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and the late Bela Lugosi. Those monster-loving kids and teens got word that fangs were being seen on afternoon TV and started rushing home from school to watch Dark Shadows. Jonathan Frid, the Canadian actor who portrayed Barnabas, began to appear on not just talk shows but also children’s shows. He and some of the men on the show posed topless in magazines for teen girls like Tiger Beat and 16. Before you knew it, there were games, toys, glow-in-the-dark models, a long series of paperback novels, and two feature film adaptations. By that point, comic books seemed a perfectly logical tie-in. Unfortunately, neither Marvel nor DC were in a position to license the property. The Comics Code Authority, since the mid-1950s, had expressly stated: “Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism (sic) are prohibited.” The only mainstream comic-book companies that did not subscribe to the Code were Dell—then on its last legs— and Gold Key (Western Publishing), a family-friendly comics publisher then absolutely thriving with licensed properties. In his introduction to the 2010 reprints from Hermes Press, writer Dr. Jeff Thompson (no relation) acknowledges that the authorship of the Dark Shadows series is partially unknown. He quotes Gold Key’s East Coast editor Wally Green as writing, in a letter from when the comic was still coming out, “We have used several writers so far. A couple ran dry after some good stories. One or two never really did get the hang of it.”

Portrait of a Vampire (top) Gold Key Comics’ Dark Shadows #1 (Mar. 1969), featuring a photo cover starring Jonathan Frid. (bottom) Barnabas is cover-featured on this 1970 Gold Key Dark Shadows digest. © Dan Curtis Productions.

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One writer known to have worked on the series is Arnold Drake. Drake was a comics veteran, credited with one of the earliest graphic novels—It Rhymes with Lust— as well as co-creating the Doom Patrol and Deadman for DC and the Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel. He had also been a screenwriter, having written the cult films The Flesh Eaters and Who Killed Teddy Bear? Drake told Thompson that he had never paid much attention to the TV series and that his goal was always just to turn out a good story, without much regard for restrictive continuity. It is believed that Drake’s first issue was Dark Shadows #22 (Oct. 1973) and that he was responsible for six non-consecutive issues after that. Other writers known to have written issues here and there are John Warner and Gerry Boudreau, the former best known for work he did at Marvel and the latter for his work at Warren. A news report in a 1973 issue of The Comic Reader mentions that “Gerry Boudreau has a few Dark Shadows coming up.” Researching this article has brought to light one of the unsung Dark Shadows writers, and she’s quite the surprise indeed, as she was already known for two other highly visible careers—as a remarkable young actress in the 1960s and on the world stage for her pivotal role in the Reagan White House and in Republican politics beyond. The fact that Gold Key never gave credits assured her anonymity, but Merrie Spaeth has never hidden the fact that she worked in comic books. It’s mentioned in newspaper articles dating back as far as the early 1970s and on IMDB comments in recent years. But as Merrie Spaeth has never been a part of merrie spaeth the comics world, those mentions flew past almost everyone who cares about such things. There weren’t a lot of female comics writers in the 1960s and ’70s. Ms. Spaeth was working for New York magazine. The way she remembers it, one day the airconditioning in the office broke down. The repairman sent to fix it noticed her typing away on her IBM Selectric and asked if she was a writer. He told her that he was also an illustrator and that he drew Smokey Bear comic books for Gold Key Comics’ Manhattan office. He told her they were looking for writers. Although she had grown up reading Archie comics, the concept of writing comics had never occurred to her until that point. Always looking to expand her horizons, Merrie met with editor Wally Green,

Vague Resemblance (top left) Frid as Barnabas (from the photo back cover of Dark Shadows #1) and (top right) artist Joe Certa’s interpretation of the ABC afternoon vampire. (bottom) Dark Shadows #1, setting the stage for the series by presenting the backstory for Barnabas Collins. © Dan Curtis Productions.

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whom she describes as “terrific,” and began picking up assignments. Her first assignments were for Boris Karloff’s Tales of Mystery. “I supported myself for two years in New York City while being a ‘real writer,’” she says. She says it all came easily to her. She just let her imagination run wild and turned in full scripts, going so far as to describe for the artists—with whom she never had any contact—what the pictures should look like. After she had proven her reliability, Green assigned Spaeth to Dark Shadows. When asked if she had been a fan of the TV series, she enthusiastically offers, “Of course!” As for the comics assignment, she says, “They were best because Gold Key paid by the page and instead of a six-page [story], Dark Shadows was 25 pages! Two a month paid my rent!” Although convinced she still has records of which specific issues she worked on, she has not been able to locate them as of this point. In fact, although she knows she was always paid the full amount, she says she can’t be certain that her scripts weren’t turned over to “a more seasoned writer” to dialogue. She was, as she put it, “low man on the totem pole.” Comics historian Martin O’Hearn believes that the Dark Shadows stories Merrie Spaeth wrote are most likely in the early issues, currently attributed—perhaps incorrectly— to Don Arneson. O’Hearn says, “The only issue that I know of Arneson’s specifically mentioning is #1—about having to write the epilogue at the last minute to fill in when it was decided to run the book without advertising.” Editor Green, in a 1986 interview, stated that Dark Shadows had originally been planned as a quarterly title, with advertising, but that someone higher-up decided it would be a one-shot, “…which meant, under the laws, that we could not put advertising in it. We were suddenly faced with six blank pages.” He contacted Arneson, and “we decided to try tacking an epilogue onto this story. I asked him to do it; he said he’d give it a try. It’s kind of a tall order because when you figure… he’s written here a story with a very definite ending to it and here I come along and ask him to tack on a six-page coda.” In the end, though, Green felt that it worked. “It didn’t seem like too much of an afterthought,” he said, “even though it was. “It looked like an integral part of the whole story.” Don (D. J.) Arneson was a prolific writer/editor who was almost always uncredited throughout his comics career although he did get credit—on the covers, yet—for the infamous Great Society and Bobman and Teddy “adult” political satire comic books from 1966. Arneson is also known to have co-created (with artist Tony Tallarico) the first African-American comic-book character with his own title—Lobo, a black cowboy with two issues from Dell in 1965–1966. What is not known is how many—and which—issues of Dark Shadows he wrote beyond the first one. One anomaly that we know Arneson wrote is Gold Key’s Dark Shadows Story Magazine # 1 (June 1970), essentially a 144-page pulp-style magazine, with a text story written in the style of the comic and featuring a number of single-color illustrations by Joe Certa, artist on the comic. Both Arneson and Certa are credited here for the first and only time on any Dark Shadows project. That ad-free first comic book (Mar. 1969), though, with the epilogue pages, came out costing a quarter at a time when most comic books had just jumped to 15 cents, but it also came—as did various Gold Key titles around that same time—with a full-color fold-out poster, in this case of Barnabas Collins. That first issue makes a nod to series continuity in that the witch, Angelique, is referred to as Cassandra Collins, a name the character was using on TV as the

new bride of Roger Collins around the time this story would have been written. (Inexplicably, Cassandra is depicted as a long-haired redhead in this first issue and, as Angelique, in later issues as well. On the air, Lara Parker was known for her stylish mountain of piled blonde hair as Angelique and wore a small, darker wig when masquerading as Cassandra.) Similarly, there’s a one-panel flashback showing Barnabas walling up Reverend Trask, another event from the daily serial. The story’s plot, in fact, involves two young men and a girl searching for information on Trask, and Barnabas and Angelique attempting to prevent them from finding it. Soon enough it became obvious that there was simply no way to keep up and all attempts at tying in to the TV continuity were dropped beyond the basic characterizations: Barnabas Collins was a vampire, Quentin Collins a werewolf (albeit the least hirsute werewolf ever in a comic book), Angelique a witch, and the rest just showed up as the story required. In this case, in spite of the show’s large and varied cast of characters, “the rest” here consisted of a pareddown group of regulars that only included Roger Collins, his sister Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Professor Stokes. After his TV introduction and subsequent teen idol popularity, Quentin Collins was added without explanation, although he was

The Wonderful Mr. Wilson Really, is there anyone out there who doesn’t love those extraordinary Gold Key painted covers by George Wilson? Here’s his original cover painting for Dark Shadows #11 (Nov. 1971), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © Dan Curtis Productions.

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

Children of the Damned (left) A redheaded Angelique bewitches the splash page of Dark Shadows #15’s (Aug. 1972) “The Night Children,” with art by Joe Certa. (right) That issue’s cover. © Dan Curtis Productions.

very unlike his daytime TV counterpart. Willie Loomis, the series. Numerous stories were built around all-new, Barnabas’ Renfield-like servant on the show, appears made-up-for-Gold-Key Collinses including Mordecai, in the first issue but is never seen again. Angelique Halperin, Tarkington, Constance, Cheshire, Tobias, and flits around occasionally as a ghost witch and young Lenore. Barnabas often interacts with them in flashbacks David Collins appears on one cover but never in the or via actual time-travel, a bit of a nod to one of book itself. Nowhere to be seen were TV mainstay the series’ tropes, in which past time, parallel time, and even future time episode arcs often occurred. characters such as Vicki, Maggie Evans, In the early issues Barnabas is a vampire, Carolyn Stoddard, Christopher Jennings, but then isn’t. Then he’s a vampire again, Gerard Styles, Nicholas Blair, Daphne with no explanation given. Is Dr. Hoffman Harridge, Burke Devlin, or dozens attempting to cure him, or is Angelique more. With the exception of only taunting him? We’re never shown, one or two issues, the book might one way or another. In the beginning, as well have been entitled Barnabas though, Barnabas clearly has no Collins Comics and Stories. qualms about killing to protect the With the comic only being secret of his being undead, and yet we published quarterly until issue #13 never see him biting anyone. In the very (Apr. 1972), more than 50 TV episodes first story, he attempts to permanently would pass over the airwaves silence a young girl. Then, in issue #2 between issues and there was simply (Aug. 1969), he determines early on no way to keep up with the show’s joe certa to murder a fire investigator and complex and constantly changing his female assistant. “My secret must storylines. Without many of the TV characters and their continuity to fall back on, the comic be preserved… they must perish together!” The girl stories generally consisted of tales built around all-new is apparently extremely skittish as she simply hears a characters, with whom the writers could do whatever noise behind her and faints. “She didn’t see me,” says they wished. Both Wally Green and Merrie Spaeth Barnabas. “I must do away with her before he gets indicated that they were never given any guidelines or back. The pier! They will find her in the morning! restrictions by Dan Curtis Productions, which produced The victim of a tragic accident while out walking in the night! Nothing will point to ME!” Fortunately for her, the dawn breaks and her friend arrives looking for her before Mr. Collins can do away with her. By the way, Barnabas was saying all this aloud. He talks to himself a lot in this series. He also runs a lot. While the TV series may have been set-bound, it was rare that the comic series offered an issue set at Collinwood, preferring instead to have Barnabas running here and there all the time. One finds it hard to imagine actor Jonathan Frid running at all, let alone as much as four-color Barnabas does!

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Yet it isn’t Frid in the comic. Outside of a very few panels here and there, Barnabas looks nothing like the striking-looking thespian who developed the character into TV’s favorite romantic anti-hero of the day. Likewise, the other characters in the comic resemble their character types but not really the actors who played them. Only Elizabeth, played on-screen by Hollywood veteran Joan Bennett, is occasionally recognizable here on paper. When handsome, dark-eyed gothic cliché hero Quentin arrives, he does resemble actor David Selby a bit, but only for his first appearance, after which his trademark long sideburns give way to an unrecognizable, unnatural-looking, long-haired look. This is perhaps another indicator that the publisher would have had to pay extra in order for the artist to use actual likenesses of the performers. That artist, by the way, from the beginning, was Joe Certa. Although never a major player, he had started in the industry as an assistant on Ham Fisher’s Joe Palooka back in 1938. During World War II, he drew his own daily newspaper panel about the army, Private Will B. Wright. Certa was probably best known for his work on DC’s “J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter for Mars” series in Detective Comics, of which he drew the entire run. Likewise, Certa would draw the entire run of Dark Shadows, aided and abetted by what seems to be various inkers from time to time, possibly including, according to different sources, Gold Key regulars Sal Trapani, George Roussos, and Frank Bolle. Although never a flashy artist, Joe Certa was a craftsman who knew his job and was adept at panel-topanel storytelling. He took the scripts he was given and issue after issue transformed them into a series of enjoyable reads, no matter whom the writer may have been. With the exception of a few filmed establishing shots, the TV Dark Shadows was recorded entirely on videotape and mostly on indoor sets, thus giving it a certain, easily recognizable visual “look.” In the comics, it’s Certa’s art that provides a very different yet similarly identifiable look and feel. One fan, writing online about the series, said, “I remember seeing Certa’s Dark Shadows artwork as a child and I’ve forged a lifelong connection to it.” Dark Shadows was one of the last projects Certa had in comics before moving into commercial art, as many of the veteran comics artists did in time. He died in 1986. The only other artist associated with the series was the prolific painter, George Wilson. After the first seven issues featured photo covers utilizing various publicity stills, most of the rest presented painted images, a Gold Key trademark, done by Wilson, who was kept very busy for several decades doing such work for Dell, Gold Key, and also Classics Illustrated, all while churning out Harlequin romance paperback covers, too. A small still of Jonathan Frid’s face continued to appear next to the title. Toward the end of the run, a few penciled covers by Certa turned up, but mainly it was Wilson’s suitably dark images that attracted potential buyers. Although Gold Key prided itself on its familyoriented comics, some of their “mystery” stories in titles like Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Grimm’s Ghost Stories, or Dark Shadows, could get pretty dark at times, oddly at contrast with the kids’ joke pages often found in the issues. One particularly unsettling issue is Dark Shadows # 15 (Aug. 1972), entitled “The Night Children.” The story opens with a windblown Angelique on some otherworldly plane, assigning two demonic children to destroy Barnabas Collins and Collinwood. Liz is throwing a dinner party (whose only guests are the series recurring cast of Barnabas, Stokes, Hoffman,

and Liz’s brother, Roger) when the two children knock at the door ostensibly looking for their lost dog. With their large, innocent, sad eyes à la the oncefaddish paintings now known to have been done by Margaret Keane, the night children, Andras (actually the Grand Marquis of Hades) and Cali (really the Queen of Demons), easily seduce Barnabas into accompanying them out into the night, where they quickly build a stone altar on which to sacrifice him to the morning sun. Then they return to Collinwood, telling Liz that Barnabas told them to wait there. The guests are hypnotized and subdued, and the kids go looking for Quentin, locked in a deep cellar to avoid the curse of the full moon that changes him into a werewolf. But Quentin chases them until they return to the darkness. Barnabas awakens before dawn and turns into a bat—as vampires sometimes do—to go after Quentin. But first he encounters Angelique and some very creepy, Wizard of Oz-like flying monkeys! When he finally finds Quentin, they duel until beset by skeletal flying wraiths. Quentin turns back to normal and is finally seduced by the night children. Barnabas manages to save Quentin and they leave Angelique and the demon kids behind in the other-dimensional underworld, after which Quentin then has to save Barnabas from the sunrise, all before showing up back at Collinwood, where Liz offers a cheery greeting and probably some morning coffee. Pretty heady stuff for a comic book advertising Sea Monkeys, construction equipment model kits, and Disney iron-on transfers. And there were a lot of potentially nightmare-causing issues like that one. Toward the end, though, the series was throwing anything at the wall to see what might stick, with Barnabas encountering not just witchcraft but medieval sorcerers, other-dimensional monsters, and ancient gods. Martin O’Hearn notes something particularly odd in Dark Shadows #34 (Nov. 1975): an unofficial tie-in to Marvel’s Dr. Strange. In the story, credited to John Warner, an evil wizard who had fought Barnabas a few issues earlier escapes a dimension in which he is trapped by exiting through a mystical Eye (of Agamotto) into a sanctum where a woman (Clea) calls for “Stephen.” It’s a fun, throwaway gag, even though it seems to have slipped past everyone for decades until Martin noticed it.

The Dark Shadows/ Dr. Strange “Crossover” Writer John Warner, with artist Certa, snuck the Eye of Agamotto (and Clea, too) into Gold Key’s Dark Shadows #34 (Nov. 1975). (inset) Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts, as rendered by fabulous Frank Brunner. Dark Shadows TM & © Dan Curtis Productions. Dr. Strange TM & © Marvel.

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ken bald © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

Frightful Funnies Original Ken Bald artwork for the (top) July 1, 1971 and (bottom) December 12, 1971 Dark Shadows daily newspaper strips. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

In the end, while Gold Key’s Dark Shadows comic book can be an enjoyable experience all its own, it has to be said that it bears little resemblance to its TV parent. In most ways, neither does the Dark Shadows newspaper strip that ran for a year between March of 1971 and March of 1972. Overseen by Elliot Caplin (brother of Al Capp) and possibly written by Howard Liss, the seven-day-a-week strip utilized even fewer members of the television series’ rich cast than the comic book, with Carolyn becoming a major player but everyone else except Barnabas, Angelique, and Elizabeth ignored. Like the comic book, though, there was no attempt to tie-in all that much to the TV continuity. One way in which the strip does look more like the series is visually. Artist Ken Bald (signing here as “K. Bruce”), a veteran of another TV strip, Dr. Kildare, excelled in photo-referenced art so in the papers, Barnabas always looked exactly like Jonathan Frid (even if there were quite a few reused images throughout the run). Wallace Wood is said to have helped out on the strip, but I don’t see any obvious sign of that. I do see traces of what looks like possibly Ernie Colón ghosting a few of the strips. As popular as Dark Shadows was, it’s surprising that neither MAD nor Cracked did a full-scale parody. That was left to Marvel. As the Comics Code relaxed its rules about vampires, Marvel was finally able to get in on it, in the form of a spoof, appropriately in the comic entitled Spoof, issue #1 (Oct. 1970). Barnabas is seen as a TV vampire, alongside Quentin and various other classic monsters of

the werewolf, mummy, and Frankensteinian variety. Roy Thomas and Marie Severin are credited—or blamed—for the parody. Gold Key had never been one to let the cancellation of the show that inspired a particular comic cause them to cancel the comic. Presumably, the thinking was that series fans would continue to buy the comic books as reminders of the series they had once enjoyed. By the time of Dark Shadows’ final issue, however, #35 (Feb. 1976), Gold Key’s sales weren’t what they had been, and the title simply stopped, ending with Barnabas, Quentin, Elizabeth, and someone who appears to be Professor Stokes, all smiling as they enjoy a meal at Collinwood. Vampires being undead, however, the Dark Shadows TV series has been revived several times, the originals have been big hits on DVD, there was a feature film with Johnny Depp, both the Gold Key series and the newspaper strip have been given prestige reprints, and allnew Dark Shadows comic books have appeared, first from Innovation in the 1990s and more recently from Dynamite Entertainment. Looks like nothing has ever been able to keep that ol’ stake in Barnabas Collins for very long. Unlike Dracula, he may not be a Count, but let’s face it, when it comes to pop-culture vampires, Barnabas Collins… counts! [Editor’s note: For more Dark Shadows, see RetroFan #11’s interview with David “Quentin Collins” Selby, and the forthcoming issue #17 for an interview with Angelique, actress Lara Parker.] STEVEN THOMPSON is Booksteve of Booksteve’s Library (http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com) and a dozen other blogs. He has written for Fantagraphics, TwoMorrows, Yoe Books, Bear Manor Media, and Time Capsule Productions.

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At one time the top comics publisher, Dell’s comics line was fading away by the early 1970s. The industry was changing during what we now call the Bronze Age of Comics, with newsstand presence eroding for old-time four-color “funnybooks.” Comics were also experiencing maturation and sophistication of subject matter, a far cry from the much-bandied wholesomeness banner that Dell had so proudly waved. In the 1980s, Western Publishing’s Gold Key Comics similarly discontinued its comics line. The era of the photo cover TV tie-in comic book was no more. This article will present a brief survey of the final TV tie-ins produced by those venerable companies. One series, Gold Key’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, is worthy of a deeper examination than is presented here and will be covered at length in a future edition of BACK ISSUE.

THE END OF A DYNASTY: DELL’S LAST TV COMICS THE MOD SQUAD

by M i c h a e l

Eury

#1 (June 1969)–8 (Apr. 1971) (Note: Issue #7 reprints #1, and issue #8 reprints #2.) This counterculture cop show, which premiered on ABC on September 24, 1968, was part of the diet of social awareness many of us grew up on, with other staples including the film Billy Jack and Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ awardwinning Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic. Executiveproduced by Danny Thomas and Aaron Spelling, The Mod Squad featured a trio of troubled young people—a rich white rabble-rouser, a black activist, and an aimless flower child—and recruited them for undercover work tackling topics that were plaguing society, from poverty to drug-running to racism. Part of a new trend of programs prominently featuring an AfricanAmerican star, The Mod Squad enjoyed a 124-episode, fiveseason run (scoring in Nielsen’s top 25 during three of those seasons) and lots of merchandising. Its legacy endured, inspiring a 1979 TV reunion movie and a 1999 film reboot. Of the final Dell TV tie-ins surveyed here, The Mod Squad was certainly the jewel in the publisher’s crown. It perfectly captured the attitude of the television show (just imagine Austin Powers reading aloud issue #1’s cover blurb of “Danger is their bag!!”), and the stories’ gritty environs, combined with its streetsmart young characters and action, adapted nicely to comics. Serviceably illustrated by Jose Delbo (possibly working over scripts by D. J. Arneson), each Dell Mod Squad issue featured two stories per issue, with the type of plots you’d see on the TV show: drug smuggling, stolen cars, rigged boxing bouts, plane hijackings, etc. During the TV show’s original run, The Mod Squad was lampooned in comic-book form in MAD and Marvel’s Spoof.

Fonz Faces Front Original cover art to Gold Key’s Happy Days #5 (Nov. 1979), by Art Saaf, the title’s only issue not featuring a photo cover. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Happy Days © Paramount Television.

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THE BRADY BUNCH

#1 (Feb. 1970)–2 (May 1970)

Mod and Groovy

Mod Squad © CBS Television Distribution. Binky TM & © DC Comics. Brady Bunch © Paramount Television.

THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER

#1 (Jan. 1970)–2 (May 1970)

(top) Linc is recruited in Dell’s Mod Squad #1. Art by Jose Delbo. (center) Teen fave Barry “Greg Brady” Williams drops in on DC’s Binky #78 in 1971. (bottom) From 1976, The Brady Bunch Kite Fun Book.

“Here’s the story of a lovely lady…” Some of us know the lyrics to the Brady Bunch theme better than we do the National Anthem. From Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, The Brady Bunch, the iconic sitcom about a blended family, kicked off its five-season, 117-episode run on ABC-TV on September 12, 1969, airing its last new episode on March 8, 1974. The Bradys’ dog Tiger may have mysteriously disappeared after the first season, but the show itself never went away, immediately moving into syndication, followed by an animated cartoon and numerous continuations and movies (see RetroFan #10 for a full listing). The Brady Bunch might very well be television’s most rebooted series ever! As such, it’s mind-blowing to consider that this TV classic inspired only a mere two issues of a comic book. Released early into the show’s first season, Dell’s Brady Bunch featured four eight-page stories per issue, delightfully drawn by Jose Delbo (with practical approximations of stars Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and fellow cast), with the same sort of wholesome, canned-laughter-type humor you’d find on screen. It would’ve been fun to have witnessed this series blossom, allowing its characters and their storylines to grow along with its child actors (affording us an eventual Johnny Bravo cover, perhaps) instead of sputtering to a halt after its oh, so brief run. Did you know that one of the Brady kids made a DC Comics appearance? Greg Brady himself, actor Barry Williams, was featured in a one-page personality profile in the teen title Binky #78 (Apr.–May 1971), then going through its Archie clone phase (see BACK ISSUE #107). Bizarrely, the single image of the handsome young heartthrob was manipulated to the point of being non-recognizable. A final Brady comic was issued by Western Publishing in 1976. The Brady Bunch Kite Book, a half-sized promo comic about kite safety, also featured Reddy Kilowatt and was distributed by major utility companies. The creative team of The Brady Bunch Kite Book is unknown, although cartoonist/comics historian/all-around swell guy Scott Shaw! offers this conjecture: “Looks like Bill Zeigler [art] to me. As for the writer, Don Christensen or Vick Lockman would be my guess.”

“People let me tell you about my best friend…” Many BACK ISSUE readers probably remember this show’s bouncy theme song by Harry Nilsson— which I’ve just earwormed into your head for the rest of the day—more so than any of the show’s episodes. Based upon a 1963 movie rom-com that adapted Mark Toby’s 1961 novel of the same name, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father was about a precocious young boy’s matchmaking attempts to guide his widowed father down the aisle once again… although as the show progressed its plots began to instead favor the deep bond between its father and son. With Brandon Cruz stepping into the title role originally played by Ronny Howard on screen, Courtship, with future Incredible Hulk star Bill Bixby as the dad-you-wish-you-had, ran three seasons and 73 episodes, from September 17, 1969 through March 1, 1972. (Fun but useless trivia: Bixby’s character was Tom Corbett, not to be confused with the fictional Space Cadet and real-life former Pennsylvania governor of the same name.) Writer D. J. Arneson, one of Dell’s powerhouses and a Dell editor, and artist Carl Pfeufer, produced the two Courtship comic issues, each featuring multiple short stories. While the premise of Eddie’s matchmaking was occasionally present in the stories, the comic generally meandered into routine kid’s story terrain, with tales of struggling with grades and trips to the circus not reflecting the charm brought to the TV series by its amiable stars.

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Magic and Tragic (left) Nanny’s powers on display, from Nanny and the Professor #1. (right) The teen survivors pull together in The New People #2. Nanny and the Professor © 20th Century Television. The New People © CBS Television Distribution.

NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR

THE NEW PEOPLE

#1 (Jan. 1970)–2 (May 1970)

This family sitcom, a contemporary TV Mary Poppins seasoned with dashes of Bewitched and The Sound of Music, starred Juliet Mills (sister of Disney star Hayley Mills) as an au pair with veiled paranormal abilities, hired by a widowed college educator Richard Long (fresh off the Western drama The Big Valley) to help raise his three kids (and requisite family dog). Premiering midseason on ABC on January 21, 1970, Season One’s 15 episodes were followed by a full Season Two and 15 more for Season Three, concluding mid-season on December 27, 1971. Mills’ magical performance captivated audiences, and the show’s subtle supernatural elements, including a restored Model A Ford whose radio could only tune into the 1930s, were charming (merchandisers thought so, flooding the shelves with Nanny and the Professor View-Masters, Colorforms, paper dolls, and books), but by its abbreviated final season veered too close into Bewitched territory—including the addition of shark-jumping Aunt Henrietta to its cast—to keep it fresh. Still, after cancellation the show lived on—twice—in animated form as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (which we’ll explore one of these days in our sister publication, RetroFan). Artist Jose Delbo (uncredited, working with an uncredited writer, possibly D. J. Arneson) once again delivered crisp storytelling and recognizable likenesses in Dell’s pair of Nanny issues, each featuring four stories. Here, the show’s original formula worked, with Nanny’s subtle magic nicely translating to comics. Plots included weather-predicting tree frogs, Nanny communicating with animals (move over, Doctor Doolittle!), a gnome taking residence in the home, and the family magically vanishing.

#1 (Aug. 1970)–2 (Oct. 1970)

Clocking in at the unusual length of 45 minutes per episode, The New People, which ran for a mere 17 episodes, from September 22, 1969 through January 12, 1970, had a distinguished pedigree, being developed by Twilight Zone and teledrama pioneer Rod Serling (see RetroFan #11 for his biography) for co-producer Aaron Spelling. A contemporary Lord of the Flies, The New People chronicled the struggles of “Teenagers… Marooned Forever” on a South Pacific island after their plane crashed there, with the adults perishing. This was no dark, teenage Gilligan’s Island, though, as The New People’s tropical environment included an eerily deserted mini-city that was constructed for an aborted government bomb test. Despite its hip, young cast riding TV’s wave of counterculture programming, The New People died a quick death—although its spirit was resurrected by ABC in 2004 with the premiere of Lost. This cool, creepy premise with hotheaded, argumentative teens clawing for survival was tailor-made for the comics medium, and who better to realize it into four-color comicdom than Joe Gill, the rapid-typing prolific scribe of countless Silver and Bronze Age funnybooks, and stalwart storyteller Frank Springer. Gill and Springer produced two Dell New People issues, each containing two 16-pagers, adroitly steering the kid castaways through squabbles, sickness, sabotage, and a stalker. (Both issues would later be reprinted in Mexican knockoffs.) While the creative team “got” the series and added enough elements of mystery to sustain readers, the second issue was released ten days after the TV show’s cancellation, and with no viable tie-in to sustain it Dell quickly marooned The New People to comics limbo.

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like issue #3’s “The Mad Bomber,” seemed stale by comparison, while the heart and humanity brought to the screen by the talented actors fell flat on the four-color page, such as issue #1’s “Tarnished Star,” about a troubled school athlete. Jack Sparling illustrated each issue’s two tales, only occasionally paying heed to celebrity likenesses.

ROOM 222

THE YOUNG LAWYERS

#1 (Jan. 1971)–2 (Apr. 1971)

As the ink was drying on federal legislation mandating US public school integration, along came this half-hour ABC entry set at the fictional Walt Whitman High School, an urban melting pot of races and opinions, to help the nation ease through this cultural transition via family-friendly drama and laughs. The Emmy-winning Room 222 took its title from the classroom number of American history teacher Pete Dixon (Lloyd Haynes), a sympathetic, with-it instructor that a lot of us who secretly read comics during history class wish we had instead of the nap-inducers we were saddled with. (We also wanted a teacher as cute as Karen Valentine.) Subject matter dealt with student and teacher problems, covering everything from war protests to women’s lib to gay rights, as well as modern twists on old themes, such as the school musical (Let’s do a nudie musical!) and the school newspaper (Let’s start an underground paper!). The brainchild of Hollywood visionary James L. Brooks, who also brought us TV trailblazers like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons, Room 222 premiered September 11, 1969 and ran through January 11, 1974, spanning five seasons of 113 episodes. Teens and social relevance were hallmarks of comic books of the emerging Bronze Age—everyone from Spider-Man to Batman encountered young rebels, and Wonder Woman and the Teen Titans hung up their tiara and capes and became more street-savvy during those turbulent times. With such torn-from-the-headlines material exploding across the spinner racks, Dell’s Room 222’s similar content,

Perry Mason-meets-The Mod Squad, The Young Lawyers featured veteran actor Lee J. Cobb as a Boston barrister who recruits a pair of cutting-edge young attorneys (a third was later added) to represent poor and downtrodden clients and to take on abusive parties such as slumlords as the NLO (Neighborhood Law Office). The series’ action came from street-level snooping while on those cases and from personal drama. Premiering on ABC on September 21, 1970, The Young Lawyers aired a single season, ending its run on March 24, 1971, after 24 episodes. Any card-carrying member of comics fandom realizes that courtroom dramas—even ones with a groovy urban vibe like The Young Lawyers—translate poorly to the comic-book page. That is why Marvel Comics publishes Daredevil, the Man without Fear instead of Matt Murdock, Attorney at Law. So when Dell was scooping up hip new TV shows for its comic-book docket, The Young Lawyers must have seemed like a good fit. Once again Jose Delbo was tapped for illustrative jury duty, but this one didn’t seem to inspire his best work.

THE YOUNG REBELS #1 (Jan. 1971) © CBS Television Distribution.

#1 (Jan. 1970)–4 (Jan. 1971) (Note: Issue #4 reprints #1.)

You’re forgiven if you don’t recall this shortlived ABC hour-long drama. The Young Rebels, a Revolutionary War-era adventure starring youthful freedom fighters, only mustered a half-season of 15 episodes, walloped on Sunday nights by its network competitors The Wonderful World of Disney and Lassie during its September 20, 1970–January 4, 1971 short lifespan. Possibly accelerating the show’s brisk cancellation was its timing. In 1970, period pieces, Westerns, and even rural sitcoms were being purged for metropolitan-set dramas and comedies. While The Young Rebels gave lip service to the drama du jour with its mixed-race cast and shaggy-haired stars, its Yankee Doodle message was lost upon an audience more primed for Midwestern working girls who were gonna make it after all. Dell tried to trick readers into picking up the first (and only) issue of this tie-in, its cover copy screaming “Revolution!” in an attempt to snag Beatles and counterculture fans. Once again, Jose Delbo was enlisted, drawing the issue’s two 16-page stories, “Phantom Army” and “Greek Fire.” But like its host TV show, The Young Rebels was essentially a comic book no one wanted to read. The market’s other Revolutionary War title, DC Comics’ Tomahawk, was at this same time undergoing a “revolution,” with incoming editor Joe Kubert ordering life-support measures by introducing a long-haired young protagonist, Hawk, and rebranding the frontier book as Son of Tomahawk.

Jock Around the Clock Pete Dixon laments his failed attempts to get through to a troubled high school sports star in Room 222 #1. Art by Jack Sparling. © 20th Century Television.

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ADAM-12

#1 (Dec. 1973)–10 (Feb. 1976) Don’t dismiss Adam-12 as just another cop show. It was trailblazing in its depiction of police procedures and its establishment of extraordinarily good-looking actors as boys in blue… and for humanizing cops during a climate of distrust and charges of police brutality. Co-created by Dragnet’s Jack Webb (whose Sgt. Friday was the King of Square Cops) and existing in a Los Angeles shared universe with that series and Webb’s Emergency!, Adam-12 took viewers along on patrol with officers Malloy (Martin Milner) and Reed (Kent McCord) and their cases, which ranged from routine traffic stops to filmed-on-location car chases to major crime busts, generally with multiple cases occurring each episode. Premiering on NBC-TV on September 21, 1968, Adam-12 enjoyed a seven-season run of 174 episodes, its last new episode airing May 20, 1975. By the time Gold Key’s Adam-12 launched in September 1973, NBC’s Adam-12 was beginning its sixth season on the air and a slow slip in the ratings (it was ranked 23rd in the annual Nielsens that season, having scored in the top 12 the previous three seasons). The comic aptly replicated the show’s procedural matters, the problem being, situations such as cops being sent on false alarms make better TV viewing than comic reading. Occasionally, though, Gold Key’s Adam-12 spiced up its visuals with more exciting fare such as motorcycle gang rumbles, satanic cults, and run-ins with escaped primates. Writer Paul S. Newman and later, John David Warner, adapted the series for comics, telling two stories per issue. Mike Roy illustrated issue #1, which featured a photo cover, followed by Jack Sparling on issue #2; Sparling drew the remainder of the series. With issue #2, the cover layouts shifted to a montage format of photos of the stars and Sparling comic art.

THROWING AWAY THE (GOLD) KEY: WESTERN’S LAST TV COMICS

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY

#2 (Aug. 1979)–16 (May 1982) (Note: Issue #1, unrelated to and predating the TV show, was published in 1964.) Producer Glen A. (Battlestar Galactica) Larson’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, an updating of the classic comic strip that had previously been adapted to other media, was part of the surge of sci-fi cinema that trailed 1977’s megahit Star Wars. Its pilot movie was theatrically released on March 30, 1979, earning a respectable $21.7 million at the box office. Gil Gerard starred as the space hero from 1987 whose disabled craft Ranger 3 placed him in suspended animation for over 500 years, awakening in a future rife with Disco-era sexiness and glitter glam (and post-Star Wars cute little robots, in this case Twiki, spared from being cloyingly ingratiating to anyone past grade school age by the coolness of being voiced by Looney Tunes legend Mel Blanc). A stranger in a strange land, Buck—abetted by Wilma Deering (Erin Gray)—emerged as the champion of an Earth threatened by the sultry Draconian princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley). The concept was continued in a weekly, hour-long NBC television program that premiered September 20, 1979. Season two, delayed by a screen actors strike, witnessed a soft reboot as Buck, Wilma, and Twiki took to the cosmos on a space-spanning mission, with several cast changes occurring. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century concluded its run at the end of Season Two with episode 37 on April 16, 1981. Gold Key’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was launched to build anticipation to the premiere of the weekly TV series, its first issue (#2; see above note) going on sale three months before the show’s premiere and adapting the pilot movie in three monthly issues. The adaptation was penned by Paul S. Newman and illustrated by Frank Bolle (#2), Al McWilliams (#3), and Bolle inked by Jose Delbo (#4).

Calling One Adam-12 An “exciting” scene from Adam-12 #2. Art by Jack Sparling. (inset) Issue #3’s (May 1974) cover, showing a mix of photos and Sparling illos. © Universal Television.

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FAMILY AFFAIR © Don Fedderson Productions.

A few weeks after the premiere of the NBC series, issue #5 followed, featuring original stories published on a bimonthly frequency. Paul S. Newman, Michael Teitelbaum, J. M. DeMatteis, and B. S. Watson were the series’ writers, with Al McWilliams, followed by Mike Roy, on art. Painted covers by an unidentified artist graced most issues, bearing strong likenesses to the series’ leads. Line art covers appeared on the final three issues, illustrated by Dan Spiegle (#14), Mike Roy (#15), and Rudy Nebres (#16). Throughout its run, Gold Key’s Buck Rogers maintained the premise of the TV show’s first season. The comic was fraught with delays, at times with several months elapsing between issues, and with issue #10 not being published at all due to distribution problems (although its story was eventually outsourced into a couple of international editions). Despite those problems, Gold Key’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century actually outlived the last new episode of the TV series, ending with its 16th issue, released in early April 1982.

#1 (Jan. 1970)– 4 (Oct. 1970)

Executive producer Don Fedderson’s Family Affair was a delightful family comedy about a sophisticated Manhattan playboy who, overnight, becomes a father figure to his orphaned teenage niece and her young twin sister and brother. (Major domo Mr. French was also in residence to allay viewer concerns about children residing with an unmarried man.) Bowing on CBS on September 12, 1966, the series was at first envisioned as a starring vehicle for its urbanite “Uncle Bill,” Brian Keith, who transitioned from movies to television for the role, but the adorability of the kids, especially moppet twins Buffy and Jody, became the series’ draw. Family Affair was a ratings smash, Nielsen’s #5 most popular show for Seasons Two through Four. It concluded after a five-season, 138-episode run, airing its last new episode on March 4, 1971. (See our sister mag RetroFan #10 for an interview with Family Affair’s teenage Cissy, actress Kathy Garver.) The show was in its third season by the time Gold Key brought it to the comics racks for a four-issue run, published quarterly and featuring three to five stories per issue. If you’re a fan of TV’s Family Affair, you’ll enjoy the comic books. Each issue captures the charm of the show, with simple, yet endearing, stories such as a planned surprise birthday party for Uncle Bill, the kids’ fear that Mr. French would be leaving their household, and the kids’ dislike of Uncle Bill’s latest girlfriend… and don’t forget the collectible photo covers! The writer of Family Affair is unknown, but Sal Trapani and Jack Sparling were its artists, sometimes illustrating stories solo and other times working as a team (Sparling pencils with Trapani inks).

THE GOVERNOR AND J.J. #1 (Feb. 1970)– 3 (Aug. 1970)

CBS-TV’s The Governor and J.J. featured a widowed, stuffy, conservative Midwestern governor named William Drinkwater (an obvious wink to Senator Barry Goldwater) and his ersatz first lady, his daughter Jennifer Jo (J.J.), a liberated, and liberal, groovy young woman. The father and daughter rarely saw eye-to-eye on affairs of state

Jody and J.J. (top) Jody is a reluctant dancer in Family Affair #4. (bottom) The “first lady” consults the zodiac for guidance in The Governor and J.J. #2. Family Affair © Don Fedderson Productions. Governor and J.J. © CBS Television Distribution.

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but always were bonded by their deep familial love. Debuting on September 23, 1969, the comedy was cancelled mid-season during Season Two, ending its run on December 30, 1970, after 39 episodes. Of all the TV tie-ins covered in this article, The Governor and J.J. is, from my perspective, the biggest oddity in the lot. No kid plopping down a dime and nickel for a Gold Key funnybook in 1970 would select a comic about a TV show they probably didn’t watch, especially one whose plots involved humdrum topics like political speeches and re-election campaigns. Writer Paul Newman tried his best to translate the show to comics, but in the process J.J., portrayed on screen with sharp comedic timing by the charismatic Julie Sommars, was simplified for the comic, characterized as childish instead of chic. The artist is unknown, but possibly Henry Scarpelli.

HAPPY DAYS

#1 (Mar. 1979)– 6 (Feb. 1980) One of the biggest television hits of the 1970s, Happy Days, ABC’s sitcom about idyllic white American teen and family life in the mid-1950s through mid-1960s, premiered as a mid-season replacement on January 15, 1974 and ran an astounding 11 seasons, concluding on September 24, 1984, with enough episodes (255!) to rock around the clock in syndication for years to come. Spinning off of a February 1972 skit on the anthology comedy Love, American Style, Happy Days started rather modestly, centering around an Archie Andrews-esque high schooler named Richie Cunningham, played by Ron (formerly Ronny) Howard, the carrot-topped kid audiences watched grow up as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show. But when show producer Garry Marshall tweaked its format in Season Two, giving more of the spotlight to Henry Winkler’s tough-but-kindhearted greaser Fonzie, “The Fonz” became its breakaway star and a teen heartthrob and the show’s ratings rocketed, reaching #1 in the 1976–1977 season and spawning popular spinoffs including Laverne & Shirley. Happy Days began a slow slide its fifth season as Fonzie, decked in swimming trunks and his leather jacket, infamously made a water-skiing leap over a shark in a tank, a ludicrous stunt that added “jump the shark” to the pop-culture lexicon to describe a longrunning program’s negative turning point. The sitcom didn’t age well in its later seasons, particularly once Ron Howard defected and new cast members were added. Still, in its prime Happy Days was an endearing, sharply written and acted ensemble show, the zenith of a craze of 1950s nostalgia that swept the 1970s. Being a hit with kids as well as adults, Happy Days was a logical choice for a comic book. Each issue’s mix of short stories starred different members of the cast, with a bias toward Fonzie, who was unmistakably the comic’s

headliner starting with his dominance of issue #1’s photo cover and its blurb, “Four Hilarious Adventures with THE FONZ and Friends!” Bill Williams is attributed as the Happy Days artist, although its interior art was simplistic with little regard for actor likenesses. Photo covers dominated the series except for issue #5, which featured an illustration by Art Saaf shown at the beginning of this article. Happy Days’ popularity was weakening by the time Gold Key snagged the license; had the series been released earlier, when the show was a ratings smash, it might very well have lasted longer than six issues and been accompanied by comics featuring spinoffs Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy.

Ayyy! The Fonz gives Gold Key’s Happy Days comic book a thumb’s up in this promo. (inset) The cover to Happy Days #6. © Paramount Television.

Special thanks to BeachBumComics.blogspot.com, BlogintoMystery.com, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946–Present (Ballantine Books, 1980) by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Diversions of a Groovy Kind, Mark Evanier, The Museum of Uncut Funk, Scott Shaw!, Steven Thompson and Four-Color Shadows 2.0, and TVObscurities.com.

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by M a r k

Sid and Marty Krofft got their start as puppeteers, with Sid, the older brother by eight years, getting his start on the Vaudeville stage and later with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus during the 1940s. His initial show, “The Unusual Artistry of Sid Krofft,” was eventually performed around the world. By the 1950s, the brothers started working together, and in 1957 debuted a more adult puppet show called Les Poupées de Paris, which was a success for the brothers throughout the 1960s. Many of the puppets included were modeled after popular celebrities of the day including Judy Garland and Sammy Davis, Jr. The show was popular enough to warrant a soundtrack album as well, as exclusive performances at many World’s Fairs, including the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair, and the 1968 San Antonio HemisFair. The main character of the HemisFair was a dragon character named Luthor, which Sid and Marty later retooled into the character better known as H. R. Pufnstuf. But before Pufnstuf became a show, HannaBarbera Productions contacted Sid and Marty and asked them if they could design some character costumes for a new live-action Saturday morning TV series, loosely based upon The Monkees and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. The show was originally christened The Banana Bunch, but after some issues with some other group with that name, the show and the group became The Banana Splits. Terence H. Winkless, in his book From the Inside: My Life As Bingo of the Banana Splits, explained the

Arnold

situation with the costumes for the show: “The costumes were lying in the middle of the room, still in their dry-cleaning bags. Lying on top of one another, it was not easy to make anything of them other than their color. It was quite a mountain of cloth, about four feet high and a 4x6 heaping rectangle. I’m not going to pretend that I can remember who took out which costume and put it on, but I can say that in just a few minutes, we determined who would be which character. My brother Danny became the lion (Drooper) because its costume was the tallest. My brother Jeff took the green dog (Fleegle), maybe because it was kind of a chartreuse color that had always given him a hard time (all three of my brothers are color blind). That left me with the orange one, a gorilla named Bingo. The fourth was an elephant named Snorky. Snorky was not played by a brother. Hanna-Barbera hired from within, and brought in a guy named Jimmy Dove. It was a promotion from the Xerox room.” The Banana Splits, as with most Hanna-Barbera properties during the 1960s, had its own comic-book series published by Western Publishing through its Gold Key line. Eight issues were published from 1969 to 1971, as well as a March of Comics giveaway in 1971. All feature photo covers depicting the colorful animal costumes that the Banana Splits wore as designed by Sid and Marty Krofft. The comic books are credited to Don R. Christensen as the writer and Jack Manning as the artist. Christensen worked for almost every classic animation studio as an animator before transitioning

Krofft Komics (left) Gold Key’s Banana Splits #1 (June 1969), the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning live-action show developed in conjunction with Sid and Marty Krofft Productions. (center) Charlton’s Bugaloos #1 (Sept. 1971). Cover art by Frank Roberge. (right) Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, Bigfoot and Wildboy, and more Krofft kraziness on the photo cover of GK’s Krofft Supershow #1 (Apr. 1978). All © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions, except Banana Splits © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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Award-Winning Producers (below right) Sid and Marty Krofft, Lifetime Achievement Award winners, at the 45th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, April 29, 2018. (below) Opening page to Banana Splits #1. Script by Don R. Christensen, art by Jack Manning. (inset) The Splits starred in this issue of March of Comics. Photo: Sidandmartypictures. Banana Splits © HannaBarbera Productions.

into comics initially as an artist, but later as a writer, books featuring Disney, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, and writing for virtually every title published by Gold Key. Hanna-Barbera characters. He also drew newspaper comic Later on, he also was a scriptwriter for TV animation strips featuring Bugs Bunny, Ella Cinders, and Little Lulu. The TV series was so successful that a theatrical studios such as DePatie-Freleng and Hanna-Barbera. Jack Manning drew many Disney, Warner Bros., Walter feature film called Pufnstuf was released in 1970. The Lantz, and Hanna-Barbera comic books for Western movie featured comedienne Martha Raye as Boss Witch. She so enchanted the Kroffts that they decided Publishing from the 1950s to the 1980s, and also to cast her in the starring role of Benita Bizarre worked directly for Hanna-Barbera from 1959– in their next TV series, The Bugaloos, which 1967, during the studio’s golden years. debuted in the fall of 1970. [Editor’s note: The success of The Banana Splits on Columnist Andy Mangels explores TV’s TV prompted Sid and Marty Krofft to H. R. Pufnstuf in RetroFan #16, on sale take a stab at their own series, which soon from TwoMorrows.] premiered in the fall of 1969. Utilizing Also in 1970, Sid and Marty Krofft the dragon character from the Hemisbecame involved with the Needham, Fair, they retooled him into a friendly Harper and Steers ad agency. The dragon who was the Mayor of Living agency had contacted the Kroffts because Island. A boy named Jimmy shipwrecked of their great success with The Banana upon the island and he is rescued by Splits and H. R. Pufnstuf, and asked Pufnstuf before the evil Witchiepoo them if they would be willing to work can capture him. Jimmy never returns with their client, McDonald’s, in order home. An eight-issue comic-book series don r. christensen to expand their hamburger chain from Gold Key was also produced, plus characters from solely Ronald an issue of March of Comics in 1971. 1982 photo by and courtesy of Alan Light. Don R. Christensen was again credited as the writer, McDonald to an entire McDonaldland world populated but art this time was handled by Roger Armstrong, and with various costumed characters similar to what they had with their other popular TV shows. once again all covers were photo covers. The problem was, the ad Roger Armstrong was a funny-animal artist that agency claimed that after the worked for Western Publishing from the 1940s Kroffts agreed to work with through the 1980s, and also drew many comic them, the ad campaign was cancelled. This turned out to be untrue and Needham instead went ahead without the Kroffts, and instead hired some ex-Krofft employees and created their own McDonaldland that was more than vaguely reminiscent of the Krofft characters. The new McDonaldland campaign was launched in January 1971. As a result, the Kroffts found it difficult to license new products featuring their H. R. Pufnstuf characters and by September 1971, a lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit went to trial in November 1973. Jurors were shown episodes of H. R. Pufnstuf and various McDonaldland commercials for comparison’s sake.

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Who’s Your Friend When Things Get Rough? (left) Photo cover to Gold Key’s H. R. Pufnstuf #1 (Oct. 1970). (right) Opening page to “Witch Switch” by Don R. Christensen and Roger Armstrong, the last Gold Key Pufnstuf tale to be published. From the final issue, #8 (July 1972). © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions.

The Kroffts were particularly concerned about the similarities of H. R. Pufnstuf to Mayor McCheese as they were both mayors of their respective lands. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the Kroffts for $50,000. Both the Kroffts and McDonald’s appealed, and in October 1977 they still voted in favor of the Kroffts and awarded them a further million dollars in copyright infringement based upon the fact that Needham had originally consulted with the Kroffts and then rejected them, and used their ideas with some of their ex-employees without any direct involvement or compensation. McDonald’s redesigned the characters and eventually dropped them altogether in 2003, excepting the occasional use of Ronald. Amazingly, there was a four-issue Ronald McDonald comic-book series from Charlton, featuring artwork by Bill Yates. None of the other McDonaldland characters appear, as this series predates their TV debut. There were a couple of McDonaldland Comics that appeared later on in 1976 that featured all of the characters, but they were also unsuccessful. Bill Yates was a cartoonist who drew comic strips and gag cartoons. Strips he worked on included Little

KROFFT-RELATED COMIC BOOKS CHECKLIST • The Banana Splits #1 (June 1969)–8 (Oct. 1971), Gold Key • Banana Splits March of Comics #364 (Dec. 1971), Western • Ronald McDonald #1 (Sept. 1970)–4 (Mar. 1971), Charlton • H. R. Pufnstuf #1 (Oct. 1970)–8 (July 1972), Gold Key • H. R. Pufnstuf March of Comics #360 (1971), Western • The Bugaloos #1 (Sept. 1971)–4 (Feb. 1972), Charlton • Lidsville #1 (Oct. 1972)–5 (Oct. 1973), Gold Key • McDonaldland Comics #101 (1976)–102 (1976), McDonald’s Corporation • Krofft Supershow #1 (Apr. 1978)–6 (Jan. 1979), Gold Key

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Iodine, Benjy, Redeye, and his own Professor Phumble. He also edited Dell’s 1000 Jokes, Ballyhoo, and For Laughing Out Loud. Later on in his career, he became a comic-strip editor for King Features Syndicate. Meanwhile, the Bugaloos were a manufactured music group created in the same vein as other successful TV bands such as the Monkees and the Partridge Family in primetime and the Archies and the Banana Splits on Saturday mornings. The Bugaloos were, in fact, touted as the British version of the Monkees and were portrayed by four humans wearing insect costumes: a grasshopper, a bumblebee, a ladybug, and a butterfly. A movie was scheduled, but cancelled, but there was a soundtrack album. Gold Key took a pass on this series, and so four issues were produced by Charlton, with artwork by Frank Roberge. It was the only time Charlton published a comic-book series based upon a Sid and Marty Krofft series. The next Krofft TV series, as well as the next comic-book series, was Lidsville. It starred Butch Patrick, best known for portraying Eddie Munster on the 1960s sitcom, The Munsters. Here, he portrays Mark, who witnesses a magician portrayed by comedian Charles Nelson Reilly and falls into his magic hat, ending up in a land of hat (“lids”) people. Lidsville, like Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, only made a single season of 17 episodes that were repeated in succeeding years. The Gold Key comic book was less successful, only lasting five issues during 1972–1973. [Editor’s note: See RetroFan #6 for a Butch Patrick interview.] The next few Sid and Marty Krofft shows did not have a corresponding comic-book series, but they were Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973), Land of the Lost (1974), Far Out Space Nuts (1975), The Lost Saucer (1975), and Krofft’s first primetime series, Donny and Marie (1976). Most of these shows were instantly forgettable, which is probably why there were no comic books, but it is surprising that Land of the Lost did not have one. There was a comic book by that name published by EC from 1946–1948, but it had nothing to do with Krofft’s TV series. Sigmund and the Sea Monsters told the story of two boys, portrayed by Johnny Whitaker and Scott Kolden. They live near a beach and discover a lonely sea monster named Sigmund, who has been ousted by his sea monster family, so they take him in, but they have to keep Sigmund a secret from their housekeeper Zelda, who watches after the boys. In the second season, comedian Rip Taylor joins the cast as Sheldon, the sea genie, in an attempt to add a character similar to H. R. Pufnstuf’s Witchiepoo and Lidsville’s Weenie the Genie.

You Want Fries with That? Issue #1 (Sept. 1970) of Charlton’s Ronald McDonald. Cover art by Bill Yates. © McDonald’s.

The series lasted two seasons and 29 episodes, which made it Sid and Marty Krofft’s most successful series so far due to its longevity of new episodes, as it was the first series to be renewed for a second season. Land of the Lost ended up being Sid and Marty Krofft’s most successful Saturday morning series, lasting for three seasons and 43 episodes. Though Lost was heavily merchandized, a comic book strangely never turned up. Perhaps it was due to the similarity in theme to other comic books attempted by Western Publishing and Charlton that had middling success like ones for Hanna-Barbera’s similarly themed Valley of the Dinosaurs and Korg: 70,000 B.C., which came out at roughly the same time and only lasted a handful of episodes and comic-book issues [both series will be explored next issue—ed.]. The story of Land of the Lost has a family of three travelers named Rick Marshall, his son Will, and his daughter Holly. They are on a river raft that takes a precarious turn and goes over a waterfall and actually travels back through time, where the family encounters dinosaurs and other strange creatures, such as the Sleestaks and the Zarn. They also befriend some characters such as Cha-Ka. Many of the characters drift in and out of the show via time doorways, which were a sort of elevator-looking booth. In the show’s third season, due to a contract dispute, father Rick was replaced by Will and Holly’s Uncle Jack by having Rick transport out and Jack transport into the series. The stories of Land of the Lost were a notch above those typically written for Saturday morning, and many of the episodes were written by writers who had written for the original Star Trek, such as David Gerrold, D. C. Fontana, and Walter Koenig, and other writers in the sciencefiction field like Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, and Norman Spinrad. Land of the Lost was also remade as a TV series in 1991, and as a comedy/parody feature film starring Will Ferrell in 2009. Far Out Space Nuts was kind of an updating of Gilligan’s Island in space. Indeed, Bob Denver was hired to portray Junior, a similar character to Gilligan, despite his graying hair. His buddy this time, was not portrayed by Alan Hale, Jr., who portrayed the Skipper, but instead portrayed by the similarly plump Chuck McCann, who played Barney. They had an outer-space creature aboard named Honk, who spoke only in honking sounds. The three bumbled through a series of outer-space adventures, replete with pratfalls and other physical bits of business. Fifteen episodes were produced. Far Out Space Nuts was repeated later on the Krofft Supershow, but more on that later. The Lost Saucer was a kind of a riff on the 1960s sitcom It’s About Time, but instead of two astronauts getting lost back in the time of the dinosaurs, it’s two outer-space people portrayed by Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi, who get lost in their travels and end up on Earth. It’s kind of a Lost in Space in reverse.

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The Lost Saucer was also repeated later on the Krofft Supershow. Most of these Sid and Marty Krofft shows only lasted a season of new shows and were then repeated. For the next Krofft series, Sid and Marty turned their attention toward primetime, and for three seasons had the successful Donny and Marie, starring singing siblings Donny and Marie Osmond. The other Osmond brothers turned up frequently, including youngest brother Jimmy. Also turning up on episodes were guest appearances from former Krofft regulars such as H. R. Pufnstuf and Witchiepoo. The series had the typical variety show format of the time: Donny and Marie sang a lot of songs, interspersed with silly sketches featuring many campy guest stars like Paul Lynde, Vincent Price, and Rip Taylor, and occasionally a few more serious ones. The next Krofft series that also spun off into a comic book was The Krofft Supershow. Supershow was an anthology series comprising various shorter segments similar to the initial Saturday morning show that the Kroffts were involved with, The Banana Splits. Like the Splits, the show was hosted by a rock band, although this time they weren’t wearing full-body costumes. Instead, on the first season, they were a sort of a gaudy glam-rock band called Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, and on the second season, a more toned down, less garish version of the group. Other segments on the first season were Dr. Shrinker, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl [see RetroFan #8—ed.], Wonderbug, and reruns of The Lost Saucer. For the second season, Shrinker and Electra Woman were dropped and replaced with Bigfoot and Wildboy [see RetroFan #14], and Magic Mongo. There was supposed to be a third season, but Kaptain Kool and the Kongs were replaced by real, live rock band (as opposed to fabricated) the Bay City Rollers. Six issues of The Krofft Supershow were published by Gold Key during 1978–1979, the final Krofft show to be honored with a comic-book series. TV and comic-book writer Mark Evanier worked for Sid and Marty Krofft for a number of years and has this to say about his employers: “I respected their commitment to production values, to getting the best sets, the best costumes, the best dancers, the best everything. It was occasionally trying, as some of the shows that the networks coerced them into doing were more than challenging, but it was never, not for a moment, dull. I was a big fan of Krofft TV before I got to work with them. I found them brilliantly imaginative, and fiercely loyal to their people. “I loved the fact that they worked with everyone in show business,” Evanier continues. “If you mentioned Frank Sinatra, they had a Frank Sinatra story. If you mentioned Liberace, they had a story about Liberace.” Sid and Marty Krofft also had a theme park briefly in 1976 and 1977, called the World of Sid and Marty Krofft, which was housed inside of an office complex in Atlanta, Georgia. After the park’s failure, the building remained largely vacant, until it eventually became the headquarters for CNN in 1987. Shows debuting after this by Sid and Marty Krofft include The Brady Bunch Hour (1977; see RetroFan #10), The Krofft Superstar Hour (1978), Pink Lady and Jeff (1980), Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters (1981), Pryor’s Place (1984), D.C. Follies (1987), and others outside the scope of this article, especially since no comic books from any of these shows were forthcoming. The majority of these later shows followed in the same footsteps as Donny and Marie— variety shows with lots of singing and second-rate comedy skits and campy comedy stars.

Their most recent series was called Mutt and Stuff, which aired on Nickelodeon from 2015 to 2017, with 73 episodes produced, the most ever for a Krofft series, surpassing Donny and Marie’s 70 episodes. Sid and Marty Krofft received a Saturn award in 2002, a TV Land award in 2009, a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2018, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2020, all for their extensive contributions to daytime television over the past 60 years. They are still active as a team to this day, and are planning new series of Land of the Lost, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl, H. R. Pufnstuf, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Winged Wonders Production cover for Charlton’s Bugaloos #3 (Jan. 1972). Cover art by Frank Roberge. © Sid and Marty Krofft Productions.

MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture historian with over 15 books to his credit on subjects ranging from the Monkees, the Beatles, Underdog, Pink Panther, Cracked, Disney, Dennis the Menace, and more. He is currently at work on another Disney book and a book on the history of MAD.

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by M a r k

Kornpone Komedy Original donkey cel from Format Films’ animated sequences for television’s Hee Haw. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Hee Haw © Gaylord Program Services, Inc.

Arnold

In 1967, two semi-popular comedians hosted a special that featured a rapid-fire series of jokes and gags, many dating back to the days of vaudeville. It seemed like an idea destined to fail as the jokes were sometimes ancient chestnut groaners that many had heard multiple times before, but the special presented these well-worn jokes in such a unique and colorful way that the show became an immediate hit, and ultimately it was rewarded a weekly TV series. That series was called Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, or Laugh-In, for short. The show was popular enough to last six seasons through 1973. It was also popular enough to launch a spinoff series called Letters to Laugh-In, a huge line of merchandise such as lunchboxes, wastebaskets, and toys, plus books, a comic strip, and a monthly magazine. Strangely, there never was a Laugh-In comic book.

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Flash forward to 1969. Laugh-In is firmly on top of the ratings, and another show that also debuted in 1967 is also doing well, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. However, after two years of back and forth between the Smothers Brothers and CBS censors, CBS pulled the plug on the Comedy Hour in June 1969 and replaced it with a simpler and harmless show for the summer months. It was called Hee Haw. Hee Haw was created by Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth, two Canadian writers and producers who admitted being inspired by Laugh-In to create their show. Laugh-In creator George Schlatter felt that Hee Haw directly stole his idea, but both shows have a common origin from vaudeville and other stage performances that told both corny and bawdy jokes.

A Redneck ‘Laugh-In’ (top) Issues #1 and 11 of Charlton’s Hee Haw magazine. (bottom) Original art (presumably by Frank Roberge) for a one-pag gag from Hee Haw #5 (Apr. 1971). Courtesy of Heritage. © Gaylord Program Services, Inc.

Instead of everything being “hip and mod,” Hee Haw would be much more rural, with settings on a farm or in a cornfield, or in small, rundown homes. Instead of two comedians heading up the fun, two country musicians were selected. According to Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary TV series, host Buck Owens was selected to represent the Bakersfield sound, while co-host Roy Clark was selected to represent the Nashville sound, both popular centers for country music during the 1960s. Hee Haw featured much more music than Laugh-In. Laugh-In experimented with musical guests during its first season, but they were abandoned by the second. Hee Haw, on the other hand, would attract virtually all of country music’s top performers, from Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette to (much later) Garth Brooks. The music performances by these stars would be done straight, unlike the rest of the show, but these stars would also participate in some of the sketches and tell corny old jokes along with the rest of the cast. As for the cast, Hee Haw presented many stalwarts of the Grand Ole Opry such as Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, and many others, who had already been doing basically the same comedy acts since the 1930s and 1940s. As time went on, newer and younger cast members were also added, such as George Lindsey, who came in character as Goober, a character he first portrayed on The Andy Griffith Show and later on Mayberry R.F.D. Plus, there was a goodly assortment of pretty and shapely women on the show such as Barbi Benton, Misty Rowe, and (much later) Irlene Mandrell, collectively known as the Hee Haw Honeys. The Honeys were so popular, they got their own spinoff show for a time in 1978. There were many, many recurring sketches on Hee Haw, and it became common knowledge that they would record an entire season in just a few weeks at the beginning of each year, doing a number of cornfield gags, then a number of barnyard gags, etc., all at once, that were clipped and edited to appear once per episode. The Wikipedia page about Hee Haw mentions at least 60 different recurring sketches, with some of the most popular being “Pfft, You Was Gone,” a duet where both participants get sprayed by a verbal raspberry by song’s end; “KORN News,” corny news items delivered by Charlie Farquharson (Don Harron); “The Culhanes,” a family of four and their boring Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

Friends of Lulu Lulu Roman, that is. Four of Charlton’s seven Hee Haw issues: (top) #1 (July 1970) and 4 (Feb. 1971). (bottom) Hee Haw #6 (June 1971) and the final issue (Aug. 1971). Cover art by Frank Roberge. © Gaylord Program Services, Inc.

soap-opera life; “Samples Sales,” where Junior Samples portrays a shady used car dealer; “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me,” where a quartet sings about their miseries; “Empty Arms Hotel,” where Roy Clark answers complaints from a hotel guest; “Archie’s Barber Shop,” where Archie Campbell trades jokes with various customers; “Hey Grandpa, What’s for Supper?,” where Grandpa Jones gives examples of Southern cooking he’s preparing; and “Pickin’ and Grinnin,’” featuring the entire cast in a sing-a-long. Many of these sketches appeared in every episode for years and years and years! Hee Haw turned out to be a surprise hit and ran on CBS through 1971, when it and a number of other ruralthemed shows including The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Mayberry R.F.D. were all cancelled in favor of more “relevant” shows such as All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. This mass cancellation became known as the rural purge. [Editor’s note: Read more about the rural sitcom purge in the latest issue of RetroFan, #15.] Many of these cancelled shows still had huge ratings, ratings that CBS would kill for today.

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But Hee Haw had the last laugh. Syndicated shows were nothing new, and the creators of Hee Haw decided to try their hand at continuing the show in first-run syndication. The idea paid off handsomely. Not only was Hee Haw a popular show in syndication, it continued on with new episodes until 1993, and a few more on TNN during 1996 and 1997! The Lawrence Welk Show was also a casualty of the rural purge, despite being on ABC, and it, too, tried its hand at syndication. It proved popular in syndication as well, and the Welk Show and Hee Haw ran back-to-back in many markets for over a decade. In some markets, Welk and Hee Haw competed for ratings. The network decisions that led to their respective cancellations were the inspiration for a novelty song called “The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka,” performed by none other than Roy Clark. Hee Haw as a comic book was at least popular enough to have not just one, but two print incarnations, both published by Charlton. The first was a magazine that was similar to the aforementioned Laugh-In magazine. Even though it had some spot illustrations, it was mostly black-and-white photos captioned with word balloons containing the type of corny jokes that one would usually see on the show, similar to Marvel’s Monster Madness magazine but with country humor and photos of the Hee Haw stars and images of the Format Films-animated animal cartoon characters that appeared on the show rather than movie monsters. (Format Films was the same animation studio behind The Alvin Show and a 1960s animated version of The Lone Ranger.) There were also song lyrics printed for the most popular country music songs of the time. The magazine lasted for 17 issues, published sporadically from May 1970 through December 1974. Virtually at the same time, Charlton also published a standard format color comic book which lasted seven issues from July 1970 through August 1971 (cover dates). The drawings were of unfortunately off-model caricatures of Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Lulu Roman, Junior Samples, Grandpa Jones, and Beauregard the Wonder Dog surrounding a donkey on issue #1’s cover. Art was by Frank Roberge (1916–1976). Roberge was the artist of the Mrs. Fitz’s Flats comic strip for Mort Walker as well as many of the Hanna-Barbera comic books also produced by Charlton during the early 1970s [which will be explored in depth next issue—ed.]. Other issues featured artwork by Tony Tallarico (b. 1933), who produced many many comic-book stories, usually for Charlton, Dell, and Harvey’s Thrillers, and also did work for Cracked, Sick, and Marvel’s Crazy magazine. Many of Charlton’s Hee Haw color comic books touted the line, “That CBS Television Hit Show.” For text articles, a joke page or occasionally a pagelong biography of one of the Hee Haw stars was usually featured. What made Hee Haw so popular over the years? Pretty much it’s because that many corny old jokes are timeless. Since Hee Haw never tried to be topical, the material and the situations still remain fresh today. Plus country music, thanks to Ken Burns’ documentary series for public television, is more popular than ever, and on many occasions Hee Haw had the only live performance of some songs by the original artists captured on film and video. Though many of its stars have now passed on, Hee Haw still remains popular to this day thanks to DVD releases through Time-Life Video, reruns on RFD-TV, and the timelessness of Hee Haw’s jokes and format.

Thrilling spy stories in the James Bond fashion! Adventures with exotic locales spanning the globe! Short, action-packed adventures interspersed with sidesplitting gags and humor. How could this not be the one of the greatest TV adaptations ever to come to comics? Well…. the cherry on top of this madcap banana split is the fact that all the characters are chimpanzees. And that’s the unique brilliance and the ultimate madness of Gold Key’s Lancelot Link. Secret Chimp comic.

THE BANANA DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE

by E

d Catto

Lancelot Link can trace his lineage back to two comedy writers, Mike Marmer and Stan Burns. They were longtime comedy veterans, having collaborated early in their careers on The Knickerbocker Beer Show, a 40-minute (!) 1950s comedy show that would later morph into The Steve Allen Show. They prospered, contributing to shows like The Smothers Brothers, The Flip Wilson Show, and Get Smart. [Editor’s note: Among his many other credits, Marmer went on to be a contributing writer to 1979’s Legends of the SuperHeroes live-action specials, which teamed Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin with other DC superheroes (see BI #25 for the story).] And at the end of the ’60s, America was still going bananas over the “spy craze.” James Bond and a plethora of imitators had successfully infiltrated cinema, paperbacks, and TV. Even the spy parody Marmer and Burns contributed to, Get Smart, would run five seasons. One can only imagine how Marmer and Burns’ conversation with network executives must have gone. From today’s vantage point, it seems inconceivable that a pitch meeting was as simple as, “Let’s do a spy parody for Saturday morning… but with monkeys!” ABC’s Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp debuted in September of 1970. Episodes were broken up into two distinct ten-minute segments. Lancelot Link was an hour long and included old Warner Bros. cartoon shorts from the desperate last years of their old animation division. Lancelot Link was rerun again the following year as a part of ABC’s Saturday morning lineup, but this time in a halfhour format. This trimmed-down version was how it was presented in syndication. Lancelot Link sparked several licensed products, including a coloring book, a View-Master set, two lunchboxes, Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes, and then, in 1971, a wonky eight-issue Gold Key comic series.

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

The comics, like the show, were an insane jumble of monkeys, hackneyed humor, and over-the-top goofiness thrown together into a delicious comic-book banana crème pie. The Lancelot Link comic adapted the “characters” as faithfully as possible. Each character was essentially a spy trope with which the nation, including children, had quickly become familiar. The heroes included:

Chimps vs. C.H.U.M.P. Gold Key’s Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp #1 (May 1971), one of the defining moments of the Bronze Age of Comics. (No, I made that up. Still, it’s a cool comic.) © ABC.

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• Commander Darwin is the leader of the good guy spy organization, A.P.E. (the Agency to Prevent Evil), following in the tradition of Bond’s M and Get Smart’s Chief. • Lancelot Link is the hero, presumably the best spy in A.P.E., although fans would be forgiven if they believed him to be the only spy of A.P.E. Clad in a traditional trench coat, that version of spying was more in line with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca than the suave suit-wearing spying of the day. Strangely enough, on TV Lancelot spoke with in pseudo-Bogart style, although it didn’t translate into the comic. • Mata Hairi is the female sidekick, à la The Avengers’ Emma Peel or Get Smart’s Agent 99. Lacking in sexuality (hey, she is a chimp, after all!), she routinely has a nagging, grating voice, setting up Lancelot for punchlines. The rogues’ gallery made a successful transition from the small screen to the comic pages. The Baron is the leader of C.H.U.M.P., the evil spy agency. His associates, more placeholder archetypes than fully imagined characters, include: the Dragon Woman, Wu Fang, Ali Assa Seen, Dr. Strangemind, the Duchess, and the Baron’s chauffeur, Creto. The narration for Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was another special part about the series It provided a serious-as-a-heart-attack tone for each adventure. The narrator was It Takes a Thief’s Malachi Throne. (He played Robert Wagner’s boss in that caper series.) [Editor’s note: Holy trivia! Throne also played False Face in Season One of TV’s Batman.] The comic was, understandably, unable to translate this element to the printed page.

COVER APPEAL

Each cover of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp showcases photos of the chimpanzee actors, with cover copy such as “IT’S A BITE TO THE FINISH WHEN CHUMP (sic) PLAYS FALSE WITH MATA’S TEETH!” Several covers do not even feature the titular character, Lancelot Link, but instead spotlight his co-star or his antagonists. Most covers also proudly display the logo of the good guy secret agent organization, A.P.E. Displaying a secret organization’s logo on comics might hamper the secret part of it all, but hey, it’s all in fun, anyway. While the photo covers add a touch of realism—that’s a prickly word choice in a Lancelot Link article—one can’t help but wonder if illustrations could have better captured the true zany spirit of this property.

MONKEYING AROUND

The stories in the Gold Key Lancelot Link comics are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Many of the stories employ that standard spy cadence of the day. Lance Link and Mata Hairi would be summoned by their boss, who would brief the characters of the matter at hand… helping the audience understand it all too. The kooky premises may have been really meant to show the strong creativity that the C.H.U.M.P. plotters employ. They are big dreamers—you have to give them that. Their plans, always foiled by A.P.E., include: • highjacking an ocean liner • controlling Chief Rain Cloud, whose rain dance can actually cause rain • attempting to steal a Moon rock from a space capsule landing in the ocean And to their credit, C.H.U.M.P. never seems to give up or relinquish their nefarious plans!

JUST WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?

The creative talents behind the Lancelot Link comic are lost to us today. You may speculate it was out of the writers’ and artists’ shame—and few would disagree. But one artist’s unique style was able to break through the inherent silliness of the Lancelot Link premise: Mike Sekowsky. His contorted figures, clever-but-crowded panel arrangements, and oversize ears all point to his participation. It seems clear he contributed to the art of several stories, although there is no firm verification.

Laser-Sharp Wit (top) Opening page to Gold Key’s Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp #1. Writer and artist unknown. (bottom) Page from Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp #6 suspected to have been drawn by former Justice League of America and Wonder Woman artist Mike Sekowsky! © ABC.

CHIMPIES

The Lancelot Link show leveraged several short segments in addition to the main adventures to round out the show. Today, many fans might think, “That’s just like the old Laugh-In TV show,” but in reality it harkens back to even older vaudeville, radio, and TV shows. One segment from the series that crossed over to the Gold Key Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is “Chimpies.” In both incarnations, “Chimpies” were short (one-pagers in the comics) segments: • Some featured two chimpanzees, Joe and Freddie. They were dressed in loud vaudeville-style suits, although it’s hard to believe any kids understood that dated reference.

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Fabulous Photo Covers Collectors go… ga-ga (and maybe even ape) over Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp’s photo covers. Shown here are issues #3 (Nov. 1971), 6 (Aug. 1972), and 8 (Feb. 1973). © ABC.

• Other segments featured two chimpanzees named Sherman and Herman. They were a typical ventriloquist act, with the tired jokes between the ventriloquist and his dummy. Of course, one tends to lose something when the chimpanzee is not really “talking” through his dummy (as all the Lancelot Link voices were dubbed in by humans). And to take that one step further, the unique entertainment value of a ventriloquist is lost even more when it’s in a comic. Well, at least the jokes were funny, you might say. You might say that, but you’d be sadly mistaken. Gags in “Chimpies” include: JOE: What do you call it when one banana leaves the bunch? FREDDIE: You call it—a banana split! JOE: How do you make a banana short cake? FREDDIE: First you make a banana long cake, then you cut off part of it. SHERMAN: If you’re such a wise guy, which animal is the most carefree? HERMAN: Most animals get free care—from their mothers! HERMAN: (additional punchline): Owls—they don’t give a hoot!

BANANA-FLAVORED BUBBLE GUM POP: THE EVOLUTION REVOLUTION

One television segment that didn’t really make it to the comic was the Evolution Revolution, the “house band” for the innovative Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp TV series. The cartoon version of the Archies, debuting in 1968, popularized the idea that the all-American teens from Riverdale played in a band. Incorporating many elements from director Richard Lester’s Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, the Archie Show cartoon was a hit. The Archies band produced songs like “Sugar Sugar,” “Jingle Jangle,” and “Feelin’ So Good (S.k.o.o.b.y-D.o.o),” the latter song about being love with a girl named Skooby-Doo, not the soon-to-be-famous animated dog. By the time Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo… Where Are You! and Filmation’s The Hardy Boys burst on the scene in 1969 [see BI #107— ed.], it seemed like a musical element was mandatory for every Saturday morning show. Lancelot Link was no exception. Each week, series leads Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi would join Blackie and Sweetwater Gibbons to rock on as the Evolution Revolution. The musical numbers were introduced by the chimpanzee version of Ed Sullivan—Ed Simian. Ostensibly, the band’s songs provided secret coded messages for other A.P.E. secret agents. Most of the songs were co-written and performed by Steve Hoffman. The series’ musical director Bob Emenegger also contributed several songs. The creators revealed that their ah-hah moment came when they played the actual songs for the chimps. Somehow, the monkeys actually adjusted their faux playing to mimic the beat of the song.

Tragically (?), the Evolution Revolution never officially appeared in the Lancelot Link Gold Key comics. But in Lancelot Link #4 (Feb. 1972), in a tale titled “Face the Music,” Lance and Mata have a musical adventure that seems adjacently inspired by the Evolution Revolution. As the story opens, the two agents are perplexed as to why their boss Darwin is listening the “the worst rock band”: the Hornets. Darwin reveals that he can’t understand how such a band gets on-air time. Convinced it must be a plot by the evil C.H.U.M.P., he sends Lance and Mara undercover as rock band “groupies” to get to the bottom of things. Lance changes the Hornets’ song lyrics to entrap C.H.U.M.P. agents, and eventually saves the day. The adventure wraps up with Darwin watching Beethoven music on the television, and Lancelot noting similarities to pop music. “Either way,” says Lance, “it’s all long-hair music.” We must remember, even James Bond, the most famous of all secret agents (an oxymoron if there ever was one), was busy bashing rock bands, too. Who can forget Bond’s famous line in Goldfinger when 007, as played by Sean Connery, explains to Jill Masterson that certain things just aren’t done, like drinking Dom Perignon at the wrong temperature or “listening to the Beatles without earmuffs”? On the other hand, in the very first issue (May 1971) of Lancelot Link, the comic series promoted another Saturday morning cartoon band—the issue contains an ad for Josie and the Pussycat’s four cut-out records from Kellogg’s cereals. Obviously, Josie lacked the musical integrity of the Evolution Revolution, as she allowed Kellogg’s to put their logo on the group’s drum kit. Lancelot Link fans just know the Evolution Revolution would never sell out like that.

MONKEY BUSINESS

This thorough examination leads to the big question: Was Gold Key’s Lancelot Link, Secret Agent merely a silly, shticky parody of spy movies… or was it really an incredibly insightful and subversive commentary on man’s plight in the world, cleverly told from a point of view just one rung lower on the evolutionary ladder? Nah. It was a just a silly—but fun—parody with monkeys. ED CATTO is a marketing and start-up strategist, with a specialty in pop culture. As founder of Agendae, Ed is dedicated to helping brands and companies innovate and grow. As part of the faculty at Ithaca College’s School of Business, Ed teaches entrepreneurial courses and one unique class focusing on comic conventions and Geek Culture. Ed’s also an illustrator, having won the 2019 Pulp Factory Award, and a retropreneur, rejuvenating brands like Captain Action.

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Landing a role in a television show, for most actors, is cause for celebration. On occasion, an actor is surprised to have gotten a part, but will run with the role and make it their own. And then there’s the rare instance of an actor wondering why he or she has been cast as a certain character, assuming that others would be more suited to the job than they are. Robert Brown falls into that last category. Following a successful turn as the character Jason Bolt in the ABC-TV series Here Come the Brides, Brown found himself cast as the lead character in a new underwater action show created by Ivan Tors and scheduled to debut in Fall 1971. Primus focused on the adventures of Carter Primus, an oceanographer, scuba diver, and all-around underwater adventurer. “The casting on Primus was a surprise, because I was not that sort of boy,” Brown tells BACK ISSUE. “I wasn’t an athlete and I hadn’t done anything like that.” Now 93 and enjoying retirement in California, the actor at least was no stranger to the water, having served in the United States Navy in the Pacific in World War II. He later met and became friends with William Shatner, a guy that Brown says had a Primus-like background. “Honestly, Shatner was the one who was a good athlete… he enjoyed diving and so forth. So he was a good guy to be around!” Brown may not have had experience with diving, but he’d done some swimming in his time. “My father was a butler, an Englishman from London. He worked as a butler to wealthy American aristocrats. In the summers, I lived at these great estates where he worked, in Bar Harbor, Maine. They had great swimming pools [on the estates], and I swam there.” Stand-ins did most of the underwater scenes for Primus, and Brown says he felt like a fish out of water, so to speak. “It was as though I had to play, for example, Hamlet, but I didn’t speak English. It was that strange a life. I’ve had other parts that I wasn’t really suited for, but I was a nice-looking guy and I had good experience with various roles. I was lucky to have the job, but I never felt comfortable in the role at all.” He may not have settled into the part, but his run as Carter Primus is remembered fondly by fans of the genre. The show’s premise undoubtedly was familiar ground for producer Ivan Tors, who had covered the waterfront during the 1960s as the producer of such shows as Sea Hunt, The Aquanauts, and Flipper. Primus premiered as a first-run syndicated series in September 1971, and Carter Primus and his team— assistants Toni Hyden, played by Eva Renzi, and Charlie Kingman, played by Will Kuluva—got to work troubleshooting underwater installations, fighting bad guys, and generally enjoying Key West, Florida, and the Bahamas, where the series was shot. The show depicted the team being hired to render services ranging from thwarting a ring of international thieves intent on stealing priceless jewels from an island museum, to salvaging a sunken—but still very much live and dangerous—torpedo before it can fall into the hands of enemy agents. Along the way, the viewer is introduced to Primus’ oceanographic inventions and devices, many of which are used for ocean rescues and other types of missions. The stories told on the show were imaginative, the underwater photography was as sharp as anything seen on television up until that time, and Robert Brown did excellent work in the title role, even if he doesn’t see it as a high-water mark in his career. “I’m lucky to have survived it! I was a lucky young man who made a living in a role that didn’t fit.” The show’s decision makers may or may not have agreed. But either way, they gave Primus the hook in spring 1972, after 26 episodes.

TV’s Latest Smash Makes a Charlton Splash Charlton Comics went the photo cover route for the first four issues of Primus, showing series star Robert Brown in various poses. Unless otherwise noted, all art scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Douglas R. Kelly. Primus © Ivan Tors Productions.

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by D o u g l a s

R. Kelly

DIVING IN

In 1971, Derby, Connecticut-based Charlton Comics was given the job of creating a Primus comic book, and they turned to a young Joe Staton to do the art chores. “I had done a few stories, mostly ghost stories, but so far, none of them had actually been published,” says Staton. “But they had Primus come in, a licensed property, and they took a chance on me. I had turned in the ghost stories promptly, on their schedule, so I guess that’s why they got me to do it. I think Primus actually was my first published comic, even though it wasn’t the first work that I had done.” Primus #1 (Feb. 1972) featured a photo cover of star Robert Brown, along with the pronouncement, “TV’s Latest Smash!” The three eight-page stories—along with the stories in all seven issues of the title’s run—were written by Joe Gill. The first story in issue #1, “The Double Dealers!” introduces the series this way: “This is Carter Primus, the global man. Inventor of DASH (deep sea habitat), the PUP (Primus underwater propulsion vehicle), and the SSS (sonar signal system). Primus roams the oceans of the world on research and rescue missions, pitting his strength, skill, and cunning against the forces of nature… and of evil!” This first story opens with Primus saving the life of Lady Lydia Mabry as she is about to be attacked by sharks while swimming near her yacht. Primus later learns that the attack was caused by a supposed friend of Lady Lydia’s, a narcotics smuggler who is being tracked by French police and INTERPOL. Primus gets more than he bargained for as he tries to help Lady Lydia clear her name. Following an implausible second story, the first issue ends on a strong note with “The First Man of the Sea.” Primus is called in by NASA to use his special skills to rescue an astronaut, physicist Mason Gregg, whose spacecraft has malfunctioned. The capsule splashes down in the Black Sea, which is controlled by the Soviet Navy, complicating Primus’ mission as he races against time to keep the capsule, and the physicist, from falling into Russian hands. Both the first story and the third story have interesting premises, but both seem rushed. Two longer stories would have worked better, with more pages for the plots to develop and play out. Fortunately, issue #2 (Mar. 1972) goes that route. The second story is an eight-pager that uses a couple of plot shortcuts to cram everything in, but the opener, “Where Killers Meet,” is 16 pages, and it uses the space well in telling the story of a fleet of whaling ships that are hunting and slaughtering endangered whales in the Ross Sea in Antarctica. The story introduces Primus’ assistants, Toni Hyden and Charlie Kingman, although for some reason Charlie’s last name has become Whitman here in the comic book. Toni and Charlie use Inca, one of Primus’ boats, as they try to stay one step ahead of the whale killers.

THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN Primus is an elusive quarry on the small screen. You won’t find it on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu, and the only DVD source that your correspondent could find is Belle & Blade, a New Jersey-based provider of obscure video. They offer four episodes of the series on DVD; the picture quality isn’t the best, but it’s Primus and it’s fun to watch. They’re at warshows.com; phone is 973-328-8488.

Staton in His Element (top) This panel from Primus #1 shows artist Joe Staton’s facility with air bubbles—an often underrated but effective way to depict the underwater environment. (middle) Primus gets the girl(s) at the end of a story in Primus #2. (bottom left) This panel from Primus #3 demonstrates Staton’s ability to capture facial likenesses. (bottom right) Underwater fisticuffs in issue #7. Primus © Ivan Tors Productions.

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STORY DEVELOPMENT

Writer Joe Gill, who died in 2006, knew what he wanted with the stories in Primus. “Joe would give me a complete plot and script,” Joe Staton tells BACK ISSUE. “Everything was there… dialog, art direction, and everything. Joe would just sit down and write complete scripts. He and Sal Gentile, the editor, pretty much [left the art to me], as long as I stuck to Joe’s basic story. Joe was a good, solid storyteller.” Based on the four episodes of Primus that today are available for viewing, Gill appears to have been pretty faithful in adapting the show to the printed page. “For Joe, it all clicked in his mind that an underwater adventurer would also be involved in international spy adventures,” says Staton. “Joe really followed up on Primus being an international underwater adventurer.” Staton doesn’t recall seeing Primus on television prior to beginning his run on the comic book. “I can’t say for sure. But I do remember seeing several episodes as we went along. They gave me a few blow-up photos [of the actors], but I didn’t have a whole lot of reference. A lot of it was just kind of faking it.” For the most part, despite an occasional exception, Staton captured the likenesses of Brown, Renzi, and Kuluva quite well, and his accuracy improved as time went on. “I put in a lot of joe staton work trying to get Robert Brown’s likeness right. Will Kuluva, too. I knew © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. who they both were… I’d seen Robert Brown in Here Come the Brides, and Kuluva had been around for years. So it wasn’t totally out of the blue, I was familiar with them.” Of course, rendering an underwater scene is a different animal from depicting a scene on dry land. Staton took advantage of two key characteristics in this area. One was the way he used bubbles: when a diver is swimming, or when a creature such as a whale is twisting and turning, Staton drew the air bubbles and the surface disturbance bubbles randomly, using varying sizes and shapes within the bubbles’ “path.” It may seem a minor detail, but it absolutely helps sell the idea that we’re beneath the waves. The other underwater tool Staton used was a greenish-blue color palette, which instantly differentiated the underwater scenes from those up top. “The coloring at Charlton was pretty basic,” says the artist. “In the first couple of Primus issues that I did, I did varying shades of colors for the different water depths, and I made notes for them on what color the various fish species should be… what color a barracuda should be, for example. I was a little shocked when I got copies of the books and basically, everything underwater was green! So I realized there was no need to make notes on underwater colors. Just go with green!”

Primus Cover Gallery (top left) A hybrid photo/illustration treatment graced the cover of Primus #5 (July 1972). (top right) Staton hit his cover stride with Primus #6 (Sept. 1972), the first issue for which he drew 100% of the cover. (bottom) Joe’s art combined with Charlotte Jetter’s superb lettering made for a brilliant final cover for Primus. Primus © Ivan Tors Productions.

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After tangling with a crooked oil baron in Europe in Primus #3 (May 1972) and ruthless treasure hunters in Florida and South America in Primus #4 (June 1972), our scuba-diving hero finds himself in the middle of an environmental dispute in issue #5 (July 1972). “The Fire People” opens with Primus surveying a lake in South America to determine suitability for the building of a hydroelectric plant. When he stumbles upon a secret civilization hidden in the rim of the lake’s volcano, he’s forced to balance the region’s desperate need for increased hydroelectric power with the secret civilization’s desire to remain isolated from the outside world. The issue’s second story, an eight-page affair entitled, “The Crown of Minos,” has Primus and Toni taken prisoner and forced by their captors to dive for sunken treasure in the Aegean Sea.

COVER TREATMENT

Issue #5 also was the first to feature a Joe Staton cover— mostly. The covers of the first four issues had been photodominated affairs. “Sal Gentile had been one of the editors of [Charlton’s] magazine line, and he liked doing photo collages,” says Staton. “Those photo covers for Primus were done by Sal. But I had asked to do some of my own covers, and I guess it was a while before they trusted me to do that. But as I was turning in the Primus work on time, they let me go ahead with it, and I really enjoyed that.” It shows. While Staton’s cover to #5 is a hybrid photo/illustration—it was the first issue edited by George Wildman following Gentile’s run—the covers of Primus #6 (Sept. 1972) and Primus #7 (Oct. 1972) are excellent examples of the artist’s drafting and design abilities, even at this early stage of his career. The lead story in #6, “Death is Waiting,” takes place in the waters off Nassau, Bahamas, and has Primus and Toni battling heroin smugglers, while the second story, “A Weapon Used to Kill Whom?,” concerns the duo’s efforts to outwit a group of warring gamblers. Both stories end with a kiss between Toni and Primus—a romance that had been brewing for several issues. And then came issue #7, the last in the series. Given that the cover date is October 1972, the Charlton team likely had just gotten word that the Primus television show had been cancelled. The first story in #7, “Crisis at 40 Fathoms,” finds Primus and Toni mixed up with a fanatical millionaire’s scheme to draw the United States and the Soviet Union into war, and it’s a good yarn. In the second story, “The Saboteur,” Primus tangles with Soviet agents who are slashing the nets of a fishing trawler. The story, and the series, ends with a little “inside joke” from Staton and

Gill: “We were warned that number seven would be the end,” says Staton. “If you look on the last page, in the last panel, you see Primus looking up at you and waving, and he knows that it’s the end. So we knew it wasn’t going to continue.” How does he see his work on Primus today? “I got a shot at a regular book when I was just starting out and they trusted me to do likenesses that had to be approved by the TV producers. Charlton trusted me on it, and I managed to keep it going for seven issues. I have good memories of Primus.” DOUGLAS R. KELLY is editor of Marine Technology magazine. In addition to BACK ISSUE, his byline has appeared in RetroFan, Antiques Roadshow Insider, Model Collector, Collecting Toys, and Buildings magazines. He grew up in and around the water, but Ivan Tors never even called him to read for the role of Primus.

Primus’ Pals and Gals Carter Primus and his assistants Charlie Whitman and Toni Hyden, and E-Man and his gang, Nova Kaine and Mike Mauser. Early1970s cover art by Joe Staton for the Mike Main-edited fanzine FreeFall, submitted by Mr. Main to Jon B. Cooke in late 2000 for publication in Comic Book Artist #12. Our thanks to all! Primus © Ivan Tors Productions. E-Man © Joe Staton.

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HELP IS ON THE WAY

Staton to the Rescue (left) The cover of issue #1 (June 1976) of Emergency! got the Joe Staton acrylic and marker treatment. (right) The pick of the litter among the covers for Emergency!: Joe hit it out of the park with this cover for issue #2! Unless otherwise noted, all art scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Doug Kelly. © NBCUniversal.

by D

Bing-bong-buuuuuuzzzzzzzzz. “Squad 51, motorcycle accident with injuries… 11822 North Hillside, cross-street Vernon…time out 14:27.” “Squad 51, KMG 365.” If reading that didn’t give you a chill down your spine, either you’re dead or you didn’t spend an hour a week tuning in to the NBC television series Emergency! from 1972 to 1977. Created by television legend Jack Webb, with Harold Jack Bloom and R. A. Cinader, Emergency! made television history by being the first series to realistically depict fire and rescue operations in the United States, an approach used by Webb on his police shows Dragnet and Adam-12.

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ouglas R. Kelly

For those of us raised on Emergency!, that familiar triple buzz alarm and accompanying call from the dispatcher is etched into our psyches. The show revolved around two operations in Los Angeles County, California: Fire Station 51 and Rampart General Hospital. Paramedics Roy DeSoto, played by Kevin Tighe, and John Gage, played by Randolph Mantooth, work with the firefighters at Station 51 as they handle calls involving everything from treating injuries at fire scenes to rescuing people stranded in deep canyons or 100 feet in the air on construction cranes. While many of the calls on which the team goes out involve serious—as in life and death—situations, others are of a lighter tone, sometimes bordering on the wacky. In the Season Five episode “The Election” an artist

has encased her subject, head to toe, in what she calls a “life casting,” a plaster and glue mixture that has hardened and entombed the man. DeSoto and Gage have to figure a way to get the guy out while contending with the belligerent artist, who insists they not damage her life casting. In fact, the situations depicted on the show reportedly all were based on actual incidents taken from various fire department logbooks around the US. Gage and DeSoto are connected to the medical team at Rampart General Hospital via a radio phone, which they use to provide information to the doctors, who then advise the paramedics on how to treat the victim(s) and prepare them for transport to Rampart. It’s a process we take for granted today—of course paramedics work with medical teams by radio—but the concept of paramedics treating victims on the scene was still fairly new in the early 1970s, having just started in California a few years before the premiere of the show. The crew at Rampart is headed up by Dr. Kelly Brackett, played by Robert Fuller; Nurse Dixie McCall, played by Julie London; who made his screen debut in the Season Two and Dr. Joe Early, played by Bobby Troup. The episode “Kids.” The series often is credited with casting kept things “in the family,” so to speak, as having been a driving force behind the creation and development of paramedic programs Julie London had been married to series around the United States. creator Jack Webb, who asked London and her real-life (second) husband LONG LEAD TIME Bobby Troup to play McCall and It took a while—four years or so— Early. In the 2001 book, My Name’s for Emergency! to be adapted Friday, London was quoted as to comic-book form. Charlton having said, “I’d never worked Comics, which had tried its with Jack before, but Bobby has hand at television series-based done several [episodes of Dragnet adaptations such as The Partridge and Adam-12]. It’s just a business Family and Space: 1999, landed relationship. The divorce happened Emergency! in 1976. (Charlton also nineteen years ago. That part of produced a black-and-white my life is all behind.” Along with magazine version of Emergency! being actors, London and Troup JOHN BYRNE in 1976–1977.) also were musicians, with both Emergency! #1 (June 1976) having successful singing careers. featured a Joe Staton cover, a A jazz pianist, Troup wrote the hit song “Route 66.” Emergency! premiered on January 15, 1972, 22-page story written by Joe Gill and edited by and ran for six seasons, winding up its run on George Wildman (who served as writer and editor, May 28, 1977. Many familiar names guest- respectively, of all four issues in the series), and starred on the show during its run, including such interior art by “Byrne Robotics.” In an interview actors as Lloyd Haynes, who played teacher Pete conducted by Jon B. Cooke and published in the Dixon in Room 222, and a young John Travolta, March 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist, John Byrne

Byrne, Baby, Byrne (top left) A chemical fire at a warehouse rages out of control in issue #1. (top right) John Byrne’s art in issue #1 featured very good likenesses of actors Julie London and Robert Fuller. (bottom left) Gage and DeSoto confer on next steps in the radium chloride case in Emergency! #1. (bottom right) This panel from issue #1 demonstrates John Byrne’s use of unusual camera angles. © NBCUniversal.

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explained the unusual credit. “Back when I was starting up I was very nervous about using uncredited assistants. I did not want the folk at Charlton knowing I was not doing all the work myself, but I also did not want the work credited as if I was. So I came up with the term ‘Byrne Robotics’ as the credit whenever I had help on the books—such help being nothing much beyond spotting blacks. Two people helped out as ‘Byrne Robotics,’ my college chum Vic Bosson (now a successful illustrator in Canada) and his girlfriend, Barb Weaver.” The story, “Hot Cargo,” hits the ground running on the splash page, with engine company 51 enroute to a chemical fire at a warehouse. The firefighters contend with all kinds of dangerous materials, such as bales of rubber and naptha, and soon realize it’s arson when they find gasoline in containers in an office. There also was a shipment of radium chloride in the building that has gone missing. It appears that whomever set the fire also stole the radium chloride, a highly radioactive and dangerous substance, using the fire to cover his tracks. Now it’s a race against time as John Gage works with the police to find the arsonist—and the radium chloride—before they can do any more damage to the community. It’s an excellent first entry for the series, a well-written and suspenseful tale. John Byrne’s art is outstanding here. His early style, while certainly being recognizable as Byrne, has more “looseness” of line, which gives it a raw look. He also had a solid design sense even then, using a variety of “camera angles” and panel shapes. And he did well in capturing the likenesses of the Emergency! actors from the TV series.

STANDOUT COVER

Risky Business (top) Roy DeSoto and a boy wait as Johnny Gage uses a Jaws of Life tool to free them from a drainage culvert in issue #2. Art by Demetrio Sánchez Gómez, who also did the interior art on issues 3 and 4. (center) Roy and Johnny get the owner of a fire-engulfed boat out of harm’s way in the nick of time in Emergency! #2. (bottom) Gage and DeSoto react to a petition to have Joe Diskin transferred to another fire station in issue #3. © NBCUniversal.

Emergency! #2 (Aug. 1976) also sported a Staton cover, and a strong case can be made that it’s the best cover of the series. “It was acrylics with some markers,” says Staton. “Pat Boyette had run across the world’s cheapest color separator in Texas. He told George Wildman at Charlton that he could get painted covers color separated as cheaply as Charlton was getting black and white with flat color. So Charlton gave us the option of doing painted and/or marker covers or whatever process we wanted, as long as we didn’t bill any more than we did for a black-andwhite cover. It was fun, people were trying different things, and some of it turned out pretty good. I did a lot of acrylic… Tom Sutton did some beautiful stuff and Don Newton did fullpainted Phantom covers. Everything at Charlton was cheap, but you got a chance to try most anything, one way or another.” The story in the second issue, “The Big Squeeze,” finds Gage and DeSoto on the receiving end of a malpractice suit being filed by Roy’s neighbor, whose life Gage saved at a neighborhood picnic and who now claims injury as a result of the incident. Meantime, Squad 51 is sent on a call to a drainage culvert, where a boy is trapped after he chased his basketball into the structure. It’s raining hard and the tunnel/culvert is filling quickly with water. The paramedics manage to save the boy just in time by using a Jaws of Life tool to cut the rusted iron grating that’s trapped him. Throughout the issue, DeSoto worries about the lawsuit, wondering how a person could take legal action against the people who saved his life. The resolution comes from an unexpected source, and Joe Gill does a good job of showing the struggle of balancing the desire to go to the aide of others with the reality that some people will try to twist it and use it against us. The interior art in issue #2 is by Demetrio Sánchez Gómez, who also did the art on issues #3 and 4 of the series. Gómez is a native of Spain who also has done illustration work for German and British publications. His art on Emergency! is solid but for the most part unspectacular, and he does a good job of capturing the actors’ likenesses. John Byrne’s work in issue #1 set a high bar, which Gómez doesn’t match, but his visuals suffice to tell the story. “One Big Happy Family,” the story in Emergency! #3 (Oct. 1976), depicts a fire station that’s anything but. Joe Diskin, a recent transfer from a nearby station, has a personality that would peel paint, but he’s a good firefighter and more than pulls his weight when the crew is called out for a gas heater

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explosion in an apartment house and a chemical fire at an industrial site. Between calls, Roy and Johnny try to befriend Diskin, but he’s having none of it and tells them to keep their distance. When a couple of the other firefighters sign a petition to have Diskin transferred out, Johnny and Roy defend Diskin. They tell the others that it’s true, Diskin won’t win any popularity contests, but he’s a good firefighter, someone we can depend on in a scrape, and that’s more important than personality. The question is, will Diskin come around and thaw out, or will the guys have to get used to rejection?

JUST DOING MY JOB, MA’AM

Emergency! #4 (Dec. 1976) opens with DeSoto and Gage rescuing an international film star, Erika Baumann, after her car plows through a roadside fence and winds up in a ravine. Entitled “The Look of Heroes,” the story heats up when Erika thanks Johnny with a kiss, which is caught on-camera by the press. The guys back at the station rib Gage mercilessly about his new “friend,” and Erika invites Johnny over for dinner once she’s out of the hospital. The dinner goes well and Erika asks Johnny to invite Roy and Roy’s wife, Joanne, over for a cookout. At the cookout a couple of days later, an accident occurs when Erika’s chef accidentally sets himself on fire. Gage grabs the man and Erika, thinking fast, shoves them into the pool, dousing the flames and saving both men from more serious injury. Demetrio

Sánchez Gómez did an excellent job on the sequence and it’s one of the most dynamic action scenes of the four-issue run of Emergency! Jack Sparling did the art chores for the covers of issues #3 and 4, and both covers do well in conveying the kind of dangerous situations that the men of Fire Station 51 often find themselves facing. Each of the four issues also includes a text story about Station 51. The art for the text stories in issues #1, 2, and 3 are taken from John Byrne’s art for the main story in issue #1 (and in some instances, enlarged big-time), while the art for the text story in issue #4 is taken from Demetrio Sánchez Gómez’s art in issue #2 (with some minor alterations). Issue #4 would be the last for Emergency! as Charlton pulled the plug on Station 51 in late 1976. The four issues of the series represented a very good adaptation of the television show, with writer Joe Gill capturing the good-natured teasing and humorous banter that went on between the firefighters, paramedics, and doctors on the small screen. The “ladies man” aspect of the John Gage character—such a central part of the television show—was toned down somewhat in the comic. But the action-filled rescues that defined Emergency! on television also were center stage in the Charlton series. Bing-bong-buuuuuuzzzzzzzzz.

Blazing Cover Art (left) Jack Sparling’s cover for Emergency! #3 (Oct. 1976). (right) The Sparling cover of issue #4 offers a glimpse of the Erika Baumann rescue inside. © NBC Universal.

Watching Emergency! made DOUGLAS R. KELLY want to be a paramedic, but he gave that up when he discovered girls.

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by D

ewey Cassell

World Famous Heroine A stunning portrait of Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers by Arnaldo Putzu. Original cover art from the UK publication Look-in (Jan. 14, 1978), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Bionic Woman © NBCUniversal.

When you have your first child, you take dozens of photographs of them doing every little thing, including sleeping, enough to try the patience of your closest relatives and best of friends. And then when you have your second child, you find the difference is not arithmetic but exponential, and you take far fewer photographs, because you are just trying to survive. If you should have a third child, there will likely be no record of them at all. It’s not that you are playing favorites or love the first child more, it’s just a matter of having to divide your once undivided attention.

This rather unconventional analogy explains, at least in part and in a roundabout way, the history of the Charlton comic book, The Bionic Woman. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We should start with the firstborn child. Martin Caidin wrote a novel titled Cyborg in 1972 that served as the basis for the television show The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors as Steve Austin and Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman, head of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI), a fictitious division of the United States Department of

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State. In 1975, during the second season, the show introduced the character Jaime Sommers, a love interest of Steve Austin played by Lindsay Wagner, who is severely injured during a sky-diving accident. Austin convinces Goldman and OSI to save her life by repairing her injuries with bionics similar to his own. Sommers receives two bionic legs, one bionic arm, and a bionic ear. (The Jaime Sommers character is not in the Caidin novel.) The concept was well received by viewers and the following year, Wagner got her own television series, The Bionic Woman. In the spinoff show, Sommers becomes a schoolteacher at an Air Force base in Ojai, California, while taking on missions for OSI. Like its older brother, the show was a hit. And as with most hit shows, there was no shortage of merchandising. There was a Bionic Woman board game, a Bionic Woman lunch box, Bionic Woman action figures and accessories, Bionic Woman trading cards, and, of course, a Bionic Woman comic book. Charlton Comics was not new to publishing comic books based on licensed properties. Prior titles included The Partridge Family and Space: 1999. “The Charlton News” article in issue #4 of The Charlton Bullseye in-house fanzine revealed, “Charlton has just signed a contract with Universal Studios for the comic book efforts of two of their top-rated television shows, The Six Million Dollar Man and Emergency! Each of these will have a four-color presentation, and a black and white format.” The first issue of The Six Million Dollar Man comic book was cover-dated June 1976 (on sale March 11, 1976). The Bionic Woman comic book followed much later, on July 1, 1977, cover-dated October 1977. Both titles were supposed to be bimonthly, but the publishing was sporadic. (The second issue of The Bionic Woman was cover-dated February 1978.) Jack Sparling illustrated all the covers and interior stories for the Bionic Woman series, drawing likenesses of the actors with mixed success. The writer of The Bionic Woman stories is uncertain, but may have been Joe Gill. The debut issue of The Bionic Woman includes two comic stories, the first involving a kidnapping of one of her students and the second requiring Jaime to pose as a flight attendant to thwart a murder. In the latter story, Oscar Goldman has Dr. Rudy Wells reduce Jaime’s bionic powers to “Stage I,” the abilities of a normal person, to lessen the chance of someone learning about her bionics, but it puts Jaime at risk on the mission. This was an idea also explored on the television show, and there was an episode in which Jaime posed as a flight attendant. In general, however, the stories appearing in the comic book were new, not based directly on television episodes. (The Bionic Dog never appears in the comic book.) The first issue also includes a two-page text piece recapping her origin from the television series, and pointing out the spelling of her first name—Jaime—is correct, although ironically it would be misspelled in later issues. The comic book also provided a different definition of the acronym OSI, calling it the Office of Strategic Intelligence.

We Can Rebuild Her, We Can Make Her Stronger (top) Photo of Lindsay Wagner, from The Six Million Dollar Man magazine #1 (July 1976). Courtesy of Dewey Cassell. (bottom) From the Heritage archives, original Jack Sparling artwork to the cover of Charlton’s Bionic Woman #1 (Oct. 1977). (inset) The published version. © NBCUniversal.

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Oh, I Wish I Were an Oscar Goldman Agent… (below) Original art to page 4 of The Bionic Woman #2, with Oscar Goldman. Courtesy of Alan Pinion. (right) Jaime vs. Jaws on issue #2’s Sparlingdrawn cover. © NBCUniversal.

The first story in issue #2 finds Jaime on a mission teaching the children of the president of a Southeast Asian country, where she exposes a coup attempt. In the second story Jaime poses as a marine photographer to protect an ambassador aboard his yacht. In the two-page text story, Oscar doubts Jaime’s abilities because she is a woman and she proves him wrong in a confrontation with a would-be bomber. One of the things The Bionic Woman comic book did well, like its television counterpart, was provide a strong positive female role model. It is uncertain how many young girls may have read The Bionic Woman comics, and Charlton did not include a letters page, but those who did must surely have been inspired by the character. Beginning with the third issue (Mar. 1978), the format switched to a single full-length comic story, which in this case was influenced by the headlines. Jaime is sent undercover to investigate sabotage of the Alaska oil pipeline. This is one of the best-written stories in the series and features the most instances in which Jaime uses her bionic powers. A two-page text story is included.

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The story in issue #4 (May 1978) is about a former colleague of Dr. Rudy Wells, thought to have perished in a laboratory explosion, who kidnaps Wells and Jaime, challenging the Bionic Woman to solve a maze to save Wells’ life, while being pursued by a female android. The story has similarities to the “Kill Oscar” and “Dr. Wells is Missing” episodes of the Bionic Woman show. Beginning with this issue, the text story is reduced to one page. In the fifth and final issue of The Bionic Woman (June 1978), Jaime goes undercover as a substitute teacher to befriend a former inventor and find out what he did with his plans for a missile-jamming device. Like all of the issues in the series, the story was standalone without any ongoing continuity, so there is no mention of an upcoming issue (or indication the series was cancelled). A cover and interior artwork exist for a story involving Jaime encountering ape-like creatures that live beneath the surface of the earth, planned for an unpublished sixth issue of The Bionic Woman. A comparison with The Six Million Dollar Man comics by Charlton is inevitable. One difference is that The Bionic Woman comics did not have the benefit of the painted covers that graced the early issues of The Six Million Dollar Man comics. Another distinction is that The Bionic Woman did not have a black-and-white magazine like her male counterpart. The magazine helped to foster interest in older readers, and included articles and photographs from the television show. There were a couple of articles in the magazine about Lindsay Wagner, but no stories featuring the Bionic Woman. Ultimately, The Bionic Woman comic stories had little to distinguish them from those of The Six Million Dollar Man. And unlike the television show, there were no crossovers with Steve Austin in The Bionic Woman comic book, except brief mention

in a text story. That said, although the Six Million Dollar Man comic book lasted four more issues than his female counterpart, both titles were cancelled with the June 1978 cover-dated issues. This is not entirely surprising, given that the television series on which they were based ended around the same time. The last episode of The Six Million Dollar Man was broadcast in March 1978. The final episode of The Bionic Woman aired two months later. The television show may actually have indirectly contributed to the lackluster success of the comics. In theory, comic books should have been an ideal format for displaying the variety of abilities of the Bionic Woman. But in reality, viewers saw those same abilities displayed on television every week. Look at it this way—if the X-Men or Avengers movies had come out before they ever appeared in comics, would the comics have been nearly as entertaining? Probably not. Seeing it in the comics first gave fuel to your imagination, which made seeing it brought to life on the screen all the more astounding. However, there were other factors at play. According to the article “The Charlton Empire” in issue #9 of Comic Book Artist magazine, “management ordered the comics line in 1978 to stop accepting new material, and to use—with rare exceptions—only reprints from Charlton’s huge inventory, a situation which lasted until the comic line’s demise a few years later.” The Charlton comic series was not the only illustrated version of the Bionic Woman. The Bionic Woman Annuals were published by Brown Watson in the UK in 1977 and 1978, featuring new comic stories. But arguably the most successful version of the Bionic Woman to appear in comics was in Look-in. Look-in was a weekly children’s magazine published in the UK from 1971 to 1994. It featured interviews, articles, puzzles, and photographs about sports, television, and music celebrities. However, the main attraction was serialized “picture strips” based on musicians like David Cassidy and ABBA, and television shows like Kung Fu, Space: 1999, Man from Atlantis, Logan’s Run, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman, depending on what was being shown on the ITV network at the time. Some strips were printed in color and others in black and white. The Six Million Dollar Man strip began running in Look-in in June 1975, followed by The Bionic Woman in August 1976. Every issue of Look-in typically featured two pages of each strip as part of an ongoing storyline. What set it apart, though, was the color artwork. The Bionic Woman strip was initially drawn by John M. Burns, who also drew the Modesty Blaise newspaper strip, and Arthur Ranson. John Bolton later took over the artistic duties, rendering gorgeous painted panel pages. The stories were written by Angus P. Allan. The Six Million Dollar Man strip ended in March 1979, a year after the last television episode, and The Bionic Woman strip ended two months later, after which the two characters appeared together in a Bionic Action strip for six months, drawn by several different artists, including Ian Gibson, who illustrated the Brown Watson Bionic Woman annuals. A quarterly Brazilian comic magazine titled Os Biônicos (The Bionics) was published by Ebal, beginning in 1979. The issues alternated focus on the Bionic Woman (Mulher Biônica) and the Six Million Dollar Man (Cyborg), with the content likely reprints of the Look-in picture strips. The series lasted six issues. Bionic Woman comics also appeared in the French magazine, TELEjunior, under the title “Super Jaime.”

The Charlton version of The Bionic Woman comics have never been collected into a trade paperback, but the original issues are readily available on the secondary market. A new comic book from Image Comics titled Bionix, co-starring Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin, was planned for 1996, but never came to fruition. A revival of the Bionic Woman television show was attempted in 2007, but it was cancelled after eight episodes. In recent years, Dynamite Entertainment has published several short-lived comic series featuring the Bionic Woman. One of the most successful was when Dynamite teamed up with DC Comics for a pairing of Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime Sommers with Lynda Carter’s Diana Prince in Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman. If only Charlton had tried that idea…

Jaime Goes Ape Original art page 6 to the unpublished Bionic Woman #6. From the collection of Richard Morgan. Bionic Woman © NBCUniversal.

Sincere thanks to Richard Morgan and Alan Pinion for the artwork used in the article. DEWEY CASSELL is the Eisner Award-nominated author/ co-author of four books and over 40 magazine articles. He is currently working on biographies of artists Irv Novick and Marshall Rogers for TwoMorrows Publishing. And yes, he had a crush on Lindsay Wagner.

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Wonder Woman © DC Comics.

At 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 31, 1977, Wonder Woman made its debut on Argentina’s TV channel 13. And beginning on September 8, the series was transmitted every Thursday at 9. The series immediately captured the absolute attention of the public, not only of young women who finally could identify with a superheroine, but also of very young boys captured by the rhythm of her adventures and older viewers by the great acting skills of its protagonist, Lynda Carter, forever Wonder Woman. Carter was accompanied on her adventures by a rather inconsequential Major Steve Trevor, played by Lyle Waggoner. In our country, Wonder Woman was known only by the Mexican name “Marvila” from the comics of the Novaro Publishing House and by the animated cartoons of the Super Friends. So little known was she that before the release, it was promoted as Superwoman, the female version of Superman. During the 1960s, it was also customary in Argentina to publish comics based upon TV characters. In the beginning, these were comic books about TV Westerns such as Maverick, Cheyenne, and The Law of the Gun. During the 1970s, Mo-Pa-Sa Publishing House was issuing Kung Fu, The Pink Panther, and Astro Boy, comic books made entirely in Argentina and without paying any royalties. It was so that in October of 1977, the first issue of Wonder Woman (“Mujer Maravilla”) was born under the “Vivepry” seal (which was later changed to “Editorial Olimpo,” fake Mo-Pa-Sa editorial names), under the prolific pen of Jorge Morhain and the excellent brush of his brother, mario morhain cartoonist Mario Morhain. The Agencia NOVA. Vivepry label hid in its acronym the name of Violini, Vecchio, and Prystupa, cartoonists who collaborated regularly in Mo-Pa-Sa magazines. According to Mario Morhain: “I will tell you that it was common practice to change the name of the publisher to avoid lawsuits for trademark infringements.” Curiously, neither Jorge nor Mario was a regular reader of the original DC Comics Wonder Woman comic books, but together they made a very good, free adaptation of the series. The stories were 20 pages long. They used such familiar elements

All the World’s Waiting for You Portrait of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, illustrated in 2017 by Mario Morhain. Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics.

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by T

o n i To r r e s

of the TV show (borrowed from the original comics) as the magic lasso, the bulletproof bracelets, and the invisible plane. The adventures were set in the 1940s, during the Second World War, mimicking the first season of the TV series. While the scripts featured new plots based upon the TV show (for example, when a space invasion of Lizardmen is stopped), the characters had the same names as in the original stories. The comic books were very well done, with realistic drawings that at times were quite close to the facial likenesses of the characters in the TV series, which was not easy in those times. “Since the magazines were published concurrently with the television show and there was no documentation [for reference], one had to first watch the series then recall the traits of the characters to draw them afterwards in a hurry to come up with the episode for that week,” explains Mario Morhain on the challenges of illustrating Argentina’s Wonder Woman comic book. “One must remember that there was no internet in that golden age, not even a video recorder to capture the series. And you had to do them from one day to the next or in a couple of days at best because you had to take advantage of the boon in TV advertising.” Argentina’s Wonder Woman product was very good and although native, very faithful to the original series. Almost all the chapters were written and drawn by the fraternal duo of the Morhains, and at least in one of those issues (#8), both were replaced by Miguel Prystupa. The covers were drawn by several artists such as Horacio Merel, Prys (Prystupa), Mario Morhain himself (actually the best of them all), and an enigmatic artist who signed “GQ.” The head of Mo-Pa-Sa

Publishing’s company’s editorial was José Alegre, although in the journals of Mo-Pa-Sa he appeared as José Asmar. The magazine lasted eight issues between October 1977 and May 1978. It was printed in black and white, with some pages were in red and white. Curiously, the American comic-book version of Wonder Woman was also drawn in those years by another Argentine cartoonist, the famous José Delbo. Wonder Woman had as a complement a children’s comic story of the series titled Mini Maravilla (“Mini Wonder”), where “Dina” solves the problems that afflict the rather useless “Major Trivo,” with whom she was madly in love. This parody was produced by Prys and sometimes also by Vecchio. Mini Maravilla was successful enough to issue its own comic, by Prys. The magazine also published drawings from the readers in each issue. It is true that the magazine Wonder Woman was not a success and may not have been a jewel. But without a doubt it is an apocryphal pearl of Argentinean comic books.

Wonder Woman Rarities Long before DC published its Wonder Woman ’77 retro comics, Argentinean comic books saw the potential in doing new stories starring the TV version of the Amazon Princess. Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics.

This is a tribute to those who brought our screen heroes to our hands. Now that everyone is crazy with the new Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, I will continue to dream as always with Lynda Carter, our Wonder Woman. I appreciate the contributions to this article by maestro Mario Morhaín and the drawing he made especially for it. TONI TORRES is an Argentinian writer, the creator of the superhero “El Caballero Rojo,” an important collector in his country, and a comic historian that specializes in Argentinian comic books.

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Lute

On Sunday, May 1, 1983, television viewers were treated to special visitors when they tuned into the first episode of NBC’s science-fiction miniseries titled simply V. Spaceships started appearing above major cities all over the planet Earth. As viewers soon learned, these ships were filled with humanlike aliens that said they wanted our help to save their planet. The aliens were called the Visitors. However, there was more to be seen than meets the eye. Underneath the Visitors’ human-like skin, they were a carnivorous reptilian race that wanted to steal the Earth’s water and use humans as food. Although a resistance movement was organized to help stop the Visitors, the second and final episode of the miniseries ended with the Visitors having almost complete control of the planet. Kenneth Johnson, the creator/writer/director of V, wanted to tell a story of the dangers of Nazisim. With this miniseries, he was able to do so in the guise of science fiction. The uniforms and insignia that the Visitors wore were reminiscent of Nazi garb. Science fiction has always been a prime spot to tell challenging and even difficult stories that couldn’t be told elsewhere. This miniseries was no exception. V proved to be very successful and garnered a second miniseries, V: The Final Battle, which premiered the following year. The sequel miniseries also proved to be popular and an ongoing television series titled V (but often referred to as V: The Series) was ordered by NBC. Although popular, the ongoing series didn’t draw the audience numbers in that the two miniseries did and was cancelled after only one season, with a final scripted episode never even being filmed. The ongoing series suffered from budget cuts, leading to the reuse of footage from both miniseries and limitations on some special effects such as the Visitors’ distinctive vocal renderings. Kenneth Johnson was only minimally involved with V: The Final Battle and wasn’t involved at all with the regular series. Despite the ongoing series’ drop in the ratings, fans wanted more of the Visitors. DC Comics was happy to oblige. V the comic-book series ran for 18 issues from 1985 to 1986.

V: THE COMIC BOOK SERIES

It wasn’t until the ongoing V television series was announced that DC Comics became involved with the franchise. Original V comic editor Marv Wolfman recounts to BACK ISSUE, “I loved the

V is for (Unwelcome) Visitors Gripping covers for issues of DC Comics’ V tie-in, for (top) #1 (Feb. 1985) and 2, with cover art by Eduardo Barreto, and (bottom) #5 (June 1985), with cover art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar, and 6, with cover art by Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal. V © Warner Bros.

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With Friends Like These… (left) Astounding original cover art by Barreto for V #1. (right) Artist Tony DeZuniga blows up stuff reeeeeal good on his cover to V #3 (Apr. 1985). Original art scans courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © Warner Bros.

original TV [miniseries] as well as the follow-up. with the ongoing television series. Red Dust, first Because I did, once the show was announced, introduced in V: The Final Battle, was a bacterium I pitched the idea of doing an adaptation to DC. deadly to the Visitors. Since the Red Dust wasn’t I thought the show would last a year or two and effective in warm climates, the Visitors and the we could do a short-run comic that would be well resistance fighters set up Los Angeles as a neutral done. Then, once the show started to fade and sales ground. This was the status quo for both the ongoing television show and the comic. started to go south, we’d cancel the book. Issue #1 (Feb. 1985) took place after the I think the idea of doing intentionally first few episodes of the television series. short-run comics is a good one.” It introduced the major players and the DC wasn’t totally on board from setup for the series. Issues #2 (Mar. the get-go but had faith in the 1985) and 3 (Apr. 1985) featured legendary comic writer/editor. “DC Donovan, Parrish, Willie, and other wasn’t sure about it, but they trusted resistance fighters crash-landing in me and gave me the go ahead,” Silver Springs, a town that helped Wolfman recounts. “I assigned it to the Visitors to procure spring water [writer] Cary Bates. I thought he did in exchange for medical services for a great job.” their elderly. The comic featured the major Since the comic-book series players from the television series wasn’t encumbered by the TV including Visitor leaders Diana and marv wolfman series’ budget cuts, DC gave the Lydia and resistance fighters Mike Visitors jet packs and also featured Donovan, Julie Parrish, Ham Tyler, Chris Farber, and Visitor-turned-resistance-fighter the resistance fighters using a vocasimulator (also Willie. Robin Maxwell and her daughter Elizabeth referred to as a voca-simulator) to emulate the (a.k.a. the Starchild, the offspring of a human and aliens’ voices, something that the regular series a Visitor), plus Elias Taylor and others, appeared as didn’t do for budgetary reasons. The second issue well. The Fifth Column, a secret Visitor organization featured the Visitors using flying platforms that that sympathizes with the humans, also played a probably wouldn’t have been in the budget for the miniseries but fit in perfectly with the comic-book prominent role in the comic. The comic was developed to run concurrently medium.

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Where’s Adam Strange? Penciler Carmine Infantino might not have regarded V as his finest work, although this original art, with Tony DeZuniga’s lush finishes, says otherwise. Page 2–3 spread from V #1. Courtesy of Heritage. © Warner Bros.

EXPANDING THE V FRANCHISE

job building buzz. I did watch both In V #5 (June 1985), Dr. Earl Meagan, who made his first miniseries and enjoyed them a lot.” Although not always canonical, appearance in the previous issue, wanted to meet with Diana to propose a truce. If the proposed truce didn’t work, Dr. Meagan the comic book attempted to keep planned to assassinate Diana. He felt that he was responsible for current with the television show. In carmine infantino bringing the Visitors to Earth. He had previously worked on a the 11th episode of the show, “The project that sent probes out into space to find other signs of Betrayal,” Elias was killed. Since © DC Comics. life. While it is never stated whether or not Dr. Meagan’s probe he was killed on the show, he was caused the Visitors to come to Earth, Dr. Meagan believed it did. written out of the comic as well. Several other characters were written Unfortunately, his mission was unsuccessful, and he died in the out of the show including Ham, Chris, and Robin. The comic book subsequent issue. This was a good concept and one that should would reflect the loss of these characters by having them go to a have been investigated more in the television series as well different part of the country to fight with those resistance branches. Issues #7 and 8 (Aug. and Sept. 1985) were one-off stories by because it provided a detailed look at just how the Visitors found guest writers Mindy Newell and Bob Rozakis, respectively. Issue #7 the Earth in the first place. The comic continued V’s theme of using science fiction to was a Julie Parrish solo story, while #8 featured a Ham, Chris, and Robin tale. These two issues were produced to give Bates the examine fascism. Issue #5 also introduced Camp Lakka, time needed to catch up with the changes in the show, a Visitor concentration camp where the Visitors conducted including the departed cast members. “Cary was writing experiments to make humans more nutritious for the and editing The Flash at this point along with writing Visitors to eat. The camp was destroyed by Ham and for the Superman books,” Greenberger recalls. “As Chris in the next issue. he was nearing the wrap-up of Flash, he needed a Writer/editor Robert Greenberger, who worked breather, so as it happened, my first issue as editor as Wolfman’s assistant editor on V, became required a fill-in. At the time, New Talent Showcase the series’ editor with issue #7 (Aug. 1985). alumnus Mindy Newell was in the office regularly, Greenberger recalls to BACK ISSUE, “At the time, so I was able to tap her for that.” Marv was a part-time editor, writing and editing While DC was publishing the V comic, there were New Teen Titans while editing Star Trek and a few also V novels being published by Pinnacle Books other books. However, I joined specifically to work as well. DC issues #9 and 10 (Oct. and Nov. 1985) with him and Len Wein on Crisis on Infinite Earths featured a crossover of sorts between a tie-in novel and Who’s Who. As 1984 progressed, it became robert greenberger and the comic when fictional New York City Mayor obvious those projects would preoccupy them so Alison Stein was featured in the comic. Stein was bit by bit, Marv divested himself of those books. “I had been assisting him on both Trek and V so, I became the first introduced in the novel V: East Coast Crisis, written by Howard logical successor. By then, I had already met [V’s] series producers Dan Weinstein and A. C. Crispin, published in 1984. That’s a great nod Blatt and Robert Singer at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention to the other aspects of the V franchise helping to build a bigger interconnected world. in Anaheim, so [I had] established a working relationship.” Greenberger was a fan of V before his time working for DC. He recalls, “The first miniseries was in 1983 while I was still working at CANONICAL OR NOT? Starlog, so I was aware of the show early on. Since I was commuting While the V comic attempted to stay in sync with the rest of the franchise from Long Island to Manhattan every day, I saw all the subways’ and the television series, this wasn’t always the case. According to billboards, part of V’s clever marketing campaign, which did a great Greenberger, “Canon is in the eye of the beholder. At this time, Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

D is for Design Note how the “V” logo is incorporated into the layout of these—and all of— the covers for DC’s V series. © Warner Bros.

V #11 (Dec. 1985) featured the introduction of canon wasn’t important to media properties, save Star Wars, which early on treated the novels and comics Bron, the son of the Visitor Supreme Leader. He fell as canon. Blatt and Singer barely respected science into the hands of the resistance after Diana made a failed assassination attempt was on his life. Bron, fiction when producing the series, so [they] never like Willie and the Fifth Column before him, considered us canonical. As long as we didn’t sympathized with the resistance. Over the embarrass them, we could run free. next several issues, he traveled around “When I spoke with the producers, with Donovan and Parrish trying to stay I was accompanied by a Los Angeles out of the hands of the Visitors. During Herald journalist I befriended that this time, Bron continued to learn weekend,” Greenberger adds. “After more about humans. Bron’s storyline the conversation and [we] learned ran through issue #16 (May 1986), of their cavalier attitude towards in which he died saving Donovan from the science part of science fiction, a Visitor. The final pages of the issue we knew the show was doomed. brought Donovan, Parrish, Willie, and Years later, that journalist, J. Michael Elizabeth back to L.A. and set the Straczynski, and I had a good laugh stage for the final aired episode of at that.” Straczynski would offer the television series. As mentioned, fans of his television show Babylon cary bates there was also an unfilmed episode, 5 comic books and novels that were © DC Comics. so the television series ended on a in-canon and interconnected to the cliffhanger that was never resolved. main narrative. But that’s a story for another article.

BRINGING THE VISITORS TO LIFE

For a comic book based on a licensed property, the series drew some comic-book heavyweights to chronicle it. As noted by Wolfman, outgoing Superman and Flash scribe Cary Bates was chosen as the writer. Even though Bates did a great job bringing the feel of the characters from the television screen to the comic page, it wasn’t a comic that he particularly sought out. Bates recalls, “DC offered the book to me and Carmine Infantino immediately after the demise of The Flash in Crisis. Since we enjoyed working together, we accepted the gig. Not to sound crass, but I think we both viewed it as something of a consolation prize after losing Flash. “As I recall, for me V was a sort of place-filler when my writing career at DC was in flux. Having just lost The Flash due to Crisis and Superman due to John Byrne, I was transitioning to projects where I was the sole or main creator, like Captain Atom and Silverblade for DC and Video Jack for Marvel/Epic.” Bates was accompanied on the book by penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Tony DeZuniga. In the TwoMorrows book Carmine Infantino: Penciler Publisher Provocateur by Jim Amash with Eric Nolan-Weathington, Infantino discussed his time working on V: “That was based on a TV series. I never saw the show. They hardly gave me any reference for it, either.” While Infantino is a comic legend, his work on this series wasn’t among his best. “Anything I did in that whole period was not interesting at all,” Infantino admitted. “It was pure work and nothing else.” Readers want to see in a licensed comic the likenesses of the characters they are used to seeing on a movie or television screen. Even though Infantino may not have had much V reference from the producers and he only saw it as a job, he was still able to capture the look and feel of the series. Greenberger states, “As I recall, our likeness rights extended to Marc Singer [Mike Donovan], Faye Grant [Juliet Parrish], Jane Badler [Diana], June Chadwick [Lydia], and I think Robert Englund [Willie] and Michael Ironside [Ham Tyler]. Carmine always told me on the phone he was enjoying the work, but I truly don’t think his heart was in it. Tony DeZuniga did his best to match the approved model sheets. “The series was set on Earth and it had to be a recognizable Los Angeles,” Greenberger explains. “Carmine was equally terrific with action and architecture. Cary gave him plenty of set pieces to 56 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

work with and he delivered. Licensed books don’t always excite artists and I got very professional, very workman-like efforts from Carmine here and Tom Sutton on Star Trek. Personally, I was delighted to be working with someone whose work I grew up on, even if it wasn’t on Silver Age superheroes. I at least got more of that from Carmine for Who’s Who. “All our work was filtered through Warner Bros. Licensing. We’d send in style sheets for the principal actors and story outlines. After feedback, they’d then see the script followed by the final art. As I recall, there was very little that required change. In 1984, all we had to work with were whatever stills we could get from Warner along with watching the show regularly. It was quite challenging for shots of specific alien tech or makeup, but we managed. “In summer 1985,” Greenberger concludes, “I got to spend some time with actors June Chadwick and Jane Badler at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, who were very complimentary at how sexy our artists made them.” Sometimes a comic book’s cover can sell the book to a potential reader. V had some compelling covers that may have enticed potential buyers to pick up the book. “When I took over, I switched to using Jerry Bingham as my cover artist as [original V cover artist] Eduardo Barreto got very much in demand,” Greenberger recalls. “Jerry, for a while, was my go-to cover man on several books, and he really enjoyed using the V logo as a design element.”

Tasty Ad Copy (top) Jerry Bingham’s pulse-pounding cover to V #8 (Sept. 1985). (bottom) Original art by Murphy Anderson (with a Photostat of Bingham’s cover art) for a DC Comics promoting issue #8, with copy playing off of a popular TV commercial.

THE VISITORS LEAVE EARTH (OR AT LEAST DC COMICS)

The final episode of the series (“Breakout”) aired on Friday, March 22, 1985, but the comic lasted until issue #18 (July 1986). Bates and Infantino’s tenure ended with #16. Writer Paul Kupperberg, penciler Denys Cowan, and inker Dick Giordano were brought in to finish out the comic-book series. The final two issues take place during the time period of the ongoing television series before Elias was killed. The story dealt with stolen codes that give access to the Visitor mothership and a possible solution to the Visitor’s Red Dust problem. Like the previous 16 issues, the series’ concluding issues captured the look and feel of the television series while providing readers a great adventure. “Both Paul Kupperberg and Denys Cowan were looking for work, so I paired them in a two-part inventory story,” Greenberger says. “When we were informed the series was being cancelled, I scheduled that to wrap the run.” Paul Kupperberg tells BACK ISSUE, “I don’t really have any particular recollections writing those issues of V, other than the beautiful Denys Cowan/Dick Giordano art; I did a lot of fill-ins in those days, and I wasn’t particularly a fan of or following the TV show all that closely. “I watched an episode or two to get a feel for the characters, worked out a plot with Bob, who was very good filling in any continuity details that I wasn’t aware of, and wrote the story (probably plot-first Marvel style).” DC’s V helped expand the world of the Visitors, but Greenberger wanted to do more with the comic than he was able to accomplish. “I had hoped to explore more of the world, as the novels did, but we had to adhere to the main storylines of the TV show, which floundered. Later in the run, Jeff Walker, a film publicist and friend, and his brother Michael were brought in as story consultants to right a sinking ship. There

were times Jeff and I would discuss issues, but he and Michael got there too late. “To me, the show squandered the potential inherent in Ken Johnson’s original concepts,” says Greenberger. “We did what we could, and think we honored the weekly series while entertaining the fans.” The author would like to thank Cary Bates, Robert Greenberger, Paul Kupperberg, and Marv Wolfman for their recollections for this article. ED LUTE is a fan of V whether it be a comic book or a television show (which he watched regularly with his father). He is an elementary school teacher and lover of geeky things. He is currently working on additional articles for BACK ISSUE magazine to bring more comic-book history to life.

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

by S t e p h a n

Trust Him, He Knows What He’s Doing David Rasche as Sledge Hammer in a publicity photo for the two-season tough-cop spoof. © Alan Spencer Productions, Inc.

Friedt

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” according to Charles Caleb Colton in his 1820 book Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words. Add a little satire, and you might have the beginnings of a successful TV series. Get Smart (1965–1970) with Don Adams imitated the James Bond movies spy craze. Get Smart gave the genre a comedic spin by adding a touch of Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther detective movies, under the guidance of comedic writing masters Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968) with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum [see RetroFan #15] brought the James Bond spy gimmick to TV with a more serious intent… most of the time. The Police Squad! (1982) TV series and The Naked Gun (1988–1994) movie series starring Leslie Nielsen were comedic imitations of the gritty police procedural dramas on TV like M Squad (1957–1960) with Lee

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Marvin and Felony Squad (1966–1969) with Howard Duff. Police Squad/Naked Gun was another in a long line of comedies from childhood friends and successful trio of David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams. Television’s Sledge Hammer! (1986–1988), starring David Rasche, imitated the tough-cop genre of movies epitomized by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry franchise and the dramatic TV show Hunter (1984–1991) with Fred Dryer. Sledge Hammer! was created and guided by Alan Spencer, who at 15 was one of the youngest writers to join the Writers Guild of America. Influenced by his friends Marty Feldman and Andy Kaufman, both of whom he lost in a short span of time, Spencer vowed to do unconventional work in their honor, starting with Sledge Hammer! At the age of 16, Alan wrote a screenplay for Sledge Hammer! When the fourth Dirty Harry movie,

Sudden Impact, hit the theaters and TV released SAVIUK: I was a freelancer (and was not going to say no) and since Jim Salicrup was writing it anyway Hunter to capitalize on the antihero-cop theme, and specifically asked me, of course I was Alan presented his script for sale. Leonard happy to do it! Stern, former producer of Get Smart, FRIEDT: What setup were you given? recommended it to HBO. After Alan Did you get to see the show? Read a reworked the screenplay to be a halfscript? Visit the set? hour TV show, changes that HBO SALICRUP: The show was already wanted to make were too much for on the air, so I may have been given Alan to live with, so he shopped it a few TV scripts, but that’s about it. around. The series found a home at I watched the show, got the general ABC-TV, which was in last place in the idea, and proceeded to write it as ratings and willing to take a chance on fast as I could. The thing was, I was a new property from an unproven writer. also editing full-time during the Sledge Hammer! started on ABC in the day, so I had an extremely limited fall of 1986, produced through New amount of time to devote to this. World Pictures. New World Pictures jim salicrup Editor Don Daley was very good at was originally formed in 1970 by hounding me for pages—he was film director Roger Corman but © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. changed ownership in 1983 and expanded from just able to do it in a way that made me want to get exploitation films to TV and other media. In November it done quickly, but still be as good as I can make of 1986, New World purchased Marvel Entertainment it. Writing humor just takes a little longer than the Group, the parent company of Marvel Comics. The Sledge Hammer! pilot was released coincidently at the same time as pop musician Peter Gabriel’s song “Sledge Hammer” made it big, and Gabriel’s hit was used in much of the media advertising for the show. Even though the critics loved the show, it struggled in the ratings, primarily because of its often-changing day and time. Sledge Hammer! managed to go to a second season, but in its second year was put up against NBC’s top-rated The Cosby Show, and ABC saddled it with a lower budget and production values, which contributed to its demise. But before its end, in an effort to further promote the show, New World reached out to its subsidiary, Marvel Comics, and requested a TV tie-in series… and thus the Marvel comic book two-issue run of Sledge Hammer! was born. I had the opportunity to talk via email with two of the creators of the Sledge Hammer! comic book, writer Jim Salicrup and artist Alex Saviuk, about their experience on the short-lived series.

This Comic’s Batty! Sledge and Dori Doreau (Anne-Marie Martin on the TV show) square off against a gaggle of goblins—and gueststar Satana!—on the Alex Saviuk/Bob McLeod cover to Sledge Hammer! #1 (Feb. 1988). Sledge Hammer! © Alan Spencer Productions, Inc. Satana and Marvel logo TM & © Marvel.

STEPHAN FRIEDT: Sledge Hammer!... Marvel 1988... two issues... What do you remember of the job? JIM SALICRUP: It was a very happy experience, and I enjoyed working with every single person involved in this particular project. I enjoyed working on the non-Marvel Universe titles a lot, and got to work with many of my favorite artists, such as Marie Severin and Jim Mooney on The A-Team, Frank Springer on The Transformers, Dan DeCarlo on KOOL-AID Man, John Costanza on Quik Bunny, etc. These projects were always a lot of fun for me. ALEX SAVIUK: I remember doing Web of Spider-Man fill-ins and going to the office that one fateful day where Jim said [Web] writer Gerry Conway did not have a new plot ready yet, would I be interested in doing a few Sledge Hammer! stories? FRIEDT: Did you seek out the project or were you picked to do it? SALICRUP: Don Daley was the editor, and I guess he picked me to write Sledge Hammer! either because he liked my writing—I had previously written an adaptation of animated series The Inhumanoids, based on the Hasbro toys, for him—or there was no one else available to write it. That is how I got most of my writing assignments at Marvel—I was the writer of last resort. In the case of Sledge Hammer!, it is just possible that I said to Don, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

Opening Salvo Writer Jim Salicrup’s gagfest begins, with issue #1’s splash. Interior inks by Sam de la Rosa. © Alan Spencer Productions, Inc.

straight superhero stuff, but I always enjoyed a FRIEDT: What were your parameters? Since the book challenge. Having been greatly inspired by Harvey featured guests like Spider-Man and Satana, Marvel’s stories were not meant to be adaptations of the show Kurtzman and the original MAD comics, this like so many tie-ins. Did you have restrictions was my chance to finally work in that on where you could take the characters? (jugular) vein. SAVIUK: Jim was working the “Marvel SALICRUP: I pretty much got to do way,” so I would receive a plot instead everything I wanted to do, so I do not of a script. I was very familiar with the remember there being any limitations. Also, it is not easy to fit a 30-minute TV show, and since I had a VCR could show—live-action or animated—into record some episodes for reference a 22-page comics story. It is better to since I was provided with only a few create something that would work in photographs of the characters. No comics than to do a drastically edited internet, screenshots, or the like [at version of the show. the time], so it was definitely harder to get those pics. Never got to meet any SAVIUK: No specific parameters other than what Jim outlined in the of the actors or visit the set (which story plot, but since I knew the show, would have been great to maybe take alex saviuk if I was inclined to add a sight gag or a few of my own photos). We were in two, I had that liberty. New York City, and I believe [Sledge Photo by Michael Eury. Hammer!] was being produced in L.A. [Interviewer’s The first issue was a Halloween story, so the Satana note: It was filmed in L.A. as a stand-in for the series’ character fit in nicely, and in issue #2 Spider-Man was a criminal in a costume, so the character himself was setting of San Francisco.] more implied than anything else. Having “Spidey” on the cover was obviously an intentional marketing ploy. FRIEDT: How was it working with each other? SALICRUP: I greatly admire Alex’s work and loved working with him on Web of Spider-Man, “Parallel Lives,” the Spider-Man graphic novel (which I believe inspired a lot of the first Spider-Man movie) and the Spider-Ham parody of “Kraven’s Last Hunt” (which I appear in as Jim Salamander, and Alex is Alex Saviyak). Alex was a perfect choice for Sledge Hammer!, as he really understood the humor and was totally into it. Or, if he was not, he had me fooled! Alex was able to have all the characters look like the actors without making it look like MAD magazine caricatures. Alex was a total dream to work with, and his artwork was everything I hoped for and more! SAVIUK: Working with Jim was great. We had already established a good working relationship and it was always fun to see him in the office or just chat on the phone. Really good times back then. He has a great sense of humor, which came through in his plot and more so in his dialogue, which I only saw for the first time when the issue came out since I was not working from a script. I laughed out loud at of his one-liners, which made it doubly enjoyable working on the stories. FRIEDT: What was the script style like? Did you have leeway to work the pages and give input? SALICRUP: This was also one of the few times I wrote “Marvel-style”; I usually wrote full scripts. Writing Sledge Hammer! this way allowed for me to play off Alex’s great art, and cram as many gags into each panel as possible. I don’t even think I typed up a script; I’d place tracing paper over photocopies of Alex’s pencils, and letter in the dialogue and captions, and Rick Parker, the actual letterer, would use that as his script. Alex had great inkers, as well—Joe Sinnott and Bob McLeod on covers, Sam de la Rosa on interiors—which really enhanced his art, capturing everything that Alex put into it, which was a lot! Rick Parker, instead of complaining about the tons of copy I was trying to squeeze in, could not have been nicer, telling me how much he enjoyed lettering it. Colorist Evelyn Stein did a great job as well, but I wish we had today’s computer coloring to do Sledge’s garish sports coats justice. FRIEDT: Did you expect it to go more than two issues? What happened? Sales or editorial decisions? SALICRUP: The reason Marvel was doing a Sledge Hammer! comic book was to promote the TV series, which was produced by New World Cinema,

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the company that had just purchased Marvel. So it was not like anyone at Marvel sought out the rights to publish Sledge Hammer! In its own way, it is like why Marvel published Star Wars many years earlier—to publicize the movie. People often forget or are unaware that the Star Wars comics from Marvel came out months before the movie. Unfortunately, Sledge Hammer! was no Star Wars. Marvel fans were not looking for a comic that was essentially a Dirty Harry parody, and unfortunately, neither was the TV audience. I do not know the real answer to your question, but I suspect Marvel saw this comic as something to appease their new owners, and if neither the show nor the comic was a hit, there was no reason to do it anymore. But if I could have been able to work with the same editorial and creative team and continue Sledge Hammer!, I would have loved it! SAVIUK: As creators, both of us believed it would go longer than two issues, but I would imagine sales were once again the deciding factor. So, you see, even having SpiderMan on the cover of #2 did not help. Anytime a fun project gets the axe it is disappointing, but there were many years of Web of Spider-Man ahead for me! FRIEDT: Any favorite memories of the experience? SALICRUP: As I said, at the time I was also editing comics full-time during the day. One of the titles I edited was Marvel Age Magazine (as I always called it), which kept me in touch with Stan Lee, who was in L.A. while I was in Marvel’s NYC offices, on a regular basis, as he wrote an ongoing “Stan’s Soapbox” column for the mag. I was talking to his assistant at some point, as she told me that she was at some New World party of some sort—I think it was a charity event—and she got to speak to David Rasche, the actor who played Sledge Hammer, and he supposedly raved about the comics saying that whoever wrote the comics should be writing the TV show, as he thought the comics were funnier. Of course, I was very flattered, but I was trying to base what I was writing on the style of the TV show, with maybe more corny gags added. A few years later I got to meet Mr. Rasche in person, backstage when he was performing in David Mamet’s play, Speed the Plow, on Broadway. He was full of praise for the Sledge Hammer! comics. He autographed my copies and told me if I had written the TV show, it would have still been on the air. He did not look down at the comics at all, and I could

Not Necessarily Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Only the marginally attentive or grossly intoxicated Marvelite expected Sledge to team up with the “real” Spidey in Sledge Hammer! #2. This Saviuk/Joe Sinnott cover also features Captain Trunk, played on TV’s Sledge Hammer! by actor Harrison Page. Sledge Hammer! © Alan Spencer Productions, Inc. Spider-Man and Marvel logo TM & © Marvel.

not ask for any higher praise than from Sledge Hammer himself. SAVIUK: Two memorable bits from the first issue in particular: on page one a bad guy pulls back the shower curtain and exclaims: “It’s showtime!” And the girl in the shower replies, “I don’t care if it’s HBO…” I loved that reference. And further along, Sledge was in a gym and two guys were at a weightlifting machine. The lifter was struggling with the weights and the spotter/trainer exclaims,” GOOD SCREAM! Now give me ten more,” or something like that. Again, very funny. Also, at one point the lead actor David Rasche was starring in an offBroadway play in NYC and Jim had tickets to go see it. I could not make it, unfortunately, especially since Jim got to go backstage and meet David who said he enjoyed both the stories and the art. That would have been fun to at least sign a book for him, if not give him a page of the art. In the grand scheme of things, both the Sledge Hammer! TV show and the Marvel Comic were wellloved by their fans, but short-lived.

STEPHAN FRIEDT has been around comics for a long, long time. A former columnist for The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom, he has contributed to Alter Ego and the Grand Comics Database and is the senior database administrator for www.comicspriceguide. com. And he still finds time to hold real jobs and be at the beck and call of a wife and two daughters in his secret identity as a resident of the Pacific Northwest.

Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 61

LOOK! UP ON THE TV SCREEN!

I still remember anxiously awaiting the start of the new television season back in the fall of 1988. As a sciencefiction fan, I was really excited that year because the success and popularity of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first season opened the door for a whole flood of new genre-based shows making their debuts in syndication on local television stations across America. Number one at the top of the list of shows I was most excited for was Superboy. As it turned out, a strike by the Writer’s Guild of America delayed the start of the new television season, for many shows by about two months. As fate would have it, the producers of Superboy, the father-son team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind, had signed an Interim Agreement, which meant they agreed to the terms the WGA demanded and that allowed the show to get a jump on all the other programs that debuted that year. Superboy would last four seasons and 100 episodes, a very respectable run at the time for both a series based on a comic book and a show airing in syndication. In the wake of the Superboy launch, DC Comics decided to produce a comic book tie-in. Running for 22 issues (cover-dated from Feb. 1990 to Feb. 1992), Superboy: The Comic Book, changed to The Adventures of Superboy with #11 (Dec. 1990) to reflect the television series’ name change of the same, stands out as one of the best produced and most successful tie-in books DC Comics based on one of their properties. Set in the continuity of the television series, the Superboy comic book produced some fun stories and was able to build on this unique and different take on the Superman mythos.

IN THE BEGINNING…

The man responsible for writing the bulk of Superboy: The Comic Book was John Francis Moore, 12 issues in total. “In 1989, I shared an apartment with Art Thibert, who was inking one of the Superman books that Mike Carlin edited,” Moore relates to BACK ISSUE. “In pre-cell phone days, Art and I shared a landline, so I got to know john francis moore Mike a little bit just by answering the phone when he called for Art. Mike Facebook. may not remember, but I had met him a few years earlier when I worked as Howard Chaykin’s assistant. He, Carl Potts, and Steve Oliff had come by Howard’s LA home studio while Howard was doing The Shadow for DC. I was looking for work and Mike said he was taking pitches for the Superboy TV comic. I liked the idea of writing a non-DC continuity Superboy and put together

Kev and Ty’s Temple of Superboy Covers One of the joys of the Superboy TV tie-in series was their cover art, 20 (of 22 total) of which were penciled by Kevin Maguire and inked by Ty Templeton (issue #1 featured a photo cover, and #13’s cover was penciled by Paris Cullins and inked by Templeton). Behold! TM & © DC Comics.

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by D

an Johnson

“I regret that I never met Mooney or Swan while I was a couple story ideas. Mike liked them, which resulted in me writing about a dozen issues for him. I don’t think working on the book,” says Moore. “I introduced myself to Jim Mooney at [San Diego] Comic-Con a few Mike was initially looking for a single writer for the years later. His wife looked at me suspiciously book, but it worked out for me, and was a when I said I wrote Superboy comics he had great first solo assignment at DC.” worked on, until I explained I wrote the Another creator who was on the book 1989 Superboy TV comic.” from the beginning, and who stayed with it until the end, was inker Ty Templeton. His path to working on the SWAN SONG book opened up after another project After the first eight issues of Superboy: at DC Comics hit a bumpy patch. The Comic Book, Curt Swan came in “I was originally hired at DC to draw to do the bulk of the final issues of a miniseries spun off from the Blue Devil the series, ten issues in total, including book, and when it fell through, DC of#9–12 (Oct. 1990–Jan. 1991), #14–17 fered me a bit of inking work to keep (Mar.–June 1991) and the final issue, me busy, since my original job offer #22 (Feb. 1992). He would also wasn’t there anymore,” says Templeton. return for The Adventures of Superboy ty templeton “I started inking Booster Gold with Dan Special (June 1992). “Curt Swan was Jurgens and meshed with him rather Gage Skidmore. “my” Superman artist growing up,” well. As Dan moved over to the Superman office, I kind of says Kupperberg. “[He was] the main artist on the went with him, and started inking him on The Adventures of Superman. Once I was under Mike Carlin’s office, I started inking tons of Superman stuff, over everybody there. The Superboy book was part of inking in the Superman office, and when it came up, I was delighted.”

From Syndication to Comic Shops Superboy #1 (Feb. 1990) featured a photo cover starring Gerard Christopher as the Teen of Steel and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang. TM & © DC Comics.

LEGENDS AT WORK

One of the great things about Superboy: The Comic Book was that the book enlisted two pencilers who were both familiar with the Superman Family: Jim Mooney and later, Curt Swan. “I was excited to work with Jim Mooney and Curt Swan,” says John Moore about the men who brought his stories to life. “I was a huge fan of Mooney’s ’70s Marvel work on Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, and Curt Swan’s Superman is the iconic Superman. I was working Marvel-style (plot-pencils-script), and it was a pleasure seeing their penciled pages because they were such consummate storytellers. I was a novice, learning my craft on the book, and they made the stories so much better with their skill and craft. I [also] loved Ty Templeton’s work on both Jim Mooney and Curt Swan’s pencils, so let me say publicly, I loved his inkwork on the book. He absolutely made both Jim and Curt’s pencils sing.”

“OH, MR. MOONEY!”

Jim Mooney started on Superboy: The Comic Book as its first regular penciler and did the first eight issues. He would return to work on issues #18–20 (July–Oct. 1991). He didn’t get much of a chance to interact with his co-creators. “Jim Mooney [drew my second Superboy story for this series], which was a great thrill for me,” says Paul Kupperberg, one of the fill-in writers who contributed to Superboy towards the end of its run. “I grew up on Mooney’s work, especially on the 1960s Supergirl strip in Action Comics, which was one of my favorite strips at the time. But there was zero interaction between me and the artists on these stories, which was the way that generation of comic creators worked: Writer turns in the script to the editor and the editor gives the script to the penciler. If the writer and the editor have done their jobs, there shouldn’t be any reason for the artist to need to talk to anybody, and if he does, it’s probably going to be the editor, the boss.” Templeton had more reason to interact with Mooney than anyone outside of the editorial department, but never received that opportunity. “I didn’t get a chance to interact with Jim at all, didn’t even talk on the phone,” recalls Templeton. “I’m not sure why that was, but with Jim, I got the pages, inked ’em, and sent ’em back, thrilled to death to be working with a legend.” Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

Legendary Superman Artists (left) Supergirl artist Jim Mooney was paired with inker Ty Templeton on John Francis Moore’s earlier issues of Superboy. Page 2 from issue #2. (right) John Moore introduced the Phantom Zone into the TV Superboy comic’s continuity in issue #9 (Oct. 1990). Art by Curt Swan, no stranger to the Superman family, and Ty Templeton. TM & © DC Comics.

character, along with Al Plastino and Wayne Boring. together to get an autograph, the first one I’ve ever I liked all their work, but Curt’s Superman was the asked for! The only thing I could find was a copy of most human and accessible to me, like he had caught The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told that was sitting the essence, if not the likeness, of George Reeves on on Mark Waid’s desk, and I told him I’d buy him a new the printed page. [Again,] there wasn’t a lot of work one. Both Curt and Murphy graciously signed that interaction between writers and artists in those days, copy (which I still have) and I got to chat with Curt for a while. He really liked working with me, thought we but I did get to meet him several times when he had a very compatible style, and suggested we made some of his rare visits to DC from his do other things together, which led to a pair home in Westport, Connecticut, or at a of Legion stories (one of which I wrote) couple of comic-cons. He was every bit and an issue or two of Action.” as nice a man as you could have hoped Templeton went on to recall some for in the guy who could draw such other occasions when he got to a lovable Superman. Friendly, funny, speak with Swan because of his work gregarious… on the flight home from on this series. “I got to talk to Curt a Kansas City convention in the ’80s on the phone once or twice during we’d both attended, Curt turned our our all-too-brief collaborations,” says little section of the plane, including Templeton. “Simple stuff like asking several other convention guests on their how to interpret something in a way home, into a party. He even got drawing, really basic. Now, since me a date with my seatmate.” Curt Swan was my bedrock favorite Templeton also shares with BACK paul kupperberg artist as a young child, this was like ISSUE his great story about meeting © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. talking directly to god, as far as I was Swan for the first time and interacting with him outside of his work on the comic book. “Curt I concerned. I was singing duets with a Beatle.” The opportunity to ink on Superboy led to Templeton got to meet during one of my trips to New York. He was up at the office at DC delivering pages for something working with the definitive Superman artist in what he else (not our book) and I saw him in the hallway, talking thought at the time would be his final go at the Man of to Murphy Anderson, who was in the offices all the time Steel. “When Curt specifically asked me to ink his last since he was in charge of coloring so many of the books issue of Action (it turned out not to be, but at the time back then. Swanderson was standing right there! So I he thought it was), I considered it the highlight of my ran through the office looking for one of their issues career up until that time,” says Templeton. “The last

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Long Live the… Mazerunners? John Moore’s tribute to the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Mazerunners, first appeared in issue #5 and returned here, in Superboy #15 (Apr. 1991). Here, Superboy teams with the teen heroes in the year 2240. Original art penciled and signed by Curt Swan (inked by Ty Templeton), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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panel of that issue includes a Clark-Kent-winking-at-the-reader panel—I still have that page and will own it until I die.” Templeton also got to share in another honor because of his association with Swan. “I also got to ink Curt’s last-ever Legion story” [“The Little Clubhouse That Could,” Secret Origins #46, Dec. 1989—ed.], says Templeton. “The last panel for that story is a group shot of all 27 Legionnaires waving goodbye at the reader. When Curt died, I packed that page up and sent it to Mark Waid as a gift, as he was the world’s greatest Legion fan. I’m happy Mark has it, but I kind of wish I’d held onto that one, too.” Even though Swan was no longer the Superman artist of choice at DC by the time he did the Superboy tie-in comic book, he had least had the chance to end his time at the company working with creators who had a great deal of respect for his work. “[This] was toward the tail end of Curt’s career, and like anyone heading into their retirement, I’m sure he was happy for the work on familiar characters,” says Templeton. “Carlin and Waid were my editors at the time, so yes, I can testify that both of them loved Curt’s work and wanted to use him on a bunch of stuff.”

EASY FLYING

Famous MonsterMasher of Filmland (top) Guest writer Paul Kupperberg brought Sunburst into the pages of Superboy #18 (July 1991), retooling (bottom) a character he had introduced in the early 1980s in the New Adventures of Superboy series. TM & © DC Comics.

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The experience of doing a tie-in book can easy or difficult depending on how much feedback a publisher gets from producers. Sometimes there are producers who want to micromanage every aspect of their production. Other times, a lot of freedom is given to the people who are creating products based on someone else’s work. The latter would appear to be the case with Superboy: The Comic Book. A few of the creators I interviewed for this article mentioned that then-DC editors Mike Carlin and Andy Helfer were invited to visit the set for the show down in Florida, but other than that, things were kept loose for the book and there wasn’t a lot of feedback from the Salkinds. “When I started writing Superboy, there was no input from the TV show’s producers,” says John Moore. “In comparison to other licensed properties, the Salkinds were, to my knowledge, remarkably hands-off as well as generously keeping DC in the loop during the production. I don’t think the TV producers were concerned at all with the comic. If I had to alter anything because of the TV continuity, it was minor.” “[I have] no idea what influence the producers may have had on the comic,” says Paul Kupperberg. “That’s above my pay grade as the writer. And, as I recall, I pitched my ideas to Mike, and he picked the ones he liked. Again, this was essentially a ‘licensed’ comic, so nobody went into the assignment looking to be groundbreaking or controversial. One of the restrictions with a television show or movie back in the day was that there was zero chances of crossovers with other established superheroes, which is something we take for granted in a world that has given us the MCU and the Arrowverse. This appears to be one of the few restrictions placed on the writers for Superboy: The Comic Book. “I think I had free range to use characters in the Superman universe, but I couldn’t bring in other DCU mainstays like Bruce Wayne or Diana Prince,” says Moore. “I could’ve slipped in a reference to Gotham without ruffling feathers. I could use characters established in the TV show, and since this wasn’t DCU, I could do variations on other characters like Bizarro.” “Nobody ever told me I couldn’t introduce other DC characters into the stories,” says Kupperberg. “Because the book was essentially a ‘licensed’ property based on the TV show Superboy, and not the DCU Superboy, it never occurred to me to try.” I was most curious to know more about any restrictions on the use of other DC Comics characters when I started out working on this article because of a group of characters that Moore created for the his run on this book: The Mazerunners, a trio of super-teens from the future who come back in time to invite the Boy of Steel to join their group. The trio—Shift, Tara, and Wildstar—made two appearances during Moore’s run, in issue #5 (June 1990) and issue #15 (Apr. 1991). It was obvious to those versed in DC lore that this was a stand-in for the Legion of Super-Heroes. But what was the story behind them? “One of my favorite comic discoveries as a

kid in the mid-1970s was Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum’s Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes,” says Moore. “Even though [the postCrisis] Superboy had been retconned out of the LSH, I thought I could play with the basic idea (superpowered teens from the future) in this book without using the actual Legion. Also, I was a fan of the Keith Giffen/Mary and Tom Bierbaum Legion run of that era in which the Legion were older and the United Planets was a darker and more dangerous place, so the Mazerunners were a nod to that Legion as well. The Mazerunners story was a way to do a Legion inspired story without being tied to Legion or Superman continuity.”

MOVING ON

Bring on the Bad Guy Comedian Gilbert Gottfried teamed with writer/comedian Scott Lobdell for the origin of a villain Gottfried played on the TV series in Superboy #20 (Oct. 1991). Ye ed (a former DC editor) fondly recalls a Friday evening back in ’90 or ’91 when Lobdell brought Gottfried to the DC offices for a meeting with the Superman office, where Gilbert dropped in to random offices to meet yours truly and the other editors working after hours that night.

Moore stayed with Superboy for the first 12 issues and then took a two-issue break with stories by Tom Peyer and Jonathan Peterson in TM & © DC Comics. appearing in issues #13 and 14 (Feb. and Mar. 1991). He would return to do two more issues of the comic, #15 and 16 (Apr. and this take of the Teen of Steel, May 1991), and then left the though. “Mike Carlin, hands title for good. The work on this down one of the best editors comic was a huge opportunity DC has had, was always to begin with and it ended supportive of my ideas,” says up opening doors for him in Moore. “That may have been television writing, beginning because he was overseeing the with the Superboy television tight continuity of the three series itself. “I believe [it was] (later four) Superman books Mike Carlin [who] put me in and was happy to have at touch with Stan Berkowitz, who least one book that was less was head writer on the third logistically complex. I should season of Superboy,” says Moore. also say that Mike’s assistant “In the summer of 1990, I editor, Jonathan Peterson, was pitched a few ideas to him and also a great guy to have in the he liked an alternate-world story editorial corner.” that he was going to have me develop. Before I did any BATTING CLEAN-UP further work on the story for Paul Kupperberg would Stan, Howard Chaykin and I come in right after Moore were hired as story editors on departed for good. “I’m the CBS Flash television series. sure my previous experience Stan, knowing that I wouldn’t writing the pre-Crisis New have time to work with him Adventures of Superboy didn’t while I was on staff at another hurt, but I don’t remember TV show, developed my idea it being a factor in getting into ‘The Road Not Taken,’ a the assignment,” says very different story concept on Kupperberg. “I don’t recall which he generously shared the circumstances, but it was story credit. So I owe my story likely me making the rounds of credit on those two episodes editors and asking if they had and the occasional residual anything for me and Mike, check to Stan Berkowitz being maybe needing a fill-in saying, an upstanding professional ‘Hey, that’s right, you used to and good guy.” write Superboy!’” As for the other ideas that As Kupperberg mentions, Moore pitched to the Superboy he was an old hat at writing series, one would end up being for the Teen of Steel and even used in the comic book he if the situations in the comic was writing. “My original idea book and the television series didn’t go to waste,” says Moore. “It was the basis for the were a bit different, it was an assignment he slipped into Superboy and Luthor story in issues #9 and 10 (Oct. and easily enough. “Not to be glib, but coming up with stories Nov. 1990).” This two-part story (Part One titled “… is my job,” says Kupperberg. “With some characters, it That Signpost Up Ahead… Next Stop… the Phantom may take more effort than with others, but with one Zone” and Part Two titled “Superboy’s Pal Lex like Superboy, it’s not that tough. I love Superman and Luthor?”) saw Superboy exploring the Phantom the whole family of pre-Crisis characters, right down Zone and losing his powers there. In the end, he to Beppo the Super-Monkey. No. Especially Beppo needed his archenemy to regain them. As it turned the Super-Monkey! So stories aren’t a problem.” out, this would be the only mention of the Phantom As for the stories themselves, they really did draw Zone in the Superboy comic or in conjunction in on Kupperberg’s past with Superboy. “The first one, anyway with the television series. ‘The Superboy File,’ was right out of the [Silver Age When asked about any stories he never got to tell, Superman editor] Mort Weisinger playbook, a series Moore states, “It’s been so long I don’t remember of bizarre mishaps that turn out to be someone, Lex gilbert gottfried what I might have had planned.” The writer does Luthor, trying to surreptitiously weed out Superboy’s recall the support he got as the primary writer on Super Festivals. secret identity from the university’s student body.

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Somebody Call the Weather Channel! Kevin Dooley scripted the penultimate issue of the series, Superboy #21 (Dec. 1991), which was guest-penciled by Peter Krause. TM & © DC Comics.

only lasted another three or four issues after my two [stories],” says Kupperberg. “I probably knew it was on the block. I was on staff at the time as an editor, so I’d have gotten the memo. Not that it would have made any difference to how I wrote the stories. You try to do your best whether it’s a first issue or a last.” Before the final issue ran, the book would bring in a special writer for issue #20 (Oct. 1991), comedian Gilbert Gottfried. “When I was a kid I wanted to be a cartoonist for a while,” said Gottfried on his podcast, Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, where he discussed this story. “I wrote [the Superboy story], and like the schmuck I am, I should have collected like a thousand copies of it.” The story Gottfried co-wrote, along with Scott Lobdell, was “The Secret (Until Now) Origin of Nicknack,” where the actor got to present the backstory for the supervillain that he played in two episodes of the Superboy television series. The writing duties for the final two issues would fall to Kevin Dooley and Joey Cavalieri, respectively. “I didn’t know the series had been cancelled when I proposed the story,” said Dooley about his work on the book. “Hope it wasn’t cancelled because of me!” Dooley’s story, “Fire and Ice,” kevin dooley worked with an interesting premise Facebook. that has been a few times in the Superman mythos. “The way I approached the story was Superboy dealing with one of his powers being out of control and him wrestling what happens when he becomes a menace? Is he still a hero?” Although Dooley only wrote the one issue of the comic book, he does recall walking away with a nice souvenir from this assignment, the cover for this issue, which he got from Templeton.

“For the second story, ‘Soon to be a Major Motion Picture,’ I revisited a character I’d created for New Adventures of Superboy #45–47 (Sept.–Nov. 1983), Sunburst,” says Kupperberg. “The old series’ Sunburst was a Japanese action movie hero who had inhaled volcanic fumes as a baby that manifested as real solar powers when he was an adult. Then he was blackmailed by bad guys into using his powers for evil, and superheroic hilarity ensued. The new Sunburst was an amateur filmmaker whose low-budget student superhero film had realistic ‘special effects’ because he possessed a magic talisman that gave him real powers. Then he was harassed by bad guys who wanted to steal the magic talisman for their own evil use, and superheroic hilarity ensued. Kurt Schaffenberger could have drawn either of these stories with no problem!” By the time Kupperberg was writing his stories for the comic, plans were already in the works to cancel the book. Shortly after Kupperberg’s issues ran, Superboy was dropped from monthly to bimonthly status. Also, the show was already entering production of its final season. “It

FLYING OFF INTO THE SUNSET

The Adventures of Superboy ended its run with issue #22 (Feb. 1992). DC Comics did produce one final comic devoted to the television series, The Adventures of Superboy Special #1. The comic, written by television series writer Stan Berkowitz, explained how all the episodes of the television series and its tie-in comic book were the fan fiction of a Clark Kent of another Earth. It was an interesting and original way to wrap up this incarnation of the Teen of Steel to say the least. For the longest time after the Superboy television series concluded its run in the spring of 1992, episodes of the show were hard to come by until they were finally released on DVD and through DC’s streaming service. Superboy is a fun take on the Superman mythos and one I recommend searching out, as well as the comic book it is based on. Like the show, the Superboy tie-in comic was a lot of fun, and it was great to see greats like Jim Mooney and Curt Swan shine one last time. DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer and pop-culture historian. He is a co-founder, editor, and writer for Empire Comics Lab (empirecomicslab.com) and Old School Comics. Dan has written for Antarctic Press, Campfire Graphic Novels, Golden Kid Comics, InDELLible Comics, and ACP Comics and is a writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

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BLAST OFF INTO SPACE

by I a

n Millsted

If there was ever a television series ripe for adapting into comic-book form, it was Lost in Space. With a story format effectively allowing any type of adventure on any planet in the galaxy, a great ensemble cast of characters, spaceships, robots, colorful costumes, and plenty of action, it could have easily fitted in many a comic-book company lineup in the 1960s. So why did it take until the 1990s for a Lost in Space comic book? That story has as many changes of direction as the initial journey of the Jupiter 2 spacecraft. This author ignores the robotic cry of “danger” and investigates further. Part of the reason for the absence of a comicbook adaptation of Lost in Space is that comic books, sort of, got there first. Gold Key had published Space Family Robinson starting in 1962, while the Irwin Allen-produced television series didn’t start until 1965. Both series are clearly using an obvious “Swiss Family Robinson”-in-space concept with, perhaps, elements also borrowed from Heinlein’s “The Rolling Stones.” With Space Family Robinson already out there, especially after the tagline ‘Lost in Space’ was added, there was little point in anyone licensing the rights to the TV show. Lost in Space ran on television until 1968 and subsequently voyaged into the realm of syndication and fond memory. Space Family Robinson lasted as an original series until 1977, with reprints appearing, erratically, until 1982.

WELCOME STRANGER

The curious relationship between the two series continued. Bill Mumy, who had starred as Will Robinson in Lost in Space, shares the story of a false start with BACK ISSUE: “Jim Shooter was running Valiant and asked me if I wanted to write the Space Family Robinson book for him. I’d worked with Jim at Marvel and he always treated me very well. It wasn’t ‘my’ Robinson family, but I got into it. I wrote up a treatment for the arc of the first year. Jim bill mumy dug it. We were going to proceed and find Gage Skidmore. an artist for it, but then things went weird for him and he left Valiant. So it never happened.”

An Innovative Journey Innovation’s Lost in Space bypassed the TV series’ later campiness for daring and often sexy adventures. Cover art by Mike Okamoto (issues #1, 4–8), Jason Palmer (#2), Jerome K. Moore (#3), and Mike Deodato, Jr. (#13). Lost in Space © Space Productions.

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Them! (The Other Robinsons) Even though it bore a “Lost in Space” subtitle for much of its lifespan, Gold Key’s longrunning Space Family Robinson, which featured characters different from the TV show, predated Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space. Issue #33 (Apr. 1969) cover by George Wilson. TM & © Random House, Inc.

At this point David Campiti and the Innovation comicbook company enter the narrative. Campiti explains his involvement: “Innovation had already dived into licensing bestselling novels; we were adapting Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat and had Interview with a Vampire and The Queen of the Damned and The Master of Rampling Gate on tap and were doing Child’s Play and Nightmares on Elm Street and even the 3X3 Eyes manga project. As a next logical step, I went to my first-ever licensing fair in New York City and was meeting all the licensors. Viacom was one of many. A fellow named Howard Berk was handing out folders of licensing info, and as I scanned through their list, Lost in Space jumped out at me. “I already knew Bill Mumy a little bit. I’d had dinner with him and Miguel Ferrer a couple of times, and I recalled him telling me how he struggled in vain to get Irwin Allen to do a continuation of the show, and he’d even pushed both Marvel and DC to get the license, but they’d failed. I also remembered how, months earlier, I’d read a press release about how Jim Shooter—then at Valiant—had called Bill Mumy about writing a Lost in Space comic book that turned out to be Gold Key’s old Gaylord Dubois-created Space david campiti Family Robinson: Lost in Space that seemed to be the © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. unspoken source material for the TV show. At that moment, I thought, ‘Omigod! What if I could get this for Bill Mumy to write?’ “So I introduced myself and asked if Lost in Space was available for licensing as a comic book, and Howard Berk said, ‘Sure! What did you have in mind?’ Oh, crap. What do I do now? Thinking on my feet, I blurted out something like, ‘I would pick up Lost in Space several years after the end of the TV show. I wouldn’t do it silly and campy—because the first five episodes of the show were pretty serious, and Dr. Smith was a villain who tried to destroy the Jupiter 2 and kill the Robinsons. He was a spy reporting to an alien intelligence that did not want humans in space. Let’s return to that—he’s had to adapt and play a fool so they didn’t shove him out an airlock. The silly stuff on the show was not what happened, it was the way young Penny wrote of what happened in her diary. So, we’re picking up several years later, Will and Penny are older, hormones are raging, she has no boyfriend and plays up to Don, it’s comingof-age in the Jupiter 2 while they struggle finally to reach their destination in Alpha Centauri. And they get there!’ “Howard Berk’s eyes kind of lit up. ‘I love this. This is what we wanted, a story to re-invigorate a dormant property.’ I told him I thought I could even get original actor Bill Mumy onboard—and, of course, he was good with that. ‘$3,000 against 10% of the gross,’ he said. We talked terms a little bit, shook hands, and a couple of weeks later he sent the contract. Now I had to deliver.”

WISH UPON A STAR

Campiti was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Innovation, which, as well as the aforementioned licensed titles, published The Maze Agency (continued from original publisher Comico, as detailed in BACK ISSUE #2) and the superhero series Hero

Oh, the pain, the pain… Artist Michal Dutkiewicz’s dead-on likeness of actor Jonathan Harris—Dr. Smith—on the opening page of issue #3 (Dec. 1991), Bill Mumy’s first issue as writer. © Space Productions.

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Poster-Worthy Covers (top) Innovation marketed cover art as mail-order posters. (bottom) The header for the lettercol, “Lost in the Mail.” Art by Matt Thompson. (inset) Issue #4. Cover art by Mike Okamoto. Lost in Space © Space Productions.

Alliance, as well as many other series. The company was founded by Campiti in 1988 and had achieved a good level of success. Campiti now moved forward to add the Lost in Space title to that list. “To start things off,” Campiti tells BACK ISSUE, “I had Mike Okamoto paint the promo piece that became the first issue’s cover—the one with Will, Penny, Judy, the Robot, and a monster. Mike came up with the idea of updating their colorful third-season clothing and making Penny’s blouse have a cleavage window in the diamond shape. Viacom loved the update. So I took that original painting and a copy of the licensing contract to Comic-Con in San Diego in 1990 and told Bill Mumy we got the rights and wanted him to write the series. ‘No, you didn’t,’ he said. ‘If Marvel and DC couldn’t get it, you couldn’t.’ Talk about letting the air out of our tires! [laughs] I left the contract and Viacom’s contact info with Bill, asked him to follow up on his own, and if he was comfortable that we had the rights, he was welcome aboard. But that meant we had to start without him. I started talking to other writers. I remember Bob Ingersoll telling me it was a stupid idea to do a Lost in Space comic… but later he got to write issue #12, ‘The Price of Treason’! Nobody ‘got’ what I was trying to do at first, so George Broderick and I wrote a Series Bible for it. Matt Thompson, an artist on later issues, co-wrote the first issue with me, which set up the whole tone of it. Then George Broderick, Jr.—usually known for writing and drawing cartoony projects —turned out to be a terrific writer on this series!” Lost in Space #1 (Aug. 1991) arrived with a bold cover by Mike Okomoto and story by the team of Campiti and Matt Thompson. The interior art for that first issue is credited to Eddy Newell, who drew the first five pages, and Mark Jones. Campiti explains: “[sigh] Eddy Newell was a terrific young artist who, at the time, looked at deadlines as merely a vague suggestion. I’d hired him to draw every issue of the monthly series—doing tonal pencils, something fairly new to the comics field at the time—and he was so very late, Matt Thompson ended up drawing all of #2 by the time we had only the first part of #1 from Eddy. After hearing nothing from Eddy for a couple of weeks, I drove the many hours to Eddy’s home and camped out on his doorstep for an entire day, well into the evening, before he came home with his gal. He was shocked to find me there, just as I was shocked to learn he had zero new pages to give me. I fired him, and artist Mark Jones stepped in finish the book in the few days we had left. Although he went on to have a good career, just how weird was the situation with Eddy at the time? Weeks AFTER Lost in Space #1 was already on sale in stores, Eddy mailed Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue • BACK ISSUE • 71

Good Girl Art Innovation’s penchant for good girl art— and occasional bondage—was a hallmark of its Lost in Space series and covers, including this eye-popping painting by Joe Jusko on the cover of the first Annual. © Space Productions.

in the next two pages for that issue! [laughs] Just wild! From that point, purely for expediency, I decided to have several artists work on the series instead of one cover artist and one interior artist.” That first story, “Seduction of the Innocent,” sets the tone for the series with the cast all several years older. Innovation had a reputation for “good girl” art in such series as Hero Alliance and Legends of the Stargrazer, and this pattern extended to Lost in Space. While Judy and Penny are portrayed as professional adults, both are also featured in fairly provocative poses and in skimpy clothing. By now, Bill Mumy had indicated an interest in working on the series and he wrote a text piece for the first issue. Campiti, as editor, had scripts for early issues completed and artists assigned, when Mumy “finally called,” as Campiti recalls. “‘Looks like you do have Lost in Space, after all. When do I start?’ AGGH! We were already so far into it—we had to be, to hold to schedule—but having Bill aboard was so important to me. So we asked him to be ‘Alpha

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Control,’ to read the scripts, give advice on dialogue and characterization, and make sure we didn’t do anything too stupid. He then wrote what became #3 and 4, ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ and ‘People are Strange, When You’re a Stranger.’ Great stuff! And we were on our way to Alpha Centauri! [laughs]” Mumy recalls, “David Campiti at Innovation had a vision for Lost in Space that I liked just fine (with the exception of his fetish for good girl T&A artwork!). I very much enjoyed writing those comic books.”

RETURN FROM OUTER SPACE

Lost in Space #2 (Nov. 1991) put the focus on the older crew members. Campiti recalls, “George Broderick turned out to be a terrific writer on this series! Issue #2, ‘The Cavern of Idyllic Summers Lost,’ drawn and painted by Matt Thompson, told the stories of the Robinsons, Don West, and Dr. Smith before they boarded the Jupiter 2: John and Maureen’s happiness at news they’re gonna have their first baby, Colonel Zachary Smith and his girlfriend Clarissa, Judy’s dreams of acting, and so on. A very heartbreaking, emotional, and even horrifying story.” Bill Mumy wrote the two-part story for issues #3 (Dec. 1991) and 4 (Feb. 1992), which were well illustrated by Michal Dutkiewicz. The second part had a story assist from Kevin Burns. The crew encounter aliens at the more unpleasant end of the spectrum. After that more action-oriented story there was a change of tone for issue #5 (Mar. 1992). “George Broderick, Jr. wrote and drew layouts for ‘The Perils of Penelope,’ which became issue #5,” Campiti says. “It delivered on my promise to make the stories we saw on the show to be Penny’s childish diary retellings of their adventures. Peter Murphy painted the story told in top half of each page, the way it ‘really’ played out, and the bottom half, painted by Matt Thompson, showed us Penny’s more fanciful interpretation of that adventure.” Terry Collins, who had contributed to the series Bible, wrote #6 (May 1992). With art by John Garcia, this tale was an ensemble piece with all crew members featured using their respective skills to get the Jupiter 2 en route once more. The next issue to be released was actually the first Annual (1992). With a story from Bill Mumy’s sometimeswriting partner and fellow actor Miguel Ferrer put into a final script by the combined skills of Mumy, Campiti, and Broderick, Jr., the first thing to meet the eyes is a classic, if very good-girl, cover by Joe Jusko. Judy and Penny are in slave-girl costumes and chained up under the dubious gaze of the issue’s villain, Bai Lo, who bears a likeness to Ferrer. The Annual also features a photo of the majority of the original cast holding copies of the first two issues. Campiti relates the positive support he received from cast members: “Thanks to Bill, Major Don West himself, Mark Goddard, plotted issue #7. Bill also got the cast to pose with copies of the Lost in Space comic book, for which I was very appreciative. “Perhaps my favorite moment was in Atlantic City, where I got to meet the cast,” Campiti continues. “I got practically tongue-tied in trying to blurt out my admiration to Jonathan Harris for his portrayal of Dr. Smith; from that point, he and I even exchanged Season’s Greetings cards until he passed on. The cast said nice things to me about the comic-book revival; I think they were most comfortable with Bill at the helm on the issues he wrote.” Goddard’s story for #7 (June 1992) was scripted by Broderick, Jr. and illustrated by Dan and Dave Day. That story ends on a cliffhanger that leads directly into #8 (Aug. 1992) by the returning Matt Thompson on both story and art.

[Editor’s note: See our sister publication RetroFan #13, now on sale, for interviews with Lost in Space co-stars Mark Goddard and Marta Kristen.] Issue #9 (Oct. 1992) was especially noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, the cover was by George Pérez, who will need little introduction to readers of BACK ISSUE. “When I asked George to do it,” says Campiti, “he jumped at the chance—though with his busy, busy schedule, ‘jumped’ may be a misnomer. He fit it into his busy schedule around the same time he drew a cover for a Hero Alliance Special—for which he also inked a story called ‘As I Was Going to St. Ives.’ I think George was on a quest to draw every possible character in popular culture back then!” Secondly, the memorable story by Bill Mumy and artist Dutkiewicz placed the focus on the native animal life on the planets visited by the Jupiter 2. Several pages are dialogue-free and the impact of the environmental message through the pictures alone are quite affecting. Dutkiewicz continued his strong art contributions to the series with #10 (Nov. 1992). This issue featured two stories, one by Mumy and the other from new writer Karen May. May’s story again puts the focus on Penny, and the writing is sympathetic to the character. Then, in #11 (Dec. 1992), Judy has the spotlight in a story from writer Terry Collins and Dutkiewicz on art again. Issue #12 (Apr. 1993) places Dr. Smith at the center of both cover and the story. Robert Ingersoll scripted and Matt Thompson drew the adventure, which finally brought the crew to the brink of their initial destination. Established Marvel and

DC writer Peter David joined the team to co-write the second Annual (1993) with Bill Mumy. Jim Key drew the main part of the issue, within some framing pages by Dutkiewicz. Also significant among the credits was the absence of Campiti as editor following his departure from the company. He was replaced by George Broderick, Jr., and the series rolled on, seemingly untroubled. The plot of the second Annual is indicated by the title, “Whatever Happened to Baby Bloop?” The space-chimp Bloop had been a pet of Penny Robinson in the series and the aim of achieving some of the tone of the sillier television episodes is successful, with some genuinely funny moments.

A CHANGE OF SPACE

A new phase for the series started with the publication of issue #13 (July 1993). This was the start of what was intended to be a 12-part story arc by Bill Mumy. Michal Dutkiewicz officially became the permanent artist, having already established himself as the most prolific of the rotating team on the first 12 issues. Mike Deodato, Jr., soon to become much in demand at DC and Marvel, took on the responsibilities for the covers. This looked like the dream team, and things started well enough. In story terms, Mumy fashioned a tale that saw the Jupiter 2 crew arrive at Alpha Centauri, only to find that all is not as they would have wished for. Mumy uses some authentic science-fiction concepts and cranks up the action and dramatic consequences. There are some great aliens as well.

Familiar Faces (left) LIS cast members, 1992, with Innovation comics, from Annual #1. (right) Annual #1 included this pinup by Flaming Carrot creator Bob Burden. Lost in Space © Space Productions. Flaming Carrot © Bob Burden.

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In #14 (Sept. 1993), the Robot, somewhat underused in the series thus far, finally gets some time in the spotlight as well as a back-cover poster. Issue #15 (Aug. 1993—yes, the cover dates had become a bit eccentric at this point, possibly indicating deeper problems at the company) showed the cast split up into smaller teams as they faced a range of challenges. As in the original television series, Will Robinson is paired up with Dr. Smith, but the relationship has a significantly different dynamic with Will very much taking the lead in a bleak environment. Dutkiewicz was really at the top of his game in these issues. With a quick rescue seemingly out of the question, the crew start to make the best of their situations. Issue #16 (Sept. 1993) shows the pairing of Judy Robinson and Don West starting to make a home together on the forested world to which they have been sent, while John, Maureen, and Penny barely exist in an outback-style location. Developments continue apace in #17 (Oct. 1993) and 18 (Nov. 1993), the latter of which contains a nice in-joke for fans of Guy Williams’ other successful television series, but then, despite the cliffhanger ending and a prominent “to be continued” blurb, there was no more. At least, not for a long time.

THE SKY IS FALLING

Innovation had also released the first issue of a two-part spinoff series, Lost in Space: Project Robinson (Nov. 1993), written by Christine Hantzopulos and with art by Luke Ross and Mike Deodato, Jr.. In terms of chronology, the spinoff two-parter would fit between the second Annual and #13, but this, too, failed to reach its conclusion, with the second part going unpublished. What went wrong? The problems don’t seem to have been with the title itself. “I think we got up and danced when we saw the first issue’s pre-orders,” says Campiti. “We sold out of a 66,000-copy print run and went back to do a Lost in Space #1: Special Edition with a new cover and bonus features, and we sold a bunch more. The book pretty consistently sold in the

44,000 range after that, if I recall correctly. Enough so that the two Annuals, the reprints of #1 and 2 as Special Editions, the trade paperback version of Bill’s #3 and 4, the posters, the portfolio, were all no-brainers to produce. I left Innovation in March of ’93 to launch my Glass House Graphics agency, and Innovation closed its doors the following year, in January of ’94. Lost in Space ended at Innovation with #18 of the regular series, meaning Bill Mumy’s 12-issue arc from #13 to 24 was left unfinished. Years later, John Severin’s son called me, interested in finishing Bill Mumy’s story. Thrilled with that idea, I put him in touch with Michal Dutkiewicz—who my Glass House Graphics agency was still representing at the time—and the whole 12-part saga was finally published.” Bill Mumy also remembers, “The Lost in Space book was selling well, but again, money issues and business stuff I wasn’t privy to made Innovation close up shop in the middle of the night. Took years to see my ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul’ story, which had been completely written, full script, come to fruition.” That completion came in the form of a graphic novel collection and completion of what would have been issues #13 to 24, from Bubblehead Publishing in March 2006 (but copyrighted for 2005). That book is something of a rarity and commands high prices on the collector market, but it is a fine story. In fact, the whole series is something that David Campiti looks back on fondly. “Family relationships, new adventures, and finally getting the Robinsons to Alpha Centuari and seeing what happens from there—that was amazing stuff, delivering where the TV show never made it. I’m quite proud of what we did. In fact, our Lost in Space comic book worked so well, so reinvigorated the concept, that Viacom greenlit a deal with New Line for the Lost in Space movie that rolled out a few years later. I consulted on the film early on, though the only things they used were Penny’s diary and some of the redesign elements we did to the Robot. Our comic was way better. All of the vastness of space in which to tell a story, and the movie had to do time travel? And you know they were off on the wrong foot if they didn’t think Bill Mumy was the right casting to play the adult Will Robinson. Seriously?” There was a three-part miniseries based on the movie, but that is, essentially, a different franchise and not part of the focus for this article. However, the sun had not yet set on the adventures of the Jupiter 2 and its crew.

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THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH

In 2016, American Gothic Press stepped in to publish six issues of Lost in Space: The Lost Adventures. American Gothic Press was mainly known for picking up the mantle of publishing a revived Famous Monsters of Filmland but was experimenting with comics as well. Two unfilmed scripts from Carey Wilber, a writer on the television series, had been discovered and, with permission from Wilber’s family, adapted into comics form. Unlike the Innovation series, this version was set during the run of the original series, with Will and Penny Robinson still children. Issues #1 (Feb. 2016) to 3 (June 2016) contained the story “The Curious Galactics,” with Holly Interlandi adapting Wilber’s script and Kostas Pantoulas providing the art. This was a father-and-son adventure with the focus on John and Will Robinson. Issues #4 (Sept. 2016) to 6 (Nov. 2016) veered more to the camp aspect of the series with “Malice in Wonderland.” Patrick McEvoy took over as artist while Interlandi continued writing the adaptations, as well as editing. This was a Dr. Smith/Will/Penny/Robot story more closely in line with the vibe of the third season on television. Both of the “lost” stories are well presented and anyone who didn’t take to the updated approach of Innovation might like to seek these out. With the concept having returned to television in a new Netflix series, will the adventures of the Jupiter 2 ever return in comic-book form? Anything is possible when you’re Lost in Space.

I… Robot (left) Lost in Space #18. (right) Everybody’s favorite mechanical-man has seen better days on this page from Lost in Space #14 (Sept. 1993), by Bill Mumy and Michal Dutkiewicz. (inset) Lost in Space: The Lost Adventures #1. © Space Productions.

BACK ISSUE reached out to Eddy Newell, who did go on to a successful run penciling Black Lightning for DC, but did not hear back. With thanks to David Campiti, Bill Mumy, and Holly Interlandi. IAN MILLSTED is a writer and teacher based in Bristol, UK.

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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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THE FLASH ARRIVED TOO LATE

Attached for your consideration [for the Wally West Flash article in BACK ISSUE #126] is a headshot sketch by Mike Wieringo of the John Fox Flash (co-created by Mike Parobeck for the Flash 50th anniversary issue). Mike did this for me at his last appearance at the Baltimore ComicCon the year before he passed away. He had to look at the reference I supplied him, so this is certainly his first and maybe his only version of this character. – Matthew G. Mann, Sr. This is a rare case of the Flash not showing up in time, as Mr. Mann submitted this sketch as BI #126 was in its final stages of production. But how could I not share it with readers, particularly given its pedigree and out unending love of Mike Wieringo’s art. Thank you, Matthew, for submitting it. Another loyal BACK ISSUE reader, Wade AuCoin, submitted the following message for publication in BI #126, the “Legacy” issue, but it arrived after the issue had been completed and when issue #127 was already in production, and appears below:

INFINITY, INC.’s ‘GENERATION SAGA’

I want to congratulate and encourage you on your excellent publication. Your recent Titans anniversary issue [#122] was great and perfectly timed for me as I am reading the entire WolfmanPérez run, and loving it. The history of Mon-El and other Legion goodies [#120] was also very good, and I enjoyed your feature by Steve Englehart about the 1989 Batman movie in an earlier issue

[#113]. In fact, it prompted me to send him an email and we’ve been exchanging since. Earlier this year I undertook a special project as a tribute to Roy and Dann Thomas and Jerry Ordway. I endeavored to publish my very own copy of the previously unpublished second volume hardcover of Infinity, Inc.’s Generations Saga, as a companion to the saga’s first volume. You will find below a text piece [lightly edited per BI style—ed.] that I wrote as an introduction in volume 2.

Foreward and Backward from a Lifelong Earth-Two Fan from Earth-Prime

Infinity, Inc.’s Generations Saga means a lot to me as a person and as a comic-book collector. When it comes to the latter, the original All-Star Squadron issues that started the whole saga (and which were included in volume 1) were among the very first that I bought off the spinner rack in a sequential manner so that I could read the whole story. When I was growing up in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in order to get all of those issues in 1983, I had to scour various convenience stores across the island to get the whole story. Just because the meat market in my village had All-Star Squadron #24 did not mean that it would get #25, which I was only able to get at a delicatessen two hours away in Sydney. My mind was completely blown away a year later in the summer of 1984 when I was visiting family in Boston and Waltham, Massachusetts. I discovered the first direct-market stores I had ever seen. It was at one of the stores on Moody Street in Waltham that I beheld glossy, highquality, brightly colored copies of Infinity, Inc. #4 and 5. I was hooked, but how was I going to get issues #1–3 and issues 6 and beyond? These did not seem to be the kind of books that would be sold on the newsstand or on a spinner rack at a local meat market. Thankfully, I discovered direct-market stores and flea markets in the larger cities in my province, and started a Flash TM & © DC Comics. newspaper route to help pay for these more expensive books. All of this eventually allowed me to complete the Infinity, Inc. issues of the Generations Saga years later, and I just kept collecting that series, and other EarthTwo titles such as All-Star Squadron, America versus the Justice Society, Young All-Stars, Secret Origins, The Last Days of the Justice Society, the All-Star Archives, back issues of the All-Star and Adventure JSA revival issues from the 1970s, and more recently all four of the TwoMorrows All-Star Companions, not to mention post-Crisis New Earth titles such as Starman, Dr. Fate, Spectre, JSA, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., and the new generation of JSAers.

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As a person back on what used to be known as EarthPrime, the parts of the “Generations” story that spoke most strongly to me when I was young was the deep-seated need for me to stake out my own ground on important economic issues facing my generation in my region despite how big the previous generation’s shadow was on those issues. Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing in [The New Teen Titans’] “Judas Contract” evoked the same sense of independence for me when I was reading it at the time. Also, the great darkness brought on by the 2020 calamities of Covid-19, racial injustice, and bankrupted political leadership prompted me to want to re-read the “Generations Saga” as a way to help inspire me and give me hope for a better tomorrow. I discovered that the first part of the saga had been reprinted in a hardcover identified as volume 1, a title usually used to foreshadow a second volume. But alas, I was disappointed to learn that volume 2 was never published. So, rather than pull out my pristine mint copies of the original issues, I decided to read the hardcover, and track down cheaper reading copies of the issues that would have been in volume 2. When I was finally able to amass those issues of Infinity, Inc. in Prince Edward Island in July 2020, the thought dawned on me that I could produce my own copy of volume 2. In August 2020, I started reading volume 1. It so happened that I had my copy of it with me when my family and I visited a very special place in what is now my home province of New Brunswick, and that place is Campobello Island. You see, that island is the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s summer cottage. While visiting the interpretive center in the international park, I showed the very well-informed tour guides page 82 of volume 1 where FDR, having been saved by members of the All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc., proceeds to tell them about the JSA’s current status, all masterfully written by Roy Thomas and beautifully rendered by Jerry Ordway. They were very surprised and excited because they had never seen FDR in comic books. In exchange for having taught them about FDR’s importance in comics, one of the guides was kind enough to give me a unique poster of FDR and his young family when they visited their cottage on their “beloved island,” a reproduction of which is presented on the following page. I was told that the pictures on the poster are from as early as the 1920s. I was also told that FDR visited the cottage three times while he was president: once in 1933, then in 1936, and finally in 1939. I have to think that there is a story waiting to be told by Roy and Jerry on how FDR’s secret trips to his cottage in Canada was all part of a plan to put the wheels in motion for superheroes like Wonder Woman and others to emerge as defenders of America by orchestrating the military missions of Steve Trevor so that he would be travelling close to Paradise Island. And if you go back to the 1920s, maybe FDR was secretly working with his top scientists to make sure that alien rockets coming in from space like the one from Krypton bearing Kal-L landed in the United States instead of communist Russia or World War I-ravaged Germany. In my own small way, I want to expand the temporal reach of the “Generations Saga.” The original saga spanned a period of about 40 years from about 1942 to 1983. By producing this homemade version of volume 2 in 2020 and including the poster of FDR in the 1920s, I will have extended the timespan of the story by about 60 years to cover just about a full century!!! It is just my very humble way of saying a heartfelt thank you to Roy and Jerry for a lifetime of inspiration and enjoyment. I also want to thank Ruth Legge from Nova Scotia for binding the books in volume 2 and Jesse Giffin from Moncton for the work on the dustjacket. – Wade AuCoin Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada Wow, Wade, that is one ambitious project, producing a single edition of a comic collection! I’ll bet that Roy, Dann, Jerry, and all involved with those original Infinity, Inc. issues are honored by your effort. Shown at right are several photos of the one-of-a-kind book submitted by Wade.

Various views of Wade AuCoin’s custom Infinity, Inc. collected edition, plus its FDR poster. Infinity, Inc. TM & © DC Comics. Poster © Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

PÉREZ A HIT, BUT NO MORE LISTS PLEASE

I just finished reading BACK ISSUE #122 and wanted to thank you (and John Trumbull) for including the extensive article on George Pérez’s Farewell Dinner. As a kid, I had seen and appreciated George’s artwork in a number of issues I owned beforehand, especially Justice League #195, noted by John in the same article. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths started arriving on the newsstands and comic stores. Until that time, I had only followed specific characters, rather than writers or artists. After the first issue of that

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landmark series, I was hooked and started picking up anything and everything I could find with George’s art. Back in the early to mid-’80s, there wasn’t a database or index anywhere compiling his credits (that I knew of anyway), so other than starting with the obvious, The New Teen Titans, I had to hunt through back-issue bins. I searched for any issue where George provided the cover art and hoped he also supplied the interior pencils. Any new issue I could find with George’s art was a true treasure to me and spurred me to find more. George was the first artist where I purchased any comics, magazines, or collected editions with his work, and still do to this day. I even bought his creator-owned Crimson Plague #1 twice, from two different publishers! There are only a small handful of artists who I’ve added to that list over the years, but I still feel George is my favorite. I will miss George’s more frequent, continuing contribution to the comic world and wish him the best in health and happiness. He definitely brought a lot of reading happiness to me these past 40-odd years! I also enjoyed the rest of the issue’s top-notch articles and features, as always, but I have one minor gripe: Glen Cadigan’s “Top 40 Moments” article. This is the second article written in this style recently, and while it can be cool, and remind me of storylines I may have forgotten or not known about, I would rather see it less often. They look great online for quick reading, but can be seen as easy filler. I’ve subscribed to a number of different magazines over the years, and noticed their quality go down over time when this style of article is used too frequently. Especially when this became trendy during the advent of magazines going to on-line reading only (easy point and click ad revenue!). I know that’s probably not going to be the case here, but I would rather read an article written about these pivotal and important moments in order, than just one paragraph each. I’m familiar with the Titans storylines, but someone who may be discovering them for the first time may find it harder to see the scope of those 40 years when the timeline jumps around as it does in a “list”-type article. With the previous Conan list (#121), it was acknowledged that the stories were not necessarily written chronologically, so kind of a different beast altogether. Thanks again for the great magazine and I still look forward to every issue! – Scott Andrews

the artwork looked sumptuous. I wish George Pérez all the best in his retirement. Nothing last forever, of course, but The New Teen Titans enjoyed a good few years at the top of the comic tree, and that’s a lot more than most manage. In a way, this runaway success proved to be something of a problem for those that followed. For all that many have tried, no subsequent iteration of the Titans has ever quite caught the imagination in the way that the 1980 version managed to do. But I suppose that.s the nature of magic. – Simon Bullivant

MWB ON THE ‘SON OF BATMAN’ AND MORE

Some commentary on BI #123 (“Superhero Romance Issue”). Guess the common theme…: 1) Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2 was dated 1985, not, as stated on page 10, 1984. 2) The story of the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries was not “by Barr and Wein,” as stated on page 62. The story was by me, the dialogue was by Len. 3) On page 18, Robert Greenberger writes: “This story [1987’s Batman: Son of the Demon] became controversial when the success following the 1989 Batman movie concerned DC executives about Batman’s illegitimate son, and the story was more or less disavowed.” As the writer of that story, everything in that sentence is wrong. Despite the fact that I deliberately tied into existing Batman continuity, at Editor Dick Giordano’s demand, to establish that Batman and Talia were legitimately married, as Greenberger notes, Son became instantly controversial as soon as it was published in 1987, not two years later. Jenette Kahn told me Warner Bros. execs saw the story and hated it. But it was also instantly profitable, and remains so to this day, despite the fact that the fruit of Batman’s loins was equally instantly consigned to comic book continuity limbo. I was not allowed to use him and was told no one ever would—until Grant Morrison decided he wanted to use the character, to which DC had no objections. – Mike W. Barr

Thanks for the letter, Scott, and the kind remarks about John Trumbull’s Pérez tribute interview panel and about BI in general. Both the Titans Top 40 and the Conan Top 50 articles were, as you note, anniversary features and uncommon to the general scope of the magazine. While both the aforementioned Mr. Cadigan and the Conan article’s Steven Thompson did spectacular jobs on these features, you probably won’t see articles of this type in the magazine again, at least not any time soon. Good grief. Is it really 40 years since The New Teen Titans burst onto the scene? Where has the time gone? Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s creation was a shot in the arm for DC Comics. It reinvigorated the company at a time when their comic output was somewhat stodgy. Occasionally inspired, but a little bit behind the curve, somehow. Wolfman and Pérez changed that. I don’t think I had any great expectations at the time—the previous incarnation of the Titans had been less than memorable—but one look at the preview and all thoughts of what had gone before were forgotten. I suppose it was the title that was misleading, really. New it most definitely was, but there was a sense that the group weren’t teens any more so much as young adults, on the cusp of maturity. Mind you, “The New Young Adult Titans” would never have worked as a title. They encountered some memorable villains along the way— Trigon and Brother Blood spring to mind—but it was the soapopera elements that I most enjoyed, and which really brought the personalities to life. There were friendships and relationships, romance and misunderstanding—there was depth, character and conflict. There was also a clear sense that the creators had a vision and a long-term plan for the team. The words flowed and 78 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age TV Tie-ins Issue

THE MAGIC OF THE TITANS

SUPERGIRL’S SECRET MARRIAGE

I enjoyed Bob Greenberger’s piece on Supergirl’s secret marriage in BACK ISSUE #123. He quotes Anj of the excellent Supergirl’s Comic Book Commentary as saying Superman #415 might be “best forgotten.” Bob then asks if the issue was indeed forgettable—but Anj’s point was that the story most likely SHOULD be forgotten, ignored, thoroughly Mopeed. Yeah, a story like this would have been fine in the Silver Age, a daft one-off with no consequences, never to be mentioned again, but this gave us the final big development in Kara’s life before her horrific slaughter in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Sure, the whole continuity was in the process of fading, but what a memory, Kara married to some guy off-panel. It further pushed the idea that Supergirl, who had dated more guys than Matter-Eater Lad had had hot dinners, would always imprint on the first male she sees on waking up. Cary Bates is one of my favorite writers; I’d love to have seen him spend an issue with Superman mourning his cousin, spending time with the Danvers and the Zor-Els… how awful that the last thing we ever heard from Alura was her wailing as Kal-El delivered the blasted corpse of her beloved daughter. Just think what Cary, who gave us such heartwarming/heartbreaking tales as “The Miraculous Return of Jonathan Kent” and “Luthor’s Day of Reckoning,” could have done. To end on a more positive note, if any Bronze Age Superman fans missed Cary’s 2010 Elseworlds miniseries Last Family of Krypton, illustrated by Renato Arlem, seek it out—you’re in for a treat! – Martin Gray Martin, you’re in good company with fellow Cary Bates fans here at BI Central. Incidentally, Eddy Zeno wrote Supergirl’s Secret Marriage article, not Bob Greenberger. Bob wrote BI #123’s lead article surveying the Bronze Age’s comic-book weddings.