Back Issue #134 Preview

BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES ISSUE! 022

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Marvel’s Evel Knievel and Kool-Aid Man comics • CURT SWAN’s Batman JIM APARO’s Superman • DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel custom comics MICHAEL USLAN’s Unseen Earth-Two Stories • Early cover variants & more!

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Rare European SUPERMAN Comics of the 1980s!

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Superman TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Volume 1, Number 134 April 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Joe Kubert (originally produced for Ehapa’s Superman Quarterly #9, 1982; courtesy of John Wells) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Mark Arnold Dean Motter Mike W. Barr Luigi Novi Tom Brevoort Dan Parent Robert V. Conte Marc Patten Gerry Conway Gary Pipa DC Comics Bob Rozakis Keith Dallas Jim Salicrup Tom DeFalco Alex Saviuk Cecil Disharoon John Schwirian Kerry Gammill Bob Smith Grand Comics Dan Tandarich Database Joseph Turner Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Michael Uslan Heritage Comics Frank Verzyl Auctions Dan Wallace Ilke Hincer Delmo Walters, Jr. Tony Isabella’s John Wells Bloggy Thing Eddy Zeno Todd Klein Paul Kupperberg DEDICATED TO THE David P. Levin MEMORY OF Paul Levitz Jim Aparo Joe Lihach David Anthony Kraft Ed Lute Curt Swan

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Superman by Jim Aparo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Editorial by Michael Eury, featuring Superman art by the acclaimed Batman artist FLASHBACK: Curt Swan and His Bat-Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Swan historian Eddy Zeno looks at Batman art by THE Superman artist THE TOY BOX: Evel Knievel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Move over, Ghost Rider! Make way for Marvel’s other Bronze Age motorcyclist!

PRINCE STREET NEWS: The Lost Oddities of the Bronze Age of Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 A new cartoon by Karl Heitmueller, Jr. INTERVIEWS: Marvel Custom Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Marvel’s craziest comic books, as remembered by their creators WHAT THE--?!: Oh, Yeah! Kool-Aid Man Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Both Marvel and Archie took a taste of TV’s pitcher pitchman GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Tales from Earth-U(slan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Batman movie producer Michael Uslan’s unproduced Earth-Two stories FLASHBACK: Leaf’s DC Secret Origins Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 A sweet sampler of a candy company’s specialty comics OFF MY CHEST: Superman Ehapa Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Guest columnist Paul Kupperberg flips through Superman stories produced for the German market ONE-HIT WONDERS: Superman: This Island Bradman! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 It’s unlikely that you have this rarity in your collection FLASHBACK: And Lo, There Shall Come… A Variant Cover! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Pros and retailers recall the evolution of the enduring sales incentive BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 BACK ISSUE™ issue 134, April 2022 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Back Issue, c/o TwoMorrows, 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, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Joe Kubert. Superman © DC Comics. Other characters © their respective companies. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury except Prince Street News, © Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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I don’t recall exactly where I spent my 35 cents for my copy of Batman #293 (Nov. 1977), be it a newsstand or drug store or convenience store in that pre-comic shop era, but I do remember how excited I was to spot it. Sure, it was cool seeing Lex Luthor moonlight as a Batman villain. But what made this issue of Batman special for me was its cover by the artist of my favorite comic, The Brave and the Bold—the one and only Jim Aparo. While an Aparo Batman cover was certainly nothing new, the cover’s co-star was a character not associated with the artist—Superman!

I was in my late teens at the time, but I had already developed a discerning artistic eye from the few art classes I had taken as well as the “training” I received poring over comics illustrated by innovative new talent like Cockrum, Starlin, Kaluta, Simonson, and Grell, as well as my appreciation of the masters from my youth—Adams and Giordano, Swan and Anderson, Kane, Buscema, Kirby, Infantino, Cardy, and Romita, to name a few.

But in 1977, for me, nobody did it better than Jim Aparo (with apologies to James Bond and Carly Simon). Aparo’s Brave and Bold, as I’ve written about many times in these pages, always jim aparo rose to the top of my reading pile. His interpretation of the Caped Crusader evoked the house style of Neal Adams’ Batman while maintaining a look all his own, and Aparo’s background in advertising and as the artist of humor, jungle, sci-fi, and Western comics gave him the versatility to fluently draw Batman’s wide-ranging co-stars. I do remember being disappointed to open Batman #293 and find inside rather tepid artwork by John Calnan and a mismatched inker, Tex Blaisdell.

That made Aparo’s dynamic Superman on the cover stand out even more.

This wasn’t Jim Aparo’s first time drawing Superman, although for years I thought that was the case. That instead happened early in his DC career in a Justice League flashback panel in the penultimate issue of Aquaman, #55 (Jan.–Feb. 1971), which was tying up loose ends from the Steve Skeates-scripted “Search for Mera” storyline.

It was years after its publication that I discovered this comic, and truth be told Aparo’s rendition of Superman there engendered no excitement. The artist’s style was still evolving in late 1970 when he drew that issue. While he was finally freeing himself of

First Aparo Superman?

Not quite… the famed artist of Batman and The Brave and the Bold had drawn the Man of Steel once before this iconic cover for Batman #293 (Nov. 1977).

Do you know where? (If not, you’re about to find out.)

TM & © DC Comics.

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Michael Eury

parroting Aquaman’s preceding artist, Nick Cardy, in his rendition of the Sea King, Aparo tended to draw all of his superhero figures with the same lanky, sinewy form. What little you could see of Aparo’s Superman in that sole Aquaman #55 panel, with its loquacious voiceover caption blocking most of the hero’s form, looked more like a basketball player than a man of steel (see inset). But Aparo was at the top of his game some six years later when he finally had the opportunity to revisit Superman on the Batman #293 cover. Here, his Superman was mighty, with massive shoulders and great intensity—all in a single image that conveyed this power despite showing the hero in a ghostly, imperiled state.

I imagined—as I’m sure did other DC readers—what would a Superman story drawn by Jim Aparo look like?

Once Paul Levitz took over as Brave and Bold editor and began to liberate the venerable Batman team-up from its prison of familiar guest-stars, fresh faces began to appear in team-ups, affording Jim Aparo the opportunity to draw characters beyond B&B staples Green Arrow, Deadman, Sgt. Rock, Wildcat, and the Metal Men.

Shadow of the Superman (top left) Aparo’s rendition of Superman, alongside his pal and partner Batman, in original art form from Brave and Bold #150 (May 1979).

Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (bottom left) Superman in flight in panels from the next page of the story. (top middle) A novel Clark-to-Superman transformation, as drawn by Aparo in B&B #192 (Nov. 1982). (top right) Detail from page 23 of Heroes Against Hunger (Aug. 1986), with Aparo inks over Sal Amendola pencils. (bottom right) Aparo’s beautifully composed Batman and the Outsiders teaser from DC Sampler #2 (Sept. 1984) shows Geo-Force fighting a silhouetted Superman.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Dec. 1967). Under Mort Weisinger’s direction, kids growing up in the ’60s viewed the maudlin sentimentality as a strength rather than a weakness.

By the mid-1970s, Swan was an occasional guestpenciler in World’s Finest, with Bob Haney writing and Murray Boltinoff, followed by Dennis O’Neil, as the editors. Different embellishers included Tex Blaisdell, John Calnan, Al Milgrom, and Murphy Anderson. It was interesting to see how Curt tackled stories with littleemotion, stream-of-consciousness scripts, and lightningspeed plots. Crowded panels detracted from Swan’s work, even when Anderson applied pen and brush.

Though Curt penciled with flair one of Haney’s alternative tales featuring the heroes’ “Super Sons” (WF #230, May 1975), it was elsewhere that the artist would do more with the Dark Knight and his supporting characters, both in solo adventures and in team-ups of a different sort.

COMMISSIONER GORDON’S DAUGHTER

Having drawn Batgirl and Supergirl together in WF #169 (Sept. 1967), Swan was given a return engagement when he penciled “Cleopatra Queen of America” in The Superman Family #171 (June–July 1975). Elliot S. Maggin was the writer. Partly set in the nation’s capital, Elliot’s script left the second page of Chapter Three without dialogue, trusting Curt to propel events forward as Batgirl silently shed her cape and dove off a bridge into the Potomac; pulled a weakened, unconscious, and drowning Supergirl onto dry land; performed mouthto-mouth; and finally dragged her to a nearby vehicle where she placed Kara’s lips on a leaky tire valve to resuscitate her friend. Swan and Maggin had earlier joined forces in Superman #268 (Oct. 1973) as Clark Kent met Barbara Gordon for a “Wild Week-End in Washington!” Those were her pre-Oracle days when Babs was a US Congresswoman, changing to her night-garbed persona to swing via rope or ride her Bat-motorscooter into the fray. Maggin, who ran for government offices in real life, added political intrigue to each tale. Batman made brief appearances in both.

Maggin and Swan’s third and final Batgirl team-up partnered Commissioner Gordon’s daughter with Dick Grayson (The Batman Family #7, Sept.–Oct. 1976).

Curt was adept at highlighting Batgirl and Robin’s flips, tumbles, and other derring-do. Described by Elliot as “…the two most agile athletes in the crime-fighting business!,” a chariot race and dizzying perspective while climbing the steps of an Aztec pyramid were prerequisites to capturing the criminal couple Huntress and Sportsmaster. Swan was up to the illustrative task.

THE ROBIN AND THE SWAN

Curt’s initial opportunity to pencil Bruce Wayne’s Ward reached back to Star-Spangled Comics #72 (Sept.

1947). He would draw Robin many more times, usually in World’s Finest Comics, during ensuing decades.

The New Teen Titans remained a red-hot title when Swan put graphite to Bristol board in issue #5 (Mar. 1981), filling in for regular penciler George Pérez, with inks by Romeo Tanghal. It was nice to see one of Dick Grayson’s longest-tenured artists help usher him toward manhood. Curt would have other occasions during the next several years.

The Elongated Man joined Robin and Superman in DC Comics Presents #58 (June 1983). Julius Schwartz was the editor, Mike W. Barr the writer, and Dave Hunt added India ink to Swan’s pencils. Robin and Elongated Man, with their shared circus backgrounds, were performing a trapeze act under the Big Top for charity.

Clark Kent covered the story in his role as a television

newsman before donning his costume when emergencies arose. Curt’s imagination was on full display, whether portraying a grand parade, a runaway elephant, or the Elongated Man in some of the most inventive poses of his career. In one scene, a contemplative Ralph sat on an animal platform with elbows resting on the ground while his forearms stretched up and up, fists supporting his chin à la The Thinker if Rodin’s sculpture turned to rubber. Dick Grayson and Ralph Dibny had the greater rapport—with a witty banter between them—though it was obvious from his comments that Robin respected Kal-El as the greatest superhero of them all.

A few years after the Teen Wonder shed his childhood identity to become Nightwing, Swan drew him in street clothes in The New Teen Titans #43 (May 1988) and in costume when a spinoff emerged that continued the original title’s numbering (The New Titans #81, Dec. 1991). Grayson was featured more prominently in The New Titans Annual #6 (1990). Curt penciled the second of three chapters in the “jam issue,” incorporating two splash battle pages and innovative panel designs that were compatible with the other pencilers, Paris Cullins and Tom Grindberg. In The New Titans #86 (May 1992) Nightwing had the pivotal role. It was another jam issue, but unfortunately Swan’s two-page entry did not include Batman’s former partner. Curt’s inker on each of these visits with the Titans was Al Vey, who gave the art a polished look. Marv Wolfman was the writer.

Bat-Moments (top left) A heartbreaking farewell, from the landmark Superman #156 (Oct. 1962). (top right) The forging of the young Batman, from World’s Finest #172 (Dec. 1967). (bottom) Swooping in, from World’s Finest #230 (May 1975).

TM & © DC Comics.

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In 1974, as kids browsed through their local Toys “R” Us, Lionel Kiddie City, Circus World, or other local toy stores throughout the USA, they found a free bonus Marvel comic featuring Evel Knievel awaiting them.

But how and why did the company that published comics featuring everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, the Amazing Spider-Man, produce a comic featuring the daredevil motorcycle rider, and why was it given away free at toy stores and not available for sale on spinner racks?

BACK ISSUE takes a look at Evel Knievel, what made him special, the toy Stunt Cycle and other Ideal Evel Knievel toys, and Marvel’s one-shot promotional comic.

EVEL KNIEVEL: THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel was a daredevil stuntman active during the late 1960s and 1970s. He was one of the most iconic personalities of the time. Knievel was known as much for his crashes as his successful jumps. People of all ages loved to watch him jump and/or crash, as the case might be, because you just never knew the outcome when he took off. But you did know it was going to be thrilling, no matter what!

While Knievel had many jumps (or attempted jumps), several of them became iconic. His jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 31, 1967; an unsuccessful Snake River Canyon jump in Idaho on September 8, 1974; and his successful jump over 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 25, 1975 are just a few of his notable ones. While most famous for his motorcycle-riding prowess, Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump was performed on a rocket-powevel knievel ered sky-bike called the Skycycle X-1.

As Knievel’s popularity continued to grow beyond Courtesy of Heritage its initial cult status, he capitalized on that fame Comics Auctions. by promoting various motorcycles from Triumph Motorcycle Company and American Eagle Motorcycles. However, he didn’t stop there and went on to make one of his most popular and lucrative endorsements, with Ideal Toys.

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Ed Lute

THE STUNT CYCLE AND OTHER TOYS

Ideal, which had become famous during the early 1900s for its teddy bears and dolls including Betsy Wetsy, made a deal with Knievel in 1972 to produce a line of toys based on his likeness and stunt-riding skills. A memorable toy from the 1970s came out of the deal: the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. The toy, based on Knievel’s motorcycle, allowed kids to recreate Knievel’s death-defying jumps—or crash landings, if that’s what they wanted. A Knievel action figure and his Stunt Cycle would be placed upon a red launcher, the launcher was cranked until enough energy was built up, and then the rider and cycle would speed away. It was one of the bestselling toys of the decade and has a special place in the hearts and minds of many kids who had one (or those who wanted, but never got one).

Ideal Toys also produced other toys in the Evel Knievel line, including the Scramble Van, the Super Jet Cycle, the Canyon Sky Cycle, and the Formula 1 Dragster, and a line of diecast miniatures [see our sister mag, RetroFan #15, for photos and details—ed.]. These toys were released in a time before all-day children’s television stations where toy commercials could be shown continuously, so in addition to TV commercials for their Knievel line, Ideal came up with another great way to market the toys to kids: contracting with Marvel Comics to publish a one-shot promotional comic. Knievel’s larger-than-life personality and showmanship fit in perfectly with the costumed crimefighters that graced the pages of Marvel. The idea was that kids would get the comic, see the products in the comic, and pester their parents or grandparents enough so that they would have to buy them one of the toys before leaving the store.

Move Over, Johnny Blaze Here comes Marvel Comics’ Evel Knievel! While some collectors have attributed the cover pencils or layouts to John Romita, Sr., the finished art is by Joe Sinnott, who may have done the layouts as well. In December 2016, Sinnott signed a limited edition of full-color 11x17 glossy prints of this cover for MEARS Auctions.

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Cecil Disharoon

Giveaways and PSAs (opposite page) A sampling of Marvel custom comics published between 1978 and 1990. Note that the John Romita, Sr. cover art for the Spider-Man “Christmas in Dallas” comic was repurposed by this magazine as the cover for our 2015 holiday issue, BACK ISSUE #85.

TM & © Marvel. Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders © Dallas Cowboys.

In her blog Flashback: Dallas, Paula Bosse compares what pages she’s seen of the 1982 Spider-Man “Christmas in Dallas” newspaper edition, with a little disappointment, to the Dallas-rich environment of “Captain Marvel Battles the Mole Men,” published in 1944.

Too bad she didn’t have Dallas Cowboys and Spider-Man on hand. It clearly depicts Reunion Tower and Texas Stadium. And as soon as I mentioned a giant statue coming to life to battle the X-Men, Anime for Humanity chairperson Meghann Files—like any Dallas native— replied, “Do you mean Big Tex?” Custom comics: They are for everyone—especially a child who’s never bought comic books. Flipping through the Sunday newspaper in the harmony of the family living room, the child discovers the floppy surprise and lies around reading, smelling the newsprint as the pages unfold.

That Captain Marvel supplement is a forerunner to a line developed by both DC and Marvel: comics made for a product promotion. Motion Picture Funnies Weekly in 1939 was intended as a promotional giveaway, but was not distributed. Captain America was part of a shoe-store giveaway in 1954.

Then there’s a 1966 promotion, which even saw Nick Fury and Millie the Model join in. According to the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Creators website: “The Marvel Mini-Books were released via gumball vending machines. They are the smallest ‘comics’ ever made, measuring just 5/8-in. x 7/8-in. with 50 black-and-white interior pages. Each issue was released with six different cover colors.” The much-beloved Slurpee Cups licensing campaign in 1975 led to a sequel line and a trio of free comics produced for 7-Eleven. By the 1980s, the sort of house ad PSAs so popular with readers of Superman and Batman were becoming full-blown comic books on topics such as drugs, child abuse, and dental care.

Promotions associated with the cinematic universes reap staggering publicity today. In the BACK ISSUE era, the creative licensing of comic-book characters was largely a publishing venture, with custom comics and licensed properties often produced by the in-house production staffs, such as the Marvel Bullpen.

Marvel Custom Solutions, its successor, is a modern cottage industry of artistic talent, devoted to the nowmassive lineup of companies eager to be shielded with some of the Captain America star power.

THE CUSTOM COMICS DIVISION STORY

Marvel Custom Comics were advertising supplements and mini-comic giveaways, corporate-advertising uses of Marvel characters to associate a brand with goodwill and provide publicity. They were colorful bonuses that reached many children who may or may not have ever become comics collectors. For readers of monthly

comics they were curiosities, rarely seen outside their cities of origin. They might be the definition of a completist’s collectible.

Some promos were reprints, such as those sponsored

by All Detergent (one reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #21, #94, and the Dr. Strange team-up in Annual #2; the other reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #184) and Fruit Roll-Ups. Then you have original material, drawn by Jim Mooney, Kerry Gammill, and Alan Kupperberg— all passing under the watchful eye of art director Romita. Early efforts include the America’s Best TV Comics promotion in 1967, coinciding with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man cartoons on Saturday morning TV, and the Evel Knievel bike-safety adventure Marvel published in 1974, covered elsewhere in this issue.

Good thing Papercutz editor-in-chief Jim Salicrup is our eyewitness on the scene!

CECIL DISHAROON: Did the Custom Comics effort basically grow out of the same licensing approach that brought us the Hostess comic ads? [See BI #130 for the Hostess story.—ed.] I just realized, those are the original custom Marvel comics, in a way.

JIM SALICRUP: Well, as you mention, the very first Marvel comic, Motion Picture Funnies, could be considered a custom comic. In the early ’60s, Marvel published the early Big Boy comics that were free giveaway comics at that chain of fast-food restaurants [see BI #39—ed.].

Let’s Talk About Sex Certainly the most non-traditional Marvel client for a custom comic was Planned Parenthood, for whom this 1976 one-shot, The Amazing Spider-Man vs. the Prodigy!, was produced. Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

TM & © Marvel.

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Mark Arnold

The Kool-Aid soft drink was created in 1927 by Edwin Perkins. He It’s Slobberin’ Time! experimented with foods in his mother’s kitchen. To create Kool-Aid, Oh, Yeah! Marvel’s tastiest tie-in comic, The Adventures Perkins discovered a way to remove liquid from a liquid concentrate known as Fruit Smack. The resulting powder was named Kool-Aid. of Kool-Aid Man! Originally, there were six flavors: cherry, grape, lemon-lime, orange, Kool-Aid © General Foods. raspberry, and strawberry.

The popularity of Kool-Aid led to literally dozens of other flavors, plus made the terms “Drinking the Kool-Aid” and “The Electric DeCarlo was born on December 12, 1919. He worked for many Kool-Aid Acid Test” part of the general lexicon. years for Timely Comics and later Atlas Comics starting around 1947, Kool-Aid was independently owned until 1953, when it was on such titles as Sherry the Showgirl, Jeannie, My Friend Irma, and sold to General Foods. Shortly after, in 1954, General Foods Millie the Model. By 1951, he moved on to Archie Comics while created the Kool-Aid Man character, which was literally a still freelancing for Atlas as well as Standard. He became transparent glass pitcher filled with ice cold Kool-Aid. the star artist on most of their covers and also became His face was created by finger-drawing through the resident artist on Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica. the condensation on the glass. The creation of He also created Josie and a few other characters. His the character is credited to Marvin Potts, the art influence on the Archie line had a profound effect of director for General Foods, where he was originally modernizing the Archie characters and became the dubbed “Pitcher Man.” model for the company until 2015, when a more Initially, Kool-Aid Man appeared only on the powder realistic model took over. DeCarlo’s influence was not packets, but soon he was appearing in TV commercials forgotten, and in recent times longtime artists like and in print ads. He first appeared in animated form, but Dan Parent were asked to create more new stories in by the 1970s was played by a man in a costume who the classic DeCarlo-influenced Archie designs. would burst through a wall shouting, “Oh, yeah!,” The first Kool-Aid Man-related comic books were singing one of many commercials jingles created promotional tie-ins published by General Foods in EDWIN perkins over the years for the product like, “Kool-Aid’s here 1975 and called Kool-Aid Komics. At least two issues bringing you fun. Kool-Aid’s got thirst on the run!” are known to exist and feature comics, puzzles, and Eventually, Kool-Aid Man started appearing in his own promotional games with various characters including the Kool-Aid Man. The books comic books. These comics were published through Marvel Comics were 20 pages in length. or Archie Publications and used many of Archie’s artists and writers The next series was called The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man, drawn including Dan DeCarlo and Stan Goldberg.

by Dan DeCarlo and written by Jim Salicrup. The series lasted for three Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

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Like pieces of kryptonite meandering through space after Krypton’s destruction, the DC Explosion/Implosion of 1978 continues to leave unpublished stories in its wake that occasionally crash-land for us to discover in the pages of BACK ISSUE. Michael Uslan, The Boy Who Loved Batman author and producer of the legendary Batman movies, wrote several stories featuring members of the Justice Society of America, as well as Congorilla, in a “Tales from Earth-Two” backup series, hereby dubbed “Tales from Earth-U(slan).”

THE BOY WHO LOVED EARTH-TWO

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D a n Ta n d a r i c h

In 1978, DC Comics wanted to expand its titles and their stories in an era called the DC Explosion. Backup tales spotlighted characters that couldn’t hold their own titles sales-wise but continued to remain favorites among the readers. When Uslan heard that DC wanted to tell more of these kinds of stories, he offered up “Tales from Earth-Two,” which would highlight characters from that parallel world in the DC Universe and give updates. Though first on the superhero scene, the world of the Justice Society of America became retroactively known as Earth-Two, compared to the new crop of heroes now combined to form the Justice League of America on Earth-One. All-Star Comics featured the Justice Society of America, revived with #58 (Jan.–Feb. 1976). The original superhero team remained a favorite with readers, but not everyone received equal screen time. Uslan’s proposed backup series could change that. Mr. Terrific, Hourman, Sandman, Johnny Thunder, and Robin, as well as non-JSA members Congorilla and the new Seven Soldiers of Victory, could fill in the blank of the question, Whatever happened to...?

Uslan reveals to BACK ISSUE how he received the assignments: “I started working at DC Comics in 1972… I was part of the DC Junior Woodchucks, the first generation of fans being groomed for professional positions at DC. I was in law school in Indiana from 1973 to 1976, in addition to working some summers at DC Comics in New York. I stayed in touch with everyone there and was writing comic books for Julie Schwartz, Denny O’Neil, etc., through their assistant editors who were my fellow Woodchucks, Bob [Rozakis], Paul [Levitz], Alan Asherman, and Jack Harris.

“That’s how I knew which editors were looking for what types of backups for the pre-Implosion comic books. To the best of my recollection, I pitched the series I called ‘Tales from Earth-Two’ to Julie Schwartz as a backup feature for the pre-Implosion Justice League of America. I submitted a one-liner on each of the first six or more characters I wanted to address. He approved those one-liners. Congorilla was to be the first one.”

The contracts had a date of June 30, 1978, signed by both Uslan and Levitz. According to the contract details for Congorilla, Sandman, and Mr. Terrific, the scripts named Adventure as the “Feature” slot with page counts of seven, eight, and five, respectively, although Congorilla started with eight pages and Uslan would revise it to seven. By that date, DC was well into the Implosion phase of the DC Explosion era of its history, as documented in the invaluable

The Seven (and then some) Soldiers of Uslan The Sandman by Michael Bair, Hourman by Murphy Anderson, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt by Dave Johnson, Robin by Mike Grell, Mr. Terrific by Stephen DeStefano and Romeo Tanghal, Aquaman by Paul Norris, and Congo Bill and Congorilla by Chuck Patton and Frank Giacoia.

TM & © DC Comics.

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TwoMorrows Publishing book Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 by Keith Dallas and John Wells. Upon seeing specific job numbers for the Uslan assignments, Wells wrote, “In the wake of the Implosion, Paul Levitz shuffled assignments to ensure that everyone remaining received their allotted pages... or assignments period. Based on the numbers, I see that Michael also received contracts for an Unexpected [“The Curse of Ozzie and Mary,” not published until Unexpected #194, Dec. 1979] and Weird War story [“Indian War of Space,” not published until Weird War #78, Aug. 1979] at the same time.” However, unlike his Unexpected and Weird War stories, Uslan’s Earth-Two backups would never see print due to the DC Implosion where stories and comic books would get pulled from the schedule.

Why did the characters from Earth-Two and specifically the JSA appeal to him so much? Uslan explains, “I was and am a Golden Age fan since Flash #123 (Sept. 1961); Justice League of America #21, 22 (Aug.–Sept. 1963); Showcase Dr. Fate and Hourman (#55 and 56,

Mar.–Apr. and May–June 1965); Brave and the Bold Starman and Black Canary (#61 and 62, Aug.–Sept. and Oct.–Nov. 1965). My goal was to take these wonderful underserved heroes of the Golden Age and early Silver Age and serve them.”

Uslan did try to get a Golden Age superhero in print before his 1978 stories, however. In the mid-’60s he started a one-kid letter writing campaign to editor Julie Schwartz demanding the Spectre return to active superhero duty. After some back and forth, he received a note from the editor stating that the Ghostly Guardian would haunt the pages of Showcase along with fellow JSA-er Dr. Mid-Nite, although when godlike powers are your specialty, who needs blackout bombs?

Plans to team the Ghostly Guardian with the Spectre were dropped and the appeared solo in Showcase #60 (Jan.–Feb. 1966), 61 (Mar.– Apr. 1966), and 64 (Sept.–Oct. 1966).

FROM EARTH-U TO YOU

Now, let’s shine a spotlight—a Batsignal, if you will—on these unpublished tales, the “Tales from EarthU(slan)”!

Whatever Happened to... the Sandman?

Wesley Dodds donned a suit, cape, fedora, and a gas mask, along with his gas gun, as a “weird figure of the night... a modern Robin Hoodfriend of the afflicted” in order to bring “justice in a world of injustice” (New York World’s Fair Comics, 1939).

“My goal was to give DC Comics its own Shadow,” Uslan reveals to BACK ISSUE. The villains of Earth-Two would find out that “Crime does not pay” as the Sandman would have “a fearsome network of agents reporting to him,” just like The Shadow, the mysterious hero from pulp magazines and radio. “DC no longer had the rights to The Shadow,” Uslan continues. “It would be as if Denny [O’Neil] and I could continue writing Shadow comics...” (Uslan made his debut as a comic-book writer in The Shadow #9, Feb.–Mar. 1975, with O’Neil as editor.) Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Sandman would have found out!

Whatever Happened to... Hourman?

“Rex Tyler, a young chemist, discovers Miraclo, a powerful chemical that transforms him from a meek, mild scientist to the underworld’s most formidable foe... with Miraclo, he has for one hour the power of chained lightning,” as described in the pages of Adventure Comics #48 (Mar. 1940).

In Uslan’s story, Rex “Tick-Tock” Tyler started to feel his physical condition deteriorating, and, still popping his Miraclo pills, had to fight the demon of addiction as he hit rock bottom. Uslan shares, “This was going to be a serious treatment of addiction, inspired by what Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams had done in the pages of Green Lantern/Green Arrow [#85, Aug.–Sept. 1971 and 86, Oct.–Nov. 1971]. Writer and JSA aficionado Roy Thomas revealed Hourman as a Miraclo addict in the pages of All-Star Squadron starting with #32 (Apr. 1984) and continuing with #34–35 (June–July 1984), where he went through withdrawal symptoms. Thomas muses in regard to Uslan’s proposed story, “Not surprised that both Mike and I came up independently with the Miraclo addiction idea...”

Whatever Happened to... Johnny Thunder?

The Sandman Knows (this page) Uslan, who wrote issue #9 (Feb.–Mar. 1975) of The Shadow, intended to make the Golden Age Sandman DC’s equivalent of the classic pulp hero.

Shadow cover art by Joe Kubert. (opposite page) Sandman by Marshall Rogers. Detail from the cover of Amazing World of DC Comics #16 (Dec. 1977).

TM & © DC Comics.

Golden Age journeyman Johnny Thunder didn’t have any superpowers of his own. However, his uttering the Badhnisian word “Cei-U” gave him control of a magical thunderbolt of a genie, thanks to his lucky birth date of July 7, 1917 and the group of Badhnisians who kidnapped him in Flash Comics #1 (Jan. 1940).

Uslan’s story had Johnny and his magical pink thunderbolt merge into one superhero. “I felt Johnny was the weakest character of DC’s Golden Age/JSA and wanted to make him into a serious yet unique superhero for the ’70s and beyond,” according to Uslan. “By combining him with his thunderbolt, I was picturing a character somewhat more akin to the Red Tornado or the Vision. He would have been half-human/half-genie as opposed to an android or robot hybrid.”

Again, great minds think alike, as both Uslan and Roy Thomas would have overlapping ideas. Thomas adds, “A couple of years later, my wife Dann and I came up with Jonni Thunder (Jonni Thunder #1, Feb. 1985), who combined human and thunderbolt in one persona...”

34 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue

by

John Schwirian

I Want Candy!

And a Secret Origins comic book, too! The display for Leaf Candy’s DC Secret Origins minicomics. Photos and scans accompanying this article are courtesy of its writer, John Schwirian.

Characters TM & © DC Comics.

One fine summer day, a young boy receives his allowance, eagerly grabs his bike, and hits the road in search of this week’s new comic books. As he visits the various pharmacies and convenience stores near his home, his stomach growls, diverting him away from the spinner racks over to the candy aisle. There, his eyes delight at a new sight on the top shelf among the boxes of sports cards, Wacky Packages stickers [see our sister mag RetroFan #19—ed.], and various other trading cards. A bright yellow display cries out, “Hey kids! Comicbook candy,” and three tiers of brightly colored mini-comics featuring DC Comics’ greatest heroes call to him.

In 1979, DC Comics and the Leaf Candy Company entered into a deal where DC would produce several mini-comics to be sold with packages of Leaf Candy.

At the time, Leaf had success with several snacks like Whoppers and Milk Duds, but competition from Hershey, Nestle, and others necessitated new marketing strategies. Both companies benefited, with DC reaching consumers that did not peruse the comic-book stands, and Leaf exposing comic fans to their candy. Eight new comics would be packed with Tart N’ Tangy candies, hitting the stores in 1981.

The Tart N’ Tangy candies were similar to Skittles, which had just made their American debut in 1979. Packaged and factory sealed separately so as not to damage the comics, the candies came in bright yellow, orange, red, green, and purple in counts of 12 or so in each bag. Thus, many packs of the Tart N’ Tangy candies survive today, but it is doubtful that they are still safe to eat!

DC developed the mini-comics around its popular “Secret Origins” theme. This way, new readers would not only get an adventure starring a familiar superhero, but would also learn valuable information about the character’s beginnings and history.

Eight mini-comics were made, featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Justice League of America. Each comic measured 4¼” x 2¾”, fitting easily into any pocket. At that time, the comic/candy combo cost 35 cents, while a regular-sized comic ran 50 cents.

Art on the display box consisted of the seven spotlighted heroes. Gaspar Saladino is believed to be the letterer. Each display box contained 36 randomly inserted comics, which meant that there was a good chance of assembling at least three and possibly even four sets out of each box. On the back of each comic was an advertisement stating that, for $1.50, you could send away for a Collector’s Album—a folder with art by Dick Giordano on the front and back covers displaying various members of the Justice League. The current stars of the mini-comics were on the front cover, while speculation among fans was that the back cover advertised the characters for a planned second series of mini-comics (shown on the back cover, encircling Hawkman, are Supergirl, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, the Atom, the Elongated Man, Firestorm, Zatanna, Green Arrow, and Black Canary). On the display box, above Hawkman’s shoulder, “series 1” is posted.

No second series ever appeared, and it was more likely that Giordano used these heroes because the Justice League of America’s history included them briefly in that comic. The interior of the album consists of two pages with slots to hold four comics each. A black-and-white image of one of the comics indicates which book goes in which slot.

No credits are given inside the comics, and information confirming the individuals involved in the creation of each comic is sketchy at best. Joe Orlando was in charge of DC Comics’ Special Projects division at the time, so most likely he edited the series. This division’s projects paid better than regular comics work, so creators lobbied for these jobs. “Freelancers,” DC writer Paul Kupperberg confirms, “did chase after licensing work. DC paid 1.5 times the page rate for these special assignments.”

According to the Grand Comics Database (GCD), all eight covers were drawn

by Dick Giordano. The GCD listing for each comic states that: “Dick Giordano in an email to the indexer has confirmed that he inked this cover, and suspects that he penciled it based on a layout from Carmine Infantino.” Many fans argue that the covers have a Curt Swan feel to them. Maybe Swan penciled and Giordano inked?

The Comic Book Reader #191 (May–June 1981) provides a brief review that says the “candy is okay, but the comics are pretty nice.” It proceeds to list each comic’s artistic team, but it appears to be based on the writer’s personal opinion rather than verified facts, as shown by the question marks that follow several credits.

Additionally, Tony Isabella’s blog in 2012 critiqued each comic in this series, with several of the creators identifying themselves in comments on Isabella’s entries.

For instance, on November 18, 2012, Isabella updated a post, saying, “Anthony Tollin tells me he is pretty certain that his wife Adrienne Roy colored this Batman mini-comic.” Another example came on November 24, 2012, when Kurt Busiek

Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39

Collect ’em All! (top) Back and front cover to the Leaf Collector’s Album, with DC heroes rendered by Dick Giordano. (middle) Inside, collectors were shown where to insert their mini-comics. (bottom) Sample back cover of a mini-comic, providing an order form for the Album.

Characters TM & © DC Comics.

remarked on the Wonder Woman review, saying, “Looks pretty clearly like John Costanza lettering, at least to me, but Todd Klein could probably identify it for sure.”

Indeed, Todd Klein, the Eisner Award-winning comicbook letterer who started in the industry in 1977 and is still active today, not only identified the person that lettered Wonder Woman, he deduced the secret identities of the letterers of all eight comics! Klein confirmed his work on Hawkman and Justice League of America. “I have them listed on this page of my lettering archives, so I did letter them, but I recall nothing about them,” Klein tells BACK ISSUE. “I don’t even know how many pages they were.” After examining the remaining six issues, Klein states, “Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are all by John Costanza.

I’m not as sure on the rest, but I think Superman is by Ben Oda and Aquaman and Flash are by Milt Snapinn. I see on the GCD that I previously guessed Ben Oda for Aquaman, but with additional research done since then on Ben, I now think it’s not him. Milt Snapinn seems more likely.”

No information on colorists is available other than Anthony Tollin taking credit for Green Lantern and his belief that Adrienne Roy colored Batman.

Fortunately, pencilers and inkers are more easily recognized. That’s not to say that there is no controversy in this process. Writers prove to be a real challenge to pin down.

Bob Rozakis is the first to speak out in this area, telling BI, “I don’t recall that much about this project. I believe the job came through our Special Projects department and I was one of the writers who regularly got pieces of such jobs.

I did indeed write the Flash and Wonder Woman books. Paul Kupperberg was another who probably wrote a couple.

Maybe Cary Burkett. Maybe Len Wein.” With guesswork being the typical response, several scripters in the data that follows eluded me. Whenever possible, credits were either confirmed by the person listed or by someone that worked at DC at that time. In addition to Cary Burkett and Len Wein, Elliott S! Maggin, Cary Bates, Dennis O’Neil, and E. Nelson Bridwell are possibilities. Gerry Conway, after looking at the comics, notes to BACK ISSUE, “Looking at all of these, I’m pretty sure I had nothing to do with these stories. DC did quite a few odd projects like this over the years (Roy Thomas and I worked on a pair for Atari), but these don’t feel familiar to me at all.”

As each mini-comic is numbered as a first issue, the only indication for filing order can be based on the presentation in the Collector’s Album. This order will be used for reviewing each comic. With the exception of the Superman comic, the covers depict scenes with no connection to the story inside.

It is hard to say how well this arrangement worked out for Leaf Candy, but it certainly served its purpose for DC Comics. Many testimonials appear online from readers admitting their childhood love of these mini-comics, with some confessing that they were their introduction to the world of comics. What a shame that names of so many creators of these comics remain unknown. Will their identities ever be revealed? The world may never know.

The following pages recap each of the Leaf Secret Origins stories and include sample interior pages from the comics themselves.

Special thanks to Gerry Conway, Todd Klein, Paul Kupperberg, Bob Rozakis, Alex Saviuk, Bob Smith, and Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing.

By day, JOHN SCHWIRIAN is a mildmannered college English professor, but by night, he dons the role of comicbook historian. In addition to his passion for Bronze Age comics, he explores the sunken regions of the DC Universe in his self-published fanzine, The Aquaman Chronicles.

40 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue

Script: unknown. Pencils: Rich Buckler. Inks: Vince Colletta.

Letters: Todd Klein. Colors: unknown.

Characters on this and following pages TM & © DC Comics.

The Comic Book Reader indicates that the art for the Hawkman origin was

by Alex Saviuk and Vince Colletta. However, Alex Saviuk reports to BI, “I never heard of it, let alone contributed to it, to my knowledge.

The only mini-comics I did were for the Super Powers toy figures in the 1980s. Looks like it has pencils by Rich Buckler and inks by Vince Colletta.”

Considering that Rich Buckler penciled Gerry Conway’s Hawkman scripts in World’s Finest Comics at the time, Saviuk is most likely correct.

The origin tale is based on the story by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert from The Brave and the Bold #43 (Aug.–Sept. 1962), focusing on Katar (Hawkman) Hol’s first encounter with the Manhawks. At this time, Thanagar (Hawkman’s home planet) is a peaceful world with no crime.

Therefore, they have no defense system in place when the alien Manhawks invade and steal valuable artifacts. Using the wings his father Paran Katar invented to allow for the study of birds, Katar flies close to a Manhawk and snatches its weapon-mask. Paran Katar examines the mask and designs a hawk-mask for his son to wear that will protect him from the Manhawks’ eye beams. Apparently, the Manhawks have coal in their eye slits, which somehow magnifies light from the invaders’ eyes, giving them deadly force. Katar Hol, safe in his hawk-mask, flies into battle using a pressure gun to metamorph the coal into diamond, rendering the masks useless as weapons. The defeated Manhawks are imprisoned and the leaders of Thanagar decide to start a police force that will use wings and masks as a sign of their authority. The last page states that Hawkman and Hawkgirl were sent to Earth to study our police methods and decided to stay as champions against evil.

Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 41

by

Paul Kupperberg

In 1981, Superman was DC’s flagship character, appearing monthly in the pages of Superman, Action Comics, DC Comics Presents, and World’s Finest Comics for a total of some 74 pages of cover-featured adventures a month. And that didn’t include his regular appearances in Justice League of America and Super Friends, as well as the stories of The New Adventures of Superboy, and a daily syndicated newspaper strip. That was, you would think, enough Superman material for even the most diehard readers and fans.

You would be wrong. “(DC’s European licensor) Ehapa was selling tons of Superman comics—more than we could sell in the US/ Canada market, in fact,” explains Paul Levitz, former DC Comics president and publisher. “I recall visiting them in Stuttgart and meeting [former managing director and publisher] Adolph Kabatek. They were burning through material at a prodigious rate, and we agreed to supply them with some extra stories, which they would use in their European album-formatted edition.”

Egmont Ehapa Media GmbH, then known as Egmont Ehapa Verlag, was the German publisher of comics and kids’ magazines, a subsidiary of the Scandinavian Egmont media group, which had acquired the massively lucrative European license to publish and produce Disney Comics in 1948. They were also publishers of such popular European franchises as Asterix and Lucky Luke. A 2005 business survey reported that the company, by then having added television and movies to their portfolio along with publishing, employed 3,600 people and had a yearly revenue of 1.2 billion Euros.

There had been a few attempts to publish the DC heroes in German comics in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until Ehapa picked up the Superman license in 1966 that these characters finally broke through. The success of the Superman family of characters (Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen) led to the 1973 acquisition of the rest of the DC lineup. By 1981, their Superman comics were established as the company’s bestsellers and included five separate titles: Superman Heft (a biweekly, 32-page comic), Superman Taschenbuch (or, “paperback”), Superman Taschenbuch Extra (both in pocketbook format with more pages), Superman Superband (album-sized, printed on higher-quality paper), and the annual Superman Sonderausgabe (or “special edition,” published in tabloid format).

By 1980, Ehapa’s insatiable need for material had them reformatting continuities from the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes Starring Superman syndicated newspaper strip for publication in Superman Taschenbuch and Superman Taschenbuch Extra. But the strip had only launched in 1978, leaving a limited number of issues that could be wrung from that short backlog.

Move Over, Doomsday…

Writer Paul Kupperberg came up with a spiked-out behemoth years before the Superman-killing monster went on a rampage!

Original cover art to Superman Quarterly #18

by Alex Saviuk and Pablo Marcos, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © DC Comics.

Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 49

MEANWHILE, 15 YEARS LATER...

After Julius “Julie” Schwartz’s official retirement from regular editing and his assumption of the title of “Editor Emeritus, DC Comics” and serving as its “Goodwill Ambassador” as the company’s representative at comic-book and science-fiction conventions across the country, he was moved from his office on the editorial floor to another, smaller room elsewhere in 1700 Broadway. By the 1990s, he was only coming into the office once a week, usually on Thursdays, to pick up his mail, make phone calls to his friends, and hold court with people like me who made it a point to drop by for a weekly chat and check-in.

I would sometimes walk in on him happily emptying the contents of boxes or drawers or cabinet shelves in the trash. Not that everything he was disposing of was in fact trash; about 20% of it was irreplaceable historic artifacts! Among the memorable items I rescued were seven pages of Julie’s editorial records for the Ehapa stories, four 30-page stories for what he dubbed “Superman Monthly” and twenty-one 46-pagers for “Superman Quarterly.”

THE STATISTICS

I turned all of Julie’s rescued treasures over to the company librarian when I left staff at DC in February 2006, but I did make copies of the Ehapa editorial records. Julie assigned these stories to his regular stable of creators of which, by then, I was a member. I recall writing several of the 46-pagers—only two, co-written with Bob Rozakis, were ever published here in the States—but lacking copies of all but a few of the foreign albums, I was surprised to discover I had worked on a total of nine of them, for a total of 414 pages; Bob Rozakis was right behind me with three co-written Monthlies and five Quarterlies, three of them co-written with either me or E. Nelson Bridwell, who himself co-wrote his three Monthly stories and one of his two Quarterly appearances. Cary Bates is credited with five of the 21 Quarterlies.

On the art side, Alex Saviuk proved the most prolific, contributing 568 pages of pencils on the Quarterlies, and another 60 on the Monthly. Irv Novick was a distant second with 138 pages, with Pablo Marcos, Vince Colletta, and Joe Giella providing the lion’s share of the inking.

SUPERMAN MONTHLY

Editor of Steel Julius Schwartz, editor of the Superman titles, as cartooned by artist Alex Saviuk on June 19, 1980 on a handmade birthday card for Julie. Courtesy of Heritage.

Superman TM & © DC Comics.

The first Ehapa story out of the gate was Superman Monthly #1 (Job #S-3995). Begun in March or April of 1981, it featured the story “Partners in Peril,” plotted by longtime Schwartz assistant editor and Superman expert E. Nelson Bridwell and dialogued by Bob Rozakis.

The “partners” were Superman and guest-star Batman; the “peril” was the Superman Revenge Squad.

Published in Superman/Batman Heft #25 in 1982, the story was illustrated

by Alex Saviuk and Frank Chiaramonte (with a cover by Saviuk and Frank Giacoia) and colored

by Jerry Serpe. It follows a plot to endow Batman with superpowers and make him super-jealous of Superman, forcing—the Squad believes—a showdown between friends that will lead either to Superman’s death or his emotional collapse should he have to kill the Caped Crusader.

Bridwell/Rozakis/Saviuk/McLaughlin/ Serpe returned with Superman Monthly #2 (Job #S-4025), “Invade Earth—or Die!” A race of alien robots calculates a scenario in which a rare but hitherto undiscovered element beneath Earth’s polar icecap might be weaponized and used to destroy the planet, resulting in a band of radiation that could then drift through space to reach their home planet which, because it lacks a protective atmosphere, would also be destroyed. To prevent this, the robots plan a bloodless coup, followed by a benevolent dictatorship, but only after sending an army of Gold Kryptonite-packing robots after Superman, who is forced to take shelter in his Fortress of Solitude and fight the robotic enemy with robots by remote control. With a cover again by Saviuk and Giacoia, the story was published in 1983’s Superman/Batman Heft #1.

Batman returns (as he’s wont to do) in Superman Monthly #3’s “Villain! Villain! Who’s Got the Villain?” (Job #S-4032), bringing with him writers Elliot S! Maggin and artists Alex Toth and Terry Austin, with lettering by Gaspar Saladino, and coloring by Tom Ziuko. Using Red Kryptonite to change Superman into a Lex Luthor lookalike, the evil criminal genius poses as his own twin brother, Erasmus, who showers humanity with miracle cures and inventions.

But before he can make his move to take over the world, he’s busted by Superman and Batman, who had switched identities to fool the villain. With a cover by Gil Kane, the story first appeared in Superman/Batman Heft #4 (1983) in Germany and as 1983’s Superman Annual #9 in the US.

50 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue

by

Eddy Zeno

Super Scarce Superman #nn (1988), better known by its story title This Island Bradman!, was commissioned from DC Comics by a wealthy father for his son’s birthday—with a print run rumored to be only 200 copies. Cover art

by Curt Swan and Angelo Torres, story

by David Levin.

Superman TM & © DC Comics.

Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

Meet the Islanders (left) Financier Godfrey Bradman, recipient of an honorary university degree on July 12, 1990, two years after funding the This Island Bradman!

Superman custom comic. (center top) Circa 1986, a publicity photo with longtime Superman artist Curt Swan (R) passing the pencil to the Man of Steel’s new creative dynamo, John Byrne (L). (center bottom) Writer David Levin. (right) Legendary MAD cartoonist Angelo Torres, 2016 recipient of the Milton Caniff Award.

Bradman photo © University of Salford photographic collection.

Byrne and Swan photo © DC Comics. Levin photo © IMDb.com. Torres photo © National Cartoonists Society.

“Every Boy’s Dream” is a caption in Paul Levitz’s book, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking (Taschen, 2010). Used to describe a once-thoughtof-as-mythical-publication, This Island Bradman! was a comic book purchased by a father for his son’s bar mitzvah. Far from being bought off the rack, however, it was a private commission featuring the young man, his best friend, and the rest of the family in lesser cameos. The Man of Steel was there as well.

By the time Godfrey Bradman arranged for his son Daniel’s adventure, the Englishman had risen from humble beginnings to turn what was once a tea company into a property development behemoth.

Striving to regenerate areas of urban blight, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the keynote speaker (on July 31, 1985) at one of his London sites.

Godfrey went on to experience huge gains and losses in real estate, but proved to be a survivor. Daniel followed in his father’s footsteps.

Regarding the print run for Bradman, writer Mark Waid said, “This is probably the rarest Superman comic in my lifetime.” News of the book’s scarcity spread, followed by rumors that copies were selling for small fortunes. Although it was published in 1988, no readily available images were posted to the burgeoning world wide web of the ’90s. Today, the entire tale can be readily viewed online; it no longer seems so mysterious. Oh, one may wonder why artist Curt Swan’s pencils were inked by Angelo Torres for the first and only time, or why certain characters’ faces lacked that distinctive Swan look, but there is little nowadays to sustain the notion that This Island Bradman! remains an enigma. Or is there?

Choosing the main artist seemed straightforward.

Having lost his normal monthly page count as the regular Superman artist, in 1988 Swan returned to penciling two-page installments featuring the Man of Tomorrow in Action Comics Weekly along with a 47-page graphic novel, Superman: The Earth Stealers.

It seems logical that he would be available to slip in another assignment like the Bradman fable, a mere eight pages in length. Further, Curt may have been picked to bring a classical look to the story. Perhaps the father who ordered the comic remembered Swan’s work from his own childhood.

Angelo Torres, though a less clear choice as inker, was an old friend of executive editor Joe Orlando’s from their days together at EC (Entertaining Comics).

Known as an outstanding caricaturist at MAD magazine, Torres had earlier collaborated with Orlando on a 1984 DC giveaway comic to promote the wearing of seat belts. Sponsored by Honda in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation, Supergirl starred in that one, for which Angelo provided both pencils and inks.

Orlando assigned the regular story editing on Bradman to Joey Cavalieri, by then an experienced DC writer who had previously scripted special-project comics for Joe. Cavalieri went on to become a group editor at Marvel before returning to DC and eventually being promoted to senior editor.

It is not the established talents just mentioned, but the man who authored This Island Bradman! that presents a conundrum. David Levin has exactly two comic-book stories to his credit. A writing obscurity on a four-color scarcity might seem appropriate, but who is this Levin fellow and why was he chosen? BACK ISSUE contacted him by phone in January 2021 to learn the answers. (Quotes stem mostly from that interview, with a few cited from David’s earlier blog.)

“I worked for DC for literally five minutes. A friend of mine at MAD told me there was an opening at DC. Between the time I was hired and when I showed up for work two weeks later, they asked: ‘What are you doing here?’ The project I was hired to do got cancelled and nobody called me. But they were nice and said, ‘You can stick around for a couple of weeks; we just can’t keep you.’ They did give me a lot of freelance work.

“Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse are real. Superman is real, in all his incarnations. We’ve all heard dialogue coming out of his mouth. I felt this huge responsibility. It freaked me out, intimidated me a little bit, to be writing dialogue for Superman. I decided I was writing the Silver Age figure and not the John Byrne Superman. Don’t get me wrong, I loved John Byrne’s version, but he needed to be the [hero] we’d all heard for decades.

“Joe Orlando was in charge of DC Comics special projects. When I told him I wanted to write something, he sort of walked me through. It was to be an eight-

58 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue

by

Once there was a time when success or failure of a comicbook series was determined by a character’s popularity, the subject matter of a particular issue or story arc, and/or the creative team who worked on the title.

These aspects are what made comics good for those of us who collected them throughout the Bronze Age. Sure, there were always gimmicks involved in launching new titles or reinvigorating old characters to interest new readers. Two examples include 1977’s Marvel Super Special #1 (featuring a magazinesized KISS comic book with special features, a silverstamped logo, and, reportedly, real blood from each member poured into the red ink!) and 1961’s The Flash #123 and its monumental story “Flash of Two Worlds,” teaming Silver Age speedster Barry Allen with his Golden Age predecessor, Jay Garrick, and opening parallel doors to what would ultimately become DC’s Multiverse!

But today’s comics buyers who prefer traditional printed-paper over digital formats seem fueled by an entirely different mechanism creating a real-life, alternate universe for brick-and-mortar and mail-order retailers— the variant cover! Now it is common for first issues, milestone stories, and anniversary events to be marketed with myriad diverse images: disparate renderings by a multitude of artists enhanced by color-scheme changes on some and no color at all on others; enhancements with specialty inks, foil-stamping, and holograms; or the now-popular “blank sketch” cardstock cover for those want original art drawn IF YOU ENJOYED THISwho PREVIEW, onCLICK their books by a vast of illustrators.

The comicTHE LINK TO array ORDER THIS book IN industry reliant on reselling the same interior ISSUE PRINTisOR DIGITAL FORMAT! content with various outer packaging—over and over again—just to keep afloat!

As a lifelong comics reader and former retailer, distributor, and publisher from the late-1980s through the 2010s, I have witnessed the variant-cover phenomena from its origin to the mammoth marketing machine it is today. Let’s FlashBack to an era where, for the purposes of this article, variant covers refer to first printings of comic books published simultaneously but with different art, pricing, or special enhancements on one or more versions. Reprints and foreign comics do not apply; those are for future articles!

R o b e r t V. C o n t e

PRICE AND DISTRIBUTOR VARIANTS

Although slight cover differences date back to comics’ Golden Age including 1940’s Batman #1 (“No 1” versus “No. 1,” anyone?) and mislayered color separations leading to Andy Warhol-like covers such as Fantastic Four #110 depicting the Thing in Hulk-like green instead of his true orange hue (a similar thing happened to Oscar the Grouch during Season One of television’s Sesame Street!), the earliest “price variants” of the Bronze Age appeared as early as mid-1976. Back then, most standard comic books were sold on newsstands for 25 cents. Marvel Comics Group, whose number-crunchers focused on increasing company profits, targeted several test markets throughout the country and raised prices of about 60 titles to 30 cents each. Among the most rare are Kid Colt Outlaw #208 and The Eternals #1. (The latter is sure to further escalate in value, as should its common 25-cent counterpart, from the success of the November 2021 Eternals film, recently released as of this writing.)

TM & © Marvel.

Special Negative Zone Edition? (below) Fantastic Four #110 (May 1971), with its regular and printer’s error covers. Cover art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.

TM & © Marvel.

A Whitman Sampler

BACK ISSUE #134

BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES, spotlighting rare of ‘80s some of the (opposite page) A selection European Superman comics! Plus: CURT SWAN’s Batman, JIM APARO’s Superman, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel roughly 160 DC Comics/Whitman covers custom comics, MICHAEL USLAN’s unseen Earth-Two stories, Leaf’s DC Secret Origins, Marvel’s Evel Knievel, cover variants, published without issue numbers. and more! With EDUARDO BARRETO, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ALEX SAVIUK, and more. Cover by JOE KUBERT. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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Bronze Age Rarities and Oddities Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63