TOTALLY ’80s ’80s DC PRE-CRISIS MINISERIES ISSUE! 2022
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Green Arrow TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
MIKE W. BARR & TREVOR VON EEDEN’s
Secrets of the Legion • Tales of the Green Lantern Corps • Superman: The Krypton Chronicles • America vs. the Justice Society • Legend of Wonder Woman & many more!
Volume 1, Number 137 August 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow
Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!
DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Trevor Von Eeden and Dick Giordano (Originally published as Green Arrow vol. 1 #1, May 1983. Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Mike W. Barr Andy Mangels Aaron Bias Brian Martin Jonathan Brown Dave Merill of Tim Brown Mister Kitty Kurt Busiek powerlordsreturn.com Gary Cohn Oliver Queen DC Comics Ron Randall Jim Ford Trina Robbins Grand Comics Rose Rummel-Eury Database John Schwirian Jack C. Harris Tom Speelman Heritage Comics Bryan D. Stroud Auctions Roy Thomas Don Hudson Eddy Zeno Paul Kupperberg James Heath Lantz Jason of Bad Gunpla Paul Levitz Ed Lute
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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Unlock the secrets behind the history of the future fighting team BACKSTAGE PASS: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 How a single Green Lantern cover inspired a spinoff miniseries BEYOND CAPES: The Krypton Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Superman and Supergirl discover their Kryptonian roots BACKSTAGE PASS: Green Arrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Behind the scenes of GA’s first solo book, with Barr and Von Eeden THE TOY BOX: Power Lords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 DC chases the action-figure tie-in market with this toy-based comic BEYOND CAPES: Spanner’s Galaxy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The inventive space saga that went beyond its Star Wars inspirations INTERVIEW: Roy Thomas: America vs. the Justice Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The superstar scribe discusses Batman’s diary and its accusations against the JSA THE TOY BOX: Robotech Defenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 This ill-fated two-issue toy tie-in is better known for its odd history than its content PRO2PRO: Gary Cohn and Ron Randall: Conqueror of the Barren Earth. . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The co-creators of Warlord’s breakout backup discuss their sci-fi series OFF MY CHEST: Legionnaires 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The Time Trapper gets inside the heads—and hearts—of the founding Legionnaires PRO2PRO: Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek: The Legend of Wonder Woman . . . . . . . . . 64 An in-depth dialogue with the artist-writer combo behind the 1986 retro miniseries BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 BACK ISSUE™ issue 137, August 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 paid 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. Green Arrow TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING
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Legion of Super-Heroes benefactor R. J. Brande lies in a coma, stricken by Yorrgian Fever. One of the Legionnaires holds the key to his recovery, and it is this plot narrative that leads us through the team’s history to learn the Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
by
Jim Ford
Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes was a three-issue miniseries published in late 1980 by DC Comics, cover-dated January through March 1981. The story was plotted by E. Nelson Bridwell, with scripting by Paul Kupperberg and art by Jim Janes and inker Frank Chiaramonte. Kupperberg had written a number of shorter Legion stories leading up to Secrets, sometimes working with another Legion writer, Paul Levitz, as plotter. “What drew me as a professional to the Legion was the editor asking, ‘Want to write a Legion story?’” Kupperberg tells BACK ISSUE. “Unless a writer was regularly assigned to a title, that was the way a lot of assignments got handed out during that period. Often it was as simple as being the first writer or artist the editor saw when they stuck their head out their office door. “I was a LSH fan going into the assignment—I didn’t collect Adventure Comics as a kid, but Paul Levitz and I became friends in middle school, and I read the run in his collection, going all the way back to [the Legion’s first appearance in Adventure Comics #247, paul kupperberg Apr. 1958]—but I didn’t have the deep knowledge of the characters © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. and universe down the way Paul did. Still, I knew enough that I didn’t embarrass myself in the gig.” Bridwell knew the Legion well, as an assistant editor during their early days in Adventure Comics and as an occasional writer on the series. Bridwell wrote “The Origin of the Legion” in Superboy #147 (May–June 1968), as three teenagers combined their powers to save R. J. Brande, the richest man in the universe. The three teenagers founded the Legion as Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. “Any research I could have done would have been superfluous to the knowledge Nelson carried around in his head,” Kupperberg adds. “Nelson provided the research and the continuity, and I wove it into what little plot was necessary to give the illusion of movement to what was essentially a Legion of Super-Heroes encyclopedia.” Most of what we know of the early Legionnaires’ origins and planets of birth come to us from “The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes” feature in Superman Annual #4 (1961). Many of the early Legionnaires were given little more than a descriptive name and a costume, and never had their origins told in the panels of a comic story before Secrets.
Clubhouse of Secrets Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (Jan. 1981). Cover art by Jim Janes and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.
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Text features offered up many of the Legionnaires’ secrets before they were dramatized in the pages of a Legion story. Interestingly, it was not until the “Know Your Legionnaires” text feature in Adventure Comics #329 (Feb. 1964) that many of their real names were first revealed and that the three Legionnaires who inducted Superboy into the Legion in Adventure Comics #247 were acknowledged as its founding members. It was also first revealed in that text feature that Chameleon Boy was the leader of the Legion Espionage Squad, and Invisible Kid a member. The Espionage Squad would not see action until “The Legion Chain Gang” in Adventure Comics #360 (Sept. 1967). The “Know Your Legionnaires: The Origin of Cosmic Boy” text feature in Adventure Comics #352 (Jan. 1967), likely written by Bridwell, presaged their dramatized origin story in Superboy #147 by over a year. The villain Lightning Lord told of how he and his brother Lightning Man had been charged by lightning monsters on the planet Korbal in a flashback in “The Legion of Super-Villains” story in Superman #147 (Aug. 1961). Yes, Lightning Man. Lightning Lad received an almost identical origin, except that his sister Lightning Lass was exchanged for Lightning Lord in a flashback in “The Return of Lightning Lad” story in Adventure Comics #308 (May 1963). Lightning Lord was then restored to the story in the “Meet the Legionnaires: Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass” text feature in Adventure Comics #354 (Mar. 1967), again likely written by Bridwell. That story was visually retold during the now-familiar flashback presented in Superboy #147. Prior to that flashback, Lightning Lord had only been known as a member of the Adult Legion of Super-Villains until an appearance by the teenaged Lighting Lord in the “School for SuperVillains” in Adventure Comics #372 (Sept. 1968) added him to contemporary Legion continuity. Star Boy had very different powers during his first appearance in paul levitz Adventure Comics #282 (Mar. 1961), and received two distinctively © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. different origins. “Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes” was, as Legion writer Paul Levitz detailed in the text feature in Adventure Comics #493 (Nov. 1982), “…a curious case. Readers will note that Star Boy is really the only Legionnaire who appears, and he demonstrates powers very much unlike those he currently possesses (which, in fact are the powers he’s used in every other appearance he’s ever made). A simple explanation can be found by opening Adventure Comics #195 (Dec. 1953) and looking at ‘Lana Lang’s Romance on Mars’—almost the same story featuring a hero named Marsboy who gained powers identical to Superboy’s from a strange comet. “Then-Superman Family editor Mort Weisinger frequently ‘updated’ old stories by polishing the scripts and giving them to new artists to work on,” Levitz wrote, “and this was the story behind Star Boy’s debut. The introduction of the Legion to the story was almost Brande-d accidental—just a way of working it into the Superman (top) The impending death of Legion founder R. J. Brande assembled mythos more firmly. “No one knows whether Weisinger did this to the future team for the miniseries’ revelations of Legion history. Page 1 of balance tight budgets, tight deadlines or both,” Levitz concluded, “or whether occasionally the writers themissue #1. Plot by Bridwell, dialogue by Kupperberg, pencils by Janes, selves volunteered the updating. However, in the years inks by Chiaramonte. (bottom) From Superman #147 (Aug. 1961). before reprints became common, and collecting back issues was unknown, it seemed harmless.” TM & © DC Comics. 4 • BACK ISSUE • 1980s DC Miniseries Issue
It’s pretty likely that Hal Jordan realized, upon bestowal of the battery of power with the accompanying power ring by the dying Abin Sur back in Showcase #22 (Sept.–Oct. 1959), that he was not the only Green Lantern in the universe. Did he, however, realize when he took over those duties that he was, in fact, one of 3,600 members of that elite group? In time, he would find out.
THE COVER THAT INSPIRED A MINISERIES
by
Bryan D. Stroud
Leaping ahead a number of years, a new three-issue miniseries hit the outlets, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps. Issue #1 (May 1981) boasted an impressive list of talent: Len Wein as scripter with Mike W. Barr plotting, and penciler Joe Staton and inker Frank McLaughlin on art, with John Costanza, letterer; Anthony Tollin, colorist; and Dick Giordano occupying the editor’s chair. As it happens, however, Giordano had taken the reins of editor from none other than Jack C. Harris, who had started the ball rolling long in advance of publication of this series. Mike W. Barr recalls: jack c. harris “Jack C. Harris, then-editor of the Green Lantern series, asked me to Facebook. plot the story, which Len Wein would dialogue. Such three-issue miniseries were doing well, so DC decided to do one about the Green Lantern Corps.” Jack C. Harris confirms, “That was actually the last project I was working on before moving on to other pursuits. There was a lot of interesting background to it, as well, as far as how it happened. “It started from a whole lot of directions at once, so it’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly the order of everything, but the first thing is this: Showcase had a resurgence. Then it was cancelled again. The last Showcase was going to be The World of Krypton. That would have been the next Showcase. But [Showcase] was cancelled. So, they had it and they said, ‘We’re not going to throw it away, so let’s just make it a miniseries.’ [World of Krypton] was actually DC’s very first miniseries. It was a rousing success, so people said, ‘We ought to do [more miniseries].” [Editor’s note: See “World of Krypton: Comics’ First Miniseries” in BACK ISSUE #62 for our previous coverage on this topic.] Harris continues, “So, they looked around, and they decided on Green Lantern. The Green Lantern Corps, specifically, because of one cover. It was a Brian Bolland cover. It had Green Lantern leading the Corps right toward the reader and Green Lantern
Ring Me Up Sometime Detail from Brian Bolland’s spectacular cover to Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 (May 1981). TM & © DC Comics.
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brian bolland © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.
has two power rings on. Green Lantern #127 (Apr. 1980), and it came out in January of 1980. The sales of this particular issue had spiked. It did very well, so they said, ‘Let’s do a series about the Green Lantern Corps.’” Issue #1 of Tales of the Green Lantern Corps also boasted a Brian Bolland cover featuring members of the GL Corps in a defiant posture with the disembodied heads of the Guardians of the Universe in the background. As it happens, this cover had a prior inspiration from the movies. Harris elaborates: “Now, to go back a little further, the reason Brian did that cover is this. Some months or years earlier, Richard Burton, who was the editor of 2000AD, which was a Brit comic that came out weekly, had come to visit the DC offices. We embraced him. We were all fans of 2000AD and Richard and I made a deal. He said if I would send him DC comics each month, he would send me the 2000s as they came out. So, every month I would get a
package of the 2000s and he would get a package of DCs. And reading the 2000s was where Judge Dredd first appeared. Brian Bolland was one of the Judge Dredd artists, and I really fell in love with his artwork. “Some months after that, Joe Staton, who had been drawing Green Lantern for me, amongst many other things, was over in England visiting Brian Bolland. And they gave me a phone call. I got this call from Joe, and he wanted to know if Brian could do some work for DC. I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I loved his work. So, I commissioned from him a few Green Lantern covers for the regular book. And that was one of them, the one with the Green Lantern Corps on issue #127.” The original editor’s choice of cover artist posed a logistical problem for the new Green Lantern Corps miniseries. “I wanted [Brian Bolland] to do three covers for the series,” Harris recalls. “I talked this over with Joe Orlando because of the time constraints in sending the material across the Atlantic Ocean, back in the days of snail mail only. Joe said, ‘Okay, we’ll have Brian do the three covers,’ and we had not even ordered the book yet. We had no idea what the book was going to be about, except the Green Lantern Corps.”
May the Corps Be With You (left) Brian Bolland’s Lantern-laced cover to Green Lantern #127 (Apr. 1980)—with Hal Jordan wearing two rings!—inspired the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries. (right) Bolland’s cover to Tales of the GLC #1 (shown on this article’s opening page) drew inspiration from the Hildebrandt Brothers’ iconic poster for 1977’s Star Wars. Movie poster courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Green Lantern Corps TM & © DC Comics. Star Wars © Lucasfilm.
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ROOTS COMES TO COMICS
by
Eddy Zeno
An adaptation of Alex Haley’s 1976 bestselling novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, premiered as an eight-part television miniseries in January 1977. Not unlike the cultural impact of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton, Roots spanned the period from 1750 when Mandinka warrior Kunta Kinte was captured in West Africa and sold into slavery, to his emancipated descendants’ land purchase in Tennessee after the Civil War. The TV blockbuster’s quality and brutal honesty made an enraptured society more selfaware. In addition, it ignited a burgeoning need for millions of viewers to learn about their own ancestors. Roots remained prominent in the public consciousness when E. Nelson Bridwell (E.N.B.) penned the threeissue comic-book miniseries, Krypton Chronicles (Sept.–Nov. 1981). (The miniseries’ penciler was Curt Swan; the inker, Frank Chiaramonte; and the editor, Julius Schwartz.) With Nelson’s guidance, Kal-El and Kara Zor-El, Superman and Supergirl, were inspired to undertake their own genealogical quest. The idea originated with Morgan Edge. Summoning Clark Kent and Perry White to his Galaxy Building office, Morgan assigned Clark to write a series of Daily Planet articles regarding Superman’s Family Tree. The boss was envisioning huge profits from an ensuing book and a television epic that would top both Roots and another TV miniseries ratings bonanza, 1980’s Shogun. When Kent shed his outer clothes and flew to the Fortress to begin his research, Supergirl was already there. She reminded her cousin that Kandor, transplanted to a red sun phase-world named Rokyn, had temporarily re-entered our dimensional plane. It was time for a visit. Knowing they would be powerless on arrival, Nelson Bridwell sent Superman and Supergirl by spaceship to the former bottle city. They were greeted by Kara’s parents, Zor-El and Alura, along with another close relative, Van-Zee. The trip began with a little sightseeing before commencing work on the El family’s heritage. The first episode of KC was prettier than the rest. A revivified Kandor, freed from its glass jar just two years prior, catered to Curt Swan’s optimistic art. Frank Chiaramonte’s inking sometimes flattened the illusion of depth that Swan insinuated with his pencils. Still, what they produced together took well to bright color. The miniseries’ second issue hovered between current and earlier eras, well before planet Krypton exploded. The third portrayed lives from primitive epochs, reaching back 10,000 years heretofore. Discoveries included a lodestone compass and makeshift hourglass. Krypton Chronicles left no time to revel as Supergirl was reunited with her folks, or to mourn for a city laid waste during Krypton’s last nations war. No tears of joy or sadness—a tale steeped in feelings it was not. The entire saga was, however, a look into what made writer E. Nelson Bridwell tick.
STATUES
One El of a Family Kal-El invites readers to meet the Superman Family Tree. Cover to Krypton Chronicles #1 (Sept. 1981) by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.
Leo Dorfman and Mort Weisinger co-wrote “Father’s Day on Planet Krypton!” in Adventure Comics #313 (Oct. 1963). In the eight-and-two-thirds page vignette, Superboy encountered five statues and a chest full of objects from the El family crypt. Superboy sprayed the statues, which had transmuted into kryptonite, with molten lead and reunited the carvings with their corre-
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by
Brian Martin
To say that Green Arrow had been around for a long time before receiving a book with his name on it would be a massive understatement. It would also not be a stretch to say that I was not a huge fan of the character for quite a while. His self-righteous tone in the 1970s always rubbed me the wrong way, especially in the Justice League where he had a rivalry with Hawkman, one of my favorite characters. So the fact that Green Arrow’s 1983 miniseries is one of my all-time favorites is saying something. Green Arrow, a character created in the Golden Age (More Fun Comics #73, Nov. 1941, to be exact), had been a recurring backup feature for his entire existence, though he did become the very first addition to the roster of the Justice League of America (#4, Apr.–May 1961). The closest he had come to headlining was his co-starring role in the Green Lantern title from #76–122 (Apr. 1970–Nov. 1979… with time off due to cancellation), though despite gaining half of the book’s logo, his name was never added to the indicia. At the time of the Green Arrow miniseries, GA was just coming off his latest backup stint, a long run in the giant-sized World’s Finest Comics (WFC), from issues #244–284 (May 1977– Oct. 1982) with a couple of exceptions (see BI #57 for the full story of DC’s “Dollar Comics”). For our purposes, it is worth noting that Trevor Von Eeden was penciler for the majority of the stories appearing in WFC #248–281 (Jan. 1978– July 1982). Towards the end of both GA’s and Trevor’s stays, Mike W. Barr joined them as writer, from #274– 278 (Dec. 1981–Apr. 1982). Before applying their talents to the Emerald Archer’s mini, the creative duo of Barr and Von Eeden collaborated on the well-received and fondly remembered Batman Annual #8 (1982). As a preview of their upcoming series, it was a fitting showcase for the talents of both gentlemen. mike w. barr As for their pairing on this mini, Mike W. Barr tells BACK ISSUE, “DC asked me to write the miniseries and I was told Trevor was available to pencil it. It was probably assumed— correctly—that Trevor and I, having worked on several short GA features, as well as a lot of other stories, would have no problems collaborating on a longer project. I recall DC—probably editor Len Wein— approached me about the mini, with Trevor ‘attached.’ I assume he was approached the same way.”
Famous First Edition After four decades of backup stories and team appearances, the Amazing Archer finally gets his own mag! Detail from Green Arrow #1 (May 1983). Cover art by Trevor Von Eeden and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.
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For his part, Trevor Von Eeden told the website The Arrow Cave in a 2011 interview, “All of the jobs I’d done for DC during my entire 25-year-tenure there were assigned to me.” Further to the notion of the duo’s collaboration, Von Eeden continued, “Working with Mike W. Barr was a great pleasure for me. I liked both his writing and he as a person the few times that we’d met. I’d never met Bob Haney [the veteran DC writer who scripted many of Von Eeden’s GA stories], and the scripts of his that I’d drawn (such as I remember them) were essentially generic superhero fare.” “By the time, I pretty much knew what I would get when I gave Trevor a plot,” remarks Barr. “He never ignored the plot, but he would sometimes take an elaborate physical maneuver I had conceived and reduce it to a less elaborate bit of business that was still very dynamic.”
sarcasm, but Len cut me off. ‘No, no,’ said Len, ‘He’s not like that.’ And I almost hugged him. “Somehow I got talked into continuing the series and was able to devise a plot I was comfortable with. To this day, I find it very different from my other work, in both plotting and pacing, but I can reread it with a great deal of pleasure, which is not something I thought I’d ever be able to say.” The same Dick Giordano that Barr and Wein had that meeting with was also a legendary inker and was enlisted to help break Green Arrow out into his own miniseries. How did the other creators feel about this addition? Both are quite succinct. Von Eeden stated on The Arrow Cave, “I LOVED Dick Giordano’s inks!” Barr opines, “Dick Giordano did a gorgeous job inking the series.”
ALONE AGAIN, NATURALLY
The plot that Mike had so much trouble with begins with a standard superhero introduction showing Arrow helping a deli owner deal with a couple of toughs prepared to rough him up. In this sequence, though, we see an early example of the synergy between the two creators. Towards the end of the WFC run and blossoming in that Batman Annual, Von Eeden began to develop a highly distinctive style both in the look of the artwork in general as well as his inventive and experimental layouts and storytelling, which would probably be considered to reach their apex in the Thriller title (see BI #98 for coverage). “Trevor worked from my plots on the miniseries, rather than full scripts,” reveals Barr. “This is evident in the number of panels he packed into some of the pages, which is obvious as early as page two of issue #1. If I were full-scripting a story, I would never write 15 panels for the penciler to draw, thinking this an excessive amount of work for him. “But Trevor liked breaking my plots into groups of smaller and smaller panels, which is fine with me, as long as the story is told—and Trevor was a wonderful storyteller.” And break them into smaller panels, he did. There are a significant number of beautifully designed pages in the series with panels numbering into double digits, culminating with eighteen on page 11 of issue #2. Trevor Von Eeden explained his thought process this way. “The GA mini, like Batman Annual #8, was an extended story, which allowed me to develop my storytelling and drawing abilities in a real way—like a real artist and professional—rather than just knocking out light, ‘fluffy’ pieces one after the other. I took the opportunity to develop my own skills (drawing, layout/page design/storytelling), using those jobs essentially as… fodder.” The Barr/Von Eeden duo continued to develop their synergy as the series went along, with the former telling BI, “Later in the series, when Trevor’s layouts became more complex, it became a challenge to place the dialogue balloons so the reader’s eye was guided in the proper order. It became kind of a game between Trevor and me.”
With a cover date of May 1983, Green Arrow #1’s banner trumpets the fact that we had “The Battling Bowman—in his own magazine AT LAST!” However, we fans only ever see these results of the creators’ labor, and often never know how much blood and sweat goes into getting them to us “at last.” Where the Green Arrow miniseries is concerned, story-wise it had a particularly difficult gestation. Mr. Barr lets BI in on the details: “My problem was that when I took on GA as a series assignment, I had only three or four really good ideas for the character, which was unusual for me. So when I agreed to write the miniseries, I realized I was out of ideas for GA. By ‘ideas for GA,’ I mean not just fight scenes for an archer, but stories about the man. So I started to dig deep, determined to find some more. “But early in the series’ production—maybe after issue #1 had been penciled and dialogued— I became very dissatisfied with the story and asked DC to cancel the series. I should have realized that wasn’t going to happen, since DC had already expended a fair bit of money on the series, but Len played along and got us an appointment with VP Dick Giordano to discuss the problem. Len and I went into the appointment, during which I detailed my problem with the story. Throughout this, Giordano hadn’t even looked at me, he just kept inking a page from one of his freelance assignments. Finally, Dick looked up—at Len— sighed wearily, and said, ‘Okay, how much does he want?’ I opened my mouth with the intent of explaining the difference between his motivations and mine with an Ollie-like blast of
The Bright Knight The colorful cover by Trevor Von Eeden for Batman Annual #8 (1982), written by Mike W. Barr. TM & © DC Comics.
TECHNICAL ECSTASY
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OLD FRIENDS
Oliver Queen has had a long relationship with After that opening encounter, GA returns home to Black Canary, a stunning blonde when in wig and find a lawyer with an invitation to the reading of costume, and the youthful Cynthia fit that bill as well (sans wig and costume). Barr was not worried the will of an old friend. This is not an ordinary that the two women would be carbon copies, acquaintance, however. Abigail Horton knew though. “Trevor and I had worked Oliver Queen before he ever became together enough by that time that I Green Arrow. She was rich. And she realized all he needed was a couple was a fair bit older than Ollie. Oh, of lines of suggestion for a new and she had a daughter, Cynthia, character’s appearance and his/ much closer to Oliver’s age. And her relationship with Ollie for his she had never appeared before. bountiful imagination to come up Mr. Barr provides some backwith a design we were both comground. “When making notes for fortable with. It’s interesting to note the miniseries I realized GA had a very that both Cynthia Horton and Black small supporting cast and a very short Canary are beautiful blondes, yet backstory, so I developed Abby and they have totally different faces. Cynthia to try and flesh that out. trevor von eeden Many artists have just one woman’s “When creating Abby, I was very face they differentiate by changing conscious of the pop-culture stereoCourtesy of Trevor Von Eeden. its hairstyle.” types of elderly women such as the As the second issue moves towards a close, the ‘Where’s the beef?’ lady in the Wendy’s commercial and the woman who howled, ‘Whoop-de-do for my story begins to veer more into the area of a standard Subaru!’ I told Trevor neither of these were what superhero tale as the villainous Count Vertigo we wanted. We wanted a dignified yet obstreperous makes an appearance. Vertigo was a logical choice older woman who had made her own way her entire as he was not only one of GA’s personal villains, but life and wasn’t about to stop now. Trevor agreed, he was “a character introduced in one of the WFC and we were off.” The circumstances surrounding eight-pagers [#251, July 1978, a Black Canary story] Abigail’s death form the plot of the series as she has I’d drawn—and one whose costume I’d designed,” according to Von Eeden. left control of her company to Oliver.
Cinematic Staging From multi-paneled action sequences (left) to money-shot splashes (right), Von Eeden beautifully adapted Barr’s plot. Pages 2 and 3 of Green Arrow #1. Inks by Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.
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While most people think of superheroes when considering comic books, there are many other genres including those based on licensed properties, going back to the Golden Age of Comics. Some have been based on movies (2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars), live-action TV shows (I Love Lucy, Babylon 5), cartoons (Mighty Mouse, Scooby-Doo), celebrities (The Adventures of Bob Hope, The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis), books (Conan the Barbarian, The Stand), and even advertising icons (Ronald McDonald, Smokey Bear). Another popular licensed-comic genre is toy lines, especially action figures, which have been popular and worthwhile properties. During the Bronze Age, Marvel Comics scored massive hits with their longrunning G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, ROM: Spaceknight, Micronauts, and Transformers comics, all based on action-figure lines. DC Comics took notice of the sales and popularity of these comic books and wanted a piece of the action, publishing comics based on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and M.A.S.K. Neither gained the fan following and long-running status of Marvel’s tiein books, but DC continued to produce toy-related comic-book series, including a three-issue miniseries for the Power Lords toy line.
POWER LORDS: THE TOYS
The 1970s and 1980s were a Golden Age for action figures: Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes (combining Marvel and DC characters as well as Conan and Tarzan), Kenner’s Star Wars, Hasbro’s G.I. Joe and Transformers, and Mattel’s Masters of the Universe are just a few of the many action figures, with related vehicles and accessories, that populated the toy aisles. In the 1980s, a trend began to premiere: a new action-figure line with an accompanying television animated cartoon series and comic-book series. G.I. Joe, He-Man, and their ilk became more than just toys to many kids as they were able to
He’s Got the Power Cover to the toy tie-in Power Lords #1 (Dec. 1983). Cover art by Mark Texeira (misspelled “Texiera” by the cover letterer) and Dick Giordano. TM & © Strongin/Mayem, International.
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Ed Lute
recreate scenes from comic books, cartoons, or movies or create new adventures using their fertile imaginations. Revell, mostly known for plastic model kits that were often advertised in comic books, wanted to expand their reach and get in on the extremely lucrative action-figure market. The company hired toy creators Ned Strongin and Len Mayem to develop a new line. The pair in turn brought on acclaimed sci-fi writer-artist Wayne Douglas Barlowe to help create the designs for the toys. Together they created Power Lords: The ExtraTerrestrial Warriors, which premiered in 1983. While this line didn’t have the popularity of other action figures of the time and only consisted of two waves over two years, it was graced by Barlowe’s imaginative depictions of aliens. Barlowe’s designs of aliens were immortalized in Ian Summers and Beth Meacham’s 1979 book, Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials. In a 2021 interview on powerlordsreturn.com, Barlow stated, “The book was successful for its time; there was every indicator that I should have done another straightaway. That didn’t happen, but its odd descendants were the Power Lords. When toy-packagers Ned Strongin and Len Mayem contacted me, they were looking for a line that replicated what was in the book. Due to rights issues, I could not agree to that, but I could provide them with designs that were similar. “Obviously, it was new and fun for me. I really do like branching out and trying new forms of design and this was a blast. I love toys—still collect a lot of them—
but this was extra rich in that I was designing aliens. I love aliens, and the kick here was that I’d actually get to hold the designs and put them on my shelf. Ned and Len were really agreeable fellows and they enjoyed seeing the reams of paper come off my desk. I did dozens of potential designs—each with an eye towards some kind of mechanical action that would translate into a fun toy. We discussed many of the possible actions and, yes, they did have some guidelines—target concepts that they wanted to see integrated into the line. I had very little to do with the backstories. If memory serves me, those were created by people at Revell. Same with the Adam Power’s volcano base, Volcan Rock. That must have been done at Revell or elsewhere. “I love toys and wanted to make these guys exceptional,” Barlowe said. “And we all wanted these toys to have cutting-edge features that our competitors did not have in their lines. A tough request as Masters of the Universe were going strong and were really well-made and creative. And, why not have weird stuff in alien figures? They’re ALIENS! Too bad if parents couldn’t get it. That certainly wasn’t anything I was
Barlowe’s Best Power Lords’ aliens were designed by fantasy master Wayne Douglas Barlowe. Here, they’re interpreted by penciler Mark Texeira and inker Tod Smith on the original cover art for DC’s Power Lords #2 (Jan. 1984). Original art courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Strongin/Mayem, International.
Let’s Do the Twist This ad for Revell’s Power Lords action figures ran on the back covers of DC titles. TM & © Strongin/Mayem, International.
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Ed Lute
Even though superhero comics continue to reign supreme in the hearts and minds of fans, during the late 1970s and early 1980s science fiction became popular again in comics. The genre had become a hot commodity during this time in movies, TV shows, animation, toys, and comic books. What caused this sudden resurgence of the genre’s popularity? The 1977 premiere of George Lucas’ Star Wars, of course, bringing about a sci-fi renaissance. While there was a popular Star Wars title published by Marvel, many other science-fiction comics appeared during this time, some based on licensed properties (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon, Atari Force) as well as original concepts (Omega Men, Sun Devils, Jemm: Son of Saturn). Spanner’s Galaxy was another sci-fi comic that fell squarely into the second category, but its creators, writer Nicola “Nick” Cuti and artist Tom Mandrake, were obviously influenced by George Lucas’s epic space opera. The six-issue Spanner’s Galaxy miniseries published by DC Comics wore its Star Wars influences on its sleeve, but made those influences its nick cuti own and turned them into something original. Join BACK ISSUE as we take a galaxy-spanning Hey Kids Comics Wiki. trip to explore this cult-favorite miniseries, how it took familiar Star Wars tropes and placed its own spin on them, and how it wasn’t the typical comic-book fare at the time.
SPANNER’S GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY
Spanner Under Fire Polaris Spanner’s not exactly making friends on the cover of Spanner’s Galaxy #1 (Dec. 1984). Art by Tom Mandrake. TM & © DC Comics.
Let me know if you’ve heard this one before: a sci-fi tale about a farm boy from a distant planet who left his home to face adventures throughout the galaxy, all the while being hunted by an intergalactic police force and bounty hunters. He helped a young girl, with the assistance of a rogue space pirate. He was also joined on his adventures by a furry creature that could repair spaceships. He visited a swamp planet and a space station. He had special powers that he was trained to use by an alien creature. Oh, and he also wielded a mythical weapon. If you thought we were talking about Star Wars, you would be wrong. Although Spanner’s Galaxy shared many similarities with those adventures from a galaxy far, far away, this DC Comics series put its own spin on them, as we shall see. The inaugural issue (Dec. 1984) introduced readers to a young boy named Polaris “Poli” Spanner, who helped a young homeless girl named Andromeda “Andi” Jones. The space pirate Marcus Baka was also introduced when he helped save Spanner and his father from horse-like humanoids called Kamorians, who attacked them to obtain the “shek” that they possessed. A shek was a mythical weapon that required special training to properly use, and only those who had the power to use it could possess one. After their failed attempt to obtain the shek, the Kaborians realized that Spanner was special. They trained him how to use the shek and also how to “castle.” Castling was a special power that not every1980s DC Miniseries Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33
one possessed. It allowed someone to teleport themselves to another city or even a planet. However, the castler would switch places with another castler in that location when they teleported. After his training was complete, Spanner was given the title of Kaborian Knight. While aspects of the story may seem familiar to Star Wars fans, Cuti and Mandrake didn’t go down the same road. The first issue ended with Spanner on the run from an intergalactic police force that was working with Baka and bounty hunters led by Jones, who oversaw the Bounty Hunters Guild! Readers would have to wait until the final issue to find out why Spanner was being hunted, but they would be treated to an intergalactic adventure on the journey there.
SPANNING THE GALAXY
With a title like Spanner’s Galaxy, readers were no doubt expecting an intergalactic adventure with exciting locales and exotic humans and aliens. They wouldn’t be disappointed with this miniseries. Spanner was a castler who had the ability to teleport to different parts of the galaxy. Since he was on the run from various factions, this was a great talent to have. However, Spanner’s Galaxy #2 (Jan. 1985) revealed that he could be tracked when he castled, allowing Baka, Jones, and their respective groups to locate him. All Baka and Jones had to do was to find out where the person who switched with Spanner was from and then travel there. With his castling power, each issue saw Spanner travel to a new planet or location, where a sci-fi adventure ensued. Even though Spanner was on the run, the second issue found him helping human Isoli Cre-Rivors—or as he referred to her, Icy Rivers—because she had the ability during times of stress to drop her metabolism to almost nothing to appear tom mandrake dead. More importantly, though, he also met Gadj, a small, cute, feline-like alien called a “gadgeteer,” who could repair almost any- © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. thing. Gadj became Spanner’s companion for the rest of the miniseries. Spanner and Gadj found themselves on a swamp planet called New Okeefenokee in issue #3 (Feb. 1985). The planet was inhabited by the alien San-Os, humans, and a host of other creatures, helping to make the alien planet come to life. The pair helped Dida, the daughter of the human Po family, learn about secrets from her past that been hidden by her parents.
Everybody Wants You (top) Half-page house ad for Spanner’s Galaxy, as seen in late 1984 DC titles. (bottom) A flashback to Spanner’s origin. Page 2 of issue 1, written by Nick Cuti and illustrated by Tom Mandrake. TM & © DC Comics.
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Few superhero teams have such a rich history as the Justice Society of America, and few know that history as well as Roy Thomas. The legendary comics scribe who brought the Golden Age of comics to the Bronze Age wrote a detailed and definitive version of it in the four-issue America vs. the Justice Society. Walk with us, BACK ISSUE readers, as we stroll through the hallowed halls of the JSA headquarters in Civic City and discuss the making of this miniseries that would change the lives of every character involved. Hurry… Hourman says time will run out soon. As the DC Universe heroes of Earth-One were preparing for a crisis, their counterparts on Earth-Two, whom said crisis would eventually affect, had their hands full with their own series of events. They began with a shocking revelation from beyond the grave. Batman, whose death was chronicled in Paul Levitz and Joe Staton’s “Only Legends Live Forever” classic in Adventure Comics #461–462, in his diary accused the Justice Society of America of treason. That allegation is the core of America vs. the Justice Society. Roy Thomas was kind enough to speak with BACK ISSUE about the 1985 miniseries. – James Heath Lantz
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James Heath Lantz
JAMES HEATH LANTZ: Can you tell the folks reading who may not be familiar with the comic what America vs. the Justice Society is, and how it came to be? ROY THOMAS: Yes, definitely. Of course, I’d already been doing a lot of reading on World War II, especially the home front, from when I was doing The Invaders and even before. But then, I’d read a fair amount of medieval history before Arak, too, just without any definite aim in mind. LANTZ: You mentioned in our discussions of Arak: Son of Thunder [in issue #121] that you and your wife Dann did a bunch of research to make it as historically accurate as possible. Was this also the case with America vs. the Justice Society? THOMAS: As accurate as possible, since once you would inject superpowered beings into history, that history will be irretrievably changed. Probably a real All-Star Squadron, Dragon King, etc., would have made history a lot more different—even if the JSA missed Pearl Harbor—by early 1942 than I allowed. Consider those alternate-history versions of World War II in prose fiction, which generally veer off considerably from real history soon after a few new elements are introduced. I felt I wanted to keep the history as close to accurate as I could. roy thomas LANTZ: In fact, I often wondered what it would be like if superheroes IMDb.com. like the JSA existed during wartime. You satisfied that curiosity in a way without going the grim-and-gritty route of Watchmen or other comics that came after America vs. the Justice Society.
Grave Allegations Accusations made in the late Batman’s diary placed DC’s original super-team in peril; detail from America vs. the Justice Society #1 (Jan. 1985). Cover by Jerry Ordway. TM & © DC Comics.
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You described this series as “The real history of the Justice Society” in your intro to America vs. the Justice Society #1. The last panel on page six and all of page seven of that issue in particular show your attention to those details regarding DC’s various heroes’ individual histories. In fact, you’ve often stated the importance of such things when writing for characters and teams who have been in the comics medium as long as the JSA. Do you still feel that’s the case? THOMAS: No change there. I have a real disdain for people who don’t appreciate the importance of history. I feel they’re morons. LANTZ: Like Spanish philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” History is more appreciated if it is remembered. You stated in your intro that America vs. the Justice Society was intended to be a six-issue miniseries. Do you recall what led to
it becoming four issues instead? THOMAS: DC dictated it. However, the AvJSA issues contained no ads whatsoever. This meant the story content was at least as much as it would have been with six regular issues. LANTZ: One of my favorite things about America vs. the Justice Society and The Last Days of the Justice Society one-shot was the skeleton key on the inside covers, so as not to overrun the story with footnotes. I wish more comics did that. I think I only saw something similar in a Star Trek comic. Was this your idea or something you discussed with the powers-that-be at DC? THOMAS: It was my idea, but I had to get approval from DC. They didn’t have ads in that mag, so it worked. LANTZ: The entire series feels like one of those classic mysteries where the characters and the reader alike ask who the real culprit might be while they all try to figure things out as they read or experience events in the story. Was this your intention? What influenced this particular type of writing? THOMAS: Dann and I were kicking around things, and she came up with the “Batman’s Diary” thing based on the “Hitler’s Diary” hoax then going around. Dann loves mysteries, and I enjoy playing around with them to some extent. LANTZ: You and Dann worked a lot together during your tenure at DC. Did you two bounce ideas back and forth while writing America vs. the Justice Society? How much of the series was you both together, and how much was one or the other’s idea? THOMAS: I can’t recall how much was her idea or how much was mine, but of course I was the one who interfaced with DC and was the official generator of ideas. Dann never tried to push me to do a particular series or idea since she really had no objective interest in being a comics writer. It was all about (a) helping me, and (b) potential income for her, as it should have been. LANTZ: The Justice Society has such a rich, varying roster. Did you make the decision on which members to include in America vs. the Justice Society? How did you decide who starred in and who just wouldn’t work for the series? continued on page 42
Returning All-Stars Writer Roy Thomas’ previous All-Star Squadron artists illustrated pages 1 (this page) and 12 (opposite) of America vs. the Justice Society #1: Rich Buckler (inked by Alfredo Alcala) and Jerry Ordway. TM & © DC Comics.
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To m S p e e l m a n
In the 1980s, the deregulation of advertising on television effectively meant that TV shows—TV shows for kids— could be big commercials. This led to a gigantic toysto-TV pipeline, creating an age that saw beloved cartoons popularizing franchises that are still with us, like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Comics, of course, were in on the ground floor. With Marvel and DC’s business model for most of their histories being “craft compelling stories with interesting-to-great characters wrapped in cheap advertisements for things,” toymakers saw it only natural to hire them to craft a story for their lines and promote them with comics (famously, Denny O’Neil named Optimus Prime during his 1980s stint as a Marvel Comics editor-writer). Of all those, of course, the titans are the three mentioned above. Marvel’s Transformers and G.I. Joe comics were both so much better than they needed to be and so successful that both series are still being continued today by other publishers. Archie’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures—which began adapting the cartoon before going off on its own wild path in the original indie comic’s spirit—may not be as well known today, but it ran for nearly ten years (slightly less than the cartoon) and still holds up today. Other comics of this era and ilk... less so. Case in point: DC’s 1984 Robotech Defenders miniseries by writer Andrew Helfer, pencilers Judith Hunt and Mike Manley, inkers Murphy Anderson (yes, that Murphy Anderson!) and Dan Zolnerowich [a former Golden Age artist and Murph’s one-time colleague who came out of retirement to work with Anderson on the project—ed.], colorists Bob LeRose and Nansi Hoolahan, letterer Ben Oda, and editor Barry Marx. A tie-in to Revell’s shortlived model kit line of the same name, it’s a fascinating curio of the moment of comics history it sprung from. Fiction with a clear mandate to sell toys but still doing its best to offer a compelling story… even if, in this instance, it doesn’t fully work. But why is this? What made this toy tie-in miniseries obscure, while others became immortal? Does this series have anything to do with the more famous Robotech you might’ve heard of? And why is that series such a big deal?
A PACKED STORY… FOR BETTER OR WORSE
Robotech Defenders opens with all-out war on the planet Zoltek, where the United Worlds Confederation’s (UWC) Tactical Squadron is trying to protect the besieged capital Zoltek City from the evil, lizard-y Grelons (think the Gorn from Star Trek, but if they were telepathic, had normal faces, and spoke like “thissss,” albeit inconsistently). Armed with hyper-advanced warships be-
First of… How Many Issues? DC initially planned its toy tie-in miniseries Robotech Defenders to run three issues. Fate had other ideas. Issue #1 (Jan. 1985) cover art by Judith Hunt and the legendary Murphy Anderson. TM & © Revell Inc.
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John Schwirian
When someone mentions Gary Cohn, the topic quickly changes to Amethyst or Blue Devil, but Cohn had been writing for DC Comics long before either of those two series emerged. “The Barren Earth,” by Gary Cohn and Ron Randall, first appeared as a backup series in The Warlord #63 (Nov. 1982). In the early 1980s, Warlord featured several six-page series including “OMAC,” “Claw,” and “Arion, Lord of Atlantis.” “The Barren Earth” was the last backup feature, running 23 installments before being promoted to a four-issue miniseries, only to disappear after that, save for a brief spot in the second issue of DC’s Who’s Who. A science-fiction story, The Barren Earth was the tale of a dying planet, super-heated by a sun turned into a red giant. For the last 5,000 years, humanity fought an interstellar war with the insectoid QLOV—a war that had begun to turn in favor of the QLOV. After a two-millennium absence, humans headed back to Earth in search of weapons and technology left there by their ancestors. A band of intrepid warriors fought their way past QLOV battleships, only to crash-land into the scorching sands that now covered humanity’s birth world. Jinal Ne Comarr and her companions believe that they are alone in this vast desert, but are proven wrong as bizarre predator species attack and devour them, one by one. Soon, Jinal is alone and battling to survive. Rescued by the dashing Skinner, she joins his band of marauders, allies with Lord Barasha (leader of the reptilian Harasham), fights the monstrous Mulge (mindless mushroom men), and encounters the enigmatic Ancient Ones who claim to have guided Earth’s evolution after humanity left for the stars. The miniseries introduced a new nemesis—Zhengla Koraz, a yellow-skinned barbarian warlord reminiscent of Genghis Khan and Attilla the Hun. Jinal and her team overcome many challenges in preparation for the pending QLOV invasion, with the series gary cohn ending on a cliffhanger with the arrival of Jinal’s mentor Admiral Rizzek in her personal intergalactic warship. On November 15, 2021, writer Gary Cohn and artist Ron Randall graciously took the time to speak to me about the development and history of The Barren Earth. – John Schwirian JOHN SCHWIRIAN: Gary, prior to Barren Earth, you and Ron had not yet met. You had done some odd projects here and there… GARY COHN: Very odd. SCHWIRIAN: Amethyst [with co-writer Dan Mishkin] was underway, so how did Barren Earth get started? COHN: Ron and I had done a story for one of the mystery magazines, maybe Unexpected, called “Samurai Nightmare” (Unexpected #216, Nov. 1981)—I’m pretty sure that came before Barren Earth—so we knew each other from around the office and—I don’t know if we had done anything else, but we did that one. We were both in [DC editor] Laurie Sutton’s office, I think… RON RANDALL: Oh, no—I’ve got the juicy story. I have a great memory of how this went, at least how you and I got hooked up. COHN: Good, because I don’t. RANDALL: I had done some backup stories in various DC books. I had gone to the Joe Kubert School of Art, so I got to do some war stories in the back of the Sgt. Rock book that Joe was still editing at the time,
Liberated from ‘The Warlord’ Gary Cohn and Ron Randall’s cult favorite “The Barren Earth” backup graduated from the back pages of The Warlord to its own four-issue miniseries. Conqueror of the Barren Earth #1 (Feb. 1985) cover by Randall. TM & © DC Comics.
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How far would you go for the people you love? How far would you go to settle a score? How far would you go to keep your sanity? These are the questions asked in the four-issue limited series Legionnaires 3, published by DC Comics. The story was plotted and laid out by Keith Giffen. Dialogue was provided by Mindy Newell. The legendary Ernie Colón penciled the tale. Karl Kesel inked the work. Carl Gafford gave the art color, and it was edited by Karen Berger. The four comic books have the publication dates February through May 1986. In this article, we will examine keith giffen the plot in light of the questions asked at the beginning of this piece. We will next move to examine DC Fandom. how the pictures related that story to the readers. We will then close by asking how effective the whole story worked. Let us get into the world of Legionnaires 3. Legionnaires 3 focuses on four primary players. The first primary character we are introduced to is our villain, Time Trapper. At the edge of reality, this dark-hooded figure tortures allies and enemies as he is tortured by thoughts of past attempts to destroy the Legion of Super-Heroes. Every character that comes into his presence is subject to his whim. If they please him, they are spared to live another day. If they bring him displeasure, he erases them from existence or unleashes some breaking of their reality. He constantly dwells on how to destroy the Legion. He decides he must attack their core, the foundational members of the team: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy. He believes that the key to laying the foundation for victory is to
Troubled Times The Time Trapper pushes the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes to their limits in the four-issue Legionnaires 3. Cover to #1 (Feb. 1986) by Ernie Colón and Karl Kesel. TM & © DC Comics.
60 • BACK ISSUE • 1980s DC Miniseries Issue
Jonathan Brown
Wonder Woman, the most popular and well-known superheroine in the world, was published regularly from her debut in All-Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941–Jan. 1942), followed by Sensation Comics #1(Jan. 1942) and Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942) until Wonder Woman #329 (Feb. 1986). Her popularity was only part of what kept her a regular on the publishing racks for 45 years. Another key ingredient to her never disappearing for long was a mysterious contract between DC Comics and the estate of her creator, William Moulton Marston… So what happened when—in the wake of the continuityshattering Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries—DC decided to cancel Wonder Woman and relaunch it a full year later? The creative team wasn’t ready to debut any earlier, and the Marston contract meant that DC would lose the property if they didn’t publish something. Enter a unique group of mostly female creators, teamed with a yet-tobecome-a-star co-writer, for a four-issue miniseries to help fill in the publishing gap… the ode to the Golden Age of the Amazing Amazon, The Legend of Wonder Woman. The following is an edited transcript of a Zoom reunion between Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek, moderated by Andy Mangels. Letterer Lois Buhalis was unable to participate, editor Alan Gold declined participation, and colorist Nansi Hoolahan was unable to be found after extensive research into her current whereabouts. The reunion was filmed on January 6, 2022, and the pair revealed many answers to the questions longtime DC fans and historians have wondered about for decades since. ANDY MANGELS: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Pro2Pro interview session for Wonder Woman for BACK ISSUE magazine, one of the industry’s leading and award-winning magazines about the history of comics, specifically the realm of the 1970s and 1980s. The 1980s were a major time of change for DC Comics. They were not only introducing creators who had come from the independent comics world and the underground comix world, and British creators, but also introducing an entirely new continuity. That’s what leads us to The Legend of Wonder Woman. Crisis on Infinite Earths had done away or was in the process of doing away with the entire history of Wonder Woman, and the stories that we had known and enjoyed for 40 years at that point were going away. During this time, DC Comics brought together legendary comics creator Trina Robbins and relative
Seems Like Old Times The Golden Age–inspired The Legend of Wonder Woman #1 (May 1986). Cover art by Trina Robbins. Trina may have found it “disappointing” to be required to draw Wonder Woman in her then-contemporary costume, but she did it with the grace and pizzazz that would have brought a smile to the face of legendary WW artist Harry G. Peter. TM & © DC Comics.
64 • BACK ISSUE • 1980s DC Miniseries Issue
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Andy Mangels
newcomer Kurt Busiek—who wasn’t as famous then as he is now—to tell a four-part story in The Legend of Wonder Woman (published May–August 1986). But we’re going to ask them today as they are with us here at BACK ISSUE: Which one of you was approached first? KURT BUSIEK: It had to have been Trina, because I was told, “We’re doing this thing with Trina; would you like to write it?” TRINA ROBBINS: Okay, I didn’t know who was first. MANGELS: Trina, my understanding from the introduction you wrote in issue #2 was, DC came to you asking for you to do something that was Golden Age–flavored? ROBBINS: No, no. They simply asked me if I would like to draw a four-issue Wonder Woman, and I said the only way I would do it was if I could draw it like Howard G. Peter in a retro style, and they said okay. MANGELS: There was a bit of caveat that you had to use the modern-day costume. ROBBINS: Yes. That was disappointing, but I did what I could. MANGELS: Did they explain how that was supposed to be done? ROBBINS: [chuckles] Actually, no. I finally figured it out on my own, but it was not explained. MANGELS: Was that just for copyright reasons? ROBBINS: You mean why she had to wear the original costume, not the original costume, but the new version? No. I never figured that out. I just did it. MANGELS: Kurt, you had written one issue of Wonder Woman prior to this, but you were still early on at what’s now been a very storied career. How did you get involved in the project? BUSIEK: I had been writing a few things for Alan Gold and had written two issues of Wonder Woman, but one of them never got printed—it was Wonder Woman guest-starring Superman—and probably 20–30 trina robbins years later, it got turned into a Superman fill-in, guest-starring Wonder Woman. It was the same story and it happened in Metropolis, rather than Washington, D.C. It was a Woman story, and I got paid for it twice. I had IFWonder YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, kurt Busiek done some things for Alan, and he asked me if I would CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS be interested in writing this series. It was an interesting ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! series because it wasn’t supposed to sell well. The reason it wasn’t supposed to sell well was because— to get it out in time—they weren’t sure whether they would break the contract, so they needed a four-issue can I get into the whole Marston contract thing here? project, but they didn’t want one that would be a MANGELS: Yes, yes. BUSIEK: Wonder Woman was about to die in Crisis stumbling block for the new series. They wanted the on Infinite Earths and they were already working on Pérez series to come out of the gate, “BAM! This is great!” If they had a series right before it that actually sold the new Wonder Woman series, the one coming from George Pérez and then-writer Greg Potter, who wrote well, then people would say, “Why are we getting this the first couple of issues. But DC at the time, and when we got that thing we liked?” or “I want to see possibly now still, doesn’t actually own Wonder Woman. more of that.” It might just be, “Oh, you’re rebooting They license Wonder Woman from what is now the this again?” So, they specifically wanted a series that Marston estate. The setup was—and this is how it would be a Wonder Woman story without making was explained it to me—as long as they published waves, and that’s why it’s this retrospective story four issues a year that were Wonder Woman–featured looking back. That’s partly because what Trina wanted comics—not Justice League, but an issue of Wonder to do and because Trina delivered excellently and Woman worked, and an issue of Sensation Comics partly because they did not want to look forward in any BACK ISSUE #137 way. They wanted George to do that. That’s why the was theGreen headliner also 1980swhere PRE-CRISISshe DC MINISERIES! Arrow, Secrets of theworked—as long Legion, of the Green Lantern four Corps, new Kryptonissues Chronicles, asTales they published of Wonder Woman a very last line of the Legend of Wonder Woman series is— America vs. the Justice Society, Legend of Wonder Woman, the Amazons Hippolyta and Aphrodite are aware that year, theBarren rights not Featuring revert.MIKE W. Conqueror of the Earth,did and more! there’s going to be this new era, this new Amazon, this There some delay BARR, KURT BUSIEK,was PAUL KUPPERBERG, RON while RANDALL,they were tinkering TRINAwith ROBBINS, STATON, CURT SWAN, ROY THOMAS, theJOE Potter/Pérez version, and they weren’t going new story—and the very last line is, “I wonder what it
All the World’s Waiting for Her …Trina Robbins, that is, and her retro take on the Amazing Amazon! DC house ad for The Legend of Wonder Woman. TM & © DC Comics.
and others. VON EEDEN and GIORDANO cover.
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