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Flash Gordon • Zorro • Popeye • Lone Ranger • Son of Tomahawk • Jungle Twins with JURGENS • LANSDALE • McGREGOR • TRUMAN • YEATES & other all-star talents

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, TwoMorrows’ new magazine is just for you! Editor MICHAEL EURY (author of numerous books on pop culture, former editor for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, and editor of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-winning BACK ISSUE magazine for comic book fans) has assembled an unbeatable roster of regular and rotating Celebrity Columnists to cover the pop culture you grew up with: • ANDY MANGELS (best-selling sci-fi author and award-winning pop culture historian) • ERNEST FARINO (Emmy Award-winning visual effects designer, animator, and director) • SCOTT SHAW! (acclaimed cartoonist, animator, Emmy Award-winning storyboard artist, and historian) • WILL MURRAY (pulp adventure novelist and pop culture historian) • SCOTT SAAVEDRA (graphic designer, cartoonist, and COMIC BOOK HEAVEN creator) • MARK VOGER (renowned pop culture newspaper columnist and book author), and others!

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Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features! Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview! Celebrate Rambo’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN cartoons, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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Volume 1, Number 138 September 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Unknown (possibly George Wilson) Originally published as the cover of Gold Key Comics’ Flash Gordon #25 (Feb. 1979). Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: The Lone Ranger in the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Masked Man’s rough ride through the 1970s and beyond BEYOND CAPES: Son of Tomahawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 DC Comics’ short-lived attempt to reboot its ailing frontier comic FLASHBACK: Popeye in the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 From Charlton Comics to Ocean Comics and beyond, blow me down! BEYOND CAPES: The Jungle Twins and the Brothers of the Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Venture into the veldt as we revisit these Gold Key oldies ROUGH STUFF: Hostess Unwrapped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Bonus feature! Pencil art by Dan DeCarlo, Dave Cockrum, and Keith Pollard FLASHBACK: Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Gold Key/Whitman’s 1978–1982 adventures of the legendary space explorer PRO2PRO: Dan Jurgens and Robert Greenberger: DC Comics’ Flash Gordon . . . . . . . 49 The writer-artist and editor of the 1988 reimagining of the space hero revisit the series FLASHBACK: Zorro in the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The return of the Masked Fox and the debut of Lady Rawhide BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 BACK ISSUE™ issue 138, September 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. Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

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Background art: The Masked Fox—Zorro—in a 2008 illo by Thomas Yeates. Courtesy of the artist. Zorro © Zorro Productions, Inc.

SPECIAL THANKS Joe R. Lansdale Jim Amash Michael Ambrose Tim Lasiuta Paul Macchia Mark Arnold Don McGregor Cary Bates Ted Naifeh Ed Catto Jorge Pacheco DC Comics Donnie Pitchford Bob Deveau Ruben Procopio Grand Comics Tod Smith Database Tim Truman Stephan Friedt Fred Grandinetti Universal Studios Glenn Whitmore Robert Renee Witterstaetter Greenberger John M. Hartman Thomas Yeates Zorro Productions, Allan Harvey Inc. Heritage Comics Auctions Dan Johnson Dan Jurgens King Features Syndicate, Inc.

by M

ichael Eury

Gil Kane’s rendition of the Lone Ranger, produced circa 1974 for an “Aurora Comic Scenes” model box and comic-book insert, was originally intended to be the cover of this edition of BACK ISSUE. Licensing restrictions unfortunately limited it to interior use only. But here it is, in its Wild West glory, with amazing color art by our own Glenn Whitmore! The Lone Ranger © Universal Studios. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

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by D

an Johnson

Not Riding Off Into the Sunset Reruns and merchandising kept 1950s television’s Lone Ranger and Tonto, Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, in the public eye long after production ceased on the show. This 1977 print of the Western heroes was issued by Nostalgia Merchant. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). The Lone Ranger and Tonto © Universal Studios.

Saturday, August 12, 1978 is a day I will never forget. That was the day I saw the Lone Ranger in person. I was seven when I discovered comic books and began collecting them earlier that year. Along with the thrill of buying new comics every week, I also watched superheroes on television. Every weekday I would catch reruns of Adam West’s Batman and George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman.

But mixed in with the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel was another hero, the Masked Rider of the Plains, Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger. I still remember the excitement I felt when I saw an ad during the broadcast of the series on WFMY Channel 2 announcing that the Lone Ranger himself would be making a personal appearance at the Carolina Circle Mall in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina!

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My pop took me to see Clayton Moore as the actor addressed a crowd that seemed like it numbered in the thousands. The mall had him speak from the center of the top floor, just above the mall’s ice rink. This was usually reserved for kids to meet Santa Claus at Christmas and the Easter Bunny at Easter. Mr. Moore spoke to the crowd about working on the TV series and how important the character was to him. And he also spoke about what the Lone Ranger stood for: justice, loyalty, and devotion to God and country. It was pretty powerful, and he made a heck of an impression on me. My only regret was not getting an autograph that day, but like I said, there were a lot of people at this event and Pop, God love him, was never big on crowds. The reason I am leading off this article with this story is to show how important the character of the Lone Ranger was to me in shaping my love of heroes, which in turn further fueled my love of comics. Even if the Masked Man was not appearing in his own comic book when I was growing up, he was there in the mix the whole time, and he meant a great deal to me. That being said, even if you couldn’t find the adventures of the Lone Ranger and Tonto on a spinner rack on a regular basis during the Bronze Age, they did make their presence known from time to time.

RETURN WITH US NOW TO THOSE THRILLING DAYS OF YESTERYEAR

While the Lone Ranger scarcely appeared in comic books of the Bronze Age, that certainly wasn’t the case during the Golden Age and the Silver Age. Dell Comics featured The Lone Ranger in several issues of Four Color (#82, Aug. 1945; #98, Feb. 1946; #118, Sept. 1946; #125, Nov. 1946; #136, Feb. 1947; #151, June 1947; and #167, Oct. 1947) before spinning him off into a book of his own, which ran for a total of 145 issues (Jan. 1948–May 1962). Tonto was also spotlighted in an issue of Four Color Comics (#312, Jan. 1951), and then was quickly spun off into his own solo series for 32 issues (Oct. 1951–Jan. 1959). These solo adventures of Tonto offered a different and refreshing look at the character, and it just so happens that this was a favorite of one of the creators who would go on to redefine him decades later. “I didn’t follow the Lone Ranger comics,” says Tim Truman regarding the Dell issues. “I was more into Tonto, drawn by Alberto Giolitti. Those comics can be pretty interesting. Tonto is his own man in those books. When he speaks with members of other tribes, he doesn’t speak in Pidgin English. Also, Giolitti

Golden Age Favorites Dell’s Four Color title often featured the Masked Man and his allies. Covers to (top) Four Color The Lone Ranger #82 (Aug. 1945), (bottom left) Tonto #312 (Jan. 1951), and (bottom right) Silver #369 (Jan. 1952). © Universal.

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From Dell to Delbo With The Lone Ranger #22 (Sept. 1975), Gold Key Comics ceased reprinting Dell Comics’ material and commissioned new work. (top) Original painted cover art to issue #22 by an unidentified artist (if anyone can positively I.D. this painter, please contact ye ed at euryman@gmail.com). Courtesy of Heritage. (bottom) A panel from that issue, illustrated by Jose Delbo. © Universal.

seemed to do some research when he portrayed specific tribes. He didn’t make all the Native people members of the generic ‘Feather-Bonnet Tribe.’” The Lone Ranger was so popular, even his horse got this own series. After two appearances in Four Color (#369, Jan. 1952 and #392, Apr. 1952), The Lone Ranger’s Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver ran for 14 issues (July 1952–Oct. 1955). Dell also had enough faith in the character’s popularity to feature the Lone Ranger in three of their Giant comics, The Lone Ranger’s Western Treasury #1 and 2 (Sept. 1953 and Aug. 1954) and The Lone Ranger’s Golden West #3 (Aug. 1955). Dell also published a Giant comic adaptation of the 1956 Lone Ranger feature film in The Lone Ranger Movie Story (Mar. 1956). Gold Key Comics would relaunch the Lone Ranger comic book with a brand-new issue #1 (Sept. 1964), and this version would initially run through issue #16 (Dec. 1969). During this time, they printed a special one-shot, The Lone Ranger Golden West #1 (Oct. 1966). The Lone Ranger comic would be revived with issue #17 (Nov. 1972), and finally end with #28 (Mar. 1977). Throughout the Gold Key run, up until The Lone Ranger #22 (Sept. 1975), all the stories and the cover artwork were reprinted from the earlier Dell Comics run. Beginning with issue #22, the comic book would feature all-new stories with artwork by Jose Delbo, the famed Argentine artist who had previously worked at Charlton Comics and Tower Comics and who would later go on to work at DC and Marvel Comics throughout the Bronze Age.

jose delbo Super Festivals.

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The Legendary Hank Hartman We backtrack to the ’50s to share with you (left) this stunning original cover painting by Hank Hartman, from the Heritage archives. It was produced for Dell Comics’ The Lone Ranger #73 (July 1954). (right) Unknown to the artist, his cover paintings continued to be reused for years to come. The Hartman painting on Gold Key’s Lone Ranger #18 (Sept. 1974) originally appeared on Dell’s LR #92 (Feb. 1956). © Universal.

HE’S GOT THEM COVERED

of the publishers, as I understand from my A highlight of those Gold Key reprints included father, ever communicated with him about doing covers by Henry “Hank” Hartman. Hartman had any new art, nor modifying or reusing any of his been the primary cover artist for Dell Comics’ original art,” Hartman continues. “Disappointingly, we have seen other uses for not only comics, The Lone Ranger, and his painted covers but souvenir products such as lunch were simply magnificent. Sadly, when boxes, mugs, trading cards, and in his work was being introduced to department store printed material, a whole new generation of fans including Sears, just to name through Gold Key Comics, he one.” was unaware of it. “I can tell Like so many characters, the you now that he was never legacy of the Lone Ranger was contacted after the 1950s by forged by numerous creators Gold Key Comics or any publike Hartman, men and women lisher regarding the reuse or who made the characters popular re-publishing of his artwork,” and helped turn them into billionsays John M. Hartman, Hank’s son, dollar franchises, but they who runs a website devoted to his themselves rarely shared in father’s work. “He was unaware hank hartman the profits once they were of what Gold Key was doing paid for the work they did. and did not learn about it until hartmanfinearts.com “As you probably know, the decades later.” As was often the case with reprinted comics intellectual property rights to every aspect of work, Hartman was neither notified his work all of the TV and movie and cartoon characters was being reissued, nor was he paid for its use. are now ‘owned’ by large corporations that Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Gold Key Comics eventually sell them to other big corporations,” that made liberal use of the artist’s work. “None says Hartman. “I tracked this for a while about 15 years ago and it is just all about business and marketing/ licensing for any and all uses. At one time and maybe still today, Broadway Video became the owner of all things Lone Ranger. In hearing about this, my father commented something like, ‘So they paid once—but used many times!’ A simple summation. This is similar if not exactly the same as what happened to the pioneering musicians of rock and roll and the blues from that era (and later), in which the ‘artists’ never shared in the long-term financial profits and value of their original creations and performances. In retrospect, most people think that was wrong, even if not illegal.”

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A MODEL HERO

As Hartman indicated, the Lone Ranger was used to sell a number of toys and items marketed to kids. There was a time you could buy Lone Ranger costumes, cap guns, lunch boxes, and in 1966, you could build and paint your very own model of the Lone Ranger. And then, one year later, you could even add Tonto to your collection, too. The Lone Ranger and Tonto were part of the legendary Aurora model kit line, which is fondly remembered today primarily for their models of classic monsters such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man. [Editor’s note: See our sister magazine, RetroFan #17, for an article about Aurora’s monster model kits and an interview with the painter of their box art, the legendary James Bama. Also, RetroFan #20, which went on sale in April 2022, featured columnist Andy Mangels’ history of the Lone Ranger’s animated adventures.] But after the success of the monster kits, the company began to explore other properties including superheroes and television shows. The Lone Ranger and Tonto fit both those bills perfectly and became strong sellers. The Aurora model kits were so popular they stayed in production for over ten years. In 1974, the company did tweak the product a bit. First, they changed the box artwork for several of the most popular kits and redubbed this line “Aurora Comic Scenes” models. To mark this rebranding, several comic-book artists were hired to illustrate the box art. The Comic Scenes kits included something truly special, collectibles that are now highly soughtafter by fans: comic books. These comics were eight pages in length. Six pages were devoted to an adventure gil kane featuring the character the model was based on, and the other two pages were instructions for assembling the model kits. These comics featured artwork by such talents as Neal Adams (Tarzan), Curt Swan (Superman) and John Romita, Sr. (Spider-Man and Captain America). The Tonto Comic Scenes model was actually issued a year before the Lone Ranger one, in 1974. Both featured box art and a comic illustrated by Gil Kane, and were written by Marv Wolfman. As it turned out, for Kane, this was a passion project as he was a huge fan of the Lone Ranger. While this was the only time Kane got to illustrate stories with the Lone Ranger and Tonto, as you will soon learn, he did try out for another project featuring the Western legends.

Don’t Mess with the Masked Man Our hero faces insurmountable odds in this dynamic Gil Kane–drawn original art page from the Lone Ranger Aurora Comic Scenes insert comic. Script by Marv Wolfman. Art scan courtesy of Heritage. © Universal.

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Silver Bullets Come in Handy (top) Among the Masked Man’s 1970s merchandising was a 1976 line of action figures from Gabriel Toys. (bottom) They may be in the shadows, but surely you recognize the dynamic duo that saved those young’uns from a werewolf in Creepy #105 (Dec. 1978). Script by Nick Cuti, art by Russ Heath. Scan courtesy of Dan Johnson. The Lone Ranger and Tonto © Universal. Creepy © New Comic Company LLC.

IT’S SCARY WHERE HE TURNED UP

You wouldn’t think the Lone Ranger and Tonto would make an appearance in a horror publication, but thanks to writer Nicola “Nick” Cuti, they showed up in two beloved MonsterKid publications of the 1970s, although in both cases, neither appearance was official. First, Cuti wrote a two-page story called “Werewolf Goes West,” with artwork by Frank Brunner, for the July 1973 edition of The Monster Times. The story is pretty simple. We have a werewolf attacking ranchers and a young boy writes for help from the only man who can stop the monster. In the conclusion of the story, the werewolf is killed by silver bullets, and in the final panel, we see two figures on horseback ride away as one proclaims, “Hi-Yo, Silver!” In Warren Publications’ Creepy #105 (Dec. 1978), Cuti joined forces with artist Russ Heath and expanded on the idea, turning it into an eight-page story called “Dime Novel Hero.” In this version, a Texas cattle baron brings in a hired gun by the name of Kid Lobo to get rid of sheepherders in the area. Kid Lobo has more going for him than just a fast gun, as he is also a werewolf that begins to slaughter the livestock and the ranchers. As with The Monster Times story, a young boy, who we now learn is obsessed with dime-novel Westerns, writes for help from the only man who can dispose of Kid Lobo. The Lone Ranger and Tonto, seen only as two shadowy figures, arrive just in time to save the boy and his sister and dispatch the werewolf with silver bullets. While the readers never see the faces of these two saviors, it is easy enough to tell by the silver bullets, the way they speak, and the white horse the masked cowboy rides who these champions of justice are. In the second-to-last panel, the mystery cowboy vows to rid Texas of all outlaws and werewolves before his ride is over. The story proclaims that he couldn’t make good on his vow to rid the state of outlaws, but you will not find any werewolves in Texas today. One important thing about “Dime Novel Hero,” besides the fact that it is so different than many other Warren horror tales, is that one of its creators would soon have the chance to officially work on a comics project featuring the Masked Man. The only downside is it would coincide with one of the biggest failures of all-time for the character. 8 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAGES

On May 22, 1981, Universal Pictures released The Legend of the Lone Ranger, a modern retelling of the origin of the Masked Man intended to spark a new chapter for the character. As it turned out, the film was doomed even before it was released as it suffered a backlash of bad publicity stemming from the studio taking legal action against TV Lone Ranger Clayton Moore that meant he could no longer wear his Lone Ranger mask at personal appearances. He was also told he could no longer sign his autographs as “The Lone Ranger,” only as “The Masked Man.” When The Legend of the Lone Ranger came out, it garnered mostly negative reviews. Any good will it might have received was killed even before its release by the action taken against Moore. To many fans, this hadn’t just been an attack on the actor, but on the one, true Lone Ranger himself. In the end, the movie died at the box office, earning only $12 million on a reported budget of $18 million.

Misfire (left) After being legally wrangled out of the Lone Ranger’s mask, Clayton Moore began appearing as the Masked Man while wearing large sunglasses, as in this 1980 ad for SunSensor lenses. (right) Movie poster for Universal’s 1981 flop The Legend of the Lone Ranger, starring Klinton Spilsbury as the Masked Man and Michael Horse as Tonto. Both, courtesy of Heritage. The Lone Ranger © Universal. SunSensor ® Corning.

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Kane Goes West Here’s a rarity, provided to BI courtesy of Bob Deveau: an unpublished Lone Ranger sample strip produced by Gil Kane as a tryout for the syndicated newspaper feature. (opposite page) Four sample dailies of the Cary Bates–written, Russ Heath–illustrated 1983 Lone Ranger dailies, from March 23 and December 10, 12, and 14. From the collection of Tim Lasiuta. © Universal.

One positive thing that did come out of the as I recall it was primarily smooth sailing for the disastrous film reboot was the revival of the balance of our two-year run.” According to Bates, there was no request to Lone Ranger comic strip by the New York Times Special Features. The strip was launched on tie the strip into The Legend of the Lone Ranger September 13, 1981. The writer for the strip film. “There was no direct connection,” says Bates. “I don’t think we were even afforded a screening was Cary Bates. of the film, though I do recall seeing a shooting “I was hired by Marian Taylor, the managing script.” As for blowback on the injunction editor of the New York Times Syndicate against Clayton Moore, Bates believes (a separate entity from the NY Times that had no impact on the comic paper),” Bates tells BACK ISSUE. strip in the end. “Sadly, even under “When they were preparing to the best of circumstances, the launch, she reached out to me but strip was only appearing in a I can’t recall any details or who if small number of papers, so we anyone referred me to her.” never received much publicity As mentioned earlier, artist pro or con.” Gil Kane was a fan of the Lone While Bates and Heath’s Lone Ranger and threw his hat into the Ranger was of the highest caliber, ring for the job for the Lone Ranger timing was against it as the strip, even doing some samples. “I beginning of the 1980s saw remember being quite impressed cary bates waning popularity of adventure with his samples,” Bates says, and soap-opera newspaper comic “even more impressed by the strips. Many newspapers began soaring monologue he recited © DC Comics. to me and Marian Taylor about what a huge dropping serial strips in favor of gag strips that influence the Lone Ranger had on him. If only I didn’t require readers to keep up on a daily basis. had a tape recorder with me!” Alas, Kane working Another factor that hurt the overall circulation of on the strip just was not meant to be. “To this the Lone Ranger comic strip was that more and more day I’m not sure why he fell out though I suspect papers began to feature strips like it in the Sunday edition only. “Marian Taylor informed me up front it was over money,” laments Bates. With Kane out of the running, the job fell the job would entail writing two-tiered continuity,” to another artist who had previous experience says Bates. “The Times Syndicate required the with the characters: Russ Heath. “I think it all Sunday strips to embellish the previous six days’ worked out for the best, as there’s no question narrative without simply repeating material from Russ Heath was absolutely the right man for this the dailies… while the papers that only ran weekly job,” says Bates. “I’d known Russ for years. We installments needed the Sunday strips to stand on worked on a couple of stories for Warren, so we their own and still convey all the major story beats.” The Lone Ranger comic strip only ran for got along well during the run of the strip. “In fact, Russ was a great ally on this job. about two and a half years. The last daily strip For reasons that were never clear to me, ran on March 31, 1984, and the final Sunday the person the Wrather Corporation [then- strip ran on April 1, 1984. There is a sense of corporate owner of the Lone Ranger property] closure to the final installment, as Bates and chose to be their liaison was often critical Heath bid farewell to the Lone Ranger and Tonto of the scripts even though the NYT Syndicate in the last panel. In 1993, Greg Theakston released was very happy with them. More than once, a single-issue comic book through his Pure Russ stepped in to defend the stories we Imagination Publishing that reprinted two stories were doing. Those conversations were strictly from the comic strip’s run. In 2011, Dynamite between the liaison and Russ; I never had any Entertainment had planned to release a complete direct contact or input from this person, and if collection of Bates and Heath’s Lone Ranger Russ ever shared any details with me I’ve long stories, but that project was cancelled due to forgotten them. In any event, after the first six the company being unable to secure the rights months or so, the complaints tapered off, and to all the strips.

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Who Are Those Unmasked Men? Artist Russ Heath and writer Cary Bates, that’s who! The strip’s creators cameo alongside the Lone Ranger and Tonto in the final Sunday strip, originally published on April 1, 1984. Courtesy of Tim Lasiuta. © Universal.

THE LONE RANGER IS TOPPS!

from them. Everyone involved wanted to put a new After the comic strip ended, it would be over a decade spin on the characters, and Joe and I had proven that, before our heroes returned to the comics medium. yeah, we could handle that.” In regard to the spin Lansdale and Truman would When they finally did, it was thanks to Topps, the manufacturer of trading cards, who decided to get place on the Lone Ranger and Tonto, they succeeded into the comic-book business in 1992. Their take on right off the bat as the first page of the first issue saw Tonto punching Kemo Sabe. The image was so these characters was a four-issue miniseries covershocking, it was covered in the New York Post dated August–November 1994, written by Joe and commentator Rush Limbaugh reported Lansdale and illustrated by Tim Truman. on it on his nightly television program. As it was, Truman was the first to The image sent a powerful message to be signed onto the project. “I believe readers that this creative duo had plans I received a call from Topps’ editor, for Tonto, and they included breaking Renée Witterstaetter, asking if I’d be the stereotypes that many Westerns interested and if I could ask Joe if he’d comics were guilty of in regard to the want to be involved,” recalls Truman. presentation of Native Americans. “I’m pretty sure that Renée and I had “I had a track record of being quite worked on something before, when she concerned and aware of how Native was with DC or Marvel. Joe and I had Americans of various tribes had been made a big impression with Jonah Hex: portrayed in the media and the work Two Gun Mojo for DC/Vertigo. It was joe r. lansdale that I’d done in had reflected that the first time that most comics fans and concern,” says Truman. [Editor’s note: folks in the comics industry had been See BACK ISSUE #42 for our feature on exposed to Joe’s writing and his style, sense of humor; and his weird take on the Western/horror Scout, Truman’s 1980s indie series featuring an Apache genre was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. warrior in post–apocalyptic America.] “That was another I was used to doing historical research, so my drawing reason that Topps had approached me. They knew that and storytelling style made all the weirdness believable. I would be interested in putting a new spin on Tonto— fleshing him out and elevating him above his long-running Joe and I have always been a good team in that regard. “The book had really turned people’s heads. The ‘faithful Indian sidekick’ stereotype. Joe and I were totally Lone Ranger property was owned by the same people in sync about that. We didn’t want Tonto to speak broken that handled the rights to Saturday Night Live, strangely English. And I did some research so that we could give enough. Topps had just gained the license to the work Tonto a more specific tribal background and culture,

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rather than just making him a member of the usual an original approach, we wanted to give it our fictitious, all-encompassing ‘universal Indian’ tribe.” spin. We brought SF and fantasy and horror into Reaffirming Tonto as the Lone Ranger’s partner, it. I don’t think it has to have those elements, not just his trusted sidekick, was one of the but it gave it a buzz, and we made Tonto more driving forces of this miniseries, and something of a partner than a sidekick.” When asked if there was any hesitation on his Lansdale agrees was necessary to focus on right at the outset. “[The idea to bring Tonto into part about taking this assignment, Truman says, “[There was] a bit. For one thing, it seemed his own] came right away,” says Lansdale. that Joe and I were getting stereotyped “Both Tim and I felt that way. When as ‘the Western guys,’ and that I was I was a kid I played Tonto, not the getting pigeonholed as ‘the Indian Lone Ranger, and I had my own kid guy.’ Still, the book seemed like storylines I pursued as I played, an interesting opportunity to play and Tonto was the hero.” with some genre stereotypes The Topps miniseries was the and try to pull them inside out. I first regular comic book about have to confess, though, that the the Lone Ranger and Tonto main thing I was worried about in almost 20 years. Even with was whether or not I’d be able no comic series on the market, to draw a guy as handsome and these were still familiar and iconic clean-cut as the Lone Ranger! characters, as the reaction from I have never been great at the Post and Limbaugh indicated. timothy truman drawing well-pressed, squeakyMost importantly, the comic clean types. It’s way out of my featured the first major revisions comfort zone. I can’t get the feel ever done to the characters. Lansdale and Truman explored new territory of them too easily. I like to draw characters who’ve with them, yet managed to stay true to the spir- been knocked around a bit… who have broken it of the characters. “I liked the challenge, but bones, chin stubble, a lot of dust and mud on of course you wanted to be true to the spine of them. Sure enough, I never got really comfortable the source material,” says Lansdale. “But since drawing the Ranger. Tonto was fine. I got him. But it wasn’t an adaptation of an existing work, but the Ranger was a struggle.”

Together No More Lansdale and Truman’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto miniseries from Topps Comics wasn’t a “business as usual” rendition of the classic Western duo. Cover and page from issue #1 (Aug. 1994). © Universal.

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Handsomer Than Jonah Hex… Timothy Truman, accustomed to drawing rough-andtumble characters, had reservations about illustrating the clean-cut Masked Man. We think he did a spectacular job! Original art from page 18 of Topps’ issue #1, inked by Rick Magyar. Courtesy of Heritage. © Universal.

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EAST (ALMOST) MEETS WEST

The miniseries did well enough to warrant a sequel, and Topps commissioned a second miniseries that was completed, but then cancelled at the last minute. In it, the Lone Ranger and Tonto would have crossed paths with another Legend of the Old West. “I think the project was a ‘Lone Ranger and Tonto meet Kwai Chang Caine’ crossover—you know, the old Kung Fu TV series,” says Truman. “We did the Ranger and Tonto in 1993 and ’94. I started doing a lot of writing after that and got involved with other projects. There was also some heavy stuff going down in my personal life as well. My dad and a couple of my dear friends got really ill with cancer during that period, and that was occupying a lot of my thoughts and energy. So, although I was a Kung Fu fan, I wasn’t able to join Joe for that project, nor did I have any input on the project.” “Oh, that was fun,” explains Lansdale about the follow-up miniseries and offering further details about why it never saw print. “ [It] took place in San Francisco and had kung fu in it. I’ve studied martial arts for 59 years at this point, so it’s been a lifelong interest. It was written and the artwork was done, but it never got off the ground. Topps decided to move out of comics before it was published. I wish it could [have been printed]. It was good.” Lansdale reveals that Tim Naifeh was slated to work on the second series. Whereas Truman had some doubts about drawing the Lone Ranger, Naifeh dived right in with the character. “[The story] kinda became Lone Ranger meets Big Trouble in Little China, the appeal of which should be obvious,” says Naifeh. “I did a more dressed-up, ‘city’ outfit for the Ranger when Joe took him to San Francisco. I think I still have those stacked up in the closet somewhere.”

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD ON ARRIVAL

Tim Truman was unable to work on the second miniseries due to other projects. One of them included an animated series featuring the Lone Ranger that never got past the planning stages. Around this time, a number of older characters were finding new life in both movies (The Phantom) and animated shows (Flash Gordon). Joe Lansdale also worked on the animated Lone Ranger project. “I wrote some scenarios and Tim did some artwork for it,” he recalls. “We got paid, they liked our work, but the show died quickly. Too bad. It would have been fun. We brought SF and fantasy and horror into it. I don’t think it has to have those elements, but it gave it a buzz.” Truman adds that they would have brought a brand-new character to the Lone Ranger mythos, one that owed some credit to one of the best Westerns of the decade. “I did some posed character pieces of the Ranger, Tonto, and some sort of tough-yet-beautiful female gunslinger character. They specifically wanted her to look something like the Sharon Stone character in The Quick and the Dead. Yeah, ’90s Hollywood was so original.” Alas, the project, like so many in Hollywood died a quick death, even before it had a chance to draw its first breath.

This Team Was Topps with Us! (top) Topps’ The Lone Ranger and Tonto #2–4, and (bottom) a splash page from issue #2. © Universal.

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Still Riding the Range In recent years, the Lone Ranger and Tonto have returned to print in a variety of publications, including crossover comics co-starring Zorro and the Green Hornet. The Lone Ranger and Tonto © Universal. Zorro © Zorro Productions, Inc. The Green Hornet © The Green Hornet, Inc.

RIDING INTO THE FUTURE

The Lone Ranger has been around going on almost 90 years. Because of his rich history in so many mediums, he is a character that publishers still feel has an audience, as evidenced by the various Dynamite Comics series of the 2000s and also the prose stories published by Moonstone Publishing. The clean-cut, straight-and-true presentation that Clayton Moore embodied is still the version that is popular with many fans, and it is the one that they try to pass along to their children and grandchildren. Even if the world isn’t as black and white as what the old television series made it out to be, I personally feel there is still a place, and a need, for heroes like the Lone Ranger and Tonto. And I think they can find a place with a modern audience, so long as creators hold true to what makes the character a hero. “I think the reason Batman had replaced characters like Lone Ranger was because Batman interrogated the simplistic notion of white-hats vs blackhats,” reflects Ted Naifeh. “I think Joe’s [Lansdale] first job digging back into this old-school character was reconsidering what being a white-hat meant, though in the end, he still went for two-fisted pulp adventure, just through a more modern lens. I’d be curious what he’d do with the idea now. Joe keeps up with the times, and I think he’d do something really interesting with the character now. Perhaps the real problem was that the world hadn’t yet circled back to the Lone Ranger. This was a time when comics were still in love with ‘edgy’ reinterpretations. And though Joe could have given us that, he also knew better than to trash a classic character just to make him edgy.” As the Lone Ranger Creed so famously puts it, “I believe that all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.” So long as modern creators hold to the truth that, at the end of the day, the Lone Ranger is a hero of the highest order, the stories they tell of him can and will find an audience. As a fan of the character, I like to think the journeys of the Masked Man and Tonto are not over yet. DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer and pop-culture historian. He is a co-founder, editor, and writer for Empire Comics Lab (empirecomicslab.com) and Old School Comics. Dan has written for Antarctic Press, Campfire Graphic Novels, Golden Kid Comics, InDELLible Comics, and ACP Comics, and is a writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

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by A l l a n

Harvey

Your humble author once opined on an online message board that he didn’t particularly care for comics in the Western genre and always flipped past books such as Tomahawk when browsing through the back-issue bins in a comic shop. No sooner had that comment flown into the ether than a retort materialized proclaiming that Tomahawk was, in fact, not a Western— and couldn’t be—because it wasn’t set west of the Mississippi River. Since I am British, this kind of definition of what was considered a Western had never occurred to me: To my younger self, anything set in the America of the 18th and 19th Centuries and featuring horses, “Indians,” wide-open plains, and plenty of gunplay, had to be a Western. First appearing in Star Spangled Comics #69 (June 1947), “Tomahawk” was the nickname of Tom Hawkins, a soldier who fought with George Washington both before and during the Revolutionary War against the British (1776–1783). As a buckskin-clad, frontiersmantype character, he had anticipated the Disney Davy Crockett craze of the mid-1950s by almost a decade. Awarded his own title in 1950, which ran alongside a couple of backup strips elsewhere, he was, by 1968, one of DC’s most enduring properties—but his sales were falling. For much of the 1960s, Tomahawk’s adventures had been written by France Herron and drawn by Fred Ray. The pair produced solidly entertaining stories, but had fallen into a rut, taking the well-worn DC Silver Age route of having their hero face off against giant monsters, gorillas, and aliens. There was even a kind of “Tomahawk Family” in the form of Tomahawk’s Rangers—who had wild names such as Stovepipe, Big Anvil, and Cannonball—and Miss Liberty, an early patriotic superheroine. Such gimmicks no longer wowed the crowds, however, and change was needed. Something, dare one say, (r)evolutionary. Editor Murray Boltinoff assigned his star artist, Neal Adams, to draw the cover to Tomahawk #116 (May–June 1968), and its design was radically different to anything that had appeared on the title before. It proved so popular that future comics writer Tony Isabella sung its praises in a later letters column, and requests from fans as to how to purchase the original art saw print as well! A run of Adams-drawn covers followed, and soon the changes were rung on the interior pages too, with the art chores handed over to DC newcomer Frank Thorne starting with #119 (Nov.– Dec. 1968), and Robert Kanigher came on board as writer to provide stories with a little more grit. When this too failed to stem the loss of sales, editorial director Carmine Infantino had Tomahawk reassigned to editor Joe Kubert, who instigated an even more radical change of direction.

There’s a New Kind of Tomahawk Coming… The gunman’s POV, on this Joe Kubert–drawn cover to (Son of) Tomahawk #131 (Nov.–Dec. 1970), the first issue of an attempted revitalization of DC’s long-running frontier mag. TM & © DC Comics.

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Trailing Tomahawk (top left) Artist Fred Ray’s cover for Star Spangled Comics #100 (Jan. 1950) was the gold standard for the long-running DC Comics “Tomahawk” feature. (top right) By the mid-1960s, the series had clearly run its course (although you’ve gotta admit, a frontier Frankenstein is pretty cool). (bottom) Stunning Neal Adams covers like these 1968 examples offered Tomahawk a much-needed defibrillation. TM & © DC Comics.

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THE SON OF TOMAHAWK

A professional artist since the age of 11 in the 1930s, Kubert was by 1970 probably most known for his work on DC’s war books, featuring characters such as Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace. He chose to shake up the ailing Tomahawk by abandoning the status quo and pushing the period setting forward by some 40 years. Readers would soon discover that in the intervening decades between Tomahawk #131 (Nov.–Dec. 1970) and the previous issue, Tomahawk had quit the Rangers and moved far into the West of the country, where, he explains, “a man kin breathe without someone’s elbow pokin’ his eye out…” Along the way he met & married a Native-American woman, Moon Fawn, and together they have two sons: Hawk, who is roughly 20 years old, and his much younger brother, Young/Small/Little Eagle (the adjective changes from issue to issue, which is unfortunate). Interestingly, Hawk appears Caucasian, while Young Eagle has a more NativeAmerican skin tone (or, at least, the color combination that passed for such in the four-color comics of 1970). This aspect is played upon in several of the stories. Renamed—on the cover only—Son of Tomahawk, the title would henceforth nominally feature the adventures of Hawk, and with the Revolutionary War left far behind, the series began to present more familiar Western trappings. While the elderly Tomahawk remains a constant presence in the book and continues to wear his animal-skin outfit and coonskin hat, Hawk is quite the natty dresser in his black shirt and fancy, patterned waistcoat, every inch the gunslinging hero figure of the mythologized Wild West. To complete the look, his shock of black hair has a distinctive white/blond streak. Both Kanigher and Thorne remained in situ as the creative forces on the book, but Kubert immediately moved to save money on the weakening title by cutting the lead story from 17 pages to around 13, with reprints frequently making up the remainder of the editorial content. Under an exciting Joe Kubert–drawn cover, Tomahawk #131 opens with a young woman being pursued by a horseback-riding mob intent on lynching her. Hawk intervenes and is strung up for his trouble. Just as the hangman’s noose is about to tighten, the rope is severed by a well-thrown weapon: a tomahawk axe. The white-haired Tomahawk reveals himself, and together he and Hawk chase off the miscreants, who are after the girl’s family’s gold mine. Later, Hawk sets a trap and dispatches the villains. Old Tomahawk puffs on his pipe and reasons that his son no longer needs his help. It’s a fine, if largely forgettable, introductory story, but Kubert and company had a plan. Just as

six months earlier, starting with Green Lantern #76 (Apr. 1970), writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams, under the sure hand of editor Julie Schwartz, had begun to use that superhero title to scrutinize heavy topics torn from the headlines of the time, so, from this point on, would Kanigher and Thorne use their new Western series to examine then-current-day socio-political concerns through the lens of the Old West. The civil rights movement in the US was well underway by 1970, with tensions still running high following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. two years earlier, when Tomahawk #132 (Jan.–Feb. 1971) was published. Here Kanigher and Thorne highlight the racial prejudices faced by the mixed-race Hawk and Small Eagle when thugs assault them in town. Later, after the racists have been made fools of, they launch a vicious revenge attack on Tomahawk’s Echo Valley home, forcing Small Eagle to grow up very quickly. This is a fine story with plenty of incident and action and ends on an ironic note when Small Eagle decides to use a potentially priceless artifact as an ornament: freedom is all about choices. Racism and misplaced vengeance are the themes explored in Tomahawk #133 (Mar.–Apr. 1971), which sees Hawk relentlessly pursued by a bounty hunter bent on killing all “Injuns” due to his own family being killed by Native-American renegades. The unforgettable climax is set high in the snow-capped mountains, and Hawk learns a valuable lesson about his heritage. The backup story here is a 1950s reprint, but a new introductory section, written and drawn by Kubert, firmly fixes the historical period in which the Son of Tomahawk series is set.

A RANGER RETURNS

One of Tomahawk’s old Ranger pals is the surprise antagonist of issue #134, when a gang seemingly led by Cannonball terrorizes a nearby town. The elderly ex-Ranger has been struggling to find a role for himself in the post–Revolutionary War world and has chosen the wrong path, but Tomahawk shows him a better way. The idea of an older generation out of step with the young is to a certain degree timeless, of course, but the coming of age of the early, post–World War II Baby Boomers in such large numbers in the mid-1960s saw the rise of the counterculture, the fear of which led to a backlash and the so-called “generation gap.” In Tomahawk #135 (July–Aug. 1971), Kanigher turns his eye to a critique of consumer culture when he has Hawk acquire a peddler’s catalogue. Intrigued by the bright and wondrous items displayed within, he develop further as the 1970s wore on!—while #138 is determines to leave home and find his fortune. Soon, a special Christmas-themed tale with some terrific, and he discovers a gold mine, but it quickly, and tragically, unexpected, imagery from the artist. Snow continues to fall in Tomahawk #139 (Mar.–Apr. becomes apparent that there are more important 1972), although the grim and violent story is reminiscent things in life than the pursuit of wealth. of a spaghetti Western, a film genre popular Kubert broke out his grease pencil for the in cinemas in the ’60s and ’70s. Hawk and cover to the following issue, featuring an his father are caught in a snowstorm and ethereal, chained slave. “A Piece of Sky” is decide to find shelter in a nearby town, an unforgettable, if somewhat on-thebut they soon realize that all the nose, return to the subject of racism. inhabitants have been murdered by Tomahawk and Hawk encounter vicious criminals intent on claiming the Jason and Mary, who have escaped town’s gold mine for their own. This slavery and want nothing more than issue has a Statement of Ownership to live free under the eponymous declaring the total number of copies expanse of sky, but are stymied at every printed as 300,000—but the circulation turn by those who would deny them as less than half that, at just 142,103. such simple rights. Suffice to say, There are zero subscriptions to things don’t end well for the couple. the title. For comparison, the StateTomahawk #137 (Nov.–Dec. 1971) joe kubert ment in issue #121 (Mar.–Apr. 1969) is a flashback story showing how declared sales of 156,000 and a Tomahawk met Moon Fawn, and giving Frank Thorne an ample opportunity to depict subscriber base of 176. This may go some way to explaina scantily clad female—a skill he would famously ing why the next issue of Tomahawk was the last.

Spaghetti Western, DC Style Artist Frank Thorne’s arresting title page to Hawk’s first adventure, from Tomahawk #131. Image restoration by Allan Harvey. TM & © DC Comics.

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Part of DC’s ‘Relevance’ Movement Hawk, a mixed-race character, takes on bigots in (left) Tomahawk #132 (Jan.–Feb. 1971) and (right) 136. Image restorations by Allan Harvey. TM & © DC Comics.

PROGRESSIVE STORIES SEEN BY FEW

In 1968, Spencer Tracy received a posthumous Oscar nomination for his performance in the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, where he played a white, progressive, and liberal father who finds himself disconcerted when his daughter marries a black man, Sidney Poitier. Around the same time the film was released, all remaining laws preventing marriage between people of different races in the US were at last repealed. The final issue of Tomahawk (#140, May–June 1972), ironically presented under a brand-new logo, sees Kanigher and Thorne tackle the issue of mixedrace marriage. While Tomahawk was himself in such a marriage, and #137 had shown how he and Moon Fawn met and fell in love—much to the disgust of Moon Fawn’s father—“The Rescue” makes for a more interesting tale. Here, Hawk is engaged by townsfolk to rescue Annie Douglas, a young woman who has been kidnapped by Brave Bear, a Native-American “hostile.” However, while facing various hurdles to liberate her, he finds that Annie willingly married Brave Bear and has no intention of returning. The townsfolk ultimately reject her, leaving Hawk in a state of confusion. Moon Fawn and Tomahawk sagely smile as the series winds to a close. The changes wrought by Kubert had failed to halt the sales slump, but over the course of the ten issues, the creators had showcased interesting takes on modernday concerns, with a Western twist. Racism, prejudice, slavery, greed, consumerism, and mixed marriage had

all been examined, while—if perhaps one squints a little—feminism can be added to the list thanks to the strong, independent actions of Moon Fawn and Annie Douglas, who both went against their societal norms to find happiness. Tomahawk’s place on DC’s publishing schedule was taken by a series close to Kubert’s heart: Tarzan. Frank Thorne similarly found a place on the Burroughs train, becoming the artist on Korak. Although Thorne had been drawing comics art since the late 1940s, he hadn’t worked for DC prior to his arrival there in 1968, and Tomahawk was amongst his earliest assignments for the company. His art has a sketchy quality, sharing certain similarities with contemporaries such as Pat Boyette and Dan Spiegle, and is somewhat reminiscent of Kubert’s. The earthy quality of his line was a good fit for Tomahawk, and he was a solid storyteller. During his Son of Tomahawk run, he drew many memorable splash pages and sequences, and wasn’t afraid to have characters dynamically breaking out of panel borders to great effect. At a time when a standard six panels to a page grid was still quite common, Thorne varied his page layouts greatly, using differing size panels to extend or compress time and drive the reader’s eye across a page. After so many years toiling in relative obscurity, Thorne finally hit the big time in 1976 when Marvel offered him the art chores on the Marvel Feature title, and the character that became his signature: Red Sonja. The focus of this article has been on the Son of Tomahawk lead strip, but it’s worth mentioning

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the high-quality fare on offer in the back pages. Frank Frazetta–drawn strips are reprinted in issues #131 and 139, the latter a Tomahawk story from 1951. Joe Kubert wrote and drew brand new “Firehair” stories in #132, 134, and 136, the character—a red-haired white orphan raised by Native Americans and rejected by both sides—having previously appeared in a threeissue tryout in Showcase #85–87 (Sept.–Dec. 1969), while #135 has the extraordinary “Spoilers” by Jerry DeFuccio and John Severin, and Sam Glanzam declares it “A Good Day to Die” in #140 as he depicts events surrounding the Battle of Little Big Horn. “Monty West – Sheriff” reprints by Gil Kane appear in the final two issues. Tomahawk reprints and various new feature pages and strips pepper other issues— especially those in the 52page format (#136–140). Having now actually read and considered any number of Tomahawk issues from across its 25-year run, I concur that the younger me may well have been wrong to dismiss it as a Western comic; it was, in fact, given its period, geographical setting and frequent subject matter, more of a war comic, albeit not one of the wars usually depicted in such series. With the switch to Son of Tomahawk, however, and moving the situation firmly and definitively into the West—the Old West of myth and legend, of cowboys and Indians, of black hats and white hats— it truly became a Western, and a very good one at that. But, even given the subject matter Kanigher, Thorne, and Kubert chose to examine, it was, perhaps, slightly old fashioned and cut from well-worn cloth. At around the same time Hawk and his dad were riding off into the sunset, elsewhere at DC, Joe Orlando, John Albano, and Tony DeZuniga were launching “Jonah Hex” in All-Star Western #10 (Feb.–Mar. 1972)—and he was an entirely new kind of Western hero for a more cynical time….

Forbidden Love Issue #137 (Nov.–Dec. 1971) told the tale of how Tomahawk met Moon Fawn. Original Frank Thorne artwork courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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FRANK THORNE (1930–2021)

ZXL/Wikimedia Commons.

Born in New Jersey, Thorne began his career in 1948 drawing romance comics. Highly influenced by the artwork of Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby) and Hal Foster (Tarzan, Prince Valiant), he toiled at a variety of publishers during the 1950s and drew the Perry Mason newspaper strip for King Features, which, though short-lived, paid Thorne well enough to buy a house and car. From 1957–1963 he drew the syndicated Dr. Guy Bennett newspaper strip. A National Cartoonists Society award followed in 1964, alongside an extended run at Western/Gold Key on titles such as Boris Karloff’s Tales of Mystery, The Twilight Zone, and The Mighty Samson, where he was able to free himself of his influences and find his own unique artistic voice. Jumping ship to DC in 1968, he struck up a friendship with Joe Kubert and began drawing such titles and characters as Tomahawk, Our Fighting Forces, Enemy Ace, and Korak. It’s notable that he avoided drawing any superhero series as he disliked them, preferring more down-to-earth fare. However, at Marvel in 1976, Thorne drew the second issue of Marvel Feature, which introduced him to what would become his signature character, the Robert E. Howard fantasythemed Red Sonja. The subsequent three-year stint on Sonja, in both comics and magazines, essentially defined the remainder of his career and led to his creating a wellremembered stage show in the 1970s that starred himself as a wizard—an early manifestation of what would become cosplay. He won the 1978 San Diego Comic-Con Inkpot Award. A number of erotically charged fantasy series in the Red Sonja vein, such as Ghita of Alizarr and Ribit, followed in the ’80s and ’90s, as did work for Playboy magazine. Drawing until the end, he sadly died on the same day as Marilyn, his beloved wife of 70 years.

Tomahawk Gets Axed (top) Joe Kubert brought back his “Firehair” feature as a Tomahawk backup in several issues, including #136. Image restoration by Allan Harvey. (bottom) A new logo arrived on issue #140 (May–June 1972), too late to save the series as it was cancelled with this issue. TM & © DC Comics.

ALLAN HARVEY makes a living digitally restoring old comics for new reprint editions. His most recent projects include Kona, Air War Stories, and the Atlas at War! hardcover collection.

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

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BACK ISSUE #133

TV TOON TIE-INS! Bronze Age HannaBarbera Comics, Underdog, Mighty Mouse, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Pink Panther, Battle of the Planets, and Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. Bonus: SCOTT SHAW! digs up Captain Carrot’s roots! Featuring the work of BYRNE, COLON, ENGEL, EVANIER, FIELDS, MICHAEL GALLAGHER, WIN MORTIMER, NORRIS, SEVERIN, SKEATES, STATON, TALLARICO, TOTH, and more!

BRONZE AGE PROMOS, ADS, AND GIMMICKS! The aborted DC Super-Stars Society fan club, Hostess Comic Ads, DC 16-page Preview Comics, rare Marvel custom comics, DC Hotline, Popeye Career Comics, early variant covers, and more. Featuring BARR, HERDLING, LEVITZ, MAGUIRE, MORGAN, PACELLA, PALMIOTTI, SHAW!, TERRY STEWART, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and more!

THE KIRBY LEGACY AT DC! Explores Jack Kirby’s post-Fourth World Bronze Age DC characters! Demon, Kamandi, OMAC, Sandman, and Kirby’s Odd Jobs (Atlas, Manhunter, and more). Plus: the SIMON & KIRBY Reunion That Wasn’t! Featuring BISSETTE, BYRNE, CONWAY, GIBBONS, GOLDEN, GRANT, RUCKA, SEMEIKS, THOMAS, TIMM, WAGNER, and more. Demon cover by KIRBY and MIKE ROYER!

1980s MARVEL LIMITED SERIES! CLAREMONT/MILLER’s Wolverine, Black Panther, Falcon, Punisher, Machine Man, Iceman, Magik, Fantastic Four vs. X-Men, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolfpack, and more! With BOGDANOVE, COWAN, DeFALCO, DeMATTEIS, GRANT, HAMA, MILGROM, NEARY, SMITH, WINDSORSMITH, and more. Cover by JOE RUBINSTEIN. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

STARMEN ISSUE, headlined by JAMES ROBINSON and TONY HARRIS’s Jack Knight Starman! Plus: The StarSpangled Kid, Starjammers, the 1980s Starman, and Starstruck! Featuring DAVE COCKRUM, GERRY CONWAY, ROBERT GREENBERGER, ELAINE LEE, TOM LYLE, MICHAEL Wm. KALUTA, ROGER STERN, ROY THOMAS, and more. Jack Knight Starman cover by TONY HARRIS.

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BACK ISSUE #134

BACK ISSUE #135

BACK ISSUE #136

BACK ISSUE #137

BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES, spotlighting rare ‘80s European Superman comics! Plus: CURT SWAN’s Batman, JIM APARO’s Superman, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel custom comics, MICHAEL USLAN’s unseen Earth-Two stories, Leaf’s DC Secret Origins, Marvel’s Evel Knievel, cover variants, and more! With EDUARDO BARRETO, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ALEX SAVIUK, and more. Cover by JOE KUBERT.

SILVER ISSUE, starring the Silver Surfer in the Bronze Age! Plus: JACK KIRBY’s Silver Star, SCOTT HAMPTON’s Silverheels, Silver Sable, Silver Banshee, DC’s Silver Age Classics, and more! Featuring BUSIEK, BUTLER, BYRNE, ENGLEHART, STAN LEE, LIM, MARZ, MOEBIUS, POLLARD, MARSHALL ROGERS, ALEX ROSS, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by RON FRENZ and JOE SINNOTT.

BRONZE AGE COMICS STRIPS! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more! Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. With COLAN, GOODWIN, GIL KANE, KREMER, STAN LEE, ROMITA, THOMAS, TUSKA, and more.

1980s PRE-CRISIS DC MINISERIES! Green Arrow, Secrets of the Legion, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, Krypton Chronicles, America vs. the Justice Society, Legend of Wonder Woman, Conqueror of the Barren Earth, and more! Featuring MIKE W. BARR, KURT BUSIEK, PAUL KUPPERBERG, RON RANDALL, TRINA ROBBINS, JOE STATON, CURT SWAN, ROY THOMAS, and others. VON EEDEN and GIORDANO cover.

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The last time Popeye appeared in the pages of BACK ISSUE (#130), we discussed Popeye’s Career Comics from the 1970s, as published by King Comics. This time, we are going to look at Popeye’s other appearances during the Bronze Age—at Charlton, Gold Key/Whitman, Harvey, and especially the three all-new issues released by the short-lived Ocean Comics label.

HE YAM WHAT HE YAM

Popeye the Sailor was a character that debuted on January 17, 1929, in a comic strip called Thimble Theatre, which was already in its tenth year. Popeye was introduced to the strip as a random sailor that was hired by Olive Oyl’s brother, Castor Oyl, to help him and Ham Gravy sail to an island. During the sailing trip, it was discovered that Olive Oyl had stowed away on the vessel, and after a quick kiss from Popeye, Olive Oyl became instantly enamored with him. Popeye promptly became the star of the strip from that point forward. The success of the comic strip with Popeye spawned tons of merchandise as well as an animated cartoon series first by Fleischer, then by Famous, then by King Features, then by Hanna-Barbera. [Editor’s note: See our sister mag, RetroFan #12, for a history of Popeye’s television cartoons.] There was also a live-action Popeye movie starring Robin Williams that was co-produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions. After Popeye creator E. C. (Elzie Crisler) Segar’s untimely death in 1938, the strip was continued by Doc Winner, then Tom Sims and Bela Zaboly until 1955, Ralph Stein and Bela Zaboly through 1959, Bud Sagendorf through 1994, Bobby London from 1986–1992, and currently, by Hy Eisman since 1994. Popeye debuted in comic books as early as 1937 as a series of Feature Books, published by David McKay Publications and written and drawn by Popeye’s creator, Elzie Segar. Then, after a few Four Color issues published in the early 1940s by Dell, Popeye finally earned his own starring title in 1948, which began with #1, a rarity for comics that graduated from Four Color. After a lengthy run of Popeye comics released by Western Publishing through their imprints of Dell Comics from 1948 through 1962 and then Gold Key Comics from 1962 through 1966, King Features took over publishing their own comic books from 1966 through 1969. Amazingly, Harvey Comics was able to publish Popeye at the same time as Dell with their Family Funnies title in 1950, which became Tiny Tot Funnies and later Junior Funnies before being cancelled with issue #13 in 1952. Popeye historian Fred Grandinetti comments about these Harvey issues: “The material in the Harvey comic books were Thimble Theatre Sunday page reprints by Tom Sims and Bela Zaboly. It was not new material and probably under a different licensing agreement from King Features Syndicate.”

The Bare and the Bold The Sailor Man’s caught with his pants down on this rare Popeye giveaway comic book produced by Charlton Comics as a promotion for Bold laundry detergent. It reprinted Popeye #94 (Feb. 1969), Charlton’s first issue. Cover art by Bud Sagendorf. Popeye TM & © King Features Syndicate (KFS), Inc.

24 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

by M

ark Arnold

CHARLTON COMICS

“I wound up in the hospital, flat on my back, Then, the Popeye comic book kept its numbering and looking at the ceiling, thinking, ‘What the heck am I entered the Bronze Age, being published by Charlton doing?’ I got an offer from Charlton because I had Comics. As explored in BACK ISSUE #136, Charlton done some freelance for them in the late 1950s doing had taken on the licenses of a number of King Features fillers. They made me an offer: Would I take a position as assistant editor? Syndicate comic-strip characters that had previ“As editor, I determined that Joe Gill was ously been published by Dell, Gold Key, our in-house writer. You could say, ‘We need and King, a lineup that included Popeye. six pages in an hour, Joe,’ and you had it. The Charlton Popeye series ran from #94 That’s how fast he could write, and he (Feb. 1969) through #138 (Jan. 1977), would write well, too. It wouldn’t be when the license returned back to garbage. He was amazing. Western Publishing. “When I hired [assistant editor] Somewhere along the line, Charlton Nick Cuti, Joe got worried because this published a giveaway through Bold Nick guy was also a writer. He was cool detergent, which was a reprint of #94. toward him because Nick had the same Other Charlton issues of significance deal I did. ‘You can still do freelance were #108 (June 1971), which featured writing as long as you can handle a story called “The Story of Popeye,” your job as editor.’ It all worked out covering the sailor’s life from 1929 george wildman good with Joe and Nick.” through 1971, and #116 (Sept. 1972), Before that, King published 15 iswhich contained “The Story of Eugene sues of Popeye Career Comics in 1972, the Jeep.” In an interview by Lum and Abner cartoonist Donnie concurrently with the Charlton run. As mentioned in Pitchford on September 12, 2009, artist George Wild- the BACK ISSUE #130 article, these career comics were man recalled how he got involved with Charlton: “In not issued to standard newsstands. In a 2005 interview by Jim Amash with Charlton the 1960s, prior to Charlton, I had my own art studio,” Wildman recalled. “My career was in advertising, and writer Joe Gill, Gill said this of the career comics: “When I did a lot of work with that. Things were going nicely, Wildman was editor, 1972–1973, I wrote a 15-book and then I started having problems with my health. At series for King Features for young children in the the same time I got that word, I lost my major account. early teens, on choosing an occupation. Popeye was

Sailor Man by Wildman Original cover art by George Wildman for Popeye #108 (June 1971), the issue featuring the character’s life story, and #129 (June 1974), with Sea Hag getting the upper hand on our heroes. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © KFS.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

‘The Man Who Hated Laughter’ Courtesy of Popeye scholar/collector Fred Grandenetti, a production drawing from the made-forTV animated movie Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, which originally aired on October 7, 1972 on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. © KFS.

the narrator; Wildman did the art. I wrote about transportation, story, I just got into the mode of that language. I got a bunch of another one would be about mechanics, another about salesmen. Popeye cartoons, the Fleischer cartoons, and would see how he would use and misuse language.” There were 15 categories, and I wrote one for each category.” It was during this time that Popeye made a return to animated In response to the BACK ISSUE #130 article, a full-color, four-page glossy Popeye career guide flyer called Taking Tests was sent in by form with the feature-length made-for-television animated film called reader John Fishel. This was shown to Fred Grandinetti, who said, Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, which was produced “As that flyer is from 1975, it was probably associated with the by Hal Seeger Productions for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, which aired on Saturday mornings from 1972–1974. The Popeye film educational comics, but it’s not Wildman art.” originally aired on October 7, 1972. There was also a bilingual flip-book series published by King Fred Grandinetti tells BACK ISSUE, “You can find info on in 1974 with Popeye appearing in the series’ second issue, The Man Who Hated Laughter on the web, and the show #L-2. Despite being published by King, these were all on YouTube. Two coloring books were produced based printed by Charlton. on the special, with different colored covers (I own The Charlton Popeye series featured all-new one). It was also the first time several King Features stories typically written by Joe Gill or Nicola “Nick” comic-strip characters made their animation debut: Cuti and drawn by George Wildman. The first two Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake, Lothar, issues featured new Bud Sagendorf covers that were Little Iodine, and Quincy. It was the first time Olive leftovers from the King Comics days, after which Oyl and Brutus were animated as they appeared in Wildman provided the front cover art. the Popeye comic strip, at the time by Bud Sagendorf. In a September 2012 interview with Nick Cuti An advertisement for the special, featuring a photo of by Donnie Pitchford, Cuti said of working with the comic-strip characters arriving on Popeye’s Wildman on Popeye, “I would go over to ship, was seen in several newspapers across the George, and I will tell him an idea I had for a fred grandinetti country. If you go to my The Big Guy That Hates story, and if he liked the idea, he said, ‘Yeah, go Popeye Facebook page you will see an image from with it.’ And ten times out of ten times, he liked Popeye the Sailorpedia. the coloring book, [with] Brutus and the Professor. the ideas. So I’d just type it all up as a script and give it to George, and then I’d see the pages coming in. It was Join the page to see it under images.” a very simple process. “I don’t recall him throwing a script back,” Cuti continued. GOLD KEY COMICS “He might have some suggestions on the storyline, but that was Popeye then returned to Western Publishing with issue #139 (May about it. George was a very generous boss and also a very generous 1978) through 171 (1984). Initially, these comics appeared with person to work with. It would be more colorful if I could tell you both the Gold Key and Whitman imprints, but after 1980, all issues otherwise, but it wouldn’t be true. When George asked me to carried only the Whitman logo. George Wildman continued as the write Popeye, I did a lot of research. I went through some old primary artist, but now stories were written by Bill Pearson, with some strips in books, collections of Popeye, and I saw how the language later issues written by Nicola Cuti. Starting in 1979, reprints from was a lot of ‘isk’ sounds, like ‘fisk’ and ‘grotisk’ and things like the Bud Sagendorf days started popping up. The final issue with the that, and so I put in a lot of ‘isk’ sounds, and I also noticed how original numbering from 1984 actually ended with an all-new story, Popeye mangled language, so whenever I had to write a Popeye plus some reprints dating all the way back to issue #1. 26 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

In his 2005 interview with Jim Amash, Joe Gill said, story, book-length, and I kind of liked that too, as the “Bill Pearson was a comics buff. He knew everything artist, because you could spend more time on it. about comics. The comic buffs, they used to write in You didn’t have to come up with six opening pages. complaining letters about the characters. ‘This story or The fans liked it. Many fans commented they liked that story…’ If they had known about the conditions this new approach. Nick, he was good, too. He could give constructive criticism to scripts that came in, under which they were written, they might have as well as his own work, dealing with me. I been less critical. Bill and I got along well. gave him a free hand for writing Popeye, We were totally dissimilar. We had nothing and the same with Bill Pearson. Bill was in common.” an artist, too.” Other significant issues during Pearson said this of Wildman in Popeye’s second Gold Key run include editor Michael Ambrose’s Charlton #144’s (Mar. 1979) salute to the Spotlight #7 (Winter 2011–Spring Sailor Man’s 50th anniversary with 2012): “George was capable of making a story called “Popeye’s Birthday quick decisions and securing the Party,” and #158 (Sept. 1980), a cooperation of his staff without being a Whitman-published issue that only bully. He was cheerful by nature and kept appeared in a polybagged set of three the comics department humming comics. As a consequence, Popeye along productively for years. #158 is one of the hardest-to-find joe gill “Although George was my latter-day Popeye issues due to its boss at Charlton, he never pulled lack of traditional newsstand or comic Charlton Comics: The Movie. rank concerning our freelance store distribution, and apparently account, producing the Popeye comic book for Western lower print run. George Wildman recalled how the Gold Key/ Publishing,” Pearson remarked. “We had some terrific Whitman series differed from the Charlton one in his arguments, but both of us were trying to make our 2009 interview with Donnie Pitchford: “Both of them stories as good as possible. “I’m proud of our Popeye comics, treasure the deviated from what the comics were at Charlton with Popeye. Joe Gill’s style was six or eight stories; five, six, memories of my years at Charlton and feel privileged four, three pages. Nick and Bill liked to do a whole to have known the distinctive George Wildman.”

Back At Western Publishing (left) After its Charlton run, Popeye moved to Gold Key Comics with issue #139 (May 1978). (right) Issue #171 was among Western’s Whitman variants, available in polybags in supermarkets and other nontraditional markets. © KFS.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 27

ON SCREENS SMALL AND LARGE

He Yam in Live-Ack’shin (top) From Heritage’s archives, the poster for Paramount Pictures’ 1980 live-action comedy-musical, Popeye. (bottom) Writer Stan Hart and cartoonist Mort Drucker spoofed the film as “Flopeye” in MAD #225 (Sept. 1981). © KFS/Paramount Pictures. MAD © E.C. Publications.

Popeye as a comic-book series lay dormant for the next three years. Surprisingly, Marvel Comics didn’t take a turn at publishing Popeye considering they were still publishing their kid-targeted Star line of comics that featured many licensed properties. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #77 for the story behind Star Comics.] At the time, Popeye was still popular thanks to the wildly successful Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon show called The All-New Popeye Hour, which aired on Saturday mornings from 1978–1983, and a new series called Popeye and Son, which debuted in 1987. “Popeye and Son was an attempt to update the Sailor Man,” Grandinetti says. “This was a trend at the time. We had The New Archies, The Flintstone Kids, Yo Yogi, The Pink Panther and Sons, etc. King Features thought so highly of the program they wanted the daily comic strip, by Bobby London, to be based on the cartoon series. Thankfully, this never happened. While the animation was well executed and the scripts good, this new Popeye could not compete with his original self. “During its run, the colorized Fleischer and Famous Studios Popeye cartoons, along with the ones produced originally in color, were aired daily on TNT, WTBS, and in syndication. Also, the King Features TV cartoons, along with The All-New Popeye films, were being broadcast. The All-New Popeye cartoons are especially popular on the Family Channel. The characters in Popeye and Son were updated too much for fans of the Sailor Man who watched the older films. King Features, when hearing of the show’s impending demise, sent letters to their licensees asking them to contact CBS about changing their mind. The series did spawn jigsaw puzzles, drugstore rack toys, and products sold outside of the United States. Just like Life with Lucy is a blemish on Lucille Ball’s long career, this is the same towards Popeye [with Popeye and Son].” Hanna-Barbera also provided the short black-andwhite animation that appeared in the live-action 1980 Popeye feature film. “You should read MAD Magazine’s satire on the Popeye movie,” Grandinetti says. “It’s funny and dead-on to the problems with the film. [The movie] was based upon Segar’s original comic strip from the 1930s. However, a 1980 audience expected to see a live version of a Popeye cartoon. They didn’t know who Geezil, Rough House, Castor Oyl, and Olive’s parents were!! And what was this business about Popeye hating spinach in the film?” Of the theatrical Popeye’s box-office performance, Grandinetti opines, “It was not the flop people have said. It made back its money, but it wasn’t the blockbuster Paramount thought they would have. Paramount did want a sequel, but there was too much animosity among the producer and director. It has become a cult film and done very well on home video and DVD. It should have been more Fleischer than Segar towards an audience who grew up watching the cartoon with the ship-door opening.”

OCEAN COMICS, HARVEY COMICS, AND A WEDDING

Meanwhile, publisher Bob Palin founded Ocean Comics, Inc. out of his home in Warwick, Rhode Island. Ocean Comics did not produce much other non-Popeye material. Its first title was called, unsurprisingly, Ocean Comics, a one-shot black-and-white humor title that was coverdated February 1985. This was followed up by a fourissue series called Streetfighter in 1986 and 1987. Palin explains to BACK ISSUE how he got into publishing, as well as producing Popeye projects. “When I discovered comic books in 1961 at age eight, 28 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

Popeye, Jr.??! Title cel (courtesy of Heritage) and a production illo (courtesy of Fred Grandenetti) from Hanna-Barbera’s late-1980s attempt to contemporize the Sailor Man, Popeye and Son. © KFS/Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

I fell in love with the medium,” Palin reveals. “It wasn’t long before I dreamed of working in the comics industry. In 1966, I did a science project on how comic books are made. Reaching out to comics publishers for information, Dick Giordano invited me for a tour of Charlton Comics. My dad drove me the three hours from our home in Rhode Island to Derby, Connecticut, for one of the most memorable experiences of my childhood. “Charlton, of course, unlike other publishers, did their own in-house color separating, printing, and distribution. I received a trophy for my science project. In 1978, I talked Charlton publisher John Santangelo, Jr. into meeting with me, hoping to work as a writer or editor. He thought I was a better fit for their distribution branch and referred me to them. An offer came in early 1979, but the job would have been a pay cut for me and involved a lot of travel. As much as I wanted to work in comics, I didn’t think it was fair to my young family to take the job, so I declined it. In 1984, I wasn’t happy with my career path. Inspired by other independent publishers, I decided to pursue my childhood dream and start my own comic-book publishing company.”

Yet fate had other ideas. “I wasn’t trying to get the license to Popeye,” Palin admits. “In 1986, I approached King Features about licensing The Phantom. Simply as an aside, I mentioned I might also be interested in Popeye. The Phantom wasn’t available, but Popeye was. I had always loved the one-eyed sailor, so I went for it.” For the three Popeye-related issues that he ultimately published, Palin took a different route with the character, redesigning him in a similar fashion that was done many years later for Archie Comics’ characters and for the various semi-realistic versions of the Hanna-Barbera characters produced by DC. After two Popeye Specials published in 1987 and 1988, Ocean published Mr. Jigsaw Special in 1988 and The Greatest American Comic Book in 1992. Ocean’s final title was The Wedding of Popeye and Olive. Palin continues, “The first Popeye comic I had published had made a little bit of money, and the second had lost a little, so I had let my license expire. I had a good relationship with King Features at the time, and they liked the work I had done. I had always hoped to turn Ocean Comics into a full-time business, but I never made enough money for that to happen. “In 1989, I put Ocean Comics on hold to take care of personal things. When I tried to get back into

‘Borned to the Sea!’ (below) Ocean Comics’ Popeye Special #1 (Summer 1987), a serio-comic take on our favorite seafarer. (left) Poopdeck ain’t too happy to be a pappy. Page 3 of Special #1. Script by Ron Fortier, pencils by Ben Dunn, inks by Bill Pearson. (inset) Issue #2’s cover. © KFS.

30 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

publishing in 1992, sales on my planned anthology, The Greatest American Comic Book, were dismal. Also, no one warned me how expensive kids became in their teen years, and I was working a lot of hours on my full-time job to pay the bills. I still wanted to publish comics and I kept busy selling back stock. In the mid-’90s, I came up with the idea to publish The Wedding of Popeye and Olive. I thought I could make some money on that concept, but King Features rejected my proposal. In 1998, I approached them again with the same concept, and this time they accepted it.” Strangely, during the time between Ocean’s two Popeye Specials and the Wedding issue, Harvey Comics published eight issues of Popeye: a Summer Special dated October 1993, followed by seven issues from November 1993 through August 1994. These issues sported new covers drawn by Harvey staff artist Jorge Pacheco, and contained reprints from the Charlton years. Pacheco tells BACK ISSUE, “Doing those Popeye covers meant so much to me. Popeye and Charlie Brown/Charles Schulz were the biggest reasons and influences for me becoming a cartoonist. I was mesmerized by Popeye on TV, especially the Max Fleischer cartoons. Of course, later on I learned about the strip by the great Elzie Segar, Bud Sagendorf, Bobby London, and now drawn by the great Hy Eisman, my former teacher at the Joe Kubert School. My only regret was my hands were slightly tied with the editorial decisions at Harvey Comics at the time. I wish I could have gone crazier, but I really enjoyed doing them. It was really an honor. To have been a small part of the Popeye legacy was and is very special to me. “If I had one dream job or wish, it would be to draw the strip. I’ve actually worked up some roughs/sketches and ideas. Just hard to find time to finish them. The bottom line is, ‘Popeye Rocks’!” Finally, The Wedding of Popeye and Olive occurred on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Popeye’s comic strip. To create more tension and action in the book-length story, Olive Oyl is approached by Ham Gravy, her longtime boyfriend prior to Popeye, who intends to win her away from the Sailor Man before Olive and Popeye tie the knot. In the meantime, Popeye’s old nemesis, Bluto, does everything in his power to ruin the couple’s pending nuptials, and Popeye keeps a can or two of spinach on hand to help him get to the church on time. Palin adds, “Even though The Wedding of Popeye and Olive was a financial and creative success, the amount of work involved in publishing was very time consuming, and it was

Docking At Harvey (top and bottom left) Harvey Comics briefly published Popeye in the mid-1990s, reprints with new cover art by Jorge Pacheco. (bottom right) The artist, a Popeye fan who also eats his spinach, and a prized theatrical animation poster. Photo courtesy of Jorge Pacheco. Popeye © KFS.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

Well, That Takes the Cake! (right) Houligans bust up The Wedding of Popeye and Olive! Cover to #1 and only (1999) by Tom Grummett and Sam de la Rosa. (left) The marriage scene. Written by Peter David, penciled by Dave Garcia, and inked by Sam de la Rosa. © KFS.

POPEYE COMICS PUBLISHED IN THE BRONZE AND COPPER AGES • Popeye #94–138 (Feb. 1969–Jan. 1977) – Charlton • Popeye Bold Detergent Giveaway (1969) – Charlton • Popeye Career Comics #E-1–E-15 (1972) – King • Popeye L-2 (1974) – King • Popeye #139–171 (May 1978–1984) – Gold Key/Whitman • Popeye Special #1–2 (Summer 1987–Sept. 1988) – Ocean • Popeye Summer Special #1 (Oct. 1993) – Harvey • Popeye #1–7 (Nov. 1993–Aug. 1994) – Harvey • The Wedding of Popeye and Olive #1 (1999) – Ocean

always very speculative. Though I had hoped to publish again, some health issues in 2001 put things into a new perspective. I decided to concentrate on my day job, paying down debt and saving for retirement. I successfully accomplished that.” Popeye eventually came back in the 21st Century with two series published by Yoe Books and IDW. One was an original 12-issue series that ran from 2012–2013 and the other was a title that ran from 2012–2017 reprinting the 65 Dell Comics issues. Of course, Hy Eisman continues to draw new Popeye Sunday strips to this day. Special thanks to Mike Ambrose, Fred Grandinetti, Bob Palin, Jorge Pacheco, and Donnie Pitchford. For more about Donnie’s Lum and Abner comics, visit lumandabnercomics.com. MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture historian with over 15 books to his credit on subjects including The Monkees, The Beatles, Underdog, Pink Panther, Cracked, Disney, Dennis the Menace, and more. He is currently at work on another Disney book and a book on the history of MAD.

32 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

OUR STORY, “ROYAL WARRIORS”…

by S

tephan Friedt

A plane crashes in the African jungle. A jungle chieftain, Molo, of the Wakondis, who watched the crash, heads to the site, despite it being in the lands of their fierce enemies, the Badogos. The plane is partially destroyed, but the chief can hear the cries of babies coming from the fuselage wreckage. His men are afraid to go inside, but Chief Molo goes in to rescue the crying babies— twin boys cradled and protected by the bodies of their dead parents. The chief rescues the babies and brings them home to raise them alongside his own son, Bakali. Chief Molo names the new additions to the family Tono and Kono. On their 18th birthdays, along with their foster brother, Tono and Kono set out to explore the ruins of the plane crash to learn of their roots. They retrieve documents, a pair of twin knives, and a box of royal jewels. While at the plane ruins, they are attacked by a party of Badogos. They escape and in the process come across the Badogo village, where a white anthropologist and his teen daughter are being held captive. They rescue them and bring them to the village of the Wakondis. The anthropologist translates the papers they found in the wreck and immediately identifies them as princes, the sole survivors of the royal family of the (fictitious) European country of Glockenberg. Their parents had fled the country after revolutionaries seized it. They both have the royal birthmark in the shape of two hearts on their lower backs, which is also the family crest on the box of jewels and the documents. The anthropologist describes their mountain kingdom and asks the boys if they would like to return. They decline, stating that the Wakondis and the jungle is their true home. That’s a synopsis of the scripts of the first and 18th issues of The Jungle Twins (issue #18 reprinted issue #1). The series ran for a total of 18 issues: #1–17 were cover-dated April 1972 to November 1975 under Western Publishing’s Gold Key logo, with #18 coming cover-dated May 1982 under the Whitman imprint, in what was part of Western/Gold Key/Whitman’s last gasps as a comic-book company. The other 16 original stories would be a series of generally standalone jungle adventures with titles like “Marked for Destruction,” “The Deadly Arena,” and “Survival,” as the twins battle the Badogos and various jungle creatures. In issue #6, the boys find a hidden civilization in “The Black Tower of Koor,” loosely based on H. R. R. Haggard’s She, and in issue #7 they battle against man-animal mutants in “Lair of the Monster Master” (a spin on The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells?).

THE CREATORS

The covers of the issues #1–17 were all painted covers by Western’s prolific cover artist George Wilson. George’s one and only interview can be read in the TwoMorrows magazine, Comic Book Artist #22 (Oct. 2002).

Big Korak Attack Tono and Kono are in a spot! Detail from painter George Wilson’s cover to Gold Key’s The Jungle Twins #1 (Apr. 1972). © Random House.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

Twice Bitten (inset) The Jungle Twins #2 (July 1972), with cover art by George Wilson. (right) In 1982 artist Dan Spiegle recreated issue #2’s cover for JT #19, which would have reprinted issue #2. The series was cancelled with #18 and this version of the cover was never published. Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © Random House.

dan spiegle

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The cover for the 18th issue featured line art by REPLACING THE BURROUGHS BOOKS Dan Spiegle, recreating George Wilson’s cover painting The Jungle Twins came about because of changes in from issue #1. You can read all about Dan in the 2013 Gold Key’s licensed library. The last issue of Gold Key’s TwoMorrows book, Dan Spiegle: A Life in Comic Art. Tarzan run was cover-dated February of 1972. Edgar The stories for the entire run were all by tireless Rice Burroughs, Inc. moved the license rights for author and Western Publishing’s go-to-man, Gaylord Tarzan and Korak, Son of Tarzan from Western to DC DuBois. DuBois was born in Massachusetts in 1899 Comics, and Gold Key was suddenly out of a pair of and died in Florida in 1993 at 94 years of age. popular moneymakers. He traveled and held many jobs—salesman, Gold Key didn’t sit wringing their hands minister, schoolteacher, social worker, over what amounted to another lost license. deputy sheriff—before settling on writer They took the writer-artist team that and scripter, the profession by which we had been working on the last issue of comic-book lovers know him. He wrote Tarzan, Gaylord DuBois and Paul over 3,000 comic stories, at least ten Norris, and told them to come up novels or adaptations (including the with a replacement series set in the first Lone Ranger), four Little Blue jungle. Replacing Tarzan’s bimonthly Books (a series of tiny, staple-bound schedule without a break, Jungle Twins books published from 1919 through #1 (Apr. 1972) quickly followed. 1978 by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing By June of the same year, the Company of Girard, Kansas; Louis backup feature from the Tarzan L’Amour and Harlan Ellison cited series, Brothers of the Spear, had gaylord dubois Little Blue books as sources of their its own series as well… and Gold earliest influences), several volumes Hey Kids Comics Wiki. of poetry, 30+ Big Little Books, and more. His comic writing began in 1938 and continued until 1977, with a few stories published posthumously as late as 1995. A sampling of his comic-book work includes the titles Tarzan, Lost in Space, Roy Rogers, Turok, The Lone Ranger, Uncle Wiggily, Red Ryder, Brothers of the Spear, Tom and Jerry, and Raggedy Ann. The artwork for the entire Jungle Twins series was from longtime comic artist Paul Norris (1914–2007). Born in Greenville, Ohio, he started his comic career at Prize Publications in 1940. In 1941 he, along with writer Mort Weisinger, revamped DC’s character the Sandman into a costumed hero and co-created and introduced Aquaman. Norris would then gravitate to daily newspaper strips with Vic Jordan in 1941, followed by three months of Secret Agent X-9 in 1943 before being drafted into the Army. During the war Paul worked on an original comic strip for his ship’s newspaper and was noticed and transferred to the division responsible for creating propaganda leaflets to drop on Japanese troops. When Norris returned from the war, he did a few covers for Western Publishing, and in 1948 he began drawing the Sunday edition of Jungle Jim. He would also do an occasional freelance job for DC. In 1952, Paul took over the science-fiction newspaper strip Brick Bradford and handled it for 35 years until he and the strip retired in 1987. In the 1950s, he drew several issues of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and Jungle Jim for Western. In the 1960s, Western would use him as a replacement for Russ Manning on Tarzan and Magnus Robot Fighter. For the definitive interview with Paul Norris, check out Comic Book Artist #22.

The Remarkable Mr. Manning “The Brothers of the Spear” was a longrunning backup in the pages of Gold Key’s Tarzan. Indulge this Silver Age detour as we showcase this beautiful Russ Manning– drawn page from “The Falcon,” the Brothers’ tale published in Tarzan #151 (Sept. 1965). Script by Gaylord DuBois. Original art courtesy of Heritage. © Random House.

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Key now had substitutes for the lost Tarzan and Korak series, replacements that belonged to Western Printing and could not be taken away. There are variants of some Jungle Twins issues during the original run. There are known price-variant copies of issues #1 and 5 with 20-cent cover prices rather than the usual 15 cents, as Western was testing a price increase over the 15-month period from March 1972 to May 1973. Out of the 310 titles published by Western over that period, there were 222 issues with known copies of both prices. The rest of the output has either just 15-cent cover prices or 20-cent cover prices. It’s believed that the variants were released on a regional basis for testing. There are also known variants of Jungle Twins #7, 10, and 11 with the Whitman logo. These were most often included in polybags of multiple titles and sold in lesstraditional outlets: on pegboard displays of toys and novelties, or at supermarket checkout stands.

Teen Titans Jesse Santos artwork graced the cover and interiors of Brothers of the Spear #1 (June 1972). © Random House.

THE TARZAN TWINS AND THE BROTHERS OF THE SPEAR

The Jungle Twins had its basis in previous works, most obviously Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins and Gold Key’s Brothers of the Spear… and possibly a young adult novel called The Jungle Twins (see sidebar). Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his books for an adult audience. Studies have shown that his books contain verbiage that puts the reader at the college level of reading comprehension. And even though his works were enjoyed by people of all ages, in 1927 he wanted to write a book for a younger audience. The Tarzan Twins (Volland, Oct. 1927) was the result. A follow-up, Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, with Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion (Whitman, Mar. 1936), would hit the stands in 1936. Both books featured illustrations by Juanita Bennett. Though written and published years apart, the second story happens immediately after the first one, and the two together fall between the regular Tarzan novels Tarzan and the Ant Men and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. The first of the twins’ stories was published at this time. The plot whirled around two cousins: Dick, with black hair, born in England, and known by natives as “Tarzan-go,” and Doc, with blond hair, born in America, known by natives as “Tarzan-tar.” There twin-like resemblance is due to their respective mothers being twins, and their nicknames are due to the fact that the Englishborn Dick is related to Lord Greystoke (Tarzan) through his father, a Greystoke cousin. Because of that connection they are invited to visit Tarzan on his African estate… and their adventures begin. Decades later the two stories were combined into one volume called Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (Canaveral Press, Mar. 1963), with illustrations by Roy Krenkel. Gold Key later adapted the work in Tarzan #196 (Oct. 1970), with story by Gaylord DuBois and Michael Royer, and art by Michael Royer. The “Brothers of the Spear” backup series was another of Western’s “buddy” concepts. Created by Gaylord DuBois (writer) and Jesse Marsh (artist) as a backup feature in Tarzan #25 (Oct. 1951), it proved popular, lasting 25 years and becoming the first professional appearance of the work of artist Russ Manning. This series broke new multicultural ground by having the “Brothers” be different races. Dan-El was white and Natongo was black, and took an oath of brotherhood. Both were kings by right but had their thrones usurped. Restoring Dan-El in the kingdom of Aba-Zulu and Natongo in Tungelu dominated the first couple of years of the series. After that was rectified, they both were married, Dan-El to the beautiful Tavane and Natongo to the equally beautiful Zulena. Being

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THE JUNGLE TWINS NOVEL The Jungle Twins by Irma Roberts was a young adult novel published in 1951 by Coward-McCann, Inc. (New York, 1951), then a division of G. P. Putnam. Two editions were published, a hardcover with dustjacket and a paperback edition. A charming tale of twin monkeys, Boojumagalumbo (or “Booj,” for short), and his sister Wemmy, and their adventures among the other denizens of the jungle, The Jungle Twins could easily have been adapted into a side tale of Tarzan’s jungle and his monkey companion N’kima. Ms. Roberts was married to Colonel (retired) Frederick John Roberts of the British Army, whose exploits in the African veldt inspired some of the book’s tales. German artist Kurt Wiese, perhaps best known as the creator and illustrator of the beloved children’s book series, Freddy the Pig, illustrated The Jungle Twins.

What’s Behind Door Number One? Dan-El and Natongo are in for a surprise! Brothers of the Spear #15 (June 1975) cover art attributed to George Wilson. © Random House.

kings and having families didn’t stop them from many successful adventures over the years. With Tarzan #39 (Dec. 1952), Russ Manning took over the art chores and stuck with it until 1966. Reprints would continue until the end of the Tarzan series at Gold Key. Brothers of the Spear #1 (June 1972), aforementioned as the Korak replacement on Gold Key’s schedule, was plotted by Russ Manning, scripted by Jerry O’Hara, and illustrated by Jesse Santos. Gaylord DuBois took over scripting with issue #2, and later in the run he reunited with Dan Spiegle as Brothers of the Spear artist. The title was cancelled with issue #18 (May 1982), published the same month as Jungle Twins #18, that series’ last issue. Still haunting the wilds of Oregon and now semi-retired so he can devote even more time to uncovering the gems of comic-book history and empty-nesting with his wife, STEPHAN FRIEDT still helps with entries at the Grand Comic Book Database at comics.org, deals with database entries at comicspriceguide.com, and provides editorial consultation and an occasional writing assist for the new Defective Comix Studio at defectivecomix.com.

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Hostess Twinkies, cupcakes, and fruit pies © Hostess Brands, LLC.

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TM & © Archie Publications, Inc.

ARCHIE in “Here’s Looking At You”

by DAN DeCARLO

Back Issue #130’s history of the 1975–1982 Hostess Comic Ads campaign introduced readers to the late Tony Macchia, the ad writer responsible for many of those zany comic-style one-pagers where bad guys and bad behavior were vanquished by tasty treats. Mr. Macchia’s son, Paul Macchia, recently found in his father’s archives photocopies of preliminary drawings for some of those ads. We’re happy to share a quartet of them here with BACK ISSUE readers.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39

by DAN DeCARLO

JOSIE in “Josie Eats Her Words”

TM & © Archie Publications, Inc.

TM & © Marvel.

THE HULK in “The Green Thumb”

by DAVE COCKRUM

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by KEITH POLLARD

CAPTAIN MARVEL in “The Energy Crisis”

TM & © Marvel.

BRITMANIA

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THE ORIGIN OF FLASH GORDON

by E

d Lute

Philip Francis Nowlan’s novella Armageddon 2149 A.D., published in Amazing Stories (cover-dated August 1928), introduced the world to Anthony Rogers. Rogers returned the following year in Nolan’s sequel, The Airlords of Han, in the March 1929 cover-dated issue of Amazing Stories. John F. Dille, owner of the John F. Dille Co. newspaper syndicate (later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate), saw potential in the main character, and between the publication of these two stories he commissioned a newspaper strip featuring Rogers. Dille paired writer Nolan with artist Richard “Dick” Calkins to create the daily strip which debuted on Monday January 7th, 1929 as an adaption of the first novella. However, one important and lasting change was made when the hero’s name was changed from Anthony to the nickname “Buck,” with the title of the strip being Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D. Roger’s first name was changed from Anthony to William for the 1979–1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The newspaper strip was very popular and successful, and the title hero started appearing in movie serials and radio programs, as well as on children’s merchandise. With the success of the Buck Rogers newspaper strip, King Features Syndicate wanted a sciencefiction comic strip of its own. Unfortunately, the company’s first try was unsuccessful, as they were unable to come to terms with Edgar Rice Burroughs for the rights to publish a strip featuring his creation John Carter of Mars. Enter Alex Raymond, a staff artist for King Features Syndicate. Raymond’s creation was space-opera adventurer Flash Gordon, who first blasted onto the pop-culture landscape via the Sunday funny pages on January 7, 1934, with artwork by Raymond, working with ghostwriter Don Moore. Raymond based his strip on the 1933 novel When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. In the novel, an athletic hero, his girlfriend, and a scientist rocketed to a planet that is hurtling towards Earth. The first storyline in the strip closely mirrored When Worlds Collide with Flash Gordon and Dale Arden being kidnapped by the mad scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, who rocketed towards the planet Mongo, which was headed on a collision course with Earth. The story also introduced Flash Gordon’s arch-nemesis, Ming the Merciless. Most of Flash Gordon’s iconic elements were introduced during this story arc or other early storylines. The Sunday strip proved very popular, so King Features introduced a daily strip as well. The daily strip was first published on Monday May 27, 1940. Both the Sunday and daily strips remained popular for decades. The final new Sunday strip appeared in newspapers on March 16, 2003 although reprints would continue to appear in some newspapers. Saturday July 3, 1993 saw the final new daily newspaper strip see print.

Flash Is Back! This eye-grabbing painted cover by an uncredited artist and a funky orange-and-pink ’70s font blurb trumpeted Gold Key’s reboot of Flash Gordon with issue #19 (Sept. 1978). Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate (KFS), Inc.

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No Flash in the Pan (left) A color print of Flash Gordon by his creator, the legendary Alex Raymond, produced in 1939 by Puck – The Comic Weekly. (center stack) Significant Flash Gordon comics over the decades. (right) Hand-colored Flash and Dale art by Al Williamson. Williamson originally drew this image in 1970 for a Union Carbide ad. All, courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). © KFS.

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Like Buck Rogers before him, Flash Gordon would quickly move from newspaper comic-strip hero into other multimedia outlets including radio and movie serials. It was the comic strip that introduced the world to Flash Gordon, but it was the radio and especially the movie serials that made him a household name. Universal Pictures’ 1940 movie serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (the third and final serial from the company) helped to cement the character in the hearts and minds of the public. Actor and Olympic Gold medalist Buster Crabb seemed born to play Flash Gordon and looked like he has just stepped out of a Raymond illustration. By this time, Flash Gordon had even surpassed Buck Rogers (the character that helped spawn him) as the most popular science-fiction hero of the time! With Flash Gordon’s popularity at an all-time high, is it any wonder that comic-book publishers came calling to put the sci-fi hero’s name on their covers?

EARLY FLASH GORDON COMICS

Flash Gordon first hit the comic books as part of Dell Publishing’s Four Color, appearing in eight issues of the anthology title: #10 (1942), 84 (Sept. 1945), 173 (Nov. 1947), 190 (June 1948), 204 (Dec. 1948), 247 (Sept. 1949), 424 (Sept. 1952), and 512 (Nov. 1953). The first two issues contained reprints of Alex Raymond and Don Moore’s Sunday strips, while the rest contained original stories. Flash Gordon vol. 1 was a short-lived bimonthly four-issue series (Oct. 1950–April 1951) from Harvey Comics. These issues contained reprints of Sunday

newspaper strips. Flash Gordon wouldn’t reappear on comic racks for over a decade, and then only as a oneshot from Gold Key comics, cover-dated June 1965. Once again readers were given reprinted material, from Four Color #173, the first original Flash Gordon comic-book story. Before long came 11 issues (Sept. 1966–Dec. 1967) of Flash Gordon vol. 2 from King Comics, a short-lived (1966–1967) comic line created by newspaper-strip distributor King Features Syndicate to publish comic books based on their own properties instead of licensing them out to other publishers. In addition to Flash Gordon, King Comics published Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Jungle Jim, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom, and Popeye. Flash Gordon was also featured in backup stories in The Phantom #18–20 (Sept. 1966–Jan. 1967). The Flash Gordon title then moved to Charlton Comics, but continued with the numbering from the previous run, starting with issue #12 (Feb. 1969) and concluding with #18 (Jan. 1970). The Charlton issues are part of volume 2.

THE GOLD KEY/WHITMAN YEARS

Although always a popular genre for many people, science fiction had never been the pop-culture phenomenon that it would become after the movie Star Wars premiered in 1977. Many new sci-fi products including books, movies, television shows, and comics began appearing in the wake of the film’s success. One such comic-book title wasn’t new, but a revival of Flash Gordon.

Solid Gold (left) With graphics clearly inspired by Star Wars, Gold Key announced its new Flash Gordon title with this 1978 house ad featuring Carlos Garzon’s artwork. (right) John Warner and Carlos Garzon’s title page to their first issue, #19, set up the conflict longtime Flash fans were hoping for. Flash Gordon © KFS.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

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Western Publishing, under its Gold Key and Whitman imprints, continued Charlton’s Flash Gordon with issue #19 (Sept. 1978), making it part of volume 2. The cover to the issue proclaimed, “Flash is back!” The story, “Return to Mongo,” was written by John Warner, with artwork by Carlos Garzon. It not only offered readers a fun new science-fiction adventure but also caught them up on Flash and his companions. Ming the Merciless was quickly reintroduced as well. The story found Flash, Dale, and Zarkov crash-land on Mongo, being hunted by Ming, finding a hidden underground city led by a Silith queen of the Caverns of Night, and the discovery of an ancient alien race on Mongo. This was the first Flash Gordon comic book in many years and did a great job of catching up readers (both old and new) with Flash and his world. Each subsequent issue saw Flash Gordon and his companions face new adventures on Mongo. In issue #20 (Nov. 1978), Flash discovered the Citadel of Science, where Ming’s cohorts were trying to discover the secret of immortality. Issues #21 (Jan. 1979) and 22 (Mar. 1979) found Flash facing off against the Shark Men and a traitor that was trying to kidnap Ming’s grandson Prince Alan from his parents, King Brain and Queen Aura (Ming’s daughter). In Flash Gordon #23 (May 1979), Flash encountered the Tiger Men. Flash took the battle straight to Ming in issue #24 (July 1979) as our hero entered Mingo City. The title shifted to a multiissue story arc in issues #25–30 (Sept. 1979–Oct. 1980) as Flash, Dale, and Zarkov scoured the planet in search of allies in their battle against Ming. During their travels, they encountered enchanted cities, cave kingdoms, and snake people. This series was mainly written by John Warner (#19– 25, 28–30, and 34–36), but writers Gary Poole (#26, 27), Bruce Jones (#31–33), and George Kashdan (#37) also wrote for the book. Artists Carlos Garzon (#19, 20, 23–28, and 35), Frank Bolle (#21, 22), Gene Fawcette (#29, 30, 34, and 37), Al Williamson (#31– 33), and Al McWilliams (#36) all contributed artwork for the series.

FLASH (AH-AH) SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

The Flash Gordon property did more than just score a new comic book in the wake of Star Wars’ runaway success. Flash was also featured in a cult favorite live-action movie as well as in a popular animated Saturday morning series from Filmation. While the animated series is still considered to be one of the most accurate adaptations of the source material, arguably one of the most popular iterations of the character from the time was the 1980 movie starring Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon, Melody Anderson as Dale Arden, Topol as Hans Zarkov, Max von Sydow as Ming, and directed by Mike Hodges. The film contained a pulse-pounding soundtrack by Queen with a memorable main theme. [Editor’s note: An interview with movie Flash Gordon Sam J. Jones highlighted our “Rock and Roll Comics” issue, BACK ISSUE #101. The animated exploits of Flash Gordon will be explored in our sister publication, RetroFan #23, on sale in October 2022 from TwoMorrows.] Gold Key/Whitman published the comic-book adaptation of the movie in several formats including oversized hardcover and softcover editions each containing the complete story, and as well in the traditional

Queen Soundtrack Not Provided Page 1 of Flash Gordon #31 (Mar. 1981), with illustrator Al Williamson opening the comic’s movie adaptation with this magnificent montage. (opposite page) Original art by Carlos Garzon, interpreting a script by Gary Poole, from Flash Gordon #26 (Nov. 1979). Courtesy of Heritage. © KFS.

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comic-book format in Flash Gordon #31–33 (Mar.–May 1981). While the Gold Key/Whitman series continued some fun and exciting Flash Gordon stories with good artwork, the movie adaptation was the highlight of this run. Writer Bruce Jones and artist Al Williamson’s artwork helped to bring a new level of excitement to the title. The movie was an entertaining, campy adventure that followed the storyline of the movie, albeit with a more classical style (especially the artwork) that belied the film’s camp origins. The covers for the movie adaptation were a hybrid of Williamson’s illustrations and stills from the film. Artist Williamson was no stranger to Flash Gordon. A self-proclaimed Flash Gordon fan since encountering him in the movie serials, Williams had previously illustrated issues #1, 4, and 5 of the King Comics run as well as the cover for #3. With someone who was a fan of the character and an outstanding artist, you would think that the adaptation would look amazing, and you would be right! Williamson’s work remains a highlight of the the title, as well as Flash Gordon comics in general. After the movie adaption, Flash Gordon #34 (Oct. 1981) picked up from issue #30, with the heroes continuing their journey across Mongo in search of allies to help defeat Ming. This time Flash and his companions were exposed to a gas that gave them nightmares courtesy of Ming, encountered the Ice Kingdom, and a kingdom of woman who were loyal to Ming. Issues #34–37 each contained two stories. The final issue of Flash Gordon was #37 (Mar. 1982), but unfortunately the issue didn’t wrap up the ongoing storyline. To date, this is the longest-running Flash Gordon comic-book title. Issues #19–27 were published as both Gold Key issues and Whitman issues, but from #28–37 they were only published as Whitman titles. Gold Key titles were released on comic-book racks and newsstands, but Whitman editions were released in polybagged three-packs and sold in grocery stores and department stores such as K-Mart.

Multiple Formats Western Publishing issued its Flash Gordon movie adaptation in multiple formats, including poly-bagged comic books and a Golden Book album edition. © KFS.

Although never as popular as the newspaper strip, movie serials, or 1980 feature film, Flash Gordon comic books have contained some great stories and outstanding artwork. The character has continued to be featured in comics from DC (explored elsewhere in this issue), Marvel, Ardden Entertainment, Dark Horse, and most recently as of this writing, Dynamite Entertainment. The 1994 two-issue miniseries from Marvel even contained artwork by Al Williamson that once again reminded readers why the artist is almost as associated with the character as his creator Alex Raymond is. This article is dedicated to my father, Edward Lute (1939–2021), who introduced me to the wonders of science fiction (as well as many other things) and gave me my love for Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and too many other iconic sci-fi heroes to list. Thanks for everything, Dad! I love you and miss you every day. ED LUTE didn’t need to play the 1980 Flash Gordon movie soundtrack album while rereading these comics or writing this article—the songs just automatically played in his head. Ah-Ah!

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interview conducted by R o b e r t

Greenberger

Science fiction was something new in the 1930s, and after Buck Rogers launched to great success in 1929, King Features Syndicate wanted to get in on the action. After failing to license John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs, they asked staff artist Alex Raymond to create something new. He responded with one of the most beautiful and influential comic strips of all time. His Flash Gordon launched on January 7, 1934, and was an immediate hit. With ghostwriter Don Moore, Raymond introduced us to Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov as they left Earth in order to keep it and the rogue planet Mongo from colliding. Once on the alien world, they became freedom fighters, helping to topple the despot. The strip ran daily through 2003, which gave rise to all manner of merchandising, notably the three energetic serials starring former Olympian Buster Crabbe as the hero. There have been six live-action or animated television versions of the character and a short-lived radio serial. To date, there has been one feature film, the 1980 film from Dino DeLaurentis best known today for its score by Queen. In comics, the strip was reprinted in numerous titles from Dell, Harvey, and Gold Key. King Comics in the 1960s boasted original tales, some drawn by Al Williamson. He collaborated with Mark Schultz on a two-issue story for Marvel. The short-lived Ardden Entertainment tried their hand in 2009 with a few titles from Brendan Deenan, Paul Green, and Eduardo Garcia. Most recently, there was Dynamite Entertainment’s take on the characters, written by Eric Trautmann with designs from Alex Ross. However, none of the comic-book adaptations took as radical a rethinking of the Raymond premise as Dan Jurgens did in the mid-1980s for DC Comics. At the same time as the company was enjoying a creative renaissance, it was also branching out with various licenses, such as Star Trek (see BI #5, 23), V (see BI #128), the TSR role-playing game titles, and from King Features, The Phantom (see BI #47) and Flash Gordon. Fresh from his work on Sun Devils, Warlord, and Booster Gold, Jurgens wrote and penciled the nine-issue maxiseries, inked by Bruce Patterson, lettered by John Workman, and colored by Anthony Tollin. Jurgens considered his audience and adapted accordingly. DC supported this by making it a Mando Format comic, which entitled it to 24 story pages, full bleeds, and extra color tones, enriching the appearance. Released in 1987–1988, it met with middling success as comic-book readers liked it well enough, but comic-strip enthusiasts, including Tollin, had their qualms. I was able to chat with Dan about this over the summer of 2021, as we look back on the miniseries, the source material, and the time of its creation. This interview was conducted by phone and email and has been edited for clarity. – Robert Greenberger

New Format, New Version Writer-artist Dan Jurgens reimagined the classic Flash Gordon mythology for the 1980s in this DC Comics maxiseries. Flash Gordon #1 (June 1988) cover by Jurgens and Bruce Patterson. Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate (KFS), Inc. DC logo TM & © DC Comics.

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Is That a Members’ Only Jacket He’s Wearing? From Flash Gordon #1: (left) The story opens with our hero feeling the weight of the world upon his shoulders… (right) but a few pages later, he’s left those earthly woes (and Earth!) behind. © KFS.

ROBERT GREENBERGER: What were your earliest GREENBERGER: They all did a fine job imitating the look and feel of Raymond, as did the feature film, which experiences with Flash Gordon? DAN JURGENS: I first saw reprints of the Raymond was about the only thing I liked about it. strip in the 1970s, and I was aware of the film. He was JURGENS: Yeah, I was put off by the film’s campiness. such an amazing illustrator, I urge fans who have It had a few moments, but still wasn’t great, by any means. I also found it to be incredibly garnever seen his original Sunday pages, as they ish. It felt cheap. I never understood the were printed, to find them at the larger notion of Flash walking around with his conventions. Usually, there are some name blazed across the front of his dealers who have these pages. You have T-shirt. to see how he designed his pages and GREENBERGER: I hated it, despite how how beautifully colored they were. great Max Von Sydow looked. And, to be clear, we’re talking about JURGENS: Oh, I agree. the printed Sunday newspaper GREENBERGER: I actually think I pages—not original art! preferred the softcore parody Flesh GREENBERGER: I have to agree. The Gordon. [Jurgens chuckles] first time I saw one of those Sundays JURGENS: By the time the movie came was in a museum exhibition, and I was out, the strip’s design sense and stunned at not just the linework but the wardrobe were really starting to look subtlety of the colors. After Raymond dan jurgens dated. That’s in part because of Star left, he was succeeded by a Murderer’s Wars, which may have been inspired Row of talent, including Austin Twitter. by Flash Gordon, but gave everything Briggs, Mac Raboy, and Dan Barry. a new, much more updated feel. Did you have a favorite post-Raymond artist? JURGENS: Murderer’s Row is the right description for GREENBERGER: Flash came at an interesting point that lineup of talent. Raboy, in particular, brought a in your career considering the diversity of DC-related really nice line to it, similar to his work on Captain Marvel, characters. Your superhero and SF series made you Jr. As for the print quality of those Sunday pages, they perfect for Flash. were using thicker paper and metal plates, which really JURGENS: I don’t know if I saw it that way at the time, captured the fine, thin line weight that Raymond used. but looking back, that’s a fair point.

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GREENBERGER: So, DC acquired the license for Flash and The Phantom at, I think, [group editor] Mike Gold’s insistence. He became the editor of both, so how did he pitch Flash Gordon to you? JURGENS: Mike gave me a call and mentioned the fact that DC had acquired the publishing rights. He asked about my awareness of Flash Gordon, and I talked about my admiration for Raymond’s work. But I also said it felt dated. He started talking about the need to be fresh. That’s what he was doing with his DC titles like The Flash, and he brought that thinking here. GREENBERGER: In the letters column to the first issue, Mike talks about you initially being reluctant to take this on. Yet, the more you thought about it, the more ideas you had until you started talking with him and realized you were committed. JURGENS: That’s pretty much what happened. As I came up with ideas I kept waiting for pushback, but when I got none, I thought this was going to work and I kept going. But that was driven by the fact that we were going to be going for a fresh take on the franchise. Having room to adjust things and update classic elements can be a lot of fun. GREENBERGER: Mike referred to you and Bruce Patterson as displaying the courage to follow all the fine artists who preceded you on Flash. Did it feel courageous? JURGENS: No, not really. But it’s important to understand why. From the start, I said, “I’m not Alex Raymond. I can’t draw like him. Nor do I draw like so many of the incredible talents who worked on it after him. If that’s what you want, you should find someone else. But, if you want to try something different and update the look and feel of the series, I’m willing to take a shot.” GREENBERGER: The most radical change was to Flash himself. In the 1930s, he was a young polo player, at his physical peak. Your Flash is 41, a deadbeat dad, and an ex-basketball star. Why such a radical change? JURGENS: By the time we did our series, there was something about a polo player that seemed stuffy and elitist. Not that a pro basketball player isn’t, I suppose, but I thought it was something that readers could relate to more easily. Plus, it gave Flash a reason to be interested in staying on another planet. His career was over. He had hit kind of a dead end here on Earth. Those things set him up to start as a somewhat reluctant hero who’d later embrace the role. GREENBERGER: He seems to be all about survival, but over the course of the story, he develops, as Dale put it, JURGENS: This is before I began working on Superman, a social conscience. In the strips, he was more a black so it certainly wasn’t consciously Lois. I was just trying for a character who spoke her mind, the journalism and white, two-dimensional hero. was secondary. JURGENS: One could look at what Raymond GREENBERGER: In the strips, Dale and did [as focusing] on the artwork, the Flash immediately fall for one another. heroic figures, the lush settings, Here, it’s a far slower burn. What went and it was art with a story sprinkled into the thinking here? around it. That’s why these pages JURGENS: Again, Raymond had beauhave to be seen by fans, to undertiful artwork with a dollop of story. I stand the scope of the visuals. needed to do something more and For me, I wanted a character who something different with a relationwould change and grow. I needed ship that develops with a slow burn. Flash to overcome the improbability of Ultimately, it sets up a more interesting it all and become a leader. relationship and a bit of a conflict by GREENBERGER: Dale was, sadly, your the series’ end. typical damsel in distress without robert greenberger GREENBERGER: Dr. Zarkov is pretty much of a personality in the strip. She much unchanged, a brilliant, eccentric, just happened to be a passenger on slightly mad scientist who can singlethe plane when she met Flash and Zarkov. Here, she comes off as a Hildy Johnson from His handedly build a rocketship. You seemingly kill him off after bringing them to Mongo in issue #1, and he’s back Gal Friday, or Lois Lane.

Take Me to Your Leader Original Jurgens/ Patterson art to story page 19 of Flash Gordon #1, where Flash and Dale come face-to-face with Ming the Merciless. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © KFS.

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The Wrath of Ming Mongo’s warlord shows how merciless he can be in this shocking splash page from Flash Gordon #3 (Aug. 1988). © KFS.

in #5. Was there a reason to keep Zarkov off stage for so long? JURGENS: He didn’t change much from the strip, and I wanted to keep him away so I could concentrate on developing Flash and Dale. Their relationship was the emphasis of the first story. Had we done a second story, I’d have focused far more on Zarkov. GREENBERGER: Then there’s Ming. In 1934, he was the epitome of the Yellow Peril, a staple of pulp fiction from the era. He obviously had to change. How did you approach Ming and the residents of Mongo? JURGENS: This goes back to our desire to update some crucial elements. I changed the appearance, going for the bald look and contemporary facial hair with the skull tattoo, so it would evoke the original Ming, but not suggest stereotyping. His personality didn’t need to change much. GREENBERGER: It certainly helped that he gained a whole new skin tone. JURGENS: The gray skin was my idea. Again, I wanted to keep it fresh and aliens in comics are blue- or orange-

skinned. Gray isn’t really used as much as a color other than Batman, so this was something different. By doing what we did, we stepped far away from that Yellow Peril influence. GREENBERGER: It helped to be on the Mando paper, which could handle the color better than newsprint. Ming’s grasp on Mongo in the strip was tenuous, with a mounting rebellion from Thune and Barin and others. Here, it seems a little more like Ming is in total control. JURGENS: Very much the case, and a lot of that was driven by the fact that we had a very confined number of pages in which to tell our story. Raymond’s lush depiction of Mongo’s different tribes played out over quite a long time. We simply didn’t have that much space. With that in mind, we focused on Flash, Dale, and Ming. GREENBERGER: The one change was you having Vultan as being more serious than the jolly leader he was in the strip, and memorably, Brian Blessed’s film performance. JURGENS: I felt I needed to do that because it didn’t seem like he’d be jolly about going off to fight Ming day after day. I mean, this was a war, right? GREENBERGER: The only other significant woman in the story is Ming’s daughter, Aura. In fact, she may be the least different from the source material. JURGENS: She was a good character in the strip and didn’t need to be changed all that much, just like the other characters. GREENBERGER: Fair enough. You used all the key players from the Raymond era, but brought in Xeo and the organ bank city, which was cutting edge at the time. JURGENS: Thank you. That was part of the attempt to freshen everything for the readers, who were a bit more scientifically aware by the time we did our thing. GREENBERGER: Now, visually, you kept Flash and Dale pretty much in the same outfit, whereas Raymond was constantly changing their looks. Was there a reason? JURGENS: As I recall, Flash would be in one outfit for a significant period of time, then change his environment and wear something for that. Here, I put him in one outfit and there really wasn’t time or a need to move away from that. Again… the nature of having nine issues and the way our story unfolded is radically different than what Alex Raymond dealt with. GREENBERGER: Did you design the costume’s color scheme, blue, white, and gold? JURGENS: Yeah, I did. GREENBERGER: Now, Dale changes her clothes at least twice, but stays in that bright red. JURGENS: That was done as much to have her stand out as anything else. Comic readers are accustomed to seeing the main characters in specific outfits, so this addressed that concern. GREENBERGER: Before I move on, I have to ask. The sequence with Barin and Flash working the Atomic Furnace is straight out of the strip and serial. Was this an intentional homage? JURGENS: Very much the case. Sometimes, things sound so damn cool that you really latch on to them. The FF had the “Ultimate Nullifier.” DC has the “Ultra Humanite.” I felt that “Atomic Furnace” ranks right up there! GREENBERGER: Cool. Okay, so you had all these great ideas and Mike was enthusiastic. What came next? JURGENS: I wrote out an outline for the series. I think it may have been 12 issues, and we started talking and cutting it back to eight or nine. I knew I couldn’t possibly do it in four and back then you were either a four-issue miniseries or a 12-issue maxiseries, there was nothing in-between. But we settled on nine issues.

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Previously, on ‘Flash Gordon’… Through most of the nine-issue maxiseries, Jurgens used page 1 recaps to refresh readers’ memories’ of what went on before. Recap page from Flash Gordon #5 (Oct. 1988). © KFS.

GREENBERGER: The Sundays were great at always leaving readers with some amazing cliffhanger, making them wait a week for what came next. That was, of course, replicated in the serials, but that was not a contemporary storytelling technique to the same degree. JURGENS: I was conscious about pacing it given the strip and the serials. The traditional cliffhangers from the strip in comics were seen as kind of passe, so I tried to come up with something that would keep the reader intrigued without being too traditional. GREENBERGER: So, you did the plot overview for nine issues and then, I guess, character designs to get King Features’ approval. JURGENS: Right. GREENBERGER: Starting with issue #4, your first page was a flashback to Flash’s life instead of a recap. Then you switch to Ming with #8, which was invaluable. What was your goal? JURGENS: You know, this was a chance for me to work out more about Flash’s personality. It’s an opportunity for you to see me grow as a writer during the run of the miniseries. GREENBERGER: And yet, the last issue doesn’t have that device. JURGENS: Isn’t that always the way? GREENBERGER: The story ends with Ming seemingly dead—never seeing the body—and with Dale and Zarkov Earthbound. You leave Flash on Mongo, saying there was nothing for him on Earth. JURGENS: Dale had goals. She had things she wanted to accomplish, so it made sense for her to go, while Flash stayed on Mongo. He was the glue to hold the new world together, and he’d failed at so much on Earth, with his wife and son, that it made sense for him to stay behind. GREENBERGER: Mike credits you for selecting Bruce to ink you, which was a first-time pairing. What did you want him to bring to the work? JURGENS: I looked at five or so inkers, and you look for someone who can bring something to the project. Some are great with faces and others are great at technical details such as the spaceships, and others are good with textures like rocks. Bruce brought a clean snap to all of it and I couldn’t have been happier. You may recall, I did a poster to promote the book before it came out and it was inked by P. Craig Russell. I think it’s the only time I ever worked with him, and it was spectacular. GREENBERGER: Something else interesting about the look of the series is the covers. They are more dynamic in design, and it looks like many used a China marker for texture. JURGENS: Thanks. I really wanted the look to be different and had the chance to try something. The China marker gave it a nice tone. It reminded me of the covers Jack Adler and Neal Adams did back in the 1960s, the ones with the color-wash covers. They were always experimenting, and that’s what happened here. The cover to #5 is my favorite of the bunch—it really turned out great. GREENBERGER: The cover to #7 is a tried and true one, but unlike others, the promise is delivered when Aura actually stabs Flash. JURGENS: Yeah. You can go back to even the romance covers and see this scene on many occasions, but it worked here. I have to say here that Tony Tollin, who really wasn’t happy with the changes I made, did a great job with the color for interiors and covers. Tony was very much a fan of the original look and feel, which I totally understand. GREENBERGER: And you got John Workman for the lettering. JURGENS: I was thrilled to have John letter this. John is such a strong letterer and I always liked his sound effects and balloons. I thought he did an excellent job here. GREENBERGER: As I recall, there were some issues with King Features. JURGENS: Oh yeah, there were. They had signed off on the overview and then the plots. They signed off on the pencils and script to the first issue, which is why I kept working and was done with #2 when this all blew up.

At some point, after we gave them a fully inked and lettered copy of the first issue, they objected. It seems one person had a major problem with what we’re doing because it wasn’t Alex Raymond, stylistically. GREENBERGER: You quit, didn’t you? JURGENS: I did. I called Mike Gold and told him if this was going to happen, I wasn’t going to spend a year of my life dealing with this kind of trouble. Then I called Dick [Giordano, then executive editor]. He told me to come out to New York and see if there was some way to settle this. They arranged a lunch meeting with King. Did you check with Mike about this? GREENBERGER: I did, and he wrote me, “My recollection of that meeting is overwhelmed by massive disgust at KFS and my great (and unending) respect for Dan, who flew out on his own dime to defend his take. As I recall, Dick later reimbursed him for that. In any event, I believe we were on King’s second overseer, maybe the third, and you might remember when each overseer came onto the project he trashed all the work each predecessor made. Dan’s patience with all that was astonishing. He wasn’t happy, but he was both definitive and polite.” JURGENS: That sounds about right. I was very upset because they had seen and approved everything up until now. You of all people know how it is with licensing, they will ask for a face to be changed or rewrite some dialogue, but nothing on this scale. That’s why I was willing to wash my hands of it, as I told Mike and Dick at the time. I wasn’t about to have this continual fight for a year. Let someone else try and make them happy. I flew out… I don’t know if it was the next day, but it was soon. Dick brokered the whole discussion; he made the introductions,

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Ice, Ice, Baby!

54-DC 6 OA.tif

A relentless blizzard presented an opportunity for artists Jurgens and Patterson and colorist Anthony Tollin to employ the medium’s thencurrent special effects for Flash Gordon #6’s cover. Note the “Blue Plate/Half Tone” notation in the bottom margin of this original art (courtesy of Heritage). To see the colored, printed version, see the cover gallery on the opposite page. © KFS.

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and everyone got to say their piece—mostly me. I spoke of my incredibly high regard for what Raymond had done and the overall importance of the property. You could see the exec was taken aback at the notion of me quitting. He backed off, and we were able to move forward. You know, there was probably a financial component to all this. By the time we had that lunch, I’m sure I was well into the third issue. This was going to be costly to someone. We settled it, and I was able to get back to work. GREENBERGER: You know, I was never supposed to inherit the book. I was already co-editing The Phantom miniseries, but I am suddenly handed Flash Gordon with issue #4, which is odd for a miniseries. I think Mike was just disgusted with King. But it was one of the few times I got to work directly with you, so I was happy about that. JURGENS: Yeah, that makes some sense. After that, they asked for minor alterations, but there was nothing major. GREENBERGER: My last letters column notes you had ideas for future stories, but clearly sales didn’t warrant it. Do you remember what was in mind? JURGENS: I know I was going to do a story with Zarkov if I got to do a second story. I know you and I talked about ideas, but I think the sales by issue five or six told us the story. I can’t really say, especially since The Phantom got an ongoing after that. Really, I think we had been

through so much just in trying to bring the book to the stands that we all wanted to move on. GREENBERGER: What do you recall about fan reaction or interaction? JURGENS: There were definitely some fans that were traditionalists, and it took time to get used to this. Others were really happy. They came to it familiar with the name or the movie. I still have people come up to me with copies to sign, always happy with it. GREENBERGER: Looking back, what works for you? What would you do differently? JURGENS: At the time I was doing this, yeah, I was pleased. If I could go back and do it over, of course, I have so much more experience, and it would be an entirely different thing, but that’s not going to happen. I think it holds up and oddly, it’s never been reprinted by anyone who’s had the license. GREENBERGER: That’s true. Dynamite has the license, I believe. Maybe someday it’ll be collected. Dan, thanks so much for walking down memory lane with me. This is an overlooked gem from your career and worth the revisit. JURGENS: I appreciate that, Bob. I agree, it was a lot of fun back then and it was good to look at it with fresh eyes.

The Evolution of a Hero A gallery of DC’s Flash Gordon covers, issues #2–9. Art by Jurgens and Patterson. © KFS.

Keep up with writer-editor-pop culture historian-educator ROBERT GREENBERBER at bobgreenberger.com.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

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Zorro was one of the early pulp heroes, perhaps inspired by the notorious-but-well-loved outlaw, Tiburcio Vasquez. El Zorro (“The Fox,” in Spanish) originally appeared in 1919 in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in five weekly installments. The first adventure, “The Curse of Capistrano,” would set the tone for the next century of adventures for the Masked Fox in movies, TV, books, comics, and more. By comics’ Bronze Age, Zorro’s adventuring had cooled off. In the mid-’70s, a made-for-TV Zorro movie starring Frank Langella and an Italian spaghetti Western starring Alain Delon made many fans less excited and somewhat embarrassed by the swordsman. But that would all soon change. The creativity of comic books would open new and exciting venues for Zorro. by E

d Catto

ZORRO AT ECLIPSE COMICS

Eclipse Comics, one of the Bronze Age independent publishers, opened new vistas for Zorro in 1986 with an oversized collection of six ten-page stories that were originally published in French. They were created for Disney and published in Le Journal de Mickey. The Comics Journal had a brief news item describing the publication: Eclipse Comics brings back the classic character Zorro, created by novelist Justin McCarthy in The Curse of Capistrano. The Eclipse Zorro, in a $6.95 graphic novel format, features a Tom Yeates cover and six ten-page adventure stories written by Nadaud and illustrated by Carlo Marcello for Le Journal de Mickey. “We like Zorro,” said Eclipse publisher Dean Mullaney. “We wanted to do an original, and this is a way of testing the market to see if Americans are interested in Zorro, not just for comic shops, but if we can move a good number through the regular bookstore channels. If so, there’s enough material for a second volume, and we’re looking at the possibility of doing an all-new story that we would create with an American artist and an American writer.” Indeed, Thomas Yeates, a graduate of the Kubert School and already a fan-favorite from his work on titles like Saga of the Swamp Thing, Airboy, thomas yeates and Timespirits, brought a gusto and vibrancy to the cover of this Henrik Bernd/ Lambiek.net. reprint, sometimes referred to as Zorro in Old California. “I was always a Zorro fan, and I drew pictures as a little kid because [Zorro] was a Disney show, which was so well done, and it still holds up today,” Yeates tells BACK ISSUE.

The Mark of Excellence Eclipse Comics’ 1986 Zorro, alternately known as Zorro: The Graphic Album and Zorro in Old California. Cover art by Thomas Yeates, logo by Tom Orzechowski. Zorro TM & © Zorro Productions, Inc. (ZPI).

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Master Swordsman Frontispiece from Eclipse’s Zorro graphic album. One of the secrets to Yeates’ Zorro illustration work is that he has real fencing experience, having studied it for three semesters in college. “You gotta exaggerate it,” he candidly admits to BACK ISSUE. TM & © ZPI.

“…I did a Zorro sketch for the hell of it. There weren’t any Zorro movies or comics going on—this would have been in the ’80s. I used to go to the Eclipse offices— I moved to a part of California that was just about 20 minutes from there. So [Eclipse’s editor-in-chief] cat yronwode saw [the Zorro sketch] and said, ‘You like Zorro? I like Zorro!’ She asked me to do another one for the masthead of one of her editorials.” This led to more Zorro work. “[Eclipse was] really clever about how to make money,” says Yeates. “They got the rights, real cheap, for a French Zorro Graphic Novel. It was very well drawn. Pretty solid stuff. But they wanted a new cover. They asked me to do the cover because I had drawn Zorro. So I did the cover of Zorro up in the tree.” Yeates would enjoy this project more than he expected. “I said, ‘Hey, this is really fun. Why don’t you do endpapers too?’” Eclipse agreed. “So I got to draw more Zorro. All those just flowed right out of my pencil. It was so much fun to do that.” Yeates’ art also caught the attention of Zorro’s licensors. “…When they saw my art, they went, ‘Ah! We like this guy.’ So whenever something came up where they needed an artist, they wanted me to do it.” These relationships would lead to more Zorro work down the road for Yeates. Otherwise, The Graphic Album (as it was called in the Eclipse in-house ad) was a rather pedestrian affair. The stories, written by Jean-Marie Nadaud and illustrated by Carlo Marcello, were perfectly fine, but not particularly memorable. One key element, however, was the logo by Tom Orzechowski. This dynamic logo with broad strokes, as if boldly rendered with a flat marker, would be reused and modified over the years.

In 2020, American Mythology, as of this writing the current comic publisher of Zorro, would reprint Zorro in Old California as a standard-sized comic entitled Zorro: Timeless Tales.

ALEX TOTH’S ZORRO

Two years after Eclipse published the graphic album, the company would reprint 1950s Zorro comic-book adventures illustrated by master illustrator Alex Toth. Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures by Alex Toth vol. 1 and vol. 2 (1988), published in the same format as Zorro in Old California, reprinted in black and white Zorro issues from Dell Comics’ long-running Four Color series. Each Toth volume from Eclipse had wonderful introductions. The first volume featured Howard Chaykin’s engaging and honest (as is everything that Chaykin writes) essay. Toth himself wrote the second volume’s introduction. Toth’s words speak for themselves, but for a more modern commentary, there’s one man to turn to. Ruben Procopio is a longtime illustrator and animator who has worked for almost every pop-culture behemoth, including Disney, Warner Bros., and even DC Comics. He’s illustrated Zorro in several books, and, in fact, one of his illustrations graces the cover of a recent German reprint of these particular books. Procopio also became very friendly with Toth, who even introduced Ruben to his future wife. There’s probably no one better with whom to discuss the work of Alex Toth. “I can still get all jazzed up all over again, every time I see an Alex Toth page—it doesn’t matter how many years go by,” reveals Procopio. “I’ll look at a page and it inspires me. This is such a great collection.”

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TM & © ZPI.

THE ZORRO COMIC STRIP THAT WASN’T

Here’s a find from the vaults of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com)—original art for a proposed Zorro newspaper strip, circa 1980s, illustrated by the incredible Russ Manning of Tarzan and Magnus Robot Fighter acclaim. Our breath, like the lovely senorita’s depicted herein, is taken away!

How did Toth feel about these Zorro stories? Procopio has some insights, but they come with caveats and humility. “Some things I didn’t push with Alex, and I don’t have a very great memory,” Procopio offers. “I think other folks that were friends with Alex have a better recollection. “But I kind of think this is what happened. I do remember talking to him a little bit about it, and when he kind of goes a little like, ‘Eeehhh’… I didn’t push it too much. But in reading and seeing people’s commentary and notes and even having known Alex, I think what happened there is that he didn’t agree with the direction of the writing. He was a big fan of the 1940s Tyrone Power [movie The] Mark of Zorro. A huge fan! That was one of his favorite films. I think next to Errol Flynn and all that he did, that movie is probably his favorite swashbuckling kind of film. He was hoping to do something more like that [in these Zorro comics]. “That said, I think there was conflict with the direction of this storytelling. You can tell that Alex did his best and came through. He was probably very excited at the beginning. He would have liked to do Zorro. It’s funny because I can imagine like when we were kids, we were fans of certain things like the Batman TV show or this show or whatever, whereas older kids then, or even younger adults, kind of pooh-poohed it.” Procopio speculates that television’s Zorro (1957–1961) disappointed a fan like Alex Toth, who revered the Tyrone Power version of the character. “Perhaps when Alex saw the Guy Williams [Zorro] TV series, he thought, ‘Oh, you know, whatever.’ But I think Alex had other expectations. He kind of took a rough rock and made a diamond out of it. He took that and now it’s regarded as a collection

Deceptively Simple Design Toth’s original art to the first volume of Classic Adventures, courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

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Classics Collected (top left) Covers to Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures by Alex Toth vol. 1 (1988) and 2 (1990). (bottom left) One of the original sources of the Toth Zorro adventures, Dell’s Four Color #920 (June 1958), featuring a photo cover of Guy Williams, television’s Zorro. (below) An Alex Toth sketch. Zorro TM & © ZPI. Television Zorro © Walt Disney Productions.

of this amazing body of work that shows great design, editing, cutting, storytelling—most of all, and making something out of the script that apparently wasn’t much. It was very talky—kind of like the [’50s Zorro] show. But he was able to create incredible panel-to-panel cinematography. Obviously, a comicbook artist is all that in one, including the director, but he took one panel where maybe there was a closeup and then another panel was just a long shot with just silhouettes, and then another panel that’s a down shot and then a big splash! He just created such a beauty out of it.” Procopio shares his understanding of Toth’s final Dell Zorro issues. “…Around the last couple of issues, I feel like he was really upset. You can tell some of the drawings are kind of like a little like, ‘Okay, I’m knocking this out—I’ve got to get it done. I have to complete my contract.’” Nonetheless, Procopio’s esteem for his friend and mentor is boundless. “I don’t think Alex could do a bad drawing. It’s still a masterpiece.” continued on page 64

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‘It Is Zorro!’ Indeed. An example of Alex Toth’s masterful art, from the 1988 collected edition Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures by Alex Toth vol. 1. © ZPI.

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FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE FOX

Zorro TM & © Zorro Productions, Inc.

Ruben Procopio would follow in the footsteps of this mentor, master artist Alex Toth, on several occasions. The acclaimed artist and animator provided interior illustrations to Moonstone’s Zorro books, designed the Zorro statue from Electric Tiki, illustrated covers for a German publisher’s reprinting of the Toth Zorro comics, and even produced a Zorro illustration for Guy Williams, Jr., son of the star of television’s Zorro (and later, TV’s Lost in Space). Art scans and photos courtesy of Ruben Procopio.

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continued from page 60

MARVEL AND A NEW WORLD FOR ZORRO

TM & © ZPI.

It was just a few years later when Zorro returned to TV, courtesy of New World International and the Family Channel. This Zorro production (1990–1993) was a cable staple and has become a favorite for many fans who grew up with it. All the familiar elements were here. Lantern-jawed Duncan Regehr (inset) played Zorro and alter ego Don Diego de le Vega. The series cast was rounded out by the love interest, Zorro’s father, and two heavies, the bumbling Sgt. Mendoza, and the Alcalde. There were some changes to the standard Zorro mythology, however. For example, in this version of Zorro, his longtime friend and aide, the mute Bernardo, had become a young mute boy named Felipe. Filmed entirely in Madrid, Spain, this effort was designed with international broadcast in mind. The stories were straightforward and maintained

the status quo of Zorro. Of note were the many pop-culture guest stars, including Andre the Giant and Adam (Batman) West. To many American audiences, the series didn’t have the adult panache that one might expect from Zorro. In fact, the property would soon be embraced with great success—by the next set of cinematic films, which were in the planning stages at this time. Marvel licensed Zorro from Zorro Productions and used its Marvel UK office to create an adaptation of this television series that ran 12 issues (1990–1991). After this series was published in the US, it would be reprinted in other countries, including Germany, Sweden, and Holland. Marvel UK’s Euan Peters was the editor in charge. Scripts would be adapted by Ian Rimmer, a Marvel UK writer, although each original screenplay storywriter would be referenced in each issue’s splash page credits box. Curiously, new story titles would sometimes be created for the comic version. Mario Capuldi was the cover and interior artist for the first half of the series. Capuldi was no stranger to licensed properties, also providing art on Marvel UK titles including Captain Planet, James Bond, Jr., and ThunderCats, as well as all-ages fare like Barbie, Care Bears, and Sesame Street. British artist Dave Taylor practically launched his comic career by taking over the penciling with issue #7 for the rest of the series. He was the interior artist,

The Hacienda of Ideas (left) Marvel’s Zorro #1 (Dec. 1990) and (right) 5 (Apr. 1991). Cover art by Mario Capaldi. Zorro TM & © ZPI.

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Rising Star (top) Covers to Zorro #11 (Oct. 1991) and 12 (Nov. 1991) by the legendary Alex Toth. (bottom) Long before his celebrated work on material including Batman: Death by Design, Judge Dredd, Prophet, and Batman: Black and White, Dave Taylor counted the latter issues of Marvel UK’s Zorro among his earliest assignments. Splash to Zorro #9 (Aug. 1991), with inks by Dave Harwood. TM & © ZPI.

sometimes aided by other inkers, as well as the cover artist for issues #7, 8, and 9. Taylor developed into an engaging artist, and for years drew a number of DC titles, including those that featured the top DC character, Batman. In fact, Taylor’s career may have come full circle (from Zorro to Zorro’s “descendant,” Batman) when he illustrated design superstar Chip Kidd’s graphic novel Batman: Death by Design (2012). For many Zorro fans, and comic fans, the highlight of the series were the three covers by the legendary Alex Toth for the final three issues, #10, 11, and 12. This trio of covers showcases the hero’s bravado and confidence in a way that seems natural, carefree and most of all—fun. The stories in this 1990s series are serviceable, but like the TV series from which it is adapted, lack the gusto, adventure, and romantic charm associated with the masked swordsman. Select issues from Marvel’s 12-issue series were reprinted by American Mythology as Zorro: New World. One issue was the publisher’s 2021 Free Comic Book Day offering.

ZORRO AT TOPPS

“Then Jim Salicrup comes along,” remembers artist Thomas Yeates. “He was editing at Marvel and had gone to Topps.” In the 1990s, Salicrup developed a line of comic books published by Topps, long known for its trading cards, and developed comics featuring many of his favorite properties, including Zorro. Salicrup reached out to Yeates with an enticing offer. “I don’t know if the Zorro people recommended me or if Jim just knew me,” Yeates says. “He had Dracula vs. Zorro because Dracula was really hot.” Topps had recently adapted the 1992 Dracula movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola and staring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins. Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 65

Back in Black (left) A gimmicky black cover for Topps’ Dracula versus Zorro #1. “I didn’t like the black cover,” Zorro artist Thomas Yeates admits. “That was [editor Jim] Salicrup’s idea. I tried to explain to him that you can’t hang on a rope with one hand like that. It wouldn’t work. And I redrew the way a body would really look if it were hanging from a rope. He didn’t like it. ‘No, no,’ Jim said, ‘go back to the other one.’” (right) Issue #2. TM & © ZPI.

THE FIRST TOPPS ZORRO

Long before Topps began its 1990s publishing line that would produce Zorro comic books, the legendary trading card company released a 1958 Zorro card set based upon the popular Walt Disney–produced television series.

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“Jim wanted to do Zorro, and he was buddies with [writer] Don McGregor,” Yeates continues. “And so he said, ‘We’ll do Zorro meets Dracula, but we’ll have to switch it because Zorro’s not popular right now and Dracula is. But it was really a Zorro book. So that’s how that came about.” The result was the two-issue series of late 1993, Dracula versus Zorro, written by McGregor, penciled by Yeates, and inked by Rick Magyar. “It was a lot of work,” admits Yeates, “but I really enjoyed it. McGregor’s writing is really complex. There’s a lot going on. Really a challenge to get everything in there. Plus he has to go set half his story on this old sailing ship with all the complicated rigging… [which was] so hard to draw. “His ideas are good, though. There’s one big panel that a lot of people complimented me on, a full-page shot of Zorro kneeling on a gargoyle at Notre Dame. Don drew that. He can’t really draw, but he drew that basically. And I could just totally see it. I just drew his composition. There wasn’t any need to change anything.” Of his inker, Rick Magyar, Yeates explains, “Salicrup had Rick Magyar ink me. Or maybe I was insecure about my inking at the time. He did a great job.” While Magyar inked Yeates’ interior pages, Yeates penciled and inked the Dracula versus Zorro covers.

THE JOURNEY TO BECOMING ZORRO’S SCRIBE

Don McGregor is a lifelong comic-book and comicstrip fan whose professional output includes the groundbreaking Black Panther, Killraven/War of the Worlds, and Sabre series. But one of his favorite heroes was always Zorro. “As a kid growing up in the state of Rhode Island, if you ever told him that he’d have a chance to write these characters like James Bond and Zorro… to get that chance…” McGregor wistfully remembers. “Both characters that I love dearly. There was a tremendous responsibility—that I felt I had—to bring something to the characters and yet try to capture what I loved about them as well.” McGregor is enchanted by iconic characters. “They don’t seem to change—whether you do your own character, whether you are doing them for Marvel, or DC characters, or characters that are owned by another company, or franchised characters,” he explains. “To me, I loved all of them. So, as a storyteller, I was like, ‘What’s the best story I can tell? What do I need to look at here?’ I was looking at everything that’s been done. And then isolating what I really, really like about it and emphasize it. And what I’m not crazy about, deemphasizing that. You can’t be slavish to it either.” continued on page 70

Big Drac Attack Yeates’ original art to the wraparound cover of the 1994 collection of Dracula versus Zorro. “That was fun,” Yeates tells BACK ISSUE. “I was really happy with that.” Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

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Shipshape Artist Thomas Yeates pencil art from Dracula versus Zorro, plus a 1999 sketch in ink. Courtesy of the artist. TM & © ZPI.

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‘He did a great job’… …says Thomas Yeates of the inker of the interiors of Dracula versus Zorro—Rick Magyar. Original Yeates/ Magyar art to page 26 of issue #2. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

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street.” But when his editor left the company, the project took a negative turn for the writer. “And then Jim was McGregor had been writing James Bond for going to Topps as editor-in-chief,” McGregor Dark Horse Comics when he was roped into recalls. “That was totally unexpected.” Zorro’s world. “After doing the Bond To complicate matters, the new folks in stuff, I was doing Spider-Man for Jim charge had a different vision. “The new Salicrup at Marvel. Jim had been at editor didn’t want Spider-Man to be Marvel for years. He had been at shot.” Changing directions at this late Marvel for as long as I was there. In date for the story “just made it look 1973, Jim was already there. So Jim like I didn’t know what I was doing,” and I knew each other. Without Jim recounts a frustrated McGregor. Salicrup I would never have gotten At Topps, Salicrup was interested to do a Spider-Man book.” in McGregor writing a monthly series The result was “There’s Something there. “I had not done a monthly About a Gun,” a two-part story book at that point in time,” admits written by McGregor and illustrated McGregor, known as a writer who don mcgregor by Marshall Rogers that appeared overdelivers in every story, but not in Spider-Man #27 and 28 (Oct. and © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. as a speedy writer. “I had to really Nov. 1992). “I felt really very strongly about it, because my son had been threatened [at think about it a lot.” He was being pulled in other gunpoint] at 3:00 in the afternoon on a sunny Brooklyn directions, too. “That’s when comics were doing really, really well,” he recalls. “Marvel approached me about doing an X-Men thing with Professor X. So that he came from a different world, with a different society. I know what they wanted; they wanted me ‘building Wakanda’ (again), but I didn’t like the attitude. And I was already contemplating the stuff with Jim.” And there were other temptations. “I had gone to the San Diego Comic-Con. This was just then when [DC’s culturally diverse imprint] Milestone was really starting up then, and Dwayne McDuffie asked me to come out one night. Denys Cowan was with us. He wanted me to do one of the Milestone characters. I had this story that had dealt with AIDS in New York City. Some of the editors would flinch at that, but Dwayne never flinched at all. I really wanted to do that. I really liked Dwayne a lot. And this was a chance to work with him.” But McGregor had recently agreed to a different career milestone. “I had just… two days before… told Jim I was doing Zorro,” says McGregor. So Don was committed to the Zorro series, and it was time to start the marketing. Of the miniseries that introduced Zorro to a contemporary audience, McGregor reveals, “I wasn’t supposed to write Dracula versus Zorro. But as it turned out, Jim [Salicrup] said, ‘You are going to write Dracula versus Zorro.’ “That’s a whole different kind of research. If you’re researching Zorro, you’re researching early 1800s in California, but you are also researching Mexico, Indian cultures, the business systems, and the people who came up from Mexico to be in California. So there’s a lot of research going on. But when you are doing Dracula versus Zorro, you are dealing with totally different locales: Spain and Paris. You’re dealing with the Zorro mythos and the Dracula mythos.” In the end, McGregor was happy with the finished product. “I got really lucky having Tom Yeates drawing

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The Other Dark Knight Returns Zorro in action, scribed by Don McGregor, penciled by Mike Mayhew, and inked by John Nyberg. From Topps’ Zorro #1 (Jan. 1994). TM & © ZPI.

All-Star Artists (opposite) Among the fan-favorites illustrating Topps Zorro covers: (top, left to right) Brian Stelfreeze (#0), Frank Miller (#1), and Jae Lee (#2); (center, left to right) Adam Hughes (#3), Mike Grell (#4), and Mike Mignola (#6); and (bottom, left to right) Paul Gulacy (#7), George Pérez (#8), and Julie Bell (#10). Wow! TM & © ZPI.

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Wait’ll They Get a Load’a Me (left) This “Zorro’s Renegades” pinup from Zorro #0 teased the upcoming premiere of the series’ breakout character. Art by Mayhew and Nyberg. (right) Zorro: Matanzas #1. TM & © ZPI.

it and Sam Parsons coloring it. Literally the best part of alive in those days—and I said, ‘Well, Mom, wondering comics is when you are working close with an artist, what your son is doing these days? I’m learning how to become mind-numbingly brutal.’” and you start to see it come to life.” Zorro interior artist Mike Mayhew was just starting The two-part crossover was promptly followed by a new Zorro series written by Don McGregor. what would become a brilliant career. His talent and ability to inspire were evident in his early work Editor-in-chief Salicrup wanted a marketing hook in this series. He was able to capture the for the new title. “Jim was like, ‘Try to find thrill of Zorro’s adventures with bold and ways to promote the book.’” So Topps confident layouts full of nail-biting concocted Zorro #0 (Nov. 1993), an thrills and ear-to-ear smiling fun. Guest introductory one-shot of 20 pages (with artists illustrated four issues from the 12 pages of story) published at the newrun: Vince Russell penciled Zorro reader-friendly price point of $1.00. #6, while the last three issues of the Its insertion irked the new Zorro series—#9, 10, and 11—were penciled scribe. “I was already writing Zorro,” by Hearn Cho, as Mayhew was working McGregor recalls, who had started his on a special four-part story called Zorro: new series with issue #1 and by that Matanzas, a miniseries that took a long point was working on issue #3. Don time to see print. protested to Jim Salicrup, but the editor Topps editors Jim Salicrup and told him to just do a 12-page story. mike mayhew Dwight Jon Zimmerman recruited The 12-page story—“Drink the top talent for Zorro as cover artists, Blood Straight”—was infamous, StarWars.fandom.com. including Frank Miller, Adam Hughes, picking up on the heels of Dracula versus Zorro. “I remember this quote from Jim Salicrup: Paul Gulacy, Mike Mignola, Brian Steelfreeze, Jae Lee, ‘It was mind-numbingly brutal,’” McGregor recalls. “I Mike Grell, Keith Giffen and Joe Sinnott, George Pérez, remember coming back to speak to my mom—she was Julie Bell, and Joseph Michael Linsner. The stories themselves were nuanced and thoughtful, with McGregor packing much into each tale. Zorro dealt not only with righting wrongs, but also with the realities of maintaining a dual identity, his friendship with his aide Bernardo, and parental approval. Zorro served up a first for McGregor: “It was the first time I heard from the readers all over the world. Thank God for the readers.” Topps’ Zorro ended all too soon, with issue #11 (Nov. 1994). During a 1998 Zorro run from Eva Ink, the publication of McGregor and Mayhew’s Zorro: Matanzas was teased, but it didn’t see the light of day until Dynamite Entertainment published it in 2010.

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Hats Off to the Lady (top) While little of Zorro was seen on the cover of Topps’ Zorro #11 (Nov. 1994), readers got an eyeful of Lady Rawhide in this super-sexy wraparound cover painting by Joseph Michael Linsner. (bottom) A color guide for a Zorro #11 spread, signed by colorist Anthony Tollin. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

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LADY RAWHIDE

Leaping into Solo-stardom A stunning action page from Lady Rawhide vol. 2 #5 (June 1997). Signed by its artist, Esteban Maroto. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

Don McGregor typically brings more than just adventures to the heroic fiction he writes. He has a knack for what is now called “world-building,” and for creating a cast of characters that may even outshine the hero. Such is the case with the breakout character from Topps’ Zorro series, Lady Rawhide. “Going back to the beginning days of doing the Zorro book,” recalls McGregor, “I’m reading all kinds of books. Zorro Productions had a huge resource of books of that timeframe, some of them dealing with Indian culture, some with the mission system. So I would go into Topps, I would Xerox what I needed to find what was pertinent to what I was writing about. “…You will note in all my stories, there are women characters,” says McGregor. “That would have been difficult for me, doing a monthly Zorro book that really didn’t have any women who didn’t work in the tavern or under the aristocracy, that traditional kind of woman character. That was the impetus to

start trying to create a woman character… and this became Lady Rawhide.” While the character started with the name of Lady Rawhide, Don flirted with the idea of changing her name before she debuted. “I asked to rename the character Lady Mayhem. I was out to dinner with [my wife] Marcia and a friend of hers. The woman said, ‘Why are you going to change it to Lady Mayhem? Mayhem is not in control; Rawhide is durable and tough.’ Immediately after I called up Jim [Salicrup]. I said, ‘Hey, Jim, she’s back to Lady Rawhide!’” First seen as Anita Santiago in Zorro #2, then as Lady Rawhide in issue #3, the character was a sultry champion of the oppressed. Co-creator Mike Mayhew brought his elegant draftsmanship to the character. Mayhew designed Lady Rawhide, and then drew her so well that fandom embraced the curvaceous character. In the ’90s, Lady Rawhide was red-hot. Her early appearances were always on Wizard Magazine’s top ten lists, and her essential sexy allure was undeniable. “Originally that was not her outfit,” reveals McGregor. “I had her in chaps, covering her legs. And Mike had drawn a version of that. But to be honest with you… it just wasn’t sexy enough. The thing about doing costumed characters [is,] the costumed character can steal the scene… can steal everything.” Lady Rawhide appeared in the Zorro series, in a promotional Topps comic, in a Wizard Magazine Presents #½ issue, and two five-issue limited series. She was almost made into an action figure in the Playmates Zorro line. Her adventures would be reprinted and expanded upon by subsequent publishers. Former DC and Marvel Comics editor Renee Witterstaetter was the editor of Topps’ Lady Rawhide miniseries, vol. 1 #1–5 (July 1995–Mar. 1996) and vol. 2 #1–5 (Oct. 1996–June 1997). “Of course, I was always a Zorro fan,” Witterstaetter tells BACK ISSUE. “I was always a big fan of the old Westerns on TV, and Zorro was one I always really enjoyed. “When I went to work at Topps Comics, I was hired there by Jim Salicrup, one of my old friends at Marvel, and I was brought on as an editor. And one of the projects I was given was Dracula versus Zorro [assisting editors Salicrup and Zimmerman]. It was a really fun book to put together. And we started the Zorro comic-book series as well with Don McGregor as writer. Don, of course, is one of the preeminent Zorro writers. He is totally in love with [Zorro] and really has a good handle on how to handle the character. He was always just a dream to work with.” Of Lady Rawhide, Witterstaetter observes, “She was lightning in a bottle. She was very strong, but very sexy. Don had a lot of affection for that character. She was a perfect foil for Zorro and added a sense of adventure and romance.“

ZORRO AT EVA INK/IMAGE

The 1998 movie The Mask of Zorro is considered by many to be the best Zorro movie. Critic Roger Ebert was impressed with the authenticity of this summer blockbuster, writing in a review, “It’s a reminder of the time when stunts and special effects were integrated into stories, rather than the other way around.” In this tale, Zorro has been defeated and in prison for 20 years. Bad guy Don Rafael Montero murdered his wife and took his daughter. In an adventure that’s part Count of Monte Cristo and part rebirth tale, Don Diego (Anthony Hopkins) trains a young man, Alejendro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas), to take over the “family business”… of being Zorro. 74 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

Zorro artist Thomas Yeates has clear memories of this. “Then John Gertz at Zorro got the Banderas movie together,” recalls Yeates. “It turned out that he and his then-wife, Sandra Curtis, had met each other, and we got to be friends. I’d see them, and they would tell me what’s going on with Zorro. They had this movie deal. And Raúl Juliá was going to play Zorro. And it was like, ‘Wow… great. I love Raúl Juliá.’ But then Raúl Juliá died. They had to go find someone else to play Zorro. Meanwhile, however, because of that tragedy, they had more time to improve the script. Then Sean Connery was going to play [the elder] Zorro. They landed this hot director, Martin Campbell [GoldenEye], and then Connery didn’t like Campbell, and [Connery] quit. So they had two long delays. But then it came out, and it was fantastic. The script was so damn good.” No stranger to the Zorro properties from her experience at Topps, Renee Witterstaetter, through her publishing imprint Eva Ink, negotiated the rights to publish the comic adaptation of The Mask of Zorro. She also arranged to republish several other Zorro comics, including the Eclipse and Topps Zorro adventures. Witterstaetter hired Image Comics to package the efforts. The artwork for the adaptation was stunning. Each issue of this four-part miniseries had movie photo covers, with gorgeous Michael Golden–drawn comic-book variant covers for issues #2 and 4. “Retailers and fans embraced it,” says Witterstaetter. “It was distributed though Diamond. And it was helped immensely with a Michael Golden cover.” Filled to the brim with excitement, the interior art was provided by penciler Ron Wagner. Rick Magyar, who had inked the Topps’ Dracula versus Zorro series in 1993, was a renee witterstaetter welcome addition, bringing his crisp and carefree line back to the character. Don McGregor was back in the saddle 5of7/Wikimedia Commons. as writer of the adaptation. “It was a lot of hard work to take a long movie and put it into about 80 pages of a comic,” recounts McGregor. “I hadn’t seen the movie [when] I started writing it. So some things were unclear in the script. So that means you’re really going to be selective, and I was trying to be as close to the film in terms of dialogue and to the comics in terms of the way we can do storytelling.” In adapting the lengthy screenplay into a four-issue comicbook framework, McGregor used the same method he employed on his adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone for 1977’s Marvel Classics Comics #23. “I would break a book down, page by page, for the first 20, 30 pages of the comic. Then I would take it back and make sure we had enough room for the ending. And then in the middle I’d see how much room we’d have left, keeping everything as pertinent to the story. It’s kind of like being in a race and you have to keep the endpoint in your mind the whole time. But it’s not always the easiest thing to do.” Of artist Ron Wagner, McGregor admits, “When Renee Witterstaetter first said [she was] going to put him on, I said, ‘I don’t know his work.’” Don asked Renee if he could draw horses and if he could draw women. “Then Renee showed me some work he had done—and it was great!” The Mask of Zorro miniseries was packed with extras, including stills from the movie, a letters column (often commenting on the Topps stories from years past), and McGregor’s behind-the-scenes details of adapting a movie he had yet to see. In fact, he didn’t even have access to the final script. Through Image, from 1998–2001, Eva Ink would reprint most of the recent Zorro comics, including the three graphic novels from Eclipse, Topps’ Dracula versus Zorro, the ongoing Zorro series, and the Lady Rawhide miniseries (subtitled, respectively, The Lady Wears Red and Other People’s Blood).

Box Office Gold(en) (top) The blockbuster movie The Mask of Zorro (1998) inspired a four-issue comic-book adaptation. Michael Golden illustrated variant covers for issues #2 (bottom) and 4. TM & © ZPI.

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ZORRO: THE WHAT-COULDHAVE-BEEN ADVENTURES

TM & © ZPI.

Curiously, as The Mask of Zorro established a new status quo (in fact, it established a new Zorro!), beyond the movie adaptation there weren’t any efforts to build upon this version of Zorro in comic books. Minstrel Books, a division of Pocket Books, published an “all ages” adaption of the movie, but only followed up with one other book. Zorro: The Treasure of Don Diego continues the adventures of Alejandro Murrieta (the original Zorro’s protégé) and Esperanza de le Vega (the original Zorro’s daughter). This adventure takes place after the key events of the movie and even provides the hero with a “Bucky Barnes”–style helper. In this story, a boy discovers Zorro’s secret identity and then essentially blackmails him for the sidekick position. Curiously, this edition has an ad for a “Special Package Offer.” This offers four issues of the Mask of Zorro series for $11.00, plus $4.00 shipping from Space Travelers Comics in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

ZORRO: THE NEWSPAPER STRIP

The success of the Mask of Zorro movie spawned a Zorro newspaper strip, which writer Don McGregor and artist Thomas Yeates debuted on April 12, 1999. “Nobody had seen Zorro in years and years, and here they came out with this incredible film,” Yeates recalls. “The Creators Syndicate saw the movie and were jazzed,” saying, “‘Let’s do a Zorro comic strip. There’s never been one.’ They wanted to get the team back together. They got McGregor and me.” Don McGregor fondly remembers his time working on the newspaper strip. “I loved the challenge of it,” he says. “It was one of the favorite things I’ve ever done. I really love the newspaper-strip comic [form]. When I look at guys like Milt Caniff and Hal Foster, Prince Valiant and Terry and the Pirates, those are my favorites. Dick Tracy, from about ’48 to ’52. The Frank King stuff—I realize how much of the language of comics he was developing with Gasoline Alley. Those were the books I was reading.” Reflecting on the artwork of the Zorro strip, Thomas Yeates opines, “The printing was pretty poor. I was doing it in duoshade because I like working in duoshade, which has the halftone. It was pre-digital.” Yeates was not only drawing the black-and-white daily strips, but the color Sunday strips, too. “I learned to color because I had to color the Sundays,” he admits. “I had never colored before.” This period was a bittersweet time for the artist, however. “My daughter had just been born,” Yeates says. “I wasn’t getting any work hardly at all from anywhere else. The industry was in its full-blown collapse at that time, the end of the ’90s and early 2000s—it was a little rough. You make money based on how many papers carry the strip. Zorro had like a whopping six papers, so I was getting paid very poorly. Of course, the pitch is, ‘Just keep at it. It will make lots of money when more papers get it.’ I don’t think [the syndicate] tried hard to sell it to other papers.” The amount of labor that went into this strip would be daunting for any artist. “I remember in the second or third year when I was doing the newspaper strip, I was really having a hard time keeping up,” says Yeates. “It was real time-consuming to compose each panel because of the amount of information McGregor had in there.” So Yeates brought in a collaborator in the form of fellow Kubert School alumnus Tod Smith. An accomplished comic artist, Smith had worked on many characters including Green Lantern, the Silver Surfer, the Punisher, the Peacemaker, and the Vigilante. “I remember a sketch he did of Zorro,” Yeates says. “He loved Zorro and loved to draw horses. I thought Tod was a real straightforward, storyteller guy.” Of how he got the gig, Tod Smith tells BACK ISSUE, “I had been working for Guideposts for Kids on a four-page comic strip. It was lettered by Mindy Eisman. Our strip got cancelled, and I elected to call Mindy to let her know.” During that call, Eisman explained that she had recently been in touch with their mutual friend, Thomas Yeates, who was drawing the Zorro strip. When Mindy told Tod about it, he was elated. “Zorro! It doesn’t get any better than that,” Smith beams. “I grew up with the Disney Zorro. I fell in love with it. Secret passageways, a cave under his house—that was for me! I even had a Zorro outfit as a kid. I was a big-time fan. Guy Williams was just so perfect.” Smith immediately reached out to his old friend to offer congratulations. “I understand you’re doing the guy in black,” Tod said to Thomas. When Yeates replied that he could use some help, Smith’s reply was, “You bet—absolutely!” Upon reflection, Smith realizes that it all just synched up. “It was good timing! I had lost my gig at Marvel”—Darkhawk with Danny Fingeroth and Nel Yomtov, which was cancelled with issue #50. “I was sort of between gigs. I called to say congrats, and he offered me the role of assistant penciler!” “His style is just a little bit cartoony,” Yeates says of Smith’s work. “I would try to tone it down. At some point, about a third of the way into my run, he took over the pencils.” “Tom ended up working over my layouts,” Smith says. “He was responsible for the finished look. He is an illustrator; I consider myself to be a cartoonist. I worked to get as close to his style as I could.” The two artists’ skills meshed seamlessly. Zorro’s historical setting made it fun for Smith to illustrate. “Beats the hell out of drawing skyscrapers and taxi cabs,” he laughs. And Tod was always able to find references. “I had comic books, the Alex Toth books. And all you had to do was to turn on the TV” to find an old Western for additional reference.

76 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

Help Is on the Way (top) An early Zorro daily from 1999, written by Don McGregor and illustrated by Thomas Yeates. (middle) In 2000, Tod Smith was recruited by Yeates to collaborate on the Zorro comic strip’s art. (bottom) After Yeates’ departure from the syndicated strip, Smith was inked by Rick Magyar. This Sunday strip from February 25, 2001 includes writer Don McGregor’s syndicate-friendly Lady Rawhide surrogate, Eulalia. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © ZPI.

Smith is appreciative of the detail and tones Yeates put into the strip and enjoyed the collaboration, holding Yeates in high regard. “He always did knock himself out.” There were other changes after a while. Rick Magyar and Tom Palmer joined McGregor and Smith “after Yeates left to do other work.” Recalls Smith, “I found it lot fun to do. But in the end, it just didn’t pay out. The Zorro strip wasn’t being picked up by enough papers. The syndicate didn’t spread it around enough.” Since it was written by Don McGregor, was the Zorro newspaper strip connected to Topps’ comic-book version? “I didn’t tell the audience, but I set it before the time of the comic,” McGregor says conspiratorially. What about Topps’ breakout character? “Lady Rawhide was just too much of a problem [for a newspaper strip],” Don explains. “She was just too sexual… it would have just been a constant fight. They were not gonna let it happen.” But he found a way around it by creating a new character as a Lady Rawhide stand-in. “Then I created Eulalia,” McGregor says. “Eulalia was only meant to be in that cantina scene in the beginning. However, Tom Yeates and Tod Smith did such a great job with the character, I said, ‘Oh, man, let me put her back in.’”

THE MARK OF THE Z

Of course, Zorro’s comic adventures have continued into the Modern Age of Comics. Publishers like Papercutz, Dynamite, and American Mythology have carried the torch forward to new generations of fans. Visit Zorro.com for the latest information. But for a few shining moments during comics’ Bronze Age, the spirit of bravado, of adventure, of romance, and of a sense of justice for those who needed it was kept alive by these talented fans-turned-professionals and their dashing work on Zorro comics. ED CATTO is a marketing and startup strategist, with a specialty in pop culture. As founder of Agendae, Ed is dedicated to helping brands and companies innovate and grow. As part of the faculty at Ithaca College’s School of Business, Ed teaches entrepreneurial courses and one unique class focusing on comic conventions and Geek Culture. Ed’s also an illustrator, having won the 2019 and 2021 Pulp Factory Awards, and a retropreneur, rejuvenating brands like Captain Action.

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 77

Find BACK ISSUE on

SEARCHING FOR MORE CLASSIC HEROES?

Our issue themes often invite queries, and sometimes complaints, from readers asking about the apparent exclusion of subjectappropriate characters or series, prompting responses from ye ed explaining that they were previously covered in our pages— or preemptive messages like this one, directing you to the following past editions for earlier our coverage of these Classic Heroes: · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Buck Rogers (in the 25th Century) (TV show adaptation): BI #128 Carson of Venus: BI #55 Conan the Barbarian: BI #11, 43, 88, 121 Dick Tracy: BI #71 The Green Hornet and Kato: BI #18 James Bond: BI #26 James Bond, Jr.: BI #33 John Carter of Mars/Warlord of Mars: BI #55 Korak, Son of Tarzan: BI #89 Kull the Conqueror: BI #121 Man-God: BI #47 Pellucidar (At the Earth’s Core): BI #55 The Phantom (DC Comics): BI #47 Red Sonja: BI #43, 118, 121 Rima the Jungle Girl: BI #43 The Shadow: BI #10, 88, 89 The Spirit: BI #26 Tarzan of the Apes: BI #1

And while on the topic of Classic Heroes, here’s a little something we found (right) in the online archives of our friends at Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com)—a 1970 illustration of our cover star, Flash Gordon, tangling with his arch-foe, Ming the Merciless, produced by the then-up-andcoming, pre–Swamp Thing Berni(e) Wrightson, for the fanzine Comic Crusader issue #11. Enjoy…

DREADED DISTRIBUTION DOOM

Some recent issues of BACK ISSUE have reached your comic shop or mailbox later than anticipated. Pandemic-related delays have hampered our distribution, from international shipping (we print in China) to California port processing to cross-country truck and postal deliveries. Unfortunately this matter has been out of our control, but rest assured that once an issue arrives, its contents will be just as fun and informative as ever. Here’s hoping that by the time you read this, these woes will be behind us. In the meantime, thank you for your patience!

‘A TERRIFIC READ’

BI #132 is a terrific read of mini-articles on 1980s Marvel miniseries (i.e. limited series) that coalesce into a senses-shattering whole. Channeling the pop-rock spirit of that energetic issue, I would like to share my quick riffs on each of the pieces: 78 • BACK ISSUE • Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue

Send your comments to: Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE 112 Fairmount Way * New Bern, NC 28562

Backseat Driver: Michael Eury’s editorial cleverly connects the groundbreaking Roots and the subsequent television miniseries of the early 1980s to their DC and Marvel comic-book counterparts, which is symmetrically fitting since so many TV shows today are adaptations of superhero narratives. Wolverine: Learning about Chris Claremont’s process for creating wild woman Yukio as a “bad girl” rival in Wolverine’s heart to “good girl” Mariko, as well as the fact that he views them as divided representations of the then-dead Jean Grey, was quite satisfying. Equally, Joe Rubenstein’s contribution to the artistic success of Wolverine’s first solo outing cannot be celebrated enough, and I’m grateful that this article allows him to reflect upon his historically important contribution to the art by fleshing out Frank Miller’s dynamic—yet arguably very loose—pencils. The Falcon: Christopher Priest’s (a.k.a. Jim Owsley) comments on the slow-burn gestation of this mini were definitely eye-opening: the Falcon absolutely deserved stronger exposure—and his own ongoing series—during this period. Magik – Storm and Illyana: Claremont shares an understandable excitement for working with John Buscema on the first two issues of this miniseries, and he wisely reveals that Illyana Rasputin’s journey in Limbo, heroic or otherwise, is one that stands above the simple binary of good and evil. Machine Man: Tom DeFalco sharing how Casablanca’s love story influenced his writing for this miniseries adds an intertextual cinematic richness to my next reading of this classic futuristic Machine Man epic. Kitty Pryde and Wolverine: Al Milgrom insightfully reveals he approached drawing Japan. It’s also fascinating to consider what Kitty Pryde and Wolverine’s cover for issue #1 would have looked like with the artist’s theoretical inclusion of Wolverine, but there’s something about the one we got that signaled that Kitty was growing up as a character who could successfully star in her own comic. Iceman: J. M. DeMatteis’ reflections upon how he added depth to what he calls Bobby Drake’s “everyman” character by developing the supporting characters in this mini of his parents, love interest (Mirage), and villains provides great background information regarding this delightful miniseries, particularly when he reveals the influence of Hindu mythology upon his creation of Oblivion and Kali. The Punisher: Seeing how successful the first Punisher miniseries was when it debuted, I never would have suspected that writer Steven Grant had to fight so hard to see his long-gestating, gritty vision for this game-changing title to materialize at Marvel. Thanks to Jerry Smith’s guts-and-all interview with him, I am better informed of this situation.

‘SECRET IDENTITY’ REVEALED!

While we’re on the topic of 1970s flashbacks, allow us this plug for Alex Segura’s new novel, Secret Identity, a whodunit set in the world of comic books during the era we now know and love as the Bronze Age. Here’s a description of the book from its publisher, Flatiron Books (a division of Macmillan):

Thanks for the comments, Tom. Regular readers will recognize Tom Powers as an occasional BI writer—and we look forward to his next contribution to our pages. Speaking of contributions: Tom’s letter was the ONLY one we received about issue #132! Don’t let ye ed exist in a reader comment–free vacuum—then I’ll start overindulging myself with more articles about The Brave and the Bold. Let us hear from you!

From Anthony Award–winning writer Alex Segura comes Secret Identity, a rollicking literary mystery set in the world of comic books. It’s 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book. That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,” Triumph’s first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit. But that’s complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living. Alex Segura uses his expertise as a comics creator as well as his unabashed love of noir fiction to create a truly one-of-a-kind novel—hard-edged and bright-eyed, gritty and dangerous, and utterly absorbing.

‘KNEEL BEFORE BRONZE!’

For more info, visit flatironbooks.com or alexsegura.com.

Not long ago Scott Dutton posted the above photo on BI’s Facebook page with a comment about this kid worshipping at the altar of the Bronze Age. One might say he’s bowing before the King of Comics, since he’s touching two Jack Kirby– produced DCs, Jimmy Olsen and Mister Miracle. Judging from the vintage of the comic titles on display (yes, that IS John Stewart’s first appearance in Green Lantern #87, to the right of the kid’s right hand!), this photo was taken in October 1971. It’s too cool a photo not to share here in print, and we thank Scott for bringing it to our attention.

Marvel “Versus” Miniseries: The trifecta of Claremont, Milgrom, and Roger Stern offering firsthand reflections to writer Stephen Friedt on their respective contributions to the Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men, Mephisto vs. the FF, X-Factor, the X-Men, and the Avengers, and The X-Men vs. the Avengers miniseries is a highlight of this issue. I was especially intrigued to hear Stern’s POV on not scripting the fourth issue of his miniseries. Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.: Paul Neary’s confession that he drew the Himalayas as the setting for issue #5 in order to avoid the more time-consuming task of illustrating New York City buildings exemplifies how an artist dealing with the dreaded-deadline-ofdoom led to a beautiful alternative vista for Nick Fury and company. Black Panther: David F. Walker’s well-researched history of the Black Panther 1988 mini nicely contextualizes the four-issue series, specifically when he argues that this comic could have been more socially relevant if it had been actually published (as originally planned) in 1984, when apartheid in South Africa was first coming to the world’s attention. Wolfpack: Via interviews with Ron Wilson, Larry Hama, Ann Nocenti, Alex Jay, John Figueroa, Terry Kavanagh, Chris Ivy, and Don Hudson, writer Patrick A. Reed has taken an effective documentary approach in presenting the history of this provocative multicultural, street-level New York City graphic novel and its subsequent 12-issue series. X-Terminators: Jon Bogdanove reflecting upon the looser workplace atmosphere of late-’80s Marvel, catalyzed by the Marvel Method, made me wish that such a mecca could exist everywhere today for comic-book creatives. I also appreciated discovering how he and Louise Simonson created the character of Takeshi “Taki” Matsuya, who is a positive superhero representation for both Asian Americans and physically disabled people. – Tom Powers

Next issue: Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes! Mighty Marvel’s Bronze Age second bananas: Doc Samson, Jack of Hearts, Thundra, Nighthawk, Starfox, Modred the Mystic, Woodgod, the Shroud, Thunderbird and Warpath, Stingray, Wundarr, and more! Featuring KURT BUSIEK, CHRIS CLAREMONT, PETER DAVID, J. M. DeMATTEIS, STEVE ENGLEHART, GEORGE FREEMAN, STEVE GERBER, KEITH GIFFEN, STEVEN GRANT, JEPH LOEB, BILL MANTLO, DAVID MICHELINIE, AL MILGROM, FABIAN NICIEZA, BENJAMIN RAAB, ROGER STERN, ROY THOMAS, MARV WOLFMAN, and other A-list talent. Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in thirty! Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief

Classic Heroes in the Bronze Age Issue • BACK ISSUE • 79

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THE

CHARLTON COMPANION by JON B. COOKE

An ALL-NEW definitive history of Connecticut’s notorious all-in-one comic book company! Often disparaged as a second-rate funny-book outfit, Charlton produced a vast array of titles that span from the 1940s Golden Age to the Bronze Age of the ’70s in many genres, from Hot Rods to Haunted Love. The imprint experienced explosive bursts of creativity, most memorably the “Action Hero Line” edited by DICK GIORDANO in the 1960s, which featured the renowned talents of STEVE DITKO and a stellar team of creators, as well as the unforgettable ’70s “Bullseye” era that spawned E-Man and Doomsday +1, all helmed by veteran masters and talented newcomers—and serving as a training ground for an entire generation of comics creators thriving in an environment of complete creative freedom. From its beginnings with a handshake deal consummated in county jail, to the company’s accomplishments beyond comics, woven into this prose narrative are interviews with dozens of talented participants, including GIORDANO, DENNIS O’NEIL, ALEX TOTH, SANHO KIM, TOM SUTTON, PAT BOYETTE, NICK CUTI, JOHN BYRNE, MIKE ZECK, JOE STATON, SAM GLANZMAN, NEAL ADAMS, JOE GILL, and even some Derby residents who recall working in the sprawling company plant. Though it gave up the ghost over three decades ago, Charlton’s influence continues today with its Action Heroes serving as inspiration for ALAN MOORE’s cross-media graphic novel hit, WATCHMEN. By JON B. COOKE with MICHAEL AMBROSE & FRANK MOTLER. SHIPS NOVEMBER 2022! (256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-111-0

THE

TEAM-UP COMPANION by MICHAEL EURY

THE TEAM-UP COMPANION examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics—DC’s THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and DC COMICS PRESENTS, Marvel’s MARVEL TEAM-UP and MARVEL TWO-INONE, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes. Go behind the scenes of your favorite team-up comic books with specially curated and all-new creator recollections from NEAL ADAMS, JIM APARO, MIKE W. BARR, ELIOT R. BROWN, NICK CARDY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, STEVE GERBER, STEVEN GRANT, BOB HANEY, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, PAUL LEVITZ, RALPH MACCHIO, DENNIS O’NEIL, MARTIN PASKO, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated readers during the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s. By BACK ISSUE and RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY. (272-page SOFTCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7 • NOW SHIPPING!

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

by GLEN CADIGAN

From the letters pages of Silver Age comics to his 2021 induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the career of DAVE COCKRUM started at the bottom and then rose to the top of the comic book industry. Beginning with his childhood obsession with comics and continuing through his years in the Navy, THE LIFE AND ART OF DAVE COCKRUM follows the rising star from fandom (where he was one of the “Big Three” fanzine artists) to pro-dom, where he helped revive two struggling comic book franchises: the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and the X-MEN. A prolific costume designer and character creator, his redesigns of the Legion and his introduction of X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan) laid the foundation for both titles to become best-sellers. His later work on his own property, THE FUTURIANS, as well as childhood favorite BLACKHAWK and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, plus his five years on SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY, cemented his position as an industry giant. Featuring artwork from fanzines, unused character designs, and other rare material, this is THE comprehensive biography of the legendary comic book artist, whose influence is still felt on the industry today! Written by GLEN CADIGAN (THE LEGION COMPANION, THE TITANS COMPANION Volumes 1 and 2, BEST OF THE LEGION OUTPOST) with an introduction by ALEX ROSS. (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 • (LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-113-4 • NOW SHIPPING!

RETROFAN #22

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BACK ISSUE #139

BACK ISSUE #140

BACK ISSUE #141

NOT-READY-FOR-PRIMETIME MARVEL HEROES! Mighty Marvel’s Bronze Age second bananas: Doc Samson, Jack of Hearts, Thundra, Nighthawk, Starfox, Modred the Mystic, Woodgod, the Shroud, Thunderbird and Warpath, Stingray, Wundaar, and others! Featuring the work of BUSIEK, DAVID, ENGLEHART, GERBER, GIFFEN, GRANT, MANTLO, MICHELINIE, STERN, THOMAS, and other A-list talent!

DINOSAUR COMICS! Interviews with Xenozoic®’s MARK SCHULTZ and dinoartist extraordinaire WILLIAM STOUT! Plus: Godzilla at Dark Horse, Sauron villain history, Dinosaurs Attack!, Dinosaurs for Hire, Dinosaur Rex, Dino Riders, Lord Dinosaur, and Jurassic Park! Featuring ARTHUR ADAMS, BISSETTE, CLAREMONT, COCKRUM, GERANI, STRADLEY, ROY THOMAS, and more. SCHULTZ cover.

SPIES AND P.I.s! Nick Fury from Howling Commando to Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ms. Tree’s MAX ALLAN COLLINS and TERRY BEATTY in a Pro2Pro interview, MARK EVANIER on his Crossfire series, a Hydra villain history, WILL EISNER’s John Law, Checkmate, and Tim Trench and Mike Mauser. With ENGLEHART, ERWIN, HALL, ISABELLA, KUPPERBERG, STATON, THOMAS, and cover by DAVE JOHNSON!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #81

KIRBY COLLECTOR #82

KIRBY COLLECTOR #83

KIRBY COLLECTOR #84

KIRBY COLLECTOR #85

“KIRBY: BETA!” Jack’s experimental ideas, characters, and series (Fighting American, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, and others), Kirby interview, inspirations for his many “secret societies” (The Project, Habitat, Wakanda), non-superhero genres he explored, 2019 Heroes Con panel (with MARK EVANIER, MIKE ROYER, JIM AMASH, and RAND HOPPE), a pencil art gallery, UNUSED JIMMY OLSEN #141 COVER, and more!

“THE MANY WORLDS OF JACK KIRBY!” From Sub-Atomica to outer space, visit Kirby’s work from World War II, the Fourth World, and hidden worlds of Subterranea, Wakanda, Olympia, Lemuria, Atlantis, the Microverse, and others! Plus, a 2021 Kirby panel, featuring JONATHAN ROSS, NEIL GAIMAN, & MARK EVANIER, a Kirby pencil art gallery from MACHINE MAN, 2001, DEVIL DINOSAUR, & more!

FAMOUS FIRSTS! How JACK KIRBY was a pioneer in all areas of comics: Romance Comics genre, Kid Gangs, double-page spreads, Black heroes, new formats, super-hero satire, and others! With MARK EVANIER and our regular columnists, plus a gallery of Jack’s pencil art from CAPTAIN AMERICA, JIMMY OLSEN, CAPTAIN VICTORY, DESTROYER DUCK, BLACK PANTHER, and more!

STEVE SHERMAN TRIBUTE! Kirby family members, friends, comics creators, and the entertainment industry salute Jack’s assistant (and puppeteer on Men in Black, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and others). MARK EVANIER and Steve recall assisting Kirby, Steve discusses Jack’s Speak-Out Series, Kirby memorabilia from his collection, an interview with wife DIANA MERCER, and Steve’s unseen 1974 KIRBY/BERRY cover!

KIRBY: ANIMATED! How JACK KIRBY and his concepts leaped from celluloid, to paper, and back again! From his 1930s start on Popeye and Betty Boop and his work being used on the 1960s Marvel Super-Heroes show, to Fantastic Four (1967 and 1978), Super Friends/Super Powers, Scooby-Doo, Thundarr the Barbarian, and Ruby-Spears. Plus EVAN DORKIN on his abandoned Kamandi cartoon series, and more!

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CBA BULLPEN

JOHN SEVERIN

Collects all seven issues of JON B. COOKE’s TWO-FISTED COMIC ARTIST little-seen fanzine, published just after the A spirited biography of EC Comics mainstay original COMIC BOOK ARTIST ended its (with HARVEY KURTZMAN on Mad and TwoMorrows run in 2003. Interviews with Two-Fisted Tales) and co-creator of Western GEORGE TUSKA, FRED HEMBECK, TERRY strip American Eagle. Covers his 40+ year BEATTY, and FRANK BOLLE, an all-star association with Cracked magazine, his tribute to JACK ABEL, a new feature on pivotal Marvel Comics work inking HERB JACK KIRBY’s unknown 1960 baseball card TRIMPE on The Hulk & teaming with sister art, and a 16-page full-color section! MARIE SEVERIN on King Kull, and more! By GREG BIGA and JON B. COOKE. (176-page TRADE PAPERBACK with COLOR) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $8.99 (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-105-9 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • Now shipping! Now shipping!

OUR ARTISTS AT WAR AMERICAN TV COMICS Examines US War comics: EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others! By RICHARD ARNDT and STEVEN FEARS, with an introduction by ROY THOMAS. (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • Now shipping!

BRICKJOURNAL #74

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable PETER BOSCH’s history of over 300 TV shows and 2000+ comic book adaptations by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from across five decades, from well-known STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) to lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepPINKY LEE). With profiles of artists who by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and more! BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (192-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping! (Digital Edition) $15.99 • Now shipping!

(1940s-1980s)

New Magazines!

ALTER EGO #176

ALTER EGO #177

ALTER EGO #178

The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET & SMITH (THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY TOLLIN on “The Shadow/Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!

Celebration of veteran artist DON PERLIN—artist of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, THE DEFENDERS, GHOST RIDER, MOON KNIGHT, 1950s horror, and just about every other adventure genre under the fourcolor sun! Plus Golden Age artist MARCIA SNYDER—Marvel’s early variant covers— Marvelmania club and fanzine—FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Cracked Mazagine, & more!

Golden Age great EMIL GERSHWIN, artist of Starman, Spy Smasher, and ACG horror—in a super-length special MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—plus a Gershwin showcase in PETER NORMANTON’s From The Tomb— even a few tidbits about relatives GEORGE and IRA GERSHWIN to top it off! Also FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and other surprise features!

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ALTER EGO #179

ALTER EGO #180

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #27 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #28 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #29

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3! Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more!

THE YOUNG ALL-STARS—the late-1980s successor to ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with first artist BRIAN MURRAY and last artist LOU MANNA—surprising insights by writer/co-creator ROY THOMAS—plus a panorama of never-seen Young All-Stars artwork! All-new cover by BRIAN MURRAY! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and beyond!

Extensive PAUL GULACY retrospective by GREG BIGA that includes Paul himself, VAL MAYERIK, P. CRAIG RUSSELL, TIM TRUMAN, ROY THOMAS, and others. Plus a JOE SINNOTT MEMORIAL; BUD PLANT interview Part One, as the retail and mail-order pioneer discusses his early years and first forays as San Jose comic shop proprietor—at 16!; our regular columnists, and the latest from HEMBECK!

STEVE BISSETTE career-spanning interview, from his Joe Kubert School days, Swamp Thing stint, publisher of Taboo and Tyrant, creator rights crusader, and more. Also, Part One of our MIKE GOLD interview on his Chicago youth, start in underground comix, and arrival at DC Comics, right in time for the implosion! Plus BUD PLANT on his publishing days, comic shop owner, and start in mail order—and all the usual fun stuff!

DON McGREGOR retrospective, from early ’70s Warren Publications scripter to his breakout work at Marvel Comics on BLACK PANTHER, KILLRAVEN, SABRE, DETECTIVES INC., RAGAMUFFINS, and others. Plus ROBERT MENZIES looks at HERB TRIMPE’s mid-’70s UK visit to work on Marvel’s British comics weeklies, MIKE GOLD Part Two, and CARtoons cartoonist SHAWN KERRIE! SANDY PLUNKETT cover!

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ALTER EGO #175

Spotlighting the artists of ROY THOMAS’ 1980s DC series ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with artists ARVELL JONES, RICHARD HOWELL, and JERRY ORDWAY, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! Plus, the Squadron’s FINAL SECRETS, including previously unpublished art, & covers for issues that never existed! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and a wraparound cover by ARVELL JONES!

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ALTER EGO #174

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) issue—spearheaded by feisty and informative articles by Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. BECK—plus a fabulous feature on vintage cards created in Spain and starring The Marvel Family! In addition: DR. WILLIAM FOSTER III interview (conclusion)—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on early rivals of MAD magazine—the haunting of JOHN BROOME—and more! BECK cover!