Back Issue #15

THE ULTIMATE COMICS EX PERIENCE!

JOE KUBERT’S RAGMAN! MATT WAGNER’S THE DEMON! WEIRD THEPHANTOMSTRANGER! Andgoodol’ ’MAZINGMAN! HEROES!

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F L O W E WER T!

H G I N BY

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BATMAN, DEADMAN, AND GRODD TM & © 2006 DC COMICS. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT AND GHOST RIDER TM & © 2006 MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC.

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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 15 April 2006 Celebrating the Best Com ics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

FLASHBACK: The Dead Zone: A Deadman History/García-López Interview . . 2 Explore the “life” of Boston Brand with José Luis García-López

EDITOR Michael Eury

INTERVIEW: Matt Wagner: The Man, the Myth, and the Demon!. . . . . . . . . . 16 The Grendel creator recalls his 1980s tour of duty in Kirby’s kingdom

PUBLISHER John Morrow

FLASHBACK: Follow Him . . . for He is the Phantom Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Len Wein reminisces about DC’s mysterious man with a medallion, with art by Adams, Aparo, Dominguez, Mignola, and Schaffenberger

DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST Arthur Adams COVER COLORIST Tom Zuiko COVER DESIGNER Robert Clark

BEYOND CAPES: I Was a Marvel Comics Werewolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Werewolf by Night, through the eyes of series contributors Conway, Moench, Perlin, Ploog, and Thomas ROUGH STUFF: Gene Colan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 One of comics’ masters hosts a gallery of his pencil art, including Batman, Captain America, Jemm, Night Force, and Wonder Woman FLASHBACK: Joe Kubert and the Ragman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Tattered Tatterdemalion’s first foray into comics, with Kubert and Redondo art BEYOND CAPES: Maybe I’m ’Mazed!: ’Mazing Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Co-creators Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano and their likeable li’l do-gooder

SPECIAL THANKS Neal Adams GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Lost ’Mazing Man Story . . . . . . . . . . .64 Bob McLeod Terry Austin Bob Rozakis gives us a peek at the ’Maze story you didn’t see Modern Masters Jeff Bailey Mike Mignola Joe Barney INTERVIEW: Mike Ploog: On the Highway to Hell (Marvel Style) . . . . . . . . . .67 Doug Moench Massimo Bissattini Steve Morger Ghost Rider may be racing toward movie stardom, but artist Ploog remembers the Mike Blanchard Brian K. Morris Satanic Cyclist’s roots Brian Boggs Al Nickerson Michael Browning Becky Perlin INTERVIEW: Don Perlin: Revving Up with Ghost Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Ivan Cheung Don Perlin Perlin’s recollections of his ride with Marvel’s baddest biker Leonard Chuah Adam Philips Adrienne Colan Michael Ploog Gene Colan GHOST RIDER ART GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Carl Potts Jennifer M. Contino Roland Reedy Blazing art by Budiansky, Kane, Romita, Sr., Simons, and Starlin Gerry Conway Keith Richard Steve Davis Bob Rozakis GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Grodd of Gorilla City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Lee Dawson Rose Rummel-Eury Super-gorilla Grodd almost got his own comic in ’77—and we’ve got the scoop Eric Delos Santos Mike Steckler (and unpublished art)!

Stephen DeStefano Tom Stewart Arnold Drake Matthew Stock COMICS ON DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Ray Falcoa Roy Thomas New releases of interest to the comic-book fan Tom Field Matt Wagner Keif A. Fromm Len Wein BACK IN PRINT: The Astral Avenger and the Ape-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 José Luis García-López Marv Wolfman Benny Gelillo Reviews of Wrath of the Spectre and Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years Frank Giella Grand Comic-Book Database BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Dave Hennen Reader feedback on issue #13 Heritage Comics Don Hudson BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

The Jack Kirby Collector Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Dan Johnson Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, Michael Wm. Kaluta $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to Joe Kubert TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Arthur Adams; cover art from the collection of Roland Reedy.

Paul Levitz Werewolf by Night and Ghost Rider TM & © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Batman, Deadman, and Bruce MacIntosh Gorilla Grodd TM & © 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All Yoram Matzkin material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing.

Brian G. McKenna BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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R.I.P. The Dead Zone:

by

Bruce MacIntosh

A D e a d m a n H i s to ry — a n d a n I n t e rv i e w w i t h José Luis García-López

Deadman was a character born in 1967 in an attempt to

shake things up with Strange Adventures, one of DC Comics’ anthology titles. Although editor Jack Miller, writer Arnold Drake, and artist Carmine Infantino originally intended the character as a “throw away,” they immediately handed the reins to Neal Adams, who within a year turned Deadman into an enduring icon who has had dozens of guest appearances and four miniseries of his own. In short, Deadman was a character that refused to die!

In the late 1960s sales were poor for DC’s anthology series, because there were no central characters with whom the readers could identify and would cause them to continue to buy the titles on a monthly basis. Editor Jack Miller gave Arnold Drake the task of creating a character that could generate that reader interest and loyalty. Drake wanted to capitalize on the late 1960s’ interest in Eastern mysticism, and a character that was killed in his first appearance and returns as a ghostly apparition was exactly what could bring life to the dying comic.

In spite of concerns that the Comics Code Authority would disapprove of a dead character that “possesses” the living (and whose very name contained the dreaded “D-word”), Miller ultimately signed off on the concept and Carmine Infantino was brought in for the artistic chores, the result being Deadman’s debut in Strange Adventures #205 (Oct. 1967).

However, it was a time of flux at DC, and after only one issue Miller stepped down as editor due to his failing health, Drake went on to pursue other titles, Infantino was promoted into management, and Dick Giordano was brought in from Charlton Comics as editor of Strange Adventures. With Infantino assuming executive

José Luis García-López’s cover pencils for 1986’s Deadman #3. Special thanks to TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters. © 2006 DC Comics.

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duties and unable to continue penciling the comic, Giordano leapt at the chance of assigning the artistic duties of Deadman to Neal Adams.

Neal penciled every appearance of the character until Strange Adventures was canceled with issue #216 (Jan.–Feb. 1969); with the exception of George Roussos’ inks on issue #206, Neal inked his own work. He also scripted seven of Deadman’s first 18 appearances. Although these early Adams’ scripts are beyond the scope of this magazine and article, it is important to note the development of the character and how that changed in the 1970s and 1980s.

In a 2005 conversation, Neal Adams made the comment, “The most important thing to remember about Deadman is that he is dead, man!” While that might just sound like a typically tongue-in-cheek Adams remark, he had a point: Deadman was angry . . . because he was dead!

Faithful readers will recall that Boston Brand was a circus acrobat who had been fatally shot for reasons unknown by a man with a hook for a hand. (In his haste, Adams alternated between the right and left hand—whatever fit the panel composition.) Boston Brand, however, returned in spirit form as Deadman: He had been given a “special power” by the spirit of the universe, Rama Kushna, to find and destroy his own murderer. That special power, he learns, is the ability to temporarily inhabit and control the bodies of the living.

Deadman spent each issue of his run in Strange Adventures (plus two appearances with Batman in The Brave and the Bold and three as a backup strip in Aquaman), chasing clues and people who might have had enough of a grudge against Boston Brand to want to kill him. Each issue concluded with the tormented Deadman learning that it was all a cruel coincidence: The man he had been

for the circus, Sensei mistakenly believes the man

pursuing that story was not his killer.

with the hook has failed his initiation assignment

As the first series of Deadman stories concludes,

and kills him. Having been robbed of his own

the ghostly hero learns that his death at the

revenge, Deadman nevertheless fails to achieve

“hands” of the man with the hook was merely a

peace: he is doomed by Rama Kushna to float as

graduation exercise for admission into a “Society of

a disembodied spirit for eternity, using his special

Assassins” (a group now known as the League of

power to “possess” the living and presumably

Assassins), headed by the a leader of dubious Asian

correcting injustice wherever it appears.

origin call the Sensei. Because Cleveland Brand,

Neither Arnold Drake nor Neal Adams intended

Boston’s brother, has assumed the role of Deadman

the series to continue indefinitely; after a dozen or so

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Boston Brand discovers he’s “dead, man,” in Deadman’s origin from Strange Adventures #205 (Oct. 1967).

Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Neal Adams’ original art to page 10 of the Jack Miller-scripted “How Many Times Can a Guy Die?,” from Strange Adventures #209 (Feb. 1968). Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 DC Comics.

issues, Deadman was supposed to find his killer, and having fulfilled his mission on this mortal plane, Boston Brand would presumably obtain eternal peace.

Although his killer was exposed, neither Deadman nor Neal Adams were satisfied: The man who ordered Boston Brand’s death, the Sensei, still needed to be brought to justice. In what turned out to be the final Deadman issue of Strange Adventures, Deadman follows Sensei to Nanda Parbat, a Himalayan retreat vaguely reminiscent of Shangri-La. However, unlike the James Hilton novel Lost Horizon, when people leave Nanda Parbat they do not age and die, they turn evil! In a strange twist, when Deadman enters the mountainous retreat, he returns to his corporeal form, no longer doomed to remain in spirit form. (Should he leave Nanda Parbat, he would become ethereal again, invisible to the living and only able to communicate to them by possessing someone.)

However,

Sensei wants to destroy this utopian society, the one place Boston Brand could find peace.

Deadman must find a way to stop Sensei’s nefarious plan. Alas, it was not to be: Strange Adventures was prematurely canceled with issue © 2006 DC Comics.

#216 (Jan.–Feb. 1969), before the story could be finished, and the conclusion had to be hastily written into a guest appearance in The Brave and the Bold (B&B) #86 (Oct.–Nov. 1969).

Andrew Helfer explained it thusly in his editorial for Deadman #1 (Mar. 1986): “I . . . was heartbroken when it came to an end. Seemed to me at the time, though, that it never actually did end—that we left poor Boston right in the middle of his biggest adventure yet—an adventure that saw print, oddly enough, as a Batman team-up in Brave and the Bold. Years later I learned from Dick Giordano that Deadman’s story in Strange Adventures had been cancelled in midstream, and the Brave and the Bold story had been quickly put together to give the readers some kind of a conclusion to

Adams’ original cover art to Strange Adventures #211 (Apr. 1968). Courtesy of Heritage Comics.

the saga of Deadman’s arrival at Nanda Parbat.

According to Dick, it wasn’t the whole story, but a condensed (some would say patchy) version, since faltering sales had already determined that it would be Dick’s last opportunity to do a fulllength Deadman story. Writer/artist Neal Adams

© 2006 DC Comics.

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was just about ready to break new ground with the character—only to be forced to tie up all his loose ends in a tiny twenty-page package.”

In B&B #86’s rather contrived series of events, Batman and Deadman foil Sensei’s plan, with the latter vowing revenge: “Two costumed fools have destroyed my plan!

Two costumed fools will pay for that act. You will both be laid to waste by my hand!”

DEADMAN LIVES AGAIN In the 1970s DC began to experiment with unusual characters that did not fit the mold of the traditional spandex-clad heroes that had been their mainstay for over three decades. Characters like the Phantom Stranger, Swamp Thing, and, of course, Deadman, tapped into not only a growing social conscience but also the interest of the youth in the occult and all things mystical. Because of the uniqueness of this character, and the fact that he tapped into the interest in the afterlife and spiritualism, Deadman constantly returned to comics for both guest appearances, backup features, and even several miniseries. In fact, although the late 1960s and early 1970 laid the groundwork for the character, comics of the 1970s and 1980s is when things really got good!

Deadman made several less-thanmemorable guest appearances in the 1970s, most notably Justice League of America #94 (Nov. 1971), The Brave and the Bold #104, (Nov.–Dec. 1972, wherein he displays a dubious willingness to kill in the name of love),

From the collection of this article’s writer, Bruce MacIntosh, comes this 2004 Deadman/Phantom Stranger sketch by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

The Phantom Stranger #33 (Oct.–Nov. 1974) and #39 (Oct.–Nov. 1975) through #41 (Feb.–Mar. 1976), B&B #133 (Apr. 1977), Superman Family #183 (May–June 1977), DC Super-Stars #18 (Jan.–Feb. 1978, in a visit with the Phantom Stranger to Rutland, Vermont, on Halloween night), DC Special Series #8 (1978), and Challengers of the Unknown #84 through #87 (1979, teaming up with Swamp Thing).

Most of these appearances in the 1970s were canonical and served to reinforce and revisit Deadman’s origin and connection with Sensei. However, having already fulfilled his original raison d’ être (that of finding his killer and exacting retribution), Deadman is merely a guest-star. He simply

Art © 2006 Michael Wm. Kaluta.

Characters TM & © 2006 DC Comics.

observes the proceedings or assists the other characters with his ability to possess the bodies of the secondary characters. In other words, Deadman is only a plot device and little character development takes place—his own story is never furthered.

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DEADMAN’S BIG ADVENTURE It was not until DC converted Adventure Comics to its 68-page “Dollar Comics” anthology format with issue #459 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) that Deadman regained his own regular feature, featuring solo performances. Plot and character development for this unique character finally return, as writer Len Wein strings together a series of stories that give new life to the character of Deadman.

Adventure Comics #459, drawn by the late Jim Aparo, finds Deadman returning to the Hills Brothers Circus, the scene of his final, fatal acrobatic performance. He unites with his brother Cleveland’s body to experience the thrill of the trapeze once again. However, a gunman in the crowd shoots Cleveland (inhabited by Deadman),

an

acrobat

who

has

assumed Boston’s Deadman guise.

Circus strongman Tiny, a recurring character from the first series, manages to catch the wounded aerialist before he hits the ground. The ghostly Deadman attempts to inhabit the gunman’s body, but is inexplicably unable to control him or prevent him from committing suicide.

In

Adventure

Comics

#460

(Nov.–Dec. 1978, by Wein and Aparo) we learn that Cleveland Brand’s gunman was a minion of the enigmatic Mr. Solomon, who hopes to pressure Lorna Hill to sell her circus to him. Unsuccessful with the shooting, Mr. Solomon tries to burn down the circus, and only Deadman (in Cleveland’s body) and Tiny can save

Lita

Brand

(Cleveland’s

daughter) and the mystic Vashnu.

Meanwhile, Alexi Kronsky, Inga Brand’s (Cleveland’s Russian bride) father, a Russian scientist held captive by Solomon, overpowers a guard and escapes.

A page from García-López’s first Deadman story, with inks by Dick Giordano, from 1979’s Adventure Comics #462 (Oct. 1967). Original art courtesy of Brian G. McKenna. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Adventure

Comics

#461

(Jan.–Feb. 1979, by Wein and Aparo) is used to explain this cast of

thousands and their relationships with one another.

Authorities force Lorna to shut down the circus while the blaze from the previous story is investigated, and Solomon keeps on the pressure for her to sell the circus. Inga recounts how she and Cleveland met and fell in love when the Hills Brothers circus played Russia.

She confesses that she fears Communist spies are after her to find her father, a great Soviet scientist who vanished soon after the couple met. Coincidentally, Kronsky appears at the circus.

In Adventure Comics #462 (Mar.–Apr. 1979, written

by Wein and featuring the dynamic and detailed art of José Luis García-López, with inks by Dick Giordano) the Deadman feature presents a story where the sublime literally transforms to the ridiculous: Alexi Kronsky recounts to the confused circus folk that after his wife died in Russia, he created an “encephalopathic transmogrifier,” a device that could transform thought into solid matter. He used the device to transform itself into a giant wooden elephant and hid it in plain sight at the Hills Brothers Circus when they came to Russia.

Subsequently, Kronsky escaped the Soviet Union and came to America, where he offered to sell the device to Mr. Solomon. Not a champion of fair play, Solomon imprisoned Kronsky and vowed to only release him if

Can you blame Bruce MacIntosh (left) for his ear-to-ear grin? He just scored a García-López original!

Special thanks to Bruce for the photo.

the latter disclosed the location of the hidden device.

Unbeknownst to Kronsky and his audience, Solomon and his men were outside the circus trailer, eavesdropping on the confession. They stormed the trailer with guns drawn and attempted to recapture Kronsky and take the wooden elephant. The circus folk, aided by Deadman, repulse the attack. In the meantime, however, Kronsky manages to transform the elephant back into the transmogrifier helmet, and uses it to kill Solomon and his gang.

Adventure Comics #463 (May–June 1979) concludes Len Wein’s epic and is illustrated by García-López,

© 2006 DC Comics.

with inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Here, Vashnu persuades Kronsky to remove the helmet, since he is among friends. Later that night, Deadman occupies Inga’s body and dons the helmet, creating for himself a body. Unfortunately, this body explodes immediately in a blast of “psychic force,” knocking unconscious both Deadman and his “host,” Inga. Winchell, one of Mr. Solomon’s former henchmen, finds the helmet and dons it, and not surprisingly becomes mad with power. Deadman regains consciousness, occupies his brother’s body and throws Winchell in the seal tank. The helmet explodes, taking the hapless Winchell with it.

His only hope for having a physical body of his own now lost, an angry Deadman asks Rama Kushna why he must be taunted with the prospect of freedom from his ethereal state. Rama appears as a butterfly and the face in a tree and informs Deadman that he must learn to be content with his “self-appointed mission to balance the good and evil in this world.” Rama bluntly warns the phantom that he’d better get used to it, “for it may be yours for an eternity.” Although this revelation leaves open the possibility of Deadman comic stories for many years, this is not good news for Deadman himself. He screams in anguish in the final panel, exquisitely illustrated by García-López.

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GARCÍA-LÓPEZ BRINGS OUT THE DEAD These were the first of many appearances of José Luis GarcíaLópez as the Deadman artist. In fact, because of the number of

Beginnings:

comics for approximateIllustrated Argentinean g in New York in late vin arri to r ly 12 years prio . work: “The Private 1974 / First Published U.S an #289 (1975) erm Sup in t” Life of Clark Ken

Milestones:

erman / Action Comics / Hercules Unbound / Sup man Collectors Edition Wo r Superman vs. Wonde Atari Force / Cinder and / DC Comics Presents / / Jonah Hex / Just ics Ashe / Detective Com ve Gibbons Creating Da h wit Lee n Sta Imagine the Dark Knight / of s end Green Lantern / Leg t / On the Road to New Teen Titans / Twiligh / over 200 DC covers ide Gu Perdition / DC Style

and the life that he brought to the character, it appeared to me that he was the “go-to” artist for Deadman.

BRUCE MacINTOSH: José, do you feel that you’ve become the artist most closely identified with Deadman?

JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I don’t think so. There were other artists I guess in that period that also shaped the character.

Besides I [only] took Adams’ version as a point of departure.

MacINTOSH: What recollections do you have about drawing those comics?

Deadman Art:

463, 465, 466 / DC Adventure Comics #462, dman vol. 2 #1–4 / Comics Presents #24 / Dea #5, 6 Deadman vol. 3 (2001) an: dm Dea for cils pen / cover o’s Dead Again # 1–5 / Wh ectory Who: The Definitive Dir 85) of the DC Universe #6 (19

e MacIntosh.

Photo courtesy of Bruc

stories he has drawn (including several issues in recent years)

Works in Progress:

/ DC Modern Masters vol. 5 of urn Ret e “Th cial Spe ssified Donna Troy” / JLA: Cla

JOSÉ LUI-S GARCÍA LÓPEZ

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I don’t remember having any second thoughts about the character. [After] I drew him on a Superman story [in DC Comics Presents], I suppose somebody liked my interpretation [enough] to give a chance to do it again. I found the character easy to work with—he was more “human” than most of the super-heroes I did until then, and he was involved with very human stories and characters. I remember more emotion than action, something that appeals more to me than random and gratuitous violence.

MacINTOSH: What do you remember about the Deadman character? What struck you about him, positive or negative?

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I think he was positive. At least he was not selfish, he tried to save other people from his same destiny.

Being dead is not a happy situation, after all.

Jim Aparo rendered some delightful pencils in the Adventure Comics #464 (July–Aug. 1979) story, penned by Len Wein and Gerry Conway. By this time, however, the urgency of Deadman’s situation had clearly faded, since his original mission—that of finding and bringing to justice his killer—had already been accomplished.

To some extent, Deadman had now been reduced to a brooding prankster, at one point hopping into the body of a stranger on the street to steal a kiss from an unsuspecting woman passerby.

In this story, he no longer voluntarily occupies the bodies of others, but is summoned by a psychic at a séance. It turns out that the séance was being held on the same spot where Boston Brand had been murdered, and the psychic Annabelle Lee was actually a scientist being controlled by an “omnipath,” Conrad Cabel. Cabel intends to exorcise Deadman from the mortal plane so that he will have unlimited access to Lee’s psychic powers. Deadman enters Lee’s mind while she lay in the hospital, but there encounters Cabel’s evil psi-form. While Cabel and Deadman battle within Lee’s mind, she is able to break free of Cabel’s control and help Deadman defeat the evil specter. “Conrad Cabel dies . . . but his mind lives on. Incorporeal, abandoned, a soul cut adrift… and the soul of Conrad Cabel shrieks with the torment of the damned. . .”

© 2006 DC Comics.

In a development that is surprising only in that no writer had thought of it previously, Annabelle Lee can communicate directly with Deadman. She promises to try to build a link between his spirit world and her own. However, neither this character nor their connection is ever revisited in a Deadman story.

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Len Wein returned as sole writer and José Luis García-López as penciler in Adventure Comics #465 (Sept.–Oct. 1979). It turns out that Boston Brand has a social conscience, as he visits the ghetto and helps storeowner Danny Mason take on gangster Stallion’s protection racket. While the story is not particularly memorable, the art is once again dynamic. On one page alone, García-López uses a variety of “camera angles,” such as overhead juxtaposed with underneath, and even has

Deadman

jumping

forward

through the “wall” of one panel into the open space of the panel before it.

In

Adventure

Comics

#466

(Nov.–Dec. 1979) Deadman continues to transform from the angry, tormented soul searching for his killer to a spiritual good Samaritan, wandering the planet, drifting six feet above the ground. He is inexplicably drawn to solve mysteries, and as the cover exclaims, we are in for “another Deadman supernatural suspense saga!” García-López returns to draw Wein’s tale, “Never Say Die.” The above description, while accurately assessing Deadman’s gradual personality shift, does not do justice to this truly touching story which commences with him preventing a man with cancer from committing suicide. In a new twist, Deadman does this by inhabiting the body of an animal! In this case, he uses one of the pigeons the man has been feeding in the park, to wrest the gun from the man’s hand.

It turns out that the man is named Abraham, and his son makes a living

Jacob’s son to exact revenge on Caprice. However, in a climax that brings the story full circle, the

From the collection of Jeff Bailey hails this García-López Deadman page from Adventure #465.

mobster commits suicide in front of them.

© 2006 DC Comics.

pushing drugs for mobster Mr. Caprice. Jacob, the son, agrees to go straight after a confrontation with Abraham. Deadman follows Jacob to Mr. Caprice’s boat, but unknown to both of them Abraham has also tagged along, intending to shoot the drug overlord. Deadman inhabits Abraham’s body to prevent him from firing the gun, but in doing so gets the old man shot and killed. In a rage, Deadman inhabits

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Although Deadman’s original anger from the

also remembers that this story was special: “I

first series has turned to angst (as evidenced by

remember fondly a short story I did with Len

another final panel with the tormented spirit flying

Wein,” García-López recalls. “It was [about] an old

away, screaming), some plot devices have

man who fed pigeons and had problems with his

remained from the early Neal Adams- and Jack

son. I think the story was special for Len and some

Miller-scripted stories. Consistent with those

way he transmitted that feeling to me.”

original tales, Deadman still had the bad habit of

© 2006 DC Comics.

A triple shot of GarcíaLópez Superman/ Deadman original pages from DC Comics Presents #24, contributed by Yoram Matzkin.

getting innocent people killed while trying to help

ROAMING SPIRIT

them. Despite the frenetic pace of the story and

Although Deadman’s second regular series ended

the exhilarating artwork packed into this 13-page

after Adventure #466, as other features were

story, the plot device works here. The story starts

rotated into the anthology book, the character

with character development in which all but the

continued to make periodic guest appearances in

most jaded reader could identify and empathize,

the early 1980s. Most notable was DC Comics

then it moves to the classic themes of a bad man

Presents #24 (Aug. 1980), by Wein with García-

trying to go straight, a father trying to protect his

López. It opens with Deadman putting in his

family, and finally climaxes with a tragic loss of a

notice with the empyreal Rama Kushna: “If you

loved one. Wein dedicated the story to the memory

can hear me out there, you great cosmic busybody,

of his father, so it is apparent that he put his soul

I’ve got just two words for you: I quit!!” The great

into this story. Despite the gap of 20 years, José

spirit of the universe agrees to give the tormented

© 2006 DC Comics.

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spirit the final rest he seeks on one condition, but

quakes that threaten to shake apart the planet.

fails to disclose that proviso.

Deadman, who has been watching the events at the

The great spirit suddenly transports Deadman to

lab flies to the Daily Planet to retrieve the absent

the scene of a ground-spitting earthquake in

Superman. While flying back, a building collapses and

Metropolis, just in time to save a man from a falling

Deadman (inhabiting Superman’s body) smashes the

building. Superman appears and “saves” a man who

building to bits. Unaccustomed to the consequences

appears to have suffered a massive heart attack, and

of such a use of power, Deadman/Supes’ actions

requests that he be transported to S.T.A.R. Labs. We

send tons of rubble plummeting to the ground,

learn that the man’s name is Alex Atley and his heart-

endangering the lives of the citizens below, returning

attack and the earthquake were connected—literally—

to the consistent theme that his possessions in the

by two interrelated mechanisms: one that the man

pursuit of “good” often seem to have deadly

had built and attached to his chest, and another he

consequences for the innocent bystanders.

fired into the earth’s core, “putting me in synch with

Deadman abandons Superman’s body in time

the planet’s pulse, making me one with the world!”

for Supes to save the pedestrians below, and the

The device, intended to regulate his heart by

pair of heroes return to S.T.A.R. Labs in time to fight

attuning it to the Earth’s planetary rhythm, literally

the bad guys. Of course, the gang boss dies of . . . a

gave the earth a planetary heart attack.

heart attack, while Alex Atley’s latest attack threatens

A gangster wants the pacemaker device to give

to destroy Metropolis. Superman bores down to

him the secret of eternal youth, but in the process of

the molten center of the earth and retrieves the

shaking down the lab, the gangster sets off earth-

man’s companion device. In an interesting plot device and semi-splash page, Deadman confronts a scythe-wielding, blackcloaked Grim Reaper and battles him for the fate of Alex Atley. Deadman beats Death and consequently Alex gets to live! At the conclusion of the story, an uncharacteristically jubilant Deadman declares that being good is good (at least better than dead), and that “I think I’ll hang around awhile!”

Purists may also remember that

© 2006 DC Comics.

Deadman also had guest appearances in Forever People #10 and World’s Finest Comics #223 and 227. However, these appearances do not fit well within the Deadman canon that we are examining here. For example, Forever People #10 posits that he wasn’t actually murdered by the Hook, and in World’s Finest, he possesses the body of Batman’s “brother,” Thomas Wayne. Deadman also appeared as a backup story in the double-sized Detective Comics #500 anniversary issue (Mar. 1981), featuring the return of Carmine Infantino as Deadman penciler.

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POST-CRISIS DEADMAN

Jack Kirby’s take on Deadman—in pencil form—from Forever People #10. Scan of original art courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector.

Other than some spotty guest appearances in Swamp Thing and elsewhere (and a reprint series of the original seven appearances from Strange Adventures) the character of Deadman “disappeared” throughout the early 1980s. That is, until

© 2006 DC Comics.

a completely new miniseries appeared in 1986, written by Andrew Helfer and drawn, of course, by José Luis GarcíaLópez. This four-issue miniseries reunited the team from another underrated 1985 four-issue miniseries, Cinder and Ashe.

Helfer specifically asked to bring José on as artist for the series.

MacINTOSH: Andy Helfer and you had a close working relationship, and Andy was confident of your special abilities to interpret his ideas. . .

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I met Andy over the phone in 1982, I guess, and since then I have had the closest relationship [with him that I] ever [had] with an editor, and then as writer and as a friend. He knew my strengths and weaknesses, so I suppose he was confident of me. You know, it’s very flattering when a writer asks you to interpret his stories.

As was DC’s wont in the post-Crisis years of the mid-1980s, this new Deadman series completely discarded most of the events (and plot and character development) which had preceded it. In fact, Mr. Helfer consciously chose to ignore all events following the Neal Adams run in the late 1960s, and instead commenced the story at the point where the original series had been prematurely canceled

© 2006 DC Comics.

following Strange Adventures #216 and the hastily cobbled-together concluding events in The Brave and the Bold #86. He explained his thinking in his letters-page editorial for issue Deadman #1 (Mar. 1986): “I had this uneasy feeling that, somehow, the original story line had never been resolved. There was some story that had never been written the Deadman legend that should have been written, some logical conclusion that . . . had never been realized.

“Dick Giordano noted the success of our reprints of the original Deadman saga, and decided that, once and for all, it was time to finish it for good,” Helfer continued. “He made only one request: that the new miniseries begin where the reprints leave off.”

The story of Deadman #1 picks up with Boston Brand in human form, his brother Cleveland Brand, and Batman in Nanda Parbat. The series chronicles his confrontation of the Sensei and his League of Assassins and their attempts to destroy that secret city. We learn that Rama Kushna was had previously offered the same deal of immortality to another man, Jonah, who recently rebelled and seeks to destroy Nanda Parbat and free its denizens to wreak havoc on Earth.

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After leaving Nanda Parbat, Boston Brand inhabits his brother Cleveland during his aerial act and gets him killed—continuing the theme established early in the first series that Deadman brings misfortune to those he possesses, despite his good intentions. In the most chilling and visually striking scene at the end of issue #1, Boston tries to trade places with his brother on the way to the afterlife. Instead, Boston’s own decaying corpse is resurrected. Unfortunately, this angle is quickly shed at the beginning of issue #2 as Boston realizes that this was a bad plan, and allows Cleveland to proceed to his divine fate.

MacINTOSH: José, you did some great splash pages, especially one where Boston Brand’s corpse is resurrected. The artwork you did on this was incredible—very detailed and dynamic! Did you enjoy it and was it nice to be able to stretch your legs with these detailed pages?

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: It was very entertaining, all these costumes and third world background and so on. Besides, I was experimenting with Craftint paper, the one [that] bring up shades with the help of a developer. I did a few things before, for the Batman Returns [style] guide, and with Andy we agreed that it was okay for this story.

José’s brilliant layouts keep this nine-panel page from Deadman #3 from appearing busy. From the collection of former Marvel/Valiant artist Don Hudson (www.comiculture.com).

Deadman resumes his mission to fight Sensei, learning that the leader was actually a pretty good guy who had been inhabited by the evil Jonah all along. Jonah returns to Nanda Parbat, seeking to destroy Rama Kushna with a pseudo-scientific, quasi-mystical “psi-blaster.” In a frenetic conclusion Deadman, who had been

© 2006 DC Comics.

left for . . . dead, defeats the rogue spirit by—literally—pushing him off a cliff.

An “angry” Boston Brand confronts Sensei on page 2 of Deadman #4. Original art scan courtesy of Don Hudson.

MacINTOSH: Neal Adams commented to me that he had tried to portray Deadman as angry, to give the character a sense of urgency and intensity. José, did you try to depict Deadman as an angry character?

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GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: If I depicted him [as angry] it was because the script asked for that. I did not see him as an angry spirit but a generous one who still had feelings for the other people still in the living world.

I guess that the character was initially modeled after the ancient and world-wide belief of an afterlife, and some people went there easily while others remained in a limbo like some kind of ordeal. I suppose they should be angry, but I couldn’t see the character like that.

This was only a four-issue miniseries, which was a popular approach to “secondary” characters in the late 1980s.

(There never seemed to be five-issue or three-issue miniseries.)

However, it

seemed that there was a lot of plot and art crammed into those 88 pages. In fact, there were many pages with 12 and 16 panels!

MacINTOSH: Were you and Andy forced to shoehorn a much larger story into only four issues?

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I think that was the reason, but in some cases it was my fault for being carried away by the story and trying to convey everything that Andy wrote. Anyway, the important thing is if you’re sufficiently motivated by the story to follow those little panels.

MacINTOSH: You did a great job of conveying both emotion and action and characterization into those busy pages. Was this especially difficult?

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I know there were some difficult sequences, but you have those in any story. I don’t remember having major ones here.

MacINTOSH: What were the deadlines like on this miniseries? Did you have a lot of time in advance to complete the job, or were you under the gun to get it in fast? It seemed like there was so much was crammed into a mere four issues.

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: Honestly I don’t

Deadman on neighborhood watch, as seen on this remarkable García-López page from Deadman #6, contributed by Brian G. McKenna. © 2006 DC Comics.

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remember. But, you know, deadlines are traumatic experiences that the mind prefers to forget!

MacINTOSH: You are listed as “artist” on these

two decades have passed since even the last

issues, as opposed to “penciler.” Does this mean

miniseries. But it is still fun to look back and

that they were printed directly from your pencils

compare the two series against the backdrop of

(very uncommon in those days), or did you do

their respective eras. For those of us old enough

your own inking chores?

to remember reading both series it is interesting

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: I did pencils and inks.

(or perhaps depressing) to do some comparative

MacINTOSH: What was that like, doing both pencils

analysis of how these comics and ourselves fit

and inks? Twice the work, or do you prefer that way,

into those eras; for any readers who were not

because you can “interpret” your own work?

around reading comics during one or both of

GARCÍA-LÓPEZ: In an “ideal” world the artist

these eras, you should go back and pick them up

should pencil and ink his/her work. The “real”

in either the original comics or some of the

world has deadlines and that’s the reason some

many reprints or anthologies.

For fun, we exit with José’s pre-Deadman take on another DC Comics pasty-faced character—Solomon Grundy—clobbering the Man of Tomorrow on the cover to Superman #301 (July 1976).

Inks by Bob Oksner.

Art scan contributed

by Yoram Matzkin.

artists can and others can’t. And not only ink your own work but you should be able color it,

© 2006 DC Comics.

too. Something else I remember is that Deadman—when I was able to do my own inking— was very fulfilling, because it allowed me to experiment a little more than the other supercharacters. When I started working here [at DC] in the ’70s you had to treat the work in a certain way.

I remember having Superman’s hair retouched because it did not fit the stereotype. So I felt a little constrained and afraid to make waves.

It took 16 years, but Andy Helfer was finally able to conclude Neal Adams’ prematurely canceled Deadman saga. The 1986 four-issue series does not lack for plot-twists, action-packed shoot’em-ups, and, of course, stunning art by García-López. Although Helfer professed to be picking up where Adams’ story left off (and in the process, discarding the developments of a dozen interim stories), it is not difficult to surmise that this is not the direction Adams would have taken with the character. Gone was the emphasis on Eastern mysticism and the angst of a spirit trapped on the mortal plane condemned to only being able to physically interact by possessing a living mortal. Now the angst was replaced by petulance and the mysticism

by Star Wars-like blasters.

One can’t help but wonder, however, if this is symptomatic not of a change in writers but a difference in the eras in which they wrote. We’ll probably never know, because

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Matt Wagner: conducted on June 26, 2005

interview

by Al Nickerson

The Man, the Myth, and

Twenty years ago, I was introduced to my first Demon comic. No, it wasn’t Jack Kirby’s original series; however, it was writer/artist Matt Wagner’s The Demon miniseries from late 1986. Wagner’s Demon brought a new depth and detail to the relationship of Jason Blood, Etrigan the Demon, and Merlin. It also drastically changed (for a little while, anyway) the relationship between Jason Blood and Etrigan.

—Al Nickerson AL NICKERSON: How did The Demon miniseries come about? Did you pitch the idea to DC Comics or did they come looking for you?

MATT WAGNER: I was at that point in my career where Mage was fresh on the stands and a hot new thing. I was at a convention in Atlanta and we all went out to dinner. The convention takes everyone out to dinner. Just by happenstance, I was seated next to Dick Giordano, who was the head of DC Comics at that point. Well, operating head, I guess. Jenette Kahn was President. We had a good time at dinner. We got along well, and Dick invited me up to DC Comics to pitch him anything I wanted. This was shortly after Alan Moore had the Demon appear in

Mage © 2006 Matt Wagner.

“He’s supposed to be a demon,” says Matt Wagner of DC’s Etrigan. Page 23 of The Demon #1 (Jan. 1987), penciled by Wagner and inked by Art Nichols. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Swamp Thing. I thought the Demon might be a ripe character to give the revamp treatment to.

Beginnings:

Additionally, the Demon was a favorite character of mine. I loved

Comico Primer #2 (first Grendel appe aranc

e)

that series. I had done, I think in either eighth or ninth grade, an

Milestones:

acrylic recreation of the cover of the first issue.

Grendel / Mage / Batman/Grendel / Batman: Faces / Sandman Mystery Theater / Trinity / Green Arrow covers

NICKERSON: From the Jack Kirby series?

WAGNER: Yeah.

NICKERSON: Yeah, Kirby’s The Demon was amazing.

Work in Progress:

Batman and the Monster Men

WAGNER: Exactly. Like I said, I did a big painted recreation of the first cover. So, I have a history of the Demon going back for some time.

Cyberspace:

NICKERSON: I don’t suppose you still have that painting?

www.mattwagnercomics.com

WAGNER: No, I don’t. [laughs] My parents might have it stuffed away in the attic somewhere, but they live in Virginia and I live in Oregon.

NICKERSON: Your version of The Demon seemed more medieval, more gothic than other versions that I have read, even to this day.

Was that a conscious effort on your part?

WAGNER: Yeah. That was all in the stages

Matt Wagner

of, comic-book-wise, where everybody was trying to do the big revamp, to put a more “realistic” spin on things.

So I thought going with the medieval approach and downplay the super-heroic approach was a neat way to go with The Demon.

NICKERSON: That certainly makes sense. I found that to be an important aspect to the story.

WAGNER: Yeah. I had done a lot of research.

In the storyline, Etrigan is the son of the demon Belial.

NICKERSON: Right.

WAGNER: That was based on an actual woodcut that I had found of the demon Belial. It’s from medieval days.

He’s got fins for ears, little horns, and he’s even colored yellow.

NICKERSON: I wanted to ask you about that because according to The History of the Kings of Britain written

by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin was the son of the daughter of the King of Demetia and the son of a demon (or incubus). Your spin with the Belial character where you made Etrigan and Merlin half-brothers was something you came up with on your own.

© 2006 DC Comics.

WAGNER: Right. I was really a neophyte in those days as far as

The tormented Jason Blood, from Demon #1.

comic-book production goes. I had sent in to DC Comics a copy of this print to include in the first issue. In the comic, Jason’s girlfriend, Glenda Mark, points to the print in a book, but the artwork of the

© 2006 DC Comics.

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print never made it through production. It never made it in the actual printing of the comic. So, as a result, if you’re pointing to a blank page, that kind of works as a magical sort of thing as well. But I had fully intended for readers to see this print so you could see what Belial had looked like.

NICKERSON: Yes. I remember that.

WAGNER: You remember that moment in the comic?

NICKERSON: Yes. WAGNER: There’s actually supposed to be something there. [laughs] NICKERSON: I had thought there was something magical going on where Jason Blood couldn’t see the image of Belial.

WAGNER: Yeah, that’s the only thing that saves it. [laughs] Otherwise, it just looks like a big, dumb mistake, which is what it was.

NICKERSON: That’s so funny. I had thought it was intentional.

WAGNER: Nope. It was a production error.

NICKERSON: The major plot point to

The missing image from The Demon #1, page 5. Says Wagner, “The book I took this from claimed, ‘A 15th century German woodcut depicting Belial, by tradition the Devil’s advocate, as he confers with other demons at the jaws of Hell.’” Courtesy of Matt Wagner.

this story was the separation of Jason Blood from Etrigan. That was really shaking things up a bit.

WAGNER: DC Comics didn’t like that.

NICKERSON: They didn’t like the idea?

WAGNER: No. They changed it back right away. [laughs] I think it was in Cosmic Odyssey. . .

NICKERSON: Yeah, in Cosmic Odyssey they physically rejoined Jason Blood to Etrigan.

WAGNER: Which happens very shortly after my series. Dick Giordano liked what I was doing, but the Powers-That-Be at DC didn’t like my approach very well.

NICKERSON: And DC didn’t really realize what you were doing until the book came out?

WAGNER: Yeah. The first editor that DC Comics had assigned me to was Len Wein,

From the collection of Mike Steckler, a Matt Wagner-drawn Demon convention sketch.

who was on staff at the time. He pretty

Art © 2006 Matt Wagner.

The Demon © 2006 DC Comics.

but didn’t look like a good guy.” And I

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remember thinking to myself, “Well, there’s already

has a dark soul. There’s a little of him that is Etrigan.

lots of those, aren’t there?” [laughs] Isn’t that what

And now that was gone.

the whole Marvel revolution in the ’60s was about?

NICKERSON: Is there any chance of you working on

In any event, it’s hard to proceed when your editor

the Blood of the Demon series?

doesn’t support what you’re trying to do.

WAGNER: Oh, no. Probably not. I’m deep in the

NICKERSON: Etrigan is supposed to be mean and

middle of a big, long Batman project that I’m

nasty. You made the character really mean and nasty.

working on right now. It’s two six-issue miniseries

WAGNER: Yeah. He’s supposed to be a demon.

that I’m writing and drawing. In fact, it’s two

Demons are bad. Bad, bad, bad.

storylines that connect with an over-title called

NICKERSON: One instance of Etrigan being ruthless was when he bit off a part of Morgaine Le Fay’s arm, and he looked like he enjoyed doing it! That was really chilling.

WAGNER: Really brutal, yeah. Even in those Jack Kirby issues, the whole point is that when Merlin calls on Etrigan, it’s as a last resort, ya know? If you’re going to utilize a demon, you’re setting loose an unfettered force there that’s like cancer treatment. You hit a person with chemotherapy, which causes incredible ill side effects, just to get rid of the cancer.

NICKERSON: I really like how you illustrated that scene of the separation of Etrigan from Jason Blood, where Etrigan is leaving Blood’s body.

WAGNER: Yeah . . . he’s stepping out of it. Etrigan is stepping on Jason’s face, too, as I remember, isn’t he?

NICKERSON: Right! Etrigan is so happy. Etrigan is stepping on Jason Blood’s face, and Jason Blood looks so miserable.

WAGNER: And shell-shocked.

NICKERSON: Yes. And I think the point is, and maybe I’m wrong here, after they were separated, Jason Blood was more of a shell of a man without Etrigan.

WAGNER: Yeah. It’s almost like a drug addiction.

Sometimes when you get rid of something bad like that, you don’t know what else to do. You’re left with a lack of purpose. That’s what I was kind of shooting for with Jason.

NICKERSON: You would figure that Jason Blood would be as happy to get rid of Etrigan as Etrigan was.

WAGNER: But there again, Jason spent centuries lamenting his ties to Etrigan. Once Etrigan is gone, the purpose is gone. “What do I do now?”

Truthfully, if you look at the way Jason has been portrayed, especially in the Jack Kirby issues, Jason

The malevolent master of rhyme. Page 17 of Demon #4, written and penciled by Wagner and inked by Nichols. Art contributed by Keith Richard. © 2006 DC Comics.

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“Dark Moon Rising.” I jokingly call it “[Batman:]

NICKERSON: When you made these changes to

Year 1.5.”

Etrigan, were you thinking of doing a follow-up

NICKERSON: Is there anything else you might want

series where Etrigan was a villain?

to add concerning your Demon miniseries?

WAGNER: Well, that was a possibility, sure.

WAGNER: The points you brought up are accurate.

Again, I was so young at that stage, I wasn’t

I really wanted to make Etrigan mean and nasty.

thinking that far ahead. In addition to The

I had hoped that DC Comics would set Etrigan

Demon, I had my own characters, Mage and

up as this unleashed villain now that Etrigan was

Grendel, running at the same time.

out in the world and free, but they wanted to go

NICKERSON: I want to thank you for the interview.

back to the status quo and they locked him back

WAGNER: You bet.

into Jason Blood.

© 2006 DC Comics.

Matt Wagner inking Demon creator Jack Kirby’s pencils, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. To see Matt’s fully-painted version of this piece, don’t miss Jack Kirby Collector #44, on sale now from TwoMorrows. © 2006 DC Comics.

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by

Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

TM

A L o o k at D C ’ s S u p e r n at u r a l S w i n g e r w i t h a G o l d Me da l l i o n DC. 1968. It was the “1/3rd Era,” coming hard on the end of the “Checkerboard Era”; it was the era when the title logo of the book took up 1/3rd of the available cover space. In the late ’60s DC, the #1 super-hero publisher (I’m betting that Dell/Gold key beat most comics in sales up to the ’60s) had been losing ground the last few years, and was trying to make it up by a policy that seemed to be “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.” This may be unfair—Lord knows, there were a bunch of good series being published—but most were given little chance to find an audience, much less an eighth or ninth issue. During this great experiment, new characters and titles were being created, old series dusted off, and then those were dumped for new, new characters, and new old series, some so old or short-lived that most fans had forgotten they had even been published.

Such was The Phantom Stranger.

DC’S ORIGINAL GHOSTBUSTER The Phantom Stranger had made his first appearance in 1952, unannounced by any previous guest-starring or even special gueststarring appearance, smack in his own book, The Phantom Stranger #1. In that issue, he solves a phony haunting. In fact, he solves two phony hauntings and stops a mad magician from his

Neal Adams’ cover sketch for The Phantom Stranger #19 (May–June 1972), courtesy of Frank Giella, and the published version.

Phantom Stranger TM & © 2006 DC Comics.

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(below) An astounding page from The Phantom Stranger #7 (May–June 1970), Jim Aparo’s first issue. Courtesy of Steve Morger. © 2006 DC Comics.

Also from the Morger collection, page 10 of issue #8 (July–Aug. 1970). © 2006 DC Comics.

at the right moment, issues a warning, then vanishes.

On the penultimate page, he confronts the crooks, exposes their evil scheme, then fades away, a supernatural Lone Ranger. Which might have been the problem.

In the ’50s, the Phantom Stranger was “maybe supernatural.” He was mysterious, sure, but did he crazy scheme of achieving immortality. The Stranger

really have any powers beyond that of being able to

would appear, out of the swirling fog, solve the ghost

make himself scarce at the wrap-up? He was a

problem by exposing the greedy relatives or

one-man Scooby-Doo gang without a Scrappy problem,

smugglers, evil businessmen, and assorted crazy

exposing Professor Hyde-White and then fading away

magicians and sorcerers, then vanish back into the

without having the humiliating fadeout “joke.” Well

ether from whence he came (you just have to use a

written, well drawn, but not all that different from

word like “whence” when talking about the Stranger),

what was being published at the time, and pretty

all in six-page stories written mostly by John Broome

tame even by those standards (remember, this was

and penciled by Carmine Infantino, over the span of six

the era E.C. was getting called on Congress’ carpets

issues. This Stranger had something in common with

for their horror titles). The Stranger faded into the fog

the radio shows of the decade before, The Mysterious

at the end of his sixth issue, never to return.

Traveler, The Whistler, and even The Shadow. He appears © 2006 DC Comics.

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The End.

THE STRANGER RETURNS Short article, eh?

It would be, except for the fact of that great DC late-’60s experiment. Carmine Infantino was promoted to Editorial Director, and brought some others along with him. Joe Orlando picked up and turned around the DC mystery books. Such stalwarts as House of Mystery and House of Secrets were revamped by Orlando, remade to resemble the E.C. comics of yore (but much less bloody. This was the ’60s, not the ’50s.) Joe was approached by Stranger fan Len Wein, who had picked up the original © 2006 DC Comics.

series as a kid and fell for its Mysterious Traveler/Whistler vibe (okay, outright swiping, but there ya go), and thought the character

Original pages from “Death . . . Call Not My Name,” the Gerry Conway/Jim Aparo tale from Phantom Stranger #10 (Nov.–Dec. 1970) which introduced the Stranger’s arch-foe Tannarak. Courtesy of Steve Morger.

would fit right in with Orlando’s new/old mystery titles. So did Joe. Here’s Joe, speaking, appropriately, from the beyond: “At first, Phantom Stranger was just reprint material from the ’50s with a framing device.

I’d sit down with Mike Friedrich or Otto Binder or Wein and [Marv] Wolfman and we’d weave the two reprints into a new story. It really caused a lot of problems and I couldn’t keep the same writer on the book for three issues because of the difficulty of the assignment.”

Actually, Mike Friedrich came first,

© 2006 DC Comics.

adapting old Stranger reprints to fit into a new frame, throwing in a revived Dr. Terrence Thirteen (from the pages of Star Spangled Comics) as the Stranger’s real-world nemesis. It was a strange pairing and a strange package. Two obscure characters from long-cancelled comics, one a being of murky supernatural abilities, the other a debunker of supernatural claims. Could these two live together on the same pages without driving each other crazy?

The package appeared in Showcase #80 (Feb. 1969), with new connecting art by Bill Draut. Sales were good, but not

spectacular.

Good

enough.

© 2006 DC Comics.

Phantom Stranger got the nod to go to a bimonthly regular series, using the

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(this page and next) From Len Wein’s “Circle of Evil” story in #22 (Nov.–Dec. 1972), with Jim Aparo at his prime. Courtesy of Steve Morger.

same approach: part new, part old. As Joe said, it

Bob Kanigher wrote the first all new Phantom

was a difficult, cut-and-paste job, and one that

Stranger story in over 15 years with “There is

couldn’t last. I mean, there were only six issues in

Laughter in Hell This Day,” which introduced a

the original run. Joe and his crew would have to

major villainess to the Stranger’s world, Tala, and a

come up with new material soon.

snazzy new wardrobe for the Stranger himself. In

As Joe said:

addition to penciling the story (and several following

“. . .Carmine gave me the go-ahead to do new

covers), Neal Adams was also did a redesign of the

material on the basis of the sales of the first few

Stranger’s plain black, early ’50s suit, first appearing

issues. I called in [writer] Bob Kanigher.” Mike

on the cover of #4 (Nov.–Dec. 1969). Neal gave

Friedrich wrote those first few issues, #1–3, drawing

the character a stylish slim ’60s suit, a short

on stories from the original ’50s, and including Dr.

brimmed hat, a cloak to replace the raincoat, and

Thirteen, just as he’d done for the Showcase issue,

a cool gold medallion. The Stranger was set for the

with art again by Bill Draut, keeping the look of the

swinging ’60s and beyond.

original. Then all heck broke loose. . .

© 2006 DC Comics.

For the first 12 issues, the Stranger passed through many and diverse hands. Said editor Orlando on his methods and thinking for The Phantom Stranger: “I came to my most difficult decisions on that book . . . telling people they were doing a good job on it, but that they just weren’t doing it anymore and it was time for a change. I think that was what kept the book alive . . . because it’s been a borderline proposition all along. At the time, I felt that I would get a better book by using more people . . . more people means more ideas. On the other hand, I have since come to believe in the other way of looking at the problem . . . which is if you can develop a writer with a strong style that readers really like, and a similarly strong artist, you really shouldn’t change. That book was a very experimental experience in my career.”

Bob Kanigher would do the next issue, #5, with Mike Sekowsky penciling, then Sekowsky wrote and penciled #6, Kanigher again on #7, Denny O’Neil (taking a break from Batman?) on #8, Sekowsky back for #9 (number 9, number 9), and then Gerry Conway, working on his first series character, came aboard for #10–11. But it wasn’t to last. Kanigher was back for #12–13, and then Len Wein finally got his shot with #14.

Whew!

That’s a lot of turnover for any book, but for a character as nebulous as the Phantom Stranger it could have been fatal. Each issue became an attempt to define the character and his world, sometimes good (Conway introduced some serious cult action, Denny introduced the Ice Giants!), some not so good (Kanigher and Sekowsky had a group of “cool” teens involved in helping the Stranger. “Cool” teens are

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never a good sign.). At times the Stranger was an active participant, the driving force in the story, other times he was more the host of someone else’s story.

After 12 issues The Phantom Stranger was looking spiffy, but was still undefined as a character.

Some of this had changed with #7 and the adoption of a regular artist, Jim Aparo (fresh from his Aquaman assignment). Jim brought his realistic approach and professionalism (the man penciled, inked, and lettered his own pages!) to The Phantom Stranger, and some needed continuity. Len Wein finally got his chance.

WEIN AND APARO GET STRANGE(R) “I was a fan of the original. I was pestering Joe [Orlando], he was doing the mystery books and the Stranger seemed a perfect fit! I said, let’s bring back the Phantom Stranger!” Len followed the two Conway stories and the Bob Kanigher issues with “The Man With No Heart,” (Phantom Stranger #14, July–Aug. 1971), where the Phantom Stranger has his heart stolen (literally) and placed in the chest of Broderick Rune, a fat man with a bad heart and a hate for the Stranger. The story was like a riff on one of the old radio shows that inspired the original ’50s run. Bizarre and impossible, Len was starting his own vision of the character, a man of flesh and blood, but something more: “My Stranger never had an origin,” Wein says.

“I know others have written some, but I think he’s best left unexplained, a mystery.” Not that Len doesn’t have his own ideas as to the Stranger’s origin. Which he wouldn’t tell me. But what about the Stranger’s powers? Is there a list of what they

Wein says. “I mean, what do other people call him?

were, or was it whatever the plot needed? Len?

I had Cassandra call him ‘friend’ for the longest

“Well, there was some of that. Whatever he needed, he got.”

time.” The Stranger now became much more active in his own stories, no longer the host who

Len introduced new characters, like Cassandra

appeared with a warning, then melted away at the

Craft, a young blind woman who helps the

end. Len had one-off stories, much like the pulp-radio

Stranger after he gets mugged in the subway (that

dramas that influenced his writing, and reintroduced

had to be a first). She becomes a girlfriend to the

elements that previous writers had used. The Ice

Stranger, as much as a guy who literally fades away

Giants (from Denny O’Neil’s story in #8) made a

can have a girlfriend. In the comic-book tradition,

comeback, as did Kanigher’s villain Tannarak, again

the reddish-pink pantsuit she is wearing at the

trying to kill the Phantom Stranger, then teaming

meeting becomes her “costume” in all her

with him and Cassandra Craft to defeat the Dark

appearances. Here we come to the problem of the

Circle, a secret group of cultists that planned to

Stranger’s name “It really was a stupid name,”

destroy the world. Len used continuity and a supporting

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Luis Dominguez’s original cover art to Phantom Stranger #25, 29, 31, and 32, courtesy of Frank Giella. © 2006 DC Comics.

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cast to build the Stranger’s world. “I like continuity,”

NEW DIRECTIONS

Len says, all the while working with the astonishing

Which meant Joe Orlando would have to go

Jim Aparo who was reaching a career peak. How

hunting again. He turned to comics veteran

was it working with Jim? Len?

Arnold Drake, creator of Deadman, co-creator of

“Wonderful man! He was never, never anything less than terrific!”

the Doom Patrol, and writer of hundreds of mystery and horror stories, many for Orlando himself.

All the while, Dr. Thirteen was running in back-

Arnold turned in “Dr. Zorn, Soul Master” for

up stories, sometimes written by Len himself. Poor

#27 (Oct.–Nov. 1973), setting up a new arch-

Dr. Thirteen. He was a calm and rational man (“He

nemesis for the Stranger. It must have been a

reminded me of Roy Raymond,” the old Detective

shock to the fans. Although there was an

Comics “TV Detective,” Len threw in), but would

announcement in #26 of a new direction, most

go into spittle spewing rages within six feet of the

readers didn’t pick up on the code. It meant a

Stranger. When the “Spawn of Frankenstein”

whole new creative team. Besides Arnold Drake

backup (by Marv Wolfman and Mike Kaluta) was

taking over for Len Wein, Gerry Talaoc (also a

introduced, the good doctor’s wife was injured in an accident that Dr. Thirteen blamed on the creature.

Yes, he vowed revenge (in beautiful Kaluta panels), and set off to hunt and destroy the monster. After this, he pretty much disappears from the strip.

In Phantom Stranger #24 Len finishes off the Dark Circle, brings back Kanigher’s Tala, finishes her off, and finishes off Tannarak as well. Even though he has two more issues he would write, Len pretty much finishes off his run as well. Other projects were calling, and the mighty Jim Aparo (after doing The Brave and the Bold #98 with a Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up) had been called up to play

“A”-ball

on

B&B

and

Detective Comics. Marv Wolfman

© 2006 DC Comics.

and Len teamed up their weird characters in Phantom Stranger

Bill Draut returned to illustrate Arnold Drake’s “It Takes a Witch” in issue #32 (Aug–Sept.

1974). Courtesy of Michael Browning.

#24, then the band broke up.

“It was great, but I’d done it for two to three years,” recalls Wein. Swamp Thing was calling, as was Justice League and other challenges.

© 2006 DC Comics.

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editor explained what had happened to the old creative team, and begged time for the new one.

“Arnold Drake is a great guy,” Len Wein says today, “but he had a different approach to continuity than I did.” After the saga of the Dark Circle, and building up of a supporting cast, Drake decided to start over, using the Stranger as more of a catalyst in stories than the main force. Drake’s first few stories were more akin to the other mystery titles Orlando was doing, and more like the original ’50s Phantom Stranger. Not bad stories, but not what the readers had grown accustomed to. Which lead to the plea in issue #31.

Drake guested his creation Deadman in #33, putting the Stranger forth as a more active participant in the adventure, and featuring Dr. Zorn for the third time as a villain who could match the Phantom Stranger. The letters praising him and defending his work were now coming in, but it was a last hurrah. Arnold Drake did two more issues, both shorter 12-page horror/mystery stories, then left the book. Drake is a writer who had proven his ability over and over again, but it seemed the Phantom Stranger was not a perfect fit.

David Micheline took over for #35, but was gone with #36. Assistant editor Paul Levitz then took over. Here’s Paul: “Joe let me do some rewrite work on Arnold (the genesis of issue #37), as well as some incidental writing/editing on Shelly Mayer’s Black Orchid stories [in Adventure Comics] to break up longer stories into backups. . . I did a reasonable job, and Joe let me have the PS assignment when David Micheline

Another eerie Dominguez cover, from issue #30, contributed

by Frank Giella.

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gave it up (probably for Claw [the Unconquered]). It

the

was my first series assignment, and in retrospect, I

art.

Even

the

backup

“Spawn

of

Frankenstein” had a different team, with Steve

© 2006 DC Comics.

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favorite of Orlando’s mystery titles) was assigned

•

don’t think I was really ready for it.”

Skeates and Bernard Baily taking over from

Paul was much more of a continuity maven

Wolfman and Kaluta. On the letters page, an

(“comics history buff’ is how he puts it) then Drake

unsuspecting Paul Levitz (at this point Joe’s

was, bringing back Micheline’s villain Dr. Nathan

assistant) asked for comments on the new team.

Seine from #35, bringing in Drake’s creation

He got them.

Deadman (Paul was a Deadman fan, and he vaguely

It must have been one of the few times that

remembers a plan to make Deadman a backup in

an editor admitted he was publishing almost all

the future Stranger issues) to co-star in the last few

negative letters because, well, that’s all he

issues. The irony was not lost on him:

received. One positive letter among a sea of outright

“Arnold Drake’s forgiven me for replacing

anguish. Such a wailing and gnashing of teeth must

him on Phantom Stranger (when I was the assistant

be answered, and it was in #31. An exasperated

editor on the title) . . . but it wasn’t right. While

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there were many such questionable moments at all the comic companies of the time, it remained accepted practice for a long time, and most [of] the conflicts had as much or more to do with creative issues as economic ones.”

to be mostly granting ill-advised wishes that

Paul did yeoman work on The Phantom

could be turned against the wisher) to slowly

Stranger. He reintroduced popular elements and

rationalize the world. I don’t think I had the skill

characters (Cassandra Craft was welcomed back

to carry the concept out well, but I liked the

in #40) even Jim Aparo was back, doing covers,

implication that the Stranger was cursed with a

with Fred Carillo’s art on the interiors. How did

specific mission and that much of his ability was

you come about your Phantom Stranger, Paul?

to turn people’s actions against them.”

“My treatment for the Stranger was partially

The Phantom Stranger was cancelled with

inspired by Len’s work on the character, and by

#41 (Feb. 1976, which means it hit the stands in

John Brunner’s Traveller in Black, a sf/fantasy

late ’75). In the fadeout, the Phantom Stranger

paperback from the period. Brunner’s traveler

disappears with Cassandra in his arms, leaving

was a nameless man who roamed a chaotic

third wheel Deadman in mid-sentence.

world, using his very limited power (it seemed

One of the Stranger’s guest-star appearances: World’s Finest #249 (Feb.–Mar. 1978). Cover by Jim Aparo (courtesy of Michael Browning), and interior art by Kurt Schaffenberger and Tex Blaisdell (courtesy of Heritage Comics).

The End.

© 2006 DC Comics.

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Okay, I pulled that joke before. The Stranger

issue of possible origins for the Stranger. Four

never really fades away. Too many readers love

were presented (including Moore’s) but the “true”

the character, too many writers are intrigued by

story is best left unknown. After all, how can a

the possibilities he presents. Neil Gaiman cites

Phantom Stranger be, unless he is a phantom of some

Len’s run as an influence, and the character has

sort, and a stranger? And we’re still following him.

popped up several times since the cancellation, most notably in Justice League of America and in

Thanks to Len Wein and Paul Levitz for their time and for

1987, when Paul Kupperberg, Mike Mignola,

dredging up old memories. Arnold Drake was also to

and P. Craig Russell brought him back for a four-issue

contribute, but an extended illness prevented it (he’s fine

miniseries that captured some of the old flavor.

now, and he recommends you buy a copy of his 1964 movie

Vertigo used him in a one-shot, with a redesign

The Flesh Eaters, now on DVD!). We hope to include his

that kept some of the elements of the old Adams

comments in a future issue. Joe Orlando’s comments are

outfit, but making him look a bit priest-like. Even

taken from The Amazing World of DC Comics #6, an

Alan Moore got into the act, in a Secret Origins

interview originally conducted by Paul Levitz.

© 2006 DC Comics.

Mike Mignola and Craig Russell’s original cover art to 1987’s Phantom Stranger #3. Courtesy of Eric Delos Santos.

© 2006 DC Comics.

© 2006 DC Comics.

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I WAS A MARVEL COMICS WEREWOLF

Marvel Comics built its reputation on characters that

the world of horror is filled with examples of people

sometimes underwent horrific transformations and in

who are at heart good, decent folks who become

the process became unlikely heroes. Marvel’s idea of a

monsters beyond their control. Among the most

man becoming a monster-hero began with the

famous of these beasts in horror lore is the werewolf.

Fantastic Four when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced

So, when you get right down to it, what made more

the Thing to the world. This notion was taken to an

sense for a new, tragic comic-book hero in the 1970s

even deeper level with the creation of the Incredible

than a werewolf? This was what the folks at Marvel

Hulk and was explored to varying degrees in the pages

were thinking when the Comics Code Authority

of X-Men. The motif was always the same: power equals

loosened up on their rules allowing, for the first time

misery equals tragedy equals audience sympathy.

in almost two decades, mainstream comic-book

Marvel wasn’t the first to hit on this notion. Indeed,

publishers to tackle the horror genre in earnest.

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Dan Johnson

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I Am Werewolf, Hear Me Roar Jack Russell’s hairy transformation, in a commissioned illustration by and courtesy of Don Perlin.

Art © 2006 Don Perlin.

Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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MICHAEL LANDON-MEETS-PETER PARKER

addressed the idea] of someone who doesn’t have

Marvel’s first effort was a character that was very much

power. A consequence [of gaining power] is that you

in keeping with the previous hero mode. Upon his

become ostracized because you’re suddenly more

The 1957 movie that inspired Roy Thomas.

eighteenth birthday, Jack Russell learns that his family

powerful. If you look at what goes on with teenagers,

is cursed by the mark of the beast. Like many super-

every new thing that they find that they can do has

© 1957 AIP.

heroes that had come before him, young Russell

a consequence to it that is not very attractive. That

found that he possesses a

also plays into it. You can drive, but you can get

power that made him far

killed driving. You’re now free to experiment with all

superior to others, but like

kinds of things you shouldn’t be doing because now

Peter Parker and the

you’re more capable, but those have consequences,

many of the young mutants

too. It’s not just the positive, it’s the negative things,

of the X-Men, it was a

too. The teen years are a tremendous time of growth

power that was seen as

and expansion of possibilities, but at the same time

more of a curse than a

it’s a pretty miserable experience to go through. I

blessing. Thus “Werewolf

certainly felt that way myself, and that’s what I

by Night” was born. The

brought to Werewolf by Night.”

idea of mixing teenage

Besides tapping into the agony of teens and

angst and lycanthropy was

pre-teens, the horror genre offered something new

something that had paid

for Marvel to explore at a time when they were looking

off previously in another

for some elbow room on the newsstand. “[Werewolf

medium, and it fueled the

by Night] came around the same time as Tomb of

creation of this Marvel

Dracula and the push towards expanding the Marvel

series. “Werewolf by Night

line,” says Conway. “Marvel had been doing ten to

was my idea,” Roy Thomas

12 titles a month and Stan Lee wanted to expand us

tells BACK ISSUE. “[It was]

to 20 or 30 titles. In order to do that, we needed to

inspired by a combination

come up with a bunch of properties quickly. [We

of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, a movie I’d liked since it first came out in the late 1950s, and Spider-Man. As reported elsewhere, I made up the notion of a first-person series I called ‘I, Werewolf,’ and my first wife, Jean, and I plotted the first issue, after which it was turned over to Gerry [Conway] to dialogue and to continue.” Gerry Conway, the series’ original writer, had this to say on the subject of I Was a Teenage Werewolf’s influence on Werewolf by

A “warm-up sketch” of Werewolf by Night by Mike Ploog, obtained by its contributor, Ivan Cheung, at the 2005 U.K. Comic Expo.

Night. “I had never seen [the film] and Stan Lee had never seen it,” says Conway. “But it certainly was an easy sell. This was something that Marvel does well: teenagers with powers. The book also hit upon another element that made Marvel a popular sell to youngsters, the idea of the loner forced to deal with

Art © 2006 Michael Ploog.

Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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a world that can not or will not accept them. [It also

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believed] there were only a certain number of

a new look to Marvel Comics via the artwork of

super-heroes that you could do—of course that’s

Mike Ploog. “Mike was so good at doing [books like

been proven wrong—and the thought was there

Werewolf by Night and Ghost Rider],” says Conway.

wasn’t many more characters amongst the bullpen

“He was very imaginative, a great storyteller, and

at that time that could be tossed into their own

pretty fast, which was the criteria back then. He was

books. They had already given Sub-Mariner and Iron

one of the first artists to break away from the Marvel

Man and others their own titles.”

mode. Everyone else was trying to draw like Kirby

At the same time that Marvel was looking for new

and Romita, and to a smaller extent Ditko, but Mike’s

properties to publish, horror was already experiencing

stuff had no prior influences at Marvel, unless you go

a huge resurgence. In the early 1960s there was a

back to the ’50s and the horror books. Mike is a

horror comeback that was fueled by magazines like

cartoonist, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Famous Monsters of Filmland and toys like the Aurora

He doesn’t try to draw in a style that mimics reality

Monster Model Kits. In the comics industry the

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Warren line of black-and-white magazines that included Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella had been offering up thrills and chills for several years without that pesky Comics Code Authority getting in the way. In the end, once the Code’s restrictions on horror were lifted, it was only a matter of time before comic books gravitated to it. “In the early 1970s there was this mini-renaissance of fantasy and horror titles from both Marvel and DC,” says Conway. “The notion was this is an area that we could go into that is fairly fresh ground. [The Code restrictions being loosened] was one of the reasons we could do some of this stuff.

The Code had been applied in a pretty much arbitrary manner and you had all these restrictions that made no sense. Denny O’Neil said it best: ‘In the code you couldn’t have zombies, but you could have ghouls, which means you couldn’t have the walking dead, but as soon as [the dead] sat down, you could eat them.’ Werewolf by Night was certainly no more scary than Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man movies. They were fairly tame, especially in comparison to what is available to kids today.”

A NEW BREED OF MARVEL SUPER-HERO Right from the start—the character debuted in Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972), and after three Spotlights was awarded his own series beginning with #1 (Sept. 1972)—Werewolf by Night offered a number of new twists for fans of Marvel Comics. For the first time since the Comics Code Authority was enacted, a Marvel hero was shown as being capable of killing, and Jack Russell did just that to several of his early adversaries. Werewolf by Night also brought

Ploog’s splash page from Werewolf by Night #1, courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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like Neal Adams tried to do. Mike interprets reality and he can do that very effectively.”

(right) Woeful alter ego Jack Russell, in the Mike Ploog-drawn splash to Werewolf #5.

Ploog’s style was unique to Marvel Comics when he started at the company, and the influence of his former employer could be seen in his work. As it was, Mike Ploog had learned from one of the best, Will

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Eisner. Still, it took some time for Marvel to warm up to his style. “When I first went over to Marvel I did up a sample and it was [for] a Western called Tin Star,” Ploog tells BACK ISSUE. “It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek western and I did six pages. Marvel took a look at it and they said the style was too

cartoony. I had just gotten through working for Will Eisner and when you worked for Will he had an enormous amount of influence on your style. Tin Star did have kind of an Eisner twist to it.

“It was Roy Thomas who first pushed for me to work at Marvel,” Ploog reveals. “When I first went over there, the opinion was that my style wasn’t Marvel Comics. They were right because I don’t draw like [Jack] Kirby or like anybody else, actually.

I was always a big fan of film, especially the old black-and-white monster films. [I liked] the way [those filmmakers] lit things, and their use of light.”

It was Ploog’s love for classic horror films that gave Werewolf by Night the look it needed to tap into a young audience that was starting to become captivated by the likes of Universal’s Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man. At the same time that Werewolf

by Night was being published, these classic films were being shown on local television stations around the country through the famous Shock Theater package which ensured a whole new generation would be able to discover the Universal films of the

(above) Page 1 of Werewolf by Night #9, by guest-artist Tom Sutton. Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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1930s and 1940s. Indeed, Ploog’s take on Marvel’s Werewolf went hand in hand with what Universal

had been best known for—building atmosphere.

“Everybody was a character,” says Ploog in regard to the people in his stories. “That’s why I always had a hard time drawing heroes, because they always had to be good-looking and blond and blue-eyed with no scars or tattoos. I had a hard time drawing [Marvel heroes], but as for the characters, I could draw them over and over and over again.

The Marvel style was hard for me because they had this crisp kind of generic-looking character that they called the hero which had no expression, and you couldn’t make him act.”

Another new change was the location of the series. Almost all of the Marvel characters resided in New York City, but it was Gerry Conway who decided to give Jack Russell his hunting grounds on the West Coast. “Taking it to Los Angeles was my idea,” says Conway. “It was an effort to do something different.

I had just come back from spending a month in Los Angeles and staying at Harlan Ellison’s place and I thought L.A. was a really interesting city, but I thought it was phenomenal to set things in. I had also spent two weeks up in San Francisco and it was out of this that I came up with the notion of bringing Daredevil to San Francisco.”

Conway and Ploog’s time together on the book resulted in a number of classic stories. Conway moved on to other projects at Marvel though after issue #4. After Conway’s departure, a number of Marvel’s most outstanding writers took a crack at Werewolf by Night, including Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Mike Friedrich, and Tony Isabella.

Ploog’s artwork that really lent the series its legs.

THE MOENCH/PERLIN TEAM

Ploog himself stayed on the title until Werewolf by

With Ploog’s departure, the artwork for the series was

Night #16 (Apr. 1974, albeit with occasional fill-in

turned over to Don Perlin. Before coming on board at

issues by Tom Sutton, Werner Roth, and Gil Kane).

Marvel, Don Perlin had worked at DC Comics on a

Eventually though, Ploog decided that the time

number of books for editor Murray Boltinoff. In 1973

had come to leave. “I had run my gamut on it, to

Perlin went to Marvel after a phone call from the man

be honest,” says Ploog of his departure. “I enjoyed

who had started the Werewolf off in the first place.

the book, but I had worn myself to the point where

“Roy Thomas had seen some of the stuff I did and he

A page from Marvel Team-Up #12 (Aug. 1973), a Spidey/Werewolf issue penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Don Perlin.

Original art courtesy of Massimo Bissattini

the stories were kind of being same like. I think I

called me and told me that they had two books open

(www.themaxfiles.com).

just started losing interest in it and I was running

up at Marvel,” recalls Perlin. “One was Werewolf by

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

out of gas on it. We just weren’t coming up with

Night and the other was Morbius the Living Vampire [in

interesting

the title Adventures into Fear]. He said he was interested

Comics being a visual medium, though, it was

scenarios to work with, and I just had

to find something else to work on.”

in me taking one of them, so I went up to [Marvel’s

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offices] and spoke to Roy and John Romita[, Sr.], who was the art director there. Seeing that Werewolf was a monthly title, and the other was a bimonthly, I took the Werewolf. Also, I can’t stand blood and vampires are always biting throats.” In time it became obvious that putting Perlin on Werewolf by Night was the smart thing to do, but much like they had been initially with Mike Ploog’s artwork, there were some doubts regarding Perlin’s style since his previous work experience had included drawing Scooby-Doo, Disney characters, and super-heroes. “[Marvel] kept saying, ‘Let’s be careful. You’re a little bit cartoony,’” says Perlin about his first few issues of Werewolf by Night. “I would be sitting there at night drawing these things and worrying, ‘It was too funny?

Will they laugh at this?’ Years later, I met people who got into the comic-book business and they would say, ‘I used to get nightmares from the stuff you did,’ so I guessed I conquered that cartoony bit.”

“There was no ego there, no prima donna, Don just tried his best every time,” recalls Perlin’s Werewolf by Night collaborator, Doug

Courtesy of the artist, a Don Perlin-drawn Werewolf vs. zombies commission.

Art © 2006 Don Perlin. Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Moench, who came on board as the book’s writer with issue #20 (Aug. 1974). As Moench’s comments attest, Perlin had a reputation as one of the best artists to work with in the business. “The storytelling Don Perlin did was exquisite,” says Moench. “It was very straightforward, nothing flashy, but always spot-on and you always knew exactly what was going on. The flow from panel to panel was perfectly smooth, everything clear at a glance. With certain other artists whose drawing styles were more highly regarded by the fans, I had a hard time writing [my script] so that the story made sense. Their storytelling just didn’t do the job. But Don was easy every time.”

Moench and Perlin’s arrival on the series helped to launch the Werewolf’s second life, and both men remained on the series until its end with issue #43 (Mar. 1977). Moench joined Werewolf by Night, as well as Marvel itself, through the suggestion of a former

Werewolf by Night tangles with Man-Thing in this Perlin commissioned illo.

Art © 2006 Don Perlin. Characters © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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member of the Werewolf team. “Marv Wolfman suggested me, and then Roy Thomas asked me to come to New York and work for Marvel on staff as assistant editor, which I ended up doing,” recalls

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

(left) If you thought Beta Ray Bill was a weird choice to wield Thor’s hammer, try this Perlin commission on for size. . .

Art © 2006 Don Perlin. Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Moench. Before joining Marvel Comics, Moench was already working on horror stories for the company that launched the 1970s horror cycle. “Marv Wolfman had been my editor at Warren and that was how he knew me. I loved horror, and still do, but it was hardly my only interest. It’s just how I got my foot in the door. At Marvel, I began by writing black-and-white

horror

stories

for

Monsters

Unleashed, Dracula Lives, and Tales of the Zombie. The first color comic they offered was “Man-Wolf” [in Creatures on the Loose] and the second was Werewolf

by Night. I thought Werewolf by Night was the more appealing assignment, so I dropped “Man-Wolf” simply because the two books were so similar.” Moench had a talent for weaving a good horror story, but the character development and storylines he devised suggested he might work well in other genres, something Marvel quickly realized. “Horror was just the start,” explains Moench. “It was when I started doing things like Master of Kung Fu that the editors decided,

Don Perlin’s unpublished cover art to Werewolf by Night #32.

Original art scan from the collection of Leonard Chuah.

‘Wait a minute, maybe he can do more than horror!’”

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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In talking with both Moench and Perlin, it is

(right) Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s cover art to Spider-Woman #32 (Nov. 1980) features both the Werewolf and a tribute to many famous monsters of filmland. Art courtesy of Keif A. Fromm.

apparent to me that their partnership was one built on mutual admiration, respect, and their desire to put out the best comic book they could. “We had a very good working rapport,” recalls Perlin. “Doug would come up with the plot and then I would read it and if I got any ideas or suggestions I would call him. Doug was very amiable. A number of times I would come up with an idea for a story and he would take it and run with it.

There were a number of issues where I’m listed as

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

co-plotter.” Moench echoes these sentiments when questioned about working with Perlin. “Don was a very enthusiastic and diligent collaborator to say the least,” recalls Moench. “He wanted to be helpful, but he never wanted to step on my toes. He would very carefully and subtly suggest things. Usually he had ideas for what would look good in the art. He was never pushy, but always interested and excited about what was coming up.”

THE COMING OF MOON KNIGHT Moench and Perlin’s time together on Werewolf was short-lived, but as a team they made the Werewolf a noteworthy character. The series often included other denizens of the Marvel Universe, and in the process Moench and Perlin gave Marvel its own “dark knight”: Moon Knight. It was Moon Knight’s introduction which sparked a rumor that lives to this day concerning the infamous “rejected” cover for Werewolf by Night #32 (Aug. 1975). “What it was is

A presentation piece for a Moench/Perlin Werewolf by Night revival proposal, presented to Marvel “a few years ago,” according to its contributor, Don Perlin.

Art © 2006 Don Perlin. Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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that the cover is inside a castle or old mansion and [the Werewolf] is being attacked by a whole bunch of zombies in police uniforms,” says Perlin about this cover. The story has circulated for decades that the

cover was deemed “too horrific.” In reality, Marvel dismissed the cover for a totally different reason. “There was a page or two in that book with Moon Knight and Marvel wanted him on the cover,” says Perlin. “It would be nice if I could go around and say I drew such horrific stuff that Marvel couldn’t even print it.”

Eventually decreasing sales led to the cancellation of Werewolf by Night and changing taste on the part of readers finally did what all the silver bullets in the world could not. “Horror seems to rise and fall in natural cycles,” recalls Moench about the demise of the series. “Marvel jumped on the beginning of a cycle with a few titles that offered something different from the typical super-hero fare. The early books attracted attention and created momentum for similar titles, until Marvel simply glutted its own market with too much horror. There were all those black-and-white titles and then many color comics as well.

They even did the [Living] Mummy. Eventually there was no longer a sense of refreshing change from all the superhero stuff. When horror became its own monolithic domain, the novelty wore off. Interest inevitably waned.”

Still Moench agreed that working on Werewolf by Night was special. “It was depressing [when the book ended],” says Moench. “I enjoyed working with Don. You never like to hear that [a book is ending], although you’re always ready to move on to something new. In this case, I felt Don and I worked well together on Werewolf by Night, and I wasn’t sure if we could find another platform. I was bummed out by that.”

As it was, Moench and Perlin weren’t the only ones enjoying what they were doing. “Dean Mullaney, who started Eclipse Comics, and who became a friend after I

This Mike Ploog oil painting titled “Haunting Spirit” (from a Ploog card set) makes us wish BACK ISSUE was a color magazine! Thanks to Brian Boggs for the scan. © 2006 Michael Ploog.

started Aztec Ace for him, said that his all-time favorite run of comics was Werewolf by Night by me and Don Perlin,” says Moench. “I always thought that was weird for some reason, probably because I was more accustomed to receiving praise for Moon Knight and Master of Kung Fu. And Aztec Ace, for that matter. But then I was signing an issue of Werewolf by Night at a convention and I started flipping through it. I’d never read one before this, and could barely remember writing it. My reaction was, ‘Hey, this ain’t bad!’ I was doing so much other

Diamond Select’s 2005 Werewolf by Night mini-bust.

work at the time that most of it simply got lost in a blur.

But looking back now, I think what Don and I did was really solid and probably underrated. Some of those issues are genuine sleepers.”

Werewolf by Night © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

d, Tom Field, to Bob McLeo (Special thanks . il photocopies) o for the penc and Jim Cardill

Anything atmospheric always made my day. Doing Drac gave me that on almost every page.

I almost didn’t get the opportunity to do Tomb of Dracula [see BACK ISSUE #6 for details].

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TOMB OF DRACULA MAGAZINE #1 (1979)

olan

ns by Gene C Art and captio

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

RAWHIDE KID #149 (1979)

I vaguely remember this one. Seems like I was struggling with it.

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MARVEL COMICS SUPER SPECIAL #10 – STAR LORD (1979)

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

I do not recall this page. Never cared that much for doing sci-fi, but I gave whatever I drew my best.

© 2006 DC Comics.

THE PHANTOM ZONE #2 (1982)

Did not enjoy The Phantom Zone all that much—again, it was sci-fi. Superman was the saving grace to this one.

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DETECTIVE COMICS #517 unpublished cover (1982)

© 2006 DC Comics.

Loved doing Batman. Totally a character of the night.

© 2006 DC Comics.

BATMAN #344 page 2 (1982) Some pages had very little going on—but to me it was a challenge to make something special out of them.

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WONDER WOMAN #288 (1982)

© 2006 DC Comics.

Never felt strongly about Wonder Woman, but it was an assignment, and I gave it my best shot.

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© 2006 DC Comics.

NIGHT FORCE PREVIEW (1982)

Some of this art required a little research. Enjoyed that aspect of it.

[Editor’s note: Marv Wolfman adds that this is the “cover” for the Night Force preview that appeared in New Teen Titans #21; originally, Night Force was intended to be a revival/revision of Challengers of the Unknown, hence the “Challengers” title atop the page. Thanks, Marv!]

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JEMM, SON OF SATURN #9 (1985)

© 2006 DC Comics.

Jemm was a very well-written story. A fellow by the name of Greg Potter penned the storylines.

Always different.

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© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

DAREDEVIL PINUP (1999)

Was just thinking of this one the other day, for some reason—remember wanting to bring this scene to a place never portrayed before: under an overpass.

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To me the Marines are always the real heroes, even though Cap is dragging in these two “gems.”

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CAPTAIN AMERICA COMMISSIONS (2003)

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Where else would Cap be on 9/11 but at the Twin Towers?

© 2006 Michael Chabon and Gene Colan.

THE ESCAPIST #2 (2004)

I enjoyed doing The Escapist very much. Great atmosphere. Like watching a film.

Glen David Gold’s writing was superb.

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by

Jennifer M. Contino

TM

Rory Regan was the son of a junkman who went off to serve his country during the Vietnam conflict.

He returned home, not to ticker-tape parades or the respect and admiration of those around him, like the soldiers of World War II and the Korean War experienced. His return wasn’t marked with praise and pride. He came back to a country that wasn’t impressed with his military record or sacrifices he made overseas. He was back in a world that seemed very different from what he had left a few short years earlier.

One thing that was constant and unchanging was the love and pride his father felt for Rory.

Gerry Regan wanted to give his son the whole world on a silver platter, but didn’t have the means to do such a thing. So, for Rory’s birthday, Gerry and his friends created a suit out of rags and planned to gift the younger Regan with that attire. However, tragedy struck before they all could celebrate. Gerry and his pals found a stack of “dirty” money hidden among the junk in the Regans’ Rags ’n’ Tatters junkyard.

When the thieves returned to retrieve the money, Regan refused to say where the fortune was hidden. He wanted the money to be Rory’s heritage and future. He wanted it to buy Rory everything the man had ever wanted, but was unable to have in this life—at least so far.

The gangsters weren’t ready to lose all that money, so they proceeded to torture the men, trying to get one to crack and spill the beans on

An utterly amazing 1993 commissioned illo of Ragman by Joe Kubert.

Courtesy of its proud owner, Steve Davis.

Art © 2006 Joe Kubert. Ragman TM & © DC Comics.

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that missing bounty. All refused, sticking to the plan of letting young Rory have a grand future, even if it cost them their remaining days in this world.

Rory walked in on the torture of his father

Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher thought their

and friends. The group was being electrocuted

“Tattered Tatterdemalion” would be a smash in

by a fallen electrical wire and he was horrified.

the mid-’70s when the hero made his debut.

He attempted to use a rubber tire to free his

The multitalented Kubert was an editor at DC

father from the arc, but the plan fell apart and

and believed the line he was responsible for

Rory found himself in mortal danger as well.

could use a new title. Thinking about how to

The criminals left, figuring the men as good as

flesh out the DC Universe led Kubert to one

dead and their loot lost. But they didn’t count

man: writer Robert Kanigher.

on Rory surviving the shock.

The Kubertdesigned, Redondo Studio-finished briskly paced inset sequence on page 2 of Ragman #1 (Aug.–Sept. 1976) builds to the weird hero’s reveal on page 3. Original art courtesy of Benny Gelillo.

“I called Bob in and we discussed the need

After he recovered, Rory found the costume

for a new title,” Kubert recalls. “Initially we

his father left him and took that as a sign that

thought that I would be doing the artwork,

he should protect his neighborhood from those

which I would have enjoyed.”

evil men and others of their ilk. He wanted to be

However, other responsibilities prevented

another force in Gotham City to help those

Kubert from penciling their creation. Although

frightened of the things that go bump in the

Kubert continued to draw the covers for the

night. The enigmatic Ragman seemed a

series, Ragman’s sequential art on issues #1–4

welcome addition to Batman’s turf. Creators

was handled by the Redondo Studio, working

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from Kubert’s layouts. Their art seemed a good fit for the tone and feel both Kanigher and

several ideas and different types of characters with

Kubert were trying to achieve at that point in

Kanigher. As a result they came up with Rory

time. [Kubert’s schedule allowed him to pencil

Regan, a soldier returning home after serving

and ink the final issue of the series, #5.]

and surviving his time in Vietnam. “We thought

© 2006 DC Comics.

Story page 7 of Ragman #1 features a Kubert/Redondo Studio re-creation of Kubert’s cover to the issue. Courtesy of Benny Gelillo. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Kubert says Ragman came about after discussing

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[making him a returning Vietnam vet]

The time-honored super-hero origin catalyst of parental

would make him more current and more credible,” Kubert says.

death was given stark realism— especially when compared to tamer fare of the day—by Kubert’s layouts and the Redondos’ finishes in Ragman #1. Courtesy of Benny Gelillo.

The pair also came up with the idea of making his day job be something atypical than the standard super-hero alter ego occupation. Kubert and Kanigher made him a junkman. “We felt it was an intriguing thought to have our hero working at a less-than-ideal job,” Kubert says.

Through other discussions Ragman’s origin was fleshed out, and it was decided that death would be the impetus for Regan

© 2006 DC Comics.

to don a costume and become the newest creature of the night. Kubert saw the irony in dressing a “rag man” in rags.

To come up with the look and mood the pair wanted to achieve they decided muted hues of darker colors in green and browns would be used to create the costume. Kubert says the idea was to make him appear more “mysterious”: “Bob and I felt he was more ‘earthy’ [than other costumed heroes of the time].”

Kubert says, “What I enjoyed the most [about working on Ragman] was doing

© 2006 DC Comics.

that first story. I enjoyed it less when my other work prohibited me from continuing.”

Even though the intriguing concept felt new and fresh to Kubert and Kanigher, the general comic reading audience did not embrace this new comic-book series. Ragman, a series the pair hoped would last years, was cancelled after just five issues.

“We miscalculated the audience’s acceptance of Ragman,” Kubert says. He cited that as the reason the series didn’t live up to its expectations.

Rory Regan assumes his legacy on the final page of Ragman #1. Courtesy of Benny Gelillo.

Although Ragman’s own title quickly folded, the Tattered Tatterdemalion soon found himself guesting in several series including Batman Family, The Brave and the Bold, and Batman, before Crisis on Infinite Earths.

© 2006 DC Comics.

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Joe Kubert’s 1974 self portrait, from The Amazing World of DC Comics #1. © 2006 DC Comics.

After that 1985 limited

Gangster,” Kubert says. “The trade-

series, Ragman gained some

paperback edition of Yossel is also in

mystical and magical elements

stores now. The Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy

that changed him from

six-issue miniseries began in January. I

mysterious costumed vigi-

have P.S. Magazine for the U.S. Army

lante to a more “spirited”

month.

I’m

managing

the

sort. Kubert does not

school’s

want to talk about the

teaching at the school, and beating up

post-Crisis Ragman. He said “no comment” when asked his thoughts

every

on

the

direction

his

junkman has taken in recent years as one of the Sentinels of Magic.

correspondence

courses,

on [sons] Adam and Andy!”

Sounds like a busy schedule for one of comics’ hardest working men!

As for the Ragman, he was seen recently as a major player in the DC

One thing Kubert would comment

Comics Infinite Crisis tie-in, Day of

on was his upcoming workload. The

Vengeance. With the sudden interest in

man who, along with running one of

magic in comics, one can guess that

the most successful art schools in the

won’t be the last we see of this version

United States, keeps himself busy

of the Ragman.

drawing and writing a variety of © 2006 DC Comics.

projects. “I have a graphic novel in

Check out Jennifer Contino’s online column

stores now from iBooks called Jew

at www.comicon.com/pulse.

$200,000 PAID FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART! COLLECTOR PAYING TOP DOLLAR FOR “ANY AND ALL” ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK AND COMIC STRIP ARTWORK FROM THE 1930S TO PRESENT! COVERS, PINUPS, PAGES, IT DOESN’T MATTER! 1 PAGE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS SOUGHT! CALL OR EMAIL ME ANYTIME!

330-296-2415 mikeburkey@aol.com OR SEND YOUR LIST TO:

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Maybe I’m ’Mazed!

You Gotta Have Friends. . .

by

Brian K. Morris

When Sigfried Horatio Hunch III left the care of Bellevue Hospital, one can only assume it was with the permission of his doctors. After finding a place to live, Hunch spotted a trash pile upon which lay a golden helmet with two huge glass eye holes and a “W” at its peak. When Sigfried lifted the helm, the letter spun on its axis, making it an “M.” Knowing an omen when he saw it, Sigfried christened himself ’Mazing Man. Financially secure from winning the Publisher’s Reading House Sweepstakes, ’Maze patrolled Queens, equally willing to save a child from being run over by a truck, then preventing him from swallowing a discarded cigarette butt. “Heaven only knows what eating one of them might do.”

Public reaction was divided, but not between “threat” or “menace.” To one bystander, “He’s the neighborhood looney-toon.” To another, “He’s great to have around, like Lassie . . . and we don’t have to clean up after him.”

FRIENDSHIP, JUST THE PERFECT BLENDSHIP In 1973 frequent letterhack Bob Rozakis received permission to tour the DC offices from DC editor Julius Schwartz. The comic-based crossword puzzles he created for a fanzine wound up in the hands of Sol Harrison, DC’s Vice President and head of its Production Department who told Rozakis, “If you can make up puzzles about Superman and Batman, we’ll buy them.”

Nine puzzles later, Rozakis found his foot in the door.

This led to a stint as Schwartz’s assistant, where he began selling scripts for Robin and the Elongated Man (in Detective Comics), The Freedom Fighters, and others.

In 1976 Rozakis transferred to Production, succeeding Jack Adler in 1981 and remaining as Production Director until leaving DC in 1998.

Just as Rozakis used to do, 13-year-old Stephen DeStefano began his comics career by writing letters,

Very early ’Mazing Man presentation art, penciled by Stephen DeStefano (contributor of all of this article’s artwork) and inked by Joseph Delbeato (who placed a cigar in Guido’s hand). © 2006 DC Comics.

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page after handwritten page, covered with drawings of himself and his dog. “To my astonishment and delight,” DeStefano recalls, “[Bob] began writing me back. Bob was not only patient with me, answering all of my dopey questions, but extremely generous.” When

Beginnings:

ished story: Assorted DC puzzle pages / 1st publ n) in Robi ring (star ” Trap n “The Touchdow Detective Comics #445 (1975)

DeStefano requested a job at DC because his father had been laid off,

Milestones:

found himself interning at DC, working in the export department,

t Society of ’Mazing Man / Freedom Fighters / Secre created Duela Super-Villains / Teen Titans (where he rman: The Dent) / Star Trek / Super Friends / Supe hen Secret Years / Hero Hotline (with Step ring the DeStefano) / over 400 scripts featu Atom, Calculator, the Elongated Man, the Green Arrow n, Robi irl, Batg , Aquaman, Air Wave Hero (with E. and Black Canary, Mr. E, Dial “H” For head of ming beco / rs othe and Nelson Bridwell), DC’s Production Department in 1981, where he developed new comic-book formats and introduced computer coloring and separations as well as computerto-plate printing to the company

Photo courtesy of Bob Rozakis.

Cyberspace: The Daily Trivia Contest at www.wfcomics.com/trivia

BOB ROZAKIS

“Bob wrote back, telling me he’d put me on the DC Comics comp list, which was an exceptionally kind thing to do.” At 15, DeStefano learning what Rozakis calls “the fine art of making Xerox copies.”

With high school about to end, the 17-year-old set his sights on becoming a DC staffer. So with Creative Director Joe Orlando’s encouragement, DeStefano worked up samples for a series based on a friend in his school named Brian Mooney. As a gift to him, DeStefano drew tales of “Mooney Man” As the artist explains, “Mooney Man looked a lot like ’Maze, and he had a dog that would wise crack and make snotty asides.” Except for being naked, the canine looked a lot like ’Maze’s Denton. “It was all very silly, sort of a MAD-inspired parody, filled with in-jokes about our life at school.”

Refining the concepts for a mainstream audience, “Mooney Man” received a name change, Denton got clothing, and the proposal gained a supporting cast, most of whom the artist, by his own admission, “didn’t really have a feel for who they were or what they did.”

Orlando rejected DeStefano’s initial proposal. However, upon seeing his friend’s presentation, Bob Rozakis said, “I want to write this.”

© 2006 DC Comics.

Size relation chart, drawn for the final ’Mazing Man Special (1990). © 2006 DC Comics.

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DeStefano’s characters needed very little tweaking. According to Rozakis, “The characters evolved over the run of the book more than they changed from the original proposal to #1.” Rozakis

Rozakis sought out Alan Gold to edit the new title: “Alan saw the possibilities for the series and that it was not supposed to be a super-hero parody.” ’Mazing Man’s creative team sought to capture the feel of comedic ensemble television programs like M*A*S*H* and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But more like Newhart, ’Mazing Man was a series where the “secondary” characters were the true stars.

As Rozakis recalls, “[Gold] played a big part in convincing Dick [Giordano, DC’s Editorial Director] the book should be given a shot.” DeStefano adds that Gold “had a feeling for nonmainstream concepts (and also a terrific sense of humor.”)

Long a champion of innovative comic approaches, Giordano liked the results and gave the greenlight to the first issue of ’MM

Beginnings:

“I . . . Baby Vampire” in

House of Mystery #306 (19 81)

Milestones:

’Mazing Man / Secret Ori gins / House of Mystery / Blackhawk / The Brave and the Bold / Cheval Noir / Classics Desecrated / Crit ters /Elvira’s House of Mystery Special / The Leg ion / Hero Hotline (with Bob Rozakis) / Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories / Mic key Mouse Adventures / Just Imagine Stan Lee . . . Sec ret Files and Origins / Oni Dou ble Feature / Video Jack / Who’s Who / Nickelodeo n Magazine / DC’s Cartoo n Network titles (Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Cou rage the Cowardly Dog) / the Bizarro book / television animation storyboards and design: Ren and Stim py, season 2 / Batman / Bat man Beyond / Superman / Cartoon Network’s Ven ture Brothers /the pilot for Evan Dorkin’s Welcome To Eltingville / Universal’ s Hercules and Xena direct-t o-video feature / and two Jimmy Neutron books for Simon and Shu ster

Works in Progress:

with a Jan. 1986 cover date and a banner command, “Start

An unnamed graphic nov el (writing and illustrating ) / King Features licensing art for Popeye / secret projects for Nic kelodeon and Cartoon Network

Collecting NOW!” Joining Gold, Rozakis, and Stefano were inker Karl Kesel, letterer Bob Lappan, and colorist Tom Ziuko.

What was Alan Gold like to work with? “I think Alan was crucial to the book,” declares Rozakis. “He pushed both of us

STEPHEN DeSTEFANO

to do better. When Stephen and I disagreed about something, Alan would pick one side or the other and say, ‘Do it this way.’

Sometimes I’d be ticked off, other times Stephen would be.

DeStefano.

with histories for all of them but the enigmatic Sigfried Hunch.

Self-portrait courtesy of Stephen

helped flesh out the cast of characters, deliberately coming up

But we’d also be happy to get our way sometimes.” ’Maze uncovered no cosmic crises to thwart, no costumed villains to discourage. The situations could be as mundane as ’Maze hiding his pet skunks from his friends, a trip to

Character designs by Stephen DeStefano for ’Mazing Man Special #3 (1990). While Todd McFarlane built his reputation as penciler on Infinity, Inc., DeStefano says he “heard towards the end of the original ’Maze run that Todd was a fan of the book. When I heard this, I thought, ‘Gee, that’s nice . . . who the hell is Todd McFarlane?’” But years later, DeStefano was glad that Todd agreed to ink a page.

the beach, or the [supporting-cast members] Valentines’ debate over cooking for last-second guests. But the crisp artwork and personality-generated humor elevated the stories far above mere “day in the life” fare.

With issue #9, Alan Gold left DC to become Managing Editor at educational publisher Cambridge Books.

His

replacement

was

Barbara Randall, later Barbara Kesel. Less hands-on than Gold, but no less encouraging to get the best from her people, she favored compromising when her writer and penciler disagreed.

The model for Bernie Cornfeldt’s assistant, DeStefano characterizes Randall as “a real sweetie, very easy to work with.”

© 2006 DC Comics.

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5 9

Rozakis, “you never would have seen issues #11 and 12 or the Specials.”

Meanwhile, Rozakis worked closely with writer/artist Frank Miller to ensure that 1986’s Dark Knight miniseries looked its best. Wanting to attract wider attention, Rozakis asked Miller if he’d do a ’Mazing Man cover, to which he readily agreed, one that showed ’Maze’s dream of riding the cloak of Gotham’s grim guardian.

Rozakis remembers that “after ‘convincing’ [DC then-Vice President Paul] Levitz and Giordano to let the book run its full 12 issues, I got them to agree that if sales actually did go up on the last couple, we could came back with a Special.” Sure enough, Miller’s sales spike helped just enough to get that Special as well as a promise for more, sales permitting. Randall, Rozakis, Just as the editorial reins eventually changed hands,

Map of ’Maze’s neighborhood, from the original series’ run.

so did the job of embellishing DeStefano’s pencils. Karl

© 2006 DC Comics.

DeStefano found the format a comfortable one.

’Maze’s run, left to ink the higher-profile Superman books.

“I love the old Golden Age 64-page format, and the

“I’m amazed,” says DeStefano, “at our good fortune in

48-page Specials offered me an opportunity to tell a

having gotten him on his short run on the book.” But

longer than normal story in one case, and also short little

before he left, Kesel recommended a fellow student from

quirky stories that, again, I could experiment with visually

the Joe Kubert School, Craig Boldman. “Craig was great,”

and invite different inkers to work on.” Starting with the

actually a helluva comic-book writer, one of my favorites.”

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS During its run, ’Mazing Man never threatened the sales superiority of titles like The New Teen Titans. However, “[DC] did want to support it,” says DeStefano. “I mean, they’d like a hit with one book as much as any other.”

But ’MM was a difficult comic to categorize. The humor was often gentle and the conflicts mostly internal, such as with Brenda Valentine’s dramatic struggle to not succumb to a coworker’s flirtations in “Brenda’s Story” (#6), a personal favorite of Rozakis.

A house ad, a promotional poster, and fan press attention proved insufficient to build sales. Nor was an offer in the ninth issue to give free copies of #1, each autographed by Rozakis and DeStefano, to new subscribers of the title. The generous offer netted, by Rozakis’

DeStefano’s model and expression sheets, from around the time of ’Mazing Man #1 (Jan. 1986).

most optimistic estimate, a couple dozen subscribers.

Despite DC’s 12-issue commitment, Rozakis fought to keep ’MM from cancellation with #10. “If I hadn’t been the Production Director sitting in the meetings where book cancellations were being discussed,” says

© 2006 DC Comics.

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’Mazing Man Special, which came out in mid-1987.

Kesel, who inked every cover and most of the stories of

continues DeStefano, “just a terrific guy, a fine artist, and

© 2006 DC Comics.

DeStefano, and Boldman began work on the first

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first Special, DeStefano stepped away from his John Byrne/Michael

CAN WE STILL BE FRIENDS?

Golden roots to embrace the styles of classic cartoonists introduced

In the current comic-book market where GrimJack, The Transformers,

to him by Alan Gold, infusing elements of Carl Barks, George

Jon Sable Freelance, and G. I. Joe can successfully return, have the

Herriman, and Billy DeBeck, all still an influence on his current work.

creators given any thought to a ’Mazing Man revival?

In the 1988 and 1990 Specials, DeStefano selected inkers who

DeStefano says, “Yes, every once in a blue moon, the feeling

reflected the specific mood of each story. Joining Boldman and Kesel

creeps up on me that it might be nice to buy the character

were Trina Robbins, Steve Leialoha, Chad Grothkopf, Paul Fricke, Ty

back. Then the feeling subsides and I realize that ’Maze is a nice

Templeton, Mark Badger, Kyle Baker, and even Todd McFarlane. “All of

memory, something very sweet from my past.” Today, DeStefano

these people contributed something unique to the particular stories they

works in the animation field as a storyboard artist and art director.

were working on, and made the specials just wonderful, in my opinion.”

The 1990 ’Mazing Man Special brought the series to a gentle close

Tight-lipped on the DC character he’s currently developing, he finds time to work on comics with his best to yet see print.

behind a clever “infinity cover.” Barbara Randall had moved on to other assignments, leaving Brian Augustyn as official Editor. “But I think by then Stephen and I were just running rampant and doing whatever we wanted,” confesses Rozakis. By then, virtually every participant— except for rock-steady Sigfried Hunch—had undergone an evolution, some as minor as Denton growing a mustache and Queens getting a new cop on the local beat; others as major as Rozakis showing off his versatility as a writer and DeStefano drawing on classic comedic influences in his art. There was no “illusion of change” in ’Mazing Man.

Early model sheet for K.P.

Why did former night watchman and fledgling comics scripter Denton Fixx look like a dog? Stephen DeStefano explains,” “Denton was the outsider. He could’ve looked like anything that didn’t look like a human being, but I’ve a great affinity for dogs. That was my theory at the time I’d created the series and it’s a choice I’m not sure I’m comfortable with today. It’s occurred to me that the dog thing raises more questions than it’s worth and tends to be a little distracting from the character and the stories themselves.” © 2006 DC Comics.

© 2005 DC Comics.

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The Secret Origin of ’Mazing Man’s Helmet

a 20th anniversary project “got some mild response, but it never got any further than

by Brian K. Morris

that on both the company’s and my part. DC’s editorial stance these days seems to be

When Sigfried Hunch found the golden helmet

for ’Maze and his friends in that setting.” Rozakis adds, “One could argue that there

that inspired his heroic identity, did anyone

was more realism in ’Mazing Man than there is in anything in the DCU these days.”

It’s not like Rozakis and DeStefano didn’t attempt a ’MM revival. DeStefano’s bid for

based on ‘realism’ and ‘seriousness,’ and at the moment, I’m not sure there’s a place

Today, Rozakis works as an accountant for a construction firm and teaches a pair of

bother to learn who tossed it out or why?

Did it run out of batteries? Would tacking

three-week courses in Creative Writing for gifted children in the Johns Hopkins

that “W” on it void any warrantees?

University CTY summer program. By his own admission, he “used to joke about [DC]

More importantly, did Stephen

doing a ’Mazing Man Archives,” but would rather see the entire series in something like the new Showcase reprint series. “Maybe someday [DC]’ll surprise me.”

DeStefano know?

“Other than using [the characters] to publish a new series,” continues Rozakis,

“That’s a good question! I don’t know.”

Hmm, okay. How about Bob Rozakis?

“what would we do with the rights? It’s almost 20 years later. Better that DC should

“Wonderfulman? Warriorguy? Wally Cox?

establish a precedent and give us back the rights. They’re never going to use the character again.”

I don’t think we ever even thought about it.”

Today, how would Rozakis and DeStefano present their creation? Bob Rozakis says,

Sigh . . .

“Denton would have a cell phone and computer. Otherwise, I think we’d still be going

Then DeStefano volunteered, “Although

for the same tone and sentiment.”

someone, I can’t remember who, did have a

So after five years and 15 issues (not counting appearances in Secret Origins #16 or

theory that it was a mystic artifact, similar to Dr. Fate’s helmet, left over from the rubble

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #15), one of the more pleasant heroes in comics history

and carnage of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. It’s

strode into the sunset, gone but hopefully not forgotten in a post 9/11 reality.

After all, in this crazy world, we all need a friend like ’Mazing Man. Maybe now

as good a theory as any, and honestly, it still

more than ever.

tickles me that the first regular series DC came out with following the Crisis was ’MM, an out-of-continuity humor title.”

And in this crazy world, we all need a friend who’s a Lord of Order.

Prior to publication, Stephen DeStefano wrote and penciled a “pilot” episode of ’Mazing Man, with two examples being seen here. Much of it was redrawn for ’Mazing Man #1. © 2006 DC Comics.

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The History of the BC Universe

by Brian K. Morris

he doesn’t notice?” The Zoot Sputnik tales in ’Mazing Man were ably illustrated by fan favorite Fred Hembeck.

While other, lesser brands filled their pages with continuity,

Not a dream, not an imaginary story, but an integral part of

Bernie stuck to his guns. “Continuity?” he cried, “You think

‘Mazing Man, that was “BC Comics,” the publisher of

that anybody who ever reads one of these things is ever

Nightman and Redbreast, Wonderful Woman, Splendidman,

gonna read another one?” But finally, he had to admit

and its spin-offs, Splendidgirl and Splendidpup.

Denton had a point, adding, “You mention this conversation

Named for publisher/editor Bernie Cornfeldt, the company

outside this office and I’ll pull your floppy ears off.” It seems

might be more of a contender in the sales arena if Bernie’s

that cousin Max “killed off somebody named Supergirl—an

wife’s third cousin, twice removed, Max (“He should only go

obvious and blatant rip off of my own Splendidgirl, but that’s

broke.”) hadn’t beaten him into print with a derivative concept

another story.” That’s why ’MM #11 presented, “Catastophe

called “Superman.”

on BC-Earth!” But instead of forcing BC readers to pick up a

Refusing to stop publishing, Bernie took Max to court who

maxiseries, along with any and all tie-ins, Max killed off the

in turn, countersued. But without substantial evidence presented

entire BC pantheon in one huge explosion with the intent of

by either side, the judge tossed the cases out, leaving both

bringing them all back to life the following month. “This is

men to publish their own lines of comics.

comic books . . . we can do whatever we want.”

One day, in ’Mazing Man #2, Denton Fixx entered Bernie’s

But all good things must come if not to an end, then a

office with a desire to write his childhood heroes, to say nothing

pause. In the 1987 ’Mazing Man Special, when Bernie learned

of a willingness to believe Bernie’s version of reality. He left

the cleaning lady tossed out the artwork for the next All-Fun

with the regular scripting gig on Splendidpup, starting at the

Comics Starring Zoot Sputnik, he had a heart attack. Broken both

standard three dollars per scripted page. “But you’ll be up to

in body and spirit, ’Maze nursed Bernie back to health and

five dollars a page in a coupla years,” promised Bernie.

bought the company from him so Denton could write stories

Bernie’s creative philosophy was summed up by Denton in issue #7: First: type neat! Second: keep it simple enough for a moron.

about Sea Monkeys. “It’s them or the Spudmen.”

But by the following Special, Bernie saw the “derivative

Not even a case of writer’s block, an inability to work in SP’s

garbage” BC now published and vowed to strangle Denton. By

dreaded enemies, the Spudmen, nor the assistance of Denton’s

the next issue, Bernie was back in charge, his assistant Randall

friends, could stop BC’s newest scribe from turning in his scripts

by his side. Or following closely, at least.

in issue #5. The chapters provided by K.P., Guido, Eddie with

As the sun sets over the offices of BC Comics, one can be

Brenda, and finally ’Maze were illustrated, respectively, by José

sure that the company is still publishing adventures of Zoot,

Luis García-López with Pablo Marcos, Denys Cowan and Dick

Splendidpup, and its other classic characters, no adventure

Giordano, Joe Orlando, and Kurt Schaffenberger.

tying into any other. Meanwhile, any time a neatly typed

With ’MM #7, BC and Denton share the latter’s newest assignment, “The Very Fun Adventures of Zoot Sputnik and His

manuscript crosses an editor’s desk, it is almost certainly due to the creative legacy of Bernie Cornfeldt.

Friends!!!” Whether the adventure takes place in the old West, in the heart of Nazi territory, or beyond the farthest star, you can find Zoot, his adopted son Winky, the brilliant Dr. Silo K. Zap, the scientist’s gorgeous daughter, Judy, as well as Barker, their self-aware mascot . . . well, he was until Bernie finally noticed and turned the dog back to his non-speaking self.

The varying settings came from an afternoon discussion when Bob Rozakis wondered why Donald Duck could change occupations with every story. “I pointed out that Donald Duck would be a prospector and in the next issue, he’d be working in a factory and then be something else after that. How come

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The Lost

by

Bob Rozakis

Story

Written by and © 2001 Bob Rozakis (originally from www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com. Reprinted with permission from the copyright holder.)

“With ’Mazing Man . . . we’d work out a plot and get three-quarters of the way through and sometimes say, ‘No, this wouldn’t happen. They wouldn’t DO this.’”

—Bob Rozakis, 1986 Writers, editors, and artists plot stories all the time. Good thing, too, because if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be too many comic books to read.

When it was time to plot an issue of ’Mazing Man, editor Alan Gold, artist Stephen DeStefano, and I would head to a local Bojangles fried-chicken place and work out stories while munching on wings and thighs, biscuits, and fries.

Sometimes we’d have an idea from the start.

Other times we’d be looking for a jumping off point. In one particular case, Stephen had come into the city on the subway and had seen a magician moving from car to car doing tricks. He suggested that this might be something we could use in a ’Maze story.

We worked out a basic plot and I went home to write it up. What follows is what I delivered to Alan a few days later. Though broken down into individual panels, Stephen was free to expand or

A 20-years-later reunion gathering of ’Maze and friends, in the same pose as their original presentation piece. © 2006 DC Comics.

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contract the number he needed to move the action along. [Stephen and I worked in a variety

of ways when it came to doing ’Mazing Man stories. Sometimes I’d give him a very tight plot—like this one— and even plug in sample dialogue.

Other times he’d go home with the idea and break down the story. In rare cases, “Brenda’s Story” in ’MM #6 the one example I recall, I’d give him a complete script.]

So why was this story, originally scheduled for ’Mazing Man #8, never published, even though its plotting was written up and hyped

in

Dick

Giordano’s

“Meanwhile. . .” column?

Because, as editor Alan Gold pointed out when he read the plot outline, ’Maze lets the kids get away unpunished. He knows the kids will just get more markers and will graffiti some other train.

Plus the kids did manage to graffiti ’Maze himself, though there doesn’t seem to be any time when they could have done so.

After arguing that ’Maze’s heroics involve “little victories”— there’s no way he can prevent all the New York City subway trains from being vandalized—I reluctantly agreed with him. We agreed to drop the idea and plot something else. (Yes, well,

’Maze, he just waves at them. As the

it was easy for Alan and Stephen—I was the one

train pulls away, we see a pair of transit

who had actually done the work!) So, instead of

cops come up behind the kids. Though

this story, we did one about ’Maze cat-sitting . . .

the kids argue that they’ve done nothing

which did appear in #8.

wrong, the cops nod and lead them

I still think we could have salvaged the plot,

away. Now we see the kids from the back

but I also think I was so caught up with that final

and see that ’Maze has written on their

sight gag that I ignored a solution.

jackets something like “I’m a subway graffiti

Fifteen years later, it’s easy to look back and come up with one: After the kids have run out onto the subway platform and are laughing at

vandal. Please arrest me.”

In any case, I hope you enjoy this lost ’Mazing Man story. © 2006 DC Comics.

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In the early 1970s Marvel Comics began to explore the

Code Authority were loosened. In his origin tale, stunt

world of horror in earnest for the first time since the

cyclist Johnny Blaze trades his soul to Satan to save the

mid-1950s’ introduction of the Comics Code Authority.

life of the man who has been his “father” and mentor,

Such titles as Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, and

Crash Simpson, who was dying of an undisclosed

The Frankenstein Monster, which featured the legendary

disease. After the deed is done, Blaze finds out the hard

monsters of classic literature and motion pictures,

way that those who make deals with the Lord of Hades

began to appear on newsstands alongside The Amazing

never come out on the winning end. Crash doesn’t die

Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and The Avengers. Eventually,

because of the disease, but he is killed trying to break a

the denizens of the horror realm started making

world’s cycling record. When Satan comes to claim

crossover appearances with the spandex crowd and

Blaze’s soul, it is only the love of Simpson’s daughter, the

became full-fledged members of the Marvel Universe.

lovely and pure-hearted Roxanne, which keeps Johnny

Of all the Mighty Marvel Monsters that blurred the

safe and forces Satan to flee. Still, Blaze does not get off to share his existence with a fiery demon, Zaratho. Thus,

tryout in Marvel Spotlight # 5–12, the character went

the race was on for Blaze as he was cursed to ride the

on to his own title, which outlasted all of the company’s

highways of the night as the flame-skulled Ghost Rider.

other horror books, and his crossed paths with

Recently BACK ISSUE spoke with the artist who

Marvel’s super-heroes more frequently than the other

helped kick start Ghost Rider into existence, the

monsters (Ghost Rider was even a member of the

legendary Mike Ploog. Even though his run on the

short-lived super-hero team, the Champions).

series was short, he left a mark that is remembered to

Ghost Rider’s first outing told a story that surely

this day by fans everywhere of ol’ Skull Head.

—Dan Johnson

could have never done before the rules of the Comics W e i r d

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by Dan Johnson

totally unscathed. He soon learns that he will be forced

conducted on October 20, 2005

line between super-scares and super-heroics, none was more popular than Ghost Rider. After a successful

interview

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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DAN JOHNSON: How did you come to work on Ghost Rider?

MIKE PLOOG: When they asked me to do Ghost Rider, I jumped

Beginnings:

at it. In my mind, the first image that came to me was the

l Eisner) P.S. Magazine (with Wil

Frazetta Ghost Rider on horseback. It didn’t take long before I

Milestones:

figured out that [this Ghost Rider] wasn’t on a horse, he was on

Monster of Werewolf by Night / The / Man-Thing / er Rid ost Gh Frankenstein / Abadazad

Work in Progress:

a bloody motorcycle! But that was all right. This was a new twist and a new angle.

It was fresh and interesting and it was something that I could start from the very beginning. I didn’t have to follow anybody else’s style.

The Stardust Kid

JOHNSON: It came about at just the right time. It combined super-heroes, which were big; horror, which was even bigger,

es Aren’t Hard to Find.

Photo courtesy of Hero

and bikers and the biker lifestyle, which was coming into its own in the 1970s.

PLOOG: [The biker lifestyle] was kind of romanticized in the 1970s.

Bikers very quickly got a very bad rap, but in the 1970s, with The Wild One and seeing all the Hollywood stars on motorbikes, it

MIKE PLOOG

was the thing to do. I thought it was cool because in those days they were doing these beautiful choppers with the extended front wheels, and I thought, "That could be fun!" But I’ll tell you, every month you sit there and you draw motorcycles, it will drive you crazy! Bloody motorcycles!

But Ghost Rider was a good character. [Writer] Gary Friedrich never really just came out and said it, but I got the impression that we weren’t going to take this guy all that seriously. If you look back at some of the old Ghost Riders, it was pretty tongue-in-cheek. The whole story of [Johnny Blaze] selling his soul to save this guy and then goofing up the whole damn thing, talk about making a major mistake! It was like he made a contract and didn’t read the fine print.

JOHNSON: Anytime you enter into a deal with the devil, you’re going to come out on the short end of the deal.

PLOOG: Well, to be honest with you, over the years you sell your soul to the devil on a regular basis, in one way or another. The only thing about it is that you can get out of that. When you’re actually dealing with the devil, there probably aren’t that many ways to get out of it. You always had that hope

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

that Johnny Blaze could get himself out of this. You can’t go around the rest of your life with a flaming skull.

Marvel’s original Ghost Rider: Frank Frazetta’s cover to 1950’s Ghost Rider #3. Courtesy of Heritage Comics.

JOHNSON: When Ghost Rider first appeared, it was at a time when the Comics Code was loosening up quite a bit and Marvel Comics was able to do horror titles. Still, when you have a comic book where a major character

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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is Satan, that’s bound to raise some eyebrows. Did the title ever get any negative mail because of the occult angle?

PLOOG: [The letters were] not negative. Oddly enough, I got letters from strange people. I got letters from witches’ covens that were inviting me to be their guest of honor and things like that. I’ll tell you, I slept with the lights on for a long time. You start to wonder, “Wait a minute—what’s going on out here?” I had some very strange fans at the time.

JOHNSON: Well again, the book could appeal to super-hero fans, horror enthusiasts, and bikers. I could see, considering how it involved a cult and the whole selling of your soul, that it could also appeal to another segment of society.

PLOOG: Marvel had just gone off on a track that no one anticipated they ever would. They were doing werewolves, guys with flaming skulls on motorcycles and things like that, because they had been pretty much straightforward with their heroes and everything. To do anti-heroes was something they dealt with to keep the super-hero business going. But [here you had] a guy like Ghost Rider, who was making a deal with the devil, and the devil showed up continuously. I tried like hell never to show the devil’s face, and I don’t think I ever did. It was always this huge guy with glowing eyes in the shadows. It’s a very confining storyline when you’re dealing with the devil. There’s not that many ways in or out of the situation. You were pretty stuck in a lot of ways. One, he was on a motorbike, so you’re dealing with other guys on motorbikes. It had other limitations to it. We couldn’t have him traveling around and we figured that out in the very beginning.

JOHNSON: How was your working relationship with Gary Friedrich?

PLOOG: I loved working with Gary and I worked with him again on The Monster of Frankenstein. Gary had a sense of humor and [could] have a lot of fun with storylines and characters. When someone has a sense of humor, it brings out the horror of things, because that’s the other side of the card.

JOHNSON: Kind of like James Whale’s horror films of the 1930s, especially his Bride of Frankenstein. You can look at that film either as a horror film or as a comedy.

PLOOG: Yeah! Well, comedy and tragedy are very, very closely related. There’s just a thin line between the two of them.

JOHNSON: What can you tell us about the origin of the character? I have heard previously that Gary had envisioned Ghost Rider as a Daredevil villain.

PLOOG: Roy [Thomas] and Gary were old friends. They had worked out the scenario long before I came on to this. [Ghost Rider] was pretty much worked out [before my arrival], so I’m not sure where it went from when he was a bad guy. I think the Evel Knievel thing as always somewhere in the back of it. [Ghost Rider] was always doing great stunts, and he could do anything on the motorcycle.

JOHNSON: You only stayed with Ghost Rider for four issues. What led to you leaving the series?

Satanism goes mainstream, making mothers go gray, in Marvel Spotlight #7 (Dec. 1972). Pencils by Mike Ploog, inks

by Frank Chiaramonte. Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Daredevil Evel Knievel was the king of stunt cycling, media, and toys in the early 1970s, and helped pave the road for Ghost Rider.

PLOOG: I’ll tell you, it was because of the

PLOOG: Yeah, he moved off [from horror].

character. I couldn’t get my head around the

They did that with Frankenstein, too. I left

fact that he was so damned limited. One,

Frankenstein when they decided to move him

he’s this flaming skull and no one could

into the twentieth century [so he could team-up]

approach him. There was no expression on

with Spider-Man and things like that.

his face and he can’t show any downside

JOHNSON: Another thing that I think which

emotions until he turns back into his human

helped prolong the series is that the writers and

character. I had problems with that, to be

artists who came onto the book later on really

honest with you. Even a villain can’t be bad

played up the tragedy angle of the character a

all the time. He has to have someplace

lot more. They really presented Johnny Blaze as

where he has a weakness and a soft spot.

a cursed man. Later issues dropped the love

JOHNSON: It goes back to the classic

angle and the idea of him trying to have a

monsters again. Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man is

normal life and they showed someone who was

perhaps the best example to compare to

doing all he could to distance himself from

Ghost Rider. Johnny Blaze and Larry Talbot

anyone that he loved, who he feared he might

are both men who transform into alter egos that

end up hurting because of Ghost Rider.

they can’t control, and once they are human

PLOOG: That’s kind of the logical way to go with

again, they regret the things that they have done.

it. If you have a problem, and it’s a life-changing

PLOOG: My favorite of them all was Frankenstein,

problem, you’re going to spend the majority of

because he was the epitome of the monsters. He

your time trying to solve it. Going in that way, and

was someone who had a great deal of

having him dealing with the occult end of it and

emotion, but he didn’t know how to

trying to get himself out of this trap, is the logical

control it. He was like a newborn child

way to go with it. But we were so used to having

in this monstrous body. Everything

the bad guy of the month, and it was a hard thing

that he saw, he saw it for the first time.

to get out of. It was a world that I was not all that

I really liked that. Poor old Ghost

familiar with. These guys [at Marvel] were the

Rider, he was kind of stuck between

experts, and I felt kind of odd. I wasn’t really

© 1972 Ideal Toys.

the devil and the deep blue sea.

interested in building a monumental hero. I was

JOHNSON: What is amazing,

more interested in character and story.

though is that Ghost Rider is one

JOHNSON: Ghost Rider is currently gearing up to

of the characters that people

become the next Marvel character to get the big

seem to remember you the most

screen treatment, thanks to actor Nicolas Cage

for these days.

and writer and director Mark Steven Johnson.

PLOOG: It is odd. I only did a

Since you have also made a name for yourself in

handful of issues. I only just started

the film industry, I was curious what your

going to conventions again, and

thoughts were about the upcoming film.

Ghost Rider is the character that

PLOOG: I don’t know much about it, other than

everyone wants me to do a sketch of

I worked on the movie X-Men and the Ghost Rider

[for them]. It’s really quite amazing

movie was mentioned to me then. I thought it

Veteran Supergirl and Tommy Tomorrow artist Jim Mooney did a . . . helluva job (sorry!) inking Mike Ploog on Marvel Spotlight #8 (Feb. 1973). Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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that is the book they remember.

could be an interesting film, especially with

JOHNSON: Of all of Marvel’s

the effects that they have today. But they

monster-themed heroes, Ghost Rider

would have to come up with a solid story

did outlast all the others. Plus,

that the Ghost Rider could work within. This

Ghost Rider had the added

is all a storytelling medium, and if you don’t

advantage of being more accessible

have a good story, you won’t have a good

to fans of the super-hero books.

film or a good book.

A Chat with Don Perlin

interview

DAN JOHNSON: You came on to Ghost Rider after Werewolf by Night ended. How did you come to work on the title?

DON PERLIN: That’s a funny thing about that one. Jim Shooter had become editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics by then, and he had me do fill-in books until he could find a book for me. I was sitting there working on the fill-ins and I was wondering what kind of book Marvel will come up with [for me]. I figured that I would like any book they had there, except one: Ghost Rider. I didn’t want to draw motorcycles. About 20 minutes into that thought, the phone rang.

The call was from Shooter and he said, “Don, we have got a book for you. It’s Ghost Rider. I’m going to write it, and you’re going to draw it.”

bumped up to a monthly status.

PERLIN: It started picking up in sales. All [the work] I had at the time was penciling that book, so I asked to ink an issue. After I did that, I got to pencil and ink the book.

JOHNSON: You have always preferred to ink

by Dan Johnson

title, but as soon as you came on board it as

conducted on September 15, 2005

JOHNSON: The book had been a bimonthly

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your own work, right?

PERLIN: Well, the thing is at Marvel you would have a plot and once it was penciled, the story would go back to the writer. Then they would add the captions and the balloons. After they look at your pictures, the writers might have slightly different ideas than before. What would happen is that you would leave a lot of

Don Perlin’s petrifying pair, Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night, in a recent commissioned illo drawn for collector Ivan Cheung. Courtesy of the artist. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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space where you thought the writer might say a lot of stuff. [If they didn’t have a lot to say], when it came back all you had was a big empty space. If it went to an inker,

Beginnings:

tures) Crime Stories (for Fox Fea

Milestones:

r Tales / Werewolf by Scooby-Doo / Weird Wa Ghost Rider / / ers end Night / The Def s / Bloodshot / Egg Bad / rs rme nsfo Tra Timewalker

Works in Progress: missioned artwork com Semi-retired, but doing

Cyberspace:

www.comicartfans.com/ 9 GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=575

he would ink what was there. If I got it back though, I would fill [that empty space] in with a background or make something a little bigger. It also worked in reverse.

You would think they were going to have a little bit of lettering and they would then have a lot and that would cut down into your picture. [If I was inking my own pencils], I would change the picture. Again though, if you sent it to an inker, they just inked what was there.

JOHNSON: I take it you eventually did warm up to Ghost Rider?

PERLIN: I went and did some motorcycle research and I

Falcoa.

Photo courtesy of Ray

got one of these biker magazines. They had one ad for

Don Perlin

some motorcycle, I can’t recall what kind it was, but they had taken the thing apart in different sections, so I got a good idea of how this thing went together. When I could see it, so then I started to draw that. Then Shooter went out and bought a model motorcycle and I had it and it became second nature after all a while. Now I have been doing shirts for motorcycle guys.

JOHNSON:

What

are

your

thoughts about the upcoming Ghost Rider film?

PERLIN: My hope is that [the filmmakers] are smart enough to realize why Spider-Man was a big hit and why Hulk failed. If they realize that difference, and work accordingly on Ghost Rider, perhaps they will have a success. The guy who played Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire, was as interesting to watch as Peter Parker as he was © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

when he was Spider-Man. It helped a lot, the idea that they

The blazing biker fights traffic and Dr. Druid on this page from Ghost Rider #26 (Oct. 1977), penciled

by Don Perlin and inked by Sam Grainger.

From the collection of Michael Browning.

stayed with the origin and didn’t just take away the name and the costume. I took my wife to see Spider-Man, and we took the grandkids, too, and all of us enjoyed it. [In that film], you like the character, and even though he has his super powers, he’s someone that everyone recognizes.

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

A sizzling Perlindrawn page from Ghost Rider #55 (Apr. 1981), featuring Don’s two signature characters goin’ at it. Courtesy of Ray Falcoa. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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(Art for this gallery contributed by Michael Browning, Matthew Stock, and Heritage Comics.)

ART GALLERY A Ghost Rider sketch by Dave Simons, from the collection of Michael Browning. Art © 2006 Dave Simons. Ghost Rider © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Ghost Rider #2 (Oct. 1973). Cover art by Gil Kane

Ghost Rider #7 (Aug. 1974). Cover art by John Romita, Sr.

and John Romita, Sr. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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A page from Ghost Rider #35 (Apr. 1979), with script and layouts by Ghost Rider #18 (June 1976). Cover art by Rich Buckler and

Jim Starlin and inks by Steve Leialoha “and friends” (Mike Nasser

Frank Giacoia. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

and Starlin himself). © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Ghost Rider #50 (Nov. 1980). Cover art by Bob Budiansky

Ghost Rider #70 (July 1982). Cover art by Bob Budiansky

and Joe Rubinstein. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

and Dave Simons. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. W e i r d

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by

Jim Kingman During the 1970s, DC Comics’ Gorilla Grodd, one of the Flash’s greatest foes, made only one appearance in the Scarlet Speedster’s own comic book (The Flash #209, 1971). And yet, Grodd made many prominent appearances in other corners of the DC Universe, notably in several issues of Secret Society of SuperVillains in 1976 and 1977. The highly evolved super-ape from Gorilla City was so high profile in 1977 that you would almost think he was being primed for his own series. This idea isn’t so far from the truth, as a proposal for an ongoing title featuring Gorilla Grodd had been completed in 1976 and put “on hold” for several months before being written off in November of 1977. It’s a shame that Flash fans didn’t get to see one of Barry Allen’s greatest rogues in a series of his own, but it makes for an interesting tale of a comic book, Grodd of Gorilla City, that never came to be.

According to The Comic Reader #131 (1976), “Elliot Maggin and Cary Bates have written a story called ‘Gorilla City,’ illustrated by Joe Barney and Carl Potts. Where it will appear has not yet been decided; apparently it is set in Grodd’s home town.”

As far as I know, this was the only time in print that Grodd of Gorilla City was ever mentioned. I collected and read all of DC’s super-hero books in the late 1970s and not once do I recall the series being plugged in a DC title published at that time.

Grodd of Gorilla City was indeed written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin, penciled by Joe Barney and Carl Potts, and inked by Terry Austin and Bob Wiacek.

That’s quite a list of creators to pack into the credits box, and the book’s origins are as intriguing as the reason so many creators were gathered to complete the proposal.

“I believe the Grodd project was initiated by Cary

The splash page to the unpublished Grodd of Gorilla City #1.

All original art in this article is courtesy of Terry Austin. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Bates,” recalls inker Terry Austin. “Cary rented office space at Continuity Associates (the commercial art

business in New York City owned by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano), in an effort to help some of the new kids at Continuity, who were his friends, get their foot in the door at DC. These were pencilers Joe Barney and Carl Potts, inkers Bob Wiacek and myself.”

“I was working at Continuity Studios at the time,” remembers penciler Carl Potts. “At the time, Continuity was run by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. They had a number of young artists working there, helping out on various comics and commercial projects. This crew included Joe Barney, Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, and myself. Cary Bates rented an office at Continuity and asked Joe and I to co-pencil the project and Terry and Bob to ink it.

“Cary may have felt the only chance he had of getting the project done in a reasonable amount of time was to have several of us working on it,” Potts continues. “Neither Joe nor I were known as speed demons when it came to drawing comics. For some reason we could turn out storyboard frames with relative ease but comics was what we were really into so we tended to sweat over every panel. That lack of speed, combined with the fact that we were already involved with other comics and commercial projects, probably prompted Cary to have multiple artists on the Grodd story.”

“I had been at Neal Adams’ Continuity Associates for about a year doing comics, storyboards, and animatic penciling,” remembers Joe Barney. “I was only 20 years old, and very green; this was my first solo penciling assignment (well, somewhat; Carl Potts and I penciled separate pages on the book).

Cary Bates, who came up to Continuity fairly frequently,

“Carmine would have been publisher at that

and later rented a space in Larry Hama’s room (after

time,” says Austin. I don’t remember if Grodd of

Ralph Reese left the studio), asked Neal if there were

Gorilla City was intended as a one-shot or first issue

any artists who had the free time to tackle a story he

of a continuing series. The first issue was completed

and Elliot Maggin had written for a proposed new

but I don’t think I ever heard why it wasn’t used. I

book. Neal suggested Carl and myself—we were sort

don’t believe the time period before it was eventually

of the first of a whole group of aspiring artists that

written off is significant. Work that was killed was

Neal took on as assistants, for a time nicknamed ‘the

kept around in the editor’s files in case a use could

Goon Squad.’ I was excited about the project, aside

be found for it later, since it had already been paid

from the opportunity to show some chops and

for. Periodically, I believe, the editor would search

become a real professional.”

his files and if no home were apparent for an

I wondered if the series was proposed at the tail end

orphaned project, it was written off (I assume the

of Carmine Infantino’s tenure as DC publisher, or just

money paid to the creators would be taken as some

as Jenette Kahn took over the position in early 1976.

sort of tax loss), and the art returned to the artists.”

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“I remember the plot involved the mob smuggling drugs in bananas,” says Terry Austin, who inked this page over Carl Potts’ pencils. © 2006 DC Comics.

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were much more professionally polished than either of the pencilers.”

Even renowned inker Dick Giordano got into the act of producing Grodd of Gorilla City. Recalls Potts: “We took some reference photos of Dick Giordano for the story. There’s one sequence where, if I remember correctly, he is getting a massage and so we took shots of Dick without a shirt while he was on a desk at Continuity. If anyone ever sees some of those photos out of context, they might be pretty embarrassing for Dick!”

Austin hasn’t forgotten, either. “Yes, I remember Joe and Carl taking Polaroid photos of Dick Giordano after they decided to ‘case’ him as the drug smuggling boss in the story. I remember a sequence where the shirtless mobster got a massage while talking to his subordinates. I’m guessing Dick is praying that those photos don’t turn up for use in this article!”

“There is one thing that has been sticking in my craw all these years,” Joe Barney confides. “I did this double-page, establishing shot of the city. I worked for about a week on it, and Terry inked it. At the time, being the naïve neophyte that I was, I got upset that Terry had added all these embellishments—windows and decorative doo-dads and such to the buildings— after I had meticulously considered the negative space in the drawing. I was crestfallen that my ‘ohso-perfect-vision’ had not been followed and I’m sure my dissatisfaction got back to him, which I felt really bad about. It was only later that I realized how much Terry had improved it, a successful bit of teamwork, and still a great portfolio piece today. Like Joe Barney knows for sure it was Carmine

Eyeglasses as a disguise work better for Superman than for Grodd, as seen in this page by Joe Barney and Terry Austin.

Infantino. “I do have a fairly vivid memory of the terror I felt going into Carmine’s office. For a kid from Wisconsin, it was like going before the Godfather. Of course, the terror was fear of rejection, which would have been tantamount to the kiss of death!”

Adds Potts: “I am also unsure if the story was

© 2006 DC Comics.

killed due to the change in publishers, as part of the ‘DC Implosion’ in the 1970s, or simply because much of the art was weak—for my part, anyway. I remember not being happy with the vast majority of my drawing on the story and, with the passing of time, I’m sure those feelings have only grown!

At that point, I believe the inkers on the project

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I said, I was young and clueless. Terry, if you’re out there, you did a great job, and sorry about that!”

While Grodd of Gorilla City rested in the DC offices, Grodd the character was all over the DC Universe in 1976 and 1977, appearing in three issues of Super-Team Family (#s 3, 13, 14), eight issues of Secret Society of Super-Villains (#s 1–4, 8–11), DC Super Stars #14 (a new origin involving Green Lantern that conflicted with established DC continuity), DC Special Series starring the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and culminating in a prominent villainous role in DC Special Series #11, Flash Spectacular. It would have made sense given all these appearances for a Gorilla Grodd series to find a slot on the publishing

schedule (at the time, another notable ape, King

Gorilla City to execute Gorilla Grodd. Meanwhile,

Kong, was making a cinematic revival), maybe even

Grodd is on the loose, and Solovar, ruler of Gorilla

a shot in the revived Showcase, but according to a

City, has ordered armed apes to track the renegade

hand stamp in the upper right hand corner of the

gorilla down. To escape will require some ingenuity,

splash page, the book was finally “Written Off

so Grodd uses his amazing mental abilities to

11–30–77.” On the other hand, even if the Grodd

temporarily appear human, long enough for him

series had been given the go-ahead, it might not

to be captured in man-like form and evicted from

have survived the DC Implosion of 1978.

the city. Once outside the city’s borders, Grodd

“I’m not sure what was going on at DC at that

reverts back to his true self and is free to walk off.

particular time,” notes Potts. “Things changed a lot

Meanwhile, the real human hanging (literally)

in the mid- to late 1970s. At one point they had Allen

around Gorilla City—completely naked, by the

Milgrom as an editor there and he did some nice

way—is taken into custody, and the gorillas realize

work before the ‘Implosion.’ Paul Levitz was Joe

that Grodd has escaped. Again.

Solovar rolls out the “unwelcome mat” to this “naked fool.” Art by Barney and Austin. © 2006 DC Comics.

Orlando’s assistant and was also my editor on some Aqualad backups that I penciled for Adventure Comics. Sometime during that era Dick Giordano left Continuity to work at DC fulltime. Lots of changes and I’m not sure where the Grodd project fit into the timeline. Continuity was sort of a neutral meeting point between Marvel and DC. Lots of artists from both companies would stop by to visit, so it could be an exciting place at times.”

While preparing this article I became curious as to who would have been editor of Grodd of Gorilla City had the proposal been given a green light. Julius Schwartz? Gerry Conway? Joe Orlando? Denny O’Neil? There were major changes in editorial policy when Kahn came on board so that any one of them could have landed the job!

“I’m pretty sure it would have been Julius Schwartz,” says Joe. “He was the gorilla guy—he loved ’em, too, as did, apparently, most of us 1960s readers, as evidenced in all the Superman/ Batman/Flash stories where they fought and/or changed into gorillas.”

I asked Bob Rozakis, who worked in DC’s production department at that time and was their official “Answer Man,” and he replied, “If my memory is working correctly, Julie was the editor. But then it got moved from Julie to Gerry and eventually just faded away.”

Faded away, at its most opportune time.

It’s difficult to synopsize a 20-page story when you only have five pages of it to peruse, but from what I’ve read of Grodd of Gorilla City a human assassin masquerading as a gorilla has infiltrated

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Grodd of Gorilla City would have fit snugly into DC

could have been what Howard the Duck—the successful

continuity. After Grodd’s escape, he would go on to

comic book, not the movie bomb—was years

join the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Of course,

later: a great satire on humanity, as was the Planet

had Gorilla City been an ongoing series, there may

of the Apes series, but entirely its own, original

have been some awkward overlapping with Grodd’s

thing. And as King Kong, Planet of the Apes, and

appearances in SSOV. But I’m certain Cary and Elliot

Julius Schwartz proved, gorillas and apes, like

would have managed to make it work.

dinosaurs, are an eternal delight to kids young

“I still think DC missed a bet by not developing that series,” concludes Joe Barney. “Gorilla Grodd

© 2006 DC Comics.

Grodd is on the loose—and headed toward Secret Society of Super-Villains. Art by Barney and Austin. © 2006 DC Comics.

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and old.”

Have a comic book-oriented DVD you want to see reviewed? Contact me care of www.andymangels.com!

Welcome back to our column reviewing and previewing DVDs featuring comic-book characters translated to film and television.

For a comprehensive listing of comic-book DVDs, check out the three-part article that ran in BACK ISSUE #5, 7, and 9! In this

© Dimension. Sin City TM & © Frank

Miller.

Frank Miller’s gritty comic-book opus, which began its black-andwhite life in 1991, got the deluxe adaptation in 2005’s feature film.

With stars aplenty and co-directing

by Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, the film was brutal, violent, and stark, filmed in black-and-white with extensive green-screen effects. After a previous DVD edition with minor extras, this two-disc set features almost 20 minutes of new footage edited in, as well as the stories recut so they follow each of the four storylines as they were published in the comics. Additionally you’ll get multiple commentary tracks, a dozen behind-the-scenes features, and even a chance to watch the film in its green-screen no-effects filmed-in-color version! The box also includes a mini graphic novel of “The Hard Goodbye.”

Loaded with extras, this is highly recommended as long as you can stomach the violence.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another film that respected its comic-book roots as much as Sin City.

DVD Extras: Documentaries, Commentaries, Featurettes, Alternate Versions, Game.

Smallville: The Complete Fourth Season Warner (662m)

© Warner. Smallville TM & © DC Comics.

Sin City: Recut - Extended - Unrated Dimension (147m)

ngels

Season Four of Smallville was a mixed bag. Yes, it featured Supergirl, Mxyzptlk, and Krypto (kinda), the Flash, peeks at Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude, Margot Kidder’s appearances, the intro of a spunky Lois Lane, and the darkening of Lex Luthor. But it also featured a truly stupid subplot with Lana’s tattoos, her latest psycho boyfriend, her reincarnations as a witch, and a jaw-droppingly lame episode set in China.

Better than half the season worked though, so enjoy those shows here in crystal clarity, with lots of unaired scenes, and two featurettes: one very cool 10-minute clip on the various Lois Lanes of film, TV, and animation; and another on the writing process behind Smallville. Surprise: in some packages you’ll also get a bonus DVD with an episode of The Flash!

DVD Extras: Deleted Scenes, Commentaries, Featurettes.

column, I’ll take a closer look at newer releases of films, TV series, and comic-related documentaries. Let’s dive right in. . .

Fantastic Four (Widescreen) Fox (106m)

Batman The Animated Series: Volume Four Warner (521m)

The first family of Marvel finally made it to the big screen in 2005, and I thought it serviced the original concept well. Reading the original Lee-Kirby stories, you get the sense that they’re a dysfunctional family that fights villains even as they lead open lives as emerging super-heroes with a public that’s not sure how to deal with them yet. The film nails that aspect, even if their treatment of Doctor Doom is a bit on the wimpy side. But in a familyfriendly summer blockbuster super-hero film, is NOW really the time to showcase a homicidal overseas dictator making terrorist strikes against America?

Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are the best of the quartet, and Jessica Alba does better than most gave her credit for doing. And while the DVD has a host of fun special features, including a full-cast commentary track, I know that there’s been substantial other bonus materials recorded for a Special Edition DVD to be released around the time of FF2 in a few years.

Still, get this at a good price and enjoy some popcorn and a fun superromp. Stay away from the Fullscreen version though.

DVD Extras: Documentaries, Commentaries, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Trailers.

As the hit animated show changed formats, Batman changed as well. This final boxed set features the greatest changes, as Batman fights alongside Batgirl and a new Robin (Tim Drake). Other than that, the Emmy-winning production team continues to deliver dazzling animation and entertaining stories. Guest-stars include the Demon, Nightwing, Supergirl, and Creeper, while traditional Bat-villains show up to do dastardly deeds. And while one episode, “Legends of the Dark Knight,” pays homage to various comicbook interpretations of Batman (including Dick Sprang and Frank Miller), it’s unfortunate that it’s marred by a homophobic reference to Joel Schumacher.

The fold-out DVD set includes commentaries, interactive elements and a mini-cel of Batman hang-gliding.

DVD Extras: Commentaries, Villain Case Files, Animation Mini-Cel.

© Fox. Fantastic Four TM & © Marve l Characters, Inc.

y Ma

by A n d

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Sky High Disney (100m) While this wasn’t adapted directly from any comic book, it could have been straight out of the pages of the late Silver Age. In this fun flick, the son of two world-class super-heroes must begin attending Sky High, a high school for budding superheroes. Powerless, he’s relegated to the role of sidekick, but villainous machinations that threaten the school reveal that the sidekicks aren’t exactly the rejects everyone thinks they are. Colorful, funny, and with a cute cameo by Lynda Carter, Sky High deserves to be on your super-hero DVD shelf.

DVD Extras: Alternate Opening, Featurettes, Music Video, Bloopers.

Be on the lookout for: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Season One Volume Two, with exclusive art postcards from Earl Norem and Gilbert Hernandez, and featuring two new 30-minute documentaries produced/directed/scripted by me! And in breaking news, I’ll soon be working on DVD special features for She-Ra, Princess of Power, Bravestarr, Ghostbusters, Lone Ranger, Zorro, Groovie Goolies, and many more Filmation and other animated projects!

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Michael Eury In January 1974 (cover date), Hawkman quit the Justice

Fleisher and Aparo’s original Adventure tales (one of

League and the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Bouncing Boy

which was penciled by Frank Thorne, two others

and Duo Damsel said “I do,” but the big story that

penciled by Ernie Chua, with Aparo inks on each).

month at DC Comics was one of its super-heroes

Also included are three stories written by Fleisher in

turning killer! In editor Joe Orlando’s Adventure Comics

the mid-1970s but shelved when DC’s then-publisher

#431, one of DC’s weirdest heroes, the Spectre,

Carmine Infantino pulled the plug on the controversial

returned from limbo—and in the process returned to

“Spectre” series with Adventure #440, but eventually

his long-abandoned roots as an executioner of criminals.

illustrated by Aparo in the late 1980s.

Adventure #431’s “The Wrath of . . . the Spectre,”

Long-time readers mostly recall this series for its

courtesy of writer Michael Fleisher and artist Jim

Spectre-created acts of carnage (including the Ghostly

Aparo, recast the Ghostly Guardian from his previous

Guardian cutting a man in half with giant scissors,

Silver Age role as a cosmic crusader into the vengeful

rapidly aging a woman into a shriveled corpse,

enemy of “the vermin of the underworld,” as he was originally conceived in 1940 before his stories were softened by DC. Forget turning apprehended felons over to the authorities: In this tightly plotted, spellbindingly rendered 12-

© 2006 DC Comics.

pager, the Spectre disposes of a pair murderous robbers by melting one, like wax, and reducing the other to a skeleton. Ghastly demises— and downright shocking to audiences of the day.

In

a

trade

paperback

appropriating the name of

W rath of the Spectre

that first tale (which was also used as the title of a 1988 reprint miniseries), Wrath of

DC Comics, 2005 • Softcover • 200 color pages • $19.99 US

the Spectre gathers all ten of Jim Aparo at the zenith of his career: page 6 of Adventure Comics #432 (Mar.–Apr. 1974).

Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 DC Comics.

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and transforming a man into wood, which he then

Fans of venerated pre-Kubert Tarzan artist Burne

saws into pieces). Over three decades later, however, as

Hogarth should also rejoice over this hardcover’s

comics storytelling has become more graphic in its

inclusion of Tarzan #211’s “Land of the Giants,”

depiction of violence, these Spectre shockers seem

featuring classic Hogarth-drawn panels from the

hauntingly fresh. Jim Aparo was at his prime when he

Tarzan newspaper strip integrated into a new Kubert

drew these original stories—most impressive was his

adventure. In his introduction to the volume,

ability to visualize the horror in Fleisher’s scripts within

writer/artist/editor Joe Kubert recalls the genesis of

the guidelines of the Comics Code Authority. Peter

DC’s Tarzan and discusses his approach to the character.

Sanderson’s introduction to the collected edition

Part of the Dark Horse Archives series, Tarzan: The

reveals a couple of interesting tidbits, including the fact

Joe Kubert Years is flawlessly produced. Its restoration

that Fleisher’s partner Russell Carley, who received the

of Tatjana Wood’s original colors are perfectly

puzzling credit “art continuity” in the Adventure stories,

enhanced by the glossy paper and do not suffer from

contributed some of the Spectre’s grisly modes of

the garishness present in some upscale reprints. The

extermination. This impressive trade has only two

only bothersome aspect of this volume is its removal

flaws: When read back to back, Fleisher’s scripts feel a

of the DC “bullet” from the reprinted covers—for

bit formulaic (although one by one they’re a joy to

those of us who remember these stories in their

behold), and Aparo’s art in the latter three tales lack the

original forms, this is akin to viewing grade-

polish of his earlier work. Nonetheless, Wrath of the

school

Spectre is a must-have for DC and horror fans.

Photoshopped out of the pictures. That

photos

with

our

© 2006 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

teachers

Meanwhile, another celebrated 1970s DC Comics

fannish beef aside, Dark Horse has mar-

series has been collected—but not by DC! Dark Horse

velously preserved Kubert’s stories in a

Comics, current publisher of Tarzan comic books,

format that regards them as the classics

recently released Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years – Volume

they are. [New readers of this magazine

One, reprinting Kubert’s first eight Ape-Man epics,

are encouraged to pick up BACK ISSUE

originally published by DC as Tarzan #207 (Apr. 1972)

#1 for coverage of both DC’s and

through #214 (Nov. 1972). Like Fleisher and Aparo’s

Marvel’s 1970s Tarzan series.]

Spectre, Kubert’s Tarzan has also aged well—from his sinewy Ape-Man to his lush jungle renderings to his

Special thanks to Adam Philips and Lee

dynamic man-versus-beast battle sequences, Kubert’s

Dawson for their assistance with this column!

Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years – Volume One Dark Horse Comics, 2005 • Hardcover • 200 color pages •

Tarzan made many readers mutter, “Burne Who-garth?”

The Maze Agency #1–4

Our friend Mike W. Barr’s mystery series, The Maze Agency [see BACK ISSUE #2 for a Maze-themed “Pro2Pro” interview with Barr and Adam Hughes], returned to the stands in November 2005 in an all-new four-issue miniseries from IDW Publishing, written by Barr and illustrated by Ariel Padilla and Ernest Jocson.

IDW also released a trade paperback collecting the original four Maze tales published by Comico in 1988. At press time I’ve yet to read the first issue (but will— as its original editor, Maze Agency remains close to my heart), but am thrilled to see this clever, “fair play” comic return.

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The Maze Agency © 2006 Michael W. Barr.

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NEW in Print!

New Comics. Classic Appeal.

IDW, Nov. 2005–Feb. 2006 • 32 color pages • $3.99 US

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Send your comments to: Email: euryman@msn.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) No attachm ents, please!

Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor • BACK ISSUE 5060A Foothills Drive • Lake Oswego, OR 97034

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A quick e-mail to let you know how much I appreciate and adore BACK ISSUE. Along with Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego, these magazines keep my sense of wonder for comic books alive. I have never written before, but just wanted to tell you to please keep publishing BACK ISSUE and I’ll keep buying it!

– William Byron You’ve got a deal, William! – M.E. Great job on the latest BI issue!

Concerning romance comics—they’re still alive!

Just did some work for the Arrow Publishing group for their online romance comics: www.arrowpub.com.

Looking forward to future issues!

– Al Bigley

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

I picked up the new BACK ISSUE because I knew about the romance comics article, but the kung-fu stories caught my eye, too. As I’ve gotten the opportunity to write a comic with a martial arts-type character, I’ve been curious about previous kung-fu titles, and how their fight scenes were handled. I picked up the Marvel Essential Iron Fist book, but I’d completely forgotten that DC also had Kung Fu Fighter—I’ll have to look for issues of that one.

I enjoyed reading John Lustig’s article on the “Death of Romance Comics.” I bought the Kirby trade collection of romance comics some time back but had only read a few of them. Now I’ll have to dig it out and get back into it. I also jotted the titles and issue numbers of some of the comics mentioned—because of the article you’ve got me wanting me to check them out! I’m familiar with John’s Last Kiss comics, too—looking for the next one sometime soon, John?

I too believe that the growing manga audience in the States might end up as the new home for romance comics here.

There’s a lot of female readers out there who wouldn’t be caught dead reading a regular old “comic book”—but to a lot of people, manga isn’t comic books . . . those thick publications are “real” books.

The piece on the Aurora model kits was fun, too— though I had a few of the original ones from the ’60s before they had the mini-comics in them.

– Looking forward to the next issue, Johnny Lowe

Thanks, Al. Marvel has also gotten (back) into the game with its five-issue miniseries Marvel Romance Redux, featuring John Lustig and other writers (including Keith Giffen, who drew the cover to issue #1, seen here) rewriting classic Marvel love stories.

The heart of romance comics still throbs on!

– M.E.

I was hesitant about reading BI #13, because I never got into romance comics. I did, however, know that Nick Cardy and Dick Giordano, among others, worked on them. I was actually interested in the rise and fall of the genre, which was almost totally gone

© DC Comics.

by the time I started reading comics. I agree that they definitely helped the super-heroes with character development, and the complications that naturally occur with relationships.

I’ve read some Last Kiss comics, and John Lustig shows some real creativity in making totally new stories with the old Charlton artwork. He got a real deal on the rights, and seems to be making the most of it.

The interview with Nick Cardy was great. I didn’t see many of his stories, but always loved the covers he did. His Brave and Bold covers often threw me, since they were as intense and effective as the Neal Adams covers, as evidenced in your gallery of Nick’s covers. I’m amazed at how often Terry Austin is credited for having original art for some of my favorite covers! Maybe we could get a guided tour of his house (warehouse?) and see all the art he owns!

– Paul Green

© TwoMorrows Publishi ng.

A tour of Casa Austin? Terry, whattaya think?

Next issue, we go behind the scenes of many of the 1970s and 1980s most popular toy-inspired comics, including G. I. Joe, Transformers, Rom, Masters of the Universe, Gumby, and Super Powers.

With contributions by Art Adams, Sal Buscema, Butch Guice, George Tuska, Herb Trimpe, Milton Knight, and more—plus a new “sketch cover”

by Mike Zeck! See you in sixty!

– Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor

ON S U B M I S SEI S GUIDELIN BACK ISSUE is on the lookout for the following comics-related material from the 1970s and 1980s:

Unpublished artwork and covers Original artwork and covers Penciled artwork Character designs, model sheets, etc.

Original sketches and/or convention sketches

Original scripts Photos Little-seen fanzine material Other rarities Creators and collectors of 1970s' /1980s' comics artwork are invited to share your goodies with other fans! Contributors will be acknowledged in print and receive complimentary copies (and the editor's gratitude).

Submit artwork as (listed in order of preference): Scanned images: 300dpi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (emailed or on CD, or to our FTP site; please inquire) Clear color or black-and-white photocopies BACK ISSUE is also open to pitches from writers for article ideas appropriate for our recurring and/or rotating departments. Request a copy of the BACK ISSUE Writers' Bible by emailing euryman@msn.com or by sending a SASE to the address below.

Artwork submissions and SASEs for writers' guidelines should be sent to: Michael Eury, Editor BACK ISSUE 5060A Foothills Dr. Lake Oswego, OR 97034

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BOOKS by BACK ISSUE’s editor MICHAEL EURY

KRYPTON COMPANION Unlocks the secrets of Superman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, when kryptonite came in multiple colors and super-pets scampered across the skies! Writer/editor MICHAEL EURY explores the legacy of classic editors MORT WEISINGER and JULIUS SCHWARTZ through all-new interviews with NEAL ADAMS, MURPHY ANDERSON, CARY BATES, NICK CARDY, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, JIM MOONEY, DENNIS O’NEIL, BOB OKSNER, MARTIN PASKO, BOB ROZAKIS, JIM SHOOTER, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other fan favorites!

Plus: Super-artist CURT SWAN’s 1987 essay “Drawing Superman,” JERRY SIEGEL’s “lost” imaginary story “The Death of Clark Kent,” MARK WAID’s tribute to Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, and rare and previously unpublished artwork by WAYNE BORING, ALAN DAVIS, ADAM HUGHES, PAUL SMITH, BRUCE TIMM, and other Super-stars. Bonus: A roundtable discussion with modern-day creators examining Superman’s influential past! Cover by DAVE GIBBONS!

JUSTICE LEAGUE COMPANION A comprehensive examination of the Silver Age JLA written by MICHAEL EURY (co-author of THE SUPERHERO BOOK). It traces the JLA’s development, history, imitators, and early fandom through vintage and all-new interviews with the series’ creators, an issue-by-issue index of the JLA’s 1960-1972 adventures, classic and never-before-published artwork, and other fun and fascinating features. Contributors include DENNY O’NEIL, MURPHY ANDERSON, JOE GIELLA, MIKE FRIEDRICH, NEAL ADAMS, ALEX ROSS, CARMINE INFANTINO, NICK CARDY, and many, many others. Plus: An exclusive interview with STAN LEE, who answers the question, “Did the JLA really inspire the creation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four?” With an all-new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

BATCAVE COMPANION The writer/editor of the critically acclaimed KRYPTON COMPANION and the designer of the eye-popping SPIES, VIXENS, AND MASTERS OF KUNG FU: THE ART OF PAUL GULACY team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a musthave for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG. (240-page trade paperback) $26.95 US • ISBN: 9781893905788 • Diamond Order Code: NOV068368

(224-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905481 Diamond Order Code: MAY053052

(240-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905610 Diamond Order Code: MAY063443

COMICS GONE APE!

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

The missing link to primates in comics, spotlighting a barrel of simian superstars like Beppo, BrainiApe, the Gibbon, Gleek, Gorilla Man, Grease Monkey, King Kong, Konga, Mojo Jojo, Sky Ape, and Titano! It’s loaded with rare and classic artwork, cover galleries, and interviews with artists & writers including ARTHUR ADAMS (Monkeyman and O’Brien), FRANK CHO, CARMINE INFANTINO (Detective Chimp, Grodd), JOE KUBERT (Tor, Tarzan), TONY MILLIONAIRE (Sock Monkey), DOUG MOENCH (Planet of the Apes), and BOB OKSNER (Angel and the Ape)! All-new cover by ARTHUR ADAMS, and written by MICHAEL EURY.

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on his career milestones!

Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art (includes a color section)! Also includes an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, plus a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905627 Diamond Order Code: FEB073814

(176-pg. Paperback with COLOR) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905276 Diamond Order Code: STAR20439

CAPTAIN ACTION: THE ORIGINAL SUPER-HERO ACTION FIGURE (Hardcover 2nd Edition)

CAPTAIN ACTION was introduced in 1966 in the wake of the Batman TV show craze, and later received his own DC comic book with art by WALLY WOOD and GIL KANE. Able to assume the identities of 13 famous super-heroes, his initial career was short-lived, but continuing interest in the hero has led to two different returns to toy-store shelves. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 toy photos, this FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SECOND EDITION chronicles the history of this quick-changing champion, including photos of virtually EVERY CAPTAIN ACTION PRODUCT ever released, spotlights on his allies ACTION BOY and the SUPER QUEENS and his arch enemy DR. EVIL, an examination of his comic-book appearances, and “Action facts” that even the most diehard Captain Action fan won’t know! The original softcover edition has been sold out for years, but this revised, full-color hardcover second edition includes behind-the-scenes coverage of CAPTAIN ACTION’S TRIUMPHANT 2008 RETURN to comics shelves in his new series from Moonstone Books, and spotlights the new wave of Captain Action collectibles. Written by MICHAEL EURY. (176-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490175 • Diamond Code: APR091003

TwoMorrows Publishing 2009 Update WINTER/SPRING

Supplement to the 2008 TwoMorrows Preview Catalog

ORDER AT: www.twomorrows.com

SAVE

BATCAVE COMPANION

All characters TM & ©2009 their respective owners.

IT’S FINALLY HERE! The writer/editor of the critically acclaimed KRYPTON COMPANION and the designer of the eye-popping SPIES, VIXENS, AND MASTERS OF KUNG FU: THE ART OF PAUL GULACY team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-byissue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

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WHE % N YO ORD U ONL ER INE!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95 US • ISBN: 9781893905788 • Diamond Order Code: NOV068368 • Ships April 2009

COMIC BOOK PODCAST COMPANION Comic book podcasts have taken the Internet by storm, and now TwoMorrows offers you the chance to go behind the scenes of ten of today's top comic book podcasts via all-new interviews with the casts of AROUND COMICS, WORD BALLOON, QUIET! PANELOLOGISTS AT WORK, COMIC BOOK QUEERS, iFANBOY, THE CRANKCAST, THE COLLECTED COMICS LIBRARY, THE PIPELINE PODCAST, COMIC GEEK SPEAK, and TwoMorrows’ own TUNE-IN PODCAST! Also featured are new interviews about podcasting and comics on the Internet with creators MATT FRACTION, TIM SEELEY, and GENE COLAN. You'll also find a handy guide of what you’ll need to start your own podcast, an index of more than thirty great comic book podcasts, numerous photos of your favorite podcasters, and original art from COLAN, SEELEY, DC's MIKE NORTON, and many more! By ERIC HOUSTON, with a spectacular new cover by MIKE MANLEY. (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 • ISBN: 9781605490182 • Ships May 2009

ALL-STAR COMPANION Volume 4 The epic series of ALL-STAR COMPANIONS goes out with a bang, featuring: Colossal coverage of the Golden Age ALL-STAR COMICS! Sensational secrets of the JUNIOR JUSTICE SOCIETY! An index of the complete solo adventures of all 18 original JSAers in their own features, from 1940 to 1951! The JSA's earliest imitators (Seven Soldiers of Victory, All Winners Squad, Marvel Family, and International Crime Patrol)! INFINITY, INC. on Earth-Two and after! And the 1980s SECRET ORIGINS series! With rare art by ALEX ROSS, TODD McFARLANE, JERRY ORDWAY, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE KUBERT, ALEX TOTH, GIL KANE, MURPHY ANDERSON, IRWIN HASEN, MORT MESKIN, GENE COLAN, WAYNE BORING, GEORGE TUSKA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, GEORGE FREEMAN, DON NEWTON, JACK BURNLEY, MIKE MACHLAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, DICK DILLIN, and others. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

CAPTAIN ACTION: THE ORIGINAL SUPERHERO ACTION FIGURE

(240-page trade paperback) $27.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490045 Ships June 2009

(Hardcover 2nd Edition)

CAPTAIN ACTION was introduced in 1966 in the wake of the Batman TV show craze, and later received his own DC comic book with art by WALLY WOOD and GIL KANE. Able to assume the identities of 13 famous super-heroes, his initial career was short-lived, but continuing interest in the hero has led to two different returns to toy-store shelves. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 toy photos, this FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SECOND EDITION chronicles the history of this quick-changing champion, including photos of virtually EVERY CAPTAIN ACTION PRODUCT ever released, spotlights on his allies ACTION BOY and the SUPER QUEENS and his arch enemy DR. EVIL, an examination of his comic-book appearances, and “Action facts” that even the most diehard Captain Action fan won’t know! The original softcover edition has been sold out for years, but this revised, full-color hardcover second edition includes behind-the-scenes coverage of CAPTAIN ACTION’S TRIUMPHANT 2008 RETURN to comics shelves in his new series from Moonstone Books, and spotlights the new wave of Captain Action collectibles. Written by MICHAEL EURY. (176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490175 • Ships July 2009

MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide

The comic book industry experienced an unexpected flowering in the early 1960s, compliments of Marvel Comics, and this book presents a step-by-step look at how a company that had the reputation of being one of the least creative in a generally moribund industry, emerged as one of the most dynamic, slightly irreverent and downright original contributions to an era when pop-culture emerged as the dominant force in the artistic life of America. In scores of handy, easy to reference entries, MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s takes the reader from the legendary company’s first fumbling beginnings as helmed by savvy editor/writer STAN LEE (aided by such artists as JACK KIRBY and STEVE DITKO), to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity.

With the history of Marvel Comics in the 1960s divided into four distinct phases, author PIERRE COMTOIS explains just how Lee, Kirby, Ditko, and others created a line of comic books that, while grounded in the traditional elements of panel-to-panel storytelling, broke through the juvenile mindset of a low brow industry and provided a tapestry of full blown pop culture icons.

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490168 • Ships July 2009

GRAILPAGES:

Original Comic Book Art And The Collectors GRAILPAGES brings to light the burgeoning hobby of collecting the original, hand-drawn art that is used to create comic books! Beginning more as a novelty, the hobby of collecting original comic art has expanded to a point where some of the seminal pages commonly run more than $10,000 each. Author STEVEN ALAN PAYNE lets you meet collectors from around the globe and hear their passion in their own words, as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to broad, encompassing collections of literally hundreds of pages of original comic art by such artists as JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Balancing out the narratives are incisive interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Fans of comic art, comic books, and pop culture will find in GRAILPAGES an appreciation for a uniquely American form of art!

(128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 • Ships March 2009

MAGAZINES

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

E

BRICKJOURNAL magazine is the ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, spotlighting the LEGO Community with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Edited by JOE MENO. ALTER EGO focuses on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

BRICKJOURNAL #3

BRICKJOURNAL #4

BRICKJOURNAL #5

BRICKJOURNAL #6

Event Reports from BRICKWORLD, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE WORLD FESTIVAL and PIECE OF PEACE (Japan), spotlight on our cover model builder BRYCE McGLONE, and interviews with ARTHUR GUGICK and STEVEN CANVIN of LEGO MINDSTORMS to see where LEGO ROBOTICS is going!

There’s also STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, TECHNIQUES, & more!

Interviews with LEGO BUILDERS including BREANN SLEDGE (BIONICLE BUILDER), Event Reports from BRICKFAIR and BRICKCON, plus reports on new MINDSTORMS PROJECTS, STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS and TECHNIQUES for all skill levels, NEW SET REVIEWS, and a report on constructing the Chinese Olympic Village in LEGO!

Features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus an interview with the head of the LEGO GROUP’S 3D DEPARTMENT, a glimpse at the LEGO Group's past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO'S IDEA HOUSE, instructions and spotlights on builders, and an idea section for Pirate builders!

Spotlight on CLASSIC SPACE SETS and a look at new ones with LEGO SET DESIGNERS, BRANDON GRIFFITH shows his STAR TREK MODELS, plus take a tour of the DUTCH MOONBASE with MIKE VAN LEEUWEN and MARCO BAAS. There's also coverage of BRICKFEST 2009 and FIRST LEGO LEAGUE'S WORLD FESTIVAL and photos from TOY FAIR NEW YORK!

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: JUN084415

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: SEP084428

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Diamond Order Code: DEC084408 Ships March 2009

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US Ships June 2009

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

TM

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, plus rare and unpublished art. Edited by MICHAEL EURY. DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation, featuring in-depth interviews and step-bystep demonstrations from top comics professionals. Edited by MIKE MANLEY. ROUGH STUFF features never-seen pencil pages, sketches, layouts, roughs, and unused inked pages from throughout comics history, plus columns, critiques, and more!

Edited by BOB McLEOD. WRITE NOW! features writing tips from pros on both sides of the desk, interviews, sample scripts, reviews, exclusive Nuts & Bolts tutorials, and more!

Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

ALTER EGO #84

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood,

by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover

by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, in-depth art-filled look at Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, DC’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Dagar the Invincible, Ironjaw & Wulf, and Arak, Son of Thunder, plus the never-seen Valda the Iron Maiden by TODD McFARLANE! Plus JOE EDWARDS (Part 2), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: AUG084454

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: OCT084483

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: NOV084368

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: JAN094555 Ships March 2009

C o l l e c t o r

The JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine celebrates his life and career through INTERVIEWS WITH KIRBY and his contemporaries, FEATURE ARTICLES, RARE AND UNSEEN KIRBY ART, and more.

Edited by JOHN MORROW.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PRINT EDITION, AND GET THE DIGITAL EDITION FREE, BEFORE THE PRINT ISSUE HITS STORES!

BACK ISSUE #29

BACK ISSUE #30

BACK ISSUE #31

BACK ISSUE #32

“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work, NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot, McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants, the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series, lost Angel stories, Beast’s tenure with the Avengers, the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor, the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father, a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Saturday Morning Heroes!” Interviews with TV Captain Marvels JACKSON BOSTWICK and JOHN DAVEY, MAGGIN and SAVIUK’s lost Superman/”Captain Thunder” sequel, Space Ghost interviews with GARY OWENS and STEVE RUDE, MARV WOLFMAN guest editorial, Super Friends, unproduced fourth wave Super Powers action figures, Astro Boy, ADAM HUGHES tribute to DAVE STEVENS, and a new cover by ALEX ROSS!

“STEVE GERBER Salute!” In-depth look at his Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Defenders, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, Thundarr the Barbarian, and more!

Plus: Creators pay tribute to Steve Gerber, featuring art by and commentary from BRUNNER, BUCKLER, COLAN, GOLDEN, STAN LEE, LEVITZ, MAYERIK, MOONEY, PLOOG, SIMONSON, and others. Cover painting by FRANK BRUNNER!

“Tech, Data, and Hardware!” The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and GREENBERGER on DC’s Who’s Who, SAVIUK, STATON, and VAN SCIVER on Drawing Green Lantern, ED HANNIGAN Art Gallery, history of Rom: Spaceknight, story of BILL MANTLO, Dial H for Hero, Richie Rich’s Inventions, and a Spider-Mobile schematic cover by ELIOT BROWN and DUSTY ABELL!

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DRAW! #17

DRAW! #18

ROUGH STUFF #10

ROUGH STUFF #11

ROUGH STUFF #12

Interview with Scott Pilgrim’s creator and artist BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY on how he creates the acclaimed series, plus learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS works on his series.

Also, more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!

Features an in-depth interview and demo

by R.M. GUERA (the artist of Vertigo’s Scalped), behind-the-scenes in the Batcave with Cartoon Network’s JAMES TUCKER on the new hit show “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” plus product reviews by JAMAR NICHOLAS, and Comic Book Boot Camp’s “Anatomy: Part 2” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY!

Interview with RON GARNEY, with copious examples of sketchwork and comments.

Also features on ANDY SMITH, MICHAEL JASON PAZ, and MATT HALEY, showing how their work evolves, excerpts from a new book on ALEX RAYMOND, secrets of teaching comic art by pro inker BOB McLEOD, new cover by GARNEY and McLEOD, newcomer critique, and more!

New cover by GREG HORN, plus interviews with HORN and TOM YEATES on how they produce their stellar work. Also features on GENE HA, JIMMY CHEUNG, and MIKE PERKINS, showing their sketchwork and commentary, tips on collecting sketches and commissions from artists, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work, and more!

Interview and cover by comic painter CHRIS MOELLER, features on New Zealand comic artist COLIN WILSON, G.I. Joe artist JEREMY DALE, and fan favorite TERRY DODSON, plus "GOOD GIRL ART" (a new article about everyone's favorite collectible art) by ROBERT PLUNKETT, a "Rough Critique" of an aspiring artist's work, and more!

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ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

WRITE NOW! #20

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Focus on THE SPIRIT movie, showing how FRANK MILLER transformed WILL EISNER’s comics into the smash-hit film, with interviews with key players behind the making of the movie, a look at what made Eisner’s comics so special, and more. Plus: an interview with COLLEEN DORAN, writer ALEX GRECIAN on how to get a pitch green lighted, script and art examples, and more!

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BACK ISSUE #33

BACK ISSUE #34

BACK ISSUE #35

KIRBY COLLECTOR #52

KIRBY COLLECTOR #53

“Teen Heroes!” Teen Titans in the 1970s & 1980s, with CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, PÉREZ, TUSKA, and WOLFMAN, BARON and GUICE on the Flash, interviews with TV Billy Batson MICHAEL GRAY and writer STEVE SKEATES, NICIEZA and BAGLEY’s New Warriors, Legion of Super-Heroes 1970s art gallery, James Bond Jr., and… the Archies! New Teen Titans cover by GEORGE PÉREZ and colored by GENE HA!

“New World Order!” Adam Warlock examined with JIM STARLIN and ROY THOMAS, the history of Miracleman with ALAN DAVIS & GARRY LEACH, JIM SHOOTER interview, roundtable with Marvel’s post-STAN LEE editors-in-chief on the New Universe, Logan’s Run, Star Hunters, BOB WIACEK on Star Wars and Star-Lord, DICK GIORDANO revisits Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Post-Crisis DC Universe You Didn’t See,” and a new cover by JIM STARLIN!

“Villains!” MIKE ZECK and J.M. DeMATTEIS discuss “Kraven’s Last Hunt” in a “Pro2Pro” interview, the history of the Hobgoblin is exposed, the Joker’s short-lived series, looks back at Secret Society of Super-Villains and Kobra, a Magneto biography, Luthor and Brainiac’s malevolent makeovers, interview with Secret Society artist MIKE VOSBURG, plus contributions from BYRNE, CONWAY, FRENZ, NOVICK, ROMITA JR., STERN, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MIKE ZECK!

Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, his BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, and see original unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, DESTROYER DUCK, and more, including a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING (with lots of surprises)! Color Kirby covers inked by DON HECK and PAUL SMITH!

Spotlights THE MAGIC OF STAN & JACK! There’s a new interview with STAN LEE, a walking tour of New York showing where Lee & Kirby lived and worked, a re-evaluation of the “Lost” FF #108 story (including a missing page that just surfaced), “What If Jack Hadn’t Left Marvel In 1970?”, plus MARK EVANIER’s regular column, a Kirby pencil art gallery, a complete Golden Age Kirby story, and more, behind a color Kirby cover inked by GEORGE PÉREZ!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships May 2009

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NEW MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW, DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!

Volume 19: MIKE PLOOG

Volume 20: KYLE BAKER

Volume 21: CHRIS SPROUSE

Volume 22: MARK BUCKINGHAM

Volume 23: DARWYN COOKE

by Eric Nolen-Weathington & Roger Ash (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781605490076 Diamond Order Code: SEP084304 Now shipping

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781605490083 Diamond Order Code: SEP084305 Ships February 2009

by Eric Nolen-Weathington & Todd DeZago (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 97801605490137 Diamond Order Code: NOV084298 Ships March 2008

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by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $15.95 ISBN: 9781605490205 Ships June 2008

AGE OF TV HEROES Examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-thescene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with.

Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from ADAM WEST (Batman), LYNDA CARTER (Wonder Woman), PATRICK WARBURTON (The Tick), NICHOLAS HAMMOND (Spider-Man), WILLIAM KATT (The Greatest American Hero), JACK LARSON (The Adventures of Superman), JOHN WESLEY SHIPP (The Flash), JACKSON BOSTWICK (Shazam!), and many more!

Written by JASON HOFIUS and GEORGE KHOURY, with a new cover by superstar painter ALEX ROSS! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490106 Diamond Order Code: SEP084302 Rescheduled for July 2009

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EXTRAORDINARY WORKS KIRBY FIVE-OH! OF ALAN MOORE: LIMITED HARDCOVER Indispensable Edition Limited to 500 copies, KIRBY FIVE-OH! The definitive biography of the co-creator of WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA finally returns to print in a NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED VERSION! Features an extensive series of interviews with MOORE about his entire career, including a new interview covering his work since the sold-out 2003 edition of this book was published.

Includes RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ART, and private PHOTOS of the author, plus a series of tribute comic strips by many of Moore’s closest collaborators, a COLOR SECTION featuring a RARE MOORE STORY (remastered, and starring MR. MONSTER), and more! Edited by GEORGE KHOURY, with a cover by DAVE McKEAN! (240-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490090 Diamond Order Code: OCT084400 Limited Hardcover Signed by Alan Moore (100 hardcover copies) $49.95 US Only available from TwoMorrows!

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JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

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ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

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BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

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LIMITED HARDCOVER EDITION covers the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career in comics, including his 50 BEST STORIES, BEST COVERS, BEST EXAMPLES OF UNUSED KIRBY ART, BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS, and profiles of, and commentary by, 50 PEOPLE INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus there’s a 50-PAGE GALLERY of Kirby’s PENCIL ART, a DELUXE COLOR SECTION, a previously unseen Kirby Superman cover inked by DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER! Includes a full-color wrapped hardcover, and an individuallynumbered extra Kirby pencil art plate not included in the softcover edition! It’s ONLY AVAILABLE FROM TWOMORROWS, and is not sold in stores! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30, with looks at Jack’s 1970s and ‘80s work, plus a two-part focus on how widespread Kirby’s influence is! Features rare interviews with KIRBY himself, plus Watchmen’s ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBONS, NEIL GAIMAN, Bone’s JEFF SMITH, MARK HAMILL, and others! See page after page of rare Kirby art, including a NEW SPECIAL SECTION with over 30 PIECES OF KIRBY ART NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED, and more!

(288-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490120 Diamond Order Code: DEC084286 Ships February 2009

(168-page Limited Edition Hardcover) (500 hardcover copies) $34.95 US Only available from TwoMorrows!

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Subscriptions will start with the next available issue, but CURRENT AND OLDER ISSUES MUST BE PURCHASED AT THE BACK ISSUE PRICE (new issues ship in bulk, and we pass the savings on in our subscription rates). In the US, we generally ship back issues and books by MEDIA MAIL.

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR Volume 7

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

“HOW-TO” MAGAZINES Spinning off from the pages of BACK ISSUE! magazine comes ROUGH STUFF, celebrating the ART of creating comics! Edited by famed inker BOB McLEOD, each issue spotlights NEVER-BEFORE PUBLISHED penciled pages, preliminary sketches, detailed layouts, and even unused inked versions from artists throughout comics history. Included is commentary on the art, discussing what went right and wrong with it, and background information to put it all into historical perspective. Plus, before-and-after comparisons let you see firsthand how an image changes from initial concept to published version. So don’t miss this amazing magazine, featuring galleries of NEVER-BEFORE SEEN art, from some of your favorite series of all time, and the top pros in the industry!

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ROUGH STUFF #1 Our debut issue features galleries of UNSEEN ART by a who’s who of Modern Masters including: ALAN DAVIS, GEORGE PÉREZ, BRUCE TIMM, KEVIN NOWLAN, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, ARTHUR ADAMS, JOHN BYRNE, and WALTER SIMONSON, plus a KEVIN NOWLAN interview, art critiques, and a new BRUCE TIMM COVER!

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The follow-up to our smash first issue features more galleries of UNSEEN ART by top industry professionals, including: BRIAN APTHORP, FRANK BRUNNER, PAUL GULACY, JERRY ORDWAY, ALEX TOTH, and MATT WAGNER, plus a PAUL GULACY interview, a look at art of the pros BEFORE they were pros, and a new GULACY “HEX” COVER!

Still more galleries of UNPUBLISHED ART

by MIKE ALLRED, JOHN BUSCEMA, YANICK PAQUETTE, JOHN ROMITA JR., P. CRAIG RUSSELL, and LEE WEEKS, plus a JOHN ROMITA JR. interview, looks at the process of creating a cover (with BILL SIENKIEWICZ and JOHN ROMITA JR.), and a new ROMITA JR. COVER, plus a FREE DRAW #13 PREVIEW!

More NEVER-PUBLISHED galleries (with detailed artist commentaries) by MICHAEL KALUTA, ANDREW “Starman” ROBINSON, GENE COLAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, and STEVE BISSETTE, plus interview and art by JOHN TOTLEBEN, a look at the Wonder Woman Day charity auction (with rare art), art critiques, before-&-after art comparisons, and a FREE WRITE NOW #15 PREVIEW!

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NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED galleries (complete with extensive commentaries by the artists) by PAUL SMITH, GIL KANE, CULLY HAMNER, DALE KEOWN, and ASHLEY WOOD, plus a feature interview and art by STEVE RUDE, an examination of JOHN ALBANO and TONY DeZUNIGA’s work on Jonah Hex, new STEVE RUDE COVER, plus a FREE BACK ISSUE #23 PREVIEW!

Features a new interview and cover by BRIAN STELFREEZE, interview with BUTCH GUICE, extensive art galleries/commentary by IAN CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN DORAN, MIKE GAGNON looks at independent comics, with art and comments by ANDREW BARR, BRANDON GRAHAM, and ASAF HANUKA! Includes a FREE ALTER EGO #73 PREVIEW!

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Features an in-depth interview and cover by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

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ROUGH STUFF #9

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ROUGH STUFF #8 Features an in-depth interview and cover painting by the extraordinary MIKE MAYHEW, preliminary and unpublished art

by ALEX HORLEY, TONY DeZUNIGA, NICK CARDY, and RAFAEL KAYANAN (including commentary by each artist), a look at the great Belgian comic book artists, a “Rough Critique” of MIKE MURDOCK’s work, and more!

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Editor and pro inker BOB McLEOD features four interviews this issue: ROB HAYNES (interviewed by fellow professional TIM TOWNSEND), JOE JUSKO, MEL RUBI, and SCOTT WILLIAMS, with a new painted cover by JUSKO, and an article by McLEOD examining "Inkers: Who needs ’em?" along with other features, including a Rough Critique of RUDY VASQUEZ! (100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY084263

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THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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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!

Go online for an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE! 6-ISSUE SUBS: $44 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($60 First Class, $70 Canada, $105 1st Class Intl., $115 Priority Intl.).

BACK ISSUE #1

BACK ISSUE #2

BACK ISSUE #3

“PRO2PRO” interview between GEORGE PÉREZ & MARV WOLFMAN (with UNSEEN PÉREZ ART), “ROUGH STUFF” featuring JACK KIRBY’s PENCIL ART, “GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD” on the first JLA/AVENGERS, “BEYOND CAPES” on DC and Marvel’s TARZAN (with KUBERT and BUSCEMA ART), “OFF MY CHEST” editorial by INFANTINO, and more! PÉREZ cover!

“PRO2PRO” between ADAM HUGHES and MIKE W. BARR (with UNSEEN HUGHES ART) and MATT WAGNER and DIANA SCHUTZ, “ROUGH STUFF” HUGHES PENCIL ART, STEVE RUDE’s unseen SPACE GHOST/HERCULOIDS team-up, Bruce Jones’ ALIEN WORLDS and TWISTED TALES, “OFF MY CHEST” by MIKE W. BARR on the DC IMPLOSION, and more!

HUGHES cover!

“PRO2PRO” between KEITH GIFFEN, J.M. DeMATTEIS and KEVIN MAGUIRE on their JLA WORK, “ROUGH STUFF” PENCIL ART by ARAGONÉS, HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, BYRNE, KIRBY, HUGHES, details on two unknown PLASTIC MAN movies, Joker’s history with O’NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS and BOLLAND, editorial by MARK EVANIER, and more! BOLLAND cover!

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“PRO2PRO” between JOHN BYRNE and CHRIS CLAREMONT on their X-MEN WORK and WALT SIMONSON and JOE CASEY on Walter’s THOR, WOLVERINE PENCIL ART by BUSCEMA, LEE, COCKRUM, BYRNE, and GIL KANE, LEN WEIN’S TEEN WOLVERINE, PUNISHER’S 30TH and SECRET WARS’ 20TH ANNIVERSARIES (with UNSEEN ZECK ART), and more! BYRNE cover!

Wonder Woman TV series in-depth, LYNDA CARTER INTERVIEW, WONDER WOMAN TV ART GALLERY, Marvel’s TV Hulk, SpiderMan, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, LOU FERRIGNO INTERVIEW, super-hero cartoons you didn’t see, pencil gallery by JERRY ORDWAY, STAR TREK in comics, and ROMITA SR. editorial on Marvel’s movies!

Covers by ALEX ROSS and ADAM HUGHES!

TOMB OF DRACULA revealed with GENE COLAN and MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN & BERNIE WRIGHTSON on Swamp Thing’s roots, STEVE BISSETTE & RICK VEITCH on their Swamp work, pencil art by BRUNNER, PLOOG, BISSETTE, COLAN, WRIGHTSON, and SMITH, editorial by ROY THOMAS, PREZ, GODZILLA comics (with TRIMPE art), CHARLTON horror, & more! COLAN cover!

History of BRAVE AND BOLD, JIM APARO interview, tribute to BOB HANEY, FANTASTIC FOUR ROUNDTABLE with STAN LEE, MARK WAID, and others, EVANIER and MEUGNIOT on DNAgents, pencil art by ROSS, TOTH, COCKRUM, HECK, ROBBINS, NEWTON, and BYRNE, DENNY O’NEIL editorial, a tour of METROPOLIS, IL, and more! SWAN/ANDERSON cover!

DENNY O’NEIL and Justice League Unlimited voice actor PHIL LaMARR discuss GL JOHN STEWART, NEW X-MEN pencil art by NEAL ADAMS, ARTHUR ADAMS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, ALAN DAVIS, JIM LEE, ADAM HUGHES, STORM’s 30-year history, animated TV’s black heroes (with TOTH art), ISABELLA and TREVOR VON EEDEN on BLACK LIGHTNING, and more! KYLE BAKER cover!

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BACK ISSUE #13

MIKE BARON and STEVE RUDE on NEXUS past and present, a colossal GIL KANE pencil art gallery, a look at Marvel’s STAR WARS comics, secrets of DC’s unseen CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS SEQUEL, TIM TRUMAN on his GRIMJACK SERIES, MIKE GOLD editorial, THANOS history, TIME WARP revisited, and more! All-new STEVE RUDE COVER!

NEAL ADAMS and DENNY O’NEIL on RA’S AL GHUL’s history (with Adams art), O’Neil and MICHAEL KALUTA on THE SHADOW, MIKE GRELL on JON SABLE FREELANCE, HOWIE CHAYKIN interview, DOC SAVAGE in comics, BATMAN ART GALLERY by PAUL SMITH, SIENKIEWICZ, SIMONSON, BOLLAND, HANNIGAN, MAZZUCCHELLI, and others! New cover by ADAMS!

ROY THOMAS, KURT BUSIEK, and JOE JUSKO on CONAN (with art by JOHN BUSCEMA, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, NEAL ADAMS, JUSKO, and others), SERGIO ARAGONÉS and MARK EVANIER on GROO, DC’s never-published KING ARTHUR, pencil art gallery by KIRBY, PÉREZ, MOEBIUS, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, BOLLAND, and others, and a new BUSCEMA/JUSKO Conan cover!

‘70s and ‘80s character revamps with DAVE GIBBONS, ROY THOMAS and KURT BUSIEK, TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ on Spider-Man’s 1980s “black” costume change, DENNY O’NEIL on Superman’s 1970 revamp, JOHN BYRNE’s aborted SHAZAM! series detailed, pencil art gallery with FRANK MILLER, LEE WEEKS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, CHARLES VESS, and more!

CARDY interview, ENGLEHART and MOENCH on kung-fu comics, “Pro2Pro” with STATON and CUTI on Charlton’s E-Man, pencil art gallery featuring MILLER, KUBERT, GIORDANO, SWAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, COCKRUM, and others, EISNER’s A Contract with God; “The Death of Romance (Comics)” (with art by ROMITA, SR. and TOTH), and more!

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BACK ISSUE #14

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BACK ISSUE #18

DAVE COCKRUM and MIKE GRELL go “Pro2Pro” on the Legion, pencil art gallery

by BUSCEMA, BYRNE, MILLER, STARLIN, McFARLANE, ROMITA JR., SIENKIEWICZ, looks at Hercules Unbound, Hex, Killraven, Kamandi, MARS, Planet of the Apes, art and interviews with GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KIRBY, WILLIAMSON, and more! New MIKE GRELL/BOB McLEOD cover!

“Weird Heroes” of the 1970s and ‘80s!

MIKE PLOOG discusses Ghost Rider, MATT WAGNER revisits The Demon, JOE KUBERT dusts off Ragman, GENE COLAN “Rough Stuff” pencil gallery, GARCÍALÓPEZ recalls Deadman, DC’s unpublished Gorilla Grodd series, PERLIN, CONWAY, and MOENCH on Werewolf by Night, and more! New ARTHUR ADAMS cover!

“Toy Stories!” Behind the Scenes of Marvel’s G.I. JOE™ and TRANSFORMERS with PAUL LEVITZ and GEORGE TUSKA, “Rough Stuff” MIKE ZECK pencil gallery, ARTHUR ADAMS on Gumby, HE-MAN, ROM, MICRONAUTS, SUPER POWERS, SUPER-HERO CARS, art by HAMA, SAL BUSCEMA, GUICE, GOLDEN, KIRBY, TRIMPE, and new ZECK sketch cover!

“Super Girls!” Supergirl retrospective with art by STELFREEZE, HAMNER, SpiderWoman, Flare, Tigra, DC’s unused Double Comics with unseen BARRETTO and INFANTINO art, WOLFMAN and JIMENEZ on Donna Troy, female comics pros, art by SEKOWSKY, OKSNER, PÉREZ, HUGHES, GIORDANO, plus a COLOR GALLERY and COVER by BRUCE TIMM!

“Big, Green Issue!” Tour of NEAL ADAMS’ studio (with interview and art gallery), DAVE GIBBONS “Rough Stuff” pencil art spotlight, interviews with MIKE GRELL (on Green Arrow), PETER DAVID (on Incredible Hulk), a “Pro2Pro” chat between GERRY CONWAY and JOHN ROMITA, SR. (on the Green Goblin), and more. New cover

by NEAL ADAMS!

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BACK ISSUE #19

BACK ISSUE #20

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BACK ISSUE #23

“Unsung Heroes!” DON NEWTON spotlight, STEVE GERBER and GENE COLAN on Howard the Duck, MIKE CARLIN and DANNY FINGEROTH on Marvel’s Assistant Editors’ Month, the unrealized Unlimited Powers TV show, TONY ISABELLA’s aborted plans for The Champions, MARK GRUENWALD tribute, art by SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, and more! NEWTON/ RUBINSTEIN cover!

“Secret Identities!” Histories of characters with unusual alter egos: Firestorm, Moon Knight, the Question, and the “real-life” Human Fly! STEVE ENGLEHART and SAL BUSCEMA on Captain America, JERRY ORDWAY interview and cover, Superman roundtable with SIENKIEWICZ, NOWLAN, MOENCH, COWAN, MAGGIN, O’NEIL, MILGROM, CONWAY, ROBBINS, SWAN, plus FREE ALTER EGO #64 PREVIEW!

“The Devil You Say!” issue! A look at Daredevil in the 1980s and 1990s with interviews and art by KLAUS JANSON, JOHN ROMITA JR., and FRANK MILLER, MIKE MIGNOLA Hellboy interview, DAN MISHKIN and GARY COHN on Blue Devil, COLLEEN DORAN’s unpublished X-Men spin-off “Fallen Angels”, Son of Satan, Stig’s Inferno, DC’s Plop!, JACK KIRBY’s Devil Dinosaur, and cover by MIKE ZECK!

“Dynamic Duos!’ “Pro2Pro” interviews with Batman’s ALAN GRANT and NORM BREYFOGLE and the Legion’s PAUL LEVITZ and KEITH GIFFEN, a “Backstage Pass” to Dark Horse Comics, Robin’s history, EASTMAN and LAIRD’s Ninja Turtles, histories of duos Robin and Batgirl, Captain America and the Falcon, and Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, “Zot!” interview with SCOTT McCLOUD, and a new BREYFOGLE cover!

“Comics Go Hollywood!” Spider-Man roundtable with STAN LEE, JOHN ROMITA, SR., JIM SHOOTER, ERIK LARSEN, and others, STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable Part 1, Gladstone’s Disney comics line, behindthe-scenes at TV’s ISIS and THE FLASH (plus an interview with Flash’s JOHN WESLEY SHIPP), TV tie-in comics, bonus 8-page color ADAM HUGHES ART GALLERY and cover, plus a FREE WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW!

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BACK ISSUE #24

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BACK ISSUE #28

“Magic” issue! MICHAEL GOLDEN interview, GENE COLAN, PAUL SMITH, and FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, Mystic Art Gallery with CARL POTTS & KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL WILLINGHAM’s Elementals, Zatanna history, Dr. Fate’s revival, a “Greatest Stories Never Told” look at Peter Pan, tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS, a new GOLDEN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

“Men of Steel!’ BOB LAYTON and DAVID MICHELINIE on Iron Man, RICH BUCKLER on Deathlok, MIKE GRELL on Warlord, JOHN BYRNE on ROG 2000, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Machine Man, the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip, DC’s Steel, art by KIRBY, HECK, WINDSOR-SMITH, TUSKA, LAYTON cover, and bonus “Men of Steel” art gallery!

Includes a FREE DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

“Spies and Tough Guys!’ PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

“Comic Book Royalty!” The ’70s/’80s careers of Aquaman and the Sub-Mariner explored, BARR and BOLLAND discuss CAMELOT 3000, comics pros tell “Why JACK KIRBY Was King,” “Dr. Doom: Monarch or Menace?” DON McGREGOR’s Black Panther; an exclusive ALAN WEISS art gallery; spotlights on ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS; NIGHT FORCE; and more! New cover by NICK CARDY!

“Heroes Behaving Badly!” Hulk vs. Thing tirades with RON WILSON, HERB TRIMPE, and JIM SHOOTER; CARY BATES and CARMINE INFANTINO on “Trial of the Flash”; JOHN BYRNE’s heroes who cross the line; Teen Titan Terra, Kid Miracleman, Mark Shaw Manhunter, and others who went bad, featuring LAYTON, MICHELINIE, WOLFMAN, and PÉREZ, and more! New cover by DARWYN COOKE!

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THE

BATCAVE C O M P A N I O N NOW SHIPPING! Batman. Is he the campy Caped Crusader? Or the grim Gotham Guardian?

Both, as The Batcave Companion reveals.

On the brink of cancellation in 1963, Batman was rescued by DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who, abetted by several talented writers and artists, gave the hero a much-needed “New Look” which soon catapulted Batman to multimedia stardom.

In the next decade, when Batman required another fresh start, Schwartz once again led a team of creators that returned the hero to his “creature of the night” roots.

Writers Michael Eury (The Krypton Companion, The Justice League Companion) and Michael Kronenberg (Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul Gulacy) unearth the stories behind the stories of both Batman’s “New Look” and Bronze Age (1970s) comic-book eras through incisive essays, invaluable issue-by-issue indexes, and insightful commentary from many of the visionaries responsible for and inspired by Batman’s 1960s and 1970s adventures: Neal Adams, Michael Allred, Terry Austin, Mike W. Barr, Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Adam Hughes, Sheldon Moldoff, Will Murray, Dennis O’Neil, Bob Rozakis, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Bernie Wrightson.

Featuring 240 art- and info-packed pages, The Batcave Companion is a must-have examination of two of the most influential periods in Batman’s 70-year history.

Written by Back Issue’s

MICHAEL EURY & MICHAEL KRONENBERG ISBN 978-1-893905-78-8 $26.95 in the U.S. plus shipping Batman, Robin, and all related characters and indicia are TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Unlock the FINAL secrets of the JUSTICE SOCIETY of AMERICA (& friends) !

THE

• Amazing new info on the Golden Age JSA—including every JUNIOR JUSTICE SOCIETY message ever—and an incredible index of the solo stories of the original JSAers, from 1939 to 1951!

• Sensational new JSA and INFINITY, INC. cover by JERRY ORDWAY, drawn especially for this volume!

• The OTHER 1940s Hero Groups Examined in Depth! THE SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY—THE MARVEL FAMILY—THE ALL WINNERS SQUAD— & M.C. Gaines’ own INTERNATIONAL CRIME PATROL! • Issue-by-issue 1980s spotlight on INFINITY, INC. & SECRET ORIGINS! • Rare, often unpublished art & artifacts by: ALEX ROSS * TODD McFARLANE JOE KUBERT * CARMINE INFANTINO ALEX TOTH * GIL KANE MURPHY ANDERSON * IRWIN HASEN WAYNE BORING * SHELDON MOLDOFF MORT MESKIN * GENE COLAN MART NODELL * HARRY LAMPERT DON NEWTON * GEORGE TUSKA PAUL REINMAN * JOE GALLAGHER CHESTER KOZLAK * LEE ELIAS E.E. HIBBARD * ARTHUR PEDDY JIM VALENTINO * ALAN KUPPERBERG MICHAEL T. GILBERT * RICK HOBERG MIKE SEKOWSKY * JACK BURNLEY MIKE MACHLAN * FRANK HARRY DICK DILLIN * BERNARD KRIGSTEIN H.G. PETER * MICHAEL BAIR —& many others!

VOLUM E FOUR

Companion

Edited by

ROY THOMAS $

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256 Big Pages ISBN 978-1-60549-004-5

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

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NEW STUFF FROM TWOMORROWS!

ALTER EGO #85

WRITE NOW! #20

ROUGH STUFF #12

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BRICKJOURNAL #5

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Focus on THE SPIRIT movie, showing how FRANK MILLER transformed WILL EISNER’s comics into the smash-hit film, with interviews with key players behind the making of the movie, a look at what made Eisner’s comics so special, and more. Plus: an interview with COLLEEN DORAN, writer ALEX GRECIAN on how to get a pitch green lighted, script and art examples, and more!

Interview and cover by comic painter CHRIS MOELLER, features on New Zealand comic artist COLIN WILSON, G.I. Joe artist JEREMY DALE, and fan favorite TERRY DODSON, plus "GOOD GIRL ART" (a new article about everyone's favorite collectible art) by ROBERT PLUNKETT, a "Rough Critique" of an aspiring artist's work, and more!

Go behind the pages of the hit series of graphic novels starring Scott Pilgrim with his creator and artist, BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY, to see how he creates the acclaimed series! Then, learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS works on the series, plus more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!

Features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus an interview with the head of the LEGO GROUP’S 3D DEPARTMENT, a glimpse at the LEGO Group's past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO'S IDEA HOUSE, instructions and spotlights on builders, and an idea section for Pirate builders!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #52

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE:

BATCAVE COMPANION

Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, & DESTROYER DUCK, a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING, unseen Kirby covers & more!

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COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 7 Reprints KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30 plus over 30 pieces of Kirby art never published!

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GRAILPAGES

The definitive autobiographical book on ALAN MOORE in a NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED VERSION! Includes new interviews covering his work since the original 2003 edition of the book. From SWAMP THING, V FOR VENDETTA, WATCHMEN, and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and beyond – all are discussed by Alan. Plus, there’s RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ARTWORK, and PHOTOGRAPHS, tribute comic strips by NEIL GAIMAN and other of Moore’s closest collaborators, a COLOR SECTION featuring the RARE MOORE STORY “The Riddle of the Recalcitrant Refuse” (newly remastered, and starring MR. MONSTER), and more! Edited by GEORGE KHOURY, with a cover by DAVE McKEAN!

Explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

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Original Comic Book Art & The Collectors Examines the hobby of collecting original comic book art, letting you meet collectors from around the globe as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to hundreds of pages of original comic art

by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Features interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Written by STEVEN ALAN PAYNE. (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 Now shipping!

VOLUME 20: KYLE BAKER

(120-page trade paperback with COLOR) $14.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490083 Now shipping!

VOLUME 21: CHRIS SPROUSE

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 US • ISBN: 97801605490137 Ships May 2009 Each features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from the artist’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

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TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com