Back Issue #64 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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BACKUP SERIES ISSUE! GREEN LANTERN • GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…? METAMORPHO • GOODWIN & SIMONSON’S MANHUNTER PASKO & GIFFEN’S DR. FATE & more!

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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

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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

Bronze Age Mystery Comics! Interviews with BERNIE WRIGHTSON, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, GERRY TALAOC, DC mystery writer LORE SHOBERG, MARK EVANIER and DAN SPIEGLE discuss Scooby-Doo, Charlton chiller anthologies, Black Orchid, Madame Xanadu art and commentary by TONY DeZUNIGA, MIKE KALUTA, VAL MAYERIK, DAVID MICHELINIE, MATT WAGNER, and a rare cover painting by WRIGHTSON!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

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“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

“Licensed Comics”! Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Man from Atlantis, DC’s Edgar Rice Burroughs backups (John Carter, Pellucidar, Carson of Venus), Marvel’s Warlord of Mars, and an interview with CAROL SERLING, wife of ROD SERLING. With art and commentary from ANDERSON, BYRNE, CLAREMONT, DORMAN, DUURSEMA, KALUTA, MILLER, OSTRANDER, and more. Cover by BRIAN KOSCHACK.

“Avengers Assemble!” Writer ROGER STERN’S acclaimed 1980s Avengers run, West Coast Avengers, early Avengers toys, and histories of Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man, with art and commentary from JOHN and SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, BRETT BREEDING, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, BOB HALL, AL MILGROM, TOM MORGAN, TOM PALMER, JOE SINNOTT, and more. PÉREZ cover!

JENETTE KAHN interviewed by ROBERT GREENBERGER, DC’s Dollar Comics and unrealized kids’ line (featuring an aborted Sugar and Spike revival), the Wonder Woman Foundation, and the early days of the Vertigo imprint. Exploring the talents of ROSS ANDRU, KAREN BERGER, STEVE BISSETTE, JIM ENGEL, GARTH ENNIS, NEIL GAIMAN, SHELLY MAYER, ALAN MOORE, GRANT MORRISON, and more!

“JLA in the Bronze Age”! The “Satellite Years” of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, with BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, PÉREZ, and WEIN, salute to DICK DILLIN, the Justice League “Detroit” team, with CONWAY, PATTON, McDONNELL, plus CONWAY and GEOFF JOHNS go “Pro2Pro” on writing the JLA, unofficial JLA/Avengers crossovers, and Marvel’s JLA, the Squadron Supreme. Cover by McDONNELL and BILL WRAY!

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“Toon Comics!” History of Space Ghost in comics, Comico’s Jonny Quest and Star Blazers, Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera line and Dennis the Menace, behind the scenes at Marvel Productions, Ltd., and a look at the unpublished Plastic Man comic strip. Art/comments by EVANIER, FOGLIO, HEMPEL and WHEATLEY, MARRS, RUDE, TOTH, WILDEY, and more. All-new painted Space Ghost cover by STEVE RUDE!

“Halloween Heroes and Villains”! JEPH LOEB and TIM SALE’s chiller Batman: The Long Halloween, the Scarecrow (both the DC and Marvel versions), Solomon Grundy, Man-Wolf, Lord Pumpkin, Rutland, Vermont’s Halloween parades, and… the Korvac Saga’s Dead Avengers! With commentary from and/or art by CONWAY, GIL KANE, LOPRESTI, MOENCH, PÉREZ, DAVE WENZEL, and more. Cover by TIM SALE!

“Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS!

“Superman in the Bronze Age”! JULIUS SCHWARTZ, CURT SWAN, Superman Family, World of Krypton miniseries, and ALAN MOORE’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, art & comments by ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, CHAYKIN, PAUL KUPPERBERG, OKSNER, O’NEIL, PASKO, ROZAKIS, SAVIUK, and more. Cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ and SCOTT WILLIAMS! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

“British Invasion” issue! History of Marvel UK, Beatles in comics, DC’s ‘80s British talent pool, V for Vendetta, Excalibur, Marshal Law, Doctor Who, “Pro2Pro” interview with PETER MILLIGAN & BRENDAN McCARTHY, plus BERGER, BOLLAND, DAVIS, GIBBONS, STAN LEE, LLOYD, MOORE, DEZ SKINN, and others. Fold-out triptych cover by RON WILSON and DAVE HUNT of Marvel UK’s rare 1970s “Quadra-Poster”!

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Volume 1, Number 64 May 2013 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Mike Grell and Josef Rubinstein COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek Robert Greenberger Karl Heitmueller Heritage Comics Auctions James Kingman Paul Levitz Alan Light Elliot S! Maggin Donna Olmstead Dennis O’Neil John Ostrander Mike Royer Bob Rozakis Dan Spiegle Bryan Stroud Roy Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Tom Tresser John Trumbull John Wells

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FLASHBACK: The Ballad of Ollie and Dinah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Green Arrow and Black Canary’s Bronze Age romance and adventures INTERVIEW: John Calnan discusses Metamorpho in Action Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 The Fab Freak of 1001-and-1 Changes returns! With loads of Calnan art BEYOND CAPES: A Rose by Any Other Name … Would be Thorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 In the back pages of Lois Lane—of all places!—sprang the inventive Rose and the Thorn FLASHBACK: Seven Soldiers of Victory: Lost in Time Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 This Bronze Age backup serial was written during the Golden Age BEYOND CAPES: The Master Crime-File of Jason Bard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 The star of this obscure Detective Comics backup has appeared more times than you’d expect FLASHBACK: Hunting the Hunters: Manhunter and the Most Dangerous Game . . . . . . .44 Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson’s lauded backup and its legacy FLASHBACK: Whatever Happened To…? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Dusting off oldies in the back pages of DC Comics Presents PRINCE STREET NEWS: Whatever Happened To More DC Universe Residents? . . . . . . . .62 Karl Heitmueller does the limbo through DC’s oldie goldies PRO2PRO: A Matter of (Dr.) Fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Martin Pasko and Keith Giffen discuss their magical Flash backup series BEYOND CAPES: Nemesis: Balancing the Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 The rough-and-tumble crime-crusher from The Brave and the Bold BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Catching up on letters for issues #58 and 59 BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Mike Grell and Josef Rubinstein. Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and related characters TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2013 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. Backups Issue

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All comics TM & © DC Comics.

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Marc Andreyko Roger Ash Jason Bard Mike W. Barr Cary Bates Alex Boney Kelly Borkert Rich Buckler Cary Burkett Mike Burkey John Calnan Dewey Cassell Howard Chaykin DC Comics Mark Evanier Ramona Fradon Grand Comic-Book Database Mike Grell

FLASHBACK: The Emerald Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Green Lantern’s demotion to a Flash backup and gradual return to his own title

COMIC COLLECTORS—HERE’S YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE! Regular BACK ISSUE readers know that our focus is on the stories appearing in comics published beginning in 1970 forward. But for those of you clamoring for the definitive how-to of collecting comics, you’re in luck! Gemstone Publishing has recently released The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics. Brought to you by writer J. C. Vaughn, with a slew of additional contributors including Weldon Adams, Arnold T. Blumberg, Chuck Dixon, Steve Geppi, Ted Hake, Will Murray, Ross Ritchie, and Price Guide guru Robert M. Overstreet, this 336-page full-color softcover peels the mylar off of all aspects of collecting comics: grading (including an incredibly helpful “Shrinking Scale,” photos of a single comic—The Atom #25—in deteriorating conditions, pinpointing how its defects affect its grade), preservation and storage, pedigrees, production, and collecting by character, genre, company, creator, etc. Plus it’s smartly designed and easy to read. Here we’ve shown its Spider-Man cover by Joe Jusko, and its Direct Market Exclusive DC cover. What a bargain, for $19.95! Visit www.gemstonepub.com for details.

GOODBYE, CBG! By the time this edition of BI reaches you, Comics Buyer’s Guide will be no more. Some of my fondest memories of comics reading and collecting harkens back to the 1970s and 1980s, when founder Alan Light’s tabloid newspaper The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom (launched in 1971) would be mercilessly crammed into my mailbox. And each issue was crammed with content, from columns to news to ads (where I built much of my collection, and later sold off much of it). Don and Maggie Thompson, Murray Bishoff, Robert Ingersoll, Peter David, and Mark Evanier are just some of columnists who graced TBG—later CBG—over the years. It will be remembered and lionized elsewhere, I’m sure (I hear Roy Thomas is working on a tribute in Alter Ego), but I couldn’t let this editorial pass without expressing my regrets over its cancellation and my thanks to its contributors. 2 • BACK ISSUE • Backups Issue

Michael Eury

For me, one of the joys of reading Bronze Age DC Comics was the backup series— those quick-in, quick-out short stories you’d find on the heels of the latest Superman tale in Action Comics or Batman team-up in The Brave and the Bold. Back then, backups provided a home to characters that weren’t considered A-listers, from former headliners like Metamorpho the Element Man, to familiar faces who had yet to graduate to stardom like Green Arrow, to non-traditional newbies like Nemesis. (Backup series also have a warm spot in my heart since the “Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham” backup I wrote for 1987’s Marvel Tales #205 was one of my first comics credits.) This issue we explore some fondly remembered backup series of the 1970s and 1980s. Bob Greenberger’s lead feature, featuring one of our cover stars, Green Lantern, might surprise many of you who weren’t reading comics back then (or at least weren’t reading The Flash), but it’s true—after being in the (pun alert!) limelight in his own series for well over a decade, the Emerald Crusader took a back seat to the Fastest Man Alive. While each of our articles this issue is engaging, I’m enamored with John Wells’ behind-the-scenes retrospective of a fanboy favorite from the ’80s, DC Comics Presents’ “Whatever Happened To…?” This feature hosed off many of DC’s moldy oldies for a last look, but ultimately created continuity problems with new material being produced at the time. Particularly interesting is John’s disclosures of Mike Tiffenbacher’s proposed-butrejected WHT? spotlights for a variety of mothballed DC characters including a personal favorite, Captain Action. Before you take ye ed to task for overlooking popular backups like the Human Target, I kindly refer you to our back issues (www.twomorrows.com), as many backup features have been explored in previous issues. But our mix in the pages to follow should please our DC readers, and for you Marvel Zombies who feel left out—remember, Marvel dominated last issue, and will do so next issue as well.

Robert Greenberger

The 1970s was not a kind decade to DC Comics’ superheroes. Experiencing a period of transition on many levels, the company’s administrative needs and struggle with a changing distribution landscape, coupled with its focus on other genres, left its stalwart heroes and heroines somewhat adrift. The decade began with a bang of energy as Superman editor Mort Weisinger retired and Julie Schwartz was asked to reinvigorate the Man of Steel, just as he was freshening the Dark Knight after the Batmania fad quickly dissipated. Comics from both DC and Marvel Comics began to deal with real-world issues, and suddenly “relevance” was the catchphrase on everyone’s lips. Leading the way was Schwartz’s Green Lantern. Rescued from sales oblivion thanks to the creative team of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, the book evolved from a space opera into a morality play. O’Neil and Adams brought Green Arrow into the series to provide a liberal counterpoint to GL’s more conservative outlook and took the green-clad duo across America in search of truth. Newspapers and magazines noticed and wrote about it, especially when the series became the first to deal with drug addiction while still carrying the Comics Code (credit goes to Stan Lee for defying the Code earlier with Amazing Spider-Man). Schwartz delighted in letting his team explore realitybased themes, and the early-1970s’ run of Green Lantern/ Green Arrow, from #76–89, remains one of the most creative stretches from any editorial office. The problem remained that sales rose, then stagnated, while the creative team struggled to meet the publication deadline. Issue #88 (Feb.–Mar. 1972) was a reprint to buy time, and then came one final issue. With the writing on the wall, Schwartz knew the title was going to be canceled but liked GL, having been the man to resurrect and revamp the name back in 1959. He decided, better Green Lantern be reduced to a backup feature than gone entirely from sight. No stranger to backups, which were a DC mainstay during the 1940s–1950s, Schwartz found a home for the ringwielding hero in the pages of The Flash.

BACK IN A FLASH Four months after the final issue of Green Lantern saw print, GL, GA, O’Neil, and Adams took up residence in Flash beginning with #217 (Aug.–Sept. 1972). Previous backups in that title had featured the Elongated Man, Kid Flash, and even the Flash from EarthTwo, so readers were not necessarily shocked to find the Sultan of Speed sharing space.

Relevance Relegated to the Rear Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ award-winning Green Lantern/Green Arrow feature was demoted into the back pages of The Flash beginning with issue #217 (Aug.–Sept. 1972). GL/GA image, from the 1976 Super DC Calendar, is by Adams and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

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Hard-Traveling Heroes Behold! Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), an original art page from the first GL/GA backup, which appeared in The Flash #217 (Aug.–Sept. 1972). Words by Denny O’Neil, art by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

According to O’Neil, “We knew that the book was By issue #220 (Feb.–Mar. 1973), though, Adams, headed for cancellation, but Julie wanted to continue it, Green Arrow, and Black Canary were gone. Hal Jordan at least a little. Hence, the three-parter” starring GL and was down to his last $200, done searching for America, GA that ran in Flash #217–219. still reduced in status and power as a member The story O’Neil wrote was his angry of the Green Lantern Corps, and adrift. response to Green Arrow’s callous killing Driving through a desert, Jordan thought, of a criminal in The Brave and the Bold “It’s good to be alone—all that #100, in a story written by Bob Haney, hassle with Green Arrow … him who didn’t pay much attention to accusing me of being an establishment the characterization used by host cop-out … me saying he’s a hotseries’ writers. headed kid … then, to cap it, Black Nearly four decades later, the Canary nearly being killed by a maniac writer tells BACK ISSUE, “I didn’t rip driver … more than I could take!” the plot from the headlines, maybe as So began GL’s transition from a acknowledgement that our good relevant hero to just another supertimes were all gone. I think this was hero having adventures, which was the first completely character-driven also reflected in so many of the DC denny o’neil piece I ever did. Back then, plot was hero titles of the time. still king.” This particular story, with O’Neil doesn’t recall why Adams Oliver Queen killing a man and running away to an left or what prompted him to jettison Green Arrow. ashram to regain his moral center, wound up resonating There was “no grand plan, ever,” he admits. “We pretty for years to come, and played a major role in the much made it up as we went along. If some element archer’s continuity in the 1990s and 2000s. vanished … maybe we just forgot about it.” Interestingly, despite Hal Jordan and a wheelchairbound Carol Ferris rekindling their romance at the conclusion of GL #84, she was never referenced or seen during Green Lantern’s tenure as a backup hero. Similarly, none of his familiar rogues were used as antagonists. According to O’Neil’s hazy memories, there was no reason to avoid them; it just never happened. (In Superman #261, on sale the same month as Flash #220, readers saw Carol seated in an airplane when she hallucinates a battle with Green Lantern and Superman. That prompted a flare-up of her Star Sapphire persona, who fought the Man of Steel and ultimately disappeared. The story closes with Carol walking off the airplane. Although never stated as such, the magic of Star Sapphire presumably canceled out the earlier spell that prevented Carol from walking.)

MYSTERIES IN SPACE For the four years Green Lantern appeared in the pages of Flash, he did have escapades, beginning on Earth with alien menaces, and then slowly shifting the focus once more to the breadth of Space Sector 2814. Early on, Green Lantern asked dispensation from the Guardians of the Universe to be given his full power back to deal with a threat, but they never seemed to have reduced his ring’s power after the mission was concluded. Indeed, the Guardians were seen calling on Green Lantern to deal with interstellar affairs. After all the earthbound, reality-driven stories, this was a significant change of pace for the character and his readers. According to O’Neil, “There was no reason not to have space fare, and maybe we were trying for some visual and plot variety. I had a soft spot for oldfashioned spacers.” No sooner did Neal Adams leave than an alien came gunning for Hal Jordan in “A Duel for a Death-List,” the first of a two-parter that set the tone for what was to pretty much follow through Flash #246 in 1977. Staying behind with O’Neil, though, was Adams’ inker, Dick Giordano, who took over the penciling chores, making a nice visual continuity for the character and letting the artist stretch a bit. It was here that the Guardians ended their champion’s “two-year” leave of absence from the GL/GA arc, ending their differences with Jordan. The alien represented a new species, and the mystery of why he wanted Jordan (and other Lanterns) dead

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wound up settled in space, on Titan. We learned that the “special ore” used to fashion power rings and power batteries could be found on Titan, and furthermore, the ore’s potential could be tapped through will power. The aliens were of a race exiled eons ago to Titan by the Guardians, and were forced to mine the mineral for them. They sought the specially made rings to tap their power to give them the ability to teleport through the vastness of space and seek revenge on the Oans. While Schwartz and O’Neil never connected the series to the rest of the DCU, as a reader, I immediately saw the connection between this and Titan becoming the homeworld to the 30th Century’s Imra Ardeen, also known to Legion of Super-Heroes readers as the telepathic Saturn Girl. (And to be fair, older readers probably tried to reconcile this with Kral, who hailed from a populated Titan according to the Superboy story in 1954’s Adventure Comics #205.) Ever since, I always wanted to read a story showing how man settled on Saturn’s moon and mentally evolved thanks to the natural elements. I even looked for such connections when Greg Potter and Gene Colan’s Jemm, Son of Saturn series debuted, but remain disappointed to this day.

“GREEN LANTERN” BACKUPS IN THE FLASH The first three stories are a three-part Green Lantern/Green Arrow adventure. Green Lantern solo stories begin in issue #220. • • • • • • • • • • •

The Flash #217 (Aug.–Sept. 1972) The Flash #218 (Oct.–Nov. 1972) The Flash #219 (Dec. 1972–Jan. 1973) The Flash #220 (Feb.–Mar. 1973) The Flash #221 (Apr.–May 1973) The Flash #223 (Sept.–Oct. 1973) The Flash #224 (Nov.–Dec. 1973) The Flash #226 (Mar.–Apr. 1974) The Flash #227 (May–June 1974) The Flash #228 (July–Aug. 1974) The Flash #230 (Nov.–Dec. 1974)

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The Flash #231 (Jan.–Feb. 1975) The Flash #233 (May 1975) The Flash #234 (June 1975) The Flash #237 (Nov. 1975) The Flash #238 (Dec. 1975) The Flash #240 (Mar. 1976) The Flash #241 (May 1976) The Flash #242 (June 1976) The Flash #243 (Aug. 1976) The Flash #245 (Nov. 1976) The Flash #246 (Jan. 1977)

The Incredible Two-Headed Flash

THE OTHER “WORLD’S FINEST” DUO After five installments, the backup feature took a breather in The Flash #222 (July–Aug. 1973) as Green Lantern co-starred with the titular star, his longtime ally. Between 1962 and 1969, editor Schwartz had overseen seven crossovers between the newly revived Flash and Green Lantern, with an eye toward igniting a World’s Finest–like pairing. With Green Arrow no longer supplanting the Flash as GL’s closest pal, the annual team-ups could now resume. In #222, Schwartz, with writer Cary Bates and penciler Irv Novick aboard, tried again. In “The Heart That Attacked the World,” Sinestro partnered with the Weather Wizard to off their hated foes. Somehow the Weather Wizard created a cloud cover that prevented the Guardians from observing their dire deed, but the Oans never had to worry—the heroes prevailed. This was the first appearance of the Emerald Crusader’s Korugarian foe since Green Lantern #82, just before the change in the title’s status quo, and it certainly made for an odd pairing for the rogue. The next GL backup story, “Doomsday … Minus Ten Minutes” in Flash #223, was a nice one-off from O’Neil and Giordano, in which an alien couldn’t make itself Neal Adams was back as penciler understood and GL perceived it to be for the next backup (#226), a visually a menace. But all the alien really imaginative story as Hal eats bad wanted, as we learned on the last mushrooms while camping out and page, was an energy recharge so it has power-ring-fueled hallucinations. could once more take to the stars and continue its travels. Following in #224 GL SALUTES THE was a silly, old-fashioned caper (“Yellow BICENTENNIAL— is a Dirty Little Color!”), the kind that ONE YEAR EARLY was typical a decade earlier, as GL The following GL backup brought was accused of robbery but the truth dick giordano in Dick Dillin to pencil, with inker lay in a bag with a yellow interior. Giordano sticking around to sharpen Flash #225 (Jan.–Feb. 1974) the artwork. Dillin was a former reteamed the heroes, this time with the Reverse-Flash Blackhawk artist pressed into superhero service when as the foe, and introduced the one-time-seen Green that title was canceled in 1968. He was an accomplished Lantern of 2473. As usual, this vision of the 25th Century storyteller, known for handling huge casts, including didn’t resemble previously established ones, nor was it his lengthy tenure on Justice League of America. Paired ever revisited. Giordano inked Novick for this advenwith the right inker, like Giordano, Dillin was as good ture, so the feature had a nice, slick look to it (with as it got, month after month. Novick one of the more underrated artists of this era). Backups Issue

Okay, this outlandish cover for Flash #220 (Feb.–Mar. 1973) would’ve been stretching it even during the wildest moments of the Silver Age. Still, it’s nicely rendered by Dick Giordano, and the blurb gives a BIG nod to the GL backup. TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Fast Friends During the Silver Age, editor Julius Schwartz established that the Scarlet Speedster and Emerald Crusader were buddies in a handful of crossovers including (above left) Flash #168 (Mar. 1967, cover by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella). During his backup stint, GL would occasionally face front as a co-star in issues such as (right) Flash #225 (Jan.–Feb. 1974, original cover art by Nick Cardy; courtesy of Heritage) and (bottom left) Flash #235 (Aug. 1975, cover by Dick Giordano). TM & © DC Comics.

The story—“My Ring … My Enemy!” (Flash #227)—seemed innocuous enough, as the Emerald Crusader routinely captures criminals, but his behavior becomes increasingly erratic. He learns this has been caused by a yellow-hued explosion in the sky that affected his personality. In the following installment, Green Lantern discovers that the explosion was caused by a pair of aliens, and the chase is on. As noted above, Dillin thrived under a strong inker. Giordano was gone from the strip after part one, replaced in Flash #228 by veteran Frank Giacoia, who was not a good fit. Things got better with the next installment (which ran in #230, since Flash #229 was a 100-Page Super-Spectacular with a GL reprint in the mix) as Tex Blaisdell, another veteran artist, then briefly inking and editing for DC, stepped in to ink Dillin for several stories. In this tale, which continued into #231, the hero traced the aliens into space and to their ship, where we all encountered the unexpected presence of Aaron Burr. Yep, it was almost time to celebrate the US Bicentennial, and this prompted all sorts of patriotically themed stories in DC’s line (as well as from other publishers). [Editor’s note: Want to learn more about Bicentennial comics? See BACK ISSUE #49.] 6 • BACK ISSUE • Backups Issue

By this time, more of the GL backups were serialized, rather than standalone stories, partly because that’s what DC’s editorial team thought the readers wanted and partly due to the dropping page counts in the comics. O’Neil recalls, “I never had any problem doing standalones. That’s what we knew how to do. The serialized stuff was still pretty new.” As for revealing that the former US vice president was still alive and well in the 20th Century, O’Neil admits, “Don’t know [why] now, if ever I did.” In the story itself, Burr explained that he had been abducted by the aliens, who managed to extend his life. The aliens carefully provided a duplicate Burr to die in the infamous duel with founding father Alexander Hamilton that we recall from history class. The real Burr dedicated himself to bringing order and change to the aliens’ dysfunctional empire. Once a threat to Burr is dispatched, an impressed Green Lantern offers to bring Burr home, but the man refuses, feeling there is more to be done and that his time in America is a thing of the past.

After that somewhat bizarre offering, GL got an issue off as Flash #232 was 100-Page Super-Spectacular, so an earlier Flash/GL teamup reprint would have to suffice. Issue #233 (May 1975) brought some changes, starting with the title’s increase in frequency to monthly. Returning to the GL backup’s inks was Giordano, accompanied by assistant Terry Austin, who received some of his earliest in-print credits. You could see Austin’s precise line work here, sharpening Dillin’s pencils more than even Giordano himself had done. The two-parter in #233–234 was another space case, this time with a stolen US Army tank and crew taken by gambling aliens to pit it against a similar vehicle from another world. When Green Lantern learned of the danger to his fellow Earthmen, he intervened.

ITTY-BITTY SIDEKICK

If there’s anything memorable about GL’s solo run as the backup feature, it could be found in this six-part tale, as it gave readers the first non-humanoid sidekick since the Martian Manhunter’s partner Zook: Itty. When the galactic protector next encountered the Ravagers, he stopped them from destroying an artificial world built by the ancient Vivarium, home to a race of barely sentient beings known as the Aryie. These were limbless beings with worm– like bodies and starfish heads. One, the brightest of the bunch, attached itself to GL, who gamely adopted the being, nicknaming the companion “Itty.” To readers’ surprise, Itty accompanied GL in subsequent tales and for some time to come. All these years later, O’Neil says there was “no master plan. A SLOW CLIMB TO SOLO STATUS I intro’ed him and Julie [Schwartz] kind of liked him While all this was going on, Green Lantern was far from and after a few issues, he wasn’t going anywhere, idle across the DC Line of Super-Stars. In fact, he was so … we amped him up, and exit stage left.” a regular guest-star in quite a few series. For example, Actually, Denny compressed the timeframe; between this issue and the next, he could chronoItty was around for years. He accompanied GL as logically be found in Justice League of America he sought the Ravagers, protecting the natives #118–121, Superman Family #171 (the Supergirl terry austin of Archos. Once more, Itty displayed enough feature), and was on hand to welcome Wonder instinctive knowledge to nudge his newfound Woman back into the JLA in Wonder Woman #222 friend, saving his life. (he had also guest-starred in that series in #214). He was seen standing Itty remained a fixture in the series, repeatedly coming to Green over the Man of Steel’s corpse on the cover to Action Comics #444 Lantern’s aid. He even put up with Green Arrow’s barbs when the two (another use of Sinestro), while Hal Jordan was briefly seen in The Joker #7. heroes reunited in 1977. Itty wound up getting possessed by Ffa’rzzm, Concurrent with Flash #233, GL headlined DC Special #17 an alien also known as the Mocker. It took GL, GA, and Green Lantern (Summer 1975), co-edited by Schwartz and E. Nelson Bridwell, Katma Tui of Korugar to free Itty in Green Lantern #97–99. When Hal’s basically a celebration of the Silver Age Green Lantern packed with reprints and special features. By this point, Schwartz had recognized Mike Grell as artistic heir to Neal Adams via the Action Comics Green Arrow/Black Canary backups, so it seemed logical to have Grell draw the cover to the GL reprint giant. Sales and reader response were phenomenal, according to Bob Rozakis in the letters column of DC Special #20 (on sale in November 1975 and cover-dated Jan.–Feb. 1976), which once again starred Green Lantern. That second reprint giant (with another Grell cover) was explicitly published to test the waters for a full-fledged Green Lantern comic-book revival. By Flash #235 (Aug. 1975), you’d think that GL would be ready for some me-time, but instead he partnered with the Fastest Man Alive for the third time in a new story since moving into the pages of Flash. Interestingly, this is in the only time during this period that Carol Ferris is seen in an adventure. Cary Bates selected Vandal Savage as the antagonist du jour and sent the heroes to Earth-Two to rescue Carol and Iris Allen. Finally, in Flash #237 (Nov. 1975), there is a feeling of progress. Part of that comes from the arrival of Mike Grell as penciler. The young artist had already made his name with Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes and assorted Schwartz-edited backups. Grell was about to really get noticed as his Warlord series debuted at the same time as this multi-parter. He was on hand for a GL six-parter, the longest serial yet attempted, running in issues #237–238 and 240–243. The ring-wielder was sent by a Guardian to deal with the Ravagers of Olys, a belligerent race that claimed to be at work completing six deadly tasks to qualify for joining some intergalactic union. First up: annihilating all sentient life on Zebron. The Grell artwork has an Adams feel to it, although Bill Draut’s inks (#237) don’t add much to the pencils. Tex Blaisdell, following Draut, does a far better job. It gets even better when Terry Austin steps in for the final installment in Flash #243 (Aug. 1976).

“Cosmos-Spanning Tale” Writer O’Neil returned Hal Jordan to space-spanning adventures during GL’s backup run. From Flash #237 (Nov. 1975). Art by Mike Grell and Bill Draut. TM & © DC Comics.

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Put Your Head on My Shoulder (left) GL’s li’l pal Itty hitches an Atom-like ride on this original art page from Flash #240 (Mar. 1976). O’Neil/ Grell/Blaisdell page courtesy of Heritage. (right) DC’s Ring-Master gets a reprint giant— and an eye-catching Grell cover—in DC Special #17. TM & © DC Comics.

young cousin (also Hal) joined the cast as the new Air Wave an issue later, he liked Itty and wound up taking care of him until Itty went into hibernation and emerged as an unrecognizable lifeform that thirsted for calcium. With the Atom’s help, Hal realized this colossal threat was his little pal and they had to help him, which involved a confrontation with Sonar before the heroes finally got a handle on the situation. Itty, now able to communicate, apologized for the trouble he caused and used his new teleportation ability to return to the stars. Finally, O’Neil brought down the curtain on Itty in Green Lantern #106, three years after his introduction. (Itty’s story wasn’t over by a long shot—but that’s a tale for another time.)

THE GREEN TEAM RETURNS After dealing with the Olys threat, Hal returned to Earth, and a good thing, too. The two Green Lanternstarring DC Specials sold well enough to encourage DC publisher Carmine Infantino to commission a GL

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issue of 1st Issue Special (FIS). The plans fluctuated constantly—an also-planned Green Arrow/Black Canary tryout was stalled in the pencil stage—and the project morphed into a Green Lantern/Green Arrow revival written and edited by O’Neil. With the cancellation of FIS, Infantino elected to simply revive the GL/GA title. During this time, Schwartz continued running the Green Lantern backups in Flash because Green Lantern was, editorially speaking, still his character. It was only when he was informed that he would be editing GL effective with issue #93 (Feb.–Mar. 1977) that he ended the backups, the last appearing in Flash #246 (Jan. 1977). Schwartz intended to edit sci-fi-based Green Lantern solo stories like those published in the two DC Specials and had O’Neil write an opening scene wherein Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance would essentially be written out of the book following a Thanksgiving meal. Instead, as Bob Rozakis explained in GL #94’s letters column, “response to the first GL/GA [#90] of our new series was so overwhelming that [newly arrived] publisher Jenette Kahn insisted we keep the Emerald Duo together in the magazine.” Consequently, the Green Lantern co-starring Green Arrow logo on issue #94’s cover included the addition of GL and GA headshots, and the Gil Kane-drawn running GL figure that had been in the center of the logo for years was dropped with #95. Clearly, Green Arrow played an active role in the series. Also, while O’Neil may have been impressed with Grell’s art on the GL backup strip, he apparently was going to assign Jack Kirby to draw the story that eventually appeared in GL #90. That’s what Grell remembered in Comics Scene #9 (May 1983), at least. Grell was inspired to enter the comics industry after seeing 1970’s GL/GA #79 during his stint in the

The Green Team The Emerald Buddies as rendered by Mike Grell, from DC’s 1978 Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters. TM & © DC Comics.

Air Force and joked to me in that 1983 interview that he asked Denny “Who do you want killed?” in order to get the assignment drawing the revival. “I think what I really said was, ‘Oh please, oh please, oh please.’ He said OK. I enjoyed it tremendously working with Denny O’Neil. He’s another of the best writers working in comics.” In the Emerald Crusader’s final appearance as a backup feature, a two-parter in Flash #245–246, Green Lantern (and Itty) were pitted against a familiar rogue—just not one of GL’s usual foes. Jason Woodrue, a criminal from another dimension who, as the Plant-Master, battled the Atom, was now engaged in a war between sentient plants. The Plant-Master, last seen a decade earlier in The Atom #24, ingested a serum and was transformed into a wood–like being dubbed the Floronic Man. Considering it was the Earth-Two GL who had a weakness to wood, the Floronic Man’s attempt to kill a ringless GL by encasing him in bark could be considered ironic. Of course, the villain didn’t count on Itty’s presence and Itty once more saved the day. These final chapters were from Dillin and Austin, an attractive pairing. And with that the Flash shifted to being the sole inhabitant of his title, which also ended the team-ups for quite some time. As for the shift from backup to headliner, O’Neil may have been charged with producing the new book, but he claims, “I had no idea why such editorial decisions were made and I still don’t.” And with that, the somewhat aimless Green Lantern backup series drew to a close, a largely forgotten chapter in the hero’s career. It was so obscure that one day I was sitting in a DC exec’s office, thumbing through the proofs to a forthcoming collected editions catalogue, and saw that Showcase Presents Green Lantern vol. 5 was planned to include GL #76–100. I casually asked about the Flash backups and got a blank stare. After my visit, I followed up with emails to the appropriate parties and lo and behold, vol. 5 now contains the backups (although the three Flash team-ups were disqualified under the Showcase editorial directives). These were largely inconsequential stories, keeping the character appearing regularly for four years. During this period, the approach to storytelling at DC was maturing and evolving, recognizing the change in its readership. It could be also that Denny was finally

figuring out how to handle the shorts by aiming for a more ambitious story via serialization (the Olys arc) or by modernizing an old villain (Jason Woodrue) into a genuine threat, absolutely the most successful thing to come out of those stories. The GL backups can be viewed as a harbinger of the industry approach to superheroes today, one where the civilian identity is functionally irrelevant. Within those stories, Hal not only had no friends who weren’t also superheroes but literally had no day job. He was a drifter explicitly stated (in Flash #224) to be drawing unemployment checks. One could say the same about Jordan in O’Neil and Adams’ GL/GA run, but those stories had a gravity about them that distracted readers from such details. Even though Denny eventually restored Hal to full employment— first as a trucker in 1977 and then at Ferris Aircraft in 1979—the character’s turn as a drifter attached a “loser” stigma to the hero that he never fully shed and which was one of the contributing factors that led DC to replace him with an ostensibly cooler character like Kyle Rayner in 1994. Denny O’Neil admits that there was no deep consideration given to Hal or GL; it was just a regular eight-page assignment every month or so. I asked him if he had reread the stories now that they are conveniently collected. His reply: “Interesting ride. Our best times were our early times, of course, but not everything that followed was dreck. By the way … I still don’t read published work unless I have a compelling reason to. If I want to torture myself, I’ll look at the political news.” With thanks to John Wells for his usual excellent backup assistance. ROBERT GREENBERGER is a longtime comics historian and former staffer at DC Comics and Marvel Comics. A fulltime freelance writer and editor, his recent works have included The Essential Superman Encyclopedia (with Martin Pasko) and The SpiderMan Vault (with Peter David). He continues to write reviews for ComicMix.com, and more about Bob can be found at BobGreenberger.com.

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It began back in the summer of ’69. As chronicled in DC’s Justice League of America #74 and 75 (Aug. and Sept. 1969), millionaire Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen had lost almost all of his vast fortune and Dinah (Black Canary) Drake Lance was tragically widowed. His simplistic views of the world changed, as did his apparel and look, and he became a hot-tempered, wisecracking, obstinate, leftist activist. She changed parallel universes, from Earth-Two to EarthOne, to cope with the death of her husband, Larry Lance, but lost none of her compassion. They found comfort in each other despite their differences, and a relationship formed, a loving one, yet tumultuous. Hmm … were the Emerald Archer and the Blonde Bombshell a kind of “John and Yoko” of the DC superhero community during the Bronze Age of comics? ponders this writer. Elliot S! Maggin, Mike Grell, and Mike W. Barr will weigh in shortly on this matter, and other GA/BC-related topics. The “ballad” of Oliver and Dinah is a lengthy song, detailing a strong, often fragile romance that managed to endure over 40 years. While their history together goes beyond the scope of this issue’s backup feature theme, said theme allows us to focus substantially on the first decade and a half of their relationship. Even that is a force to be reckoned with, so as we would single out destinations on a map for travel purposes, we will hone in on three “locations,” Action Comics, World’s Finest Comics, and Detective Comics, and begin our own journey through the first stanzas of the romance and superheroic exploits of Oliver and Dinah in the pages of Action.

GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY IN ACTION COMICS December 1972–January 1976 Green Arrow’s first backup series in the Bronze Age began in Action Comics #421 (Feb. 1973), and continued in issues 424, 426, 428, 431, 434, 436, 440–441, 444–446, 450–452, and 456–458, for a total of 18 episodes, rotating with two other features, the Human Target and the Atom. Elliot S! Maggin wrote all the stories, with artist Mike Grell receiving a co-scripting credit for #444’s installment. Maggin also adjusted Grell’s original plot featuring the reincarnation of King David, a.k.a. Davy Tenzer, in Action #450–452. Artists included Sal Amendola, Dick Giordano, and Dick Dillin. Grell came on board as illustrator for the remainder of the series beginning with #440. Julius Schwartz edited all episodes. GA also appeared in full-length Superman tales in Action #437 (July 1974), 443 (Jan. 1975), and 455 (Jan. 1976). He could also be found in Justice League of America, The Brave and the Bold #106 (Mar.–Apr. 1973), Wonder Woman #217 (Apr.–May 1975), World’s Finest Comics #231 (July 1975), and The Joker #4 (Nov.–Dec. 1975).

For Better or For Worse— —is the subtitle of the Green Arrow/ Black Canary trade paperback featuring DC’s other dynamic duo, as well as this cover art by Alex Ross. TM & © DC Comics.

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Jim Kingman

First Shot A montage of action (how appropriate!) highlights this splash page to Green Arrow’s first Action backup, from issue #421 (Feb. 1973). Story by Elliot S! Maggin, art by Sal Amendola and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

While Black Canary appeared as Dinah Lance in Action #421 and as needed in subsequent issues, she did not appear in costume until #428. She assumed a more prominent role in #440 (Oct. 1974), further upgrading her starring status per each three-issue mini“epic.” During this time she appeared in JLA, The Brave and the Bold #107 (June–July 1973), Action #443, Wonder Woman #216 (Feb.-Mar. 1975), Superman Family #171 (June–July 1975), and the Joker issue noted above. Although artist Neal Adams and writer Denny O’Neil effectively transformed Green Arrow visually (in The Brave and the Bold #85, Aug.–Sept. 1969, which was written by Bob Haney) and politically (Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76, Apr. 1970, beginning the classic O’Neil/Adams series than ran through #89, Apr.–May 1972), making the Emerald Archer relevant during the turbulent times of the late 1960s and early 1970s, relevancy didn’t sell, and GA’s liberal activism was tabled by the time he separated from Green Lantern in late 1972. Also, Oliver and Dinah had successfully recovered from severe mental and physical ordeals chronicled in a three-part Green Lantern/Green Arrow tale in the back of The Flash #217–219 (see previous article). “I liked Green Lantern as a charelliot S! maggin acter better,” recalls Elliot Maggin, “and Denny preferred Green Arrow, but it was Julie’s perception that GL was the principal character and Denny was the more experienced writer. If it had been either of our decisions it would have gone the other way around. Julie was also a little amused that I patterned the Arrow’s speech patterns after a parody of my own. I spoke fluent ’70s New York villainous path of Catwoman. This two-part Black Canary backup tale, written by O’Neil, is superbly wiseass in those days.” Socio-political causes gave way to the personal as illustrated by Alex Toth, and was reprinted in Black Oliver pursued a steady job and Dinah wrestled with Canary Archives vol. 1. Ollie decided to become a public-relations agent, her romantic feelings for Ollie (her romantic incident with Batman in Justice League of America #84, Nov. and selected as his first job gaining publicity for 1970, had been just that, an incident). As far as Dinah’s shop. He actually started getting pretty good employment was concerned for Dinah, she went with at the profession. An assassination attempt on Black what she knew, establishing a flower shop as she had Canary’s life and a miscast spell spoken by Zatanna that on Earth-Two. Notably, Dinah had already tested the caused the magician to temporarily believe she was job-hunting waters earlier in the year in Adventure Black Canary, complete with feelings for Green Arrow, Comics #418–419 (Apr.–May 1972), only to cross the drew the couple closer together. After Dinah was Backups Issue

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Equal Opportunity Employer (left) A kickin’ page from the O’Neil/Toth Canary chronicle originally published in Adventure Comics #418 (Apr. 1972) and reprinted in Black Canary Archives vol. 1. (right) Ollie was rich again in the continuityblind B&B #106. Cover by Jim Aparo.

kidnapped by a new wave of drug runners infiltrating their hometown of Star City and rescued by GA, the two became inseparable as a crimefighting duo for the remainder of Maggin’s run. Meanwhile, Ollie’s publicrelations gig kind of fell to the wayside. “I never saw their relationship as a John and Yoko thing,” explains Elliot. “What I really had in mind was the relationship between Nick and Nora Charles in Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Thin Man. Nick was a retired cop who got embroiled in a murder mystery and Nora was his much younger, hotter, richer wife who was madly in love with him and well aware of his many shortcomings.” “The romance of Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance— it’s really simple,” asserts Mike Grell. “What made it work was that they were a solid couple who had mutual respect for each other’s abilities and ambitions. They were the only couple in comics at that time that actually slept together. They didn’t need a ring on their finger in order to solidify that. They each had their own career; yes, related, but they went their separate ways and they functioned separate from each other, but

TM & © DC Comics.

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more than equal on every matter that really counted. They enhanced one another instead of one of the characters totally relying on the other one. Dinah did not rely on Ollie, but she contributed to his completeness the same way that he completed her.” Oliver’s arrow inventory ranged from the creatively practical to the feasibly questionable, while also showcasing his inventiveness and impressive arrow-packing abilities for his quiver. Yet how was he able to pay for all the parts, what with his fortune drained, reward money going to charity, and his public-relations job apparently working off a hit-or-miss commission? Well, Oliver did receive a substantial sum of money at the end of B&B #106, so that could explain the adequate funding for his trick arrows. Maggin has his own theories: “How he fit all that stuff into his quiver is a question that occurred to me often when I was a kid. When I grew up and started writing the stuff I put the question out of my head. I think Ollie was something like a D&D wizard who had to prepare a spell in the morning whenever he anticipated needing a particular arrow. Other than that, I’d say the quiver is probably multidimensional. Who knows?” During Elliot’s run, Oliver’s trick arrows included the arrowline (a retractable grappling hook-and-rope arrow that allowed the Emerald Archer to swing around town and up and down and between buildings); the net arrow; the bola arrow (misspelled “bolo” on numerous occasions over the years); the “gun barrel plug” arrow (for keeping all those nasty fired bullets at bay); seemingly dozens of regular shafts; cuff arrows; smoke arrows; and a “bugging” arrow (also known as the “eavesdropper” arrow). For visual fun, the 8-ball arrow packed a mean punch. The flame-impact arrow was also visually impressive, but served virtually no purpose when fired in an enclosed room.

Canary by Cardy Nick Cardy’s Action covers featuring Ollie and Dinah only hinted at their backups via cover blurbs (inset), so here’s a peek at Black Canary as rendered in 2005 by Nifty Nick. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (below) The Brave and the Bold #91 (Aug.–Sept. 1970) is highly recommended for those wanting to see more of Cardy’s rendition of Black Canary. TM & © DC Comics.

Villains during this period were pretty much run of the mill, as Maggin focused on character and developing Ollie and Dinah’s relationship, ranging from hired hitman to jewel thieves to drug smugglers. Once Maggin solidified the couple’s relationship he wrapped up the series with some serious threats to the duo: potential Dinah relied on her superb martialhumankind destroyers in #450–452 arts skills and the erratic sonic cry and Lex Luthor in #456–458. On she acquired when crossing over the heroes side, Action #440–441 from Earth-Two to Earth-One. spotlighted the return of Superman’s “I always found BC’s sonic cry a then-amnesiac, wandering dog, Krypto, useful plot device as long as it wasn’t and it was established in Action used too often,” notes writer Mike #436 that Oliver’s former ward, W. Barr. “I recall some stories where Roy Harper, a.k.a. Speedy, was no BC was using her cry while speaking mike w. barr longer heroin-dependent (as seen dialogue in the same panel, which in GL/GA #85–86) and beginning a was patently absurd. The sonic cry new career as the drummer for a was obviously given to her to even the odds when taking on more powerful enemies. I can’t comment on rock band, Great Frog. “I worked with Julie on GA the way I did with him the authenticity of her martial-arts moves, as I know very little about the mechanics of the martial arts, on everything else,” continues Elliot. “We were two though I am somewhat conversant with the philosophy nerdy Jewish New Yorkers of different generations behind them. As long as the martial-arts moves looked who had peculiar interests and quick tongues. We authentic—as opposed to actually being authentic— argued, we made up, we had a long, co-dependent relationship. Green Arrow was the character with that was all I cared about.” Backups Issue

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Even If You Weren’t a Superman Fan… …the Green Arrow/ Black Canary backup strip, with scripts by Elliot S! Maggin and art by Mike Grell, made Action Comics a must-buy in the Bronze Age! Two pages from Action #451 (Sept. 1975). TM & © DC Comics.

whom I most identified … with the possible exception of Luthor, but that’s another issue. So Green Arrow was different from the other characters for me in a sense that of all the characters I worked with, he’s the one I would most have liked to have for a friend. Dinah is a girl, at least in my own mind, after whom I pined in vain for years. When Neal drew her he even made a point of making her look like my friend.” The backup features GA and BC inhabited were completely separate from the world they shared with other DC superheroes in Justice League of America, The Brave and the Bold, and later in the revived Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Some fairly substantial events in the couple’s lives in those books were never mentioned, at most barely touched on, in their solo series. For example, concurrent to GA’s feature in Action Comics was his rather heated professional relationship with the more conservative Hawkman as depicted in Justice League of America. That feud, along with Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s sudden departure from Thanagar and their rather somber return to Earth a year later, was never mentioned during GA’s run in Action. Also, Ollie’s increase in wealth from B&B #106 was never mentioned. This separation of greater DC Universe continuity from the couple’s backup features would continue, for the most part, throughout the Bronze Age.

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GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY IN TRANSITION 1976 With the conclusion of “The Flight of the Nutty Kid” in Action Comics #458 (Apr. 1976), Green Arrow and Black Canary’s backup series in Action came to a close. Meanwhile, it had been noted in the letters column of 1st Issue Special #11 (Feb. 1976) that GA and BC would be starring in an upcoming issue of that Showcase-inspired title. A more official and detailed announcement was reported in Amazing World of DC Comics #8 (Sept. 1975): GA and BC would be appearing in 1st Issue Special #14, scheduled for a February 1976 release. The story would be written by Maggin and illustrated by Grell. If strong sales emerged, the duo would graduate to their own title. Alas, 1st Issue Special was canceled with #13. It was suggested in the title’s final letters column that the scheduled GA/BC story would appear in its own magazine or a 50-cent giant. Super-Team Family would have been the logical choice for the giant, but that book temporarily went all-reprint with issue #4. Green Lantern/Green Arrow returned in May of 1976 with Black Canary set to make occasional appearances. The Green Arrow/Black Canary story was placed on a shelf in comics limbo, eventually seeing publication months later as the second story in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #100.

Green Arrow co-starred with Batman and the Atom in two consecutive issues of The Brave and the Bold, #129–130 (Sept.–Oct. 1976). Dinah and Ollie appeared in solo outings in Detective Comics #464 (Oct. 1976) and 466 (Dec. 1976) as part of the “Calculator” epic that culminated in ’Tec #468 (Mar.–Apr. 1977). While the couple was featured regularly in Justice League of America, it appeared their published exploits as a crimefighting duo were over. At the end of the year, though, an announcement was made that warmed the hearts of all GA and BC fans. Beginning in January 1977, Green Arrow and Black Canary would appear in solo tales after the lead Superman/Batman feature in the expanded World’s Finest Comics, which would become a Dollar Comic with #244. This new home would sustain them, particularly Green Arrow, for well over five years.

THE “OLIVER QUEEN FOR MAYOR” SAGA Before I go through GA and BC’s run in World’s Finest Comics, I want to discuss Maggin’s “Oliver Queen for Mayor” storyline that appeared in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972), World’s Finest Comics #210 (Mar. 1972), Green Lantern/Green Arrow #100 (Jan. 1978), and World’s Finest Comics #255 (Feb.–Mar. 1979), with a postscript in World’s Finest Comics #258 (Aug.–Sept. 1979). This was a story important enough to qualify as a lead feature, and that became the intention, but its second half endured a troubled publishing schedule, and all in all it took seven years to tell and never really came to the forefront it deserved. In GL/GA #87’s “What Can One Man Do?,” illustrated by Adams and Dick Giordano, outgoing Star City mayor Jack Major wanted Oliver to run for office as his successor, a decision that Ollie found difficult to make, but when a teenager was gunned down before his eyes during a

Vote for Ollie

riot in Star City’s South End slums, a distraught and drained Green Arrow realized what he must do, and told Dinah he had decided to run for mayor. In WFC #210’s “World of Faceless Slaves!,” illustrated by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella, Ollie’s decision to run for mayor hadn’t been made official. Green Arrow and Superman were transported to a magical realm where the power-mad Effron the sorcerer used GA as the challenger to battle a king in a series of arena duels where the winner would reign over all, with Effron running things behind the scenes. When Effron was eventually defeated, Ollie told Superman that he believed the encounter was a hoax perpetrated by the Man of Steel to convince the archer not to run for mayor. With Ollie dropping out of the race, the mayor storyline abruptly concluded… …only to be picked up by Maggin three years later as the plot for 1st Issue Special #14, only to have the almost completed story shelved, only to have it finally published in GL/GA #100, and only five years after the original story’s apparent conclusion. In “Beware the Blazing Infernos!,” illustrated by Grell and Vince Colletta, we caught up with Jack Major, who had run for mayor of Star City again and won, but now his physical health was failing him and he was confined to a wheelchair. Meanwhile, the city’s wealthiest businessmen had become more corrupt, and had utilized Backups Issue

(left) The Superman/ GA team-up in World’s Finest #210 (Mar. 1972) was part of the “Oliver Queen for Mayor” saga. Cover inks by Dick Giordano, over the pencils of Neal Adams, who also illustrated the Green Arrow sketch at right (courtesy of Heritage). TM & © DC Comics.

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the growing proliferation of street gangs to do their dirty work and fatten their wallets. Major did not have to trick Oliver into considering running for mayor again, GA knew that the time had come for him to do so, and mean it. This story set the stage for future development in GL/GA. Instead, where Ollie’s run for mayor developed and ran its tragic course was over a year later in the pages of WFC #255’s “Nothing But a Man,” illustrated by Trevor von Eeden and Colletta. Organized crime rigged the election in Ollie’s favor so that like Jack Major before him, Queen would be a puppet in high office whose strings would be pulled by the corrupt businessmen and mobsters who actually ran Star City. The strain on Major caused him a fatal heart attack. Dinah, who was Ollie’s campaign manager, worked it so it would be officially announced that Ollie lost the election. Dinah knew that it was best for him to carry on as Green Arrow. “I just have very little to add to your store of knowledge on that one,” says Elliot. “If I had my way—which I seldom did in those days—I would have made Green Arrow mayor a lot sooner. He would have forgotten about his secret identity—which he only had, as far I can tell, for reasons of tradition—and you would have had a big city mayor who could also kick ass. I don’t know where his relationship with Dinah would have gone, but I doubt they would ever have gotten married if I had continued with the series.” Gerry Conway touched on Maggin’s story in WFC #258’s “One Man Can Cry,” illustrated by Jose Delbo and Dave Hunt. In the wake of losing the election, Oliver accepted a job offer from George Taylor, Jr., editor of Star City’s Daily Star, to write an op-ed column for the paper. Ollie’s positions on social and political issues finally had a forum that reached out and connected with the populace of the city he loved. He would hold this job for the remainder of the Bronze Age.

GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY IN WORLD’S FINEST COMICS January 1977–July 1982 Green Arrow’s second backup series in the Bronze Age commenced in World’s Finest Comics #244 (Apr.–May 1977), and ran through WFC #284 (Oct. 1982), with the exceptions of WFC #250 (a full-length anniversary epic starring Superman, Batman, GA, Black Canary, and Wonder Woman), WFC #260 (where GA was replaced by the Atom), WFC #267 (which starred Black Canary), and WFC #271 (honoring the World’s Finest team of Superman and Batman with a full-length adventure), for a total of 37 issues. The main writers of the series were Conway, Bob Haney, and Mike W. Barr, with contributions by Tony Isabella, Maggin, Paul Kupperberg, the mysterious Bud Simons, and Joey Cavalieri. Artists included Mike Nasser, von Eeden (who illustrated the majority of the stories), Jerry Bingham, Jose Delbo, Don Newton, Gil Kane, and Dan Spiegle. O’Neil, Jack C. Harris, and Len Wein served as editors. Black Canary’s first and only backup feature during the Bronze Age ran from World’s Finest Comics #244 through #256 (Apr.–May 1979), although with several of these stories dovetailing into or shared with Green Arrow, it seemed a much shorter solo series. While Maggin strengthened Oliver and Dinah’s relationship, Conway reintroduced some tension to it. Dinah’s sudden temper flare-ups, all of them directed at Ollie, caused confusion and concern on his part that

he was somehow to blame, but eventually Dinah admitted that she had never properly mourned the death of her husband Larry and decided it would benefit them both for her to spend some time on Earth-Two to deal with those feelings. Unfortunately, when Black Canary’s series was dropped and Conway left GA’s feature shortly thereafter, this intriguing subplot was never resolved. Haney simply mended the relationship off-panel, and Barr kept it that way. There was a nice mix of returning villains and new foes throughout GA and BC’s run, some recurring, others just a one-shot deal. From World’s Finest #244–263, which I will conveniently dub “the Conway era,” the villains included Rainbow Archer and Slingshot, who would battle GA on numerous occasions (#244); the Man-Bear, the Man-Wolf, and Dr. Moreau (#245–247); Hellgrammite and John Deleon, the man who robbed Oliver Queen of his fortune and was convinced that Queen was actually Batman (#248–249); the first appearance of Count Vertigo, and the Stinger (#251–252); the Glorn, who inhabited the space-time continuum between Earth-One and Earth-Two, adding science fiction to the mix (#253–254); the Clock King (#257); the Searcher, which also dipped into the realm of science fiction, but it made sense as Hawkman co-starred (#259); and Auntie Gravity, who utilized her anti-gravity (get it?) powers to steal money to buy brides for her nephews (#261–262). While relevancy was no longer a driving force as a comic-book theme (and just who needs relevancy when you have Auntie Gravity?), that didn’t stop GA from tackling a few social issues, including collaring criminals preying on the poor and, of course, busting the always-present drug dealers in Star City. “The center-left politics of GA did taper off after a time,” says Mike W. Barr, “but what remained was the contrariness of the character, just separated from the political fulminating. And his love of chili. This enabled writers to keep Ollie in character as long as they didn’t go too far in making him too contrarian, at which point he would have become a curmudgeon. Most writers were able to avoid this extreme. My version of GA was, like my version of Batman, heavily influenced by O’Neil’s, but I tried to take each character in my own direction. “I never considered Ollie and Dinah the ‘John and Yoko’ of the DCU,” continues Barr. “Each one was a formidable opponent in his/her own right, and each contributed lots of backand-forth to the romance, as well. But despite all their bickering, I always saw them as truly in love. They were great fun to write when they argued.” Haney and Barr’s contributions differed from Conway’s approach. Both writers nixed the science-fiction elements and, for the most part, supervillains. For World’s Finest #263–270 and 272–273, Haney focused on GA, and Black Canary more so than not, protecting those living in the dangerous sections of Star City from themselves and the wretches in ivory towers who took advantage of them. Haney also substituted character development for layered plots and interesting

Dollar Comics Regulars (center) When World’s Finest became a page-packed “Dollar Comic” in 1977, Ollie and Dinah found a new home. Note the Neal Adams-drawn Black Canary and Green Arrow headshots flanking the logo on these covers. (opposite page) Canary vs. Count Vertigo, from WFC #251. By Conway/von Eeden/Colletta. TM & © DC Comics.

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twists—the more over-the-top, the better the conviction (a Haney trademark)—even adding an international flair by having GA travel to Count Vertigo’s homeland, the small European country of Vlatava. In WFC #274–278, which I affectionately call the “Stoolie Saga” (columnist Queen refused to divulge a source and consequently went to jail), Barr indeed opted for the O’Neil influence: blunt on plot, hard on character, mixing in detective skills that Ollie rarely displayed, while keeping Dinah firmly at his side. Also, Cavalieri contributed his first GA scripts late in the archer’s World’s Finest run (WFC #279–281). “I’ve always felt I had only two really good GA ideas,” admits Barr, “the ‘Stoolie story’ and the two-parter in WFC #282–283,” where the mother of the hoodlum GA accidentally killed in The Flash #217 sought revenge, and almost succeeded in destroying the Emerald Archer. “The last GA short story I wrote, in WFC #284, was a great deal of fun, though atypical. It was in many ways an Eisner/Spirit story—not literally, the plot is entirely mine.”

Ollie was certainly more inventive when it came to trick arrows during this period. While he never went wrong with the reliable standards, some shafts could perform some pretty wild actions. Notable contraptions included grenade arrows, tear-gas arrows, boxing-glove arrows, stun arrows, and smoke arrows. Notably out-there arrows included the glop (combination of plastic and yeast) arrow; the dazzle arrow; the smogalert arrow (contained dust, ash, sulphur, and hydrocarbons); the earplug arrow; the “pop” arrow; and the itching-powder arrow. All arrows were evenly distributed, of course, in Mr. Queen’s decidedly heavy quiver. “I have never attempted to rationalize how GA made all those trick arrows,” explains Barr, “let alone how they fit into his quiver. If you go too far in deconstructing the methods of the character you wind up destroying him. Once in a great while you can have some fun by having the character run out of arrows—or lose them—and force him to fight hand-to-hand. But you can’t do that too often or it becomes as absurd a cliché as him never running out of arrows.”

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TM & © DC Comics.

Hush Hush, Sweet Dinah Black Canary’s beau with a bow drops in on her solo adventure in World’s Finest Comics #256 (Apr.–May 1979). Original art page courtesy of Heritage. The issue’s cover, by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano, is above. TM & © DC Comics.

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World’s Finest Duo… …and by that we mean writer Mike W. Barr and Gil Kane, who produced this GA/BC adventure in World’s Finest Comics #282 (Aug. 1982). We just love seeing Ollie rendered by the artist best known for drawing his other teammate, Green Lantern—and scripted by Mr. Barr, writer of 1983’s four-issue Green Arrow miniseries (which will get a closer look in BI in a future issue). TM & © DC Comics.

Green Arrow remained active outside of his own feature, not that it reflected in any of his exploits in World’s Finest. Notably, the Emerald Archer continued to appear in Justice League of America until he quit the League in JLA #181–182 (Aug.–Sept. 1980), eventually rejoining the team in JLA #200 (Mar. 1982). He also appeared in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #94–122 (1977–1979); The Brave and the Bold #136 (Sept. 1977), 144 (Nov. 1978), 168 (Nov. 1980), and 185 (Apr. 1982); and DC Comics Presents #20 (Apr. 1980). GA had his origin updated in DC Super Stars #17 (Nov.–Dec. 1977) by O’Neil and Grell. He and Black Canary also starred in an original framing/bridge sequence, written by Barr and illustrated by Spiegle, where they introduced reprinted GA tales in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #23 (July 1982). Black Canary remained an ongoing team member in JLA, was featured frequently in Green Lantern/ Green Arrow, and appeared in The Brave and the Bold #141 (May–June 1978) and 166 (Sept. 1980), DC Comics Presents #30 (Feb. 1981), and Wonder Woman #291–293 (May–July, 1982). Dinah also had her origin updated in DC Special Series #10 (1978) by Conway and artists Mike Vosburg and Terry Austin.

GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY IN DETECTIVE COMICS September 1982–July 1986 Green Arrow’s third and final backup feature of the Bronze Age ran from Detective Comics #521 (Dec. 1982) through Detective #567 (Oct. 1986), with the exception of Detective #526 (Batman’s 500th appearance in the comic), Detective #555 (which reprinted the GA story from Action Comics #431), and Detective #559 (a full-length Batman tale co-starring GA and Black Canary), for a total of 44 seven-page installments. Cavalieri scripted the entire run, with the exception of Detective #549–550, written by Alan Moore, and Detective #558, contributed by the mysterious Dean R. Traven. Many artists illustrated the series, including von Eeden, Irv Novick, Chuck Patton, Shawn McManus, Klaus Janson, and Jerome K. Moore. All stories were edited by Len Wein. Cavalieri delivered new villains throughout his tenure on the series, with only the occasional recurring villain, and even then there was always an interesting twist to the return. They included Hi-Tek, actually a 14-year-old computer whiz who popped up from time to time to aid GA (’Tec #521–522); Machiavelli, former mob consultant, head of the

Wall Street Irregulars, and Star City’s newest crimeboss, albeit temporarily (#523–525); Ozone, wielder of spray cans and their inventive contents (#527–529); the Survivalists, homegrown terrorists (#530–532); the Detonator and the Werewolves of London, a nod to Warren Zevon (#533–536); the Printer’s Devil (#539–540); the Death Dealer #541–542); the Printer’s Devil v.2, the Pinball Wizard, and Bad Penny, banded together to protest robots and automations “stealing” human jobs (#543–545); Vengeance (#546–548); “Arrow-Man,” a punk archer (#549–550); Bonfire, Black Canary’s match (#553–554); Lars, a student at the monastery where Oliver Queen sought forgiveness and enlightenment in The Flash #218–219 (#556–557); Champion, the hero of corrupt insurance companies (#560–563); Steelclaw, revealed as the mayor of Star City (#560–565); and Barricade, formerly known as Lars (#566–567).

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TM & © DC Comics.

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New Look Canary (right) The cover to Detective #554 (Sept. 1985) gives a nod to issue #38’s debut-ofRobin cover. Art by Klaus Janson, colors by Anthony Tollin. (left) GA (and BC) team up with Batman in ’Tec #559 (Feb. 1986), by Doug Moench, Gene Colan, and Bob Smith. Art courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

America veered from the political left to the political right in the late 1970s, settling into an even more conservative groove with the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980. While Green Arrow maintained his leftist stance, relevancy wasn’t anywhere near as tapped into as a “genre” as it had been in comics in the early 1970s. Still, Cavalieri didn’t mind the archer occasionally tackling topical social issues. GA dealt with corrupt landlords (’Tec #537); gun control, in a fine tribute to John Lennon (#538); illegal immigrants (#551–552); and drug dealers (#558)—always an ongoing issue, those drug dealers, as Star City easily qualified as the most drug-ridden American city in the DC Universe. For trick arrows during the Cavalieri era, GA leaned toward the reliable, but from time to time something genuinely creative, sometimes downright implausible, was plucked from his quiver. These included the “smart” missile arrow (with heat seeker); telescoping arrow (with stands/tripods, yep—stick that in your quiver and fit it); foam-extinguisher arrow; inflatable rubber-raft arrow (for those exploits when only one arrow is required in

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the quiver); the puddle arrow; the ultra-high-speed oscillating arrow (a higher-grade gun-barrel plug arrow … no, really); and the self-inflating air-mattress arrow (one premature inflation while traveling across town on the arrowline and GA’s career would be over). During this period, Green Arrow appeared in DC Comics Presents #54 (Feb. 1983), Green Lantern #165 (June 1983), World’s Finest Comics #300 (Feb. 1984), and was finally awarded his own book, a four-issue miniseries by Barr and von Eeden published in 1983. This fine story received, of course, no allusion in his backup series. Black Canary appeared in Wonder Woman #306–307 (Oct.–Nov. 1983), where she was possessed to kill, but that was nothing compared to what she experienced during the 21st annual team-up of the Justice League and Justice Society of America in 1983. It was dramatically revealed in Justice League of America #220 (Nov. 1983) that the Black Canary readers had known since she crossed over from Earth-Two to Earth-One was not the original Black Canary at all, but her daughter. The original Black Canary had died en route to Earth-One and placed in a glass coffin alongside her husband Larry Lance in the dimension of Thunderbolt, Johnny Thunder’s pink genie. Unknown to almost everyone, with a select few conditioned to forget, Dinah and Larry had had a daughter in the early 1950s, but when the infant was cursed by the Wizard with an uncontrollable sonic cry, the Lances sadly allowed their daughter to be held in stasis in the dimension, where her body was allowed to naturally grow, but nothing else. The original Black Canary’s dying request was to see her daughter one last time, but before she died Superman and Thunderbolt came up with the idea to put the dying heroine’s memories in her daughter’s mind, dress the young lady in a Canary costume complete with blonde wig, and let

Ollie’s Incarnations This undated mixed-media portrait shows the Battling Bowman in several stages of his career by an artist (and writer) who’s been along for the ride on several occasions, Mike Grell. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

her, and everyone else, believe that the original Canary had merely changed worlds. Her younger appearance raised suspicions in no one. At story’s end she told Superman that she wanted to be the one to tell Oliver this staggering information. When she did, GA decided to make no mention of it in his backup feature in Detective. In fact, from September of 1982 through December of 1984, Black Canary made no appearances and was not even mentioned in GA’s series. Black Canary still appeared in Justice League of America, until she and GA quit the League when the JLA moved to Detroit in 1984. Black Canary returned to GA’s side in Detective #549 (Apr. 1985), which led to her being felled by a launched arrow (not by Ollie, of course, but by the aforementioned, troubled punk archer). After a sound recovery period, she played a prominent role in the remainder of the series, receiving co-billing status on occasion. In Detective #553 (Aug. 1985), Black Canary’s inability to react to the threat of a supervillainess named Bonfire caused her to question her abilities. Dinah decided it was time to come out from under her mother’s shadow (the first allusion to the events of JLA #120, as far as I can determine), and her first step was making a dramatic fashion change. This new look was introduced on the cover of Detective #554 (Sept. 1985). She ditched the classic apparel and began wearing a very ’80s-style black-and-blue-with-some-white jumpsuit, plus accompanying but awkward shoulder spikes. She also sported a matching headband, maybe because Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon was then very popular and he made colorful headbands all the rage for a short period of time (heck, even I wore one!). [Editor’s note: I always thought the headband craze was inspired by Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical”!] BC’s own personal pajama (I’m sorry, jumpsuit) party continued well after Crisis on Infinite Earths and into Justice League until she finally came to her senses (the costume never worked for me, sorry, although I do appreciate Stephen DeStefano’s design more now than I did then) and burned the outfit (thank you, Brian Bolland, all the same) on the cover of Action Comics Weekly #609 (1988). Cavalieri also introduced Onyx, who first appeared in Detective #546 (Jan. 1985). She was a mysterious woman who sought sanctuary from unknown pursuers in the same monastery Oliver Queen spent time at in The Flash #218–219. When the insurrectionist Lars took over the monastery, its mortally wounded leader ordered Onyx to locate Oliver and bring him back to aid them. Thus began Onyx’s search for GA that lasted months, at one page per episode, with a couple of breaks in-between, that seemed to last longer than it took GA and Onyx to eventually bring down Lars, all of two issues. Green Arrow and Black Canary’s run in Detective ended dramatically and anti-climatically in Detective #567, dramatically because it was the bitter dissolving of a relationship, anti-climatically because it wasn’t theirs. After defeating the villainous Barricade (the hideously transformed Lars), GA and BC were left wondering what had become of Onyx, who had aided them. On the last page of the story, Onyx confronted her new boyfriend, they argued, and then parted ways. GA and BC’s relationship had grown so solid that it was up to an entirely different couple to end the series on a sour note. Overall, though, GA’s run in the back of Detective is quite entertaining and unfortunately overlooked. Cavalieri even introduced a new power for Black Canary late in the series, a kind of limited mind-control, which was never explained. He also injected some great humor into the series, including a clever comparison of GA to Marvel’s Hawkeye that was a long time coming.

GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY Beyond the Bronze Age The Modern Age of Comics would bring a grimmer and grittier tone to Green Arrow and Black Canary’s adventures, beginning with Grell’s controversial chronicling of the couple’s exploits with Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters in 1987. “I tried really hard to separate Ollie from that whole line of prior continuity as much as possible without completely turning it off,” recalls Grell. “You have to acknowledge it in some fashion or another, but one of the things I definitely wanted to change is that I didn’t want to deal with superpowers, superheroes, or supervillains. The appeal to me of Green Arrow was that he has no superpowers—he has a superior skill, archery, but that’s it. I also wanted to put Ollie into that midlife crisis where he’s suddenly thinking about, ‘Geez, I’m getting older, maybe it’s time to start thinking about getting married,’ and it turns out that Dinah is the one who does not want to get married.” You name it, for over the next 20 years Oliver and Dinah experienced it: torture, betrayal, bad haircuts, death, and on a cheerier note, resurrection, reconciliation, and, yes, finally, their wedding. I hope to one day continue the history of their “ballad” … of which I will no longer ponder or posit any Ollie/John/Dinah/Yoko comparisons. JIM KINGMAN purchased his first comic book, DC’s World’s Finest Comics #211, on a family road trip in March of 1972, and has been reading and collecting comic books ever since (with no end in sight).

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“Great Guns!” “Blue Blazes!” “Holy Hannah!” Alliteration run amok? Nah. Just examples of the colorful dialogue for the equally colorful “Fab Freak of 1000-and-1 Changes,” Metamorpho, the Element Man! Metamorpho was first spotted in DC Comics’ house ads prior to his debut in the pages of The Brave and the Bold #57 (Dec. 1964–Jan. 1965). A copy of the cover, accompanied with some terrific text, promised great things to come: “Metamorpho is liquid—solid—gaseous … able to will the chemicals of his body into any shape or form!” “Metamorpho possesses all the power of the universe—from the tiniest electron to the mightiest sun!” “Metamorpho opens a new era in comics thrills— the bravest, the boldest, the most bizarre hero of all time!” And we only had to wait until the sale date of October 29, 1964 to check out this new hero—and what a hero he was, though becoming the Element Man certainly was never the goal of Rex Mason, soldier of fortune.

MEET THE ELEMENT MAN Rex was fiercely independent and had passion for only two things: adventure and Sapphire Stagg, daughter of wealthy industrialist and brilliant scientist Simon Stagg. This, of course, created the tension in the initial storylines. Simon Stagg holds an insatiable lust for power and has no qualms about using his seemingly limitless wealth to pursue it, along with any other leverage he can muster, and while Rex desires to be free of “Mr. Millions” and to spirit away his lady love to a life all their own, Simon will use any trick or treachery to keep both under his thumb. Still more tension exists via Java, Stagg’s revived and intellectually enhanced prehistoric manservant. Java has the physical makeup and great strength of the large simian–like caveman he resembles, but has been given intelligence to be able to interact with the world he’s been brought into. He has strong desires of his own, both to please his master and to win the love of Sapphire for himself, causing another antagonist for Rex Mason. The Element Man came about quite by accident in this debut story titled, appropriately enough, “The Origin of Metamorpho.” Rex is dispatched to an ancient pyramid to fetch the Orb of Ra, an artifact that contains legendary power and is therefore coveted by Simon Stagg. The payoff: a cool million dollars. The downside? Java is accompanying Rex on the trip—and we know where his interests and loyalties lie. Once inside the pyramid, the pair discovers the Orb of Ra and immediately a fracas breaks out as Java is determined to get credit for the find and to maroon Mason there. After a brief battle, Rex is

And You Thought the Addams Family was Freaky… Undated Ramona Fradon pencil sketch of the Metamorpho cast, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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Bryan Stroud

knocked unconscious and Java departs with the artifact. Mason, however, remains unimpressed, wanting only Rex awakens a short while later to discover he is on to be restored to his natural state and to marry Sapphire, an automated platform that his body weight has who is initially taken aback at his new appearance but activated and is being transported to the very heart proposes he use his new abilities for good until a cure of the pyramid, where a chamber holds a meteor is found. Simon, meanwhile, quietly stashes the Orb or that has begun to glow and give off great heat. Ra as an insurance policy and some leverage. Convinced his number is up, just prior to blacking Thus the basis for Metamorpho is established, out Rex ingests a chemical formula Stagg had given along with the conflicts of a man thrust into a position him, concealed in his ring, that he was instructed to he didn’t desire, and at least two people close to him take if death was imminent. who certainly do not have his best interests at heart. The meteor glows brighter and hotter, Metamorpho was conceived through a then cools and fades. Rex revives and group effort, according to his original artist, staggers out of the chamber, in awe Ramona Fradon: that he has somehow survived when “I believe George Kashdan thought he comes upon a full-length mirror in of the basic concept—a character who an upper passageway and sees for the could recombine the four elements to first time the weird transformation produce different effects—but Bob of his body. Haney fleshed him out and wrote the His hairless head is now white, original plot. I designed the characters and his body, devoid of clothing save after reading Bob’s script. The a handy pair of trunks, seems to be Metamorpho character took a lot of divided into four distinct quadrants thought. At first I gave him the usual with different textures and colors. Reeling from this revelation, but still ramona fradon acutely aware that he is trapped within the confines of the pyramid, he instinctively calls upon his new abilities and converts himself into a gas that can seep out between the stones and to freedom. Mason soon begins to comprehend that he has control of the elements within the human body and can convert part or all of this new form into them at will. Making his way back to the Stagg compound, he is determined to set things right, starting with a kayo to Java with a cobalt right cross. He is about to take on Simon himself when they discover his body is impervious to bullets, but not to the Orb of Ra, which has a weakening effect on the Element Man. A hasty truce is called and Simon Stagg promises to cure Rex of his condition. A series of experiments in Stagg’s lab, however, prove fruitless, though Stagg is greatly impressed with Rex’s invulnerability to electricity or acid. He further confirms through testing that “…your cells have been transmuted into pure forms of the elements found in the human body! Some are the basic building blocks—carbon, oxygen, calcium … some are just trace elements like fluorine and cobalt! Evidently you can will yourself to change completely into any one of these body elements…”

“The Kid and the Corruptors!” Guest-star Randall Stagg complicates “Uncle Rex” Mason’s life when he visits the Staggs in Action #417 (Oct. 1972). Original art by and courtesy of John Calnan. TM & © DC Comics.

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Action Comics #413 (June 1972) Action Comics #414 (July 1972) Action Comics #415 (Aug. 1972) Action Comics #416 (Sept. 1972) Action Comics #417 (Oct. 1972) Action Comics #418 (Nov. 1972) World’s Finest Comics #218 (July–Aug. 1973) World’s Finest Comics #219 (Sept.–Oct. 1973) World’s Finest Comics #220 (Nov.–Dec. 1973) World’s Finest Comics #229 (Apr. 1975)

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The Death of Daddykins?? (left) Original splash page to the Haney/ Calnan Metamorpho freaked-out fable from Action #418, courtesy of Mr. Calnan. (right) Metamorpho’s return in B&B #101 (cover by Nick Cardy) was quickly followed by his Action backup. TM & © DC Comics.

characters were all bizarre and their interactions were so comically rancorous that they influenced my style and I found myself exaggerating their appearances. It was actually a style that came more naturally to me than drawing conventional superheroes. It isn’t often that collaboration works so well, but Bob and I were operating on the same wavelength, and together we produced an offspring that always made us laugh.” When asked if she had a particular inspiration for Java, Fradon reveals, “I had my big brother in mind, who was a kind of caveman type. He used to torture me when we were kids and I got back at him by drawing Java. I never told him, of course.” Metamorpho’s series lasted superhero look—a cape, etc.—but through issue #17 (Mar.–Apr. 1968) that didn’t work, and after a few before cancellation, but you can’t more misses, I finally realized that keep a good Element Man down! Metamorpho was such an unusual A few short years later he was character and his powers had to do back, this time as the backup feature with changing his body on a fundain DC’s Action Comics. Bob Haney was mental level that I decided to make it bob haney still in the writer’s chair, but the new visible and put him in nothing but art team of J. C. and Anderson drew shorts. Then I divided it into four “The 7 Sins of Simon Stagg” in Action distinct areas to represent the four elements, and he was ready to go. I always thought it was funny that Comics #413 (June 1972), under editor Murray Boltinoff. he had an M on his belt—or that he even had a belt— Boltinoff and Haney, with artist Jim Aparo, had recently from the moment he was transformed in that pyramid.” resurrected Metamorpho in a team-up with Batman in Ramona enjoyed collaborating with Bob Haney on The Brave and the Bold #101 (Apr.–May 1972). So, who were J.C. and Anderson? John Calnan Metamorpho, despite the fact that she was involved in only the first four issues of his self-titled book was the penciler and Murphy Anderson inked those after the back-to-back tryout adventures in The Brave first two Metamorpho backup stories, and after and the Bold, making a total of six stories produced by Murphy’s departure following issue #414, Calnan took over inking as well. Ms. Fradon: John Calnan enjoyed his time on the Element “I loved Bob’s scripts. The dialogue and narration were so uninhibited and the action was so fast-paced Man’s feature and graciously shares a few memories of and ridiculous that it was fun illustrating them. The the assignment with BACK ISSUE:

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BRYAN STROUD: From the sound of it, with very few CALNAN: I tried to stay fairly close to it, because she exceptions, Bob Haney was THE author on Metamorpho originated it and had him locked down so nicely. from day one and quite a bit further on. What a kooky character he was! What kooky stories for JOHN CALNAN: He was a good writer. him! I didn’t want to deviate and I know Bob Haney STROUD: What were his scripts like? didn’t want to deviate much. So he was fun to work CALNAN: He had them nailed down pretty well. on. It was a little different than working on one of They were fun to work on, because he had a fertile the straight characters, because this character could do imagination and Metamorpho was one of anything. He could change into gas or metal those characters you could throw any way or other chemicals … acid. He was quite a you wanted. It seemed all right for him. character. It afforded me many different He always seemed to know exactly venues of action because of that. where he was going with it. I didn’t turn up at the DC offices I did six issues as backups for much, so I never got to meet Ramona Action Comics, and after that, if I before she left for the Brenda Starr recall correctly, they switched to daily strip. World’s Finest. It seems like it was STROUD: What do you remember four issues there. about Murray Boltinoff? STROUD: I noticed that occasionally CALNAN: Murray was an absolute doll the credits listed you as simply “J. C.” to work for. He did not complain. CALNAN: I just had a whim. One of He would offer some suggestions. the guys who worked on strips—he I remember once I had so much john calnan did Dr. Kildare and Dark Shadows money out from my other advertising [Ken Bald]—there was some legality agency accounts that I hadn’t been in his contract where he couldn’t use his name, so he paid for yet, and I was running through my bank used his initials and it just struck me as a whim. I thought account. I had something along the lines of two I’d do the same thing. months of money owed to me, so I went up to Murray STROUD: Obviously, you had Ramona Fradon’s design and asked about an advance and he said, “Here’s a to fall back on. I was wondering how many cues you script and here’s the check for it.” I thought that was took from her run on the character with regard to your very nice. own approach. STROUD: Wow! I guess so.

Backups Issue

Title Wave When editors Murray Boltinoff and Julius Schwartz traded Action Comics and World’s Finest Comics, Metamorpho followed Murray to WFC’s backup slot. From World’s Finest #218 (July–Aug. 1973), the backup’s splash page, in color (left), an original art page, courtesy of John Calnan (right), and a peek at the issue’s Cardy cover (background). TM & © DC Comics.

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“Tears of an Element Man!” John Calnan’s art maintained a hint of the whimsy of Metamorpho’s Silver Age tales, but also grounded the Element Man in a reality more congruent with DC’s titles du jour. Original art to story page 3 of the Meta-tale from World’s Finest Comics #220 (Nov.–Dec. 1973). Note, in the issue’s cover (inset below), that Batman’s right boot is inaccurately colored green. (Don’t blame cover artist Nick Cardy for that, though…!) TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

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CALNAN: [chuckles] The only problem then was that after I’d been paid, I had to draw the story. Just a little added pressure. [mutual laughter] STROUD: I noticed that during the first part of your run in Action, Murphy Anderson was your inker. Any idea why it changed? CALNAN: I have no idea, unless it was the timeframe when he began to do his Buck Rogers work on the dailies. STROUD: It seems like after Murphy left, the art style changed a little bit. I’m thinking particularly of Simon Stagg, where his “Kewpie-doll” hairstyle changed. CALNAN: Oh, the swept wings? STROUD: Yeah. CALNAN: I cut ’em down a little bit. I was afraid he was going to fly away. STROUD: [laughs] A valid concern. I notice you got his beetle brows under control, too. CALNAN: [chuckle] Right. The whole cast of characters was fun to work on. Metamorpho afforded not having to use a straight line like you would on Batman or the Flash, Captain Marvel or Superman. This had some fun in it. STROUD: I think that was a large part of the appeal, certainly from the reader’s side. Metamorpho is an old favorite of mine right from the beginning. I think the whole unique, playful attitude really grabbed me. Even if the dialogue got a little hokey sometimes, it was all part of the fun. How quickly did the assignments come? CALNAN: I often had two seven-page stories to do per month, and along with my other work it kept me busy.

METAMANIACS SPEAK The fan response to the return of Metamorpho was equally positive, and the accolades began to roll in immediately, with many particularly intrigued with artist John Calnan: Joseph M. Ferara, Canton, Mass.: “But who’s this fellow Calnan?” Answer: “Who’s Calnan? A darn good artist, we’d say, whose skill is also evident in UNEXPECTED, THE WITCHING HOUR and GHOSTS, True Tales of the Weird and Supernatural.” “The Calnan-Anderson art was quite appropriate to the feature,” wrote Richard H. Morrissey, Framingham, Mass. “Fade-Out for a Freak” was the highlight of the issue,” wrote Jim Balko, Holden, Mass. Mark Lucke, Beevile, TX: “The conclusion of the Metamorpho story was a winner. This strip, given the treatment the first two parts were, will undoubtedly flourish.” Response: “Right—but not in ACTION, which introduces a new feature in the next issue. Watch for Metamorpho’s guest-shot in a near-future issue of JIMMY OLSEN. By then, we hope to have more plans made for the Element Man.” That last editorial response presents something of a mystery. The announced intention was to move Metamorpho to the Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen book, but … it never happened. Instead, our Fabulous Freak ended up as the backup feature in World’s Finest, beginning with issue #218, though he also appeared in the previous issue’s lead feature, co-starring with Superman and Batman. Metamorpho’s comeback in the pages of Action Comics demonstrated the lasting popularity of the character, cementing a firm foundation and he has continued to thrill and delight readers nearly continuously ever since, including one historic re-teaming of Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon in 1st Issue Special #3, though Ramona Fradon feels that it was not their best effort:

“I think we both thought of doing it, but I don’t remember what editor agreed to it. As for the synergy, it wasn’t the ’60s anymore. The times had changed, and so had we, and it wasn’t the same.” Metamorpho is a survivor, making it through multiple adventures, facing off against wild villains, going on to become a founding member of the Outsiders, and coming through the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. We’ve even seen a couple of animated versions of the Element Man. It’s safe to say after nearly 50 years he will always appear whenever and wherever his unique talents are needed.

“The Stranger from the Stars” Calnan drawn-andcontributed original art page, from Metamorpho’s last Bronze Age backup, published in World’s Finest #229 (Apr. 1975). Note that on Ernie Chua’s cover to the issue (background), Calnan’s panel 1 from the above page is replicated.

BRYAN STROUD is a longtime fan of DC Comics, particularly the Silver and Bronze Ages, and has been contributing to the website of his lifelong best friend, Ron Daudt, for over a decade, doing reviews of those classics. Beginning in 2007, Bryan seized an opportunity to begin interviewing the creators of the comics he’s loved and has been fortunate enough to conduct over 70 to date at www.thesilverlantern.com.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Sometimes you find the best of things in the least likely of places. An old baseball glove tucked away in the back of a hall closet. A ten-dollar bill wedged in the back of a couch. Or a run of smartly written and drawn superhero stories in the back of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane entitled “Rose and the Thorn.” The Rose and the Thorn backup series first appeared in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #105 (Oct. 1970). The main character in the series is Rhosyn “Rose” Forrest, whose father was a police detective, killed by a criminal organization known as “the 100.” The trauma of her father’s death leads Forrest to develop a nocturnal personality, the Thorn, who discovers a costume and weapons in the building next door to her apartment and seeks revenge on the 100. The Thorn persona only manifests itself when Rose is asleep, although in later issues, the character becomes almost narcoleptic, enabling the Thorn to emerge whenever trouble arises. The Rose and Thorn personalities are largely unaware of each other, but both are aware of their loss, Rose mourning her father while the Thorn hunts for his killer. The organization called the 100 comprises one hundred criminals, nicknamed the “Centipede of Crime,” and the Thorn makes it her mission to defeat them all, one by one, in retaliation for her father’s murder. Over the subsequent issues, she makes considerable progress toward her goal, finally accomplishing it (with Superman’s help) in issue #122, but it is revealed the following issue that the 100 replaces members it has lost, not unlike Hydra, the villainous organization that battles Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. in the pages of Marvel Comics.

“ROSE AND THE THORN” BLOOMS The Rose and the Thorn was created by writer Robert Kanigher, who was also writing the Lois Lane stories, and was first illustrated by artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. The character was actually a reinvention of a Golden Age DC Comics character of the same name. It was not the first time Kanigher had breathed new life into an old DC character, having co-created the Silver Age Flash with editor Julie Schwartz and artist Carmine Infantino in Showcase #4 in 1956. Kanigher, Andru, and Esposito were also responsible for introducing the Silver Age version of Wonder Woman. As for Rose and the Thorn, the costume of the new Thorn, including mini-skirt, boots, and gloves, actually bore some resemblance to the original character’s, but most of her background story was changed. John Broome and Carmine Infantino created the original Rose and Thorn as a villain who debuted in 1947 in issue #89 of Flash Comics. Rose Canton, as the Golden Age character was known, also suffered from multiple personality disorder. When Canton was

These Chicks Don’t Click Thorn, in a cover appearance drawn by Dick Giordano, from Superman’s (weepy) Girl Friend, Lois Lane #114 (Sept. 1971). TM & © DC Comics.

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Dewey Cassell

“ROSE AND THE THORN” BACKUPS • • • • • • • • •

Lois Lane #105 (Oct. 1970) Lois Lane #106 (Nov. 1970) Lois Lane #107 (Jan. 1971) Lois Lane #108 (Feb. 1971) Lois Lane #109 (Apr. 1971) Lois Lane #110 (May 1971) Lois Lane #111 (July 1971) Lois Lane #112 (Aug. 1971) Lois Lane #113 (Sept.Oct. 1971) – 80-Page Giant featuring reprints of Lois Lane stories, along with a two-page excerpt from an unpublished Flash story featuring the Golden Age Rose and Thorn

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Lois Lane #114 (Sept. 1971) Lois Lane #115 (Oct. 1971) Lois Lane #116 (Nov. 1971) Lois Lane #117 (Dec, 1971) Lois Lane #118 (Jan. 1972) Lois Lane #119 (Feb. 1972) Lois Lane #120 (Mar. 1972) Lois Lane #121 (Apr. 1972) Lois Lane #122 (May 1972) Lois Lane #123 (June 1972) Lois Lane #124 (July 1972) Lois Lane #125 (Aug. 1972) Lois Lane #126 (Sept.1972) Lois Lane #127 (Oct. 1972) Lois Lane #128 (Dec, 1972) Lois Lane #129 (Feb. 1973) Lois Lane #130 (Apr. 1973)

Prickly Protagonist (left) Gray Morrow-drawn page from Lois Lane #111 (July 1971). (above) Cover blurb—drawn by Rose and the Thorn’s first artist, Ross Andru—from the feature’s first outing on LL #105.

studying biology on the island of Tashmi, she came into contact with the sap of a jungle root which caused her to transform into the Thorn, giving her the ability to control plants. Thorn became a nemesis of the Flash, although in her Rose persona she often sought help from his alter ego, Jay Garrick. The Amazons of Paradise Island, birthplace TM & © DC Comics. of Wonder Woman, treat Canton to rid her of the Thorn persona and Canton falls in love with Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. Canton and Scott marry and have twin children, but the I don’t know. I found the passion and dedication he exhibited to be Thorn persona resurfaces, and rather than harm her family, Rose refreshing and stimulating.” Canton takes her own life. In taking over the character, Buckler did not receive Several different artists worked on the new Rose and much editorial direction. “Actually, I was given very the Thorn series, among them Gray Morrow, who gave little background, and no guidance to speak of,” he an ethereal feel to the story, and Dick Giordano, who says. “There were no actual model sheets back drew himself as a villain who turned the Thorn into a then. I only had the previous printed stories to go statue. Giordano was succeeded by a young artist by. What did happen early on was that I got to named Rich Buckler. Buckler describes how he got the meet with Bob Kanigher and we had many creative assignment: “As I recall, Dick Giordano mentioned sessions where we discussed the character in the character to me and asked if I would be depth. That helped a lot.” interested in working on it. Not long after that, Those creative sessions provided Buckler a Bob Kanigher just came up to me in the office and chance to get to know Kanigher better, which only introduced himself. ‘I understand we will be working deepened his admiration for the writer. As Buckler together,’ he said, but in a manner that made it recalls, “Bob was a very special breed of writer. If he seem like we already knew each other.” was afforded the opportunity he would not hesitate rich buckler Some artists would have been intimidated to discuss in intense verbal detail just about any working with seasoned vet Kanigher, but not particular story he wrote—almost like reliving it, as Buckler, who notes, “I was just a mere whelp and here I was working if it had actually all happened in real life. It was that way with Rose with a writer who I considered to be a master storyteller. Other artists and the Thorn. And when Bob and I had these discussions, he would I talked to said they found him difficult to work with. For me, it frequently go off on these wonderful tangents and discuss the works was just the opposite. Maybe it was his intensity that put them off, of other authors or specific movies that influenced him. All very Backups Issue

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Dick—Oh, Behave! (left) Dick Giordano drew himself (albeit in a muscular, and mean-spirited, fashion) in Lois Lane #116 (Nov. 1971). Original art courtesy of Kelly Borkert. (right) A Thorn page from #115. Both episodes feature Batman villainess Poison Ivy. TM & © DC Comics.

inspiring, actually. He was very literate and knowledgeable and well spoken, and he never talked down to me. I just lapped that up.” As they worked together on the series, Buckler earned Kanigher’s trust, which manifested itself in some creative license. Buckler remembers, “Kanigher was very insistent about the artist sticking closely to his original script. However, there was some leeway. If I wanted to break up a panel sequence or move a caption to the next panel, that was okay. Sometimes that had to be cleared by an editor first. But as Bob and I got comfortable working together, more trust developed between us. For example, I was able to use some of my own storytelling devices to graphically enhance the action or pump up the drama of certain scenes. Or sometimes I would insert an extra closeup, or combine several panels into one. Things like that. But I was always very respectful of the content and story structure.” The fresh perspective of a young artist may have been one of the things that made the series so dynamic and entertaining. As Buckler observes, “In terms of the look of the character, I was following

what Dick Giordano and Ross Andru had done. If there were differences, I think those would be found in the storytelling techniques that I was experimenting with. I wasn’t drawing any of DC’s major characters yet. I was working my way up to that. But meantime, I put everything I had into whatever I was assigned to. No reason why a secondary feature had to be second rate, right?” Key recurring plot elements included Rose Forrest becoming romantically involved with her late father’s partner in the police force, Detective Danny Stone, and her working as a secretary for a funeral chapel, secretly run by the 100. Kanigher described Thorn as the Id to Rose’s Ego, referring to her as the “Nymph of Night” and “Vixen of Vengeance.” While the Thorn used violence to subdue the members of the 100, she typically left them for the police to arrest, and she once rescued a would-be assassin who was drowning. Favorite Rose and the Thorn stories of artist Buckler include “The Ghost With Two Faces” and “The Silent Sniper,” which appeared in issue Lois Lane #117 and 119, respectively. It was revealed in issue #120, in the story “Not All Thorns Come from Roses,” that the costume and weapons found and used by the Thorn were originally designed for criminal purposes.

KANIGHER’S DETOUR At one point, Kanigher left the series, returning before it finished its run. In the meantime, the Rose and the Thorn stories were written by Cary Bates, who also took over the writing chores for the Lois Lane feature. Bates recalls the leeway he was given: “In taking on any new assignment, it fell to me to read previous issues/stories to get up to speed on the characters and plotlines, usually with an assist from the editor. I can’t cite plot specifics, but as I recall [editor E.] Nelson [Bridwell] gave me quite a free rein. This kind of latitude

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Rose and the Thorn and the Thorn (left) Double-page spread from Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #120 (Mar. 1972), drawn by then-newbie Rich Buckler, with Mike Esposito inks. Original art courtesy of Mike Burkey. (below) Frequent napper Rose woke up long enough to co-host the Lois Lane lettercol header. TM & © DC Comics.

was common back in the ’70s; in those days individual editors had their own ‘fiefdoms’ and could pretty much do whatever the hell they wanted, even with books that shared the same characters. Case in point: During my run on Rose and Thorn, I was writing Superman for both Julie Schwartz (in Superman) and Murray Boltinoff (in Action Comics), and the tone, supporting cast, continuity, etc. were markedly dissimilar, reflecting each man’s editorial tastes.” Rose and the Thorn was fully integrated into Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, with Thorn occasionally appearing on the cover. The Thorn even starred alongside Superman and Lois Lane in the lead story of a couple of issues. The name of the letters column was also changed to “Letters to Lois and Rose,” to which Bates adds, “That task [of answering fan mail] would have undoubtedly been Nelson’s; he was an old pro at handling lettercols by this time, because he handled most (if not all) of the letters columns in Mort Weisinger’s Superman books during the last four or five years of Mort’s tenure.” During Bates’ stint on Rose and the Thorn, the series began to venture away from the recurring theme of the 100. The exact rationale is uncertain, as Bates explains: “Some 35 years after the fact it’s impossible to say for sure, but I may have preferred to do my own thing rather than continue a plot thread that had been well explored by my predecessors.” Although during her time as a backup character the only mainstream DC superhero that the Thorn ever came into contact with was Superman, thanks to his relationship with her “bookmate,” Lois Lane, the Thorn had much more in common with another mainstream DC superhero—Batman. Both Batman and the Thorn suffered a personal loss that drove them to their heroic deeds. For Batman, it was his parents. For the Thorn, it was her father. Like Batman, the Thorn dressed up in a costume and dispensed vigilante justice, her true identity a secret. And both Batman and the Thorn used clever gadgets to thwart the criminals they fought, kept handy in a “utility” belt. The Thorn never appeared to be a copy of Batman, though, thanks in part to the fact that her actions were not entirely a conscious effort, as well as the fact that she almost never fought supervillains, with the exception of Poison Ivy in Lois Lane #115 and 116.

AN UNLIKELY “SUCCESS” There are any number of reasons why the Rose and the Thorn series should not have worked. For one, it was placed in the back of a DC title that, while long-running, was not exactly a favorite of superhero fans. For another, it featured a female superhero, something that both DC and Marvel tried during this time period, with limited success. In addition, it was never fully explained how the seemingly meek Rose developed the fighting skills and strength she exhibited as the Thorn. And finally, the lead character suffered from multiple personality disorder, which is an often maligned and misunderstood disease. As for the illness, writer Cary Bates found it a challenging but rewarding topic to write about. He says, “Psychologically disturbed characters like multiples are always daunting but intriguing to write; traditionally it’s usually villains who get to have these pathologies (which is one of the reasons they’re often more interesting to play with), but Rose and Thorn has always been a welcome exception to that rule. That said, I felt it was up to me to find new insights into what made her tick.” Artist Rich Buckler thought the series treated the topic effectively: “I think that particular aspect of the character was handled extremely well. Still, I would have liked to have gone deeper and explore the military intelligence aspect, with their malevolent use of mind control and programmed assassins. Maybe we just weren’t ready for that back then.” The series was by most accounts quite successful. Few of the backup series from DC or Marvel lasted as long as Rose and the Thorn, which ran for 26 issues over two-and-a-half years. The success of the Rose and the Thorn series benefited at least one of its creators as well. In The Krypton Companion, author Michael Eury asked Buckler Backups Issue

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Thorns Bad and … Not As Bad (left) The Golden Age Thorn, as seen on the cover of Flash Comics #89 (Nov. 1974). Cover by Joe Kubert. (right) The first of two Batman team-ups, from The Brave and the Bold #188 (July 1982). Cover by Jim Aparo. TM & © DC Comics.

if Rose and the Thorn was his earliest Superman-related work, to which Buckler replied, “Yes, this was my first ‘superhero’ work for DC. It just happened to be something that appeared in a Superman-related title. I was lucky, too. It was a sort of feminist character and [later] Jenette Kahn was really into this Robert Kanigher creation, plus it seems I was one of Jenette’s favorites for a while and she really loved my treatment of the character. I was quickly promoted to other assignments featuring Superman.” Buckler was succeeded on the series by artist Don Heck, who had been drawing the Batgirl backup stories in Detective Comics. The Rose and the Thorn character lay largely dormant after issue #130 of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, the killer of Rose Forrest’s father dead, but the storyline otherwise unresolved. She later made guest appearances in titles like The Brave and the Bold (1988), Action Comics (1991), The Adventures of Superman (1995), Showcase (1995), and Green Arrow (1996); her backup spawned a resurgence of interest in her Golden Age namesake, who appeared in All-Star Comics (1978). The character was revived, with a modified backstory, in 2004 for an

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exciting and violent six-issue miniseries, Rose and Thorn, written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Adriana Melo and Dan Green, with covers by Adam Hughes. The success of the miniseries led to guest appearances in Birds of Prey. At this writing, Rose and the Thorn is appearing in the National Comics title that is part of DC Comics’ New 52. As for why the Rose and the Thorn character has worked so well, Buckler comments, “Let’s see—themes from Freud and Jung, explorations of the real and unreal, dream imagery, and archetypes, intelligent and emotion-charged stories, a powerful female main character with a great costume. Sounds like a winner to me.” Bates adds his own insight into the repeated success of the character: “A heroine with a multiple personality is great fodder for a series that never fails to be fascinating for both writers and readers. A testament to this character’s longevity is also the number of different writers who have been associated with her over the years, including myself, Bob Kanigher, Nelson Bridwell, and more recently Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone, each of whom has put their own stamp on Rose and Thorn. And it’s certainly never hurt that Rose and Thorn has always been a classic killer title.” One can only hope that Rose and the Thorn will continue to turn up again in the least likely of places. Sincere thanks to Rich Buckler and Cary Bates for their recollections of Rose and the Thorn. DEWEY CASSELL is a frequent contributor to BACK ISSUE and author of the book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, available from TwoMorrows Publishing. He is currently working on a book about Herb Trimpe.

One of the most unusual features in the annals of comic-book history was published in the back pages of Adventure Comics in 1975–1976. The Seven Soldiers of Victory appeared in a serialized epic, adapted from a found Golden Age script and drawn for the first time by a variety of Bronze Age artists. (It ran for six issues but, because of Adventure’s bimonthly publishing schedule, that was actually a full year’s worth of the series.) The Seven Soldiers of Victory, also known as the Law’s Legionnaires, first appeared in 1941, in the pages of Leading Comics #1. The team consisted more of mystery men than of bona fide superheroes, as most of the members possessed nothing even approaching superpowers. Members included the Crimson Avenger (DC’s first masked crimefighter), Green Arrow (an archer), the Vigilante (a cowboy), and the Star-Spangled Kid (um … an acrobat?). Only the Shining Knight, a winged-horse-riding, time-displaced warrior from King Arthur’s Court, had an element of fantasy to him. Also unusual was that sidekicks were part of the team

Jack Abramowitz

in the form of Green Arrow’s ward Speedy and the StarSpangled Kid’s adult mechanic, Stripesy. The Crimson Avenger’s “Oriental” sidekick Wing, however, while a constant presence in the team’s adventures, was not considered an actual member. The Seven Soldiers appeared in Leading Comics for 14 issues, after which they were edged out by such humor series as “King Oscar’s Court.” (The cover of Leading Comics #15 informs us that “They walk! They talk! They’re just like humans but they’re all animals— and they’re a riot!” The hilarity of King Oscar’s Court, however, must remain a topic for another day.) An unused Seven Soldiers script went into a drawer, while the Law’s Legionnaires themselves entered comic-book limbo, where they would remain for nearly three decades. It was not until 1972 that the Seven Soldiers would return, in a three-part saga that began in the pages of Justice League of America #100. For three issues, the combined members of the Justice League and Justice Society traveled throughout the ages retrieving the Backups Issue

Magnificent Seven (left to right) Green Arrow, Speedy, Crimson Avenger, Shining Knight, Vigilante, Star-Spangled Kid, and Stripesy are quite chummy here as rendered by Mort Meskin. TM & © DC Comics.

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Eight is Enough The late, great, lamented Joe Kubert was a young turk back in 1944 when he drew this tryout piece starring the Seven Soldiers— including their unofficial eighth member, Wing. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

Soldiers, who had been time-tossed in a previously unrevealed itself and, more importantly, well-versed enough in DC history to exploit. Four years later, the revived All-Star Comics #58, featuring the recognize that it had never been published. Star-Spangled Kid, would reveal that the other members returned to “It was undoubtedly Paul who encouraged Orlando to have the their point of origin in time. The backup series in Adventure would be story illustrated. And since Levitz was also the editor of The Comic the only new (at least, the only previously unseen) Seven Soldiers Reader newszine at the time, word of the discovery was relayed to epic in the interim. (A classic Seven Soldiers saga was reprinted in fans as early as TCR #100 (dated and evidently on sale in August). The Justice League of America #111–112.) Adventure Comics #433 letters column opened with a missive from Adventure Comics was as good a place as any—and a better place Paul Kupperberg, who asked for a ‘sneak preview of what to expect than most—to showcase this lost tale from the Golden Age. Long the from the ever-changing Adventure in the near future.’ Kupperberg home of Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Supergirl, was TCR’s assistant editor and the letter was an obvious setup for an Adventure was experimenting in the mid-1970s with fantasy editorial reply (almost certainly written by Levitz) plugging and horror with such headliners as Black Orchid and the Seven Soldiers serial.” the Spectre. Backup features included such unusual The announcement in The Comic Reader #100, characters as the pirate Captain Fear. The lost Seven provided by Wells, reads as follows: Soldiers tale was perfect to fill the backup position “An unpublished Golden Age Seven Soldiers of in Adventure, focusing as it did on a different Victory script was found in National’s files in the character each installment. process of moving the offices. A little bit of rewrite Golden Age reprints were fairly common at DC work, and poof—a Golden Age script with new in the 1970s. These often had tenuous connections art—due to appear as a serial in Adventure Comics to the books in which they appeared. For example, #435–438 next summer and fall.” Superman #252 reprinted Golden Age tales of Dr. The serial did not end up beginning with Fate, Hawkman, the Black Condor, and others on Adventure #435, running instead from Adventure the shaky premise that these were “DC’s flying #438 through #443. According to Wells, the cartoon heroes.” Occasionally, a previously unprinted Super Friends is to blame. Due to Aquaman’s paul levitz Golden Age story would surface, such as the sudden surge in prominence thanks to the cartoon, heretofore-unseen Atom story that appeared in the Sea King was given the backup position in Batman #238. Renowned comics historian John Wells points out that Adventure #435–437, before bumping the Spectre from the lead slot unpublished Golden Age tales also preceded the Seven Soldiers in starting with #441. The third Aquaman backup, in #437, ended with Adventure; an unused Black Canary tale belatedly appeared in #399, a half-page ad drawn by Jim Aparo, promoting the Seven Soldiers while a Dr. Mid-Nite episode that had only been penciled was serial that would begin in the following issue. completed by Sal Amendola for #418. While Amendola inks over Paul Levitz corroborates Wells’ telling of the story. “I found the decades-old pencils is interesting, it pales before what was done with script when we moved to 75 Rock,” he explains. “In the course of the the Seven Soldiers under the guidance of then-assistant editor Paul Levitz. move, I found the old onion skins of [Joe] Samachson’s unpublished John Wells tells the tale: script and I talked Joe Orlando into letting me clean it up and adapt “In July of 1973, DC was in the process of moving from 909 Third it for the backups.” Avenue to a new base of operations on the sixth floor of the Warner The lost script, dating back to 1945, features the adventures of the Communications Building at 75 Rockefeller Plaza. And that also Law’s Legionnaires in “The Land of Magic!” At first glance, this conjures happened to be the time period when 16-year-old Paul Levitz memories of the Justice Society’s Fairyland from All-Star Comics #39 and snagged a job as Joe Orlando’s assistant. the Justice League’s Magic Land from JLA #2. Upon reflection, “During the big move, the Seven Soldiers script was apparently however, it becomes apparent—and noteworthy—that Joe Samachson’s discovered by Paul,” Wells continues. “Unlike the older, wearier DC Seven Soldiers story predates not only the 1960 Justice League personnel around him, he was enough of a fan to delight in the find escapade, it even beats the 1948 Justice Society tale by three years.

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But why go to all this trouble for an old script when even though it still remained very old-fashioned in many it would be so much less work just to write a new story ways.” Perhaps the single most significant change was in and use a single artist? Levitz continues, “I was 16 and a the story’s resolution, but the reason for this particular comic fan and this was a cool thing. Adventure at that change may be lost. “I don’t recall the ending either way.” particular moment in time had a fairly open definition and The reason Levitz opted to have the story illustrated I had great interest in and respect for the team books by a variety of hands was verisimilitude. “Most of the of the Golden Age from DC; I was a gigantic superhero team books that were chapterized All-Star fan, a milder Leading Comics fan. in the Golden Age at DC were done with Finding this was just, ‘Wow. How did this the individual artists from the different survive? What can we do with this?’” series,” Levitz says. “The original All-Star, Apparently, Joe Orlando, then-editor the early Leadings, all were done of Adventure, did not require much piece-by-piece. They don’t go to a persuading. “Joe was deeply enamored single artist until all the page lengths of the Spectre stories he was get shorter and they stopped doing doing with Michael Fleischer,” Levitz the chapter approach. I was trying explains, “but [artist Jim] Aparo to mimic the original as much as couldn’t do a book-length series at possible there.” that point in Adventure, so it needed Each section was illustrated by an to have a backup. Joe’s assistant artist or art team specially selected editors had had a significant influence by Paul Levitz. There were pretty solid howard chaykin on what the different backups were reasons underlying the selection of over time on his different runs on each artist or team, as Paul relates: Adventure. Joe was not first and foremost a superhero Adventure #438 – Chapter 1: The Seven Soldiers fan, so we got a little more of a vote than maybe we of Victory in “Land of Magic!” – Dick Dillin and usually ought to have.” Tex Blaisdell: “Dick Dillin did the intro and outro Relatively minor changes were made to the script for a because, God bless him, Dick was the world’s variety of reasons. “Some of it was page lengths,” Levitz most long-suffering guy. You could give him any shares. “Making it fit as logical chapters. Some of it was number of characters in any situation and he’d just sort of clean-up, to a little more modern structure, make it work, without complaint.”

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What’s Old is New Again Joe Samachson’s mothballed SSOV script was dusted off by editors Orlando and Levitz beginning in Adventure #438, starting with (left) this Dillin/Blaisdell opening bookend and (right) Chaykin’s Shining Knight, a Frazetta homage— or was it? TM & © DC Comics.

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Chapter 2: The Shining Knight in “Knight after Knight!” – Howard Chaykin: “I have a pretty solid memory of thinking about Chaykin for the Shining Knight as being able to do a credible faux-Frazetta and have some fun with it.” Adventure #439 – Chapter 3: Green Arrow and Speedy in “Father Time’s Inn!” – Lee Elias: “Lee was one of the Golden Age greats. He had done Green Arrow in the Golden Age, so that was a perfect thing to do.” Adventure #440 – Chapter 4: Crimson Avenger and Wing in “Kings Make a Full House” – Mike Grell: “Mike was sort of the up-and-coming young kid at the time. He was doing some Aquaman backups around that period for us.” Adventure #441 – Chapter 5: The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy in “Dead End Animals” – Ernie Chua: “Probably Ernie had time and needed the work. He had a nice cartoony style.” Adventure #442 – Chapter 6: Vigilante in “Gnome Man’s Land” – José Luis García-López and Mike Royer: “[José] was a wonderful Western artist. We had a guy there who knew how to do the horses and stuff.” Adventure #443 – Chapter 7: The Seven Soldiers of Victory in “Confrontation” – Dick Dillin and Tex Blaisdell. While Levitz had a particular vision, he did not micromanage the artists. When asked if he gave them specific direction, he replies, “I think I gave the guys reference from the period of what the strips frequently looked like. I think ‘direction’ is too strong a word. I was very young.” Despite Levitz’s opinion that Howard Chaykin could do a credible Frazetta and have fun with it, Chaykin himself has far less fond memories of the project. mike royer “That job was cringeworthy,” he says. “I truly was out of my league.” When pressed for detail, he elucidates that “the work I did was execrable … I tried ineptly to do my best take on Frazetta. How arrogant of me.” (Is he being too hard on himself? I think so.Check out Adventure #438 and decide for yourself!) Mike Royer inked José Luis García-López’s pencils for the Vigilante segment of the story. He explains his involvement in the story: “I didn’t even know it was part of a series,” Royer says. “I was just sent rough pencils and a script with the dialogue and narrative. I lettered it and tightened up the pencils and inked it and sent it back.” An artist closely identified with the legendary Jack Kirby, Royer’s involvement was indirectly a result of Kirby’s comings and goings between DC and Marvel. “When Jack left DC and went back to Marvel, his plans at Marvel were exactly what they had been at DC,” Royer said. “It took them about five issues of each of the Fourth World titles before they acquiesced to his wishes. When he went to Marvel, he wanted me to do his lettering and inking. Marvel’s attitude, I believe, had been the same as DC’s had been when he originally left Marvel and went to them: they wanted to be in charge. They wanted to control everything. Of course, Jack’s idea was to show the New York publishers that a complete operation could be done on the West Coast—writing, penciling, inking, lettering, editing— the whole business. [During this interim,] DC continued to send me work … I continued to accept assignments from DC until Jack finally called and said that I was on board again. It took about the same number of issues at Marvel as it had taken at DC for them to accept me.”

The Adventure Continues (top) From Grell’s Crimson Avenger and Wing installment, in Adventure #440. (bottom) Chua’s cartoony Star-Spangled Kid splash, from Adventure #441. TM & © DC Comics.

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Draw, Pardner… …that’s Mike Royer, drawing over José Luis García-López’s loose pencils, in the Vigilante tale in Adventure #441. TM & © DC Comics.

While not familiar with Seven Soldiers of Victory team, Royer did know of the Vigilante, if not primarily from the comics. “I was a ‘front-row kid’ or a ‘Saturday matinee kid,’” he explains, “so I was familiar with the Vigilante because of the Columbia serial that had been made based on the comic-book character.” Royer enjoyed his collaboration with García-López, whose work he praises. “I really enjoyed working on that Vigilante,” Royer says, “because even though the pages that were sent to me were really rough, everything that that penciler had to say was there. All I had to do was add the details. It was fun.” (García-López apparently returns the compliment. Wells refers us to Modern Masters vol. 5: José Luis García-López, page 25, in which the artist said, “After DC returned the originals to me I had a chance to sell them, but instead I kept them because I liked them so much. I suppose it’s because of the inking of Mike Royer. Perhaps because it doesn’t look like I did it.”) On the subject of Dick Dillin drawing the story’s “bookends,” John Wells opines that “Dick Dillin was a fitting choice for the intro and outro, not only because he’d spent most of his comics career drawing teams (first the Blackhawks and then the Justice League), but specifically due to having drawn the only modern appearance of the Seven Soldiers in JLA #100–102.” Levitz, of course, was well aware of that tale: “I love the story [writer] Len [Wein] had done in Justice League using them. I thought that was one of the best Justice Leagues done. It’s still one of the really great team-ups in that run, and that motivated me to want to do something with it.” Wells does note one anomaly in Dillin’s segment: “If there’s an oddity about this chapter, it’s the depiction of the Crimson Avenger’s Chinese partner Wing, who’s conspicuously depicted with buck teeth. Even in Blackhawk, Dillin hadn’t drawn Chop-Chop with that stereotypical characteristic since the 1950s. Still, Dillin had no visual reference other than the original Seven Soldiers stories, and Wing sported that wide smile in every one of them.” Wells goes on to note that Grell did this tale Seven Soldiers canon, he replies, “If I’d ever have gotten to 1944 not depict Wing with buck teeth in chapter 4. Reaction to the series was muted. Says Levitz, “In those days, or so in All-Star Squadron, I’m sure I’d have found a way to work ‘Leading reception consisted of a handful of letters. I don’t recall any significant #15’ into continuity,” referring to the issue where the story originally ought discussion in any of the handful of fan magazines that were around to have appeared. “I'm just sorry they've never issued it in a standalone at the time. If you had a dedicated APA [amateur press association] for comic, or reprinted it in that third volume of Leading Comics (i.e., Seven something like the Legion, which did, maybe you had that kind of Soldiers of Victory Archives). It could have been justified … and indeed, I'm conversation going on. But if you had a book or a series that didn’t have pretty sure I suggested that be done, since the script was from the ’40s.” What does Levitz say of the serial’s omission from—and the a pre-established following and it wasn’t a radical change in the script’s inclusion in—Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives vol. 3? world, there wasn’t really any place for people to go to have “If I’d argued with it at the time, I’d probably had the that kind of conversation.” Wells points out, likewise, ability to change it. Clearly I had some level of comfort that “there’s not a lot of reader reaction to the Seven with the decision … I was certainly publisher in those Soldiers serial in the Adventure letters columns. I’d years. Archive editions are about a moment in the past guess that many older readers thought the story and they should be a frozen snapshot of that moment. was hopelessly juvenile compared to the Spectre or The script was part of that moment. The job as mildly Aquaman stories. Reading those issues as a 10- and rewritten and finally drawn is an idiosyncratic, interesting 11-year-old, though, I enjoyed the contrast and wasn’t oddity, but it’s not really a so old that I couldn’t appreciate the cleverness and piece of Golden Age history.” craft that went into that 30-year-old story.” That’s the story of Roy Thomas, Golden Age guru at both Marvel “The Land of Magic!”— (The Invaders) and DC (All-Star Squadron), appreciates an unusual and perhaps the idea of using an “ensemble cast” of artists in roy thomas unique chapter in comics this experiment. “I would naturally like the idea of history. It wasn’t a gameeach hero being drawn by the artist who drew his changer then and it isn’t appearances in other titles,” he says. “After all, that’s when All-Star Comics’ Justice Society adventures were best when Kubert, Infantino, Hasen, one now, but it’s a fascinating oddity and Elias, Toth, Reinman, et al., were drawing chapters rather than when, well worth checking out for oneself. say, Arthur Peddy was penciling entire issues—not that those were bad.” JACK ABRAMOWITZ is a writer and educator. Later, Thomas reconciled DC’s Golden Age through retroactive Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a continuity in the pages of All-Star Squadron. When asked if he considered Thousand Young, lives under his staircase.

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CBA’s Jon B. Cooke is back this month! Make ready for COMIC BOOK CREATOR, the new voice of the comics medium! TwoMorrows is proud to debut our newest magazine, COMIC BOOK CREATOR, devoted to the work and careers of the men and women who draw, write, edit, and publish comics, focusing always on the artists and not the artifacts, the creators and not the characters. Behind an ALEX ROSS cover painting, our frantic FIRST ISSUE features an investigation of the oft despicable treatment JACK KIRBY endured from the very business he helped establish. From being cheated out of royalties in the ‘40s and bullied in the ‘80s by the publisher he made great, to his estate’s current fight for equitable recognition against an entertainment monolith where his characters have generated billions of dollars, we present Kirby’s cautionary tale in the eternal struggle for creator’s rights. Plus, CBC #1 interviews artist ALEX ROSS and writer KURT BUSIEK, spotlights the last years of writer/artist FRANK ROBBINS, remembers comics historian LES DANIELS, talks to TODD McFARLANE about his new show-all book, showcases a joint talk between NEAL ADAMS and DENNIS O’NEIL on their unforgettable collaborations, as well as throws a whole kit’n’caboodle of other creator-centric items atcha! Join us for the start of a new era as TwoMorrows welcomes back former Comic Book Artist editor JON B. COOKE, who helms the all-new, all-color COMIC BOOK CREATOR! (And don’t miss the double-size Summer Special #2, paying tribute to JOE KUBERT, this July!

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“Detective Comics is returning to the idea that it is a comic book about detectives,” a report in Etcetera & the Comic Reader #80 (Dec. 1971) declared. “Even the Batman stories will be based on the idea that he is the world’s greatest detective.” In support of editor Julius Schwartz’s directional shift, a new logo was created for the title and Batgirl—who’d had prominent co-billing on every cover for the past few years—was given her walking papers. Her replacement as the Detective backup feature was no stranger. Introduced in a 1969 Batgirl two-parter (Detective #392–393), Jason Bard had been a pipesmoking criminology student, an aspiring detective, and, in retrospect, something of a trailblazer. He was a Vietnam vet in an era when anger over the war was at its peak. The knee injury that sent him home forced Jason to use a cane, something he became adept at using as a weapon once he made the acquaintance of Barbara Gordon.

John Wells

For Your Eyes Only

As the boyfriend of Batgirl’s alter ego, Jason rarely had the opportunity to upstage the feature’s star. Issue #424 (June 1972) was one of those exceptions, with the young detective positioned to prevent Babs’ assassination at the hands of political enemies. In “Batgirl’s Last Case,” despite the mob’s best efforts, dark horse Barbara Gordon won a Congressional seat and flew off to Washington. “As Gotham City loses an ace crime-fighter in Batgirl,” the closing caption declared, “it gains one in Jason Bard.” The motivation for dropping Batgirl is unclear, but Schwartz must certainly have viewed the character— created at the request of the 1960s Batman TV series’ show-runners—as a conspicuous reminder of the campy atmosphere he’d been trying to overcome since 1969. Replacing her with a straight detective also played to the strengths of writer Frank Robbins. Although he’d built an impressive résumé of superhero features like Batman, Batgirl, and Superboy since Backups Issue

Originally Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon’s love interest, Jason Bard graduated to his own backup series during the Bronze Age. TM & © DC Comics.

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Case Worker Writer Frank Robbins’ creation, Jason Bard, debuted (left) in the Batgirl backup in Detective Comics #392 (Oct. 1969, art by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson) before landing his own feature, which included (right) the Don Heck-drawn tale from issue #425 (July 1972). TM & © DC Comics.

1968, Robbins earned his reputation as a writer and doorstep with the stipulation that the detective guard artist on the more realistic Johnny Hazard newspaper it for 20 hours in exchange for a 10% retainer. The strip that launched in 1944. detective was actually protecting the funds from his Without missing a beat, the Batgirl creative team client, a compulsive gambler who needed to pay off a (Robbins and artist Don Heck) opened “The Master loan shark but didn’t trust himself with the money until Crime-File of Jason Bard” in Detective #425 (July 1972). the deadline. Bard fulfilled his end of the bargain, but, Now a full-fledged private eye, Jason’s first case as in the previous installment, his client wound was essentially a freebie, triggered when up dead when he inadvertently missed he learned that his schizophrenic Army the cut-off time. Jason did succeed in buddy Matt Clay had been accused of drawing out the killer, though. murdering his psychiatrist. Matt was Each episode of the strip featured crazy—his addled scuffle with Jason a call-out to readers at some point, proved that—but he wasn’t a killer. alerting them to a subtle clue that The true culprit was a colleague of affected the case. The aforementioned the psychiatrist whose description of missed deadline, for instance, was a Clay’s manic rampage didn’t match consequence of the victim forgetting the sedate details of the crime scene. Daylight Saving’s Time, an event that Unlike Batgirl, Jason didn’t have had been subtly established in a TV an exclusive claim to Detective’s back broadcast early in the episode. In issue pages. He strictly appeared in the #431’s “Crime on My Hands,” Jason frank robbins odd-numbered issues while superobserved that a murdered bartender heroes like the Elongated Man, (first seen in issue #427) was wearing Hawkman, and the Atom cavorted in the even- a raincoat that was too small for him and obviously not numbered ones. Consequently, Jason didn’t return his own. That detail proved crucial when the detective until issue #427, wherein the investigator’s search for a noted that his main suspect—the victim’s uncle— shipping magnate’s estranged wife landed him in a was clad in a raincoat that was too big. watery deathtrap. Jason’s time in the Veteran’s Administration hospital Issue #429’s “Case of the Loaded Case” involved a was central to issue #433’s “Case of the Forged Face.” briefcase packed with $100,000 being left on Jason’s After three out-of-town cases in which clients failed to

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show up, the detective was dragged before Gotham’s Commissioner Gordon and federal authorities who’d spotted his face in the crowd at receptions for US Senator Townes in each city. All involved realized that the man in the photos was a fake—his hair was too short—but resolved to keep the real Jason in custody so that could catch the fake one if he made a play for Senator Townes in Gotham. Bard realized that the hitman was actually diverting the feds and, with the help of his former VA nurse, deduced that a photo of him from those days had been snapped by a nasty vet with one leg who’d bragged about mob connections. Spotting a disabled man in a crowd was still a challenge, typed up the case for his archives, though, but Jason’s keen observation noting that Rip’s wife had already zeroed in on a blind man being implicated herself in the conspiracy escorted by a police officer. “One when she’d been able to identify her thing a sightless person never husband when he fell despite being allows,” he realized, “is for anyone to dressed identically to his teammates. guide him by holding his arm. He Visually, the episode had been a always holds theirs!” departure. Don Heck had penciled Observation was key in issue the previous five stories, but #435’s sixth adventure, wherein don heck Schwartz conceded in Detective Jason was hired by skydiving dare#429’s letters column that he wasn’t devil Rip Williams to investigate a possible threat to his life. As tended to happen in the satisfied with the artist’s inking. Consequently, Joe Giella series, the client ended up dead. In this case, Rip embellished issue #429’s tale while Murphy Anderson plummeted into the ground after failing to open his brought slicker, weightier finishes to ’Tec #431 and parachute … mainly because someone had put a 433’s installments. Throwing caution to the wind, Robbins drew issue #435 himself! knife in his back. For all the acclaim that Robbins had as a newspaper While recreating the team’s fateful act, Jason realized that Rip had been the last to jump … and could only cartoonist, his art style was a polarizing subject when have been stabbed by the pilot. Unfortunately, he it came to superhero comics. Rubbery, cartoony, and made his accusation in mid-air, resulting in a near-fatal impressionistic, the look of Robbins’ Batman stories plunge before his emergency chute was released. In a (Detective #416, 420, 421, 426, 429) was a jarring hospital bed with one arm and one leg broken, Jason contrast to the realistic rendering of artists like Irv Backups Issue

“I Wake Up Dying!” (left) Michael Kaluta’s cover to Detective #427 (Sept. 1972), which featured the Robbins/Heck Jason Bard backup from which this original art page hails. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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Novick and Bob Brown. Julius Schwartz insisted that— based on reader mail—progressively more fans liked Robbins’ art than disliked it. And there was much to like in Robbins’ solo Jason Bard, with striking angles and lively action throughout. “Case of the Dead-On Target”—which writer Mike W. Barr characterizes as “one of the finest whodunits ever done in comics form”—allowed Jason to go out on a high note. Detective’s emphasis on investigative matters had evidently not clicked. Its publication frequency had been cut in half from monthly to bimonthly and Archie Goodwin was assigned the title in anticipation of a new direction. Among those changes was the addition of Goodwin and Walt Simonson’s now-legendary “Manhunter” series [also covered in this issue]. “For the backup feature I wanted something with the extra color a costumed character brings,” the editor explained in ’Tec #438, “hence the dropping of Jason Bard.” Goodwin was nothing if not gracious, going on to praise Frank Robbins as both a writer and artist with plugs for his other DC work and the Johnny Hazard strip. Still, Robbins’ days at DC were numbered, and he made the jump to Marvel within a matter of months. Before he did, the writer bid farewell to his creation with a guest-shot in Batman #252 (Oct. 1973) that found Jason briefly impersonating the Caped Crusader. He wasn’t seen again until 1977 and 1978 for a flurry of guest-shots that included appearances alongside Man-Bat, another Robbins creation who was then scripted by Bob Rozakis (Batman Family #15–16, 20). Back in his old Detective Comics stomping grounds, Jason Bard returned for a touching solo story by Mike W. Barr and Dan Spiegle in issue #491 (July 1980). The mystery here was a personal one: Why was the private eye placing flowers on the grave of a drifter named Scratch who killed his father? Jason’s dad had been a violent petty thief and his mother took the first opportunity to flee with their son. Years later, the elder Bard returned to murder his wife and young Jason vowed to avenge her. His father’s traits had included an allergy to roses, and it was that detail that finally lead Bard to a crook named Douglas Parker in the present. “Parker” had figured out who Jason was, too, and was ready to kill him when Bard’s informant Scratch leapt in. Scratch and

Targeted Traveler Jet-setting Jason is booked for trouble in this backup from Detective #433 (Mar. 1973), featuring Murphy Anderson’s inks over Don Heck’s pencils. Story by Robbins. TM & © DC Comics.

“JASON BARD” BACKUPS • • • • • • • •

Detective Comics #425 (July 1972) Detective Comics #427 (Sept. 1972) Detective Comics #429 (Nov. 1972) Detective Comics #431 (Jan. 1973) Detective Comics #433 (Mar. 1973) Detective Comics #435 (June–July 1973) Detective Comics #491 (June 1980) Batman #334 (Apr. 1981)

JASON BARD CHECKLIST A complete listing of Jason’s appearances as both a supporting and lead character. Jason Bard (Earth-One: 1969–1985): • Batman #252, 297, 334, 349, 351–352, 355 • Batman and the Outsiders #16 • The Batman Family #13, 15–16, 18 (behind the scenes), 20 • The Brave and the Bold #165, 172

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• Detective Comics #392–393, 396–397, 404–405, 414–415, 418–419, 420, 423–425, 427, 429, 431, 433, 435, 481, 485, 491, 500, 516–518, 520, 524 • Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #11 Jason Bard (post–Crisis: 1996–2011): • Batgirl: Year One #1, 3, 6–7, 9 • Batman #651 • The Batman Chronicles #23 (Winter 2001) • Birds of Prey #1–3, 9 (mention), 15, 18–19, 31–32 • Detective Comics #818–820 • Firebrand #5 • Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 • Red Robin #2, 21 • Robin #76–77, 176, 178, 180–183

Parker were both killed in the altercation, but the latter had time to gasp out one word: “Rose.” “I had watched both my parents die before my eyes,” Jason recalled, “but only my father’s last words finally made me cry.” That’s because he wasn’t referring to the flower that set off his allergies. “Rose,” Jason explained, “was my mother’s name.” A sequel in Batman #334 (Apr. 1981) saw a brooding Jason again find a purpose in his life when he helped a mother and son who’d lost their home in a fire. Afterwards, Jason returned for periodic guest-shots, notably a team-up of private eyes in Detective #500, a reunion with Barbara Gordon and then-ousted Commissioner Gordon from Batman #349 to 355 (and concurrent issues of Detective), and an investigation into the past of Halo in Batman and the Outsiders #16. Absent for more than a decade, Jason made an isolated return in 1996’s Firebrand #5 before a more enduring comeback that began in the first three issues of writer Chuck Dixon’s ongoing Birds of Prey series in 1998. He now had a different backstory, his limp no longer attributable to the distant Vietnam conflict. Batgirl: Year One #1 and 3 (2003) revealed that he’d been a young police officer who was sweet on the Commissioner’s daughter. In this account, Jason was shot in the knee by a sadist impersonating Killer Moth (#6). By this point, the backup feature no longer really existed but short stories did via venues like the

anthology title The Batman Chronicles. The final issue of that series (#23, Winter 2001) delivered one last Jason Bard solo story. Written by Jay Faerber and drawn by Paul Ryan, it pitted Jason against the Mimic, a copycat killer in more ways than one. Inspired by an 18th-Century madman who terrorized the area now known as Gotham, the villain also employed mimicry of his victim’s voices in his murders. Mimic II stuck to the pattern a bit too obsessively, though, enabling the ever-observant Jason to save the life of his new target. Despite representing a genre now more likely to be found in any number of CBS procedural shows than in comic books, Jason continued to appear at intervals in various Batman-related titles through 2011 when DC hit the reset button on its fictional universe. Will the Master Crime-File of Jason Bard be reopened in the New 52? That’s a mystery that remains to be solved.

“Tales of Gotham City”… …was how Jason Bard’s adventure was branded when he popped up— courtesy of Mike W. Barr and Dan Spiegle—in Detective #491 (June 1980). Special thanks to John Wells for providing most of this article’s art scans.

JOHN WELLS is a comics historian specializing in DC Comics who has served as resource for projects ranging from Kurt Busiek’s The Power Company to Greg Weisman’s Young Justice animated series. He is the author of the book American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960–1964 (TwoMorrows, 2012).

TM & © DC Comics.

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When the tagline for your story is “He stalks the world’s most dangerous game,” then that story had better be good. Not just good—pulse-pounding, suspenseful, and dynamic good. This catchphrase is, after all, a call-out to a widely known and oft-cited work of American literature. In 1924, Collier’s Weekly published a short story by Richard Connell called “The Most Dangerous Game,” in which a big-game hunter named Sanger Rainsford falls from his boat into the Caribbean Sea, swims to a remote island shore, and finds himself the target of a manhunt orchestrated by a wealthy Cossack named General Zaroff. The story has been adapted to film over a dozen times and referenced by countless pop-culture outlets. Even if audiences don’t know the exact source of the story, they tend to recognize the general premise. Nearly 50 years later, Archie Goodwin was trying to come up with a backup feature for Detective Comics. He had recently taken over editorial duties on the long-running book, whose sales were lagging, and he wanted to find something that would fit the focus of Detective Comics while providing a tonal divergence from the book’s star character: “What I wanted was something that would fit (however loosely) within the ‘detective’ format of the book, but contrast vividly in terms of mood, character, and artistic style with the lead stories, something that would nail the eye of the casual browser and maybe eventually develop a following of its own, bringing the book a few readers beyond the dyed-in-the-wool Batman fans” (Foreword, Manhunter: The Special Edition, p. 5). Goodwin found his inspiration in the cowboy stories of his youth, his fascination with obscure comic-book heroes, the surge of martial-arts interest in the 1970s, and, of course, Connell’s short story. His Manhunter story was born of a unique mix of elements blended at just the right time, and it became a cult classic through an inspired collaborative synergy of writing and art. Walter Simonson’s distinct visual stylings breathed life into Goodwin’s complex narrative, and a story that unfolded as a backup feature quickly eclipsed the main feature of DC’s longest continually running book.

THE MANHUNTER LEGACY Goodwin and Simonson’s series may be the most well-known comic-book story to feature a character with the Manhunter name, but it wasn’t the first. Manhunter is a legacy character—one that spans numerous generations and iterations. Manhunter makes up one of DC’s most complicated legacies— and for a company whose ranks include Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman, that’s saying something. One of the main reasons why the Manhunter legacy is so hard to parse is that, while the character name stretches back to the same Golden Age that spawned Green Lantern and Flash, it’s never enjoyed as high a profile as DC’s more iconic characters.

Masked Manhunters The main players in Archie Goodwin’s Manhunter saga, as rendered by Walter Simonson for Manhunter: The Special Edition (1999). TM & © DC Comics.

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Alex Boney

Manhunter first began as a feature in Quality Comics’ The story of Paul Kirk didn’t end as World War II Police Comics (#8, Mar. 1942). Dan Richards was a rookie drew to a close, though. In 1973, Archie Goodwin cop who wasn’t particularly good at his job. He was resurrected the character (literally) and gave him a vast much better at tracking down killers as a superhero than reworking before serializing his story in the back of preventing crime as a policeman. With the exception Detective Comics. According to Goodwin’s tale, Kirk of his chest emblem (a shoeprint in a circle), his costume retired from crimefighting after the end of WWII and was relatively generic. But he did have a pet dog named resumed his life as a big-game hunter. While on safari Thor that helped him fight crime, and he lasted for quite in Africa, Kirk fired a rifle shot that startled a bull a long time by Golden Age standards. Richards appeared elephant out of the brush. The elephant trampled and regularly in Police Comics until the series ended in 1950. killed him—at least (as they say) mostly. A syndicate Just a month after Dan Richards debuted called tthe Council reached Kirk at the in Police Comics, another character named moment of death and placed him in frozen Manhunter—written by Joe Simon and stasis for decades, until science and illustrated by Jack Kirby—appeared in technology had advanced to the point DC Comics’ Adventure Comics #73. where they could revive him. While This Manhunter was a big-game Kirk lay in cryogenic sleep, the Council hunter named Rick who turned his made enhancements to his body attention to hunting criminals after a that gave him a healing factor along friend was murdered by a costumed with advanced strength and agility. criminal. Shortly before this friend (a The Council, a secret society of “the police inspector) died, he shared an world’s top minds,” explained that its observation with Rick that set the mission was to free humanity from its tone for the character’s entire history: “Listen, Rick! You’re a nice boy and archie goodwin the world’s best hunter! But you’re batting in a minor league! Yeah! I know! Lions and tigers are tough … but there is game more dangerous, cunning and treacherous than all the beasts you’ve hunted … and that’s man!” Rick’s name was changed to Paul Kirk in the next issue (Adventure Comics #74), and he was given a lightblue mask to go with his red-and-blue spandex outfit to complete an almost android-looking costume. Though DC’s Manhunter feature was helmed by an A-list creative team, it didn’t last nearly as long as Quality’s Manhunter. Simon and Kirby left the strip by the end of 1942, and the feature stopped appearing in Adventure in summer 1944. His last story (in Adventure #92) features Manhunter traveling to Maine to defeat a group of Nazi invaders and saboteurs.

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First and Last (left) DC’s first Manhunter, a Simon and Kirby creation, first cornered crooks in Adventure Comics #73 (Apr. 1942). Cover by Kirby. (right) The last adventure of Goodwin and Simonson’s Manhunter, a Batman team-up in Detective Comics #443 (Oct.–Nov. 1974). TM & © DC Comics.

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Pacing via Panels Simonson deftly used multiple panels and a “kinetic visual flair” to jam-pack—but never overload— these eight-page adventures. From Detective #440 (Apr.–May 1974). TM & © DC Comics.

gravitation toward self-destruction (specifically nuclear annihilation, pollution, overpopulation, racism, and war). To this end, the Council had cloned Kirk and created a squadron of 12 soldiers meant to be its enforcement branch. If anyone questioned the Council’s judgment and tried to stand in its way, the clones (led by a resurrected Paul Kirk) would eliminate the threat. This stated mission alerted Kirk to the central problem in the Council’s worldview: The sect had gravitated away from humanitarian aspirations and instead toward tyranny. The Council didn’t just want to save humanity— they wanted to control it. When Kirk refused to assassinate a Council target, he became a target himself. He began a life on the run, disrupting the Council’s plans across the globe and battling his clones each time they tracked him down. Goodwin introduced a compelling group of supporting

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characters that included a Japanese martial-arts trainer, an African weapons master, and an attractive Interpol spy named Christine St. Clair. Goodwin also gave Manhunter’s story an international flavor by having him travel to such exotic and wide-ranging locations as Nepal, Zurich, Morocco, Istanbul, Japan, Nairobi, and Australia. This globetrotting adventure provided the character with another distinct contrast to Batman, who was firmly rooted in Gotham City.

“A KINETIC VISUAL FLAIR”

Goodwin’s narrative was complex in its scope and ambition—especially for a story that would unfold in eight-page segments in the back of a comic book. But if “Manhunter” was intended to hook new readers and provide them with extra value, Goodwin needed an artist who could give this unusual story a kinetic visual flair. Goodwin had seen the work of Walter Simonson, a recent art-school graduate, and hired him to work on a few small projects for DC. As Goodwin explained in his text column in Detective walter simonson Comics #437, “I first saw [Walt’s] work last year and told him I could use him, but that I thought his style would pretty much limit him to science-fiction type subjects. Each job Walt did after that seemed designed to prove my estimation wrong, and now…. Here we are doing Manhunter together. Walt is 26 years old and a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (His degree project was to produce a comic book, a sci-fi opus called The Star Slammers; this was the sample of his work I saw). I think he’s got a great future ahead for him in comics; I hope Manhunter will prove to be an important part of it.” Simonson’s success was indeed tied to the success of Manhunter, but Simonson attributes most of that to Goodwin’s original design: “Archie, in one of his introductions to ‘Manhunter,’ wrote that the characters that appealed to him were never the Supermans or the Batmans; he liked the second- or third-string guys. The Green Lama, or someone like that. I think that’s what ‘Manhunter’ was about. He was minimally powered as super-heroes go. He had a healing factor, pre–Wolverine. He fought ninjas pre–Frank [Miller]. And he died. He did a lot of stuff that hadn’t been done much in comics at the time” (Modern Masters Vol. 8: Walter Simonson, p. 15). While much of what Goodwin and Simonson were attempting was modern, their central hook relied on a connection to the past. This is the essence of all successful legacy characters: a nod toward (and an echo of) the original often lends weight to the new and experimental without making it seem outdated. “Since I’d been inspired by the Simon and Kirby strip, I thought I’d pay homage to it by using part of the character’s name, making our Manhunter Paul something or Kirk something,” Goodwin recalled. “Trying these on Walt, it became fairly obvious that Paul Kirk was just as serviceable a name as any I’d invented. We elected to go with it. Since both of us have reasonably strong senses of continuity, having picked the name Paul Kirk it became sort of inevitable that we would begin finding ways of tying our feature into the old one. While it didn’t start out as even a consideration for the strip, that linkup with the Simon and Kirby Manhunter grew into one of the major ingredients. It gave him an elaborate history which helped make him a much more solid character, and, ultimately, even a poignant one” (Special Edition p. 7).

Armed and Dangerous (left) Manhunter’s arsenal, from ’Tec #440. (below) The title page to the epic’s fifth chapter (issue #441, June– July 1974) conveys the short-lived series’ propensity for exotic locales. TM & © DC Comics.

Goodwin built a multi-tiered story that unfolded in an unconventional way, but it would have fallen flat if Simonson’s design work had not been so strong. Their collaboration relied on merging intricate script-work with unconventional designs and page layouts. Simonson’s work on Manhunter was an experiment in form, and it began with engaging visual dynamics. “While I was trying to hammer out a background for Manhunter,” Goodwin recounted, “Walt went to work designing a costume, based on a few suggestions and restrictions I was able to give him: that our man would sort of be a modern-day ninja and that whatever the design of the costume, it would be one of the primary hues in color (which would contrast with Batman and follow in the tradition of most commercially successful super-heroes). The costume Walt created was essentially the one that appears in the printed stories: an elaborate stylized variation on actual samurai garb” (Special Edition). Plot and dialogue were entirely up to Goodwin. The creators employed what’s come to be known as the “Marvel style”: The writer would generate the plot, the artist would lay out pages and panels, the writer would generate captions and dialogue, and then the artist would provide inks over the pencils. The plotting of Manhunter was collaborative, but the script details were left up to Goodwin. The visual details, however, were up to Simonson.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE Beyond the eccentric costume details, one of the most distinctive characteristics of Manhunter was his weaponry. Paul Kirk’s arsenal was a mash-up of cool weapons pulled from a variety of eras, and it fit the kung-fu/espionage tone of the ’70s perfectly. “Archie had a book called Asian Fighting Arts, or something like that sort, with all kinds of stuff from China, Okinawa, and Japan,” Simonson said. “You name it, it was in there. They had weapons from India and they showed the Bundi dagger. That’s how Manhunter got that. The idea was he might have different weapons at different times. The strip didn’t run long enough for that to really develop…. The Broomhandle Mauser came about because I had a friend, Steve Mitchell, who had a replica Broomhandle Mauser, and I think he may have suggested it. It looked great. They even had a stock you could click into it to make it a shoulder fire if you needed to” (Modern Masters 18).

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Most of Simonson’s visual details were received well by Goodwin, but the Mauser was a bit of a sticking point at the beginning: “I … dragged my feet at first on the idea of our hero carrying a gun. It somehow seemed, well … unheroic. But as Manhunter’s more or less mercenary background began to evolve, the gun seemed to fit. Besides you can’t edit war comics as I’ve done and be totally immune to the aesthetic appeal of weaponry. And Walt drew that Mauser so well…” (Special Edition 7). It’s easy to focus on the surface of Manhunter. It’s a series that looks good and moves well, even if you don’t look too closely at what’s happening in the page design. But if you do look closely, it’s clear that Goodwin and Simonson were breaking down traditional comics expectations and replacing them with new narrative puzzles. Their use of pace, time, panel progressions, and the gutter between panels was something fresh in superhero comics—an improvisation driven largely by their space constraints: “‘Manhunter’ began to grow amazingly complex,” Goodwin said. “In part, this was due to the eight-page format; to keep a certain amount of visually interesting things going on in each segment, we abandoned a straightforward, linear approach to telling Manhunter’s story. Skipping back and forth in time and points of view enabled us to create strong sequences of action and suspense without the more gradual build-up (and page-absorbing) approach we probably would have taken with a longer story” (Special Edition 8).

LIFE AFTER DEATH The strip came to an end in Detective Comics #443 (Oct.–Nov. 1974). Goodwin had left Detective (and DC) to take a job at Warren a few months earlier, but he left on amicable terms and was allowed to finish out the Manhunter story with Simonson. The last segment, entitled “Gotterdammerung,” was 20 pages long and featured a much-requested team-up with the

lead character from Detective. More important than the team-up with Batman, however, was the way the series ended. Because there were no plans to continue the use of Manhunter in the DCU beyond the backup strip, Goodwin and Simonson had license to do what they wanted with their character. For Goodwin, this meant playing out the story to its logical (and sacrificial) conclusion. Paul Kirk died to ensure the survival of his friends (and countless civilians) and the destruction of the Council. As Christine says in the end, “He said, they’d robbed him of the only peace he’d ever found. I suppose, in his own way … he’s taken it back.” Surprisingly (for the world of comics), Paul Kirk has never been resurrected in the DCU. Gerry Conway used one of Kirk’s clones in Secret Society of Super-Villains (#1–5) and Roy Thomas used the Golden Age version of Kirk in a story tied into the Millennium event in the 1980s (Secret Origins #22, Young All-Stars #8–9, and Infinity, Inc. #46–47). But no other writer has used the ’70s version of Paul Kirk. It’s a testament to the weight of Goodwin and Simonson’s accomplishment that, while the Manhunter name and a direct character legacy have lived on, Kirk has been allowed to stay at rest. Simonson told one more Manhunter story for the Manhunter Special Edition in 1999 (a year after Archie Goodwin died of cancer), but it was a silent story that featured one of the Council’s clones masquerading as Paul Kirk. Goodwin and Simonson had plotted the story some years earlier, but they hadn’t finished it together. Since the end of Paul Kirk’s story, several other characters in the DC Universe have used the name of Manhunter. Just a year after Goodwin and Simonson concluded their tale, Jack Kirby introduced a new version of Manhunter—a public defender named Mark Shaw. Shaw debuted in 1st Issue Special #5 (Aug. 1975), but the character didn’t take. He appeared in several issues of Justice League of America (#140–141, 143, and 149–150) as Manhunter, another hero named Privateer, and a villain named Star Tsar, but he quickly faded from DC’s continuity and remained dormant for a decade. When DC launched its Millennium series in john ostrander 1988—an event focused on a sleeper-cell invasion of Earth by the hostile android race (and Green Lantern villains) known as the Manhunters—Mark Shaw seemed a natural fit. Shaw was brought back in John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad before going on to star in the first Manhunter ongoing series. “We wanted him to be a bounty hunter specializing in supervillains,” Ostrander says. “He wasn’t there to fight crime or right wrongs per se. He wanted the bounty. We felt there hadn’t been a character like that in the DCU. We felt it would set him apart from Batman and Superman and previous incarnations of Manhunter. We weren’t going specifically for an anti-hero, but more someone who wasn’t looking to uphold the heroic motif.” Mark Shaw battled a number of familiar villains (Captain Cold, Count Vertigo, Cat-Man, and Kobra) and fought alongside heroes such as Flash and Batman in a series that lasted 24 issues. Ostrander’s (and wife/co-author Kim Yale’s) book was more of a straightforward superhero/adventure series than Goodwin and Simonson’s, but Ostrander was conscious of the legacy he was working with. “We were aware of the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter,” Ostrander says. “It was a superb series. One part of me would have liked to try and bring that character back, but the feeling at DC was it was better to respect that series as it was. So we were encouraged to go in a different direction. In retrospect, I agree. Manhunter was created (in part) by Jack Kirby, and he did many incarnations of it, including the Mark Shaw version. Shaw, as a character, went through different incarnations and different names—sometimes as a good guy, sometimes as a

New Talent Showcase Nascent talent Simonson drew like an old pro, don’t you think? Last page of ’Tec #441’s “Cathedral Perilous.” TM & © DC Comics.

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ManhunterGo-Round (left) A Kirk clone in 1976’s SSOSV #4 (Ernie Chua cover). (right) Mark Shaw in 1988’s Manhunter #4 (Doug Rice cover). TM & © DC Comics.

bad guy. We wanted to get him back to his roots and give him a the idea entirely and come up with something else. Walt mulled it over chance to re-earn his heroic status. So there was no direct connection for a week and then made one request: Don’t have him wear red. between our Manhunter and the Goodwin/Simonson one, other Which was fine with us. And so we had our ruthless pragmatist— than that theirs was the standard for quality.” someone who’s very different from the original Manhunter, who A few years after Mark Shaw’s adventures ended, a new doesn’t live up to the legacy, who bridles at the expectation, and who Manhunter named Chase Lawler was introduced in the wake of Zero doesn’t want to be the man Paul Kirk was. Or at least thinks he doesn’t.” Hour, another company-wide DC event. This Manhunter stands as The final character to claim the Manhunter name was created the sharpest divergence from the tone and spirit of the Golden and two years after Power Company ended. Kate Spencer, a prosecutor Bronze Age Manhunter namesake. Created by Steven Grant and (a deliberate contrast to Mark Shaw’s public defender role), grows Vince Giarrano, Chase Lawler was a musician who was frustrated with a legal system that lets criminals go free. compelled to hunt out lonely souls, but he channeled this After a supervillain named Copperhead is released and compulsion into hunting villains. In style and subject, goes on a murderous rampage, Spencer gathers this version of Manhunter was a perfect distillation of unused superhero equipment from a police lab (a superhero comics in the mid-’90s. Darkstars outfit, which gives her increased When the Chase Lawler series ended after 12 strength and stamina, and Mark hunts the crimissues, the Manhuter name experienced another inal down, and kills him. Spencer’s life quickly eight years of inactivity before Kurt Busiek created spirals out of control, and she finds herself in a a new character for a series called Power Company conspiracy that involves all of the previous in 2002. While this iteration of Manhunter was Manhunters except Kirk DePaul. technically a new personality, he was pulled from Kate Spencer’s Manhunter book, written by Marc the pages of the Goodwin/Simonson story. Kirk Andreyko, quickly became a cult classic among DC DePaul, one of Paul Kirk’s clones, was the last readers. Much like James Robinson had done with surviving member of the Council’s enforcement Starman in the 1990s, Andreyko created a strong marc andreyko group. He disobeyed the Council’s order to cast of supporting characters and rooted his series assassinate Manhunter and instead fled to Africa deeply in the legacy character tradition. Part of this to become a mercenary. was due to editorial mandate, but part of it was an attempt to Though DePaul wore a uniform that was nearly identical to Paul reconcile the history of the Manhunter namesake: “I went back and Kirk’s costume, Busiek deliberately tried to draw distinctions between read all the existing Manhunter comics that have been published,” the two characters: “I kept thinking about that wonderful Manhunter Andreyko says. “I was really familiar with Archie and Walt’s great costume,” Busiek wrote on the text page of Power Company: Manhunter. And I remember reading the Ostrander Manhunter of the Manhunter #1. “And for that matter, Manhunter’s a great name, isn’t ’80s, right around the time of Millennium. And I read the rock-andit? And a great character, a masterwork from Archie Goodwin and Walt roll one from the ’90s. There was also an editorial edict that they only Simonson…. And the idea just kinda hit me. And as soon as it did, wanted one Manhunter to exist simultaneously. They didn’t want I really, really wanted to do it. But I didn’t want to step on anyone’s eight or nine of them running around. So I was, like, ‘Well, how can toes. So I called Walt and ran the idea past him. I told him that we I deal with these guys and pay homage to their legacy and the work didn’t want to do anything to cheapen or disrespect what he and of their creators and at the same time tell a story that’s compelling Archie had done, and if he didn’t want us to use Manhunter, I’d scrap and has high stakes?’” Backups Issue

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(Wo)Manhunter (right) Jae Lee’s eye-gougingly groovy cover art to Kate Spencer’s first issue, Manhunter #1 (Oct. 2004), signed by Jimmy Palmiotti. (left) Original cover art—featuring another Manhunter/ Batman team-up!— from Manhunter #28 (Apr. 2007), by Kevin Nowlan, cover artist for the next edition of BACK ISSUE. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. TM & © DC Comics.

Andreyko solved the problem by having Mark Shaw fall so deeply into a web of multiple personalities that he begins hunting down anyone with the Manhunter name. This approach stayed true to the history of the characters (especially Shaw) while consolidating the complicated Manhunter legacy. “I fixed up the idea of a serial killer who was killing off all the people who had been named Manhunter,” Andreyko says. “Part of that came from the Kirk DePaul character in Power Company, who was a clone of Archie and Walt’s Manhunter. I’ve always thought that Archie and Walt’s Manhunter was just amazing. It had a great beginning, middle, and end. Now that Archie’s no longer with us, it was sort of sacrosanct. I didn’t want to touch that. So I really wanted to eliminate Kirk DePaul, because I felt that such an existence diminished Archie and Walt’s character. I’m not saying that Kurt [Busiek] did anything bad there, but it bothered me conceptually because I felt that what Archie and Walt did was deeply personal. Paul Kirk was so deeply associated with them that, unless they were involved in it, it didn’t feel right.” The decision to create the first female Manhunter was initiated by DC Comics executive Dan DiDio, who recruited Andreyko to write the series. But Kate’s character was compelling for reasons that went well beyond her gender: “I wanted purposely to make a character who was a character who happened to be a

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woman, but who had all the flaws and the problems of male characters,” Andreyko says. “No one really ever says, ‘Oh, poor Wolverine. He’s angry and he smokes and drinks, and he’s sad. That’s really interesting for a man.’ Kate Spencer’s name comes from Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. She comes from that world. She’s troubled and not particularly likable, but that’s part of the point. Over the course of the series, we see her grow and change. Being a superhero brings a lot of pain and suffering with it. That life is not an easy life, and I wanted to acknowledge that with the history of the Manhunters. But I also wanted to show that change was possible.” “Change” is the key word in Manhunter’s long and winding history. A character who has experienced as many identities and as much turmoil as Manhunter has in the last 70 years is bound to be difficult to pin down—especially when he (or she) has spent most of that time as a backup and B-list character. But the Manhunter legacy is one that reaches deep into the dark corners of every era in DC’s long history. And the bright colors of Goodwin and Simonson’s relatively short story cast one of the company’s longest shadows. Special thanks go to Roger Ash, John Ostrander, and Marc Andreyko. Thanks for talking with me, guys. ALEX BONEY, a frequent BACK ISSUE contributor, lives in Kansas City with Conor and Kristy. He works as an editor at Hallmark and teaches classes on American literature and comics at the University of Central Missouri. His primary interest lies in the superhero stories of the Golden Age, but he has a soft spot for the Question, Power Girl, and Martian Manhunter.

John Wells

The library of characters in the DC Comics pantheon is vast. renewed name recognition to characters with whom In the early 1940s alone, when most titles carried six or present-day readers would otherwise have been more features per issue, a kid with a handful of dimes could unfamiliar. The savviest DC writers and editors even used follow the adventures of 40–50 DC characters. Throughout the reprints in support of old characters that they wished the 1950s and 1960s, dozens more heroes joined to revive. A reprint of the Creeper’s 1968 origin in the fold only to fall away as genres fell out Detective Comics #443 in 1974, for instance, of favor or readership tastes changes. was a precursor to the character’s brandThey were gone, but not forgotten. new guest-appearance with Batman five Certainly not by many members issues later. And 1950s Roy Raymond of DC management, who saw that reprints in Detective #444 and 445 reservoir of bought-and-paid-for promoted a modern tale in Superman stories as something that they #285 that revealed whatever hapcould economically republish instead pened to the famed TV detective. of new material. In that way, Guest-shots, more often than not, dormant characters like Congorilla and were the best that most dormant DC Robotman and Johnny Quick stayed characters could hope for. No matter before the public eye, reprints of how fond fans and pros were of many their 1950s adventures inserted into Golden and Silver Age characters, they julius schwartz the back of comics like World’s Finest. were no longer viewed as headliners. In the 1970s, the reprint push accelIn June of 1980, when DC added eight erated with old stories included as supplements to new story pages to each of its standard-format titles, the extra ones in a 1971–1972 initiative and as part of its 100-Page space was often filled with backup features starring Super-Spectacular format that peaked in 1974. relatively recent creations like Firestorm, the Huntress, The hidden benefit of all those reprints—hidden at and OMAC. (Adam Strange, created in 1959 and allotted least to the eyes of corporate—was that they gave a spot in Green Lantern, was a rare exception.) Backups Issue

Back in Action Actually, back in DC Comics Presents. Samples of the first two “Whatever Happened To…?” installments, starring (left) Hourman, from DCCP #25, and (right) Sargon the Sorcerer, from #26. A BIG thank-you to John Wells for providing most of the art scans used in this article. TM & © DC Comics.

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Before “Whatever Happened To…?”… …DC’s stars of yesteryear—like Roy Raymond, TV Detective—were only seen in the occasional reprint (this one, top left, from Detective Comics #445) or a cleverly placed cameo (such as in Superman #285, bottom left). TM & © DC Comics.

For editor Julius Schwartz and consulting editor E. Nelson Bridwell, the question was what backup feature would best complement the Superman team-ups that headlined each issue of DC Comics Presents. The Man of Steel typically joined forces with the stars of some other active DC series but, like the Batman team-ups in The Brave and the Bold, he was periodically paired with a character that had no current feature. There was value in periodically pulling those old characters out of mothballs, not just for nostalgia’s sake but to keep those names and trademarks alive. Just suppose, someone might have argued, that this philosophy was extended to the still-unrealized DCCP backup feature. Each episode could check in on some long-unseen DC character, heroes who weren’t necessarily commercial enough to star alongside Superman but still held appeal to a subset of older fans and might spark the interest of new ones. With literally hundreds of inactive Golden and Silver Age heroes to draw on, these updates would never run out of subjects to revisit. Effective with DC Comics Presents #25 (Sept. 1980), each issue would close with an eight-page superhero update that posed the question “Whatever Happened To…?”

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Sixty-Minute Man Hourman’s “WHT?” backup is trumpeted in the blurb on this original cover art to DC Comics Presents #25 (Sept. 1980). Art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

MAN OF THE HOUR The opening installment turned the spotlight on one of DC’s earliest costumed heroes. Originally featured in Adventure Comics #48–83 (1940–1943), Hourman had been revived in the 1960s as part of the Justice Society of America but hadn’t actively worked with the team for most of that time. Still, he was a relatively familiar choice to launch the strip, and the opening installment revolved around the central concept that chemist Rex Tyler gained 60 minutes of super-strength by ingesting a Miraclo pill. While fighting saboteurs at his plant,

Hourman was knocked unconscious and left wondering came up with the preliminary list.” When tackling a how many minutes of power he had left. In the wake particular character, Rozakis explains to BACK ISSUE, “I got of his climactic leap onto an explosive-laden terrorist, copies of their most recent appearances—in some cases, the Man of the Hour looked at a clock and realized, many years earlier—from the DC library and tried to “My hour-power ran out eighteen minutes ago!” tie what happened there into what I was writing.” Unlike Hourman, Sargon the Sorcerer had had a rockier revival in the late 1960s and 1970s when he was A COMIC READER GOES WEST sometimes cast as a villain lusting for the powerful Ruby Among those fascinated with the potential of “Whatever of Life. Following a 1978 clash with Wonder Woman, Happened To...?” was Mike Tiefenbacher, a longDCCP #26 revealed that the mage had decided to standing devotee of DC’s classic Silver and Golden Age comics. As editor of the Wisconsin-based Comic retire altogether and donated his supernatural Reader news magazine, he learned of the ruby to a museum. Forced to question the new feature early and successfully pitched possibility that he was still acting under a story to Julius Schwartz quickly the gem’s influence, Sargon ultimately enough that it became the fourth realized that he was being manipulated installment (DCCP #28). by the Matter Master and set a trap Its star was Johnny Thunder, a for that costumed Hawkman villain. mystery man of the Old West who Even without the Ruby of Life, the was secretly mild-mannered school sorcerer still possessed ample magic. teacher John Tane and had been DC’s Unlike Sargon and Hourman, most successful hero in the Western Congorilla (DCCP #28) had been genre, running from 1948 to 1961. unaccounted for since his feature Toward the end of its run, All Star ended in 1961 other than a guest-shot Western editor Julius Schwartz had in 1965’s Jimmy Olsen #86. His lone bob rozakis worked with writer Gardner Fox and Bronze Age appearance had been a artist Gil Kane to goose sales, first flashback to 1959 (Justice League of engineering a modest reboot of the America #144). Consequently, much had changed character and finally introducing a Robin Hood-styled for Congo Bill (whose DC adventures began in 1940). The “darkest Africa” that he’d once explored had given adversary named Madame .44 (a.k.a. photographer way to the modern age and Bill himself now oversaw “a Jeanne Walker). The final adventure had even ended large industrial firm” with former kid sidekick Janu as his on a cliffhanger with the two adversaries approaching vice-president. Old superstitions remained, and the plot each other in their civilian identities, both sporting pivoted on Bill transferring his brain into the body of the visible injuries that would give away their alter egos. DCCP #28 picked up right where ASW #119 left golden Congorilla to defeat a wrestler/diamond-smuggler off, with the showdown interrupted by a bank robbery who was posing as a silver ape to bilk natives. “Obviously, we were going for characters that hadn’t perpetrated by Johnny Thunder’s greatest foe, Silk been seen in awhile since that was what the name of Black. Separately wounded in the altercation that the series implied,” says Bob Rozakis, who wrote the first followed, Johnny and Madame .44 put aside their differthree installments. “I think Julie and probably Nelson ences to bring Black to justice. They’d fallen in love and

TM & © DC Comics.

Back in the Saddle Again Silver Age gunslinger Johnny Thunder (seen on left in 1961’s All Star Western #119, with Madame .44) holstered up again in (right) DCCP #28, by Tiefenbacher and Kane. Many Bronze Age readers remembered him from the three-issue Johnny Thunder reprint series of late 1972 and early 1973 (above). TM & © DC Comics.

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Watch Your Back, Dr. Evil! DC’s late-1960s toy tie-in Captain Action (inset) prompted Mike Tiefenbacher to propose reviving the hero and sidekick Action Boy as (right) Captain Triumph and Javelin. (below) The first page of Mike’s “Whatever Happened To Clive Arno?” pitch. Art and plot courtesy of Mike Tiefenbacher, via John Wells. Captain Action © Captain Action Enterprises. Captain Triumph TM & © DC Comics.

confirmed their true identities, but Johnny still delivered the female gunfighter to the office of his father, Sheriff Tane … in order to set up a full pardon for Madame .44. As the story ended, readers learned that John and Jeanne Tane were now the parents of Becky and “bouncing baby boy Chuck.” [Yes, Legion of Super-Heroes fans, that was an intentional reference to Chuck “Bouncing Boy” Taine.] It was a sweet, well-told story and one that Schwartz realized needed special treatment. Legendary artist Gil Kane was still working for DC, and it seemed altogether fitting that the man who drew so many of Johnny Thunder’s earlier adventures should be on hand to illustrate this grand finale.

an evil intelligence called Dr. Evil. DC no longer had the rights to the Captain Action name, but the optimistic Tiefenbacher used that detail to inform his plot. Before his transformation into a higher lifeform, Dr. Evil had been Clive Arno’s father-in-law Stefan Tracy. Unaware of what really happened, authorities had charged Tracy’s son-in-law with murder. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison, based in part on circumstantial evidence like Arno’s fingerprints throughout Tracy’s lab and testimony from neighbors who’d heard a violent argument. Arno was unexpectedly released in 1980 when Stefan Tracy turned up alive in San Francisco. Reunited with Carl, Clive learned that his son (while in his costumed alter ego) THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN had been “served with a permanent OF CAPTAIN ACTION … injunction by a film company who mike tiefenbacher ALMOST had licensed the trademark rights In a separate proposal, Tiefenbacher from a toy company for their names tackled another old Gil Kane-illustrated and costumes due to the enormous success of the series. During 1968 and 1969, DC had licensed the recent Superman film.” Having previously vowed “to rights to an Ideal Toys action figure and published not allow jail to break his spirits,” the fondly remembered title Captain Action. Clive Arno could only laugh. Empowered by magical coins, Clive Arno and Returning to his old life as an his son Carl (as Action Boy) fought for justice archaeologist, Clive also longed over five issues, two of which set them against to resume life as a superhero and designed new aliases for him and his son, the Captain and Javelin. The duo quickly went into action against their old foe Krellik, who’d been seeking the mate to his own magical coin. Calling on the power of Zeus, the Captain immobilized his opponent as a frozen statue. Afterwards, Stefan Tracy materialized before his son-in-law and grandson, explaining that he had evolved

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beyond evil and had cleared Clive’s name to make amends before leaving their lives forever. Carl marveled at the succession of events, delighted to have achieved “so much success after so many years of none.” Clive, aware that the boy thought his dad’s new moniker lacked pizzazz, was inspired. He’d no longer be simply the Captain. He’d be Captain Triumph [the name recycled that of a 1943–1949 Quality Comics hero now owned by DC]! Although Tiefenbacher’s plot was a busy one, with a cameo from Cave Carson and name checks of Carter and Shiera Hall among its many details, it was the very concept that killed it. E. Nelson Bridwell declared the story to be “out of the question,” believing—rightly or wrongly—that Ideal’s claim on Captain Action extended to the Arno family names created for the comic book. Tiefenbacher later detailed parts of the story in Amazing Heroes #13 (June 1982). There were also plots that were rejected because Julius Schwartz believed they’d be baffling to the casual reader. “I had pitched to Julie a WHT? called ‘Whatever Happened to the Batman?,’ which would be about a Batman of a parallel Earth that had quit crimefighting early in his career, then returned to it,” Mike W. Barr tells BACK ISSUE. “Julie thought the whole concept was too confusing, rightly so.” That same sentiment killed Tiefenbacher’s plot involving the Earth-One Wildcat (unrelated to the character who appeared with the Justice Society).

CRISIS ON EARTH-TWO After four issues with four different pencilers (Charles Nicholas, Jose Delbo, Romeo Tanghal, and Gil Kane), Alex Saviuk settled in as the artist-in-residence on “Whatever Happened To…?” with Vince Colletta as inker on all but two of his stories. (Joe Giella provided finishes on DCCP #29, while Dennis Jensen inked DCCP #38’s episode.) Bob Rozakis resumed scripting with two successive issues featuring members of the Justice Society. Dr. Mid-Nite was up first (DCCP #29) in a story that revealed that the blind hero’s ability to see in the dark was fading with age. A colleague developed a sonar-based pair of glasses that resolved his problem, but the ill-fated ophthalmologist was slain by a man who stole the prototype, and alex saviuk Mid-Nite spent the bulk of the story avenging his friend’s death. (The killer was captured while looting the home of Senator B. J. Potter, a nod to two characters from the M.A.S.H. TV show.) DCCP #30’s spotlight on the original Atom became the first and only crossover in the history of the “Whatever Happened To…?” series. In contrast to most Golden Age heroes of Earth-Two who had Silver Age equivalents on Earth-One, the two versions of the Atom were conceptually different. The first was simply a short man who eventually acquired an “atomic punch,” while his 1960s successor could shrink to six inches and smaller. A mysterious presence called Mallo, Keeper of the Cosmic Balance declared that this disparity was causing great celestial distress and he had the power to do something about it. Specifically, he arranged for the two Atoms to swap powers for a long enough period “to restore the equilibrium of the cosmos.” Both heroes adapted well enough but neither had any idea what caused the swap. The first part of the story with the present-day Atom (also by Rozakis and Saviuk) had appeared in Action Comics #515, three weeks before DC Comics Presents’ sequel. “The crossover was just one more way to tie the characters together and bring the Golden Age Atom back into the then-current DCU,” Rozakis explains. “Mallo was based on a comic-shop owner that Alex Saviuk and I knew; I’m sure I would have used him again had the right story opportunity presented itself.” The Golden Age Atom story also revealed that the hero had finally married his college sweetheart Mary James. Interestingly, Mary’s hair was obviously (and rather crudely) retouched throughout the story, apparently to eliminate

All-Star Aversion Roy Thomas, who had recently taken charge of DC’s Golden Age heroes in his All-Star Squadron series, objected to Earth-Two heroes like Dr. Mid-Nite (DCCP #29) and Golden Age Atom (#30) appearing in WHT?s. Roy was concerned that these eightpagers might adversely affect or restrict his ongoing storylines. TM & © DC Comics.

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From The House of Secrets (left) The opening of the Mark Merlin/ Prince Ra-Man backup from DC Comics Presents #32 (Apr. 1981), also featured boob-tube gumshoe Roy Raymond. (right) Tiefenbacher’s Prince Ra-Man art for a possible Who’s Who entry was rejected because he had no pro art credits (“Which wasn’t actually true,” says John Wells, “since he’d previously done a Doodles Duck story”). TM & © DC Comics.

shadings that depicted her as a brunette rather than the blonde she’d been in the 1940s. That art correction suggests the involvement of DC continuity cop E. Nelson Bridwell, who’d likely have been the only person in the offices to have caught such a detail. Rozakis’ update on Robotman, like Tiefenbacher’s earlier Johnny Thunder tale, was a turning point in the character’s career. Fatally wounded by criminals in 1941, Bob Crane had survived thanks to his colleague Charles Grayson transplanting his brain into a robotic shell. As Robotman, he fought crime into the 1950s until (as DCCP #31 revealed) he was trapped in a collapsing mine and lost consciousness. Awakening in 1980, the hero resumed his pursuit of the last criminal he’d been hunting and was astonished at how incredibly advanced the villain’s home city seemed to be … not to mention how old the bad guy had become overnight. The metallic Rip Van Winkle eventually realized what had really happened, only to receive more unexpected news: Chuck Grayson had died of a rare brain illness and had his body cryogenically frozen so that Bob Crane’s brain could be transplanted into it if Robotman ever returned. In the final panels, the hero got his happy ending. Recalling the more recent Robotman who was still part of the Doom Patrol, Rozakis notes, “I think we didn’t want to have another Robotman running around, so it seemed logical to have him get a human body back after so many years.” There’d be, for the most part, no further closure for any character that originated in the 1940s. Upon his arrival at DC, Roy Thomas created All-Star Squadron as a vehicle that would revive not only the members of the JSA but many more dormant DC heroes who’d operated during World War II. From his perspective, the DCCP backup was counterproductive. “When I came to DC and had arranged to launch All-Star Squadron, one of the first things I did—and I seem to recall Julie wasn’t real happy about this—was to put the kibosh on the ‘Whatever Happened To...?’ series,” Thomas tells BACK ISSUE. “Actually, my complaint to DC was that, for the sake of one eight-page story, the whole suspense of what might happen in the future to a member of the Squadron and JSA would be ruined. I could work with what had been done … and some of those stories were quite fine … but if I was stuck with Dr. Mid-Nite, the Atom, Robotman, and others, I didn’t suddenly want others popping up. I got the DC powers-that-be to see the light and ask Julie to stop the series, or at least (and this was all I had wanted) to not use any more characters who might have been around during WWII.” 56 • BACK ISSUE • Backups Issue

REVISITING SILVER AGERS The edict didn’t immediately affect Mike Tiefenbacher, who returned to the feature with a quartet of episodes spotlighting characters from the 1950s and 1960s. Mark Merlin had been an investigator of the occult who appeared in House of Secrets from 1959 to 1965, belatedly acquiring the ability to transfer his consciousness into a cat named Memakata. Transported through time and space in one final case documented in HOS #73, Merlin had been unable to return to presentday Earth and had to settle for a supernatural potion that reincarnated him on present-day Earth as the costumed Prince Ra-Man. By the time DCCP #32 opened, Mark’s former partner Elsa Magusson was convinced that he was actually in witness protection thanks to a secret government project he’d worked on. She was mistaken, but her appearance on a talk show with Roy Raymond (another former DC hero) brought her to the attention of Prince Ra-Man, who’d been inadvertently trapped in the body of Memakata. Divulging the full details of Mark Merlin’s fate as he should have done years earlier, the mystic hero convinced Elsa that her friend was truly dead. (Among the details revealed here for the first time were Mark’s home city—Cloister—and Elsa’s last name.) Tiefenbacher’s original pitch had been significantly different, even going so far as to incorporate the recurring series villain Doctor-7 and a guest-shot by one-shot hero Astro (from House of Mystery #140). That story resurrected Mark in the present with Elsa, while Ra-Man wound up in the past with his beloved Rimah. There was too much crammed into the plot to possibly fit into eight pages, and Schwartz rejected it on that basis. All of the writer’s submissions were detailed, single-spaced twoto-three-page plots. He notes that Schwartz “hated the fact that I’d worked out the stories so completely, since his shtick was to work these things out with the writer, and he wanted one-paragraph synopses. My stories had more plot than you’d get today in four issues, all supposedly crammed into eight pages. I had no previous (or, as it turns out, subsequent) experience.” Tiefenbacher’s next stop was 2092 A.D., where he revealed “Whatever Will Happen to Star Hawkins?” Featured in Strange Adventures between 1960 and 1965, Hawkins was the classic hard-luck private eye transplanted into a futuristic setting complete with a loyal,

if put-upon, robotic secretary named Ilda. In DCCP #33, Star and Ilda were charged with protecting robotics expert Stella Sterling and her century-old bodyguard Automan from conspirators, a case that ultimately earned the detective a staggering 250,000,000-credit reward. The tale ended with Star and Stella operating the Academy of Robot Detection, where Automan and Ilda—now a romantic couple—served as instructors. (The villains of the story—B10Room, S12Ekow, S12Achs, and K7Ane—referenced the series’ original creators, writer John Broome and artists Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs, and Gil Kane.) Automan, incidentally, was also a little-known DC hero, featured in Tales of the Unexpected #91, 94, and 97 (1965–1966). Tiefenbacher took pride in the fact that most of his stories revived two lost heroes for the price of one.

DOG DAYS AND TIME TRAVEL Such was the case with DCCP #35’s charming “Whatever Happened to Rex the Wonder Dog?,” which brought along Bobo, a.k.a. Detective Chimp. The latter had appeared as a backup feature in the former’s comic book throughout the 1950s, but they’d never actually met until this story. Set in Bobo’s Florida stomping grounds, the episode had a twinge of sadness as the two animal crimefighters met for the first time on a case. Age had caught up with Rex, his joints aching and his stamina flagging. Distressed when his new friend collapsed in the wilderness, Bobo brought the Wonder Dog water from a pool and was delighted when Rex was refreshed. It was only on a subsequent trip to the vet that the animals’ respective owners discovered that Bobo and Rex had been rejuvenated to 18 months old! By pure chance, Detective Chimp had discovered the fabled Fountain of Youth and granted himself and Rex a new lease on life. As with the earlier Johnny Thunder tale, Schwartz recognized that this episode was special. The one-time editor of Rex the Wonder Dog sought out the canine’s former artist, and Gil Kane returned to draw one last adventure. Tiefenbacher’s final contribution to the series looked at Rip Hunter, the so-called Time Master, who’d starred in his own series from 1959 to 1965. Observing that no one had ever bothered to explain how the crew had begun traveling through time, Tiefenbacher resolved to give them an origin: When a rival traveled to the past to sabotage the young Rip’s creation of his time sphere, Rip chased after him and paradoxically left behind the power-element that enabled him to fuel that sphere in the first place. “Julie or Nelson rewrote the last panel to more or less obfuscate the paradox,” Tiefenbacher recalls. An earlier version of the plot, he continues, had Rip and company “meeting Superman in the time stream in a time paradox that was to be included at Julie’s suggestion.” The writer’s initial plot was quite different, detailing how an amnesiac Rip had been stranded for several years in the mid-1700s. Regaining his memories but

“WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…?” BACKUPS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

DC Comics Presents #25 (Sept. 1980): Hourman DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980): Sargon the Sorcerer DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov. 1980): Congorilla DC Comics Presents #28 (Dec. 1980): Johnny Thunder DC Comics Presents #29 (Jan. 1981): Dr. Mid-Nite DC Comics Presents #30 (Feb. 1981): The Golden Age Atom DC Comics Presents #31 (Mar. 1981): Robotman DC Comics Presents #32 (Apr. 1981): Mark Merlin and Prince Ra-Man DC Comics Presents #33 (May 1981): Star Hawkins DC Comics Presents #35 (July 1981): Rex the Wonder Dog DC Comics Presents #37 (Sept. 1981): Rip Hunter DC Comics Presents #38 (Oct. 1981): The Crimson Avenger DC Comics Presents #39 (Nov. 1981): Richard Dragon DC Comics Presents #40 (Dec. 1981): The Original Air Wave DC Comics Presents #42 (Feb. 1982): The Sandman DC Comics Presents #47 (July 1982): Sandy DC Comics Presents #48 (Aug. 1982): The Black Pirate

“Whatever Happened to Rex the Wonder Dog?” Surely you’ve no objection to our showing another beautiful page of original art by Gil Kane! (Courtesy of Heritage.) Guest-starring Bobo, Detective Chimp. From DCCP #35. TM & © DC Comics.

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Whatever Happened To “Whatever Happened To…?” (left) Len Wein and artists Alex Saviuk and Dennis Jensen’s “Whatever Happened to the Crimson Avenger?” in DCCP #38 deeply affected DC readers. (right) The splash to Roy Thomas’ Black Pirate WHT? From issue #48, lavishly illustrated by Alfredo Alcala. TM & © DC Comics.

forgetting the new life he’d forged as “Nat Hawk,” the Time Master was unaware that he’d fathered future Revolutionary War hero Tomahawk. The story was conceived as the first of three interrelated “Whatever Happened To…?” stories that established a bloodline extending to Western hero Hannibal “Nighthawk” Hawkes and World War II pilot Bart “Blackhawk” Hawks. Taking into account the fact that Blackhawk was Polish, Tiefenbacher included a detail that had the hero’s father shot down (by Enemy Ace, no less) during World War I, leading to his marriage to a woman from Poland. The trilogy never appeared, though, nor did any of Tiefenbacher’s subsequent pitches. None of them were ever actually rejected, he notes. They simply weren’t acknowledged.

WHT?: THE FINAL INSTALLMENTS Len Wein stepped in to write the final case of the Crimson Avenger in DCCP #38. Nearly a decade earlier, Wein had penned a story in JLA #100–102 wherein the Avenger and his Seven Soldiers of Victory partners were plucked from the 1940s to the 1970s. Still adjusting to the culture shock, Lee Travis was diagnosed with a terminal illness and frustrated that his Crimson Avenger alter ego would die forgotten. Noting a ship in distress in the harbor, Travis saw the opportunity he’d been looking for and raced into action. With the crew evacuated, the Avenger guided the explosive-laden ship away from the city, content that his death would “count for

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something.” Indeed, the crew was grateful but they’d never seen the hero clearly amidst the smoke “and he never mentioned his name.” And yet … a final panel revealed that the mother of a child that the Avenger had saved en route to the ship did remember the hero’s name. She vowed never to forget it. Mike W. Barr wrote DCCP #39’s look back at Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter—notable as the only Bronze Age hero featured in the backup. Based on a 1974 novel by Denny O’Neil, the subsequent comic book had run for 18 issues between 1975 and 1977 and ended with the revelation that Dragon’s friend Ben Turner had evidently been brainwashed into becoming a martial artist dubbed the Bronze Tiger. Barr resolved that thread, revealing that Dragon’s boss Barney Ling had actually been plotting against him and Ben all along. In a final twist, gravediggers discovered that the slain villain’s body had disappeared and the story ended with a new question: “Whatever happened to Barney Ling?” Mike W. Barr told Jim Kingman in BACK ISSUE #49 that “the idea of Ling’s body vanishing from its coffin was Julie’s contribution. We were so tickled with the idea, we didn’t give a follow-up story any thought.” The writer hoped to include Lady Shiva in the story, too, but his editor rejected the idea. “Julie thought this would make the story too complicated,” Barr tells BACK ISSUE, “and he was absolutely right.” As with Tiefenbacher’s Captain Action plot, legalities nearly prevented the story from happening since Richard

MIKE TIEFENBACHER’S OTHER “WHT?” PLOTS Along with his Captain Action proposal and an unrealized Captain Comet miniseries [see BACK ISSUE #29], Mike Tiefenbacher pitched a number of other hero updates that never made it to the printed page. They include: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … BLACKHAWK? Following a disorienting succession of battles that has driven him and his fellow pilots to become mercenaries and abandon their ideals, Blackhawk suddenly finds himself fighting alongside Batman in World War II. The contradictory information forces him to awaken in a laboratory, where he discovers that his evil sibling Black Mask is trying to drive him insane. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … GENIUS JONES AND SCRIBBLY? Reporter Scribbly Jibbet investigates reports of exploding soda bottles (“Power Pop,” a pun on the then-current music wave) with his eccentric informant Johnny “Genius” Jones (a.k.a. the Answerman), earning a promotion for the former and an endowment for the latter. [Tiefenbacher wrote the plot before learning that the adult Scribbly had already appeared in 1960’s Sugar and Spike #30 as the father of an artistically gifted baby son.] WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … NIGHTHAWK? At the urging of sidekick-turned-lawyer Jim Peyton, Hannibal (Nighthawk) Hawkes begins recording his memoirs. His account of the recovery of a silver tomahawk—presented to his grandfather Thomas Hawk by George Washington—is discovered in a diary by his grandson Bart (Blackhawk) Hawks.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … RAGMAN? A reunion with a buddy from Vietnam is the catalyst for Rory (Ragman) Regan’s discovery of an inheritance from the hero’s father, salvation for his poverty-stricken neighborhood, and a new life with girlfriend Bette Berg. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … THE SEA DEVILS? A message from former nemesis Dr. Deep instigates an awkward family reunion for the long-separated Sea Devils diving team, including Dane Dorrance and his estranged father Captain X, along with Dane’s ex-wife Judy and her new husband Juan Vallam-Brossa (a.k.a. Man-Fish). Tiefenbacher adds that “the series’ cast members’ close resemblance to the later-created Fantastic Four, including the Sub-Mariner analog Man-Fish, was parodied” with the team’s Biff Bailey becoming an analog of the Thing. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … THE SILENT KNIGHT? On a snowy Christmas Eve (coinciding with his 21st birthday), the Silent Knight learns the truth about his origins and embarks on a grim quest to rescue his beloved Lady Celia from the evil Sir Edwin Bane. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … THE EARTH-ONE WILDCAT? Not to be confused with the Earth-Two JSA member, the Earth-One Wildcat (seen in The Brave and the Bold and Super-Team Family) reveals to Jimmy Olsen that he abandoned his alter ego after accidentally causing the death of a youth. “My intention,” Tiefenbacher explains, “was to make it seem the opposite of any of the ruthless ‘heroes’ of the time who thought collateral damage didn’t affect their status as heroes.” In a sequel, the retired hero trains a teenager who takes the persona of Bobcat.

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Dragon came from Denny O’Neil’s novel. “The DC legal department was unclear about the disposition of the character’s comic-book rights,” Barr explained in BI #49. “To resolve this situation, I took to Denny a letter of intent (or whatever the legal term is), written by Paul Levitz, that turned comic-book rights over to DC; this action cleared the way for my story, as well as future uses by DC of the character.” Bob Rozakis and Alex Saviuk made their final contributions to the feature with DCCP #40. As the creative team on Action Comics’ Air Wave strip, the duo was well aware that its teen hero had assumed the costumed identity of his father (featured in Detective Comics from 1942 to 1948), but they’d never gone into detail on how the original Air Wave died. As related in “Whatever Happened To…?,” Larry Jordan had been gunned down by an ex-convict shortly after adding electronic powers to his costume, which his son would later put to good use. In the immediate aftermath of Larry’s death, however, it was his widow Helen who donned the Air Wave costume long enough to bring her husband’s killer to justice. “I had been developing a background for the second Air Wave and this was the ideal way to present that story,” Rozakis remembers. “I thought that having Larry’s widow take on the identity was a nice twist. I don’t think there’s ever been a family who have all shared the same superhero identity.” Mike W. Barr returned for a Jose Delbo-penciled two-parter that looked into the status of the Sandman and partner Sandy. According to 1974’s Justice League of America #113, the Golden Age hero had accidentally transformed his adoptive son into a mutated sand creature in the 1940s and never recovered from the guilt. DCCP #42 revealed that Wes Dodds had allowed a doctor to submerge the

memories of his Sandman persona but an attack by a vengeful crimelord brought them all back—along with a renewed vow to cure Sandy. Indeed, the Sandman actually succeeded in DCCP #47’s sequel, restoring his partner to the youthful body he’d possessed four decades earlier. The earthquake powers that Sandy possessed in his mutated form—which a villain called the Shatterer tried to exploit— seemed to have carried over, at least temporarily. “I think these two stories were inspired by the fact that there had been no follow-up on the status of Sandman and Sandy since their appearance in the JLA/JSA team-up that brought back Sandy,” Barr tells BACK ISSUE. “I believe the characters had not even appeared since that story, so the explanation for their absence was a natural. “I had always liked the original gas-masked version of Sandman and probably came up with the stories to write the character, if only briefly,” Barr adds. “I do recall that my dedication for the first story, to Gardner Fox, was changed by Nelson Bridwell to include Simon & Kirby, probably because the story used their famous verse about the character. Julie also edited Wesley Dodds’ name into the girl’s dialogue of the splash panel of the first story. Funny what you remember after all these years.” The five-issue gap between the two stories was a good indication that the writing was on the wall, not just for “Whatever Happened To…?” but for short backup stories in general. Full-length stories were now the trend and there was no going back. Earlier full-length DC Comics Presents stories had accommodated the backup strip— issue #34’s Marvel Family story working in the long-lost Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and issue #36’s “Whatever Happened to Starman?” revealing the fate of the hero recently featured in Adventure Comics— but even that effort was soon dropped. The fact that, despite Roy Thomas’ request, another four Golden Age heroes had slipped into the series may not have helped matters. “Concerning the ‘Sandman’ and ‘Sandy’ WHT? backups, I did not run the plots past Roy,” Mike W. Barr says. “Julie may have, though I doubt it. Julie was always a little imperious about such procedures, thinking that due to his seniority he didn’t have to deal with such matters. And he found continuity with books that he didn’t edit kind of a bother.” Bob Rozakis adds, “More than likely, by the time the second ‘round’ of Golden Agers appeared, Julie had forgotten about the agreement. Julie was never that gung-ho about the giant continuity puzzle Roy, et al., were putting together. He tolerated it from us (his writers) if it did not affect the story being told, but he’d toss it out the window if it did. Nelson would sometimes bring up something that happened in a story years earlier that contradicted something we would be plotting in a current tale and Julie would say, ‘It’s 30 years ago. Forget it.’” There was a certain irony in the fact that Thomas himself (with artist Alfredo Alcala) was the writer on DC Comics Presents #48’s final installment of “Whatever Happened To…?” Coming full circle, it featured a character that was created in 1940 just one month after Hourman. The Black Pirate, however, had operated centuries earlier and evolved over his comics series’ run from carefree swashbuckler Jon Valor to a costumed adventurer who was devoted to his wife Bonnie and son Justin. As the story opened, readers learned that Justin had perished in a raid five years earlier and the Black Pirate had retired in his aftermath. Persuaded to come out of retirement to halt a series of attacks on English ships, Jon was astonished to learn that one of the supposed pirates was his son. Nursed back to health by Puritans, Justin had converted to their faith and now intended to travel to North America in search of religious freedom. Jon rejected an invitation to join his son. “England is my home, Justin … as America henceforth will be yours.” Waving goodbye as

A Sidekick’s Saga From the Heritage archives, an original art page from DCCP #47’s Sandy WHT? Script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Jose Delbo, inks by John Calnan. The issue’s cover is in the background. TM & © DC Comics. Masters of the Universe © 2013 Mattel.

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Earth-One’s Backups (Heroes, That Is…) Says John Wells, “The Danger Council was a 1981 back cover for The Comic Reader that united every Earth-One hero who wasn’t already a member of a team,” including a few characters that appeared in “Whatever Happened To…?” installments. Art by Mike Tiefenbacher and Dennis Jensen. While BACK ISSUE can’t promise that Comic Reader T-shirt, we will ask our readers, Can you name all of these heroes? All characters TM & © DC Comics, except for Captain Action © Captain Action Enterprises, LLC.

the ship set sail, the Black Pirate recalled William Shakespeare’s line from The Tempest: “Oh, brave new world … that has such people in it.” “I can’t recall if Julie asked me to do that one after I had managed to veto the other material,” Thomas says, “Quite possibly he did, which might mean that he accepted my reasoning and bore no great grudge about it. Alas, it was the first of a few skirmishes I would have in the early 1980s with Julie, who, of course, was/is one of the comics editors I most admire. I felt the ‘Whatever Happened To...?’ series was a nice little idea, in a vacuum … but we weren’t doing comics in a vacuum, and the series was potentially counterproductive from the start in an era when (happily) comic-book continuity mattered because the companies were respecting their longtime readers. Nowadays, we’re liable to get a reboot, complete with a new life for the heroes, as per the new DC Earth 2.” For most of the contributors to WHT?, the feature was merely a footnote in much larger careers. For Mike Tiefenbacher, though, it had been an entrance into the comic-book industry. With its cancellation, that door was nearly closed. After scripting two episodes of his Bobcat creation for 1984’s New Talent Showcase #4 and 13 and collaborating with Jim Engel and Chuck Fiala on that year’s Funny Stuff Stocking Stuffer (where he wrote and drew a Doodles Duck story), Tiefenbacher’s DC work ceased. Aside from a pair of 1987 inking credits on Spotlight Comics’ Mighty Mouse and Underdog titles, his subsequent contributions to the industry have been in the realm of research, whether indexing DC humor and romance titles for APA-I or identifying artists for DC licensing projects. While “Whatever Happened To…?” was no more, the concept of checking in on long-absent characters was, if anything, stronger than ever as DC approached its 50th birthday in 1985 and aggressively revisited its past. Just two months after DCCP #48, for example, Marv Wolfman investigated the whereabouts of Cave Carson as part of a Superman story in Action Comics #536 (Oct. 1982). That episode, in turn, laid the groundwork for an adventure that united Carson, Animal-Man, Congorilla, Dolphin, Rick Flag, Rip Hunter, and the Sea Devils as the Forgotten Heroes (Action #552–553). The short-story format still had its benefits, though, and “Whatever Happened To…?” was unexpectedly revived by editor Kevin Dooley for the 1992–1994 Green Lantern Corps Quarterly series. Consisting of a mix of stories starring established heroes like Alan Scott and newly

minted Green Lanterns, the book also looked in on the status of former cast members. An installment that looked in on Silver Age hero Charley Vicker (GLCQ #3: Winter 1992) was the only one that reflected the donein-one nature of the DC Comics Presents feature, though. The shorts spotlighting Arisia (GLCQ #1: Summer 1992) and Itty (GLCQ #5: Summer 1993) both amounted to teasers that directed readers to the primary Green Lantern comic book to learn how things turned out. Like the heroes it documented, “WHT?” was a victim of changing times. It wasn’t just a matter of short stories becoming passé, but the fact that character revivals were emerging as a major story hook in DC’s primary books. Those details outweighed the relative dignity of allowing former stars to have one last solo story without standing in the shadow of a bigger name. And yet many of those eight-page stories are still fondly remembered today, whether with a smile for the rejuvenated Rex and Bobo or a tear for the fallen Crimson Avenger. For that reason, some fans still wonder whatever happened to “Whatever Happened To…?” . Backups Issue

TM & © DC Comics.

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SHANNON E. RILEY: I would argue that your Dr. Fate backup overshadowed the lead feature in terms of quality, drama, and excitement. Tell me how the assignment for the backups in The Flash came about. Did you pitch it as a collaborative effort or were you paired up by DC editorial? KEITH GIFFEN: [We were] paired by DC editorial. I know I remember this right because I was still on probation up at DC because of my less-than-stellar entry into the comics biz a few years earlier. I was working the DC “horror” books and making deadlines, so—and here I’m guessing—Mike Barr, Flash editor at the time, figured he’d give me a shot. Trust me, at that time I was, career-wise, in no condition to pitch anything up at DC. MARTIN PASKO: I can’t confirm or refute how Keith came to the project; I remember Mike Barr offering me the backup series and mentioning that Keith would be penciling it almost in the same breath. I jumped at the chance to do it because I wanted to work with Keith again—he’d penciled an issue of Kobra I wrote a few years earlier, and he and I had gotten to know each other a bit when he’d drop by the apartment I shared with Paul Levitz while he and Paul were working on All-Star with Wally Wood. I’d seen how Keith interpreted the character I’d come to think of as one of my “babies” and knew he was an excellent choice. As for picking me to write it, I think DC thought of that as a no-brainer. A while after Walt Simonson and I redeveloped the character in ’75, DC wanted me to do an ongoing monthly, but that didn’t happen. So I was somemartin pasko what surprised when, two or three years later, Mike called me. I knew the shorter backups would be much easier to write at night and on weekends, after my animation day job, than a full book would’ve been, so I was up for it. I never knew whether Mike approached Walt or not, but I never asked. I thought Keith was a great choice and, when I saw the first pencils and saw how much Keith had evolved since the Kobra job, I realized that my highest hopes had been exceeded. Then Larry Mahlstedt’s terrific inks plussed the whole package. I really loved the art on those backups. RILEY: Martin, your 1st Issue Special (FIS) #9 (Dec. 1975) story really elevated Dr. Fate to “premier status” in the DCU and laid the groundwork for all future appearances of the character. The concept that the spirit of Nabu possesses Kent Nelson when he wears the helmet has been embraced by every creator ever since. (To give you an idea of the reach, it was recently seen in the Young Justice

Having a Ball The Mystic Mage as rendered by Keith Giffen in 1987 for the History of the DC Universe Portfolio. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

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Shannon E. Riley

animated series episode “Misplaced,” in which Giovanni Zatara is overtaken by the Helm of Nabu.) Do you recall how the “possession” idea came about? PASKO: Yes. I was fascinated by the married-superhero angle and had never written Hawkman, so Dr. Fate gave me my first opportunity to explore how being a costumed crimefighter— or, in this case, sorcerer—could affect So that’s the first scene that came marital obligations. And I thought keith giffen into my mind before my initial plotting that Kent and Inza Nelson’s marriage conference with Walt and the [FIS] was much more interesting, and had far greater dramatic possibilities, precisely because, editor, Gerry Conway: She’s in this prison, half out of her unlike Katar and Shayera Hol [Hawkman and Hawkgirl], mind with cabin fever, and cut off from any communicaKent and Inza Nelson weren’t partners in Spandex. tion with her husband for days while she’s worrying that I thought I could do a lot with what I found so sexist and he’s gonna get killed—it’s not as if he’d’ve been texting creepy about the Golden Age stories I consulted: Kent her from his iPhone, even if there’d been such a thing and Inza lived in this tower without windows or doors, back then. So he shimmers through the wall and then and Kent would go off on missions and leave her there passes out before she can find out what happened, for days at a time with no way to leave, because his and it makes her crazy. Then I thought, how do we magic was the only way in or out—she was, in effect, take that a step further so that all through the story she his prisoner. The poor woman was doomed to this continues to be an outsider, even as she participates in quasi-reclusive existence simply because she’d had the the story? The answer was to tweak the concept a bit. (Here, I’ll digress to say that before Gerry brought misfortune to fall in love with an archaeologist who became a superhero. I figured this woman would be Walt in, he’d already gotten permission from the under enormous emotional strain. I wanted to echo a publisher to rework the property a bit. The whole theme you find in a lot of police procedurals, in which a motivation for doing the 1st Issue Special in the first cop’s spouse (if they’re a civilian) almost becomes jealous place was to deliberately retcon the property. Gerry of the force and the demands the job places on the thought it was kind of lackluster as it was being treated husband or wife. The special bond between peace in the JLA books—too much reverence for the Golden officers is a kind of relationship the spouse can’t share, Age mediocrity—and Gerry and I wanted to turn it and the spouses feel alienated and excluded from the into something that had the potential to go in at least central events of their loved ones’ lives. This adds a as many exotic directions as Dr. Strange had.) So I thought, what if even when he comes to, Kent burden to a relationship already constantly strained by the civilian spouse’s fear that every time their partner can’t tell her what happened to him because he can’t remember? That would make Inza feel even more cut goes on duty, he or she might not come back alive. Backups Issue

Round of Applause (left) The corny Carmine Infantino/Bob Smith cover of Flash #306 (Feb. 1982), premiering the backup starring (right) Dr. Fate, seen here in an undated Giffen sketch from the Heritage archives. TM & © DC Comics.

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He’s a Magic Man Pasko’s Dr. Fate backups were made even more fantastic by the imaginative layouts and renderings of the Giffen/Mahlstedt art team. (left) Page 5 of the Fate backup in Flash #308, and (right) page 6 from #311. TM & © DC Comics.

out of the loop, even more resentful. So I decided that the whole time Kent assumes the Dr. Fate persona, he’s in a fugue state—that’s how I thought of it at first; I’d always loved stories of multiple personality disorders, having been a big fan of Sybil and The Three Faces of Eve. And I knew that Kent losing his memory of his activities as Dr. Fate would be a great engine for not only involving Inza more directly, but also great for the formatting of any Dr. Fate ongoing series, because if Kent couldn’t remember the McGuffin but would have to do something about the crisis du jour while in civvies as “Dr. Nelson,” Inza could work with him—being his sounding board and helping him piece together the clues to what happened during the fugue episode. Reworking Nabu into a discarnate entity that resided in the helmet and took over Kent’s consciousness when he donned it was me working backward from the need to create a rationale for why Kent couldn’t remember what happened to him as Dr. Fate. And playing Nabu as this aloof, remorseless Thing that effectively takes Inza’s husband away from her gave Inza a target at which she could direct her rage, the way the spouse resents and blames the police force in the analogy I was starting with. RILEY: Did you approach the Flash backup as an opportunity to expand on these themes? PASKO: Absolutely. And there’s not much more than that I can say in response because the Inza and Kent dynamic was the most interesting thing to me about the property—far more so than all the magical folderol, though I also really liked the archaeology work franchise.

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RILEY: Keith, did you have an opportunity to share story ideas with Martin? GIFFEN: Not that I remember. I pretty much drew whatever plot/script Martin handed me, elaborating a bit here and there. I might have gassed a bit with Martin about this ’n’ that, but that’s it. I was the guy with the pencil. Period. RILEY: Steve Gerber is credited as co-writer starting with issue #310 (June 1982). How did Steve come to be involved in the project, and how would you describe his contributions to the storyline? GIFFEN: He was? Wow … I have zero recollection of that. PASKO: I don’t know why Steve was credited as co-writer, if that’s the case. Steve plotted the second cycle with me, but, if memory serves, I did the scripting. Steve and I did that kind of kibbitzing a lot, even when we first got to know each other in New York. Then, when I was in L.A. and Steve got me into animation by bringing me on staff at Ruby-Spears, we were spending so much time working together at the office that the day job sort of spilled over into our freelance stuff. What happened here was that Steve was running late on one of his own cartoon scripts because of rewrites he had to do on some freelancers’ teleplays that the network was having problems with. I was a staff writer— not yet a story editor—when he asked me to take over one of the rewrites so he could get back to his own script. Since I wouldn’t be getting paid extra at the animation studio for this additional work, and taking it on meant I might be late in writing the next Fate script, Steve helped me get a plot approved faster, and then broke it down

for me, as a quid pro quo. It was a great arrangement as far as I was concerned, because after I’d done the first Flash arc, Steve had told me about an idea for a Fate story that it had inspired, and how he hoped someday he’d have a chance to write the character and use it. So when the scheduling crisis at the studio happened, we both saw it as a chance for Steve’s idea to see the light of day. RILEY: Did the assignment seem more manageable because it was a backup series, or did the reduced page count feel limiting from a creative standpoint? GIFFEN: I was once told by a senior DC executive that, and I quote, “The eight-page story is a dying art form.” Every month Marty—screw that “Martin” crap— proved him wrong. I never felt limited. PASKO: Keith, as I’ve always said, it’s “Martin” in the byline, but “Marty” to my friends. And I’ve always been proud to consider you a friend. But to answer your question … what was your question? Oh, yes. Eightpagers limiting? Nope. The only frustration, if any, was that we didn’t have room to do the kind of domesticquarrel stuff between Kent and Inza that I wanted to do, building on what had started in the 1st Issue Special, but it wasn’t a major disappointment. Nor was it a struggle. The discipline of working in TV had given me a better command of structure, and Keith always apportioned the real estate very well and in service to the narrative, so, when you go back and look at those Flash stories, you get both a sense of appropriate density of incident and also a lot of dynamic eye-candy. I remember a full-page splash or two that knocked my socks off. Not bad for an eight-pager. RILEY: Keith, your visual approach brought a new energy to Dr. Fate and his mythology. You illustrated Aztec settings and themes in depicting the Lord of Chaos, Malferrazae, as well as the Egyptian motifs germane to the character. What kind of research did you do in preparation for the series? GIFFEN: Um … little to none. I was just trying to do the best job possible in the time given me. I think I gave a book on the Aztecs a quick look-through, but that’s about it. The Aztec thing actually worked out pretty good for me because, as far as ancient civilizations go, the Aztecs are, far and away, the most interesting.

RILEY: Martin, where did the idea for the Aztec-themed villain come from? PASKO: All I remember was that it was always my intention to explore other ancient religions or mythologies, and the Meso-American cultures hadn’t been done to death elsewhere—as opposed to, say, the Norse gods and whatsisname, y’know, Fabio with the hammer. Also, I was living in L.A. at the time and fell in love with the Mexican art you can see all over the city, which is, of course, a direct descendant of Aztec art. I always loved the look of it—especially the weird and spooky stuff you see on the Day of the Dead—the kinds of motifs I remember seeing on a lot of old Oingo Boingo album covers. I think it was just that all that iconography was in my head when it was time to plot that first Flash arc. RILEY: Keith, you broke free of standard panel structure, playing with more experimental and free-form page layouts as the story got more cosmic towards its conclusion. Where did you find your inspiration? GIFFEN: Everyone was doing it at that time. I wasn’t pioneering anything, I was trying to keep up with my more experimental peers. Well … that and I was fascinated by color holds, primitive now, cutting edge then.

Order Lords Over the Cover Original art to Giffen’s Dr. Fatecentric cover to Flash #310 (June 1982), inked by Romeo Tanghal; note that some of the pasted-up cover elements are missing. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

“DR. FATE” BACKUPS IN THE FLASH The stellar Martin Pasko/Keith Giffen backup series charting the further adventures of DC’s Mystic Mage appeared in the pages of the following issues of The Flash: • The Flash #306 (Feb. 1982) • The Flash #307 (Mar. 1982) • The Flash #308 (Apr. 1982) • The Flash #309 (May 1982) • The Flash #310 (June 1982) • The Flash #311 (July 1982) • The Flash #312 (Aug. 1982) • The Flash #313 (Sept. 1982) This backup series was reprinted in the deluxe format miniseries The Immortal Doctor Fate #2–3 (Feb.–Mar. 1985). Immortal #1 reprinted Dr. Fate’s origin from DC Special Series #10, a Golden Age Dr. Fate tale from More Fun Comics #56, and the Dr. Fate story from 1st Issue Special #9.

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SFX Galore (left) Giffen liberally used the ’80s technology of color holds (which printed art in a solid color, without a black holding line). Page 7 of “Crimson Treatment,” the last Dr. Fate backup, in Flash #313. (right) Giffen and Gary Martin’s cover to Immortal Doctor Fate #3 (Mar. 1985). TM & © DC Comics.

RILEY: Keith, you went on to co-plot Justice League with J. M. DeMatteis, and the series featured Dr. Fate as a prominent cast member. Did you reference Martin’s work on the character? GIFFEN: Not really. No offense to Marty, but DeMatteis and I had our own take on the character. Besides, we would never have gotten the Kent/Inza relationship as pitch-perfect as Marty. PASKO: No offense taken. And thanks, Keith. By the way, even though the Nelson-less Fate didn’t intrigue me, I have to say that I’m a great admirer of Marc DeMatteis’ work, and, given what he was aiming for, I thought his Dr. Fate was really quite well done. RILEY: Last question, guys. Dr. Fate has had varying levels of success at DC, from holding membership in the Justice Society and Justice League to being able to support a monthly title at various points. What do you think has kept the character from being relegated to the dustbin of history? GIFFEN: You say that as if it’s a bad thing. That question’s not ours to answer. That question belongs to whoever picks up the character and runs with him. I’d like to

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think that what Marty and I did with Fate will live on in the fans’ memories … but I know better. Besides, tomorrow’s always so much more interesting than yesterday. Older takes on characters hitting the dustbin? Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. PASKO: For me, that’s not really the question. The real question is, why did it take so long, after the Golden Age DC heroes were revived in the ’60s as the Earth-Two heroes, for DC to recognize what potential Fate had, if only the mythology and backstory could be revised a bit? Probably because the treatment of it was plagued by silly missteps, such as Murphy Anderson drawing dotted-line facial expressions on the mask to denote Fate’s emotions in that Hourman/Dr. Fate Showcase issue in the ’60s. But lots of fans since All-Star and that 1st Issue Special in the mid-’70s have commented on how the costume, with the helmet and the medallion and the billowing cloak, can be very cool-looking in the right artist’s hands. And, of course, a faceless, or fully masked, hero has always had a certain mystique that readers find irresistible, as a certain “arachnoid” character has proved for 50 years. The fact that so many Creatives over the past three decades—not just in comics, but on TV as well, in the WBA [Warner Bros. Animation] stuff and Smallville—have found the character so appealing and have kept it alive in their work attests to its enduring potential. So the real question is, why would Dr. Fate be “relegated to the dustbin of history”? SHANNON E. RILEY has been reading and collecting comics since 1978, when his dad bought him his first book, Detective Comics #475. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/shannoneriley.

“The scales of justice … held in perfect balance, they symbolize a fair and impartial judgment between men. But unbalanced, truth and equality are mocked! One man risks his life to regain that balance! A man called … Nemesis!” From the very beginning, Nemesis was a somewhat mysterious character. A 1980 double-page ad for DC Comics’ new eight-page backup features showcased such familiar characters as Adam Strange, Firestorm, and the Huntress, but one character stood out by being UN-familiar: a silhouetted figure standing behind the scales of justice. The caption only read “Nemesis: A New Hero Appearing in The Brave and the Bold.”

ENTER: NEMESIS! by

J o h n Tr u m b u l l

The man commissioned to create this new hero was writer Cary Burkett. “[Batman editor] Paul Levitz had a tremendous amount of input into the creation of Nemesis,” Burkett recalls. “He tapped me to create a backup series for Brave and Bold. Paul always liked the idea of comics with more than one story in them, and a lot of his books had backup series. cary burkett “His instructions were for me to create a character who was a ‘noncostumed’ hero, one who would fit well into a Batman-themed book … with some general similarities, but strong differences,” Burkett continues. “He would be non-powered, but highly skilled in a variety of ways. As I recall, I think Paul threw out the idea in one brainstorming session that he might be a hitman who had reformed and was fighting crime with inside knowledge. Paul also came up with the name, eventually, though we batted around a few other ideas.” Burkett’s background in theater added an important element to the character: “The idea of a master of disguise had strong appeal to me. But I didn’t like the idea that he was a hitman in his past and driven by guilt to atone for his crimes. I wanted him to have a more positive motivation, a certain idealism that was foundational to his nature.” Regarding the selection of the illustrator of the “Nemesis” strip, Burkett says, “Paul had Dan Spiegle in mind as the artist before the character was created, I think. I figured that costume-wise, Nemesis would operate in basic black, but Paul added the touch that he would have a patch of the scales of justice on his costume. It was the right touch, I think—the symbol was important to the character. The first time I saw the character was on the first page of the first story, the art already penciled and already inked for the whole story.” Although Burkett initially pictured the character as looking “closer to [Joe] Kubert’s

The Scales of Justice The splash page to the first outing of Burkett and Spiegle’s “Nemesis” backup. From The Brave and the Bold #166 (Sept. 1980). TM & © DC Comics.

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Man of Many Faces (left) Tom Tresser, master of disguise, from the second Nemesis story, in B&B #167. (right) Note the Nemesis blurbs on the Jim Aparodrawn cover to B&B #166 (Sept. 1980). TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

equipment section instead. Tom invents both a special type of disguise that instantly dissolves with a chemical spray and “toxin bullets” that knock out, rather than kill, opponents. But when Ben Marshall is appointed director of the Bureau, Craig Tresser inexplicably assassinates Sgt. Rock” instead of the younger, handsomer fellow him at the installation ceremony before being gunned Spiegle drew, Burkett was quite impressed by his new down himself. His family name ruined, Tom Tresser collaborator: “I loved Dan’s art and his storytelling. decides to take a name the ancient Greeks used “for He always added a lot to the scripts and helped clarify one who delivers just punishment for crimes”: Nemesis. some of the complexities I put in the stories. He handled Cary Burkett remembers, “The story I based his backeverything beautifully and really knew how to make ground on was that of Edwin Booth, famous American the eye follow the pace of the story. He brought a lot actor in the 1860s and brother of the assassin John of life into the characters.” Wilkes Booth. After John Wilkes Booth killed President Abraham Lincoln, Edwin Booth’s SECRET ORIGINS reputation was destroyed as well for The first “Nemesis” story (The Brave and many years. He carried around the the Bold #166, Sept. 1980) opens with disgrace of the Booth name for years a woman named Marjorie Marshall after the assassination. I crafted the receiving an unusual gift in the mail: origin of Nemesis around a similar an unbalanced scale of justice, along situation. I thought the idea of the with a weight labeled “Ben Marshall,” disgraced name did two things well— the name of her slain husband. We it provided a sense of tragedy, but also soon discover that the scale was sent provided him with a certain virtue to Marjorie by Tom Tresser, who has to see that by his personal code, the taken the alias of Nemesis to avenge honor of his name was important to Ben’s murder. With each criminal dan spiegle him, worth risking his life for.” that Nemesis defeats, he adds another Burkett also took some inspiration bullet containing their name to the from a real-life friend of his: “I got scale, moving it a little closer to a balance. As Tom Tresser sets a bullet on the scale for the first time, his his name from a buddy of mine who I was working thoughts reveal a startling bit of information: Ben with in a Shakespeare production at the time … Thomas Tresser. I used Tom’s name because I thought he would Marshall was killed by Tom’s own brother, Craig! In the next issue, B&B #167 (Oct. 1980), we learn get a kick out of it and because the alliteration of superthe origin of the Dark Herald of Justice: Brothers Tom hero names was common in those days. But Nemesis and Craig Tresser both aspire to join “the country’s wasn’t modeled after Tom, I just used his name.” The biggest law-enforcement agency” (never named, but name for Ben Marshall “came from George Marshall, presumably the FBI), mentored by agent Ben Marshall. the secretary of state who oversaw the Marshall Plan Craig achieves his dream of becoming a field agent, after World War II. I wanted to evoke the idea of a great but Tom’s aptitude for invention lands him in the special- statesman who had been slain by Nemesis’ brother.”

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WAR AGAINST THE COUNCIL In B&B #168 (Nov. 1980), Nemesis discovers that an organized crime organization called the Council brainwashed Craig Tresser into killing Ben Marshall. He also exposes a Mexican drug-smuggling operation run by the Kingston Mob. The Brave and the Bold #169 (Dec. 1980) contains an early standout story, “The Council Calls For Death,” which introduces the members of the Council who will be recurring villains for the rest of the series: M. C. Curtis, Irene Scarfield, Leonard Maddox, Noel Chesterson, Samuel Solomon, and Jay Kingston. Kingston relates how in just a few short weeks, Nemesis has disrupted several of their operations, always leaving behind his trademark scales of justice. At the end of the story, it’s revealed that Nemesis has been present for the entire meeting, disguised as one of the members of the Council. Nemesis manages to lure the Council members out of the room, steal notes on their operations, and get away with a new helicopter for his trouble. The only signs that Nemesis was ever there at all are a broken window, a discarded face mask, and yet another set of the scales of justice. The tale is so densely packed that it’s hard to believe it’s only eight pages long. Burkett states, “Those Nemesis stories were among the most tightly plotted stories I did. To me, the fact that he was a master of disguise meant to me that the stories needed to be full of twists and turns and misdirection. I wanted the reader to be surprised at times when Nemesis would pop up in an unexpected disguise. Other times I wanted the reader to be in on Nemesis’ plan.” This story also displays of one of the qualities that set Nemesis apart from Batman. As Burkett comments, “As a character, Nemesis was a planner … he didn’t solve mysteries, he penetrated the enemy defenses to gather intel and used it to make plans on how to bring down his foes. He wasn’t that physical, though he could mix it up when he had to.” The two characters’ differences thus established, the Dark Herald of Justice met the Darknight Detective in a full-length story in B&B #170 (Jan. 1981).

Together, the duo tracks down the Head, the mysterious leader of the Council, who has kidnapped Marjorie Marshall. Batman deduces Nemesis’ true identity over the course of this adventure (masterfully drawn by regular B&B artist Jim Aparo), which ends with Nemesis wanting to kill the man responsible for the deaths of his brother and surrogate father. The anguished Tom Tresser is only stopped by these words from Marjorie: “Tom, I know how you feel! You’re bitter—angry at him! He did a terrible thing … to both of us! But Ben always fought to see that the law was upheld! Neither he nor Craig would have wanted you to become a murderer!” Although he is sorely tempted, Nemesis finds that he cannot bring himself to kill the Head—a point that soon becomes moot when the Head is murdered instead by his own henchman, the Nazi scientist responsible for brainwashing Craig Tresser.

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The Brave and the Bold #166 (Sept. 1980) B&B #167 (Oct. 1980) B&B #168 (Nov. 1980) B&B #169 (Dec. 1980) B&B #171 (Feb. 1981) B&B #172 (Mar. 1981) B&B #173 (Apr. 1981) B&B #174 (May 1981) B&B #175 (June 1981) B&B #176 (July 1981) B&B #177 (Aug. 1981) B&B #178 (Sept. 1981) B&B #179 (Oct. 1981) B&B #180 (Nov. 1981) B&B #181 (Dec. 1981) B&B #182 (Jan. 1982) B&B #183 (Feb. 1982) B&B #184 (Mar. 1982) B&B #185 (Apr. 1982) B&B #186 (May 1982) B&B #187 (June 1982)

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A Solemn Vow Our hero pledges to be an equalizer at the conclusion of his second tale, “A Name Writ in Blood!” From B&B #167. TM & © DC Comics.

B&B #188 (July 1982) B&B #189 (Aug. 1982) B&B #190 (Sept. 1982) B&B #191 (Oct. 1982) B&B #192 (Nov. 1982)

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The Brave and the Bold #170 (Jan. 1981) B&B #193 (Dec. 1982) Suicide Squad #1 (May 1987) Suicide Squad #2 (June 1987) Suicide Squad #3 (July 1987) Suicide Squad #4 (Aug. 1987) Suicide Squad #5 (Sept. 1987) Suicide Squad #6 (Oct. 1987) Suicide Squad #7 (Nov. 1987) Suicide Squad #13 (May 1988) Suicide Squad #19 (Nov. 1988) Suicide Squad #20 (Dec. 1988) Suicide Squad #22 (Jan. 1989) Suicide Squad #23 (Jan. 1989) Suicide Squad #24 (Feb. 1989)

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SEEKING BALANCE

With their leader dead, the remaining members of the Council all begin jockeying to replace him, leaving them even more vulnerable to Nemesis’ operations than before. After the team-up with Batman, B&B #171 (Feb. 1981) shows Nemesis examining his motives and evolving his goals to fit: “I’ve learned that revenge is a worthless pursuit … but Ben always believed that people had a right to justice! There are those who would try to deny people that right … to tilt the scale in their own self-interest! And as long as they exist, then Nemesis is needed to stand on the other side of the scale … to balance their actions, so that the scale will not topple completely!” In a nice illustration of this new purpose, Nemesis’ next mission involves him taking down M. C. Curtis’ crooked gambling operation in a Las Vegas casino. It’s here that Nemesis meets his most significant supporting character for the rest of the series: Valerie Foxworth, the daughter of a man ruined and driven to

suicide by Curtis’ rigged roulette tables. Nemesis foils her reckless plan for revenge, gaining a new protégé in the process. Together, in B&B #172 (Mar. 1981), Nemesis and Marjorie incriminate Curtis, using his own video-piracy racket as bait. The Brave and the Bold #173–176 (Apr.–July 1981) contain another standout story for Nemesis, a fourpart trip to England where Nemesis combats the maneuverings of chess master (and Council member) Noel Chesterson. The eager Valerie follows Tom to England against orders, but assists him in saving the life of Queen Elizabeth II. The pair is also aided by Inspector Michael Boches of Scotland Yard. The character of Michael Boches also has the bonus of another personal connection to the real-life Tom Tresser: “Michael is actually my brother. We had the same mom and different dads.” “Honor Among Thieves” (B&B #177, Aug. 1981) begins by giving Valerie and the readers more insight into how Nemesis operates. We’re introduced to Nemesis’ New York headquarters above the Albright Costume Shop, as well as Barney Forrest, the mechanic who takes care of Nemesis’ helicopter between missions. Getting word that Samuel Solomon, head of the Council’s East Coast division, is leaving town for several months, Nemesis decides to break into Solomon’s estate that night. But instead of the information he was hoping to obtain, Nemesis finds himself captured by Solomon and his men. “The Bitter Choice” (B&B #178, Sept. 1981) opens with Solomon’s proposition to the captured Nemesis: Bring the other Council members to justice with Solomon’s aid, thus ensuring that Solomon will become the sole ruler of the organization. Solomon also reveals his trump card: a device that will electronically stimulate Nemesis’ heart, inducing an artificial heart attack! Nemesis manages to escape along with Solomon’s triggering device, but he still has no way to remove the stimulator from his chest. After a one-issue break due to a full-length lead story, Nemesis goes on the offensive again in “Be Still, My Trembling Heart!” (B&B #180, Nov. 1981), using his informant Roadrunner to track down Dr. Ted Rice, the scientist behind Solomon’s heartattack device. He then successfully turns the tables on Solomon and Rice in #181’s “Heartbreak!” (Dec. 1981), with Solomon suffering the fatal heart attack he planned for Nemesis.

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE… Now down to just three members, the Council hires the international assassin Greyfox to track down and kill Nemesis. Realizing that Valerie Foxworth has come to Nemesis’ aid in both Las Vegas and London, Greyfox has his henchmen intimidate Valerie’s brother Chris to draw Nemesis out into the open (B&B #182, Jan. 1982). Greyfox gets even closer to his prey in B&B #183 (Feb. 1982), stalking him at Roadrunner’s apartment and tracing the Council’s stolen helicopter to Barney Forrest. It all ends in a suspenseful game of cat and mouse in #184’s “Outfoxed” (Mar. 1982), where Nemesis tries to avoid Greyfox’s attacks while simultaneously trying to protect Barney and his daughter. With the defeat of Greyfox, the Roman Emperorstyled Jay Kingston proposes that he, Maddox, and Scarfield each come up with their own plan to kill Nemesis, with the winner becoming the new leader of the Council (B&B #185, Apr. 1982). At the same time, Nemesis chooses to infiltrate the Council as a lawyer in

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Kingston’s employ. He is swiftly discovered, however, leading to what may the series’ very best cliffhanger: Nemesis trapped on the grounds of Kingston’s estate, his bloody wound drawing one of the attack lions roaming the grounds. Nemesis’ clever escape from Kingston’s estate takes up nearly all eight pages of “In the Lion’s Den!” (B&B #186, May 1982), emphasizing Nemesis’ all-toohuman vulnerabilities. But just as our hero makes a clean getaway from his pursuers, Kingston is made aware of someone that Nemesis has proven to be willing to risk his life for—Marjorie Marshall! Word of Marjorie’s kidnapping makes Nemesis rush down to Kingston’s Houston estate to rescue her (B&B #187, June 1982), where Kingston has the Dark Herald of Justice run his “Gladiator’s Gauntlet” of multiple booby-traps and assaults (B&B #188, July 1982). But once again, Nemesis’ advance preparations carry the day, leading to his and Valerie’s successful rescue of Marjorie (B&B #189, Aug. 1982). Nemesis doesn’t get much time to rest, though, when discovers in B&B #190 (Sept. 1982) that Jay Kingston was murdered on the same night as Marjorie’s rescue. Realizing that Leonard Maddox likely hired one of Kingston’s own men to kill him, Nemesis goes undercover to gather information, learning about a mysterious plan called “Operation: Overkill.” Maddox assigns his hitman “Butcher” Boston to ensure the triggerman’s silence, and Nemesis tracks the Butcher to Houston. “Dead Man’s Bluff!” (B&B #191, Oct. 1982) shows Nemesis using his mastery of disguise to trick the assassin Sheffield into incriminating his boss Maddox, but as Sheffield’s conflicted wife was the one who helped bring her own husband to justice, Nemesis finds it a bittersweet victory at best.

Tresser Team-Ups In 1981 and 1982, Cary Burkett’s Nemesis co-starred with Batman in (left) B&B #170 and (right) #193, both illustrated by Jim Aparo. (above) Dan Spiegle’s rendition of Batman, from the next-issue blurb concluding Nemesis’ backup in issue #192. TM & © DC Comics.

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An Early End for Nemesis? (left) DC know-it-all (we say that as a compliment!) John Wells shares this clipping from 1981’s Amazing Heroes #2 and notes that the fanzine “included the revelation that the female Wildcat series I mentioned in my old BI article [issue #40] was actually scheduled for Brave & Bold. Had it happened, Nemesis would’ve ended a year earlier than it did.” (right) Nemesis makes the cover of Suicide Squad #3 (July 1987). Cover by Luke McDonnell and Karl Kesel.

reaching its target is to bring the entire craft crashing THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE SWORD…! With Chicago boss Irene Scarfield the one remaining down. With only a moment’s hesitation, Nemesis trains leader of the Council, The Brave and the Bold #192 his high-power concussion gun straight up, blowing a (Nov. 1982) has Nemesis going undercover as Scarfield’s hole through the roof of the helicopter and damaging boyfriend, actor Peter Downs. This issue also contains the top propeller. The entire aircraft plummets to another tip of the hat to Nemesis’ namesake, as Downs Earth, exploding on impact. Surveying the wreckage, Batman finds only a torn is playing Macbeth at Chicago’s “Shakespeare Unshackled” Theatre, paralleling the Free Shakespeare patch of Nemesis’ trademark emblem from his uniform, Company that the real-life Thomas Tresser started in musing, “I didn’t know you that well, Nemesis … but Chicago. Tailing Scarfield to an upscale restaurant, from what I knew, you were a good man … unselfish Nemesis learns of her scheme to recruit new crime and honorable… A man I would have proud to call my bosses to complete Operation: Overkill. Hearing the friend! I will … grieve … for your passing!” Cary Burkett states that killing off the character details of the new Council’s plan, Nemesis swiftly rather than simply ending his feature “was my decision. realizes he’ll need help if he hopes to stop them. It seemed a fitting way for Nemesis to finally Issue #192 brought another change to ‘balance the scales.’” The very last page of Nemesis: a new editor. “When Len Wein B&B #193 is a silent epilogue with took over as editor [of The Brave and the atmospheric art from Jim Aparo, where Bold], he had the opposite idea from Batman replaces the bullets of the Paul,” Cary Burkett recalls. “He didn’t Council members with a single weight like two-story comics, he liked fullbearing the name “Nemesis,” finally issue stories. He wanted to drop the balancing the scales sent to Marjorie backup. I was at that time coming Marshall two years before. to the end of the original arc dealing When asked if he ever planned to with the members of the Council, so resurrect Nemesis after his somewhatit was a good place to end the series.” ambiguous demise (Tom Tresser’s Nemesis calls Batman in to help body is never seen), Burkett replies, him in B&B #193 (Dec. 1982) in a “I thought I might bring him back memorable story called “Those Who thomas tresser some day. At the end of the series, Live by the Sword…!” Although it’s Nemesis’ secrets had been badly only been a year and a half since their first meeting, Batman quickly notes the changes in compromised by the Council, they had leverage on the Dark Herald of Justice’s personality: “The last time him through Marjorie Marshall, and he knew she I worked with Nemesis, he was somewhat new at this would never be safe from his enemies. So my thought game … a bit raw and inexperienced! From the looks was that he faked his death to fool them and keep her of things, that’s changed! I guess he’s had to learn safe. I also assumed that Batman would never have pretty fast … in order to stay alive!” Indeed, unlike been really fooled by the faked death and would have their first meeting, Nemesis is definitely driving this known about it, maybe even helped him.” team-up—even ordering the Caped Crusader around at times. As Batman notes, “Nemesis has changed a lot! He talks with confidence—authority! A little more of that and he could even be a bit overbearing!” Together, the two heroes work to defeat the Council’s last-ditch effort, using a terrorist organization to assassinate Senator Thomas “Longtom” White, so that his new anti-crime legislation can then be quietly lobbied out of existence. At the climax of the story, Nemesis climbs aboard an explosive-laden helicopter and quickly realizes that the only way to stop it from

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Lost First Issue Think Nemesis #1 is a comic you missed in your collection? Think again. It’s a fantasy cover fabulously drawn and colored by this article’s writer, John Trumbull. Nice job, John! Nemesis TM & © DC Comics.

SUICIDE IS PAINLESS As it turns out, however, Burkett was not the one to revive Nemesis. After a few years in comic book limbo, he was brought back in the pages of Suicide Squad by writer John Ostrander. Suicide Squad editor Robert Greenberger remembers, “John O. and I were looking for tarnished or underused heroes to mix in with the villains. I believe John and I were sifting through Who's Who when Nemesis leapt out at us and seemed a perfect fit.” The fact that John Ostrander was the one to revive Nemesis is an interesting bit of comic-book serendipity because, like Cary Burkett before him, Ostrander was also acquainted with the real-life Thomas Tresser. As Tresser relates, “A group of us played volleyball in [Chicago’s] Lincoln Park every Saturday from 12 to 4 for about 12 years, starting in the early ’80s and going into the early ’90s. And John was a member of that group. I’ve had the distinct pleasure and honor, I suppose, to have a cartoon character created and then continued by two different friends of mine for two separate comic books, so that’s got to be a first.” While it was certainly a welcome treat for the fans of Nemesis to see the comic-book Tom Tresser back in action, he was quickly overshadowed in the Suicide Squad by flashier characters like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang. Nemesis ended up spending much of his tenure in the Squad stranded in a Russian prison after a botched mission, ultimately quitting the team after his escape. As Greenberger recalls, “Editorial was very open to characters like Nemesis getting a new lease on post–Crisis life. We ignored most of what went before since we were looking forward and finding a place for him. He was certainly useful, but looking back, he was underutilized.” Cary Burkett comments, “I haven’t read the stories [in Suicide Squad], but I have heard that Ostrander really captured a lot of the essence of the character as I thought of him, idealistic at the core, strongly independent, and with his own code of nobility.” The real Tom Tresser sums up Nemesis’ somewhat spotty post–Suicide Squad history well when he says, “And then, of course, the character went on and he disappeared and he reappeared. Apparently, Wonder Woman was my girlfriend for a while, and then I was killed, so I don’t know what my status is. I know I was in a limited series a year or two ago… I have not talked to any of these writers, nor has anyone ever talked to me, of course.” Nemesis also leapt to television in the early 2000s, making several non-speaking cameos on Justice League Unlimited, appearances that Cary Burkett says “made my day.” These days, Cary Burkett works for NPR, producing features for the Arts and Culture Desk for station WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He also serves as the co-host for Center Stage, heard Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. E.S.T. Dan Spiegle is

semi-retired, but is still available for commissions at Dkoriginalart@aol.com. Thomas Tresser is an instructor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Even though Nemesis is not currently appearing on a regular basis in the DC Universe, it’s doubtful that he’ll be gone for very long. Because if there’s one thing that fans of the character have learned, it’s that Nemesis will always appear just when we’re least expecting it. Special thanks to Cary Burkett, Mark Evanier, Robert Greenberger, Dan Spiegle, and Thomas Tresser for their invaluable assistance with this article. JOHN TRUMBULL is an artist, actor, standup comedian, and a regular contributor to the weekly feature The Line It Is Drawn at the website Comics Should Be Good! (http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/). His artwork can be seen at http://johntrumbull.deviantart.com/. This is his first article for BACK ISSUE.

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A file-transference problem with BACK ISSUE #58 weakened the punch line of two of Jerry Boyd’s “You Know You’re a Justice Leaguer When...” gags on page 46 of that issue: After item 8, the art showing the Atom was mostly missing (leaving a thought balloon leading to nothing instead of to a very tiny, yet visible, Atom) and Superman’s superhearing electric balloon was also mostly missing. We apologize to Jerry and to any reader who might’ve been puzzled by this, but after that graphics-heavy feature had been proofread and approved by ye ed, a problem occurred with the file during uploading, resulting in the incorrect version you saw in print. Here’s how it should’ve looked:

DETROIT’S DO-GOODERS

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Thanks so much for another great issue of BACK ISSUE (#58), specifically the look back at Justice League Detroit. As a teenage fan of the book prior to the [team’s] move to Detroit, I always wondered why writer Gerry Conway went in the direction he did. Understanding his motives doesn’t make the book any better, but at least now I can understand his motives. I remember in the JLA letters columns leading up to the “big changes,” where readers were encouraged to guess who might be joining the JLA, and I was excited because I thought underused characters like Supergirl, Batgirl, and Captain Comet would finally get a chance to interact with Green Lantern, the Flash, Firestorm, Black Canary, Zatanna, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, and Hawkwoman. Instead, what we got was a select few (Zatanna, Aquaman, Elongated Man) joined by the Martian Manhunter and three new creations (Vibe, Steel, and Gypsy) and one who had only appeared in an ad for a book that was never published and in an issue of DC Comics Presents (Vixen). Needless to say, I was disappointed and underwhelmed by this new lineup, and the last page of JLA Annual #2, which featured the JLA breakdancing with the residents of Detroit, had me wondering what the folks at DC and writer Gerry Conway were thinking … now I know! I think expectations of the “new” JLA were simply too high and that, combined with the mistaken impression that many characters from the DC Universe were going to be included in the new membership, are two of the main reasons why the book failed. If Gerry had kept the satellite, eased out the “big guns” like Superman and Wonder Woman to occasional appearances, and added Supergirl, Batgirl, and some of the other characters I mentioned, and I think he would have had a hit on his hands!

BTW, who drew the cover for BI #58: Was it Luke McDonnell? Great cover, with the Batmobile leaving the JLA in the dust, with Batman’s cape trailing! – Dan Brozak Yes, Dan, BI #58’s cover was penciled by JLA Detroit artist Luke McDonnell, reunited with his inker on the series, Bill Wray. Glenn Whitmore provided the colors. And you’re probably aware by now that one of the Detroit JLAers is back in a New 52 DC title: Justice League of America’s Vibe, which premiered in February 2013. Seen on the opposite page is David Finch’s cover to issue #1. – M.E.

OLD SCHOOL I’m not very good at writing letters, and I’m sorry for doing it old school, but I don’t own a computer, or even a typewriter. [Editor’s note: This letter was hand-printed.] And while I’ve read comics since I was three in 1966, this is only the second letter I’ve written to a book. The first was to Jon B. Cooke, rather angrily opposing his changing Comic Book Artist to covering modern-day comics. And now, my second is to you, for pretty much the same thing. For some perspective, I’m currently only buying a few Garth Ennis books, and the like, though your book and Alter Ego are the only ongoing books I’m buying. For years now, the only DCs I’ve bought are reprints. The only new books from DC I’ve bought were Joe Kubert’s Sgt. Rock minis and Neal Adams’ Batman: Odyssey. From 1966 and Adam West’s Batman to the Crisis of 1985, I was a devoted DC freak. Anyway, though you warned us in either issue #56 or 57 that you were going to start moving into the ’90s, I’m afraid I wasn’t prepared for the shock of seeing page 13 of issue #58. A full page praising Identity Crisis! In issue #54, I believe, you wrote an editorial about female characters. Yet Sue Dibny was one of, if not the, best female characters DC created in the ’60s or later. She was not a sidekick or supporting character in the “Elongated Man” strip, she was an equal. Very much like Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies. And yet, Brad Meltzer, using that “pure creative process” to create “a small emotional story” has her raped, and misogynist-ly [sic] has her killed, since that’s the honorable way to treat a raped woman. He used his “pure creative skills” to destroy a great female character, and to have all the other characters act and behave in ways they never have, in order to create his “small emotional story.” Oh, and better yet, he didn’t create any of them. Somehow, because he’s a “novelist,” he gets to destroy other people’s creations. But I guess it doesn’t matter, since they’re all dead. And did you call him on it? No. Or maybe about his plagiarism. When Marv Wolfman said that he was inspired by Green Lantern #40 to create the plot for Crisis, he didn’t just rewrite the story adding in rape, murder, or updating the characters for a “modern audience.” At DC it seems that if a story is no longer in continuity, then it’s fair game. Hell, DC will even put out a TPB reprinting the original, and pay the thief to write the forward. Well, anyway, my local comics shop only orders your book based on pre-orders, so I can’t pick and choose. So #61 will be my last. Nothing personal, but reading how Timothy Truman was inspired to turn Hawkman into a drug-addicted murderer or how Ron Marz bragged that it was his decision to turn Hal Jordan into a mass murderer, that is, until the book stopped selling, but the complaints continued, so then he said it was DC’s idea to destroy John Broome and Gil Kane’s creation. Though when DC decided to turn Hal into the new Spectre, it was Marz who complained that DC was taking away “his character”! And where do I start with Batman? Batman was my favorite. Because of a speech impairment, I didn’t start talking until I was six. But I could “da-da-da” [sing the TV Batman theme] with the best of them, and my mom brought me every Batman book she could find. And the ’70s was the Golden Age [of Batman]! Adams, Aparo, Novick, Rogers, along with O’Neil, Goodwin, Robbins, Englehart, all them along with great reprint books. In fact, until Miller’s Dark Knight books, it was

all good. And it wasn’t Miller’s fault: it was a great story. But for the last 25 years, we’ve been stuck with Frank Miller and Alan Moore wannabes. With the exception of the [Alan] Grant and [Norm] Breyfogle stories, which are as good as any of the ’70s books, we’ve been stuck with hacks filling the books with a “realistic” Batman. And… No. I’m sorry. It’s not them or you. It’s me. It’s 2012, and I’m stuck somewhere in the ’70s, I think. I still believe in honor, in an age where everyone thinks if you’re not cheatin’, you’re not tryin’. And… So I move on. BACK ISSUE will be another lost cause, so to speak. When Cooke changed his book, I suspect it was to attract a bigger following. I’m sure that’s what you’re going for, too. Good luck! Though I wonder what kind of person will feel nostalgic for Identity Crisis? – Christopher Starkey P.S. I’m sorry about the quality of the letter, misspelled words and such. But I’m afraid I’m too tired and depressed to write a second draft. And, hey, for what it’s worth, I loved your Batman book [The Batcave Companion] and the Batman specials in BI #50 and 51. Christopher, first of all, thanks for taking the time to write. I take each reader’s opinions seriously, and gladly transcribed your letter so that others will be able to read your comments. [Note to readers: I mailed a copy of this reply to Mr. Starkey.] I suspect that a lot of readers are, like you, “stuck somewhere in the ’70s,” and I’ve made it no secret that I’m there with you (although I’m also occasionally stuck in the ’60s, and at times in the late ’50s and in the ’80s, too). I make most of my living off of nostalgia: In addition to editing BACK ISSUE and writing comics-history books, I’m deeply involved with the preservation of my community’s heritage. It’s my great privilege to be a historian of the popular culture. As time marches on, that means that the net of nostalgia widens. (Recently I was sobered to discover a 1990 issue of Legion of Super-Heroes I edited in … >sigh< an antique store!) Our esteemed publisher, John Morrow, noted to me awhile back that comic-book material published in the 1990s and even in the early 2000s now has some “age” on it and asked that we include the best of that material in our explorations of comics history. Thanks to John’s request, I’ve discovered material like Batman: The Long Halloween (covered in BI #60), which I missed when it came out (probably because I was busy re-reading my beloved Brave and the Bold issues by the Haney/Aparo team). It’s easy to lament the loss of kinder, gentler comic books (and society), but there is a wealth of post–Bronze Age material that warrants an historic-skewed spotlight—and so far as our old favorites are concerned, all we have to do to experience them anew is re-read them, or read their reprints in recent collected editions. But the heart of BACK ISSUE will remain the Bronze Age— and for the record, I consider the Bronze Age as beginning in 1970 and running through the entire 1980s. Even in recent issues where it seemed like we may have taken a detour, the Bronze Age has been well represented. Case in point: BI #55, the “Licensed Comics” issue featuring Dark Horse Comics’ two decades of Star Wars, infuriated some of our long-time readers, even though half the issue featured oldies like Weird Worlds, John Carter–Warlord of Mars, Man from Atlantis, The Twilight Zone, and Marvel’s Indiana Jones; yet, there was no discernable fluctuation in our orders, although I did receive a couple of letters saying it was the first issue they’d ever read—because of its Star Wars coverage. Regarding Identity Crisis, I know you’re not alone in being disturbed by its content, but its inclusion in BI #58 was to show the influence the “Satellite Years” of the JLA had upon a contemporary writer … and besides, it was only one page in that issue. I hope you reconsider and continue to be a BACK ISSUE reader. I ask that not only because I don’t wish to lose a reader, but because I don’t want you to miss out on the old favorites we will revisit in issues to come. – M.E. Backups Issue

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CURTIS MAGAZINE REQUEST I was at HeroesCon this past weekend [in Charlotte, NC, on June 22–24, 2012] and had the pleasure of seeing your TwoMorrows panel. [Editor’s note: Moderated by Modern Masters mogul Eric Nolen-Weathington, said panel also featured Alter Ego’s Roy Thomas.] Thank you so much for doing that presentation. Perhaps I just don’t know where to look, but it was a rare opportunity to hear what was going on with TwoMorrows and about upcoming projects. You guys should consider adding a blog with that information to your website. I think it would help build interest and create a link with fans along with possibly pulling in new fans if you publish the RSS feed from the blog to a TwoMorrows Twitter account to reach a wider distribution. In the panel you asked for suggestions for BACK ISSUE themes and, like everyone else, I’m sure, I have one. I would love to see an issue dedicated to Curtis Magazines, the line of magazines ran by Marvel between ’71 and ’80. There was some incredible work in those magazines that I feel doesn’t get the coverage that it deserves. If that isn’t enough for a full issue, you could also include coverage of the other black-and-white magazines of the time such as the material coming from Warren Publishing. Also, if you have the time to answer one question, I would like to know if BACK ISSUE ever accepts unsolicited articles for publication. – Ash Doyle

Some of Marvel’s B&W magazines have been discussed in previous issues: Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, Doc Savage, Savage Sword of Conan, and Planet of the Apes, off the top of my head. Awhile back it was my intention to devote a full issue to black-and-whites, but now that we’re a full-color magazine I’m hesitant to give these series more than an article here and there. What do the rest of you think? And I deleted your email before realizing it had an unanswered question, so hopefully you’ll be reading this issue to see my response. Ye ed has, upon occasion, accepted unsolicited articles, but given BI’s thematic structure, that happens infrequently and those articles may have to wait a while before an appropriate theme avails itself. Usually the process is, an issue’s theme is announced to our writers’ pool and the floor is opened for proposals. However, I’m not such a stickler to routine that I’d turn away something of interest to our readers. For more information about writing for BACK ISSUE, please contact me privately at euryman@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest! – M.E.

JOHN CARTER REPRINTED Reading through issue #59’s letters column today and just wanted to point something out to ye ed about a question that was asked. I believe the question was about if any of DC’s ERB features like John Carter or Pellucidar had ever been collected and Michael didn’t think it had. Well, actually, the John Carter stories written by Marv Wolfman have been collected in a volume published by Dark Horse. This book collected the Tarzan John Carter backup stories and all of the John Carter stories from the pages of Weird Worlds. The whole book is really very nice and maybe the best reproduction you’ll see yet of those stories with some beautiful art from Murphy Anderson, Gray Morrow, and Sal Amendola, as well as some great cover art by Joe Kubert, Joe Orlando, and Howard Chaykin. Good stuff and certainly recommended. Now if we could just get those Pellucidar stories and Kaluta’s Carson of Venus work all collected as well, that would be terrific… – Darren Goodhart Thanks for letting us know, Darren. I assumed that Dark Horse’s John Carter collected edition only reprinted Marvel’s John Carter–Warlord of Mars series—good to know that the DC material is included as well! – M.E.

HANNA-BARBERA MARVEL Thanks for the issue with the article on Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera comics. It is nice to know that our work was appreciated. – Jack Enyart

In the latest BI [#59] with my H-B article, there is a minor error that’s no big deal. I contributed the Scott Shaw! drawings, not the person you said. – Mark Arnold For the record, Mark Arnold submitted the Scott Shaw! H-B cartoons. My apologies for the error. – M.E.

THE DARK KNIGHT DEFLATES

Ash, I’m happy you enjoyed our panel. TwoMorrows’ site (twomorrows.com) has had limited blog and podcast activity in the past; we have a small staff that works independent of each other, and we tend to stay busy producing our respective pubs, so we’ve lacked the time to fully utilize social media to keep people abreast of what’s coming. BACK ISSUE has a very active Facebook group, however, and I tend to post upcoming content and covers there before they appear in Previews or elsewhere. If you don’t follow BI on FB, join us! 78 • BACK ISSUE • Backups Issue

Another great issue of BI (boy, you must get sick of hearing that all the time). Since I was a child of the ’60s, Space Ghost was on my cartoon radar, so the SG article was a fun read. One of the article’s graphics made me smile, though. On page 4 you gave us the “Super-Heroes Saturday on CBS” centerspread that appeared in comics in 1966, which I thought was one of the coolest comicbook ads I’d ever seen. If I remember correctly, it was an annual event, this double-page display of what to expect that fall on Saturday mornings, and I actually looked forward to seeing these ads every year. I’ve always maintained that part of the nostalgia of old comics is the advertisements. While I love the affordable

Showcase Presents (DC) and Essentials (Marvel) reprint editions, nothing beats leafing through the original magazine and coming across ads like this centerspread. The “Greatest Stories Never Told” is always one of my favorite departments, and the peek at the Plastic Man comic strip was fun. I thought the artwork looked amateurish, but that’s just my opinion. Reading Jason Strangis’ letter about the Avengers movie made me realize that he and I have something in common. Mainly, that we both hold a minority opinion about the overall greatness of a movie that everyone else thought was terrific, only in my case, the movie is The Dark Knight Rises. Apparently, I was the only person on Earth who was disappointed with this movie. Reviewers can go on and on about the lofty messages and symbolism in the film (and they have), but I went to see it because I wanted to see a Batman film. Instead of Batman, we get Bane trashing the city while Bruce Wayne mopes around his house until he finally decides to do something. The hero himself doesn’t even appear until 45 minutes into the film, at which point he gets his Bat-butt handed to him by Bane. As the terrorist villain, Bane is great, except that (a) he gets more screen time than Batman, and (b) I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. Throughout the theater I heard people muttering to each other: “What did he say?” Okay, I get it, he’s got a mask over his mouth. But somewhere along the way, someone in the final editing stage should have said, “Wait a minute, we have to re-dub this guy’s lines.” It’s bad enough that a movie supposedly starring Batman gets hijacked by the bad guy, but to have the bad guy’s lines muffled to incoherency was distracting and disappointing. By the time it got to the much-touted surprise twist at the end, I really didn’t care that much. And yet everyone I’ve talked to has loved The Dark Knight Rises. I disagree with Jason’s assessment of Bruce Banner [in The Avengers]; I felt that Mark Ruffalo played the part perfectly, that of a laid-back man with a goofy smile on his face; a man who lived with the knowledge that, if he let himself get mad, bad things would happen. He seemed to be the guy trying to control his anger-management issues by trying to convince himself, “If I just keep smiling and acting like it doesn’t bother me, then maybe it won’t.” Anyway, Jason, while I don’t agree with all of your criticisms, I thank you for daring to speak your mind for a minority opinion. Now, if I could just find one more person who didn’t like the Batman movie… – Michal Jacot

A REAL-LIFE SPACE GHOST Loved your Space Ghost issue! I used to be in the Job Corps, which is a program for usually very poor, at-risk black youth from the inner cities to learn a trade or to go to college. I was the one of the students in the program to go to college. I had to learn a trade before I could get into their college program. The teacher often referred to me as “space ghost.” I took it as a compliment because I loved drawing superheroes on the computer in class. It wasn’t until years later that it dawned on me that he was referring to me as Space Ghost because I was the lone white student in his class! He was nice to me, and I even bought him the 1987 Space Ghost one-shot, which he appreciated. The characters of Jan and Jace were also the basis for the Wonder Twins in Super Friends, along with their version of Blip, Gleek. I also loved your coverage of Jonny Quest, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and, of course, Star Blazers. They all bring back fond memories of my youth. It’s really too bad those cartoons don’t see more airtime today. Star Blazers was in particular was quite thoughtful, intelligent, and imaginative. I pity today’s youth that is raised on such dreck as Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Doug. Family Guy is funny and witty, but its leftwing liberal bias annoys me at times. – Christopher Krieg

IT’S A HARD-LUCK LIFE Regarding, just for a starter, BI #59, for the first in what may be many minor, possibly, but valid, I believe, corrections/ additions/whatever… The Lee Marrs Plastic Man article was very interesting. However, read carefully, it appears to suggest that the Plastic Man newspaper strip did see publication, but does not quite, stopping short of explicitly stating that the PM syndie strip either did or did not see commercial publication in any newspaper. Which was it? Also, the comment about Lee’s affiliation with Little Orphan Annie was very interesting, but, by omission, anyway, sort of made an incorrect statement about the post–Tex Blaisdell, pre–Leonard Starr years of the strip. (To be blunt, it was within parenthesis, so I am assuming that it was an editorial insertion...) The last artist to produce the Little Orphan Annie (LOA) daily strip, if memory serves, was a man named David Lettick, who took over the strip sometime around early … 1973?? His version did not do well and he was out swiftly, of course, until the Broadway musical’s success (presumably, at least, the anticipation of the feature of the musical, even if— I don’t know—a deal for the film had not yet been completed) led to the shorn-titled Annie being revived under Starr’s tutelage, and reruns put back into the vault. The strip, I think, passed to Lettick after Blaisdell’s total departure, then went to reruns for a number of years, then came back with the shortened title under Annie. I was interested to see Lee’s comment about the writing of LOA. Was the writer Elliot Caplin, possibly? In an interesting (well, to me) bit of comics-ania, the discontinuation of the new LOA led to a front-page article in the New York Times’ Sunday magazine at the time, contrasting it with the day’s “new” pop culture… Well, it is available fairly cheaply in e-form from the Grey Lady’s cyber-operation. (It was a really long article, too, and it had the Pop Art–esque cover of that week’s issue—yes, I saved it then. And Ron Goulart somewhat poo-pooed the article at the time in his book on ’30s continuities, The Adventurous Decade.) – Walter Loyd Lilly Walter, the article states that sales of the Plastic Man comic strip fell short of the number of newspapers needed to profitably sustain it, so it did not actually make it into print—hence its inclusion in our “Greatest Stories Never Told” department. Thanks for providing the information about Little Orphan Annie/Annie. That parenthetical comment, by the way, was not mine. Re the Caplin question, Paul Kupperberg, the article’s writer, says: “I actually asked Lee that question, just out of fanboy curiosity, but she didn’t recall if there was already somebody lined up or, if there was, who it had been, this having taken place almost 40 years ago … this not being an article on LOA, I didn’t pursue the matter. I suppose it could have been Caplin—he was the writer on it with Tex from 1968 to 1973, and one of the go-to writers of comic strips everywhere, but I can’t confirm. When they left, David Lettick took over for about three months in early 1974 after some fill-in artists (including Gray’s cousin Robert Leffingwell and Henry Arnold/Henry Raduta), and then the strip went reprint in April 1974 until 1979, when Starr took over.” Are there any LOA experts reading this who can definitively answer Walter’s question? – M.E.

A YABBA-DABBA-DELIGHT! The September issue was especially entertaining for me since I have been a Hanna-Barbera fan for more than 40 years. I have assembled a nearly complete collection of all the H-B comic books published over the years, with just a handful that I am still seeking. All were bought brand new off the newsstand from late 1970 forward. (Question: Other than a couple of H-B titles, what comics were published by every major comics publisher—Dell, Gold Key, Charlton, Marvel, Harvey, Archie, and DC? Answer: None.)

Backups Issue

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BACK ISSUE • 79

Oddly enough, it was Charlton taking over part of the H-B line in 1970 that stimulated my interest initially. I suppose that I was fascinated with the dreck that marked much of Charlton’s H-B output. My opinion also is that the Marvel H-B output was inferior to the Gold Key efforts. The Marvel era marked the three-tier panel format per page as opposed to Gold Key mostly using a four-tier format. The three-tier format made the line look cheaper. (Charlton almost always used the three-tier format.) The Marvel-era H-B comics were a definite improvement over Charlton, though. I always wondered why H-B didn’t seek to return the license to Gold Key in 1977 instead of going with Marvel. Gold Key reacquired the rights to several King Features Syndicate properties at this time, properties which had been held by Charlton just prior. So why not H-B as well? To answer my own question, I can only surmise that there was some bad blood between H-B and Western Publishing, parent company of Gold Key. I think H-B wanted to be given more of the royal treatment like Walt Disney Productions was getting. (But then, the Disney characters sold a lot better.) I would be interested in seeing a listing of the H-B stories prepared by Mark Evanier’s studio after Marvel stopped publishing them and which thus saw publication only in foreign markets. (It would be nice to see them published here in the US as well.) Is such a list available, and if so, could it be published? Thanks for listening. – John Fishel Thanks for the letter, John. I, too, am a Hanna-Barbera fan and hope to feature H-B comics in this magazine again sometime. Re your Evanier question, we’ve never compiled (nor seen) such a list. If anyone else has, please let us know! – M.E.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE I am currently catching up with BI #59 (the Toon Comics issue). I noticed that there is an article on Star Blazers. I was wondering if there are plans to do anything related to Robotech. I would like to know about the sequel comic (The Sentinels), seeing that I have just recently discovered it. Also, I have read in the letters column that upcoming issue #63 is devoted to the “British Invasion,” most likely British comics, artists, writers, etc. Any chance on discussing British Transformers comics, or anything related to Simon Furman? I rarely see many interviews with him outside of the Transformers mythos.

And I read in another “Back Talk” column that you will be covering Batman and the Outsiders soon in the magazine. I was wondering how that was going. By the way, I love the full-color motif. Sure, it costs a dollar more, but since it goes to making a great magazine even better, then I’m all for it. I usually tell people that if I had to cut down on comics shopping, I would still keep BI in my collection. Keep up the great work, – Jeff Nichols Thank you, Jeff! Toy-inspired comics were the focus of BACK ISSUE #16 (June 2006), and Marvel’s Transformers series—both the US and UK editions— were featured in an article which included quotes from Simon Furman. Robotech hasn’t yet appeared in BI, but one of these days… In mid-2014, we’ll be doing an issue that will feature examinations of Batman and the Outsiders and the Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis Detective Comics collaboration (published back in the Jason Todd/Robin days). But first… Next issue: The Bronze Age’s battling “B-Teams”! An issue-byissue overview of The Defenders, plus the Champions, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, PETER DAVID’s X-Factor, Teen Titans West, Legion of Substitute Heroes, and an all-star chatfest of Doom Patrol interviews with ARNOLD DRAKE, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ERIK LARSEN, and STEVE LIGHTLE. Featuring the work of SAL BUSCEMA, J. M. DeMATTEIS, KEITH GIFFEN, BOB HALL, ED HANNIGAN, TONY ISABELLA, GEORGE PÉREZ, BOB ROZAKIS, JIM VALENTINO, KEVIN WEST, and more! With a dynamite Defenders cover illustrated and colored by KEVIN NOWLAN. Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in sixty. Michael Eury, editor-in-chief Defenders and related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows. All Rights Reserved.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES BACK ISSUE is on the lookout for the following comics-related material from the 1970s through the 1990s: • • • • • • •

Unpublished artwork and covers Commissions (color or B&W) and professional-quality specialty drawings 1970s–1990s creator and convention photographs Character designs and model sheets Original art: covers and significant interior pages Little-seen fanzine material Other rarities

If you have any of the above materials, please query the editor via email prior to submission. Art contributors will be acknowledged in print and receive a complimentary copy of the issue.

80 • BACK ISSUE • Backups Issue

Since BI is a full-color publication, preference is given to color artwork. Random convention sketches and “quick sketches” that do not reflect an artist’s best work and were not intended for print will no longer be considered for publication.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #61

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Former COMIC BOOK ARTIST editor JON B. COOKE returns to TwoMorrows with his new magazine! #1 features: An investigation of the treatment JACK KIRBY endured throughout his career, ALEX ROSS and KURT BUSIEK interviews, FRANK ROBBINS spotlight, remembering LES DANIELS, WILL EISNER’s Valentines to his beloved, a talk between NEAL ADAMS and DENNIS O’NEIL, new ALEX ROSS cover, and more!

JOE KUBERT double-size Summer Special tribute issue! Comprehensive examinations of each facet of Joe’s career, from Golden Age artist and 3-D comics pioneer, to top Tarzan artist, editor, and founder of the Kubert School. Kubert interviews, rare art and artifacts, testimonials, remembrances, portraits, anecdotes, pin-ups and miniinterviews by faculty, students, fans, friends and family! Edited by JON B. COOKE.

LEGO TRAINS! Builder CALE LEIPHART shows how to get started building trains and train layouts, with instructions on building microscale trains by editor JOE MENO, building layouts with the members of the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group (PennLUG), fan-built LEGO monorails minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, microscale building by CHRISTOPHER DECK, “You Can Build It”, and more!

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JACK KIRBY: WRITER! Examines quirks of Kirby’s wordsmithing, from the FOURTH WORLD to ROMANCE and beyond! Lengthy Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, LARRY LIEBER’s scripting for Jack at 1960s Marvel Comics, RAY ZONE on 3-D work with Kirby, comparing STEVE GERBER’s Destroyer Duck scripts to Jack’s pencils, Kirby’s best promo blurbs, Kirby pencil art gallery, & more!

JOE KUBERT TRIBUTE! Four Kubert interviews, art by RUSS HEATH, NEAL ADAMS, MURPHY ANDERSON, MICHAEL KALUTA, SAM GLANZMAN, and others, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive, FCA’s Captain Video conclusion by GEORGE EVANS that inspired Avengers foe Ultron, cover by KUBERT, with a portrait by DANIEL JAMES COX!

GOLDEN AGE ARTISTS L.B. COLE AND JAY DISBROW! DISBROW’s memoir of COLE and his work on CAT-MAN, art by BOB FUJITANI, CHARLES QUINLAN, IRWIN HASEN, FCA (Fawcett Collector’s of America) on the two-media career of Captain Video, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, Cat-Man cover by L.B. COLE!

AVENGERS 50th ANNIVERSARY! WILL MURRAY on the group’s behind-thescenes origin, a look at its first decade with ROY THOMAS, STAN LEE, JACK KIRBY, THE BROTHERS BUSCEMA, TUSKA, ADAMS, COLAN, BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, MERRY MARVEL MARCHING SOCIETY, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, Golden Age Blue Beetle artist E.C. STONER, unused Avengers cover by DON HECK!

MARC SWAYZE TRIBUTE ISSUE, spotlighting FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America)! Salutes from Fawcett alumnus C.C. BECK and OTTO BINDER, interview with wife JUNE SWAYZE, a full Phantom Eagle story from Wow Comics, plus interview with 1950s Dell/Western artist MEL KEEFER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and a SWAYZE Marvel Family cover art from the 1940s!

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BACK ISSUE #67

BACK ISSUE #68

BACK ISSUE #69

LEE WEEKS (Daredevil, Incredible Hulk) gives insight into the artform, YILDIRAY ÇINAR (Noble Causes, Fury of the Firestorms) interview and demo, inker JOE RUBINSTEIN shows how he works, “Comic Art Bootcamp” with MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS, “Rough Critique” of a newcomer by BOB McLEOD, and “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews art supplies and software! Mature readers only.

“Bronze Age Team-Ups”! Marvel Team-Up and Two-in-One, Super-Villain Team-Up, CLAREMONT and SIMONSON’s X-Men/New Teen Titans, DC Comics Presents, SuperTeam Family, HANEY and APARO’s Batman of Earth-B(&B), Superman/Captain Marvel smackdowns, plus art and commentary by BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, LEVITZ, WEIN, and a classic GIL KANE cover inked anew by TERRY AUSTIN.

“Heroes Out of Time!” Batman: Gotham by Gaslight with MIGNOLA, WAID, and AUGUSTYN, Booster Gold with JURGENS, X-Men: Days of Future Past with CHRIS CLAREMONT, Bill & Ted with EVAN DORKIN, interview with P. CRAIG RUSSELL, “Pro2Pro” with Time Masters’ BOB WAYNE and LEWIS SHINER, Karate Kid, New Mutants: Asgardian Wars, and Kang. Mignola cover.

“1970s and ‘80s Legion of Super-Heroes!” LEVITZ interview, the Legion’s Honored Dead, the Cosmic Boy miniseries, a Time Trapper history, the New Adventures of Superboy, Legion fantasy cover gallery by JOHN WATSON, plus BATES, COCKRUM, CONWAY, COLON, GIFFEN, GRELL, JANES, KUPPERBERG, LaROCQUE, LIGHTLE, SCHAFFENBERGER, SHERMAN, STATON, SWAN, WAID, & more! COCKRUM cover!

TENTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Revisit the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, and 500th issues of ‘70s and ‘80s favorites: Adventure, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Batman, Brave & Bold, Casper, Detective, Flash, Green Lantern, Showcase, Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, and more! With APARO, BARR, ENGLEHART, POLLARD, SEKOWSKY, SIMONSON, STATON, and WOLFMAN. DAN JURGENS and RAY McCARTHY cover.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships July 2013

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships August 2013

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Sept. 2013

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Nov. 2013

Ambitious new series documenting each decade of comic book history!

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: 1960-64 & The 1980s

JOHN WELLS covers comics in the 1960-64 JFK and Beatles era: DC’s new GREEN LANTERN, JUSTICE LEAGUE and multiple earths! LEE and KIRBY at Marvel on FF, SPIDER-MAN, HULK, and X-MEN! BATMAN’s “new look”, Charlton’s BLUE BEETLE, CREEPY #1 & more!

MODERN MASTERS: CLIFF CHIANG

Spotlights the career of CLIFF CHIANG (artist of DC’s New 52 breakout hit WONDER WOMAN series) through a career-spanning interview, and loads of both iconic and rarely seen artwork from Cliff’s personal files. There’s also an in-depth look into the artist’s work process, and an extensive gallery of commissioned pieces, many in full-color. By CHRIS ARRANT and ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON.

1960-64: (224-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-045-8 • Out now! 1980s: (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $41.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-046-5 • Out now!

(192-page trade paperback with COLOR) $27.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-051-9 • (Digital Edition) $8.95 • Ships July 2013

(120-page trade paperback with COLOR) $15.95 (Digital Editions) $4.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-050-2 Ships May 2013

THE STAR*REACH COMPANION

Complete history of the influential 1970s independent comic, featuring work by and interviews with DAVE STEVENS, FRANK BRUNNER, HOWARD CHAYKIN, STEVE LEIALOHA, WALTER SIMONSON, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, KEN STEACY, JOHN WORKMAN, MIKE VOSBURG, P. CRAIG RUSSELL, DAVE SIM, MICHAEL GILBERT, and many others, plus full stories from STAR*REACH and its sister magazine IMAGINE. Cover by CHAYKIN! MATURE READERS ONLY.

KEITH DALLAS documents comics’ 1980s Reagan years: Rise and fall of JIM SHOOTER, FRANK MILLER as comic book superstar, DC’s CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, MOORE and GAIMAN’s British invasion, ECLIPSE, PACIFIC, FIRST, COMICO, DARK HORSE and more!

DAN SPIEGLE: A LIFE IN COMIC ART

PLUGGED IN!

COMICS PROS IN THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

Documents his 60-year career on DELL and GOLD KEY’S licensed TV and Movie adaptions (LOST IN SPACE, KORAK, MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER, MIGHTY SAMPSON), at DC COMICS (BATMAN, UNKNOWN SOLDIER, TOMAHAWK, JONAH HEX, TEEN TITANS, BLACKHAWK), his CROSSFIRE series for ECLIPSE, DARK HORSE’S INDIANA JONES series and more, with rare artwork, personal photos, and private commission drawings. Written by JOHN COATES.

Offers invaluable tips for anyone entering the Video Game field, or with a fascination for both comics and gaming. KEITH VERONESE interviews artists and writers who work in video games full-time: JIMMY PALMIOTTI, CHRIS BACHALO, MIKE DEODATO, RICK REMENDER, TRENT KANIUGA, and others. Whether you’re a noob or experienced gamer or comics fan, be sure to get PLUGGED IN!

(160-page trade paperback) $19.95 • (Digital Edition) $6.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-048-9 • Ships May 2013

(104-page trade paperback) $14.95 • (Digital Edition) $4.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-049-6 • Ships May 2013

(128-page trade paperback with COLOR) $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-047-2 • (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Now shipping!

SUBSCRIBE! • Digital Editions: 3.95 each, or save with a digital subscription (digital editions are included FREE with a print subscription)! • Back Issue, Draw, Alter Ego & Comic Book Collector are now all full-color! • Lower international shipping rates! $

2013 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (with FREE Digital Editions)

Media Mail

1st Class Canada 1st Class Priority US Intl. Intl.

Digital Only

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$50

$68

$65

$72

$150

$15.80

BACK ISSUE! (8 issues)

$60

$80

$85

$107

$155

$23.60

DRAW! (4 issues)

$30

$40

$43

$54

$78

$11.80

ALTER EGO (8 issues)

$60

$80

$85

$107

$155

$23.60

COMIC BOOK CREATOR (4 issues w/Special)

$36

$45

$50

$65

$95

$15.80

BRICKJOURNAL (6 issues)

$57

$72

$75

$86

$128

$23.70

For the latest news from TwoMorrows Publishing, log on to www.twomorrows.com/tnt To get e-mail updates of what’s new from TwoMorrows, sign up for our mailing list! http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/twomorrows

PRINTED IN CHINA

THE BEST OF ALTER EGO, VOL. 2

This sequel to ALTER EGO: THE BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE presents more vintage features from the first super-hero fanzine, begun by JERRY BAILS & ROY THOMAS. Editors ROY THOMAS and BILL SCHELLY reveal undiscovered gems from all 11 original issues published from 1961-78, including features on Hawkman, the Spectre, Blackhawk, the JLA, All Winners Squad, the Heap, an unsold “Tor” newspaper strip by JOE KUBERT, and more!