Back Issue #90

THIS ISSUE: EIGHTIES LADIES! August

2016

N$o8..9950

Elektra TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

™

Elektra Assassin • Dazzler • Captain Marvel • Wonder Woman Lady Quark • Dakota North • Somerset Holmes • Jezebel Jade featuring Kubert, Mishkin, Romita Jr., Sienkiewicz, Stern, Thomases & more

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Volume 1, Number 90 August 2016 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Bill Sienkiewicz (Unpublished trade paperback cover produced in 2003.

Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.)

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek Lady Quark Christopher Larochelle Marvel Comics Dan Mishkin Ann Nocenti Tom Peyer John Romita, Jr. John Romita, Sr. Philip Schweier Bill Sienkiewicz Louise Simonson Roger Stern David Suiter Martha Thomases Steven Wilber

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FLASHBACK: Elektra: Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Our cover artist, Bill Sienkiewicz, takes us behind the scenes of the Frank Miller-written epic FLASHBACK: Dazzler Lights Up Marvel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 A dazzling array of creators sparkle with nostalgia in this history of Marvel’s disco mutant BACKSTAGE PASS: Dazzler in the Media (and Beyond) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Alison Blaire on TV, in video games, and beyond INTERVIEW: Dan Mishkin’s Wonder Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 The Amethyst co-creator discusses his early ’80s stint as Wonder Woman’s writer FLASHBACK: Call Her Captain Marvel … or Photon … or Pulsar … of Spectrum! . . . . . .38 What’s in a name? An all-star lineup surveys the identity crisis of Monica Rambeau BEYOND CAPES: Somerset Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Bruce Jones, April Campbell, and Brent Anderson remember the amnesiac indie heroine FLASHBACK: The Charmed and Charged Life of Lady Quark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 The Crisis-generated regal hero and her failure to spark DC’s readers’ attention PRINCE STREET NEWS: Top Comic-Book Women of the ’80s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 From Abby Cable to Love and Rockets, courtesy of cartoonist Karl Heitmueller, Jr. OFF MY CHEST: Guest Editorial by Martha Thomases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 The creator of Marvel’s Dakota North confesses that she has Daddy issues PRO2PRO: William Messner-Loebs and Adam Kubert Discuss Jezebel Jade . . . . . . . . . . . .68 The writer/artist team remembers their three-issue Jonny Quest spin-off from Comico BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Reader reactions 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. Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 Standard US, $88 Expedited US, $116 International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.

Cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz. Elektra TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2016 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing except Prince Street News, © 2016 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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Dazzler print by Frank Cirocco (1987, First Team Press). Courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

SPECIAL THANKS Frankie Addiego Brent Anderson Roger Ash Tom Brevoort Kurt Busiek April Campbell Paul Chadwick Tom DeFalco Warren Ellis Al Ewing Danny Fingeroth Grand Comics Database Alan Grant Robert Greenberger Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Glenn Herdling Heritage Comics Auctions Stuart Immonen Geof Isherwood Bruce Jones

My heart pounds shamefully—how long have they held me?

Unimportant.

The guards and fence below will give way before me like a thicket in a hurricane.

Of course I should not leave just yet.

Leave nothing alive. It is the first order.

But the wind is hot and wet and ripe with spring.

And I jump.

TM

Elektra thinks all of these things as she breaks out of an asylum at the conclusion of Elektra: Assassin’s first issue.

The initial 32-page salvo of this story takes place entirely within Elektra’s mind as she considers what she knows about her life so far and what she thinks might be true about it. She learns of a horrible evil and realizes that she needs to stop it.

The comic is a bold beginning to a bold miniseries, a contemporary to stories like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Like these other series, Elektra: Assassin is a signpost of where comics were in 1986 and a display of just what could be accomplished within the medium.

Despite this, Elektra: Assassin is sometimes forgotten in the shadow of the many significant works that came out of this era in comics history.

The story in Elektra: Assassin might be summarized all too quickly by saying that it involves Elektra’s quest to defeat the Beast, an evil force aiming to bring about worldwide destruction.

Along the way, Elektra crosses paths with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. named John Garrett, faces a cyborg named Perry, and attempts to halt the plans of Ken Wind, the human face of the Beast. Because of its thick stew of imaginative elements, Elektra: Assassin has to be viewed in terms of exactly how it all came together as a result of the collaboration between writer Frank Miller and artist Bill Sienkiewicz.

Elektra: Assassin was not the first project that Miller and Sienkiewicz planned to work on. The miniseries’ origin lies wrapped up in the process that got another collaboration by the same team off the ground (the graphic novel Daredevil: Love and War). “Frank and I had wanted to work on Daredevil together,” reports Bill Sienkiewicz. “I was going to be the guest artist on some of Frank’s run. That’s what I was doing. I was drawing Love and War as several issues of the main series. I was bringing in pages to the editor, Ralph Macchio, and people were blown away by what was being done with the Kingpin. These things were kept secret from Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief of Marvel.

We were all in Ralph’s office with Chris Claremont one day and Jim Shooter walked in. Chris said, ‘Oh, Jim, have you seen these pages that Bill has done?’ without knowing what kind of secrets he was spilling.

Ralph and I thought we were in big trouble.

“Ignoring the twisted logic of our thinking for a second, we all knew Shooter was going to see the final result regardless, but we just hoped to delay him seeing it until it was too late to pull from the printer. Jim was actually far less upset than he had any right to be; I think he recognized our passion to try things, but in the end he felt it was too far from the continuity. My Kingpin was not ‘Marvel’s Kingpin.’ Readers would have kittens. So Shooter suggested that we turn these pages into a graphic novel, following the success of Jim Starlin’s Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel. When it got shifted to that format, and I realized I was going to be 2

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Christopher Larochelle

bill sienkiewicz © Luigi Novi/Wikimedia Commons.

Not the Kind of Girl You Take Home to Mother Detail from the controversial cover of Marvel/Epic’s Elektra: Assassin #1 (Aug. 1986).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

spending a lot of time painting, Frank Miller said, directions. I would change what was written but tried to ‘Hey, why don’t we do an Elektra miniseries for our stay true to the spirit of what Frank was writing. His writing bread-and-butter money?’ So Love and War and Elektra: inspired me to add twists, backstories, mechanics, and Assassin ended up being salt and pepper, companion psychological bits to create a credible world in which these characters and this story could exist.” pieces, completely unintentionally. Simultaneously.”

This kind of give-and-take collaboration helped to When asked about how he and Miller first came to decide to get some projects going together, Sienkiewicz ensure that Garrett survived his near-death experience replies, “Frank had been on board for several months at in Elektra: Assassin #2. Sienkiewicz’s visual approach and connection to Garrett played a role in developing the Marvel when I got started. We would see each other at the offices. We became friends. I think he saw what I character into being a focal point for the entire miniseries rather than an adversary who lived and died entirely was trying to do with my work. We talked about our within the span of a single comic book. growth and our ideas and ideals. We were both “Garrett was the big surprise,” Frank trying to push beyond our influences but we Miller told Amazing Heroes #99 both really loved the medium and wanted (Fantagraphics, July 15, 1986). “Garrett to leave our marks, so to speak, in mainexploded as Bill and I tossed the stream comics. So we thought we character back and forth. It’s entirely would attempt that in Elektra: Assassin normal for me to be changing things and Love and War, with the aim of constantly. This is the way I like to keeping things in the wheelhouse work, with a lot of surprises along the of superhero stuff while going in a way. If I could see everything mapped direction that nobody had gone.” out in front of me, there wouldn’t be One of Elektra: Assassin’s standout any reason to do the piece” (pg. 31). characters is John Garrett. Garrett is introduced as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tasked with hunting down Elektra; frank miller he later becomes infatuated with her.

Garrett’s arc fills much of the storyline Beao/Wikimedia Commons. in Elektra: Assassin. In Elektra: Assassin #2 (Sept. 1986), Garrett’s internal monologue reveals how perplexed he is by what he learns when he searches a S.H.I.E.L.D. computer for information about his next case: “…seems a patient in one of those hellhole asylums down by the border went a little wild. Shoved her hand through a guard—punched holes in a surgical team—left a doctor with two scalpels in his eyes—where’d she come from?”

He soon becomes intrigued by his quarry, learning many details about her life: how she is the daughter of a Greek diplomat, a student of martial arts who obtained a black belt by age 12, a girl left behind when her father was killed by gunfire.

When their paths cross, John Garrett finds himself completely outmaneuvered by Elektra and caught in an exploding building.

Garrett doesn’t even get the chance to die after this encounter and instead wakes up plugged into a wide variety of life-sustaining equipment.

Even though he has been destroyed, S.H.I.E.L.D. has plans for Agent Garrett.

Elektra silently slinks into the room where Garrett is being kept. “They won’t let me die, you know,” thinks Garrett. “The research boys started drooling when what was left of me came in.

They’re hot to trot. But you don’t know. You look at the hunk of meat and tubes in front of you—and all you can tell is that I so dearly want to die … maybe I should thank you, honey. You’ve given me a reason to go on.”

“Garrett was supposed to be killed at the end of issue two,” says Bill Sienkiewicz. “I would pick up the scripts at the office and read them on the train back to Westport, Connecticut. The looks I got from passengers were priceless. I was grinning and laughing like a loon.

So essentially the floodgates of possibilities opened, I started to run with it in a whole bunch of different Eighties

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Under My Skin John Garrett and Elektra share a “quiet moment” on page 30 of Elektra: Assassin #6. (inset) Sienkiewicz’s Valentine pastiche cover for EA #4 (Nov. 1986).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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very ugly hero. He might do good for the right reasons; I just think it’d be in spite of the rest of his personality.

I’ve been feeling lately that Garrett really is the reader’s character. He is the character through whom we really see the story” (Amazing Heroes #99, pg. 32).

While the characterization of John Garrett sensibly fell upon Miller’s shoulders, the character’s visuals came about entirely through the filter of Bill Sienkiewicz’s efforts. “Part of Garrett’s design was my cartooning influence. It was also partly influenced by the time in which the series was done. The big shoulder pads were the thing at the time. I took the lunacy of that kind of clothing and pushed it even further. Garrett was a big, dumb guy who didn’t follow the rules. I was just having a lot of fun with developing him. I saw him as a James Bond/Dirty Harry wannabe who was actually good at his job, but who definitely had his own demons, that of mainly being a drunken a**hole.”

John Garrett follows Elektra on all of her adventures throughout the series, changing from an opponent of Elektra to a man who has quickly discovered he can’t live without this mysterious woman. At the beginning of Elektra: Assassin #6 (Jan. 1987), Elektra and Garrett are cooling down in a hotel room, and Garrett can’t help but just watch her sleep: “I picked the place. That much, she let me do…”

Garrett’s narration reveals. “…said she trusted me to find a hideout where nobody would look for her. She didn’t say it out loud, of course… Christ, look at her down there … heart-shaped water-bed, just like they advertise … no, she wouldn’t talk out loud. That’s too obvious for Elektra.

Super-powered ninja—that’s right, ninja, as in assassin— they talk to you in your head. At least this one does.

And she reads my mind. She knows exactly what she’s doing to me.

She thinks it’s funny. Ten hours now, she’s been sleeping … ten hours— and she shifts and sighs just often enough to keep my interest up.” Garrett endures all kinds of dangerous situations just to be able to be with this captivating and mysterious woman.

If John Garrett serves as a focal point into the story for the reader, what role does Elektra play in the story? Overall, she is a force of mystery throughout the entire series. “I think it would be impossible to pin Elektra to the wall like a butterfly under glass … the character writes herself,” Frank Miller said in Amazing Heroes #99. “She surprises me continually.

Part of the discipline of writing the character is trying not to understand it too well. Because then you could wind up with a character who’d just be all the things you wanted to push” (pg.

31). Miller clearly accepted that Elektra would be a character who didn’t offer a lot of answers.

Elektra: Assassin is the kind of story that takes the reader, and even the creators, on a ride beyond their own imagining.

Again, speaking about his visual approach, Bill Sienkiewicz has much to say. “By the time of Elektra: Assassin, I had already filled about 40 sketchbooks (now more than 60), as books that were both my personal journal and places to draw out ideas and, of course, sketch. So I worked through a lot of my ideas and approaches within the safety of those pages, just working things out and trying to capture the essence of the character.

Nothing was too stupid to try. It was something that had worked well when I was working on Love and War, in regard to the Kingpin. He just became larger and larger in the sketches. This came from my love for animation, especially Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. I was playing with animation proportions in the Marvel world. I just kept working on Elektra in my sketchbooks in the same kind of way, seeing what would come out of it.”

Miller went on to mention that “I threw a very strange narration at [Bill], and he threw back at me a character who walks onto center stage and fills it. And we then proceed to make tons of Garrett jokes back and forth as he took shape, both of us getting a great deal of affection for this very ugly character” (pg. 31).

The flexibility of the creators let Garrett’s importance develop throughout the eight issues of Elektra: Assassin.

While the initial blueprint for the series did not call for such a major role, Frank Miller seemed to find that the character served more than one important purpose to the narrative: “Garrett is to a certain extent a hero. It takes most of the series for that to be revealed. He’s in rebellion against Elektra in the late scripts. He is surrounded by forces that are much larger than he is. In spite of that, he does the right thing more often than he does the wrong thing, and he effects a great deal of good. He’s a

Beauty vs. the Beast An example of the fluid merger of Miller’s scripting and Sienkiewicz’s painting; page 5 of EA #5.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Secret Agent Man John Garrett—who would later become a character on TV’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—in action in this gripping original art page by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auction (www.ha.com).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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All of the work in the sketching stage clearly helped Sienkiewicz to find out just what he was looking for with Sienkiewicz did multiple sketches of Elektra to perfect his catlike the title character of the series. “For Elektra, I had done a number of drawings of her with very Greek features. take on her. This is a con sketch he made in 1987, after EA. I wanted to streamline her a little bit and make her more TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. athletic and thin. I purposely made her without big hips or big breasts like you see so often in comics. I wanted to make her catlike. After all, she had been locked away in an asylum, so she couldn’t come out of a place like that looking like a Marilyn Monroe. With the character of Elektra, I found myself making something that might not have looked real but that felt real.” The visual design of Elektra certainly came out differently than it would have if he had followed through with one early plan: “I was thinking that I was going to hire a model but I just wasn’t sure of nailing my ability to get the likeness over time.

Elektra was more of an essence to me than a defined person.”

Throughout Elektra: Assassin there is a sort of abstraction to the way that the title character is portrayed. Oftentimes Sienkiewicz chooses to show Elektra from behind, as a faceless swirl of red cloth and feminine form. Other times part of her face is obscured, and Elektra’s red lips are one of the only clear indications that a human face is the subject of a panel. In fight scenes, Elektra is indeed a figure of the catlike grace that Sienkiewicz was striving for.

While Elektra: Assassin’s main antagonist is the Beast, a political figure named Ken Wind serves as the visible presence of the evil creature’s machinations.

The sight of Ken Wind is one that is always a little unnerving in the book due to the fact that no matter what the character is doing or saying, his face looks much the same. “With Ken Wind … I gave him two expressions,” says Sienkiewicz. “He was either smiling or not smiling, very binary. The ‘babykissing, corndog-eating politician,’ or the ‘this aggression will not stand’ serious sort. I tend to be pretty cynical about politicians, so that played itself out in how Wind was ultimately portrayed: just this head, this face staring you down, looking through you, laughing at you … no matter which way his body was facing. That was an ‘A-ha’ moment that just snuck up on me and I realized that was it, that was what I wanted with that character. It became just the right amount of surreal, the right amount of idiotic, the right amount of demonic. Just creepy.” The rigidity of Wind’s physical representation (left) corresponds with his rigidity as a character in general.

Another character who has a menacing role to play throughout the story is a cyborg named Perry. When the two characters are introduced in Elektra: Assassin #2, Perry and Garrett are partners in their S.H.I.E.L.D. work, but Perry soon becomes another person to ally himself with the Beast.

Both Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz had comments about this character for Amazing Heroes #99. “Garrett is pure glamour compared to Perry.

Perry is an out-and-out sociopathic son of a bitch,” said Miller (pg. 34).

“I really like doing things where what makes the villain so frightening is not his physical size, but the stuff that goes on behind the eyes,” said Sienkiewicz in the same Amazing Heroes #99 article. “That’s what I’m trying to do with Perry” (pg. 34). Perry’s lanky frame, omnipresent grin, and black sunglasses all add up to make another compelling representation of villainy from the mind of Sienkiewicz. Perry also had the distinction of being a character who was saved from an early death, just like Garrett. “Perry was supposed to be killed at the end of issue #2 as well,” reports Sienkiewicz, “but we just liked him too much to let his story end there.”

When Perry and Elektra face off against each other in Elektra: Assassin’s final issue (#8, Mar. 1987), the title character’s narration encapsulates the evil and distorted nature of the cyborg. Perry is everything that can go wrong when human progress and technology go too far, and she contrasts this with her weapon of choice, a sword: “There is a man I must kill. There is metal in my path. Metal boiled in cauldrons and mixed by computers.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Metal stamped into shape by clanking machines. There is

The Essence of Elektra

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metal in my hands. Metal made soft by fire—folded and flattened by a hundred thousand hammer blows— folded, flattened, patiently, lovingly, endlessly—until each of its million layers is thinner than air … until its edge is thinner than air … sharp enough to cut through anything— made in cauldrons—by computers.”

The S.H.I.E.L.D. organization plays a major role within the story of Elektra: Assassin. While seeking visual inspiration for the series, Sienkiewicz reports that “I remember going through old Life magazines and thinking of the state of the industrial revolution then, as opposed to the digital nanotechnology of today. These were machines, not computers. S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to be this huge bureaucracy and it was run by guys in hardhats with clipboards, guys with wrenches and shovels and cans of oil. It was the clunkier, uglier, dirtier ancestor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. that you see in the movies now.” The world of S.H.I.E.L.D., as seen in Elektra: Assassin, is full of machinery, wires, and often not as many people as one might expect.

The idea that S.H.I.E.L.D. must have some kinds of clunkiness and other problems is one that Elektra: Assassin’s writer couldn’t help but run away with. “I’m showing a different side of [Fury’s] world,” Frank Miller said in Amazing Heroes #99 (pg. 33). “The whole Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. world makes for great adventure comics that Lee and Kirby did, but it doesn’t really reflect much of how I understand the world to work. I’ve learned a little too much about government organizations to think that all of S.H.I.E.L.D. could run that well or that justly no matter who’s in charge. Fury is tremendously

competent, as much of a good guy as he’s ever been [in Elektra: Assassin]. But he’s got a good deal more on his hands than has ever been shown before. This isn’t a Nick Fury who puts on a jumpsuit and goes out to fight spies.

This is a man who’s managing a monstrous technological spy organization. He spends half his time on the telephone with senators trying to get funding. Fury is ultimately a bureaucrat. I think once any organization reaches a certain size, it becomes kind of a monster, and no matter what the intentions of the people working in it, it can no longer follow any kind of creative vision.” Nick Fury, as portrayed in Elektra: Assassin, is often seen sitting in a big S.H.I.E.L.D. office taking a phone call or talking to somebody through a video conference. When he does finally get to “go out in the field,” he finds that there isn’t a lot that he can even do.

One Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. named Chastity McBryde does in fact get to play a larger role in the series.

“Chastity is very much the light to Elektra’s dark … I felt that the series needed that much balance,” Frank Miller said in Amazing Heroes #99 (pg. 32). “She’s just a wonderful character. She’s not mean. She’s very tough.

She’s very masculine, in the sense of her being a very dominant personality, very aggressive. I feel she’s got all sorts of emotional reasons for being so tough.”

Elektra: Assassin #5 (Dec. 1986) features a game of cat and mouse between Chastity and the duo of Elektra and Garrett. Chastity gets her marching orders from Nick Fury, saluting and agreeing to her assignment with the response of “As you command, sir.” Chastity’s introduction in the story paints her as the very blueprint for what

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The Assassin That Keeps on Giving Bill has been commissioned to illustrate Elektra pieces on many occasions since the revolutionary 1986 miniseries. From the archives of Heritage Comics Archives (www.ha.com) come these pieces, from (left) 2003 and (right) 2011. (background) Detail from EA #8, page 25.

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but they didn’t really get in our way. They wanted to see what we would do. And as far as we were concerned, Garrett and Perry were creator-owned characters. The things that we added were ours.”

Throughout the pages of the eight comics that add up to make the entire story of Elektra: Assassin, it’s easy to see how the two creators give each other enough space to tell their own parts of the tale. Big panels and splash pages can be found throughout the comics, but pages like those are really no more common than ones that feature small (and sometimes even tiny) panels that are surrounded by the frenetic dialogue of different characters. Elektra: Assassin #6 seems to be a particularly good example of this kind of balancing act. As the issue begins, the panel count per page is low, highlighting the getaway location of Elektra and Garrett as well as the lowly S.H.I.E.L.D. agent’s perceptions of his ninja companion: To him, Elektra is nothing short of a goddess.

An abrupt change in the issue takes place when the reader is treated to some examples of classified S.H.I.E.L.D. videos. In these sections, Miller makes use of an effective tool that he does so skillfully in another of his famous works, The Dark Knight Returns, by making each small panel a screenshot of something that is happening in a video feed. Sienkiewicz is more than ready for the task of telling a story through a series of tiny squares on a page. Later, two splash a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent should be like. pages are devoted to illustrating the Chastity doesn’t show much emotion as possibility of worldwide nuclear war. she attempts to get Garrett and Elektra In total, the issue has no fewer than six to cease and desist their fleeing. Her pages that let Bill Sienkiewicz cut perfectly permed hair, bright lipstick, loose with full-page illustrations. and gigantic cross earring are always There is no question about how jim shooter looking great, no matter what is Elektra: Assassin was such a bold move happening around her. While Miller’s at the time of its publication. BACK text never precisely spells out their previous relationship, ISSUE asked Sienkiewicz to reflect upon whether any it’s obvious that Chastity and Garrett have known each comics on the horizon will challenge the medium now other long enough to hold grudges. Sienkiewicz’s in the way that his and Miller’s series did decades ago: artistic approach with Chastity makes it look like S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited a 1980s Miss America to fight the good fight alongside “the boys” such as Nick Fury and Shoot to Kill Dum Dum Dugan. Some deliberate tension is set up between the way that Chastity acts and the way that Be on the lookout for Elektra, says she appears, and she winds up being a significant factor Chastity McBryde. Detail from page 13 of in the storyline of the last few issues of the series.

While it is obvious to students of comics that Elektra: Assassin #7.

1986 was a huge year for innovations, Elektra: Assassin TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. certainly carved out a legacy for itself. “What got me going with the project was that there were no painted comics,” says Bill Sienkiewicz. “I literally had to do it.

I was obsessed with painting and trying to do new stuff, even though they paid basically the same page rate as regular pen-and-ink work. Both Elektra: Assassin and Daredevil: Love and War were totally obsession driven.

Because of the more adult themes that we wanted to explore, we went with Marvel’s Epic imprint, and this was a big thing at the time. Frank had introduced Elektra in the regular Marvel Universe and now we were going to do our own thing. We got a lot of support from the editors at Marvel but also got a lot of heat and a lot of pressure.

“Elektra: Assassin didn’t happen in a vacuum. If you look at Love and War, that book just wouldn’t have happened without Jim Shooter. It was Jim who stood behind us and said, with both of the stories Frank and I did, to ‘just take this out of the continuity and tell the story.’ We wanted to make a standalone story. Marvel editorial pushed us to be the best that we could be.

Anywhere along the way we could have been shut down

Crouching Tigress Detail from page 30 of Elektra: Assassin #7’s “Vox Populi.”

The issue’s cover is seen below.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“I wonder about that. It’s almost like, if there is, it will be something that won’t be accepted immediately. It becomes, to use a now-clichéd phrase, a paradigm shift. If you’re trying something new that hasn’t been done before, there will be some resistance. The outrageousness is part of it, and it will polarize people. Right now, if you’re going to do something truly original, much of the changes are whispers among the shouting.

They’re there, but you have to pay attention or you might miss them amidst all the cacophony and rush to create ‘film properties!’ and ‘licenses!’ Still, I’m excited to see what it’s all going to turn into. Because of CGI, film has become what comics used to be. What comics are becoming is more literature and more focused on telling these wonderful stories.

Comics aren’t just source material for longform TV or film, but they are certainly very fertile source material for those kinds of things. That said, to me the beauty of comics is that they are comics.”

With its mature themes, daring visuals, and no-holds-barred dialogue, it should probably be no surprise that Elektra: Assassin managed to gather some degree of negative attention at the time of its publication. More than one newspaper published pictures of the famous cover to Elektra: Assassin #1 alongside scathing articles about the deplorable content found in comic stores. “Frank and I really cemented a brotherly bond as we worked on Elektra: Assassin because we expected problems,” said Sienkiewicz. “And when the first issue came out there were problems … calls for censorship. That first cover was a joke. The fact that she was in high heels and holding such a big gun, I thought it was just ridiculous … but they took that image and declared it to be the worst thing ever. The funny thing, though, was that by drawing the attention to it, they were actually reprinting my cover—full page, across the fold, in newspapers, warning middle America of the scourge of comics. They were very helpful in getting the word out. It was wonderful promotion.” Despite the calls for censorship, negative publicity didn’t really make an impact on the release of the miniseries. After all, Marvel’s editorial team knew that Elektra: Assassin was no ordinary story, and the decision to release through the Epic imprint set the title apart from Marvel’s other releases.

Elektra: Assassin is a story that challenges readers because of how the tale is put together. Featuring various styles of artwork, the narration of different characters, and a serpentine plot line, it is reasonable to say that Elektra: Assassin contains a certain amount of surrealism.

While there was a plan in place for what the series would be, some aspects of it remained flexible and open to change. “I think the absolute explosion of the first issue was just a shock to me from top to bottom,” Frank Miller said in Amazing Heroes #99. “It was certainly not what I had pictured when I was working on the script. It’s such diversity, so adventurous, so bold. The script from its inception was heading in that surreal direction. When it’s realistic,

it’s much more realistic than superhero comics tend to be. I think what we’ve got here is a lot of what Bill’s had inside him, waiting to get out. Bill’s approach is generally nonlinear, generally a somewhat poetic approach to narrative, and I think that would be a hard thing to accommodate in a monthly pulp comic” (pg. 37). Bill Sienkiewicz’s work on the first issue had an undeniable and in some ways unexpectedly deep impact on his collaborator, and the rest of the story couldn’t help but be influenced by this. “I found as I was writing to Bill’s pictures, a certain kind of almost-blank verse started happening that felt like the perfect verbal counterpoint to the pictures. So in many cases, I fragmented the narrative further,” said Miller (Amazing Heroes #99, pg. 37).

What did working on Elektra: Assassin mean to Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz? As Miller related to Amazing Heroes magazine, “working with Bill is like starting my whole career over. And I think that for Bill, working is frequently like starting his career over, too, because his imagination is so volatile. Neither of us independently of each other could have done anything like this. Bill and I are very different and it comes through. We play off each other: it used to feel as if we were having a volleyball game. Now it’s more like a tennis match: it’s speeded up. Our work gains a lot of dimension because of the two personalities at work on it … the thing that frightened me at first in working with Bill is that I have always thought of the pictures as being essentially more objective than the words. Working with Bill, I’ve found that the opposite is quite often the case. He caught me completely off guard with the first Elektra. A story that I had visualized in fairly straightforward terms became this amazing graphic. It brought on a lot of rewriting, and a lot of better writing, I think. And the final product is a lot more challenging” (#99, pg.

39–40).

As Sienkiewicz recalls, “We were both really excited by what we were doing. Frank was a country kid from Vermont and I was a country kid from New Jersey. We were called the ‘Young Turks’ by the creative guys and gals we admired and had grown up reading. But we were of a different generation, simply a fact, every generation deals with that— and we wanted to make our own creative statement. Frank and I were so excited, we anticipated

Armed and Dangerous A 2011 watercolor study of Elektra by Bill Sienkiewicz, done in 2011. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

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that when our comics came out we would be literally showered with rose petals and kisses. The truth is, aside from the newspaper articles the silence and lack of response was deafening. Crickets made more noise. I mean zero … zip … no response to it. Because it was so new, and nothing like it had been done. People had to digest it, they didn’t have the luxury of seeing it grow and change the way Frank, myself, Archie [Goodwin], and Jo Duffy had over all those months.

“I shared a studio in lower Manhattan with Denys Cowan and Michael Davis. My girlfriend lived way uptown. So I would get up in the morning and go to museums or book shops and just suck in all kinds of influences, gradually working my way down 60 blocks to get to work in the afternoon. I would eat a small dinner at my drawing board, and then dive into work, releasing in a mad rush all of the ideas and pent-up feelings and concepts that had been percolating during the day.

“I would be spent, exhausted, and literally I would break out into a sweat. I would turn to Denys and Michael and they would bust my chops mercilessly as guys do: I mean ‘take no prisoners’ abuse. F---ing hysterical; the most secretly supportive smack talking among colleagues and I loved them for it. Ironically, all of that made me relax. Because if they really had hated it, they would’ve just been silent or—God forbid—kind.

“Still, I wasn’t sure if it was going to make any sense at all. You can see a lot of wildly divergent approaches in Elektra: Assassin. And when it was all bound up together in a book, that is what ultimately pulled it all together for me.

The general industry and readership response started off as a murmur after the initial silence. Frank and I had felt we’d given it our best shot, and it had failed. We commiserated over how we would pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and get back to work after the flameout. But the response kept getting louder. It took a while for people to start to talk to each other about it, sit with it, and let it sink in. We didn’t intentionally try to upset the apple cart. What I was trying to do was bring in all kinds of influences—all kinds of art and eras and schools, like impressionism, abstract expressionism, fashion illustration, collage, sculpture, film … everything that comics to that point were forbidden to explore or had never even considered. Now, you see these things everywhere, and how wonderful is that?

“Early on, and even post–Elektra: Assassin—as on my stint on The Shadow—I was told, ‘You can’t do that … or that … or that … or certainly not THAT in comics; it’s just not how they’re done. People won’t understand it.

That’s NOT COMICS!’ “The problem was, and still is, that I never, ever felt those reasons were valid ones, nor did they make any sense to me at all. Comics were perceived as an afterthought, a medium for children or emotionally stunted young males, which to some extent was accurate for many years. But Frank and I both hated that perception, we both respected comics as a total art form, capable of wonderful transformative things. Nothing was off limits and we were out to show what was possible, to express our love of the medium … and to succeed or to fail on our own terms. Not on anyone else’s.”

Portrait of an Assassin 2013 watercolor illo by Bill, from Heritage.

For more on Sienkiewicz, see Draw! #33, shipping this fall from TwoMorrows.

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At a young age CHRISTOPHER LAROCHELLE discovered superheroes on the small screen in cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men. He got his first comics a short time after that and still adds to the collection today.

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“Sometime in early 1979, Marvel’s in-house counsel and V.P. of business affairs Alice Donenfeld proposed that we create a super-heroine/singer character,” wrote Jim Shooter on his blog JimShooter.com (www.jimshooter.com/2011/07/debutof-dazzler.html). “She was hoping to set up a joint venture with a record company—we’d produce comics featuring the character and they’d produce and market music using studio musicians, as was done with the Archies.”

That record company was Casablanca and the character was the Disco Dazzler, Alison Blaire! Disco was huge at the time, so it made sense that Marvel would go in the direction of something already big in popular culture. During the development, the Disco part of her name was dropped.

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Roger Ash

Popular artist John Romita, Jr. was assigned the task of designing the Dazzler. “They asked me to pick something that would be fashionable,” Romita, Jr. told interviewer Alex Dueben at Comic Book Resources (www.comicbook-resources.com/?page=article&id=51427). “Back at the time, going to nightclubs, women were wearing clothes that left nothing to the imagination.

Skintight outfits—it was easy enough to draw and design a costume or a character like that … roller skates and skin-tight outfits and makeup.”

Writer Tom DeFalco was brought in to help develop the character. “I was brought in and I think they showed me an image and they said, ‘Okay, you just have to develop it as a comic book,’ ” recalls DeFalco to BACK ISSUE. “I said, ‘Okay.’ I was paired with a woman by the name of Roberta Mackenzie.

I remember the first meeting. I said, tom defalco ‘What are Dazzler’s powers?’ They said, © Luigi Novi/Wikimedia Commons.

‘She has the power to make people tell the truth.’ And I said, ‘Tell the truth? That’s not very interesting for a comic book.’ Somebody said, ‘Well, what do you think her power should be?’ I said ‘Her name’s Dazzler.

It should have something to do with light. Y’know, dazzling people.’ Everybody sat around for a second and said ‘Yeah.

That might be more visual. Why don’t you go in that direction.’ I said, ‘Okay! Terrific!’ I remember starting to walk out of the office with Roberta and somebody said to me, ‘Oh, by the way. She may be black.’ I said, ‘That’s gonna really affect how we develop this character. So as soon as you know, let us know.’ Roberta and I went back to work on it.

I don’t remember why, but at some point Roberta had to drop out of the development. The way her powers worked, changing sound into light, I know that was mine. The origin story that appeared in the comic books was mine.”

Shooter related on his blog that Neil Bogart of Casablanca Record and Filmworks also wanted to do an animated special and Shooter wrote the pitch for it.

It was so big that it was more suited to a film. However, the project never happened.

All That Glitters Marvel’s singing superhero skates into her own series. Cover to Dazzler #1 (Mar. 1981)

by Bob Larkin.

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According to DeFalco, “I know that at one point the movie people made a deal with John Derek and Bo Derek to do the movie. There was a treatment done with the idea of Bo Derek being the Dazzler. They went back to the original premise that her powers were to make people tell the truth. This was going to be the movie that John Derek did right after Tarzan, the Ape Man. After that movie came out, there was no more talk of John and Bo Derek or a Dazzler movie.”

So we never got an album or a movie, but what about the comic? According to DeFalco, that got off to a rough start as well.

“The first appearance of Dazzler was supposed to be in a Marvel Super Special. We did the first issue. The Marvel Super Specials weren’t selling that well or whatever and they ended up putting it in a drawer for a couple of years.”

Dazzler finally made her comic-book debut in Uncanny X-Men #130 (Feb. 1980) by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin. Cyclops, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler go to find a mutant that Cerebro has discovered in New York. In an underground disco, they find Dazzler who can dazzle opponents with light. Things

You Light Up My Life (top left) Courtesy of John Romita, Jr. a Grace Jones-looking Dazzler, with the X-Men, from 1979. (bottom right) Dazzler’s debut in X-Men #130 (Feb. 1980). Cover by John Romita, Jr. (bottom left) Dazzler cuts loose on page 14 of that issue. Original John Byrne/Terry Austin art courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com).

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get off to a crazy start as she helps them in a battle against armored goons from the Hellfire Club. In the following issue, she helps to rescue the rest of the X-Men and Kitty Pryde, who are being held by the White Queen and more Hellfire Club goons in Chicago. Professor X offers Dazzler a place with the X-Men, but she declines.

Dazzler next appears in Amazing Spider-Man #203 (Apr. 1980), by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard. In this outing, Spider-Man foe Lightmaster kidnaps Dazzler as her powers would give him an unlimited source of power.

He even takes control of her body and tries to kill Spidey!

But Dazzler was not to be without her own book for long. “At a certain point they decided that, ‘Hey, we’ve got this 38-page [Dazzler] story. We should publish it,’ ” says DeFalco. “They read it over and said, ‘This is not bad. This is actually pretty good. We should do this as a monthly comic book.’ The original plan was just to split it into two.

I remember looking at it and saying, ‘Wait a minute.

There isn’t a good cliffhanger.’ So we did some juggling.”

DAZZLER, THE COMIC BOOK And not only did she get her own book, but Dazzler #1 (Mar. 1981) made history as the first Marvel title to be Direct Sales only.

Shooter shared on his blog he wanted to test doing a Direct Sales-only book, and he suggested Dazzler #1.

However, doing that caused a different kind of concern for DeFalco: “I remember that on the first page of the second issue I have this shot of the Dazzler looking in a mirror and recapping everything that happened the issue before. There are like, ten million words on that page, trying to get the readers up to date. In those days, there weren’t as many comic-book stores. At least three quarters of the audience are never going to get to a comic-book store and see the first issue, so we really gotta recap. I probably went way overboard.”

Dazzler #1 and 2 are by Tom DeFalco, John Romita, Jr., and Alfredo Alcala, with some uncredited art by Walter Simonson in the second issue. Dazzler started out strong, facing off against the Enchantress, and guest-stars included the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. Why so many heavy hitters? According to original editor Louise [Jones] Simonson, “As I remember, because Shooter had a hand in its creation, he wanted it to be noticed and do well.”

The story includes Dazzler’s origin. Alison Blaire was raised by her no-nonsense father, Carter, who’s a respected judge, and her grandmother, Bella Blaire. Why her mother isn’t in the picture isn’t revealed yet. Alison wants to be an incredible power. This portal will open entertainer but her father wants her to in a disco. The Enchantress casts a spell follow in his footsteps. Her powers first so the singer who is to perform the manifest themselves at a high school night the portal opens to become ill, dance while she is singing. Suddenly, a causing the owner to advertise for a gang called the Blazing Lords bursts in, new singer. The Enchantress arrives smashing up things and people. in human form, confident she will Alison uses her new power to stop them, become the new songstress. but the experience frightens her and she Unfortunately for the Enchantress, vows to never use her powers again. the Dazzler shows up at the audition, She continues performing, but too, thanks to a friendly heads up from also enters a pre-law program. Upon louise simonson the Beast. They both perform for the graduation she decides what she really owner and the Dazzler wins, earning © Killiondude/Wikimedia Commons. wants to do is sing. This is more than the enmity of the Enchantress. her father can take and he cuts her out of his life until she On the night of the performance, many of Dazzler’s changes her mind. And that’s how she ends up in New superhero friends, dressed to the nines, arrive to hear York City, pursuing her dream. She uses her mutant powers her perform. Unfortunately, the Enchantress and her onstage for a personal light show. If anyone asks about it, minions arrive, too, leading to a slobber knocker of a battle she just says it’s a trade secret and lets it go at that. between them, the Dazzler, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Meanwhile, the Enchantress learns that the cosmic the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. Dazzler manages to axis is about to shift and a portal will open into another stop a mystical beast who tries to enter our dimension dimension of sorcerous energies that will give her when the portal opens and thwarts the Enchantress’ plans.

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Colorful Comeback Dazzler drops by, in Amazing Spider-Man #203 (Apr. 1980).

Cover by Frank Miller and Jim Mooney.

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One of the people saved by Dazzler’s actions and guys. How they treat Alison at times would be considered impressed with her performance suggests that Alison go harassment or worse today. It’s stunning how much attisee a producer named Harry S. Osgood. She does, and tudes have changed since the comic was first published.

Issues #3–4 (May–June 1981) features Dazzler’s after some impeccable references from her superhero encounter with Dr. Doom and also is the final issue with friends, he decides to sign her.

Harry is a fun, larger-than-life character who is interior art by Romita, Jr. Alan Kupperberg provides art always promoting and tends to speak in alliteration. for part of the issue as well. At this point in the Marvel Universe, Doom has been ousted as the ruler of If that description sounds a bit familiar, it should, Latveria. The current Latverian ambassador to as DeFalco says Harry was based on Stan Lee. the UN has arranged an exhibit of the “Jewels “None of us stand by ourselves,” says of Doom” at the UN. While most of the DeFalco. “We are surrounded by family and jewels don’t concern him, one is a Merlin friends. When I do a [series] bible, I think Stone, one of a group of stones of great about the supporting cast. And the suppower that Doom sent the Fantastic porting cast is just as important as the Four after way back in Fantastic Four #5. main character; sometimes more imporSo, of course, Doom wants it. tant. These days you hear the term Dazzler is present at the UN, as ‘world building’ a lot. I believe in that. she’s performing in a benefit concert.

You have to build a world around your She manages to stop a group of robbers character. And make sure that that world trying to steal the jewels and runs into is peopled by a lot of fascinating people Doom, who ends up taking both the and people that we can care about.”

Merlin Stone and her. Why does he Another of those supporting john romita, jr. want her? He intends to send her characters is introduced in issue #3 with © Pinguino/Wikimedia Commons. after another Merlin Stone that’s in Harry’s field rep, Lance Steele. Lance, a different dimension. But this is no ordinary reality— to use the parlance of the time, was a macho man. He is it is the realm of Nightmare. Dazzler faces a mirror very hunky, has an unrequited crush on Harry’s secretary, and is a bit of a slave driver when it comes to rehearsals version of herself before gaining the Merlin Stone and concerts. He cares about his job and Harry’s from Nightmare.

Back in our dimension, Dazzler destroys both of investment, but he also comes to be a friend to Alison.

A quick note before we go on about the men who the Merlin Stones to keep Doom from achieving his appear in Dazzler. Reading it today, many may well be nefarious goals. This angers Doom, who brings down shocked at their behavior, including that of the good the ceiling on her. She is saved at the last moment by

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Sing a Song (left) Disco fever puts the Enchantress and Alison at odds on this sparkling cover of Dazzler #2 (Apr. 1981).

Cover by Romita, Jr. and Al Milgrom. (right) Marvel’s mightiest get down for a Dazzler floorshow—with Tony “Strobe” Stark providing the lights.

Original art page from issue #2 from the DeFalco/Romita, Jr./Alfredo Alcala team, courtesy of Heritage.

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the Human Torch (this is a Dr. Doom story, so of course the Fantastic Four are involved).

Dazzler started off facing the Enchantress, Dr. Doom, and Nightmare, with more heavy hitters on the way.

Why did DeFalco start her against so many top villains right away? “Initially, her powers were not that significant, so I thought, put her in a situation where she’s constantly fighting for her survival, which is what any artist is doing,” he replies. “You’re going out there, the odds are totally against you, and you’re constantly fighting for your survival.

She didn’t really defeat anybody in my issues, but I thought her surviving is good enough. I remember reading somebody saying, ‘How is Dazzler defeating Doom?’

She didn’t defeat anybody! What are you talking about?

She managed to get through it with her skin intact.”

A ROMANCE COMIC WITH SUPERHEROES Issue #4 introduces the artist who would draw most of the issues of Dazzler, Frank Springer. What was DeFalco’s relation with Springer like? “Frank was a real gentleman and a total professional but he and I wanted to go in different ways,” DeFalco replies. “I would work out what I thought were these clever bits of business and Frank would say, ‘Yeah, but that’s kinda hard to draw. I think it would be easier for me just to do this.’ I used to say, ‘But we’re not here to make it easy for ourselves.’ Frank and I butted heads a bit. He was the more experienced guy. I probably should have listened to him.”

Springer’s art style is different from what you usually see in a superhero comic. His artwork has the feel of a romance comic, and the personal moments in the issues are where his work really shines. This made the book often feel like a romance book with superheroes. Was that part of DeFalco’s plan?

“I think part of the reason I was given it was because of my Archie background,” he says. “I worked on Archie comics and had done some romance comics. I was trying to bridge the gap between superhero and romance comics. I was hoping we weren’t going to do a bad girl comic book; that we were going to do a positive role model comic book. I don’t know if we achieved that.

It’s up to the readers to decide if I succeeded.”

While Johnny Storm was mooning over Dazzler in the first few issues, the first real romantic interest made his debut in issue #5 with Dr. Paul Janson, the doctor who is treating Dazzler after her run in with Doom. This is a very touching issue and introduces a new hero, the Blue Shield.

He is Joey Cartelli, whose father was killed by gangsters.

Much to his mother’s chagrin, he joined up with those same gangsters as he got older. What she doesn’t know is that he is working to take them down from within.

And with some help with the Dazzler, that’s just what he does, leading to a touching mother/son reunion.

Issues #6–7 (Aug.–Sept. 1981) pit the Dazzler against the Hulk. Issue #6 also introduces us to Dazzler’s band: Hunch on bass, Marx on guitar, and Beefer on drums.

The band gets a gig at a university where Bruce Banner is trying to get a job so he can gain access to their top-secret genetic research.

Alison encounters her first example of anti-mutant hysteria as she saves some people on a subway platform from a group of muggers, but is somehow seen as the real threat. She is also tailed by a mysterious man in the shadows … but more on him later.

Banner tries to break into the lab where the research is being conducted but is caught and turns into the Hulk. His rampage leads him right to Dazzler’s concert, where she tries to keep him occupied as the audience escapes. She uses her powers in a novel new way by creating a tank out of light to distract the Hulk.

She battles the Hulk all across campus and is joined in part of it by the military. She finally manages to defeat

him by talking him down and forcing his change back into Banner. But there are ominous things afoot as a mysterious man has hired Spider-Man villains the Enforcers—Montana, Ox, and Fancy Dan—to take out Harry S. Osgood.

Issue #6 marked an important change as it was the final issue written by DeFalco, though he would provide story ideas or plots through issue #11. “Around that time Jim Shooter was reorganizing the editorial department,” says DeFalco. “He asked me if I could come on staff for a few months to help out. I think I was only supposed to be on staff for six months and it became closer to 20 years.

There was just not enough time in the day. I had to give up things. I was writing Dazzler, Marvel Team-Up, and Marvel Two-in-One. I realized I was going to have to give up two of those books. My favorite character was the Thing, so I had to stick with [MTIO].”

DeFalco has fond memories of Dazzler. “When I developed her, I ended up having a character that I had a lot of sympathy for and really cared about. Alison was a warm person who had some rough times and some rough situations and had triumphed over them. She was determined to accomplish her dreams. As a writer, my

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Victor/Victorious Marvel’s megavillain, Dr. Doom, dropped by to cause trouble in Dazzler #4 (June 1981), the first issue to feature art by Frank Springer, who also drew this cover.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Gamma Gamma Hey! Big, green cousins hassle our disco do-gooder! (left) Cover to Dazzler #6 (Aug. 1981), with the Hulk, by Bob Layton. (right) Cover to issue #14 (Apr. 1982), with She-Hulk, by Frank Springer and Vince Colletta.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

her greater power than she has ever had before. She blasts her way out and escapes, but her use of power does not go unnoticed.

This amount of power may be just what Galactus needs. You read that right—Galactus! In issues #10 and 11, Galactus sends Dazzler to bring back his current herald, Terrax. Terrax has betrayed Galactus and has hidden himself away in a black hole rather than face Galactus’ judgment.

A DAZZLING NEW WRITER After a huge battle, Dazzler manages to knock out Terrax and bring him Scripting the stories was Danny Fingeroth, who had started as assistant back to Galactus and she is returned to Earth. However, she was gone editor on issue #3. Jim Shooter stepped in as editor when Fingeroth a long time between this and her time at Pegasus, missing band gigs and made the jump to writer. “All the stories were done ‘Marvel style,’ causing much concern amongst her friends and family. Even her meaning they were plotted, then penciled, and then the father breaks down and goes to check on her. dialogue was written,” Fingeroth says. “The ones that This story would soon yield a story of a different sort say ‘plotted by’ Tom DeFalco were fully plotted by him. in What If? #33 (June 1982), when Dazzler becomes a The ones that say, ‘from an idea by’ Tom were from herald of Galactus in a story by Fingeroth with art by sketchier outlines he had written but had not fleshed Mike Vosburg and John D’agostino. In this version, out into plots. That was left to me to do. In all those instead of showing mercy to Terrax, Galactus banishes stories, I wrote the dialogue and captions.” him and makes Dazzler his new herald, a task she Issue #8 was the first to feature a cover by Bill fulfills quite well.

Sienkiewicz, who would go on to provide some “That was a blast!” says Fingeroth. “I always liked memorable covers for the series. Inside, it’s revealed writing What If? stories, and thought I was pretty that the mystery man who hired the Enforcers is clever with the idea of her alien adversaries using Techmaster, a former client of Harry’s who was in a Terrax’s axe to power a weapon against her. Plus, horrible accident that scarred his face and caused his Mike Vosburg did a great job with the art.” hands to be amputated. He blames Harry for the frank springer When asked about Dazzler facing foes the likes accident and is out to destroy him like Harry has of Klaw and Galactus, as well as meeting Quasar © 1975 Marvel. destroyed his life. Harry is kidnapped by the Enforcers, and other heroes, Fingeroth replies, “It was fun, but but Dazzler is able to save him. However, she has to reveal her powers to beyond that the point was to establish her as a credible part of the Harry to do that. He is grateful and agrees to keep what he has learned a Marvel Universe who was treated seriously by her superhero peers.” secret. This issue also introduces Vince Colletta as inker, who would ink Issue #12 (Feb. 1982) is the first written by Fingeroth that was not Springer’s work for most of the rest of his run on the book. We also learn based on a DeFalco plot or story idea, and features the return of that the man who’s been trailer Alison since issue #6 is Mr. Meeker.

Techmaster. Things are not going great for Alison. After missing band gigs, Who is Mr. Meeker? In issue #9, we discover that he works for she’s relegated to singing for the opening of a fast-food restaurant, Project Pegasus. The scientists there want to study Alison’s powers. delivering singing telegrams, and the like. If that wasn’t bad enough, a date Since Project Pegasus is involved, so is the heroic Quasar. However, aside with Paul where she meets his parents goes disastrously wrong. And to top from Quasar, she is treated pretty horribly by the people at Project it off, she’s tricked by Techmaster and locked in a room in a factory where Pegasus, making it fairly easy for the villainous Klaw to manipulate her he intends to kill Harry. Things don’t go according to plan and Dazzler frees into releasing him. She realizes her mistake too late, and in an epic battle, Harry again, but Techmaster slips and nearly falls to his death. Harry saves she actually absorbs Klaw since he is made of sound. Doing this gives him and Techmaster calls them even and walks off into the night. dream was always to write and be able to tell stories. I had a dream like she had a dream and I put a lot of myself into the character. I tried to craft a character that I would care about, which is my modus operandi.

I always try to do characters that I enjoy spending time with and hope that the readers would enjoy spending time with.”

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LADIES’ NIGHT Things continue to go downhill for Alison in issue #13. She finds an old brooch of a heart with wings that used to belong to her mother. When her father sees it, he reacts badly, making his relationship with Alison even worse. Paul breaks up with her. To top it all off, she is arrested for the murder of Klaw. While in prison awaiting trial, she tangles with the Grapplers—Titania, Poundcakes, Leetha, and Screaming Mimi—who initially appeared in Marvel Two-in-One. She manages to defeat them and, with the help of lawyer Ken Barnett, she wins the court case.

Things start to look up for Dazzler when she and her band are hired to open for Bruce Harris on his latest tour and Ken Barnett sends her flowers on opening night in Los Angeles. Things take a turn when she spots a sniper in the audience. It turns out that he was hired to kill Joey Cartelli (a.k.a. the Blue Shield) by a local mob boss. The mobster decides that Lance must be the Blue Shield and has both him and Alison kidnapped to face his secret weapon, a mindcontrolled She-Hulk! The real Blue Shield shows up to help and Dazzler manages to snap the She-Hulk back to herself, who helps Dazzler get back in time for the next show.

The tour moves to San Francisco in issue #15, where Dazzler sees a van with the winged heart symbol on it. She decides to hire local private investigator Jessica Drew to see if this somehow connects to her mother. While Jessica searches for clues in her secret identity of SpiderWoman, Dazzler continues to follow her own leads.

They both end up in the Transamerica Building, where they face all manner of deathtraps. They learn what they’ve stumbled upon is an old S.H.I.E.L.D. training area and has nothing to do with her mother. Meanwhile, the tour is going well—a little too well—as Bruce Harris is jealous of the popularity of his opening act.

The Enchantress returns to exact her revenge on Dazzler in issue #16. It’s the final night of the tour for Dazzler and the band as Harris has fired them for upstaging him. Ken flies out to Seattle to see the show. On their flight home, Dazzler steps into the restroom and finds herself in the Enchantress’ palace in Asgard! Heimdall, realizing that something is wrong, sends a message to Odin who dispatches the Warriors Three to find out what’s going on. They bring the Enchantress and Dazzler back where the Vizier declares that the women must settle their differences in a trial by combat.

A viscous fight rages until Odin appears and stops it. Once he is apprised of the situation he turns the battle into a singing contest since that is how Dazzler originally defeated the Enchantress. Odin declares Dazzler the winner and sends her back to Earth. She meets

a frazzled Ken by baggage claim as Alison seemingly disappeared from the plane.

Ken would soon become more frazzled as another suitor for Dazzler arrived in issue #17, Warren Worthington III, the high-flying Angel!

Why did Fingeroth bring him into the series? “He was a member of the popular X-Men, which I hoped would bring readers to the series, and seemed to have enough spare time for a love life. “ Alison is hired singing backup, ironically, for the new Bruce Harris album. There, she meet fellow singer Vanessa Tooks, who will become a friend and a very important part of Alison’s story. Warren appears and asks out Alison, but he won’t take no for an answer and bothers her throughout the evening; both on her date with Ken and after. Things kick into gear when Dr. Octopus escapes from a prison van and Dazzler and Angel help to recapture him. All this leaves Alison wondering about the possibilities of dating a hero. Warren also learns about the search for her mother and decides to try to help in his own.

THE VOICE The next two issues feature an arc that Fingeroth enjoyed as Dazzler teams up with the leader of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, to face the Absorbing Man! The Absorbing Man travels to New York City with the intent of using the Dazzler in his war against the Avengers. What he doesn’t know is that the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards has given Dazzler a new tape player that will help maximize her powers.

Unfortunately, when Dazzler uses her powers against the Absorbing Man, he becomes a massively powerful being of light.

Meanwhile, Vanessa tells Alison that she has found a great new voice teacher.

While it may not seem like it now, this is very important.

Dazzler realizes she needs help fighting the Absorbing Man and heads to the Baxter Building to find the FF. They aren’t home, but in her poking around she finds a way to communicate with the Inhumans, and Lockjaw brings Black Bolt to help her. Things aren’t going their way until Black Bolt devises a plan. The muteby-choice Inhuman speaks and Dazzler absorbs his voice, becoming ultrapowerful and able to

Fab Four Three Alison jams with Ben and Johnny on this wonky splash to Dazzler #18 (Aug. 1982). Story by Fingeroth, art by Springer and Colletta. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Outside Gigs Dazzler scribe Danny Fingeroth borrowed from outside sources for the character names Doctor Sax and Johnny Guitar.

Movie poster courtesy of Heritage.

Doctor Sax © Jack Kerouac estate.

Johnny Guitar © Republic Pictures.

Comic panels © Marvel.

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Barbara reveals to Vanessa that she and Nick had a overload the Absorbing Man. Meanwhile, things are about to get messy in Alison’s personal life as her father daughter, so Alison has a half-sister. She left Nick when seems to be losing his grip on reality and we meet he became violent and started to beat her. Even though Vanessa’s voice teacher, Barbara London, for the first time. Barbara never revealed herself to Alison, she has kept up Why is Barbara important? We find out in issue with Alison’s career as Dazzler.

A sleazy promoter approaches Harry with an offer to #20 that she is Alison’s mother! But that’s not the only revelation in this issue. Her brooch snaps open, revealing have Dazzler perform at a benefit at Carnegie Hall and photos of two men: one is Alison’s father, but we have invite all her superhero friends to attend to raise money for charity. The night of the concert, a who’s who of no idea who the other is.

And after 20 issues, Dazzler finally faces musical Marvel superheroes arrive, as does her father and mother. villains. At a party at Hunch’s house, Doctor Sax and Alison finally gets to see her mother for the first time since Johnny Guitar break in. “Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax she was a little girl. It is a nice moment, and her relationwere named for, respectively, a Nicholas Ray movie and ship with her father is looking up for the first time in ages.

Aside from the superheroics, Dazzler has become a Jack Kerouac novel,” says Fingeroth. They were both former band mates of Hunch, Marx, and Beefer until quite a family drama. Why did Fingeroth feel that was important to the series? “For me, the appeal of superthey were caught trying to rob a club manager’s hero comics has always been the human-interest office. In the ensuing scuffle, Doctor Sax is elements as much or more as the action, blinded by an acetylene torch, and they and the character had a built-in conflict both went to prison. However, on their between wanting to be a performer and release, Techmaster set them up with her father wanting her to be a lawyer,” new instruments. Doctor Sax can he replies. “It would have been strange control moods with his saxophone, to me to not have her interpersonal and Johnny’s guitar can cause damage conflicts be part of the stories.” just by striking a chord. Dazzler is able Superhero action returns in full to save her friends, but not without force with the next issue as Dazzler revealing her powers. Her friends and Angel face fellow mutants Mystique, don’t care, though, and keep her Destiny, and Rogue (remember, she powers a secret. started as a villain), as part of their Issue #21 (Nov. 1982) is a big one— revenge on the X-Men. On a personal both literally and figuratively. It is an danny fingeroth level, Dazzler cuts her first single and extra-sized issue and finally reveals meets her half-sister, Lois London. the story of Alison’s mother and Issue #23 (Jan. 1983) opens with Alison awakening to father. Like Alison, her mother Barbara was also a singer.

She supported Carter through law school. He assumed smoke. Her building is on fire. But it is not an ordinary she’s quit performing once Alison was born, which fire—it has been set by a hired arsonist, Flame, and he is caused tension between them. Barbara fell for another very angry that Dazzler thwarted his plans. But who hired musician, Nick Brown (the other photo in the brooch). him, and why? After this and her encounter with Rogue, She ended up leaving Alison with her father and slipping Mystique, and Destiny, Angel suggests that Dazzler needs into a life of drugs and drink with Nick. That is why her some protection. So she calls Heroes for Hire’s Power Man father hates musicians so much and wanted Alison to and Iron Fist to protect her. And it’s a good thing, as her recording studio is set alight. Later, she learns that her become anything but.

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landlord hired Flame to burn the building for an insurance scam. With Power Man and Iron Fist, Dazzler takes down Flame, but she keeps them around and it’s good that she does, as Rogue is still stinging from defeat by Dazzler.

Rogue is out for revenge in the next issue. She battles Dazzler, Power Man, and Iron Fist all across New York in a knockdown, drag-out fight. She finally stops when she learns that she can no longer have her revenge against the X-Men as they’ve been killed in space (or so people believed at the time). And more troubling for Alison is that her sister Lois is having mysterious fainting spells.

Things shift in issue #25 (Mar. 1983), a one-off by Steven Grant, Mark Bright, and Danny Bulandi. Dazzler faces a disturbed fan who becomes murderous when she turns down his advances.

Issue #26 is Danny Fingeroth’s final issue and begins to delve into the backstory of her sister, Lois. On her way home from one of Dazzler’s concerts, Lois is attacked. While defending herself, her hand begins to glow and smoke.

When she touches he attacker, he dies! Could she be a mutant, too? Alison decides they should get out of town. It’s a good thing, too, as Peter Gyrich, head of the mutant-hunting Project Wideawake, takes note of Lois’ handiwork and sends men to check it out. But things don’t go well as Lois’ power manifests itself again when she accidentally kills a cat. They continue to run.

Fingeroth looks back on his time on Dazzler fondly: “It was my first regular series, so I was getting paid to write superhero adventures set in the mainstream Marvel Universe. That was pretty cool. I didn’t start out with much interest in the character, but you almost always become attached to characters you work on, and that’s what happened to me with Dazzler. Also, since a lot of readers and professionals didn’t take her seriously, it was a challenge to make her interesting and her stories compelling.”

LOTS OF CHANGES Frank Springer wrote and penciled the next two issues and immediately, Dazzler is battling Rogue again. Or is she? The whole sequence turns out to be Lois’ nightmare as they continue to flee westward on a bus. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when they receive a package containing photos of Lois killing the man who attacked her. It turns out to be a blackmail scheme to get her to kill someone in L.A., that someone being Lois’ father, Nick Brown! But with the help of Angel, the blackmailer is stopped.

Things start to look up for Dazzler as Ken flies out to be with her, her single hits the airwaves, and Nick Brown promises to introduce her the famous singer/actor Roman Nekoboh. But things can’t keep going well as Rogue shows up, this time for real, and the two trade blows for most of the issue with Dazzler emerging victorious.

Jim Shooter joins Springer on issue #29, as Alison and Lois enjoy the high life in Los Angeles thanks to Nick Brown. Alison also finally meets Roman Nekoboh, an older, lecherous performer who keeps his good looks with a girdle, toupee, contacts, and false teeth. Somehow, he still makes women swoon. He puts the moves on Alison, which she rebuffs. When they are up in his private plane, another plane attacks them. Alison uses her powers to defeat it, but the pilot is unconscious and she has no idea how to fly the aircraft!

In issue #30 (Jan. 1984), written by Ken McDonald, Alison gets them all to safety using parachutes stowed on the plane. Nick is disappointed that Alison didn’t use the situation to get press for herself. She’s shocked and says so, but Lois has overheard the whole thing and agrees with her father. Alison is stunned and leaves. And just like that, Nick and Lois are gone from the story. There is no explanation of Lois’ powers.

That storyline disappears. Years later, Lois would emerge as the mutant Mortis.

After Alison leaves, things get really weird. This issue was part of the “Assistant Editors’ Month” stunt, where the assistant editors took over the titles they worked on while the editors were out of town at the San Diego Comic-Con. So, who picks up a hitchhiking Alison Blaire on his way to San Diego? Why, editor Ralph Macchio, of course! Meanwhile, we learn that it was a military operation that tried to shoot down Nekoboh’s plane in an attempt to get Alison, as she’s a suspected mutant. Back at the Marvel Bullpen, assistant editors including Mike Carlin, Ann Nocenti, and Dazzler’s own Bob Harras discuss what to do now that their bosses are away. Harras lets the power go to his head and starts to take over. There’s even a brief cameo by artist Frank Springer.

Sienkiewicz Covers Two of Bill Sienkiewicz’s stylish Dazzler covers: (top) issue #27 (July 1983), and (bottom) #30 (Jan. 1984), featuring Dazzler editor Ralph Macchio. (background) Alison vs. Rogue on #22’s cover by Frank Springer and Dave Simons.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Off the Wall (top) Sienkiewicz’s zombie-licious cover to Dazzler #33 (Aug. 1984), inspired by (bottom left) Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking Thriller video. (right) Title page to Dazzler #34 (Oct. 1984), featuring the art of penciler Geof Isherwood.

Dazzler TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Thriller © MJJ Music.

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it is still mentioned at times, her acting and aerobics Meanwhile, at the San Diego Comic-Con, the military arrives with a machine that makes mutants’ powers go teaching move to the forefront.

Alison and Bill head to his beachfront home, berserk. When it’s turned on, things look bad for but things are not well. There is a massive Alison until one of the soldiers is revealed as storm and a tidal wave caused by an a mutant by turning into a giant, purple underwater earthquake is headed for the lizard-beast. Dazzler manages to stop coast. Alison uses her powers to stop it him and Ralph puts down the mutiny and she and Bill both emerge safely. back home when he calls Bob. All in Also with issue #31, Dazzler quietly all, a very fun issue. moved from monthly to bimonthly Jim Shooter writes issue #31, as publishing—never a good sign for the Dazzler tries to make it in the movies. health of a comic.

She also gets a new apartment and a Mike Carlin joins the ranks of new love interest in stuntman Bill Dazzler writers with issue #32, which Remington. She even gets a job as an he co-plots with Shooter. It features aerobics instructor. With all this good, pencils by Mark Bright. Lockjaw and you know some bad is coming. She Medusa arrive during one of Alison’s gets a call from Harry Osgood, who’s geof isherwood aerobics classes, asking for help. Since stepping down as her manager as she they helped Alison with Absorbing really needs someone L.A.-based. This is effectively the last appearance of any of the New York Man, it’s time for her to return the favor. A black blob is supporting cast including Lance, Dazzler’s band, and moving toward the Inhumans’ city of Attilan in the Ken. This also pretty much ends her music career. While Blue Area of the Moon. They’ve had no luck stopping it •

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and hope her powers can shed some light on the subject.

It turns out that the blob holds the villains Moonstone and Blackout who’ve recently escaped from Project Pegasus. With Dazzler’s help, they are easily defeated.

In #33 (Aug. 1984), Dazzler gets a job as a dancer on the new Teddy Lingard video, a pastiche of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” The director has made a name for himself by having mishaps happen on his sets that, unknown to everyone, he has engineered himself. Alison is the target of his latest mishap, but she survives and the director is taken down.

A couple of classic Marvel characters return in issue #33.

Runway models are mysteriously disappearing and Millie’s Models is on the lookout for new talent. Alison tries to break into modeling and is hired by Millie the Model herself!

Millie’s rival Chili Storm is also along for the ride. Alison, Millie, and Chili are captured, and the culprit turns out to be a disgruntled fashion designer. With Dazzler’s help, all the models escape and take their revenge on the designer.

This issue was drawn by Geof Isherwood, who recalls, “I was rather surprised to be asked to draw The Dazzler.

This was not a comic I usually read, but the stories turned out to be quite fun. I was old enough to know Millie the Model as a character from when I was young, but had not read any of her comics. I was also not sure if my drawing of women was really up to it, but that was the job, so I did what I could.

And Vinnie Colletta was brought on to ink because he had a knack for drawing females well, at least for the first issue I drew. Besides that, my main memory would be having to get a bunch of fashion mags as reference and mostly trying to make sure Dazzler looked good enough.

Also, having Bill Sienkiewicz paint the first cover was a real treat to see!”

Alison is set on making a movie that can help human/ mutant relations. The film is good, though no one will ever see it. Beale has been pulling Nekoboh’s strings all along.

The only copy of the film left is in Beale’s office. He tells Alison he will distribute the film if she signs a contract with him. She refuses, destroys the film, and leaves.

At roughly the same time, Dazzler was co-starring in the four-issue miniseries Beauty and the Beast (Dec. 1984– June 1985), by Ann Nocenti, Don Perlin, and Kim DeMulder. The Beast in question is Hank McCoy, former X-Man and current Defender. When asked about how this series came about, Nocenti replies, “I’m pretty sure that there was always talk around the offices of wanting to get more female readers. You’d go to conventions and it would be all male, and no one could figure out why girls weren’t reading comics. We tried some stuff, like, I worked with Trina Robbins on something called Misty. Louise Simonson did Power Pack. I think it was the idea of, ‘Why don’t we do a romance comic and see if we can get girl readers?’ ”

A Star is Born Bill Sienkiewicz’s cover rough for Marvel Graphic Novel #12, a.k.a. Dazzler the Movie, courtesy of Heritage. The finished, published version is in the inset.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A MOVIE AND A BEAST We need to step away from Dazzler’s series for a moment, as the story actually continues in the 1984 Dazzler the Movie graphic novel (officially, Marvel Graphic Novel #12) by Shooter, Springer, and Colletta. After one of her aerobics classes, a man named Eric Beale approaches Alison and asks her out. She declines, saying it’s company policy that instructors can’t date students.

But Beale is no ordinary man. He buys the gym to change the policy. She still refuses him because he’s a boor.

A few days later, she is startled to find reporters asking her about the fact that Roman Nekoboh has announced that they’re making a movie together.

This surprises Alison, as she’s heard nothing about it.

She finds Roman waiting for her back at her apartment.

He attempts to force himself on her, but she stops him and throws him out.

But Roman will not take no for an answer as far as the movie goes (he needs the money), so she reluctantly agrees. As they attempt to find the right film, they surprisingly grow closer and become a couple. The big problem with the movie is, no one wants to back it since Dazzler was seen with the X-Men—she could be a mutant, which would hurt revenue. A backer is eventually found in one Eric Beale.

One day, without warning, there is a headline in the paper saying that Alison is a mutant. Nekoboh is behind the news leak; he attempts to play it off as publicity for the film. He wants her to demonstrate her powers live to show people there is no need to fear her. However, instead of allaying people fears, her powers only make them frightened, and things get worse with anti-mutant hysteria dogging the film.

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Odd Couple An alternate, unpublished version of the cover for Beauty and the Beast #1, the miniseries hooking up Dazzler with the hairiest of X-Avengers. Original Don Perlin/ Kim DeMulder art courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

During their time at Heartbreak Hotel, Beast and At a Hollywood party, Alison is trying to keep a low profile after she was revealed to be a mutant. She is Dazzler begin a romance. “It was a tough assignment, approached by a man named Alexander Flynn, who says because you’ve got this blonde airhead disco girl and a deep intellectual in Hank, and it wasn’t really a good he knows someone who is willing to cast mutants match. But I tried to make it work. That’s your and introduces her to Hugo Longride. He likes assignment. When you got an assignment, what she sees and signs Alison. What he you said, ‘Okay, how would this work? doesn’t know is that Flynn is the self-styled An intellectual and a disco queen, where son of Doom. To make matters worse, could they meet?’ This was at the her association with mutants is gaining same time as the ‘Mutant Massacre’ her some bad press. Beast, who’s on [crossover] story, so they were both vacation in L.A., runs into Alison and hated, hounded, and hunted. tries to get her out of what he sees as “I remember it was a struggle to a bad situation. She refuses to go but make that romance work,” Nocenti ends up running off as she is starting admits. “It felt kind of fake to me. It was to lose control of her powers. Beast finds like Hank losing his mind over a her at Heartbreak Hotel, a refuge for blonde or something.” mutants who don’t want to use their Things start to go wrong when powers or mutants who have odd ann nocenti Flynn shows up to get Alison to honor powers. “The initial idea of that was © Luigi Novi/Wikimedia Commons. her contract. She goes with him, but a place for mutants whose powers were completely worthless,” says Nocenti. “It was fun to soon learns she wasn’t hired to sing. Hugo runs an play with the idea that sometimes mutation gave you underground gladiatorial spectacle where the wealthy come to watch mutants battle to the death. worthless, pointless powers.”

“It was around that time that I was doing some journalistic stuff surrounding prisoners, and I think that

New Logo Alison’s book got a title makeover beginning with Dazzler #38 (July 1985)—and guest-stars Wolverine and Colossus from the top-selling X-Men nearly squeezed our heroine out of the picture! Cover by Jackson Guice.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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gladiator thing was based on something real,” says Nocenti. “There was this thing going on in prisons sometimes where prisoners would fight and guards would bet on the fights. It’s the kind of thing that can go on without the world at large knowing about it.”

Beast tries to get her out of this and ends up in a battle with Dazzler. Plus, Flynn decides to take over from Hugo and is killed in a mutiny by the mutants. Or is he?

It turns out that Hugo was a robot sent by Dr. Doom to keep an eye on his supposed son. When the feed goes blank, he decides to take a hand in the proceedings.

Some of the other mutants grow leery of Flynn as well, and discover that they are being kept in his control with drugs (which are what were causing Dazzler to lose control of her powers) and his own mutant power of manipulation. The final nail is driven into Flynn’s coffin when Doom arrives and disowns him.

Now we head back to Dazzler for issue #35 (Jan. 1985), the final issue by Shooter and Springer, as Carlin moves to editor. Alison is still trying to get a job, but her status as a mutant is making that impossible. She finally gets a job as a waitress in an all-female bar where a group of tough roller-derby ladies make life tough for her.

Issue #36 is written by Linda Grant and features Isherwood returning as penciler, as Dazzler faces Tatterdemalion, who is scaring off women hired to work in a particular lounge. We learn that it is because he is the former lover of the woman who used to sing there, someone who no one else can replace.

“The story featured a new villain, the Tatterdemalion, so I created his look, and Mike Gustovich and Joe

Rubinstein did the inking,” Isherwood recalls. “It was nice to see their work as well. I tended to pore over pages inked by others so I could learn by seeing what they did that cleaned up or corrected some of my drawing.”

A fun haunted house story by Bob DeNatale, Tom Morgan, and Danny Bulandi follows in issue #37.

A CONCRETE RELATIONSHIP Dazzler begins her last hurrah in issue #38 (July 1985), by the new creative team of Archie Goodwin, Paul Chadwick, and Jackson Guice. The difference is apparent right away, as the Dazzler logo is changed and she has a new costume.

Dazzler has morphed into a superhero book. She tries to join the X-Men, but Wolverine isn’t happy about that.

She leaves with Wolverine, promising her one final test before giving her his okay. As such, Wolverine and Colossus track her down in California for a brutal battle, which Dazzler wins, but she does not join them. This issue also introduces bounty hunter O. Z. Chase and his dog Cerberus, who will be trouble for Dazzler in the future.

Chadwick was a relative unknown at this point.

How did he come to work on Dazzler?

“It was Archie,” Paul Chadwick tells BACK ISSUE. “I’d been on his radar for a while. Some time before, in 1983, I’d submitted my first proposal for Concrete to him—as he was editing the creator-owned comics line at Marvel, Epic—along with other publishers.

“I think the next year at San Diego Comic-Con I showed him the ‘Salimba’ strip I’d drawn for Pacific Comics, written by the late Steve Perry (quite a story there), and Archie saw how I’d progressed. When Eighties

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Chadwick Dazzles Us! Courtesy of Paul Chadwick, photocopies of his pencil art for pages 10 and 11 of Dazzler #39 (July 1985).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

paul chadwick Photo by Joshin Yamada.

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Photo Finish (top) Totally ’80s reference photos courtesy of Paul Chadwick! Paul says, “I’m in the hat, illustrator Richard Hescox has the mustache, and I’ve forgotten the name of the actress I hired to model Dazzler.” (bottom) Chadwick/Guice original cover to #41, from Heritage.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Marvel decided to revamp Dazzler as more of a straight-ahead superhero, dispensing with her disco-singer roots (and costume), Archie decided to try me.

Looking back, I can’t believe what an opportunity he handed me. Breaking into Marvel with a regular gig is no small thing. When you’re young, you never appreciate your good fortune enough—you just figure, ‘This is how it goes.’

No—grinding disappointment is mostly how it goes in life!”

Not only was this Chadwick’s first work at Marvel, it was with Archie Goodwin, a man respected by professionals and fans alike. What does Chadwick recall of the experience?

“It’s funny,” he says. “Archie apologized at one point for the ‘difficulties of working with me at this point in my career.’ He was tight on deadlines a couple of times—no doubt because of his myriad other duties at Marvel. But the scripts were solidly executed and full of good ideas, creepy, weird, and emotional.

Archie was a pro. The revamped elements were mostly due to him.

“He designed Dazzler’s new costume, which today looks to me like an aerobics instructor—but how appropriate for the time! Teaming her with a bounty hunter modeled somewhat on Hulk Hogan and his pet wolf was a kind of left-field notion that nicely changed everything for the character. And the ‘New Wave’ of intentionally created super-beings, and their Scientology-like vibe, could’ve turned into something quite interesting, had Archie had more time to work with it.

“Archie did thumbnails of pages,” Chadwick says. “Fresh horse that I was, I chafed—I wanted to do razzle-dazzle layouts that outdid Steranko. But even though he gave me leave to change things, I found deviating from his layouts always undercut the storytelling. The guy just knew what he was doing.

“One time the editor passed on a compliment from Archie that made me feel warm all day. In our first issue, Colossus and Wolverine spot Dazzler from a motel balcony. Archie, in his plot, just said they gave chase (there were no thumbnails that first issue). I had Colossus grab Wolverine, turn to steel, and hop off the balcony, absorbing the shock of their landing with his body, cracking the parking lot asphalt with a ‘WROK!’ Archie liked how I solved the problem of getting them down, Mike said. I glowed like a bass drum with a light inside, in Kurt Vonnegut’s great phrase.

“When cancer took Archie a few years later the comics professional community grieved. I don’t think there was anyone else so universally loved and respected. A gentle wit, deeply knowledgeable about the craft and its history, who gave so many starting-out creators good guidance. I feel blessed that I got to work with him, even for that brief year.”

Alison’s next foe is Deathgrip, a man whose daughter has been in a catatonic state since seeing Dazzler in concert. He blames Dazzler and constructs a suit to combat her. It is an impressive fight with Dazzler coming out on top.

The battle snaps his daughter out of her catatonic state and puts him into one.

We also learn the O. Z. Chase has been assigned to bring in Alison, and he captures her after the battle.

Something that Chadwick brought to the book was a new way to draw Dazzler’s powers. How did that come about?

“This was an important question in my mind when I started the book,” Paul tells BI. “There’s nothing more visually boring than a light beam, I thought,

“I was crushed”… …says Paul Chadwick when he discovered that his spectacular cover for the final issue of Dazzler, #42 (Mar. 1986), was altered (see inset) to exploit the X-Men’s popularity. BACK ISSUE is honored to share with you Paul’s original cover art (opposite page) as it was intended to be seen, courtesy of the artist.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Forever Dazzling Dazzler, as one of Marvel’s Mighty Mutants, skirmishing with Juggernaut on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #217 (May 1987). Cover by Walter Simonson and Bob Wiacek. (inset) Alison keeps on sparkling in the Marvel Universe. Cover to X-Treme X-Men vol. 2 #2 (Oct. 2013)

by Kalman Andrasofszky.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

and I’m going to be drawing this effect over and over. The repeated shapes seemed much more interesting, graphically. It’s possible I got this from the decorative borders in the Alphonse Mucha books Ilsee and Documents Decoratifs. Or it may have come from Alien designer H. R. Giger’s replicated-shapes-in-a-line, which seem to have been inspired by spinal columns. Both were in my head and on my bookshelf at the time. I wish I had pushed it farther; it was visually pretty much the only distinguishing thing about my run on the book.”

Issue #40 (Nov. 1985) is a “Secret Wars II” crossover. At a roadside café, O. Z. is attacked by some punks looking for Dazzler. Between the two of them, they take care of their foes. But their foes have unexpected powers so defeating them is trickier than expected and is accomplished with the help of the Beyonder.

But there is even more to the punks. They were part of a former government experiment led by Dust and Silence. Dust can move from body to body, but doing so destroys his former host. Silence has psychic powers that she can use to great effect. And they want Dazzler as her light powers can ignite the powers in their followers. O. Z. feels that things are getting out of hand, so he turns Alison over—to her father … or so it seems, until he finds a body in Judge Blair’s room.

Dust has taken over his body. Dazzler and O. Z. defeat Dust and one of his followers, but Silence swears revenge.

Which brings us to issue #42 (Mar. 1986), the final issue of the series. How far was the new creative team into their run when they learned it was ending?

“Pretty far,” says Chadwick. “One or two issues from the end. It wasn’t too much of a blow. I was ready to dive into Concrete and really sell it, 26

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this time. Had my work taken off at Marvel, that might not have happened. As it was, I was asked to pencil New Mutants, but the call came the week I was getting married and going on my honeymoon, and I just couldn’t grab the opportunity.

Perhaps it’s for the best, though it’s hard to not be wistful about that. “ Alison has been captured by Silence, as has her mother. Silence uses Dazzler to help awaken the powers in her followers.

One of them turns against Silence, and as O. Z. and the Beast storm Silence’s compound, he joins them to help take down Silence.

Dazzler is killed in the raid. But she gets better. Her death was a contrivance to give Alison the opportunity to escape and start her life over.

Looking back at his work on the series, what does Chadwick think of it now?

“My work on it looks pretty weak to me today,” he confesses. “A softness in my figure drawing—a longtime problem— seemed exaggerated in the inking. And I felt a little buried under Jackson Guice’s inks. A brilliant artist on his own—I particularly like his Steranko-esque mode—he and I were an uncomfortable mix. All those angular little stroke shapes over my rounded Wally Wood forms is over-busy, to my eyes. Romeo Tanghal was probably a better stylistic fit, but the drawing seemed to get even softer. Nobody’s going to look back on this work as a high point in comic art.

“I had never had a comics cover printed at that point, and Jackson was a hotter artist, and did the first one, and inked the ones thereafter. They seemed more his work than mine. Then, for the last issue, they let me draw and ink my own. I was thrilled.

Archie suggested a simple cover of Chase holding the apparently dead Dazzler, looking up accusingly. This I did; it came out great, and I was thrilled to think I’d have a solo cover on a Marvel comic.

But someone realized, ‘Hey, we have an X-Man in this issue, and he isn’t on the cover!’ So they had Bill Sienkiewicz, in the office, trace my cover, add the Beast, and ink it in his bravura style. So when the issue arrived, I was crushed.”

But that is not the end of Dazzler’s story. Far from it. During this time, she guest-starred in titles including New Mutants and Avengers.

In Uncanny X-Men #214 (Feb. 1987), she finally accepts the X-Men’s offer to become a member. She would remain so for a number of years. Today, she’s a member of the recently formed A-Force, an all-women Avengers team. It’s hard to keep a good hero down, and Dazzler keeps flickering back.

Special thanks to Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth, Geof Isherwood, Ann Nocenti, Louise Simonson, Paul Chadwick, KC Carlson, and Paul Greer for their help with this article.

ROGER ASH lives in Wisconsin where he works for Westfield Comics and helps with the Baltimore Comic-Con. He shares his condo with his cat, Candy, and his growing collection of hats.

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AL PLASTINO: LAST SUPERMAN STANDING With a comics career dating back to 1941, including inking early issues of Captain America, AL PLASTINO was one of the last surviving penciler/inkers of his era. Laboring uncredited on SUPERMAN for two decades (1948-1968), he co-created SUPERGIRL, BRAINIAC, and the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, drawing those characters’ first appearances, and illustrating the initial comics story to feature KRYPTONITE. He was called upon to help maintain the DC Comics house-style by redrawing other artists’ Superman heads, most notoriously on JACK KIRBY’S JIMMY OLSEN series, much to his chagrin. His career even included working on classic daily and Sunday newspaper strips like NANCY, JOE PALOOKA, BATMAN, and others. With a Foreword by PAUL LEVITZ, this book (by EDDY ZENO, author of CURT SWAN: A LIFE IN COMICS) was completed just weeks before Al’s recent passing. In these pages, the artist remembers both his struggles and triumphs in the world of comics, cartooning and beyond. A near-century of insights shared by Al, his family, and contemporaries ALLEN BELLMAN, NICK CARDY, JOE GIELLA, and CARMINE INFANTINO—along with successors JON BOGDANOVE, JERRY ORDWAY, AND MARK WAID—paint a layered portrait of Plastino’s life and career. And a wealth of illustrations show just how influential a figure he is in the history of comics.

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The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972

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Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (Shock Theatre, The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Dark Shadows), “Mars Attacks” trading cards, Eerie Publications, Planet of the Apes, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”).

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Dazzler’s popularity was not quite what Marvel had hoped for. Plans for a Dazzler film, etc. never really materialized, and it wouldn’t be until the end of the decade of the 1980s that the character appeared in the all-important medium of animation.

By end of the 1980s, the X-Men had appeared sparingly in animation: once in the Sub-Mariner cartoons of Grantray-Lawrence Animation (part of The Marvel Super Heroes series), and a few times in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. However, on September 16, 1989, the X-Men finally had an animated adventure to call their own—Pryde of the X-Men—and Dazzler was there with her teammates.

Dazzler’s role in the episode is limited. Voiced

by Alexandra Stoddart, Dazzler’s backstory—like those of most of the characters—is never truly explored in the 22-minute cartoon.

Still, she does get in a couple of memorable lines, including, “Wolverine may not be Mr. Sunshine, but he is not your enemy.”

Meanwhile, an X-Men arcade game produced by Konami hit arcades in 1992.

The game maintained the roster and overall style of the Pryde of the X-Men special— with the episode’s focal point, Kitty Pryde serving as a supporting character—using Dazzler as a playable character. Dazzler also appears in the DOS games X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (in which her powers include the ability to illuminate a dark room) and X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants, released in 1989 and 1990, respectively. While the former game did feature the same roster as the show and the arcade game, the differences in Dazzler and Wolverine’s costumes suggest that it was not affiliated with them.

Even though Pryde of the X-Men did not lead to an animated series, Saban Entertainment stewarded the team into the world of Saturday morning animation in the fall of 1992, taking the X-Men to heights in the mainstream.

The X-Men animated series’ character designs reflected Jim Lee’s redesigns of the characters in the comics and the plots dealt with the themes of prejudice and relationships that made the characters so popular with readers. Dazzler, however, appeared in only two episodes.

In the Season Two episode “Mojovision,” Dazzler appears only briefly alongside Longshot, the focal point of the episode. Her subsequent appearance in “Dark Phoenix Saga Part 1: Dazzled” shows her performing at a local club, enduring multiple kidnapping attempts at the hands of the Hellfire Club. Her role in the episode is similar to her appearance in the “Dark Phoenix Saga” of the comics, except that she’s never offered a role in the X-Men and doesn’t join the team in the final battle.

In 2009, Dazzler appeared in two episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men, an animated series produced by Nickelodeon. As in the earlier series, the character’s first appearance—episode six, “Xcalibur”—finds her relegated 28

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Star of TV and Games (opposite) Can you find Dazzler in the VHS cover art and the screenshot from the 1989 X-Men cartoon Pryde of the X-Men? (top left) Promo poster for Konami’s 1992 X-Men game. (top right) Box art for the 1989 Madness in Murderworld game. (bottom) Dazzler and her mutant mates, from the X-Men arcade game.

Dazzler and X-Men © Marvel Characters, Inc.

to the background in an episode involving Mojo’s attempts to recruit mutants to perform for him. The mutant singer does receive more screen time in the tenth episode, “Greetings from Genosha,” performing at a concert on Magneto’s island, though we never hear her sing.

In 2004, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch introduced Alison Blaire to Marvel’s Ultimate universe. In this version, Blaire is an alternative rock singer and guitarist in a band called Dazzler, with a stereotypical goth/punk look and attitude.

The character’s introduction in Ultimate X-Men mirrored her appearance in The Dark Phoenix Saga (Ultimate X-Men #42, Apr. 2004), with the team offering her a position in the group after a concert and the singer declining. Alison does eventually join the team in Ultimate X-Men #48 (Aug. 2004), however, becoming romantically linked to Angel (Ultimate X-Men #62, Nov. 2005) and participating in an unauthorized mission to save Longshot, who’s been forced to participate in a reality show where he fights for his life (Ultimate X-Men #54, Feb. 2005).

In the Ultimate Universe, Alison’s attitude sometimes gets her in trouble. In Ultimate X-Men #52 (Dec. 2004), prior to embarking on a

mission to save Rogue, Dazzler taunts Kitty Pryde about her feelings toward Iceman, saying, “Don’t worry, pussycat, if we find Rogue’s corpse in a ditch or something, I’m sure [Iceman] will settle for you,” prompting an attack. More seriously, in Ultimate X-Men #65 (Jan. 2006), during Magneto’s escape from a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison called Triskelion, one of his fellow prisoners, Deathstrike, stabbed Alison, sending her into a coma. When she awakes (Ultimate X-Men #72, Sept. 2006), she is kidnapped by an increasingly erratic Nightcrawler (Ultimate X-Men Annual #2, 2006) and leaves the team after Professor X refuses to have the teleporting mutant arrested. In any case, the team disbanded soon after in Ultimate X-Men #80 (May 2007).

In Ultimate X-Men #83 (Aug. 2007), Alison joined a new X-Men team formed by Storm, Bishop, and Pyro, remaining onboard for several issues; however, in Ultimatum #1 (Jan. 2009), Alison dies drowning in the Ultimatum Wave—a flood covering much of New York City— with other heroes.

FRANK ADDIEGO is the author of Images of America: Newark and holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the Academy of Art University.

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Wonder. Woman. Two words that combine to make the name of one of the world’s most well-known and beloved icons, an Amazon Princess imbued with the strength of the Greek Gods and armed with magical weapons, sent from hidden Paradise Island to help resolve warring Man’s World’s constant conflicts. One might expect that a superheroine with such a dramatic background would have a never-ending track record of success in comic books. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been the case.

Wonder Woman made her debut in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941), receiving her own title in 1942, with its popularity waxing and waning over the years. In 1975, The New Original Wonder Woman premiered on ABC. The hit television series, starring actress/singer Lynda Carter, moved to NBC and continued to air until 1979. Without an added boost from TV, the Wonder Woman comic book struggled to maintain footing as it entered the 1980s.

In August 1980, with issue #269, Princess Diana and her cast of supporting characters went through a reboot, only to undergo another soft reboot two years later in Wonder Woman #288 (Feb. 1982) by comic-book superstars writer Roy Thomas and artists Gene Colan and Romeo Tanghal.

With “Look out, World! The sensational new Wonder Woman is bustin’ loose!” emblazoned on its cover, the Amazing Amazon seemed like she was finally ready to take on the new decade in style. Unfortunately, this was not to last, not completely. With issue #291, Thomas would plot a story, leaving dialogue to fan-favorite Paul Levitz, and later with new talent Dan Mishkin in issue #295. Mishkin would officially take over the reins of Wonder Woman with issue #297 and would immediately begin one of the most applauded runs in the series’ 75-year existence. dan mishkin Following New York Comic Con 2015, BACK ISSUE was able to sit with Mr. Mishkin and talk with him at length about writing the Princess of Power. Go back with us, as we talk about the Wonder Woman of the early ’80s, an era where the Cold War and a severe nationwide recession continued to impact life in the States. When songs like Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” were playing on the radio. Popular shows Knight Rider and Fame were first airing across America’s television screens, the EPCOT Center opened, Chariots of Fire won four Academy Awards, and Batman adopted a second Robin in Jason Todd.

– Steven Wilber STEVEN WILBER: You scripted over Roy Thomas’ plot in Wonder Woman #295 before officially taking over the book two issues later. How did you initially become involved with the series?

DAN MISHKIN: Marv Wolfman was the editor, and I was in a pretty nice position at the time because I’d

New Man on Paradise Island!

After scripting a couple of issues over Roy Thomas’ plots, Dan Mishkin took over the writing chores of Wonder Woman with issue #297 (Nov. 1982)—and this astounding Michael Wm. Kaluta cover launched his run in a big way! This issue is also noteworthy for its Masters of the Universe preview insert.

TM & © DC Comics.

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done some work at DC Comics, and I’d shown my derring-do, my facility, my agility, whatever. I’d written some anthology stories, House of Mystery things, and co-created Amethyst, and I was present in people’s minds. If not the go-to guy, I was a go-to guy. And so, Marv needed somebody to dialogue and probably knew at that point he needed somebody to take over the full scripting, and so he asked me if I would do it, and I said, “Sure.” I was 26 years old, I was doing new characters I’d created, [and] I’d already been writing Superman stories.

WILBER: The tone of Wonder Woman seemed to change slightly when you took over. Was there a direction you wanted to you wanted to take the Amazon Princess in?

MISHKIN: Sometimes you surprise yourself, and you should surprise yourself, but I can’t really reconstruct the thought process. But I must’ve been confident with the notion, especially coming off of Amethyst (Princess of Gemworld), that this is something that a 12-year-old girl should enjoy reading.

WILBER: So you had free rein?

MISHKIN: This was a very different time; even just the fact that you could have Amethyst, you could have Blue Devil, you could have Booster Gold, you could have Arion, all these things. And [executive editor] Dick Giordano was a guy who wanted people to be their best selves as writers and artists and make it happen, and have fun!

WILBER: You started your run by introducing three new foes: Nikos Aegeus, Bellerophon, and Sofia Constantinas, the latter who defected from her terrorist cell, befriended the Amazon Princess, and was eventually adopted by the Amazons. On top of this, you also introduced the ancient city of the Amazons, Themyscira, and revealed Princess Diana had not been the first Wonder Woman (issue #298, Feb. 1982).

MISHKIN: Oh, yeah, that was because I had an idea for an ancient Wonder Woman who was going to come back.

I don’t remember how far along I was in my thinking. At that time, I remember Len Wein was talking about the “black box” version of subplotting, where he’d have a gift delivered to somebody’s house, and the next issue, they’d open it, and there would be a black box inside, and he might not know where it was going. I don’t think I wasn’t that freewheeling, but … the idea that she [Sofia] becomes someone who was doing bad and can become someone who is good. That’s why Sofia is there, but then she does get mixed up with all these other subplots, which again, I’m surprised I was as deft as I was, because I didn’t remember being nearly that skilled when I was writing that.

WILBER: Greek mythology is the cornerstone of Wonder Woman, and it was no more evident in your stories. Aegeus, Bellerophon, and Sofia all had ties to the Greek gods, plus you created the

Magnetic Personality Gil Kane’s generic (but cool) cover to Wonder Woman #303 (May 1983) offers no hint that a villain he once drew in Green Lantern, Dr. Polaris, appears inside to plague the Amazing Amazon.

TM & © DC Comics.

Be All That You Can Be (inset) The Ed Hannigan/Dick Giordano cover to WW #301 (Mar. 1983), featuring Diana’s first clash with Artemis. Cover signed by Dan Mishkin. (right) Sofia gets good advice on this beautiful Gene Colan/Frank McLaughlin page from that issue.

(Check out BACK ISSUE #41 for a “Pro2Pro” interview between Roy Thomas and Gene Colan, discussing their Wonder Woman collaboration.)

TM & © DC Comics.

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SOFIA’S CHOICE

TM & © DC Comics.

Sofia Constantinas was introduced in Wonder Woman #297 as part of a terrorist organization allied with the mad Bellaphron (slayer of the Chimera in classical Greek mythology). Due to the intervention of Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Sofia has a change of heart and betrays her comrades. She quickly becomes a regular among the supporting cast of Paradise Island and eventually a confidante to Queen Hippolyta. These Sofia vs.

Paula panels hail from Wonder Woman #313 (Mar. 1984).

May Day! Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec deity worshipped in May’s Toxcatl festival, rocked Di’s world in Wonder Woman #316 (June 1984). (inset) The issue’s cover,

by Eduardo Barreto, and (above) an interior sequence by Mishkin and Heck.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Amazons’ first champion, Artemis, who was resurrected in skeletal form by the sorceress, Circe, who hadn’t been seen since the Golden Age. What made you choose Circe?

MISHKIN: In The Odyssey, she’s a woman who traps and ensorcells men, so that makes sense as something to explore in the context of Wonder Woman, and it also raises all sorts of conflicts. It just makes perfect sense for Circe to be there.

WILBER: Circe developed into a major foe for Wonder Woman and her alter ego, Major Diana Prince, with an epic battle between the Amazon and Circe’s beast men on the lawn of the White House. When Wonder Woman finally made it to Circe’s secret island, readers learned the sorceress had partnered with an even more powerful foe, Tezcatlipoca, the mad Aztec god. How did you conceive an alliance with Tezacatipoca?

MISHKIN: I had a pre-existing interest in the folklore of the trickster archetype, so whether that was an actual trickster god, I don’t know, but I wanted to play with that. You know, this being a character who’s about creation and destruction and not about morality one way or the other. And, again, using the trickster character who’s amoral and destructive, really powerful, was something I was interested in. I figured, “Okay, let’s do that at the same time we have a more directed and more evil Circe going on.” I mix up the moral balance a lot, because my whole thing is, these stories are ultimately about making choices. I’m talking about superhero stories as being about not fantasies of power in the dominating sense, but fantasies of power in the sense that since I’m

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF STEVE TREVOR (AND THE LIFE AND DEATH OF STEVE TREVOR) The first man to step onto Paradise Island, the first for Princess Diana to ever set eyes upon, hasn’t had it easy. Steve was murdered by the villainous Dr. Cyber, only to be revived in Wonder Woman #223 (Apr.–May 1973) by the goddess Aphrodite. The Amazing Amazon and her paramour would not have lasting happiness, however, for Steve was slain again, this time by the Dark Commander in Wonder Woman #248 (Oct. 1978). Upon the turn of a new decade, Col. Steve Trevor was revitalized again, albeit a Steve Trevor from a parallel world, in Wonder Woman #271 (Aug. 1980). Finally, in issue #322, Hippolyta and Aphrodite came clean, explaining that the Queen had allowed Diana to forget these tragedies and assume that she and Steve had been together since first leaving her island home.

TM & © DC Comics.

going to have power when I’m an adult, I’d better figure out how I’m going to use it. So, I’m always looking for ways of bringing in moral choice and confronting moral dilemma. And an amoral character is a real dilemma, a character who could be good or evil. So imagine Wonder Woman and Keith [Griggs] on the one hand, and Circe on the other hand, they’re having real problems with Tezcatlipoca. He’s problematic because he doesn’t quite fit their moral universe.

With Wonder Woman, one of the things I came to find difficult about the character is that she is so put together in the sense that she has nothing to learn.

But that also makes her someone who can face this kind of challenge. She’s not prone to self-doubt, right? In a way, she’s very practical: “How is the best way to deal with this? I know I’m going in the right direction, what’s the best way to get there?”

WILBER: Circe had knowledge of Amazon history, and Tezcatlipoca used that to his advantage, revealing that there were other Amazons living in South America. The mystery deepens as Wonder Woman discovers these women left Paradise Island before her birth and all of a sudden, Diana’s not so certain of the Amazons’ past as she finds out that her mother had been pretty manipulative. Meanwhile, Sofia’s starting to figure out that the queen had also messed with her daughter’s memory.

MISHKIN: The story of Wonder Woman’s relationship with her mother is pretty slow building. She loves her mother in so many ways, and she begins to call that unquestioning worship, almost, into question. Now, on the one hand, Hippolyta probably never deserved that worship because she’s flawed and, in a sense, human.

But … now that since she’s been treated that way, Wonder Woman is facing it, and it becomes a challenge.

Another thing about those Amazons in South America is that they also appear as if they’re bad guys, because after all, they’re renegades. But they’re not! So, you’ve got good, you’ve got evil, you’ve got amoral, you’ve got questioning. Again, it’s important that … Atalanta, was that what I called the queen of the (South American) Amazons?

WILBER: That’s right.

MISHKIN: Atalanta is not evil. I’m sympathetic to Hippolyta, I think that as this unfolds, she behaved badly, but I can’t say that I’m unsympathetic. When all the revelations come out, I think Hippolyta mounts a fairly convincing defense of her actions. That’s important to me, because I don’t think we live in a world of good guys and bad guys. We live in a world of people who are continually confronted with choices.

WILBER: Before you began your run, Wonder Woman’s longtime boyfriend, Col. Steve Trevor, had been killed and brought back to life no less than twice. You conceived a solution to Steve’s convoluted continuity, but ultimately owing in part to the betrayal of Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta (Wonder Woman #322).

MISHKIN: That was the goal: Fix Steve. Steve needs to be the first man that Princess Diana has ever seen, and the man she fell in love with, not because she’d never seen a man before, but because the first man she’d ever seen was a helluva guy! It becomes clear that this is a partnership, and I was feeling more comfortable and confident with it. Obviously, at one point, I became so confident that I had Steve quoting Shakespeare, which was a little inappropriate, but I think I wanted to show he wasn’t only a jock. But I think I laid it on a little too thick. I wanted to be clear he was smart, and … I was right! Partnership is a very important word here.

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Leaping into Action Dashing Don Heck took over Wonder Woman from Gene Colan with issue #306 (Mar. 1983).

Original art to that issue’s splash, courtesy of Steven Wilber. (FYI, John Coates’ excellent biography, Don Heck: A Work of Art, is still available at twomorrows.com.)

TM & © DC Comics.

One of the things that came into my mind was the character of Modesty Blaise. In the comic strip and the novels, Modesty had a partner, Willie Garvin, a real man’s man kind of guy. There is no question that Modesty’s the leader, there’s no question that Willie is still a man’s man. I think I was successful at having this partnership work where Wonder Woman is the lead, and Steve Trevor is still a great guy, even though he’s the junior partner. Why do I believe she can be the lead and he can be the strong partner that everybody believes in? I think it was simply because I had no doubt that that was possible.

WILBER: Your characters definitely seemed more real and relatable to all ages, even for, as you mentioned, a 12-year-old girl.

MISHKIN: You know, when we talk about the whole writing Wonder Woman for a 12-year-old girl thing— and that was my intention—a major subplot in my run of Wonder Woman is, “My mother doesn’t like my boyfriend,” which I think is at the level that I hope would be interesting to a 12-year-old girl. Or even a boy. One of the things that’s important is that you don’t want to act as if the inner life of a 12-year-old is nothing. It’s complex. At the same time, for this kind of comic book, for this kind of audience, I think the boundaries of the story you’re telling, in many ways, should be simple, clear.

I actually was a little worried there were too many characters running around. I kind of felt like there were times I wasn’t featuring Wonder Woman enough. I was only doing 16-page stories, but I wanted—which is why I think it took so long to get going on a key subplot— the romantic quadrangle with Steve Trevor, Keith Griggs, Wonder Woman, and Di, where you’ve got this new guy who is really much more into her as Diana Prince.

WILBER: Steve even got his own sidekicks of sorts with an intergalactic gremlin and the talking invisible jet.

MISHKIN: I think it was more about comic relief—two things, I guess, comic relief and giving Steve a chance to develop separately from Wonder Woman.

Here’s an important secret about comic-book writing: Characters need to have other characters to talk to.

I think having Steve and the gremlin being able to control the plane was good, and then having the plane talk, respond, “We’ve always had these special telepathic abilities,” have the plane talk back … that was good.

WILBER: While you focused on the mythological aspects of Wonder Woman, you also brought in Dr. Cyber, Dr. Polaris, and introduced Dr. Schlagel, the Nazi scientist who took on Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and the gypsy, Zenna Persik.

MISHKIN: I liked doing a gypsy instead of a Jew, and I only wish I could go back and say, “Roma,” instead of “gypsy,” but that’s like, 1980-whatever. But, yes, that was

Brain Drain The menace of Dr. Karl Schlagel in Wonder Woman #309 (Nov. 1983) required an assist from Black Canary. Cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

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another thing. How good or how bad is this person? She switches bodies with Black Canary and seems not to care if Black Canary gets killed and all that stuff. But in great comic-book fashion, and Wonder Woman fashion, too, she redeems herself. She redeems herself by sacrificing her life. So if people act badly enough, they have to die.

But that was fun bringing in Black Canary. I really believe that if you’re going to do a story in the DC Universe, you should do it in the DC Universe, bring in these other characters, other aspects. Speaking of Dr. Polaris, by the way, having Steve Trevor dress up as Green Lantern and being on a wire, hanging from the robot plane—that was so goofy, but it works, I think.

WILBER: It works in part because of Gene Colan. The majority of your run was predominately penciled by famed artists, Gene Colan [Daredevil and Tomb of Dracula] and Don Heck [Iron Man and The Avengers]. What was it like to be working with two comic-book legends, especially so early in your career?

MISHKIN: It was a big thrill to have the opportunity to work with Gene.

But we didn’t know each other, we had no relationship, and it turned out that the fact that I loved Daredevil did not, somehow, mentally make him wild about doing Wonder Woman. So, I did the best stories that I could, I set some subplots in motion.

But working with Don [Heck] was really terrific. I think that the stories that I did with Don were far more successful. By the time we got a few issues into Don’s run, I really found my steps.

WILBER: You did an incredible story in Wonder Woman #323 with Etta Candy, Diana Prince’s best friend. You started by giving Etta a romance.

You gave her— MISHKIN: Howard Huckabee.

WILBER: —you gave her romance, but you also let Etta become Wonder Woman. That was amazing!

Before Joe Dante’s Gremlins… …Dan Mishkin’s gremlins invaded the pages of Wonder Woman! Cover to issue #311 (Jan. 1984) by Andru and Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

SHE LOVES YOU, SHE LOVES YOU NOT

TM & © DC Comics.

Wonder Woman is dating Steve Trevor, that much is evident. But when their colleague, Major Keith Griggs, begins to show affection for the Amazon Princess’ alter ego, Diana Prince, how does she feel about having a less-overprotective partner?

Things become more complicated when Eros, son of Aphrodite, appears to profess his love for Wonder Woman based on their past relationship (?!). It’s finally revealed that Eros’ life force was merged with the fallen Steve Trevor through the machinations of Aphrodite, but shattered to pieces when Steve died a second time. Though Eros’ spirit was reconstituted, he was driven mad from the experience and eventually ravages the home of the Amazons.

Detail from Wonder Woman #322 (Dec. 1984), page 11, Steve vs. Eros.

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MISHKIN: No, Howard let her become Wonder Woman [via Dr. Psycho’s ectoplasmic extractor]—that’s the point of the story! She wasn’t a buffoon, but she was … it was almost like she was allowed to be the butt of the jokes. She was the fatty, and even well past the ’40s! I wanted Etta to be as much of a real person as she could be, and yes, she was overweight and she knew it. But I was trying not to make Etta too self-doubting. I wanted her to have some confidence, at least, and there’s one issue where she covers for Steve about something, and Steve probably makes her do it in a way he shouldn’t have, sweep up his mess or something like that—but characters are flawed.

The point of the Etta and Howard story is that if you love somebody enough, even somebody who is, what, five-foot-four and 160 pounds, you can believe that she’s secretly Wonder Woman! What a beautiful idea! I’m very proud of that. Howard knew that she was often nearby when Wonder Woman was around. And how many pictures of Wonder

MOTHER KNOWS BEST?

TM & © DC Comics.

The Queen of the Amazons had the best of intentions for her daughter when she omitted painful memories after Wonder Woman became the victim of amnesia in 1973’s Wonder Woman #204, but unfortunately this would develop into a more serious predicament and create a rift between mother and daughter, sending Hippolyta into a severe depression and an uprising among the Amazons. Their baggage is on display on this Barreto cover of Wonder Woman #322 (Dec. 1984).

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Woman are there, anyway? So, at one point, he says, “Okay, Etta, I already know your secret, change into Wonder Woman.” And it’s delightful! The only thing that bothered me about it, looking back, is that I put it in the thought balloon of the issue before, I should have let it be a surprise to the reader that he thought that. But, of course, he’s going to think that—he loves her! It would prove that he loves her, that he thinks she’s Wonder Woman! I liked that.

WILBER: The Dr. Cyber and Dr. Polaris stories, they were more superherostyle tales.

MISHKIN: Yeah, because I enjoy that. Variety’s pretty important, you know? So, I did try to have that variety, but I don’t think I ever cracked the nut of how best to have Wonder Woman follow her mission [in Man’s World]—the problem of her being too perfect that we talked about before. Even now, I don’t know quite how I’d do it.

So now I’m totally talking off the top of my head. I think that one way to do it is to have the right adversary. I might’ve been trying to do this in the Circe story, because there was a sense that there was somebody besides Circe, there was Tezcatlipoca, but I think that the way to do this, or a way to do this, is to say that there’s an adversary— or better yet, an adversarial organization—that stands for something that flies in the face of what an Amazon would say is needed in the world. And that could come out in the form of fighting bad guys, but it would also be a kind of unfolding understanding of what the real threat is—that the real threat is, to use a word too loosely, is philosophical.

And so, I wrote a largely defensive and reactive Wonder Woman behaving according to her philosophy, but I didn’t have her philosophy face a counter-philosophy.

If I’d thought then what I’m saying now, I would’ve stuck with the book through the last issue before Crisis. But I was frustrated, and that was one of the reasons for leaving the book—I felt frustrated by a character that was either too perfect or fully formed, and I hadn’t thought of this kind of adversary to really challenge her. I wish I had!

I didn’t want her to preach, and I found it problematic to be writing a character who has nothing to learn, who was fully formed, who was wise, who did have a message she was trying to convey. There was no question, even in my version, that a champion was sent out from the Amazons to tell Man’s World something they needed to hear. So, I think when people said I wasn’t proactive with her, that’s what I think they felt was lacking. But how to turn that into an action-adventure story is hard.

WILBER: How was Princess Diana/Wonder Woman different from Major Diana Prince?

MISHKIN: I would say right off the bat that I don’t think of them as two separate personalities, with one of them perhaps being constructed as part of a disguise—in the way that both Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have sometimes seemed like inventions meant to keep others off the trail of their secret identities. But I think I saw Diana and Di coming off as different from each other because in each role she let different sides of herself come to the fore: Wonder Woman is a public figure and a role model, even on Paradise Island, and she behaves like someone who was raised to be that. But as Diana Prince, she’s living a more private life, and I think she’s deliberately allowing herself to experience life differently, and therefore respond to it differently.

Her friendship with Etta is one example. Di pushes away Etta’s attempts to put her in the role of the thin beauty she should aspire to be, even as she encourages Etta to exercise and be her best self—which is very much what an Amazon from Paradise Island would do for a friend, but I doubt that Princess Diana has a friend on Paradise Island she could comfortably address in that way.

Another example, of course, is the relationship I tried to create between her and Keith Griggs. Despite Diana’s love for Steve Trevor, Di reciprocates Keith’s feelings at least somewhat. And not because Keith has passed some test and proved that he’s not blinded by Wonder Woman’s celebrity aura (the way Hal Jordan wanted Carol Ferris to ignore Green Lantern’s), but because he’s responding to the very aspects of her inner self that she only gives full voice to when she’s Di. Both Steve and Keith love her for herself, but the self that Keith has fallen for is unused to getting that reaction.

WILBER: Over the course of your 28 issues, how did your writing of Wonder Woman evolve?

MISHKIN: When I reread the books, I was surprised to see how much I’d written it in more of a ’60s Silver Age style than I remember doing—

Super Friends Dan and frequent writing partner Gary Cohn co-produced this team-up in DC Comics Presents #76 (Dec. 1984). Art by Barreto. (background) Cover to Wonder Woman #321.

TM & © DC Comics.

maybe even more so than the occasional Superman stories I was writing at the time. But to me, that was kind of making it Wonder Woman, making it as close to Wonder Woman as I could. I think I may have automatically gone back to an older approach, or as close to it as felt appropriate, because that’s the Wonder Woman I really knew and had an affinity for. But having that leeway, the ability to shape a Wonder Woman that was both contemporary and retro, is really another example of how the ’80s, the early ’80s, the immediate pre-Crisis era, was a time of tremendous freedom at DC, and I was very lucky to be there. I probably became more confident in who she was, what she felt, and how she expressed herself. Even with my frustrations over her perfection and possible preachiness, I think I was able to get deeper into her core and more easily express it through her dialogue and actions.

Dan Mishkin would wrap up his run on Wonder Woman with issue #325 (May 1985), though a few of his subplots would carry through the series’ final four issues, written by Mindy Newell and Gerry Conway. Tezcatlipoca would also return to bedevil the Amazon Princess one final time. Soon after, the monumental comic-book event “Crisis on Infinite Earths” swept through the DC Universe and Wonder Woman would never be completely the same again. However, Mishkin’s work on Wonder Woman would be reflected in the second Wonder Woman series with the

complicated relationship between queen/princess–mother/ daughter, and Diana and Etta’s close friendship, all based on mutual respect. Circe would be reintroduced and develop into an archrival for the Amazing Amazon and an outright disparager of the Amazons’ message of peace.

Dan Mishkin continued to write for DC Comics and other publishers through the ’80s into the ’90s, and beyond. Dan would go on to co-create Kids Read Comics, an annual effort to get children motivated to read and utilize their imagination in creative ways. His most recent work is The Warren Commission Report: A Graphic Investigation into the Kennedy Assassination with artists Ernie Colón and Jerzy Drozd.

STEVEN WILBER, a Boston-based storyteller on canvas and educator in the classroom, is continually inspired by his growing 30-year-plus collection of comic books.

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Atta Girl, Etta!

Dan Mishkin showed longtime supportingcast member Etta Candy some overdue respect. Wonder Etta, friends, and foes grace the Barreto-drawn of Wonder Woman #323 (Feb. 1985), which also bears Dan’s autograph.

TM & © DC Comics.

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“Who’s that lady?” was asked on the first page of Monica Rambeau’s first appearance in 1982. That question never fit a character more than Monica Rambeau. Being named the new Captain Marvel after the death of the original catapulted Monica to the forefront of Marvel’s stories. She was a fresh face as an African-American woman given as much power as any of Marvel’s heroes. But as time went on, Marvel forgot just who this lady was. She was moved from the A-List to the B-List and then the C-list, frequently changing names before she found new life 30 years after her debut. BACK ISSUE catches up with the creators behind Monica’s adventures to find out the story of this hero of the 1980s.

Jim Starlin was going to kill Marvel’s original Captain Marvel. The Kree-born Mar-Vell had a spotty history, having undergone many changes in hopes of sparking interest in the character.

Starlin’s stories built a cult following, which made it easier for Marvel to continue to publish the adventures of Captain Marvel, but it was not until Marvel Graphic Novel #1: The Death of Captain Marvel (1982) that the character had a poignant story … but this was the end of Captain Marvel.

The name Captain Marvel was important, though. Marvel did not want that trademark to lapse. Instead, Marvel had to find the right character to carry on the name of the company.

“It was always planned that we’d have a new Captain Marvel to succeed Mar-Vell,” Roger Stern tells BACK ISSUE. “If Marvel was going to maintain the rights to the name, they needed to periodically publish a Captain Marvel of some sort.

“After Jim Starlin produced The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel, a number of us started thinking ahead about introducing a new Captain Marvel.

“The idea was for this Captain to be a new and very different character— and someone who would be easier to explain than Mar-Vell, who had had something like three different origin stories in a six-year period,” Stern continues. “Someone submitted a proposal to give Rick Jones [Mar-Vell’s roger stern sidekick] powers and make him the new Captain Marvel, but even that was thought to be too derivative.

“While I was in the process of developing my ideas for the character, my wife Carmela pointed out that Captain Marvel was a gender-neutral name. So, why couldn’t Captain Marvel be a woman?

“That tweaked my memory of a standup routine I’d heard in the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement… The heart of the story was about a lifelong bigot who had an epiphany after a near-death experience. As he sat wide-eyed in his hospital bed, he told his friends, ‘I saw God!’ And when one of his friends asked what God was like, he replied, ‘Well, for one thing, she’s black.’ And I thought, why not.

“I was writing Amazing Spider-Man at the time, and I was looking for a big story that would be worthy of an Annual. Introducing a major new character seemed to fill the bill.

“Once I figured out who Captain Marvel was—and outlined her powers—everything just fell into place.

My editors liked the idea. And since I was writing 38

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TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

WANTED: A NEW CAPTAIN MARVEL

by

David Suiter

Spider-Man at the time, it was decided that we’d introduce her in the next Amazing Spider-Man Annual.”

Stern’s collaborator on Amazing Spider-Man was John Romita, Jr., who designed the look of the all-new, all-different Captain Marvel. Romita said in Modern Masters vol. 18: John Romita, Jr. (2008) that his influence for the look of Captain Marvel’s secret identity had come from the actress Pam Grier, but as the artist tells BACK ISSUE, “I incorrectly made that statement. My father reminded me later that we were sitting at a restaurant where there was a stunningly good-looking waitress with ‘the hair’ and my father said she had to be a hero.”

John Romita, Sr. was the inker for the Annual. When asked about the woman the hero was based on, he said, “Both of us felt this about the waitress—she was tall and beautiful and very friendly. She was working at a restaurant in the building where Marvel Comics was headquartered at the time. We had been talking about the new Captain Marvel and this waitress had this amazing, beautiful Afro, and we both remarked how impressive she was.”

The younger Romita would design an elegant costume to go with his elegant heroine as she readied for her debut (see sidebar).

The character just lacked an interesting backstory that Stern was happy to provide.

“I always wanted Monica to be a hero in the classic Marvel tradition— a normal person who suddenly had incredible powers thrust upon her—not unlike Spider-Man before her,” Stern says. “At the time I was developing Captain Marvel, a lot of the newer superheroes didn’t seem very heroic. A lot of them were seriously messed up. I wanted to give the world a new character who was … let’s say, better adjusted … someone from a strong, stable, and supportive family, a family with a background of service.”

Monica was serving as a lieutenant in the New Orleans Harbor Patrol when she was introduced. While she excelled at her duties, she continued to be passed over for the rank of captain. “That was the glass ceiling aspect of the story,” Stern says. “Monica was good at her job with the Harbor Patrol, skilled and conscientious, and by rights she should have been captain. But the harbormaster had kept her from achieving the rank she deserved. Basically, he was a sexist jerk and a bad boss, something a lot of people can identify and sympathize with.”

speed, and exactly how she transformed back and forth. It was great that they got so involved.

“I had already come up with the premise of a hero with energy powers, and I couldn’t tell you how I came up with that. Looking back, I can see that my Captain Marvel is sort of E-Man [a comical character published by Charlton Comics in the 1970s] in reverse; E-Man was a packet of sentient energy that could transform into a human, whereas Captain Marvel is a human who can transform into energy.

And, of course, my Captain Marvel wasn’t played for laughs. I had been a fan of Nick Cuti and Joe Staton’s early E-Man series, but I don’t think I was consciously thinking of that. Maybe it was an influence, but I can’t say for certain.”

It was Stern’s science background that allowed him to develop Captain Marvel’s power set. “Monica can transform her mass into any form of electromagnetic energy,” he explains. “As Professor LeClare [the scientist responsible for Monica receiving superpowers] said, she can become ‘a sentient packet of radio waves, light, even electricity!’ Now, of course, electricity involves the transfer of charge, not electromagnetic radiation. But having Monica become an electrical discharge was big and dramatic, and it was also my sneaky nod to Fawcett’s Captain Marvel, of the 1940s. As you may recall, Billy Batson was transformed by a lightning bolt into Captain Marvel, whereas Monica is the lightning bolt.”

Following her debut in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, Captain Marvel showed up in Avengers #227 (Jan. 1983), written by Stern, where she became an Avenger-in-training. “The idea from the beginning [was] I would introduce her in the Spider-Man Annual, and she would next go on to become an Avenger,” Stern explains. “I just didn’t suspect that I would be the one to write her adventures with the group.

LIGHTNING STRIKES: AN AMAZING DEBUT Captain Marvel II was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (Apr. 1982) alongside Marvel’s web-slinging hero. The issue featured a full-length origin story, going into detail about who Monica Rambeau was. “I structured the Annual so that the Origin of Captain Marvel could be reprinted separately, on its own [without the Spider-Man part of the plot],” Stern says. During the events of the story, in addition to meeting Spider-Man, Monica met the Avengers. The story saw the former lieutenant finally reach the rank of captain outside of the New Orleans Harbor Patrol. Her race and gender never mattered to Spider-Man and the Avengers.

“I hope it was a big deal,” Stern says in regard to introducing Captain Marvel alongside the company’s most popular character.

“Spider-Man had pretty good visibility in the marketplace, and I know that the Annual sold over 160,000 copies, so a lot of people saw her debut and learned her origin.

“The response was very good,” Stern continues. “All my readers seemed to like her. Spider-Man and The Avengers got a lot of letters from readers who were in college, and the more science-savvy of them seemed to delight in hypothesizing as to how Monica’s powers would work. They had all sorts of ideas about how she could fly at sub-light

“Who’s that lady?”

She’s Captain Marvel—at least for the time being.

Cover to Monica Rambeau’s coming out party, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (1982). Cover art by John Romita, Jr. and John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Marvel Mix-Up A not-so-friendly first encounter!

Bee-yoo-tee-ful original art page by the Romitas, written

by Roger Stern.

Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

My hope was that she would prove popular enough as an Avenger that I might get the chance to write her solo adventures in a spin-off book.

“It was sheer serendipity that I got to gradually develop her as a member of the team. I got to show Captain Marvel slowly growing into her powers— and becoming comfortable in her role as a superhero— all within the context of being a rookie Avenger.

The drawback was that I was always kept so busy with the Avengers and other projects that I never found the time to propose or write a solo Captain Marvel book.”

FLUCTUATING STATUS

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Captain Marvel fought alongside classic Avengers Captain America, Thor, Wasp, and the Vision. She continued to develop into one of the premiere heroes of the Marvel Universe. Captain Marvel became a regular in Marvel’s publications. The fact that she was a woman of color made her instantly stand out among the sea of white male heroes. Captain Marvel’s importance was solidified when she was chosen as one of the heroes to head off

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to Battleworld and be featured in the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars series in 1984.

A big moment came to the character four and half years into her time as an Avenger that put a bigger spotlight on her. In Avengers #279 (May 1987), Captain Marvel became the chairman of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

“That really happened sort of organically,” Stern says. “Monica’s family had a tradition of service—her grandfather was a soldier, her dad was a firefighter, she was in law enforcement. And if Captain Marvel had a role model in the Avengers, someone that she really admired, it was Captain America—smart, capable, able to rise to the occasion in any situation. And as they had trained together, Cap had gained a lot of respect for Monica. It just made sense for her to rise up through the ranks to become the group’s leader, and for Cap to nominate her.”

While she reached the pinnacle of her career as a superhero as the leader of the Avengers, it was in this position where her troubles began, turning the spotlight into a target. Stern’s tenure with the Avengers came to an end due to creative differences with the editors, and Captain Marvel was a victim of his departure when new writer Walter Simonson wrote her out of the book in a move that made the once confident and powerful hero look like a novice.

BACK ISSUE reached out to Marvel’s senior editor Tom Brevoort to see if he could shed some light on the change in the status quo. “I came in right after that as an intern, so I don’t know that I have any special insight,” Brevoort says. “As I understand it, [Avengers editor] Mark Gruenwald wanted to shake up the team roster and shift some of the players around, including ultimately sidelining Captain Marvel. Roger ultimately objected to doing this, or to doing it the way Mark wanted it done, and that more than anything else is the specific point of non-compromise that led to Roger coming off the series.

“It’s no different than with any new character who’s been introduced in Avengers, with the exception of the Vision (and that simply because he was around for so long at the point the authorship of the series changed),” Brevoort says. “Roger introduced Monica, and he was very much invested in her as a character— but the assorted writers who followed him weren’t invested in her the same way. She wasn’t a character they’d grown up reading about, and so the tendency was to write her out as to make way for characters these later writers were more interested in using. The same thing could be said to have happened to Hellcat, or Jocasta, or Triathlon.

“I think the general feeling was that she was considered too powerful to function well in a team setting and even as a solo character of the type they were trying to set her up as,” Brevoort adds. “She could move at the speed of light, become intangible, and project any manner of electromagnetic energy— that’s a formidable character to have to deal with if you’re the Masters of Evil or whomever. I know that Dwayne [McDuffie] in particular tried to apply some real-world science in redefining Monica’s abilities, but the changes he instituted were very quickly overturned by later writers. But I believe the idea was to make her more manageable in a team setting, to where she wouldn’t make all the other members of the team superfluous.”

Stern disagrees with the assessment that she was too powerful: “That’s not the case at all. There are a number of limitations to her powers … Monica couldn’t fly people out of a burning building; she can’t pick up anything physical while she’s in energy form. And that energy

Captain Marvel: Avenger!

Monica joins Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #227 (Jan. 1983). (top left) Its cover, by Brett Breeding. (top right) A warm welcome, by Stern/Sal Buscema/Breeding. (bottom) Avenging with Thor and She-Hulk on the cover of issue #231 (May 1983). Cover by Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

form is vulnerable to extra-dimensional forces; don’t forget, for most of the ‘Avengers: Under Siege’ storyline, she was trapped in the Dark-Force Dimension. Plus, her mind can be subject to psychic attack whether she’s physical or in some energy form. And, of course, when she’s not in energy form, she’s vulnerable to chemical and biological weapons, physical blows, and such.”

Despite those limitations, it seemed writers preferred not to have her around rather than come up with methods to get her out of the way or subvert her powers. McDuffie’s attempt to revise her power set came in a 1989 Captain Marvel one-shot where Monica got some of her powers back after her last stint in the Avengers series.

Captain Marvel would return with these reduced powers in the Avengers 1992 crossover, “Operation: Galactic Storm.” Captain Marvel was given a large role in the crossover leading an Avengers team that went deep into Shi’Ar space. While her role was prominent for the story, it did not return her to fulltime duty.

McDuffie would write another one-shot in 1994. Around this time Mark Gruenwald and Glenn Herdling restored all of Captain Marvel’s original powers in the “Starblast” crossover (Jan.–Apr. 1994). Monica teamed with Quasar, and in the events of the storyline the cosmic being known as the Stranger used his powers to “fix” her.

“Mark [Gruenwald] always had a soft spot for Monica,” Herdling recalls about why the longtime Marvel editor and writer restored her powers in a series featuring Quasar. “Mark was never one for letting a good character’s potential go to waste.”

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? Captain Marvel finally had her powers returned to her, but there were no recurring roles for the character anywhere in the Marvel Universe. More changes were on the way thanks to the son of the original Captain Marvel—Genis-Vell—who was introduced as Legacy in the pages of Silver Surfer Annual #6 (1993). While his impact on Monica was not immediate, the threat to her time as Captain Marvel had arrived.

After “Starblast,” Monica was back to the power levels originally set by Stern, but with no regular appearances she was not getting the attention she needed and the name Captain Marvel was just lingering out there. The title of Captain Marvel was always a big one, if anyone were to assume that name, they would become a big deal.

Herdling was selected by Gruenwald to write an Avengers spin-off series. “When Mark tapped me to write Avengers Unplugged, I had some reservations,” Herdling says, “The biggest being that it would be considered an offshoot title where nothing significant would be allowed to happen. Mark assured me that glenn herdling would not be the case. In one issue, I married the Absorbing Man and Titania after their long whirlwind romance [Avengers Unplugged #4, Apr. 1996]. So when I suggested that Genis take on the name of Captain Marvel, Mark was all for it.

“At the time, there was only one Captain Marvel—Monica.

“Legacy” was just such an odd name for the character of Genis, and about the same time I believe the Legacy Virus was beginning to infect Marvel’s mutants. Considering Genis’ passion for the ladies, I doubt he would have wanted a moniker associated with a lethal virus.”

With Genis taking the name of Captain Marvel, Monica was left with no codename. “As much as [Gruenwald] liked the character, he never thought the name was appropriate for [Monica’s] powers,” Herdling continues. “He loved the new name I gave her, and when we found out it was available, we danced a little jig…

No really, we did.” So in Avengers Unplugged #5 (June 1996), Monica Rambeau became Photon.

“Photon was the first name I pitched, and Mark loved it,” Herdling enthuses. “It just defined her powers perfectly. I think Photon sounds much more powerful than her more recent names, Pulsar and Spectrum. The Starship Enterprise doesn’t fire pulsar torpedoes—it arms its photon torpedoes.

“If Avengers Unplugged hadn’t been canceled, I definitely would have continued to use her [as Photon],” Herdling adds. “I loved the character and always felt that Monica’s powers were extremely unique in an age where unique powers are hard to come by.”

Monica’s switch from Captain Marvel to Photon seemed to further push the character out of the spotlight. “Changing any character’s name is certainly not typically ideal for building a fan base,” Brevoort says. “Monica in particular had some hard luck from the get-go, as by inheriting the label of Captain Marvel, she was always going to exist in the shadow of Mar-Vell. And when that eventually became a concern, when people decided that they wanted a Captain Marvel that more closely related to the original, Monica was saddled with the not terribly compelling codename Photon.”

Shining Stars (top) The team’s shimmering superheroes hog the Milgrom/Sinnott cover of Avengers #238 (Dec. 1983). (bottom) Monica takes center stage on Tom Palmer’s dazzling cover for issue #256 (May 1985). (background) Cover to Avengers #279 (May 1987).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

PHOTON FINISH In 1998, Kurt Busiek and George Pérez were launching the third Avengers series. In the initial story arc (Avengers #1–3, Feb.–Apr. 1998), every Avenger was featured, and among them was the hero then known as Photon.

The Avengers were transported to a world where the team was under the spell of Morgan Le Fey and served as Morgan’s “Queen’s Vengeance.” Each Avenger received a new codename, with Monica becoming Daystar. One of the keys to the Avengers

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freeing themselves was for the Avengers to wake up from Morgan’s trance. The Avengers who fit the ideal of what it meant to be an Avenger more clearly awakened faster. First it was Captain America, then Hawkeye, then Photon.

“It’s just a matter of her personality, her bearing, I think,” Kurt Busiek says. “The way Roger Stern consistently portrayed her, she was strongly dedicated to the kind of ideals the Avengers stand for, whether with the team or not. So she seemed like one of the heroes who’d be jolted out of the spell the easiest; Morgan’s version of the Avengers wouldn’t hold the kind of seductive attraction to [Monica] that it did for, say, Iron Man.” Even though Photon’s dedication to the cause was clear, she did not make the final cut for the active roster in Avengers #4 (May 1998) for a couple of reasons. “First, writing the Avengers isn’t about putting together the most dedicated lineup, but putting together the most interesting lineup,” Busiek says. “You want to have a variety and drama and a nice mix of characters.

There were other choices we made that I thought made for a livelier team, however much I enjoyed writing her when she showed up.

“Second, Roger knows a lot more science than I do, and had an easier time writing her powers than I would have. I was able to use her for short periods, but in a longer stint, I suspect I’d have had her overpower the team, or I’d screw up the science, or both.

“I think a lot of writers are wary about her powers, particularly since she’s had her powers reworked at least twice,” Busiek continues.

“It doesn’t seem to stick, because Roger’s original idea is simple and clean and powerful … it’s just not easy to write for us non-science types. Even Roger often seemed to have the stories revolve around ways to keep her from winning the battle right away, and other writers may not have wanted to wrestle with that. It’s one thing to write a massively powerful character like Thor, and another to write someone with massive-and-variable power like Monica. You’ve got to know what she can do, full-spectrum, and you’ve got to know how to make it entertaining in a battle, and that’s not always easy.”

Photon would return a few times during the third volume of the Avengers. There was a three-part arc written and drawn by Jerry Ordway (Avengers #16–18, May–July 1999) in which Photon was mistaken for Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Carol Danvers. The interesting thing here is that Carol, who had strong ties to the original Captain

Marvel, would go on in 2012 to become arguably Marvel’s most popular Captain Marvel.

Monica semi-regularly appeared in the Avengers series and took part in the four-issue Avengers Infinity miniseries (Sept.–Dec. 2000) written by Roger Stern and drawn by Sean Chen. “She was fully back to being the Monica that J. R. [Jr.] and I had created,” Stern says.

“And I was able to write her again . . . although her action name had been changed to ‘Photon.’ We had tentative plans to give her a better codename in that miniseries, but there was so much going on in the story that I never got the chance. Still, I had great fun, getting another opportunity to show readers who she was and what she could do.”

Stern’s return to the character was followed quickly by Monica’s other co-creator returning to work on the character.

John Romita, Jr. would pencil Avengers #35 (Dec. 2000). It was the first time Romita had drawn the character since her debut in 1982. “Her hair had changed, but I was proud that the costume I designed had stood the test of time,” Romita says.

Photon stayed with the team for the next storyline, where the Avengers faced off against Bloodwraith. She continued to show up to battle Kang, and take part in the “Avengers Disassembled” storyline that began in Avengers #500 (Sept. 2004). She was hanging around, but there wasn’t much character development.

In 2005, Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Genis-Vell, was done with that name in New Thunderbolts #6 (May 2005), by Fabian Nicieza and Tom Grummett.

Since Genis was looking for a new name, he decided to pick Photon as his new codename. Brevoort, who was editing the New Thunderbolts at the time, has this to say: “Honestly, that was more of a joke than anything else, a nasty bit of crap rolling downhill.

With Genis losing his title to the Captain Marvel name (for reasons that didn’t come to fruition in the

“A dematerializin’ dame” A stunning Captain Marvel spotlight page, from the Stern-scripted Avengers #277 (Mar. 1987). Original art

by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Tom Palmer (finishes), courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Brighter Days The two Captain Marvel one-shots, from 1989 and 1994, respectively.

Cover art by Mark Bright.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

The series found itself teetering between being in and out of Marvel continuity. Ellis says, “You need to accept that Nextwave was a comedy story that didn’t really fit with the rest of Marvel—as Marvel said, time and time again. Even though it amused me to insist that Nextwave was embedded in Marvel canon. Also, I recall insisting somewhere that Nextwave was Marvel canon to the extent that in fact all the other Marvel books were populated by Skrulls. Imagine my surprise when they actually did the whole mass Skrull invasion thing.”

Maybe because people were waiting to see if Ellis and Immonen would come back to do a sequel to Nextwave, or maybe people were unsure how to handle Monica following the events of the story, she sat on a shelf until 2009 before returning in the four-issue Marvel Divas series (Sept.–Dec. 2009), from Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa and Tonci Zonjic. Monica maintained her look from the Nextwave series and was put into a girl MONICA’S NEXT WAVE group with her friends Hellcat, Black Cat, and Firestar.

After getting her third codename, Pulsar was about It was sort of a Sex and the City take on the Marvel to make her most significant impact in a Marvel Universe. The series is notable for introducing a failed comic since the 1980s, and she would not need any romance between Monica and fellow Louisianacodename to do it. In 2006, Warren Ellis and Stuart based hero Brother Voodoo.

Immonen went about creating a new series that The girlfriend vibe for Monica continued into would put Monica back in the spotlight, Nextwave, the five-issue series Heralds (Aug. 2010), where Agents of H.A.T.E. (Mar. 2006–Mar. 2007).

Monica was featured at a birthday party for Emma This new iteration saw the character forgo all Frost of the X-Men that led the all-women group codenames and use her real name, “because her into conflict with a former herald of Galactus. The ‘Photon’ codename was ridiculous,” Warren Ellis warren ellis series kept her in the public eye, but there was not tells BACK ISSUE. “I think I even did a gag about it. much meat to her story.

Photo by Ellen R. Rogers.

And Monica Rambeau is a good name.”

It would take a creator who grew up as a fan Ellis made her the leader of this new team. “She was a longtime, of Monica as Captain Marvel to finally make her a regular Avenger significant Marvel action character who had fallen into disuse and general again. In 2013, Monica Rambeau was welcomed back into the obscurity, like all of the Nextwave characters,” Ellis says. “If nothing else, Avengers fold with a new Mighty Avengers series by writer Al Ewing I thought it was a damned shame that a woman of color had been such and artist Greg Land. “[Monica] was on a list of people Tom Brevoort a major figure and now barely existed, and Marvel paid me to dust off gave me as possibilities for the title, and as a big fan of hers during and re-empower these old properties in the creative library.” her original heyday, in the Roger Stern days of The Avengers, For 12 issues, Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E. told a tale of Monica, I jumped at the chance,” Ewing says. “In fact—my memory’s fuzzy, who as Ellis describes her, was “frustrated. Not fitting in anywhere. but I think she might have been part of the original pitch from Tom, Experienced but disrespected.” His take on Monica caught on and a which would definitely have influenced me to take the job. Not that new audience found out who Monica Rambeau was.

I was ever going to turn down the Avengers.”

end), and needing a new moniker, Fabian thought it would be a good gag for him to once again take over Monica’s title.”

When Monica returned to question Genis-Vell about taking her name again in New Thunderbolts #9 (Aug. 2005), she decided to take a new codename herself and landed on Pulsar. “I’m pretty sure that Fabian came up with Pulsar, and it was just a name that sounded a bit more like what her powers were actually about than Photon,” Brevoort says. “And we didn’t have any particular plans at that point to use her further—she was just the victim of a drive-by name-jacking.

“At the time, there was another idea kicking around for a new iteration of Captain Marvel. But that version wound up never happening, so the Genis name-changing and the Monica name-changing wound up being for nothing, at least at that particular moment.”

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The Three Faces of Monica (top) Monica, as Photon, with Black Cat, Firestar, and Hellcat. Cover art from Marvel Divas #3, by Patrick Zircher. (bottom left) As Pulsar, from Captain Marvel vol. 7 #8, art

by Dexter Soy. (bottom right) As Spectrum, from Mighty Avengers vol. 2 #3, art by Greg Land.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

“I had a short list of characters that I was interested in using,” Tom Brevoort says. “And specifically, the starting goal with Mighty Avengers was to field an Avengers team that was greater than 50% not white males.

We were trying to build a team that could legitimately be called Avengers, but which included a variety of heroes of different ethnicities and backgrounds, wider than most of the Avengers lineups created since the 1960s have been able to be. In doing that, Luke Cage was pretty well a given, in that previously Brian Bendis had made him the heart and soul of the New Avengers and given the character a new lease on life. And Monica, with her strong Avengers association, would help this group of characters to feel like the Avengers on some level, regardless of who the other members turned out to be.”

In Mighty Avengers #1 (Nov. 2013), Monica sped back onto the scene with a tom breevort new codename, Spectrum. “[The name] was the result of what felt like weeks of © Marvel. agonizing,” Ewing recounts. “We wanted a new name—as I recall, something that hadn’t been used by anyone else before, something cool-sounding that brought her power set to mind.

And she couldn’t be just Monica Rambeau any more, she needed an

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THE COSTUMES OF MONICA RAMBEAU In her first appearance, Monica Rambeau races to find a disguise before she goes into action. Being in New Orleans she jumps into a “costume closet” full of Mardis Gras costumes and masks. Monica throws together a costume with all sorts of pieces. The result is a stunning silver suit that looks like more than a mishmash of costume parts.

With John Romitas Senior and Junior discovering the figure and look of Monica Rambeau at a restaurant, all the new Captain Marvel needed was a costume. Romita, Jr. gave Monica a sleek body suit. “It just sort of came out of my head,” Romita, Jr. says. “It was just luck with the boots and the star. The costume had to fit the contour of a woman’s body.

“The cape came from a fashion magazine with a shawl fastened at the wrist,” Romita, Jr. recalls.

“I would look at outrageous Manhattan magazines for the most contemporary designs. The cape connected at the wrist came from a W magazine fashion insider.”

The costume remained unchanged for years, with only Monica’s hairstyle changing.

Stuart Immonen would give Monica a new look [shown here] that made a lasting impression in Nextwave. “Editor Nick Lowe asked for the entire team to receive costume updates,” Immonen says. “Apart from wanting to modernize her look with dreadlocks, I did not have any specific influences.

“Each of the characters [in Nextwave] retained some element from their traditional look, and Monica’s silver skin suit was no exception,” Immonen adds.

“The coats [Nextwave wore] were part of the ridiculous excesses of the ’90s mandate.”

When Monica returned in Mighty Avengers, her costume got a makeover. “Greg Land supplied a number of costume designs,” Al Ewing says. “I fell in love with the one we ended up picking because of the negative space—the way the starburst was picked out in white against the black parts of the costume really caught my attention.”

In Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #7 (June 2015), elements from the Nextwave costume changed Spectrum’s look. The return of the trench coat and dreadlocks brought out an aggressive side of Spectrum.

“As of Ultimates … the coat and dreads are here to stay,” Ewing says.

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© Marvel. Art courtesy of Stuart Immonen.

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actual codename. And it turns out picking great codenames is harder than it looks.

“There was something like a solid fortnight of hurling names at each other, most of which were kind of bleh, especially the ones I thought up. We ended up circling around a couple, with Spectrum as a notable frontrunner. That ended up as one of [the] two final possibilities (the other option was Challenger)—we had to bite the bullet and pick a name and there was no more time to wrack our brains trying. I argued for Spectrum because of the thing it reminded me of, science. Spectrum is a word that I’ll always associate with science and the future.”

“I’m comfortable with her as Spectrum,” Brevoort adds. “The best codename she’s ever had is certainly Captain Marvel, but I’m sure that I had the same reaction as a reader that a number of readers did, that she wasn’t legitimately Captain Marvel. And I don’t know that Monica ever quite found the story that dispelled that stigma, in the way that Carol Danvers now has.”

The events of Nextwave did inform the direction Ewing took Spectrum in the Mighty Avengers series.

“Nextwave had a troubled history in terms of continuity— it wasn’t supposed to be strictly in continuity, at least when it ended,” Ewing says. “But then other writers liked the new interpretations of the characters so much … with various lines being thrown out about what actually happened. So suddenly, Nextwave was in continuity … but not quite in continuity.

And I ended up playing with that a bit—the idea that something happened to Monica that wasn’t quite in sync with the rest of the universe, and she’d come back from it a little more hard-edged, and a little weirder, and she’d spent a few years al ewing trying to process it and now she was kind of in denial.

“I like the kick-ass-ness of [Ellis’ Monica],” Ewing adds. “I like that he put her firmly in charge again.

I’m a fan of the coat and the slight hard edge he gave her, and that comic generally was a lot of fun to read. That said, I think it was time for Monica to move past it, just because she’s too good a character to be tied to one interpretation forever. And hopefully we’re doing that now.”

The Spectrum codename is here to stay. As Ewing says, “I feel we’re asking for trouble if she changes her name again at any point in the next ten to 15 years, because she’s picked up a reputation as someone who can’t hold a codename down.

The writer in me did immediately think of a scenario where she could be Captain Marvel again … but I think at this point it’s more important to look forward for the character than hanker for past glories.”

In Mighty Avengers (Nov. 2013–Nov. 2014) and the follow-up Captain America and the Mighty Avengers (Jan.–Aug. 2015), Monica became the field leader of the Avengers again. For the first time in two decades, she is a focal point in Avengers-themed stories. Ewing continues to write Spectrum in Ultimates, with

A Monica Moment Courtesy of writer Al Ewing, his plot and script for page 13 of July 2014’s Mighty Avengers vol. 2 #10 (the page was scripted for issue #11, as noted, but ended up in issue #10). Also shown is a scan of that published page, drawn by Greg Land and Jay Leisten.

Special thanks to David Suiter for the scan.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Kenneth Rocafort as the artist; this team is fixing problems that affect the Earth and the universe as a whole on a bigger scale than the Avengers usually tackle.

In 2016, Marvel Comics is more diverse than ever. In the 1980s, Monica Rambeau had stood out as a strong African-American woman appearing with Marvel’s top super-team. As she was cast aside over the years, either due to writers not knowing what to do with her powers or not having any particular affinity for the character, her status was dramatically changed. But now, as Marvel is featuring more and more heroes who are women with different ethnic backgrounds, Monica Rambeau fits right alongside them and is finding new life. Stern and Romita’s Captain Marvel was just about three decades ahead of her time.

DAVID SUITER is the Hollywood Comic Books Examiner for Examiner.com. Based in Los Angeles, he hopes that one day Roger Stern can finally do a solo Monica Rambeau series with John Romita, Jr.

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In the 1982 film Blade Runner, it is said that the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. With that philosophy in mind, from time to time there is a short-lived burst of excellence, still fondly remembered decades after its initial debut.

Somerset Holmes is not only a comic-book story, but represents a moment in time when three comic-book creators—Bruce Jones, April Campbell, and Brent Anderson— managed to capture lightning in a bottle.

TM

PACIFIC THEATER The six-issue miniseries was initially published by Pacific Comics, which Steve and Bill Schanes had launched in the 1970s first as a retail outlet, then as a distributor.

In 1981, as the direct market solidified, the brothers chose to dip the company’s toes into publishing. Several high-profile comic-book creators, such as Jack Kirby and Mike Grell, signed with Pacific, contributing to the growing “creator-owned” business model.

David Scroggy, who had helped launch Pacific’s publishing business, approached Bruce Jones, who was writing Marvel Comics’ Ka-Zar series with April Campbell. “I guess he liked my writing,” Bruce says, referring to creepy horror stories he’d written for Warren Publishing. “I think the anthology stuff and the episodic stuff was the stuff I did the best. I didn’t have a lot of interest in superheroes. I just thought that’s what I did well; it’s what I read as a kid.”

Scroggy asked Bruce if he’d be interested. “I said that I would if I could do the sort of stuff I wanted to do.

And to my amazement, he agreed.”

As Bruce Jones Associates, Bruce and wife April Campbell wrote and packaged such titles as Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds for Pacific, which Bruce describes as one of the easiest and most fun companies to work for: “Part of that had to do with our proximity, I guess. We were living in San Diego. There was a lot of excitement that year, a lot of electricity, a lot of willingness to try something crazy and fun, and we had a good time with it. We were all young, and there was that corporate haze that hangs over the bigger publishers, and editorial interference.”

Such creative liberty opened the door to the development of Somerset Holmes, which evolved from Bruce and April’s interest in the mystery/thriller genre. “We were also trying to make a comic that was Hitchcockian in the way it unfolded,” says April Campbell. “It seemed like an interesting idea to try to do that. We hadn’t seen that done in comics before, so we were basically writing a Hitchcock film when working on Somerset. That’s where the mystery and suspense comes in.”

Somerset Holmes is a story of a woman suffering from amnesia. Unable to recall her own name, she christens

by

Who’s That Girl?

The amnesiac heroine’s adventures begin.

Cover to Somerset Holmes #1 (Sept. 1983).

Cover art by Brent Anderson (and Al Williamson, on the “Cliff Hanger” backup feature).

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

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Philip Schweier

herself after a housing development advertised on a billboard. As she begins to piece together the few sparse clues to her past, her investigation leads her down a dangerous path, but somehow, she possesses the skill set to defend herself more than adequately.

April says, “We just tried to write something we would be interested in reading. We weren’t really targeting any one audience. We just thought if we loved it, then they’d love it.”

However, Bruce regards the process as a two-edged sword. “We wanted to do something different, but we were also under the gun because, you know, it could’ve backfired. Luckily for us it didn’t, but that’s always a risk you take.”

Joining Bruce and April on the project was Brent Anderson, with whom they had previously worked on Ka-Zar. “We had a good working relationship and liked him as a friend, and he was available at the time, so it was kind of a no-brainer,” explains Bruce.

Bruce and Brent were introduced by Marvel editor Louise Simonson—affectionately known as “Weezie”— who had worked with Bruce at Warren Publishing.

She had also seen Brent’s work on some fill-ins, and offered him Ka-Zar. Despite initial hesitation, he accepted the assignment. According to Brent, Weezie had a feeling he and Bruce would have a lot in common, and when talking over ideas for Ka-Zar, they hit it off.

It was this relationship that led to his participation in Somerset Holmes.

Though Brent admits his memory may be a bit off, he remembers visiting Bruce in Kansas, where Bruce and April were living before moving out to southern California.

“Bruce invited me to Kansas to stay at his house,” Anderson says. “As I recall, we started talking about our mutual interest in the comic strip Modesty Blaise by Peter O’Donnell.”

In the course of these discussions, Bruce showed him a vampire nourish photo novel he and April had been working on entitled Dime Novel. It was a graphic novel fotoromanzi, as photo comics are called in Italy. Bruce and April modeled for characters in the story.

“So we started talking about these different projects, like maybe I could do a graphic-novel version of Dime Novel,” says Brent. “One thing led to another and we decided we wanted to continue the conversation when I got back to New York. We did, talking off and on about what we’d like to do.”

In early development, Bruce and Brent discussed a concept similar to Modesty Blaise, featuring a strong female lead caught up in a world of deceit and intrigue.

Brent recalls it was Bruce who wanted to call the series Somerset, maybe in tribute to Somerset Maugham.

“The word ‘Somerset’ had a soap-operatic quality to it.

There was something universal in the title both Bruce and I liked. It was romantic and intriguing and gauzy, dreamlike.

“I think it was my suggestion to have her name herself after the billboard,” recalls Brent, “which was not a particularly original idea, having been done many times in literature and film before I thought of using the trope.”

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Coming Soon (left) Anderson’s cinematic storytelling is clearly on view in this Pacific Comics house ad for the Somerset Holmes miniseries. (right) Behind the scenes of the new series, from this Pacific text page.

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

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Solicitous Silhouette Stark imagery and an effective use of white space make this house ad for Somerset Holmes #2 (from the back of issue #1) a standout. (inset) Issue #3’s cover.

However, the Schanes’ brothers thought the title was a little vague, which is why the “Holmes” was attached to it. Brent relates that after Somerset Holmes #1 (Sept. 1983) was released, the Sherlock Holmes Society inquired whether there was any fictional connection between Sherlock and Somerset.

TEAMWORK According to Brent Anderson, from the outset Somerset Holmes was to be a Hitchcock movie translated to comics.

He wanted to explore the similarities and differences between adapting the visual film narrative to a comicbook narrative and back again; and which techniques worked in the translation, which ones didn’t. “I found there are moments of storytelling unique to comics that can’t be translated to film,” he says, citing a sequence of panels where Somerset rushes to catch a key—a major clue to her identity—on top of a moving train.

Both Bruce and April are quick to praise their collaborator. “We had a good rapport in terms of the

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

cinemagraphics of the thing and making it look like a film,” says Bruce, “but still be a comic book without looking like it was trying to be a film. Brent really got that. He followed directions well, is basically what it comes down to, and I followed his lead when necessary.

All three of us really worked well together.”

“We did,” adds April. “We clicked as a team.”

Bruce continues. “The Schanes were the publishers, Brent was the artist, we were the writers. We all did our jobs, but it worked out wonderfully because we were friends, and we respected each other’s work, so we were open to ideas, and Brent had a lot of good ideas.

We were happy to steal them from him every time he opened his mouth.

“With Somerset Holmes, April and I would talk through some of the chapters, and Brent was there in San Diego with us, so it was handy to have him involved. Actually, I think he moved out there for that reason. We were great pals and we ran around together. He’d come over, and we’d build a fire and talk. We had a general idea, and I think everybody had some input into it.”

The team chose to replicate the photographic process previously used in Dime Novel. Most of the reference photos were taken by Brent, but on occasion he would step in and be a model briefly and Bruce would take the pictures.

Anderson is unable to recall who suggested the idea of having April pose as Somerset. “We certainly put her through the ringer,” he says. “I had her hanging off staircases, jumping, running, and, at one point, hanging by her hands from a stall in Pacific Comics’ warehouse bathroom with her gams wrapped around Bruce’s neck!”

Including photography to the creative process added to their already considerable workload, and meeting deadlines became a greater challenge. According to April, Brent rose to the challenge.

“Brent stayed on deadline and because we photographed each panel, basically, that was probably where most of the time went,” she explains.

“Just getting together, wrangling people to be photographed, and Brent was very painstaking about how he interpreted the photograph. It was a lot of work, but I don’t remember him ever missing a deadline.”

“Brent also had a great shorthand with us,” adds Bruce. “Sometimes I give hard and fast directions because I knew exactly what I wanted, but with Brent, sometimes he wouldn’t do exactly that, but it was always better.

I was never disappointed. He had tremendous input.

He’s a very inventive guy, and he was young and was continued on page 53

All Aboard! (opposite page and following) April Campbell and Bruce Jones posed for an extensive series of reference photos for Brent Anderson for this riveting train sequence on pages 5–11 of Somerset Holmes #3. Special thanks to Brent for sharing these photos, and to Philip Schweier for the scans from the comic.

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

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very excited about the whole thing. That’s half the battle, just getting someone who’s really into it, and he was.”

“Bruce would write each script completely, along with what was going on in each panel,” explains April.

“That was the way he worked, and he does that with all his writing. So Brent would start out with the complete script, each panel, all the dialogue, everything. And sometimes toward the end Brent would help us plot the stories so we would have interesting things for him to draw that would also keep to the spine of the story.”

According to Bruce, they tried very hard to hook readers with an original idea, and with a cliffhanger ending to the first issue. “We also knew where we were going in terms of where the book would end.”

HOLLYWOOD BOUND As scripts came in, Brent found the story intriguing issue to issue. “I didn’t know what Bruce and April were going to do in the next issue. They hadn’t given me an overall outline on where the story was going or anything. They just surprised me like they used to do with Ka-Zar. I was

always delighted with that surprise.”

However, as more of Somerset’s past was revealed, it became evident to Brent that Bruce and April had the character headed for Hollywood. “I still envisioned her as a globetrotting super-spy or agent or something, so I was as surprised as the reader by the direction Bruce and April were taking.”

Brent recalls feeling disappointed that the mysterious Somerset Holmes turned out to be a former Hollywood stunt woman, driven to the edge of sanity by the death of her child. Her psyche in fragments, she is easily manipulated by shadowy people. “This was a far cry from the adventurous fantasy woman I had first envisioned.”

Brent says he failed to realize that Bruce and April were crafting a complicated psychological thriller, in lieu of a much more mundane retelling of Modesty Blaise or a distaff version of James Bond. “I was being a little dense at the time, and have come to appreciate what Bruce and April were attempting to do. They recognized a good shot at breaking into Hollywood with Somerset Holmes where I didn’t.”

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

According to writer Bruce Jones, when developing Somerset Holmes, it was determined the page load was more than artist Brent Anderson could handle. To help fill the book out, he crafted rollicking great tale straight out of the Saturday afternoon serials.

“My first exposure to those was on TV,” he says, “although I did get to see at least one serial in the theater when I was kid, but by then they were pretty much over with. They used to run them as filler on TV back in the day; that’s where I caught them. I didn’t know a Columbia serial from the Republic, but I did enjoy them, sitting in front of the TV set every Saturday morning.”

The backup feature, appropriately titled “Cliff Hanger,” tells the story of Jill Masterson, a young woman flying over the South American jungle in a quest for her missing scientist father. Engine trouble forces her to land—crash, actually—and she is rescued from the jungle denizens by Cliff Hanger, soldier of fortune.

By his own admission, Cliff is an expert marksman, expert pilot, expert tracker, and expert mechanic. Naturally, Jill latches onto that last part, and between the two of them, they hope to get at least one of their airplanes in working condition. But a sudden flash flood send both of them scurrying to safety. Chapter 1 ends just as the raging waters are about to overtake them.

Bruce cites the struggle of hiring an artist who could hit deadlines.

“I wanted to get an old friend that I knew would come through for me.

So I called Al Williamson and asked him if he would be interested.”

Williamson was also fan of the old Republic serials. “I knew he loved them, so that was part of the reason why I thought of him.

That’s kind of what we were striving for. It’s hard to do in comics, but we were trying to capture that flavor.”

To reinforce the tribute to old serials, Bruce remembers wanting Al to sort of replicate the Republic logo, which is an eagle standing on top of a mountain. “Pacific Comics’ logo was a seagull, so I was trying to express to him to make it look like the Republic logo while avoiding any copyright problems. He tried, but I think he missed that. We used a seagull, but it was nothing like the Republic logo. So that was the end of that homage.”

As the story progresses, Jill Masterson and Cliff Hanger become the typical heroic couple—at odds at first but soon partners in a grand adventure. They could easily be compared to Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Eve Tozer and Patrick O’Malley in High Road to China, two adventure films released in the early 1980s.

Like Raiders, it is soon revealed that Nazis are the villains, with a crafty plot to invade the United States. Together, Jill and her “sidekick” expose the plot while escaping various deathtraps, and in the course of it all, manage to locate her missing father along the way.

Each chapter, like the serials to which they allude, is dense on action and plot development, and is sure to please fans of the old chapter plays—if they can find it. After its run in Somerset Holmes, the only time “Cliff Hanger” has been published was in the book Al Williamson Adventures (2003) from ISG. “They had the foresight to run it in between the other work that Al did,” says Bruce. “So it still kind of worked as a serial.”

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“Cliff Hanger” page from Somerset Holmes #3. Cliff Hanger © Bruce Jones and Al Williamson.

CLIFF HANGER (OR, THE ADVENTURES OF JILL MASTERSON)

Bruce and April had focused on Somerset Holmes and its development as a comic book in the San Diego/Los Angeles area, in the hope of eventually working their way into the film industry. Edward Pressman, who had produced such diverse films as Conan the Barbarian and Wall Street, took an option on Somerset Holmes. “During that time is when April said, ‘This is our ticket to Hollywood,’ ” says Brent. “I didn’t see it as a ticket to anywhere. I just saw it as a comic book.”

“One thing it did do was it kind of introduced us,” says April. “We turned Somerset into a screenplay and our agent used the screenplay to send to different producers. It kind of introduced us as thriller writers to Hollywood, so a lot of the assignments we got were mysteries and thrillers and things like that, even though we wrote comedy and all kinds of other scripts. That seemed to be our specialty after that.”

This reputation led to writing positions on The Hitchhiker, HBO’s first TV series.

“We were hired, on staff, and we were on a full schedule and it was the beginning of not having time for anything else,” she says.

POST–PACIFIC April regards Somerset Holmes as one of the easiest projects they ever did, saying it seemed to come together rather magically. “We all worked hard on it, but there could have been so many more problems with it and we just seemed to be blessed that things went so smoothly.”

Unfortunately, that smooth journey came to an abrupt stop when Pacific Comics folded its publishing business. Revenue was eroded by increasing debt from its distributor arm, eventually ending all Pacific Comics publishing in 1984.

Brent claims Marvel Comics essentially de-funded Pacific Comics (the publisher) by calling in debts owed by Pacific Comics (the distributor). “Marvel traditionally granted a grace period to distributors to roll the debt over month-to-month,” he explains, “but they stopped that practice when Pacific Comics became a competitor on the retail racks.”

Marvel demanded Pacific Comics Distributors (PDC) pay its past-due Marvel direct sale accounts immediately. Unable to pay all the past-due bills in one month, PCD had no choice but to stop publication and liquidate the distributorship.

“It was a terrible thing for Marvel to do to a former distribution ally and new competitor,” Brent says.

“It was an unfair competitive business tactic that proved bad for the innovative talent relationships toward creator-ownership that Pacific Comics had championed.

Bruce Jones Associates had this contract with Pacific to produce these great comic books—Alien Worlds and Twisted Tales and Somerset Holmes. And the whole bottom fell out of it.”

Somerset Holmes #4 (Apr. 1984) was the final chapter published by Pacific.

When it was announced that publisher was folding, many of its titles found new homes with other publishers. “I appreciate cat yronwode and Dean Mullaney at Eclipse Comics for publishing the final two issues of Somerset Holmes,” Brent says.

“Cat just loved the book. She really wanted to see it finished out. Bruce and April were not going to put all this effort into a project and then have it not get finished, like what happened with Dime Novel. They put a lot of effort into that but it didn’t go anywhere. They were still struggling with the movie options and trying to maintain interest in that. So the decision was made that somebody needed to finish [Somerset], and Eclipse was in a position to do that.”

“Eclipse made us an offer, it sounded pretty good at the time,” explains Bruce.

“We had issues to fulfill and people to pay and wanted to continue it. And one of the offers included they wanted to do it as a graphic novel when it was completed, so that was a big incentive.”

“And they let us have our freedom, just as Pacific had,” adds April. “Eclipse was very willing to let us go ahead and do what we were doing before, and cat was very cooperative about that. They did a good job on the graphic novel, so we were very pleased with them.”

However, by the time Eclipse picked up Somerset Holmes, Brent had moved on to other projects, his enthusiasm diminished by the collapse of Pacific Comics.

“It was really disillusioning and saddening because at the same time, Hollywood’s

Key Moments (top) The key, as seen on page 9 of Somerset Holmes #4 (Apr. 1984), can potentially unlock the past for our puzzled protagonist. (bottom) A moment of truth. From the final issue, #6 (Dec. 1984), page 3.

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

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Total Eclipse Somerset Holmes was concluded by Eclipse Comics after Pacific Comics ceased their publishing enterprise. Covers to the final two issues, #5 and 6, by Brent Anderson.

Somerset Holmes © Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson.

interest in it as a comic book, and adapting it into a movie or TV series, was waning. It was losing its gravitas in Hollywood because of these things. It was really disappointing, and from there, between issues #4 and 5, I had pushed on to other things. So I just needed to finish out the story as quickly as I could.”

Eclipse published Somerset Holmes #5 and 6 (Nov. and Dec. 1984).

With the completion of the series, the three collaborators all moved on to other projects. Brent returned to Marvel Comics, where he worked on a number of titles, most notably Strikeforce: Morituri. Bruce and April pursued careers in Hollywood, where they were staff writers for The Hitchhiker and the animated Dennis the Menace series, among others.

“We’d already moved to Los Angeles by then,” Bruce says, “and were getting into writing for television and film, taking meetings, running around like big execs playing the game. It got to the point where we knew we had to do one or the other. You can’t do too much work. So the change was more with us than the comics.”

As expected, Eclipse published the collected Somerset Holmes saga in both soft- and hardcover versions, featuring a cover by Brent, minus a key (literally) Somerset element. “I had planned to have the key dangling from her wrist in the foreground just below the smoking pistol, but neglected to paint it in! I wonder what was going on with me there.

To this day, when someone at a show brings me a copy of the collection to sign, and I have a silver or gold metallic pen, I draw in the key!”

“We’re always surprised at how many fans Somerset Holmes had, and how many young men grew up on it and loved Somerset,” says April. “It’s kind of amazing when somebody says, ‘I read that when I was 12,’ or ‘I read that when I was 17, and I loved it.’ So—” “—I think it was April they loved,” interjects Bruce.

A RETURN…?

Somerset Holmes remains one of the highlights of Brent’s career. “I learned so much about cinematic storytelling, and developed lifelong friendships with Bruce and April, who collectively taught me more about writing and storytelling in comics than anyone else in the industry.

Those were the ‘salad days,’ and I wouldn’t trade that experience away for anything.”

He believes Somerset Holmes was a bit ahead of its time as a comicbook genre. “Which is kind of funny, because Somerset Holmes wouldn’t

have been that unusual back before Frederic Wertham and the superhero/bigfoot era of comics.”

Anderson is currently working to reprint Somerset Holmes in what he refers to as an expanded “Director’s Cut” edition. Plans include new scans from the original artwork and digital coloring, using the original comics as color guides. Advances in digital image manipulation will be utilized to good filmic effect to enhance the film-to-comic presentation.

“I insist the book be re-colored because the coloring techniques— especially in a book about the film industry—are far more advanced because of the computer,” Brent says. “I don’t want to lose the comic quality either, so my interest in having it re-colored is to slicken it up a little bit, make it a bit more like a movie. I know what can work in translating comics to film and film into comics, but replicating that kind of imagery is really not my goal. My goal is to just play around with the slick quality of the color, as opposed to the actual techniques.

“I’m very excited about returning to this project, if only to provide a satisfying end to the story and get some closure on the character for myself.”

He has also asked Bruce and April to be involved in adding new story material, inspired by the question, “Whatever happened to Somerset Holmes?” Currently, Bruce and April have left Hollywood behind, returning to Kansas, where Bruce has been writing novels.

For the past decade, Brent has been drawing Kurt Busiek’s Astro City for Wildstorm and Vertigo at DC Comics. “As far as looking for something new as get older and all that, I will admit that had Kurt Busiek not shown up with this new take, this new slant, this Marvel-inspired proposition to create a separate but complete superhero universe, I would have been long gone out of superhero comics.”

But he insists he would never retire from comics entirely. “I love ’em too much. They’ll find me slumped over my drawing board from a heart attack at the age of 100, over an unfinished comic-book story, I’m sure.”

PHILIP SCHWEIER is a graphic designer and freelance writer living in Savannah, Georgia.

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Worlds will live. Worlds will die.

From those words came the Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics’ 50th anniversary event that intended to merge DC’s multiverse into a singular positive-matter universe, streamlining 50 years of continuity and offering a fresh start. As a result, as Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and I sat down in 1984 to figure out how to actually achieve that goal, we knew we’d be visiting all of DC’s best-known Earths in addition to introducing a brand-new parallel world, Earth-Five, home to the recently acquired Charlton Action Heroes.

As the story took shape, we instinctively knew that new heroes needed to arise and become fixtures in the revamped DC Universe. The story evolved and changed over 1984, but as we moved to the close of the first act, we knew one of those new players needed to be introduced, and that is when Earth-Six, home of Lady Quark, was conceived.

AN ELECTRIFYING DEBUT

by

Robert Greenberger

Queen with No Kingdom The L.E.G.I.O.N.-era Lady Quark, as illustrated by Steve Lightle for Who’s Who in the DC Universe #14 (Nov. 1991).

TM & © DC Comics.

By the time the actual issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths was being plotted, Len moved on to focus more on Who’s Who and George Pérez stepped in to begin bringing his considerable storytelling skills to the loose structure.

If memory serves, it was George who visualized in his mind Lady Quark’s world of Electropolis, while Marv decided to go less for archetypes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman but wanted an entirely fresh world, bringing us to the king and queen of the land. Karak (Lord Volt) and Tashana (Lady Quark) were the world’s rulers, swinging into action to save lives as the Crisis’ anti-matter wave wreaked havoc. It is suggested this is a world that saw England prevail in the Revolutionary War. We were given the briefest glimpse of Earth-Six, but Pérez delivered a promising, high-tech world, unlike any parallel Earth visited by that time.

Continuing the visual variety, Pérez opted for something involved for Lord Volt, but then went streamlined for his consort. At the time, Annie Lennox was just gaining fame as one half of the rock duo the Eurhythmics, and her buzz-cut hairstyle and angular face served as his inspiration for Lady Quark. Her yellow unitard seemed awfully plain as a battlesuit, but once she engaged her power, it crackled with coruscating red energies—a different look for a heroine and a color TM scheme that would differentiate her in the crowd of heroes to come. Their daughter, Liana (Princess Fern), was in a more flowing, younger style in natural colors befitting her own gifts.

Karak/Lord Volt spotted Pariah, the alien cursed to be present as a universe was in its death throes. While Karak controlled electrical energies, his spouse harnessed nuclear power, and their daughter, Liana, was gifted with control over nature. None of those admirable skills prevented wholesale destruction and the princess was the first of the royal family to lose her life. As he mourned, Lord Volt followed and Pariah managed to envelop the grief-stricken Tashana in his cloak, whisking her to another reality as her universe vanished.

Unlike the New Teen Titans’ Kole, who Marv created specifically to die in the Crisis, the powerful Lady Quark was always intended to survive the event, adding her to the new roster of champions. And power she had.

Lady Quark could harness nuclear energies, released in controlled bursts.

This enabled her to fly and, as later learned, survive the vacuum of space.

Unfortunately, with so many plot threads going on, her adjustment to the multiverse-wide calamity and agreement to work with other champions happened off-panel. After her brief introduction in Crisis #4, she doesn’t play a role again until the opening pages of issue #7, chatting with Fireman Farrell, acknowledged as an Earth-One stalwart from the pages of Showcase #1, a fitting juxtaposition.

She is therefore present, a representative of a now-dead universe, to hear the origins of the Monitor and Anti-Monitor and Pariah’s role in the cosmic events. Upon learning that her savior was also the inadvertent architect of the Crisis, she seethed, ready to kill him to avenge her family and world. Instead, she became part of the most powerful task force ever assembled to take down the Anti-Monitor.

Sometime later, a calmer although no less bitter queen discusses Pariah with Diana Prince. She admits, “…though I may someday forgive Eighties

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him for that dark deed, I will never forget.”

Saving the universe seemed to help heal her thinking in short order, because at the end of issue #12, she and Pariah have agreed that they should stick together as outcasts on a new world, ready to explore.

They invite Lyla, the former Harbinger, to join them on their exploration.

She tells them, “I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring.”

Neither could the readers. With a new Wildcat, a blind Amethyst, and other heroes assuming new roles on the unified Earth, the possibilities seemed endless.

LIFE AFTER CRISIS However, as recounted in BACK ISSUE #82, nowhere near enough time had been devoted by DC’s editorial staff to charting the paths of the new additions to the world. Instead, lots of dangling threads were there to be plucked and used, discarded, tied together, or plain ignored.

Marv and I, though, felt particular loyalty to Pariah, Lady Quark, and Harbinger, so we took it upon ourselves to figure out where they could or should appear next. With the Superman team-up title DC Comics Presents about to be canceled, making way for the John Byrne and Wolfman revamp of Superman, retiring editor Julie Schwartz was open to making his final DCCP issues tie in as best he could. When I pitched using the Pariah/Lady Quark/Harbinger trio as co-stars, he gruffly nodded in agreement. Since I, in partnership with Barbara Randall (now Kesel), had previously sold a Superman tale to Julie for Action Comics, it made sense we team up once more. And so our Crisis-created threesome teamed with Superman in DCCP #94 (June 1986).

There was little to go on beyond those Crisis issues, and we weren’t exactly setting them up for some scheduled next appearance, so this was intended as a placeholder of sorts. For dialogue, we only had Marv’s approach to work from. He had Lady Quark going from an angry, bitter queen to someone who has quickly accepted her circumstances, and we wrote Tashana with that in mind.

In the story, “The Challenge of the Volt Lord,” on a visit to Metropolis, the trio are interviewed on television by Clark Kent. The show’s producer, Eric Courtney, bears a striking resemblance to Karak, and Tashana realizes how lonely she has been. The two begin a whirlwind romance while Harbinger and Pariah take in the sights. It eventually emerges that Courtney is a super-powerful criminal with the less-than-great name Volt Lord, but his energies are enough to give Superman a run for his money. The former ruler is drawn to Courtney’s power and briefly considers switching allegiances until she comes to her senses and delivers the energy blast that finally takes down Volt Lord. The story, under an excellent Pérez cover, was a little overstuffed, but had nice bits for the Man of Steel and helped reflect the new Earth for readers’ benefits. I recall being disappointed at some of Julie’s heavy-handed rewriting of the dialogue, but apparently that was par for the course.

Julie assigned the artwork to New Talent Showcase graduate Tom Mandrake for the pencils, pairing him with veteran Don Heck, whose inks tended to overwhelm the pencil work. Overall it was an okay one-off, certainly far from memorable compared with what else was coming out at the time. However, we thought it did its main job, keeping the characters before the readers.

A QUEEN WITH NO THRONE

Separated at Birth?

George Perez’s Lady Quark illo from 1986’s Who’s Who #13. Notice a similarity between Tashana and (inset) singer Annie Lennox?

Lady Quark TM & © DC Comics. Eurythmics Touch © 1983 RCA Records.

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Without an editor or writer to take ownership of the character, Lady Quark vanished from sight after that appearance. While Harbinger got snagged

by Steve Englehart for New Guardians, Pariah and Tashana were orphaned.

It was probably Roger Stern’s idea to use Lady Quark in Starman, but I jumped at the chance to see her again. After all, it had been nearly three years since she last saw print, so there she was, romancing Will Payton, on the cover of Starman #8 in 1989.

We find her at a Los Angeles newsstand, catching up with her doings, and her dialogue with Pariah implies she has been off-world, “battling alien oppressors,” a direct reference to the recently concluded Invasion! crossover.

Interestingly, Roger re-characterizes her not as a woman grieving for her losses, but as a queen ready to make her mark on the world.

Her first order of business is having a consort, someone to rule Earth with.

She decides on Starman, whose exploits during her absence convince her he

Earth-Six Deep-Sixed (top) Lady Quark and Pariah witness the death of Lord Volt in this sequence from Crisis on Infinite Earths #4. By Wolfman/Pérez/ DeCarlo. (bottom) Can you find Tashana in George Pérez’s character-packed cover to Crisis’ climactic 12th issue?

TM & © DC Comics.

might fit the bill. Lady Quark goes on a Phoenix television show to announce her desire to meet him. When that fails, she creates a visual mark sure to catch his attention.

Starman knows nothing of her, gaining his powers after the Crisis, which allows Roger to recap for newer readers. She then throws her arms around him and says, “Your world’s society is tragically, destructively fragmented.

If it is to survive, it must be unified under a single absolute monarchy. Starman, I can save this world from itself—but I cannot do it alone. Join me … rule with me!

You and I can found a new dynasty on Earth!”

While flattered, this is far more than Starman bargained for, but Lady Quark hangs around, belittling his efforts to help the common man without meting out harsh justice. When he finally reminds her this is Earth, not her world. He gets past her veneer and the sad, lonely woman appears. Preferring to stay strong, she flies off, saying, “If I am to make this world mine—I must do so without you!” At that, Starman ponders what their next meeting might be like.

Her desire to rule Earth and a second meeting between the two was not to be. What Roger set up— Lady Quark being a potential anti-hero in the Sub-Mariner mode—was never touched upon by others. Likely this had more to do with benign neglect than an overt rejection of the approach.

More than a year passes before LQ resurfaces, and then she’s no longer on Earth. Instead, she is out in space and winds up being targeted by Vril Dox, who covets her immense power for use with L.E.G.I.O.N. (Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network). The team was a result of the events from Invasion! and their series debuted as L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89, running 70 issues and ending its run as L.E.G.I.O.N. ’94.

While creator credits goes to Invasion!’s Bill Mantlo, Keith Giffen, and Todd McFarlane for introducing us to the motley aliens imprisoned on Starlag by the coalition of aliens attempting to attack Earth, the real work on turning them into a team of interesting characters fell to L.E.G.I.O.N.’s Giffen, Alan Grant, and Barry Kitson.

Giffen bowed out fairly quickly, leaving Grant and Kitson to chart the team’s course.

QUARKY LOVES DOXY Once Vril Dox, ancestor of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Brainiac 5, uses his newfound allies to rid Colu of the computer tyrants, he sees profit in their work. They form a for-hire law-enforcement operation, signing up client worlds and becoming a direct competitor of sorts to the Green Lantern Corps.

With 1990’s issue #16, Vril Dox has chosen to focus his efforts on recruiting Lady Quark to the team. She is seen out in space, exploring and having adventures, putting Earth and memories of her losses firmly behind her. Somehow, she has fallen prey to intergalactic outlaw Dagon-Ra and is imprisoned for some time.

When L.E.G.I.O.N.’s Lobo goes undercover to scope out

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There has been some speculation offered through the years of the Dagon-Ra’s outfit, he encounters the former queen. Also imprisoned is character’s potential pathways. For example, in L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual #2 Captain Comet, who later plays a role with the team and Lady Quark.

At first, Lady Quark is enticed to aid his mercenary team in taking (1991), Tashana and Vril Dox come together as the Computer Tyrants down the villainous Dagon-Ra, but she winds up becoming a member of Colu are out for revenge, and the former teammates find they work of the team. Two issues later, she’s already eyeing the manipulative very well together.

To me, the pairing seemed like good foils, and Alan Grant agrees, Dox as a new consort.

Cowriter and penciler Barry Kitson is given credit for adding Lady Quark adding, “I think I’d say they were ‘a balance’ for each other. She was someone Dox would have to learn to live with.” to the cast, according to his cowriter Alan Grant. Grant tells BACK ISSUE, For Grant, who knew a little something about powerful “Barry and I used to drive to each other’s houses (about 50 miles) figures given his career writing the likes of Lobo, Judge to co-plot those issues. I think—but am not sure—that it was Dredd, and Batman, Lady Quark was a figure to reckon Barry’s idea to use Lady Quark, because until L.E.G.I.O.N. I with. “She’s a strong, sexy woman—and we felt was unaware of her existence! Barry knows a whole lot she’d fit right in with L.E.G.I.O.N. (with just a few more about comics and comic characters than I do.” rough edges). Also, the fact that she had her own Lady Quark quickly adapted to life in space, unspoken agenda revealed another (perhaps not leaving behind her memories of Earth and bonding so nice) side to her.” with the various members of the team. At one point What she never knew—until it was too late— she proudly proclaimed, “The day that the Empress was that while she first fought Dagon-Ra, her power of Quark can be taken by evil renegades like you is attracted an alien parasite who burrowed into an the day I forswear my royal bloodline, the day I lay unaware Captain Comet, biding its time. The parasite aside my L.E.G.I.O.N. insignia and take up begging used Comet’s mutant mental abilities to begin filling on the streets of Cairn.” So, yeah, she seemed to Tashana’s dreams with nightmares of her dead enjoy being of use across the galaxy. alan grant husband and daughter.

In time, Lady Quark grew jealous when new recruit Courtesy of Comicvine.

When the creature finally made its play for Ig’nea made a play for Dox in issue #32. This all bubbled to a boil a few issues later when Ig’nea was outed as a spy, Tashana Quark, believing that her powerful form could withstand the mating and birth process, L.E.G.I.O.N. rushed to her side. In an arc lasting revealed her feelings for Dox, and abruptly resigned from the team.

“I thought she fit in to the dysfunctional L.E.G.I.O.N. just dandy,” several issues, L.E.G.I.O.N.naire Phase used her abilities to force the alien lifeform out of Comet’s body. It was then tricked to attach itself to Grant says. “A kook like Dox had to put together a weird team. And here biomatter laced with Lady Quark’s DNA. What no one could anticipate, was a team member who secretly dreamed of founding a dynasty.” though, was that the creature’s life-cycle was altered and it turned the matter into a new humanoid form, now possessing powers from both Comet and Lady Quark. With L.E.G.I.O.N. ’92 #47 (Dec. 1992), the storyline ended, but was picked up under new writer Tom Peyer two years later.

LADY QUARK UNPLUGGED In what became the series’ final story arc, Peyer, with artists Arnie Jorgensen and James Pascoe, brought a variety of old threads together, stirring the pot to a terrific boil.

Lady Quark was on Ith’kaa to collect several stranded teammates when the parasite ambushed her. They fought and she was left for dead with the parasite now assuming her form and returning to work with L.E.G.I.O.N., until it turned on Captain Comet. Once more, the parasite thought itself triumphant and also left Comet for dead. Garryn Bek accused Lady Quark of killing Comet and Dox believed Lady Quark’s explanation that it actually died in a quake. Being the suspicious bastard that he was, though, Dox asked Telepath to scan her mind for verification.

The parasite sensed the probe and turned on Telepath, threatening his life should he reveal the deception. Telepath lied to Dox but did confide the truth to Marij’n, although neither could do anything about it since that was when Vril Dox’s son, Lyrl, brainwashed the team, member by member, for his own purposes. What he did not count on was the parasite was immune to the attempt, but instead went into a

In the Company of the Queen (left) With Pérez-Pulse (can we start using that like we do “Kirby-Krackle”?), LQ’s comeback in DC Comics Presents #94 (June 1986). (inset) Kiss me, you fool! Tom Lyle’s cover to Starman #8 (Mar. 1989).

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Lady L.E.G.I.O.N.naire (left) Garry Leach’s blazingly beautiful Quark-a-rific cover to L.E.G.I.O.N. ’90 #22 (Dec. 1990). (right) Barry Kitson’s rendition of Lady Quark, from an early 1990s DC trading card.

TM & © DC Comics.

world now assigned as Earth-48. Once again, she was married to King Volt, mother to Princess Fern, and they were the ruling family of that planet with hints of Pérez’s high-tech architecture and elements of Warworld tossed in for good measure.

In 2015, DC Comics consolidated its offices to the West Coast and provided readers with Convergence, the two-month event to allow everyone to adjust to the move. The story brought back the multiverse in all its incarnations and saw Telos, an omnipotent being, force many of these worlds to battle for survival. In the twoissue Convergence: Supergirl Matrix, the artificial lifeform created

by Luthor in a parallel world, who eventually became the post–Crisis Supergirl, was back and was pitted against Lady Quark.

In Convergence, Lady Quark and Lord Volt are depicted by writer Keith Giffen as a bickering royal family, delaying either one confronting Supergirl— or Mae to her pals, including the red-maned Luthor, himself a clone of the original (trust me on this). Tashana is very much the alpha in the ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A LADY relationship while Karak comes off as rather fey, very Being comics, she didn’t stay dead. unlike his one appearance in Crisis. It’s implied theirs Instead, it took eleven years before she was was an arranged marriage, although only the royal found and revived by the future leader of the family wields such power on their world. Little Yellow Lanterns himself, Sinestro. In Villains United tom peyer attention, though, was ever given the actual #5 (Nov. 2005), Sinestro is seen locating her under world-building, so much remains to be extrapolated Courtesy Tom Peyer/Facebook. orders from Alex Luthor, Jr., who was seeking survivors and interpreted. of the previous parallel universe as events built toward Infinite Crisis.

“She was … ahh … assigned to me when I How and when she recovered from being dead was never addressed, told [Dan] DiDio to just give me the characters an oversight on the part of the editorial team at the time. no one else wanted. Really,” Giffen admitted Lady Quark is bound to Luthor’s engine, her unique energies to Comicbook.com about how he wound up harnessed to restore the multiverse, but is freed and goes on to join the with Lady Quark. heroes in defeating the madman.

And so ends the queen’s story. For now.

Little is done with her after that, although she is seen in a crowd After all, with all possible realities now up for scene during The Sinestro Corps War, part of the attack against grabs, further exploration of Lady Quark Superboy Prime. She would perform similar services in the subsequent seems warranted. Where and when that may Legion of Three Worlds. Again, she is seen in a crowd shot in Vibe #6, happen remains to be seen. an Easter Egg for the sharp-eyed.

Her story remained unfinished as reality was altered again and Catch up with the latest from writer/editor/educator again. Lady Quark was not seen again until Multiversity, her parallel ROBERT GREENBERGER at bobgreenberger.com. rage. This aroused Vril’s suspicions anew, and once Lyrl’s plan was derailed, he went on investigating. The parasite was destabilized by these events, so when it went into a new rage, Marij’n was ready with a weapon.

One blast and the biomatter was deconstructed and the parasite died.

As the team moved on from this arc, which ran from issues #64–70, no one found Lady Quark’s body and she was briefly mourned by her teammates and largely forgotten by the DC Universe’s creators.

Looking back, Peyer has only warm thoughts about his time writing the Lady: “I liked writing her a lot. Her status as nobility gave her an attitude and a speech pattern no one else in the group had.”

Similar to Stern’s earlier interpretation, Peyer saw her “as a queen who is sadly without her people, but also as someone who is too imperious, by upbringing and by habit. She absurdly expected to be treated like a monarch even though her subjects were all dead.”

Peyer concludes by noting, “I always figured some writer would resurrect Lady Quark. When no one did, I felt terrible about killing her off.”

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TM

I have Daddy issues.

A lot.

This isn’t to say that I don’t also have Mommy issues.

I’m Jewish and I’m breathing, so of course I do. In my case, however, my mother died 31 years before my father, so I had a lot more time to worry about pleasing him.

What does this have to do with Dakota North?

Everything, although I didn’t know it at the time.

Like a lot of other comic-book professionals at the time, I got into comics through journalism. I met Denny O’Neil when I was writing about comics for High Times magazine. Since he was the first writer whose credit I had noticed, way back when writer and artist credits were fairly new, I was completely awed. And, as a freelance writer, I did my best to exploit him.

It turned out that Denny lived down the street from me, and after I begged him a lot, he let me water his plants when he was out of town. This gave me access to his library, and an excuse to call him. I could even drop by his office at Marvel (where he was then an editor) on the excuse that I needed his keys.

At the same time, in late 1979 and through 1980, my husband and I were starting Comedy magazine, in which we aspired to do for humor what Rolling Stone had done for music—demonstrate that it was something to take seriously, worthy of critical analysis. We never made it past the second issue, but we did manage to hire some amazing writers, including Mr. O’Neil, Mark Evanier, Leonard Maltin, and Larry Hama.

Because I knew Denny, we would go to the Marvel offices to use their photocopiers and free long-distance (this was the dark ages before the Internet or even fax machines). When I couldn’t use Denny’s office, I’d find another editor who wasn’t on the phone. This was the way we met Archie Goodwin, who offered us a column in his new magazine, Epic Illustrated. And it was how I saw Larry Hama in action.

Larry and I shared more than a love of comics. We shared a desire to bring the medium we loved to a larger audience. We would have long conversations about Help! magazine and Harvey Kurtzman (about whom Larry had written for Comedy) and whether Wonder Woman could be written to appeal to the millions who watched Charlie’s Angels. We knew that fotonovelas sold millions of copies in the Spanish-speaking world, and they were essentially soap operas as comics, with photographs instead of drawings.

At first, we wanted to make illustrated fotonovelas for an English-speaking audience. With Mary Wilshire, we started to sketch out a format with one panel per page, a book that would be perfect-bound and sold at supermarket checkouts.

That idea got shot down. It’s just as well, because I didn’t have a good idea for a story.

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From Marvel, with Style House ad for Dakota North. Art by Tony Salmons.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Okay, so a soap opera comic wasn’t going to fly.

That kind of setback is not enough to shut me up. This was the mid-1980s, and I was writing about fashion at the time for The Village Voice. I would often complain that women in comics—even those who are supposed to be stylish, like Mary Jane Watson—dressed in ridiculous ways. Their skirts were too short and their heels were too high to run, or even walk down a New York street (we have lots of grates and cobblestones). None of the artists seemed to know the work of the cool designers—people like Betsey Johnson and Norma Kamali and Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaia and Anna Sui. No wonder girls didn’t read comics, I argued. They don’t see themselves or their experiences represented accurately. Not that comics are supposed to be real life.

A bite from a radioactive spider is more likely to kill you than give you superpowers.

Still, Spider-Man was popular because he lived in a world that was recognizable in its details, if not its scientific facts. He rode the subway.

He had trouble with his boss.

Women in comics were there as girlfriends, widowed mothers, or damsels in distress. Sometimes, if they were evil, they would wear low-cut outfits and lots of eye makeup. All of them were obsessed with men, to the exclusion of any other relationship (except, sometimes, mother or daughter to a weak dependent). None of them had lives that looked like mine, or any woman I knew. People went to discos, instead of to the cool clubs, like CBGBs or the Mudd Club. None of them wore smooth geometric dresses with gigantic shoulder pads (my then-favorite outfit).

None of them talked about music or movies or the horrible boss who was making life a living hell.

None of them had jobs that were a big part of their lives.

So I started to think about a woman her with whom I could truly identify. Dakota North would be a wishfulfillment fantasy character, better-looking and bettertrained than me, but she would live in my New York. She would know weapons and martial arts because her father, a widowed CIA agent, made sure she could take care of herself. Discovered by a modeling agent in high school, she had walked runways and graced magazine covers, but she was bored with that life. Instead, she took her savings and started her own security/investigation business.

Her friends would reflect this circle. She had a friend, a police detective. I named the cop Amos Culhane in honor of the Disney animator, Shamus Culhane. In my mind, he looked like a more blue-collar version of Gene Barry in the television show Burke’s Law. The only professional fashion model I knew personally was Norris Church Mailer, who was under contract to the Wilhemina Agency. She was six feet tall and a redhead, and therefore it made perfect sense to me that Dakota would also be six feet tall and redheaded. Since she was married to author Norman Mailer, she had a very glamorous life, and I would have been consumed with jealousy if she hadn’t also been a sweet and funny person.

I knew a few fashion designers, but my favorite (and one of my best friends) was David Freelander. He was tall, with shoulder-length hair, and his mother had challenged him, when he started his business, to make dresses for women with hips. Luke Jacobson (named

after another friend, Mark Jacobson), Dakota’s designer friend and client, was modeled on him.

Mad Dog was named after a nebbish character on The Bob Newhart Show, played by Oliver Clark, who confessed in a group therapy session that he always wanted that nickname. I loved that so much that I used it as a pet name for my husband. Who better to have as an assistant?

Don’t those sound like wonderful, exciting, supportive, and glamorous friends to have? They were certainly people with whom I wanted to spend time. However, there is no drama in such a satisfying life. I needed to throw some kind of wrench into the proceedings.

Hence, the Daddy issues.

At the time, the media loved stories about the group of people dubbed “The Sandwich Generation.” This wasn’t a cabal of mayonnaise fetishists, but people who found themselves trying to live their lives while their parents were getting old and their children needed help at school. Mostly, these people were women. By the mid-1980s, most women had jobs, but were also expected to take care of their kids and their own parents (and, usually, their in-laws).

Dakota didn’t have kids or in-laws, but I could give her a version of these problems. Her father, S. J. North (named after my grandfather, Samuel James Lasser), wasn’t ill, but he could be taken out of the picture for other, more worldthreatening reasons. And he could leave Dakota’s younger Eighties

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Fashionable First Issue (inset) Cover to Dakota North #1 (June 1986). (right) Splash page to issue #1, showing the cast.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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brother Ricky (like Little Ricky on I Love Lucy) with her, thus sticking her with the problems of a mom.

My dad was (thankfully) in good health, but I had a toddler at home, so I felt like I had a window into Dakota’s life. I knew what it felt like to be pulled by competing obligations.

Larry Hama told me that the key to writing comics was to write things that the artist would like to draw.

As a kid, I fancied myself an artist (taking Saturday afternoon classes in pastels and watercolors at the local museum), but soon realized that I didn’t have the right kind of talent. If anything, my rather incoherent drawings made my writing more sharp, as I struggled to explain what my squiggles were supposed to be.

Larry brought in Tony Salmons to be the artist. I had never worked with an artist before on a sequential story, so I was both excited and terrified. In my imagination, we would become best friends.

We would hang out at diners, nursing cups of coffee and creating great stories, me with my notebook and him with his sketchbook.

That didn’t happen. Tony lived in Connecticut, and his phone kept getting cut off. In those pre–Internet days, there weren’t any other ways to reach him.

Wanting to engage my artist, I would fill my stories with scenes I thought would be fun to draw. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Pompidou Center in Paris, the furniture showrooms of Ettore Sottsass—these were all places that delighted my eyes and imagination, and proved that I was hip and au courant. I would bring in my scripts, (sometimes) along with whatever visual references I could find. Larry would tell me that my ideas were the antithesis of what artists wanted to draw. If Tony had a working phone, I would have been able to ask him directly and avoid those humiliating conversations.

There were more problems than my desire to prove my cool. I really didn’t have any idea how to write a graphic story. Sometimes, in one panel, I would have a character kick in the door, punch another character, and leap out the window. I would have pages with ten or 12 panels on each, followed by other pages tony salmons with just two or three panels. I really Callianthus at en.wikipedia. had no idea how to pace a page so that the reader could tell what was happening, or want to continue reading.

Also, I have never been in a physical fight. I can hurl insults with the best of them, and, being Jewish, I can lay on the guilt pretty hard. I cannot, however, throw a

Real-Life Adventures (top) Dakota’s “mommy” issues, from page 12 of DN #1. (center) These heels aren’t made for running! From DN #4, page 2. (bottom) What fabulous friends! From page 13 of issue #5.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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punch, kick someone in the balls, shoot a gun, or use a sword. This is the lifestyle I’ve chosen, and I think it works pretty well. However, it makes it very difficult to write a fight scene. It makes it even more difficult for Dakota North to be a believable bodyguard. No one hires a bodyguard for her biting sarcasm.

Combine my ignorance about staging with my ignorance about action, and you have a very slow writer. It would take me weeks to write a script that a seasoned writer could whip up in a day or so. Worse, my script would have to be rewritten several times, because either there were logical inconsistencies (for example, Larry didn’t like it when a regular character was knocked out because repeated concussions would be devastating, and we might need that person to be believably smart at a later date) or bad pacing or some other crime against the reader.

Then there were technical issues. I was told that there shouldn’t be more than ten words in a balloon, and no more than ten balloons on a page. We can all cite dozens of comics that break these rules, but I think they are, generally, good guidelines. And for me, someone who always wanted to explain everything, it was a challenge to have so few words. If only I had been able to see Alan Moore’s scripts for Watchmen, I might have seen a way to write a lot without needing a lot of words on the page.

Also, I didn’t know where the story was going on from one issue to the next.

Still, there were some memorable moments.

When I showed the first character sketches to the Mailers, Norman said, in admiration, that he wanted to see Dakota naked. Thrilled, I asked him if I could use that as a cover blurb, or in advertising. He refused.

At that point, I explained that he had, essentially, already seen her naked, and was married to her.

Norris was very flattered.

(left) Dakota North strikes a pose on Salmons’ cover to Dakota North #5. (top right) Martha Thomases (right) and an unidentified friend (he sorta looks familiar…). (bottom right) David Freelander, a.k.a.

Luke Jacobson.

Photos courtesy of Martha Thomases.

Dakota North TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

My friend David, the model for Luke Jacobson, was diagnosed with AIDS and died soon after the first issue came out. I wanted to give Luke HIV as well, but was told that no one wanted to read about that in a comic book. I still think it could have been an important storyline, one that could have reached people who thought HIV wasn’t important to them. Would it have saved any lives? I have no idea. At the very least it wouldn’t have hurt anyone. And it would have reflected the environment in which most New Yorkers were living at the time.

I was sitting in Larry’s office, watching my toddler run through the hallway and talking about the plot for the seventh issue, when [editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter came in and told Larry the series was canceled. With the kind of self-control to which I aspire every day, I managed to get home before bursting into tears.

Nearly 20 years later, Christopher Priest (who had, in another life, been Larry’s assistant editor) wanted to use Dakota as a character in his run on Black Panther, and he wanted to be sure he used her correctly. I was incredibly flattered, even more so as he sent more pages for my approval. While Dakota has been in several Marvel stories since the end of her series, this is the only time any writer or editor asked me about her.

My dad is gone, and my toddler is grown, but I still relate to the feeling of being pulled by competing obligations, between what I want to do and what I have to do, and how much I want them to be the same things. I still want to look good in leather pants and ride a motorcycle. I still want to take on bad guys without explaining who I am. These things are constants, and I think they will always resonate with a sizeable audience.

I think there could be a successful Dakota North series. If she was only tall enough, I’d have it star Jenna Coleman.

And also, I’d like to get paid again.

Keep up with MARTHA THOMASES on comicmix.com.

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Quest for Excellence Adam Kubert’s wraparound cover to Comico the Comic Company’s Jezebel Jade #1 (Oct. 1988).

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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Back in 1986, the late, great publisher Comico produced a series of Jonny Quest adventures, scripted by William Messner-Loebs. In 1988, a three-issue miniseries featuring the mysterious supporting character and love interest of Race Bannon, Jezebel Jade, was produced, also written by Messner-Loebs. But rather than Jonny Quest creator Doug Wildey, a new artist by the name of Adam Kubert was brought in. And the rest is history, recounted here, during an interview from October 2, 2015.

– Bryan D. Stroud BRYAN D. STROUD: What was the inspiration behind the Jezebel Jade storyline?

BILL MESSNER-LOEBS: Well, I’m trying to remember that myself. It seems to me it was probably Diana Schutz who originally came up with the idea.

STROUD: She was the editor?

MESSNER-LOEBS: She was the editor of all things Jonny Quest. If I recall correctly, sometime during the process she said something like, “Here’s Jezebel Jade, and I’ve got

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Adam Kubert to draw it.” And then everything sort of went dark. [chuckle] Then I started desperately to write.

I don’t know how Adam feels about it, but basically when you’re a freelancer and someone says, “Oh, well, you can double your output by doing something else,” it usually seems like a good idea.

ADAM KUBERT: I only wish I could double my output. [mutual laughter] STROUD: I’ve got to say, based on the workload that you took on for this project, Adam, from the full art chores to lettering, it must have been a tremendous effort. Were the deadlines killing you?

KUBERT: Actually, this was a long time ago. [chuckle] I can’t remember the deadlines killing me, but based on past experience, they all kill me. I don’t recall that it was terrible. They probably gave me enough time to do the whole job. As you said, I penciled, inked, colored, and lettered it. And working with Bill, I’m sure, was a good part of the reason that I took it on. Probably also because I had nothing else. [mutual laughter]

Seriously, I had a great experience. I think I worked on one issue of Jonny Quest before the Jezebel Jade series, and Bill, you wrote that also, is that correct?

MESSNER-LOEBS: I’m sure I must have, and I’m sure you did, but I have only the vaguest memory of it and cannot completely recall which story you did. It’s one of the things I probably should have done a little bit of research prior to this.

KUBERT: No, no. I feel the same way. I remember an issue of Jonny Quest [#6, Nov. 1986], and after that experience and Diana asking me if I was interested in doing more. Of course, I was interested in doing more, because I had such a good time on that book. That’s how it came about for me and I not only loved working with Bill, but Diana, to this day, she’s a freelancer’s dream.

MESSNER-LOEBS: She really is.

KUBERT: Absolutely. Smart and professional and a great sounding board, and she’s really what an editor should be these days. Also, indirectly I was working with [Bob] Schreck and the Lasorda brothers [Dennis and Phil Lasorda, Comico’s co-publishers], and it just felt like we were all a little naïve at that time in that we felt that we could do anything: “So, why can’t Adam do pencils, inking, colors, etc.?”

STROUD: Not to mention at least one painted cover.

KUBERT: Yes. One was painted, blue line. That was me experimenting in every way I could think of.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I know I was just amazed when I started to get the preview that Adam had used the framing sequence for Hadji and Jonny reading the thing, and they were portrayed in a sort of silhouette. It was a beautiful, art-deco sort of effect, and it was certainly not anything I had added— I’d just perceived a regular portrayal. I had pictured a typical framing sequence, but Adam had just added so much more to it.

STROUD: When I saw the silhouette treatments, the first thing that it reminded wm. messner-loebs me of was a similar technique by Carmine Infantino in the old “Strange Sports Stories,” © Grand Rapids Comic-Con. so I wondered if that was an inspiration or homage or just an interesting coincidence.

KUBERT: I think it was just a coincidence. I think where that idea stemmed from is that first, whenever I start drawing, it’s the story that dictates the direction I’m going to take, both artistically and storytelling-wise. Because it was a story that was within a story, being read by Jonny and Hadji, I thought it might be cool to carry through with those silhouettes.

I was fresh out of my dad’s school, and one of the assignments that my dad gave us was to draw a three-page story only in silhouette. I think it probably came from the fact that I was still fresh from some of those assignments.

That’s really where that came from for me.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I realized suddenly that you were trained at the Kubert School, but you were also trained by [Joe] Kubert. Not only does that make me extremely envious, but I wondered what that was like for you to be in the family school and being taught by your father?

KUBERT: At first it was horrible. [chuckle] Because my dad is my dad. I don’t see him as Joe Kubert. He’s my dad. And I was in his school and he was teaching me and I didn’t want anyone to know who I was because I didn’t want to be looked at any differently, and I couldn’t screw off. I had to have all my work done, show up every day on time … which was actually a good thing. So for me it wasn’t really any different than how it was initially. After the first day or two I completely settled in and it really wasn’t a big deal. It was more of a big deal in my head.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I would think it might be harder to be taught anything by your dad. Personally, I had the initial problems that—at least you were an artist and your dad was an artist. You did comics and he did comics. So it was all kind Eighties

From Jezebel Jade #1 (top) Jade shows off several of her talents on page 12. (bottom) Joe Kubert cameos in the last panel of page 6.

Original art scan courtesy of Adam Kubert.

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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of one thing, but I was very much an artist and a writer in passing that I heard this stuff from studio mates and sort of a dreamer and my dad was a physicist and a about a bunch of people. And he said, “You know, mathematician, and I was a constant source of benign that’s the great thing about comics. I worked through all disappointment to him because I could not understand those years of comics and I never made a single enemy.” anything that came second nature to him. He helped It took every ounce of self-control not to say, “Well, I could me with my homework and all of that, but it was always name you one.” But I didn’t.

STROUD: Speaking of your father, Adam, I difficult, and then The Huckleberry Hound Show noticed that Professor Clark Maxwell in this would be in the next room and it was story bore an interesting resemblance to a agony to not let my eyes just be drawn famous cartoonist… over to seeing El Kabong with Baba Looey KUBERT: [laughing] Yeah, whenever I performing their dubious acrobatics. had a chance I’d get my dad in there.

Your dad was one of the nice It’s kind of funny. I used to do a lot of surprises about comics. He turned out work for National Lampoon magazine, to be as nice as I would have hoped and I’d put him in whenever I could. he would be, and I must say I was I did this one job that was a take on there once, at a party with an artist of Siskel and Ebert. They were reviewing the same generation who shall remain horror movies with guys getting cut in nameless, and it wasn’t so much that half with chainsaws, and I put my dad he said anything bad about your dad, on the table. [chuckle] But he always it was more like, “Oh, we had to guard adam kubert loved it. I mean, he’s easy to draw. against one another all the time, Kubert An old guy with glasses and a beard, and someone else and me, and all we © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. and there’s my dad. wanted was to steal each other’s stuff and take each other’s ideas and each other’s reference MESSNER-LOEBS: A little me, but… [laughter] files and there was no sense of community. We were all KUBERT: Okay, but I can do you, too, Bill. Consider yourself warned. [mutual laughter] at each other’s throats all the time.”

So the next day, I ran into Joe, and I wondered how STROUD: I may not be the best versed in the Jonny I would bring up my new knowledge and I mentioned Quest storylines, but it seems to me that Race Bannon

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It’s Original Art Time! (opposite page) Courtesy of Adam Kubert, a quartet of original art pages: (top) JJ #1, page 5, framed by a Jonny and Hadji silhouette, and JJ #1, page 8; (bottom) JJ #1, page 5 and page 27. (below) Looks like Mr. Bannon’s on his own! Front and back cover art to Jezebel Jade #2 (Nov. 1988).

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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Never a Dull Moment Kubert’s cinematic layouts kept the action flowing in Jezebel Jade— but then again, he learned from a master! (left) Leadfooted Jade gives Race a lift on page 4 of issue #2. (right) She’s in the nick of time … again!

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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was portrayed kind of differently in this series. He seemed much more flippant and in your face. Was that deliberate or a departure?

MESSNER-LOEBS: Part of it was that it was always a complicated thing to have Race and Jonny Quest and Jezebel Jade or Dr. Quest and Race and Jezebel Jade where they’re essentially having a storyline that we don’t need to see in its entirety, because they’re involved in some things that a kid would not find important.

My favorite item in the whole series, especially in terms of Race and Jezebel Jade, is when they were having some sort of conflict about something. Probably about Dr. Zin, because Dr. Zin was always on the table when Jezebel Jade was around, and so Dr. Quest said, “Oh, we should really get Race in on this. Do you know where he is?” And the response from Jonny was, “Yeah, he’s in the library, and he’s been in there for about half an hour with Jezebel Jade. I’ll go and get him.” Then Dr. Quest said, “Okay, fine. Oh. Half an hour. Um, Jonny?

Knock first.” [mutual laughter] KUBERT: That’s great.

MESSNER-LOEBS: So there was always this sort of subtext of stuff that was going on. The other thing I found that I had to sort of force myself to forget when I was writing Jezebel Jade was that Doug Wildey had given her Mae West’s voice. Back in the ’30s, in the pre-Code days, [Mae West] was just this red-hot babe.

But for me and my generation that was just such a cartoony parody of a voice that it has no sexual feeling to it at all.

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Jade than in the way he was always coming across to Jonny.

I figured he would be more like a James Bond character.

I was trying to get a little more of that into the story.

STROUD: How did you decide on Hong Kong for a setting?

MESSNER-LOEBS: I think I was looking through National Geographic and came upon Hong Kong. I think what I was really thinking was that Jezebel Jade was always in Jonny’s world and I wanted to see what her world would be like in the sense that it would be somewhere in China. We are never explicitly told if she’s Japanese or Chinese or a mixture or what exactly her heritage might be. The assumption is that she is part of that general part of the world.

By the way, you can’t help but be pleased when you put something into the story and it actually survives not only being edited, but being drawn and inked. I had a little note up on the wall that it was supposed to be a sort of Simon Templar, someone who by that time would be about 70 years old, and the impression was that he was a mentor. And, of course, I couldn’t go any further than just Simon, but to have it survive and getting it in for all my friends who were big fans of The Saint, well, Adam once again came through with that.

STROUD: Adam, how big a challenge was it to draw all the details for that background? Was a lot of research involved?

KUBERT: Yeah. We’re talking the days of having to crack a book and going to the library, which was fine.

It was just part of the job. I definitely had to use lots of reference for it.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I think one of the other things I had in mind as far as using Hong Kong was the idea

that it would be reasonably accessible for you. I know I’ve got a friend who was also an artist who laid into me with, “I don’t know why you writers are not forced to Xerox off all the references you found for we artists to have something to work from. Or you just make the stuff up.”

I could certainly see his point, but I could also point to artists like Adam who think that actually doing research is part of the job.

KUBERT: It definitely is part of the job, but I tell you, these days I don’t even have to open a book any more. Just type it in and out comes a gazillion pictures.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I know. It is so wonderful. I do my own art every now and then, and to be able to just bring up authentic Indian moccasins without having to go into Old Fort Wayne and taking pictures, it’s just such a relief.

KUBERT: And that also goes not just for setting, but for characters. I drew this book for Marvel called Axis, with all these characters in there, and, of course, I don’t know what the costumes look like or what their powers are or even who their alter egos are. I just Google it and instantly it’s there for you to find out for yourself. It’s really, really awesome.

STROUD: Did you two conference much during the series, and was it full script?

MESSNER-LOEBS: It would have been full script. I almost always worked in full script unless I changed for a particular reason, but I’m sure this would have been a full script.

It seems to me it would have been a good idea if we’d been doing a lot of conferencing, but the reality of it is that through most of my career, where I was doing three or four books a month, it wasn’t really very helpful. It just slows you down.

KUBERT: I was scared to call him. [mutual laughter] I mean, I was really pretty green.

I hadn’t been in the field for that long. As long as I understood what was going on, there was no reason to talk other than to schmooze, and I wasn’t comfortable schmoozing, to be honest. I don’t think we spoke at all on the project.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I’m pretty sure that we didn’t. I would have been terrified of your last name. [mutual laughter] KUBERT: Just to circle back, Diana was just the glue that kept the whole thing together. With her involvement, I didn’t have a reason to conference. There were no questions with the script and she was the go-to person, so it all worked perfectly.

MESSNER-LOEBS: Of course, what no one realizes is that the rational voice in the inner storm was provided by Diana. She just set her feet and would not tolerate any startup work, at least on Jonny Quest, until we had an entire year in the can.

The publisher, no matter what they say, as soon as you’d have two or three months’ of stories, they’d want to publish. No matter what was agreed to, no matter how reasonable it is to get a backlog, but all the things that happen in comics happened, but Diana would not hear of it. She held out for an entire year of finished scripts in my case, and that included artwork. As a result, Jonny Quest was never late.

It had other advantages, too. At one point I was down with a bad ear infection for two weeks and was in horrible misery, but during that three-year run we had that cushion. Things would have been so much worse without it.

Another thing about Adam, too, is there is something about having actual training.

Once again I’m going to talk about another artist who shall remain nameless. I was doing a storyline and I had a whole bunch of people from different historical periods in it and he called me up and started in with, “So, what about on this page?”

He said that all these people are wearing Napoleonic costumes. And I said, “Yeah, Napoleonic uniforms.” He said, “What does that mean?” I said, “Well, you know, Napoleon came to power in France and redesigned all the uniforms for his fighters, and it was all about making a real break from the ornate costumes of the past and making everything seem more revolutionary.” I talked on and on and on and when I stopped for a breath he said, “So, Bill. Who’s Napoleon?” [mutual laughter] KUBERT: Did you say he was our 14th president? [more laughter] MESSNER-LOEBS: You just never knew where people were starting from. It sometimes became an extreme situation. I was very often the go-to guy at DC for historical reference. People would just be sent to me to talk about things and get their feet under them for some particular historical period or other.

And I wasn’t even that good.

Globetrotters (top) Jade and Race go underground on page 19 of issue #2. (background) Cover to Jezebel Jade #3 (Dec. 1988). (bottom) Looks like Race needs rescuing again! Original art to page 4 of issue #3, courtesy of Adam Kubert.

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

STROUD: Obviously it wasn’t an issue on this series, which speaks to both your and Adam’s professionalism.

Was the three-issue series the plan from the start or did it evolve a certain way? Were there plans for future installments?

MESSNER-LOEBS: I think it was always going to be three issues. It seems to me there were a couple of other [three-issue] miniseries like Silverback [a Grendel spin-off] and another. It seems to me it was decided that three issues was the ideal length.

It was sort of like when Stan Lee decided there should never be orange on the cover of any Marvel book. What he actually said, no one ever knew, but I asked him about it one time and he couldn’t remember even saying that. He also didn’t remember that everyone believed he said that Iron Man should never have a nose. So people were for years standing on their heads trying to draw Iron Man without a nose. Stan couldn’t even remember a conversation that was like that. So you never know what people are going to say and how they’re going to take it.

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“The Bones of Galahad” Adam Kubert— penciler, inker, letterer, and colorist—is as resourceful as Jezebel Jade!

Pages 7 (left) and 22 from the third and final issue.

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KUBERT: They don’t do three-issue miniseries anymore because everything is looked at as a trade down the line.

There aren’t enough pages in a three-issue series to warrant republishing it as a compilation, it seems.

MESSNER-LOEBS: And nobody wants to publish anything if it can’t be turned into a graphic album later.

KUBERT: Right.

STROUD: Do either of you know who holds the rights to these characters? Is there a chance we’ll see Jezebel Jade again?

KUBERT: Aren’t there plans for a live-action Jonny Quest movie? I thought I’d heard something about it being in discussions. If it is that could open the door for more content.

MESSNER-LOEBS: It seems to me that there were two levels of licensing we had to go through to finally get something approved for Jonny Quest. It would seem like this would be a no-brainer. This was the sort of thing that Diana was having to ramrod through all the time.

Before Jonny Quest was actually published, you may remember a sort of movie version where Jonny was backlit in a dramatic film noir kind of way with Bandit also backlit and it sort of seemed that Jonny was carrying a gun. He was being published before I was tapped to do the series. That seemed to be the new normal, so the first couple of scripts that I turned in, I didn’t have Jonny ever fire a gun, but I had him carrying a gun. A gun would fall on the ground and I would have him pick it up. I thought that was sort of fair and I had him being hard and languid in a couple of places and just go for it.

I thought that was the place we were in now. “Not your father’s Jonny Quest.”

That all seemed very reasonable for everyone involved, but what we didn’t figure was how long it took for the actual approval process and how many layers there were to things at Hanna-Barbera [the copyright holder, a delayed response to Bryan’s earlier question—ed.].

We thought after things had been submitted it would be

approved in a matter of months, but what we didn’t know was that it was slowly working its way up the HannaBarbera skyscraper, finally reaching the penthouse where the big names of Hanna-Barbera lived and all the windows blew out of the penthouse. I got a frantic call from Diana.

I was working, I think, on the third issue at that point. She begged me to make sure there was nothing that wasn’t absolutely Jonny Quest-cartoon-approvable in that work.

I felt bad about it, but I didn’t feel horrible about it, because everybody thought that this was normal. This was the new normal. Well, it wasn’t. So I was asked to be a little more circumspect and Jonny never came close to touching a gun ever again.

STROUD: Almost like the Comics Code all over again.

MESSNER-LOEBS: I think it would have been even worse if there had been a chance I’d wrecked things.

Holy God, if they had a new Jonny Quest strip or a new Jonny Quest animated period for a while. All of that was sort of floating around, but there was nothing happening with the character when we first got it. That’s the reason we were able to get it, I think.

STROUD: Adam, was this project one of your springboards in kicking off your career?

KUBERT: It was definitely at the beginning of my career.

It’s hard to say whether it kicked it off. My career just seems to be at a slow and steady pace. While I was in the midst of it, nothing seemed to be that huge hit that turned into something else or anything like that. To me, it was just one job after another.

This particular job I was proud of, because I was able to do the whole thing myself. I haven’t done that, maybe since then, because it just takes me more time.

STROUD: Bill, is there anything further you’d like to share?

MESSNER-LOEBS: One of the things that introduced me to the whole Jonny Quest storyline was Doug Wildey.

And Doug always seemed to be both amused and exasperated by me. We would all be there and buying each other’s books and getting everybody to sign their books and he would say, “Sign the book? What, are you going fanboy?” “Yeah, Doug, that’s who we are.”

I remember being at a convention and there were a whole bunch of us, probably as many as actually did it.

I think Joe Kubert was there and Dave Stevens and Doug and myself and it just seemed to include everyone who had done historical comics. So, the question was raised as

to why we did historical comics. I happened to be at the end of the line sitting right next to Doug. And these were the heavy-hitters with Dave Stevens and Joe Kubert and Doug. A big chunk of comic-book history sitting here.

So, here we are at this panel in a room absolutely filled to the brim with people. The question is posed, “Why do you do historical comics when it would seem to be easier to do superhero comics, which would also be more lucrative?” One response was, “Well, I do it because I like to draw airplanes.” Another said, “I like to draw tanks.” Then, “I like to draw horses.”

So I’m thinking, maybe I can come up with something a little more interesting when it got to be my turn.

“Well, as Karl Marx said, history repeats itself. The first time it’s tragedy and the second time it’s farce. I thought it would be worthwhile to look back from the farce to the tragedy.”

Suddenly, this whole room, filled with several hundred people goes completely and totally silent. You couldn’t even hear a cricket. Just nothing. In that silence, Doug Wildey slowly turned and looked around and said, “Who let the Communist in?”

STROUD: For what it’s worth, probably directed primarily toward Adam, when Michael Eury gave me this assignment—and, of course, he’s the editor-in-chief of BACK ISSUE—he said: “An aside. I was the junior editor at Comico when Jezebel Jade was being produced, and remember how cool it was when art arrived for each issue—especially the covers. Wow!” KUBERT: Nice. Thanks for putting things in context for me. Now I remember. Please tell him thank you very much.

Going Out with a Bang Detail from Adam Kubert’s original art to the cover of Jezebel Jade #3.

(Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics, listen up: It’s time for an omnibus collecting Comico’s Jonny Quest and Jezebel Jade series!)

TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

BRYAN D. 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.

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Send your comments to: Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE 118 Edgewood Ave. NE • Concord, NC 28025

Find BACK ISSUE on

We have a lot of letters and limited space, so I’ll zip my lip except when necessary and let our readers have the floor…

WHOSE JOHN HANCOCK IS THAT? Thanks very much for sending me complimentary copies of BACK ISSUE #83. The four pages of art by Rafael López Espí that I contributed look very good.

BTW, it was truly amazing to find my original page from X-Men #105 in the issue. In fact, it looks better in BI #83 … than on my wall!!

But I must tell you that the page does not have the signature of Dave Cockrum. Both signatures on the art are from Chris Claremont.

– Raimon Fonseca

ANOTHER X-MAS CLASSIC While reading the X-Men article in the Christmas issue (#85), it occurred to me that it omitted an X-Mas tale that, while technically beyond the purview of the magazine, would appeal to your readers nonetheless.

Marvel Holiday Special #1 (1991) featured a flashback tale of the All-New, All-Different X-Men that occurred just before X-Men #98, and therefore is their first Christmas tale. It features the version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that included Unus the Untouchable, Toad, Blob, and Mastermind, and is significant because it’s drawn

by Dave Cockrum, the last story that he would ever draw of those characters set in that era. In fact, it was the last non-reprint X-Men story of his that Marvel published in his lifetime. (Two inventory stories were published posthumously in 2008 as X-Men: Odd Men Out).

Also, X-Men #98 is significant because it was the first appearance of an unmasked Wolverine, and therefore the birth of Dave’s “Logan” design.

– Glen Cadigan

MY FAVORITE ISSUE I finished BI #85 a few days ago, and I can’t praise it enough. As a longtime lover of Christmas-themed comics, I was eagerly looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint. In fact, I can now claim this as my favorite issue. I loved all the articles. I now have many more Holiday-themed comics to hunt down in the coming year.

I wanted to make special mention of a few pieces I felt were particularly exceptional. Chris Franklin’s Batman article was a blast, the Dark Knight being my favorite character. It was a lot of fun to read about the Christmas stories I’ve loved for years, as well as several that I’ve never read, but now very much want to.

Shannon E. Riley deserves special note, not only for his well-done piece on DC’s various Holiday issues, but for the additions of his, and the various creators memories of the season.

This was a good idea well executed. In all, another great issue of a great magazine! Good job, all!!

– Tim Moen, via Facebook

NO “SNOW”?

Just a note to let you know how much I enjoyed your Holiday issue.

So here’s what usually happens when I read your magazine—I jot down the interesting issues your learned writers have mentioned and I go 76

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to my favorite store, the Nostalgia Zone in Minneapolis, and dig around for them. It’s always exciting to find more great comics I never knew about, and I thank you all for continuing to make this hobby such a joy.

Well, the Christmas issue had so many that got me keyed up: Jonah Hex #34, DC Special Series #21, Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2, Comico Christmas Special #1, etc. I’m mostly a Marvel man myself, and have very fond memories of the 1975 Holiday Treasury which I purchased on a trip to New York at the impressionable age of eight.

That reprint of Hero for Hire #7 (“Jingle Bombs”) blew this kid’s mind!

After reading your issue, I was surprised to see you missed mentioning one of the greatest Christmas stories I have ever read, and easily one of my all-time favorite comics: Marvel Fanfare #1 has an additional story in the back called “Snow,” eloquently written by Roger McKenzie and beautifully illustrated by Paul Smith and Terry Austin.

I read this short story every year at Christmas and I have yet to not shed a tear for this miraculous tale (that last panel gets me every time).

Next Christmas, do yourself a favor and get a copy; you won’t be sorry.

– Michael Oachs Oh, no, I thought we’d surveyed all of the Bronze Age’s DC and Marvel Christmas stories!! Thanks for mentioning the Marvel Fanfare #1 tale. The good news is, looking ahead to 2017, BACK ISSUE #96 will be dedicated to Marvel Fanfare, exploring the nooks and crannies of that series. So we’ll be able to take a look at “Snow” then. Thanks for the heads-up.

A VERY BARR-Y CHRISTMAS I was dreaming of a White Christmas along with Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Dolly Parton, and the rest of the country, and thinking about the special number of BACK ISSUE you have given me for an early Christmas present, for which, my thanks.

Yes, Christmas and the comics.

Once upon a time, this holiday was regularly acknowledged and recognized in the pages of Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Funnies, and other comics.

That was way back when. Christmas is no longer celebrated as much in today’s comics.

One item in your December issue especially intrigues me: the letter by Mike W. Barr, p. 75. Barr writes of a few of his proudest achievements. I would like to make mention of one accomplishment I will never forget.

Mike wrote the emotional, sentimental, memorable holiday story, “The Batman’s Last Christmas,” for The Brave and the Bold #184.

He concluded his script with an innovative, original Christmas scroll that was headed by this legend: “Merry Christmas from the DC Staff.”

The scroll was to contain the names of the entire staff of DC. The editor, Dick Giordano, gave me the job of securing signatures of each person for the unique item designed by Jim Aparo, the illustrator of that story.

But there was no single list of every staff member. I had to make one. In alphabetical order, Karen Berger to Tom Ziuko. And, like Santa, [I had to] check that list twice and more to ensure every single name was included.

After that, it was smooth sailing. Making copies of the page and tracking down each person near and far for his signature: Mike Barr in the office next door, to the veteran Irv Novick in Westchester.

I think of this work often, especially now thanks to your Christmas celebration.

Thanks again to the creative Mike Barr, who knows how to keep Christmas alive and make it so very memorable.

– Robin Snyder

MARVEL UK CHRISTMAS I’ve been buying your fine mag (when I can find it) for a few years now, but I finally felt the need to put pen to paper to thank you for putting together your recent Christmas issue. I was delighted to find a copy here in London about a week before Christmas and resisted the urge to even flick through it until the big day!

I enjoyed all of it, in particular, the pros’ Christmas memories.

Karl Heitmueller’s “Four-Color Traditions” rang (Jingle) bells with me. Like Mark Waid and Karl, I also like to dig out my Christmas issues (both British and US) every December and re-read a selection in the run-up to

the festivities. I’ve often wondered if this was “normal” behavior for a 47year-old bloke, so I was reassured to learn that I’m not alone in this habit.

For me as a kid, a huge favorite was Marvel’s 1975 Holiday Grab-Bag. I got that on Christmas morning way back then and read it until it fell to bits. I’ve since bought another copy as an adult, which gets revisited every Yule, and even the non-festive Spidey and Hulk stories in it are great. Although I’d read the Luke Cage tale, “Jingle Bombs,” countless times over the years, it wasn’t until I bought the first Cage Essential volume that I realized there was a page missing from the Grab-Bag version, never having tracked down the original US issue! The funny thing is, although the version in the B&W Essential volume is complete, it holds no real nostalgia factor for me, so I prefer to re-read my edited Grab-Bag every year … strange, eh? For the same reason, I find myself still picking up cheap copies of ’70s Marvel UK titles, even though I already have uncut versions of the same stories—the format is the nostalgia trigger as much as the stories themselves, for me, at least…

Before I go, whilst Marvel UK rarely made any fuss about Christmas—no snow-on-the-cover logos there—I’ve attached a scan of the back page of Spider-Man Comics Weekly No. 98, week ending December 28, 1974 [below]. If you’ve never seen it, I hope it raises a smile … I bet Ditko doesn’t recall drawing that one!

– Steve Smith

if I ever did. Especially at Christmas time. Probably for that reason alone, my parents avoided letting me order things from inside a comic book. It was hard enough on them to get an extensive list from the back of the Sears catalog (old school toy shopping). I only wish there had been a sample catalog page included to differentiate between the catalog layouts and what was advertised in the comic books. Were they the same? I also thank this article for jogging my memory from when Marvel comics were distributed by Heroes World. I remember the griping about late books and other issues from store owners and comic buyers alike.

In regard to your question about updates on previous articles: How about if you have enough information (at least two pages), then write a new article. Otherwise maybe just an occasional “update page” (a paragraph or two per subject) collected and included a few times a year? Though, I would hate for this to take away from new material or art inclusions.

And speaking of art, I loved the crossover celebration drawings in the back two pages. Any chance TwoMorrows might consider printing all of the parts together, on one poster, in the future?

Thanks again for listening, and I hope all your staff and readers enjoy their holidays, whatever they may celebrate!

– Scott Andrews Scott, those two-pagers were a birthday/professional tribute to Roy Thomas. Since a variety of companies’ characters were depicted, copyrights prohibit repurposing this as a retail poster.

FEEL-GOOD ISSUE

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Your Christmas issue (#85) was superb. I was in the hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, having a lung infection drained when the digital edition came in. It was wonderful. Being stuck in a hospital bed can limit your entertainment options, and reading about past and beloved Holiday stories helped pass the time.

It was fun reading about some great comic talents with their favorite seasonal memories in “A Christmas Memory.” BACK ISSUE has to do a follow-up article next year. I enjoyed Mr. Eury’s “Christmas Re-Presents” and Mr. Heitmueller’s “Prince Street News” (the latter was extremely humorous). Everyone did a fantastic job.

While I was familiar with most of the tales in this issue, several escaped me. I’m going to have to dig up Action #469’s “Clark Kent’s Lonely Christmas,” and perhaps one of Byrne’s She-Hulk stories.

They sound good.

But I still want more. Perhaps a “Christmas in the Silver Age” issue of one of your companion magazines? TwoMorrows did a comprehensive job with #85, but I’m sure there are more Holiday comic-book tales to be discussed and evaluated.

Maybe a listing of Gold Key and other Christmas stories is in order.

You could do an index of Carl Barks Christmas tales or investigate miscellaneous holiday tales from other publishers: how about the Bongo Comics satirical Simpsons comics? Or DC’s Rudolph stories?

Perhaps some reviews of Walt Scott’s Christmas Stories or Walt Kelly will draw more attention to their work.

As a side note, I’ve been writing to DC Comics in hopes that they might release a second Christmas trade paperback edition. Their stories are just so good, and the first one begs for a sequel. Perhaps a few more letters from some TwoMorrows fans could help?

You’ve just got to do a follow-up issue on the Silver Age. You’ve just gotta.

– James Smith III

THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON I just finished BACK ISSUE #85 and enjoyed it as much as I do every issue of the magazine. I was able to resist reading it until the week before Christmas, and it definitely helped me get more into the spirit of the season.

Many of the articles brought back childhood memories of Christmas mornings. I never received any of DC or Marvel’s giant-size Holiday editions, but I usually received a Hulk or Spider-Man one with my stocking goodies. That kept me distracted until we could get at the gifts under the tree! Good to know what was inside them at last.

Alas, I have never seen or received one of the Superhero Merchandise Catalogs before and probably would have gone nuts

James, pre-Bronze Age Christmas comics are the purview of Alter Ego magazine. I’ve shared your request with Roy Thomas, its editor, for consideration.

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMASES PAST I’m running a little late, but I just finished enjoying your Christmas issue. A great issue overall, but the articles I was most interested in before reading it turned out to be the most disappointing.

There’s a huge gap in the story told in John Cimono’s article on the Superhero Catalogues. As p. 52 ends, it’s 1979 and the catalogs are a regular thing. As p.53 begins, it’s suddenly 1994 and Marvel is bringing catastrophe to the industry with their purchase of Heroes World.

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What happened in those intervening years? Why did the catalogs stop? Did Heroes World no longer sell those items, or did they sell them just in house ads? Did they continue to use the Kubert School for those ads? Readers are left wanting, and I doubt it’s a topic that will be revisited any time soon.

The same with the Power Records article. Who wrote those stories that weren’t adaptations of comics? Who was in the voice cast?

What was their arrangement with DC? Did they get Neal through DC or deal directly with Continuity? What was the different between Power and Peter Pan? Has anyone from Power ever been tracked down who could give some more insight?

There seem to be more complete and compelling stories to be told on those topics. I hope you can circle back to them someday.

– Matt Tauber

It was about BACK ISSUE #38 where I first discovered this fine publication and have purchased each issue ever since. My first discovery of the amazing world of comic books was World’s Finest #221 (1974), a fine Super Sons saga, and my first Marvel comic was Marvel Tales #53 (1974). I have been a huge comic-collecting fan of Bats, Supes, and Spidey ever since. Your excellent magazine never fails to bring out great articles and fantastic memories of those bygone days of spinner racks, 7-11s, and musty old bookstores.

It’s amazing how many of the comics purchased in my youth that I can remember where I was when I bought them and who I might have been with (Mom or Dad). These are very cherished memories to me, and I just wanted to thank you for your fine work in bringing back these memories with each and every issue!

For a future suggestion, how about more coverage of Superman #300–400? I feel these issues are severely underrated, with lots of entertaining multi-part stories and one-shots in there. Also, I am really looking forward to BACK ISSUE #87, your Batman/Superman issue.

Great timing with B v S: Dawn of Justice hitting theatres also in March!

Please keep up the good work and know you have a lifelong subscriber to BACK ISSUE! – Jason Jaroslawsky P.S. I’ve included a scan [above right] of the wonderful Neal Adams Superman #308 cover reproduction my mom commissioned off a family friend when I was a wee, impressionable lad. Unfortunately, the name of the artist has been lost to the sands of time. I find it interesting that he chose to use the likeness of Lex Luthor over that of the original Radion!

Jason, I’ve included the original Adams cover, for comparison. Re Superman, there are no immediate plans to examine those issues— but I agree, it’s a run that warrants a closer inspection.

A BAT-FAN’S REQUEST First, let me say that I’ve enjoyed BACK ISSUE magazine immensely this year since I made the leap to subscribing for a year.

It’s been a blast. You do a wonderful job with the magazine.

I was wondering if you might know the answer to something I was curious about recently. I was a big fan of the Bat-books in the early 1980s, so this would include the Gerry Conway run which lead directly into the fairly long Doug Moench run—and these took place across both Batman and Detective Batman and Guy Gardner TM & © DC Comics.

BACK ISSUE © TwoMorrows.

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REVISIT SUPERMAN #300 AND 400, PLEASE

with stories intersecting monthly (as you know, I’m sure!). I really loved the long-form storytelling both writers brought to the book (and also the fun, soap-opera style elements related to Bruce’s personal life) and I was and still am a huge fan of the two main artists during this stretch—Don Newton and Gene Colan. What I was wondering if has BACK ISSUE ever done a feature on this era of Batman? A full-length, sustained piece? If not, are there any plans to do one in the future?

– Michael Campochiaro Michael, we’ve done quite a bit of 1980s (and 1970s) Batman coverage in previous issues, most notably BI #50, the “Batman in the Bronze Age” issue; it included a “drive by” of the Moench and Conway runs. Going further back, Don Newton was coverfeatured on BI #19 and in a wonderful lead article. In the future, we may indeed revisit the Moench/Conway/Colan/Newton Batman era in depth. Keep on reading!

Next: the “All-Jerks Issue,” starring the Green Lantern you love to hate, Guy Gardner! Also: DC’s Biggest Blowhards, Namor in the Bronze Age, J. Jonah Jameson: Spidey’s greatest foe, Flash Thompson, the Heckler, Obnoxio the Clown, and Archie’s “pal” Reggie Mantle! Featuring the work of RICH BUCKLER, KURT BUSIEK, JOHN BYRNE, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, KEITH GIFFEN, ALAN KUPPERBERG, BEAU SMITH, JOE STATON, ROGER STERN, and many more.

Cover-featuring KEVIN MAGUIRE’s iconic Batman/Guy Gardner “One Punch”! Don’t ask, just BI it! See you in thirty!

Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief

TwoMorrows

The Future of Comics History.

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WHE % N YO ORD U ONL ER INE!

THE

MLJ COMPANION

THE MLJ COMPANION documents the complete history of Archie Comics’ super-hero characters known as the “Mighty Crusaders”—THE SHIELD, BLACK HOOD, STEEL STERLING, HANGMAN, MR. JUSTICE, THE FLY, and many others. It features in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ extensive history: THE GOLDEN AGE (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero, who pre-dated Captain America by a full year), THE SILVER AGE (spotlighting those offbeat, campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), THE BRONZE AGE (with the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published

by DC Comics), up to THE MODERN AGE, with its Dark Circle imprint (featuring such fan-favorites series as “The Fox” by MARK WAID and DEAN HASPIEL).

Plus: Learn what “MLJ” stands for! Uncover such rarities as the Mighty Crusaders board game, and the Shadow’s short-lived career as a spandex-clad superhero!

Discover the ill-fated Spectrum line of comics, that was abruptly halted due to its violent content! See where the super-heroes crossed over into Archie, Betty, and Veronica’s world! And read interviews with IRV NOVICK, DICK AYERS, RICH BUCKLER, BILL DuBAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, JIM VALENTINO, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, KELLEY JONES, MICHAEL USLAN, and others who chronicled the Mighty Crusaders’ exploits from the 1940s to today!

By RIK OFFENBERGER and PAUL CASTIGLIA, with a cover by IRV NOVICK and JOE RUBINSTEIN.

INCLUDES 64 FULL-COLOR PAGES OF KEY MLJ STORIES! (288-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0 • SHIPS AUGUST 2016!

COMIC BOOK FEVER

GEORGE KHOURY (author of The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore and Kimota: The Miracleman Companion) presents a “love letter” to his personal golden age of comics, 1976-1986, covering all the things that made those comics great—the top artists, the coolest stories, and even the best ads! It covers the phenoms that delighted Baby Boomers, Generation X, and beyond: UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW TEEN TITANS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, LOVE AND ROCKETS, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, SUPERMAN VS. SPIDER-MAN, ARCHIE COMICS, HARVEY COMICS, KISS, STAR WARS, ROM, HOSTESS CAKE ADS, GRIT(!), and other milestones! So take a trip back in time to re-experience those epic stories, and feel the heat of COMIC BOOK FEVER once again! With cover art and introduction by ALEX ROSS.

2016 RATES

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

(240-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-063-2 • NOW SHIPPING!

SUBSCRIPTIONS ECONOMY US Alter Ego or Back Issue (8 issues) $73.00 BrickJournal (6 issues) $55.00 Comic Book Creator (4 issues) $40.00 Jack Kirby Collector (4 issues) $45.00

EXPEDITED US $88.00 $66.00 $50.00 $58.00

PREMIUM US $97.00 $73.00 $54.00 $61.00

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ALTER EGO #135

ALTER EGO #136

ALTER EGO #137

ALTER EGO #138

ALTER EGO #139

LEN WEIN (writer/co-creator of Swamp Thing, Human Target, and Wolverine) talks about his early days in comics at DC and Marvel! Art by WRIGHTSON, INFANTINO, TRIMPE, DILLON, CARDY, APARO, THORNE, MOONEY, and others! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MR. MONSTER’s Comic Crypt, and more history of the Comics Code! Cover by DICK GIORDANO with BERNIE WRIGHTSON!

BONUS 100-PAGE issue as ROY THOMAS talks to JIM AMASH about celebrating his 50th year in comics—and especially about the ’90s at Marvel! Art by TRIMPE, GUICE, RYAN, ROSS, BUCKLER, HOOVER, KAYANAN, BUSCEMA, CHAN, plus STAN LEE, KEVIN SMITH, and others! Also FCA, MR. MONSTER’s Comic Crypt, AMY KISTE NYBERG on the Comics Code, and a cover caricature of Roy by MARIE SEVERIN!

Incredible interview with JIM SHOOTER, which chronicles the first decade of his career (Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman, Supergirl, Captain Action) with art by CURT SWAN, WALLY WOOD, GIL KANE, GEORGE PAPP, JIM MOONEY, PETE COSTANZA, WIN MORTIMER, WAYNE BORING, AL PLASTINO, et al.! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Cover art by CURT SWAN!

Science-fiction great (and erstwhile comics writer) HARLAN ELLISON talks about Captain Marvel and The Monster Society of Evil! Also, Captain Marvel artist/ co-creator C.C. BECK writes about the infamous Superman-Captain Marvel lawsuit of the 1940s and ’50s in a double-size FCA section! Plus two titanic tributes to Golden Age artist FRED KIDA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JIM AMASH interviews ROY THOMAS about his 1990s work on Conan, the stillborn Marvel/Excelsior line launched by STAN LEE, writing for Cross Plains, Topps, DC, and others! Art by KAYANAN, DITKO, BUSCEMA, MAROTO, GIORDANO, ST. AUBIN, SIMONSON, MIGNOLA, LARK, KIRBY, CORBEN, SALE, SCHULTZ, LIGHTLE, McKEEVER, BENDIS, and more!

Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

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BACK ISSUE #91

BACK ISSUE #92

BACK ISSUE #93

BRICKJOURNAL #41

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #9

“All-Jerks Issue!” Guy Gardner, Namor in the Bronze Age, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, DC’s Biggest Blowhards, the Heckler, Obnoxio the Clown, and Archie’s “pal” Reggie Mantle! Featuring the work of (non-jerks) RICH BUCKLER, KURT BUSIEK, JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, KEITH GIFFEN, ALAN KUPPERBERG, and many more. Cover-featuring KEVIN MAGUIRE’s iconic Batman/Guy Gardner “One Punch”!

“Bronze Age Halloween!” The Swamp Thing revival of 1982, Swamp Thing in Hollywood, Phantom Stranger team-ups, KUPPERBERG & MIGNOLA’s Phantom Stranger miniseries, DC’s The Witching Hour, the Living Mummy, and an index of Marvel’s 1970s’ horror anthologies! Featuring the work of RICH BUCKLER, ANDY MANGELS, VAL MAYERIK, MARTIN PASKO, MICHAEL USLAN, TOM YEATES, and many more. Cover by YEATES.

“All-Captains Issue!” Bronze Age histories of Shazam! (Captain Marvel) and Captain MarVell, Captain Carrot, Captain Storm and the Losers, Captain Universe, and Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Featuring C. C. BECK, PAT BRODERICK, JACK KIRBY, ELLIOT S. MAGGIN, BILL MANTLO, DON NEWTON, BOB OKSNER, SCOTT SHAW!, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, and more.

Cover painting by DAVE COCKRUM!

OUT OF THIS WORLD LEGO! Spacethemed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane

by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: Orbit the LEGO community with JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

JOE STATON on his comics career (from E-Man, to co-creating The Huntress, and his current stint on the Dick Tracy comic strip), plus we showcase the lost treasure GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS drawn by Joe! Plus, Part One of our interview with the late STAN GOLDBERG, why JOHN ROMITA, JR. is the best comic book artist working, we quiz PABLO MARCOS about the days of Marvel horror, plus HEMBECK!

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DRAW! #31

DRAW! #32

KIRBY COLLECTOR #62

KIRBY COLLECTOR #63

KIRBY COLLECTOR #64

How-to demos & interviews with Philadelphia artists JG JONES (52, Final Crisis, Wanted, Batman and Robin) and KHOI PHAM (The Mighty Avengers, The Astonishing SpiderMan, The Mighty World of Marvel), JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews of art supplies, JERRY ORDWAY demos the “ORD-way” of drawing, and Comic Art Bootcamp by MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS! JG Jones cover! Mature readers only.

Super-star DC penciler HOWARD PORTER demos his creative process, and JAMAL IGLE discusses everything from storyboarding to penciling as he gives a breakdown of his working methods. Plus there’s Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS reviewing art supplies, JERRY ORDWAY showing the Ord-Way of doing comics, and Comic Art Bootcamp lessons with BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.

KIRBY AT DC! Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, updated “X-Numbers” list of Kirby’s DC assignments (revealing some surprises), JERRY BOYD’s insights on Kirby’s DC work, a look at KEY 1970s EVENTS IN JACK’S LIFE AND CAREER, Challengers vs. the FF, pencil art galleries from FOREVER PEOPLE, OMAC, and THE DEMON, Kirby cover inked by MIKE ROYER, and more!

MARVEL UNIVERSE! Featuring MARK ALEXANDER’s pivotal Lee/Kirby essay “A Universe A’Borning,” MARK EVANIER interviews ROY THOMAS, STAN GOLDBERG and JOE SINNOTT, a look at key late-1970s, ’80s, and ’90s events in Kirby’s life and career, STAN LEE script pages, unseen Kirby pencils and unused art from THOR, NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD, and FANTASTIC FOUR, and more!

SUPER-SOLDIERS! We declassify Captain America, Fighting American, Sgt. Fury, The Losers, Pvt. Strong, Boy Commandos, and a tribute to Simon & Kirby! PLUS: a Kirby interview about Captain America, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, key 1940s’50s events in Kirby’s career, unseen pencils and unused art from OMAC, SILVER STAR, CAPTAIN AMERICA (in the 1960s AND ’70s), the LOSERS, & more! KIRBY cover!

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ALTER EGO #140

ALTER EGO #141

ALTER EGO #142

ALTER EGO #143

ALTER EGO #144

Golden Age great IRWIN HASEN spotlight, adapted from DAN MAKARA’s film documentary on Hasen, the 1940s artist of the Justice Society, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Wildcat, Cat-Man, and numerous other classic heroes—and, for 30 years, the artist of the famous DONDI newspaper strip! Bonus art by his buddies JOE KUBERT, ALEX TOTH, CARMINE INFANTINO, and SHELLY MAYER!

From Detroit to Deathlok, we cover the career of artist RICH BUCKLER: Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Black Panther, Ka-Zar, Dracula, Morbius, a zillion Marvel covers— Batman, Hawkman, and other DC stars— Creepy and Eerie horror—and that’s just in the first half of the 1970s! Plus Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, and comics expert HAMES WARE on fabulous Golden Age artist RAFAEL ASTARITA!

DAVID SIEGEL talks to RICHARD ARNDT about how, from 1991-2005, he brought the greatest artists of the Golden Age to the San Diego Comic-Con! With art and artifacts by FRADON, GIELLA, MOLDOFF, LAMPERT, CUIDERA, FLESSEL, NORRIS, SULLIVAN, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, GROTHKOPF, and others! Plus how writer JOHN BROOME got to the Con, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

DON GLUT discusses his early years as comic book writer for Marvel, Warren, and Gold Key, with art by SANTOS, MAROTO, CHAN, NEBRES, KUPPERBERG, TUSKA, TRIMPE, SAL BUSCEMA, and others! Also, SAL AMENDOLA and ROY THOMAS on the 1970s professional Academy of Comic Book Arts, founded by STAN LEE and CARMINE INFANTINO! Plus Mr. Monster, FCA, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

MARK CARLSON documents 1940s-50s ACE COMICS (with super-heroes Magno & Davey, Lash Lightning, The Raven, Unknown Soldier, Captain Courageous, Vulcan, and others)! Art by KURTZMAN, MOONEY, BERG, L.B. COLE, PALAIS, and more. Plus: RICHARD ARNDT’s interview with BILL HARRIS (1960s-70s editor of Gold Key and King Comics), FCA, Comic Crypt, and Comic Fandom Archive.

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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #10 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #11 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #12 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #13 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #14

The Broadway sci-fi epic WARP examined!

Interviews with art director NEAL ADAMS, director STUART (Reanimator) GORDON, playwright LENNY KLEINFELD, stage manager DAVID GORDON, and a look at Warp’s 1980s FIRST COMICS series! Plus: an interview with PETER (Hate!) BAGGE, our RICH BUCKLER interview Part One, GIANT WHAM-O COMICS, and the conclusion of our STAN GOLDBERG interview!

Retrospective on GIL KANE, co-creator of the modern Green Lantern and Atom, and early progenitor of the graphic novel. Kane cover newly-inked by KLAUS JANSON, plus remembrances from friends, fans, and collaborators, and a Kane art gallery. Also, our RICH BUCKLER interview conclusion, a look at the “greatest zine in the history of mankind,” MINESHAFT, and Part One of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview!

JACK KIRBY’s mid-life work examined, from Fantastic Four and Thor at Marvel in the middle ’60s to the Fourth World at DC (including the real-life background drama that unfolded during that tumultuous era)!

Plus a career-spanning interview with underground comix pioneer HOWARD CRUSE, the extraordinary cartoonist and graphic novelist of the award-winning Stuck Rubber Baby! Cover by STEVE RUDE!

MICHAEL W. KALUTA feature interview covering his early fans days THE SHADOW, STARSTRUCK, the STUDIO, and Vertigo cover work! Plus RAMONA FRADON talks about her 65+ years in the comic book business on AQUAMAN, METAMORPHO, SUPER-FRIENDS, and SPONGEBOB! Also JAY LYNCH reveals the WACKY PACK MEN who created the Topps trading cards that influenced an entire generation!

Comprehensive KELLEY JONES interview, from early years as Marvel inker to presentday greatness at DC depicting BATMAN, DEADMAN, and SWAMP THING (chockful of rarely-seen artwork)! Plus WILL MURRAY examines the nefarious legacy of Batman co-creator BOB KANE in an investigation into tragic ghosts and rapacious greed. We also look at RAINA TELGEMEIER and her magnificent army of devotees, and more!

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TwoMorrows.

The Future of Comics History.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #65

KIRBY COLLECTOR #66

KIRBY COLLECTOR #67

KIRBY COLLECTOR #68

ANYTHING GOES (AGAIN)! A potpourri issue, with anything and everything from Jack’s 50-year career, including a head-tohead comparison of the genius of KIRBY and ALEX TOTH! Plus a lengthy KIRBY interview, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, unseen and unused Kirby art from JIMMY OLSEN, KAMANDI, MARVELMANIA, his COMIC STRIP & ANIMATION WORK, and more!

DOUBLE-TAKES ISSUE! Features oddities, coincidences, and reworkings by both Jack and Stan Lee: the Galactus Origin you didn’t see, Ditko’s vs. Kirby’s Spider-Man, how Lee and Kirby viewed “writing” differently, plus a rare KIRBY interview, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, unseen and unused pencil art from FANTASTIC FOUR, 2001, CAPTAIN VICTORY, BRUCE LEE, & more!

UP-CLOSE & PERSONAL! Kirby interviews you weren’t aware of, photos and recollections from fans who saw him in person, personal anecdotes from Jack’s fellow pros, LEE and KIRBY cameos in comics, MARK EVANIER and other regular columnists, and more! Don’t let the photo cover fool you; this issue is chockfull of rare Kirby pencil art, from Roz Kirby’s private sketchbook, and Jack’s most personal comics stories!

KEY KIRBY CHARACTERS! We go decadeby-decade to examine pivotal characters Jack created throughout his career (including some that might surprise you)! Plus there’s a look at what would’ve happened if Kirby had never left Marvel Comics for DC, how Jack’s work has been repackaged over the decades, MARK EVANIER and other regular columnists, and galleries of unseen Kirby pencil art!

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