Back Issue #93 by TwoMorrows Publishing

ALL-CAPTAINS ISSUE! be Decem

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Shazam! in the Bronze Age • Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew Captain Mar-Vell • Captain Storm and the Losers • Captain Universe • Captain Victory featuring Beck, Broderick, Kirby, Shaw!, Starlin, Thomas, & more

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

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“DC Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!” An indepth exploration of DC’s 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULARS, plus: a history of comics giants, DC indexes galore, and a salute to “human encyclopedia” E. NELSON BRIDWELL. Featuring the work of PAT BRODERICK, RICH BUCKLER, FRANK FRAZETTA, JOE KUBERT, BOB ROZAKIS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. Super Spec tribute cover featuring classic art by NICK CARDY.

“Bronze Age Events!” With extensive coverage of the Avengers/Defenders War, JLA/JSA crossovers, Secret Wars, Crisis’ 30th anniversary, Legends, Millennium, Invasion, Infinity Gauntlet, and more! Featuring the work of SAL BUSCEMA, DICK DILLIN, TODD McFARLANE, GEORGE PÉREZ, JOE STATON, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, MIKE ZECK, and more. Plus an Avengers vs. Defenders cover by JOHN BYRNE.

“International Heroes!” Alpha Flight, the New X-Men, Global Guardians, Captain Canuck, and Justice League International, plus SpiderMan in the UK and more. Also: exclusive interview with cover artists STEVE FASTNER and RICH LARSON. Featuring the work of JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, RICHARD COMELY, KEITH GIFFEN, KEVIN MAGUIRE, and more! Alpha Flight vs. X-Men cover by FASTNER/LARSON.

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“Supergirl in the Bronze Age!” Her 1970s and 1980s adventures, including her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths and her many rebirths. Plus: an ALAN BRENNERT interview, behind the scenes of the Supergirl movie starring HELEN SLATER, Who is Superwoman?, and a look at the DC Superheroes Water Ski Show. With PAUL KUPPERBERG, ELLIOT MAGGIN, MARV WOLFMAN, plus a jam cover recreation of ADVENTURE COMICS #397!

“Christmas in the Bronze Age!” Go behind the scenes of comics’ best holiday tales of the 1970s through the early 1990s! And we revisit Superhero Merchandise Catalogs of the late ‘70s! Featuring work by SIMON BISLEY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍALÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, the KUBERT STUDIO, DENNY O’NEIL, STEVE PURCELL, JOHN ROMITA, JR., and more. Cover by MARIE SEVERIN and MIKE ESPOSITO!

“Marvel Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!” In-depth exploration of Marvel’s GIANT-SIZE series, plus indexes galore of Marvel reprint titles, Marvel digests and Fireside Books editions, and the last days of the “Old” X-Men! Featuring work by DAN ADKINS, ROSS ANDRU, RICH BUCKLER, DAVE COCKRUM, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE GERBER, STAN LEE, WERNER ROTH, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by JOHN ROMITA, SR.!

“Batman AND Superman!” Bronze Age World’s Finest, Super Sons, Batman/Superman Villain/Partner Swap, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane go solo, Superman/Radio Shack giveaways, and JLA #200’s “A League Divided” (as a nod to Batman v. Superman)! Featuring work by BRIAN BOLLAND, RICH BUCKLER, GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, GEORGE PÉREZ, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by DICK GIORDANO!

“Comics Magazines of the ’70s and ’80s!” From Savage Tales to Epic Illustrated, KIRBY’s “Speak-Out Series,” EISNER’s Spirit magazine, Unpublished PAUL GULACY, MICHAEL USLAN on the Shadow magazine you didn’t see, plus B&Ws from Atlas/Seaboard, Charlton, Skywald, and Warren. Featuring work by NEAL ADAMS, JOHN BOLTON, ARCHIE GOODWIN, DOUG MOENCH, EARL NOREM, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by GRAY MORROW!

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“Bronze Age Adaptations!” The Shadow, Korak: Son of Tarzan, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Worlds Unknown, and Marvel’s 1980s movie adaptations. Plus: PAUL KUPPERBERG surveys prose adaptations of comics! With work by JACK KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL, FRANK ROBBINS, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, FRANK THORNE, MICHAEL USLAN, and sporting an alternate Kaluta cover produced for DC’s Shadow series!

“Eighties Ladies!” MILLER & SIENKIEWICZ’s Elektra: Assassin, Dazzler, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Lady Quark, DAN MISHKIN’s Wonder Woman, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS and ADAM KUBERT’s Jezebel Jade, Somerset Holmes, and a look back at Marvel’s Dakota North! Featuring the work of BRUCE JONES, JOHN ROMITA JR., ROGER STERN, and many more, plus a previously unpublished cover by SIENKIEWICZ.

“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.

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Volume 1, Number 93 December 2016 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Dave Cockrum (1970 fan art from the archives of Heritage Comics Auctions.) COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

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FLASHBACK: Shazam! in the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The original Captain Marvel’s ’70s and ’80s comebacks PRINCE STREET NEWS: What’s So Stinky About the Big Red Cheese? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. looks at the attempts to modernize the World’s Mightiest Mortal FLASHBACK: Who Was Captain Marvel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Soldier, traitor, cosmic protector—copyright holder? Marvel all-stars discuss Mar-Vell BEYOND CAPES: Captain Storm and the Losers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The adventures of DC’s rag-tag combat team—with added Kirby crackle! WHAT THE--?!: Captain D’s Exciting Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Ahoy! A mouthwatering taste of restaurant giveaway comics FLASHBACK: Captain Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The story behind the hero who could be YOU BACKSTAGE PASS: Captain Avenger, Hero At Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 A look back at the John Ritter-starring 1980 nice-guy hero movie FLASHBACK: The Thrill of (Captain) Victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Jack Kirby’s creator-owned series and its comebacks FLASHBACK: The Zoo Crew Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The hare-raising history of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, with Scott Shaw! and friends PRO2PRO: Captain EO Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Dean Mullaney, Catherine Yronwode, and Thomas Yeates reminisce about Eclipse Comics’ Michael Jackson project BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 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 Economy US, $88 Expedited US, $116 International. Send subscription orders & funds to TwoMorrows, NOT the editorial office. Cover art by Dave Cockrum. Shazam! (The Original Captain Marvel) TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters © 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. Views expressed here are those of the contributors, not Back Issue or TwoMorrows Inc. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

Captain Carrot sketch by Scott Shaw! Captain Carrot TM & © DC Comics.

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Carol Lay Todd Latowski Mark Arnold Alan Light Nick Barrucci Andy Mangels Billy Batson Greg McKee Bob Budiansky David Michelinie Kurt Busiek Al Milgrom Captain D’s Doug Moench Dewey Cassell Bill Morrison Gerry Conway Dean Mullaney DC Comics Daniel DeAngelo Michael Netzer Luigi Novi Scott Edelman John G. Pierce Steve Englehart Mike Royer Jay Faerber Alex Saviuk Mike Friedrich Michael Gallagher Bill Schanes Scott Shaw! Keith Giffen Jim Starlin Grand Comics Joe Staton Database Michael Thibodeaux P.C. Hamerlinck Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Roy Thomas Heritage Comics Karen Walker Thomas Yeates Auctions Craig Yoe Rick Hoberg Christopher Catherine Yronwode Larochelle

“BA-ROOMPF!” … with one symbolic, thunderous strike, Captain Marbles’ lethal, self-inflicted punch to the head (MAD #4) foreshadowed the doomsday destiny awaiting Fawcett Publications’ top-selling “World’s Mightiest Mortal,” Captain Marvel. The prolonged copyright infringement case initiated by Superman’s publisher against Fawcett had finally approached its disheartening denouement. Fawcett relinquished its comics line in early 1954 and agreed with DC not to publish—nor allow anyone else to publish— Captain Marvel and Family. Aside from being battered one last time by the Man of Steel (note Kurt Schaffenberger’s inside-joke splash panel art for “The Monkey’s Paw!” in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #42/104), the soul of the fallen red-clad hero lay quiescently on Comic-Book-Banishment-Earth, with no likelihood to rise again. Only the seminal works within the unfeigned pages of such labor of loves as Xero and Alter Ego kept lit the flickering candle of Captain Marvel’s prosperous past—as well as cameo-coverage in Jules Feiffer’s renowned book, The Great Comic Book Heroes (although Jules never really “got” what CM was all about, did he?). By 1967, Marvel Comics had secured trademark ownership on the Captain Marvel name and created their own CM. Five years later, Jim Steranko gave us his illuminating History of Comics—its second volume applauding the original Captain Marvel with its nostalgic narrative detailing CM’s popularity and prominence in the industry during the 1940s and early ’50s. By then, thousands of enlivened comicbook fans were primed for Captain Marvel’s triumphant return. The silencing of Shazam was coming to an end. Enter DC publisher/editorial director Carmine Infantino: “I was a fan of Captain Marvel,” the DC artist-to-boss said in a 2003 interview with Mark Voger. “That’s why I went after it so vigorously. I went to Fawcett; I wanted that character so badly.” In 1972, DC resuscitated the original Captain Marvel by leasing him from Fawcett, and an exciting new comic book was scheduled to appear on stands and spin-racks. However, since the Captain Marvel name now belonged to Marvel Comics, DC opted to call their new magazine Shazam! Why the confusion over the name of a comic book? Even as an 11-year-old boy at the time I remember, in essence, thinking to myself, “What a perfectly powerful, stylishly simple, yet well-reasoned title for the book.” Alas, even to this day, when it comes to Captain Marvel, some ignorantly insist that “everybody thinks he’s called Shazam anyway!” (If CM’s British doppelgänger Marvelman/ Miracleman had appeared in a magazine © DC Comics. called Kimota! I’m quite certain I wouldn’t have been baffled into calling the character by that name.) We welcomed the Captain back with open arms. But something was off. I still remember as a youngster feeling embarrassed for DC because of the very noticeable contrasting caliber between the new stories and the old Fawcett reprints that were used to pad out the book. Captain Marvel-maestro John G. Pierce will lead you down an abandoned subway station on a Bronze Age journey of highs but largely lows; even Shazam! associate editor/writer E. Nelson Bridwell later admitted to our esteemed author, about Captain Marvel’s Bronze Age launch, that DC “started off on the wrong foot. We didn’t make him heroic enough.” 2 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

by J o h n

G. Pierce

w i t h P. C . H a m e r l i n c k

A Super Introduction The now-iconic cover of DC Comics’ Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). Main figures by C. C. Beck; Superman figure by Nick Cardy (with a Superman head and face by Murphy Anderson). TM & © DC Comics.

World’s Mightiest Artist (top right) C. C. Beck, as photographed by Alan Light at the 1982 San Diego Comic-Con. Courtesy of Alan Light. (bottom) Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), Beck’s contemporary take on Captain Marvel in a 1972 illo.

World’s Messiest Match-up Dave Manak’s cartoony take on the Captain Marvel–Superman legal battle, reproduced from the prozine Amazing World of DC Comics #17 (Apr. 1978). TM & © DC Comics.

From the very beginning there were numerous factors in play working against Shazam! which ultimately set the course for Captain Marvel’s collapsed comeback, even before the first issue had been delivered to the printer. For instance, editor Julie Schwartz made artist C. C. Beck re-pencil the Shazam! #1 cover because the original had oddly vanished from the DC offices. Beck had the second one half-finished before the original cover art was suddenly “found.” Julie boasted years later that the cover art was never missing at all: He deliberately made Beck re-draw it only because he already despised him so much. And so it went. But we, the children of the Bronze, had no comprehension nor care over the dissension and dubious decisions of the adult world. It was 1973 and we were 11-year-olds discovering a world of dreams where we met a benevolent old wizard, a tiger who could talk, a cackling scientist, a lovable uncle, and three kids around our age with handy magic words. We loved Captain Marvel, in comics and on television. The Bronze Age was our Golden Age. It was our time and our day. It wasn’t perfect, but it was all we had, and we wouldn’t have given it up for anything. – P.C. Hamerlinck Back in the early ’60s, the age of the nascent comics (especially superhero comics) fandom, the excitement over the revival of characters such as Flash, Green Lantern, and others brought the almost-inevitable question as to whether the original Captain Marvel would return. An early poll, asking which character ought to be revived, showed the Spectre nosing out Doctor Fate by one vote, with CM just a few votes behind. When rumors started to circulate (which took a lot longer in those pre-Internet days, of course) that Captain Marvel and Plastic Man would be returning, I decided to seek an answer from the Font of All Knowledge of Matters Superheroic, viz., the Father of Comics Fandom, Dr. Jerry Bails, whose terse answer was that no, Cap and Plastic Man were not going to be revived. “Just wishful thinking,” he concluded. But sometimes wishes come true, and within a few years Plas would return, once someone at DC realized that they owned the rights to him. It took a little longer for Captain Marvel, thus causing him to miss the Silver Age, but to return in time for the Bronze Age.

TM & © DC Comics.

A revival of sorts might have happened years earlier, however, as Carmine Infantino (then still an artist), at some point in the ’50s, had had an idea for a Captain Marvel takeoff to be called Captain Whiz. When those plans didn’t materialize, Carmine utilized his basic costume design for the Silver Age Flash instead. So, for those who have wondered (as I did, for years) why the Flash’s costume called to mind Captain Marvel’s, there is the explanation. And, before we totally depart from the world of what-mighthave-been for what-actually-was, there is one other scenario which could have come about. Newly arrived at DC, the legendary Jack Kirby had wanted to revive Captain Marvel, with himself as editor, Mark Evanier as writer, and C. C. Beck as artist. DC management at the time, however, wanted to keep Captain Marvel in-house (viz., based in the New York offices, rather than in Kirby’s California outpost), so that version never came about. Years later, when I asked Evanier if he had come up with any story ideas, he said that the whole process had never reached that stage. Given that fandom at that time was still somewhat composed of holdover Golden Age fans, as well as younger fans (such as myself) who had eagerly imbibed the Golden Age brew from fanzine articles, this news was electric. “Could it really be?”, followed by the inevitable questions of, “Will it be any good? Will the characters be recognizable?”

WITH ONE MAGIC WORD…

DC’s early announcement that the writing would be done by Denny O’Neil and the art by Bob Oksner put a bit of a damper on the enthusiasm, especially since O’Neil was more associated with the heavy sociopolitical drama of the “relevant” Green Lantern/Green Arrow All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

DC’s Christmas Gift to You (top) C. C. Beck’s preliminary art (courtesy of Heritage) for DC Comics’ house ad for Shazam! #1, and the ad itself (bottom). TM & © DC Comics.

tales. But surely the level of excitement must have risen again when an announcement was made that the art instead would be in the hands of Captain Marvel’s original artist, co-creator, and guiding light, C. C. Beck. But Denny O’Neil as writer? He seemed an odd choice. As it turned out, however, Denny had actually been a CM fan in his youth. When I, several years later, asked him how he would rank the good Captain amongst other comic-book heroes, he responded, “Very high… right below the Spirit.” Also, DC had supplied both O’Neil and the unannounced backup writer, Elliot S! Maggin, with a large stack of old Fawcett comics to peruse—for Denny to reacquaint himself with the original, and for Elliot to become better acquainted. Given that the revival of the Marvel Family took place not too long after Jim Steranko’s two volumes of History of Comics, volume 2 of which, in particular, had featured three articles on Fawcett, it seems that what Steranko had conveyed therein may have influenced DC’s thinking in trying to recapture the old style rather than attempt anything new, as they had done with their own characters. Beck initially expressed enthusiasm over the stories. In a letter dated November 27, 1973, he stated the six stories he had drawn so far were “excellent and quite in the old humorous, light-hearted approach. Elliot S. Maggin is writing them also and he has a great approach. He wrote one about a little boy who is so cute that people keep giving him presents and some bank robbers give him a satchel full of loot. Then it’s up to Billy and the good Captain to foil their attempts to get it back. Everything takes place within just a few blocks with no earth-shaking ‘super’ events at all.” (Beck here was alluding to “The Nicest Guy in the World” – Shazam! #2, Apr. 1973.) “Both writers keep putting in ‘super’ events—the sort of ridiculous things that Superman does—but between Julius Schwartz (the editor) and myself we manage to throw out most of them and put in something better,” Beck continued. “For example, in a story which will appear in Shazam! #2, Mr. Mind (the worm) was supposed to be shown riding in a giant helicopter and firing a giant gun. With the editor’s consent, I changed this to Mr. Mind’s riding in a Dixie cup suspended beneath a toy balloon and firing a tiny gun made from an old 30-caliber shell casing. It’s very funny. “DC has given me authority to change scripts as I see fit to keep the stories in the old style. We take sly digs at hippies, rock music, mod clothes by making Billy and Marvel, with their 1940s attitude, just slightly confused and bewildered in the ’70s. In a story by O’Neil… Billy buys a 4 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

mod outfit of turtleneck sweater, double-knit bells, and a snappy jacket and goes to a teen dance hoping to meet kids of his own age. But the kids are all in jeans, T-shirts, and hip-hugger outfits, the music is ‘Thump! TWANG! Boing!’ and the dancing is completely beyond Billy’s Arthur Murray style. So he goes to Shazam, who makes him his real age, 34. Billy is delighted, as what kid wouldn’t be? But then, when he changes to CM later, Captain Marvel is only 14! Even Otto Binder never came up with a story like this!” (“A Switch in Time” – Shazam! #3, June 1973.) As time went on, however, Beck became disenchanted with the stories. In particular, two tales, both by Maggin, were considered by Beck to be totally unsuitable: “Invasion of the Salad People” and “The Incredible Cape-Man.” With the first one, Beck tried to re-imagine it as a fictional story Billy would tell, but eventually he gave up and did what artists simply did not and do not do: he returned the scripts as “unusable,” handing them back in-person to DC vice-president and manager Sol Harrison when he [Beck] was Guest of Honor at Phil Seuling’s Fourth of July comic convention in New York City, 1974. Later on, Beck would claim that the stories were bad from the beginning. But at one point he had told me that he had “high hopes for DC, which now lets writers and artists have more say about policy.” So what he actually thought depends upon when he was expressing any given opinion.

C. C. YOU LATER

In any event, Beck was no longer sent scripts to draw. Original first artist choice Bob Oksner was assigned to draw the first story rejected by Beck, while Beck’s former Fawcett colleague Kurt Schaffenberger was given the other one to illustrate. Shazam! #10 (Feb. 1974) contained the last new Beck story along with the first Oksner effort, sandwiching the first new Mary Marvel solo story by Bridwell and Oksner. The first new Captain Marvel, Jr. tale, drawn by famed Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes (and future X-Men) artist Dave Cockrum, in a style somewhat based on that of Junior’s original artist, Mac Raboy, had appeared in the previous issue, while #8 had been an all-Fawcett reprint issue in DC’s 100-Page Super Spectacular format. Cockrum had been enchanted by Captain Marvel, and would like to have drawn the feature, but felt that only Mr. Beck should do that. [Editor’s note: Dave Cockrum was breaking in to the comics biz in 1970 when he produced the Captain Marvel illustration which we’ve used as this issue’s cover.] He was glad, however, for the Captain Marvel, Jr. assignment, which he said better suited his “emerging style.” He would have continued had he not later signed on to do The X-Men at Marvel. Although Marvel’s Stan Lee and Roy Thomas had no problem with Cockrum’s desire to work for both companies simultaneously, Infantino vetoed the idea. And thus, reluctantly, Dave never drew another CM, Jr. after that first one. Bob Oksner had been in the business since the 1940s, even having served as an art director at a company where Mac Raboy assistant William “Red” Mohler had worked. Amazingly, however, Bob had never before heard of Captain Marvel, and had been unfamiliar with Beck’s work. “When I was asked to continue his work, I was quite hesitant,” Oksner told P. C. Hamerlinck. “I was told of Beck’s differences with DC. I felt I would be impinging on Beck’s creation. I continued to feel that way during my entire

World’s Mightiest Backups Among the joys of Shazam! were its short stories starring the junior members of the Marvel Family. Shown here: (top) Dave Cockrum channels Mac Raboy in the Captain Marvel, Jr. tale from Shazam! #9 (Jan. 1974), and (bottom) Bob Oksner’s adorable take on Mary Marvel, from issue #10 (Feb. 1974). TM & © DC Comics.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

TM & © DC Comics.

Hero Sandwich Courtesy of Heritage, marker sketches of Cap, Sivana, and Billy, done by C. C. Beck in 1975. TM & © DC Comics.

time drawing Captain Marvel… I was given a few books of his work. The more I looked at Beck’s great artwork the more I was impressed with the simple strength of his drawings. I now viewed the opportunity … as a challenge… to re-create that magic that made him so popular in the Golden Age. The editor wanted me to draw in Beck’s style… [that] they were gearing the book for a younger market. The plots were uncomplicated and gentle… and the artwork reflected it.” The Mary Marvel feature was a different story, however. Here, Oksner had an advantage, in that Mary’s appearance and artistic style had not been nearly as consistent even back in the Fawcett days as than those of CM. Marc Swayze (her original artist, in her first two appearances in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 and 19), Jack Binder, C. C. Beck, and Kurt Schaffenberger had all drawn her somewhat differently. Oksner again: “When I was given Mary Marvel to illustrate, I tried to break away from the confines governing Captain Marvel. I presented her as a ‘Nancy Drew’ type of character. Mary Marvel provided a greater opportunity for me to be myself artistically and indeed, provided more enjoyment and satisfaction.” The task of writing Mary’s stories would have gone to Elliot Maggin, but he couldn’t seem to get started on them. “I just didn’t get what made Mary distinctive,” he told me recently. So that task was taken up by Schwartz’s assistant, E. Nelson Bridwell. An amazing individual with a photographic memory, Bridwell was considered an expert on comics, the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Shakespeare, poetry, and many other areas, as well. When told that he would be assisting Schwartz in the revival of some of his favorite characters of his childhood, he was, in his own words, “…delighted! Ecstatic!” DC gave Beck another opportunity to work on the book, an invitation to write and draw one of his own stories. He wrote one, a Marvel Family story (a bit of an anomaly, given that he really had no great love for the various CM offshoots) in which they battled the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man. About six months later, it was returned, heavily rewritten by E. Nelson Bridwell. Although Beck made an effort to draw the story, far removed from what he had submitted, eventually he threw in the towel, tore up all the art he had done, and returned the script to DC. He never worked for them again.

6 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

(Incidentally, C. C. Beck made two cameo appearances in Shazam! issues. But most surprising was his cameo in an unrelated title, The Joker #3, Sept.–Oct. 1975, as written by Denny O’Neil. Here Beck was seen as a curmudgeonly cartoonist named Sandy Saturn. It might have been understood as a not-so-sly dig at Beck by O’Neil, due to the former’s attitudes toward the Captain Marvel scripts from DC. Small wonder, then, that later on, when O’Neil was editing an origins reprint book for DC, he was nervous about calling Beck for information. To Denny’s surprise, though, Beck interrupted a fishing trip to come to a payphone and talk with him.) Bridwell, whom Beck praised as “an intelligent man” and probably the DC staffer most dedicated to trying to preserve Captain Marvel, later said of Beck that “He admits he’s not a writer, at least not a great one. There were too many holes, too many loose ends.” Ironically enough, Beck’s favorite Shazam! script had been Nelson’s “What’s In a Name?—Doomsday!” as printed in #7—a clever satire on the various legal complications over the use of Captain Marvel’s name. (Beck wrote only one CM story back in the Golden Age, “The Temple of Itzalotahui,” in Whiz Comics #22. It, too, was a bit of an anomaly, as it referenced characters from Republic Pictures’ 1941 Captain Marvel movie serial, even though Beck had hated the film. But Beck’s tale, quite unlike the serial, was rather amusing, including what is possibly one of the funniest scenes ever in a CM story, in which Cap proudly proclaimed that he had gotten a lot of wisdom from old Shazam—thereby summoning the magic lightning which changed him back into Billy, causing the latter to fall into the river.)

MAKE WAY FOR CAPTAIN THUNDER!

One of the best usages of Captain Marvel in the pages of DC Comics actually didn’t feature him at all. Early on, before DC had full authority to use the Fawcett characters anywhere they might wish, there was a desire for a crossover with his former greatest rival, Superman, thus an analog character was created. And for that character, CM’s original name was resurrected in “Make Way for Captain Thunder” in Superman #276’s (June 1974). In this story, a lad named Willie Fawcett (a direct tribute to Fawcett Publications’ founder Wilford Fawcett) ended up on Superman’s Earth-One, after having battled “the Monster League of Evil across 1953

dimensions of time-and-space.” The problem was that the MLoE had done something to the good Captain so that, in the future, whenever Willie said the magic word “Thunder” (along with rubbing his belt buckle) in order to change into CT, the latter would turn evil. And thus, the inevitable, a fight between Superman and the Captain, resulted. In the end, all was made right, although with a rather flimsy pseudo-scientific explanation plus a bit of magic mixed in, and Captain Thunder made it back to his home world. The Superman #276 story was prepared by three Shazam! regulars, viz., editor Julius Schwartz, writer Elliot Maggin, and artist Bob Oksner (here inking rather than penciling, however), with non-Shazammer and definitive Superman artist Curt Swan furnishing the pencils. (In some ways, though, it is too bad that the one artist who had historic associations with both the Marvel and Superman Families, Kurt Schaffenberger, wasn’t assigned to the art chores.) As Maggin told Michael Eury in a 2006 interview, “The Captain Thunder story was a piece of speculation as to what Captain Marvel might be like if he lived in the ‘real world.’ I think Metropolis in the ’70s was what we thought of as the real world at the time.” [Editor’s note: Maggin scripted an unpublished sequel to this story intended for Action Comics #576, as explored in BI #30’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” department.] (Incidentally, the idea of changing personas by reciting a magic word while simultaneously rubbing a magic artifact had earlier been used by Simon and Kirby for their character, the Fly, who also had made the transition from boy to superpowered adult, in his case by saying “I wish—I wish I were the Fly” at the same time as he rubbed his magic ring. The Fly, done for the Archie Adventure line, had in turn been based on an earlier, and unpublished, feature called the Silver Spider, as prepared by Joe Simon and C. C. Beck. It is doubtful that any of those involved with the Captain Thunder tale were aware of the Fly’s change-method, however. Not that it matters much. A good idea lying fallow is ripe for the reaping—to slightly mangle a metaphor.)

Thunder Agent The Man of Steel battles a Cap analog, Captain Thunder, in Superman #276 (June 1974). Cover by Cardy, story by Maggin, interior art by Swan and Oksner. TM & © DC Comics.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

The Shazam! book continued on, with scripts by O’Neil, Bridwell, and Maggin, and with CM’s solo stories drawn alternately by Oksner and Schaffenberger, Mary solo tales by Oksner, new Junior stories by Dick Giordano and later Schaffenberger, and new Marvel Family adventures by Schaffenberger. For Schaffenberger, these assignments provided a sense of déjà vu, as he had drawn Cap, Junior and Family tales for Fawcett in the late Forties and early ’50s. (Although he enjoyed the assignments, Kurt later confessed to me that it all “no longer seemed applicable to the present times.”) Fawcett reprints had been utilized as backups in the book from #1 onward, except for #9–11, and returned in full force when the magazine converted for a time, for issues #12–17, to a 100-page offering with a mixture of new and old tales. Thus, though not in new stories, Beck continued to be a presence in the book via some of the reprints, as did other notable Fawcett artists of the Golden Age. Beck, early on, had wanted to revive the old studio system for the Shazam! stories by hiring former Fawcett writers. Although the most prolific Marvel Family writer of the past, Otto Binder (who had later become a sort of head writer on the Superman family of characters for editor Mort Weisinger), had departed from the comics a few years earlier and had absolutely no desire to return, there were others who might have been persuaded to tackle the job. Rod Reed, who had been a Fawcett editor

(the first one, following Bill Parker, the creator of CM, Ibis, Spy Smasher, etc.), and later a freelancer, and who once told me that had someone made him the offer to write CM again, he would have given “the matter due consideration,” was on Beck’s list of possibilities, as well as noted author William Woolfolk. Beck also had in mind fanzine artist and CM fan Don Newton for an artistic collaborator. But DC wanted to maintain control of the book, and that meant keeping everything in-house. “Julie [Schwartz] knew that I wanted to set up my own shop to handle the whole thing,” Beck once explained to P. C. Hamerlinck. “If I had been able to do so, the stories would have had much more continuity and they would have been better. Everyone wants to take credit for Captain Marvel, but no one wanted to handle the responsibility for keeping the character good. I was more than willing to handle it, but Carmine Infantino felt that the editor should handle everything.”

TM & © DC Comics.

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As editor, Schwartz was under pressure to make the book sell; therefore, he wanted to have complete control. Quite likely his aversion was not to having Rod Reed or Bill Woolfolk as writers, per se. In fact, he and Reed were old friends. Back in the ’40s, the two of them along with a man who had written for both of them, John Broome, used to attend jazz concerts together at Town Hall in New York City. No, it was a matter of control and responsibility. As publisher, Infantino naturally trusted his editors, once comparing the arrangement to a military situation in which generals, not enlisted personnel, are the ones in charge. Many years later, Carmine—a Captain Marvel fan himself—expressed some regret at the way he had handled the situation, however. The first issue of Shazam! had sold incredibly well, most likely due to a combination of eager fans, dealers, and investors who had purchased multiple copies. In fact, Beck himself and his grandson had not been able to find any copies on sale in his Miami, Florida, area. He had to contact area fans who were, of course, more than happy to provide copies. But as time went on, Shazam!’s sales declined. The mystique wore off. No doubt the stories themselves contributed to this, but there was the whole matter of believing that a character who had once been the bestselling superhero of his day would necessarily be able to achieve those heights again. As Roy Thomas once explained to me, “Carmine’s mistake was in thinking that there is a market for nostalgia alone. There isn’t.” It should be noted that Shazam! was hardly the only sales failure which DC had in the early ’70s—a time of great experimentation in comics. DC also failed to find a significant readership for noted features such as The Shadow and even Tarzan, among others.

CAPTAIN MARVEL, SUPERSTAR

However, the series had a great advantage in its corner, and that was the prospect of merchandising. And so the decade saw a proliferation of toys, puzzles, clothes, and many other items under the “Shazam!” label featuring Captain Marvel’s likeness. Although merchandising comic-book characters was nothing new (DC had done it with Superman from very early on), by the ’70s the whole thing had become almost a kind of “tail wagging the dog” sort of enterprise, with sales figures on the books themselves only a part of the equation. (Today, of course, the situation is even worse, with both DC and Marvel largely dependent on blockbuster movies.) But Captain Marvel was about to get an even bigger boost, in the form of the preferred medium of the era, television. On September 7, 1974 (less than two years after Shazam! #1’s debut in December of ’72), a liveaction version of Shazam! premiered on CBS, courtesy of Filmation Associates. Starring as Captain Marvel was Alabama resident and former pre-med student Jackson Bostwick, while the role of Billy was played by teen idol Michael Gray. Though obviously not a child or even

Saturday Morning Superstar Jackson Bostwick in a publicity still for TV’s Shazam! (inset) The corner box from Shazam’s “DC TV Comic” days. TM & © DC Comics.

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a teen, Michael carried off the role as written convincingly. Also in the cast was a well-experienced thespian, Les Tremayne, whose history in the entertainment business stretched back into the days of dramatic radio. Tremayne portrayed Mentor, a role created especially for the TV series. Bostwick, a fan of Captain Marvel (and the Lone Ranger) in his youth, was thrilled to be playing his childhood hero. Although his hair was a bit longer than anything the Captain had sported in the comics (with Gray’s hair as Billy being even more so), he brought a certain charm and sincerity to the role, and he generally looked the part. Perhaps most jarring, to some viewers, at least, was the fact that when Billy said “Shazam!”, he not only turned into an adult but also suddenly acquired a Southern accent! (Later on, during the time leading up to the production of The Legend of the Lone Ranger movie from 1981, TV’s original LR, Clayton Moore, had told Bostwick that he would like to have him take over the role as the Masked Rider of the Plains. Oh, the things that might have been!) The Shazam! TV series had Billy and Mentor traveling around in a motor home, on vacation from their jobs at the TV station, and in their travels they invariably met teens and pre-teens struggling with some issue or another. By each episode’s end, the kids involved would be on the right track with lessons learned by them and those around them. So there were no “name” villains such as Sivana, Mr. Mind, or any others. In fact, many of the “villains” were really just misguided youth or adults, although some minor-league crooks

Say “Cheese” (Big Red, That Is) From the Heritage archives, one of several pick-up art images of Captain Marvel from a 1975 printer’s guide for Shazam! licensing. TM & © DC Comics.

World’s Mightiest Reprints Between DC’s tabloid-sized Limited Collectors’ Editions and Shazam!’s stint as a 100-Page Super Spectacular, Bronze Age readers discovered the Marvel Family’s Golden Age adventures. TM & © DC Comics.

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Whiz Kids (left inset) Cap and Billy, on the C. C. Beck/Pete Costanza cover of Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #22 (Oct. 3, 1941). (main) Beck’s 1976 recreation of that classic pose, courtesy of Heritage. (right inset) Bob Oksner’s rendition of this iconic shot, from 1974’s Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-27. TM & © DC Comics.

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Shazamerchandise Captain Marvel products were common in the 1970s, often with the Big Red Cheese marketed alongside DC’s other superheroes. TM & © DC Comics.

did appear from time to time. Guns and knives were prohibited, as the series was under heavy censorship from a panel of psychologists and others who wanted the series to be as safe as possible for child viewers. Captain Marvel did little more than flying and occasional exhibitions of strength. Comics fan and writer Don Glut, who wrote an episode for the series, once told me that the restrictions were incredible: “Even the word ‘atomic’ was prohibited as being ‘too violent’.” Instead of contacting Shazam, Billy was summoned by a set of crudely animated “elders,” viz., the Shazam benefactors, who gave often vague, enigmatic advice to Billy. (Many felt Tremayne could have simply been cast as Shazam.) Bostwick was replaced after two episodes into the second season with Nevada native John Davey, a former boxer and Marine. (His eight-year-old son Tom called up a friend and said, “Guess what? My dad’s the new Captain Marvel! The real Captain Marvel got fired!”) Davey finished out the second season and did a third as an amiable CM before the show was canceled. [Editor’s note: P.C. Hamerlinck’s interviews with Captain Marvel actors Bostwick and Davey can be found in BACK ISSUE #30. He also interviewed TV Billy Batson, Michael Gray, for BI #33.] A few years later, in 1981, Filmation did a more-accurate animated adaptation for Saturday morning TV on NBC, this time with the entire Marvel Family, plus Sivana, Mr. Mind, Mr. Tawny, Sterling Morris, et. al. [see BI #30—ed.].

SUPER-SIZED REPRINTS AND SUPERMAN TEAM-UPS

Though DC’s handling of new material for the Marvel Family over the years was mixed, at least the company was not stingy in doling out Fawcett reprints. Shazam! had featured Fawcett reprints for the first seven issues (with #8 being all-Fawcett), with reprints resuming when the book converted to a 100-pager with #12. But possibly one of the best of the Bronze Age DC efforts in the way of reprints was the tabloid-sized Limited Collectors’ Edition (LCE) title. The series started with #C-20, a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer book, followed by a Shazam! collection in #C-21 (Summer 1973). Behind a new cover by Beck there were reprints of six Fawcett stories [see BI #61, the “Tabloids and Treasuries” issue, for a contents listing of all of DC’s LCE books—ed.] Also included were numerous puzzle pages, features on “how to draw” the Marvel Family members, and pinups from Fawcett, plus a back-cover diorama, as well as an inside back cover with new text, dedicated to none other than C. C. Beck. That text page (which also features a large photo of Beck), of anonymous authorship (but one could easily suppose that E. Nelson Bridwell did it), was surprisingly candid in revealing that Beck and the editorship had disagreements over storylines, and that “sometimes he loses, but usually—no doubt about it! … C. C. Beck is back, and we’re glad that we’ve got him!” …A sentiment which sadly did not last very long, and which even so may have reflected only Nelson’s thinking. (Note: Your writer is the proud possessor of a 1975 Brazilian reprint of this edition, on much heavier paper stock—as was common for many Brazilian comics of that period—squarebound, minus the final story and © DC Comics. the puzzle features, but with a fold-out Marvel Family poster, and with the text page about Beck being replaced by a reprinting of a blackand-white Mary Marvel poster-style drawing by artist Jack Binder.) Two more Shazam! tabloids followed in 1974: #C-27, with eight Fawcett tales (again, a mixture of Cap, Mary, Junior, and Family stories), with more puzzles, games, and pinups, another back-cover diorama, and with the inside back cover devoted to photos from Republic’s

1941 Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial. The front cover art is a legendary “impossible pose” of Cap and Billy together, as done in the ’40s by Beck, but not ascribed to him here, though he is credited in interior art. Finally, #C-35 has a front cover consisting of a photo of Jackson Bostwick (the first actor to play Cap on TV). The back cover’s diorama is based on that photo, while the inside back cover has black-and-white photos from an episode of the Shazam! TV series. This issue contains only four stories, although one is the three-part “Plot Against the Universe.” One new feature is a two-pager of art instruction by Kurt Schaffenberger of how to draw Mr. Tawny, Mr. Mind, and Dr. Sivana. Also, a solo Captain Marvel Christmas tale was reprinted in LCE #C-34 (Feb.–Mar. 1975), in the volume themed as Christmas with the Super-Heroes. The entirety of Whiz Comics #2 (the first published issue of Whiz), Captain Marvel’s first appearance, was reprinted in DC’s tabloid-sized Famous First Edition #F-4. However, the original cover’s text of “Gangway for Captain Marvel!” was omitted from both the front cover (understandable) and the interior cover (not so understandable). The beefiest of the Bronze Age’s Captain Marvel reprint editions was Harmony Books’ Shazam! from the Forties to the Seventies, a 360-page hardcover collecting a range of reprints spanning the decades, with an ENB introduction. During the Bronze Age, it was common for the annual JLA/JSA team-ups to include a third group, and the Fawcett characters, the heroes of Earth-S, appeared in Justice League of America #135–137 (Oct.–Dec. 1976), climaxing with a promised battle between Captain Marvel and a Red Kryptonite-addled Superman. However, there was no real battle, as Cap said “Shazam!”, calling down a lightning bolt which changed him back to Billy but also cured Superman. All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11

A DC TV Comic DC’s Shazam! borrowed elements from TV’s Shazam! beginning with issue #25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), and Isis joined the line of DC superstars (for a while, at least). Cover by Kurt Schaffenberger. Shazam! TM & © DC Comics. Isis TM & © Entertainment Rights plc.

Why Billy didn’t collide with the Man of Steel and end up squished wasn’t explained. Martin Pasko scripted those three JLA issues over a plot by E. Nelson Bridwell. “Nelson gave me all the reference on the [Earth-S] characters and their backstories,” he said in BACK ISSUE #72. “I’d never liked the Fawcett stuff very much, including Captain Marvel.” Bridwell, a stickler for continuity and for fan-obsessive minutiae unimportant to the average reader, did heavy rewrites of Pasko’s scripts, leaving a bad taste in Martin’s mouth: “To this day, I’m embarrassed by that three-parter and never once read it again after it was published.” Rich Buckler (with inks by Dick Giordano), penciled “Superman vs. Shazam!” (a.k.a. All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58, 1978), in which Superman had to battle Captain Marvel (thanks to trickery by foes, including Black Adam). Originally Kurt Schaffenberger had been scheduled to pencil the Earth-S characters, but he was unavailable, so Buckler and Giordano did the entire job—but again, Schaffenberger could have drawn both Earths-One and -S.

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MEANWHILE, IN THE PAGES OF SHAZAM!...

The Shazam! comic book, however, was still limping along. The TV show had provided a bit of a boost, but readers acquired from the TV series must have been a bit puzzled by the discontinuity between what they saw on Saturday mornings and what they read in the book, in spite of the “Saturday’s Newest TV Star” tagline on the covers. But changes were afoot. The 100-page format, consisting of leading and concluding new tales with Fawcett reprints in between, was dropped with #17 (Mar.–Apr. 1975). With #18, the book, though still published only bimonthly, became regular size again, with new lead and backup stories in #18 and a book-length tale in #19. (That latter issue contained Elliot Maggin’s “The Strange and Terrible Disappearance of Maxwell Zodiac,” which Bridwell later considered to be the best among Maggin’s stories, even though “it needed a lot of work” to “whip it into publishable shape.”) After issue #22, the book was demoted to a quarterly frequency and all-reprint status. Maggin was never notified that he would no longer be doing Shazam! stories; after some months, he began to notice that he hadn’t gotten any assignments for that title lately. He missed doing the series. “It was a kick-and-a-half!” he exulted decades later. But still more changes were coming, for in #25 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), the book reverted to new stories, returned to bimonthly publication, and changed editorial hands, from Schwartz (probably relieved to be rid of the character he supposedly hadn’t cared much for) to Joe Orlando. The cover and first story in that issue introduced into comics the character who had been sharing Saturday mornings with Captain Marvel, Isis, whose show was paired with Shazam! in The Shazam!/ Isis Hour, debuting on September 6, 1975. (Mary Marvel had been considered for television, but Filmation didn’t want to pay an additional licensing fee. Again, oh, what might have been!) Some episodes involved crossovers with Captain Marvel. It made sense to adapt Isis into comics, starting with her appearance in this issue, and then spinning off into her own title. [Editor’s note: The Mighty Isis’ comic-book appearances were chronicled in BACK ISSUE #23.] The issue opened with an Isis tale, edited by Schwartz (his last for the title), written by O’Neil, with art by Giordano, while the second story, under Orlando’s editorship, with writing by Bridwell and art by Schaffenberger, launched Captain Marvel into a new/ old direction. Billy was filming a documentary about young people in US history, with his efforts almost sabotaged by Cap’s persistent nemesis, Dr. Sivana— who, at the end of the story, announced his attention to “destroy America, city by city.” But the documentary gave Billy’s boss, Sterling Morris, “a splendid idea! I’m going to send Billy on a long trip!” And beginning in #26, that is exactly what happened. In what was indeed “a splendid idea” in real life, Nelson blended ideas from the TV series with a revival of a clever concept from the early and mid-1940s. Back then, in a circulation-building effort, Captain Marvel visited actual cities, where he would meet up with mayors and other real-life people of the time, and, of course, overcome some menace. It was Bridwell’s idea to revive the city-visiting routine, and he very adroitly combined it with imagery from the TV show. Uncle Dudley (the “lovable old fraud” who pretended to be a member of the Marvel Family) suddenly sported a moustache and an outfit which made him look like a slightly more portly Les Tremayne. Sterling Morris outfitted Billy and Mentor

with a motor home virtually identical to that used on the TV show, complete with lightning bolt on the front grille, while Shazam gave Billy a sort of “electronic brazier”—again, virtually identical to that used on TV—by which he could contact the “elders” directly. And so off they went, traveling from city to city, and in the process foiling Sivana at every turn. In another clever twist, Billy contacted only one elder at a time, the one whose advice would seem to be most suited to the situation at hand. In other words, Nelson was doing what the TV writers ought to have done, and maybe might have done had they not operated under such heavy restrictions. In this first outing, Billy sought the advice of Hercules in order to figure out how Sivana had moved the entire Capitol building from Washington, D.C. This launched Shazam! into a solid era where Bridwell wrote imaginative stories, light-hearted but not excessively juvenile, and in the process taught readers some history lessons. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin had apprenticed to a printer at age ten? That Pocahontas was only 12 or 13 when she saved Captain John Smith? That ancient Egyptians had called their land Khem or Kemet, meaning “the Black Land,” because of the black soil of the Nile basin? Bridwell (possessed of a photographic memory, remember) knew, and after reading his stories, so did the readers. If there was any part of this series which stretched credulity a bit (I mean, other than, you know, magic words and superpowers and all that), it was that Uncle Dudley seemed to be acquainted with local periodical distributors wherever he went. This, of course, was done as a way to prompt local distributors (remember, this was before the exclusivity of the direct market) to promote the books. In #31 (Sept.–Oct. 1977), in which Billy and Dudley visited Columbus, Ohio, they just happened to encounter Dudley’s “old friend” Ron Scheer, vice president of the Scott Kraus News Agency. Along the way, Bridwell indulged his penchant for reviving often-obscure Golden Age characters, both heroes and villains. In #27 (Jan.–Feb. 1977), a call to Mercury for help was forwarded, in essence, to former Quality Comics characters Mr. Keeper and Kid Eternity. (Later on, ENB would reveal that Kid Eternity and Freddy Freeman, i.e., Captain Marvel, Jr., were brothers.) Kid Eternity, whose main power was that of summoning up figures from history and literature, brought forth even more help in the forms of Deborah Sampson Gannett, a real-life heroine who had disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the American Revolution, plus Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys from that same war. And thus was the Cradle of Liberty, © DC Comics. Philadelphia, saved from Sivana. In #28, using his Reincarnation Machine, Sivana brought back to life Teth-Adam, a.k.a. Black Adam, a character who, amazingly, had only one outing in the Golden Age, in Marvel Family #1. Little did anyone suspect what lay ahead far down the road for this character. Not only did Adam’s appearance afford Bridwell an opportunity to give a very brief recap of that first Family tale, but also to clear up something which clearly had bothered him for some time, viz., what pantheon of deities had given their powers to Teth-Adam, since his existence in ancient Egypt had predated some of those on Captain Marvel’s list. ENB came up with a brand-new set of gods, all based in actual mythologies—Shu (stamina), Hershef (strength), Amon (power), Zehuti (wisdom), Anpu (speed), and Menthu (courage). In a somewhat lighter tale than the others (though none was ponderous and heavy, by any means), #29 had Cap battling against two foes (who had already been utilized in early issues of Shazam!), Ibac and Aunt Minerva, the latter of whom was always scheming to get some man to marry her. This time it was Dudley who contacted Solomon. This provided an opportunity for an amusing exchange: SOLOMON: “You’re asking me for advice on women?

Big Red Tourist (top) Bridwell sent long-haired Billy and his “mentor” on a cross-country journey. This original page from Shazam! #26, signed by its artist, Kurt Schaffenberger, takes place in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of Heritage. (bottom) Black Adam returns in Shazam! #28. TM & © DC Comics.

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Dark Doings Penciler Alan Weiss, with inker Joe Rubinstein, gave Shazam! a more realistic vibe in issue #34. Weiss’ Marvel Family, from the cover of AWODCC #17, was seen in the background of the previous page. TM & © DC Comics.

DUDLEY: “Well, you had 700 wives. I figured who would know better?” SOLOMON: “If I knew better, I wouldn’t have had 700 wives. Still, I did write something memorable in the Book of Proverbs: ‘Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.’ ” DUDLEY: “Ah, yes—and as Cervantes so sagely observed, ‘Can we ever have too much of a good thing?’” SOLOMON: “Cervantes didn’t have 700 wives.” But still, Solomon was able to help Dudley—and Ibac, who had come to Dudley for help—with another quote from Proverbs: “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth; and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” Although cryptic (as had been all of the clues given by the elders), it still proved helpful, when Ibac realized that “the word spoken in due time [season]” was his own name, which changed him back to ordinary Stinky Printwhistle, thus preserving him from the clutches of the matrimony-hungry Minerva. In #30 (July–Aug. 1977), Kurt Schaffenberger finally had the opportunity to draw Captain Marvel battling

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Superman. However, it was only a Superman robot created by Sivana. CM’s help this time (though not in his battle with the robot) was provided by none other than Cap, Jr. and Mary Marvel, but also (making their return from the Golden Age) the three Lieutenant Marvels (Tall Marvel, Fat Marvel, and Hill Marvel). Issue #31 brought back a Fawcett wartime character, Minute-Man, who by then was retired and a restaurateur in Columbus, Ohio’s German Village (mere minutes from where I had resided during my college years). The city-visiting series wrapped up with trips to Detroit in #32 and Indianapolis in #33. Though both had Schaffenberger covers, the interiors were penciled by Filipino artist Tenny Henson (who also illustrated a Whitman Shazam! coloring book around the same time). His art attempted to mimic Kurt’s, and in #33 Kurt was credited with an assist, as he redrew the heads of Billy and CM, much as Beck himself had done in his studio back in the ’40s.

CAPTAIN MARVEL’S “NEW LOOK”

By then, the TV series had ended, and there seemed no point in continuing the travel motif. Also, as of #32 (Nov.–Dec. 1977), the editorship had changed from Orlando to Jack C. Harris, who said that “I’d like to get some dramatic impact into the next one.” “Have you read my latest script?” Bridwell reportedly asked. “That has it!” Indeed, ENB’s story, of Captain Marvel, Jr.’s desire for revenge on the man (Captain Nazi) who had killed his grandfather, was a distinct departure from the tone of anything they had done previously. It seemed to cry out for a “New Look” in the art, which it received, with art being done in a rather unusual style by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein. In spite of the use of detailed backgrounds and an over-abundance of muscular detail, the artists attempted to keep something of CM’s and especially Billy’s traditional facial features. But was this “New Look” Harris’ or Bridwell’s idea? Although comments in the fan press blamed Harris,

Kurt Schaffenberger commented that “It had to be higher than that, perhaps Joe Orlando or even [publisher] Jenette Kahn.” And oddly enough, this particular “New Look” was never seen again (other than on the cover of DC’s own “fanzine,” Amazing World of DC Comics #17, also drawn by Weiss). Instead, in Shazam! #35, art chores were assumed by the team of Don Newton and (returning as inker, rather than penciler) Kurt Schaffenberger. Newton, it should be remembered, was Beck’s choice as an inker and background man, and had even once collaborated with O’Neil and Beck on an unpublished strip, “The Silencing of the Shazam Sayer,” for National Lampoon. Don, an art teacher, had been active in the fan press for a number of years, with his outstanding art gracing the cover of many issues of the late fan magazine Rocket’s Blast-Comic Collector. He had drawn the good Captain in a variety of styles, some of which were a variation on Beck’s approach, while others tended toward a bit more pseudo-realistic. [Editor’s note: Don Newton’s life and art were explored in BACK ISSUE #19.] Newton was glad to hear Harris express a desire for more realism since Newton, although a fan of Beck’s work, had felt that Captain Marvel “looked and acted dated” in the early days of the revival. So he loosened up the hairstyle, added more muscular detail, and gave Cap’s costume a paintedon look. Kurt Schaffenberger, meanwhile, had been called in to “try to pull the feature back” toward what it had been previously, but, as he commented later, “There was no way! The styles were just too different.” Kurt admitted that he felt that Don’s art was “top-notch,” but not particularly suitable for the Marvels. “On the other hand,” he went on to acknowledge, “the original style wasn’t selling,” so perhaps it was time to try something new.

CAP’S WORLD’S FINEST ADVENTURES

For the book itself, however, it was too little, too late, as it ended with that issue, #35. The feature, however, continued on, as the closing strip in the Dollar Comic incarnation of World’s Finest Comics, which at that time was still headlined by Superman/Batman team-ups (back in the days when they were still friends). As fan-writer Rich Morrissey once wrote, in his heyday Captain Marvel had outsold both Superman and Batman, but here he was dependent on their “charity” for his very existence. On the other hand, as Rich also pointed out, in anthology titles, the closing spot was generally reserved for what was considered to be the second-strongest attraction, so seen in that light, perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all. And the Bridwell/Newton team was indeed strong. Although Newton (who disappointed Beck by not refusing the assignment) drew the lead characters pseudo-realistically, he did try

From the Ranks of Fandom Artist Don Newton drew this 1972 fanzine cover featuring Captain Marvel and Dr. Sivana years before he became the artist of DC’s Shazam! feature. TM & © DC Comics.

to apply a “more liberal and cartoony” (his own words) approach to characters such as Mr. Tawny and Mr. Mind. His Mr. Tawny wasn’t particularly successful, looking somewhat like a real tiger wearing a business suit, but on the latter, he managed to draw a better and more cartoony figure than even Schaffenberger and Oksner had done. Newton’s Mr. Mind wore goggles rather than glasses (a logical change), but otherwise wasn’t far from the Beck version. When I told Beck that I thought that Don had drawn a Mr. Mind second only to his own, he actually agreed. As for Junior and Mary, who had to share the feature with CM, Don did even better. If there is one main fault to be found, it could be that Don’s CM wasn’t particularly distinctive. He tended to resemble Bruce Wayne, or Aquaman, or some of the New Gods, all features Don was drawing during approximately the same period. At Fawcett, CM’s features were always easily identifiable. No one quite resembled him [with the possible exception of Fred MacMurray—ed.]. In any event, beginning in WFC #253 (Oct.–Nov. 1978), the “Shazam!” feature spotlighted, in no particularly discernible pattern, the three main Marvels Self-portrait by Don Newton. as well as solo stories of each of the three. Bridwell, although hewing to more serious stories generally, nonetheless included touches of humor. (One surprisingly funny story was #258’s “The Courtship of Captain Nazi.”) And, as always, ENB indulged his penchant for bringing back characters from the past, including Billy’s evil Uncle Ebenezer (from all the way back in Captain Marvel’s origin story), Bulletman and Bulletgirl, the Lieutenants again, and a variety of old villains—including the oldest villain of them all, Satan. And some new baddies as well. One of the biggest surprises from the WFC era came in #262’s “The Captain Marvel of 7,000 B.C.,” in which a blue-and-white-suited hero showed up to help. “The Champion” turned out to be old Shazam before he was old, and whose powers came from a different set of deities who predated the familiar pantheon: Marzosh, Ariel, Ribalvei, All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

A New Marvel Family Member (left) Kid Eternity joined the Shazam! cast for a while, marvelously rendered by Don Newton (inked here by Frank Chiaramonte). From World’s Finest Comics #280. (right) The Shazammers as rendered by José Luis García-López for a 1982 DC Comics Style Guide. Signed by the artist. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

Voldar, Elbiam, and Lumiun. Make an acronym of their initials and you’ll get the picture! Busy with his new duties as penciler on The New Adventures of Superboy, Schaffenberger was replaced by a rotating cadre of inkers, including Dave Hunt (coincidentally, Kurt’s main inker on the Boy of Steel’s title), Dan Adkins, Frank Chiaramonte, Joe Giella, and others. Amazingly, though, in spite of the fact that Newton’s work was the new standard for the feature, the traditional visages held forth elsewhere. The title bar to each strip saw the three Marvels depicted in more traditional style, and when a head view of CM appeared on WFC’s covers (along with those of other backup characters such as Hawkman, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado), it was clearly the long-familiar depiction. All the merchandising continued to feature a more traditional style, too. This seemed a strange bifurcation. One of Bridwell’s greatest surprises came in #280’s “Secret of the Freeman Brothers,” in which it was revealed that Freddy Freeman had a long-lost brother, Christopher (Kit), a.k.a. Kid Eternity. Perhaps the fact that the former Quality Comics character had also been drawn briefly by CM, Jr.’s first artist, Mac Raboy, inspired ENB to make this connection, but then this was the same fellow who frequently spent his time developing Philip José Farmer-like associations, such as insisting that Jonathan Kent was related to Kent Allard (the Shadow’s true identity), because Pa Kent must have needed “professional help” in guarding his foster son’s secret identity! Still, it was clever. Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper would stay around for the remainder of the series,

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as it finished its run in WFC (in #282), with a story drawn by Gil Kane. The feature then relocated over to the newly-transformed-into-digest-sized Adventure Comics, as Newton returned for its final two outings. Thereafter, the rest of the run would be reprints, mostly Fawcett, some DC.

BIG CHANGES IN THE BIG ’80s

A new and different phase for the Marvel Family began when longtime Fawcett fan Roy Thomas migrated from Marvel to DC. As he explained in a personal letter dated October 10, 1980, he loved the old characters, but thought that it would be better for DC to launch a new, Earth-One-based version of Captain Marvel: “Still, just to be inconsistent, I took opportunity in DC Comics Presents #34 to toss Superman and Captain Marvel (whom I’m trying to forge into fast friends, since they have far more in common than Superman and Batman, say) into a funny-animal dimension, while using Hoppy the Marvel Bunny for the first time in 30 years.” And thus Roy launched his own contributions to the Marvel Family canon with a two-part Superman/ Shazam! team-up tale in DC Comics Presents #33–34 (May–June 1981). The first entry was entitled “Man and Supermarvel,” followed by the more-unwieldytitled “The Beast-Man that Shouted ‘Hate’ at the Heart of the U.N.” (uncredited regards to George Bernard Shaw and Harlan Ellison, respectively). This rollicking story, with the plot credited to Gerry Conway and art by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano, found Jimmy Olsen reading a 1940s issue of Captain Marvel Adventures, Cap and Superman exchanging powers and costumes,

and a team-up of Mr. Mxyzptlk and Mr. Mind, all with CM’s long-ago foe King Kull (no relation to the Robert E. Howard character) thrown into the mix. But perhaps the best part was the smashing finale, as the Marvel Family and Superman were saved, as noted above, by none other than Captain Marvel Bunny. In one thought balloon, the Marvel Bunny started to reference a 1940s tale in which he’d teamed up with Mary Marvel, only to have his reminiscences cut short. No footnote clarified this, but to Golden Age cognoscenti, this was clearly what Hoppy had in mind. And speaking of “mind”—Mr., that is—this time, he had perhaps the best lines in the story, as he recounted his origin story to his allies: “After all, I, too, have

known the slugs and aardvarks of outrageous fortune,” while a flashback panel shows Mind emerging from the ground on his native world and proclaiming what he found to be “BOR-ing!” Clearly, Roy, a former English teacher, was having fun with this script. And just as the two-parter had started with Jimmy’s reading of an old Captain Marvel Adventures, it ended with Clark’s perusing an issue of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. (I sent copies of these two issues of DCCP to former Fawcett staffer Rod Reed, who commented that “the authors were very brave to tackle such complicated plots with such a profusion of heroes and villains. Certainly that was a novel idea of having the Big Red Cheese trade uniforms with the Big Blue Cheese.” Such a story was far removed from the more simplistic—but still highly imaginative—scripts of the Golden Age.) But this was only Roy’s opening salvo, for a mere 15 issues later (#49, Sept. 1982), he returned with another Superman/CM teaming, this time sans the rest of the Marvel Family, but with the addition of Marvel Family foe Black Adam. Keep in mind that this was long before the powers-that-be at DC decided to utilize Adam as more of an anti-hero than a villain, per se, in essence making him into the Sub-Mariner of the DCU. Here, Adam was still a villain in the old-style mode, with no real trace of goodness or any kind of nuances in that direction. Roy also teased at his ideas for an Earth-One Captain Marvel by introducing a Billy Batson (as well as an Uncle Dudley) on Superman’s world. This Billy, though he never changed to Captain Marvel (except in his dreams), is nonetheless pivotal to the story. The art by Buckler and John Calnan was somewhat of an improvement over Buckler’s previous efforts with Captain Marvel. Earlier, he had drawn Cap’s cape as being quite lengthy, and with its collar standing up at times, thus making CM look more like the original Green Lantern! In DCCP #33, when Superman had first found himself wearing the CM suit, he complained about “this puny little cape,” a line which fell flat because of the way Rich had drawn the outfit. Roy told me that he hadn’t liked this effect, either, and he or someone else must have pointed it out to Rich, because this time the cape, at least, looked more appropriate, and without

TM & © DC Comics.

Punchy Pals Captain Marvel– Superman clashes (and team-ups, too) were regular events during the Bronze Age. Place yer bets, bubby! TM & © DC Comics.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17

Billy’s Big Adventure (left) Roy Thomas (plot), Paul Kupperberg (script), Rich Buckler (pencils), and John Calnan (inks) present anew Captain Marvel’s origin, in DC Comics Presents #49 (Sept. 1982). (right) Sivana’s Shazam-a-rama in DCCP Annual #3 (1984). Cover by Gil Kane. TM & © DC Comics.

the stand-up collar. (But again, it would have been so much better to have assigned Kurt Schaffenberger to the job.) But speaking of artists, in the aforementioned letter in which he’d stated his desire to do an Earth-One Captain Marvel, Roy had expressed two artistic preferences for the choice of artist, those being Rich Buckler or Gil Kane. And though he was never to work with either one on his Earth-One version, he did have the privilege of utilizing both on his stories of the Earth-S character, with Gil Kane coming into the picture in DC Comics Presents Annual #3’s “With One Magic Word.” In this one, CM appeared with two Supermen (Earths-One and -Two). The idea behind the story—that Sivana stole Cap’s powers from the “elders,” leaving him with their character defects, such as Solomon’s love of luxury, Hercules’ bad judgment, etc.—was clever enough, but the premise wasn’t followed through sufficiently. Still entertaining, but not quite what it could have been. Among Roy’s other favorites from his childhood was the fabled Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics, so it was no real surprise that one of the features he

wanted to do upon his arrival at DC was a new take on that landmark group, viz., the All-Star Squadron, which consisted of the JSA plus other available Golden Age figures. Many of these characters (both heroes and villains) were already established as residing on Earth-Two, but others (such as Plastic Man and others from the late Quality line) were retroactively placed there. With the Marvel Family firmly established as being on Earth-S, Roy couldn’t bring them into the membership of the Squadron, per se, but that didn’t stop him from crossing them over into a set of stories, first in All-Star Squadron #36 (Aug. 1984) and 37, and later in #50–54. The Earth-Two Superman along with other Squadron members fought against the Nazi-hypnotized Marvel Family, in a story which also provided a reason why the USA’s superheroes didn’t just invade Nazi Germany. (That was the Spear of Destiny, which affected those with magic or supernatural-based powers, instantly converting them into Nazi puppets.) Of extra interest to myself is the opening of the story in #36, in which various heroes are seen sitting in a theater box watching newsreel footage—a scene directly based on the cover of the original All-Star Comics #24 (Spring 1945), the first Golden Age comic I ever read, a gift from editor Julius Schwartz to this overeager fan who, back in the early ’60s, had constantly plied him with letters requesting information on the heroes of a bygone age.

A NEW BEGINNING FOR CAPTAIN MARVEL

But the end was in sight for parallel worlds, and indeed for virtually everything which had been established from 1938 onward, as Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-issue series starting in 1985, sought to simplify DC continuity by eliminating parallel worlds. The Marvel Family, as well as some of their friends and foes, appeared here and there in the series, and they were nicely rendered by master artist George Pérez, who not only drew the Fawcett characters (including Mr. Tawny) looking very

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An Origin Retold Roy Thomas’ Secret Origins #3 (June 1986) featured Jerry Bingham and Steve Mitchell’s realistic rendition of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. TM & © DC Comics.

much like their traditional selves, but also managed not to make them seem incongruous among the various other figures included in that massive, sweeping story. It was enough to make one long for a Marvel Family series or at least a story drawn by Pérez. At the end, one new Earth was established, leaving Cap and the others to conclude that they’d “always been on” this particular world. That wasn’t to last as such, however, because not long thereafter what Roy had wanted all along—a new Captain Marvel was born. However, what resulted was not exactly in line with Roy Thomas’ vision. As he had explained to me in the aforementioned 1980 letter, “Even Billy Batson would have a different job, since a teenage newscaster seems even more of an anomaly today than in the ’40s.” But before Roy could implement that vision, a new Captain Marvel, with Billy in the familiar role of boy newscaster, was introduced in the pages of a six-issue miniseries, Legends, as written by John Ostrander and Len Wein, with art by John Byrne and Karl Kesel. Byrne’s art, incidentally, deftly managed the fusion of Billy’s and Cap’s more traditional appearances with a dash of contemporaneity, a compromise which too often eluded other artists, when they even bothered to attempt such, that is. The writers brought the six-issue series to an intriguing conclusion with a quote from the Bible’s New Testament, specifically Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.” It was an intriguing passage with which to end this tale of mental manipulation by the great Kirby villain Darkseid. Legends led directly into a new Justice League series, in which Captain Marvel participated for the first seven issues. However, with Keith Giffen at the helm of the writing, CM was treated as somewhat of a buffoon, being dismissively alluded to by Guy greatly over time. (For a slightly extreme example, see the Gardner as “Captain Whitebread.” Moreover, Batman earliest adventures of the Golden Age Green Lantern— ordered Marvel around a bit brusquely, although Blue stories in which one could be forgiven for concluding Beetle stood up to the Darknight Detective on Cap’s that Bill Finger must have believed that he was writing behalf. Still, this would set the tone for much of the Superman tales!) usage of the Marvels in general over the next several In the case of Captain Marvel, in Secret Origins years, with the modern versions of people who had #3 (June 1986) Roy took the original 13-page tale been unquestioned heroes in their own world in the © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. and expanded into a 22-page adventure, one which ’40s now too often forced into the shadow of other super-doers, hews to the Bill Parker version in terms of most of the plot elements, of whom they were somewhat in awe, quite needlessly. but adds numerous details, some secondary figures (including a Mr. But there was at least one good, if totally unusual and unexpected, Binder), dialogue, and particularly something which had not been benefit to come from Captain Marvel’s participation in this new part of the original, a great deal of introspection on the part of Billy League, and that involved a cover—specifically, an alternate cover for and CM. Roy had wanted to “get inside [their] heads…”, terms in #3, distributed only in certain locations. In this cover, CM is flying which Golden Age writers simply didn’t think. to Batman’s rescue, but the latter directs him to “save the world,” With regard to this aspect, Roy later told P.C. Hamerlinck that instead. Not only that, but Batman actually addressed Cap by his full “Captain Marvel’s thoughts—and in turn, those of Billy Batson—were name on the cover, something which had not been done at DC since used prominently in the retelling, to get across the notion of what it the earliest issues of Shazam!, due to Marvel’s proprietary interest in the might be like for a young boy to suddenly become a big and strong name and their having a Captain Marvel of their own. This particular adult. This rankled a few purists, to whom CM and Billy were always variant cover—long before such a practice became commonplace— distinctively different entities. The situation in the actual ’40s Fawcett is a sought-after collector’s item. comics was a bit less clear-cut than that.” Secret Origins, a product of the always-active imagination of Roy The art, supplied by Jerry Bingham and Steve Mitchell, was done Thomas, was an all-new title launched in 1986 that was dedicated to in a pseudo-realistic style rather far removed from the Beck original. fleshing out classic origin stories, many of which had been barebones Incidentally, this story used, for the first time, the name Fawcett City, tales designed to introduce the character and then move on to the an analog for New York City, as Cap’s home base. action. After all, as comics historian Richard Lupoff once noted, the Next, Roy finally had the opportunity to do what he had thought first six months to a year of a feature’s life—referred to by Dick as “the necessary all along, viz., a new Captain Marvel, set on the same Earth first great days”—was the time period in which the hero’s powers and as mainstream DC figures. Between the time of his original vision personality were revealed not only to the readers, but also to the writers, and its execution, however, a few things had changed, most notably artists, and editors. Thus, while the earliest tales are fascinating from that there were no longer any parallel Earths, thanks to the wholesale the historical perspective, for the most part, the stories improved destruction of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Therefore, it wasn’t necessary to All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

In the New DCU Following the Legends miniseries, Roy Thomas and Tom Mandrake’s Shazam!: The New Beginning featured the revitalized Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as part of the “sole” DC Earth. Cover and page 18 from issue #1 (Apr. 1987). TM & © DC Comics.

specify that this new version was set on Earth-One; by that point, that was the only remaining Earth. Captain Marvel’s next significant adventure, the four-issue miniseries Shazam!: The New Beginning (#1–4, Apr.–July 1987), was written by Roy and drawn by Tom Mandrake, in a style (like that of Jerry Bingham on Secret Origins) extremely removed from the original. As for the story and overall style, Roy felt that he was walking a fine line between not straying too far from the original, nor venturing too close to it, either. To many traditionalists, however, the whole thing seemed too far removed. In the first issue, at least, Roy did give a nod to the originals by having Shazam briefly start to recall the first Marvel Family, before telling himself that “that way lies madness.” Later on, Roy stated that Don Newton had been intended as the artist. “As I recall,” said Roy, “Tom Mandrake (I was told) didn’t really want to do the book. I think he did a pretty good job. I was especially happy with the four covers, which I pushed him fairly hard on, since I knew just the look I wanted.” A new Shazam! series was to have followed the mini, but, although two issues were completed by Roy and by artist Todd Smith, the artwork set on a shelf, unused. Later on, Dick Giordano told me that the miniseries “had sold very well,” but that DC had “dropped the ball” by not following through right away with a regular series. Roy’s only other usage of

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his new version of CM was in a serial in Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (Oct. 28, 1988–Nov. 19, 1988). This time the art was by Rick Stasi and Rick Magyar, with Roy’s wife Dann as co-writer. There is a slight bit of irony in this venture, however, because it finally achieved, even if only briefly, a weekly publishing status for Captain Marvel—something the Fawcett heads had wanted to do back in the ’40s, with their never-realized plans to up Captain Marvel Adventures from its biweekly status to weekly. Of course, this set of short stories was a far cry from full issues of CMA. And it should be noted that Roy chose to locate Cap and Billy in San Francisco, rather than New York City (the supposed but never named—until the Bridwell days—location of the original). Later on, in a completely different iteration of the character, Jerry Ordway would place him in the fictitious Fawcett City, first utilized by Roy in Secret Origins #3. [Editor’s note: Join us next summer for BACK ISSUE #98, which will include in-depth examinations of both Secret Origins and Action Comics Weekly.] Other creators made use of Captain Marvel and Family during the period Crisis was affecting the DC Universe. Captain Marvel Bunny made an appearance in the three-issue miniseries The Oz-Wonderland War, a project chronicled elsewhere in this issue’s Captain Carrot article. Cap was seen in issues #5–7 and 9–12 of the writers’ round-robin maxiseries DC Challenge [which will also be featured in BI #98—ed.]. Cap was

seen in 1986’s Super Powers vol. 3 miniseries—tying in to the third wave of Super Powers Collection of action figures released by Kenner that same year—written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by former DC publisher Carmine Infantino, who actually had done some work for Fawcett in the ’40s (Spy Smasher), though never on CM. This was Infantino’s only outing as an artist of stories with Cap in them, though in his time as publisher he had designed a majority of the Shazam! covers. George Pérez, in Wonder Woman #8 (Sept. 1987), told a strange story told in text with wordless illustrations, a kind of a riff, one might suppose, on Harold Foster’s Prince Valiant newspaper strip. In this story, “Diana was fascinated by the militarily named Captain Marvel, whose own powers were supposedly derived from the gods of various pantheons,” according to the journal entry of Professor Julia Kapetelis. Alas, for those of us who had been hoping to see CM again drawn by George, the Big Red Cheese had only a one-panel appearance, and even in that he was mostly hidden behind Guy Gardner. The rivalry between Superman and Captain Marvel was largely a thing of the past when Cap made one of his most intriguing and yet somehow fitting appearances ever, as one of a number of heroes featured by Alan Moore in Action Comics #583 (Sept. 1986, right), “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, the final story of the Silver/Bronze Age Superman (the first half of the story had appeared in Superman #423), bringing a close to that character’s adventures before a totally new rendition, by John Byrne, would appear in the post-Crisis DC Universe. Also somewhat fittingly, this would be Captain Marvel’s last time of being drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, even if only in the inking stage. And there’s one other significant, if usually overlooked, aspect to this story. At the end of the two-parter, the lead character, without his powers, lived on in a new identity, as Superman was no more. So one might say that Captain Marvel outlived his former rival, because ostensibly he—and the other heroes involved—were still around. Of course, Crisis on Infinite Earths made the whole thing moot, but still it is intriguing to note this easily overlooked fact, that Captain Marvel outlasted Superman! What can said, in summation, about the Bronze Age days of Captain Marvel? The words “so many missed opportunities” come to mind. Yet, when all is said and done (and more has been said than done), perhaps we can note that at least most of those involved with the character cared about him and made an effort to do right by him. Perhaps a good analogy might be to family members who love their aging mom and dad and want to do the best by them, but disagree as to what “the best” actually is. JOHN G. PIERCE, born February 18, 1947, is a retired public school teacher and former adjunct college professor who now substituteteaches in a Christian school. His roots go all the way back to the beginning of comics fandom, with Alter Ego #1 in 1961. As a writer, his first appearance in print was in Steve Gerber’s early fanzine, Headline. John, who speaks four languages, has written for numerous publications in the USA, Great Britain, and Brazil. As a comics historian, he specializes in the Marvel Family and Brazilian comics. He and his wife Karen reside in Galloway, Ohio.

Cover Call-Out Oops! Captain Marvel is called by name on this highly collectible alternate cover of Justice League #3 (July 1987). Cover art by Kevin Maguire and Dick Giordano. (left) The Shazam! Super Powers action figure from 1986. TM & © DC Comics.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21

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Of all of Marvel Comics’ heroes, Captain Marvel is perhaps the most perplexing. Of course, even that statement needs clarification: Which Captain Marvel are we talking about? There have been many. The name has stayed in place as a series of characters have rotated through it. But for the purposes of this article, we will discuss the first Marvel character to bear the name, the Kree soldier turned cosmic protector, Captain Mar-Vell. One of the few superheroes to die and remain dead, what is the true significance of the character? Was he nothing more than the embodiment of a middle finger to DC Comics, a way to keep that company and others from using the “Captain Marvel” name, which was up for grabs? While it might have started out that way, an examination of the character, title, and its creators in the Bronze Age shows that it went far beyond that initial intent to make contributions that would have lasting impacts on the Marvel Universe.

THE COMING OF CAPTAIN MARVEL

The Most Cosmic Superhero of All! For those of us plopping down our quarters for comics back during the Bronze Age, Jim Starlin’s Captain Marvel was one of the most exciting books on the stands. Cover to Captain Marvel #33 (July 1974). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

As chronicled in this issue’s cover-featured article, the first superhero to bear the name of Captain Marvel was the familiar red, gold, and white-clad figure who shouted “Shazam!” He appeared in comics published by Fawcett from late 1939 to 1953. That fellow was so popular he gave Superman a run for his money, literally. DC sued Fawcett, claiming Captain Marvel infringed on Superman’s copyrights, and this legal battle went on for years, with Fawcett finally settling, paying DC $400,000 and ceasing publication of Captain Marvel and related characters in 1953. For 13 years the name went unused by any comicbook company. In 1966, Myron Fass’ obscure M.F. Enterprises published a Captain Marvel comic book, complete with a bizarre hero who was an android with the power to send his body parts flying by yelling “Split!” This was not a blockbuster by any means, lasting only six issues. But it triggered a reaction in Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman. Goodman decided that if anybody was going to scoop up the vacated Captain Marvel name, it was going to be a company named Marvel! In 1967 he told editor/writer Stan Lee to devise a Captain Marvel they could call their own. Lee was not happy about it. “First of all, as he told me at the time, this was something Goodman wanted him to do, rather than what he wanted to do himself,” explains Roy Thomas, former Marvel writer and editor-in-chief. “But anyway, Stan came up with it, and as soon as he did the one story, he turned it over to me right away, which was not the way he usually did it—he didn’t usually write one story of something, and then quit—especially when he was working with a good artist like Gene Colan.” But that was just what happened. Lee and Colan produced that first appearance, in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec. 1967), presenting this Captain Marvel as an alien Kree soldier, actually named Captain Mar-Vell. The Kree race had been introduced a few months before in Fantastic Four #64 (July 1967), giving the new character a connection to the existing Marvel Universe. Mar-Vell is sent to Earth as part of a spy mission, to observe Earth and its people, and provide information that will determine our world’s fate. But during his time on our planet, he has a change of heart and rebels, becoming a traitor to the Kree. The Captain’s costume was designed by Colan, although Thomas had his input, some of which he regrets: “I suggested several color schemes; the worst one I suggested, which was the white and green one, was the one that Stan chose, which was a very bad idea of All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

The Kree-el Deal (top) Captain Marvel’s debut, in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec. 1967). (bottom) In the next issue, writer Roy Thomas introduced supporting character Carol Danvers, who would eventually rise to the top of the Marvel ranks. Original Gene Colan/Paul Reinman art from MSH #13. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

mine.” The colors were rarely used in tandem on super-folk at the time, so one could argue, perhaps, that it made the Captain stand out. Thomas also came up with the “Saturn” chest symbol. After another issue of Marvel Super-Heroes, Mar-Vell got his own title. Thomas wrote the book through issue #4 and then moved on. In his brief run he gave the Captain an enemy in the alien Super-Skrull, creating the enmity between the Kree and Skrulls and setting the stage for the Kree–Skrull War a few years down the road. He also introduced a character whose significance only became apparent more than a decade later: Carol Danvers, head of security at the missile base where Mar-Vell’s alter ego worked. Thomas says, “I think one of the things I did well with Captain Marvel was— but I didn’t know at the time—was to make up the Carol Danvers character, who now has become the new Captain Marvel.” Succeeding Thomas and Gene Colan were writer Arnold Drake and artist Don Heck. They continued the Captain’s exploits, as he fought against robots, aliens, and other threats. Drake was comfortable with science fiction, having written Space Ranger in Tales of the Unexpected and The Doom Patrol for years at DC. Drake closed out his run with his strongest two issues, #11 and 12 (Mar. and Apr. 1969), in which Mar-Vell lost the woman he loved, Medic Una, at the hands of his superior, Colonel Yon-Rogg; was labeled a traitor to the Kree; and then gained new superpowers from the mysterious entity Zo. This would be the first transformation of Mar-Vell but far from the last, as the Kree Captain had his uni-beam blaster replaced with powers of teleportation, flight, strength, and the ability to cast illusions. The strange Zo grants Mar-Vell these powers so he may pursue vengeance upon Yon-Rogg, and in exchange, Mar-Vell agrees to serve Zo. But that day of reckoning wouldn’t come for many issues. It is worth noting that in these early issues, Mar-Vell is depicted as the consummate soldier. He thinks and acts as a military man, and even in his rebellion against the Kree, he finds a surrogate authority figure in Zo to provide him with guidance—in fact, he swears to follow Zo unquestioningly in order to get the powers that will allow him revenge on Yon-Rogg! But his own moral compass ultimately always causes him inner turmoil. With issue #13, Gary Friedrich became the writer for the next three issues; Frank Springer illustrated issue #13 while Tom Sutton drew issues #14 and 15. Oozing with psychedelic art, issue #15 picks up the Zo storyline, as the entity orders the Captain to teleport to the Kree homeworld to complete a mission—to destroy the planet with a bomb! Mar-Vell resists and Zo sends him on a cosmic odyssey of sorts, to persuade him that Kree-Lar must be destroyed to prevent it from causing the destruction of the rest of the Kree solar system. The creative baton would be handed off one more time, in mid-story, as writer Archie Goodwin and Don Heck would conclude the tale in issue #16. Goodwin managed to bring together a number of plot threads—and also had to deal with a surprise from Thomas. This issue revealed that Mar-Vell had been manipulated by the Kree Minister Zarek and Ronan the Accuser, posing as the entity Zo (Zo: Oz? Pay no attention to the Kree behind the curtain). It was all part of a power play by the two to wrest the Empire away from the Supreme Intelligence, the conglomeration of minds that ruled over them. Goodwin also introduced the concept of racism among the Kree, as Zarek and Ronan were blue-skinned Kree who considered themselves “the original Kree” and wanted to restore their kind to dominance.

WITH ONE MAGIC FLICK OF THE WRISTS

While Goodwin and Heck were working on this issue, Roy Thomas woke up one morning with a new, yet familiar idea: Why not take the original Fawcett Captain Marvel concept and give it a sciencefiction twist? So instead of Billy Batson, there would be Rick Jones, and instead of “Shazam!” there would be Nega-Bands. He took the scheme to Lee and got approval to go for it. Sales for the book had never been very good, despite everyone’s efforts. “It was just that we needed to do something, so maybe it was a Hail Mary pass but I thought it would be fun to do it, and it couldn’t be any worse than the way the thing was going,” says 26 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

Trading Places (left) The NegaBands allowed Rick Jones to “become” Mar-Vell, a nod to Billy Batson’s transformation into the original Captain Marvel. Cover to Captain Marvel #17 (Oct. 1969). (right) Mar-Vell’s new togs were inspired by this little-known Golden Age hero. Captain Marvel TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Atoman © the respective copyright holder.

Thomas. Things were worked out with Goodwin, and Thomas sent his costume redesign (based on an obscure 1940s hero called Atoman) to Don Heck to finish out the final pages of issue #16. Once again, in the span of five issues, no less, Mar-Vell would undergo a transformation at the hands of an omnipotent being, this time the Kree Supreme Intelligence (actually Roy Thomas). In the story, Mar-Vell receives a new red-and-blue outfit and is proclaimed the greatest Kree warrior— right before he is whisked away into the Negative Zone. Thomas thought he and Heck, who had worked for years together on The Avengers, would now team up on Captain Marvel. But another change was in store, as Thomas relates. “So there it was, and the plot [to issue #17] was sent off to Don Heck, who was just about to work on it when Gil Kane waltzed into the office with this idea that he’d love to do something with Captain Marvel because he too had this sense that it was just an awful, failing character and it’d be fun to try to do something with it. And he and I didn’t know each other—we’d met, but that was about it—and we ended up working together, and we liked working together, and we worked together quite a bit for the rest of his life whenever we got a chance.” Kane slightly redesigned the costume when he began drawing the book. But more importantly he brought his enthusiasm, and this translated into dynamic storytelling. Kane’s scenes practically leapt off the page. In Thomas and Kane’s first effort together (Captain Marvel #17, Oct. 1969), teenager Rick Jones, hanger-on with the Hulk, the Avengers, and most recently Captain America, is telepathically guided to a mysterious cave filled with alien machinery. Inside he discovers two golden wristbands, which he puts on and slams together. In a brilliant flash, Captain Marvel is freed from the Negative Zone, having traded places with Rick. The Nega-Bands, as they are called, are ancient Kree artifacts that also bestow powers upon the wearer. Mar-Vell has no time to appreciate his escape, as he is confronted by Colonel Yon-Rogg. In the next issue, during a battle, Yon-Rogg dies as the cave collapses around him in an explosion, but Mar-Vell gets no satisfaction from his death. Thomas and Kane would produce one more issue, dipping into social relevance. And then the first of several publication stumbling blocks would occur. Despite the new direction, the book was still in jeopardy. In those days, sales figures were usually received many months after the publication of an issue, so at the time of the Thomas/Kane run, there were no updated figures on how well the title was selling. Without accurate

sales, publisher Goodwin decided to cancel the book just three issues into the new team’s run. But, months later, new figures came in which indicated that this new direction had struck a chord with readership, so Goodman ordered the title back into production. Luckily, Thomas and Kane were both still available, and Captain Marvel #20 hit the stands with a cover date of June 1970, six months after the previous issue had appeared. The duo would work together on issue #21 as well— the two issues featured Bruce Banner and his alter ego, the Hulk, as guest-stars. However, according to Thomas’ recollection, Goodman again decided to cancel the title. So after that brief, two-issue return, the Captain was back in limbo, or at least, the Negative Zone. Almost a year later, Thomas would bring Mar-Vell back again, this time in the pages of The Avengers during the classic Kree–Skrull War (Avengers #89–97, June 1971–Mar. 1972). The former Kree soldier finds himself captured by the Skrulls and pressured to create a powerful weapon (the Omni-Wave Projector) for them. Rick Jones also plays a pivotal role in the saga. Thomas says the presence of the two in the story served multiple purposes. “I wanted to keep those characters around. I knew I liked what Gil and I had done with them, I liked that whole storyline, and I thought it would be a shame to waste it, especially since the readers had liked it. [There was] the idea that Captain Marvel might very well come back, so I stuck him in there. Also, if you’re going to talk about a Kree–Skrull War, he was a Kree, he was the most prominent Kree in the comics, so it was inevitable that he would be utilized.” At the end of that storyline, Mar-Vell’s fate seemed uncertain; he had given up his life force so that Rick could live. Of course, in comics, life and death are malleable concepts. They are also very susceptible to the whims of publishers. Once again, the good Captain was awarded his own title. Captain Marvel #22 was cover-dated September 1972, but Thomas and Kane were not in the driver’s seat. Instead, young Gerry Conway, who at that point was already scripting Amazing Spider-Man, and Wayne Boring, legendary Superman artist, were assigned to the title. Marv Wolfman would take over the writing chores on the next two issues. Was Thomas disappointed that he and Gil Kane hadn’t been able to continue their work on the title? “Yeah, a little bit… It kept being brought back, because they’d see a new sales figure, especially when they saw the sales figures on our stuff. It was evidently good enough that a few months later it was brought back, but by that time Gil and I were both busy with other things. But maybe if Gil had been on All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 27

A Super Artist

“LET STARLIN BE STARLIN”

“I started off doing an issue of Iron Man, with Mike Friedrich, in which case we introduced Thanos and Drax, and started that whole Captain Marvel storyline, but that wasn’t the intention at that point,” Jim Starlin tells BACK ISSUE. “I thought I was gonna be on Iron Man. So the next issue I did of Iron Man I did with Steve Gerber, and we wrote a very humorous Iron Man. It wasn’t at all like the Drax–Thanos story. And Stan saw it, and hated it. And both Steve TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. and I were fired off Iron Man.” Starlin hadn’t been it I might have stuck around. working for Marvel very long. But since I didn’t, I decided Only recently honorably I was going to turn it over discharged from the Navy, to somebody new.” he’d briefly done some Thomas was directly work at DC before coming responsible for bringing in over to Marvel. But the Boring on the art. Boring had talented young artist found been the chief Superman himself primarily drawing artist during the 1950s, but cover roughs. He went was let go by DC in 1967, to Thomas and asked for along with a number of more story assignments. other artists who had begun The Iron Man situation, in their careers during comics’ retrospect, turned out to be Golden Age. “Wayne Boring a blessing in disguise. was, for better or ill, my Starlin continues, “So I suggestion,” Thomas says. went home, and later on in “I kind of liked having one of the week Roy called up and the major Superman artists said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry of all time be the Captain about Iron Man, but I have Marvel artist, since Gil wasn’t this other book we need available. I don’t think it an issue filled in on. It’s worked out all that very probably not gonna last’… well. But I was looking for the book wasn’t selling at all.” a place for Wayne. I felt the Thomas recalls, “Stan liked comic-book industry should his work, too, although he have a place for this major wasn’t paying as much artist who had been very attention to the day-tobadly treated by DC. Not day comics, but he knew DC, so much, but by Mort Starlin was an exciting new Weisinger, but then nobody talent as did I, and so we else gave him any work, were quite happy to put either. They had this artist him, and Mike Friedrich, who had been, like, the on the book.” second Superman artist When Starlin and Friedrich who had been doing all had worked together on this important work for Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973), them, and just showed him they had planted the first the door. Didn’t try to find seeds of what would anything else for him. And eventually blossom into I thought it was just reprethe vast cosmic wilderness hensible treatment.” of characters and concepts Both Thomas and Kane that are so central to did have roles to play with Marvel to this day. Starlin this new go-around, though: was the chief heir to all Thomas had now become of the grand outer-space editor-in-chief at Marvel, concepts of Lee and Kirby, taking over for Lee, who had but he would also grab become publisher; and Kane onto the strange inner drew the covers for the next three issues, continuing to realms explored by Steve Ditko: “cosmic” was as leave his mark on the character he’d helped to redesign. good a way to describe it as any. Issues #22–24 had a distinct nostalgic tinge, “Jim Starlin and I were roommates for a few including homages to the Fawcett Captain Marvel months in 1972 when he was first getting started as in the form of characters called Professor Savannah a freelancer for Marvel,” says writer Mike Friedrich. and Dr. Mynde, obvious references to the Big Red “At that time he didn’t have the credentials yet to be Cheese’s Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind. The status quo allowed to write his own material, so Marvel editor of Rick and Mar-Vell’s symbiotic relationship was Roy Thomas asked me to handle that role.” Friedrich re-established quickly, and the Captain was right back continues, “I’ve always been grateful that I was able to fighting mundane Earthborn threats. The book Portrait by Michael Netzer. to be part of the team that presented Thanos, et al., was being published bimonthly, and it looked like it could very well be to the world, but Jim deserves the lion’s share of the credit.” heading for cancellation again. The Iron Man story introduced the Titans, a race of godlike beings All of this was about to change in ways no one could have imagined. who lived inside the hollowed-out moon Titan, orbiting the planet

A look at former Superman artist Wayne Boring’s take on Captain Marvel, from issue #24 (Jan. 1973), an issue containing villains inspired by the Big Red Cheese’s rogues. Inks by Ernie Chua. Courtesy of Heritage.

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Saturn. They were a benign race, except for one of their citizens: Thanos. Despite being the son of the Titans’ leader, Mentor, Thanos committed the unforgivable sin of creating a weapon, and was exiled. Furious, he returned with an army of aliens and attacked his former home. Mentor and the godlike being Kronos then created an unstoppable foe to face Thanos: Drax the Destroyer, a creature of spirit with a body made from the soil of a planetoid. Iron Man got sucked into this conflict when Thanos brought a defeated Drax to Earth. The two heroes eventually overcame Thanos and went their separate ways. But Starlin had managed to slip his characters into the Marvel Universe, and there was no going back. put Starlin on the book, there’s no None of these characters were sense trying to push him too much created for this issue; they were ones into a path that he doesn’t want to that Starlin had been developing © Pat Loika / Wikimedia Commons. for some time. “I had Thanos created before I started go. You put Starlin on there to let Starlin be Starlin.” Starlin’s first issue of Captain Marvel was #25 (Mar. working at Marvel,” Starlin clarifies. “He was part of my portfolio that I was taking around to get work. I had 1973), working again with Mike Friedrich. Chic Stone, a him in mind. I didn’t have a complete story, it sort of veteran of many Marvel titles (and ironically, the Fawcett Captain Marvel), would handle the inking chores. got built as it went along.” Aliens, space travel, telepathic communication, The title would never have a set inker while Starlin omnipotent beings, planetary destruction: this sort of was working on it, and this would become a bone of spectacular storytelling was going to become the norm contention for the artist. This initial issue begins the transition from the more for Starlin’s work. It might have seemed out of place in a mainstream book like Iron Man, but would work perfectly mundane adventures of previous issues toward what is in Captain Marvel. Says Thomas, “I just felt Starlin was an to come. Mar-Vell is confronted by what appears to be exciting artist and he had these characters and Captain a parade of his old enemies come back to fight him; Marvel was Kree, and after the Kree–Skrull War it made in reality, it is the Super-Skrull using his shape-shifting sense to have all that cosmic stuff in it that Starlin likes powers to attack the hero. But the Super-Skrull is not to do, so why not? It wasn’t like Gil and I had any great working on his own. We get glimpses of someone direction we were going in that just called out to be pursued, else—a “Masterlord”—who is calling the shots. The reveal of “Masterlord” doesn’t take long—it and neither did anybody else that had handled it since us, so if Starlin had this idea, we may as well give it a try. comes in the next issue. In a typical Marvel “fight first, And it did pretty well, actually.” Thomas adds, “If you team up later” story, Mar-Vell and the Thing from

Defending His Life (left) Behold: The coming of Starlin! And the Hulk and Subby, too! Cover to Captain Marvel #25 (Mar. 1973) by Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott. (right) Splash page to Starlin’s debut issue, #25. Story by Friedrich, inks by Stone. Original art courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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the Fantastic Four wind up facing Thanos at the end of this issue, beginning both characters’ involvement against the Mad Titan. Thanos reveals his grandiose scheme to rule all the universe. The key, it seems, is knowledge locked away in Rick’s mind: the location of the Cosmic Cube, a device capable of converting wishes to reality! Thanos’ pursuit of the Cube lasts only another couple of issues, but in this short span of time, a great deal occurs: Mar-Vell is introduced to Mentor and his other son, Eros (later to be known as Starfox), and aligns himself with Titan; the villainous Controller, working for Thanos, mentally enslaves hundreds of people, including Rick’s girlfriend, Lou-Ann; Mar-Vell battles the Controller with the Avengers, pulling them into the fight against Thanos; Drax and Thanos square off over the Cube; and Mar-Vell is transported away by the all-powerful Eon, to be transformed yet again.

ANOTHER METAMORPHOSIS

In Starlin’s first four issues, there is much emphasis on Mar-Vell’s nature as a soldier. Many times the character says things like, “As combat Captain for the warrior Kree I’m sworn bound to the Kree battle code” (issue #27), or “As a Kree soldier, I never admit defeat!” (#28). Despite having broken away from the service, he still thinks and acts as a soldier. But in issue #29, the Captain gets a radical overhaul to his way of thinking, and to his sense of purpose. “Metamorphosis” was also Starlin’s first issue as writer and artist, and it was both a reflection of the times and a personal reaction to the character. “I was reading Carlos Castaneda at that point,” says Starlin, “other things, the Kung Fu TV series with David Carradine was running along, all that sort of stuff influenced where I was going with it. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to do a story about a soldier. That’s basically what he was before I took him over. He was an alien soldier on a mission that went south and basically a warrior. [He] had that Billy Batson/Captain Marvel persona grafted onto him. But basically he was still the fighter. So eventually I changed him into more of a messiah-type character.”

In the story, Mar-Vell is suddenly pulled away from fighting the Controller by a strange-looking entity called Eon. The creature tells the Captain it has waited eight billion years for this moment—when Captain Marvel the warrior must die! But Eon is not his enemy; instead, it explains that the universe is in need of a protector, not a warrior, and so Captain Marvel must change. It shows the Captain all of the pain and sorrows of war, and Mar-Vell eventually decides that he truly does want to change. With that, Eon transforms him; the physical change is subtle—minor alterations to his uniform, and his white hair becomes blond—but more meaningful is the alteration to Mar-Vell’s psyche, as he now embraces a new path, one that grants him “cosmic awareness”: he is now one with the universe, as Eon says, and prepared to face Thanos. When he returns to Earth, Rick asks where he’s been, and Mar-Vell says, “I’ve seen and done many strange things! I’ve understood some of what’s transpired, not all! But it’s started me thinking… and perhaps that was all I needed!” This was the third transformation of Mar-Vell in his short existence, which pointed perhaps to how difficult it had been for each creative team to get a handle on the character. But after “Metamorphosis,” there was a real, sustained change to Captain Marvel. The character was less rigidly militaristic, and now more adaptable. He even gives the Controller a chance to give up, although that fails spectacularly. But clearly he was not behaving the same way as he had before. The soldier had largely vanished, replaced by a still-confident but wiser man. A theme that ran throughout Starlin’s run was the need for freedom, and a villain like the Controller highlighted this. Thanos sought to strip others of their freedom with the Cosmic Cube; Drax would declare his freedom from control; the Titans would fight for their freedom from Thanos’ rule; and Mar-Vell would realize during his metamorphosis that the one thing that gives life meaning is freedom. Why was this concept so important to Starlin? “Well, I guess I had just come out after a spell in the service where you have no freedom,” Starlin answers. “You know, a lot of my life was being stuck behind authoritarian figures. Back in grade school, I had a bunch of crazy nuns at this parochial school—I do mean crazy, viciously crazy nuns. Some of which were John Birchers who were basically your farthest right-wing crazies at the time. So I always sort of felt I was being suppressed by them! Plus, the whole idea of being an artist is, you want the freedom to be able to express yourself. I never really thought all that much about the freedom part of Captain Marvel. But, you know, he also had been stuck in the service, working on a mission that he didn’t really believe in. So, I guess the freedom to be able to express himself and be just who he was probably would have been very important for the character.” At this time, Captain Marvel would appear in Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974), where he would help the title hero battle a Titan-born menace, and first encounter Moondragon, a human woman who had been raised on Titan and developed powers of telepathy. She would join the Captain, as well as Drax and the Avengers, in the battle against Thanos. Starlin would provide insight into Thanos’ plans in issue #31 (Mar. 1974). Throughout the saga, the Mad Titan had a constant companion: a hooded figure standing just behind him, but always near. In issue #28, when Thanos and Drax faced off, Thanos had introduced the hooded one to Drax as “Death.” But the nature of the relationship between the two was unclear. In one of the most startling sequences of Starlin’s run, Thanos finally explains why he is pursuing ultimate power: because he is in love with Death. The dark hood is pulled back to reveal a pale beauty. Everything he has done has been in order to gain her affection. With this Starlin gave Thanos a unique motivation, which went on to make him one of Marvel’s most popular villains. An examination of the art in these issues, however, shows that Death was not drawn with a distinctly female figure until issue #30. This writer wondered if the idea for Thanos’ motivation was one that

Lucky 13 Panels! The Avengers are lured into Captain Marvel’s cosmic storyline in this amazing, autographed original art page by Starlin from issue #31 (Mar. 1974). Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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evolved later on as the work developed. When asked about this, Starlin says, “Back then, when I dealt with Roy Thomas as the editor, I would come in and say, ‘I’m gonna use the Super-Skrull this time.’ He’d say, ‘That’s good, fine, go on.’ And that would be the end of our whole plot conference, because he had enough faith in me just to let me run on this stuff. And so, I didn’t have to put down a set, long plot like they do these days, where they want everything figured out before you ever sit down. A lot of things, like I said, I came up with on the fly. Eon I created because I saw a grease stain on a bag. I’m sure, Death becoming a woman was something thrown in as we went along. The robe conceals a lot of things, but I have a remembrance that, ‘Yeah, I will put her in more of a female shape this issue so I can reveal in the next one she’s a woman.’ So, yeah, things changed as it went along.” Thanos becomes aware of his foes plotting against him and transports to Titan the four he considers the most dangerous: Iron Man, Drax, Moondragon, and Mar-Vell. They put up a useless fight against him, as he uses the Cube to thwart them. Thanos disappears in a brilliant burst of energy, and the Cube falls at their feet. The heroes are briefly puzzled as to where the Titan has gone, until his face fills the starry sky. Thanos has commanded the Cube to transform him into an omnipotent being. If things weren’t frenetic before this, they really kick into high gear with the next two issues. In issue #32, as Iron Man and Mar-Vell seek insight on how to stop Thanos, Mar-Vell realizes that the Titan’s weakness is his ego. But he doesn’t know yet how to use this against him. He also has taken the depowered Cosmic Cube, playing a hunch it may have some usefulness yet. An obsessed Drax launches attack after attack on Thanos, who tortures the Destroyer by revealing to him his true origin—that his soul is that of Art Douglas, an Earthman, who was killed decades ago by Thanos, and he is actually father to Moondragon. This backfires, and only strengthens Drax’s resolve to kill Thanos. Rick Jones makes a strong reappearance at the end of issue #32, goading Thanos into taking a physical form to face Captain Marvel. This picks up in issue #33, and does

not go well for the Captain. He is easily, and painfully, beaten. He also learns to his dismay that his allies, the Avengers, have been shifted out of phase with Earth’s reality, and can be of no help to him—except for Mantis, who is able to control body, mind, and spirit, and can appear to the Captain in a phantom-like form. She and ISAAC, Titan’s sentient computer, work with him to figure out a way to defeat Thanos. They realize that while Thanos may be a god, he has no worshippers. His power must be coming from some place. Mar-Vell intuits that it must be the Cube. But as he goes to make a move, Thanos twists reality around him. However, having cosmic awareness, Mar-Vell is able to overcome this. Seeing this, Thanos rapidly ages the Captain. As his body swiftly withers, Mar-Vell rushes forward and smashes the Cube, resulting in a flash and a disembodied scream. Death stands on a pillar in space, smiling. She turns around, her face now turned into a skull, and she laughs. Thanos is gone. The Avengers return and the universe is restored to what it was. For issue #33, and the next, Starlin asked his friend, writer Steve Englehart, to come in and handle the scripting. “I just wasn’t feeling comfortable with my dialog and I had just moved out to California,” Starlin explains. “Steve was right there; we were sharing a house for a while. And I asked him to come in and just take over for those last couple—turned out to be the last couple—of issues. I wasn’t feeling comfortable enough with it. I needed time to sort of look back and analyze and Steve was a good writer, and looking over what he did, I said, ‘Yeah, this seems to work better than what I probably would have done.’ So it was a learning curve kind of thing. A momentary stepping back to see if I could figure something out.” The lessons Starlin learned would be applied elsewhere. After issue #34 (Sept. 1974), which introduced the villain Nitro (and would have fateful ramifications for the Captain), Starlin was gone. The reason? The revolving door of inkers and a promise not kept. During the course of Starlin’s run, no fewer than eight inkers or teams of inkers were used on ten issues. Starlin says that he had repeatedly been told he would get one, regular inker. Finally, when Klaus

Cosmic Odysseys (left) Mar-Vell guest-stars in Daredevil #107. (center) The Avengers-a-thon ish, Captain Marvel #31. (right) A split-action cover makes CM #32 a must-buy. (below) Cap vs. the Controller in issue #30. All covers by Starlin, with various inkers. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Janson came on with issue #33, it looked like he might become permanent. Starlin says, “Klaus was ready to do it, and then John Verpoorten, who was production manager, stuck Klaus on another job and gave Captain Marvel to Jack Abel—I liked Jack Abel’s inking on it, but you know, we had made an agreement and they just weren’t living up to it, so I was done.” Starlin quit Captain Marvel, but he would revisit him two more times, and the final time would result in one of the most moving moments in Marvel Comics history. Following up Starlin was no easy task. Fortunately, there were two people already at the epicenter of the cosmic storm, ready and willing to take over the reins.

A COSMIC HEAD TRIP

What a Blowhard! Detail from Jim Starlin’s dynamite Mar-Vell vs. Nitro cover for Captain Marvel #34 (Sept. 1974). Their encounter would bode poorly for the Captain’s future. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Steve Englehart had handled scripting duties on issues #33 and 34, as well as having incorporated the Thanos storyline into the title he was already writing, The Avengers. He was more than familiar with the book, and the perfect choice to write it. But the title still needed an artist. After an issue by Alfredo Alcala (#35), and a reprint with a three-page framing sequence by Starlin and Alan Weiss in #36, a solution had been found. Starlin’s friend and sometime inker, Al Milgrom, was brought on to pencil the book. It was a challenge for Milgrom, but one he appreciated. Starlin and Milgrom had known each other since they were kids. The two friends shared an interest in comics and drawing, and after Starlin returned from military service and Milgrom finished college, the two got together again. Milgrom got a job inking backgrounds for famed DC artist Murphy Anderson, which provided some solid experience. Starlin drew a story for an issue of Sword and Sorcery at DC and

Photo by Alan Light.

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was able to get Milgrom as the inker on that. “Based on what I did on that story, he took copies up to Marvel and said I’d like to get this guy inking my stuff over here at Marvel,” says Milgrom. With the expanding line of titles, Marvel needed more people, so Milgrom had his in, and steady work. “Ultimately at some point, Jim left Captain Marvel and I was doing [Master of] Kung Fu at the time, and I think—I don’t know if he suggested I take over the book or if it had been Steve Englehart, who was working on Master of Kung Fu with Jim, and who was a very popular, hot writer at the time,” Milgrom says. “We should take it over because we could maintain the kind of cool, cosmic stuff that Jim had started in that character. And it’s funny, I kept following Jim on to titles, and it seemed Jim kept following Roy Thomas and Gil Kane on to titles because ultimately he followed them onto Warlock as well.” Both Englehart and Milgrom understood the world Starlin had created and were ready to explore it, but it wasn’t necessarily that easy. “Starlin had asked me to take it over, and we had Jim’s good friend on the art, so I wanted to keep it Starlin-esque,” Englehart says. “But Al and I collaborated on the series, so it soon became ‘our’ book. The problem, I’ve always thought, is that Al and I had different interests, and we lived 3,000 miles apart, and the book was bimonthly… so we weren’t always in sync. Thus, I didn’t want to change anything, but they changed anyway.” Milgrom remarks, “I really liked what Jim had done, but his stuff has got such a personal stamp on it you can’t try to duplicate what he does because it’s really very personal to him. So we did stuff that was more personal to us, especially to Steve.” The Englehart/Milgrom run would last nine bimonthly issues, and move the focus of the book from outer space towards inner space—specifically, more into the heads of the two main characters, Mar-Vell and Rick. Although the two had been linked in their symbiotic relationship for over 20 issues, little had really been done with it, other than as a gimmick in times of danger. Of course, it was frequently a source of frustration for the characters, particularly Rick, but this had not been explored. It would become a focal point for this run. At the beginning of the Englehart/Milgrom run (#37, Mar. 1975), Mar-Vell and Rick head to the Blue Area of the Moon, home of the Watcher, to figure out the mystery of the Lunatic Legion. The two experience a mind expansion, thanks to a capsule of “Vitamin C” that Rick swallows. This leads to them bringing their minds into greater harmony, and ultimately allowing them to physically separate. They spend a short time apart, get back together, and by issue #41 (Nov. 1975), they split the Nega-Bands, so each can wear one. This newfound power makes Rick feel competitive toward Mar-Vell, and brings to the surface the resentment the Kree Captain had felt for having to protect the youngster for so many years. This conflict comes to a head four issues later, when the two battle for mental supremacy. When asked whether the Mar-Vell/Rick relationship was a highlight of the title for him, Englehart responds, “Yes and no. It was an interesting situation for me to explore, but the specifics meant giving Rick his own storyline, and there was no way it could match what Mar-Vell’s could be, so Mar-Vell’s got somewhat

blunted. Rick became an impediment.” EARTH-BOUND Had he considered removing Rick from After the relative stability of the previous two the book? “I never wanted to remove Rick years, the title experienced some upheaval, from the book,” Englehart states, “but as Gerry Conway came on and not only I definitely wanted him to have some returned the characters to Earth but also distance inside the book.” brought back the old gimmick of having The initial storyline continued the worldMar-Vell and Rick exchanging places via the building that Englehart had begun over Nega-Bands. There was a very practical reason in The Avengers concerning the Kree race. for taking them out of space and back to Captain Marvel discovers a rebel band of blue Earth: As explained on the letters page of Kree who wish to overthrow the rule of the issue #47, having Captain Marvel on Earth Supreme Intelligence, and themes of racism gave him more opportunities to interact with and imperialism are developed. Englehart other Marvel characters. One can assume was the first writer to pick up on the racism that this was also done with the intent that plot thread left dangling by Archie Goodwin guest-stars might help increase sales, too. way back in Captain Marvel #16 regarding the However, Conway’s tenure was short-lived, blue Kree and their disdain for the “pinks,” or only lasting two issues—through issue mixed race members of the Empire. #48. After briefly serving as editor-in-chief, The Watcher, usually relegated to cameo Conway quit not only the position but appearances, gets a featured role in the first the company. Scott Edelman, a former storyline, as he goes beyond just watching Marvel staffer turned freelancer, became to taking action and is put on trial by his kind. the new writer, while Al Milgrom continued Captain Marvel becomes involved as a as the artist. witness, and we get our first glimpse at Although Edelman doesn’t recall exactly the Watcher’s homeworld and people. how he came to the title, it was an assignment “My high point on the series was the ‘Trial of he took on with enthusiasm. “I was the Watcher,’ in which Mar-Vell is often a certainly thrilled to be doing it,” Edelman spectator,” Englehart remarks. says. “Captain Marvel was a character Starting with issue #42, that I was into. I remember Milgrom took the lead on standing there at the newsthe plot, coming up with a stand when the issue of Marvel comical tale. The artist isn’t Super-Heroes came out, where sure, all these years later, the first story appeared, with but the inspiration for this the wonderful Gene Colan might have come from the cover and artwork.” classic Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four Edelman picked up on #90–93 (Sept.–Dec. 1969), the threads Conway had left where the shape-shifting Skrulls behind, involving a pair of had created a planet based Kree scientists hiding out on 1920s gangster culture. on Earth, and Ronan the Here, Captain Marvel and Rick Accuser returning to harass wind up on an asteroid that Mar-Vell. For the 50th issue resembles a small Western Photo courtesy of Florida Supercon. (May 1977), readers were town, and befriend an alien prospector treated to a battle royale with the Supernamed Shabby and his robot mule, Rusty. Adaptoid, guest-starring the Avengers. “Shootout at the O.K. Space Corral” was Mar-Vell defeats the dangerous android by definitely a departure for the title. Rarely had letting it copy his cosmic awareness, thereby the book integrated humor or whimsy into overwhelming its senses, in one of the the grave cosmic doings. Credit Milgrom’s more interesting uses of that power. More sense of humor for this. importantly, Rick is freed from the Negative “I think I did one issue which I plotted Zone, ending the symbiotic relationship myself which, I don’t remember, I think it between he and Mar-Vell for good. The was ‘Shootout at the O.K. Space Station,’ two would go their separate ways the next or something like that. I just remember issue, although Rick would remain a part the splash page where Rick and Captain of the title. Marvel are riding a mechanical mule in Edelman’s reason for separating the two space. But you know, we were just having was rather practical: “You’re supposed to fun,” Milgrom says. have something important happen in the 50th The Englehart/Milgrom duo would stay issue, right? That’s what happens in comics, together for three more issues, in which with the 50th and 100th and anniversary the characters come into conflict with the issues, you do something [big]. What I did Supreme Intelligence itself. Englehart provided was say, ‘We’re going to separate Rick Jones the plot for issue #46 but left Marvel at and Captain Marvel.’ The Super-Adaptoid that time, so up-and-coming writer Chris seemed the perfect gimmick with which Claremont came in to script the issue. In the to do that—once Super-Adaptoid gets the story, Mar-Vell and Rick take the fight to the wristbands, which allows them to switch Kree homeworld, and wind up defeating the places, slam the wristbands together, then Supreme Intelligence, although both suffer they’re both free on Earth, which becomes a personal losses. With the change in writers, whole new chapter.” the title itself would undergo yet another The Kree continued to feature prominently change in direction. in the book and “The War of the Three Galaxies”

High Noon (top) Al Milgrom co-plotted as well as penciled this issue featuring an Old West-like showdown between Mar-Vell and the Stranger. Cover to Captain Marvel #42 (Jan. 1976) by Milgrom and Alan Weiss. (bottom) Nitro returns in #54. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Captain on the Couch Original art to page 2 of Roger McKenzie’s “Star Burst,” from CM #57 (July 1978), courtesy of Heritage. Penciler Pat Broderick (inked here by Bob Wiacek) would go on to illustrate two of DC’s cosmic heroes, Captain Atom and Green Lantern. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

“DO IT LIKE STARLIN”

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

(issue #53) allowed Edelman to bring in Black Bolt and the Inhumans to help Mar-Vell prevent another conflict between the Kree and the Skrull that would endanger Earth. This was Milgrom’s last issue on the title. As an inker or penciler, he had touched more issues of Captain Marvel than anyone else—20 in total. Looking back, Milgrom remarks, “I actually did the book a lot longer than [Starlin] did, oh, about three years’ worth and it was a bimonthly, so that would have been only about 18 issues, but at the time it was all I could do to make that deadline.” Regarding his departure, he says, “At some point I decided I had been doing it long enough.” Edelman himself would only be around another two issues. After having Nitro return in issue #54 and beginning to have Mar-Vell figure out how to create a life for himself on Earth, Edelman left the title after an unfortunate editorial dispute. The final era of the Captain’s title was about to begin.

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Right around the time issue #53 (Nov. 1977) hit the stands, Starlin returned to Marvel to briefly pull the Captain back into his orbit, as he put together one of the most unforgettable cosmic tales of all, the two-part Thanos saga in Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-inOne Annual #2. Having collected all six of the soul gems, the Titan had synthesized a giant gem which he intended to use to obliterate the Sun. It took the combined efforts of the Avengers, Spider-Man, the Thing, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock to stop him. Although the two books were an opportunity for Starlin to wrap up loose ends from his Warlock series, it also allowed the two heroes he was most identified with to meet each other, even if that involved Mar-Vell witnessing Warlock’s strange suicide, and delivering the eulogy at his funeral. But in Starlin’s universe, it was all fitting. Back in the Captain’s book, he had a new creative team. With their run, writer Doug Moench and artist Pat Broderick would bring back some of the elements that Starlin had originally brought to the title. After a fill-in by Roger McKenzie in issue #57, Moench and Broderick would get Mar-Vell headed back into space, facing the legacy of his greatest enemy, Thanos. Moench recalls, “I really remember, when it was offered to me, when they said Pat Broderick would be the artist, I had been wanting to work with Pat again. [I said] ‘Okay, but only if I can do it like Starlin was doing it.’ And they said, ‘What do you mean?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to treat him like Superman, [like a regular superhero]. I want the more cosmic stuff.’ And they said, ‘Oh! Okay.’ And there was no problem.” Moench had been working at Marvel since 1973, and had written everything from the Planet of the Apes black-andwhite magazine to Werewolf by Night to (most notably) Master of Kung Fu. Fond of every genre except straight-up superhero fare, Moench was attracted to Captain Marvel because it gave him the opportunity to work on a science-fiction-flavored strip. “I was doing so much stuff, the only way I could do that much is if there was variety, and I could do a science-fiction thing, and a horror thing, and a martialarts thing,” says Moench. “As long as they were all different, it seemed I could handle any amount at work. At that point, I wasn’t doing anything like Captain Marvel. And it was like, ‘Wow, this’ll open my mind to whole new avenues.’ And it did.” In their eight-issue story arc, Captain Marvel finds himself allied with Drax the Destroyer against the Titan supercomputer ISAAC, which is carrying out a plan of Thanos’ (who at the time was believed to be deceased), imprisoning the Titans and creating organic super-beings, with the goal of conquering Earth and beyond. Over the

course of the tale, Mar-Vell and Drax face many challenges, and one enemy would become an ally and then lover for Mar-Vell: Elysius, a striking brunette who decided ISAAC’s plans held no interest for her, but Mar-Vell did. The Captain had not had any real love interest since Una died back in #11. This was a very long time for the star of a book to go without a romantic partner. This may have been partly due to the Mar-Vell/Rick relationship consuming the space of a romantic relationship in the title. Once they were separated, it was necessary to start focusing more on Mar-Vell as a person, and establishing a love life for him was one way to do this. Oddly enough, although Captain Marvel was canceled with issue #62 (May 1979), the story was continued right on schedule in the pages of the revived Marvel Spotlight #1 (July 1979). It was highly unusual for a title to be canceled and have its storyline picked up right away in another book. But Mar-Vell’s adventures continued seamlessly for several more issues, until Moench and Broderick were able to finish their saga, with Mar-Vell defeating ISAAC and remaining on Titan with Elysius.

“HE’S GONE.”

Three years would pass between the end of the Moench/Broderick run and the Captain’s next, final appearance. His fate would rest in good hands, those of an old friend, Jim Starlin. At the time, Starlin was busy writing and illustrating the Dreadstar series for Marvel’s Epic line when he was approached with the idea of killing off Captain Marvel. According to him, Marvel simply didn’t know what to do with the character, but they wanted to retain the name, so they decided to say goodbye to Mar-Vell and then develop a new character with the Captain Marvel moniker. A deal was made that involved a Dreadstar graphic novel as part of the bargain. Everything was set, except for the most important thing: How would Mar-Vell die? Starlin explains: “I said, ‘Okay, you know, I’ll do it.’ I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it. I figured it was just a job I’d have to get out of the way and then I’d get back on to Dreadstar. But as I got into it, the first hurdle to get over was coming up with a plot. I think I came up with about four or five which I never showed to anybody, because they were just your basic ‘heroic hero dying in a blaze of glory at the end,’ which even in the comics had been done already to death. My own father had passed away six months before from cancer. And I don’t know the exact moment the idea came into my head, but that’s certainly where I was going. And that was the first plot I actually turned in to Jim Shooter. Jim then made the mistake of showing it to some of his assistant editors, and they all hated it. Jim was the only one who liked it, and he said, ‘Go ahead and do it.’ ” Jim Shooter wasn’t the only one who liked The Death of Captain Marvel. Marvel Comics’ first graphic novel was a hit, and has remained in print in one form or another ever since its debut in 1982. Starlin picked up his story with Mar-Vell still on Titan with Elysius. The Captain senses something is wrong with himself and Mentor’s medical computers confirm it: He has cancer,

The One Foe He Could Not Overcome Starlin’s cover (inset) and back cover to his Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Deathbed Vision Captain Marvel’s final encounter with his dreaded foe, Thanos. Original art page 55 of The Death of Captain Marvel (Marvel Graphic Novel #1), courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

the result of exposure to nerve gas when he fought the villain Nitro (back in issue #34). Mar-Vell stoically faces his fate, but seeks out Rick Jones, concerned that the young man might also be in danger due to their former symbiotic relationship. Rick is fine physically, but refuses to accept Mar-Vell’s death sentence and basically shames the superhero community’s finest into seeking a cure for him. As the former Kree soldier weakens, he gets visitors from every corner of the universe, including a Skrull general who bestows a medal upon him, declaring their respect for their greatest foe. However, the Kree, his own people, ignore him. While Rick bemoans the unfairness of the situation, Mar-Vell tells Rick that he’s at peace; he has a good woman and good friends with him. Soon after, he falls into a coma. Whether in Mar-Vell’s unconscious mind, or in the afterlife, he encounters Thanos, who was still believed to be dead. The Titan appears over Mar-Vell’s bed and tells him he has come for one last battle. The Captain rises, not weak and frail, but in his prime. The two contend across a crazy-quilt battleground, with Mar-Vell initially denying the inevitability of death, and Thanos telling the warrior that life is finite. After fighting illusions that appear as old

foes, Mar-Vell sees the truth. Death appears once again as a hooded, female figure. Thanos tells Mar-Vell, “She is the bridge to eternity. Her caress carries peace. Do not fear her, for she is merely that which awaits us all.” Mar-Vell, calm now, tells him, “It is not that I fear her. It’s just that I no longer need the illusion.” And with that, he waves his hand slowly over her serene face to reveal a skull. She embraces him, and then the three of them head off into a brilliant light. Back on Titan, Mentor turns off a life-support monitor and says, “He’s gone.” The story is powerful and unique, and no doubt is part of the reason the character has never been revived, although Starlin thinks it may have more to do with it never going out of print. Regardless, Mar-Vell remains one of the few comic characters to stay dead. In a bit of bad luck, midway through the project, Starlin dislocated a finger on his drawing hand. He had to manage a work-around to complete the project on time. “Every morning I would get up and go to the studio and I would take one of these Micron felt tips and tape it into my hand,” Starlin recalls. “Then I would start inking the thing. If you look back at the story, you’ll see that there’s no long flowing lines in that, it’s all short jabby lines because it’s all I was capable of. Everyone thought I was kind of imitating Moebius, but I was just trying to get through the day.” This impediment gave the art a stark look which suits the story.

A COSMIC LEGACY

What are we to make of Captain Marvel? When we assess the meaning and value of the character and his title from a viewpoint more than 30 years after his literary demise, can we come up with a clear evaluation? While the character himself was perhaps only middling successful, it seems his true value lies in what he spawned. Mar-Vell’s legacy is a rich one, which spans much of the Marvel Universe and has influences that carry on to the present day, both in comics and Marvel’s film universe. One of the greatest results of the title was the maturing of Jim Starlin as a comics professional. Within the pages of Captain Marvel, Starlin would develop as a singular creative talent. Issue after issue, readers could see his abilities evolving. He used the books as an experimental playground, creating some impressive work—the 35-panel page in issue #28 is only one, very spectacular example. When asked about this now, Starlin is quite modest, saying only that he thought he was getting better. When pressed, the artist responds, “It’s very subjective, your own artwork, it’s hard to see it at the time whether you’re doing a good job or not, until you’ve had like six months to look back at it.” He continues, “Yeah, there’s a lot of energy in those early Captain Marvels. The anatomy’s terrible, but, you know—he’s got, like, 13 scallops where ribs are— but it had a lot of good, nice energy, storytelling. I knew I was never gonna be a Neal Adams or Hal Foster— an illustrator; I’m a storyteller, and you know, I’ve learned to draw a little better, enough to get by.” The man is a master of understatement. Along with Starlin’s development as a creator, we have Captain Marvel to thank for the development of many of his characters and concepts, chief amongst these being Thanos. It’s hard to imagine the Marvel Universe without this complex villain, who also looms large in the film franchise. One might argue that the characters could have been developed elsewhere, such as in Iron Man. However, there simply wasn’t a better fit at the time than in Captain Marvel. The Kree Captain made the best protagonist for Thanos—he wasn’t a conventional hero, and the title was so low on the totem pole that Starlin had carte blanche to do anything he wanted to with it. 36 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

Star Warrior From Heritage’s archives, an undated pinup by the “Gemini” (Jim and I, or Starlin and Milgrom) team. (inset) Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

It’s nearly impossible to imagine the mind-blowing events of Starlin’s storyline happening in a conventional book like Iron Man or Fantastic Four. He would expand upon his brand of science-fiction mysticism in Warlock, Silver Surfer, and The Infinity Gauntlet, among other titles. Later writers would pick up on his ideas, and “cosmic” Marvel became a staple of the company. There has been a procession of heroes to bear the name of Captain Marvel. After Mar-Vell himself there was Monica Rambeau, a New Orleans Police officer [see BI #90—ed.]; then Genis-Vell, the artificially created son of Mar-Vell, followed by his equally-unusual sister, Phyla-Vell. These two were succeeded by a confused Skrull who thought he was Mar-Vell, during the Secret Invasion series. Then another Kree, Noh-Varr, also known as Marvel Boy, briefly took on the title before settling on becoming the Protector. But at this writing the name belongs to perhaps the most fitting successor, Carol Danvers. Thomas had created her as a supporting character back in Marvel Super-Heroes #13, but when Gerry Conway was writing Captain Marvel, he also wrote the premiere issue of Ms. Marvel (Jan. 1977), which turned Danvers into a superhero based on her exposure to a Kree device way back in Captain Marvel #18. As Ms. Marvel, Danvers became a fixture in the Marvel Universe and one of the most prominent female heroes. The decision to bestow the title of Captain upon her seems a no-brainer in retrospect. She has certainly surpassed her predecessor in longevity, and perhaps in significance as well. So, who was Captain Marvel? He was a fighter, a catalyst, a gateway to something bigger than himself. He certainly became more than “a middle finger to DC,” more than a trademark holder. Captain Marvel opened up limitless possibilities for the Marvel Universe. Many thanks to the Captain’s chroniclers: Scott Edelman, Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Al Milgrom, Doug Moench, Jim Starlin, and Roy Thomas. KAREN WALKER is stuck in the ’70s and loving it. She is part of the team that proudly produces www.bronze-agebabies.blogspot.com.

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“We all know without havin’ to say it… even when we win, we lose!” –Sarge, Our Fighting Forces #125 Captain Storm was the skipper of a PT boat near Tiberius when he suddenly lost everything that his career had built up to. Torpedoes sank his ship and his boat sank. Storm lost his entire crew, and he was the only one left—the only loser to move on from this crushing defeat. Soon he found other soldiers who had been kicked and dragged around by the Second World War. These men were a few other losers just like himself. Together, Captain Storm (a character who had held his own ongoing series in the ’60s), Johnny Cloud, Sarge, and Gunner banded together and embraced the title of “the Losers.” Being Losers meant that they could take on the toughest assignments without worrying about the consequences. Knowing that they were already living on borrowed time and following mistakes, the Losers plunged themselves into dangerous mission after dangerous mission, doing whatever it would take to further the Allied cause.

A WINNING COMBINATION OF CHARACTERS

The Losers debuted in the pages of G.I. Combat #138 (Oct. 1969), in an offbeat story establishing the new characters alongside DC’s existing war comic “character,” the Haunted Tank. Russ Heath served as the artist for the Losers’ debut, but did not stay with the characters to work on any other stories. G.I. Combat was not to be the permanent home for the new characters, and the Losers wound up becoming a regular feature in the pages of Our Fighting Forces instead, starring in issues #123 (Jan.–Feb. 1970) through 181 (Oct. 1978). Like the majority of the Losers’ adventures, this initial tale was written by DC’s go-to author of war comics, Robert Kanigher. Kanigher had already written plenty of Sgt. Rock stories and had been deeply involved with nearly all of DC’s war comics output. Star Spangled War Stories, Our Army At War, the previously mentioned G.I. Combat, and Our Fighting Forces—all of these titles had benefited from the consistent quality of Robert “Bob” Kanigher’s writing and editing expertise. When it was time to introduce some new characters, Kanigher’s involvement was a given. Somewhat strange is the fact that there are some issues in which Kanigher had very little involvement with the Losers stories. Issues #151–162 interrupt Kanigher’s serious and often longgestating storylines and clear a path for a very special run by one of the top names in the history of comics: It was none other than Jack Kirby who © DC Comics. took over on these issues as writer, penciler, and editor. Readers of the Losers’ appearances in Our Fighting Forces

Bad Luck Battle Stars The Losers kicked off their ongoing series in Our Fighting Forces #123 (Jan.–Feb. 1970). Cover by Joe Kubert. TM & © DC Comics.

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by C

hristopher Larochelle

The Brave and the Bold Before they joined forces, (top) Captain Storm starred in 16 issues of his own title and Johnny Cloud headlined All-American Men of War, while (bottom left) Gunner and Sarge frequented the pages of Our Fighting Forces. (bottom right) The “Born” Losers bowed in the Haunted Tank feature in G.I. Combat #138 (Oct.–Nov. 1969). TM & © DC Comics.

are treated to some very different approaches to the characters and their adventures. Our Fighting Forces #123 begins the ongoing adventures of the Losers. It took some time before the Losers found a consistent art approach, and this story was illustrated by Ken Barr. The players are all thrown together to help with a “dirty mission” to infiltrate a castle in Nazi territory. Each man has a story for how he became one worthy of the title “Loser.” For Johnny Cloud, the guilt of losing so many pilots under his charge as a flight leader brought him into the group. For Gunner and Sarge, lives spent in poverty before joining up, coupled with the fact they were the only two soldiers left standing in their entire patrol after an operation went poorly, brought them into their present company. Captain Storm can never forget the effects of his boat sinking and the loss of his men, as he walks every day on a wooden leg that serves as a constant reminder. Our Fighting Forces #127 (Oct. 1970) showcases Kanigher’s storytelling abilities, giving a wonderful example of what can be done with a 14-page tale. By this time, Ross Andru was the established artist for the Losers, having worked on the title since Our Fighting Forces #124. The Losers are in England, enjoying some time away from the battlefield by watching a cricket game. A US Army woman named Linda tags along with the team and soon meets a Royal Air Force volunteer named Bill. It’s love at first sight for Linda and Bill, and soon there is a proposal of marriage. The wedding is to take place within just a few weeks, and Captain Storm remarks, “We’ll be here… it’s a pleasure for us Losers to see a pair of winners!” Bill takes to the skies to fill the spot of a fellow soldier shot down in the line of duty while Linda stays on the ground. Nazi fighters have arrived. As Linda helps civilians, she is brutally shot by a German pilot, and the Losers quickly confirm that she is gone. Bill, high in the sky in his Spitfire, shows great bravery in the battle but comes crashing down to the ground, utterly weakened. “Tell Linda… sorry… I’m late… for… the… wed—,” stammers Bill, cradled in the arms of Sarge. “You’re not late, Bill! L-Linda’s waitin’ for you!” replies Sarge, knowing that Bill is fading fast. The Losers are next seen at a double funeral for the two lovers who never quite made it to their wedding. Rather than thinking of Linda and Bill as losers like themselves, the team finds hope in the fact that they’ve found a better place to be together. While Robert Kanigher established the backstories of the individual members of the Losers early on, he took the time to delve deeper into each character’s past as the series progressed. In Our Fighting Forces #129, readers got a chance to see the story of how Johnny Cloud came to fight in the war following his boyhood

living with his tribe at a Native-American reservation. The sting of losing his men in a sky-high battle hurts Johnny because he can never carry out the words that his father once told him: “You must be ready to lay down your life for your brother! No matter what the color of his skin! Or your shame will be mine… your tribe’s… your nation’s!” Before Johnny even had the chance to sacrifice himself, his pilots were all killed in the line of duty. Our Fighting Forces #132 puts the spotlight on the tag-team duo of Gunner and Sarge in a tale illustrated by the Losers’ longest-tenured artist, John Severin. In this story, they are briefly reunited with Pooch, a dog who once helped them through some tight spots while they were serving in the Pacific. Pooch was the first K-9 the US Army sent out, and while Sarge and Gunner relive the moments that brought them together with this noble animal, they realize that their lives as members of the Losers dictate that the happy reunion has to come to an end. Readers get to learn more about just how unstoppable these two soldiers are, and how dedicated they both are to each other’s survival.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Death of a Loser (left) Original Joe Kubert cover art to OFF #135 (Jan.–Feb. 1972), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (right) Even if you’re not a war comics buff, you can’t help but marvel at the art of John Severin. Page 12 of the Losers tale from OFF #138 (July– Aug. 1973), courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

ENTER: THE LADY LOSER

Robert Kanigher sets up an ambitious storyline in “Death Picks a Loser” (Our Fighting Forces #135). The cover of the issue does nothing to hold back any surprises, as Johnny Cloud proclaims that “Captain Storm is dead! This is the end of the line! What more can we lose?” The first page of the story shows the Losers visiting a fortune teller at a fair that has opened up on the outskirts of London. Assuring the soldiers that one among them will die soon, the fortune teller declares that she can’t be any more specific… and so the Losers (less so, the readers) are left to wonder which one of them is about to go through his worst ordeal. The Losers are sent to Norway to help citizens resist the oppression of the Third Reich. They soon meet a brave young woman named Ona and begin training people for the battles to come. The Losers help the Norwegians set up explosives to take out buildings used by the Germans, but Courtesy of Comicvine. something just isn’t right. Captain Storm valiantly heads out to investigate, but when a huge explosion levels a building, everyone knows that Storm was caught within it. Ona also knows that she has lost someone during this battle: her father. “My father is dead… one of your group has given his life! Now… I will join you… and take his place!” says Ona.

40 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

After some protesting by Johnny, Sarge, and Gunner, Ona persists: “You say you are losers? But… am I not a loser as well? Did I not lose my father, my home…? At least let me repay the brave man who gave his life for my people!” Apparently impressed enough by Ona’s resolve, Johnny Cloud approves the addition of a new member in the Losers’ fight against evil and oppression. The Losers walk away from the view that they have of the wreckage, and John Severin’s haunting final panel of the story shows smoke, rubble, fire, and the wooden leg of Captain Storm. In “Decoy for Death!” (Our Fighting Forces #136), the Losers’ new lineup immediately gets to work. Ona proves to be a valuable member of the team when they discuss how the German enemies have so many advantages over them. Since it is clear that espionage will be needed, Ona shoots down the idea of one her teammates risking life and limb in this way. “I have a weapon none of you have! I am a woman!” she declares. Once again, Kanigher’s script lets the artwork of John Severin do all of the “talking.” First, Sarge puts a hand on Ona’s shoulder while giving a look that, while appearing stern, also conveys a sense of approval. Another panel shows Gunner’s reaction, which undoubtedly reflects how this soldier is absolutely amazed by the bravery of his newest teammate. Ona plans how she will get her intelligence to the other Losers and is

immediately skiing down the mountain to begin her self-appointed mission. Watching this, Johnny Cloud can only remark that “that gal must have Indian blood in her!” Ona’s plan works well. She successfully leads the Losers and the soldiers tagging along with them to where the Germans have set up camp. Ona’s place for leaving the information turned out to be Captain Storm’s wooden leg, which seemed innocuous enough to the Germans but was something that the Losers were sure to keep note of. Ona’s self-assuredness still holds up at the end of this story, and she declares herself to be worthy of taking the place of Captain Storm. The other Losers try to argue the point somewhat, but there can be no doubt at this point that the Losers found themselves the perfect candidate right at their time of greatest need. “The Targets” (Our Fighting Forces #138) features an adventure in which the Losers narrowly escape death by hanging on a German boat. The story is mostly notable for how it sets up Robert Kanigher’s long game for the Losers. When Ona, Cloud, Sarge, and Gunner find their way back to safety aboard a friendly Englishman’s raft, they are told about a shortwave radio signal that came in concerning a “crazy pirate with a peg-leg and eye patch.” The Losers row out, pondering this strange news. The Losers soon meet the mysterious pirate in Our Fighting Forces #139. The pirate and his crew cause some trouble for the Losers, and each member of the team tries to get to understand this idiosyncratic man. Referring to how the war has swept up everyone in the world, Johnny Cloud asks, “Whose side are you on?” “My own side!” replies Photo by Susan Skaar. the pirate. The Losers separate from the strange pirate, but continue to run into him over the course of the next two stories. During all of this, Ona begins to carry one of the few things left behind by the Loser she replaced: the dog tag of Captain Storm. It is in “The Bad Penny,” a tale told in Our Fighting Forces #141, that the pieces of the puzzle come together. When the pirate gets curious about something that Ona is holding back from him, she shows him the dog tag. Grabbing Ona’s hand, the pirate looks on in surprise as everything comes flooding back… gone is the pirate persona, and now cured of amnesia, Captain Storm returns!

THE CAPTAIN STORMS BACK

The reconfigured Losers don’t waste any time in getting back in action. Captain Storm is happy to return to the ranks of the Losers. The eye patch of his “pirate persona” was not just for show: Storm has lost even more of himself and is now a man who gets along with just one eye and one leg. Several issues feature the five-member lineup of the Losers, but things change when one mission goes wrong. Gunner jeopardizes the whole crew when he fears for Ona’s life. Things get heated as the Losers try to regroup, and it is Johnny Cloud who speaks out the loudest, describing how Gunner has always been a little too “moon-eyed” about having a woman on the team. Stranded in a desert during

a sandstorm, the team makes an attempt to escape. One Loser, however, seems to be willingly, tearfully, separating herself from the group in shame over what effect she has had. It takes some time for the Losers to once again wind up in the same place as Ona, and when they do, things don’t end very well. Ona had some secrets that she never told the Losers about—namely, two separate German men to whom she had made promises of affection. Gunner finds Ona and is completely flabbergasted by the scene of her being so close to a Nazi. Before he recognizes her, Gunner aims to fire at the woman. When he puts it all together, he can only stammer: “I c-can’t! Not to a woman! Not to a woman who’s a Loser! Not to a woman I… I…” Gunner leaves that last statement dangling, and silently sprints back to the rest of the team. Driving away at top speed in a jeep, the other Losers reflect on how it is too bad that they never did find Ona. Gunner never breaks his silence. Our Fighting Forces #150 serves as the finale to the Kanigher/Severin run of the Losers. With the long-running story of Ona wrapping up an issue prior, this issue seems somewhat out of place. In this story, the Losers wind up crossing paths with a Jewish community. In so doing, they happen to learn a little bit more about the freedom that they are fighting to defend. As they walk past a synagogue vandalized by Nazis and realize the scope of the devastation the war has brought, the Losers are only strengthened.

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

Enter: the very next issue of Our Fighting Forces, #151. The logo is the same. A Joe Kubert illustration adorns the cover, much like nearly every other Losers comic that came prior. Open it up, though … and now Our Fighting Forces has turned into a Jack Kirby comic! Boldly proclaimed to be “Edited, written, and drawn” by the King of Comics, “Kill Me with Wagner!” marks a seismic change in the style and tenor of the book. Whereas Robert Kanigher spent much time developing the characters of each individual Loser, Jack Kirby in most ways shifted that all to the side so that the war action could be ratcheted up even higher. Kirby’s opening salvo with the Losers includes a multitude of explosions, huge sound effects, and very nearly has the Nazis use Wagner’s famous “March of the Valkyries” as a weapon! Our Fighting Forces #153 shows Kirby becoming more comfortable with what he brings to the table with the Losers stories. In this issue, the Germans show off a new weapon called Big Max,

That’s a Fact, Jack! Kirby faced front as the Losers artist during the Bronze Age. Covers to Our Fighting Forces #152, 153, and 159. TM & © DC Comics.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 41

Can’t Catch a Break Even with Ona the Lady Loser by their side, DC’s beleaguered battle stars always had the odds stacked against ’em. A quartet of Kubert classic covers, including the final issue of Our Fighting Forces. TM & © DC Comics.

which is a gigantic cannon with unmatched destructive power. Unmatched, that is, until the Losers notice a kid reading a comic book that features a weapon that looks like it could actually give Big Max a run for its money. And so the Devastator is created, a machine literally copied from a science-fiction comic book. Though the Devastator doesn’t quite survive the battle, Big Max is definitively wrecked. Rodney Rumpkin, the kid who inspired the creation of the Devastator, can’t help but feel like a loser when his machine gets ruined. Johnny Cloud tries to offer reassurance, and Kirby’s narration only leaves a missive: “To all the Rodney Rumpkins: victories are won yesterday—recognition must wait for tomorrow.” A character called Panama Fattie appears in Our Fighting Forces #157 to entangle the Losers with problems. Fattie has dabbled in lots of questionable endeavors in Panama, and when the Losers get too close, she plays up her charisma and drugs them all. The Losers wake up in a van, completely caught up in a whole scheme cooked up by Panama to help her “start a new life.” Problems multiply and soon Fattie is dead… and even though she

played the Losers for idiots, Captain Storm still has some kind of respect for her as he carefully closes her lifeless eyes. Sometimes Kirby’s Losers stories have a way of pushing the Losers themselves to the sidelines. Such is the case in Our Fighting Forces #159, which focuses squarely on a young African-American soldier known as “Mile-a-Minute Jones.” Henry Jones is known for his speed by foot, and spends much of the story in a race against a similarly fast Nazi. In the end, Jones finds his way back to safety with the Losers, while his German counterpart reaches “the final finish line” of death. At the end of his Losers stories, Kirby often includes some “bonus features” highlighting some encyclopediaesque information about World War II. A couple of pages of back matter feature various guns used by soldiers of different nations. Kirby did similar features on artillery and helmets. Although his Losers stories often stretched and became tales of the fantastic (in contrast to the mostly believable war stories presented by Robert Kanigher), Kirby was always able to back up his work with evidence of his knowledge of “how it really was.” On the whole, the Losers comics produced by Jack Kirby are a little offbeat (even by Kirby standards), yet still entertaining. The stories that Kirby worked on were so completely different from what previously been established for the framework of the Losers that readers who pick them up just have to accept that they are in for a wild ride. After only 12 issues on the title, Jack Kirby’s work on Our Fighting Forces was over. After producing many exciting comics for DC for several years, Kirby’s path would soon take him back to Marvel.

…AND AFTER THAT…

Just as abruptly as he had arrived, Jack Kirby’s talents were taken away from Our Fighting Forces and the title and characters were “returned” to Robert Kanigher. For 19 more issues, Kanigher got to tell more Losers stories, and Our Fighting Forces was canceled with issue #178 (Sept.–Oct. 1978). The Losers were not seen too often in DC Comics after this, though one notable resurfacing of the characters happened in 2010 when DC “resurrected” several canceled series as a quasi tie-in to its “Blackest Night” storyline (a clever idea, since “Blackest Night” was all about zombie versions of killed-off DC characters returning from the dead). A single issue of Our Fighting Forces was published as part of this promotion, and Captain Storm and the Losers got one more chance to land in readers’ hands. While having nothing to do with the original concept, DC Entertainment has seen the value in keeping the trademark name of the Losers. A Vertigo series by Andy Diggle and Jock kept the name of the Losers alive, and this version was turned into a big-budget 2010 summer action flick. True as it often might have been that “even when they won, they lost,” the Losers never stopped trying. Time and time again, Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, and Gunner and Sarge showed that they were the best of the best as solid examples of brave fighting men trying to solve some of the world’s gargantuan problems. 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.

42 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

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No BACK ISSUE devoted to captains of comic books would be complete without one of the most-read comicbook captains of them all—Captain D—yes, those infamous giveaways you received in Captain D’s seafood restaurants. The origin of Captain D’s comics, though, lies with another restaurant icon—Big Boy. We don’t have the space to cover Big Boy in detail [Editor’s note: Check out BACK ISSUE #39 for the story of Big Boy Comics], so we will focus on the path that led to the Captain. Robert Wian opened Bob’s Pantry in Glendale, California, in 1936. The restaurant became known as “Bob’s, Home of the Big Boy Hamburger,” franchised nationally by Wian under the Big Boy name. Manfred Bernhard, son of graphic designer Lucian Bernhard, co-created the modern Big Boy character and produced the Adventures of the Big Boy comic book, a promotional giveaway for children visiting the restaurants, for 40 years. Early issues were written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Bill Everett. Since 1997, the comic book has been produced by Craig Yoe’s Studio. In 1947, Alex “Shoney” Schoenbaum opened the first Parkette Drive-In next to his father’s bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia. Schoenbaum became a Big Boy franchisee in 1952. In 1954, the Parkette Drive-Ins were rebranded as Shoney’s. On August 15, 1969, Shoney’s opened a fast-food seafood restaurant called Mr. D’s Seafood and Hamburgers in Donelson, Tennessee, named after Ray Danner, co-founder of Shoney’s. In 1974, the name was changed to Captain D’s Seafood. Like their sister restaurant, Captain D’s began giving away a comic book to kids, produced by Bernhard. But there was actually more to the Captain D’s comics—especially in the early years—than just a fondly remembered means of passing the time while waiting for your fish sticks. There were two versions of the Captain D’s comic books, sometimes referred to as Series One and Two. Both versions were 16-page color comic books printed on newsprint and distributed free to guests of the restaurant. The Series One version began in 1976 and was titled Captain D’s Exciting Adventures, printed by Paragon Products, Inc. on a periodic basis. The first series somewhat resembled Classics Illustrated, featuring covers and stories about famous people in nautical history, ranging from Mark Twain to Ponce de Leon. The artwork was credited to Allan Hall. The stories were six to seven pages in length, introduced by the restaurant mascot, Captain D. Included in each issue were puzzles, jokes, a letters page, and a “Fish Story” based on an idea submitted by readers, drawn in a more cartoony style than the historical pieces, along with an advertisement for either Coca-Cola or Pepsi and a coupon to join Captain D’s Birthday Club. The initial publication of Series 0ne ran for 35 issues. Series Two began in 1983, printed by Jiffy Industries with the title Captain D’s Adventure Magazine. Much of the format was similar to Series One, with jokes, puzzles, and the “Fish Story,” plus a game in the centerspread of each issue, but the covers now featured humorous vignettes with Captain D and the “Silly Sailor,” and the nautical history stories were reduced to three-page abbreviated versions of stories that ran in Captain D’s Exciting Adventures. The second series, which ran for 14 issues, more closely resembled the Adventures of the Big Boy comic book. One of the artists who contributed to Series Two was Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff, renowned 44 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

by D e w e y

Cassell

Free Comic Book Day The first issue of Captain D’s Exciting Adventures (1976), from Series One of the restaurant’s giveaway comics. Unless otherwise noted, art in this article is courtesy of its author, Dewey Cassell. TM & © Captain D’s.

Something Fishy (top) A tasty sampling of Captain D’s comic covers. (middle) A Captain D’s Birthday Club ad from an Exciting Adventures issue. (bottom) Sheldon Moldoff original art to the cover of Series Two’s Captain D’s Adventure Magazine #9. Courtesy of Greg McKee. TM & © Captain D’s.

for his work on Hawkman and Batman for DC Comics. When Moldoff left DC, he worked on a number of promotional comics, including Captain D’s. The most logical explanation for having two series is that the license to print the comic books passed from one company to another. However, there may have been two versions published for different regions of the country, similar to Adventures of the Big Boy. In 1986, Paragon Products, Inc. began reprinting issues from both series under the title Captain D’s Exciting Adventures. The reprint title began with issue #15, picking up the numbering where Captain D’s Adventure Magazine left off, so the reprints have different issue numbers than the originals. Captain D’s Exciting Adventures continued to be printed (or reprinted) through issue #41, which was published in 1990. The last two years of the comic book were printed by Creative Printing & Publishing. One element in common between the two series of Captain D’s comic books was the face next to the logo. It is uncertain who created the red-haired bearded captain, but it was likely Manfred Bernhard. However, unlike Big Boy, the character was not based on an actual person. The Captain D’s mascot not only appeared in the comic books, but also on matchbook covers, T-shirts, and lapel pins. While the writing and artwork was not top shelf, Captain D’s should be commended for attempting to make the comic books a valuable learning experience for kids. Original artwork from the Captain D’s comic books is scarce, especially from the first series. Most of the art that has surfaced is by Moldoff. The comic books themselves are in fairly plentiful supply through the secondary market, although it can be hard to find copies not written in or to piece together a complete run. One of the challenges in tracing the history of the captain and his comic books is that parent company Shoney’s, along with Captain D’s, declared bankruptcy in 2000, after which the seafood restaurant chain changed hands several times before being purchased by Centre Partners in 2013. There are currently over 500 Captain D’s restaurants across the United States, plus military bases around the world. But today, kids have to pass the time playing with their iPhones while waiting for their fish sticks, because Captain D and his comic books went down with the ship. Sincere thanks to Craig Yoe for his insight. DEWEY “CAPTAIN D” CASSELL is the Eisner Award-nominated author of over 35 articles and three books, including The Incredible Herb Trimpe, available from TwoMorrows Publishing. He is currently working on a book about Mike Grell.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

There was a time when every little kid wanted to be Superman. “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” Inevitably, age begets acceptance that, no matter how hard you might try, or wish it to be so, you will never be a strange visitor from another planet. However, if you work hard enough, and train long enough, you just might be Batman. But wouldn’t it be easier if you were just in the right place at the right time…?

SUB-ATOMIC SPACE OPERA

Micronauts #1 (Jan. 1979) introduced a team of rebels on the planet Homeworld opposing the evil empire of the obsidian-armored Baron Karza. Although captured, the rebels escape with the help of a humanoid energy being: “Some call me the Enigma Force… but you shall know me as Time Traveller!” The twist is that Homeworld exists in the Microverse and as the Micronauts escape aboard the starship Endeavor, they crash through the Spacewall to enter our universe. “I am not responsible for the Micronauts!! My mother is,” confessed Bill Mantlo in the introduction to Micronauts Special Edition #2 (Jan. 1984). An enthusiastic grandma bought some new action figures for Mantlo’s son for Christmas, 1978. Mantlo was enchanted and petitioned Jim Shooter for the opportunity to produce a Marvel comic about the Mego toys. Editor Al Milgrom explains: “At the time, Marvel was doing quite a bit of licensing work. We had considerable success with Shogun Warriors, Godzilla, Battlestar Galactica, ROM: Spaceknight, and, of course, Star Wars, and we developed a reputation for being a good source of not only extra profits for these different properties but also very useful as a cross-promoting tool. “Bill Mantlo proposed doing a series about the Micronauts. The interesting thing about it—at least to me— is that Bill utilized a lot of the existing characters but he also invented a lot of the other characters out of whole cloth. And by sheer stroke of luck we were able to get Michael Golden to pencil it. Michael was a relative newcomer at the time, but he rapidly developed into a huge fan-favorite.” Micronauts #2 (Feb. 1979) saw the team arriving on Earth as five-inch-high visitors, where they befriend teenager Steve Coffin. Unfortunately, with the Spacewall breached, Baron Karza pursues them to Earth in issue #7. In the following issue, the Enigma Force inhabits the body of Steve’s father, Ray Coffin, transforming Ray into the cosmically powered Captain Universe. The Enigma Force bestows upon Ray vast powers of flight, strength, energy projection, and matter rearrangement. Baron Karza retreats to the Microverse and the Enigma Force departs Ray’s body. “The thing that made Captain Universe unique was not so much his powers, per se, but the idea that the force would inhabit different individuals,” reiterates Milgrom. “And lo and behold, it usually took over people who happened to © Marvel. be in some sort of crisis at that particular moment.”

SPOTLIGHT ON CAPTAIN UNIVERSE

Marvel Spotlight vol. 2 #9 (Nov. 1980) featured Captain Universe’s first solo story. The Enigma Force grants the Uni-Power to Steve Coffin, so as to repel an attempted alien invasion by Mister E from the Shadowverse. This 46 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

by J a

rrod Buttery

Who’d’a Thought… …that this character introduced in The Micronauts #8 (Aug. 1979) would become a recurring Marvel superhero—the hero who could be YOU?! Micronauts TM & © Takara LTD/A.G.E., Inc. Captain Universe TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

was the start of a three-issue collaboration between Bill Mantlo and Steve Ditko. As explained in BACK ISSUE #71 (Apr. 2014), Ditko was amenable to working for Marvel but didn’t want to return to Spider-Man or Dr. Strange. He and Mantlo produced three issues about ordinary people given extraordinary powers. Spotlight #10 introduced us to private detective Clare Dodgson and her twin sister, homemaker Ann Stanford. When Ann’s district attorney husband is kidnapped, the Uni-Power inhabits both Clare and Ann simultaneously! “Bill would utilize the different skills each individual had in the way the cosmic powers would be used,” states Milgrom. “The housewife used a mop and a broom to fight off guys. It was cute and it was different, and again, it gave you the opportunity to take the character and play off an infinite number of secret identities. And Ditko was one of the all-time great talents.” Cat burglar Monty Walsh picked the wrong mark in Spotlight #11. Attempting to burgle the high-rise apartment of Maggia boss Guido Carboni, Monty is discovered and shot. As he falls to his death, he is enveloped by the Enigma Force. Seeking revenge against Carboni, Monty uses catlike abilities to take down Carboni’s operations. On the very last page, Monty declares that once Carboni is dead, he’ll use the Uni-Power to set himself up as the new boss in town. In very black-and-white Ditko fashion, the Uni-Power instantly deserts Monty, leaving him in the bullet-ridden state it had found him in. “I’m not sure if Bill planned it that way,” ponders Milgrom. “Bill was certainly aware of Steve’s predilection for having very clearly defined good characters and bad characters so he may have tailored it that way, but it may have been a happy coincidence.”

RARRRARGHH, NOTHING STOPS THE HULK!

The Micronauts explicitly visited our Earth. In Spotlight #11, an off-panel Daily Bugle publisher tells an off-panel Peter Parker that Captain Universe is a real hero… unlike that public menace Spider-Man! But it wasn’t until Hulk Annual #10 (1981)—drawn by Rick Leonardi—that Cap made a distinct impression upon the Marvel Universe. “Rick had come in with samples and we liked what we saw,” remembers Milgrom. “I have to give Jim Shooter a nod of credit here. Jim said, ‘This guy’s got potential; don’t let him leave, let’s give him something.’ I went back to Rick and said, ‘Shooter likes your stuff, he wants to give you a trial and give you a script to work on.’ I contacted Bill Mantlo, who was one of my go-to guys, who could always squeeze in something if you needed it in a hurry. We were planning the summer Annuals and I asked him what he had in mind for the Hulk Annual. Bill said, ‘I want to use Captain Universe again because I really like that concept.’ ” Leonardi got his break with a fascinating tale: The Uni-Power separates Bruce Banner from his emerald alter ego. The cosmically

Spotlight on Cap U (left) The first of Captain Universe’s three-issue stint in vol. 2 of Marvel Spotlight. Cover to issue #9 (Nov. 1980) by Steve Ditko. (right) Mantlo and Ditko’s appeal to readers at the end of Captain U’s last MS issue, #11. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 47

Punchy Parker (top) Cosmic Spidey’s gutbusting blow to Hulk, on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #328. Original Todd McFarlane art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (bottom) The Cosmic Web-Spinner wallops Titania on page 29 of Web of Spider-Man #59 (mid-Dec. 1989). Art by Saviuk and Keith Williams. (inset) Trouble follows as Captain Universe drops by. Cover to The Incredible Hulk Annual #10 (1981). Cover art by Al Milgrom. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

powered Banner must then find a way to subdue a Hulk who, without Banner’s internal presence, will never be able to calm down…. The Enigma Force proved crucial in the special double-sized Micronauts #35 (Nov. 1981). In the conclusion to an epic storyline, Dr. Strange and the leader of the Micronauts, Arcturus Rann, both merge with the Uni-Power to reinforce the Spacewall—thus preventing the Microverse and Macroverse from colliding. In a story that may not be strictly canonical, Aunt May inherited the Uni-Power in Fantastic Four Roast #1 (May 1982). Looking very much like Clare Dodgson, Captain Universe appeared in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1 (June 1982). The Enigma Force helped schoolboy Delayne Masters teach some bullies a lesson in Marvel Fanfare #25 (Mar. 1986). But then Captain Universe disappeared for a while….

NOW, WHO’S THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS?

Working as a lab assistant at Empire State University, Peter Parker is accidentally bathed in strange energy from malfunctioning laboratory equipment in Spectacular Spider-Man #158 (Dec. 1989). He immediately notices the effects. All his senses are heightened, he’s able to mentally control his webbing, and he discovers the ability to project energy blasts from his hands. It couldn’t have happened at a better time…. “Acts of Vengeance” was that year’s Marvel crossover. “It started with the Powers That Be sitting around saying we want to do something à la ‘Inferno’ but let’s have the thrust of it start in Avengers this time,” explained John Byrne in Marvel Age #81 (Nov. 1989). “Out of that came the ‘Change Partners’ idea. So the main movers and shakers behind all this encourage villains to attack heroes they don’t usually attack.” For Spider-Man, three monthly titles permitted triple the threat. Spidey battled Graviton, the Trapster, Titania, the Brothers Grimm, Goliath, T.E.S.S.-One, and Dragon Man. Spider-Man survived the onslaught and all the while his abilities continued to grow: flight, matter rearrangement, energy vision. Magneto, suspecting a latent mutation, challenged our protagonist. Dr. Doom attempted to identify and steal the source of Peter’s powers. And Sebastian Shaw subcontracted his bout to the Hulk. At this point in time, the Hulk was gray, amoral, and living in Las Vegas under the pseudonym “Joe Fixit.” He was more than happy to accept Shaw’s offer of a great deal of money. The ensuing fight culminated in the iconic scene of Spider-Man literally punching the Hulk into orbit. In July 2012, the original cover to Amazing Spider-Man #328 (Jan. 1990), penciled by Todd McFarlane, sold for a record-breaking $657,250. Although he didn’t realize it at first, Peter had received the Uni-Power. The circumstances of the lab accident resulted in him not immediately assuming the Captain Universe persona. The revelation and realization occurred in Amazing Spider-Man #329, as Captain Spider-Verse prevented the Tri-Sentinel from unleashing a nuclear catastrophe. David Michelinie was writing ASM: “Since at the time I wasn’t familiar with Captain Universe, it seems a good bet that having Spider-Man get those powers wasn’t my idea. I’d guess that was Jim Salicrup, though it may have been the result of conferences with other editors about ‘Acts of Vengeance’ continuity. I did think it was a great idea, though. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ had been the key to Peter Parker’s character © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. from that first story in Amazing Fantasy #15. And seeing how that core motivation would be impacted by giving Peter almost godlike power was an exciting idea to explore. It was also a way to revisit Peter’s adjustment 48 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

angst. We’ve all read the Spider-Man origin many times, and are very familiar with Peter getting used to having spider-powers. So this was a chance to view that process from a fresh angle. For instance: being able to fly. Other costumed heroes either take the ability for granted or even get a rush from zooming around the sky. But Peter, used to swinging around with the comforting connection of weblines, found solo flight to be strange and a bit unnerving. “And while I’m not sure at this time if I was the one who picked the specific villains to go against Spider-Man, I think using other heroes’ foes was a great idea. Pitting an established hero against a threat he’s never faced before amps up the challenge. Without experience for a guide, there’s more danger, less confidence, and the hero has to be more creative—think outside the box to figure out how to handle this unfamiliar situation. And that in itself adds interest and elements of surprise to the story. “I do know we wanted the Hulk for issue #328, though. We knew that was going to be Todd’s last issue of ASM, and prior to drawing Spider-Man’s flagship book he’d had a notable run on the Hulk’s own title. So we thought it would be a nice send-off both for Todd and the readers to have those two characters meet. All in all, it was a fun experience. It was more work to tie in with so many other stories, characters, and creative teams, but I think the extra effort was worth it.” Alex Saviuk has worked on the Spider-Man newspaper strip since 1997. In 1990 he was the regular penciler on Web of Spider-Man and has fond memories of Cosmic Spidey: “I do remember drawing those issues and how much fun it was to depict Spider-Man as being so powerful with all of his newly found abilities! Since I have been drawing Spider-Man now for 29 years, and still enjoying the character very much, it is still great fun to ‘mix’ things up a bit every now and then and show the character in a different light. Flying and shooting energy blasts as Captain Universe made for fantastic visuals. And drawing different villains just added to the enjoyment as well. Dr. Doom was my favorite—such an iconic villain—and quite honestly the first Spider-Man comic book I had the thrill of © Luigi Novi / reading saw our hero encountering Doom in Amazing Wikimedia Commons. Spider-Man #5! I was ten years old when I bought that issue at a local newsstand vendor on the way home from school!” Perhaps Captain Universe will best be remembered for the Cosmic Spidey stories—they certainly generated much inspiration. What If? vol. 2 #31 (Nov. 1991) postulated the ramifications of Spidey keeping his cosmic powers. Web of Spider-Man Annual #5 (1989) and 6 (1990) both included Ditko-drawn short stories (the latter, featuring a twoyear-old recipient—written by Tony Isabella—is hilarious). Dan Slott bestowed the Uni-Power on a dementia patient in the heartbreaking Marvel Comics Presents #148 (Feb. 1994), and featured Cosmic SpiderMan prominently in his recent SpiderVerse crossover.

the team back to the 31st Century, dealing with the carryover plot lines and so on, Captain Universe came to mind. I’d always liked the abstract idea of him/her/it—as Nikki says, ‘A wandering superpowered spirit,’ that seemed to dispense the Uni-Power in a random and/or deliberate manner. To me, that aspect of Captain Universe can seem whimsical, in which case it might hitch a ride on an interstellar radio beam just for fun. Once occupying the Badoon, he was a formidable foe and looking back after all this time, I thought it came out nice. “It occurs to me that when I conjure that character in my mind, he ‘appears’ as drawn by Steve Ditko. That might explain why Captain Universe was on my A-list because, of all the great comic-book artists, none had a greater impact on me than Ditko.” Frequently promoted as “The hero that could be you!” nowhere was this better exemplified than in X-Men and Captain Universe: Sleeping Giants #1 (Dec. 1994), written by Bob Budiansky. This oneshot was a mail-away comic (for $14.95) where participants would have their name incorporated into the story and they would receive the Uni-Power. “You” then teamed up with the X-Men to stop and help a new mutant who was accidentally mutating other citizens. “The idea for the personalized superhero comic book came to Marvel from Jean Scrocco, the business manager for Greg and Tim Hildebrandt,” remembers Budiansky. “This is why the Hildebrandt Brothers painted the cover. Jean had found a printer that had the technology that allowed printed materials to be personalized—perhaps not so radical an idea now, but fairly new back then. I was chosen to edit the book. Readers were solicited to pre-order the book. Once printed, each book would be mailed to the person who ordered it. The book was scripted to allow a few places where the reader’s name could be dropped into a word balloon. So the reader would appear as a civilian (generic—the artist did not draw a likeness of each subscriber) who transformed into Captain Universe.

BADOON, BADOON, ON THE MOON…

As detailed in BACK ISSUE #65 (July 2013), the original Guardians of the Galaxy came together in the year 3007 after the alien Badoon invaded our solar system. In Guardians of the Galaxy #27 (Aug. 1992), the team time-travels to the 20th Century in an attempt to prevent the Badoon from ever attacking. In issue #32, the Guardians find the Badoon homeworld protected from invaders by a Badoon Captain Universe. Writer Michael Gallagher explains: “I was just taking over GOTG and [editor] Craig [Anderson] and I had a lot of conversations about the new direction while maintaining its ‘cosmic’ settings and participants. I also wanted to stage a heavyweight battle ASAP to let [penciler] Kevin [West] cut loose. So, while uncoupling from ‘The Infinity War,’ getting

Badoon What Comes Naturally Writer Michael Gallagher brought another incarnation of Captain Universe into the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy #33 (Feb. 1993). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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AL MILGROM EXPLAINS COLOR-HOLD OVERLAYS

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The Hero Who Really Could Be You… …for $14.95, the price of this mail-away one-shot. Cover by the Hildebrandt brothers. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

“Captain Universe, of course, was Bill’s creation and was given visual life by Michael Golden. I remember that one of the things we were struggling with initially was how to do his costume. He had this molecular pattern running through his costume and we tried different approaches. “In the original look of the costume we did color holds for the molecular chain—so there would be a blue outline but no black lines defining the shapes—the shapes were defined by the color. In those days you had to do an overlay—the area that was blue on the costume, you would do as black on the overlay sheet but you would indicate that that was part of the blue plate, therefore there would be no black lines defining it. But then you had to put down registration marks on both the page and the overlay so that you could line it up to where the figures were. It was a lot of work for an interesting effect, but I’m not sure that made any difference in how well the character sold. “In fact, I did something similar with Dagger, of Cloak and Dagger, in the Spider-Man books, and in at least one issue the engravers lined up the crosshairs on the plates but they had accidentally flipped the overlay [Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #69, Aug. 1982, page 3, shown here]. So when the issue printed, all of the effects were in the wrong places making a mess of the artwork, so that was one of the instances where it really ended up working against us. “So what I did on the Hulk Annual, in some of the larger areas, I took a red pen and outlined the shape of the molecular chain on his costume. This is like an old technique from even the older newspaper strips—if you draw it in red line, it appears on the engraved plate as a black line, but then you tell the engravers to rout the red lines off of the black plate. In theory, that would just leave the blue outline of the molecular chain design. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of extra work for the engravers—which they do charge for—but they did not do the most conscientious job. Sometimes, removing the red line from the black plate left a little gap, and instead of having a nice, smooth look you get some very raggedy, unfinished-looking elements. It’s not as successful as doing it as a color-hold overlay. “So the Hulk Annual was a bit of an experiment to see what worked best. We tried the red-lining and it really didn’t work. I think we used a bit of red-lining after that, but only in a few places and only where the shapes were fairly big where you didn’t need the detail of a color-hold overlay. So that was one of the things we had to work out for Captain Universe.”

“One concern that came up early in the creative process was the assumption that all readers, male and female, would transform into the same male Captain Universe. I made the argument that the main idea behind the creation of this book was wish fulfillment—the reader would actually become a super-hero—and it wouldn’t be most female fans’ idea of wish fulfillment to transform into a male superhero. So, after some debate back and forth, it was agreed that two versions of the book would be produced— a male Captain Universe version and a female Captain Universe version. So the artist had to draw alternate versions. I tried to limit the number of pages featuring Captain Universe in order to limit the number of pages affected by this decision. “We, Marvel, knew that this dual approach would add significantly to the cost of producing the book, and we also knew that, in all likelihood, female readers would probably be only a small fraction of the overall number of people ordering the book. But we agreed that Marvel would look fairly ridiculous if we produced a book in which female fans were turned into a male superhero, and we would probably get a lot of complaints, so we put aside the financial concerns and created two versions. I don’t know exactly what the final orders were, somewhere in the mid-thousands, but my overall impression is that the book underperformed. If I had to guess, Marvel probably lost money on it. But at least I got one with my daughter’s name in it, who was born the year it came out!”

REVAMPS AND REBOOTS

Cosmic Powers Unlimited #5 (May 1996) introduced suicidal schizophrenic Roland Taylor (who inherits the Uni-Power), Division U (a secret Government organization tracking Uni-Power manifestations), and the Enigma Hunters (trackers from the Microverse). None have been seen again. Police officer Ted Simmons receives a malfunctioning Uni-Power in Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #13 (Dec. 2005). Attempting to diagnose why its powers are draining, the Enigma Force bonds with war veteran Gabriel Vargas in the following issue. This leads into 2006’s Captain Universe event. Ostensibly five one-shots, this is a miniseries where the Uni-Power bonds with, and borrows powers from, a different Marvel hero each issue—including the Hulk, Daredevil, X-23, Invisible Woman, and Silver Surfer. Jay Faerber wrote all these issues: “I’d been talking to editor Mark Paniccia about doing some work for him and he mentioned this Captain Universe event they were planning. It sounded fun, so I came aboard. Originally I was just going to write the bookends and one or two of the one-shots, but as other writers had scheduling issues, I ended up writing the entire thing.” Asked about the choice of Uni-Power recipients, Faerber says, “I’m pretty sure all the team-ups were chosen by editorial. The only contribution I recall making was adding Gladiator to the Invisible Woman issue, so I could do some sort of homage to one of my favorite John Byrne FF stories.” The event was advertised as a precursor for an ongoing Captain Universe series— which never eventuated. “I think the series never materialized because the event wasn’t terribly well-received. But I don’t remember if I was ever in the running for the ongoing series or not,” volunteers Faerber. Nevertheless, Gabriel Vargas retained the Uni-Power, next turning up in a Kree prison on planet Aladon Prime. He joined Star-Lord’s Dirty Half-Dozen and proved instrumental in finding a cure for the Phalanx nanovirus in the Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord miniseries (Sept.–Dec. 2007). Its job done, the Uni-Power departs. Powerless, Vargas is murdered by Blastaar in Annihilation: Conquest #3 (Mar. 2008). Returning to Earth, the Uni-Power chooses William Nguyen to repair tectonic plates which were damaged after the Juggernaut dug himself out of the cement foundation he found himself trapped in at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #230 (July 1982). Instead, Nguyen decides to battle the Juggernaut for perceived wrongs. “You disappoint us,” intones the needed to become sentient.” Enigmatic and Enigma Force, before transferring the majestic, Tamara embodies the universe Uni-Power to the Juggernaut—charging itself. Nevertheless—as foreshadowed— him with fixing his own mess—in ASM in the end, everything dies. #627–629 (May–June 2010). As the multiverse is reborn at Milgrom reiterates: “Captain the conclusion of Secret Wars, the Universe was an interesting concept © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. that Bill came up with and, as is often the case with embodiment of our universe—Captain Universe—has Marvel—and comics in general—it’s used, it’s used yet to reappear. Maybe next time, it will be YOU! again, it’s tried here and there, they give it a shot at its own title, and if it doesn’t take off he ends up going The author would like to express his back into the general population of the Marvel Universe sincere gratitude to Bob Budiansky, and pulled out when it’s interesting or convenient.” Jay Faerber, Michael Gallagher, David Such was the case with Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers. Michelinie, Al Milgrom, and Alex Avengers vol. 5 #1 (Feb. 2013) introduced the latest Saviuk for their generous help. Captain Universe: Tamara Devoux. The immensely powerful alien terraformers Ex Nihilo and Abyss bow and address her JARROD BUTTERY lives in Western as, “The legend. The mother. Goddess. The universe herself.” Australia and has written several In Avengers #6, Captain Universe announces that the universe articles for BACK ISSUE. He is patiently is broken: “She is dying. This place, Earth, is significant… waiting for a Uni-Power visitation— and the axis around which the multiverse spins. Here, the it would certainly be easier than all life and death of everything will be decided… so it is here I that Bruce Wayne-style training.

Uni-Power Go-Round Covers to the five Captain Universe one-shots (Jan. 2006) written by Jay Faerber featuring a quintet of Marvel characters wielding the Uni-Power. Cover art on all by Daniel Acuna. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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The superhero genre has become dominant in the movie industry today, but such films were few and far between back in 1980, despite the then-recent success of Superman: The Movie (1978). Perhaps not many will remember a film called Hero At Large, featuring Three’s Company TV star John Ritter (1948–2003) as an unlikely hero called “Captain Avenger.” Yet this underrated gem shows the meaning of being a hero— and the need for a hero—better than most major films from Marvel or DC.

HELP IS ON THE WAY!

Steve Nichols (Ritter) is a young actor in New York City, struggling to find work and impress his new neighbor, Jolene (Anne Archer, who auditioned to play Lois Lane in Superman). Steve calls her “Jay” since he only knows her first initial from the mailbox. Hired by a PR agency to promote the upcoming film Captain Avenger, Steve is one of many actors who dresses in costume and signs autographs at movie theaters for young fans (including an uncredited Kevin Bacon). When one of his fellow performers complains, an enthusiastic Steve tells him, “It’s just like any other part—you’ve gotta really get into it! When I was at that theater, I was Captain Avenger!” Steve “gets into” the role a lot more than expected when he thwarts a robbery at a local grocery store in full costume. The next day, news of his good deed is on TV—only it is “Captain Avenger,” not Steve, who receives the credit. “Who is Captain Avenger, the man behind the mask?” a reporter asks. “Surprisingly … some people have stated flatly they really don’t want to know his true identity.” Back at the theater, Steve is mobbed by fans and interviewed by Gloria Preston, a cynical TV reporter. When asked about the phenomenon, Steve says, “I think it’s the idea, what Captain Avenger stands for … Captain Avenger looks out for the little guy and he wins! It makes people feel like they have a chance.” Encouraged by the support, Steve dons the cape again but gets shot by drug smugglers. Returning home, Steve finds himself locked out of his apartment for not paying the rent. A sympathetic Jay takes Steve into her apartment and treats his wound. Back in the headlines, Steve vows never to wear the costume again, and it isn’t long before Steve’s good nature wins Jay over, and things start to look up for our hero. Walter Reeves (Bert Convy), the sleazy head of the PR firm Steve works for, hits upon the idea of using Captain Avenger’s popularity to help get his other client, the mayor (Leonard Harris), re-elected. Reeves tracks Steve down and offers to pay him to keep playing hero. Reeves sets up a “robbery” on a train, with Captain Avenger coming to the rescue. More popular than ever, Steve is unhappy about being paid to perform phony

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by D

aniel DeAngelo

heroics, feeling that he is deceiving the public and tainting his previous good work. But Reeves gets the mayor to declare “Captain Avenger Day” and convinces Steve to make one final appearance to get his message across to the public. At a rally, Captain Avenger tells the cheering crowd that he doesn’t really matter; it’s all about “the idea.” He also says, “There are heroes everywhere if you look for them,” and encourages everyone to “Be one yourself!” Unfortunately, Gloria recognizes Steve and exposes him as a fraud on live TV. The crowd quickly riots and a dejected Steve returns home. Jay encourages Steve not to give up, but he responds, “I got what I deserve. I gave them something and I took it away.” On his way to leave town, Steve comes across a burning building with a child trapped inside, and—still in costume—runs in and saves the child. Before he can escape, Steve is caught in an explosion, and two onlookers run inside to pull him from the rubble. Steve embraces Jay and they leave together, as a more optimistic Gloria remarks, “Maybe it doesn’t matter who it is.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT “THE IDEA”

Some viewers may consider Hero At Large a bit corny, but the “feel good” story—like its hero—has real heart. The film has a little of everything: a memorable musical score, comedy, drama, action, and romance. The relationship between Steve and Jay is perhaps less central to the story than the love affair between the city of New York and “Captain Avenger.” The people are quick to put their newfound hero on a pedestal, only to tear him down when he is revealed to be as flawed as they are. But they risk their lives to save him in the end, proving that Steve’s vision of a world where everyone is a hero is still possible, and the film depicts New Yorkers embracing a reallife hero long before 9/11. Despite only giving it two stars, the late critic Roger Ebert wrote, “It’s not really possible to dislike Hero At Large.” Hero At Large also demonstrates why superheroes are needed—because they symbolize the potential in all of us to be better than what we are. A larger-than-life hero wearing a mask and costume allows us to project ourselves onto that character. The movie even helped inspire this writer in creating Captain Awareness: Assault on Campus (1995), a special comic book about sexual assault with a hero who exists inside everyone. Although I never had the opportunity to meet John Ritter in person, I did send him a copy and wrote to tell him of his influence. He was kind enough to write back and send me an autographed photo of himself as “Captain Avenger.” As Steve reflects in the film, “How often do you get a chance to do something that’s really special?” DANIEL DeANGELO is a freelance writer/artist in Florida and selfpublisher of Captain Awareness, which he hopes to re-release in the future with funding through Kickstarter.

Actor by Day, Hero by Night (top) From the collection of Daniel DeAngelo, proof that the late John Ritter was as nice in real life as he was on screen. (bottom) Victor Gadino artwork intended for the movie’s poster but replaced by the previous page’s photo poster. Courtesy of Heritage. (inset) Daniel DeAngelo’s Captain Awareness benefit comic book. Cover by Phil Jimenez. Hero At Large © 1980 MGM. Captain Awareness © Daniel DeAngelo.

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Captain Victory is an odd creature. Jack Kirby, as readers of BACK ISSUE are no doubt aware, is one of the most prolific creators (or co-creators) in comic-book history, if not the most prolific. Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, and the New Gods are just a few among his many major (co-)creations. Atlas, Bombast, Satan’s Six, and the Dingbats of Danger Street are among Kirby’s lesser creations. As such things go, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers are either the least significant of Kirby’s major creations or the most significant of his lesser creations. For a short-lived series from a short-lived publisher, Captain Victory has shown remarkable staying power, being revived, revised, and revisited numerous times over the decades—though not always particularly successfully.

PACIFIC COMICS

The story of Captain Victory is largely the story of Pacific Comics. Pacific was a comics distributor-cum-publisher whose heyday of 1981–1984 coincides with its publication of this Kirby-created series. Founded by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes, Pacific Comics was an early adapter to the then-new direct market system. (The Schanes brothers also contributed to the formation of the direct market, but such is beyond our scope.) If starting a new publishing venture, why start small? You might as well start with the best! Accordingly, in 1981, the Schanes brothers approached Jack Kirby, with whom they had already had a relationship. Bill Schanes explains how this came about: “Most fans do not know this piece; we originally were going to launch our first mainstream title with Gil Kane, focusing on his Blackmark character. This was going to be a black-and-white series, with newsstand distribution. After much discussion with Gil, we mutually decided that it would be best if we didn’t go the newsstand route, and I don’t recall why we didn’t publish Blackmark as a color book for the direct market (the non-returnable piece of the comic-book publishing business). “We had known Jack Kirby for a number of years, as both Steve (my brother) and myself were both involved in the San Diego ComicCon from the early years (1971+), and we felt at the time (and still do now) that Jack was the single most important creator in the history of the comic-book industry in the US, and if we had an opportunity to work with Jack, we’d jump at that opportunity. “Jack had left the comic-book industry (was working at HannaBarbara), frustrated over creator rights, ownership of characters artists created, as well as compensation rates at the time. “Pacific Comics had worked up a very different type of contract in regard to how we wanted to work with creators. We would ‘license’ the works from the creators, pay them competitive rate per page, plus a royalty on top of the page rate. In addition, and most importantly, we licensed the works, so the creators kept 100% ownership. I believe this was common amongst the underground publishers in the ’60s and ’70s, as well as Mike Friedrich’s Star*Reach Productions’ fantastic line of ‘ground level’ comics/comix, but certainly not at all for the ‘New York’ publishers. Jack had already started work on Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers prior to when we formerly approached him about working with us on our new line of full-color, creator-owned comic books. We came to terms with Jack fairly quickly, and Captain Victory was our first official broad-release title. (We had published a little-known comic book called One, a black-and-white comic book, some photo-imaging, some illustration.)” As Schanes mentioned, Kirby had already been working on Captain Victory prior to bringing the character to Pacific Comics. According to the text piece in the Captain Victory: Graphite Edition published by TwoMorrows in 2003, “Captain Victory” was originally a name conceived by Kirby for the character that would later be known as Captain Glory. Kirby then intended to use the character in a series for a proposed line to be known as “Kirby Comics.” When this plan didn’t come to fruition, Kirby and inker Mike Royer planned to use Captain Victory in a graphic novel—the first part in a trilogy. This plan, likewise, was not to be realized. 54 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

by J a

ck Abramowitz

CV for Captain Victory Jack Kirby’s Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 (Nov. 1981). Cover by Kirby and Mike Royer. TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

Finally, Kirby and Steve Sherman developed Captain Victory as a movie treatment, which appears in its entirety as an appendix to the Graphite Edition. When this didn’t come to pass, the project was shelved until Kirby was approached by Pacific Comics, for whom he reworked the material prepared for the graphic novel into the first two issues. Kirby’s disputes at Marvel and DC, which led to him leaving the comics field in 1978 until his return to Captain Victory in 1981, included a lack of creative control and ownership rights. Pacific only requested publishing rights for the series Kirby would create for them, allowing him to retain full ownership. This had been a sticking point for Kirby at Marvel, where “Work for Hire” policies deprived Kirby of rights to his co-creations. Kirby left Marvel for DC in 1971, but the same policies precluded Kirby retaining control over such creations as Kamandi, Etrigan the Demon, and Mister Miracle. According to an article in the San Diego Reader (“Two Men and Their Comic Books: The Girth of Pacific Comics” by Jay Allen Sanford, August 19, 2004), Pacific was also the first company to pay Kirby royalties based on sales. The January 1988 Comics Interview further related that sales of the first issue of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers were anticipated to be under 25,000 but ended up exceeding 110,000. (Schanes puts the number even higher, as we shall soon see.)

FIRST ISSUE SUCCESS

Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 (Nov. 1981) starts the series with a bang—and one would expect no less from a Kirby venture! The cover blurb assures us that the comic is “New – Exciting – Original!” The banner above the splash page informs us that “This is how it will happen when the star worlds come to Earth!!! (sic) Don’t look for gods or gurus or benevolent gift givers… Prepare to meet Captain Victory and his Galactic Rangers!! (sic)” Under that, the good Captain himself orders his first officer, Major Klavus, to scour the local solar system in search of a “serious breach of galactic law!” (How the Captain outranks a major is unclear.) We are shown that Tallant IV, a planet populated by “peaceful, industrious beings,” has been overrun by the Insectons, who turn planets into husks for their hives. Donning his command-post helmet, Victory heads to the bridge despite warnings from his crew that the enemy will target him there. Sure enough, on page 9 of the story, Captain Victory is killed. The end. Not really. By page 15, the Captain’s memories have been transferred to a new body. Apparently, he is fairly reckless, gets killed rather often, and regularly has to have his consciousness backed up into a cloned body. (We are informed that this is his tenth such body, and supplies are starting to run low.) Unfortunately, while this was going on, Lightning Lady, leader of the Insectons, has set her sights on Earth. (Why the leader of an insect race is called Lightning Lady is unclear.) Happily, the Insectons have been traced by another member of Victory’s command crew, a giant floating head that goes by the name Mister Mind. (Why Kirby recycled the name of a classic Captain Marvel villain— you know what? Let’s stop pointing out everything whose rationale is unclear. Let’s just accept that this is a Kirby comic and in Kirby comics, weird things happen.) By the issue’s end, Captain Victory is on Earth. Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers was created, written, and drawn by Kirby, lettered and inked by Mike Royer, colored by Steve Oliff, and edited by David

Scroggy. Scroggy also penned a brief text piece that informs us that Captain Victory #1 is the first issue in the first series from the new publisher; it also announces the forthcoming series Starslayer, by Mike Grell. According to Schanes, “Captain Victory #1 was received far beyond any of our expectations. We knew Jack was ‘The King,’ but fans, comic-book specialty retailers, distributors, and media all jumped on board in record numbers and coverage. Captain Victory #1 sold well over 125,000 copies, which was a very large number at the time, especially when you considered that both DC and Marvel’s standard cover price was 50¢, while Pacific Comics launched all of its new titles initially at $1.00. Captain Victory was Pacific Comics’ flagship title—we couldn’t have been more excited to get Jack back into the comic-book business, under a new type of relationship—creator-owned books.” Mike Royer, who inked and lettered the first two issues, doesn’t recall much of the experience, but he shares the following:

TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

The King Holds Court (top) Jack Kirby at the 1982 San Diego Comic-Con in a photograph by and courtesy of Alan Light. Note the stacks of Captain Victory #6 copies on the table in front of him. (bottom) Original art to one of Kirby’s supplemental features from Captain Victory #1. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

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“I’m afraid I’m [going to] be a disappointment as a source of any useful tidbits about Captain Victory. It was at least 40 years ago and the only thing I remember is that I was of the opinion that Jack’s books, no matter the subject matter, were quite simply the best examples of real writing and superb storytelling to be found anywhere. I loved Jack’s work, and my only concern was to make sure I didn’t dilute his statement. There are those nameless, clueless folks who think I just ‘traced’ his pencils. Have they never compared my lettered and inked pages to those same pages penciled by Jack? If they think I just ‘traced’ his pencils, they don’t know [anything]. I didn’t just ink Jack, I finished his statement. Maybe it was growing up with Jack’s comics as a kid in the 1950s, but I seemed to have an empathy for his work and Jack seemed to be pleased with my efforts. Working with Jack was not work. It was a damn privilege. By the way, the cover logo lettering was designed and lettered by yours truly.”

THE SAGA CONTINUES

In issue #2 (Jan. 1982), we learn that Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers are sworn to protect “the most helpless form of thinking life in our galaxy.” Captain Victory shows a sample to an Earth lawman, and it looks like a circuit board—suspiciously like a Mother Box, the living technology from Kirby’s Fourth World saga! Also in this issue, the Insectons cast “the mind of the hive” across their victims, who “come to the mind” (not to be confused with Mister Mind, who is likewise not to be confused with Captain Marvel’s Mr. Mind). The victims are turned into mindless drones doing their masters’ bidding, in a manner reminiscent of Darkseid’s long-sought Anti-Life Equation. Insectons also “experiment with terror and use it in terms never dreamed of on other planets.” Experimenting with fear was also the modus operandi of DeSaad, one of Darkseid’s senior henchmen in Kirby’s Fourth World saga. The series’ first letters column debuts in issue #2. Letters in this issue include contributions from Frank Brunner—already renowned as artist on Doctor Strange and Marvel’s sword-and-sorcery comics—and Tom Brevoort—not yet renowned as an editor at Marvel Comics. Michael Thibodeaux assumed the inking and lettering as of issue #3 (Mar. 1982). He explains how he came to be involved with the series: “I had been friends with Jack Kirby for some time, and often would show him illustration projects I was involved with since I was the art director for One Stop Posters at that time. Jack asked me to ink and paint some artwork of his and was pleased with the results. Pacific Comics started publishing Captain Victory and Jack asked me if I would start inking it for him.”

Backing Up the Captain Captain Victory’s supporting cast, backups, and villains were about as out-there as Kirby had ever gone. TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

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Galactic Guardian Chaotic Kirby covers: (left) Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #3 (Mar. 1982) and (right) issue #9 (Feb. 1983). TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

The third issue features a backup story starring Ms. Mystic. This was the first full appearance of the Neal Adams-created character, who would go on to become notorious for ridiculously long gaps between issues, first at Pacific and later at Adams’ own Continuity Comics. [Editor’s note: Join us next issue for Shaun Clancy’s interview with Neal Adams about Ms. Mystic. Look for its mesmerizing Ms. Mystic cover by the amazing Mr. Adams!] The third issue’s letters column includes a missive from the famous “T. M. Maple,” the alias of Jim Burke, who wrote more than 3,000 letters to comic-book letters columns between 1977 and 1994. “Maple” (Burke) opined that it was good that Kirby created the Captain Victory series for Pacific “and not for Marvel or DC because … his concepts were not just outside their respective ‘Universes’ but often contradicted them,” a problem that does not arise at Pacific. Issue #4 (May 1982) debuted a backup series featuring “the Goozlebobber,” a shape-changing alien whose natural form somewhat resembles a pot-bellied mandrill with a big, red-clown nose. (He even dresses similar to Marvel’s Mandrill, who was not a Kirby creation.) Aside from being “king of the unwanted,” we learn that the Goozlebobber “makes a social outcast look like ‘Mr. Popular.’ ” A brief divergence about the Goozlebobber: The caption on the back of issue #5 (“Follow the Goozlebobber in each issue!!”) makes it seem that the backup was intended as an ongoing feature, but it was truncated after three issues, when the Goozlebobber (SPOILER ALERT!) took the form of then-President Ronald Reagan, after which he was never seen again. Was this always the plan, or did the Goozlebobber meet a less-enthusiastic reaction than anticipated, calling for an early retirement of the character? Thibodeaux recalls that Kirby had big plans for the Goozlebobber: “Jack was really excited about the Goozlebobber,” Thibodeaux says. “He told me that he thought it was a great animation concept. In fact, I had worked on several concept boards—coloring and inking— that he had been sent out to be pitched to the studios. Shortly after the presentations were sent out, the recipient claimed the art was lost in the mail. The art was obviously never returned. I believe that was the point in time that Jack abandoned the character.” Even if the Goozlebobber did not turn out to be one of Kirby’s more memorable creations, it’s certainly one of his all-time great character names. The character did merit a fan letter from Jim Valentino in issue #6, who wrote a cheer that included the couplet, “Gimme more Goozlebobber, or I’ll punch ya in the jaw!” Getting back to issue #4, it is in this issue that Major Klavus first displays a power called “cyclotronic conversion,” by which a member

of his race can exchange places with a “Spirit Brother,” similar to the way the Forever People would trade places with the Infinity Man. Also in issue #4, Kirby’s Mister Mind starts answering to the name Egghead. Did someone realize that the name “Mr. Mind” was already taken and force a name change. Not likely, according to Schanes. “The name change was entirely Jack Kirby’s decision,” Schanes recounts. “Jack had full editorial control and owned the characters.” Issue #5 (July 1982) introduced the “micro-troops,” tiny soldiers reminiscent of the miniature clones used by Kirby in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, which was part of the Fourth World Saga. In #6 (Sept. 1982), an oversized issue of 48 pages, Captain Victory uses a weapon called “the drainer” that infuses him with life force drained from the Insectons. The weapon’s designer refers to the effect as “monumental surges of ‘anti-death,’” clearly the conceptual opposite of the Fourth World’s Anti-Life. Issue #6 also includes a backup feature by Steve Ditko of his character the Missing Man, who would go on to appear in Pacific Presents, alongside the Rocketeer by Dave Stevens.

THE FIGHTING FETUS, AND MORE KIRBY KRAZINESS!

In #7 (Oct. 1982), we are introduced to Quadrant X and the Wonder Warriors. These nemeses included Finarkin the Fearless (who “kills with a devious brain” and refers to himself as a god), Bloody Marrien (whose yellow mask, green hair, and claws conjure images of Mad Harriet from the Female Furies), Ursan the Unclean (“that rare unsanitary monster” who resembles Darkseid wearing DeSaad’s hood), and Paranex the Fighting Fetus. Yes, you read that right: Paranex, the Fighting Fetus. As terrifying as it is now, the real question is what it will be once it is born! The seventh issue also launches a new backup series featuring Klavus as a young Ranger recruit and reveals more about his Spirit Brother. Issue #8 (Dec. 1982) sees the Rangers preparing to “zap-out” in order to assist an other-dimensional being that has become trapped in the third dimension. Meanwhile, in Quadrant X, the Wonder Warriors continue to wreak havoc. We see that they are addressed by “the Voice,” which empowers them with “the strength of gods.” In the ninth issue (Feb. 1983), the Captain’s “guest” returns to the eighth dimension and the Galactic Rangers finally locate Quadrant X, where they witness the havoc caused by Finarkin the Fearless, Bloody Marrien, Ursan the Unclean, and Paranex the Fighting Fetus. Confronting the Wonder Warriors, the Rangers manage to capture Marrien and Ursan, rendering the latter clean, much to his chagrin. All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

Issue #10 (Apr. 1983) is labeled “Big Surprise Issue.” The action starts with the Rangers’ ship being battered by Paranex—and it is most embarrassing to face “death at the hands of an unborn fetus.” Of course, this creates a moral dilemma as the captain and his crew debate the moral propriety of killing a fetus, even in self-defense. Then Captain Vitory is addressed by the Voice, which we are told speaks “without a sense of - - ‘source…’ ” (punctuation Kirby’s). The Voice apparently means to test Victory. It also tells him that he is “in the presence of a god,” which only makes sense, given that they’re in Quadrant X, which is “where the gods abide.” Once the crisis at hand has been resolved, the crew can’t help but mention that Captain Victory and the mysterious Voice seem to be acquainted with one another. Captain Victory concedes that the time has come to tell his comrades his “family story.” The “next issue” splash page promises “the greatest origin issue ever produced for comics.” Despite the hyperbole, what we were to receive actually was pretty noteworthy. The climax of Captain Victory begins in issue #11 (June 1983). Victory tells his audience to imagine “a giant planet that blazes with unrestrained energies—a place of ultimates… who have smashed for all time a powerful sister planet.” He goes on to reference “ultimate war, fought with ultimate technologies” fought by “frenzied gods.” In the course of his narrative, Victory also name-checks “half-life” and the Voice. He speaks of a grandfather who would try to kill him as he did Victory’s father. As he continues, his talk turns into a rant and his face contorts into a savage visage. Regaining his composure, the captain narrates a flashback to his youth, featuring his grandfather, Blackmass, and his cousin, Big Ugly. The story continues in #12 (Oct. 1983), in which Blackmass (in silhouette) tells Victory that he is just like his father was—“feisty, rebellious, arrogant” and “a traitor to his own blood.” Victory flees his home planet—called Hellikost—on a one-person craft of his father’s design, which looks suspiciously like Orion’s astro harness. Victory eventually meets Captain Argas Flane, an ex-Ranger who encourages

the young refugee to join the corps. His tale told, the crew realize the truth about their captain that he’s “an ‘ultimate’! One of the so-called gods!!” The series had been teasing New Gods elements throughout—was this reveal always Kirby’s plan? “I believe that Jack always intended for the Captain Victory series storyline to be linked to the New Gods storyline, although it had to be done with subtlety because of the various copyright holdings,” Thibodeaux opines. “I was thrilled to see Jack making this connection!” In fact, he finds this revelation to be completely consistent with Kirby’s modus operandi. “During this time, Jack helped me with my (and his) comic-book concepts Last of the Viking Heroes, Rincon, and Phantom Force. Despite the fact that these storylines took place in different time periods and involved different characters, Jack always encouraged me to find a way to link all these stories together.”

A KIRBY CONCLUSION, AND A KURT CONTINUATION

The origin arc concludes in the final regular issue, #13 (Jan. 1984). In flashback, Ranger wannabe Victory travels to Ranger Center, a stunning Kirby creation comprising a giant hand with a visible brain in the palm, an eye in the wrist, and spaceships blasting off from the fingers. We see Victory climb the ranks until he receives command of the Dreadnaught Tiger, which we are informed is “The End of the Beginning.” That’s where the series abruptly ends, with the exception of the Captain Victory Special #1 (Oct. 1983). Clearly the cancellation was sudden, as the text piece in the Special promises improved production values beginning in the thirteenth issue, which turned out to be the series’ last. As Schanes explains, “The sales figures trend was disappointing… we spoke with Jack and together decided issue #13 would be the last issue.” In the Special, its time-travel story sees Egghead as Quasimodo, with Victory and his command crew as the three “space musketeers.” Thibodeaux describes Kirby’s inspiration for the Special: “When Jack was trying to come up with an idea for the #1 Captain Victory Special edition, he asked me what was one of my favorite pieces of literature. I said, ‘How about favorite movies?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ I mentioned one of my favorites at the time, The Magnificent Seven. Jack thought for a minute and said, ‘I can’t do much with that. What else?’ I then said, ‘The Three Musketeers (the 1948 version with Gene Kelly).’ A couple days later, I had gone to his house to pick up some pages to ink to the Captain Victory Special and lo and behold, there were several pages to the comic featuring all four of the Musketeers—Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D’artagnan. It was clear to me then that Jack Kirby didn’t need much to inspire him when it came to creating a storyline. Be it a blockbuster space movie or a stupid suggestion from his inker, Jack drew on anything and everything that might strike his fancy at that particular moment.” This self-contained story teased us with the promise of future one-shots, but this was the only Special that would ever materialize. But that doesn’t mean that Captain Victory would be gone forever. The character would return numerous times, at Topps, Dynamite Entertainment, Icon, and Jack Kirby Comics. Kurt Busiek spearheaded both Victory (the prematurely aborted 1994 revival at Topps) and Dynamite’s 2011–2012 Kirby: Genesis. He explains how both series came about as follows: “Jim Salicrup, at Topps, had licensed Kirby’s various creator-owned creations, kicking off with the Secret City Saga and Satan’s Six. I did Teenagents for that line, and there were plans to do a new Captain Victory series written by Steve Englehart and a Silver Star project by me and James Fry. Jim wanted to do a big crossover story about Captain Victory coming to Earth, to introduce him to the growing Kirbyverse, and to set up these new books—there were some others planned as well beyond the ones I named—and even more so to make a splash and draw attention to the line, which had launched very well with the first Secret City books, but had seen sales drop off sharply thereafter. So this was kind of ‘Kirbyverse 2.0,’ a new jumping-on point with the return of Kirby’s best-known creator-owned characters.

Where Monsters Dwell Original Kirby/Thibodeaux art (courtesy of Heritage) from the final issue of the Pacific run, Captain Victory #13. TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

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“It was abandoned because sales had crashed—they were dropping when we started work on it, but by the time the first issue came out, they’d cratered, pretty much. I blame a lot of it on Topps putting all their comics in bags, to add trading cards. Readers were buying a pig in a poke—they couldn’t flip through the comic, see if they’d like it. So they had to judge based on the earlier titles, and those hadn’t gotten the best reaction. As a result, orders on Victory #1 were low, and orders on subsequent issues were even lower, and Topps pulled the plug. “The motivation (for Kirby: Genesis) was more or less the same—Nick Barrucci at Dynamite licensed Kirby’s creator-owned heroes, Alex Ross was very interested in doing something with them, and I was roped in by Alex. I wanted to do something that had something of the flavor of Marvels or Astro City, a very human-centered story with wild Kirby ideas, but making sure to use more and different characters than the ones Topps had used.” His take on the character didn’t change too much between series. “Actually, my approach was pretty much the Portrait by Michael Netzer. same,” Busiek explains. “The plotline we wound up using for Captain Victory in Genesis was very similar to what we would have done with him had Victory continued. It was the other stuff, the stuff around him, that was most different. What fascinated me about Captain Victory was that he’s not a superhero, he’s a soldier, and he takes a galactic-scope view of things. He’s willing to destroy Earth to stop the Insectons, because Earth is essentially a backwater village to him. Our lives aren’t his concern, the safety of the galaxy is.” What is it about Captain Victory that makes him so popular to revisit? Nick Barrucci, president of Dynamite Entertainment, says, “The backdrop of space and the ever-unfolding cosmos and the eclectic mix of characters make for an endless combination of adventures. And, doing something like this in comics, where there’s an unlimited budget, allows a creative push well past the constraints of even the biggest big-budget movie.” Busiek concurs. “Captain Victory is full of incredible stuff—the first arc, with the Insectons, could be a blockbuster SF movie on its own, as Earth hangs in the balance between two forces that are both willing to kill us all and lose no sleep over it. But then we get the Wonder Warriors, and great characters like Ursan the Unclean and Paranex the Fighting Fetus—insane stuff!—and ramp up to Blackmass. It’s Kirby’s unfettered imagination, it’s raw power and emotion and energy, and relentlessly exciting storytelling. What’s not to like?” Finally, it has long been conjectured that Star Wars was influenced by Kirby’s Fourth World—the Source and the Force, villains Darkseid and Darth Vader, their heroic estranged sons Orion and Luke, etc. But to what degree did Star Wars influence Captain Victory? Neither Schanes nor Thibodeaux believes this was actually the case. “We do not believe [that Captain Victory was inspired by Star Wars],” Schanes reports. “Jack was a visionary, and many of his characters and unique worlds were so groundbreaking, that only now with the modern special effects of Hollywood can these ideas be brought to TV and movies.” Thibodeaux concurs. “I would think that the success of Star Wars had more of an influence on publishers like Pacific Comics, who saw the possibility of making sales with ‘space opera’ features, than Kirby. Kirby had always shown a fondness for science fiction, starting with one of his earliest published series, ‘The Solar Legion’ (Crash Comics, 1940).” And that’s the not-yet-finished story of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers—a largerthan-life Kirby creation that’s simply way too much fun to leave alone for too long.

Kirby Forever (top) Jack’s wife, Roz, inked this dynamic Captain Victory pinup which comes to us via the good folks at Heritage. (bottom) Dynamite continued CV’s chronicles in its Kirby: Genesis series. Captain Victory TM & © the Jack Kirby Estate.

JACK ABRAMOWITZ is a writer, editor, and theologian living in New York City. In his spare time, he lifts things up and puts them down.

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From Mighty Mouse to Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, animated cartoons and comic books have crossed the funny animal and superhero genres many times, with varying degrees of success. In 1982, DC Comics took things a step further by introducing an entire team of funny-animal superheroes in the short-lived but surprisingly well-remembered series Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! (including the official exclamation mark). Created by writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway with artist Scott Shaw! (also including the official exclamation mark), CCAHAZC! had its origins in a two-part DC Comics Presents team-up between Superman and Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam!), in which Thomas and Conway (along with artist Rich Buckler) reintroduced Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, Fawcett Comics’ own 1940s funny-animal spin-off (in DCCP #33–34, Apr.–May 1981). Just like the rest of the Marvel Family, Hoppy transformed into the superpowered “Captain Marvel Bunny” by saying the word “Shazam!”—except that he lived on a world inhabited by anthropomorphic talking animals (later designated as Earth-C-Plus). Thomas and Conway even considered the idea of putting a funnyanimal version of the Justice League of America into the story, so they created a team based on original JLA members Superman (Super-Squirrel), Batman (Batmouse), Wonder Woman (Wonder Wabbit), Green Lantern (Green Lambkin), Aquaman (Aquaduck), and the Flash (the Crash, a turtle) to be called “Just’a Lotta Animals.” DC publisher Jenette Kahn and editorial director Joe Orlando both liked the idea so much that the one-panel gag became an ongoing series to be titled Super-Squirrel and the Super Animal Squad, with plans to have Superman introduce the team in DCCP. Enter cartoonist Scott Shaw [we’ll forego the “official” exclamation point from here on so as not to drive our proofreader insane—ed.]. Scott had previously done a humorous backup story for Thomas’ What If? #8 (Apr. 1978) at Marvel Comics, titled “What If the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?” A few years later, “Roy had talked about doing Just’a Lotta Animals,” Shaw says. “I designed the basic team [and] did a sample page. My concept was, ‘What if Jack Kirby had drawn Mighty Mouse?’ It was fun to at least think in terms of, ‘How would I draw in my style, but using the same kind of tropes and angle shots that Jack did?’ ” Although Shaw was Thomas’ choice to draw the book, DC had other ideas at first. “DC really didn’t know who I was,” Shaw explains. “I had worked on the Hanna-Barbera comics and had done some underground comics. [So] they first went to Joe Staton.”

Creature Feature Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #1 (Mar. 1982). Cover art by Scott Shaw!, with Ross Andru (Superman figure) and Bob Smith (inks). TM & © DC Comics.

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by D

aniel DeAngelo

Staton recalls, “Joe Orlando called me in… Roy had Scott attached to the project, and I think Scott had done development sketches already. Somebody at DC had some doubts about Scott. They wanted a DC regular on the art. I thought about it a bit but decided that I’d feel better if Scott stayed with what he’d developed. And, of course, Scott did an excellent job, just as you’d expect.”

ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES

“DC eventually decided that they didn’t really want to do [Just’a Lotta Animals],” Shaw says, “because it would essentially be duplicating [characters] that already existed in their library. One of the main justifications for bringing me onto the book was that I had worked on a lot of Saturday morning cartoon shows, and they felt that if I could design something that would work for animation, that it would help sell it as a show.” Thomas had previously pitched to Marvel a revival of the 1940s Timely Comics character Super-Rabbit with artist Sam Grainger (to be titled “Super-Rabbit the Marvel Bunny”), as well as a Thor-like “Thunder Bunny” (no relation to Martin Greim’s character of the same name) to DC with artist Herb Trimpe. Dusting off one of Grainger’s Super-Rabbit designs, Thomas and Shaw set about creating a new team of funny animals—this time without Conway’s involvement. “By the time DC decided they should have an all-new group so they could sell them without restraint from main-hero licenses, Gerry had no more part in it,” Thomas says. “I’ve never really been sure why I’m credited as a co-creator,” Conway comments. “I’m pretty sure all I did was encourage Roy and toss around a few ideas with him. My contribution, if any, was in the capacity of cheerleader for what I thought was a fun project.” However, Thomas explains, “I kept his name on as co-creator because his funnyanimal suggestion led, whether you count it as directly or indirectly, to the Zoo Crew. I don’t think he ever wanted to be involved in the actual writing.” Shaw recalls, “I designed almost everybody initially. The original designs that I did were even cartoonier than what I wound up drawing. Joe Orlando took all my designs and did his version of them… [making] it look more like superhero stuff. Slowly, in my mind, I realized they didn’t want it to look like Jack Kirby was doing it; they wanted it to look like George Pérez was doing it. They wanted a lot of detail, a lot of line work on every page.” The team was narrowed down to five: Captain Carrot, of course, sorceress Alley-Kat-Abra, stretchable Rubberduck, patriotic Yankee Poodle, and super-fast turtle Fastback (originally called “Blue Streak”). Two more characters that got left out were Whirlibird (a bird with tornado-like powers) and Big Cheese (a size-changing mouse who later became “Little Cheese”). But Shaw felt, “We were missing ‘the big guy.’ I thought that, visually, you needed a variety

Young Turks (left) A puppy, that Scott Shaw! was, back at the 1982 San Diego ComicCon. Photo by and courtesy of Alan Light. (top) Sample panels by Scott for Just’a Lotta Animals, from Amazing Heroes #9. (bottom) The Zoo Crew, as revealed in The Comic Reader #196. Both scans courtesy of Andy Mangels. All characters (except Scott Shaw) TM & © DC Comics.

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TM & © DC Comics.

of things, and I also just wanted to draw a character that acted like the Thing. It’s obvious when you look at Pig-Iron, he’s part-Thing and part-Wonder Warthog [laughs]. It’s funny, Jack Kirby and [Warthog creator] Gilbert Shelton are my two favorite comic-book influences, and Pig-Iron is a combination of those two.” Pig-Iron went on to become a favorite of not only Shaw, but also Thomas and future Captain Carrot artist Rick Hoberg. “Pig-Iron is a fun character,” Hoberg remarks, “that’s just a blast to draw!” Shaw credits Thomas for coming up with the idea of giving Pig-Iron the secret identity of Peter Porkchops, who starred in his own DC comic back in the 1940s–1950s. As with many of the comics he wrote, from All-Star Squadron to Invaders, Thomas frequently used CCAHAZC! to reintroduce Golden Age characters, this time from DC funny-animal comics. After several name changes, including “Critter Commandos” and “Critters, Inc.,” it was Andy Helfer who came up with “Zoo Crew” at an editorial meeting, which Thomas liked so much that he made it the license plate on his car. Since there would probably be no such thing as a “zoo” on a world inhabited by talking animals, it is Superman who winds up suggesting the group’s name.

WHERE NO SUPERMAN HAS GONE BEFORE

DC was introducing new titles with 16-page previews in other comics, and Captain Carrot had the honor of debuting in #16 (Feb. 1982) of DC’s most popular title, The New Teen Titans (which itself had debuted as a preview in DC Comics Presents #27, Oct. 1980). Despite their first appearance not being in DCCP as originally planned, the Zoo Crew was still introduced by Superman. “The reason I’d wanted Superman in the first storyline was to definitely establish that this wasn’t just another funny-animal comic that existed totally outside DC’s continuity,” Thomas explained in Alter Ego #72 (Sept. 2007). “Rather, it simply took place in another dimension, which was as real as Earth-One or Earth-Two. Earth-C, for ‘Carrot’.” However, Earth-C was a bit different from most of DC’s parallel Earths. All of the cities, states, countries, and characters had names that were puns on their real-world counterparts. For example, the Zoo Crew was based out of Follywood, Califurnia, which was part of the United Species of America, and the president was named Mallard Fillmore, making him the Earth-C equivalent of former US President Millard Fillmore (not to be confused with the later political comic strip starring a duck with the same name). The similarities between Earth-C and the real world got a little too close when Captain Carrot’s secret

Who Renamed Roger Rabbit Courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com), original art from the Captain Carrot preview in The New Teen Titans #16 (Feb. 1982). Story by Roy Thomas, art by Scott Shaw! and Bob Smith (Superman pencils by Ross Andru). (below) The preview’s cover. TM & © DC Comics.

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Just Imagine… …the Zoo Crew taking on the JLA’s funkiest foe, Starro the Conqueror. It happened in Captain Carrot #1! TM & © DC Comics.

identity had to be changed from Roger Rabbit to Rodney (which was later revealed as his middle name) after Disney announced its then-upcoming film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As a nod to the Zoo Crew’s original inspiration, Roger/Rodney was the writer/artist of a Just’a Lotta Animals comic (which would later be revealed to exist on a parallel Earth). The preview begins on Earth-One, where ordinary citizens are mysteriously reverting to an animal-like state. Superman sees a ray coming from Pluto and takes off, only to find his path blocked by an energy barrier. When a meteor passes through the barrier, Superman hurls it back and holds onto it, hoping that it will help get him through, but it explodes into six fragments. Falling back to Earth, a disoriented Superman returns to what he believes is the Daily Planet building, where he changes into Clark Kent. However, Clark discovers that he is actually in the office of cartoonist Roger Rabbit at the Wombat (Warner) Communications building in the city of Gnu York. Superman learns from Roger that citizens on his planet have also been acting like their primitive animal ancestors. Roger eats from the carrot patch growing in his window box, unaware that one of the meteor fragments crashed there. Roger is suddenly endowed with muscles that give him superstrength and enable him to leap long distances. Donning an old Halloween costume, Roger dubs himself “Captain Carrot” and decides to help Superman solve the problem facing both of their Earths, so they head for Pluto. While Shaw handled the Earth-C settings and characters, Ross Andru drew Earth-One and Superman. “The fact that I did layouts of Superman for Ross Andru— who was really one of my favorite cartoonists as a kid as far as comics go—it was just absolutely the greatest,” Shaw enthuses. “There were a lot of pages where it was on Captain Carrot’s planet… so I was doing the roughs that Ross would later lay Superman in on.” The story continued in CCAHAZC! #1 (Mar. 1982), titled “The Pluto Syndrome,” which referred to both the ray causing people to act like primitive animals coming from Pluto and also Mickey Mouse’s dog Pluto, the only classic Disney funny animal character that acts like a primitive animal. Superman again tries to penetrate the space barrier. Cap tries to follow him but is unable to penetrate the barrier and falls back to Earth, where he is caught by Pig-Iron, who explains that he was once Peter Porkchops, working at a steel mill when he was struck by a meteor fragment and fell into a vat of molten steel. The two decide to seek out other new superheroes, including: Alley-Kat-Abra, a.k.a. martial-arts instructor Felina Furr, whose powers come from her magic wand a.k.a. “Magic Wanda”; Fastback, formerly the slow-witted Timmy Joe Terrapin; Rubberduck, better known as actor Byrd Rentals (Burt Reynolds); and Yankee Poodle, who is also gossip columnist Rova Barkitt (based on Rona Barrett) with the power of “animal magnetism”— all of whom have similar stories of gaining superpowers after being struck by meteor fragments. After agreeing to work together, the group heads for outer space, where they hit the barrier and are teleported to Pluto. There, they find Superman a prisoner of Starro the Conqueror, a giant alien starfish who fought Earth-One’s JLA in their first appearance (The Brave and the Bold #28, Feb.–Mar. 1960). According to Starro, a piece of himself was sent to Earth-C through a space warp after he was “blasted to smithereens by the hero Aquaman in a free-for-all nobody remembers,” and that piece eventually grew into a new Starro. Although Starro did battle Aquaman in Adventure Comics #451 (May–June 1977), he was not “blown to smithereens” at the end of that story, nor is there any direct reference made to that issue. No one seems to recall exactly what Starro was referring to. “Maybe it was a joke about the fact that nobody remembers Aquaman stories because he never seemed to catch on,” Shaw speculates. “It was apparently just made up,” Thomas believes. “That way, Captain Carrot wouldn’t interfere with any regular continuity.” Anyway, Starro decided to conquer Earth-C by reverting its inhabitants back into their primitive states. The de-evolution rays he was beaming from Pluto caused similar

side effects on Earth-One. Superman tells Cap that a combination of Starro’s rays, the meteor’s radiation, and his own Kryptonian energies are “what gave you and this zoo crew of yours super powers!” Using teamwork, the heroes are able to defeat Starro, and Superman tells them that he hopes they will continue to use their powers to fight evil. Captain Carrot readily agrees and decides to call the new group “the Zoo Crew”!

AMAZING ADVENTURES

Although the new series got off to a great start, signs of future problems began to show in #2 (Apr. 1982), when Alfredo Alcala had to fill in for Shaw. “If I’d been faster, I would have drawn every issue,” Shaw laments, “but I got a bit overwhelmed.” The Zoo Crew spends most of the issue battling Pig-Iron, who—much like the Hulk in Avengers #2 (Nov. 1963)— decides he would rather be left alone than be part of a team. However, when Pig-Iron is captured by the evil organization A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. (A Corporation Recently Organized Solely to Instigate Crimes) and forced to battle their massive servant, Armordillo, the Crew comes to his aid and Pig-Iron realizes the value of having teammates. A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. was originally going to be called “U.P.D.O.C.”, so the next-issue blurb at the end of #1 would have asked, “What’s U.P.D.O.C.?” [L.O.L.—ed.] Shaw returned in #3 (May 1982), as the Crew battles three more agents of A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. (now called Arrogant Cutthroats Repeatedly and Outrageously Subverting This Innocent Country): a large vulture with a ’50s fetish named Jailhouse Roc, the mammoth Kongaroo, and a gigantic frog called Frogzilla, who almost eats the captain of the Lust Boat (a parody of TV’s Love Boat), Dunbar Dodo. After being defeated, Frogzilla reverts to his original form—that of Dunbar’s old nemesis, J. Fenimore Frog (from the “Dodo and the Frog” strip in DC’s old Funny Stuff comic, which was later renamed after the funny-animal duo). The team heads for the Wild House in Waspington D.C. to save President Fillmore from A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.’s leader, Brother Hood, who is unmasked as the president’s own brother (so he’s a brother who wears a hood, get it?). In #4 (June 1982), Byrd Rentals is filming a movie with Fara Foxette (Farah Fawcett) in the Okey-Dokey Swamp (an homage to the Okefenokee Swamp from the comic strip Pogo), where the Zoo Crew encounters a muck-monster whose “name is… Mudd.” Hoppy the Marvel Bunny All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

Return from Limbo! (top) Former DC stars Dodo and the Frog were featured in Captain Carrot #3’s Frogzilla story. (bottom) Funnyanimal old-timers Emperor Nero Fox, the Terrific Whatzit, and the Three Mousketeers made comebacks in issue #9. TM & © DC Comics.

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creator Chad Grothkopf inked this issue and the next, as well as the backup story in #6. The next two issues were an homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), as the Zoo Crew helps prairie dog archaeologist Oklahoma Bones against the alien Bunny from Beyond. Predating Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Bones turns out to be Okie Junior, whose estranged father fought the Ratzis (Nazis) during the Second Weird War (World War II). In the first of many backup stories by various artists, this one by classic JLA artist Mike Sekowsky, Chad, a lowly janitor at Wombat Communications, eats one of Roger’s cosmic carrots and turns into a monstrous mole called Digger O’Doom. Fortunately, the carrot’s power wears off (which enables Roger to return to his ordinary self until he eats another one), so Digger eventually reverts to normal. Recurring solo stories like this served several purposes, such as enabling readers to get to know each character better, allowing other artists an opportunity to work on the book, and giving Shaw more time to work on the main stories. However, there were still occasional fill-in issues, like #7 (Sept. 1982) by legendary Archie artist Stan Goldberg, although at this point, Shaw was also co-writing the stories with Thomas. “Bow-Zar the Barkbarian” is another parody, this time a canine version of Conan the Barbarian and his creator, Robert E. Howard. Tired of writing about Bow-Zar’s adventures, creator Ezra Hound plans to kill him off in the next book. This angers the real Bow-Zar, who somehow travels to the present to kill Ezra first. The Zoo Crew helps the two settle their differences and both return to Bow-Zar’s time. This issue also includes Who’s Who-style files by Shaw on each of the Zoo Crew members. Shaw returned to draw #8–9 (Oct.–Nov. 1982), in which the US government gives the Zoo Crew their own “Z-Building” headquarters (a spoof of the Teen Titans’ T-shaped Titans Tower), along with a “Zoo Cruiser” flying vehicle, “Starhopper” rocket, and “Carrotmobile” car (which is never seen again). When time begins to freeze, the Crew takes off in the Starhopper to investigate, only to be sucked into a black hole that brings them to the 4th Dimensional realm of the Time Keeper, a belligerent bear stirred from his eons-long slumber by Bow-Zar’s time trip. Unable to sleep due to Cosmic Insomnia, the Time Keeper starts collecting pieces of time, including a few seconds from 1982, which is why time is unraveling back on Earth. The Time Keeper transports the Zoo Crew to different time periods from his collection: Captain Carrot and Pig-Iron are sent to ancient Egypped, home of the “jive jumping” Emperor Nero Fox; Rubberduck and Yankee Poodle arrive in Renaissance Parrots, where they help the Three Mouseketeers defend the kingdom of King Looey IX; and Fastback fights alongside another speedster called the Terrific Whatzit during Weird War II, unaware that the Whatzit is actually his own uncle, McSnurtle the Turtle. Meanwhile, the Time Keeper has taken a liking to Alley-Kat-Abra, but she uses her magic to free the rest of the Zoo Crew and conjures up stamps, coins, and comic books for the Keeper to collect, so he returns the stolen pieces of time. Emperor Nero Fox, the Three Mouseketeers, and the Terrific Whatzit all appeared in early DC funny animal comics. The Whatzit appeared in Funny Stuff during the ’40s and wore a costume similar to that of the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick (although McSnurtle

removed his shell when going into battle, making it difficult to determine what sort of animal he was, hence the name “Whatzit”). When the Zoo Crew eventually meets the Just’a Lotta Animals, the Crash tells Fastback that he was inspired to become a hero from reading comics about the Terrific Whatzit, just as Earth-One’s Flash (Barry Allen) was inspired by reading comics about Earth-Two’s Jay Garrick! Alley-Kat-Abra is spotlighted in another backup story, this time written by Shaw and drawn by Goldberg, in which she battles the demonic painter, Debbil-Dawg.

WUZ THAT A. WOLF?

Goldberg also drew the next two issues in a story written by Thomas and E. Nelson Bridwell. When the Zoo Crew needs a plumber, they call Peter Porkchops’ old adversary, A. Wolf. “Wolfie” is a bit jealous to learn that Peter is now Pig-Iron. Wolfie has been seeing psychiatrist Dr. Sigmund Frog about his past cravings to eat Peter. The doctor is reminded of the legend of the Wuz-Wolf, a human being who was once a wolf, but dismisses humans as “fairy tale monsters.” Wolfie leaves, thinking himself cured, and believes his “good luck charm” will protect him… even though it’s a pentagram, the sign of the Wuz-Wolf! So, when the full moon rises, Wolfie becomes a human being and tries to take a bite out of Pig-Iron, changing him back into Peter Porkchops. The Wuz-Wolf clobbers the Zoo Crew and is about to eat Peter, who grabs Wolfie’s pentagram and turns back into Pig-Iron. When Wolfie also returns to normal, Pig-Iron explains that the pentagram must have been made from

the same steel the meteor fragment fell into, causing Wolfie to become a Wuz-Wolf and turning Peter back into Pig-Iron when he touched it. A backup story in #10 (Dec. 1982) by Shaw and Sekowsky pits Fastback against the equally fast Cheshire Cheetah, and #11 (Jan. 1983) includes a Rubberduck backup where he battles a new villain called the Salamandroid, written by Shaw and Bridwell with art by Rick Hoberg, whose work would be seen more in issues to come. “I had a good relationship with Roy back when he was still with Marvel,” Hoberg explains. “When he moved to DC, he wanted to get me in the door. I was working in animation, and… [Scott and I] got to know each other when we were working in the same layout unit at HannaBarbera. At some point, it was decided that Scott needed some help doing backups and various extra work—and I liked the book a lot, I thought it was a very clever book— so Roy asked me… to help out.” Unfortunately, the “Wuz-Wolf” story would be one of the last by Thomas. “I stopped writing the book for the most part, due to busy-ness,” Thomas says. In Alter Ego #72, he told Shaw, “I loved writing Captain Carrot, but I knew you could write it. I gradually edged myself off the scripting.” Shaw did double-duty on #12 (Feb. 1983), in which he introduced Big Cheese as Little Cheese. “I always preferred Big Cheese as a name,” Thomas says, “but Scott wanted to make him an Atom/Doll Man type, hence the name change.” High school basketball player Chester Cheese refuses to throw the playoff game so crimelord Fat Kat can make a fortune betting on the

Editor’s Choice (left) Between its old superhero, baby superheroes, go-go checks (sort of), and art by Scott Shaw!, this is ye ed’s favorite Captain Carrot cover! CCAHAZC! #8 (Oct. 1982) original cover art courtesy of Heritage. (right) Captain Carrot #9. (right) The Just’a Lotta Animals finally get their day in issue #14. TM & © DC Comics.

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other team, which results in the murder of Chester’s scientist father. Locked in his father’s laboratory, Chester eats some green cheese from the moon which causes him to shrink in size, so he escapes under the door. Calling himself “Little Cheese,” Chester gets the Zoo Crew’s help to stop Fat Kat and avenge his father’s death. In #13 (Mar. 1983), the Crew is assisted by a trio of meteorologists based on the Marx Brothers when they go up against the frigid villain Cold Turkey in a story written by Shaw and Bridwell with art by Goldberg. This is also the issue where Roger Rabbit starts telling everyone to call him “Rodney.”

WHEN WORLDS CROSS OVER

The next two-parter featured the long-awaited Zoo Crew/Just’a Lotta Animals team-up written by Shaw and Bridwell. Although he also drew #14 (Apr. 1983), Shaw was only able to complete the first four pages of #15 (May 1983), with Hoberg penciling the rest. “Some of my favorite comics as a kid were the ‘Crisis’ books,” Hoberg recalls, “so I was well acquainted with what we were about to get into. I just had to mimic Scott’s style as much as I could. Even looking at it now, I think we jelled pretty well. The designs that Scott created were pretty easy to follow.” Carol Lay, who would also become more involved with Captain Carrot in the future, inked most of Hoberg’s pencils over the next few issues. “I’ve always liked Carol, personally, and she was a very good artist,” Hoberg says. “[She] did a wonderful job.” After the Zoo Crew battles Amazoo (based on the Earth-One JLA’s android enemy, Amazo), a villain from the JLA comic book, Rodney Rabbit is even more surprised to find the JLA themselves in his studio. Rodney changes to Captain Carrot (whom Wonder Wabbit is immediately attracted to) and brings the JLA to meet their “creator,” original JLA writer Gardner Fox (based on real-life JLA creator, Gardner… uh, Fox), who explains his theory of parallel Earths. Unable to return to their own dimension, the JLA follows Cap back to the Z-Building, where they get into the obligatory fight with the Zoo Crew before joining forces. In the style of the old Justice League/Justice Society team-ups, our heroes split into four groups of three to tackle Digger O’Doom, Armordillo, Amazoo, and another JLA villain, the Shaggy Dawg (based on Earth-One JLA foe, Shaggy Man)—who turn out to be merely henchmen, a diversion to keep everyone busy while Earth-C’s Dr. Hoot (an evil owl) and JLA foe Feline Faust (based on Earth-One sorcerer Felix Faust) conquer the JLA’s Earth! Combining their powers, the two teams attempt to travel to what Cap now refers to as “Earth C-Minus,” only to pop up on worlds resembling those of Disney, Krazy Kat, Pogo, Tom and Jerry, and even the JSA’s Earth-Two (drawn by Jerry Ordway) before finally arriving at their destination. After stopping Hoot and Faust from taking over the United Nature Building in New Yak (as opposed to Earth-C’s Gnu York), the Zoo Crew returns to Earth-C and Captain Carrot must bid a tearful goodbye to Wonder Wabbit, with whom he has fallen in love. Now, as Rodney Rabbit, he sadly returns to his job, where the girl of his dreams exists only as a character in a comic book he draws. Hoberg and Lay became the new regular art team with #16 (June 1983) in a story written by Shaw along with Roy and Dann Thomas, in which the Zoo Crew tackles the

Wheels of Misfortune The Screeching Tire rolls in to make trouble for the Zoo Crew in issue #16. (inset) Its inspiration was this spiked terror from the pages of Blackhawk. TM & © DC Comics.

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Screeching Tire, a parody of the War Wheel from Blackhawk. This was not the first time Thomas’ wife contributed to the series. “Dann was a major contributor to the plotting early on,” Shaw points out. “She is a very creative person… and a lot of the ideas came from her. We pretty much were all equal contributors. I enjoyed working with her as much as with Roy.” Unfortunately, this would be Shaw’s final regular issue of Captain Carrot. “It was difficult for me to keep up with the schedule of a monthly comic and the pay wasn’t good,” Shaw explains, “so I had to take on extra work just to be able to pay my expenses, which took time away from working on it. [DC] kept saying, ‘We’re going to give you a raise if you get the next couple of issues in on time.’ Well, as nice as that sounded, I was like, ‘Sorry, guys, but I’m busy trying to make sure I’m not evicted.’ I’m taking full responsibility for it, but it never worked to my advantage. If I could have gotten paid well enough so that was the only thing I did, I could have gotten it all done, but I didn’t. And I have to admit, I was constantly thinking, ‘I’m actually working for DC Comics!’ Just the idea that I was working for the same company that did Superman comics, I can’t possibly minimize how daunting that was.” Hoberg comments, “A monthly book is tough work, especially with as much detail as required for a team book, and [Scott] probably just hit the wall. We all do it. So they handed the book to me, and I think there were a number of factors involved, but I can only surmise because I don’t know for an actual fact. So when Scott left the book, Roy handed it to me, and I just took it because I liked the idea and I liked these characters a lot. Scott never did anything to harm me. He was a good guy as far as I know. I just wanted to work with Roy, I liked the project, so I jumped right on. Some people might think I was taking advantage of the situation, but it’s not like I was lurking outside the door; they came to me with this.”

GOING EXTINCT

Although Hoberg provided the cover for #17 (July 1983) and the issue had been announced as the return of Frogzilla, most of the book consisted of three different solo stories starring Rubberduck by Bridwell and Goldberg with Lay, Fastback by Bridwell and John Costanza, and a Pig-Iron story spoofing the classic Universal Frankenstein films by Bridwell and Hoberg with Lay. Thomas and Hoberg provided a prologue and epilogue featuring the rest of the Zoo Crew to tie everything together. The same format was used in #18 (Aug. 1983), featuring solo stories of Alley-Kat-Abra by Nicola Cuti and Goldberg, Fastback by Jim Engel and Ernie Chan, and Rubberduck by Engel and Hoberg. “I know Roy had a lot of these short stories lined up as fill-ins,” Hoberg says. “It was also done to give me some time to get ahead on the book, since we were way behind.” Also, with sales declining, it provided an opportunity for these stories to see print in case the book was canceled. Frogzilla finally returned in #19 (Sept. 1983) with a story by Shaw and Joey Cavalieri and art by Hoberg, as J. Fenimore Frog regains his gigantic size in an effort to get revenge on Dunbar Dodo and the Zoo Crew. Although Hoberg did his best to follow Shaw’s character designs as much as possible, his approach to drawing the characters was somewhat different. “I wanted to [make it look] less Hanna-Barbera, which was the way Scott did it, which was more of a flat, 2-D design oriented approach to the artwork—which I think works great; it works terrific for what he’s doing—it’s just a different approach. And the approach that I wanted to do was… having more volume to it. So that’s the difference in the art style… which is what I just loved about Bugs Bunny or Disney cartoons.

When you look at my version, the characters are very similar but they have more depth to them as far as being able to work within three dimensions as opposed to what Scott was doing, but that was purposeful. I wanted to approach it in a different way, but otherwise, it looked very similar.” Despite this, Shaw had some reservations about Hoberg’s approach to Captain Carrot. “Rick draws well, but he’s not a cartoonist, if that makes sense,” Shaw comments. “He did a fine job, but it wasn’t what we were trying to do.” Hoberg adds, “I certainly love Scott’s work; I think he’s a very good artist, and he has a very clever style. I just wanted to mimic his style as best as I could, and at the same time, tell the kind of stories I have to tell because I am an individual. I think any time you perfectly ape somebody, you’re asking for trouble. You just have to adapt to style.” The final issue was #20 (Oct. 1983), guest-starring Changeling (a.k.a. Beast Boy) from the Teen Titans, with Flash villain Gorilla Grodd, written by Bridwell and Cavalieri with art by Hoberg and Lay. (It is ironic that the series both began and ended with the Titans.) Grodd opens a portal to Earth-C and is followed by Changeling, who meets Little Cheese and the Zoo Crew. Much of the humor comes from the reaction of Earth-C’s residents to Grodd’s lack of clothes. Grodd contacts “Roquat,” a friend from yet another dimension, and tries to escape to his world, but Alley-Kat-Abra stops his escape with Magic Wanda, trapping Grodd between dimensions. Changeling returns to Earth-One and, as a reward for his heroism, Little Cheese is made an official member of the Zoo Crew. Having one of the Titans guest-star was undoubtedly a last-minute attempt to boost sales. “It was a good way to have some comedy with it because [Changeling] could change into cartoon animals,” Hoberg says. “It was fun for me, but when it comes to this sort of thing, for some reason, people… have this idea of taking a ‘real’ character, like Grodd, and mixing it in with cartoon characters, and they’re hoping it will come out like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Well, when I was chosen to draw the first issues of Roger Rabbit for Disney, I learned real quick that it doesn’t work. Because no matter what you do, they’re all just drawn characters, so that reality doesn’t separate like it should.” Sadly, whatever sales boost Changeling’s appearance provided, it was too little and too late, as the decision had already been made to cancel the book. However, DC was not quite finished with RICK HOBERG Captain Carrot, as Grodd’s reference to “Roquat” foreshadowed a future adventure in which the entire Zoo Crew would be “off to see the Wizard.”

YOU REALIZE THIS MEANS WAR!

In the final letters page editorial, Thomas wrote that Captain Carrot would continue as a series of miniseries, starting “in early 1984” with a six-issue series written by Thomas and Bridwell with art by Hoberg and Lay to be called “The Oz-Wonderland Wars” (a Just’a Lotta Animals miniseries was also announced but never happened). However, the series was not released until early 1986, by which time there were several changes: the series was now titled The Oz-Wonderland War (though still called “Wars” in the indicia), the six issues became three doublesized issues, and Hoberg had moved on. “The minute Captain Carrot was canceled, I was handed work immediately from there,” Hoberg explains. “Jerry Ordway was leaving All-Star Squadron to do Infinity Inc., so Roy offered me that, which was one of my all-time favorite assignments.” Although Thomas had conceived the idea, the writing was turned over to Bridwell and Joey Cavalieri. “I realized I didn’t have the time to do all the research,” Thomas says. “Nelson needed the dough and knew that stuff backward and forward already, so it seemed to make more sense to have him do it.”

Hogging the Spotlight (top) Courtesy of Heritage, original Rick Hoberg cover art to CCAHAZC! #20 (Nov. 1983), the series’ last issue. (bottom) Pig-Iron in a 2015 commission by Rick. TM & © DC Comics.

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Funny Papers From 1989’s Daily Planet special edition tying in to Invasion!, a Captain Carrot comic strip by KEZ (Keith Wilson). Scan courtesy of Andy Mangels. TM & © DC Comics.

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With Hoberg unavailable, Carol Lay provided both pencils and inks for the series. “Working on The Oz-Wonderland War was a great learning opportunity for me because I was combining humor-style funny animals with classic pen-drawn characters of Sir John Tenniel and John R Neill,” Lay says. “I had to reference some of W.W. Denslow’s Oz characters from the first Oz book as well as Neill’s. I learned how to use dip pens (Esterbrook and Hunt steel nibs), which give a distinctive character to line work unattainable with the brush that I used for the mainstream comic work. It’s not easy to do that kind of art anymore because the quality of Bristol paper has gone downhill, so that ink bleeds, instead of staying put in a crisp thick-and-thin line. “There was a large cast of characters assembled from the three fictional worlds. In one large panel, I think I drew 36 or 38 characters and had to use a downangle view in order to stage them all.” Despite all the work involved, Lay recalls, “As a youngish adult, back when I was still learning-while-earning, this was a good experience for me.” Despite the title, the story didn’t involve an actual war between Oz and Wonderland. Instead, Roquat the Nome-King has conquered Oz and threatens to extend his rule to other dimensions, starting with Wonderland, so the Cheshire Cat travels to Earth-C to seek aid from the Zoo Crew. During the series, Captain Carrot’s ability to leap across long distances evolved into actually flying (similar to the way Superman started out being “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound”). Of special note is the “all rabbits” issue (originally #4), in which Roquat searches for Captain Carrot and summons all rabbits throughout Oz, Wonderland, and neighboring dimensions— including Cap, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, Wonder Wabbit, Bo Bunny (who had his own strip in Peter Porkchops), the White Rabbit, the March Hare, and the Easter Bunny. Since DC was still at that time licensing Captain Marvel from Fawcett, this issue was written so that it could be left out of a possible TPB Courtesy of CarolLay.com. reprint in case of legal issues over the use of Hoppy. After several adventures, the Zoo Crew defeats Roquat with the aid of Humpty Dumpty, since eggs are poisonous to nomes. After our heroes return home, the Inferior Five show up, but such a crossover was not to be, as DC did not continue the “series of miniseries” experiment. Shaw feels that if the miniseries was not successful, it was due to a lack of support from DC’s publicity department. “DC published a one-sheet that they would

The Battle of the Centaur-y (top) Scott Shaw! reimagines the classic Infantino/ Giordano cover of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. Courtesy of Daniel DeAngelo. (bottom) Shaw-drawn panels from 2000’s World’s Funnest one-shot. TM & © DC Comics.

send out to the comics dealers about all the latest comics that were coming out and what was special about them. There was an idiot— make sure you call him an IDIOT—named Bruce Bristow, and he was somehow in charge of this project. I had nothing to gain—it wasn’t like it cost me any money, because I don’t get a percentage of the comic sales unless I worked on it—but Bristow [wrote], ‘I wouldn’t order very heavy on this one. We doubt if it’s going to sell at all.’ He’s in the business of selling comics and he’s telling dealers not to buy the comic? He hasn’t been in the business for years. I wonder why?” However, Thomas points out, “[Dick Giordano] said he had been disgusted by the Bristow approach… and he made some sort of bet about sales. Whatever Bristow suggested, Dick predicted double that, and he was right. The series made a profit, and Bristow was a fool.” Despite this, DC still chose not to continue Captain Carrot.

SATURDAY MORNING SHUTOUT

Although Captain Carrot never became an animated series as DC had originally hoped, it was optioned twice by Ruby-Spears for ABC. “Neither Roy nor I were asked to work on the pitch,” Shaw said. “At one point, they were going to put them with Wonder Woman. I guess the intention was it was going to be the opposite of a superhero team having a dog, like on the Super Friends.” Although the Zoo Crew seemed to be highly marketable to children, no toys were ever produced. “There was a lot of talk of merchandise when The Final Ark [miniseries] came out,” Shaw reveals. “I was contacted… about working for DC Direct to design the six original characters as action figures… but it got bumped from the schedule and never got back.” Except for occasional cameos such as a humorous short in Outsiders #6 (Apr. 1986) and the 2000 Superman and Batman: World’s Funnest one-shot, where Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite battle each other throughout the multiverse (including a stop at Earth-C), Captain Carrot and company would essentially disappear for the next 20 years. “Over the years, I’d made a few pitches to DC for new CC projects, but to no avail,” Shaw told Comic Book Resources producer Jonah Weiland (Dec. 2005). “Although the Zoo Crew definitely has fans and supporters up at DC, the response was always, ‘Now is not the time.’ ”

WHEN FUNNY ANIMALS STOP BEING FUNNY

The time would finally come, perhaps appropriately, in Wizard magazine’s annual April Fool’s Day issue, where Wizard would “prank” their readers by creating previews for fictional comic-book projects. In #151 (May 2004), Wizard ran a preview for a revival of Captain Carrot to be written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Phil Jimenez, which would be released through DC’s Vertigo imprint. “It’s going to be fun, but it has serious tones to it as well,” Johns claimed. The proposal was a spoof of the darker turn superhero comics had taken—specifically titles like Watchmen and Identity Crisis—with Cap framed for the murder of Little Cheese and a new character introduced called the Bald Eagle. The reason for releasing the book through Vertigo was supposedly so Johns could use Swamp Thing, who he claimed would be “essential to tracking down the person responsible.” The proposal was supposed to be entirely fictional… except that, two years later, it became a reality. “Geoff asked me if I’d like to draw a single CC page for an issue of Teen Titans,” Shaw told Weiland on www.comicbookresources.com (Dec. 2005). “A year passed, and… I’d kinda given up hope for it to happen. Then, one day out of the blue, I get a script in the mail from Geoff for All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 69

American Eagle… …stay away from me-e-e! (left) Courtesy of Scott Shaw!, an unpublished panel of Captain Carrot ruffling American Eagle’s feathers. From Scott’s version of the second part of the Titans “Whatever Happened to Captain Carrot?” story. While DC published a “Whatever” version of CC (top right) in 2006, over a decade earlier Scott had other ideas about where the Zoo Crew landed (bottom right). TM & © DC Comics.

the one-page sequence… and within a few days, it had expanded to eight pages! Apparently, editor Eddie Berganza dug Geoff’s script so much that he requested the additional material.” So once again, the Titans would play a pivotal role in Captain Carrot’s history, as Teen Titans vol. 3 #30–31 (Feb.–Mar. 2006) show Kid Devil reading a comic-book story titled “Whatever Happened to Captain Carrot?” The story, which basically pretends that the comic continued to be published over the years, includes most of the material from Johns’ Wizard proposal, although Swamp Thing is not involved and the Bald Eagle becomes American Eagle. Captain Carrot is framed for the murder of Little Cheese. TV reporters Fox and Crow (from another early DC funny-animal comic) explain that Yankee Poodle was convicted for attempting to assassinate President Fillmore, Alley-Kat-Abra became a world-famous stage magician, Pig-Iron and Rubberduck became wanted vigilantes, and Fastback simply disappeared. As for the Captain, his partner and fiancée Carrie Carrot was killed when Armordillo fed her to Frogzilla, and Cap turned himself in to the authorities after killing Armordillo in what he claimed was self-defense. Little Cheese became a lawyer and managed to clear Cap’s name after a yearlong trial, but Cap disappeared back into his secret identity of Rodney Rabbit. A now-alcoholic Rodney is confronted by American Eagle, who brings him to a cemetery, where we see tombstones of many deceased superheroes—most notably Marvel Bunny and McSnurtle the Turtle—and shows him the tomb of Carrie Carrot, asking him if she would approve of the way he’s given up. So Rodney eats one of his cosmic-powered carrots and transforms into Captain Carrot. The Zoo Crew is happy to have their leader back, even though AlleyKat-Abra refused to rejoin them. However, Yankee Poodle finds proof that it was Abra who framed her for the assassination attempt, hired Armordillo to kill Carrie Carrot, funded a feline fascist organization responsible for killing American Eagle’s parents, and also killed Little Cheese. As Abra is taken into police custody, she claims that, because she’s a cat, she hates mice (which doesn’t explain her other crimes). The rest of the Zoo Crew decides

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to remain together, with American Eagle joining them, to find Fastback, who was transported into the future by Abra when he found out about her scheme. Unfortunately, even though Shaw had completed the artwork for the second part of the story, DC wound up hiring an uncredited Scott Roberts to re-draw everything. “[Scott] had to do [the artwork] over Thanksgiving weekend because I had a leg infection and the doctor told me I needed to keep my foot up, and it’s real hard to sit and draw with your foot up,” Shaw explains. “But I did get the work done and told them they would have it, and the editor went ahead and printed the other stuff. Scott [Roberts] worked like a maniac to pencil and ink four pages in a weekend, but he had never drawn the characters before. He did a good job, all things considered, but they had my artwork in the office, and they just wouldn’t use it because they didn’t believe it would be there!” Thomas was not consulted about the story and did not approve of the darker take on the characters. “At that time, and perhaps since, people say (sincerely, I suppose) they’re ‘big fans’ of something… and then proceed to change it almost entirely. Clearly, Geoff Johns was a fan of something in his own head, not of CC as actually created.” Johns could not be reached for comment. Shaw adds, “The guys in comics now… they like to take the usual characters that old duds like me love and deconstruct them in ways that make them more human and embarrassing. And you can’t do that with funny animals. When you’re making that kind of commentary on stuff, it’s so easy to just go with the grimmest ideas and think that you’re being ironic. When I see the characters remade for things that they were never intended for, I can’t really blame the people doing it, I blame the people that are saying, ‘We want to do this, but we want to make this ours; we want to make this really work.’ ” Ironically, Rick Hoberg had previously been approached about a similar idea. “Jim Engel was once proposing a darker look at Captain Carrot,” Hoberg recalls. “So he called me and asked if I was interested in doing a miniseries. I said, ‘Of course,’ because I liked Captain Carrot, so I did [a] drawing,” but DC was apparently not interested at the time.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Bill Morrison was later asked to do a new three-issue miniseries titled Captain Carrot and the Final Ark (Dec. 2007–Feb. 2008). “I believe Teen Titans was the catalyst for the series, but I don’t know if it was based on reader enthusiasm from seeing the characters return, or on Geoff’s love of Captain Carrot,” Morrison says. “But I got the feeling that Geoff was sort of the force behind the idea of bringing the characters back in their own miniseries.” Although the events of the Teen Titans story were referred to, the miniseries avoided dwelling on them and attempted to recapture the more lighthearted tone of the original series. “Joey Cavalieri from DC contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in writing it,” Morrison recalls. “He told me that Paul Dini brought up my name during an editorial meeting where they were discussing the project. Paul suggested to Joey and Dan DiDio that I would be a good candidate to write and draw it.” Once again, DC did not approach Thomas about working on the series, much to his frustration. “What they had Bill Morrison and Scott do in that last story was quite distasteful to me,” Thomas says. “Is it any wonder that, while I still love the DC characters, I don’t have a lot of love for any administration there that I’ve dealt with?” Morrison was unaware of this when he agreed to work on the project. “I felt horrible when I learned that Roy was not asked to write it,” he laments. “I did contact Roy and explained to him that I was sorry the job had gone to me instead of him.” Thomas responds, “I have no ill feelings toward Bill Morrison… but I do have bad feelings toward DC over it, and I told them so at the time. It was disrespectful, and they should be ashamed of themselves.” Shaw was also not approached by DC about working on the series, but by Morrison. “I was originally asked to write and draw the series, but my obligations at Bongo [Comics, publisher of The Simpsons and related titles] made that impossible,” Morrison elaborates. “I really only had time to write it, so Joey asked me who I’d like to collaborate with on the art. Naturally, I suggested Scott Shaw! Having Scott as the artist gave the series an authenticity that I knew longtime fans would really appreciate. I was thrilled to be able to have at least one of the co-creators of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! on the project. Joey and Dan told me

that they wanted to integrate this story with their Countdown storyline, and that there should be a catastrophe on Earth-C that will destroy the planet. So with those bare bones of a plot I started to flesh out the story.” After Abra was arrested for the murder of Little Cheese, the Zoo Crew enlisted the aid of Chip Hunter, Time Master and fought the Time Keeper to rescue Fastback from the future. They returned home to find that President Fillmore had resigned in disgrace when it was made public that he paid Abra to expose the Zoo Crew’s secrets, so—in a spoof of Marvel’s Civil War—VP Beneduck Arnold took over and instituted a “Collar I.D.” initiative, forcing other superheroes to wear collars that restrain the use of their powers. The Zoo Crew was forced to abandon the Z-Building and officially disband (although they continued to fight evil secretly). Abra suddenly returns and reveals that JLA foe Feline Faust conjured up an evil twin called “Dark Alley,” who betrayed the Zoo Crew and killed Little Cheese, while she was imprisoned in another dimension. The Crew has to deal with growing tensions between land and sea animals while battling Salamandroid and Frogzilla, only to find out that the mastermind behind everything is Starro the Conqueror, who plans to flood the world and take over. Starro manages to rob the Zoo Crew of their superpowers, except for Pig-Iron, who stays behind to battle Starro. The rest of the Crew evacuates the population of Gnu York to a cruise liner (the “Final Ark” of the title) and enlists the Just’a Lotta Animals to help transport everyone to Earth-C-Minus before the city is flooded. Unfortunately, the ark accidentally winds up in California’s Golden Gate Park on DC’s New Earth, where everyone (including the Zoo Crew) is transformed into ordinary animals. Zatanna and Hawkgirl rescue the ark, and Zatanna takes Rodney Rabbit to use in her magic act, while the rest of the Zoo Crew look on helplessly. A pig is mistakenly shown with the Zoo Crew animals at the end, even though Pig-Iron was left behind on Earth-C. “The pig that’s seen at the end of the series is not Pig-Iron,” Morrison comments. “I assume that [Phil Winslade] who drew the New Earth sequence that ends the series didn’t read the entire script, only the pages he was to draw. He put realistic versions of all the Zoo Crew characters in the scene, not knowing that Pig-Iron should not be among them.” This was an odd ending to the series, but

Bug and Bunny (center) Look who dropped in on Keith Giffen’s Ambush Bug: Year None #1 (Sept. 2008). (left) Just’a lotta characters designed by Scott Shaw!, on the Anthrocon 2006 convention program cover. Both scans courtesy of Andy Mangels. Ambush Bug and Captain Carrot characters TM & © DC Comics. Other characters © their respective copyright holders.

All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 71

Rabbit Season (left) Courtesy of Scott Shaw! and Daniel DeAngelo, a great Captain Carrot gag from 2001. (right) Scott as inked by Bill Morrison on the cover of Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #1 (Dec. 2007). TM & © DC Comics.

as Shaw explains, “We were dictated the beginning and the end of it. We [were disappointed] that the end was never resolved.” Morrison adds, “We weren’t privy to any plans for the characters beyond that. We naturally assumed that there would be some sort of continuation for the characters in the rest of the Countdown saga, and that they might possibly revert to their original forms… but we really had no idea what would happen beyond our series.” While DC never revealed the final fate of Earth-C, Morrison and Shaw had their own plans to resolve the story. “We proposed a series of short, small projects with Captain Carrot that would keep it alive and would come out during the summer months, when comics sell better,” Shaw reveals. “Bill and I would plot it and I would write it. At the end, everyone but Pig-Iron was now a real animal. They never said they had their superpowers removed, just that they were turned into real animals. One idea was [having] DC superheroes with animalderived powers like Animal Man, Vixen, Aquaman, etc. teaming with these super-powered animals as a three-issue miniseries. The next project would be an 80-Page Giant, which they were still doing at the time, with new stories presented as if they were reprints of old Captain Carrot stories—one of which would have been a new solo story of the Terrific Whatzit during WWII. [We also] would have done a story with Little Cheese, but now he’d be called ‘Deadmouse.’ We wanted to bring him back, but I thought, rather than just have him come back as he was,

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let’s have him do something new and interesting. Let’s do a takeoff on Deadman. “Bill and I wanted to finally do a three-issue story that would wrap up the ending of The Final Ark that never happened,” Shaw continues. “Everybody goes back to Earth-C, which would now be spelled ‘Earth-Sea’ because the water levels have increased thanks to Starro. People wouldn’t know that Starro had taken over the Earth, because he would get Pig-Iron to act like he was now the Emperor of Earth, that he was the dictator. The only reason Pig-Iron would go along with it is because Starro had threatened to completely submerge the land masses so that everyone would drown. So everyone hated Pig-Iron, because they thought he had turned traitor. When the Zoo Crew finally shows up, he gets exonerated. We came up with all these great ideas… and we were told, ‘It would never sell.’ Not only were we originally going to have a legitimate ending, it… would have had at least one crossover where I would have drawn the guest-star in Zatanna’s book with AlleyKat-Abra. We wanted to get Captain Carrot back on the DC schedule, even if it was just for a yearly event.” The Zoo Crew’s fate would not be revealed until Final Crisis #7 (Mar. 2009), where one of the Monitors, Nix Uotan, restores them to their original anthropomorphic forms in what seems like an afterthought. “They were only in, like, one panel,” Shaw points out. “It was pretty obvious it was like, ‘Oh, [crap]! We never resolved that.’ ”Once again, Pig-Iron is mistakenly shown as one of the Zoo Crewers restored by the Monitor. In an amusing epilogue to the story, Zatanna vol. 2 #4 (Oct. 2010) reveals that Captain Carrot left something behind before (presumably) returning to Earth-C. Morrison notes, “I wrote the scene with Zatanna taking Rodney Rabbit to use in her stage show hoping that another writer would pick it up,” which Paul Dini did when he had Zatanna mention that one of her rabbits had a baby with a “stray” that she “picked up in the park.” So, Captain Carrot has an illegitimate son on DC’s New Earth!

Captain Carrot Comebacks (top left) Chris Burnham riffs on Action #1’s iconic cover—with a wink to Fritz the Cat— on this variant cover for The Multiversity #1 (Oct. 2014). (top right) A hairy encounter on Steve Pugh’s Convergence Harley Quinn #2 (July 2015) cover. (bottom) Meet K’Rot, in Threshold #3 (May 2013). Cover by Howard Porter. TM & © DC Comics.

MULTIPLICITY

Although the original Earth-C version of Captain Carrot disappeared again, there were attempts made to create new versions of the character for modern audiences. Apparently it’s true that rabbits multiply! After DC revamped its comics line with “The New 52,” Keith Giffen introduced a new character called Captain K’Rot in Threshold #2 (Apr. 2013). In an interview with Tony Guerrero on the Comic Vine News website (Jan. 2013), Giffen described the character as, “The meanest rabbit you’ve ever seen. A hard-drinking, crude, rude, sci-fi pirate searching the galaxy for the lowdown scum that took one of his legs for luck.” K’Rot was the leader of a band called the “Zoo Crew,” which included a new version of “Pig-Iron” along with a cat-woman called Sleen (no apparent relation to Alley-KatAbra). “I like some of [Keith’s] stuff a lot,” Shaw mentions, although he believes, “[DC] probably said, ‘Let’s get the creator of Lobo to do his take on a character that most of us are embarrassed exists’.” However, Giffen claims, “Using Captain Carrot in Threshold was just my wanting to get a recognizable character into the mix.” After Threshold was canceled with #7 (Oct. 2013), K’Rot largely disappeared. In Multiversity #1 (Oct. 2014), writer Grant Morrison introduced another new version of Captain Carrot, who comes from Earth-26 (the New 52 equivalent of Earth-C), where everyone looks like realistic half-human/ half-animal hybrids rather than cartoon “funny animals.” This Earth is ruled by “cartoon physics,” meaning that Captain Carrot—much like that other Roger Rabbit—can be squashed flat, or even have his head severed, and revert to his original form unharmed. “That has absolutely nothing to do with [the original concept],” Shaw says. “Obviously, THEY DON’T GET IT!!!” Since Captain Carrot recognizes Superman (despite it not being the Earth-One Superman but his Earth-23 counterpart), Earth-26 apparently has a history similar to that of Earth-C, and it is suggested that it may actually be the same Earth, able to “bounce back” and re-form itself after various multiversal crises due to its “bizarre physics.” In DC’s Convergence 2015 event, the villain Telos takes cities from throughout space and time—including the original Earth-C— and forces them to compete with each other for survival. Captain Carrot battles Harley Quinn in the two-issue Convergence: Harley Quinn series by Steve Pugh and Phil Winslade, while Fastback teams up with the Flash (Wally West) in the two-issue Convergence: Speed Force series by Tony Bedard and Tom Grummet. Despite being more powerful, Cap is totally psyched out and humiliated by Harley. All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73

Dark Zoo Crew Art by and courtesy of Rick Hoberg from a revamp proposal for Captain Carrot predating the Geoff Johns revamp. Rick says there were “too many cooks in the kitchen,” causing this project to go nowhere. TM & © DC Comics.

“I’m sure [Winslade] was instructed to do this, but Captain Carrot looked like a maniac in every panel!” Shaw complains. “It looked like what my friends and I used to call ‘I’ll Kill You!’ comics. It was when Neal Adams was doing those covers with a guy in a very constipated pose, looking up at the sky or at the reader, saying, ‘Now, I will destroy you!’ ” On the other hand, Fastback was treated with more respect in Speed Force, causing Shaw to remark, “I really like Tom Grummett’s artwork. It’s clear that [he] actually gets the character of Fastback better than some who actually worked on the CCAHAZC! series.” Thomas says, “I’ve no objection to guest/cameo appearances by any of the Zoo Crew, but I feel if there is ever to be another series it should be [done] by me and Scott… since we are the two major creators.”

A DANGLING CARROT

Since Convergence has restored the pre-Crisis DC Multiverse, Earth-C exists again. Whether Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew ever reappear remains to be seen. Why is Captain Carrot used so infrequently? “Because Roy and Scott own a percentage of it,” Hoberg states. “I don’t know if there’s any truth to this or not,” Shaw says, “but some people told me the reason they were doing this stuff, like Captain K’Rot, was if they turn it into a new character, then [Roy and] I would no longer own a piece of it.” Thomas concurs, “What they said.” Shaw also feels that “The average person working in comics does not like funny animals. They find it embarrassing, this ‘Captain Carrot’! Even my friend, [longtime Superman editor] Mike Carlin, was really offended that Captain Carrot met Superman [laughs]. I never held it against him.” Despite the Zoo Crew having appeared in a couple of the Robot Chicken DC Specials (the first one has the Justice League attending Captain Carrot’s funeral

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on Earth-C, where Green Lantern keeps cracking up over the characters’ names), the creators were not compensated. “I haven’t gotten a nickel for their usage of [Captain Carrot] on TV or video games,” Shaw claims. “Apparently our work is good enough for them to use in other places, but it isn’t good enough to pay us for.” Thomas adds, “To say I felt dissed in recent years over Captain Carrot… would be understating. I’m always willing to forgive and forget… but since nobody’s ever made any real approaches that mean anything, I haven’t forgiven or forgotten. Still, I’m really glad I worked with them in the ’80s, despite the way it ended.” Shaw reflects, “I know that Captain Carrot is just a little footnote in the history of comics. It was done as an experiment, and there were a lot of kids that loved it, but your average reader now doesn’t want humor. Marvel and DC don’t do anything humorous now. I would work for DC again, but it would have to be with a vastly different business model.” The Zoo Crew may be gone, but they are not forgotten, as references still pop up here and there (such as a Green Lambkin cameo in a Green Lanternthemed episode of Cartoon Network’s Duck Dodgers, or McSnurtle the Turtle as a stuffed toy belonging to Iris West in the Flash TV series). But is there any place in today’s comic-book marketplace for funny-animal superheroes? “I think it would be felt as something new and different,” Shaw says. “Now that the kids are used to seeing Rocket Raccoon, why not? It’s still essentially the same sort of thing.” Hoberg concurs, “There’s always room for things, if you can find someone who’s interested in doing it. Everyone’s just looking at the bottom line these days, otherwise we wouldn’t have Dark Knight III [laughs]!” Special thanks to Gerry Conway, Keith Giffen, Rick Hoberg, Carol Lay, Todd Latowski, Bill Morrison, Scott Shaw!, Joe Staton, and Roy Thomas for their assistance with this article.

by M a r k

No matter what your opinion is of his personal life, Michael Jackson was one of the greatest singers and entertainers of the 20th Century. From his beginnings with his brothers in the Jackson 5 in the 1960s to his solo career that eclipsed virtually every other musical act, Jackson solidified his legendary status by the 1980s. His album Thriller, which came out in late 1982, was a hit album near the top of the charts well into 1984. It ultimately has sold over 32 million copies in the US alone and over 65 million copies worldwide, and is still considered the highest-selling album of all time as of this writing in 2016. By that point in Jackson’s career, the Thriller days, Michael had the freedom to take his time in making albums. He released another album with the Jacksons (formerly the Jackson 5) in 1984 and wasn’t expected to release his next album until 1987. This was partially due to the ongoing success of Thriller, but also due to touring commitments and with the making of a little film, with the help of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, called Captain EO.

Arnold

Besides its star-studded pedigree, Captain EO was to be a unique film as it was produced for the Disney theme parks (Disneyland in California, Epcot Center in Florida, and later, for Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris) and also in 3-D. Unofficially, it is considered to be the first in 4-D, as there are special effects in the theater such as smoke, laser lights, and other effects synchronized with the film. The film first opened at the US parks in 1986 and closed at the various parks between 1994 through 1998. After Jackson’s death in 2009, the film was re-released to the parks and ran from 2010 to 2015. The film was aired in 1996 by MTV in a 2-D version and has never been released to home video, but can be streamed on YouTube. The success of the film begat many different film souvenirs including a comic book produced in 3-D and published by Eclipse Comics. I caught up with catherine yronwode [Catherine “Cat” Yronwode has often opted for lower-casing her name—ed.], Dean Mullaney, and Thomas Yeates to discuss the production of this comic book 20 years later. – Mark Arnold

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ Courtesy of Thomas Yeates, a two-page spread from the black-and-white version of Eclipse’s Captain EO. Wow! TM & © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

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Michael Jackson, Superhero (top) Eclipse’s tabloidsized Captain EO #1. Cover art by H. R. Russell, from the film’s poster. Logo by Scott Feldman. (bottom) 3-D effects by Ray Zone. (inset) Yeates’ Captain EO cover for Amazing Heroes #117 (May 15, 1987; the preview article was written by ye ed). Captain EO TM & © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Amazing Heroes © Fantagraphics.

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MARK ARNOLD: Tell me about Eclipse Comics and how they operated. DEAN MULLANEY: I formed it in 1977 and ran it until 1994. There were many people responsible for its success, but the buck stopped at my desk. I made the decision, month by month, what titles we would publish. CATHERINE YRONWODE: Eclipse was a fairly large independent comic-book publishing company of its era. When I joined, we had an office staff of three or four, plus freelancers, but by the height of production, we had as many as six editors and an art director in the office, maintained a staffed off-site warehouse for back-issue sales, had a full-time sales representative, and employed up to 250 freelancers (not all at once, of course). There were also distribution deals with smaller companies, like Ed Via’s Claypool Comics, a co-publishing venture with a Japanese firm, Viz Comics, and we oversaw a reprint line of vintage American comic-book titles as well. As the editor-in-chief, I oversaw assigning titles to editors and I edited some titles myself. I also oversaw an ongoing internship program, training aspiring professionals to edit comics, with the expectation that they would receive published credit for their work, use this as part of a résumé, and go on to permanent jobs elsewhere in the publishing industry. Dean Mullaney and his brother Jan Mullaney managed the financial end of things, dealing with contracts, payroll, printers, and distribution, but Dean was also a good editor and graphic designer and so he had his hand in some of the titles on the editorial side. Once a series or one-shot was green-lighted and freelancers were assigned, the editors were responsible for the teams that had been assembled—the writers, pencilers, inkers, letterers, and colorists—and they saw to it that deadlines were met. If there were problems, they reported back to me, and together Dean and I would decide what to do in terms of contracts, payments, assigning replacements, dealing with distributors, and so forth. I had a background in printing and graphic design and helped with the aesthetic decisions adherent to publishing. Dean and I both wrote ad copy as well. THOMAS YEATES: [Eclipse was] a great little comic-book company that really pushed the industry back then. They championed creator rights and better printing, particularly higher quality color in comics. They liked to tackle tricky projects like this. They had guts and I like that. They were the number-three company in the industry for a few years there. ARNOLD: How did you get the assignment to publish the Captain EO comic-book adaptation? YRONWODE: Dean, the publisher, negotiated with Disney to get the publishing rights. MULLANEY: There was a 3-D comics craze at the time and we were having great success with 3-D versions of our regular comics, plus others, such as 3-D Three Stooges. When I heard about Captain EO, it was a natural, so I approached Disney and made the deal. Captain EO was co-numbered Eclipse 3-D #18. YEATES: catherine and Dean, I believe, were impressed by my ability to draw Jimi Hendrix in my Timespirits comic and thought I’d be right for Michael Jackson’s Captain EO. I’d also worked on Star Wars with Al Williamson, and EO had a lot in common with Star Wars. Plus, catherine and Dean lived near me and we worked together well. ARNOLD: Did you see the film before you created the comic? YRONWODE: A group of us went to Disneyland and sat through multiple screenings of the film before it opened, because the Disney organization would not let us have an advance video copy. Thomas made drawings in the darkened theater and I took notes by hand in the dark, from which we reconstructed the flow of the film and the settings for scenes. MULLANEY: The Disney licensing people in Burbank arranged for us to sit in the front row and watch the film as many times as we needed. I think Thomas’ art in this book is among the best of his entire career. On the video, it’s true that Disney would not let a video out of the studio, but we got one nonetheless from an unnamed source. I know it existed because I watched it. ARNOLD: How did the process work in order to make the book into 3-D? YEATES: I penciled and inked very large and detailed pages that emphasized opportunities for 3-D, lots of depth, lots of stuff in the extreme foreground, sometimes jabbing right at the reader. Then the art went to the late, great 3-D genius Ray Zone. Ray turned my regular black-

and-white art into 3-D. This involves cutting up copies of the art into different sections and turning some of my line work blue and some red to match the blue and red lenses on the glasses that came with the book. YRONWODE: Only people with binocular vision can create—or see— the effect. ARNOLD: The book came out in two formats: standard comic-book size and a larger treasury edition. Did you have any say-so about that? YRONWODE: Because I only have monocular vision, I cannot see the 3-D effect at all, in comics or in film. For this reason I always saw to it that each of Eclipse’s 3-D comics was also published in a limited edition of 100 black-and-white non-3-D comics for people such as myself. In the case of Captain EO, the film seemed to be potentially too popular to limit ourselves to a mere 100-copy black-and-white edition, so Dean came up with the idea of the large, treasury-sized black-and-white edition to showcase Thomas Yeates’ detailed artwork. Disney agreed to this, which made it feasible. MULLANEY: The original plan was to release it comic book-sized, but the Disney theme-park buyer wanted a higher-priced product, so we produced the oversized edition exclusively for the park. YEATES: That was not my decision, but I love the larger treasury edition. ARNOLD: Did you meet up with George Lucas, or Francis Ford Coppola, or Michael Jackson? YRONWODE: No. YEATES: Nope. MULLANEY: No, but in order to get the deal, Jackson—or his people—wanted to see samples of other Eclipse comics, which we sent to Disney to forward. Then the Jackson camp requested more comics, and more again. I guess they were starting a collection. [laughs] ARNOLD: Did you work from photographs from the film? YEATES: Yes, I had photos. The reference I used was slides—transparencies—which Disney must have © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. supplied. YRONWODE: We worked from still photos [transparencies] and also MULLANEY: No. from my notes and Thomas’ on-the-scene sketches which we made at YEATES: Not that I recall. It was sort of a one-of-a-kind film. Disneyland. At the last minute, we learned that Michael Jackson had ARNOLD: Was the book a success? just had plastic surgery—after the filming—to have a cleft put into his YRONWODE: I believe that the book was both a financial and an chin, in emulation of the cleft in the chin of the actor Kirk Douglas— aesthetic success, although I was not privy to sales reports, as I was on or so we were told by our liaison at Disney. the editorial side of the desk. YEATES: I was asked to redraw several faces, probably at Michael’s request. MULLANEY: It was a much bigger success in comic shops than it was YRONWODE: We were told with all seriousness that “The Cleft,” as in the theme parks. So far as I knew, the oversized version was only it was called by our Disney liaison, had to be added to every panel of available at the gift shop closest to the film’s exit door; it was not the comic strip by Thomas right before we went to press, and I heard available on Main Street. that it was also added by hand to the film negatives before the project moved ahead to release in the park. I am proud to say that I proofread In 1986, Eclipse lost most of its back-issue stock in a flood. Mullaney the final art for instances of “The Cleft” and drew a few of the tiniest and yronwode were married in 1987, but divorced in 1993. Also, its direct ones in myself. market distribution system collapsed and Eclipse ceased operations in YEATES: I used my regular process: study the script, sketch layouts that tell 1994, filing for bankruptcy in 1995. the story, and in this case, incorporate shots that work with the photo Mullaney currently publishes hardcover reprints of comic strips reference. My assistant at that time, Mark Johnson, did some of the pencil- under the IDW imprint The Library of American ing. We did the job on duo-shade board. This created shades of gray which Comics. In 2014, he started another imprint, enhanced the black-and-white art since there was no regular coloring. Eurocomics. MULLANEY: All artwork had to be submitted to Disney for Jackson’s yronwode worked for Claypool Comics from approval. He approved nearly all pages without changes. In (I think it 1987 through 2007 and now writes books was) four pages, he just didn’t like the way his face looked—although published under the Lucky Mojo imprint. Thomas traced the images off his TV/VCR. Thomas made changes; Thomas Yeates currently illustrates Prince Jackson wouldn’t approve. Eventually, Thomas went to a bookstore Valiant, having taken over the newspaper comic in the local mall and bought a coffee-table book about Diana Ross. strip in 2012. He copied Ross’ face onto Jackson’s body in those disputed page and MARK ARNOLD, proud owner of a copy of Captain EO, … voila. They all came back approved! is a comic-book and animation historian with over ARNOLD: Was there ever talk about a further book or series? YRONWODE: There were no plans for a series or sequel that I know eight books to his credit. He is currently working on a book about Dennis the Menace. of, but I was not involved in major planning meetings of that type. All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 77

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Just a couple of comments on BI #88, which I’m halfway through reading. Re Jerry Boyd’s comment on the Marvel Preview’s 1978 Hodiah Twist story: It was NOT written by Rick Marshall, but by Don McGregor. Don’s credit was pulled off the story when he refused to sign Marvel’s then-new work-for-hire contract. Marshall’s name was placed on the story but it’s all Don’s. Re Steven Thompson’s “Recommended Reading” list: My “obsessive” checklists are indeed on enjolrasworld.com, but the definitive versions of all the checklists—Warren, Marvel, Skywald, and ALL the rest of the B&W horror magazines—are in my book, Horror Comics in Black and White: A Catalog and Checklist - 1964– 2004, from McFarland Publishing. The picks on artwork this issue were great! Love the beautiful Eisner art in my Warren article and the excellent page picks on the Rook article. I also loved seeing “The Unpublished Paul Gulacy” article that directly followed my Rook piece. Just gorgeous artwork. Haven’t read the rest of the book yet but I’m enjoying this issue very much. I do wish someone had done a Web of Horror piece for this issue, but since it debuted in 1969 maybe it was outside the prevue of this issue. – Rich Arndt

A TWIST ON HODIAH’S CREDIT

Since our article “The Unpublished Paul Gulacy” appeared in BACK ISSUE #88, two more notable pieces of Gulacy artwork have surfaced. I wanted to share these with you and the BACK ISSUE readers. One is an unpublished Turok, Dinosaur Hunter cover from 1995 which was during Valiant’s Birthquake era. Note the vertical open space on the left-hand side of the cover where the BIRTHQUAKE banner would typically appear. This was a great cover. Too bad it was not used. The other piece of Gulacy art is an unpublished Conan the Barbarian pinup from 1975 which was originally scheduled to be on the inside front cover of an issue of the Savage Sword of Conan magazine by Marvel. This is classic early Gulacy and some of Paul’s prime work. – Dave Lemieux Dave, thanks for sending these images, which I’m happy to share here.

A REQUEST HONORED!

It was probably two years I ago when I wrote to you asking for an article on black-and-white comic mags of the ’70s, so I was beyond excited to get issue #88 of BACK ISSUE and find the whole issue was on that topic. I loved it! I couldn’t have asked for more. Well, maybe one more thing. I’ve always wondered why many of Marvel’s magazines of the time were published under the name Curtis Magazines without showing the Marvel name anywhere on the cover. Had you included that little tidbit you would have hit every single B&W comic mag subject I wanted to see covered. 78 • BACK ISSUE • All-Captains Issue

UNPUBLISHED GULACY REVISTED

Now that you’ve granted my wish of B&W comic mag coverage, here is my next topic I’d like to see one day in your pages: Marvel’s Assistant Editor’s Month. – Ashley Doyle Ash, I’d been toying for years with the idea of this issue on B&W comic mags but hesitated once our magazine went full-color a few years ago. However, I think we were able to strike a nice balance between B&W and color images in BI #88. Curtis Circulation Company was Marvel’s distributor at the time that its logo appeared on many of Marvel’s B&Ws (by 1975, the Curtis logo had shrunk to a mere “CC” on the covers). Jerry Boyd, the writer of the Marvel magazines article, was working on a tight word count (it was an info-packed issue!) and didn’t have the space to explore Curtis in his article. I suspect that the name Curtis carried a lot of weight with newsdealers, but I asked Roy Thomas if Marvel opted to bypass putting its name on those black-and-white mags’ covers. “I honestly don’t recall for certain,” Roy says, “but I suspect it may have been because the Comics Code frowned on the idea of Marvel publishing non-Code magazines with comics.” We touched on the Marvel Assistant Editor’s Month gimmick in our Mark Gruenwald tribute back in BI #19, and have winked at it in other articles in the years since, including the Dazzler article in BI #90. However, we plan to give AEM a close inspection in a future edition of BACK ISSUE that examines editors and editing.

MORE REMARKS FROM ROY…

Minor correction re p. 18 (of BI #88): Earl Norem was mistaken about one thing. I wasn’t the Conan writer at the time of Savage Sword #164… I didn’t come back till #191, so it was another writer who wrote that story based on his cover. – Roy Thomas And that writer was Chuck Dixon. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Roy.

THE DOPE ON DREADSTAR

I really enjoyed issue #88 on the magazines. The article about Epic Illustrated had a mistake in it, though. The Epic Comics imprint about Vanth Dreadstar was just called Dreadstar, and was only sold to the direct sales market. After awhile, Marvel started printing a second book called Dreadstar and Company, and these were reprints of the Dreadstar comic and were sold to the newsstand market. Keep up the good work, you have a great mag! – Larry D. Quiggins Professor of Theatre, Doctor of Comicology We appreciate the info and the praise, Larry. And your letter reminds us—we haven’t done an actual article about Dreadstar yet. Hmmm…

PRODUCT TAMPERING

A few notes on Warren’s 1984/1994 magazine: The “Mutant World” serial actually was tampered with. In the collected edition published by Catalan, Jan Strnad mentioned that the dialogue had been altered by a “scurrilous editor”; presumably Bill DuBay. Frank Thorne’s “Ghita of Alizar” made its debut in the last several issues of 1994. It seems to be unaltered, but since Thorne’s story was borderline pornographic anyway, DuBay (and Jim Warren?) probably felt no need to mess with it. – Mark Drummond Ms. Mystic © Neal Adams. BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows. All Rights Reserved.

REMEMBERING “ROUGH STUFF”

I enjoyed every article about the comics magazines of the ’70s and ’80s featured in BACK ISSUE #88. When I started reading comics, and even in my early days of collecting, a regular comic shop or large-size newsstand wasn’t available to me until my early teens, around 1982. By that time, the heyday of most of the magazines discussed was almost gone, so I wasn’t able to peruse them often. I do remember reading through a few of my older brother’s copies of the Warren horror mags or an occasional Heavy Metal (any chance that magazine may be covered some day?). They seemed cool, but too eclectic for my superhero-only tastes at the time. So sorry I missed out. I’m glad Dark Horse is able to reprint the Warren magazines, and maybe Marvel will someday reprint Epic Illustrated. Thank you for Robert Greenberger’s article on Comics Scene. I loved both volumes. I wasn’t able to get ahold of many of the first volume, but I was a regular reader of the second. I preferred these to the “text heavy” (as I thought at the time) Amazing Heroes and its similar publications. And finally, also thank you for the “Unpublished Paul Gulacy” article. I’m a fan of Mr. Gulacy’s work and always appreciate any art or info about it that isn’t available on his own website. This is a feature/department I would love to see continue with other artists if space allows. Even though commissions and unpublished material are often included with their respective articles, I also miss Rough Stuff (the department and magazine). Are these or similar type departments featured in Draw! or Comic Book Creator? While I don’t write a letter after every issue, I do enjoy every one, and like to write when some questions or memories compel me to. As always, thanks again for the flashbacks, and insights into what I didn’t even know about. Your magazine is always entertaining and informative, and I continually look forward to it. – Scott Andrews Glad you made some discoveries in issue #88. I’ve no plans to cover Heavy Metal; I think it would deserve a lengthy spotlight, and since our readership skews mainstream I’m not convinced BI is the best place for such a retrospective. What do the rest of you think? Yours is the first mention of “Rough Stuff” I’ve received in some time. After the Rough Stuff spin-off magazine was canceled, Rough Stuff returned to BI for a short while, with Tom Ziuko producing the feature, but this revival was short-lived. Do any of you want to see it return to our pages? (Re Rough Stuff-like features in other TwoMorrows magazines, Draw is a how-to publication for illustrators while Comic Book Creator features oral histories from comics pros. Pencil art can be found in almost every TM pub, but Rough Stuff had a unique style of presentation. Just writing about RS is making me miss it…) And the “Unpublished [Insert Artist’s Name Here]” as an occasional feature is a really good idea. For you art collectors who are also BI readers, if you have gathered enough unpublished artwork to spotlight a respective artist in this fashion, please contact me at euryman@gmail.com. Next issue: INDIE SUPERHEROES! Ms. Mystic interview with NEAL ADAMS! Plus: Continuity’s superheroes, a Justice Machine history, the ’80s revivals of Mighty Crusaders and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a Whisper Pro2Pro, and BILL BLACK’s Captain Paragon. Featuring NORM BREYFOGLE, RICH BUCKLER, DAVE COCKRUM, MIKE DEODATO, MARK ELLIS, STEVEN GRANT, MIKE GUSTOVICH, TONY ISABELLA, DOUG MURRAY, BILL REINHOLD, JERRY ORDWAY, GEORGE PÉREZ, and many more. With an electrifying Ms. Mystic cover by Neal Adams! Don’t ask, just BI it! See you in sixty! Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief All-Captains Issue • BACK ISSUE • 79

URGENT WARNING FOR OUR READERS! DON’T MISS YOUR FAVORITE MAGS! We are experiencing unprecedented levels of reorder activity on our magazines. Case in point: Back Issue #88, only a few months old, is already completely SOLD OUT. We can no longer guarantee copies will be available for long after initial release, so don’t wait for a convention or sale—order now!

BACK ISSUE #90

ALTER EGO #140

ALTER EGO #141

ALTER EGO #142

ALTER EGO #143

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!

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BACK ISSUE #91

BACK ISSUE #92

BACK ISSUE #94

BACK ISSUE #95

“Indie Super-Heroes!” NEAL ADAMS Ms. Mystic interview, Continuity Comics, BILL BLACK Captain Paragon interview, Justice Machine history, STEVEN GRANT/NORM BREYFOGLE Whisper “Pro2Pro” interview, and the ‘80s revivals of Mighty Crusaders and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Featuring BUCKLER, DEODATO, ELLIS, GRINDBERG, GUSTOVICH, ISABELLA, REINHOLD, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, and more. Cover by NEAL ADAMS!

“Creatures of the Night!” Moon Knight’s DOUG MOENCH and BILL SIENKIEWICZ in a Pro2Pro interview, Ghost Rider, Night Nurse, Eclipso in the Bronze Age, I…Vampire, interviews with Batman writer MIKE W. BARR and Marvel’s Nightcat, JACQUELINE TAVAREZ. Featuring work by BOB BUDIANSKY, J. M. DeMATTEIS, DAVE SIMONS, ROGER STERN, TOM SUTTON, JEAN THOMAS, and more. SIENKIEWICZ and KLAUS JANSON cover!

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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #12 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #13 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #14 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #15 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #16

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!

Celebrating 30 years of artist’s artist MARK SCHULTZ, creator of the CADILLACS AND DINOSAURS franchise, with a featurelength, career-spanning interview conducted in Mark’s Pennsylvanian home, examining the early years of struggle, success with Kitchen Sink Press, and hitting it big with a Saturday morning cartoon series. Includes rarely-seen art and fascinating photos from Mark’s amazing and award-winning career.

A look at 75 years of Archie Comics’ characters and titles, from Archie and his pals ‘n gals to the mighty MLJ heroes of yesteryear and today’s “Dark Circle”! Also: Careerspanning interviews with The Fox’s DEAN HASPIEL and Kevin Keller’s cartoonist DAN PARENT, who both jam on our exclusive cover depicting a face-off between humor and heroes. Plus our usual features, including the hilarious FRED HEMBECK!

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ALTER EGO #145

ALTER EGO #146

ALTER EGO #147

ALTER EGO #148

BRICKJOURNAL #44

40 years after the debut of Marvel’s STAR WARS #1, its writer/editor ROY THOMAS tells RICHARD ARNDT the story behind that landmark comic, plus interviews with artists HOWARD CHAYKIN, RICK HOBERG, and BILL WRAY. Also: GEORGE BRENNER, creator of The Clock—“Jazz in Comics” by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—the finale of BILL SCHELLY’s salute to G.B. LOVE—FCA—and more! CHAYKIN cover.

DOUG MOENCH in the 1970s at Warren and Marvel (Master of Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes, Deathlok, Werewolf by Night, Morbius, Moon Knight, Ka-Zar, Weirdworld)! Art by BUSCEMA, GULACY, PLOOG, BUCKLER, ZECK, DAY, PERLIN, & HEATH! MICHAEL T. GILBERT on EC’s oddball “variant covers”—FCA—and a neverpublished Golden Age super-hero story by MARV LEVY! Cover by PAUL GULACY!

Giant-size Fawcett Collectors of America special with Golden/Silver Age writer OTTO BINDER’s personal script records and illos from his greatest series! Intros by P.C. HAMERLINCK and BILL SCHELLY, art by BECK, SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, SCHAFFENBERGER, AVISON, BORING, MOONEY, PLASTINO, and others! Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and an unpublished C.C. BECK cover!

Relive JOE PETRILAK’s All-Time Classic NY Comic Book Convention—the greatest Golden & Silver Age con ever assembled! Panels, art and photos featuring INFANTINO, KUBERT, 3 SCHWARTZES, NODELL, HASEN, GIELLA, CUIDERA, BOLTINOFF, BUSCEMA, AYERS, SINNOTT, [MARIE] SEVERIN, GOULART, THOMAS, and a host of others! Plus FCA, GILBERT, SCHELLY, and RUSS RAINBOLT’s amazing 60-foot comics mural!

THEME PARK ISSUE! ERIK JONES’ custom LEGO version of Cinderella Castle, STÉPHANE DELY’s Disneyland Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle, and JOHN RUDY’s brick-built versions of your favorite theme park rides! Plus: Step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons and more!

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BACK ISSUE #94

BACK ISSUE #95

BACK ISSUE #96

BACK ISSUE #97

BACK ISSUE #98

“Indie Super-Heroes!” NEAL ADAMS Ms. Mystic interview, Continuity Comics, BILL BLACK Captain Paragon interview, Justice Machine history, STEVEN GRANT/NORM BREYFOGLE Whisper “Pro2Pro” interview, and the ’80s revivals of Mighty Crusaders and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Featuring BUCKLER, DEODATO, ELLIS, GRINDBERG, GUSTOVICH, ISABELLA, REINHOLD, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, and more. Cover by NEAL ADAMS!

“Marvel Fanfare Issue!” Behind the scenes of the ‘80s anthology series with AL MILGROM, interviews and art by ARTHUR ADAMS, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, STEVE ENGLEHART, MICHAEL GOLDEN, ROGER McKENZIE, FRANK MILLER, DOUG MOENCH, ANN NOCENTI, GEORGE PÉREZ, MARSHALL ROGERS, PAUL SMITH, KEN STEACY, CHARLES VESS, and more! Cover by SANDY PLUNKETT and GLENN WHITMORE.

“Bird People!” Hawkman in the Bronze Age, JIM STARLIN’s Superman/Hawkgirl team-up, TIM TRUMAN’s Hawkworld, Hawk and Dove, Penguin history, Blue Falcon & Dynomutt, Condorman, and CHUCK DIXON and SCOTT McDANIEL’s Nightwing. With GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, GREG GULER, RICHARD HOWELL, TONY ISABELLA, KARL KESEL, ROB LIEFELD, DENNY O’NEIL, and others! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ.

“DC in the ‘80s!” From the experimental to the fan faves: Behind-the-scenes looks at SECRET ORIGINS, ACTION COMICS WEEKLY, DC CHALLENGE, THRILLER, ELECTRIC WARRIOR, and SUN DEVILS. Featuring JIM BAIKIE, MARK EVANIER, DAN JURGENS, DOUG MOENCH, MARTIN PASKO, TREVOR VON EEDEN, and others! Featuring a mind-numbing Nightwing cover by ROMEO TANGHAL!

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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #15 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #16

DRAW! #33

KIRBY COLLECTOR #69

KIRBY COLLECTOR #70

Interview and demo by Electra: Assassin and Stray Toasters superstar BILL SIENKIEWICZ, a look at THE WATTS ATELIER OF THE ARTS (one of the best training grounds for students to gain the skills they need to get the jobs they want), JERRY ORDWAY shows the Ord-Way of drawing, JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews the latest art supplies, and BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY take you to Comic Art Bootcamp.

KIRBY’S PARTNERS! Cap/Falcon/Bucky, Sandman & Sandy, Orion & Lightray, Johnny & Ben, Dingbats, Newsboys, plus features on JOE SIMON, MIKE ROYER, CHIC STONE, DICK AYERS, JOE SINNOTT, MIKE THIBODEAUX — even ROZ KIRBY! Also, BATTLE FOR A 3-D WORLD, the 2016 Comic-Con Kirby Tribute Panel, MARK EVANIER, and galleries of Kirby pencil art! Cover inked by JOE SINNOTT!

KIRBY: ALPHA! Looks at the beginnings of Kirby’s greatest concepts, and how he looked back in time and to the future for the origins of ideas like DEVIL DINOSAUR, FOREVER PEOPLE, 2001, ETERNALS, KAMANDI, OMAC, and more! Plus: A rare Kirby interview, the 2016 WonderCon Kirby Tribute Panel, MARK EVANIER, unpublished pencil art galleries, and more! Cover inked by MIKE ROYER!

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