Silver Age Sci-Fi Companion Preview

COMPANION

E IK M y

RR A B W.

b

All characters TM & ©2007 DC Comics

SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication

6

Foreword

7

A Too-Brief Interview with Murphy Anderson

8

May The Schwartz Be With You: An Introduction

18

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI SERIES Adam Strange

28

The Atomic Knights

60

Space Museum

70

Star Hawkins

80

Star Rovers

90

Darwin Jones

98

Strange Adventures Mini-Series

100

Spotlight on… “The Strange Adventure That Really Happened!”

106

Strange Sports Stories

118

Super-Chief

126

The Riddle of the Recycled Covers

129

Acknowledgments

138

A TOO-BRIEF INTERVIEW WITH

MURPHY ANDERSON necessarily, but I do see what you’re talking about. But [the [The following conversation took place on May 15, 2007.] similarities are] MIKE W. BARR: Murphy, thanks for consenting to this. pretty generic We were discussing the cover to Strange Adventures stuff, though. #74 [11/56], and the similarity of certain elements And in Buck between the alien on the cover [“The Invisible Raider Rogers, I drew Above: From the late 1940s from Dimension X” by John Broome and outfits very through the ’60s, Murphy Anderson handled the art Carmine Infantino] and the costume of much like this. chores on the Buck Rogers Adam Strange.

MWB: That’s newspaper comic strip.

MURPHY ANDERSON: [The alien on] This certainly particular cover does look vaguely like Adam true. Let’s go back in time a little more here Strange’s costume, but I don’t think it was the — appropriate for a book on science-fiction basis for anything. comics. When you first met Julie Schwartz, MWB: I see. It does have a lot of comdid you know that he had been a sciencemon elements, so… fiction agent?

ANDERSON: Well, that was someANDERSON: Not before I met him, but we thing that [cover artist] Reuben soon discovered that after we sat down Moriera dreamt up. I don’t know how that for a couple of minutes. [chuckles] cover came about.<None> MWB: I’ll bet.

MWB: No, me neither. The inside story — ANDERSON: He knew a lot of peowhich I haven’t seen — is by Carmine ple I knew when we were young. It’s Infantino. strange, but I’d been living in ANDERSON: Yeah, yeah, I’ve got that Chicago. I was stationed out story here. What kind of questions do there when I was in the Navy part you have…? of my time and I looked up Ray MWB: When I saw that cover on the Grand Palmer. Not Ray Palmer specifiComic Book Database on the Internet, it struck cally, but I went up to Ziff-Davis’ me there were a couple of thematic similarities to offices when I was still in uniAdam Strange’s costume. But that was not any form. I talked with him. That time, kind of influence on you, then.

I met Ray Palmer and he had been Above: Murphy also regularly ANDERSON: I don’t think so. You know, drew the “Captain Comet” one of Julie’s personal friends. We series in Strange Adventures Carmine used to lay out some covers had a great deal to talk about. I did during the 1950s. This rendifor Julie and then he would do them covers — not covers, but illustrations tion is from 1990. © DC Comics for Reuben or whoever, you know. And for Ray. I don’t want to attribute that to him, He had Amazing Stories and Fantastic

8

© respective owner.

Conducted and edited by Mike W. Barr Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

MAYBETHE SCHWARTZ WITH YOU! (with thanks to Mel Brooks) I have heard the anecdote more times than I can recall. Indeed, it’s even part of my experience.

In a science class in elementary school, junior or senior high in the late 1950s or early ’60s, a student evinces knowledge that startles the teacher. Perhaps it’s the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), the distance of the Earth from the sun (93 million miles), or the name of the nearest neighboring star (Alpha Centauri). Happily surprised, the teacher asks the student how he knew this fact. The reply: “From a comic book, Strange Adventures.” Or “Mystery In Space.”

The teacher’s face clouds. “No, you didn’t. You can’t learn anything from reading comic books.” But the student has learned one thing: never again to volunteer in class.

No kid ever read an issue of Strange Adventures (SA) or Mystery In Space (MIS) without coming away with some kind of science fact. But though those titles were among the most educational of their day, their creator, editor and overseer knew first Great comics editor Julius Schwartz in the 1970s. and foremost that they had to tell entertaining,

imaginative stories that would keep their readers — generally assumed to be young or teen-aged boys — spellbound. Such an editor would have to generate hundreds of fresh story ideas designed to produce a repeat audience, while respecting his readers’ intelligence.

A lab might stage a project to artificially produce such a human being, but the result would probably be inferior to Julius Schwartz.

Born in 1915, Schwartz gravitated early to the burgeoning genre of science-fiction, immersing himself in the contents of such early pulp magazines as Astounding and Thrilling Wonder Stories. At City College of New York he majored in math and physics, excellent training for his future occupations. Schwartz and friend Mort Weisinger (later the editor of DC Comics’ Superman titles) then opened the first literary agency to specialize in sci-fi, “The Solar Sales Service.” Their Adam Strange pin-up by clients included such giants of Neal Adams. © DC Comics the genre as Stanley Weinbaum, H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury.

Later in his career, Julius Schwartz would have a hand in creating many characters. But as an agent for science-fiction — or, in the delightful 1940s term, “scientifiction,” Schwartz was a character — he inspired the role of sci-fi agent M. Halsted Phyn in the

18

1942 mystery novel Rocket To the Morgue by Anthony Boucher, under the pseudonym of H.H. Holmes.

(Boucher himself is a fascinating figure, the author of much seminal sci-fi and detective fiction, arguably the most influential critic of either genre, and co-founder of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.) The Schwartz would cry “Another penny!” when client Edmond Hamilton’s typewriter bell would signal the end of a line, the math being that one line equaled ten words, and, at a penny per word, one penny equaled agent Schwartz’ take.

(But Julie would have his revenge. Rocket To the Morgue also mentioned a pulp sci-fi hero christened “Captain Comet,” modeled after Edmond Hamilton’s space-faring crusader, “Captain Future.” Captain Comet would later course a trail through Strange Adventures.)

In 1944, Schwartz left the literary world for the world of comics. He claimed never to have read sci-fi after that and had never seen an episode of Star Trek nor any of the Star Wars films. (In 1983 he was delighted when artist Curt Swan, drawing my script for DC Comics Presents #58, used the likeness of Star Wars creator George Lucas for the character of a movie director in the story, though the resemblance had to be pointed out to him.)

Offered a job as story editor at the burgeoning firm of National Periodical Publications, Inc. (later DC Comics), Schwartz arrived at the interview having perused only a handful of comics on the subway ride in. It was his innate story sense that got him the job, which he held until 1986, at which point he quit editing monthly comics with his triumphant “last” issues of Superman (#423) and Action Comics (#583, 9/86), written by Alan Moore.

He then assumed the post of “Goodwill Ambassador of DC Comics” until his death in 2004.

Schwartz brought to his job as editor a skill unmatched at generating story ideas, a sense of drama and, by no means incidentally, a solid working knowledge of science, which would be translated into plot points for thousands of stories. Though Schwartz is perhaps best-remembered for editing such superhero comics as The Flash, Green Lantern and Justice League of America, it may have been that sci-fi titles such as Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space were his greatest achievements.

According to the Grand Comics Database Project, the original title of Strange Adventures was to have been Project: Science. Someone, perhaps The Schwartz himself, thankfully realized that to the projected audience this title was about as exciting as: “Stories Approved By Your Parents;” the magazine instead carried the far more euphonious and evocative title Strange Adventures, which NPP registered by creating an “ashcan” title dated 7-8/50, using the soon-

“Lensmen” author E.E. “Doc” Smith. © respective owner.

© respective owner.

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

19

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at that National Periodical Publications’ editorial meeting in 1957! There — as has been recorded elsewhere — it was decided that two new science-fiction series would debut in the pages of DC’s tryout magazine, Showcase. One would tell the exploits of a future-age crimefighter, while the other would detail the adventures of a modernday man swept up into adventures on another planet.

The former concept fell to longtime editor Jack Schiff to develop, and became “Space Ranger,” essentially a masked crime-fighter in a future era with a secret identity (businessman Rick Starr), a clever and reliable assistant (Cryll, a shape-shifting alien), a girl friend (secretary Myra Mason), a secret headquarters (inside an asteroid) and a colorful rogue’s gallery of enemies. In some ways, the “Space Ranger” series reflects exactly one of the dictates of seminal sciencefiction editor John W. Campbell, Jr. — they were adventure stories that would have been perfectly at home in magazines of the future, just as readers of 1958 read the then-current exploits of Nero Wolfe and Perry Mason. “Space Ranger” was at least a serviceable hit, debuting in Showcase #15 (7-8/58), with stories that have been credited to Gardner Fox and Edmond Hamilton, plotting and scripting, respectively, and art by Bob Brown. The strip soon shifted to Tales of the

Unexpected with #40 (8/59), where it was written by Arnold Drake, then to Mystery In Space (last appearing in #103, 7/65) after editor Julius Schwartz had been pulled off the latter title to helm the more valuable (to DC, at least) Batman series.

(The mystery Space Ranger never solved is why his writing chores were split between Fox and Hamilton, each a reliable pro who could have done the job solo.)

The latter concept fell to The Schwartz to turn into a series. Never one to turn down inspiration from past colleagues, Schwartz put his head together with his best writer, Gardner Fox, and, with a few cues from Edgar Rice Burroughs, came up with “Adam Strange.” Interviewed by Lou Mougin in a 1984 Comics Interview, Fox was asked if “Adam Strange” was derived from Burroughs’ John Carter series about an Earthmen who traveled to the planet Mars, had fantastic adventures, and fell in love with a native girl, Fox replied: “I suppose you could probably say John Carter was in my subconscious. You had to think of some interesting way to transfer him from Earth up to the planet Rann before you even got started in on a plot, but it was fun to do.”

Indeed, of the possibly dozens of features Fox had

Above: Mystery in Space #91 panel detail. Art by Infantino & Anderson.

28

© DC Comics

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION story of John Carter, but it is also the story of Moses.

And it is with the character of Adam that the series comes into its own. Previously, science-fiction comics series, such as Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon, divided the personas of man of action and thinker into two discrete characters. Buck and Flash were the heroic, reckless side of the coin, willing to dive into action and ask questions later, content to let elderly scientists Dr. Huer or Dr. Zarkov, respectively, handle the thinking which, by implication, was always deemed slightly less important than the fighting. Adam Strange had such an elder scientist figure, Sardath, Alanna’s father, to provide pseudoscientific gimmickry.

But Schwartz and Fox valued the plot of a story as much as they valued its action, and they respected the thinker as much — if not more — than they respected the doer. The brains of the series was really Adam, aided and abetted by a woman who was his equal. So they combined brains and brawn in one character, crafted three issues of exploits in Showcase, drawn by the team of Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs and Joe Giella, and waited for reader response. (Artist Murphy Anderson designed Adam’s costume and even drew a cover for Showcase #17, which was rejected and has, alas, been lost to time.)

Five months after Adam’s last appearance in Showcase, he debuted in a new series in © DC Comics

created, let alone been involved in, “Adam Strange” remained one of his favorites. In the interview previously cited, Fox said: “I suppose I’ve been asked again and again who my favorite was, and I always had a soft spot for Adam Strange…” And in the Winter, 1963-64 issue of Alter Ego (#6), Fox wrote: “And a sigh for the good times I had writing about Adam and Alanna on Rann. I just turned in the last script (sigh) I will do about them.”

As Rex Stout, the creator of Nero Wolfe, said, “If I don’t have any fun writing a story, no one’s going to have any fun reading it.” By this standard, Fox must have been having fun, for the “Adam Strange” series remains a high-water mark in the memories of many comics fans. The adventures of “Earth’s First Spaceman,” teleported by zeta-beam to the distant planet Rann, that incredible planet of green skies and super-science existing side-by-side with utter savagery, rang true to hundreds of thousands of readers who admired Adam for his quick wits and, not incidentally, his romance with the lovely Alanna of Ranagar.

As noted elsewhere in these pages, Fox’s forte as a writer wasn’t characterization. In some ways, the “Adam Strange” series is no different. Despite over 50 stories of Adam & Co., there is virtually no supporting cast save Alanna’s father, Sardath; almost no citizens of the planet Rann are named unless they are later revealed to be the mystery villain. Characterization was mostly saved for the hero and heroine. Unlike most Fox series, what a reader takes away from “Adam Strange” is a memory of the clever plots second, and of the warm, mutually supportive relationship of Adam and Alanna first.

“Adam Strange,” like many other stories, tells of an foreigner who comes to a strange land, adopts it as his own, loves one of its daughters and becomes its champion, saving the land from perils, many of which it has created itself. It may be the Right: MIS #83 panel detail.

29

© DC Comics

“Adam Strange”

The Stories “Secret of the Eternal City!” — 15 pages (first story).

Cover: GK (p&i).

SH #17, 11-12/58. GF (w), MS (p), FG (i).

“Across 25 trillion miles of space the planet Rann circles the star-sun Alpha Centauri — surely a strange place to find a present-day Earthman! And yet — transported bodily across that great gulf of space, Adam Strange arrives on Rann in time to challenge the invasion of the Eternals — super-scientific creatures who ruthlessly destroy whatever opposes them in their quest for a fantastic city that has not existed in 1000 years!”

First appearance: Adam Strange, Alanna of Ranagar, Sardath (Alanna’s father).

Synopsis: Leaping across a chasm while fleeing from hostile Incas, archaeologist Adam Strange inadvertently intercepts the zeta-beam, a burst of energy intended to facilitate communication between the planets Earth and Rann, but which “some unknown spaceradiation” converted… to a teleportation beam!”

While touring Rann, the planet is invaded by The Eternals, an alien race seeking Vitatron, an element whose radiations give them immortality. Before defeating them, Adam and Alanna must visit the ancient city of Samakand, which appears only once every 25 years.

Fox sci-fi device introduced: The

Menticizer, which teaches Adam the language of Rann instantly.

Hostile alien race: The Eternals (no home planet named).

Commentary: This, the first recorded exploit of Adam Strange, remains one of the best, an imaginative yarn filled with action, suspense, and a clever solution by Adam, whose lastminute stratagems will become as familiar to his readers as Perry Mason’s courtroom maneuvers were familiar to fans of Erle Stanley Gardner.

“The Planet and the Pendulum!” — 10 pages (second story).

SH #17, 11-12/58. GF (w), MS (p), JG (i).

“Across 25 trillion miles of space a beautiful girl named Alanna and an exciting world of adventure beckon Adam Strange! And while the Earthman waits impatiently for the zeta-beam to teleport him once again to Rann — he is unaware of the terrible doom being prepared for him on the planet circling the star-sun Alpha Centauri!”

First appearance: Adam’s space suit, found on the spaceship which took Alanna and Sardath to Anthorann; the backward tribe of Zoora; the planet Anthorann.

Synopsis: Captured by the backward tribe of Zoora when he materializes on Rann, Adam is condemned as a sorcerer and sent via a teleportation device to a neighboring planet, Anthorann, where he finds Alanna and Sardath, who have arrived via a spaceship. When the domed city of New

35

Ranagar is attacked by the Morleen with a swinging pendulum, Adam must save the city.

Auctorial inspiration: The title and dominating visual of this story were inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 story, “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Fox sci-fi device introduced: The Rainbow Doom “… actually a teleport station… scientists had set up a thousand years before!”

Hostile alien race: The Morleen.

Obstacle to Zeta-Beam: None.

Commentary: The recipe (which allows for some variation, as opposed to a formula, which does not) for the rest of the “Adam Strange” series is now in place.

Young Romance: A caption refers to Alanna as “… the women [Adam Strange] loves… “ Adam refers to the girl as “… my beloved Alanna.”

˛

“Invaders From the Atom Universe!” — 15 pages (first story).

Cover: GK (p), BS (i).

SH #18, 1-2/59. GF (w), MS (p), FG (i).

“One man on Earth has been given the strange power to travel instantly to the planet Rann of the star-sun Alpha Centauri — 25 trillion miles across space! On two previous visits to Rann, Adam Strange has shared dangerous adventures with a girl named Alanna!

Now once again he waits to return to Rann — unaware that before he can see his beloved he must face the Invaders From the Atom Universe!”

up with the series (quoted from a transcript printed in Alter Ego v.3, #60; 7/06): SCHWARTZ: I think we anticipated what would happen after the next world war, World War III… And then we dealt with the radiation, and one of us came up with the idea — maybe wearing armor would shield them. John [or I] had the wonderful idea of them going from city to city trying to find survivors and having a different adventure…

BROOME: I remember, in the beginning, we both got the feeling that it had something to do with King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table… So we worked out a Third World War where everything was destroyed, where life was almost destroyed and crime was dangerous and rife all over. And The Atomic Knights stand for justice and faith and all that.

ANDERSON: [asked about drawing the series] Yes, that is something I really enjoyed doing. Except it was a backbreaker, and I was thankful it only appeared every three months.

Earlier, in a 1992 interview with Steve Ringgenberg in Hero Illustrated, Murphy spoke about the creation of the series: “‘The Atomic Knights’ was formed basically because I bellyached so much about not being able to pencil and Julie finally came up with that.”

One of the most amazing

© DC Comics

Where were you on October 9, 1986?

On that day, I placed a phone call to Murphy Anderson and, after exchanging pleasantries, asked: “Murphy, what day is today?”

After a moment’s silence, Murphy chuckled. He has a wonderful chuckle, deep and rich, like the sound of oil gurgling through a pipeline. “Well,” he said, “since you’re calling me today, this must be the day that World War III began in the ‘Atomic Knights’ series.”

Right the first time. We discussed the series for a few minutes, then parted company, me hoping his day had been enriched by the conversation as much as mine had.

For “The Atomic Knights” had been responsible for a major amount of enjoyment on the part of comics fans, and remains one of the best comics series introduced in the 1960s — no mean feat.

Series editor Julius Schwartz, writer/co-creator John Broome and artist/co-creator Murphy Anderson were asked, at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1998, how they came

60

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION aspects of the series is not that it was so good — usually were less plot-driven and given its pedigree, there was a good chance of that — his characters more prone to show but that readers didn’t close their emotions. (Broome also realStrange Adventures every ized their differences and apprecithird month with a compulsion ated them, christening the leader to slit their wrists. That such posof the Knights Gardner Grayle, sibly depressing subject matter after Fox.) When Marene Herald, could be handled in an inspiring, the sole distaff member of the upbeat way shows the skills of Knights, collapses into Grayle’s Broome and Anderson. arms after seeing the world Nonetheless, some critics, devastated in SA #129’s “World who can type faster than they Out of Time!” (“Everywhere death can think, have berated the and emptiness — ! Nothing green series for depicting a post— no plant-life left on Earth! nuclear war world that was not Gardner, sometimes I can’t stand “realistic” enough. And it is true it — !”), it’s a genuinely telling that, as the Atomic Knights moment, far more so than any of traveled the country, they found the frequent whine-fests Peter no heaps of decaying bodies nor Parker would soon be indulging people coughing up blood due to in across the street because radiation poisoning. nobuddy wiked him. It’s not that But such criticisms, written the Atomic Knights didn’t have from a modern perspective, their own problems, it’s that the © DC Comics reflect neither the viewpoints nor problem they deemed most the science available to creators nearly fifty years ago. important was their mission. Like many visionaries, the As recently as the days of the first atomic bomb tests, Atomic Knights are fighting to create — or recreate — some scientists thought such an explosion would a world in which they will no longer be needed. ignite the entire atmosphere, setting the world aflame.

“The Atomic Knights” Even by the late 1950s, very little reliable science was quickly became a favorite available about the environment of a post-nuclear war with fans; Schwartz had a Earth; certainly the “Knights” series gave the reader a hunch it would. more realistic picture of such a world than had any With #120, comic series to that date. And if the ecology of the suronly the viving world was deliberately distorted for dramatic purposes — some plants are found in later adventures, but in a world with no insect life, how would they have been pollinated? — editor Schwartz would be the first to admit that the series was science-fiction, produced ultimately for entertainment purposes.

And what entertainment “The Atomic Knights” © DC Comics was! Broome’s skills as a writer contrasted with those of his colleague Gardner Fox in that Broome’s stories This spread: Various “Atomic Knights” panel details by Murphy Anderson.

61

read in the same sentence, unless the former refers to temperature. To hear the media tell it, kids dread museums like the Plague, unless they’re interactive and full of whistles and flashing lights.

But how could any kid not think the Space Museum was cool? It’s chock-full of alien artifacts, weapons (hopefully deactivated) and, in a few cases, actual aliens! Even Bart Simpson would think the Space Museum was cool — though I wouldn’t let him walk around it unescorted.

Though what editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox had created was the perfect format for an anthology series, perhaps they can also be credited with having created the first interactive museum.

Certainly there was plenty to do there. The format of the series, which was sometimes forsaken, was for Howard Parker to tell the story behind some exhibit to Tommy, then sometimes — though not always — to ask Tommy, at a crucial point in the narrative, how the characters knew what action to take, how they had solved their dilemma, just as readers are “Once a month Howard Parker takes his son Tommy to the Space Museum, one of the wonders of the 25th century…

“Behind every object in the Space Museum, there’s a story of heroism, daring, self-sacrifice….”

— “World of Doomed Spacemen!”, SA #104

All images © DC Comics

As a kid, the “Space Museum” series pressed a lot of buttons for me. My father died before I was born, so the idea of a monthly father-son jaunt sounded pretty good, especially to a place that was as cool as the Space Museum.

“Cool” and “museum” are words you don’t often This spread: Various “Space Museum” panel details by Carmine Infantino.

70

private eye down on his luck,” could be a composite of Craig Stevens and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. but, this being a Schwartz series, the reader is never allowed to forget that it’s also a science-fiction series, an effect which is usually achieved by prefixing any noun with the word “space” (“Shortly after, at the Space-Terminal…”). Hawkins sometimes goes to other planets on his cases, and has a long-suffering robot secretary, Ilda.

Most fictional private eyes have adoring secretaries, and since “Star Hawkins” was a science-fiction series, well… why not make his secretary a robot? Cocreator John Broome obviously loved putting Ilda into messes orchestrated by her underappreciative boss; no less than ten of the titles of the 17 “Star Hawkins” stories contain the word “Robot,” a sure clue that Ilda will play a major role. In fact, a case could be made that Ilda is actually the star of the series; many was the time she saved her employer from being worked over or killed by criminals (or, as they call them in the 21st century, “zips”). One fan, in the “Spotlight On Strange Adventures” column in SA #162 (3/64), asked: “Instead of calling [the series] the ‘Star Hawkins’ series, it ought to be renamed the ‘Ilda the Robot’ series. After all, isn’t she the real ‘Star’?”

If “The Atomic Knights,” to debut three months later, was as realistic as a comic book series could be in 1960 and still be approved by the Comics Code Authority, “Star Hawkins” took the opposite tack. While

80

All images © DC Comics

By 1960, private eyes were the guys. In September, 1958, Peter Gunn premiered, starring Craig Stevens, who played the smooth, jazz-loving P.I. for three seasons. One month later, 77 Sunset Strip, created by Roy Huggins, the first hour-long detective show on TV, debuted, and was a ratings smash, starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., as Stu Bailey, and Roger Smith as Jeff Spencer. With them was Edd Byrnes as “Kookie” (Gerald Lloyd Kookson III), the hip-talking eye candy for the kids.

77 is of interest to Silver Age comic book fans for two reasons: The character of “Kookie” was the inspiration for the character of Snapper Carr, sidekick to the Justice League of America, and the success of 77 probably led to the generation of the third of the four major series covered in these pages to originate in Strange Adventures, “Star Hawkins.”

In his first recorded exploit “[I]n 2079 Star Hawkins, a

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION it wasn’t exactly a comedy to the degree that, say, the late “Space Cabby” series had been, “Star Hawkins” certainly had its share of humor, more than any other Schwartz sci-fi series running concurrently. As fashioned by Broome, who had also stretched his humor muscles on another tongue-in-cheek strip, “Detective Chimp,” Star Hawkins was always a day late and a space credit short. A reoccurring gag was his frequent pawning of Ilda to pay the rent or his creditors.

It was a calculated risk, putting a less-than-serious private eye in a magazine whose readers generally liked their sci-fi straight, but it seems to have worked.

In the letter column of SA #144 (9/62), The Schwartz points out: “… [W]e believe the ‘Star Hawkins’ stories offer a much-needed comic relief from serious sciencefiction.” “Star Hawkins,” though never the most popular of the Schwartz sci-fi series, it was popular enough to appear regularly until the next-tolast issue of Schwartz’ SA, and was

continued by new editor Jack Schiff, who presumably was more at home with the concept of a private eye, even a sci-fi eye, than he had been with the Rubik’s Cube complexity of “The Star Rovers.”

Penciler Mike Sekowsky was the ideal choice to keep the mood light. There was something in Sekowsky’s unique rendition of the world — let alone the other eight planets — that was difficult to take seriously anyway. This quirkiness was generally kept under rein when illustrating the complicated scripts of Gardner Fox on JLA (Sekowsky’s other major DC assignment), but on “Star Hawkins” it was given free rein, as best exemplified in such wild rides as SA #134’s “Case of the Interplanetary Imps,” in which seven miniature alien terrors run riot in Star’s office, their faces alight with manic glee. It’s a shame Sekowsky never got a chance to really let loose drawing Batman’s nemesis, The Joker. Bernard Sachs fluid inks admirably served Sekowsky’s pencils as they would on so many issues of JLA.

This spread: Mike Sekowsky panel details from various “Star Hawkins” episodes.

© DC Comics

“STAR HAWKINS” IN STRANGE ADVENTURES • STAR HAWKINS SERIES Strange Adventures #114, 3/60: “The Case of the Martian Witness!”

Strange Adventures #116, 5/60: “TCOT Robot-Spy!” Strange Adventures #119, 8/60: “TCOT Counterfeit Credits!”

Strange Adventures #122, 11/60: “TCOT Red-Hot Robot!”

Strange Adventures #125, 2/61: “TCOT Vanishing Robots”

Strange Adventures #128, 5/61: “TCOT Robot Detective!”

Strange Adventures #131, 8/61: “TCOT 3-Eyed Invaders!”

Strange Adventures #134, 11/62: “TCOT Interplanetary Imps!”

Strange Adventures #137, 2/62: “TCOT Robot Brother!”

Strange Adventures #140, 5/62: “TCOT Worn-Out Robot!”

Strange Adventures #143, 8/62: “COT Unwanted Robot!”

81

Strange Adventures #146, 11/62: “TCOT Robot Counter-Spy!” Strange Adventures #149, 2/63: “COT Rebellious Space-Crew!”

Strange Adventures #152, 5/63: “TCOT Body-Switching Robot!”

Strange Adventures #155, 8/63: “TCOT Red Diamond Smugglers!”

Strange Adventures #158, 11/63: “TCOT Romantic Robot!”

Strange Adventures #162, 3/64: “TCOT 14 Clueless Crimes!”

The series’ title — but nothing else — may have come from the 1915 novel The Star Rover, a tale of past-life and out-of-the-body adventures of real-life convict Ed Morrell from one of the last authors readers would have expected — Jack London, the high priest of the wilderness, as exemplified in such tales as The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Either Fox, a voluminous reader, or Schwartz, a former sciencefiction agent who loved tipping his hat to those who had gone before, may have known of London’s book.

© DC Comics

Amazing Heroes #113 (March 15, 1987) contained an interview in which veteran comics writer Gardner Fox was quizzed by Richard Morrissey, Ken Gale, Mark Gruenwald and Ken Turniansky about his many contributions to comics. Of course some of his most popular series came up, and he described how he worked with editor Julius Schwartz.

FOX: But we always plotted the stories very closely — I remember one series we did in the science-fiction books whose name I forget. There were three characters, each of whom would come up with his own solution to a problem, until they discovered the real one…

MORRISSEY: “The Star Rovers”?

FOX: Yes, that was it. When Jack Schiff came along and took over the book from Julie, he took one look and said, “I’m not going to continue this! I can’t understand it myself!”

Rather than being criticized for his narrowness of editorial vision, perhaps Schiff should be credited for knowing his limitations. After all, his efforts to continue such Schwartz’ series as “Adam Strange” and “Star Hawkins” were less than stellar. (Schiff was a talented editor, but his talents did not lay in continuing series begun by an editor whose personality left as strong a stamp as Julius Schwartz’.)

90

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION There is nothing in “Who Caught the Loborilla?”

(Mystery in Space #66) to indicate that it was the first of a series. Perhaps neither Schwartz nor Fox saw it as series material. But certainly, on reconsideration, the basic gimmick is rich with potential which, to the restless, fertile mind of a Schwartz, must have been the equivalent of catnip. No matter how it became a series, Schwartz and Fox took the basic premise and played with it through nine stories, turning, twisting, bending it the same way they played with readers’ minds.

In 1961, MIS was published eight times yearly, so it is just possible that The Schwartz had time to receive positive mail on “Who Caught the Loborilla?” to produce the sequel “What Happened on Sirius-4?” for MIS #69, three issues but five months later. After a five-issue delay before the Rovers’ third exploit in MIS #74, the series appeared in every third issue of MIS for the next year-and-a-half, after which it was transplanted to Strange Adventures

for the last two stories of its run, beginning with issue #159.

Cover copy for MIS #77 proclaims: “Plus a new ‘Star Rovers’ story!” This is the first time that the series has been mentioned on the cover. All subsequent appearances of the series, both in MIS and in SA would be heralded similarly, with the exception of the cover of MIS #86.

With MIS #92 and SA #164, their editorial reins were transferred to Jack Schiff so Schwartz’ stable could lend their talents to the flagging Batman franchise in Batman and Detective Comics.

This meant no less work for scripter Gardner Fox, but Sid Greene became primarily an inker, though he would occasionally pencil and ink a story. In the letter column of Alter Ego #7 (Fall, 1964), Greene wrote: “Frankly, I would like to get back to penciling. But I like working for that taskmaster Schwartz!” Indeed he did; it became Greene’s trademark to include a caricature of Schwartz in every story

This spread: The artistry of Sid Greene is evident in these “Star Rovers” panel details from Strange Adventures.

“THE STAR ROVERS” IN MYSTERY IN SPACE & SA • “THE STAR ROVERS” SERIES Mystery in Space #66, 3/61: “Who Caught the Loborilla?”

Mystery in Space #69, 8/61: “What Happened on Sirius-4?

Mystery in Space #74, 3/62: “Where is the Paradise of Space?”

Mystery in Space #77 8/62: “Where Was

I Born — Venus? Mars?

Jupiter?”

Mystery in Space #80, 12/62: “Who Saved the Earth?”

Mystery in Space #83, 5/63:

“Who Went Where — and Why?” Mystery in Space #86, 9/63: “When Did Earth Vanish?”

Strange Adventures #159, 12/63: “Will the Star Rovers Abandon Earth?”

Strange Adventures #163, 4/64: “How Can Time Be Stopped?”

All images © DC Comics

91

By almost any standard, Darwin Jones is the least remarkable of the series characters to debut in Strange Adventures. His stories took place on modernday Earth, he had no special equipment or outfit, and the only “power” he possessed was that of his fine analytical mind, which he used in his position as Director of the Department of Scientific Investigation.

Still, something about “Darwin Jones” clicked.

Maybe it was the fact that his series told SA’s readers, few of whom were probably football heroes, that it was possible for brains and quick thinking, not a strong back, to carry the day. His stories often involved him thwarting the schemes of evil aliens, sometimes not quite sure what effect his actions would have,

knowing only that his actions, dictated by science and logic, were the only course open to him.

More than one story ended with Jones realizing he had been right because something — an alien invasion, a peril threatening Earth — had not occurred.

“Darwin Jones” is also of interest in that he and Strange Adventures go ‘way back. Jones was the magazine’s first series character, debuting in SA #1 (89/50), right next to an adaptation of the film Destination Moon, in a story that has been attributed to David V. Reed and Paul Norris, and he was around 14 years later, in #160, to make his final bow. Only Julie Schwartz and Gardner Fox had a longer association with the magazine.

Editor Schwartz obviously had fond feelings for the scientific sleuth. In the lettercol for SA #149 (2/63), he wrote: “…We’d like to get your reaction to ‘Darwin Jones,’ who makes a long-overdue reappearance in ‘Would-Be King of Earth’ in this issue. Actually, ‘Darwin Jones’ was Strange Adventures’ first series character, and though he’s been absent for some time, we’ll be glad to bring him back on a more regular basis should enough of you readers encourage us to do so.”

Some readers thought bringing back ‘Jones’ was a great idea; others, perhaps used to glitzier protagonists, not so much. Jones made only one more appearance, in SA #160, three issues before the end of the Schwartz era. But, like seeing an old firehorse responding to one last alarm, it was good to see our old friend in action one last time.

© DC Comics

-- MWB

98

Mini-Series More intriguing, in some ways, than the long, ongoseries was created when The Schwartz realized a cover ing series created for Strange Adventures are the minihe had bought bore significant similarities to an earlier series which sprang into being during the title’s run. commission. For example, both of the “Butterfly The de facto intent of an ongoing series is, of course, Giants” covers, from SA #s 119 and 157, depict giants to sell stories about characters which reoccur capturing humans in nets on a regular basis. But the or by spinning cocoons. mini-series seem to have had no The second story may such motivation behind them. For have been declared a example, the sequel to keep readers sequel to from complaining that the “Raiders from the covers were repetitive, or Giant World!” from because Julie, Fox or SA #119, did not artist Murphy Anderson appear until SA noticed a similarity. #157, over three Or maybe Julie and years later.

Gardner were just Perhaps the answer is trying to keep themthat Schwartz and Fox selves interested. No designated a story a sequel matter the reason, when a story springboard the Schwartz/Fox contained thematic material with mini-series somesufficient resonance to merit times allowed them such a designation. Both of to break the usual the Jim and Rhoda format and get a little Trent stories, gathmore creative. And ered in the “Ragin’ when The Schwartz Reptiles” section, and The Fox got dealt with hostile creative, look out!

Panel detail from Strange Adventures #119.

Art by green life-forms.

— MWB Murphy Anderson. © DC Comics Or perhaps a

100

Author!

Author!

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

Previously Anthony Boucher’s novel Rocket To the Morgue was cited for its use of Julius Schwartz as inspiration for one of its characters.

Later in that book, Boucher writes: “Another man’s shop talk, if the man is intelligent, is the most interesting listening to be found.”

Though by now much of the writer’s life and the creative process of editing a magazine has become transparent, devoid of all intrigue, such was not the case to comics readers of the early 1960s. To them, the method by which an idea became a published story seemed an arcane process, more mystic ritual than a means of quotidian employment.

It’s uncertain if the stories in this mini-series did anything to clarify the process, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

People like nothing better than to talk about their jobs, love them or hate them, and for Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox, chained to desks for every day of their working lives, to craft stories which combined their jobs with world-saving plots must have been sublime fun. One can envision Schwartz rewarding Fox for a job well done by commissioning another “writer” story, or Fox crafting a springboard starring a clever science-fiction writer — and his resourceful editor, © DC Comics of course — that

was too tantalizing for The Schwartz to resist.

Julius Schwartz began his career as a science-fiction agent, and was thus quite familiar with the editorial end of the creative process, introducing Gardner Fox to the world of prose, eventually culminating in Fox selling sci-fi novelets to such pulps of the 1940s and 1950s as Planet Stories, as well as writing at least dozens of novels, many of them sciencefiction.

This mini-series is unique to this book in that it was a designated a series not by The Schwartz, but by the author, due to its reoccurring theme. So let’s eavesdrop on some shoptalk by two of the men who, as seen in the last story in this series, also walked the walk. er. ive own

ect © resp

— MWB

This page: Panel details from Strange Adventures #140.

Art by Sid Greene.

102

All images © DC Comics

I was fortunate to obtain, from columnist Craig A. Shutt (“Mr. Silver Age”), a copy of the script to one of my favorite stories covered in this volume, “The Strange Adventure That Really Happened!” (Strange Adventures #140, 5/62). (Craig does not remember where he got it, but it shows evidence of frequent recopying and of the original having been, at one time, placed in a three-ring binder.) A synopsis of this story with commentary can be found in the “Author! Author!” section of this book, beginning on page 102; we’ll confine ourselves here to a brief analysis of the splash page.

Unfortunately, one thing an analysis of the script can’t tell us is who came up with the delightful idea of Editor Schwartz and Writer Fox disrupting an alien inva-

sion. Reader commentary on the story —- unanimously favorable — appeared in the lettercol of SA #145 (9/62), but none of The Schwartz’ replies dealt with the genesis of the tale, though he did, with a straight face, refer to it as “…[a] …realistic story.” (Oh, to live in a world where that was true!)

Even a cursory examination of the script shows some heavy editing on the part of The Schwartz.

Though this is often taken as a sign that a script was substandard and needed revision, as I commented in an analysis of the Fox script to Justice League of America #16, 12/62 (“The Cavern of Deadly Spheres!”) published in 2005’s Justice League Companion, “[T]he fact that the script… was heavily edited carries little weight. Any writer can point to changes that do not necessarily enhance the story, but were made solely because

106

Strange Adventures Mini-Series

How can the two lawmen hope to save Ear th and Klaramar — when they can’t even save themselves!”

Synopsis: In a kind of sci-fi crypt on the planet Saturn, evil genius Chun Yull, who faked his death in “The Face-Hunter from Saturn,” awakens to find, to his dismay, that his native planet of Klaramar is still extant and thriving. He travels to Earth to obtain materials for a bomb and to wreak vengeance on Jim Boone and Bob Colby, the Highway Patrol officers who helped foil his earlier plan.

Notes: Though the term “faceless creature” in “The Face-Hunter from Saturn” referred to benign alien Klee Pan, the term is used in this story to refer to villainous Chun Yull.

It is revealed that Jim Boone and Bob Colby, as a reward for aiding Klee Pan in the earlier story, have been given the power of telepathic communication with each other.

Continuity Conundrum: The evil faceless creature, in SA #124 called Chan Yull or Chen Yull, is now refereed to as Chun Yull.

Miscellany: A purple tunic has been added to the outfit which both Klee Pan and Chun Yull wear in this story, and which Chun Yull wore in the first story. But careful examination of the art of “The FaceHunter from Saturn” suggests that the tunic was drawn in that first story, but simply colored as though it were Chun Yull’s flesh, explaining why the alien conqueror looks a little paunchy.

© DC Comics

“The Face-Hunter from Saturn!” — 9 pages lead (cover) story. Cover: MA (p, i).

SA #124, 1/1961. GF (w), MS (p), MA (i).

“The faceless creature came from Saturn… desperately seeking a certain face that would save his atomic world from destruction! But though he scoured every square mile of the Earth, the face was nowhere to be found!

Where on Earth was it?”

First appearance: The “Faceless Creatures” from Saturn (actually the sub-atomic world of Klaramar); Highway Patrolmen Jim Boone and Bob Colby.

Synopsis: All across the Earth, giant representations of faces, like the granite sculptures of Mount Rushmore and the stone faces on Easter Island, are being stolen by an alien spacecraft.

Two Highway Patrol officers, Jim Boone and Bob Colby, investigate and meet a giant humanoid faceless creature with orange body hair, pointed ears and fourfingered hands. He tells them, telepathically, that his name is Klee Pan, from Klaramar, a subatomic world revolving within an atom on the planet Saturn. If he doesn’t find the proper stone face, his world will explode from a bomb planted by villain Chen Yull. But nowhere on Earth can it be found.

Continuity Conundrum: The evil faceless creature is refereed to both as Chan Yull and Chen Yull.

˛

“Return of the Faceless Creature!” — 9 pages lead (cover) story. Cover: MA (p, i).

SA #142, 7/62. GF (w), CI (p), MA (i).

“The faceless creature had come to Earth from a sub-atomic world on the planet Saturn — seeking vengeance not only on his own world of Klaramar but also on two police officers of Earth!

“And when he has won his revenge, he will gain complete control of Earth!

˛

“Threat of the Faceless Creature!”— 10 pages lead (cover) story. Cover: MA (p, i).

SA #153 (6/63). GF (w), GK (p), SG

111

Strange Adventures Mini-Series

© DC Comics

“Prisoner of the Undersea World!” — 9 pages (cover story) SA #155, 8/63. GF (w), SG (p, i); Cover: GK (p), MA (i) “The sea broods eternally across the face of the Earth, a world in itself.

Only in the past few years has it been

studied very carefully. Now man knows there are strange, unfamiliar life-forms beneath its surface — such as the fantastic frogmen who captured Commander John Marvin of the United Stares Navy Air Force, making him a — Prisoner of the Undersea World!”

First appearance: Commander John Marvin, Colonel James Marvin

(son of John Marvin), Tarkal (a “frogman” — a giant frog with a human’s intelligence).

Synopsis: Commander John Marvin, “on routine duty over the South Atlantic,” is captured by a giant intelligent frog whom Marvin refers to as Tarkal.

Marvin is taken to Tarkal’s undersea world where he is forced to fight various undersea creatures. But Marvin’s captors don’t realize he needs food and water, so he is slowly starving to death.

Where’s Julie?: Despite what would seem an enormous temptation on the part of artist Greene to caricature Editor Schwartz as a giant frog, Julie shows up on page 9, panel 1, as a human background observer.

Real science: “Editor’s note: The zebra fish is armed with poisonous needle-spines hidden among its fins. Skin divers are often stung when they reach out to touch the zebra fish; their poisoned spines cause pain, and sometimes paralysis and death.”

Commentary: Once Schwartz found a format that worked he stuck with it. It is of interest, therefore, to

113

note that “Prisoner of the Undersea World” is narrated by Commander Marvin entirely in captions, save for the last page, where it is revealed that Marvin is telling the story to his son, James. Julie liked his formulas, but he also liked to innovate.

A regular reader of SA could be forgiven for thinking that “Prisoner of the Undersea World” was a sequel to #130’s “War With the Giant Frogs” (see Ragin’ Reptiles). But it wasn’t, despite many similarities between the frog societies.

Artist Sid Greene, having gotten his feet wet with the concept of giant frogs on #130’s “War of the Giant Frogs,” seems more comfortable with the concept. The frogs look more intelligent and menacing, not so absurdly cute as the frogs in #130.

˛

“Prisoner of the Green Planet! — A sequel to Prisoner of the Undersea World!” — 8 pages (second story) SA #155, 8/63. GF (w), MA (p, i) Synopsis: Set years after “Prisoner of the Undersea World,” this story tells the tale of Commander Marvin’s son, Colonel James Marvin, Aero-SpaceForce “astronavigator” of Mariner XXI, the first manned spaceship to Mars.

While on Mars, specimens of the Martian lichens and minerals are taken and brought back to Earth. But is one of the specimens actually an intelligent being?

Chronological note: The Mariner XXI lifts off on January 1, 1971, making “Prisoner of the Green Planet” one of the few Schwartz sci-fi stories to bear an exact date — and, given that man had not yet even set foot on the moon, an optimistic one.

Continuity Conundrum: Colonel Marvin’s father is referred to as “Admiral Jim Marvin, U.S. Navy,” where in “Prisoner of the Undersea World” he was referred to as John.

Weird science: The Mariner XXI is described as “[T]he success of Project Sherwood — harnessing a thermo-

hold the reader.

Searching about for this device, we hit upon the idea that science-fiction could well serve this purpose!” This is about as startling an idea, coming from The Schwartz, as the idea of selling hamburgers would be coming from Ray Kroc; like any good coach, Schwartz played to his strengths.

Concerning the visual element: “Next, we grappled with the artistic problem of how to portray our stories in a way that the continuous action element of sports could be maintained… After throwing a number of ideas back and forth, we latched onto an ingenious solution. The story captions — instead of being lettered in the standard, time-honored position above the illustrated panel — would be placed in front of the picture panel and enhanced with a silhouette. In this manner, the eye would perceive the caption and panel in a continuous flow of action, much like seeing a motion picture film unreel before one’s eyes!”

Of this device Carmine Infantino wrote in DC Special #1 (10-12/68, “An All-Infantino Issue,” which reprinted stories from five of Infantino’s series): “I attempted here a new technique in comics — by using illustrated captions to accompany the picture-panels, the reader gets the impression of a motion picture film!” Later, in the

118

All images © DC Comics

You can almost hear the wheels turning in the minds of the DC execs: kids love comics… and kids love sports… so kids will really love comics about sports! Thus — “Strange Sports Stories”!

Each of the DC editors had his strengths, but Schwartz was DC’s most resourceful editor, and therefore the one they turned to when they wanted a new take on something, as they would with Batman and Superman. A company’s faith doesn’t get any stronger than that.

In an editorial, “The Sports Arena,” in The Brave and the Bold #45, Coach Schwartz explained: “Tackling the problem [of a sportsrelated comic book] first from a literary angle, it occurred to us that a gimmick was needed to turn a straight sports story from an ordinary yarn into one that would grip and

All images © DC Comics

THE SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

eighth issue of The Amazing World of DC Comics (910/75), Infantino said: “I enjoyed those ‘Strange Sports Stories’ I did with Julie. They were tough, but they were fun. Julie said come up with something different — those silhouettes were done to perpetuate the action…

In one story [“Saga of the Secret Sportsmen,”], I had an old couple eating dinner and the fork comes out of the table and feeds them!” (Unfortunately, this detail is nearly lost in the printing process.)

Well, give them credit for trying something new, at least. Absolutely pervasive in the early issues, later issues of “SSS” would tone down the silhouettes; the stories would be the better for it.

As good as many of the stories were, sales weren’t strong enough to win the concept its own book.

Perhaps it was the lack of a reoccurring character; “SSS” was the only designated series in a Schwartz book without one. The nature of the series came not from a common character, but from a common theme.

Still, DC had high hopes for the experiment. “SSS” was given an unprecedented five-issue tryout (Hawkman and Suicide Squad had been given six tryout issues each, but in two three-issue batches, not six consecutively), but even this wasn’t enough to bring the team across the finish line. “Strange Sports Stories” ultimately lost the game, but not from lack of talent, effort or heart.

Still, if we’d known then what we know now, I’d rather have had the talent spend their time stockpiling five more issues of Mystery In Space or Strange Adventures. But history, like sports reporting, is written with 20/20 hindsight.

Strange Sports Stories was revived as a solo title in 1973, but it lasted only six issues. With only Coach Schwartz returning from the original lineup, it was like the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles — the name was the same, but everything else was different.

— MWB

“STRANGE SPORTS STORIES” IN THE BRAVE & THE BOLD • Strange Sports Stories series (BB #s 45-49): The Brave and the Bold #45, 12/61-1/63: “Challenge of the Headless Baseball Team!”

“Goliath of the Gridiron!”

The Brave and the Bold #46, 2-3/63: “The Hot-Shot Hoopsters” “Danger On the Martian Links!”

The Brave and the Bold #47, 4-5/63:

“The Phantom Prizefighter!”

“Saga of the Secret Sportsmen!”

The Brave and the Bold #48, 6-7/63: “The Man Who Drove Through Time!”

“Duel of the Star-Champions!”

The Brave and the Bold #49, 8-9/63: “Gorilla Wonders of the Diamond!”

“Warrior of the Weightless World!”

119

unpleasant surprise to lots of JSA fans. The title AllStar Western was revived in 1970, first as a reprint title, then with new stories, before being rechristened Weird Western Tales in 1972.)

Still, if “Super-Chief” wasn’t worth trading the JSA for, it’s good reading if evaluated on its own merits.

Set in the old, old West, years before Europeans ever set foot on American soil, Super-Chief benefited from the fertile plots and tireless research of Fox which gave the scripts authenticity, while the basic decency of Fox and Schwartz demanded that the characters and their beliefs be handled, not as ethnic stereotypes, just as types, as was being done over in the pages of The Flash or Green Lantern. (Years later, Fox would write the Indian super-hero strip “Red Wolf” over at Marvel. He was comics’ go-to guy for tasteful handling of native Americans.)

In fact, the only stereotyping being done in the series was in the romantic interaction of the characters. Flying Stag’s dismay that the squaw whom he loves, White Fawn, is now mooning over his secret identity is straight out of the playbook for Superman.

But even at DC in the

© DC Comics

Some years back a nationwide restaurant chain referred to one of its signature dishes as “the great breakfast with the embarrassing name.” Every time I hear that slogan, I think of Super-Chief.

For “Super-Chief”, despite its short life and its embarrassing title, was a great series. And why not, it had good bloodlines. Not just in its creative team of Editor Julius Schwartz, scripted Gardner Fox and artist Carmine Infantino — and if you think it was presumptuous for three white guys; one Jewish, one Roman Catholic and one Italian, to create a series about native Americans, console yourself with the thought that, in the 1960s, if white guys hadn’t created such series, there would be very, very few comics series of any kind — but in the fact that “Super-Chief”, debuting in All-Star Western #117 (Feb.-March 1961), was the last super-hero series to come from the magazine that had, in the Golden Age, given us the first super-hero team of all time, The Justice Society of America.

(All-Star Comics was renamed All-Star Western with issue #58 in 1951, when the super-hero trend was fading, which must have been an

126

The RIDDLE of the RECYCLED COVERS! book editor was the ability to conceive cover ideas.

This was not as foreign a skill as it might seem; Julie had already, as a nearly lifelong science-fiction fan, realized how a strong cover to a pulp magazine could seize not only the reader’s attention, but also the coins from his pocket.

And Julie was not a man to let a good idea lie fallow. When he got a good idea for a cover he often reused it. This in itself is not remarkable, what is of most interest about The Schwartz’ “recycled” covers is the variety in the manner with which he reused a similar layout, changing emphasis and telling an entirely different story a second time than

© DC C omics

For a guy who never read a comic book until he was on the way to his job interview at National Periodical Publications in 1944, Julius Schwartz learned the ropes pretty quickly. His rapport with writers was already a skill developed from his years as a science-fiction agent, and though he was not an artist and never claimed to be one, a large majority of the pencillers, inkers and — occasionally — painters he worked with over the years expressed admiration and affection for him both professionally and personally, and worked with him as often as possible.

One of the many other abilities he needed to develop to be an effective comic

129

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ORDER THIS BOOK!

In the Silver Age of Comics, space was the place to be, and this book summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic science-fiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME! The pages of DC’s science-fiction magazines of the 1960s, STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE, are opened for you, including story-by-story reviews of complete series such as ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, SPACE MUSEUM, STAR ROVERS, STAR HAWKINS and others! Writer/ editor MIKE W. BARR tells you which series crossed over with each other, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more, including writer and artist credits for every story! Features rare art by CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, GIL KANE, SID GREENE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and many others, plus a glorious new cover by ALAN DAVIS and PAUL NEARY! (144-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905818 • (Digital Edition) $7.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885 http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_71&products_id=565 135

All ima ges © DC Com ics

SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION