BACK ISSUE OCTOBER 2022
No.139
TWOMORROWS COMICS GROUP STARFOX • THUNDERBIRD • WUNDARR • WOODGOD • MODRED
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All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
NOT-READYFOR-PRIMETIME MARVEL HEROES!
RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, TwoMorrows’ new magazine is just for you! Editor MICHAEL EURY (author of numerous books on pop culture, former editor for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, and editor of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-winning BACK ISSUE magazine for comic book fans) has assembled an unbeatable roster of regular and rotating Celebrity Columnists to cover the pop culture you grew up with: • ANDY MANGELS (best-selling sci-fi author and award-winning pop culture historian) • ERNEST FARINO (Emmy Award-winning visual effects designer, animator, and director) • SCOTT SHAW! (acclaimed cartoonist, animator, Emmy Award-winning storyboard artist, and historian) • WILL MURRAY (pulp adventure novelist and pop culture historian) • SCOTT SAAVEDRA (graphic designer, cartoonist, and COMIC BOOK HEAVEN creator) • MARK VOGER (renowned pop culture newspaper columnist and book author), and others!
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Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features! Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
Meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview! Celebrate Rambo’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN cartoons, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
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TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.
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Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.
Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.
Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!
MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
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Volume 1, Number 139 October 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow
Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!
DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Mike Zeck and Rudy Nebres, Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia, George Pérez and Gene Day, and Herb Trimpe and John Severin COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy & Co. SPECIAL THANKS Miki Annamanthadoo Jim Beard Randy Bowen Kurt Busiek Ed Lute Jarrod Buttery Ralph Macchio Glen Cadigan Andy Mangels Ed Catto Brian Martin Chris Claremont David Michelinie Peter David Ian Millsted J. M. DeMatteis Fabian Nicieza Steve Englehart Joseph Norton George Freeman Benjamin Raab Grand Comics Jim Salicrup Database Jerry Smith Charles Hatfield Roger Stern Glenn Herdling Dan Tandarich Heritage Comics Roy Thomas Auctions Chris Wildrick Tony Isabella Marv Wolfman Douglas R. Kelly Dr. Christina Knopf James Heath Lantz Jeph Loeb
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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Nighthawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The ruffled feathers of villain-turned-hero Kyle Richmond BACKSTAGE PASS: Stingray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Oceanography 101 with the scientist and occasional superhero FLASHBACK: Doc Samson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Get inside the head of Marvel’s gamma-irradiated go-to shrink FLASHBACK: Thundra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 This product of Women’s Lib had a thing for the Thing FLASHBACK: Starfox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 From Titan with love, Thanos’ brother who became an Avenger FLASHBACK: Wundarr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 How Steve Gerber’s Superman pastiche became Marvel’s problem child ONE-HIT WONDERS: Thunderbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 An X-Man’s sacrifice inspires a vengeful brother to pick up his mantle BEYOND CAPES: Modred the Mystic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 After a short-lived solo career, this horror hero became a Marvel villain FLASHBACK: Jack of Hearts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 From a kung-fu magazine emerged this explosive hero with a complicated costume FLASHBACK: The Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 This master of shadows keeps the company of crooks and creeps WHAT THE--?!: Woodgod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The scattershot appearances of Bill Mantlo’s weirdo man-beast BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Paladin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 This Daredevil villain became an antihero and ally to Silver Sable FLASHBACK: Union Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The multi-generational spy-buster and vampire hunter BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 BACK ISSUE™ issue 139, October 2022 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Back Issue, c/o TwoMorrows, 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, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $90 Economy US, $137 International, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Doc Samson, Incredible Hulk, Jack of Hearts, Stingray, Union Jack, and related characters TM & © Marvel. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1
From its theme to its cover, this issue has an interesting backstory. This issue started with Stingray. A while back writer Dan Tandarich pitched an article about the aquatic hero who, charitably, is Marvel’s oceanic third-stringer, after the Sub-Mariner and Triton. But BACK ISSUE covers the lesser-known comics and their characters as well as the bigger names, so I okayed Dan writing about Stingray with the understanding that he’d have to wait for an appropriate theme before scheduling it. But what theme would that be? “Wonders of the Deep” (with apologies to View-Master)? One of my challenges in managing this magazine is building a viable theme each issue to provide editorial structure to its contents, while keeping each edition fresh by not retreading previously covered material. We had earlier looked at Sub-Mariner and Aquaman, published an Aquaman-themed issue, and even explored the waterlogged TV adventure series Primus. Clearly, the sea-theme well was dry. So I started thinking about Stingray’s other qualities around which a theme might be built. (“Superheroes in Red and White Costumes” wasn’t one of them, to the chagrin of the Doom Patrol’s tailor.) Then Stingray’s other noteworthy characteristic came to mind—that as cool as his costume looked, and despite his zingy name, he was, let’s face it, never gonna be a star. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Somebody’s gotta sing backup behind the diva. And some-super-body’s gotta provide relief to the headlining hero. Some heroes, despite their merit, simply aren’t ready for primetime. Cue the idea light bulb over ye ed’s head. “Not-Ready-for-Primetime Heroes.” What a great theme! It could provide a home to lots of the oddball characters that for whatever reason had not yet been featured in BI. Joining Stingray on an early list of “Not-Ready-for-Primetime Heroes” were the White Tiger, Woodgod, Ultra (from Gerry Conway’s Justice League of America), Swashbuckler, Jack of Hearts, Modred the Mystic, Tim Trench, and the Elongated Man. (You’ll note the presence of a few DC characters.) I quickly removed Marvel’s White Tiger and DC’s Swashbuckler after remembering they had previously been featured. Next, Ralph (Elongated Man) Dibny was removed from consideration because, while he’ll always be a B-lister despite his JLA membership, he and his wife Sue were profiled not long ago in our “Superhero Romance” issue. Taking out the Elongated Man left the issue with very little DC representation, while my research reminded me of many of the other Marvel second-stringers that could support their own articles—Doc Samson, Wundarr, Thundra, Starfox, Union Jack, etc. Instead of letting the Marvel characters outnumber the DC heroes, I decided to solely target Marvel characters in the issue—which was a better choice and streamlined the theme to “Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes.” The cover image was the next hurdle. Originally I went looking for a commissioned illustration or piece of previously published original art solo-spotlighting one of the issue’s better-known characters. Actually, only two characters were considered: Doc Samson, who has Incredible Hulk fame in his
TM & © Marvel.
by M
ichael Eury
corner, and Thundra, the female fury who had a thing for the Thing in Fantastic Four and Marvel Two-in-One. But the more I thought about it, choosing a single character for the cover was a disservice to the other characters of equal (i.e., lesser) stature— and it placed commercial emphasis on the broad shoulders of a single character that was, as the theme suggests, not ready for primetime. When browsing through Marvel covers featuring our spotlighted characters, this one stood out (below): Cue the idea light bulb (again)! Fantastic Four #183 (June 1977) was an issue bursting with subplots, and cover artist George Pérez (inked by Joe Sinnott) cleverly opted for that electrifying layout previewing four scenes from inside. Giving credit where it’s due, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott had originally done a similarly designed four-frame “Sizzling Big ACTION Issue!” cover, way back on FF #71 (Feb. 1968). A few years later, John Romita, Sr.—inked by (you guessed it!) Joe Sinnott—segmented the FF into four cover blocks on the cover of issue #106 (Jan. 1971). Still, it was the #183 variation that provided the basis for our cover layout. And so I went fishing for “money shots” from our “NotReady-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes” to fill the FF’s spots, and our cover designer, Michael Kronenberg, expertly assembled them. For you purists, the sources of the images are: Jack of Hearts (Marvel Premiere #44), Union Jack (The Invaders #8), Stingray (Marvel Two-in-One #64), and Doc Samson (Incredible Hulk #141). The encircled headshots’ sources: Nighthawk (Marvel Team-Up #101), Thundra (Marvel Two-in-One #56), the Shroud (Marvel Team-Up #94), and Paladin (Marvel Premiere #43). And a tip o’ the hat to Mr. Kronenberg for weaving together these elements into a striking BACK ISSUE cover! Now that you know how we got here, get ready for the stories behind the characters that didn’t quite make the big leagues (although a few have made Marvel Studios movie cameos) but imprinted enough of us to warrant this look back at their roots and adventures. (Oh, you DC fans who are sad that Tim Trench, Private Eye was cut from the roster—he’s included in BI #141, themed “Spies and “P.I.s”!)
2 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
TM
While a number of Bronze Age heroes were given a tough time by their various writers, I would have to say that Kyle Richmond, a.k.a. Nighthawk, was put through the wringer as much as or more than any of them. Let’s examine his many trials and tribulations.
NOT SO BAD TO THE BONE
by B r i a n
Martin
For a start, Nighthawk debuted as a villain, in the final panel of The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969). In that tale, the cosmic-game-playing Grandmaster creates Nighthawk and his fellow members of the Squadron Sinister as pawns in a contest against Kang the Conqueror. The Squadron members are analogues of competitor DC Comics’ Justice League of America: Nighthawk (Batman), Hyperion (Superman), Dr. Spectrum (Green Lantern), and the Whizzer (The Flash). To differentiate Nighthawk from DC’s Darknight Detective, he is given a marginal superpower by a serum that endows him to double his normal strength when the Moon shines. The Squadron Supreme’s appearance in the following issue, Avengers #70, was accompanied by an unofficial company crossover with Marvel analogues appearing in DC’s Justice League of America #75 (Nov. 1969). While DC had an existing Western character with the same sobriquet, Avengers writer Roy Thomas had a different inspiration for Nighthawk’s name. In The Justice League Companion (written by BACK ISSUE’s own Michael Eury), Thomas revealed that the name came from “a hoax that [legendary comic fan] Richard Kyle pulled on Don and Maggie Thompson’s newszine Newfangles, in which he referred to a pulp mag named ‘Nighthawk’ with a Batman-like character, and later it turned out that pulp had never existed.” In the contest in Avengers #69, Nighthawk is the only Squadron member who manages to kayo his opponent, Captain America in his case, as he lassos the good Captain’s feet and propels him into a wall. Unfortunately, to win their bout it seems he has to destroy the Statue of Liberty. Yet for his part, the Star-Spangled Avenger merely needs to knock Nighthawk unconscious, which he of course proceeds to do. Maybe that foreshadowed our subject’s entire career. The pinioned paladin made one more villainous appearance before he decided to change the color of his hat. In Daredevil #62 (Mar. 1970) he masquerades as a hero to basically steal from crooks he pretends to capture.
…And It’s Only Gonna Get Worse If Nighthawk is repulsed by his past at this early stage of his career, wait’ll he gets a load of what’s in store for him in future issues! Defenders #32 (Feb. 1976) cover by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3
A Bad ‘Batman’ (left) Nighthawk, in his original costume, was one of writer Roy Thomas’ Squadron Sinister, evil analogues of DC’s Justice League, in Avengers #70 (Nov. 1969). Iconic cover art by Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger. (right) Nighthawk horns in on Ol’ Hornhead in Daredevil #62 (Mar. 1970). Cover by Marie Severin and Syd Shores. TM & © Marvel.
CHANGES IN ATTITUDE, CHANGES IN… WARDROBE
Kyle’s true calling manifests itself in the two-part tale contained in Defenders #13 and 14 (May and July 1974). Richmond is invited to a reunion of his old gang. Therein, they reveal they have teamed with a different celestial entity, Nebulon by name, and have consented to flood the Earth for him by melting the polar icecaps! (Just remember, folks, Climate Change is in reality a plan by a nefarious interstellar entity!) Nighthawk wants no part of this plan, but goes along until he can sneak out and try to contact the Avengers. Unfortunately, he finds that Nebulon has arranged things so that he becomes immaterial if he comes near the Avengers. Luckily, he overhears mention of the Marvel’s “nonteam,” the Defenders, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Defenders manage to foil this nefarious plot, even allowing Nighthawk to be the hero. But the victory does not come without a price. Nighthawk is mortally wounded, and the only way to save him is by Dr. Strange taking a small portion of each of the other Defenders’ life forces and giving them to him. Nighthawk is incredibly grateful and joins the group. “Adding Nighthawk gave me a character to play with who didn’t have a whole lot of previous history,” Defenders scribe Len Wein told Dan Johnson in BACK ISSUE #19. “Essentially, it gave me at least one character I could do anything I wanted to without worrying how it would affect any other titles that character might appear in.” Befitting his new heroic role, Kyle dons a new costume as Defenders #15 (Sept. 1974) begins. Further distancing him from his derivative origins, Nighthawk is also provided with a jet pack concealed beneath his cape. From the very beginning it is established that Kyle Richmond is, well, rich, befitting a Batman knockoff. In the same sequence, he also makes a phone call to his financial wizard Pennysworth to have him buy a riding academy when fellow Defender Valkyrie announces she needs to board her winged horse while she investigates the life of the woman whose body she inhabits. (Sorry, that story is waaay too long to go into here. And while I think of it… Pennysworth??) In Defenders #17 (Nov. 1974), Valkyrie does in fact depart, but not before Kyle gives her a kiss full on the lips. The academy itself has been outfitted to house the fledgling super-group, telegraphing
Kyle’s vision for them, though it would be a while before they would actually inhabit it. The bad luck for Kyle continues as he is informed that someone is knocking down buildings owned by Richmond Enterprises. This leads to the first appearance of the villainous quartet the Wrecking Crew, while revealing that behind-the-scenes machinations by Pennysworth are responsible for the Crew’s rampage. Valkyrie’s identity issues are partially solved in Defenders #20 (Feb. 1975), the debut of the writer who is arguably the most identified with the Defenders, Steve Gerber. Gerber soon reveals that Valkyrie’s host body, Barbara Norriss, is married. Her husband Jack is introduced in issue #23 (May 1975). This does not sit well with Kyle when he finds out, and he leaves in a huff. Dr. Strange reveals what we readers realized: that Kyle was beginning to develop feelings for the Asgardian swordswoman.
A RELATIVE PROBLEM
To soothe things, though, arriving back in New York, Nighthawk receives a visit from an old girlfriend, Trish Starr. If that name seemed familiar to readers, they only had to wait until Giant-Size Defenders #4 (Apr. 1975) to receive a refresher on her place in the Marvel Universe. Trish Starr is the niece of Ant-Man foe Egghead, and she and Kyle renew their relationship. Meanwhile, Egghead has become destitute, while Trish is a successful model. So in true villainous fashion, as revenge for this cruel twist of fate, Egghead plants a bomb in Richmond’s car that explodes with Kyle and Trish inside. In a truly inspired move, neither is killed since Egghead siphoned most of the gas from the car, his blood-chilling rationale being that he did not want to kill her, only to maim her. He succeeds, as Trish loses an arm. Kyle recovers, probably since the explosion took place at night when he was at double-strength. As a further punch to the gut to Nighthawk, however, Trish, fearing Kyle’s main feeling for her now is pity, says she will only stay if Kyle marries her. He is not ready for that step, and she walks out of his life. It was probably just an error, but those events affected Kyle so much that for the entirety of the next regular Defenders issue, #22 (Apr. 1975), his hair was colored blond instead of its regular brown! For that issue and the next three, the Defenders battle the Sons of the Serpent, Marvel’s bigoted hate group. As the arc ends, we dis-
4 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
cover the money behind the Serpents comes from… Pennysworth. When Kyle confronts him, he is told that much of his money has been invested in questionable endeavors about which Kyle never had a problem, as long as it made him a profit. This leads to our hero flying off at tale’s end to do some well-needed soul-searching.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY
In the midst of these events, Nighthawk joins the Marvel big time by making a guest stint in Marvel Team-Up #33–34 (May–June 1975). Not quite groomed for stardom, however, our hero doesn’t even rate a distinctive logo on the cover. The story inside, by writer Gerry Conway and artists Sal Buscema and Vince Colletta, teams Nighthawk with Spider-Man against Spidey foe the Looter. In the course of their adventure, Kyle determines that the villain is not evil but in need of mental help, and he decides to let the miscreant alone. Spidey vehemently opposes this idea, to the point that Kyle takes a poke at him! Nighthawk departs, but in the second issue, he speaks to Valkyrie about the encounter. She chastises him for what she sees as negligence and heads off to clean up the matter. For Nighthawk this wasn’t a completely flattering appearance, but consistent with his tendency in Defenders to be portrayed as slightly aloof.
BRAIN DAMAGE
The next trial for Nighthawk—and admittedly it is a major one—begins in Defenders #31 (Jan. ‘76). In the aforementioned BI #19, Defenders writer Steve Gerber admitted, “For me, the fun in comics has always been writing those ‘backwater’ characters, the ones that haven’t become inviolable icons and trademarks.” “Violation” is a kind way to describe what is next done to Nighthawk, as he becomes probably the first prominent comic-book hero to be subjected to a brain transplant! The perpetrators of this heinous act are the Headmen, as iconic a Gerber group as there ever was, owing to the fact that their stated goal is taking over the world. Peacefully. They replace Kyle’s brain with that of their own mystical member, leading the altered “Nighthawk” into conflict with the Defenders… and into horror for the heroes as they almost kill him, thinking him an imposter! Now, poor Nighthawk’s brain has been removed, and his body has had the stuffing knocked out of it! The Defenders manage to reacquire Nighthawk’s gray matter in #33 (Mar. 1976), with Jack Norriss’ mind now in control of Kyle’s body (don’t ask). In issue, #36, the transplant is reversed. In between, though, Defenders #32 (Feb. 1976) presents the hitherto untold life history of Kyle Richmond. But beware, as you probably expect by now, it is not pretty.
INTERSECTION
Standing at a misty crossroads, Kyle reflects on the trials and tribulations of his pre-Nighthawk life. These include: his mother dying when he was quite young, an absentee father, and an underlying rage that causes considerable trouble at school that his father’s money always manages to smooth over. That is, until he kills his girlfriend Mindy in an accident while driving drunk. A heart murmur keeps him from military service, and the replay climaxes as his father dies in a plane crash, and we return to Kyle stranded at those crossroads with all of these occurrences, explaining much about who he is and why he does what he does. His reflections on his experiences during his period of disembodiment are related in a conversation with Dr. Strange in issue #37 (July 1976) and put Kyle in touch with his spiritual side. Nighthawk gets another semi-starring moment in the very next issue as he finally resumes his superhero career with a stunning panel by regular Defenders penciler Sal Buscema and inker Klaus Janson.
Joining the ‘Non-Team’ (top) With his snazzy new threads, Nighthawk—or “Birdnose,” as Hulk called him—was flying high in Defenders #15 (Sept. 1974). Cover by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito, with alterations by John Romita, Sr. (bottom) Writer Steve Gerber got inside Kyle Richmond’s head—literally—in the bizarre Defenders #31 (Jan. 1976). Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5
experienced during an initial test is what caused Kyle’s paralysis! DeMatteis doesn’t think this was his initial plan, though. “I often write intuitively, letting the story and characters lead me on. So it could be that I had planned it, but it’s just as likely that I didn’t know about Mindy’s role in Kyle’s paralysis till it happened!” On the good news side, in the very next issue, all of Kyle’s problems with the Feds simply go away, albeit under the condition that he pays a whopping amount in back taxes. The downside? It seems August Masters and his government connections are responsible for this windfall. “I wasn’t at all interested in that particular storyline, so Masters seemed like the perfect person to make it all go away,” reveals DeMatteis. Kyle and surely every reader had to know there was a catch, so it is no surprise that in issue #104 (Feb. 1982), Masters’ agents kidnap Kyle and a couple of fellow Defenders.
YOU’RE KILLING ME HERE
The entire plotline, as well as the Bronze Age Nighthawk’s story, climax in Captain America #268 and Defenders #106 (both Apr. 1982). Masters’ plan only suffered a minor setback before, and he is currently gearing up to begin World War III with a massive psychic attack on the USSR from a facility in the Colorado Rockies. The thing is, Mindy is central to his plan, and she will not remain emotionally stable unless Kyle is with her. The other thing is, as we have seen, Mindy adores Kyle. So when things start to go bad and Captain America’s rescue attempt is thwarted, Kyle really wishes the Defenders and specifically Dr. Strange were there. Picking up on this intense emotion, Mindy sends out a psychic distress call to the Master of the Mystic Arts and company. The rescue mission goes well, but during the resultant chaos Kyle shows up in the facility control room. Another player had entered the game. The subconscious minds of the imprisoned psychics have decided they do not agree with j. m. dematteis Masters’ plan, and use their energies to merge Federico Vinci. with Kyle. He sets the destruct sequence for the enclave, and using the psychic power entrusted to him seals himself in the room and instructs Dr. Strange to save the Defenders. The facility explodes, taking with it Masters, his minion, the captured psychics…. and Nighthawk. Readers (I know this one, for sure) were shocked. But so was someone else. “I don’t think I planned Kyle’s death, it just… happened,” reveals DeMatteis. “Probably surprised me as much as it surprised the readers. That’s the fun of writing: the stories really do come alive, rear up, and take you to unexpected places.” Defenders #109–114 (July 1982–Jan. 1983) offer a red herring as Kyle seemingly survived. While we are concentrating on the Nighthawk that was featured on the main Marvel Earth in this article, Marvel also featured an alternate-Earth Nighthawk who was a hero with the Squadron Supreme. Though this version would not be prominently featured concurrently with his counterpart, this was eventually revealed as the version that appeared in that story. A flashback in Defenders #119 (May 1983) is the “real” Kyle Richmond’s swan song, but would Kyle have stayed dead had DeMatteis written the series for significantly longer? “It’s comics. Everyone comes back. Although I didn’t have specific plans, I’m sure that somewhere in the back of my head, there was a story brewing. I suspect if I’d stayed on the book longer, I would have found a way to eventually resurrect Kyle.” J. M. Dematteis, along with most of the other creators who handled him, did give Kyle some significant character development, and turned him into a truly good person. Adversity builds character, as they say. In retrospect, I’m thinking Kyle Richmond might have preferred to remain a spoiled little rich boy. Nighthawk remained dead for the rest of the Bronze Age. When he was returned to life, it was in his own miniseries, with a first issue dated September 1998. In that series, Kyle turns up comatose, but is returned to the living by an angel. Of course, this is Nighthawk, so the “angel” turns out to be the demon Mephisto. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Get Me Outta Here! If readers thought things were tough for Nighthawk on this Mike Nasser–drawn cover for Marvel Team-Up #101 (Jan. 1981), its writer, J. M. DeMatteis, was only getting started, as more troubles awaited Kyle Richmond in the DeMatteis-penned pages of Defenders. TM & © Marvel.
The writer wishes to thank J. M. DeMatteis for his assistance with this article, as well as the previous BACK ISSUE writers whose articles he was able to mine for quotations. BRIAN MARTIN lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and reads lots of comics at night. And a lot during the day. He first encountered Nighthawk in the issue where the character had his brain removed and liked him right away. There’s a message there, but he has no idea what it is.
8 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
TM
by D
a n Ta n d a r i c h
In the Marvel Universe, when the situation needs an underwater superhero, the Sub-Mariner makes the scene. When the Sub-Mariner can’t make it, the Inhuman Triton gets the call. When Triton takes a vacation, Stingray dives into the action, Marvel’s third favorite aquatic superhero! But that’s the way he wants it, as he’s a researcher first and superhero second. First appearing in the pages of Sub-Mariner as a human ally to Prince Namor, Dr. Walter Newell, a.k.a. Stingray, oceanographer and marine humanitarian, wanted to help save the planet, starting with the ocean. Hydrobase would be synonymous with the character for years. The floating artificial island would bring the part-time superhero into the action, eventually becoming a member of the Mighty Avengers, although more reserve-status than full-time starting lineup. And he may have one of the coolest costumes in the Marvel Universe! No more supporting character—for this article, Stingray gets the spotlight!
AQUATIC ORIGINS
Dr. Walter Newell, who would later become Stingray, made his debut in the “Sub-Mariner” feature of Tales to Astonish #95 (Sept. 1967) by Roy Thomas, Raymond Marais, Bill Everett, and Vince Colletta. Newell created a sub-sea city complete with a waterproof dome to help access minerals and food for an overpopulated world as well as a mutually beneficial relationship between humans and Atlanteans. But he didn’t run that idea past Namor first, creating a problem. Newell only had good intentions, and although Namor and Newell didn’t exactly become the best of friends in this issue, the Sub-Mariner did gain a human ally. Dr. Newell, still in full scientist mode and working for the US government, made his next appearance more than two years later in Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #16 (Aug. 1969) by Thomas, Marie Severin, and Joe Gaudioso, in “The Sea That Time Forgot!” The stage was being set for Newell to become a bigger supporting player in the Sub-Mariner’s world and a superhero in his own right. Enter: Stingray! Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #19 (Nov. 1969) boasted a stunning cover by Marie Severin featuring a new red-and-white–colored character emerging out of the water with the cover copy “Nothing Can Stop the Sting-Ray!” Even though he and the Sub-Mariner battled (who hasn’t fought with Namor at one time or another?), Stingray makes his first costumed appearance here in
Roy Roils Royal Waters Stingray—originally Sting-Ray—makes his first appearance (in costume) in Sub-Mariner #19 (Nov. 1969), written by Roy Thomas. Cover by Marie Severin and Johnny Craig. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9
Doctor Leonard Skivorski, Jr., better known as Doc Samson, has had to deal with a lot since his first appearance in Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe’s classic The Incredible Hulk #141 (July 1971). In addition to battling various gamma radiation–spawned creatures with his fists, since his psychiatric career began in the early Bronze Age Samson has had to help heal people’s psychological wounds that were caused by the Hulk, the Hulk’s indefatigable pursuer General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Bruce Banner’s abusive father Brian, and so many others. BACK ISSUE is about to show readers why Doc Samson rivals I Dream of Jeannie’s Dr. Alfred Bellows when it comes to being one of the greatest shrinks in pop culture. Just remember to duck if he’s punching the Hulk.
SAMSON BEGINS
The early Bronze Age of Comics, which began in 1970, unveiled a number of key moments from Marvel. Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian made his comic-book debut. Luke Cage became the first African-American superhero to star in his own title, Hero for Hire (later retitled Power Man). And a psychiatrist named Leonard Samson was introduced to readers. One of the men behind the aforeroy thomas mentioned milestones, including Samson, is legendary writer Roy © Luigi Novi / Thomas. Thomas and artist Herb Wikimedia Commons. Trimpe brought the good doctor into the Green Goliath’s life in the aforementioned Incredible Hulk #141. Trimpe, according to ComicVine, had based Samson’s costume on that of obscure Golden Age superhero and Tootsie Roll mascot Captain Tootsie. Roy Thomas confirms this while discussing the creation of Doc Samson and his perception of the character with BACK ISSUE. “I was thinking of that [Amazing] Spider-Man issue in which Spidey saw a shrink,” Thomas states, “and I decided to turn a shrink into a superhero. Why not, when so many superheroes were scientists already? Herb had never heard of Captain Tootsie, but I liked his basic look. I showed a picture of him to Herb and instructed him to adapt it. That he did enthusiastically, I think, and quite well. It amused me because the look of Captain Tootsie was partly based on that of the original Captain Marvel, having been designed by the original CM artist C. C. Beck. Of course, Doc Samson had to have green hair. In addition to the natural Hulk connection, I always remembered a tale of prejudice from my
by
James Heath Lantz
Lime-Locked He-Man You’ve gotta have some nerve—and superstrength—to take on the Green Goliath. But Doc Samson seems up to the challenge in his inaugural appearance, in The Incredible Hulk #171 (July 1971). Cover art by Herb Trimpe. TM & © Marvel.
14 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
childhood movie-going days—a young Dean Stockwell in The Boy with Green Hair. “I used him as much or as little as I wanted,” Thomas says of the Doc Samson character. “I was happy to see a ‘Len’ (obviously meant to be Samson) in one of the Hulk movies, and I hope he makes it into the MCU yet. He’s as good a character as many of them, better than some. Samson is just a good man trying to reconcile his intellectual and physical prowess.” After Hulk’s Betty Ross is turned to crystal, her father General Ross hires Dr. Leonard Samson to cure her. Samson’s experimental Cathexis Ray must siphon gamma radiation from the Hulk to do this— possibly ridding Bruce Banner of his angrier, emerald alter ego in the process. Betty is cured, but Samson later exposes himself to controlled gamma bursts to become the superhuman being he had always wanted to be—Doc Samson. While Incredible Hulk #141 was the first time readers saw Doc Samson, much of his past before the events of that issue were actually revealed in the late Bronze Age and beyond. Samson was born Leonard Skivorski, Jr., in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He grew up in a Jewish family and regularly attended yeshiva, as discussed in Peter David and Dale Keown’s Incredible Hulk #373 (Sept. 1990) when a Catholic soldier is scolded by the Mother Superior of the convent where Bruce and Betty Banner had sought asylum. Samson comments humorously, “Intimidated by nuns, eh? Common phobia for Catholic school grads. Now me, I attended a yeshiva. I’m fine, unless a very strict rabbi shows up.” Samson’s father, Leonard “Leo” Skivorski, Sr., was a prominent psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders, according to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk (2004) and 2010’s Hulk #18. He was given the nickname “Samson” by his wife because of his long hair. The elder Leo spent little time with his wife and son, instead delving
into his work and affairs with female patients. The Skivorskis were left broken by Leo’s actions. In his youth, Leonard, Jr. hated his father for what his profession and his infidelity had done to his family and originally had no desire to follow in Leo’s professional footsteps. As the man who would become known as Doc Samson got older, perhaps sometime after Leo had passed away, he wanted to understand both his own feelings and his father. Thus, he, like Leo, earned a Ph.D. in psychology and became a psychiatrist.
‘BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR’
Hulk vol. 2 writer Jeph Loeb tells BACK ISSUE of his perceptions of Doc Samson and of his work with artist Whilce Portacio on Hulk #18 (Feb. 2010), which gave readers a deeper look into Samson’s past and psyche. “I was very lucky during the three years I was on Hulk,” Loeb says. “Editor Mark ‘Panic’ Paniccia made it so I could work with my friends, who happen to be the most talented artists in the business. I’d known Whilce for a long time and really admired his work on so many things, but I got to know him better during Heroes Reborn. He drew the Hulk with such power. So when it came time to do a Doc Samson story, Whilce was my first and only choice. It just happened that he was available. “Looking back over that story, his storytelling is just so masterful. Really, a gift. Samson was a character I often felt was kept in the background, sort of like his own story. I thought if we could bring him into the foreground, make him more of the detective, then twist back on the reader as to his real motivations, it would fit in nicely with the stories that had been told before. “That was the amazing thing about doing my research and homework,” Loeb admits. “All the previous writers and artists had left this wonderful
Inspirations Doc Samson’s roots include (left) the C. C. Beck–created Captain Tootsie #1 (Oct. 1950) and (center) the 1948 movie The Boy with Green Hair (poster courtesy of Heritage), both of which imprinted writer Roy Thomas. (right) Writer/artist Erik Larsen brought Captain Tootsie out of retirement in his Savage Dragon series, even riffing on Herb Trimpe’s classic Hulk #141 cover for issue #241 (Dec. 2018). The Boy with Green Hair © 1948 RKO Pictures. Savage Dragon TM & © Erik Larsen.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15
Mutant Minds Double-page credit sequence at the conclusion of the landmark X-Factor #87 (Feb. 1983), featuring Doc Samson. TM & © Marvel.
team. I wanted to tip my hat to them, and that’s how those clinking steel balls (I have no idea what they are really called) came into Hulk #18 with Whilce. The truth is, I couldn’t have told that story without Peter and Joe’s brilliant work.” Of Doc Samson’s part in X-Factor #87, Peter David reveals to BI, “At the time, Chris Claremont was writing the mutant books, and he had a very distinctive style. Characters would have lengthy thought balloons that detailed every aspect of what they were thinking. “I didn’t write that way. I didn’t have the characters always say what was on their mind, and I expected readers to pick up on subtext. They didn’t. They were accustomed to Chris spelling everything out for them, and I was getting cranky letters from fans complaining that the characterizations weren’t sufficiently spelled out. That they had no characters because I wasn’t detailing everything they thought. “And I said to myself, ‘Okay… I’m going to do an entire issue where they talk about themselves: their hopes, their dreams, their weaknesses. I’m going to spend one issue spelling everything out so I can do it once and move on.’ Of course, I didn’t want to imitate Chris’ tendency to have extensive word balloons; I had to have them talking to somebody. Who better than a psychiatrist? I figured there could be a government rule that when they go through a particularly traumatic experience, they have to sit down with a therapist and talk about things. And since, as noted earlier, we have one psychiatrist in the Marvel Universe, it was going to be Leonard.”
Doc Samson continued his adventures as a psychiatrist and superhero in the pages of two eponymous miniseries and in the pages of various Marvel comic books. He most recently can be seen as Gamma Flight member Doc Sasquatch in Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s The Immortal Hulk and Crystal Frasier and Lan Medina’s Gamma Flight. Check them out along with all the stories from the Bronze Age and beyond for more of Leonard’s gamma-irradiated journey. For Lil Lipy and Shady, a pair of small sisters with hearts bigger than a million Doc Samsons. Dedicated to my beautiful and incredible wife Laura, whose love is stronger than every gammapowered psychiatrist; Jadis, Pupino, Odino, and our four-legged feline and canine Doc Samsons who could merge every Hulk personality in two seconds; my nephew Kento, who invented the Gammatron; and to Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, Peter David, Jeph Loeb, and all creators past, present, and future responsible for giving Doc Samson his Ph.D. May all your green-haired heroes always protect you. JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer whose stories, essays, and reviews can be found online and in print at Sequart.org, Superman Homepage, his blog, and such publications as his self-published Trilogy of Tales and PS Artbooks’ Roy Thomas Presents Sheena vol. 3. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.
20 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
by
Ed Catto
She was a strong, striking woman with a purpose. She was oftentimes overwhelming, frequently intimidating, and always interesting. She’s part Ronda Rousey, part quintessential tall supermodel. She could be as frightening as a sudden thunderstorm. And she could bring issues of gender equality to the forefront in a fresh and important way. Well… that last part, maybe not so much. At first glance, there are many echoes of Wonder Woman in Thundra. Both warriors come from a distant matriarchal society. But when Thundra burst onto the scene, she embodied everything scary, yet interesting about mainstream America’s view of the 1970s Women’s Movement. She was demanding. She was driven and strong. She had “had enough and wasn’t going to take it anymore.” And while Thundra was aggressively confident, she was statuesque and beautiful. Thundra, the warrior woman from the far-flung future, was full of unrealized potential. And for a woman of the future, as a Marvel heroine she might have simply been before her time. So, to best understand Thundra, we need to start with another character. And as is often the case with so much of comics history, it starts with Jack Kirby.
BIG AND BEAUTIFUL
Former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas reveals that Thundra’s pop-cultural antecedent was Kirby’s Big Barda, For Thomas, creating Thundra was “a kind of casual response to a character like Kirby’s Big Barda—not that anyone was especially calling out for such. But I wanted a woman who’d give the Thing a tussle, and Thundra fit the bill. I had that bandolier (the ammunition belt strung over her shoulder) because a few ardent feminists of the time were affecting such things. The name was probably inspired by the Magazine Enterprises hero Thun’da [King of the Congo, a Tarzan clone].” Who was this Big Barda, and why is understanding her important to the origins of Thundra? Big Barda was created by Jack Kirby as part of his visionary Fourth World saga, published by DC Comics in the ’70s. She was the female lead in Mister Miracle. Unlike many of the heroines of the time that may have used weapons, magic lassos, or martial arts to overcome opponents, Barda was all about brute strength. She was a towering woman— beautiful and strong. And like Thundra, Barda “wasn’t from around here.” Big Barda was raised on the distant planet Apokolips by the cruel Granny Goodness to become the ultimate warrior woman. In fact, she was an “Alpha Female,” leading the Female Furies, a group of battle-ready women. While the word “furies” has historical and mythological origins, the implied notion is that women who are blinded by rage, i.e., their fury, are dangerous and out of control.
She Is Woman, Hear Her Roar Thundra’s first appearance, in Fantastic Four #129 (Dec. 1972). Cover by John Buscema. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21
FEMIZONIA
Thundra comes from an Amazonian society in an alternate future of the 23rd Century. In this possible future, Earth—Femizonia— is a world dominated by women. “Her origin came from the Stan Lee/John Romita ‘Glamazons’ story in the black-and-white Savage Tales #1, which was not either of the legendary creators’ finest hour,” explains writer Tony Isabella. “Stan Lee, with John Romita, had created the Femizons for Savage Tales #1,” adds Roy Thomas, “and I thought Marvel might as well get some more use out of them. I had heard that Stan didn’t voucher Femizons because he wanted to have some ownership of it, but I never asked him about that rumor… and he never objected to the Femizons connection.” During the “second wave” of women’s rights efforts, Marvel Comics offered a similarly cynical perspective on the future of the Women’s Liberation Movement, says Dr. Christina Knopf, a rhetorician, qualitative sociologist, and comics studies scholar from SUNY Cortland. “In 1971, Savage Tales asked of Women’s Lib, ‘What if women turn the rascals out—and we do mean out!
22 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
Bruce Timm.
John Buscema, Thundra’s co-creator, designed a striking look for the Femizon. One can consider her outfit an update of the original Captain Marvel’s design, right down to the lightning bolt design, buccaneer books (originally dark blue, later yellow), and off-the-shoulder look. “The Women’s Movement in the early 1970s was in full gear and comics were right there at the forefront,” explains artist Joe Jusko. “Marvel made its mark with the Valkyrie and the Lady Liberators in Avengers #83. The classical design of the Valkyrie was pure John Buscema, an artist who preferred classical design to superheroes (though his brilliant work in that genre always belied his protestations). A couple of years later, Big John got another shot at a strong, liberated character. Thundra was more generically ‘superhero’ in design than Valkyrie, but Buscema played her for all she was worth. Over seven feet tall and weighing over 300 pounds, she was built and dressed like a futuristic WWF wrestler, all the while exhibiting Buscema’s undeniable skill at rendering beautiful women. You can tell he had fun drawing as her body language, posturing, and no-nonsense attitude all instantly defined her personality. You could always tell when John embraced a character and this one was pretty obvious.” Rich Buckler, the third artist to illustrate a Thundra adventure (Fantastic Four Detail from Fantastic Four #129. TM & © Marvel. #148–149), was also drawn to strong female characters. “Medusa was okay,” he reported in Back Issue #74. “She had a great look, with all that hair, and she moved a lot. But she wasn’t a particular favorite of mine. Thundra was more fun to draw. And overall, I prefer drawing female characters in aggressive roles. Feminine, but strong—and not helpless. The ‘helpless female’ is such a boring cliché.”
Big Barda TM & © DC Comics. Cover art by
LIGHTNING STRIKES: THE LOOK OF THUNDRA
Jim Kingman, in his “Furious Female” Barda history in Back Issue #54 (Feb. 2012), revealed that “Big Barda’s statuesque body and strong facial features were inspired by actress and singer Lainie Kazan, while aspects of her personality came from right at home, that of Kirby’s beloved wife, Rosalind (Roz).” Jack Kirby admitted as much himself to J. Michael Stracyznski and Larry DiTillio in an interview on April 13, 1990 for Mike Hodel’s Hour 25 radio show. “I happen to like big girls and Big Barda was a natural type of girl for me to draw,” said Kirby. “If you’ll dig into this a little deeper, in a psychological way, you’ll find that short men like large women. If you’ll notice my wife, she’s maybe an inch or two taller than I am.” While Kirby wasn’t focused on any feminist or equal rights issues, it is clear he liked the concept of a powerful woman, and thought it was a fresh idea that would help the story. “Barda was a character that Jack put in because he thought it was a great idea, one that was not being done in super-hero comics at that time,” said writer and Kirby expert Mark Evanier, in a Comic Book Special Edition #1 (Oct. 1999) interview. “There had never been a really strong woman character who looked strong, except maybe for Little Lotta. Jack noted that female bodybuilders were starting to catch on in the mass media. He saw these pageants on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and in other places, and he said, ‘That’s a great idea for comics.’ So Big Barda was suddenly in the next Mister Miracle he drew. He was also inspired by Lainie Kazan being in Playboy... But ultimately, the personality of Big Barda was pretty much Roz, and Jack was pretty much Scott [Mister Miracle] Free.” It makes all the sense in the world that Big Barda would be an impressive character to interact with Ben Grimm, the Thing, in The Fantastic Four. Since Barda was published by publishing rival DC, Roy Thomas did the next best thing—he, along with artist John Buscema, created Thundra.
What would we have then?’ The answer offered THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY— was ‘The Fury of the Femizons’—a gender-based ANY CENTURY! tribal society in which women ruled ruthlessly over Thundra debuted alongside the sturdy FF enemies enslaved men. The only hope for a harmonious fu- the Frightful Four in Fantastic Four #129 (Dec. 1972), ture was for the genders to again exist ‘as the first of a two-part story that concluded in lady and lover’—as was in the forbidden #130, by the aforementioned Roy Thomas days of old so that the female and John Buscema. She promptly has a ‘warrior becomes a woman— falling-out with the Frightful Four, and fulfilled.’ (This idea, posited by shows particular interest in sparring Stan Lee and Johnny Romita, with the also-thunderous Thing. echoed turn-of-the-century carIt didn’t take long for her to make toons that suggested suffragists a comeback, in FF #133 (Apr. 1973), were too ugly to find husbands or the issue that premiered Gerry Conway were angry at men because they had as the series’ writer. In Back Issue never been kissed.)” #74’s “The Fantastic Four in the 1970s” “Like many others, I presume, article, Jarrod Buttery interviewed I was exposed to the Femizons Conway about this adventure. story in the 1977 Fireside book The “It was fun for a couple of john buscema Superhero Women,” recalls writer, reasons,” Conway remarked. “First editor, and publisher Jim of all, I was taking over from Roy Beard. “At first I skipped over [Thomas], who had plotted the isit because, y’know, it wasn’t superheroes and sue. My job was basically just to come in and write the it wasn’t even in color, but eventually went dialogue, which made it much easier for me to start back and read it. Well, I was 12 in ’77 and off on the book because I wasn’t required to come up the story was pretty racy and sexy for a young lad with my own idea right off the bat. But the two things like myself… in a good way. It took a little while that made it really special for me were: One, writing to get past the near nudity to appreciate the in- a character like Thundra, who is a very powerful triguing science fiction behind it, although today female figure. The second, and probably more I can see how dated it is in concept. The art’s still fanboyish element for me, was the opportunity to gorgeous, though.” work with [artist] Ramona Fradon, who was also a
A Thing or Two (left) The first Thundra/Thing tussle, by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, from Fantastic Four #129. (right) They’re at it again in issue #133, by Roy Thomas/ Gerry Conway and Ramona Fradon. Inks on both by Joe Sinnott. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23
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A fascinating and detailed year-by-year history of over 300 television shows and their 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades. Author PETER BOSCH has spent years researching and documenting this amazing area of comics history, tracking down the well-known series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) and the lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, PINKY LEE) to present the finest look ever taken at this unique genre of comic books. Included are hundreds of full-color covers and images, plus profiles of the artists who drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and many more giants of the comic book world. If you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, The Mod Squad, Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V”—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike. (192-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605491073 (Digital Edition) $15.99
THE BEST OF FROM THE TOMB This first collection compiles features from its ten years of terror, along with new material meant for the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29 • (192-page Digital Edition) $10.99
LOU SCHEIMER
CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION
Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which created the first DC cartoons with Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, ruled the song charts with The Archies, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning Star Trek: The Animated Series, taught morals with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and swung into high adventure with Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, live-action shows Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Written by LOU SCHEIMER, with RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS. (288-page Digital Edition) $14.99
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Okay, we’re not perfect. Every hundred issues or so, BACK ISSUE makes a mistake. This issue’s theme is “Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes,” and yet—in the time it has taken to prepare what you hold in your hands—this particular rogue has inveigled himself onto the big screen. One might almost suspect some sort of coercive abilities…
LOVE AND DEATH
by J a
rrod Buttery
Thanks to a couple of films that did reasonably well at the cinema, Thanos is now a cultural icon. However, until recently, the general public was unaware that the Mad Titan has a brother. In his introduction to Thanos: The Infinity Ending (2019), Jim Starlin wrote of his youth: “A psychology class, without fanfare, introduced me to the Freudian concept of Thanatos and Eros, the darker and lighter side of human nature. Only years later would I come to realize that was a life-changing event.” Starlin created Thanos and introduced him in Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973). Therein, a flashback reveals that Titan—largest moon of the planet Saturn—hosts a paradise below its surface: the home of the Titans, maintained by the gargantuan supercomputer ISAAC, “and ruled jim starlin by wise Mentor and his sons… Eros… and Thanos.” Thanos was exiled for the crime of creating weapons, but returned with “a raging horde of interstellar malcontents” to conquer Titan. Amusingly—in this flashback—Thanos, Eros, and Mentor all appear to have purple skin. Starlin quickly made Thanos the major antagonist during his run on Captain Marvel, and in issue #27 (July 1973) we and Rick Jones meet Mentor and Eros (both of whom have pink, or Caucasian, skin). Eros sports his red-and-white unitard (with yellow chest-symbol and accents). When Rick inquires, he’s told, “The name’s Eros, lad… man of love, man of adventure. I’m famous in Earthly legends… and also Thanos’ brother.” Rick summons Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), who joins Mentor and Eros in battling Thanos’ hordes. We see Eros throwing a punch, so we know he’s strong. Soon after, in Captain Marvel #32 (May 1974), we see Eros flying into battle alongside Mar-Vell and Iron Man, so we know he can fly. After Thanos is defeated, we see Eros—in Captain Marvel #34 (Sept. 1974)—celebrating with three scantily clad women, so we know that he is, indeed, a man of love.
And You Thought ‘Hot Stuff’ Was a Harvey Character The lover of adventure (and other things) becomes an Avenger! Avengers #232 (June 1983). Cover by Al Milgrom. Special thanks to Jarrod Buttery for this article’s art scans. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31
IT CAME OUT OF THE SKY
If they had left him alone, Wundarr might have been a one-hit wonder. Writer Steve “Baby” Gerber’s takeoff of DC Comics’ mighty Man of Steel first appeared in—of all places—Marvel’s Man-Thing story in Adventure into Fear (Fear) #17 (Oct. 1973). The story clearly signaled to readers that it was a parody. “It Came Out of the Sky!” not only described the Val Mayerik/Sal Trapani–drawn spacecraft whose nosecone was mired into the swamp on the splash page, but the title itself was Gerber’s playful appropriation of the name of a song from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 album, Willy and the Poor Boys, as Gerber’s “special thanks” note to the band and front man John Fogerty confirmed. Like the upside-down spaceship, Gerber— the madcap Marvel scribe renowned for challenging the medium’s norms with offbeat material like The Defenders, Omega the Unknown, Crazy Magazine, KISS, and his most famous creation, Howard the Duck—was turning comics on its ear as he was so prone to do, poking fun at the best known of all superhero origins. That familiar tale has been updated and redressed over the decades but has essentially stayed the same: Scientist Jor-El of the highly advanced world of Krypton warns his learned colleagues of his discovery of the planet’s impending doom. When his dire predictions come to pass and Krypton quakes in its death throes, Jor-El and wife Lara stay behind and rocket their infant son to a distant world, affording the child a new lease on life as a superhuman. by
BORN ON THE BAYOU
In Gerber’s version in Fear #17, the superhuman named Wundarr hails from Dakkam (possibly a nod to Daxam, DC Comics’ home world of Mon-El, an analogue of the Silver Age Superman’s teenage self, Superboy). Wundarr’s parents are an astronomer named Hektu and his wife Soja. And on a fateful day Hektu stands before Dakkam’s Planetary Triumvirate, requesting the budget to build a fleet of spaceships to allow the world’s inhabitants to escape, as the star-studier has reckoned that their sun will soon go supernova. With unwavering conviction he warns, steve gerber “Picture the sun growing ever larger, hotter, until it hangs in the sky like a great orange fireball, Courtesy of Alan Light. drying up our rivers and seas!” It will be hell on Dakkam from then on, Hektu claims, and a horrifying montage panel by artists Mayerik and Trapani shows readers the astronomer’s worst nightmares. It’s here where Gerber goes gonzo with the legend of Superman. In early 2006 in an interview conducted for my TwoMorrows book The Krypton Companion, Steve Gerber, who died of pulmonary fibrosis on February 10, 2008, told me, “Wundarr’s home planet never exploded. His father was the alarmist the Krypton elders supposed Jor-El to be.” It always pays to triple-check your calculations, Hektu! And thus, Dakkam Internal Security Police raid the workshop of the “traitor” Hektu, whom they regard a threat to the populace
Wonder Who This Guy Is? Appearances are deceiving on this dynamic Frank Brunner–illustrated cover for Adventure into Fear #17 (Oct. 1973), as newcomer Wundarr’s costume colors are reversed and the character, intellectually a baby, is articulate. Still, it grabs your eye, doesn’t it? TM & © Marvel.
36 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
Michael Eury
with his crackpot theory. Hektu and Soja, with baby Wundarr, attempt to flee Dakkam, but armed officers execute the adults before they can escape the notdoomed-after-all planet. Before she draws her final breath, Soja squirrels away the infant Wundarr into the space cruiser intended for the entire family and blasts off her baby toward who knows where (Hektu also lacks Jor-El’s trip-planning proficiencies). Wundarr’s ship traverses the cosmos on an unchartered course, crash-landing in an Earth swamp in the vicinity of Citrusville, Florida. Old-timers “Maw” and “Paw” witness the ship’s descent. But this is July 1951, when the Red Scare has gripped the US in atomic war paranoia and inspired Hollywood movies about alien invasions. Paw is inclined to investigate, in case there’s someone on board who might need help. “It could be Martians—or Communists—! You could get your fool self ray-gunned t’death,” admonishes Maw. The frightened elderly couple skedaddles in their sedan away from the crash site. And so Wundarr remains cocooned inside his spaceship there in the swamp—for 22 years, until Fear #17, when Man-Thing stumbles across the rocket on the story’s splash page. The muddle-minded muck-monster attempts to crack the spaceship’s impervious hull like a squirrel would an acorn. Once he flails the ship against a tree, it smashes open. Emerging from its smoky wreckage is an auburn-haired Adonis in navy muscle tights with red briefs and boots and a rock star’s mane. Despite having physically matured into a young man during his years inside the ship, Wundarr, devoid of socialization, has remained an emotional and mental infant. Here’s where Gerber once again toys with the Superman mythos. He’s not only riffed on the most famous of origins, now he characterizes this man of steel as Superbaby, evoking the adventures of Superboy as a toddler, those charming, goofy tales from the Silver and early Bronze Ages where a rambunctious li’l Clark Kent, whose use of personal pronouns mirrors the Bizarros (“Me hungry!”), gets into no end of trouble in his adorable red and blue playsuit. Wundarr’s wide-eyed curiosity leads him into both comical and destructive discoveries of his superpowers that include super-strength and flight. His inability to comprehend the confusing world around him triggers a series of confrontations, including his apparently lethal retaliation against a jaw-snapping “friend” (an alligator) and culminating with a covertouted urban smackdown with Man-Thing.
BAD MOON RISING
“It was hardly an original plot,” commented fan Ken Meyer, Jr. about Fear #17 in the “Mail-Things!” letters column of Man-Thing #1, as the muck-monster had just graduated to his own title. “You know what it was taken from. We all know. But you made it beautiful.” The mailbag snippets shared by editor Roy Thomas included a letter of praise from future novelist and Swamp Thing scribe Nancy A. Collins (who beamed, “Dear Steve, I love you to pieces! Wundarr was a masterpiece!”) and a charge by reader Zachary R. Troume that the issue lacked “imagination or originality.” “As expected, the introduction of Wundarr in FEAR #17 stirred up a storm—nay, hurricane!—of controversy,” Thomas penned in response. The editor noted that reader “opinion split largely three ways”: those who “got” Gerber’s intentions and praised the story, those who criticized Marvel for “stealing” DC’s headliner, and those who liked the character of Wundarr but were disenchanted by his origin. “Only a very few Marvelites, apparently, picked up on what we were really trying to do,” Thomas wrote. “Steve’s aim with the story was to introduce a wholly original character—
Twisting a Familiar Fable (top) From Fear #17, Hektu cries that Dakkam’s sky is falling! (bottom) Later in the origin sequence, Wundarr’s ship finds a destination—Earth. Words by Steve Gerber, art by Val Mayerik and Sal Trapani. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37
When Giant-Size X-Men #1 (cover-dated May 1975) hit the newsstands in February 1975, it ushered in a new era of greatness for Marvel’s Merry Mutants, with the issue becoming one of the most iconic and important Bronze Age comic books. It was the beginning of X-Men’s rise to becoming one of Marvel’s premier titles and made superstars out of its cast of mutant superheroes including Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird. Wait! You don’t know Thunderbird, the Native-American mutant superhero? Even though the other characters went on to great success in comic books, animated series, video games, toy aisles, and movies, Thunderbird is oftentimes seen as little more than a footnote in X-Men history. He’s more than that, however, as you will see as BACK ISSUE explores the legacy of both John Proudstar (Thunderbird) and his younger brother James Proudstar (Thunderbird II/ Warpath), and shows how they both made their mark on the Marvel Universe.
THUNDERBIRD
by E
d Lute
When writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum developed what would become the seminal classic Giant-Size X-Men (GSXM) #1, they wanted a more diverse cast of characters. The issue featured several characters that previously appeared in the title as adversaries to the team, including Banshee from Ireland (issue #28, Jan. 1967) and Sunfire from Japan (#64, Jan. 1970). Our neighbors to the North were also featured dave cockrum in the form of the Canadian Wolverine, who had made his debut in The Incredible Hulk © Eliot R. Brown. #181 (Nov. 1974) after a cameo appearance in the previous issue. GSXM #1 also featured several newly created characters, most of which were international and developed with diversity in mind, with Storm (Africa), Nightcrawler (Germany), and Colossus (Russia) being introduced. The creators did save one roster spot for an American, with Native-American John Proudstar taking part in the new X-Men’s mission to save the original X-Men from the menace of Krakoa. John’s X-Men codename was Thunderbird. In a May 2014 interview with the m0vie blog, writer Chris Claremont (who began his 16-year writing stint on the title when co-wrote the second appearance of the new X-Men in The X-Men #94, Aug. 1975), discussed the diverse cast of the new team. “That was the intent for the title from the beginning. [Publisher] Stan Lee, [editor-in-chief] Roy Thomas, and Len [Wein] were all working on the presumption that the X-Men would be a possible means of expanding the sales to foreign venues. “Marvel had a reprint operation going in England, they were starting to talk to people in Paris and Italy, so there was this hope of moving beyond the domestic United States. And this was the thought of saying, ‘Let’s see what happens if we make it a more international group.’ Because, at that point, all the Marvel teams were all collections of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant males, with an occasional girl as a chaser.” John Proudstar was an Apache. His costume contained many ‘Not a Hoax! Not a Dream!’ elements that were reminiscent of what many Americans at the time thought to be Native-American cultures. There was an Thunderbird, with barely any “screen time” behind eagle motif to the brightly hued red-and-blue costume that also contained tassels on his arms and legs. However, this wasn’t him, was the ill-fated X-Man touted to die on Cockrum’s original design for the character’s costume. this dynamite Gil Kane/Dave Cockrum cover to In a 1999 interview with editor Jon B. Cooke for TwoMorrows’ Comic Book Artist vol. 1 #16, Cockrum discussed designing the X-Men #95 (Oct. 1975). costume. “When I brought in the first design, everyone said, ‘He looks like an Air Force pilot!’ I had this strange helmet on TM & © Marvel. 42 • BACK ISSUE • Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue
TM & © Marvel.
him that was an Indian design but nobody liked it, so I went back and re-did it.” While the other members of the new X-Men have become household names even amongst people who don’t read comics, Thunderbird has been almost totally forgotten. He was only on the team for two adventures, dying on his second mission in X-Men #95 (Oct. 1975). In the tale entitled “Warhunt,” Count Luchino Nefaria and his Ani-Men had taken over the North American Air Defense Command Center in the Cheyenne Mountain area of the Colorado Rockies. The X-Men defeated them, but Count Nefaria attempted to escape by jet plane. Thunderbird jumped onto the plane and attempted to stop him by pummeling its hull with his fists. His last words, delivered telepathically to X-Men mentor Professor Charles Xavier, were, “I’ve been a loner all my life, Xavier—an outcast—dumped on my everybody I met—but I’m a man, Xavier, a warrior of the Apache—an’ today I’m going to prove it.” The plane exploded, killing John Proudstar. Why did the creators decide to kill off Thunderbird in only his third appearance? Claremont tells BACK ISSUE, “The decision was made by Len Wein, in his dual role as series writer (and characterseries co-creator) and [newly appointed] editor-in-chief. Usually, placing a character in such jeopardy has impact because the readers have come to embrace him/her emotionally over a period of time. S.O.P. [standard operating procedure] in a normal series. The challenge with Uncanny is that it was a quarterly title [in its original Giant-Size format]. To take 20-plus issues to develop such a relationship between character and readers would for this series mean over five years. Plus, there was an initial feeling that the abilities and personalities of John Proudstar and Wolverine were too much alike. One of them was redundant. He also felt that it would be a good thing from a storytelling perspective to demonstrate to the readers that this was a title where anything could happen. Heroes could actually die.
Tough-Talking X-Man (top left) The prickly John Proudstar is recruited by Professor X in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), where (top right) he appears in costume on the next page alongside his fellow mutants. By writer Len Wein, penciler Dave Cockrum, and inker Sam Grainger. (bottom left) Cockrum’s original, rejected Thunderbird costume sketch. TM & © Marvel.
Not-Ready-for-Primetime Marvel Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 43