Back Issue #15 by TwoMorrows Publishing

THE ULTIMATE COMICS EX PERIENCE!

JOE KUBERT’S RAGMAN! MATT WAGNER’S THE DEMON! WEIRD THEPHANTOMSTRANGER! Andgoodol’ ’MAZINGMAN! HEROES!

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A plea from the publisher of this fine digital periodical: TwoMorrows, we’re on the Honor System with our Digital Editions. We don’t add Digital Rights Management features to them to stop piracy; they’re clunky and cumbersome, and make readers jump through hoops to view content they’ve paid for. And studies show such features don’t do much to stop piracy anyway. So we don’t include DRM in our downloads.

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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 15 April 2006 Celebrating the Best Com ics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

FLASHBACK: The Dead Zone: A Deadman History/García-López Interview . . 2 Explore the “life” of Boston Brand with José Luis García-López

EDITOR Michael Eury

INTERVIEW: Matt Wagner: The Man, the Myth, and the Demon!. . . . . . . . . . 16 The Grendel creator recalls his 1980s tour of duty in Kirby’s kingdom

PUBLISHER John Morrow

FLASHBACK: Follow Him . . . for He is the Phantom Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Len Wein reminisces about DC’s mysterious man with a medallion, with art by Adams, Aparo, Dominguez, Mignola, and Schaffenberger

DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST Arthur Adams COVER COLORIST Tom Zuiko COVER DESIGNER Robert Clark

BEYOND CAPES: I Was a Marvel Comics Werewolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Werewolf by Night, through the eyes of series contributors Conway, Moench, Perlin, Ploog, and Thomas ROUGH STUFF: Gene Colan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 One of comics’ masters hosts a gallery of his pencil art, including Batman, Captain America, Jemm, Night Force, and Wonder Woman FLASHBACK: Joe Kubert and the Ragman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Tattered Tatterdemalion’s first foray into comics, with Kubert and Redondo art BEYOND CAPES: Maybe I’m ’Mazed!: ’Mazing Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Co-creators Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano and their likeable li’l do-gooder

SPECIAL THANKS Neal Adams GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Lost ’Mazing Man Story . . . . . . . . . . .64 Bob McLeod Terry Austin Bob Rozakis gives us a peek at the ’Maze story you didn’t see Modern Masters Jeff Bailey Mike Mignola Joe Barney INTERVIEW: Mike Ploog: On the Highway to Hell (Marvel Style) . . . . . . . . . .67 Doug Moench Massimo Bissattini Steve Morger Ghost Rider may be racing toward movie stardom, but artist Ploog remembers the Mike Blanchard Brian K. Morris Satanic Cyclist’s roots Brian Boggs Al Nickerson Michael Browning Becky Perlin INTERVIEW: Don Perlin: Revving Up with Ghost Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Ivan Cheung Don Perlin Perlin’s recollections of his ride with Marvel’s baddest biker Leonard Chuah Adam Philips Adrienne Colan Michael Ploog Gene Colan GHOST RIDER ART GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Carl Potts Jennifer M. Contino Roland Reedy Blazing art by Budiansky, Kane, Romita, Sr., Simons, and Starlin Gerry Conway Keith Richard Steve Davis Bob Rozakis GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Grodd of Gorilla City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Lee Dawson Rose Rummel-Eury Super-gorilla Grodd almost got his own comic in ’77—and we’ve got the scoop Eric Delos Santos Mike Steckler (and unpublished art)! Stephen DeStefano Tom Stewart Arnold Drake Matthew Stock COMICS ON DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Ray Falcoa Roy Thomas New releases of interest to the comic-book fan Tom Field Matt Wagner Keif A. Fromm Len Wein BACK IN PRINT: The Astral Avenger and the Ape-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 José Luis García-López Marv Wolfman Benny Gelillo Reviews of Wrath of the Spectre and Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years Frank Giella Grand Comic-Book Database BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Dave Hennen Reader feedback on issue #13 Heritage Comics Don Hudson BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. The Jack Kirby Collector Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Dan Johnson Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, Michael Wm. Kaluta $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to Joe Kubert TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Arthur Adams; cover art from the collection of Roland Reedy. Paul Levitz Werewolf by Night and Ghost Rider TM & © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Batman, Deadman, and Bruce MacIntosh Gorilla Grodd TM & © 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All Yoram Matzkin material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. Brian G. McKenna BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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R.I.P. The Dead Zone:

Bruce MacIntosh

A D e a d m a n H i s to ry — a n d a n I n t e rv i e w w i t h José Luis García-López

Deadman was a character born in 1967 in an attempt to

shake things up with Strange Adventures, one of DC Comics’ anthology titles. Although editor Jack Miller, writer Arnold Drake, and artist Carmine Infantino originally intended the character as a “throw away,” they immediately handed the reins to Neal Adams, who within a year turned Deadman into an enduring icon who has had dozens of guest appearances and four miniseries of his own. In short, Deadman was a character that refused to die! In the late 1960s sales were poor for DC’s anthology series, because there were no central characters with whom the readers could identify and would cause them to continue to buy the titles on a monthly basis. Editor Jack Miller gave Arnold Drake the task of creating a character that could generate that reader interest and loyalty. Drake wanted to capitalize on the late 1960s’ interest in Eastern mysticism, and a character that was killed in his first appearance and returns as a ghostly apparition was exactly what could bring life to the dying comic. In spite of concerns that the Comics Code Authority would disapprove of a dead character that “possesses” the living (and whose very name contained the dreaded “D-word”), Miller ultimately signed off on the concept and Carmine Infantino was brought in for the artistic chores, the result being Deadman’s debut in Strange Adventures #205 (Oct. 1967). However, it was a time of flux at DC, and after only one issue Miller stepped down as editor due to his failing health, Drake went on to pursue other titles, Infantino was promoted into management, and Dick Giordano was brought in from Charlton Comics as editor of Strange Adventures. With Infantino assuming executive

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duties and unable to continue penciling the comic, Giordano leapt at the chance of assigning the artistic duties of Deadman to Neal Adams.

Neal penciled every appearance of the character until Strange Adventures was canceled with issue #216 (Jan.–Feb. 1969); with the exception of George Roussos’ inks on issue #206, Neal inked his own work. He also scripted seven of Deadman’s first 18 appearances. Although these early Adams’ scripts are beyond the scope of this magazine and article, it is important to note the development of the character and how that changed in the 1970s and 1980s. In a 2005 conversation, Neal Adams made the comment, “The most important thing to remember about Deadman is that he is dead, man!” While that might just sound like a typically tongue-in-cheek Adams remark, he had a point: Deadman was angry . . . because he was dead! Faithful readers will recall that Boston Brand was a circus acrobat who had been fatally shot for reasons unknown by a man with a hook for a hand. (In his haste, Adams alternated between the right and left hand—whatever fit the panel composition.) Boston Brand, however, returned in spirit form as Deadman: He had been given a “special power” by the spirit of the universe, Rama Kushna, to find and destroy his own murderer. That special power, he learns, is the ability to temporarily inhabit and control the bodies of the living. Deadman spent each issue of his run in Strange Adventures (plus two appearances with Batman in The Brave and the Bold and three as a backup strip in Aquaman), chasing clues and people who might have had enough of a grudge against Boston Brand to want to kill him. Each issue concluded with the tormented Deadman learning that it was all a cruel coincidence: The man he had been

for the circus, Sensei mistakenly believes the man

pursuing that story was not his killer.

with the hook has failed his initiation assignment

As the first series of Deadman stories concludes,

and kills him. Having been robbed of his own

the ghostly hero learns that his death at the

revenge, Deadman nevertheless fails to achieve

“hands” of the man with the hook was merely a

peace: he is doomed by Rama Kushna to float as

graduation exercise for admission into a “Society of

a disembodied spirit for eternity, using his special

Assassins” (a group now known as the League of

power to “possess” the living and presumably

Assassins), headed by the a leader of dubious Asian

correcting injustice wherever it appears.

origin call the Sensei. Because Cleveland Brand,

Neither Arnold Drake nor Neal Adams intended

Boston’s brother, has assumed the role of Deadman

the series to continue indefinitely; after a dozen or so

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issues, Deadman was supposed to find his killer, and having fulfilled his mission on this mortal plane, Boston Brand would presumably obtain eternal peace. Although his killer was exposed, neither Deadman nor Neal Adams were satisfied: The man who ordered Boston Brand’s death, the Sensei, still needed to be brought to justice. In what turned out to be the final Deadman issue of Strange Adventures, Deadman follows Sensei to Nanda Parbat, a Himalayan retreat vaguely reminiscent of Shangri-La. However, unlike the James Hilton novel Lost Horizon, when people leave Nanda Parbat they do not age and die, they turn evil! In a strange twist, when Deadman enters the mountainous retreat, he returns to his corporeal form, no longer doomed to remain in spirit form. (Should he leave Nanda Parbat, he would become ethereal again, invisible to the living and only able to communicate to them by possessing someone.)

However,

Sensei wants to destroy this utopian society, the one place Boston Brand could find peace. Deadman must find a way to stop Sensei’s nefarious plan. Alas, it was not to be: Strange Adventures was prematurely canceled with issue © 2006 DC Comics.

#216 (Jan.–Feb. 1969), before the story could be finished, and the conclusion had to be hastily written into a guest appearance in The Brave and the Bold (B&B) #86 (Oct.–Nov. 1969). Andrew Helfer explained it thusly in his editorial for Deadman #1 (Mar. 1986): “I . . . was heartbroken when it came to an end. Seemed to me at the time, though, that it never actually did end—that we left poor Boston right in the middle of his biggest adventure yet—an adventure that saw print, oddly enough, as a Batman team-up in Brave and the Bold. Years later I learned from Dick Giordano that Deadman’s story in Strange Adventures had been cancelled in midstream, and the Brave and the Bold story had been quickly put together to give the readers some kind of a conclusion to

Adams’ original cover art to Strange Adventures #211 (Apr. 1968). Courtesy of Heritage Comics.

the saga of Deadman’s arrival at Nanda Parbat. According to Dick, it wasn’t the whole story, but a condensed (some would say patchy) version, since faltering sales had already determined that it would be Dick’s last opportunity to do a fulllength Deadman story. Writer/artist Neal Adams

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was just about ready to break new ground with the character—only to be forced to tie up all his loose ends in a tiny twenty-page package.” In B&B #86’s rather contrived series of events, Batman and Deadman foil Sensei’s plan, with the latter vowing revenge: “Two costumed fools have destroyed my plan! Two costumed fools will pay for that act. You will both be laid to waste by my hand!”

DEADMAN LIVES AGAIN In the 1970s DC began to experiment with unusual characters that did not fit the mold of the traditional spandex-clad heroes that had been their mainstay for over three decades. Characters like the Phantom Stranger, Swamp Thing, and, of course, Deadman, tapped into not only a growing social conscience but also the interest of the youth in the occult and all things mystical. Because of the uniqueness of this character, and the fact that he tapped into the interest in the afterlife and spiritualism, Deadman constantly returned to comics for both guest appearances, backup features, and even several miniseries. In fact, although the late 1960s and early 1970 laid the groundwork for the character, comics of the 1970s and 1980s is when things really got good! Deadman made several less-thanmemorable guest appearances in the 1970s, most notably Justice League of America #94 (Nov. 1971), The Brave and the Bold #104, (Nov.–Dec. 1972, wherein he displays a dubious willingness to kill in the name of love),

From the collection of this article’s writer, Bruce MacIntosh, comes this 2004 Deadman/Phantom Stranger sketch by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

The Phantom Stranger #33 (Oct.–Nov. 1974) and #39 (Oct.–Nov. 1975) through #41 (Feb.–Mar. 1976), B&B #133 (Apr. 1977), Superman Family #183 (May–June 1977), DC Super-Stars #18 (Jan.–Feb. 1978, in a visit with the Phantom Stranger to Rutland, Vermont, on Halloween night), DC Special Series #8 (1978), and Challengers of the Unknown #84 through #87 (1979, teaming up with Swamp Thing). Most of these appearances in the 1970s were canonical and served to reinforce and revisit Deadman’s origin and connection with Sensei. However, having already fulfilled his original raison d’ être (that of finding his killer and exacting retribution), Deadman is merely a guest-star. He simply

observes the proceedings or assists the other characters with his ability to possess the bodies of the secondary characters. In other words, Deadman is only a plot device and little character development takes place—his own story is never furthered.

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Matt Wagner: conducted on June 26, 2005

interview

by Al Nickerson

The Man, the Myth, and

Twenty years ago, I was introduced to my first Demon comic. No, it wasn’t Jack Kirby’s original series; however, it was writer/artist Matt Wagner’s The Demon miniseries from late 1986. Wagner’s Demon brought a new depth and detail to the relationship of Jason Blood, Etrigan the Demon, and Merlin. It also drastically changed (for a little while, anyway) the relationship between Jason Blood and Etrigan. —Al Nickerson AL NICKERSON: How did The Demon miniseries come about? Did you pitch the idea to DC Comics or did they come looking for you? MATT WAGNER: I was at that point in my career where Mage was fresh on the stands and a hot new thing. I was at a convention in Atlanta and we all went out to dinner. The convention takes everyone out to dinner. Just by happenstance, I was seated next to Dick Giordano, who was the head of DC Comics at that point. Well, operating head, I guess. Jenette Kahn was President. We had a good time at dinner. We got along well, and Dick invited me up to DC Comics to pitch him anything I wanted. This was shortly after Alan Moore had the Demon appear in

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Swamp Thing. I thought the Demon might be a ripe character to give the revamp treatment to.

Beginnings:

Additionally, the Demon was a favorite character of mine. I loved

Comico Primer #2 (first Grendel appe aranc

that series. I had done, I think in either eighth or ninth grade, an

Milestones:

acrylic recreation of the cover of the first issue.

Grendel / Mage / Batman/Grendel / Batman: Faces / Sandman Mystery Theater / Trinity / Green Arrow covers

NICKERSON: From the Jack Kirby series? WAGNER: Yeah. NICKERSON: Yeah, Kirby’s The Demon was amazing.

Work in Progress:

Batman and the Monster Men

WAGNER: Exactly. Like I said, I did a big painted recreation of the first cover. So, I have a history of the Demon going back for some time.

Cyberspace:

NICKERSON: I don’t suppose you still have that painting?

www.mattwagnercomics.com

WAGNER: No, I don’t. [laughs] My parents might have it stuffed away in the attic somewhere, but they live in Virginia and I live in Oregon. NICKERSON: Your version of The Demon seemed more medieval, more gothic than other versions that I have read, even to this day. Was that a conscious effort on your part? WAGNER: Yeah. That was all in the stages

Matt Wagner

of, comic-book-wise, where everybody was trying to do the big revamp, to put a more “realistic” spin on things. So I thought going with the medieval approach and downplay the super-heroic approach was a neat way to go with The Demon. NICKERSON: That certainly makes sense. I found that to be an important aspect to the story. WAGNER: Yeah. I had done a lot of research. In the storyline, Etrigan is the son of the demon Belial. NICKERSON: Right. WAGNER: That was based on an actual woodcut that I had found of the demon Belial. It’s from medieval days. He’s got fins for ears, little horns, and he’s even colored yellow. NICKERSON: I wanted to ask you about that because according to The History of the Kings of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin was the son of the daughter of the King of Demetia and the son of a demon (or incubus). Your spin with the Belial character where you made Etrigan and Merlin half-brothers was something you came up with on your own.

WAGNER: Right. I was really a neophyte in those days as far as

The tormented Jason Blood, from Demon #1.

comic-book production goes. I had sent in to DC Comics a copy of this print to include in the first issue. In the comic, Jason’s girlfriend, Glenda Mark, points to the print in a book, but the artwork of the

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“Dark Moon Rising.” I jokingly call it “[Batman:]

NICKERSON: When you made these changes to

Year 1.5.”

Etrigan, were you thinking of doing a follow-up

NICKERSON: Is there anything else you might want

series where Etrigan was a villain?

to add concerning your Demon miniseries?

WAGNER: Well, that was a possibility, sure.

WAGNER: The points you brought up are accurate.

Again, I was so young at that stage, I wasn’t

I really wanted to make Etrigan mean and nasty.

thinking that far ahead. In addition to The

I had hoped that DC Comics would set Etrigan

Demon, I had my own characters, Mage and

up as this unleashed villain now that Etrigan was

Grendel, running at the same time.

out in the world and free, but they wanted to go

NICKERSON: I want to thank you for the interview.

back to the status quo and they locked him back

WAGNER: You bet.

into Jason Blood.

Matt Wagner inking Demon creator Jack Kirby’s pencils, courtesy of The Jack Kirby Collector. To see Matt’s fully-painted version of this piece, don’t miss Jack Kirby Collector #44, on sale now from TwoMorrows. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

A L o o k at D C ’ s S u p e r n at u r a l S w i n g e r w i t h a G o l d Me da l l i o n DC. 1968. It was the “1/3rd Era,” coming hard on the end of the “Checkerboard Era”; it was the era when the title logo of the book took up 1/3rd of the available cover space. In the late ’60s DC, the #1 super-hero publisher (I’m betting that Dell/Gold key beat most comics in sales up to the ’60s) had been losing ground the last few years, and was trying to make it up by a policy that seemed to be “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.” This may be unfair—Lord knows, there were a bunch of good series being published—but most were given little chance to find an audience, much less an eighth or ninth issue. During this great experiment, new characters and titles were being created, old series dusted off, and then those were dumped for new, new characters, and new old series, some so old or short-lived that most fans had forgotten they had even been published. Such was The Phantom Stranger.

DC’S ORIGINAL GHOSTBUSTER The Phantom Stranger had made his first appearance in 1952, unannounced by any previous guest-starring or even special gueststarring appearance, smack in his own book, The Phantom Stranger #1. In that issue, he solves a phony haunting. In fact, he solves two phony hauntings and stops a mad magician from his

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(this page and next) From Len Wein’s “Circle of Evil” story in #22 (Nov.–Dec. 1972), with Jim Aparo at his prime. Courtesy of Steve Morger.

same approach: part new, part old. As Joe said, it

Bob Kanigher wrote the first all new Phantom

was a difficult, cut-and-paste job, and one that

Stranger story in over 15 years with “There is

couldn’t last. I mean, there were only six issues in

Laughter in Hell This Day,” which introduced a

the original run. Joe and his crew would have to

major villainess to the Stranger’s world, Tala, and a

come up with new material soon.

snazzy new wardrobe for the Stranger himself. In

As Joe said:

addition to penciling the story (and several following

“. . .Carmine gave me the go-ahead to do new

covers), Neal Adams was also did a redesign of the

material on the basis of the sales of the first few

Stranger’s plain black, early ’50s suit, first appearing

issues. I called in [writer] Bob Kanigher.” Mike

on the cover of #4 (Nov.–Dec. 1969). Neal gave

Friedrich wrote those first few issues, #1–3, drawing

the character a stylish slim ’60s suit, a short

on stories from the original ’50s, and including Dr.

brimmed hat, a cloak to replace the raincoat, and

Thirteen, just as he’d done for the Showcase issue,

a cool gold medallion. The Stranger was set for the

with art again by Bill Draut, keeping the look of the

swinging ’60s and beyond.

original. Then all heck broke loose. . .

For the first 12 issues, the Stranger passed through many and diverse hands. Said editor Orlando on his methods and thinking for The Phantom Stranger: “I came to my most difficult decisions on that book . . . telling people they were doing a good job on it, but that they just weren’t doing it anymore and it was time for a change. I think that was what kept the book alive . . . because it’s been a borderline proposition all along. At the time, I felt that I would get a better book by using more people . . . more people means more ideas. On the other hand, I have since come to believe in the other way of looking at the problem . . . which is if you can develop a writer with a strong style that readers really like, and a similarly strong artist, you really shouldn’t change. That book was a very experimental experience in my career.” Bob Kanigher would do the next issue, #5, with Mike Sekowsky penciling, then Sekowsky wrote and penciled #6, Kanigher again on #7, Denny O’Neil (taking a break from Batman?) on #8, Sekowsky back for #9 (number 9, number 9), and then Gerry Conway, working on his first series character, came aboard for #10–11. But it wasn’t to last. Kanigher was back for #12–13, and then Len Wein finally got his shot with #14. Whew! That’s a lot of turnover for any book, but for a character as nebulous as the Phantom Stranger it could have been fatal. Each issue became an attempt to define the character and his world, sometimes good (Conway introduced some serious cult action, Denny introduced the Ice Giants!), some not so good (Kanigher and Sekowsky had a group of “cool” teens involved in helping the Stranger. “Cool” teens are

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never a good sign.). At times the Stranger was an active participant, the driving force in the story, other times he was more the host of someone else’s story. After 12 issues The Phantom Stranger was looking spiffy, but was still undefined as a character. Some of this had changed with #7 and the adoption of a regular artist, Jim Aparo (fresh from his Aquaman assignment). Jim brought his realistic approach and professionalism (the man penciled, inked, and lettered his own pages!) to The Phantom Stranger, and some needed continuity. Len Wein finally got his chance.

WEIN AND APARO GET STRANGE(R) “I was a fan of the original. I was pestering Joe [Orlando], he was doing the mystery books and the Stranger seemed a perfect fit! I said, let’s bring back the Phantom Stranger!” Len followed the two Conway stories and the Bob Kanigher issues with “The Man With No Heart,” (Phantom Stranger #14, July–Aug. 1971), where the Phantom Stranger has his heart stolen (literally) and placed in the chest of Broderick Rune, a fat man with a bad heart and a hate for the Stranger. The story was like a riff on one of the old radio shows that inspired the original ’50s run. Bizarre and impossible, Len was starting his own vision of the character, a man of flesh and blood, but something more: “My Stranger never had an origin,” Wein says. “I know others have written some, but I think he’s best left unexplained, a mystery.” Not that Len doesn’t have his own ideas as to the Stranger’s origin. Which he wouldn’t tell me. But what about the Stranger’s powers? Is there a list of what they

Wein says. “I mean, what do other people call him?

were, or was it whatever the plot needed? Len?

I had Cassandra call him ‘friend’ for the longest

“Well, there was some of that. Whatever he needed, he got.”

time.” The Stranger now became much more active in his own stories, no longer the host who

Len introduced new characters, like Cassandra

appeared with a warning, then melted away at the

Craft, a young blind woman who helps the

end. Len had one-off stories, much like the pulp-radio

Stranger after he gets mugged in the subway (that

dramas that influenced his writing, and reintroduced

had to be a first). She becomes a girlfriend to the

elements that previous writers had used. The Ice

Stranger, as much as a guy who literally fades away

Giants (from Denny O’Neil’s story in #8) made a

can have a girlfriend. In the comic-book tradition,

comeback, as did Kanigher’s villain Tannarak, again

the reddish-pink pantsuit she is wearing at the

trying to kill the Phantom Stranger, then teaming

meeting becomes her “costume” in all her

with him and Cassandra Craft to defeat the Dark

appearances. Here we come to the problem of the

Circle, a secret group of cultists that planned to

Stranger’s name “It really was a stupid name,”

destroy the world. Len used continuity and a supporting

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Okay, I pulled that joke before. The Stranger

issue of possible origins for the Stranger. Four

never really fades away. Too many readers love

were presented (including Moore’s) but the “true”

the character, too many writers are intrigued by

story is best left unknown. After all, how can a

the possibilities he presents. Neil Gaiman cites

Phantom Stranger be, unless he is a phantom of some

Len’s run as an influence, and the character has

sort, and a stranger? And we’re still following him.

popped up several times since the cancellation, most notably in Justice League of America and in

Thanks to Len Wein and Paul Levitz for their time and for

1987, when Paul Kupperberg, Mike Mignola,

dredging up old memories. Arnold Drake was also to

and P. Craig Russell brought him back for a four-issue

contribute, but an extended illness prevented it (he’s fine

miniseries that captured some of the old flavor.

now, and he recommends you buy a copy of his 1964 movie

Vertigo used him in a one-shot, with a redesign

The Flesh Eaters, now on DVD!). We hope to include his

that kept some of the elements of the old Adams

comments in a future issue. Joe Orlando’s comments are

outfit, but making him look a bit priest-like. Even

taken from The Amazing World of DC Comics #6, an

Alan Moore got into the act, in a Secret Origins

interview originally conducted by Paul Levitz.

Mike Mignola and Craig Russell’s original cover art to 1987’s Phantom Stranger #3. Courtesy of Eric Delos Santos.

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I WAS A MARVEL COMICS WEREWOLF

Marvel Comics built its reputation on characters that

the world of horror is filled with examples of people

sometimes underwent horrific transformations and in

who are at heart good, decent folks who become

the process became unlikely heroes. Marvel’s idea of a

monsters beyond their control. Among the most

man becoming a monster-hero began with the

famous of these beasts in horror lore is the werewolf.

Fantastic Four when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced

So, when you get right down to it, what made more

the Thing to the world. This notion was taken to an

sense for a new, tragic comic-book hero in the 1970s

even deeper level with the creation of the Incredible

than a werewolf? This was what the folks at Marvel

Hulk and was explored to varying degrees in the pages

were thinking when the Comics Code Authority

of X-Men. The motif was always the same: power equals

loosened up on their rules allowing, for the first time

misery equals tragedy equals audience sympathy.

in almost two decades, mainstream comic-book

Marvel wasn’t the first to hit on this notion. Indeed,

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offices] and spoke to Roy and John Romita[, Sr.], who was the art director there. Seeing that Werewolf was a monthly title, and the other was a bimonthly, I took the Werewolf. Also, I can’t stand blood and vampires are always biting throats.” In time it became obvious that putting Perlin on Werewolf by Night was the smart thing to do, but much like they had been initially with Mike Ploog’s artwork, there were some doubts regarding Perlin’s style since his previous work experience had included drawing Scooby-Doo, Disney characters, and super-heroes. “[Marvel] kept saying, ‘Let’s be careful. You’re a little bit cartoony,’” says Perlin about his first few issues of Werewolf by Night. “I would be sitting there at night drawing these things and worrying, ‘It was too funny? Will they laugh at this?’ Years later, I met people who got into the comic-book business and they would say, ‘I used to get nightmares from the stuff you did,’ so I guessed I conquered that cartoony bit.” “There was no ego there, no prima donna, Don just tried his best every time,” recalls Perlin’s Werewolf by Night collaborator, Doug

Moench, who came on board as the book’s writer with issue #20 (Aug. 1974). As Moench’s comments attest, Perlin had a reputation as one of the best artists to work with in the business. “The storytelling Don Perlin did was exquisite,” says Moench. “It was very straightforward, nothing flashy, but always spot-on and you always knew exactly what was going on. The flow from panel to panel was perfectly smooth, everything clear at a glance. With certain other artists whose drawing styles were more highly regarded by the fans, I had a hard time writing [my script] so that the story made sense. Their storytelling just didn’t do the job. But Don was easy every time.” Moench and Perlin’s arrival on the series helped to launch the Werewolf’s second life, and both men remained on the series until its end with issue #43 (Mar. 1977). Moench joined Werewolf by Night, as well as Marvel itself, through the suggestion of a former

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member of the Werewolf team. “Marv Wolfman suggested me, and then Roy Thomas asked me to come to New York and work for Marvel on staff as assistant editor, which I ended up doing,” recalls

Moench. Before joining Marvel Comics, Moench was already working on horror stories for the company that launched the 1970s horror cycle. “Marv Wolfman had been my editor at Warren and that was how he knew me. I loved horror, and still do, but it was hardly my only interest. It’s just how I got my foot in the door. At Marvel, I began by writing black-and-white

horror

stories

for

Monsters

Unleashed, Dracula Lives, and Tales of the Zombie. The first color comic they offered was “Man-Wolf” [in Creatures on the Loose] and the second was Werewolf by Night. I thought Werewolf by Night was the more appealing assignment, so I dropped “Man-Wolf” simply because the two books were so similar.” Moench had a talent for weaving a good horror story, but the character development and storylines he devised suggested he might work well in other genres, something Marvel quickly realized. “Horror was just the start,” explains Moench. “It was when I started doing things like Master of Kung Fu that the editors decided,

Don Perlin’s unpublished cover art to Werewolf by Night #32. Original art scan from the collection of Leonard Chuah.

‘Wait a minute, maybe he can do more than horror!’”

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d, Tom Field, to Bob McLeo (Special thanks . il photocopies) o for the penc and Jim Cardill

Anything atmospheric always made my day. Doing Drac gave me that on almost every page. I almost didn’t get the opportunity to do Tomb of Dracula [see BACK ISSUE #6 for details]. 4 0

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TOMB OF DRACULA MAGAZINE #1 (1979)

olan

ns by Gene C Art and captio

RAWHIDE KID #149 (1979)

I vaguely remember this one. Seems like I was struggling with it. W e i r d

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Jennifer M. Contino

Rory Regan was the son of a junkman who went off to serve his country during the Vietnam conflict. He returned home, not to ticker-tape parades or the respect and admiration of those around him, like the soldiers of World War II and the Korean War experienced. His return wasn’t marked with praise and pride. He came back to a country that wasn’t impressed with his military record or sacrifices he made overseas. He was back in a world that seemed very different from what he had left a few short years earlier. One thing that was constant and unchanging was the love and pride his father felt for Rory. Gerry Regan wanted to give his son the whole world on a silver platter, but didn’t have the means to do such a thing. So, for Rory’s birthday, Gerry and his friends created a suit out of rags and planned to gift the younger Regan with that attire. However, tragedy struck before they all could celebrate. Gerry and his pals found a stack of “dirty” money hidden among the junk in the Regans’ Rags ’n’ Tatters junkyard. When the thieves returned to retrieve the money, Regan refused to say where the fortune was hidden. He wanted the money to be Rory’s heritage and future. He wanted it to buy Rory everything the man had ever wanted, but was unable to have in this life—at least so far. The gangsters weren’t ready to lose all that money, so they proceeded to torture the men, trying to get one to crack and spill the beans on

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that missing bounty. All refused, sticking to the plan of letting young Rory have a grand future, even if it cost them their remaining days in this world.

Rory walked in on the torture of his father

Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher thought their

and friends. The group was being electrocuted

“Tattered Tatterdemalion” would be a smash in

by a fallen electrical wire and he was horrified.

the mid-’70s when the hero made his debut.

He attempted to use a rubber tire to free his

The multitalented Kubert was an editor at DC

father from the arc, but the plan fell apart and

and believed the line he was responsible for

Rory found himself in mortal danger as well.

could use a new title. Thinking about how to

The criminals left, figuring the men as good as

flesh out the DC Universe led Kubert to one

dead and their loot lost. But they didn’t count

man: writer Robert Kanigher.

on Rory surviving the shock.

The Kubertdesigned, Redondo Studio-finished briskly paced inset sequence on page 2 of Ragman #1 (Aug.–Sept. 1976) builds to the weird hero’s reveal on page 3. Original art courtesy of Benny Gelillo.

“I called Bob in and we discussed the need

After he recovered, Rory found the costume

for a new title,” Kubert recalls. “Initially we

his father left him and took that as a sign that

thought that I would be doing the artwork,

he should protect his neighborhood from those

which I would have enjoyed.”

evil men and others of their ilk. He wanted to be

However, other responsibilities prevented

another force in Gotham City to help those

Kubert from penciling their creation. Although

frightened of the things that go bump in the

Kubert continued to draw the covers for the

night. The enigmatic Ragman seemed a

series, Ragman’s sequential art on issues #1–4

welcome addition to Batman’s turf. Creators

was handled by the Redondo Studio, working

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After that 1985 limited

Gangster,” Kubert says. “The trade-

series, Ragman gained some

paperback edition of Yossel is also in

mystical and magical elements

stores now. The Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy

that changed him from

six-issue miniseries began in January. I

mysterious costumed vigi-

have P.S. Magazine for the U.S. Army

lante to a more “spirited”

month.

I’m

managing

the

sort. Kubert does not

school’s

want to talk about the

teaching at the school, and beating up

post-Crisis Ragman. He said “no comment” when asked his thoughts

every

the

direction

his

junkman has taken in recent years as one of the Sentinels of Magic.

correspondence

courses,

on [sons] Adam and Andy!” Sounds like a busy schedule for one of comics’ hardest working men! As for the Ragman, he was seen recently as a major player in the DC

One thing Kubert would comment

Comics Infinite Crisis tie-in, Day of

on was his upcoming workload. The

Vengeance. With the sudden interest in

man who, along with running one of

magic in comics, one can guess that

the most successful art schools in the

won’t be the last we see of this version

United States, keeps himself busy

of the Ragman.

projects. “I have a graphic novel in

Check out Jennifer Contino’s online column

stores now from iBooks called Jew

at www.comicon.com/pulse.

$200,000 PAID FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART! COLLECTOR PAYING TOP DOLLAR FOR “ANY AND ALL” ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK AND COMIC STRIP ARTWORK FROM THE 1930S TO PRESENT! COVERS, PINUPS, PAGES, IT DOESN’T MATTER! 1 PAGE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS SOUGHT! CALL OR EMAIL ME ANYTIME!

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Maybe I’m ’Mazed!

You Gotta Have Friends. . .

Brian K. Morris

When Sigfried Horatio Hunch III left the care of Bellevue Hospital, one can only assume it was with the permission of his doctors. After finding a place to live, Hunch spotted a trash pile upon which lay a golden helmet with two huge glass eye holes and a “W” at its peak. When Sigfried lifted the helm, the letter spun on its axis, making it an “M.” Knowing an omen when he saw it, Sigfried christened himself ’Mazing Man. Financially secure from winning the Publisher’s Reading House Sweepstakes, ’Maze patrolled Queens, equally willing to save a child from being run over by a truck, then preventing him from swallowing a discarded cigarette butt. “Heaven only knows what eating one of them might do.” Public reaction was divided, but not between “threat” or “menace.” To one bystander, “He’s the neighborhood looney-toon.” To another, “He’s great to have around, like Lassie . . . and we don’t have to clean up after him.”

FRIENDSHIP, JUST THE PERFECT BLENDSHIP In 1973 frequent letterhack Bob Rozakis received permission to tour the DC offices from DC editor Julius Schwartz. The comic-based crossword puzzles he created for a fanzine wound up in the hands of Sol Harrison, DC’s Vice President and head of its Production Department who told Rozakis, “If you can make up puzzles about Superman and Batman, we’ll buy them.” Nine puzzles later, Rozakis found his foot in the door. This led to a stint as Schwartz’s assistant, where he began selling scripts for Robin and the Elongated Man (in Detective Comics), The Freedom Fighters, and others. In 1976 Rozakis transferred to Production, succeeding Jack Adler in 1981 and remaining as Production Director until leaving DC in 1998. Just as Rozakis used to do, 13-year-old Stephen DeStefano began his comics career by writing letters,

Very early ’Mazing Man presentation art, penciled by Stephen DeStefano (contributor of all of this article’s artwork) and inked by Joseph Delbeato (who placed a cigar in Guido’s hand). © 2006 DC Comics.

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In the early 1970s Marvel Comics began to explore the

Code Authority were loosened. In his origin tale, stunt

world of horror in earnest for the first time since the

cyclist Johnny Blaze trades his soul to Satan to save the

mid-1950s’ introduction of the Comics Code Authority.

life of the man who has been his “father” and mentor,

Such titles as Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, and

Crash Simpson, who was dying of an undisclosed

The Frankenstein Monster, which featured the legendary

disease. After the deed is done, Blaze finds out the hard

monsters of classic literature and motion pictures,

way that those who make deals with the Lord of Hades

began to appear on newsstands alongside The Amazing

never come out on the winning end. Crash doesn’t die

Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and The Avengers. Eventually,

because of the disease, but he is killed trying to break a

the denizens of the horror realm started making

world’s cycling record. When Satan comes to claim

crossover appearances with the spandex crowd and

Blaze’s soul, it is only the love of Simpson’s daughter, the

became full-fledged members of the Marvel Universe.

lovely and pure-hearted Roxanne, which keeps Johnny

Of all the Mighty Marvel Monsters that blurred the

safe and forces Satan to flee. Still, Blaze does not get off to share his existence with a fiery demon, Zaratho. Thus,

tryout in Marvel Spotlight # 5–12, the character went

the race was on for Blaze as he was cursed to ride the

on to his own title, which outlasted all of the company’s

highways of the night as the flame-skulled Ghost Rider.

other horror books, and his crossed paths with

Recently BACK ISSUE spoke with the artist who

Marvel’s super-heroes more frequently than the other

helped kick start Ghost Rider into existence, the

monsters (Ghost Rider was even a member of the

legendary Mike Ploog. Even though his run on the

short-lived super-hero team, the Champions).

series was short, he left a mark that is remembered to

Ghost Rider’s first outing told a story that surely

this day by fans everywhere of ol’ Skull Head.

—Dan Johnson

could have never done before the rules of the Comics W e i r d

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totally unscathed. He soon learns that he will be forced

conducted on October 20, 2005

line between super-scares and super-heroics, none was more popular than Ghost Rider. After a successful

interview

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Daredevil Evel Knievel was the king of stunt cycling, media, and toys in the early 1970s, and helped pave the road for Ghost Rider.

PLOOG: I’ll tell you, it was because of the

PLOOG: Yeah, he moved off [from horror].

character. I couldn’t get my head around the

They did that with Frankenstein, too. I left

fact that he was so damned limited. One,

Frankenstein when they decided to move him

he’s this flaming skull and no one could

into the twentieth century [so he could team-up]

approach him. There was no expression on

with Spider-Man and things like that.

his face and he can’t show any downside

JOHNSON: Another thing that I think which

emotions until he turns back into his human

helped prolong the series is that the writers and

character. I had problems with that, to be

artists who came onto the book later on really

honest with you. Even a villain can’t be bad

played up the tragedy angle of the character a

all the time. He has to have someplace

lot more. They really presented Johnny Blaze as

where he has a weakness and a soft spot.

a cursed man. Later issues dropped the love

JOHNSON: It goes back to the classic

angle and the idea of him trying to have a

monsters again. Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man is

normal life and they showed someone who was

perhaps the best example to compare to

doing all he could to distance himself from

Ghost Rider. Johnny Blaze and Larry Talbot

anyone that he loved, who he feared he might

are both men who transform into alter egos that

end up hurting because of Ghost Rider.

they can’t control, and once they are human

PLOOG: That’s kind of the logical way to go with

again, they regret the things that they have done.

it. If you have a problem, and it’s a life-changing

PLOOG: My favorite of them all was Frankenstein,

problem, you’re going to spend the majority of

because he was the epitome of the monsters. He

your time trying to solve it. Going in that way, and

was someone who had a great deal of

having him dealing with the occult end of it and

emotion, but he didn’t know how to

trying to get himself out of this trap, is the logical

control it. He was like a newborn child

way to go with it. But we were so used to having

in this monstrous body. Everything

the bad guy of the month, and it was a hard thing

that he saw, he saw it for the first time.

to get out of. It was a world that I was not all that

I really liked that. Poor old Ghost

familiar with. These guys [at Marvel] were the

Rider, he was kind of stuck between

experts, and I felt kind of odd. I wasn’t really

the devil and the deep blue sea.

interested in building a monumental hero. I was

JOHNSON: What is amazing,

more interested in character and story.

though is that Ghost Rider is one

JOHNSON: Ghost Rider is currently gearing up to

of the characters that people

become the next Marvel character to get the big

seem to remember you the most

screen treatment, thanks to actor Nicolas Cage

for these days.

and writer and director Mark Steven Johnson.

PLOOG: It is odd. I only did a

Since you have also made a name for yourself in

handful of issues. I only just started

the film industry, I was curious what your

going to conventions again, and

thoughts were about the upcoming film.

Ghost Rider is the character that

PLOOG: I don’t know much about it, other than

everyone wants me to do a sketch of

I worked on the movie X-Men and the Ghost Rider

[for them]. It’s really quite amazing

movie was mentioned to me then. I thought it

Veteran Supergirl and Tommy Tomorrow artist Jim Mooney did a . . . helluva job (sorry!) inking Mike Ploog on Marvel Spotlight #8 (Feb. 1973). Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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that is the book they remember.

could be an interesting film, especially with

JOHNSON: Of all of Marvel’s

the effects that they have today. But they

monster-themed heroes, Ghost Rider

would have to come up with a solid story

did outlast all the others. Plus,

that the Ghost Rider could work within. This

Ghost Rider had the added

is all a storytelling medium, and if you don’t

advantage of being more accessible

have a good story, you won’t have a good

to fans of the super-hero books.

film or a good book.

A Chat with Don Perlin

interview

DAN JOHNSON: You came on to Ghost Rider after Werewolf by Night ended. How did you come to work on the title? DON PERLIN: That’s a funny thing about that one. Jim Shooter had become editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics by then, and he had me do fill-in books until he could find a book for me. I was sitting there working on the fill-ins and I was wondering what kind of book Marvel will come up with [for me]. I figured that I would like any book they had there, except one: Ghost Rider. I didn’t want to draw motorcycles. About 20 minutes into that thought, the phone rang. The call was from Shooter and he said, “Don, we have got a book for you. It’s Ghost Rider. I’m going to write it, and you’re going to draw it.”

bumped up to a monthly status. PERLIN: It started picking up in sales. All [the work] I had at the time was penciling that book, so I asked to ink an issue. After I did that, I got to pencil and ink the book. JOHNSON: You have always preferred to ink

by Dan Johnson

title, but as soon as you came on board it as

conducted on September 15, 2005

JOHNSON: The book had been a bimonthly

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your own work, right? PERLIN: Well, the thing is at Marvel you would have a plot and once it was penciled, the story would go back to the writer. Then they would add the captions and the balloons. After they look at your pictures, the writers might have slightly different ideas than before. What would happen is that you would leave a lot of

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Jim Kingman During the 1970s, DC Comics’ Gorilla Grodd, one of the Flash’s greatest foes, made only one appearance in the Scarlet Speedster’s own comic book (The Flash #209, 1971). And yet, Grodd made many prominent appearances in other corners of the DC Universe, notably in several issues of Secret Society of SuperVillains in 1976 and 1977. The highly evolved super-ape from Gorilla City was so high profile in 1977 that you would almost think he was being primed for his own series. This idea isn’t so far from the truth, as a proposal for an ongoing title featuring Gorilla Grodd had been completed in 1976 and put “on hold” for several months before being written off in November of 1977. It’s a shame that Flash fans didn’t get to see one of Barry Allen’s greatest rogues in a series of his own, but it makes for an interesting tale of a comic book, Grodd of Gorilla City, that never came to be. According to The Comic Reader #131 (1976), “Elliot Maggin and Cary Bates have written a story called ‘Gorilla City,’ illustrated by Joe Barney and Carl Potts. Where it will appear has not yet been decided; apparently it is set in Grodd’s home town.” As far as I know, this was the only time in print that Grodd of Gorilla City was ever mentioned. I collected and read all of DC’s super-hero books in the late 1970s and not once do I recall the series being plugged in a DC title published at that time. Grodd of Gorilla City was indeed written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin, penciled by Joe Barney and Carl Potts, and inked by Terry Austin and Bob Wiacek. That’s quite a list of creators to pack into the credits box, and the book’s origins are as intriguing as the reason so many creators were gathered to complete the proposal. “I believe the Grodd project was initiated by Cary

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Bates,” recalls inker Terry Austin. “Cary rented office space at Continuity Associates (the commercial art

business in New York City owned by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano), in an effort to help some of the new kids at Continuity, who were his friends, get their foot in the door at DC. These were pencilers Joe Barney and Carl Potts, inkers Bob Wiacek and myself.” “I was working at Continuity Studios at the time,” remembers penciler Carl Potts. “At the time, Continuity was run by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. They had a number of young artists working there, helping out on various comics and commercial projects. This crew included Joe Barney, Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, and myself. Cary Bates rented an office at Continuity and asked Joe and I to co-pencil the project and Terry and Bob to ink it. “Cary may have felt the only chance he had of getting the project done in a reasonable amount of time was to have several of us working on it,” Potts continues. “Neither Joe nor I were known as speed demons when it came to drawing comics. For some reason we could turn out storyboard frames with relative ease but comics was what we were really into so we tended to sweat over every panel. That lack of speed, combined with the fact that we were already involved with other comics and commercial projects, probably prompted Cary to have multiple artists on the Grodd story.” “I had been at Neal Adams’ Continuity Associates for about a year doing comics, storyboards, and animatic penciling,” remembers Joe Barney. “I was only 20 years old, and very green; this was my first solo penciling assignment (well, somewhat; Carl Potts and I penciled separate pages on the book). Cary Bates, who came up to Continuity fairly frequently,

“Carmine would have been publisher at that

and later rented a space in Larry Hama’s room (after

time,” says Austin. I don’t remember if Grodd of

Ralph Reese left the studio), asked Neal if there were

Gorilla City was intended as a one-shot or first issue

any artists who had the free time to tackle a story he

of a continuing series. The first issue was completed

and Elliot Maggin had written for a proposed new

but I don’t think I ever heard why it wasn’t used. I

book. Neal suggested Carl and myself—we were sort

don’t believe the time period before it was eventually

of the first of a whole group of aspiring artists that

written off is significant. Work that was killed was

Neal took on as assistants, for a time nicknamed ‘the

kept around in the editor’s files in case a use could

Goon Squad.’ I was excited about the project, aside

be found for it later, since it had already been paid

from the opportunity to show some chops and

for. Periodically, I believe, the editor would search

become a real professional.”

his files and if no home were apparent for an

I wondered if the series was proposed at the tail end

orphaned project, it was written off (I assume the

of Carmine Infantino’s tenure as DC publisher, or just

money paid to the creators would be taken as some

as Jenette Kahn took over the position in early 1976.

sort of tax loss), and the art returned to the artists.”

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were much more professionally polished than either of the pencilers.” Even renowned inker Dick Giordano got into the act of producing Grodd of Gorilla City. Recalls Potts: “We took some reference photos of Dick Giordano for the story. There’s one sequence where, if I remember correctly, he is getting a massage and so we took shots of Dick without a shirt while he was on a desk at Continuity. If anyone ever sees some of those photos out of context, they might be pretty embarrassing for Dick!” Austin hasn’t forgotten, either. “Yes, I remember Joe and Carl taking Polaroid photos of Dick Giordano after they decided to ‘case’ him as the drug smuggling boss in the story. I remember a sequence where the shirtless mobster got a massage while talking to his subordinates. I’m guessing Dick is praying that those photos don’t turn up for use in this article!” “There is one thing that has been sticking in my craw all these years,” Joe Barney confides. “I did this double-page, establishing shot of the city. I worked for about a week on it, and Terry inked it. At the time, being the naïve neophyte that I was, I got upset that Terry had added all these embellishments—windows and decorative doo-dads and such to the buildings— after I had meticulously considered the negative space in the drawing. I was crestfallen that my ‘ohso-perfect-vision’ had not been followed and I’m sure my dissatisfaction got back to him, which I felt really bad about. It was only later that I realized how much Terry had improved it, a successful bit of teamwork, and still a great portfolio piece today. Like Joe Barney knows for sure it was Carmine

Eyeglasses as a disguise work better for Superman than for Grodd, as seen in this page by Joe Barney and Terry Austin.

Infantino. “I do have a fairly vivid memory of the terror I felt going into Carmine’s office. For a kid from Wisconsin, it was like going before the Godfather. Of course, the terror was fear of rejection, which would have been tantamount to the kiss of death!” Adds Potts: “I am also unsure if the story was

killed due to the change in publishers, as part of the ‘DC Implosion’ in the 1970s, or simply because much of the art was weak—for my part, anyway. I remember not being happy with the vast majority of my drawing on the story and, with the passing of time, I’m sure those feelings have only grown! At that point, I believe the inkers on the project

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I said, I was young and clueless. Terry, if you’re out there, you did a great job, and sorry about that!” While Grodd of Gorilla City rested in the DC offices, Grodd the character was all over the DC Universe in 1976 and 1977, appearing in three issues of Super-Team Family (#s 3, 13, 14), eight issues of Secret Society of Super-Villains (#s 1–4, 8–11), DC Super Stars #14 (a new origin involving Green Lantern that conflicted with established DC continuity), DC Special Series starring the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and culminating in a prominent villainous role in DC Special Series #11, Flash Spectacular. It would have made sense given all these appearances for a Gorilla Grodd series to find a slot on the publishing

schedule (at the time, another notable ape, King

Gorilla City to execute Gorilla Grodd. Meanwhile,

Kong, was making a cinematic revival), maybe even

Grodd is on the loose, and Solovar, ruler of Gorilla

a shot in the revived Showcase, but according to a

City, has ordered armed apes to track the renegade

hand stamp in the upper right hand corner of the

gorilla down. To escape will require some ingenuity,

splash page, the book was finally “Written Off

so Grodd uses his amazing mental abilities to

11–30–77.” On the other hand, even if the Grodd

temporarily appear human, long enough for him

series had been given the go-ahead, it might not

to be captured in man-like form and evicted from

have survived the DC Implosion of 1978.

the city. Once outside the city’s borders, Grodd

“I’m not sure what was going on at DC at that

reverts back to his true self and is free to walk off.

particular time,” notes Potts. “Things changed a lot

Meanwhile, the real human hanging (literally)

in the mid- to late 1970s. At one point they had Allen

around Gorilla City—completely naked, by the

Milgrom as an editor there and he did some nice

way—is taken into custody, and the gorillas realize

work before the ‘Implosion.’ Paul Levitz was Joe

that Grodd has escaped. Again.

Orlando’s assistant and was also my editor on some Aqualad backups that I penciled for Adventure Comics. Sometime during that era Dick Giordano left Continuity to work at DC fulltime. Lots of changes and I’m not sure where the Grodd project fit into the timeline. Continuity was sort of a neutral meeting point between Marvel and DC. Lots of artists from both companies would stop by to visit, so it could be an exciting place at times.” While preparing this article I became curious as to who would have been editor of Grodd of Gorilla City had the proposal been given a green light. Julius Schwartz? Gerry Conway? Joe Orlando? Denny O’Neil? There were major changes in editorial policy when Kahn came on board so that any one of them could have landed the job! “I’m pretty sure it would have been Julius Schwartz,” says Joe. “He was the gorilla guy—he loved ’em, too, as did, apparently, most of us 1960s readers, as evidenced in all the Superman/ Batman/Flash stories where they fought and/or changed into gorillas.” I asked Bob Rozakis, who worked in DC’s production department at that time and was their official “Answer Man,” and he replied, “If my memory is working correctly, Julie was the editor. But then it got moved from Julie to Gerry and eventually just faded away.” Faded away, at its most opportune time. It’s difficult to synopsize a 20-page story when you only have five pages of it to peruse, but from what I’ve read of Grodd of Gorilla City a human assassin masquerading as a gorilla has infiltrated

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