Back Issue #17 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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SUPER GIRLS ISSUE! ♥ FEMALE CARTOONIST ROUNDTABLE ♥ WOLFMAN & JIMENEZ TALK

T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

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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 17 August 2006 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

FLASHBACK: Supergirl: From Argo City to Legend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 The Maid of Might in her own series, with art from and/or commentary by Buzz, Giordano, Harris, Kupperberg, Oksner, Saaf, Sekowsky, Skeates, and Wolfman

EDITOR Michael Eury

ART GALLERY: Supergirl: Super-Fashion Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 The heroine in hot pants, by Hamner, Kirk, Moy, Parent, Rosema, Saviuk, and Stelfreeze

PUBLISHER John Morrow

PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Super Women on Super Girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Jennifer Contino asks 11 female comics pros about their favorite super-heroines

DESIGNERS Rich J. Fowlks Robert Clark PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

INTERVIEWS: Talking About Tigra: From Cat to Were-Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Linda Fite, Ramona Fradon, Tony Isabella, and Marie Severin chat about the Cat

COVER ARTIST Bruce Timm

BEYOND CAPES: Diana Prince, Wonder Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 When the powerless Amazon went mod, with Samuel Delany, Dick Giordano, and Denny O’Neil

Paul Kupperberg Daryl Kuxhouse Bruce MacIntosh Dennis Mallonee Andy Mangels Lee Marrs Darrell McNeil Sheldon Moldoff Brian K. Morris Al Nickerson Ann Nocenti Bob Oksner Dennis O’Neil Kristen Palmer George Pérez John Petty Robert Plunkett Dennis Pu Trina Robbins John Romita, Sr. Scott Rosema Bob Rozakis Steve Rude Rose Rummel-Eury Paul Sager Diana Schutz Marie Severin Scott Shaw! Steve Skeates Roger Stern Aaron Sultan Roy Thomas Jill Thompson Bruce Timm Anne Timmons Jim Warden Michelle Warden John Wells Marv Wolfman Spiros Xenos James Zanotto

BACKSTAGE PASS: Attack of the ’70s Super Toon Chicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Darrell McNeil tracks Saturday morning’s favorite females—with little-known facts and art by Steve Rude and the late, great Alex Toth COLOR GALLERY: Bruce Timm’s Super Girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 A bevy of Bruce Timm-drawn beauties, in glorious color FLASHBACK: Marvel’s Dark Angel: Spider-Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Frank Cho, Carmine Infantino, Ann Nocenti, Roger Stern, and others weigh in on Marvel’s web woman

COVER DESIGNER Robert Clark SPECIAL THANKS Arthur Adams Marcia Allass Darryl Banks Eduardo Barreto Laura Bartroff Jon Bogdanove Judy Bogdanove Jerry Boyd June Brigman Mike Burkey Sal Buscema Buzz John Byrne Mark Cannon James Carroll Dewey Cassell Frank Cho Ali Cloos Chynna ClugstonMajor John Cogan Jennifer M. Contino Colleen Coover Josh Davidson Fred L. deBoom Samuel Delany Jan Duursema Linda Fite Ramona Fradon Dick Giordano Grand Comic-Book Database Fred Grandinetti Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Adam Hughes Carmine Infantino Tony Isabella Guenter Jandrasits Phil Jimenez Dan Johnson Barbara Kesel

ROUGH STUFF: Pretty in Pencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Banks, Bogdanove, Byrne, Hughes, Leonardi, and Pollard sketch the fightin’, fairer sex

INTERVIEW: Marv Wolfman on Donna Troy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 The superstar writer discusses his landmark Titans tale “Who Is Donna Troy?” INTERVIEW: Phil Jimenez on Donna Troy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 One of comics’ most popular writer/artists reveals his love for the one-time Wonder Girl FLASHBACK: Twenty Years of Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 A revealing retrospective by the heroine’s publisher, Dennis Mallonee OFF MY CHEST: The Revival, Death, and… Return of Batwoman . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 A hard-hitting look at the tumultuous career of DC’s original Dominoed Daredoll GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: DC Double Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Go behind the scenes of the Supergirl/Superboy title you never saw, with previously unpublished art by Infantino and Eduardo Barreto BACK IN PRINT: Non-Comic Books for the Comic Art Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Collectors Press’ new releases examine pin-up and pulp art BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Reader feedback on issue #16 BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Bruce Timm. Tigra the Were-Woman, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Woman TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Supergirl TM & © DC Comics. Flare TM & © Heroic Publishing. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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Brian K. Morris

TM & © DC Comics.

From Argo City to Legend Her ultimate fate to the contrary, Kara Zor-El was the luckiest girl alive. Her home, Argo City, survived the destruction of the planet Krypton. But when the Argonians could stall death no longer, teenaged Kara escaped to Earth where her cousin, Superman, found her. Hiding “Linda Lee” in an orphanage beneath a wig of auburn hair, Supergirl practiced the use of her powers, operating as Superman’s “secret weapon” until she was revealed to the world. Eventually, she was adopted by the Danvers and discovered that her true parents survived the destruction of Argo City. She ran through a series of boyfriends—human and otherwise—and tackled menaces that were less cosmic in scope than Superman’s, relying more on her intelligence and so-called “feminine intuition” than muscling her way towards a solution. Starting as a backup feature in Action Comics #252 (May 1959) through 377 (May 1969), she pushed her Legion of Super-Heroes teammates out of Adventure Comics with issue #381 (June 1969). Except for the problems from which comic adventures were made, life was good for Kara Zor-El. And then her editor retired. 2

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All-New, All-Different! In 1970, Mort Weisinger surrendered the long-held editorial reins to the Superman family of comic magazines [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #12 for a fuller look at this period.], leaving his empire to be divvied up amongst the DC staff including neo-editor Mike Sekowsky. Long acknowledged as one of the industry’s fastest and most versatile pencilers, Sekowsky came off an eight-year run as Justice League of America’s penciler to take over Metal Men and Wonder Woman, where the characters all took on more human identities. Sekowsky showed a talent for writing believable characters and setting them in fastpaced adventures, easily moving from genre to genre. Since Sekowsky was so good at “humanizing” his characters, perhaps the same creative magic would work again on Supergirl.

drug temporarily cancels her superabilities without warning. While she might only be a “parttime Supergirl” now, the scientists ensure Kara can remain a fulltime super-heroine. Fitted with an “exoskeleta cyborg,” a series of miniaturized motors to emulate her natural super-strength, a pair of jet boots for flight, and later with a pair of nose plugs that would allow her to

Clap On! Clap Off!

breathe underwater or

In Adventure Comics #397 (Sept. 1970), the first issue of

in space, Supergirl

the Sekowsky era and guest-starring Diana Prince, Supergirl’s

eventually brings the

initial battle with the wizard Zond leaves Supergirl’s uniform

Professor to justice in

trashed. This gives the Maid of Might an excuse to adopt

Adventure #405 (Apr.

a new set of threads taken from designs by readers

1971) before he can

Louise Ann Kelley (address unknown) and Jean Bray of

whip up a triple dose

Springlake, Michigan.

of his vile formula. As

In the backup story, the reader meets Nastalthia, no last

punishment, he cheerfully seeks a cure for his power-

name ever given, who would be Supergirl’s chief nemesis

be-gone pill in Kandor, surrounded by cutting edge

for the next couple of years. The young brunette, nicknamed

Kryptonian technology, not unlike imprisoning a mouse

“Nasty,” is a previously unseen niece of arch-villain Lex Luthor

inside a cheese factory.

Original art to page 16 of Adventure Comics #401 (Jan. 1971). Art by

whose goal is to defeat Supergirl in the first step of his “plans

In #406 (May 1971), Linda Danvers finally graduates

Mike Sekowsky and

for those other super-freaks! Then—the world is mine!”

from Stanhope College. Via her contact at Galaxy

Jack Abel. Courtesy

“Ours, Uncle,” Nasty reminds her mentor, “ours!”

Broadcasting, a newly installed TV reporter named Clark

of Heritage Comics.

Of course, Lex lands in prison—again!—and a decided-

Kent, a cameraperson/reporting job awaits her at K-SFTV

ly unbalanced battle with Nasty’s gang of cycle-thugs

in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Nasty is there already,

does nothing to quench the villainess’ desire to make their

having used her infamous uncle’s unrevealed influence. By

first encounter the last.

now, Nasty believes that Linda and the Girl of Steel could

The international jet-setting thief/con-artist Starfire (no relation to the sword-and-sorcery heroine of the 1970s or

TM & © DC Comics.

be one and the same, combining the villainous aspects of her uncle with the insatiable curiosity of Lois Lane.

the New Teen Titan) shares Luthor’s theory about Supergirl.

Aside from old villainess Black Flame in #400 (Dec. 1970),

Her right-hand man, Dr. Kangle, reveals the result of years of

the Sekowsky era was costumed-villain-free, relying on more

research, a pill able to remove super-powers. Staff gigolo

personal challenges for his heroine, just like in Sekowsky’s

Derek meets Supergirl, seduces her, then administers the

Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, a new editor waited in the

drug during a romantic picnic as Supergirl laments, “I have

sidelines to guide the Girl of Steel through a fresh set

these powers—and while sometimes I wish I didn’t—and

of adventures.

humanity as long as it needs me!” A few minutes later,

From the House of Mystery to San Francisco

Supergirl’s super-abilities vanish and she is left for dead

Without fanfare or the intense scrutiny of today’s Internet-

from a hail of machine gun bullets from Starfire’s thugs.

driven fandom, Joe Orlando began his editorial reign over

Bleeding and barely able to stand, Supergirl makes her

the Maid of Might with the second story of Adventure

way to Kandor, where she’s examined by the shrunken

#409 (Apr. 1971), the first half containing Sekowsky’s last

city’s scientists who declare that an unknown substance in the

as editor/writer/penciler. In the tale written by E. Nelson S u p e r

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TM & © DC Comics.

could live a normal life—I have to use them to help

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In #208 (July 1981), Harris threw a curve in Linda Danvers’ career path when after a fit of anger at her coworkers at New Athens, she used her dramatic training,

When Correctly Viewed…

landing a role on the daytime soap opera Secret Hearts.

sidebar

Just as he’d done with Wonder Woman, Harris moved

In Adventure Comics #421 (July 1972), Nightflame slices a gateway from the Innerverse, a universe inside of the atoms of Supergirl’s own brain, intent

Linda Danvers to New York City, often supplying photographic landmark reference. Given that comics’ primarily male demographic of the time probably didn’t admit to watching soaps, why did Harris switch Linda’s occupation? Harris had a contact at Lincoln Center where one of the major afternoon soap operas was produced. When editor Julie Schwartz gave permission, Harris toured the studio to

on capturing the Maid of Might and stealing her powers. Only tormenting

soak up all the information he could on the nuts and bolts

the Girl of Steel with her own inner evil,

of daytime TV production. “That gave me a lot of ammunition to make stories on that.”

it seems, could get her to surrender TM & © DC Comics.

her powers. But one of Linda Danvers’

Harris also gave former JLA mascot “Snapper” Carr his

co-workers holds Supergirl’s hand, sending his fervent mental and emotional sup-

real first name in #189 (May–June 1978). “I remember going

port through their newly created link.

to Julie that day. I said, ‘We’re putting Snapper Carr in

Empowered by his concern, Supergirl wrestles her evil urges into submission,

here. What’s his first name?’ He says, ‘I have no idea.’ So I

conquering a latent death wish in the process. As she tells Nightflame, shortly

named him after George Lucas. [laughs] Star Wars was going

before she perishes, “I’m a complete woman now! I feel secure, strong!”

on at that point, and ‘Lucas Carr,’ it just sounds good.”

From the plot by Marv Wolfman to “The Beginning” ending from Orlando, “Demon

Also, “I remember one thing that Nelson added to that

Spawn” is a straight-up fantasy story packed with inner conflict and potential

script, which I thought was rather cool. When [Snapper]

romance wrapped up with a “coming of age” theme. According to scripter

was trying to get a job at S.T.A.R. Labs, he brought in his

Steve Skeates, “I think if you read between the lines while trying as hard as you

references and it was all the Justice League’s autographs.”

can to ignore all the sexual imagery in there, you can actually see what Marv was originally up to. It was, as a matter of fact, [penciler] Mike Sekowsky who added most of the sexuality to this story.”

What did Harris believe was his personal mark on Supergirl? “I think one of the things I liked, and this goes across all of the female characters I did, I never made an issue out of

Done in a rare (for DC at that time) plot-first manner, Sekowsky’ s tale showed that the artist could draw attractive women with the best of them, aided by Bob Oksner’s rich inkwork. Nightblade’s skin-tight costume and both women’s provocative poses wasn’t lost on Skeates. “By the time I got the finished art and was asked to add in the dialogue, things were already pretty much sexed up. I could see, at that point, no recourse but to go with where Mike had gone, to further emphasize the sexuality. “Thus, cheered on—or should I say ‘egged on’?—by Cary Bates, with whom I was sharing office space at that time, I played up Sekowsky’s sexual themes to the point where the explosion on the bottom of page 15 became a way-tooobvious veritable orgasm. And, the last page—what with its ‘being close, joined…’ and ‘I can feel a closeness I’ve never felt toward any other man!’—was pretty damn sexy, too!” With all this imagery happening, how did this story pass the Comics Code? As satirist Tom Lehrer once said, “When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.” So run to your local

equality. They just were equal. Everyone treated them as equals. People say, ‘it’s not realistic in the real world,’ but that’s the way it should be, so that’s part of the fantasy. They’ve just never run across any prejudice.” With #209 (Aug. 1981), Harris supplied only the plot and with #211 (Oct. 1981), Martin Pasko briefly took over after a fill-in by Bob Rozakis. Then Paul Kupperberg arrived as writer with issue #217 (Apr. 1972), getting the job by being, as he says, “the right guy in the right place at the right time.” When Pasko moved on, “Julie Schwartz and E. Nelson Bridwell turned around and pointed at me. Superman Family was kind of second tier as far as the Superman franchise went, and I was trying to move up in the rotation in those days.” Like Harris, Kupperberg was a ground-floor fan of Supergirl. “I loved Supergirl, but not, y’know, in a creepy I-knowshe’s-fictional-but-a-guy-can-pretend kind of way, all the way

comic shop and pick

back to her start in Action #252.

up Adventure Comics

“I think what I liked most about Supergirl was that I was

#421. Share it with someone you love.

Is it warm in here or is Supergirl confronting her inner

—Brian K. Morris

demons in Adventure Comics #421 (July 1972)? Art by Mike Sekowsky and Bob Oksner. TM & © DC Comics.

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watching her history unfold as I collected the run of

blacks that you had to have in there. His pencils were

Action, which I started doing in the mid-’60s. There was

very different than Curt [Swan’s], but they were equally

no way to do that with Superman, who was and remains,

great for comic books.” [See The Krypton Companion,

along with Plastic Man, my favorite super-hero character.

edited by Michael Eury, available now from TwoMorrows,

Supergirl was accessible and so well done, really ahead of

for more of Bob Oksner’s views on inking Curt Swan.] After one year, the title became simply Supergirl, but

TM & © DC Comics.

its time in the way DC did comics in those days.”

despite some solid storytelling, a new uniform, and a

From Zor-El to El-Trains

hilarious appearance by Ambush Bug in #16, the book

Although Kupperberg enjoyed the old stories, comics

ended with #23 (Sept 1984).

and its audience had changed. Despite changing jobs,

Kupperberg summarizes his run: “I had a lot of fun

locales and supporting characters, the decision was

writing Supergirl. It really was that Supergirl was such a

made to re-invigorate the strip by turning back the clock.

favorite of mine, and, corny, I know, because I was

Original cover art

Whose idea was it to send Linda Danvers back to college?

getting to play in the Superman mythology sandbox.”

to Supergirl #9,

“I think it was Julie’s,” says Kupperberg. “I do remember

However, Supergirl’s days were literally numbered.

by Bob Oksner.

that he wasn’t happy with the whole TV star/soap opera

While the Supergirl motion picture with Helen Slater

element and thought she needed to go back to simpler

neared release, others plotted Kara’s finish. Not with

times. We probably talked it out and came up with the

kryptonite or magic, but with the desire to take her

college student angle together.”

cousin back to his roots.

Courtesy of Heritage Comics. TM & © DC Comics.

Why? “Because once you put her in an ‘adult’ situation, make her a TV star or newswoman, why the hell is she still going around calling herself Supergirl? She should’ve become Superwoman, but since that wasn’t about to happen for the expected copyright and trademark reasons, it just made sense to keep her a ‘girl.’” Showing the spunk that made Steve Skeates want to keep writing the feature, Linda Danvers left New York in the last issue of Superman Family, #222. After a special preview in Superman #376 (Oct. 1982), she received her own title, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, beginning with #1 (Nov. 1982). Rather than another fictional city, Kupperberg turned to his previous home-away-from-Brooklyn, Chicago, where he lived from 1979–82. “We wanted a fresh start: new direction, new city, new supporting cast, etc.” Kupperberg knew the city thoroughly and “the Midwest was light on super-heroes, so the skies wouldn’t be too cluttered.” Another change to the strip came with new penciler Carmine Infantino, whom Kupperberg praises. “He was the first professional I ever really spoke to, when I was maybe 13 and was up at DC’s offices during my fanzine days, but he was an artistic god. Still is, as far as I’m concerned! God, it’s a toss-up between Carmine and Gil Kane for being the best visual designer ever to work in comics.” Also returning was Bob Oksner, who enjoyed inking Infantino. “Carmine was a marvelous layout man,” Oksner contends. “He was great on layouts and I can’t think of anyone who came close to him. A wonderful designer, I enjoyed doing his pencils. He put all the

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n e n e m o m o W W r e r SSuuppe Color Me Diana

rite First Favo o y M “ r e if by Jenn ” Contin r Woman e d n o W was

Dick Giordano’s cover art to 1975’s Wonder Woman Giant Comics to Color (Whitman). Courtesy of Heritage Comics. TM & © DC Comics.

e, ls issu r i G r l r Supe me rea micFor ou ask so o o s on c ided t ought h we dec t r i the oines. girls st her e low: t a super e ies be s’ gr he lad

t d ch of you fin ked ea s) did ( e in We as ook o -her omic-b super as a c l a n Which ted piratio collec st ins ? and y h the mo w inment r, and terta n e r u reade for yo swers nt. the an joyme and en tino er Con —Jennif

di ana schutz Senior Editor, dark horse comics Supergirl! Hands-down, no doubt about it ... Supergirl! I was a Mort Weisinger baby of the early to middle ’60s when I first began reading comics, and the gentle Otto Binder-scripted adventures of Superman’s cousin were what floated my little-girl boat. Artist Jim Mooney drew every single Supergirl story, save for her introduction in Action #252, and Jim became the first artist whose work I was able to recognize even as a child. (Don’t forget: no credits back in those days.) Supergirl was blonde (just like ... me), and she was often lonely TM & © DC Co mics.

(just like ... me), and she could do her homework or clean her room—or save the world—in a mere three seconds. Unlike me!

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A Gallery of Graphite and Sketch Art

el Eury

icha Captions by M

Adam Hughes’ underdrawing for the final painting of All-American Girl, produced for the 1993 Creators Universe set of collectors cards of creator-owned properties. “I never did anything with her other than the card,” Adam says, “but she was a pastiche of WWII comic characters.” Courtesy of the artist. 2 0

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ALL-AMERICAN GIRL – ADAM HUGHES

Pretty in Pencil:

BLACK CAT – KEITH POLLARD

Can you believe that this fabulous Keith Pollard-penciled cover to Amazing Spider-Man #194 (July 1979) was rejected? Since this was the issue that introduced Spidey’s friend/foe Black Cat, it was decided that a front view of the character (seen in the inset, drawn by Al Milgrom) would better reveal the Cat to readers. Courtesy of Bob McLeod. S u p e r

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by Dewey Cassell

interview Curiosity Didn’t Kill The Cat… …bad sales did, depriving readers of the publication of The Cat #5. Here’s the splash page to that unpublished issue starring the pre-Tigra Marvel heroine. © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Nothing gets male hormones raging faster than a curvaceous female feline in a bikini, as attested to by the enduring popularity of Marvel Comics’ Tigra the Were-Woman. So, who would imagine that the origins of Tigra lie with another hirsute heroine whose tales were woven for girls? Comic books have often attempted to reflect the changes occurring in society. In the late 1960s, the dialogue, characters, and storyline of DC Comics’ Teen Titans reflected the hip culture prevalent at the time. By the early ’70s, the feminist movement was in full swing. In 1972, Gloria Steinem founded Ms. magazine. That same year, Marvel Comics launched several new comic books aimed at a female audience, including Night Nurse, Shanna the She-Devil, and The Cat [a.k.a. Claws of the Cat]. Targeting female readership was not new to the comics industry, but by late 1972, the romance titles that had long been a mainstay had largely lost their appeal. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #13’s “The Death of Romance (Comics)” for more on this subject.] What were lacking were relevant stories featuring a character with which girls could identify and admire. For all of the monumental growth in the super-hero genre, there remained a dearth of female heroes. Enter Greer Grant Nelson. Greer was an attractive, intelligent, but insecure young woman who married an overbearing policeman who was later killed by a gunman. Left on her own, Greer volunteered for a university study with Dr. Joanne Tumolo. The study involved a series of treatments designed to heighten the innate capabilities of women, including a sixth sense of “women’s intuition.” Ironically, the study was being funded by a dominating male villain named Mal Donalbain, who had also created a cat suit as part of a secret plan to build a private “army of amazons.” Dr. Tumolo discovered the scheme and Greer donned the costume, confronting Donalbain, whose morbid fear of being touched proved his undoing.

Cover Girl x 2: Original art to the covers of The Cat #3 (Apr. 1973), penciled by Rich Buckler and inked (and signed) by John Romita, Sr., and Marvel Chillers #6 (Aug. 1976), by Buckler and inker Mike Esposito. Art scans courtesy of Mike Burkey (www.romitaman.com) and Heritage Comics (www.heritagecomics .com), respectively.

According to former Marvel editor Roy Thomas, “The basic concept for the character, and the name (including Claws of the Cat) was Stan’s.” Marvel stalwart Marie Severin was tapped to pencil the book, and she talks about the genesis of the character:

Marie Severin at the 2001 San Diego Comic-Con. Photo courtesy of Dewey Cassell.

DEWEY CASSELL: I understand they deliberately put a team of women creators on The Cat. MARIE SEVERIN: Absolutely. They were hoping to capture female readers. After all, fifty percent of the population is female. CASSELL: I guess female inkers were hard to come by, though, because Wally Wood inked the origin story. SEVERIN: Yes, I remember saying, “My God, I drew this woman and Wally inked her like she’s wrapped in Saran Wrap.” His storytelling always had lovely inking, nice blacks and everything, but I didn’t have her that revealing. The boys loved his work, though. She was hot stuff. CASSELL: Did you have some influence over the design of the character? SEVERIN: At that time, Stan had the time that when you worked on something, you always checked it out with him. You had time to go in and have a little talk and get his opinion. They wanted her to look like a cat. The sash was my idea, I’m pretty sure. The sash was just for an element of flair, not having a tail. She had something on her feet so she could climb up buildings. That all made sense in the

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realm of the nonsense of comic books. CASSELL: How did you feel about women’s lib? SEVERIN: In my family, we all drew. I never knew that girls didn’t draw. We always had books at home and my parents were artistic people and they always gave us paper to draw on. And you never drew on the other side. My father said that you should draw on one side only. It instilled in you that you were not scribbling. It was worth something. Marie left the book after the second issue to become head of the Marvel coloring department, after which Paty Greer (later Cockrum) and Bill Everett took over the illustrating chores. About the same time that the third issue of The Cat hit the newsstands, Greer made a guest appearance alongside your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in issue #8 of Marvel Team-Up (Apr. 1973). The move was undoubtedly meant to provide a boost to the fledgling super-heroine’s own title, but it was not enough. Issue four of The Cat would prove to be her last and she went out with a whimper, appearing in a short 15-page tale illustrated by three men (Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss, and Frank McLaughlin), accompanied by a reprint of a Marvel Girl story from X-Men. The writer of Claws of the Cat was Linda Fite. Linda talks about how she got involved with Marvel Comics and Greer Nelson:

CASSELL: How did you get started at Marvel? LINDA FITE: When I was in college, I made friends with this guy who was one of the first generation of hippies in the South. He ran this really cool club in Raleigh, North Carolina, called the Sidetrack. His name was John Peden and now he’s a photographer in New York City. We’d go down there to see him because his girlfriend went to my college. He was a Marvel Comics fan and he sort of turned me on to it. I started reading them in college and just loved them. When I was a senior, looking around for jobs, I had some interviews lined up in Manhattan. So I wrote Marvel and said, “Hey, man, you should hire me. I’m good.” [Marvel staffer] Flo Steinberg called me in my dorm and said, “You sound so wonderful. We can’t offer you a job, but when you come to New York, Stan would like to meet you.” So that’s how I got there. I took a job at Marvel, even though it paid substantially less than the job I was offered at a national magazine. I think it was Life or

Linda Fite at New York’s National Con, 2001. Photo courtesy of Dewey Cassell.

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Look or one of those, but I was in love with comics. It was too cool to pass up. CASSELL: So, how did you get the assignment to write The Cat? FITE: I was hired as an editorial assistant/production assistant at Marvel. I answered fan mail, too, and helped out Flo. I kept bugging Roy, “C’mon, Roy, let me write. Gimme a shot.” The first thing he let me write was a fill-in short Western for Kid Colt Outlaw or something. I did all right. He thought it was okay. And then he let me write—I can’t remember the timeline, but I did an X-Men filler and also filled in when Jeannie Thomas, his wife at the time, was doing Night Nurse. Then Stan and Roy said, “We should do some woman super-hero character.” They came up with the whole concept and then brought it to me. I thought, “A cat? Oh, my God, how original. We’ll have a woman and we’ll call her Cat and she can be in catfights.” But I was just happy to have the chance to do it. CASSELL: Did they suggest the women’s lib tone to the stories? FITE: No, I sort of came up with the first story. Once they had the design and what she would look like, I came up with the backstory and her name. That was sort of what they were aiming at, to have a strong female character. I guess she was widowed—that put her out on her own—plus she’d had all this adversity and a “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” [attitude]. That kind of stuff. Roy edited it, but I don’t remember him making any drastic changes, unless he wanted more fighting. I think a couple of times, [Roy] said, “Here would be a good villain for her to fight.” I named the character, Dr. Tumolo, after my best friend from college. She’s so mad now. She’s quite an eminent psychotherapist, but she says, “If you Google my name, The Cat comes up!” [laughter] Pop culture, baby. It rules. CASSELL: So why did the story in the fourth issue end up being only 15 pages? FITE: I have no idea. Is that the one that Starlin and Weiss did? I got mad at them because they were putting all these notes in the margins. I was very passionate then, as far as my feminism goes. One of them wrote, “Next issue, the Cat gets an ovarian cyst.” I got so mad. I went to Stan and I finked on them and they got in trouble. But that’s when I was much more self-righteous. Not as wise as I am now. CASSELL: Do you recall anything about why the book got canceled? Was it just a sales thing? FITE: It was strictly sales. The standards were much higher then for what would float a comic. If it was under a certain number, they just canned it. Did you know that Frank Miller’s first mention in a Marvel comic was in a Claws of the Cat letters page? Mind you, I didn’t notice at the time. Who knew who Frank Miller

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Catsuits and Karate:

Diana Prince Leaves Wonder Woman Behind!

Andy Mangels

Gone were the satin tights and invisible airplane; in 1968, Wonder Woman renounced her powers and learned to kick butt as mortal woman Diana Prince. It was a time of change in the country, as social consciousness was being raised, and equal rights for women were being battled for in the streets, the courtrooms, and the news media. It was also a time of change at DC Comics, wherein “relevant” stories about racism, war, and drug abuse were peppered among the storylines of super-villains and aliens. Wonder Woman had gone through numerous permutations since her debut in 1941. She had battled Nazis and costumed villains, espousing ideals ranging from love and sisterhood to the joys of bondage and “loving submission.” But since the death of creator, William Moulton Marston, in 1947, the Wonder Woman comic had been a schizophrenic affair, showcasing the character as a Wonder Girl and a Wonder Tot, endlessly revising her origin, pitting her against giant communist eggs, sentient protoplasm, genies, dinosaurs, and romantic entanglements with mermen, birdmen, monsters, and the ever-present Steve Trevor. Writer/editor Robert Kanigher seemed to care little for continuity, and the title languished in sales. DC publisher Carmine Infantino handed the Wonder Woman editing reins over to romance comic editor Jack Miller in 1968, and Miller assigned a new team to the title: writer Denny O’Neil, and artists Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. Wonder Woman

The Prince Formerly Known as Wonder Woman Sekowsky and Giordano’s cover to Wonder Woman #178 (Sept.–Oct. 1968). Unless otherwise noted, all art in this article is courtesy of Andy Mangels. Wonder Woman TM & © 2006 DC Comics.

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#178–180 (Sept.–Oct. 1968 to Jan.–Feb. 1969) revealed that the Amazons had depleted the magic of Paradise Island and needed to retreat to another dimension. Wonder Woman gave up her star-spangled costume and super-powers and stayed on Earth, buying a clothing boutique in New York’s Greenwich Village. As part of an undercover mission, she also embarked on a makeover to infiltrate a “hippie club,” styling her hair, adding makeup, and donning hip, new fashions. The “mod” look would stay for four years. Denny O’Neil says that he got the job because “I was the flavor of the week. I was the new kid on the block and being asked to take it in a new direction. Why I picked the new direction I did, I no longer know, and I certainly would do it differently if I had to do it again.”

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Elaborating, O’Neil says that “the thing was controversial because the feminists criticized us for de-powering her, and I thought at the time I was serving a feminist agenda by making her self-reliant. I now see their point. She was the only superpowered female in publication at the time and one of the very few that existed, and here I came along and made her un-super. I absolutely didn’t see that at the time. I certainly thought of myself as a liberal and probably pro-feminist. I didn’t understand their attacks at the time, but I now do and certainly see their point of view.” Artist Dick Giordano remembers that the depowering of Wonder Woman was actually a bit of a trend at DC. “The ‘de-powered era’ was called ‘the relevancy period’ by those of us then in the trenches,” he says. “Carmine was intrigued with the possibilities of having our characters be more in touch with what was happening on the street. Our romance books of the time moved away from the traditional storybook fables and had more real romance story lines with characters having more of the same problems that real people had. The Teen Titans were de-powered as well, and we had plotlines in most of our titles fit the mode. Carmine was the driving force in relevancy, and as such was behind the ‘no costumes/no powers’ formats of the day.” Without her costume, Diana’s new “mod” outfits came straight out of the pages of fashion magazines of the day, and a later white catsuit design seemed to be modeled after Diana Rigg’s skintight apparel on British TV import The Avengers. “Mike Sekowsky did all the design work,” Dick Giordano remembers. “I was only the inker. The entire project—including fashions—was patterned after The Avengers. I-Ching was Steed.” For the storylines, O’Neil didn’t pattern anything after the TV series, though. “I was not a television watcher at all,” he says. “It seemed to be something in the air. Certainly the martial-arts stuff was beginning to be a part of our collective consciousness.” So who was I-Ching? In issue #180, Steve Trevor was killed (in a later letters column, Sekowsky called him “just too dumb and boring”), and Diana was given a new friend: aged Asian martial arts instructor I-Ching, a blind man with mystical powers who would tutor Diana in karate, jiu-jitsu, and other forms of self-defense. O’Neil is a bit embarrassed today about naming the character as he did. “I certainly meant no disrespect to 50,000 years of Chinese culture, but I can understand why people saw it like that. I had, and have, a virtual lifelong interest in Asian philosophy. If I had to do it again, I would at least have made the Asian character a woman and I would not have named her after the great Chinese classics.”

Diana Prince … Guest-Star In the four years that the powerless Diana Prince roamed the DC Universe, she still managed some pretty surprising team-ups. Other places she popped up included: Justice League of America #69 (Feb. 1969) A powerless Diana Prince resigns from the JLA, and they wonder who she is in the first place, having never known her secret identity! Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #93 (July 1969) Lois battles Diana for Superman’s affection, but have Diana’s powers returned? The Brave and the Bold #87 (Dec. 1969–Jan. 1970) Mike Sekowsky delivers a tale of fashion and sports cars, as Diana helps Batman at a foreign racing event.

Our Other Princess Diana… …the enchanting Diana Rigg, as Emma Peel. Anyone who needs to ask why this 1968 Gold Key one-shot was titled John Steed and Emma Peel instead of The Avengers, the title of the characters’ British TV series, is hereby required to take a crash course in Comics 101. © 1968 ABC Television Limited, London.

O’Neil jokingly notes that he recalls little of the nearly 40-year-old stories. “It was a job. We weren’t taking notes,” he says, laughing. “We certainly didn’t think that 30–40 years later anyone would be interested. One of my strengths—and weaknesses—in doing this is, I did and do respect comics, but I guess I didn’t take my involvement in them seriously [at the time].” In addition to his penciling duties, Sekowsky became editor with Wonder Woman #182 (May–June 1969), and took over writing the series with the following issue. Under his pen, Diana revisited the Amazons, fought a recurring female villainess named Dr. Cyber, and even invaded “Red China” with a machine gun blazing! In the book’s letters pages, Sekowsky alternated letters between those who hated the new direction and those who loved it. In one issue, he did crow that, “The old Wonder Woman was dropped because the sales on

The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #117 (Mar.–April 1970) Seeking Diana’s autograph, Jerry Lewis is transported with her to Paradise Island. It’s far worse than you imagine. Adventure Comics #397 (Sept. 1970) Diana helps Supergirl on a mission with witchy Morgana (returning from Wonder Woman #186), and gives the Maid of Steel a ginchy new costume! World’s Finest #204 (Aug. 1971) In a story by Denny O’Neil, Superman and Diana seek to change a doomed future by stopping violence at a college riot. Superman #241–242 (Aug.–Sept. 1971) Diana and I-Ching aid a brain-damaged Superman in another story by O’Neil. Justice League of America #100–102 (Aug.–Oct. 1972) In a three-part story, Diana is drafted to help the JLA, JSA, and Seven Soldiers of Victory. The Brave and the Bold #105 (Jan.–Feb. 1973) Diana goes undercover in the Latino underworld to aid “Bat Hombre” in this tale by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. All comics © 2006 DC Comics.

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Neil l Mc l e r r Da

, AAttack ttack ooff the the 70s 70s TToon oon SSuper uper Chicks, C hic ks , or…I was a Teenage Inbetweener (Which I WAS!) 4 4

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Welcome once more, dear friends, to Big D’s latest yearly installment of “I was reading a plugfest and suddenly an article broke out.” Yes, once again your friendly neighborhood Euryman has defied all common sense by axing your not-so-humble one to take another hike down memory lane (as opposed to just taking a hike) and peel back the onion skin to observe a time in our toon past … when the super-heroine joined the super-hero in changing our cartoon landscape. (And yes, friends, this year’s plugs are coming. You’re just gonna have to sit through the rest of this essay first. Don’t beg … it looks unseemly.) This time ’round, I’m going to do this totally by studio as well as character and year (and yep, I worked on most of these shows, too; y’think the only studio super-heroine I did was Striperella?), beginning our tally with the king of the mount back in the toon-producin’ day: Hanna-Barbera, which intro’ed the Saturday-morning superbabe back in the ’60s with Jan (Space Ghost), Gravity Girl (Galaxy Trio), Invisible Girl (Fantastic Four), Tara (Herculoids), and Princess Nida (Arabian Knights). Since the ’70s and ’80s are this mag’s purview (and the preceding quintet may be revisited in one’a my “pluggies” later on), we’ll start with the ’70s’ first toon super-heroine, who is, of course… …Wonder Woman, who made her first animated appearance under H-B studio rival Filmation’s auspices when ABC slotted a guest appearance for her and her future fellow Super Friend Superman in that network’s Brady Kids animated series in 1972. The following year, ABC teamed its two super-guest-stars with CBS guest-stars Batman and Robin (The New Scooby-Doo Movies) and Aquaman (of the ’60s series bearing his moniker) to form TV’s longestrunning continuous super-toon, the 13-season Super Friends (SF), about which has often been writ, so I’ll not re-writ it here. After her SF run, Wonder Woman made an appearance on the ’80s Superman show. It was doubly ironic in a number of ways that I, the “teenage inbetweener” cited in this article’s title [Editor’s note: In animation, an “inbetweener” is an artist who provides transitional drawings in between two principal or “key” drawings.], was given WW as the first character I was paid to inbetween, as even Bill Hanna noted that I was the first “comic-book geek” he had ever hired at the studio. (This “note” came from my continuing practice of correcting him whenever he referred to Wonder Woman as Wonder Girl. Oh, well … as many characters as he and Joe Barbera created, he can be forgiven for forgettin’ a few names!) Fact is, I almost did more’n just draw the old gal—durn near got to scribble ’er, too, as All-New Super Friends’ story editor Norman Maurer (father of future Challenge of the Super Friends story editor Jeffrey Scott Maurer) let me pitch various story ideas to him. One he was this close to approving (by one day!) was a story for the seven-minute “guest-star” segment featuring a lead Super Friend with another DC hero (or heroine, as the

next two characters will demonstrate). The one I wrote would’ve been a “missing ship mystery” teaming WW with Lois Lane and, in her first animated outing, Black Canary (who, with her fishnets, would’ve definitely driven the animators nuts … but with us at that time, it wouldn’t’ve been much of a drive!). The reason why you didn’t see this “mini-classic” was that the day Norm would’ve greenlighted my tale, an edict had come down from ABC stating that, from that point on that season, all story premises for the network’s animated shows were to be generated by their in-house writing team (of former H-B head writers/future studio heads) Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. That’s what a diff of 24 hours makes. (And if this doesn’t make me and Jack Bauer soulmates, I don’t know what does!) Two other DC heroines that I did draw, however, were … Hawkgirl and Rima, the Jungle Girl, both of whom guested in separate guest segs with hubbins (in the former’s case) Hawkman. My mentor and fellow HannaBarberian Alex Toth designed way cool model sheets for all the previously named SF characters. Whilst he needed little help on the drawing/designing part, when it came to a character like Rima, that neither he nor most of the studio had even heard of—that’s where I came in. Being the DC freak I was then (and am now), working with that trio was a particular joy for moi, to the point that I penciled a pinup of the gals for a “super-heroines-oriented” fanzine that was published at the time. (It was inked by some aspiring

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and 11 Stretchs… don’t ask!) and it, alone of the Super 7’ers, is slated to come out on DVD in 2006, accompanied by commentary from your not-so-humble. The last and arguably most successful super-heroine produced under the Filmation aegis was the mid-’80s He-Man spin-off She-Ra, starring the Grayskull Guardian’s twin sister Adora, who lifted her sword to battle baddies both on her own and teamed with her musclebound sibling. Switching from the big dudes to the smaller players in the Saturtoon world, heroine-wise, we go right back to the Web Woman/Spider-Woman controversy, of which the biggest irony coming from it was ABC giving SpiderWoman an animated series of her own in ’79 due in part to the successful ratings of … Web Woman, without which there probably wouldn’t be a—oh, my head hurts! The season before, DePatie-Freleng had animated the Invisible Girl as part of their new Fantastic Four. That series, in ’78, along with ’ 7 9 ’s S p i d e r Woman, only lasted a single season each. Once DePatieFreleng became Marvel Productions

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in 1980, it scored a several-season success with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which teamed the Web-Slinger with Iceman and their heat-generating heroine Firestar, who became a Marvel Comics character after her TV debut. We finally wrap up our “Super Chick Roll Call” with Ruby-Spears’ contributions to the genre. Ariel, sorcerous sidekick in the alternate universe of Thundarr the Barbarian (unless we really did get clobbered by a passing meteor in 1994, in which we— oh? What’s that, Michael … we didn’t? Dang it, why didn’t somebody tell me?). Their other major heroine, on the air in ’81, was Goldie Gold, the world’s richest girl (though compared to Richie Rich she was probably a piker!), who teamed with her boyfriend “Action” Jack, to buy her way into and out of various escapades. Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: “So, Big D, what’re you coming up with?” Glad you axed, and it just so happens what I’m doing fits right in with this essay’s subject matter (ain’t that a coinkydink?). I’ve a trio of projects which all three may see the light o’day around the same time as what you’re reading: the years-in-the-making Rainbow Girl, the year-in-themaking animated serial Jenna of the Jungle, and the live-action sports shorts U.G.O. Girlz! All of which, to quote Jay Ward, “will be appearing on your local screen soon … probably.” See, that plug didn’t hurt … unlike some I could name! Laterz!

If somehow, someway, you’re not a fan of the art of Bruce Timm—animation producer/director/designer (of the Emmy-winning Batman: The Animated Series plus Superman and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited) and mega-popular comic-book artist (of the Eisner Award-winning Batman: Mad Love, among other projects)—you will be after feasting your eyes upon this astounding collection of commissioned paintings…

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Dan Johnson

Marvel’s

Dark Angel: BACK ISSUE Gets Caught in Spider-Woman’s

Marvel Comics is known for creating super-heroes that are hard-luck cases in spandex. Of all the females in the Marvel Universe, Spider-Woman was always the gal most in need of a break. On the comics page, Jessica Drew’s alter ego has been unlucky in love, misunderstood by the

Web

public at large, and has gotten tangled up with a wide variety of freaks and weirdos (both as a super-heroine and in her civilian life). But what Spider-Woman’s fans saw on the printed page was only half the story for Marvel’s Dark Angel.

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Marv Wolfman Recalls

conducted on November 10, 2005

interview

by Al Nickerson

“WHO IS DONNATROY?” “Who is Donna Troy?” is my second favorite comic-book story. Produced by the legendary talents of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez for The New Teen Titans #38 (Jan. 1984), this story finally pieced together, for a little while anyway, Wonder Girl’s origin. As a wedding present to Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy and her fiancé Terry Long, Dick Grayson investigates the mystery of Donna’s past. Through Grayson’s detective work, it is revealed that Wonder Girl’s young and single mother gave up the infant Donna Troy to an orphanage. A married couple quickly adopted Donna. Unfortunately, Donna later ended up being part of an illegal child-selling scam. Recaps of Donna’s origin also included Wonder Woman rescuing an infant Donna Troy from a burning building and Donna being raised by the Amazons on Paradise Island. —Al Nickerson

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AL NICKERSON: First off, I want to say that I have always enjoyed “Who is Donna Troy?” It is probably the most “human” super-hero story that I have ever read. It’s certainly the most touching. How did “Who is Donna Troy?” come about? Was this an idea that you and George Pérez came up with, or was the telling of Donna Troy’s full origin a request from DC Comics? MARV WOLFMAN: I don’t remember in specific if it was George’s idea or mine—we were working so handin-hand by then, but once George moved to the same town I lived in, only five blocks or so away, we usually got together for lunch and would work out a story over the next few hours. In many cases I would then go home and write up a plot based on it, or sometimes George would take the verbal plotting we did and take it from there. I can’t recall how we did this story specifically, or who generated the initial concept— it could very well have been George—but like many others we knew it was going to be a strong one from the moment we started working on it. DC didn’t generate ideas at the time; that was left to us. George and I had a really strong give and take. By the time of “Who is Donna Troy?” we weren’t writer and artist but co-plotters, and the book benefited from both our similarities and differences. I know George was more involved with this one than in most of them but, as I say, I can’t recall where the initial idea came from. But no matter who generated the original idea, we certainly talked over almost all, if not all the specifics in detail, coming up with ideas, tossing others out, etc. NICKERSON: Why was it so important for Donna Troy, and for us, too, to know where Donna came from? WOLFMAN: I wrote the original Donna Troy origin story back in the first Titans run. She had never had one and was, in fact, not a “real” character (if you can call any of them real). She was a computer simulation of Wonder Woman as a girl. That story also named her Donna Troy and set up everything that followed. Unfortunately, after Crisis on Infinite Earths and the Wonder Woman revamp, we had to go back and redo it again as a brand new Wonder Woman being born on Earth could not have rescued the girl from the burning building. I wish we had been able to keep it as I think it’s gone insane now. I just wanted a simple origin story. I came up with the original, and then George and I simply elaborated on what had been done, giving her real knowledge of who she was. I would love to say that everything after “Who is Donna Troy?” should be forgotten, but that’s not the way continuity works, sadly.

Beginnings: Castle of Frankenstein #12 (art), Blackhawk #242 (story)

Milestones: Tomb of Dracula / Blade / New Teen Titans / Amazing Spider-Man / Nova / Daredevil / Action Comics / Crisis on Infinite Earths / Adventures of Superman/ 1980s Superman animated series

Work in Progress: Superman Returns novelization / Raven / Condor (direct-toDVD animated movie)

Photo courtesy of Glen Cadigan.

NICKERSON: Right from the beginning, readers knew that something special was going to happen in this comic. The first two pages of “Who is Donna Troy?” reminded me of the opening credits for a film. Was the pacing and layouts of the panels, the use of shadows, and the placement of the credits on the first two pages all of George’s great handiwork? WOLFMAN: I believe that was all George. He was and remains a master of setting up mood and scene, all to tell a story not just to highlight good drawing. George is all about storytelling. That his art is spectacular is an extra. NICKERSON: We discover that Dorothy Hinckley was Donna Troy’s biological mother. So, who was Donna’s biological father? Did we ever find that out? WOLFMAN: No. At least not by us. NICKERSON: Did you guys have an idea who Donna’s biological father might have been? WOLFMAN: Nobody important. Just someone Dorothy had gotten involved with. Not everything should be tied into everything else. In fact, I usually avoid that sort of thing because I think it shrinks our universe instead of expands on it. Donna’s dad was, to me at least, just some guy. NICKERSON: The reunion of Donna and her adoptive mother, Fay Evans, is quite powerful. George’s illustration of this moment is amazing. WOLFMAN: All I can say is he did it really well. NICKERSON: Since Donna already had a family amongst the Amazons, is it important for Donna to have an extended mortal family in Man’s World? WOLFMAN: Absolutely. I think Donna’s world is about her real self, not the god part of her which should, in my mind at least, always be diminished. NICKERSON: This is also a coming-of-age story for Dick Grayson, as well. Dick’s solving the mystery of Donna’s past shows us his individuality, his independence from Batman. Was this an intentional element to the story, or am I reading too much into this? WOLFMAN: Yes, Robin’s growth was coming out of what we were doing with him. Absolutely. That much I do remember. NICKERSON: I’m not quite sure how much of “Who is Donna Troy” is still relevant after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, and The Return of Donna Troy. Why has Donna’s simple origin from “Who is Donna Troy” become so complicated? WOLFMAN: As I said, once Wonder Woman’s origin was brought up to the present, we had to redo Donna’s. I just wish we could have ignored it and kept the origin simple. As good as the stories were, our “Who Is Wonder Girl?” story, which turned her into Troia, was to me gilding the lily. I wish we hadn’t had to do it. And perhaps that is one of the reasons I’m not a big fan of continuity. Her origin was, as you say, nice and simple. I wish we could have left it as such. NICKERSON: Did the events of The Return of Donna Troy finally fix Donna’s origin? WOLFMAN: I didn’t read it and probably won’t. Sorry. NICKERSON: When are you going to return to The Teen Titans? I miss the real Titans.

Cyberspace: www.marvwolfman.com

Marv WOLFMAN

A Wonder Girl origin flashback from Wolfman and Pérez’s “Who is Donna Troy?” revision “Who is Wonder Girl?”, from New Titans #50–53 (Dec. 1988–Feb. 1989). Inks by this art’s contributor, Bob McLeod. © 2006 DC Comics.

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Twenty Years of

A retrospective by her publisher, Dennis Mallonee

Wow. Twenty years. Hard as it is to believe, it really has been 20 years since Heroic Publishing’s glittering goddess of the light made her comic-book debut. It really has been two decades since Eclipse Comics published the first of six issues of the original Champions miniseries that introduced Flare and the League of Champions. Back in the spring of 1986, we honestly had no idea that Flare, above any other Champion, would have such extraordinary appeal. So far as we knew, Terri Feran was just one of half a dozen characters chosen for use in the comic book from a roster of heroes originally created for the Champions role-playing game. Indeed, as I look at the cover of Champions #1 (Sept. 1987), I see nothing about Flare that does stand out. All I see is a bosomy young blonde with a bouffant hairdo wearing a tacky orange jumpsuit and doing some kind of energy thing with her left index finger. At first glance, whoever that girl is, she’s nothing special at all. There are scores of bosomy young blondes in the comics. Most of them are better dressed than this one is. And as far as powers go, there’s an endless supply of comic-book characters that have energy powers, light-based or otherwise. So the question can be fairly asked: What was it about Flare that struck a chord with readers, that a year later led to her being voted the most popular Champion of them all, that led ultimately to a groundbreaking first issue that in one particular way served to change the shape of the comic-book industry? Because make no mistake about it: Up until that first issue of Flare obliterated the conventional wisdom of the day, it was widely believed (Wonder Woman not to the contrary) that a comic book featuring a costumed female lead had zero chance of appealing to a broad base of mostly young male comic-book readers. Lightning-quick sales of Flare #1 (Nov. 1988) proved otherwise. And though it’s entirely possible that from the 1940s through the early 1980s the conventional wisdom had been true, by the late 1980s the nature of comic-book distribution was drastically

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changing. Flare helped demonstrate that old rules might no longer apply. And what followed was an explosion of comic books featuring costumed women as their title characters. Which brings us right back to the question of what, exactly, was—and remains—so special about Teresa Katrina Feran, a.k.a. Flare. In order to find an answer to that question, we need to go to the beginning.

In the Beginning Although it’s been 20 years since Flare made her comicbook debut, she’s actually a bit older than that. It was five, maybe six years earlier that a lovely young woman named Stacy Laurence began participating in a series of super-hero role-playing adventures run by Steve Peterson and George MacDonald using a system of combat rules that quickly evolved into something recognizable as the basis of the “Hero System” used to this day by Hero Games for its line of role-playing games. In order to play in those adventures, Stacy needed a character. After getting some input from other participants, among whom was her future husband, Glenn Thain, Stacy decided that her character would be a preternaturally strong young flying heroine with the powers of light, and named her Flare. As the role-playing adventures continued and became a full-fledged campaign, Flare’s background and personal history were developed. It was soon learned that Terri had a mysterious mother, possibly a mythological goddess of some kind, who would show up from time to time and give her special gifts. Despite Flare’s continuing insistence that the reason she had super-powers in the first place was because her mysterious mother had fed her “super-cereal” when she was a child, there were hints of a connection with a secret genetics experiment conducted in South America by expatriate ex-Nazi scientists. It was even discovered during the course of one game that Flare had an electrically powered little sister. When it came time, in mid-1985, to decide which six characters from Steve and George’s original Champions campaign would appear in the forthcoming Champions comic book, it was that hint of evil in Flare’s background that to my mind made her a compelling choice. If the Nazi story were true, the fact of it transformed the silly “super-cereal” fable into a bald-faced lie. And this raised the question of why Flare thought it necessary to conceal

the truth, even from her supposed friends and allies. In light of this, her motivation for being a hero became suspect. And though I didn’t fully realize it at the time, it was this interpretation of Flare’s background, history, and motives that would make all the difference in the world.

Let There Be Light The process of bringing Flare and the rest of the League of Champions to comics required several months of effort. It was an effort that began at the 1985 Comic-Con in San Diego. At that time, Steve and George’s Champions role-playing game had achieved its first crest of popularity. They and their partner Ray Greer were in San Diego that year, and had been invited to do a panel on the mechanics of translating a comic book into a game. Toward the end of that panel, during question-and-answer, the topic was reversed and someone asked, “When are you guys going to do a comic book about the game?” I was sitting in the back of the audience. While Steve and George were hemming and hawing over the question, a series of thoughts raced through my mind. I had a small publishing company. Since late 1981, I’d been publishing the illustrated SF/fantasy magazine Fantasy Book. I had contacts in the comicbook industry. I’d always loved the comic-book medium. I knew Steve and George. We already had some Champions-related projects pending; I was working on a few game supplements for them, both as writer and editor. So, on impulse, I piped up, “I could do it.” Talk about putting your foot in your mouth… After the panel, we retired to the Hero Games table in the dealers’ room and had a serious discussion of what it would take to produce a Champions comic book. On cold reflection, I’d already concluded that even though I’d been publishing a fiction magazine, I didn’t yet know enough about the mechanics of publishing and distributing into the comic-book market to be able to do this entirely on my own. My best bet would be to find an existing comic-book publisher to handle that end of it. And that, it seemed to me, given the strength of the Champions brand name, wouldn’t be much of a problem. I’d already learned from Mark Evanier that Eclipse Comics was looking for a few good super-hero titles to supplement Mark’s DNAgents. So I decided to pitch it to Dean Mullaney and Cat Yronwode. But before I did that there were concerns to be addressed. George and Steve and I agreed that we didn’t want this proposed Champions comic book to be perceived as a one-shot or a limited series. We were looking for an ongoing marketing tie-in with the Champions roleplaying game. Obviously, if for some reason the comic book were to bomb, that wouldn’t happen, but we felt we needed to go into it on the assumption that the series would be open-ended. I wanted to be certain that we got cross-promotion. If I did the comic book with an eye toward promoting the game, I expected Hero Games to promote the comic book in return.

I also wanted to be certain that creators’ rights were protected. Yes, it made sense to feature characters from Steve and George’s original Champions campaign in the Champions comic book. But if we were going to do that, I wanted written agreements with those characters’ creators, agreements that specified who owned those characters, agreements that made clear that all my company was being given was license to make use of them. Above all else, if I did this it would be mine to do. This would not be a Hero Games project. In addition to licensing specific characters from their creators, I would be licensing the existing Champions trademark from Hero Games. All this was agreed to by Steve and George. I then tracked down Dean and Cat, and gave them a rough outline of what I had in mind. They were interested. Now it was up to me to work out the specifics of what the proposed Champions Comics would be, and send them a detailed proposal.

Flare and Friends I already had a rough idea for an initial story arc. My friend One of the earliest drawings of Flare, Andrew M. Robinson had some months earlier written an elaborate by Mark Williams, 1982. All art in this Champions game supplement feature is courtesy of Dennis Mallonee. featuring an occult criminal © 2006 Heroic Publishing. organization called DEMON. An overarching threat posed by the forces of DEMON would provide an excellent reason for a league of Champions to gather. But what Champions would they be? More to the point, given that these characters had never before been seen in a comic book, why should I expect anyone to care that they were getting together in the first place? The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that regardless of which Champions I might decide to use, I’d need to find a way to introduce them first as individuals before bringing them together as a team. By this time, George had sent me character backgrounds and information for about a dozen potential choices. Because Mark Williams’ Gargoyle and Bruce Harlick’s Marksman and villainous Foxbat had already been featured prominently in Champions © 2006 Heroic Publishing. S u p e r

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by Fred Grandinetti

The Revival, Death, and . . . Return of

guest editorial

Editor’s note: The author of the books Popeye, the Collectible (Krause, 1990) and Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History (McFarland, 2004), Fred Grandinetti roots for the unlikely hero—including a certain Silver Age sidekick about whom he’d like to get something off his chest…

How Could You Not Love the Batman Family? Batwoman, Bat-Girl, and Bat-Mite by Arthur Adams, from the collection of John Cogan. On the opposite page is another Adams Batwoman illo, courtesy of Guenter Jandrasits. © 2006 DC Comics.

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I have friends who poke fun at me because I choose to write about characters in popular culture that, without close examination, have taken a negative thrashing in the annals of history. My favorite Three Stooges shorts feature Joe Besser. I prefer to watch The Avengers with Tara King and find the Popeye theatrical cartoons produced in color by Famous Studios enjoyable. This may help to explain my attraction to a female crimefighter who often elicits groans when her name is mentioned: the Batwoman. Batwoman started a trend in DC’s storytelling which continues today with alarming frequency—the murders of established female comic-book characters. Psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham, in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, attacked the relationship between Batman and Robin. Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff, who designed Batwoman and drew many of Batman’s stories during this period, states, “Wertham had suggested Batman and Robin was or could be mistaken for a gay relationship.” DC Comics tried to rectify this situation with writer Edmond Hamilton’s lead story in Detective Comics #233 (July 1956), “The Batwoman.” Clad in a black-and-yellow bodysuit, red (later yellow) mask, and a red cape with a weapon’s bag strung over shoulder, Kathy Kane, a wealthy heiress and one-time circus daredevil, used her skills to battle criminals as Batwoman. She had her own Batcave and rode around Gotham City on a red motorcycle. Batwoman’s weapons were all very feminine and included a lipstick case filled with tear gas, a compact filled with sneezing powder, charm bracelets which were actually handcuffs, and an oversized hairnet used to snare criminals. Her heyday was long before it was acceptable for women to be seen using judo and karate. Batman and Robin didn’t readily accept her aid. Batman discovered her secret identity at the conclusion of her first adventure and convinced Kathy that crooks could do the same. Kathy gave in and retired.

But “readers liked the [Batwoman] idea,” Moldoff says, so Kathy’s retirement was short-lived and for the next eight years, Batwoman made occasional appearances in Batman, Detective, and a few issues of World’s Finest. Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t need constant rescuing by Batman, and on several occasions saved the Dynamic Duo from peril. By 1964, the weak-selling Batman and Detective titles were near cancellation. While some attribute this decline to the additions of Batwoman, Bat-Hound, BatMite, and Bat-Girl, fan letters indicated that readers wanted to see more of these characters. In truth, too many Bat-characters did spoil the brew, in addition to the outlandish science-fiction stories which were totally out of Batman’s element. Batman and Detective were reassigned to editor Julius Schwartz, whose “New Look” Batman, featuring more modern artwork, began in Detective #327 (May 1964). Alfred was killed off and Dick Grayson’s Aunt Harriet arrived to avoid the question “What do three men do in a mansion together?” Batwoman was seen only in reprinted stories. Before long, Batwoman was also getting bashed in letter columns when compared to the “new” Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, who debuted in Detective #359 (Jan. 1967). Batgirl relied on karate and judo to battle criminals, which was more appropriate to her time period than Batwoman’s sneezing powder and hairnet. By 1975, Batgirl was appearing in the popular anthology Batman Family (BF), edited by Bob Rozakis. I asked Mr. Rozakis in January 2006 what led to the late1970s’ reappearances of long-unseen Batman family members. “I think a lot of it had to do with the reprints,” Rozakis said. “Readers were interested in these characters. So was I, as a writer. That made it fairly easy to convince Julie Schwartz to let us bring them back.” Readers were asking for Batwoman’s return in the letters pages. “I wanted to use her,” Rozakis revealed,

“and convinced Julie Schwartz to let me!” She returned in BF #10 (Mar.–Apr. 1977), in “Those Were the Bad Old Days,” written by Rozakis. The story begins with Barbara Gordon acknowledging that there was a Batwoman before she started crimefighting. When the Cavalier and Killer Moth go on a crime spree together, Batwoman comes out of retirement to aid Batgirl. Barbara and Kathy stumble upon each other’s identities and capture the criminals. Barbara asks Kathy, who now owns a carnival, if Batwoman is going back into retirement. She replies, “It was fun wearing the old costume again, chasing around like I was a big important crimefighter— but I’m no spring chicken anymore! I’ll leave the criminals and Batwoman name to you—you’re a most worthy successor.” Barbara declines the use of the name, telling Kathy, “There has been and always will be only one Batwoman, and retired or not, it’s you.” Batwoman’s revival meant changes to the character. Not only was her costume revised but gone were her hairnet, sneezing powder, and other feminine weapons. She now relied on her physical and circus skills. Rozakis said, “We were trying to make her less campy than she had been in her first incarnation. Batwoman was more a performer than a crimefighter. What she did was much more an extension of her circus act than a lifelong obsession to exact revenge on criminals.” Readers, as evidenced by comments in the letter page, welcomed Batwoman’s return! One reader stated, “The revived and revised Batwoman is a resounding success,” while another said, “It’s ridiculous for you to even talk about re-retiring a dynamite character.” Batwoman returned in cameo appearances, although she was central to the action in “Old Super-Heroines Never Die—They Just Fade Away” in BF #14 (Oct. 1977) and “Horoscopes of Crime,” in #17 (Apr.–May 1978). She joined forces with other heroes to help stop an alien invasion in two 1978 issues of Freedom Fighters (#14 and 15). Bob Rozakis scripted all of Batwoman’s 1977–1978 adventures. Kathy Kane’s murder (by the League of Assassins), written by Denny O’Neil in “The Vengeance Vow” in Detective #485 (Aug.–Sept. 1979), could be attributed to the magazine’s slumping sales. In an article about the “DC Implosion” researched by Darcy McLaughlin, appearing on The Comic Bin website (December 11, 2005), she writes, “Between 1975 and 1978 DC cancelled a total of 65 titles. Things were so bad

Photo courtesy of Fred Grandinetti.

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