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JLA / AVENGERS THEN & NOW!

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Pencil art by Jack Kirby!

DC’s & Marvel’s Tarzan!

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DC vs. MARVEL: KIRBY! PÉREZ! KUBERT! BUSCEMA!

N$5o..915

with Carmine Infantino!

e g Th e n i t a th br Cele mics of y! Co da Best ’80s, & To ’70s,

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 1 December 2003 Celebrating the Best Comics of the ’70s, ’80s, and Today!

DC COMICS VS. MARVEL COMICSlet the contest of champions begin !

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Robert Clark PROOFREADER

PUBLISHORIAL .........................................................................................................................2 Our fearless leader John Morrow welcomes you to the ultimate comics experience EDITORIAL .................................................................................................................................3 DC vs. Marvel musings by editor Michael Eury, plus a BACK ISSUE content primer PRO2PRO: Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.........................................................4 Two top talents ruminate on working for DC and Marvel, with moderator Andy Mangels

Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST George Pérez COVER COLORIST Tom Ziuko CONTRIBUTORS Michael Eury

THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Original JLA/Avengers Crossover .....................................................................50 When (editorial) titans clash! A look at JLA/Avengers old and new, by Michael Eury ROUGH STUFF: Jack Kirby Spotlight ........................................................................62 ’70s and ’80s pencil artwork by the “King,” from David Hamilton and John Morrow BEYOND CAPES: Tarzan, Tarzan, and Tarzan .....................................................74 Who did Tarzan best, DC or Marvel? Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart makes the call

Rich Fowlks David Hamilton Carmine Infantino Joe Kubert Andy Mangels John Morrow Owen O’Leary Terry & Edwin Murray George Pérez Tom Stewart

OFF MY CHEST: Guest Editorial by Carmine Infantino..................................86 DC Comics’ former editorial director reveals his 1970s battle plan to take on Marvel BACK IN PRINT: Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby ...........................89 Kirby’s 1970 jump from Marvel to DC is now collected in a new trade paperback BACK TALK: “DC’s for me!” or “Make Mine Marvel!”?? ...............................92 Our letters column debuts with pros & fans taking sides in the DC vs. Marvel war

Roy Thomas Marv Wolfman TRANSCRIBER Brian K. Morris SPECIAL THANKS DC Comics Marvel Comics The Jack Kirby Collector Rich Donnelly

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BACK ISSUE Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. E-mail: euryman@msn.com. Single postpaid issues: $8 US, $10 Canada, $11 International. Six-issue subscriptions: $30 Standard US, $48 First Class US, $60 Canada, $66 Surface International, $90 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Robin, Orion, Justice League of America, New Teen Titans, and all other related characters TM & © 2003 DC Comics. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Spider-Man, the Avengers, and all other related characters TM & © 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. Tarzan TM & © 2003 Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. All editorial matter © 2003 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a trademark of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Rose Rummel-Eury

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Getting Back to the

futu re editing trick in the book to make it flow seamlessly When my friend and editor Jon B. Cooke decided to refocus Comic Book Artist on newer creators and take

enjoyable read unlike any other. (A prime example

it to another publisher, I was stunned. We’ve had

of this is how we’re condensing down what would

constant participation in each others’ lives and maga-

normally be several pages of interview, and putting

zines for five years now, going back to his early days

all of the subjects’ biographical and background info

assisting me on The Jack Kirby Collector, and our

on “Data Cards,” so the text can get right to the

deciding to do a mag for all the other deserving

meat of the discussion.)

artists and writers we grew up with. He’s contributed

with the mag’s look. My old college pal Robert Clark

innumerable ideas, impeccable design work, even

has been after me to involve him in a TwoMorrows

manning convention booths—whenever I needed

publication for a long time, and this was the perfect

something, he was there. I’m sorry to see him go,

place for his cutting-edge design sensibilities. He’s a

but wish him success with CBA’s new incarnation,

master at using white space to give the eye a resting

competitors though we’ll be.

place, perfectly complementing Michael’s silkyShaping the content was easy; I just put together

The 1970s–1980s still have a lot of great material

a list of all the best unused magazine ideas we’d come

to be documented, so there was no question we’d

across over the last ten years, combined them with

create a new mag to replace CBA’s coverage of these

some of Michael’s as rotating features, and had what

periods. But I wanted it to look different, feel

I feel is the Ultimate Comics Experience. (Thanks to

different, and most of all, read different. And I knew

David “Hambone” Hamilton for the “Pro2Pro”

With CBA’s departure, it dawned on me that all our

Finally, we needed a name. Michael and I kicked

the only amateur left at TwoMorrows!) were now

around a bunch, but ended up coming back to one

edited by industry professionals. In working with

I originally thought of in 1998 when Jon Cooke and

former DC/Dark Horse writer/editor Michael Eury

I were bandying about titles for Comic Book Artist—

designing his Captain Action book (and most recently

which sort of brings it all full circle, I guess.

his bio of Dick Giordano, both at left), my wife Pam

And so, BACK ISSUE is born. The focus is pri-

would hit spots where the layout would flow better

marily on comics and creators of the 1970s and

if we could reword a sentence to make it shorter, or

’80s, and how they relate to today. Since any comic

delete an unnecessary word here or there.

is a “back issue” once it’s been on the stands for a

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month, you’ll also see coverage of some of the latest

syllable in Michael’s manuscripts. He’d so finely

releases that we feel have merit, in hopes we can

honed his text that I knew, “This is a great editor.”

convince some grizzled old fans (like me) to get

When Michael agreed to helm this mag, we had

back into their local comics shop, support the indus-

someone who wouldn’t just mindlessly transcribe

try, and give us many more years of comics history

every cough, sneeze, and hiccup of an interview

to document in the future.

and dump the text on a page. This puppy was

I feel this magazine is the future of comics

going to be polished to the point of brilliance.

history. So without further ado, I’ll let you get back

He’d still include as much information and content

to the future.

as any other magazine, but present it using every

I S S U E

concept, and Ken Steacy for “Rough Stuff.” I knew we’d get ’em in print one day, guys!)

mags (’cept my own Kirby Collector—guess I’m

The problem was, we couldn’t find a single wasted

B A C K

smooth text.

hole in the areas of comics history being covered.

just the guys to make that happen.

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Next we needed a designer to break new ground

enormously to TwoMorrows’ success, providing

The departure left us—and fandom—with a big

from page to page, creating an effortless, incredibly

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John Morrow, publisher

1980s, comics reinvented themselves. Through interviews with and articles by the people responsible for that reinvention, and through the publication of rare and nostalgic artwork, we’ll examine the best of the 1970s and 1980s right here in the ultimate comic-book experience: BACK ISSUE. Recurring and rotating departments make BACK ISSUE unlike any other magazine you’ve seen before:

Pro2Pro: interviews with a twist—either an

exchange between two (or more) comics creators

you were a comic-book reader during

with a moderator, or a pro interviewing a pro, each

the 1970s, you were in one of two

talking about their respective work;

camps: DC or Marvel. You may have read titles from both companies, but you steadfastly maintained an allegiance to one publisher or the other, a preference forged during your earliest years as a comics buyer. This cavernous divide between readers, more treacherous than the PC/Mac segregation of today, sparked fist fights on school playgrounds and heated debates at drugstore spin racks. Legend has it that at a North Carolina 7-11 store in 1973, a husky boy slung the contents of his cherry Slurpee from his Aquaman cup at another kid who boasted that the Sub-“Mareener” could kick “A-queer-man”’s butt. Forget Led Zeppelin, dope, National Lampoon, and Saturday Night Live: The DC/Marvel civil war of the 1970s was the deadliest threat to America’s youth! In the 1980s, the Cold War thawed and the U.S.A. (mostly) enjoyed a decade of peace—but not comicbook fans. Marvel, led by the explosive popularity of its X-Men franchise, stormed to market prominence, but DC countered with commercial hits like The New

The Greatest Stories Never Told: explorations

of comic-book series intended for publication that never saw print, with behind-the-scenes stories of the comics industry and professionals’ insights into what went wrong;

Rough Stuff: spotlights on penciled pages,

preliminary sketches, layouts, and other artistic roughs by a single artist, or multi-artist roughs representing a specific theme;

Beyond Capes: examinations of non-super-

hero comics or comic-book trends;

Bring on the Bad Guys: studies of the origins—

or the reworkings—of major comic-book villains of the 1970s and 1980s;

What The—?!: heavily illustrated behind-the-

scenes looks at bizarre non-comics projects featuring comics characters (steel yourself for our upcoming “Bugs Bunny Meets the Super-Heroes” feature!);

Off My Chest: guest editorials from Bronze/

Modern Age comic-book professionals;

Teen Titans and critical successes like Watchmen. The

Back in Print: reviews of recently released

line between companies was drawn, and readers chose

reprint volumes collecting comics from the 1970s

sides. Had Rodney King appeared at a comic con then,

and/or 1980s; and

he would’ve pleaded, “People, people, can’t we just get along?!” So here comes ye editor, fanning the flames of the DC vs. Marvel dispute once again (see our Back Talk

Back Talk: letters from our readers.

Got any suggestions for subjects for these departments? Then let me know what’s on your mind. See this issue’s Back Talk for contact information.

letters column for reader commentary on this debate).

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to bring you

However, I’m not here to widen the gap between

this premiere edition of BACK ISSUE: Andy Mangels,

comics camps—I’m here to celebrate the best of

Tom Stewart, Robert Clark, John Morrow, Eric Nolen-

comic books, and the best comics creators, of the

Weathington, Rose Rummel-Eury, and our celebrity

1970s and 1980s (the Bronze and early Modern Ages

contributors George Pérez, Marv Wolfman, Carmine

of Comics, for those of you who like labels). It’s easy

Infantino, Joe Kubert, Roy Thomas, and the family

to applaud the historical importance of the Golden

and friends of the late Jack Kirby.

and Silver Ages, but let’s face it: In the 1970s and

Michael Eury, editor

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Wolfman and Pérez:

The Titanic an interview by Andy Mangels, In the last twenty-five years, few writer/artist teams have made as indelible a mark on the comic-book consciousness as have Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. The pair met in the 1970s at Marvel Comics, and as you’ll see, did not immediately get along. But in the 1980s, their work on New Teen Titans for DC would not only gain them a fanatic readership and high sales, but it would also bring them critical acclaim and even recognition from the White House! The titanic duo would later refashion a company’s entire line with Crisis on Infinite Earths and The History of the DC Universe. And then, with the exception of a handful of stories over the years which reunited the pair, Marv and George rode their success in different directions: George would jump back and forth between Marvel, DC, and various independent companies, writing books as well as penciling or inking, while Marv got involved in Hollywood and the animation industry, writing comics on and off. I’ve known both Marv and George since 1983’s San Diego Comic-Con, and have interviewed them both many times over the years. I’ve toured both of them through Portland, Oregon, recently when they’ve been here for the famous Second Genesis conventions, and am proud to call them friends. Though this interview was a bear to arrange with everyone’s busy schedules, it was immediately obvious that both Marv and George—though separated by coasts and career changes—are still completely in sync. It’s a shame that DC doesn’t want to publish their unfinished Iron Man, Vision, Captain America, Thor TM & © 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Superman TM & © 2003 DC Comics.

Titans graphic novel Games, but here in the pages of BACK ISSUE you can at least see the Titanic duo reunited again. —Andy Mangels

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Duo! conducted on July 25, 2003, and transcribed by Brian K. Morris.

ANDY MANGELS: Welcome to the first official interview for BACK ISSUE magazine. The theme of this issue is “Marvel vs. DC,” so we’re going to talk about that. MARV WOLFMAN: Superman could beat, oh, Aunt May. AM: I’m sorry? MW: In DC vs. Marvel, Superman could beat up Aunt May. (laughs) GEORGE PÉREZ: Yeah, but I think Julie [Schwartz] will take Stan [Lee].

Beginnings:

Castle of Franken stein #12 (art) Blackhawk #242 (writing)

Milestones:

Tomb of Dracula / New Teen Titans / Amazing Spider-Man / Ba tman / Action Co mics / Fantastic Four / Nova / Th e Night Force / Green Lantern / Tales / Superman Duck -The Animated Series / Blade Pérez Team-U ps: Fantastic Four An nual #14 / What # If? 15 / New Te Titans / Crisis on en Infinite Earths / The History of the DC Universe

Works In Prog ress:

Teen Titans anim ated series Gene Pool graph ic novel

Cyberspace: www.marvwolf man.com

MW: Yeah, probably today, yeah. (chuckles) Love him to death. AM: What was the first time you knew of each other’s work? GP: Well, Marv was my editor when I was doing the black-and-white work, “Sons of the Tiger.” Actually, my first real professional encounter with Marv, he hated my work. MW: Well, I didn’t hate the work. I hated the drawing, which is different. GP: Yeah. MW: The drawing wasn’t there yet. In fact, I have a page of his “Gullivar Jones of Mars.” I think that may have preceded “Sons of the Tiger,” I’m not sure. GP: Yeah, that would have been my actual first full story, right. MW: I managed to find a page someplace. George— and I’ve said this before, and so has George—the early

Beginnings:

Astonishing Tales 25 #

Milestones:

n Titans / Fantastic Four The Avengers / New Tee / Wonder Woman rica Ame of gue Lea tice Jus Future Imperfect : Hulk / t ntle Gau ity The Infin / Crimson Plague rce aFo Ultr / er Surf er The Silv es nicl Chro n CrossGe

Wolfman Team-Ups:

# Teen # / What If? 15 / New Fantastic Four Annual 14 / The History of the hs Eart ite Infin on Titans / Crisis DC Universe

Works In Progress: Solus JLA/Avengers

Cyberspace: www.george-perez.com

work was fairly amateur, but what George had that nobody who was maybe a touch better at the time had—boy, could he tell a story, even then. And it’s the only reason, I think, that everyone kept working with him, because drawing will come. You start out at one level and you build yourself up. If you’re going to be good, the drawing will come. But you can’t teach storytelling. You can teach rudimentary storytelling,

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time and experience. Being on the other end when people are now showing you their more amateurish, untrained, underdeveloped stuff, you have to also find that same means of encouraging them to get better. And sometimes, you do have to be a little cruel to be kind. MW: I had gone to the High School of Art and Design to be an artist and in fact, became an art teacher. My Bachelor’s Degree in college is Bachelor of Fine Arts. And that was exactly what they did. You would present a drawing and they’d rip it apart—only the parts that are bad because every teacher in Art and Design, unlike most schools, had to have been professional artists. I mean, Bernie Krigstein was one of

who give up “The people ness be in the busi to ve er es d don’t make ever going to n e ’r ey th se becau icism, e you get crit m ti t rs fi e h T it. oodbye.’” if you fold, ‘G man —Marv Wolf

my teachers. That’s the level of craftsmanship at the school at that time. And because of that, they had no patience for ego getting in the way. They know that, certainly, at fifteen, you ain’t got it. (laughs) And they pushed and pushed and pushed, and the people who give up don’t deserve to be in the business because they’re never going to make it. The first time you get criticism, if you fold, “Goodbye.” GP: For me, it was a bit of a jolt since I never had an art lesson. So other than the rah-rah complimentary cheers of my friends and family, I never really got the critique from a professional artist. I mean, before

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Marv, I guess, I took my stuff to a convention and Neal Adams was the first person to, basically, put me up on the cross. And as Marv pointed out about not letting ego get in the way, when I saw Neal a year after I turned pro, he was the first one to say, “Congratulations. You made it. If you could take what I dish out, then you’ve got, at least, the heart to take the next step further.” Obviously, he can’t predict the amount of improvement in the artist, but [he saw] that I want[ed] to improve as an artist. MW: Exactly, and that’s the vital part of it all, is the willingness to go back and say, “Okay, either I’m going to show him because he’s an idiot, or I’m going to show him because I can do it.” And either way, it gets the job done. It really doesn’t matter which way you do it (laughs), it gets the job done. And the stuff I remember that was wrong about his work—I mean, George can probably tell you a lot better because it was on his side —the stuff I remember were fairly simple things, like perspective and anatomy. Those were learnable things, and those were the parts that I saw were wrong. It

Marv Wolfman - Man of Characters

wasn’t, “Well, this story is all wrong.” I recall just the

A portrait by George of his frequent collaborator

straightforward things that there are rules for.

shows Marv alongside several icons to which he

AM: Perspective and backgrounds.

helped to give distinctive voice.

GP: That’s it. Like he was probably after me in the

anatomy of the human body in a perspective shot. One of the things which I also admire in any person when they show a portfolio is at least to attempt a difficult shot, as opposed to taking the easy one. I might have gotten it wrong, but that, as Marv pointed

A Spooky Little Girl Like You! (left)

out, can be fixed with a simple knowledge of the

Raven billows from a plume of smoke, courtesy of

mechanics of it. But the fact that if you tried for a

this fan-commissioned drawing.

times are greater than you can achieve as far as your graphic ability at the time, that shows that you’re thinking, you’re telling a story the most dynamic way possible, as Marv said. I mean, I don’t know why it’s

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but they weren’t interested in it. GP: Plus there were a lot of extra cooks who kept trying to throw things in too. MW: Oh, yeah. Well, there’s always that. I mean, once again, you’re not the editor, you have no control. And if I made a mistake, a second mistake besides what I did with Jericho, it was not quitting the book the day I wasn’t the editor. But I’m sure we’ll get into that later on. AM: Well, one of the things you talked about there is the development of the characters. And in today’s comics scene, you don’t see creators staying on books more than a year, if that, or two years. And yet you guys had a fairly lengthy run on Titans that allowed you to really explore the characters. What do you there’s a physical movement that George gave to The

think the reasons are?

Titans, the same way Gene Colan did with Dracula, that you can get away with writing it differently because it’s all there in the body language. Others mimicked the look, but they never got the body language right, and that was something George had started to develop at a time, again, when nobody else was. By the time he was done, those characters became real people in that

t “I do give a lo ause an Jurgens bec of credit to D did, obviously, the Titans he s Titans.” was the Jurgen ez —George Pér

they’d move differently from each other. GP: In fact, that’s what also helped doom poor

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Jericho, since Jericho was a character that was

GP: I think it’s pretty simple. We liked the characters.

playing to my strengths as an artist; he used body

I mean, for me, it was just that Marv kept making

language for characterization. Since he was a totally

the characters interesting. He and I would talk about

mute character, we were really dependent on the body

those characters as if they were living human beings.

language being right and when other artists followed

You know, “What’s going to go on?” I still remember

me on that—well, they didn’t have the same invest-

a time when we were discussing the death of Terra.

ment in the character’s development as I did. So, of

We were in a diner and for all intents and purposes,

course, he kind of became wallpaper in the background

people overhearing our conversation are listening to

because Marv didn’t have the luxury of me up for the

two men plotting to kill off a fifteen-year-old girl.

thing. “Here I am,” you know, in dialogue. If the character

(laughs) And only in New York would they not do

was dead in the background, he was pretty much dead

anything about it. (laughs)

in the book.

MW: Yeah, exactly! Or volunteer to help.

MW: And it wouldn’t even matter what I did. But

GP: We really cared about those characters. Again,

truth to tell, Jericho was George’s baby from Day One,

I’m going to mention about an investment. We

and the one regret I have is that I haven’t been able

invested a lot of our own emotions in those charac-

to go back to the Titans and fix the mistakes I made

ters and we generally had a good time. And there

with him. I did submit a Jericho story concept to DC,

were times Marv and I had different feelings of how

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a character would approach, so it became a real symbiosis of our two different upbringings and takes on a character, which is why I don’t think the Titans ever were the same when I was gone or if I handled a story with them alone; it was not the same. MW: Absolutely. GP: It was definitely that definite mixture of Wolfman/ Pérez, which I think—The X-Men survived the various artistic changes because they became rather extreme personalities. It wasn’t as much—in my opinion, anyway—as much subtlety of personality. Everyone acted rather operatically. The Titans tended to be a little more natural—in the milieu they were in, anyway—and thus, more accessible, I think, so that they acted more like normal human beings. Marv himself stated many times he does not write what he can’t say. You know, if the character’s speaking and he can’t see himself saying those words out loud, he doesn’t have them say it. Even with all the action, all the bombast of the artwork, this goes back to the body language. I do try to make them act like normal human beings, particularly in the quiet scenes. MW: Oh, yeah. GP: I’m very happy, and very hopeful, that this newest incarnation [DC‘s Teen Titans, which premiered in the summer of 2003] is successful beyond the initial sales burst that they just had, because we love the characters. We’d love to see them, other than the title itself, flourish. But there was something really, really one-of-a-kind about Marv and my work together on that book, the lightning in a bottle that is indefinable. You hope that another team gets it, you know? The industry benefits when, any time, we capture that, but you never know when it’s going to hit. Again, I came into that book never, ever expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, and for my career to benefit as much as it did from doing

DC’s itans: Teen T t

The Nreaxtion Gene e latest issue of th th ix s e h T TITANS n of TEEN incarnatio Issues ber 2003. m e c e D in ships eries sold hot new s is th f o #1-3 has C Comics Characters TM out, and D & © 2003 third DC Comics. econd and s d e s a le re . of issue #1 printings enciler hns and p Jo ff o e G Writer their own have put e n o K c M orld Mike teenage w e th n o in sp ided by successful viously gu re p s e ro e Pérez. of super-h d George n a n a m lf Marv Wo olfman om the W fr rs te c ra , cha Beast Boy Returning s include e u s is f o run acting and Pérez d Raven n a , e r fi r ung Sta former Yo Cyborg, to rs to n e as m obin, mbers—R e m e c ti s Ju , and , Impulse y o rb e p u S irl. Wonder G cond there’s a se w o n d n A n Titans T title, Tee T ly th n o m rtoon on the Ca d e s a b !, , Go ted series hit anima ’s rk o tw e N n sale sue #2 is o Is s. n a it T Teen ber. in Decem TM Beast Boy

DC Comics

a book which, in its last incarnation, was pretty much a travesty of the original concept. So, you know, you

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The Original JLA/Avengers Crossover

When Titans

Clash! by

Michael Eu

It was a Friday evening in 1976, during my freshman year at East Carolina University (alma mater of Sandra Bullock and Scream scribe/Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson) in Greenville, North Carolina (go Pirates!). “Benny” (I’ll call him “Benny” because that’s his name), a dorm buddy from the cockroach-infested campus prison appropriately named Aycock Hall, and I, then known as “Mickey,” traipsed down “the hill” to the nearby Qwik-Pik store. Benny’s mission was clear: Buy a six-pack and par-tay, but my taste buds were craving the week’s latest comics—or at least as many as I could find. Back then, comics shops were a rarity (there was a comics/sci-fi specialty shop in town, a pulpy wonderland owned by Charles Lawrence, but I had yet to locate it), and readers embarked upon weekly scavenger hunts through convenience marts, drugstores, Mom ‘n’ Pop groceries, and newsstands in hopes of finding their four-color favorites. I meticulously examined each row of the Qwik-Pik’s comic-book spin rack, its new releases interspersed between titles from a week or two ago, already dog-eared and mangled by kids and yellowed by sun exposure through a nearby window. As I dug for the latest treasures, Benny found a gold mine of his own—a sale on Pabst Blue Ribbon!—and scanned the magazines while waiting for me to complete my inspection.

r “Hey, Mick, there’s a big funnybook over here,” he called.

I glanced across the aisle to see what he was talking about, and my jaw dropped.

Oh. My.

God.

It was Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man!

This tabloid-sized best-seller co-published by DC and Marvel Comics, cover-

blurbed as “The Greatest Superhero Team-Up of All Time,” was the comics biz’s

first major event, making headlines as it united two fierce publishing rivals and

their two flagship characters. Today, cross-company crossovers are commonplace—we’ve seen Batman/Daredevil, Hulk vs. Superman, Batman/Tarzan, Spider-

Man/Gen13, and JLA/Witchblade, to name just a few (heck, I even co-edited two

Dark Horse/DC mini-series, Batman vs. Predator II and Superman vs. Aliens)—but in

Comics.

1976, nothing could top the excitement of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. Benny was left to his own devices that evening—I had reading to do!

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Despite the runaway success of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, it took five

years before the companies reconnected. In 1981, Marvel and DC released two

additional crossovers, both published in the same oversized format as the 1976 Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man book: a Superman/Spider-Man sequel handled

by Marvel, and the DC-steered Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk. Both were greeted by

overwhelming commercial and critical acclaim, and DC and Marvel—then editorially helmed by Dick Giordano and Jim Shooter, respectively—launched plans to

do more. The result: Marvel and DC Present, a comic-book-sized, irregularly published series utilizing then-emerging offset printing, providing richer, more vivid

colors on a brighter paper stock. It was agreed that the production of each of the crossovers would alternate between one publisher and the other, with each company appointing a co-editor; the company not producing the given crossover would distribute the project. Instead of continuing single-character pairings with their next outings, the publishers targeted meetings (and clashes) between their most popular super-teams: the Justice League of America and the Avengers, and

the New Teen Titans and the X-Men.

The Only Man for the Job At the time, artist George Pérez had ascended to fan-favorite status through his

detailed rendering of DC’s hottest book, The New Teen Titans. He’d gotten his start at Marvel in the 1970s, cutting his teeth on minor strips like “Man-Wolf” in

Creatures on the Loose and “Sons of the Tiger” in The Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu before

graduating to Fantastic Four and The Avengers, the latter of which experienced a renaissance of quality and popularity thanks to George’s enthusiastic pencils. By 1980, Pérez was illustrating DC’s Justice League of America as well as Marvel’s

She-Pow! Panel detail from Pérez’s original JLA/Avengers pencils.

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The

Avengers and DC’s The New Teen Titans relaunch. Overburdened with three monthly titles each starring

a large cast of characters, Pérez was forced to jettison a series to make his workload more manageable. He’d already enjoyed a long stay on The Avengers,

and for that reason Marvel’s premier team book got the boot. He ultimately left JLA to devote his full energies to Titans and its offshoots. So when DC and Marvel elected to publish a JLA/Avengers team-up, George Pérez, the superstar who had distinguished himself on celebrated runs on both titles, was the only man for the job. It was a no-brainer. And George was literally chomping at the bit for the assignment. He even passed on the

Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans crossover for the

merging of DC’s and Marvel’s mightiest superheroes. Writer Gerry Conway, who, like Pérez, had triumphant tours of duty on both Avengers for Marvel and Justice League for DC, was tapped as the JLA/Avengers plotter, with Roy

Thomas to script over his plot. DC’s Len Wein was the project’s editor, with Dick Giordano as the overseeing DC executive; their Marvel editorial counterparts were Mark

Gruenwald and Jim Shooter—or so DC believed. JLA/Avengers was scheduled for a summer 1983 release, and fan anticipation rivaled that of the original Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Striking a Balance Our mothers may have taught us to share, but in high-profile crossovers sharing doesn’t always come easy. It demands equal time between characters. In the earlier DC/Marvel team-ups, great care was given to ensure that Superman and Spider-Man, and Batman and the Incredible Hulk, each bore comparable story weight, and that neither dispropor-

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tionately relied upon the other. Balance. (This was

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19 71

feature

my Olsen Superman, Jim

(micro-sized) iversal Studios’ pletely by Un inhabited com in, 0s: Frankenste e 1930s and ’4 monsters of th e ummy, and th Dracula, the M the Wolfman, ade of Jack’s te should be m like. Special no an’s faces; n’s and Superm version of Olse pretty dang both looking e. fantastic to m redrawn DC had them derson (as by Murphy An . Which do shown at left) tter? you think is be ays Kirby was alw couldn’t e, and while he ahead of his tim perman’s “S” of drawing Su get the hang drawn as well), ring it to be re ui eq (r l bo m sy pears to be a ized version ap his highly styl Ross used in e version Alex precursor to th e. Kingdom Com the 1990s hit

DC Comics.

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A particularly le energetic batt ly page. This tru volved bizarre issue re ld around a wor

J I M M Y O L S E N #1 4 3

orrow w i t h John M n o ilt m a H e” Hambon b y David “

t i m e l i n e s

Here’s Jack in the late 1970s;

to his right is his one-time assistant

Mark Evanier, and peeking over his head

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(Photo courtesy of Shel Dorf.)

is Teen Titans scribe Marv Wolfman.

N E W G O D S #8

I S S U E

19 7 2 Splash page from “The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin” (actually page five of the issue), showcasing one of Jack’s more endearing creations, Lightray (with Orion). This story brought back a lot of humanistic qualities of self-sacrifice and courage—echoing back to Jack and Stan’s (Lee) Fantastic Four #51, “This Man... This Monster,” one of the ten favorite Lee/Kirby stories ever published at the House of Ideas (as often voted upon in fan polls since the 1960s). Jack’s plotting/writing shined like a super-nova when approaching such storylines—with and without the input of others. ‘Nuff said! D C

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Tarzan, Tarzan and Tarzan: The Lord of the Jungle’s

long, strange

Journey

T o m “ T hret C o Stewa

Through the Jungles of Three Publishers Problems... Bob Hodes had a problem. As the representative for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., Robert M. Hodes oversaw the Burroughs estate and its literary legacies: Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus, David Innes, the Moon Men and Red Hawk—the vast galaxy author Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB) left behind him upon his death in 1950. The properties had languished after the passing of the founder, falling prey to pirated copies of the Burroughs originals and unauthorized comics (the first time pirates got the better of Tarzan!). Funny thing was, the very pirated novels that caused the problem helped spur a Burroughs revival. ERB Inc. started tending to business. At the end of the 1960s, the House of Burroughs was back in order, overseeing worldwide rights for movies, books, reprints, comic strips, and, of course, comic books, especially Tarzan comic books. Since 1912, when Burroughs, a man who had famously failed at almost everything he put a hand to, borrowed someone else’s stationery and wrote Tarzan of the Apes, Tarzan had been a phenomenon, and a very valuable property. More books followed, pushing Tarzan into publishing-empire status (before Amazon.com, mind you). Movies both silent and sound, radio, gasoline (well, Tarzan endorsed it), and comic strips all came spilling out to meet the demand—he even got his own town, Tarzana, California. And again, the comic books. Ah, comics. It was a small, but not unimportant part of ERB Inc. Tarzan was popular all over the world, one of the most recognizable fictional characters in history, and his comics were just as popular. Tarzan comic books started with comic-strip reprints in the 1930s, then in 1947 Tarzan began appearing regularly in new stories written especially for Dell Comics. Tarzan soon got his own title. For years the Dell Tarzans were written by the very prolific Gaylord DuBoise and drawn by Jesse Marsh (the Mike Sekowsky of Tarzan: either you loved him or hated him; or hated him, then loved him). DuBoise and Marsh strayed far from Burroughs original (maybe not as far as the “Me, Tarzan” MGM

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a movies did), making many Burroughs purists cringe, but they kept the title a popular one right up until Marsh’s retirement in 1965, when artist Russ Manning took over. Manning restored Burroughs source material to the title and helped it regain popularity for the comic book (and newspaper strip, which he later took over, as well), especially in the overseas foreign markets. This was the problem. The foreign markets were printing and reprinting all the Tarzan material they had. Forty years’ worth of comic strips (by Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, and Rex Maxon) and over twenty years of comic books published by Dell and later Gold Key Comics, all went to feed the foreign annuals, monthlies, and weeklies, translated and sold all over the world. It was a sweet deal. Gold Key paid the writers, artists, editors, and all the overhead, ERB Inc. kept the negatives of all the stories, sold them for set page rates to South America, Europe, Africa, wherever

Infantino’s “Perfect Guy”

Tarzan was needed and wanted. Sweet. There

DC publisher Carmine Infantino chose Joe Kubert

was only one thing wrong: The reprints were

as his Tarzan artist.

running out. They needed more. Much more.

The Russ Manning stories that Gold Key

was printing were very popular with the overseas publishers—so popular, in fact, that when the art wasn’t coming in fast enough, they hired their own “Russ Mannings” and set them to aping (yes, that was intentional) the Manning style on new pages (something that didn’t make Russ happy, but why would it?). More was needed, and ERB Inc. felt that Western Publishing (owner of Gold Key Comics) should provide it. Hodes went to Gold Key. At this time, Gold Key wasn’t in the expanding vein. After years of supplying material to Dell Comics, Western split with Dell and entered publishing on its own by putting

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From there to… Infantino a guest editorial by Carmine Infantino

Editor’s note: No matter your preference in the DC vs. Marvel “war,” you can’t undervalue the innovations implemented at DC Comics under Carmine Infantino’s watch. Signing on as art director in 1967 and eventually ascending to publisher, Infantino, during his

Marvel was kicking the hell out of DC. DC was stuck in a time warp,

ten-year tenure, led

very comfortable with what it was doing until Marvel came along with very clean,

the company from a

new, sharp material and chopped them up. DC needed a kick in the rump. And

position of Number

they brought me on board to do it.

Two with a Bullet to

I was originally hired as DC’s art director by Irwin Donenfeld, the publisher. He wanted me to art direct because the covers I was creating for DC were selling, and the rest of the line was not. When Irwin left the company for personal reasons, I became the editorial director. At that point, I knew the company had to change. It was locked into a situation with only literary people editing comics. I felt the company needed visual people, because comics is a visual medium. So I brought in artist/editors Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert, and Dick Giordano, and kept editors Julie Schwartz and Murray Boltinoff so we’d have a good balance. DC had been a closed shop. Creative people were afraid to come up there. So I put aside a room for the freelance artists and writers, a place for them to go and discuss and enjoy each other’s work. This attracted some wonderful talent: Bernie Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman. Giordano brought in Steve Skeates and Denny O’Neil from Charlton, to bring in new blood to the writing. The whole thing began to jell, little by little. We

guest editorial

came alive again.

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It was a smaller staff when I was there—a smaller, tighter group. I had six editors at the most, and the art department. I could keep my fingers on everything. Marvel had taken over the super-hero market. So I had to come up with something else to combat that trend. Very quietly I started the mystery line. We began with one or two titles, then soon we had a whole line with House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, Ghosts, and more, and before long we dominated that market.

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a dead heat with the House of Ideas. In our premiere “Off My Chest,” Mr. Infantino shares his recollections of DC’s plans to challenge Marvel’s late 1960s/ early 1970s market dominance.

We never tried to parallel Marvel. Once you copy someone, you’re always second best. I wanted us to be individual, and we were, with the mystery books, and the war books that Joe Kubert did so beautifully. All characters TM & ©2003 DC Comics.

When he was working at Marvel, Jack Kirby would call me regularly to say hello. We’d talk and kid around. One time when I was in California on business, we went to dinner, and Jack said, “I’d like to show you something.” He showed me three covers: New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Forever People. I said, “They’re wonderful. Good luck.” He said, “No, no, you don’t understand. I want to do them for you. My Marvel contract is up. I want a contract with you.” I said, “I’ve got no problem with that.” It was as simple as that, and in 1970 Jack Kirby came to DC. Jack wanted the whole Superman line to do. I couldn’t give him that—with that property, you have to be very careful. So I decided to try him out on Jimmy Olsen. But it didn’t work. We later discovered why: Jimmy Olsen was really made for little kids, and Jack made it very sophisticated, which was the wrong thing for that book. Unfortunately, Forever People, Mister Miracle, and New Gods didn’t sell. Jack became unhappy because of this. The Demon did fairly well, however, and so did Kamandi. Kirby did one book, The Sandman, with his original partner Joe Simon, and the sales just went through the roof. So I called Jack and asked him to do more books with Joe, but Jack said, “I want to move on.” He went back to Marvel at that point.

Success No “Mystery”

I was in Europe and the Edgar Rice Burroughs people approached me

DC caught Marvel

about DC publishing Tarzan. But they wanted their creative people on the

off guard by “quietly”

project, and I said, “No, no, I want my guys on the book.” I put Joe Kubert

releasing its inventive

on Tarzan. When the Burroughs people saw Kubert’s work, they were

line of mystery titles.

delighted. Joe was made for that character. At first, Tarzan sold very well.

(far right)

Then I went out and got Captain Marvel [for the Shazam!] series and the Quality Comics characters like the Ray and Black Condor [who, with

other heroes, spun out of Justice League of America into their own title, Freedom Fighters]. We started to refurbish the super-hero line.

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Stan Lee and I were fairly friendly. We didn’t see each other very often, but when we did, we were very cordial. We had known each other for years. Stan and I were old friends. When Superman vs. Spider-Man was proposed, I was opposed to it. The person in charge of Marvel at that time came to DC with the crossover idea. He met with my superior, and they called me upstairs and said, “We want it done.” I thought we’d be enhancing the Marvel line by bridging them with DC, but since I had no choice, I insisted, “Let us do it properly.” I picked the artist I wanted, Ross Andru, and I created and designed the cover. The book was a lot of hard work but it did very well. DC was privy to Marvel’s numbers. Our distributor would get us copies of their sales reports, and they got copies of our numbers. There were no secrets there. Marvel had been moving ahead by leaps and bounds, but we caught up, because we produced quality comics. There was one year when we won every award possible. I knew we were on the right track then. Toward my last year at DC, Marvel decided to do to us something that DC had done many years earlier to Western Publishing: They dramatically increased their output, and this threatened to push us off the stands, where the shelf space was limited. I had to combat that, so I met Marvel book to book. I knew it was going to cost us a lot of money, which it did, but it cost them a

Kirby is Here!

fortune. The people upstairs did not appreciate my posture, so it

Jack “King” Kirby, who

was better that we part ways. We did, in 1976, and that was the end of it.

epitomized Marvel’s

My position at DC was a lot of work. I worked long hours and didn’t take a

1960s art style,

vacation in ten years. It’s a tough job if you do it properly.

was hired by Carmine Infantino

I learned that you’ve got to take chances. Not everything DC did back then

in 1970 to work

worked, but we produced some great material. I had some wonderful guys to

his magic at DC.

work with: Kubert, Orlando, Giordano, and of course, the old faithfuls, the terrific Murray Boltinoff and the wonderful Julie Schwartz.

(above and top right)

We had a good group of guys. They meshed well.

We were neck and neck with Marvel when I left DC. We made money and changes. I gave back original art to the artists and raises to all personnel.

Team Supreme!

It was a memorable time.

Murphy Anderson inks over Infantino pencils on a 1960s Mystery In

I highly recommend Mr. Infantino’s lushly illustrated autobiography

Space cover.

(co-written by J. David Spurlock), The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino, published in 2000 by Vanguard Productions. It’s a

(top and right)

captivating read and deserves a place of honor on the bookshelf

of every comics fan.—Michael

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Michael Eu

Jimmy Olsen:

adventures

by Jack Kirby

DC Comics, 2003 • 192 pages, color, $19.95

Comics

Only One Thing Missing from the Kirby Magic Good news for fans of Jack “King” Kirby and his expansive Fourth World: In late July 2003, DC

Superman, Jim my Olsen, Du bbilex TM

collected edition review

Comics released Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby, a trade-paperback collection of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 (October 1970) through #139 (July 1971) and #141 (September 1971)—issue #140 was a reprint giant, in case you’re wondering. These landmark stories, written and penciled by Kirby and inked by Vince Colletta, are important for two reasons: They signaled the King’s triumphant return to DC, after months of teasers proclaiming “Kirby is Coming,” and they introduced story elements that would appear in some of Kirby’s other series, as well as in DC’s ongoing continuity for decades to come. The presentation of these classics is superb. Unlike DC’s earlier black-and-white collections of Kirby’s New Gods, Forever People, and Mister Miracle tales, the Jimmy Olsen stories are reprinted in glorious color (featuring “reconstruction” by David Tanguay), and the cover—by Kirby and “the Dude” Steve Rude, colored by Richard and Tanya Horie—is absolutely wonderful, an eye-catching blend of the King’s raw energy and the Dude’s pristine polish. The Introduction by Kirby protégé and historian Mark Evanier offers valuable insight into his mentor’s migration from Marvel Comics to DC, dispelling some urban

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Back Issue #1