Back Issue #28 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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“ H E R O E S B E H AV AVI N G B A D LY ” I S S U E !

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Volume 1, Number 28 June 2008

The Retro Comics Experience!

Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

FLASHBACK: The Thing vs. the Hulk: Why Can’t They Get Along? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Is the Marvel Universe big enough for these battling behemoths? INTERVIEW: Ron Wilson: Solid As a Rock! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 The beloved Bronze Age penciler talks Marvel-Two-in-One and the Thing

COVER ARTIST Darwyn Cooke

INTERVIEW: Herb Trimpe: The Incredible Herb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 A chat with the all-time favorite Silver and Bronze Age Incredible Hulk artist

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington SPECIAL THANKS Arthur Adams Roger Ash Michael Aushenker Mike W. Barr Cary Bates Al Bigley Michael Browning John Byrne KC Carlson Gene Colan Ernie Colón J. M DeMatteis Terry Dodson Daren Domina Michael Finn Bill Flanagan Shane Foley Will Gabri-el Dick Giordano Grand Comic-Book Database Steven Grant Justin Gray Paul Green Glenn Greenberg Bob Greenberger Heritage Comics Auctions Carmine Infantino Klaus Janson Jeff Jaworski Phil Jimenez Dan Johnson Joe Jusko Jim Kingman Bob Larkin

Bob Layton Larry Lieber David Lloyd Michael Lovitz David Mandel Kelvin Mao Yoram Matzkin Laura McCullough Elizabeth Merifield David Michelinie Mike Mikulovsky Ian Millsted Doug Moench Stephen Moore Jimmy Palmiotti Steven Regina Bob Rozakis Peter Sanderson Alex Segura Ari Shapiro Jim Shooter Walter Simonson Dez Skinn Ted Skinner Shannon Slayton Anthony Snyder Andrew Stitt Bill Thomson Herb Trimpe Gerry Turnbull Jim Warden Ron Wilson Marv Wolfman Amy Wolfram The Yancy Street Gang

FLASHBACK: Black and White—But Green All Over: The Hulk! Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Walt Simonson, Doug Moench, Jim Shooter, and others on the Hulk’s magazine rampage GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD—IN THE USA: The UK Hulk Comic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 The Green Goliath and friends in comic adventures rarely seen by Yanks Hulk, run! Then smash! An incredible sketch by Jim Starlin, courtesy of Anthony Snyder. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

INTERVIEW: David Lloyd on Night Raven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 The popular artist recalls the UK Hulk’s breakout character FLASHBACK: The Rise and Demise of Kid Miracleman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 A ground- (and bone-) breaking 1980s classic revisited FLASHBACK: The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Mark Shaw, Manhunter . . . . . . .44 This Kirby creation changed his threads and his stripes BONUS PINUP: The BACK ISSUE Era’s Other Manhunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 A never-before-published Batman/Manhunter pinup by Walter Simonson OFF MY CHEST: He is Iron Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 A look back at Tony Stark’s struggle with alcoholism, with a Bob Layton pinup INTERVIEW: John Byrne: Crossing the Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 The superstar writer/artist discusses the moral codes of his Marvel and DC heroes FLASHBACK: The Many Lives of Terra, the Titans’ Greatest Betrayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 “The Judas Contract” and beyond, with Wolfman, Jimenez, Palmiotti, and more FLASHBACK: Dead Man Running: The Trial of the Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino, and other creators on Barry Allen’s final days GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc. . . . .73 Beginning Book Two (continued from Alter Ego) of Bob Rozakis’ fantasy comics history BONUS PINUP: The Thing vs. the Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Arthur Adams’ recreation of the famous Marvel Feature #11 cover BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Reader feedback on “Spies and Tough Guys” issue #26 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, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $40 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $90 Surface International, $108 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Darwyn Cooke. Iron Man TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. The Flash TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2008 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. H e r o e s

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One of the hallmarks of ’70s and ’80s comics—the BACK ISSUE era—was the maturation of subject matter. Writers and artists took chances with the superhero model, toppling reader expectations by making the mighty succumb to human failings—or, as it became fashionable to say after Watchmen premiered in 1986, “deconstructing” superheroes. Stan Lee started the trend in the early 1960s by writing “heroes with problems” in the burgeoning Marvel Universe. During the BI era, those problems became much more severe than worrying about Aunt May’s latest heart palpitation—we witnessed heroes who fell off the wagon and from grace, became intoxicated with power, conspired against their teammates, and sometimes executed their foes. These “Heroes Behaving Badly” raised the bar for graphic storytelling (while perhaps lowering it for morality), providing some of the most riveting comics of the day. Our interviewed writers and artists in this issue offer captivating insights into why these champions crashed, burned, clobbered, and killed, and why we still love them despite their un-herolike behavior. Two of this issue’s spotlighted “Heroes Behaving Badly”—the Thing and the Hulk—are depicted in “One Minute Later!” commissioned illustrations, two from Ron Wilson and one from Herb Trimpe. One Minute Later! (OML) is the theme of art collector Michael Finn’s collection of commissions by contemporary and classic comics artists portraying what might happen sixty seconds after scenes from famous (mostly) Marvel covers. You saw another OML in last issue’s Alan Weiss Art Gallery, for which we owe Mr. Finn a belated thank-you. Do yourself a favor and visit Michael’s OML gallery at

STEVE GERBER 1947-2008

Michael Eury

www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?Order=Date&Page=1&GSub =26452. You’ll see an awesome array of artists, and the OMLs in color, too! Back in the ’90s, the power ring-plundering Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) joined the ranks of “Heroes Behaving Badly.” While GL’s misadventures aren’t included in this issue, he’s the subject of a special “BACK ISSUE Live” event to take place on Friday, June 20, 2008 at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina! Ye editor will host a live “Pro2Pro” interview titled “Drawing Green Lantern: Then and Now,” featuring artists Alex Saviuk, Joe Staton, and Ethan Van Sciver. Join the fun and one amazing guest list at HeroesCon 2008, June 20–22, at the Charlotte Convention Center in uptown Charlotte, NC. For more info, visit www.heroesonline.com/heroescon.html. For those of you unable to attend what is the friendliest and most fun comics con in the US of A, you’ll be able to read a transcription of this GL “Pro2Pro” in January 2009’s BACK ISSUE #32. I’d hate for our rowdy and rebellious “Heroes Behaving Badly” articles to eclipse a special serialized feature beginning in this issue: Bob Rozakis’ fantasy history of All-American Comics, Inc. Long story short: Back in the Golden Age, DC Comics and All-American Comics were sister companies until DC absorbed AA— but in Bob’s parallel universe, the reverse holds true, with the Golden Age Flash and Green Lantern supplanting Superman and Batman as comics’ “Big Two.” Book One, covering the Golden and Silver Ages of this alternate reality, began its serialized run in our sister pub Alter Ego #76, while Book Two, commencing with the Bronze Age, starts here and now.

DAVE STEVENS 1955-2008

We are saddened by the passings of these two talented creators and extend our condolences to their family, friends, and fans. BACK ISSUE will offer tributes to both in upcoming issues.

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IF I CAN’T REASON WITH YA, I’M GONNA HAFTA WALLOP YA! IN OTHER WORDS, IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!

HULK DOES NOT LIKE THIS “CLOBBERIN’ TIME,” THING! HULK THINKS IT IS DUMB! HULK THINKS THING IS DUMB, TOO!

Break It Up, Ya Big Lugs! John Romita, Sr.’s original cover art to Marvel Feature #11 (Sept. 1973), from the Yoram Matzkin collection. Thing’s and Hulk’s dialogue, in the balloons, comes from that landmark “team-up.” © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“Who’s stronger? Thing or Hulk?” Back in ’76, when we comics-collectin’ Canarsie kids would sit on a Brooklyn stoop and sift through our big scores from the Nosher’s magazine racks, this age-old question was our perennial hot-button debate … and I knew the answer! I mean, come on, it’s a no-brainer! Doesn’t take a Bruce Banner to figure out that the angrier the Hulk got, the stronger. Hulk was so cool, he even had his own primetime series every Friday night on CBS. (Sorry, Thing … love, 40 … match point … advantage: Hulk!) But in the Marvel Universe of the 1970s, such conflicts weren’t so clear-cut. Witness Fantastic Four #166–167 (Jan.–Feb. 1976). Sometimes, the erstwhile Banner— that gamma-saturated, obdurate ox—kicked the tar out of Benjamin J. Grimm. Yet, inevitably, they’d team up against the common enemy, depriving us of a true showdown to the finish. A decade earlier, during comics’ Silver Age, Fantastic Four originated the Big Green/Big Orange mash-up. Marvel’s founding fathers, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, launched this guest-star gimmick as early as 1964, when Hulk surfaced in FF #25–26. Lee/Kirby missed the Bronze Age by a whisker with their Dec. 1969 sequel story in The Incredible Hulk. Gift-wrapped in a Kirby-lossal cover, #122 delivered on its promise of a ledge-crumbling, building-battering battle royal. Not one to let a good idea collect dust, Lee returned to the “Battle of the Behemoths!” in 1971, this time with artists John Buscema and Joe Sinnott, for some Central Park combat. Fantastic Four #112 opens with Hulk and Thing walloping each other with a tree. As a throng builds, Thing attempts to stop Hulk by uprooting and lobbing a statue of “General Forbush,” which Hulk reduces to dust. Turns out that when Reed Richards called on Banner for his scientific assistance, the shock of seeing Thing again reignited the embers of Banner’s irradiated rage. The Four enter the fray and, many destroyed trees later, Hulk and Thing take their fracas to the streets. This comic ends with a victory in Hulk’s corner via a green-fisted TKO that renders Thing unconscious and reduces Hulk back to Banner. (Hulk: 1, Thing: 0) A de facto Marvel Two-in-One Annual, Marvel Feature #11 (Sept. 1973) (“Cry, Monster!”) sported a bonecrushing unsigned cover (Gil Kane?). [Editor’s note: Nope. It’s Jazzy John Romita, Sr.!] Len Wein wrote it, a young Jim Starlin drew it, and Sinnott embellished it. This issue was so hot, it was quickly reprinted in 1975’s Marvel Treasury #5 (themed “The Hulk on the Rampage”). Basically Trading Places Marvel Comics-style, space alien Kurrgo makes a gentlemen’s agreement with the B e h a v i n g

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Soon, three disgruntled fired employees from the Hulk TV series, disguised as phone repairmen, kidnap Page in an attempt to extort a few hundred grand from the studio. Hulk smashes into Jusko’s office and erroneously accuses Thing of “…making the Hulk look dumb!” Flying fists ensue, as Hulk and Thing tangle across the studio lot, in the process demolishing a Wild West façade, a Roman soundstage, etc. In the process, they shut down more movie sets than the WGA strike. Post–ruckus, the tacky producer, who tells Hulk that “you’ll be bigger than Cheryl Tiegs!,” also promises Thing the perfect TV vehicle. Cut to the Four back in the Baxter Building, some time later. In the humiliating closing panels, Grimm, surrounded by his fellow FF, receives a package from the studio with the script to the

sitcom Jusko wants to feature him in. It’s called Thing in the Family, and in the accompanying storyboard, Ben wears parted long hair and mustache, à lá Rob Reiner’s Michael Stivic, while Archie Bunker barks at him, “Shuddup, ya orange meathead!” Thing concludes that Hollywood is not for him. (Hulk: 3, Thing: 1) Arguably the most memorable of all Two-in-One tales, #46 not only gives us a thoroughly satisfying Hulk/Thing melee—courtesy of writer/artist Alan Kupperberg, with Chic Stone on inks—but features the sheer novelty of setting the whole magilla in Hollywood. Looking back now, it’s amusing that all the TV shows depicted in this ish showed fidelity to the network carrying the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Hulk series. Bonus cameos: Daredevil paramour Page, US postman Willie Lumpkin, and Howard the Duck Look-Alike Contest winner Uncle Waddles. Of course, MTIO #46 proves that, even if we young Marvelites wanted Hulk to kick rocky orange butt, deep down we knew who won the war of words. Benjy had that noggin full of New York wit, whereas the monosyllabic Hulk couldn’t pass an S.A.T. test with those primordial grunts of his. Sorry, Hulkie, when it comes to the gift of gab … “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” (Hulk: 3, Thing: 2) We take Hulk for granted, but, unlike Thing, he’s not a superhero. He’s an Atomic Age Frankenstein’s monster who should be filed under “Weird Heroes,” somewhere between Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night. Ultimately, there’s a visceral kick in seeing the big, green gorilla in the purple pants kick the rocks out of the big orangutan in the blue undies (or vice versa, depending your bias). Keep in mind that this was before the commercialization of professional wrestling or the advent of the PS2. Yes, for kids of a certain generation, those Hulk vs. Thing slugfests were our WWE, our Mortal Kombat, our Tekken. Cracking open MTIO #46 was like getting ringside tickets to the world heavyweight championship (and, if I’m not mistaken, Hulk/Thing enjoyed more rematches in the ’70s than Ali/Frazier). Ostensibly, those bouts not only delighted us kids, but the inner children running around Marvel’s Bullpen, who enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) pitting both characters in epic battle. (Hulk: 3. Thing … oh, nertz, I’ve lost count!) Sure beats MTIO #88, which, by the ’80s, saw Thing pairing up with Hulk’s fairer cousin. Then again, for poor, bruised ’n’ battered Ben Grimm, a scantily clad She-Hulk is, at the very least, easier on his ever-lovin’ blue eyes! Yowza! MICHAEL AUSHENKER is a Los Angeles-based writer and cartoonist. His comic books include the El Gato, Crime Mangler series, Cartoon Flophouse, and Those Unstoppable Rogues. Visit cartoonflophouse.com.

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Doing His Steranko Thing Ron Wilson’s reimagining of Jim Steranko’s cover art to The Incredible Hulk King-Size Special #1 (1968, seen above), with bashful Benjy Grimm handling the heavy lifting for the Green Goliath. Art courtesy of Jeff Jaworski. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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WILSON: Most definitely. Any time you had ethnic characters, I loved it. I never created any. If you got to draw them, it was very exciting. Basically, it was good to have them, but [ultimately] they were just another superhero. AUSHENKER: The Thing teamed up with Ben Grimm in the last issue of MTIO (#100, June 1983). You worked with Byrne, setting up the Thing spin-off solo series. Did “Thing fatigue” set in by the time you began work on yet another Thing series? WILSON: John Byrne came in. He wanted to write The Thing but he didn’t want to draw it. He re-energized me. John brought a new vision for the book. A new approach, a new energy. AUSHENKER: Why was MTIO—a long-running, successful title—canceled, and then immediately rebooted as The Thing, with Thing #1 (July 1983)? WILSON: A lot of decisions were made in the office of [then-editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter. I think it started up on the heels of John Byrne.

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AUSHENKER: When you kicked off The Thing, which ran for 33 issues (1983–1986), did you have a different approach to tackling this series than on MTIO? WILSON: Byrne’s impact was so ingrained. It was like Larry Bird coming to the NBA. If Larry Bird comes to the NBA, you’re going to play better. John Byrne to me was Larry Bird in the NBA. And I don’ t mean in terms of race—but in terms of impact. Byrne was very hot, he was very in. So you’re trying to take it all in. Draw bigger, draw faster. AUSHENKER: How did you feel when your run on those books ended? Was it tough to let go of the Thing after so many years? WILSON: All good things must come to an end. You’re just attached to work, not the characters. As long as I was working, I was happy. I didn’t have time to weep. I moved on. When you’re young, a lot of things happen to you. You took it with a grain of salt and moved forward. All the issues were fun. At one point, I went to He-Man [in Masters of the Universe (1986–1988)]. I was very flexible. Before I got to He-Man, Tom DeFalco and Ralph Macchio—we had a meeting with Mattel on the West Coast. They told me, “Pack your bags, you’re going out west [to draw He-Man].” [laughs] AUSHENKER: Can you see your evolution as an artist across Two-in-One? WILSON: You always feel you’re getting better with time and age. And you look back and say, “If I was the artist I am now back then, I would’ve done it differently.” But you needed to go through that to get to where you’re at today. There aren’t any short cuts. AUSHENKER: MTIO ran for nine years. What was the key to its longevity? WILSON: It was a hot title back then and, in the simplest terms I could put it, it was two-in-one. You had the Thing and you had a guest star. Everybody’s in love with the rocks and the Thing. I don’t know what the phenomenon is or was, but the Thing was a lovable brute you liked to hug, and you hoped he protected you on the streets. I would never say it was successful because of me. It was the artists, the writers, the editors, the readers, the input. AUSHENKER: When you go to conventions and draw commissions, is MTIO still the book that fans associate with you the most? WILSON: They all want the Thing. “Do the Thing, do the Thing!” But it’s nice. People come up to me all the time and say, “Hey, you made my childhood!” AUSHENKER: As you look back on MTIO, are you satisfied with what you achieved creatively? WILSON: Yes. Satisfied to the extent that you’re learning, you’re picking up things. Definitely satisfied with the opportunity, rubbing elbows with the different pros, the journey. I wouldn’t change it. It was definitely a heck of a ride. I was loving every minute of it. If you’re doing what you love, you’ve never worked a day in your life. AUSHENKER: So, I gotta ask: after all these years, have you come to enjoy drawing all those little darn rocks? WILSON: Yes. Because they pay my bills. [laughs]

Mike Mikulovsky

Hulk Smash … Logo! Herb Trimpe imagines the classic Steranko cover to Captain America #110 “One Minute Later” in this absolutely incredible commission. From the collection of Michael Finn. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Imagine being a Star Trek fan and discovering that 22 animated episodes of the original series were produced. Or being a fan of The Honeymooners and learning that dozens of “lost” shows existed beyond the “classic 39” episodes. Such must be the case for modern-day fans of the Hulk who learn of the existence of the Rampaging Hulk magazine series from the 1970s. Running for 27 issues between late 1976 and early 1981, The Rampaging Hulk (retitled The Hulk! with issue #10) was initially part of the same black-andwhite magazine line that gave the world The Savage Sword of Conan, Dracula Lives!, Vampire Tales, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie, Planet of the Apes, and Crazy. Later, it became a lavish full-color publication, with production values akin to Marvel’s fondly remembered experimental science-fiction/ fantasy magazine, Epic Illustrated. Like its title character, The Rampaging Hulk faced a number of struggles— and even a controversy or two—during its existence. What cannot be disputed is that it attracted some of the best creative talent of that era, at a time when the Hulk truly was “Marvel’s TV sensation!”

MOENCH MEETS THE MONSTER “At some point, somebody at Marvel— it might have been Stan Lee—said, ‘Why can’t we do a magazine-sized version of one of the core Marvel characters?’” recalls writer Doug Moench, who scripted most of the Hulk’s magazine adventures. “My vague memory is that they picked the Hulk because the TV show was getting started and they thought it might become a hit and that might attract a slightly older readership that could afford the higher price of the magazine version.”

More Bestial! More Hounded! More Savage! Artist Ken Barr’s preliminary art for the cover of The Rampaging Hulk #8, and the published version in the inset. Unless otherwise noted, all art in this article is courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Glenn Greenberg

Moench was already writing for most of Marvel’s other black-and-white magazines of the time, and had a good working relationship with the editor of the line, John Warner. Though he had never written the Hulk before, Moench was handed the assignment of launching the character’s new series. It was a whole new beginning for the Hulk—but firmly rooted in the past. Issues #1 through 9 served as a “continuity implant.” They all take place during the Hulk’s early days, after The Incredible Hulk #6 in 1963—at which point the title was canceled—and before the Hulk started appearing regularly in Tales to Astonish, beginning with #60 in late 1964. “We didn’t want to screw up the continuity of the ongoing color book,” Moench recalls. “And it would be a nightmare trying to coordinate with the color book and know what its continuity was going to be, whether Banner would lose the power to turn into the Hulk for six months or whatever. The obvious solution was to set it in the past.” Moench couldn’t have been happier: “Those first six issues of The Incredible Hulk were some of my favorite early Marvel comics, and I loved being able to do stories of that Hulk.” Moench determined that a whole new sequence of stories could fit in nicely between the end of the Hulk’s first series and the start of the Tales to Astonish run. But there was a catch.

PAST MEETS PRESENT As most longtime Hulk readers know, the character as seen in his first six issues was quite different from the late-’70s incarnation. The original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Hulk was intelligent, cunning, somewhat sinister, and spoke in full sentences. He rarely—if ever—referred to himself in the third person. But the later Hulk was childlike and wild, and spouted eloquent lines such as, “Hulk is the strongest one there is!” and “You tried to hurt Hulk! Now Hulk will smash!” Moench could use the setting of the Lee/Kirby stories—but not the Lee/Kirby version of the character. “Editorial said we could do the stuff set in the past, but they wanted us to use the Hulk that everybody knew in the present,” Moench recalls. “So I tried to do a blend, I tried to fit it halfway in-between.” The end result was a Hulk that was neither the original version nor the later one, but nonetheless captured the core essence of the character quite well. General “Thunderbolt” Ross and his daughter Betty, introduced in the very first Hulk story and still part of the supporting cast in the 1970s, showed up in The Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977) but then disappeared from the series. Conversely, the Hulk’s original sidekick, Rick Jones, who had been absent from the color comic for a number of years, was front and center in the black-and-white magazine. He joined the Hulk on an odyssey that brought them into contact with a beautiful alien female who formed the third point of a very unusual character triangle.

BEREESENTING … BEREET! Moench realized early on that if he relied on General Ross and Betty as supporting characters, it would get too complicated and constrictive. Their destinies, of course, were already set in stone, as were the Hulk’s and Rick’s. Moench’s solution was to introduce a new character whose future was not already mapped out. That character was the fugitive techno-artist Bereet, who fled her home planet Krylors to warn Earth about a planned invasion by her people, the shape-changing and merciless Krylorians. According to Moench, the Krylorian storyline came about as a result of conversations between the writer and the magazine’s initial penciler, Walt Simonson. “I spoke to Walt, and he wanted to draw aliens and spaceships and that suggested doing the Krylorian stuff—I tried to keep Walt happy! He’s great, one of the better storytellers.”

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the Hulk,” Colan says. “I didn’t request the assignment, but I can promise you that I loved every minute of drawing those stories. My passion is about the storytelling and the art.” DeMatteis, for his part, relished the chance to work with one of his favorite artists. “It was the beginning of my career, and I kind of sucked—but it was drawn by Gene Colan!”

POWERFUL PAINTINGS Despite all the changes in the magazine, one thing remained consistent: It was blessed with powerful, dramatic, fully painted covers by such artists as Ken Barr, Earl Norem, Jim Starlin, Bob Larkin, and Joe Jusko, who produced his first cover for the series (the one for #12) at the age of 19. “I look at it now and I laugh,” Jusko says. “I didn’t quite know what I was doing. I can’t believe Marvel gave me work! It’s pretty hard to look at these days!” (Jusko’s too hard on himself—as raw and technically imperfect as this early cover may be, its power and energy is almost palpable and it’s undeniably an eye-catching piece that would attract a potential customer.)

Probably the best-remembered Hulk cover for which Jusko was responsible was the one for #26 (Apr. 1981), which he painted based on a pencil sketch by John Buscema. “That was a dream for me because John was my idol,” Jusko says. “I always thought that John’s version of the Hulk was the ultimate version.” The Buscema/Jusko combo worked wonderfully— the Hulk has never looked as wild and as menacing as he did on that cover. Another of Jusko’s influences was fellow cover artist Bob Larkin. “When I heard that Larkin had been up to the Marvel offices and saw one of my pieces and said, ‘That’s a really good painting,’ that meant so much to me.” Indeed, Larkin’s own covers were so realistic that if the Hulk actually existed in our world, he probably would look very much like the way Larkin depicted him. “I tried to do a cross between Lou Ferrigno and how Sal Buscema was drawing the Hulk in the comics at the time,” he explains.

RAMPAGES REVOKED The Hulk! was cancelled with #27 (June 1981)—not long before the TV show itself came to an end. “It wasn’t selling very well,” says Shooter. “By that point, The Hulk! had kind of run its course.” If that wasn’t bad enough for fans of the magazine, a final parting shot was fired by writer Bill Mantlo, who established in The Incredible Hulk #269 (published in early 1982) that the first nine issues of the magazine never actually happened. Mantlo reintroduced Bereet, but revealed that she had never visited Earth—she’d only observed it from afar, and created a fictional movie about her adventures with the Hulk and Rick Jones to entertain her fellow Krylorians. That fictional movie comprised the first nine issues of The Rampaging Hulk. Oddly enough, Mantlo brought back a character created by Doug Moench in order to dismiss all the Moench stories in which she had originally appeared. The “real” Bereet, who wasn’t nearly as likable as the Moench version, became a supporting character in The Incredible Hulk for a time, but she last appeared in #287 and was never seen or referred to again. Mantlo explained his reasoning in a quote that was reprinted in 2007 in the Mantlo: A Life In Comics tribute book: “It kind of resolved the continuity flaws that The Rampaging Hulk presented, which I always objected to—the idea of diluting the Hulk’s original appearances in The Avengers and his own magazine. So we erased that—it was all fiction.” Moench and Simonson don’t buy it. “That was just dumb,” Moench declares. “[That decision] is one of those things that I don’t understand, and I never will.” Simonson agrees, laughing about the whole matter. “I love Bill dearly, but he was wrong,” he says. “Of course those stories occurred! Screw everybody else!” Back in the early 1990s, when the late Mark Gruenwald was Marvel’s executive editor and Chief Continuity Cop, yours truly—then a young, wet-behind-the-ears assistant editor—put the question to him on where the Hulk magazine stood in terms of Hulk continuity. “The first nine issues are Bereet’s fictional movie,” Gruenwald said without hesitation. “Everything else is in-continuity.” He paused briefly, and then added with a mischievous grin, “Yes, including the Jim Shooter story where Banner is almost raped in a YMCA!” GLENN GREENBERG tempted fate by reviving The Rampaging Hulk as a comic book for Marvel in the late 1990s. It lasted six issues before meeting the same sad fate as its predecessor. Glenn’s first screenplay, The Intruder, is currently in development as an independent feature film.

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If It’s Thursday, It Must Be The Hulk The Romita-riffing cover to Hulk Comic #1 (Mar. 7, 1979) is not credited, “but may be Dave Gibbons,” according to writer Ian Millsted. Unless otherwise noted, all scans in this article are courtesy of Gerry Turnbull and Ian Millsted, with special thanks to Elizabeth Merifield.

Ian Millsted

Following the launch of the Incredible Hulk television series of the late ’70s, a black-and-white, magazinesized comic starring the Hulk was launched with the intention of cashing in on the immediate popularity of that series. The stories were written to be closer in mood and format to the televised version. I’m not referring to The Hulk! magazine, which evolved out of The Rampaging Hulk [see previous article]. Instead, this was a weekly magazine that you will only have seen if you lived in the UK or Ireland. British versions of Marvel comics had been produced since 1972. These were in the weekly format that was the domestic standard in Britain at the time and usually featured several different stories in shorter episodes. For example, the first-ever British Marvel comic was called Mighty World of Marvel and contained reprints of the initial halves of the premiere issues of Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk, as well as the Spider-Man story from Amazing Fantasy #15. The magazines were editorially produced by the New York offices of Marvel and were initially very successful, but by the late ’70s were struggling. A new editor, Dez Skinn, was appointed, who would be London-based. “British Marvel had been on the skids, with only Star Wars Weekly holding it together,” Skinn remembers. “My phased ‘Marvel Revolution’ was a three- or four-part relaunch for the entire company, cosmetically rebranded as Marvel UK. The figures worked, so they left me to it.” One of the things Dez Skinn did was look at originating material that would appeal to a British audience with less of a tradition of superhero comics. The one previous attempt at creating original strips for Britain had been Captain Britain in 1976. [Editor’s note: This series will be examined in great detail in our next issue, BACK ISSUE #29.] Despite an initial creative team of Chris Claremont (born in Britain) and Herb Trimpe (living in Britain at the time), the title lasted only 39 weekly issues. Claremont was succeeded by Gary Friedrich and Trimpe by John Buscema and Ron Wilson. The comic was edited, along with the rest of the British line, by Larry Lieber in New York. (As an aside, there was a small Marvel office based in Britain to deal with letters and advertising, whose staff included Neil Tennant prior to his success as one half of the Pet Shop Boys.) Dez Skinn was aware that the British market and audience wanted more than American-style superheroes. “I was creating a lineup which wasn’t comprised of contemporary US gods—which our savvy kids would have little truck with!” Skinn says. “Even the reprint titles maxed the mix for the UK, with Godzilla, Master of Kung Fu, Dracula, Conan, and suchlike. I was in the job of creating variety comics,

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What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in possession of infinite power? If you were an ordinary guy, going about your ordinary life, working in a dead-end job you long ago ceased to care for, to bring home a lowly wage to help the upkeep of the small home you live in with the wife you long ago fell out of love with, would that acquisition of a power to set you above the gods change you? Would it change you for the better, or for the worse? Would you become a force for good, or evil? Benefit mankind, or destroy it? And what would it cost your humanity? In 1982, two men set about exploring this notion in a new comic strip. A young writer just starting to make waves would script, while a similarly neophyte artist would design and delineate the world they created together. The vehicle in which they chose to express their ideas was a revival of an all-but-forgotten British superhero. It would be the lead strip in a brand new magazine aimed squarely at readers who had grown up with—and perhaps outgrown—the weekly sci-fi comic 2000AD. And it spawned a legend. The magazine was Warrior. The young writer: Alan Moore. The artist: Garry Leach. And the name of the strip? “Marvelman.” To begin the story we have to take a brief look back in time. This will take us out of the normal time frame covered by BACK ISSUE, but is essential to aid our understanding of what comes later.

WITH ONE MAGIC WORD… In 1940, comics publisher Fawcett launched the premier issue of Whiz Comics featuring its brand-new superhero creation, Captain Marvel. That first issue was actually marked #2, but this story is complicated enough without us getting into the reasons for that! Captain Marvel was the adult alter ego of young Billy Batson, who, upon shouting the magic

Bad Boy Kid Miracleman/Johnny Bates glowers evil. Art by Garry Leach. © the respective copyright holder.

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word “Shazam,” was transformed into the red-suited superhero. The wish-fulfillment element of a young boy with a magic word quickly made Captain Marvel a big hit, especially with younger readers. That his adventures also had an element of fun that perhaps other superheroes lacked further fed into his popularity. Soon, Captain Marvel was selling a million copies each month, and appearing in a whole line of comics along with Captain Marvel, Jr., Mary Marvel, and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny (don’t ask). DC Comics, rival publishers of Superman, were all too aware of Captain Marvel, and quickly took action to bring down the “Big Red Cheese.” They sued Fawcett, claiming that Captain Marvel was nothing but a cheap imitation of their own Man of Steel. Fawcett counter-sued, and the court case raged for the next thirteen years. Late in 1953, with the sales of comics falling across the board in the wake of government concern over their suitability for children (another long story), Fawcett admitted defeat and threw in the towel. They quickly wound up their operations and ceased publishing all their comics. And that should’ve been that. It wasn’t. Far across the Atlantic, in England, publisher L. Miller & Sons had recently begun a line of weekly black-andwhite comics reprinting Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. stories. Although superheroes had never been terribly popular in Britain, these two comics were successful enough that Miller was faced with a dilemma when the news came that Fawcett was finished. Did he just cancel the titles and take a financial hit, or try to find a way to carry on? He chose the latter, and contacted Mick Anglo. Anglo was a packager of comics. He wrote and drew comic strips, and employed a small studio of staff to produce material for a range of publishers. And he did it cheaply. Anglo agreed to create a new character to replace Captain Marvel in Miller’s comics. The result was Marvelman. In the last few issues of Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr., readers were gradually introduced to the new characters in the form of small house ads. Finally, in Captain Marvel #24, and Captain Marvel, Jr. #24, readers were informed that the good Captains had done all they could and were off to a well-earned retirement, leaving their handpicked replacements, Marvelman and Young Marvelman, to continue the fight against crime in their absence. The following week, Marvelman #25 and Young Marvelman #25 duly appeared in newsagents, and Captain Marvel was never mentioned again. Anglo had done his job well, and it seemed no one really noticed the change. Marvelman’s adventures continued in much the same vein as his predecessor’s, with Anglo and company producing witty and fun stories aimed squarely at younger readers. In 1956, a third title was added, Marvelman Family, which included a new character, Kid Marvelman.

In 1959, a change in the law allowed US comics to be distributed legally in the UK for the first time. Soon the floodgates opened, and the homegrown publishers lost out to the full-color product of their American counterparts. In an effort to cut costs and make the comics profitable again, Miller canceled Marvelman Family, and switched Marvelman and Young Marvelman to reprint-only monthly titles. By 1963, even that ploy no longer worked, and the comics ceased publication. Miller went out of business and the assets were sold off. And that should’ve been that. It wasn’t. In 1971, DC Comics negotiated to buy the defunct Fawcett characters. But in attempting to return Captain Marvel to the newsstands, DC had a problem: Marvel Comics. Marvel had grown to prominence in the years since the good Captain’s demise, and it was Marvel that now owned the “Captain Marvel” trademark. As a result, DC was unable to use the character’s name as the title of the book. So, the decision was made to use his magic word instead, and Shazam! #1, cover-dated Feb. 1973, appeared in December 1972. H e r o e s

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We Are Family The splash to the Marvelman Family’s first adventure, from Oct. 1956. © Mick Anglo Studios.

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WARRIOR In 1981, Dez Skinn decided to put together a new magazine featuring the cream of the new British comics talent then being nurtured in the pages of 2000AD. Skinn had been working in the comics industry as an editor for most of his working life, starting with the giant Fleetway/IPC, before branching out on his own with magazines House of Hammer and Starburst. In 1978, Stan Lee had approached him to head up operations at a revitalized Marvel UK, and for two years Skinn brought about a mini-revolution at the company. For the first time, Marvel UK utilized British artists and writers to produce unique adventures of some of Marvel’s top characters. Having left Marvel behind, Skinn christened his new magazine Warrior, and his own company, Quality Communications, would publish it. Warrior was to feature stories of non-standard heroic figures, largely defying classification. There would be some horror, some science fiction, some

fantasy, some general weirdness, and, naturally, a superhero would front it. Skinn was never slow to latch onto a trend, and anticipated the growing interest from the big comics publishers in the US for British talent. 2000AD was making waves across the Atlantic, and Skinn’s Hulk Comic and Doctor Who Weekly at Marvel UK, which had been largely filled with British-produced strips, had made the US parent aware of what was happening in the UK. Skinn knew that it wouldn’t be long before the US would come calling—and he wanted to be ready. Warrior hit the newsstands in March 1982, straplined “The Magazine of Very Weird Heroes.” Marvelman was represented on the cover by a silhouette and a question mark. Skinn was probably attempting to appeal to a few souls who might possibly remember that oh-so-obscure character. Inside, Marvelman led the way as the first strip presented. And, for a first-time reader back in 1982, the strip was a revelation. Alan Moore and Garry Leach captured lightning in a bottle, and superhero stories would never be quite the same again. The strip’s main conceit—and Moore and Leach’s stroke of brilliance—was to treat superheroes as they might actually be if they really existed in our world. The creators looked at the world outside their window and imagined a superhero in the midst of it. How would people react to such a being? What would it mean for government? For the law? And, most importantly, who, or what, could oppose such a superhuman? For their answer to that, Moore and Leach delved into the goofy depths of the Mick Anglo years. As Warrior—”Marvelman” and “V for Vendetta” (another Alan Moore-scripted strip) in particular—made waves, DC Comics dispatched then-editorial director Dick Giordano to the UK to meet with British artists and writers and offer them work in US comics. It wasn’t long before there was a British invasion of comics talent to the US, somewhat resembling the British invasion of musical talent twenty years before. With that interest, there came pressure to have the Warrior and 2000AD material reprinted in the US. Eclipse Comics made a deal with Dez Skinn, and many of the Warrior characters began to appear—for the first time in color—in a variety of Eclipse titles from 1985. Marvel’s legal department made sure that Eclipse would not be able to use Marvelman as the title of his own comic, so rather than go the DC route and name the book after Marvelman’s magic word, “Kimota,” Eclipse and Alan Moore re-christened the character Miracleman for the American audience. The strips were re-lettered and logos redesigned for the reprint run. Miracleman #1 (Aug. 1985) featured a brand-new cover by Garry Leach showing Miracleman’s dramatic rebirth. Inside, the book opened with a reprint of a Mick Anglo-era Marvelman Family strip from 1956. For this version, the strip was partly rewritten by Dez Skinn and Alan Moore, to help pave the way for the Warrior material.

“I’m back!” Cover to Eclipse Comics’ Miracleman #1 (Aug. 1985). Art by Garry Leach. © the respective copyright holder.

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“A DREAM OF FLYING” “A Dream of Flying” starts the Warrior reprints. Indeed, later, when collected, the whole first story arc was named after this first chapter. Michael Moran has nightmares where he sees himself as a superhero being caught in a nuclear explosion aboard a space satellite. He sees his friends destroyed as he falls to Earth, and he wakes up screaming. With a thumping headache, Mike is reluctant to go to work as a freelance reporter covering the opening of Larksmere nuclear power station. His wife Liz comforts him. On the way to Larksmere, Mike ponders his dream and how strangely real it seemed. Once at the plant, he is caught up in violence as armed terrorists appear and threaten the crowd of protesters who are picketing at the gates. Inside, the terrorists reveal that their aim is to steal plutonium from the plant and offer it for sale to terrorist organizations across the world. Hearing this, Mike’s headache flares worse than ever, and he collapses. A couple of the gunmen drag him outside. While semi-conscious Mike sees a sign written on a glass door, he’s on the wrong side, so the sign appears reversed. The word “atomic” attracts his attention: reversed, it’s “cimota.” It seems familiar. He whispers it. And he explodes. The gunmen are part-blinded and thrown backwards by the blast. Standing in their midst is a large blond man in a blue-and-red costume, with an MM legend on his chest. “Me?” says the man, “I’m … Miracleman. I remember now…” More of the gunmen arrive and fire at Miracleman, but the bullets bounce off. He smiles and claps his hands together. The sonic boom floors all his opponents. He blasts up through the ceiling and flies into space, excitedly thrusting his triumphant arm. Against the backdrop of Mother Earth, he shouts, “I’m Miracleman … I’m back!” In the next chapter, Miracleman comes home to Liz. She’s shocked by the superhero in her home, and initially finds it hard to believe it’s really Mike. He finally convinces her, and the pair sit down as Mike tells his tale. As a 14-year-old, he’d had a vision of a giant called Guntag Borghelm. Borghelm claimed to have discovered the key harmonic of the universe—a word that will bestow godlike power when spoken. The word was “Kimota.” When Mike said it, he was transformed into Miracleman. As the years passed, Miracleman fought crime and all manner of peculiar criminals, both human and monster. Later, he was joined by another young chap, named Dicky Dauntless, who, when he said Miracleman’s name, was changed into Young Miracleman, whose costume was the same as Miracleman’s, but red. Later still, Johnny Bates arrived, and, though he was very young indeed, he too was transformed, becoming Kid Miracleman. His uniform was bright yellow. Together they were the Miracleman Family. Their nemeses included Young Nastyman and the fiendish Doctor Gargunza. Liz laughs at all this, but Miracleman’s smashing his hand through the floor silences her.

More from Moore and Leach (top) Mike Moran is plagued by dreams of his mysterious fomer life. (bottom). The evil Bates is revealed. Art by Garry Leach. © the respective copyright holder.

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This article is a road map of Mark Shaw’s crimefighting career. Shaw’s journey is neither about finding himself, for he embarked with a strong passion for justice, nor establishing some kind of just-out-of-reach fashionable identity; honestly, every role he has assumed—public defender, superhero, villain, bounty hunter, government agent—he has worn well. Shaw’s journey has always been about the character’s sites and situation—places he has visited throughout his career that have helped make him a better person. Shaw has driven through extensive physical training, intense mental conditioning, deception, corruption, villainy, redemption, heroism, death, rebirth, manipulation, brainwashing, and personal triumph. At every mental or tangible obstacle he has encountered and endured over the past thirty years, he has emerged a stronger individual. Shaw’s journey is not over. There are many sites for him still to visit. But this is the road map so far. Introduced as a young public defender in DC’s First Issue Special #5 (Aug. 1975), written by Jack Kirby and illustrated by Kirby and D. Bruce Berry, Mark Shaw’s idealism had been frustrated and discouraged by the law’s inability to bring the shrewder, richer, and more powerful criminals to justice. A sympathetic uncle took Shaw to a secret room in his mansion and informed him of the Manhunter cult, whose determination and success in meting out its own brand of justice had existed for hundreds of years. Communicating with the Grandmaster through the Manhunters’ golden symbol—a lion medallion—Shaw accepted the invitation to travel to the Manhunters’ headquarters deep in the Himalayas and begin an intense training period that, once completed, would garner him the power baton, red costume, and blue mask of a full-fledged member of the Manhunter Shan. The Manhunter cult provided Shaw a means to channel his desire for justice, a spiritual base, a growing confidence, strong fighting skills, and a renewed sense of integrity. But the Manhunters also deceived him. The Grandmaster withheld from Shaw a dark secret and a hidden agenda. As chronicled by writer Steve Englehart and artists Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin, when the Manhunters made their move to discredit the Guardians of the Universe in Justice League of America (JLA) #140 (Mar. 1977), Shaw was led to believe he was only bringing a mass murderer, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, to justice. But GL had been framed by the Manhunters, and it was soon revealed that the Manhunters were androids, originally crafted by the Guardians as their first intergalactic police force. The Manhunters had rebelled, attacked their creators, were defeated, and then exiled to specific corners of the universe. When Shaw learned of the deception, he aided the Justice League of America in defeating the Manhunters, destroyed the Grandmaster, and turned his back on the ways of the Manhunters in JLA #141. But the Manhunters’ conditioning had corrupted Shaw. Shaw shed the Manhunter mask and garb and continued his crimefighting career as the Privateer in JLA #143 (June 1977). The taste of power and thrill of mastery over others had consumed him, however, and he became

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Meet Mark Shaw Jack Kirby and inker D. Bruce Berry introduced the new sect of the Manhunter in First Issue Special #5 (Aug. 1975). Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. TM & © DC Comics.

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The Privateer Shaw’s temporary guise, as seen this Dillin-esque Who’s Who #18 (Aug. 1986) entry by Stan Woch and Bob Smith. TM & © DC Comics.

determined to infiltrate and defeat the Justice League on his own terms; he also adopted the guise of the more villainous Star-Tsar. Eventually, and ironically, the android Red Tornado called him out, and Shaw was exposed, disgraced, and flown to jail by Superman in JLA #149 and 150 (Dec. 1977 and Jan. 1978). In 1987, Shaw returned as the Privateer in Suicide Squad #8. He didn’t appear any worse for incarceration, either, emerging rehabilitated and victorious after a fistfight with Squad member Rick Flagg. In the next issue, he joined the Squad in its mission to destroy the Manhunter Temple deep in the Louisiana bayou, a tie-in with DC’s company crossover of that year, Millennium. The Manhunters and their Grandmaster had returned from calculated dormancy and were now launching an assault on the Guardians just as the Manhunters’ creators were in the process of selecting their successors, the Chosen. The Squad was successful in destroying the temple, albeit with casualties, and Shaw’s sentence was commuted to time served. In Suicide Squad #10,

Manhunters Galore

Shaw told Flagg that he was going to once again become Manhunter, and make the name good as a masked bounty hunter hunting masked villains. It was writer John Ostrander who brought Mark Shaw back and redeemed him. Paired with fellow writer and wife Kim Yale, the duo provided Shaw his own ongoing series—Manhunter #1–24 (July 1988– Apr. 1990)—and his heyday. He defeated and killed a legendary assassin, Dumas. He learned the ways of Giri-Nijo—loyalty, compassion, moral obligation, and duty—from the Oyabun and Yakuza of Japan. He met Sandra Kingsley, and the two developed and shared an awkward but deepening romantic interest. Shaw, alongside the the Suicide Squad, discovered the secret of the missing Argent division in Suicide Squad Annual #1. He rescued the Flash from capture in Cuba during the alien Invasion! of 1988. He made new friends in Gary De Vries and David Challoner of the Southern Cross Salvage Company, who would help him upgrade his costume and weaponry. He apprehended several noted villains of the DC Universe, including the Penguin, Captain Cold, Cat-Man, and Mirage. He also developed a couple of hang-ups: flying outside of planes and dealing with dangers on various islands, which caused him to think hard from time to time, “I hate islands.” Much-needed levity had been added to the character’s arsenal. As was some much-needed triumph. Shaw had a key role in 1989’s “The Janus Directive,” a low-key, solid crossover that played out in Checkmate, Suicide Squad, Firestorm, Manhunter, and Captain Atom, wherein he helped prevent world domination by Kobra, capturing the villain single-handedly and turning him over to the Squad (relinquishing the bounty for the greater good). He also held his own on a case with Batman on the Dark Knight’s home turf. In the series’ climax, Shaw also defeated a second Dumas, and gained the title of one

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The army of Manhunters and their Grandmaster, from Who’s Who Update ’88 #2. Art by Howard Simpson and Arne Starr. TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

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From the late 1970s onward, John Byrne has been a major creative force in American superhero comics, writing and drawing nearly all the classic heroes from Marvel and DC Comics. He has been a vocal advocate of the tradition that superheroes should be paragons of moral behavior. Yet in some of his best-known work, Byrne has portrayed superheroes who cross a line of conventional morality, or who even temporarily turn outright evil, and then demonstrated the consequences for the characters. During their classic collaboration on X-Men, co-plotters John Byrne and Chris Claremont startled their readers by having two of their characters cross previously forbidden moral lines. It was Byrne and Claremont who first portrayed Wolverine as willing to kill in combat without hesitation. From that point on it was no longer inconceivable for a hero of a superhero book to kill. In their legendary 1980 “Dark Phoenix Saga” in X-Men #129–138, Byrne and Claremont not only transformed longtime series heroine Jean Grey into a supervillain but showed her wiping out the population of an entire planet. So frequently has the “Dark Phoenix Saga” been imitated that portraying the “dark side” of a heroic character has become a familiar cliche. Since his X-Men days, as a writer/artist, John Byrne has continued to explore what happens when superheroes cross a moral line. Notably, in the 1980s Byrne wrote and drew a Superman story arc in which the Man of Steel felt compelled to execute three Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone because he had no sure means of imprisoning them. But how far can this questioning of superhero morality go? In his interviews and online comments, Byrne has vigorously criticized what he sees as the widespread trend to “deconstruct” superheroes into characters with deep moral flaws. What, then, makes a superhero different than an ordinary person—or even an “ordinary” hero? Fans of Westerns are accustomed to seeing the good guy gun down the outlaw. Sword-and-sorcery readers have no problem with Conan the Barbarian killing his enemies. Beyond the costumes and the extraordinary abilities, should a superhero have a superior moral code? To explore questions such as these, in February 2008 BACK ISSUE interviewed John Byrne via e-mail. – Peter Sanderson

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the White Queen, and the Juggernaut have turned hero, and even joined the X-Men. Other villainous characters, like Venom and Deadpool, have ended up starring in their own series. Are there villains who should never be treated as heroes? BYRNE: With the exception of Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch, you have named them. Any villain who has committed, or attempted to commit, murder should never be “redeemed.” In the case of Magneto, this is on a par with saying Hitler could have been “rehabilitated.” To even get to a point where we can start to consider this, we have to ignore quite literally everything we know about the character before that point. SANDERSON: What do you think of the current standards for superhero behavior in the decades following books like The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen? Has the superhero concept become corrupted by changing mores? Or has it simply become more complex and realistic to appeal to an older audience? BYRNE: “Complex and realistic” is all too often code for lazy writing. Self-indulgent writing. It is so much harder to write a superhero as a paragon, than to give him feet of clay up to the shoulders. That, which was once the rare exception, has become almost standard procedure in modern comics. Stan Lee gave his characters human flaws and foibles, and even had them occasionally musing on how easy life would be if they crossed the line and became “bad guys”— but he didn’t have them do it, and he never brought them to a point where they really had to make the choice. If he had, I like to think he would have done something like the Superman story mentioned above, piling on so much backstory to the decision that it would truly have been unavoidable. But, like the Superman story, he would have done it as the whole point, and he would have gone on to explore the ramifications. We would not see something like Magneto being redeemed with scarcely more than an “Oops! My bad!” defense. Comics historian PETER SANDERSON was Marvel Comics’ first archivist. He was also hired in the 1980s to read every comic in the DC library. The author of numerous books, articles, and online columns about comics, Peter’s résumé includes teaching at New York University and producing documentaries on comics. His latest book, The Marvel Vault, co-written with Roy Thomas, is a must-have.

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When she was introduced, Tara Markov, better known as Terra, took the readers of The New Teen Titans by storm. Her short, blonde hair, buck-toothed smile, spunky attitude, and mighty earth-shaping powers made her a huge hit from the start. Make no mistake about it, Titans fans were obsessed with Terra. Creators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez intended for readers to like her—so they could eventually yank the rug out from under them. Terra was introduced in The New Teen Titans #26 (Dec. 1982) when Changeling (Gar Logan, a.k.a. Beast Boy) stopped her from destroying the Statue of Liberty. This brief, three-page interlude laid the groundwork for the most popular story in New Teen Titans history, “The Judas Contract,” which ran in New Teen Titans #39–40, Tales of the Teen Titans #41–44, and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3.

Roger Ash

TALE OF THE TEEN TRAITOR In “Judas,” Changeling stops Terra from robbing a bank and captures her the next time they meet in New Teen Titans #28 (Feb. 1983). She reveals that she is Tara Markov. Her father is a king, and he and her stepmother were kidnapped by terrorists. She and her brother, Brion, searched for them but became separated. She was eventually captured by the terrorists and forced to commit crimes, or they’d kill her parents. The Titans go after the terrorists and learn that Tara’s parents have been dead for a while and that the terrorists have been using her. After this, Terra joins the Teen Titans, much to the delight of Changeling, as he’s become smitten with her. Raven and Cyborg, and even a skeptical Changeling, feel Terra isn’t telling the whole truth, and they are right. She is working with Titans villain Slade Wilson, the Terminator (later known as Deathstroke). He is using Terra to learn about the Titans so he can capture them and hand them over to the criminal organization, the H.I.V.E., thus fulfilling the contract he had accepted at the death of his son, Grant Wilson, a.k.a. the Ravager.

She’s a Dirty Girl Terra’s first full-on, full-tilt appearance, The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #28 (Feb. 1983). Cover art by George Pérez. Original cover art from the collection of David Mandel, with special thanks to Kelvin Mao. TM & © DC Comics.

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Terra didn’t only conquer comics, she also appeared on TV in an adaptation of “The Judas Contract” that ran as part of the Teen Titans animated series. Writer Amy Wolfram was tapped to write most of the cartoon stories featuring Terra. A difference between the animated Terra and the original Tara Markov is that while Tara is shown as evil, the animated Terra is shown more as someone who’s confused and trying to find her way. “I think had she had the proper training, had she had the proper friends, had she had the proper guidance, she could have gone a different way,” says Wolfram. “I think she never really understood her powers. In our version, that was her main thing. She never understood how to control this power she had and went to the wrong person [Slade] to find out how to do it. “We had to adapt a lot of ‘The Judas Contract’ to a six- to ten-year-old audience. I think that’s another reason why our Terra couldn’t be as mean and as evil as the Terra in the comic books. For a younger audience, that’s too scary. That was a big challenge. We tried to take as much of the story as we could and adapt it for our characters and for our audience.” Like her comic-book namesake, Terra died and eventually returned—or did she? In the Season Five finale, “Things Change,” Beast Boy sees a girl who looks like Terra. At the end of the episode, it’s left unclear if the girl is Terra or not. When asked her opinion, Wolfram replies, “I don’t give my opinion about that. Honestly, I wanted it to be even more vague. I wanted that to be something that the fans made up for themselves. And in the script, she is not called Terra. That character’s name is Schoolgirl. The name Terra never appears in the script except in dialogue.” There’s also a new animated version of The Judas Contract on the way that’s co-written by Marv Wolfman, who reveals, “It’s fairly close to the original, with changes made for the medium and for time. We’re taking a year-and-a-half storyline and bringing it down to 72 minutes, but I think we actually did a really solid job with it. I’m very pleased with the script.” Whether she’s a comic-book character or an animated character, Terra seems to fire the imaginations of both fans and creators. As long as this is the case, who knows what the future may hold?

Teen Terra Go! (right) The animated version of Terra in a 2005 sketch by Todd Nauck. From the collection of Laura McCullough. TM & © DC Comics.

All quotes in this article from George Pérez are from an interview conducted by Andy Mangels that appeared in Comics Interview #50. The quotes are used with the permission of Mr. Mangels. Thanks, Andy! Also, special thanks to KC Carlson and Alex Segura for their assistance with this article. ROGER ASH lives in Wisconsin, where he’s worked for Westfield Comics since 1988. After doing over 100 interviews with comics professionals, he decided to try his hand at freelancing and has written for TwoMorrows since 2006.

She’s Got the Whole World in Her Hands (left) Wow! Cover artwork to the forthcoming Terra #1, by penciler Amanda Conner, inker Jimmy Palmiotti, and colorist Paul Mounts. Special thanks to DC Comics’ Alex Segura for the scan. TM & © DC Comics.

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Michael Browning

The early 1980s were a much simpler time. Prior to 1983, superheroes didn’t kill supervillains. It just didn’t happen. In the four-color world of comics, villains were the only ones who killed. Superman never used lethal force, Batman simply outsmarted everyone, and Wonder Woman never took a life, although she was a warrior before coming to man’s world. During the Silver Age, Captain America, despite having been a soldier, was never shown killing a foe— and taking the life of his arch-nemesis was something Flash fans thought they’d never see. But in The Flash #323 (July 1983), all that would change. In that very issue, Prof. Zoom, the ReverseFlash, led Barry (Flash) Allen on a chase that ended the next issue with the race suddenly coming to an unexpected end. To be exact, it would be Prof. Zoom’s end. And nothing would ever be the same in the Flash’s world again. Poor Barry Allen—who had suffered the loss of his wife Iris’ life at the hands of the Reverse-Flash back in issue #275, and was about to see his new fiancée, Fiona Webb, slain on their wedding day in the same way—was the man responsible for Zoom’s death. He wasn’t going to just let Zoom kill Fiona, so he turned on the speed, caught up with the evil Prof., and grabbed him around the neck in a simple chokehold. But the end results shocked the world.

THE FASTEST MANSLAUGHTER ALIVE Flash writer Cary Bates says he came up with the idea to have Flash kill Prof. Zoom. Editor Ernie Colón signed off on the suggestion and, from that point, everything started rolling downhill fast for the Flash. “As I recall, Ernie was all for it,” Bates writes in a recent interview done via e-mail. “As someone who came to Flash without much experience editing superhero titles, he wasn’t encumbered by a lot of the baggage other editors might have brought to a DC icon and he encouraged me to break as many of the usual rules as we could get away with. I never got any flak from the higher-ups; whether this was because they were staying away or because Ernie ran interference, I don’t know. “By this point, Ernie and I were totally committed to Flash being forced to take a human life. And the fact that Zoom was trying to repeat history by killing Barry’s current significant other just like he killed Iris was the icing on the cake, in a homicidal maniac kind of way.”

Cuffed Crusader The Scarlet Speedster, arrested for manslaughter! Detail from the Carmine Infantino and Gary Martin cover to The Flash #326 (Oct. 1983). Unless otherwise noted, all art in this article is courtesy of Michael Browning. TM & © DC Comics.

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Cold Feet This Captain Cold vs. Flash illo by Carmine Infantino and Dick Giordano was a 2006 birthday gift to Michael Browning from his wife Shauna. TM & © DC Comics.

industries—the job was always about craft, since he was from a generation when there were no artists coming into the business as comics fans. It would be several decades before the fan community became a breeding ground for up-and-coming artists. I thought Klaus Janson’s style was a great match with Carmine’s pencils, which is why I persuaded him to ink as many Flash covers as his schedule permitted those last two years or so.”

SHOULD BARRY ALLEN RETURN? As rumors fly on the Internet, the return of Barry Allen is always a hot topic. Bates says he isn’t sure Barry Allen needs to come back from the dead. “That’s a tough call,” Bates says. “A few years ago no one would’ve predicted Hal Jordan could ever bounce back from all that Parallax stuff and now Hal is a prominent DC hero again, so nothing is impossible or undoable, especially in comics. But if Barry were ever to come back, his return and re-emergence would have to be done with great care and ingenuity. And regardless, it would no doubt engender both positive and negative reactions from the fans.” Bates says Wally West becoming the next Flash was the “only logical way to proceed. “In retrospect, I suppose it could be viewed as one of the first examples of DC applying the ‘legacy theory’ they’ve used so often in the years since (i.e., the idea that a superhero can live on after the original character leaves or dies, as long as there is a suitable replacement … as we’ve seen with Robin, GL, the Atom, etc.). I haven’t followed the book since I left. I realize it may be a generational thing—and putting aside for the moment I wrote the character for 15 years—just as Sean Connery will always be the definitive James Bond, for me Barry Allen will always be the definitive Flash.” Bob Greenberger says he believes bringing Barry Allen back is a bad idea.

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“Bringing Barry back is a bad, bad idea because it’s the last real remnant of the original Crisis,” Greenberger says. “Everyone reveres the project and respects what it did but has systematically undermined it ever since. Barry should remain dead as a testament to the maxiseries. Flash had to die, frankly, because he began the Silver Age so dying brought down the curtain. His sales were down and there was general dissatisfaction with the creative direction and it was deemed too far gone to be successfully course corrected.” After writing the Flash for so long, you’d think Bates would be the first pick to write the adventures of Wally West Flash. But he wasn’t, and he says it was probably time for a change on the book. “I think by that time DC was determined to pass Flash (in the form of Wally West) on to a new creative team,” Bates says. “And after staying with one writer on the book for almost 15 years, it would be difficult to argue they weren’t justified.” Yet Bates says he wouldn’t change much about the Silver and Bronze Age Flash’s final storyline if he were given the chance to do it all over today. “If pressed, I would have to say I would do it all over again, although, I think it’s safe to say that, given the competition in today’s comic-book market, not to mention the influence of mainstream movies and ultra-violent video games, a hero killing a villain wouldn’t have anywhere near the same impact.” Matewan, WV, native MICHAEL BROWNING is an award-winning newspaper editor, writer, and photographer, and is an advisor to The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. He’s contributed to Rolling Stone, BACK ISSUE, Comics Buyer’s Guide, Comic Book Marketplace, Rough Stuff, and Charlton Spotlight, and publishes his own fanzine, Comic Book Issues.

The Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc. The Story of M. C. Gaines’ Publishing Empire

Bob Rozakis

Book Two – Chapter One: The Old Order Changeth

Without Max Charles Gaines, it is unlikely that comicbook history would be what it is. From the earliest magazines collecting reprints of newspaper comic strips to the dawn of the Golden Age, and throughout the heyday of comic-book popularity in the 1940s, Charlie Gaines (as he was generally called by those who knew him) was a driving force. At the beginning of 1945, Gaines split officially with National/DC and began issuing the adventures of Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern, as well as Funny Stuff, Mutt & Jeff, and his favorite project, Picture Stories from the Bible, under the All-American Publications banner, with an “AA” symbol replacing the previous “DC” sigil on covers. According to a notice in the Dec. 1944 issue of Independent News, the trade publication of Independent News, the distribution company basically owned by the same folks who owned National/DC, Jack Liebowitz was officially Gaines’ co-publisher on the new AA line. [For details, see The All-Star Companion, Vol. 3.] The AA venture was short-lived, however—lasting only about eight months—and sometime in 1945 Gaines sold his company entirely to his DC partners Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld, and soon launched EC (Educational Comics, a.k.a. Entertaining Comics) to publish Picture Stories and other, new titles. But what if things hadn’t turned out quite that way? Bob Rozakis, longtime writer and production director for DC Comics, has imagined a distinct version of what Alter Ego’s editor Roy Thomas likes to call “Earth-22”—combining the notions of Julius Schwartz/Gardner Fox and Catch-22 author Joseph Heller—a parallel world on which events took a different, yet quite possible, even logical turn. After all, in The Mad World of William M. Gaines (Lyle Stuart, 1972), the official biography of M. C. Gaines’ son, who became famous (and infamous) as the publisher of EC’s Tales from the Crypt, MAD, et al., author Frank Jacobs writes: “[A]ll was not roses within the new partnership, especially after Donenfeld, in one of his typically impulsive gestures, gave his half of the All-American group to his accountant, Jack Liebowitz. Suddenly, Max found himself partnered with Liebowitz, and they didn’t get along. Bill remembers that every afternoon his father would take a taxi to the uptown offices, where he, Liebowitz, and Donenfeld would scream at each other for two hours. Something had to give and that something was Max’s patience. In early 1945, he hurled out his ultimatum: ‘You buy me out or I’ll buy you out.’ They bought him out.” But what if he had bought Donenfeld and Liebowitz out, instead? In this opening installment of Book Two of a new series which is being divided between the pages of BACK ISSUE and its TwoMorrows big-sister mag Alter Ego, the author explores an alternate reality and reveals—

The Adventures of Green Lantern When He Was a Boy Young Alan Scott’s adventures became a part of the Green Lantern legend in the late 1940s, thanks to editor Mort Weisinger, and Kid Lantern’s solo tales appeared well into the 1970s. Art on this 1960s cover by Curt Swan and longtime AA inker Shane Foley. (Logos and characters in this fantasy history are © or based upon characters © DC Comics.) H e r o e s

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