Back Issue #3 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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

00 4 Ap r i l 2

N$5o..935 PR O 2 P

O O'NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS, STARLIN, and BOLLAND reveal the Joker's journey from clown to killer!

EV ER T SN

pla

S T ORIE

n/ fe / Gif teis a t e’ s M E ir D gu Ma STICE U E! J GU LEA

D OL sti c man in t he mo vies !

GREATE ve twel nists o o t c ar t u c e! loos

RO H ST U F UG

MYY OOFFFF M

F ST CHE

with mark r! evanie

Bugs Bunny Meets The Supe rHeroes!

AT TH-H W

LAUGHING MATTERS: GIFFEN! MAGUIRE! BOLLAND! EVANIER!

The g n i t ra th e Ce leb mic s of day! Co o t T s & Be ’80s, , s 0 ’7

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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www.twomorrows.com TM

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 3 April 2004 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

BWAH-HA-HA! It’s our

It’s our “Laug hing Matters” issue!

yeah, yeah. EDITORIAL ...............................................................................................................................................................2 Laughter is the best medicine, so sez yer editor!

EDITOR Michael Eury

ha ha hee h ee

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Robert Clark

PRO2PRO: KEITH GIFFEN AND J.M. DEMATTEIS ................................................................3 The plotter and dialoguer discuss their sitcom-esque Justice League— PRO2PRO PART TWO: KEVIN MAGUIRE ..................................................................................24 —and so does the penciler—

PROOFREADER Eric Nolen-Weathington

PRO2PRO PART THREE: ANDY HELFER .....................................................................................29 —and their original editor, too!

SCANNING AND IMAGE MANIPULATION Rich Fowlks

THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: PLASTIC MAN: BOUNCED OFF THE SCREEN.......................................................................36 Two attempts to bring Plas to the big screen have gone PLOP! Plus: Before he was governor, Ahnold was almost Sgt Rock

COVER ARTIST Brian Bolland

ROUGH STUFF: 12 CARTOONISTS CUT LOOSE ................................................................46 Pencil art by Aragonés, Byrne, Gilbert, Bros. Hernandez, Hughes, Johnson, Kirby, Manley, Mignola, Semeiks, and Shaw!

TRANSCRIBER Brian K. Morris CONTRIBUTORS Neal Adams Jason Allin Sergio Aragonés Kyle Baker Brian Bolland Norm Breyfogle John Byrne J.M. DeMatteis Lee Elias Steve Engelhart Michael Eury Mark Evanier Ramona Fradon Keith Giffen Michael T. Gilbert David Hamilton Andrew Helfer Hernandez Bros.

Adam Hughes Dan Johnson Dave Johnson Jack Kirby John Lustig Kevin Maguire Andy Mangels Mike Manley Darrell McNeil Mike Mignola Dennis O’Neil Mike Ploog Steve Purcell Marshall Rogers Peter Sanderson Val Semeiks Scott Shaw! Jim Starlin

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: THE JOKER REBORN ...........................................................58 With recollections from the writers and artists responsible for the transformation WHAT THE—?!: BUGS BUNNY MEETS THE SUPER-HEROES .................................76 This isn’t an April Fool’s joke—it’s the real deal! OFF MY CHEST: GUEST EDITORIAL BY MARK EVANIER ...........................................82 Why writing “funnybooks” is no joke, with a special cartoon from John Lustig BACK IN PRINT: THREE MUST-HAVE BOOKS ABOUT COMICS ..........................85 Arlen Schumer’s The Silver Age of Comic Books, Mike Conroy’s 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes, and The Will Eisner Sketchbook Plus: NEW IN PRINT: Plastic Man–Kyle Baker gets into shape(s) BACK TALK ...........................................................................................................................................................88 Darrell McNeil talks Space Ghost II, plus reader feedback on issue #1

SPECIAL THANKS Laura Bartroff Spencer Beck Jerry Boyd Kevin Boyd Mark Cannon Dewey Cassell Joey Cavalieri Dale Coe Mike Conroy Don Corn Ken Danker Steve Donnelly John Fleskes

Shane Foley Robert Greenberger Heritage Comics Jerry Hillegas Movie Poop Shoot John Petty Adam Philips Joe Pruett Rose Rummel-Eury Larry Shell Rick Taylor Tropic Comics

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BACK ISSUE Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. 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. The Joker, Justice League, Plastic Man, Superman, Batman, Robin, Black Canary, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Creeper, and all other related characters TM & © 2004 DC Comics. Captain America, She-Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, and the Cat TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. Groo TM & © 2004 Sergio Aragones. Sam & Max: Freelance Police TM & © 2004 Steve Purcell. Earth Boys TM & © 2004 Dave Johnson. Normalman TM & © 2004 Jim Valentino. Conan TM & © 2004 Conan Properties International, LLC. The Spirit TM & © 2004 Will Eisner. Space Ghost TM & © 2004 Hanna-Barbera. All editorial matter © 2004 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

in... c’mon L a u • g hPHONE i n g M919/449-0344 a t t e r s • B•A FAX C K 919/449-0327 I S S rUeEad•in’1s TWOMORROWS HAS MOVED! NEW ADDRESS: 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 fine!

Bwah-Ha-Ha! SAM AND MAX, LIVE! The cartoon on this page was

Caricatured (and quite well) are yours truly as Sam (the dog) and my buddy Rick Taylor as Max (the bunny)—and yes, I did make the mistake of wearing a stupid Panama hat to the San Diego con of ’88, and yes again, Rick has that much energy.

Bwah-Ha-Ha! 17 YEARS IN THE MAKING! On November 21, 2003,

at the Wizardworld Texas show, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez announced that they were reuniting to complete the long-dormant New Teen Titans: Games “Laughter is the best medicine.”

graphic novel for DC Comics. You’ll recall that in the

Someone—it might’ve been me, or maybe it was former

Wolfman/Pérez “Pro2Pro” interview in BACK ISSUE #1,

surgeon general C. Everett Koop, or was it singer/actor

George remarked that it was unlikely that he’d ever

Harry Connick, Jr.? I really don’t remember—once

complete Games. Lucky for us he changed his mind.

said that. But from the looks of many comic-book fans,

Bwah-Ha-Ha!

they need a major dosage.

former Jack Kirby protégé Mark Evanier, informs us that

ninjas, vigilantes, and constipated bad asses have

the hand-colored guides for the covers of Superman’s

taken comics hostage. Comics coloring is dark, and

Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 and Forever People #1 depicted

the storylines are darker. And most comics readers

on our first issue’s back cover were probably not the

have forgotten how to laugh.

work of the King—although the mystery now is, who

No, I’m not some old fart who’s whining a tired “In my day. . . ” story. I’m just a guy who believes that you need the light to appreciate the dark, and there ain’t much light these days in comics. You might argue that this is a reflection of a more cynical world. Were that true, then there’d be little comedy on television, and sitcoms and cartoons remain TV staples. Same with movies: Comedies are churned out by the chuckleload.

teehe e. . . snort

NO LAUGHING MATTER! This issue’s guest columnist,

For the past 20 years, serial killers, psychotics,

colored them? Does anyone know?

Bwah-Ha-Ha! BACK ISSUE’S PALS ’n’ GALS!

In BACK ISSUE #1

we inadvertently forgot to thank Spencer Beck, Jon Mankuta, Marcus Medes, and Vu Nguyen (webmaster of the ultra-cool Pérez site, www.george-perez.com) for their Pérez art contributions. Thanks, guys!

Bwah-Ha-Ha-Uh Oh!

So why are there so few humorous comic books?

BACK ISSUE #1 ERRATA! A few errors snuck into last

In this issue, some clever contributors offer their

issue’s Comico story at the 11th hour. To set the record

theories. Maybe you have your own. Write us and

straight, the following are not copyrighted properties

share them, won’t you?

of Comico: E-Man © Joe Staton, Grendel © Matt Wagner,

And while most of our features this ish spotlight

Gumby © Art Clokey, Justice Machine © Michael

comics’ lighter side, our inaugural “Bring on the

Gustovich, Star Blazers © Westchester Films, Inc., and

Bad Guys” column targets the gruesome, grinning

Trollords © Paul Fricke and Scott Beaderstadt.

gargoyle who’s given Batman the what-for since 1940: Michael Eury, editor

the Joker!

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Remembering the Super-Hero Comic About Nothing:

Giffen and DeMatteis Talk Justice League Dan Johnso

ed by and transcrib An interview 30, 2003, on October . d is te rr uc o nd co .M by Brian K

I was a teenaged comic-book fan the year that it really mattered to be a comic-book fan: 1986. That was the year Frank Miller gave Batman his “edge” back in The Dark Knight Returns. That was the year Alan Moore forever changed the way super-heroes interacted within their fictional world (and with each other) in Watchmen. That was the year Howard Chaykin took the Shadow back to his ultra-violent roots in a DC miniseries. Indeed, to be hip at DC in 1986, you had to be downright depressing at times. In 1987, an old favorite of mine from when I

interview

was just a kid (all of five years before) was getting a relaunch, and I was excited about it. Justice League was coming back! That book had THE Batman in it, so it had to be pretty bad to the bone (yeah, I really talked like that back then). I missed the first issue, so when I saw the second, it was a must-read. And at the time, I don’t think I was more disappointed with a comic book in my entire life. This wasn’t dark! This wasn’t edgy! I wasn’t depressed

Test-Market Variant This alternate cover for July 1987’s Justice League #3 was used in a regional

at all! And where was Superman? Where was the

newsstand distribution experiment. In addition

Flash? Where was the Green Lantern (note I said

to its different DC “bullet,” it features a rarity:

THE Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, not this schmoe

DC’s Captain Marvel being identified by name

with the Moe Howard haircut). I made up my mind

on the cover. Courtesy of Adam Philips.

that Justice League wasn’t for me, not now, not ever.

uh-hu h. . . yeah. . .i se e

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GIFFEN: Not really, no. DeMATTEIS: Well, there were a lot of words there. GIFFEN: I did my usual little scribbled plot. DeMATTEIS: What I remember—now we can contradict each other—there was a lot more in that first issue. There was, for me, it was practically a finished dialogue job. [Andy said] “Well, Keith’s not happy with it, I’m not happy with it. Would you at least look it over?” I looked it over and it was a great story and my first response was, “[Keith] doesn’t need me.” But Andy is kind of like the male comic-book editor equivalent of an old Jewish mother. He will needle you, and then pinch your cheeks, and do everything he can to get what is needed. GIFFEN: (groans, in a Helfer impression) “Keith, you’re

“My usual little scribbled plot.”

that?

Keith Giffen draws

DeMATTEIS: So I read the thing. I remember reading it

his plots in the form

on an airplane, and I said, “This is great.” Andy finally

of mini-comics. Editors

convinced me to do it. I figured I’d do this one issue and

and pencilers see Keith’s work in this format, but it never appears in print this way—until now. This is the opening page from May 1987’s Justice League #1, courtesy of Andrew Helfer. © 2004 DC Comics.

killing me here! Arrgh!” How many times did you hear

that would be the end of it. I don’t remember there being a great sense of commitment on my part. GIFFEN: There wasn’t a great sense of commitment on anybody’s part. We all thought we were going to get fired. DeMATTEIS: I thought, “Keith knew what he’s doing. What the hell did he need me for?” So I basically did a rewrite on his script. I don’t feel like I did anything that phenomenally major with it, you know? And then he said, “What about the next one?” Now the next one, of course, that was when Keith kind of backed up to the way he used to work, where there would be a couple of balloons in each panel—he drew these little comic books, like mini-sized comic books—and the basic dialogue to indicate the direction of the story would be in there, but that left all this room for me to play and bring a lot of stuff to the table, and goof around with the characters and even the characterizations. And if Keith put in one joke, then I’d add eight more jokes to that panel, or 12 more jokes to that panel.

“We all thought we were going to get fired.” DC’s top brass had cold feet about this oddball take on their flagship super-team. From Justice League #1. Courtesy of Kevin Boyd.

GIFFEN: We were big fans of “more is less.” DeMATTEIS: And I still am. We’re doing this miniseries, the new one, and [then-editor] Dan Raspler called me up and he had counted the balloons on one page and

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many balloons on one page. GIFFEN: I guess we broke a record. I think on one page, we’re close to—oh, God, what was that number? Something like, 32. DeMATTEIS: I think Dan said 36. GIFFEN: Why not? DeMATTEIS: The problem that I had within the first few issues [of the 1980s’ JL]—and it sounds really funny— was that it was too easy and I was having too much fun. And I was locked into this idea of, (whispers dramatically) “But my writing is supposed to be this struggling, and stretching, and going deep in it,” and I was having fun and it was easy, so I thought there must be something wrong. Why are they paying me? I’m having fun, you know? And there was a point around issue #4 or #5 when I actually quit the book. GIFFEN: I had no idea. DeMATTEIS: It was for 20 minutes or something. They were going to get Mike Carlin to come in and take over it. And then, I guess either I thought about it again, or Andy convinced me, and I suddenly thought, “Oh, wait. I’m having fun and they’re paying me. And the book is a hit. What am I doing?” So then I stuck around and the next thing I knew it was five years later. GIFFEN: It was weird because here was Justice League in the middle of Dark Knight and Watchmen and deconstruct-

“Grim was the thing.”

ing super-heroes. At Marvel, they were doing The Punisher.

Mike Zeck’s awe-inspiring pencils for the cover of

Everything was grim and gritty.

November 1987’s Amazing

DeMATTEIS: I was doing it, too. That’s around the time I wrote “Kraven’s Last Hunt” [a six-parter that started in

Spider-Man #294, part five

Amazing Spider-Man #293]. Grim was the thing.

of Marc DeMatteis’ six-part

GIFFEN: When Andy first mentioned your name, the first

“Kraven’s Last Hunt.”

thing I thought was you’d be so diametrically opposed

Courtesy of David Hamilton.

to what I was trying to do here because your body of

The inset depicts the

work doesn’t exactly say, “Ha, ha,” you know? Although,

final version.

like you mentioned before, you’d showed more than a

few funny moments. But that’s interesting, Marc. I never knew any of this. Okay, we wound up on Justice League book. We really thought we’d get killed, we thought the book would die. I was ready to go show my portfolio to L a u g h i n g

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Remembering the Super-Hero Comic About Nothing:

Artist Kevin Maguire Talks Justice League hnson

by Dan Jo ribed An interview , and transc er 30, 2003 . ob ct O on d is te rr uc o nd M co . by Brian K

In the Mighty Marvel Manner Can you name the Marvel characters that inspired

Justice League #2’s Blue Jay, Wandjina, and Silver Sorceress?

DAN JOHNSON: How did you get involved with the Justice League series back in the ‘80s? KEVIN MAGUIRE: I was a “Romita Raider” [production artist] at Marvel doing art corrections, and Kurt Busiek was trying to get a book launched at DC called Wild Card. Andy Helfer was the editor, and we actually did the first issue. It never was inked. It was just 22 penciled pages,

interview

the project. But upon seeing that, I was offered Silver Surfer at Marvel and on account of that, Andy offered me Justice League. [Marvel editor/writer] Fabian Nicieza, he was one of the keys. He assumed it was going to be Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, and all that. He was, “Oh, you get to do all those characters. That would be such a great thing to do.” JOHNSON: What were your thoughts when you first saw what Keith and Marc were cooking up with the direction of Justice League? MAGUIRE: I felt my career was over. JOHNSON: That’s exactly what they were thinking too.

JL #1 Revisted Kevin combined a number of comics faves in this commissioned drawing. Courtesy of Spencer Beck.

MAGUIRE: When I was waiting for it to come out, I was walking down the street with one of the assistant editors and said, “That’s it, it’s over, man. No one’s going to like this.”

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JOHNSON: What did you think when it became such a big success and such a hit for DC?

MAGUIRE: Well . . . um . . . the word I’m groping for . . . a relief? JOHNSON: One of the things that worked for Justice League was your artwork—the character stances, the facial expressions. At the time, you didn’t get a lot of that in comics. Which artists inspired that? MAGUIRE: When I look back at the first year or so, and I just cower, because being a perfectionist, I look back and there’s, like, “Aw, that’s terrible. It’s terrible, it’s terrible, it’s terrible.” I don’t know that there was one particular artist that was inspiring, beyond Chuck Jones, because it’s all about character animation for me. JOHNSON: As I understand it, originally, Keith did the breakdowns for the pages, right? MAGUIRE: Yeah. JOHNSON: What was the ratio there as far as what Keith said absolutely had to be on the page and what he said, “We’ll let Kevin do this. Let Kevin fill in these pages”? MAGUIRE: Keith didn’t even care. That was just the easy way for Keith to plot, as opposed to actually typing it out. For him, it was ideas of what they were supposed to be doing, and it wasn’t necessarily to guide me along, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was Andy Helfer’s thought, me being the new guy. I stuck kind of close to it, but I didn’t have to. There were times when I would completely change it around and it was all very casual, especially on Keith’s part. JOHNSON: What was your take on the working relationship with Keith and Marc? MAGUIRE: There really wasn’t a lot of interaction. It was mostly through Helfer, so everything sort of filtered

Maguire’s Dark Knight

through him. You know, it wasn’t like the three of us were in the same room. There wasn’t any animosity at

A commissioned Batman illustration by Kevin Maguire.

all. It was all good.

Courtesy of Kevin Boyd.

JOHNSON: Why did you eventually leave Justice League?

MAGUIRE: Because I’m not a monthly guy.

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Maguire’s First Return to JLA Before Formerly Known as the Justice League, Kevin teamed with writer Fabian Nicieza on the two-issue “Elseworlds” series, JLA: Created Equal (2000). Courtesy of Heritage Comics. © 2004 DC Comics.

MAGUIRE: Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah, you know, it’s fun.

MAGUIRE: So, you know, now we have Dr. Smith back.

I mean, it’s like every page is its own individual challenge.

JOHNSON: If DC is smart—and hopefully, they will

It’s a piece of cake coming back to it.

be—and they realize that there is a demand for a third

JOHNSON: What can you tell me about the upcoming

miniseries, would you be back on board for that?

miniseries, I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League?

MAGUIRE: As long as it’s set in outer space. I don’t

MAGUIRE: Just two words: Guy Gardner. Not having

want to draw any more strip malls. Yeah, put ‘em on a

him in this group is kind of like Lost in Space without

cosmic odyssey. Send them away on a space mission,

Dr. Smith.

let them deal with all of DC’s space characters. We’ll see.

JOHNSON: Interesting analogy.

Who knows?

the Remembering the Nothing: Super-Hero Comic About Nothing:

Series Editor Andy Helfer Talks Justice League an Johnson

interview

by D transcribed An interview 2003, and December 1, on . d is te rr uc o cond .M by Brian K

DAN JOHNSON: According to Keith, Marc, and Kevin, you were more than just the editor on Justice League. The consensus seems to be that if it had not been for you, there would not have been a Justice League. Keith and Marc also mentioned that you really helped keep a lot of the early negativity away from them. For example, Keith, Marc, and Kevin were all convinced that once the book came out, they were going to be shown the door at DC Comics.

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No, That’s Not Sylvester Stallone When the Plastic Man animated series (see sidebar) was syndicated in the early 1980s, 130 live-action intros, inter-show shots, and outros were filmed with this unidentified actor in the red stretchy tights. Photo courtesy of Andy Mangels.

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i wan t my.. . .. . y m t i wan

V!! Plas-T

Michael E

ury

In 1990, DC Comics’ then-president Jenette Kahn announced to the DC editorial staff (of which I was a member) that Plastic Man was in development as a movie. Cinema giant Warner Bros. had recently replaced Warner Publishing as DC’s parent company, and the ink was still drying on the Time-Warner merger. DC was now deemed, by Kahn’s own admission, the WB’s “garden” of film and television ideas, as evidenced by director Tim Burton’s blockbuster movie Batman (1989) and the CBS-TV weekly drama, The Flash (1990–1991). That came as no surprise to the editors. What was shocking, at least for me, was Jenette’s revelation that Paul Reubens—better known as Pee-wee Herman—was being considered for the role of Plastic Man. “He’s too short,” scoffed one editor. “He’s Pee-wee, not Plastic Man!” chimed another. Most of the editors liked Reubens as Pee-wee, but thought he was wrong for a super-hero, even a goofy one (although he did play The Spleen in 1999’s super-hero satire Mystery Men). I recommended Jim Carrey as Plas, drawing blank stares from most of my colleagues. When I identified Carrey as “the white guy from In Living Color,” the proverbial light bulb of recognition was switched on, and some of the editors in this pre-Ace Ventura/The Mask/Dumb and Dumber reality nodded in agreement. Sure, Reubens boasted the Pee-wee clout at the time, but Carrey, who had been performing comical acts of contortionism on the standup circuit for years, had the rubbery body and face to truly become the “Pliable Pretzel” even without the benefit of special effects (the guy used to dislocate his shoulder and let his arm wag loosely on stage!). But the WB was banking on Reubens.

PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE

Springing onto Saturday Morning TV His amorphous antics made Plas an animated

Screenwriter Charles Gale (whose credits include 1991’s Ernest Scared Stupid,

hit in 1979 in The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure

starring Jim Varney, another malleable madman who could have pulled off the

Show. Courtesy of Andy Mangels.

Plastic Man role), completed a second draft of his screenplay for Plastic Man on

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February 16, 1989. Set in 1941, before America’s involvement in World War II, Gale’s Plastic Man introduces ne’er-do-well mechanic, Neil “Eel” O’Brien, who works by day in a garage owned by mobster Ace Morgan and by night as one of Morgan’s thugs. Mrs. Rafferty, who runs the boarding house where O’Brien lives, knew Eel’s late mother and has faith that he will one day realize his potential, despite the protestations of other tenants, fearful of his rumored criminal tendencies. O’Brien’s girlfriend, Cookie Williams, is a chanteuse in a swing club and regards Eel as a loser, dumping him for a sophisticate named Peter Roepell, who has promised to make her a star. Eel doesn’t trust Roepell, and is convinced this guy is no good. As if Eel has any right to judge. Late that night, O’Brien and his fellow

mechanics Nickels and Tonto pull a heist for Morgan, robbing a pharmacy’s safe. Eel, wearing tinted goggles, drills into the safe but inadvertently ignites some experimental chemicals and is swallowed in a “ball of fire and smoke.” His clothes are tattered, revealing red long johns underneath that are, like Eel himself, doused in a chemical bath from the explosion. The crooks vamoose, and when Eel awakens the next morning, he’s in for a surprise. His fingers are limp like “an empty glove.” A series of slapstick scenes follow where stymied O’Brien’s wrist plops, his arm oozes, and his neck elongates, with observers narrowly missing each episode. Eel returns to the scene of his crime for help. Pharmacist William Ogilvie, a German defector, is incensed upon discovering the thief responsible for trashing his lab the previous night, and is then intrigued when he spies Eel’s supple condition. The solution responsible for O’Brien’s metamorphosis, created by Ogilvie in a top-secret experiment for the United States Army, is a synthetic rubber. Ogilvie becomes Eel’s mentor, keeping the elastic man within arm’s reach (and studying his pliable properties) while frequently providing a voice of altruism to the mechanic/crook from the wrong side of the tracks. O’Brien ultimately makes his first public appearance in his now-stretchable red underwear and goggles to rescue—now here’s an original idea—a baby who

I Know You’re Plastic, But What Am I?

has crawled onto an eighth-floor ledge. Onlookers gasp stereotypically:

Paul Reubens, at the height of his Pee-wee’s Playhouse popularity, was pegged as Plas by Warner Bros.

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SPECTATORS

Look at that guy! . . . How does he do that?

. . . It’s impossible! . . .It’s like he’s some

sort of---plastic man!

A reporter is on the scene, who exclaims:

Holy moley!

REPORTER

I’ve just stumbled on the biggest

story of the century!

As Plastic Man, Eel stretches to the baby’s rescue, gets a kiss on the cheek from the child’s grateful mother, and earns his first headline: “Plastic Man Saves Infant!” Plastic Man springs briskly from that point, with Eel reluctantly protecting Ogilvie and two other German defectors (who are also creating weapons for the U.S.) from a band of Nazi spies led by—surprise!—none other than Roepell. Suspicions confirmed, Eel! O’Brien now has to save his estranged girlfriend from an Axis antagonist—which he does, finally accepting (to one of the German scientists) his fantastic fate:

EEL

The way I look at it, the world kinda

needs a Plastic Man. And anyway, ya were

right, there’s some things about being

plastic that are a lot of fun.

Gale’s screenplay is serviceable, and well crafted, but despite clever displays of Plastic Man’s powers (Plas as an awning, Plas splattered flat against a wall, and, of course, Plas as a fire hydrant, effects that were probably beyond the scope of filmmakers of the time), the script is pedestrian, reading like a Disney Channel telefilm. The characters are stereotyped and, well, plastic: Roepell has a pet snake, Cookie spouts hackneyed “Joisey”-speak, and Eel O’Brien is flat and tiresome— way too dull to be a super-hero, but played too straight for super-hero satire. The title page of Gale’s screenplay acknowledges, “Based on Characters Created by Jack Cole.” That should have read “Character,” as the Cole-created Plastic Man supporting cast—rotund sidekick Woozy Winks and FBI Chief

Live-Action Plas

Branner—is nowhere to be found. Nor is the frenetic mobster-turned-oddball

Toronto actor Jason Allin stretches his

super-hero immortalized in 1940s’ issues of Quality Comics’ Police Comics and

acting chops as Plas on his ultra-fun

Plastic Man by Cole and Cole imitators Alex Kotzky and John Spranger (and

Plastic Man site: www.plasticman.ca/.

reprinted chronologically in DC’s wonderful Plastic Man Archives series). Cole’s

Image courtesy of Jason Allin.

all in one package. Gale’s Plastic Man simply has no bounce.

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feature amilton

Dave Johnson’s truly wacky space “dudes”—Earth Boys—published in various issues of Dark Horse’s Dark Horse Presents. Here: A penciled page by David, and one of eight unpublished pages (pencils, inks, and zip-a-tone effects by Johnson).

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EARTH BOYS • DAVE JOHNSON

b y David H

GROO • SERGIO ARAGONéS

Sergio Aragonés (the guy waving “madly” in this self-portrait from 1977) drew these sketches on the back of the original art for his cover for Mark Evanier’s newest collection of columns, Superheroes in My Pants (due out in May ’04, from TwoMorrows, of course!).

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THE JOKER REBORN: From CLOWN PRINCE of Crime to

Homicidal

Maniac

anderson by Peter S

Imagine that you are in the year 1966 and someone asked you who the Joker was. Whether you were a comics fan or not, the image you would probably come up with is that of actor Cesar Romero, disguised in a green wig and whiteface makeup, laughing merrily as he concocts a new way to trick his enemies, Batman and Robin, on one of America’s most popular new television series. Through the Batman television series of the mid-1960s, the idea of “camp” humor went mainstream. The show made affectionate but condescending fun of super-hero comics through deadpan presentations of absurd dialogue and ludicrous situations. The Joker turned up on the show on a regular basis, and seemed a rather likable arch criminal. Just let him rob banks and he’d be happy. Oh, sure, he wanted to kill Batman and Robin, but nobody else, and he never succeeded in harming anyone. But was he really anyone’s favorite villain on the show? Weren’t Frank Gorshin’s

As Seen

giggling Riddler and Burgess Meredith’s quacking Penguin

on BAT-TV

both funnier and nastier? The TV show Joker was a rather

Latin lover Cesar

pleasant chap who came in third compared to those two.

Romero (left) hopped

The Joker wasn’t always like that, however. When he

from the big screen

made his debut, in the very first issue of Batman, in 1940, the Joker was not funny at

to the boob tube

all. He was a cold-blooded serial killer who, when readers first saw him, was not even

on ABC-TV’s Batman

smiling. This grim-faced figure, with his eerily chalk-white skin and green hair,

(1966–1968).

looked like death warmed over, and when he did smile, it was a macabre sight. In the course of this first story, the Joker commits a series of murders, daringly warning the victims and the police ahead of time of his intentions. He will predict 5 8

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that his intended target will die at the stroke of mid-

derive from an early talkie, The Bat Whispers, which

night. Somehow, no matter what precautions are

was in turn based on a stage melodrama, The Bat. As

taken—a locked room, or a police guard—the Joker’s

you might expect from the title, this film, with its

prophecy comes true, and the victim, poisoned, falls

mysterious figure garbed as a bat, was one of the

dead, his features paralyzed in a ghastly grin that imi-

inspirations for Batman himself. But the “Bat” in this

tates the Joker’s own.

movie is actually the villain, who, as the Joker would,

The man who originated the idea for the Joker

sends his victims warnings, mysteriously

was Jerry Robinson, who was then Bob Kane’s assis-

murders them at the time he predicted, and leaves

tant on the art for Batman; that first Joker story was

behind a calling card. The Bat leaves cards with a bat

drawn by Kane, inked by Robinson, and written by Bill

insignia; the Joker would leave Joker playing cards.

Finger, the unsung hero in co-creating so much of the

(The Bat Whispers was also issued on DVD some

Batman mythos.

years back.)

In part, the Joker’s face is inspired by the tradi-

Throughout the Golden and Silver Ages of comics,

tional Joker imagery on playing cards. But Robinson

the Joker never had a true origin story: We never

was also inspired by a 1928 silent film called The

learned his real name or saw what he looked like with-

Man Who Laughs, adapted from a novel by the great

out the garish, clown-like coloring on his face and

19th century French author Victor Hugo (best known

hands. Indeed, early Batman readers must have

for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

assumed he was wearing makeup like an actual circus

The principal character, Gwynplaine, played by

clown.

Conrad Veidt, is disfigured in such a way that he

The closest the Joker came to an origin story was

appears always to be smiling. Certain stills from the

“The Man Behind the Red Hood” (Detective Comics

film make Gwynplaine look menacing indeed, the

#168, February 1951), the tale of a criminal, garbed in a

image of the Joker come to life. Today Veidt is proba-

hood that completely concealed his face, whom

bly best known to film buffs for playing the mur-

Batman had failed to capture early in his career. In

dering somnambulist in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

this story, the Red Hood returns years later, and

and Nazi Germany’s Major Strasser in Casablanca. So

Batman captures and unmasks him only to discover

one might expect that Gwynplaine, the inspiration

he is the Joker. Then it is revealed that the Joker used

for the Joker, is also a villain. But, in fact,

to be a criminal gang leader whose sole departure from

Gwynplaine comes off in the movie as a figure of

convention was to wear a red hood to conceal his iden-

pathos; like Canio in Pagliacci, he is the archetypal

tity. In his clash with Batman, the Red Hood fell into a

Chilling Inspiration

sad clown. In fact, this role was originally intended

pool of chemical wastes, which permanently dyed his

The Man Who Laughs,

for Lon Chaney, Sr., who played similar melancholy

skin white, his lips bright red, and his hair green.

a Joker template.

clowns in Laugh, Clown, Laugh and He Who Gets

Seeing his garish new appearance, the Red Hood

Slapped. (Readers who saw the Cartoon Network

created a new criminal persona for himself, the

Justice League two-parter featuring the Joker will

Joker.

now understand why his front organization was

The enormous success of the Batman TV show of the

dubbed “Gwynplaine Entertainment.”) For years it

1960s pumped up the sales of the comics, and since

was rare to see screenings of The Man Who Laughs, but

the show used costumed criminals every week, edi-

it is now available on DVD from Kino International; the

tor Julius Schwartz put villains like the Joker and the

green tint on the cover picture of Veidt may make

Penguin into the comics more frequently than he

you wonder if someone at Kino also knows about

had before. But the camp treatment of Batman was

the film’s link with the Joker.

really no more than a single joke that quickly wore

The Joker’s modus operandi in this first story seems to

J-man ’s da bomb ! ohoho ...hoh . hah.. haha

out its welcome. Speaking of the TV show, longtime

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“Batman and Superman were some of my first read-

in his motivation, and I just visualized that motiva-

ing experiences,” Rogers says, and as an adult, he kept

tion for the reader. But if the motivation hadn’t been

going back to reading Batman, always wanting to see

there, the character wouldn’t have been the same.”

something in the character that he had really never

Marshall Rogers’ work on these stories was inked

seen. “So when I got a chance to work on the char-

by another newcomer in comics, Terry Austin;

acter, a lot of what I wanted to see in the Batman and

Englehart had never met him either before he left the

in the Batman’s world is what I brought to the pages

country. It was Austin’s work on the Englehart-Rogers

I did.”

Detective and the Chris Claremont-John Byrne X-Men

Impressed with Englehart’s conception of the

in the 1970s that established him as one of the finest

Joker, Rogers says, “The thing that I did want to do as

Aparo Gets in on the Joke-r

inkers in comic books. Keep in mind that while

a storyteller was to try to keep what Steve had writ-

Rogers and Austin were working on the artwork,

ten as intact as I could, because he did write a very

Steve Englehart was long gone from the United States.

Artist Jim Aparo’s

maniacal character, and I tried to bring that across.”

interpretation of the

Rogers explains that “the Joker, even when I was

Joker continued the

young, seemed to be the Batman’s perfect counter-

visual reinvention of

point. And it never seemed to come to any fruition in

the villain started by

the earlier stories that I had read.” Rogers agrees with Englehart’s basic conceptions

The Brave and the

of both the Batman and the Joker. “I do see the Batman as a single-minded character, [striving] to bring some peace and rest to a world that goes crazy

– March 1974) and

around him, to paraphrase some of Steve’s work in

#118 (April 1975).

our job. I consider the Joker to be the one who tries

Courtesy of

to make the Batman’s world go crazy. They each have

Mark Cannon.

an objective that clashes, is the best way I can put it.” Englehart’s vision of the Batman and the Joker

made it possible for Rogers to realize his own conceptions of the characters. “If I hadn’t had the material that I was working with—the Englehart stories—I wouldn’t have done the type of

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script I write. The fact that it looked fabulous in fabulous on the page. “And so it wasn’t till like eight months until I got a package from Julie that had print versions of some of this stuff and saw it for the first time. I looked at that stuff and I said, ‘Thank you, God,’ in effect. God is saying, ‘Okay, thank you for your career in comics, here’s your going-away present.’” Even today, Rogers has nothing but high praise for his many collaborators on the product, from Schwartz to letterer John Workman. “Marshall’s stuff was really, really nice, and Terry’s inks were perfect: that nice black juicy line. There wasn’t anything about those books that rang false. I think everybody involved was operating right on the beam, at the peak of their creative powers.”

work that I did on the

The combination of murderousness and utter

Batman myself. If I was

irrationality in Englehart and Rogers’ Joker has

given a humorous Joker, I

influenced writers and artists of the character right

would

have

through the present day. Jim Starlin counts “The

strained

been

cona

Laughing Fish” cover, with Rogers’ Joker holding two

humorous character, and I

grinning fish like guns, as “one of my favorite covers.”

couldn’t

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when I wrote it,” Englehart explains. “I knew what it looked like in my head, which is true of every my head didn’t mean it was necessarily going to look

Neal Adams. From Bold #111 (February

“And so I had no idea what it was going to look like

have

being

brought

Indeed, Englehart and Rogers’ Joker tale is such a

across the insanity and the

landmark that two decades later, “The Laughing Fish” was

type of character you did

adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated

see” in the Englehart stories.

Series. Most of the episode is a very faithful adaptation

Rogers says that Englehart’s

of Englehart’s story. There are two major changes.

Joker’s “character was based

One is the addition of Harley Quinn, the Joker’s

popular costumed female sidekick, co-created by Paul Dini. The other is the inclusion of the death trap from that other landmark Joker story, O’Neil’s “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge”: the water tank with the giant shark. Englehart and Rogers have each seen the animated adaptation of their story and are justifiably pleased.

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS The most influential Batman story of the last 20 years is surely Frank Miller’s landmark 1986 miniseries, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which presents a fifty-something Batman in a Gotham City turned into a nightmare of contemporary urban crime and blight. Not surprisingly, Miller not only redefined Batman in this series, but his arch-nemesis, the Joker, as well. At the start of The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne, having retired as a costumed crime-fighter years ago, is a hollow shell of a man, possibly an alcoholic, and possibly with a death wish. Similarly, when we first see the Joker in The Dark Knight Returns, he is not even recognizable. His white skin looks sallow, and his face sags with depression. But once the Joker hears that Batman is back in action, Miller gives us an extreme closeup of the Joker’s mouth, as it twists into the familiar grin. There is one more thing, too: The Joker says the word “Darling.” With that one word, Miller indicated that the Joker’s murderous obsession with Batman had a homoerotic side. Writer Grant Morrison picked up on this and created controversy at DC when he tried, unsuccessfully, to put the Joker in drag in his graphic novel Arkham Asylum. Commenting on Miller’s Joker, Denny O’Neil, who edited The Dark Knight Returns, says, “Batman and the Joker at this point are classic characters. I’ve seen

interpretation. He certainly did it well. O’Neil also

Laughing Fish Revisted

points out that The Dark Knight Returns and its version of the Joker are not in continuity.

Marshall Rogers’

O’Neil interprets the Joker quite differently. “There’s a lot of reasons why I wouldn’t make the

recreation of the

Joker gay, and one of them is to not play into that old

cover to February

stereotype of the villainous homosexual. But para-

1978’s Detective #475.

mount is that that’s not the way I see him. I think the

maybe ten productions of Hamlet in my life. Richard

Courtesy of Ken Danker

Joker is so screwed up that anything as normal as sex

Burton’s was real different from Mel Gibson’s, which

(www.monstercollectibles.

is beyond him.”

was real different from Laurence Olivier’s. After a while,

com).

Perhaps what really put an end to the interpreta-

it becomes a matter of interpretation. There’s no right

tion of the Joker as gay was the introduction of

way to do it. There is only the way that works here

Harley Quinn, the Joker’s girlfriend, in the 1990s,

and now for this project. So I think that Frank’s inter-

first in Batman: The Animated Series and later in the

pretation of the Joker is perfectly valid—it’s Frank’s

canonical comics. “I applaud the efforts of the people

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The comic-book world is full of stories and characters strange enough to give most mental hospital workers pause, and yet occasionally, something entirely too bizarre or strange will pop up in the four-color pages of history. All too often, these oddities will be some encroachment of the outside world coming to mingle with the comic-book realm, a confluence so out of the ordinary that those looking in from a distance can only gasp ...

BUGS BUNNY MEETS THE SUPER-HEROES

gels y Man by And

Long before DC Comics released the Superman and Bugs Bunny mini-series in 2000, or Duck Dodgers became Green Loontern in 2003, millions of children worldwide already knew that the Looney Tunes cast and DC’s pantheon of heroes and villains were old friends. And in 1976, while the term “corporate synergy” wasn’t an everyday part of the business-person’s lexicon, that melding of properties led to five theme shows that mixed Catwoman and Sylvester the Cat alongside Tweety Bird and Robin. Showman Rodger Hess was working for Licensing Company of America (LCA, a sister company of Warner Brothers) in the 1970s, managing such Warner properties as the Looney Tunes cartoon stars and DC’s comic book heroes. “My background had always been in the entertainment business,” says Hess. “I had an idea and I went to the Powers That Be at LCA and asked them if they would give me money to construct costumes of the Warner Brothers characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, etc.” In 1974, using these characters—and voice tracks recorded by Mel Blanc—Hess produced a number of small shopping-center and state-fair shows, at which actors wore the costumes and did song-and-dance-and-joke routines.

casting crawl

BEHIND THE MASKS . . . Because cast lists changed for Bugs Bunny Meets the Super-Heroes , and actors doubled on characters, ISSUE have been able to assemble for a cast and character list: BUGS BUNNY: Donna Tchapraste, Ros Dun . . . BATMAN/FOGHORN

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was quickly set, though this

One of the 20–25-minute segments was The Batman & Robin Safety Show. “The super-heroes were interest in teaching the boys and girls safety,” says director/

time, Hess asked Gene Patrick

choreographer/early Bugs Bunny actress Donna Tchapraste. “That was pretty

to help him write the new

trendy at the time. Robin was going to plug the toaster in and Batman would run

show. Patrick was the enter-

out and say, ‘Stop! You should never plug in an old worn cord!’ Or he was going

tainment director for Marriott’s

to drink something awful. The villains were only there by imagination. There was

Great America, and Hess had

Dr. Danger and that was really a cartoon cut-out.

already licensed them the Warner Brothers characters.

“Bugs Bunny was going to the fairs, and Batman and Robin had quite a good career in the shopping malls,” says Tchapraste. “You have to think back in time

“I got acquainted with Roger

because shopping malls didn’t really exist. They were growing, and it turned to be

when I was working for

a good marketing ploy for entertainment to go to the mall. All of those little shows

Marriott Corporation,” says

were developed in the smaller settings.” Larger character shows such as Disney on

Patrick. We were just begin-

Parade had played stadiums in the 1960s and

ning to plan the theme parks

early 1970s, but the House of Mouse was dormant

and all that stuff. Rodger liked what we were doing. He had

on stage, developing Disney on Ice. Sesame Street Live and other shows had yet to be planned. The time was right for something new.

seen what we were doing even pre-opening. I had built a pretty strong relationship with Mel Blanc, and did a lot of recording and writing for him. Rodger asked me to help him and work on his show for a bit. I helped him lay it out and write the first draft script and

Color the Criminals

pull it together. I remember writing a very lengthy first-draft script from a treatment.”

An unidentified artist drew

For Bugs Bunny Follies II, Patrick and Hess crafted a story that

these coloring pages for

not only incorporated the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters,

the show’s program. Courtesy of Andy Mangels.

but other heroes and villains from DC Comics’ pantheon as well. “I spent a lot of time trying to think of theatrical reasons why Bugs Bunny would ever know any of the [super-heroes],” says Patrick. “I do recall that I managed to come up with some scenarios

to cause them to meet. Some of it was pretty out of left field. That was the biggest challenge. When was the last time Bugs Bunny was on Krypton?”

In 1976, a decision was made to change

Still, some stylistic differences were in the brewing, common

the format; that strategy would prove beneficial

enough in stage production. “It was Rodger’s show, and he had his

for almost a full decade to come. Tchapraste (now Donna Emerson) recalls that

take on what it ought to be, and I had mine,” says Patrick. “He really

the genesis of a show-to-be was very spontaneous. “As a choreographer I could

saw it as a kid’s show and I saw it a little bit different than that. The kids will go

create things on my feet and we eventually became involved with the Marriott

look at the characters doing things, including just standing there, but we have to

Corporation. We went to a business theatre meeting where we thought we were

be careful not to make it an ordeal for the parents. So my shows were considerably

going to be going there to perform our small show, and we found out that we had

more hip for the parents. The shows came down on two planes all the time. I tried

to create a whole show on the spot. I think that was my audition piece for Rodger.

to inject a little bit of that into Rodger’s thing. His take was very much a kid’s show,

It was very spontaneous. We needed it right then and there. From that business

like we’d do Barney today. When I went off on my own, I did things a bit different.

meeting we created a new show.” Associate producer Jamey Cohan explains further,

If you saw one of mine, they were little theatrical musical comedies, where the kids

noting that, “We took ‘The Tweety & Sylvester Show,’ ‘The Bugs Bunny & Porky

get off on the characters bouncing around stage, and the adult audience laughs

Show,’ and ‘The Batman & Robin Safety Show’ and we put all these little 20–25

at the jokes that the kids don’t get.”*

shows together almost like an Ed Sullivan show.” The new vaudevillian-style revue,

Patrick brought onboard musician and lyricist Tom Merriman to help create

Bugs Bunny Follies, had an emcee who introduced the acts. “It was very successful,

new songs. Merriman was a composer/arranger who had worked solo (and with

and toured the country playing arenas and large auditoriums,” says Hess. After Madison Square Garden bought into Rodger Hess Productions—as a bid to get involved in the touring show business—a sequel to Bugs Bunny Follies

Patrick) on a lot of show music at the MGM Grand, the Hilton, the Flamingo, and other Vegas shows, as well as for lots of television and radio jingles. For Bugs Bunny Follies, Merriman wrote such songs as “What’s Up Doc” and “Pig O’ My Heart”

* In later years, Patrick would write, direct, and produce over a dozen other Warner characters stage shows for Marriott’s Great America, mostly with Bugs Bunny. He never again worked with DC super-heroes though. In one of his shows, The Bugs Bunny Story, he established the rascally rodent’s past, including his parents Harry and Edith and his little sister Debbie. In one scene in which Dad called Bugs into the room, Patrick left the name intentionally blank to see if Mel Blanc would fill in Bugs’ real first name on the fly in the recording studio. “He didn’t even blink an eye,” Patrick says. “He just said, ‘Hey, Benjamin, is that you?’”

assembling a look at this cast (and that of later shows with the same characters) is difficult, but in various interviews, here’s the best we here at BACK LEGHORN: Shakespearean actor Doug Boyles, W. W. Smith, Bill Covington, Joe Douquette, James Rebhorn . . . Robin/Sylvester the Cat: Uriel Menson, L a u g h i n g

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Jack Cole’s Plastic Man. And at The Fox and the Crow by James F. Davis and Cecil Beard. And though this is blasphemy to some, I enjoyed and laughed at a lot of non-Barks funny-animal comics, particularly in the Dell/Gold Key Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera comics. Also, a man named Sergio Aragonés has reportedly drawn some humorous pictures and there have been loads of undergrounds and small press books and. . . Well, it’s not a long list, at least insofar as mainstream comic-book publishers is concerned. But it is a list and the reason it’s not longer is because so few of them have even attempted funny comics, especially in recent years. Somehow, a lot of them got it into their heads that “comic” meant “grim,” and laughing at a graphic story was something for the kiddos. I think that’s wrong. I think we should stop treating those comics as if they’re the aberrations. And if, like that con organizer, we’re going to use realism as a benchmark for maturity, then the funny ones have it all over the non-funny ones. . . because life is funny. At least, mine is. Most of the time.

bonus

If yours isn’t, perhaps you’re missing the punch lines, overlooking all the delicious ironies and lapsed logic in which the real world abounds. Human beings are hilarious and I don’t mean that in a bad way. We say outrageous things, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. We do absurd things—again, often by design. The lesser tragedies are best handled with a chuckle, a wry smile and sometimes, if you’re fortunate, a laughout-loud sensibility. To whatever extent it’s possible, you should try to approach the biggies that way, as well. I guess that’s why as I get older, I sometimes feel out of sync with the content of the mainstream American comic book. You see, I view reality as a series of funny incidents interrupted by the occasional uncharacteristic moment of pain and horror. And in too many comic books, it’s other way around. My world is a lot more like an issue of Fox and Crow than it is like a copy

This cartoon com es

of X-Men. And am I ever glad.

Normally, this is where I add the disclaimer citing that the views of the guest columnist do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of BACK ISSUE, but in good conscience, I can’t do that, ’cause I agree with every word Mark said. —the other M.E.

The Last Laugh!

to us from John Lustig of Disney comics , Comics’ Buyer’s Guide, and Last Kiss (www .lastkisscomics.co m) fame. It’s a reworking of a Lee Elias-drawn panel from Harvey Com ics’ Witches Tales #8 (1952). The art is courte sy of Heritage Co mics.

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Three Must-Have Books about Comics book reviews

Michael Eu

While this trio of terrific tomes has little to do with this issue’s “Laughing Matters” theme, each book is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Arlen Schumer’s The Silver Age of Comic Book Art is a feast for the eyes. At 9" x 13"—just a hair smaller than those tabloid-sized treasuries that DC and Marvel published in the 1970s, as well as TwoMorrows’ own The Jack Kirby Collector—each page of The Silver Age explodes with brilliant color and flashy graphics. Schumer is an acclaimed advertising artist who incorporates comics-inspired elements into his work. He’s also renowned as a historian of comic-book art, and expertly infuses his bold design sense and his knowledge of the comics medium into The Silver Age, a frenetically visual examination of the work of eight masters: Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, Jim Steranko, and Neal Adams.

The Silver Age of Comic Book Art by Arlen Schumer Collectors Press, Inc. • 2003 • softcover • 176 pages, color • $29.95

500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes by Mike Conroy Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. • 2003 • softcover • 376 pages, color • $18.95

The Will Eisner Sketchbook by Will Eisner Dark Horse Books • 2003 • hardcover • 200 pages, b&w • $49.95

um-d andy. .. i see e ye ca ndy

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