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SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL • Bruce Jones’ & Brent Anderson’s KA-ZAR • Larry Hama’s BARBARIANS Plus: BEOWULF • CLAW • CONAN • KORG • RED SONJA • and RIMA, THE JUNGLE GIRL

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THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go to www.twomorrows.com for other issues, and an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

BACK ISSUE #29

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“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work, NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot, McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants, the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series, lost Angel stories, Beast’s tenure with the Avengers, the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor, the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father, a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Saturday Morning Heroes!” Interviews with TV Captain Marvels JACKSON BOSTWICK and JOHN DAVEY, MAGGIN and SAVIUK’s lost Superman/”Captain Thunder” sequel, Space Ghost interviews with GARY OWENS and STEVE RUDE, MARV WOLFMAN guest editorial, Super Friends, unproduced fourth wave Super Powers action figures, Astro Boy, ADAM HUGHES tribute to DAVE STEVENS, and a new cover by ALEX ROSS!

“STEVE GERBER Salute!” In-depth look at his Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Defenders, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, Thundarr the Barbarian, and more! Plus: Creators pay tribute to Steve Gerber, featuring art by and commentary from BRUNNER, BUCKLER, COLAN, GOLDEN, STAN LEE, LEVITZ, MAYERIK, MOONEY, PLOOG, SIMONSON, and others. Cover painting by FRANK BRUNNER!

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“Tech, Data, and Hardware!” The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and GREENBERGER on DC’s Who’s Who, SAVIUK, STATON, and VAN SCIVER on Drawing Green Lantern, ED HANNIGAN Art Gallery, history of Rom: Spaceknight, story of BILL MANTLO, Dial H for Hero, Richie Rich’s Inventions, and a Spider-Mobile schematic cover by ELIOT BROWN and DUSTY ABELL!

“Teen Heroes!” Teen Titans in the 1970s & 1980s, with CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, PÉREZ, TUSKA, and WOLFMAN, BARON and GUICE on the Flash, interviews with TV Billy Batson MICHAEL GRAY and writer STEVE SKEATES, NICIEZA and BAGLEY’s New Warriors, Legion of Super-Heroes 1970s art gallery, James Bond Jr., and… the Archies! New Teen Titans cover by GEORGE PÉREZ and colored by GENE HA!

“New World Order!” Adam Warlock examined with JIM STARLIN and ROY THOMAS, the history of Miracleman with ALAN DAVIS & GARRY LEACH, JIM SHOOTER interview, Marvel’s post-STAN LEE editors-in-chief on New Universe, Logan’s Run, Star Hunters, BOB WIACEK on Star Wars and Star-Lord, DICK GIORDANO revisits Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Post-Crisis DC Universe You Didn’t See,” new cover by JIM STARLIN!

“Villains!” MIKE ZECK and J.M. DeMATTEIS discuss “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, history of the Hobgoblin is exposed, the Joker’s short-lived series, Secret Society of Super-Villains and Kobra, a Magneto biography, Luthor and Brainiac’s malevolent makeovers, interview with Secret Society artist MIKE VOSBURG, plus contributions from BYRNE, CONWAY, FRENZ, NOVICK, ROMITA JR., STERN, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MIKE ZECK!

“Monsters!” Frankenstein in Comics timeline and a look at BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s and Marvel’s versions, histories of Vampirella and Morbius, ISABELLA and AYERS discuss It the Living Colossus, REDONDO’s Swamp Thing, Man-Bat, monster art gallery, interview with TONY DeZUNIGA, art and commentary from ARTHUR ADAMS, COLÓN, KALUTA, NEBRES, PLOOG, SUTTON, VEITCH, and a painted cover by EARL NOREM!

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“Comics Go to War!” KUBERT/KANIGHER’s Sgt. Rock, EVANIER and SPIEGLE’s Blackhawk, GEORGE PRATT’s Enemy Ace, plus Unknown Soldier, Wonder Woman’s return to WWII, the Invaders, Combat Kelly, Vietnam Journal, Sad Sack, the Joe Kubert School, art and commentary from AYERS, HEATH, KIRBY, ROBBINS, ROMITA SR., SINNOTT, and the return of GERRY TALAOC! JOE KUBERT cover!

“Family!” JOHN BYRNE’s Fantastic Four, SIMONSON, BRIGMAN, and BOGDANOVE on Power Pack, LEVITZ and STATON on the Huntress, Henry Pym’s “son” Ultron, Wonder Twins, Commissioner Gordon & Batgirl’s relationship, and Return of the New Gods. With art and commentary from BUCKLER, BUSIEK, FRADON, HECK, INFANTINO, NEWTON, and WOLFMAN, and a Norman Rockwell-inspired BYRNE cover!

“April Fools”! GIFFEN and LOREN FLEMING on Ambush Bug, BYRNE’s She-Hulk, interviews with HEMBECK, ALAN KUPPERBERG, Flaming Carrot’s BOB BURDEN, and DAVID CHELSEA, Spider-Ham, Forbush-Man, Reid Fleming, MAD in the 1970s, art and commentary from DICK DeBARTOLO, TOM DeFALCO, AL FELDSTEIN, AL JAFFEE, STAN LEE, DAVE SIM, and a Spider-Ham cover by MIKE WIERINGO, inked by KARL KESEL!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Cat People!” Catwoman, Black Cat, Hellcat, Vixen, Atlas’ Tiger-Man and Cougar, White Tiger and the Sons of the Tiger, Wildcat, Thundercats, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Badger! With art and commentary from BOLLAND, BRENNERT, COLON, CONWAY, DITKO, GOLDBERG, LEVITZ, MILGROM, MST3000’s MIKE NELSON, and more. Cover by JOE STATON and FREDDY LOPEZ, JR.!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Red, White, and Blue” issue! Captain America and the Red Skull, CHAYKIN’s American Flagg, THOMAS and COLAN’s Wonder Woman, Freedom Fighters, and Team America! With art and commentary from JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, ROGER STERN, CURT SWAN, MARK WAID, LEN WEIN, MIKE ZECK, and more. Cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN!

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Volume 1, Number 43 September 2010 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Beyond!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks COVER ARTIST Frank Cho COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

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

PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

FLASHBACK: Shanna: And a Jungle Queen is Born! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Shanna creator Carole Seuling is joined by a host of Marvel superstars in this look back at our cover star’s past

Bruce Jones Gerard Jones Joe Kubert Michael Lopez Aaron Lopresti Andy Mangels Doc Magnus Don Mangus Jim Manner Marvel Comics David Michelinie Al Milgrom Brian K. Morris Nightscream Phil Noto Steven Alan Payne Jason Pearson Paul Renaud Stephane Roux Rose Rummel-Eury Alex Segura Carole Seuling Jim Shooter Gail Simone Louise Simonson Anthony Snyder Chris Stevens Aaron Sultan Roy Thomas Michael Uslan John Wells Gary Whitson Barry Windsor-Smith Bill Wray

ART GALLERY: Shanna the She-Devil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Pinups and sketches by Byrne, Hitch, Lopresti, Noto, Pearson, Renaud, Roux, and Chris Stevens PRO2PRO: Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson’s Ka-Zar the Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Revisit this 1980s fan-favorite series with its writer and artist OFF MY CHEST: Was Conan a Racist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 A guest editorial by Grailpages author Steven Alan Payne FLASHBACK: Rima, the Jungle Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 From novel to radio to comics to Super Friends cartoons, Rima is no Tarzan clone BEYOND CAPES: Red Sonja: Feminist Icon or Woman Warrior? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith reflect upon this Conan spin-off’s popularity; with bonus Frank Thorne art FLASHBACK: Korg: 70,000 B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Pat Boyette’s artwork made this little-known Hanna-Barbera TV comic a must-read FLASHBACK: The Chronicles of Claw the Unconquered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Featuring all-new interviews with co-creators David Michelinie and Ernie Chan BEYOND CAPES: Beowulf’s Short, Strange Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Media mogul Michael Uslan remembers his “Wyrdest Barbarian” series BACKSTAGE PASS: (Red) Sonja Con . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Did you attend this 1976 Sonja-spotlighting event? INTERVIEW: Larry Hama: The Barbarian Go-To Guy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 The comics jack-of-all-trades spills his guts on his wild and wonderful career BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Reader feedback on “Cat People” issue #40 and more BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year 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@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Frank Cho. Shanna the She-Devil TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2010 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. Born to be Wild Issue

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A Bill Wray-delineated black jungle queen commission done at Oakland’s Wonder Con in 1996. From the collection of Jerry Boyd.

SPECIAL THANKS Jim Amash Brent Eric Anderson Mike Aragona Mark Arnold Richard Arndt Michael Aushenker Brian Azzarello Jason Motes Bowles Jerry Boyd Royd Burgoyne Jarrod Buttery John Byrne April Campbell-Jones Pete Carlsson Dewey Cassell Ernie Chan Gerry Conway Howard Leroy Davis DC Comics Mark DiFruscio Chuck Dixon Danny Fingeroth Angela Fowlks Ron Frantz Mike Friedrich Peter B. Gillis Grand Comic-Book Database Paul Gulacy Larry Hama Heritage Comics Auctions Bryan Hitch Indiana University

Michael Eury

With all the wild men and wild women we survey this issue, some of you might ask, “Where’s Sheena?” Yes, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, who first saw print in 1937 courtesy of publisher Fiction House (and the Jerry Iger Studios) and was comics’ first female character to headline a series. Throughout her 73-year history Sheena has scored scattershot appearances on movie and television screens. While she’s never achieved household-name status, she might arguably be considered pop culture’s best known jungle girl (Tarzan’s Jane aside). During the BACK ISSUE realm of the 1970s and 1980s, however, Sheena was rarely seen, hence her exclusion from this issue. Tanya Roberts played her in a 1984 theatrical movie that spawned a two-issue Marvel Comics adaptation, and the following year Blackthorne Publishing released the one-shots Jerry Iger’s Classic Sheena (a trade paperback) and Sheena 3-D Special, both of which sported the awesome Dave Stevens-drawn cover you see on this page. To others of the BI era who might have missed those appearances, Sheena was a punk rocker (or so claimed the Ramones) or the chick who sang the theme to the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. Although Sheena, Queen of the Jungle might not truly be “of” the ’70s/’80s generation, we nonetheless salute her as a trailblazer in the comics medium and as a comics-to-film break-out character. This issue is dedicated to the many writers and artists who brought life to her adventures on the four-color page—and helped pave the way for some of the Bronze Age comics you’ll read about in the pages following.

Jarrod Buttery

Wow. Just look at that cover. That may well be the reason you picked up this magazine, so it’s worth taking another look. Just put your thumb on this page and come back; go on—we’ll still be here. Pretty cool, huh? Frank Cho does indeed draw beautiful women and he definitely seems to have a soft spot for the jungle-girl genre. But, wait … sorry, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

THE COMING OF SHANNA In his introductions to his 1977 book, The Superhero Women, Stan Lee wrote, “Towards the end of 1972, I was really determined to feature as many females as possible in our Marvel roster of headliners.” This is discussed in more detail when Roy Thomas

interviewed Lee in issue #2 of Comic Book Artist (Summer 1998). Thomas asked, “I’ve heard that there was a great dropoff in female readers in the early ’70s. We came up with three strips for which you made up the names and concepts: Shanna the She-Devil, Night Nurse, and The Claws of the Cat. Were we trying to woo the female readers back?” “Yes,” confirmed Lee, “and also to appeal to the male readers who liked looking at pretty girls.” Neither could remember whose idea it was but female writers were asked to script each book. Thomas asked Carole Seuling to write Shanna the She-Devil. The delightful Ms. Seuling was only too happy to answer some questions about her creation (and spill a few secrets about the Born to be Wild Issue

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esteemed editor of our sister publication Alter Ego). details: Dr Shanna O’Hara was a veterinarian, ecologist, “Roy was the one who asked me to write Shanna,” and environmental specialist for the Manhattan Seuling recalls. “I had done a few articles for Municipal Zoo. In peak physical condition, fanzines earlier, though not his. I knew Shanna had turned down a place on the Roy from the time he arrived in New US Olympic Gymnastics Team to work York because he had been buying with and study the great cats. from and corresponding with my Awakened by a phone call one horrible, ex-husband, Phil Seuling, and he life-altering evening, she rushes to actually spent his first few nights in her workplace to find all her charges New York City sleeping on the floor shot in their habitats by a sniper. of Phil’s office. My instructions were No one had since dared enter the to make [Shanna] someone who African Plains exhibit—“A wounded would fit in with the times and also lion or leopard is a killer!” Desperate was a little more prone to violence to determine if any of the animals than Sheena or the other jungle under her care had survived, queens of the past.” Shanna leaps into the enclosure carole seuling Indeed, Shanna O’Hara, from without hesitation. Miraculously, the outset, was a strong, modern Julani, the leopard Shanna had reared woman. Issue #1 (Dec. 1972) establishes our heroine, from a cub, staggers wounded from the bushes. in the African jungle flanked by her two loyal leopards, Recognizing her adored foster mother, Julani moves thwarting poachers. A flashback fills in Shanna’s forward and licks Shanna’s hand. However, in a devastating miscalculation, a zoo guard, fearing for Shanna’s safety, shoots Julani, killing her instantly. “I invented her backstory, and the environmental angle came from my living just a few blocks from the New York City Aquarium, where some of the animals died from being fed trash by visitors,” Seuling describes. “The year before Shanna came out, there had been a zoo massacre, though not in New York as far as I remember. The idea of pushing environmentalism in a comic was all mine, though Marvel has never been anti-environment and has come to espouse some pretty liberal causes, in a way.” The tragedy echoes Shanna’s childhood. Growing up in Africa, Shanna remembers how her father, panicked by the thought of a stalking leopard, fired wildly into the bushes. Shanna tried to stop him but was too late—her own mother was shot and killed. After the zoo massacre, Shanna roils, “My mother dead … my father hiding somewhere in Africa, seeking strength from a whiskey bottle … and now, even my work…. The cats … the leopards, the only creatures with whom I could find oneness … murdered without a thought! All of them dead … save two….” There is a ray of optimism amidst the tragedy: Julani’s new cubs had been in the zoo’s hospital during the shootings. On her way home Shanna is threatened by a mugger—whom she overpowers easily—but who reinforces her deteriorating view of our so-called civilization. Propitiously, the next day, the zoo director proposes that Shanna return the cubs to the wild. A delighted Shanna travels to Dahomey (now the African country Benin) with Julani’s cubs, Ina and Biri. The story reveals: “And Shanna, wearing Julani’s pelt for sight-scent recognition with the cubs, came to realize she was like these creatures: Swift, strong! She found herself becoming a jungle creature, a leopard woman … Shanna the She-Devil!” Seuling muses, “The leopards had Yoruba names, Ina meaning ‘bright’ and Biri meaning ‘black.’ I named my cats after them. More than one veterinarian was a bit puzzled.” The first issue hits all the marks, convincingly explaining how and why a red-headed Caucasian woman is running around Africa in a leopard-skin swimsuit, and introducing two of the most unique and visually spectacular supporting characters in comics of the time. Also introduced was Game Warden (and

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ardent admirer) Patrick McShane. “I believe I was thinking of Patrick McGoohan, who played a game warden in Africa [in the movie Nor the Moon by Night],” recalls Seuling. It’s quite a coincidence that one of Shanna’s predecessors, Marvel’s Jann of the Jungle, had an admirer called Patrick Mahoney! A gorgeous Steranko cover graces the first issue with interiors by the experienced George Tuska. According to the letters page in Daredevil #115 (Nov. 1974), Steve Gerber’s very first assignment at Marvel was to write additional dialogue for Shanna #1. “Steve Gerber did not collaborate with me on the scripts or the origin story, but he added some additional dialogue since Stan and Roy thought the stories were a bit light on the talking. How much did they really expect me to have her saying to the leopards?” Seuling laughs. “I was quite pleased to be asked to do a comic, but it wasn’t daunting at all,” Seuling says. “I have a BA in French with a minor in English Lit. and had always enjoyed writing. I had planned to do a PhD. in Linguistics, but my daughter Gwenn interrupted that course of study by being born. I not only did the dialogue for the Shanna books, but included small layout sketches and directions for closeup or distance shots, much like a shooting script. Jim Steranko was very big on comics being like storyboards for a movie. Jim and my ex were close friends, and he generally stayed with us when he came to NY.”

CONTROVERSIES AND CONSPIRACIES Shanna #2 (Feb. 1973) featured another Steranko cover with Ross Andru taking over as the ongoing interior artist. “The Sahara Connection” is reminiscent of a Bond movie as Shanna agrees to help Jakuna Singh, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., in preventing the slave trader, El Montano, from hijacking a French moonshot. Captured, chloroformed, and thrown into a cell with Ina and Biri, Shanna escapes by pretending her leopards have turned on her. When the guard comes to investigate, Shanna orders Ina and Biri to “take him,” prompting some letters of outrage…. “Ah, yes, the scene in which Ina and Biri ate the villain,” remembers Seuling. “Stan Lee wanted a more modern (for the ’70s) version of Sheena. That was my stated task. And I was to have her do something a little far out once in a while, so she told the cats to eat that guy. Oh, I received a few letters about that, and I had forgotten that Marvel published the one accusing Shanna (and me!) of murder. One they didn’t publish went on for a page and a half of ranting and ended with, ‘I hope never to see such a scene in a comic book again in my life!!’ I guess he didn’t buy too many of the underground comics that were around then!” Born to be Wild Issue

Critter Crises (left) It’s no laughing matter for the She-Devil in this hyena pit on the Jim Steranko-drawn cover to Shanna #2 (Feb. 1973). (right) Shanna vs. a bull on issue #3’s cover (Apr. 1973), penciled by John Buscema and inked by Joe Sinnott. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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You’re guaranteed to go ape over this sizzling selection of pinups of our cover star by some of comics’ finest artists. All images hail from the collection of Royd Burgoyne, to whom we extend our deepest gratitude. Shanna TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Although Ka-Zar, a pulp character very much in the vein of Tarzan, was introduced in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), the version fans are most familiar with is that of Lord Kevin Plunder, introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in The Uncanny X-Men #10 (Mar. 1965), whose “Savage Land”—hidden beneath Antarctica—had the extra danger of being a prehistoric jungle, complete with dinosaurs. Astonishing Tales (Aug. 1970–Oct. 1973) had adventures in both the Savage Land and New York City, with Ka-Zar battling villains from mad gods to Kraven the Hunter to A.I.M. Ka-Zar the city-swinging hero, super soldier, or secret agent did not really work. Even for a fan like me, it was a little difficult to suspend disbelief long enough to accept a jungle man alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting A.I.M. Ka-Zar [Lord of the Hidden Jungle] (Jan. 1974– Feb. 1977) picked up where Astonishing left off by bringing Ka-Zar back to the Savage Land and adding to the cast Shanna the She-Devil. At first, Ka-Zar seemed to be more of the primitive “Me, Ka-Zar!” mindset, but when Gerry Conway picked up the writing chores with #6 (Nov. 1974), a much more intelligent Ka-Zar emerged. Unfortunately, many of the stories felt like they were written for Conan and based on tales from the Bible. Writer Doug Moench took over with #11 (Oct. 1975) and brought everyone to the brink of war with invaders from another dimension. The series ended before the storyline did, and scribe Chris Claremont wrapped it up in Uncanny X-Men #115–116 (Nov.–Dec. 1978). It wasn’t until writer Bruce Jones and illustrator Brent Anderson kicked off Ka-Zar the Savage (Apr. 1981) that the true potential of the character began to shine. After three years of silence, readers were introduced to a new, more “mature” Ka-Zar. Brooding, introspective, at times a little defeatist, this was definitely a character reborn. He now had a depth heretofore unseen and the fans loved it! Ka-Zar the Savage #1 ends with an incredible bang as Ka-Zar comes face to face with the “rules” of a civilization where he won’t ever fit in, and he realizes it’s best to live “savagely” and be true to yourself than to live in a world of rules and conformity that only ends up strangling you. The series seemed to be more about sharing an insight, or growing a character, than simply “telling a story.” There was a social commentary or a reflection/contemplation of life going on in between the panels of those magical pages. In an attempt to learn a bit more about how this series came to be, I spent some time chatting with Bruce and Brent, the men who created so much of the Savage Land’s rich history. With the use of modern technology, we stepped through the mists of time and rediscovered the prehistoric world of Lord Kevin Plunder. – Mike Aragona

Life in the Savage Land Plate No. 1 from artist Brent Anderson’s astounding 1982 Ka-Zar Portfolio (and don’t overlook Zabu in the upper right of the image). Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Mike Aragona

MIKE ARAGONA: Thanks again for agreeing to do this! I’ve been looking forward to chatting with the both of you from the day I had that first issue in my hands. BRENT ERIC ANDERSON: Wasn’t that during the last millennium? Hey, Bruce, do you remember anything about this “Ka-Zar” thing Mike is referring to?? BRUCE JONES: I don’t remember anybody named Ka-Zar, but I just got a comp issue from Marvel called Favorite Pet Tricks or something like that which includes two stories about some beast called Zabu. Ring a bell? ANDERSON: Zabu? Zabu? I remember a Z-bu, but I think we had to change the pronunciation of his name. Could that be the Zabu to whom you are referring? JONES: Not sure—this one has a major incisor problem. ANDERSON: Fangs a lot! [laughter] ARAGONA: I understand this was a while ago, but I’d like to know more about that historical moment in time. Bruce, how did this series come to be yours? Brent, Ka-Zar was your first regular series. How did that come about? Did you feel any kind of pressure? ANDERSON: In 1979, the same year I returned to New York City to break into the comics industry the second time, Louise Jones [later Simonson] was a new editor up at Marvel. She had come from Warren Publishing (Creepy, Eerie, etc.) and the resurrection of Ka-Zar as a monthly title was one of her first editorial assignments. This was to protect the Ka-Zar trademark since it had been a number of years since the character had been published under its own title. I believe, and someone correct me if I’m wrong, the original creative team was to have been Bill Mantlo [writer] and John Buscema [artist]. Weezie had brought Bruce Jones with her from Warren and ultimately offered the title to him. I don’t know when my name came up to replace Buscema. Bruce, do you know? Anyway, the deadlines inherent of a monthly series did concern me at the time, yes. JONES: No, you were already on board, Brent, when Weezie offered me the job. Thank God. ANDERSON: No, thank Bruce! ARAGONA: Can you clarify something for me? I know Louise “Weezie” Jones was born Mary Louise Alexander and is now Louise Simonson after her marriage to Walt Simonson. Wikipedia states that she was known as Louise Jones after her marriage to Jeff Jones. Any relation? JONES: No relation to me except for being good friends. Jeff was the first artist of our little group I met when I first moved to New York, followed by Bernie Wrightson and Michael Kaluta. We all sort of hung around together at Jeff and Weezie’s apartment. ARAGONA: Thanks. Did the two of you (Bruce and Brent) know each other prior to the series? ANDERSON: I knew of Bruce’s work, of course, having enjoyed his writing and artwork during my developmental years (I was 16 and Bruce was, uh … 17), but I didn’t actually meet him face to face until he came to New York to meet me around our collaboration on Ka-Zar. ARAGONA: Bruce, anything else you can add about the assignment? How did it come to be assigned to you? JONES: As Brent said, Weezie sort of brought me along with her from the Warren books. It was a wake-up call, like going from almost total creative freedom and control to the … uh, Marvel way. Never did figure out what that was. I think Brent carried the whole damn book; Brent and Weezie. I was just in

Beginnings: Web of Horror #3 (Apr. 1970) for Major Magazines, writing and drawing the six-page story “Point Of View”

Milestones: Ka-Zar / Creepy / Eerie / Conan / Red Sonja / Silverheels / Pathways to Fantasy / Twisted Tales / Alien Worlds / Somerset Holmes / Rip in Time / Freakshow / The Incredible Hulk

Work in Progress: Major announcement coming soon about a project that will make fans of the old Pacific Comics happy!

Cyberspace: www.myspace.com/brucejoneswriter

bruce jones Photo courtesy of Bruce Jones.

Beginnings: Battlestar Galactica #21 (Nov. 1980)

Milestones: The X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills / Ka-Zar / Somerset Holmes / Strikeforce: Morituri / Astro City

Works in Progress: Astro City: The Dark Age / Astro City: The Silver Agent

Cyberspace: www.brentandersonart.com

brent eric anderson Caricature by Brent Anderson.

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A Barbarian Bound This splash from Conan #96 (Mar. 1979) depicts a typical theme of Hyborean Age peril, with Conan surrounded by leering Black warriors. Says writer Steven Alan Payne, “All that’s missing from this scene is a cooking pot!” Art by Buscema and Ernie Chan.

So bringing what could be an atavistic relic to such a progressive company would be tough goings, like trying to get Barry Goldwater elected as head of the NAACP. But Roy’s Conan seemed to harbor no lasting impressions of anyone, cagily viewing everyone as a potential threat. The questionable elements were therefore included but not lingered over. Yet and still, over the span of issues the preponderance of sleights and dismissals began to weigh heavily. Like it or not, the inclusion of Black characters was still limited to huge Kushite eunuchs or slavering beasts best put out of their misery. Roy wouldn’t be able to keep all the balls in the air as nimbly as he might have wanted. A good example of the strain came little over two years in the color comic’s run, in Conan the Barbarian #28 (July 1973). Freely adapted from a Howard tale, “Moon of Zembabwei” relates the theft of a golden idol from the Black kingdom of Zembabwei by a Stygian thief named Thutmekri. In his company: the requisite beautiful blonde sex slave with the awkward name of Helgi, and the equally indispensable giant Black Kushite slaves, who bear the litter carrying the stolen idol. Conan catches up with Thutmekri as he lay dying, rasping out a warning about a Zembabwei witch doctor named “Dalboor.” One of the Kushites, M’Gorah, only slightly wounded, unravels the tale further. On this night of the full moon the witch doctor Dalboor, who has followed them north, has apprehended Helgi and seeks to sacrifice her to the stolen idol. But M’Gorah proves to be deceptive, or more accurately, he who was once M’Gorah. Dalboor, still physically in Zembabwei, has spiritually possessed the body of M’Gorah, and guides his unfortunate host to attack and kill his party, and put the lovely Helgi up for sacrifice. The idol, in typical Conan lore, comes alive to claim his sacrifice personally, and though Conan struggles successfully to save Helgi from its clutches, the story ends with the creature turning on the host M’Gorah. Though little more than a victimized vessel, M’Gorah goes to a pitiless death. Just an expendable story element. The Conan comic truly began mitigating its more offensive nature during Roy’s 43-issue adaptation of Howard’s 11,400-word 30 • BACK ISSUE • Born to be Wild Issue

tale “Queen of the Black Coast.” In Howard”s tale, Belit was a pirate Captain of a ship of Black Corsairs. Often depicted as nude, and always contrasting her “ivory” skin with their “ebony” skin, she commanded her Corsairs with an iron fist, and they cowered before her, worshipping her as, of course, a goddess. Though Conan was to spend many years with her, this was expressed by Howard in only a few more words than I’ve just related it in. But this span of years became the bulk of Thomas’ run with the characters. In that time, he took the opportunity to develop the crew of the ship, The Tigress. Some were bad, like Kawaku from Conan the Barbarian #73 (Apr. 1977). Others became trusted friends of Conan and Belit, like M’Gora (not to mistake with the antagonist “M’Gorah” from Conan #28), and Belit’s mentor N’Yaga. The stories included tales taking place in the various Black kingdoms they razed along the way, like the excellent “Beast King of the Abombi” that stretched from issues #94–97. In this manner the effect was to make real the characters that Howard used only as props, and in the process to take the distance and judgmental edge off of what could be viewed as racial stereotyping. Zula came along when he was needed. Much as Roy had endeavored to deflect an excess of unsavory pigeonholing, there was no consistency, and again the sheer accumulation of small infractions weighed in and cast an exclusionary pall over the tales. Though the Corsairs were given individual animus, none were actually relevant to the story. Zula, whose first appearance was in Conan the Barbarian #84 (Mar. 1978), was an equalizing tithe for a saga of almost Aryan homogeneousness. He was for Blacks what Red Sonja was for women who themselves were frequently little more than ornaments clinging to Conan for protection. No small part of Zula’s success was John Buscema, an artist with few parallels in comic history, who drew Blacks with dignity and strength. On the splash to issue #86 “The Devourer of the Dead,” Buscema depicted Zula looming huge in the foreground, crouching like some scout setting a trail, with Conan on the ready behind him. John Buscema’s more studied structure in composing Blacks didn’t have a hint of mockery or exaggeration, and the story offered Zula as an able and complimentary sword arm for Conan. The rough edge of Conan and Zula’s union saved it from feeling artificial. Far from wanting to fall in step with the Cimmerian, Zula had his own agenda and was anxious to pursue it. That led to friction between the two, friction in the Hyborean age translating as sword battles. Zula and Conan’s relationship could never be called a friendship. They simply stopped trying to kill one another after issue #86. They respected one another, which in Conan’s world was as good as it would get. It was tolerance, sometimes the best that any world can hope for. A probable outline of Conan’s comic career between issue #1 and 100 can succinctly be encapsulated as his youthful years as a thief, his years as a soldier during the Turanian “Living Tarim” wars of King Yildiz, a stuttering step of wandering leading up to Belit, and the subsequent disconnected raids of the Black Corsairs. Along the way many traveling companions were found for the Cimmerian. People like Fafnir. Like Red Sonja. Like Zula. All maturing him and broadening his perspective. And in the process, broadening the perspectives of their readers. STEVEN ALAN PAYNE, the author of Grailpages (from TwoMorrows), is a Chicago-area playwright and novelist. And, of course, as a hobbyist he is an avid comic-art collector with a predilection for works from the 1970s.

Photo by Rizel Sollano.

Michael Eury

Readers who were buying comic books back in the 1970s might regard Rima, the Jungle Girl as a female Tarzan clone published by DC Comics. Others might remember Rima as a Sheena-meetsDr. Dolittle guest-star on Saturday morning’s All-New Super Friends Hour. True, Rima—the exotic white woman who communicated with animals, the “Daughter of the Didi” who terrified natives in the South America jungle where she lived—was both a DC Super-Star and a Hanna-Barbera Super Friend. Yet most fans who read her short-lived, seven-issue mid-1970s comic or viewed her three cartoon appearances had no inkling of the character’s rich history. Nor did they realize that this “jungle girl” actually predated the legendary, loinclothed Ape Man these fans presumed she mimicked.

GREEN MANSIONS ARE THE PLACE TO BE Rima debuted in the novel Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest, written by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson (1841–1922) and first published in 1904 (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan first saw print in 1912). A naturalist with a passion for birds, Hudson relocated from his homeland of Argentina to the United Kingdom in the late 1860s and soon became an author of ornithological texts, South American ecological studies, and wilderness-based dramatic novels. Set in Venezuela in the 1840s, Hudson’s Green Mansions concerns Abel, a sophisticate-turned-revolutionary whose failed coup attempt in Caracas forced him to seek refuge in the forest to escape execution. Trading on his wits, this white outsider fraternizes with a tribe of jungle people and settles among them. Abel seems content to idle away his days strumming his guitar, giving the children fencing lessons, and charming the natives— he is a man with no country and no ambition. He is intrigued, however, by the locals’ fear of the “Daughter of the Didi,” a supposedly supernatural woman with control over fauna. The natives refuse to venture into the jungle where this creature purportedly resides. His curiosity piqued, Abel strolls into that very forest, where he is mesmerized by exotic bird calls which fill the air. He catches a glimpse of what appears to be the teenage girl we would soon come to know as Rima. Hudson describes Abel’s first sighting of Rima thusly in Chapter Five: “It was a human being—a girl form, reclining on the moss among the ferns and herbage, near the roots of a small tree. One arm was doubled behind her neck to rest upon, while the other arm was held extended before her, the hand raised towards a small brown bird perched on a pendulous twig just beyond its reach. She appeared to be playing with the bird, possibly amusing herself by trying

Daughter of the Didi Rima, the Jungle Girl in a 1991 pencil sketch by the artist who made her famous in the mid-1970s, Nestor Redondo. Art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Rima TM & © DC Entertainment.

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The First Wave Rima A page from a DC Comics First Wave preview, written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Rags Morales, featuring new versions of Rima and Black Canary. TM & © DC Entertainment.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

Rima then disappeared into the back-issue bins and television reruns for over 25 years. Writer Alan Moore uncaged the beautiful bird-girl in 2003 for a mention in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 2 #3, published by America’s Best Comics, although Rima was not depicted, according to Wikipedia. As 2009 drew to a close, DC Comics’ publicity for its pulp-inspired “First Wave” Universe—featuring alternate versions of Batman, Black Canary, and the Blackhawks alongside Doc Savage, the Spirit, and the Avenger (of Justice, Inc. fame)—included Rima, the Jungle Girl among its supporting cast … although judging from artist Rags Morales’ rendering of the feral femme as South American, clearly this was not your father’s Rima. “I’m trying to make this work for modern readers,” says Brian Azzarello, the writer behind the First Wave Universe. “Back when Rima was created, mostly all protagonists were written as white. Given Rima’s locale, that just doesn’t ring true anymore, so I’m addressing it.”

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Azzarello credits Joe Kubert for introducing him to W. H. Hudson’s character. “My first exposure to Rima was the short-lived comic series back in the ’70s,” he says, “and I probably wouldn’t have been exposed if not for the Joe Kubert covers. I was a big fan of his work, and Tarzan.” The writer also reveals that the addition of Rima to the First Wave cast was not initially his idea: “[DC Comics senior vice president-executive editor] Dan DiDio was all for it; in fact, having Rima be part of First Wave was his idea. I just ran with it.” Yet Azzarello has drawn from Hudson’s Green Mansions for his reimagining of Rima: “I’d say there is a fair amount of inspiration in my interpretation. I’m really looking to stay true to the character while reintroducing her for modern readers, and having her function as a part of the First Wave Universe. “I like the mythic aspect of Rima, that there’s a legend that surrounds her.” Rima made her contemporary debut in March 2010 in First Wave #1, the premiere of the six-issue miniseries that followed a Batman/Doc Savage one-shot in launching DC’s new pulpish line. While the First Wave world is gritty and reality based, “Rima brings a sense of mystery to the universe,” explains Azzarello. “There are no superpowers or magic in it, but Rima fits in because there’s something very mysterious about her; she has a legend, there are stories told about her. Other characters will scoff at her having any sort of special abilities … but if she doesn’t, how can you explain what she does?” At this writing, First Wave is in its infancy, but this Rima fan wonders, does DC have any plans to develop Rima beyond her current incidental-character status? “Yes, I think so … we’ll see,” hints Azzarello. “At the end of the day, that’s up to the fans.” With Rima’s return in First Wave and possible development as a solo character, perhaps DC Comics will consider producing a Rima, the Jungle Girl trade paperback, reprinting the Kubert/Kanigher/Redondo material from the 1970s. While only 98 pages of Rima artwork were published—105 if you add the seven Kubert covers—Rima, the Jungle Girl contains some of the finest art to ever grace the illustrious publishing house and is worthy of being introduced to a new audience in collected-edition form. Until that day, however, Rima certainly warrants digging through back-issue bins and scouring Internet auctions. Special thanks to Brian Azzarello, Pete Carlsson, Joe Kubert, Alex Segura, and John Wells. Also to Jason Motes Bowles, whose passionate letter about Rima and her rich history planted the seed of what would eventually blossom into this article. BACK ISSUE editor MICHAEL EURY stays busy policing BI’s articles and schedules and rarely wears his writer’s hat in these pages—but his appreciation of Joe Kubert and Nestor Redondo’s Rima, the Jungle Girl art made this assignment too alluring to pass up.

A steel bikini. What else could Conan possibly call it as Red Sonja stood before him in The Savage Sword of Conan #1. She was a welcome sight—indeed, most men would enjoy the sight of the red-haired Hyrkanian—and Red Sonja’s timely appearance had rescued the Cimmerian from the wrong end of a sword during a brawl in Zamorra’s City of Thieves. But this wasn’t the same Red Sonja that Conan remembered from Makkalet in Conan the Barbarian #24 (Mar. 1973), when they stole into a sorcerer’s tower on a thieves’ errand to retrieve a serpent tiara. The woman before him had tossed aside her more practical garb as a sword-for-hire in favor of this—steel bikini… It was an outfit that meshed Victoria’s Secret with a Nemedian blacksmith’s shop, but left little to the imagination when considering her feminine charms. Her leather gloves and boots covered more of her body than this armor, and yet it would be the garb that would in the years to come define Red Sonja as much as her fiery red hair.

SHE-DEVIL WITH A SWORD by J i m M a n n e r

This new Red Sonja enjoyed a coming-out party in the first issue of Savage Sword of Conan in August 1974. This black-and-white magazine cashed in on the popularity of Conan during the early 1970s, but it featured almost as many pages devoted to Red Sonja as it did to the Cimmerian. The magazine included one of the first portrayals of Red Sonja in what would become her famous steel bikini. The pinup page had been submitted by Esteban Maroto—a Spanish-born artist known best for his work in the Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines. Another pinup of Red Sonja in a steel bikini had appeared earlier, in February 1974, in Savage Tales #3— and it quickly found favor with editor Roy Thomas. “I’m not sure what I had in mind when I was first thinking of Red Sonja,” Roy Thomas says. “I was not real wild for her chainmail shirt and hot pants that Barry [Windsor-Smith] had given her. Esteban had sent in his drawing of her, and I liked it so much that I gave him an entire Red Sonja story to do.” Roy Thomas gave penciling honors to Esteban Maroto for the first solo appearance of the “She-Devil with a Sword” in a story titled simply “Red Sonja.” The story appeared in Savage Sword of Conan #1 and featured lavish pencils and inks that combined the talents of Maroto, Neal Adams, and Ernie Chua. The story built on her character and reinforced the roy thomas theme that Red Sonja was any

Sonja by Boris Detail from Boris Vallejo’s painting for the paperback cover Red Sonja #3: When Hell Laughs (Ace, 1982). Art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Red Sonja ® Red Sonja LLC.

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character of Red Sonja might have been different. Despite her objections to the portrayal of women in pornography, she had no objections to erotica. “Erotica is as different from pornography as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery, as pleasure is from pain,” Steinem once said. For Steinem, pornography involved the domination of one person over another, the male over the female, but the character of Red Sonja as a person—as a character created by Roy Thomas—never tolerated those advances or liberties. Conan was quick to note this in Conan the Barbarian #43, when he and Red Sonja were trying to elude a pack of bounty hunters, a story set in the aftermath of Savage Sword of Conan #1: “You wear armor too scanty to hide your charms … you disavow the caresses of men … and ply with swords as if they were toys made for your pleasure,” Conan said to her. Barry Windsor-Smith enjoyed only a short stint with Red Sonja, but the character would inspire one of his later creations. “She lives on somewhat in Princess Adastra of Orgasma from Young GODS,” he says. “Adastra, though, is realized more fully as a strong character with personality defects. It’s for this reason that she can wear a tin bikini without any deliberate sexuality. “Moreover, several of the key players in Young GODS have complained that Adastra is ‘barely dressed’ and ‘needs to find some clothes,’” he says.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Sonja by Maroto An undated Red Sonja painting by Spanish artist Esteban Maroto, one of the first artists to depict the heroine in her steel bikini (in a pinup in Savage Sword of Conan #1). Art courtesy of Heritage. Red Sonja ® Red Sonja LLC.

“But despite my artistry of restraint, Marvel had to go ruin it all with White-Out and in-house art changes,” Windsor-Smith says. “I’m of the opinion that a good-looking woman is more sexual when she seems unaware of herself. That was my archetype for ‘The Song of Red Sonja.’” The “art changes” referenced by Barry WindsorSmith include two panels that were censored by Marvel. They were reprinted in their original form by WindsorSmith in Marvel Treasury #15, released in 1977. Barry Windsor-Smith believes he wouldn’t be the only person who was disappointed with the treatment of Red Sonja, especially when viewed in the light of the Women’s Movement of the 1970s. “I expect that Gloria Steinem might have appreciated my character but would have been repulsed” by the depiction of Red Sonja by Thomas and Thorne, Windsor-Smith says. Gloria Steinem is a feminist and journalist who has been a steady champion for the Equal Rights Amendment. She also was the leader of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and she also fought the exploitation of a woman’s body. Steinem made headlines with an exposé on the exploitation of women by Playboy magazine. Gloria Steinem might have frowned on Marvel’s portrayal of a woman’s body to make a character more marketable for comics fans, but her view on the

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Red Sonja made several appearances with Conan, with the two sword-and-sorcery stars later crossing swords as they crossed over into each other’s comic-book title in the mid1970s. The crossover was set up by nearly identical pages that culminated in Conan the Barbarian #66 and Marvel Feature #6 (both Sept. 1976). Red Sonja easily dispatches Belit in Conan #67, but the two stars of the Hyborian Age won’t square off against each other until Marvel Feature #7. The clash of swords quickly finds Conan at the losing end of the struggle after the Cimmerian conveniently slips in freshly spilled oil that had been knocked over during the fight. The battle renews, and Conan’s size and strength give him the edge over Red Sonja in a tit-for-tat reversal. Red Sonja’s armor—or lack of—has become her trademark appearance. Her steel bikini continues to be the costume du jour for Dynamite Entertainment, which offers an ongoing title for Red Sonja, as well as miniseries appearances and one-shot comics. Roy Thomas says Red Sonja’s steel bikini was never meant to demean women, but to complement Red Sonja’s character, her origin, and her oath. “It’s intended to have a certain ironic humor to it,” Thomas says. “Barry didn’t feel I put enough humor into comics.” Even Red Sonja shared a bit of humor about her garb, although perhaps unintended. In Marvel Feature #6, she comes to a collapsed bridge and is faced with making a river crossing on foot while en route to Venzia. “Times like these, I’m glad I wear light armor upon the road,” she said. JIM MANNER is a mild-mannered editor who works for a daily newspaper in Virginia. When he's not working, he can usually be found riding his Harley as part of a motorcycle ministry.

Mark Arnold

One of the most bizarre shows ever to come out of Hanna-Barbera Productions was its live-action caveman action-adventure show called Korg: 70,000 B.C.— bizarre for reasons including the fact that it was live action. Although Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had dabbled with live-action shows prior to Korg, most notably with The Banana Splits, Korg was the first live-action show from Hanna-Barbera to be completely dramatic and follow a single narrative. Loosely based on The Waltons, Korg told the story of caveman Korg and his family as they struggled to make ends meet in caveman times. It was sort of a serious attempt at The Flintstones! Curiously, the show debuted at the same time as Hanna-Barbera’s fully animated Valley of the Dinosaurs. Hanna-Barbera presumably couldn’t decide whether to do an animated or live-action show set in prehistoric times, so why not do both? Apart from the prehistoric setting, the two shows are very dissimilar. (Hanna-Barbera did dabble further into live-action material with less than spectacular results, including The Skatebirds and a 1979 theatrical film called C.H.O.M.P.S., starring Valerie Bertinelli. None of these are very memorable.)

FROM TV TO COMICS Korg was filmed in the hills of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California, in the spring and summer of 1974—and, coincidentally, only a couple of miles from my boyhood home at the time. As a six-year-old, I was fascinated that a show could be filmed so close to my house. Even though Hollywood was nearby, it was still a good 30 miles away. The completed show was nothing much, to be honest, but some folks have fond memories of it. Korg was supposed to be educational, based on the best research about Neanderthal life available at the time. Korg aired on ABC-TV from September 7, 1974 through August 31, 1975. There were 16 episodes produced and the show was not renewed for a second season. Episode titles include: “Magic Claws,” “The Guide,” “Exile,” “Eclipse,” “Trapped,” “Story of Lumi,” “Moving Rock,” “Beach People,” “Running Fight,” “The Ancient One,” “Tor’s First Hunt,” “The Hill People,” “The River,” “The Web,” “Picture Maker,” and “Ree & the Wolf.” Korg starred Jim Malinda as Korg. Bill Ewing was Bok, his best friend. Naomi Pollack portrayed Mara, Korg’s wife. Christoper Man was Tane, Korg’s eldest son. Charles Morteo was Tor, Korg’s youngest son. Janelle Pransky was Ree, Korg’s daughter, and Eileen Deetz portrayed Sala, another friend of the family. Veteran character actor Burgess Meredith, best known

Man vs. Dinosaur Cover paintings by the too-often-overlooked Pat Boyette make Charlton Comics’ Korg: 70,000 B.C. a visual treat. Cover to issue #3 (Oct. 1975) courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 1975 Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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Mangus continues, “Getting back to Korg, Pat indulged in many of his favorite leitmotifs/themes in the series, such as history, evolution, the supernatural/ unexplained, and UFO/aliens. He wrote many/most of the stories himself, and also created a series of superbly painted covers for the series. As a true-blue Boyette fan, I consider Korg one of his best runs in comics, and his always-distinctive lettering was featured in many bold title logo set-ups. Anyway, Pat loved working on that series, and was sad to see it end.” Comics historian/artist Jim Amash agrees: “Pat was very proud of that book. I know we talked about it a time or two, but I really can’t remember anything specific, except that he pretty much had free reign doing what he wanted on the book (which was generally the norm at Charlton). Pat was always happiest when he wrote and drew his books. I know this was something he enjoyed doing.” Fandom Confidential publisher Ron Frantz adds, “I remember Boyette mentioning a few jobs for H-B. Nothing I recall about Korg. About the time he drew

Spencer Spook for me, he drew some Jabberjaw comicbook stories. These were done for the European market. I have no idea if they were ever published in the US. “Boyette kind of got his foot in the door at H-B a few years earlier after Alex Toth had recommended him,” Frantz says. “This had taking some doing on Toth’s part as H-B had a real prejudice against any artist or writer that had ever worked for Charlton. It didn’t matter where or when. This came as a result of Charlton publishing so many really bad comics with H-B characters during those years when Charlton had an exclusive contract with H-B. Toth and Boyette had been, of course, very good friends. From time to time, H-B would call Boyette at the last minute for some animation rush job. I think this usually happened when some other freelance artist had left H-B in a bad way by missing a deadline. Boyette had developed a welldeserved reputation in the business as an artist who could come through in a clutch situation when a deadline loomed overhead like the Sword of Damocles.” Frantz shares an interesting Pat Boyette anecdote: “One time when Pat was drawing Spencer Spook, he called to tell me that H-B had just called to offer him an animation job. If I recall, it was complete storyboards for one of the ‘ghost’-type cartoons that H-B was doing at the time. It might have been Ghost Busters or Goober and the Ghost Chasers or something like that. Sorry I can’t be more specific but almost a quarter-century of passed time does a thing to a man’s memory. Pat told me that he wanted to take the job as it paid very well, but if he did, it would cause him to be a couple of weeks late on Spencer Spook. Pat was a real pro. He was worried that if he was late on Spencer Spook it might put me in a bad way. Of course, I told Pat to call H-B that very instant and accept the job before they found someone else. The world would not come to an end if the new issue of Spencer Spook was a little late showing up at the comic-book shops. The interesting thing is that Pat would have turned down the H-B job if I had asked him to. Let me tell you, there were not many people in the business with his sense of ethics. Bless his memory!”

KORG IN THE MORGUE? Korg comic books are not particularly difficult to find, but as with many Charlton comic books, they are starting to rise up in value as artists like Boyette are now developing a latent appreciation within comic-book fandom. Will there be a Korg revival? Highly doubtful, as there is not much demand for it, but an unrelated film called 10,000 B.C. did come out in 2008 and did respectable business. The fact that Korg: 70,000 B.C. was trying to be historically factual was probably to its detriment, as shows like Land of the Lost were far more successful and even spawned a live-action theatrical film in 2009. TNT aired Korg a few times in the late ’80s/ early ’90s, but it has never been made officially available on home video, although a few clips can be found on YouTube. MARK ARNOLD has three books to his credit, one on Cracked magazine; one on Total TeleVision, the company that produced Underdog; and one on Harvey Comics. He currently is at work on a book about the Beatles and has other projects in the works for his Fun Ideas Productions.

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Mark DiFruscio

“I climbed out of the abyss of naked barbarism to the throne and in that climb I spilt my blood as freely as I spilt that of others. If either of us has the right to rule men, by Crom, it is I!” — The Scarlet Citadel (1933) Thus spake Conan, the Cimmerian. Hither came Robert E. Howard’s most savage of heroes, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. Born in the pages of the pulp magazine Weird Tales in December of 1932, the barbarianking named Conan cut a bloody swath through the standard conventions of fantasy literature, and claimed for his heavy brow an iron crown, as king of the nascent genre that would decades later come to be known as “sword-and-sorcery.” Such was the impact of Howard’s wild-hearted adventurer that it is almost impossible to discuss any of the various sword and sorcery heroes that followed in his wake—be it Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Lin Carter’s Thongor of Lemuria, or Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—without first considering them in relation to Conan. Accordingly, the same might also be said for the slew of “savage heroes” that stormed the gates of the comics world following the tremendous success of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian comic-book series, launched in 1970 by creators Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. With sales reaching an estimated 200,000-to-300,000 range during the height of that title’s popularity, Conan’s four-color chronicles ignited a veritable stampede of bare-chested barbarians and wilding warriors across the entire medium, typified by such books as Mighty Samson and Dagar the Invincible from Gold Key, or Wulf the Barbarian and Ironjaw from Atlas/Seaboard. [For a further exploration of Conan’s history in comics, see the exceptional three-part series “Sword-and-Sorcery in the Comics” appearing in Alter Ego #80 (Part 1), #83 (Part 2) and #92 (Part 3), all available at the TwoMorrows website.]

DC COMICS’ ADVENTURE LINE Not to be outdone by the competition, DC Comics effectively launched an entire line of books to answer this challenge from Conan, which DC touted as its “all-new adventure line” and counted among its number Joe Kubert’s Tor, Mike Grell’s Warlord, Kong the Untamed, Beowulf: Dragon Slayer, Claw the Unconquered, and Stalker. While none of these books would succeed in mounting a serious threat to Conan’s preeminence as comicdom’s überbarbarian, DC’s efforts did result in a diverse stable of fantasy-oriented characters that remain a part of the company’s profile to this day, whereas Marvel would eventually relinquish its publishing rights to Conan in 2000. Yet among the above collection of spear-toting cavemen

The Claw Clan Artist Ernie Chan’s promotional art for Claw the Unconquered, introducing the swordand-sorcery series’ cast. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Entertainment.

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CHAN THE UNCONQUERED

the series, [edited] by Joe Orlando. [The series] was his brainchild. DiFRUSCIO: How did you approach your character design for Claw? Was Conan the Barbarian a big inspiration for you? CHAN: The idea was to do the character similar to Conan and yet to make it stand out on its own. The steel-claw gauntlet was the focus of interest [in distinguishing him from Conan]. David Michelinie did a fine job of diverting the story away from close comparisons to Conan the Barbarian. DiFRUSCIO: Did you change your style at all on Claw the Unconquered versus your style on Conan and Kull? MARK DiFRUSCIO: I know that you CHAN: On Claw I sort of used a more were credited as “Ernie Chua” early subtle style, keeping it simplified in your career, but I don’t think I’ve and direct. While on Conan and Kull ever actually had the chance to my art was more stylized and free hear you explain the name change flowing. Keeping [two] barbarian in your own words (forgive me if you images distinct from each other is get this all the time). not an easy task. ERNIE CHAN: You are right. I have DiFRUSCIO: How did you find been asked this question a million working on the fantasy world that times. My simplified answer to this is Claw inhabited versus the fantasy ernie chan that “Chua” is a typo on my birth world of Conan? When I interviewed certificate. I got a chance to change David Michelinie, he felt you were it for free to my correct surname never really that happy working on Claw the “Chan” when I got my US citizenship in 1976. Unconquered because you preferred the more DiFRUSCIO: Do you recall anything about how “realistic” world of Conan. Would you agree with you first got the assignment to do Claw the that? He mentioned one specific incident where you Unconquered? Were you chosen specifically because got a bit frustrated with Joe Orlando because you of your experience inking Conan the Barbarian and were supposed to draw an octopus-type creature penciling Kull the Destroyer for Marvel? with teeth. CHAN: Quite true. My involvement with Conan the CHAN: David is half right when he says I was not Barbarian and Kull the Destroyer at Marvel triggered happy working on Claw. I wasn’t happy because of the creation of Claw the Unconquered by DC [and] it the constant comparisons Joe was [making to] was to offered to me where I got to pencil and ink Conan. The octopus with teeth-tentacles is a good example. I felt the teeth-tentacles [moved] more toward the science-fiction genre. Otherwise, I liked working on Claw because I got to pencil and ink the books. The [drawback] was its similarity to Conan. DiFRUSCIO: Were you particularly attracted to working in that fantasy milieu during your career? As opposed to, say, doing more superhero comics? I can see from the commissions gallery on your website (www.erniechan.com) that you predominately do fantasy-themed works. CHAN: I must admit that I am inclined more to working on fantasy-type art. But I don’t want to limit myself to just staying in one type of art. I like experimenting in different types of art. That is why I now enjoy doing commissioned art for fans. [Because] almost always, they vary in their art requests. DiFRUSCIO: Do you recall why you ended up leaving Claw the Unconquered? CHAN: There wasn’t any memorable reason why I left Claw. It was mainly a matter of schedule. It could be that I had to choose which one to continue doing, Conan or Claw? I happened to have picked the first one.

Although he officially retired in 2002, artist Ernie Chan stills remains one of the most recognizable names associated with fantasy illustration in comics, thanks in large part to his long and prolific stint inking Conan the Barbarian during the 1970s, as well as his own penciling work on such books as Savage Sword of Conan, Kull the Destroyer, and, of course, Claw the Unconquered, albeit some of this being done under the nom de plume of “Ernie Chua.” In speaking with BACK ISSUE, the artist began by addressing the question of his own artistic alter ego:

Another Enchanting Chan Cover Ernie Chan’s original cover art to Claw the Unconquered #7 (May–June 1976). Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Entertainment.

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MARK DiFRUSCIO is a freelance writer in San Diego. He would like to thank David Michelinie and Ernie Chan for contributing to this article.

Epic poems telling tales of heroes fighting monsters are rife in the collective world mythologies, but very few of those heroes are Danish or Swedish, and fewer still have been examined with quite as much scholarly study and debate as the Geat hero known as Beowulf. Although the original manuscripts featuring the poem date from between the 8th and 11th centuries— and the story itself is set in the 5th century—it was in the 20th century that DC Comics brought the battling hero to four-color life. And while the Anglo-Saxon poem found Beowulf battling the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and an unnamed dragon, the comics would see the thickly hewn Geat battling Wyrd, the God of Fate, aliens, and Satan, the “Dragon-Lord of the Underworld”!

FROM FOLKLORE TO FUNNYBOOKS

Andy Mangels

The DC Comics version of Beowulf was created in 1974 by Michael Uslan, a young member of the DC staff who had already amassed an impressive background in the comic-book field. In addition to having an immense personal collection (over 25,000 comics), he had taught a controversial and publicity-generating class on comics— “The Comic Book in Society”—for the Experimental Curriculum program at the Indiana University School of Law–Bloomington. By 1974, Uslan became one of DC’s “Junior Woodchucks,” alongside Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Paul Levitz, Carl Gafford, Anthony Tollin, and other fans who were “turning pro” in an industry of which they grew up dreaming they could become part. Uslan wrote for the Amazing World of DC Comics fanzine, and worked as an assistant to Sol Harrison, answering kids’ fan mail (often writing as Batman or Superman). He eventually scripted his first comics story, for DC’s The Shadow #9 (Feb.–Mar. 1975), before getting a bigger break—his own series named Beowulf. “I was deeply into educational uses of comic books,” Uslan notes today, “and thus, using Beowulf, conceptually, came out of all of that, and that was tied into getting my Master’s Degree. I was working on a program at DC, using Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to teach English-as-a-secondlanguage students how to read through specially designed comics; teaching learning-disabled children how to read through specially designed comics called Edugraphics that we were putting together and, in fact, sold to the New York City Board of Education at the time. I was in college, so my mindset was toward the academic.” He got his chance as DC decided to expand into the realm of barbarian heroes, following the lead of Marvel, which was experiencing fantastic success with Conan the Barbarian. “DC decided they were going to expand in this Conan arena since Marvel had success with it,” Uslan says. “So all around the same time was Warlord, Claw the Unconquered, Stalker, Beowulf, Kong the Untamed,

Beowulf Cometh! Detail from the cover of Beowulf #1 (Apr.– May 1975). Illustrated by Ricardo Villamonte. TM & © DC Entertainment.

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Sonja, Sonja, Everywhere! (top) Image of Red Sonja and logo from Sonja Con program. (inset) “Ballad of Red Sonja” 45 RPM record cover. (bottom) Photograph of Thorne and Wendy Pini (as Sonja) from Sonja Con (originally printed in Savage Sword of Conan #21). Red Sonja ® Red Sonja LLC.

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walked Angelique Trouvere in full regalia. Trouvere had made the Sonja costume the previous year for the masquerade at Phil Seuling’s show in July 1975, where she won second place. The ballad was recorded and issued on a 45 RPM record with a sleeve bearing a drawing of Sonja by Thorne on the front and a photo of Thorne, Trouvere, and Gresham on the back. Howard Leroy Davis recalls that just prior to Sonja Con, they brought Thorne down to National Public Radio affiliate WHYY-FM in Philadelphia for an appearance on the Fresh Air show with Terry Gross, which included an airing of the “Ballad of Red Sonja.” Trouvere, who had also appeared at conventions dressed as Vampirella, then attended Sonja Con, walking around in costume and allowing fans to take pictures with her. But she was not alone in the Sonja lookalike contest. Fellow contestants included Diane DeKelb, Wendy Snow, Linda Behrle, and Wendy Pini (the same Wendy Pini who co-created Elfquest with husband Richard in 1978). The costumed Sonjas paraded around the rim of the indoor pool, after which Roy Thomas announced that Wendy Pini was the winner. Pini appeared in costume on television with Phil Seuling the following year on The Mike Douglas Show. And the plethora of Sonjas inspired Frank Thorne to form the “Wizard and Red Sonja” show, in which Thorne appeared with one or more of the five Sonjas at various comics conventions over the next several years. Fans who attended Sonja Con have fond memories. Gary Whitson enjoyed meeting Frank Thorne, noting, “I loved Thorne's art and as an aspiring artist, I was inspired to draw even more.” Of the dealers room, Whitson recalls, “I think there were swords and other weapons available as well as comics. There was a table with a lot of artwork displayed and available for sale.” Whitson also remembers the panels, where “they discussed the future of Red Sonja as well as the hope for a movie at some future point.” Aaron Sultan recalls, “I remember they handed out some premiums at the Red Sonja convention. They had the program, and they also handed out a Red Sonja button.” (Howard Leroy Davis notes that the button was also proof that you paid for the show.) Sultan also remembers the press coverage: “Near the end of the [first day of the] con, the Philadelphia news stations came over to cover the convention. I remember a bunch of reporters talking to Roy Thomas, who I just so happened to be standing near. Sure enough, that night I went home and we turned on the TV, and I was in the news clip with Roy Thomas.” And one fan, who chooses to remain anonymous, recalls that the Red Sonja costumes were not exactly form-fitting, and the parade around the pool occasionally afforded the adolescent fan an unexpected, but not unwelcome, anatomy lesson. With attendance of 750, Sonja Con was a success. The convention organizers, renamed the Delaware Valley Comicart Consortium, went on to sponsor a variety of other “activities to promote an appreciation of the comic book form,” as co-founder Rich Greene described it, including original-art exhibitions, a Christmas Party for Harry “A” Chesler, and semi-annual “Comics on the Mall” events. Their second convention in 1977 paid tribute to Marvel Comics’ character Howard the Duck, and the third convention the following year honored Women in Comics. Red Sonja has proved to have a persevering popularity, with new comics being published by Dynamite Entertainment and talk once again about a new feature film. But 1976 was the heyday of the “She-Devil With A Sword,” and hearing Gary, Aaron, and Howard Leroy talk about the Sonja Con, you can’t help but wish for a time machine… Sincere thanks to Howard Leroy Davis, Gary Whitson, and Aaron Sultan for their recollections of Sonja Con, as well as Richard Arndt for permission to reference his interview with Angelique Trouvere. DEWEY CASSELL is a regular contributor to BACK ISSUE magazine and author of the book The Art of George Tuska, available from TwoMorrows Publishing. He is currently writing a book about Marie Severin.

In July of 2009, at the first annual Asian-American Comicon in New York, Larry Hama received the convention’s inaugural career award. Such industry recognition was long overdue. Since the 1970s, Hama, a lifelong Manhattanite, has been a comic-book renaissance man: writer, editor, penciler, inker, and creator (not to mention an actor, musician, and martial artist outside of the comics industry). But don’t call this multi-hyphenate a writer or an artist: “I’m a storyteller,” Hama tells BACK ISSUE. And with this interview, I will forever associate Hama with Art Clokey, creator of the Gumby universe. Why? Well, just prior to part one of our conversation, I received word from WildCard Ink publisher Mel Smith, who holds the Gumby license in comics, that Clokey had passed away on January 8, 2010, at the age of 88. Now, you might ask what this has to do with Hama, the writer/artist best known for the masculine, testosteroneloaded exploits of Wolverine, Venom, and G. I. Joe. Well, you might be surprised to learn who Hama’s favorite cartoonist is and which comics genre he adores the most. If you’re looking for a dissection of G. I. Joe, this is not that piece [for that, see BACK ISSUE #16]. And for an in-depth look on his year (1975, to be precise) at Atlas/ Seaboard, I recommend Comic Book Artist #16 (TwoMorrows, 2001). My goal here is to touch on Hama’s less-documented work, which includes (appropriately) some “born to be wild” barbarism. – Michael Aushenker

Michael Aushenker

conducted on January 9 and Marc h 7, 2010

MICHAEL AUSHENKER: I hear that when you attended Manhattan's High School of Art and Design, one of your instructors was the legendary EC Comics artist Bernard Krigstein. Were you cognizant of his work? LARRY HAMA: I had no idea who Krigstein was. There was a friend of mine named John Smith. He knew who Krigstein was immediately. AUSHENKER: What was he like? HAMA: He was one of the best art-school teachers I ever had. He didn’t tell you how to do it. He wasn’t a constructionist or anything. He had a way to make you produce. The primary thing that the teacher of any of this stuff did was to deconstruct the procrastination. [laughs] We had to hand in a sketchbook every week and he graded it. One week, I handed in my sketchbook and it had only one sketch in it and he called me to the mat on it and I said, “I spent all week long on this sketch.” He said, “You have to do hundreds of sucky ones before you can do the good ones. Get those sucky ones out of the way.” It was his way of saying your stuff isn’t precious. AUSHENKER: Did Krigstein ever talk about his own comics or use them as examples? HAMA: No. Never talked about it. The reason he went into teaching was because he wanted to paint. AUSHENKER: You’ve worn so many hats in the industry. You are one of the few people I can think of who has worked in so many departments at Marvel and DC. You and Al Milgrom. What was your entry into comics? HAMA: I was a penciler. I drew for National Lampoon and other places before I got my first comics, which were sort of like stepping down. [laughs] I did a lot of advertising art. I situated myself as a storyteller. I even had a lettering rate. I don’t think Al Milgrom had a lettering rate. [laughs] I also had a coloring rate. AUSHENKER: Did you grow up reading comics? HAMA: I was not a major comic-book fan. I had comics the way every kid in the 1950s had comics. Comics, baseball cards. I never thought of a career in comics until I had a career in comics. [laughs] Born to be Wild Issue

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