Back Issue #52 by TwoMorrows Publishing

MYSTERY COMICS: Charlton Anthologies • Black Orchid • Madame Xanadu • and Scooby-Doo! featuring Aragonés • Evanier Kaluta • Shoberg • Talaoc • Wrightson • and more!

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DC’s BRONZE AGE HORROR SERIES & HOSTS RISE FROM THE DEAD!

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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!

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“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!

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(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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(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Greatest Stories Never Told!” How Savage Empire became The Warlord, the aborted FF graphic novel “Fathers and Sons,” BYRNE’s Last Galactus Story, Star*Reach’s Batman, Aquaman II, 1984 Black Canary miniseries, Captain America: The Musical, Miracleman: Triumphant, unpublished issues of The Cat and Warlock, BLEVINS, DEODATO, FRADON, SEKOWSKY, WEISS, MIKE GRELL cover!

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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “1970s Time Capsule”! Examines relevance in comics, Planet of the Apes, DC Salutes the Bicentennial, Richard Dragon–Kung-Fu Fighter, FOOM, Amazing World of DC, Fast Willie Jackson, Marvel Comics calendars, art and commentary from ADAMS, BRUNNER, GIORDANO, LARKIN, LEVITZ, MAGGIN, MOENCH, O’NEIL, PLOOG, STERANKO, cover by BUCKLER and BEATTY!

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Volume 1, Number 52 October 2011

The Retro Comics Experience!

Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Beyond! EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow GUEST DESIGNER Jon B. Cooke COVER ARTIST Bernie Wrightson COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

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

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

Alan Light Val Mayerik David Michelinie Dan Mishkin Doug Moench Bill Morrison Nightscream Dennis O’Neil Lore Orion John Ostrander Tom Peyer Carl Potts Amy Reeder Shannon E. Riley Bob Schreck Jim Simon Steve Skeates Robin Snyder Joe Staton Bryan Stroud Gerry Talaoc Cathy Ann Thiele Matt Wagner Jim Warden John Wells Bernie Wrightson Liz Wrightson

INTERVIEW: Terror in the Mysterious House of Wrightson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 When it comes to Bronze Age horror comics, nobody does it better than Bernie! INTERVIEW: The Scary/Funny Worlds of Sergio Aragonés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Comics’ coolest cartoonist discusses his terror toons BEYOND CAPES: You Will Believe in Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Editor Murray Boltinoff and writer Leo Dorfman’s spook-fest was dear to their hearts INTERVIEW: Gerry Talaoc: From the Unknown to the Incredible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 In a BACK ISSUE exclusive, the underrated Bronze Age artist looks back on his career FLASHBACK: The Many Lives of the Black Orchid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 DC Comics’ mysterious heroine and her journey through the mainstream, Vertigo, and the Cartoon Network BEYOND CAPES: Enter Freely, Unafraid: Madame Xanadu… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 DC’s breakout horror host Madame Xanadu with loads of Michael Kaluta artwork INTERVIEW: The Hysterical Hippy Horror Humor of Lore Shoberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 How “Cain’s Game Room” cartoonist Lore Shoberg rode into (and out of) town BEYOND CAPES: The Many Mystery Comics of Charlton Pubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Chills and thrills, eight pages at a time, from the Derby, Connecticut, comics house PRO2PRO: Mark Evanier, Dan Spiegle, and a Dog Named Scooby-Doo . . . . . . . . . . .71 Scooby, Scooby-Doo, where are you? In comic books, that’s where! BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Reader feedback on issue #49 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. Eight-issue subscriptions: $70 Standard US, $105 Canada, $130 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Bernie Wrightson. House of Mystery TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2011 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. Mystery Comics Issue

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Art (from Nick Cardy’s The Witching Hour #4 cover) is TM & ©DC Comics

SPECIAL THANKS Sergio Aragonés Michael Aushenker Dick Ayers Karen Berger Howard Bender Jerry Boyd Bruce Buchanan Cary Burkett Jarrod Buttery Cain and Abel Dewey Cassell Kyle Cassidy Gary Cohn Gerry Conway Nicola Cuti Rufus Dayglo DC Comics Tony DeZuniga Scott Edelman Steve Englehart Rich J. Fowlks Carl Gafford Grand Comic-Book Database Robert Greenberger Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Auctions Stuart Hopen Anson Jew Benton Jew Michael Kaluta Todd Klein Bill Kunkel Paul Levitz

FLASHBACK: Hosts of Horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Cain, Abel, and company owe a deadly debt to these guys and ghouls

Michael Eury

GREETINGS, KIDDIES! I’M yOUR HOST-THE fanboy who liv es in his mother’s basement

IT’S ALSO THE HOME OF My comic book collection, EACH BOx A house of mystery OF fearsome four-color favorites!

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IT’S creepy DOwN HERE… eerie, TOO, THE AIR CHOKED WwITH DRyER LINT AND DANGERS LIKE FORGOTTEN PING-PONG BALLS LURKING UNDERFOOT.

MANy OF THOSE macabre masterpieces HAvE BEEN UNEARTHED FROM THEIR MyLAR TOMBS THIS ISSUE FOR yOUR ENJOyMENT… if you dare! Heh-hehheh-heh-heh!

Greetings, guys and programs was that ghouls. Sit back, put they were typically your feet up on the narrated by a host. nearest implement of torShows like Inner Sanctum ture, and prepare to peruse Mysteries, hosted by this penultimate prose about Raymond Edward Johnson in my kindred spirits. Being a host the early 1940s, featured talby D e w e y C a s s e l l of horror is hard work, as you will ented actors like Agnes undoubtedly deduce from the terrorMoorehead, Peter Lorre, and ific tale that follows. But fear not, kiddies, Richard Widmark. The radio horror for we horror hosts are always looking for hosts typically exhibited a distinctive perfresh meat for the grinder, so to speak... sonality that made them easily identifiable to Why do you suppose it is that horror comics seem the listener. With his morbid sense of humor and his to demand a host, while other stories leave you all on your own? ominous laugh, Raymond provided a welcome break in the tension of There always seemed to be something curiously contradictory about the story. Other radio horror hosts included Boris Karloff and the extension of hospitality in a tale meant to terrify. Then again, who Christopher Lee. The stories themselves were often violent and gory, wouldn’t want a hand to hold while walking through a haunted and the programs were eventually challenged by censors, although house? But was that the purpose behind these polite purveyors of the regulations imposed were difficult to enforce. Ironically, what fear? brought about the demise of radio horror programs was television. To answer that question, we must first turn to their origins, and the original hosts of horror were found on the radio. Starting in the GHOULS RULE 1930s, radio was the perfect forum for dramatic horror and science- One of the first, and arguably best, television horror hosts was fiction stories because it fueled the imagination of the listeners. Zacherley. In 1957, actor John Zacherle got a call from WCAU Channel Imagining in your mind the horrors you were hearing described could 10 in Philadelphia to host Shock Theater, a collection of horror films be far more powerful than actually seeing them, as evidenced by the from the 1930s and 1940s being released to television by Universal Pictures. Dressed in an undertaker’s coat and sporting ghoulish makesuccess of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938. One of the common characteristics of the anthology radio horror up with his hair parted down the middle, Zacherle portrayed Roland, the “cool ghoul” who was host of the show and lived in a crypt. Roland introduced the late night movie, accompanied by the occaCry Uncle! sional severed head in a basket, and he also appeared in numerous “break-ins” or instances in which the cameraman would break to a (top) Creepy magazine’s host, Uncle Creepy, as shot of Roland wearing a curious expression and then back to the film illustrated by this issue’s cover artist, Bernie Wrightson. in progress. This approach to hosting the show proved to be wildly popular and gained Roland thousands of fans. Numerous imitators fol© 2011 Warren Publications.

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Certainly No Samantha! (upper right) “Ghastly” Graham Ingels’ Old Witch.

lowed, including Ghoulardi, Moona Lisa, and Marvin the Near-Sighted Madman. But by the time Zacherley and other television horror hosts made their debut, the tradition of hosting horror stories was already well entrenched in comic books. The use of a host for horror comics, however, was preceded by a comic book from another genre, Crime Does Not Pay. In 1942, starting with issue #24, editor Charles Biro introduced a host named Mr. Crime, who narrated the feature stories in Crime Does Not Pay. Mr. Crime was an ethereal host, whose top hat and flowing robe contrasted with his pointed ears and sharp teeth. In the stories in which he appeared, Mr. Crime typically popped up several times during the tale to provide a pithy commentary on the characters or their predicament. Peak circulation for Crime Does Not Pay reached over one million copies a month. When you think about the hosts of comic books in the Golden Age, though, one group comes to mind: the Old Witch, Crypt Keeper, and Vault Keeper of the EC anthology horror comics The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror. Arguably the most recognizable of all horror hosts even today, the EC ghouls were the brainchild of editor, writer, and artist Al Feldstein and his publisher, Bill Gaines. As for their inspiration, in an interview for issue #9 of the legendary EC fanzine Squa Tront, Feldstein explained, “We had come on to this thing of doing horror and scary stuff. Bill and I had remembered The Witch’s Tale and Lights Out from radio—this is all old hat, I know—and we tried it out in the comics … I first came up with the Crypt Keeper and the Vault Keeper, who were direct steals from the witch in The Witch’s Tale. I don’t remember the witch being as facetious, and with the puns, but she cackled.” Although originally designed by Feldstein, other artists became identified with the EC hosts. “Ghastly” Graham Ingels rendered the definitive

Uncle Creepy (right) Jack Davis’ model sheets for Creepy’s host. Courtesy of Jim Warden. © EC Publications.

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Old Witch, Johnny Craig drew the Vault Keeper, and the Crypt Keeper was most famously illustrated by Jack Davis. Craig later created an attractive assistant for the Vault Keeper named Drusilla. Craig even served as the model in full makeup and costume for photographs of the EC hosts that were sold to fans through the comics letters pages. The EC hosts appeared in house ads and EC Fan Addict fan club materials as well. The hosts contributed to the recognition and growing popularity of the EC horror comics. But the explicit violence and gore of the EC horror comics led to the unwanted attention of Dr. Fredric Wertham in his infamous treatise, Seduction of the Innocent, and the subse-

quent Senate Hearings on Juvenile Delinquency in 1954. It was in those hearings that EC publisher Bill Gaines attempted unsuccessfully to defend his horror comics, leading ultimately to the Comics Code and the demise of the horror genre in comics for years to come. The EC horror hosts were retired.

CREEPY COMEBACKS There were several attempts to revive the horror-comics genre. For example, in 1957, Harvey Comics published the comic book Man in Black, which ran for four issues, featuring the host Fate and his acquaintances Venus and Weaver. In 1959, comic-book icon Joe Simon published Weird Mysteries and Eerie Tales, black-and-white magazines not subject to the Comics Code, featuring a horror host named “Morgue’n the Morgue Keeper.” Joe’s son, Jim Simon, recalls Morgue’n well, and his father’s inspiration: “On TV, Zacherley was a very popular monster-movie host with the kids. My father knew my brother and our friends stayed up late at night just to watch Zacherley host his monster TV shows!” Unfortunately, Simon was ahead of his time. While they were well executed, both magazines only lasted one issue. The real revival of the horror host came in 1964, when Jim Warren first published Creepy magazine. Creepy was a black-and-white anthology title, with compelling horror stories by exceptional artists, many of whom were veterans of EC Comics. The magazine was hosted by “Uncle Creepy,” a tall, gaunt figure with thinning hair and dressed in a threadbare tuxedo, originally rendered by Jack Davis. Uncle Creepy was soon joined by Cousin Eerie and Vampirella in sister publications of their own. Cousin Eerie was short and stout, bearing an almost toad-like appearance, and was also illustrated by Davis. By contrast, Vampirella was tall and shapely, poured into her iconic, revealing red costume, as first depicted by Frank Frazetta and later defined by José “Pepe” Gonzalez. However, in the early days of the Warren magazines, the hosts were often drawn by whichever artist happened to be illustrating the story, leading to many different variations of the characters. Recognizing the marketing opportunity, Jim Warren ran house ads in his magazines, offering a variety of merchandise bearing the images of his horror hosts, from Halloween masks to underwear, available through his own fulfillment house, Captain Company. Each host also had their own fan club.

The Lady is a Vamp! (right) Jose Gonzalez’s classic full-figure color painting of Vampirella. This version is actually the rare promotional sticker that was given away by Warren Publishing as a subscription premium. Courtesy of Dewey Cassell. Vampirella TM & © DFI.

However, the most popular, and most enduring, of the Warren horror hosts was Vampirella. Images of Vampirella were made into a six-foot life-sized poster, stickers, calendars, a T-shirt, a jigsaw puzzle, and graced the covers of six Vampirella novels by Ron Goulart. There was even an Aurora model kit of Vampirella, and actress Barbara Leigh appeared on the cover of several issues of the magazine, wearing the famous costume. Leigh was cast to play Vampirella in a motion picture by Hammer Films that was never made. [Editor’s note: See BI #36 for a Vampirella history.] Vampirella was not, however, just a host. Stories about Vampirella appeared periodically in her title from the start, and in every issue beginning with #11 until the title’s cancellation with issue #112. The rights to Vampirella were acquired by Harris Comics in 1983 and stories featuring the character continue to appear in print today, courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment. Vampirella spawned numerous imitations, the most successful of which was Elvira, published by Claypool Comics.

DC’s HOSTS OF MYSTERY With the success of Creepy and Eerie, DC Comics decided to test the waters of horror comic books once again. House of Mystery had been a superhero book since the mid-’60s, but with issue #174, in 1968, it returned to its horror roots under the tutelage of editor Joe Orlando, another veteran of EC Comics. The following issue, Orlando introduced a host in the form of an “able caretaker” for the House of Mystery named Cain, who introduced most of the stories in the anthology series. Cain is a tall, thin character with glasses, upswept hair, and a pointed beard that give him a deliberately devilish appearance, accompanied by a pet gargoyle named Gregory. (Cain was modeled after writer Len Wein, who appeared as Cain in a photograph in issue #4 of Elvira’s House of Mystery.) A caricature of Cain also appeared in humorous one-page filler pieces in House of Mystery like “Cain’s Game Room,” illustrated by Sergio Aragonés [see interview in this issue]. Cain’s residence, the House of Mystery, is in the hills of Kentucky and the house itself is alive, containing an ever-changing array of rooms (and mysteries). House of Secrets had also been a superhero title in the mid-1960s, but was canceled with issue #80 and lay dormant for three years. A year after the debut of Cain in House of Mystery, DC Special #4 featured a new horror host devised by Orlando named Abel, who took up residence in the House of Secrets, across the cemetery from the

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Do You Dare Enter … the House of Ideas? (left) One of a handful of covers Bernie drew for Marvel Comics’ fright-fests, this one for Tower of Shadows #9 (Jan. 1971). And, yup, that guy yakking is a self-caricature of the artist himself! TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

includes House of Mystery in its line-up. Mr. Wrightson has our thanks for his time and recollections and still is active in horror comics today with his regular co-plotter and writer, Steve Niles. Also, special thanks go out to Bill Morrison and Liz Wrightson for contact information. JERRY BOYD has written numerous articles for fanzines The Jack Kirby Collector, BACK ISSUE, Alter Ego, The Harveyville Fun Times!, and the Spooky Fearbook. He’s proud to have interviewed numerous professionals in the industry, as well, for those publications. Jerry is a professional schoolteacher and an aspiring screenwriter living in Southern California. As often as he can, he sends copies of rare art to BI for other readers/fans to enjoy.

enjoyed reading that provided the five stories and the framing sequence within the film itself. They did a good job. BOYD: My friends and I, all “third generation EC fanatics” since we discovered that company’s magic in the ’70s, saw it as the Haunt of Fear movie that was never made, since Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt movies had been produced in the early 1970s. WRIGHTSON: That’s an interesting way of looking at it. BOYD: How would you sum up your time at The House of Mystery and other “haunts of horror”? WRIGHTSON: I’ve had a great time. Though times have changed, of course, I’ve always been able to work. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years. And I can truthfully say that 99.99% of it has been fun. And it’s nice to know it’s been appreciated. Horror works well, it seems! [laughs] The House of Mystery went on for years and it was great to see Wrightson “return” to it in 1998 with yet another stunning cover with Cain and Abel, and new art by Sergio Aragonés. This effort came out of the Vertigo line for DC which, as of this writing, still

Back Home (right) Bernie—along with Cain, Abel, and one of Cain’s gargoyles—amble their way back into the House of Mystery on this wonderful 1998 cover. TM & © DC Comics.

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1970: It was a great time for horror. ABC-TV’s Dark Shadows was going as strong as ever, and a horrific vampire movie culled from some of its earliest, greatest storylines came out that year. Hammer Films and its British cousin, Amicus Productions, brought The Vampire Lovers and The House That Dripped Blood to audiences worldwide. Marvel Comics had jumped into the arena with Tower of Shadows and Chamber of Darkness, blowing eyeballs out with work by Steranko, Tom Sutton, Don Heck, John Romita, Neal Adams, Marie Severin, and the Buscema brothers. Charlton, Warren, and Castle of Frankenstein magazine added to the nocturnal chills. But it was DC’s revamp of House of Mystery and House of Secrets, eschewing “Dial H for Hero” and “Eclipso” (respectively), that turned a lot of heads in the publisher’s direction. I was one of those fans. DC had these two new guys, Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams, who were doing things with a pencil I didn’t think were possible! And even more, they had Alex Toth, Jack Sparling, Gil Kane, and … Sergio Aragonés, that MAD magazine guy, who came in once in a while with those whimsical, twisted humor/horror one-pagers that none of the competition was able to mimic! His brand of hilarious black humor continued on into the ’70s, of course. Mr. Aragonés speaks to us about those great days. – Jerry Boyd JERRY BOYD: Who contacted you to do those great cartoons for House of Mystery and the other titles at DC? Was it Joe Orlando, and if so, what were his reasons for wanting humor pages between the stories? SERGIO ARAGONÉS: I just arrived from Europe in ’68. When I got back, [MAD publisher] Bill Gaines told me Joe Orlando wanted to see me. He needed two scripts for Young Romance. [DC art director] Vince Colletta was there in his office waiting for some scripts. I suggested that they go to lunch and I wrote the scripts. They went along with it. [laughs] Someone cleaned up the language because I was still learning English! [laughs] Joe

Jerry Boyd

conducted November 13, 2010 and January 19, 2011

Brotherly “Love”

came back, looked them over, and said, “I didn’t know you wrote!” “Neither did I!” I said. [laughter] It was the basic boymeets-girl, boy-loses-girl—and a little twist. BOYD: So you were thinking about writing. What made you feel you were ready? ARAGONÉS: It wasn’t that complicated. I was a fan of comics, so I didn’t really write it for Vince, I drew it out in layouts, and made it really loose. I went to the library at DC and looked over a few comics before that. One story I came up with was how I met my first wife. That was the basis. [The male story character] was a musician instead of a cartoonist, though. It was very basic, very innocent stuff—it wasn’t that difficult. Mystery Comics Issue

Cain and Abel came to half-dead life in this convention illo done for the interviewer in 2006. TM & © DC Comics.

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Mr. Aragonés has our thanks for his time and consideration, along with Bill Morrison, who provided some of the photos seen here. Over time in the 1970s, Sergio got to draw three inserts with Cain introducing the (mostly reprints) stories for DC Special #11 (Apr. 1971). It didn’t matter to DC’s faithful readers. That mystery/horror issue boasted an outstanding gargoyles cover by Adams and inked by Wrightson. Inside, we got Aragonés, Jack Kirby, and others! Later, Aragonés got his own comic: DC Super Stars #13 (Sept. 1977), spotlighting his great sense of humor and weird people. PLOP! ended in 1976 after a respectable 24-issue run that included many of the alltime greats. House of Mystery continued on with his wonderful one-pagers into the late ’70s.

Our Favorite MADman (below) Various snapshots of Sergio. (directly below) At San Diego Comic-Con in 1982. Photo courtesy of Alan Light. (bottom left) Sergio signed for fans at a con in Germany in 2010. (bottom right) The artist displays his 2006 CAPS trophy/award. Bottom two photos courtesy of Bill Morrison.

Stomach-Turner (above) Aragonés drew this 1975 cartoon featuring two horror editors dining for The Amazing World of DC Comics #6. TM & © DC Comics.

Superman coming in saving the three storytellers and that worked all right with me. No, superheroes were welcome as long as they were done in a humorous context. BOYD: PLOP! was different from any other mystery/horror comic on the market in the 1970s. I’m glad you had fun with it. I really enjoyed it. ARAGONÉS: Thanks again. I worked this way— when I think of a joke, I think of a story. And scary/funny things make for great humor. I think that’s why I did so many of them over the years! [Editor’s note: Read more about PLOP! in BI #21. And an editorial shout-out to our friends at DC Comics: How about a Showcase Presents: PLOP! edition?]

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During the 1960s, Leo Dorfman regularly contributed scripts to DC Comics’ Superman family of comic books, but he often wondered if it was worth the headache. Chafing at the treatment he endured under editor Mort Weisinger, the writer dreamed of creating a new series for a more congenial editorial office. He envisioned a supernatural comic book with a very specific focus and was certain it would be a hit. Leo Dorfman believed in Ghosts, and he soon convinced Murray Boltinoff to join him. For his part, Boltinoff missed the days when he was shepherding new series like Doom Patrol and Eclipso [in House of Secrets]. The longtime DC editor remained a reliable presence who could be counted on to shore up and sustain preexisting books like The Brave and the Bold and The Unexpected, but it wasn’t the same as creating a new series from the ground up. Having lost the editorial reins on Steve Ditko’s Creeper and E. Nelson Bridwell’s Secret Six series to Dick Giordano in 1968 after only a single issue apiece, Boltinoff longed for another opportunity. In Leo Dorfman, he saw both a kindred spirit and a consummate professional. He also empathized with the writer’s discomfort at DC. “Since I shared an office with the tyrannical but talented Mort Weisinger,” Boltinoff wrote in Robin Snyder’s History of the Comics vol. 2 #3 (Mar. 1991), “I was privy to his humiliation of Leo during their story conferences plotting Superman and Superboy stories. To free himself of Mort, Leo hoped that his introduction of a new title would earn him a new editor.” [Unless otherwise noted, all Boltinoff quotes in this article are from the essay cited above.]

DORFMAN POSSESSED By 1971, Weisinger had retired, but Dorfman’s desire to launch Ghosts was undimmed. “For a long time,” Boltinoff continued, “[Dorfman] had been suggesting to me that DC publish a ghost magazine. If Dell’s Ghost Stories could

You Will Believe! by

Murray Boltinoff and Leo Dorfman’s Ghosts sported verbose covers from the very start and still cover artist Nick Cardy made some visually striking efforts. Here’s the cover of the first issue (Oct. 1971).

John Wells

flourish since 1962, it was evident that with its abundance of talent, DC could produce a better mousetrap.” Dorfman made no secret of his fascination with the supernatural, the occult, and UFOs, cited in an autobiographical sketch in 1970’s Action Comics #396. He indulged it in his scripts for Gold Key comic books like Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Twilight Zone, and Grimm’s Ghost Stories, and such elements were a staple of the Superman scripts he wrote for Boltinoff starting in 1970. Within a few years of Dell’s Ghost Stories #1, Charlton Comics editor Dick Giordano

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TM & © DC Comics.

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They Believed In Ghosts! With fidelity to its tagline, “True Tales of the Weird and Supernatural,” Ghosts repeatedly delved into the influence of spectral beings on real people. Here’s Tony DeZuñiga’s evocative splash page from #1, featuring two renowned authors and one of America’s greatest presidents. (opposite) Nick Cardy’s covers to issues #2 and 8. TM & © DC Comics.

launched Ghostly Tales and The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves, titles that were joined by Ghost Manor in 1969. At DC, Murray Boltinoff had revived the supernatural/suspense genre in a 1967 makeover of Tales of the Unexpected, even as his intended lead feature (“Secret Six”) was launched as a comic book of its own. With the addition of the revamped or brand-new series House of Mystery, The Witching Hour, and House of Secrets, DC believed it had the spook genre well-represented. Boltinoff and Dorfman persisted that none of those titles had the specific theme and visceral impact of Ghosts. “After a prolonged hard-sell,” Boltinoff continued, “Carmine Infantino, then-editorial director, was ultimately persuaded to add the title to DC’s roster. “For our enterprise, I was appointed editor and assigned Leo to write the entire [first] issue,” Boltinoff said. Rather than create the appearance that one writer had a monopoly of the comic book, Boltinoff had Dorfman use the pseudonyms Geoff Browne and David George on the first two stories in the issue. (The former was inspired by the writer’s son Geoff and his wife’s maiden name Brown.) Boltinoff made a point of matching up artists in that first issue to the genres that represented their strengths. Consequently, Sam Glanzman drew the World War II-based “Ghost In the Iron Coffin,” while Tony DeZuniga illustrated a Western five-pager entitled “The Spectral Coachman.” Jim Aparo, then the regular artist on The Phantom Stranger, was tapped to illustrate

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the opening story (“Death’s Bridegroom”), a gothic chiller wherein two swindlers wandered into a castle filled with a ghostly wedding party. “The whole project was unusual,” former DC Comics president and publisher Paul Levitz tells BACK ISSUE. “Murray rarely launched anything (last book before this that I think he more than nominally launched was Plastic Man, five years and a whole different DC culture before), and didn’t give over anthologies to a single writer. Leo was pretty weary-looking in those years, but he seemed to really connect with this project. He’d had success with Gold Key’s ghost anthologies, and both he and Murray put more life into this run. Murray even got some strong artists into the early issues—guys like Nick Cardy, who rarely worked on the anthologies at that time. Sales were strong— probably Murray’s bestselling mystery book, and Murray usually outsold the other editors in that genre.” Ghosts #1 (Sept.–Oct. 1971) debuted in the midst of a year-long expansion of the DC line that saw the page count of every standard title increased with an attendant price hike from 15 cents to 25 cents. The extra pages in each issue were designated for reprints and Boltinoff found himself drawing on stories originally produced in the 1950s. Tales like those, which tended to dismiss seeming supernatural incidents with plausible explanations, were at odds with Ghosts’ conviction that such things were real. Nonetheless, the editor resisted major revisions, mostly punching up the final panels with more ambiguous dialogue or newly inserted captions like, “Now do you believe in ghosts?” For all the effort invested in the interior, Boltinoff knew that a strong cover image was essential. He selected veteran artist Nick Cardy, whose simple, bold style had been increasingly put to use on DC covers since the late 1960s. On other titles like The Witching Hour or The Unexpected, Cardy’s art mostly stood on its own merits with little or no cover copy. For Ghosts, Boltinoff went to the other extreme, splashing text on the cover with the zeal of a carnival barker. At the top of the cover, the actual title of the comic book was sandwiched in a longer declaration that remained unchanged for 40 issues: “If you don’t believe in ghosts, we challenge you to read true tales of the weird and supernatural!” Meantime, the titles of every new story in the issue were run across the bottom of the cover. Thanks to Cardy’s artistic skill and the stock design that placed the words and pictures on an unrolled scroll, the cumulative effect was quite eyecatching. The scroll backdrop was finally dropped after #15 (June 1973), but Boltinoff maintained a virtual table of contents on most covers until nearly the end of his editorial tenure in 1978. From his perspective, a comic book promoting multiple story titles had greater value to prospective readers. One of the central hooks of the series was its assertion that the stories within its pages were based on real events. Indeed, its original title was “True Ghost Stories” and the indicia for issue #1 contained only the word “Ghost” with conspicuous blank spaces where “True” and “Stories” would have appeared. One presumes the change was a consequence of Gold Key regularly using the “True Ghost Stories” phrase prominently on the covers of Ripley’s Believe or Not, a series for which (not coincidentally) Dorfman also wrote.

FACT OR FICTION? Helping to create the illusion, the typical story employed an authoritative tone, dutifully citing in the

first panel the year a particular ghostly incident took place and recordDorfman and Boltinoff’s formula also included occasional appearing an update in the last, documentary style. (Stories in #73, 76, and ances by recognizable historical figures. Ghosts #1 actually opened 95 even referenced or actually depicted later writers Carl Wessler, with a Tony DeZuniga-illustrated page asserting that Abraham Lincoln, Robert Kanigher, and George Kashdan interviewing eyewitnesses.) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mark Twain had all believed in specters. “What amused me were inquiries from readers regarding the veracity Later stories would feature the likes of Julius Caesar (#22), Napoleon of the stories, which were purportedly true,” Murray Boltinoff Bonaparte (#16), Edgar Allan Poe (#26), Jim Bowie at the remembered. “In some instances, the accounts were genAlamo (#15), Grigori Rasputin and Josef Stalin (#8), uine, and when they were not, they were written in such Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung (#34), Mata Hari (#24), a style and manner as to appear to be real. James Dean (#44), and perennial favorite Adolf Hitler “To make a story seem authentic when I edited (#16, 18, 22, 24). Gang Busters [in the 1950s], I invented a ploy: mix There was a particular fascination with ghost stofact with fiction, and the reader swallows the whole ries linked to the president of the United States, thing as genuine. For instance, a character says, including an astrological-themed text feature (#14), ‘1945 was my best year. The war ended. Hoop Jr. a page of vignettes entitled “The Haunting of the won the Derby. And I met Larry O’Toole.’ The first White House” (#37), and the tale of would-be assastwo really did occur, but the fact about O’Toole is also sin John Schrank’s attempt on Theodore Roosevelt— gulped down. I thought I’d created a clever writer’s because the ghost of President McKinley told him to trick until some time later I read that our governdo it (#61). Abraham Lincoln’s assassination held ment intelligence agents used a similar propaganda special power, with pieces focusing on both his NICK CARDY strategy in World War II.” murderer John Wilkes Booth (#4) and his death train Dorfman possessed a personal library that (#30). Perhaps the most fascinating account was inspired awe in friends and family alike. “There’s enough space for the #21’s “Shadow of Death” and its revelation that the slain leader’s son, door to swing open,” one of the writer’s sons detailed in Superman’s Robert Todd Lincoln, had been on the scene of the subsequent assasPal, Jimmy Olsen #156 (Feb. 1973). “And then you come face-to-face sinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley. Issue #11’s “The Death with tiers of books stacked to the ceiling. Books on space travel, on Circle” documented the eerie fact that, “since 1840, every president oceanography, exploration, history, pre-history, anthropology, medi- voted into office in a year ending in zero … has died in office.” cine. You name it, he’s got it! And all those thousands of books are in [Obviously, that ghastly chain of coincidence came to an end after constant use. My dad’s always thumbing through them to verify some Ronald Reagan—elected in 1980—completed two full terms in office.] fact or scientific twist he’s planning to use in one of his story ideas.” For all the fact-based accounts like those, Boltinoff didn’t necessarMystery Comics Issue

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Super-Spooks! Hey, we thought this was a “Beyond Capes” feature! Seriously, did you know the anthology title occasionally featured continuing characters, and sometimes long-running DC costumed heroes? Jim Aparo cover of #98 (Mar. 1981). TM & © DC Comics.

Gone were the days of documentary-style ghost stories with at least a whiff of credibility. There was no pretense that stories set in an apocalyptic future or involving a haunted videogame (in a Paul Levitz/Adrian Gonzales yarn in #110) were anything but fiction. Still, the break from tradition allowed for experiments like #107’s book-length “Trilogy of the Crown,” three linked Kanigher-written stories that followed a king’s cursed helm from the 13th Century to the present.

THE END OF GHOSTS Nothing could change the fact that the audience for newsstand horror comics had reached unprofitable levels. The last Secrets of Haunted House were disclosed in December of 1981 (leaving a penciled Abel/Batman team-up by Snyder and Bender in limbo) with Ghosts and The Unexpected ending their runs two months later in February. The granddaddy of the horror books— House of Mystery—endured for another 15 months before locking its doors. An era was coming to an end.

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Ghosts #112 (May 1982) displayed some of the seams of the unraveling horror line, notably its final story narrated by Abel that had been left among Secrets of Haunted House’s inventory. But there was also an affectionate text-page farewell by Robin Snyder dedicated to Boltinoff and Dorfman. And the cover—by Dave Manak himself—restored the “You will believe in…” line above the logo for the first time since #104. Retaining its fascination with presidents of the United States to the end, the series included Abraham Lincoln in its last issue just as he’d briefly been in the first. “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” (by Robert Kanigher, Howard Bender, and Ken Landgraf) looked at assassin John Wilkes Booth’s fate in Hell. “Because of this assignment I took a weekend to visit friends in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.,” Bender reveals. “Took a tour of the Ford’s Theatre and used a copy of the program from the Our American Cousin play to paste into the story.” “Having shared in its origin, I felt its eventual demise to be a deep personal loss,” Murray Boltinoff said of Ghosts’ passing in his 1991 essay. Beyond the incongruous science-fiction elements that had worked their way into the series, the veteran editor chalked up the book’s fate to its abandonment of “the mysterioso mood it had taken me years to establish.” “Leo Dorfman and I had such plans,” he declared in 1980’s Comics Journal #53. “Ah, Leo! He was the best of the pros, and I still mourn his passing to this day.” After nearly five decades with DC, Boltinoff effectively retired when the final title he edited (Sgt. Rock) was canceled in 1988. Two years after suffering a stroke, the veteran editor died on March 6, 1994. He was 83. “I once asked Boltinoff to name his best work,” Robin Snyder recalls. “Superman? Challengers [of the Unknown]? Jerry Lewis? His screenplay? Books? What? What? Yes. He chose Ghosts. Murray was a good egg. I still miss him.” While Ghosts “wasn’t a fan favorite (then or in retrospect), it was a disproportionately good seller,” Paul Levitz remarked in the May 29, 2009, edition of Mark Evanier’s “News From Me” blog. “When Leo passed, editor Murray Boltinoff never found a satisfactory replacement, and a lot of the title’s distinctive character faded (ouch).” It’s unlikely that even Ghosts in its original form could have survived the 1980s. With mainstream outlets dwindling, the primary source for comic books was becoming specialty shops whose sales were driven by the popularity of superheroes. But at its peak, Dorfman and Boltinoff’s creation was one of the last newsstand comic-book success stories that owed nothing to hot characters or creators. It sold purely on the basis of an elegantly simple concept: Readers loved ghost stories. Believe it! JOHN WELLS, the so-called Mark Waid of Earth-Two, is a comics historian specializing in DC Comics. He’s written for a variety of publications over the past quarter-century ranging from the Comics Buyer’s Guide to Alter Ego. John recently assisted with Paul Levitz’s 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking.

Underrated Bronze Age Artist

GERRY TALAOC Raps About His Life & Career

A Tantalizing Taste of the Tremendous Talent of Talaoc! Ka-Zar and his kitty, Zabu, take on a pesky Pterosaur in this dynamic painting by our interview subject, Gerry Talaoc! Courtesy of the artist. Wow, indeed. by

Michael Aushenker

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Beginnings: Filipino “komiks” work in 1960s / First work published in US: “Phony Face!” in House of Mystery #205 (Aug. 1972)

Milestones: House of Mystery / Ghosts / The Phantom Stranger / The Unknown Soldier / G.I. Combat / Incredible Hulk / Alpha Flight / Comet Man

Works in Progress: Paintings and commissions

GERRY TALAOC

The Real Deal Filipino artist Gerry Talaoc’s US debut was in the pages of House of Mystery #205 (Aug. 1972), starting off spectacularly with this epic, suspenseful splash page depicting E. Nelson Bridwell’s tale of terror! From the collection of Benton Jew. TM & © DC Comics.

Every BACK ISSUE piece has a backstory, and the one behind finding the artist Gerry Talaoc for my article on The Unknown Soldier for BACK ISSUE #37 is a real doozy. Among the artists of the so-called “Filipino Invasion,” Talaoc was never as big a name as Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, or Tony DeZuñiga, who—with editors Joe Orlando and Carmine Infantino—led the charge to travel to the Philippines in the early 1970s and enlist the South Pacific island nation’s top talents to work for DC Comics for lower page rates than their American counterparts. And yet Talaoc, as a penciler and/or inker, created handsome art for DC Comics (and later Marvel), most notably The Phantom Stranger, various DC horror anthologies, The Incredible Hulk, and, above all, his lengthy run on The Unknown

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Soldier (originally penciling and inking, but later embellishing Dick Ayers’ breakdowns). “Gerry is a very nice guy,” recalls Tony DeZuñiga (who has not been in touch with Talaoc for decades). He tells BACK ISSUE: “Gerry’s a very good craftsman. He was very dependable. You give him a deadline and you don’t have to worry on getting the work. He’s a real pro.” I didn’t know much about Talaoc when I went on a quest to find the artist in early 2007. Even the thorough Filipino Invasion issue of Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon B. Cooke, had little to say biographically on the artist or his whereabouts. To find him, I had to travel all over the world (by Internet, of course). And so, my journey took me from the Philippines—where Elmer cartoonist Gerry Alanguilan led me to Talaoc’s son, Jeremy, who led me back to America—Alaska— where Talaoc lives today as an employee of the City of Juneau. After a phone-number mix-up, I left a voice message on Talaoc’s landline. And then––nothing… …Until several months later, on a radiant August 2007 afternoon, I was at my then-girlfriend’s house in verdant, suburban

Irvine, California (about an hour south of Los Angeles), where I received a phone call. It was Gerry Talaoc. I dropped whatever I was doing to conduct our interview on the spot. After a half-hour’s conversation on Talaoc’s Unknown Soldier experiences, without any solicitation, Gerry graciously offered to create a little something extra special for our article. Six months later, I received a jpeg of a terrific painting of an unmasked Soldier in a trench fending off some potato masher-lobbing Nazis (Talaoc was the first artist to render the Joe Kubert creation sans bandages). The piece was stunning. It was clear that, after about 12 years of

comics-industry dormancy, Gerry Talaoc still had his chops. We teased it on the cover of BACK ISSUE #37 and ran the complete image inside. After the issue came out, I soon discovered that not just myself but a circle of my cartoonist peers were smitten with the Talaoc style. Turns out my BACK ISSUE brudda, writer Jerry Boyd, owns a Talaoc original art page from House of Secrets. Meanwhile, my fellow Cartoon Art Professionals Society members, Anson and Benton Jew, informed me that they had been fans of Talaoc’s work since childhood (coincidentally, like Talaoc, the Los Angeles–based twin brothers happen to be of Filipino descent). “I know Talaoc’s work primarily through the various DC horror anthology comics stories he did in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” says Anson Jew, who has created independent comics and storyboarded the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon. “He was very much like Alex Niño in a lot of ways, but what he seemed to do really well was sinister. For creepy, jerk characters with skulllike faces, you could do no better than Talaoc!” “My first exposure to Talaoc’s work was when I was a preteen kid,” says Benton Jew, a storyboard artist (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) who worked on Wolverine: Agent of Atlas #1. “There was a story in The Secrets of Sinister House #10 called ‘The Cards Never Lie!’ It was a ghost story set in the days of the Mob. I had also seen his work in The Unknown Soldier, as well as his work replacing Jim Aparo on The Phantom Stranger. “Although I didn’t care for his work at first,” Benton continues, “the images in ‘The Cards Never Lie!’ stuck with me. As I got older, and my tastes matured, I gave Talaoc’s work a second look and realized that I was a complete fool! This guy’s work was incredible! Just as Jordi Bernet’s work kind of looked like as if Joe Kubert inked Alex Toth, Talaoc’s work took on some of the best qualities of Frank Robbins work as if inked by Alex Niño!” Count London-based artist Rufus Dayglo (the Tank Mystery Comics Issue

Seeking Answers, Facing Reality Two iconic Talaoc panels from his most beloved DC assignments. (left) The Phantom Stranger, from PS #35 (Mar. 1975), and (above) the Unknown Soldier, from Star Spangled War Stories #183 (Dec. 1974). The latter was Gerry’s debut on that title, which shifted the character from a bandagedfaced hero to this new, grotesque, decidely more horror-inspiring visage. What chills! What thrills! TM & © DC Comics.

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Pinoy Group In describing that label for this photo from his archives, Gerry tells us, “I have no idea why it was called Pinoy Group. It was probably because those gathering were all Filipino artists (Pinoy is a short cut word for Filipinos).” (sitting, front row, left to right): Gerry Talaoc (in black), Rico Rival, Abe Ocampo, Tony Caravana, Victor, Felimon, and Eufronio Cruz. (sitting, second row, left to right) Nestor Leonidez, Manuel Carrillo, Teny Henson, Leandro Martinez, Jess Jodloman, Nestor Redondo, J. Perez, Fred Carrillo, and Orvy Jundis. (standing, left to right) Jose Matucenio, Deonisio Roque, Ernie Guanlao, and Ernie Patricio.

my wife’s aunt. We lived together, like brothers and sisters, with other relatives and friends from both sides. Because of overcrowding in the house (there were 28 heads), I moved to Quezon City, where my cousin lived and, once in a while, I would go back to visit them. One day, I noticed a different look in Ofelia’s eyes when she stared at me. At first, it didn’t bother me until I realized that I wanted to see her frequently. I courted her, and it didn’t take long for her to say “Yes.” I lived with my cousin long enough to finish my schooling and start working, then I proposed to her. I was 30 years old and she was 29 when we got married in 1970. She was a pharmacist by profession and working for the government at the time. I still remember what my father-in-law said, which my wife told me. He was reluctant for me to be her husband because I might have difficulty in raising a family as a comic-book artist. Today, I am proof that an artist can build a family … and a good one. AUSHENKER: You have four children? TALAOC: Three boys and one girl [from oldest to youngest]: Jeremy, Jercho, Sinag, and Jerome. Sinag is our second youngest. She went to a special school and she took 38 academic and athletic medals. Jerome is presently working as a graphic artist for the television studios ABS and CBN in the Philippines. My wife works in elder-care food services. AUSHENKER: How did you arrive at your trademark semi-cartoony drawing style and what do you love most about drawing comics? TALAOC: Honestly, I didn’t realize that my work in comics was semi-cartoony. I thought it was fully realistic … or maybe it’s the influence of my idol, Frank Robbins. I always love doing comics because in every script, there is a challenge—setting up and giving life to a story. The play of panels is very interesting to me and I learned a lot by using references.

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AUSHENKER: Can you talk about life after comics? TALAOC: The years 1992–1993 were when the comics industry broke down in the Philippines. Animation work was on the rise. At this time, I didn’t have comic-book scripts to work on. So I started to learn about animation. In 1993, I began working as a layout and storyboard artist. I went from studio to studio, working in animation until 2005. While working in animation, I was also doing some artwork on the side, such as pinups, black-and-white illustrations, and acrylic paintings. AUSHENKER: What kind of paintings do you create for yourself? TALAOC: Some landscapes, portraits, figure drawings. And I still do some requested comic-book characters. AUSHENKER: It’s kind of ironic, but the entire time you were working for the American comic-book industry, you were living in the Philippines. And only after you left the American comic-book industry did you move to the United States. So when did you relocate here and why? TALAOC: In 2006, my wife and I went to Juneau. We were petitioned by our son, Jercho, who lives in San Jose, California. We moved to Alaska because we were offered a fully-furnished room for free by my brotherin-law. And from there, I started to work as a government employee. I still create art during my days off. AUSHENKER: In terms of Filipino and American comics, what do you feel is the best work of your career? TALAOC: I don’t really recall the best works in term of Filipino comics. It may be because I was in the process of making adjustments with my work. My best work came when I was working in American comics. I would consider The Unknown Soldier my best professional work. It ran longer than all of the titles I worked on and I’m very proud of it. MICHAEL AUSHENKER is a Los Angeles-based writer and cartoonist. His comic books include Cartoon Flophouse featuring Greenblatt the Great!, the El Gato, Crime Mangler series, Those Unstoppable Rogues, and Silly Goose. He is also the writer of Gumby’s Gang Starring Pokey (WildCard Ink). Visit cartoonflophouse.com and read cartoonflophouse.blogspot. com daily.

“It was midnight … a man … a good man … was in trouble … and she appeared! It was as simple as that! She showed a strength that was impossible to believe … removed the man from danger … and then vanished! Nothing more was known about her, except that everyone who saw her agreed that she looked like a huge flower—an orchid—a Black Orchid!” So began the escapades of the mysterious Black Orchid. Bob Oksner’s moody cover for Adventure Comics #428 (Aug. 1973) depicts our heroine perched on a Gothic rooftop, set against the backdrop of a full moon and a bat-filled sky. Below her, a gang of gun-toting criminals peer out a window— unaware that they are about to become her prey. While it’s prominently touted as an origin issue, the true identity of the Black Orchid would remain a puzzler for another 15 years. She was a malleable cypher, with DC seemingly content to let the character shift in and out of stories with no attempt to define her. That is, until a newcomer named Neil Gaiman turned that idea on its head and crafted a new mythology. But before Gaiman could do that—the Black Orchid would have to die.

Shannon E. Riley

TAKING ROOT IN ADVENTURE

Night Flight

Under the guidance of editor Joe Orlando, DC’s long-running Adventure Comics took a brief detour away from traditional superheroics in the early ’70s. Beginning with issue #425 (Dec. 1972), the focus shifted to fantasy and supernatural adventure tales. It likely made good business sense to Orlando, given the success of the company’s other mystery titles following the loosening of the Comics Code. Non-costumed protagonists— like Robert Kanigher’s and Alex Niño’s “Captain Fear,” and John Albano’s and Jim Aparo’s “The Adventurers’ Club”— appeared in the series through issue #427 (May 1973). Making her debut in issues #428–430 (Aug.–Dec. 1973), the Black Orchid brought the costumes back to Adventure, but with a twist of mystery: she was a master of disguise and, in effect, a blank slate. Unique in DC’s stable of characters, her powers were unexplained and even stranger, she left an aromatic orchid as her calling card. The first three stories— “Black Orchid,” “Challenge to the Black Orchid,” and “The Anger of the Black Orchid”—all followed similar arcs in that the heroine would mysteriously

Mystery Comics Issue

We photo manipulated the proportions of this, Gaspar Saladino’s “Black Orchid” logo and Bob Oksner’s bodacious cover image from Adventure Comics #430 (Dec. 1973). TM & © DC Comics.

A Fine Inspiration (left) Black Orchid designer Tony DeZuñiga explains that the costume was inspired by another “black” character, Quality Comics’ the Black Condor, Lou Fine’s Golden Age superhero. TM & © DC Comics.

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appear, save a protagonist, and then shake down crooks by masquerading as an assortment of dancers, waitresses, or femme fatales. As co-creator T o n y

Flower Child (above) Tony DeZuñiga recently created this lyrical image of the sublime Black Orchid

DeZuñiga relates to BACK ISSUE, the Orchid was essentially Orlando’s brainchild—and it was DeZuniga and longtime DC editor/writer/cartoonist Sheldon Mayer who executed the idea. This was the first and only collaboration between Mayer and DeZuñiga, and it was Mayer’s health issues that would indirectly lead to the partnership. Failing eyesight had forced Mayer to abandon his first love of cartooning, and begin scripting stories for DC’s mystery titles. He wrote such tales as “This Evil Demon Loves People!” for House of Mystery #207 (Oct. 1972), “Small Invasion” in House of Secrets #101 (Oct. 1972), and “Death Laughed Last!” for Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #12 (Sept. 1973).

Who’s That Girl? (right) The true identity of our hero is pondered in this nice DeZuñiga panel from Adventure Comics #428 (Aug. 1973). TM & © DC Comics.

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DeZuñiga had left his home in the Philippines in 1969 and ventured to New York City, where he began working for DC under Orlando’s guidance. His first job was as Ric Estrada’s inker on the story “For Love or Money” in Girls’ Love Stories #153 (Aug. 1970), and his first American penciling gig appeared in “Dark City of Doom” in House of Mystery #188 (Oct. 1970). DeZuñiga says, “Joe Orlando, for me—he’s the best editor DC ever had. He gave artists free rein and he recognized every artist’s [strengths].” Anyone familiar with DeZuñiga’s work knows that it exhibits a stunning realism and a strong command of the human form (as evidenced by the pen and ink commissions he did for this article). These traits would be put on full display in his visual interpretation of Mayer’s scripts. DeZuñiga found the most obvious inspiration for the Orchid’s garb from her flower namesake— Cymbidium canaliculatum sparkesii—a plant resplendent with dark black-purple petals and sepals. It was a Golden Age Quality Comics hero that would further serve as a muse for the artist. DeZuñiga tells BI that in brainstorming the design concept, he “read the character description and [recalled that] in the ’40s there was this character called the Black Condor, but [since] that was a male superhero, I took some ideas and revised [it] to a female form. I had fun working on it—I love the character because [she] was beautifully, elegantly designed.” DeZuñiga acknowledges that while the issues didn’t sell that well, she’s fondly remembered by collectors to this day. “Even now, I get a lot of commissions and people still ask me a lot of questions about Black Orchid.”

THINGS GET STRANGER While not successful enough to graduate to her own title, Black Orchid was awarded the backup feature in The Phantom Stranger, starting with issue #31 (July 1974). Mayer and DeZuñiga stayed on as the creative team for the story “Island of Fear,” but this would be their final joint effort on the character. With issue #32 (Sept. 1974), Michael Fleisher and Russell Carley took the scripting reins, with Nestor Redondo handing pencils and inks for “The Crime of the Black Orchid.” The tale sees the Orchid framed by a young couple leading a life of crime. The woman, Myrna, pulls a bank heist in

a Black Orchid costume and fakes the power of flight with a helicopter and winch (don’t ask). Our hero is on the case, though, and her mastery of disguise is on full display. In tracking down her prey, she impersonates no less than four different people: a cigarette girl in a nightclub, a vixen in a sleazy waterfront bar, an old woman selling carnations on a street corner, and finally, Myrna herself! Perhaps the most fun of all the Phantom Stranger backup tales was the three-part “The Legion of the Black Orchid!” Featuring scripts by Fleisher and Carley and artwork by Fred Carrillo, we are introduced to racecar driver and stunt pilot, Ronnie Kuhn, in issue #39 (Nov. 1975). Kuhn is fascinated by the Black Orchid and dresses up as her in a homemade costume. She is shocked to have a woman who she believes to be her idol visit her home, inducting her into the battle against evil. They fly to a secluded hideaway to meet a bevy of lavender-clad beauties—the Legion of the Black Orchid! The Legion consists of five women—Karen Jensen (molecular chemist), Stefanie Tower (astro-physicist), Barbie Henderson (Olympic gymnast and acrobat), Janet Grant (criminologist), and Lisa Patrick (psychologist and martial-arts expert)—who use their own custom inventions to emulate the powers of the Black Orchid. Kuhn is thrilled to be asked to join them and breathlessly accepts. However, as Phantom Stranger #40 (Jan. 1976) reveals, the Legion is not as altruistic as they seem— really, they are setting up Kuhn to help them steal the World Bank’s entire gold bullion reserve. They fake a story about communist agents plotting to “steal the bullion and precipitate a world economic crisis as the prelude to a series of devastating military and diplomatic blows against the United States and Western Europe!” Kuhn’s father is the World Bank president, so she has easy access to the bank blueprints. She brings them to the Legion, thinking that they are going to use the blueprints to gain access to the vaults in order to lay in wait for the communist saboteurs. Kuhn is betrayed by the Legion and bound to the World Bank vault door; a bomb is set to go off within seconds. “Will the Real Black Orchid Please Stand Up?” in issue #41 (Mar. 1976) sees the conclusion to the story as the Black Orchid intervenes, saving Kuhn from certain death. The “real” Orchid had already infiltrated the group, impersonating Lisa Patrick after she left to take a nap. She unleashes her full fury on the women, declaring, “Next time you impersonate me, it’ll have to be in the annual state prison pageant!” More confusion ensues as the police arrive to take away the Legion. An officer assumes that Ronnie Kuhn really is the Black Orchid, thanks her for her service, and vows to keep her identity a secret.

No Fear of Flying

FALSE ORIGINS The very tongue-in-cheek Blue Devil Annual #1 (1985) posited two conflicting origins for our heroine. The issue, written by Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin and penciled by Paris Cullins, features a grab-bag of DC’s mystical and off-beat characters: Madame Xanadu, the Demon, Phantom Stranger, Felix Faust, Man-Bat, the Creeper, and of course—the Blue Devil. As Cohn remembers, “We were playing with a crew of weird and obscure characters … the Creeper was kinda languishing, so were Madame Xanadu and the rest, including Black Orchid. As I recall, we also liked the idea that Black Orchid was such an undefined character.”

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everyone’s first choice to draw this. And she did a beautiful job.” Over the course of the series, Flora journeys into the unconscious mind of Alec Holland in a two-part crossover in issue #5 and Swamp Thing #139 (Jan. 1994), and discovers her true nature as a member of an ancient tribe of female Earth elementals in issue #9 (May 1994). However, it is the final storyline “A Twisted Season,” beginning in issue #17 (Jan. 1995), in which the Black Orchid—after learning of a prophecy foretelling her demise— determines that her ultimate mission is to restore nature’s balance by sowing her seeds around the world. However morally ambiguous she may have been, she now draws a line in the sand, proclaiming “…with their commerce and politics, human beings have changed our field of play. They are a virus. It’s time for an end to the sickness they bring.” Flora becomes unhinged when she learns that her seedlings have been destroyed by humans and environmental disasters. She then begins manipulating thousands into killing each other en masse. Little sister Suzy returns, after having been on her own journey of discovery, growth, and prophecy. Though fearful, Suzy tries to reason with Flora, “…there was a time when … there was just you and me. We … we meant everything to each other. You were different then. You didn’t go around making people kill each other. You said there was already enough of that.” Suzy resists Flora’s attempts to sway her, and Flora turns on her. Ultimately, Flora is defeated by a blast of liquid nitrogen and her frozen body shatters upon hitting the ground. Suzy, meanwhile, experiences a metamorphosis at the time of Flora’s death. Over womblike imagery penciled by Rebecca Guay and inked by Stan Woch, Suzy emotes, “I’m filled with the motherness that [Flora] severed herself from. I’m loaded with the memories that she no longer cared to have.” She goes on, “Identity is fluid. Prophecies make sense at last … for I am no longer just ‘Suzy’ … I am the Black Orchid.” Another death, another rebirth, and yet another identity emerges as the legend continues. Where will she be next? Who will she be? That, my friend, is something only the Black Orchid knows. A heartfelt “thank you” goes out to Tony DeZuñiga, Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, John Ostrander, Karen Berger, Todd Klein, and Tom Peyer for taking the time to share their thoughts and memories. SHANNON E. RILEY has been reading and collecting comics since 1978, when his dad bought him his first book, Detective Comics #475. He is an interactive producer and actor who has appeared on NBC’s Trauma and several Japanese TV shows. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/shannoneriley.

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Animated Orchid

While always a somewhat obscure character, the Black Orchid did end up making enough of an impression on fans to expand her roots outside regular continuity and into the world of TV comics and animation. The floral fury’s first such appearance was in Super Friends #31 (Apr. 1980), which references the in-continuity “Legion of the Black Orchid” storyline from The Phantom Stranger #39–41 (Nov. 1975–Mar. 1976). Scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell and penciled by Ramona Fradon, “How to Trap an Orchid” shows that turnabout is fair play—as our heroine finds herself impersonated by Lisa Patrick, whom the Black Orchid ambushed and masqueraded as to foil a World Bank heist. The faux Orchid runs afoul of Batman and the Wonder Twins in the midst of a diamond robbery, and in her escape, drops an orchid with a moonstone inside. The Caped Crusader quickly deduces Patrick’s identity and also determines that the moonstone is a clue as to where she’ll hit next. Later, Patrick boasts to her gang, “The trap is set! When Black Orchid finds out I’ve impersonated her, she’s bound to come after me—and suffer the penalty for breaking up that World Bank robbery!” While her gang voices their fears of the Justice League getting involved, she scoffs, “With Superman involved, we can be certain he’ll contact the real Black Orchid!” Patrick then (incorrectly) assumes that the Orchid’s ability to fly, deflect bullets, and exhibit superstrength can only mean one thing: that she hails from Krypton! Patrick and her gang then go about setting a kryptonite deathtrap for the Orchid at the Gotham Space Museum. Of course, as with all Super Friends stories—there’s a tidy wrap-up as the true Black Orchid assumes the guise of a museum tour guide, learns of Patrick’s scheme, protects Superman from the kryptonite with a handy force-field, and ultimately flies the deadly stone into the stratosphere where it explodes. She leaves Superman stymied as to how she could have survived the blast. “We still know nothing about you!” the Man of Steel proclaims. “Where do you get your powers? What world do you come from?” As the Orchid departs, she turns to respond, “Would you believe—Earth?” The 2010 Gail Simone-penned “The Mask of Matches Malone!” episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold features a short teaser in which the Black Orchid makes her first full-fledged animated appearance. Batman finds himself in the clutches of the villainous Poison Ivy, about to be eaten by a giant, razor-toothed plant named Georgia. However, the Caped Crusader has an ace up his sleeve. Moments before certain doom, Batman proclaims, “We will stop you, you herbaceous hussy!” “We?” asks Ivy. Retorts Batman, “Yes, me … and the Black Orchid!” Having infiltrated Ivy’s gang of “flower children,” the Black Orchid reveals herself with a green smoke bomb. Silently, she dispatches Poison Ivy’s minions while Batman saves himself from Georgia by way of a carefully hidden explosive device. In a lastditch effort, Ivy ensnares Batman in a vine trap—but she’s knocked out cold by a powerful haymaker courtesy of the Orchid. “Thanks for the assist, Black Orchid,” Batman offers, as he frees himself from the vines. His appreciation falls on deaf ears as our heroine has already made her exit, causing Batman to declare, “Now I know how Commissioner Gordon feels!”

Jarrod Buttery

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characters came to hate each other … which, of course, meant that at sometime in the past, they must’ve nearly loved each other. So, that was the human drama that I had been searching for. It’d been revealed that Madame X. was, in fact, Nimue, the enchantress who had seduced and locked away Merlin so long ago. I took that as my starting point and then added bits and pieces of the existing canon as I saw fit. At some point, she’d apparently played cards with Death to gain her potion-free immortality. Since we were addressing this under the Vertigo banner, it only made sense to portray Death in her incarnation as one of the Endless (and thanks to Neil Gaiman for granting us the opportunity to do so). I also knew that, at some point, I had to have her take up residence or interact with the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan—seeing as how ‘Xanadu’ was the name of his summer palace, and I had to get her named ‘Madame Xanadu’ in some fashion! “Amy was still quite the fledgling artist when we first started this series,” Wagner says. “I set up a pretty big challenge for her, and she just hit it out the park! Truthfully, I think that many more established artists, given the many different time periods and costuming requirements that I demanded, might not have so gracefully achieved what she was able to accomplish.” Amy Reeder embraced the opportunity: “Brandon Montclare was able to sell Bob and Karen on me and Matt decided to take a chance on me! I was given permission to reinvent Madame Xanadu, especially since she worked much better back in the day as a side character. What I tried to pull from those comics was her sense of presence … the mystery and grandeur she created in her home. There are times in my issues where Xanadu is vulnerable, but whenever she is prepared, whenever someone comes to her, I made sure to make it powerful and a bit daunting. “I feel so lucky to have gotten the first stab at reinventing her, to get inside her head instead of just watching her,” Redder contends. “It was a great learning experience, and I’m very proud of the series. I think Matt created a wonderful balance between the old and new, the Vertigo and the DCU. I’m so happy I was a part of it.” When Reeder took a break, the series finally presented Kaluta with the opportunity to pencil Madame Xanadu interiors (issues #11–15, July–Nov. 2009). “My initial aim was to only stay on the book for the first story arc,” Wagner reveals, until Bob Schreck asked, “‘How about if I can get Mike Kaluta to draw the next arc?’ I mean, how could I say no to that?! Not only was Mike the character’s original designer, but I’d been a huge fan of his for years—the chance to collaborate with him like this was something of a dream come true!” Kaluta responds, “I remember a brief ‘hall meeting’ with Karen Berger where I said I was interested in doing interiors—perhaps that started thoughts percolating?” Stuart Hopen admits, “I had been wishing for a Madame Xanadu story with interior Kaluta art for over 30 years. I was not disappointed when I held it at last.” Vertigo’s Madame Xanadu lasted 29 issues before cancellation due to weak sales. “Basically, in that last issue, I cast the character back into the world of the DC Universe and I wouldn’t be surprised if you see other writers starting to use her in guest appearances,” states Wagner. “The book’s ending came off as something of a new beginning.” Kaluta praises the series: “I’m a big fan of Amy Reeder’s art and storytelling! It was a treat to sit back and just enjoy the unfolding of Madame Xanadu’s life; I was constantly surprised but never badly so, and am feeling a bit hollow knowing time will have to pass before her story continues.” The author would like to express his sincere gratitude (and apologies for having to trim so many wonderful reminiscences) to Cary Burkett, Gerry Conway, Scott Edelman, Steve Englehart, Bob Greenberger, Jack C. Harris, Stuart Hopen, Bill Kunkel, Val Mayerik, David Michelinie, Doug Moench, Denny O’Neil, John Ostrander, Amy Reeder, Bob Schreck, Matt Wagner, and, of course, Michael Wm. Kaluta and Cathy Ann Thiele. Thanks also to Pamela Mullin at DC. JARROD BUTTERY has written several articles for BACK ISSUE. He lives in Western Australia with his very own witchy, Gypsy–type woman. He apologizes for disappointing any female fans.

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Withdrawl Symptoms

Lore Shoberg, by his own description, arrived at the offices of DC Comics via a circuitous route, being referred to Joe Orlando because of his “dark” humor illustrations that he’d been providing to National Lampoon. Lore had originally gone to New York City from San Francisco to pursue publication of a children’s book, but while he was seeking that goal, began to try to get

Main image is a slightly photomanipulated page from PLOP! #7 (Oct. 1974), featuring this Lore Shoberg gag. Inset is a recent photo of the multitalented hombre, who now goes by the brand of Loren Orion, pardnah.

Bryan Stroud

any sort of work to keep body and soul together. He ultimately did get a publisher, so his time in comics was brief, beginning with a one-page gag strip for Cain’s Game Room in DC Comics’ House of Mystery #192, (May–June 1971). Lore also scripted two mystery stories during his association with DC in 1971 and 1972. – Bryan Stroud

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