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SIMONSON’S THOR BRONZE AGE THOR NEW GODS • ETERNALS “PRO2PRO” interview with DeFALCO & FRENZ HERCULES • MOONDRAGON exclusive MOORCOCK interview!

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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(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!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Wild West” issue! Jonah Hex examined with FLEISHER, DeZUNIGA, DOMINGUEZ, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GIFFEN, HANNIGAN, plus TRUMAN’s Scout, TRIMPE’s Rawhide Kid, AYERS’ Ghost Rider, DC’s Weird Westerns, the Vigilante’s 1970s revival, and more! Art and commentary by ADAMS, APARO, DIXON, EVANS, KUNKEL, MORROW, NICIEZA, and more. Cover by DeZUNIGA!

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(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Jungle and barbarian” issue! Shanna the She-Devil feature and gallery, JONES and ANDERSON on Ka-Zar, LARRY HAMA interview, Beowulf, Claw the Unconquered, Korg 70,000 B.C., Red Sonja, Rima the Jungle Girl, art and commentary by AZZARELLO, BOYETTE, CHAN, GULACY, KUBERT, MICHELINIE, REDONDO, ROY THOMAS, WINDSOR-SMITH, cover by FRANK CHO!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Spider-Man in the Bronze Age!” Drug issues, resurrection of Green Goblin and Gwen Stacy, Marvel Team-Up, Spectacular Spider-Man, Spidey Super Stories, CBS and Japanese TV shows, Clone Saga, CONWAY, ANDRU, BAGLEY, SAL BUSCEMA, DeFALCO, FINGEROTH, GIL KANE, STAN LEE, LEIBER, MOONEY, ROMITA SR., SALICRUP, SAVIUK, STERN, cover by BOB LARKIN!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Odd Couples!” O’NEIL and ADAMS’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Englehart’s Justice League of America, Daredevil and Black Widow, Power Man and Iron Fist, Vision and Scarlet Witch, Cloak and Dagger, and… Aquaman and Deadman (?!). With AUSTIN, COLAN, CONWAY, COWAN, DILLIN, HOWELL, LEONARDI, SKEATES, and more. New cover by NEAL ADAMS!

(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!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Thrilling Days of Yesteryear!” The final DAVE STEVENS interview, Rocketeer film discussion with DANNY BILSON and PAUL DeMEO, The Phantom, Indiana Jones, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ heroes, Dominic Fortune, Sherlock Holmes, Man-God, Miracle Squad, 3-D Man, Justice, Inc., APARO, CHAYKIN, CLAREMONT, MILLER, VERHEIDEN, and more, Rocketeer cover by DAVE STEVENS!

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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Dead Heroes”! JIM (“Death of Captain Marvel”) STARLIN interview, Deadman after Neal Adams, Jason Todd Robin, the death and resurrection of the Flash, Elektra, the many deaths of Aunt May, art by and/or commentary from APARO, BATES, CONWAY, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GEOFF JOHNS, MILLER, WOLFMAN, and a cosmically cool cover by JIM STARLIN!

(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!

Special 50th Anniversary FULL-COLOR issue ($8.95 price) on “Batman in the Bronze Age!” O’NEIL, ADAMS, and LEVITZ roundtable, praise for “unsung” Batman creators JIM APARO, DAVID V. REED, BOB BROWN, ERNIE CHAN, and JOHN CALNAN, Joker’s Daughter, Batman Family, Nocturna, Dark Knight, art and commentary from BYRNE, COLAN, CONWAY, MOENCH, MILLER, NEWTON, WEIN, and more. APARO cover!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

Bronze Age Mystery Comics! Interviews with BERNIE WRIGHTSON, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, GERRY TALAOC, DC mystery writer LORE SHOBERG, MARK EVANIER and DAN SPIEGLE discuss Scooby-Doo, Charlton chiller anthologies, Black Orchid, Madame Xanadu art and commentary by TONY DeZUNIGA, MIKE KALUTA, VAL MAYERIK, DAVID MICHELINIE, MATT WAGNER, and a rare cover painting by WRIGHTSON!

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Volume 1, Number 53 December 2011 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

COVER ARTIST Walter Simonson COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNERS Michael Kronenberg and John Morrow PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Brian K. Morris Matt Adler Luigi Novi Roger Ash Alan J. Porter Bob Budiansky Jason Shayer Sal Buscema Walter Simonson Jarrod Buttery Anthony Snyder Mike Carlin Roy Thomas Bob Chapman Michael Uslan Gerry Conway Fred Van Lante Tom DeFalco Karen Walker Steve Englehart Len Wein Josh Flanagan John Workman Ron Frenz Gregory Wright Frost Giants Michael Zeno Gemstone Publishing Peter Gillis Grand Comic-Book Database Jackson Guice Jeffrey O. Gustafson P.C. Hamerlinck David Hamilton Heritage Comics Auctions Stan Lee Dr. Paul Levesque Ralph Macchio Marvel Comics Jonathan Miller Michael Moorcock

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 FLASHBACK: The Old Order Changeth! Thor in the Early Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway remember their time in Asgard OFF MY CHEST: Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 The Eternals, Captain Victory, and Hunger Dogs—how Jack Kirby’s gods continued with and without the King FLASHBACK: Moondragon: Goddess in Her Own Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Getting inside the head of this Avenger/Defender FLASHBACK: The Tapestry of Walter Simonson’s Thor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Nearly 30 years later, we’re still talking about Simonson’s Thor—and the visionary and his collaborators remind us why FLASHBACK: Hercules—Prince of Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 In the hands of writer/artist Bob Layton, Marvel’s other god gained an ’80s fan following TIMELINE: Hercules in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 From Marvel’s original Hercules to the Radical Comics hit, a survey of the Son of Zeus’ appearances INTERVIEW: Talking Comics with Michael Moorcock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 The sci-fi master best known for Elric is no stranger to the comics medium PRO2PRO: Thunderstruck!: An Interview with Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz . . . . . . . .66 They thought they’d be doing Daredevil, but this writer/artist team instead followed Simonson on Thor with great gusto BONUS INTERVIEW: Michael Uslan: The Boy Who Loved Batman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 The man who has driven everything from the DC Comicmobile to Batman movies discusses his autobiography BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Our readers speak! 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 Walter Simonson. Thor and related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. 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 the USA. FIRST PRINTING. Gods Issue

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DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

Michael Eury

As if the larger-than-life, homegrown comics characters that have originated since Superman first burst onto the scene weren’t enough, comic-book writers and artists have routinely felt compelled to borrow from ancient myth for heroes and villains. But who can blame them? Greek, Roman, and Norse fables in particular have offered a bountiful idea garden from which creators have harvested time and time again. And so this issue we examine some of the Bronze Age’s greatest gods, starting with our cover star, the Mighty Thor. Three significant eras of the Thunder God’s history are featured in this issue, most notably Walter Simonson’s unforgettable—and frequently reprinted—run from the mid-1980s. Another highlight is the thought-provoking “Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga,” in which writer Jack Abramowitz posits that Jack Kirby’s inventive Fourth World at DC Comics may have been an

expansion of another publisher’s continuity—and may have been continued elsewhere by “the King” after he left DC. Joining those features and articles on Hercules and goddesswannabe Moondragon are exclusive interviews with two mythmakers: sci-fi legend Michael Moorcock and Dark Knight movie producer Michael Uslan, the latter of whom has recently released a page-turner of a biography titled The Boy Who Loved Batman. All in all, this is an issue that should please not only the gods but also our readers. The art on this page, by the way, is detail from an illustration painted by Rafael Lopez Espi and produced for an unspecified European Marvel project. (Special thanks to Heritage Comics Auctions for the scan.) If any of our international readers can identify where this art was printed, please contact me at euryman@gmail.com.

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Karen Walker

“The Man” No More Gerry Conway took the reins of the chariot of the gods after the departure of writer Stan Lee and made Asgard his own! Detail from the cover to Thor #221 (Mar. 1974), by John Buscema and John Romita, Sr. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Gather thee ’round and hear now the tale of how Thor didst travel from the Age of Silver unto the Age of Bronze! Come with us, through the mystic veil of time and space, to that far-off realm known as New York City, where marvels didst abound… The year was 1971, and things were changing at Marvel Comics. Stan Lee had been the head writer at the company for the past decade, only slowly relinquishing titles to others. Now the time had come to let go of another book: Thor, home to Marvel’s Norse God of Thunder and his colorful cast. Lee, along with artist Jack Kirby, had created a fully realized universe for Thor. The book was perhaps second only to Fantastic Four when it came to grand epics and world-building. On writing Thor, Lee says, “The fun thing about Thor was the fact that he, and the other main characters, were gods—not the normal type of comic-book superheroes. The thing I most enjoyed was writing somewhat archaic dialogue for Odin and his cast of characters.” But even though Lee enjoyed writing the title his increased responsibilities at the company required him to let it go. Enter young (he was only 18!) Gerry Conway, who would become Lee’s successor to

the title of Scribe of Asgard. Conway would stay on the book for an impressive four years, from 1971 to 1975 (issues #193–238). He actually wrote more issues of Thor than of Amazing Spider-Man, the Marvel title with which he is most often associated. Conway’s run would form the bridge that would take the son of Odin from one era to the next. Conway describes what he found appealing about the character: “I think the essence of Thor for me was always a contrast between this character of godlike power that becomes human, whether he becomes human in a sense of becoming Don Blake or just becomes empathetic with humans. It’s the same kind of coming down to Earth. I was raised Catholic, and am now very much a lapsed Catholic, but the mythology still speaks to me. The idea of the god made flesh, the god within us, that potentially has its moment.” He mentions that many of the Marvel characters have a messianic streak; the concept of ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ applies to more than just Spider-Man. “Certainly Thor speaks to that in a sense,” Conway says. “Here’s this enormously powerful being who sort of has to restrain himself and become human in order to be a part of our world, and take responsibility for our world.” Gods Issue

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Hammer and Board Published during Marvel’s one-month-only pagecount expansion to 52 pages, writer Gerry Conway’s first issue of Thor, #193 (Nov. 1971), featured guest-star Norrin Radd (that’s the Silver Surfer to you non-cosmic types) in a 34-page epic drawn by the Buscema Bros., John and Sal. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

could. I think the four books he was writing at that FOLLOWING THE MAN time were Spider-Man, FF, Thor, and I believe Silver Conway was eager to take on the book. But how did Surfer, which was probably near the end of its the assignment become his? “Marvel was a run by that point. So I think Silver Surfer fairly small company when I joined it. It was was canceled, and with Thor, he realized publishing about 12–15 titles a month, he couldn’t continue doing [all] three and Stan was writing four of them, titles. So I was next in line because Roy Roy [Thomas] was writing another really didn’t want to do Thor. I don’t three or four of them, and I was think Roy ever felt any connection brought in to write three or four of with that character, because unlike a them. So that was basically the staff! lot of the Marvel characters, he didn’t There were a couple of people who have a precursor in the Golden Age. did one title or two titles—I think And Roy’s greatest affinity was for Gary Friedrich was writing Sgt. Fury, characters that had a precursor in and like that. But it was a very small the comics of the ’40s. Because just staff, so when Stan became the like me, he wanted to write the publisher, and started having more gerry conway comics that he read when he was a responsibilities and at the same time kid! The comics I read when I was a the company was beginning to expand, he wanted to step away from some of the kid were Thor, Spider-Man, and the like.” Thomas was asked if this was an accurate assessment writing he’d been doing. But he wanted to hold on to Spider-Man and Fantastic Four as long as he possibly of the situation. “There may well be something to what Gerry says, despite Thor’s similarity in certain ways to Superman and Captain Marvel, and despite the fact that I very much enjoyed my runs on Thor near the end of my first tenure at Marvel,” Thomas says. Conway was thrilled to get to work on the title. Thor was one of his favorite characters as a youngster and he vividly recalled when Lee and Kirby first introduced Hercules and the Olympian gods. He also greatly enjoyed the “Tales of Asgard” short features that ran in the back of the title from Journey into Mystery #97 (Oct. 1963) through Thor #145 (Oct. 1967). “When Jack [Kirby] started doing these little backup features, in Journey into Mystery, where he would do Marvel versions of the myths, the Norse mythos, it became very rich to me, and I really enjoyed that,” Conway says. “So it was a great opportunity to write a character that I really really liked, with an artist that you couldn’t beat, John Buscema.” No discussion of Thor in the Bronze Age would be complete without acknowledging the tremendous contribution of artist John Buscema. Buscema joined the book when Lee was still writing it, with issue #178 (July 1970)—he would not become the regular artist, however, until #182. He was the artist on the title for the majority of Conway’s run; brother Sal Buscema would step in to pencil issue #214 (Aug. 1973), and Rich Buckler would handle four issues later in the run (#227–230, Sept.–Dec. 1974). Of Buscema, Lee says, “John Buscema was one of the greatest illustrators in comics. He brought a great sense of majesty and power to his illustrations. He also, like the great Jack Kirby, was a masterful storyteller in pictures.” Conway echoes Lee’s sentiment: “John was probably the finest draftsman I ever worked with in comics. And by that I mean he had the greatest grasp of making a comic-book story look as real as a comic-book story should look. He was also a terrific storyteller. You could talk to him about a story for maybe 20, 30 minutes, and he would be able to go off and draw an entire issue based on that conversation, which is what Stan liked about him, and what Roy liked about him, too. He was really good at telling stories and at developing scenes, and making the whole thing look really solid.” Indeed, Buscema’s gift for depicting grand spectacles, whether in fantasy realms such as Asgard or Olympus, or in the far-off reaches of space, was uniquely suited to Thor. It’s well known that Buscema had stated that he didn’t enjoy working on superhero titles, but he did say in an interview with Mark Evanier published in Alter Ego

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#15 (June 2002) that he enjoyed Thor—although it was conditional: “I loved Thor when it was in Asgard. You see, I hate drawing cars and buildings, airplanes, civilians. But when he was up in Asgard, I liked that freedom. I could do any kind of building I wanted to draw. I love drawing horses and I love doing costumes and there’s a tremendous freedom there, which I loved. Once you bring him back to New York, I hated it.” Regardless of how he may have felt about the book, his art was uniformly fantastic. It was the perfect vehicle to convey Thor’s epic-scale adventures. With an outstanding collaborator on board, Conway was set to begin telling new tales of the son of Odin. However, following legend Stan Lee on the title was no the middle of a big Stan Lee epic with Loki taking easy task. “I was very self-conscious following Stan on over Asgard. After wrapping that up, Conway’s early Thor; actually, on everything that I followed him on,” stories would continue to have that Lee influence, Conway says. “Because he was the Guy, you know? as he (via Odin) would split up his cast, with Thor Although I do think he had peaked a few years and his Asgardian companions, the Warriors before I arrived on the scene, he still was Three, off on a quest to the Well at the so elegant at how he did it. Nobody World’s End, while Sif and Asgardian could boil a story down to its essence goddess Hildegarde are sent to the the way Stan could. Like Joe Kubert, mysterious Blackworld. who managed to refine his art to where Hildegarde was new addition to the he could convey a character with just a cast. “[She] was probably one of my few strokes of his brush, Stan could do more absurd characters,” Conway says the same with his writing. I felt his best with a laugh, “but I liked the idea of material was circa ’66,’67, ’68, but he [a friend for] Sif—here was this female, was still just an awesome presence in the and she didn’t have any female friends, field. When I came in my primary goal you know? She didn’t have anybody was to emulate his work and try to that she hung out with. I thought, make it as seamless a transition as I ‘Who’s the kind of person who would john buscema could. That’s really how I saw myself be an appropriate pal for her?’ And and my role at Marvel, was to sort of then I had just read or watched be invisible, at least initially, so that there was like this some take on the Rings cycle, and I had this notion of seamless blending from one writer to the next.” a big Viking woman, this big massive Viking woman, This is evident in his first year on Thor. Conway would and Sif was not that woman! So then it was, ‘Give her begin his first issue, #193 (Nov. 1971), smack-dab in a pal, a big Viking woman, and see where that goes!’”

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When Dies the Immortal! (left) The malevolent Mangog is mighty sore at the Thunder God on the John Romita–drawn cover to issue #197 (Mar. 1972)—so angry that he offs Odin, as the splash to the following issue (above) shows. Original John Buscema/ Vince Colletta art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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That’s One Big Ego! Penciler Rich Buckler is in fine form on this page featuring a ticked-off Living Planet— as well as Hercules—from Thor #227 (Sept. 1974). Inks by Joe Sinnott. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

have designed the new herald, Conway says that he believes he came up with the design himself. Although overall pleased with the look, he is somewhat scornful about what he calls “the flaming Q-tip,” a.k.a. Firelord’s staff. “I can guarantee you neither John [Buscema nor John Romita] would have done the flaming Q-tip! It’s such a dumb idea!” But despite Conway’s misgivings regarding the staff, Firelord had a very eye-catching appearance, with his red, yellow, and orange costume, and flaming head of hair— a characteristic that Conway would carry over to DC Comics when he created Firestorm. The tempestuous herald would stay on as a supporting character for many more issues.

CONWAY’S CONCLUSIONS

In his fourth and final year on Thor, Odin would mysteriously disappear from Asgard and begin a mortal life; in Odin’s absence, Loki would invade Earth; and to make things more complicated, Conway would reintroduce a dying Jane Foster, Thor’s human girlfriend who had been written out of the title back in issue #136 (Jan. 1967) during Lee’s run.

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Thor’s romantic interest would suddenly (and almost callously) jump from Sif to Jane. Ultimately, Sif would sacrifice her own life for Jane, by giving the mortal woman her essence in issue #236 (June 1975). Why was Jane brought back and Sif written out? Conway responds, “I think that part of it was that I was starting to get a little bored. I think there was some pressure, maybe, to bring the story down to Earth a bit more. I don’t know. I can’t honestly answer that question because I think maybe one of the other issues was that I couldn’t come up with some way to make Sif interesting for me." When asked if Sif was the Gwen Stacy of Thor, Conway says with a sheepish laugh, “Yeah, you know, that’s kind of what I was going to say, but I felt that might be kind of cold. She was perfect, and as such, that’s not very interesting. I don’t think that Jane Foster was that much more interesting, it was just simply a convenient tool that I used. But I don’t really think I had it thought through very far. I could never make the sparks fly between Thor and Sif, as far as I could tell. That’s kind of why, I guess, I wrote in a buddy for Sif to hang out with. And maybe some nostalgic impulse on my part wanted me to bring Jane Foster back into the book so it could be like when I read it when I was a kid. But you know, that wasn’t really gonna work.” After nearly four years writing Thor and with 46 issues to his credit, Conway was ready to move on: “I think I probably just got to the point where I was tired—I wanted to do something else. But I also was leaving a lot of things at Marvel at that point, too.” By the middle of 1975, Conway would go to work for DC Comics, where he would write a variety of titles (just as he had at Marvel). Gerry Conway skillfully shepherded Thor from the Lee/ Kirby era into the modern Marvel Age. Thor continued to be a title for big ideas and grand adventures; but under Conway’s guiding hand, it also saw the growth of relationships and personalities. He paid homage to the past without mindlessly aping it. Likewise, on the art front, John Buscema continued to give Thor the feeling of grandeur and otherworldliness it had always possessed, but in his own unique style. Together, the two men retained the elements of the book that defined it, while skillfully expanding Thor’s universe in ways that still have an impact today. Thanks to Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and especially Gerry Conway, for sharing their time and memories. KAREN WALKER hasn’t met a ’70s comic she didn’t like. Besides being a frequent contributor to BACK ISSUE, she’s also half of the team (with Doug Wadley) that produces www.bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com.

Jack Abramowitz

Fourth World Forever From the archives of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), this Jack Kirby tribute was inked in 1994 by David Roach, working from a lightboxed photocopy of Kirby New Gods pencils from 1978. New Gods TM & © DC Comics.

Just imagine. In the 1960s, the name “Jack Kirby” was synonymous with Marvel Comics to a degree rivaled only by Stan Lee himself. Kirby had created or co-created such Marvel mainstays as Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Silver Surfer, and literally scores of others. But the Lee/Kirby relationship was strained and in 1970, Kirby left Marvel for DC, where he had previously originated such characters as Manhunter, the Boy Commandos, the Newsboy Legion, and the Challengers of the Unknown. If you weren’t around in those pre–Internet days, you can scarcely comprehend the excitement generated by Kirby’s departure for DC after more than a decade. “Kirby’s Coming,” we were informed, but it was anybody’s guess what he would do when he arrived. In typical Kirby fashion, what the King did was truly unexpected. He created from scratch an entire self-contained mythos with one foot in the DC Universe. This mythos has come to be known as Kirby’s “Fourth World.” (This name came from an enigmatic banner

on DC’s New Gods #4 (Aug.–Sept. 1971), the exact meaning of which is still debated today. Since it appeared on the fourth issue, perhaps it was meant to refer to the issue itself.) There were, appropriately enough, four series under the aegis of the “Fourth World” saga. New Gods was the flagship title, chronicling the struggles between two races of hyper-advanced “gods,” our heroes of New Genesis and their antagonists from Apokolips. Forever People told the tale of several young, hippie-like “gods” on Earth. Mister Miracle was the story of escape artist Scott Free, the son of Highfather Izaya, ruler of New Genesis. Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen was the odd man out; firmly grounded in the DC Universe, this series featured the return of Kirby creations the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion, but also introduced such key components in the Fourth World mythos as the ultimate villain, Darkseid (in Jimmy Olsen #134, Dec. 1970). Here, we will deal primarily with the core title, New Gods, and its heirs apparent once Kirby and DC parted ways. Gods Issue

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Shout It from the Rooftops… …Kirby is coming! A DC house ad touts Jack Kirby’s 1970 jump from Marvel to DC. TM & © DC Comics.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN The original New Gods series begins with a brief lesson in the history of the gods. “There came a time when the Old Gods died,” we are told. Who are these Old Gods? Might they be the gods of Marvel’s Asgard, whose adventures Kirby had previously chronicled in Thor? From the fact that the first two pages are entitled “Epilogue,” it certainly seems that this sequence was intended as a postscript to something else. The text continues, “The brave died with the cunning.” Might that refer to Balder (known in Marvel’s Thor as “Balder the Brave”) and Loki, the trickster god? Sure enough, according to the title page of New Gods #7 (Feb.–Mar. 1972), there was a noble Old God named “Balduur” as well as a “cunning and evil … sorceress.” (Amora the Enchantress, perhaps?) The ensuing description details the fall of the Old Gods and how the final combat led to their homeworld being torn asunder. From the ashes of the old world, there arose two new ones: Apokolips, a world of darkness and despair, and New Genesis, a planet of light and hope. The downfall of the Old Gods was presumably Ragnarok, long feared by Marvel’s Norse pantheon. In fact, on the text page of the first issue of 1984’s New Gods reprint series, Mark Evanier stated outright that “it began with the day the Old Gods died … Ragnarok.” To bolster the theory that New Gods picks up where Thor leaves off, we need turn no further than the backup tale in Forever People #5 (Oct.–Nov. 1971). In this story, introducing a minor New God named Lonar, we are taken to one of the few places in New Genesis where one might find relics left from the Old Gods. Lonar examines the remains of this once-proud race and laments, “Born and bred to violence! Thus, they died!” As he makes this declaration, he holds in his hand a winged helmet not unlike one worn by a certain God of Thunder.

Were DC’s “Old Gods” Marvel’s Asgardians? (left) There was a godly ruckus in Thor #177 (June 1970) as Kirby was packing his bags to vacate the House of Ideas. (right) Writer Jack Abromowitz wonders if New Gods #1’s “Old Gods” were Thor’s Norse deities. Thor © Marvel Characters, Inc. New Gods TM & © DC Comics.

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A final support of this hypothesis, in New Gods #1, page 17, we are told that “when the Old Gods died, their bridge to Earth was destroyed.” While the New Gods traveled to Earth via “Boom Tubes,” the gods of Marvel’s Asgard commuted via Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge. Many others have picked up on Kirby’s broad hints connecting DC’s New Gods to his work on Marvel’s Thor. See, for example, the Old God named Lokee in 1989’s New Gods #7. Also, the joint Marvel/ DC Amalgam Comics merged Thor and New Gods continuities in Thorion of the New Asgods (1997). From the fact that Kirby so closely ties his New Gods to his Old Gods, we can easily extrapolate that he likewise might have linked later pantheons in the same chain.

A NEW GODS RECAP Returning to New Gods #1 (Feb.–Mar. 1971), we are introduced to Orion. While New Gods is ostensibly an ensemble title, Orion really is the main player; his name and image are the only ones on the cover of the series’ premiere. We also meet Orion’s friend Lightray, the scientist Metron, and Izaya, ruler of New Genesis. Izaya consults “the Source” through a wall on which the image of disembodied hand leaves cryptic messages, not unlike the writing on the wall in the biblical book of Daniel. The Source dispatches Orion on a mission to Apokolips and Earth. In issue #2, Orion, finding himself among humans, adopts the none-too-subtle alias of “O’Ryan” and takes it upon himself to protect humans whom Darkseid, lord of Apokolips, has targeted as potentially holding pieces of the Anti-Life Equation he seeks. New Gods #3 (June–July 1971) introduces us to the Black Racer, the New Gods’ avatar of death. An armored figure on skis is an odd choice for a grim reaper, but keep in mind that Kirby also co-created a silver-plated messiah figure on a surfboard. In issue #5, we catch our first glimpse of the mysterious Promethean Giants. We don’t know much about these silent, gargantuan beings, but we can infer that they are knowledge seekers from the fact that they were chained alive to “fragments of the devices they used in their attempts to smash the final barrier.” These beings were also incredibly long-lived, “taking a billion Earth years to feel one heartbeat.” (We’ll come back to them.) New Gods #7 may be the most significant issue, as it reveals that Orion is the biological son of Darkseid, raised on New Genesis as part of a pact in which the rulers of the rival planets exchanged sons. Orion uses his Mother Box technology to disguise his Apokoliptian features, a fact revealed to Lightray in this story. (Similarities have been noted between New Gods and Star Wars: the Source and the Force, Darkseid and Darth Vader, heroes who are the sons of the villains, etc. Detractors did not always notice that Kirby preceded George Lucas by several years.) Forager, a.k.a. “the Bug,” was introduced in the ninth issue. Though indigenous to New Genesis, his insectoid race is deemed inferior and parasitic. Forager himself, however, is perfectly human in form; he is said to be a New God himself but his biography is never explored. The final issue of the original series featured a story entitled “Darkseid and Sons,” in which we learn that Kalibak, Darkseid’s brutish enforcer, is, like Orion, that dark god’s son. Their battle attracts the attention of the Black Racer, who whisks away Kalibak. The series ends abruptly with Orion vowing to take the battle to his father. New Gods and Forever People were each canceled after 11 issues. Mister Miracle hung in through #18. Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen changed format with #149,

after 15 issues of Kirby Fourth World material (#140 was a reprint issue featuring Nightwing and Flamebird adventures); the series would become Superman Family with issue #164. Kirby would go on to create such DC titles as Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth; OMAC: One Man Army Corps; The Demon, and a new incarnation of The Sandman. In 1976, he would return to Marvel.

Return of the New Gods

DC WITHOUT KIRBY: RETURN OF THE NEW GODS First Issue Special was a tryout title in the spirit of Showcase. Unlike Showcase, only one series that debuted in First Issue Special could truly be considered successfully launched: Mike Grell’s Warlord. Kirby himself introduced several concepts in the series, including Atlas, the Dingbats of Danger Street, and a new Manhunter. Sadly, he had already departed for Marvel by the time DC unveiled “Return of the New Gods” in First Issue Special #13 (Apr. 1976). Instead, the tale was crafted by Gerry Conway, Denny O’Neil, and Mike Vosburg (with a Dick Giordano cover)—talented creators all, but following Kirby on New Gods is a tall order for anyone.

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First Issue Special #13 (Apr. 1976) launched a valiant but unsuccessful effort to fill Kirby’s shoes. Cover by Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

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Deadly Darkseid From Heritage’s archives hails this unpublished version of a page from Kirby’s Hunger Dogs graphic novel, his return to (and conclusion of) his New Gods saga for DC. This page was inked by Mike Royer, but its variation in print was re-inked by Greg Theakston to accommodate print demands caused by the graphic novel’s page dimensions. New Gods TM & © DC Comics.

KIRBY AND DC, TOGETHER AGAIN: THE HUNGER DOGS

New Gods TM & © DC Comics.

In 1984, Kirby and DC Comics did something unprecedented and possibly unique: they reprinted the unfinished New Gods saga with an all-new conclusion by the original creator. The original series lasted 11 issues. The reprint series (technically New Gods vol. 2) covered two of the originals in each of six issues so that #6 included the final issue of the original and the new conclusion. The story picks up where we left Orion: gunning for Darkseid. He has learned that his mother, Tigra, is alive and Darkseid’s prisoner. Despite Lightray’s warning that it may be a trap, Orion presses on. Meanwhile, Darkseid has been busy resurrecting henchmen obliterated in the original series and experiences some trouble restoring their personalities. Orion finds his mother, but he is riddled by Darkseid’s army and he falls into a fire pit. The soldiers are convinced no one could survive the plummet, but Darkseid is not so sure. Thus endeth New Gods. Close curtain.

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But, wait! There’s more! The inside back cover promises an exciting sequel in graphic novel form: The Hunger Dogs. DC Graphic Novel #4, a.k.a. The Hunger Dogs, follows on the heels of Kirby’s new conclusion. The “dogs” of title refer to the masses of Apokolips, who in this tale are revolting against their master, Darkseid. Orion, of course, revives from his wounds and teams up with Himon (formerly of Mister Miracle) and his daughter Bekka (a new character). Also prominently featured is Lonar, wearing the helmet he acquired in Forever People #5, which is immediately recognized by Highfather as “trappings of the elder gods.” (Lonar’s death in the post–Kirby New Gods #15 poses no impediment as we have returned to New Gods #11 and gone in a different direction.) In a stunning, photographic two-page spread, Highfather resorts to drastic methods to escape from Darkseid’s machinations. The series ends with a very definitive conclusion. Of course, being comics, this would not be the end of the New Gods’ story. They would return in Legends, in Cosmic Odyssey, and even in Super Powers by Kirby himself. (Actually, Kirby’s first Super Powers series appeared in 1984, before The Hunger Dogs. However, this toy tie-in series is decidedly non-canon.) While the events of The Hunger Dogs appear to be out of mainstream DC continuity, that’s not to say that they lack impact. For example, Bekka, introduced in the graphic novel, remains in continuity and featured prominently in Superman/ Batman #37–42 (2007–2008). On the other hand, Jezebelle, the only “New God” introduced in DC’s first, abortive revival, was quickly dispatched by Kirby protégé Mark Evanier in the first issue of his 1989 New Gods series. So, what is it about New Gods? One can’t suggest that Kirby was recycling themes due to a lack of ideas, as his output over decades demonstrates no shortage of inspiration. Rather, it’s that these concepts are simply too big to contain. Superman and Batman may be iconic, but the New Gods are nothing less than mythic. JACK ABRAMOWITZ is a writer and an avid comics reader who apparently has too much time on his hands. He wishes he had been born rich rather than good-looking.

Jonathan Miller

Superheroes are often said to be modern myths, our society’s equivalent of the legends, folklore, tall tales, and even religious beliefs that mankind has created and fostered throughout its history. Both classical mythology and religion have been sources for myriad comic-book characters and story concepts, from the Ancient Greek gods and heroes that gave rise to modern interpretations and derivations such as Marvel’s Hercules and DC’s Wonder Woman, to the innumerable Faustian villains taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition—Marvel’s Mephisto, DC’s Lord Satannus, and, well, Satan, who’s reared his horned head many a time in many a comic. So, too, thanks especially to Jack Kirby, there have been many “gods” that sprang almost whole cloth from the fertile imaginations of their creators, often based as much in the tradition of science fiction as in that of any religion. Often the term “god” was rather loosely applied, some of them less powerful than the many superpowered mortals that populate comics, but there is one in particular who stands out for her divinity being mainly a product of her own contention: Moondragon.

THE AVENGERS’ “NON-MANTIS” Mostly associated with Marvel’s Avengers and Defenders series, Moondragon made her first striking appearance in Iron Man #54 (Jan. 1973), by the legendary Bill Everett, with Mike Friedrich and artists George Tuska and Vince Colletta. Her origin, first told in Daredevil #105 (Nov. 1973), “Menace From the Moons of Saturn,” relates how she was born Heather Douglas, apparently orphaned as a child by the mad god Thanos (actually an alien) and subsequently taken to the moon Titan by Thanos’ father, Mentor, where she was raised by the monks of Shao-Lom. Here she developed her mind and body to perfection, thereafter not only a formidable martial artist and advanced geneticist, but also possessing superhuman mental powers including telepathy and the ability to deliver crippling mental pain to opponents with her “brain blasts.” In her early appearances, her principal motivation was to oppose Thanos, who worshiped death, and she pursued that agenda in her guest appearances in Captain Marvel and The Avengers. Moondragon joined the cast of the Avengers unofficially in #133 (Mar. 1975), during the “Celestial Madonna” saga, and was formally offered membership with #137 (July 1975). She replaced the iconoclastic Mantis, the focus of the “Celestial Madonna” storyline and ultimately named as such. It had been revealed in Giant-Size Avengers #4 that the two women had strikingly similar backgrounds, both products of attempts by renegade religious sects of the alien Kree to produce a candidate for Celestial Madonna and so raised to be goddesses. The end of a long story that had also offered the Scarlet Witch and dark-horse candidate Agatha Harkness as possibilities,

Mind Games Detail from the cover of Marvel Two-in-One #62 (Apr. 1980), with Moondragon’s mentalmashing of the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing. Art by George Pérez and Joe Sinnott. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“Madame McEvil”??? (left) Moondragon’s origin was revealed in Daredevil #105 (Nov. 1973). Cover by John Romita, Sr. and Mike Esposito. (right) She signs up for duty with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #137 (July 1975). Cover by Romita. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

the revelation that Mantis was the Celestial Madonna rendered Moondragon’s role in the story somewhat superfluous. As she observes, “I seem both intimately involved in this story and yet ignored by it.” Then-Avengers scribe Steve Englehart discusses his reasons for adding her to the cast: “I put her on the team because [along with] adding the Beast and Hellcat, I felt I needed someone very different from those happy-go-lucky kids. She also was the non-Mantis, in that she was passed over for Celestial Madonnahood [sic], and that worked after Mantis’ tenure. Moreover, she felt dissed that she was passed over because she’d been raised to be a goddess, so she could play off Thor quite well. Bottom line, she sort of came into my thinking by a process of balance, but the more I thought about her, the more she fit in in unexpected ways. She had real reasons for being involved with the Avengers, and yet she would never reciprocate or grow from them, and never felt that she should. She kept herself pure and outside— a goddess in her own mind—the exact opposite of Mantis.” In a narrative sense, Moondragon served almost as a rebuttal to Mantis. Whereas Mantis was a sexual provocateur, Moondragon was almost a prude, mocking Iron Man’s perceived flirting and constantly needling Thor. She seemed aware of her attractiveness, but disinclined to pursue any involvement. If her bickering with Thor represented any sexual tension, Englehart intended it to be entirely one-sided: “I don’t think Thor felt much toward her—who could?—but she felt he was worthy of her and that worked as ‘romance’ in her mind. Let me be clear about that: She was not a romantic, not interested in romance, but insofar as she felt a normal woman’s urges, Thor was the (possibly only) man she could imagine a relationship with. If such a relationship had come to pass, she would have lived it as a confederation of equals, not as a romantic duo.” It wasn’t anything to do with sex, but her air of superiority that provoked animosity from the rest of the team, though. After she confronts Thor with the disparity between him and the rest of the team, questioning why he, a god, surrounded himself with mortals, he decides to leave the team as of Avengers #150 (Aug. 1976) and Moondragon departs as well in the following issue. Initially described as a priestess and still physically mortal, she had come to assert that she was a “goddess of the mind” and her power was formidable enough to challenge many others who laid claim to godhood, including Thor himself, as she later would.

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As to the veracity of her claim, there is little consensus on this point. Peter Gillis, writer of The Defenders, observes, “Well, part of Heather Douglas’ whole problem was that, though an Earthwoman, she grew up with and palled around with gods and goddesses—or at least Eternals. Her arrogance was at least partly due to doubt and insufficiency; her power couldn’t erase her status. There were two aspects of referring to herself as a goddess: 1) to convince herself, and 2) to say, ‘I dare you to prove I’m not one!’” Dr. Paul Levesque, Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Comparative Religion at California State University Fullerton, offers some examples of belief systems that recognize the possibility of humanity achieving divinity: “Latter-Day Saints teach that, having met the right conditions, a man can become a god of another world. So, they are humans who become gods. God the Father was once a man like us (from another world) and became god of this world,” and “Eastern Orthodox Christianity teaches ‘theosis,’ which is the process of becoming deified. This is not a teaching in Western Christianity (Catholicism or Protestantism).” Further, Levesque points out that godhood does not necessarily require consensus, although seeking worship would provide a motivation for the character’s continual reiteration of her claim to divinity. “From a sociological point of view, a god needs worshipers in order to be a god. However, from a theological perspective, religious people would assert that their god is a god, even if people don’t worship him/her/it. In Hinduism, the Trimurti consists of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (sustainer [sic]), and Shiva (destroyer). Almost no one is devoted to the worship of Brahma, but he is still a god.” Englehart readily embraces the possibility: “Well, is Mantis a goddess? She was mortal, too. I think, in my Marvel Universe, people can change. Remember Jane Foster, who gave it the old college try and failed—but it was a possibility, as I understood Stan [Lee]. That said, insofar as I took her, her claims [of godhood] were definitely unproven—which isn’t to say they weren’t true—but it would have been interesting to have her become Thor’s consort, or even good friend, and go to Asgard. What would those gods have made of her? It would have been fun to see that.” Although when Moondragon eventually made it to Asgard, it was under decidedly less pleasant circumstances than Englehart had envisioned.

THE KORVAC SAGA A turning point in her characterization came courtesy of writer Jim Shooter during the Korvac Saga, spanning Avengers #167–177 (Jan.–Nov. 1978), when she used her power on Quicksilver because of the intolerance he was displaying. Some readers—and I think that includes later writers—have interpreted this act as invasive and unjustifiable, equivalent to mind control, but a careful reading of it suggests that she did not alter his thinking so much as use her power to expand his perceptions, and thus enlighten him. It doesn’t seem that she forcibly changed his opinions so much as educated him, allowing him to reach better understanding and essentially giving him a gift, albeit without his consent or participation. It was kind of a “teaching moment” for her. Unfortunately, this laid the groundwork for Shooter to use her as a plot device to re-order the group in #211 (“By Force of Mind,” Sept. 1981), in which she mentally coerces various Marvel heroes to audition, uninvited, for Avengers membership. Her motivation seemed thin, but it established her as being somewhat Machiavellian, so much so that Shooter transforms her into an opponent for the Avengers in #219–220 (May–June 1982). During Steve Englehart’s run on the book, she was wellestablished as being superior and rather condescending, but she was also heroic and respectful, for the most part, of the Avengers, even if she didn’t consider them her equals. Following the Avengers’ conflict with her, which stemmed from her mental domination of an entire planet and during which she directed lethal force against her own father, who had long since been resurrected as the superhumanly powerful but intellectually and emotionally unstable Drax the Destroyer, Thor did indeed take Moondragon to Asgard to face judgment before Odin. The God of Thunder was particularly aggrieved because Moondragon had subjugated his will and forcibly seduced him. Moondragon had seemed especially noble during the finale of the Korvac Saga, when she alone perceived that everything was not as black and white as it appeared, and Michael/Korvac actually had had noble intentions, aspiring to control the universe under a benign autocracy. The fact that he and his mate Karina didn’t want to live without each other (thereby making them sympathetic) and that he restored all the heroes to life as his last act supported the perception of him being noble, but it’s left open to interpretation whether it’s Moondragon’s obsession with godhood—her predilection for seeing superior beings as occupying a different place in the scheme of things—that made her view this as a tragedy, or it genuinely was one. If the latter, Moondragon is painted as a kind of tragic figure, and that’s certainly the way it looked at the end of #177, but Shooter’s later recasting of her in the role of antagonist suggests she’s just a power groupie.

Rude with a ’Tude While her arrogance tested her teammates’ tolerance, Moondragon could at times display loyalty to her fellow heroes. Panels from The Avengers #149 (top) and #151 (center and bottom), by the team of Steve Englehart and George Pérez, with inks by Sam Grainger (#149) and John Tartaglione (#151). © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Bald and Beautiful Moondragon, actress Persis Khambatta, and singer Sinead O’Connor. Conquest: Quasar, the pair are partners in warfare as well as romance, and their love endures even when Moondragon is turned into an actual dragon, altering by necessity, one assumes, the way they relate to one another physically. Throughout, Moondragon is devoted, straightforward, and unassuming—in short, she bears almost no resemblance to the character of earlier decades. No resemblance, that is, except in one crucial regard.

TURNING HEADS If being a woman worked against her in the world of comics, Moondragon had another obvious strike against her due to her noticeable departure from the visual paradigm for female comics characters: she was bald. Her physical appearance seemed contradictory. On the one hand, her costume was pretty revealing for the time; on the other hand, she has no hair, traditionally a key element of feminine attractiveness. While Englehart maintains, “I rather liked the fact that she was sexy-looking but not sexy—and though you’re right about hair and femininity, I liked her look.” It’s impossible to ignore the societal stigma against bald women, which certainly would have been firmly in place © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Continuing to Make Headway (above) Moondragon appears in Quasar #26 (Sept. 1991). Cover by Dave Hoover, whom we’re sorry to report passed away in early September of this year. (right) A shocking appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy #22 (Mar. 2010). Cover by Alex Garner. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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in 1973, raising the question of whether Moondragon’s physical appearance helped determine how her writers envisioned her on other levels. After all, despite the lofty artistic aspirations of many creators, the comic-book industry’s roots will always be traceable, at least in part, to children’s entertainment, a central device of which has traditionally been to portray heroes as beautiful and perfect and villains as unattractive or ugly. Moondragon’s character arc in The Avengers is closely paralleled by that of Dr. Druid, an intellectual and powerful man who nevertheless fails to exemplify the preferred physical attributes of male comic-book heroes; he is also bald-headed, and additionally, if not quite overweight, his build is far from the lean, athletic physique of virtually every other male hero. He also, begins his career with the Avengers as an ally, but ultimately proves to be untrustworthy, having used subterfuge and mindcontrol to wrest control of the team. Sexual attractiveness, however, is a more central component of female comic-book character than it is of men, and the limitations of what’s perceived as acceptable in that regard more stringently defined for women in general. Indian actress Persis Khambatta made headlines for being the first bald female movie star in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, whereas Patrick Stewart’s lack of hair was a non-issue when he headed up the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation just a few years later. Similarly, almost a decade later, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor gained added notoriety for shaving her head, but the uproar that a woman appearing in public without hair causes is best illustrated by the episode of the television program Seinfeld that originally aired on Feb. 9, 1995 (“The Beard”), in which Jason Alexander’s “George” character, after donning a hairpiece to disguise his baldness, expresses his shock and dismay upon discovering that the woman he’s on a date with is herself bald. O’Connor has given her reasons for shaving her head as being to defy the expectation of how women should look (Patrick Baron, “The Bald Truth,” London’s The Guardian, Feb. 20, 2007), but neither she nor Khambatta merited even a mention in Kerry Segrave’s Baldness: A Social History (McFarland and Co., 1996), which hardly discussed baldness in women at all, and indicator of just how marginalized it is. By the simple act of shaving her head, which was in keeping with the religious traditions of the monks who raised her, Moondragon may have determined how her character, sexuality, and place in the universe would develop. Put another way, her creators, probably having no grand design in mind for Iron Man’s opponent of the month, by placing her so far beyond the pale of concurrent notions of American womanhood, set her on a path to become a truly groundbreaking character. As a devout atheist, JONATHAN MILLER feels Moondragon’s claim to divinity are as plausible as any.

The Marvel Comics version of Thor was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who endowed the denizens of Norse myth with superheroic trappings. However, if you ask fans and comics professionals which creator they most closely associate with Thor, the name of Walter Simonson will in all likelihood top the list. Simonson’s classic run on Thor, beginning with issue #337, tied Thor more closely to his mythic roots than ever before, introduced the popular character Beta Ray Bill, and defined Thor and the denizens of Asgard for a generation of readers.

RAINBOW BRIDGE TO THE BRONZE AGE

Roger Ash

But that is not where Simonson first encountered Thor (and, no, I don’t mean the partial Annual he drew in college, although we will get to that). Simonson’s first published work on Thor was in issues #260–271, which were written and edited by Len Wein, with inks mostly by Tony DeZuniga (with Joe Sinnott on a few issues). What made Simonson the right artist to take over the book? “His energy,” says Len Wein. “Walter went from one kind of artist to a second kind. When he first started out, his work was extremely meticulous and very slow. By the time he was doing Thor, he could pencil the entire book in four days. He was always a great artist, but he changed his style and with it, changed his capacity for production. He was a buddy of mine—we were neighbors. I loved the idea of working with him on Thor.” According to Simonson, “At that time, I was doing layouts rather than full pencils. It was being done Marvelstyle, so Len would give me a plot and walter simonson I would do layouts. John Buscema had been drawing the book before I took over as the layout guy. I tried to do some kind of John Buscema–esque thing, which was probably an abject failure, but you do what you can trying to keep the look of the book somewhat consistent. I did my own stuff after awhile. Len and I had a lot of fun doing it. We were trying to do a classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Thor in a lot of ways. I thought we did a pretty good job of it.” His first four comics, issues #260–263 (June–Sept. 1977), were the conclusion of a favorite story of Wein’s, the quest for Odin (the father of Thor), Loki, and the leader of the Norse gods. Odin has disappeared and Thor and crew, including the Warriors Three—Hogun the Grim,

If I Had a Hammer… Walter Simonson’s cover to his first issue of Thor—#337 (Nov. 1983), introducing Beta Ray Bill—has become one of comicdom’s iconic images. And deservedly so! © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Fandral the Dashing, and Volstagg the working with John Buscema, whose work I love Voluminous—Sif, and the Recorder sail the stars in and with whom I worked on other things as well, a spaceship that looks strangely like a Thor was the hardest strip for me to write. Viking ship. They track Odin to the When it switched over to Walter, I could Doomsday Star, where they must fight script an issue in two days. I’m not sure through the Wall Around the World what it was exactly, but something to reach Odin. Odin has been changed and the job went from my captured by aliens known as the most difficult to my easiest.” Soul-Survivors, who were using While Thor and the others were his power to keep their world searching for Odin, things were alive. After a battle against the not quiet in Asgard as Balder the Odin-Force in human form, Thor Brave and the Norn Queen Karnilla rescues his father and they head battle the forces of the trickster back to Asgard. Loki, the evil Enchantress, and her Wein found something odd companion, the Executioner, to keep and inexplicable when Simonson them from taking over Asgard in len wein stepped in as penciler: “When I was Odin’s absence. They fail. Issues #264–266 (Oct.–Dec. 1977) tell the tale of Thor trying to take back the throne of Asgard. Unfortunately, Odin can’t help as he’s deep in the Odin-Sleep trying to recover the energy that

Simonson on Thor, Phase One (left) John Buscema penciled the cover to Thor #263 (Sept. 1977), which featured Walter Simonson breakdowns and Tony DeZuniga finishes over Len Wein’s script. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (right) One of Walt’s early Thor covers, #264. Both covers were inked by Joe Sinnott. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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was drained from him. And he is hidden away by unless humanity meets its demands. It takes the the Enchantress and the Executioner, so the heroes might of Thor, Nick Fury, and the Avengers to stop can’t find him. To make matters worse, Loki sends FAUST, but stop it they do. the Destroyer after Thor. Little does Thor know that “Walter was great fun to work with,” says Wein. the Destroyer is being controlled by his friend “We had the best possible time. It was one of those Balder. Just when things seem their most dire, Odin dream assignments.” appears, having awakened from the Odin-Sleep, Simonson next drew Thor in Thor Annual and puts things right. #7 (1978), written and edited by Roy Issues #267–268 (Jan.–Feb 1978) Thomas with inks by Ernie Chan. This bring things back down to Midgard issue tells a previously untold story (that’s Earth, in case you didn’t in which Thor met Jack Kirby’s know), where Thor faces Damocles, creation, the Eternals. In fact, the who has plans to build a Cobalt memory of the encounter had Cannon that will destroy New York been wiped from Thor’s mind. City unless his demands are met. Thor helps the Eternals defeat the Damocles’ brother helps Thor evil Dromedan and his forces. defeat him in a very moving, very This issue was the first part of a human story. storyline that would make the Simonson’s initial run on Thor Eternals more a part of the Marvel concluded with a superhero Universe. “With Jack gone and the extravaganza in issues #269–271 ongoing [Eternals] title canceled, roy thomas (Mar.–May 1978). Thor battles the there seemed no longer any overStilt-Man and Blastaar, who are riding reason to keep the Eternals working for FAUST (Fully Automated Unit of separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe,” Structural Technology), an automated factory. says Thomas. FAUST has become self-aware and blasts into orbit “I got to draw Thor. I got to draw the Eternals. around the Earth, threatening to cause devastation It was great,” says Simonson.

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Thor Team-Ups (left) The Thunder God and Iron Man fly into action on Thor #271’s (May 1978) Simonsondrawn cover Marvelized by inker Sinnott. (right) The cover to 1978’s Thor Annual #7 is pure Simonson and offers a glimpse of the book’s look to come. Guest-starring the Eternals. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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The End of the Simonson Era Walter Simonson left the Thunder God bearded and armored in his swansong issues, (left) Thor #381 and (right) #382 (July and Aug. 1987). His cover art to his final issue was later repurposed— with computer coloring—as the cover of Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson vol. 5. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Thor much the worse for wear. He crafts Asgardian armor to help offset the weakness caused by Hela’s curse. At the same time, Loki is living up to his end of his bargain with the Frost Giants by making their realm unnaturally cold and returning them to their normal height. He does this by kidnapping and exploiting the powers of X-Factor’s Iceman. When Loki returns the cold to normal levels, the giants go nuts and attack. Much to his chagrin, Loki is saved from the giants by Thor in issue #378 (Apr. 1987). But Thor is not safe from the Frost Giants as they travel to Earth in issue #379 (May 1987) and release ... Fin Fang Foom. The Giants are confused, but when Fin Fang Foom finds Thor and discovers his own true identity, the beast reveals that it is actually Jormungand, the World Serpent. Norse myth says that Thor and the serpent will destroy each other in battle, and what a battle it is. Issue #380 (June 1987) shows that battle in all full splash pages featuring Simonson’s return to art. Why come back for this issue? “I thought it would be fun,” Simonson replies. “It was big scale and it was an idea that took me a long time to work out. I knew I was going to reach that story eventually and I thought about it a lot because of the problem of scale. The problem is that Thor is very small and the serpent is very large. In the Norse myths, the serpent lies under the oceans and encircles the world. The idea that you would draw a serpent that big up against a human figure—well, the human’s going to get lost. I thought about this for several months. “Literally, one day Weezie and I were walking out of our favorite old Mexican restaurant in New York, and it was like having a light bulb go off over my head,” Walter says. “I thought, ‘All splash panels.’ I didn’t originate the idea. John Byrne had done a Hulk story earlier that got run in Marvel Fanfare, I believe. I don’t think I’d seen John’s issue at the time, but I knew about it. With all splash pages, I’d have more room to deal with the problem of scale. I decided to write the captions of the story in faux Viking poetry. “I really wanted to draw that issue,” Simonson confesses. “I had visions of how it ought to look. I talked to Sal about it. I didn’t want to take money out of Sal’s hands. He very graciously allowed me to pencil that issue. The way we worked it out is, I’m credited with

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layouts. I did full pencils but by being credited with layouts, I was paid $20 less per page and Sal, for doing the finishes, was paid $20 more a page. Marvel maintained the total page rate and Sal didn’t lose quite as much money that way.” The battle takes a terrible toll on Thor, reducing him to basically a mound of goo, unable to die, trapped inside his armor. The story and Simonson’s run on the book wraps up in issues #381 and 382 (July–Aug. 1987). Loki tries to even himself with Thor by bringing in the old Thor menace, the Destroyer, to get rid of the Giants. What he didn’t expect was the Destroyer and Thor battling on a mystic level and Thor taking over the Destroyer armor and heading for Hel to have Hela return him to normal. She initially resists, but after seeing the destruction he’s causing, she gives in. Thor returns to Asgard in time to help in a battle against another tribe of Frost Giants, this one led by our old friend Utgard-Loki. The Giants defeated, life in Asgard returns to a semblance of normalcy, ready for the next creative team.

STANDING THE TEST OF TIME One of the things that makes Simonson’s run on Thor stand the test of time is that it improves with rereadings, as you can see how all the various threads and storylines play out. It seems like one long story from beginning to end. “Working with Walt on something like that was really a privilege and pleasure,” says Macchio. “Someone who had that much love for the character and could put that much craft into it and bring the stories forth in the way he intended them, to me it was one of the real, real high points of my years in comics. I will always look back on that very favorably.” So be it. Thanks to all who agreed to be interviewed for this piece. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks also to KC Carlson. ROGER ASH lives in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, where he works for Westfield Comics and lives with his cat, Candy, and his growing collection of hats.

Jarrod Buttery

In Comics Scene #3 (May 1982), writer/artist Bob Layton said, “Go up to someone on the street and say, ‘X-Men,’ and they don’t know what you’re talking about. But say, ‘Hercules,’ and everyone has an automatic, basic understanding of this muscular hero from mythology, high school stuff, or movies.” At Marvel Comics in the 1960s, Norse mythology arrived with Thor in Journey into Mystery #83 (Aug. 1962). Greek mythology followed when Hercules debuted in Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965). Reprinted for all to enjoy in Essential Thor vol. 2, “When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!” follows a young Thor as he accidentally falls through a mystic portal, emerging in Olympus. A few months later, Hercules descends to Earth in Journey into Mystery #124 (Jan. 1966). The series’ title was officially changed to Thor with issue #126 and, in issue #128 (May 1966), Hercules is addressed by the title he has carried ever since: the Prince of Power. After guest-starring in Thor’s title for a few more issues, Hercules next appears in Avengers #38 (Mar. 1967), scripted by Roy Thomas. “I’m afraid I’m a bit fuzzy on why Hercules was brought into The Avengers,” admits Thomas. “I suspect it was Stan [Lee]’s idea … his way of replacing the power of Thor (not to mention Iron Man), and perhaps in answer to one of the earlier times when I agitated to bring back Thor and Iron Man. I got to really liking Hercules as an Avenger, and have no idea why, after giving him a big splash around #50 for a couple of issues, I abruptly wrote him out of the book. It may have been Stan’s idea, again … hard for me to see why I’d have written him out since, although Thor and Iron Man did guest-star in the next issue, I still wasn’t being allowed to bring those two back into the group at that time.” For much of the ’70s, Hercules alternated between Avengers membership, guest-starring in Thor, and as a founding member of the Champions. (Tony Isabella told us, in BACK ISSUE #19, Dec. 2006, that editorial insisted on a “strong guy” in the book.) But Herc didn’t really shine until the early ’80s.

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Michael Moorcock. Science-fiction grand master, creator of the multiverse concept and iconic characters such as Elric, the albino warrior, and the eternal champion Jerry Cornelius, among many others. Yet not many people who read his vast output of science-fiction, fantasy, and literary works realize that he started out as a teenager writing strips in the competitive world of the British boys’ adventure comics of the late 1950s and early 1960s, or that he briefly shared office space with the creator of Superman. Moorcock was kind enough to share an afternoon with me at his Texas home to talk about both his career in comics and his views on the various comic-book adaptations of his more famous literary creations. – Alan J. Porter

Alan J. Porter

ALAN J. PORTER: First, thank you for agreeing to spend some time this afternoon. From the research I read, I got the impression that your first professional writing gig was writing comics. Is that correct? MICHAEL MOORCOCK: No, not really. I started off doing text stuff for Tarzan Adventures, which was one of the last of the text-based juvenile papers at the time, in the mid-50s, and it had as much text as comics, and at the time I really didn’t have much interest in the comics at all. I was just doing articles, stories, and so on for it. My introduction to doing comics was translating some Tarzan strips. I wanted to reprint some of the Hogarth and Foster strips that had been published pre–war, but it had all been destroyed in a big warehouse fire in the blitz. So the only plates they had that were still intact were the Spanish-language plates, which had gone to Franco’s Spain, so they hadn’t actually been involved in World War II! They did very clear pulls of the art for us that were basically photographs, and I said to my boss, “I want to run this stuff,” and when he asked why, I said that there wasn’t anything else good enough (I was lying, really), and he said, “Okay, but it’s all in Spanish, we can’t possibly use it.” I said, “Don’t worry, I speak Spanish,” when in fact I didn’t know a word. I just wrote the comic according to the pictures. So it varies quite a lot from the original. PORTER: Did you ever go back and compare what you had done with a translation of the original? MOORCOCK: Some people have done that on the Web, but I haven’t done it myself. I gave all those comics away. I didn’t really put any stock in it at the time—this was old-fashioned, first-journalism efforts, when you didn’t put any value at all on what you did. PORTER: So did that experience build an appreciation of the comics medium for you? MOORCOCK: No, not really. I’m sorry I guess I’m not giving the right answers. PORTER: It’s fine, it’s all fascinating stuff. MOORCOCK: Well, I started out in fanzines, really. I did a Burroughs’ fanzine, and that’s what got me my job on Tarzan. I also wrote for a Sexton Blake fanzine, and people in that were bemoaning that [fictional British detective] Sexton Blake had had a revamp in

Moorcock’s Most Famous Creation Elric of Melniboné as rendered—quite remarkably, we must add!—by Frank Brunner. Plate 1 from a 1979 Elric portfolio. Scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 1979 Looking Glass Productions.

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Back Issue #53