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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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(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Star*Reach’s Batman, Aquaman II, 1984 Black Canary miniseries, Captain America: The Musical, Miracleman: Triumphant, unpublished issues of The Cat and Warlock, BLEVINS, DEODATO, FRADON, SEKOWSKY, WEISS, MIKE GRELL cover!

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(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!

(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!

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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!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

“Licensed Comics”! Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Man from Atlantis, DC’s Edgar Rice Burroughs backups (John Carter, Pellucidar, Carson of Venus), Marvel’s Warlord of Mars, and an interview with CAROL SERLING, wife of ROD SERLING. With art and commentary from ANDERSON, BYRNE, CLAREMONT, DORMAN, DUURSEMA, KALUTA, MILLER, OSTRANDER, and more. Cover by BRIAN KOSCHACK.

“Avengers Assemble!” Writer ROGER STERN’S acclaimed 1980s Avengers run, West Coast Avengers, early Avengers toys, and histories of Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man, with art and commentary from JOHN and SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, BRETT BREEDING, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, BOB HALL, AL MILGROM, TOM MORGAN, TOM PALMER, JOE SINNOTT, and more. PÉREZ cover!

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Volume 1, Number 59 September 2012 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks COVER ARTIST Steve Rude COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Remembering the late Tony DeZuniga and Ernie Chan.

PROOFREADER John Morrow

FLASHBACK: Space Ghost in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Steve Rude, Evan Dorkin, and Scott Rosema look back at the different comic-book interpretations of Spaaaaaace Ghoooooost! IGN.com Dan Johnson Adam Kubert Carol Lay Alan Light Karen Machette Paul Kupperberg Andy Mangels Lee Marrs William MessnerLoebs Doug Rice Dottie Roberson Max Romero Scott Rosema Steve Rude Bob Schreck Diana Schutz Scott Shaw! Dan Spiegle Joe Torcivia Voyager Enterprises Mark Wheatley Howard Whitman

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BEYOND CAPES: Hanna-Barbera at Marvel Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Mark Evanier, Scott Shaw!, and other toon-types tell the tale of how Yogi and Fred landed at Marvel CHECKLIST: Marvel Hanna-Barbera Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 An index of Marvel H-B comics, stories, and creator credits, courtesy of Mark Arnold PRINCE STREET NEWS: Hanna-Barbera Superheroes at Marvel Comics? . . . . . . . . . . .32 Karl Heitmueller takes a hilarious look at what might’ve been GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Plastic Man Comic Strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Paul Kupperberger reveals cartoonist Lee Marrs’ attempt to bring the Stretchable Sleuth to the funnypapers BACKSTAGE PASS: Marvel Productions, Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 The story of how the House of Ideas became a house of animation BEYOND CAPES: Jonny Quest: The Adventure Comes to Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Learn about Comico’s celebrated cartoon continuation from Kubert, Messner-Loebs, Schreck, Schutz, and Spiegle WHAT THE--?!: Menacing Marvel: Dennis the Menace at Marvel Comics . . . . . . . . . . .65 As X-Men was becoming a cultural phenomenon, Marvel puzzled its true believers by publishing this comic-strip imp BEYOND CAPES: We’re Off to Outer Space … Star Blazers in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Argonauts Doug Rice, Phil Foglio, and Tim Eldred share with BACK ISSUE their star-spanning adventures BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Reader feedback BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 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 Steve Rude. Space Ghost TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2012 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. Toon Comics Issue

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Detail from the cover of DC Comics’ Space Ghost #1 (Jan. 2005). Art by Alex Ross. TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

SPECIAL THANKS Mark Arnold Roger Ash The Backroom Greg Beder Jerry Boyd DC Comics Daniel DeAngelo Evan Dorkin Tim Eldred Jack Enyart Mark Evanier Ron Ferdinand Stuart Fischer Phil Foglio Grand Comic-Book Database Hadji Hank Ketcham Enterprises Hanna-Barbera Productions Karl Heitmueller Marc Hempel Heritage Comics Auctions

Michael Eury

Tony DeZuniga (1932–2012) and Ernie Chan (1940–2012) In May, we lost two exceptional artists from comics’ Bronze Age: Tony DeZuniga and Ernie Chan (a.k.a. Ernie Chua). Fate linked these gentlemen during their lifetimes: Both were Filipinos who immigrated to the US, with DeZuniga being the first such artist to do so in the late 1960s, blazing a trail for Chan and others to follow. Both worked for DC and Marvel Comics and counted Conan among their many credits. Both were successful as inkers as well as illustrators. Both were featured in BACK ISSUE on many

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occasions, in articles, interviews, and numerous illustrations (a Jonah Hex painting by DeZuniga graced the cover of BI #42). And ironically, both died during the same week, DeZuniga on May 11th and Chan on May 16th. Let’s remember them the way they’d want us to, through their work, in images from the Bronze Age: a 1979 specialty illo of Thor by Chan, and a 1980 pinup by DeZuniga from Savage Sword of Conan #54, both courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.

Space Ghost TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions (H-B).

Max Romero

Since debuting as a Hanna-Barbera cartoon in 1966, Space Ghost has enjoyed a long life as a pop-culture icon of Saturday morning television. But somehow, in spite of his enduring popularity, the intergalactic protector and bringer of justice has only haunted the fringes of the comic-book universe that was a source of inspiration for his out-of-our-world adventures. In the character’s 45-year history, Space Ghost has never had its own regular, ongoing series. The most recent title was a six-issue miniseries by DC Comics that wrapped up in 2005, while the rest comprise a collection of one-shots and appearances in licensed comics featuring other Hanna-Barbera characters and adaptations. Before the DC miniseries, there hadn’t been a dedicated Space Ghost comic in more than seven years, with the one before that preceding it by ten years—a trend of spotty appearances that is typical for the Phantom of the Spaceways. On television, Space Ghost stayed in the popular culture thanks to reruns, a poorly received second series in 1981 that was gone after just 22 episodes, and later VHS and DVD collections. In the mid-’90s he was reinvented as a charming, though somewhat goofy, cable talk-show host broadcasting from the Ghost Planet and joined by co-hosts/prisoners Zorak and Moltar. For many people of a certain generation, this is who they think of when Space Ghost comes up, maybe having only a vague idea that, at one point, the hero was something else … something more. Having gone from television to comics and back to television—and then back to comics once again, where the interstellar lawman finally got a real origin— the question is still there: Who is Space Ghost?

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A COMIC-BOOK BEGINNING Space Ghost made his first appearance on September 10, 1966 on CBS as one-half of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show Space Ghost and Dino Boy. The twoin-one episodes were unrelated, though Space Ghost would eventually cross over with other Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters such as the Herculoids (a group of quasi-barbarian humans and their superpowered creature colleagues), the Mighty Mightor (a magically empowered caveman superhero), Shazzan (an Arabian Nights–styled genie), and Moby Dick (a do-gooder version of the famous white whale). There would be 42 original episodes of Space Ghost and 18 episodes of prehistoric Dino Boy adventures before the show aired its last episode on September 7, 1968—nearly two years to the day after its debut. Despite starring in almost 50 episodes, most of what’s known about Space Ghost is based on the equipment he has and the company he keeps—and even then, it’s not very telling. Over the course of the show’s run, viewers were introduced to Space Ghost and his supporting cast, including his two teenaged wards Jan and Jace, twins who were under his care and who served as his masked assistants at his otherwise unpopulated Ghost Planet headquarters. Comic relief was provided by Blip, a surprisingly clever monkey who was often left in charge of the base and outfitted with the same uniform, jet pack, and inviso-belt as the twins. Almost serving as characters themselves was Space Ghost’s gear: the inviso-belt that allowed him to move unseen; his sleek spaceship, the Phantom Cruiser; and, of course, his power bands, which could shoot out anything from a stun ray and freeze beam to a heat laser and shielding “viso-wall.” Just as important was Space Ghost’s rogues’ gallery, a substantial collection of would-be world conquerors and space scoundrels that routinely kept Space Ghost and his crew busy. Standing out from the collection of galactic criminals were the villains who would eventually band together as the Council of Doom, which included Zorak, a mantis-man and Space Ghost’s gary owens main nemesis; Brak, a cat–like pirate; Creature King, sowing terror with a menagerie of giant creatures and his “nightmare beam”; Spider-Woman (also known as Black Widow), mistress of horrifying space spiders; Mettalus, a robot master and tyrant; and Moltar, who rules his molten monsters with deadly intent. In addition to its jazzy score, creative sound effects, and the reassuring baritone of Gary Owens as the title character, a large part of Space Ghost’s appeal was the striking character and set design, concepts that came from comic-book legend Alex Toth. Toth, who in his

In the DC Universe … Sort Of (top) DC Comics readers of 1966 first encountered Space Ghost in this house ad promoting CBS-TV’s Saturday morning. (left) Toth’s 1966 model sheets for Space Ghost’s young companions. Characters © the respective copyright holders. Space Ghost characters © H-B.

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THE SPACE GHOST CAST In every version of Space Ghost that has been produced, the character’s supporting cast of allies and enemies has been surprisingly consistent. Here are some of the mainstays of the Space Ghost universe.

The Good Guys Space Ghost: A starspanning bringer of justice, Space Ghost is shrouded in mystery. His connection to the never-seen Space Patrol, if any, is never explained— nor is the source of his power bands, inviso-belt, or Phantom Cruiser. Space Ghost premiered in 1966 in the iconic Space Ghost and Dino Boy cartoon. In the 1990s, Space Ghost returned to TV as a bumbling talk-show host on Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and in the 2004–2005 limited series Space Ghost from DC Comics he was identified as Thaddeus Bach, an officer in the Eidolon Elite, serving the Commandment. Jan: Much like her twin brother Jace, not much is known about this Space Ghost assistant. Usually more thoughtful than her ready-for-action brother, Jan is still ready to mix it up when trouble brews. Usually depicted as a teen, Jan was shown as a child of about 11 in the DC miniseries. Jace: Where his twin sister Jan is conscientious, Jace is a little more willing to blast first and ask questions later. Still, he’s a stable and enthusiastic assistant to Space Ghost who puts his friends and sister ahead of himself. Jace was also about 11 years old in the DC miniseries, though he’s usually depicted as a teen. Blip: An exceptionally clever monkey, Blip tends to get the same respect as the twins, down to his own matching blue-and-yellow uniform, inviso-belt, and

rocket pack. Blip is often given the responsibility of looking after both the Ghost Planet headquarters and the twins when Space Ghost is away.

The Bad Guys Zorak: A mantis-man and Space Ghost’s arch-nemesis, Zorak is a constant thorn in the hero’s side and one of the founders of the Council of Doom. He also appeared on Coast to Coast, where he unwillingly served as the musical director on the Space Ghost-hosted talk show. He returned again as the leader of a hive-minded race of locust-like beings in the DC limited series. Brak: A cat-like alien, Brak is a spacepirate and another member of the Council of Doom. He is usually accompanied by his brother/ first mate, Sisto. On Coast to Coast Brak was reduced to a child-like state thanks to his run-in with a swarm of piranha mites (a callback to a scene in the original cartoon). Creature King: Using his ray gun to cast monstrous illusions and a special helmet to control actual beasts, the Creature King uses his menagerie in an effort to take over the galaxy and defeat Space Ghost. He is also a founding member of the Council of Doom.

Lokar: A giant space locust, Lokar rules an army of fellow alien locusts and robot locusts against his enemies. Lokar also made sporadic, comedic appearances on Coast to Coast.

Lurker: Usually joined by One-Eye, Lurker is a pirate who uses his Purple Sleep mist to knock out his victims. He is almost compelled to steal whatever isn’t nailed down. Tansut: Also known as the Intergalactic Hijacker, Tansut is known for his space chariot and deadly lasers. Tansut also made regular appearances on Coast to Coast, where he was depicted as pot-bellied and pathetically deluded about his abilities, as well as desperately needy for Space Ghost’s friendship. Metallus: The master of an army of deadly robots, and possibly some kind of robot himself. Metallus is one of Space Ghost’s most dangerous foes, and a founding member of the Council of Doom. Spider-Woman: Also known as Black Widow, the Spider-Woman can creepily control several varieties of space spider, often with the intention of destroying Space Ghost. She is another Council of Doom founder. Moltar: The leader of a legion of molten monsters, Moltar is the always-hooded lord of the Ovens of Moltor. Moltar, another Council of Doom founding member, also served as the sometimes flustered, always sarcastic director/ producer of Space Ghost’s talk show on Coast to Coast.

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Caped Inspiration The March 11, 1966 issue of Life magazine (right) featuring Adam West as Batman prompted TV exec Fred Silverman to order artist Alex Toth to pattern the in-development Space Ghost after the senior member of the Dynamic Duo. (left) Featuring a spiffy Dan Spiegle cover, Gold Key Comics’ Space Ghost #1 (Mar. 1967). Space Ghost TM & © H-B. Batman TM & © DC Comics. Life © 2012 Time Inc.

decades-long comics career worked on everything from science fiction and superhero books to Westerns, noir, and romance, brought his strong and fluid style to many cartoons of the ’60s and ’70s. In addition to Space Ghost, Toth is also credited with designing HannaBarbera’s Herculoids, Birdman, The Galaxy Trio, and, perhaps his most well known contribution to animation, Super Friends. Toth’s work on these shows would make an impact on an entire generation of artists and writers. Strangely enough, Toth himself didn’t see what the big deal was where Space Ghost was concerned. As Toth stated in an interview with Darrell Bowen for Toon Magazine #12 (Fall 1996): “I don’t know what all the shouting’s about. I always thought it was mediocre. Freddie Silverman [Fred Silverman, a network TV executive and producer] came in one Monday morning banging around all kinds of ideas and I guess on the previous Friday, or Thursday and Friday, we had locked down on Space Ghost but the question of the costume was still up in the air. “So there we were on Monday morning in Joe’s [Barbera] office, and in walks Freddie Silverman with this Life magazine in his hands and damn, right on the cover is Adam West and the kid, Burt Ward, as Batman and Robin and he throws the magazine down on Joe’s

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desk and he looks at me, and he looks at Joe and he says, ‘That’s the look I want. I want that Batman look.’” [Editor’s note: Actually, the March 11, 1966 cover of Life featured only West as Batman.] Toth continued, “I said, ‘Well, he’s supposed to be Space Ghost. He should be white, you know, so how do we…?’ And Silverman says, ‘I want that Batman look.’ So finally, Space Ghost wound up with that black cowl, that black helmet over his head, and I kept fighting him on it, saying that it would drop out in the artwork when we had him superimposed against a space background—that didn’t matter. Then they came up with the rim light idea, to edge-light him up there, with a good thick band of light so that he’d always stand out against the space and we went with that. I didn’t want the cape—that diaphanous, squirrelly cape that he wound up with, which looked like ectoplasm, but that’s what they wanted. I was just there as a pair of hands. So anytime anyone, Steve Rude [Nexus] or all those other cats who walk up to me or write to me and say, ‘God, you know, Space Ghost changed my life and you did such a marvelous job,’ I have to keep from scratching my head and telling them I really didn’t have much to do with it.” Toth, in fact, would not be the artist for the first Space Ghost comic to reach print. Gold Key published Space Ghost #1 in 1966 with the idea of having the comic on stands quickly in support of the show. Because of this, artist Dan Spiegle [the writer is unknown] was able to work with some of Toth’s model sheets but not much else. Spiegle’s representation of Zorak ended up looking very different than the mantis-man who appeared on the cartoon, but Jan, Jace, Blip, and Space Ghost himself were all faithful to the original designs. (Working blind was nothing new to Spiegle, who, in addition to being well known for his six years of work on the Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip and Korak, Son of Tarzan comic book, also provided art for many titles licensed from TV. In an interesting turnaround, Space Family Robinson, which he co-created with writer Del Connell, is widely credited with inspiring the television

show Lost in Space, which aired three years after the Even more tantalizing is a one-panel flashback to Gold Key title’s first issue was published.) Space Ghost’s time with “his old teacher … out there.” Space Ghost #1 (Mar. 1966) features two stories, Already in full uniform, Space Ghost is shown hunched both drawn by Spiegle. The first is “Zorak’s Revenge,” over an open book in concentration, fingers at his a story featuring Space Ghost’s archenemy that temple and an energy beam being focused through a closely follows episode 24 of the cartoon, device and into his forehead. The beam is that was simply titled “Zorak.” In “Zorak’s coming from an unseen being of pure Revenge,” the evil mantis is sprung from light, which says, “Matter is but energy, Omega Prison by his henchmen, and my son … seen, felt, interpreted by he quickly makes a beeline for Ghost the mind … in many forms! So … the Planet. Out on patrol, Space Ghost power of thought gives it no limitaisn’t at his headquarters when Zorak tions … no boundaries!” arrives, so the villain decides to kidnap This glimpse at Space Ghost’s past Jan and Jace instead, leaving a note is notable for the fact that at the time saying he will trade the kids’ lives for of the character’s creation and for Space Ghost’s. decades afterward, he has very little in Space Ghost and Blip fly out in the way of an origin. Nothing is really the Phantom Cruiser to Zorak’s known about Space Ghost—who he position under the cloak of “invisois, how he came to be the guardian of dan spiegle power,” which is explained to be tied Jan and Jace, and what his connection to faster-than-light speed (though this is to the often-mentioned but neverdoesn’t provide an answer for the Ghost team’s personal seen Space Patrol. Gold Key’s Space Ghost would end inviso-power belts). Made visible by a matter-intensifier with issue #1, and even though the space cop would ray, Space Ghost is forced to use a little-seen ability: By pop up in occasional anthologies and one-shots over the sheer force of will, he is able to convert himself to next three decades, it wouldn’t be until 2004 that his thought-energy and teleport himself to the asteroid background was more than shadowy hints and asides. Zorak is using as a hideout, a million miles ahead of the Phantom Cruiser. This special superpower is the only one not tied to Space Ghost’s uniform or power bands, and is described briefly as a talent he learned from “the great teacher-mind of the fringe galaxies.” After fighting off mantis soldiers and giant mosquitoes, Space Ghost finally rescues Jan and Jace from a flying bomb that he redirects toward Zorak’s base. Zorak isn’t seen escaping, but like all good bad guys he can be expected to return. The second story is “The Space Outcast,” and it does a nice job of showing off Space Ghost’s intelligence, kindness, and teleportation trick. On the way back to Ghost Planet, Space Ghost and his assistants spot a giant man tied to a disk drifting through space. After freeing him and taking him to their home, the crew discovers Gurun is a Dweerza outcast, thrown out of the society of thieving, dwarf–like people for being too big and “too dumb.” Space Ghost decides Gurun can have a place on Ghost Planet (“You’re entitled to a fair trial, I guess!”) and puts him to work, never realizing Gurun will see it as a chance to get back into his people’s good graces. Gurun’s treachery leads the Dweerza to Ghost Planet, where Space Ghost has already been incapacitated and robbed of his power bands. The Dweerza immediately set themselves to ransacking the headquarters, intent on destroying everything on their way out, but Gurun balks when he realizes this includes the twins. After Blip frees him from the sonic probe keeping him from concentrating, Space Ghost is able to teleport out of his bonds and away from his captives. At this point, Space Ghost gives Gurun a second chance, and the giant helps defeat his untrustworthy colleagues. “The Space Outcast” offers some interesting peeks into Space Ghost’s history. Early in the story, Space Ghost hints that this isn’t his first run-in with the Dweerza, saying he “clipped their wings a bit, though, a while back! Drove them back to their planet!” Later he uses his power bands “…on a certain frequency” to quell the Dweerza’s evil tendencies; whether this is what he means by “clipped their wings” is anybody’s guess.

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SPACE GHOST’S COMIC-BOOK APPEARANCES Space Ghost appearances in comics have been spotty, and issues that put a spotlight on the cartoon hero can be tough to track down. Here is a list of Space Ghost comic books either starring or featuring the character: Space Ghost #1 (Mar. 1966) Gold Key Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #3 (Oct. 1968), 6 (July 1969), 7 (Oct. 1969) Gold Key Golden Comics Digest #2 (May 1969) Gold Key

Hanna-Barbera TV Stars #3 (Dec. 1978) Marvel Comics

Cartoon Network Presents #2 (Sept. 1997) DC Comics

Space Ghost #1 (Dec. 1987) Comico the Comic Company

Cartoon Network Starring #4 (Dec. 1999), 9 (May 2000), 12 (Aug. 2000), 15 (Nov. 2000), 18 (Feb. 2001) DC Comics

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast #2 (1994) Cartoon Network in-house promotional comic. Note: In spite of the numbering, there was no issue #1.

Cartoon Network Presents: Space Ghost #1 (Mar. 1997) Archie Comics

B&B Seeing You! Space Ghost guest-stars with the Caped Crusader on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. (bottom right) The “The End” graphic, replicating the classic TV show, hails from the Comico one-shot. Space Ghost TM & © H-B. Batman TM & © DC Comics.

opening title card). The music is jazzy and the sound effects are instantly recognizable. And the villain doesn’t even recognize Batman. Best of all, Space Ghost is one again voiced by a slightly raspier, but still heroic, Gary Owens. For a brief moment, it was a Space Ghost show. Whether it’s been as the dashing hero, the buffoonish talk-show host, or the stoic Thaddeus Bach, Space Ghost has proven over the years that there is still life in this space-spanning character—no matter who he is. Space Ghost, says Scott Rosema, is “almost a creature of nature, of super-nature—he’s more representational of reality than realistic. He is what we would aspire to versus what we’d like to be if we had to dig ourselves out of the depths. That’s what Batman is; Bruce Wayne had to dig out of the depths of tragedy to become Batman. Space Ghost is where we would like to go if we could aspire to something higher than ourselves at ground level. And that’s wonderful, in a lot of ways. Obviously there are tons of stories left to tell in the Space Ghost universe.” MAX ROMERO is a fulltime freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. He can be found online at GreatCaesarsPost.com.

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Cartoon Cartoons #3 (May 2001), 6 (Sept. 2001), 10 (May 2002), 13 (Nov. 2002), 15 (Mar. 2003) DC Comics Space Ghost #1–6 (Nov. 2004– June 2005) (limited series) DC Comics Note: Title did not publish Feb. 2005 or Apr. 2005.

Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera originally teamed up to create the highly popular Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon series, which won more Oscars than any other animated cartoon series during animation’s Golden Age. From 1940–1957, they produced over 114 cartoons before being shown the door by MGM. Rather than retiring and calling it a day, Hanna and Barbera pulled the unlikely trick of starting their own television animation studio. Their first series called Ruff and Reddy was an instant hit, spawning even more popular cartoons in quick succession including The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and later on, Scooby-Doo. Comic books were an integral part of HannaBarbera’s success. In the days long before home video, owning a comic book about a cartoon series was akin to owning a part of the show. It was also a way to get new stories featuring your favorite characters—in many cases, long after a show ceased production. The first Hanna-Barbera-related comic books appeared as part of Dell’s Four Color series, with Ruff and Reddy being the first one. Many titles and series followed,

Mark Arnold

The Gang’s All Here

and eventually the Dell moniker gave way to Gold Key in 1962 and eventually to Whitman in the 1970s and 1980s. These were produced out of the same office of Western Publishing and Lithography, according to Mark Evanier, who has a page on his website (www.newsfromme.com) explaining the relationship between Western and Dell, Gold Key and Whitman. As explained in an article about Scooby-Doo in BACK ISSUE #52, Hanna-Barbera resold the Dell and Gold Key stories to foreign markets, but eventually greed took over and soon Hanna-Barbera allied itself with Charlton Publications. This was an unfortunate misstep, as most of Charlton’s artists were inadequate for drawing the Hanna-Barbera characters on model, whereas many of the Dell/Gold Key stories were actually written and drawn by Hanna-Barbera employees. At first, Charlton only produced the older HannaBarbera series that were retired by Gold Key. Charlton eventually took on H-B’s current properties and in doing so created a tremendous drop in quality—and in an ironic twist, a drop in revenues from the foreign markets that were so lucrative during the Gold Key days. Toon Comics Issue

Excerpt from the original art by Scott Shaw! (one of ye ed’s faves!) from the cover to Marvel’s Laff-A-Lympics #11 (Jan. 1979), recolored for BI by our designer, Rich Fowlks. Hokey Wolf, exiting stage right, was eliminated from the cover’s printed version. TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions (H-B).

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SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE PUBLISHER Hanna-Barbera felt that Charlton was the problem and decided to remedy the situation as soon as Charlton’s license contracts expired in 1977. When they did, Hanna-Barbera considered publishing comics themselves, but eventually was swayed into having Marvel Comics do the honors. An informed source (who prefers anonymity) who worked for Hanna-Barbera at the time reveals for the very first time the complete behind-the-scenes story of what actually happened with the Marvel HannaBarbera comic books. He speaks: “The deal was set up by people at Taft Broadcasting in Cincinnati. Taft owned H-B then and handled all the merchandising out of that office. Someone there (I forget his name) was unhappy because they couldn’t sell reprint rights to the Charlton material to most of the foreign publishers who had licensed the rights to do comics of H-B properties. Several of the South American publishers were hiring local artists and writers to create material for their comics instead of buying material from H-B as they had done when H-B was offering the Western Publishing material. Some of the South American publishers were selling their materials to other licensees, and Cincinnati decided that had to be stopped because a lucrative revenue stream was petering out. They went to Charlton and began demanding better stories and art. I was not involved in those discussions, but I was told Charlton said that was the best they could do. Cincinnati decided they had to begin offering material as good as what Western had done. They hired the former Western editor Craig Chase to consult, and he told Cincinnati that the Charlton material was hopeless and that it could not be improved, even with him supervising H-B’s interest in it. Cincinnati asked if he could generate new material and he agreed. The license with Charlton was allowed to expire and was not

In the Mighty Marvel Manner (above) Toon titans William Hanna (left) and Joe Barbera, with the Jetsons. (right) First issue covers to Yogi Bear (art by Pete Alavarado and Scott Shaw!) and Dynomutt (art by Aquaman co-creator Paul Norris). TM & © H-B.

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renewed. Chase became editor of a department out of the H-B studio on Cahuenga, where I worked. “Cincinnati had him produce mock-ups of four comics to be the first comics in a planned H-B comic company. They brought in a publishing consultant Chase knew and he shopped the package around to distributors. They all refused to carry a new line of comics. He reported back that DC, Marvel, Archie, and one or two companies had a lock on the distribution and were not about to allow a new competitor into the market. He said DC and Marvel were both willing to distribute H-B comics but they would have to be the publishers.” The irony of this statement is that eventually all three of these publishers took a stab at publishing Hanna-Barbera comics over the years, with DC being the current publisher and publishing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Our H-B source explains why the “Mark” was Mark Evanier, who had initial series were chosen for publication: written Scooby-Doo and many other “Someone in Cincinnati decided. non–H-B comics for Craig back at They picked Flintstones, Yogi Bear, and Western Publishing. Evanier wrote Scooby-Doo because those were the almost all the comics Craig edited three most popular comics among for Hanna-Barbera and later took foreign publishers, and the idea was over as editor. He concurs with our to do comics that could be sold for source in H-B business affairs. As reprints by those foreign publishers. Evanier explains, “Their initial idea Several foreign publishers were doing was they were going to start their Dynomutt, so that was included. There own comic-book company called mark evanier were presentations for several other Hanna-Barbera Comics. That’s when comics like The Jetsons and Jabberjaw, they hired Chase Craig. They would but they decided to start with those four. make their own comics and they would control the “We produced the contents of the comics out of content and have them all done in a format to serve our studio. Craig Chase supervised the first books, and the foreign market and for the rest of the world. They then when he decided to go back to retirement, he approached every distributor and got nowhere, but recommended that Mark take it over. We delivered Curtis, which distributed Marvel’s books and was ready-to-print comics. Marvel paid all editorial costs owned by the same corporation, was willing to handle and then paid us a license fee plus royalties.” them if Marvel was the publisher.

Line Expansion Joining Marvel’s original four HannaBarbera titles were (left) Laff-a-Lympics #1 (cover art from H-B model sheets) and (right) TV Stars #1 (cover penciled by writer/editor Mark Evanier—you read that right—and inked by Scott Shaw!). TM & © H-B.

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Paul Kupperberg

Jive Talkin’ Plas and portly pal Woozy Winks in Lee Marrs’ first Sunday strip. (background) Detail from DC’s Plastic Man #4 (May–June 1967). Cover art by Carmine Infantino and Mike Esposito. TM & © DC Comics.

BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION With his creation of Plastic Man in 1941, cartoonist Jack Cole caught mercury in a bottle. Comics’ Golden Age may have been a creative Oort cloud shucking off countless characters into the comics universe, but there was far more quantity being produced than quality. In a time when the average page of comic-book art could best be described as well intended but crude, written to service simple, disposable stories for ten year olds, Plastic Man was a step above the rest. Cole could not only out-cartoon most everybody, but his stories were smarter, snappier, and funnier than just about anybody else’s, as likely to bring a chuckle to the adult reader as a belly laugh from the kids. It is no coincidence that Cole found a home for Plastic Man at Quality Comics, one of the more aptly named publishing companies of the era. His manic, malleable, bouncing, bounding stories were a perfect fit for the house that also served as home to Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Bob Powell, Alex Kotsky, Klaus Nordling, and Chuck Cuidera and their creations, including the Spirit, Blackhawk, Black Condor, Uncle Sam, and Kid Eternity. Plastic Man’s run stretched across 127 issues of Police Comics (Aug. 1941–Oct. 1953) and 64 issues of Plastic Man (Summer 1943–Nov. 1956), almost the lifetime of Quality Comics, which ceased publication in December of 1956. But while Quality was gone, some of its characters were to live on— National Periodical Publications, the corporate forerunner to DC

Comics, acquired the failed Quality’s assets. The last issues of all Quality titles were dated December 1956. The first issues of DC’s pick-ups of Blackhawk (#108) and G.I. Combat (#44) debuted the following month, January 1957. The rest of the company’s long-running titles and characters, including Police Comics, Crack Comics, Plastic Man, Doll Man, Uncle Sam, and the rest, were relegated, it seemed, to history. Plastic Man lay unused and alone in the memory of his fans for almost a decade—excluding three issues of unauthorized reprints by the small and marginally legit I. W. Publishing in 1963 and 1964— before DC, responding to changing trends in comic readership, resurrected the Stretchable Sleuth, first in the pages of the ’60s kitsch favorite series, “Dial ‘H’ For Hero” in House of Mystery #160 (July 1966), and then in his own title, a ten-issue run that lasted from Nov.–Dec. 1966 through May–June 1968. This series, written by Arnold Drake, with art across the run by Gil Kane, Win Mortimer, and Jack Sparling, resembled Cole’s Plastic Man the way a Yugo resembles a Rolls-Royce; both have four wheels and engines, but that’s where the similarities end. It was enough to send Plas back into hibernation for another decade (except for a 1973 cameo on an episode of the animated Super Friends), returning briefly for a continuation (in numbering, at any rate) of the 1960s series, #11–20 (Feb.–Mar. 1976–Oct.–Nov. 1977) by Steve Skeates, Elliot S! Maggin, John Albano, and Ramona Fradon.

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untamed. My first draft had a very wild, wacky tone. But Joe pointed out that I was doing a comic strip geared towards a general readership, so I had to make changes, like in the things Plastic Man would transform himself into, not that I remember what those things were after all these years. But I understood his changes, so I made the revisions, which were approved, and then drew and lettered the strip.” More important than creating the Plastic Man strip was the sale of the Plastic Man strip to a newspaper syndicate. DC already had a relationship with a syndicate through the Superman strip, but Lee found out that the publisher did not have any idea how to actually market the Plastic Man strip to them. “I had no clue how dumb they would be trying to sell Plastic Man,” she says. “The strip was being sold as an adventure strip. The minute I heard that, I nearly lost my mind—this was not an adventure strip! No one was going to believe this was an adventure strip! I still have all kinds of correspondence with Paul Levitz, who was the company’s manager of business affairs in those days, about the subject, which he blamed on the sales people. I don’t know who they had selling the strip, but they totally missed the boat. As it was, they sent it out to the Chicago TribuneNew York Daily News Syndicate, the New York Times Syndicate, and the Fields Syndicate.” Despite—or maybe because—of the incompetent sales force, Plastic Man was sold to some 70-plus newspapers. Which, unfortunately wasn’t nearly enough papers to sustain the strip. “They got about 70-something papers that expressed interest in Plastic Man, but I think only one big newspaper, and I can’t remember which one, was interested in taking it. But the way the economics worked, to be successful, DC needed at least three large-circulation newspapers, newspapers in major markets like New York, Chicago, or L.A. to run the strip. Even though they had lined up something like 73 small papers, that still wouldn’t have earned them any profit.” What a newspapers pays a syndicate to run an individual comic strip depends on its circulation. In 1980, a small-circulation paper 40 • BACK ISSUE • Toon Comics Issue

may have had to pay as little as $10 a week for a strip like Plastic Man; a large paper such as New York’s Daily News or the Chicago Tribune might pay as much as $600. Thus, a syndicate could gross about as much from a single major metropolitan newspaper as from several dozen small-town papers and, with creative expenses alone likely running at more than that, the numbers just didn’t add up. “DC decided they couldn’t make money off of the strip, so that was the end of Plastic Man,” Lee says with a sigh. The failure of the Plastic Man strip seemed to be the end DC’s dreams of syndicated grandeur as well. “Plastic Man was DC’s one shot at syndication at the time,” Lee said. “I was sorry it fell through. It would have been really fun to work on Plastic Man. You get into a character when you first start on it and you’re making up all kinds of things every other minute of the day with just the possibility of working on the character, so it really comes alive for you. I really admired the old Plastic Man and it would have been nice to carry him on into the 1980s.” And it would have been nice had Lee Marrs’ sample six-week storyline been allowed to continue, offering us more than the tantalizingly brief glimpse of how a talented cartoonist might have changed the fate of the versatile and malleable Plastic Man. PAUL KUPPERBERG has written almost 900 comic-book stories featuring thousands of characters (including Plastic Man, a lifelong favorite), as well as the Superman and Tom & Jerry newspaper strips. He currently writes the critically acclaimed and bestselling Life with Archie Magazine (www.Archiecomics.com) and is the author of the mystery novel, The Same Old Story (www.kupperberg.blogspot.com). Plastic Man himself was kind enough to pose for this photo with Paul at the 2011 New York Comic-Con.

Marvel Productions, Ltd., formed in 1980, was Marvel Comics’ wholly owned animation studio that was set up for the purpose of Marvel producing its own shows without having to go to outside production companies with its characters. This was a bold and very ambitious move on Marvel’s part to become more in charge of their destiny, and they succeeded. When looking at all the facts involved, it was bound to happen, and this author always thought that it should happen. When Marvel Productions, Ltd. was announced to the public, I was not surprised and I knew that Marvel would be successful—Marvel had the characters, the brand name, the ability, and people who were already with Marvel as well as anybody who they could hire to become their own production company.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES In 1980, Marvel Productions, Ltd. was essentially born. At the urging of Stan Lee—who had always wanted to be in movies and television and knew that Marvel had the characters to make that dream come true— and indeed, through the efforts of other production organizations that had already done so, it was like a dream come true.

Stuart Fischer

Mighty Marvel Media

The idea of forming an in-house studio had already been floating prior to 1980. When the partnership ended between David DePatie (born: May 26, 1935) and Friz Freleng (August 21, 1905–May 26, 1995), the two men responsible for the formation of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, a major Saturday morning TV supplier that had begun in 1963, an executive with years of production experience became available to be brought in by Marvel. Stan Lee, already established as a leader in the field of comics and eager to become involved in movie and television production, was poised for takeoff. At this time, Marvel Comics was owned by Cadence Industries, and James Galton was the president of Marvel. Marvel and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises already had a good relationship prior to Marvel starting their own studio and David DePatie, who had been in movies and television for many years and who just became available for something new after his partnership with Friz Freleng came to an end, was a natural to become the president of Marvel Productions, with Stan Lee heading up the creative affairs part of the studio.

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Peeking through the Marvel Productions, Ltd. logo are some of the company’s animated hits: The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Dungeons and Dragons, Muppet Babies, Jem, and Fraggle Rock. © the respective copyright holders.

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Roger Ash

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Anubis! (overleaf) An undated illo by master cartoonist Doug Wildey recreating the classic Jonny Quest episode “The Curse of Anubis” (ye ed’s all-time fave JQ). Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions (H-B).

Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest debuted in prime time on ABC-TV in 1964. The animated series created by Doug Wildey featured the globe-trotting adventures of ten-year-old Jonny; his friend Hadji from India; Jonny’s genius scientist father, Dr. Benton Quest; their bodyguard, Roger “Race” Bannon; and Jonny’s mischievous bulldog, Bandit. They faced dangers from mummies to robots to the machinations of the evil Dr. Zin. They were occasionally joined by the mysterious and lovely Jezebel Jade, who had a past with Race. Even though the series only lasted one season of 26 half-hour episodes, it was rerun for many years, gaining a legion of fans.

COMICO LICENSES JONNY QUEST Given the show’s popularity and lasting appeal, it’s surprising that Jonny’s exposure in comic books was limited. The only American comic to feature Jonny in the title was Jonny Quest: The Mystery of the Lizard Men (Dec. 1964) from Gold Key, which adapts an episode of the TV series. That would change in 1986 when Comico the Comic Company brought Jonny Quest to comics in a series featuring original adventures. How did Jonny Quest end up at Comico? Bob Schreck explains: “I think Phil LaSorda [Comico business director and co-publisher] brought up his love of the TV show. I was a big fan, as well. As the administrative director (which meant I did the PR/marketing/advertising), I agreed with the Comico team that the book would have some traction with comics fans at the time. We researched who owned the license and negotiated a deal.”

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Once word of Comico acquiring the Jonny Quest license got out, one of the people interested in writing the series was William Messner-Loebs. “I heard that they were interested in doing it from Sam Kieth, who was inking Mage at the time,” Messner-Loebs says. “[Comico editorin-chief] Diana Schutz had mentioned it to him and I called her and said that I would be interested in doing it.” That call bore fruit, as Messner-Loebs was hired to write the series. What made him a good fit for Jonny Quest? “In 1985, when I first hired Bill to write Jonny Quest, he was best known for a book called Journey, about an American frontiersman in the 1800s,” editor Diana Schutz explains. “I’d read those comics and loved them, mostly because of the writing, which was thoughtful, provocative, and unusual, as you can probably tell just from the subject matter. Journey was evidence also of Bill’s historical knowledge and aptitude for research— both of which were essential to a series like Jonny Quest,

Early Quests (left) Gold Key Comics’ 1964 Jonny Quest one-shot and (right) a comics album produced in the UK were among the rare examples of licensing of the concept during the TV show’s original run. TM & © H-B.

which takes place in exotic locales, often using the myths and legends of those locales as a starting point for the development of a given story. “You know, traditionally, licensed comics have gotten a rep for poor quality, and it’s certainly true that, in those days, Marvel and DC tended to give short shrift to any properties that they licensed and didn’t own—movie or TV adaptations, for instance,” Schutz continues. “We wanted to make JQ a comic worth reading; we wanted to do right by this group of characters that we were all pretty fond of at Comico. But no matter how beautifully a comic is drawn, if the story’s not there, then it’s just not worth it. We don’t make comics to hang them on the wall like pretty pictures; we make them in order to tell stories, in order to be read. The writing had to be not only good; it had to be superlative in order to fight the existing stigma attached to licensed properties. And in order for the monthly adventures to have any real kind of impact, the characterization had to be so I thought there must be something to this. especially strong. I had tremendous I asked all my friends what they liked about confidence in Bill’s ability to pull that off, it. Their response was, ‘Oh, it was very to prove himself as a serious writer even deep.’ ‘There was this sort of conflict on a more commercial property, and between Race Bannon and Dr. Quest he came through with flying colors.” about who was going to be Jonny’s You would think for someone to father.’ When I finally got my fourthwant to write Jonny Quest, they must generation videotapes Diana duped for have been a fan of the series. That me to see the show, I realized that it wasn’t the case with Messner-Loebs. actually wasn’t any of that. It was basically “I was around 18 when the Jonny the Quest Jet would take off from Quest cartoon came out. I caught that Quest Island and they would go to a full blast of the Hanna-Barbera hype different Pacific island where there diana schutz where this was going to be the best would be some kind of monster. It cartoon ever,” Messner-Loebs says. “It would turn out that the monster was was very realistic. It was an adult show. I was old enough connected to a mad scientist who was taking over the to realize that it was extremely limited animation. It was world. Dr. Quest and Race Bannon would go and not what I was looking for. So, as a result, I judged it investigate. They would leave Jonny and Hadji on the extremely harshly. But I knew that all my friends were fans plane telling them not to go anywhere. They would

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“Totally Awesome!” (above) Well, it was the ’80s, and we said things like that back then. Steve Rude house ad for Comico’s Jonny Quest. (left) Doug Wildey’s cover to Jonny Quest #1 (June 1986). TM & © H-B.

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Hard-Hitting Exit Our boy packs a wallop on the cover to the series’ final issue, #31. Cover illustrated by Marc Hempel. TM & © H-B.

Sealed with a Kiss (left) Sheesh! The relationship between Benton and Kathy was finally heating up when Comico’s Jonny Quest ended with #31 (Dec. 1988). Color original art from page 30 of that issue. TM & © H-B.

we did this adaptation as a way to get around the problem. I don’t think it helped.” Issue #31 (Dec. 1988) features Jonny and Hadji following Kathy on the job for a day and seeing all the issues she has to deal with every day as a social worker. Although the day was tough, there is a happy ending as Dr. Quest proposes to her and she says yes. Sadly, though, this was the final issue of the series. Diana Schutz summed up what had happened in that issue’s letters column: “Sales on a licensed property like Jonny Quest must be even greater than those on a regular creatorowned (or publisher-owned) title, due to the additional cost of licensing fees. And although JQ’s sales started out remarkably high, they eventually dropped and continued to decline, never regaining the momentum of those early issues. When it came time to renegotiate our JQ contract for 1989, Comico was forced, sadly, to bow out.” It’s too bad that Jonny Quest didn’t find a larger readership, as it was an enjoyable book and upheld the legacy of the characters very well. Plus, the talent involved was second to none. In addition to the creators mentioned above, there were also pinups and covers contributed by artists including Mike Mignola, Bill

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Willingham, Terry Austin, Tim Sale, Jill Thompson, Bill Sienkiewicz, and many others. “Jonny Quest gave me the opportunity to work with three of the heroes of my youth: Murphy Anderson (JQ #9), Carmine Infantino (JQ #13), and Jim Mooney (JQ Special #1),” says Schutz. “Jim, of course, was the signature artist on the Supergirl stories in Action and Adventure in the 1960s, which are the comics that got me hooked on this medium in the first place as a little girl.” “I’m very happy with the run,” concludes MessnerLoebs. “I’ve always been sort of sad that none of Jonny Quest has ever been repackaged. I would love to see them reprinted.” That’s a sentiment I’m sure that many fans of the series share. Thank you to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this article and to Howard Whitman for allowing me to use an excerpt from his interview with the late Doug Wildey. Thanks also to Beau Smith and KC Carlson. ROGER ASH lives in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, where he works for Westfield Comics. He believes his cat may be in league with Dr. Zin but has yet to prove it.

Dan Johnson

Dennis the Menace has been one of the most iconic characters on the comic pages of newspapers worldwide for over 60 years. Created in 1951 by cartoonist Hank Ketcham (1920–2001), the character of Dennis Mitchell is not just well known for his antics in your local paper. The character has proven very popular in other mediums as well. Indeed, the perpetual five-and-a-half-year-old mischief-maker has proven time and time again that his strip, much like the corner his mom usually sends him to, isn’t enough contain him and his abundance of energy. Dennis the Menace has become a pop-culture sensation in a wide variety of productions. He and his cast of supporting characters have been featured in everything from a live-action television show to cartoons to feature films, and Dennis the Menace was even the official spokesman for Dairy Queen for 30 years. Without question, though, the most successful venue for Dennis the Menace outside of the comic strip has been in comic books. The first comic-book publishers to produce a Dennis the Menace series were Standard and then Pines, which published his exploits from 1953 to 1958. After that came Fawcett. The legendary company that had been home to Captain Marvel and other Golden Age heroes like Spy Smasher, Bulletman, and Ibis the Invincible published Dennis the Menace comic books from 1958 until 1980.

MOVE OVER, LOKI—THERE’S A NEW MISCHIEF-MAKER AT MARVEL! Before Dennis the Menace left the newsstands for good in the early 1980s, he had one more comic-book series that was published by Marvel Comics. The Marvel Dennis the Menace comic book lasted a mere 13 issues, cover-dated Nov. 1981 through Nov. 1982, along with three digest books that reprinted earlier material. While this run marked the end of an era for Dennis the Menace in comic-book form, it laid the groundwork for a new generation of creators to work with Hank Ketcham, and prepared them to become the guardians of Ketcham’s cartoon son and legendary comic strip. As Ketcham prepared to bring Dennis the Menace to Marvel, he began by hiring new assistants to illustrate the comic book. His first recruits were cartoonists Brian Lum and Karen Matchette (who back then went under

(Stan’s) Soapbox Derby Alice from Richard Thompson’s delightful comic strip Cul de Sac hitches a wagon ride with Dennis Mitchell as they pick up some of Marvel’s late-1981 entries—including Dennis the Menace #1! Actually, this marker illustration (without the added comic books) was done in 2011 by Dennis mainstay Ron Ferdinand. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Dennis the Menace © 2012 Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc. Cul de Sac © 2012 Richard Thompson. Spider-Man and X-Men © 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Spider-Kid, Spider-Kid, Does Whatever a Spider Did (left) The kinda-sorta Marvel crossover issue, Dennis the Menace #7 (May 1982), featuring Dennis as Spider-Kid. (right) Dennis the Menace creator Hank Ketcham receiving an Inkpot Award at the 1982 San Diego ComicCon. Photo courtesy of Alan Light. © 1982 Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc. Spider-Man TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A MARVEL “TEAM-UP”

Since Dennis the Menace was being published under the Marvel banner, a crossover with that company’s stable of superheroes seemed inevitable. The one and only crossover (of sorts) did occur in Dennis the Menace #7 (May 1982). In this issue, Dennis is invited to a costume party and comes dressed as Spider-Man. As it was, this was the only nod to Dennis being at Marvel that was ever made. “I personally don’t recall any talk of including other Marvel characters,” says Ferdinand. “I think the Spider-Man thing was a oneshot deal for that issue. Of course, if we had continued with Marvel, there probably would have been other opportunities to incorporate other Marvel characters.” As it was, by time the Spider-Kid issue was hitting the newsstands, Dennis’ time at Marvel was already winding down. Feeling the pressures of producing the comic book and maintaining the strip as well, Ketcham decided to end the Marvel series after only 13 issues. There were other reasons that Ketcham had for severing his ties with Marvel, and as it turns out, he was very prophetic in regard to the direction he saw the comics industry was headed for in the early 1980s. “Hank felt the age of large comic-book sales was fading and he wanted to move on and concentrate on training us to do the strip itself,” recalls Matchette. “It wasn’t at all like the 1960s, where the comic books generated so much interest and Hank had a stable of artists that worked on them.” Ferdinand adds, “Comic-book shops were few and far between in 1981. Hank was putting so much time into producing the comic book with the three of us, that I’m sure it was getting stressful for him.” Dennis’ time at Marvel did serve one great purpose, though, as it prepared Ketcham’s assistants for an even bigger assignment: taking over the Dennis the Menace comic strip. “[Hank] hired me with the idea that eventually I could help with Sunday pages and merchandizing,”

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says Matchette. “[The] comic books were a good start.” As the Marvel book ended, Matchette and Ferdinand didn’t have long before they began the next leg of their journey with Hank Ketcham. “[It] happened kind of simultaneously,” says Ferdinand. “Bob Bugg was producing the Sunday page in Connecticut and had been for many years. When Hank had built the new studio for all of us [in California], he had asked Bob to relocate so all production would be under one roof. When Bob declined, Hank put Karen and me on the Sunday page. It was after we had finished the last Marvel comic. [The comic was] a great training ground for us assistants. So in that sense, it proved worthwhile.” Of the three assistants that Ketcham hired to work on the Dennis the Menace comic book, the only one who chose not to continue with the strip was Brian Lum. After the Marvel series ended, he moved to Muncie, Indiana, to work on Garfield with Jim Davis. Eventually, Matchette went to work on other projects, such as the Flintstones comic strip and assisting Lynn Johnston on For Better or For Worse. To this day though, she is still a contributing writer for the Dennis the Menace strip. Ferdinand is still illustrating the Sunday Dennis the Menace strip. For him, working on Dennis the Menace has become his career and it is one that he is proud of as he carries on Hank Ketcham’s legacy. “Hank turned out to be a great boss,” says Ferdinand. “I am so honored to have known him and work with him for 15 years. I really miss him.” DAN JOHNSON is one of the gag writers for the Dennis the Menace comic strip and has written graphic novel adaptations of famous literary works for Campfire Comics.

Daniel DeAngelo

The saga of Star Blazers begins in the year 2199. Earth is under attack by the planet Gamilon, ruled by the arrogant Leader Desslok. Gamilon has been bombarding Earth with radioactive “planet bombs,” which have irradiated the surface and forced mankind to retreat into underground cities. In just one year, all life on Earth will become extinct. Just as Earth seems doomed, a message arrives from Queen Starsha of the faraway planet Iscandar, who offers Earth a device called “Cosmo DNA” that will restore life to the planet. The only catch is that mankind must travel to Iscandar to get it. Fortunately, Starsha also sends plans for a new “Wave-Motion Engine” that will enable a starship to make the long journey. The engine is installed in a sunken WWII battleship called Yamato, which is rebuilt into a space cruiser and re-christened the Argo (named after the ship that Jason sailed in to find the Golden Fleece). Captain Avatar leads the perilous mission and is given a crew of brave young volunteers called the “Star Force,” including combat leader Derek Wildstar, navigator Mark Venture, radar analyst/nurse Nova, and science officer Sandor. Initially, the hotheaded Wildstar blames Avatar for the death of his older brother, Alex—whose ship was lost during Avatar’s last battle—but he gradually matures, winning the love of Nova and being promoted to Deputy Captain when Avatar is stricken with radiation poisoning. When they reach Iscandar, the Star Force learns that Iscandar and Gamilon are twin planets and are both dying, which is why the Gamilons attacked Earth—because they were seeking a new home. After a climactic battle with Desslok on Gamilon, the Star Force arrives on Iscandar, where Wildstar discovers that his brother was rescued by Starsha. Alex falls in love with Starsha, who is the last surviving person on Iscandar, so he decides to remain there with her. Avatar passes away as the Star Force returns with the Cosmo DNA, arriving just in time to save Earth.

Protecting Mother Earth The star-blazing Captain Derek Wildstar, Nova Forrester, Colonel Cosmo Shannon, Captain Mark Venture, and IQ-9. Detail from the front cover of Ken Steacy’s wraparound painting for Comico’s Star Blazers vol. 2 #1 (May 1989). © 2012 Voyager Entertainment.

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