Issuu

COMICS’ BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND!

Ap r i l 2014

No.71

82658 27762

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TRYOUTS, ONE-SHOTS, & ONE-HIT WONDERS! Marvel Premiere • Marvel Spotlight • Showcase • 1st Issue Special • New Talent Showcase & more! Featuring BRUNNER • COLAN • ENGLEHART • PLOOG • TRIMPE

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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“Toon Comics!” History of Space Ghost in comics, Comico’s Jonny Quest and Star Blazers, Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera line and Dennis the Menace, behind the scenes at Marvel Productions, Ltd., and a look at the unpublished Plastic Man comic strip. Art/comments by EVANIER, FOGLIO, HEMPEL and WHEATLEY, MARRS, RUDE, TOTH, WILDEY, and more. All-new painted Space Ghost cover by STEVE RUDE!

“Halloween Heroes and Villains”! JEPH LOEB and TIM SALE’s chiller Batman: The Long Halloween, the Scarecrow (both the DC and Marvel versions), Solomon Grundy, Man-Wolf, Lord Pumpkin, Rutland, Vermont’s Halloween parades, and… the Korvac Saga’s Dead Avengers! With commentary from and/or art by CONWAY, GIL KANE, LOPRESTI, MOENCH, PÉREZ, DAVE WENZEL, and more. Cover by TIM SALE!

“Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS!

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“Superman in the Bronze Age”! JULIUS SCHWARTZ, CURT SWAN, Superman Family, World of Krypton miniseries, and ALAN MOORE’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, art & comments by ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, CHAYKIN, PAUL KUPPERBERG, OKSNER, O’NEIL, PASKO, ROZAKIS, SAVIUK, and more. Cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ and SCOTT WILLIAMS! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

“British Invasion” issue! History of Marvel UK, Beatles in comics, DC’s ‘80s British talent pool, V for Vendetta, Excalibur, Marshal Law, Doctor Who, “Pro2Pro” interview with PETER MILLIGAN & BRENDAN McCARTHY, plus BERGER, BOLLAND, DAVIS, GIBBONS, STAN LEE, LLOYD, MOORE, DEZ SKINN, and others. Fold-out triptych cover by RON WILSON and DAVE HUNT of Marvel UK’s rare 1970s “Quadra-Poster”!

“Bronze Age Backup Series”! Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Metamorpho, GOODWIN and SIMONSON’s Manhunter, PASKO and GIFFEN’s Dr. Fate, “Whatever Happened To…?”, Nemesis, Rose and the Thorn, Seven Soldiers of Victory, art and commentary by CARY BURKETT, JOHN CALNAN, DICK GIORDANO, MIKE GRELL, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, DAN SPIEGLE, cover by GRELL and JOE RUBINSTEIN.

“Bronze Age B-Teams”! Defenders issue-byissue overview, Champions, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, PETER DAVID’s X-Factor, Teen Titans West, Legion of Substitute Heroes, an all-star chatfest of Doom Patrol interviews, plus art and commentary by ROSS ANDRU, SAL BUSCEMA, KEITH GIFFEN, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ERIK LARSEN, GEORGE PÉREZ, BOB ROZAKIS, cover by KEVIN NOWLAN.

“Bronze Age Team-Ups”! Marvel Team-Up and Two-in-One, Super-Villain Team-Up, CLAREMONT and SIMONSON’s X-Men/New Teen Titans, DC Comics Presents, SuperTeam Family, HANEY and APARO’s Batman of Earth-B(&B), Superman/Captain Marvel smackdowns, plus art and commentary by BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, LEVITZ, WEIN, and a classic GIL KANE cover inked anew by TERRY AUSTIN.

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“Heroes Out of Time!” Batman: Gotham by Gaslight with MIGNOLA, WAID, and AUGUSTYN, Booster Gold with JURGENS, X-Men: Days of Future Past with CHRIS CLAREMONT, Bill & Ted with EVAN DORKIN, interview with P. CRAIG RUSSELL, “Pro2Pro” with Time Masters’ BOB WAYNE and LEWIS SHINER, Karate Kid, New Mutants: Asgardian Wars, and Kang. Mignola cover.

“1970s and ‘80s Legion of Super-Heroes!” LEVITZ interview, the Legion’s Honored Dead, the Cosmic Boy miniseries, a Time Trapper history, the New Adventures of Superboy, Legion fantasy cover gallery by JOHN WATSON, plus BATES, COCKRUM, CONWAY, COLON, GIFFEN, GRELL, JANES, KUPPERBERG, LaROCQUE, LIGHTLE, SCHAFFENBERGER, SHERMAN, STATON, SWAN, WAID, & more! COCKRUM cover!

TENTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Revisit the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, and 500th issues of ‘70s and ‘80s favorites: Adventure, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Batman, Brave & Bold, Casper, Detective, Flash, Green Lantern, Showcase, Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, and more! With APARO, BARR, ENGLEHART, POLLARD, SEKOWSKY, SIMONSON, STATON, and WOLFMAN. DAN JURGENS and RAY McCARTHY cover.

“Incredible Hulk in the Bronze Age!” Looks into Hulk’s mind, his role as a team player, his TV show and cartoon, merchandising, Hulk newspaper strip, Teen Hulk, villain history of the Abomination, art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, PETER DAVID, KENNETH JOHNSON, BILL MANTLO, AL MILGROM, EARL NOREM, ROGER STERN, HERB TRIMPE, LEN WEIN, new cover by TRIMPE and GERHARD!

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Volume 1, Number 71 April 2014 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Arthur Adams (art from the collection of David Mandel) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

ONE-HIT WONDERS: The Bat-Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Batman’s small band of British helpers were seen in a single Brave and Bold issue

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

ONE-HIT WONDERS: The Crusader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Hopefully you didn’t grow too attached to the guest hero in Aquaman #56

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek David Kirkpatrick Todd Klein David Anthony Kraft Paul Kupperberg Paul Levitz Steve Lightle Dave Lillard David Mandel Kelvin Mao Marvel Comics David Michelinie Allen Milgrom Doug Moench Mindy Newell Ann Nocenti Dennis O’Neil Mike Pigott Mike Ploog Joe Rausch Mike Royer Bob Rozakis Jim Salicrup Walter Simonson Steve Skeates Anthony Snyder Joe Staton Roger Stern Bryan D. Stroud TMS News & Features, LLC Roy Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Herb Trimpe John Trumbull Len Wein Steve H. Wilson Marv Wolfman Dennis Yee

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FLASHBACK: Marvel Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Home to the Defenders, Ant-Man, and Thing team-ups FLASHBACK: Marvel Premiere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 A round-up of familiar, freaky, and failed features, with numerous creator anecdotes FLASHBACK: Strange Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 The disposable heroes and throwaway characters of Marvel’s weirdest tryout book BEYOND CAPES: 221B at DC: Sherlock Holmes at DC Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Inspecting the Bronze Age one-shot you may have missed FLASHBACK: 1st Issue Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 It was no Showcase … nor was it meant to be BEYOND CAPES: Dick Tracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 The super-sized one-shot of 1975 that gave DC its second square-jawed detective FLASHBACK: Showcase Presents... Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 The Bronze Age return of DC’s venerated tryout title ONE-HIT WONDERS: Timmy Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 The short lifespan of this one-time Richie Rich co-star ONE-HIT WONDERS: Jason Monarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 This one-shot’s creator and his creation played the hand they were dealt ONE-HIT WONDERS: Swashbuckled and Hornswaggled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Cary Burkett discusses the all-too-brief career of this Batman partner WHAT THE--?!: Marvel’s Offbeat ’80s One-Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 The No-Prize Book, The Fumetti Book, and The Generic Comic FLASHBACK: New Talent and Bonus Babies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 DC’s grooming of the next generation of comics pros, ’80s style BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Letters on BI #66, the Team-Ups issue IN MEMORIAM: NICK CARDY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 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 Arthur Adams. Dr. Strange and Clea TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2014 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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All comics TM & © DC Comics or TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Arthur Adams Mark Arnold Michael Aushenker Frank Balas Chris Brennaman Norm Breyfogle Eliot R. Brown Cary Burkett Jarrod Buttery Nick Cardy Dewey Cassell Shaun Clancy Chris Claremont Ernie Colón Gerry Conway Jim Craig Mike Cross Steve Englehart Mark Evanier Ramona Fradon Chris Franklin Gary Friedrich Mike Friedrich Grand Comic-Book Database Robert Greenberger P.C. Hamerlinck Ed Hannigan Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Auctions Ben Herman Tony Isabella Geof Isherwood Dan Johnson Douglas R. Kelly Rob Kelly Karl Kesel

FLASHBACK: Ready for the Marvel Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Creators galore look back at the series that launched several important concepts

The Brave and the Bold #92 (Oct.–Nov. 1970) is a comic that has a great deal of significance for me … it was the first superhero comic I ever read. Well, sort of. I grew up in Australia, and the version I had was called Superman presents Tip Top Comic Monthly #72 (inset), a black-and-white Australian reprint with a partly redrawn version of Nick Cardy’s cover. I was given two comics for my sixth birthday by a friend of my mother, a lady named Bev Ryan. The gift consisted of this comic and a Road Runner reprint. I must have looked at Tip Top with a somewhat puzzled look, as if to say, “What the heck is this?,” because Mrs. Ryan remarked, “I thought you said you liked Batman?” Yes, I did like Batman … but this wasn’t the light-hearted, confident Batman I knew from TV. This looked more like a poster for a horror movie, with Batman searching desperately through thick fog, while a girl he was supposed to be guarding was being snatched away by a monster under his very nose! The story was quite complex for a six year old, but it showed me that I could get access to Batman stories even when he wasn’t showing on TV, and led to my seeking out other comics. As Australia sold both American and British comics, and with this issue being set in London, for some time I was unsure of whether Batman was an English or American character!

“NIGHT WEARS A SCARLET SHROUD”

The story opens on a film being shot in the London docklands. Bruce Wayne is in town to oversee a nick cardy movie he has invested in, The Scarlet Strangler, directed by the great Basil Coventry. While on set, Photo by Luigi Novi. Bruce meets script girl and stand-in Margo Cantrell; technical advisor Major Dabney, a former Scotland Yard inspector; and a young guitarist doing incidental music, Mick Murdock. The film is about the Scarlet Strangler, a Jack the Ripper-type villain who terrorized London in the Edwardian era. During filming, leading actress Vivien Tremaine is abducted by what appears to be the real Strangler. Basil Coventry is found unconscious, while the actor playing the Strangler is found dead in his dressing room. Bruce Wayne disappears, and soon Batman arrives on the scene, under the rather flimsy pretext of being in London “to study British police methods.” Quite uncharacteristically, he asks Margo, Mick, and the Major to assist him in tracking down the kidnapper through the thick fog, and also to look for director Coventry, who has since gone missing. Although keeping in touch with walkie-talkies, Batman becomes disorientated, and briefly believes himself to have travelled back in time … a feeling reinforced when he is nearly run over by an old stagecoach. He is then attacked and nearly throttled by the Strangler, who suddenly bolts when Major Dabney approaches. Dabney finds a piece of cloth that Batman tore from the attacker, and notices it is covered with small bugs, a type of sightless beetle found only in dark wine cellars.

Bat-Chap and Friends Nick Cardy’s moody cover for The Brave and the Bold #92 (Oct.–Nov. 1970), premiering (and retiring) the now-you-see-them, now-you-don’t Bat-Squad. TM & © DC Comics.

2 • BACK ISSUE • Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

Mike Pigott

Foggy Transition (left) Note how Cardy leads the reader’s eye from page 2 to page 3 via a wisp of fog. (below) Artist Nick Cardy and writer Bob Haney may have intended the Bat-Squad to appear only once, but as evidenced by this concluding caption, editor Murray Boltinoff hoped they’d return. With Batman are (left to right) Mick, Margo, and the Major. TM & © DC Comics.

Batman and Mick try to catch the Strangler using Margo as a lure. The killer attempts to take the bait, but manages to elude Batman. Meanwhile, the Major is searching the cellar of a disused pub called the Half Moon Inn, where he finds beetles identical to the ones on the Strangler’s clothes. He calls Batman and the others, who find actress Vivien Tremaine chained up in the inn, although believing herself to be the Edwardian shopgirl she was playing. Hearing commotion outside the bar, they emerge to find the Strangler attacking Basil Coventry. Dabney shoots the killer, who falls into the River Thames. However, a crazed Coventry attacks Batman, causing them both to fall through some rotten floorboards into a dank cellar. Batman ends up trapped underneath an unexploded WWII Nazi bomb, which is reactivated and starts ticking! Despite the best efforts of Murdock and Dabney, they cannot move or defuse the bomb, and Batman orders them to get clear before it explodes. After a massive explosion, the gang believe Batman dead, although fortunately he was able to use a plank of wood to break a rotten wall in the cellar and cause a surge of water to enter and loosen the bomb. Later, Batman and the group catch up with a recovered Basil Coventry, who explains everything. His own grandfather was the original Strangler, and fear of turning out the same way led Basil’s father to have a breakdown and wind up in a mental asylum. The recent hype over the Strangler movie led Coventry’s father to escape his confines and relive the original killer’s crimes. With the case wrapped up, Batman thanks his partners for their help, and Mick suggests they should team up together again some time, as Batman and the “Bat-Squad.”

INTRODUCING THE BAT-SQUAD The Brave and the Bold (B&B) #92 was written by regular scribe Bob Haney and illustrated by Nick Cardy. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Cardy about this issue, which he recalls very clearly despite the 43 intervening years. At the time, he was best known as the artist on Aquaman and Teen Titans, but was also assigned a fiveissue run of B&B, which he regards as some of his finest work. “For this issue, I was experimenting with a different art style,” he explains. “I used a lot of cross-hatching, to give more of a woodcut effect, like in Victorian-era newspapers.” This is most evident on page three, the splash page, where a screaming Vivien Tremaine is being carried off by the Scarlet Strangler. Cardy also points out something I had overlooked—that wisps of fog on the bottom panel of page two carry over to the splash page. On the whole, Cardy’s art was very atmospheric, although his interpretation of London was not particularly accurate. His backgrounds were full of Shakespearian-era half-timbered houses

and inns, which were more typical of historic cities such as York and Norwich; the London docklands of the 1970s were mostly full of old warehouses and slum housing. However, he didn’t resort to putting Big Ben in the background of every panel, as many artists do when illustrating London! Bob Haney’s dialogue for the British characters was surprisingly good. Mick was quite clearly an East Londoner speaking in a fairly good facsimile of a cockney accent, and Major Dabney came across as a gruff ex-military type, although Margo seemed to veer from sounding like a hip, young woman to an old fishwife (“Cheerio, ducks!”). The Major’s habit of referring to Batman as “Bat-Chap” was also pretty unlikely! I asked Nick Cardy about the reason behind using the unknown Bat-Squad in a team-up book such as The Brave and the Bold. He suspected they were created by Haney to provide a change of pace from the fairly restrictive, and often contrived, formula of superhero team-ups. Were there any plans for the Squad to appear again? “No, they were always intended as one-off characters,” says Cardy. And that’s what happened. Batman returned to London on several occasions, but he never did catch up with the Bat-Squad again. Special thanks to Nick Cardy, for taking the time to speak with me, and to Beverly Ryan, wherever she may be, for that first Batman comic! MIKE PIGOTT is a London-based freelance writer who specializes in diecast toys and model vehicles. His articles appear in every issue of Diecast Collector Magazine and Diecast Model World.

Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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A decade after Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), Stan Lee took a sabbatical from writing comics. According to Sean Howe’s book, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Lee suggested some anthology titles so as to encourage the creation of new characters in his absence. Exactly ten years after FF #1, Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971) hit the stands. This was followed by Marvel Feature #1 (Dec. 1971) and Marvel Premiere #1 (Apr. 1972). One might assume that Marvel Premiere would premiere new characters, while Marvel Spotlight, for instance, would spotlight established characters that did not have their own books. In fact, almost the exact opposite occurred. Roy Thomas tells BACK ISSUE, “You’re right about the titles’ inherent meanings, but I don’t think Stan (or I) cared much what went where. They were just names to us.”

THE COMING OF RED WOLF Red Wolf actually arrived in Avengers #80 (Sept. 1970). “Stan and I decided it’d be good to have a book with an American Indian hero,” explained Roy Thomas in Alter Ego #70 (July 2007). However, “Stan didn’t want it as a modern-day character. I guess he was trying to see if he could find a way to get a Western to sell, because everybody in the field wanted to write or draw a Western.” As such, when Red Wolf made his solo debut in Marvel Spotlight #1, the character wasn’t Will Talltrees of the 20th Century, but Johnny Wakeley of the 19th Century. As detailed in BACK ISSUE #42 (Aug. 2010), Johnny Wakeley soon earned his own series with Red Wolf #1 (May 1972).

A WOLF OF A DIFFERENT COLOR Thanks to Stan Lee’s groundbreaking anti-drug issues in Amazing Spider-Man, the Comics Code Authority was shamed into relaxing its rules in 1971. Marvel immediately seized upon the opportunity. Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972) introduced Jack Russell, who, on the evening of his 18th birthday, became a Werewolf by Night! Explained in BI #15 (Apr. 2006), Roy and Jean Thomas plotted the debut story then turned it over to Gerry Conway to write. Werewolf by Night appeared in three issues of Spotlight and then quickly jumped to his own title. Gerry Conway was asked if this was a result of the success of the Spotlight issues. “Well, I think that the response was probably very good,” recalls Conway, “but given that Marvel Spotlight was a bimonthly, I don’t know that we would’ve had sales figures by the time that we decided to publish Werewolf by Night as its own title. But what I think tended to happen—and this was during the period when Marvel was expanding dramatically—is they were looking for market share on

High-Octane Hit Of the many characters premiering in Marvel Spotlight, Ghost Rider—first seen in issue #5—was the title’s runaway (make that rideaway) hit. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

6 • BACK ISSUE • Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

Jarrod Buttery

Wolfing Down Adams Covers Marvel Spotlight started with a double-bang as Neal Adams drew its first two covers. (left) Red Wolf in #1 (Nov. 1971). (right) Werewolf by Night in #2 (Feb. 1972). Adams was inked by Tom Palmer on the Werewolf cover, which includes background character alterations by John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

the newsstand. There were a lot of ideas that were in development, “Instead of Stunt-Master, I’d like to make the villain a really weird and I think that when Roy and Stan saw how well the book was turning motorcycle-riding character called Ghost Rider.” Thomas approved, out, they figured, ‘This one’s gonna go, let’s just put it into its own stating, “That’s too good an idea to be just a villain in Daredevil. title.’ To be perfectly honest, I think a large measure of that had to He should start out right away in his own book.” do with the terrific art by Michael Ploog. He made it credible and Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972) introduced Ghost Rider—a interesting, and different from the typical Marvel book.” motorbike-riding, leather-clad, flaming skeleton (not a Western hero With the relaxation of the Comics Code’s rules, horror characters in a phosphorescent costume)—conceived and written by Gary could be used in comics. Conway was asked if this was an exciting Friedrich, drawn by Mike Ploog, with aid and abetment by Roy time: “Absolutely! There are only so many superhero books Thomas. Discussed in BI #15 (Apr. 2006), the supernatural you can actually produce. As creators, we were saying that biker appeared in seven issues of Spotlight before Ghost we’d like to be able to do something a little different Rider #1 (Sept. 1973) debuted. One of Marvel’s most from the other books that we were working on. visually arresting characters, successfully straddling And horror titles provided you a whole new venue, the line between horror and superheroes, Ghost a whole new set of rules you could break and stick Rider ran for 81 issues and has been revived many with. So for me, it was a lot of fun.” times since. “Jack Russell” is a wonderful name for a character SON OF THE DEVIL that turns into a wolf. Conway was asked if this was In his book, Origins of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee deliberate: “Gosh, no, but as people have pointed described how—after creating the Fantastic Four, out to me repeatedly, it is kind of an appropriate Hulk, and Spider-Man—”The only one who could name! I know that Roy and Jean came up with the top the heroes we already had would be Super-God, original premise for the first issue. And it’s entirely but I didn’t think the world was quite ready for that possible that when I wrote the script, and I wrote gerry conway concept just yet.” And: “I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—do the character’s name, that I was subconsciously a series featuring God as a comic-book hero. But I making that association. I’m pretty sure I would could—and would—do a series featuring a god as never have thought of it; I didn’t own a dog, I wasn’t raised with a comic-book hero.” And Thor was born. dogs, and the idea of calling a character Jack Russell—who turns A decade later, the doors had opened wider. After featuring into a werewolf—probably would’ve struck me as hilarious if I had comics with werewolves, vampires, and satanic bikers, the letters thought of it, but I don’t think I did.” After a successful three-issue debut, the Werewolf by Night solo page of Marvel Spotlight #11 (Aug. 1973) proclaimed: “Next issue comic lasted for 43 issues plus five Giant-Size issues, and the character we’ll debut perhaps the weirdest spin-off strip of all: The Mark of integrated fully into the Marvel Universe, recently playing an important Satan! That’s right, gang, the flaming father-figure of the netherworld in his own strip.” role in X-Factor. According to BI #21 (Apr. 2007), Roy Thomas suggested an NOT ANOTHER WESTERN HERO alternative. Subsequently, Ghost Rider #1 introduced Daimon Hellstrom: In Daredevil #58 (Nov. 1969), Roy Thomas introduced a motorcycle- the Son of Satan. The story continued in Ghost Rider #2 (Oct. 1973), riding villain called Stunt-Master. Gary Friedrich began writing the then directly crossed over into Marvel Spotlight #12 (Oct. 1973). title with issue #67 (Aug. 1970). According to an interview with Roy Spotlight hosted Hellstrom for 13 issues, then, as with his predecessors, Thomas in Comic Book Artist #13 (May 2001), Friedrich suggested: he was granted a solo title. The Son of Satan debuted in December Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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One Helluva Ride After wowing readers with his Werewolf by Night art, Michael Ploog continued his winning streak with Ghost Rider. Shown here from Marvel Spotlight #7 (Dec. 1972): (right) Ploog’s cover, and (left) an interior page, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

1975 and lasted for eight bimonthly issues. Hellstrom later became a long-standing member of the Defenders, enjoyed two Hellstorm series, and has recently appeared in several issues of New Avengers.

the comic, written by John Warner, with art by Sonny Trinidad, is a competent retelling of Sinbad’s adventure, and a nostalgic trip for those who remember the film.

SINBAD

THE SCARECROW

Marvel’s Worlds Unknown #7–8 (June–Aug. 1974) adapted the 1973 fantasy movie, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (the film that brought Tom Baker to the attention of Doctor Who producer Barry Letts). This was the second of Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad movies. The first, and perhaps the most famous—due to Sinbad’s swordfight with a skeleton—was The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958). This film was adapted in Marvel Spotlight #25 (Dec. 1975). Unlike the Worlds Unknown two-parter, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad was condensed into a single issue. Most of the plot is present, but this required three of the 18 pages to be essentially text pieces (with miniscule font!) so as to encompass the entire story. Editor Marv Wolfman admits, “I have no memories of it at all—it was just another title.” Nevertheless,

Another short-lived Marvel anthology title was Dead of Night. As related in BI #60 (Oct. 2012), issue #11 (Aug. 1975) featured the debut of Scott Edelman’s creation, the Scarecrow. The story continued into Marvel Spotlight #26 (Feb. 1976). Edelman was building a mystery and a mythology, and “Scaremails” in Spotlight #26 heaped praise on Dead of Night #11. Unfortunately, Marvel was experiencing a downturn and a proposed Scarecrow series never eventuated.

SUB-MARINER Spotlight #27 (Apr. 1976) presented a Sub-Mariner story from Bill Mantlo and Jim Mooney. Namor’s solo title had concluded in September 1974, but he was appearing regularly in Super-Villain Team-Up. In issue #4 of SVTU (Feb. 1976), Mantlo introduced the modernday version of Captain Simon Ryker. Ryker had first appeared, in Marvel’s future, as the creator of Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25 (Aug. 1974). In Marvel Spotlight, a younger Ryker pits an earlier cyborg creation—the Symbiotic Man—against Namor.

MOON KNIGHT Werewolf by Night #32 (Aug. 1975) introduced Mark (sic) Spector, a.k.a. Moon Knight. Revealed in BI #20 (Feb. 2007), editors Len Wein and Marv Wolfman liked the character and suggested a solo outing in Marvel Spotlight. Issue #28 (June 1976), by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, revealed Marc (sic) Spector’s face, as well as his alternative identities as millionaire Steven Grant and cabbie Jake Lockley. After some time we were rewarded with Moon Knight #1 (Nov. 1980).

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Al Milgrom inked Jack Kirby’s Moon Knight cover for Spotlight #29. “I wonder if I did the sketch for that?” ponders Milgrom. “At some point when Jack Kirby came back to Marvel after his stint at DC, they had me doing cover sketches for him. It was easier if they had somebody here in New York, to look through the issue and do cover sketches based on the interiors, rather than send him Xeroxes of the entire issue. Certainly Kirby doesn’t need any help designing!”

al milgrom

A NIGHT ON THE TOWN Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim, and Volstagg the Enormous were introduced in Journey into Mystery (Thor) #119 (Aug. 1965). The letters page in Thor #244 (Feb. 1976) first referred to them as the “Warriors Three” and promised an appearance in Marvel Spotlight #28. After a short (possibly meal-influenced) delay, the trio appeared in the hilarious Spotlight #30 (Oct. 1976). Set during Thor #246 (Apr. 1976), as Thor flies off to smite Firelord, the Warriors Three are left to their own devices in Manhattan. Much of the fun comes from the trio’s fish-out-of-water status, coupled with their total obliviousness to that fact—characterization mirrored in 2011’s Thor movie. “In many ways, Warriors Three’s ‘A Night on the Town’ remains one of my favorite stories ever,” admits Wein. “It was just such a joy to write, and the late, great John Buscema’s artwork didn’t exactly hurt it no-how.”

Lots of Variety (top tier) Marvel Spotlight birthed new characters and showcased old ones. (bottom) Courtesy of Heritage, original art page by Sonny Trinidad from issue #25 (Dec. 1975), adapting the movie The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Covers TM & © Marvel. Seventh Voyage of Sinbad © 1958 Columbia Pictures.

Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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When it comes to Marvel Feature, the tryout comic book published by Marvel Comics in the early 1970s, two old adages come to mind. The first would be “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” The second would be “timing is everything.” Marvel Feature debuted in 1971 as a bimonthly forum for trying out new characters (or more accurately, new combinations of characters and variations on existing characters) before giving them their own book. It was in concept, if not in format, similar to DC Comics’ Showcase, which was first published in 1956. Showcase featured tryouts (typically between one and three issues) of existing characters not currently appearing in print, new characters, and updated versions of older characters. Showcase marked the first appearances of the Silver Age Flash, the Silver Age Green Lantern, and the Silver Age Atom, as well as Adam Strange, the Metal Men, the Creeper, and Hawk and Dove, among others. Many of the characters that appeared first in Showcase went on to get their own titles and some, like the Flash and Green Lantern, became cornerstones of DC Comics’ success in the following decades. One of the novelties of Showcase was that if a favorite character received his own title, readers would pick up the new book, but they kept reading Showcase. Prior to 1971, Marvel Comics had never really had a tryout book. They had several anthology titles, which typically featured reprints of classic stories or new stories about existing characters, but if they wanted to try out something new, they often just launched a new title. There were risks with this approach, namely that the title might not be successful, so the effort spent promoting it would be wasted and its failure might be perceived negatively by readers. It could also take months to find out that a title was not selling well. That said, Marvel had enjoyed a tremendous run of success introducing new titles in the 1960s. And they had occasionally introduced new characters in existing titles, such as Thor in Journey into Mystery and Iron Man in Tales of Suspense, a “splitbook” that featured two characters in separate stories in each issue. (Spider-Man was not exactly the same thing, since he debuted in the last issue of Amazing Fantasy.) But in the early 1970s, Marvel decided to launch several tryout books, among them Marvel Feature. Former Marvel Comics editor and writer Roy Thomas explains the motivation behind a tryout book: “Stan wanted to do a bunch of them: Marvel Premiere, Marvel Feature, Marvel Spotlight. They were all his ideas, and his titles. In the early ’70s, we were just trying to get an increased place on the newsstands. That’s the period when we began to actually outsell DC in terms of number of books, and that’s the period when Stan became president and publisher, so we were a separate division then. We weren’t attached to Magazine

Little Man’s Big Day The Astonishing Ant-Man leaps into his own solo strip! Splash page to Marvel Feature #4 (July 1972), rendered by Titanic Herb Trimpe! Special thanks to Dewey Cassell for the scan. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Dewey Cassell

Management anymore, and Stan kept saying we had to generate more income. He would always say it was to pay my salary, but I don’t remember ever getting a raise. [laughs]”

THE DEFENDERS Marvel Feature started out with 52 pages and a cover price of 25 cents, but by issue #3 it had dropped back to 36 pages for 20 cents, as did other Marvel titles. The first characters to appear in Marvel Feature were not new, but the notion of them working together was. The first issue of the title featured the debut of the Defenders, starring the Incredible Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Prince Namor the SubMariner in what, on the surface, would appear to be the least likely team of for 152 issues, just going to prove that heroes in the Marvel Universe. comic-book readership is not always Given the success of The Avengers, (if ever) logical. [Editor’s note: For more which was also a team consisting of roy thomas on the Defenders, see BACK ISSUE existing heroes, it is not surprising #19 and #65.] Photo by Luigi Novi. that Marvel would want to try the ANT-MAN formula again. And like the Avengers, the Defenders later had a rotating lineup that included Valkyrie, Nighthawk, When the Defenders cleared out of Marvel Feature, Hellcat, and others. But for their initial appearance in Ant-Man moved in. Ant-Man had starred in the split-book Tales to Astonish in the mid-1960s and was a founding Marvel Feature it was just Hulk, Strange, and Namor. The first issue of Marvel Feature provided the origin member of the Avengers, but his most recent solo of the Defenders by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru, appearance had been in a backup story in issue #44 of although the groundwork had been laid in earlier Iron Man, six months previously. Thomas felt it was time issues of their individual titles. It also featured a new to try it again. “I know that I had wanted to do Ant-Man solo Dr. Strange story by Thomas and Don Heck, and more than most, because I just felt like he was a good a Sub-Mariner reprint by Bill Everett. Subsequent issues character, and I thought it’d be good to bring him featured encounters with Dormammu and Xemnu the back,” Roy says. “I think at one stage I was actually Titan. (Issue #2 also featured cameo appearances by hoping I could write it, but that proved impossible.” So Roy and Jean Thomas and Tom Fagan.) Fan reaction Thomas tapped Mike Friedrich to write the Ant-Man to the team was positive, and after three issues in Marvel stories and artist Herb Trimpe to illustrate them. Echoes Feature the Defenders got their own title, which ran Friedrich, “Roy started the series and intended to write Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

The Defenders From Marvel Feature #3 (June 1972): (left) the Gil Kane/ Ralph Reese cover, and (right) a Thomas/Andru/ Everett interior page, courtesy of Heritage. Seen on this page is one of Hulk’s Bronze Age sidekicks, Jim Wilson. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Ant-Man’s Second Artist P. Craig Russell (interviewed in BACK ISSUE #67) followed Herb Trimpe on Marvel Feature’s Ant-Man. (inset) Craig was inked by Frank Giacoia on the cover to Marvel Feature #10 (July 1973). This issue gueststarred the Wasp and concluded Ant-Man’s MF strip. (left) This Russell sketch of the hero was done in 1974 inside that year’s Creation Con booklet and is from the collection of Shaun Clancy. Thanks, Shaun! TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

NEW THINGS

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

When Ant-Man departed Marvel Feature, he was replaced by the Thing, whose stories were written by Friedrich and Len Wein and drawn by Jim Starlin. The Thing appeared in only two issues of Marvel Feature, alongside the Hulk and Iron Man, respectively, before getting his own title, Marvel Two-in-One, which ran for over 100 issues, including seven annuals. Marvel Feature ended with issue #12. At least volume one did. The Marvel Feature title was resurrected in 1975 as a showcase for Red Sonja, which was edited by Roy Thomas and written by Bruce Jones, with gorgeous artwork by Frank Thorne, beginning with issue #2. The new Marvel Feature only lasted for seven issues, but it served its purpose, earning Red Sonja a title of her own. [Editor’s note: Marvel’s Red Sonja series will eventually be examined here in BACK ISSUE—we’re not sure when, but trust us, we can’t ignore its fabulous Frank Thorne art for much longer…]

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In both iterations, Marvel Feature effectively served as a launching pad for successful ongoing comic-book titles, Ant-Man being the sole exception. As for why Ant-Man didn’t get his own title? Thomas speculates, “Chances are it didn’t sell as well as the other two.” But while the tryout aspect of the title worked well, for the most part, it could not sustain its own readership. Marvel learned what DC Comics had already figured out—the heyday of the tryout book was past. The last issue of Showcase was published in September 1970, the year before the debut of Marvel Feature. [Editor’s note: Of course, Showcase was later revived, as covered elsewhere in this issue.] Ant-Man may yet have the last word, though. While the Hulk and Thing have both appeared in feature films, their reception by fans has been lukewarm (at least until The Avengers, so far as Hulk is concerned). But Ant-Man is slated to get his own film, premiering in November 2015, serving as the first of Marvel’s “Phase Three” movies. Director Edgar Wright has been working on an Ant-Man script for years and debuted test footage at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2012. Roy Thomas believes the big screen may be the best place to try out the diminutive hero: “It was always a great idea for a movie, a better idea for a movie than it was for a comic book. I remember thinking the night I saw Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, ‘Well, now they can finally make an Ant-Man movie.’ And I’m sorry they didn’t do it in time to get him in The Avengers, but at least I’m glad to see there’s going to be one.” Sincere thanks to Roy Thomas, Herb Trimpe, and Mike Friedrich for their insight into Marvel Feature, and to David Kirkpatrick for the artwork. DEWEY CASSELL is a frequent contributor to BACK ISSUE and author of the book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, available from TwoMorrows Publishing. He is currently working on a book about Herb Trimpe.

Chris Brennaman

Marvel Comics in the 1970s was at a turning point. The forces behind that initial influx of creativity in the early 1960s had mostly moved on. Stan Lee had transitioned from editor-in-chief into the role of publisher, Jack Kirby had jumped to DC Comics, and Steve Ditko was working over at Charlton. By 1972, Roy Thomas had finally stepped into the role of editor-in-chief and was overseeing a new batch of writers and artists. They were young, they were hungry, and they were ready to take the creative reins of the company and push its characters into new, often strange places. “That was a time when Marvel was bursting at the seams creatively,” says Steve Englehart, former writer of The Avengers, The Defenders, and Dr. Strange. “There were a lot of people doing some pretty entertaining stuff in those days.” But for all the change, there were still some fairly common practices, chief among them the regular publication of anthology and tryout books. Since comics first appeared on newsstands, those types of books were more than a little common. Showcase and The Brave and the Bold were some notable tryouts published by DC, while Marvel published anthologies like Journey into Mystery, Amazing Fantasy, and Strange Tales early on. For comic-book readers today, the idea of a tryout book like Marvel Premiere may seem like, well, just that: like an idea. However, well into the 1970s and even the early 1980s, tryouts were still considered one of the best ways to get the attention of readers focused on new ideas and lesser characters without having to invest in an entirely new monthly series. “We were going for newsstand space,” Englehart says. “You wanted to maintain that space on the newsstand, so if you had Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Avengers, and they’re doing great, well, that’s good. But if you put out a lousy book, that could tarnish your company’s image with new readers.” And that, according to Englehart, was the beauty in tryout book like Marvel Premiere. “The idea was, if you’re going to try something out, do it with a book with less exposure so it doesn’t loom as large in the general brand.” Marvel Premiere was a place for creators at Marvel to take established characters and try a new spin in search of a new audience, or to put new ideas to paper in an effort to find the next big thing. Or, in some cases, to make that old thing seem new again. One month might find an adventure featuring the Falcon, a known supporting player in Captain America, while the next may see something new along the lines of the space-opera science-fiction piece Seeker 3000.

House of Hits and Misses The first three stars of Marvel Premiere— Warlock, shown here in detail from the Gil Kane/Dan Adkins-drawn cover to MP #1 (Apr. 1972), followed by Dr. Strange and Iron Fist—spun off into their own series, but Premiere’s other concepts failed to launch. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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THE SORCERER SUPREME

Alternate Views Dr. Strange’s clash with Cagliostro varied wildly between Brunner’s preliminary sketch (courtesy of Heritage) and completed cover (inset) for Marvel Premiere #14 (Mar. 1974). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

“Frank asked me to come over and script Strange for him,” Englehart says. “I liked Dr. Strange. I had written him before with the Defenders. I wanted to work with Frank. They [both] were at Marvel Premiere.” Englehart started his Marvel Premiere Dr. Strange run in the middle of a storyline featuring Strange’s war with Shuma-Gorath. In Marvel Premiere #10 (Sept. 1973), he wrapped up that story while at the same time ushering in some fairly large changes to the character’s status quo, changes that are still lingering in current Marvel series. It was Engehart who shuffled the Ancient One off of this mortal coil, having Strange ascend to the position of Sorcerer Supreme in issue #10. It’s hard to imagine a time when Strange wasn’t Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, and at the time, that was quite a big shift. According to Englehart, though, it wasn’t a problem in the least to make happen. “At the time, the Marvel philosophy was, they handed you a book and said, ‘Here, if you can make it sell, you can keep doing it,’ ” Englehart says. “There was no more oversight than that.” The Englehart/Brunner partnership would successfully result in Dr. Strange becoming a player in the Marvel Universe once again. “When I got him by himself, I decided I really ought to learn more about magic if I was going to write a credible Sorcerer Supreme, a guy frank brunner who knew more than any of us,” Photo by Luigi Novi. Englehart says. “I started reading books about magic to incorporate that into my stories, to be otherworldly.” While Englehart and Brunner’s professional partnership was bearing fruit for Marvel in the form of rising sales, a strong personal friendship was being shored up as well. “Frank had ideas as well,” Englehart says. “When I was doing the book with Frank, it was a co-creator situation. We would get together every two months and have dinner. He would have things he wanted me to see, I would have things I wanted him to see. We would hash things out as the night went on.” Brunner may not have been the writer, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t have some ideas as to the direction of the series. And because of the mutual trust the professionals had quickly developed, Brunner’s input into the story was welcomed by Englehart. “Usually, the artist just draws, and that’s the end of it,” Englehart says. “Frank wanted to do more, and that was fine with me. We were both just really into it, and the interplay just raised things to another level.”

Marvel Premiere #3 (Jan. 1973) would see a different lead character. Adam Warlock’s replacement, however, had at one time been a fairly big player in the Marvel Universe, and now it was hoped he could be one again. Dr. Strange, that venerable Master of the Mystic Arts, seemed to be primed for a comeback and Marvel Premiere was the designated place for that to happen. While it would be Stan Lee who would script Strange’s first adventure in Marvel Premiere #3, a classic tale illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith, writer Gardner Fox would quickly take over. “Gardner Fox had been a big star in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s,” Steve Englehart says. “But by the ’70s I got the impression he was kind of not so interested in comics anymore. Honestly, those [Dr. Strange] issues were not all that good as a reader. But he was working with Frank Brunner.” Frank Brunner was another young creator making a name for himself inside the house that Stan and Jack built. When Fox left the book with Marvel Premiere #9 (July 1973), it was Brunner that actually recruited Englehart.

ALTERED STATES Oftentimes, the two creators would bring vastly different ideas as to what to put the character through on a given month. According to Englehart, that was fun as well. The Englehart/Brunner collaboration quickly came to be known for its psychedelic and trippy visuals and mind-altering story twists. This, Englehart says, is bound to happen when two young professionals are constantly pushing each other. Part of it … well, that was just a byproduct of the times. “We were in the ’70s,” he says. “It was a trippy, experimental time in general.” Englehart and Brunner were having a blast writing Dr. Strange in the pages of Marvel Premiere, and they were writing him for people just like themselves. They were also keenly aware that kids were the primary

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Iron Fist Begins (background) Danny Rand’s kickin’ debut in Marvel Premiere #15 (May 1974) featured this iconic Gil Kane/Dick Giordano cover. (right) From the Heritage archives, page 3 of that issue in original art form, by the same art team and writer Roy Thomas. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

readers, at least in theory, though, and crafted their stories to be as inclusive as possible. They wanted that 20-something reader who was just like them to dig Dr. Strange as much as young children. “There was never any question that we weren’t writing for everybody,” he says. “We never went down a road that would cause you to have a problem with what we were doing. We could do what we wanted to do, but knew it had to work for everybody. It wasn’t like we couldn’t do something because some six-year-old was going read it. We did it because a six-year-old was going to read it, and we wanted him to have a good time, too. We weren’t trying to subvert young minds. We just felt like we had an energy and were riding that out.” That doesn’t mean the Englehart/Brunner run was without controversy, however. In Marvel Premiere #12 (Nov. 1973), Dr. Strange learns that Baron Mordo has taken the legendary Book of Cagliostro and is attempting to change the past. Of course, Strange sets out to stop him. While doing battle in the past, Strange and Mordo learn that Cagliostro is actually from the 31st Century and is traveling through time, siphoning all the mystic energy he can with the goal of becoming the mightiest being in the cosmos. The arc culminates in Dr. Strange and Baron Mordo at the dawn of time as Cagliostro accomplishes his goal and in the process setting off the Big Bang. The implication? That Cagliostro is, well, God. “I didn’t say for sure,” Engelhart says. “I left it to the readers to decide if he was or was not. I didn’t come out say, ‘That’s God.’ I knew [that] would get some people upset.” As it happened, one person to get upset was Kane, Rand was the son of a wealthy American fairly important to anyone working at Marvel at the businessman. Raised in the mystical city of K’un-Lun time: Marvel publisher Stan Lee. after his parents were killed, Danny was trained “Stan got worried,” Englehart says. “I started by kung-fu master Lei Kung. The most gifted of hearing he was getting worried about the reception, Kung’s students, Danny goes on to assume to that we may have to run a disclaimer. I didn’t want mantle of Iron Fist after facing the dragon Shou-Lao to go there. I wanted to leave it ambiguous.” the Undying. Thus, a faked letter from a fake minister from chris claremont Thomas would present Iron Fist to readers for the Dallas was drafted, and this fake minister was all first time, but would only stick around for a single about singing the praises of the Cagliostro reveal. “That was enough for Stan,” Englehart says. “We weren’t trying issue. Later Iron Fist scribe Tony Isabella, however, says that one outing to subvert anybody. We just wanted to expand the character and get was enough to get the ball rolling. “Roy Thomas and Gil Kane crafted a top-notch origin issue which him more and more out there.” On that front, the duo was more than successful. Marvel Premiere was better than anything that followed until Chris Claremont and #14 (Mar. 1974) would be Dr. Strange’s last appearance within the John Byrne hit their stride on the series,” Isabella says. “That origin pages of the title. Englehart and Brunner had crafted stories engaging issue was so strong it carried the book for a while.” Thomas handed the writing reins over to Len Wein for Marvel enough to bring in the right amount of readers to justify Dr. Strange Premiere #16 (July 1974). Marvel Premiere #17 (Sept. 1974), however, being awarded his own series once again. would see Doug Moench take over the character. THE COMING OF IRON FIST “That was pretty close on the heels of me starting at Marvel,” Two characters had been presented in Marvel Premiere with hopes of Moench says. “At that time, things at Marvel were a mess as far as gaining an audience and, by default, sales. Two successes. Now it deadlines were concerned. They were unsettled. It was a very fly-bywas time to try for number three, and number three would be a fairly the-seat-of-your-pants operation.” big risk. Moench may have been early in his Marvel career, but he had Warlock and Dr. Strange were both established Marvel properties. been quickly proving himself to be someone who was not just talented, They may not have been capable of holding their own books before but fast and reliable. At Marvel at that time, that combination meant their Marvel Premiere appearances, but they at least had some degree work. Lots and lots of work. of recognition among Marvel readers. The next in character in line to “When they found someone who writes lots of stuff, they just grace the pages of Marvel Premiere … well, not so much. kept feeding you,” he says. “It was in that way I got the assignment. In Marvel Premiere #15 (May 1974), readers were introduced I was essentially told the book was going to ship late unless I could to Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil turn something in the next day.” Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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Sutton Special Terrific Tom Sutton’s original cover art for the final issue of Marvel Premiere, #61 (Aug. 1981), featuring Star-Lord. Courtesy of Anthony Snyder (anthonyscomicbookart.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Marvel Premiere #61 (Aug. 1981) would be the book’s last issue. The series that started as a tryout for homeless characters, or a place for those needing some rehabilitation, or maybe just those needing some TLC, was ending its run, and it would be Star-Lord who would appear last. And, almost fittingly, it would be Doug Moench at the helm. As prolific of a writer of superhero comics as Moench was, he preferred writing the characters that couldn’t shoot beams from their eyes, harness the power of dragons, or anything like that. “I love those kinds of characters as a reader,” Moench says. “But as a writer, I gravitated more towards characters who didn’t have powers. Characters like Shang-Chi, Batman, and Moon Knight.” True, Peter Quill (Star-Lord) was half-alien, but he wasn’t descended from the kind that could fly, have superstrength, or bounce bullets from their chest. For all intents and purposes, Star-Lord was just a regular guy in an irregular circumstance.

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Moench enjoyed writing the character, and evidently others whom he admired enjoyed reading his take on the character. Upon publication, Marvel Premiere #61 earned Moench a piece of praise from an industry legend that resonates with him to this day. “One of the best compliments I got, I got from Gil Kane over Star-Lord,” Moench says. “He said, ‘My boy, that was extraordinary, on the level with the best of the pulp science-fiction magazines.’ He loved those sciencefiction pulps, and him saying that meant a lot to me.” The final issue complete, Marvel Premiere was canceled, and Star-Lord wouldn’t reach a significant level of public interest again for almost 30 years. As the ’70s ended and the ’80s began, tryout books like Marvel Premiere slowly started to become a thing of the past. Once a staple of the industry for Marvel and DC, there just didn’t seem to be a place for them any more. It’s a trend that carries on to this very day. Many have speculated as to why that might be, but there’s never been a firm, solid answer. Everyone, it seems, has a very different, even contradictory, take as to why these types of books faded away. “We were going for newsstand space,” Steve Englehart says. “We were competing against Time magazine. Now, with the direct market, and comics not selling as much, I’m not sure you would need to put Dr. Strange in a lesser book to see if it sells or not. Just put out there and see what it does.” Tony Isabella thinks the opposite. He sees the direct market as a boon for books like Marvel Premiere, whether publishers do or not. “I think the [tryout] concept is still viable today,” he says. “Maybe even more so than in the 1970s. The direct market allows for quicker sales feedback than the newsstand distribution system. Of course, for Marvel and DC, comics sales are just a portion of a much larger profit picture and those publishers already have many thousands of characters they can market outside of comic books.” David Michelinie and Chris Claremont, however, tend to think the opportunities available to creators today remove the need for a tryout book for new characters. “There are so many independent and self-published titles that offer less-standard characterizations,” Michelinie says. “So people who are looking for something a little different already have that provided for them.” Claremont echoes that sentiment, but adds that the opportunity available to creators in today’s market to own their creations, coupled with historic corporate treatment of creators, keeps books like Marvel Premiere from making a comeback. “Back in the day, a character like Kick-Ass would have been done in Marvel Premiere,” he says. “Now, that’s an indie concept. Everything evolved. Everything changes. In those days, we created new concepts because no one had the slightest thought they’d stick around or have the after-market value. If Len [Wein] or I had a clue what was in store for The X-Men over the next 35 years, who knows how the events would have played out? Would as many characters have been created? Would we have had more negotiations to establish more equitable relationships?” His answer is a simple one: “Who knows?” CHRIS BRENNAMAN is an award-winning journalist, a blogger, a podcaster, and video-game story designer. He also thinks about comics more than he probably should. You can follow him on Twitter via @chrisbrennaman.

Talk about Strange! …as in Strange Tales, an aptly named series. For there was nothing normal about the characters that appeared within it … or even its numbering. The poor-selling tryout title offered confusing continuity, throwaway characters, and segues into other series. However, before the entire enterprise went under in 1976, the hit-and-miss, trial-and-error comic book managed to offer a smattering of highlights, including the creation of one of the most interesting AfricanAmerican characters to emerge from Marvel Comics Group: the bastion of black magic known as … Brother Voodoo.

“DR. STRANGE” LOVE

Michael Aushenker

It’s only fitting that the first Marvel hero to grace the pages of Marvel’s Strange Tales was the Master of the Mystic Arts. Earlier in its life, the book featured stories about Dr. Strange and another popular second-tier character, Nick Fury. When the Dr. Strange saga temporarily ended with #168 (May 1968), his adventures continued in the full-length Dr. Strange #169, while Fury moved to the newly launched Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Four years after the cancellation of Dr. Strange with #183 (Nov. 1969), Strange Tales resumed from its old numbering with #169 (Sept. 1973), embracing a brandnew supernatural feature which doubled as one of the then-rare forays into African-American superheroes. Courtesy of writer/editor Len Wein and atmospheric artist Gene Colan, the weirdo hero dubbed Brother Voodoo emerged from the misty New Orleans swamplands to conjure up some black magic.

“BROTHER,” CAN YOU SPARE A NICKEL? …a nickel …as in “five issues.” This master of the occult, a Southern Gothic flipside to Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange, did not go far. However, before his “five issues of fame” in Strange Tales fizzled out due to poor sales, the Brother Voodoo feature arrived fully hatched with amazing pedigree. Len Wein, the scribe who gave us the X-Men’s Wolverine, wrote the series, while Marvel master artist John Romita created the character’s costume. And, as if those Gil Kane covers with the Romita-designed costume were not enough eye candy, the interior pages boasted art by none other than the astonishing Gene Colan. Brother Voodoo tells the tale of one Jericho Drumm, after his education in the United States, returning to his native Haiti. It is here where Drumm discovers his twin brother, Daniel Drumm, the local houngan, is dying, a victim of a voodoo sorcerer claiming to be possessed by the spirit of the serpent-god Damballah. Prior to his passing, Daniel Drumm makes his brother vow to visit his mentor, Papa Jambo, who, in turn, becomes Jericho’s guru. Studying under the houngan elder, Jericho

Revival! Both Strange Tales and Jericho Drumm live again. Cover to Strange Tales #169 (Sept. 1973) by John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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DC’s original Showcase ran a decade and a half, from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. In that time, this highly esteemed tryout title spawned numerous successful series. The Silver Age revivals of the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Atom all launched in Showcase. Lois Lane’s long-running series debuted in Showcase. The Challengers of the Unknown, Adam Strange, Rip Hunter, the Metal Men, the Creeper, and Hawk and Dove all got their start in Showcase. The original run of Showcase ended in 1970, after 93 issues. It was briefly revived in 1977 [see article following—ed.], and the series’ name has been used by DC for a number of other projects since then, including a currently running reprint series of trade paperbacks, Showcase Presents. All-in-all, Showcase is a celebrated name in DC Comics history, a renowned title whose characters populated an exciting era. 1st Issue Special? Not so much.

WHO’S ON FIRST? You see, in 1975–1976, during the hiatus of Showcase, DC launched what was ostensibly a new tryout series with the unwieldy name of 1st Issue Special (FIS, for short). 1st Issue Special introduced a number of one-shot turkeys, including some of Jack Kirby’s most bizarre creations at DC. Some of DC’s lesser luminaries were also spotlighted, though series never materialized. All told, 1st Issue Special launched only one truly successful title in its 13-issue run. It seems, however, that 1st Issue Special was never intended as a tryout series. Gerry Conway, who wrote the series’ last three issues (and who edited those, plus #9) explains: “The whole premise behind the 1st Issue Specials started, I believe, because [publisher] Carmine [Infantino] wanted something for Jack carmine infantino Kirby and, later, me to do. He came up with this rather brilliant notion that first issues sell better than subsequent issues, so why not put out a magazine that’s entirely first issues? “It was a strange idea, grasping at straws for some way to promote a project or to create some heat around a concept. In many cases, the concepts were created simply to fill the space of another issue for that month, not because we actually were trying to start a new series, although, obviously, we would have liked it if a new series had resulted. Mostly, it was just, ‘We have to come up with something for next month—here we are!’ “We used to sit at editorial meetings and [Carmine] would say, ‘Who has an idea for 1st Issue Special next month?’ How do you develop a project that has a potential to be a real series within 20 days? You can’t. It was not a serious enterprise.” Conway explains the difference between Showcase and 1st Issue Special as follows: “As an ongoing book, 1st Issue was never a wellthought-out concept. In comparison to Showcase in the 1950s and ’60s, Showcase produced three issues [of a series] at a time, and it was a bimonthly book, so the publisher could actually get a sense of the concept’s potential, creatively and commercially. It took place 40 • BACK ISSUE • Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

Jack Abramowitz

Got a Mil to Spare? (above) FIS #1–3’s covers: Atlas by Kirby and Berry, Green Team by Grandenetti, and Metamorpho by Fradon. (right) Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), an original art page by Jerry Grandenetti from the Green Team’s debut in 1st Issue Special #2 (May 1975). TM & © DC Comics.

over six months. After the series’ second appearance, you knew what your sales figures were and you could start planning to follow up fairly quickly with an ongoing series. But with 1st Issue Special, unless you actually planned to continue with an ongoing series regardless of sales figures, there was no way to take what you did and springboard it into anything. If you produced an issue and it sold really, really well, you wouldn’t know until three or four months later, which meant getting an ongoing series on the schedule would take another two or three months. So it would be six months at minimum between the 1st Issue Special and the first issue of a regular series, meaning you would have lost any reader momentum or fan following. It would have been pointless.”

FROM ATLAS TO THE DINGBATS A brief rundown of the series: The first issue (Apr. 1975) featured Atlas, written and penciled by Kirby with inks and lettering provided by D. Bruce Berry. The action occurred in “a time when man was rising out of barbarism.” This Atlas is not the titan of myth, but the character demonstrates Kirby’s love of the mythic, which he exhibited in such series as New Gods and The Eternals. A text feature discusses this theme, informing us that “Atlas is but the latest in a long series of visions of the past/present/future/unknown.” The second issue (May 1975) featured the Green Team by Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti. This kid group is in the spirit of such teams as the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, but with one important twist: each of these kids is a millionaire. (A million dollars was still a lot of money then.) Members included Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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When Showcase was first introduced in 1956, it presented a bold, new concept that revolutionized the industry. What if every issue had the potential to launch the next big hit in comics? That was what Showcase strived to do, and for 93 issues, more often than not, it delivered. Showcase was the book that launched the Silver Age of Comics and gave fans the Silver Age Flash, Green Lantern, and the Atom, as well as the Challengers of the Unknown, Adam Strange, and the Metal Men, to name just a few. Given the title’s track record, it was practically a no-brainer that DC would bring it back in 1977. “To the extent that we had any really long-term plans, it was probably the hope that the title could be the springboard for launching some new titles,” says Paul Levitz, who helped edit and write several issues of Showcase’s late-’70s revival. “1977 was an expansionary time at DC, and [new publisher] Jenette Kahn was supportive of trying new things,” concurs writer Paul Kupperberg. “There were a lot of new ideas being thrown around [at that time. A lot of books came around, lasted a few issues, and then went away. [DC] decided to create Showcase for the very same reason it was originally created, to have a place to experiment, and if [the feature] sold, great. If not, they were already on to the next idea.”

THE NEW DOOM PATROL The first feature to run in the revival was a reboot of one of DC’s biggest cult favorites: the Doom Patrol. paul levitz “[The Doom Patrol] probably was the DC feature that had been out of publication for a while that writer Paul Kupperberg and I liked best,” says Levitz, who edited the team’s three-issue run in Showcase #94–96 (Aug.–Sept. 1977– Dec. 1977–Jan. 1978). “Looking back, I suspect I also favored the idea of featuring a series that hadn’t been in Showcase the first time around.” Bringing back the Doom Patrol became the job of writer Paul Kupperberg, who Levitz knew would be perfect for the task. “Paul knows two things about me: I love the Showcase title and I love the Doom Patrol,” says Kupperberg. “When Showcase came back, and Paul was editing the first feature, he called me up and asked me how I would like to do the Doom Patrol. I was all over that!” As longtime fans of the Doom Patrol know, the team sacrificed themselves at the end of their original series’ run and were presumed dead to the world. The question

Maid of Might Cover to the first of Power Girl’s three issues of Showcase—issue #97 (Feb. 1978), penciled by Joe Staton and inked by Joe Orlando. Staton joined scribe Paul Levitz inside. Today, Levitz writes the New 52’s team of Power Girl and the Huntress in DC Comics’ Worlds’ Finest series. TM & © DC Comics.

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Dan Johnson

that faced Kupperberg was how to give the fans more adventures without diminishing that terrific sacrifice? “At the time my thought was that these guys died heroically and wonderfully,” says Kupperberg. “It’s one of the great comic-book death stories, and we felt we should respect that by keeping them dead. We thought of it as [paying] fanboy respect for the original material.” As Kupperberg also points out, a recently successful reboot at Marvel also weighed heavily with the decision to totally reboot the concept. “At the time, John Byrne and Chris Claremont’s X-Men was starting to be big,” says Kupperberg. “Everyone was taking cues from that as well, especially if you had a book that dealt with freaks and outsiders. I was looking for a diverse group. We certainly wanted to have a woman, we wanted to have a minority of some sort, and we wanted to have a robot. Again, I was looking towards that X-Men model. In retrospect, I should have just brought the original team back and explained [their deaths] away somehow. I do regret the changes I made. It was done in the best intentions and youthful enthusiasm. I even apologized to Arnold Drake once for what I did to his Doom Patrol. He was very kind and understanding.” The one original team member who returned was Robotman. The new team members included Celsius, who could generate heat and cold blasts and who was the secret wife of the Chief; Negative Woman, who now possessed the energy being that had once been under the control of Negative Man; and Tempest, who was capable of firing energy blasts from his hands. Artist Joe Staton joined Kupperberg in bringing the new Doom Patrol to life and was responsible for the team’s look. “It was the days before Google, so looking for reference was not so easy,” says Staton. “ I had a bunch of National Geographic magazines that had been my wife’s dad’s, so I found some articles about India and used some photos there was the model for Celsius.” Staton drew inspiration for Robotman’s redesign from one of his more recent projects. “John Byrne and I had both worked at Charlton comics earlier, and his robot character ROG-2000 had run as a backup in my book, E-Man,” says Staton. “As a joke, I very obviously patterned the new Robotman on ROG. I’m afraid that John didn’t find it especially funny, judging by a cover he did for The Comics Reader showing ROG looking in the mirror and seeing Robotman.” The Doom Patrol feature would mark a continuing partnership and from the fact that Joe Orlando had friendship between Kupperberg and initially designed her and was fond of Staton, as well as a running joke her. At the time, Joe was in charge of regarding one of the villains in the DC editorial. Jenette [Kahn, DC story, the Cossack. “What marks publisher] was a fan of my work on this job [for me] is the Cossack on All-Star, and in particular of how I paul kupperberg the flying horse and my general wrote female characters, so she would inability to draw horses very well,” have been very supportive as well.” says Staton. “Kupperberg made definite fun of my Once again, Staton was asked to do artwork for horse and ever since then, when we work together, this feature. “I was the regular guy on the [Justice the first thing I ask him is, ‘Are there horsies’? I still Society in All-Star Comics], so she fell my way,” says can’t draw horsies.” Staton. “I don’t recall there being any mention of anybody else being considered for her stories, and I POWER GIRL would probably have been offended if there had been.” Power Girl took center stage in Showcase #97–99 Besides having Staton pencil this issue, Showcase #97 (Feb.–Apr. 1978). Giving Earth-Two’s Maid of Might a had another especially auspicious honor: “One thing to chance to shine in a solo stories was a natural. “Power note is that Paul officially worked for Joe Orlando back Girl was one of the more popular characters in the then,” says Staton. “I would see Joe quite a bit, 1970’s All-Star Comics run,” says Levitz, who wrote both in Paul’s office and often just to hang with the Power Girl’s Showcase outing. “[She] also benefited guy I saw as my link to the glory days of EC Comics. Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

No Horsies Allowed! Robotman meets the new Doom Patrol on this Joe Statondrawn original page from Showcase #94. TM & © DC Comics.

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THE GENERIC COMIC

Same Ol’ Same Ol’ No credits allowed! (inset) The cover to The Generic Comic #1 (Apr. 1984), and (above) its splash page. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

At nearly the same time, editor Larry Hama, along with writer Steve Skeates, was intentionally producing the most plain-vanilla comic possible: The Generic Comic #1 (Apr. 1984). The book, for Skeates, was a return to comics after writing for Crazy Magazine, working with Hama. In Generic Comic, the unnamed title character receives numerous but generally unspecific superpowers and dons an all-white costume to fight an unnamed villain. In many ways, the book is an archetype for Marvel’s costumed-hero stories. The hero is a down-on-his-luck office worker with angst— and a love interest—similar to Peter Parker. Skeates, who received the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing at Comic-Con 2012, says he’s unsure whether he or Hama first came up with the concept, but a script was hammered out within a week after the initial pitch. The challenges were unique in intentionally writing a hero as generic as possible, while still making the story interesting. “I had a number of conferences with Larry,” Skeates says. “We decided to give him very limited powers. We gave him superspeed, for example, which didn’t make it into the story. But we decided that since he had superspeed, he could not run more than 55 miles per hour.” For Skeates, the work led to a ten-issue run as the writer of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, and the Generic issue, he says, was a throwback to his earlier work in the 1970s. “At that point, I had become a little disillusioned with where comics were going,” Skeates says. “They were all becoming very grim and as a fun diversion from the regular gritty. This book demonstrated how monthly grind. Nocenti says that I didn’t enjoy the ’80s-type stuff. one-shot books fostered ideas that This was more like a 1970s comic might otherwise fall by the wayside. book [with] none of that—at the There is some debate about time—modern flavor.” who thought of the Fumetti Book’s The Generic Comic issue was steve skeates initial idea, but a printing error uncredited, and included an all-text © Luigi Novi/ Wikimedia Commons. caused the vellum dialogue overlays cover. The book involved a number to not be separated from the pages before of different artists and was drawn similarly with production. The result was as if the camera lens work Skeates had previously done at DC Comics. were smeared in Vaseline—which caused outrage The art assignments were sent out by Hama once amongst the staff. the script was completed because the book was Brown remembers that he and others involved in brushing up against a tight deadline. producing the issue were angry and disappointed at Editor Hama opted for no credits on the book the final result. because to do so would have taken a page or two just “It was one of the only direct-market issues I can to list all involved in its creation. think of where they allowed returns,” Brown says. “I took the project on because I thought it “One look was all it took, and it was clear no one would be fun,” Skeates says. “I didn’t realize how would want it.” much fun.” The book also created an unexpected side effect: According to Nocenti, some writers, editors, and JOE RAUCH is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared artists were now stopped in the street and recognized in The Atlantic Online, Reuters, and The Atlanta Business Chronicle. He was named an Atlanta Press Club Journalist of by fans for the first time. the Year in 2008. He lives in Charlotte.

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Robert Greenberger

By the late 1960s, fans were champing at the bit to get their foot in the door and produce work for the comics they loved reading and collecting. Some got lucky when Charlton Comics had a contest and writers Roy Thomas and Dave Kaler made their first professional sales. Others were invited by editors Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz to pitch stories, and letterhacks Cary Bates and Mike Friedrich made the leap to from fan to professional. In 1968, newly arrived DC Comics editor Joe Orlando revamped House of Mystery, while down the hall, Dick Giordano, fresh from Charlton, launched The Witching Hour. Initially, Joe and Dick used existing talent, but within a year they began to feature newcomers including Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, and Bernie Wrightson. Together, they opened the doors for a new generation of talent. During the 1970s, the anthology titles were where readers would find the first work from newcomers as they learned the ropes. When Joe Kubert established his comic art school, he struck a deal for his students to produce backups for Sgt. Rock, letting even more get a moment in the spotlight. Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, Tom Yeates, and Timothy Truman all made their debuts in these short tales. It should be noted that in 1981, one non-DC tryout book was the George Wildman-edited Charlton Bullseye, which lasted just ten issues. As described in the publisher’s initial press release in 1980, an artist had arrived at the Charlton offices and offered to have them publish his work for free “in hopes of establishing enough pro credits to impress the Big Two.” Inspired, Charlton decided to create a title that would exclusively serve that purpose. Charlton would publish pro-quality work for free, returning original art after publication and allowing creators to retain copyright to their original characters (while Charlton retained copyrights to any of their characters that were used). Each contributor received 50 comp copies of the issue in which their work appeared.

NEW TALENT SHOWCASE By 1980, though, DC’s anthology titles were featuring regular series (i.e., I …Vampire in House of Mystery and G.I. Robot in Weird War Tales) and it became increasingly difficult for new creative people to find a way in. Some turned to the rising assortment of independent publishers, while others continued to make the rounds of conventions. As Marv Wolfman recalls all these years later, the notion of a DC title dedicated to fresh faces began with president Jenette Kahn. She tapped Marv to work with the writers and editor Ernie Colón to work with the artists. The two began seeking the talent in conjunction with Sal Amendola, who was on staff working to help Dick Giordano develop new talent. Wolfman was only a part-time editor and the work grew too much, so he handed off the writing side of

First Shot Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), original cover art to New Talent Showcase #1 (Jan. 1984), spotlighting “Forever Amber” by Stan Woch and Rick Magyar. TM & © DC Comics.

Tryouts, One-Shots, and One-Hit Wonders Issue

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Back Issue #71