Back Issue #95 by TwoMorrows Publishing

MOENCH & SIENKIEWICZ Moon Knight Pro2Pro Interview!

April 2

017

N$o8..9955

™

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT! Ghost Rider • Night Nurse Eclipso in the Bronze Age • I…Vampire Mike W. Barr Batman Interview • featuring Budiansky, DeMatteis, Pasko, Ploog, Sutton, Thomas & Marvel’s Nightcat, Jacqueline Tavarez

TwoMorrows

The Future of Comics History.

SAVE

WHE % N YO ORD U ONL ER INE!

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919-449-0344 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • Web: www.twomorrows.com

New book by BACK ISSUE! editor MICHAEL EURY!

HERO-A-GO-GO!

Welcome to the CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, good guys beat bad guys with a pun and a punch, and Batman shook a mean cape. HERO-A-GO-GO celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. BACK ISSUE magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, SpiderMan), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), and many more!

(272-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1 • SHIPS APRIL 2017!

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

AND NOW SHIPPING:

2017 RATES

MLJ COMPANION

COMIC BOOK FEVER

AL PLASTINO

MONSTER MASH

Documents the complete history of Archie Comics’ “Mighty Crusaders” super-hero characters, from the 1940s to today!

GEORGE KHOURY's “love letter” to comics of 1976-1986, covering all the top artists, the coolest stories, and even the best ads!

LAST SUPERMAN STANDING

Biography of the Superman artist who co-created Supergirl, Brainiac, and the Legion of Super-Heroes!

Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, and explore the Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream!

(288-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0

(240-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-063-2

(112-page trade paperback) $17.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-066-3

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-064-9

SUBSCRIPTIONS ECONOMY US Alter Ego (Six 100-page issues) $65.00 Back Issue (Eight 80-page issues) $73.00 BrickJournal (Six 80-page issues) $55.00 Comic Book Creator (Four 80-page issues) $40.00 Jack Kirby Collector (Four 100-page issues) $45.00

EXPEDITED US $83.00 $88.00 $66.00 $50.00 $58.00

PREMIUM US $92.00 $97.00 $73.00 $54.00 $61.00

INTERNATIONAL $102.00 $116.00 $87.00 $60.00 $67.00

DIGITAL ONLY $29.70 $31.60 $23.70 $15.80 $19.80

Volume 1, Number 95 April 2017 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Bill Sienkiewicz and Klaus Janson (Originally the splash page to Moon Knight #6, Apr. 1981. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Mike W. Barr Don Kessler Andrew Bennett Paul Kupperberg Jerry Boyd Christopher Michael Browning Larochelle Bob Budiansky Marvel Comics Dewey Cassell Dan Mishkin Gary Cohn Doug Moench Gerry Conway Luigi Novi Denys Cowan Adam Palance Paris Cullins Maritn Pasko J. M. DeMatteis Shannon E. Riley Barry Dutter Bill Sienkiewicz Fayetteville Anthony Snyder Comic-Con Jacqueline Tavarez Linda Fite Jean Thomas Peter B. Gillis Roy Thomas Grand Comics Steven Thompson Database David Torsiello Steven Grant Don Vaughan Nikki Gregoroff Len Wein Larry Hama Steven Wilber Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Marv Wolfman Heritage Comics Michael Zeno Auctions Tony Isabella

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal download, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at

www.twomorrows.com

PRO2PRO: Moon Knight: The Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 An intimate dialogue with the superstar creative team that put Marvel’s midnight man on the map FLASHBACK: The Ghost Rider’s First Ride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 A super-charged history of Johnny Blaze’s Bronze Age adventures BEYOND CAPES: Enter the World of Danger, Drama, and Death… Night Nurse!. . . . . 31 Oh, nurse! This obscure 1970s book helped populate Marvel’s current cinematic universe BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Devil Inside: Eclipso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Bronze Age battles between Bruce Gordon and his sinister alter ego BEYOND CAPES: A Different Kind of Bat Man: I… Vampire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 This bloodsucking protagonist took a bite out of 1980s’ issues of House of Mystery INTERVIEW: The Mike W. Barr/Batman Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 One of our favorite writers chats about the controversial birth of Damian Wayne, Batman: Year Two, Jim Aparo, and other topics PRINCE STREET NEWS: “Of Cape and Cowl”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Karl Heitmueller, Jr.’s latest toon takes on Batman’s wardrobe ROUGH STUFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 A pencil-art showcase starring THE creature of the night, Batman ONE-HIT WONDERS: Nightcat: She Sings, She Fights, She’s Dynamite!. . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Nightcat herself, Jacqueline Tavarez, and a star-studded lineup of creative folk relive the tale of Marvel’s musical crimefighter BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Reader reactions

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. Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 Economy US, $88 Expedited US, $116 International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz and Klaus Janson. Moon Knight TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2017 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing except Prince Street News, © 2017 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

In 1975, a mysterious new character started to find his way into the pages of several Marvel Comics titles. Moon Knight was a villain, then a hero, and often a character who was never expected to be seen again… but eventually a steady home in the back pages of the Hulk black-andwhite magazine brought together two creators who had a lengthy run that remains the definitive take on the character, writer Doug Moench and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. – Christopher Larochelle CHRISTOPHER LAROCHELLE: While the intention here is to discuss Moon Knight by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz, I want to ask you, Doug, to explain a little bit about your work on the character before Bill came on board. How did Moon Knight get started as a character at Marvel Comics? DOUG MOENCH: Well, I had needed to do the next plot for Werewolf by Night, and I decided to create a new villain. But when the protagonist is a werewolf, the character fighting the werewolf is kind of a hero, so I decided that he would be some kind of anti-hero. This character became a mercenary, and an organization called the Committee had hired him to go after the Werewolf. I came up with a character whose every design and gimmick was related to the Werewolf. The first thing that I thought of was the Moon, because after all, the Moon triggers the transformation into a werewolf. So this new character would be themed around the Moon. That made me think of the black-and-white costume… when it’s a crescent moon, most of it is black but part of it is white, and so on. I thought that would be cool, and it was the first time that I had ever heard of in which there would be a costume with no color on it… and man, that was a hard time, getting colorists to not put color on that! He also had a glove with silver spikes, called a cestus, which is something that gladiators had in Ancient Rome. And silver hurts werewolves, right? So this character had crescentshaped darts, and the darts were made out of silver. Everything about him was designed to go up against the Werewolf. LAROCHELLE: Makes sense. MOENCH: I came up with a list of something like 15 different names, and Moon Knight was just one of them. Len Wein, who was the editor at the time, called me and asked what I had coming up in Werewolf by Night. I told him that I was creating this new villain who was also a hero, and I had a bunch of possible names. “Read them to me!” Len said. So I read him all the names and I think that Moon Knight was maybe the fourth name, and he stopped me. He said, “Oh, I really like Moon Knight! Moon Knight… that’s a good one.” 2 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

by C h r i s t o p h e r

Larochelle

conducted July 2016

I had a couple of other names that I still liked, but I thought, “All right, Moon Knight… we’ll go with that.” It seemed like kind of an odd name, but I also liked the sound of it. And that’s how the character was created. And later, after the story in Werewolf by Night, Marv Wolfman said, “I really like that Moon Knight character. How about you do a two-part story in Marvel Spotlight?” I agreed, and said that while Moon Knight would still be a little bit of an anti-hero, that I wanted to push the hero part of his character. He’d still be a mercenary, and not a totally good guy, but maybe he was trying to atone for his mercenary past, trying to put that behind him. LAROCHELLE: All of this was with Don Perlin as the artist. Let me ask, was Don solely responsible for the initial look of Moon Knight? MOENCH: Don used to call me every time he got a plot from me. He asked me about this character, and I had written him a whole description of the costume, the whole thing with the cape attached to his wrists so that it could be like a paraglider. I had the whole thing worked out. Don did a great job following the description that I gave him. LAROCHELLE: The Marvel Spotlight issues led up to a Moon Knight backup feature in the Hulk black-and white-magazine. What was it like to finally get a “home” for Moon Knight after years of sporadic storytelling opportunities? MOENCH: You know, it was odd. I probably underrated the character more than anyone. I didn’t really think beyond that first appearance, and it was other people who kept asking and pushing for him. I was already assigned to the main feature for the Hulk magazine, and Ralph Macchio, who was the editor, asked if I could do the backup, too. He suggested giving the space to Moon Knight, and I thought it was a good idea. LAROCHELLE: So Moon Knight grew from a character with a few appearances here and there to a character with a running backup feature in the Hulk magazine, and from there to a title character in an ongoing series. How did this growth happen? MOENCH: I never pushed for anything with Moon Knight… everything came about from people liking the character. LAROCHELLE: You mean, fans writing in and saying that they liked what was going on? MOENCH: I mean, editors at Marvel, like Marv Wolfman and others. They just always wanted to see what other Moon Knight stories there were, and I was happy to tell them. LAROCHELLE: Doug, in the time shortly before you started working on Moon Knight with Bill, what was going on in your career? MOENCH: Oh, I was writing everything under the sun. Master of Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes, Doc Savage, I was still on Werewolf by Night, Frankenstein, Godzilla… I can’t even remember all of the stuff I was working on at that time! Just about all of it for Marvel. LAROCHELLE: Bill, in your case, was Moon Knight literally your debut in comics? BILL SIENKIEWICZ: The only thing that I had published up to that point, if you even want to call it “published,” was sort of a fanzine called Watch Out. We put it out as students of the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art. We brought it to a convention in New York City and dropped off copies with lots of different people. There was definitely a Neal Adams flavor to my piece. That was really it. I never submitted a letter or anything, and went up to Marvel. They basically gave me a career when they asked me about Moon Knight, and I had never heard of the character. LAROCHELLE: So, Bill, before you got started with this nice, long run of comics, did you know Doug?

SIENKIEWICZ: I knew who he was, having read his stories for years, but as far as Moon Knight stories are concerned, no. When I went to Marvel and they offered me Moon Knight, it was this duality… my response was that I was really excited because I was getting work, but at the same time I was wondering why I was getting a character that I didn’t know. Why wasn’t I doing the Hulk or something? It was this mix of being grateful and being a snot. LAROCHELLE: I could see that. People saying, “Hey, Bill, so you’re working for Marvel? What is it… Spider-Man? X-Men? Wait… who is Moon Knight?” SIENKIEWICZ: Right. It was actually Al Milgrom who said to me that I should think of it like this: “Since DC can’t do Batman right, at least Marvel can.” And I took that as a license to go for it. So in a way, the more that I talked about it with the editors of the Hulk magazine, like Ralph Macchio, I thought we could do things kind of like Batman. Let’s start using the crescent shape, and having the cape assume the shape of the waning moon. It allowed us to do callbacks to what worked with Batman. MOENCH: I always object when people say that Moon Knight is Marvel’s “clone of Batman.” Nothing could be further from the truth… he started out as a villain in Werewolf by Night, for Pete’s sake! He had nothing to do with Batman. I think that the major reason that people

Crimefighting Toys Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), original Bill Sienkiewicz/Joe Rubinstein art from the Moon Knight backup in the Marvel magazine, The Hulk! #13 (Feb. 1979). (opposite page) Detail from Bill S’s cover to Moon Knight #25 (Nov. 1982). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

Burying the Hatchet Early Moench/ Sienkiewicz Moon Knight pages from The Hulk!, with Bill inked by two modern masters. (left) Bob McLeod inks, from issue #14; courtesy of Heritage. (right) Klaus Janson inks, from issue #18; courtesy of Michael Zeno. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

say that is because he is a nighttime character. Well, yeah, because the Werewolf is a nighttime character! And another thing was that when Bill came on, Bill was very much in the school of Neal Adams, and Neal Adams had done Batman, so it kind of came across as, “Wow, that really looks like the Batman style.” I guess another thing is that neither Batman nor Moon Knight have superpowers. Okay, but the character was not Batman. He was a totally different character. Batman does not have three secret identities [like Moon Knight does]. So that’s always bugged me, but it will never shake loose. I admit that when I left Marvel and went to DC, they asked what I wanted to write and I said that Batman was always my favorite. So I wrote Batman, and maybe that’s another thing that people look at… that I wrote both characters. I don’t know. SIENKIEWICZ: I totally agree with that—he’s a different character. In terms of the flavor and the attitude of the character, being dark in a lot of ways, maybe that was a comparison that could be made. I wish we could have done more about the psychology of multiple personalities, which I probably would have been ready for around the time that we did the story “Hit It” in issue #26 of the ongoing series. By that time I was really looking at Moon Knight differently, and at first I was looking at it as a chance to do a lot of those things that I might have done if I was working on Batman. The way Moon Knight was written, he certainly was not Batman. I think that when Al Milgrom said that to me, that Batman comment, that was his way of speaking carefully so that the “new guy” would understand it. Maybe I don’t necessarily think of

4 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

the Batman connection as a bad thing, because I certainly did my part in keeping that theory alive over the years. I don’t think I did you any favors, Doug. When I was growing up, Neal Adams was my biggest influence. When I started going to art school, I started learning about so many other things in art, too. Since I had gotten into the industry based on my style being somewhat (or a lot) like Neal’s, there’s just no way that I would have gotten hired if I came in with the kind of style that I got into later on. I freely admit that I came in sort of like a Trojan Horse. I knew that the likelihood of me getting work was pretty good if I did this traditional style. And there were plenty of other guys like Mike Grell who were “doing Neal,” so I was hedging my bets. Later on with Moon Knight, I started pushing against some of the restrictions and boundaries and barriers to storytelling. LAROCHELLE: It’s good that we’ve gotten to address that here. MOENCH: When Bill came on, he wanted to change the cape so it wasn’t attached to the ankles and wrists, and that made it look a little more like the Neal Adams Batman. I resisted that, and thought that it was unique that he had a cape like the one that Don Perlin drew. I finally gave in, as long as Moon Knight could still grab the corners of the cape to glide into places. LAROCHELLE: And what came out of this new cape design was the really powerful image of that crescentshaped cape pouring out behind Moon Knight. MOENCH: Oh, yeah, that was great! Bill did a fabulous job. After I saw it, I was thrilled.

LAROCHELLE: When I look back at the credits, I see that there were a few different artists involved with the Moon Knight stories, but as of that third installment of the Moon Knight backup in the Hulk magazine, Bill, you were there, and you were there to stay. Doug, what did you think when you first saw things coming in from Bill? MOENCH: Well, the one word answer is that it was “fabulous”! It wasn’t a surprise, because Ralph Macchio had called me up and said he was really excited about this new artist. And sure enough, when the pages started to come in, it really lived up to the hype. And the art just kept on getting better from that… better and better, in fact, the more that he got away from the Neal Adams school and became more and more of himself. SIENKIEWICZ: I was so green when I started work on Moon Knight, I think someone must have told you to make your stories idiot-proof, and I’m sure I still managed to cause some headaches! It took us a little while to get in sync, but I think that we really hit our stride around Moon Knight #20, and things really came together. When I started on Moon Knight, I was just thrown into the thick of it and hadn’t really had the chance to look at what had come before. I was happy to just dive in and do my own take on it, and almost start over from scratch. I felt like I was being paid to learn. That Hulk magazine issue #13 was not only the first issue for myself but also for Steve Oliff, the colorist. We started on the exact same job. That was his first job coloring for Marvel. LAROCHELLE: It’s nice that from that point forward there was stability with the creative team for Moon Knight. SIENKIEWICZ: That’s what they wanted. For most of the other guys who worked on Moon Knight up until that point, it was “just” doing a backup feature. For me, I was treating it like it was the front of the magazine, in terms of what I was putting into it. MOENCH: Bill was there almost until the end of my time with Moon Knight. The last few issues were done by Kevin Nowlan. Bill wanted to do a big style change, and didn’t think that it was appropriate for Moon Knight. I kind of wish that we had done at least one issue with that different style, just to see how it would have gone. I saw the writing on the wall with Bill, and I was having these big arguments with [Marvel editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter. I really didn’t see myself staying on Moon Knight much longer either. So I didn’t really fight over it when it was time for you to move on, Bill. It was more of an “I understand and I wish you luck” kind of moment. And then Kevin Nowlan came on, and that stuff was gorgeous. So when it really was time for me to go, I was sorry to leave Moon Knight behind.

SIENKIEWICZ: I really learned a lot working on Moon Knight and then Fantastic Four at the same time, especially on layouts and not being fussy. Very quickly, I got better. I felt like I was channeling Alex Toth, in terms of how I was blocking out shapes and positions and became much more conscious of storytelling and panel design than how I was, for instance, rendering a muscle. It really was a wakeup call. All in all, it was great. LAROCHELLE: Bill, I assume that you stayed with Doug and Moon Knight for such a long time because you were enjoying it. SIENKIEWICZ: Oh, yeah. I had wanted to work in comics since I was a kid and I here I was doing that! Moon Knight helped me out with the learning process, and the “getting to know you” between Doug and myself. He was such a pro, and had been doing it forever, and I’m sure that he had to babysit for a while. And after a while, I felt that I could take off the training wheels, so to speak. And that’s when I really started to contribute my own take on things. It would have been interesting to see where we would have gone if we had stayed on for longer, and it’s almost a shame that we didn’t hit our peak earlier. If it had come maybe ten issues earlier, who knows… but after three years and 30 issues of a single book, I felt like it was a pretty substantial chunk. LAROCHELLE: Like we’ve touched upon already, one thing that makes Moon Knight stand out is that he has three identities when he isn’t in costume. Each of these identities serves a distinct purpose. MOENCH: Right. The “real guy” is Marc Spector, the mercenary. But he’s the guy that he ultimately doesn’t like. He doesn’t like how he went out and fought and killed for money. He decided that he should atone for that. That psychological crisis sort of split him up a little, but he also decided that these other identities could help him as a hero.

The Man with Three Secret IDs Doug and Bill’s first issue (Nov. 1980) of the Moon Knight ongoing series, depicting our hero’s trio of alter egos (foreground, left to right): cabbie Jake Lockley, merc Marc Spector, and socialite Steven Grant, with girlfriend Marlene Alraune. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

Rematch by Night (top) A lot of Sienk-ink went into Bill’s stark cover for Moon Knight #29 (Mar. 1983). (bottom) Issue #30’s cover depicts a hairy conflict between Marvel’s lycanthrope, Jack Russell, and our hero. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

come up to me and say that they really ruined Moon Knight after I left, but I don’t know if that’s the truth or not. I never read on, not if it’s something that I created or really identify with strongly. If I’ve done a couple of Green Arrow stories, yeah, I might read some Green Arrow after that, but I’m not too invested in that. But if it’s something that I feel should be done a certain way, it’s hard. There was a writer named Charlie Huston who got in touch with me about ten years ago. He said he was a big fan of Moon Knight and that he was going to be writing a new series for Marvel. He wanted to treat the series with all due respect and invited any input that I might have. I wished him luck but told him that I would never read it. We talked on the phone a couple of times and emailed back and forth, and he’s a really nice guy… but I have no idea what he ever did with Moon Knight. SIENKIEWICZ: When Kevin Nowlan came on, I felt that I enjoyed what he was doing visually. Alex Maleev and Brian Bendis had a great take on it. Marvel seems to relaunch the character fairly often. LAROCHELLE: The impression that I get is that Marvel doesn’t want the character to fall by the wayside, but the audience just doesn’t ever seem to get big enough. They have to keep trying to reinvigorate Moon Knight and catch people at the comic store with a new #1. SIENKIEWICZ: I think it’s a little bit of a harder sell than most superheroes. Marvel could sell it as “the superhero with multiple personalities,” but that’s just not something that a lot of people will gravitate toward. It’s not as straightforward as, for instance, “blind superhero, Hell’s Kitchen.” Ultimately, Marvel is probably thinking of what they can do with the character outside of the comics, and you hear talk about how maybe Moon Knight could show up on TV or something like that. I think he’d be wonderful for it. The character is, to me, still a really interesting character. I’m waiting for that iteration when Marlene becomes Moon Knight. Especially with the Egyptian stuff, the idea of a strong female. Plus, with the shroud that the character has around the face, there’s a chance to make that whole costume sexy. LAROCHELLE: I’m glad that you’re saying that, because there seems to be a focus with Marvel lately, that they’re keeping the name of the hero but changing who is wearing the costume. For instance, Jane Foster becoming Thor, Falcon becoming Captain America, and so on. This seems like something Marvel really might be willing to try at this point in time. SIENKIEWICZ: I had noticed that, but this is something that I thought of years and years ago. I almost feel like there is a little of a gimmick aspect to it, but I remember thinking that in regard to Moon Knight, it would actually work. LAROCHELLE: Is there anything else that you’d like to add? MOENCH: Oh, yeah, I have something, and it is a weird one. You know who else is a big Moon Knight fan? Patton Oswalt, the comedian. Somebody told me that he was on an episode of the show Parks and Recreation. In the episode (and in real life!) he’s a big nerd and he’s delivering this incredibly long-winded speech about the Marvel movies and how they really need to start bringing out some of the true “A-List” characters in the Marvel Universe, because, as he says, characters like Hawkeye and Black Widow just aren’t good enough. Anyway, he mentions Spider-Man, of course, but the second name that he says is Moon Knight! But wow, Moon Knight was on the “A-List?” Man, that’s the first time that I ever heard of that. I always thought that he was an oddball, off-to-the-side character. So that was some high praise for Moon Knight on television. People are thinking about Moon Knight, I guess. At a young age CHRISTOPHER LAROCHELLE discovered superheroes on the small screen in cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men. He got his first comics a short time after that and still adds to the collection today.

12 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

by D a v i d

To r s i e l l o

In the early 1970s, the comic-book business had become a war between two of its biggest publishers—a war for rack space. After Marvel Comics’ onerous distribution arrangement with Independent News (DC’s distributor) had expired in 1969, Marvel then made the jump to Curtis Circulation and for the first time since 1958, the company was free to publish as many titles as it pleased. In short order, Marvel put out a slew of new horror titles, sci-fi anthologies, and (of course) several reprint series. They were also swiping from pop culture as much as possible for fresh concepts. New characters took inspiration from blaxploitation films (Luke Cage), the kung-fu craze (Shang-Chi, Iron Fist), and the Women’s Lib movement (the Cat, Shanna the She-Devil, Night Nurse). But perhaps the strangest of these new characters was the Ghost Rider. Drawing from the horror genre, motorcycle clubs, and Evel Knievel (to go along with some standard superhero tropes), the concept was such a hodgepodge of disparate elements that it should have collapsed under the sheer weight of all its influences. It ought to have been a creative mess and a commercial disaster— but it wasn’t. Instead, Ghost Rider wound up proving himself one of the most enduring original characters to come out of the Bronze Age. Why did the concept prove successful? There are a number of likely explanations, but to put it in the plainest terms: the image of a guy riding a motorcycle with a head that’s a flaming skull is totally badass. It stokes the imagination. It’s an image that pops off the comic page and most certainly pops off a comic cover.

Ghost Rider TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

ORIGINS

The original comic-book Ghost Rider did not ride a motorcycle, however, but a horse. He was a Western character created by Ray Krank and Dick Ayers for Magazine Enterprises in 1949. Taking inspiration from the Headless Horseman (of “Sleepy Hollow” fame), as well as the Vaughn Monroe song “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” he was a cowboy vigilante that dressed in an all-white, full-body costume and rode a white horse. The character appeared regularly up until 1954. More than a dozen years later, after the trademark lapsed, Marvel jumped on the character and began publishing a new series of his adventures in 1967. But this only lasted seven issues, followed by a very brief revival of the character for the anthology title Western Gunfighters in 1970. Just a short time later, writer Gary Friedrich approached editor Roy Thomas with an idea for a motorcycle-riding villain called “Ghost Rider” that he wanted to use in the pages of Daredevil. Thomas liked the idea so much that he suggested launching the character in a series of his own. When Mike Ploog drew the art assignment, he assumed they were taking another shot at the Western character. “In my mind,” Ploog told BACK ISSUE in 2005, “the first image that came to me was the Frazetta Ghost Rider on Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

horseback.” (Frank Frazetta illustrated a couple of gorgeous covers for the original Magazine Enterprises series in the 1950s.) Though Ploog may have been disappointed to learn he was doing an all-new character with the same name, he clearly adjusted quickly. Knowing Roy Thomas’ affection for the Golden Age, it would be reasonable to assume that the design of the modern Ghost Rider was inspired by ’40s superhero the Blazing Skull, but this was not the case. Depending upon whom you ask, either Friedrich came up with the fiery skull design or Ploog did. But regardless of its origins, all can agree that the design was an eye-catcher.

THE DEVIL INSIDE

The new Ghost Rider first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). Again, he jumped off the cover, surrounded by blurbs declaring, “The Most Supernatural Superhero of All!” and “A Legend Is Born!” A third blurb posed the ominous question, “Is He Alive—Or Dead?” The character’s origin story is pretty straightforward. After being orphaned at a young age, Johnny Blaze is taken in by the owners of a traveling cycle show, the Simpson family: “Crash” Simpson, his wife, Mona, and their daughter, Roxanne. Several years down the road, when Crash is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Johnny makes a deal with the devil—literally Satan himself—to save Crash’s life. After Crash ends up dying in a show stunt, Satan comes to collect Johnny’s soul, correctly noting that Crash did not die of his disease, as per the letter of their bargain. He then informs Johnny that he will “walk the Earth” as his “emissary” at night, while spending his daylight hours trapped in “Hades.” But Roxanne returns just in time to interrupt this process, repeating the magical phrases necessary to drive the devil away and, seemingly, save Johnny. Alone together and safe, Rocky reveals that she had been reading Johnny’s books on Satan in secret, which is how she knew the way to save him. But the next night, Johnny Blaze finds himself transformed into the Ghost Rider for the first time. The transformations continue every evening at sundown thereafter, with a transformation back to human form with each dawn.

HERO OR HORROR?

Ghost Rider Unplooged Artist Mike Ploog burned rubber as Ghost Rider’s original artist. (right) GR’s debut, in Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). (above) An undated Ploog preliminary sketch of our hot-headed hellion, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Ghost Rider TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Like his Spotlight predecessor, Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider had an unusual narrative style (unusual for a comic book, that is), as it was narrated in second person. (Werewolf was done in first person.) Also like Werewolf, this premiere story begins in medias res, as we start with Johnny Blaze already the Ghost Rider, with his origins then revealed to us via flashback afterward. And finally, the two features also shared the same artist kicking off their strip: Mike Ploog (who would also have long stints on Frankenstein and Man-Thing). Taking all this in, the strip felt very much of a piece with the other new horror titles Marvel was beginning to publish. Many specifics of the character were only vaguely defined at this point. Although Johnny could not control his transformations (they occurred at sundown whether he willed it or not), he was still fully conscious and in control as the Ghost Rider, even though he would often speak as if he were an infernal creature—threatening “mortals” with his power as a “servant of Satan.” (Johnny, as well as some of his later confidants and allies, would come to refer to this as his “spook routine.”) The finer aspects of his powers were also unclear. He speaks of commanding “hell-fire,” for example, but his flame does not appear to have any properties that would distinguish it from conventional fire. It would be quite some time before the Ghost Rider’s powers, or even his demonic nature, would be properly detailed.

EARLY ADVENTURES

In his second appearance, in Spotlight #6 (Oct. 1972), Ghost Rider runs afoul of “Satan’s Servants” (a Hell’s Angels-style motorcycle gang) in Greenwich Village. After a display of his powers, GR is invited by the group’s leader, Curly, to join. Curly then betrays GR, revealing

14 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

himself as not only a pawn of Satan, but in fact the resurrected Crash Simpson! This kicked off a storyline that would run across the next three issues whereby Crash would get a second chance at life if he could successfully deliver Johnny’s soul to Satan. Standing in the way was Roxanne, whose purity and love for Johnny kept him out of the devil’s reach. Modern readers may be surprised by the appearance of Satan in these stories. Amazingly enough, this prompted nary a word of protest at the time, though it did garner some response from wannabe Satanists and witches. After seeing some of their letters, Ploog confessed: “I’ll tell you, I slept with the lights on after that.” As for illustrating the character, he recalled, “I tried like hell never to show the devil’s face, and I don’t think I ever did. It was always this huge guy with glowing eyes in the shadows.” Spotlight #6 is also notable for Ghost Rider appearing in public with the cycle show for the first time. Although this happened because Johnny had to save Rocky from the Servants biker gang, they later played it off as part of the act. It’s a device that would be reused often in the coming years. The first half of Spotlight #8 wraps up the Crash Simpson plot, with Crash being spared the tortures of Hell by a mysterious hooded figure called the Messenger. The second half of the story moves the cycle show to Arizona, where Johnny plans to jump “Copperhead Canyon” (clearly inspired by Evel Knievel’s long-planned jump over Snake River Canyon in Idaho, which finally took place more than a year later in 1974). Ploog’s run as penciler would also end here, as Tom Sutton took the penciling reins for a four-issue stint beginning with Spotlight #9 (Apr. 1973) and ending with Ghost Rider #1 (Aug. 1973). GR would close out his Spotlight run and begin his own title battling Native-American villains Snake Dance and his daughter, Witch-Woman. These stories would also introduce the Son of Satan, Daimon Hellstrom, to the Marvel Universe. The Son of Satan would then take over as the lead feature of Spotlight after GR graduated to his own title. (In fact, the original plan for Spotlight post-Ghost Rider was for a feature titled “The Mark of Satan,” which would have had Satan himself as its protagonist. This was being promoted as late as Ghost Rider’s last issue of Spotlight, #11, Aug. 1973, where it was mentioned near the end of the lettercol.) After the Son of Satan crossover that took place over the first two issues of his new title series, Ghost Rider #3 (Dec. 1973) sees GR learning how to create his flame cycle for the first time. Then, after a one-panel cameo in Avengers #118 (Dec. 1973), GR #4 (Feb. 1974) brings GR and Rocky to Nevada, where they become involved with a shady stock-car promoter named Dude Jensen. This would be Gary Friedrich’s last issue as writer. At some point between Arizona and Nevada, the cycle show had a detour back to New York City, where Ghost Rider met Spider-Man in the pages of Marvel Team-Up #15 (Nov. 1973). In this tale (written by Len Wein with art by Ross Andru and Don Perlin), GR had his first encounter with the villain who would prove his most persistent foe: the Orb. Years earlier, Drake Shannon (the Orb) had once been a partner of Crash Simpson’s in the cycle show. The two men tried to settle their business differences with a cycle race, winner take all. Shannon/the Orb lost this race, taking an ugly spill in the process that left him monstrously disfigured and hellbent on revenge. He kidnaps Roxanne and tries to ransom her back for ownership of the show, but is thwarted by GR and Spider-Man. With a giant eyeball helmet covering his entire head, the Orb had a striking appearance, much as the Ghost Rider did. The helmet also gave him the ability to hypnotize people. In later appearances it would be modified to allow him additional powers.

THE ISABELLA “SUPERHERO” ERA

After a fill-in by Marv Wolfman and Doug Moench, Tony Isabella takes over as regular writer for an extended run that offers readers a different flavor of Ghost Rider. Isabella tells BACK ISSUE, “Before I started scripting the issue, I reread all of Gary’s work on the character. I realized I couldn’t duplicate his wild mix of motorcycles and sorcery. I didn’t have the affinity for that sort of story for an ongoing series. So, with editor Roy Thomas’ okay, I added more superhero elements to the title.” Issues #8–9 (Oct.–Dec. 1974) feature another extended battle with Satan, who is assisted by the demon “Inferno the Fear-Monger.” At one point, Satan tricks Roxanne into renouncing her protection of the Ghost Rider and all seems lost until Johnny is saved by a mysterious “friend”—one that bears a strong resemblance to the traditional depictions of Jesus Christ. Rocky, guilt-ridden over allowing herself to be tricked, breaks off from Johnny at the end of the tale. Originally, Isabella had written himself into a corner with this storyline, as he was not sure how he would get Johnny out of Satan’s clutches. It was Steve Gerber who playfully suggested that God could save him, and Isabella decided to run with the idea. Around this time, Ghost Rider had his first meeting with the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One #8 (Mar. 1975)—an odd Christmas story where the two unlikely partners battle the Miracle Man, written by the aforementioned Steve Gerber and illustrated by Sal Buscema. Then GR has a cameo appearance in a fantasy sequence in a Son of Satan story in Marvel Spotlight #22 (June 1975; again by Gerber and Buscema). Returning to his proper title, GR battles the ghost of the Phantom Eagle in issue #12 (June 1975), and

Spirit of Vengeance The artistry of Mike Ploog. Page 12 of Ghost Rider’s third story, from Marvel Spotlight #7 (Dec. 1972). Script by Gary Friedrich, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

$500,000 PAID FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART! COLLECTOR PAYING TOP DOLLAR FOR “ANY AND ALL” ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK AND COMIC STRIP ARTWORK FROM THE 1930S TO PRESENT! COVERS, PINUPS, PAGES, IT DOESN’T MATTER! 1 PAGE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS SOUGHT! CALL OR EMAIL ME ANYTIME!

330-221-5665 mikeburkey@aol.com OR SEND YOUR LIST TO:

MIKE BURKEY

P.O. BOX 455 • RAVENNA, OH 44266 CASH IS WAITING, SO HURRY!!!!!

Advertise With Us! ALTER EGO • BACK ISSUE DRAW • COMIC BOOK CREATOR JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR

AD SIZES: COVERS: 8.375" wide x 10.875" tall trim size, with an additional 1/8" on all sides for bleeds. FULL-PAGE: 7.625" x 10.125" live area (bleeds OK). HALF-PAGE: 7.625" x 4.875" live area (no bleeds). QUARTER-PAGE: 3.6875" x 4.875" live area (no bleeds).

FULL-COLOR Ad Rates: Back cover: $800 ($700 for two or more) Inside front or back cover: $700 ($600 for two or more) Full-page interior: $600 ($500 for two or more) Half-page interior: $300 ($250 for two or more) Quarter-page interior: $150 ($125 for two or more)

Call or e-mail for frequency discounts! Send ad copy and payment (US funds) to: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 919-449-0344 fax 919-449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

We accept check, money order, and all major credit cards; include card number and expiration date.

These rates are for digital ads supplied (PDF, JPEG, TIF, EPS, InDesign, or Quark Xpress files acceptable). No agency discounts apply. Call for BrickJournal ad rates.

70% OFF!

CLEARANCE SALE LAST CHANCE FOR THESE TITLES

Don’t miss the 70% OFF CLEARANCE sale on select items at www.twomorrows.com! Many of these items are nearly sold out, so don't delay! It’s your last chance to get print editions of: Streetwise - regular $19.95, only $5.99 Star•Reach Companion - regular $27.95, only $8.39 Grailpages - regular $15.95, only $4.79 Comics Gone Ape! - regular $16.95, only $5.09 Dan Spiegle: A Life in Comic Art - regular $17.95, only $5.39 Teen Titans Companion, Vol. 2 - regular $26.95, only $8.09 Comic Book Artist Collection, Vol. 3 - regular $24.95, only $7.49 Comics Above Ground - regular $19.95, only $5.99 Modern Masters: George Perez DVD - regular $19.95, only $5.99 Modern Masters: Michael Golden DVD - regular $19.95, only $5.99 Alter Ego: Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine - regular $21.95, only $6.59 Best of Alter Ego, Vol. 2 - regular $19.95, only $5.99 Plugged In - regular $16.95, only $5.09 Write Now! #17 - regular $6.95, only $2.09 This offer good while supplies last, so go to www.twomorrows.com and click on the banner at the top of the page, to be taken to the full list for ordering. If ordering by mail, please list alternates & include $2 per item for US Postage.

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com Order at twomorrows.com

ROMITAMAN ORIGINAL COMIC ART

IF YOU LOVE COMIC BOOKS, THEN YOU “MUST” CHECK OUT THE LARGEST INTERNET WEBSITE IN THE WORLD DEVOTED TO BUYING, SELLING, AND TRADING ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK ART AND COMIC STRIP ART! YOUR BEST ARTWORK INTERNET SOURCE IS RIGHT HERE! CHECK OUT OVER 8000+ “PICTURED” PIECES OF COMICBOOK AND COMIC STRIP ART FOR SALE OR TRADE. ALSO CHECK OUT THE WORLD’S “LARGEST” SPIDER-MAN ORIGINAL ART GALLERY! I BUY/SELL/AND TRADE “ALL” COMICBOOK/ STRIP ARTWORK FROM THE 1930S TO PRESENT. SO LET ME KNOW YOUR WANTS, OR WHAT YOU HAVE FOR SALE OR TRADE!

www.romitaman.com

by D e w e y

Cassell

I don’t like romance comics. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have an appreciation for the artwork of romance comics, but it seems like most of the stories in the old romance comics revolved around pining for someone’s attention or playing hard to get or jealousy over a friend or rival. It was not exactly the stuff of legend. Romance comics rose in popularity in the late 1940s and 1950s, in the wake of World War II. Unlike horror and crime comics, romance comics had no problem passing the Comics Code. But with changing times and the re-emergence of superhero comics, by the late 1960s romance comics were, for all intents and purposes, dead. Naomi Scott, editor of the 1979 Fireside book, Heart Throbs: The Best of DC Romance Comics, put it this way: “Romance comics were popular for almost thirty years because they showed a simpler life. In the late fifties and early sixties, television was stealing a large share of the comic market—action adventure comics, as well as romance. But the changing morality of the sixties and seventies killed romance comics forever.” [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #81 for more about Heart Throbs— plus the revelation of Naomi Scott’s true identity!]

NIGHT SHIFT

In an interview with Jim Amash in Alter Ego #70 (July 2007), former Marvel writer and editor-in-chief Roy Thomas explained the origin of Night Nurse: “[Stan] wanted to do some books that would have special appeal to girls. We were always looking for ways to expand our franchise. We had a lot of superhero books. You can’t just go on putting out more and more books that are in exactly the same genre, but if you could find ways to nibble around the edges… you can maybe cover a little more territory. So maybe a couple of women characters might bring back a few of the female readers who’d been lost to comics over the years with the decline of humor and romance comics.” This motivation served as the genesis for several comics Marvel introduced in the early 1970s, including The Cat, Shanna the She-Devil… and Night Nurse. But Scott noted the challenge they faced: “Interestingly enough, romance comics were written and drawn primarily by men. Even the advice columns, with bylines attributed to Jane Ford and Julia Roberts, were written by men. Over the years there were women artists and story editors, but until recently the comic industry was dominated by men.” This dichotomy was something Marvel intended to change with the new titles, as Roy Thomas tells BACK © Luigi Novi / ISSUE: “My idea—this was not part Wikimedia Commons. of Stan’s initial idea—was to try to get women to write them. And, of course, if we could get a woman to draw them, too, that was great.” It was an

Hello, Nurse! Excitement, romance, and sensible shoes were hallmarks of Marvel’s Night Nurse #1 (Nov. 1972). Cover by Win Mortimer. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

DC Comics has a long history of vile villains who have plagued our favorite heroes over the years, but none are quite like Eclipso. While the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Black Manta often come face-to-face with Batman, Superman, and Aquaman, Eclipso breaks the mold in that he lives within protagonist Bruce Gordon!

DARK ORIGINS

The cover of House of Secrets #61 (Aug. 1963) touts the introduction of “Fantastic Eclipso… Hero and Villain in One Man!” Written by Bob Haney with art by Lee Elias, the feature tells the tale of Dr. Bruce Gordon, a premier solar-power scientist who travels to Diablo Island to view an eclipse. While waiting for the eclipse, Gordon encounters Mophir, a tribal sorcerer. The two scuffle and Gordon is scratched by a seemingly magical black diamond possessed by the sorcerer. The eclipse begins and Mophir becomes confused, stepping backward and plummeting off the edge of a cliff. Mophir perishes, but Gordon appears to be unscathed. Appearances can be deceiving, though, as Gordon soon learns that he is now host for the villainous Eclipso. Whenever in the vicinity of a solar eclipse, Gordon loses his will and Eclipso is unleashed. It’s discovered that solar energy and natural light will vanquish Eclipso, and throughout the Silver Age, Bruce’s girlfriend, Mona, and her father, Dr. Bennett, seek to help Gordon rid himself of Eclipso through a seemingly endless series of solar experiments. While somewhat of a C-level villain, Eclipso was apparently compelling enough of a character to make 18 appearances in House of Mystery, culminating with issue #80 (Oct. 1966).

ECLIPSO VS. THE JLA… AND METAL MEN?

Eclipso made his first Bronze Age appearance in Justice League of America #109 (Feb. 1974). “The Doom of the Divided Man” starts off with a shocker as Hawkman announces his resignation from the Justice League. Katar explains that he and wife Shayera have been called back to Thanagar, their tour of duty on Earth complete. The team is in the midst of expressing their dismay when Bruce Gordon arrives via teleporter carrying a worse-forwear Red Tornado. Explains the solar scientist to the slack-jawed JLA, “I’m Doctor Bruce Gordon—and to some extent, I am responsible for the harm done to your colleague!” The Red Tornado steps in and recounts that he had gotten a job as Gordon’s lab assistant and was helping the scientist with his controlled light transmission experiments. The android continues, “I don’t know how it happened—perhaps I was responsible—perhaps not— but, two-thirds of the way through the operation, vital circuits began to overload—and there was nothing I could do to stop them!” In a flashback sequence, Gordon is thrown to the floor from the force of the explosion and the Red Tornado witnesses three spectral figures emerging from the scientist’s body, “their identical faces all contorted into the same evil mask.” A trio of Eclipsos attacks the Red Tornado and the hero proves to be no match. Gordon

Bad Moon Rising The evil Eclipso returns, in Metal Men #48 (Oct.–Nov. 1976). Cover art by Walter Simonson. TM & © DC Comics.

36 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

by S h a n n o n

E. Riley

Threeclipso! The JLA vs. the triple-threat Eclipso, in Justice League of America #109 (Feb. 1974). By Wein, Dillin, and Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

goes on to explain that it is he who is Eclipso and that his latest experiment was meant to imprison the villain within him permanently. Instead, a flaw led to the release of three Eclipsos hellbent on menacing the Earth. Batman deduces that a greater threat lies in the release of Eclipso from Gordon. Says the Darknight Detective to the scientist, “It’s the law of conservation of matter and energy! Nothing can be created from… nothing! The real Eclipso comes from latent energies the black diamond imbued within you—but those two extras your accident conjured up—according to the computers, they are drawing their energies from Earth itself! Unless we find them and destroy them within six hours—the stresses will tear this planet apart!” Writer Len Wein and stalwart artists Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano deliver a crisp tale in which the League divides and conquers to take down the three split-faced devils. Black Canary, the Atom, and Aquaman face off against an Eclipso in the dark waters of the Atlantic, while Batman and the Flash vanquish an Eclipso in sweltering Death Valley as Hawkman, Green Arrow, and the Elongated Man take down the Dictator of Darkness aboard an aircraft. The entire JLA reconvenes aboard their satellite headquarters with the trio of Eclipsos and recovered black diamonds that threatened the very stability of the planet. Suddenly, the three clones merge into a giant Eclipso and the beast swats the Justice Leaguers away like flies. Eclipso then fires a bolt through his diamonds, fully anticipating to atomize the JLA—but one of the diamonds had been rigged by Batman and Eclipso returns to his human host. Reveals the Caped Crusader, “I secretly coated his black diamond with special chemicals and left the gem where I was sure he’d make a play for it! As soon as he started to fire one of his energy blasts through the diamond, he triggered the reaction that sent him back into Dr. Gordon’s body!” With Eclipso back within Bruce Gordon, the team bids farewell to the departing Hawkman. After his defeat at the hands of the Justice League, Eclipso disappeared for a few years. He would turn up again in Metal Men, of all places. The series had earlier returned from its cancellation at the tail end of the Silver Age, picking up the previous numbering with issue #42 in late 1972 and resuming a bimonthly publishing schedule as a reprint series for a three-issue run. Metal Men was later revived again, with new stories, starting in issue #45 in 1976. “Who is Bruce Gordon and Why is He Doing Those Terrible Things to Himself?” brought our shadowy villain back to the DC Universe in Metal Men #48 (Oct.–Nov. 1976), pitting him against Doc Magnus’ team of element-based robots. The tale begins with Mona Bennett bursting into Magnus’ lab, desperately begging for his assistance. She recounts Bruce Gordon’s ordeals with the Master of Darkness, from the destruction of Solar City to Gordon’s efforts to rid himself of the devil with a variety of high-intensity light experiments; his most recent trials had gone awry and unleashed Eclipso once again. Freed, but with Gordon’s persona still submerged within, the beast immediately retrieves his black diamond from the scientist’s study and discovers data in his files that will put the wheels in motion for a return to Diablo Island, where Gordon first received his wound from the black diamond. Magnus, Bennett, and the Metal Men track Eclipso to the Peruvian Andes, where Metal Man Tin fashions a white-hot torch that temporarily severs the connection between Eclipso and Gordon. Gordon quickly explains to the team that they’ve returned to the location where he fought Mophir and his sun cult, and where Eclipso was first unleashed. Within Mophir’s cave, they discover a tablet inscribed with an eclipsed sun. As Iron retrieves it, an earthquake is triggered and the entire group scrambles for safety. Magnus directs Iron to move the Metal Men’s flying transport and in doing so, it blocks the sun and Eclipso is freed yet again. Eclipso absconds with the tablet and speaks aloud the hieroglyphs, conjuring the ancient god Umbra. Umbra utters, “Soon… the others shall awaken... to join me! And soon... the Earth shall be ours!”

It’s announced in the letters column of Metal Men #48 that Martin Pasko had come on board to script the issue in place of the departing Gerry Conway (who plotted the story with Walt Simonson). Pasko and I have communicated frequently over the years and I reached out via email to see if he recalled how he got the assignment. Says Pasko, “At this time, Gerry was writing and editing a lot of first issues—‘pilots,’ so to speak—and then handing them off to other writers with the second issues. I’d become one of his go-to guys for that; I took over two titles that Gerry had started, so he knew I was able to pick up where he’d left off without too jarring a change in style or approach to story. Steve Gerber was supposed to be the new regular [Metal Men] writer, taking over from Gerry, but had to bow out after one issue due to other commitments, so Gerry co-plotted #48 with Walt [Simonson] and started looking for someone to dialogue it. Since Gerry, Walt, and I had already worked together happily, and I knew how to interpret Walt’s very loose breakdowns, I guess I was the logical choice.” The concluding chapter, “The Dark God Cometh,” appears in Metal Men #49 (Dec. 1976–Jan. 1977). Umbra rewards Eclipso for summoning him by increasing his power a thousand-fold, and he uses it to promptly mop up the floor with the Metal Men. Eclipso then abducts Mona and is set to sacrifice her to Umbra—but the Metal Men regroup and swiftly form a giant magnifying glass, transforming Eclipso back into Bruce Gordon and saving Mona from certain death. With Mona now safe and Umbra temporarily immobile while he recharges for another battle, the group returns to the cave and Gordon recounts the history of Diablo Island and ultimately his dark origins as the host for Eclipso. He explains that the island dwellers worshipped a sun god, but in reality Umbra was a god of darkness.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37

When Presidents Go Bad An eclipsed Commander in Chief gives DC’s mysterious stranger the what-for in The Phantom Stranger #3 (Dec. 1987). Cover by Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell. TM & © DC Comics.

Eclipso and asked him if he needed any reference. He needed none for Eclipso, but wanted some swipe on some of the civilian characters like Bruce Gordon and Mona Bennett. Jim was from the Milton Caniff school, as was the renderer of my favorite version of Eclipso, Alex Toth, so Jim seemed right at home with the character.”

LORD OF CHAOS

Eclipso’s most notable storyline came just after the end of the Bronze Age in the form of 1987’s The Phantom Stranger miniseries, written by Paul Kupperberg with stunning art by Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell. The series establishes Eclipso as a significantly more potent entity with powers amplified by the Lords of Chaos—allowing the demon to go toe-to-toe with the historically omnipotent Phantom Stranger. Kupperberg masterfully weaves a tale of the Phantom Stranger questioning his existence and mission, being stripped of his powers by the Lords of Order, and grappling with Eclipso’s plot to cover the Earth in darkness. Across four issues, the Phantom Stranger races to defeat Eclipso against the backdrop of a world erupting in chaos, from natural disasters to the looming threat of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union (all resulting from the machinations of the Lords of Chaos and Eclipso). Our mystical protagonist is aided by a diverse cast of some of DC’s best supporting characters, including Dr. Bruce Gordon, Commissioner James Gordon, Jimmy Olsen, Lieutenant Colonel Valentina Vostok (Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol), and Dr. Jenet Klyburn of S.T.A.R. Labs. [Editor’s note: Kupperberg, plus artists Mignola and Russell, recently discussed this Phantom Stranger miniseries at length in BACK ISSUE #92.]

Mignola and Russell illustrate perhaps the creepiest version of Eclipso yet, often setting the villain in shadowy silhouette with nothing but his gleaming teeth and eyes visible. While the interiors are stellar, it’s the covers that are absolutely magnificent. The cover of The Phantom Stranger #1 (Oct. 1987) is a classic depiction of our immortal hero, emerging from a darkened alley with newspapers scattered in the wind, their headlines telling of plague, famine, and war. The illustration rivals the classic representations of the character by Jim Aparo, Gerry Talaoc, and Neal Adams. Mignola and Russell portray Eclipso facing down the Phantom Stranger in final battle at Stonehenge on the cover of issue #4 (Jan. 1988), but perhaps the best cover of the limited series is that of issue #3 (Dec. 1987): It features an eclipsed President Ronald Reagan tearing into the Phantom Stranger with a machine gun! [Author’s note: No US presidents were harmed in the making of this cover. It was a demonic doppelgänger, folks!] Kupperberg puts the Phantom Stranger through his paces and shows the character embracing humanity in ways that he hadn’t before. In the concluding pages of the series, with Eclipso vanquished and order restored, the Stranger tells Dr. Gordon, “Mankind gives me my strength, my friend! Every soul that hopes or fears or needs adds that much more to what I am. You made me, Bruce Gordon! You and every being on this wondrous word are my creators and soul-mates… and from them have my powers been returned!” And what of the series’ villain, Eclipso? He’d previously appeared sporadically throughout the Bronze Age, as I’ve recounted throughout this article. How had Eclipso come to be the foil for the Phantom Stranger? Had Kupperberg always been a fan of the character? “I’ve been a fan of Eclipso since the original Bob Haney and Lee Elias run in the 1960s, which also included a few stories drawn by Alex Toth, but I don’t think he had been used much in recent years,” Kupperberg notes. “When I was looking for a villain for the mini, I went through the list to see what characters were available, and Eclipso’s name just popped out at me. Light and dark. Yin and yang. He was made to order for the story I had in mind.” Kupperberg’s The Phantom Stranger miniseries truly elevated Eclipso’s status in the DCU, taking him from something of an oddball relic of the Silver Age to an evil god-like being imbued with a frightening level of power. Modern Age creators would take Kupperberg’s idea and run with it, as evidenced by the massive Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover event that spanned DC’s 1992 Annuals and the resultant Eclipso ongoing series that ran from 1992–1994. The character would continue to appear in various incarnations, from being a central figure in the 2003 “Princes of Darkness” storyline in JSA to possessing the Atom’s ex-wife Jean Loring in 2005’s Day of Vengeance miniseries. While these stories will most certainly be covered in a future installment of BACK ISSUE, it’s clear that the concept has legs. In my email conversation with Len Wein, the writer states, “I think Eclipso endures for the same reason the story of Jekyll and Hyde perseveres; it’s the ultimate story of man’s inhumanity to man.” Other characters may inherit the mantle, but Dr. Bruce Gordon remains ever vigilant in his quest to finally rid the Earth—and himself—of the scourge that is Eclipso. SHANNON E. RILEY has been reading and collecting comics since 1978, when his dad bought him his first book, Detective Comics #475. Find him on Instagram @ShannonERiley and on Facebook at facebook.com/shannoneriley.

44 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

by D o n

Va u g h a n

The adoption of the Comics Code by the Comics Magazine Association of America in October 1954 sent a seismic shift throughout the comic-book industry. Used to doing pretty much whatever they wanted within the pages of their magazines, publishers suddenly found themselves facing significant restrictions regarding content— including a ban on almost all elements of the supernatural. Warned the Code: “Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.” Such were the rules for more than 15 years. Then came the 1970s, and the realization that many provisions within the Code had become obsolete. In 1971, the CMAA announced a TM new Code that loosened restrictions in several areas—including horror. Suddenly, vampires, werewolves, and their otherworldly brethren were fair game once again. Marvel Comics was one of the first major publishers to jump at the opportunities presented by the new Comics Code. DC, however, moved a bit more slowly. Though various creatures of the night appeared occasionally in DC’s mystery titles, it wasn’t until 1981— a decade after the new Comics Code debuted—that DC offered up a suitable rival to Marvel’s wildly successful Tomb of Dracula: “I… Vampire,” which premiered in House of Mystery #290 (cover-dated Mar. 1981). I... Vampire was developed by writer J. M. DeMatteis, with a bit of guidance from Len Wein. “Len was editing House of Mystery and Weird War Tales and he wanted to launch ongoing series in both titles,” DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE. “I pitched Len an idea I had on hand— Creature Commandos—for Weird War Tales, and for House of Mystery, he provided me with a title—I... Vampire– and sent me off to develop something. I came back with another idea I’d had cooking for a while, Greenberg the Vampire. Len didn’t think the tale of a Woody Allen-ish, New York vampire fit the bill (I later sold the idea to Marvel), but he liked the fact that there was a love story between two vampires at Greenberg’s core. Len told me to play with that concept. I thought it over and came back with Andrew Bennett and Mary, Queen of Blood. And we were off!” DeMatteis was paired with artist Tom Sutton, a veteran cartoonist with a flair for the macabre. Together, they developed the look and feel of I... Vampire, quickly pushing it to the forefront of the book. By issue #310 (Nov. 1982), I... Vampire was featured in larger type on the cover than House of Mystery. “Tom Sutton was Len’s call,” DeMatteis notes, “but I thought he was perfect for the series. His work dripped with mood and mystery. And he was a rock-solid storyteller.”

Dead Man Walking The first appearance of Andrew Bennett— star of “I… Vampire”—in House of Mystery #290 (Mar. 1981). Cover by Joe Kubert. TM & © DC Comics.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

AOK(aluta and Kubert) Covers (right) Bennett’s love goes batty in this scene from HoM #290’s inaugural “I… Vampire” story, by DeMatteis and Sutton. (left and opposite page) Between Michael Kaluta and Joe Kubert, the covers for HoM’s I… Vampire series never (yes, we’re gonna say it) sucked. TM & © DC Comics.

WE… VAMPIRES

I... Vampire told the story of Andrew Bennett, a lord in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, betrothed to sweet, red-haired Mary Seward. One evening, while riding through the woods, Bennett encounters a strange old man who he soon realizes is a vampire. “I will teach you the truth I alone have lived with for five hundred years,” the man says as he bites Bennett on the neck. As the life ebbs out of him, Bennett is revived by a vision of Mary and manages to kill the vampire with a stake to the chest. Bennett also perishes, only to awaken three days later as one of the undead. Returning to his quarters within the castle, Bennett relates his story to Mary, who begs him to also make her a vampire. “I love you more than life itself,” she says. “I must be by your side for all eternity. Make me what you are, my love.” Bennett initially refuses, but finally relents. Mary’s transformation is far different from Bennett’s. Whereas Bennett awakened horrified and unsure, Mary is beside herself with glee. “There is power in me… all the unbridled power of Hell at my command!” she states. She suggests that they unite to take over the kingdom and then the world, but Bennett refuses. Thwarted, Mary turns into a bat and flies away. Reveals Bennett: “That night I vowed that I would find her again… that I would save the soul that I had despoiled.” The story picks up in modern times. Bennett had been chasing Mary for hundreds of years, determined to stop her mad plan of world conquest. Working with him are elderly vampire hunter Dimitri Mishkin and pretty Deborah Dancer, associates who have their own reasons for assisting Bennett. In the introductory story, the trio are attacked by Mary’s undead minions. After a fierce struggle, they gain the upper hand and are certain they have Mary in their grasp, only to learn that their captive is actually one of Mary’s servants in disguise. Mary has escaped yet again. 46 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

The story continues in HoM #291 (Apr. 1981), which features a terrific cover by Joe Kubert. In fact, Kubert illustrated the covers for nine of the 24 issues of House of Mystery that featured the I... Vampire saga. Joining him on cover duty was Michael Kaluta, who illustrated the covers for House of Mystery #93, 295, 302, 304, 305, and 309 through 319. Interestingly, I... Vampire did not appear in House of Mystery #292, 294, 296, 298, 300 and 301, perhaps because DC wanted to see how the series would be received by readers before committing to a monthly schedule. In the second installment, titled “Night of the Living Undead,” Bennett and his colleagues infiltrate a private club called the Gates of Hell where vampires can mingle without interference. Bennett hopes to find Mary there, and overhears gossip about a money-making operation for Mary’s vampiric organization, the Blood Red Moon, involving a heroin dealer named Emil Veldt. Bennett warns a family doing business with Veldt that their association will lead only to a horrible death, at which point Veldt turns into a bat and flees out a window. Bennett confronts Veldt in his home and throws Veldt’s drug kit out the window. Veldt lunges after it, dying horribly when hit by the sun’s rays. The third chapter in the I... Vampire saga, featured in HoM #293 (June 1981), has Bennett and his colleagues going up against a racist organization called the American Freedom Party, led by one Q. B. Stonewall. During an altercation with a black state senator named Eugene Olive, who wants the organization gone, Stonewall is felled by a heart attack, which Bennett believes is merely a ruse. Members of the American Freedom Party set fire to Olive’s home, trapping his wife and children. Dmitri saves the youngsters, but is unable to save Olive’s wife. Bennett flies to Stonewall’s hotel, where he learns that Stonewall is dead. Bennett then realizes that Stonewall’s attractive assistant is the real vampire and flies off to kill her. However, Dmitri

arrives and drives him away with a cross, allowing the woman to escape in wolf form. Dmitri reveals that the woman, who appears young enough to be his granddaughter, is actually his mother. Bennett, Dmitri, and Deborah continue their quest to find Mary in House of Mystery #295 (Aug. 1981). On a mountain pass they are driven off the road by an oncoming car, requiring a quick and daring escape. Deborah then confronts Dmitri about his actions earlier, and the elderly Russian relates the story of how his mother was turned into a vampire by Mary when he was a child. Abandoned and distraught, young Dmitri was befriended by Bennett, who took the boy under his (bat) wing and taught him the ways of the vampire hunter. Over the next few issues, Bennett and his cohorts encounter a number of strange people and stranger circumstances as they continue their pursuit of Mary and the Blood Red Moon. In HoM #297 (Oct. 1981), which saw a price increase from 50 cents to 60 cents, along with a promise of “more chilling pages of story and art,” they encounter vampires at a California Zen retreat. It’s a just-average standalone tale that doesn’t particularly advance the “hunt for Mary” storyline.

A NEW WRITER

In #299 (Dec. 1981), written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Sutton, a hitchhiking Bennett is picked up by a man in a pickup truck. As they drive, Bennett thinks back to an earlier incident in which he, Deborah, and Dmitri are attacked by humans under Mary’s employ. The men drive the trio’s truck off the road then shoot up Bennett’s coffin with him inside while Deborah and Dmitri are forced to watch. Bennett’s body is then exposed to the sun. But before he can perish, an earthquake conveniently occurs and Bennett, Deborah, and Dmitri plunge into a subterranean cave. When help finally arrives, Bennett flees in bat form so he can return to his mansion and quench his thirst. Realizing he poses a dangerous threat to his friends, Bennett decides then to go off on his own. Bennett is roused from his thoughts when he and the truck driver are attacked by more of Mary’s henchmen. They are driven off the road and the salesman is killed, his face burned beyond recognition. Bennett quickly changes clothes with the dead man and flees on foot. Why did DeMatteis leave I... Vampire? Greener pastures. “Marvel made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he explains. “I signed an exclusive contract with them, so I couldn’t continue with I... Vampire.” Jones continues the story in HoM #302 (Mar. 1982). Bennett eventually finds his way to the home of the driver who gave him a lift and is offered a room by the man’s wife, June, who is also caring for their young son, Teddy. Bennett befriends the boy over their mutual interest in astronomy and takes him and June to a carnival for a little evening fun. Later, one of Mary’s minions enters the house and drives a stake through Teddy’s heart as the boy sleeps,

believing he’s Bennett. A devastated Bennett encounters June at Teddy’s grave and is attacked yet again as he tries to explain his predicament. Bennett and June flee in June’s car and manage to evade the attackers, though June perishes from an arrow to the back. The Jones-scripted “Carnival of Souls” is the lead feature in HoM #303 (Apr. 1982). Still separated from Deborah and Dmitri, Bennett infiltrates a carnival, where he meets journalist Margo Jennings. After saving Margo from one of Mary’s goons, he sends her away with a promise of more info if she’ll meet him later that night. Hidden behind a Frankenstein’s Monster mask, Bennett is brought into Mary’s inner circle, where he learns that the Blood Red Moon have kidnapped the infant granddaughter of industrialist J. Brown Wooley. There’s just one hitch: The cops have surrounded the hotel where the child is being held, so a plan is hatched to use the carnival’s Ferris wheel, located right next to the hotel, to sneak her away. Bennett meets up with Margo later that night and enlists her aid in saving the kidnapped child, but Mary intervenes, killing Margo and plunging a stake into Bennett’s chest. Ernie Colón assumes the art chores in HoM #304 (May 1982), which continues the story from the previous issue. Mary orders her henchmen to place the dying Bennett in a carnival funhouse coffin, where he looks just like one of the monster mannequins. Mustering the last of his mental reserves, Bennett psychically reaches out to a young woman who is going through the fun house with friends and compels her to remove the stake from his chest, saving his life. Bennett then races to the scene of the kidnapping, arriving just as the child (who, oddly, looks like a ten-year-old boy rather than an infant girl, as stated in the previous issue) is tossed from a hotel window into the waiting arms of one of Mary’s henchmen atop the Ferris wheel. A fight ensues and the boy almost dies, but Bennett manages to save him as the Ferris wheel bursts into flames, engulfing everything around it. Bennett initially believes Mary and her crew have died in the inferno, only to have his hopes dashed when he spots a single bat fleeing the scene. Jones takes the story in a decidedly different direction in HoM #305 (June 1982), illustrated again by Colón. As newspapers tout the development of a serum that appears to cure cancer, Bennett encounters a number of vampires who have curiously died without a mark on them. Mary, he finds, has fled to Egypt, so he gives chase, encountering a group of nasty desert vampires along the way. The situation looks bleak, but the monsters suddenly fall dead before they can kill him. Bennett continues into the desert, where he finds Mary near death. Saved by Bennett, Mary informs him that the cancer serum has made human blood fatal to vampires. But Mary has a plan: escape Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 47

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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

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

BACK ISSUE #86

BACK ISSUE #87

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

BACK ISSUE #83

BACK ISSUE #84

BACK ISSUE #85

“International Heroes!” Alpha Flight, the New X-Men, Global Guardians, Captain Canuck, and Justice League International, plus SpiderMan in the UK and more. Also: exclusive interview with cover artists STEVE FASTNER and RICH LARSON. Featuring the work of JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, RICHARD COMELY, KEITH GIFFEN, KEVIN MAGUIRE, and more! Alpha Flight vs. X-Men cover by FASTNER/LARSON.

“Supergirl in the Bronze Age!” Her 1970s and 1980s adventures, including her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths and her many rebirths. Plus: an ALAN BRENNERT interview, behind the scenes of the Supergirl movie starring HELEN SLATER, Who is Superwoman?, and a look at the DC Superheroes Water Ski Show. With PAUL KUPPERBERG, ELLIOT MAGGIN, MARV WOLFMAN, plus a jam cover recreation of ADVENTURE COMICS #397!

“Christmas in the Bronze Age!” Go behind the scenes of comics’ best holiday tales of the 1970s through the early 1990s! And we revisit Superhero Merchandise Catalogs of the late ‘70s! Featuring work by SIMON BISLEY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍALÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, the KUBERT STUDIO, DENNY O’NEIL, STEVE PURCELL, JOHN ROMITA, JR., and more. Cover by MARIE SEVERIN and MIKE ESPOSITO!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

BACK ISSUE #88

BACK ISSUE #89

BACK ISSUE #90

“Marvel Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!” In-depth exploration of Marvel’s GIANT-SIZE series, plus indexes galore of Marvel reprint titles, Marvel digests and Fireside Books editions, and the last days of the “Old” X-Men! Featuring work by DAN ADKINS, ROSS ANDRU, RICH BUCKLER, DAVE COCKRUM, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE GERBER, STAN LEE, WERNER ROTH, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by JOHN ROMITA, SR.!

“Batman AND Superman!” Bronze Age World’s Finest, Super Sons, Batman/Superman Villain/Partner Swap, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane go solo, Superman/Radio Shack giveaways, and JLA #200’s “A League Divided” (as a nod to Batman v. Superman)! Featuring work by BRIAN BOLLAND, RICH BUCKLER, GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, GEORGE PÉREZ, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by DICK GIORDANO!

“Comics Magazines of the ’70s and ’80s!” From Savage Tales to Epic Illustrated, KIRBY’s “Speak-Out Series,” EISNER’s Spirit magazine, Unpublished PAUL GULACY, MICHAEL USLAN on the Shadow magazine you didn’t see, plus B&Ws from Atlas/Seaboard, Charlton, Skywald, and Warren. Featuring work by NEAL ADAMS, JOHN BOLTON, ARCHIE GOODWIN, DOUG MOENCH, EARL NOREM, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by GRAY MORROW!

“Bronze Age Adaptations!” The Shadow, Korak: Son of Tarzan, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Worlds Unknown, and Marvel’s 1980s movie adaptations. Plus: PAUL KUPPERBERG surveys prose adaptations of comics! With work by JACK KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL, FRANK ROBBINS, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, FRANK THORNE, MICHAEL USLAN, and sporting an alternate Kaluta cover produced for DC’s Shadow series!

“Eighties Ladies!” MILLER & SIENKIEWICZ’s Elektra: Assassin, Dazzler, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Lady Quark, DAN MISHKIN’s Wonder Woman, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS and ADAM KUBERT’s Jezebel Jade, Somerset Holmes, and a look back at Marvel’s Dakota North! Featuring the work of BRUCE JONES, JOHN ROMITA JR., ROGER STERN, and many more, plus a previously unpublished cover by SIENKIEWICZ.

(100 FULL-COLOR pages) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) SOLD OUT! (Digital Edition) $3.95

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

BACK ISSUE #91

BACK ISSUE #92

BACK ISSUE #93

BACK ISSUE #94

“All-Jerks Issue!” Guy Gardner, Namor in the Bronze Age, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, DC’s Biggest Blowhards, the Heckler, Obnoxio the Clown, and Archie’s “pal” Reggie Mantle! Featuring the work of (non-jerks) RICH BUCKLER, KURT BUSIEK, JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, KEITH GIFFEN, ALAN KUPPERBERG, and many more. Cover-featuring KEVIN MAGUIRE’s iconic Batman/Guy Gardner “One Punch”!

“Bronze Age Halloween!” The Swamp Thing revival of 1982, Swamp Thing in Hollywood, Phantom Stranger team-ups, KUPPERBERG & MIGNOLA’s Phantom Stranger miniseries, DC’s The Witching Hour, the Living Mummy, and an index of Marvel’s 1970s’ horror anthologies! Featuring the work of RICH BUCKLER, ANDY MANGELS, VAL MAYERIK, MARTIN PASKO, MICHAEL USLAN, TOM YEATES, and many more. Cover by YEATES.

“All-Captains Issue!” Bronze Age histories of Shazam! (Captain Marvel) and Captain MarVell, Captain Carrot, Captain Storm and the Losers, Captain Universe, and Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Featuring C. C. BECK, PAT BRODERICK, JACK KIRBY, ELLIOT S. MAGGIN, BILL MANTLO, DON NEWTON, BOB OKSNER, SCOTT SHAW!, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover painting by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Indie Super-Heroes!” NEAL ADAMS Ms. Mystic interview, Continuity Comics, BILL BLACK Captain Paragon interview, Justice Machine history, STEVEN GRANT/NORM BREYFOGLE Whisper “Pro2Pro” interview, and the ’80s revivals of Mighty Crusaders and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Featuring BUCKLER, DEODATO, ELLIS, GRINDBERG, GUSTOVICH, ISABELLA, REINHOLD, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, and more. Cover by NEAL ADAMS!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

store@twomorrows.com

Order at twomorrows.com

conducted by M i c h a e l

Eury

on Oct. 17, 2015 at the Fayetteville Com transcribed by Steven Thompson

ic-Con

MICHAEL EURY: I’m Michael Eury, editor of BACK ISSUE magazine, and some years back I was the editor of a comic book called The Maze Agency, which we’ll talk about in a moment or two. But the creator and writer of that comic, and many other comics, is here to my right. Would you please say hello to Mr. Mike W. Barr! [applause] We’re going to start by talking about Batman, though. I have a photocopy here of an inscription [Barr laughs] that Mike made on my personal copy of the graphic novel Batman: Son of the Demon, published in 1987, but signed by Mike in 1989. MIKE W. BARR: What was the occasion of that? Do you remember? EURY: Let’s see... Were you visiting the Comico office for The Maze Agency? BARR: Maybe. EURY: Okay, ’89. April 26th, ’89. Son of the Demon was roughly a year and a half, two years old at that point. [to audience] Has anybody read this graphic novel? Okay. You remember Son of the Demon. There is something that happens at the end of Son of the Demon, a little “present” left behind. You know what I’m talking about? What was it? A new person. A baby? [to Mike] So, do you say “ROSH” al Ghul or “RAYSH” al Ghul? BARR: I say “RAYSH” al Ghul. That was how Denny O’Neil it should be pronounced. EURY: And that’s what Julie Schwartz said, too. BARR: Yeah. EURY: Although almost everybody in the world says “ROSH” al Ghul because of the movies. If you look at some of the earlier comics featuring Ra’s al Ghul, you’ll actually notice his first name is lettered with a macron over the “a” to signify a long “a.” “R-R-RRAYSH” al Ghul. I don’t know if you have to roll the “r” like I just did, though. The Son of the Demon was a great graphic novel drawn by Jerry Bingham and written by Mike, and it features the birth of the child of Batman and Talia at the end of the story. [Barr laughs] And it was very controversial because shortly after that, the Batman movie comes out. BARR: Yeah, it was about two years after that. EURY: Yes. And Batman was a merchandising icon again. BARR: Mm-hm. EURY: And so DC Comics was having some issues with the baby. This is the inscription. “To Michael Eury. Read this book quickly! It might not exist much longer! Best, Mike W. Barr. 4–26–89. P.S. On second thought, SCREW continuity! Stories, like Tinkerbell, last as long as we want them to!” I just love that, because some stories—well, they might not be greeted favorably at a certain time, but later on they become part of the canon. [Barr laughs] That baby, of course, was Damian Wayne, now a major character in DC’s Batman comics. So, Mike, what do you think about this—Damian, son of Batman, and all that’s been going on with the character in recent years?

Disavowed, Then Allowed Mike W. Barr’s Batman: Son of the Demon graphic novel (1987), illustrated by Jerry Bingham. TM & © DC Comics.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

KILLING JOKE PRELIM

by BRIAN BOLLAND

Did the Bronze Age produce a Batman story more controversial than Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 epic, Batman: The Killing Joke? Say what you will, pro or con, about its disturbing portrayal of the Joker and its treatment of Barbara Gordon, there is no disagreement over the fact that it is one of the most lushly rendered Batman stories—ever. Here’s an opportunity to see Bolland’s beautiful work in breakdowns, from page 11 of the graphic novel. Batman TM & © DC Comics.

72 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue

by S

teven Wilber

There was a time when Marvel Comics was known for producing multiple one-hit wonders. Failed characters and/or series became the norm, though some have survived with minor cult status, many of which have been covered in the pages of BACK ISSUE. But one character, we’ve been waiting for just the right moment to cover. As of the writing of this article, 1991’s one-shot from Marvel Comics, Nightcat, “America’s Hottest Singing Sensation and Marvel’s Newest Superhero!”, celebrates its 25th anniversary. BI was lucky enough to speak to members of the creative team behind the comic book… and after some investigative journalism, BACK ISSUE located actress Jacqueline Tavarez, who portrayed the title character for promotional appearances, for whom Nightcat is loosely based upon. BI also discovered the voice behind the album that coincided with the one-shot’s release and secured a tell-all interview!

THE PREMISE

As revealed in Nightcat #1, Nightcat shares a backstory similar to Marvel Comics’ first “singing sensation,” the Dazzler (see BACK ISSUE #90). Nightcat is Jacqueline Tavarez, a hopeful singer with a disapproving policeman father who raised his daughter on his own when his wife died after her own singing career failed. “Jackie” creates the Nightcat disguise as a stage persona that hides her true identity from her father and friends. The winner of a recorddeal contest, Nightcat earns immediate success, but quickly uncovers a drug ring being operated out of the recording studio. Its owner, millionaire Amanda Gideon, and her own personal scientist, Dr. Ecstasy, are attempting to develop a marketable drug that gives users superhuman traits of animals. When Jackie is found snooping, she’s taken prisoner and injected with the new test formula. Her father, undercover as one of Gideon’s henchmen, tries to rescue Nightcat, but is shot in the process, and dies as he realizes the rock star is really his daughter. The chemicals and adrenaline running through Jackie give her retractable claws, night vision, enhanced speed, and agility. While using her career as a recording artist as a front, Nightcat dedicates herself to honing her skills, mind, and fortune to crimefighting, working her way to eradicating Amanda Gideon’s influence and empire.

THE MUSIC

Lefrak-Moelis Records (LMR), a division of RCA, was a small record-producing company based in New York City that had a track record of successful freestyle-type artists like Stevie B. (“Party Your Body”) and Jaya (“If You Leave Me Now”). It was LMR that had a new record deal ready and was waiting for an original star. “The Nightcat album was already

Artful Elegance This painted cover for Nightcat #1 (Apr. 1991) by Joe Jusko was also used on the cassette and CD cover of the nine-track album. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73