Back Issue #9 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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MARVEL COMICS’ STAR WARS

PRO2PRO

MIGNOLA & STARLIN’S COSMIC ODYSSEY

GIL KANE PENCIL ART

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COSMIC ISSUE! GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: CRISIS OF THE SOUL! OFF MY CHEST: MIKE GOLD! THANOS VILLAIN HISTORY! TIME WARP REVISITED!

20 05 Apri l

GRIMJACK: T H EN AND NOW

NEXUS TM TM && © © 2005 2005 MIKE MIKE BARON BARON AND AND STEVE STEVE RUDE. RUDE. STAR STAR WARS WARS TM TM && © © 2005 2005 LUCASFILM. LUCASFILM. COSMIC COSMIC ODYSSEY ODYSSEY AND AND GREEN GREEN LANTERN LANTERN TM TM && © © 2005 2005 DC DC COMICS. COMICS. NEXUS GRIMJACK TM TM && © © 2005 2005 NIGHTSKY NIGHTSKY GRIMJACK GRIMJACK RIGHTS RIGHTS AND AND PRODUCTION PRODUCTION VEHICLE VEHICLE (FOUR (FOUR WHEEL WHEEL DRIVE DRIVE MODEL), MODEL), LLC. LLC. GRIMJACK

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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

Volume 1, Number 9 April 2005 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today! EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

BEYOND CAPES: HOW TO DO STAR WARS THE MARVEL WAY ............................................... 2 How the House of Ideas became the House of the Force

DESIGNER Robert Clark PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

PRO2PRO: JIM STARLIN AND MIKE MIGNOLA ON COSMIC ODYSSEY.......................... 16 Revisit DC’s overlooked opus—with the previously unpublished cover to #1 by Starlin!

SCANNING AND IMAGE MANIPULATION Rich Fowlks

OFF MY CHEST: MIKE GOLD................................................................................................................................. 24 A guest editorial covering the founding of First Comics and the state of the comics biz

COVER ARTIST Steve Rude (recreating the original Nexus #1 cover by Paul Gulacy)

FLASHBACK: GRIMJACK: PAST AND FUTURE........................................................................................ 26 A history of John Ostrander and Tim Truman’s mercenary, with tons of Truman art

SPECIAL THANKS Mike Baron Mike W. Barr Spencer Beck Anina Bennett Jerry Boyd Mike Browning Mike Burkey Howard Chaykin Philip Churchmeister Don Corn Ray Cuthbert J.M. DeMatteis Richard DiDominicis Jo Duffy Ron Frenz Dick Giordano Mike Gold Grand ComicBook Database Glenn Greenberg Robert Greenberger Paul Guinan Paul Gulacy David Hamilton Jack C. Harris Mark Hay Heritage Comics Bill Howard Dan Johnson John Kirby Chris Khalaf

Ted Latner Paul Levitz Richard Martines David Michelinie Mike Mignola Simon Miller Brian K. Morris David Morris Jerry Ordway John Ostrander Tom Palmer John Petty Roland Reedy Benno Rothschild Jaynelle Rude Steve Rude Rose Rummel-Eury Peter Sanderson Art Shotton Jack Snider Jim Starlin Roy Thomas Mark Tomlinson Tim Townsend Timothy Truman Trevor Von Eeden Jim Warden Len Wein Al Williamson Marv Wolfman Jim Woodall

ROUGH STUFF: GIL KANE SKETCH ART ..................................................................................................... 36 From the Atom to Warlock, Gil in glorious graphite GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: CRISIS OF THE SOUL .............................................................. 46 Jerry Ordway and others reveal the secrets of the crossover you didn’t see BEYOND CAPES: TIME WARP............................................................................................................................... 51 Remember DC Comics’ short-lived sci-fi series? PRO2PRO: MIKE BARON AND STEVE RUDE........................................................................................... 55 The creators of Nexus discuss the character with their former editor, Anina Bennett BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: THANOS .......................................................................................................... 73 The history of Marvel’s malevolent demigod, with commentary and rare art by Jim Starlin SPECIAL FEATURE: DVD BACK ISSUES PART 3..................................................................................... 81 Concluding our checklist of comics-inspired DVDs BACK IN PRINT .................................................................................................................................................................. 84 A review of the JLA/JSA TPB Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3, plus a New in Print look at the Slings and Arrows Comic Guide BACK TALK ............................................................................................................................................................................. 88 Reader feedback on issue #7

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $30 Standard US, $48 First Class US, $60 Canada, $66 Surface International, $90 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Nexus TM & © 2005 Mike Baron and Steve Rude. Star Wars and Darth Vader TM & © 2005 Lucasfilm. Green Lantern, Superman, Batman, and Cosmic Odyssey characters TM & © 2005 DC Comics. GrimJack TM & © 2005 NightSky GrimJack Rights and Production Vehicle (Four Wheel Drive Model), LLC. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2005 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

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How to do

the Marvel Way by

A 1995-drawn Star Wars spoof, featuring Luke, Leia, and Chewie, by Sergio Aragonés (note that the artist is nearly drowning in the mire, near his signature). Courtesy of Mike Burkey (www.romitaman.com). Art © 1995 Sergio Aragones. Star Wars © 2005 Lucasfilm.

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For nine years, over the course of 107 issues (and three annuals), Marvel Comics enabled fans of Star Wars to revisit the saga on a regular basis, with its series based on George Lucas’ space fantasy. For most of those nine years, it intricately filled in the gaps between the three movies that comprise what is today called “The Original Trilogy.” In recent years, it’s become vogue to write the Marvel series off as “kitschy” or “campy.” But to do that is to seriously undervalue it. Now, with the sixth and final film coming out in just a few weeks [from the publication of this issue], it’s only fitting to look back at the comic that helped kick-start the Star Wars phenomenon in 1977. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS For many people, it was Marvel’s adaptation of the original Star Wars movie that first introduced Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and the droids See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo. The comic series actually began several months before the May 25, 1977 premiere of the film. This was all part of a master plan hatched by George Lucas, according to original series writer Roy Thomas. “Lucas and Twentieth Century Fox just wanted [the comic] out there to reach another few hundred thousand readers two to three months before the movie came out,” Thomas recalls. “They were just trying to drum up a little enthusiasm for the movie because, contrary to popular belief, there was not much advance advertising for Star Wars.” Joining Thomas for the launch of the comic was artist Howard Chaykin. “[Lucasfilm] had in mind the idea of Howard Chaykin as the artist, and I had no problem with that,” says Thomas, who was also editing the series. “George admired Howard’s work on the SF stuff he’d done in the past.” “George apparently asked Marvel for me and Roy,” Chaykin notes. Spanning six issues, the adaptation is a fairly complete and faithful retelling of the movie. Chaykin inked the first issue himself but had to beg off on inking the subsequent issues due to other freelance commitments. (Steve Leialoha,

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Minus word balloons and captions, this is page 14 from Star Wars #8 (Feb. 1978), penciled by Howard Chaykin and inked by Tom Palmer. Courtesy of Tom Palmer.

Lucasfilm .

Lucasfilm.

Rick Hoberg, and Bill Wray stepped in.) Because of this, the adaptation lacks a consistent look from beginning to end, and the shift from all-Chaykin in issue #1 to Chaykin/Leialoha in #2 is especially jarring. “The best-looking issue to me was the one that Chaykin did [on his own], because that was the way the whole thing was supposed to look,” says Thomas. Still, once you get past the sudden change in art style, the adaptation works fairly well. Of particular interest are the so-called “lost scenes” that were filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor. These include early scenes with Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, witnessing the space battle shown in the film’s opening moments and rushing to his friends to tell them about it. What you discover from these

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Of course, all good things must eventually come to an end. With issue #66, a wonderful little story about Luke getting stuck on a desert planet much like Tatooine and facing vile brigands preying upon the inhabitants, Walt Simonson left the series. “I was there for about a year and half, which at that time was about as long as I’d stayed on anything,” Simonson notes. “I explored everything that I felt I could do with the Star Wars universe, so I wanted to try some different things.” That included his creator-owned graphic novel, Star Slammers, as well as the Marvel/DC crossover The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans. Michelinie left with issue #69, after learning he would not get the opportunity to write Marvel’s adaptation of Return of the Jedi—something he’d wanted very much to do. But Lucasfilm wanted Archie Goodwin back. “I will bow to no one in my respect and admiration for Archie Goodwin, and it’s hard to complain when someone who’s better than you gets the job,” Michelinie explains. “But I’d been battling in the trenches for a couple of years, kind of treading water, keeping things going, and I was looking forward to getting the dessert at the end of the meal —which for a Star Wars fan was adapting the third movie, getting to read the screenplay before anyone else, seeing the stills, stuff like that. So it was kind of a slap in the face, and I felt the only thing I could do to keep my self-respect was to leave the book.” Fortunately, Louise Jones caught lightning in a bottle once again.

joined forces with small, telepathic, rabbit-like creatures called hoojibs. Lando returned to Cloud City and foiled the Imperial forces that had taken it over. And most significant of all, Luke began a relationship with a female Rebel pilot named Shira Brie—a relationship that aroused misgivings in Leia and ultimately led to disaster when Shira’s ship was blasted to pieces. And Luke, guided by the Force, was the one who pulled the trigger. Thus began the “Luke Skywalker: Pariah” storyline that ran through #’s 60–63 and remains a personal favorite of Michelinie and Walt Simonson (and, incidentally, this observer). Believed by a growing number of Rebels to have killed Shira out of carelessness or even malice, Luke found himself essentially shunned by the Alliance and beginning to doubt both himself and the Force. Even the strong bond between Luke and Leia was tested. So he began a personal quest to learn the truth about the tragedy and determine if he could ever trust in the Force again. “That storyline really played with the characters,” notes Michelinie. “Did the Force really betray Luke? I was able to stretch the subplots over several issues and I think it paid off well.” Simonson was so enthused, “I wanted to push the ‘Pariah’ story at least an issue or two longer!”

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WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM RON FRENZ Taking over from Michelinie was Jo Duffy, the longtime Marvel staffer, writer, and Star Wars fan who’d written issue #24. Joining her as penciler was Ron Frenz, a relative newcomer at the time and another big fan of the movies. Tom Palmer remained as inker. The new team hit the ground running with #71, beginning a long story line that planted the seeds for Return of the Jedi but also took the series in new and intriguing directions. One of Duffy’s first accomplishments was to kick the search for Han into high gear, sending Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewie, and the droids across the galaxy following up various leads. This coincided, conveniently enough, with the search for a pair of missing Bothan spies who disappeared while trying to bring to the Rebels stolen information about the Empire’s latest super-weapon. (Want to guess what that was?) Duffy and Frenz brought a whole new kind of energy, enthusiasm, and fun to the series—their passion for the source material showed in their work. “Ron could not have been more fun to collaborate with,” says Duffy. “He loved those characters every bit as much as I did.” Frenz fondly remembers his partnership with Duffy. “She was a real solid scripter, she really let the pictures tell the story, and was a joy to work with.” And Frenz meshed as well with Palmer as Simonson had, providing exciting artwork that at times nearly leaped off the page. Amusingly enough, they had the same experience on one of their first stories as Michelinie and Simonson had with their “second Death Star” tale. For #73, the cast was supposed to visit a world populated by small, furry creatures,

called Lahsbees, who used primitive hang-gliders for transportation. Sound familiar? “I couldn’t figure out why Lucasfilm gave me such a hard time about the Lahsbees—until I saw the script for Return of the Jedi,” recalls Duffy. Frenz remembers the required art changes to the creatures. “In the initial design of the Lahsbees, they were sort of gremlin-like, with really wide eyes. They ended up being very feline-like in the printed book. It was funny—Lucasfilm had to tell us how to fix them without giving too much away, because they didn’t want information to get out about the Ewoks. And they freaked about the hang-gliders, because the Ewoks were going to use them in Jedi.” LANDO, LAUGHS, AND LOSSES It must be noted that both Michelinie and Duffy were particularly masterful in developing the character of Lando, who could have easily been depicted as nothing more than a stand-in for Han. Despite the superficial similarities between the two, Calrissian was shown to be quite different from Solo—more egotistical, more stylish, and possessing an even greater potential for comedic moments. “Lando was a riot,” Duffy recalls. “Heroic, tough, dedicated —and also kind of conceited, and that made it really fun to set him up and knock him down a peg. I had a great time with him.” In fact, Michelinie and Duffy did such a good job that it undoubtedly came as a huge disappointment to fans of the comic when they saw Return of the Jedi and discovered what a limited role Lando had in the film. During this pre-Jedi period, Duffy played up the more lighthearted, humorous aspects of the movies without descending into parody or camp. This was most evident in issue #77, “Chanteuse of the Stars,” wherein Leia had to pose as a nightclub singer and was forced to serenade a hulking beast in order to soothe his savage heart. There was also #79, “The Big Con,” wherein Lando adopted the persona of “Captain Drebble”—who bore a striking resemblance to the classic Japanese animated hero Captain Harlock—in order to infiltrate a gang of pirates who possibly knew where Boba Fett took Han. But Lando ended up getting drunk and blowing his cover, which led to a madcap aerial skycar chase not all that different from the one seen 20 years later in Attack of the Clones. Duffy also introduced a number of new recurring characters, such as the scoundrel and con artist Rik Duel and his sidekicks Dani (an alluring, oversexed, red-skinned Zeltron with a crush on Luke) and Chihdo, a sleazy Rodian (the same species as Greedo from the first film). First appearing in #70, they returned many times and often served as comic relief. But Duffy showed that she was just as adept at handling darker, more serious material, as shown in issue #80’s “Ellie,” which led directly into Return of the Jedi, and in 1983’s Star Wars Annual #3. “Ellie” featured Luke, Leia, and Threepio continuing their quest for one of the missing Bothan spies inside an Imperial stronghold, and encountering the spy’s droid, LE-914, with whom Threepio begins to establish something of an emotional bond before the story comes to its powerful, tragic conclusion. Without a doubt, this was one of the very best issues of the entire series, and represented the pinnacle of the Duffy/Frenz/Palmer run. For Frenz, it

remains a personal favorite. “Stories like ‘Ellie’ almost made you wish there was a weekly Star Wars series, because those stories had so much emotional impact and worked so well in that universe,” he says. In the third annual, which was illustrated by Klaus Janson, Luke met a boy named Flint who possessed nascent Force abilities and had aspirations to become a Jedi. Flint desperately wanted to become Luke’s apprentice. But Luke, not yet a full Jedi, turned Flint down, well aware of the terrible consequences if Flint was not properly trained and became attracted to the dark side of the Force. Rejected by Luke, Flint became an attractive prospect for Darth Vader, who was portrayed in the story as an almost Satanic figure. “You can’t say all of Jo’s stories were fluff and fun!” laughs Frenz.

Honestly, how could anyone resist this

ADAPTATION AND AFTERMATH During the summer of 1983, Marvel adapted Return of the Jedi, with Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson at the helm again. After their wonderful work on The Empire Strikes Back, this new adaptation was expected to be another classic. But things were different this time, and not always for the better. For starters, the Jedi adaptation was only four issues long instead of the usual six, and was published as a separate limited series instead of issues of the regular comic. (Presumably, this was done so that Marvel could publish more than one Star Wars comic per month—and thus bring in more money—during a time when interest in the franchise was at an all-time high.) Wi t h o n l y f o u r issues to adapt the movie, Goodwin had no choice but to leave out some key moments from the film. Most significantly, Yoda’s death scene is missing—in fact, his death is never even mentioned. And the scene where Leia tells Han that Luke is her brother is also absent. Also disappointing is the fact that Williamson was unable to complete the entire adaptation. As with issue #50, other artists were brought in to help out, but this time, the various

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The “Lost” Cover This unpublished Cosmic Odyssey #1 cover was illustrated by series writer Jim Starlin, who inked it in markers. The markers faded over time, leading to the art’s restoration by Bob McLeod. Courtesy of Mike Browning.

Conducted on September 14, 2004

By late 1988, the DC Universe had, in just a few years, seen a lot of sweeping changes. DC Comics had streamlined

by Dan Johnson

its stable of super-heroes via reboots, revised origins, and the continuity-altering maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. For

interview

some old-time readers, a little

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bit of the fun that had once been DC was gone as a result of this restoration. But those DC fans enjoyed a major bright spot in 1988: an epic miniseries that told the saga of how Earth’s greatest heroes joined forces with the universe’s most treacherous despot, Darkseid, and the New Gods to stop the threat of the Anti-Life Equation. This project came about when one of the all-time greatest creators of the industry, Jim Starlin, joined forces with an up-and-coming artist who has since become one of the most influential voices in the field today, Mike Mignola. In an exclusive BACK ISSUE interview, Jim and Mike discuss their collaboration that helped DC reclaim the stars: Cosmic Odyssey. – Dan Johnson

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DAN JOHNSON: Jim, was the Cosmic Odyssey miniseries your proposal? JIM STARLIN: Actually, DC came to me. [DC] had just done this series where they mapped out their entire magical universe, from the Phantom Stranger on down to the Demon, and they said, “We would like you to do the same thing with our science-fiction and super-heroes.” Paul Levitz was the one who actually originated it. I messed around with it for a month, and came up with this idea that ended up being the plot. [Cosmic Odyssey] had nothing to do with mapping anything out, of course, other than we picked out three planets DC had in their universe, because I wasn’t about to go look through a bunch of back issues to map things out. That’s Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s territory. (laughs) MIKE MIGNOLA: Originally, Jim, you were going to draw it yourself, correct? STARLIN: Yeah, I had done about four or five pages of it and I got messed up on the scheduling between Gilgamesh and Batman, and all of a sudden everybody started screaming for things that they had told me I could take my time on. So I had to drop the drawing of it, and luckily we brought Mike in. It worked out just terrifically, as you can see. JOHNSON: Mike, how were you recruited for this project? MIGNOLA: Back in those days, I was flopping back and forth between doing work for Marvel and DC, and I think Cosmic Odyssey was one of the books [DC editor] Mike Carlin waved at me to get me to come back over to DC. I had been a huge fan of Jim’s stuff from years back. When I got rid of all my comics years ago, the only thing I kept was Jim’s Warlock. The opportunity to work with him was the huge incentive [to do Cosmic Odyssey]. I knew nothing, and still know nothing, about the DC super-heroes. I’m embarrassed to say, the whole Kirby New Gods stuff, I really didn’t know much about it. But it sounded like a great, fun project to do with Jim and it sounded like it might be a relatively commercial gig. They showed me Jim’s pages, and I came on board. JOHNSON: Jim, how did you determine which characters would work best? STARLIN: Mostly, as with all projects involving DC or Marvel, that [came down to] getting permission from the people who have control of given characters to let them be used in this project. That’s always the biggest headache. I know there were a couple of characters we wanted in there that I couldn’t use. It seems like the Demon was a substitute for somebody else. JOHNSON: What about the involvement of Jack Kirby’s New Gods? As I recall, until this miniseries there hadn’t been a lot done with these characters in some time. Were you a fan of Kirby’s Fourth World saga? STARLIN: Oh, yeah. I think those came out just before I got into the business. I didn’t really care for Mister Miracle and The Forever People, I wasn’t a big fan of those, but I liked The New Gods and the whole scope of that series. They were attached to this project right from the beginning, because I wanted to do something with them.

JOHNSON: I think at that time the most anyone had done with the characters was John Byrne introduced Darkseid into the Superman books when he revamped the character. Also, Kirby used them for the Super Powers comic book that was a tie-in for the toy line in the mid-’80s. For a lot of older readers, Cosmic Odyssey marked a rebirth for these characters and it introduced them for a whole new generation of fans. STARLIN: It didn’t last long after that, as I recall. DC started up a [New Gods] series that got messed up because of the scheduling problems I had. I think that series lasted eight or ten issues, and then it was gone. I only did the first couple of them. [Editor’s note: Actually, DC’s New Gods reboot ran 28 issues, from Feb. 1989–Aug. 1991.] JOHNSON: I can understand the desire of DC wanting to put the New Gods into a story that is supposed to have cosmic scope. I can also understand using some of the characters and planets that had been established in DC continuity, like Adam Strange with Rann, and the Hawkpeople with Thanagar. STARLIN: One of the funny things with New Gods, after we did the thing with Cosmic Odyssey, Mark Evanier took over the series, and [DC] decided they were going to completely ignore Cosmic Odyssey because we solved the Anti-Life Equation, so we were, effectively, dropped out of the universe there for a while. Fortunately, our books lasted longer in print than any of those other ones. But we were effectively ostracized there for a short period. MIGNOLA: Yeah, I have never heard Cosmic Odyssey in reference to any of the DC stuff and what was done there. STARLIN: I know John Byrne really hated it. He did [New Gods] later on for a while, and he never made any references to it. JOHNSON: One thing that is canon is what you folks did with John Stewart. It had a huge impact on that character. STARLIN and MIGNOLA (together): Really? JOHNSON: Yes. STARLIN: I wasn’t aware of that. JOHNSON: The events in Cosmic Odyssey have been one of the big driving factors for the character ever since it occurred. STARLIN: That’s funny, because that was one of the last things that got thrown in. I wanted a transition for all the characters to go through, and I didn’t have anything for [John Stewart]. The guilt thing came in at the end. MIGNOLA: That was my favorite part. STARLIN: Well, I’m glad we added it then. It saved you

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Beginnings: Journey into Mystery #1 (197 2): pencils, “You Show Me Your Dream— I’ll Show You Mine”

Milestones:

Captain Marvel / Warlock / The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel / Dre adstar / Darklon the Mystic / Batman / Batman : The Cult / Gilgamesh II / Infinity Gauntlet / Infinity War / Infinity Crusade / Thanos Quest / ’Breed / Infi nity Abyss

Works in Progress:

Cosmic Guard

Cyberspace: www.starlin.com

Beginnings:

ted)

: inks (uncredi The Defenders #116 (1983)

Milestones:

/ Batman: Gotham Rocket Raccoon miniseries Gray Mouser / the and rd by Gaslight / Fafh ker’s Dracula / Hellboy Cosmic Odyssey / Bram Sto

Works in Progress: Hellboy

Cyberspace:

www.hellboy.com

a lot of time drawing, as I recall, the Xeroxes— MIGNOLA: Yeah, you specified all those things, your Xeroxing stunt, reversing the sequences and stuff. That did save a lot of time, which was good because that book, by the time I was halfway through it, it was already pretty late. In some places, I was drawing three or four pages a day, which was a lot more than I had ever drawn before. Fortunately it was also a lot of black fields with stars for a while. I liked the scenes with asteroids and the universe falling in on itself. That stuff can go pretty fast. STARLIN: Well, I’ve been there, and I try to give the artist a break when I can. MIGNOLA: That’s good, and I appreciate that because there were 60 billion characters in there. It made up for those two-page spreads of 62 dead Hawkpeople. JOHNSON: Going back to John Stewart a moment, how did you come to use him in this miniseries over Hal Jordan? STARLIN: I think he was the Green Lantern at the time. I just pulled the book off the shelf. I’m remembering there were a couple [of characters] we couldn’t use. We couldn’t use Wonder Woman, that’s why [Starfire of the Teen Titans] came in. MIGNOLA: She was a pain in the ass to draw. Almost any character created by George Pérez would be, I think. Every part of her costume had a different pattern on it and with that hair—girls are not my strong suit anyway, and she was the one that really gave me fits. STARLIN: [DC] wanted some lady in it, but they wouldn’t let us use Wonder Woman, as I recall. JOHNSON: You brought up the idea of there being a transition for each character. Can you elaborate on that? STARLIN: When I write any story, I like to have the characters go though some kind of minor change. [They can] learn something or become aware of something or decide that something they are doing is wrong. The whole idea of a story, as far as I’m concerned, is you want to get more into the human side of it, more than the heroics. Basically, I just wanted each one of them to have some kind of revelation. Except the Demon, of course. He didn’t go through any kind of transition. JOHNSON: Well, now you did have Etrigan and Jason Blood reunite— STARLIN: Okay, that’s it. I couldn’t recall what I had done with him.

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MIGNOLA: That was my other favorite part, the old man taking the Demon back. That was good. JOHNSON: What about what you did with Orion? His apathy to the death of Forager (aka Bug), and the reaction it caused, was considered by a lot of New Gods fans to be an important milestone for the character. STARLIN: I recall mostly the aftermath of it. I got a lot of grief on that one too for killing Forager. MIGNOLA: There is also a misprint in the book that really makes [Forager’s death] an ugly sequence. STARLIN: [Forager] is still groaning when he is supposed to be dead— MIGNOLA: Right! I caught that, and that was supposed to get fixed. It was supposed to be Batman calling and saying, “I’ve got to put somebody out of their misery.” And it was supposed to be the monster [he and Forager had fought groaning]. Instead, it is the Bug guy groaning, so it sounds like Batman is actually going to kill Forager and put him out of his misery. STARLIN: Yeah, that really annoyed me at the time. But, it was too late to do anything about it. MIGNOLA: Actually, it wasn’t too late, because I caught it, and [DC] just didn’t do it. STARLIN: I mentioned it to them too. They told me at that point it was too late. MIGNOLA: They could have fixed it before the trade paperback. STARLIN: Well, it does give a new aspect to Batman as sort of a mercy killer. (laughs) MIGNOLA: Well, I guess it’s all right then. JOHNSON: Thanks for bringing up Batman. I wanted to ask about how the big two, Batman and Superman, were handled in this book. Jim, I’m not sure of this, but did you do this miniseries before or after you started writing the Batman comic book? STARLIN: This was pretty much afterwards. I gave up Batman to finish off Gilgamesh, and this story was done full script. By the time Mike got it, I was pretty much done with it and trying to finish off Gilgamesh at an alarming rate. JOHNSON: Was it your decision to add Batman or was it DC’s? STARLIN: I figured we were going for the biggies, so I think Batman was in it from the beginning. I don’t remember us having any problems with that. JOHNSON: I ask because Batman seems like an odd choice for a science-fiction story, but he helps lend a lot of humanity to this group of heroes. One of the things I liked about this story is that it was one of the first pairings with Superman and Batman that I liked since John Byrne had gotten a hold of Superman and Frank Miller had gotten a hold of Batman. It harkened back to the stories I grew up on in the ’70s. STARLIN: When I did Batman, I tried to conscientiously emulate what Frank had been doing. Max Collins had come in for a short while between Frank’s run and mine, so I thought this was working well. I never thought mystery stories excluded [Batman] from doing something more fantastic. He wasn’t in the Justice League at that point,

was he? JOHNSON: He was. This was during Giffen and DeMatteis’ run of Justice League. What about the way you handled Superman? I thought your take on him here was one of the best since his reboot a few years before. STARLIN: I don’t recall any set decision on how I was going to write him. I always thought he was kind of bland and uninteresting, so that’s basically how I wrote him. JOHNSON: I was thinking more in terms of how you had him interacting with the other characters, especially the New Gods. STARLIN: Well, he’s a boy scout, and this is how a boy scout would react to them, I think. JOHNSON: Mike, let’s talk about the artwork on Cosmic Odyssey. You said drawing Starfire was a pain in the ass— MIGNOLA: It was! JOHNSON: What were some of the fun aspects of the series? MIGNOLA: I actually had a lot of fun on it, until I got

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gPastRiMjFuture acK: and

Early GrimJack A Timothy Truman illo of GrimJack and

Brian K

. Morri

“Call me a mercenary. Call me an assassin. Call me a villain. I am all that and more. My name’s John Gaunt, but on the streets of Cynosure, I am called GrimJack.” By 1983, the comics industry had learned many new truths. Comics didn’t have to be shipped to newsstands to find customers, creators didn’t have to sign away all their financial and creative rights to get published, and publishers didn’t require a New York mailing address to attract major talent. For several years, the proof was First Comics of Evanston, Illinois.

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A WARPED BEGINNING Mike Gold’s first contact with comic books came at the age of four when his older sister read her own to him. “I’ve always been a comic-book fan, always been attracted to the medium,” he says. “I got into journalism because I started reading newspapers.” Why? “Because that was the thing they wrapped around the comics page.” Gold spent several years in Chicago as a freelance writer, underground newspaper editor, public advocate, broadcaster, and political activist. Helping develop the National Runaway Switchboard, which still operates today, and its promotion led to his being hired in 1976 as DC’s first Public Relations Director. Within two years, he’d established such industry standards as creating posters and flyers for store use and informing retailers about the contents of upcoming issues. After quadrupling DC’s sales in the early direct-sales market, Gold returned to Chicago to begin a magazine about the growing home-video market. In 1980, the producers of the Warp stage play (featuring designs by Neal Adams) contacted Gold about creating a comic-book adaptation of the show, which ultimately led to the formation of First Comics. Gold brought in attorney Ken Levin, one of the National Runaway Switchboard’s Board of Directors, to oversee the legal end of the new company. This began a long association for both men on a professional and personal level. First Comics launched in early 1983 with the Warp adaptations by Frank Brunner, E-Man’s revival by cocreator Joe Staton, and two books by Mike Grell: Jon Sable, Freelance and Starslayer, the latter picked up from Pacific Comics. “Starslayer was my new talent book,” according to Gold, who started buying scripts from playwright/actor, John Ostrander. Knowing that First sought new concepts, Ostrander submitted a former prose idea about a hard-boiled mercenary for hire, now set in the city of Cynosure, the nexus of nearly infinite dimensions that originally appeared in Warp Special #1. Ostrander enlisted the aid of Lenin Delsol, the newly installed penciler on Starslayer, to do some conceptual art. Editor Gold was impressed with the presentation, but knew Delsol couldn’t maintain a monthly schedule on two books. One of the earliest graduates of the Joe Kubert School of Comic Book Art, Timothy Truman honed his craft on backup stories in DC’s Sgt. Rock before working for game publisher SPI, then TSR. After seeing Truman’s samples at a Chicago comic convention, Gold offered him either a backup strip in Warp or the chance to help launch GrimJack. According to Ostrander, in a

retrospective in GrimJack #75, Truman’s response was “Keep the bug-woman and gimme the merc.” Ostrander and Truman immediately bonded as cre-

A scan of Tim Truman’s cover art to GrimJack #1

ators and friends. As Truman says, “John and I were— and are—like brothers.” The artist took Delsol’s concepts in a significantly different direction. Inspired, Truman one-upped Delsol’s original interpretation of Gaunt with more than adding a scar over his left eye. “I pulled GrimJack out of my brain, dressed him up in a more military fashion, hooked him to a chain, and drug him through the gravel until he looked right to me. Luckily, it was just what First was looking for.” Truman continues, “I read John’s (proposal) and said, ‘This whole scene has to look a lot rougher.’” Traveling through the seedier sections of Columbus, Ohio, and Charleston, West Virginia as well as walking past the “dives and strip bars” of 48th Street in New York City,

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provided inspiration for his Cynosure. Time

In fact, the term reflecting the radical departure from the mainstream comics of the time was born during a story meeting for GrimJack.

spent playing bass and guitar in various bars and clubs made their way into the ambience of Munden’s Bar. Outside, filth and trash crunched underfoot while posters and wildly splayed handbills gave grungy texture to the city scenes, rewarding repeated readings with new discoveries, not unlike the heyday of MAD magazine. “It seemed natural,” claims Truman, “and it helped define the ‘Pit’ area of Cynosure.” “I was a pretty mellow guy, myself,” Truman continues, “never really into the drug scene, but it just so happened that a lot of the people I ended up being around were these tough customers . . . musicians, druggy types, guys who later became members of the Pagans motorcycle gang, former Green Berets, guys in the Marine Reserves.” The time spent around these people translated into characters with individualistic features and emotions in stories propelled by Truman’s solid storytelling. Meanwhile, editor Gold proved to be more than just a sounding board for his creative team. He admits, “I was very highly involved in the plotting process, sometimes too closely involved, because part of an editor’s job is to act as the advocate for the reader as well as the publisher, as well as the talent.” After a mention in Starslayer #8, the readers saw the scarred, grim visage of John Gaunt for the first time in #9 before premiering in issue ten. Gold sent out advance photocopies to readers for their reaction, claiming, “The minute it came out, the response to GrimJack was very, very strong.”

Over the next seven installments, we got to know GrimJack well enough, but not completely. Like Rick in Casablanca, GrimJack had a tragic past. Driven by his own sense of honor, he’d been a killer, failed sorcerer, policeman, black ops agent, lover, and now bar owner and freelance sword for hire because sorcery and guns might not work in every dimension of Cynosure, but swords and attitude would. GrimJack’s hard-boiled reputation was as infamous as the “death’s head grin” that emerged involuntarily prior to combat. His friends were few, but as loyal to Gaunt as he was in return. And if the job and the money were right, you became Gaunt’s client. Conventional wisdom said that science-fiction titles wouldn’t sell, let alone one about a middle-aged man in a day when DC maintained that Superman was still 29. However, the page count rapidly increased from eight to 12 pages due to strong reader approval and as Gold says, “We really liked it in-house.” With Truman now joining Ostrander on the lead feature, shifting page counts became less problematic than it would be with two different sets of creators.

GRIM AND GRITTY Jim Warden

GrimJack didn’t run several months before finding its voice. It hit the ground fully realized. Ostrander wrote in a terse, no-nonsense first-person pulp style. Like the two-fisted heroes of old, GrimJack acknowledged his faults as easily as his talents, but didn’t squander his time (or the readers’) with lengthy introspection and analysis. And according to Truman, “The look and the feel seemed right for the subject matter. The ‘grim and gritty’ movement of the ’80s began with GrimJack.”

also shared with

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The backup stories were a personal favorite of Truman’s, especially Starslayer #14, featuring the grisly demise of a suburban teenage vampire: “Very rough stuff for comics at the time. It’s hard to believe now because of how far the medium has come, but we broke a lot of barriers in the GrimJack stories and did a lot of the same things that we saw being done in movies and novels.” By his crossover with Starslayer in #18, GrimJack would be no one’s backup strip. GrimJack #1 (Aug. 1984) hit the stands as First Comics’ seventh title. Eventually, this “seventh son” had the longest continuous run of any First Comics title and, on average, was First’s second-bestselling title, behind Jon Sable Freelance. Ostrander wrestled control of GrimJack’s lettercols from his editor to engage readers in an ongoing dialogue. Considering how much Gold enjoyed doing lettercols, he admits, “John did a wonderful job and it’s a testimonial to his craft that I let him do it because he had to be damn good in order to overcome my overwhelming ego.”

MUNDEN’S BAR Inking and penciling a 28-page comic story every month was difficult for an artist as detail-oriented as Truman, especially since he was still doing layouts on Starslayer. So “Munden’s Bar” became the title’s backup strip, fleshing out GrimJack’s world and allowing other creators to play in this sandbox. Beginning in #2, it would be in almost every issue until #69. The only rules for the feature were that it either took place in the bar or with one of the established characters. No status quo here, just like with the lead feature. Munden’s stories came mostly from then-up-andcoming talent like Kim Yale (later Ostrander’s wife), Max Allen Collins, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, Jill Thompson, Doug Rice (Ostrander’s collaborator on Dynamo Joe and a winner of two Emmys for his animation work), John Totelben, and Jim Valentino, among others. The only real “stars” on the feature were Brian Bolland and regular contributor/comedy legend Del Close. Meanwhile, Ostrander and Truman wove the threads that culminated in “Trade Wars” where the various factions that ran pieces of Cynosure grabbed for the whole pie. Before GrimJack could re-establish an uneasy peace, both Gold and Truman called issue #19 (Feb.

GrimJack takes

1986) their last. First changed the speed of freelancer payment, something that didn’t sit well with either Gold or Truman. Gold took some vacation time after five years of nonstop First Comics work and growing discontentment with the company’s business directions. Upon his return, he found seven job offers on his answering machine. He accepted DC’s and stayed there for seven years with a promise of creative freedom and equitable treatment of freelancers. Gold says, “I have a lot of trust and respect for Dick Giordano [then DC’s editorial director, who recruited Gold to the company] I’d work for Dick Giordano in a heartbeat.” As Gold left the book, what did he see as the best thing to come out of this project? “The working relationship and personal friendship with John and Tim.” And with “Munden’s Bar,” Gold enjoyed the challenge of crafting stories to the strengths of so many

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lton Hami ” e n ambo id “H v a D y

The (Pencil)

Mark of Gil

Kane!

From a portfolio of legendary Gil “Sugar” Kane, here’s a montage of some of his most famous characters. When I showed Gil my art portfolio, he said, “This . . . thing I see within you, my boy—is a natural sense of spacial relationships.” What?! Actually, I had a handle on what Gil meant . . . I’d just never considered it intellectually.

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GIL KANE PORTFOLIO

CONAN #12 • 1 9 7 1 This stuff is really rough! Gil Kane’s layouts for the cover of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #12 (Dec. 1971).

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Crisis of the Soul: The Sequel You Didn’t See by

Michael Eu

In 1985, DC Comics rocked its line and the comics market with its 12-issue housecleaning series, Crisis on Infinite Earths (cover-dated Apr. 1985–Mar. 1986), streamlining its parallel Earths into one—no more Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-Three, Earth-X, Earth-S, or Eartha Kitt (okay, she survived) . . . just plain ol’ Earth. “During the Crisis as sales started coming in,” reveals Crisis writer/editor Marv Wolfman, “Jenette Kahn decided she wanted another maxiseries done. I said I had an idea but she wanted me to finish working on Crisis and not be distracted by yet another maxiseries, and felt I had already done my ‘duty.’ I also think she wanted her other editors to step up to the plate. In a meeting Jenette told the editors she wanted them all to come in with an idea the following month.”

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According to Marv, at the editorial meeting one

moves from city

month later, “I’m sitting next to Jenette in the conference

to town across

room. She points to editor after editor and not one of

the globe, in a

them has come up with anything. It’s getting very

pattern we can-

uncomfortable. I could tell that Jenette was getting

not discern,

angry and the editors were all feeling it.” At that point

searching and

Wolfman pitched his crossover idea [in case you’re

investigating

wondering about the pitch, Marv adds, “I won’t say

this world to

what my idea was, but in no way could it ever have

which he has

been called anything even similar to Crisis of the Soul”],

come.

which he says garnered a positive response from Kahn,

He is the

who assigned it to editor Andy Helfer to develop. “After

Corrupter, the

some time Andy reported that he, and I think Steve

living tide come

Englehart, couldn’t make my idea work, and somehow

to take Earth.

things developed into Legends, which also had nothing

He is a living

to do with my idea.”

catalyst for evil

Yes, Legends (cover-dated Nov. 1986–Apr. 1987)—

who delights in

the six-issue miniseries written by John Ostrander and

the souls he

Len Wein, illustrated by John Byrne and Karl Kesel,

ruins and feeds

and edited by Mike Gold, where Darkseid, through his

upon. Virtually

underling Glorious Godfrey, turned public opinion against

immortal and

DC’s super-heroes—DC’s mega-crossover follow-up to

timeless, he is

Crisis on Infinite Earths.

tremendously

But before Legends, DC planned, albeit briefly, a different Crisis sequel. . .

powerful and committed to his aims with a

Anatomy of a Crossover

THE TIDE ROLLS IN

Crisis of the Soul

The sequel Marv Wolfman admittedly doesn’t recall,

Robert Greenberger, the associate editor of (and

which was in development during the summer of 1985,

plot contributor to) Infinite Earths, was assigned to edit

and which accelerated during the early fall of 1985 (a

Soul; and Len Wein, co-conspirator of Infinite Earths,

8/18/85 letter to

period when Marv took a much-needed post-Crisis

was chosen to dialogue Paul’s plot (although Wein

the series’ penciler,

five-week European sojourn), was brainstormed by Paul

admits that he does not recall Crisis of the Soul—it was

accompanying the

Levitz. Titled Crisis of the Soul, the series’ basic premise,

20 years ago, after all). Tapped to pencil the maxiseries

first draft of the

as presented here in the introductory paragraphs of the

was Jerry Ordway.

9/13/85 second draft of its preliminary bible (the first universe,

on Crisis on Infinite Earths when, I guess, the workload

there have been tides of evil that have

of inking it became too much for Dick Giordano to do

swept over worlds, bringing with them the

while still holding down a management job with DC.

doom of civilizations, species, and even the

That pretty much led to Crisis of the Soul.”

the

history

the

crossover’s proposal.

“I can’t recall exactly who asked me [to draw Soul],”

Courtesy of

Ordway divulges, “but I had stepped in to be the inker

draft was dated 8/13/85), was as follows: Throughout

plotter Paul Levitz’s

destruction of entire planets. The source of

Crisis of the Soul veered from it predecessor in its

these tides has never been isolated, but they

scope: The crisis of Infinite Earths was cosmic,

have been beyond any possible opposition:

whereas the crisis of Soul was personal. Ordway

too rapid, too powerful, too final, and in the

found this appealing.

ultimate analysis, too unpredictable, except

“The selling point on the project was that it was to

for the fact that they inevitably reoccur.

be a more intimate story, with galactic repercussions,”

The tide has come to Earth, in the person

Jerry explains. “Crisis [on Infinite Earths], by its very

of a seductively handsome young man, on a beau-

nature, had a sort of distant view of the armies of

tiful spring morning. He walks into a small

heroes battling the threat, which was huge. It also had

town in America, attracted by the coming

the enthusiasm of George Pérez, who had the desire to

crisis moment in Earth’s destiny. He swiftly

draw every known character in the DC mythos, and

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the target of the corruption. I was

of 1985, I would have been a complete

really influenced at the time by the

idiot to pass up that opportunity for

Marvelman stories that Alan Moore

input,” says Gold. “Paul was the

had written for Warrior magazine

go-to guy on the Legion; quite

in the early ’80s, and also by the

frankly, if I needed somebody

morality of Coppola’s film Apocalypse

to fill me in today, he’d be the

Now. Legends was more costume

first person I’d think of. And,

drama. I was thinking more of inter-

of course, we did do a Cosmic

nal conflicts than big fights. I also

Boy miniseries as a tie-in to

still think Paul’s original idea of Earth

Legends.”

being quarantined by aliens was a cool bit.”

The Phantom Stranger

Mike Gold contends that Legends was no “reimagi-

plays a similar role as meta-

nation”: “If there are any similarities between what was

physical mediator in both

published as Legends and any previous attempts, they

series. “I can’t say I recall at

were either coincidental (using Darkseid as the main

this late date [Paul’s] input on

villain was a no-brainer) or some sort of subtle residue on

the Phantom Stranger,” Gold

Len Wein or Paul Levitz’s part, having (perhaps) been

adds, “but that, too, would have

involved in both the previous attempts and in Legends.”

made sense, as it was one of his

“From my perspective today,” Ordway concludes,

favorite characters. Since I was just

“rereading the material Paul produced, I wish it had

coming over from First Comics, there

come off as planned. I think what we originally

were a few DC characters (very few, but still) with which I was not up to speed.

Our Favorite Guy Joe Staton’s

The one character I always wanted to work

Gold states, “It’s a shame that the work of the Legends

on was the Stalker, but only if Paul were available

creative team will now and henceforth be seen by some

to write. Wouldn’t have worked with Legends, unfortu-

redesigned Green

nately, and it wasn’t too long after that that Paul was

Lantern Guy Gardner

intended to do was strong melodrama, and would have been ahead of its time.”

made publisher [and became too busy to write].”

as derivative; it was not.” Nearly two decades have passed since Crisis of the Soul withered into limbo, and since many of its plot

would have appeared

A final parallel between Crisis of the Soul and

elements have occurred elsewhere, in a variety of

in Soul. Fortunately,

Legends involves the villains: Legends’ Darkseid serves

series, it’s likely that Soul will remain one of comics’

as a manipulator, and Glorious Godfrey as a corrupter.

greatest stories never told.

the “one, true Green

When asked about this resemblance, Ordway observed,

Lantern” lost the

“I suppose that both Darkseid and Godfrey were more

moniker “Iron”

easily marketed, being known characters. They reimagined

Lantern. Courtesy

the crossover to what they wanted. I liked Legends as a

The author wishes to thank Jerry Ordway for suggesting the

of Jerry Ordway.

reader, but that is in no way what I would have drawn.

subject of this article and for contributing artwork, and to Marv

sidebar sidebar sidebar

My recollection is that it was to involve the alter egos

Wolfman, Mike Gold, and Len Wein for their participation. It is the

of the heroes more, as that is who they really were—

policy of DC Comics not to comment on unpublished projects.

Crisis of the Soul Plot Points, Tie-ins, and Spin-offs Some of the story elements contained in the unrealized Crisis of the Soul mega-crossover include:

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7 Catwoman returns to a life of crime

7 A team of disgruntled Green Lanterns is stuck on Earth due to

7 New York becomes “a hotbed of political terrorism” 7 Silver Scarab goes over the edge 7 An Amethyst/Doctor Fate crossover reveals that the Corrupter’s gem is linked to Gemworld

7 Red Tornado chooses to eliminate human life to restore the balance

7 God tells the Spectre to stay out of the Soul conflict 7 Peacemaker uses Cosmic Boy’s time bubble to go to the 21st century in a Hex crossover 7 Star City is destroyed I S S U E

of nature 7 The “real” Justice League of America is restored and is sanctioned by the U.S. government as the only official super-team

7 The Elongated Man is forced to kill to save Sue Dibny

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7 Holy War erupts in the Middle East

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7 The Creeper tastes blood and becomes evil; a Creeper miniseries is planned to follow

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point of view on Cosmic Boy; in the winter

Time Warp: Doomsday Tales and

Other Things

Chris Khala

By the summer of 1979, science fiction, after a decade or more of near-dormancy, had

experienced

revival.

Encounters of the Third Kind had been a theatrical hit, and the fairly young Star Wars was still a hot property as a movie and merchandise. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was on the horizon to successfully revive that sci-fi television concept from the ’60s. And Superman: The Movie, with its sci-fi aspects, had recently been a blockbuster cinematic success. Even classic characters like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers garnered attention on the big and small screens, and James Bond himself made a trip into the final frontier in Moonraker. On the small tube, there was Battlestar Galactica, among other things, giving viewers a taste of a Star Wars wannabe in weekly doses (although it lost favor after a while and was retooled for the next year).

Giordano Makes a Splash

Saturday-morning cartoons also dealt with the genre. In the comics, Marvel’s adaptations of

The splash page to

several of those movies, and then follow-

“The Righteous

ups of same in regular monthly titles, were

Ones,” written by

rolling along just fine.

George Kashdan and

At DC, the Superman franchise was

illustrated by Dick

often steeped in s-f motifs, as were any

Giordano, from Time Warp #1

number of other titles from time to time. Even their prime outer-space star, Green Lantern, would soon chuck his earthbound tales and long-time partner Green Arrow and take to the cosmos once again.

(Oct.–Nov. 1979).

So the time seemed right for DC to create an all-new comic-book publication solely

Scanned from the

devoted to the idea of science fiction. It had certainly seen success in that area years

original art; courtesy

before with the classics Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures. With this renewed

of Spencer Beck.

interest in the subject, two DC editors—Joe Orlando (he of sci-fi comic book fame during the EC Comics glory days) and Jack C. Harris (a fan of DC’s former sci-fi glory

days)—thought maybe they could achieve that status again, and Time Warp was born.

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jobs from my early career that I’m still

with “the real disappointment being that the book was

proud of.”

not offered the opportunity to be the significant landmark

Time Warp’s editorial goal was ambitious, judging from Jack C. Harris’ text

of science-fiction comics that I so desperately wanted it to be.”

pages, letter columns and memories:

The five issues of Time Warp somehow stand out among

“The initial buzz reflected that antici-

its “peers” not as a grand experiment unrealized, but as

pation.” Certainly, it was believed that

the heartfelt achievement it was. You certainly won’t

the title would continue (#6 was

go wrong giving any issue a try.

advertised, by never materialized). Long haul ideas included calling their fans “Warpers,” starting a science-fiction

The author would like to thank Bedrock City Comic Company

club based on the comic, and possibly

of Houston, Texas (www.bedrockcity.com), for the loan of

including movie reviews. Dreams . . .

material used in this article.

unfulfilled. Looking at the whole (and hindsight being what it is), Time Warp could have benefited from at least one regular feature for readers to familiarize themselves with and care about to draw them back issue after issue (#5

Time Warp #5

saw the introduction of a doctor transformed into an

(June–July 1980)

energy-devouring sun creature who actually showed

included the tale

potential for future use). Without that constant, then

“The Antaeus Strain,”

there is nothing more than a mix of short stories that

written by Wyatt

the reader takes chances on based on the genre itself

Gwyon and drawn

and the creative talents expressing it (and, certainly,

by Fred Carillo.

those whose work was showcased between the pages here had proven track records). Not having a regular

feature, thus not knowing what the stories might be like before purchasing each issue, then perhaps the immediate effect of the artwork would have to be a strong selling point. It ranged from the serviceable to the quite attractive, but, nevertheless, suffered from the overall production standards (both technically as well as creatively) of its time. It wouldn’t be until the following decade that mainstream comics would begin experimenting with better paper, coloring processes and storytelling/layout procedures that science-fiction style comics especially could benefit from. Perhaps it wasn’t quite the time again for this type of science fiction, which often reflected the earlier days of monsters and such, added to by not the hope that even earlier sci-fi posited, but by perhaps the disillusionment of the romantic s-f ideal. Irony and terror abounded here, as well as the other aspects named earlier, but in the end, there was no sense of forward motion (again lending to the idea that a regular feature might have been its saving grace). The effort was worthy, and editor Harris says the experience was a good one for him in the end, though

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Conducted on September 30, 2004, and transcribed by Brian K. Morris

Interview by Anina Bennett

interview The “Rude” to Ruin Steve “the Dude” Rude did this commissioned marker drawing of Nexus for its contributor, Roland Reedy, at a convention back in ’86. “Been a ravenous collector ever since,” beams Roland, whose astounding collection of art can be seen online at www.comicartfans.com/ GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=126. Art © 2005 Steve Rude. Nexus © 2005 Mike Baron and Steve Rude.

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Nexus: The Cover Evolution From left to right: Paul Gulacy’s original cover to Capital Comics’ B&W Nexus #1 (1981); Steve Rude’s layout for his recreation of Gulacy’s

ANINA BENNETT: Let’s go back in time and talk about the beginning of Nexus. How did the two of you first meet in Madison, Wisconsin? MIKE BARON: I was working at an insurance company and bugging newspapers and trying to draw. I had a friend, Dave Wagner, who was an editor at a strike paper in town. He called me and said, “There’s a guy in here trying to sell art and he draws just like you.” So I arranged to meet the Dude on the steps of the student union. And, of course, after the Dude showed me his portfolio, I stopped drawing. (Anina laughs) STEVE RUDE: Those days were so alive. Painful, though, as young days can be sometimes. My memory of those days is so acute, and I remember the kind of day it was when I walked into that—was it the Madison Press Connection, dude? BARON: Yeah. RUDE: I walked in there because some guy had mentioned to me, “You’re doing this stuff for free for The Slant, for the M.A.T.C. newspaper. Why don’t you go and see if you can get paid for doing this?” BENNETT: What kind of illustrations were you doing for them? RUDE: They weren’t single illustrations, they were comic strips. They were one-page things for the student newspaper that I was having an absolutely great time with. I was just having fun drawing this great stuff and feeling like I was different than every other guy who walked in through those halls to become an artist, like I was actually getting somewhere with my life. I was doing something that no one else was doing in the school. BENNETT: How old were you then? RUDE: I think I was 21, might have been 22. It was 1978, wasn’t it, dude? Or was it ’79? BARON: About ’79, I think. RUDE: Yeah, it was probably ’79 by then. And I walked in to the Madison Press Connection and I met this editor who Baron was talking about, a super-nice guy. I remember the day was sunny, it was in the summer, and I sat down and showed him the stuff. And he says, “Basically, I can’t help you,” in this real nice, charming way, “but there’s this guy you ought to meet.” I said, “Okay.” It’s funny how raw life is back in your twenties. Everything seems to change from second to second. BENNETT: Everything’s still new. You don’t have very much experience at that age, even if you think you do. RUDE: Maybe that’s a good thing because right now, life

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is so standardized. When you think back, after you’ve had a standardized life for ten, 15 years or so, those younger days, they seem alive in a way that you might never get back again. So I look back at it with great fondness. I was living at the “Y” back then, probably having a good time. A lot of bad times came out of the “Y” too, but this was a good time. And I remember when I talked to Baron, he was right to the point—I liked that because most of the people I knew were flakes. They would just go on and on about a lot of nonsense and then jump to their point. If you wanted to meet somebody for a hamburger or something, they’d go on for 30 minutes about that. BENNETT: But Baron was concise and to the point? RUDE: Yeah, he got right to the point and I thought, “There’s a guy with a mind of clarity.” BARON: A mind of clay. RUDE: And it was always like that. It’s still like that. Our phone calls are always right to the point. Actually, I ramble a lot more than he does, but I’m learning the art of brevity from Baron. BENNETT: Mike, how did you know these guys at the newspaper? BARON: I’ve known Dave Wagner forever. He’s an editor in Arizona now. He moved to Boston when I was living there, and we hung out a while. He’s an old socialist. We can’t talk politics—we’d kill each other. He’s just an old pal of mine. BENNETT: Were you doing work for that newspaper in Madison? BARON: I did a piece or two, but there was no money there. I was working full-time at the insurance company. BENNETT: And when you were pursuing illustration, what kind of illustrator were you hoping to be, ultimately? BARON: Like the Dude! Comic books. RUDE: Baron drew comic strips that were hilarious—I would laugh for like a half hour when he showed them to me. And I remember one four-panel strip with a bunch of guys in a crowd. This was straight out of Madison. Oh, God, we saw this every day down on campus. There was always some guy spouting off about something and inciting the rabble. The first panel was “Stone the government,” and then “Stone the campus,” “Stone this,” you know? And the last panel was him asking one of the students, “Where you going, man?” and the guy goes, “I’m going home to get stoned.” Baron did a bunch of other ones like that, just made me erupt with laughter. BENNETT: Mike, you didn’t completely give up drawing,

though—you drew a lot of your Nexus scripts. BARON: Yeah. BENNETT: Did you always do that from the start? BARON: I did because I was a frustrated comic-book artist, but eventually, it hurt my back so much I had to give it up. BENNETT: You had to start typing them during the Dark Horse run. BARON: Yeah, and I think it’s made me a better writer. But drawing all those pages made me a better writer too. It forced me to think visually, to boil each panel down to its elements. When you look at a drawn page, no matter how crude, you can see instantly whether it works and whether you have too many words on the page. BENNETT: That’s a good point. I think some comic-book writers would be well-served to at least try to sketch out their pages. I always tell beginning writers to give that a shot. Do you prefer one method over the other?

Beginnings: ”Tie Tac“ with artist Larry Gonick, Warm Neck Funnies (1976)

Milestones: Nexus / The Badger / the first year of The Punisher Flash / Eisner Award for “Best Single Issue” for Dark Horse’s Nexus: The Origin / Every time I work with an artist I admire, I exp erience a highlight.

Works in Progress: Detonator (Image Comics) / Nightclub (March 2005, Image) / Batman: Legend s of the Dark Knight “Rogue Yakuza” arc with John K. Snyder

Beginnings: Nexus (1981)

Milestones:

/ ed Promo / World’s Finest Nexus / Nexus the Animat / s ard Aw er Eisn 2 / m X-Men: Children of the Ato n: Lifeline / Superman vs. Space Ghost / Spider-Ma the Incredible Hulk

Works in Progress: ics) The Moth (Dark Horse Com

Cyberspace: BARON: I prefer writing full script because my drawing is very bad and people create to please themselves, and there’s no way my drawings are ever going to please anyone. But I do it occasionally when I have to. For instance, when I have to illustrate a principle to an artist, which I’m doing quite a bit now. I’m working with this kid who’s coming over shortly. He’s 19 years old, and his name’s Nick Brunge. I saw his paintings in a gallery here—they were very impressive. I said, “Who is this?” and the gallery’s owners gave the kid my card. Now we’re working together on a project. We’ve got a contract already to do a series of books for an educational company. RUDE: What does it feel like to be hanging out with a 19year-old, dude? BARON: We don’t actually hang out together. We’ve just

www.steverude.com

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because Nexus had been bought outright. BARON: Dark Horse is going to reprint all the Nexus back issues in big, fat trade paperbacks. BENNETT: Are they definitely going to do that? BARON: I just got my signed contract back in the mail, so it’s definite. BENNETT: I’m very glad to hear that, especially because a lot of the new fans who wrote in to Dark Horse when the series was in production said they couldn’t find all the back issues and they really wanted to read them. Will the Dark Horse series be collected too, or just the First Comics issues? RUDE: They’re going to collect the whole bloody thing. That’s the important thing I wanted to make sure Richardson did. They’ve never started from the beginning of the oversized black-and-white Capital issues and then marched forward in exact order, so that’s what they’re going to have to do here if they’re going to do it right. BENNETT: It would be a great lead-in to a new Nexus series. RUDE: That’s kind of what I’m thinking, you know? Believe me, I’m not in the dark about that. BENNETT: Here’s hoping it happens soon!

Regarding this 1995 commissioned illo by the Dude, its owner, Jim Warden (www.doasales.com) remarks, “I asked for an action scene with Nexus and Judah, and Steve delivered a beauty!” No argument there. Thanks to Jim for the contribution.

Anina Bennett is a writer and editor who’s done more than 15 years of hard time in comics, at First Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and the transnational Egmont Publishing. She’s best known as the writer/co-creator of the sciencefiction comic Heartbreakers, the longtime editor of Nexus, and one of the few editors to have worked with Harlan Ellison and lived to tell the tale. In addition to working full-time and doing manga rewrites for Tokyopop, Anina is currently scripting a new Heartbreakers graphic novel, illustrated by her husband Paul Guinan, for publication by IDW in May 2005.

Nexus

Publishing History

■ Nexus #1–3 1981–Oct. 1982 ~ Capital Comics, B&W magazine-size ■ Nexus #1–80 May 1985–May 1991 ~ Capital #1–3, First Comics #7–80 ■ The Next Nexus #1–4 Jan. 1989–Apr. 1989 ~ First ■ Nexus Files #1 1989 ~ First ■ Nexus Legends #1–23 May 1989–Mar. 1991 ~ First ■ Nexus: The Liberator #1–4 Aug. 1992– Nov. 1992 ~ Dark Horse Comics ■ Nexus: Alien Justice #1–3 Dec. 1992–Feb. 1993 ~ Dark Horse ■ Magnus, Robot Fighter & Nexus #1–2 Mar. 1994–Apr. 1994 ~ Acclaim/Dark Horse ■ Nexus: The Wages of Sin #1–4 Mar. 1995 –June 1995 ~ Dark Horse ■ Nexus Meets Madman Special #nn May 1996 ~ Dark Horse ■ Nexus: Executioner’s Song #1–4 June 1996–Sept. 1996 ~ Dark Horse ■ Nexus: The Origin #nn July 1996 ~ Dark Horse ■ Nexus: God Con #1–2 Apr. 1997–May 1997 ~ Dark Horse ■ Nexus: Nightmare in Blue #1–4 July 1997 –Oct. 1997 ~ Dark Horse

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Thanos: Super-Villain Sit-In No, this isn’t Metron of

Love and Death

the New Gods, but a vintage version of by

Thanos hailing from

Peter Sanderson

Of all the characters Jim Starlin has created or been closely associated with during his over three decades in comics, which is his favorite? You would probably guess it would be one of his heroes, like Dreadstar or Adam Warlock. But what about his greatest villainous creation? Could it be that he likes Thanos better than the others? “Oh, most definitely,” Starlin replies. He explains, “You’re limited by what a good guy will do. As strange as Adam Warlock is, there are certain things that he wouldn’t do. And there’s nothing Thanos wouldn’t do to win.”

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opposite of what he wants,” Starlin says, laughing.

something that’s more abstract, more conceptual, just

“When he was approaching her, she was rebuffing

always seemed to be the way I was more comfortable

him, and when he was going ‘Buzz off,’ that’s when

with.” In his grandeur and his ambition to supplant

she was most alluring towards him.” So Thanos’ obsession with Mistress Death was

Jim Starlin’s

God, Thanos could be seen as reminiscent of Satan in

thoroughly self-destructive. “Ninety percent of what

John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Though Starlin so enjoys

Thanos does is self-destructive,” Starlin points out.

writing Thanos as “evil,” he also contends that “evil is

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of collateral damage in

a subjective term, anyhow. He’s not like a serial killer

that psychic workout.” In the days when Thanos was

who goes around massacring people for sexual pleasure.

literally courting Death, that “collateral damage” meant

This guy’s always got some sort of purpose in mind. It

Handbook illustration

massacring thousands, millions, even billions, of living

could be interpreted as monstrous, but in his universe,

of Captain Marvel.

beings, seeking to bring about “cosmic genocide.” How

it’s the way to go. So, yes, I think Satan in Paradise

Scanned from the

better to please his disdainful Mistress than make

Lost would be a good comparison, actually more so

original art, courtesy

such sacrifices to her? (By the way, Starlin likes Neil

than Darkseid.”

Marvel Universe

Gaiman’s very different, considerably more charm-

of Tim Townsend.

ing version of Death in female form in

DEATH DUTIES

DC’s Sandman: “I thought he had a

Mentor eventually banished Thanos from Titan after

nice take on it.”)

he had performed a forbidden experiment that killed some of his test subjects. Thanos’ bitterness grew during

GODS AND MONSTERS

his century-long exile, and he took vengeance by

Thanos and Death are very different

returning and massacring virtually the entire population

from what one thinks of as the

of Titan. By sheer luck, Mentor and Eros were not on

traditional Marvel character,

Titan at the time, but Thanos’ mother Sui-San perished

like Peter Parker, an other-

in the attack. Subsequently, Thanos conquered Titan,

wise normal guy who is a part-time living

Drax the Destroyer. Held prisoner on Earth by Thanos,

New York.

Drax telepathically contacted Iron Man, who freed

Thanos is a member of a

him in the first comic in which Thanos appeared,

race of godlike beings;

Iron Man #55.

was

Starlin first made a name for himself at Marvel in

represent a

his work on the Captain Marvel series, bringing Thanos

psychological drive towards

along with him for issues #25 through 33. In this arc

moreover, created

death. Mistress Death is what

Thanos made his first successful effort to gain ultimate

the late Mark

Gruenwald

power, using a Cosmic Cube, the power object that

Marvel’s

transforms thoughts into reality, to achieve omnipotent

called

one

“Godhood.” But Thanos overconfidently chose to toy

Eternity. Starlin created other

with Captain Mar-Vell, who seized the opportunity to

“conceptual

beings,”

such entities, like Lord Chaos

smash the Cosmic Cube, ending Thanos’ newfound

and Master Order, personifica-

“divinity.”

tions of universal principles.

was on the series Warlock, and, again, Thanos came along

influenced by Roger Zelazny and

for the ride. Initially, Thanos was Adam Warlock’s

other science-fiction writers of

ally against the latter’s evil counterpart, the Magus. But

the

with

Thanos’ real agenda was to use the six power objects

“I’ve always enjoyed myth

the universe. Warlock, Mar-Vell, and the Avengers joined

figures. And I hate drawing cars and

forces to stop Thanos, who murdered Warlock (in Avengers

1970s

who

dealt

horses. So I tend to try to get away from everyday reality as quickly

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Starlin’s best-known Marvel work in the 1970s

Starlin explains that he was

godlike characters.

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only to be driven from that world by the implacable

super-hero

later called the Infinity Gems to destroy every star in

Annual #7), but Warlock’s spirit returned and turned Thanos to stone (in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2).

as possible whenever I can

Starlin and Mistress Death eventually resurrected her

do a story. Getting off into

loyal worshipper in the pages of Silver Surfer #34–35, and

Thanos ruthlessly wrested control of the six Infinity Gems from their owners in Starlin’s classic 1990 limited series, The Thanos Quest. Thanos fastened the Gems to his glove, thereby creating the Infinity Gauntlet. This was also the name of Starlin’s 1991 six-issue series, in which the resurrected Adam Warlock, the Silver Surfer, and other Marvel heroes joined forces against the once more omnipotent Thanos. Hoping to please and impress Mistress Death, Thanos willed the deaths of half the living beings in the entire universe, yet she still rejected him. Once again, Thanos overconfidently blundered: He had not outright slain his self-styled heir Nebula. She seized the Gauntlet and used it to undo Thanos’ massacre of half the cosmos’ living beings. Thanos may consciously strive for ultimate power, but, Starlin contends, “Subconsciously there’s a whole different thing going on there. He always lets it go.” But why is that? Is it, as Adam Warlock himself has suggested, that Thanos feels unworthy of holding Godlike power? “Worthy is something that he would never question himself about,” asserts Starlin. Then why? Starlin explains: “Every time he’s got a hold of ultimate power, he lets it go because he knows it’s not what he’s going to need.”

OLD MAC THANOS HAD A FARM What does he need? In the surprising conclusion of The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos takes up a new life as a simple farmer on an isolated planet, saying he has given up his quest for absolute power. From mass murderer on a cosmic scale to peaceful tiller of the soil? That’s certainly going from one extreme to another. And that is exactly Starlin’s intention. Asked why Thanos became obsessed with Mistress Death, Starlin replies, “Well, he’s an obsessive character.

But can you really imagine Thanos being content as

This is not a character who deals in the middle; he

a humble farmer? Isn’t this yet another unsatisfactory

goes to extremes. His pendulum swings wide, and that’s

extreme? “Well, you notice in the farming stories that

how I always figured if he was going to go in any

in his basement he’s got this gigantic lab,” Starlin

and Mar-Vell mix it up

direction I would try and haul it off as far as I could and

points out. So “literally underneath” Thanos’ “everyday

on this boisterous page

then see what I could do with a story on that.” So that

life,” Starlin asserts, “is what he’s really doing, where

from Captain Marvel #33

is why Thanos operates on such an operatic scale:

he’s really going.”

(July 1974), penciled by

becoming obsessed with Death, slaughtering billions,

As far as Starlin is concerned, Thanos has finally

trying to become God (and even succeeding). Yet in the

rejected his obsession with Mistress Death. “Well, I

end Thanos always lets go of infinite power because

know I’ve had a couple of bad relationships along the

of “the fact that it’s not what he needs.”

line, which, if I had been using my head, I would have

Concerning the end of Infinity Gauntlet, Starlin says,

avoided. I think everybody has. I can’t imagine that

“Well, at that point I figured just using him as a bad

Thanos would not eventually come to the conclusion

guy wasn’t the way to go any more. ’Cause he was much

that this was a serious mistake.”

too interesting to be just a one-dimensional, I-want-

Starlin credits Thanos’ breakup with Death to his

to-conquer-the-universe [character], especially after he

talent for “self-preservation.” He notes, “He’s always had

had conquered and wiped out half the universe.”

that. How many times can the bad girl kick you in

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Thanos, recently ascended to Godhood,

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