Back Issue #119 by TwoMorrows Publishing

ROCKET RACCOON and STAR-LORD, Before the Guardians 020

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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

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Featuring interviews with a galaxy of comic stars including TOM DeFALCO, KEITH GIFFEN, ROB LIEFELD, AL MILGROM, ROGER STERN, JIM VALENTINO & more!

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CONTENTS American Comic Book Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Companion Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Digital Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Modern Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Jack Kirby Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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Jack Kirby Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Draw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Write Now (and “how-to” books) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Comic Book Creator/Comic Book Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Alter Ego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Rough Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Back Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 RetroFan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 BrickJournal (LEGO® magazine) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

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Pop Culture Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 LEGO® Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

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Volume 1, Number 119 April 2020 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Jim Valentino and Chris Ivy (commissioned illustration from the collection of William Colosimo)

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Paul Anderson Spencer Beck Sallie Bent Michael Browning Sal Buscema Jamie Buttery Jarrod Buttery Chris Claremont Sadie Colosimo William Colosimo Alan Davis Tom DeFalco Steve Englehart Agnes Garbowska Keith Giffen Al Gordon Grand Comics Database Timothy Green II Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Heritage Comics Auctions Joe Jusko John Lewandowski Rob Liefeld Francis Manapul Michael Mantlo

Marvel Comics Paul Mason Stuart McKenny Chris McQuinlan Mike Mignola Allen Milgrom Doug Moench Fabian Nicieza Luigi Novi Tom Palmer, Jr. Tom Palmer, Sr. George Pérez Rose Rummel-Eury Alex Saviuk Andy Schmidt Mary Skrenes Evelyn Stein Eric Stephenson Roger Stern John Trumbull Aaron Valentino Diane Valentino Jim Valentino Bob Wiacek Chance Wolf David Yardin

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INTERVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy: The Bronze Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Milgrom, Stern, Skrenes, and Wiacek, all unguarded BEYOND CAPES: A Star-Lord is Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Star-Lord’s history, pre-Guardians, with insights from creators PRINCE STREET NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 “Extreme Costume Conundrums,” a cartoon by Karl Heitmueller, Jr. INTERVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy: The Copper Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Valentino (and family), DeFalco, Liefeld, Nicieza, and friends discuss the 1990s GOTG series FLASHBACK: Rocket Raccoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 How a throwaway character became a superstar and Bill Mantlo’s legacy ART GALLERY: Rocket Raccoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 A private collection of Rocket sketches is private no more! INTERVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy: The Modern Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Editor Andy Schmidt and writer Keith Giffen discuss the Guardians’ makeover BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Reader reactions on issues #113 and 114

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, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $89 Economy US, $135 International, $36 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Jim Valentino and Chris Ivy. Guardians of the Galaxy and Rocket Raccoon TM & © Marvel. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2020 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows except Prince Street News, © 2020 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Guardians of the Galaxy Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by W

illiam Colosimo

The Guardians of the Galaxy first debuted in issue #18 of a tryout book called Marvel Super-Heroes, dated January 1969. The team went without a second appearance until writer Steve Gerber decided to utilize them, and from 1974–1975 the Guardians made several guest appearances in Marvel Two-inOne and The Defenders before being launched into the lead feature in Marvel Presents. Gerber continued to lead the team into their own series for a time, which got off to a rocky start. For the purposes of this article, we focus our interviews in this section on the team’s first actual solo series, which was called Marvel Presents: Guardians of the Galaxy. The book didn’t last long, although it (alongside the team’s appearances in The Avengers #167–177’s “Korvac Saga”) created quite the impression on many Marvel fans of the day. In this section, we talk with series penciler (and occasional inker) Allen Milgrom, along with the writer on the later portion of the series, Roger Stern. We also get some short comments from Mary Skrenes (writing partner of Steve Gerber, who helped Steve create the character of Nikki and also co-wrote one issue), along with Bob Wiacek, who inked the latter half of the series.

The Original Guardians Show this cover to your average 2020 Marvel Studios moviegoer and they’ll no doubt be puzzled, but here’s what the GOTG— (left to right) Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu— looked like in their inaugural appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (Jan. 1969). Cover by Gene Colan and Mike Esposito. TM & © Marvel.

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AL MILGROM © Marvel.

WILLIAM COLOSIMO: Do you remember how you got the assignment for the Guardians of the Galaxy series? AL MILGROM: At the time, Marvel was still in the throes of expanding, and not having enough talent to do all the work. And once you had a few jobs under your belt— if they thought you were remotely reliable, they would tap you for new assignments. Having done Captain Marvel, which had a lot of outer-space science-fiction-y stuff, and cosmic stuff… I think they felt like I might be a good fit for [Guardians]. Up ’til then, I think all I had done was just take over books that [Jim] Starlin quit, you know? He did Captain Marvel, and when he decided to leave that, I got it. And then he was doing Master of Kung Fu, and when he decided to quit, I got that—briefly. This was the first one where I think they said, “Yeah, let’s just skip Starlin and go straight to Milgrom on this one.” I don’t honestly think they offered him that book— he was probably busy doing other stuff. I’m just saying that had been the pattern until then with me. COLOSIMO: The Guardians guest-starred in five issues of The Defenders. During that run, it seemed like you were tapped to pencil the Guardians series. Though Starhawk first appeared in Defenders, do you remember helping design anything about his look as you were set to draw the regular series? MILGROM: No, I don’t think so. In fact, the Guardians costumes that I was drawing—early on, at least—I believe were all Dave Cockrum designs. Dave was really into that stuff. He would design new costumes, new characters— all the time. Marvel used him for doing some of that work. Cockrum did the character designs and the costumes that they appeared in, as opposed to their earliest appearance that Gene Colan drew [Marvel Super-Heroes #18—ed.]. COLOSIMO: Cockrum took Charlie out of the spacesuit and gave him a different look. MILGROM: Yeah, I remember he had kind of a yellow spacesuit—it was weird. Although I did like the way Gene drew him—real big and blocky. He didn’t look like any of the other massive characters. He had a very distinctive look. But Colan’s stuff was pretty distinctive, too. COLOSIMO: I was curious why Dave Cockrum did the costumes, if he never drew any Guardians books. But it sounds like he did that for a lot of Marvel properties.

Galaxy Quest Original GOTG scribe Steve Gerber took the space team elsewhere in the Marvel Universe, including (top) Marvel Two-in-One #5 (Sept. 1974) and Giant-Size Defenders #5 (Jan. 1975). (center left) Enter: Starhawk, in Gerber’s Defenders #28 (Oct. 1975). (center right) Avengers scribe Jim Shooter utilized the GOTG starting in issue #167 (Jan. 1978). (bottom) Bashful Benji team-ups in Marvel Two-in-One #61 (Mar. 1980) and 69 (Nov. 1980). TM & © Marvel.

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Marvel Placeholder Adventurer Ulysses Bloodstone launched this and the second issue of Marvel Presents in stories originally intended to run in Where Monsters Dwell. Issue #1 (Oct. 1975) cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. (opposite page) From the collection of Al Milgrom, Al’s original cover pencils for the Guardians’ first issue. (below) For the published version— for Marvel Presents #3 (Feb. 1976)— cover artist John Romita, Sr. kept Milgrom’s basic layout but altered some of the characters’ positions and poses. TM & © Marvel.

MILGROM: I think he did. He designed a lot of those new X-Men costumes—of course, he was drawing the book at the time, but, yeah. He was one of the guys they’d call on to do stuff like that. COLOSIMO: In that run of The Defenders where the Guardians were basically in a tryout, the letters page of the first issue—Giant-Size Defenders #5—stated that there would be a new series coming out, the book was already set, and it was to be called “Starhawk and the Guardians of the Galaxy”—not “Marvel Presents.” Then what happened… the Guardians book was apparently running late, so I guess the title got changed to Marvel Presents, so different features like Bloodstone could go in there first. Do you remember anything about that? MILGROM: No, I actually don’t think that was the case. I think what happened was, they decided to do the Guardians series. Gerber was running late, because he was doing probably more work than he really should have been doing. Although I had been doing Captain Marvel—which was a bimonthly—I was still not a real fast, professional penciler. It took me too long to get stuff done. So, I think what happened was, they were supposed to appear in the first issue. And they saw that we were not gonna make that deadline, and then they said, “Let’s slot something else in here.” That’s where the two issues of Bloodstone came in, I believe. I don’t think it was intended to be a tryout book. After the Guardians run ended, Marvel Presents didn’t continue, did it? COLOSIMO: No, it didn’t. MILGROM: I know they’ve had other incarnations through the years, but that was it. Essentially it was a flop. A lot of people seemed to like it and it had kind of its own little niche in the cosmic… in fact, a couple of times I tried to alter the Comics Code stamp that they had on all the covers, so instead of “Comics Code,” it read “Cosmic Code.” COLOSIMO: Didn’t Starlin’s Warlock have that on there? MILGROM: He might have, but I did it first—but they caught it and changed it back. And I think Frank Brunner

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did it on an issue of Doctor Strange, too. So, we were being rebellious young snots. We kind of felt like Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel, Master of Kung Fu, Guardians, Warlock—all those books were sort of our own little niche in the Marvel Universe, where we were doing some sort of unusual sci-fi-based stuff—not so much Shang-Chi [Master of Kung Fu], that wasn’t sci-fi- but it was sort of like the new guys carving out their own little niche and the old guys were still doing all the major characters. So yeah, that was my idea… I cut out the letters and reversed them—“comics” and “cosmic”—and taped them back down. And I think somebody at the office said, “Why is there tape on this Comics Code stamp here? Wait a minute!” Nobody mentioned it to me, nobody got mad at me. They may not have known I had done it, for that matter. But they switched it back. COLOSIMO: Just to be clear: That was Captain Marvel, it wasn’t on the Guardians, that you did that? MILGROM: I don’t remember actually; it was one of the two books. Since it didn’t make it into print that way, it sort of didn’t matter. I do remember seeing Brunner doing it sometime after that, and I’m pretty sure it was Doctor Strange—that’s mostly what he did. I don’t think Bloodstone was just a character they were throwing out there, like a Showcase or Brave and the Bold kind of book, where they were, “Well, we’ll do this series, and then we’ll do this series.” I think [MP] was intended to be the Guardians from the beginning. COLOSIMO: I think so, because in #2 they already had the Guardians letters page header and they said the next issue would be the Guardians. What’s interesting is, Marvel Presents #1 with Bloodstone came out during the Guardians trial run in Defenders, so if the Guardians would have been on time, it would have overlapped with the Defenders tryout. Roger Stern had mentioned previously that Marvel Presents was cancelled because of sales figures on the early Gerber issues. So back then you didn’t have access, apparently, to sales figures of the last several issues… even though it was a bimonthly. MILGROM: It took I don’t remember how many months for them to get the final sales figures in, but it took at least three or four months or so. So, we could have been up to issue #5, and then if the sales of #3 were poor, they might have said, “Well, let’s see what the next one does,” but there was not a lot of wiggle room. Anytime you see a book that was cancelled in fewer than four or five issues—either they got disastrous results on the first issue sales, or they’d sort of already made up their minds that it wasn’t going to be successful. COLOSIMO: I know you submitted your own pencil version of the cover to Marvel Presents #3. John Romita had done the published cover, but it was off of your pencils—he just switched around a couple of the positions of the characters. MILGROM: Yeah. I don’t think he traced it off, but it’s the same exact layout, and he reversed a couple of the characters from one side to the other. And I don’t know why. John’s a fine artist; don’t get me wrong. I love his stuff and I respect it, and I just don’t understand why it was necessary. I don’t think he ever told me. I think I might have been out of town, when I came back—that was the cover that was on the book. And, of course, if they were going to use mine, I probably would have inked it too. I really don’t know what possessed him to redo the cover in virtually the same configuration—but he did, and that’s the cover. COLOSIMO: Was a debut cover by Romita thought to improve sales, or get readers to check the book out? MILGROM: Well, he was clearly a highly regarded artist. And he was probably already working as the de facto art director up there. So, that’s possible. They might have said, “Yeah, Milgrom can’t sell any comics; let’s put

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Guardians Forever A George Pérez pinup of our galaxyspanners, from the artist’s 1977 publication, George Pérez: Accent on the First ‘e’. Courtesy of Ted Latner. TM & © Marvel.

STERN: No, as I recall, that was all Chris’ idea. He needed a big hunk of future-tech for his story, and Drydock was right there, in near-Earth orbit. COLOSIMO: According to the letters page in Marvel Two-in-One #73, you gave Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio some assistance with the Guardians crossover in Marvel Two-in-One #69—coming up with the idea that Vance went mad on his 1,000-year space journey, with his powers coming to the surface during that time. Were you in essence the team’s caretakers with Marvel staff for a bit—the go-to guy? STERN: No, it was more along the lines of my being recognized as the last writer to have handled the team in their own series. Writers looking to use the Guardians— or some subset of the team—would sometimes ask me if the stories they had in mind worked with what had already been established. COLOSIMO: Did you pitch in—uncredited—on any of the team’s other appearances? STERN: Not that I can recall. COLOSIMO: After Marvel Two-in-One #69, the team went into limbo for almost a decade—until Jim Valentino’s Guardians of the Galaxy series pitch was accepted in 1989. During that period, did you ever have a pitch for another Guardians book, or any desire to revisit the characters? STERN: Well, John Byrne and I briefly talked about pitching a Guardians series, sometime after our run on Captain America. But both of us soon became so busy that it never got far beyond the “You know, we ought to pitch this” stage.

MARY SKRENES Women in Comics Wiki.

WILLIAM COLOSIMO: Do you have any recollection of assisting Steve Gerber on Guardians of the Galaxy, specifically the creation of the character Nikki”? MARY SKRENES: I can only think that [Steve Gerber and I] talked about the characters during one of our many Brew Burger dinners. Evenings, after Marvel closed for the night, he and I and other writers and artists often gathered there. We all talked about concepts and plots. Steve liked input from many of his buds. I may have tossed off the Nikki concept there. I imagine some of those occasions gave him the idea that we should collaborate. I believe this must have been before he and I started working together. I say this because Gerbs said that he sent plots to Al [Milgrom] and dialogued them later in the typical Marvel fashion. I had always done full scripts for DC and did them for Marvel. He was astonished at this. When we created Omega [the Unknown], he was giddy at the prospect of working that way. He did full scripts for the rest of his life. His scripts were so full and rich that I couldn’t read one and be able to look at the comic for at least a year afterwards. So, I believe that was probably the extent of my involvement.

BOB WIACEK © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

WILLIAM COLOSIMO: What do you recall about working on the Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel Presents? BOB WIACEK: It was my very first Marvel assignment. My first issue was #7, and I remember Al [Milgrom] and Archie Goodwin—who was editor-in-chief at the time— wanted to try me out as the inker for Marvel Presents. Terry Austin inked the previous issue but he was assigned to ink Captain Marvel, which Al was also penciling at the time. Archie liked my inks on Mike Grell’s pencils for Legion of Super-Heroes at DC at the time and gave me the opportunity to ink GOTG, which I will always be grateful for. Working with Al was a whole lot of fun.

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by G

lenn Greenberg

Peter Quill is a jerk, with a mother named Meredith who died when he was a boy and an extraterrestrial father he didn’t know about, or meet, until he was an adult. Those facts span every version of the man also known as Star-Lord. Beyond them, however, the backstory, abilities, and very nature of the space adventurer really depend on who is writing him, and on the medium in which his stories are being told. The version introduced more than 40 years ago, the one appearing in comics published today, and the one portrayed by Chris Pratt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies represent very different visions—but that’s actually the way it’s been with Star-Lord from the beginning. In just the first few years of his existence, he underwent several relaunches and reworkings. None of them really took hold, and for most of his history, Star-Lord has been relegated to comic-book limbo—until crossing paths with another heavily reworked concept, the Guardians of the Galaxy, with both ultimately benefiting greatly. But to reach that point, Peter Quill had to go through a long, circuitous, and sometimes tumultuous development process, guided by some of the most successful and acclaimed creators in the comic-book industry. They planted seeds that would finally flourish decades later.

A COSMIC DESTINY

Created by writer Steve Englehart with artist Steve Gan, Star-Lord first appeared in the black-and-white magazine Marvel Preview #4 (Jan. 1976), in a 32-page story that established his origin and set up his intended ongoing status quo. Upon Peter Quill’s birth on February 4, 1962, which coincides with Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Earth’s moon all being in alignment, his mother is accused by her husband, Jake, of having cheated on him, as the baby looks nothing like him. Over Meredith’s protests, Jake takes the newborn baby out into the night, intending to kill the child—and dies of a sudden heart attack under the stars. Peter, raised by Meredith alone, develops a fascination for space and science fiction. At age 11, he’s thrilled to witness the arrival of a flying saucer and brings his mother to the landing site to show her. The aliens aboard the vessel see the human observers and open fire, killing Meredith. Peter survives and swears to get revenge. By 1987, Quill has joined the US space program to get to the stars and track down the aliens. In his obsession, he becomes ill-tempered and ruthless, willing to crush anyone who stands in his way. His determination serves him well—Peter ends up serving aboard Earth’s Space Station Eve. There, in 1990, the crew is visited by a mysterious higher power that calls upon them to select one of their members, at the next lunar eclipse, to become the “Starlord” (sic—the hyphen would be added later on) and assume a glorious destiny in the cosmos. Quill wants to be chosen, and steve englehart is crushed when his superiors choose his rival instead. steveenglehart.com. Unwilling to accept the decision, Quill moves to eliminate the competition, apparently killing several security guards who are simply trying to do their jobs. The remaining guards are ordered to shoot to kill, but as they open fire, Quill disappears, having been whisked away to the heart of the Sun by the higher power—a being who looks like a bearded old man with long white hair and dressed in a long flowing robe, who calls himself the Master of the Sun. Quill wonders aloud if this being is God, to which the Master replies, “Do I resemble him? But all men do, Peter—for it is written that God created First Flight Man in his image. Perhaps I… am not what I seem.” The Master bestows upon Quill the uniform of the Star-Lord— Original cover painting to Star-Lord’s first appearance, without explaining what a Star-Lord actually is or does—along with from Marvel Preview #4 (Jan. 1976). Art by Gray Morrow. the ability to fly and breathe in outer space, and a unique gun that can shoot any of the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. The godlike Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). being then enables Quill to experience the feeling of avenging his TM & © Marvel. mother’s death, bringing Peter to a point where he’s ready to move Guardians of the Galaxy Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17

The Un-Hyphenated Space Hero From Marvel Preview #4, (left) Star-Lord creator Steve Englehart’s text page describing the genesis of “The Starlord,” and (right) co-creator Steve Gan’s accompanying pinup. TM & © Marvel.

on. The Master offers him the opportunity to forge a new path as the Star-Lord, and Quill accepts. At that point, the saga was born. But it was derailed immediately thereafter, despite Steve Englehart’s long-range plans for the character.

CHARACTER BUILDING

According to Englehart, the creation of Star-Lord came about after he was approached by Marv Wolfman, then the editor of Marvel’s black-and-white magazine line, to come up with a character bearing that name for a new science-fiction feature. “Marv came to me with the name Star-Lord, I came up with all the rest,” Englehart tells BACK ISSUE. The timing was fortuitous. At that moment, Englehart was deep into researching astrology, and had come to embrace it as a useful tool. “The basic theory is that all the different parts of the solar system are moving and each one has an effect, and you can see the effects play out,” he explains. “It’s hard to pin down. It all boils down to whether you can accept that there are influences beyond what we can look at, and I’m pretty convinced there are.” Given the opportunity to develop a new character set in outer space, Englehart decided to incorporate astrology into the concept. “My main idea was, I wanted a guy who was the biggest a**hole in the world, just completely irredeemable, but by the end of the first issue, he’d be talking to the Master of the Sun,” Englehart says. “The idea I had was that, over 12 issues [of Marvel Preview], Quill was going to go outward through the solar system and he would stop on each planet and have an adventure based on the astrology/mythology of the planet. For example, if he got to Venus, it would be a love story. When he got to Mars, it would be a war story. It would be like an anthology in that sense.

18 • BACK ISSUE • Guardians of the Galaxy Issue

And each time Star-Lord went through one of these adventures, he would become more human, he would discover aspects of himself that he didn’t know he had. And he would learn about love, about war, about government when he got to Jupiter, and so forth.” According to Englehart, Peter Quill would conclude his journey on Pluto. “That was back when Pluto was still a planet,” he notes with a chuckle. “And the idea was, when he got past Pluto, he would finally be the Star-Lord, completely self-aware.” It’s important to note that Englehart decided to set the series firmly within its own universe. “Completely standalone,” he says. That worked for the storyline, given its incompatibility with the chronology, continuity, and details of the Marvel Universe. Also, in a universe where you have cosmic beings like Galactus, the Grandmaster, the Living Tribunal, and Eternity playing active roles, a figure like the Master of the Sun comes off as somewhat quaint, hardly an all-powerful being. In keeping with his anthology approach, Englehart also accounted for the visuals for each installment. “My idea was to get a romance artist for the Venus story,” he says. “Jay Scott Pike would have been my choice—probably inked by Vinnie Colletta! Then get Joe Kubert or Russ Heath for the Mars book, the war story.” Obviously, Englehart completed the first story. “I did the one where he was a complete jerk,” he says. “I did everything I could to make him unlikable—that was my point. I mean, just the name Peter Quill—both of those names are synonyms for ‘dick.’ I wanted you to not like him, so that as he became a better person, a more fully rounded person, you would be struck with awe and amazement, watching this guy grow and change. It was writer’s hubris—‘I can do this, I can make this work.’ But we never got a chance to see whether I could or couldn’t.”

LOST IN SPACE

The origin turned out to the only Star-Lord story that Englehart ever wrote. “That was part of my abrupt departure from Marvel,” he says. By the summer of 1976, he was over at DC, where he would write, among other things, Justice League of America and his highly acclaimed run of Batman stories in Detective Comics. Most of what Englehart had in mind for Star-Lord was never realized—including what, exactly, it meant to be a Star-Lord. “I don’t think I would have known until we got to issue 12,” he says. “My approach to writing was always to let the characters tell me where they wanted to go. I didn’t plot way out to the future. For example, Mantis [introduced during Englehart’s run on The Avengers] was going to be one thing, and then she just turned into something else and I was like, ‘Oh really? That wasn’t what I had in mind, but here she is, and let’s see where this goes.’ But I do know that once we got to issue #12, Star-Lord was going to be the most self-aware guy in the universe, so cosmic that he would be, maybe, one with God.” Speaking of whom—what were Englehart’s plans for the Master of the Sun? “He was intended to be God, basically,” the writer reveals. “Not the actual God right then and there, because He wouldn’t be standing around looking like an old guy. But they were standing on the Sun and they weren’t dying, so there must have been something going on with him. I wouldn’t have expected to see him again. As we went through the solar system, that would have been Star-Lord on his own. Possibly at the end of the journey, Star-Lord would’ve met steve gan this guy again, but [the Master] was basically just a way to set Star-Lord on his course.” While Englehart never wrote the other Star-Lord stories for Marvel, he did revisit the concept and produced at least one more adventure. “In like 1979, 1980, when the Mullaney brothers [Dean and Jan] were doing Eclipse Comics, they wanted me to do an ongoing series for them,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Why don’t I do Star-Lord?’ So I did a second issue, with Marshall Rogers. I think we called him Skydancer, but it was essentially Star-Lord. It took place on Mercury, so there was a lot of thinking and learning, and a lot of childlike behavior. So I did write the Mercury story, basically. But I can’t tell if you if it ever got published!” (An extensive Google search turned up no evidence that it did.) Following Englehart’s departure, Star-Lord was put on hold. Then, at around the same time that people around the world were lining up at movie theaters to turn a rollicking space adventure by George Lucas into a blockbuster phenomenon, a new editor and a new creative team—one on the brink of superstardom—revived the character and gave him a shot at longevity.

Close Encounter (bottom) Original Steve Gan art from Marvel Preview #4’s Star-Lord story, sans lettering, featuring the character’s origin. Courtesy of Heritage. (top) The same page from the printed magazine. TM & © Marvel.

A STELLAR RETURN

“Magic” was how editor John Warner described the combination of himself, writer Chris Claremont, penciler John Byrne, inker Terry Austin, and letterer Tom Orzechowski, with regard to the 51-page Star-Lord story they produced for Marvel Preview #11 (Summer 1977), marking the second appearance of the character. Warner, in his foreword to the issue, wrote of “five people forming a perfect and balanced synthesis of concept and execution, each one’s contribution enriching the one before it.” The end result: the realization of a vision of “an original SF novel in a comics format.” Essentially picking up where Englehart had left off, Warner, Claremont, and Byrne nonetheless made some significant alterations to the Star-Lord concept. First and foremost, they dropped the astrology element. “No one but Steve Englehart, the original writer, could have maintained it,” Warner wrote in his foreword. “None of the rest of us really know enough about astrology and it is not something you can understand with a few nights (sic) research.” Guardians of the Galaxy Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

The Guardians of the Galaxy were, for the most part, gone from Marvel Comics for nearly a decade before Jim Valentino submitted a series pitch to Marvel editors. Using Steve Gerber’s work with the Guardians as a foundation, Valentino added significantly to the Guardians mythos over a two-and-a-half-year stint on the series. The Guardians of the Galaxy book was a hit with fans, showcasing a positive sales slope throughout Jim’s run. Due to the formation of Image Comics, for which he was a co-founder, Valentino was unable to finish his larger Guardians story—although we will cover what was to be, and how the overarching story would have resolved. In this section we talk with a variety of people to give a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes view of the series. This includes series writer/penciler Jim Valentino, in his definitive interview on the topic. Also interviewed are Marvel’s editor-in-chief at the time, Tom DeFalco; Valentino’s studio mate (and inker on several of his Guardians works) Rob Liefeld; series colorist Evelyn Stein; Jim’s assistant (and eventual Image Comics publisher) Eric Stephenson; writer of New Warriors (featuring a young Vance Astro of Guardians fame), Fabian Nicieza; and even Jim’s wife, Diane Valentino, along with his son, Aaron Valentino (who happened to create Taserface, and also was the model for the Protege character). If you enjoyed the original Guardians, check out BACK ISSUE #65 for additional coverage of the team, as both Guardians-themed issues combined make good bookends on the group.

Where It All Began In late April of 1989, Jim Valentino penciled a Guardians team shot to include with his series pitch. At a later date, Chris Ivy inked a copy of the pencils, which was then used to promote the series in several places. This 2015 image is a recreation of the inked version. Pencils, inks, and colors done by original inker Chris Ivy. From the William Colosimo collection. Guardians of the Galaxy TM & © Marvel.

30 • BACK ISSUE • Guardians of the Galaxy Issue

by W

illiam Colosimo

JIM VALENTINO © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

WILLIAM COLOSIMO: I know Jack Kirby was a huge influence on you. What do you think you specifically took from studying him and applied to your work on the Guardians of the Galaxy title? JIM VALENTINO: That’s impossible for me to quantify. His influence on me was deep and profound, but mostly in terms of storytelling. COLOSIMO: It’s clear you were highly influenced by comics themselves. But what about sciencefiction movies or TV shows? How much did these spark the imagination, especially with the Guardians? VALENTINO: Probably not as much as one would think. The conceit of the series was an exploration of the Marvel Universe 1,000 years in the future, so, by its very nature, it had to be more comic-centric. I did pick the Guardians stars’ function as communicators and transporters from Star Trek: The Next Generation and I did listen to a lot of soundtracks while drawing, but most of the influence was from comics. That said, I am a huge science-fiction fan. Harlan Ellison and Ted Sturgeon were friends, and Heinlein, Matheson, Asimov, so many others were favorites. COLOSIMO: Can you describe the studio you had with Rob Liefeld? What was the atmosphere like? This (and your studio at home) was where at least the early issues of Guardians were created. VALENTINO: Rob and I shared several studios over the course of several years, and when we weren’t sharing a studio we’d hang out with one-another. So I’m sure the Guardians, What If?, Hawk and Dove, The New Mutants, etc. were conceived and created in close proximity to one another. COLOSIMO: You seemed to get regular work on What If? vol. 2 prior to and during the Guardians series. How did that come about? Was there any specific attraction to that title other than somewhat steady work or that you had already known editor Craig Anderson from your time working with the San Diego Comic-Con? VALENTINO: What If? was an anthology title with no set creative team, so it was a title that was open to pitches. I was a huge fan of DC’s Imaginary tales and later, the [original] What If? series, so the title was right up my alley. In fact, I always considered the Guardians to be a sort of ongoing What If? since their future was not necessarily the future of the regular Marvel Universe. That gave me a lot of leeway to move in most any direction I wanted to move in. As for Craig and I, yes, we were friends in San Diego when we both lived there in the mid- to late ’70s. COLOSIMO: So, the What If? issues that you wrote were all original story ideas that you pitched, not specific assignments from the editor? VALENTINO: I think the first one (#3) may have been assigned. “What If Wolverine Was an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?” (#7) was Rob’s idea. Issue #25, the “Atlantis Attacks” one, was assigned, and #11, “What If the Fantastic Four All Had the Same Power?,” was from a reader’s suggestion. I’m pretty sure I pitched every other one I wrote. COLOSIMO: Had you read the first Guardians series in Marvel Presents as it hit the stands? I think it’s a safe bet—as an Avengers fan—that you knew of them from the “Korvac Saga.” I know you knew of the team by 1984 at the latest, as you wrote an article on superhero groups for Amazing Heroes #53 and included a write-up on the Guardians. VALENTINO: I believe that I first saw them in Marvel Two-in-One #5, then later in The Defenders, as I was a fan of Steve Gerber’s work and he wrote both of those series. Then I’m sure I followed them onto Marvel Presents and The Avengers.

A Preview of Things to Come Original art to the cover to Marvel Age #88 (May 1990). Jim Valentino pencils with Terry Austin inks. This issue of Marvel’s promo-zine came out the month prior to GOTG #1 and was used to promote that new series. (inset) The published version. TM & © Marvel.

PITCHING THE SERIES

COLOSIMO: In Comics Scene vol. 2 #13, you mentioned that it took about six months to come up with an angle for a Guardians series. We can see that they were on your mind, as you penciled a story (written by Steve Englehart) in Silver Surfer Annual #2, which contains a splash showcasing various alien races; the narration seemed fairly open to interpretation for the penciler. That splash featured a Badoon and a Centaurian, among others. This issue likely hit the stands in the weeks right before the 1989 WonderCon event. Do you have any memories pertaining to the Guardians in that period of time? VALENTINO: Really? I said that? Hmm… well, maybe that’s true. Honestly, I just don’t remember anymore. What I do recall is that Rob and I were going up to WonderCon in Oakland mostly because Tom DeFalco and Mark Gruenwald were going to be there. I had several pitches for them including a new take on The Defenders (now lost to time and fading memory), and a Marvel version of the Teen Titans that I was going to write and Rob was going to draw that we called the

Guardians of the Galaxy Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

Back After a Decade of Silence! The original art to the cover of Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (June 1990), minus cover dress. Jim Valentino pencils, Tom Christopher inks. Prior to this issue, the team’s last real appearance was in Marvel Two-in-One #69 (Nov. 1980). TM & © Marvel.

Young Avengers. As I recall, when we pitched it Tom told us about the New Warriors, which he had just created for an issue of Thor that had yet to be released. At any rate, I wanted one more pitch, so I thumbed through the Marvel Universe Handbook and came across the Guardians’ entry. I called up Rob, asked him what he thought about them—he said they looked cool, but they didn’t have a story. Two nights later on a midnight trip to the bathroom, it hit me—the shield, the exploration of the 31st Century, all of it. I remember I barely had time to type it up on my old Royal and draw the cover piece before we jumped on a plane to Oakland. COLOSIMO: You came to the con armed with several Marvel pitches—a globetrotting Defenders, Young Avengers, and one called Pym People. You also had the Guardians of the Galaxy pitch, which came with a team image— the first time you penciled them—with inks by Chris Ivy. How did Chris get that task? Did Chris frequent one of your studios at the time? VALENTINO: Honestly, I don’t recall. I doubt that there would have been enough time for him to ink it prior to my going to the convention, so he probably did so

afterward. I remember liking the job he did over me on the aforementioned What If? #11, and I remember requesting either him or Sam de la Rosa to get the Guardians job, but other than that everything gets kind of fuzzy. COLOSIMO: What attracts you to group books? All of your known WonderCon 1989 pitches happened to be team books. Was that a conscious decision? VALENTINO: Yes, I’ve always liked groups. I like playing the different personalities off of one another. It’s easier to reveal someone’s nature through their personal interactions. I liked the fact that no team is dependent on any one character, unlike a solo book. So you could have real or implied danger, especially in a group like the Guardians where no one had a solo series. But I’ve always been a fan of team books. When I was a kid my favorite books were Justice League and The Avengers. COLOSIMO: Did Mark and Tom have time during WonderCon to discuss and review the pitches, or did you hear from them later on? Do you remember the gist of the interaction there, at the con? VALENTINO: Both Tom and Mark were extremely generous with their time and Tom did, indeed, go over all of the pitches with me. He didn’t like the Defenders pitch—he felt it should be US-based—and he wasn’t fond of the Pym People, which was a group based on all of Pym’s various identities such as the female

Hitting the Newsstands The first issue of a run that basically showed a consistent sales increase through Jim Valentino’s tenure on the series. The June 1990 cover-dated issue likely hit the newsstands on April 20th, 1990. TM & © Marvel.

32 • BACK ISSUE • Guardians of the Galaxy Issue

Yellowjacket and Black Goliath and so on. And he was quite surprised by my and Rob’s Young Avengers pitch, as his issue of Thor that debuted the New Warriors was, as I recall, on the drawing board. He also expressed surprise at my Guardians pitch, as he’d been thinking about reviving them only 500 years in their future, so 2500 AD. He saw them as being a galactic-wide group similar to the Green Lantern Corps in scope. I told him that I could easily set that up and did so first in issue #8 where [Martinex] was contemplating a Galactic Guardians team. COLOSIMO: The Guardians series was picked, getting the green light a little over a month later. Do you remember anything about the approval process during that waiting period? This was when Mark got to you concerning coming up with the list of all surviving Marvel characters? VALENTINO: It was a very quick turnaround, and I don’t recall anything specific from then. As for Mark’s request that I make a list of every surviving Marvel character and where they would be 1000 years hence—at first I thought he was busting my chops, but that list wound up being very valuable for me to solidify my ideas. Mark was a very smart man, and both he and Tom always had my respect. COLOSIMO: Was Mark Gruenwald the one originally taking the editorial reins of this series, or was Tom DeFalco set to be the editor if the book was to be approved, since he was already mulling over his own potential Guardians series before seeing your pitch? VALENTINO: Well, Tom was the editor-in-chief of the entire line, and Mark was his second. They had a very close working relationship from what I could see. But Craig Anderson was always designated as the series’ editor. It made a lot of sense, as Craig was the editor of Silver Surfer and What If?, so his was the “cosmic office” and he and I had a long-standing friendship and a fruitful professional relationship up to that point. COLOSIMO: What was your relationship like with Tom and Mark while at the company? After the Guardians series started, how much interaction did you have with them? VALENTINO: Very little, save for social interaction, and that was more with Tom than Mark. They both believed very strongly in supporting their editors, so they wouldn’t interfere. As far as I know, my relationship with both was very good. COLOSIMO: Did you eventually use ideas in Guardians not only from the Young Avengers pitch (like the characters Malevolence, Photon, and EightyFive) and your earlier series idea The Protectors, but also the other WonderCon pitches as well? VALENTINO: Probably. Never let a good name or concept go to waste, says I. Especially if one pitch fails, recycle what you can from it. COLOSIMO: Up until this point, your longest stint was on normalman— which was basically 12 issues, an Annual, and a couple of shorts in Cerebus that ran ahead of your series. As a parody, it was different in tone from the Guardians, although similar in that you had creative control and relied on homages or alternate versions of popular comic characters. Did normalman prepare you well in any way for Guardians? VALENTINO: It was my first long-form series, so yes. Up until normalman, my longest story had been seven or eight pages. Through that series I

“Blowed” Up Real Good! Action in the Mighty Marvel—and Valentino—manner, from GOTG #1. Inks by Steve Montano. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel.

learned a lot about plotting, pacing, cutting, and stretching. [Editor’s note: For the story behind Jim’s normalman, see BACK ISSUE #77.] COLOSIMO: Your original Guardians pitch likely had two years’ worth of one-sentence plots (per issue), so editorial knew what direction you wanted to go with the series. After you were off and running on the book, how much editorial oversight was there—factoring in that the book dealt with rarely used characters, an alternate future, and had a positive sales slope? As writer/artist, you didn’t write full scripts that could be reviewed, did you? VALENTINO: Actually, I did write full scripts, at the editor’s insistence. Thing is, the way I write is, I do my first draft in the layout stage, so the scripts were actually the second draft. There was very little pushback in terms of plots, but they did want me to extend the first arc from four to six books, which made it a bit awkward for me. The editor told me that he wasn’t happy with my characterization, so I wrote issue #8’s “Down Time,” which was pretty much all characterization. I was finding my footing with the characters. By the time we got to the aforementioned issue, however, they were very solid. And he’d occasionally toss in a line of dialogue or letters column comment that never quite fit. Still, compared to others, there was very little pushback. COLOSIMO: Being the writer and also your own penciler, was there any need for you to do style guides or model sheets for the team or new characters, either for editor approval or in case a fill-in penciler was needed? VALENTINO: No. I drew a group shot for the pitch and the first four covers, which were done before an inker was chosen for the series, thus starting the “all-star cover inking squad” that lasted for the first 25 issues. But other than that, no. COLOSIMO: Speaking of the cover inkers—how were you able to obtain the services of all those artists for your book? If I remember correctly, George Pérez hadn’t worked for Marvel for a while before inking the cover to #7. But you were also able to obtain the inks of stars like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee. VALENTINO: Well, in the case of those three—George, Todd, and Jim— I knew all three of them, so I just asked if they would. No doubt taking pity on me, they all agreed. I usually requested cover inkers that had some connection to one of the characters in the book—so Jim Starlin inked the Protege cover; Ron Lim, the Surfer cover; Al Milgrom inked the Defenders cover; and so on. COLOSIMO: You kept all your ideas for the series in one master notebook? How would you make sure you were able to organize your ideas for the

Guardians of the Galaxy Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

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Buttery

Forgive the personal start, but, as a kid, I discovered Rocket Raccoon when he guest-starred in Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982). The ongoing storyline had catapulted the Hulk into space, and in issue #271—which was his 20th anniversary celebration—the Hulk found himself on a planet of anthropomorphic animals. I remember excitedly telling my friend, Simon Rebeiro, about the hilarious issue: “The Hulk ends up on a planet of talking animals, where the main character is called Rocket Raccoon!” To which Simon replied, “What, like the Beatles song?” I liked the Beatles, but I didn’t know they had a song called “Rocky Raccoon” (primarily written by Paul McCartney), on The White Album (1968). It’s a folk song, set in the Old West, about a young man—Rocky Raccoon— whose girl runs off with another guy. The lyrics open: “Now somewhere in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota, there lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon…” Rocky decides to track down the pair and checks into a room, in the local saloon, “only to find Gideon’s Bible.” The subsequent showdown does not fare well for Rocky. Incredible Hulk #271, written by Bill Mantlo with art by Sal Buscema, opens with: “Now Somewhere in the Black Holes of Sirius Major There Lived a Young Boy Named Rocket Raccoon!” Rocket, and his best friend Wal-Russ (a walrus), enlist the Hulk’s help to stop the theft of an ancient book called (spoiler alert) Gideon’s Bible. Understandably, Buscema admits he doesn’t remember bill mantlo all of the hundreds of comics he’s © Marvel. drawn, but volunteers, “I do remember thinking that this was really quirky, or something like that. I should realize that, with comics, anything goes! Wish I could elaborate, but it was 37 years ago!”

BILL MANTLO

Anyone who’s read Marvel comics from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s would be familiar with Bill Mantlo. He wrote approximately 700 comics for Marvel (and three for DC). Towards the late 1980s, his assignments began to dry up. Bill went to law school (got his degree in two years) and became a criminal defense attorney for the New York Legal Aid Society. He also took up (and excelled at) rollerblading. On July 17, 1992, Bill was rollerblading home when he was struck by a driver just four blocks from his home. Bill careened over the hood of the car, his head hit the car windshield, and he was thrown onto the street. The driver fled the scene. Bill suffered massive brain injuries and has been in hospitals and care facilities ever since. These details were explained in the benefit book Mantlo: A Life in Comics (Sleeping Giant Comics, 2007) by David Yurkovich and Bill’s brother, Mike.

That’s No Mere “Puny Talking Animal,” Big Guy! Rocket Raccoon’s breakout appearance, in Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982). Cover by Al Milgrom. Unless otherwise noted, scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Jarrod Buttery. TM & © Marvel.

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While somewhat outside the scope of the main article and BACK ISSUE’s editorial purview, an issue dedicated to the Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t quite be complete without acknowledging the new version of the team, due to their standing in popular culture from a very successful movie franchise. Going backwards in time (possibly counterintuitive, considering we’re talking about the future): The smash hit movie from 2014 was heavily inspired by the 2008 Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy comic series, which gathered quite a rabid following. The creators of that 2008 series had a deep respect for the original Guardians team, as did Andy Schmidt— the Marvel editor who was the brainchild of the group that was eventually handed off to Abnett and Lanning. So not only the Guardians’ name, but the work with the characters, inspired what was to come. In this section we talk with Schmidt, the Marvel editor who pushed for the cosmic title resurgence that led into a new Guardians team, along with Keith Giffen, the main writer who helmed the various books that introduced and brought the new version of the team together.

WILLIAM COLOSIMO: In late 2004, Jim Valentino had sent a pitch to Marvel featuring a revamped version of the original Guardians, which went unread. It seems everything somewhat began for the new Guardians team with the 12-issue Thanos series from 2004.

A Blast from the Past! Jim Valentino returned briefly in 2008 to pencil a variant cover for GOTG vol. 2 #7, an homage to his GOTG #1 from 1990. Chance Wolf inks. Original cover art courtesy of William Colosimo. TM & © Marvel.

72 • BACK ISSUE • Guardians of the Galaxy Issue

by W i l l i a m

Colosimo

Not Your Father’s Guardians (left) The end of this miniseries assembled the new Guardians of the Galaxy. Annihilation: Conquest #6 (June 2008) cover by Aleksi Briclot. (right) Cover to Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 #1 (July 2008), spotlighting the revitalized team that would go on to star in Marvel Studios movies. Cover art by Clint Langley. TM & © Marvel.

By late 2004, did you already have an idea on what you wanted to do with Marvel cosmic and the Guardians of the Galaxy name? Would that be why Jim’s 2004 pitch went unread? ANDY SCHMIDT: I don’t recall Jim ever contacting me with a Guardians pitch. If he had, I know it would have been a tough sell. I think I would remember seeing something from Jim because I loved his run on the book. Oddly, I do remember Rob Liefeld pitching me on Guardians of the Galaxy vaguely in that same time frame—maybe a little earlier, if memory serves. But it wasn’t the right take on the characters at that time. I remember reviewing his pitch and feeling it was just too nostalgic at that point. It was very similar to Jim’s run on the book in the ’90s. COLOSIMO: Did you pitch the original Guardians internally to Marvel? SCHMIDT: Yeah, I definitely showed Rob’s pitch around. It wasn’t like, “Oh, look at this slam-dunk thing.” My memory is a little hazy on some of these details, so I’m a little hesitant to go on record on some of this stuff. But I think that’s when the discussion came up specifically about the title, Guardians of the Galaxy, being something that just doesn’t sell. And me, being a big science-fiction fan, and fan of the original Guardians of the Galaxy from the ’70s, and a fan of Jim’s Guardians from the ’90s—that was one of my favorite comics of all time. I know we all talk about how terrible the ’90s were, but I loved that book. I loved it! As a fan, I found the ’90s—and part of this was, I just happened to be the right age to get caught up in the zeitgeist of it all—but the ’80s and ’90s are near and dear to my heart. I can go back and read a lot of stuff that was put out then and be like, “Okay, I can see why the industry viewed some of this as not great for the industry,” but I still had a lot of fun with it. I have the advantage of nostalgia. I loved Jim’s book. As a Guardians of the Galaxy fan I was a huge science-fiction fan. As I recall, I was pitching Marvel Cosmic and space stuff for a while, and trying to get Marvel to give me the reins, essentially. By me, I don’t just mean me, I mean my office. I worked for Tom Brevoort. Tom ran the Marvel Heroes office, which is Avengers, and FF, and that kind of thing. And so, we had been working with Starlin, we’d been doing the Infinity comics, we did the Marvel Universe: The End, we did The Infinity Abyss, stuff like that when we were doing Thanos. So Marvel Cosmic kind of fell in our purview so to speak, and so I was trying to pitch something larger. I’m like, “Hey, I think there’s room

to hunt here. I think there’s interest if we just hit this right.” And one of the things I was saying was—and this was never intended as a dig on anybody because, like I said, I’m a big fan of this stuff—is that I just thought it was time for a new take on it. That we had kind of been going back to the ’70s’ and ’80s’ storylines, and those characters a lot, and I thought it needed sort of a refresh. And so I had been pitching these big ideas like big storylines, and I had chosen all these characters. I was starting to get through. I was finding sort of like my internal allies, that sort of thing. Not that it was a big fight—it was never a fight, it was just kind of like, “Eh, I don’t know. This stuff doesn’t sell great. Seems pretty risky.” And I think it was somewhere in there was when Rob pitched me that idea. And the reason I remember that Rob pitched me the Guardians, and I remember placing this fairly decently in that timeline, is because Rob didn’t really know me all that well, we’d met a couple of times. But I think he talked to Mike Marts—but I could be wrong—about doing Guardians, and Mike said, “Well, we’ve got an editor here that’s really interested in the cosmic stuff, and you should talk to him.” So Rob actually came to me because I had already been talking internally about it. I liked what Rob put together and I think that was when I first really brought up the name “Guardians of the Galaxy.” And that’s when it was like, “Well, that won’t work because that book doesn’t sell.” I was like, “Oh. Oh… well, all right.” Going forward, that was really valuable information. Then we were doing the Thanos book with Jim, Jim left the book, and then I asked Tom if I could reach out to Keith Giffen to come on as writer, because I’d been a huge fan of his work over the years. I was specifically thinking sort of like the “Five Years Later” Legion of Super-Heroes-type stuff. That was a pretty similar vibe that I thought I wanted to take Thanos in. And Tom said, “Okay, reach out to him,” so I called Keith and we started talking and he came on. [Editor’s note: The “Five Years Later” era of LSH will be covered in the next edition of BACK ISSUE.] COLOSIMO: By the time you started on Thanos with Keith Giffen, you already knew the original Guardians wouldn’t sell. But by this time, you were sold on the actual “Guardians of the Galaxy” name itself and wanted to create a new team? SCHMIDT: In the back of my brain there was always, “We’ll get to a Guardians of the Galaxy book,” but I knew that there was going to

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