Back Issue #127 by TwoMorrows Publishing

SOLDIERS ISSUE starring SGT. ROCK

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NO. 127 JUNE 2021

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Sgt. Rock and Cinder and Ashe TM & (C) DC Comics.

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SCI-FI SUPERHEROES! In-depth looks at JIM STARLIN’s Dreadstar and Company, and the dystopian lawman Judge Dredd. Also: Nova, GERRY CONWAY & MIKE VOSBURG’s Starman, PAUL LEVITZ & STEVE DITKO’s Starman, WALTER SIMONSON’s Justice Peace (from the pages of Thor), and GREG POTTER & GENE COLAN’s Jemm, Son of Saturn! With a Dreadstar and Company cover by STARLIN and ALAN WEISS!

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SUPERHEROES VS. MONSTERS! Monsters in Metropolis, Batman and the Horror Genre, DOUG MOENCH and KELLEY JONES’ Batman: Vampire, Marvel Scream-Up, Dracula and Godzilla vs. Marvel, DC/Dark Horse Hero/Monster crossovers, and a Baron Blood villain history. With CLAREMONT, CONWAY, DIXON, GIBBONS, GRELL, GULACY, JURGENS, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN.

SUPERHERO STAND-INS! John Stewart as Green Lantern, James Rhodes as Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill as Thor, Captain America substitute U.S. Agent, new Batman Azrael, and Superman’s Hollywood proxy Gregory Reed! Featuring NEAL ADAMS, CARY BATES, DAVE GIBBONS, RON MARZ, DAVID MICHELINIE, DENNIS O’NEIL, WALTER SIMONSON, ROY THOMAS, and more, under a cover by SIMONSON.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ISSUE! A galaxy of comics stars discuss Marvel’s whitehot space team in the Guardians Interviews, including TOM DeFALCO, KEITH GIFFEN, ROB LIEFELD, AL MILGROM, MARY SKRENES, ROGER STERN, JIM VALENTINO, and more. Plus: Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon before the Guardians, with CHRIS CLAREMONT and MIKE MIGNOLA. Cover by JIM VALENTINO with inks by CHRIS IVY.

CONAN AND THE BARBARIANS! Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ROY THOMAS and BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH’s Conan #1! The Bronze Age Barbarian Boom, Top 50 Marvel Conan stories, Marvel’s Not-Quite Conans (from Kull to Skull), Arak–Son of Thunder, Warlord action figures, GRAY MORROW’s Edge of Chaos, and Conan the Barbarian at Dark Horse Comics. With an unused WINDSOR-SMITH Conan #9 cover.

Celebrates the 40TH ANNIVERSARY of MARV WOLFMAN and GEORGE PÉREZ’s New Teen Titans, featuring a guest editorial by WOLFMAN and a PÉREZ tribute and art gallery! Plus: The New Teen Titans’ 40 GREATEST MOMENTS, the Titans in the media, hero histories of RAVEN, STARFIRE, and the PROTECTOR, and more! With a NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED PÉREZ TITANS COVER from 1981!

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HORRIFIC HEROES! With Bronze Age CREATOR-OWNED COMICS! Featuring histories of Man-Thing, the Demon, and in-depth histories of MATT WAGNER’s the Creeper, Atlas/Seaboard’s horrifying Mage and Grendel. Plus other indie heroes, and Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) sensations of the Bronze Age, including rides again! Featuring the work of CHRIS COLLEEN DORAN’s A Distant Soil, STAN CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, ERNIE SAKAI’s Usagi Yojimbo, STEVE PURCELL’s COLON, MICHAEL GOLDEN, JACK KIRBY, Sam & Max, JAMES DEAN SMITH’s Boris MIKE PLOOG, JAVIER SALTARES, MARK the Bear, and LARRY WELZ’s Cherry TEXIERA, and more. Man-Thing cover by Poptart! With a fabulous Grendel cover by RUDY NEBRES. MATT WAGNER.

“Legacy” issue! Wally West Flash, BRANDON ROUTH Superman interview, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Infinity Inc., Reign of the Supermen, JOHN ROMITA SR. and JR. “Rough Stuff,” plus CONWAY, FRACTION, JURGENS, MESSNER-LOEBS, MICHELINIE, ORDWAY, SLOTT, ROY THOMAS, MARK WAID, and more. WIERINGO/MARZAN JR. cover!

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Volume 1, Number 127 June 2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Brian Bolland (Originally published as the contents page of Sgt. Rock Special #2, 1994. Original art scan courtesy of Scott Williams.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Richard J. Arndt James Heath Lantz Brian Azzarello Jeph Loeb Ed Catto Ed Lute Chris Claremont Al Milgrom Gerry Conway Doug Murray DC Comics Mike Pigott Peter David John Rose Steve Englehart Philip Schweier Grand Comics Brian Sheppard Database Roger Stern Andy Greenbaum Bryan Stroud Larry Hama Roy Thomas Heritage Comics Steven Thompson Auctions August Uhl Ice Cream Soldier Wayne Vansant Tony Isabella Don Vaughan Douglas R. Kelly Ron Wagner King Features Greg Walker Syndicate John Wells John K. Kirk Scott Williams Adam Kubert Craig Yoe Paul Kupperberg

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OFF MY CHEST: Sgt. Rock: No Rest for a ‘Sojer’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Brian Azzarello, Adam Kubert, and Paul Kupperberg inspect DC’s enduring GI THE TOY BOX: Sgt. Rock Diecast Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Move out, Easy! Remco’s rolling battle miniatures BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: General Thunderbolt Ross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Superstar Marvel writers discuss the Hulk’s most persistent foe FLASHBACK: Bronze Age Beetlemania: Beetle Bailey in Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Mort Walker’s sad sack at Charlton and in graphic novels FLASHBACK: Atlas/Seaboard’s Savage Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The short-lived publisher’s Marvel-mimicking combat comics BEYOND CAPES: War is Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The story of Marvel’s offbeat battlefield deadman, John Kowalski WHAT THE--?!: Blitzkrieg: As Seen Through Enemy Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Bob Kanigher’s “different kind of war comic” INTERVIEWS: The ’Nam Revisted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The groundbreaking Marvel series, through the memories of its creators BEYOND CAPES: Cinder and Ashe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Gerry Conway revisits his soldier-turned-detective miniseries ROUGH STUFF: Pencil Art Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 FLASHBACK: Nth Man: Larry Hama’s Other Ninja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Marvel pulled the plug on this innovative World War III warrior BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Reader reactions BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $90 Economy US, $137 International, $36 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Brian Bolland. Sgt. Rock TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2021 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by M

This issue’s theme started with its cover art, the one and only Brian Bolland’s intense closeup of DC Comics’ grizzled Top-Kick of Easy Company. Sgt. Rock’s eyes bear the heartache of witnessing wanton slaughter and the fury of his ire against an enemy sworn to trample his very beliefs. His brow and crow’s feet are crinkled by the grimness of bloodshed. His sweltering environment is obvious from the perspiration dripping down his craggy face. His very gaze seems to challenge Death with a warning to “Back off!” And Bolland’s expert use of crosshatching evokes the style of the master of battle art, the legendary Joe Kubert. Paul Kupperberg, the talented writer/former editor who is great ally to BACK ISSUE, posted a scan of this artwork on Facebook in late 2019. Paul had commissioned the Bolland art as the cover for a comic he was editing for DC, 1994’s Sgt. Rock Special #2, and wanted to share it online. (DC instead went with a different action-oriented image of Rock for the cover and relegated this piece to the table of contents.) I was blown away. Like most if not all of you, I’ve been a Brian Bolland fan since I first discovered the artist in the early 1980s on Judge Dredd reprints that were winding their way into comic shops in the States, and later got to work with Brian upon a few occasions. So I asked Paul if he had a higherresolution scan of the Sgt. Rock illo for my use as a BI cover. He didn’t, and suggested I contact Brian himself. Which I did. Or tried to. The email address I had for Mr. Bolland, which I had previously used when contacting him, failed, and none of my colleagues had an updated email address. So I searched elsewhere for the art… …on ComicArtFans.com, the online network of collectors (and in some cases, comic artists) where original art is placed in galleries for common viewing and appreciation. And there I found it! Another amazing artist, the Hugo Award-nominated Scott Williams 2 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

ichael Eury

(known for his work on numerous bestselling comics including inking Jim Lee on X-Men and Batman: Hush), owns the Bolland original, and even gushes about it on YouTube (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TN1ToafQURo). Scott had previously made a high-res scan of the Sgt. Rock cover for an IDW Artist’s edition on DC war comics, and quickly submitted it to me for our use. My next challenge was to create a theme for the issue to build content around this cover image. We had already done an issue on battle comics (“Comics Go to War,” BI #37, which featured a Rock cover by Joe Kubert), and Rock had also appeared in articles in #26 and 69. Then the “Soldiers” theme came to mind, opening up our contents for some entries you might not expect such as Hulk nemesis General Thunderbolt Ross, Beetle Bailey, and a 1989– 1990 Marvel series many of you might have missed, Nth the Ultimate Ninja. Back to the Bolland cover: Glenn Whitmore did his alwaysstellar job interpreting the piece in color, and cover designer Michael Kronenberg, who like me was blown away by the art, complemented it by replicating DC’s Sgt. Rock logo. I invoiced a cover payment for Brian Bolland and still had one more task: contacting him, at this stage not to ask for a scan of his art but to let him know of its impending re-use as our cover. But since my email contacts were unsuccessful, where would I turn? Then guess whom I saw as a mutual Facebook friend of a few comic artists? I sent Brian a friend request, he promptly accepted, then I mentioned the cover to him and asked if he minded if we proceeded. He TM & © DC Comics. cheerily agreed, adding, “I had wondered what that check from TwoMorrows was for.” And there you have it. Sgt. Rock headlining our issue about Bronze Age soldiers. This issue is dedicated to our readers who have served or are serving in the US Armed Forces. We salute you and forever value your commitment and sacrifices!

by J o h n

K. Kirk

His Army At War Courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions (www.ha.com), Dan Brereton’s original cover painting for Sgt. Rock Special #2 (1994). This is the illustration DC Comics used as the Special’s cover instead of the Brian Bolland art that graces our cover. TM & © DC Comics.

Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

Won’t Stand Down “The Rock” presented a resilient prototype for Easy Company’s Top-Kick. From G.I. Combat #68 (Jan. 1959), by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. TM & © DC Comics.

The virtues, the spirit, and the message of DC Comics’ goals, dealing with the losses we face, then looking Sgt. Rock are universal ones that every underdog, to the next stage. By virtue of the brevity of the regardless of nationality, situation, or lifestyle, can comics medium, readers are an audience who are appreciate. In everyone’s life, there are moments in very aware of the importance of these lessons in their lives, since so many characters in comic fiction are which we are tested and require courage and representative of these notions. fortitude to overcome those challenges. Often, You can’t keep these ideals down, much the source of that courage lies in the role like a good soldier. The classic values models we encounter in our lives. of resilience and defiance, of what is In comics, there’s none better to wrong in the face of what is right— exemplify that than the Top-Kick of there is always a demand for these Easy Company himself, Sgt. Frank Rock. things and they are eternal, and never His attitude is what you need to get go out of style. They are the noble back up after you’ve been knocked virtues that we find in the character of down, something that will always Sgt. Rock. The character, the genre, the sell comics—and why DC Comics will generation of readers and the creators never keep this soldier down for long. all contribute to the reasons why At the risk of sounding romantic, this character will never disappear, we all need stories with ideals to and why he will continue to return in live up to. We need inspiration robert kanigher various DC Comics incarnations. and hope, as well as exemplars of Caricature by Joe Kubert. these values to emulate regardless of the decade or century we live in. People need to THE CHARACTER see representative characters that stand for ideals Created by the legendary team of artist Joe to give us a perspective on the battles we fight in Kubert and writer Robert Kanigher, Sgt. Rock first life. Life is about overcoming obstacles, achieving appeared in G.I. Combat #68 (Jan. 1959), and then in Our Army at War, running for 29 years, with a brief, transformative title change to Sgt. Rock; the character’s publishing run finally came to an end in 1988 with Sgt. Rock #442. Rock would appear in reprints in the digest-sized format as well. However, Rock returned in a new, 21-issue series that ran from 1988 to 1991; in guest appearances in one-shots like the 1997 DC Holiday Special; and in two miniseries of great distinction by talented and prominent creators like Brian Azzarello and Billy Tucci. While there were many other creators who drew or wrote Rock stories (Ross Andru, Howard Chaykin, et. al.), the two that most stood out after the ’90s were Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place (2003), written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Joe Kubert, and Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion (2009), written and drawn by Billy Tucci. Kubert and Kanigher were responsible for establishing the template of Rock that would remain consistent throughout the various incarnations of the character. In a sea of 1950s war comics, Sgt. Rock’s enduring feature was his constancy. Many of these comics featured a short story based on war experiences, and to be sure, Rock’s first appearance was undistinguished from any of those. An anonymous soldier whose sheer determination and doggedness was born in the boxing ring. Rock didn’t even have a name yet—he was just known as “The Rock.” He wasn’t a champion fighter, but his career was marked by one fact—he had never been knocked down. In this inaugural story, artist Kubert uses a split-panel presentation comparing the young boxer to the young soldier, both characters uttering the same battle challenge, which would become a mantra for the entire story: “C’mon—and fight!” Writer and former DC editor Paul Kupperberg comments to BACK ISSUE, “It helped that Rock was such a well-built soldier—such a well-defined soldier—that brought him to life in the first place. Bob Kanigher had such an uncanny ability to create these [combat] characters—being one himself. Like the Metal Men, [Sgt. Rock] was something he conceived over a weekend. The first few shots were in proto—but then when Joe got a hold of it, and started building the cast around Rock… it was just one of those things. You have a war comic, but you’re outside of reality.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

You can tell stories that you can’t get away with about characters in suits and cities. You can tell these difficult stories because of the influence of war. Bob was talented enough to tell these stories, but Joe Kubert could draw the crap out of them.” Joe Kubert himself once described Rock’s basic character: “‘The Rock’ featured a character whose nature never allowed him to quit. He fought, no matter the odds. No matter the pain. No matter the outcome. It was an integral trait to be assumed by Sgt. Rock.” That was the basis for this passionate first appearance of this enduring character. Wounded, shellshocked and rescuing fallen comrades; even fighting hand-to-hand at times, with memories of fighting in the ring interspersed throughout the story. The Rock manages to overcome pain with a determination reinforced by the repeated mantra of “C’mon and fight” in his head. He takes out a German three-man scout patrol singlehandedly, and then, despite his exhaustion, picks up an anti-tank weapon and destroys an advancing tank. The last line of the story reads, “All because of ‘The Rock’… who knew only one thing… he couldn’t stay down.” With that prototypical appearance, the character of Sgt. Rock of Easy Company was born, and reappeared a few months later in “The Rock of Easy Company!” in Our Army at War #81 (Apr. 1959), written by Bob Haney and drawn by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Rocks, by their nature, withstand many things, including the test of time. It would be this one trait that would decide the character’s nature for the rest of Sgt. Rock’s career in comics. Though Joe Kubert acknowledged Robert Kanigher to be Rock’s creator (even though the first actual “Sgt. Rock” story was written by Bob Haney), there was no one who could breathe life into this character better than Kubert. “My dad was Sgt. Rock,” Adam Kubert tells BACK ISSUE. “Everything he did, he made it Easy.” The obvious pun aside, Adam shares that Joe served in the Army during the time of the Korean War. Though he never saw combat, his working knowledge of Army life gave his work a degree of authenticity that made Rock seem alive. “Out of all the books my dad brought home, I liked the superheroes the best!” Adam Kubert jokes. “The relationships mattered in these stories. Without superpowers, Sgt. Rock commanded those men. He demanded their loyalty, and that was something that I didn’t

Takin’ It Easy The Rock greets his readers in this Joe Kubert-drawn, Mike W. Barr-written (and edited) splash page to DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #18 (Feb. 1982), starring Sgt. Rock. Original art courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

appreciate about this book until I was older. I started lettering comics when I was 12 years old, for dirt-bike money! I would letter my dad’s stuff. At the time, I didn’t appreciate it then, but I appreciated it when I got older. The type of character that Rock was, he demanded loyalty. Dozer, Little Sure-Shot, Ice Cream Soldier—these guys would follow him, and that was something special.” Loyalty is an eternally appreciated virtue. Readers enjoy characters with this trait. Loyalty promises sacrifice, indicates endurance, and speaks to the worthiness of the person, a popular trait for characters in war stories, and definitely reflective of whom we like to term the “Greatest Generation.” It’s a trait that heroes need to show their heroism. Our Army at War #116 (Mar. 1962) sees this loyalty demonstrated on an intuitive level. In the story titled “SOS Sgt. Rock,” Ice Cream Soldier and Sgt. Rock take a couple of rookies out on patrol. The rookies are amazed at the level of non-verbal communication between the two of them, claiming that the two veterans are somehow magically tuned into to each others’ thoughts. Ice Cream Soldier jokes, exclaiming that when the two kids have worked with Rock as long as he has, they’ll learn the same tricks. They are separated and divide up a pair of walkie-talkies. Later, Rock gets a faint message of help across the radio, but can’t be sure it is Ice Cream Soldier as the voice fails to use the prior codenames they had arranged aforehand. The source of the first message is a downed P-38 pilot, whose radio transmissions were on the same frequency as Rock’s radio. A second message is heard, and likewise, turns out not to be Ice Cream Soldier but another wounded ally, a tank commander. However, the third message proves to be the most revealing one of the story. Rock discovers Ice Cream Solder’s smashed walkie-talkie lying at the bottom of a crevice. Although it’s non-functional, Rock miraculously Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

MILITARY JEEP - The only vehicle in the line that Rock himself may have used was this combat Jeep. Although crude, it featured a folding windscreen and a rotating double-barrel machine gun. However, it rode on undersized speed-wheels, lacked a steering wheel, and had the front seats folded down. It was dark green with a star decal on the hood.

MILITARY POLICE CAR - Another strange inclusion was a modern MP car. Based on a Chevy Impala, this casting had previously been issued by LJN Toys in its “Road Stars” line as a police car from the TV series The Rookies. It was painted olive green with a bare metal base and a star label on the hood.

MILITARY AMBULANCE - Also a modern vehicle, this was clearly not an ambulance but a fire truck. Again originating in the Road Stars line, it was formerly the Dodge squad truck from Emergency! Now painted in olive with khaki camo, it had a large Red Cross decal on top. It really looked nothing like an American military ambulance, and had nowhere to carry patients.

MILITARY HELICOPTER - The final item was a helicopter, which was also unlikely to be have been used by Sgt. Rock. Actually, this was a reasonably competent model of a Hughes 369 helicopter, which was used by the US Army—although not until 1966. The casting originated as part of a toy line based on the TV series CHiPs, made by Imperial Toys. It was painted light olive, with working top and tail rotors in brown plastic.

Rock’s Been Pegged! Sample Bad Guys and Sgt. Rock blister cards, featuring lackluster artwork. Sgt. Rock TM & © DC Comics.

PACKAGING

The models were about the same size as Hot Wheels cars (the tanks and helicopter were slightly larger). They were packaged on blister cards with a red and yellow background, logos for DC and Sgt. Rock, and an illustration of Rock that copied the art of Joe Kubert. The back of the card featured AHI’s other Sgt. Rock merchandise, although there was no listing of the diecast vehicles in the series. There was also a cut-out coupon for a discount subscription to the Sgt. Rock comic. The two enemy tanks came on black “Bad Guys” cards with a badly drawn picture of a huge cobra. Unfortunately, there was no mention of DC Comics or Sgt. Rock on the models themselves, so once removed from the packaging 14 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

they just became generic budget military toys. They are not easy to find today. While not great models by any means, they are of interest for being the only diecast toys based (however loosely) on a DC Comics military character. Product photos of vehicles courtesy of Mike Pigott. MIKE PIGOTT is an Australian writer based in London who specializes in diecast models and pop culture. His work appears in every issue of Diecast Collector Magazine, and he has also featured in Collector’s Gazette and Diecast Model World.

While Doctor Robert Bruce Banner and his green- (and gray-) skinned alter ego the Incredible Hulk would disagree, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross really isn’t a bad guy in the traditional sense of the term. He’s not like Darkseid, Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom, or the Red Skull. Ross is more like Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. He’s obsessed with capturing and defeating the Hulk in the same way Ahab is with hunting literature’s most famous white whale. As our salute to soldiers continues, BACK ISSUE takes a look at the life, adventures, and personality of Thunderbolt Ross in Marvel’s comic pages in the BI era and beyond. Watch out for the gamma rays, dear readers. by J a m e s

Heath Lantz

GENERAL HISTORY

General Thaddeus E. Ross, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is a product of his lineage, environment, life as a soldier, and the wars in which he fought. Thaddeus comes from a family with a proud tradition in the military. His grandfather and father both served, leading him to follow in their footsteps. Ross gained the nickname “Thunderbolt” on the battlefield, which led to his blustery demeanor and stormy reputation in combat. Readers first saw Thunderbolt Ross in The Incredible Hulk #1, way back in 1962. However, he was a part of Bruce Banner’s life even before the Gamma Bomb’s creation. The Hulk had not yet even become a physical manifestation of Banner’s Dissociative Identity Disorder when young Major Ross had “recruited” teenage Banner in a post-Bronze Age flashback in The Incredible Hulk #81 (July 2004). Going back to 1997, in The Incredible Hulk #-1 [minus 1] (July 1997), a special backstory issue by Peter David, Adam Kubert, and Mark Farmer, General Ross discusses the Gamma Bomb with Bruce Banner. Ross claims he wants to put the fear of God and into the enemy with the weapon Banner designed. What Ross says to the young nuclear physicist could sum up how Thaddeus Ross perceived himself before he encountered a certain Green Goliath. “They call me ‘Thunderbolt,’ Banner,” Ross says, “because when I’m angry, it’s like Zeus throwing thunderbolts from on high.” Bruce Banner is unimpressed. His response even expresses this. Peter David, whose memorable run of The Incredible Hulk in the 1990s still resonates with readers, tells BACK ISSUE of Thaddeus Ross’ past with Bruce Banner. “I just figured that there had to be some potential backstory here. It wasn’t as if they had met the day of the Gamma Bomb test. Bruce was already romantically involved with Betty, and Ross already had strong negative feelings about him, possibly because of his involvement with Betty. So I have, from time to time, explored their relationship because I wanted to see how it got to the point that it was at in [1962’s] The Incredible Hulk #1.”

No. 1 Hulk Hater Thunderbolt Ross, from the splash page of Incredible Hulk #291 (Jan. 1984). TM & © Marvel.

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Ross is “a dedicated Army officer,” David says, “who sees everything in terms of how it can be used to protect and defend the United States. If he can make use of it, it interests him—if he can’t, it doesn’t.” Going further back into the Ross/ Banner history, Ross says to Bruce in Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola’s The Incredible Hulk #312 (Oct. 1985) that

he knew Brian Banner, Bruce’s father, and considered him a “real man.” Now, in the aforementioned issue #-1, Ross does not know who Brian is and is disgusted by his presence. This is due to Bruce repressing that latter event’s memory. Yet, Ross maybe felt as he did in #312 before learning of Brian’s murder of Bruce’s mother Rebecca. However, Ross could have merely been trying to provoke Banner in #312 as he would a foe in battle. He would have said anything to get the Gamma Bomb test done, even if it meant contradicting himself, because he was a good soldier working to protect his country. peter david In addition to being a soldier, Thaddeus Ross is a family man. © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. He married his captain’s daughter, Karen Lee, and together they brought a daughter, Elizabeth “Betty” Ross, into the world. Thaddeus loved his family, but he felt more at home in combat. When he was at home during times of peace, he’d be itching to fight an enemy, even as he saw Betty grow. Writer Jeph Loeb describes Ross’ character, while discussing with BACK ISSUE his work on the series Hulk: Gray (2003–2004) and Hulk (2006). “In Hulk: Gray, Tim Sale and I spent a lot of time working with the dynamic of Ross/Betty/Banner. The heartbreak of that story was Banner realizing that Betty loved him as a monster because it was familiar to her, as her father General Ross was a verbally abusive parent. She lived with a monster growing up and, in turn, fell in love with one as an adult. Ross, of course, never saw himself in that light. He was a protective dad doing what was best for his only child. When the Gray and Green Hulk came around, he was somehow, curiously attached to Betty. This put him in Ross’ crosshairs from Day One.

Back to the Beginning (right) General Ross has been a part of Hulk history since Ol’ Greenskin’s (then Grayskin) first issue back in 1962. Cover art by Jack Kirby and George Roussos. (above) Writer Peter David fleshed out the Banner/Ross backstory in Incredible Hulk #-1 (July 1997). Art by Adam Kubert and Mark Farmer. TM & © Marvel.

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“Ross was and still is a man who uses his power to achieve his goals,” Loeb continues. “He’s a ‘might makes right’ kind of guy.” The day that the Gamma Bomb was tested and thereby gave physical manifestation to Bruce Banner’s Hulk persona did not take the thunder out of Thunderbolt Ross. He begins his debut in The Incredible Hulk #1 complaining about delaying the detonation and boasting how things would have been different had he pressed the button to begin its explosion. Ross’ bravado continues when he begins hunting the Hulk. He then seeks revenge for the Gray and Green Goliath frightening his daughter. This grows to an Ahab-like obsession that leads to a distrust of the “milksop” Bruce Banner, whom Ross feels is connected to the Hulk. He discovers how right he is when Banner is revealed to be the Hulk in Tales to Astonish #77 (Mar. 1966).

in the issue where Banner and Betty almost got married, I stuck a photo of an H-bomb explosion over the mantle in his home,” Thomas says. “I got some flak from a couple of people, saying that was over the top, but I actually took it from the home of the father of a good friend of mine, who circa 1964 was in charge of an Air Force base not that far from St. Louis and who had been in command of what they called ‘air weather’ for one of the H-bomb explosions at Eniwetok. He had just such a large color photo beautifully framed above his fireplace. Some things you can’t satirize.” Thunderbolt Ross’ need to destroy the Hulk to the point his Ahab-like obsession was getting almost as strong as the Hulk himself during the Bronze Age. Ross would stop at nothing to destroy his gamma-spawned foe. He even enlisted the aid of heroes like the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Iron Man, and villains such as the Leader and the Abomination. BRONZE STAR GENERAL This leads one to perceive that this By the time the Bronze Age of soldier’s patriotism, while foremost of his Comics rolled around in 1970, General redeeming qualities, is put to the test Thunderbolt Ross was torn between when it comes to the Hulk. He views the duty to his country and that of his Hulk as something that goes against daughter’s happiness. Bruce Banner his country, and he’ll use whatever had gained control of his green alter means necessary to stop the creature. ego, thereby forcing Ross to recruit the Steve Englehart, who followed Hulk for a mission while burying the Archie Goodwin as the scribe of The hatchet with both thorns in his side. Incredible Hulk in late 1972 and 1973, “It seemed to me,” writer Roy roy thomas tells BACK ISSUE of how he worked Thomas says of Thunderbolt Ross in out Thunderbolt’s arc and character. his run on The Incredible Hulk, “that © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. “It was all me—still much influenced those were the main emotions shown in Ross before by Archie Goodwin. The secret of The Incredible Hulk is, by Stan and others, so I just carried it on. I do think his it’s not about the Hulk. He’s a blunt instrument in everyone devotion to duty—to country, to career, to the Army— else’s life. I was very interested in his supporting cast—Betty would probably outweigh his love for his daughter, became the Harpy, and Ross and Armbruster kept butting though. He’d have told himself that he had to rise heads. I had been in the Army, so I had a working knowledge above personal feelings. I’ll admit I didn’t delve into his of how officers tend to drive forward at all times. With two character that deeply.” of them, conflicts were sometimes inevitable. The other Thomas goes on to discuss something he placed in stuff with Ross was just trying to keep him an integral part Incredible Hulk #124 (Feb. 1970). “I was proud how, of the storylines, as I try to do with everyone in a book.

Bad Blood (left) The world discovered Bruce Banner’s grim secret in Tales to Astonish #77 (Mar. 1966). Cover by Kirby and John Romita, Sr. (right) From Bill Mantlo’s Incredible Hulk #312 (Oct. 1985), readers learn that Bruce’s abusive father had earned Ross’ respect. Art by Mike Mignola and Gerry Talaoc. TM & © Marvel.

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The Suit Makes the Man (top) Ol’ Thunderbolt’s seen better days! From Incredible Hulk #400 (Dec. 1992), by Peter David/ Jan Duursema/Mark Farmer. (bottom) Hmmm, wonder who the Red Hulk might actually be…? Hulk #1 (Mar. 2008), script by Jeph Loebs, with art by Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines. TM & © Marvel.

“Around this time, [Marvel executive] Joe Quesada called and said they had come up with the idea of a Red Hulk. They didn’t have much more than that—but someone who could really go toe-to-toe with Banner. Slowly it came together with the idea of Ross being the villain, as he was always Banner’s nemesis. Other characters, like Rick and Betty, had been exposed to gamma radiation, but I don’t think we’d ever seen Ross having the power of the creature he hated the most. “Great villains have great backstories,” Loeb says of the Red Hulk’s background. “The Abomination had killed Betty, Ross’ only daughter. This gave Thunderbolt the motivation to (a) murder him, and (b) cross a line that we’d never suspect of him. Marvel liked the idea of a murder mystery, and we were off to the races. Ed came up with things like the madder he got, the hotter he got. We’d giggle that he could punch out the Watcher. That single scene made the entire series worthwhile for us as fanboys, but never in our wildest dreams did we think it would have success it had. Greg Pak had just finished ‘Planet Hulk,’ which was brilliant, and we had to follow that! Fortunately, we were introducing a brand-new Hulk and didn’t need to deal with Banner’s Hulk for a while. We are so grateful to the fans that embraced this new idea and expanded the Marvel/Hulk Universe! At one point, we had something like four Hulk monthly titles. It was amazing.” Regarding his perceptions of Ross’ character as the Red Hulk, Loeb says, “As the Red Hulk, he has nearly unlimited power and that made him even more dangerous to his antagonists and to himself. He couldn’t control the anger he’d always carried and now he could take it out on anyone he chose. I’ve always seen him as a very tragic, flawed man who never could see those flaws. Maybe that’s what made him popular. Whatever it is, I hope he stays with us as long as his green counterpart!” After leaving Hulk, Loeb went on to become Executive Vice President, Head of Television of Marvel Television from 2010 until 2020. Yet General Thunderbolt Ross and his raging red alter ego continued smashing and bashing throughout the Marvel Universe. You can find all their adventures and the works of the creators interviewed on paper at your local comic-book shop, bookstore, and/or digitally at Comixology. For Romero. In your brief time with us, you were stronger than every Hulk. Dedicated to my beautiful and incredible wife Laura, whose love is stronger than any Hulk; Pupino, Odino, and our four-legged feline and canine Hulkbusters that can smash every gamma-spawned creature of every color; my nephew Kento, who helped create the Gamma Bomb; and Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Roger Stern, Peter David, Jeph Loeb, and all the creators who brought Thunderbolt Ross’ various missions to the comic pages. May the cosmos protect you always. JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer whose stories, essays, and reviews can be found online and in print at Sequart.org, Superman Homepage, his blog, and such publications as his self-published Trilogy of Tales and PS Artbooks’ Roy Thomas Presents Sheena vol. 3. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.

22 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

by S

Ten-HUT! Being in the military is a serious business. Beyond all the physical training, beyond all the discipline, beyond all the education, beyond all the impressive uniforms, badges, and medals, when it comes right down to it, the purpose of the military is to turn out soldiers ready to fight and kill an enemy. Heavy stuff indeed, and thus the great need for military humor. Military humor is, of course, an American tradition, exemplified in the early 20th Century by Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms, Keaton’s The General, cartoon characters like Bill Mauldin’s Willie and Joe and George Baker’s Sad Sack [see BI #37—ed.], television characters such as Phil Silvers’ Sgt. Bilko and Jim Nabors’ Gomer Pyle, USMC, and novels such as M*A*S*H and Catch-22. While many of these are now considered classics, they also feel very dated and of their time. And then there’s Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey, the most enduring military comedy character of them all.

BEETLE BAILEY HISTORY

teven Thompson

For going on 70 years now, Private Beetle Bailey and the resident zanies of Camp Swampy have set the standard for military humor, not only in the US but throughout the free world, particularly in the Scandinavian countries where the strip has long been (surprisingly) even more popular than it is in the United States. A US Army veteran himself, Mort Walker summed up the secret of his strip’s phenomenal success in 1976 when he wrote, “Basically, the strip is not about the army but about a bunch of funny people who happen to be in the army.” In fact, when Beetle Bailey began in 1950, it certainly wasn’t about the Army. It was about college students, and it didn’t particularly go over well. It was only as a last-ditch effort to get more papers for the strip that Beetle and his frat buddies enlisted in the military in 1951 in the growing gung-ho atmosphere of the Korean War. The ploy worked when it came to getting the strip noticed, but, unlike most other college enlistees, Beetle would go on to become a career soldier—in fact, a career Private!

Beetle and Sarge At Camp Charlton Charlton Comics published Beetle Bailey beginning with issue #67 (Feb. 1969), concluding with issue #119 (Nov. 1976). Charlton’s Sarge Snorkel spinoff ran from issue #1 (Oct. 1973) through 17 (Dec. 1976). TM & © King Features Syndicate.

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by D

o n Va u g h a n

The decade in which a comic-book fan gets his or her first taste of the medium is extremely important. It forever informs what kind of comics they read, their favorite writers/artists, and more. For me, that allimportant decade was the 1970s. The first comic book I ever purchased, at age 12, was Where Monsters Dwell #5 (Sept. 1970), a Marvel title that reprinted science-fiction stories from a decade earlier. I was a hardcore Monster Kid (with a subscription to Famous Monsters of Filmland to prove it), and that issue’s powerful Jack Kirby cover spoke to me like no other. I was instantly hooked, and started spending every penny of my allowance on comic books—first monster titles, then funny animals, and finally, superheroes. I loved the Flash and was equally enamored of the Justice League of America. In fact, the first thing I ever had published was an LoC in JLA #94. My name was misspelled, but I didn’t care—I was in heaven. During those early years I was primarily a DC kid, but would occasionally dip my toe into the Marvel pool. I didn’t care for Charlton’s books, aside from Joe Staton’s delightful E-Man, and wouldn’t discover the unique appeal of Dell Comics until years later (although that once-mighty publisher was on its way out in the early to mid-1970s). I knew what I liked, and didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere.

IN THE MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER

That all changed in 1974, when the comicbook world was rocked by the debut of Atlas Comics (commonly referred to by comic-book historians today as Atlas/Seaboard to differentiate the company from the Atlas Comics of the 1950s). This upstart publisher intrigued me, and I quickly became a fan, ultimately collecting its entire four-color line. The money man behind Atlas/ Seaboard was Martin Goodman, the former publisher of Marvel Comics, who had sold his baby in 1968 to martin goodman Perfect Film and Chemical (later renamed Cadence Industries) for a very tidy sum. Enough, in fact, to front a new publishing company with his son, Charles “Chip” Goodman, at the helm.

Get Me Ben Stryker! Jaw-dropping opening splash page to Atlas/Seaboard’s Savage Combat Tales #1 (Feb. 1975), premiering Sgt. Stryker’s Death Squad. Original Al McWilliams art courtesy of Heritage (www.ha.com). Note the ruled area across the bottom: The bottom art, below Archie Goodwin’s writer’s credit, was cropped for publication and the placement of the indicia; glue residue from the now-missing indicia is visible in this scan. TM & © SP Media Group.

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Premature Death for the Death Squad Al McWilliams original cover art for the unpublished Savage Combat Tales #4. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © SP Media Group.

But the four-color line was plagued by distribution problems from the very beginning, which made the comics difficult to find in many regions, observed Jason Sacks in TwoMorrows’ American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s. Worse, though, was reader apathy. Fans expressed quite a bit of excitement at the new line’s launch, eager for a comic-book publisher that would give Marvel and DC a run for their money with exciting new concepts and characters. But while there were occasional sparks of creative brilliance within certain Atlas/Seaboard titles, it quickly became evident that there was really nothing new of interest. Goodman’s incessant interference with his editors also contributed to Atlas/Seaboard’s rapid collapse. According to Jon B. Cooke’s article in Comic Book Artist, Goodman was constantly on Lieber and Rovin to make the comics look and read more like the books Marvel published—to the point where he ordered them to hire only Marvel artists and writers. Worse, even before initial sales figures were revealed, many titles underwent radical editorial changes in a desperate attempt to attract more readers. Most of these efforts failed.

It didn’t help that Chip Goodman was an ineffective publisher, according to many quoted in Cooke’s article. Despite being the scion of an industry titan, his understanding of what made a comic book successful was limited, and he had little to offer by way of advice on how to fix a problem or make something better. Quite simply, he was a man completely unqualified for the position he was given. Goodman’s “only Marvel writers and artists” edict finally drove Rovin out the door. The titles he edited were given to Lieber, who did the best he could with what he had to work with. But the writing was on the wall: Atlas/Seaboard was a grand experiment that had failed mightily. With the company hemorrhaging money and sales flagging, Goodman finally pulled the plug in the fall of 1975. No title lasted more than four issues. As for Atlas/Seaboard’s war titles, the kindest thing we can say is that they were unexceptional compared to the competition. In 1975, DC was still all in when it came to war, publishing Blackhawk, Weird War Tales, G.I. Combat, Our Army at War, Our Fighting Forces, and Star-Spangled War Stories. And there would be more to come: Blitzkrieg premiered in 1976 [see article elsewhere in this issue—ed.], followed by Men of War in 1977 and All-Out War in 1979. Marvel, too, was still in the trenches, though with far fewer war titles than it had published during the genre’s heyday of the 1950s and ’60s. During the Atlas/Seaboard era, it was publishing War is Hell [see article following—ed.], Roy Thomas’ superhero-centric Invaders [see BI #37—ed.], and Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, which at that time primarily featured reprints. And while Dell’s war titles were all casualties by 1974, along with the rest of its comics line, Charlton was still going strong in 1975 with Attack!, Fightin’ Army, The Fightin’ Five, Fightin’ Marines, Fightin’ Navy, and War, the latter of which debuted with a June 1975 cover date. That’s a lot of war action for comic-book fans to choose from, much of it already well-established and featuring beloved recurring characters like Sgts. Rock and Fury. Lieber was wise to bring in Archie Goodwin to script Sgt. Stryker’s Death Squad and more, but the skilled scribe was behind the eight ball from the very beginning. Had Atlas/Seaboard’s war titles lasted years instead of months, it’s conceivable that Goodwin—who proved his talent by penning all but one story in publisher James Warren’s exceptional Blazing Combat—could have made Savage Combat Tales a winner by developing some truly exciting stories with intriguing recurring characters such as Warhawk. Sadly, we’ll never know. Like the old soldiers referenced in Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s farewell speech to Congress, Savage Combat Tales and Blazing Battle Tales have faded away, today nothing but a minor memory, if they’re remembered at all. DON VAUGHAN is a comic-book fan and freelance writer based in Raleigh, North Carolina. His work has appeared in Military Officer Magazine, VFW Magazine, Boys’ Life, Writer’s Digest, Filmfax, and elsewhere. He is the founder of Triangle Association of Freelancers (tafnc.com).

34 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

by E d

Catto

“War is Hell,” the grim quote succinctly describing the reality of war, is generally attributed to General Sherman. Like many, he believed that the way to win a war is to destroy the enemy’s will to resist. And from this he wrote, “War is cruel, and you cannot refine it.” There is no actual evidence that he used “War is Hell” in his writings, even though it is believed that he spoke the words in public. The 1961 film War is Hell, about the deglamorization of war, was held up from release as it was thought to be anti-American. Clearly, this sentiment of war as a horrible thing had been around for a while. And in the anti-war days of the early and mid-’70s, a comic book could embrace war stories, while employing a disclaimer that professed to acknowledge the grim futility of all it. Over at DC Comics, Kubert and Kanigher were punctuating each story with a “Make War No More” button, but a comic that proclaimed that War is Hell was a first. In the early issues of Marvel Comics’ War is Hell, the message didn’t really live up to the hype. The first six issues reprinted old war stories, some memorable, some not, with new covers. Issues #7 and 8 reprinted issues of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, often marketed as “the war comic for people who hate war comics,” referring to its comedic and adventuresome tone. But then, all of a sudden, in War is Hell #9 (Oct. 1974), the series lurched from being a perfectly fine, albeit ordinary, reprint title to something unique and deserving of attention.

WAR GAMES

In the ’70s, creative folks like Don McGregor, Steven Grant, and Tony Isabella were working at Marvel in many different capacities as they tried to find opportunities to write. Tony Isabella may have been involved in proofreading an issue or two of War is Hell, but he doesn’t have a specific memory of that. Of course, one can’t help but wonder what the reason was for shifting to creating new war stories. “Likely multiple reasons,” Isabella tells BACK ISSUE, “but I wouldn’t have been involved in the decisionmaking process on that level. I do know Roy [Thomas, then-Marvel tony isabella editor] wanted to give Dick Ayers a series to replace “IT! The Living Colossus” [in Astonishing Tales; see BI #36] and asked me to come up with a new series for War is Hell.

Hell on Earth The Gil Kane/Ernie Chan cover to War is Hell #9 (Oct. 1974), premiering John Kowalski’s adventures. TM & Marvel.

Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 35

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by D

ouglas R. Kelly

You can assemble all the right ingredients. You can prepare them and mix them just right. You can bake, broil, or sauté everything just the way the recipe instructs. But there are times that the dish doesn’t turn out as intended, even if family and friends at the table do their best to spare your feelings. Cooking and comic books? There are at least two parallels—gathering the ingredients (the plot, the dialog, the pencils, the inks, the lettering, the coloring), and the deadline looking over your shoulder, whether it’s the hungry gang waiting for dinner or the pages due at the printer by close of business Wednesday. Robert Kanigher assembled the right ingredients in 1975 at DC Comics. The prolific writer and creator of such DC characters as the Metal Men and Sgt. Rock had an idea for a different kind of war comic, one that would tell the story of World War II from the perspective of German soldiers. “I went into Carmine [Infantino, DC publisher at the time],” Kanigher said in a 1989 interview with Tim Bateman and Steve Whitaker. “I said I want to do a book called Blitzkrieg. This guy says, ‘go ahead.’ Carmine had assured me previously… I had told him I was not going to do any new books any more unless I was the editor, and he said yes. So I did Blitzkrieg.” Kanigher’s concept was a departure from what was being done in DC’s war comics in the mid-1970s. Titles such as Our Army at War, which would morph into Sgt. Rock in early 1977, and G.I. Combat, which featured the adventures of the Haunted Tank, generally offered readers stories of Allied soldiers (American soldiers, for the most part). Delving into the experiences of German soldiers—Nazis— in a comic book was a risky proposition: Would American readers identify in any way with the lives of enemy combatants, especially at a time when many readers’ families had been damaged, and in some cases, torn apart, by those enemy combatants just 30 years before?

SURVEYING THE BATTLEFIELD

At least Blitzkrieg would have the sub-category to itself. Marvel Comics wasn’t exactly tearing up the racetrack with war comics in the mid-1970s, but they did continue to publish Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, which featured the adventures of an American unit during World War II. Even the shortlived (15 issues) War is Hell, published from 1973– 1975, had half of its issues made up of reprints of old Atlas Comics and Sgt. Fury stories. The cast of characters in Blitzkrieg was led by a group of soldiers in a German infantry unit.

Not Your Average War Book Blitzkrieg came out of the gate fast with a superb Joe Kubert cover for issue #1 (Jan.–Feb. 1976) that visually summarized the series’ stated goal. All comic scans are courtesy of Doug Kelly. TM & © DC Comics.

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to the surprise of Franz, who wonders why old men are out there in various tattered uniforms. One of the old soldiers exclaims (translated from the French), “To arms, citizens! Form your battalions and march!” Hugo and Ludwig don’t wait, mowing down the ancient warriors with their weapons. Franz exclaims, “Th-that was… slaughter, Hugo!” Later, the three of them are working their way toward headquarters, engaging Allied paratroopers and American infantry along the way. What the boys fail to realize, as they sit down for a break, is there’s a reason why they’re seeing so many Allied troops in the region, and that history is about to be made in the country of France. Lee Elias’ art on the first story has a weight and a depth that fits the subject matter very well. The opening spread, especially, conveys a heavy sense of the death and destruction that surrounded the three main characters every day. We’re not told why Elias was given the art chores on this issue, although the issue’s letters page (which began in issue #4) does mention that the editors hope that readers will like his work. Issue #5’s second story, “The Devil Waits,” featured art by Ric Estrada and told the story of the testing of Maric, a Goth chieftain in 318 B.C. Trapped in a subterranean chamber, Maric must fight off kill-crazed cavemen. It’s a pedestrian story that would have benefitted from having more space to play out.

THE AXE

Final Issue (top) Joe Kubert excelled himself with the cover of Blitzkrieg #5 (Sept.–Oct. 1976), making it a contender for best cover of the five-issue series. Note the modified logo. (bottom) Artist Lee Elias used the opening spread of #5 to convey the death and confusion of battle. (inset) Elias’ art in issue #5 had a weight and a depth that fit the brutal subject matter quite well. TM & © DC Comics.

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And then it was over. Blitzkrieg was cancelled without warning, at least in the book itself as nothing was said in the story pages or in the letters page of issue #5. As with so many books of that period, we don’t have access to sales figures; it’s possible that they weren’t up to par and DC pulled the plug once they thought the book wouldn’t fly. Blitzkrieg succeeded only partially in showing the war through German eyes, as Kanigher’s stories depicted nearly all of the German characters as onedimensional, stereotypically vicious monsters. Franz Steiner essentially was the only exception, and while his actions and reactions did give the reader some insight into his humanity, it was overwhelmed in the stories by the unrelenting savagery and horror around him. How do you go wrong with Kanigher, Kubert, and Estrada? All excellent ingredients, mixed with a great concept, but the result wasn’t the “different kind of war comic” that its creators intended. The series could have shined a light on what it was like to play a role in perpetrating the worst evil of the 20th Century. Instead, Blitzkrieg offered interesting stories that nonetheless only scratched the surface of that potential, with the majority of the interior art by Estrada—a talented artist with a long resumé of solid work—serving to lessen the impact of the subject matter. Having more Franz Steiners, more of their stories, their conflicts, and their perspectives, would have made for much more compelling reading. Brian Sheppard has a more favorable view of Blitzkrieg. “Kanigher was always interested in showing the human struggle through his stories, and Kubert was interested in putting a lens on war, without glorifying war itself. I think the book did that. I feel it was a lost opportunity because the book never got to really thrive. My personal view is that someone up the chain at DC felt very uncomfortable about doing a book that focused on Nazis. I think Kanigher felt these characters very deeply. These weren’t just war stories to him, I think—they were character studies of monsters in varying degrees.” Special thanks to Brian Sheppard. The author also thanks collector John Wells for his assistance in the research for this article, and Andy Greenham of Forest City Coins. DOUGLAS R. KELLY is editor of Marine Technology magazine. In addition to BACK ISSUE, his byline has appeared in Antiques Roadshow Insider, Model Collector, Collecting Toys, RetroFan, and Buildings magazines. He has a soft spot for Silver and Bronze Age comics, especially the cheap but very high-grade variety, which of course exist only in his imagination.

The ’Nam was, in many ways, a groundbreaking comic. From the mid-late 1960s right through to the early 1980s, Vietnam war stories in comics were few and far between. Although Vietnam war tales had begun appearing as early as 1954 and quite a number of them were published in 1965– 1967, from that point on the comic-book publishers were caught between a rock and a hard place. The US military had made it clear that they wanted no part of anything resembling anti-war comics being sold in their domestic and foreign PXs and that was emphasized by the banning and eventual demise of the excellent black-and-white magazine Blazing Combat, edited by Archie Goodwin for Warren Publications. The comic-book publishers also remembered the distributor nightmares of 1954–1955, when conservative members of the magazine distributors left many comics sitting in the warehouses rather than distribute them, disturbed by the violence and perceived “liberal” stance of horror and war comics. Efforts to soft-pedal that sort of perception in Vietnam stories by the publishers resulted in poor sales as readers declined to buy and read Vietnam war comics that didn’t have “something to say.” With that sort of sales nightmare staring them in the face, both DC and Marvel backed away from any kind of story set in the Vietnam War. Only Korean War and earlier stories would appear in their war books. Charlton continued to publish a few stories set in Vietnam—mostly notable the conservative-leaning “Shotgun Harker and Chicken Smith” tales in Fightin’ Marines, written by Joe Gill and illustrated for most of its run by Sam Glanzman. From 1967–1985, that’s pretty much how things stood.

FROM ‘5th TO THE 1st’ TO A FIRST ISSUE

J. Arndt

by R i c h a r d

By 1985, DC’s war comics were on life support and Marvel had none, unless you counted G.I. Joe. Debuting that year was Savage Tales vol. 2, a revival of the 1970s black-and-white magazine, under the editorship of Larry Hama. It presented at least one traditional war story every issue, the most popular one being a Vietnam-set serial called “5th to the 1st,” written by Doug Murray and illustrated by Michael Golden. Two episodes of the serial appeared, “The ’Nam, 1967” in Savage Tales #1 (Oct. 1985) and “The Sniper” in 4 (Apr. 1986); the team produced a third installment, “The Tunnel Rat,” intended for the magazine, but Savage Tales was cancelled (with issue #8, Dec. 1986) before it could be published. Several months after the publication of Murray and Golden’s “The Sniper,” The ’Nam #1 (Dec. 1986) debuted, featuring the same writerartist team, accompanied by, at least initially, inker Armando Gil. The ’Nam broke most of the rules that had governed war comics since the advent of the Comics Code in 1954. Both Marvel and DC’s war heroes had been incorporated into the Marvel or DC universes, despite the fact that none of them were superpowered. Much of the military silliness that had marked those much-loved titles—such as shooting down planes with a hand-held machine gun or, worse, a tommy gun, or having soldiers throw grenades down tank turrets (which would have done no damage to a tank and where the muzzle would have been impossible to reach for any soldier on the ground)—were eliminated. As much as possible for a mainstream comic, soldiers talked like soldiers, fought realistic battles, and suffered deaths and wounds as it might have actually happened in combat—very little of those “famous last words” appeared in the mouths of anyone who was mortally wounded in The ’Nam. Perhaps most important, events involving the characters in the book transpired in both Vietnam and Stateside. Seeing the home front events, particularly during the turbulent 1960s, was something that had rarely happened in war comics up to that point. Other rules, unique to the title, were also set down in the very first issue and will be discussed in the following interviews. In addition, editor Larry Hama did the smartest thing he could have done for a relatively high-risk title. He recruited the “5th to the 1st” creative team, who’d only done three stories of that series to date, to write and pencil the new title. Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 49

Then he came into my office and put it on my desk and told me that he’d like to have this book done. [laughs] He didn’t know what the book was about. He just laid it in my lap. We just had a title and mocked-up cover. I had to come up with everything else. I came up with the concept of telling the stories from a grunt’s point of view, and having it be in real time. Real time in that 12 monthly issues would present a full year of the war. That way, characters would do their 364-day tour and then ship back RICHARD ARNDT: How did home. We’d have this continually rotating larry hama The ’Nam get started, and what cast with any one character usually having was your role in that? I think the Michael Soloff/Scoop. only 12 issues or less to appear in. war stories in Savage Tales vol. Characters would move in and out of the 2 had a hand in that. unit just like the real thing. Of course, the military LARRY HAMA: After the fact, they did. We used a “5th would never replace the entire unit. People would to the 1st” story in The ‘Nam in the tunnel rat story; come and go as their tour was up. using that was a ploy to get Michael Golden more time I called up Doug Murray and Michael Golden and on an issue. He didn’t have to draw eight pages that they both signed on. That’s how it happened. I gave month and could get a little ahead on the next issue. what I just said to Doug Murray. I told him those were [chuckles] However, The ‘Nam didn’t spring from “5th my only parameters. The only other thing I think I told to the 1st.” him was “The ’Nam is not like Sgt. Fury and the Howling Basically, [then-Marvel editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter Commandos. The soldiers are not superheroes. North had a cover mocked up in the production Vietnamese and VC do not jump out from perfectly department. He’d taken a G.I. Joe cover of two good cover and charge. I want it as realistic as possible.” soldiers peering through the foliage with their Doug was fine with that. He came up with everything faces camouflaged. He had a logo of The ’Nam done else. All the characters, members of the platoon, were up. It didn’t actually appear as any cover for the his creation. Michael did the visual interpretations. book. It was a mockup. This was all done without Mike is a guy who can look at stuff, just absorb it, and my knowledge. come back with something that’s amazing.

Before The ’Nam… …there was Murray and Golden’s “5th to the 1st,” a short-lived feature in the rebooted Savage Tales magazine, edited by Larry Hama. Pages 1 and 2 of the first “5th to the 1st” story, “The ’Nam, 1967,” from Savage Tales #1 (Oct. 1985). TM & © Marvel.

’the NAM EDITOR LARRY HAMA

50 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

New from Mighty Marvel Fan-favorite Michael Golden’s art may have attracted many Marvelites to The ’Nam, but Doug Murray’s writing and the book’s captivating cast and storytelling quickly locked in an enthusiastic readership. The ’Nam #1 (Dec. 1985). Cover by Golden. TM & © Marvel.

ARNDT: What led you to pick Murray and Golden to begin with? HAMA: I knew Doug. Both he and Michael were already doing that Nam-based series for Savage Tales. They seemed the obvious choice. That was the main connection. I can see how it may appear that The ’Nam sprang from “5th to the 1st,” but it really did not. I don’t think Jim Shooter was even aware that those “5th to the 1st” tales even existed. ARNDT: It’s easy to see why that connection has been made, even if it’s incorrect. You were the editor of the book for about a year, is that correct? HAMA: A bit longer. It was maybe a year and a half. After I left, my assistant, Pat Redding, did it for a bit, then Don Daley took it over. The history of the book is kind of eclectic. In the early years, [artist] Bob Camp did a lot of work on the book as well. A lot of covers, and he inked a number of issues as well. Bob later went on to become the co-creator of Ren & Stimpy, among other things. That may seem like an odd move, but Bob started out as a funny guy, working for me on Crazy. When it folded, all these funny guys were out of work, so I tried to repurpose them on war books or sword and sorcery. Whatever worked for them among the titles I had. Bob inked a lot of John Buscema on Conan the Barbarian. He also worked as a Bullpen corrections artist. We had a good team on the book. When the first issue came out we got a big write-up in the Washington Post. That piece got picked up by more than 200 of the top-circulation newspapers in the country. The lady in charge of publicity at Marvel told me that she’d never gotten publicity like that on any other comic. She was used to sending out press releases on subjects like “Spider-Man is getting married” [laughs], which just got no recognition in the regular, straight press. They were not interested in anything like that. But the fact that Marvel Comics was putting out a fairly realistic comic about the Vietnam War was big news. ARNDT: It likely didn’t hurt that nearly all the 1960s war comics dealing with the Vietnam War, with the exception of Blazing Combat, and some stories from Charlton, were dreadful. HAMA: Those Archie Goodwin stories, and I suspect, the Charlton stuff were generally short stories, though. We actually won an award for the best media representation of the Vietnam War from the Bravo Organization, which is the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) designation for infantry. That happened in the same year that the film Platoon came out. We beat out the Academy Award® winner! We flew Doug Murray out to L.A. to accept the award at a dinner. The main guests at the dinner were General Westmoreland and former Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Ky. The main entertainment was Martha Raye. She got up on stage in full uniform and sang “The Ballad

of the Green Berets.” Got a standing ovation. ARNDT: She did a lot of USO shows for the troops over there. HAMA: She was a big USO supporter. She’d been doing USO shows since WWII and was much beloved by the troops. Wayne Vansant took over after Michael Golden’s run and did a pretty good job too. He’s still doing war comics—Katusha—that’s a really good one. He started out doing short war stories in Savage Tales and I thought he was pretty good. When he started out he had some trouble with drawing people, but he drew great tanks! [chuckles] He’s gotten a better at people and his storytelling is really good. Comics is really shorthand, and Wayne is good at characters acting, having them express emotion without having to write dialogue pointing that emotion out. He was also meticulous at research. Golden, [John] Severin, and Vansant were always very good at keeping the visuals accurate. ARNDT: I think people appreciate that even if they don’t recognize it right off the bat. Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 51

In the mid-1980s, DC Comics was enjoying a creative renaissance, thanks to the success of projects such as Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Flagship characters such as Superman and Batman were being reinvented for new audiences, and the publisher was fertile ground for fresh ideas. Many remain hot properties decades later, while others remain lukewarm. Cinder and Ashe #1–4 (May–Aug. 1988) is a detective thriller set in New Orleans. The fourissue miniseries is the creation of Gerry Conway, a seasoned writer credited with extended runs on such titles as Amazing Spider-Man, Firestorm, and Justice League of America. As comics began to expand beyond four-color masks and capes in the mid-’80s, DC Comics decided to produce non-superhero material with higher production values. These titles, intended for older, more sophisticated readers with deeper pockets, would be available only in comic shops, and would not be beholden to the Comics Code Authority. Writing stories more grounded in reality very much appealed to Conway. “I had this interest in writing something more adult, more mainstream, and the opportunity presented itself with DC having this market that they wanted to reach,” he says. “I don’t know that DC had a clear idea of what it was they wanted to accomplish other than explore what this market could be,” he continues. “We didn’t know what this audience was capable of responding to. Pretty much anything would have gone, in the sense that it was an audience that could embrace Camelot 3000 or V For Vendetta.” As a result, there were no editorial parameters for what could be pitched, and Conway wanted to create something a little more realistic. He had always been a fan of suspense and mystery in general as a genre, and had played around with the idea of doing more straightforward, thriller-based stories. He had the opportunity to pitch some ideas, and the result that most appealed to him was Cinder and Ashe. gerry conway

BORN ON THE BAYOU

“The premise came to me primarily because of the title,” Conway says. “I came up with the title first, knowing I wanted to do something that was kind of a noir-ish, New Orleans mystery, and then the name Cinder and Ashe, for some reason, popped into my head and that sort of developed into these two characters.” Cinder is the offspring of an African-American G.I. and a Vietnamese woman. As a teenager, she was

From ’Nam to New Orleans José Luis García-López’s covers for writer Gerry Conway’s Cinder and Ashe 1988 miniseries. TM & © DC Comics.

62 • BACK ISSUE • Soldiers Issue

by P h i l i p

Schweier

rescued by Jacob Ashe when Saigon fell in 1975. After returning home with her to Louisiana, he parlayed his military expertise into security work, and they are now partners in an investigation firm based in New Orleans. It could be argued that the New Orleans is an additional character in the story. “I was very passionate on making this a New Orleans project and being as true to it as I could,” he explains. Conway had visited the Crescent City several times in the 1970s and had become completely charmed by New Orleans as a location for the better part of a decade and a half. In fact, he convinced one of his daughters to enroll in Tulane University. “Something about that city is so transcendent,” adds Conway. “It’s an American city that feels like a European city.” He states New Orleans is comparable to other cities— New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—that serve as fertile ground for fiction. “It’s so unique, it’s visually exciting and fascinating. I don’t know what it is that speaks to me, but it just does.” A primary motivator for Conway was coming up with a project he and artist José Luis García-López could add to their list of collaborations. “We had done several Superman stories [together], and I think at that time we were also working on Atari Force, or maybe had just finished it. So we knew each other as creators.” García-López, unavailable for comment for this article, was already assigned to the project even as Conway was writing. The series would showcase what García-López was capable of drawing, playing to his strengths as a naturalistic artist. Conway says he has rarely worked with anyone who could express his concepts as thoroughly as García-López has. “As a collaborator, I’ve worked with a number of terrific artists who raised my work to a level that could never be achieved on its merits alone. What José tends to do as an artist is to take your writing and bring every aspect of it to life, and beyond. He combines exquisite draftsmanship with unparalleled storytelling.” Perhaps because García-López has never been attached to a long-term project that achieved notoriety, he’s consistently flown under the radar for many less-sophisticated comicbook readers. He is greatly admired by his comics colleagues, including Conway. “I can’t speak for José, but I would crawl over broken glass to work with him.”

RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE

In Conway’s story, Cinder and Ashe are approached by Wilson Starger, a dairy farmer from Iowa whose life is unraveling. His cows are poisoned, his credit dries up, and loans are called. Now his daughter Jenny, a student at Tulane, has gone missing, supposedly kidnapped. Their investigation leads them to a decade-old vehicular homicide, and Egeria Enterprises, which is bankrolling the political career of an Iowa senator. Acting as hit man for the corporation is Lacey, a corrupt “military advisor” Cinder and Ashe believed had been killed in Saigon. Concurrently with Cinder and Ashe’s investigation in 1988, the story includes flashbacks to their respective histories in Vietnam. Ashe’s father was killed in Korea, so his mother and stepfather are naturally concerned when he chooses to enlist in the Marines as the conflict in Vietnam escalates. Being the supportive parents they are, they respect his decision. While serving in Vietnam, the sympathetic young Marine notices Cinder, orphaned in the Tet Offensive of 1968. Forced to survive on the streets, she and Ashe cross paths seven years later amidst the chaos of the fall of Saigon in April 1975. He later brings her to Louisiana, to be raised by his family as he continues his military career. After leaving the Corps, he returns home, where he serves a brotherly role for her.

Casualties of War (top) Ashe spares the life of young Cinder in Cinder and Ashe #1 (May 1988). (bottom) Detail from page 19 of issue #1, expertly staged García-López panels rendering Conway’s parallel present and past stories. TM & © DC Comics.

Soldiers Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

RetroFan:

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When most comic book, animation, or action figure fans hear the words “Larry Hama” and “ninja” in the same sentence, they usually think of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. This is a perfectly understandable response. Despite Hama’s long and multifaceted career in comics, he is best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, as well as his influence on the G.I. Joe property itself, which includes the popular ninja characters of the silent Snake Eyes and the mysterious Storm Shadow. (See BACK ISSUE #16 for coverage of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and BI #118 for a look at how Hama’s unrealized Fury Force series influenced not only Marvel’s G.I. Joe comic-book series but Hasbro’s G.I. Joe property in general.) However, Hama also created another ninja, but not just any ninja… the ultimate ninja. Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja was published by Marvel Comics in 1989 through 1990, running for 16 issues and one eight-page preview story. The comic tells the story of John Doe, the ultimate ninja, and a telekinetic named Alfie O’Meagan, in a backdrop of World War III and beyond.

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WELCOME TO WORLD WAR III

In 1989 in our reality, the United States and the former U.S.S.R were still in the midst of the Cold War, which was characterized by the two countries’ reliance on their stash of nuclear weapons to prevent the other country from using their own nuclear weapons [M.A.D.: Mutually Assured Destruction—ed.]. This fear had been permeating both nations for over 40 years, and many citizens feared that World War III was an eventuality. When writer Larry Hama and artist Ron Wagner’s Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja premiered, the real world was still two years away from the fall of the Berlin Wall, which many consider the end of the Cold War—and with that momentous event, the expected world war never occurred. However, when Nth Man premiered, it wasn’t far-fetched to think that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. could be at war in the future. The Cold War and a looming third World War set the stage for this Marvel series. Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja #1 (Aug. 1989) presented readers with a reality in which the two countries—and many others, including China—were at war. However, it wasn’t the nuclear war with the resultant fallout and global desolation that many people expected from a

Marvel’s New Super Soldier Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja #1 (Aug. 1989) through 3 (Oct. 1989). Covers by Ron Wagner and Bob McLeod. TM & © Marvel.

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