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Volume 1, Number 135 June 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott (Commissioned illustration from the collection of Bernd Philipp. Art scan courtesy of Scott Kress and Catskill Comics.)

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Tom Brevoort Jean-Marc Lofficier Kurt Busiek Ed Lute Shaun Clancy Ralph Macchio Tom DeFalco Robert Menzies Steve Englehart John Morrow Epic Marvel Tom Palmer, Sr. Podcast Thomas Powers Kurtis Findley Norrin Radd Timothy Finney Bill Reinhold Stephan Friedt Linda Lessmann Grand Comics Reinhold Database Alex Ross Bob Hall Josef Rubinstein Scott Hampton Diana Schutz Allan Harvey David Scroggy Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Joe Staton Heritage Comics Auctions Chris Ivy Scott Kress/ Catskill Comics

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PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: The Silver Surfer’s Surfin’ Safari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Creators with an insider’s perspective look at the Surfer’s Bronze Age one-shots and special issues FLASHBACK: The Rise of Silver Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Created late in Jack Kirby’s career, this pioneering character got another shot at stardom decades later BEYOND CAPES: Silverheels: Scott Hampton’s Painted Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The illustrator recalls his 1983 short-lived Pacific Comics miniseries ART GALLERY: The Silver Surfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Featuring Buscema, Frenz, Hall and Rubinstein, Lim, and other awesome artists FLASHBACK: The Silver Surfer, Beyond the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The 1987 revival that rebooted Marvel’s Cosmic Universe WHAT THE?!: Drake’s Cakes Silver Surfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 This little-known Silver Surfer issue may also be the smallest Surfer comic!

PRINCE STREET NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Cartoonist Karl Heitmueller, Jr. remembers the stuff he misses in comic books BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Silver Banshee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 A history of the Superman/Supergirl villainess who’s really a scream FLASHBACK: Silver Sable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Out of the pages of Amazing Spider-Man comes a Mighty Marvel mercenary BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 BONUS FEATURE: Hostess Comic Ads Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 BACK ISSUE™ issue 135, June 2022 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Back Issue, c/o TwoMorrows, 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, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott. Silver Surfer © Marvel.

Other characters © their respective companies. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury except Prince Street News, © Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

The Silver Surfer by Ron Lim, with inks and colors by Joe Rubinstein. From the collection of Shaun Clancy. Silver Surfer TM & © Marvel. Art © Ron Lim and Joe Rubinstein.

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

Sentinel of the Spaceways! (left) Marvel’s original Silver Surfer book died after 18 issues, relegating the Surfer to guestappearances for much of the Bronze Age. (right) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby reunited for Simon & Schuster’s 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel. Cover by Earl Norem. (opposite, left) Marvel rebooted Fantasy Masterpieces in 1979 to reprint for Bronze Age readers the original Silver Surfer series. It ran for 14 issues. (opposite, center) Fans went wild when Lee and John Byrne (with Tom Palmer finishes) produced this Silver Surfer oneshot in 1982. (opposite, right) Silver Surfer as high art, with Moebius joining Lee for a 1988 two-issue miniseries under Marvel’s prestigious Epic imprint.

TM & © Marvel.

2 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

by T o m

Powers

From 1978 to 1991, the Silver Surfer experienced a second surge of popularity, as he evolved from being a supporting player in such series as The Fantastic Four and The Defenders to having his new ongoing title launch in 1987 and later serving as a major heroic contender in the Marvel Universe throughout The Infinity Gauntlet era. During this time, the indomitable Norrin Radd would intermittently also appear in three graphic novels, a one-shot, and a two-issue microseries, so hop aboard your hypothetical (or real) surfboard as we catch a wave of critical insight and embark upon a safari of sorts concerning these sundry Silver Surfer comic-book specimens from both their contributors and industry professionals alike.

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Specimen #1: The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel (1978) Tour Guides: John Morrow and Tom Brevoort

First up on our tour of the silvery one’s side hits is the Silver Surfer graphic novel, which was published in 1978 by Simon & Schuster under their Fireside Books imprint. For the first time in years, the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby team was reunited, on a retelling of the Silver Surfer’s origin story.

Seeking critical insight on what is arguably the first Marvel graphic novel, I emailed both John Morrow, who edits TwoMorrows’ The Jack Kirby Collector, and Tom Brevoort, a senior executive editor at Marvel Comics who has extensive experiencing serving as editor on The Silver Surfer, and shared several questions with them via email, which I have placed together in order to present their unique respective views on this exciting late-1970s work.

TOM POWERS: Gentlemen, what are your general thoughts on the 1978 Fireside Silver Surfer graphic novel? In other words, what do you appreciate about this latter Lee/Kirby collaboration in terms of the story and art?

JOHN MORROW: At the time, I purchased it new at (if memory serves) a Waldenbooks store. While I was impressed with the production values and the sheer fact it was sold in a “real” bookstore, I was really disappointed that it jettisoned the Fantastic Four for a storyline that didn’t rely on established Marvel Comics continuity.

In hindsight, I understand now the rationale for that, since the idea was to make a film from it—but of course, the current MCU shows that you can be faithful to the source material and still make a solid film. Still, john morrow the art was dazzling, and inker Joe Sinnott was at the top of his game over Kirby’s pencil work. And Jack was putting a lot into this one—the work seems much more inspired than his final 1970s Marvel issues of Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur. I’m assuming the pay was much better than standard comics work as well.

TOM BREVOORT: It was an impressive book when it first arrived in 1978, a step in the direction of the modern era of the graphic novel.

And overall it looks good and reads nicely.

I’ve always felt that Joe Sinnott was Kirby’s most attractive inker, and that combination works its usual magic here. There are a number of stunning and compelling images in the story as well. And Stan’s copy is pretty well done—you can tell that he knows that he’s writing for somebody other than the typical comic-book audience. It’s not the best Lee and Kirby story ever done, by far. But it’s a fitting capstone to their work together.

POWERS: As Lee and Kirby’s final Marvel collaboration, what does this graphic novel tell you about their creative partnership at this point?

An Origin Reimagined Lee and Kirby’s 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel made revisions to the classic “coming of Galactus” origin as seen in the pages of Fantastic Four. Original art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © Marvel.

THE SILVER SURFER, BRONZE AGE GUEST-STAR Norrin Radd was awfully sad when his

• The Defenders #2, 3, 6, 8–11

original title was cancelled with Silver Surfer

• The Avengers #116, 118

#18 (Sept. 1970), but the Sentinel of the

• Fantastic Four #155–157

Skyways managed to drop in on these Marvel

• Thor #233

titles while he was awaiting his various come-

• Tomb of Dracula #50

backs as a solo star:

* A Spider-Man/Silver Surfer team-up was

• Sub-Mariner #34–35

planned for a 1975 issue of Giant-Size

• Marvel Feature (Defenders) #1

Spider-Man, the double-sized companion

• Fantastic Four #121–123

title to Marvel Team-Up, but the book was

• Thor #192–193

cancelled before that story was produced.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

MORROW: Based on Jack’s letters to Stan that were included when Fantasy Fair, and met Stan Lee, who was there as part of the promotional he submitted his pencil pages, it’s clear Jack was overwhelmingly tour to promote the Silver Surfer graphic novel. Jack’s SSGN pages providing the direction and creativity on this project, with Stan doing were on display, but I overheard some Marvel staffers (who were there guarding the display) make disparaging comments about how Jack virtually none of the heavy lifting conceptually.

To me, Stan’s input at this point is akin to what he did during had “lost it” and couldn’t produce decent work anymore.

I was stunned, to say the least, as I was still enjoying Kirby’s Kirby’s final year on Fantastic Four—Lee was so busy editorially and work at the time—just not as much as on his earlier Fourth PR-wise by that point that he largely stuck to dialogue and World work at DC. Seeing those originals up close blew me after-the-fact editing of Kirby’s work. I think Kirby was away and made me wonder how those guys could think putting more of himself into the Surfer graphic novel Kirby had lost his touch. But in hindsight, I now know than he did that last year on FF, and the result is what a level of disrespect he was getting from some in something closer to “epic” than FF #90–102 were. the Marvel offices at that time, and it really saddens But there were obviously restrictions on what he me. I’m glad that this project now has gotten some could do and still please a potential moviemaker, so of the respect it deserves, and I hope that people will, while Kirby gave it all he could, those limitations kept through this article, get a better understanding of it from truly becoming one of his greatest stories. why it wasn’t what a lot of fans wanted it to be.

BREVOORT: It certainly tells me that, as much as ever, BREVOORT: It may sound as though I’m down on this Lee and Kirby still weren’t on the same page as regards work, but that really isn’t the case. I think it was a the Silver Surfer. And it creates a bit of dissonance in game attempt to try something new, the kind of this project. Here, Kirby is overt: We witness Galactus tom brevoort project that Kirby had been striving to execute for creating the Silver Surfer out of nothingness in the at least a decade: a comic-book story in a high-end palm of his hand on the opening two pages. But several format aimed at a more sophisticated reader. But the pages later, we get a flashback to Zenn-La and Facebook.

Shalla-Bal—elements that were from Lee’s interpretation and which problem with it is that it’s the shadow of a better story these guys had didn’t fit in with Kirby’s version. As a result, we get a story here that already done a decade earlier, and so rather than propelling the medium is somehow less than the sum of its parts, where the two central forward, it feels instead like a best-of reunion tour. And it feels like a waste to me to have Jack Kirby draw 100 pages of a story that he’s already creators are working at cross-purposes with one another.

POWERS: What is your opinion concerning Lee and Kirby’s decision to done; for all that, he came up with some terrific visuals within that span.

So for all that it got right and did well, what I tend to see when I “reboot” the Silver Surfer’s story for this tale? (In other words, what do you think about their decision to tell the story of the Surfer’s conflict look at it, more than anything, is the wasted or misdirected potential. with Galactus on Earth without the presence of the Fantastic Four and A new Silver Surfer story would have been welcome—a redo of the original Silver Surfer story couldn’t help but feel well-trod.

Alicia Masters?)

MORROW: Stan had already “rebooted” the Surfer in 1967, without Kirby’s input. Jack saw the character as a being of energy that knew nothing of the human condition and had to learn it as he went along— largely through his interactions with Alicia. In Silver Surfer #1 (coverdated Aug. 1968), Lee ignored all that had gone before and gave the backstory of a very human Norrin Radd who lost his true love—which totally betrayed Kirby’s original intent when he added the character (unbeknownst to Lee) in Fantastic Four #48 (Mar. 1966). Kirby was already very disillusioned that Lee had co-opted his character (one of the reasons he left Marvel in 1970), so I’m assuming he just grudgingly accepted that was what he had to work with in order to take on this high-profile project. It’s a big part of why I don’t find this Surfer story totally satisfying nor any of the non-Kirby ones after Lee changed the core concept of the character to a more trite origin. I wish they’d have gone back to Kirby’s original idea; even without the FF included, they could’ve used an Alicia-type character to guide him in the Silver Surfer graphic novel [SSGN], but I’m sure Lee insisted on keeping his origin intact.

BREVOORT: Reportedly, the whole idea here was to create a story that could eventually be made into a movie—this would have been the often-talked-about picture that Olivia Newton-John was attached to at one point. So it was necessary to frame the story in such a way that there were no other Marvel characters in it, as they would all have been covered in other film licensing deals.

Consequently, it is what it is. In a very real way, it’s Lee and Kirby telling a story they’ve already told—and while the new flourishes and characters (Ardina, the Advocate, etc.) lend some interest to things, the project simply doesn’t have the same spark of inspiration as the original Surfer stories that both creators worked on, either together or separately.

POWERS: What are your other thoughts regarding this graphic novel?

MORROW: As I recounted in my book Kirby & Lee: Stuf’ Said; in summer 1978, I attended my first major comics convention, the Atlanta

I Honestly Love You Norrin Radd’s painful reunion with Shalla-Bal. (inset) Just picture lovely Olivia Newton-John in the role of the gal the Surfer left behind.

TM & © Marvel.

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is he wanted to do something together, and the Silver Surfer issue was a perfect choice! The plot and story worked well in this one-shot with many chances to do detailed artwork that both John and I made use of.

POWERS: What did you enjoy about inking John pencils? Are there any particular highlights for you?

PALMER: When I was doing the black line art over John’s pencils, I used as many graphic effects as I could to open up any dense black areas for color, which brightened the book for coloring.

I also used overlays to add one color, blue, in specific areas, without a holding line.

POWERS: You likewise beautifully colored this one-shot comic. Can you explain your process?

The next solo Silver Surfer comic for this wave of this PALMER: I approached coloring a comic with all its spacefaring surfin’ safari appears four years later in restrictions at the time, working boldly with color 1982 via a one-shot collaboration that features a and letting either Zip-a-Tone or Craftint patterns Stan Lee script stemming from a John Byrne plot. add a form of soft gray to the background and On the art end of this story depicting the Silver probably “borrowed” a few effects from Wally Wood Surfer finally escaping from his Galactus-imposed for the space backdrop as well, creating depth exile on Earth courtesy of Reed Richards’ scientific and movement. genius, Byrne also provides dynamic pencils that POWERS: Tom, are there any other memories are complemented by Tom Palmer’s distinctive you would like to share about contributing to inks. On this note, I had the pleasure of speaking this comic? with Tom via email regarding his work embellishing PALMER: My overall memory of working on the this classic comic. book was an enjoyable one. John Byrne was always tom palmer a pleasure to work with, and he is a collaborator POWERS: Can you please explain how you became who encouraged you to add an interesting variety Wookiepedia. involved with this historic comic? of graphics to the artwork, bringing it to another TOM PALMER: John Byrne and I had been friends, and my guess level, and I tried to do that where I could.

Specimen #2: Silver Surfer (1982) Tour Guide: Tom Palmer

6 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Courtesy of the Artist (this page and previous) Terrific Tom Palmer kindly shared with BACK ISSUE scans of these stunning original art pages from the 1982 Silver Surfer one-shot.

Consider us awed!

Thank you, sir!

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7

who was also serving as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics at the time of the work’s publication in 1987.

POWERS: Tom, can you please explain the history behind Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, and how you became involved?

TOM DeFALCO: Silver Surfer: Judgment Day began with Walt Simonson.

He had done an issue of Thor that consisted solely of splash panels.

John Buscema was very impressed by the issue and expressed a desire to do something like it. I suggested that John do a graphic novel, possibly one involving the Silver Surfer. (Okay, I confess—that was very selfish on my part. I always loved John’s Silver Surfer, and Silver Surfer #4— his battle with Thor—is one of my all-time favorite stories.) Once John agreed to do the Surfer, I knew I had to convince Stan to join the party.

Our next stop on our Silver Surfer safari of universal proportions POWERS: How exactly did you and John approach co-plotting this involves a specimen in which John Buscema was able to graphic novel? unleash his full illustrative abilities via a series of brilliant DeFALCO: We started talking over the phone. I remember one-page illustrations comprising the Silver Surfer: that John really wanted to feature “Mr. Galactus” in the Judgment Day graphic novel. Stan Lee, who worked story, and I believe I was the one who added Mephisto. from Buscema’s and Tom DeFalco’s plot to write POWERS: What did you think of the finished version the piece, had this to say in his introduction to the of Judgment Day? graphic novel: “[M]y biggest problem wasn’t scripting DeFALCO: I think John Buscema is one of the finest the yarn; it’s a picnic writing copy for Johnny’s illustrators this medium has ever seen, and his singlelayouts. No, the thing that tore me up was trying to page illustrations prove it! A Stan Lee script is figure out where to place the balloons and captions always a delight, but the Silver Surfer always highwithout damaging any of the Master’s artwork!” lights his lyrical and philosophical side. Reuniting Modesty aside, Lee’s scripting of the piece only Stan and John for one last Silver Surfer was a added to the grandeur of Buscema’s illustrations as childhood dream come true—and I really enjoyed the Silver Surfer found himself in an outer-space tom defalco the finished product! conflict involving Galactus, Nova, and their shared enemy Mephisto. Regarding the co-plotting end Hildy DeFalco.

I next had the opportunity to speak with Ralph of Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, I spoke with Tom DeFalco, Macchio over the phone concerning his role as editor for Judgement Day.

Specimen #3: Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (1987) Tour Guides: Tom DeFalco and Ralph Macchio

POWERS: With Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, how did you become involved as its editor?

RAPLH MACCHIO: I was just relooking at it just the other day, and apparently Stan had a little introduction in it where he mentioned “Silver Surfer editor Ralph Macchio.” Honestly, I don’t remember editing the Silver Surfer. You know, I had a real close connection to John Buscema. He and I just got along very well, and we worked on so many projects together. I have a hunch that John and Tom—we were all kind of ralph macchio buddies—just kind of decided that I would be their logical choice to edit this project that involved them Facebook. and Stan, and I sort of would be the meetinghouse for them all, so I think that’s how I got involved with the whole thing.

John and I were in a meeting one day to discuss the plot. He rarely came into the city, and he told me, “Ralph, I’m coming in. We’ll chat and go out to lunch and all that. I’m writing up a plot. I’ve discussed it with DeFalco.” So he comes into my office, sits down in front of me, and I’m sitting behind my desk. John had a kind of Brooklyn accent. He was like a tough Italian guy from Brooklyn, and he said, “Hey, Ralph, I got the plot for you, and I wrote it down.” And I’m expecting for him to come out with this sheaf of papers, and he pulls out a matchbook. On the way in—I guess he had taken the train in or something—he had managed to write the whole plot down on a matchbook. He then reads the plot to me off the matchbook, and he would refer to Galactus as “Mr. Galactus.” “Here’s the story,” he begins. “Mr. Galactus…” And then he goes on from there, and I’m just listening, and I was like, “Okay, John, I get it.” And so what I thought would be an hours-long plot discussion took about three minutes!

When Heralds Hang Out The Silver encounters Nova, as spectacularly rendered by Big John Buscema on this signed original art page from Judgment Day. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

8 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Specimen #4: The Sliver Surfer: Parable (1988) Tour Guides: Jean-Marc Lofficier and Diana Schutz In 1988, under Marvel’s Epic imprint edited by the amazing Archie Goodwin, two greats in the comic-book industry—Stan Lee and Moebius (Jean Giraud)—united their considerable talents in the form of The Silver Surfer: Parable #1–2 (Dec. 1988–Jan. 1989), in which Norrin Radd struggles to find a way to fight against a Galactus who is now utilizing the power of religion instead of his planet-devouring skills in his attempt to subjugate the somewhat incorrigible people of this world.

For a better understanding of this complex two-part specimen, I contacted Jean-Marc Lofficier, who served as a consulting editor on Parable.

POWERS: Jean-Marc, can you kindly provide any insight concerning the history of The Silver Surfer: Parable?

JEAN-MARC LOFFICIER: Moebius and I had first met Stan Lee in a one-on-one at the American Booksellers’ Association convention in May 1987 in Anaheim, then again at the San Diego Comic-Con a couple of months later. Stan was very eager to find a way to work with Jean, and the feeling was reciprocated. The problem was that Jean [Giraud] was unfamiliar with most of the Marvel characters. He had first discovered them in their French editions in 1969 in the magazines Fantask, then Strange, published by Editions Lug, the current successor of which is Hexagon Comics, of which I am today editor-in-chief.

The one series that had most impressed him was Stan and John Buscema’s glorious Silver Surfer, which had garnered much praise from French writers and artists. So, when we had lunch at Comic-Con, I suggested the Surfer as the best “candidate” for a collaboration. This was greeted enthusiastically by Stan, since it was his favorite character.

I also suggested to Stan that he should write a standalone story, with just the Surfer, without a plethora of other Marvel guest-stars, The Master, Moebius like the other standalone he had done with Jack Kirby to try to sell a From Parable: The coming of Galactus.

Surfer movie and had ended up being published by Simon & Schuster in 1978. This was, he said, something that fit his vision perfectly, and TM & © Marvel. he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing otherwise.

POWERS: Since you served as a consulting editor on this project, can you please talk about how you carried out this role? about Stan’s plotting ability. He often had to add or cut bits when LOFFICIER: Jean was very intent on having his name on a “real” working with his other writers.

American comic book, one printed on newsprint, colored with the Truth to tell, I “plotted” the third page of the second comic to Ben-Day process. So Archie Goodwin, who was then Epic’s editor, make up the page count. I initially intended it to be a flashback to #1, and I came up with the concept of publishing the story as two but when I showed it to Stan, after apologizing for the initiative, comics first, reusing the original Surfer logo from the ’60s, he was thrilled with it, said it was a great idea, but he’d script then collecting it in a jacketed hardcover with some it as part of the ongoing narrative—and it worked. additional features six months later.

The funny thing is that Jean ended up mistakenly Jean laid out the coloring by writing the Ben-Day drawing two page 7s; the second one was cut from numbers on another set of photocopies. It was very the comic and appeared only in the hardcover, with hot that summer, and the quality of the print run on a bit of additional last minute scripting by Stan. Jean #1 was affected by the high temperatures; but #2 also insisted on redrawing an entirely new splash came out just fine. Jean was thrilled to finally hold page for #2, the original of which was printed in a “real American comic” with his name on it in his black-and-white in the hardcover. hands. I don’t think Stan ever saw the appeal in that, POWERS: What did you appreciate about Jean’s but he was happy to humor Jean; and he certainly was collaboration with Stan? Can you offer any insight into thrilled when he saw the beautiful hardcover that the mechanics of this creative partnership?

Archie, [editor] Margaret Clark, and [designer] Robbin LOFFICIER: At the start, Stan was almost suffering jean-marc lofficier Brosterman put together a few months later. from stage fright, which I thought was both surprising I genuinely don’t recall how long it took Stan and endearing. After all, if Moebius was Moebius, Lofficier.com. to write the plot of what became Parable. I’d say a then he was Stan “The Man” Lee. And Jean was not couple of weeks, perhaps a month, but I’m not sure. Jean then broke an intimidating figure; he and Stan had visibly clicked during the lunch down the plot in rough pencil breakdowns (some of which were and found much in common in their philosophies of life. Eventually, I reproduced in that first hardcover edition), ending up with 43 pages did get the typewritten plot in the post and took it to Jean, who, at the (the story was supposed to have 44), which provoked his admiration time, lived in a lovely house in the hills near Topanga. I liked it, but my Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9

opinion in the matter was irrelevant; however, I thought Jean would POWERS: Why was working on the Silver Surfer a good fit for Jean’s abilities and sensibilities as a storyteller? like it too, and I was proven right. He was delighted with it.

I remember that Stan called me a few days later and, sounding LOFFICIER: Of all the Marvel characters, the Surfer was the one that rather insecure, asked if Jean had liked his story; and he was over the appealed the most to Jean because of its design. You might think someone like Dr. Strange would appeal more to him, but that’s because moon when I reported that he had, indeed, very much loved it. you know the character. Jean didn’t—he only looked at the If Stan had experienced some stage fright before writing designs. When he painted a series of Marvel posters, he the plot, then it was now Jean’s turn to feel the same at chose characters with very simple yet powerful designs: the perspective of having to draw the mythical Silver the Thing, Daredevil, Spider-Man… Jean really admired Surfer. Strangely, drawing Galactus was no problem, Kirby’s designs. When Mark Evanier asked him to draw but he definitely had cold feet at drawing the famous a Kirby for some kind of tribute book, we gave him a “Sky-Rider of the Spaceways.” Stan’s plot did not whole bunch of Thors with Ego, the Colonizers, the unmask Norrin Radd in his full silver brilliance until Recorder, etc., and he chose to draw a Rigellian robot page 15—which took a few extra days to be drawn, that appears only in three or four pages—a totally as Jean was still figuring out how to make the Surfer obscure, insignificant character. At the time, Mark “his” and not a pale copy of Big John Buscema’s. had artists turning down characters like the Red Ghost (One of his earlier attempts was later used as a cover for because they thought they weren’t “important” Marvel Age and may even have been reprinted as a enough, and there’s Moebius drawing a meaningless poster, but Jean was never satisfied with it.) diana schutz Kirby automaton! So design was everything to Jean.

The Surfer eventually entered the story stage Later, it was Jean’s idea to present Stan with the left, and the rest followed satisfactorily until the beautiful painted cover of the Surfer that he had conclusion. Jean delivered fully inked, finished pages, and Stan wrote his script and did the balloon placements on photo- drawn especially for the hardcover edition as a gift. I eventually saw it copies. Jean insisted on doing the lettering himself, feeling that the hanging in his office; I believe the New York people once needed to line work of the letters had to match that of the inked art. The lettering borrow the original, and Stan put them through the wringer to make was done on tracing paper, or ordinary paper, and superimposed over absolutely certain he would get it back. the art by the Marvel offices in New York.

Despite his best efforts, English not being his mother tongue, For another expert perspective on The Silver Surfer: Parable, I turned to Jean made a number of typos, which I fixed myself with liquid paper. editor-extraordinaire Diana Schutz, who has been serving in recent If you ever purchase an original page of art with its lettering overlay, years as translator of Moebius’ impressive catalogue for Dark Horse Comics. Diana, writing in August 2021, generously shares the I’ll be happy to sign the latter! following reflection on this “epic” Stan Lee/Jean Giraud collaboration: DIANA SCHUTZ: I’m not sure that I’m exactly qualified to speak on behalf of Moebius, though having now translated a number of his later books, I suppose I have a better sense of who he was as a creator.

When translating an author’s work, especially someone who is no longer with us, you have to live in their head for the duration of the translation, in order to understand their intentions, ambiguities, motivation—everything that ultimately fuels their meaning. And with a creator like Moebius, who took great delight in all manner of verbal play, well, that becomes all the more important.

Moebius took on The Silver Surfer: Parable during his so-called “American period.” He was living in Southern California at the time, largely because of his Hollywood work. He was certainly no stranger to collaboration, having already partnered with [Alejandro] Jodorowsky on The Incal as well as, of course, Jean-Michel Charlier on the Blueberry series (as Jean Giraud). He’d been consistently using the Moebius pseudonym for over a dozen years at that point, marking his more metaphysical stories.

But Parable was his first foray into the superhero genre, perhaps not the best fit for the French artist, though it’s clear that Stan Lee really amped up his game with Moebius in mind. I mean, let’s face it, after the Galactus Trilogy, The Silver Surfer series became just another adventure title—with more emphasis on power than on cosmic.

But Stan reversed that for Parable, trying to play to Moebius’ strengths by focusing on questions of ethics as well as man’s need for a god.

The story was actually the result of a lunch meeting between Stan and Moebius, and two days later, a story synopsis was on Moebius’ desk, apparently taking him by surprise. The most interesting thing for me about Parable is that it was the first time Moebius had ever worked Marvel style—from a plot, that is, instead of a full script. In the back section of the 1988 Parable hardcover, he admits that it was “very difficult,” but Moebius was all about taking creative risks, continually challenging himself, and the art is astonishingly beautiful, even if Stan couldn’t keep himself from dialoguing all over it. I think it’s telling that Moebius never drew another superhero comic, and I expect it chafed to cede copyright ownership of his art, given Marvel’s draconian work-for-hire standard.

On the other hand, Parable did give us the nine Epic volumes— and one Dark Horse book, Moebius 0: The Horny Goof, which Marvel refused to publish, and I edited—presenting some of Moebius’s bestknown works in English, which is how most American readers were introduced to his remarkable oeuvre in the first place.

10 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Specimen #5: Silver Surfer: The Enslavers (1990) Tour Guides: Joe Rubinstein and Chris Ivy Our next one-shot specimen on this crazy, intergalactic safari is Silver Surfer: The Enslavers, which delineates the Surfer’s mighty struggle against the alien conqueror Mrrungo-Mu and his Enslavers and was finally published in 1990. In Stan Lee’s afterword to this graphic novel, which he had scripted, he reveals the origins of this long-gestating specimen: “It started in the early 1980s. Jim Shooter, who was then Marvel’s editorin-chief, asked if I’d like to do a Silver Surfer yarn with Keith Pollard. Hey, that’s like asking Galactus if he’d like a nice, juicy planet to munch on! Any writer who wouldn’t leap at a chance to collaborate with a talent like Keith should be sentenced to writing greeting cards for Irving Forbush!” To complement Lee’s playful insight on working with Keith Pollard, I had the opportunity to converse with inker Joe Rubinstein via a Zoom chat:

pencils as I would want it if I had been the penciler, and I don’t arbitrarily just alter stuff the way Alcala did. And mind you, Alcala was a genius, and the stuff looked great, but it was certainly Alcala when it was all done.

So since Chris and Jose worked for me, they had adopted a philosophy, which I really got from Dick Giordano, which is, “Just don’t ink the thing the same way every time.” You know, different pencilers have different looks. Inking is really kind of boring after a while if you do it the same way, so the act of trying to get into the head of the penciler at least makes it more interesting. And so Jose did that, and Chris did that, and I did that, and it all blended together, but mostly because Keith was so tight.

After reflecting upon my educational discussion with Joe on the inking process, I contacted Chris Ivy via email and asked him about his thoughts on contributing to the inks for Silver Surfer: The Enslavers.

POWERS: Chris, as part of Joe Rubinstein’s team in embellishing Silver Surfer: The Enslavers, what did you learn about the inking process?

CHRIS IVY: This job was done within the first two years or so of my freelancing career, so I think, first and chris ivy foremost, I learned how valuable Facebook. relationships and connections with other freelancers were—in that they could be the source of your next inking gig. In this case, it was Joe asking for help to finish inking this graphic novel. He was always generous to up-and-coming freelancers in that way. josef rubinstein POWERS: Joe, could you tell us how you That said, I also learned a variety of inking techniques from became involved with inking Silver Surfer: Joe, using an equal variety of different tools to ink with besides Gage Skidmore.

The Enslavers? the usual crow quill pen and brush, which definitely helped me JOE RUBINSTEIN: I got involved with it because probably someone in the wide variety of pencilers I was fortunate to ink over. said, “Do you want to ink the Silver Surfer comic?” and I said, “Sure.” POWERS: What were some of the highlights for you when you inked And it was Keith Pollard, who is a very good solid draftsman, and I knew this graphic novel? that there would be no problem inking IVY: Working on a project with one the graphic novel or interpreting whatof my favorite characters, Silver Surfer, ever it is that he wanted. But you know, tops the list and the fact that it was a the aliens had those Bo Derek cornrow graphic novel we were working on. I’ve things and all that stuff, and every single always liked the spacefaring stories I’ve one of them was put in, and every single inked most, and I think this was the planet was put in, and I don’t have the best because of who else was involved patience for that stuff. And it was taking (explained in more depth in my next forever and ever and ever, and I am sure answer). And the incredible attention to the economics of it was horrible too detail by penciler Keith Pollard, one of because comics just don’t pay much. my comic-artist heroes: to die for!

I was thrilled that Stan Lee was the author, POWERS: Is there anything else you of course, because it was Stan, and I would like to add about working on don’t know that I had done anything else Silver Surfer: The Enslavers? with him, but it was so ponderous that, IVY: Just that there were quite a few firsts after a while, I probably said, “Listen, I for me, every one of which resonates can’t do all this. Give it to Jose [Marzan] to this day: I mentioned Keith Pollard and Chris [Ivy] because they had been my being one of my comic-artist heroes, assistants, so I knew that they certainly but the fact that, along with him, Joe were good, and they would also Rubinstein, and old friend Jose Marzan, probably fit in more with my look, which that I was also working on a story by I had established, than if you brought Stan Lee—my biggest comic industry in somebody like Joe Sinnott or Klaus superhero ever—on my first graphic Janson, who would have been a radical novel, I’ll never forget! jump from what I had been doing.

POWERS: I think you’re right, Joe. I can’t differentiate the inks for the most part.

The Surfer Enraged RUBINSTEIN: Keith was very tight.

Norrin Radd’s certainly not the Unless you were somebody like Janson, or [Tom] Palmer, or [Alfred] Alcala, contemplative messiah in this whose entire philosophy is just to take gripping Enslavers full-pager. over and do whatever they want, I think that you have to give respect to the TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11

mood of a scene, etc. After that, I might suggest color for costuming and such. Also, with this job, we had a few assistants with color for things like airbrushing large backgrounds or coloring parts of pages under Linda’s and my direction. The difference is with this job I used much more photo reference than I had used on past jobs.

So Linda was my model too, for Shalla-Bal and Moondragon.

My good friend, actor and comedian Jim Bina, modeled for Norrin Radd (Silver Surfer), except for the kissing scenes. Of course, I stepped in then. In other words, Linda had modeled often for me before, but this was much more extensive.

POWERS: What did you like about drawing the Silver Surfer?

REINHOLD: I was a huge fan of the character starting in my teens.

I read the introduction of the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four soon During his time working on the ongoing Silver Surfer title and The Infinity after it was published in the mid-’60s. Not to mention my being a Gauntlet in 1991, Jim Starlin also wrote the Silver Surfer: Homecoming huge fan of art on The Silver Surfer by co-creator Jack Kirby, John graphic novel, which was intricately illustrated by Bill Reinhold Buscema, Moebius, and lastly I loved the recent art at the time and lavishly colored by his wife Linda Lessmann Reinhold. done in Daredevil featuring the Surfer. It was drawn by John So, with great pleasure on this final leg of this delightful Romita, Jr. and inked/embellished by Al Williamson. It safari tour of the Silver Surfer’s one-hit wonders, I had wasn’t so much JR Jr.’s great pencils that inspired me; the opportunity to talk with both Bill and Linda about it was Williamson’s unique way of embellishing the this gorgeous illustrative specimen depicting Norrin Surfer. It was a much grittier, organic look than past Radd being reunited with his beloved Shalla-Bal once versions of the character. more, this time within the alien Great One’s collection POWERS: Can you please share some of your highof planets, which includes Zenn-La. lights in illustrating this story?

REINHOLD: I loved working with Jim Starlin’s storytellPOWERS: Bill, could you please share the history behind ing and drawing characters I grew up with. The story how Silver Surfer: Homecoming became a project was an interesting mix of sci-fi, superhero action, and with Jim Starlin? love story. I got to develop my own version of the BILL REINHOLD: It’s interesting that you ask that, Silver Surfer while trying to respect the character’s bill reinhold because now that I think about it, some of the timeartistic origins. Also, I got to do my own take on line is hard to remember. But basically in the later how I imagined the architecture and costuming of Eventeny. ’80s I had met Jim briefly here and there. I think the citizens of the Surfer’s home world, Zenn-La. For Jim first knew my work from First Comics on The Badger and later The Linda and me, Silver Surfer: Homecoming is one of our favorite projects Punisher while he was also at First Comics doing Dreadstar. In 1990, that we did together. We’re very proud of this work, and it is usually my wife Linda Lessmann Reinhold and I went to New York, where the main book we show to people as an example of our work. we spent time with Jim, the Wrightsons, Michael Kaluta, and others from her old days when she was with Gorblimey Press and before that POWERS: Linda, could you please tell us about your experience working when she was coloring on staff at Marvel Comics. on Silver Surfer: Homecoming?

All this led to Jim asking me to illustrate the Silver Surfer: Home- LINDA LESSMANN REINHOLD: Silver Surfer: Homecoming was my coming graphic novel. That was a favorite coloring job ever, largely huge thrill for me as I was a big fan of because my husband drew it. I modeled his, and, of course, he was happy to for two female characters, and I have my wife Linda do the coloring. thought the work was exceptional, Thankfully, Marvel Comics editor Craig but also the writer, Jim Starlin, is one Anderson agreed. of my oldest friends in the comic-book POWERS: What was your process for business. Fun fact: I was doing working with Jim? production work in the Marvel offices REINHOLD: Jim wrote a full script with in New York City when Jim first came description and dialogue for each looking for work. I did eventually panel. He would occasionally have color some of his comic books. When suggestions of storytelling and panel I moved from New York back to the transitions that were very much in line Chicago area, I went to First Comics with his own comic-book work. looking for work, and they hired me I became a huge fan of Jim’s work in to letter the book that Bill (Reinhold, the 1970s on Captain Marvel, Warlock, my future husband) was drawing. In and other works, so I was very excited only two months, his regular colorist to work with his vision of Silver Surfer: moved on to another book, and Bill Homecoming. I don’t think I made too many changes in adding additional panels, etc., as I may do on other jobs.

Goodbye Stan, Hello Starlin I did have a lot of fun on larger scenes Marvel’s king of cosmic comics in the story portraying the vistas of space and the Surfer’s world. picked up the Surfer’s saga POWERS: How did you and Linda collaborate for this project? with Homecoming, published as REINHOLD: As far as coloring, Linda Marvel Graphic Novel #71, with and I collaborated much like we did on all our previous work. After she art by Bill Reinhold and color art was given my black-and-white line

by Linda Lessmann (Reinhold). art, she would read the script for any color considerations like night or day, TM & © Marvel.

Specimen #6: Silver Surfer: Homecoming (1991) Tour Guides: Bill Reinhold and Linda Lessmann Reinhold

12 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

and I began our collaboration at First Comics on The Badger, with My Boyfriend’s Back Mike Baron doing the writing, Bill penciling, and me coloring his A romantic reunion as rendered by the Reinholds in book. And we all worked happily together for a long time.

POWERS: What was your process for coloring Silver Surfer: Silver Surfer: Homecoming.

Homecoming?

TM & © Marvel.

LESSMANN REINHOLD: The art that I colored on Silver Surfer: Homecoming was done in the blue-line process. The original line art was photographed and printed in light blue on high-quality paper. or fantasy sequence, or memory. In one part, during the banquet That is what I painted. The same negative was used to produce a film sequence in Silver Surfer: Homecoming, one character [the Great One] positive exactly the same size, which was then laid over the top of becomes angry and grows redder in every panel until he is monothe blue line and original coloring. Coloring the art, I used Dr. Ph. chromatic red. I use color to indicate state of mind. I also colored Martin’s Radiant Concentrated watercolors, Windsor Newton facing pages in order for them to work together visually. opaque watercolors in a tube, and colored pencil. I As collaboration goes, I mentioned that I posed for evolved a mostly pastel color palette for the book that I Shalla-Bal. I was pregnant with our son at the time, so thought suited the serene, ethereal quality of the art. that was interesting. Overall, I do miss the simplicity When the art was photographed, it was separated and camaraderie of the old days and would love to into red (magenta), yellow, and blue (cyan), with return to working more closely with Bill. no black dots in the color separations. The black line was printed separately to give the printed work CONCLUSION more of a comic-book look.

My fellow ever-so-adventurous BACK ISSUE readers, POWERS: How did you and Bill collaborate for this I hope you have enjoyed this scintillating scienceproject? fiction safari exploration of the Silver Surfer’s one-shots LESSMANN REINHOLD: Bill always has ideas and special projects spanning concerning color. We were constantly conferring from 1978 to 1991. I know with each other. In fact, when we started out on linda lessmann reinhold that some of you will wish The Badger, he would call me up—and this was to remain on this page in Eventeny. even before I met him—and give me color notes: order to ruminate upon “On page 6, panel 4, see that thing: Color that blue…” Some colorists this enlightening expedition, but you’re just prefer to be left alone with their own choices. going to have to patiently tilt your theoretical Personally, I feel that working closely with the artist gives the colorist (or literal) surfboards toward the next article the benefit of the artist’s vision. He or she works in black-and-white, in this BI #135 tour guide of silver-themed but he or she thinks in color, and that just makes the colorist’s work comic-book specimens… easier and ultimately produces a more cohesive product, I think.

Using realistic coloring as a foundation, I generally have many TOM POWERS teaches English at Montgomery County Community College, which is located in Blue other considerations, for instance, lighting: day or night, mood, dream Bell, Pennsylvania.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

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“Don’t rattle your gonads in my ears!”

by A l l a n

Harvey

This line of dialogue would be startling in any comic in the early 1980s. What makes it even more remarkable is that it was written by Jack Kirby. It confirmed his new series, Silver Star, was unlike anything he’d done before.

More adult; more violent; more brutal. The cover blurb stated it was “a visual novel” and, thematically, the series posed the question, What if the solution is worse than the problem? To explore this, Kirby concocted a story about genetically modified humans designed to survive a nuclear apocalypse. Unfortunately, one of their number has his own plans—and they make nuclear annihilation seem like child’s play!

NEXT BREED

Silver Star ran for six issues (Feb. 1983–Jan. 1984), published by Pacific Comics.

The concept, however, had long pre-existed this: TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

Kirby designed the character in early 1975. His ideas coalesced into a screenplay co-written by Kirby and his assistant, Steve Sherman, around 1977.

A film was never produced, but the screenplay is an interesting document. In it, young US soldier Morgan Miller, serving in Vietnam, undergoes an amazing transformation, becoming unbelievably strong and invulnerable, trashing an enemy tank as if it was a toy. The only way his power can be constrained is to clothe him in a special suit of silver, and so Morgan is nicknamed Silver Star.

After he’s discharged from the Army, he returns home to his father, a scientist. It transpires that Miller Senior has been conducting illicit experiments, injecting his “genetic package” into five people including his son. The resulting potential new race of humanity is superpowered and better able to survive the sure-tobe-coming nuclear Armageddon. Unfortunately, the others die in mysterious circumstances and Morgan becomes aware of the evil Darius Drumm, an individual who has naturally acquired tremendous abilities similar to Morgan’s, and is killing those powerful enough to oppose his desire to destroy all life on the planet.

Morgan must defeat Drumm and save the world.

The screenplay was registered with the Writers’ Guild, but seemingly met with little interest and was filed away. Soon after, Kirby left comics behind for a new career in animation.

The Next Breed Jack Kirby’s Silver Star #1 (Feb. 1983), from Pacific Comics. Autographed by inker Mike Royer, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

Star-Spangled Roots (top) Kirby’s early conceptual drawing of Silver Star. (bottom) Jack Kirby, circa 1982–1983, with his Silver Star presentation artwork, which measured a whopping 19x24 inches! Courtesy of Heritage.

Silver Star TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

In the meantime, the owners of San Diego-based retailer Pacific Comics, Bill and Steve Schanes, noted the rise of the direct-sales comic market and saw an opportunity to produce product specifically for this new distribution outlet, starting with limited edition portfolios. They then set about enticing Jack Kirby back to comics.

David Scroggy, then the company’s editorial director, takes up the story: “Pacific Comics had been dealers at San Diego Comic-Con from the beginning [and] Jack was a main guest at every [con]. Comic-Con was much more intimate [then], so it was easy to get to know the regular guests. Hence, Bill, Steve, and I had already grown a personal relationship with Jack and Roz Kirby.

“When the Schanes brothers realized the potential of publishing original comics for the emerging specialty market was great, and that they were uniquely situated to capitalize on it, they thought about who would be the david scroggy best choice to get the ball rolling. It was not hard to think of Kirby. He was frustrated with the comics publishers, and doing animation work and other non-comics projects— but, of course, comics was Jack’s true medium. Bill and Steve came up with a deal for creators that addressed their main frustrations with the big publishers: creators would own the copyright to their creations; be paid on a royalty basis rather than a flat fee; retain their original art.

“This convergence of factors—the developing viability of the direct-sales market channel, Kirby’s availability, the mutual trust from the personal relationship—combined to make Jack the obvious choice to create the initial Pacific comics. The Schanes crafted a good contract, explained the direct market to Jack, and promised him creative control. He agreed, Pacific paid him, and he came up with and delivered Captain Victory.”

Ever the pioneer, Kirby’s science-fiction extravaganza Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 (Nov. 1981) put Pacific Comics on the map, announced a new paradigm for comics, and quickly led to a whole slew of independent publishers and comics bursting onto the direct market.

[Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #93 for the Captain Victory story.]

A year later, Pacific was keen to capitalize on its relationship with Kirby.

“There was a general hunger for more specialty product,” explains Scroggy, “and the Schanes wanted to expand the line. Captain Victory sold very well, over 100,000, [and Jack’s] legendary prowess creating comics made a second bimonthly title well within his capabilities. Two titles meant twice the payday—or so it was hoped. As I recall, it was Jack who pitched the idea of a second title, but Pacific was only too happy to agree.”

This second title, was, of course, Silver Star, for which Kirby adapted his screenplay. The resulting comic has broadly the same story, but with significant alterations. Darius Drumm has no longer developed his powers naturally, but is a recipient of Dr. Miller’s genetic package, focusing the plot more neatly. Additionally, whereas in the screenplay Drumm ends up unleashing a monster on the world, here he literally transforms himself into an “Angel of Death” to cleanse the Earth. The idea that “homo geneticus” was designed to allow some form of humanity to survive nuclear holocaust is made explicit, and characters openly, with no small horror, discuss their own coming extinction, made obsolete by the likes of Morgan and Drumm.

The world situation in the early 1980s—ongoing Cold War tensions, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, etc.—made the threat of nuclear war seem all too real. This was reflected in films such as War Games, Threads, and The Day After. Kirby clearly shared these concerns and used his new comic to address them. Captain Victory had, at least partially, been a reaction to films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which presented friendly aliens, whereas Kirby chose to warn of the threat they might pose. Similarly, Silver Star offered us a glimpse of where the nuclear arms race might lead, and what could happen if some mad scientist tried to tip the odds in humanity’s favor.

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It’s a thematically rich series, pontificating on subjects such as life and death, religion, evolution, extinction, and the legacy of mankind. It packs a lot into its six issues. It’s not an easy read—either figuratively or literally. Bar a few projects at DC, Silver Star was to be the Kirby’s final series.

With Jack in his mid-60s and ailing, some weaknesses are all too evident in both his story and artwork. As a scripter, he’d long been accused of having a cloth ear for dialogue, and his wild prose here reaches something of a pinnacle, as with the “gonads” line. It’s more than worth the effort, though, and rewards multiple re-readings.

Kirby is angry. He sees what’s happening in the world and wants to warn us. He’s serious. Silver Star is possibly the most violent comic of his long career.

Death abounds. The final issue is apocalyptic in nature, and it’s possible that millions die before the end. That it does finally stop comes as something of a relief!

Pacific had little input into the content of the book, and Kirby was determined to do things his way.

“We pitched these projects as truly creator-owned, and they were,” explains Scroggy. “Particularly with Kirby.

We had made some suggestions in the early going, which I think were good ones that might have helped the books. They were rebuffed. Jack made it clear that if we were pitching creator-ownership, then that meant he called all the shots creatively.

“We learned early on that Jack was not receptive to any sort of criticism, whether of the constructive variety or not. I well remember running a mildly critical fan letter in an early Captain Victory. Jack was furious.

I got a call scolding me for running ‘knock letters.’

Jack didn’t think this was good policy.”

With the Drumm story told, there seems little else to say, but it’s possible that the series would have continued beyond issue #6, with Kirby dreaming up new threats for homo geneticus. However, it was not to be, as Scroggy relates: “There was always a plan to assess its future based on sales. As it turned out, it became moot since Pacific Comics was in a struggle for its own survival by the time the original six-issue commitment was reaching its conclusion. Sales had dwindled and Pacific was on the ropes.”

THE KIRBYVERSE

In 1993, publisher Topps launched a new line of titles based upon a host of Kirby creations, most of which had existed only as character designs in the artist’s files.

The resulting “Kirbyverse” was centered around the Secret City Saga series, with related titles focusing on individual characters. Veteran creators such as Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and Roy Thomas crafted the stories, while the line was promoted with 1990s fanfare—all issues came pre-bagged with trading cards.

On hearing the announcement, writer Kurt Busiek, who had been a reader of Silver Star, was intrigued.

“James Fry and I are both Kirby fans, so when we heard about the Kirbyverse, we wanted a chance to do something in it. The tagline for Jon Woo’s movie The Killer was ‘One vicious killer. One tough cop. Ten thousand bullets,’ and [we] wanted to do something as crazy and

Happiness…

Holocaust… and Horror! (left) Dynamic Kirby/Royer opening splash from Pacific’s Silver Star #1. (right) We’ve got to hand it to the King— Darius Drumm is one creepy character! From Silver Star #2 (Apr. 1983).

Scans courtesy of and restored by Allan Harvey.

TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

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To the Rescue!

From the Heritage archives, pencils for an unpublished, alternate version of the cover for Pacific’s Silver Star #3.

TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

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over the top as that [film], but still with very human concerns at heart. [Kirbyverse] books got huge orders. Everybody wanted in on a cool So, [we] cooked up a pitch and I wrote it up, while James drew a new line of Kirby characters and potential collectors’ items. And with dynamic image of Silver Star in action, and we headed it all up with the comics all being bagged, no one could flip through them; they the line: ‘One bold hero. One brilliant mastermind. One thousand just bought them and took them home.

“Alas, a lot of readers didn’t like them. Whether it was the art by supervillains.’ And we faxed it in to Jim Salicrup at Topps. guys like Ditko and Ayers or the story, they just didn’t like them, and “His response was pretty much, ‘Okay. Let’s go.’”

Silver Star #1 (Oct. 1993), written by Busiek, with art by Fry didn’t want to buy the next issues as much. Comics stores got stuck and Terry Austin, finds Morgan now allied with a quasi-military with a lot of copies.”

This iteration may yet have its day in the sun, however. “James was organization to track down a crimelord who has been stealing Miller’s genetic secrets to create countless supervillains. Meanwhile, Morgan drawing issue #4 and issue #3 was being lettered and inked, so the series was nearly done. [Later,] when I did Kirby: Genesis, I made a deal is struggling with personal issues: his powers may be killing with the folks at the Kirby estate: I have the rights to the story him. In Kirby’s series, Morgan had fairly nebulous powers and art back, as long as we redraw and rewrite it a little, that seemed to alter depending on the specific needs of so the lead character isn’t Silver Star any more (and any the plot at any given moment. other Kirby characters are similarly transformed). So, we’ll Busiek explains, “I didn’t want to define [his complete it and release it someday, under a new title.” powers] too much—one of the aspects that makes The Kirbyverse was due to be given a send-off in Kirby characters so cool is that he thought big. the crossover miniseries Victory (June 1994), written He didn’t so much give the characters a confined

by Busiek and drawn by Keith Giffen, which featured list of specific abilities, [more] a core power idea Silver Star among its numerous characters, but this, from which a suite of abilities could be launched, too, was gone after a single issue. as long as they fit the theme.

The aforementioned Kirby: Genesis series appeared “I ran with an idea that Kirby had, that homo in 2011 from Dynamite Entertainment and ran for geneticus was always in danger of burning out. So nine issues (May 2011–May 2012). This was another Silver Star could do anything Kirby showed him kurt busiek line of comics based on ideas rescued from Kirby’s doing, [but] the more power he unleashed at once, drawer. The core title saw Captain Victory teaming the more danger there was that he’d trigger that meltJoshin Yamada. up with Silver Star to defeat a revitalized Darius down and die. That way, the power limitations come from character—what is he willing to risk; how far does he dare go?” Drumm, amongst much else: the plot features dozens of Kirby The cover to the first issue promises “Silver Star versus 1,000 characters being activated, or reactivated, following the arrival on Super-Villains!,” but surely that was pure hyperbole. Perhaps not, Earth of godlike visitors from deep space. Busiek’s complex plot, suggests Busiek: “We didn’t actually come up with a thousand, encompassing so many characters, was given form by the painted art but we came up with a lot—I think I’ve got a list somewhere of 853 of Alex Ross (with Jack Herbert). “[Dynamite] and I had talked for some time about the possibility villain names and snap concept descriptions that we drew from.

“We weren’t trying to come up with earth-shatteringly original of getting the Kirby-owned properties to work with,” explains Ross. villains, [we] just needed snappy names and concepts. I picked “I was familiar with most of them and am an avid reader of the Jack characters from the list as I plotted the story, [and] then James had to Kirby Collector. I knew we could make something ambitious with all of those characters that could feel like the primal energy that Kirby design them as he went, which was the real hard job.”

Sadly, this effort was in vain. Silver Star was cancelled after that imbued the Marvel Universe with. Together with Kurt Busiek, we lone issue. “It was such a shame,” says the writer. “The first few crafted a series that pursued that goal.”

To the Rescue! (left) The published cover for issue #3 (June 1983). (right) As restored

by Allan Harvey, the opening scene from issue #3.

TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

The King Forever! (top) Alex Ross’ cover to Kirby: Genesis – Silver Star #1 (Nov. 2011). (bottom) Courtesy of Heritage, Ross’ original cover art to Kirby: Genesis – Silver Star #2.

TM & © The Kirby Family Trust.

alex ross Facebook.

Busiek adds, “I don’t remember it being all that difficult [to plot], it was mostly a matter of figuring out who the characters were and how they could fit into a big, shared universe. The story itself built off their differences in dealing with a dangerous threat, so they didn’t have to be simpatico with one another—they could have different motivations, different goals. That’s what made it fun. The plot also built toward a conclusion I’d already worked out, for the [Kirbyverse] series Victory, but I was able to cannibalize that plot to build the new one.”

Ross continues, “It was a blast to take many of Jack’s concepts to develop beyond what he or anybody else had done before.

There were endless ideas he laid out that inspired us to build an interlocking world of wonders that was the domain of Kirby alone.”

Spinning out of this, Silver Star got another series, but Busiek wasn’t involved. “I made the time to do the crossover—working with Kirby characters who haven’t been developed by other hands for decades is a dream gig, and working with Alex Ross is something I don’t like to pass up, so I really had to do the crossover. But I had to get back to my other assignments after that.”

Kirby: Genesis – Silver Star depicts Morgan at his most powerful yet: At one point he even says, “I can do anything.” He and his girlfriend Norma have been creating fully functioning alternate worlds to experiment upon. The plot follows the rise of a group of homo geneticus terrorists that kidnap Norma and attempt to use her abilities to destroy the world.

This series was written by Jai Nitz and drawn by Johnny Desjardins. Ross, however, contributed painted covers, plot ideas, and art direction. “I would help guide the series’ use of other art that Jack did to build protagonists and antagonists from, often doing guide art that would be for the artist to follow,” Ross says. “We would give some interpretation to those original designs which I would compose. I [got] to visualize various manifestations of [Silver Star’s] powers. On covers, I got to show him becoming like a massive giant or in the Kirby: Genesis series, I painted him as a large energy projection when he fully enters the story, meeting Captain Victory for the first time.”

The first five issues tell an exciting story on a grand scale, and leave threads open for further adventures. However, issue #6 (June 2012) presents an unexpectedly speedy resolution. “None of the Kirby: Genesis books were meant to wrap up so quickly,” says Ross, “but the publisher pushed to close up the line in a somewhat quick move. I have unpublished covers for the Genesis and Captain Victory series that still haven’t been seen.”

So that, then, is Silver Star. Birthed in a screenplay from the mind of the greatest comic creator of the 20th Century or from the genetic experiments of a mad scientist. Take your pick. The real-world crises that so troubled Kirby in the 1980s waned, but his comic endures for us to read like a time capsule capturing a moment. To Kirby, Silver Star meant something.

Renewal. Survival. Life. And it’s debatable whether the character was ever quite so thematically powerful again. In the end, shorn of those concerns of an imminent apocalypse, Morgan Miller became, essentially, an ordinary superhero, a face in the crowd, and while death by bomb faded, the death of cancellation loomed all too often.

The final word goes to one who was there near the beginning, David Scroggy: “I was lucky to be able to hear [Jack] brainstorm ideas a few times.

It was astonishing. [He] could visualize them, rendering these complex characters and concepts so fast your head would spin. On top of it all, he was a great humanitarian. His values were strong, and it showed.

“There was only one Jack Kirby.”

ALLAN HARVEY makes a living digitally restoring old comics for new reprint editions. His projects include Kona, Air War Stories, and Atlas At War. www.allanharveyrestoration.com.

20 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

“My life is on this compound; I know no other. Here I hunt rabbijacks, sleep on the dirt beneath the Moon. The barrier encloses us, standing as it has stood since before my grandfere was born, and round its fringes are staked pale Nazite guards, protecting their world from the likes of us…”

by S

tephan Friedt

That’s how, in 1983, the first issue of a proposed four-issue series opens, with the imagery provided in the words of Bruce Jones and April Campbell (later Campbell Jones), and expanded upon by the fully painted artwork of Scott Hampton. This was the first full US comic to be totally painted and not just inked and colored line art. Though scheduled for four issues, it only ran three at Pacific Comics before its collapse. The fourth issue would see the light when Eclipse Comics gathered the story together for a graphic novel release in hardback, limited-edition hardback, and paperback in 1987.

A look at the creators gives us a foundation of why it came together so well.

Bruce Jones: artist, comic-book writer, novelist, and screenwriter…

Bruce started in comics in 1969. He wrote and drew a story, “Point of View,” for Web of Horror #3… which happened to be the last issue of the short-lived, but well-remembered magazine.

From there, he moved to Jim Warren’s Creepy and Eerie… at the same time writing for rival Skywald using the pseudonym of Philip Roland. Bruce would freelance for Marvel in writing and drawing for their black-and-white magazine line, as well as penning stories for Conan the Barbarian and Ka-Zar. In 1979, Bruce met his future wife, April Campbell, and they formed a 1982–1984 writing partnership that would evolve into Bruce Jones Associates that worked like a comicbook studio. Bruce Jones Associates (BJA) would package, edit, and do most of the writing for all the books coming out of the studio. The artwork would come from Bruce’s connections and friends in the business. For Pacific Comics they would provide the content for the titles Twisted Tales, Alien Worlds, Somerset Holmes, Pathways to Fantasy, and Silverheels. Alien Worlds and Somerset Holmes would continue from 1984–1986 at Eclipse Comics after the demise of Pacific Comics, and BJA would also provide Eclipse material for Alien Encounters, Tales of Terror, and a new series, The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones. Bruce wrote Richard Corben’s Rip in Time (1986–1987) series for Fantagor Press.

In the 1990s, Bruce jumped to screenwriting for several television movies and the series The Hitchhiker. From 1990–1992, Bruce wrote the newspaper strip Flash Gordon, with artwork by Ralph Reese and Gray Morrow. During all this he also managed to pump out several novels including a pair under the pseudonym, Bruce Elliot. Bruce continued providing many stories for DC titles and a multitude of Marvel issues, including runs on Ka-Zar the Savage #1–27 (1981–1983) and The Incredible Hulk vol. 3

Revolutionary Work Detail from Scott Hampton’s cover art to the 1987 Silverheels collected edition, reprinting the USA’s first fully painted comic-book series, from late 1983 and early 1984. Image scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Stephan Friedt.

Silverheels © Bruce Jones Associates. Art © Scott Hampton.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21

Culture Clash Hampton’s covers to Pacific Comics’ Silverheels #1 (Dec. 1983)–3 (May 1984).

Silverheels © Bruce Jones Associates. Art © Scott Hampton.

#34–76 (2002–2004). Bruce received an Inkpot Award in 2004 for all of his output.

April Campbell Jones is just as prolific. She’s been a singer, a model, an actress, a photographer, an editor, a comic-book model (posing for the character of Somerset Holmes in the graphic novel of the same name), an author, and a screenwriter.

As she wrote in her blog back in 2014: “I’ve been Bruce’s first editor from the time we met. He, on the other hand, seldom reads anything I have written. By myself, that is.

Often we write together, which means mainly we plot together, and he does the actual writing, though not always.

Frankly, I hate to write. I just happen to love what I have written, and often it comes out of the blue anyway, and it’s like reading it for the first time.

“The advantage to being Bruce’s first editor is that I get to read his stuff before anyone else does. When we do work together, there’s always the question of who wrote what and which one of us came up with what idea. It gets pretty ridiculous sometimes, since Bruce has no memory for that sort of thing at all, and I remember every little detail. Our writing is actually nothing alike, though I can do a pretty fair imitation of Bruce’s style and have on occasion. But we both grew up on sci-fi and mystery stories, Shirley Jackson, and Alfred Hitchcock films, so we have a lot in common as far as our pop culture vocabulary goes.”

Scott Hampton followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Bo Hampton, and became a comic-book artist. In 1976, they both studied under Will Eisner. In 1981, Scott’s first published work was in Warren’s Vampirella #101. Scott has worked for Marvel, DC, and Image. He’s worked with Steve Niles on several occasions, as well as with Archie Goodwin, Greg Rucka, and others.

In 1993, he won a “Special Award for Excellence in Presentation” Harvey Award for his collaboration with Archie scott hampton Goodwin on the graphic novel Batman: Photo by Acagastya/ Night Cries. His bio in the first issue of Wikimedia Commons. Silverheels noted: “Contemporary artistic influences: Jeff Jones, Mike Kaluta, Frank Frazetta, Wally Wood, etc. All-time artistic influences: Claude Monet, Edmond Dulac, Camille Pissaro, Corot, Bocklin, Renoir, Rembrandt, Whistler, Klimt, and countless others. Film influences: Truffaut, Kubrick, Lean, Weir…

I grew up looking at comics and drawing, imitating my older brother. I took an art course in 6th grade and was bullied into doing papier-mâché crap and pots and such.

No formal art training as a result.“ On behalf of BACK ISSUE, I had the opportunity to ask Scott what he remembered from nearly 40 years ago while working on Silverheels.

STEPHAN FRIEDT: What was it like working with Bruce and April Jones? Had you worked with them before?

SCOTT HAMPTON: I had provided the art for a story Bruce wrote for Alien Worlds called “The Inheritors.” Shortly after that they asked me to work on Silverheels. They are great people. It was a blast working with them!

FRIEDT: What was your working process? Did you get a full script?

HAMPTON: I got a full script, and I ran with that.

FRIEDT: Did you have any interaction with Pacific Comics?

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HAMPTON: This was a Bruce Jones Associates production, and I’m pretty sure all my interactions were with April and sometimes Bruce.

FRIEDT: Why painted? What was your inspiration to do it this way… the first time in an ongoing US comic book?

HAMPTON: The first ongoing comic book as opposed to a graphic novel or anthology to be fully painted.

I was influenced by Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Kaluta, and painted a lot of my early drawings and samples. Most of my assignments were to paint the stories since that was what I was comfortable with.

FRIEDT: Your love of film shines through your work. Do you feel your involvement in film and your joy in the medium have strongly influenced your work in comic books?

HAMPTON: Definitely! Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, animated Christmas specials, and Saturday morning cartoons were how I learned to tell stories visually.

FRIEDT: Any interesting stories from working on this project?

HAMPTON: Not really. It was a long time ago, and I worked from home.

With Silverheels #1 (Dec. 1983), credited to Bruce and April as co-authors, we learn that Silverheels is a 40-year-old telepath, or a “Dreamer” as his people, the ’Pachees, call it. He can travel from his body and enter the minds of others far from him, human or animal.

His people believe that the gifts were the result of the “Raining War,” when “blood and fire ran from the skies.”

They are held in a compound by the “Nazites,” an aggressive group of white-skinned, blonde-haired humans who rounded up all those of color and enslaved them in compounds, and then sought to conquer the stars. But the people off-world fought back and drove the Nazites back to Earth.

The outer worlds form a group called the Lawkeepers Force, with representatives from all the worlds. Silverheels manages to worm his way into the city when the representatives from the outer worlds are looking for representatives from Earth to join the Lawkeepers. He falls for a young Nazite woman, Miranda, the general’s daughter, and impresses the outer world reps enough to be chosen as one of the cadets to be tested and trained.

Stephen Kraus, his rival for Miranda’s attentions as well as the Lawkeeper position, is another Nazite.

Fifteen pages of this issue are dedicated to Silverheels.

The remainder of issue #1 is a 13-page sci-fi by Bruce and April starring the character Flan, illustrated

by Ken Steacy.

In issue #2 (Mar. 1984), its Silverheels script credited only to April, Miranda manages to use her influence to accompany the cadets to training camp as an observer.

We follow Silverheels as he struggles through rigged tests to try to win his spot on the Lawkeepers. We only get eight pages of Silverheels in this issue, but we are also treated to a portfolio of Scott’s paintings, and well as more Flan and art by Steacy.

In Silverheels #3 (May 1984) there are no credits for the Jones/Campbell/Hampton titular tale, and in just nine pages, Silverheels triumphs over the rigged test and we are left with a cliffhanger ending. Rounding out the issue is another Flan story and a short story by Jaime Hernandez.

In what would have been the fourth issue, revealed in the 1987 Silverheels Eclipse graphic novel, we are given 21 pages of story. Stephen Kraus and Silverheels are teamed up in the last test; their goal is to protect each other through the trial. They survive the trial, apparently the only survivors out of all the cadets, and for the first time the Lawkeepers choose two cadets for the Lawkeepers Force, the two of them as a team.

They are sent off-world and Miranda is left to pine for

Silverheels back on Earth.

The story tends to read like a soap opera, or space opera, if you will. In some ways it foretells Bruce’s talent for a series like Flash Gordon.

Scott’s artwork is phenomenal. Hints of Jeff Jones, Frank Frazetta, Alex Raymond, and Michael Kaluta are evident in panel after panel. Many of the panels would easily stand alone as prints.

While an incomplete story, the original Pacific Comics run is a treasure in my collection.

STEPHAN FRIEDT has been around comics for a long, long time. A former columnist for The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom, he has also contributed to Alter Ego and the Grand Comics Database.

And he still finds time to hold real jobs and be at the beck and call of a wife and two daughters in his secret identity as a resident of the Pacific Northwest.

Aborted Mission Hampton’s graphic storytelling and Bruce Jones and April Campbell’s sci-fi saga were silenced after Silverheels’ discontinuation with issue #3.

Silverheels © Bruce Jones Associates.

Art © Scott Hampton.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23

ART GALLERY Silver Surfer and related characters TM & © Marvel.

An undated John Buscema pencil recreation of (inset) his iconic 1968 cover for Silver Surfer vol.

1 #1. Courtesy of Heritage. (opposite page top) The Recorder, from the pages of Thor, spaceraces the Surfer in this commissioned illo by Ron Frenz, colored by Ian Sokoliwski. From the collection of Robert Menzies. (opposite bottom) The Surfer comic-blasts the Hulk in this 2000 commissioned drawing penciled by John Buscema and inked by Joe Sinnott. Signed by both artists, plus Smilin’ Stan Lee. Courtesy of Heritage.

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(top) Norrin Radd is glad to span the spaceways in this Buscema-evoking centerspread by Howard Bender and Duffy Vohland. From Marvel UK’s Super Spider-Man and the Titans #209 (Feb. 2, 1977).

Art restored by Andrew Standish. Courtesy of Robert Menzies. (bottom left) Original Jim Starlin art to the Marvel-zine FOOM #9 (Mar. 1975), featuring the Surfer, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock.

Courtesy of Heritage. (bottom right) Jack “King” Kirby penciled this Silver Surfer pinup in 1978, and it was published in pencil in the 1979 art book Jack Kirby Masterworks. A few years later, it was inked by Joltin’ Joe Sinnott. Courtesy of Heritage.

26 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

(top) The herald revolts against his master in this centerspread from Marvel UK’s Super Spider-Man with the Super-Heroes #194 (Oct. 27, 1976). Art by Bob Budiansky and Duffy Vohland. Art restored by Andrew Standish.

Courtesy of Robert Menzies. (bottom) From the collection of Shaun Clancy comes this Thanos vs. Galactus (and heralds) piece penciled by Ron Lim, inked by Al Milgrom, and colored by Bob Sharen.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 27

A Rom Lim-drawn cosmic quartet, all from the collection of Shaun Clancy. (top left) Lim inked and colored by Joe Rubinstein. (top right) Galactus and the Surfer by Lim, inked by Tom Christopher, and colored by Bob Sharen. (bottom left) Based on Silver Surfer #63, the Surfer and Captain Marvel, penciled by Lim and inked and colored by Rubinstein, who also co-produced (bottom right) this Surfer vs.

Thanos commission.

28 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

A stunning 2008 commissioned portrait of starcrossed lovers Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal, penciled by Bob Hall and inked by Joe Rubinstein. From the collection of Timothy Finney.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

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The Surfer Returns Ye ed couldn’t decide whether to open this article with the original art or colored, published version of the cover for Silver Surfer vol. 3 #1 (July 1987)—so we’re going with both!

Original Marshall Rogers/Joe Rubinstein art (signed by the inker) courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © Marvel.

by E d

Lute

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

steve englehart steveenglehart.com.

Ever since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby teamed up for Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), Marvel Comics had showcased the cosmic aspects of the Marvel Universe.

The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Thor, and many other Silver Age titles featured the Marvel superheroes facing off against intergalactic threats. However, Lee, Kirby, and other members of the Mighty Marvel Bullpen went further than just featuring little green men attacking Earth.

The creators introduced characters that weren’t primarily Earthbound. Heroes such as Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Adam Warlock, and the original incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy graced comic-book covers and enthralled readers with their exploits in the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe. As the years passed, many of these spacefaring characters ceased publication, or in the case of Captain Marvel, even died.

That didn’t mean that Marvel comics didn’t contain any stories in outer space. Quite the contrary, because some of the most beloved and well-regarded tales of the Bronze Age didn’t take place on Earth.

The Avengers’ involvement in the Kree/Skrull War, the X-Men’s interactions with the Starjammers [see BI #133—ed.] and the Shi’ar Empire, and the Fantastic Four’s jaunt through the Negative Zone are just a few of the classic storylines that highlighted intergalactic action. However, these stories featured characters that were mainly Earth-based. The cosmic side of Marvel wasn’t being showcased in titles of its own.

That changed in a huge way in 1987 with a new Silver Surfer title. Not only was the book set in outer space, it returned Marvel’s cosmic side to the forefront, with a vengeance.

Since being introduced in the seminal classic Fantastic Four #48 (Mar. 1966), Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer had remained an integral, although irregularly seen, part of the Marvel Universe. He received his own 18-issue solo series (Aug. 1968–Sept. 1970), with outstanding artwork by John Buscema and, in the final issue, Jack Kirby. After the cancellation of his original series, he made guest-appearances in The Fantastic Four and Thor and was a member of the Defenders as well as being featured in several one-shots and specials.

However, even though the Silver Surfer is known around the Marvel Universe as the Sentinel of the Spaceways, these adventures were mostly Earthbound due to his imprisonment on our planet at the end of the Galactus trilogy. That all changed during the Copper Age with the release of Silver Surfer vol. 3 #1 (July 1987), when the Silver Surfer was freed of his Earthly imprisonment and returned to the stars.

Tour the galaxy as BACK ISSUE looks at the creation of this Silver Surfer title, the idea to release the character from his Earthbound prison, the series itself, and how it reinvigorated Marvel’s cosmic universe.

EARTHBOUND NO MORE!

When Silver Surfer vol. 3 #1 hit newsstands on April 7, 1987, it was the first time that a Silver Surfer solo story was penned by anyone other than Stan Lee. Steve Englehart was chosen for the assignment. Did Englehart feel intimidated following in the footsteps of Lee? “[The-Marvel editor-in-chief Jim] Shooter called me up and offered it to me,” Englehart recalls to BACK ISSUE. “I said I understood that Stan had reserved the Surfer for himself, but Shooter said he was overriding that. I hadn’t been daunted since I took over Captain America; after that, there was never a problem (I wanted to follow Frank Miller on Daredevil, just for the challenge). I expected to make the Surfer work.”

Artists Marshall Rogers, who famously partnered with Englehart on a short-lived but influential series of Batman stories in Detective Comics in the late 1970s, and inker Josef Rubinstein were tapped for art duties on the title. Rubinstein reveals to BI, “I enjoy the Silver Surfer.

I never read the first series when it originally came out

Cutting Loose While the Surfer occasionally violated Galactus’ space exile and left Earth, such as in (top left) Fantastic Four #155 (Feb. 1975) and (top right) Incredible Hulk #250 (Aug. 1980), in the first issue of his new Silver Surfer series (below), the chrome-domed do-gooder boldly undertook a brand-new star trek.

TM & © Marvel.

32 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

because I was ten at the time. I think that the Silver Surfer is a majestic character. I was offered the series and I accepted.”

Even though Lee had given up writing comics on a regular basis, he had continued to write several Silver Surfer specials and one-shots during the Bronze Age. So how did he feel about someone else taking over writing the Silver Surfer?

In an interview with Darrel L. Boatz for David Anthony Kraft’s Comic Interview #64 (Dec. 1988), Lee stated, “After I gave up Spider-Man then someone else did Spider-Man, and someone else did the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange and the X-Men and all of them. I felt that it was kind of nice for me to have been the only writer of the Silver Surfer, so I felt a little bit disappointed when somebody else did it. I would have liked to have been the only person. Had I known they were absolutely going to have the book done, I would have found the time to do it myself. I didn’t really have time, but I would have made the time, rather than have anybody else do it. ... This is not at all a criticism of Steve or of Marshall, it’s just that it’s one book that I would have liked to have always done myself.”

The beginning of the first issue started with the Silver Surfer being attacked by Tryco Slatterus, a.k.a. the Champion, one of the Elders of the Universe, who thought that the Surfer would ruin the Skrulls’ plans for cosmic conquest and domination of Galactus. After being defeated by the Surfer and finding out that the Surfer couldn’t leave the planet Earth, the Champion rocketed away. Before he left, though, the Champion also revealed that the Skrulls had captured Galactus’ current herald Frankie Raye/ Nova. Although the Champion only had a small role to play in the inaugural issue of the book, the Elders of the Universe would play a big role in the title going forward, as we shall see.

Ever since Fantastic Four #50 (May 1966), the Silver Surfer had been imprisoned on the planet Earth by an invisible barrier placed there by Galactus. He had escaped several times in Silver Surfer vol. 1 #4 (Feb. 1969), Fantastic Four #155 (Feb. 1975), Incredible Hulk #250 (Aug. 1980), and Silver Surfer vol. 2 #1 (June 1982), amongst others. Every time, though, the Surfer either had to return to Earth to save someone or the planet itself or he was forced back behind the barrier.

After all of his failed attempts, it seemed that the Surfer would never return to the stars. Yet that was just what he did when this new book premiered. So how was he able to successfully breach the barrier this time? With a little help from his friends, specifically the Fantastic Four.

The ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing suggested that it was the Surfer’s board that kept him trapped in the barrier and that he should try to leave the Earth without it. With the assistance of Mr. Fantastic, the Surfer flew through the barrier on his way to freedom. Regarding the marshall rogers idea that it was the board helping to keep him prisoner, Englehart remarks, “Well, I had to Tom Oberlin / come up with something, and there was only Batman Wikia. him and his board…”

Once free, the Silver Surfer searched the cosmos for Galactus.

Upon finding him, the Surfer made a deal with his former master that if he saved Nova from the Skrulls, then Galactus would remove his punishment and allow the Surfer to roam the stars once more without fear of being held prisoner behind the barrier on Earth ever again. With Nova freed, the Surfer’s punishment was removed, and he was free to roam the stars again.

RETURN TO ZENN-LA

Ladies’ Man (top) A reunion with Shalla-Bal, in issue #2. (bottom) A green-pigmented Mantis joins the Surfer on the Marshall Rogersdrawn cover to Silver Surfer #4 (Oct. 1987).

TM & © Marvel.

1968’s Silver Surfer vol. 1 #1 provided readers with the origin of the Silver Surfer. It also introduced his love, Shalla-Bal. His love and longing for Shalla-Bal had been a driving force for the Surfer to escape his entrapment, so it wasn’t a surprise that after squaring things with his former master, the next thing writer Englehart had the Surfer do was to return to his home planet Zenn-La. However, all wasn’t as the Surfer remembered. Shalla-Bal had become empress due to the events of the Silver Surfer vol. 2 #1, Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

WHAT IF THE SILVER SURFER NEVER ESCAPED HIS EARTHLY PRISON? OR… SILVER SURFER #1: AN ALTERNATE REALITY While Silver Surfer vol. 3 is noted for returning the Surfer to the stars, initially this wasn’t going to be the case. Writer Steve Englehart reveals to BACK ISSUE, “My first comment to [Marvel editor-in-chief Jim] Shooter, after talking about Stan [Lee], was that the Surfer needed to get off Earth; they’d beaten that situation to death. But Shooter said no. I wrote and John Buscema drew a first issue with the Surfer on Earth.

Then out of the blue Shooter called and said he’d changed his mind, so we started over.”

Englehart’s original story with an Earthbound Silver Surfer was shelved, and the writer completed an entirely new story that depicted how the Surfer finally escaped Earth, in Silver Surfer vol. 3 #1 (July 1987). The Surfer story written by Englehart and penciled by Big John Buscema, the main artist on the original Silver Surfer solo series, with inks by Jack Abel, later saw print as an alternate-reality tale in Marvel Fanfare

#51 (June 1990). In his “Editori-Al” for the issue, Marvel Fanfare editor Al Milgrom told readers, “I just couldn’t bear to see all this gorgeous Buscema/Abel artwork go to waste.

I rescued it from the displaced comics file.” The double-sized issue had the Silver Surfer face off against Kree warriors who were attacking cities on Earth, as well as Mephisto and Mangog. The story also featured appearances by Namor, Johnny Storm, Alicia Masters, Dr. Strange, Mantis (with her original skin tone), and her son Sprout. A new pinup by then-current Silver Surfer artist Ron Lim was included. There was a wraparound cover from Buscema.

While this story might not have reinvigorated the Marvel Cosmic Universe like the ongoing series ultimately did, one wonders just what twists and turns the series would have taken had John Buscema stayed on board as penciler and this had been the actual first issue of the series. What if? indeed! where he had given some of his power cosmic to her.

She used that power to help turn Zenn-La into a lush, beautiful planet. The Surfer wanted to rekindle his love with Shalla-Bal, but she rebuffed him so that she could focus on rebuilding their world.

Englehart not only brought the Surfer back to the stars but was instrumental in making Shalla-Bal a more three-dimensional character than she had been, no longer pining over her lost love. This character development continued throughout the book.

Not wanting to stay on Zenn-La without a relationship with Shalla-Bal, the Surfer took off from the planet.

The Sentinel of the Spaceways was back amongst the stars!

Silver Surfer #4 (Oct. 1987) brought Mantis, a former Avenger who first appeared in Avengers #112 (June 1973) by Englehart and artists Don Heck and Frank Bolle, into the supporting cast of the title. She quickly became a companion, confidant, and lover to the Surfer. The half-Vietnamese and half-German Mantis was originally depicted as human, but in the Silver Surfer series she was a green-skinned, alienlike character, and that would become her normal look going forward.

With the Surfer’s love for Shalla-Bal previously being a driving force for the character, why did Englehart feel the need to alter the status quo? “Moping over Shalla-Bal had gotten very old,” Englehart reveals to BACK ISSUE. “He needed to find new paths everywhere in his life. As for Mantis, she was one of the cosmic beings, so she could hang with him, and she was a longtime favorite of mine. Plus, story-wise, we got to see what Shalla-Bal had done with her life while he was gone.”

Long Before WandaVision… …Englehart, Rogers, and Rubinstein skewered classic sitcom tropes in Silver Surfer #8 (Feb. 1988), featuring a “reality” construct within the mind of the Supreme Intelligence.

Original art courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

34 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

COSMIC ADVENTURES

Issue #3 (Sept. 1987) found the Silver Surfer confronting the Collector and the Runner, two more of the Elders of the Universe. The Surfer’s encounter with the Collector was brought on due to the events of West Coast Avengers Annual #2 and Avengers Annual #16 (both Sept. 1987), where the Grandmaster, another Elder, planned to make all of the Elders immortal.

The next several issues found the Silver Surfer and Mantis in conflict with more of the Elders including the Possessor, the Gardener, the Contemplator, the Obliterator, and the Astronomer, as well as the previously encountered Elders. The Elders were planning to a girlfriend or two, but he was always kill Galactus and wanted the Surfer outnumbered by the Elders.” out of the way so that he wouldn’t Even though the Elders were a major interfere with their plans. That was presence during the first year of the why the Runner attacked the Surfer in title, they weren’t the only threats the third issue. that the Surfer encountered. Reptyl, They finally made their play to joe staton introduced in issue #11 (May 1988), destroy Galactus in issue #9 (Mar. became a reoccurring adversary in 1988), but failed. Galactus consumed © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. the book, and conflicts with the Kree the Grandmaster, the Collector, the Champion, the Runner, and the Gardener as punish- and Skrull, which would culminate at the end of ment. The Silver Surfer made a deal with his former Englehart’s run on the title, also added to the action. master to accompany Nova on her quest to find the remaining Elders: the Contemplator, the Astronomer, CHANGING OF THE (ARTISTIC) GUARD the Possessor, and the Trader. In return, Galactus would Marshall Rogers’ last issue was #12 (June 1988). never again threaten Zenn-La. Nova and the Surfer spent Englehart reveals, “Marshall was our first choice for the book, and he did memorable work as always, but he the next several issues searching for the other Elders.

The Elders of the Universe were some of the main was having some personal problems at the time and antagonists during Englehart’s time on the book. after ten issues he just couldn’t keep up with it.

“My good friend Joe Staton took over while “There were a bunch of them, so they offered many different challenges while making up a coherent Marvel was deciding who’d be the next regular artist,” structure,” Englehart explains. “They were tied together, Englehart continues. Staton filled in on issue #11 but loosely, so I could go in any direction with them. (May 1988), 13 (July 1988), and 14 (Aug 1988).

And, always, the Surfer was a loner. He may have had “Joe is a very useful comics guy because he can draw

Before You Accuse Me… Ronan the Accuser blasts his way into Silver Surfer #13 (July 1988). Cover

by Rich Buckler and Joe Rubinstein, interior page illustrated by Joe Staton and Dave Cockrum.

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 35

anything well, and quickly, and shouldn’t be overlooked,” Englehart adds.

Joe Staton tells BACK ISSUE, “Steve Englehart put me in for the job. Marshall Rogers had moved on from the Surfer. Steve and Marvel needed somebody to take over for a bit. Steve and I have a history of working well together [including DC’s Green Lantern Corps and Millennium—ed.], and he knew I could work in most any style. I was brought in on a temporary basis until a permanent replacement for Marshall was arranged.

“I’m very much a Surfer fan, especially the Buscema take,” Staton says. “I’m a big fan of that sort of SF space stuff. Probably, the Surfer is my third favorite Marvel character, just behind Dr. Strange and Agatha Harkness.”

Being a fan of the Silver Surfer didn’t exactly make the character easy to draw for the versatile illustrator.

“I found that there was one difficulty in drawing the Surfer that I had not anticipated,” admits Staton.

“He doesn’t have any ears, and I realized that I had always hung the jawbone of most faces from the ear.

I’d have to draw fake ears and then delete them, or the jaw would just sort of wobble around.”

Staton would have stuck with The Silver Surfer, if given the chance. “After I’d been in place for a while as the fill-in, Steve or I (I forget which of us) asked editor Craig Anderson if I might stay on,” Staton remembers.

“He said he’d have no problem with that, so unless ‘somebody hot’ came by the office and asked for the assignment, it would be mine.

“So, on cue, Ron Lim came by Craig’s office and asked about doing it. I was recruited as the fill-in, and that’s how I left.”

Penciler Ron Lim took over with Silver Surfer #15 (Sept. 1988), although it wasn’t his first published Silver Surfer work, having previously drawn backup tales for 1988’s Silver Surfer Annual #1 (see sidebar). “Ron brought a real enthusiasm to the book, and a fun new look,” Englehart tells BACK ISSUE. “He loved the Surfer, he loved comics, and he was a nice guy—a pleasure to work with.” (Ron Lim was not available for an interview as this article was being written.)

According to inker Joe Rubinstein, who worked with all three Silver Surfer pencilers, “They all brought something different to the book. Marshall’s artwork was quieter than the others’. He didn’t want it to be in your face. He wanted you to experience what the Surfer was experiencing. Joe was more dynamic. His pages were large and epic. His stuff was cartoonier than the others. Ron was a manga guy. He brought a manga feel to the book.

“I try to be as authentic to the artist’s work as I can.

I don’t want to alter what they created,” says Joe Rubinstein, who left the book with issue #21. Tom Christopher took over inking duties for a long stint on the title.

Even through the artistic shifts, Englehart kept the cosmic thrills coming. The Surfer faced off against Ronin the Accuser, teamed up with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, and had even more encounters with the Elders of the Universe.

‘THE KREE-SKRULL CONFLICT’

“The Kree-Skrull War” was one of the highlights of writer Roy Thomas’ tenure on The Avengers. Running in Avengers #89–97 (June 1971–Mar. 1972), it featured artwork by Sal Buscema, Neal Adams, John Buscema, Sam Grainger, George Roussos, and Tom Palmer.

Not as well remembered as Thomas’ epic was Englehart’s “Kree-Skrull Conflict” in Silver Surfer #25– 31 (July–Dec. 1989). This war of the worlds had been brewing since prior to the Silver Surfer series when a genetic bomb exploded and took away the Skrulls’ shapeshifting abilities in Avengers Annual #14 and Fantastic Four Annual #19 (both Nov. 1985). Even though it began prior to the start of the series, it played out in the background and sometimes foreground of Silver Surfer since the beginning.

The conflict ended in the double-sized Silver Surfer #31, Englehart’s final issue, which ended the writer’s time on the book on a high note. “The Kree-Skrull

I Like Ike (Ikaris, that is) Back when Joe Staton was penciling 1988’s Silver Surfer Annual #1 (inked by Joe Rubinstein), no one could have imagined that its guest-stars, Jack Kirby’s Eternals, would one day become Marvel Studios Hollywood stars.

Original art courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

36 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Conflict and a previous war were hallmarks of Marvel and its many protagonists. It was intricate, tricky, and space continuity,” Englehart states. “Once I started fun, despite the dark cloud hanging over everything.”

Was there anything that he wanted to do in the playing with all the space options, those two races loomed even larger than the Elders as groups that book but didn’t get a chance to? “I wrote a Thanos/ could give a loner trouble—and I naturally wanted Mantis story that was rejected with that new edict to standardize everything,” Englehart reveals. to expand on what we already knew about these folks. Two races at war led to an epic.”

Englehart returned the Silver Surfer STARLIN THROWS DOWN THE to prominence and helped make his (INFINITY) GAUNTLET book a bestseller, but after a few Who could follow Englehart’s fantastic short years he left the title. “The run on Silver Surfer? None other than Marvel Age finally came to an end,” he one of Marvel’s premier cosmic writers, laments. “The new EIC told me they that’s who! were looking more to merchandising Jim Starlin was no stranger to than stories going forward, that the the Marvel cosmic universe, having books would sell no matter who wrote created Thanos and Drax the Destroyer, or drew them, and so the books should amongst other Marvel mainstays. be standardized. On the Surfer, I In 1982, he also wrote and was told to go back to the onepenciled Marvel Comics’ first ron lim issue, pining for Shalla-Bal motif. graphic novel, The Death of Captain I balked at this because I believed Marvel, as well as a plethora of in the Marvel Age approach and Pat Loika. cosmic comics for the publisher because my approach was what had made the during the Bronze Age. Starlin was a natural choice character sell; but I tried for a couple of months to to take over The Silver Surfer. make it work, bitching all the while. Then I was given Jim Valentino filled in on writing duties for issues six months to wrap up all my series, any way I #32 (Jan. 1990) and 33 (Jan. 1990) before Starlin took wanted. I wrote the most massive Kree-Skrull story over. If you noticed that both of the fill-in books were I could—and then I was gone.” published in the same month, that’s because the series With so many outstanding storylines that Englehart was so popular that it had garnered a biweekly worked on during his time on the book, one remains publishing schedule. Valentino would shortly go on to his favorite: “I actually loved the Kree-Skrull Conflict continued on page 40

Enter: Ron Lim Silver Surfer #15 (Sept. 1988) marked the premiere of the series’ new penciler, Ron Lim, whose work on the title would help rocket him to fanfavorite status.

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37

38 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

To Infinity and Beyond! (opposite) A quartet of covers by Ron Lim (and friends). (this page) Lim (pencils) and Rubinstein (inks and colors) reunited for this astounding recreation of (inset) the cover of Silver Surfer #34 (Feb. 1990), the first issue written by Marvel’s king of cosmic comics, Jim Starlin.

Commissioned illo from the collection of Shaun Clancy.

Characters TM & © Marvel.

Art © Ron Lim and Joe Rubinstein.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39

continued from page 37

write Marvel’s first ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy series [see BI #119—ed.].

Starlin started off his time on the book with a bang. His first issue, #34, marked the Silver Surfer’s first meeting with the Mad Titan Thanos… but definitely not his last. The cover by Lim and Rubinstein remains one of the most iconic in the series’ run.

This storyline continued through #38 (June 1990), with the Surfer thinking that he killed Thanos, a ruse of the Mad Titan’s so he could continue his plans without the Surfer’s interference. This storyline led into the two-issue miniseries Thanos Quest, which led to the Infinity Gauntlet six-issue miniseries, one of Marvel Comics’ most popular crossover events ever and the basis for two of the highest-grossing movies ever, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Issue #39 (July 1990) was a fill-in issue from writer Alan Grant and artist James Sherman, and Starlin and Lim returned the following issue. Silver Surfer #40–43 (Aug.– Nov. 1990) offered a commentary on the plight of the poor when the Surfer went to Dynamo City, lost his powers, and could only get them returned to him when he left the city after paying an exit fee. Since the Surfer didn’t have any money, he had to get a job, but had difficulty finding one.

In one case where he did find work, the fees and taxes taken from his pay left him with nothing. Writer Ron Marz co-wrote issues #42 and 43 with Starlin.

Starlin returned to full writing duties with Silver Surfer #44 (Dec. 1990). Many of Marvel’s cosmic characters were showcased during his time on the book, including Drax the Destroyer, Starfox, Nebula, Gamora, Adam Warlock, and even Pip the Troll.

Both Englehart and Starlin approached the Silver Surfer series differently. In a 2018 interview with the Comic Book Historians Podcast, Ron Lim (who worked on the title with both writers) explained the differences between the two creators: “Englehart works more on a Marvel style. I think plot style, if I recall correctly, [it’s] been a while. Then Jim works full-script style. That’s a little bit different. But other than that, Jim’s stuff is tied more to his characters in the past, whereas Englehart created his own universe kind of thing. He created these other characters like Clumsy Foul-Up and these characters that weren’t in the other stories.”

Marz wrote #49 (May 1991), with Starlin returning for #50 (June 1991) before Marz took over regular writing duties with issue #51 (July 1991), an Infinity Gauntlet tie-in issue. In an interview with Ben Morse for Marvel.com, Marz discussed how he got the job working on the title: “Jim [Starlin] and I lived in the same area and saw each other a few times a week to play racquetball, grab dinner, go to the movies. So it was a pretty easy process to sort out the handoff, especially since my first batch of Surfer issues were all going to tie into Infinity Gauntlet. The offer to take over the book officially came from editorial, of course, but I’m sure there was arm-twisting from Jim. Obviously, it was a huge opportunity for a rookie, especially on a book that was selling really well at the time.”

Will Work for Surfboard Wax (top left) Versus Thanos in issue #38, and (top right) stuck in Dynamo City in #40. (bottom) Norrin Radd looks for a job in Silver Surfer #41 (Sept. 1990). All covers by by Lim and Christopher.

TM & © Marvel.

40 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Silver Surfer #52–59 (Aug.–Nov 1991) were tie-in issues with the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries. Marz stated, “In retrospect, looking back at it, it was the best training ground I could have possibly had because I was working in a very tight box with those issues.

My first eight or nine issues of the book were all of these Infinity Gauntlet tie-ins.“ Lim continued as penciler on the title, which was a good thing so far as Marz was concerned. “Ron is a terrific meat-and-potatoes superhero artist,” Marz said. “That is not damning him with faint praise at all. He’s a terrific artist who’s very, very good at what he does. He’s consistent. I learned a huge amount working ‘HOMECOMING’ AND with him and thank God I worked ‘RESURRECTION’ with someone who knew what he was Let’s take a break from the ongoing doing early in my career because book to look at a graphic novel and that’s the biggest lightbulb-goesa miniseries featuring the Sentinel of jim starlin on moment of any comic writer’s the Spaceways, both written by Jim existence is when you see your first Starlin. The creator may have left the © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. script turned into artwork, you see ongoing title, but he wasn’t quite the page that you wrote turned into something real yet done with the character. and concrete. That’s still the best part of this job, Starlin’s first new solo Silver Surfer work was the and you can’t substitute it. It’s just the best thing graphic novel Silver Surfer: Homecoming (Oct. 1991), in the world to see what was in your head previous- the 71st book in the Marvel Graphic Novel line, in which ly now made real. And working with Ron, he took the Surfer’s beloved Shalla-Bal died. Artist Bill Reinhold my scripts and made [them] into real stories. So, I contributed the artwork for the book. [Editor’s note: learned a huge amount working with him, and obvious- See earlier article for more information.] ly I enjoyed the hell out of it.”

Next, Starlin wrote and penciled Silver Surfer/ The Surfer faced off against new foes the Collection Warlock: Resurrection, a four-issue limited series (Mar.– Agency in issues #61–63 (Jan.–Apr. 1992). Reptyl June 1993). Terry Austin inked every issue except for returned to menace the Silver Silver in issue #63 the first, which only listed Starlin as artist.

(May 1992). Issues #67 (July 1992) through 69 (Aug. Death wasn’t really the final frontier in comics as the 1992) were tie-ins with the Infinity War miniseries. Lim Silver Surfer discovered when Pip the Troll delivered a continued to pencil the covers for these crossover issues, message from Adam Warlock that the Surfer’s beloved with the interiors penciled by artist Kevin West.

Shalla-Bal was still alive. Even though he had taken other

The Thanos Saga Continues (left) Another cosmic clash in issue #44. (right) A 2019 Lim/Rubinstein color recreation of the Silver Surfer #50 (June 1991) cover.

Courtesy of Shaun Clancy. (inset) The published comic’s cover, with foil enhancements.

Characters TM & © Marvel.

Art © 2022 Ron Lim and Joe Rubinstein.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 41

Cosmic Coolness The intergalactic gang’s all here, with Jim Starlin at the helm. Starlin’s eye-popping cover to (left) Silver Surfer/ Warlock: Resurrection #1 (Mar. 1993) and (right) 4.

TM & © Marvel.

lovers, the Silver Surfer never stopped loving Shalla-Bal, and he welcomed the chance to see her again. Warlock and the Infinity Watch agreed to help the Surfer find his lost love. They searched through a vast array of dimensional portals before locating her in the clutches of one of the Surfer’s oldest Earthly foes, the malevolent Mephisto. The final issue saw the lovers reunited after a battle between the Surfer and Mephisto.

‘THE HERALD ORDEAL’

One of Ron Marz’s most exciting Silver Surfer story arcs was “The Herald Ordeal,” which ran from #70– 75 (Aug.–Dec. 1992). However, it was supposed to appear much earlier in Marz’s run. In his interview with Morse, Marz stated, “The ‘Herald Ordeal’ storyline was actually the first arc I wanted to tell, but it just kept getting put off because we had tie-ins, and then guest-stars that needed to appear for one reason or another. It was more than a year into my run when I finally got to dig into the story that I had originally wanted to tell. But, ultimately, it

42 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

was probably a good thing. I was a better writer by the time we got to it.”

While this is a Silver Surfer story, it was also the story of Frankie Raye, a.k.a. Nova, Galactus’ current herald.

Frankie first appeared as a supporting character in Fantastic Four #164 (Nov. 1975) before becoming a herald of Galactus in FF #244 (July 1982). Unlike Norrin Radd, who became a herald to protect his home planet, Frankie Raye became a herald because she wanted to do so.

The Surfer convinced Nova to reevaluate her leading Galactus to inhabited worlds for him to consume, and the massive loss of life that she had helped cause.

Nova finally heeded the Surfer’s words and began to lie to her master in order to protect the populations on inhabited planets. As you can imagine, when he learned of Nova’s deceptions, Galactus was displeased, so he took a new herald, Morg the Executioner.

Morg, who first appeared in issue #69 (Aug. 1992), was one of the most powerful beings that Galactus had ever encountered. The new herald had no conscience, so he cared nothing for the worlds Galactus devoured. Marz revealed, “Thus far we had seen a lot of different heralds of Galactus who were in one way or another either just kind of willing or serving him reluctantly, and the concept that really drove ‘The Herald Ordeal,’ and in particular the creation of Morg, was, What if Galactus gets a herald who really likes his job, who’s really into that role [of] ‘Let’s go murder planets... ‘?”

In the first meeting between Morg and the Silver Surfer, Morg easily bested Galactus’ original herald. In order to defeat Morg, the Surfer enlisted the aid of Galactus’ other heralds, including Terrax the Terrible and Firelord. “We sort of ramped up ‘The Herald Ordeal’ so that the final chapter would be a big deal in issue #75,” Marz stated.

Galactic Grindberg From Heritage’s vaults, a stunning 1999 Surfer illustration by Tom Grindberg.

TM & © Marvel.

“The Herald Ordeal” storyline addressed accountability and responsibility for one’s actions as well as their consequences. In the end of the storyline, Nova paid the ultimate price for her part in the deaths that Galactus caused. This was something that the Silver Surfer has wrestled with himself, and would continue to do so in future storylines.

Marz revealed, “To me it was much more about trying to justify someone going to serve as Galactus’ herald willingly because, when you fill that role, you are a party to genocide on a planetary scale. That’s what Galactus does.

He eats planets, and if you happen to be living on that planet, unfortunately for you, you’re part of it. So some of the first Surfer stuff that I did, sort of playing off a lot of what Jim did, was dealing with the Surfer’s guilt and complicity in serving Galactus, and the fact that Frankie Raye followed him into that service and obviously did things that led her to be ron marz complicit in that. The story was really just about justifying that and trying to Luigi Novi / come up with what is your fate if you are © Wikimedia Commons. complicit. I believe that dramatic stories have to have dramatic consequences.

So that was where Frankie’s death came from. I could understand alien beings being complicit serving as the herald of Galactus. I wrestled much more with how a human could do that. You could assume that aliens have different moral attitudes and strictures, but for a human to willingly sign on for that and do the job, there’s a price to be exacted.”

Artist MC Wyman penciled issues #70–72, while Ron Lim returned to pencil the remaining issues of the story arc.

Tom Christopher continued to provide inks on the series.

TYRANT

After a three-part story guest-starring Jack of Hearts in issues #76–78 (Jan.–Mar. 1993), Marz’s next major storyline began. Galactus is one of the most powerful entities in the known galaxy, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t be challenged, and that’s just what happened with the introduction of Tyrant in issue #81 (June 1993).

The new character was a major threat not just to the Devourer of Worlds, but to the entire galaxy.

Thousands of years ago, Galactus created Tyrant as a sentient machine and gave him some of his own cosmic power. While Galactus feasted on planets for his own survival, Tyrant destroyed worlds because he enjoyed doing it. Sensing that Tyrant was a danger to the universe, Galactus thwarted him, took back his cosmic powers, and sent him off into deep space.

Many years later, Tyrant found his way back to the known galaxy, where he confronted the Silver Surfer.

The Surfer was easily beaten and imprisoned, along with other cosmic heavyhitters including Beta Ray Bill, Morg, Gladiator, and Terrax, amongst others. Galactus arrived to set his herald free, but was forced into an agreement with Tyrant. Galactus doesn’t usually make deals, but Tyrant worried him enough to go along with it. Tyrant would only make a handful of appearances throughout the 1990s, including one where he faced Thanos.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 43

AN ‘INFINITY CRUSADE’ AND A LITTLE ‘BLOOD AND THUNDER’

With the runaway success of the Infinity Gauntlet, Starlin continued to write more event-miniseries featuring cosmic themes. Like every other mainstream Marvel title of the time, Marz’s Silver Surfer was obligated to tie-in to Starlin’s cosmic events. Silver Surfer #83–85 (Aug.–Oct 1993) were tie-ins with Infinity Crusade.

However, these weren’t the only crossover events that included the Silver Surfer. Marz was also writing The Mighty Thor at the time, so a crossover with that series was in order. The “Blood and Thunder” cross-

Honey, I’m Home!

The Surfer as rendered by Tom Grindberg (with Bill Anderson inks), from Silver Surfer #101 (Feb. 1995). Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

44 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

over began in Thor #486 (Nov. 1993), when the Thunder God went mad and needed to be stopped—and it was up to the most powerful beings in the universe to do it. The crossover lasted 13 issues in the pages of Thor, Silver Surfer, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, and The Warlock Chronicles. Silver Surfer #86 (Nov. 1993) was the second part, issue #87 (Dec. 1993) was the sixth part, and #88 (Jan. 1994) was the tenth installment. Marz was joined by his old pal Starlin to chronicle the event.

‘DOWN TO EARTH’ AND ‘BACK TO THE STARS’

Genis-Vell, first introduced in Silver Surfer Annual #6 (Oct. 1993), returned in issues #89–90 (Feb.–Mar. 1994). The “Down to Earth” arc in issues #93–96 had the Surfer return to Earth for the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler (the actual wedding took place in Incredible Hulk #418) and to team up with some of Earth’s superheroes, including the Fantastic Four. Issues #97–100 (Oct. 1994–Jan. 1995) saw the return of Nova, and the Surfer once again fought the Champion.

Silver Surfer #82 was Ron Lim’s last issue as the regular penciler on the title. Artists Cully Hamner (#83), Tom Grindberg (#84), Ernie Stiner (#85), Andy Smith (#86–88), Colleen Doran (#89), Bill Barimon (#90), and Bart Sears and Grindberg (#93) filled in.

Lim returned to the book to pencil issues #91 and 92 before new regular artist Grindberg took over with issue #94. Through the artistic merry-go-round, Christopher remained on inking duty until artist Bill Anderson became the regular inker with #101.

The Silver Surfer returned to Zenn-La in #101, where he was spurned by Shalla-Bal. He unsuccessfully petitioned Galactus to turn him human again in #102 (Mar. 1995). The plots for these issues were co-written

by Marz and Michael Jan Friedman (credited as Mike Friedman) and scripted by Mike Lackey.

Silver Surfer #102 was Marz’s final on the book. “I felt like I was losing steam on the book,” Marz said. “I wasn’t quite sure where we were going to go after issue #100. And I think when you step back and go, ‘I don’t know exactly where we’re headed,’ it’s usually a sign the well is running dry and you should shuffle off to Buffalo.”

How did Marz feel about the Silver Surfer after writing him for so long? “I came to the conclusion that the Surfer was almost better as a supporting character in his own book than he was a lead character,” Marz revealed. “Because he’s an alien, he’s not us, he’s not of us, so I think keeping him at arm’s length was probably a better idea than making him front and center. “…That’s one of the reasons the FF was in the book, other than the fact that I wanted to write the FF… I wanted to get back to him being… the alien. I wanted to get back to him being in some ways a mirror for humanity. … He was a device to tell stories about the human condition, even though he’s not human.”

Much like his friend Starlin, Marz’s work on the character went beyond his time on the ongoing title.

Although published after Marz had left the series, his

Nine Annuals were published during Silver Surfer vol. 3’s run. However, most were not standalone Silver Surfer adventures, but were parts of company-wide crossovers or crossovers with other Annuals.

Silver Surfer Annual #1 (Aug. 1988) was an “Evolutionary War” crossover that connected all Marvel Annuals published that year. This Annual contained the third chapter in the storyline, with art by penciler Joe Staton and inker Joe Rubinstein on the main story and art by penciler Ron Lim and inker Rubinstein on several backup tales and pinups. This was Lim’s first published work on the character, preceding his work on the ongoing book. Joe Staton tells BACK ISSUE, “We had the Eternals and the Super-Skrull and a bunch of Marvel stuff that I liked getting into. I think this was the closest I got to the John Buscema-style Surfer that I was shooting for, and Joe [Rubinstein] really brought it out.”

Silver Surfer Annual #2 (Aug. 1989) kicked off the “Atlantis Attacks” crossover.

Steve Englehart, who wrote the first two Annuals, reflects, “We were told what had to be in the books, and as a good soldier, I made sure that stuff was there, then tried to hang a story on it. It wasn’t as organic as my usual writing, but it had to be done.”

The “Lifeform” crossover ran through Punisher Annual #3, Daredevil Annual #6, and Incredible Hulk Annual #16 before concluding with Silver Surfer Annual #3 (all cover-dated June 1990). This Annual is noteworthy as the first solo published writing of Ron Marz. “The Silver Surfer Annual #3 was the first script I sat down to write,” recalled Marz in a 2019 interview on the Epic Marvel Podcast. “The backup in the Annual was originally going to be written and drawn by Jim Sherman. He disappeared down in the Yucatan Peninsula into the jungles and [no one could] get a hold of him. Sherman was still down there. He didn’t show up. He didn’t get back in touch to do this backup story, so they handed it to me with Ron Lim, and that was the first thing I had ever written solo.”

All Marvel annuals cover-dated July 1991 were part of the “Korvac Quest” crossover, including Fantastic Four Annual #24, Thor Annual #16, Silver Surfer Annual #4, and Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1. The Surfer Annual also contained a Starfox backup tale that became a major storyline in Dan Slott’s She-Hulk series many years later.

“The Return of the Defenders” took place in Silver Surfer Annual #5, Incredible Hulk Annual #18, Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #2, and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #2 (all July 1992). This crossover saw the original members of the non-team reunite for the first time since they were told in Defenders #125 (Nov. 1983) that their joining forces would cause the destruction of Earth.

During this crossover, Dr. Strange revealed that to be false, and they could team up again when needed.

Silver Surfer Annual #6 (Oct. 1993) was the first of the series’ Annual that wasn’t part of a crossover event, but is noteworthy instead as the first appearance of Genis-Vell (Legacy). Genis-Vell, the son of Mar-Vell (the first Captain Marvel), would go on to be the third Captain Marvel after Monica Rambeau. Coincidentally, both Marvel and DC had a new character initiative in their 1993 Annuals.

Genis-Vell was arguably the most popular new character to come out of Marvel’s Annuals that year. He was also featured in both the main story and his own backup in Silver Surfer Annual #7 (Sept. 1994), another non-crossover Annual.

Annual ’97 (July 1997) was the first Silver Surfer Annual after a three-year hiatus and was another non-crossover issue. Silver Surfer/Thor Annual #1 (Aug. 1998) was the final Annual for the series, teaming the Sentinel of the Spaceways with the God of Thunder.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

TM & © Marvel.

CROSSING OVER ANNUALLY

The Final Frontier Detail from the final page to 1990’s Silver Surfer Annual #3, with art by Lim and Christopher. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

contribution to the 48-page one-shot special Silver Surfer: Dangerous Artifacts (June 1996) was written while he was still working on the regular Silver Surfer book. As Marz explained, “I think that might have been my last Surfer project, even though it was started fairly early on.” It took Italian artist Claudio Castellini over two years to complete the artwork, called by its writer “literally one of the most beautiful books I’ve been involved in.”

After Marz’s departure, legendary creators such as George Pérez, J. M. DeMatteis, and Tom DeFalco contributed to the series, as well as other talented creators. The final issue, Silver Surfer #146 (Nov. 1998), written by Glenn Greenberg and DeFalco with art by Denys Cowan and John Floyd, saw the Surfer face off against Firelord.

The Silver Surfer has continued to surf through the galaxy since the end of this series. He has appeared in outstanding books such as Dan Slott and Mike Allred’s Silver Surfer titles and the Silver Surfer Black miniseries by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore. But Silver Surfer vol. 3 opened up wonderful storytelling possibilities for The Silver Surfer (not to mention the amazing artwork).

From Englehart, Rogers, and Rubinstein to Starlin, Lim, and Christopher, to Marz and beyond, this Silver Surfer series remains one of the highlights of Marvel’s Copper Age. Even though the book ended, its influence on the Marvel Universe continues to this day. It brought back Thanos and led to the Infinity Gauntlet, source-feeding the Marvel Studios franchise. It returned excitement and vitality to the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe that can be found today. It returned one of the hallmarks of the Marvel Universe: an exploration of the cosmos, Marvel style!

Steve Englehart is over the moon about his role in re-popularizing Marvel’s Cosmic Universe: “I got to play with all the cosmic beings from all the series and pull them into some sort of coherent structure. That made the Surfer our conduit into Marvel space!”

The author would like to thank Steve Englehart, Joe Rubinstein, and Joe Staton for their invaluable assistance with this article.

Thanks also go out to Kurtis Findley of the Epic Marvel Podcast for graciously allowing the use of quotes from his interview with Ron Marz. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes from Marz are from that interview.

ED LUTE has been intrigued by the Silver Surfer ever since he first saw John Byrne’s amazing cover to Silver Surfer vol. 2 #1.

The story and artwork inside weren’t half bad either and made him the fan of the Sentinel of the Spaceways that he remains to this day. He recently received his master’s degree in Reading Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and is looking forward to the next adventure on his continuing educational journey.

46 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Cassell

A Big Delight… …Oops, wrong ad campaign! Drake’s Cakes’ The Silver Surfer #4, “Lunacy in Latveria,” a hard-to-find mini-comic you probably didn’t know existed! Cover pencils by Jim Craig and inks by Dan and David Day. TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 47

Drakescakes.com.

by D e w e y

Okay—true confession time. How many of you have eaten one (or more) boxes of cereal—sometimes really bad cereal—just to get the prize inside? (Aficionados call them premiums.) The prize might have been a sticker or a ring or a toy. Did your mom make you eat all of the cereal first, before retrieving the prize? Was the prize sandwiched in between the box and the bag of cereal or was it actually buried in the cereal, so you had to stick your hand in the box up to your elbow to rummage around for the prize (or pour it all out into a bowl, remove the prize, and then try to put it all back in the box before your parents noticed)? As for me, I experienced all of the above at one time or another, and it is one of my fondest memories of childhood.

The premium idea wasn’t limited to cereal. Other food products also contained premiums. Sunbeam Bread used to include cards or stickers. Cracker Jacks featured a variety of prizes.

And then there were Drake’s Cakes. The N. E. Drake Baking Company began in 1896 in New York City. They started out making pound cakes, but became better known for tasty treats like Devil Dogs, Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings, Yankee Doodles, and Yodels. If you are not familiar with Drake’s Cakes, it is likely because until 2016, the company focused its marketing and distribution on the northeastern United States.

Drake’s has a long tradition of using premiums with their products.

Beginning in 1925, Drake’s featured a series of collectable cards, among them Babe Ruth. In 1978, as The Incredible Hulk television series was taking off, Drake’s products included one of 24 cards displaying classic Hulk comic-book covers. On the backs of the cards were advertisements for Hulk mugs, posters, and T-shirts. When Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve was released in December 1978, Drake’s products included one of 24 cards with scenes from the film.

The backs of the cards featured advertising for Drake’s.

So, it is not surprising that in 1993, Drake’s would partner with Marvel Comics again for another promotion. Beginning March 1, 1993, and running for nine weeks, Drake’s Family Pack and Value Pack boxes shipped with two Marvel mini-comics (packaged together) from a “limited series” of four titles. Each mini-comic measured 3x5 inches and was 20 pages, including covers. They were printed in full color on heavyweight paper bound with glue, rather than staples. The first two issues contained a 16-page story with a maze or word search puzzle on the inside front cover. The last two issues omitted the puzzle, allowing for 17-page stories. The inside back covers were advertisements for the set of Marvel mini-comics, encouraging the reader to “Collect all four!” The back covers were advertisements for Drake’s Cakes.

Cards in Cakes Drake’s earlier comics tie-ins, from 1978: Incredible Hulk and Superman: The Movie card sets. Courtesy of Heritage.

Hulk TM & © Marvel. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

The mini-comic stories were: #1 – Jubilee and Spider-Man face the Rhino in “Carnage on Campus” #2 – Spider-Man and Wolverine tackle Sabretooth in “Danger on the Docks” #3 – Spider-Man and Wolverine join the Hulk in a battle against the Juggernaut in “Mayhem at the Mount” #4 – Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Hulk are joined by the Silver Surfer as they set out to rescue Jubilee from Doctor Doom in “Lunacy in Latveria” Issue #1 was typically packaged with issue #2, and issue #3 combined with issue #4. However, there were some cases in which issue #1 was packaged with issue #4, and issues #2 and 3 were packaged together.

Therefore, collecting the set could be a challenge.

All of the stories were written by Eric Fein, whose other comic-book credits include writing Marvel Comics Presents and Solo, as well as serving as an assistant editor for Marvel. Issues #1 and 4 were penciled

by Jim Craig and inked by Dan and David Day, covers and interiors.

The cover of issue #3 was also penciled by Craig and inked by the Day brothers, and it appears they did the interior artwork, too, although it is uncredited. For reasons lost to time, issue #2 was penciled by John Hebert and inked by Bill Anderson. The cover of #2 is uncredited, but is likely by Hebert and Anderson as well.

A standard page of comic-book original art is drawn approximately 10x15 inches on an 11x17-inch art board. At least some of the Drake’s Cakes mini-comic original art was drawn in a smaller format—three pages per art board, approximately 5x10 inches per page. The pages also typically had fewer panels than traditional comic books, less captions, and briefer dialogue. The action was fairly consistent with mainstream comics, but the storyline was somewhat simplified. The Drake’s Cakes stories occur outside the ongoing Marvel Comics canon.

The characters appearing in the mini-comics are a reflection of the times. Spider-Man has long been the flagship character of Marvel Comics. Jubilee appealed to younger fans of the X-Men, and X-Men: The Animated Series was a hit on the Fox television network during this time. Both Spider-Man and Jubilee appear in costumes consistent with the comics.

Wolverine, most popular of the X-Men, appears first in his traditional yellow and blue costume and then for reasons unknown switches to his brown fighting togs in the third issue. Spider-Man even comments on the change in the opening dialogue of issue #3, “I’m so glad you changed into your earth tones for this occasion, Wolvie,” to which the mutant replies, “Shut up! I don’t need you for a fashion critic, Spider-Man.” The Hulk was probably the second most recognizable Marvel character, thanks to the live-action Incredible Hulk television series, which ran for five seasons. At this point in time, the Hulk was an amalgam of the man and the beast. He remained in Hulk form all the time, but with the mind of Bruce Banner. The coloring on the covers of issues #3 and 4 make it appear that the Hulk is wearing a blue jumpsuit, but in the actual stories, he is wearing pants and a shirt, the latter of which gets shredded in typical fashion during the ensuing battle with Doctor Doom.

Perhaps the most curious choice for the Drake’s Cakes limited series was the Silver Surfer. From his first appearance in 1966 in Fantastic Four #48 through his own 18-issue title and scattered appearances throughout the Bronze Age, the Surfer wasn’t exactly a household name. However, as chronicled in the previous article, in 1987, the Surfer received his own ongoing comic-book title, initially written by Steve Englehart. The series ran for 146 issues. Given its success, Marvel licensed the Silver Surfer for a video game in 1990 and a trading card set in 1992. So, when the Drake’s Cakes opportunity rolled around, it was actually the perfect chance to further broaden the character’s exposure.

The Silver Surfer only appears in the 4th issue of the 1993 Drake’s limited series. All of the other heroes appear in at least two issues.

(Wolverine appears in three issues and Spider-Man is featured in all four.)

48 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

(Spoiler alert 1: If you haven’t read these mini-comics yet, you may want to skip this paragraph.)

In “Lunacy in Latveria,” Doctor Doom is trying to solve his country’s energy shortage by tapping into Jubilee’s mutant power. But it turns out Doom’s scheme is affecting the Sun, which draws the attention of the Silver Surfer. The heroes converge on Doom’s castle and a battle royal ensues, with Wolverine ultimately freeing Jubilee, and the Surfer (with an assist from the Hulk) destroying the energy-harnessing device. The heroes then turn their attention to Doom, but Jubilee pleads his case, pointing out that he was only trying to help his subjects, although he went about it in the wrong way. The Surfer flies off on his board, warning Doom, “Should you tamper with that which is forbidden to you, you will feel the wrath of the Silver Surfer!”

It is hard to quantify whether including premiums translated into additional sales for Drake’s. Presumably the Marvel Comics promotion was worthwhile, because in 1994, Drake’s Cakes included a new series of five mini-comics, one in each specially marked package. The second series was the same size as the first, but only 16 pages each, including covers with full bleed artwork. Each issue included one page of advertising for Drake’s Cakes.

The first issue in the 1994 series featured the Silver Surfer in a story titled “Breakout!” (Spoiler alert 2: You know the drill.) Unlike the first series, this story is tied directly into events from the mainstream Marvel comics, occurring in the aftermath of the “Galactic Storm” crossover event. The story begins on Hala, the Kree home world now ruled by the Shi’ar, as there is a prison break led by four Kree war criminals. The Silver Surfer comes to the aid of the Shi’ar Empire as they attempt to re-establish order on Hala and pursue the criminals who have escaped in hijacked starships that are headed, as we learn on the last page of issue #1, for Earth. The story is illustrated by Robert Walker and John Stanisci.

Like the first series, it has fewer panels per page, but the story reads more like a typical Marvel comic of the day. However, while the first series seemed like a single story progressing across four issues, the second series seems more disjointed.

Subsequent issues in the 1994 series of mini-comics featured, in order, Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and the X-Men. The Silver Surfer returns in the fifth issue for the final battle. All of the covers were penciled by Jim Craig, and Eric Fein wrote the stories, but there were various creative teams responsible for the interior artwork. The promotion ran from August 15 to October 14, 1994.

Drake’s launched extensive promotional campaigns both years for the Marvel mini-comics, running advertisements in newspapers across their target markets that included a coupon for Drake’s Cakes. In the 1994 campaign, Drake’s boasted that the advertising would reach over 13 million households. Advertisements also ran in Marvel’s regular comic books.

Drake’s continued the relationship with Marvel in 1995, but shifted focus to a Spider-Man Sticker Hero Caps Game. The images on the “pogs” were based on the popular animated Spider-Man television show that began airing on the Fox network the previous year. Based on Drake’s Cakes packaging and advertising, the mini-comics giveaway from 1994 extended into 1995 as well.

Technically, the Drake’s Cakes mini-comics are not the smallest comics ever published. The Marvel Comics Mini-Books produced in 1966 were only 5/8x7/8 inches

and were sold in bubble gum machines. There were also four Spider-Man mini-comics produced in 1995 as giveaways on the lids of Peter Pan peanut butter.

The comics were round, measuring approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. However, none of these mini-comics featured the herald of Galactus.

The Drake’s Cakes Marvel mini-comics are readily available today on the secondary market. The Drake’s Cakes brand, now owned by McKee Foods, still produces much of the original product line today. So, grab a Yankee Doodle (or two), sit back and relax, and enjoy some big fun reading the smallest Silver Surfer and his pals.

Sweet Comics!

Sincere thanks to David Gearhart.

TM & © Marvel.

Marvel house ad from Silver Surfer #103 (Apr. 1995) promoting the Drake’s Cakes second set of Marvel mini-comics.

Scan courtesy of Dewey Cassell.

DEWEY CASSELL is the Eisner Award-nominated author/co-author of four books and over 45 magazine articles. He prefers Devil Dogs with his Silver Surfer.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 49

50 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Old Yeller Silver Banshee wails in her first appearance in Action Comics #595 (Dec. 1987). By John Byrne, with inker Keith Williams.

TM & © DC Comics.

by J a m e s

Siobhan McDougal often gave Superman and Supergirl a run for their money when she used her magic voice against them as the Silver Banshee. Yet Siobhan is more than your typical villain out to destroy Kal-El, Matrix, or Kara Zor-El. BACK ISSUE, in its salute to silver characters in the Bronze Age of Comics, will look beyond the surface of this post-Crisis super-foe and delve into the psyche of Siobhan McDougal in an article that will make fans scream for more. Just cover your ears before you continue reading.

Heath Lantz

AND THE SHRIEKING BEGINS

Silver Banshee screamed her way into comics for the first time in Action Comics #595 (Dec. 1987) during John Byrne’s run as writer and artist on DC’s main Superman titles. While Byrne himself has not presently revealed inspirations for the character or how she came to be, he has stated in the Byrne Robotics forum that her skeletal look is actually black-and-white makeup, or at least it was during his time drawing her. Byrne wasn’t sure what later creators had intended for her.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 51

The Silver Banshee’s powers include a death-touch, an ear-piercing sonic scream, and the ability to kill one when she knows their true name. Aside from her abilities being magic-based—which aided her initial defeat of Superman and his perceived demise— little is revealed about Silver Banshee’s origins and motives in Action #595. We only get the idea she’s looking for an ancient book that was sold in an auction. The tome, according to Jimmy Olsen, had belonged to the library of Castle Broen. We’ll get to the importance of that place soon. However, at this point in the Banshee’s debut, we learn that Supes, with the help of Martian Manhunter, feigned death to defeat the Silver Banshee.

Issues #17 and 23 (May and Nov. 1988) of Superman vol. 2 delve into the Silver Banshee’s origins in more detail.

The former, by Byrne, shows the supernatural scream queen continuing her quest for the book she sought in Action #595. That latter, written by Roger Stern with art

by Hellboy’s Mike Mignola, has Batman aid Superman in fighting the Silver Banshee by his utilization of that book to learn more about her. In addition to those events, Byrne, Stern, and Mignola delve into the villain’s origins.

The Silver Banshee’s real name is Siobhan McDougal.

The footnote in Superman #17 and other sources erroneously pronounce the Gaelic moniker as “Shee-Van” and “Shee-Vaughn.” It is actually “Shuh-vaughn.”

Siobhan was the firstborn child of Garrett McDougal, head of a clan that lived on an island between Ireland and Scotland. Castle Broen had been the family home for generations. Siobhan had traveled the world when she was old enough to do so. She returned to Castle Broen six years later when she had gotten news of her father’s death.

The laws of the McDougal clan state that the leader’s first child will be the next in line. Siobhan points out that the rules do not stipulate gender in selecting the head of the clan. Yet Garrett’s brother Seamus (pronounced “Shay-mes”) does not permit a female to become head of the family and takes over until Siobhan’s brother Bevan returns. Siobhan, angered by her uncle’s actions, undergoes the traditional supernatural ritual of the Clan McDougal.

Bevan’s interference causes her to be pulled into the Netherworld. A mysterious entity known simply as the Crone saves her by giving her the powers of the Silver Banshee, whose sonic scream and touch can mean death to those she encounters. john byrne The Crone’s help comes with a price: The Silver Banshee must give her an antique © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. book that had been in the Clan McDougal for generations. Said volume had been sold at an auction and eventually ended up in Metropolis.

The Banshee uses her deafening wail to kill anyone who gets in her way. The thousandth first-born McDougal— Siobhan—shows the Crone that there had been no improvement in the clan over the millennia. The Silver Banshee’s ease and willingness to kill her fellow humans makes the ancient mage believe her to be worse than

The Voice of Villainy Silver Banshee’s earliest appearances, in Action #595 and Superman #17 (covers by John Byrne) and Superman #23 (cover by Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell).

TM & © DC Comics.

52 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Wailing into the Man of Tomorrow The Banshee means business as she tears into Supie on this utterly amazing Superman #23 (Nov. 1988) page

by Mignola (who signed it) and Russell. Art digital restoration by and scan courtesy of Allan Harvey.

TM & © DC Comics.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked (left) Tullus revives Silver Banshee in Legends of the World’s Finest #1 (Feb. 1994), written

by Walter Simonson and illustrated by Dan Brereton. (right) A Brereton study of the villainess, similar in composition to the published page’s second panel.

TM & © DC Comics.

Seamus and Bevan. The Crone sends Siobhan back to It’s always great to work with Mike Mignola, and he did the Netherworld with Bevan and Seamus, destroying a wonderful job drawing the story. And P. Craig Russell Castle Broen and leaving Superman and readers to likewise delivered fantastic inks over Mike’s penciled art.”

In addition to her quest for the book for the Crone, believe they have seen the last of Silver Banshee. They according to Supergirl #48 (Feb. 2010) by Sterling would learn otherwise much later.

Gates and guest artist Fernando Dagnino, Roger Stern recalls to BACK ISSUE about Siobhan is also looking for family heirlooms how he began on Superman by following that will lift the curse inflicting her.

John Byrne’s footsteps: “It was not as Seamus, as Siobhan stated in Superman difficult as I initially feared. Actually, John #23, had looted and sold her father’s was still working on the Superman library and keepsakes for profit. Each titles when I started plotting my first item went to various places all over the Superman stories, and we discussed world, creating a body count trail by the background of the Silver Banshee the Silver Banshee. several times. My story grew out of “Supergirl didn’t have much of an those discussions, and I basically built established rogues’ gallery when [artist] on what John already had in mind to Jamal Igle and I started on the book in create her backstory.

2008,” Sterling Gates tells BACK ISSUE. “But how much of the Silver Banroger stern “We really wanted to build one out for shee’s origin story came from John’s her. The Silver Banshee was our first ideas and how much came from my Alexander Fuld Frazier. recruit. The Banshee’s a strong visual own, I really don’t remember,” Stern admits. “I don’t have any notes from that period. That character with an awesome history and a rad villainous was, after all, over 30 years ago. What I do remember power—if she says your real name, you die—so she was that the story was a lot of fun to plot and to script. seemed like a natural recruit for our Supergirl rogues.”

Gates continues, “In [Supergirl #48’s] ‘Song of the Silver Banshee,’ I used that double-page spread as a kind of history lesson, acknowledging the excellent work other writers had done—Stern, Byrne, [Gail] Simone, even [Jeph] Loeb. We leaned hard into reiterating the McDougal curse and setting up the artifacts in ‘Song of the Silver Banshee,’ so that whenever we’d run into the Banshee in the future, she’d be trying to find the next artifact. That story gave her a clear mission going forward.

“We’d always planned to explore the Banshee more in our Supergirl run,” Gates says of his unrealized future plans for the character. “Our next story with her would’ve seen Supergirl and Inspector Henderson going to Castle Broen to help Siobhan locate another artifact, but Jamal and I were taken off the book before we could do anything more with the character.”

Returning to the Bronze Age, we next see Silver Banshee in Action Comics #662 (Feb. 1991). In the midst of recently engaged Clark Kent trying to find a way to tell his fiancée Lois Lane that he’s Superman, Siobhan

54 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

McDougal, with the assistance of the demon Blaze, must sacrifice the Man of Steel with a ceremonial ax. The timely intervention of the Crone saves Superman in time for him to tell Lois the truth about his double life. Siobhan McDougal’s fate, at that point in time, however, remains a mystery… at least for a little while.

HOW THE BANSHEE SCREAMS

Before we continue with a look at Siobhan McDougal’s battles and quests in DC’s comic-book pages, let’s take a look at her motivations and psyche in her appearances. Upon her return to her ancestral home, Siobhan has to deal with sexism that, sadly, was and still is common among humanity, particularly in her clan. Her uncle will not have a woman lead the McDougals. This obviously makes Siobhan angry. She sets out to prove herself better than her male relatives. Her rage also makes her seek revenge on Seamus, Bevan, and those Siobhan believes had wronged her.

“There are certainly many layers to Siobhan McDougal’s personality,” assesses Roger Stern for BACK ISSUE’s readers. “I saw the saga of the Silver Banshee as a story about a person being held back from her rightful destiny. As a firstborn McDougal, Siobhan should have had the chance to become the leader of her clan after the death of her father. Unfortunately, her Uncle Seamus wasn’t going to allow a woman to lead the clan, and his attempts to make her brother Bevan the new patriarch resulted in Siobhan’s transformation into the Silver Banshee. The real tragedy is that we’ll never know how well Siobhan might have led her family.

If not for her uncle’s misogyny, the clan McDougal, Superman, and the world in general might have been spared a lot of grief.”

Sterling Gates adds, “I think the Silver Banshee is a tragic figure in the DC Universe. Siobhan McDougal wanted what was hers by rights—to lead the McDougal family as its matriarch—but her family couldn’t accept that. Even the spirits of her family didn’t want her to be in charge, so they cursed her to be the Banshee! It’s Shakespearean in its own way. The family that hates you so much they curse you for all eternity. Siobhan’s a powerful, independent woman who’s trying so hard to break free from the life her family chose for her. I think she’s a character a lot of people can relate to, even if she now happens to be an incredibly dangerous supervillain!”

Another noteworthy trait connected to Silver Banshee’s thirst for vengeance is something Superman points out in his conversations with the Crone. Siobhan is easily manipulated by outside forces that use her anger to get her to do their bidding.

Both the Crone and Blaze, no matter what their intentions may have been, turn the Silver Banshee into a pawn for their plans.

These aspects of her character don’t excuse her actions.

Yet they do allow one to have a degree of sympathy for her.

Siobhan McDougal has committed some unforgivable crimes, but we can understand why she committed them when we look deeper into her psyche.

Sinister Spinoff (top) Brereton wrote and provided cover paintings for 1998’s two-issue Superman: Silver Banshee miniseries. (bottom) Interior artist Joyce Chin’s sketches for the Banshee’s facial expressions, which she employed inside issue #1. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © DC Comics.

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

When we next see the Silver Banshee, three years have passed.

“After I wrote Silver Banshee’s return in Action Comics #662,” Roger Stern explains, “I became so busy dealing with other characters that I never had a spare moment to think of anything new to do with her. Fortunately, the Silver Banshee was further developed by Walter Simonson in the Legends of the World’s Finest limited series.”

Walt Simonson, writer of the three-issue 1994 Legends of the World’s Finest prestige format miniseries, himself stated on social media that the Silver Banshee was a cool character that Nocturnals creator Dan Brereton wanted to paint. (Attempts to reach Brereton to confirm Simonson’s comment went unanswered.)

Following Legends of the World’s Finest, Brereton wrote and illustrated painted covers for a two-issue Superman: Silver Banshee miniseries published in late 1998.

Legends of the World’s Finest introduces readers to one of the latest members of the Clan McDougal, Branwyn. She goes against her father’s wishes and visits the ruins of Castle Broen.

Upon reciting ancient spells, Branwyn summons Tullus the Damned, Siobhan McDougal’s many generations-removed Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

Not Tonight, I Have a Headache For the soundless medium, Joshua Middleton’s “earsplitting” cover for writer Sterling Gates’ Supergirl #48 (Feb. 2010) does a dynamite job at creating the illusion of sound.

TM & © DC Comics.

grandfather. Tullus in turn makes Branwyn the host Siobhan has no memory of her deeds before being body for the Silver Banshee’s spirit. Seeking revenge trapped, but a confrontation with Leesburg, Virginia, on Blaze, Siobhan and Tullus join forces, with Superman police allows the Silver Banshee’s scream to be heard once again in the next issue. Siobhan, possessing and Batman caught in the middle of their Linda Danvers’ friend Mattie, vows to kill supernatural squabble. The Man of the man who murdered Mattie’s brother, Steel becomes the Banshee’s unwilling Supergirl, and those who wronged her. consort while the Dark Knight uses The Silver Banshee was also among the every tool possible to free him. It is villains Supergirl fought in Supergirl #47. family betrayal that allows Siobhan Throughout the Silver Banshee’s to use Lois Lane to save Superman, arc in Supergirl #10–12, there is a showing that there is some good in debate on whether or not pure evil her in the end. exists, or if redemption can be earned by Way back in BACK ISSUE #84, we those who commit vile and unforgivable covered Supergirl in the Bronze Age acts that affect the lives of innocent with merely a phrase that mentioned people. The questions, raised by both her encounters with the Silver Linda/Supergirl and Mattie/Silver Banshee. Linda Danvers/Matrix first sterling gates Banshee, are perhaps the same ones met Siobhan McDougal in the June Siobhan McDougal is asking herself.

1997 cover-dated Supergirl #10 after she freed an imprisoned Silver Banshee, initially Is there pure evil, and is it within her? Can she atone believing she was an innocent woman in need of rescue. for her sins? Does she deserve forgiveness? Siobhan McDougal may not ever receive the responses she seeks to her inquiries, but the fact there’s a possibility that they’re on her mind leads one to believe Siobhan maybe can be saved if she desires it.

Siobhan McDougal would return in the aforementioned Superman: Silver Banshee and DC’s “Day of Judgment” crossover chapter that appeared in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15 (Fall 1999). In Silver Banshee, Siobhan goes on a search for Lacy MacElwain. Lacy could be the key to freeing her from the curse that transformed her into the Silver Banshee. Siobhan protects Lacy from a witch named Hecate, only to discover that Lacy’s death was Siobhan’s path to liberation. Man of Tomorrow #15 has Siobhan lead Superman on a path to rescue Lois Lane from the demon Neron. Her part in the latter book is smaller than that of her own series, but it could be perceived as the Silver Banshee traveling to the next stage of her existence while aiding Superman.

The Silver Banshee’s sonic song has been sung well beyond the Bronze Age and even Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle’s run on Supergirl. The New 52 and more recent DC comic books have renamed the Silver Banshee Siobhan Smythe, but she’s still screams her way into the lives of Kal-El, Kara Zor-El, and any other superhero within earshot. You can pick up every paper issue featuring both Siobhans in your local comic shop or buy digital versions at Comixology. Just put in your earplugs before you read them, BACK ISSUE fans.

Dedicated to my beautiful and incredible wife Laura, whose love song fills my heart; Jadis, Pupino, Odino, and our four-legged feline and canine Clan McDougal, who don’t fear Banshees; my nephew Kento, who knows the Crone’s real name; and John Byrne, Roger Stern, Sterling Gates, and all creators past, present, and future responsible for allowing the Silver Banshee to be heard. May the magical music of light always protect you.

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 Volume Three. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.

56 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

by D

a n Ta n d a r i c h

Silver Sable ignited a fuse in her first appearances in Spider-Man’s world and kept that about-to-explode edge as she quickly detonated her own path in the Marvel Universe. Hunter of Nazis. Mercenary. International bounty hunter. Imagine a woman like Marilyn Monroe, complete with stunning looks and beauty mark. Now imagine that woman commandeering a mid-flight helicopter 7,000 feet in the air, deftly swinging under the whirling blades from her own flying vehicle, gun poised at the pilot, while she stands front and center with unearthly confidence. Combine the look with the ability, skills, and unrivaled fearlessness of a trained soldier. The look belies the fact that this woman is dangerous! Guns galore. Her signature weapons, throwing chais, at the ready. Family tragedy and years of relentless combat training have created an unstoppable force of nature.

Silver Sable led the charge at Marvel Comics for female characters with a new definition of leading lady!

Flashback! Symkaria, a country in Europe in the late 1940s. A young girl of seven and her mother walk down a street. The young girl overhears Nazis plotting to kill her father. She runs to warn him, inadvertently alerting the enemy to her presence and leading them right to their target. Her father realizes immediately what her appearance foretells. Within seconds, gunfire rings out and the young girl’s mother collapses in a hail of bullets. The father yells, “You see what you have brought upon us, Silver? Maybe now you’ll think before you act!” Cut to the mother’s death and an innocent girl whose life is changed forever by violence. Years of relentless training follow.

The mother, Anastasia Sablinovia, the father, Ernst Sablinovia, and the young girl, their daughter, who goes by the name Silver Sablinovia, the future Silver Sable, all play out this drama.

BORN TO BE WILD

Silver Sable made her debut in the Amazing Spider-Man #265 (June 1985), written by Tom DeFalco with art by Ron Frenz and Josef Rubinstein. Silver explains, “My father founded the [Wild] Pack, with the aid of the government of Symkaria, to hunt down Nazi war criminals! But I believe in changing with the times! Under my leadership, the Pack will hunt anyone… for a price!”

Silver Sable International has taken on the assignment to capture an international jewel thief, the Black Fox. At the Symkarian Embassy in New York City, Silver and her Uncle Morty discuss the business at hand, Spider-Man’s interference, and the Black Fox’s escape.

The talk does not happen over a conference table, but during Silver’s daily workout, where she takes on members of her Wild Pack with martial arts and her signature throwing chais, mini projectiles of her own design. An assassination attempt occurs, but Silver seems unfazed. The reader gets the basics: Silver Sable has honed herself into a hunter. Silver Sable International

The Sable Fables Begin Steven Butler illustrated and colored this 2014 recreation of the cover for Marvel’s Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #1 (June 1992).

From the collection of Shaun Clancy.

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

On the Drawing Board Early Silver Sable character designs by Ron Frenz.

Courtesy of Dan Tandarich.

Silver Sable TM & © Marvel.

runs different ventures for profit, her main motivation to provide for the economy of her native country, Symkaria. Assassination attempts come fast and furious.

She has no time for nonsense, as her country relies on her. Mistakes have no place in her organization. Back to the current mission, Spidey recovers the jewels but lets the Black Fox get away. In this case, Spider-Man frustrates her, being the personification of the spider, er, fly in the ointment.

But to truly delve into this origin, we must start with Silver’s real-life beginnings and, for that, we turn to legendary creators “Two-fisted” Tom DeFalco and “Rampaging” Ron Frenz. New levels of creative excitement had to occur for DeFalco and Frenz to feel successful. That meant new faces like in the early days of the Spider-Man comic when new characters debuted regularly. DeFalco purchased a set of safari animal cards, looking for new sources of inspiration, which resulted in the Marvel characters Silver Sable, the Puma, and Black Fox. DAN TANDARICH: How did the inspiration of the sable morph into the character of Silver Sable?

TOM DeFALCO: I started with the name and decided I wanted the character to be a hunter. But I wanted her to be a unique type of hunter. I had read a book about the Nazi war criminal hunters and wondered what became of them when they ran out of Nazis. Seemed like the basis for a backstory.

TANDARICH: Did you invent her weapon of choice, the chais?

DeFALCO: I wanted Silver to have a unique weapon— something that set her apart. Since she was a martial artist who could go one-on-one in close combat, I figured she needed something that would allow her to strike at a distance and kept playing around with ideas until I developed the chais.

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58 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

DeFalco gave all of the details to Ron Frenz. The artist came up with the look, or one should say looks, of Silver Sable, ranging from combat-ready uniforms to elegant evening wear, all visually stunning. He also sent a crude sketch of what he had in mind for the chais.

Frenz tells BACK ISSUE, “The core idea DeFalco pitched was a mercenary organization originally formed to track down Nazis after World War II that was now run by a woman who turned it into the economic backbone of her postagestamp-sized European country. Tom designed the chais. I was only responsible for Sable’s physical appearance, her short stature (no taller than 5 feet 2 inches), and her resemblance to Marilyn Monroe (including the oftenforgotten beauty mark). [Author’s note: Silver Sable and the Wild Pack ron frenz artist Steven Butler didn’t forget it!

Butler said that he always drew the beauty mark and production would take it out.] I’ve always enjoyed the visual of a relatively tiny woman ordering around these massively built male mercenaries.

Early on we also suggested she had mostly men working for her as subordinates.”

Regarding the importance of the color in Silver Sable’s name and costume, DeFalco reveals, “I didn’t think calling her Sable was enough, so my Stan Lee training kicked in with a little alliteration. Silver just seemed to go with Sable and it provided a strong visual motif. Also, the first villain she faced was the Black Fox, and I liked the Silver vs. Black imagery.”

Silver offered Spider-Man work in her second appearance, in Marvel Age Annual #1 (1985). “My organization could really use a man like you. I pay very well!” But Spidey told her he was not for hire. He could use the money, but it just wouldn’t be right to use his abilities like that.

The Amazing Spider-Man #279 (Aug. 1986) saw Silver Sable take over Spidey’s book! The cover announced, “This one’s got it all… except the guy with the webs.” Sable received a solo spotlight facing off against mercenary terrorist Jack O’Lantern in only her third appearance. Asked if she was getting a lot of positive feedback from readers, DeFalco replies, “Absolutely! We received actual letters in those days, and the readers seemed to love her and kept asking for us to bring her back.”

“Savage is the Sable” by DeFalco, Rick Leonardi, and Vince Colletta looked at a day in the life of Silver Sable, complete with assassination attempts on her by “our old enemy,” daily workout sessions to hone her skills, and dangerous bounty-hunting assignments.

The mission: capture Jason Macendale, a.k.a. Jack O’Lantern, charged with training rebels in South Africa.

Silver has a unique solution to their shortage of available men. Cut to the Daily Bugle’s classified section… “Attention Spider-Man, Silver Sable Wants You! Good Pay! Excellent Benefits! Call Now!” Silver even goes on television to get the wall-crawler’s attention. When asked about Silver Sable International, she explains, “…We’re in the business of apprehending international criminals. Our clients usually range from major insurance companies to the governments of small nations.”

A shooting right on the NYC street in front of her interrupts her thoughts regarding Symkaria’s continued financial future. A quick act of violence against a mother and child gives Silver a flashback of another mother and child. DeFalco and Leonardi provide a one-panel glimpse into the origin of Silver Sable, her mother dying in her young arms. This one panel would be expanded on greatly by Gregory Wright in the years to come.

But, for now, Silver shakes off the memory and springs into action, landing on the roof of the getaway car and, turning herself into a human cannonball, slamming into the front window, commanding the vehicle within seconds.

By story’s end, we learn something about Silver.

After her confrontation with Jack O’Lantern, she has a choice. Go after Jack or go after Snake, the hood who shot the mother in cold blood on the street. She has only one chai left in her arsenal. She chooses Snake and loses the high-paying bounty on Jack O’Lantern, revealing the humanity behind the soldier. And when her Uncle Morty mentions how the woman shot in the street reminds him of what happened in her past, she retorts, “Certain memories should never be unleashed!”

Questions, intrigue, mystery, all wrapped up in a lady named Silver Sable!

BAD COMPANY

The next important piece of the Silver Sable mythos occurs when she meets the former villain and SpiderMan antagonist, Sandman (William Baker), in the pages of the Amazing Spider-Man #280–281 (Sept.–Oct. 1986) by DeFalco, Frenz, and Brett Breeding.

The Sinister Syndicate—Beetle, Boomerang, Rhino, Speed Demon, and Hydro-Man—have Silver and Spidey on the ropes. Throughout the battle, we learn the differences in motivation between the two characters.

One fights for money. The other one fights for the greater good. Spider-Man’s values and selflessness

make an impression on her as much as she would hate to admit it.

When Sandman, with total control over his sand-like body, shows up like the cavalry, giving the harried heroes a much-needed respite, Spidey wants to go back and help him.

Silver: “He knew the risks! As long as you’re working for me, you’ll obey my orders! He’s not your responsibility! Think about yourself! You’re working for me because you need the money!”

Spider-Man: “Maybe so… but, I can’t let that stop me from doing what’s right!”

Silver Sable, Spider-Man, and Sandman work together to end the Sinister Syndicate. Silver gets an idea.

“Mr. Sandman, I was very impressed with your abilities, and I often employ freelance operatives…”

To which Sandman replies, “Really? Tell me more.”

It’s the start of a beautiful friendship… make that, working relationship!

DeFalco shares his thoughts on the pairing of Silver Sable and Sandman. “They originally met during the

Hero for Hire Silver considers Spidey for her organization in this DeFalco/Frenz/ Rubinstein Amazing Spider-Man teaser page from 1985’s Marvel Age Annual #1.

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

Sinister Syndicate storyline and Ron and I liked the way they played off each other. Since we had established that Silver often hired outside ‘contractors,’ it seemed like a natural pairing.”

Spidey and His Symkarian Friend An early outing for Silver Sable netted her this cover-touted appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #280 (Sept. 1986).

Art by Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding.

TM & © Marvel.

TANDARICH: Ever since your Sandman story, the team-up with the Thing, in Marvel Two-in-One #86 (Apr. 1982), you had been setting up the Sandman for something other than just being a villain.

DeFALCO: Yes, I have often played with the theme of redemption.

Peter David wrote Silver’s next two appearances, in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #128–129 (July–Aug. 1987). The story included the Foreigner, the infamous “old enemy” and ex-husband trying to kill her. Now he had a name.

TANDARICH: You added some memorable touches in Sable appearances, like talking to staff while working out and the assassination attempts by her former husband. What were your ideas for the backstory of Silver’s marriage to the Foreigner?

DeFALCO: I did indicate that Silver Sable had an ex-husband who often tried to kill her, but I had nothing to do with the Foreigner.

60 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

DeFalco had Silver show up in his Hawkeye storyline in Solo Avengers. Editor Mark Gruenwald, in his “Mark’s Remarks” column, reprinted parts of DeFalco’s plot.

Here we get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what the artist, Ron Lim, used to draw from… “We will follow Silver and her people to a large gym where she begins one of her classic workouts… one filled with a lot of dangerous action. And, while she is so occupied, we’ll get in some exposition, and bring our readers up-todate on what’s happening… because she’ll be having a conversation throughout the entire scene. She will be conversing with the representatives of the French government. It seems the French have hired Silver to get Trick Shot [Hawkeye’s villainous mentor]…”

Hawkeye, along with Silver’s special French operative, the high-flying Peregrine, and Sandman stop an explosion by destroying the timing device. But the job required the retrieval of it, not its destruction. Following Silver’s mission parameters leave no room for interpretation. Sandman destroyed it.

Sandman: “Ya know I didn’t have no choice! We could’ve all been blowed up!”

Peregrine: “Perishing in a nuclear explosion would have been a lot less stressful than informing Silver Sable that you failed to complete a mission!

Sandman: “Ya really think I made the wrong decision?”

Silver and Sandman accompany Hawkeye to the Paris airport when terrorists attack. Philosophies differ when Hawkeye launches into them. Silver says, “As an Avenger, Hawkeye may feel compelled to get involved in this matter… but we are professional mercenaries and only risk our necks when we have a paying client!” Hawkeye offers her a dollar. And she later bills him for it!

David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane throw Silver back into Spider-Man’s orbit, focusing on her Nazihunting skills in Amazing Spider-Man #301–303 (June–

Aug. 1988). The adventures continue in “The Assassin Nation Plot” which runs for six issues beginning in Amazing Spider-Man #320 (late Sept. 1989). The mission brings her up against the machinations of the ultimate Nazi, the original Red Skull. However, the two do not have a direct confrontation. Silver teams with Captain America, who had battled Nazis during World War II and beyond. She encounters the villain and assassin, Sabretooth, during this operation.

Silver Sable started seeing the value of having freelance operatives for special missions besides members of her Wild Pack. She had already hired both SpiderMan and Sandman. Paladin, a dashing mercenary for hire, would make her short list, as would a group of individuals that would later become a team called the Outlaws, former Spider-Man antagonists the Prowler, Rocket Racer, Will O’ the Wisp, Puma, and Sandman.

Sable would use the Outlaws as her quick-strike team.

Fabian Nicieza, along with Mark Propst and Andy Mushynsky, provides essential background details about Silver’s costumed code name in a backup tale in Web of Spider-Man Annual #5 (1989). A funeral for a member of the Wild Pack forces Silver to reflect on her relationship with her father. She reveals the origin of her code name.

“It is what I am… It is what he made me. Silver in spirit.

All color drained from me, all emotions wiped clean.

Sable in form. Fierce and supple in body.”

Thinking back on Silver Sable now, Nicieza shares with BACK ISSUE, “I liked her conceptually and visually.

I liked her status quo set up and thought it could lend

Not to Be Underestimated (top left) Artist Todd McFarlane was adept in decking out Silver in the fashions of the day, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #301 (June 1988). (top right) Yet Todd’s Silver Sable was no Barbie doll, as she shows on this stunning original art page from issue #303, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (bottom) Another cover shot.

TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 61

THE WILD PACK! Silver Sable’s Wild Pack holds the reputation as the most sought-after group of mercenaries in the Marvel Universe.

Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz started the concept. Gregory Wright and Steven Butler zeroed in on the individuals.

The Wild Pack made the series a team book for the 1990s.

Wright wanted “characters who would provoke reactions in each other, and whose pasts linked up with other characters in the Marvel Universe.” Here, Wright reflects on the characters that made up the Wild Pack.

TM & © Marvel.

Battle Star: “Mark [Gruenwald] gave me that character to do whatever I wanted with. I told him I felt like he had already mended his ways since his days as a ‘Bucky’ [Bold Urban Commando] and was looking to live up to Captain America’s ideals. I had planned to have him be given a shot at being an Avenger… the idea was that he would be recruited

by Captain America after another team-up to be a part of the Avengers, which would cause friction with Silver Sable as well as the Wild Pack. On top of that, not all of the Avengers would be happy to have Battle Star on board. So, it would have been a story of choices and proving oneself again.”

Doug Powell: “Powell came out of my desire to have a genuinely unlikeable character around to say all the nasty things that are needed to keep a group on the edge.

I had started reforming him and wanted to do a story where his racism was really tested and put him into an impossible situation.”

Amy Chen: “I kept thinking that she was going to snap at any moment.”

Karl Strikland (Crippler): “I actually created him in a Daredevil Annual [#7, 1991] and wanted to get his own series going that would have been very dark. I proposed a Moon Knight series that had him in it as well, but he worked out best in the Wild Pack.” Daredevil said to Nick Fury, “Unfortunately, I think that maniac is on our side.”

Raul Quentino: “Quentino was brought in to show that no matter what your background is, you can get out. I wish I could have delved into his past a little more… at the time I was pretty obsessed with West Coast gangs and had done a large amount of research.” Larry Arnold, a former fellow gang member, took his place on the active field team when Quentino sustained severe physical injuries.

62 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

to lots of great spy stories.” Nicieza, along with Rob I was getting most nights… I’m glad I didn’t write Liefeld and Bob Wiacek, demonstrate in Marvel the series. I think Greg [Wright] did a spectacular job—much better than I could have done—which Comics Presents #53 (July 1990) what would is why I still resent him.” happen if Silver Sable and the Black Widow Gregory Wright authored the entire both went after the same target. Not Silver Sable and the Wild Pack series of 35 pretty (for the bad guy!). issues except for one. On the “Silver Later, Nicieza would use her Exchange” letters page of the final issue, Nazi-hunting background in The Wright explained how he got the job.

Thunderbolts, giving her a connection “First off, several writers were with the V-Battalion, a group with commissioned by editor Craig Anderson ties to WWII and the goal to hunt to write up proposals for a new Silver down war criminals and fight for Sable series in 1991. Mine wasn’t peace. Regarding the link between chosen. Fast-forward several months.

Silver Sable and the V-Battalion, A rather harried and frustrated Nicieza explains, “I think because Craig Anderson calls me up. As it of the close proximity between fabian nicieza turns out, Craig was calling to offer European countries, those kinds of me the book to write. The other connections are just obvious. And Marvel Database. writer wasn’t working out, he said. when you are dealing with characters that carry a mantle of legacy—like Sable and the I accepted immediately, only to find out that I had to V-Battalion… they are natural extensions of your get the series up and running in a week.” deeper story world.”

Silver would also appear with Spider-Man in a graphic novel entitled Fear Itself, by Gerry Conway and Stan Lee with art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Silver continued to hunt down the remnants of the Third Reich and the evil perpetuated by them.

Family Ties A flashback scene from the Nicieza/ Propst/Mushynsky “A Mute Prayer for Deaf Ears,” from 1989’s Web of Spider-Man Annual #5. (left) Joe Jusko cover art graced the 1992 graphic novel Spider-Man: Fear Itself.

TM & © Marvel.

ONE OF THE BIG GUNS

Silver Sable’s appearances throughout the Marvel Universe built up a following for her own title, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack! In movie terms, the leading lady received top billing. But many of the supporting characters shared the spotlight, too. As with any Hollywood blockbuster, it’s all about the chemistry.

This team book would have it in spades!

DeFalco tells BACK ISSUE, “The Punisher was selling very well, and we decided to bring out a few more books with that general tone. Silver fit the bill. She had a strong fan base by that time.”

But why didn’t DeFalco write the series? “I wanted to write all the characters that Ron and I co-created, but I had grown attached to that five hours of sleep

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (left) Silver Sable and Black Widow tussle in Paris on this inventively laid out page from Marvel Comics Presents #53 (July 1990). Written

by Fabian Nicieza, penciled by Rob Liefeld, and inked by Bob Wiacek. (right) Courtesy of the artist via Dan Tandarich, a photo of Steven Butler’s tryout page for the Silver Sable assignment.

Silver Sable TM & © Marvel.

Wright continued, “On the artistic front, Joe Quesada George Caragonne had asked me to do a sample page was one of the earlier choices for Silver Sable. But in of Silver Sable from a script he was trying to pitch.”

Marvel released “The Big Guns” promotion featuring the turmoil of the previous writer not working out, he stepped down. Jae Lee ran a similar battle. Steven Butler, new titles: Silver Sable and the Wild Pack, Nomad, Terror, who ultimately won the position, had done some Inc., The Punisher War Zone, Cage, and Death’s Head II, unsolicited Silver Sable samples for Spider-Man editor all featured on a poster by Phil Winslade. Curiously, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers is featured in the poster art along Danny Fingeroth, unaware that Marvel was even with an unidentified female. Marvel Age 1992 doing a Silver Sable comic. Danny showed Preview (Mar. 1992) adds, “Some of her the work to Craig, and Steven had a job.”

‘Employees of the Month’ include Paladin, Both Wright and Butler appreciated Torpedo, Sandman, and the Absorbing Silver Sable before getting the assignMan. Each assignment is matched with ment. Wright adds, “I always liked the the agent whose talents are best suited character and, as a writer, preferred to the job.” The preview mentions a characters who were not superfirst issue storyline that didn’t happen. powered and were known for having “Their first outing in a solo series finds a specific personality. I could do any them on the payroll of the notorious kind of story I wanted, as she was a Doctor Doom, facing one of the most mercenary for hire.” Wright wanted to powerful menaces on Earth. In the do more stories with “flawed individprocess, we will learn that there are uals who had something to prove.” gregory wright heretofore unknown links between On the artistic side, Butler shares, Sable’s home country of Symkaria and “I thought she was visually striking— Facebook.

Doom’s own Latveria!” a comic-book superhero version of a Gregory Wright shares more of his memories with Marilyn Monroe-type. I can’t remember why I did the sample pages for Danny, other than I know that I was BACK ISSUE: “My original proposal was much more doing some Spidey fill-ins for him at the time, and just mature and meant to be like a female Die Hard. I wanted thought I’d send some Silver Sable samples as a it to be sort of a noirish series. The original writer was possible pitch to him, not knowing that there was an George Caragonne. His proposal was utilizing the book actual Silver Sable comic being developed at the time.” as a team-up book where every issue would have her So, who was the original writer for the series? Jae Lee teamed up or pitted against a different big-name tells BACK ISSUE, “…All I remember was a writer named character. Unfortunately, he was unable to write a first

64 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Grim and Gritty (top) Silver sparkles in this painted portrait by Phil Winslade issued as a 1992 promotional poster for Marvel’s “Big Guns” titles. (bottom) Two significant Silver Sable and the Wild Pack covers, penciled by Steven Butler: (bottom left) The direct-market version of #1 (June 1992, inked by Dan Panosian) featured a silverembossed logo and costume… and Spidey! (bottom right) You’ve gotta love the exchange between the Punisher and Silver on the cover of #10 (Mar. 1993, inked by Jim Sanders III).

TM & © Marvel.

issue that anyone liked or could get approved. He drove two different artists off the book… My original proposal was accepted when they let George go, but I had to write the first issue in one day based on a basic idea by Tom DeFalco. I was told that the artist would be Steven Butler… and his art style is not noirish or dark or gritty, so I had to rethink the tone of the book and see what he was going to do art-wise. His style was very good, right on target for what was popular on Spider-Man, but not the tone I originally wanted. But we worked it out, and he was fantastic to work with, especially given the amount of stuff I crammed into every issue.”

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #1 (June 1992) hit the stands in true 1990s fashion with a silver-embossed cover and a guest appearance by Spider-Man! “Personal Stakes” has the powerful combination of writer Gregory Wright, penciler Steven Butler, inker Jim Sanders III, and Craig Anderson as editor. Wright sets up the series by establishing that Silver runs the show, period.

She comes across as tough as nails and total business, but her streaks of humanity do shine through. She goes solo to rescue her niece when the terrorist organization Hydra takes a school hostage. She shows the world she does not get personally involved, keeping her emotions in check. Emotions have caused her pain and loss in the past. She will not repeat those mistakes.

Wright expanded the groundwork laid out by DeFalco and Frenz. Wright explains, “I talked to Tom about a few things, but he really was behind me 100%.

I never rewrote any of her history, and I played off of every story that was written prior.”

Wright would build on previous stories and build and build, creating a tapestry of continuity and background. One panel in particular, from Amazing SpiderMan #279 (Aug. 1986), shows Anastasia’s death.

Wright added to that scene, “Mother died trying to keep me from following in father’s footsteps. Her death gave me more determination than ever to help him hunt down Nazi war criminals with his Wild Pack.”

Spider-Man made one big mistake by not stopping the burglar resulting in Uncle Ben’s death. He learned the lesson that “…with great power there must also come—great responsibility!” Silver also learned a lesson early on. An act of emotion blotted out her reasoning and resulted in the death of her mother. Her father’s words continue to ring in her ears, “Maybe now you’ll think before you act!” As a result, Silver keeps her emotions at bay. In Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #9 (Feb. 1993), Silver reflects, “Cold, unemotional perfection.

A trait I’ve spent my life trying to live up to.”

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 65

THE INTRUDERS The Intruders, Silver Sable’s elite superpowered squad, consisted of Sandman, Paladin, Man-Eater, Fin, and later recruit Light Bright. They made their debut in Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #15 (Aug. 1993). Sporadic mentions of a limited series appeared on the letters pages, but it never materialized. Writer Gregory Wright shares his thoughts on the team members and reveals what happened to the “lost” miniseries: Sandman: (The former villain who became the leader of the Intruders.) Sandman said, “Maybe I do got what it takes to lead! I’m willin’ ta break whatever rules it takes ta get the job done regardless of the consequences to myself. Just like Silver.” Wright explains, “I wanted to resolve his feelings for her [Silver Sable] …which would have happened in the Intruders series that never got off the ground.

I also was trying to find more interesting things to do with his powers.”

Paladin: (A purple-clad soldier of fortune and also a ladies’ man.) “He’s just a fun character. I never thought he was used enough. I toyed around with having him vie for Silver’s affections, but there were already too many characters lusting after her.”

Man-Eater: (Archaeologist, Malcolm Murphy. “Am I a man made into a tiger, a tiger made into a man, or something else entirely…”)

Wright adds, “I think I just liked the drawing Steven made of him in the story he first showed up in with the Nazi scientists and decided to make him a recurring character… and a member of the Intruders. He was also another character (like Deathlok) who really wanted to become human again.”

Fin: (A mystery man with prodigious strength and a giant fin on his back.) “He was originally a member of the Next Wave. The Next Wave was created as another mercenary group by Howard Mackie. They were loosely and lovingly sort of based on the personalities of the Image founders…

66 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

I added Fin to represent Erik Larsen, who I was working with on Savage Dragon. Fin was really a throwaway character, but the art cracked me up so I decided to just utilize him as an Intruder as well.”

Light Bright: (A member of the Bio-Genes, a Somalian mutant squad, who started working with the Intruders.

She could fly and had light-based powers.) “I needed more Intruders and wanted another female hero with some diversity and different powers.”

DAN TANDARICH: What happened to the limited series and how far did you get on it?

GREGORY WRIGHT: Marvel wanted a lot more material and especially #1 issues. I had been tinkering around with a possible spinoff and when they asked for ideas, I gave them The Intruders and it was approved. But… the book never got the final approval from the suits who pay everyone.

So, no proposal or plot was ever done for the series.

The major idea was that the Intruders went on missions that required superhumans, so they would have likely run afoul of the Avengers.

Also, I wanted to make that book more international… so their missions would have taken place all over the world with new heroes from other countries.

TANDARICH: Would you have used some of Marvel’s international characters like Shamrock, Peregrine, Collective Man, Sabra, and Defensor? And what countries did you want to use as the settings?

WRIGHT: I was hoping to use the characters you mention, as well as creating some other new ones and hopefully use Captain Britain. I was going to do stories in places I’d been like England, Ireland, France, and Mexico, as well as TM & © Marvel. places I was very interested in like Viet Nam, China, Japan, Spain… I wanted to explore how different the reaction to superheroes as well as mercenaries would be in other countries, and how some countries would be so unhappy they would actually hunt down the Intruders and try to imprison them for their crimes.

The Butler Did It! (top left) Silver Sable issue #15 (Aug. 1993, inked by Jimmy Palmiotti) featured Cap—and a ’90s screaming pose! (top right) Steven penciled and inked the cover of his farewell ish, #25 (June 1994). (bottom) From the collection of Shaun Clancy, a 2014 Silver Sable portrait illo’ed and colored by Steven Butler.

TM & © Marvel.

Was Wright making the parallel between Uncle Ben and Silver’s mother to explain why she felt the need to act the way she did?

“Not on purpose,” noted Wright. “But many origin stories seem to occur in the midst of tragedy. I wanted her to have a real reason to take over the Wild Pack, and not just because she was supporting her own country.”

MEET THE WILD PACK

Another giant contribution Wright made to the Silver Sable legend was the second part of the series title… the Wild Pack! DeFalco and Frenz co-created the virtually anonymous operatives who made up the original soldier unit. Wright and Butler added faces and grittier, real-world personalities to the Wild Pack, turning it into a team book.

Members of this motley crew included Doug Powell, a racist Southerner and ladies’ man; Amy Chen, a lesbian Asian assassin who takes pieces of people as souvenirs; Karl Strikland, a.k.a.

Crippler, a sadomasochist who turned his passion into his job; the HIV-positive Raul Quentino, a former gang member and tech wizard; Battle Star, Lemar Hoskins, former Bucky to John Walker’s Captain America; and Larry Arnold, L.A. gang member.

[See Wild Pack sidebar.]

Sandman transcends Wild Pack status and quickly transforms into Silver’s right-hand operative and partner-in-peril, and later goes on to lead her superpowered squad, the Intruders! Members included Paladin, Man-Eater, Fin, and Light Bright. However, Sandman started developing feelings for Silver. [See “The Intruders” sidebar.]

TANDARICH: One of your themes for the book was redemption. You wrote on the letters page of #35, “That is primarily Silver’s altruistic goal.

She takes in those who nobody else would and reforms them.” And by the end of the series, you had Silver redeem herself. What are your thoughts on this idea of redemption?

WRIGHT: I never felt like I got to do a story where her work paid off significantly in that regard. I mean, you got to see Powell soften a bit with his racism, and the others became steven butler very loyal and so on… but I wanted to have at least one really bad character make a significant Facebook. change and another one go really bad…

Battle Star joined the team with the third issue, making it one of Wright’s favorite issues. Battle Star said, “The only thing I ever did that made me feel like I wasn’t worthless was fightin’ crime. All I’m askin’ is a chance to prove myself.”

TANDARICH: Do you recall talking to Mark Gruenwald about using Battle Star?

WRIGHT: Yes, I asked Mark if I could have him since he was no longer using him in Captain America. I wanted him to be the moral center of the Wild Pack.

TANDARICH: Silver Sable was involved with a few crossovers, including “For Love Nor Money” with Luke Cage and Terror, Inc., Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, “Siege of Darkness,” Captain America, and Deathlok. Did you have a favorite?

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 67

WRIGHT: My favorite crossover was Silver Sable #15 with Captain America [continued in Captain America #419]. Mark Gruenwald and I worked out a storyline to correct some continuity with the character [Viper/Madame Hydra], and it was a ton of fun to write Captain America in a story with Mark. Many crossovers were done with characters I had more control over because I was writing them, and my pal D.G. Chichester was writing them. We kind of created our own little pocket Marvel Universe. Infinity Crusade, [Infinity] War, and “Siege of Darkness” were all pretty much forced on me. The infamous “For Love Nor Money” was created by myself, D. G. Chichester, and Marcus McLaurin, because our books were getting no promotion from Marvel.

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #10 (Mar. 1993) guest-starred popular 1990s antihero, the Punisher. The cover copy had the Punisher warning, “This ain’t no place for a lady!” To which Silver replied, “So what are YOU doing here?” Even the Punisher had to admit, “This is not a woman to underestimate.”

TANDARICH: Silver Sable and She-Hulk were the only two female-led titles around that time. Did you ever feel a sort of pressure because your lead character was female?

WRIGHT: Nope. It was more difficult to write a female lead properly.

I spent a lot of time discussing issues with women. I talked with them about how they might feel or react to certain situations. And as you can imagine, none of the women I spoke with had the same reactions or thoughts. I was trying to do a more “realistic” version of a female hero.

And we kept her fully covered, unlike so many of the female characters at that time. It made no sense for her to be wearing some kind of bikini while on a mercenary mission. I was more concerned about having storylines censored, like the abortion one [Silver Sable #31–33], or having them ask me to tone down certain characters. I mean, I had a racist narcissist and a sadomasochist as regular characters…

LI’L SILVIE

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #25 (June 1994), entitled “Reunions,” reveals secrets on both Silver’s family and the Wild Pack, and serves as a turning point for the series. The anniversary issue features Nick Fury, Baron Von Strucker, Hydra, the Genesis Coalition, and the Foreigner.

Was Silver’s father still alive? She would find out in this anniversary issue. But the pivotal moment happens when Silver finally avenges her mother’s death by killing the man responsible. Death, revenge, and the emotions that go with it. “I’ve never killed anyone in cold blood before. It is a horrible feeling I may never get over. I have waited years for this moment. For vengeance. And it does not change anything.”

The anniversary issue includes a backup parody story of Silver Sable featuring Li’l Silvie by Wright, Butler, and inker Pam Eklund, with Li’l Silvie as a money-hungry, ACME gun-toting animated-style cartoon.

Butler tells BACK ISSUE, “One of my favorite things to do in the whole Silver Sable run was when I drew an animated-style version of her on the back of one of the pages I turned in and called her ‘Li’l Silvie.’ Craig Anderson saw the drawing and liked it enough to have it inked [by Scott Koblish] and colored and printed in the letters column of one of the issues [#17]. He then asked Greg and I if we could work up a short backup story featuring her for our 25th issue. I had so much fun working on that strip. I treated it very much like a MAD Magazinetype story, with as many visual gags as I could throw in. Li’l Silvie did so well that we were commissioned again to do a final backup story for Silver Sable’s final issue—#35.”

Regarding #25, editor Craig Anderson shared his thoughts in Marvel Age #135 (Apr. 1994). “We want to do stories where we can learn more about the interpersonal dynamics of the group. We’ll be showing the type of conflicts and strife that such an eclectic group would face and how they mesh (or don’t mesh) when the action gets too hot to handle.”

Arrested and sent to Ryker’s Island Prison, Silver has more time to reflect on her life in Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #30 (Nov. 1994), by Wright with art by Scot Eaton and Jim Amash. The US government, or factions thereof, wants to force her hand into taking certain assignments, but she refuses.

“Perhaps I do belong here. I allow a known assassin—my own ex-husband, the Foreigner—to roam free… I hire known criminals to carry out specialized missions… I’ve killed in cold blood. Who gave me the right to be judge, jury, and executioner? What have I become?

Mother… forgive me… I’ve strayed so far from all you wanted for me.”

Gordon Purcell took over penciling duties after Butler moved over to the Spider-Man offices. Purcell shares with BACK ISSUE, “I was working at Marvel on The Avengers and What If? at that time. Inker Andrew Pepoy mentioned that Steven was leaving Sable, so I drew a pinup of the star and sent it to editor Craig Anderson. He liked it and I got issue #24. He liked that and asked me to be the regular artist with #27.”

Purcell would get the scripts from Wright and adds, “…Greg did a great thing—if there was special research, he would include that with the script. Very helpful with that Mayan temple story! [#29]”

END OF THE LINE

Mommie Dearest A revealing glimpse into Silver’s past, from issue #34 (Mar. 1995). Original Gordon Purcell/Pam Eklund art courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

68 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #35 (Apr. 1995) marked the final issue in the series. Take it away, Li’l Silvie: “What’s this I hear about you cancelling Silver Sable and the Wild Pack, pencilneck? No one consulted us, and we’ve got enough muscle to shove any decision you make so far up–” Harumph… er, thank you, Li’l Silvie.

Regarding the cancellation, Purcell adds, “Marvel was going through financial troubles during that time. I was told if we could get the sales up to 40,000, we would make the cut. We did increase sales,

gordon purcell Facebook.

‘I hope I passed the audition’ Courtesy of the artist via Dan Tandarich, Gordon Purcell’s audition art for Silver Sable.

Silver Sable TM & © Marvel.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 69

Assassins Come in All Sizes (left) A Purcellpenciled splash, from Silver Sable #28 (Sept. 1994). (right) Li’l Silvie joined the fun on Butler’s cover to the series’ final issue, #35 (Apr. 1995).

TM & © Marvel.

but only to about 39K. So, it and a lot of other titles were chopped.”

From the letters page of the final issue, Wright explained, “Unlike the other superhero titles that Marvel does, this wasn’t one about heroes that you should look up to, or consider role models. This series focused on mercenaries, people who do what they do because they are paid to do it. This made the series worth doing for me. Silver Sable wasn’t a goody-twoshoes doing good deeds for some arbitrary reason.”

Looking back on the series, Wright reflects, “I was really proud that Tom DeFalco, who created her, really liked what I was doing and allowed me to give her an extensive history. Also, that Mark Gruenwald would tell me it was his favorite book at the time. I was also proud to create a lot of very diverse characters and storylines. At the time, there weren’t a lot of strong, female characters, or gay characters, non-white or really any characters that were on the fringe of society being given any real place in a mainstream title. (Other than the X-Men.) I was far more interested in writing flawed characters with diverse backgrounds who were not 100% good or bad. I wanted characters who could make mistakes or have attitudes that would anger the other characters. It made a much more interesting group of characters to write.”

Redemption. Diversity. Family. Taking a deeper dive into Silver Sable stories will reveal all three ideas. Silver believes in second chances for others and, occasionally, herself. Gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation do

70 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

not matter to her as long as you can get the job done.

She broke the mold for female comic-book characters by making up her own rules.

But surprisingly, the various storylines of Silver Sable reveal much about family. Her mother and father laid the foundation for her life’s work. Silver had a wish from her mother to have a better life away from violence.

But then, out of tragedy comes a mission of revenge.

Training and looking for a father’s approval, completely the opposite of what her mother dreamed for her. How can a dutiful daughter choose? Yet, she must.

Comparatively, Silver Sable created a type of family with the Wild Pack, a crew of misfits, mercenaries, and those looking for a second chance at life. A different kind of family. One that Silver selected and needed in the most death-defying situations. Family, the one we are born into and the one we make. One creates us, and the other empowers us. Love, hate, laughter, arguments, happiness. All parts of a family, whether we choose them or not. That and dodging bullets, laying down gunfire, throwing chais, securing the target, completing the mission. Silver Sable represents an amalgam of all of that plus fighting spirit, peak human performance, and humanity (though she tries to hide it), and then focuses those diverse elements into the best human fighting machine possible!

Special thanks to Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz for unleashing Silver Sable upon the Marvel Universe, and Gregory Wright, Steven Butler, and Gordon Purcell for keeping the stories going. Thanks also to Fabian Nicieza, Jae Lee, and Phil Winslade.

DAN TANDARICH is an educator in New York City. Contact him at yellowjacket74@hotmail.com.

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Collects all seven issues of JON B. COOKE’s little-seen fanzine, published just after the WITH 16 EXTRA PAGES OF “STUF’ SAID”! original COMIC BOOK ARTIST ended its Examines the complicated relationship of TwoMorrows run in 2003. Interviews with Marvel Universe creators JACK KIRBY and GEORGE TUSKA, FRED HEMBECK, TERRY STAN LEE through their own words (and BEATTY, and FRANK BOLLE, an all-star Ditko’s, Wood’s, Romita Sr.’s and others), tribute to JACK ABEL, a new feature on in chronological order, from fanzine, JACK KIRBY’s unknown 1960 baseball card magazine, radio, and TV interviews! By art, and a 16-page full-color section!

TwoMorrows publisher JOHN MORROW. (176-page SOFTCOVER with COLOR) (176-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $8.99 (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-105-9 ISBN: 978-1-60549-094-6

JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE

The final complete, unpublished Jack Kirby stories in existence, presented here for the first time, in cooperation with DC Comics! Two unused 1970s DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales, plus TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE, and SOUL LOVE (the unseen black romance magazine)! With historical essays by JOHN MORROW. (176-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5

MIKE GRELL

HERO-A-GO-GO!

LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER

Career-spanning tribute to the DC Comics mainstay, and Warlord & Jon Sable creator,

by DEWEY CASSELL with JEFF MESSER.

MICHAEL EURY looks at comics of the 1960s Camp Age, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, and TV’s Batman shook a mean cape! With FRADON, SINNOTT, DELBO & more!

(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-088-5

(272-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $36.95 (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1

OLD GODS & NEW:

THE WORLD OF TWOMORROWS

A FOURTH WORLD COMPANION

Looks back at JACK KIRBY’s own words, as well as those of assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN, inker MIKE ROYER, and publisher CARMINE INFANTINO, to show how Kirby’s epic came about, where it was going, and how he would’ve ended it before it was cancelled by DC Comics! By JOHN MORROW with JON B. COOKE. (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4

25th anniversary retrospective by publisher JOHN MORROW and COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine’s JON B. COOKE! Go behind-the-scenes with MICHAEL EURY, ROY THOMAS, GEORGE KHOURY, and a host of other TwoMorrows contributors who’ve been the future of comics, LEGO , and pop culture history since 1994! ®

(256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $37.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-092-2

TwoMorrows Publishing • www.twomorrows.com • 919-449-0344 Download our Free Catalog: https://www.twomorrows.com/media/TwoMorrowsCatalog.pdf

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

JOHN SEVERIN

Send your comments to: Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE 112 Fairmount Way * New Bern, NC 28562

Find BACK ISSUE on

On a different note, may I correct some of the Silver Age citings made in the ’Nam article? The caption on page 58 seems to suggest that Iron Man didn’t revisit Vietnam until IM #78.

Not so. He revisited the war-torn country back in Tales of Suspense #92–93 (vs. Half-Face and the Titanium Man). Likewise, Captain America first visited Vietnam in Tales of Suspense #61 (to rescue a downed pilot and battle the Sumo). More egregiously, Arndt states that only Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America had visited Vietnam in their own solo titles. I’d hate to think that he forgot that Daredevil did the same in Daredevil #47 (the classic “Brother Take My Hand”).

– Pierre Comtois Leave it to the author of the TwoMorrows books Marvel Comics in the 1960s and 1970s to set us Bronze Age boys straight! Thank you for the corrections, Pierre. Incidentally, any errors in those captions were ye ed’s, since I write the majority of captions in BI (now you readers know who to blame for the puns).

MIGHTY MARVEL MARCHES TO WAR

TOONED IN

As usual, I read BACK ISSUE #127 cover to cover, even though I love reading every issue of BACK ISSUE, but #129 was one of the subject of war comics appeared somewhat lukewarm to me. my favorites. It brought back so many fond memories not only Also as usual, I ended up being drawn to most of the articles of reading some of these comics but also the cartoons they were based on. if only to revisit comics I lived for Saturday that I dismissed back in the mornings. H-B cartoons day but now, 30, 40 years were some of my go-to hence, find myself curious viewing, and I absolutely to revisit them to make loved your “Bronze-tastic sure my original dismissals World of Hanna-Barbera weren’t too hasty. Titles Comics” article, Michael, like Blitzkrieg and War is because it reminded me of Hell were fun to read about, some comics that I had read as I knew next to nothing (Scooby-Doo, Flintstones) about them, but the articles and informed me of only confirmed my original others that I didn’t even opinion of them, in which know existed (Great Grape I didn’t care for the stories Ape, Hong Kong Phooey), and more majorly, for but would have eagerly the art. read if I had known about Which is the crux of my them then. friendly disagreement with The articles on Bullwinkle, author Richard Arndt in his Pink Panther, Underdog, and intro to the ’Nam article.

Battle of the Planets were There he suggests that also standouts due to my Vietnam War comics didn’t viewing habits, but there sell because readers were wasn’t a bad one in the uninterested in such comics bunch. This issue is just that came without “someone example of why I thing to say.” started reading BI in the Admittedly, although my first place and continue to bailiwick at the time was do so regularly whether I superhero comics, I was have a contribution in the never averse to war comics. issue or not. Thank you for What put me off them was this magazine, and RetroFan the formulaic writing of the as well.

DC brand and/or the art, – Ed Lute which at DC seemed all done in Joe Kubert’s style, or Don’t we all miss the days at Marvel led by that of Dick when Underdog or SpiderAyers. If people like Marvel’s Man and His Amazing top artists had drawn war Friends would drag a kid comics, I’d have been there out of bed on a morning in a heartbeat. (Just as I’d Iron Man story splash from Tales of Suspense #92 (Aug. 1967). TM & © Marvel. when he’d rather stay buried been there for the horror and sword-and-sorcery books that began to come out in the early ’70s.) under the pillow! While contemporary on-demand viewing has But Colan, Buscema, Romita, and Kirby were much too valuable, it its obvious benefits, when everything is accessible with the push seemed, to waste their energies on anything but the more popular of a button, nothing really becomes special any more. Not only superheroes. Thus, my opinion is that this lack of non-formulaic are Saturday morning cartoons a casualty of streaming, but the stories and exciting art is what prevented Vietnam War stories (as primetime fall premieres have lost their luster as well. Good thing well as other war comics) from maintaining the popularity they had our sister mag RetroFan keeps that cool stuff alive! Thanks for the nice letter, my friend. in earlier years.

72 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

TM & © DC Comics.

ANOTHER DC DIRECT CURRENTS!

In the latest issue, the mag fails to mention the Direct Currents iteration that was published in 1978: a one-page newsletter that came out between the DC Hotline in 1977 and DC Coming Attractions in 1978. On one side of each newsletter was the relevant solicitation news, and on the other was a full-size poster.

I’ve included a scan of #2, which features a poster of the Legion.

– Legion Lad Yes, we totally forgot this one in our Direct Currents roundup.

Thanks for the reminder, and for the scan.

A BIG DELIGHT

BI #130’s coverage of promos and ads was one of your best issues.

The detailed retrospective on the Hostess ads was in itself worth the price of admission.

These ads started to hit the comics in my teenage years. When I saw my first one (the Batman/Mummy ad), I was impressed. Many comic strip-styled ads of that era had cheesy artwork featuring some generic superhero, badly drawn. But here was a full-page ad featuring some nice Dick Giordano artwork. I was surprised to find similar ads popping up everywhere else in the months to come.

Once I realized it was going to be an ongoing ad campaign, it was like finding an Easter egg in your comics. You got a mini-adventure in the kooky Twinkieverse.

I think most fans have their personal wish list of comics they’d love to see. I always wanted to see a Brave and the Bold team-up featuring Earth-Hostess Batman. A sequel featuring the Mummy invading Earth-One, with the Cupcaked Crusader arriving to stop him, and wondering why the persuasive powers of golden

sponge cake and creamy filling don’t work to subdue villains on this Earth; and Earth-One’s Batman wondering why this strange new Batman would think he could stop a villain by offering him pies (light flaky crust notwithstanding). The crossover possibilities are mind-boggling…

Speaking of mind-boggling, thanks for the HCA Checklist. While I loved this ad series, I had no idea it expanded this far. Although I have to agree with Prince Street News’ Karl Heitmueller, they missed the boat by not including Matter-Eater Lad! – Michal Jacot Thinking of Bob Haney and Jim Aparo producing your Brave and Bold story idea has made me giddier than any Twinkie sugar rush ever could!

HE’S SWEET ON ‘PRINCE STREET NEWS’

I wish Karl Heitmueller, Jr. could create new Hostess ads for BI that feature characters from Watchmen, Sandman, Lucifer, the Spectre, Legion of Super-Heroes, etc. One story could have the Legion finding a Hostess pie that had been undiscovered for 1000 years… and they eat it with no problems! Imagine Rorschach eating Hostess cakes instead of canned beans, or the Spectre being distracted from sawing someone in half because someone dangled a Hostess pie in front of him!

– Dan Brozak Karl Heitmueller, please take note! Dare you take the Hostess Challenge??

(And I’m wondering, would a Hostess cherry pie satisfy a thirsty Dracula?)

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73

Did BACK ISSUE ever run a feature on “Tales of Gotham City”?

Some great human-interest stories with great art by Dan Speigle.

My favorite short story of all time was the little girl and the Maestro, playing the violin on the streets of Gotham.

– Yaakov Gerber Yaakov, I had forgotten the “Tales of Gotham City” backup series in Detective Comics until you mentioned it. We’ll try to work it into a future issue of BACK ISSUE when space and an appropriate theme allow.

© Scholastic Book Services.

I picked up the latest issue of BACK ISSUE magazine [#130] and loved it.

The articles conjured up memories for me of a math textbook I had in the 1980s that had artwork in it by Neal Adams. It consisted of these humans surviving an apocalyptic war on Earth being controlled by relentless robots. It was done in a comic-strip fashion and as the story progressed in the book, math questions would be asked to progress through the comic-book-style story in the book.

I didn’t even realize that Neal Adams did the artwork for the book until many years later. I even asked Neal Adams about it once, but he barely remembered the book.

I have been trying to locate a copy of that math book. I would love a copy. It really helped me learn math, or at least get better at it!

– Chris Krieg

“Tales of Gotham City” story splash from Detective Comics #507 (Oct. 1981). TM & © DC Comics.

YOU CAN COUNT ON NEAL ADAMS!

Wow, that’s not something you see every day! Thanks for sharing this scan.

BITE-SIZED COMMENT

Those Hostess ads get me laughing every time. The amount of murderous intent and grand larceny upended by a fruit pie…

– Mark Crowl

THE SOCIETY’S SECRET—REVEALED!

I especially enjoyed BACK ISSUE #130. The Hostess ads, the promo material, and the DC 16-Page Previews were all great… and finally I get some closure on the DC Super-Stars Society that so disappointed me, as an 11-year-old, after I’d applied for the Justice League chapter.

– Bill Svitavsky

WANTED: ‘TALES OF GOTHAM CITY’

I loved the recent issue featuring the DC Hotline. As a kid, I attempted to call that number almost every day after school and never got through. I always wondered what it sounded like. Thank you so much! Brilliant.

I also really enjoyed the Hostess article and the 16-page DC Comic Previews coverage. DC in the late ’70s and ’80s was really a special time.

Did BI ever do a feature on the hardcover collections of Batman and Superman from the ’30s to the ’70s/’80s, as well as Shazam! from the ’40s to the ’70s; plus DC war stories, romance, and science fiction books; and the Great Superman Collection, of the Bronze Age? I believe you once did a feature on the Marvel Origins series by Fireside of that same era.

I would love to see an article about toys of that era as well, such as View-Master reels and the Mego Action Figure collections, both 8” and larger. I know that RetroFan has showcased some of these, but wouldn’t it be great if there were one article including all of them? Not everyone gets both magazines.

Although I didn’t enjoy the TV and Toons issues as much, I appreciate the efforts of putting out a superb magazine that covers such a broad range.

74 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

Now that there’s a magazine like our own RetroFan to explore cool toys from our childhoods, future articles about these playthings will appear there, not in BI. Megos have been pretty well documented here at TwoMorrows, including a book, but I suspect that RetroFan will eventually do a piece on the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes Mego line. There will also be a RetroFan article on TV show-related View-Masters, but it won’t appear for some time due to the volume of material currently in the pipeline.

Re those early DC collected editions—you must have either missed or forgotten BI #81, the Bronze Age DC Reprints issue, which covered those books. It’s out-of-print, but available in digital form at www.twomorrows.com.

As always, we appreciate your support of BI!

WONDER WOMAN’S BOY FRIEND, STEVE… HOWARD??

I’m a long-time subscriber of three of TwoMorrows’ excellent magazines, but this morning I write about the most recent issue of BACK ISSUE, #130. Reading the very fun article about Hostess Comic Ads, I noticed an error in the HCA Wonder Woman ad on page 9. It’s not an error on your part, but did you notice that the

LARGE actress gripping Steve Trevor is calling him “Steve Howard”?

I was surprised no one caught that from the beginning.

Just thought I would share my little observation. Thanks for always having such terrific reading for me.

– Mark Kohn Mark, I’ll admit that I didn’t notice that until you brought it up.

Maybe Steve Howard is the equivalent of Steve Trevor on Earth-Hostess.

Your kind remarks about BI and TwoMorrows are sincerely appreciated.

HE YAM WHAT HE EXAM

In my collection, I have one publication related to the Popeye Vocational Guidance Comics covered in Mark Arnold’s article in BACK ISSUE #130.

I purchased this publication from an antique store dealer who was also selling the Popeye comics; so, I am quite certain that it was used in schools with those comics.

This publication is magazine-sized. It is printed on a better grade of paper than the newsprint that comic books of that era were using.

It is a four-page comic story, featuring Popeye, titled “Taking Tests.” The copyright date is 1975.

It features Popeye giving school students tips on how to do better on tests. The art is not signed, and I don’t think it is George Wildman.

I thought you and your readers would want to know of this since it was not mentioned in the article.

I am enclosing a blackand-white copy of the entire publication.

–John H. Fishel Thanks for the info on this rarity, John.

I forwarded your letter and photocopies to Mark Arnold, who responded: Hi, John, I wasn’t familiar with this four-page Popeye story. Thank you for pointing it out!

I am scheduled to do another Popeye article for BACK ISSUE soon, so I can do a little more research on this to learn more about it and who the artist was and if there were more!

– Mark Arnold Thanks for answering John’s letter, Mark.

BTW, readers, Mark’s forthcoming Popeye in Comics article will appear in issue #138, out this August. Its theme is Classic Heroes, and it will examine the Bronze Age’s Lone Ranger and Tonto, Zorro, Flash Gordon, Son of Tomahawk, Jungle Twins, and of course spinacheating, yam-what-he-yam sailor, Popeye.

Spider-Man and Howard the Duck TM & © Marvel.

Friday Foster © Tribune Syndicate. Star Hawks © Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc. Star Trek © CBS Studios Inc. BACK ISSUE TM & © TwoMorrows Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

And courtesy of John H. Fishel, in the center of this page is a scan of the B&W copy of the first page of the Popeye tale in question.

FOR SINGLES ONLY

For what it is worth, I liked the suggestion raised by Yaakov Gerber in the letters column in issue #130. A “Greatest Single Issue” issue would be great.

– Troy Benson That’s a double recommendation for the Single Issue theme!

Readers, what do you think?

And what Bronze Age/Copper Age single issues/stories do you think warrant a look in BACK ISSUE?

WANTED: HOSTESS’ MOST DANGEROUS DC VILLAIN

If DC ever thought to bring a Hostess villain creation into the proper DCU (as Kurt Busiek did with Icemaster for Marvel), I nominate Slud-Jak from the Aquaman comic ad, “That Dirty Beach.” He’s got a good name, a great design (mixing shark fins with catfish whiskers and the bottom half of an octopus), and he’s an eco-terrorist. By modern ways of thinking, that makes him somewhat of an anti-hero.

Out of all the DC options, who’s your pick to be promoted to the “big leagues”?

– Vinny Bellizia Vinny, I have to fight the urge to make a joke about one of the goofball Hostess villains and instead choose the Mummy, who fought Batman and Robin TM & © King Features Syndicate. in the first DC Hostess Comic Ad. Strip him of his sweet tooth and toughen him up, and he’d be quite formidable!

And since so many of you enjoyed #130’s Hostess Comic Ads article, following this lettercol is a bonus four-page sampler of 16 tasty HCAs starring some of your favorite superheroes and toon characters!

Next issue: Bronze Age Comics Strips! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest SuperHeroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more! Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the Menomonee Falls Gazette.

Spotlighting the work of GENE COLAN, STEVE GERBER, ARCHIE GOODWIN, RON HARRIS, GIL KANE, WARREN KREMER, FRED LASSWELL, STAN LEE, JORGE LONGARÓN, VAL MAYERIK, GRAY MORROW, MARTIN PASKO, JOHN ROMITA, ALEX SAVIUK, ROY THOMAS, GEORGE TUSKA, MARV WOLFMAN, and more. Comic strip montage cover featuring Spider-Man by Romita. Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in thirty!

Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 75

76 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

© Marvel. Hostess © Hostess Brands, LLC.

MARVEL HCA GALLERY

© Marvel. Hostess © Hostess Brands, LLC.

MARVEL HCA GALLERY

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 77

78 • BACK ISSUE • Silver Issue

© DC Comics. Hostess © Hostess Brands, LLC.

DC HCA GALLERY

Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig © Warner Bros. Casper, Spooky, Richie Rich, and related characters © Classic Media. Sad Sack © Sad Sack, Inc. Hostess © Hostess Brands, LLC.

TOON HCA GALLERY

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 79

TwoMorrows 2022 www.twomorrows.com • store@twomorrows.com

THE

CHARLTON COMPANION

by JON B. COOKE

An ALL-NEW definitive history of Connecticut’s notorious all-in-one comic book company! Often disparaged as a second-rate funny-book outfit, Charlton produced a vast array of titles that span from the 1940s Golden Age to the Bronze Age of the ’70s in many genres, from Hot Rods to Haunted Love. The imprint experienced explosive bursts of creativity, most memorably the “Action Hero Line” edited by DICK GIORDANO in the 1960s, which featured the renowned talents of STEVE DITKO and a stellar team of creators, as well as the unforgettable ’70s “Bullseye” era that spawned E-Man and Doomsday +1, all helmed by veteran masters and talented newcomers—and serving as a training ground for an entire generation of comics creators thriving in an environment of complete creative freedom. From its beginnings with a handshake deal consummated in county jail, to the company’s accomplishments beyond comics, woven into this prose narrative are interviews with dozens of talented participants, including GIORDANO, DENNIS O’NEIL, ALEX TOTH, SANHO KIM, TOM SUTTON, PAT BOYETTE, NICK CUTI, JOHN BYRNE, MIKE ZECK, JOE STATON, SAM GLANZMAN, NEAL ADAMS, JOE GILL, and even some Derby residents who recall working in the sprawling company plant. Though it gave up the ghost over three decades ago, Charlton’s influence continues today with its Action Heroes serving as inspiration for ALAN MOORE’s cross-media graphic novel hit, WATCHMEN. By JON B. COOKE with MICHAEL AMBROSE & FRANK MOTLER. SHIPS OCTOBER 2022!

(256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-111-0

THE

TEAM-UP COMPANION

by MICHAEL EURY

THE TEAM-UP COMPANION examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics—DC’s THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and DC COMICS PRESENTS, Marvel’s MARVEL TEAM-UP and MARVEL TWO-INONE, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes. Go behind the scenes of your favorite team-up comic books with specially curated and all-new creator recollections from NEAL ADAMS, JIM APARO, MIKE W. BARR, ELIOT R. BROWN, NICK CARDY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, STEVE GERBER, STEVEN GRANT, BOB HANEY, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, PAUL LEVITZ, RALPH MACCHIO, DENNIS O’NEIL, MARTIN PASKO, JOE RUBINSTEIN, ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated readers during the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s. By BACK ISSUE and RETROFAN editor MICHAEL EURY. (272-page SOFTCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7 • SHIPS AUGUST 2022!

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

by GLEN CADIGAN

From the letters pages of Silver Age comics to his 2021 induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the career of DAVE COCKRUM started at the bottom and then rose to the top of the comic book industry. Beginning with his childhood obsession with comics and continuing through his years in the Navy, THE LIFE AND ART OF DAVE COCKRUM follows the rising star from fandom (where he was one of the “Big Three” fanzine artists) to pro-dom, where he helped revive two struggling comic book franchises: the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and the X-MEN. A prolific costume designer and character creator, his redesigns of the Legion and his introduction of X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan) laid the foundation for both titles to become best-sellers. His later work on his own property, THE FUTURIANS, as well as childhood favorite BLACKHAWK and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, plus his five years on SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY, cemented his position as an industry giant. Featuring artwork from fanzines, unused character designs, and other rare material, this is THE comprehensive biography of the legendary comic book artist, whose influence is still felt on the industry today! Written by GLEN CADIGAN (THE LEGION COMPANION, THE TITANS COMPANION Volumes 1 and 2, BEST OF THE LEGION OUTPOST) with an introduction by ALEX ROSS. (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 • (LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-113-4 • SHIPS JUNE 2022!

BACK ISSUE #136

BACK ISSUE #137

BACK ISSUE #138

BACK ISSUE #139

BACK ISSUE #140

BRONZE AGE COMICS STRIPS! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more!

Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. With COLAN, GOODWIN, GIL KANE, KREMER, STAN LEE, ROMITA, THOMAS, TUSKA, and more.

1980s PRE-CRISIS DC MINISERIES! Green Arrow, Secrets of the Legion, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, Krypton Chronicles, America vs. the Justice Society, Legend of Wonder Woman, Conqueror of the Barren Earth, and more! Featuring MIKE W. BARR, KURT BUSIEK, PAUL KUPPERBERG, RON RANDALL, TRINA ROBBINS, JOE STATON, CURT SWAN, ROY THOMAS, and others.

VON EEDEN and GIORDANO cover.

CLASSIC HEROES IN THE BRONZE AGE! The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Flash Gordon, Popeye, Zorro and Lady Rawhide, Son of Tomahawk, Jungle Twins, and more!

Featuring the work of DAN JURGENS, JOE R. LANSDALE, DON McGREGOR, FRANK THORNE, TIM TRUMAN, GEORGE WILDMAN, THOMAS YEATES, and other creators. With a classic 1979 fully painted Gold Key cover of Flash Gordon.

NOT-READY-FOR-PRIMETIME MARVEL HEROES! Mighty Marvel’s Bronze Age second bananas: Doc Samson, Jack of Hearts, Thundra, Nighthawk, Starfox, Modred the Mystic, Woodgod, the Shroud, Thunderbird and Warpath, Stingray, Wundaar, and others! Featuring the work of BUSIEK, DAVID, ENGLEHART, GERBER, GIFFEN, GRANT, MANTLO, MICHELINIE, STERN, THOMAS, and other A-list talent!

DINOSAUR COMICS! Interviews with Xenozoic®’s MARK SCHULTZ and dinoartist extraordinaire WILLIAM STOUT! Plus: Godzilla at Dark Horse, Sauron villain history, Dinosaurs Attack!, Dinosaurs for Hire, Dinosaur Rex, Dino Riders, Lord Dinosaur, and Jurassic Park! Featuring ARTHUR ADAMS, BISSETTE, CLAREMONT, COCKRUM, GERANI, STRADLEY, ROY THOMAS, and more. SCHULTZ cover.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships July 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Aug. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Sept. 2022

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Nov. 2022

BACK ISSUE #141

KIRBY COLLECTOR #82

KIRBY COLLECTOR #83

KIRBY COLLECTOR #84

KIRBY COLLECTOR #85

SPIES AND P.I.s! Nick Fury from Howling Commando to Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ms. Tree’s MAX ALLAN COLLINS and TERRY BEATTY in a Pro2Pro interview, MARK EVANIER on his Crossfire series, a Hydra villain history, WILL EISNER’s John Law, Checkmate, and Tim Trench and Mike Mauser. With ENGLEHART, ERWIN, HALL, ISABELLA, KUPPERBERG, STATON, THOMAS, and cover by DAVE JOHNSON!

“THE MANY WORLDS OF JACK KIRBY!” From Sub-Atomica to outer space, visit Kirby’s work from World War II, the Fourth World, and hidden worlds of Subterranea, Wakanda, Olympia, Lemuria, Atlantis, the Microverse, and others! Plus, a 2021 Kirby panel, featuring JONATHAN ROSS, NEIL GAIMAN, & MARK EVANIER, a Kirby pencil art gallery from MACHINE MAN, 2001, DEVIL DINOSAUR, & more!

FAMOUS FIRSTS! How JACK KIRBY was a pioneer in all areas of comics: Romance Comics genre, Kid Gangs, double-page spreads, Black heroes, new formats, super-hero satire, and others! With MARK EVANIER and our regular columnists, plus a gallery of Jack’s pencil art from CAPTAIN AMERICA, JIMMY OLSEN, CAPTAIN VICTORY, DESTROYER DUCK, BLACK PANTHER, and more!

STEVE SHERMAN TRIBUTE! Kirby family members, friends, comics creators, and the entertainment industry salute Jack’s assistant (and puppeteer on Men in Black, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and others). MARK EVANIER and Steve recall assisting Kirby, Steve discusses Jack’s Speak-Out Series, Kirby memorabilia from his collection, an interview with wife DIANA MERCER, and Steve’s unseen 1974 KIRBY/ROYER cover!

KIRBY: ANIMATED! How JACK KIRBY and his concepts leaped from celluloid, to paper, and back again! From his 1930s start on Popeye and Betty Boop and his work being used on the 1960s Marvel Super-Heroes show, to Fantastic Four (1967 and 1978), Super Friends/Super Powers, Scooby-Doo, Thundarr the Barbarian, and Ruby-Spears.

Plus EVAN DORKIN on his abandoned Kamandi cartoon series, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Jan. 2023

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CBA BULLPEN

JOHN SEVERIN

Collects all seven issues of JON B. COOKE’s TWO-FISTED COMIC ARTIST little-seen fanzine, published just after the A spirited biography of EC Comics mainstay original COMIC BOOK ARTIST ended its (with HARVEY KURTZMAN on Mad and TwoMorrows run in 2003. Interviews with Two-Fisted Tales) and co-creator of Western GEORGE TUSKA, FRED HEMBECK, TERRY strip American Eagle. Covers his 40+ year BEATTY, and FRANK BOLLE, an all-star association with Cracked magazine, his tribute to JACK ABEL, a new feature on pivotal Marvel Comics work inking HERB JACK KIRBY’s unknown 1960 baseball card TRIMPE on The Hulk & teaming with sister art, and a 16-page full-color section!

MARIE SEVERIN on King Kull, and more!

By GREG BIGA and JON B. COOKE. (176-page TRADE PAPERBACK with COLOR) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $8.99 (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-105-9 (Digital Edition) $14.99 Now shipping!

OUR ARTISTS AT WAR AMERICAN TV COMICS Examines US War comics: EC COMICS (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), DC COMICS (Enemy Ace, G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, Our Army at War), WARREN PUBLISHING (Blazing Combat), CHARLTON (Willy Schultz and the Iron Corporal) and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!

By RICHARD ARNDT and STEVEN FEARS, with an introduction by ROY THOMAS. (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99

BRICKJOURNAL #74

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable PETER BOSCH’s history of over 300 TV shows and 2000+ comic book adaptations by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from across five decades, from well-known STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) to lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepPINKY LEE). With profiles of artists who by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and more! BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO. (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (192-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2022 (Digital Edition) $15.99

(1940s-1980s)

New Magazines!

ALTER EGO #176

ALTER EGO #177

ALTER EGO #178

The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET & SMITH (THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY TOLLIN on “The Shadow/Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!

Celebration of veteran artist DON PERLIN—artist of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, THE DEFENDERS, GHOST RIDER, MOON KNIGHT, 1950s horror, and just about every other adventure genre under the fourcolor sun! Plus Golden Age artist MARCIA SNYDER—Marvel’s early variant covers— Marvelmania club and fanzine—FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Cracked Mazagine, & more!

Golden Age great EMIL GERSHWIN, artist of Starman, Spy Smasher, and ACG horror—in a super-length special MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—plus a Gershwin showcase in PETER NORMANTON’s From The Tomb— even a few tidbits about relatives GEORGE and IRA GERSHWIN to top it off! Also FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and other surprise features!

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ALTER EGO #179

ALTER EGO #180

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #27 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #28 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #29

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3!

Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more!

THE YOUNG ALL-STARS—the late-1980s successor to ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with first artist BRIAN MURRAY and last artist LOU MANNA—surprising insights by writer/co-creator ROY THOMAS—plus a panorama of never-seen Young All-Stars artwork! All-new cover

by BRIAN MURRAY! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and beyond!

Extensive PAUL GULACY retrospective

by GREG BIGA that includes Paul himself, VAL MAYERIK, P. CRAIG RUSSELL, TIM TRUMAN, ROY THOMAS, and others.

Plus a JOE SINNOTT MEMORIAL; BUD PLANT interview Part One, as the retail and mail-order pioneer discusses his early years and first forays as San Jose comic shop proprietor—at 16!; our regular columnists, and the latest from HEMBECK!

STEVE BISSETTE career-spanning interview, from his Joe Kubert School days, Swamp Thing stint, publisher of Taboo and Tyrant, creator rights crusader, and more. Also, Part One of our MIKE GOLD interview on his Chicago youth, start in underground comix, and arrival at DC Comics, right in time for the implosion! Plus BUD PLANT on his publishing days, comic shop owner, and start in mail order—and all the usual fun stuff!

DON McGREGOR retrospective, from early ’70s Warren Publications scripter to his breakout work at Marvel Comics on BLACK PANTHER, KILLRAVEN, SABRE, DETECTIVES INC., RAGAMUFFINS, and others. Plus ROBERT MENZIES looks at HERB TRIMPE’s mid-’70s UK visit to work on Marvel’s British comics weeklies, MIKE GOLD Part Two, and CARtoons cartoonist SHAWN KERRIE! SANDY PLUNKETT cover!

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ALTER EGO #175

Spotlighting the artists of ROY THOMAS’ 1980s DC series ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with artists ARVELL JONES, RICHARD HOWELL, and JERRY ORDWAY, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! Plus, the Squadron’s FINAL SECRETS, including previously unpublished art, & covers for issues that never existed! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and a wraparound cover by ARVELL JONES!

PRINTED IN CHINA

ALTER EGO #174

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) issue—spearheaded by feisty and informative articles by Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. BECK—plus a fabulous feature on vintage cards created in Spain and starring The Marvel Family! In addition: DR. WILLIAM FOSTER III interview (conclusion)—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on early rivals of MAD magazine—the haunting of JOHN BROOME—and more! BECK cover!