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™ June 2022

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JACK KIRBY’s Silver Star • SCOTT HAMPTON’s Silverheels • Silver Sable Silver Banshee villain history • featuring BUSIEK, BUTLER, DeFALCO, ENGLEHART, FRENZ, NICIEZA, PURCELL, ROSS & more!

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, TwoMorrows’ new magazine is just for you! Editor MICHAEL EURY (author of numerous books on pop culture, former editor for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, and editor of TwoMorrows’ Eisner Award-winning BACK ISSUE magazine for comic book fans) has assembled an unbeatable roster of regular and rotating Celebrity Columnists to cover the pop culture you grew up with: • ANDY MANGELS (best-selling sci-fi author and award-winning pop culture historian) • ERNEST FARINO (Emmy Award-winning visual effects designer, animator, and director) • SCOTT SHAW! (acclaimed cartoonist, animator, Emmy Award-winning storyboard artist, and historian) • WILL MURRAY (pulp adventure novelist and pop culture historian) • SCOTT SAAVEDRA (graphic designer, cartoonist, and COMIC BOOK HEAVEN creator) • MARK VOGER (renowned pop culture newspaper columnist and book author), and others!

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Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features! Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview! Celebrate Rambo’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN cartoons, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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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.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

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.

Silver Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

Jack Kirby Books OLD GODS & NEW

For its 80th issue, the JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR presents a double-sized 50th anniversary celebration of Kirby’s magnum opus! This companion to that “FOURTH WORLD” series (NEW GODS, FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, and JIMMY OLSEN) 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 determine how it came about, where it was going, and how Kirby would’ve ended it before it was prematurely cancelled by DC Comics! It also examines Kirby’s use of gods in THOR and other strips prior to the Fourth World, how they influenced his DC epic, and affected later series like THE ETERNALS and CAPTAIN VICTORY. With an overview of hundreds of Kirby’s creations like BIG BARDA, BOOM TUBES and GRANNY GOODNESS, and postKirby uses of his concepts, no Fourth World fan will want to miss it! Compiled, researched, and edited by JOHN MORROW, with contributions by JON B. COOKE. (160-page FULL-COLOR paperback) $26.95 • (Ltd. Edition HARDCOVER) $35.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4 • NOW SHIPPING!

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID

This EXPANDED SECOND EDITION of JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #75 includes minor corrections, and 16 NEW PAGES of “Stuf’ Said” by the creators of the Marvel Universe! This first-of-its-kind examination, completed just days before STAN LEE’s passing, looks back at KIRBY & LEE’s own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and television interviews, to paint the most comprehensive and enlightening picture of their relationship ever done—why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed. Also here are recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, JOHN ROMITA SR., and more Marvel Bullpen stalwarts who worked with them both. Compiled, researched, and edited by publisher JOHN MORROW. (176-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $26.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-094-6

JACK KIRBY’s

DINGBAT LOVE

COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 6

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #23-26, plus new art! (288-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490038 Diamond Order Code: JUN084280

In cooperation with DC COMICS, TwoMorrows compiles a tempestuous trio of never-seen 1970s Kirby projects! These are the final complete, unpublished Jack ER Kirby stories in existence, presented here for the first time! Included are: Two EISN RD AWAINEE! unused DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales (Kirby’s final Kid Gang group, M O N inked by MIKE ROYER and D. BRUCE BERRY, and newly colored for this book)! TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE, the abandoned newsstand magazine that was too hot for its time (reproduced from Jack’s pencil art—and as a bonus, we’ve commissioned MIKE ROYER to ink one of the stories)! And SOUL LOVE, the unseen ’70s romance book so funky, even a jive turkey will dig the unretouched inks by VINCE COLLETTA and TONY DeZUNIGA. PLUS: There’s Kirby historian JOHN MORROW’s in-depth examination of why these projects got left back, concept art and uninked pencils from DINGBATS, and a Foreword and Introduction by ’70s Kirby assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN! (176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5

JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST: CENTENNIAL EDITION

This final, fully-updated, definitive edition clocks in at DOUBLE the length of the 2008 “Gold Edition,” in a new 270-page LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER (only 1000 copies) listing every release up to Jack’s 100th birthday! Detailed listings of all of Kirby’s published work, reprints, magazines, books, foreign editions, newspaper strips, fine art and collages, fanzines, essays, interviews, portfolios, posters, radio and TV appearances, and even Jack’s unpublished work! (256-page LTD. EDITION HARDCOVER) $34.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-083-0

KIRBY FIVE-OH! TJKC #50 covers all the best of Kirby’s 50-year

career in comics: BEST KIRBY STORIES, COVERS, CHARACTER DESIGNS, UNUSED ART, and profiles of/commentary by the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus a 50-PAGE PENCIL ART GALLERY and a COLOR SECTION! Kirby cover inked by DARWYN COOKE, and introduction by MARK EVANIER. ALMOST SOLD OUT! (168-page trade paperback) $24.95 (Digital Edition) $7.99 ISBN: 978-1-89390-589-4

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 7

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30, plus new art! (288-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490120 Diamond Order Code: DEC084286

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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

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

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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

Back Issue #135