Back Issue #140 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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DINOSAURS ARE INVADING…

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Mark Schultz’s

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William Stout interview • Godzilla at Dark Horse Comics • Sauron villain history • Dinosaurs Attack! • Dinosaurs for Hire • Dinosaur Rex • Dino Riders & Jurassic Park

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 140 December 2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Mark Schultz (Cover art originally produced for Kitchen Sink Press’ Cadillacs and Dinosaurs 3-D #1, July 1992. Scan courtesy of Heritage.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Arthur Adams Matt Levin Mark Arnold Ed Lute Mike Baron Manny Maris Al Bigley Tom Mason Stephen Bissette Brandon McKinney Glen Cadigan Gordon Purcell Howard Chaykin Tom Smith Bill DeSimone Randy Stradley Stephan Friedt Jan Strnad Gary Gerani Toho Co., Ltd. Don Glut Topps Company, Grand Comics Inc. Database Don Vaughan R. C. Harvey Ryder Windham Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Heritage Comics VERY SPECIAL Auctions THANKS Dan Johnson Mark Schultz Barbara Kaalberg William Stout Dave Lemieux

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IN MEMORIAM: Neal Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 IN MEMORIAM: George Pérez. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 INTERVIEW: William Stout’s Dino Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PINUP: DC Special #27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Sauron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Dave Cockrum’s The Man With the Dinosaur Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ROUGH STUFF: Captain Marvel, Jr.’s Dino Battle by Cockrum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 INTERVIEW: Mark Schultz’s Xenozoic Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 FLASHBACK: Godzilla at Dark Horse Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 INTERVIEW: Jan Strnad and Dinosaur Rex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 PRINCE STREET NEWS: Holiday Grab Bag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 BACKSTAGE PASS: Tom Mason’s Dinosaurs for Hire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 FLASHBACK: Topps’ Dinosaurs Attack!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 THE TOY BOX: Dino-Riders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 FLASHBACK: Jurassic Park, the Comic Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 BACK TALK: Reader Reactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 BACK ISSUE™ issue 140, December 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 paid 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 artwork © 2022 Mark Schultz. Xenozoic® Mark Schultz. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2022 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury except for Prince Street News, TM & © 2022 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

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Background art: Dinosaur vs. butterfly! A 1977 specialty illustration by William Stout, from the archives of Heritage Comics Auctions. Art © William Stout.

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

by M

ichael Eury

I can’t recall exactly when I was first exposed to dinosaurs. Chances are it was on The Flintstones, either the Fred-loving pet dinosaur Dino or the wisecracking prehistoric beasts of burden that helped TV’s Modern Stone Age Family function. A classic Marx toy, “Fred Flintstone on Dino,” combined the Flintstones’ pet and Fred’s bronto-rig from the rock quarry into one mechanical plaything. I begged my parents for it, but never got one—until decades later, during Christmas of 1991, when my wife, learning of my unrequited love for that toy, bought me one from a dealer’s ad in Krause Publications’ old Toy Shop newspaper. “Fred Flintstone on Dino” now decorates my bedroom dresser, and our bedroom walls display Flintstones original art and other “primitive” images, proving that this old relic of an editor sleeps among the dinosaurs! Of course, paleontology lessons imparted by that Hanna-Barbera cartoon have to be taken with a grain of salt (washed down with a swig of Cactus Cola). Same with Alley Oop, the comic-strip caveman with the washboard abs and Popeye forearms, whose adventures I’d laugh at daily in my local paper’s funnies. The green brontosaurus (also dubbed “Dino,” confusing Flintstones-watching kids) that was the corporate icon of the Sinclair Oil Company also fascinated me. As a kid, I owned a much-hugged inflatable Sinclair dinosaur that doubled as a beach floatation device. Back then, dinosaur movies were a staple of weekend afternoon television, from the stop-motion primeval creatures in Ray Harryhausen movies to the man-in-a-rubber-suit-can-you-spot-the-zipper monstrosities in Godzilla movies. For a species that went extinct long ago, dinosaurs still roamed the Earth throughout the 1960s. While those memories have melted into my tar pit of childhood nostalgia, I do recall a specific moment when I went, well, ape over dinosaurs. I was nine in the summer of 1969 when TV commercials trumpeted a new movie, director Jim O’Connolly’s The Valley of Gwangi. This family-friendly proto-blockbuster featured cowboys vs. prehistoric monsters. What a mash-up! After pestering my mom to drop me off at the movie theater for an afternoon matinee (unsupervised kids could wander all over the place in those days), I was once again awed by Harryhausen’s stop-motion wizardry… but this time on a much larger (and crisper) screen than the fuzzy Motorola back home. Fast-forward 24 years to the summer of 1993, when my friend Rick Taylor, who was also my Comico and DC Comics professional colleague, and I saw Steven Spielberg’s newly released movie Jurassic Park on a Sunday afternoon during its opening weekend. I remember repeatedly gasping, “Wow…” throughout that first viewing of the now-classic film, blown away by its realistic depiction of dinosaurs. If you’ve been inclined to purchase this edition of BACK ISSUE, you probably have similar memories. Dinosaurs continue to fascinate us. As I pen these words in May of 2022, cinemagoers are preparing for yet another installment in the Jurassic Park franchise (Jurassic World: Dominion), and DC Comics has just released the first issue of a miniseries splicing the DNA of its superhero trinity with dinosaurs: Jurassic League. Clearly, my generation, the children of the 1960s, wasn’t the only one fascinated with dinosaurs. In the pages following, you will read stories of similarly fascinated writers and artists who created comic books starring prehistoric monsters as heroes or as villainous protagonists. We are honored this issue to feature two of America’s premiere dino-artists, William Stout and Mark Schultz, in exclusive interviews. For those of you mired in the superhero mainstream who may be discovering their work for the first time… you are in for a treat. And to the myriad Stout and Schultz fans out there who don’t regularly read BACK ISSUE, but have joined us this issue… welcome! And before I unleash the dinosaurs, allow me to thank reader Matt Levin for the theme suggestion. A few issues ago, in a letter published in our “Back Talk” column, he asked about the possibility of a dinosaurs issue. Thank you, Matt, for the great idea! The Flintstones © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Alley Oop © NEA, Inc. Sinclair Dino © Sinclair Oil Co. The Valley of Gwangi © Warner Bros. Most images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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interview by D o n

Va u g h a n

William Stout is one of the preeminent paleo artists of his generation. His murals and paintings of prehistoric life can be found in museums of natural history around the United States, and his first book, The Dinosaurs: A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era (Bantam Books, 1981), was an inspiration for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. But that’s just one aspect of Stout’s expansive career. He has also illustrated album covers, movie posters, trading cards, book covers—and comic books. A LOT of comic books, many of which, unsurprisingly, feature dinosaurs. Some are serious, others cartoony. All are gorgeous. I’ll admit this right off the bat: William Stout is among my favorite artists for a variety of reasons. Foremost, he’s a remarkable craftsman, capable and at ease with the tools of his trade, able to capture the essence of a scene with stunning realism, whether it’s a museum mural or a comic-book illustration. There’s a genuine sense of joy in Stout’s art, no matter the subject or the medium. He’s obviously an artist who loves his job. In the following conversation with BACK ISSUE, Stout discusses various aspects of his prolific dinosaur comicbook work, a favorite gig illustrating the words of Ray Bradbury, his artistic influences, and more. – Don Vaughan DON VAUGHAN: Bill, thank you for talking with us today. I’d like to start with your gig in william stout the early ’70s assisting Russ Manning JaSunni Productions, LLC, on the Tarzan newspaper strips and at PicasaWeb/ Wikimedia Commons. graphic novels, some of which featured dinosaurs. How did you get that job, and what did you learn from Manning? WILLIAM STOUT: I was a huge Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and had a subscription to a Burroughs fanzine called ERB-dom. I would occasionally contribute stuff to that magazine. The Burroughs estate was about to release a previously unpublished Burroughs novel called I Am a Barbarian, told from the point of view of Caligula’s personal slave. I got a copy and saw that it was illustrated by Jeff Jones. I felt the Jones drawings weren’t compelling enough, so I did my own drawings based on Burroughs’ novel. I did six of them, each in a different style. I did one in the style of Frank Frazetta, one in the style of Al Williamson, one in the style of Reed Crandall, and others. I sent them off, and about a year later they were published in ERB-dom. As soon as they were printed, I got a call from Russ Manning, asking if I would like to be his assistant. I jumped at the chance because I was a huge fan. I had all the Magnus Robot Fighter comics, and I was a big fan of his Tarzan comics. It was funny because when I read the Tarzan novels, the picture in my head of Tarzan turned out to be exactly as Russ drew him. I knew it was going to be an interesting experience. I began inking for him and also doing the color on the Sunday strips. My lettering was pretty crappy back then, so either Russ or Mike Royer did the lettering. Russ lived way out in a place called Modjeska

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth Cover to Stout’s The Dinosaurs: A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era (Bantam Books, 1981). © William Stout.

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Lord of the Jungle (top) Stout was an assistant to Tarzan comic-strip artist Russ Manning in the early 1970s, inking Manning’s pencils and coloring the Sunday pages. This color guide is from the Sunday, October 15, 1972 strip. (bottom) Stout’s original art for an unpublished Tarzan portrait produced in 1981. Both, courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions (www.ha.com). © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

Canyon in a very rural part of Orange County, California. He was a member of the volunteer fire department there, so every now and then an alarm would go off and Russ would be in his truck and on his way to the fire in about three seconds. I learned a tremendous amount from Russ, especially about respecting deadlines, the importance of artistic consistency, and being professional. Russ introduced me to Japanese prints, Hal Foster’s best work, and opera. Most importantly, Russ showed me how to be a great dad. I learned lots watching how Russ interacted with his son and daughter. When I was inking Russ, I could ink everything except the main characters. Russ always wanted to ink Tarzan, and if there was any other main character he wanted to ink, he would let me know. I usually ink with two tools: a crow quill pen or a Windsor Newton Series 7 #1 brush. That worked out great because Russ did most of his inking with a brush. My job was basically to speed things up for Russ, get the comics and the daily and Sunday strips done in a reasonable time, so we weren’t panicking about deadlines. VAUGHAN: How long did you work for Russ? STOUT: I worked for him for about three or four years. I started in 1970, and I think the last thing I did for him was in ’73 or ’74. I was inking the dailies, coloring the Sundays, and Russ and I did three graphic novels together. Unfortunately, when Dark Horse reprinted our graphic novels, they didn’t use my coloring. VAUGHAN: Ray Bradbury Dinosaur Tales (Byron Preiss, 1983) gave you the opportunity to illustrate one of Bradbury’s best-known dinosaur stories, “A Sound of Thunder.” Dinosaur Tales isn’t really a comic book, but I think it falls in the purview of this article. STOUT: That’s a great collection. All of the illustrators were comic artists. Some of the other contributors were Jim Steranko, Moebius, Overton Loyd, and Gahan Wilson. 6 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

VAUGHAN: Your illustrations for “A Sound of Thunder” are really evocative. Tell us how the project came about. STOUT: That was a Byron Preiss project. Byron was always looking for ways to bring Bradbury before a broader audience. “A Sound of Thunder” is one of my favorite Bradbury stories, and was actually featured in my American Literature textbook in high school. Dinosaur Tales wasn’t my first introduction to Ray, though. Byron introduced me to Ray when I was working on my first dinosaur book, The Dinosaurs: A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era. We became friends, and Ray ended up writing the introduction to my book. We started collaborating whenever we could on projects. In addition to “A Sound of Thunder,” I illustrated the cover of Dinosaur Tales.

Lost World. Tell us about that. STOUT: When I got into the film business, I was sharing offices with Steven Spielberg. I would work on Conan the Barbarian during the day, and then Ron Cobb, my Conan production designer, and I would jump across the hall to Steven’s office, and in the evening, we would kick around ideas for Steven’s next project, which was Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, he was well aware of my work. When Steven was making Jurassic Park, I had lunch every other week with Rick Carter, Steven’s production designer on the film, and I fed him a bunch of stuff to put into the film, a lot of which actually ended up in the film. Rick or Steven or Kathleen Kennedy must have seen my cover for the paperback edition of Ray Bradbury Dinosaur Tales of a Tyrannosaurus rex [T. rex] looking across water at a city, because that ended up being a shot in the second Jurassic Park movie, Lost World. I think in the movie the T. rex is looking at San Diego.

VAUGHAN: You drew several full-page black-and-white illustrations for “A Sound of Thunder.” STOUT: And some double-page spreads, too. We all drew several illustrations for whatever story we were assigned. I was experimenting with a sort of Franklin Booth–style of inking with some of the pictures. I think I did some of my best stuff for that book. [Stout revisited “A Sound of Thunder” a decade later with a stunning cover for The Ray Bradbury Chronicles vol. 4 (NBM, 1993). The story was adapted by Rich Corben, and the issue also contained a reprint of the EC Comics adaptation illustrated by Al Williamson.]

VAUGHAN: In 1991 and 1992, you provided two covers to a six-issue Fantagraphics series that retold the story of King Kong. You’ve said that you had hoped to do all six covers. What happened? STOUT: I didn’t get to do all of them because the other guys they got to draw covers were Mark Schultz, Dave Stevens, and Al Williamson! That’s stiff competition. I was lucky to get two covers instead of just one.

VAUGHAN: You note in your career overview book Fantastic Worlds: The Art of William Stout that one of your illustrations for “A Sound of Thunder” inspired a scene in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park:

VAUGHAN: Speaking of covers, you did three variant covers for Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Topps’ 1994 continuation of Mark Schultz’s Xenozoic Tales. You’ve said that the cover for #2 was inspired by your

‘A Sound of Thunder’ Original art, courtesy of Heritage, by William Stout, from pages 74–75 of Ray Bradbury’s Dinosaur Tales. Art © William Stout.

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Where Were YOU During the Incredible Dinosaur Invasion of 1977? DC Special #27 (Apr.–May 1977) spotlighted DC’s mutant, the recently revived Captain Comet, the “hero in residence” appearing in Secret Society of Super-Villains. In its 34-page time-toppling adventure written by Bob Rozakis and illustrated by Rich Buckler and Joe Rubinstein (who also did the cover shown here), Cap encountered Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers, the JLA, the villain Chronos, and a new towering terror, Tyrano Rex! (For a Captain Comet history, see BACK ISSUE #29.) TM & © DC Comics.

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“It is said, X-Men, that the greatness of a being is measured by the quality of his foes. If so, our mutual glory is assured. Yours, of course will be posthumous.” – Sauron, Marvel Fanfare #4

by C h r i s t o p h e r

Larochelle

The story of the villainous Sauron, also known as Dr. Karl Lykos, unfolds over the course of a few stories that are spread out between 1969 and 1982. The character’s visuals are spectacular: a fusion of man and pterodactyl, menacingly colored green and looking absolutely horrifying! When it comes to the origins of the character, one legendary team of comics creators is involved: Roy Thomas and Neal Adams. Before the X-Men title was relegated to becoming a reprint book for several years, the energy of the Thomas/Adams issues showed what could really be done with the X-Men concept, which had proven to have a difficult time finding its footing in the 1960s. Sauron’s story is an essential piece of this exciting run of comics.

A ‘PSYCHIC VAMPIRE’

roy thomas

The entire idea of Sauron was certainly “edgy,” given the harsh restrictions on what was and wasn’t possible in stories that had to be submitted to the Comics Code Authority in 1969. According to Roy Thomas, “Neal and I wanted to do a mutant vampire story… but this was still in the days before the Code was changed to allow vampires, and—I forget which—either I checked with the Code or we just assumed they’d give us trouble. So we made it a ‘psychic vampire,’ without using those words.” At the very end of X-Men #59 (Aug. 1969), Havok has been injured following a battle with the Sentinels. The Beast makes a call to Dr. Karl Lykos in hopes that his teammate can be helped. The reader is warned that Beast’s phone call may not have gone to the best physician available, since Lykos himself is in shadow… and a victim harnessed to some kind of horrible device is shown at first resisting, and then succumbing to, something that sure does look like torture. The beginning of X-Men #60 (Sept. 1969) explains Beast’s phone call. Lykos was, in fact, a colleague of Professor Xavier’s when both men worked on a “mysterious enterprise” called Project Mutant. Beast doesn’t have much more information to share with his teammates, stating, IMDb.com.

Mutants vs. a Terror-dactyl Sauron’s first appearance, in X-Men #60 (Sept. 1969). Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by the late, great Neal Adams. (BACK ISSUE #142 will honor the artist, who died on April 28, 2022, with a special Neal Adams Tribute edition.) TM & © Marvel.

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It happened in 1973. The year before, Dave Cockrum had begun his run on the “Legion of Super-Heroes” feature that ran in the back pages of Superboy. A year later, he would leave the (nowcover-starring) series because of a dispute over the return of his original artwork. In between, he joined with friends Mark Hanerfeld, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wein to form Graphic Features, a company designed to create custom comics for clients. Their first (and apparently only) patron was Aurora Plastics, with whom Cockrum already had a professional relationship. Aurora got its start in the 1950s with models of planes and, by the 1960s, had added cars to its lineup. But its most popular kits (arguably; at least, the ones people talk about the most today) came from tie-ins with licensed material from movies, TV shows, and comic books. Star Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Lost in Space were all represented, as were various Marvel and DC characters. But ahead of all the rest were kits based upon its license with Universal Studios to make models featuring its various monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man were all produced, as was a personal favorite of Cockrum’s, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. [Editor’s note: See our sister mag, RetroFan #17, for a look at Aurora’s monster models and an interview with their extraordinary cover art painter, James Bama.] With the Cockrum connection, Graphic Features signed a deal with Aurora to produce comic books (eight pages each; six pages of story and art [including the cover], two of instructions) for reissues of its superhero kits. They hired some of the best talent around to work on the comics: John Romita, Sr. did Captain America and Spider-Man; Gil Kane drew The Lone Ranger and Tonto; Neal Adams did Tarzan; Dick Giordano drew Batman and Robin. Cockrum himself handled Superboy (Curt Swan had Superman), as well as did the instructions for many of the figures. [Editor’s note: See BI #138 for a glimpse at the Lone Ranger comic art.] But Aurora also had dinosaurs! In fact, Cockrum’s first job for the company was to design its Tyrannosaurus rex figure. In 1973, with sales failing on Aurora’s Prehistoric Scenes line (it would be discontinued in 1975), Dave concocted a scheme to help it: a model based upon a figure, which was what Aurora did best. And so was born Lord Dinosaur, a.k.a. T. Rex, the man with the dinosaur brain! The plan was the character could also function as a toy and allow potential customers to engage with (and buy more of) the extinct reptiles. Cockrum had a vested interest in helping the Prehistoric Scenes line; not only was he a fan, he was also a designer. In fact, he had two unproduced dinosaur designs in their hands: the parasaurolophus and the stegosaurus, the latter of which actually made it to the sculpt stage. What was more, there was also a planned Science Fiction Scenes line based upon popular old movies, and Cockrum had many designs in the works there, too. (In a clever premise, the time machine from The Time Machine would’ve been used by imaginative youngsters to merge the two together.) Alas, the Aurora brass lacked the same vision. They shut down both their Prehistoric Scenes line and their soon-to-be-started Science Fiction Scenes before it could even get off the ground. Not only that, but proposed new kits for its Comic Scenes (such as Flash Gordon and the Phantom) were also cancelled. It was the mid-’70s, and models were fading in popularity. Aurora attempted to enter the toy and board game market (one particular toy, Kar-a-a-ate Men, was also designed by Cockrum), but they were outmatched and outgunned by companies that specialized in those fields. Aurora’s model kit division was sold by its owner, Nabisco, to a competing modeling company, Monogram, in 1977. There are still Aurora fans around today, and “lost” Auroras get made from time to time in limited runs by smaller companies. Both of Dave Cockrum’s unproduced dinosaur kits have since made it into physical form; he even consulted on the recreation of 24 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

by G l e n

Cadigan

Dave Draws Dinos

the stegosaurus, and a resin kit of it can be purchased today for the low, low price of $300. Getting back to the comic book: only the cover of Lord Dinosaur (also seen with an Aurora Comics overlay) is known to exist. Cockrum’s signature of ’73 suggests it was done at the same time as the other comic inserts, but no design sheet has ever been found for the character. In all likelihood, the idea did not make it past the initial, unsolicited, drawing. Questions remain surrounding Lord Dinosaur, a.k.a. T. Rex, the man with the dinosaur brain. Where did he get his dinosaur brain? How did he get his dinosaur brain? Why did he get his dinosaur brain? Did the dinosaur get his brain in return? How does a dinosaur brain fit inside a human skull, anyway? Was his last name really Rex? If so, what did “T” stand for? Trevor? Todd? Today, Aurora is no more. And to think, their demise might’ve been avoided, all those long years ago, if only they had made T. Rex, the man with the dinosaur brain!

(top left and center) Cockrum’s designs for two of Aurora’s dinosaur models. (top right) A 1974 Aurora ad featuring Dave’s art. Courtesy of Glen Cadigan. (bottom) Dave Cockrum, with his first wife Andrea, modeling an ad for Aurora’s Comic Scenes. Photo taken by Bruce Mittleman at the 1974 Comic Art Convention and originally published in the Marvel fanzine FOOM #7. Scan courtesy of Manny Maris. © 1974 Aurora Products Corp. Frankenstein © Universal. Photo © Marvel.

GLEN CADIGAN is the author/editor of the recently released The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum. Before that, he produced The Legion Companion and The Titans Companion vols. 1 and 2 for TwoMorrows.

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THE KIRBY LEGACY AT DC! Explores Jack Kirby’s post-Fourth World Bronze Age DC characters! Demon, Kamandi, OMAC, Sandman, and Kirby’s Odd Jobs (Atlas, Manhunter, and more). Plus: the SIMON & KIRBY Reunion That Wasn’t! Featuring BISSETTE, BYRNE, CONWAY, GIBBONS, GOLDEN, GRANT, RUCKA, SEMEIKS, THOMAS, TIMM, WAGNER, and more. Demon cover by KIRBY and MIKE ROYER!

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Allan Harvey Comics readers were first transported to the Xenozoic Age in the pages of the science-fiction/horror anthology Death Rattle #8 (Dec. 1986), published by Kitchen Sink. Springing from the mind of writer-artist Mark Schultz, the concept was quickly awarded its own title by publisher Denis Kitchen. The resulting Xenozoic Tales proved to be one of the longer-lasting properties birthed during the black-and-white comics boom of the mid-1980s and ran until #14 (Oct. 1996). The series is set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic future, some 600 years hence, where mankind has re-emerged from vast underground shelters to find a much-changed landscape. The challenge now is how to survive this brave new world. Some would like to live in harmonious balance with nature, while others would prefer a return to the old ways. Mechanic Jack Tenrec meets diplomat Hannah Dundee, and their sparky relationship forms the emotional core of Xenozoic Tales. However, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the planet, are made mark schultz just a little bit more difficult by the © John Fleskes. fact that, unexpectedly, while humans sheltered, the dinosaurs have returned to stalk the Earth— and they may not be willing to share! Via the wonders of transatlantic cabling, BACK ISSUE sat down with Mark Schultz to excavate the hidden history of the Xenozoic Era. Mark copyedited the transcript for clarity. – Allan Harvey ALLAN HARVEY: What’s the secret origin of Mark Schultz? MARK SCHULTZ: I saw the original King Kong when I was six years old on the TV. At the same time, they were rebroadcasting the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies, and the first Jungle Girl serial, with Frances

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

Influential Dino-Comics Turok, Son of Stone (#50, Mar. 1966) and Gorgo (seen here in Fantastic Giants #26, Sept. 1966) were among the works imprinting young Mark Schultz. (Be sure to come back for BACK ISSUE #144 and its examination of the return of Turok!) Turok © Random House.

Gifford. So, that all got kind of lodged into my conscious and subconscious, I guess, and led to an appreciation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books in general, beyond just Tarzan. Then, when I was about seven years old, my mother took me to the movies, and I saw Hatari!, the Howard Hawks film with John Wayne, where they’re capturing rhinoceroses and giraffes, using motor vehicles. That all kind of mish-mashed up in my head, I think, and eventually Xenozoic was the result of that. HARVEY: You can sort of see that: cars and dinosaurs, cars and safaris… with John Wayne as Jack Tenrec. SCHULTZ: Absolutely. I grew up in an era when John Wayne was still kind of the iconic, male action hero figure, so that imprinted on me. Him and guys like Burt Lancaster were the templates for Jack, and actresses like Barbara Stanwyck were the origins of Hannah— temperamentally, at least—although the look of Hannah came straight from Wally Wood’s version of [drawing] women. [laughs] HARVEY: You were introduced to writers like Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard at a young age… SCHULTZ: Yep. H. G. Wells. All those classic writers. HARVEY: They made a big impression on you? SCHULTZ: Yeah. Absolutely. Some of those stories that Verne and Wells wrote, I first encountered in the Classics Illustrated comics. They intrigued me enough to plug into the novels. This would have been in the ’60s, when there was—in the States, anyway—a huge resurgence of reprints, in paperback form, of people like Verne and Wells. Burroughs. Robert E. Howard. All of a sudden you had a flood of wonderful, classic science fiction and fantasy. HARVEY: How old were you when you discovered comics? SCHULTZ: Five or six. Again, the ones that grabbed my attention were the ones that had dinosaurs on the cover. Turok, Son of Stone. DC’s “The War That Time Forgot” [in Star Spangled War Stories], I guess. I don’t think I recognized the titles at the time, I just remember seeing the covers in stores. HARVEY: I read in an interview that a book called The How and Why Wonder Book of Dinosaurs was important. SCHULTZ: Yeah. That was the first factual dinosaur book my parents 30 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

bought me, and it started me on the direction where I would take my stories. HARVEY: And Gorgo [the 1961 movie] comes out around that time. SCHULTZ: Yeah. You know, it’s limited in its special effects—especially by today’s standards, of course—but it’s a great story. It’s the one giant monster/dinosaur film where the dinosaurs are the sympathetic protagonists. Your sympathies are with Gorgo and Gorgo’s mother. That’s another thing: when I was around nine years old, Charlton reprinted Steve Ditko’s adaptations of Gorgo and Konga [in Fantastic Giants #26 (Sept. 1966)—ed.], and they blew my mind. His adaptation of Konga is much better than the movie, I’ve got to say! [laughs] I still have my copy. HARVEY: Let’s jump ahead to Xenozoic Tales. Where did that first germinate? SCHULTZ: In the early ’80s, I was doing illustration work for local companies. Advertising, some book illustrations for “how to” books, like “How to Renovate your Kitchen,” that kind of stuff. I was also working as a security guard at a college campus at a small university, and I had a lot of time to daydream about what I’d like to be doing. Over a period of years, Xenozoic developed. Again, from these old stories, old movies, old comics that I grew up with and I loved. Over a period of, I’d say, three to four years, it coalesced into something that I finally felt… Well, I was turning 30, and I figured, “You know, I’m starting to get old: I’m 30! I’ve got to do something with my life.” [laughs] I finally got up the nerve, [and] over a sixmonth period, in my spare time, I put together a six-page Xenozoic

‘Xenozoic’ Premiere (opposite page, inset) Schultz’s cover to Death Rattle #8 (Dec. 1986) hinted at horrors, not dinosaurs, but (main) the interior story’s first page—and its EC-influenced art— made it clear that prehistoric beasts were to be on view. Page restoration by Allan Harvey. Artwork © 2022 Mark Schultz. Xenozoic® Mark Schultz.

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

thought that was probably the most engaging one, at least as far as the story went. HARVEY: From a comics perspective, its writers included Marv Wolfman, Marty Pasko, and Harlan Ellison. SCHULTZ: You know, when people ask me what I think of it, the truth is I find it impossible to be objective. It is what it is. It’s a cartoon, made for TV, for kids on Saturday morning. It’s pretty ambitious, some of the concepts they put in there, and kudos to them for being able to work those in. I’m just too close to the original material to be objective about it, unfortunately. HARVEY: Going back to the comics, there was usually one story each issue drawn by Steve Stiles. How did that come about? SCHULTZ: Because I was too slow to get the work done regularly. It took me so long to do the first issue of Xenozoic Tales, I was pretty despondent about being able to continue. Denis Kitchen suggested that Steve, who was looking for work at the time, I guess, might ink my pencils. He did ink the second issue, two of the stories. He did a great job, but I just wasn’t happy giving over that kind of control to someone else. I wanted to do complete art. We came to the formula that, instead of me doing 28–30 pages of art through the entire book, I would do two of the stories and write the third for Steve to illustrate. That worked out really well. My current publisher, Flesk Publications, would like to eventually reprint all those stories, as part of a massive, comprehensive collection. All the Xenozoic material together, including Steve’s stories. HARVEY: 1996. The series comes to an end. I assume that was prematurely; it wasn’t intended to finish then...? SCHULTZ: It just got to the point where it wasn’t economically feasible for me to continue to do it. I had to look elsewhere for work, so I started taking on more freelance and work-for-hire jobs. Writing for DC and doing adaptations of properties for Dark Horse. HARVEY: Recently, you did the Storms at Sea book, which kind of incorporates at least a hint of Xenozoic Tales, if you know what you’re looking for… SCHULTZ: Exactly. Easter eggs. HARVEY: What’s the future for Xenozoic Tales? SCHULTZ: As I am able to, between jobs that pay the bills, I have been working on a Xenozoic graphic novel. It’s a little more than halfway done, not quite two-thirds, but getting there. It’s all penciled out. I’ve started inking it. I have no finish date in mind, it’ll get done when it gets done, but there is another story coming. HARVEY: Good news. Something to look forward to. SCHULTZ: Don’t be in a big hurry for it! [laughs] My thanks to Mark for being so gracious with his time. ALLAN HARVEY hails from Wales and makes a living digitally restoring old comics for new reprint editions. His most recent projects include Kona, Air War Stories, and the Atlas at War! hardcover collection.

38 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

When Dark Horse Comics first came on the scene in the mid-1980s, I was aware of the company and had seen their titles in my local comic-book shop, but I really didn’t take the time to check out what they had to offer. Back then, I was a teenage reader, and a publisher had to do something big to get my attention. Let me tell you, for 17-year-old Danny Johnson, nothing was bigger than Godzilla.

IN THE BEGINNING

by D a n

Johnson

The first Dark Horse Godzilla comic was Godzilla, King of the Monsters Special #1 (Aug. 1987). This black-andwhite one-shot brought Godzilla back to American comics, right at the time the character and the other Toho “Kaiju” Monsters were experiencing a resurgence in Japan that began with the 1984 film The Return of Godzilla [a.k.a. Gojira 1984], or, as it was known in America, Godzilla 1985. This one-shot, and the comics that would follow, were the brainchild of Dark Horse writer and editor Randy Stradley. “I was always pushing for some Godzillarelated project and was lucky enough to make Godzilla our first licensed project,” says Stradley. I know from chronicling the history of comics that people can remember things differently. That being said, everyone I spoke with for this article confirmed the same thing to me: Randy Stradley was a huge fan of Godzilla. A copy of a letter dated December 23, 1986 from Stradley to artist Stephen Bissette confirms this fact in his own words. In the letter Stradley wrote, “We’re all beside ourselves with excitement here. As I mentioned, this has been a long-term project for me, so I feel like a kid getting to fulfill a lifelong dream.” The endgame for Stradley was going to be a series that would lead to a giant monster mash-up, similar to the Godzilla film Destroy All Monsters, where all the Toho Monsters were featured in one movie. Once a deal to publish Godzilla has been struck, though, Stradley realized there was one hitch. “At that time, the US rights for Godzilla were licensed through Hank randy stradley Saperstein’s UPA Productions in Los Angeles,” recalls Stradley. “And it © Dark Horse Comics. wasn’t until after we had acquired the license that we realized we had only Godzilla, and that any of the other monsters would cost us the same as what we were paying for Godzilla. That led to the creation of some of the other monsters that were glimpsed in that first special—Soran, Kamerus, etc.” Stephen Bissette, who helped redefine horror comics in the 1980s, was the artist Stradley wanted for Godzilla. “I was still coming off of Swamp Thing and DC had burned my ass,” recalls Bissette. “I was in very rough

Urban Renewal (Needed) Dark Horse Comics unleashed the fury of the Big G in Godzilla, King of the Monsters Special #1 (Aug. 1987). Detail from the cover by Stephen Bissette. Godzilla® © Toho Co., Ltd.

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39

information Randy gave to me, I looked at a map and I found Lord Howe Island, and I just cracked up at the name. It sounded like some kind of expletive, ‘Lord Howe’!” Windham expressed a great appreciation that he got to have a helping hand in creating this issue, not just writing the script, but also contributing to the artwork and the design of the monster in this issue. “I worked up some designs and sent those to Randy, and he approved everything,” says Windham. “I don’t remember any complications or challenges. I wound up drawing thumbnail sketches for the entire story, layouts for the whole issue, and the artist was fairly faithful to them, which was gratifying.” Besides creating the appearance of the monster for this issue, Windham had a very specific look in mind for his issue’s villain, Dr. Yamazaki. “I created the villain and remember one specific instruction I had with her is that we never see her right hand in the issue,” says Windham. “In the first few pages, when she is introduced, she has these long, bulky sleeves, and we see her left hand reaching up to remove her eyeglasses.” The final issue of Godzilla, #16 (Sept. 1996), was written by Stradley with artwork by Bob Eggleton and Andrew Pepoy. “Randy wrote the issue that came immediately after [mine], and he was going to wrap up the series,” recalls Windham. “He was curious about Dr. Yamazaki and he said, ‘What’s the deal about her hands? Why don’t we reveal them?’ I told him I was hoping to get a shot at writing another issue, and I did have a backstory in mind. Randy apologized and told me he was working on the script [to conclude the series]. Because Randy’s a pal, I told him, ‘Why we don’t see her hands, and the traumatic story of what happened to her as a child,’ and he incorporated that into his issue.”

RIDING OFF INTO THE RISING SUN

Walking Tall (top) Original art to the splash page from Godzilla #14 (July 1996), courtesy of penciler Gordon Purcell. Inks by Andrew Pepoy. (bottom) Writer Ryder Windham’s sketch for the leviathan from issue #15. Courtesy of Ryder Windham. Sketch art © Ryder Windham. Godzilla® © Toho Co., Ltd.

48 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

Even after Dark Horse Comics ended the monthly Godzilla comic, they retained the license for the character until 1999. Their final project was Dark Horse Classics: Terror of Godzilla (Aug. 1998–Jan. 1999), which reprinted Iwata’s manga in full color and sported covers by Arthur Adams. After just over a decade, Godzilla’s time at Dark Horse Comics came to an end. At the time of the writing of this article, Dark Horse held the American comic-book rights to the character longer than any other publisher. Looking back on that time, there are only a few additional things Randy Stradley wishes he could have done. “I would have loved to [have done] a series with Toho, revisiting and reimagining some of the monsters and situations from their movies, but as I remember, perhaps incorrectly, after the 1998 Tri-Star movie, interest in Godzilla— including Godzilla fandom—seemed to dissipate. After that, I could never interest the Dark Horse licensing department in going after the license with Toho. Needless to say, I was jealous when IDW licensed directly from Toho and got to use the other monsters.” Even if the public at large may not all be fans of the King of the Monsters, he will always have his loyal followers. Efforts by publishers like Dark Horse Comics help to insure new fans are born every day that all love the Big G. “We had a super-loyal fan base,” says Stradley, “sometimes getting as many as 30 fan letters per issue, and some of the fans continued to send letters for years after our publications finished.” DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer and pop-culture historian. He is a co-founder, editor, and writer for Empire Comics Lab (empirecomicslab.com) and Old School Comics. Dan has written for Antarctic Press, Campfire Graphic Novels, Golden Kid Comics, InDELLible Comics, and ACP Comics, and is a writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

by S

tephan Friedt

Take one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th Century, Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (October 15, 1888–February 14, 1975), KBE [Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—ed.], commonly known as P. G. Wodehouse… the creator of Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves; the loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr. Mulliner, with a variety of tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls. Mix his humor style with sentient dinosaurs and you have the title and lead story for the short-lived, three-issue series Dinosaur Rex (1987) from Upshot Graphics, an imprint of Fantagraphics. “I’ve never killed a dinosaur in my life… In fact, I rather like the brutes. As a child, I used to fantasize about befriending one—taking a thorn from its paw or saving it from agonizing death in the tar pits.” With that we are introduced to our “hero” Hempsted Wallop, cousin Flavia Sipp, and dinosaur butler Duubadah, and we begin a journey through English manors, lost fortunes, and an adventurous expedition. P. G. Wodehouse authored more than 90 books, 40 plays, 200 short stories, and other writings. Between 1902 and 1974, P. G. would often have multiple works in progress at the same time and take up to two years to build up a plot and scenario of 30,000 words… and then he’d start writing the book. For many of us, he was the companion to Mark Twain in our reading stack, and often our first introduction to the fanciful life of upper-class Englishmen. Dinosaur Rex author Jan Strnad was no exception. Artwork on Dinosaur Rex was provided by comicbook newcomer Henry (Hank) Mayo. Henry had cut his teeth in the movie field as a storyboard artist and concept artist on many films, starting with Dune (1984). After his short foray into comics, it was back to the film industry for Mayo, with work including Jumanji

Dinoton Manor Meet Hempsted Wallopp, Flavia Sipp, and mandinoservant Duubadah, on the cover of Upshot Graphics’ (a Fantagraphics imprint) Dinosaur Rex #1 (1987). Scans accompanying this interview are courtesy of Stephan Friedt, unless otherwise noted. © Jan Strnad and Henry Mayo.

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 49

Pop Culture Books from TwoMorrows!

BRITMANIA

by RetroFan’s MARK VOGER

Remember when long-haired British rock ’n’ rollers made teenage girls swoon — and their parents go crazy? BRITMANIA plunges into the period when suddenly, America went wild for All Things British. This profusely illustrated full-color hardback, subtitled “The British Invasion of the Sixties in Pop Culture,” explores the movies (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, HAVING A WILD WEEKEND), TV (THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR), collectibles (TOYS, GAMES, TRADING CARDS, LUNCH BOXES), comics (real-life Brits in the DC and MARVEL UNIVERSES) and, of course, the music! Written and designed by MARK VOGER (MONSTER MASH, GROOVY, HOLLY JOLLY), BRITMANIA features interviews with members of THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, THE KINKS, HERMAN’S HERMITS, THE YARDBIRDS, THE ANIMALS, THE HOLLIES & more. It’s a gas, gas, gas! (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-115-8 • NOW SHIPPING!

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IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

Since 2000, FROM THE TOMB has terrified readers worldwide. This second “Best of” collection of the UK’s preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics uncovers Atomic Comics lost to the Cold War, rarely seen (and censored) British horror comics, the early art of RICHARD CORBEN, GOOD GIRLS of a bygone age, TOM SUTTON, DON HECK, LOU MORALES, AL EADEH, BRUCE JONES’ Alien Worlds, HP LOVECRAFT in HEAVY METAL, and a myriad of terrors from beyond the stars and the shadows of our own world! It features comics they tried to ban, from ATLAS, CHARLTON, COMIC MEDIA, DC, EC, HARVEY, HOUSE OF HAMMER, KITCHEN SINK, LAST GASP, PACIFIC, SKYWALD, WARREN, and more! Edited by PETER NORMANTON. (192-page Trade Paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490816 (Digital Edition) $10.99

HERO-A-GO-GO!

HERO-A-GO-GO! celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. RETROFAN magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), and more! (272-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $36.95 ISBN: 9781605490731 (Digital Edition) $13.99

AMERICAN TV COMIC BOOKS (1940s-1980s) From The Small Screen To The Printed Page

A fascinating and detailed year-by-year history of over 300 television shows and their 2000+ comic book adaptations across five decades. Author PETER BOSCH has spent years researching and documenting this amazing area of comics history, tracking down the well-known series (STAR TREK, THE MUNSTERS) and the lesser-known shows (CAPTAIN GALLANT, PINKY LEE) to present the finest look ever taken at this unique genre of comic books. Included are hundreds of full-color covers and images, plus profiles of the artists who drew TV comics: GENE COLAN, ALEX TOTH, DAN SPIEGLE, RUSS MANNING, JOHN BUSCEMA, RUSS HEATH, and many more giants of the comic book world. If you loved watching The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, The Monkees, The Mod Squad, Adam-12, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Alf, Fraggle Rock, and “V”—there’s something here for fans of TV and comics alike. (192-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605491073 (Digital Edition) $15.99

THE BEST OF FROM THE TOMB This first collection compiles features from its ten years of terror, along with new material meant for the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29 • (192-page Digital Edition) $10.99

LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION

Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which created the first DC cartoons with Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, ruled the song charts with The Archies, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning Star Trek: The Animated Series, taught morals with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and swung into high adventure with Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, live-action shows Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Written by LOU SCHEIMER, with RetroFan’s ANDY MANGELS. (288-page Digital Edition) $14.99

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History. Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614

Who doesn’t love a little (actually, a lot) of humor along with their gun-toting dinosaur stories? Well, that’s just what readers got with Dinosaurs for Hire (DFH). The 1980s comic provided readers with action aplenty as well as satire galore. And, of course, dinosaurs with heavy weaponry! BACK ISSUE takes a takes a look at these locked-andloaded dinos, the series itself, and its strange connection to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

by E d

Lute

DFH was a comic book about three (later four) anthropomorphic dinosaurs that work for the US government as freelance agents with itchy trigger fingers, but it’s actually much more than that. The three main characters are Archie (who resembles a Tyrannosaurus rex), Lorenzo (who appears like a triceratops, but wears a Hawaiian shirt), and Reese (who looks like a one-eyed stegosaurus and likes heavy weapons). Although they look like dinosaurs, they are actually aliens. They happened to crash-land on Earth and are mistaken for smaller, talking versions of the prehistoric mammoths. So where did the concept for this unusual title just come from? Writer/ creator Tom Mason tells BACK ISSUE, “My friend [comic-book writer] Jan Strnad, myself, and another writer, Mike Valerio, were kicking around ideas one afternoon. We were either at lunch or at Jan’s apartment in tom mason Hollywood. We all lived within six Storyhive. blocks of each other. Jan had written comics for DC and Marvel, had most recently created Dalgoda, and now had a publishing company called Mad Dog Graphics. “Mike pitched this idea about Elvis as a private eye/ cop/detective that made us howl. Jan said he’d publish it, Mike said he’d write it, and I said I’d read it. That’s where we left it. Mike eventually dropped out—he was stuck for an idea and couldn’t get started, and he had a really busy job as a producer at NBC. But Jan still thought it was a good idea, and Mike graciously let me pick up the ball. “No one would ever consider me a writer back then, and I wasn’t interested in becoming a writer, but I did think the idea was fun in a very over-the-top kind of way. Jan said he’d help me, which was a big boost. So I did a first draft of a script, and then I sat with Jan for an afternoon, and he gave me notes and really taught me how to make a story in comics. I’m sure I still have a printed copy of that draft with his original notes on it. Then I rewrote it, and Jan liked it.

Armed and Dangerous From Eternity Comics, Tom Mason’s Dinosaurs for Hire vol. 1 #1 (Mar. 1988). Cover art by Bryon Carson and Scott Hanna. Dinosaurs for Hire TM & © Tom Mason.

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possibly full of cringe, so that stuff doesn’t travel. I’ve grown a lot as a person and a writer, but I’m still angry and opinionated. What does travel is the attitude, my belief that stuff exists to be made fun of, and dinosaurs should have guns. So, I don’t think the exact series could be published, but there’s plenty of room for dumbass opinions spouted by gun-toting five-fingered dinosaurs. “The takeaway for me is that I loved it. I loved working with all the artists. I love making comics. I was part of a big company, I had a large support staff of truly creative people in my corner, there was an advertising and marketing budget to support it, and I was grateful to be riding on the coattails of the Ultraverse. My early exposure to places like Fox and Sega helped me transition to writing books and TV shows, and I’m a footnote in comic-book history.”

ARE THE DINOSAURS STILL FOR HIRE?

Volume 2, and a Game for You! From Dinosaurs for Hire vol. 2, covers for: (top left) issue #4 (by Jerry Bingham) and 5 (by Leonard Kirk and Bruce McCorkindale); (bottom) issues 10 and 11 (both, by Kirk and McCorkindale). (inset) Sega’s licensing of Mason’s Dinosaurs for Hire as a video game led to Malibu Comics’ revival of the series. The DFH Sega Genesis cartridge repurposed the Jeff Remmer– painted artwork from Malibu’s Dinosaurs for Hire vol. 2 #1 (Feb. 1993). Dinosaurs for Hire TM & © Tom Mason. Sega Genesis TM & © Sega.

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Readers haven’t had a new DFH story since the end of the second series, or even a contemporary collected edition of the original material. “I have all the rights to Dinosaurs for Hire,” Mason says. “Malibu Comics had limited publishing rights at the time that Marvel Comics bought Malibu, but I had retained the other rights and the control. I had gotten smarter. Then Marvel’s inherited publishing rights to DFH expired, and I got them back. A friend of mine, Jeffrey [J. C.] Vaughn from Overstreet [Gemstone/Diamond], made sure to remind me when Marvel’s rights had lapsed. I have a letter from Marvel somewhere and a copy of the agreement. Fortunately, this all happened before Disney bought Marvel, so they reverted to me without any difficulty.” Will readers ever see a collected edition of Dinosaurs for Hire? According to Mason, that seems unlikely. He tells BI, “Nothing is ever simple. First of all, is there even an audience for a collection of a comic nobody has seen for a bunch of years? More importantly, though, the original film negatives are long gone. The original black-andwhite series was printed from film, not digitally, so the film negatives can never be found again or recreated in some way. Artwork was returned to the artists, and sold by them and scattered, and photocopies don’t exist. The color comics were colored digitally, but who knows where those files ended up. I could scan from the printed comics but paying someone to clean them up and make them suitable for reproduction is quite an undertaking for nearly 500 pages of comics.” So, fans of the series or those that want to check it out after reading this article will have to search for the original books in the back-issue bins of their LCS. Happy hunting! Elementary teacher ED LUTE loves all kinds of dinosaur comics, but has a special place in his heart for the gun-toting kind. He was happy to be able to revisit this series and share it with BACK ISSUE readers, and thanks Tom Mason for his invaluable assistance with this article. Now Ed is going to read the other articles in this issue, because he really does love dinosaur comics. ROAR!

by D

o n Va u g h a n

Collector cards are a unique aspect of popular culture. Among the most prolific manufacturers is Topps, which made its reputation with sports cards and later expanded into other areas of card collectability, including motion pictures, television, and products such as the extremely popular Garbage Pail Kids. One of Topps’ most controversial products was Mars Attacks, a 55-card set released in 1962 that sold for five cents per pack. The cards depicted a Martian invasion of Earth in gruesome detail, with the Wally Wood–inspired Martians and their various minions engaging in horrific acts of violence and mayhem before being driven back and their home world destroyed. Young people loved Mars Attacks, but their parents and teachers did not. Condemnation was swift and vociferous, and the cards were quickly withdrawn. Today, a complete set in good condition will set you back thousands of dollars. [Editor’s note: See issue #8 of our sister mag, RetroFan, for a Mars Attacks history.] In 1988, Topps returned to the well with Dinosaurs Attack!, a 55-card set conceived and written by longtime Topps employee Gary Gerani, that was both an homage to Mars Attacks and an effort to reclaim the gory glory of that initial effort. Gerani wrote the story, conceived every image, and designed the unique card backs. Herb Trimpe, assisted by George Evans and John Nemec, penciled the art, which was then painted by Chet Darmstaedter (a.k.a. XNO) and Earl Norem. The set’s 11 stickers were drawn by Paul Mavrides and Harry S. Robins. Gerani got his start at Topps in 1973 as a result of his work with The Monster Times, which debuted in January 1972 [see RetroFan #18— ed.]. Gerani specialized in humorous yet factual monster “biographies” that caught the eye of Len Brown, Topps’ director of new product development. Gerani’s first project was writing gags for the company’s Creature Feature card set, and he would go on to work on hundreds of products over a nearly 50-year career. Gerani collected the Mars Attacks cards as a kid, and desperately wanted TM & © Topps. to produce a similar science-fiction painted-card product of his own at Topps. “In the 1970s, I proposed something called ‘The Colossals,’ which were gelatinous monstrosities from beyond the stars,” Gerani tells BACK ISSUE. “It was basically the kind of mayhem the Martians were doing in Mars Attacks, but with these giant Lovecraftian things.” Topps declined, telling Gerani that painted science-fiction cards didn’t sell. Brown even pulled out the sales sheets for Mars Attacks to prove his point after Gerani proposed a sequel to the original.

Live! From New York! The Statue of Liberty is under siege on Earl Norem’s cover to Dinosaurs Attack! #1 (1991), from Eclipse Comics. Dinosaurs Attack! TM & © The Topps Company, Inc. (Topps).

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

Get Me the President (for Lunch) Gleeful pandemonium from painter Earl Norem on the 2013 covers of IDW’s (top) issues #2 and 4 and (bottom) issue #5. TM & © Topps.

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between right and wrong and have a soul, whereas dinosaurs were incapable of moral choice and became savage predators. They had an all-powerful presence watching over them, the Supreme Monstrosity, whose eyes appeared on the TimeScan screen when it was first turned on. This creature, explains the saurian, doesn’t want the dinosaurs returned to the past; it wants them to conquer the world anew. As Thorne and his crew struggle to stop the dinosaur onslaught, the military and civilians begin to fight back, though the dinosaurs prove to be formidable foes. In one scene, a group of children pick up a bazooka and use it to kill the dinosaur that attacked a soldier who was taking them to safety. Landmarks are destroyed, cities ravaged, and people literally rendered in half. In the final issue (Nov. 2013), Thorne and Helen work together to halt the TimeScan and return the dinosaurs to their own time. But the six-eyed Supreme Monstrosity has plans of his own, and snatches Thorne by reaching through the TimeScan screen. With time running out, Thorne instructs Helen to finish the final sequence that will close the connection, even though he too will perish. Helen tearfully pushes the button, which shifts the dinosaurs back to their own time so violently that, as in the trading cards, their skeletons and organs are literally ripped from their bodies. The world is saved, but the destruction of the TimeScan also threatens to destroy Prometheus. As the man-made satellite begins to disintegrate, Helen races to the remaining escape shuttle and safely returns home. Herb Trimpe was missing from issue #3, replaced by Flint Henry on pencils. “That drove me crazy at the time because the comic book was already a potpourri of so many different things and I didn’t want that to be yet another weird thing that wasn’t consistent,” Gerani says. “They were all fine artists, but I wanted consistency. If memory serves, Herb Trimpe simply wasn’t available at the time, so we improvised and hoped for the best.” Gerani is uncertain how well the comic-book series sold. “I didn’t ask,” he says. “I do think it sold well enough that they weren’t sorry they did it. And then Dinosaurs Attack! was reborn at Topps.” Not another series, but a 2015 five-card subset titled Mars Attacks vs. Dinosaurs Attack! William Stout was a contributing artist to that set, painting three cards: a cave girl, Martians and a Dimetrodon, a Martian riding a T-Rex, and Martians being attacked by a mosasaur. Like Mars Attacks before it, the Dinosaurs Attack! cards and comics gleefully delivered gore and violence by the bloody bucketful. Did Topps receive any pushback? “They did transfer one irate mother to my extension at Topps,” Gerani recalls. “I explained that kids are powerless, and live in a world where they kind of feel helpless, so they live vicariously through giant monsters. They’re getting out all of their frustrations when a giant monster stomps on a car or a building. It’s a kid getting back subconsciously, and it provides good therapy. And she bought that. These are fantastical, made-up things that could never really exist the way we’re showing them, so it’s a fantasy that’s good for kids.” Gerani has fond memories of the Dinosaurs Attack! cards and comics, even if they didn’t light the world on fire. At its core, he says, Dinosaurs Attack! was the kind of subversive fun enjoyed by young people everywhere. “Topps had a relationship with kids that was truly unique and quite wonderful,” Gerani states. “We created products that they could hide in looseleaf binders and fool their teachers. “Things like Mars Attacks, Dinosaurs Attack!, and Garbage Pail Kids are over-the-top, outrageous, and engaging to the fan who is into it, in a way that’s very, very special,” Gerani continues. “And Dinosaurs Attack! specifically is a wild parody of everything. It was incredibly exciting to be able to have that freedom when you’re working on creative products.” My sincere thanks to Gary Gerani for his thoughtful insight into the creation of the Dinosaurs Attack! cards and comics. Gary is the author of Fantastic Television: A Pictorial History of Sci-Fi, the Unusual and Fantastic From Captain Video to the Star Trek Phenomenon and Beyond (Harmony, 1999) and several books on various Topps card sets. He co-wrote the cult horror film Pumpkinhead. Check him out on Facebook.

by M a r k

Arnold

Like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Dino-Riders was yet another animated TV series from the 1980s based upon a children’s toy line, this one launched by Tyco. Fourteen episodes were ultimately produced, and three of these were originally released direct-to-video in 1988 and then aired on television for the first time on October 1, 1988. Animation for the series was by Marvel Productions. Dino-Riders originally aired as part of a programming block called Marvel Action Universe, which also showed animated versions TM of Robocop and Pride of the X-Men, as well as airing repeat segments from 1981’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, 1986’s Defenders of the Earth, 1982’s The Incredible Hulk, 1983’s Dungeons & Dragons, 1978’s The New Fantastic Four, and 1979’s Spider-Woman. Basically, they re-aired every Marvel Comics animated series produced up to that point except for their cartoons produced during the 1960s. Also like G.I. Joe and He-Man, there was an extensive backstory tied to the toy line concerning a battle between the Valorians and the Rulon Alliance set during prehistoric times. The Valorians were superhuman beings, while the Rulons consisted of various types of animals including ants, crocodiles, snakes, and sharks. The two fighting forces both came from the future from the planet Valoria and were transported back in time to the age of the dinosaurs on the planet Earth. At first, the Valorians escaped to the past via their spaceship equipped with their time machine device called S.T.E.P., also known as the Space Time Energy Projector. The Rulons followed, as they were already locked onto the Valorians with their tractor beam. The two warring factions utilized the dinosaurs in different ways. The Valorians became the dinosaurs’ friends, while the Rulons would brainwash the dinosaurs. After the Valorians ultimately defeated the Rulons, the Valorians renamed themselves Dino-Riders. For those looking to this series for historical accuracy, please look elsewhere. Various species of dinosaurs co-exist during the same time periods on this show and its comic book despite scientific evidence that many existed at distinctly different times and eras. As far as the toys go, there were four series of Dino-Riders toys produced. Series One debuted in 1988, Series Two in 1989, and Series Three and “The Ice Age” (Series Four) both premiered in 1990, after which the toy line ran its course. The toys appeared in various sizes and some had a motorized walking action. The toys were so highly detailed in their body shapes and coloring that the Smithsonian Institution actually contacted Tyco to make similar dinosaurs for a dinosaur exhibit they were doing.

All Aboard! Marvel’s Dino-Riders #1 (Feb. 1989) brought the new toy and animation concept to the comic-book spin rack. Cover art by Don Perlin and Danny Bulanadi. TM & © Mattel, Inc.

Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 69

When Dinosaurs Rulon-ed the Earth Interior pages from Marvel’s DinoRiders #3, written by George Carragone, penciled by Kelley Jones, and inked by Danny Bulandi. TM & © Mattel, Inc.

When asked if he had any type of guidance for his scripts for Dino-Riders, Glut responds, “None, as I recall, other than I was aware that the main reason for the show’s existence was to get kids to buy the toys. Luckily I knew a lot about dinosaurs, as well as how to write for animation.” In response to whether he got any rejections for his scripts, “I really don’t remember, but I believe I got no rejections. I think I sold them everything I wrote. I don’t remember having any co-writers for the series. It’s possible that Larry Parr provided me with the basic story premise, from which I wrote the script. I can’t say for certain. It was just a job like so many others, and they sometimes tend to run together. But I believe, as with Transformers and other toy-based cartoon shows, I was told what toy to push—which character was to be emphasized in a particular episode.” In 1988, there were two issues of a Dino-Riders comic book produced by Tyco and packaged with Dino-Riders toys. These featured art and writing by Paul Kirchner. Marvel Comics published a three-issue DinoRiders miniseries cover-dated from February to May 1989. George Carragone wrote the adaptation, with interior art by penciler Kelley Jones and inker Danny Bulanadi. Covers were illustrated by Don Perlin (#1), Jose Delbo (#2), and John Romita, Jr. (#3); Bulanadi inked all three covers. Free from the con-

72 • BACK ISSUE • Dinosaurs Issue

strictions of the typical children’s television cartoons at the time, Marvel gave these stories a darker tone than what appeared on television, including one story involving a murder. A Dino-Riders annual later appeared in the UK, compiling the three issues into one hardcover book. When asked if he worked on any of the comic-book versions of Dino-Riders, Don Glut answered, “No, my only involvement was writing scripts for the episodes that got made.” The Dino-Riders haven’t been completely forgotten because as recently as 2020, Mattel released an Entertainment Earth exclusive called the Rulon Warriors Battle Pack. As for the animated series, Disney+ has the rights to stream the series, as they have for other Marvel Productions cartoons, but as of this writing the series is in limbo. The closest is an unrelated series called Dino Ranch. MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture historian with over 15 books to his credit on subjects ranging from The Monkees, The Beatles, Underdog, Pink Panther, Cracked, Disney, Dennis the Menace, and more. He is currently at work on another Disney book and a book on the history of MAD.

by B i l l

DeSimone

Peek-A-Boo! Covers for Topps Comics’ Jurassic Park #1 (June 1993): (left) the main edition with cover art by Gil Kane and George Pérez; and (right) a Dave Cockrum variant. Jurassic Park © Universal City Studios LLC and Amblin Entertainment, Inc.

“It was really nice of them to put all that merchandising and a movie out to promote our comic.” Said no one with a straight face. Ever. After 20 years at Marvel, Jim Salicrup became the editor-in-chief of the Topps Comics line. In 1992, in David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview #115, Salicrup discussed with Charles S. Novinskie plans for the line, including the Dracula movie adaptation with Roy Thomas and Mike Mignola, Mars Attacks, and tying in the comics with Topps’ specialty, trading cards. Jurassic Park was to be their first newsstand comic, and he hinted at direct-sales versions, sequels, and spinoffs. About the comics: SALICRUP: …We haven’t announced who will be doing the book yet, but for the people that follow comics, they’ll know that there are a few creators that have a big love for dinosaurs. CHARLES: So you’re saying Walt Simonson will be doing JURASSIC PARK?

SALICRUP: I’m not saying anything, you said that [laughter]. Walter Simonson not only scripted Topps’ Jurassic Park book, he did art for four trading cards, a wraparound cover, and the introduction for the first collected edition. But he wasn’t the only name from Salicrup’s contact list. Gil Kane, George Pérez, Tom Smith, John Workman, and Dave Cockrum all worked on the series itself, and the cards and collected editions added creators like Arthur Adams, Frank Brunner, Howard Chaykin, Michael Golden, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Joe Quesada, Mark Schultz, Kent Williams, and Al Williamson. The amount of merchandise for the movie led Simonson to write, “…I did wonder briefly if even I would be sick of dinosaurs…” (Spoiler: He wasn’t.) But this project has a second purpose, not just to provide another thing to sell: it keeps these artists’ work attached to a movie franchise, still active after almost 30 years, waiting for the next generation of fans to find. Dinosaurs Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73