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SUPER ISSUE starring SUPERBOY in the BRONZE AGE 023

2 4 1 . o N April 2

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Super Mario Bros. • Superfan • Super Goof • Super Richie • Super-Dagwood & more

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Interviews with TV Superboy stars GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK

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Volume 1, Number 142 April 2023 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Dave Cockrum (Originally produced as the cover art for the Superboy edition of Aurora Comic Scenes [1974]. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Cookie Morris Mark Arnold Nintendo of Wayne Brooks America Inc. Dewey Cassell Luigi Novi Gerard Karla Ogle Christopher Sassy Ann Shenefield DC Comics Steven Thompson Erin Gray Walt Disney Stacy Haiduk Productions Jack C. Harris Karl Heitmueller, Jr. John Wells Heritage Comics Auctions Denis Kitchen Krypto the Superdog Zaddick Longenbach Andy Mangels Robert Menzies Brian K. Morris

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: Superboy: The Bronze Age Boy of Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Smallville’s favorite son, without the Legion of Super-Heroes WHAT THE--?!: The Far Out Green Super Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Frank Thorne’s trippiest comic book was actually produced for school children FLASHBACK: Super Goof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 You’d have to be nuts not to love Disney’s Super-Goobered do-gooder ONE-HIT WONDERS: Super Soul Comix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 ‘Grass’ Green’s over-the-top Blaxploitation super-comic BEYOND CAPES: Superfan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The MADcap hero that both comic readers and football fanatics can cheer for FLASHBACK: Super Richie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The adventures of a mighty manservant and a poor little rich boy wonder WHAT THE--?!: Super-Dagwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Blondie’s hubby with the bottomless appetite becomes a witless wonderman PRINCE STREET NEWS: More Characters Go Super . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. super-izes everyone from Dick Tracy to Millie the Model INTERVIEWS: Superboy’s Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Exclusive Q&As with the live-action series’ Superboy/Clark Kent and Lana Lang ROUGH STUFF: Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 We didn’t want to leave THE most super-superhero out of this “Super Issue”! BEYOND CAPES: Super Mario Bros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A Valiant move to make a comics star out of a hot video-game character IN MEMORIAM: Alan Grant and Michael Ambrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 BACK ISSUE™ issue 142, April 2023 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 4490344. 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-inChief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $97 Economy US, $147 International, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover artwork by Dave Cockrum. Superboy and Krypto TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury except Prince Street News, TM & © 2023 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

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All comics covers TM & © DC Comics.

by M

You can thank loyal BI reader Wayne Brooks for this issue. A while back, in BACK ISSUE’s Facebook group, Wayne lobbied for a Superboy issue of BI. Being a fan of Superboy myself—DC Comics, a Silver Age Superboy Omnibus series is long overdue!—I was intrigued by the idea, but there was a problem: “The adventures of Superman when he was a boy/teen” was mostly a “been there, done that” subject for BI. Superboy’s futuristic super-team, the Legion of Super-Heroes—who, as Bronze Age readers know, usurped the Boy of Steel’s very title from him—have often been featured in BI’s pages, dating back to issue #14 (and including #22, 33, 61, 68, and 120). The Bronze Age Superboy reboot, The New Adventures of Superboy, was explored in issue #68. The Boy of Steel’s Brave and Bold team-up with Batman was discussed in BI #7, 87, and 134. The Superman Family, the super-sized series where you could sometimes find the Boy of Steel, was covered in BI #62 and 84. The saga of DC Double Comics, an unrealized 1980s series that would have co-featured Superboy and Supergirl, was chronicled in issue #17’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” department. We even reported on Superboy: The Comic Book, based upon the live-action Superboy TV show, in issue #128. (Beyond the Boy of Steel, we’ve similarly devoted issues to Superman, Supergirl, and the Batman/Superman team!) But we had yet to delve into Superboy’s last solo adventures of the early Bronze Age, before the Legion hijacked his book. After Mr. Brooks’ super suggestion, I began looking for the perfect opportunity to do so. Once I discovered Heritage Comics Auction’s (www.ha.com) posting of Dave Cockrum’s original art for the Superboy Aurora Comic Scenes cover, I couldn’t resist using it as a cover (thanks, Heritage! And didn’t Glenn Whitmore do a super job on its colors?). Beginning on the next page, the extraordinary John Wells (a card-carrying member of the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club) is your tour guide through the streets of Smallville and the adventures of its Teen of Steel. But alas, one article—albeit a meaty, lavishly illustrated one—does not fill an entire 80-page issue of this magazine. With so much Superboy material previously appearing, my editorial dilemma was, What else do we put in the issue? 2 • BACK ISSUE • Super Issue

ichael Eury

An article about the Superboy liveaction television series of 1988–1992 was a no-brainer as a complementary feature. Dan “The Man” Johnson (whose first job was as stock boy at the Kent General Store) brings us a pair of exclusive interviews with actors from the series: Gerard Christopher, who played Superboy and Clark Kent beginning with Season Two; and Stacy Haiduk, Superboy’s gal pal Lana Lang. Those features were not enough to round out the entire issue, however—and ye ed is determined to keep this magazine fresh by not retreading previously explored topics. So instead of a “Superboy” issue, this became a “Super” issue, inviting examinations of all types of Bronze Age comic books with “Super” in their titles. Next up, I ran a date-ordered search for “Super” on the valuable resource, the Grand Comic Database (comics.org), looking for era-appropriate “Super” subjects to fill out the issue. Expected material such as Super Goof, Superfan, and Super Richie popped up, and are included herein. And two mind-blowing curiosities from the swinging ’70s did, too: Frank Thorne’s Far Out Green Super Cool and Richard “Grass” Green’s Super Soul Comix! I wasn’t aware of those weird, wild comics (and I suspect most of you haven’t heard of them, either) and learned a ton from their articles’ respective authors, Dewey Cassell and Steven Thompson. Plus, there are contributions from super-know-itall (that’s a compliment!) Mark Arnold, plus another gut-busting “Prince Street News” cartoon strip from Karl Heitmueller, Jr.— all under a spiffy reuse of our Michael Kronenberg–designed telescoping Super-BACK ISSUE logo and amazing interior layouts by Rich Fowlks. In retrospect, as much as I love me some Superboy/man/girl lore, I’m happy this issue opened up to include eclectic contents. Even if your comics path treads along the mainstream, this issue’s super-diversions offer no end of fun, scintillating comics history… and where else in 2023 are you gonna find an article about Super-Dagwood?? Thanks for being a BI reader… and a big— make that SUPER—thank-you to Superboy’s pal, Wayne Brooks, for jumpstarting this edition!

by J o

hn Wells

The Thrill Is Gone If the Smallville Sensation knew what was in store for him in the emerging Bronze Age— creative team changes, the Legion taking over his magazine, a bumpy ride back to solo stardom, and his erasure from continuity in 1986’s The Man of Steel Superman reboot— he might have been tempted to really chuck it all for good, beyond this catchy cover to Superboy #168 (Sept. 1970). Art by Neal Adams. Special thanks to John Wells for providing the majority of this article’s art scans. TM & © DC Comics.

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For two decades, few comic books had commanded such consistent, stratospheric success as Superman. Worthy competitors—most recently Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics Stories and the TV-fueled Archie and Batman—came and went, but the Man of Steel still stood strong in 1968. Superman’s influence also ensured that his companion titles, like Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, World’s Finest Comics, Action Comics, and Adventure Comics, were among the industry’s bestsellers. Nonetheless, one book rose above the rest. Superboy. “The adventures of Superman as a boy,” as the famous tagline declared, had been conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for November 1944’s More Fun Comics #101. Although largely ignored by the primary series, Superboy quickly gained a large following, moving to Adventure Comics in 1946 and acquiring a self-titled comic book in 1949. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the feature often used its unique status to reveal new facets about Superman’s past and retroactively detail his first meetings with multiple figures that figured into his adult life. According to information assembled by John Jackson Miller at his Comichron website, Superboy was typically the second or third bestselling title in the industry between 1961 and 1969. That pivotal period had been edited by Mort Weisinger, but the glory days were behind the longtime Superman editor. Most of the talent that drove some of Superman’s most memorable stories was gone now—some fired, some taken by death—and the limited talent pool remaining had forced the veteran editor to pad out most of his comics with reprints. Meanwhile, Weisinger was also dealing with the shakeup of the art teams on those books, a mandate from DC’s new art director Carmine Infantino that was meant to freshen the look of the comics and better compete with rival Marvel. Among the casualties were longtime Supergirl and Superboy artists Jim Mooney and George Papp, whose styles were deemed out of date. In a bitterly ironic touch, one of Papp’s final stories (January 1968’s Superboy #145) illustrated an Otto Binder script about an alien cinematographer whose audience scoffed at Superboy’s aged foster parents and demanded younger “actors” in his films about the Boy of Steel. Hence, the filmmaker used a serum to permanently rejuvenate them. The tale had been a reaction to recurring reader complaints that the white-haired Ma and Pa Kent looked more like grandparents than the more youthful fathers and mothers that most kids had.

Great Moments in Superboy History (top left) Although the Boy of Steel premiered in More Fun Comics #101, he didn’t earn a cover appearance until issue #104 (July–Aug. 1945)—and had to share the space with comedy characters Dover and Clover! Cover artists: Stan Kaye (Superboy) and Henry Boltinoff (Dover and Clover). (top right) The Golden Age Superboy found a happy home in Adventure Comics beginning with issue #103 (Apr. 1946). Cover by Joe Shuster and Kaye. (bottom left) DC called in the big gun—Superman—to help sell the first issue of Superboy (Mar.–Apr. 1949). Cover by Wayne Boring and Kaye. (bottom right) Toward the end of the Silver Age, foster parents Jonathan and Martha Kent got a dramatic makeover in Superboy #145 (Mar. 1968). Cover by Neal Adams. Covers courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www. ha.com). (opposite page) Speaking of DC’s most photorealistic artist, Superboy’s late–Silver Age covers by Adams were always something to look forward to. (Join us next issue for our special Neal Adams tribute edition.) TM & © DC Comics.

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What’s the Matter with Superboy? He’s All Right! Superboy was welcomed into the pages of The Superman Family in issue #191 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) with this cheery title page drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger. TM & © DC Comics.

Slugger of Steel Superboy gets in some outer-space batting practice on this splash from Superman Family #193, by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Joe Staton. TM & © DC Comics.

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schedule had been abandoned in favor of all-new stories in late 1976). Premiering in June 1978’s Superman Family #191, the Boy of Steel got a strong vote of confidence from editor E. Nelson Bridwell, who gave Superboy the lead feature in every issue along with the front cover on several of them. Tom DeFalco and Joe Staton delivered the first four installments, most memorably reviving little warlock Gary as the teenage sorcerer Garok in Superman Family #194. As of 1979, editor Julius Schwartz took charge of Superman Family, handing issue #195’s Superboy assignment to Martin Pasko before Cary Bates came aboard as regular scripter. The art shifted from Alex Saviuk and Joe Giella (#195), to Joe Staton and Frank Chiaramonte (#196), to Kurt Schaffenberger and Joe Giella (#197–198). The highlight was Bates’ “Shadow of Jor-El” (#196), which considered the impact that Superboy’s adulation of his genius biological dad had on his adoptive father Jonathan Kent. In a nod to their Silver Age visuals, Ma and Pa once again wore eyeglasses during this run. It was a subtle effort to make them appear a bit older without entirely undoing the 1968 rejuvenation of the couple. Over the course of 1979, the powers-that-be at DC were recognizing that the success of the recent Superman: The Movie was having an impact. The World of Krypton miniseries from that spring had been a surprise hit and June’s Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #255 aggressively played up classic lore with Jor-El, Lara, and the Boy of Steel overwhelming its cover. A shakeup was quickly set into motion, one that would restore young Clark Kent to his own ongoing book—The New Adventures of Superboy— in October 1979. Severing its ties with Superboy, Legion of Super-Heroes lived on without him as of issue #259, on sale the same day. [Editor’s note: The story of the Boy of Steel’s “new adventures” is detailed at length in BACK ISSUE #68.] Following the rule established in Superboy #171, the rolling timeline continued slip-sliding away. It had been 1955 in Clark’s teenage world then. By the time the Schwartz/Bates/Schaffenberger New Adventures of Superboy #1 came out, young Clark and Lana were mad about the Beatles (per Superman Family #198) and LBJ was the US president. Sales of the Teen of Steel’s comic in this faux 1960s were a mere fraction of what they’d been in the real thing, but it was reassuring to know that there was still a place on spinner racks for the adventures of Superman as a boy. JOHN WELLS is a comics historian specializing in DC Comics. He is the author of the TwoMorrows books American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960–1964 and 1965–1969, and co-author (with Keith Dallas) of the book Comic Book Implosion.

by D

ewey Cassell

No, I didn’t make that up. I usually try to come up with a creative title for my articles, but I can’t take credit for that one. Believe it or not, that was the name of a short-lived comic-book series in the early 1970s, and no “super” issue would be complete without it. It was the brainchild of Frank Thorne. Yes, the same Frank Thorne who later drew Red Sonja for Marvel Comics and dressed up as a wizard, touring the country with a bevy of models in scale-mail bikinis. But before Thorne became famous for his rendering of the “She-Devil with a Sword,” he was living in New Jersey, drawing Tomahawk for DC Comics [see BACK ISSUE #138—ed.], when he heard from a foundation that was interested in producing a promotional comic book. The idea of a promotional comic book was not new. Marie Severin and her brother John produced The Story of Checks for the Federal Reserve Bank in the 1950s. The American Iron and Steel Institute produced a comic book drawn by Irv Novick titled Steel about how the steel industry works as well as its uses and benefits to society. Both were distributed to consumers across the country. The Far Out Green Super Cool comic books were made for the school kids of New Jersey. The article “Is It Curtains for Crime Foe?” by Rudy Larini, which appeared in the March 25, 1975 issue of the Central New Jersey Home News, explained, “The books are geared to children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades and are distributed primarily through schools and social agencies.” They were produced by the Social Welfare Research Foundation (SWRF). According to the Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University Libraries, “The Council for Human Services in New Jersey… was founded in 1901. Its purpose was to ‘bring together the hundreds of men and women who are dealing at firsthand with the problems of human affliction and distress,’ and to show ‘the points of contact, and the need of co-operation between private benevolent agencies and public relief officers.’ … [T]he Council founded a branch organization, the Social Welfare Research Foundation of New Jersey, in 1964. The purpose of the Foundation was to raise money to perform and disseminate research in the field of social welfare.” As noted in the Central New Jersey Home News article, “The foundation had produced two un-illustrated pamphlets on juvenile law—one in 1967 and a second in 1970—but the format was

Far Out, Indeed Cover to Frank Thorne’s The Far Out Green Super Cool #3 (1973), introducing Super Cool Kid (who we bet you never heard of until now). Scan courtesy of Dewey Cassell. © Social Welfare Research Foundation (SWRF).

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You, Too, Can Stop Smoking Color guide painted by Thorne for page 10 of The Far Out Green Super Cool #4. Courtesy of Dewey Cassell. © SWRF.

The topic for the fourth issue is arson. Super Cool Kid returns to help Super Cool tackle “The Smelly, Scorching Smoking Blob.” Together, they subdue the villain, and then Super Cool uses a button on his glove to shrink them both so they can enter the Blob’s brain through his ear and change his “main brain channel from negative to positive.” The second half of the story focuses on the Blob explaining why he turned to crime and Captain Baker of the fire department explaining the dangers of arson. In the end, the Blob vows to join the Blobovian fire department. The inside back cover depicts the angel of death presenting the terms related to arson and their definitions. Although the Blob character is comical, this is possibly the most somber story of the series. Each story is standalone—there is no ongoing continuity other than the presence of Super Cool (and later Super Cool Kid). The first issue is 16 pages, including covers, printed in full color. Subsequent issues were only 12 pages. The back covers are blank and each is a solid color—green (of course), yellow, orange, and yellow, in publication order.

The topics covered in the comics are essentially timeless, but the language used in the Super Cool comics may seem hokey today. For example, in one story, a character says, “It was a groove, man!” But the comics were a product of the times. “Far out,” “cool,” and “groovy” were commonly used in the early 1970s and consistent with the hip vibe they were trying to convey in attempting to reach young kids. A curiosity is that “Super Cool” is sometimes written as one word and other times two words. It is worth noting that in the second and fourth issues, the “villain” is fairly easily changed from a criminal to a law-abiding character. It seems likely this was deliberate, perhaps suggesting to kids who had already done something wrong that they could easily get back on the right path. It is also curious that there is no explanation of who Super Cool is or where he comes from, but most of the other characters in the stories already know who he is. While this was Thorne’s only real foray into the superhero genre, his artistic style was well suited to the Super Cool comics. Like Tomahawk and Red Sonja, most of the characters in the stories were just regular people, with the exception of Super Cool and the occasional odd villain. Thorne gave the stories a gritty, grounded feel to them that undoubtedly resonated with young readers. By 1975, the Social Welfare Research Foundation faced rising costs of storage—they had 20,000 comics from the first four years—as well as increased printing costs, but as the Central New Jersey Home News article noted, “one fee has remained constant from the start, and that is Thorne’s.” However, the foundation was unable to find a sponsor to pay for a fifth issue, so that was the end of Super Cool. Because of their limited distribution, the Super Cool comics are rare, and collecting all four issues can be not only challenging, but pricey. They have never been reprinted, but have been scanned and posted on the Internet. The original art was sold some time ago at shows and online, but today is scarce, with only a few pages of interior art and color guides surfacing in the last couple of years. The Far Out Green Super Cool stories were undoubtedly the most unusual things Thorne ever worked on, and that’s saying something when you consider some of the artwork Thorne did after leaving mainstream comics. But it was clearly a cause he was interested in and dedicated to. Thorne was quoted in the Central New Jersey Home News article as saying, “I just don’t think there was enough organization behind it to promote it properly.” What can’t be measured is the impact that the Far Out Green Super Cool stories may have had on the school kids of New Jersey. The fiery redhead for whom Thorne is better known has a worldwide following, but it is just possible that Super Cool and Fletcher may have had a more meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of its readers. Not a bad legacy to leave behind. Thanks to Zaddick Longenbach for his insight and Heritage Auctions for some of the artwork used in the article. DEWEY CASSELL is the twice Eisner Award–nominated author/co-author of four books and over 50 magazine articles, but he is most definitely not Far Out Green Super Cool.

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This article contains peanuts, a.k.a. “goobe rs.” If you have a known peanut allergy, you might wish to skip to the Super Soul Comix ar ticle elsewhere in this issu e at this time. Making his debut way back in the 1932 cartoon Mickey’s Revue as a one-off audience character with an annoying “hyuck, hyuck” laugh, Dippy Dog became Dippy Dawg, then Goofie, and finally, the simple and descriptive… Goofy. Goofy has always been the third wheel of the classic Disney triumvirate, outclassed by his pals Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in both cartoons and comic books—particularly in comic books. Disney comics were once the biggest-selling comic books in the United States, and yet outside of a handful of issues in Dell’s Four Color anthology series, Goofy never even had his own title until Goofy Adventures debuted in 1990. Well… that’s not entirely true. In between the demise of Four Color and the premiere of Goofy Adventures came the one and only… Super Goof!

by S t e v e n

Thompson

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Ok, here’s a riddle. Name a cartoon that was written by MAD’s Nick Meglin and drawn by MAD’s Jack Davis and published in paperback by MAD’s paperback publisher, Signet, but it doesn’t have anything to do with MAD. It even has a dedication to MAD’s Stan Hart and acknowledgement to MAD’s Jerry De Fuccio, Angelo Torres, Frank Jacobs… and no, it’s not MAD About Sports or More MAD About Sports or even The MAD Jock Book!

‘SUPERFAN’ KICKS OFF

The Superfan feature, written by Meglin and drawn by Davis, first appeared in the pages of Quarterback magazine in January 1970. Quarterback was renamed Pro Quarterback by year’s end. According to the Lambiek Comiclopedia, the Superfan comic, which ran in Pro Quarterback from 1970–1974, “tells the story of Y. A. Schmickle, a geeky boy who receives sporting powers of many great football players of the past by saying a magic spell. The comic satirizes much of early 1970s culture and society, while many well-known football players of the day have a cameo.” By 1972, enough Superfan installments had appeared in the magazine to compile and reprint them in paperback form, from New American Library. The first paperback, Superfan, had a Foreword from none other than the legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell, at the peak of his powers at the time. He was popular thanks to his regular appearances on Monday Night Football, which debuted on ABC-TV in 1970 and became a surprise hit, lasting on the network until 2005 and continuing on to the present day on ESPN. It was quite a coup at the time for Meglin and Davis to get Cosell. In his Foreword, Cosell remarked, “I think it’s about time Superfan became a book. Superfan has fun with football and so do [fellow sportscasters] Dandy Don Meredith, Faultless Frank Gifford, and Humble Howard Cosell. Superfan laughs at the three of us, and we laugh along with him.”

Strange Sports Stories Original cover painting by MADman Jack Davis for Superfan… Again!, the 1974 followup to the 1972 Superfan paperback. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (opposite page) Original art (courtesy of Heritage) of page 2 of episode 12 of the “Superfan” feature in Pro Quarterback magazine. (Our apologies for the Charlie Chan panel, which some readers may find offensive, but is included here for the historical record.) Superfan © the estates of Nick Meglin and Jack Davis.

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by M

ark Arnold

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THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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BRONZE AGE PROMOS, ADS, AND GIMMICKS! The aborted DC Super-Stars Society fan club, Hostess Comic Ads, DC 16-page Preview Comics, rare Marvel custom comics, DC Hotline, Popeye Career Comics, early variant covers, and more. Featuring BARR, HERDLING, LEVITZ, MAGUIRE, MORGAN, PACELLA, PALMIOTTI, SHAW!, TERRY STEWART, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, and more!

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!

1980s MARVEL LIMITED SERIES! CLAREMONT/MILLER’s Wolverine, Black Panther, Falcon, Punisher, Machine Man, Iceman, Magik, Fantastic Four vs. X-Men, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolfpack, and more! With BOGDANOVE, COWAN, DeFALCO, DeMATTEIS, GRANT, HAMA, MILGROM, NEARY, SMITH, WINDSORSMITH, and more. Cover by JOE RUBINSTEIN. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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STARMEN ISSUE, headlined by JAMES ROBINSON and TONY HARRIS’s Jack Knight Starman! Plus: The StarSpangled Kid, Starjammers, the 1980s Starman, and Starstruck! Featuring DAVE COCKRUM, GERRY CONWAY, ROBERT GREENBERGER, ELAINE LEE, TOM LYLE, MICHAEL Wm. KALUTA, ROGER STERN, ROY THOMAS, and more. Jack Knight Starman cover by TONY HARRIS.

BRONZE AGE RARITIES & ODDITIES, spotlighting rare ‘80s European Superman comics! Plus: CURT SWAN’s Batman, JIM APARO’s Superman, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT’s Marvel custom comics, MICHAEL USLAN’s unseen Earth-Two stories, Leaf’s DC Secret Origins, Marvel’s Evel Knievel, cover variants, and more! With EDUARDO BARRETO, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ALEX SAVIUK, and more. Cover by JOE KUBERT.

SILVER ISSUE, starring the Silver Surfer in the Bronze Age! Plus: JACK KIRBY’s Silver Star, SCOTT HAMPTON’s Silverheels, Silver Sable, Silver Banshee, DC’s Silver Age Classics, and more! Featuring BUSIEK, BUTLER, BYRNE, ENGLEHART, STAN LEE, LIM, MARZ, MOEBIUS, POLLARD, MARSHALL ROGERS, ALEX ROSS, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by RON FRENZ and JOE SINNOTT.

BRONZE AGE COMICS STRIPS! SpiderMan, Friday Foster, DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes starring Superman, Howard the Duck, Richie Rich, Star Hawks, Star Trek, MIKE GRELL’s Tarzan, and more! Plus Charlton’s comic strip tie-ins and the MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE. With COLAN, GOODWIN, GIL KANE, KREMER, STAN LEE, ROMITA, THOMAS, TUSKA, and more.

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

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CLASSIC HEROES IN THE BRONZE AGE! The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Flash Gordon, Popeye, Zorro and Lady Rawhide, Son of Tomahawk, Jungle Twins, and more! Featuring the work of DAN JURGENS, JOE R. LANSDALE, DON McGREGOR, FRANK THORNE, TIM TRUMAN, GEORGE WILDMAN, THOMAS YEATES, and other creators. With a classic 1979 fully painted Gold Key cover of Flash Gordon.

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

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

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

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by M a r k

Arnold

In a blatant attempt by Harvey Comics to add a superhero character to its comic-book line, what better way to do so than to have their starring character become a superhero? However, to quote the late Chris Barat, who used to write a regular column called “Richville Ruminations” in the long-running Harvey Comics fanzine The Harveyville Fun Times!, “Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. Title or no title, there was NEVER anything ‘Super’ about Super Richie (a.k.a. SupeRichie) and his faithful butler companion Cadbury or, as they are better known, Rippy and Crashman.” Harvey Comics did publish superheroes before, from the athletic gymnast Black Cat in the 1940s and ’50s (no relation to the Marvel villain that debuted in 1979 in Amazing Spider-Man); to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Golden Age series Stuntman; to the last real attempt to do superhero comics, the Joe Simon–produced Harvey Thriller line from the mid-1960s that featured many Jim Steranko– created characters and concepts including Spyman and Magic Master. By the 1970s, any pretense was gone of Harvey Comics publishing anything other than a line of children’s comic books. Beginning in 1971, Harvey’s expansion of titles starring their existing characters including Casper, Hot Stuff, Spooky, and Sad Sack was the order of the day. By 1975, these spinoff titles contracted and long-running series starring Baby Huey, Little Dot, Little Audrey, and Little Lotta were cancelled, including their original starring books. The one exception to this rule was Richie Rich. The “Poor Little Rich Boy” made his quiet debut in the back pages of Little Dot #1 (Sept. 1953). He also appeared in the back pages of Little Lotta when she earned her own title in 1955. Surprisingly, it was another five years, after two tryout issues in Harvey Hits, before Richie Rich finally earned his own book, in 1960. During the remainder of the 1960s, Richie’s line expanded to include Richie Rich Millions, Richie Rich Dollars and Cents, and Richie Rich Success Stories. This latter title featured all-new stories for most of its run, despite it being in the guise of a reprint giant like the others.

THE POOR LITTLE RICH BOY WONDER

Though the Super Richie title itself debuted with the cover date of September 1975, Super Richie stories appeared in other Richie Rich titles for the better part of the decade before. The first appearance of the concept was in a story called “Crashman and Rippy,” in Richie Rich #56 (Apr. 1967). It’s not surprising that this tale appeared when the Adam West Batman TV series (1966–1968) was at the crest of its popularity.

You Bet Your Sweet Bippy, It’s Rippy! After a handful of appearances, Harvey’s poor little rich “superhero” spun off into his own title with Super Richie #1 (Sept. 1975). Cover art by Warren Kremer. © Classic Media, LLC.

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 43

Is Richie Robbed of a Future? Is Cadbury’s Goose Cooked? Our heroes’ first cover appearance: Richie Rich Millions #68 (Nov. 1974). Cover art by Kremer. © Classic Media, LLC.

Humorous and non-humorous superheroes were all the rage (with Harvey also spinning off Fruitman from the Bunny teen title for a one-shot). Also, giving Richie a chance to put on a costume other than his Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit must have seemed very appealing to the artists frustrated with doing these “bigfoot” books (a derogatory term for non-superhero children’s comic books). Super Richie was revived during the early 1970s, possibly due to the West Batman series becoming a surprise syndication hit during that decade. In 1971, Harvey started expanding its Richie Rich line with Richie Rich Fortunes. In 1972, Harvey added Richie Rich Bank Book(s), Richie Rich Diamonds, Richie Rich Jackpots, Richie Rich Money World, and Richie Rich Riches to its roster. It was then that a second Super Richie story appeared: “It’s a Case of Derring-Doo or Don’t!!!” in Richie Rich Success Stories #44 (June 1972). In its story, Rippy and Crashman battle robot insects.

44 • BACK ISSUE • Super Issue

It was made crystal clear in this and in every Super Richie story that Richie and Cadbury (Richie’s perfect butler and guardian) were only play-acting as superheroes, giving Vaudeville-style performances to children’s groups, charity parties, and anyone else who would have them. They did not seek out opportunities to engage in actual feats of “superheroing”; instead, those types of opportunities were always thrust upon them. This point was repeatedly stressed from the outset. The writers at Harvey Comics occasionally overlooked the fact that Rippy and Crashman were merely play actors who occasionally stumbled onto serious crimes. They may have “forgotten” on purpose, but it definitely was against the original concept of the characters. Given that Richie Rich was already a well-established adventure character by 1967, the comics’ attempts to use Rippy and Crashman as legitimate heroes was pretty redundant at best, silly and embarrassing at worst. As a result, Rippy and Crashman as portrayed by Richie and Cadbury didn’t do much more in the way of fighting and outwitting crooks than they had previously done in their civilian guises. Besides, they had no superpowers and had to rely on their wits and ingenuity, just like the regular old Richie and Cadbury usually did. The third Super Richie story was “Redbeard the Hunter,” in Richie Rich Money World #2 (Nov. 1972). It was a take on the Star Trek episode “The Squire of Gothos,” with Redbeard in the role of the villain who likes to “play” and engages the characters in a series of duels and other forms of competition. Crashman and Rippy next appeared in Richie Rich Millions #68 (Nov. 1974), which also served as the first cover appearance featuring the characters. This has led many to believe that this was their first appearance, but it was actually their fourth outing. The story, “111 Strawberry Street,” is a play on the 1974 theatrical thriller 111 Harrowhouse. The antagonist in this story isn’t really a villain, and engages Rippy and Crashman in some unwanted challenges. Appearance #5 was “The Crooked Crudders” in Richie Rich Riches #14 (Mar. 1975). In this tale, Rippy and Crashman are probably the most like real superheroes, as they square off against a supercrook that is intent upon world domination. Once again, they battle something mechanical, this time toys. Appearance #6 followed the next month, in Richie Rich Jackpots #16 (Apr. 1975). This time, Rippy and Crashman encounter a prankster who has created a laughing cloud. Of course, they eventually take possession of the cloud-making machine and save the day. The seventh appearance of Super Richie was in Richie Rich Gems #6 (July 1975), Rippy and Crashman’s second cover appearance. In “Pirates!,” they encounter some phony buccaneers who are actually jewel thieves. “Rippy and Crashman frequently make mistakes, occasionally look foolish, and otherwise do their part to point out the inherent silliness of the entire concept of a costumed superhero,” Chris Barat assessed. “When they use their own smarts and resources to tree the villains, you see the saving grace of all good superhero comics: it’s who the heroes are, rather than the names, powers, and fashion sense (or lack thereof) they possess, that makes them and their accomplishments seem admirable.”

A SUPER SERIES

The initial 1967 Super Richie appearance was reprinted in Richie Rich Bank Books #18 (Aug. 1975), and a regular series was imminent. The feature eventually culminated into a Super Richie title, from 1975 through 1979, lasting for 18 issues. With issue #5 it was retitled SupeRichie. “During their earliest appearances and the first four issues of Super Richie, Rippy and Crashman appeared in Superman-like blue tights and red capes (with Cadbury’s pants legs giving the distinct impression of jodhpurs),” wrote Chris Barat in the Harveyville Fun Times! “Either someone at DC Comics finally filed a complaint, or Harvey finally decided to distinguish the duo once and for all from the original ‘Big Blue.’ Starting in issue #5, the ‘original costumes’ were unceremoniously destroyed ‘in action,’ and Rip and Crash donned the sleek, cape-less, vaguely space-age green-and-yellow getup that they would wear for the remainder of the title’s run. To emphasize the change, the title was officially changed to SupeRichie, ensuring future confusion for comics indexers everywhere. In a refreshing contrast to the borderline hysteria that accompanies every minute change in the fabric of a modern superhero’s life and dress, the changes were not blurbed on the cover of SupeRichie #5 and were treated as matter-of-factly as such things can be.”

Except for his debut story, all of the pre-title Super Richie stories were drawn by the incomparable Warren Kremer. The debut story and the subsequent stories in the Super Richie title were all drawn by Ernie Colón, until SupeRichie #16 (Sept. 1978), when Ben Brown took over the artist’s duties for the rest of the run. For the most part, each Super Richie issue contained two separate ten-page stories, continuing the same format as established by the previous seven installments. An eighth installment actually appeared after Super Richie’s debut with a story called “Supermom,” in Richie Rich Millions #75 (Jan. 1976), the same month as Super Richie #3. “Supermom” has Richie’s mother, Regina, and Richie’s girlfriend, Gloria Glad, suiting up as substitute superheroes à la Rippy and Crashman. After this brief installment, all further Super Richie stories are featured in the Super Richie title.

SUPER RICHIE ROGUES

Once the Super Richie title debuted, Rippy and Crashman encountered a steady stream of a rogues’ gallery of villains including the Chameleon in Super Richie #1 (Sept. 1975); their own alter egos as crooks in #2 (Nov. 1975); Dr. Snargle and Gooko in #3 (Jan. 1976); and Mr. Jones (the owner of a robot factory; his robots have gone crazy) in #4 (Mar. 1976).

Million Dollar Makeover (left) With issue #5 (Oct. 1976), Super Richie’s title was changed to SupeRichie (go figure), and Rippy and Crashman got new threads. (right) Guys just wanna make puns—or at least Badman does! Issue #6 (Nov. 1976) cover by Ernie Colón. © Classic Media, LLC.

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

BRITMANIA

by 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!

GROOVY also by MARK VOGER

From Woodstock, “The Banana Splits,” and “Sgt. Pepper” to “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Altamont, and “The Partridge Family,” GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated hardcover book, in psychedelic color, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like “The Monkees,” “Laugh-In” and “The Brady Bunch.” Revisit the era’s rock festivals, movies, art, comics and cartoons in this color-saturated pop-culture history! (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9

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Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the father and son producing team, were the driving force that brought Superman to the big screen in 1978 with Superman: The Movie. They were responsible for the first three Christopher Reeve Superman movies and Helen Slater’s lone Supergirl movie. After the box office and critical disappointment of Superman III, they sold the rights to the character to Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus of Cannon Group, Inc. Cannon’s production, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, proved a box office and critical failure. Because of that movie and several other failed projects, by the late 1980s Cannon Group, Inc. was facing bankruptcy, and the Salkinds got the rights back to Superman. In 1988, the Salkinds decided to visit the Superman mythos once again, but this time they aimed for the small screen… and instead of Superman, they decided to tell the adventures of Superboy.

The Adventures of Superboy show starred John Haymes Newton (in Season One) and Gerard Christopher (in Seasons Two through Four) as Superboy/Clark Kent and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang. Superboy was a fun series and faithful to bringing many of Superman/Superboy’s foes, including Metallo, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Bizarro, to life, some for the first time in live-action form. By the time the show ended in 1992, 100 half-hour episodes had been produced. At the time of this writing, all of them can now be streamed on Tubi, for free. And from many accounts, the show is bringing back great memories for original fans and is finding a whole new audience with their children. BACK ISSUE was able to sit down with Christopher and Haiduk to discuss their time on the show. – Dan Johnson Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

interview by D a n

Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: How did you get the role of Superboy? Tell our readers what the audition process was like. GERARD CHRISTOPHER: As far as I remember, I got a call from my agent, and interestingly, I had told her a week or two earlier that I was not interested in continuing doing auditions. But she called me in May of 1989 and she said, “I’ve got this audition and its for a job like Superman.” I immediately said yes because throughout my life people always told me I looked like Superman. So I said, “You know what? Let me go for this thing.” So I went and I read for the casting director, and then she had me read for Ilya Salkind. Unbeknownst to me, on the spot, he said to her, “[He’s] the guy! I want him.” Obviously, he didn’t let me know that. They don’t let you know [they want you] because then you have a bargaining position. If they told you they want you for the job, then your agent can ask for more money. So they tell you they want to bring you back in for a screen test. So they brought me back in for the screen test two weeks later, down in Florida [where Superboy was produced]. So I am down there; and they had me read the same scenes and they had me reading against a guy that was a total shill. I wasn’t judging anybody, but he was a real thin, ultra-skinny guy, and he just didn’t look the role. But they were putting him in makeup, but I don’t know if they actually put him on camera. That’s something Ilya Salkind did to make it look like I had to work for the job. The long of the short of it though, I got the job. JOHNSON: What were your thoughts after you knew you had the role? CHRISTOPHER: It was great. I was super-excited. I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to do the show at the time, but my father set me straight and told me I should do it. These jobs don’t come easily and the business is really tough. He made me understand that and that I should take it. What was the worse that could happen, right? So that was it.

Meet the Boy of Steel Promotional sheet from distributor Viacom promoting The Adventures of Superboy. Our hero is fighting Michael Callan as Metallo in the photo. Scan courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

54 • BACK ISSUE • Super Issue

JOHNSON: At the time the show was produced, very few actors had played this character, either as Superboy or Superman. What were you thinking about filling such big boots? CHRISTOPHER: It was a little bit nerve-wracking because you know it has been done before, and people like Christopher Reeve had done it. George Reeves was the Superman I used to watch when I

Arms Akimbo Gerard Christopher, who became Superboy with Season Two, striking a classic Super-pose in this publicity photo. Courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

was a little kid. You know, people, depending on their generation, are really sold on the Superman of their day, and I knew there were big expectations, and I just wanted to get this right. I didn’t want to mess this up in any way and ruin anybody’s expectation of it. I was also incredibly excited about it because I was always a Superman fan as a kid. All of this was circulating in my head. This is such an iconic character and such a symbol of America, and a symbol of American power in the world, and it was something I wanted to get right. I was just super-excited for the opportunity to do it because I realized there are only a few people in the world who are ever going to get to do this, so this is something that goes down in history. There are lots and lots of television shows where lots of actors are hired, and they do a good job, and the show is on for a couple of years, but then it goes off the air and then it’s gone. [When it’s over,] people don’t really think about it [anymore]. But when you play a character like Superman, it goes on forever. I was very much aware of that and very respectful of that. JOHNSON: One of the magical things about playing a character like Superman is the fact that you are going to become someone’s definition of the character. You are going to be the first actor somebody sees playing him in a movie or on television. CHRISTOPHER: Like I said, it is mostly generational and it depends on who’s young at the time and who’s watching TV. I’m thinking of this one fan that is now in his 30s. His name is Sam and he lives in the Chicago area, and he keeps reminding me that I was the Superman of his day. That’s a big deal because there are millions of people who watched the show. Every week we had four million households watch the show, and it influenced so many of those people. And it goes on in reruns and now it is streaming on the Internet, so you affect people for a long time and that makes it important. JOHNSON: Did you have any concerns when you came into the show since you were taking over for the Superboy from Season One, John Haymes Newton? CHRISTOPHER: The only fear I had was that I might do something he did. Apparently, they didn’t like his acting and what he was doing, so I just wanted to make sure that I just did my thing and did the role my way. And I did it in a way that I thought was the right thing. I never saw an episode with him. I figured if this guy has done it wrong, and he’s done it in a way that is going to get him fired, I really don’t even want that imprint in my head because I want to go in a different direction. I was familiar with Christopher Reeve and George Reeves, and I think I knew the more iconic idea they had for the role, and that’s what I stuck with. JOHNSON: Tell us about working with you co-star, Stacy Haiduk. CHRISTOPHER: Stacy was great. She was really easy to work with and she’s a really wonderful, natural actress. It could have been very different if I had someone who was boring or not fun, but she was fun and she’s beautiful and talented. It was a great time [working with her]. And you know, everyone was great. Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

Mr. Kent Goes to ‘Washington’ With Season Three of The Adventures of Superboy, the series shifted its setting to Capitol City. Christopher (shown here goo-goo-eyed over Lana Lang) and co-star Stacy Haiduk were joined by new cast members Robert Levine and Peter J. Fernandez. Courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

episode called “Wish for Armageddon,” where he intervenes in something that is happening between America and Russia. I put the character into a real-world context because he would get involved with things that were really weighty and important. That’s something I was always pushing for. The problem is, for a show that had such a small budget like we did, we didn’t have the money or production values to do that. But in general, after Tim Burton’s film came out, we all looked at the show differently. I used to tell them, “I’m not crazy about these shots you have in the bright Florida sunshine of me landing and my suit looks like it is on fire with all the light there.” I thought it might be interesting to take that darker position. People started writing other episodes [like mine] and the cinematography got a different look, and I think that is when people really started liking it. That is when it really broke away from the older mode of what had been done previously with Superman and we really broke new ground. JOHNSON: After Superboy ended, you auditioned for the role of Superman on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and as I understand it you had the part until someone learned you had played Superboy. Is that correct? CHRISTOPHER: I had the role and assume it was the head producer who looked at my résumé and saw I had played Superboy, and no one had told him prior to that. When he found out, he blew a gasket and he said, “I want someone who’s never done this before. I want someone relatively new.” And that was that. So they went from giving it to me to taking it from me, like nothing. That’s just the way it is. I should have opened my mouth, but I never said a word. I could have said, “You know, we have four million households watching our show. You’re gonna start 58 • BACK ISSUE • Super Issue

with that and that’s a nice place to start from, and we’re only going to expand from there.” But I never said anything. I think in a different situation I would have said something. Who knows? Maybe they would have listened. JOHNSON: I think it would have made sense. I am sure a lot of viewers would have figured this is the same version of the character from Superboy, but now he is Superman. This is his continuing adventures. CHRISTOPHER: For people who did watch our show, our ending was me coming of age and becoming Superman in the last episode. So, that would have been the perfect way to step into [Lois & Clark], but this producer just didn’t want any connection to the show that came before. And he’s the producer, he can do whatever he wants, right? JOHNSON: One last question. Superman is one of the great fictional characters of all time. He is also one of the best-known characters in the world, with rich mythos. What did you add that you can point to and say, “Superman is who is he today because I played him”? CHRISTOPHER: My contribution was, I built off of what was done before by people like George Reeves and Christopher Reeve. I kept that tradition of Superman going. I didn’t try to reinvent him, but I did try to solidify who he was. I have heard DC Comics is going in different directions. Instead of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way,” it’s now “Truth, Justice, and World Peace,” or something. They are looking at him with a very “woke” view of the world, and I just thought that was all wrong. I say leave it alone. That’s just my personal opinion. If you would like to learn about upcoming convention appearances by Gerard Christopher, as well as all the latest news concerning other cast members of the Superboy series, be sure to check out the website www.superboylegacy.com

interview by

Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: How did you come to play Lana Lang on Superboy? STACY HAIDUK: The audition was in New York. [I read for] Lynn Stalmaster, who was the casting director; Robert Simmonds, who was the producer at the time; and Ilya Salkind. [Ilya’s] dad never left Neulily, so he would videotape the auditions and send them to him. It was at a hotel in New York, and I remember this was just before the 1988 writer’s strike, and they were casting for Lana Lang and Superboy. There were so many actors going up for this role. I didn’t know at the time, but Jennifer Aniston was at this audition, and this was years before Friends. After I read, I got a callback and was asked to wait in the hallway. I waited for a good hour and a half and I was wondering, “What’s going on? Why am I waiting?” I ended up reading with five different guys that were going up for Superboy [that day]. So I just kept reading and reading with each one and I was thinking, “Okay, now what?” About a week after the audition, I got a call to come in and do tests with a couple of Superboys they had in mind. We were going through the tests and I was pretty nervous and excited the whole time. But then nothing happened again. I was going, “What’s going on? I don’t understand this!” A week later, they finally found John Haymes Newton and that’s when they told me, “Oh, you had the role from the very beginning. We just had to find Superboy first before we could say you were cast!” So that was my intro to Superboy. It was very stressful, as all auditions are, especially since this was my first big role and I really wanted it.

Smallville Sweetheart Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, from Season One of Superboy. Viacom promotional still courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

JOHNSON: I can’t imagine landing such a huge role and not knowing the job was yours for that long a time. That must have been nerve-wracking. HAIDUK: It was so nerve-wracking. I was not making any money in New York. I remember I was going to have to look for a new apartment at that point. Everything was so stressful, and I was wondering, “How the heck am I going to do this?” Thank God I got that role! I just kept thinking, “I just want to get out of New York and then I can come back with some money.” But thank God it just worked out perfectly. JOHNSON: You really looked the part. Speaking as a fan of Superman, it was like you had just walked off the pages of a Superboy comic. Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59