Back Issue #144 by TwoMorrows Publishing

COMICS’ BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND! BEYOND ! 023

4 4 1 . o N July 2

$ 10.

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82658 00494 1

in the 1970ss

Turok, Dinosaur Hunter • Annihilus & the Negative Zone • DON GLUT’s Dagar & Tragg • Planet of Vampires • SIMONSON & MIGNOLA’s Wolverine & more

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The saga of Saturday morning’s Super Friends, Part One! Plus: A history of MR. T, TV’s AVENGERS (Steed and Mrs. Peel), Daktari’s CHERYL MILLER, Mexican movie monsters, John and Yoko’s nation of Nutopia, ELIZABETH SHEPHERD (the actress who almost played Emma Peel), and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER, & MICHAEL EURY.

The BRITISH INVASION of the Sixties, interview with Bond Girl TRINA PARKS, The Mighty Hercules, Horror Hostess MOONA LISA, World’s Greatest Super Friends, TV Guide Fall Previews, the Frito Bandito, a Popeye Super Collector, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The story behind BOB CLAMPETT’s Beany & Cecil, western queen DALE EVANS, an interview with Mr. Ed’s ALAN YOUNG, Miami Vice, The Sixties’ Wackiest Robots, Muscle-Maker CHARLES ATLAS, Super Powers Team—Galactic Guardians, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The Brady Bunch’s FLORENCE HENDERSON, the UNKNOWN COMIC revealed, Hanna-Barbera’s Top Cat, a Barbie history, RANKIN/BASS’ Frosty the Snowman, Dell Comics’ Monster SuperHeroes, Slushy Drinks, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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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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An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons of 1966, H. R. Pufnstuf, Leave It to Beaver’s SUE “Miss Landers” RANDALL, WOLFMAN JACK, drive-in theaters, My Weekly Reader, DAVID MANDEL’s super collection of comic book art, and more!

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 144 July 2023 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST John Buscema (Originally produced as the cover for Ka-Zar #1, Jan. 1974. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Mike Mignola Mike Baron Pat Mills Pat Broderick Doug Moench Paul Burns Rags Morales Jarrod Buttery Fabian Nicieza Gerry Conway Luigi Novi Tom DeFalco Jeremy Radisich Bill DeSimone Random House Ron Frenz Jason Shayer Mike Friedrich Walter Simonson Donald F. Glut Howard Simpson Mike Grell Bryan D. Stroud Larry Hama Heritage Auctions Roy Thomas Douglas R. Kelly Timothy Truman Dave Lemieux Ed Lute Marvel Comics Val Mayerik David Michelinie

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: Ka-Zar in the 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Lord of the Hidden Jungle swings from guest-star to solo status BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Annihilus and the Negative Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 The story of “He Who Annihilates” and his hellish realm BEYOND CAPES: Gold Key Comics’ Dagar and Tragg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Dare you enter the savage worlds of writer Don Glut? ROUGH STUFF: Pencil Art Gallery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 FLASHBACK: Planet of Vampires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Earth is overrun with bloodsuckers in this short-lived mid-1970s Atlas Comics series BEYOND CAPES: 2000AD’s Flesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Cowboys vs. dinosaurs in Pat Mills’ grisly sci-fi comic serial ONE-HIT WONDERS: Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola’s 1989 one-shot sends Logan to the Savage Land BACKSTAGE PASS: The Return of Turok, Dinosaur Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Creators discuss the 1993 Valiant revival of the classic Gold Key comic BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 BACK ISSUE™ issue 144, July 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) 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: 97 Economy US, $147 International, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover artwork by John Buscema. Ka-Zar and Zabu TM & © Marvel. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

Eury

1976 Ka-Zar illo by Ernie Chan. Courtesy of Heritage. Ka-Zar TM & © Marvel.

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This issue’s “Savage Worlds” theme is an offshoot of a recent issue’s theme, “Dinosaurs” (BACK ISSUE #140). When ye ed first considered content for BI #140, dino-fighters Ka-Zar and Turok made the initial list. After surveying just how many other dinosaur comics were published during the Bronze Age, I pulled the Lord of the Hidden Jungle and the Dinosaur Hunter from #140’s overcrowded roster for a future issue… which you now hold in your hands (or are reading on your device). It was the “Return to the Savage Land!” lettered blurb on John Buscema’s original art to Marvel’s Ka-Zar #1—which we’ve repurposed as this issue’s BI cover— that inspired the contents’ “Savage Worlds” designation. Then the other material fell right into place! Finally, the perfect theme had availed itself for three Bronze Age series we had yet to cover: Atlas/ Seaboard’s Planet of Vampires (not to be confused with the cheesy horror flick Planet of the Vampires) and writer Don Glut’s Gold Key Comics sword-and-sorcery titles, Dagar the Invincible and Tragg and the Sky Gods. Paul Burns, a first-time BI writer this issue, emailed me to pitch his article about 2000AD’s Flesh for the aforementioned Dinosaurs issue after it had been announced; space wouldn’t allow its inclusion there, but the feature was instead held for this issue. Writer Bill DeSimone pitched his Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure article after this issue’s theme had been announced to our pool of contributing writers. And our article about the most unpleasant of savage lands, the Negative Zone? That came to mind after I recently read a couple of volumes of the Fantastic Four Omnibus. Jason Shayer, who hasn’t contributed to our mag in a while, ably navigated that negative terrain for an informative history of its chief troublemaker, Annihilus. Who says this isn’t the BI Age of Editorial True Confessions??

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Mighty Marvel Monarchs The Lord of the Hidden Jungle and the Lord of Latveria each headlined solo adventures in the split book Astonishing Tales #1 (Aug. 1970). Cover art by Marie Severin and Bill Everett. TM & © Marvel.

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

Before examining Ka-Zar in the 1970s, it’s polite to acknowledge earlier years.

KA-ZAR THE GREAT (1930s)

Ka-Zar the Great (left) First issue of the short-lived Ka-Zar pulp magazine from 1936. Cover painting by J. W. Scott. (right) Marvel adapted the pulp hero to comic books in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939). Adaptation by Ben Thompson. TM & © Marvel.

It’s well known that the Human Torch and the SubMariner burst onto the scene in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), but that 64-page issue also contained stories featuring the Angel, the Masked Raider, and Ka-Zar the Great. This Ka-Zar is not the same character that appears in modern Marvel comics. “Ka-Zar the Great” is said to have been created by Bob Byrd in 1936 and originally appeared in three issues of an eponymous pulp magazine. Interestingly, in his introduction to the Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus vol. 1 (2009), comics historian and Squirrel Girl co-creator Will Murray wrote of Ka-Zar the Great: “The jungle hero was the first star in the future Marvel firmament, and his adventures were avidly read by a teenager named Stanley Martin Lieber—later to call himself Stan Lee. No one knows who the nominal author of Ka-Zar really was. The only other Red Circle story bylined Bob Byrd was the work of Thomson Burtis. Launched with an October cover date to coincide with the release of MGM’s Tarzan Escapes, the title lasted only three issues. But Ka-Zar would live again.” These “Ka-Zar the Great” prose tales were adapted by Ben Thompson into comic form for Marvel Comics #1. Young David Rand (three years old) is flying with his parents over the Belgian Congo when their plane crashes. Unafraid of the jungle or its inhabitants, David grows of age—cautiously watched by the lion,

4 • BACK ISSUE • Savage Lands Issue

Zar. David saves Zar from quicksand and “a strange pact of truce was made.” After his mother dies of a fever and his father is shot by emerald poachers, David—now a young man—is “adopted” by the lion as Ka-Zar: brother of Zar the Mighty! Ka-Zar the Great appeared in almost every subsequent issue, up until Marvel Mystery Comics #27 (Jan. 1942).

THE COMING OF KA-ZAR (1960s)

Never before in the history of comic books had a character name been recycled. Nope, never, not once. But Ka-Zar (“pronounced Kay-Sar,” as the splash page tells us) erupted into the Marvel Universe in Uncanny X-Men #10 (Mar. 1965). It’s important to note that while he is not formally addressed as “the Great,” this Ka-Zar is still pretty awesome. There are many factors involved in a character’s awesomeness, but it can be argued that our new Ka-Zar benefited from two particular ingredients and two definite creators. Uncanny X-Men #10 was produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. ’Nuff said. The cover boasted: “Ka-Zar! Unquestionably the most spectacular new character of the year!” Within, the X-Men travel to Antarctica and discover a hidden tunnel beneath the ice. Descending, they stumble upon “a warm, tropical land, buried far beneath the frozen wastes of Antarctica.” This hidden world is populated by prehistoric flora and fauna: dinosaurs roam alongside early birds, mammals, and primitive warriors. The X-Men are summarily attacked by the Swamp Men—who then

The (Vine-) Swinging ’60s (top) After being rebooted for the Marvel Age in X-Men #10 (Mar. 1965), Ka-Zar leapt into these and other Marvel issues. TM & © Marvel.

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

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

CHARLTON COMPANION

TEAM-UP COMPANION OUR ARTISTS AT WAR AMERICAN TV COMICS (1940s-1980s)

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

JON B. COOKE’s all-new history of the notorious all-in-one comics company, from the 1940s to the ’70s, with GIORDANO, DITKO, STATON, BYRNE and more!

MICHAEL EURY examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes!

Examines US War comics from EC, DC COMICS, WARREN PUBLISHING, CHARLTON, and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!

History of over 300 TV shows and 2000+ comic book adaptations, from well-known series (STAR TREK, PARTRIDGE FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS) to lesser-known shows.

GLEN CADIGAN’s bio of the artist who redesigned the Legion of Super-Heroes and introduced X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Logan!

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REED CRANDALL

Illustrator of the Comics

MIKE GRELL

LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER

JOHN SEVERIN

HERO-A-GO-GO!

Documents the life and career of the master Golden Age artist of Captain Marvel Jr. and other classic characters! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-090-8

History of Crandall’s life and career, from Golden Age Quality Comics, to Warren war and horror, Flash Gordon, and beyond!

Career-spanning tribute to the Legion of Super-Heroes & Warlord comics art legend!

Biography of the EC, MARVEL and MAD mainstay, co-creator of American Eagle, and 40+ year CRACKED magazine contributor.

Looks at comics' 1960s CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, and TV's Batman shook a mean cape!

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AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES

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by J a

son Shayer

Feared across the Negative Zone, the tyrannical insectoid known as Annihilus wields the power of the Cosmic Control Rod to rule supreme. Aptly named by his prey as “He Who Annihilates,” Annihilus was created in the late 1960s and has regularly been used as an extradimensional threat and mastermind villain, leveraging minions on Earth to do his bidding. What was there to this antagonist that had writers still using him after over 50 years? Let’s delve into Annihilus’ history and uncover what made him more than your run-of-the-mill bad guy.

THE LIVING DEATH THAT WALKS!

Let There Be—Annihilus! Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968) featured the first appearance of our spotlighted supervillain… and Franklin Richards, too! Cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. TM & © Marvel.

Annihilus stepped onto the stage in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #6 (Aug. 1968). Our first glimpse of him was on the cover: a striking metallic, insect-like figure menacing the Fantastic Four. His colors were a uniform green, except for his glaring, ruby-red eyes. That dull color scheme was replaced within the issue with an imposing armor of purples and pinks and greens. His impressive figure was framed by scalloped wings, but it was the bright yellow Cosmic Control Rod on his chest that really drew your eye. Annihilus’ debut scene was one of destruction and warfare, but also hinted at something more to his motivation with his declaration: “Woe to him who comes my way! For, only by destroying life… can Annihilus be forever reborn!” This statement echoed back to Stan Lee’s clever subtitle to the issue, “The Glory of Birth, ’neath the Shadow of Death,” and highlighted the story’s two themes: Susan Richards giving birth and the Fantastic Four confronting an alien threat that symbolized death. Reed, Ben, and Johnny traveled into the Negative Zone in search of a cosmic-energy source that would save Susan and her unborn child, Franklin. This energy source turned out to be Annihilus’ prized possession, the Cosmic Control Rod. In his monologue, we get more insight into his phobia: “Only by crushing all who live, can I be certain that none will ever threaten my greatest treasure! The treasure whose cosmic power has ever granted me the priceless gift of… immortality!” Annihilus wasn’t your typical power-driven comic-book menace. He hadn’t conquered for power or greed, but rather to placate his fear of death, or, as the mental disorder is clinically referred to, thanatophobia. “For, only in the elimination of other life can Annihilus find his immortality.” This thanatophobia fed Annihilus’ paranoia, irrationally convincing him that everything that lived wanted his Cosmic Control Rod, the source of his immortality, and therefore everything alive was a threat. Annihilus underestimated his new foes and the Fantastic Four took the Cosmic Control Rod. He decried the theft: “They have stolen my most priceless possession! Without it, immortality can never be mine! Without it… I die… like any lesser being!” The theft of the Cosmic Control Rod fed his phobia and revealed the root of Annihilus’ psychological disorder. He didn’t want to be a “lesser being” again, one who could die. Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23

FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SOUP

Annihilus continued to plague anyone who would dare cross over into his realm. Rick Jones, who was a regular visitor to the Negative Zone thanks to the Nega-Bands swapping him places with Captain Mar-vell, often faced Annihilus’ wrath. Avengers #97’s (Mar. 1972) splash page by John Buscema and Tom Palmer stands as one of the most iconic Annihilus images ever produced. Years later (or months later due to the Negative Zone time dilation), in Fantastic Four #140–141 (Nov.–Dec. 1973), by writer Gerry Conway and artist John Buscema, Annihilus sought revenge for his humiliating defeat. He stormed through the Negative Zone portal to Earth and overwhelmed his hated foes, the Fantastic Four. In the aftermath of his short-lived victory, Annihilus revealed his origin story. Scribe Conway leveraged that underlying thanatophobia to build a backstory for this troubled villain. A thousand years ago, in the early formation of a planet at the core of the Negative Zone, a meager arthropod, who we would come to know as Annihilus, emerged from the primordial soup of creation. His early experiences with predators traumatized him and seeded his deep fear of death. Seeking refuge, he discovered the wreckage of an alien ship and learned the story of his creators, a group of stranded travelers from an advanced planet called Tyanna. When these space travelers realized there was no rescue coming, as their last act they released a spore that seeded this world with life. These bio-engineered spores were the building blocks from which Annihilus was born. It’s an interesting twist that these beneficent beings inadvertently created Annihilus, who would become one of the universe’s biggest threats. Using the advanced Tyannian technology, Annihilus created the Cosmic Control Rod. He initially did this to defend against those predators, but then took it further, becoming a predator himself. With the might of these cosmic energies, Annihilus took over his home world and spread his dominion across the Negative Zone.

ANNIHILATE AND BYRNE

The Negative Zone isn’t a very hospitable place, and it wasn’t long before Annihilus encountered a being as powerful as he was, the warlord Blastaar. (For more on Blastaar, see the sidebar feature.) In Marvel Two-in-One #75 (May 1981), Blastaar allied himself with Annihilus. Of course, both villains had their own agendas. “Blastaar was a warrior who was focused on conquering his world and winning his true love,” issue #75’s writer Tom DeFalco explains. “Annihilus was determined to rule the entire Negative Zone and all its inhabitants. They viewed each other as a necessary evil need to accomplish their individual goals.” Blastaar struck first and outplayed Annihilus, which cost him his precious Cosmic Control Rod. After this stinging defeat, a desperate Annihilus turned his attention back to the Earth. While the FF breached the Negative Zone for the purposes of exploration, Annihilus tapped into that intrusion and forced his way over into their universe. Feeling the devastating effects of not having the Cosmic Control Rod, Annihilus tom defalco had gone insane. Without those energies, Annihilus created an exoskeleton that mim- Hildy DeFalco. icked his original insect form and kept him alive. His withered form and aged features solidified his fears of death and drove him mad. His warped reasoning had him believing that if he was going

Count on Him to Make a Splash From the Heritage archives, original artwork to splash pages featuring the menace of Annihilus! (top) From Avengers #97 (Mar. 1972), written by Roy Thomas and illo’ed by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. (bottom) Writer Gerry Conway resurrected the Negative Zoner in Fantastic Four #140 (Nov. 1973). Art by Big John B. and Joe Sinnott. TM & © Marvel.

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Foes and Fiends (left) Annihilus drives the FF buggy in Fantastic Four #140 (Nov. 1973). Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia. (right) All hell breaks loose in the Negative Zone in Marvel Two-in-One #75 (May 1981). Cover by Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott. TM & © Marvel.

to die, he wanted to take the whole universe with him. In Fantastic Four #251–256 (Feb.–July 1983), Annihilus took over the Baxter Building and used Reed Richards’ technology to create an energy field he hoped to expand to destroy both universes in a desperate, suicidal attack. “My goal really was to shock and offend everybody,” John Byrne told Tom DeFalco in Comics Creators on the Fantastic Four (2005). “I always thought of Annihilus as a total, irredeemable son of a b*tch. He makes Dr. Doom look like Willy Lumpkin.” Byrne did not hold back in this storyline as Annihilus roughly captured both the Thing’s girlfriend Alicia and young Franklin and tortured them, displaying the rogue’s darker nature. With some help from Captain Marvel of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four returned from the Negative Zone and disrupted Annihilus’ deadly plot. The quick wrap-up of this storyline to sync up with the return of the Fantastic Four felt like it robbed Annihilus of what he had achieved up until that point. The buildup of this plot, which had been spread across a handful of issues sharing space with the Fantastic Four’s exploration of the Negative Zone, had set him up as a much more serious threat than we had previously seen. Having him dispatched so easily felt anticlimactic, including his apparent death as he was thrown back into the Negative Zone. A few years later in Fantastic Four #289–290 (Apr.–May 1986), Byrne followed up on this storyline and retconned Annihilus’ death. Annihilus’ woes continued as Blastaar still held the upper hand in their rivalry. Blastaar, who occasionally proved to be rather clever, leveraged the recent destruction of the Baxter Building in orbit around the Earth and created a portal he hoped to use to get his Baluuran fleet into this universe. As a trophy, Blastaar brought along a frail and weak Annihilus, who he enjoyed taunting. The Fantastic Four foiled Blastaar’s plot and inadvertently gave Annihilus back his precious Cosmic Control Rod.

GOD-LIKE POWER!

Annihilus next sprung up as a surprise villain in the pages of The Mighty Thor (#404–405, June–July 1989), stalking the streets of the gleaming city of Asgard that had drifted across the cosmos into the Negative Zone. He grew his power, absorbing the gods’ life forces, adding it to the power of the Cosmic Control Rod.

“Asgard was in the Negative Zone, and we couldn’t see wasting the opportunity for one great Kirby character to meet another,” Thor artist Ron Frenz explains. “We were playing off of Annihilus’ last defeat and saw him in a position of having to rebuild his strength. By having him feed on Asgardians we were able to lean into an alien mystery/horror thing that was a bit different for both characters. We endeavored to keep his motives consistent—irrational paranoia and self-preservation.” Annihilus reinforced his core motivation: “Fear is the essence of my existence! It is the force which drives my every thought and deed.” As he gained more power, Annihilus set his sights on Odin the All-Father and his god-like powers. Odin defeated him and expelled Annihilus from the Golden Realm, but not before providing a different perspective into this villain’s existence: “Truly, art thou a foul, soulless thing of evil! To preserve thine own precious existence, thou wouldst deny others theirs! Thou wouldst kill and destroy… to perpetuate thine own unending cycle of evil! Such is thy destiny! Thy sole purpose in the grand design!” Odin spared Annihilus, believing that the villain had a destiny to fulfill as an ongoing force for evil and death.

ANNIHILUSES OR ANNIHILI?

“I personally think Annihilus might be a colony creature. You can read Conway’s origin that way if you squint,” Ron Frenz tells BACK ISSUE. “I even made a visual nod toward that when Annihilus reappeared during Eric Masterson’s time as Thor.” On page 21 of Thor #435 (Aug. 1991), after Annihilus’ defeat, the last panel showed us a shattered Annihilus helmet and a small insect crawling about. The Annihilation Nova Corps Files (Aug. 2006) corroborated this vision of Annihilus: “Some accounts imply that there may be more than one clonal entity (Annihili) currently making up the organism we know as Annihilus.” Along the same lines, that theory of a collective was also seen in Captain Marvel #37 (Mar. 1975), where Rick Jones had a run-in with Annihilus and defeated him in dramatic fashion, shattering him into dozens of little Annihiluses. “Well, I knew he was an insect!” Rick explained. “It makes sense he’d be some sorta collective intelligence, like a plague’a locusts.” Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

by E d

donald f. glut donglutdinosaurs.com.

Comics’ Other Invincible Hero Looks like Marvel’s Iron Man isn’t the only comic hero tough enough to bear the “invincible” moniker. Original cover art painting by George Wilson for Tales of Sword and Sorcery – Dagar the Invincible (henceforth Dagar) #1 (Oct. 1972). From the archives of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). © Random House.

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Lute

Writer Donald F. Glut (along with artists Jesse Santos and Dan Spiegle) created some of the best stories published under the Gold Key/Whitman imprints from Western Publishing. While Glut wrote for a variety of genres, this article will focus on his savage stories featuring sword-and-sorcery and prehistoric heroes. So come along, dear readers, as BACK ISSUE takes a trip into the savage worlds of Don Glut. First, we will visit the barbaric world of Dagar the Invincible. Then we will brave the prehistoric lands of Tragg, Lorn, and the Sky Gods. Along the way, we are also going to see some fun crossovers that you probably haven’t heard of.

‘TALES OF SWORD AND SORCERY – DAGAR THE INVINCIBLE’

When Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian #1 (Oct. 1970) hit newsstands, it was a breath of fresh air. After a slow start, it became a hit, and many imitators quickly sprung up in the hopes of cashing in on this new sword-and-sorcery trend in comic books. Gold Key Comics was one of the companies that wanted in. Unlike some of the pale facsimiles from other publishers, Gold Key’s Tales of Sword and Sorcery – Dagar the Invincible (henceforth Dagar the Invincible or simply Dagar) by writer Don Glut and artist Jesse Santos offered readers a title that stood out from the pack. (See BACK ISSUE #121 for more on Conan the Barbarian and its laundry list of copycats.) Dagar—and his world, populated by sea serpents, demons, evil sorcerers, and vampires—was introduced in the pages of Mystery Comics Digest before moving into to his own title. Dagar is pronounced “Day-gar: according to Glut, although he initially envisioned it as being pronounced as “dagger” (one of the hero’s weapons of choice). Many times, when writers or artists create a new comic book, they are fans of the new series’ genre, as writer Roy Thomas was when he first pitched the idea

of Conan to Marvel’s Stan Lee. This wasn’t the case when Glut proposed Dagar to Gold Key. “No, [I wasn’t a fan then] and I’m still not,” Glut discloses to BACK ISSUE. “To me, almost all sword-and-sorcery stories are the same, same format, same characters though with different names, same plots, etc. But ‘sword and sorcery’ was a popular genre at the time, so I thought I’d come up with my own character. At the time, my Gold Key editors had never heard of sword and sorcery, so this ‘new’ concept appealed to them.” In Dagar the Invincible #1 (Oct. 1972), Dagar’s family and the entire population of the Tulganian people were killed under the orders of the mysterious Scorpio. Dagar’s grandfather Ando was the only other survivor of the massacre. Before dying, he taught his grandson the skills necessary to defeat Scorpio and avenge his people. Dagar vowed to kill Scorpio and become a sword-for-hire to fund his quest. Dagar encountered many obstacles during his search for Scorpio, including the sorcerer Ostellon and his skeleton army that had kidnapped the beautiful Arranna to make her his bride; Lora-Lei and her brother, Lupof the werewolf; and a visit with King Desmos in the city of vampires. These encounters were all tied to Scorpio; some of the villains were his minions, while others were people who, like Dagar, hated Scorpio for the horrors that he had caused them. Initially, Dagar traveled alone and only met one-off characters that wouldn’t reappear again during the series’ run. That changed with issue #3 (Apr. 1973), as his love interest Graylin was introduced.

Back, You Horny Devil, Back! (left) Another George Wilson stunner: the cover to Dagar #2 (Jan. 1973), with Gold Key’s resident sword-wielder rallying to the aid of lovely Lora-Lei. (right) Original Jesse Santos art to the splash page of Dagar #6 (Jan. 1974). Dagar’s lady friend du jour is Graylin. Courtesy of Heritage. © Random House.

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

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by D o u g l a s

R. Kelly

Astronauts returning home to a radically changed Earth wasn’t a new idea in 1974. Movies like World Without End and Planet of the Apes had started exploring the theme as far back as 1956. The decision makers at Atlas (Seaboard) Comics undoubtedly were familiar with this kind of film as they brainstormed ideas for their new comic-book series, and one decision maker— editor-in-chief Jeff Rovin—was interested in adapting Richard Matheson’s bestselling novel, I Am Legend, which had been published in 1954. The story had been adapted for the big screen in 1964 with the Vincent Price film The Last Man on Earth, but Rovin had his eye on a more recent version of the Matheson story. In 1971, Warner Bros. released The Omega Man, which starred Charlton Heston as Colonel Robert Neville, an army doctor who is the only survivor of a biological war between the Soviet Union and China that produced a plague that has wiped out the human race, with the exception of a small band of albino mutants. When he’s not fighting off the mutants in his fortress-like penthouse apartment, Neville works to develop a serum for the plague. The film departs from Matheson’s story in at least one key aspect: all of the people in I Am Legend, except the Neville character, have been turned into vampires, and they’re after Neville’s blood. The Omega Man has no vampires, but the albino mutants are overly sensitive to light (as vampires are sometimes said to be), and they wear hooded robes that make them look like medieval monks. Even accounting for the movie being made in a different era, it’s a clumsily handled treatment of the story, with continuity mistakes and a laughably inappropriate musical score. One of its few positives is the way it shows a devastated and deserted downtown Los Angeles, which was filmed early on a Sunday morning before the city really began to wake up. Even then, there is the occasional pedestrian and moving car visible in the backgrounds of some scenes. Still, Jeff Rovin wanted a crack at the story. In the December 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist, interviewer Jon B. Cooke asked him about the connection of the novel and the movie to what would become Planet of Vampires. Rovin replied, “We had tried to get jeff rovin the rights to I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson but we couldn’t.” Cooke asked if Planet of Vampires would have been an adaptation of The Omega Man, and Rovin said, “It probably would’ve been closer to The Omega Man. I think the main thing was who we would end up getting the rights from, whether it would’ve been

They Are Legend Action aplenty: Pat Broderick and Neal Adams’ terrific cover to Planet of Vampires #1 (Feb. 1975) gets right into it, with the Aries VII crew opening up on the bloodsuckers. Unless otherwise noted, art scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Doug Kelly. © SP Media Group.

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

Out for Blood (top) The crew of the Aries VII heads home at the beginning of issue #1. (bottom left) Galland and company stumble on the mechanized blood extraction lab in the dome. (right) Craig tells the Proctor just what he thinks of the Proctor’s rationale for murdering the so-called “savages” who live outside of the dome. All, from Planet of Vampires #1, by Larry Hama, Pat Broderick, and Frank McLaughlin. © SP Media Group.

Matheson or whether it would’ve been Warner [Bros.], who we were talking to. If it had been Warner, clearly The Omega Man was the better-known title at the time. So, we probably would’ve gone with that.” At the time, both DC and Marvel were putting out horror books that were selling in respectable numbers— titles like Tomb of Dracula and House of Secrets being staples on the comic racks. Having failed to obtain the rights to I Am Legend and The Omega Man, Rovin and company decided to create a science fiction/horror mashup that resulted in three highly entertaining—if somewhat bizarre—issues of a book they called Planet of Vampires.

A WORLD GONE MAD!

Planet of Vampires #1 (Feb. 1975) featured a cover penciled by Pat Broderick and inked by Neal Adams. Broderick also did the interior pencils, which were inked by Frank McLaughlin. “I was up in the Atlas offices and Jeff Rovin offered me the job, and I gratefully accepted,” says Broderick. “It was the first work I did for Atlas… I also then penciled a ‘Dark Avenger’ backup story [written by John Albano, in Phoenix #3, June 1975] and one or two war comics for them.” Being asked to draw stories about astronauts mixing it up with vampires apparently didn’t faze Broderick. “I was extremely excited about it. It was my first chance at drawing a full-length comic. It was more excitement than

pat broderick

46 • BACK ISSUE • Savage Lands Issue

Big Drac Attack! Issue #2’s cover depicted Elissa being menaced by… Dracula, apparently—who didn’t actually appear in any of the three issues. Original cover art signed by its illustrators, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, and courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). © SP Media Group.

Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 47

“Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? Find out in… Flesh.” This was the opening line of creator Pat Mills’ new comic strip, Flesh, serialized in the British science-fiction weekly, 2000AD [a.k.a. 2000 AD and 2000 A.D.—ed.]. Mills, often cited as “the godfather of British comics,” was behind the creation of several seminal children’s adventure comics of the 1970s, including the war title Battle Picture Weekly, and Action. Action continued Battle’s uncompromising violence, adding in a large dose of anti-authoritarianism, and featured among its strips the saga of a bloodthirsty shark: Hook Jaw, who had a giant harpoon stuck through its jaw. This began Mills’ trope of beasts disfigured by humans, seeking revenge. The graphic gore of the strip contributed to Action being pulled from newsagents’ shelves in 1976. Hook Jaw combined environmental issues with the savagery of nature, themes Mills carried over into Flesh. Despite Action’s cancellation, Mills was determined the controversial violence abhorred by the establishment would continue unabated to thrill readers in his new title. Mills took inspiration from the 1969 film The Valley of Gwangi in creating Flesh. The American fantasy-Western, produced by Charles Sheer and Ray Harryhausen, had the tagline: “Cowboys battle monsters in the lost world of forbidden valley.” As Mills wrote in the introduction to The Dino Files, the Flesh collected edition: “Flesh—on one level at least—is a cowboy story with dinosaurs taking the role of the Indians.” Asked why he chose futuristic cowboys as the human characters in Flesh, Mills tells BACK ISSUE: “They had to have a visual theme, and cowboys fit well. In fact, I can’t think— even now—of an alternative.” The cowboy uniforms and the technology depicted in Flesh drew heavily from the 1973 film Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton, that starred Yul Brynner as an android in a futuristic Westernthemed amusement park. The 1993 film Jurassic Park, based on Crichton’s 1989 novel, depicted dinosaurs on the loose, with the humans, on the whole, surviving, a trait not shared pat mills in Mills’ story, as he stated in The Lisa Mills. Dino Files: “We admire raw nature, but it’s made absolutely clear that man will always triumph over it. But not in Flesh—here the dinosaurs ultimately win.”

Cowboy Cuisine From Flesh’s premiere in 2000AD Prog 1 (#1), released February 26, 1977. Story by Pat Mills, art by Joan Boix and Rubén Pellejero. All scans accompanying this article are courtesy of Paul Burns. © 2023 Rebellion.

52 • BACK ISSUE • Savage Lands Issue

by P a u l

Burns

What’s for Lunch, Toothy? (top) Flesh makes a cover appearance in 2000AD Prog 3 (#3), released March 12, 1977. Cover art by Ramon Solá. (bottom) A big spider problem on the Flesh cover for 2000AD Prog 14 (May 28, 1977). Cover art by Barrie Mitchell. © 2023 Rebellion.

Spanish artist Joan Boix co-created Flesh, and provided early visuals for the strip. “We had very little interaction,” Pat Mills tells BACK ISSUE, “but Boix did a very good professional job.” Another unsung and often uncredited name in the creation of Flesh was art editor Doug Church. “Doug, my art supremo, was a huge visual influence on Flesh, laying out the early pages of the episodes,” cites Mills. Church provided layouts for the first eight chapters, with art finished by Boix and, later, Ramon Solá. “He made monsters come alive!” says Mills of Solá. “Decades later, I tried to bring him back without great success (2000AD #1526, 2007). Primarily because super creative artists like Ramon need time spent on them, something that the comic machine does not really allow for.” Published in February 1977, Book 1 of Flesh ran from issues— or “progs,” as editor “Tharg the Mighty” [Kelvin Gosnell] called them—#1 to 19 of 2000AD, with Mills writing the first and concluding chapters. In between, several writers contributed to the strip, including Ken Armstrong, Studio Giolitti, and Kelvin Gosnell. Meat is scarce in the 23rd Century, so the Trans-Time Corporation sends rangers back to the age of dinosaurs to herd them into robotic machines called Fleshdozers, then transport their meat to the future. The head of the rangers, Earl Reagan, is introduced in 2000AD Prog 1. Artists Boix and Solá drew heavily from pop culture for the visuals of the human characters in Flesh. Reagan was somewhere between John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, while the villainous Claw Carver, introduced in 2000AD Prog 3, was based on Lee Marvin. Carver was the owner of a trading post called Carver City, and was named Claw because he had his hand bitten off by a dinosaur (as revealed fully in 2000AD #1526, 2007). He became the archenemy of Reagan. Mills remembers working with writer and co-founder of 2000AD, Kelvin Gosnell. “Kelvin came up with Claw Carver, and the Carver City sequence was a fusion of Kelvin and probably [illustrator] Kevin O’Neill and I jamming in the office.” Mills refused to tone down the blood and gore for Flesh. “I knew it had to be done. There was some reaction against the cruelty of the Fleshdozer by the IPC board of directors. But I could always-— rightly—plead it was science fiction.” The human chomping carnage was brought into focus in 2000AD Prog 2 with the debut of 120-year-old “MHag Tyrannosaur,” Old One Eye. The creature gained her name after Reagan stabbed the beast in the eye, thus setting up the enmity between the two that would last until the end of the first book. Along the way, Reagan and Carver faced several species of dinosaur, along with giant spiders and even furry Tyrannosaurs. Mills was influenced by Bob Bakker, an American paleontologist who was at the forefront of the 1960s’ “dinosaur renaissance” [“Bakker was a proponent of the theory that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, smart, and adaptable”]. As Mills states: “Towards the end of Flesh I may have become aware of the work of Bakker—hence hairy dinosaurs.” The climax of Book 1 of Flesh has a dinosaur army, led by Old One Eye, attacking Trans-Time base 3. This was dinosaur finally triumphing over man and exacting revenge: “‘Old One Eye’ preferred humans. It was like Christmas Day... like a child with too many Christmas presents—she didn’t know which human to start on first.” The surviving humans escape into time shuttles, transported back to the 23rd Century. A genetic code blending in the time stream resulted in a short-lived dinosaur with three human heads emerging at the future time-port. Carver was lost in time, whilst Reagan was arrested for his part in the Trans-Time catastrophe. Meanwhile, in the past, after she led the dinosaur massacre of the humans’ base, Old One Eye succumbed to old age and died of heart failure. As Mills explained in the Dino Files: Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

Grisly, But Fashionable (top) The Rebellion collected edition Flesh: The Legend of Shamana Book 1, reprinting 1992 Flesh installments from 2000AD #800–808. Written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, with art by Carl Critchlow. (bottom) A dino in a dress! Flesh’s dark humor on display, from 2000AD Prog 806 (reprinted in Shamana Book 1). © 2023 Rebellion.

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having his central characters framed against dramatic vistas, as opposed to Sergio Leone’s preference of closeups. Set after the events in Flesh Book 1, Texas introduced Gorehead, a time-irradiated Tyrannosaur with a blood-encrusted head resulting from sheltering inside a dinosaur he had half eaten to protect himself from the Base 3 radiation blast. The dinosaur’s blood was permanently fused to Gorehead’s head, which was then branded with “666” (the symbol of Trans-Time base 6) seared into him three times by a cowboy. “Gorehead I think had a lot of work go into him,” Mills tells BACK ISSUE. “I agree that he’s now the top monster (of the trio completed by Old One Eye and Satanus), but I think the readers are locked into the monsters of their boyhoods, so he hasn’t registered to the same degree.” Texas also introduced Claw Carver’s eco-warrior daughter, Vegas, and establishes an empathic bond between her and Gorehead. We also meet evil religious fanatic Pastor Sunday: “Very much inspired by Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter,” says Mills, referencing the 1955 Charles Laughton-directed thriller about a corrupt minister-turned-serial killer. Midnight Cowboys (2000AD #1774–1785, 2012) continued the saga of Vegas, Sunday, and Gorehead and introduced the titular Cowboys, who were radiationaltered Base 3 survivors. Now dubbed Reptoids, they included Jericho Jake, Randy Komodo, Viper, and Tarnation Tarmac McAdams. Vegas joined these cowboys in an attempt to transport Gorehead to future New York to stop Trans-Time farming the dinosaurs for their meat. This story brought back Earl Reagan and pulled Claw Carver out of time before his death in Flesh Book 2. Mills decided to bring them back: “To connect with that nostalgia audience. I don’t think readers emotionally engaged with these later stories as they did with Flesh of their childhood.” Badlanders (2000AD #1850–1861, 2013) saw Vegas transport Gorehead to Seabed City, where presidential candidates, chosen by Trans-Time and other corporations, auditioned for the presidency. Gorehead made a meal (literally) of the candidates, sparing new President General Butler, a member of Vegas’ Angry Planet eco group. Mills wanted to shine a light on American politics: “There’s always been some political context,” he explains. “And I wanted to show how an ecology president might triumph, but to do so he would need to subvert the system. Hence the presidential auditions.” Sadly, Mills’ last installment in the Flesh saga, Gorehead (2000AD 2001–2010, 2016), with incredible digitally painted art by Clint Langley, remains unfinished, with the final confrontation between Reagan and Gorehead unresolved. The final book of Flesh has yet to be written or commissioned. “There’s still one volume to go,” says Mills. “It ties up all the different elements.” Until then, fans of morally ambiguous humans versus savage iconic dinosaurs, wrapped in a decades long political ecological saga, have plenty of material to sink their teeth into. PAUL BURNS is a writer from the UK. He has had several Doctor Who stories published, including his recent story, The New Doctor, as part of Pencil Tip’s Temporal Logbook III. A lifelong comics reader, he is proud and excited to have written about one of his favorite strips from the 1970s in his absolute favorite magazine, bringing a bit of UK flavor to BACK ISSUE.

by B i l l

DeSimone

Released in 1989, Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (WJA) features meticulous adherence to prior continuity and coordination by all the various X-Men creators and editors, with far-reaching ramifications on future Wolverine continuity. Or maybe not. “Walking through Marvel one day and Bob H(arras) asked me if I wanted to draw the ‘Wolverine Annual’—I asked who was writing it and he told me there was no writer yet. I had (and still have) no interest in Wolverine, but (being a smart ass), rather than say no, I said, ‘If you get Walt to write it, and it’s about Wolverine going to the Savage Land and becoming king of the cavemen, I’ll do it.’ And I walked off and figured that was the last I’d hear of that—and the next day you called me and said something like, ‘So I guess we’re doing a Wolverine book.’ It’s the best story I have about getting a job.”

TM & © Marvel.

– Mike Mignola on Walter Simonson’s Facebook page, August 2019

Mignola and Simonson were joined by inker Bob Wiacek, letterer Ken Bruzenak, and colorist Mark Chiarello. Unlike so many of today’s comics, the story itself is a fun, done-in-one “adventure” that doesn’t rely on an encyclopedic knowledge of continuity at the time. In fact, a couple of bits inserted by Simonson in the story could have had major impact on future Wolverine stories, only to end up being ignored. Forget about this story’s place in continuity. Just enjoy the ride, and especially the scenery, the really interesting visual storytelling from Mignola, Wiacek, and Chiarello. Savage Lands Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

Looks Like Dino Ordered Takeout Logan is in no mood to be digested on page 26 of Simonson, Mignola, and Wiacek’s opus. Colors by Mark Chiarello. TM & © Marvel.

Cooke that he learned a lot from studying Kirby’s work in preparation for Cosmic Odyssey: “Jack is easy to imitate, but most of the people I’ve seen imitate him, miss the point. He’s not a guy to learn how to draw legs from, but he is a great guy to learn how to draw a fight scene from. To capture the power of Kirby without… the stylistic quirks.” The colorist on the interiors was Mark Chiarello. Mignola told Ken Fries (in Amazing Heroes #196, Nov. 1991), “…I still have editors say to me, ‘Oh, you got stuck with another one of those real subtle coloring jobs…’ Yeah, poor me. This is what I wanted! I don’t want a big, shiny, airbrush-looking comic… [Mark] understands my color sense a lot better than I understand his, which is real nice…” The colors are mainly earth tones, which pop against the black and shadows, with grays for flashback sequences, reds for blood, and the occasional white background to punctuate a scene. Examples: the panel where Wolverine ends the fight with Gahck (page 6), and the panel where Wolverine defeats Apocalypse (page 41). As good as the color is, one page in particular is almost more dramatic in black and white. The page

starts with Wolverine bound and caged. Mignola uses heavy black borders on the top two tiers, showing the small movements he makes to free his feet, then using the lighter to free his hands. The black verticals suggest the bars of the cage. In the third bottom tier, no more borders or panels: the scene extends to the edge of the page, the reader’s view is pulled back to see the full figure of Wolverine, centered, with machinery, claws, and action lines radiating out from the figure. The thought balloons and words don’t explain the action; the art does. As the art moves from confined to release so does the character. Mignola uses this confinement/release motif earlier in the book as well. When Wolverine fights the T. rex, the T. rex swallows him, to the T. rex’s disadvantage, as Wolverine cuts his way out of the stomach. As Wolverine is in the belly, there are closeups in small panels, only to pull back as Wolverine cuts his way out, again moving from closed up panels to art extending off the page (page 26). I met Mignola at a New Jersey convention not long after this was published. When I mentioned the confinement/release, he said, “Ye-e-e-a-h, that’s the kind of thing someone else says about the art. I’m just drawing.” Although he did give Ken Fries a little more elaborate answer: “When I do certain layouts, or if I do a black panel border or a white panel border, I do it for a reason. In some cases it’s something I can’t easily explain, but I’ve got a rationale for everything I do.”

‘GET DOWN, GET DOWN’ (‘Jungle Boogie,’ Kool and the Gang, 1973)

The 1989 Dark Knight/“Prestige” format WJA book is still available in back-issue bins and such for maybe double the cover price ($4.50!). The original has a black-and-white drawing of Wolverine and a caveman on the back cover that’s not taken from the interior. On the front and back inside covers, along with the credits and indicia, you’ll find a black, gray, and white image of Wolverine split longways, i.e., his right side on the inside front, left side on the inside back, that flips the image from the panel where he’s cut himself out of the dinosaur on page 26. No ads, no wasted space at all. If you like newer paper and fresh binding, the story was reprinted in September 2020 in Wolverine: Epic Collection: Back to Basics vol. 2, along with Archie Goodwin/Howard Chaykin’s Scorpio Connection and other Wolverine issues from 1988. Not long after WJA came out, “Adventures” in a comic-book title meant the book wasn’t part of comics continuity, but instead aimed at fans (and their kids) of a comic-based animated series. The subject matter was “all ages,” and the art styles copied the models of the animations. Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure was not one of those comics. It featured adult situations, action bordering on violence, and some dubious behavior by the star, none of which is explicit. You must read between the images depicted and the words on paper to pick up all that’s happening. And between the visual influences and panel-to-panel progressions, there’s plenty for fans of the art form to appreciate. BILL DeSIMONE has read comics since they were 15 cents on a newsstand, neither of which is comprehensible to today’s young fan. Previously for BACK ISSUE he’s written about Machine Man, Starman, and Jurassic Park.

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by B

ryan D. Stroud

A Valiant Comeback One of Valiant’s salvo of comic hits of the 1990s: Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 (July 1993), signed by Turok artist Bart Sears. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). Turok is ® and © Random House, Inc.

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