Back Issue #146 by TwoMorrows Publishing

MEN WITHOUT FEAR S

ber eptem

2023

No.14

$ 10.

TIM SALE (1956–2022) (1956–2022)

Tribute Art Gallery

82658 00496

Bronze Age Daredevil • Challengers of the Unknown • Sinestro villain history • Who Is Hal Jordan? • plus JEPH LOEB remembers TIM SALE in an exclusive interview

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Magic memories of ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY for the 60th Anniversary of TV’s Bewitched! Plus: The ’70s thriller Time After Time (with NICHOLAS MEYER, MALCOLM McDOWELL, and DAVID WARNER), The Alvin Show, BUFFALO BOB SMITH and Howdy Doody, Peter Gunn, Saturday morning’s Run Joe Run and Big John Little John, a trip to Camp Crystal Lake, and more fun, fab features!

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Volume 1, Number 146 September 2023 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Gene Colan (Originally produced for the 1978 Mighty Marvel Pin-up Book. Art scan courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Jeff Bailey Luigi Novi Jarrod Buttery Tom Powers Ed Catto Jerry Riddle Chris Claremont Bob Rozakis Gerry Conway John Siuntres Rocky Davis Bryan D. Stroud J. M. DeMatteis Roy Thomas Chuck Dixon J. C. Vaughn Steve Englehart Marv Wolfman Steven Grant Jack C. Harris Heritage Comics Auctions Tony Isabella James Heath Lantz Jeph Loeb Ed Lute Brian Martin Marvel Comics Prof. Larry Maslon

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FLASHBACK: Daredevil in the 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Man without Fear swings through the Bronze Age. Plus: The Torpedo! ROUGH STUFF: Gene Colan Daredevil Pencil Art Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Mr. Fear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Who’s behind the mask of this scare-inducing Marvel menace? FLASHBACK: Superheroes with Disabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Physical limitations don’t hold back these inspirational comic characters BEYOND CAPES: Challengers of the Unknown in the Bronze Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 DC’s fantastic four fight to remain relevant in a changing comic market INTERVIEW: Jeph Loeb and Life with Tim Sale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The superstar writer recalls his Challengers and Daredevil: Yellow collaborations ART GALLERY: Tim Sale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 FLASHBACK: Who Is Hal Jordan? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Is Green Lantern’s alter ego really a man without fear? BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Sinestro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 A history of the rogue Green Lantern who made a cottage industry of fear BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 BACK ISSUE™ issue 146, September 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, Editorin-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 Gene Colan. Daredevil TM & © Marvel. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

On his always-informative website, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort informs us that—in the 1960s, riding high on the success of Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man—Marvel’s publisher Martin Goodman instructed writer/editor Stan Lee to create “a knock-off of FF and a knock-off of Spider-Man” for Marvel to publish. These projects became X-Men and Daredevil, respectively—with Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963) rushed into production to fill the gap when Daredevil fell behind.

DAREDEVIL IN THE ’60s

by J a r r o d

TM & © Marvel.

Artist Bill Everett and Lee create athlete and academic Matthew (Matt) Murdock in Daredevil #1 (Apr. 1964). As a high school student, Matt saves the life of a blind man by pushing him out of the way of an out-of-control truck. The truck crashes and something radioactive strikes Matt in the face. Matt is blinded but finds that his other senses have been enhanced to peak capacity—plus he has developed a built-in “radar sense.” Matt graduates from high school, then as valedictorian from law school. He opens a law firm with his best buddy Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, and they hire Karen Page as their secretary. But when Matt’s boxer father is murdered by crooked fight arranger, the Fixer, Matt uses his enhanced senses and athletic abilities to step outside of the law as the costumed crimefighter, Daredevil! Stan wrote the first 50 issues of Daredevil— introducing adversaries such as the Owl, the Purple Man, Mr Fear, Stilt-Man, the Ani-Men, Gladiator, Exterminator, Jester, and more. 1960s’ soap-opera themes also ran high: Matt loved Karen but dared not tell her because he was blind; Karen loved Matt and wished he felt the same (which he did); Foggy loved Karen but knew Karen loved Matt, and thus Foggy both resented Matt and resented himself for resenting his best friend. One could be forgiven for thinking that one was reading Our Love Story. Interestingly, one experiment highlighted Matt’s desperate attempt to protect his secret identity by pretending to be his own heretofore-unmentioned identical twin brother, Mike. Y’see, Foggy and Karen believe that they have found proof that Matt is Daredevil. On the spot, Matt tells them that his brother Mike is really Daredevil! And so, in issue #25 (Feb. 1967), Matt wears sunglasses, musses up his hair, dons some garish clothes, and speaks like a hipster stereotype—all to convince his friends that his previously unmentioned identical twin brother is actually Daredevil. It was a temporary experiment. A battle with the Exterminator in Daredevil #41 (June 1968) leads to a laboratory explosion. The Exterminator is thrown into an extra-dimensional void and scraps are found of Daredevil’s costume, in a story titled: “The Death of Mike Murdock!” (Fortunately, as Matt explains in the following issue, Mike had been secretly training a replacement Daredevil.)

2 • BACK ISSUE • Men Without Fear Issue

Buttery

Bit by bit, developments occurred. Foggy ran for District Attorney (and won). He started dating (and later married) Debbie Harris. Matt and Karen grew closer… However, heightened abilities or not, Stan couldn’t write everything forever, and so turned over Daredevil’s scripting duties to Roy Thomas with issue #51 (Apr. 1969). Thomas has Daredevil meet the Black Panther for the first time in issue #52, followed by a retelling and expansion of Daredevil’s origin in issue #53, specifically placing Matt’s teenage accident as having occurred in 1950. Thomas gives Karen Page a backstory in Daredevil #56 (Sept. 1969). Karen is the daughter of disgraced scientist, Dr. Paxton Page—who perfected the cobalt bomb, and then refused to divulge the results of his research to Congress. Karen travels to her family home in Vermont. When Daredevil follows, they are confronted by a skeletal horseman calling himself Death’s-Head, who claims to have killed Karen’s father! However, Daredevil determines that Death’s-Head is Karen’s father—driven insane by years of exposure to cobalt radiation. There is a fight, Karen is endangered, and Death’s-Head sacrifices himself to save his daughter. At her father’s funeral, Matt reveals his identity to Karen. Matt and Karen become engaged in Daredevil #58 (Nov. 1969)—an issue that introduces the motorcycling menace Stunt-Master—but Karen immediately starts fretting over the danger that Matt exposes himself to as Daredevil. This continues into the following issue as DD faces hired killer, the Torpedo.

DAREDEVIL IN THE ’70s

Matt loses more points as he forgets Karen’s birthday while fighting Jester, Cobra, and Mr. Hyde in Daredevil #61 (Feb. 1970). Finally, in issue #63, Karen quits her job as secretary and announces that she has a plane to catch. Matt wants to stop her, and Karen wants Matt to stop her, but Matt is delayed battling the Gladiator—and Karen boards her flight to Los Angeles. Roy Thomas explains: “I felt Karen had been underdeveloped… not much more than having a crush on Matt Murdock... so I decided to do more with her. That escalated once I had Matt reveal his identity to her, something I’m sure I cleared with Stan first.” to return to New York with Matt. Matt flies to L.A. and creepily Daredevil helps a young boxer breaks into the apartment of Karen’s in issue #68 and re-teams with the friend Sally Weston. He discovers Black Panther in issue #69. Thomas’ that Karen is working as an actress final storyline, in Daredevil #70–71 on the gothic-horror soap opera (Nov.–Dec. 1970), introduces Buck Strange Secrets. There is an on-set Ralston, an influential actor who aims killing, and Daredevil is forced to to Make America Great Again by using solve the murder-mystery while his fame and wealth to legitimize his battling the super-strong Brother alter ego—the Tribune—to dispense Brimstone. Thomas was cheekily roy thomas justice to all the radical, subversive, asked if he was a fan of the gothicpinko, commie pawns whom he © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. horror soap opera, Dark Shadows. believed were ruining the country. “Yes, that was the inspiration for Brother Brimstone and that whole sequence. When I was working at Rereading those issues, it’s sobering to see how home, the office (except for Stan, of course) had little the propaganda machine has changed. Thomas orders not to call me between 4:00 and 4:30, I think opines, “Nope, things haven’t changed… including that the left has proved equally adroit at seeking to it was… the half-hour that Dark Shadows was on.” Karen has found her calling. After years as a love- dispense justice to all the radical-right, subversive, sick secretary, she had now found an engaging and fascist, white supremacist pawns.” Gerry Conway succeeded Thomas as scripter rewarding career. In Daredevil #67 (Aug. 1970) she is offered a TV pilot with Stunt-Master and declines with Daredevil #72 (Jan. 1971). Conway kindly

The Original Torpedo The Man without Fear met a killer for hire named Torpedo—no relation to the hero spotlighted elsewhere in this feature—in Daredevil #59 (Dec. 1969). Cover by Gene Colan and Syd Shores. TM & © Marvel.

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

Right-Winger and Web-Slinger (left) Torn from today’s headlines, but published in the Bronze Age, the far-right demagogue the Tribune makes trouble in Daredevil #71 (Dec. 1970). Cover by Marie Severin and Syd Shores. (right) Spidey and Subby appear in issue #77 (June 1971). Cover by Sal Buscema. TM & © Marvel.

spoke at length with BACK ISSUE: “Daredevil was the potentially funny words. I had always felt… or first actual superhero title that I wrote. And writing maybe the names that stuck with me, or rang true that first issue was instructive on so many levels. You to me… sort of had that ending ‘K’-sound, so that get the opportunity to achieve your ambitions and they sounded tough, brutal. ‘Attack!’ That kind of then you’re faced with the realities of what your skill thing. And I guess, as a fairly inexperienced young writer, who’s just making it up as he goes along… limitations may be! [laughs] And how to actually when it came to naming a villain… rather break out of some habits that were formed than doing some research and trying writing shorter pieces. Because this was to come up with something that a full-length story and most of my represented an authentic, maybe work had been seven- to ten-page ethnic-sounding, name, I just sort of stories in supernatural magazines. went with something that I thought But I’d always wanted to write a would sound powerful.” superhero… I always wanted to Immediately after, Conway wrote write the Marvel heroes… and a crossover with Iron Man #35–36 Daredevil had been one of my (Mar.–Apr. 1971). “What was happenfavorites as a kid growing up… so it ing was that I was making a move from was a terrific opportunity.” DC to Marvel, and part of the way Conway also started writing that the deal came together was Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales #3 gerry conway that Roy offered me what amounted (Dec. 1970). That issue featured to three titles a month to write,” the introduction of Ka-Zar’s buddy Tongah, and antagonist Garokk. In BACK ISSUE #145 Conway recalls. “Which was a substantial offer, even (July 2023), Conway explained how he had an ear though the rates in those days were pretty pitiful, for ‘Tah’ and ‘Kuh’-sounding names. Taking the it was still a very comfortable potential living. And best of both worlds, in his Daredevil debut, Conway again, I was kind of thrown into the deep end of the introduced Tagak, Lord of the Leopards! “For some pool here because, as I say, Daredevil was my first reason I was fixated on those sounds! I don’t know superhero book—and suddenly I’m writing three why. There’s a saying in comedy that ‘K’ is always of them: Daredevil, Iron Man, and Sub-Mariner. I a funny letter. Words that have a ‘kuh’ sound are guess out of a combination of ambition and creative

4 • BACK ISSUE • Men Without Fear Issue

impulse to want to do something cool—and desper- temporarily blinding the entire population—in issue ation for trying to figure a way to make this all work #74 (Mar. 1971). Matt accompanies Foggy on a for me in something that I wasn’t all that limber with fact-finding mission to Delvadia in issues #75–76. yet—the idea of doing a crossover, and trying to find “That was my fake, fascist, South American country,” laughs Conway. DD is forced to fight the a way to tie these different books together, was (Zorro-inspired) Delvadian revolutionary, my effort to try and get a handle on it all. El Condor. Delvadia would later spawn And, at the same time, try to do someanother revolutionary: the Tarantula thing that I felt was in keeping with [as you read last issue, in our “Spiderthe general Marvel approach of the Rogues” edition—ed.]. shared universe. It’s one way to save Karen returns to New York in on plotting! [laughs] Y’know, I’m Daredevil #77 (June 1971), but Matt going from writing seven- to tenis busy with a Sub-Mariner crossover page stories to coming up with 60 (guest-starring Spider-Man). Foggy pages of material a month. In later is also threatened by mobsters. In the years, that would’ve been child’s play, following issue, we find that Foggy but at that time I barely knew what is being blackmailed (by Mr. Kline). I was doing, but I was figuring it out We also meet George Alec, and and I learned a lot working with the gene colan his wife Dia (nods to sci-fi novelist different artists, who each brought © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. George Alec Effinger and his wife their own talents.” Diane), who are nearly kidnapped by Bull Taurus

GENTLEMAN GENE

Cat Scratch Fever Daredevil meets Tagak, the Leopard Lord, in DD #72 (Jan. 1971). Written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Gene Colan, inked by Syd Shores. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel.

Conway stayed on the book for nearly two-and-ahalf years. In that time, every issue (bar one) was drawn by Gene Colan. “I worked with Gene on both Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and Don Heck and George Tuska on Iron Man, but each of them has their own storytelling styles,” recalls Conway. “I had to learn how to plot for them, to their strengths, and also to learn what my weaknesses were. It was kind of an interesting year! [laughs] “Gene was not a plotter, unlike, say, Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko—or even, to a degree, Don Heck—and especially not like Ross Andru. In non-comics terms, Gene was a marvellous scene-director, a marvelous performer—his characters’ performances were always dead-on—a terrific set designer, and a wonderful photographer. But he was not a particularly good ‘big picture’ guy. And that was the lesson I learned on my very first story, because I wrote this plot for Daredevil—I think the plot ran two pages, single-spaced, which is what Roy told me would be a sufficient plot—and Gene spent the first 16 pages of a 20-page story on the first half of the first page. And then, he tried to compress everything into the last four pages. So you’ll see at the end of the book the last few pages have many more panels!” Conway continues, “What I learned is not that I should simplify my plots, but that I should give Gene a better sense of how much each sequence should take in terms of space—because, as I say, he was a terrific scene director, character performer, photographer, cinematographer—he could set mood, he could perform the characters, he could direct a brilliant sequence—he just didn’t understand pacing [laughs]. So, what I learned is that I had to help him with the pacing, and he would give me more than I could possibly ask for in terms of characterization and story. We didn’t collaborate directly in terms of passing ideas back and forth, but I would talk to him about what kind of things he liked to draw. I quickly realized that he loved cars—he loved drawing sequences with cars—so I’d throw in the occasional car chase. Or something that would involve Daredevil landing on top of a car, and stuff like that.” Daredevil battles the Smasher when a gang of thugs dopes the New York City water supply— Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

You feel a pounding in your chest as your heart races, sweat rolls down your brow, your breathing is labored, and finally, your head starts spinning. You are in the grip of fear. Daredevil doesn’t experience these feelings. Or does he? Although known throughout the Marvel Universe as the Man without Fear, Daredevil has experienced these feelings and more when he faced off against Mr. Fear! Come along on a fear-fraught journey with BACK ISSUE as we look at the various evildoers who have taken on the fright-filled mantle of Mr. Fear!

ZOLTAN DRAGO

With a hero that’s known as the Man without Fear, it was a no-brainer to come up with a villain that inspired fear. That’s what writer Stan Lee and artist Wally Wood did when they introduced Mr. Fear as one of ol’ Hornhead’s earliest adversaries in Daredevil #6 (Feb. 1965). In fact, this was so early in Daredevil’s crimefighting career that he still wore his original yellow togs! He donned his iconic red outfit in the next issue. Zoltan Drago was the first person to take on the guise of Mr. Fear. Drago used a gas pellet fired from a gun to implant fear into his victims. He accidentally stumbled across the formula for the gas when, as the owner of a wax museum, he attempted to make a formula that would bring his wax statues to life so that he could use them to rob banks. When he realized that his gas instilled fear in people, he created the Mr. Fear persona. In this issue, Drago didn’t work alone, though, allying himself with two Spider-Man foes: Ox and the Eel. They didn’t come along of their own free will; Drago used his gas to terrorize them into joining him on his criminal campaign. He christened this association “The Fellowship of Fear.” Wood’s costume design for Mr. Fear was outstanding: a modified skull mask with a colorful purple and pink costume that doesn’t sound like it should work, but it does. It even pops off the page and stands as an excellent design that others would emulate [see sidebar]. Daredevil was able to use his wits to defeat Mr. Fear by pushing the reverse button on a fan so that the fear gas would blow harmlessly away from him. While both Ox and the Eel would continue to have a presence in the Marvel Universe, Drago, as well the Fellowship, was done for. However, this wasn’t the last the Daredevil would hear of Mr. Fear.

Be Afraid Gil Kane’s terrifying, vertigo-triggering cover art to Daredevil #91 (Sept. 1972) clued in readers that Mr. Fear was no pushover. TM & © Marvel.

24 • BACK ISSUE • Men Without Fear Issue

by E d

Lute

Photo © DC Comics.

Wally wood

SAMUEL SAXON

Mr. Fear returned to terrorize the Man without Fear in Daredevil #54 (July 1969). In the issue, written by Roy Thomas with pencils by Gene Colan and inks by George Klein, the villain challenged Daredevil to a showdown so that he could show New York City what a coward their hero was. This time, Mr. Fear had an upgraded arsenal as he arrived on scene using a flying platform. Daredevil and Mr. Fear battled evenly for a time until Mr. Fear used his gas to incapacitate the hero. DD, who had been hanging onto the platform, fell off due to the fear-induced paralysis. The next issue picked up with DD despondent because Mr. Fear’s pronouncement from the previous issue came true as people saw Daredevil as a coward. The hero also saw himself in the same light. Never one to give in easily, the Man without Fear searched for ways to defeat the villain. During his search, he found that the original Mr. Fear, Zoltan Drago, was afraid of heights, so he deduced that Drago couldn’t be the person behind the Mr. Fear mask. Further research found that Drago had been killed in prison. Armed with this new knowledge, Daredevil faced off against Mr. Fear again and exposed him as Samuel “Starr” Saxon. Shortly after being unmasked, the villain fell to his death.

The Fellowship of Fear! (top left) Zoltan Drago, a.k.a. Mr. Fear, and his hulking henchmen mix it up with ol’ Hornhead in Daredevil #6 (Feb. 1965), illustrated by the wonderful Wallace Wood. (top right) Wood’s preliminary sketches for Mr. Fear and other characters in the issue. Courtesy of Ed Lute. TM & © Marvel.

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 25

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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BACK ISSUE #136

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.

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BACK ISSUE #139

BACK ISSUE #140

BACK ISSUE #141

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

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

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

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

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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BACK ISSUE #142

BACK ISSUE #143

BACK ISSUE #144

BACK ISSUE #145

SUPER ISSUE! Superboy’s Bronze Age A special tribute issue to NEAL ADAMS BRONZE AGE SAVAGE LANDS, starring adventures, and interviews with GERARD (1941–2022), celebrating his Bronze Ka-Zar in the 1970s! Plus: Turok—Dinosaur CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK of the Age DC Comics contributions! In-depth Hunter, DON GLUT’s Dagar and Tragg, Superboy live-action TV series. Plus: Super Batman and Superman interviews, ‘Green Annihilus and the Negative Zone, Planet Goof, Super Richie (Rich), Super-Dagwood, Lantern/Green Arrow’—Fifty Years Later, of Vampires, Pat Mills’s Flesh (from Super Mario Bros., Frank Thorne’s Far Out Neal Adams—Under the Radar, Continuity 2000AD), and WALTER SIMONSON and Green Super Cool, NICK MEGLIN and JACK Associates, a ‘Rough Stuff’ pencil art gallery, MIKE MIGNOLA’s Wolverine: The Jungle DAVIS’ Superfan, and more! Featuring Power Records, and more! Re-presenting Adventure. With CONWAY, GULACY, a Superboy and Krypto cover by DAVE Adams’ iconic cover art to BATMAN #227. HAMA, NICIEZA, SEARS, THOMAS, and COCKRUM! Edited by MICHAEL EURY. (Plus: See ALTER EGO #181!) more! JOHN BUSCEMA cover!

SPIDER-ROGUES ISSUE! Villain histories of Dr. Octopus, Lizard, Kingpin, Spidey’s mob foes, the Jackal and Carrion, Tarantula, Puma, plus the rehabilitation of Sandman! Featuring the work of ANDRU, SAL BUSCEMA, CONWAY, DeFALCO, GIL KANE, McFARLANE, MILLER, POLLARD, JOHN ROMITA JR. & SR., STERN, THOMAS, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and more! DUSTY ABELL cover!

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“Go forward.” “I never think about losing.”

– Christopher Reeve – Lou Ferrigno

“I’m looking for hope.” – Professor Charles Francis Xavier, X-Men movie (2000)

by J a

mes Heath Lantz

Perhaps these quotes, more than any others, best describe the everyday lives of persons with disabilities in the face of all their challenges with activities the supposedly able bodied take for granted. Walking to a comic shop, seeing a page, hearing someone discuss the latest issue of Superman, or even talking about how a movie series such as X-Men may vary from the source material can be a daunting task for those who need assistance to move, look, listen, or speak. However, characters such as X-mentor Professor Xavier, the Doom Patrol’s Niles Caulder, Teen Titan Joseph Wilson, Daredevil Matt Murdock, and Batgirlturned-Oracle Barbara Gordon are among the comicbook heroes that broke through their own physical barriers to inspire readers dealing with the trials and tribulations that they also endure in their lives in an age that wasn’t as inclusive as it is today. BACK ISSUE #146 takes a look at the battles these superheroes went through in the Bronze Age, be those battles superhuman or the most mundane.

REPRESENTATION IN THE BRONZE AGE

One of the many things that attracts people of all ages, races, creeds, and sexual orientations to comic books and other forms of media is character identification. Outside of comics in 1981, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno brilliantly portrayed both Dr. David Banner and the Hulk’s struggles with paralysis in the powerful Season Four episode of The Incredible Hulk titled “The Harder They Fall,” showing children and adults who dealt with the same issues that they were not alone. Ferrigno himself had battled hearing loss for most of his life before his recent cochlear implant surgery. Superman actor Christopher Reeve made us believe he could still fly in the real world after the horseback-riding accident created trials in his life to rival those of the Man of Steel. Comic-book superheroes have also shown readers that they are just like them in many ways in spite of having superhuman abilities, and that they, like Reeve, go forward to face whatever confronts them. One thing all the characters named above have in common is that, unlike Maya Lopez/Echo from

First and Fearless Golden Age hero Dr. Mid-Nite fought crime despite his blindness and blazed a trail for other superheroes with disabilities to follow. Undated portrait by Matt Wagner. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

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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by E

d Catto

You would have thought they had the perfect recipe for success: Amazing adventures! Unlimited expense accounts! The King of Comics—as creator! Yet despite all that, somehow DC Comics’ Challengers of the Unknown (also COTU or Challengers) fell short. Instead of triumphantly strutting off stage when their time had come, they tepidly returned onstage, and then returned again and again, always just missing the mark. How did Challengers of the Unknown ever get into this predicament? Professor Larry Maslon, of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, suggests there’s a magic to be found in hero teams. “Fans and readers love adventure teams,” says Professor Maslon. “When they’re done right, it’s the ultimate narrative expression of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. “But they have to be the right parts. Alexandre Dumas understood this when he created the Three Musketeers in 1844. You had the nominal leader, Athos, surly and troubled; then the pompous braggart, Porthos; then the amorous aesthete Aramis. What they needed was the addition of a younger, less jaded, and courageous companion to make the team jell; hence, D’Artagnan. The four of them together (four being the magic number, I suppose) were narrative magic—their individual idiosyncrasies complemented each other beautifully—and their adventures are still beloved today, after a thousand different venues and versions. “Such effective action/adventure teams found their way into the comics of the 1940s, some more superheroic, such as the Justice Society of America; some less so, like the Blackhawks. (The Blackhawks always struck me as effortfully idiosyncratic—I don’t know how Hendrickson even squeezed into his uniform—and early on, the Justice Society members fought their JACK KIRBY adventures separately.). By the time Jack Kirby created the Challengers of the Unknown in 1957, the comic-buying public was ready for a new team that combined the complementary team members of the pulp world but packed into the colorful leotards of the emerging superheroes of the Silver Age.” [Editor’s note: The Challs were created in late 1956 and premiered in Showcase #6, cover-dated Jan.–Feb. 1957.] According to Maslon, “It’s surprising to me, though, that Kirby (I’ll leave it to you to parse out

‘A Plague of Darkness,’ Indeed! As the Bronze Age began, Challengers of the Unknown fumbled to find its audience, looking more like a mystery than an adventure comic. Cover to issue #72 (Feb.–Mar. 1970) by Neal Adams. TM & © DC Comics.

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37

When FFs Collide Kirby’s two quartets were blended by DC and Marvel into the Amalgam Universe’s Challengers of the Fantastic. Cover to issue #1 (June 1997) by Tom Grummett and Al Vey. TM & © DC Comics/Marvel.

who, if anyone, helped collaborate on creating the Challengers), who could come up with teams as varied as the Boy Commandos and as bizarre as the Forever People, didn’t appear to take on the Dumas/Dent Rule Number One: complementary is the key. Although Ace, Red, Rocky, and Prof were impressively adept at what they did separately, I wouldn’t call the Challengers groundbreaking in the team-building arena (in fact, nearly all of their names are one-syllable first names, then twosyllable last names). Even at this late date, I would have trouble picking them individually out of a police lineup. (Occasionally, I understand, the colorists at DC would even screw up which one was blond, redheaded, and so on… certainly don’t ask me.) The editors at DC would eventually add, um, a girl to the mix, and she had even less to do than Pat Savage (although she was adept at computers, a distinct improvement from providing permanents to society ladies).”

38 • BACK ISSUE • Men Without Fear Issue

THE CHALLENGE OF THE FANTASTIC

Despite their Kirby-esque pedigree, the Challengers never seemed to catch on to the extent of that other quartet, Marvel’s Fantastic Four. By the mid-’60s, as the FF were soaring to new heights every issue (here’s the Inhumans, here’s the Black Panther, here’s the Negative Zone, here’s Agatha Harkness), the Challengers had evolved into a directionless club of buddies, jumping from adventure to adventure. The whole world knows about Fantastic Four’s pal T’Challa and Wakanda, but can even the most hardcore Challengers fans name the bad guys of the Legion of the Weird? [Editor’s note: We forgive you if you can’t. The Legion of the Weird consisted of Count Karnak, the Mysterious One, Mistress Wycker, the Witch of Salem, Madoga, the Last of the Indian Witch Doctors, Hordred the Druid, Kaftu, and the Son of the Silent Sphinx.] J. C. Vaughn, author and President of Publishing at Gemstone Publishing, has always wanted to like the Challengers more than he does. “Challengers has all the elements of that I should love,” muses Vaughn to BACK ISSUE, “but as a Marvel fan who has seen it revised many times over the years, I wonder why it doesn’t work for me? It might work better as a TV show. You could just boil it down to the basics and go from there.” John Siuntres of the Word Balloon Podcast understands the importance of the Challengers. “The original Challengers of the Unknown comic book bridged the science fiction and superhero genres of the very early Silver Age,” Siuntres shares with BI. “It was the forerunner of The Fantastic Four—that should always be acknowledged.” “Much has been made of the Fantastic Four’s debt to the Challengers, which is indisputable,” opines Professor Maslon. “But the addition of Stan Lee to the creative team upped the ante by emphatically embracing that Rule Number One (Lee is even quoted as giving props to Doc Savage and the Fabulous Five as inspiring the makeup of the team members of the Fantastic Four). With the Fantastic Four, the complementary skills of the adventure team were finally woven together with the complementary (one might even say “competing”) personalities of the adventure team. When the inevitable Amalgam crossover of the Challengers of the Fantastic occurred in 1997, it honored the introduction of Kirby’s 1957 team along with the innovation of Lee’s evolution of the concept in 1961.” If only DC Comics editor Murray Boltinoff and the “new” scripter Denny O’Neil (starting with Challengers of the Unknown #68) had better been able to embrace Professor Maslon’s reminders. Unlike O’Neil’s reboot efforts on Batman or Green Lantern/Green Arrow, here the last few issues of Challengers of the Unknown seem to be flailing about, furiously throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. What were the challenges of the Challengers as they fought to remain relevant in a world that seemed to change too fast for them?

You’re a Rich Girl Challs hanger-on Corrina Stark, from the conclusion of COTU #72. Written by Denny O’Neil, with art by Dick Dillin and Frank Giacoia. Scan courtesy of Ed Catto. TM & © DC Comics.

THE ‘FIRST’ FINAL DAYS OF THE CHALLENGERS

The first Challs issue of the Bronze Age, Challengers of the After four tryout appearances in Showcase (issues #6 and 7, and Unknown #72 (Jan.–Feb. 1970), kicked off things in style with #11 and 12), a regular, bimonthly series for the adventure team a stunning Neal Adams cover. Evocative of Adams’ beautiful began with Challengers of the Unknown #1 (Feb.–Mar. 1958). The Tomahawk covers published during this time, an array of flashlights illuminates the characters with a warm yellow glow. And a series continued until issue #77 (Dec. 1970–Jan. 1971). Future comics pro Tony Isabella had several fan letters menacing black cat has just scratched Corinna Stark… and it may printed in Challengers during the last few years of the be fatal! Beginning with issue #66, the comic’s logo had been reoriented to emphasize “Unknown” more than “Challengers of” original series’ run. Tony remembers his history with the title and why he liked [probably an attempt to cash in on the newfound popularity of them. “I started reading the series shortly after Jack Kirby mystery comics—ed.]. Denny O’Neil continues to pull out the stops, although it’s left,” Isabella recalls. “In retrospect, the Challengers were like a grown-up version of the several kid gangs he did with Joe less effective than his Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow Simon. I dig the individuality of Ace, Rocky, Red, and Prof. stories. Perhaps if his frequent partner and Challengers cover artist, Neal Adams, had collaborated it would have been different. I was really taken by the rugged art of Bob Brown. And Instead, Dick Dillin and Frank Giacoia illustrate this issue. what kid of my generation wouldn’t love the weird The letters column does trumpet the coming of artist aliens, monsters, and villains?” George Tuska the very next issue, although his Isabella understands how the series tried to participation would unknowingly be brief. adapt to keep up with the times. “The series The premise of the story is almost prescient, didn’t really start changing until DC Comics as it deals with a virus that can be easily spread. recognized Marvel Comics had become a force. And Walking Dead–style, it essentially turns people Brown got a little wilder in his layouts. The into zombies. Ace realizes that everyone will be writers threw in more ‘teen slang’ that many of affected “unless we can quarantine those already them didn’t understand. Soap-opera elements affected and locate the source.” like the ‘death’ of Red and the introduction of Despite the scientific basis of it all, Corinna his kid brother began to impact some stories. drags the conversation back to the occult. There was a notable crossover team-up with “For years, while I was imprisoned in my the Doom Patrol, a team that was very much in george tuska father’s castle, I studied the occult. I learned that the Marvel sensibility.” © Marvel. black magic does exist, but there are terrible Marvel-style romance was also a part of the new recipe baked into the Challengers series. Corrina Stark was a forces beyond that men know, and those who dare tamper with mysterious woman who was recently introduced into the series them suffer terrible consequences.” Luckily, Corinna can quickly put together an antidote. when her father shot Challs member Prof. It was unclear if Challengers fans accepted Corinna’s addition “It’s quite simple, once I have the ingredients.” Geez, get that to the team or not. A few excerpts from issue #78’s “Let’s Chat woman a job at the CDC! The team dynamic has shifted here. If one were to compare the with the Challs” letters column reveal varied reactions: “I’m madly in love with Corinna,” wrote reader Jim Williams. Challs to the Fantastic Four, Corinna has assumed both the roles “Frankly, I’d love to come to New York to meet her, but the of Sue (Invisible Girl/Woman) Storm’s position as love interest subsequent jolt of actually seeing her would turn me into a (Rocky moons over her, while she seems to prefer Ace) as well as vegetable.” On the other hand, reader Mike Jeffries snapped, Reed Richards’ role of finding/inventing story solutions. In fact, “Take that girl out!” D. A. Evans had a surprising suggestion: she’s so much like Reed that she pushes the Professor offstage for “Why don’t you add another girl, besides Corinna? Rocky’s sure this adventure. Nick Cardy serves up a wonderfully spooky, monochromatic to tumble for a cute, dark-haired, dark-eyed lass.” The series really started swerving all over the road. Challengers cover for COTU #73. The Beautiful Corinna Stark is leading a took an occult turn, especially as Corinna’s newfound psychic séance, and the Challengers, despite their tough-guy status, seem abilities. Spooky covers and creepy story elements became generally spooked! The logo has been modified: a “new” burst alerts readers that the team’s direction has changed again. the norm. Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39

Bronze Age Cover Gallery A collection of Challengers of the Unknown cover appearances spanning 1970–1983. TM & © DC Comics.

The Challengers would return many times after this, including an eight-issue 1991 revival by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale [covered on the very next page!—ed.]. Each subsequent revival worked hard to craft a better story that captured fans’ imaginations and hearts. But Jack Kirby’s involvement with the Superman/Challengers issue of DC Comics Presents was the perfect way to end the heroes’ Silver-to-Bronze Age saga, reuniting a creator and his creations for one last adventure. 52 • BACK ISSUE • Men Without Fear Issue

ED CATTO is a marketing and startup strategist, with a specialty in pop culture. As founder of Agendae, Ed is dedicated to helping brands and companies innovate and grow. As part of the faculty at Ithaca College’s School of Business, Ed teaches entrepreneurial courses and one unique class focusing on comic conventions and Geek Culture. Ed’s also an illustrator, having won the 2019 and 2021 Pulp Factory Awards, and a retropreneur, rejuvenating brands like Captain Action.

In October 2022, I had the pleasure of talking with comic-book and Hollywood superstar Jeph Loeb concerning two of his brilliant collaborations with Tim Sale: Challengers of the Unknown and Daredevil: Yellow. Both of these works, respectively published in 1991 and 2001, render distinct snapshots of the creative metamorphosis that had occurred between one of the greatest writer-artist duos in comic-book history. At this point, I would like to mention that BACK ISSUE editor Michael Eury had originally assigned me this article with the remit of moderating a Pro2Pro conversation between Jeph and Tim regarding their work on Challengers of the Unknown, but then Tim sadly passed away on June 16, 2022. Fortunately, Jeph was kind enough to share what he told me are his “fond memories of life with Tim” for not just Challengers of the Unknown but also Daredevil: Yellow. – Tom Powers

RENEWING THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN

TOM POWERS: Jeph, for your first foray into the comic-book world, an updated vision of Challengers of the Unknown at DC Comics, why did you wish to collaborate with Tim Sale on modernizing Jack Kirby’s beloved characters? JEPH LOEB: As you pointed out, it was my first foray. Unfortunately, as you’ll see as we continue, while I collected comics and loved reading them, I had no idea how to write one. Barbara Randall [Kesel] was our first editor (of four—Barbara, Elliot S! Maggin, Brian Augustyn, and Katie Main)—for an eight-issue miniseries! That has to be a record [laughs]. Barbara met me at San Diego Comic-Con (my first time as a pro!) in the summer of 1988 or 1989. I had written a 40-page outline for the series, and we walked around the then-basement of the Grant Hotel (not the giant convention jeph loeb center of today). We talked to every artist there. In particular, I remember meeting these Young Turks, Rob Liefeld (who was on Hawk and Dove) and Jim Lee and While Portacio (who were on The Punisher). They laughed me out of the room. I was a first-time writer with the Challengers, which hadn’t been published since 1978! Finally, on the last day of the con, Barbara came up to me very excited. She had in her hand a graphic novel based on a card game called Thieves’ World. The artist was named Tim Sale. What I loved (and

The End of the Challs As We Know Them?

by T o m

Powers

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s innovative 1991 Challengers of the Unknown eight-issue series inaugurated the collaboration of one of comics’ greatest creative duos. Page 15 from issue #1 (Mar. 1991). TM & © DC Comics.

Men Without Fear Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

told Tim when I met him) was he drew ugly people. [laughs] Tim didn’t take that very well. But what I meant was he drew people that were very distinctive! The faces were unique. With all due respect to King Kirby, all the Challs for years looked like Bruce Wayne with different colored hair. And when the colorist mixed up the hair, you had no idea who was talking to who! So Tim was my perfect artist. Also, and to give you the short, honest answer, he was the first one (out of many, many talented folks) who said YES! [laughs] POWERS: Taking into account your background as a screenwriter at that time (e.g., Commando and Teen Wolf), how did those storytelling experiences influence your approach to scripting this series, and what would you define as your “learning curve” during this process? LOEB: As I said, I didn’t have a process. We made it up as we went along. I have no idea why Tim didn’t quit about a thousand times. There was no script. I would call him and talk to him about what I saw on the page from scribbles that I wrote on a yellow pad before the call. We’d do about three pages a call. You have to remember there was no Internet back then, and we couldn’t even afford a fax machine, so Tim would draw the pages, go to Kinko’s, make a Xerox copy, and mail them to me. About four days later, I’d get them, we’d get on the phone, and I’d give him notes. I kid you not: Tim drew 64 pages of issue #1 (Mar. 1991), which is a 25-page story. I was so naive that I thought he could just erase things or paste over it (or make cuts like in a movie)—but he had to redraw the entire page due to my notes. It took forever! POWERS: Speaking of Tim’s unique artistic style, how did it influence your storytelling for the book? LOEB: If anything, it gave us the freedom to do crazy things like the Monopoly board or telling the end of the story in issue #1 in the fragments of the explosion of Challenger Mountain (Check: it’s there!). We both loved Kirby, Steranko, Neal Adams—to name a few—and so we’d want to homage from them as much as we could. Like I said, Tim should’ve quit! [laughs] POWERS: Why did you reintroduce three of the original four Challengers— Kyle “Ace” Morgan, Matthew “Red” Ryan, and Leslie “Rocky” Davis—to a modern DC readership in 1991 via a more complex narrative lens that is precipitated by their court-enforced disbanding in issue #2 (Apr. 1991)? Put another way, why did you and Tim make the admittedly riskier choice of presenting the aftereffects of the Challengers’ post-team experience with this miniseries? LOEB: When we started the story, it was 1988 or 1989 (the book shipped in 1991). At the time, telling “relevant” stories were the rage. I was very impressed by Grant Morrison’s Animal Man because he took a lesser-known character and wasn’t constrained by any current continuity. He could just tell his story and make it as real as he wanted. Same thing with Frank Miller and, of course, Alan Moore. So if anything, I was following a trend that dealt with superheroes having a midlife crisis, which I didn’t really understand—I was, like, 25 at the time. What made it all worse was that by the time the book did come out in 1991, it was the beginning of the “Image” [artist] explosion, where Rob, Jim, Whilce, and Todd [McFarlane] were becoming rock stars at Marvel, and big, splashy artwork was the rage. We were, as they say, a “critical” success. [laughs]

Covering the Challs The COTU maxiseries featured a who’s who of talent on its covers: Brian Bolland (#1), Michael Golden (#2), Kyle Baker (#3), Matt Wagner (#4), Marc Hempel (#5), Gil Kane (#6), Arthur Adams (#7), and last but certainly not least, interior artist Tim Sale (#8). TM & © DC Comics.

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In the Mighty Marvel Manner (top) Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum makes a cameo appearance in Challs #3 (May 1991). (bottom) Later in that issue, the return of Corinna Stark (any relation to Tony?) is a nod to the classic Mary Jane Watson reveal from Amazing Spider-Man #42. TM & © DC Comics.

POWERS: In the latter half of issue #2, Superman surprisingly appears to defend the surviving Challengers in court. How did this early experience portraying the Man of Steel prepare you and Tim for your lyrical depiction of him in 1998’s Superman for All Seasons miniseries? LOEB: Superman was my favorite DC character, and I wanted to have him guest-star on a couple of pages. Like it was a dream come true—but it was a nightmare! POWERS: A nightmare? How so? LOEB: Okay, true story that very few people know. When we began, we had to check with all the different “cabals” of DC editorial—and, at the time, Superman was particularly on lockdown. They had relaunched the character in [John Byrne’s The] Man of Steel, and now there was all-new continuity. But, to my memory, we had cleared it. I never would have used him otherwise! Cut to: We had lost Barbara Randall as our editor, and the only person I knew who worked in comics was Elliot S! Maggin. Somehow, Elliot became our editor. At least a year had gone by when issue #2 was finished being penciled, and, one way or the other, DC editorial saw Superman on the pages of our little, nothing, not-yet-published book. Shots fired! Elliot was told that we couldn’t and shouldn’t use Superman because, under the new continuity, Superman didn’t know the Challengers and wouldn’t ever come to their defense. I didn’t understand the seriousness of our “offense” and called the DC office and was told the same line of thought. I made a joke: “Well, one day when you were at lunch, Superman did meet the Challs and went out for drinks, and I have the receipt.” Dead silence. I was told I was not taking this very seriously, and, in fairness, I wasn’t! So, we were seconds away from losing Superman altogether, when I pitched, “What if he was a robot that the Challs created to get out of jail?” That satisfied the Powers That Be. I wrote a one-page scene, and Tim drew it, where, after the Challs were cleared of all charges (largely due to Superman’s appearance), they go into the men’s room, take “Superman” apart, and put him into their brieftim sale cases. Dumbest thing ever. Luigi Novi / What we didn’t know was that Elliot, © Wikimedia Commons. having written at least ten years’ worth of pre-Byrne Superman, didn’t appreciate all his stories becoming non-canon. When he saw the robot page, he chose (or it was an honest mistake) to lose the page. It’s not in the issue!

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g by B r y a n

Abin Sur Wants You Test pilot Hal Jordan is summoned in the landmark “SOS Green Lantern!” origin story from Showcase #22 (Sept.–Oct. 1959). TM & © DC Comics.

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Stroud

He was a test pilot. He was also a friend, a brother, and a nephew. He is inextricably linked to his heroic alter ego of Green Lantern and as such, was also a founding member of the Justice League of America. But who is Hal Jordan? Hal Jordan/Green Lantern was first introduced to the readers of National Periodical Publications, better known as DC Comics, in the pages of the venerable Showcase title, specifically issue #22 (Sept.–Oct. 1959). His fellow JLA member the Flash had been rolled out three years prior in the 4th issue of Showcase. With the success of that reintroduced-butrevamped character, DC’s powers-thatbe decided to try and capture lightning in a bottle a second time with another revived Golden Age character, redesigned and ready for what would one day be referred to as the Silver Age. The first story in the anthology book was titled “SOS Green Lantern!” Edited by Julius “Julie” Schwartz, scripted by John Broome, and illustrated by the art team of Gil Kane and Joe Giella with lettering by Gaspar Saladino, the six-page story offered the origin of Green Lantern.

‘ENTIRELY WITHOUT FEAR!’

In this important tale, the current GL for space sector 2814 is a crimson-skinned humanoid alien named Abin Sur, reportedly modeled after the actor Yul Brynner. Abin Sur and his spacecraft have crash-landed in the desert of the Southwestern United States. Abin Sur knows that he is dying, and also knows that it is his duty, with the help of his power ring, to locate a successor to take the ring and its battery of power. The critical criteria are that this worthy being “…must be one without fear! Entirely without fear!” With that dictate, a beam of emerald energy is dispatched. It crisscrosses the Earth to locate the next wielder of the power ring of Green Lantern: Hal Jordan, a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft. To Jordan’s amazement, he, ensconced in his flight trainer, is transported via the emerald beam to the crash site, where he meets Abin Sur. The Green Lantern explains to the Earthman who he is and what he needs from Hal. “It is our duty… when disaster strikes… to pass on the battery of power… to another who is fearless… and honest!” Having passed those two all-important tests, Hal Jordan is then presented with the power ring and the power battery. After brief instructions on how both work and their weakness against the color yellow, Abin Sur draws his final breath, and a new hero is born. Hal Jordan then begins an incredible journey as the newest wielder of the power ring of Green Lantern. Unlike his predecessor, Hal dons a mask to conceal his identity, then begins to learn how to use these new powers. He also learns the treacherous waters of balancing a personal life with that of being a superhero and, perhaps taking a page from Clark Kent’s playbook, also learns of the pitfalls of a love triangle when he has affections for a woman who is only interested in his superhero persona. In Hal Jordan’s case, it is his boss, Carol Ferris. Jordan tries mightily to win her love, but she only has eyes for Green Lantern. It would become an ongoing subplot in the GL tales, particularly after he was given his own self-titled book, with Green Lantern #1 (July–Aug. 1960) quickly making its debut following two more consecutive appearances of the Emerald Gladiator in the pages of Showcase. Things would be further complicated by the random appearances of Carol Ferris’ alter ego, Star Sapphire, introduced in Green Lantern #16 (Oct. 1962), who could be described as an amnesiac assailant toward Green Lantern. [Editor’s note: See BI #123 for a Star Sapphire history.] Over time, Jordan would be introduced to his overseers, the Guardians of the Universe from Oa, the planet where he would begin to learn the true scope of his duties as a Green Lantern in space sector 2814. A bit further down the road, he would become friendly with some of his fellow members of the Green Lantern Corps, which would become other important alliances and friendships, including the crimsonskinned Katma Tui from the planet Korugar and the bird-like Tomar Re, who hails from the planet Xudar. In his autobiography Man of Two Worlds, published by Harper Collins in 2002, Julie Schwartz recalled his involvement with the original Green Lantern—Alan Scott—and how the character was reintroduced to a new audience: “…eventually revamping him completely as a new character drawn by Gil Kane and modeled loosely on his neighbor at one time, the popular actor Paul Newman.

“On Green Lantern we moved his ring hand from the left to the right, changed his point of vulnerability, and eventually added an oversight committee of the cosmos called ‘The Guardians of the Universe.’ John [Broome, Green Lantern writer] and I didn’t have much of an idea about who the Guardians really were and we basically took their name from an old Captain Comet story that John had previously scripted [Strange Adventures #22, July 1952, ‘The Guardians of the Clockwork Universe’]. Putting our heads together for an alien switch, we decided that all of the Guardians should look alike. Gil Kane based their general appearance on the prime minister of Israel at that time, David Ben-Gurion. “We also gave the new Green Lantern a second identity in the far future of 5700 A.D. We chose that date at random by just looking at the telephone in my office: at the time, DC’s number was Plaza 9-5700.” As his adventures continued, Hal developed another important relationship at Ferris Aircraft with Thomas “Tom” Kalmaku, his mechanic with the unfortunate nickname of “Pieface.” Kalmaku would be entrusted with Hal’s secret identity and prove to be an important friend and ally in the future, more than once helping Hal out of a scrape thanks to his knowledge of his alter ego.

Here Come Misters Jordan (top) Abin Sur confirms Hal’s fearlessness, in Showcase #22. (bottom) The Bros. Jordan—Jack, Jim, and Hal—as introduced to Green Lantern readers in issue #9 (Nov.–Dec. 1961). TM & © DC Comics.

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right, he would sort of roll with the punches,” Jack observes. “Like some of the aspects of the character where he went from being a test pilot to a toy salesman. Okay, that’s quite a bit of a switch there. But it didn’t seem to bother him because he’s not afraid of anything. ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ Whenever I changed jobs, I always had a few weeks of being nervous about it, but him? Nah. I always thought that the test pilot was the best one to have. Still, you can do just about anything with him. “Another important thing about Hal Jordan is that he has the power of his will,” says Harris, “and he can create anything. That was the one thing I wondered about, and Denny and I discussed this when he was writing it. That particular aspect of the power was hard to play with because, as Denny pointed out, he couldn’t just will a machine gun into being unless he knew how a machine gun worked. He would have to know all the intricate mechanics of a machine gun for him to will it into being from his power ring. He could just hurl out naked force. That was no problem. But to create a mechanical device, he would have to know how that mechanical device was created. I thought that was a good observation and very true.” In later continuity, Hal again became a drifter, suffering something of an identity crisis after all he’d seen and done. His occasional resentment bubbled to the surface at the tremendous demands placed upon him as he bore the responsibility for space sector 2814. Jordan even went so far as to temporarily resign from his post, following what amounted to a solid year of exile in space imposed by the Guardians of the Universe. With issue #172 (Jan. 1984), Len Wein had taken over scripting duties with Dave Gibbons on art detail when Jordan approached the Guardians about granting his return to Earth. They agree, but it isn’t long until conflict arises yet again as Hal is dispatched to a distant world to keep it from exploding, much like Krypton. During his absence, Ferris Aircraft is leveled by evil-doers called the Demolition Team. Upon his return from the mission, in issue #180 (Sept. 1984), he learns of this and is overcome with guilt at not being present to intercede. Carol Ferris gives her love an ultimatum: the power ring or her. After agonizing between two lifedefining pathways and even consulting with colleagues from the Justice League of America, Hal Jordan has come to the momentous decision to leave behind his duties as a Green Lantern, and in issue #181 (Oct. 1984) he tenders his resignation. Later still, he would be placed into even more interesting conflicts by taking on the mantle of a supervillain called Parallax in the “Emerald Twilight” three-issue story arc in Green Lantern vol. 3 #48–50 (Jan.–Mar. 1994). The destruction of his hometown of Coast City led to Jordan snapping and ultimately destroying the Green Lantern Corps and even the Guardians themselves, save Ganthet. In another fascinating twist, within the pages of Day of Judgment #5 (Nov. 1999), Hal Jordan takes over for Jim Corrigan as the Spectre, hoping to atone for his acts as Parallax. Hal Jordan was resurrected, and recast in a more traditional light, in 2004’s six-issue Green Lantern: Rebirth miniseries, which revitalized the character and GL franchise. The last word from Jack C. Harris summarizes one of his favorite characters as follows: “I still think of him as the only Green Lantern. I have great respect for some of the later ones like John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. Fine, good, but Hal Jordan will always be Green Lantern. Alan Scott came first, but Green Lantern is Hal Jordan. He was my Green Lantern. The one I first met. The first one I became a huge fan of and the one I always liked the best.” Who, then, is Hal Jordan? Only the greatest Green Lantern of them all, who has kept an awful lot of balls in the air for his entire career between protecting an entire segment of the galaxy and serving alongside the greatest heroes of Earth while still trying his level best to be his own man with his own specific desires, You Should Never Cross Jordan relationships, and feelings. His indominable will and relentless sense of duty helped define his service as a Green Lantern. He is the original man without (top) Hal quits the GL Corps in Green Lantern fear, a complex and enduring character whose most #181 (Oct. 1984). Cover by Dave Gibbons. important traits, his fearlessness and iron will, continue, even in his most recent incarnation, where he has (bottom left) Hal becomes Parallax in Green become will itself in his semi-transparent emerald form. At his core, he continues with the same essence Lantern vol. 3 #50 (Mar. 1994). Cover by and sense of service to the Green Lantern Corps and Daryl Banks and Romeo Tanghal. (bottom the universe at large.

right) Guess who’s dying to become the new Spectre? Cover to Day of Judgment #5 (Nov. 1999) by Matt Smith and Steve Mitchell. TM & © DC Comics.

BRYAN STROUD is a longtime fan of DC Comics, particularly the Silver and Bronze Ages, and has had the opportunity to interview many of the creators from that era, which can be found at www.NerdTeam30.com. He is a frequent contributor to BACK ISSUE magazine, and owns a comic-book spinner rack that reminds him of his boyhood.

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Hello, class. To begin today’s lesson, we are going to do a little thought experiment. Imagine you’re in a contest, and your greatest tool or asset is such that your opponent’s is useless against it, and in fact, your tool draws power from his! Now, there may be psychological or physical differences between you, but for the sake of argument, let’s say they are not extreme. I think every one of us would agree that in all likelihood it would not take too many tries for you to win one of the contests. At least that’s conventional wisdom. However, that does not apply when we examine the career of the renegade Green Lantern known as Sinestro. Let’s see if we can find out why.

THAT OLD YELLOW MAGIC

by B r i a n

Martin

The crimson cad known as Sinestro first appeared in Green Lantern #7 (July–Aug. 1961), by John Broome, Gil Kane, and Joe Giella. The Guardians of the Universe summon GL and give him the lowdown on the first member of their Green Lantern Corps to turn rotten. Seduced by power and pride, and not mentally strong enough to resist, Sinestro set himself up in his own fortress and soon took control of his home planet, Korugar! The Guardians notice this, recall Sinestro, and sentence him to the anti-matter universe of Qward, where everyone is evil. The Qwardians had clashed with Green Lantern previously and lost. Sinestro tells them it is because they are not evil enough. He describes himself here as evil, but as we shall see, his feelings in that regard will later change. GL defeats Sinestro and leaves him imprisoned in a force bubble, not taking him back to the Guardians since he has been exiled. This imprisonment will be a recurring theme as well. The villain immediately returned in Green Lantern #9 (Nov.–Dec. 1961), this time with penciler Kane paired with inker Murphy Anderson. The story introduces the aspect of Sinestro everyone is familiar with: his yellow power ring. Does anyone in class not know that a Green Lantern’s power ring cannot affect yellow because of a “necessary impurity” in the Central Battery? Okay, good… let’s continue. It is revealed right away that the yellow ring actually absorbs green ring energy! Sinestro drains Hal’s ring, sets off for a meeting of Green Lanterns, and then drains all of their rings. Interestingly, the most profound statement may be in the editor’s note that says Sinestro’s ring is all yellow as if full of only the evil impurities that cause a GL’s ring not to affect that hue. GL beats him by pouring all his power into Sinestro’s weapon and overloading the yellow ring so it explodes. Strangely, during the

I Am Furious Yellow Detail from the cover of Green Lantern #52 (Apr. 1967). Art by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. TM & © DC Comics.

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