Back Issue #148 by TwoMorrows Publishing

December 2023

No.148 $10.95

82658 00513

Adam Strange DC Super-Stars of Space TM & © DC Comics.

IN THE BRONZE AGE!

Plus: Adam Strange by Bruning and Kubert From Beyond the Unknown • Fabulous World of Krypton Mongul villain history • The Omega Men

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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.

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!

Featuring a profile of The Partridge Family’s heartthrob DAVID CASSIDY, THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN, LEGO blocks, Who Created Mighty Mouse?, BUCKAROO BANZAI turns forty, Planet Patrol, Big Little Books, Disco Fever, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the Bionic Duo, LEE MAJORS and LINDSAY WAGNER! Plus: Hot Wheels: The Early Years, Fantastic Four cartoons, Modesty Blaise, Hostess snacks, TV Westerns, Movie Icons vs. the Axis Powers, the San Diego Chicken, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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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.

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.

Interview with Captain Kangaroo BOB KEESHAN, The ROCKFORD FILES, teen monster movies, the Kung Fu and BRUCE LEE crazes, JACK KIRBY’s comedy comics, DON DRYSDALE’s TV drop-ins, outrageous toys, Challenge of the Super Friends, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by 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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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Volume 1, Number 148 December 2023 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson (Originally produced as the cover of DC Comics’ Strange Adventures #222, Jan.–Feb. 1970. Art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy & friends SPECIAL THANKS Mike W. Barr Elliot S. Maggin Cary Bates Alissa Marmol-Cernat Richard Bruning Brian Martin DC Comics Shawn McManus Dave Gibbons David Michelinie Michael T. Gilbert Doug Moench Robert Luigi Novi Greenberger Jerry Ordway Dan Hagen Juan Ortiz Jack C. Harris Tom Powers Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Bob Rozakis Heritage Auctions Philip Schweier John Joshua Tod Smith Dan Jurgens Joe Staton Candace Kearney Laurie Sutton Todd Klein Peter J. Tomasi Adam Kubert Mark Waid Psul Kupperberg John Wells Paul Levitz Marv Wolfman

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IN MEMORIAM: Joe Giella and Steve Skeates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 BACK IN PRINT: From Beyond the Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Re-presenting DC’s Silver Age sci-fi tales for a 1970s audience FLASHBACK: The Post–Silver Age Perils of Adam Strange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Earthman-turned-spaceman Zeta-Beamed through numerous Bronze Age books PRINCE STREET NEWS: Superheroes Are Dumb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Comics commentary by cartoonist Karl Heitmueller, Jr. BEYOND CAPES: The Fabulous World of Krypton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 This Bronze Age backup series explored the lore of Superman’s homeworld GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: A Kryptonian Spinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 An unpublished ‘Fabulous World of Krypton’ backup BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Mongul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 This intergalactic warlord is not afraid to get his hands dirty in combat FLASHBACK: The Omega Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 This ’80s alien super-team soared from guest-appearances to a spacefaring DC series PRO2PRO: Adam Strange of Two Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Writer Richard Bruning and colorist Adam Kubert discuss their Adam Strange miniseries BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 BACK ISSUE™ issue 148, December 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 Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. Adam Strange TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury, except Prince Street News © 2023 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

DC Super-Stars of Space Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

IN MEMORIAM

Photo © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Mystery in Space, Adam Strange, Batman and Robin, Justice League of America TM & © DC Comics. Spider-Man, Hulk, Medusa TM & © Marvel.

JOE GIELLA (1928–2023)

Illustrator, inker, and loving family man Joe Giella died March 21, 2023, at age 94. A School of Industrial Art graduate, Giella’s career in comics began in the mid-1940s. During the Silver and Bronze Ages he was a DC Comics mainstay, particularly under editor Julius Schwartz, often inking the work of Carmine Infantino (The Flash, Green Lantern, Adam Strange in Mystery in Space, Batman and Detective Comics) and Dick Dillin (Justice League of America, World’s Finest Comics). In the 1970s, his byline occasionally appeared in Marvel publications. A US Navy veteran, Giella also illustrated comic strips, including Batman and Mary Worth.

Photo © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Aquaman, Plop!, Plastic Man TM & © DC Comics. Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham TM & © Marvel.

IN MEMORIAM

STEVE SKEATES (1943–2023) Writer Steve Skeates died on March 30, 2023, at age 80. After a brief stint on Marvel’s editorial staff in the mid-1960s, Skeates began writing for several publishers including Marvel (Kid Colt Outlaw, Two Gun Kid) and Tower (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Undersea Agent). He was a frequent contributor to Charlton Comics, adept at horror (The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves), adventure (Hercules), and licensed properties (Abbott and Costello). When Charlton editor Dick Giordano jumped to DC in the late 1960s, he brought along Skeates to revolutionize Aquaman and Teen Titans. Skeates is fondly remembered for his humor comics, including stories for Plop!, Plastic Man, Underdog, and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.

by D a n

Hagen

Fueled by Shell (left) Joe Kubert’s cover to From Beyond the Unknown #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1969). Editor Julius Schwartz’s new reprint title re-presented stories from DC’s Schwartz-edited sci-fi library, including (right) Strange Adventures #118 (July 1960), where “The Turtle-Men of Space!” first appeared. Cover by Sid Greene. TM & © DC Comics.

In DC Comics’ 25-issue run of From Beyond the Unknown, children’s dreams of the 1950s and early 1960s were transplanted into the troubled sleep of the 1970s. In July 1969, when the first issue of From Beyond the Unknown (FBTU) appeared on newsstands with an October–November cover date, it sat there alongside Strange Adventures (SA) #220, a title already in its fourth issue of reprinting the early Silver Age adventures of DC’s spaceman hero, Adam Strange—who had originally appeared in Mystery in Space (MIS), not Strange Adventures. Sales were presumably satisfactory enough to justify adding a new title devoted solely to science-fiction reprints. At the time, publishers were tentatively attempting to expand in genres beyond superheroes, which were in danger of seeming passé now that the Batman TV show had burned itself out. That same month, Marvel published the first issue of Chamber of Darkness, a new horror title. The month before, Marvel had added the horror title Tower of Shadows. And three months before, DC had introduced Nightmaster in Showcase #83,

venturing into the sword-and-sorcery genre newly popularized by paperback reprints of Robert E. Howard’s Conan and JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Published from 1969 to 1973, FBTU’s reprints were largely drawn from Mystery in Space and what I consider to be the golden era of Strange Adventures—roughly from the 20-40megacyle-beeping arrival of the Russian Sputnik satellite in 1957 to the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Then came the escalation of the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Riots had erupted in 100 cities, and the police and antiwar demonstrators clashed violently at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. American deaths in Vietnam had climbed from five in 1960 to 16,899 in the year 1968 alone. So the America of 1970 was an appreciably darker place than the America of 1960—despite the nuclear cloud that had hung over the former (civilization had nearly come to an end in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962). And even an innocuous reprint comic book subtly reflected that change.

DC Super-Stars of Space Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

COVER STORIES

Prints of Darkness (left) Artist Murphy Anderson offers a bird’s-eye view of the “Giants of the Cosmic Ray!” cover of FBTU #2 (Dec. 1969–Jan. 1970). (right) Artists Gil Kane and Joe Giella’s cover for the story’s original publication in Strange Adventures #82 (July 1957). TM & © DC Comics.

a penny apiece in clear plastic bags during the “The vast majority of the [editor Julius “Julie”] decade, until the Vietnam War eroded their Schwartz covers were what might be called popularity). Massage those interests for a while in your ‘situational,’ showing an interesting plot point from the story to intrigue the reader,” observed subconscious, and you might come up with the Mike W. Barr in TwoMorrows’ Silver Age Sci-Fi idea that turtles are armored, and military tanks are armored, so why not a gigantic turtle Companion. “Covers emphasizing action… carrying alien military invaders? had been a staple of comics since Sid Greene’s gigantic Trojan Horse the medium’s inception, but had turtle on the Strange Adventures largely fallen by the wayside cover, stretching its neck toward due to DC’s dominance of the a fighter jet, almost appears to industry until resurrected by Stan be laughing in delight. But Joe Lee with the advent of Marvel Kubert’s FBTU #1’s giant turtle Comics in the 1960s.” looms in the foreground, towering The FBTU covers remained over the human soldiers and looking situational, but were now slightly as if he might well eat them. more sinister in keeping with the If Murphy Anderson’s cover times. for FBTU #2 (Dec. 1969–Jan. Take, for example, the cover 1970) seems similar to Gil Kane’s of From Beyond the Unknown’s murphy anderson original cover spotlighting the first issue. © DC Comics. story “Giants of the Cosmic Ray!” The cover story is “The TurtleMen from Space” by writer Gardner Fox and (SA #82, July 1957), that’s probably because artist Mike Sekowsky, originally from SA #118 there was no need to rework the idea, which was already sinister enough. (July 1960). Both covers feature puzzled authorities examBoys in 1960 often had pet turtles in little plastic water dishes that sported a plastic palm ining a spaceship that bears a gigantic handprint tree, and even more frequently owned green and sits next to a monstrous three-toed footprint. plastic “Army Men” (sold in bulk for as little as The Anderson cover makes the humans appear

4 • BACK ISSUE • DC Super-Stars of Space Issue

What in Grodd’s Name?? Where there’s editor Julie Schwartz, you’ll find gorilla covers! (top) Murph monkeys around with FBTU #5’s (June–July 1970) cover. (bottom left) It’s Planet of the Apes-meets-Land of the Giants on Kubert’s cover to issue #14 (Dec. 1971– Jan. 1972). (bottom right) Nick Cardy’s gorilla on FBTU #23’s (July–Aug. 1973) cover enjoys curling up with a good book… or three! TM & © DC Comics.

even tinier and more vulnerable, though (incidentally, the issue included a text profile of Anderson). In 1964, that very cover idea would be explored at length in the penultimate Twilight Zone episode, “The Fear.” Mark Richman and Hazel Court starred as a state trooper and a fashion editor at a lonely mountain cabin who were up against what appeared to be an invasion by alien giants. Between 1960 and 1970, science fiction became science fact in the most spectacular way possible. On July 20, 1969, humanity became an extraterrestrial species. And in the 4th FBTU issue (Apr.–May 1970), short on letters of comment, Schwartz took the opportunity to reprint part of a letters page from Mystery in Space #57 (Feb. 1960) that speculated on the date of a Moon landing. Schwartz had noted at that time that Dr. Herbert York of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, US Navy Capt. R. C. Truax, and famed aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun all essentially predicted a Moon landing within a decade. Schwartz’s pride in their scientific accuracy was apparent. In 1968, the film Planet of the Apes had been a huge commercial and critical success, ultimately spawning a franchise and a renewed career in science fiction for its star, Charlton Heston. So it was undoubtedly no coincidence that FBTU #5 (June–July 1970) featured an Anderson cover showing a police officer who reveals a master criminal named Mr. X to be an intelligent, gloating gorilla in disguise. That heralded a reprint of the Edmond Hamilton/ Sy Barry story “The Gorilla Who Challenged the World” (SA #55, Apr. 1955). The FBTU issue appeared on newsstands in April 1970, a mere month before the release of Beneath the Planet of the Apes starring James Franciscus and Heston. The Planet of the Apes craze was particularly fortuitous for DC Comics, which had reams of super-gorilla stories ready for republication in its files [followed by Jack Kirby’s Planet of the Apes–inspired series, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth—ed.]. The 14th issue (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972) would coverfeature “The Human Pet of Gorilla Land!,” a John Broome/Carmine Infantino story from Strange Adventures #108 (Sept. 1959). And the 23rd issue would cover-feature “Secret of the Man-Ape!,” an Otto Binder/Infantino story about a simian spy, from SA #75 (Dec. 1956). The sixth FBTU issue (Aug.–Sept. 1970) featured a variation on the theme of humans being dominated by intelligent animals. DC Super-Stars of Space Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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

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

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

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.

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BACK ISSUE #141

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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!

SUPER ISSUE! Superboy’s Bronze Age adventures, and interviews with GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK of the Superboy live-action TV series. Plus: Super Goof, Super Richie (Rich), Super-Dagwood, Super Mario Bros., Frank Thorne’s Far Out Green Super Cool, NICK MEGLIN and JACK DAVIS’ Superfan, and more! Featuring a Superboy and Krypto cover by DAVE COCKRUM! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

A special tribute issue to NEAL ADAMS (1941–2022), celebrating his Bronze Age DC Comics contributions! In-depth Batman and Superman interviews, ‘Green Lantern/Green Arrow’—Fifty Years Later, Neal Adams—Under the Radar, Continuity Associates, a ‘Rough Stuff’ pencil art gallery, Power Records, and more! Re-presenting Adams’ iconic cover art to BATMAN #227. (Plus: See ALTER EGO #181!)

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BRONZE AGE SAVAGE LANDS, starring Ka-Zar in the 1970s! Plus: Turok—Dinosaur Hunter, DON GLUT’s Dagar and Tragg, Annihilus and the Negative Zone, Planet of Vampires, Pat Mills’s Flesh (from 2000AD), and WALTER SIMONSON and MIKE MIGNOLA’s Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure. With CONWAY, GULACY, HAMA, NICIEZA, SEARS, THOMAS, and more! JOHN BUSCEMA cover!

SPIDER-ROGUES ISSUE! Villain histories MEN WITHOUT FEAR, featuring of Dr. Octopus, Lizard, Kingpin, Spidey’s Daredevil’s swinging ’70s adventures! mob foes, the Jackal and Carrion, Tarantula, Plus: Challengers of the Unknown in the Puma, plus the rehabilitation of Sandman! Bronze Age, JEPH LOEB interview about Featuring the work of ANDRU, SAL his Challs and DD projects with TIM SALE, BUSCEMA, CONWAY, DeFALCO, GIL Sinestro and Mr. Fear histories, superheroes with disabilities, and... Who Is Hal KANE, McFARLANE, MILLER, POLLARD, Jordan? Featuring CONWAY, ENGLEHART, JOHN ROMITA JR. & SR., STERN, THOMAS, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and more! McKENZIE, ROZAKIS, STATON, THOMAS, WOLFMAN, & more! GENE COLAN cover! DUSTY ABELL cover!

Great Hera, it’s the 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF BACK ISSUE, featuring a tribute to the late, great GEORGE PÉREZ! Wonder Woman: The George Pérez Years, Pérez’s 20 Greatest Hits of the Bronze Age, Pérez’s fanzine days, a Pérez remembrance by MARV WOLFMAN, a Wonder Woman interview with MINDY NEWELL, and more! With a stunning Wonder Woman cover by Pérez!

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Adam Strange was dead, Julius Schwartz concluded, at least in terms of being an ongoing character. It was time to tie things up and move on. Born on Earth, Adam was an archaeologist who had been struck by a communication beacon-turned-teleporter called a “Zeta-Beam” [“Zeta Beam” in some later texts] back in 1958. Swept 25 trillion miles away to the planet Rann in the Alpha Centauri star system, the blond young man quickly established himself as the hero of a fragmented civilization still struggling to recover from a nuclear war a millennium in its past. Locales ran the gamut from the scientific advancement of Ranagar and the primitive superstition of Yardana. The Zeta-Beam wore off, but julius schwartz its inventor Sardath had fired a lot of them at Earth and Adam was determined to catch every one. Adam had fallen in love with Sardath’s daughter Alanna, and a little thing like 4.5 light years wasn’t going to stand in his way. Nor was the language barrier, thanks to a translation device called a Menticizer. by J o For five years, boy met girl under the green skies hn Wells of Rann, and all was good. Well, aside from dealing with things like Tornado Tyrants and ray-guns in the sky or fading away during a lovers’ embrace.

THE SILVER AGE WAS HIS GOLDEN AGE

“Science dictated that you could only see Alpha Centauri from below the equator,” Julius “Julie” Schwartz explained in his biography Man of Two Worlds (2000), “so we always had to get Adam down there to hook up with [a Zeta-Beam]. It couldn’t be in Hollywood or New York. I remember we set one down in Rio during Carnival and another in the South Pacific.” Created by Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox for 1958’s Showcase #17–19, the Adam Strange series concept was broadly based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp adventures of John Carter on Mars, although Fox insisted the parallel had been unconscious. Adam’s sharp red and white costume was designed by Murphy Anderson, and the initial stories drawn by Mike Sekowsky.

Beam Me Up, Julie! Strange Adventures #217’s (Mar.–Apr. 1969) logo was altered to promote DC’s sci-fi hero as editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz attempted to boost Adam Strange’s visibility for the burgeoning Bronze Age! Cover art by Neal Adams. Unless otherwise noted, all scans accompanying this article are courtesy of John Wells. TM & © DC Comics.

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It wasn’t until Adam was awarded an ongoing series in Mystery in Space (MIS) #53 (June 1959) that Carmine Infantino began penciling the feature and everything clicked into place. The cartoonist’s sense of design and futurism defined the series for generations. The rich, luxurious inking of Murphy Anderson—a frequent contributor to the strip—brought Infantino’s pencils to a higher plane and made most fans swoon. The art was only part of the reason that Adam Strange became a critical favorite in the early 1960s. Although not known for his characterization, Fox invested Adam and Alanna’s relationship with genuine sweetness and a degree of mutual support that stood in contrast to most superhero romances of the era. Alanna loved adventures and exploration every bit as much as her boyfriend. Schwartz and Fox also eschewed the cliché brutal, shoot-first mentality in favor of making Adam a “thinking man’s hero,” someone who typically employed a scientific principle in solving the latest threat—alien or native—to Rann. His heroism utterly unknown on Earth, Adam nonetheless made the acquaintance of the Justice League of America (in 1962’s MIS #75 and 1963’s JLA #24). He also became fast friends with Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who briefly had their own feature in Mystery in Space #87–90 that culminated with a spectacular team-up. The archaeologist and the museum curators had much in common even beyond larger-than-life heroics. In 1964, Schwartz, Fox, and Infantino were assigned to overhaul Batman, leaving Adam (effective with MIS #92) at the mercy of editor Jack Schiff, writer Dave Wood, and artist Lee Elias. Dumbed down and stripped of his signature finned hood, Adam lingered for a year before ceding his spot to Ultra the MultiAlien in Mystery in Space #103. Regretting that the character had gone out with a whimper, Schwartz and Fox put their heads together in 1966. Joined by artist Murphy Anderson, they brought Adam back for a last hurrah, a team-up in Hawkman #18 where Sardath negated the Zeta-energy in Adam’s body and enabled him to stay on Rann permanently. There was a downside, of course: “You can no longer return to Earth without suffering instant death.” Adam took the news in stride, quickly scheduling a wedding to Alanna. The procession was interrupted by the evil Man-Hawks, but readers were left to assume that the couple lived happily ever after.

Silver Age Spacemen (top left) Carmine Infantino’s art enlivened the early Adam Strange adventures. Cover to MIS #60 (June 1960). Inks by Joe Giella. (top right) Adam occasionally joined forces with the Winged Wonder, including Hawkman #18 (Feb.–Mar. 1967). Cover by Murphy Anderson. (bottom) Michael T. Gilbert’s delicious salute to Adam and DC’s Silver Age sci-fi pantheon in a fantasy cover commission from the collection of John Joshua. Color version courtesy of Michael T. Gilbert. Adam Strange and all characters TM & © DC Comics.

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Adam Strange Returns A titanic trio of talent—writer Denny O’Neil, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Murphy Anderson—present Adam’s return to new stories in Strange Adventures #222 (Jan.–Feb. 1970), the title’s first Bronze Age issue. Original art page courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). (inset) The comic’s cover, whose art was repurposed for this issue’s BI cover. TM & © DC Comics.

BLAST-OFF FROM EARTH— DESTINATION RANN

Imagine Schwartz’s surprise when he was once again assigned to edit the adventures of Adam Strange, effective with January 1969’s Strange Adventures (SA) #217 (cover-dated Mar.–Apr. 1969). Although DC management had abruptly killed the book’s “Deadman” feature, they were reluctant to cancel such a long-running title. Instead, they handed it back to its original editor, who was charged with continuing it as a reprint book filled with SF stories from 1950–1963. The headliner, whose name could be neatly integrated into the book’s logo, was Adam Strange. Appropriately, it and issue #218 started off by reprinting Adam’s first two appearances from Showcase #17. Schwartz perhaps didn’t want to waste time getting to the more celebrated Infantino, so he skipped over the other Showcase issues and re-ran Mystery in Space #53 in Strange Adventures #219. Moving forward, the book also skipped MIS #54, 56–58, 60, 61, and 66 before settling in for an uninterrupted run with SA #227 (reprinting MIS #67). The clamor for new Adam Strange stories started immediately, and Schwartz obliged with “an untold tale” written by Denny O’Neil in SA #222 (Jan.–Feb. 1970), on sale in November 1969. Illustrated by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson, “Beyond the Wall of Death” was a good-looking piece that lacked the scientific elements associated with the series. Instead, the plot replayed the legend of the Trojan Horse as Adam and a group of Rannians worked to free damsel-in-distress Alanna from a barbarian tribe. The tale’s most uncharacteristic moment came when Adam (in reference to the kidnappers) snarled, “Nuts! Let’s wipe ’em out!” So much for the thinking man’s hero. Writing as Sergius O’Shaugnessy in issue #225’s letters column, O’Neil declared, “I would never write stories like those currently being reprinted in Strange Adventures [but] I certainly enjoy reading them. To strain a metaphor, they are part of that legion of psyche-sculptors which formed my head; like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon and the guys on the radio from 4 to 6 daily, they stimulated my sense of the mysterious, the beyond—in a word, wonder.” Elsewhere, Adam’s presence in Strange Adventures inspired editor Murray Boltinoff and writer Bob Haney to feature him alongside Batman in The Brave and the Bold (B&B) #90 (June–July 1970). The

premise had a solar flare affecting the Zeta-Beam, temporarily bouncing Adam into Earth’s future, where he tore off a fragment of a newspaper reporting the Caped Crusader’s death. After Adam shared his discovery, an unnerved Batman briefly took refuge on Rann before deciding to accept whatever was to come. Fans took issue with a multitude of details, starting with the fact that Adam’s role in the story was more catalyst than guest-star. The wonky use of the Zeta-Beam drew criticism, as did the fact that Adam was using it at all, since he’d permanently relocated to Rann. Nor, despite a caption to the contrary, was Rann in another galaxy. (It was in our own.) Finally, the normally bald, bespectacled Sardath was depicted by artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito as having long hair and no glasses. Haney used half of B&B #92’s letters column to defend himself. Schwartz hoped for better success by having Gardner Fox himself write another new Adam DC Super-Stars of Space Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

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Schweier

Superman #233 (Jan. 1971) is a landmark issue of one of DC Comics’ longest-running series. With its iconic “Kryptonite Nevermore!” cover by Neal Adams, it heralds a new era for the Man of Steel. Longtime Superman editor Mort Weisinger had retired, handing over the reins to his colleague, Julius “Julie” Schwartz, who sought to update the character for the 1970s. [Editor’s note: Schwartz was assigned Superman and World’s Finest Comics, with the remaining Superman family titles in other editors’ hands until Schwartz eventually inherited the entire Superman line. See BI #12 or the TwoMorrows book The Krypton Companion for the story behind Superman’s revamp.] In addition, Schwartz introduced a new backup feature: “The Fabulous World of Krypton” (subtitled “Untold stories of Superman’s native planet”). According to longtime DC Comics writer Cary Bates, “Given Julie’s lifelong love of science fiction, it was probably his idea to explore stories of what life was like on a distant planet—which just happened to be Krypton.” Throughout the 1970s, Bates wrote for the Superman books and other titles under Schwartz’s editorship. He regards the Fabulous World of Krypton (FWOK) stories as cousins to the scores of eight-page stories that ran in Schwartz’s longrunning Strange Adventure and Mystery in Space books of previous decades. The feature offered opportunities for refreshing chances and narrative departures that went beyond the boundaries of the superhero books of the day. It fell to Schwartz as editor to maintain a consistent tone for the feature, even though it was written and drawn by a broad range of creative personnel. Elliot S. Maggin, another prolific DC writer of the era, says, “Julie took the same degree of handson approach he did with all our stories. He liked to plot them with us in person, but we had a good degree of flexibility when it came to execution of the scripts.” Following his DC debut with Green Arrow backup story in Green Lantern #87 (Dec.1970– Jan. 1971), Maggin began writing DC’s flagship character with “Must There Be a Superman?’ in Superman #247 (Jan. 1972). Schwartz edited both titles. “I got the impression that Julie made individual assignments based, as much as anything else, on who was walking by the office door that day,” Maggin says. “So I made a point of hanging around as much as I reasonably could.” His editor often credited the writer in print as “Elliot S! Maggin.”

Welcome to Krypton Page 1 of the first “Fabulous World of Krypton” story, written by E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by Murphy Anderson. From Superman #233 (Jan. 1971). TM & © DC Comics.

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‘THE FABULOUS WORLD OF KRYPTON’ CHECKLIST Superman #233 (Jan. 1971) “Jor-El’s Golden Folly” Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell Artist: Murphy Anderson Superman #234 (Feb. 1971) “Prison in the Sky” Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell Artist: Curt Swan Superman #236 (Apr. 1971) “The Doomsayer!” Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Giordano Superman #238 (June 1971) “A Name Is Born” Writer: Cary Bates Artist: Gray Morrow Superman #240 (July 1971) “The Man Who Cheated Time” Writer: Cary Bates Artist: Michael William Kaluta Superman #243 (Oct. 1971) “The Death Trails of Krypton!” Writer: Cary Bates Artists: Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson Superman #246 (Dec. 1971) “Marriage, Kryptonian Style!” Writer: Cary Bates Artists: Rich Buckler and Murphy Anderson Superman #248 (Feb. 1972) “All in the Mind!” Writer: Marv Wolfman Artist: Dave Cockrum Superman #251 (May 1972) “The Day Krypton Didn’t Die!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artist: Rich Buckler Superman #255 (Aug. 1972) “‘Moon-Crossed’ Love!” Writer: Mike Friedrich Artist: Dick Giordano Superman #257 (Oct. 1972) “The Greatest Green Lantern of All!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artists: Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano

Superman #260 (Jan. 1973) “Let My People Live!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artists: Bob Brown and Dave Cockrum Superman #263 (Apr. 1973) “Unhappy Birthday to You!” Writer: Cary Bates Artists: Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin Note: Expands an idea introduced in Superman #249 (Mar. 1972). Superman #264 (June 1973) “The Headband Warriors of Krypton!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artist: Dave Cockrum Superman #266 (Aug. 1973) “The Face on the Falling Star!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artists: Dick Dillin and Joe Giella Superman #268 (Oct. 1973) “A Tale of Time and Tide!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artists: Dick Dillin and Murphy Anderson Superman #271 (Jan. 1974) “The Warriors of Lightning Valley!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artist: Dick Giordano Superman #275 (May 1974) “The Princess and the Glass Treemen!” Writer: Elliot S. Maggin Artists: Curt Swan and Dick Giordano (with Frank McLaughlin) Note: Superman tells a story of his mother telling a story. Superman #279 (Sept. 1974) “The Magic Master of Krypton!” Writer: Cary Bates Artists: Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell Superman #282 (Dec. 1974) “The Loneliest Man in the Universe” Writer: Martin Pasko Artist: Ernie Chan Note: Revisited by Pasko in Superman #311 (Apr. 1975).

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Superman #286 (Apr. 1975) “The Demon in Superboy’s Body!” Writer: Martin Pasko Artists: Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell The Superman Family #182 (Mar.–Apr. 1977) “The Stranger” Writer: Paul Kupperberg Artists: Marshall Rogers and Frank Springer Superman #352 (Oct. 1980) “The Mark of a Citizen!” Writer: Paul S. Newman Artists: Rich Buckler and Joe Giella Superman #356 (Feb. 1981) “The Exile from Krypton!” Writer: Paul S. Newman Artists: Jose Delbo and Kim DeMulder Superman #360 (June 1981) “Day into Night—Night into Day!” Writer: Bob Rozakis Artists: Alex Saviuk and Vince Colletta Superman #367 (Jan. 1982) “…And Not a Drop to Drink” Writer: Martin Pasko Artist: Gil Kane Superman #375 (Sept. 1982) “Last ‘Scoop’ on Krypton!” Writer: Bob Rozakis Artist: Gil Kane Several stories were reprinted in The Best of DC digest #40 (Sept. 1983), Superman: World of Krypton trade paperback (2008), and Superman: The Many Worlds of Krypton trade paperback (2018). Special thanks to John Wells.

Bates and Maggin were the principal writers of the Superman titles in the 1970s. “We lived around the corner from each other in Queens, and we spent a lot of late nights drinking coffee at a diner nearby,” describes Maggin. “I guess neither of us was much interested in sleep at the time. We hung out a lot together talking about story ideas and wringing our hands over whatever the rumor of the month was.”

“For the most part, we had surprisingly free rein to extrapolate or reimagine a wide variety of untold aspects of Kryptonian society, its history, its science, etc.,” explains Bates. Bates remembers being “blown away” by the artwork, drawn by Gray Morrow, when the pages came in. Accustomed to his stories being drawn by seasoned Silver Age pros, it was a treat for him to see how younger, lesser-known artists would handle his scripts. IN THE BEGINNING… “Gray Morrow, of course, was already In the 1960s, E. Nelson Bridwell a legend in the industry when served as Weisinger’s editorial we collaborated,” says Bates. assistant. To help develop continu“He and I would find oure. nelson bridwell ity among the various Superman selves working together again © DC Comics. titles, he standardized Krypton’s a decade later on a Buck Rogers calendar and alphabet, created a planetary flag, newspaper strip put out by the New York Times and developed some of the social tenets common Syndicate.” to Kryptonian society. “Nelson was a walking encyclopedia of all things Krypton,” explains Bates, “so he was a valuable resource for all of us when it came to expanding or experimenting with what had been established in previous stories. He was always there to give us feedback or offer input if necessary to keep things on track with previous continuity.” This made Bridwell a natural choice to write the inaugural FWOK installment, “Jor-El’s Golden Folly.” Drawn by Murphy Anderson, the seven-page story tells of how Superman’s parents Jor-El and Lara met and fell in love. Jor-El’s opposition to the death penalty inspired the next issue’s follow-up FWOK tale, in Superman #234 (Feb. 1971). “Prison in the Sky” was also scripted by Bridwell, this time illustrated by Curt Swan—on pencils and inks. Since Bridwell was a major contributor to Kryptonian culture, surprisingly, these were his only two stories under the FWOK banner. Subsequent tales were written by a variety of authors that included Dennis O’Neil, Marv Wolfman, and Mike Friedrich. But it would be perennial Superman scribes Cary Bates and Elliot S. Maggin that crafted the lion’s share of the stories. Maggin enjoyed incorporating established ideas into his stories. “Nelson was positively militant about having everything consistent with everything else. So he was thrilled when we came up with anything like incorporating the Glass Forest or any other throwaway idea he had conceived of that had never been particularly developed before.” Bates offered the fourth entry in the series in Superman #238 (June 1971). “A Name Is Born” relates how the planet Krypton was named by two space travelers from separate worlds—a man named Kryp and a woman named Tonn. Certainly such a tale is rather on the nose, but readers should bear in mind, these tales of Superman’s home world are not matters of undeniable fact, but cultural lore open to broad interpretation. Many of the FWOK stories use a framing device of one person relating the story to another, so details became rather fluid. In the case of “A Name Is Born,” a teacher shares the story with her students, to capture their collective attention.

Staking Their Claim In a merger as important as chocolate and peanut butter, space adventurers Kryp and Tonn introduce themselves. By Cary Bates and Gray Morrow. From Superman #238 (June 1971). TM & © DC Comics.

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“Far below, two dense and massive creatures crash together like angry planets. [...] Their enmity can only be measured in the skipped heartbeats of distant seismographs.” – “For the Man Who Has Everything,” Superman Annual #11 (1985)

by A

lissa Marmol-Cernat

That is the way the titanic clash between Superman and Mongul is described at the climax of the villain’s most iconic appearance, and indeed the ability to physically take on the Man of Tomorrow is what had set Mongul apart from other Bronze Age menances for the longest time. Even subject to a decrease in power once the Crisis had rewritten history, Mongul remained a formidable enemy to various heroes well into the mid-1990s and up until his len wein unceremonious death at the © DC Comics. hands of the demon Neron. As we take the scenic route in this exploration of the tyrant’s history, we’ll touch on everything that had come along the way and all the destruction in-between.

FORCED ENTRY

Mongul’s debut in “The Key that Unlocked Chaos!,” published in DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov. 1980), was an abrupt one in the most literal sense: the first sighting of his strange, jaundiced features is in a holographic message unexpectedly transmitted via scrambled signal to Clark Kent’s unassuming apartment on the very first page of the story. The danger is stark from the get-go as Mongul’s message explains he’s imprisoned Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Steve Lombard in a cube meant to crush them if Superman refuses to do his bidding. In fact, co-creators Len Wein and Jim Starlin waste no time in establishing a series of facts that would come to haunt Kal-El throughout the remainder of the Bronze Age: Mongul was keenly aware of both his heroic exploits and his civilian identity.

Meet Mongul (If You Dare) Our spotlighted interstellar despot first appeared in the Superman/Martian Manhunter team-up in DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov. 1980). Cover by Jim Starlin. This was an exciting period for DCCP: the New Teen Titans preview had premiered in the previous issue, and Mongul’s first storyline would continue in #28. TM & © DC Comics.

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