Back Issue #156 by TwoMorrows Publishing

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS ISSUE! b Decem

er 20

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Spotlighting 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, featuring Bolton • Byrne • Chaykin • Claremont • García-López • Guice • Kaluta Kirby • Russell • Sienkiewicz • Starlin • Wrightson & more!

Satiate Your Sinister Side!

“Greetings, creep culturists! For my debut

All characters and properties TM & © their respective owners.

issue, I, the CRYPTOLOGIST (with the help of FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child! But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films? And if Atlas pre-Code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen WILL MURRAY, MARK VOGER, BARRY FORSHAW, TIM LEESE, PETE VON SHOLLY, and STEVE and MICHAEL KRONENBERG!” (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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CRYPTOLOGY #2

CRYPTOLOGY #3

CRYPTOLOGY #4

The Cryptologist and his ghastly little band have cooked up more grisly morsels, including: ROGER HILL’s conversation with our diabolical cover artist DON HECK, severed hand films, pre-Code comic book terrors, the otherworldly horrors of Hammer’s Quatermass, another Killer “B” movie classic, plus spooky old radio shows, and the horror-inspired covers of the Shadow’s own comic book. Start the ghoul-year with retro-horror done right by FORSHAW, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, RICHARD HAND, VON SHOLLY, and editor PETER NORMANTON.

This third wretched issue inflicts the dread of MARS ATTACKS upon you—the banned cards, the model kits, the despicable comics, and a few words from the film’s deranged storyboard artist PETE VON SHOLLY! The chilling poster art of REYNOLD BROWN gets brought up from the Cryptologist’s vault, along with a host of terrifying puppets from film, and more comic books they’d prefer you forget! Plus, more Hammer Time, JUSTIN MARRIOT on obscure ’70s fear-filled paperbacks, another Killer “B” film, and more to satiate your sinister side!

Our fourth putrid tome treats you to ALEX ROSS’ gory lowdown on his Universal Monsters paintings! Hammer Time brings you face-to-face with the “Brides of Dracula”, and the Cryptologist resurrects 3-D horror movies and comics of the 1950s! Learn the origins of slasher films, and chill to the pre-Code artwork of Atlas’ BILL EVERETT and ACG’s 3-D maestro HARRY LAZARUS. Plus, another Killer “B” movie and more awaits retro horror fans, by NORMANTON, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, VOGER, and VON SHOLLY!

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Volume 1, Number 156 December 2024 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury ASSOCIATE EDITOR Roger Ash

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks COVER ARTIST Bernie Wrightson (Detail from the cover of the Marvel graphic novel The Incredible Hulk and the Thing in The Big Change. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions.) COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Kevin Sharp SPECIAL THANKS Mike Baron Paul Kupperberg Cary Bates Gary Kwapisz Jerry Bingham James Heath Lantz John Bolton Ed Lute Liliana Bolton Ralph Macchio Pat Broderick Elliot S. Maggin Richard Bruning Marvel Comics Bob Budiansky Brian Martin Gerry Conway Val Mayerik Arthur Byron Cover Matt Merante Tom DeFalco David Michelinie Tom DeHaven Pat Mills J. M. DeMatteis Doug Moench Robert Loren Fleming Carl Potts Stephan Friedt Ron Randall José Luis García-López Bob Rozakis Alex Grand P. Craig Russell Robert Greenberger Pat Scanlon Jackson Guice Jim Starlin Larry Hama Roger Stern Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Roy Thomas Heritage Auctions Rick Veitch Klaus Janson David Wenzel Todd Klein

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Roger Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: The Death of Captain Marvel and the Birth of the Marvel Graphic Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 It all started with a Jim Starlin project… BEYOND CAPES: Marvel’s Graphic Novels of Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 From Elric to Heartburst to Neuromancer, Marvel’s eclectic early graphic novels FLASHBACK: Marvel Superhero Graphic Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The expanded exploits of the X-Men, Spidey, the Punisher, and other Marvel heroes BEYOND CAPES: Marvel’s Conan Graphic Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Robert E. Howard’s popular barbarian was perfect for graphic interpretation PRINCE STREET NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 A new cartoon by Karl Heitmueller, Jr. FLASHBACK: The DC Graphic Novel Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Hope you’re not looking for Superman or Batman among DC’s earliest GNs BEYOND CAPES: The DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 An ambitious but short-lived effort to adapt sci-fi novels to comics FLASHBACK: First Comics’ Graphic Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 1980s indie publisher First released an impressive array of GNs BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 BACK ISSUE™ issue 156, December 2024 (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. Roger Ash, Associate Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Roger Ash, Associate Editor, 2715 Birchwood Pass, Apt. 7, Cross Plains, WI 53528. Email: rogerash@hotmail.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 Bernie Wrightson, originally produced as the cover of Hulk/Thing in The Big Change graphic novel. All characters depicted are TM & © Marvel, except Dreadstar © Jim Starlin. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2024 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury, except Prince Street News © 2024 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by R

Photo credit: Jesse Chieffo.

Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green by Don McGregor and Marshall Rogers. I’m sure I didn’t grasp all the nuances of the story when I read it as a teen, but it’s a gripping tale of revenge, sex, and murder. The story reads like a very adult version of the classic television show, I Spy. Eclipse would score a couple more times for me as well. I discovered McGregor’s earlier graphic novel Sabre, drawn by Paul Gulacy, and Stewart the Rat by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan. The latter was Gerber’s attempt to create lightning in a bottle again after leaving Marvel and suing them for ownership of Howard the Duck. Unfortunately, the graphic novel was the one and only appearance of Stewart. Other early graphic novels that influenced me include two from Heavy Metal. The first I consider the best movie adaptation ever, Alien by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson. If you’re a fan of the Alien franchise and you’ve never read this, do yourself a favor and seek it out. The other is 1941 by Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch, which is the most bizarre movie adaptation I’ve ever read. It reads like a fever dream version of the movie and is downright hilarious! But for many mainstream comic fans, it was Marvel’s entry into graphic novels that introduced them to the form. You’ll read much more about them, and graphic novels from DC and First, in this issue. Marvel’s first, The Death of Captain Marvel, remains a personal favorite. I find it interesting that Mar-Vell is one of the very few superheroes who has never returned from the dead. I’m glad for that. His death from cancer was impactful, and writer/artist Jim Starlin actually tied it back to Captain Marvel #34 (Sept. 1974) and his battle with Nitro. Of course, other publishers got into the act as well. Doug Wildey’s Rio from Comico is an outstanding Western and beautiful to see. It was likely Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the story of his father’s trials in Nazi Germany, that introduced the general public to the form. But, enough from me. You’ve got some great reading ahead. Just turn the page.

Graphic novels © the respective copyright holders.

If you were with us last issue, you know that editor-in-chief Michael Eury is retiring and I am stepping in as the new editor of BACK ISSUE. I fully realize those are some mighty big shoes to fill. While my name may not be familiar, I have been involved with comics for over 30 years. Many of those were spent working for the mail order retailer, Westfield Comics. I wore many hats there but spent most of my time working on the monthly catalog, website, and blog. That included writing columns, editing guest columns, and conducting interviews with a wide variety of comic creators. That would eventually lead me to do the interviews for two Modern Masters volumes (Walter Simonson and Mike Ploog) as well as writing for BACK ISSUE, where I have been contributing off and on since issue #23. Also, while still at Westfield, I met Marc Nathan, the man behind the Baltimore Comic-Con. Marc asked me to be in charge of programming for the show, I happily agreed, and did that for many years. I started reading comics in the late ’70s, so Bronze Age comics are near and dear to my heart. I am thrilled and honored that TwoMorrows publisher John Morrow and Michael Eury asked me to be a part of this team. We’ve got some great stuff planned for you. Let’s begin with what’s in store for this issue. According to Wikipedia, graphic novels have been around since the 1800s in Europe. There were none produced in America until the 1970s, depending on how you define graphic novel. For the longest time, I heard that Will Eisner’s A Contract with God was the first American graphic novel. I have since heard legitimate claims that Jim Steranko’s Chandler: Red Tide deserves that title. And there are some who would argue that the first American graphic novel came before either of those books. Whatever the case may be, there were few more vocal proponents of the graphic novel than Eisner. His Dropsie Avenue, a tale of a neighborhood, may be his finest work. Personally, my favorite is his shorter work, The Dreamer, which is a story about his early days in comics. My first exposure to graphic novels was Eclipse’s Detectives

oger Ash

2 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

THE DEATH OF

AND THE BIRTH OF THE MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL by A l e x

Grand

As laid out with more detail in my book, Understanding Superhero Comic Books, in order to maintain the American public’s interest in the superhero comic book, innovators had to incorporate the realism of everyday life. Matching the audience’s sensibilities by progressing the narrative gravitas of the genre was pioneered by few and followed by many. The Golden Age idealism of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman and the hero’s mission of justice matched America’s inevitable march to combat Nazism in World War II. DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz’s emphasis on believable science fiction matched the Eisenhower era’s foray into the use of atomic energy, while adding plausibility to the idea that everyday humans can be powered by radiation. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko demonstrated that superheroes would have flaws in the real world during the Marvel revolution of the JFK-era space race and the countercultural civil rights movement. But it was writer/artist Jim Starlin who found an important aspect of realism missing from the everyday jim starlin superhero adventure story and Kim Scarborough/ Wikimedia Commons. filled that void with the existential threat of death, and the eventual birth of the Marvel Graphic Novel series.

DEATH COMES TO COMICS

In the early ’70s, Marvel Comics began exploring themes of mortality through poignant narratives. Stan Lee set a precedent with Captain George Stacy’s heroic demise in The Amazing Spider-Man #90 (Nov. 1970), a trend furthered by Gerry Conway’s harrowing tale of Gwen Stacy’s fatal fall in issue #121 (June 1973). Transitioning to the Sub-Mariner series, Leonard McKenzie’s tragic end came in issue #46 (Feb. 1972) under Conway’s pen, while Roy Thomas orchestrated Lady Dorma’s suffocation in issue #37 (May 1971), intensifying the stakes in superhero narratives. Jim Starlin capitalized on this thematic shift, weaving death into the fabric of his cosmic metaseries. Drawing from early fanzines his own reflections of the Vietnam War, and the storytelling mastery of comic pioneers Ditko and Kirby, Starlin’s saga deepened the narrative exploration of mortality while heightening the stakes for Marvel’s superheroes.

THE HISTORY OF STARLIN

Tracing back to his early roots, Jim Starlin’s fascination with the somber theme of death was nothing short of a prelude to his later illustrious contributions to superhero comic lore. Starlin, a

First and Last The first Marvel Graphic Novel, and one of the best, is the last adventure for Mar-Vell, writer/ artist Jim Starlin’s The Death of Captain Marvel. TM & © Marvel.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

The other venture was The Death of Captain Marvel (1982), a cathartic narrative for Starlin, helping him navigate the emotional turbulence of his father’s passing, said Starlin in Comic Book Artist #18. He proposed a plot where the cosmic crusader succumbs to cancer, an idea that had Shooter exclaiming, as seen in the Comic Book Historians YouTube interview, “A superhero dying of a disease. Holy cow… I don’t think anyone’s ever done that. Let’s do it.” Al Milgrom, Starlin’s childhood friend and inker of the Captain Marvel series in the late 1970s, oversaw the graphic novel as editor. When asked about his involvement, his words were, “When you have a great creator working, you should get out of his way and fix the spelling errors!” This implied that the story and all its elements were completely those of Starlin with no interference, which worked well with fans. The concluding pages orchestrated a serene transition as a deceased Captain Marvel, accompanied by Thanos and Death, embraces mortality, stepping into an emblematic light of the afterlife. This novel narrative not only humanized superheroes but presented death with a touch of realism seldom seen in the genre. The sparse battle scenes and an authentic display of human vulnerability resonated well, with Shooter lauding Starlin in the YouTube interview for infusing “some real human stuff into the superhero genre.” The triumph of the new graphic novel line was loudly echoed in the industry when, within a few months, The Death of Captain Marvel boasted sales of 80,000 copies at $5.95 each across comic book stores and major bookstore chains. Fan consumption was tremendous, requiring multiple reprintings. The blend of legal frameworks, production acumen, and this commercial success carved out a blueprint that steered Marvel to unveil the Marvel Graphic Novel series, buoyed by a consumer base willing to invest in them. NY’s Daily News of September 12, 1982 speculated, “maybe Jim Shooter will have his way and something will come of Marvel’s plan for adult comic books.” Starlin’s tales struck a chord with audiences by melding established comic book storytelling methods with fresh dramatic novelties. While Kirby’s philosophical undertones in New Gods couldn’t snare enough market share to sustain its viability, it did influence Starlin’s creative engine, who laced his narratives with pervasive death, amplifying the superheroes’ dalliance with risk and signaling to readers the gravitas of the literature in their hands. The post–Vietnam War portrayal of superheroes, often powerless in averting death, instead merely mitigating it, resonated deeply. Starlin’s embodiment of Thanos as a cosmic annihilator accentuated these elements, successfully realizing Kirby’s vision of a cosmic metaseries for mature readers. This narrative crescendo harmonized in The Death of Captain Marvel, marking the dawn of the Marvel Graphic Novel line.

A Sequel and Another Sequel (top left) The Price GN and (top right) the Dreadstar GN continued Starlin’s “Metamorphosis Odyssey” story and led into the Dreadstar series. (bottom) Captain Marvel literally fights for his life in his mind as his body succumbs to cancer. Dreadstar © Jim Starlin. Captain Marvel and Thanos TM & © Marvel.

ALEX GRAND is the author of Understanding Superhero Comic Books, the award-winning Journey Into Mexico comic series, and the co-writer of the graphic novel Hashman. He is the host of Lego Art: Spider-Man and the Comic Book Historians social media, and was also featured in the Russo Bros’ Slugfest docuseries, the New York Times, Today Show, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, and the Life According to Stan Lee documentary.

8 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

by E

d Lute

Graphic novels are comic books that are novel length, usually in a larger format with betterquality printing and paper than traditional comic books, and are sold in bookstores and comic book speciality shops as opposed to on a comic book rack. With their Graphic Novel series, Marvel wasn’t afraid to stray away from their usual superhero fare to take advantage of what this format offered. From creator-owned books such as Walter Simonson’s Star Slammers, to Marvel-owned characters that aren’t part of the regular Marvel Universe such as Killraven, to humorous stories like Death of Groo, to movie adaptations such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Marvel Graphic Novel series contained a wealth of variety. Each graphic novel was distinct and stood out from the books that Marvel usually published. Marvel wasn’t called the House of Ideas for nothing! Come along on adventures to mythical realms, futuristic worlds, and even cartoon towns as BACK ISSUE looks at some of Marvel’s most original graphic novels.

ELRIC: THE DREAMING CITY

With the outstanding first graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel, you might think that Marvel would have a hard time following it up. Not so, with writer Roy Thomas and artist P. Craig Russell on board for their adaption of Elric: The Dreaming City, the first Elric short story by Michael Moorcock, in Marvel Graphic Novel #2 (July 1982). Thomas tells BACK ISSUE, “I like Elric as a character, and I like the world that Michael Moorcock created.” The graphic novel was broken down into five parts. The first two parts were reprints from Marvel’s Epic Illustrated magazine. Epic was a comic anthology magazine published by Marvel that featured non-Comics Code Authority-approved stories as well as some creator-owned material. The first part originally appeared in issue #3 (Sept. 1980), with the second part seeing print in the following issue (Dec. 1980). The rest of the story was new to the graphic novel. According to Thomas, “Those deals [to bring Elric to Marvel] were made by my agent Mike Friedrich, who controlled the rights to Elric at that time. He made a deal with Marvel before any with Pacific or First. “I seem to recall that we planned out the first bit for Epic Illustrated, though I think Mike always had it in mind that it would be a graphic novel soon afterward, telling the entire story.”

Moorcock Comes to Mighty Marvel Writer Roy Thomas’ appreciation of the work of novelist Michael Moorcock inspired Marvel Graphic Novel #2, Elric: The Dreaming City, lushly rendered by P. Craig Russell. © Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russell. Elric © New Republic Pictures.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9

Our Introduction to Elric Elric broods in this gorgeous portrait by P. Craig Russell. © Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russell. Elric © New Republic Pictures.

Thomas continues, “I preferred the graphic Michael Moorcock? You would love Elric.’ Which novel, because I didn’t have to wade through turned out to be true. a lot of other people’s stories as I did in “I got my depiction of Elric by reading Epic. I was happy to see the Pacific Moorcock’s descriptions of him. He had and First material also collected sort of two guises. One the black into graphic novels.” armor that was sort of thorny and Russell tells BI, “The Marvel the other time he dressed almost Conan stories [Conan the Barbarian as a jester with all of these pat#14–15 (Mar.–May 1972)] were terned clothes and such. He didn’t my first exposure to Elric and wear the battle armor unless Michael Moorcock, though. I he was going into battle. I just hadn’t read any of the Moorcock followed Moorcock’s lead and books before that, they just weren’t made my own version of it.” available when I was a kid. You “At that time I had done the had Edgar Rice Burroughs and Dr. Strange Annual for Marvel,” Robert E. Howard, and H. P. Russell continues. “It had all of p. craig russell Lovecraft, but in the Midwest in these art nouveau, supernatural Portrait by Michael Netzer. the ’60s, there was no Michael visual elements to it and it was Moorcock. I didn’t read him until I was asked to the same way with Elric. That played to my do The Dreaming City. That’s when I read it for the strengths. I just had a lot more fun things to first time. People would tell me, ‘You haven’t read draw as far as I was concerned. One of the things that I liked about it was that he wasn’t portrayed as a superhero. He was a skinny guy who got all of his power from his sword.” Although Elric made his way to other comic publishers, Marvel was the first and this graphic novel stands as one of the best adaptions of Moorcock’s character. “Doing Elric was an offand-on experience for me. I missed the work of first Russell, then Gilbert after they departed, even though the other artists were talented,” Thomas states.

STAR SLAMMERS

Before he laid down the hammer with his character defining run on the God of Thunder, writer/artist Walter Simonson gave readers the Star Slammers graphic novel (Dec. 1982). The Slammers were mercenaries Sphere, Ethon, and Jalaia. While the setup sounds kind of generic, it was anything but in the hands of Simonson who made the graphic novel something special and truly worthy of the format. However, the graphic novel wasn’t the beginning of the Slammers’ story. It had a long history before Simonson even hit the scene as a professional. In fact, the concept helped to get him a job. In a 2014 interview with Comic Book Resources, Simonson discussed the genesis of the concept, “The ‘Slammers’ really began life as an ashcan comic. I belonged to a science fiction club in Washington, D.C., where I grew up. The Washington Science Fiction Association or WISFA for short. In the early ’70s, they decided to bid to host the World Science Fiction Convention, which was to be held somewhere on the East Coast. I was doing drawings for the WIFSA journal and had an idea to do a comic strip to advertise to get the convention. The club liked it, so I began writing and drawing. It took on a different form than I anticipated and very quickly morphed into the ‘Star Slammers.’ “Ultimately, I did a series of six-page episodes. One of the guys in the club had a printer in his basement, so he would print them up and then different members of the club would hand them out when they’d go to conventions around 10 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

the country. I did new chapters every three or with work. That was really the beginning of my four months, which culminated in a final chapter career. ‘Star Slammers’ really was my entry in to coinciding with the World Science Fiction the professional world of comics.” Convention voting in ’72 for the ’74 convention. Where does the Star Slammers graphic And I will say that WIFSA won. I don’t know novel fit into the continuity of the series? if I can take the credit for that, but it worked According to Simonson, “Many years later, out okay.” in ’82, I did a Star Slammers graphic novel That was only part of the story, as Simonson for Marvel Comics. It was a partial origin story continued to work on the Star Slammers for the Slammers. The rest of the tale is as part of his college project. He really implied.” related, “I was in art school at Simonson wasn’t finished with the Rhode Island School of the Star Slammers after the graphic Design, and the timing worked novel. Even though it took out great. I did the project almost a decade, he returned to while I was in RISD, over a their world. “Then there was a two-year period, and the work five-issue miniseries (published eventually served as my RISD under Malibu Comics’ Bravura degree project. I wrapped it up imprint) in the early ’90s, right before I graduated. I took the with different characters, much second half of the book, bound later in the Slammers’ history,” it into a single volume and when Simonson revealed. walter simonson I came to NYC in the summer The graphic novel was a of ’72, brought it along as my testament to what the format Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki. portfolio to show editors. could do to showcase not just “As it happened, completely by accident, the talent of the creators themselves, but Carmine Infantino ended up seeing my portfolio. to also show that comics were more than At the time, Carmine was the EIC at DC. just kids’ stuff and stories with adult themes He was the main guy. He ended up seeing could be showcased in an illustrated format. It it and he really liked the work. He encouraged also remains one of the best from the Marvel me and made sure I walked out of his office Graphic Novel line.

Don’t Mess with These Three (left) Marvel Graphic Novel (MGN) #6 (1983), Star Slammers, written and illustrated by Walter Simonson. (right) The Star Slammers are in control, as always. © Walter Simonson.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11

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The Marvel Universe is a big place. When the publisher’s first in its series of graphic novels—The Death of Captain Marvel—was released, that universe got even bigger. BACK ISSUE will take a look the scale by which the home of the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers increased with the advent of the oversized graphic novel format. Read on, dear Bronze Age fan. Just don’t let Thor’s hammer hit you in the head while you do.

NO CODES REQUIRED

by J a m e s

Heath Lantz

When comparing the monthly Marvel periodicals to the then-new, larger-sized graphic novel format, it’s perhaps easiest to look at, say The Incredible Hulk, more like a serialized television series, whereas The Raven Banner could be more similar to a single film one would find in their local cinema. The scale of both is certainly diverse, but also the method of storytelling is radically different. Twelve issues of Avengers are mapped out, and plot points and characters grow and evolve in each 20-to-30 page chapter, like each episode of Lost. However, the 60-plus oversized pages contained within Avengers: Death Trap The Vault are one single tale with a beginning, middle, and an end, like director Christopher Nolan’s Memento. Both monthly comic books and graphic novels from the House of Ideas each have their distinctive methods of spinning their yarns for their hardcore fans and new readers alike, but perhaps the graphic novel is the better way to introduce Marvel’s vast array of heroes and villains to newcomers tom defalco to the sequential legends that permeate Hildy DeFalco. the Marvel Universe. The graphic novel format for Marvel, much like the magazines from the 1970s, was advantageous for creative teams of the 1980s and 1990s who wanted to do something bigger and grander than the typical monthly put out on newsstands and in comic shops. One factor for this was the fact the Comics Code Authority did not oversee their release like they did the standard issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil. Former editorin-chief and Thor scribe Tom DeFalco confirms this in his conversation with BACK ISSUE. “Since they weren’t distributed on the newsstands, the graphic novels didn’t have to go through the Comics Code and were never submitted to it,” DeFalco states. Graphic novels not needing the Comics Code Authority’s approval allowed creators to have more freedom in their work. Writers could tell tales that they normally could not in a monthly book, and artists were permitted a bigger canvas in which to display their visual talents, thereby making the Marvel Universe an even bigger place than it already was.

When a Mere 22 Pages Won’t Suffice Many of the stars of Mighty Marvel’s monthly comic books had the red carpet rolled out for them for expanded, lushly rendered adventures in the Marvel Graphic Novel series. TM & © Marvel.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

MUTANT MAYHEM

‘God Loves, Man Kills’ (left) Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com), Brent Anderson’s preliminary artwork for the cover of Marvel Graphic Novel #5, starring the X-Men. (right) The published cover. TM & © Marvel.

of the outlaw team of mutant heroes to evolve, grow, and have a life beyond the normal superheroversus-supervillain tropes, thereby feeling bigger in scale and storytelling than a lot of monthly comic books published by both Marvel and DC Comics. Yet, there are some tales featuring the X-Men and other mutants in their corner of the Marvel Universe that are just too big to be placed in a 32-page periodical. Perhaps the best example of this point is Marvel Graphic Novel #5: X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. The inspiration for the 2002 film X2: X-Men United, God Loves, Man Kills is story of Reverend William Styker’s fanatical war against mutants. There have been many anti-mutant antagonists in the main X-books. Yet Chris Claremont’s script and Brent Anderson’s art could not be confined to a mere normal-sized comic book. God Loves, Man Kills absolutely needed to be larger than the mutant mayhem Marvel was putting in the spinner racks at the time. Chris Claremont’s reflections on God Loves, Man Kills in its 2020 extended cut state that the graphic novel was intended to be a standalone tale outside of main X-Men continuity. In fact, Claremont’s first draft featured the death of Magneto, something that had not occurred in the Uncanny X-Men chris claremont comic. However, God Loves, Man © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Kills became canon around the time the X-Men 2 movie had come out, with a sequel serial, God Loves, Man Kills II, appearing in Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men #25–30 in 2003. While later editions of the Essential X-Men trade paperbacks place it after Uncanny X-Men #167, it’s still unclear as of this writing where the original God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel fits in

One of the most unusual graphic novels featuring Marvel’s merry mutants is Excalibur: Weird War III. The team must take on an alternate, more corrupt version of the X-Men as a parallel world in which the Axis won World War II bleeds into the regular Marvel Universe. The story by Michael Higgins, and Tom Morgan and Justin Thyme’s art, take on many of the themes that the overall X-Men line of comics do. However, Weird War III also tackles the dark side of humanity much like the Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror.” Reaction to this graphic novel was mixed. Yet it’s not really something that could be published in the main Excalibur comic book, not so much for its content, as it really isn’t overly violent. The scale of the writing and visuals, which seem more influenced by comics published in the UK rather than those on American spinner racks, is just too big for that format. One could argue that writer Chris Claremont’s original, celebrated, and lengthy run on The Uncanny X-Men and its related spinoffs is one huge graphic novel. It’s a continuous saga, with character arcs that allowed Storm, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and the rest

30 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

within the main X-Men comics’ continuity. Brent Anderson’s art looks phenomenal in God Loves, Man Kills. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine the classic graphic novel without Anderson’s stunning visuals. However, according to Jon B. Cooke’s “The Adams Impact: Celebrating Our Featured Artist and his Stint at Marvel Comics,” Neal Adams was originally approached by then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who Adams said conceived the idea for God Loves, Man Kills. Adams had drawn some pages from the script’s original draft, but contract negotiations were unsuccessful. Plus, Chris Claremont stated in an interview published in Marvel’s X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Extended Cut that had Neal Adams worked on the graphic novel with him, the story, while just as good, would have been completely different. While Marvel Graphic Novel #12, Dazzler: The Movie, has not aged as well as many of the tomes discussed in this article (or in this issue of BACK ISSUE, for that matter), it does discuss the man’s inhumanity to man conflict, albeit taking it in a different direction. God Loves, Man Kills, like Dazzler: The Movie, shines the spotlight on bigotry. Yet, God Loves, Man Kills also talks about religious zealotry and how it can lead to hate of a person or group. Dazzler: The Movie deals with misogyny and the impact of being outed. The fact that Alison Blair (Dazzler) is a mutant becomes public knowledge when she doesn’t give in to the whims of a VIP, thus affecting her career. “Mutie,” an epithet used by anti-mutant persons and groups throughout the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe, is a word that featured prominently in both God Loves, Man Kills and Dazzler: The Movie. The term is written on a dead mutant in God Loves, Man Kills and on house ads for Dazzler: The Movie. Mutie would turn up in X-comics and other media such as the X-Men Legends video game through the years. Yet as Kitty Pryde points out to her dance teacher Stevie in God Loves, Man Kills, it’s an expression that hurts just as much as a certain racial slur that could be used against Stevie. Such a scene would probably not be published today or have made its way into the X-Men monthlies of the time due to Comics Code Authority. Yet the graphic novel format of the early 1980s proved how much impact words can have on humans and mutants alike, and those reading about them. Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants, which was also written by Claremont, is not as thought-provoking as God Loves, Man Kills, and it feels reminiscent of 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 with its formation of a fledgling team. There are similar moments to God Loves, Man Kills that give readers an example

Dazzling Art Marvel’s GNs often featured cover art by industry titans like Bill Sienkiewicz, who illustrated the cover for Marvel Graphic Novel #12, Dazzler: The Movie, shown here in layout and published forms. Scans courtesy of Heritage. TM & © Marvel.

of man’s inhumanity to his own kind. The openings of both The New Mutants and God Loves, Man Kills examine this conflict perfectly. Rahne Sinclair is chased by angry villagers led by Reverend Craig when Moira MacTaggart finds her in the first pages of The New Mutants. The original beginning (the extended cut contains a new framing sequence) of God Loves, Man Kills has William Stryker’s Purifiers hunting two mutant children. Both graphic novels prove that Claremont could give readers food for thought and tell stories of every type. The New Mutants, Claremont states in the God Loves, Man Kills Extended Cut interview, was originally intended to be an extra-sized first issue of a new monthly X-Men spinoff starring new students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. A schedule gap forced it to become what is now Marvel Graphic Novel #4, with The New Mutants #1 containing a story that takes place after MGN #4, proving the debut of Marvel’s new mutant team was just too big for the premiere issue of a monthly comic, even an extra-sized one. Monthly comics in the X-Men universe allowed for more gradual development of character, plot, and events under Claremont’s unique storytelling. Yet graphic novels like The New Mutants and X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills allowed the famed X-scribe to experiment and take the characters to another level that the format of monthly comic books could not permit, giving fans and casual readers alike larger, more impactful sagas that still resonate with audiences to this day.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31

Be My Baby (top) Artist Paul Ryan and writer Mark Gruenwald’s whopping rugrat crowds the cosmos in Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe. (bottom) Black Bolt and Medusa take center stage in Ann Nocenti and Bret Blevins’ The Inhumans. TM & © Marvel.

The gigantic cosmic baby late in Death of a Universe shows Ryan’s ability to render universe-changing images influenced by other media. In this case, the space baby scene seems to be a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Every panel balances Mark Gruenwald’s cinematic conclusion to his time with the Squadron Supreme. Like the Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange, the Inhumans are a perfect fit for the graphic novel format in spite of having only one outing in it. Ann Nocenti, while best known for her underrated run on Daredevil, stretches her writing muscles with The Inhumans by capturing the familial conflict alongside the good versus evil that is common in the superhero genre. The graphic novel also tackles whether or not a government should decide who marries whom and if a couple should get approval to have children. These things impact the real world to this very day, offering Nocenti a chance to explore the topic without the restraints of the Comics Code. This gives artist Bret Blevins more freedom to draw realistic scenes like the birth of Black Bolt and Medusa’s son Ahura. It’s become clear in BACK ISSUE’s conversations with creators that the graphic novel format allowed writers and artists the freedom to experiment in ways the standard monthly comic book could not. Marvel’s first computer-generated graphic novel, Mike Saenz and William Bates’ Iron Man: Crash, might not work in standard comic book format. The printing process of the time would have maybe caused a loss in detail and quality. Yet in its graphic novel glory, Crash shows how the programs and computers of the time could tell a sequentially visual story starring Tony Stark just as well as any issue of hand drawn Iron Man from the Bronze Age. The last of the original Marvel Graphic Novel series was released in July 1993. However, it wasn’t the end of the publisher’s use of oversized formats to bring give their heroes and universe a grander scale. Original graphic novels like The Thanos Imperative came out in 2013 and 2014, and more recently, gallery editions, including the X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Extended Cut, are available for fans to enjoy in their gigantic glory. Plus, Taschen Books has The Marvel Comics Library. Each volume reprints Silver Age Marvel Comics in gargantuansized books that allow more discerning collectors to enjoy blasts from the pasts on a scale almost as big as the Marvel Universe itself. Yet the Marvel Graphic Novel line of the 1980s and early 1990s will continue to have a special place in the hearts of Marvel fans and creators for many years to come. Dedicated to my beautiful and wife without fear Laura, whose love is greater than every multiverse; Jadis, Pupino, Odino, and our four-legged feline and canine Watchers, who observe every event within Earth-616; my nephew Kento, who created the Marvel Universe; Tom DeFalco, J. M. DeMatteis, Larry Hama, Roger Stern, Mike Baron, David Michelinie, Gerry Conway, and all creators who made, make, and will make Marvel graphic novels the most gigantic adventures ever published. May every hero’s soul be a part of you always. JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer whose stories, essays, and reviews can be found online and in print at Sequart.org, Superman Homepage, his blog, and such publications as his self-published Trilogy of Tales and PS Artbook’s Roy Thomas Presents Sheena Volume Three. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.

44 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

IN GRAPHIC DETAIL Robert E. Howard’s brand of fantasy was ideal for Marvel’s original line of graphic novels by G

lenn Greenberg

When Marvel Comics launched its line of oversized graphic novels in 1982 with Jim Starlin’s The Death of Captain Marvel, the intent was to recruit the best and brightest talents in the comic book industry to create special, extra-length, one-shot stories. These books would be published using the high-end production values of the time and would not have to adhere to the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority. In that environment, one would think that Robert E. Howard’s Conan, a Marvel mainstay since 1970, would be an immediate choice for the format, given the epic scope and the abundance of violence and sexuality in his sword-and-sorcery sagas. It would actually take three years for Conan to show up in a Marvel graphic novel—but once he did, he would keep returning, more times than any of the company’s longest-running and most beloved characters. Of the 75 graphic novels Marvel published between 1982 and 1993, Conan starred in seven, surpassing all the heavy hitters of the era, including the Punisher, who starred in six, Spider-Man, who headlined four, and even Wolverine, whose total came to three, tying with the Silver Surfer. It seems that when it came to the graphic novel format, gun-toting vigilantes and sword-wielding barbarians were surefire sellers.

WITCH WAY TO GO

Big Book from Big John Fans of artist John Buscema’s long run on Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan delighted in the master’s pencils, inks, and colors for the graphic novel Conan the Rogue. Hand-painted color Buscema art courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). © Conan Properties International, LLC.

For the first graphic novel to showcase the black-haired, sullen-eyed Cimmerian, Conan: The Witch Queen of Acheron (1985), Marvel turned to writer Don Kraar, penciler Gary Kwapisz, inker Art Nichols, and colorist Julianna Ferriter. Both Kraar and Kwapisz were relatively new to Conan at the time but would soon establish longstanding ties to Marvel’s line of comic book and magazine titles devoted to the character. The story begins with Conan being seized by royal soldiers in Belverus, crown city of Nemedia, after he pays off a harlot with ancient gold coins from the evil, long-extinct Acheronian Empire. Brought before Prince Tarascus, who demands to know where Conan obtained the coins, the Cimmerian is ultimately coerced into helping the prince locate the lost treasure mines of Acheron, unseen for 3,000 years. Tarascus intends to use the treasure to fund his planned conquest of the kingdom of Aquilonia. En route to the mines, Conan, Tarascus, and an accompanying search party are confronted by the Sons of Acheron, the last pure-blooded descendants of the long-gone empire, who warn the group to turn back. After ignoring the warning and surviving an attack launched by the Sons of Acheron, Tarascus, Conan, and the rest of their group find the mines and enter the treasure-filled tomb of Queen Xaltana, who was believed to have been in league with a powerful demon god. As the Sons of Acheron launch another attack, the demon god is inadvertently awakened and possesses the body of Prince Tarascus’ lover, Demetzia. Trapped in the mines, Tarascus, Conan, and other survivors of the attack soon find themselves the prey of the possessed Demetzia, who takes on the demon god’s true form with the intention of consuming the hearts of everyone in its sight, so it can spawn more of its kind.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45

Kwapisz’s first work on Conan was a pinup published on the inside cover of The Savage Sword of Conan #89 (June 1983). More pinups followed. “I was persistent,” Kwapisz tells BACK ISSUE. And he stood out—his style was a departure from that of John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, and Ernie Chan, the artists whose work most dominated the magazine in those days. “I was one of the few people who was looking at Hal Foster, which is why my stuff was a little bit different,” Kwapisz says. After penciling and inking several back-up tales in the magazine, Kwapisz graduated to penciling lead stories starting with #102 (July 1984). He was first paired with writer Don Kraar on The Savage Sword of Conan #105 (Oct. 1984), which marked Kraar’s first work on Conan. (Attempts to interview Don Kraar for this article were unsuccessful.) Having begun inking his own pencils on the lead stories as of The Savage Sword of Conan #110 (Mar. 1985), Kwapisz hoped to take his work to the next level. “I always wanted to do a Conan graphic novel,” he says. “I wanted to have it in color and on the nice paper, because my inking was fairly detailed and whenever I would get the printed copy, I would look at it and my stomach would just drop down to my shoes. I would just see that all the edges of my lines dropped off, because I had a real Frazetta sort of inking style, which just didn’t reproduce well.” Kwapisz was enthused when Conan editor Larry Hama offered him The Witch Queen of Acheron, but there was a catch. “I wanted to ink it,” he says, “but Larry was like, ‘No, no, no,

you’ve got to get back to work on Savage Sword, so we’re gonna get someone else to ink you.’” By that point The Savage Sword of Conan was an ongoing commitment for Kwapisz, requiring him to pencil and ink at least 50 pages a month. “I loved the heck out of doing Savage Sword,” he says. “There was no other book at Marvel I would have rather worked on. The stories were long and I got to do my double-page spreads and stuff.” His experience working on The Witch Queen of Acheron ended up being not quite as satisfying, however. “Right after it left my hands, it became a complete disaster,” Kwapisz says. He explains that the original inker dropped out after turning in the first few pages, which left the book behind schedule. Kwapisz adds that there were also issues with the coloring, only some of which could be addressed in time. Art Nichols was brought in as a replacement inker, and Kwapisz acknowledges that by that point, the book was, by necessity, a rush job, as it had to get to the printer on time or Marvel would incur additional costs. Readers got a glimpse at the lush detail and texture that gary kwapisz Kwapisz had originally envisioned © Eclipse Enterprises. for the graphic novel courtesy of two black-and-white pinups that he penciled and inked that were included at the end of the book. Although the final product was not all that he hoped it would be, Kwapisz says he had a good time working on it. “I liked the script better than [Kraar’s] Savage Sword scripts,” he says. “It was more visual. It was fun to draw. But really, it was basically an issue of Savage Sword—you did 50 pages a month and then you moved on.”

Marvel Graphic Novel #19: Conan: The Witch Queen of Acheron (1985) Cover artist: Douglas Beekman

Witchy Woman Are you sitting down? If not, you’ll need to after surveying this spellbinding Gary Kwapisz original art page from The Witch Queen of Acheron. Courtesy of Heritage. © Conan Properties International, LLC.

46 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

A REAVING RETURN

Conan the Reaver (1987)

For the second Conan graphic novel, Conan the Reaver (1987), Don Kraar once again handled the writing, but this time he was joined by esteemed veteran artist John Severin, who provided both pencils and inks. Severin’s sister Marie, a highly respected artist in her own right, served as colorist. The Severin siblings were a fitting choice, as they both had experience working on Marvel comic books based on concepts created by Robert E. Howard, most notably their collaboration on Kull the Conqueror #2–9 (Sept. 1971–July 1973), with Marie penciling (and often coloring) and John inking. Conan the Reaver begins with Conan as a young thief, being pursued by royal guards after he attempts to rob the treasure chamber of King Yildiz of Turan. The captain of the guard, Damonides, who has been plotting with a splinter group to steal the treasure for themselves, forges an alliance with the Cimmerian. But Conan ends up earning the king’s gratitude when he saves the elderly monarch’s beautiful young wife, Queen Yasmin, from fanatical assassins known as the Red Mist. Aware of Conan’s true intentions, Yildiz makes a deal with the Cimmerian: Conan can have access to the treasure chamber if he promises to protect Yasmin and her infant child upon the king’s death. Soon after, Conan finds himself under siege by the Red Mist when he disrupts a ritual in which an innocent peasant child will be sacrificed to a large, tentacled, bloodthirsty creature called the Mother of Darkness, which dwells within the bowels of the palace. At the same time, King Yildiz is murdered, and the Red Mist launch an insurrection to seize power over Turan. Conan, determined to keep his promise to the king, sends Damonides and the splinter group away with the vast treasure and sets out to save Yasmin and her baby from the Red Mist and the insatiable Mother of Darkness. Conan the Reaver, like The Witch Queen of Acheron, was edited by Larry Hama, who says he always had full confidence in the teams he put together. “What I did as an editor was choose the right people to do the job and let them loose,” he explains. “I never rewrote a single word of dialogue. Never had anything redrawn in-house, but had the artist do it himself. My job was to have taste, not correct spelling. I let my assistants do all that.” John and Marie Severin remained active as comic book artists for many years after their work on Conan the Reaver. John died on February 12, 2012, at the age of 90, and Marie passed away on August 30, 2018, nine days after her 89th birthday.

Cover artist: John Severin

ISLES BE BACK

With the third Conan graphic novel, Conan of the Isles (1988), longtime fans were undoubtedly thrilled to see the creative team they had been awaiting all along—writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, who had of course collaborated on most of the Conan stories published by Marvel between 1973 and 1980. The book, however, was not a new reunion of the duo. In fact, most of the work had been completed nearly a decade earlier, and some of it had already been published. In adapting L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter’s 1968 novel of the same name, Thomas had intended the comic book version of Conan of the Isles to be a three-part story, published in three successive Annuals. Shortly before leaving Marvel for DC in late 1980, Thomas plotted all three chapters, which Buscema illustrated as layouts, and then Thomas fulfilled his remaining obligations to the project by scripting all the pages. The first chapter was published in Conan the Barbarian Annual #7 (1982), with inks by

Severin Ties Conan battles a giant creepy crawly in the graphic novel Conan the Reaver, penciled and inked by acclaimed artist John Severin and colored by his equally respected sister Marie. © Conan Properties International, LLC.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 47

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“The happiest place on Earth.” “Must-see TV.” “Impossible is nothing.” “Keeps going, and going, and going….” “A triumph of comic art.” These are just a few hyperbolic advertising statements from history. Maybe you recognize them. Relax, though—this isn’t a quiz. It’s really just the last one on the list that concerns us.

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

by B

rian Martin

Elsewhere in this very magazine you will find an enthralling article detailing Marvel Comics’ entry into the graphic novel field with the release of The Death of Captain Marvel in January of 1982. Given the well-documented rivalry between Marvel and DC, it is surprising that it took until August 1983 (with comics having a November cover date) before DC published its first graphic novel. To possibly make up for the delay, the ads that were run the same month were enthusiastic, to say the least! DC kicked off the advertising campaign for its first graphic novel, Star Raiders, with the exuberant phrase, “A triumph of comic art.” Then, just to be sure everyone knew they were serious, the next lines in the ads read, “Stories so vivid, elliot s. maggin art so lavish, reproduction so true…” DC also wanted to make sure that this promo would not be missed, so it was included as a four-page insert in Omega Men #8 (Nov. 1983) that featured a centerspread that only showcased art from the book, while other pages reproduced the cover and mentioned the creative team. Since Omega Men was DC’s only ongoing regular title distributed exclusively via Direct Sales prior to that month (both Vigilante and Thriller joined it that very month), it would best reach the book’s prospective audience, as graphic novels were also only sold via comic shops. Just to be sure, DC decided to place single-page ads in fanzines that month, generally buying back cover space so a color art sample could be included along with the same catch phrases. DC would repeat the process when they advertised its second graphic novel, Warlords, using the same four-page insert format and slogans in the center of Omega Men #11 (Feb. 1984). All that being said, despite the fanfare, the first two DC graphic novels were not even initially intended for the format!

Famous First Edition Superman scribe Elliot S. Maggin wrote DC Comics’ first graphic novel—and no, it didn’t star the Man of Steel. Cover to DC Graphic Novel #1, headlined by Star Raiders, part of the publisher’s initiative with video game manufacturer Atari. Cover art by Stephen Hickman. © Atari, Inc.

Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

GAMES WITH FRONTIERS

The editor of the first graphic novel, Andy Helfer, commented in an article in Comics Interview #12 (June 1984), “Atari and DC came to the conclusion that many of the people who played video games were also reading comics. So they decided that DC would do ‘In-pack’ comics to be included free with Atari video games. But so many people who didn’t know comics were involved in the project that it didn’t jell that well.” There were in fact a number of these miniature comics produced and included with game cartridges (remember those?) before the campaign was scrapped. Returning to our focus, Star Raiders author, Elliot S. Maggin, tells BI, “The four Star Raiders mini-comics (‘in-packs,’ we

called them) were supposed to get packaged with releases of four different Atari computer games over the course of about six months. It was a good marketing idea, I thought, and we little worker bees never got an explanation for why the release got scuttled. So crowbarring the four stories together as a single standalone graphic novel—cutting and pasting and making do—was our way of salvaging the overall project. What it resulted in was DC’s initial release of a graphic novel.” Artist José Luis García-López recalls, “It was originally done for a magazine to be divided into different chapters. But after doing the first eight pages or so, DC decided to publish it as a graphic novel. A first for them, and me.”

García-López Gets His Game On Original color artwork by José Luis García-López from DC Graphic Novel #1 (1983), Star Raiders, inspired by Atari’s space-combat simulator video game first sold in 1979. With this project, José had the opportunity to color his own artwork. Scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). © Atari, Inc.

josé luis garcía-lópez

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Looking at the artwork in Star Raiders, it is difficult to envision it in a mini-comic included with a video game. Maggin offers, “I have no idea what process or quality of paper Atari had planned for the in-packs, or whether anyone over there had thought about it.” García-López reveals that he created the art “the usual way—layouts, pencils, and inking and the coloring with Dr. Martin paints, watercolors, and some Prismacolor pens, etc.” It is even more amazing that it turned out as spectacular as it did since the artist confides, “I had no experience with color and I said that to the editors, Joe Orlando and Andy Helfer. But they trusted me and we went ahead. I was lucky. After all, it was my first coloring and a complete learning experience!” The plot of the Star Raiders graphic novel begins just after a previous in-pack comic ended. Anyone who had that comic would get the connection but it was not necessary to understand the story being presented. The human Atari Force have just left a battle with the Zylons, an insect-like alien race. Two freelancers named Jed and Tommy detected signals from the nowcompleted battle and arrive. On the planet involved they find an old man named Ezekiel. After they battle the remnants of the Zylon force, they discover an old Star Raiders cruiser. The ship becomes integral as one of a group of rebels our protagonist duo recruit steals the ship and uses it to destroy the Zylon home world and the majority of the evil race. The book did suffer just a bit from being cut up and reworked, with Maggin lamenting, “Some of the pages got jumbled up and re-ordered and I applied a lot of new and retooled copy to the newly sequenced pages. That was pretty confusing, and I wasn’t terribly happy with the final script. Thankfully that didn’t affect the quality of the art.” The creation of the characters was, maybe a little surprisingly, left up to the comic book folks. Asked if he was given any direction, Maggin reveals, “Not from Atari. I discussed them with Andy Helfer. This kind of thing is generally a fairly organic process and in the final analysis no one is ever able to put a finger on who comes up with what. “I do remember that the mentor character—the old slovenly bald guy in the dome surrounded by a mess of electronic gizmos and dog-eared books— was living the way I envisioned my own lifestyle as I got older. I made up the characters, put them in a series of situations, described them down to their clothing and living conditions, and José painted them up pretty much as I envisioned them. He envisioned them better, as I recall. I’ve had a thing about girls with eyepatches ever since.” [Elliot is referring to the Tommy—short for Tomorrow—character here.] For his part, José tells BI, “I had complete freedom to design the characters, spaceships (all except one already created), and the aliens. For the two chief characters, I remember Andy Helfer told me to take as a base the costumes used by a rock band, Adam and the Ants.” To say DC was proud of Star Raiders would be a bit of an understatement. At that point in time, comics still emphasized the visual aspect of the medium significantly more than the writing. So when DC hyped the Atari Force series penciled by García-López, that debuted two months after this graphic novel, the tag line on the ads read, “The visual excitement of Star Raiders—Every month.” BI asked Elliot Maggin

The Graphic Novels Continue (top) DC Graphic Novel #2: Warlords (cover by Thomas Blackshear) and #3: The Medusa Chain (cover by Ernie Colón). (center) #4: The Hunger Dogs (cover by Jack Kirby and Greg Theakston) and #5: Me & Joe Priest (cover by Howard Chaykin). (bottom) #6: Metalzoic (cover by Bill Sienkiewicz) and #7: Space Clusters (cover by Alex Niño). Warlords © Atari, Inc. All others TM & © DC Comics.

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From Beyond the Unknown Front covers of all seven DC Science Fiction Graphic Novels. Cover artists: Bill Sienkiewicz, (top row) issues #1-3; Neal McPheeters, (opposite page) issues #4 and 7; Marshall Rogers, issue #5; and Jan Duursema, issue #6. © the respective authors.

Science fiction short stories have coexisted in a Venn diagram- editors on how to best present the material… I deliberately esque relationship with comic books for decades. From alien formatted the covers to mirror SF prose book covers, invasion yarns to Silver Age space race allegories, science particularly in employing large author’s names on the covers, fiction comic book adaptations reinterpret, reveal, and unite something comics have rarely done.” the overlapping visions of their respective creators. Bruning reflects fondly on some of the opportunities During the mid-1980s, under the guidance of thenthis series bestowed upon him. “Being a lifelong SF DC editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz and art director reader, the opportunity to collaborate with some Richard Bruning, several masterworks of Ray of the biggest name authors of the genre was Bradbury, George R. R. Martin, Harlan Ellison, a special treat,” he says. “Due to having the Robert Bloch, Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, office right next to line editor Julie Schwartz, and Larry Niven were adapted for the comic he frequently asked if I’d like to meet Ray book direct market. A seven-issue series was Bradbury, Larry Niven, Harlan Ellison, or produced between 1985 and 1987 that invited some other SF luminary!” premiere comic book talent to reinterpret classic The graphic novels in the series are as SF epics. Please join me, BACK ISSUE readers, follows: in a journey not of sight and sound, but of DC SCIENCE FICTION GRAPHIC NOVEL #1 mind and graphic art, to wondrous realms of (1985): Hell on Earth by Robert Bloch unlimited imagination... There is a spinnerGraphic Adaptation by Keith Giffen and rack sign up ahead—welcome to the DC Science julius schwartz Robert Loren Fleming Fiction Graphic Novel series! Prior to his tenure as an editor at DC Comics, H. P. Lovecraft protégé Robert Bloch wrote Julie Schwartz co-published one of the first SF fanzines, the original story Psycho, which Alfred Hitchcock famously co-founded a SF literary agency, and assisted with the directed in cinematic form. Bloch was well known for his space, development of the first-ever world SF convention (as stated horror, and pulp stories during a prolific career, including 30 in his 2000 memoir, Man of Two Worlds). Due to these defining years in television and film (robertbloch.net). roots, Schwartz was the obvious choice to manage the DC His story, Hell on Earth, was the initial feature of the Science Fiction Graphic Novel series, where each issue featured DC SF series. It was adapted by Robert Loren Fleming and a Deluxe Format self-contained tale adapted by a top-tier Keith Giffen, with additional support from Greg Theakston, comic book team. Bill Wray, and Gaspar Saladino. This dark demonic tale comSeries art director Richard Bruning notes to BACK ISSUE bines some classic “deal with the devil” themes, intertwined his distinct vision for the project: “My primary duties in with art from Giffen’s Muñoz period, where he controversially regard to the SF line was to work with the creators and aped the style of Argentine artist José Muñoz [see next issue 66 • BACK ISSUE • Bronze Age Graphic Novels Issue

by M a t t

Merante

for details—ed.]. It features a moody and discomforting color palette, with each page structured in a 16-panel layout. The main protagonist and POV, fantasy writer Guy Roberts, is invited to witness a clandestine ritual that will transport a demon to the mortal plane. Dark forces invade the hearts and minds of several characters, and unfortunate repercussions occur. Scripter Bob Fleming says that he convinced Keith Giffen and Julie Schwartz to make one robert loren fleming major change to the adaptation, “turning the detective into a horror author like Stephen King or Clive Barker… This made the narrator and central figure an integral part of the tale, not a neutral observer—and it placed him at the heart of the story’s concerns.” Fleming adds, “A major disappointment was that nobody ever compared our adaptation to the original Bloch short story. I expected a combination of praise and condemnation for the major change I’d made to the sacred text, but to this day I don’t think anyone has even noticed!”

A Sci-Fi Thriller Ambush Bug collaborators Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming take on Psycho writer Robert Bloch’s Hell on Earth, the first of the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel line. Hell on Earth © 1942 Weird Tales.

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First Comics was an American comic book publisher active from 1983 to 1991. They resurfaced in 2011 as 1First Comics. The first incarnation was known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable, Freelance. First, along with Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, took early advantage of the direct market. They attracted a number of writers and artists from DC and Marvel to produce creator-owned titles which were free to feature more mature content because they were not subject to the Comics Code. The lineup of graphic novels that First Comics, Inc. provided the comic-reading masses with was a run of 27 publications. Though often listed in numbered order, none have a number on the cover and only the first few are numbered on the copyright page. Most, but not all, have “First Graphic Novel” printed on the spine. First started with all-new original material, but quickly realized that the public was clamoring for this style of format faster than they could vet all-new material. So they interspersed collected runs of currently popular comics with occasional all-new material. What follows is a glimpse at a few of First’s most significant graphic novels, concluding with a checklist of the entire run.

BEOWULF

First started its graphic novel line with writer/artist Jerry Bingham’s Beowulf, an adaptation of the ancient folk tale. Theslingsandarrows.com, a website devoted to graphic novels, notes that “Scholars are unable to nail a precise origin for the epic Scandinavian poem Beowulf, only knowing for certain the oldest written copy dates from somewhere between 975 and 1025, yet the enduring popularity of its plot is somewhat simpler to nail down…. “Beowulf originates in simpler times, when it was enough to include a monster in a story to induce a shiver of fear amongst the bravest warriors. The audience didn’t read a book or watch a play, they listened to a recitation… “This is a rousing and inspirational campfire tale and Bingham keeps it that way…” Beowulf’s literary significance offered First’s adaptation an unexpected audience. As Jerry Bingham posted on his website (quotes are used with permission), “The first time I said, ‘Wow! Neat-o!’ (or whatever the slang of that era might’ve been) [about Beowulf] was about a year after publication when a high school teacher wrote me a great letter saying he bought a whole case of my books for his classroom. This is something I never

First’s First Graphic Novel Jerry Bingham’s Beowulf, a beautifully rendered original graphic novel adapting the epic hero’s saga, launched First Comics’ First Graphic Novel line in 1985. (Bingham discusses the project’s roots in the sidebar.) Original art for Chapter 3’s title page, courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com). (inset) The graphic novel’s cover. © First Comics, Inc./Jerry Bingham.

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