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Volume 1, Number 21 April 2007 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving COVER ARTIST Michael Zeck COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Robert Clark SPECIAL THANKS Sergio Aragonés Ann Nocenti Michael Aushenker Don Perlin Frank Balas John Petty Spencer Beck John Romita, Jr. Jerry Boyd John Romita, Sr. Mike Burkey Rose Rummel-Eury Russ Cochran Steve Skeates Gary Cohn Tom Stewart Gene Colan Ty Templeton Philippe Cordier Roy Thomas DC Comics Ciro Tota Tom DeFalco Herb Trimpe J. M. DeMatteis J. C. Vaughn Colleen Doran David Yurkovich Mike Dunne Mike Zeck Editions Deesse Mark Evanier Golden Apple Comics Grand Comic-Book Database Allan Harvey Heritage Auction Galleries Carmine Infantino Christopher Irving Tony Isabella Klaus Janson Dan Johnson Michael Kronenberg Ryan Liebowitz Steve Lipsky Ralph Macchio Lee Marrs Marvel Comics David Mazzucchelli Mike’s Amazing World of DC Comics Mike Mignola Frank Miller Dan Mishkin Moon-Boy Brian K. Morris

DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 INTERVIEW: Mike Mignola: The Genesis of Hellboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Discover the story behind the comics hero-turned-movie star, with early Mignola art FLASHBACK: The Son of Satan: A Trident True Devil Hero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Spawned during the ’70s, Son of Satan toplined not one but three different titles in short succession GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Devil’s Moon: The Unseen Fallen Angels. . . . . . . . . . . 14 Colleen Doran reveals why this X-Men spin-off went unpublished FLASHBACK: The Hellish Humor of PLOP! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Remembering DC’s “magazine of weird humor,” with Sergio Aragonés, Steve Skeates, Carmine Infantino, and Lee Marrs PRO2PRO: The Blue Devil You Don’t Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn horn in on their co-creation, now seen in DC’s Shadowpact FLASHBACK: Seeing Red: Dissecting Daredevil’s Redefining Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 An art-rich examination beginning with the Frank Miller era, featuring interviews with Klaus Janson, John Romita, Jr., Ann Nocenti, and Ralph Macchio DAREDEVIL ART GALLERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 A showcase of pre-Miller DD artists, including John Romita, Sr. and Gene Colan WHAT THE--?!: Kirby Goes to the Devil: The Saga of Devil Dinosaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 “The Comics Savant” ushers us on an archaeological dig BEYOND CAPES: Stig’s Inferno, or … Ty Templeton Takes You to Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Revisiting the 1980s independent title that starred the reluctant ruler of the underworld BACK IN PRINT: The EC Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 These ’50s golden oldies are must-haves for comics readers of all generations! BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Reader feedback on issue #19, with Don Newton art!

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Email: euryman@msn.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Michael Zeck; contributed by Philippe Cordier. Daredevil and the Son of Satan TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Hellboy TM & © Mike Mignola. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2007 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. T h e

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This issue, we examine some of comics’ most popular devils (temperamental artists excluded), as well as a few lesser-known characters and comics. Conventional editorial wisdom suggests that an issue featuring Daredevil, Hellboy, Daimon Hellstrom, Blue Devil, and other horned and hellish heroes might best be reserved for publication at Halloween. Well, for those of you who know me, I’m not the most conventional guy in town (says the editor who put a Beppo the SuperMonkey action figure on his Christmas tree). Besides, no dark, horror, or weird comic books are expected to have a one-time-a-year shelf life—like the Devil himself, these characters are on duty 12 months a year—so why limit our exploration of their adventures to October? This issue’s Daredevil coverage comes to us not from New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, but from France, thanks to art collector and DD disciple Philippe Cordier. Many months ago, Philippe contacted me about writing a Daredevil piece, and discovered that your friendly neighborhood Euryman works well in advance on BACK ISSUE themes and content (by-the-seat-of-your-pants editorial management doesn’t keep the trains running on time, my friends…). Thank you, Philippe, for biding your time waiting for DD’s chance to shine—and for the wonderful job you did gathering artwork and interviewing DD’s all-star creators. This issue’s cover also comes to us from Philippe, who commissioned this astounding illustration from the ultra-talented Mike Zeck. You might be surprised that I was initially hesitant to run it, since BI featured a Zeck cover a mere five issues ago (the Snake-Eyes G. I. Joe cover on issue #16). But how could I not share this masterpiece with you? And aren’t those cover colors remarkable? I’d like to welcome our new cover colorist, Glenn Whitmore (Captain Clockwork, Superman, Power of Shazam!), to BI. Glenn actually joined the BI family last issue, but issue #20’s last-minute “BackSeat Driver” tribute to the late, great Dave Cockrum prohibited my ability to properly introduce him. Glenn, we’re thrilled to have you on board! Some of you might be wondering, Why the devil is Hellboy in this issue? Of course, many of you are rabid Mike Mignola fans, but Hellboy debuted in 1993, outside of BACK ISSUE’s ’70s/’80s focus. There’s a story here: When Philippe Cordier commissioned this DD cover illo from Mike Zeck (which is, as you’ll read in the Daredevil article, a recreation of a Captain America piece), he asked Mike to include on the billboards tributes to two of his other favorite comics: Will Eisner’s The Spirit and Mignola’s Hellboy. Naturally, I wanted the billboards on our cover to reflect the content of this issue, so the Spirit sign was altered to bear the Son of Satan’s logo … but upon examining that “Hellboy Hotel” billboard I thought, “Why not have Hellboy in the ish?” Mike Mignola began his career in the ’80s (you BI newbies should check out #9’s Cosmic Odyssey “Pro2Pro” between Mike and Jim Starlin), and heck, Hellboy is just darn cool! Plus you get rare Mignola artwork as part of the deal! And for the record, BI may occasionally peek into the early 1990s, but we will blissfully remain stuck in the ’70s and ’80s! Just because we prefer the past around here doesn’t mean we’re technophobes. TwoMorrows has recently launched a series of “Tune-In Podcasts” of comics documentaries and interviews with pros (twomorrows.com/blog/category/tune-in/). That cute li’l devil Hot Stuff is a regular listener, and tells me I have a manly voice.

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Michael Eury

Three quick items: 1. I’ll be in Artist’s Alley at Seattle’s Emerald City Con on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1 (www.emeraldcitycomicon.com). If you’re at the show, please come by to say hello and talk old funnybooks with me. 2. Writer/illustrator David Yurkovich of Sleeping Giant Comics has produced a 72-page magazine-sized book titled Mantlo: A Life in Comics (aka “The Bill Mantlo Project”), a look at the career of the former Marvel Comics writer who has, since the early 1990s, been in an accidentinduced coma. The book is planned for a late spring 2007 release, and its proceeds will be donated to Bill’s caregiver, his brother Michael, to help pay for Bill’s daily needs. I hope to have more information about Mantlo next issue, but in the meantime, you can learn more (and become a contributor to the Project) by visiting www.sleepinggiant creations.com/comics-ogns/mantlo/sgc-mantlo-portal.html. 3. It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since the death of my friend, comic-book writer and editor Kim Yale. Kim, the wife of John Ostrander, died of cancer on March 7, 1997. Her joyous spirit and talent are sorely missed, and this edition of BACK ISSUE is dedicated to her memory.

Christopher Irving condu cted Augus t 17, 2006

Who is Hellboy, and where did he come from? When Mike Mignola published the debut Hellboy miniseries, The Seed of Destruction, in 1994, little did he know his monstrous monster hunter would lead the way for his career more than a decade later. —Christopher Irving

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CHRISTOPHER IRVING: What would you say is the genesis of Hellboy? MIKE MIGNOLA: I had never really given any serious thought to doing, and certainly not writing, my own comic. I’d done this drawing for a convention and written “Hellboy” on it as the last thing; I’d done this drawing with a blank space on his belt that I wrote it on. I thought it was funny, but wasn’t serious about doing anything with it. Then, in the next couple of years, all of the Image guys were doing stuff. A secondhand offer to do something at Image floated my way, and Art Adams was talking about doing a creator-owned thing. I started thinking a creator-owned book might be a good thing. I felt, at that point in my career, was that I’d tried to do a bit of everything. What was left to do was this book. I started trying to do a team book, but couldn’t come up with a name for the team, so I settled on the only super-hero name I’d ever come up with that I liked, which was Hellboy. As far as everything that went into it, it was just as an excuse to draw everything I’d ever wanted to draw. IRVING: Right around that time, you drew an issue of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (#54, Nov. 1993). How did that tie in to your development as an artist, and lead into Hellboy? MIGNOLA: When I said I’d done a little bit of everything: The last two jobs I did before Hellboy were the Dracula movie adaptation (which was a surreal experience), and I was working on this one issue of Legends of the Dark Knight. It wasn’t the first story I plotted, because I’d done a Hellraiser story before, but I plotted Batman in a supernatural story. It © 2007 DC Comics. D e v i l

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Michael Aushenker

Let’s face it … the Son of Satan should have sucked. His costume was pretty lame—a slapdash crimsonand-gold cape with matching spandex pants and belt, boots, and bracelets; a large pentagram birthmark branding his bare chest; and a glorified pitchfork (in case you missed the, um, point). His cursed powers were a piss-poor amalgam of recent Marvel Comics success stories Dracula, Ghost Rider, and Werewolf by Night. He was haughty and hot-headed, defiant and unrepentant, even repugnant and unlikable. On a good day, he looked like a bedeviled Robert Redford with two flowing locks of hair fashioned into devil horns; on a bad day he resembled an overgrown leprechaun with his Irish coif and pointy Spock ears. And that name—confusing! What the heck was it again? Damion Hellstrom? Daimon Hellsturm? Damien Omen Hellstorm? Even the artist credited as the character’s co-creator left the book because he found the concept “stupid.” By the Seven Circles! And yet … and yet … there’s something damn pretty cool and surprisingly enduring about Marvel’s most hellified creation: the tortured, brooding Daimon Hellstrom (thank you very much), aka the Son of Satan.

THE SATANIC ’70s Looking back, the 1970s appear to have been a decade under the influence … of Satan! As hot as disco, Mephistopheles seemed to rear his ugly head wherever one turned. Satanic imagery and/or allegory became “hot stuff.” The Exorcist and The Omen scared audiences. Remember Warren Oates and Peter Fonda versus a town overrun with Satan worshipers in Race with the Devil? Metal was born. Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath exploited the dark side. As “Burn, Baby, Burn! Disco Inferno” blared from Studio 54, KISS demon Gene Simmons breathed fire and spit blood on stages worldwide. Van Halen was “Runnin’ with the Devil.” AC/DC sped on a “Highway to Hell.” Play “Stairway to Heaven” backwards and some swear Led Zeppelin conjured up ol’ Beelzebub himself. Kris Kristofferson, who “Beat the Devil” on his first record, titled his second album “The SilverTongued Devil and I”—Kris Kristofferson! Comics were no different. Fire and brimstone bubbled within the belly of the printer’s cauldron as Marvel began experimenting with supernatural super-heroes in the early 1970s: Tomb of Dracula, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo (in Strange Tales). Even Jack “King” Kirby swung by the House of Ideas to debut a kiddie comic with the un-child-friendly title Devil Dinosaur… but not before creating the odd, compelling The Demon for crosstown rival DC Comics. [Editor’s note: See this issue’s “What The--?!” article for the story behind Devil Dinosaur.] 6

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The Devil Made Him Do It! Original cover art (note the balloon’s missing copy) to Son of Satan #2 (Feb. 1976), penciled by Sonny Trinidad and inked by Tom Palmer. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Yet none of these characters would prove as ostensibly devil-worshipping or controversial as the half-breed dark angel with the Comics Code-challenging moniker: the Son of Satan. A DIVERSE BACKGROUND “He is Daimon Hellstrom—spawn of the Devil; born of woman—man of God, heir to Hell—and his two natures are ever at war! For though he carries Satan’s mark on his chest, he is sworn to drive his father’s minions from the world of men. Exorcist, psychic, demonologist, wielder of the soulfire—he is all of these, but within him lurks a second self, a savage, satanic side he must constantly fight to control … lest he lose his human heritage forever! —Preface for the Son of Satan series The Son of Satan concept is a simple one (although continuity has been complicated retroactively, as Marvel probably realized that they were stepping on the toes of its religious readers). It begins with the union between the mortal Victoria Wingate and Satan (which revisionist history redefined as merely a demon calling itself Satan). Before Satan disappeared, the couple sired Hellstrom and his sister, Satana. While Satana embraced her darker lineage (which led to her own adventures in Vampire Tales and Marvel Preview), Daimon fought it. Many moons later, Hellstrom became a professor of anthropology. He set up shop as an exorcist/occult investigator, struggling to conquer his demons (a nagging genetic predilection for evil, labeled his “darksoul”) while battling some literal demons of his father’s making as the brooding, “soulfire”-blasting, trident-wielding half-demon dubbed the Son of Satan. Locking horns with his father in the depths of Hell becomes routine as Satan, despite a begrudging respect for his bellicose offspring, forever avows to use every minion at his disposal to thwart his cursed spawn. But the Son of Satan character has its genesis enmeshed with the early appearances of a more popular hell-spawned hero—the spirited motorcycle marauder Ghost Rider.

GHOST RIDIN’ WITH THE DEVIL Make that Ghost Rider Dos. In 1967, Marvel had published a previous Ghost Rider, a short-lived comic centered on a phantom cowboy (itself derivative of a 1949 Western title). Enter Roy Thomas, Marvel’s young editor-in-chief, who, with the blessing of mentor and Marvel Comics architect Stan Lee, was about to shake things up. The year was 1972. “[Writer] Gary Friedrich,” Thomas tells BACK ISSUE, “had the notion of making up a Ghost Rider villain for Daredevil—some time after the Ghost Rider Western comic folded, of course—and I thought that was a good idea for a hero book instead, and Stan Lee agreed…” That “hero”—a humorless demon clad in black motorcycle leather and a flaming skull—was an instant success, quickly jumping from a test ride in Marvel Spotlight (MS) to his own title. The new X-Men’s Wolverine notwithstanding, Johnny Blaze the Ghost Rider may be the most iconic Marvel character to emerge from the 1970s (inspiring the 2007 Sony film starring Nicolas Cage). So Ghost Rider was on fire (so to speak), as Friedrich and Mike Ploog delivered “the most supernatural super-hero of all!” Marvel had obviously taken advantage of Code laxness … so why stop there?

The Curly Shuffle

The Son of Satan’s nascent beginnings originate with a story arc in Marvel Spotlight on … Ghost Rider #6–7 (Oct. and Dec. 1972). Enter the Daimon Hellstrom prototype Curly, with wavy red hair, cloak, and big pentagram of unnamed blood-like liquid—“the hues of Hell itself”—on his bare chest. At first, Curly saves the outcast Ghost Rider from the vices of a motorcycle gang. We soon learn that Curly secretly leads a congregation of devil-worshipping freaks in a plotline that involves him kidnapping Blaze’s love interest, Roxanne Simpson, to sacrifice her soul to Mephistopheles himself. Curly moves to plunge a jagged dagger into “Rocky” when Ghost Rider intervenes. Battle ensues for Roxanne’s soul. Enter Satan, etc. In earnest, Daimon Hellstrom makes his first appearance in the B plot of Ghost Rider #2 (Oct. 1973), written by Friedrich with art by Jim Mooney and Syd Shores. We’re introduced to Hellstrom by name as the mysterious exorcist invited to an Apache reservation to relieve the possessed Native American woman Linda Littletree. He arrives in suit and trenchcoat, his face hidden in shadow. He instructs Linda’s relatives to place a ringlet of ancient Egyptian ankhs around his wrists, to lock him in his quarters, and, Werewolf by Night-style, not to let him out no matter how much he begs. As night falls, we see Hellstrom, visage still obscured, within his secured chambers. He utters a most unusual prayer: “Holy Father in Heaven— Once more I ask you to see me through the nightly ordeal which is about to descend upon me…!” With the arrival of night comes his Jack Russellesque transformation that we, the readers, are not totally privy to. Sure enough, Linda’s relatives ignore Hellstrom’s request and release him from his ankh-and-key prison. As Hellstrom bolts from the room, we catch a fleeting glimpse of that nowfamiliar red and yellow garb. Fleeing, he utters: “…Farewell, fools—and may your names be forever etched in the legends of infamy for the deed you have performed this night.” The next issue featuring Daimon Hellstrom, Marvel Spotlight #12, would also introduce readers to his fiery alter ego…

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Allan Harvey

“My name is Roberto DaCosta. I am fourteen years old…” So opened the first issue of one of the oddest miniseries in Marvel Comics history. Fallen Angels, written by Jo Duffy and drawn by Kerry Gammill, was a spin-off from the popular New Mutants series. Running for eight issues in 1987, it told of the adventures of the aforementioned DaCosta, aka Sunspot, after he ran away from the X-Mansion following a misuse of his powers. Along the way he became a member of a gang of misfits and rogue mutants called the Fallen Angels who were led by secondstring villain, the Vanisher. During the series, the Fallen Angels became embroiled in a bizarre alien plot to experiment on their mutant powers. Along the way Sunspot’s fellow mutants Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, Warlock, and Siryn joined up. In the end, Sunspot realized he’d been a bit hasty in walking out on the New Mutants and returned home. That was that. It was a series that was largely played for laughs and concerned itself more with character than plot. It is perhaps most notable today for its inclusion of Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy [originally Moon-Boy]. Created by Jack “King” Kirby, they’d barely been seen since the demise of their own series in 1978 [Editor’s note: See this issue’s “What The--?!” for more on Kirby’s king-sized dino-hero]. Fallen Angels brought the characters firmly into the Marvel Universe for the first time. It also defined them as coming from an alien world rather than prehistoric Earth, and declared them mutants—presumably because of their unusually high intelligence.

Fallen Angels, Broken Hearts Young lovers Siryn and Jamie Madrox, on the splash page for the first issue of the unpublished Marvel miniseries Fallen Angels II (FA2). Art by Colleen Doran and Terry Austin. All original artwork in this article is courtesy of Colleen Doran and Allan Harvey. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Entitled “Black Sheep,” the second issue sees Pan getting used to his place in the Fallen Angels. Meanwhile, across town, a longhaired, black-suited master criminal called the Broker has called a meeting to discuss Pan and his escape. He’s not happy. They are keeping a collection of mutant children for some purpose and need Pan back. At Beat Street, Pan has more flashbacks to his abusive past, suffering indignities at the hands of his monstrous father. We also learn how the Broker originally captured him. He wakes up screaming and is comforted by Jamie Madrox. In the morning, he leaves Beat Street and attempts a solo mission to free the captured children. He’s not very successful and is almost recaptured by the Broker’s men. Moon Boy leads the Fallen Angels to him and they rescue both Pan and the kids. The Broker’s mood improves none at this news and he calls in Pan’s abusive father to help with future attempts at reacquiring the young mutant… The two issues that exist of Fallen Angels II present a much more coherent story than the first series, with a solid plot and direction. The dialogue is crisp and amusing and the characters live on the page. Colleen Doran’s art is rock solid, representing an early high for her.

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Even though the series was hampered by an inconsistent art team (there were three pencilers in eight issues), and was decidedly off-kilter for a mid-’80s X-book, it proved a success. At the time there were rumors of a second series, but it never materialized and the Fallen Angels became just a dim memory. So what? you cry, What’s that got to do with “The Greatest Stories Never Told”? A-ha! In actual fact, it was not just a rumor: A sixissue second series was being worked on in 1988. Writer and co-creator Jo Duffy was back, this time working with penciler Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil, Book of Lost Souls). Two issues were fully completed, with inks by legendary X-Men embellisher, Terry Austin. A third had just been started when the axe fell on the project. The first issue of Fallen Angels II begins with Jamie Madrox bidding a tearful farewell to his girlfriend Siryn as she departs the Fallen Angels. There follows a flashback to the appalling childhood of a new character whom we will come to know as Pan Halehone. He suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of his father, but has escaped to the big city where he’s living rough. Meanwhile, Fallen Angels’ resident goofball, Gomi, and his pet bionic lobster (hey, I said it was an odd series) are saying farewell to an old friend who was killed when Devil Dinosaur stepped on him in series one. Back at the gang’s Beat Street den, the T-shirt-wearing Moon Boy has introduced Devil Dinosaur to the dubious delights of MTV. Starving, Pan tries to steal some hot dogs, but runs away when he recognizes two mysterious characters from his past. He falls in with a group of religious extremists, but soon runs away—straight into the clutches of those he was trying to escape. At Beat Street, Devil Dinosaur becomes aware of his cries for help and the Fallen Angels go to investigate. They quickly overcome Pan’s kidnappers and save the day. Pan, whose mutant power is the telepathic control of animals, joins the misfit bunch.

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of the early PLOP! stories have a ZA number on them). Zany was originally comprised mostly of parodies of existing comic-book characters. Around the same time period, Sergio Aragonés was knocking on DC’s door: “I arrived in New York in 1962 and started working for MAD. Then, in 1966 and 1967, I went to Europe. Before that, I liked comics, but I never saw anything with humor here in the United States. There were funny animals in children’s comics and super-heroes like Plastic Man, but other than Archie, there were no humor comics. When I went to Europe, I realized there were a lot of humor stories, even serious stories drawn in a humorous style. I said, ‘Oh, my God, this is what I want to do.’ So when I got back to the States, I tried to convince someone to do humor comics. I had been bugging Joe Orlando to do humor, but I didn’t want to do another MAD magazine. I wanted to do humor comics,” recounts Aragonés. Then came a story called “The Poster Plague.” Steve Skeates explains, “I wrote ‘The Poster Plague,’ which I originally submitted to Warren Publishing for Creepy, Eerie, or Vampirella, wherever they wanted to put it. Warren turned it down, so I took it to Joe Orlando at DC, who used it in House of Mystery, illustrated by Sergio Aragonés. At some point they decided, more or less, to base PLOP! on the ‘Poster Plague’ story. They liked that combination of horror and humor, and they thought that would sell.” So, how did the new humor comic book come to be called PLOP!? Aragonés recalls the setting: “Joe Orlando and I were sitting in a restaurant talking with Carmine Infantino. They wanted a magazine that was different, something about black humor. Carmine came up with the name. We were talking about it and he said, ‘What will we call it?’ And I said, ‘We can call it anything, because if the magazine is good, then it will stay.’ And he said, ‘No, we can’t call it, for instance … PLOP!’ [possibly recalling the sound effect of ‘KLOP!” from ‘The Poster Plague’]. And I said, ‘Yes, we can.’ And so I started making sketches of things going PLOP! and they laughed and decided the name was good.” Infantino says they considered making PLOP! magazine-sized, rather than a comic book. Infantino was a friend of MAD magazine publisher Bill Gaines and although Gaines never directly told Infantino that he didn’t want DC to make PLOP! a full-sized

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Aragonés drew the background characters on the cover as well as the “Table of Plop-Tents” page. Carmine Infantino noted that he particularly enjoyed the Wolverton covers. He said he believed the drawings were ones Wolverton had already done, but were unpublished. Wolverton sent them over to DC and they loved them and said they would use them all. Wolverton came out of retirement to continue to do PLOP! covers. When Wolverton had a stroke, they switched to covers illustrated by Wally Wood. Each month, the comic book was loosely framed by a story illustrated by Aragonés in which the hosts of PLOP!—Cain, Abel, and Eve—took turns telling their tales to some hapless victim, ranging from the Easter Bunny to Superman, after which the hosts typically ended up getting surreptitiously PLOP!ed on themselves. The book included not only two or three stories in each issue, but also numerous single-panel gags organized into loose categories with titles like “Prison Plops” and “Monster Plops.”

MAD-ly Yours (center) A Sergio Aragonés selfportrait, in a sketch from the 2001 San Diego Comic-Con. From the collection of Dewey Cassell. Art © 2007 Sergio Aragonés. Cain, Abel, and Eve © 2007 DC Comics.

magazine, it was clear Gaines did not like the idea of it competing with MAD. And they weren’t trying to compete with MAD. As Skeates notes, “They were trying to find a new audience. It wasn’t that much like MAD. They were trying to be their own thing. It was designed to stand out as something strange, new, and different on the newsstands. It worked because the stories were subtler than anything in MAD.” But what’s funny about horror? According to Skeates, “There has, after all, always been a relationship between humor and horror. I think it is because they both, especially in comics, have a punch line. It may be a horror punch line or a humorous punch line, but they work up to a punch line. They’re first cousins.” PLOP!, the self-proclaimed “magazine of weird humor,” was launched in October 1973. It was “black humor” at its best— morbid, satirical, and ironic. The second issue of PLOP! featured a tale called “The Demand,” in which irate prison inmates riot and take several guards hostage. Their singular demand: Stop executing inmates during football games, because it ruins the television reception. As irreverent as it might be, however, PLOP! managed to avoid the gross and disgusting “shock” humor that crept into the genre in later years. When the farmer’s flirtatious daughter gleefully chopped off the unsuspecting salesman’s head in “The Last Laugh!,” the only aspect of the gruesome deed illustrated in the story was the telltale sound effect. Each issue of PLOP! featured a strange creature on the cover, illustrated by Basil Wolverton or Wally Wood, with names like “Arms” Amstrong and “Nails” Nittle. Sergio

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Dan Johnson

cond ucte d on October 16, 2006

Blue Devil was one of the last, great comic-book characters created before DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths of 1985–1986 permanently altered its Universe. He arrived at an interesting time, in 1984, just a couple of years before things turned grim and gritty with the coming of books like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Blue Devil was the polar opposite of those books. Blue Devil’s series was old-school cool, with a dash of super-heroics tossed in to lend some thrills and chills to its main strength: a sense of humor. The adventures of former stuntman-turned-super-hero Dan Cassidy came courtesy of the writing team of Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, and together these gents created one of the last bright and shining examples of a comic book that knew how to have fun. Recently BACK ISSUE was able to catch up with Mishkin and Cohn and got the inside scoop on the secrets of Blue Devil. —Dan Johnson DAN JOHNSON: Before we talk about Blue Devil, I wanted to get some background information. How did you two come together as a writing team? DAN MISHKIN: We teamed up as 14-year-olds wanting to just make trouble, I think. GARY COHN: [evil laugh] Yeah. MISHKIN: We met in junior high school and we were part of a small crowd of good friends, who are still friends to this day. [As kids,] we talked and loved comic books and had a lot of other interests. At one point, when we were 16, Gary said, “I’m going to be a writer.” COHN: This was something I had known since I was about nine. MISHKIN: And he was talking matter-of-factly saying this, and my thought was, “I didn’t know you were allowed to say that!” It was a real eye-opening experience for me, because Gary kind of led the way and said, “If you’re the sort of person who is always thinking of and telling stories, you can make this your life’s work.”

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COHN: I’ve thought about what it was that gave me the confidence to say that, and it turns out it was around 1968 after [Harlan Ellison’s] Dangerous Visions came out. It was all those introductions Harlan had written about various writers that made [writing] a viable thing to me. I had some insight into who writers were and what they did at that point. MISHKIN: Right, and you were cocky. COHN: Well, yeah. I was trying to be Harlan. MISHKIN: Right. I was never cocky. COHN: So anyway, we both decided to be writers and we had been kicking around ideas constantly from the time we were 14 years old on. We told each other stories about the various characters in the comics we loved, and also about the things we would like to do if we created our own comics. MISHKIN: We ended up responding to each other ideas by building on them and it became a partnership without any planning. Gary came up with a character that, unfortunately, has never seen print, and because it’s the one you came up with when you were 15 years old, it probably shouldn’t see print at this point. The character was called the Wanderer, and we developed a lot of stories about the Wanderer, which was a lot of fun. That sort of made us into a comicbook writing team without having anyone actually pay us to do the work. [When] DC was publishing anthology titles like House of Mystery and Tales of the Unexpected, we managed to get our collective foot in the door. Then we finally made contact with the right person, who was Jack C. Harris. He was editing a new book called Time Warp, which was basically “House of Mystery in space.” It was an outer-space/horror twistending book. We sent Harris a dozen pitches, and one of them he liked. The one he liked was the one that didn’t fit the formula he said he was looking for, which was stories where the monster eats the girl and kills the space cop. COHN: We did a story about a guy getting a ride home from— MISHKIN: —Santa Claus! We had a story [called “On the Day of His Return” from Time Warp #3, Feb.–Mar. 1980] about this crazy old coot on this wintery planetoid that a guy crashlands on, and it turns out to be Santa Claus, who takes him home on his sleigh. We did an unexpected happy ending instead of a twist ending. Steve Ditko drew the story, which was really terrific. COHN: That was really exciting to us that on our very first shot, Ditko was drawing our story. Ditko is God. MISHKIN: And Ditko, actually, was crucial to Blue Devil. COHN: Our editor for a number of things we were doing was a guy named Dave Manak. At this point, Dan was living in Michigan and I was in New York. I was the point guy who went to the DC office once a week and schmoozed the editors. One day Manak says, “Ditko’s been hanging around the office and he really wants something to do. Do you think you and Dan can come up for something for him?” I went © 2007 DC Comics.

Beginnings: “On the Day of His Return” from Time Warp #3 (DC, 1980)

Milestones: Co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld and Blue Devil for DC Comics / Wonder Woman / Creeps (Image Comics)

Work in Progress: Writing The Forest King series of illustrated novels for Actionopolis

Cyberspace: www.myspace.com/danmishkin

DAN MISHKIN Photo courtesy of Dan Mishkin.

Beginnings: “On the Day of His Return” from Time Warp #3 (DC, 1980)

Milestones: Co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld and Blue Devil for DC Comics / Senryaku and Shi/Cyblade (Crusade Entertainment)

Work in progress: Currently teaching high school and developing a variety of new writing projects

Gary cohn Photo courtesy of Gary Cohn.

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Super Powers Wannabe Ever wonder why there wasn’t a Blue Devil Super Powers figure? The blue man himself does in this illo by Dan Jurgens. Jurgens drew this as a thank-you to Dan Mishkin for locating for him the hard-to-find Plastic Man Super Powers. Courtesy of Dan Mishkin. Blue Devil © 2007 DC Comics.

COHN: And a mensch. MISHKIN: An absolute mensch. He was just terrific. Neal said when we were going to do the revival that if you didn’t have the dialogue, and you only looked at the art, you wouldn’t know it was funny. That was going to be a key. The problematic issues of Blue Devil were ones where you saw it was being funny just by looking at the art. Paris could do funny not because you’re telling jokes—and I hope we were doing the same thing—but because you’re looking at something from a perspective that allows you to see the humor in it. COHN: The other thing is, Paris’ characters are mugging. Look at their expressions and those faces are exaggerated expressions, and the body language is big and it’s over the top. MISHKIN: Paris has, and still has, enough of a bigfoot element in his action drawing that he can go broad without seeming to go out of character. © 2007 DC Comics.

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I should also give some credit here to [then-DC publisher] Jenette Kahn. I don’t know how well known this is, but the first issue of Blue Devil as it appeared on the newsstands was not the first issue as we originally did it. About a third of [the version that finally appeared] has redrawn panels and even more of it is re-sequenced panels cut up partly and moved with new panels drawn in. Jenette looked at the preview, the first issue, and the second issue, and said about the first issue that it was too dark. She said we spent too much time on Blue Devil moaning and groaning [about being stuck in his new form]. What we did instead was have him being really pissed off in this situation, but he’s not a whiner. I wish I had preserved the original artwork. It’s been so many years ago, but the version that came out was considerably different. JOHNSON: I always thought it was interesting that you made Dan Cassidy a stuntman/special-effects man. When Blue Devil first appeared, it was around the same time that the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Indiana Jones movies were catching the public’s interest and it seemed like people were really eager to learn how special effects were done. Did the public’s interest in special-effects-laden films have anything to do with deciding the character’s profession? COHN: Well, you have to understand that the first Blue Devil “film,” directed by [our character] Marla Bloom, actually had cheesy special effects. [laughter] MISHKIN: We were aware of all the pop-cultural stuff at the time, but it’s hard to look back now and know what made us go in this direction. There’s stuff that’s in the air, and if you have got an individual sensibility that you can channel that stuff, then you end up with your thing with stuff from here and a piece from there. Somebody once said, “Steal from the best.” JOHNSON: Even though his book wasn’t around for very long, Blue Devil has remained a visible character in the DC Universe. He’s currently enjoying a revival thanks to the new Shadowpact series. I was wondering what your thoughts are about the character after all these years. COHN: Blue Devil was something that was wonderful and fun that we did over 20 years ago. It was a lot of things, but it didn’t have a lot on its mind. [laughter] We’ve both done a lot of things, including Amethyst, if you’re looking for something we did together, that had a lot more on its mind. My love for Blue Devil is huge because he’s my first baby. The experience of creating Blue Devil was so much fun, and when I read it again now, I still laugh. In the big scheme of things, though, there really isn’t that much to talk about Blue Devil that isn’t right there on the surface. MISHKIN: Looking back, I remember how much fun it was to do the series when everything about it was clicking. And how much fun it was to have people respond to it the way they did. It seemed to be more than just a fun diversion for them, but really struck a chord. When I go to comic-book conventions these days, people just pile on with their stories about how much they loved and still love Blue Devil, and that’s so rewarding to hear 20some odd years later. Everybody who’s had a career in comics has had their ups and downs, and God knows I believe I’ve got some great stories in me yet, but as I’ve said to Gary, if what I mostly end up being known as is one of the creators of Blue Devil, I’ll be happy.

Philippe Cordier

Daredevil is not a bestselling book! The title is not in the same commercial league as X-Men. But there is something about Marvel’s Man without Fear … something that attracts artists and, when done well, readers as well. There is also something unfair about Daredevil (DD)—such wonderful creators were on the book, yet a lot of them are unsung heroes. Talk about DD with fellow comics fans and the names you’ll hear are Gene Colan and Frank Miller (along with some discussion of Stan Lee, Bill Everett, and Wally Wood) among the “older” readers, while almost every “modern” fan will jump to the Kevin Smith/Joe Quesada, Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev, or Ed Brubaker/Michael Lark eras. That’s a shame, because a lot of other good artists worked on the character. In this article, I’ll focus on two kinds of creators: The first person we’ll look at is not an unsung creator—far from it, because we’re talking about Frank Miller. As great as the man was/is, his DD should also be remembered because of the artists he worked with on the title: Klaus Janson, David Mazzucchelli, and John Romita, Jr. (we’ll leave Bill Sienkiewicz for what could be a future BI issue). The second thing we’ll take a look at is a run that is not famous enough: Daredevil by

Something’s Cooking in Hell’s Kitchen (left) A 2002 pinup by Klaus Janson, drawn for charity, featuring the heavy hitters from the Daredevil cast. Courtesy of the artist. (inset) Early DD by Gene Colan (with Frank Giacoia inks). Detail from page 17 of Daredevil #20 (Sept. 1966). Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Vengeful DD seems to be saying, “There will be hell to pay!” in this incredible David Mazzucchelli splash from “Born Again,” page 22 of issue #232. Original art scan courtesy of Spencer Beck of the Artist’s Choice (www.theartistschoice.com). © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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THE MAZZ: BORN AGAIN (#227–233) Miller left the book after issue #191 (Feb. 1983), inked by Terry Austin. Klaus Janson stayed on board, doing the art all by himself, until issue #196 (July 1983). After that, it was mostly Denny O Neil at the writing chores and a bunch of artists doing their best to follow the big-step-ahead that the Miller/Janson era had been. William Johnson did an honest job beginning with #197, but the real surprise came with issue #206 (May 1984), when relative newcomer David Mazzucchelli joined the Daredevil family. Not an (almost) instant hit like Miller was, Mazzucchelli slowly drew his way into the DD mythology. His run—under the very capable hands of writer O’Neil (minus some fill-ins)—was decent, then good, then great. Inkers never really did justice to his pencil art (most of the time it was Danny Bulanadi), but the art stepped out when “the Mazz” inked himself starting with Daredevil #214 (Jan. 1985). Even the stories went better after that issue. Maybe the fact that the artist was enjoying himself helped the writer. Still, O’Neil left with issue #226 (Jan. 1986), with Miller scripting over O’Neil in that issue (Frank had previously returned in #219 for a fun story with John Buscema). Daredevil #227–233 (Feb.–Aug. 1986) may be some of the best DD issues of all time, if not the best. Frank Miller was back on the character that helped make him famous. He was writing, but not drawing— not even doing layouts. But he was paired with an artist who was doing some of his best work ever— and who couldn’t wait to work with this writer! David Mazzucchelli’s art excelled so much that many fans thought that the more experienced Miller helped the newer artist. It wasn’t that way. Mazzucchelli may have been inspired by the fact that he was working with such a great storyteller, but he was doing the artwork all by himself. Are there any comics fans who still don’t know what this “Born Again” storyline was about? If so, then let it be known that the Kingpin broke a man. That man, Matt (Daredevil) Murdock, went down real hard … then through tribulations was “reborn.” Nothing new under the sun? You bet there was. If “Born Again” sounds somewhat déjà vu, it’s because its premise has been done a lot since this storyline, but not a whole lot before it. Matt/DD is a Christian character, and Miller played with this a lot. There was a lot of religious symbolism in his story (including the chapters’ titles). An example? Last page of issue #229 (Apr. 1986) is from “La Pieta.” Now take a look at the second page of issue #230: Matt lying on the bed has been drawn in a way that can only remind the reader of Christ on the cross. Powerful! David Mazzucchelli’s art was realistic, but not traced or “swiped.” This is important, because today some artists trace over a picture to appear

realistic. Back in 1986 you could be realistic without being photorealistic. Mazz’s art was not “cartoony,” but it was still comic art. Many thanks to Neal Adams for showing the way. There was something else really interesting about the art in “Born Again”—we were able to watch Mazzucchelli while his art style was still evolving! If you take a look at what he was doing with DD before “Born Again,” the art was very good but Mazz was still trying to stay in some kind of “old school,” a la Gil Kane or Gene Colan. Now take a look at 1987’s “Batman: Year One” (in Batman #404–497), which Mazz did with Miller after “Born Again”: The artwork is much simpler. Mazzucchelli went the Alex Toth road (“less is more”). With “Born Again” we’ve got both styles from the artist: Issue #227 was in the “classic style,” while #233 was almost done in the “Batman: Year One style” … and everything in between was a “work in progress.” Fascinating! Mazz’s art made an everlasting impression on a lot of fans and illustrators. Lee Weeks, for example, is still influenced by what was done by this artist. Mazzucchelli is now working in a style so simple, so different, that he is not the same artist anymore. He’s always evolving. That way, amateurs of “underground” or “avant garde” art love his work, and super-hero comics fans dig his art, too. Few artists can accomplish that. Don’t let the artist himself fool you: If you were to talk to David Mazzucchelli today, he might say that he was young when he worked on DD, that he “did what he could,” but he’s not the same man today … not to say that he doesn’t like his old work. While what he’s been drawing more recently is very interesting (Big Man is a wonderful book), his DD is one of the best there is. He wasn’t on the character for long, but it sure feels like it. Miller was impressed by the guy. He gave him good ideas to play with and the artist made the work even better. There are not a lot of collaborations where the writer and the artist mesh so well that you could have sworn there was only one person doing the whole thing. This was such a case (the Miller/Janson team being another). When the pictures told enough of the story, Miller didn’t try to add words to them. When words were needed, Miller added just the right amount of them. Some sentences won’t leave your mind—like when Matt asked Maggie (the nun who rescued him) if she was his mother, she said no, but Miller added DD’s observation, “A heartbeat can tell you a lot. Hers just jumped. She’s lying! ” Simple and to the point! “Born Again” is a work of art that should be seen in black-and-white instead of the bad coloring process that comics had in those days. Maybe one day this beauty will be included in some kind of Essential Daredevil book. It sure would be well worth it.

(above) Mazzucchelli’s corner box art used on Daredevil covers during his run. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. (left) David Mazzucchelli’s cover to Daredevil #232 (July 1986), scanned from a small photocopy of the original art. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

[continued on page 48]

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(left) This DD drawing by JRjr, in its glorious pencil form, was done as the birth announcement for the second daughter of this article’s writer. Doesn’t this make you wish that John Junior was still drawing the book? Daredevil © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

(right) The French editor for Marvel Comics sometimes hired French artists to illustrate covers that would be used instead of the US ones. Artist Ciro Tota (Photonik, Aquablue, Les conquérants de Troy…) did several of those during the 1980s, and this one is easily one of the best. Daredevil and characters © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art © 2007 Editions Lug/Semic and Ciro Tota.

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Captions by

Michael Eury

After a revolving door of artists in the earliest issues of Daredevil, John Romita, Sr. began a brief stint on the title with issue #12 (Jan. 1966), initially drawing over Jack Kirby layouts. Pictured here is a rarely seen illo by Romita, a 1974 presentation piece for a proposed Daredevil animated TV series. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Characters as diverse as Batman and Richie Rich hawked baked goods for Hostess in a series of comic ads appearing in various publishers’ titles during the late ’70s and early ’80s. In this 1978 one-pager starring DD and drawn by Sal Buscema, Peachy Keen joins the roster of Hostess super-villains whose villainy was easily vanquished by tasty treats. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Hostess © 2007 Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Daredevil © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

Okay, let’s get this over with right off the bat. I like Devil Dinosaur. There I said it, let it be on my head. It’s a simple, fun comic that does exactly what it sets out to do. Proceed accordingly. It was 1978. Jimmy Carter was president, Laverne & Shirley was the top-rated TV show, and Jack Kirby was writing and drawing a comic book about a furry ape boy and his big, red dinosaur. Yes, that Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer, the man who had more than a hand in making Marvel Comics the top-selling super-hero titles in the business, was drawing a strip that seemed a throwback to something he’d already left behind at a previous company. But with a big, red dinosaur. A Devil Dinosaur. Let me explain… In 1978 Jack Kirby had been in the comics business for 40 years. Kirby was still an immense creative force, but he felt spent on comics, Marvel in particular, and was looking for a way out. He was putting out Black Panther, Machine Man, and the last few issues of The Eternals. Jack worked away at a business he no longer felt he understood, at least not the way it was being run at the time. There were people in the Marvel offices that didn’t think Jack knew what he was doing, or misunderstood Jack’s need for control over his work as pigheadedness. They offered to help “fix” his writing, and were stung that Jack didn’t want to draw their scripts. Why wouldn’t the great Jack Kirby want to return to Fantastic Four or Thor? Why do something like The Eternals or Machine Man … or Devil Dinosaur? Why, indeed.

An Odd Mix A crimson dino, an ape boy, and armored adversaries—all in one (sur)reality! From the mind and pencil of Jack “King” Kirby. Original cover artwork to Devil Dinosaur #4 (July 1978), by Kirby and Joe Sinnott. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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(right) Leaving exposition to the experts in Stig’s Inferno #6, Enoch brings Eclipse Comics readers up to speed. Based on Cain and Abel (hosts of DC’s House of Mystery and House of Secrets), but named for Cain’s other brother, Enoch wore a top hat because Templeton owned one at the time. (far right) The original cover art to DC’s TV spin-off, Batman Adventures #4 (Jan. 1993), illustrated by the vicar of versatility (we just came up with that … nice, eh?), Ty Templeton. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

“I’ve actually written two Stig stories since then. One is a six-page story I wrote and drew in one day a few years ago, just to make me and my friends giggle, and the other is a plot for a Stig’s Inferno one-shot I wrote earlier this year. I was briefly playing with the idea of doing something with it, but it’s really a case of finding the time and the financial reason to do it. “The one-shot I conceived features Stig and the characters from the original series in a self-contained story. It takes place some time after issue #7, since Stig in the story is still director of Hell, but it’s a while since then and Stig is bored in the job. At the moment, it’s probably best told as a 25-page story, but I could expand it if I wanted to. The little six-pager I drew a while back is a funny story about the way transportation works in Hell. It features Stig riding elevators and escalators, trying to get somewhere and becoming frustrated.” However, the ending of Stig’s adventure, after sitting in Templeton’s imagination for two decades, now “tends towards a different direction of the story and suggests Stig cannot escape.” So what made Stig’s Inferno so enjoyable that Templeton would consider doing new stories? “Mostly it’s the sense of freedom when I was writing it that I’d like to try again. It was a very

Ty Templeton, master of mirth, mayhem, monkeys, and music, from the 2005 Canadian National Expo. Photo courtesy of Comic Book Resources (www.cbr.com).

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unstructured forum to tell stories and jokes that appealed to me, without having to worry about corporate eyes over my shoulder,” a luxury not afforded when working on properties like Spider-Man or Homer Simpson. “I can’t exactly offer my unfettered opinions about politics or the news or pop-culture celebrities without an editor leaning over my shoulder. Bigg Time and Stig and Kelvin Mace are places I’d be allowed to write whatever came into my head.” But sorry to say for his fans, Stig’s next canto might not happen any time soon. Aside from illustrating stories in American Splendor and covers for Justice League Unlimited, writing and drawing stories for The Simpsons, as well as teaching comics writing and layout at the “Max the Mutt School of Animation” in Toronto, Templeton’s plate is as full as it’s ever been. In addition to all those reasons to never get any sleep or see his family, “I recently finished writing and editing Planet of the Apes for Mr. Comics in Toronto, and am currently writing/editing/drawing a bit of a one-shot special for that company called Hoverboy!, a superhero/political parody comic that I could never get away with a corporate publisher. I’m working with a new penciler named Steve Molnar on the project, and Molnar is good! Look for him in the near future taking over the comics industry.” And after completing a Howard the Duck story in a recent Civil War: Choose Sides, he’s hoping to do more with that character also. Thus, “Stig probably has to wait until I have time for him.” From a humble beginning as a full-time musician and art student working at a minor comics publisher, Ty Templeton moved up to be a highly respected creator of illustrative fiction and music as well as a teacher, passing on his knowledge to a new generation of creators. So while Stig may have gone to Hell, Ty Templeton’s career certainly hasn’t.

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Michael Eury

John Amos is an EC Comics fan. He told me so himself. No, I’m not a personal friend of the actor you might know from Roots, Coming to America, or Die Hard 2, nor would I expect him to recall our chance meeting. But imagine my surprise back in 1992 when, during my days as a DC Comics editor, I looked up from my desk one afternoon and saw Mr. Amos—yes, JJ’s daddy from Good Times!—looking into my office. At that time DC was headquartered in an Avenue of the Americas building which shared space with sister Warner Bros. companies. After finishing other WB business, John Amos encountered in the elevator a DC employee who worked for Joe Orlando. Amos confessed an appreciation for the work of Orlando, as well as EC luminaries Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, and Jack Davis. He was invited to the DC offices for an introduction to Mr. Orlando, after which he stuck around for an impromptu tour (and a little office voyeurism). George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are EC Comics fans, too. They didn’t tell me so themselves, at least not directly, but related their affection for ECs in their introductions to, respectively, the first volumes of The EC Archives’ Weird Science and Shock SuspenStories editions. Three celebrity endorsements for EC Comics, from personalities I truly admire! But I didn’t share their passion for ECs since I, like most of you, was born too late to have followed publisher William M. Gaines’ titles. (As a middle-aged man, I relish this opportunity to publicly proclaim that I am “too young.”) Of course, I’m aware that EC’s uncompromisingly graphic comic books torch-lit an industry-wide witch hunt more harmful than any eye-injury horror story. I was a fan of the HBO version of EC’s Tales from the Crypt, and remember that dreadful 1985 teen comedy Weird Science (which borrowed the EC comic’s name, but not its content) and its syndicated TV spin-off a decade later. A few years ago, during a consulting gig at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, I examined the covers of numerous CGC-“slabbed” ECs, but was unable to peek inside due to their protective casings. Despite that awareness of Gaines’ funnybook empire, until January 2007 I had never actually read an EC comic. Thanks to Gemstone Publishing and publisher Russ Cochran, I’ve finally joined the party … and have seen firsthand why those celebrities—as well as countless reviewers and publications, including Entertainment Weekly—enthusiastically recommend the recently launched The EC Archives. The EC Archives chronologically re-presents the EC Comics line in lavishly produced, full-color hardcovers. Inaugurating the series are the premier volumes of Weird Science, a Twilight Zone-ish tour of realms fantastic, and Shock SuspenStories, an ambitious omnibus merging crime, war, sci-fi, and horror tales into a single package. The work of John Amos’ favorites is on display, along

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Back Issue #21