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BYRNE’S FF • SIMONSON AND BRIGMAN’S POWER PACK HUNTRESS • BATGIRL • ULTRON • WONDER TWINS • and MORE

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BATCAVE C O M P A N I O N NOW SHIPPING! Batman. Is he the campy Caped Crusader? Or the grim Gotham Guardian? Both, as The Batcave Companion reveals. On the brink of cancellation in 1963, Batman was rescued by DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who, abetted by several talented writers and artists, gave the hero a much-needed “New Look” which soon catapulted Batman to multimedia stardom. In the next decade, when Batman required another fresh start, Schwartz once again led a team of creators that returned the hero to his “creature of the night” roots. Writers Michael Eury (The Krypton Companion, The Justice League Companion) and Michael Kronenberg (Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul Gulacy) unearth the stories behind the stories of both Batman’s “New Look” and Bronze Age (1970s) comic-book eras through incisive essays, invaluable issue-by-issue indexes, and insightful commentary from many of the visionaries responsible for and inspired by Batman’s 1960s and 1970s adventures: Neal Adams, Michael Allred, Terry Austin, Mike W. Barr, Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Adam Hughes, Sheldon Moldoff, Will Murray, Dennis O’Neil, Bob Rozakis, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Bernie Wrightson. Featuring 240 art- and info-packed pages, The Batcave Companion is a must-have examination of two of the most influential periods in Batman’s 70-year history.

Written by Back Issue’s

MICHAEL EURY & MICHAEL KRONENBERG ISBN 978-1-893905-78-8 $26.95 in the U.S. plus shipping Batman, Robin, and all related characters and indicia are TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Volume 1, Number 38 February 2010 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Today!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

COVER ARTIST John Byrne

FLASHBACK: John Byrne’s Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Family Magazine! . .3 An in-depth examination of Byrne’s influential FF contributions, with bonus commentary from his editors and inkers BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Ultron: The Black Sheep of the Avengers Family . . . . . .23 Bad robot! Bad!! Why Henry Pym rues the day he tinkered up this tin terror!

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

OFF MY CHEST: Marvel Marital Mayhem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 In a guest editorial, Scott E. Williams advises that it’s best to stay single in the Marvel Universe

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

PRO2PRO: The Marvel Universe from the Knees Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Louise Simonson, June Brigman, and Jon Bogdanove remember Power Pack

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Naif al-Mutawa Roger Ash Michael Aushenker Cary Bates Jon Bogdanove June Brigman Kurt Busiek John Byrne Timothy Callahan Mike Carlin Dewey Cassell Gerry Conway Yvonne Craig Nicola Cuti Fred L. deBoom Kirk Dilbeck Steve Englehart Javier Cuevas Garcia-Hinojosa Alan Gordon Grand Comic-Book Database P.C. Hamerlinck Allan Harvey Carmine Infantino Marie Javins

Dan Johnson Thanos Kollias Paul Levitz Alan Light Andy Mangels Marvel Comics Darrell McNeil Alan Misenheimer Kevin Moorhead Dennis O’Neil Jerry Ordway Carl Potts Tom Powers John Schwirian Louise Simonson Walter Simonson Joe Sinnott Anthony Snyder Joe Staton Roy Thomas Ivan Velez, Jr. Karen Walker Scott E. Williams Marv Wolfman Zan and Jayna Tom Ziuko

PRO2PRO BONUS: The 99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 A peek at the comic (and theme park!) from Kuwait that features art by June Brigman WHAT THE--?!: Heidi Saha: Warren’s Mystery in an Enigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 The puzzling parable of the perky pinup ROUGH STUFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 It’s back! Six sizzling pages of pencil artwork, with your host, Tom Ziuko GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD REMEMBERED: Apokolips Then: Or, Suppose They Finished a War and Nobody Came . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Gerry Conway recalls the perils of continuing Jack Kirby’s New Gods saga BACKSTAGE PASS: Purple Prose: The Perplexing Popularity of the Wonder Twins . .59 How the Donny and Marie of Saturday morning toons activated their powers on screen and in comics FLASHBACK: Growing Up Gordon: The Early Years of Batgirl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Cary Bates, Denny O’Neil, and Batgirl herself, Yvonne Craig, discuss the Dominoed Daredoll and her dad FLASHBACK: The Huntress: The Daughter of the Bat and the Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Paul Levitz and Joe Staton travel to Earth-Two to revisit their fondly remembered addition to the Bat- and JSA mythos BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Brother(s) Grimm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Spider-Woman’s wacky, wisecracking weirdo nemeses! GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Marvel Family Battles Evil Incarnate . . . . . . .84 The final showdown between C. C. Beck and DC Comics BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Reader feedback on “Monsters” issue #36

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, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $44 Standard US, $60 First Class US, $70 Canada, $105 Surface International, $115 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by John Byrne. The Thing and Franklin Richards TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2010 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. Family Issue

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PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

Michael Eury becoming a Marvel Comics mainstay in the late Silver Age and early Bronze Age. His most celebrated achievement was a decade-plus run on Iron Man, and he also helped make history as the original artist of comics’ first series starring an African-American headliner, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. His other Marvel work included Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, and The Avengers. (The original art page shown here, featuring one of this issue’s stars, Ultron, is from Avengers #135, May 1975. It was penciled by Tuska and inked by Frank Chiaramonte.) In the late ’70s, Tuska jumped ship to DC Comics, drawing the Justice League newspaper strip The World’s Greatest Superheroes, then in the ’80s was assigned several DC superhero features including Green Lantern. He was the subject of the TwoMorrows-published biography The Art of George Tuska, written by Dewey Cassell.

This issue, we drop in on some of the most famous families of the Bronze Age of Comics. Our cover feature—John Byrne’s Fantastic Four—is a series we’ve been itching to investigate for some time. After all, as writer Tom Powers reminds us, Byrne clearly understood, as did FF creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, that the stars of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” are not a super-team, but a super-family, and we revisit their Byrne-generated triumphs and tragedies in this in-depth study. We also welcome to our pages writer Louise Simonson, the talented wife of artist Walter Simonson (to name another famous family). Interviewer Roger Ash has paired Weezie with artist June Brigman in a “Pro2Pro” looking back at Power Pack, those super-sibling stars of one of Marvel’s most endearing 1980s titles (June’s successor, Jon Bogdanove, also joins the fun in an interview). The parent/child dynamic inspired this issue’s articles about Ultron, Batgirl, the Earth-Two Huntress, and—believe it or not— the Return of the New Gods (Darkseid and Orion are about as dysfunctional a family as you can find). We look at Marvel superhero weddings (where they usually throw punches instead of rice), plus visit the Wonder Twins, the Brothers Grimm, and the Marvel Family. There’s another family event this issue: We welcome home our first “baby” to leave the nest! “Rough Stuff”—the pencil-art showcase that debuted way back in BACK ISSUE #1 but later spun off into its own magazine—is back, after the recent cancellation of Rough Stuff magazine. Its editor, Bob McLeod, has moved on to other projects, and so we welcome Tom Ziuko—best known as one of comics’ star colorists— as the “Rough Stuff” host. Tom comes packing a trunkload of comic-art photocopies and a unique editorial spin on the feature. Please write in to let us know what you think of the return of “Rough Stuff.” There comes a time in every family when we must say goodbye to a loved one. This issue we are saddened to report the passing of two beloved members of the comics world.

George Tuska (1916–2009)

Shel Dorf (1933–2009)

George Tuska died on October 16, 2009, at the age of 93. Tuska started his career drawing comic books at the dawn of the Golden Age, but, as did many artists, temporarily stepped away from the field to serve in the US military during World War II. Post-war, he returned to the drawing board to illustrate crime comics before

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Shel Dorf died on November 3, 2009, at the age of 76. Dorf was one of the parties responsible for the largest annual gathering of comic-book “family” in the United States—the San Diego Comic-Con. While it’s difficult to imagine for anyone who attends what’s now known as Comic-Con International, which routintely boasts crowds surpassing 125,000 attendees, San Diego’s first convention, organized by Dorf in 1970, attracted just under 300 people. Through his passion for the medium and his geniality, Dorf became friends with many of the field’s top talents and helped grow a small summer show into an international media event. (The above photo of Dorf, taken in 1982, is courtesy of Alan Light.) The staff of BACK ISSUE offers our condolences to the families of George Tuska and Shel Dorf, as well as our thanks to the men themselves for their contributions to the comics community.

To m P o w e r s

If you ask any Fantastic Four fan what is his or her favorite run of the comic, the answer you receive will most likely amount to a toss-up between creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s historic 102-issue, six-Annual collaboration or John Byrne’s five-year tenure as writer/artist for the book in the 1980s. Silver Age purists, naturally, may argue that no other Fantastic Four creator can possibly come close to reaching the brilliant standard set by Lee and Kirby, but one can certainly frame a fair counterargument by pointing out that Byrne not only perfectly captured the characterization and joyful energy of the socially turbulent 1960s Lee/Kirby FF era, but also refined and reinvented it for a dynamically complex, Reagan-era 1980s comics readership. In the post-Kramer vs. Kramer reality of 1980s America, the divorce rate grew dramatically and the images of single, hardworking parents or doubleincome households and latchkey kids permeated the media. In the midst of this upheaval of the traditional, nuclear-family structure of post-1950s America, adults and children alike, as always, found escapist fare in myriad media—film, television, video games, and our favorite: comic books. Finding Byrne’s always-interesting FF covers shining forth from spinner racks and specialty shops across the nation during this era, comics fans were exposed to stories that took place in such diverse landscapes as New York City, Latveria, the Moon, and the Negative Zone. These settings, at the same time, functioned on an emotional landscape as well, as Byrne touched upon the contemporary themes of marriage, friendship, and child rearing. Byrne, more importantly, presented us with a superheroic family whose bonds reminded us that families can stick together and work through any problem, whether it is dealing with Dr. Doom’s latest attack or affirming one’s need to be recognized as a powerful woman (in Sue Richards’ case). With great pleasure, then, I present to you an in-depth analysis of the theme of family in this superb era in Fantastic Four history and share interesting comments from the FF-maestro himself!

Family Issue

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EARLY BYRNE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FANTASTIC FOUR Byrne initially pencils the exploits of one member of the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch, in Marvel Team-Up #61 (Sept. 1977), which finds Johnny Storm allying himself with Spider-Man against the Super-Skrull, whom Byrne also illustrates in the following issue. The next member of the FF to be depicted by Byrne is the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One #43 (Sept. 1978), in which Ben joins forces with Man-Thing and Captain America to fight a Cosmic Cube-wielding Victorius. But it is the landmark Marvel Two-in-One #50 (Apr. 1979) in which Byrne, this time in the capacity as both writer and penciler, shows us what he can do with the character. Recognizing both the tragic and comedic nature of the Thing as Ben Grimm meets his younger self in this issue, Byrne nicely captures Ben in his first depiction of him and shows a shining glimpse of the later greatness to come under his direction for the FF. In terms of his feelings when it came to being given the assignment to both write and pencil Marvel Two-in-One #50, Byrne comments, “[It was] a bit intimidating, but not quite so much so as when I was handed the FF. Two-in-One was kind of like Marvel Team-Up—it allowed me to play with a ‘real’ character, but not in the ‘real’ book.” Byrne begins to draw the entire team in Fantastic Four #209 (Aug. 1979). On working as a penciler for the Fantastic Four for the first time, Byrne says he experienced “a curious combination of excitement and disappointment.” He also states, “It was the Fantastic Four, after all—but I was being called upon to produce only very loose breakdowns (Joe Sinnott was the inker, and he needed no more than that), plus the initial story was wrapping up a leftover plot from a canceled book. An important lesson I have learned: If a book was canceled, there were not a lot of people who wanted to read it!” Issue #209’s story serves as the middle part of what turns out to be a Marv Wolfman-scripted ten-issue, galaxy-spanning storyline, which begins in issue #204 (Mar. 1979) and involves plot threads continuing from the recently canceled The Man Called Nova. This saga includes the Skrulls and an epic showdown between Galactus and the Sphinx on Earth, with the Watcher serving as witness. The storyline, in addition, is notable for introducing the robot Herbie (a.k.a. H.E.R.B.I.E.), from the 1978 FF cartoon series, into the comic’s continuity with issue #209 and Terrax the Tamer, Galactus’ newest, and most dangerous, herald in issue #211 (Oct. 1979). After this storyline ends in FF #214 (Jan. 1980), issue #215 (Feb. 1980) finds the FF once more facing the

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Byrne’s First FF Stint (right) Byrne breakdowns with Joe Sinnott finishes from Fantastic Four #210 (Sept. 1979), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (below) Herbie the Robot joined the cast in issue #209. Cover by Keith Pollard and Sinnott. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Negative Zone villain Blastarr and a new foe, Randolph, a scientist whose use of his accelerator to heal himself from near-fatal injuries evolves him into a god-like being. In #216 (Mar. 1980), the evolved Randolph, teamed with Blastarr, enters the Baxter Building and uses a single thought to knock out the Invisible Girl in front of son Franklin. When Blastarr later tries to destroy the portal that leads to the Negative Zone so he can move freely between the dimensions, Franklin’s eyes glow yellow with a fearsome red beam—the result of his cosmically mutated genes—and he displaces Blastarr back to the Negative Zone. As penciler of this tale, Byrne obviously found this development in Franklin’s story interesting as he would pick up this plot thread during his second run on the book. The next issue, FF #217 (Apr. 1980), finds Byrne penciling a tale where the FF’s robotic assistant Herbie meets his heroic fate protecting his beloved human friends, while Spider-Man guest-stars in FF #218 (May 1980), as he joins forces with the FF to fight their evil counterparts, the Frightful Four. It is not until FF #220–221 (July–Aug. 1980), in which the team travels to the Arctic in order to investigate the source of a worldwide electrical blackout, that Byrne would, at last, write and draw the title. The threat itself

turns out to be benevolent alien natives of the fourth planet of the star Beta Lyrae, who were reversing the polarity of the Earth’s magnetic poles so their ship could leave Earth and return them to their home world. Reed, then, depicted by Byrne as helpful as always to all lifeforms, assists the aliens by adjusting their ship’s circuitry so they can successfully depart the planet. The most interesting aspects of these two issues, however, rest with the truth that Byrne immediately keyed into the fact that the FF are a family that practices teamwork by using their powers to complement each another. On the subject of family in the FF, Byrne tells us, “Family—and not dysfunctional family—is the central, key element to the FF. It is an absolutely vital dynamic between the characters.” When it comes to Byrne’s feelings concerning his first shot at both writing and drawing FF #220–221, he reveals, “There wasn’t much to ‘feel.’ Those issues did not begin their lives as Fantastic Four comics. Well, not as such. They began as a single, oversized promotional comic done for Coca-Cola. When the people at Coke saw the Family Issue

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Byrne and the FF, Reunited Byrne routinely visited the FF in his later Marvel work, including this page from X-Men: The Hidden Years #8 (July 2000), inked by Tom Palmer and Joe Sinnott. Courtesy of Heritage. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

SELECT JOHN BYRNE FF CHECKLIST: Fantastic Four #209–218 (Aug. 1979–May 1980) (penciler) (inks: Joe Sinnott) Fantastic Four #220–221 (July–Aug. 1980) (writer-penciler) (inks: Joe Sinnott) Fantastic Four #232–293 (July 1981–Aug. 1986) (writer-penciler) (inks: John Byrne, #232–273; Terry Austin, #238, 286; Al Gordon, #274–275, #284–285, #289–290, and 292–293; Jerry Ordway, #276–283; Joe Sinnott, #287–288; P. Craig Russell: #291) Fantastic Four #294 (Sept. 1986) (plotter) Fantastic Four Annual #17 (1983) (writer-artist) Fantastic Four Annual #18 (1984) (plotter) Fantastic Four Annual #19 (1985) (writer-penciler) (inks: Joe Sinnott)

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he reveals that it is “just a general comment on the state of affairs. As good parents, Reed and Sue would naturally worry about prolonged absences from their son.” At the end of the issue, perhaps it is appropriate that Byrne’s final image for the book is a page drawing of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Wyatt encountering giant statues of the original FF standing in the heart of the futuristic Central City. The inclusion of the Thing, not the She-Hulk, in this iconic grouping may be seen by some fans as symbolically heralding the rocky one’s return to the book. Byrne then reveals, “Ben was set to return in issue #300. Jen would have gone back to the Avengers.” In terms of what family-based themes he was potentially considering to develop if he had stayed on the book, Byrne responds, “Since I let the characters ‘tell me’ what they wanted to do, I did not give much thought to developing these kinds of things. I found it worked much better if they just happened ‘naturally.’ He furthermore adds, “Like I said, I try to avoid conscious themes. When they come along of their own volition, great. But when I try to force them—well, that way lies preaching and pretentiousness!” From these comments, we can clearly see Byrne is an instinctive writer at heart who truly believes that the FF characters exist in a manner akin to us, meaning their lives are unpredictable and always in motion! By the summer of 1986, John Byrne was revitalizing Superman for DC Comics, leaving many Marvel fans in a state of disappointment for a long time after his departure from Fantastic Four, with a good number of them still holding out hope that Byrne will someday return to the book which is an ideal fit for his talents as a writer-artist. As for the potential of Lee and Kirby’s still-heir apparent returning to the FF, the man humbly answers, “I have no desire to compete with my own ‘legend.’” Despite turning down a few opportunities to once more helm the adventures of the FF, Byrne has nonetheless repeatedly expressed his affection for the characters by writing and drawing them once more in The Sensational She-Hulk, Namor, The Amazing Spider-Man, and X-Men: The Hidden Years. What Byrne leaves us with is a high water mark for the Fantastic Four, one that has reminded succeeding FF creators that Lee and Kirby had the formula right from the very beginning of the book: exciting superheroics mixed with stories of family and friendship. Yes, while we may never again see Byrne’s pitch-perfect depiction of our favorite superpowered family in this lifetime, we are left with a substantial run that renewed Fantastic Four’s promise of being “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” TOM POWERS, co-author of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: The Discerning Fan’s Guide to Doctor Who (McFarland 2007), is currently composing his first novel—a teen comedy-drama set in the late ’80s, which is mixed with a futuristic-fantasy narrative.

Karen Walker

The destructive robot is a staple villain of comics. Typically these rampaging machines are little more than the tools of some greater menace; as such, they themselves exhibit little personality. However, such is not the case with the Avengers villain Ultron. From his first appearance, where this “machine” rants and raves like any human villain, there was a sense that there was far more to him than his gleaming metal surface revealed. What would soon be discovered was that Ultron had connections to the Avengers that ran deep. He is, in a sense, part of the Avengers “family.” As the “son” of founding member Henry Pym, and the “father” of another senior member, the Vision, Ultron affects the team on a level other villains cannot. He evokes strong emotions whenever he faces them. As writer Steve Englehart notes, “I think the ‘killer robot’ is a good villain as a concept, but limited if that’s all he is. Fortunately, Roy [Thomas] and others had given [Ultron] lots of offbeat aspects to widen him out. I do think his (at least the lesser versions of him) obsession with Hank Pym, and through the rest of the Avengers, makes his plots against them personal, which is always fun.”

Brotherly Love Big John Buscema paid tribute to his artist sibling, Sal, by recreating his brother’s cover art to Avengers #67 (Aug. 1969, inked by Sam Grainger) in this undated illustration courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Its subject, the rampaging robot Ultron, obviously possesses none of the Buscemas’ compassion toward his family. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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As anyone with a spouse can attest, marriage is as often a game of endurance as an exercise of love. Once two people decide to share every day together, arguments will range from the mundane (“When you empty the dishwasher, put the cups in the right cabinet”) to the life-altering (“What do you mean, you don’t want another kid?”). Fortunately for those of us on this Earth, those conflicts never become like those on Marvel-Earth, where (at least in our BACK ISSUE period of the 1970s and 1980s) households are more likely to face the dangers of sentient robots than malfunctioning washing machines. On that wild world, when a wife tells her husband, “You’re just not yourself,” she might be exactly right—he might actually be her husband’s doppelganger from Counter-Earth! So, after conferring with a triumvirate of the finest minds in psychiatry (doctors Bart Hamilton, Leonard Samson, and Johann Fenhoff—who oddly insists on being called “Dr. Faustus,” even though it ended very badly for that namesake)—we have come up with a few lifestyle tips that should lead you to marital bliss in the merely magnificent Marvel manner.

WOMEN — DON’T JUDGE YOUR HUSBAND TOO HARSHLY IF HE PUTS YOUR CHILD IN A COMA — IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY, TO SAVE EARTH. Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards might have married longtime love and fellow Fantastic Four member Susan Storm in the 1960s (Fantastic Four Annual #3), but the couple’s relationship would be put to its most severe test in the early 1970s. Invisible Girl (later Woman) Susan Richards had already separated from Reed, feeling that the scientific genius was more interested in his latest gizmo than in her, but in Fantastic Four #141, Reed made a difficult choice that drove Sue into the arms of another man (well, half-man). Negative Zone villain Annihilus kidnapped Franklin Richards, Reed and Sue’s son, planning to use the toddler’s godlike powers for his own, nefarious ends. Franklin, born years earlier, was a mutant, born with awesome, reality-altering powers. The FF escaped Annihilus’ clutches, but not before the bug-faced villain increased Franklin’s powers to the point that the now-uncontrollable child was a danger to the entire planet. Father Reed Richards saw no alternative to using one of his devices to place the child into a coma (see Fantastic Four #140–141 for the whole story). Now fully cut off from her husband and team, Susan sought refuge under the sea with Prince Namor, who was planning to invade the surface (again). However, in Fantastic Four #149, we learned that Namor was only pretending to be a menace to both

Our Son’s the Bomb! (top) John Romita, Sr.’s cover to Fantastic Four #141 (Dec. 1973) shows a brouhaha in the Baxter Building. (bottom) Panels from that issue’s emotional tale, drawn by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Scott E. Williams

New Yorkers in general and the Richards’ marriage, in particular. He had staged the entire thing, to make Reed and Sue realize how much they loved each other. And they did realize it, just in time to attend a wedding (in Avengers #127 and Fantastic Four #150) that would launch a marriage so tumultuous it made their own relationship look like quiet bliss—the union of Crystal, of the Inhumans, and the mutant Avenger known as Quicksilver. Killer robot Ultron (see below) crashed the ceremony, only to be zapped into submission by the psionic powers of a revived Franklin Richards. The family was now back together, and Franklin was fine, although his powers would crop up repeatedly, each time leaving his fantastic family with some new dilemma. Fortunately, Reed Richards never again had to put Franklin’s entire psyche into Time Out.

DO NOT EVEN GET TO KNOW PETER PARKER. History has not been kind to friends of Spider-Man. The Scorpion crashed J. Jonah Jameson’s wedding to Marla Madison in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18. Supervillain Mirage crashed the wedding of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds in Amazing Spider-Man #156. The couple split briefly, with Betty trying to turn to Peter Parker for comfort, in Amazing Spider-Man #184–195. Their union ended tragically, with Ned Leeds murdered by minions of the mercenary known as the Foreigner, in Europe (Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one-shot). Poor Ned couldn’t even die with dignity; in Amazing Spider-Man #289, we learned that the Foreigner’s forces had murdered him while he was in the guise of the Hobgoblin, the mystery villain who had plagued Spider-Man since Amazing Spider-Man #238. Writer and Hobgoblin creator Roger Stern later revealed that Ned had been framed, but that would not come until the Hobgoblin Lives miniseries, in the late 1990s. Longtime Parker friends Harry Osborn and Liz Allen’s marriage ended in turmoil and insanity for Harry, who slowly dissolved into the villainous persona of the Green Goblin in the Web of Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man comics of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the late 1980s also gave us a ray of hope, as Peter Parker married longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. Surely, at least, that relationship would stand the test of time… …right?

Tangled Web of Romance (top left) Spidey lip-locks J. Jonah Jameson for laughs in this panel from 1984’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual (ASM) #18. (top) John Romita, Sr.’s original cover art to ASM #156 (May 1976), courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (bottom) The Marvel Universe might not remember the Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson wedding, but we do! Variant covers to ASM Annual #21 (1987), by Romita. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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In 1984, Marvel released a new series featuring the adventures of four superpowered siblings. What set Power Pack apart from other Marvel teams is that they ranged in age from 5 to 12—the first pre-teen team of heroes in the Marvel Universe. Receiving their powers from Aelfyre “Whitey” Whitmane, a friendly alien from Kymellia, Power Pack fought aliens as well as threats within the Marvel Universe. The series was created by writer Louise “Weezie” Simonson and artist June Brigman. For most of the first 54 issues, their adventures were chronicled by Simonson, Brigman, and, beginning with issue #22 (May 1986), artist Jon Bogdanove. It was also the first series written by Simonson and drawn by Brigman and Bogdanove. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to these three about their work on the book. While I would have liked to speak with all three at the same time, technology prevented me. What follows is a “Pro2Pro” interview with Weezie and June, and then a solo interview with Jon. Special thanks to Dan Johnson for his help during the planning stage. – Roger Ash

LOUISE SIMONSON AND JUNE BRIGMAN INTERVIEW ROGER ASH: What can you tell me about the development of Power Pack? LOUISE SIMONSON: Back when I was an editor [at Marvel Comics], Jim Shooter had been after his staff to freelance in addition to their editorial duties. As an editor, I didn’t think it was right to write a book that was already in existence, since it would have meant taking away work from some freelancer who depended on it. I thought it would be fairer if I created something new. I had this idea for little kids who were superheroes and I mentioned it to Shooter.

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Roger Ash

conducted June 8, 200 9

He said, “Yeah, okay. Maybe we can do a miniseries.” He was not enthusiastic. I put together a plot and character descriptions. I didn’t have an artist. Then June came into my office. She and Roy had come into Marvel looking for work. I didn’t have anything available as an editor, but I liked what she showed me and asked if she could draw kids. As I’m remembering it, June, you said that you had drawn kids [while] sketching at Six Flags. JUNE BRIGMAN: You’re right. Roy and I—Roy is my husband, [artist] Roy Richardson—we were in Marvel looking for work. We were just starting out. We met Weezie and she told us about this idea for a new series and she asked if I could draw children. And I said, yes, I could draw children, but I was bluffing a little bit. I wasn’t totally bluffing. I had drawn kids some. I had a clue about how to draw children, which was maybe more than most superhero artists had. SIMONSON: The moral of the story here is bluff. When someone asks if you can draw something, say you can. [laughter] BRIGMAN: Fake it until you can make it. SIMONSON: Exactly. If she couldn’t, it would have been pretty clear. The work proved that she could, so who cares if she had reams of experience drawing children? Anyhow, I gave her the plot and I said we needed character designs for these kids and if I liked what she did, I’d present the whole thing as a package. If Shooter liked it, we’d both get the job. She came back with these fabulous drawings. It was like all of the children were themselves only pushed a little bit further: Jack was cranky. He got a little crankier in the drawings. Katie, who at the time was— BRIGMAN: —a little bit of a brat— SIMONSON: —got brattier. And Alex got more oldestchildish, I guess you could say. BRIGMAN: Responsible. SIMONSON: Responsible, yes. But bossy and protective, too. And Julie was just her usual sweet self. The drawings were dead-on. I took the package in to Shooter and he said, “This is wonderful.” He was given to hyperbole. “This is the best presentation of its kind that I’ve ever seen. You have a series!” This was not a miniseries, now, this was a monthly series. I had never written a comic before. June had never drawn a comic before. The first issue was due in a couple of months. And it was a double-sized issue. BRIGMAN: It was a huge shock to me. There was no way I was ready to do this. Our poor editor, Carl Potts, was a saint. I think a lot of people would have canned me after that first issue, but he did everything in his power to help me and make it possible for me to produce a regular comic-book series. SIMONSON: It was so fortuitous. And it just turned out great. Y’know, you go back and read that stuff and it’s really not bad. BRIGMAN: It reads like a nice Andre Norton story or something. SIMONSON: That’s certainly what we were trying for. After we’d gotten the job, June, then you had to design the Kymellians and the ship, Friday. BRIGMAN: When it came to the Smartship, Carl really did a lot of that. That was more his baby. SIMONSON: He did a nice job with that ship. Friday was a very important character in the book. The Kymellians were great. Originally, they were going to be rabbits, but when I found out that you liked horses, I said, “Okay. Horses are good.”

Note: Some of these credits were done under the name Louise Jones.

Beginnings: Writer: “Dragon Slayer” in Monsters & Heroes #2 (1967) Editor: Creepy #79 (1976)

Milestones: Writer: Power Pack / X-Factor / New Mutants / Superman: The Man of Steel / Steel Editor: Creepy / Eerie / Vampirella / Uncanny X-Men / New Mutants / Battlestar Galactica / Star Wars

Work in Progress: World of Warcraft (co-written with Walter Simonson, for WildStorm)

louise simonson Photo courtesy of Louise Simonson.

Beginnings: Astron for AC Comics (1982)

Milestones: Power Pack / “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” for National Geographic World / Brenda Starr (syndicated) / The 99 (Teshkeel Comics)

Works in Progress: The 99 / Brenda Starr

Cyberspace: www.artwanted.com/juneart

june brigman Sketch by Walt Simonson.

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