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GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Aquaman II • Black Canary miniseries • Cat #5 • FF Graphic Novel • Miracleman Triumphant • Star*Reach Batman • Warlock #16 & more

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MIKE GRELL’S SAVAGE EMPIRE

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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

Go to www.twomorrows.com for other issues, and an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

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“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work, NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot, McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants, the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series, lost Angel stories, Beast’s tenure with the Avengers, the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor, the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father, a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Saturday Morning Heroes!” Interviews with TV Captain Marvels JACKSON BOSTWICK and JOHN DAVEY, MAGGIN and SAVIUK’s lost Superman/”Captain Thunder” sequel, Space Ghost interviews with GARY OWENS and STEVE RUDE, MARV WOLFMAN guest editorial, Super Friends, unproduced fourth wave Super Powers action figures, Astro Boy, ADAM HUGHES tribute to DAVE STEVENS, and a new cover by ALEX ROSS!

“STEVE GERBER Salute!” In-depth look at his Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Defenders, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, Thundarr the Barbarian, and more! Plus: Creators pay tribute to Steve Gerber, featuring art by and commentary from BRUNNER, BUCKLER, COLAN, GOLDEN, STAN LEE, LEVITZ, MAYERIK, MOONEY, PLOOG, SIMONSON, and others. Cover painting by FRANK BRUNNER!

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“Tech, Data, and Hardware!” The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and GREENBERGER on DC’s Who’s Who, SAVIUK, STATON, and VAN SCIVER on Drawing Green Lantern, ED HANNIGAN Art Gallery, history of Rom: Spaceknight, story of BILL MANTLO, Dial H for Hero, Richie Rich’s Inventions, and a Spider-Mobile schematic cover by ELIOT BROWN and DUSTY ABELL!

“Teen Heroes!” Teen Titans in the 1970s & 1980s, with CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, PÉREZ, TUSKA, and WOLFMAN, BARON and GUICE on the Flash, interviews with TV Billy Batson MICHAEL GRAY and writer STEVE SKEATES, NICIEZA and BAGLEY’s New Warriors, Legion of Super-Heroes 1970s art gallery, James Bond Jr., and… the Archies! New Teen Titans cover by GEORGE PÉREZ and colored by GENE HA!

“New World Order!” Adam Warlock examined with JIM STARLIN and ROY THOMAS, the history of Miracleman with ALAN DAVIS & GARRY LEACH, JIM SHOOTER interview, Marvel’s post-STAN LEE editors-in-chief on New Universe, Logan’s Run, Star Hunters, BOB WIACEK on Star Wars and Star-Lord, DICK GIORDANO revisits Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Post-Crisis DC Universe You Didn’t See,” new cover by JIM STARLIN!

“Villains!” MIKE ZECK and J.M. DeMATTEIS discuss “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, history of the Hobgoblin is exposed, the Joker’s short-lived series, Secret Society of Super-Villains and Kobra, a Magneto biography, Luthor and Brainiac’s malevolent makeovers, interview with Secret Society artist MIKE VOSBURG, plus contributions from BYRNE, CONWAY, FRENZ, NOVICK, ROMITA JR., STERN, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MIKE ZECK!

“Monsters!” Frankenstein in Comics timeline and a look at BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s and Marvel’s versions, histories of Vampirella and Morbius, ISABELLA and AYERS discuss It the Living Colossus, REDONDO’s Swamp Thing, Man-Bat, monster art gallery, interview with TONY DeZUNIGA, art and commentary from ARTHUR ADAMS, COLÓN, KALUTA, NEBRES, PLOOG, SUTTON, VEITCH, and a painted cover by EARL NOREM!

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“Comics Go to War!” KUBERT/KANIGHER’s Sgt. Rock, EVANIER and SPIEGLE’s Blackhawk, GEORGE PRATT’s Enemy Ace, plus Unknown Soldier, Wonder Woman’s return to WWII, the Invaders, Combat Kelly, Vietnam Journal, Sad Sack, the Joe Kubert School, art and commentary from AYERS, HEATH, KIRBY, ROBBINS, ROMITA SR., SINNOTT, and the return of GERRY TALAOC! JOE KUBERT cover!

“Family!” JOHN BYRNE’s Fantastic Four, SIMONSON, BRIGMAN, and BOGDANOVE on Power Pack, LEVITZ and STATON on the Huntress, Henry Pym’s “son” Ultron, Wonder Twins, Commissioner Gordon & Batgirl’s relationship, and Return of the New Gods. With art and commentary from BUCKLER, BUSIEK, FRADON, HECK, INFANTINO, NEWTON, and WOLFMAN, and a Norman Rockwell-inspired BYRNE cover!

“April Fools”! GIFFEN and LOREN FLEMING on Ambush Bug, BYRNE’s She-Hulk, interviews with HEMBECK, ALAN KUPPERBERG, Flaming Carrot’s BOB BURDEN, and DAVID CHELSEA, Spider-Ham, Forbush-Man, Reid Fleming, MAD in the 1970s, art and commentary from DICK DeBARTOLO, TOM DeFALCO, AL FELDSTEIN, AL JAFFEE, STAN LEE, DAVE SIM, and a Spider-Ham cover by MIKE WIERINGO, inked by KARL KESEL!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Cat People!” Catwoman, Black Cat, Hellcat, Vixen, Atlas’ Tiger-Man and Cougar, White Tiger and the Sons of the Tiger, Wildcat, Thundercats, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Badger! With art and commentary from BOLLAND, BRENNERT, COLON, CONWAY, DITKO, GOLDBERG, LEVITZ, MILGROM, MST3000’s MIKE NELSON, and more. Cover by JOE STATON and FREDDY LOPEZ, JR.!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Red, White, and Blue” issue! Captain America and the Red Skull, CHAYKIN’s American Flagg, THOMAS and COLAN’s Wonder Woman, Freedom Fighters, and Team America! With art and commentary from JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, ROGER STERN, CURT SWAN, MARK WAID, LEN WEIN, MIKE ZECK, and more. Cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN!

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BACK ISSUE #39

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Volume 1, Number 46 February 2011 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Beyond!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Lady and the Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Ramona Fradon recalls what went wrong with the unpublished fifth issue of Marvel’s The Cat

COVER ARTIST Mike Grell

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Whatever Happened to Warlock #16? . . . . . . . . .8 Alan Weiss and Jim Starlin reveal the tale of this comic-book cosmic oddity

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Oh, Say, Can You Sing…?: The Mystery of the Captain America Musical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 The Star-Spangled Sentinel—live, on stage???

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

OFF MY CHEST: From Savage Empire to The Warlord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Mike Grell discusses Travis Morgan’s journey into print—and reminds us of his aborted Swamp Angel series

SPECIAL THANKS Bob Anderson Bret Blevins Tom Breevort Fred Burke Mike Burkey Jarrod Buttery John Byrne Dewey Cassell DC Comics Jon B. Cooke and Comic Book Artist Mike Deodato Steve Englehart Danny Fingeroth Tom Fleming Jim Ford Ramona Fradon Mike Friedrich Grand Comic-Book Database Bob Greenberger Mike Grell Heritage Auction Galleries Jonathan Hickman Phil Jimenez Barbara Kesel Sean Kleefeld Michael Kronenberg Alan Kupperberg Paul Kupperberg Andy Mangels Jim Manner

Allen Milgrom Jason Temujin Minor Jerome K. Moore George Pratt Richard A. Scott Jim Starlin Larry Talbot Roy Thomas Dan Thorsland Keith Veronese Jim Warden Len Wein Greg Weisman Alan Weiss Brett Weiss Pauline Weiss John Wells

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: How the Batman Nearly Stepped Out of the Mainstream and into Independent Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers almost took DC’s Dark Detective to Mike Friedrich’s indy house GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Fantastic Four: Fathers and Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Danny Fingeroth and Al Milgrom open the vault with the scoop on this unfinished FF graphic novel GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Opening the Box: Pandora Pann’s Lost Adventures . .37 Who closed on the lid on this Len Wein/Ross Andru title? ROUGH STUFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Six pages of previously unpublished art GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Failure to Launch: The Black Canary Miniseries That Never Took Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Greg Weisman blows the whistle on his unpublished collaboration with Mike Sekowsky GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Aquaman Sequel That Wasn’t . . . . . . . . . . . .53 This anticipated follow-up to the Pozner/Hamilton miniseries was deep-sixed GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Last Galactus Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 There was more to this story than appeared in John Byrne’s celebrated FF spin-off GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Wolf Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Dark Horse’s Universal Monsters one-shots had one conspicuously missing monster… GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Miracleman Triumphant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Fred Burke, Mike Deodato, and Jason Temujin Minor lament this Eclipse Comics casualty BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Reader feedback BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year 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. E-mail: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Mike Grell. The Warlord TM & © DC Comics. Savage Empire TM & © Mike Grell. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2011 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

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Michael Eury

Some readers of BACK ISSUE #43 got a few unexpected “Greatest stages and had some internal editorial resistance since they involved Stories Never Told”—incomplete and missing articles, and duplicated other editors’ characters, but the initial concept for Justice League pages! This was an unfortunate printer’s error, beyond our control, 3000 would have included a mix of descendants of original JLA which omitted a signature (a page grouping) and duplicated another members, Jo Nah (the adult Ultra Boy), an alien Captain Marvel, signature in its place. Fortunately, this only affected part of the print and a still-living Martian Manhunter. run. If you purchased one of these misprinted copies, please contact I was ribbed by some editors when they learned, back in early TwoMorrows at twomorrow@aol.com with your name, mailing address, 1992, that I had placed an editorial development “reserve” on Uncle and e-mail address, and you’ll receive a replacement copy. Sam. The character was considered anachronistic. (DC’s recent This issue, we take a look at unpublished projects, aborted concepts, Freedom Fighters miniseries and ongoing series have proved those and lost issues as we dedicate most of our pages to one of our hecklers wrong.) I’d approached Matt Wagner about writing an Uncle departments: “Greatest Stories Never Told.” Our theme evokes some Sam mini, and his brief outline involved Ol’ Red, White, and Blue’s personal recollections, if you’ll allow me antithesis, Amerika. Knowing Matt’s a moment of self-indulgence to add unique voice, this one boggles the mind. these GSNT footnotes. Too bad it didn’t happen. In 1987–1988, when I was writing I dropped the ball on all of these “Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham” projects when I left the company in backup stories for Marvel Tales, editor August 1992, and apologize to any writer, Jim Salicrup and I talked about Marvel artist, or fellow editor I disappointed by publishing a funny-animal super-team leaving those series hanging. book featuring Spider-Ham, Captain More “Greatest Stories Never Told” Americat, Mighty Mouse (who was on occurred at Dark Horse Comics in the Saturday morning TV at the time in mid-1990s, where I landed after DC. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures), I was group editor of licensed titles when Underdog, and Courageous Cat and the Star Trek franchise was up for grabs. Minute Mouse. The licensing lunacy Since Dark Horse was the comic-book attached to such a gathering quickly home of many of Hollywood’s most dissuaded us from anything other than a popular sci-fi series—Star Wars, Predator, few phone chats about it. and Aliens among them—the crew of the During my stint (1989–1992) as a Enterprise would have been in good DC Comics editor, I was planning a few company there. I lobbied for a Star Wars/ series that never saw the light of day. Star Trek crossover to launch the company’s One was a miniseries titled Legionnaires, ST titles (just imagine a Kirk vs. Darth to be written and illustrated by Steve Vader phaser/light saber battle!), but the Lightle. Lightle’s Legionnaires, which was franchise went elsewhere. Another offbeat being developed before the Chris editorial suggestion, which I made only Sprouse-drawn Legionnaires monthly half-jokingly, was a tongue-in-cheek series, ran out of steam when I took a one-shot, Predator on Gilligan’s Island, sidestep to become then-editorial but my bosses didn’t take it seriously. director Dick Giordano’s assistant, and (Heck, I’d still shell out five bucks to read unfortunately withered away after that. that.) And in 1996, while writing the ’toon As a writer, I proposed a monthly tie-in The Adventures of the Mask, I pitched series titled Shazam!: The Word of Power, an “animated” Batman/Mask DC/Dark to be penciled by Joe Phillips and edited Batman and Clayface TM & © DC Comics. The Mask TM & © Dark Horse Comics. Horse crossover involving Clayface’s by Mike Gold (this proposal was covered by Dan Johnson a few years attempts to obtain Stanley Ipkiss’ mask that might have gone the distance back in Alter Ego). My take on Captain Marvel was inspired by Tom had I not developed cold feet about writing Batman. Artist Dev Madan Hanks’ performance as an “adult” in the movie Big, but it was was on board and drew the promo image seen on this page. sidelined first by John Byrne’s jettisoned Shazam! series, then by Jerry Thanks for your patience while I detoured off of Memory Lane Ordway’s Power of Shazam!, and also by my own inadequacies as a and down Could’a/Should’a/Would’a Street. I look back at those neo-writer taking on a major character. projects with a twinge of regret. That’s a sentiment shared by During my last year at DC I returned to being the Legion editor, several of the creators who participate in this issue. As you’ll discover launching the aforementioned Legionnaires monthly to stand while reading these “Greatest Stories Never Told,” there are myriad alongside the “Five Year Gap” adult Legion of Super-Heroes title (if reasons why promised projects go unrealized. Often they’re painful ones, you weren’t reading Legion back then, this was an interesting but as editorial decisions, deadline disasters, and economic downturns convoluted period of LSH history). I had hoped to add two other dash dreams, causing hard work to be shelved. While these comics series to DC’s “futureverse,” predating Marvel’s 2099 brand: Batman never came to pass, for a moment, at least, we—and their artists and 3000 and Justice League 3000. These never went past the talking writers—can vicariously enjoy what might have been. 2 • BACK ISSUE • Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

Dewey Cassell

When you think of “The Greatest Stories Never Told,” it leads you to ponder “what if?” What if the sales figures on Marvel Comics’ The Cat had been better? What if the fifth issue of The Cat had been finished? What if Ramona Fradon had become a regular at Marvel, instead of returning to DC Comics? As it was, she didn’t stand a chance—Fradon, that is. The Cat would find another life with Marvel—two, in fact— as Tigra and Hellcat. But after The Cat and one issue of Fantastic Four, Fradon never worked for Marvel again. What if the gifted artist who brought Aquaman and TM Metamorpho and the Super Friends to life for DC had found her niche at Marvel? But I’m getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning. This “greatest story never told” is as much about Ramona Fradon as it is about The Cat. And Fradon found her way into comics through love. She explains, “I went to art school at the Art Students League and studied fine arts, but spent a lot of time doing figure drawing. When I got out of school, I had no idea what I was going to do and I happened to marry a cartoonist [for The New Yorker, Dana Fradon]. So, he and a friend of his [letterer George Ward] kind of steered me into doing some samples and taking them around. Which I did and I got jobs wherever I went. I had never thought of becoming a cartoonist up until that point.” Ramona Fradon found a home at DC ramona fradon Comics. Starting in 1950, she illustrated a variety of features for DC over the next decade, including Westerns and detective stories, but she is perhaps best known for her Aquaman stories in Adventure Comics, where she is credited with co-creating the character Aqualad. When her daughter was born, Fradon left comics, returning briefly in the mid-1960s to co-create Metamorpho with writer Bob Haney. She then retired from comics in 1965 to raise her daughter. In 1973, Marvel Comics editor Roy Thomas contacted Fradon and lured her out of retirement. Marvel had recently launched several new comic books designed to attract more female readers, including Night Nurse, Shanna the She-Devil, and The Cat. With the latter title in particular, Marvel was striving to use a female creative team. Marie Severin had started out illustrating The Cat, but she was going to be leaving the title, so Thomas wanted Fradon to take up the reins on the fledgling female

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Fabulous Fradon (left) An undated sketch of the artist and the Cat, courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (right) Greer Nelson springs into action on the Fradonpenciled page 2 of The Cat #5. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

superheroine. Thomas recalls, “I was a big fan of Ramona’s work. I don’t recall the precise circumstances of how I located her, alas… but I thought it would be a good idea from a potential publicity viewpoint to have a woman artist on the mag… and I liked the idea of having Ramona draw for Marvel anyway, so it was a perfect fit. I was delighted when she accepted.” Severin and Fradon had several things in common, not the least of which was having achieved prominence in a field traditionally reserved for men, and they became friends later in life. As Fradon notes, “It’s funny; Marie and I both worked on The Cat. And then she was working on Sub-Mariner and I was working on Aquaman. There was some sort of a thing going on there.” The first issue of The Cat introduced a shy, insecure young woman, Greer Nelson, whose husband was a policeman killed in the line of duty. Greer encountered an old professor named Dr. Joanne Tumolo, who encouraged her to participate in an experiment to heighten the natural abilities of women, including the “sixth sense” of intuition. But it turned out that the experiment was being funded by a madman with plans to create an army of superwomen. Dr. Tumolo stole one of the costumes created for the recruits and gave it to Greer, who donned it and defeated the villain. In subsequent issues, the Cat went on to battle the Owl, Commander Kraken, and the Man-Bull. The Cat also joined Spider-Man to fight a female villain named Man-Killer in issue #8 of Marvel Team-Up.

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For Fradon, working for Marvel proved to be something of a culture shock, in more ways than one. She recalls, “I worked at home. I would just go in once in a while. I must say I was really shocked when I went to Marvel after having worked at DC all those years. By then, the ’60s had done their work. Everything was so different up there. It was totally free-form. There didn’t seem to be any organization or order to the Marvel offices. It looked like mayhem to me. They didn’t have any offices. It was all just cubicles and there were papers all over the place and it just seemed like total confusion. It was hard for me to adapt to that. I guess by that time I was getting too old to fit into the kind of hippie atmosphere there.” But it wasn’t just the atmosphere in the Marvel offices that was a difficult adjustment. Fradon found it hard to adapt to the “Marvel method” of comic-book production. At DC Comics, artists were presented with a full script, describing in detail what was to appear in each panel of the story. But at Marvel, Stan Lee had introduced the “Marvel method” years before, in which the writer provided only a synopsis or plot for the story—sometimes as little as one paragraph— and the artist was expected to extrapolate the idea into a complete story. The writer would then take the penciled pages and pen the dialogue based on the artist’s rendition. It required the artist to interject many of the details into the story, essentially writing as well as drawing it. The only real requirement was that you include a lot of action. Fradon remarks, “If you go back and look at some of those stories, you’ll see that there’s like five pages in the middle where everybody is

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Alan Weiss is pretty tired of answering the questions and insinuations. No, he wasn’t absentminded or irresponsible. No, he wasn’t drunk and forgetful. And no, he wasn’t high on drugs. If none of those is the answer, then what befell the preliminary layouts for Warlock #16? Artist Weiss knows the answer, but remains secretive out of respect for a friend. He would rather let the person responsible for the oversight remain unnamed and to continue deflecting blame rather than bring shame on a friend. “It’s not a complex story, but no one seems to want to remember it,” Weiss says. “Everybody just seems to want to keep asking me how could I lose those pages.” The last known place for the early drafts of what was to be Warlock issue #16 was the back seat of a taxi cab in New York City. Their fate, however, is misunderstood by many people, and is also partly a secret… Jim Starlin was a popular artist in the comic-book industry when he was given free reign over Warlock, and he didn’t mind experimenting or having fun. He handpicked the character because Warlock wasn’t limited by a detailed or convoluted history within the Marvel Universe. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #34 for a Warlock history.] “I could pretty well do whatever I wanted with him,” Starlin says. “Roy [Thomas] and other writers had finished off the ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ storyline they’d been running [in earlier Warlock stories in Strange Tales], so there weren’t any real problems taking Warlock where I wanted.” Jim Starlin took over the character in a four-issue run in Strange Tales, running from issue #178 (cover-dated Feb. 1975) to issue 181 (Aug. 1975). He enjoyed the responsibility of writing on the title, and was joined in the artistic duties by notables such as Al Milgrom. Warlock’s popularity launched him back into his own title in late 1975. Starlin’s story didn’t begin with issue #1, but picked up on issue #9 after the title had been canceled two years earlier after an eight-issue stint. Steve Leialoha shared inking and drawing duties with Starlin for much of the run.

More Than a “Minor” Incident… …all of Alan Weiss’ penciled pages to Warlock #16 disappeared! Detail from the splash page. All pencil scans in this article courtesy of Jon B. Cooke and Comic Book Artist. Thanks, Jon! © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Jim Manner

Starlin pulled in his friend and former roommate, contending with problems stemming from his Alan Weiss, for issue #16, which was intended to be battle with the Star-Thief, a being spawned by the the final issue of the series. The early pencils for the consciousness of an incurable invalid on Earth who issue were completed after Starlin and Weiss discussed was permanently hospitalized and under the care the story plot—a very casual conversation of a personal nurse. The invalid—trapped between the old friends: within his own body—opened his mind “What do you want to write?” Alan to new and great levels of power and Weiss asked him. became the cosmic being known as “What do you want to draw?” the Star-Thief; his name was Jim Starlin responded. inspired by his goal of obliterating Weiss penciled out the story every star from the heavens to within “Studio Zero” in Oakland, take revenge on an uncaring California—a studio named because mankind that wouldn’t find a way it was Apartment 0, in the basement to cure him. His wanted to instill of an apartment building. The pages in mankind the same fear and began their ill-fated journey to New isolation that haunted him his York City when Alan and Jim began entire life. driving across the country to New York Warlock challenged the Starjim starlin City in a moving van with Starlin’s Thief, who toyed with the cosmic Volkswagen in the back of the truck. superhero by challenging him Weiss had to complete the journey by plane, and after with a series of elemental tests—battles with arriving in New York City, he hailed a taxi cab to Al creatures based on fire, water, air, and earth. Warlock Milgrom’s home. Upon arrival, he was climbing out of was forced to find new ways to fight an opponent the taxi when a mutual friend appeared and offered to help carry up Weiss’ belongings. “I’ll take the heavy stuff. You take everything else,” Weiss told him. The items that were left in the back seat of the taxi cab included the preliminary pages for Warlock #16. They were protected inside what appeared to be a 15 inch by 17 inch cardboard sleeve—proving to be inconspicuous fodder within one of New York City’s many dingy taxi cabs and easily overlooked by unfamiliar eyes. “Later, I asked him where the pages were,” Weiss says. “He said, ‘What pages?’” The reality of what had happened wasn‘t enjoyable. The pages weren’t to be found, and Weiss had to come to grips with the fact that all of his artistic efforts were being driven aimlessly and unescorted through the streets of New York City in the back seat of one of countless taxi cabs (a recent estimate puts the number of taxi cabs in New York City in excess of 13,000), or perhaps had already been thrown out as trash by a cabbie trying to finish his shift. “Under other circumstances, I would have broken down in tears or strangled this guy,” says Weiss, always referring to his friend in a thirdperson reference and never by name. “I’m not going to tell you who it was because I don’t want to embarrass him, but I’ll tell you that it wasn’t Al Milgrom. Everyone wants to think it was him, but it wasn’t.” The layouts weren’t completely lost. Weiss had made photocopies of the pages and could have redrawn them. “I almost reconstituted the job twice,” Weiss says. “Milgrom was going to put the story in [the anthology title] Marvel Fanfare, and that came close to happening, but other projects came up.” Starlin and Weiss intended issue #16 to be a story in which Warlock would be slapped out of space by the “hand of God,” causing him to fall to a planet where the people—diminutive creatures based on a variation of a hobbit—were deeply into materialism. The story built off developments from issues #14 and 15. In those issues, Warlock was still

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and that development overshadowed any reaction he might have had by the company’s decision to stop the title. “Disagreements with editorial—Gerry Conway— had prompted me to quit Marvel before Warlock was canceled (because of a lack of paper for printing, not poor sales),” Starlin says. Alan Weiss is unsure why the title was canceled, but thinks it was a question of revenue. “I think it just ran its run and it wasn’t selling well, but I’m really not sure,” Weiss says. “That’s not to say the book wasn’t popular. It had a very solid fan base. Sometimes the executive decisions don’t match reality.” Weiss remembers Starlin being disappointed by leaving the character. “Jim had been able to develop Warlock into something better than he had been before, and the title was doing better than it had done,” Weiss says. “I just felt what Jim did with Warlock was really strong and different from a lot of the other material out at the time. He really developed Warlock into a deeper and more developed character than he had been before.” The cancellation of the comic also was disappointing for Weiss. The issue was a fun project for him that interwove visual references to classic images such as the Thinker statue by Auguste Rodin with literary allusions to Gulliver’s Travels, as well as a depiction of Warlock as, according to the artist, a type of “muscular cosmic Hamlet.” The issue also had a personal connection.

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Warlock #16 was going to introduce a “little girl who wants to go to the stars” and who was “elegantly sweet in her innocence,” Weiss says. The girl—clad in striped leggings and a stocking cap—was based on a former girlfriend of Alan Weiss. Despite the book’s cancellation in 1976, fans would get a sense of closure to the Warlock storyline in the following year, when Starlin would bring back his familiar characters in Avengers Annual #7 (Jan. 1977) and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (Dec. 1977). The story intended for Warlock #16, however, remains unfinished and unpublished. Weiss fears he will still be dogged by questions of what happened to that story and contend with accusations that he lost it. “For everyone who asks, I have to tell them that I was not drunk, I was not stoned, and I wasn’t asleep,” he laughs. “No, I didn’t lose those pages. “Maybe one day we will still redo that issue,” Weiss says. “Maybe one day we will reconstitute the story and it will be better than what we originally envisioned.” JIM MANNER is a mild-mannered editor who works for a daily newspaper in Virginia. When he's not working, he can usually be found riding his Harley as part of a motorcycle ministry.

Andy Mangels

Marvel fans reading their March 1986 cover-dated comics were greeted by an unusual image: Captain America with a top hat and cane, soft-shoeing his way across a stage. “Cap’s Gonna Star in a Broadway Show… and maybe YOU can star WITH him!” promised the ad, which then invited girls between the ages of ten and fourteen to send photos and background info to a New York casting representative. Other than this advertisement, little was heard again of the planned Captain America musical. But at this writing, only a few weeks before Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is set to open on Broadway (by the time you read this, the success of that show will be known), BACK ISSUE has delved into the history of this most patriotic Greatest Story Never Told... Although the show was optioned in 1983, the first public news about the Captain America musical appears to have been on April 5, 1985, when the New York Times announced that production for a $4 million show was underway. Production was headed by Shari Upbin, working with Marvel Comics and its president, James Galton. Songwriters Norman Sachs and Mel Mandel, whose only prior major show was My Old Friends in 1979, were credited with the music, lyrics, and book (script), while producer Philip Rose was also slated to direct. Rose was known mostly for his racially and socially conscious productions such as A Raisin in the Sun, The Owl and the Pussycat, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, Purlie, and Shenandoah. Plans were announced to open the show out of town in Fall 1985 and then on Broadway by year’s end. On the short-list to play the lead were John Cullum, Ken Howard, Richard Kiley, and Hal Linden, while the female lead was discussed as being open for Linda Lavin or Cloris Leachman. A brief discussion of the storyline revealed that a paunchy Captain America would be facing a midlife crisis because he felt unnecessary, especially when the woman he loved, Sharon Phillips, was set to become president of the United States! “This is essentially a love story about a man who’s always been strong, independent—even macho—and a sensitive, assertive, bright and political woman,” Mandel would later tell Geoff Gehman for The Morning Call newspaper in its March 27, 1988 edition. But when Sharon is captured by

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Could’ve Been the Captain Hal Linden, star of the classic sitcom Barney Miller, was considered to play the StarSpangled Avenger. Still from ABC’s 1979 The Hal Linden Special, co-starring (left to right) Linda Lavin (another Cap musical possibility), Cathryn Damon, and Bonnie Franklin. © 1979 American Broadcasting Company.

terrorists—led by cosmetic tycoon Jay Peters, who is marketing a brainwashing facial cleanser—and held hostage at the Lincoln Memorial, the patriotic hero earns his shield once again in the name of love and the flag. By August 12, 1985, Upbin had brought aboard Nelle Nugent and Elizabeth I. McCann—whose McCannNugent Productions had produced or co-produced such Broadway hits as Dracula, The Elephant Man, and Amadeus—to serve as general managers for Captain America. By the 23rd of August, more news was starting to leak out in the New York Times. John Cullum (a 1975 and 1978 Tony winner for Shenendoah and On the Twentieth Century) was to take the lead role, and the show was now scheduled to open on Broadway in March 1986. The Times article also profiled dancer Lara Teeter, a Tony Award-nominated star of the show On Your Toes, whose hopes of becoming a choreographer were about to come true courtesy of a Marvel superhero. Producer Upbin had asked Teeter for suggestions for a choreographer, and had been surprised when the man suggested himself. Upbin agreed to give him a shot, and Teeter choreographed two numbers, “Fly the Flag” and “In the Gym,” utilizing 30 volunteer dancer friends. When the dances were presented to the producers and lara teeter backers in June 1985 at a Manhattan dance studio, Teeter was hired. In a bid to recognize their hero’s comic-book origins, Upbin hired scenic designer Clarke Dunham to put together a series of elaborate sequences utilizing hydraulics, black lights, lasers and projections, plus mirrors and pantomime to create a three-dimensional transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America, “Both Ways” as well as a showdown with the hero and Jay Peters “If I Could Fall in Love (reprise)” beneath the Lincoln Memorial. Late in 1985, a workshop reading was presented of “Number One” Captain America, featuring an abbreviated version of the “Ruthless” script, with 18 songs accompanied on piano, and a few “Marvin Mittleman” numbers featuring the full cast of dancers. Such work“For All the Wrong Reasons” shops were a common practice to lure in financial backers “Fly the Flag” and garner early press buzz. The Drama League of New York offered Upbin and her crew a chance to really hit the “Captain America (reprise)” backers in their pocketbooks on January 27, 1986, at their ACT TWO black-tie dinner benefit at the Hotel Pierre; songs from the forthcoming shows Captain America and Back On the Town “The First Presidential” were given choice spots within the evening’s retrospective “He’s My Hero” on five decades of the Great White Way’s musical history. “For All the Wrong Reasons About the same time, the producers and Marvel (reprise)” collaborated on the full-page advertisement that “If You’re a Dreamer” ran in Marvel Comics books cover-dated March 1986. The ads were step one of the investment strategy, “Fly the Flag (reprise)” designed not just to help find a talented girl, but to show planning to potential money-lenders.

THE SONGS OF CAPTAIN AMERICA With book, music, and lyrics by Mel Mandel and Norman Sachs, the following represents the version of the show that was in the 1985 Workshop presentation. A previously mentioned song, “At the Gym,” was apparently cut.

ACT ONE “Captain America” “Nobody Asked Me to Lead a Parade This Year” “A Beautiful Girl” “If I Could Fall in Love” “Matter of Principle”

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OTHER SUPERHEROES ON THE MUSICAL STAGE Few superheroes have ever had official licensed stage musicals of their adventures:

music and lyrics by Tom Merriman, book by Rodger Hess and Gene Patrick • See BACK ISSUE #3 for more on these shows!

It’s A Bird ... It’s A Plane ... It’s Superman

Batman: The Musical

Superman TM & © DC Comics.

music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, book by David Newman and Robert Benton • Broadway, March 29–July 17, 1966 (three Tony Award nominations) St. Louis Municipal Opera (revival, 1967) • Kansas City Starlight Theatre (revival, 1967) • ABC-TV special (February 1, 1975) • Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut (revival, June –July 3, 1992) • Los Angeles, Reprise! Marvelous Musical Mondays program (concert version May 14, 2007) • New York City, York Theatre’s “Musicals at MUFTI” (concert version June 15–17, 2007)

• Dallas Theater Center (revised version, June 18–July 25, 2010, new book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa) • and others

Bugs Bunny Meets the Super-Heroes (touring show 1977) Bugs Bunny in Space (touring show 1978)

Bugs Bunny Sports Spectacular

music and lyrics by Jim Steinman, book by David Ives • worked on in 2002, ultimately canceled • visit the Batman: The Musical memorial site, Dark Knight of the Soul http://www.freewebs.com/ batman_themusical

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark music and lyrics by Bono and the Edge, book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger • Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway (As of this writing, scheduled to preview on November 14, 2010 and open on December 21, 2010.)

(touring show 1979)

According to Carole Goul’s article “Betting On a Broadway rented several mansions for private affairs. In February 1986, Dream,” appearing in The New York Times on February 16, 1986, Teeter did a huge backers’ presentation at Oklahoma City the Captain America budget was set at $3.75 million, less than University (his alma mater), narrating and performing alongside six the average large musical price of $4–5 million. Successful shows other actors and dancers. For the effort, only two Oklahoma buyers rewarded their backers nicely (Annie had cost $800,000 to mount purchased $75,000 units of investment in the show. and went on to earn $16.6 million by that time), but less But Captain America didn’t open in March 1986, nor any time successful shows were more common, with only 25 percent of that year. Despite the advertisements in Marvel’s books, no auditions musicals actually turning a profit for their investors. for the role of “Mister” were ever held. Over 900 dancers Still, Upbin planned to chase investors in an interesting auditioned, but none were hired permanently by Teeter. way. “You’re selling a dream,” she told Carole Goul A publicity photo of Cullum in costume appeared in for the Times. “It’s a glamour investment, not like Crain’s New York Business, and psychic Cindy Adams oil or gas or real estate.” predicted a 1986 Tony for Cullum, but progress The producers also planned a series of seemed slow. In April 1986, Cullum sang “Nobody “backer’s auditions” in various cities with Asked Me to Lead a Parade This Year” at a Lincoln big-money theater types and other producers Center’s Avery Fisher Hall benefit co-produced by and Broadway enthusiasts to line up a limited Joel Silberman (who coincidentally was Captain number of investors, preferably to the tune of America’s musical director). In June, after not being $75,000 each. In the abbreviated auditions, paid much for the enormous amount of work he had John Cullum would portray Captain America, put into the show, Teeter made the decision to singing “Fly the Flag,” and working with a leave the project. “I had to move on, for the young, tomboyish girl named “Mister” to win sake of my sanity,” he told Geoff Gehman of The john cullum not only the stage heart of the woman he loved, Morning Call newspaper. but also the financial backing of viewers. On December 26, 1986, Upbin told Enid Behind the scenes, Captain America also represented a first for Nemy of the New York Times that she was talking to several large those taking part in its financial future; it was the first Broadway corporations about backing the venture, and that “the project is still show contracted under a new deal between the Dramatists Guild very much alive.” She scouted theaters such as Manhattan’s Mark and the League of American Theaters and Producers. The deal Hellinger and tried to woo the participation of fitness magnate Jake allowed for higher advances for composers and playwrights, with “Body by Jake” Stanfield, but a second planned opening for Spring lesser royalties in the “back-end,” thus meaning investors had a 1987 didn’t materialize either. quicker opportunity to recoup the costs. Upbin ran preview programs And then, a deal was struck with the Pennsylvania Stage Company at the hot spot Players’ Club, at the celebrity-heavy Sardi’s, and (PSC) to open a scaled-back $260,000 version in Allentown, Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

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Pennsylvania, in February 1988. PSC producing director Gregory Hurst had been by Captain America’s side at the beginning, even attending the 1983 Marvel pitch meeting, but he had dropped out shortly therafter; Upbin had stepped in following his departure. After a staged reading for PSC in 1987 by designer Dunham, producer Upbin soldiered on for a PSC opening, working with Mandel, Sachs, and Rose to rework and cut the story. But according to a March 27, 1988 story in Allentown’s The Morning Call, investors were more than a bit worried that the show was “too cute,” that it contained too much satire (purposefully so due to Mandel’s past experience writing for NBC’s satirical That Was the Week That Was), that the producers were inexperienced, and that patriotism just wasn’t all that fashionable any longer. Marvel’s president James Galton wasn’t bothered by the satire or the politics, or even the out-of-shape hero, telling The Morning Call that “we poke fun at ourselves all the time… All of our heroes have had feet of clay… They have human foibles, and the aging process is one of those.” The Allentown show’s smaller budget meant smaller sets, and less elaborate costumes, special effects, and lighting. Already having spent $500,000 on a Broadway show that went nowhere, Upbin agreed to bring in $200,000 of the Captain America budget, with PSC contributing $60,000. Local costumer Barbara Forbes agreed to design costumes, and designer Clarke Dunham signed on for a siginficant pay cut. PSC booked the show for the fourth production of its 1987–1988 season, set to open February 10, 1988 and close March 6th. Blazing Saddles star Cleavon Little agreed to take the villainous role of Jay Peters. Things were looking up… Then, Black Monday hit the stock market on October 19, 1987, and investors evaporated as their finances disappeared. PSC’s deadline to raise the $200,000 stake was November 1st, and when it became clear Upbin wouldn’t be able to deliver, the show was moved to the open seventh slot in the season, to run May 25–June 19. Upbin had a reprieve until January 1, 1988 to raise the funds.

As the new year opened, the flag fell for the final time. Upbin had reportedly raised about $125,000, but had been unable to generate the full amount, and PSC canceled the show from its schedule. In February or March 1988, Upbin canceled her own option to stay on for any further development of Captain America; Philip Rose announced his plans to continue trying to rework the show— possibly for the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey—but nothing more became of it. Scenic designer Clarke Dunham defended the musical in The Morning Call: “It’s not just one of the better musicals; it’s one of the best musicals to come along in the last several years.” But Broadway musicals are a notoriously fickle business at the best of times— only about 25 percent of them make money for their investors— and the late 1980s was hardly a financially prosperous era. In the end, Upbin told The Morning Call that Captain America “was a dream I lived through that became a little more than a nightmare.” But could that dream ever see a resurrection? Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark survived its torturous process getting to the Great White Way, and Marvel’s feature film of Captain America: The First Avenger is set for release on July 22, 2011. Once upon a time in the comics, a frozen patriotic champion was unthawed for a new time and new heroic deeds. But if the musical version of Captain America never gets a second act, at least you now know the secrets behind the red, white, and blue Greatest Story Never Told. Showtune-loving ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today bestselling author and co-author of almost 20 books, including the recent Iron Man: Beneath The Armor, and a lot of comic books. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features for over 40 DVD releases. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com

Mike Grell

Jason Cord of the Savage Empire Travis Morgan’s predecessor, from the Mike Grell Warriors portfolio, produced in 1980 by Oracle Enterprises. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). Savage Empire TM & © Mike Grell.

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Swamp Angel is based on a combination of fact and fancy, lies and legend, and the kind of stories you hear at family gatherings when you’re a kid and the grownups think you’re not listening. It’s the story of three generations of two immigrant families and is based on my own family history… sort of. The first-generation story is mostly true. My Italian grandfather came to America to work in the iron mines of the Midwest. He became a master mechanic and opened the first automobile dealership in the county. My English grandfather dreamed of becoming a cowboy. He had an 8th-grade education, but spoke five languages. He bought a book on how to build musical instruments, made a violin, and taught himself to play Mozart. He also hated Italians and Catholics. Both men were involved in rum-running during prohibition and later became sheriff and constable, and that’s how the two very different sides of the family got together. The second-generation story is half truth. My father was a sax player before WWII, but somewhere in the midst of five major campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operation he won a chestful of medals, but lost the music. My mother grew up in the middle of the northwoods, living on a bit of land between two swamps, and they called her “Swamp Angel" because she was the prettiest girl for miles around. Growing up during the Great Depression was a daily battle for survival and in her later years, whenever The Waltons theme would begin to play on TV she would shout, “The Waltons were rich!” The third-generation story is mostly BS, but it encompasses the McCarthy era, the rise of rock and roll, and the Vietnam War and ties the past to the future with enough truth to be interesting (my brother did marry the ex-wife of a Chicago Mafioso), but not enough to be incriminating… just in case the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. I pitched the story to DC Comics as a graphic novel project, and Jenette Kahn liked it because it broke the mold of standard comic books. I already had film interest in the story and was in negotiations with a producer for a feature film. DC approved the series and we decided it would be best to wait until the film was in production before going ahead. As anyone who has ever dealt with Hollywood can attest, it can take awhile to get its wheels in motion. We waited… and waited… and waited. It turns out the producer was waiting for the graphic novel—the graphic novel hinged on the movie deal, which hinged on the graphic novel, and the whole thing became a snake eating its own tail. Eventually, patience ran out on all sides. I had already written the scripts and began work on the art, but we had missed the crest of the wave and, sadly, the project was abandoned… but not entirely. If there’s one thing I learned from my mother, it’s not to throw anything away—you never know when it might come in handy. I’m currently working on a prose novel that tells the whole story of Swamp Angel, including—since the first generation is long gone— where the bodies are buried. 22 • BACK ISSUE • Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

In addition to Savage Empire/ The Warlord, writer/artist MIKE GRELL is the creator of Starslayer, Jon Sable Freelance, and Shaman’s Tears. At DC Comics, he’s best known for Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Green Lantern/ Green Arrow, and Green Arrow. Visit www.mikegrell.com.

Photo courtesy of Comic-Con.

SWAMP ANGEL: THE UNTOLD STORY by Mike Grell

The Warlord made his debut in First Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975) and was the only feature of that title to go on to its own series… for three whole issues. Despite his guarantee of a one-year run, Carmine canceled The Warlord after issue #3 and the first I heard about it was when I read through the proofs and saw the words “THE END” on the last page. Fortunately, Jenette Kahn replaced Carmine very shortly after that and it turned out that Jenette had been a big fan of The Warlord, and immediately had it put back on the schedule. When the DC Implosion struck, The Warlord not only survived the cut, but was made a monthly title. One day in 1978 or ’79, a large package came from DC—my original SAVAGE EMPIRE portfolio that I had left with Sol Harrison in 1973. Attached was a form-letter rejection slip that read: “We’re sorry, but this material does not suit our current publishing needs.” At that time [I received the rejection package], The Warlord was DC’s top-selling title. After I left The Warlord in the early ’80s, I always had the nagging desire to go back and finish what I had begun. When the 25th anniversary rolled around in 2000, I wrote a proposal for a miniseries which was approved and awaiting scheduling when the editor, Archie Goodwin, died, leaving editorial decisions in the hands of someone who stalled for five months and then shot the project down with an offhand dismissal. Ten more years passed, during which a reboot of the title failed rather miserably. When the 35th Anniversary was coming around I spoke with [DC executive editor] Dan DiDio and told him of my original plan and the miniseries proposal. I wanted to bring the character full circle and end the way I had always intended—with Morgan’s death. Being a big Hal Foster fan, I knew that he had always wanted to kill off Prince Valiant and turn the story over to his son. Unfortunately, the syndicate wouldn’t hear such a thing as killing the hero, but I always thought it was a brilliant idea and planned it for Morgan right from the beginning (if you look back at the first issues of The Warlord, you’ll see the plot threads I planted so long ago have finally been completed). It embodies the archetypal tale of the son fulfilling the dream of the father and symbolizes my generation that was so full of dreams of a better world and yet left our children with a terrible mess to clean up. So, Travis Morgan is dead and his son has inherited the mess his father left behind. Do I have an idea of how that’s supposed to happen? Of course… but that’ll have to wait for the 50th anniversary of The Warlord. Meanwhile, I learned a long time ago that the world is a circle and, sooner or later, things have a way of coming back around. I’m currently working on the first of a four-book series of novels about a modernday man cast back into an ancient world of wonders and high adventure. It’s called “Savage Empire.”

Michael Kronenberg

It is arguably believed that from 1977 to 1978, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin transformed six issues of Detective Comics into the definitive version of the Batman. Those stories have been reprinted numerous times and even spawned a sequel 27 years later titled Dark Detective. Earlier, in 1974, former DC Comics writer Mike Friedrich (Justice League of America, World’s Finest, and “Robin” backups) launched Star*Reach, a black-andwhite comic-book anthology that would bridge the gap between the counterculture’s underground comics and mainstream publishers Marvel and DC. Star*Reach published mature, genre stories by some of the best upand-coming talents in the business. Star*Reach became the precursor to the rise of the graphic novel and independent comics in the 1980s. And in 1978, Englehart, Rogers, and Friedrich planned to team up for an unprecedented, adult version of Batman to appear in a Star*Reach publication. In a letter written in 1978, Star*Reach publisher Mike Friedrich wrote to his one-time mentor and editor at DC Comics, Julius Schwartz: “Finger and Kane. Broome and Infantino. O’Neil and Adams. Englehart and Rogers. THE BATMAN LIVES AGAIN! (And you can quote me.)” Friedrich was very impressed with the Englehart/Rogers version of the Batman, saying, “I remember enjoying it thoroughly. The use of repressed intense romantic emotion on the part of Batman was a signature contribution to the evolution of the character. The romantic side of the character had never been explored to this degree before. Englehart was a key player in helping to turn Batman from a character popular with children into one popular with young adults.” Friedrich made an attempt to bring Englehart, Rogers, and Austin together for a mature version of Batman to appear as a Star*Reach publication. Friedrich recollects, “I was inspired by the first Eclipse graphic novel Sabre (1978), by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy. It occurred to me that the recently ended Englehart/ Rogers ‘Batman’ would be a good concept in this format. DC Comics, at the time, was totally ignoring the comic-shop market and readers. I knew this was a frustration to then-junior executive Paul Levitz. I contacted Paul and asked if the rights were available. He indicated they were. We progressed to the point of a licensing agreement draft when the deal fell apart. “The problem proved not to be with DC, but with the talent,” Friedrich continues. “While Sabre had been in black and white, Englehart and Rogers only wanted to do their story if it was in color. I didn’t have the money to invest in this level of production, so it died.

Reach for the Stars, Batman! Marshall Rogers’ beautifully painted rendition of Batman and the Joker’s confrontation from the classic two-part Detective Comics story “The Laughing Fish.” Plate from Rogers’ The Batman portfolio (Sal Quartuccio Publishing, 1981). TM & © DC Comics.

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Master of Rooftop Imagery The film noir–like cover envelope for Marshall Rogers’ 1981 portfolio The Batman. TM & © DC Comics.

number-two villain as a follow-on to number one, the Joker, but I hadn’t actually decided for certain.” Had Marshall Rogers (who died tragically in 2007) done any preliminaries or sketches for the book? Englehart says, “Marshall did a portfolio called Strange in 1979 that had Batman-esque plates, sans Batman. It’s always been my understanding that some of his ideas were in there.” It is also worth noting that in 1981, courtesy of Sal Quartuccio Publishing, Marshall Rogers released The Batman, a color portfolio consisting of four plates (if you purchased the signed edition of the portfolio, you received a fifth plate) that allowed Rogers to illustrate Batman and his world unencumbered by comic-book panels. It is quite possible that the scenes and iconic imagery that Rogers created for this portfolio had also been intended for the Star*Reach project. About his own files for the unpublished Star*Reach project, Englehart reflects, “If this had been in a computer era, I’d have whatever docs I generated on disc somewhere, but since it wasn’t, I don’t. Any paperwork I had is either gone or deeply buried, but I’m sure I hadn’t started scripting. My memory is Marshall, Mike, and I were waiting to see what kind of deal we could make, and when we had problems with the deal, that was the end of it.” With all of the critical success that Englehart, Rogers, and Austin received for their late-1970s run in Detective Comics, why then did it take so long (Dark Detective was published in 2005) for the three of them to reunite and work on Batman again? Steve says, “This, unfortunately,

is an old story. DC likes to pretend that the Batman that spawned the movies, animation, shift to adult comics, and so on, sprang from the corporate brow of DC. They have never given Marshall, Terry, or me any official credit for it. In the late ’70s, as I mentioned, they didn’t see the Batman as any big deal, so they were okay with our putting out a limited-edition book with him, but as the first movie began to build toward becoming a reality in the early ’80s, they began the above policy. It didn’t go so well at first—they had to bring me in to work on the first movie because it was, in fact, based on my stuff, and because, as [DC publisher] Jenette Kahn said, nobody else could quite capture what I’d done—but once I’d finished that task, I (and Marshall and Terry) didn’t hear from them again about the Batman until Batman Begins. At that point, the new boss, Dan DiDio, decided to have us add to the extra Batman product DC wanted to put out; thus, Dark Detective. But somebody evidently talked to Dan about that, because they were very reluctant to approve Dark Detective II, dragged their feet as much as possible while we were doing it, and when Marshall died, Terry got a call from an editor saying, ‘We’ve been looking for an excuse to cancel this project, and Marshall’s death gives it to us.’” Marshall Rogers did complete the art for one issue of Dark Detective II before he died. So why has DC allowed the project to gather dust, instead of finding a replacement artist for the remaining issues, publishing the series as a memoriam to Rogers’ legacy as one of Batman’s greatest artists? Englehart has his opinion: “Two reasons. One is the above; the other is, DC the publishing company did not want to publish my story because DC the movie company wanted to use it in the Dark Knight film—which it did, without ever telling me, let alone paying me for movie work. (They did pay comic rates for it.) I found out when I bought a ticket and sat in the theater, a year later. “If they had published [Dark Detective II] with a new artist, I know Walt Simonson was the readers’ choice (similar style, and Marshall’s predecessor in Detective Comics), and Paul Gulacy (similar style) asked for it. Both would have been great with me, and it would have been, oddly enough, much like the situation with Heath Ledger: a tribute to a fallen star. The whole thing would have sold through the roof. But then the connection between Dark Detective II and The Dark Knight would have been obvious.” Steve Englehart documents the similarities between director Chris Nolan’s Batman movies and his own Dark Detective sequels on his website www.steveenglehart.com. Since Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (1986), Batman comics have continued to be geared toward a more mature audience. But in 1978, the prospect of a Batman graphic novel outside of the Comics Code Authority and specifically targeted toward adults was a tantalizing prospect for fandom. Mike Friedrich, Steve Englehart, and Marshall Rogers attempted to make this happen, and unfortunately it became another “Greatest Story Never Told.” Portions of this article were originally published in the TwoMorrows’ book The Batcave Companion. MICHAEL KRONENBERG is a graphic designer whose clients include Marvel Comics, TwoMorrows Publishing, Russ Cochran Publishing, and the Film Noir Foundation. He is the co-author of The Batcave Companion.

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Jarrod Buttery

The irony has not escaped me that I write this whilst sat beside my son’s hospital bed. He’s asleep, and fine, but I’m staying the night and there’s work to be done. BACK ISSUE’s current theme of “The Greatest Stories Never Told” has piqued a recollection from over 20 years ago and the pages of Marvel Age. During the 1980s, Marvel Age was a fascinating and invaluable tool for behind-the-scenes and up-and-coming information about Marvel Comics. Particularly enjoyable were the Marvel Age Annuals, highlighting plots and projects for each forthcoming year. Within the 1988 Annual was a promotion for the Fantastic Four: Fathers and Sons graphic novel (GN), written by Danny Fingeroth and penciled by Mark Bright. However, after 22 years, the GN has never been published and very few people are even aware of its existence. BACK ISSUE now brings you the inside story. Danny Fingeroth’s name initially elicits thoughts of Spider-Man. Fingeroth edited Spidey’s books from 1983–1985 and again from 1991–1995. However, he always harbored a fascination with Marvel’s First Family. “I started reading Marvel comics with Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962), and that series was always my favorite as a kid,” reveals Fingeroth. “I love those characters and their interpersonal dynamics, as well as the ease with which the stories could move from the mundane to the cosmic to all points in between. And the Thing reminded me of my father.” Indeed, Fingeroth almost became the FF’s scripter: “I also came close to being the book’s regular writer for five minutes in the 1980s. Then-FF editor Don Daley loved my take on the characters, but it didn’t come to pass.” Instead, Fingeroth developed an idea for an original graphic novel. Despite ushering in the Marvel Age of Comics, long being Marvel’s flagship title, and always recognized as Marvel’s First Family, the Fantastic Four have received little in the way of premier events or showcase publications. Fingeroth’s Fathers and Sons would have been the FF’s first original graphic novel.

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from page one) and inked quite a few. I scripted FINGEROTH’S FANTASTIC FAMILY FOCUS Fingeroth was an established writer and was clearly the entire thing (it was done plot-first) and most or interested in the characters. As an example, his “The Day all of it was lettered by Janice Chiang.” As the GN’s antagonists, the Thinker and After,” published in Marvel Fanfare #46 (Oct. 1989), revealed the reaction of Ben Grimm’s then-girlfriend Quasimodo have a relationship unlike most of the FF’s to Ben’s transformation—a plot point that turned up other adversaries. Based upon the information in Marvel Age, and Fingeroth’s other FF stories in the first Fantastic Four film. “It was this (and the title!), the story is about weird sense of déjá vu when I saw the relationships. “I was aiming for it on movie,” admits Fingeroth. “Again, in multiple levels,” says Fingeroth. researching for my story, it seemed that, “The title ‘Fathers and Sons’ really at the time, no one had addressed says it all. The story dealt with specifically how Ben dealt with Reed and his dad, Franklin and being the Thing in the first few Reed, the Vision and his sons, the days after his original transformation. Thinker as Quasimodo’s ‘father,’ It seemed like a logical space in his Ben’s regret over not having children, saga that could yield an interesting etc. Superhero comics are as story. I was as shocked as anybody much—ideally, more—about the when the FF office approved it— relationships than about the establishing an early girlfriend physical conflict. If you don’t for [Ben]—in a backup story, but danny fingeroth care about the relationships once they approved it, I didn’t between the characters, then question it.” For the GN, Mark Bright was the original artist their conflicts (expressed in superhero stories and Ralph Macchio was the editor. “I remember as battles) have no emotional resonance. [Ralph] applauding after I finished delivering the Relationships is the name of the game.” Asked if he had any personal connections to the pitch for the graphic novel,” states Fingeroth. “Mark did a dozen or so (beautiful) pages and then story, Fingeroth generously volunteers, “My sons stopped work on the project. It then went to Al weren’t born when I wrote the story, but I’ve always Milgrom, who laid out all 78 pages (he started over been a sucker for stories about fathers and sons, so

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this was a natural for me.” Appropriately, as the GN MILGROM’S MARVELOUS MASTERPIECES opens, it’s Father’s Day. The Vision and the Scarlet Al Milgrom remembers the project: “It involved the FF, Witch—with their newborn twin sons—are invited to but also the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, who had brunch, while Reed (of course) works in the lab, had twin babies. Originally the penciler on it was preparing to teleport a gift to the alternate dimension Mark Bright, who is a very talented artist, and he did where his father lives. Suddenly, Quasimodo attacks, the first ten or 11 pages. But then Mark got very boasting that he will succeed where his busy with other assignments (I think he did “father” has always failed—in the a run on Iron Man) and he put the GN destruction of the Fantastic Four. aside. I’m sure he meant to continue The evolved, upgraded, living with it at some point or another, but computer proves a formidable wasn’t getting around to it, and threat. The stakes are escalated Danny and Ralph wanted to get the when Quasimodo kidnaps Franklin story finished and published. At the and flees. “If I’m remembering time, I had been taken off my various correctly, this was when Franklin pencilling assignments—I don’t had little control over his remember exactly how we got put powers,” recalls Fingeroth. “During together on this, Danny and I had Quasimodo’s attack, Franklin starts worked together—we were friends— to lose control and threatens all of and I said I’d be happy to take over existence (as he was prone to do the reins of the GN. However, al milgrom during that era)...” I thought it’d be strange to have The existing pages next treat ten pages by Mark, and then the us to Al Milgrom’s gorgeous recap of Quasimodo’s rest of it by me, so I asked if I could re-pencil the first origin, before Quas subsequently attacks the ten pages, and they gave me the go-ahead to do Thinker. Barely escaping, and with alternatives that. I took a quick glance at Mark’s pages then tried evaporating, the Thinker turns to the FF. Amidst this not to look at them for fear of mimicking what he unlikely team-up, we discover the Thinker’s never- had done. I saw them, returned them, and, when I before-revealed origin, and his reasons for tinkering got the plot from Danny, I went ahead and did my with artificially created life. own version.

I Think I Love You (left) Milgrom’s lettered breakdowns to page 41, with Fingeroth’s suggested art correction. (right) The “Dad” Thinker, on the layouts for page 44. Courtesy of Al Milgrom. © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Psssst! Hey, you ... c’mere! Keep it quiet—I’ve got some incredible art here I’d like to share with you that no one’s supposed to see. It’s unpublished and rejected material that —wait, what? We’re doing an entire issue based on this stuff? Oh, well, in that case… call your friends, shout it from the rooftops, and everyone gather ’round— you’re gonna love this stuff! Our first two pages are both rejected covers—Ms. Marvel #4 by John Buscema, and Hot Wheels #1 by Alex Toth. Wow—could you have rejected these…? (Hot Wheels cover courtesy of Mike Burkey at romitaman.com.)

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John Wells

In 1984, Black Canary had seen better days. She and most of her Justice League teammates were virtually evicted from the team in favor of an X-Men/Teen Titans mix of newcomers and hangers-on. And while her boyfriend Green Arrow forged on in a Detective Comics backup strip, the heroine with the blonde wig and sonic scream was conspicuously absent. Created in 1947, Black Canary began as a co-star in the “Johnny Thunder” strip before starring in her own series in the last 13 issues of Flash Comics. Revived in 1963, the female martial artist was back to being a co-star, whether with the Justice Society, Starman, or the Justice League of America, a team she joined in 1969 to fill the token female role recently vacated by Wonder Woman. In the League, Black Canary struck up a romance with Green Arrow and the two were by one another’s side more often than not, whether in JLA, Green Lantern, or the Ace Archer’s own feature. Despite relatively few solo outings during the 1970s, the heroine’s prominence in multiple series easily made her DC’s most-recognized non-derivative costumed heroine after Wonder Woman. By the mid-1980s, that no longer seemed to count for much. Dinah (Black Canary) Lance was virtually homeless while a new crop of heroines that included the likes of Starfire, Raven, Firebrand, Katana, and Vixen were at the forefront of DC’s team books. DC’s hallways also had their share of newcomers, among them Greg Weisman. The 19-year-old college student had “started freelancing for DC in ’83” and fallen under the watchful eye of DC executive editor Dick Giordano. Pressed by his new mentor on what character he’d like to write, Weisman enthusiastically answered “Black Canary.” “I never felt Black Canary really got her due,” Weisman told BACK ISSUE on May 14, 2010. “At most, she was sort of Green Arrow’s girlfriend or a member of the League, and even Green Arrow wasn’t getting that much attention back in those days. So I said, ‘Green Arrow and Black Canary have been boyfriend/ girlfriend for a hell of a long time. What if we took them to the next level, sort of did a miniseries about their relationship.’ It was really Black Canary’s story,

Claws of the Catman Black Canary vs. a strangely garbed Catman on page 9 of issue #1 of her aborted miniseries. Pencils by Mike Sekowsky. All pencil scans courtesy of Paul Kupperberg. TM & © DC Comics.

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See Ya Later, Black Canary Page 22 of issue #1. One can only wonder, if a tighter editorial rein had been kept on this project, what would the finished art have looked like?

Weisman notes, “I don’t think it’s a difficult equation, and I can’t even be too upset about it. When you look at Mike Grell vs. Greg Weisman/Mike Sekowsky back in 1986, it’s not much of a question who you’re going to run with. It was a pretty easy decision on DC’s part, even Dick’s part, to just scrap Black Canary. “If the miniseries had been done on any kind of reasonable schedule, we would have been long done by the time Mike [Grell] came in,” Weisman says. “He could have still done pretty much what he wanted with those two characters, but we would have been out and that would have been my big, sort of, premiere comic book that really brought Black Canary into her own.” Instead, it was his run on Captain Atom in collaboration with veteran writer Cary Bates that Weisman became best known for at DC. “I have a tremendous affection and affinity for these characters and my very checkered history at DC is such that I wound up writing a ton of stuff that just never got published. That’s true, even to this day,”

TM & © DC Comics.

the writer points out. “Just a year ago, I wrote a Red Tornado miniseries that didn’t get published. It seems to be that I must have done something to offend the DC gods back in the early ’80s and never quite recovered from it.” Reflecting on that ill-fated first project, Weisman adds, “Mike [Sekowsky] was kind of a project of Dick’s and I’m sure in a very different way, I was a project of Dick’s. He was always very kind to me, believed in me, and was always, in his way, trying to sort of get me going in the business. He eventually gave me a job on staff starting in 1985 as an editorial assistant, which is another word for ‘Xerox Boy,’ though promoting me rather quickly to an assistant editor, which was a junior editor position, and then later to an associate editor before I finally left. And so Dick was really trying to help Mike, I think, on one end of the age spectrum and me on the other end. It wasn’t exactly a match made in Heaven in particular, also because Dick, as great as he was, was also incredibly and legitimately busy. [With Dick] being a hands-on editor of the book, I think things sort of fell through the cracks here and there.” Moving to the animation field, Weisman found the success he never achieved at DC and racked up scores of credits as a writer, editor, and producer over the past two decades. Among the highlights are Gargoyles (which he created), The Batman, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and 2010’s Young Justice. “Black Canary and Green Arrow both have significant supporting roles in that,” Weisman says proudly. “It’s fun for me to be working with these characters again. We’re having a great time in the DC Universe on this series! One of the things that’s very gratifying for me is to bring in all these characters that I really loved and wanted to use again and haven’t really been able to do with DC itself. I’m having a little better luck, with DC’s cooperation, through Warner Brothers.” Weisman reveals, “Black Canary’s always been my favorite character and over the years I’ve pitched doing the basic idea for a miniseries. Again, nobody really ever went for it. And then, of course, I left DC and people have done all sorts of things with both Green Arrow and Black Canary ever since, most of which I haven’t seen. But it was interesting to me that it was only three years ago that they finally married off these two characters. It’s something like, I don’t know, 20 more years that they were just dating before they got to the point that I wanted to do with them back in 1984. “The epilogue to all this is that not too long ago, I got to write one of the DC Showcase short films for Warner Brothers Animation. They’d done the Spectre and Jonah Hex and I got to do a Green Arrow one, ‘Can’t Live Without You’ [attached to 2010’s Superman/ Batman: Apocalypse main feature]. Black Canary’s in it as well and he finally proposes to her and she accepts. So it’s very satisfying for me because I finally got to do something that I’ve wanted to do since 1984, if not earlier. It’s very cool.” JOHN WELLS, the so-called Mark Waid of Earth-Two, is a comics historian specializing in DC Comics. He’s written for a variety of publications over the past quartercentury ranging from the Comics Buyer’s Guide to Alter Ego. John recently co-authored The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia with Phil Jimenez.

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Richard A. Scott

The years 1986–1987 were very big years for comics in general. During this time DC Comics published Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Charlton Comics– inspired Watchmen. There were also the revamps for most of the stable of DC characters after the universe-shaking events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. A lot was going on at DC. Then, from out of the blue (literally), came another unexpected hit, the Aquaman four-issue miniseries (Feb. 1986–May 1986), by writer Neal Pozner, penciler Craig Hamilton, and inker Steve Montano. Aquaman was one of the most popular DC books that year. However, what began as a strong outing for the 1986 Aquaman miniseries then took an unfortunate downturn for its intended 1987 follow-up series.

SOME BACKGROUND Neal Pozner and Craig Hamilton had introduced some radical, but very appropriate, concepts to the Aquaman mythos in the first Aquaman miniseries, giving the Sea King a new outfit inspired by art nouveau artist Leon Bakst’s Russian ballet Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes. Pozner also gave Arthur (Aquaman) Curry a change in attitude, allowing for further growth of his character. Pozner’s brilliant master stroke, however, was adding necessary depth to Atlantean lore, which was sorely lacking before this juncture. It seems rather astounding that there was little backstory for Atlantis before this. Pozner made a point of integrating several different Atlantises from DC’s cosmology. It took several years before these concepts were expanded upon

For Atlantis! Aquaman and Mera rally the citizenry of the underwater civilization on page 11 of the unpublished Aquaman II #2. Art by Craig Hamilton, with art restoration by Richard A. Scott. TM & © DC Comics.

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Jim Ford

“…A Handful of Colorful Beads” (right) Some unknown force, mightier than even Galactus, has realigned the stars of the galaxy in Epic Illustrated #32 (Oct. 1985). Art by John Byrne and Terry Austin. (below) Galactus falls to Earth in Fantastic Four #243 (June 1982). © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Galactus is the last survivor of a collapsed universe. He was reborn during the “big bang” as the Devourer of Worlds. In Fantastic Four #50 (May 1966), the Watcher Uatu explained, “Galactus is not evil! He is above good… or evil! He does what he must… for he is Galactus!” John Byrne examined the true nature of Galactus throughout his period as both writer and artist of the Fantastic Four from #232 (July 1981) through 293 (Aug. 1986). How could a being that kills countless other sentient beings not be evil? The culmination of Byrne’s exploration into what greater purpose Galactus serves was “The Last Galactus Story.” The story was serialized for nine consecutive chapters in Epic Illustrated, “the Marvel Magazine of Fantasy and Science-Fiction,” beginning in October 1984. Byrne was skillfully assisted by inker Terry Austin, letterer Jim Novak, and colorist Glynis Wein. 60 • BACK ISSUE • Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

“The Last Galactus Story,” and really, the last story of the Marvel Universe, begins like this… Nova, the fiery herald of Galactus, soars through the tumultuous space between dying stars. The delicate balance of an entire galaxy has been shattered by some unknown force and she is there to determine its cause. Amongst the interstellar debris, Nova finds a sole planet that was once inhabited. Proud cities, now clearly lifeless, rise from the deserts. Millions of spaceships line gantries preparing for departure, but none have escaped. Within one city, she finds a central structure and enters down into the ancient, haunting corridors of darkness. Inside a chamber guarded by an immense door built to withstand the ages, she finds speaker-stones. Touching them reveals the story, through telepathic imagery, of a race of explorers who discovered a threat within the center of

their galaxy. They quickly built a fleet of spaceships to 244 (July 1982), Terrax held the island of to transport every living thing from the planet, but Manhattan high above the Earth and threatened the vanished before they could depart. Fantastic Four to do his bidding: kill Galactus or the city of Galactus summons Nova to his side before she can New York would fall to its destruction. His gambit investigate further. From inside his world ship he discovers failed, and Galactus siphoned the Power Cosmic from that this is not the only devastated galaxy. Destruction Terrax, leaving him for dead. This pittance was not stretches from near the point of universal origin enough to fully replenish Galactus, though, and the outward toward the Milky Way galaxy. The fate Fantastic Four, with the help of their allies, of one planet in particular concerns Nova defeated him. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic and she races ahead to the planet Earth. of the Fantastic Four, made the decision She finds it inevitably altered from to save the life of the near-dead what she remembers. Humans no Galactus, reasoning that he would do longer walk its surface, and continental the same for any other living thing if drift has even changed the shape of it were within his means. the land. It has been one hundred Later, having consumed all the million years since she left Earth and uninhabited worlds Nova had found she is now stricken by a longing for for him, Galactus was dying in FF her lost home and the life she left; #257 (Aug. 1983). He was visited by for she was once an Earth woman the embodiment of Death, who named Frankie Raye. assured him that his hunger has a Frankie was introduced in FF greater purpose. Galactus, Death john byrne #164 (Nov. 1975), appearing only said, is as a gardener who must briefly as an acquaintance of the weed the universe so that the strong Human Torch. Byrne reintroduced her, and in FF #238 may flourish. Galactus then went on to devour the (Jan. 1982), she discovered she had flaming powers Skrull homeworld in that same issue. similar to the Torch’s. Though the Human Torch took Richards was held responsible for the atrocities to training her, Frankie was reckless with her powers, Galactus committed against the Skrulls at an intergalactic quick to judgment, and sometimes ruthless. trial. Richards argued that, logically, Galactus serves a Galactus transformed Frankie Raye into Nova after greater good within the universe. No lesser beings his herald Terrax had treacherously betrayed him. than Odin the All-Father, Galactus himself, and the With his energies nearly depleted, Galactus followed embodiment of Eternity bore witness at the “Trial of Terrax to Earth, the only world that had ever successfully Reed Richards” in FF #262 (Jan. 1984). These beings resisted him. Within the pages of FF #242 (May 1982) each testified that Galactus tested the species of the Greatest Stories Never Told Issue

Time is On His Side Time accomplishes what Galactus could not. With the Fantastic Four long dead, Galactus is finally free to devour the Earth in Epic Illustrated #30 (June 1985). © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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DRAW! (edited by top comics artist MIKE MANLEY) is the professional “HOW-TO” magazine on comics, cartooning, and animation. Each issue features in-depth INTERVIEWS and DEMOS from top pros on all aspects of graphic storytelling. NOTE: Contains nudity for purposes of figure drawing. INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS.

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Miracleman Triumphant was to be Eclipse Comics’ spin-off Miracleman title, filling the ten-year gap in history between the Golden Age and Silver Age storylines and fitting between issues #22 and 23 of the regular series. Miracleman Triumphant, however, simply wasn’t, as the title was canceled prior to the release of the first issue due to Eclipse’s financial troubles and eventual bankruptcy. The majority of issue #1 was finished and ready to be published in 1994, with a script by Fred Burke, pencils by Mike Deodato, and inks by Jason Temujin Minor. This series was one of the first US penciling jobs for Mike Deodato, then a little-known Brazilian artist who later exploded onto the scene with his work on DC’s Wonder Woman. The storyline, save for the time period and the solicitation details, until now was a complete unknown. Per Advance Comics, the solicitation stated: The first issue of an all-new companion Miracleman series! With Neil Gaiman’s Miracleman series officially on a three-times-a-year schedule, Eclipse proudly introduces an all-new companion title which will be published bi-monthly to start, and monthly after the second issue. Neil Gaiman is consulting with writer Fred Burke (Tapping the Vein, Hyperkind) to insure that this new series fits into overall Miracleman continuity.

THE STORY Miracleman Triumphant #1, entitled “Oracles,” begins where Miracleman #22 leaves off, focusing on the aftermath of the annual Carnival memorializing Kid Miracleman’s slaughter of London in Miracleman #15. The opening pages were to show Miracleman, disguised as an ordinary human, surveying the closing moments of the Carnival, wondering to himself if the changes he has brought to the world were the right ones. While ruminating, he stumbles onto a flier advertising a family of fortune-tellers and, interested in their opinion, seeks them out. Meanwhile, Miraclewoman is welcoming guests to a party at the home of the Miracle Family, Olympus. She is under the guise of her alter ego, Avril Lear, in order to entertain and converse with Miracleman’s ex-wife, Liz Moran, at the party. Liz believes that she is invited to celebrate the release of her book, Winter’s Tale, a story that makes up a portion of Miracleman #20. Liz soon stumbles upon the true identity of Avril, and lashes out in anger at Miraclewoman, Miracleman’s current lover and companion in remaking the Earth in their image. This confrontation leads to the two being separated by Liz and Miracleman’s child, the ethereal Winter. Miraclewoman admits to inviting Liz out of a desire to befriend her lover’s ex-wife and to involve her

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