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It’s GROOVY, baby!

Follow-up to Mark Voger’s smash hit MONSTER MASH! All characters TM & © their respective owners.

From WOODSTOCK to THE BANANA SPLITS, from SGT. PEPPER to H.R. PUFNSTUF, from ALTAMONT to THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated HARDCOVER BOOK, in PSYCHEDELIC COLOR, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like THE MONKEES, LAUGH-IN and THE BRADY BUNCH. GROOVY revisits the era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, MOVIES, ART—even COMICS and CARTOONS, from the 1968 ‘mod’ WONDER WOMAN to R. CRUMB. A color-saturated pop-culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the acclaimed book MONSTER MASH), GROOVY is one trip that doesn’t require dangerous chemicals!

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LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION Hailed as one of the fathers of Saturday morning television, LOU SCHEIMER was the co-founder of FILMATION STUDIOS, which for over 25 years provided animated excitement for TV and film. Always at the forefront, Scheimer’s company created the first DC cartoons with SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and AQUAMAN, ruled the song charts with THE ARCHIES, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES, taught morals with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS, and swung into high adventure with TARZAN, THE LONE RANGER, ZORRO, HE-MAN, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, live-action shows SHAZAM!, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, JASON OF STAR COMMAND and others. Now, LOU SCHEIMER tells the entire story to best-selling author (and RETROFAN columnist) ANDY MANGELS, including how his father decked ADOLF HITLER, memories of the comics of the Golden Age, schooling with ANDY WARHOL, and what it meant to lead the last all-American animation company through nearly thirty years of innovation and fun! Profusely illustrated with PHOTOS, MODEL SHEETS, STORYBOARDS, PRESENTATION ART, looks at RARE AND UNPRODUCED SERIES, and more—plus stories from TOP ANIMATION INSIDERS about Scheimer and the story behind Filmation’s stories!

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Welcome to the CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, good guys beat bad guys with a pun and a punch, and Batman shook a mean cape. HERO-A-GO-GO celebrates the camp craze of the Swinging Sixties, when just about everyone—the teens of Riverdale, an ant and a squirrel, even the President of the United States—was a super-hero or a secret agent. BACK ISSUE magazine and former DC Comics editor MICHAEL EURY takes you through that coolest cultural phenomenon with this all-new collection of nostalgic essays, histories, and theme song lyrics of classic 1960s characters like CAPTAIN ACTION, HERBIE THE FAT FURY, CAPTAIN NICE, ATOM ANT, SCOOTER, ACG’s NEMESIS, DELL’S SUPER-FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the “Split!” CAPTAIN MARVEL, and others! Featuring interviews with BILL MUMY (Lost in Space), BOB HOLIDAY (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman), RALPH BAKSHI (The Mighty Heroes, Spider-Man), DEAN TORRENCE (Jan and Dean Meet Batman), RAMONA FRADON (Metamorpho), DICK DeBARTOLO (Captain Klutz), TONY TALLARICO (The Great Society Comic Book), VINCE GARGIULO (Palisades Park historian), JOE SINNOTT (The Beatles comic book), JOSE DELBO (The Monkees comic book), & more!

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CONTENTS

Retro Interview Superman Director Richard Donner

Issue #3 | Winter 2019

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52

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Mornings Aquaman in Animation

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67 18

Departments

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Retrotorial

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Too Much TV Quiz

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Retro Food & Drink Funny Face Drink Mix Collectibles

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Retro Television Irwin Allen: Voyage to the Bottom of… the Barrel?

RetroFad Afros

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Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum Sea-Monkeys®

Retro Games Atari’s 1979 Superman

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Retro Travel Superman Celebration – Metropolis, Illinois

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Amazing Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper

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Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria Fantastic Fanzines

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grew up with

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Super Collector Superman and Batman collectibles, by Chris Franklin

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RetroFanmail

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ReJECTED RetroFan fantasy cover by Scott Saavedra

RetroFan™ #3, Winter 2019. Published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher.

Editorial Office: RetroFan, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Four-issue subscriptions: $38 Economy US, $63 International, $16 Digital Only. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Superman, Aquaman, and the Joker TM & © DC Comics. Sea-Monkeys® TM Transcience LLC. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2018 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. ISSN 2576-7224

Director Richard Donner made me a better person. So did actor Christopher Reeve, star of Superman: The Movie, Donner’s landmark motion picture of late 1978 that created the modern superhero film franchise (even though he didn’t realize that’s what he was doing at the time).

In late ’78, Americans were drowning in a rising tide of cynicism fomented by years of civil unrest, a recently ended unpopular war, and the ultimate betrayal imaginable, a dishonest U.S. president who resigned in disgrace. Truth was forgotten, justice seemed reserved for, well, no one, and the American Way could only be found when watching flickering reruns of Leave it to Beaver. Pulsating disco lights, a sexual revolution, recreational drugs, and an emerging “Me” culture were there to numb our senses, but as the Seventies were drawing to a close, gyrating dancer Tony Manero was about the closest thing we could find to a hero.

What a perfect time for Superman to rescue us!

As you’ll read in the interview following, “verisimilitude” was director Donner’s philosophy for his presentation of the Superman mythos, an acceptance of and adherence to the authenticity of the source material.

Yet Donner’s Superman movie didn’t assume that everyone shared Superman’s apple-pie values. Remember how Margot Kidder’s Watergate-blunted Lois Lane scoffed at Superman’s declaration of his mission to “fight for truth, justice, and the American Way,” retorting

that he’d be fighting “every elected official in the country”? That didn’t deter the Man of Steel.

“Never lie,” he politely admonished her, Reeve delivering the line with superhuman conviction.

Reeve’s and Donner’s Superman wasn’t dragged down into the mire with the rest of us to make him “relatable.” The actor and director not only made us believe a man could fly, they convinced us that a man’s behavior could fly above the norm. It’s that interpretation of Superman (and Clark Kent, minus the bumbling) after which I’ve tried to pattern my conduct, and I know it positively imprinted many of you as well.

While I’ve got his ear, I’d like to thank Mr. Donner (and, in spirit, Mr. Reeve) for his timeless, invaluable contribution to not only cinema but to Americana.

Last issue, I reluctantly bid farewell to columnists Ernest Farino and Martin Pasko, both of whom had to step aside to attend to other matters. Good news! Ernie’s back this issue, and Marty’s returning to these pages soon as well.

In the meantime, new columnist (and super-designer) Scott Saavedra is back this issue, alongside Andy Mangels and Scott Shaw!, and in issue #5 we’ll introduce another regular voice to this magazine in a new column by—oh, I’ll save that announcement for next issue.

Also on board this ish are guest writers Robert Conte, Glenn Greenberg, and Super Collector Chris Franklin, for another groovy grab bag of the crazy, cool culture we grew up with.

Superman TM & © DC Comics.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow CONTRIBUTORS Robert V. Conte Michael Eury Ernest Farino Chris Franklin Glenn Greenberg Andy Mangels Scott Saavedra John Schwirian Scott Shaw!

DESIGNER Scott Saavedra PROOFREADER Rob Smentek SPECIAL THANKS Neal Adams Scott Awley Steve Dolnick Scott Eder Mendy Harris/Metropolis Chamber of Commerce Heritage Comics Auctions Richard Klemensen Brian K. Morris William and Lori Nichols Luigi Novi Karla Ogle/Superman Celebration Martin Pasko Jim Rash Bob Rozakis Rose Rummel-Eury Morgan Siebert/Super Museum Yolonda von Braunhut Pete von Sholly VERY SPECIAL THANKS Richard Donner Jeff East Bill Mumy

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Richard Donner The Man Who Made Superman Fly

Richard Donner (center) and crew members in 1977 on location in Manhattan, doubling as Metropolis, during the filming of Superman. This photo appeared in DC Comics’ All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-62 (Superman: The Movie). © Warner Bros. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

Conducted by Glenn Greenberg Remove Superman: The Movie (1978) from Richard Donner’s filmography and he would still be the man who directed The Omen (1976), The Goonies (1985), and all four Lethal Weapon films (1987– 1998). An impressive list, to be sure.

But with Superman, Donner became the father of the modern comic-book superhero movie, through his vision of taking the subject matter seriously—though not without a healthy dose of fun and humor—and giving it a real-world aesthetic, a grandeur, and a respect that the genre never really had before.

On a film where so many things could have gone wrong, Donner got so much right, from bringing in his friend, screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, to rework the screenplay (which had gone through drafts by Mario Puzo, David and Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton), to hiring composer John Williams to create what just may be his greatest movie score ever, to casting Christopher Reeve in the title role—and, just as importantly, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. Any one of those elements could have made Superman a decent film. All of them combined made it a bona fide classic, the RetroFan

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Retro Interview: Richard Donner

RD: At that age?

RF: Yeah.

RD: It was just escapism. I mean, we were kids, we’d come home from school after playing in the yard or somewhere on the school grounds, and our reading material would be whatever the newest comic book was that came out. I don’t know if it’s going on today—today it’s TV instead. But it was a comic book and every page was a phenomenal one to turn, and you lived the fantasies, between Superman and—now you’re gonna make me think of the others and I can’t—I mean, hundreds of them.

Dick Tracy, Shazam!—what was that, Captain Marvel?

RF: Yep! RD: And Superman was one that stuck with me, but no more than any of the others. Until, of course, he came into my life again many, many years later.

Superman: The Movie lobby card signed by star Christopher Reeve. © Warner Bros. Superman TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

shadow of which looms over everything that has come in its wake.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Superman: The Movie’s original theatrical release, Richard Donner agreed to a phone interview on November 6, 2017, to discuss the film and its enduring legacy.

RetroFan: It’s really an honor to speak to you.

Richard Donner: My pleasure, kid. What are we talking about?

RF: We are talking about the 40th anniversary of Superman: The Movie, which is coming up fast and furiously.

RD: The 40th anniversary?

RF: Yeah! Believe it or not.

Christopher Reeve in his Clark Kent suit and Donner on the Superman set. From All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-62. © Warner

Bros. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

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RD: Holy s***! Okay.

RF: [laughter] My first question is going to take you way back. I understand that you used to read Superman comics as a kid.

RD: Sure.

RF: What did you like about them? What was the appeal to you?

RF: Right. Now when he did come into your life again many, many years later, in your view, going into this project, who was Superman, to you? Who is Superman?

What qualities did you feel needed to be there to really capture the character well?

RD: Well, the qualities were really our heritage, because the interesting thing is—I had no eyes to do a movie called Superman. But when it was sent to me, with a ridiculous offer, I took it upon myself to read it and was very disappointed.

Because they were making a parody

Retro Interview: Richard Donner

out of something much like American history. I mean, this was something that, in the Thirties, kids were brought up on, and it stayed with us. Right up until the time I read [the script], it was still being published. And I was angry that they were disrespectful to the character. And so I accepted the assignment only on the basis that I could rewrite it, bring in a writer, Tom Mankiewicz, to rewrite it. Once that was decided upon, I was committed to the project.

RF: Was there something specific about Superman that you felt needed to be in that movie, a certain trait or a personality?

RD: There’s a thing that I call verisimilitude.

RF: Right! I was going to get to that!

RD: By that I mean that within its own reality, it was extremely important

that the characters in the story believed themselves. And the minute they didn’t, like I said, it became a parody. And that’s really like a parody on a parody, because it is a comic book.

RF: Right.

RD: We strove to bring that sense of reality.

Tom and I had a mission. The mission I gave him was I wanted to convince the audience a man could fly. Because up until then, it was a man lying on a board with a fan blowing on him.

RF: [laughter] Right!

RD: And the other mission was, an unrequited love story. Once we were both in agreement on that, we were off and running. The love story had to be real to those people, in that life, and the flying had to be real to every person who ever

went to the theater to see that particular movie.

RF: But what made you so sure that audiences would connect with that approach, rather than, say, what they did with the Batman TV series, which was really campy and silly? What made you so sure that verisimilitude was going to be the right way to go with Superman instead of, as you said, poking fun?

RD: To tell you the truth, it was totally shooting in the dark. I had no idea. It was just, once I was going to make that picture, that was the way I felt it had to be made. I mean, I had no way of prophesizing whether the audiences were going like it or dislike it. I just felt maybe there were enough people out there like myself, who were brought up on believing in it, that that’s the way they would like to see it.

RF: As faithful as you were to the comics—I mean, it was really wonderful—you did take some creative liberties, like with the portrayal of Luthor, who was pretty different from the comicbook version. So do you remember why those creative choices were made, especially with regard to Luthor?

RD: Gene Hackman.

I mean, Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando were already on the movie before I got to it, although nothing had been discussed with them. When I came on and met Gene, he had a take on it, he had a take on Luthor, and he found the bigger-thanlife villain within the reality that we had. His version was just that much bigger than life, and once he started to talk about it, and we discussed it, it just complemented the rest of it so perfectly.

RF: I have a question that I think a lot of people have been asking over the years: Why did Luthor put up with Otis for so long?

RD: How could you not? How could you get rid of a pet?

Donner’s vision of verisimilitude is among the topics covered on this two-page spread from the 1978 pressbook for Superman: The Movie. © Warner Bros. Superman TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

RF: [laughter] Okay… mystery solved!

I’m sure you’re aware that Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins, and Bryan Singer RetroFan

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Retro Interview: Richard Donner

Rare photo from the version of Superman II you didn’t see! While shooting Superman, Richard Donner shot additional footage intended for Superman II that went unused after Donner’s severance from the franchise and Marlon “Jor-El” Brando’s lawsuit over film percentage profits.

This image hailed from the Brando collection and was auctioned by Heritage in 2006. © Warner Bros.

Superman TM & © DC Comics.

RD: No way. No way, José! I mean, I did it. It’s done. It’s done, I did it. I did it then because it was a long time ago, but my life has taken different turns and… no. I did it. I would not go back.

Plus, it’s a different world today.

It’s very dark and bleak and somewhat “unhopeful.” Whereas I always saw it as anything but dark, anything but bleak, and very hopeful. And that’s the way I look at life today, too. all cite your Superman movie as the major influence on them when they did the Batman movies and Wonder Woman and all of the stuff that Bryan Singer did on the X-Men. Can you just describe how that makes you feel to know that they’re all looking to you for guidance?

RD: It just means those three terribly bright, creative people have good taste. [laughs] I don’t know. I mean, when you make a motion picture, your internal being is in that picture and you’re exposing a lot of yourself to an audience and you have no idea who they are and what they are, and you do your best to make a piece of entertainment in some way. And sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t. And I’ve been really fortunate.

I’ve been very lucky.

How does it make me feel that they claim it as a picture that influenced them?

It makes me very proud.

you wrote with Geoff Johns a few years ago (published in Action Comics #844– 846, 851, and 855–857, and Action Comics Annual #11)?

RD: Well, Brainiac. There was a little bit of Brainiac that was going to be in it, but no. Tom and I had some really great thoughts. Because he was also a good director. And what we were going to do was, we would write the next one [II] and I would direct that, and we’d do the third one and Tom would direct that. And so on, for as long as it lasted. But the producers [Alexander and Ilya Salkind] didn’t see our relationship to the films as we did, so I was not brought back.

RF: You’ve said in the past that that had you been able to finish Superman II, you would have been interested in doing a Superman III, a Superman IV. Had you worked out any ideas for those movies, in terms of storylines or stuff that you wanted to see? Did any of them get worked into those Superman comics that

RF: Is there a possibility that you would have any involvement in a future Superman movie project? Has there been any talk about that?

RD: Today?

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RF: But Brainiac was definitely a villain you wanted to tackle.

RD: Well, one of the villains, yes. I mean, I felt there was a different way of approaching it, but the intellect of Brainiac was very exciting.

RF: Yeah.

RF: Right. You kind of anticipated another question I was going to ask you. Do you think your version of Superman, the version in Superman: The Movie—do you think that version could get made today?

Because looking at the way Warner Bros. has handled Superman in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, he’s much more glum and troubled and just not as optimistic and as fun. Do you think there’s still a place for your vision of Superman?

[Interviewer’s note: This interview was conducted shortly before the release of Justice League, which made a notable effort to shift the movie portrayal of Superman to a somewhat more traditional, optimistic depiction.]

RD: Oh, definitely! I would have him run against the president. Because you’ve got such an evil villain for him to go against, it would be kind of fun to do. Where are you, Superman, when we need you?

RF: [laughter] This is going to require a little bit of self-reflection, but in your own estimation, why is this film still so beloved and so influential all these years later?

RD: Good question. But, I mean, I don’t know. I can’t tell you what turns the rest of the public on. I’m a fan of very hopeful things. In most of my movies, there’s hope at the end, there’s a feeling of “feel good.”

Retro Interview: Richard Donner

RF: Except maybe The Omen.

RD: Well, even The Omen—remember when the kid smiles in that last close-up of him, he turns to look towards the camera and gradually smiles?

RF: Yeah, of course!

RD: It’s like he’s saying, “Did you really just see a movie? Am I real? Is this silly? Or am I the Devil and I’m going to go on in life as the Devil here on Earth?” The smile on the kid’s face at the very end told that story to me.

Did you ever see a movie called BlowUp (1966)?

RF: Many years ago.

RD: Well, at the very end of Blow-Up, there’s a scene at the park and they’re playing tennis, but there’s no tennis ball, and the tennis ball gets hit over the fence, but it’s not a tennis ball, and the lead, a great actor [David Hemmings], he goes over, and [the tennis players] are pointing towards him, “Please throw us back the tennis ball,” but there’s nothing there. But he looks at them, and looks at the ground, and he bends down and picks up the ball that’s not there and he throws it back over the fence.

Well, that was the same thing with me for the end of The Omen—what’s the

reality of all this? I saw The Omen as a mystery-suspense thriller and it was all circumstantial—there’s no such thing as the Devil… all those crazy moments just happened and they came together to make a movie.

RF: I guess I saw it when I was so young that I took it very much at face value.

So that’s what stuck with me.

RD: That was the success of it. It certainly wasn’t my interpretation.

RF: Getting back to Superman, what role do you think John Williams’s score played in making the movie such a success?

RD: It was a telling moment for me when the first piece of music John played with the London Symphony Orchestra was the opening credits, and when “Superman” zoomed across the screen, you could hear the music say “Su-per-man.” It was just like, “Oh, my God, he put the English language in the score.” It was just such a brilliant score.

I have always been extraordinarily lucky working with composers. Just before that, I had Jerry Goldsmith on The Omen and he got the Oscar [for Best Music, Original Score]. And then I had John Williams. Everyone, they all have been amazing.

I don’t have the best ear for music, so when I do hear music, it either instinctually works or it doesn’t. I can’t tell you why it doesn’t or why it does. It just either feels right or it doesn’t. And for me, I’ve been so fortunate, and John was probably one of my biggest fortunes.

RD: Here’s what happened. We were in Canada finishing the film and we were getting ready to decide on composers, and I had, of course, just on the picture before, worked with Jerry, and he had gotten the Oscar for it. So I called Jerry and I asked him if he would be interested and he said he’d love it. So I discussed the material and then the picture got delayed—we were stuck up in Canada with the weather and I got a call from his agent that he was no longer going to be available by the time we were done. So it broke my heart.

But the next best person in the world to me was John. I went to John and I explained the situation and he said he would very much like to do it. And so I committed to John. And then I lost John because of time—and I got Jerry back.

And then I lost Jerry again and I got John back. So at one point I was going to ask them for one to play with one hand and one to play with the other, and do it together.

RF: [laughter] That would have been something!

RD: As it turned out, I could not have been luckier. I’m sure Jerry would have done just as magnificent a piece. But there’s nobody like John Williams.

RF: I just watched the movie again recently and that music, it just sends a chill down your spine, and the way it works with your visuals—it’s just a perfect marriage.

RD: I thank you and I thank him.

RF: Jerry Goldsmith at one point was supposed to work on the movie, wasn’t he?

Superman director Richard Donner in 1977 and in 2017. 1977 photo © Warner Bros./DC Comics.

2017 photo courtesy of Richard Donner.

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Retro Interview: Richard Donner

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Retro Interview: Richard Donner

RF: Well, it would have been a win-win for you. So that’s a great position to be in.

RD: Oh, totally.

RF: Warner Bros. recently put out on Bluray the extended three-hour version that aired on ABC back in the early Eighties, that extended version for television (Superman: The Movie: Extended Cut, released in October 2017). Did you know about it?

RD: I had heard about it just before it came out, and I was really kind of upset with them for doing that without discussing it with me.

The reason there was a long version was, back in the [early Eighties], when this was released for TV, [the networks] paid you by the length of the movie. And so the producers, in their inimitable good taste, went into the storage rooms, I guess, and dug out everything I had cut out of the movie and put it back in. And I had nothing to say at that point. And I’m sorry to say that at this point, Warners didn’t take it upon themselves to discuss that with me first. But they didn’t. That’s the way it is.

What you’re looking at is stuff that I threw away.

RF: So clearly, not your favorite version of the movie!

RD: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

RF: [laughter] Do you have a preferred version? I mean, there’s the 1978 version that hit the theaters, and then the 2000 version that you put together.

RD: No, that was for II. RF: No, I’m talking about the director’s cut of Superman: The Movie, where you added some scenes back in.

RD: I did?

RF: Yeah, this was back in around 2000, when Superman first came out on DVD. OPPOSITE: Posters from other Donnerdirected hits: (TOP) The Omen (1976) and The Goonies (1985), and (BOTTOM) Lethal Weapon (1987) and Scrooged (1988). The Omen © 20th Century Fox. The Goonies and Lethal Weapon © Warner Bros. Scrooged © Paramount.

Posters courtesy of Heritage.

You put together a director’s cut, and you and Tom Mankiewicz did the commentary.

RD: I don’t remember it. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge.

RF: That’s fine. So, as a creative person in the film industry, what do you think of the trend right now of all the superhero movies that are coming out? Do you like them? Do you go see them?

RD: My wife [Lauren Shuler Donner] is producing them—I love them! [both laugh] My wife put together the entire X-Men operation for motion pictures and TV at Fox. I saw her fight her way to get them to step up and make these, and now they’ve turned into an incredible success. Anything my wife does, I love. So that’s it, buster!

RF: [laughter] Well, in a major way, those X-Men movies kicked off this whole genre. Well, actually they re-kicked— you kicked it off the first time. But it’s your wife and the X-Men movies that she put together that have created this phenomenon that we’re seeing now. So it’s both of you.

RD: Yeah, well I was involved in the very first one [X-Men, 2000], and it did, it started something that had been lying dormant for a long time, and I give Lauren all the credit in the world for it. She fought for it.

As a matter of fact, Kevin Feige was Lauren’s assistant, and now he’s the president of Marvel [Studios]. So, I mean, it stayed in the family. And Geoff Johns, who’s at DC now, was my assistant. I have to call him Mister Johns now.

RF: Oh, I don’t know about that!

RD: I would, because I respect those two guys tremendously.

RF: It really is amazing. The way you just described it, that you’ve kept it in the family—I mean, this is the next generation, and you produced it. You produced both of these guys, in a really big sense.

RD: Lauren and I. RF: Exactly. Pretty incredible, huh?

RD: It is pretty incredible. I’ve never put it in words before. Wow.

RF: So, what’s coming up from you next?

RD: I’m in the throes of possibly putting together a Lethal Weapon V, the finale, with Channing Gibson, the writer who wrote IV for us. I think we’re getting into a pretty strong position with Warner Bros., and I think they enjoy it and I’m probably going to want to make it and it will definitely be the end of the series. It’s more like the first one, more on the dark side.

RF: Something to look forward to.

RD: It’s kind of like putting it to bed, finally.

RF: Well, on a more personal note, I want to thank you not just for your time, but also for a movie that really made a mark on my life and still remains with me to this day.

RD: Well, for me, between Superman and Goonies, I can’t get over the people that have been affected over the generations.

It’s extraordinary, and I appreciate your saying it.

RF: You helped shape probably more childhoods than I think you realize.

RD: Well, I hate kids, so that’s it! [both laugh] RF: Thank you very much.

RD: My pleasure. Thanks a million!

RF: You take care.

RD: You too, kid!

GLENN GREENBERG is an award-winning editor and writer whose work has appeared in publications and on websites including Entertainment Weekly, People, SYFY Wire, Media Village, Salute, ProSound News, BACK ISSUE, TIME Edge, TIME for Kids, and Scholastic News. He has also written nonfiction and fiction for books, magazines, and comic books published by Simon and Schuster, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Marvel Entertainment, and IDW. And he’s reached the age where he absolutely adores anyone who calls him “kid.”

RetroFan

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RetroFan's

Too Much TV

Quiz

If your old man used to gripe that you’d never learn anything with your nose glued to the boob tube, here’s your chance to prove him wrong.

(Father doesn’t always know best.)

Each of the TV commercial taglines or jingle lyrics in Column One corresponds to a product in Column Two. Match ’em up, then see how you rate!

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1) It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.

2) Reach out and touch someone.

3) Manly, yes, but I like it too.

4) Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

5) Where’s the beef?

6) You deserve a break today.

7) Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is.

8) Betcha can’t eat just one.

9) Let your fingers do the walking.

10) The San Francisco treat.

AT&T © AT&T Intellectual Property.

Alka Seltzer © Bayer. Chiffon © GeorgiaPacific. Irish Spring © Colgate-Palmolive Company. Lay’s © Frito-Lay, a Division of PepsiCo. M&M’s © Mars Incorporated.

McDonald’s © McDonald’s. Rice-a-Roni © Golden Grain Company. Wendy’s © Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC. Yellow Pages TM & © YP LLC. All rights reserved.

RetroFan Ratings 10 correct: Fine-Tuned RetroFan Sock it to me, baby! I bet you know theme song lyrics too!

7–9 correct: Rabbit-Eared RetroFan Dy-no-mite! You wasted your childhood with the rest of us!

4–6 correct: Fuzzy-Receptioned RetroFan Up your nose with a rubber hose ’til you spend more tube time!

0–3 correct: Tuned-Out RetroFan Ya big dummy! Put down that book and go watch some classic TV!

ANSWERS: 1–G, 2–A, 3–F, 4–J, 5–D, 6–B, 7–H, 8–C, 9–I, 10–E.

A) AT&T B) McDonald’s C) Lay’s Potato Chips D) Wendy’s E) Rice-a-Roni F) Irish Spring soap G) Chiffon Margarine H) Alka Seltzer I) Yellow Pages J) M&Ms

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That’s one small step for man...

MOON LANDING MANIA

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William Katt Interview

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MARK HAMILL INTERVIEW

“The First Time I Met Tarzan!” • Lone Ranger in Hollywood • Celebrity Crushes & more!

Featuring Andy Mangels • Will Murray • Martin Pasko • Scott Saavedra • Scott Shaw!

Snuffy Smith © King Features Syndicate. Major Matt Mason © Mattel. Jason of Star Command © Filmation. All Rights Reserved.

RetroFan #5

Ships June 2019 | Subscribe now • See inside back cover!

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RETRO FOOD & DRINK

The

Saga Move Over, Kool-Aid Man, There’s Some New Fruit in Town!

by John Schwirian actually created them for my daughter, Jill, who was about four years old at the time,” Silverman wrote in a post on the Retroland website in 2013. “My nickname for her was Freckle Face—and from that beginning, all the characters just fell into place. Needless to say, my daughter—and all her friends—had a wonderful time playing with the names, and pretending to be the characters.”

That’s how the jingle went in the early television commercials— While Silverman sketched out the initial designs for the characters, and it was true. Kids really found Funny Face fun to drink! Of the final art used on the packages was drawn by Lowell Herrera course, zany characters and great mail-away premiums didn’t hurt (1921–2015). any, either.

The original six characters (and flavors) hit the stores in 1964, In the early Sixties, Kool-Aid was the undisputed powderedconsisting of Freckle Face Strawberry, Goofy Grape, Loud-Mouth drink-mix king. However, consumers were unhappy over the Lime, Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry, Chinese Cherry, and Injun Orange. amount of sugar used in the preparation of a pitcher of KoolDon’t remember the last two? That’s because they were replaced Aid. In an effort to combat this dissatisfaction, companies were the next year by Choo Choo Cherry and Jolly Olly Orange. Reports searching for a substitute for sugar, an alternate that arrived in are mixed as to whether there were complaints from the public the form of an artificial sweetener named sodium cyclamate. or if it was strictly an internal decision, but Chinese Cherry and Pillsbury processed sodium cyclamate into the product Sweet*10 Injun Orange were deemed in 1962, which allowed them inappropriate and offensive. to create foods that could “At the time,” Silverman be advertised as “sugar free” explained, “I was naive enough and “artificially sweetened.” not to realize that the names With sugar eliminated, moms Chinese Cherry and Injun approved and sales rose on Orange could be hurtful to these products.

Chinese and Native Americans.

My sincere apologies, at A Funny Face for Every this late date, to anyone I Taste offended.”

Encouraged by the promise Pillsbury employed an of Sweet*10, Pillsbury decided aggressive marketing strategy to challenge Kool-Aid with its to launch the new drink mix. own powdered drink mix. In While the Kool-Aid Man had 1963, Pillsbury hired Campbell Look at the mugs on these mugs! From the collection of John Schwirian, Funny Face mugs.

(FRONT ROW) Goofy Grape, Freckle to represent every flavor of Mithun Advertising to design a Face Strawberry, Lefty Lemon.

(CENTER ROW) Choo Choo Cherry, Kool-Aid, Pillsbury provided face for its product. Inspired by Jolly Olly Orange, Loud-Mouth Punch. (BACK ROW) Chug-a-Lug different cartoon characters his daughter, Creative Director Chocolate, Rudy Tutti Frutti, With-It Watermelon. © Brady Enterprises. for each flavor, making it Hal Silverman dreamed up easy for children to spot their the Funny Face characters. “I Funny Face is fun to drink, The one to drink when you’re having fun!

Funny Face is fun to drink, Fun to drink for everyone!

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Retro Food & Drink

While everyone has their fave Funny Face, Goofy Grape was the breakout star of the group. (LEFT) The original unpainted Goofy Grape pitcher, kite, and powdered drink mix canister, from the John Schwirian collection.

(BELOW) Sour grapes? You might have them if you try to listen to this record album. © Brady Enterprises.

favorites. Stores were encouraged to use specially designed stands to display Funny Face packets. Advertisements were placed in the Sunday funnies in newspapers nationwide and in the children’s magazine Jack and Jill. Commercials aired on television with Goofy Grape and the gang introducing themselves to young shoppers.

Additionally, stores gave out promotional plastic finger puppets of the six characters along with purchases of Funny Face packets.

Sales were strong enough to encourage Pillsbury to expand its marketing campaign in 1965. Chinese Cherry and Injun Orange took their final bow, and a new flavor joined the group —Lefty Lemon. New promotional products were offered, including a mail-away 16-page fun book and in-store paper character masks.

Contests were advertised with 10,000 Goofy Grape watches and 10,000 store drink stands up for grabs. A set of six pillows made in the images of the original six characters were made and given exclusively to Pillsbury executives. Funny Face ads continued in the Sunday comics and a new television commercial aired with Choo Choo Cherry and Jolly Olly Orange (but if you watch carefully, you can still see Chinese Cherry and Injun Orange atop the drink stand). One in-store poster took an indirect swipe at Kool-Aid, showing the seven cartoon figures above the slogan “Funny Face is fun to drink” and atop the sign sat the statement “Notice how… when products compete, they get better.”

Evidently the strategy was working, as Pillsbury offered new promotions in 1966. Two more contests were held with 10,000 drink stands (redesigned to show the new cherry, orange, and lemon characters) and 10,000 Funny Face Fun Houses up for grabs.

While not an official member of the Funny Face family, chocolate and strawberry Moo Juice hit the shelves as Pillsbury’s way to jazz up milk. Probably the most interesting promotion was an ad in the Sunday color section offering fans a seven-inch, 33 1/3 RPM record titled “Goofy Grape Sings.” For 50 cents and one Funny Face label, you could listen to Goofy Grape and the gang sing nine different silly songs. The voices for the record (as well as the television commercials) were provided by the versatile Paul Frees, who you might recognize from his work on various Jay Ward Productions 14

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Winter 2019

cartoons (like Rocky and Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle) and Rankin-Bass animated holiday features.

The product line continued to expand in 1967 when Captain Black Cherry joined the group and Loud-Mouth Punch replaced Loud-Mouth Lime (who temporarily merged with Lefty Lemon for the short-lived Lefty Lemon Lime). In an effort to reach more mature consumers, Pillsbury tested the waters with Tart N’ Tangy Lemon and Tart N’ Tangy Orange. The Thirst Fighters premiered this year with Baron Von Lemon, Crash Orange, and Sir Reginald Lime Lime—three drink mixes aimed at adults that used more sophisticated humor in the advertising. Promotions scaled back to only one contest, with a prize of one in 5,000 Loud-Mouth Lime Walkie Talkies and one Sunday newspaper advertisement mailaway. The gimmick this time was that in exchange for a written request and the completed ad form, you would receive a Funny Face Fun Book and letter from either Choo Choo Cherry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Goofy Grape, Lefty Lemon, or Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry.

Pillsbury seemed comfortable with Funny Face’s niche in the grocery stores, as its 1968 promotions dropped to just two mailaways—one for a Funny Face Cook Book and another for a drink stand display.

Cyclamate Crisis

Then, disaster stuck when a 1966 study by Abbott Laboratories was made public. The study stated that sodium cyclamate caused “chronic toxicity” in test animals. This was followed by a report (also by Abbott Laboratories) in 1969 that cyclamate-saccharin mixtures commonly used as artificial sweeteners in food products (like Funny Face) resulted in a rise in bladder cancer in rats. This resulted in the banning of cyclamates in the United States. It was revealed later that, during the study, tumors only appeared in eight out of 240 rats (approximately 3%) and that the amount of sweetener fed to the rats was proportionately equal to an adult

Retro Food & Drink

Orange and Loud-Mouth Punch mugs, and the painted or unpainted Goofy Grape pitcher. Another thing that Funny Face had over Kool-Aid was the introduction of the two-quart can of powdered mix that made over 15-quarts of liquid refreshment.

New television commercials were made to broaden the appeal to consumers.

No more silly characters telling children that Funny Face was fun to drink. The new approach was aimed at teens and adults, showing older boys playing basketball on a hot summer day while Goofy Grape and gang sang, “When you’re hot, you’re hot. We got a lot, a lot!” Yes, Funny Face is cooling and thirst-quenching!

The Funny Face Walkers wandered onto the scene in 1971. For seven presweetened or 14 unsweetened packs, four Walkers (Choo Choo Cherry, Goofy Grape, Jolly Olly Orange, and Funny Face promotions sometimes appeared in the Sunday funnies supplements of newspapers, including these two, from 1967 and 1973, respectively. Funny Face © Brady Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry) arrived in the Enterprises. Matt Mason and Barbie © Mattel. mail (later, each Walker was available individually). The Walkers were great toys, designed with wobbly legs and feet that walked when pulled by a string. They came with a plastic coin that drinking 550 cans of diet soda daily. Further testing, some as acted as a weight.

Tie one end of the string to the Walker and the recent as the year 2000, have been unable to prove any connection other end to the coin.

Then release the coin over a ledge (like the between cyclamates and cancer, yet the ban remains. edge of a table) and the Walker wobbled as it was pulled by the The Funny Face formula was quickly remade. At first, packets read “No cyclamate—just add sugar,” but it was not long before string. Better pay attention, though, for once the Walker reached packets with sugar added hit the market. In 1969, in an effort the ledge, it plummeted to the ground. Made of cheap plastic and to recover from the huge revenue loss due to the cyclamate held together by thin pegs in short brackets, the Walkers often scare, Pillsbury came out with two new promotions. The first broke when they hit the floor. was a mail-away for Funny Face pillows. Send the form with and To encourage mothers to buy Funny Face, Pillsbury added five presweetened or ten unsweetened packages and a dollar Vitamin C to the drink mixes in 1972. New flavors Chilly Cherry Cola in exchange for the pillow of your choice—either Choo Choo and Rah Rah Root Beer were added to the line-up. For mail-aways, Cherry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Goofy Grape, or Lefty Lemon. you could get the plastic Goofy Grape kite through one ad, or send The second promotion (a major brainstorm) was none other than off for a Funny Face Club Fun Kit—complete with a membership the fondly remembered Funny Face mugs! In exchange for seven card, a fun book, a tab button, a balloon, iron-ons, and stickers. In drink packets, Pillsbury sent four mugs—Choo Choo 1973, you could order the third variation on the Cherry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Goofy Grape, and Goofy Grape pitcher, a red or purple Bianchi Lefty Lemon. This proved so popular that five more folding bike, and Funny Face Plush Pals Pillows mugs were added later and the promotion stayed (a set of three—Choo Choo Cherry, Goofy available for the remainder of Funny Face’s life in the Grape, and Lefty Lemon). A new Goofy Grape supermarket. watch was offered in 1974, as were mugs In 1970, Pillsbury was still hurting from the of new flavors Rudy Tutti Frutti and Withcyclamate reports, so free packets of Funny Face were It Watermelon (Pistol Pink Lemonade also given away at Union 76 gas stations with each fill-up arrived at this time, but did not warrant to help bring in new consumers. Unfortunately, the a mug). loss of cyclamate took away the company’s major edge The first Pillsbury company crossover over Kool-Aid, so over the next decade, Pillsbury had occurred in 1975 when Goofy Grape met to rely on the popularity of the characters and the Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy, on a promotional premiums. Contests had ceased, but the 13 x 13-inch canvas back pack—available for mail-away offers continued. In 1970, you could send only $1.95 and one label from Pillsbury Slice ’N Bake Cookies and off for a Funny Face Club Fun Kit (consisting of a certificate, a fun one can label (or three packages) of Funny Face Drink Mix. Also book, and a Goofy Grape tab button), Funny Straws, Jolly Olly available that year was a Goofy Grape sweatshirt (child sizes only) RetroFan

Winter 2019

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Retro Food & Drink

Funny Face store signs and displays from the Sixties and Seventies, from the collection of Jim Rash. To view more of Jim’s Funny Face collection, or to contact him if you have Funny Face items to sell, visit www.funnyfacedrinkmix.com. Funny Face ©

Brady Enterprises. Pillsbury © General Mills.

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Retro Food & Drink

Funny Face products during the Pillsbury era included (RIGHT) books like this one starring Freckle Face Strawberry, and (TOP) Walkers (Choo Choo Cherry shown) and iron-on patches (Lefty Lemon). From the Schwirian collection. © Brady Enterprises.

and Funny Face character iron-ons that were found free inside packages and cans of drink mix.

The mugs continued to be offered over the next few years, just as the iron-ons continued to be found in packages and cans.

The only new premium to be offered by Pillsbury came in 1977 with the mail-away offer for plastic molds to be used for homemade frozen “popsickles.”

Funny Face Fades Away

Sales declined in the later Seventies, and the Funny Face line was sold to the New England-based Brady Enterprises in 1980. The new owners offered Frisbees and a mug for the new flavor Chug-A-Lug Chocolate, but sales continued to decline. The product quickly disappeared from stores nationwide, yet it remained available in select New England markets until 1994. Brady Enterprises still owns the rights to Funny Face and has tried to revive both the drink mix and the characters without success.

Despite their disappearance from the supermarkets, the Funny Face characters continue to hold a soft spot in the hearts of those of us who grew up on a steady diet of those zany powdered drink mixes. Many seek out the promotional items they had as children, scouring flea markets, yard sales, eBay, and the internet hoping to find the elusive pieces they need for their collections. There was even a Funny Face Friends Club operated by none other than Jack Brady, Jr. of Brady Enterprises. New products have cropped up from time to time, some licensed, some not. Refrigerator magnets of drink-mix packets and pinback buttons of the characters have been made without permission. In 2001, Funko (best known today for its Pop! vinyl figures) added seven Funny Face characters to its line of Wacky Wobblers, a series of bobbleheads based on popular advertising and cartoon characters. Choo Choo Cherry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Goofy Grape, Lefty Lemon, Loud-Mouth Lime, and Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry were back—this time with bouncy heads and big tennis shoes!

RetroFans are thirsty for Funny Face collectibles, both licensed and unlicensed. From the Schwirian collection, magnets reprinting original Funny Face package art and Funko Wacky Wobblers. © Brady Enterprises.

In 2009, Renegade Animation (producers of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi), in cooperation with Brady Enterprises, produced a 25-minute pilot episode starring eight of the Funny Face characters. Two new characters were developed for the show— grouchy Bad Apple and prima donna Top Banana. The show was intended to be a weekly television series aimed at children ages 6–11, and consisted of short skits filled with bad puns. As no network expressed interest in the show, the project died, but the pilot can be seen in full on You Tube.

The next officially licensed product appeared in 2011. Flapjack Toys revived the Funny Face pillows as Kooky Kushions, a set of three pillows of Goofy Grape, Jolly Olly Orange, and Lefty Lemon.

Oddly enough, Flapjack also sells a luggage tag featuring the same three characters.

Sadly, Jack Brady, Jr. of Brady Enterprises passed away in 2016.

A huge fan of Funny Face, he never stopped hoping that he could find a new market for the characters. With his passing, Funny Face will most likely fade away, lurking only in places were only RetroFans dare to tread.

By day, JOHN SCHWIRIAN is a mildmannered college English professor, but by night, he dons the role of comic-book historian. In addition to his passion for Bronze Age comics, he explores the sunken regions of the DC Universe in his self-published fanzine, The Aquaman Chronicles.

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ANDY ANDY MANGELS' MANGELS' RETRO RETRO SATURDAY SATURDAY MORNING MORNING

King of the Sea and Animated TV

by Andy Mangels

Welcome back to Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning. Since and the underwater monarch has become an animation regular— 1989, I have been writing columns for magazines in the U.S. and and butt of a thousand repetitive punchlines in the 50-plus years foreign countries, all examining the intersection of comic books since. But how did the King of Atlantis begin his reign on Saturday and Hollywood, whether animation or live-action. Andy Mangels mornings and beyond? Let’s dive in…

Backstage, Andy Mangels’ Reel Marvel, Andy Mangels’ Hollywood Heroes, Andy Mangels Behind the Camera… nearly three decades of The First Splash reporting on animation and live-action—in addition to writing Only five DC Comics characters have been published non-stop many books and producing around 40 DVD sets—and I’m still since 1941: Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, enthusiastic. In this new RetroFan column, I will examine shows and Aquaman. Created by artist Paul Norris (with writer Mort that thrilled us from yesteryear, Weisinger) for More Fun Comics #73 (Nov. exciting our imaginations and 1941), the Golden Age Aquaman was capturing our memories. Grab some originally just a water-breathing, fishmilk and cereal, sit cross-legged talking hero partial to an orange shirt leaning against the couch, and dig in and green pants, plus boots, trunks, and to Retro Saturday Morning! gloves, while under the sea’s surface. In “Aquaman, swift and powerful Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959), the monarch of the ocean! With ability to Silver Age Aquaman’s origin was told, summon and command all creatures recasting the hero as half-human and of the deep! Aquaman, who with half-Atlantean whose human name was his teenage ally, Aqualad, guards Arthur Curry. In Adventure Comics #269 and defends all that lives in the sea (Feb. 1960), he acquired a sidekick youth against the forces of evil! Aquaman, named Aqualad, and in the following King of the Seven Seas!” So blared (TOP) The water-logged Aquaman logo, model month, he became a founding member sheets, and screen captures of Mera and Aqualad. the announced on September 9, 1967 of the Justice League of America, from (BOTTOM) A licensed “promotional cel” sold by when Aquaman made his television their first appearance in The Brave and Filmation. Aquaman TM& © DC Comics. debut. Readers had already been the Bold #28 (Feb.–Mar. 1960). Aquaman reading his adventures for 26 years, became the king of Atlantis in Aquaman 18

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Winter 2019

The introduction of Mera in Aquaman #11 and a rare inside cover ad for The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure from Adventure Comics #362. TM & © DC Comics.

#11 (Sept.–Oct. 1963); in the same issue, he met and married a gorgeous redhead named Mera, an underwater queen from an alternate dimension!

In the fall of 1965, Filmation, a relatively new animation company, swung a deal to create The New Adventures of Superman cartoons. The studio was founded by animators Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland, and disc-jockey-turned-producer Norm Prescott. Filmation was a scrappy young company, and they got the Superman job by tricking National Periodical Publications (the Sixties’ name for DC Comics) editors Mort Weisinger and Whitney Ellsworth into thinking they were far bigger a company than they were. The New Adventures of Superman premiered on CBS on September 10, 1966, running two Superman shorts and one Superboy short each 30-minute installment. The show was an immediate hit, and helped change the emerging Saturday morning television culture by being both an adventure show and featuring licensed characters.

In December 1965, with Superman a hit, Filmation made a deal with National to develop even more of their heroes for animation. “DC actually asked us to do Aquaman, but I wasn’t convinced the network would buy it without seeing a pilot,” said Scheimer in my interviews with him for the 2012 TwoMorrows book, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. “He wasn’t as famous as Superman or Batman. So we did a beautiful looking pilot titled ‘The Great Sea Robbery,’ which I think we retitled and used when the show was played. Nothing like it had been on the air. The undersea stuff really looked interesting, and it was visually fascinating.” The pilot got the notice of CBS executive Fred Silverman, and in early January, CBS and Filmation announced that Aquaman would begin in Fall 1967! In March 1967, The New York Times did a piece on Saturday morning animation; in it, Norm

Prescott talked about Filmation developing Green Lantern and Green Arrow, and announced the title of the new series as Superman Hour of Adventure. The Times published the first public image of the animated Aquaman and Aqualad astride their seahorses.

When it debuted in September, the new show was finally called The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. The show included its own opening credits with all of the heroes, as well as secret code segments in between episodes.

Each hour included six sevenminute adventures: two Superman, two Aquaman, one Superboy, and one “guest hero.” For that last segment, although DC heroes such as Green Arrow, the Doom Patrol, B’wana Beast, Plastic Man, Metamorpho, the Blackhawks, the Metal Men, the Challengers of the Unknown, and Wonder Woman were all considered and designed for animation (by Wes Herschensohn or Jack Ozark), only a quintet of concepts made it into production for three shorts apiece: The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, Teen Titans (including Aqualad), and Justice League of America (consisting of the just-mentioned adult heroes and Superman).

Making Waves

The Aquaman shorts were broken down to 36 episodes, each very faithful to the comics of the time. This largely had to do with the scripts coming from National/DC. Allen “Duke” Ducovny executive produced the series, and also served as National’s press agent.

“National really wanted to provide the writers because they felt

Rare production art by Filmation showing Aquaman watching the Blackhawks fight aliens, used in development of neverproduced Blackhawks adventures. TM & © DC Comics.

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Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Character models for Aquaman, Mera, Aqualad, and Tusky,

by Filmation artists. TM & © DC Comics.

that gave them more control over the stories,” said Scheimer. “That was fine with us as long as the stories worked for animation. We could do things that they couldn’t do in live action, which is why we had so many more super-villains and aliens and superpowers, but there were still limitations because of the time we had and the budget.” Among the writers on TV’s Aquaman were Oscar Bensol, George Kashdan, Bob Haney, Denis Marks, and Richard Sandler; Kashdan and Haney already worked at National, and both had written Aquaman comics!

Aquaman co-creator Mort Weisinger story-edited the series.

Despite this close connection, canon changes were made for television. Aquaman’s telepathic powers with fish were used, but the hero also gained the ability to create hard-water balls to throw concussively (a power held by Mera in the comics). Mera was not Aquaman’s wife in the series, and was presented as Atlantean rather than other-dimensional. Aqualad had no civilian name or telepathy, and was called various nicknames by Aquaman, including “Tadpole,” “Squirt,” “Minnow,” “Sardine,” and “Shrimp.”

Instead of his pet octopus Topo, Aquaman befriended a walrus named Tusky (who soon reappeared in the comics following his sole previous appearance in Adventure Comics #108, Sept.

1946), although Aquaman and Aqualad still rode giant seahorses

(LEFT) Marvin Miller, the voice of Aquaman. (RIGHT) Jerry Dexter, who voiced Aqualad.

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named Storm and Imp. Atlantis was present, but its inhabitants were air-breathers, kept alive in an undersea dome by an oxygen extraction plant. Aquaman villains Black Manta, the Fisherman, and Starro were used, in addition to new villains Vassa, Queen of the Mermen, the Brain, Mephisto, and others.

Filmation animated the entire series “in-house,” meaning no work was sent overseas. Voice recording was done on Fridays at Ryder Sound Service in Hollywood, directed by Norm Prescott.

Ted Knight, a Filmation staple, was the show’s narrator, and voiced almost all of the villains.

Of the rest of the four-person voice cast, Scheimer recalled that “We tried out a bunch of voices for Aquaman. We auditioned: Lennie Weinrib, who later did a lot of stuff for Hanna-Barbera and Sid and Marty Krofft, not to mention, us; Rich Little, who was a popular impressionist at the time; Ed Prentiss, who had been radio’s Captain Midnight; Jack Lester, who had been radio’s Sky King; Keith Andes, the voice of Hanna-Barbera’s Birdman; Shep Menkin, the voice of The Lone Ranger’s Tonto; Rick Jason, an actor from Combat!; Tol Avery, an actor and hypnotist; Arnold Moss, who was a radio guy and Shakespearean actor; Dane Clark, who was kind of a character actor, but who hadn’t done any voices; and Jim

Filmation’s Norm Prescott, Hal Sutherland, and Lou Scheimer, c. late 1960s.

Mills, Bruce Hays, Larry Alexander, and Lin Johnson. Auditioning for Aqualad were Sam Riddle, Bob Diamond, Patrick Regan, Huckleberry Finn film star Eddie Hodges, and sportscaster Gil Stratton. And here’s a bit of a surprise; we also auditioned at least one woman to play Aquagirl instead of Aqualad!

“We finally settled on Marvin Miller [for Aquaman], who was really famous for doing a show called The Millionaire. He had a great baritone voice, and he did a lot of commercials. Aqualad was Jerry Dexter. He was a nice-looking blond kid, as I recall. I say ‘kid’ because he was younger than Marvin, but I think Jerry was older than I was. He was also the host of Good Day L.A., a local morning talk show on KABC-TV. I don’t remember much about Diana Maddox, who played Mera, except that she was British.” Marvin Miller is most famous to genre fans as the voice of Robby the Robot in the classic science-fiction film, Forbidden Planet (1956).

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Working with a low budget on time as it would make your eyes go crazy!

FAST FACTS Superman (originally $36,000 per episode Some scenes would have it, and then it and upped to around $50,000 for the new would fade out, and in other scenes you’d series), Filmation had created a “stock bring it in. Seven minutes of it would be AQUAMAN animation system,” scenes of Superman too much, though.”

No. of seasons: One flying or Aquaman swimming or other Aquaman’s water-throwing powers No. of episodes: 36 often-repeated moves, which allowed for existed for two reasons: first, they gave Original run: September 9, 1967– previously done animation to be reused. the artists something more visual to September 4, 1968 (CBS) The system was similar to cost-saving work with; and second, because parental Reruns: Fall 1968–Fall 1969 (CBS) moves by other animation studios who groups had been mounting attacks on produced limited animation, such as action-adventure cartoons for promoting Hanna-Barbera. “Nobody in the business violence and endangering children with PRIMARY VOICE CAST could really afford to put full animation “imitable behavior,” the water-balls were AQUAMAN into characters for television because of not something kids could copy, nor were Marvin Miller: Aquaman the budgets and the delivery speed, but I they excessively violent.

Jerry Dexter: Aqualad think we really solved the problem first,” Diana Maddox: Mera, Queen said Scheimer. “Eventually, we even began Reaching the Shore Vassa to create the stock material before we The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure Ted Knight: Narrator, Imp, even wrote the stories: close-ups, long debuted on September 9, 1967 on CBS from Tusky, Black Manta, the shots, running, walking, talking, flying, 11:30– 12:30, up against a new show called Fisherman, and other villains swimming…. Aquaman had a lot of stock George of the Jungle and The New Beatles on material added too. No one had ever ABC and The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show done that before, but it was a matter of and Top Cat on NBC. Superman/Aquaman necessity, and, actually, we ended up with a better show because was soon certified by both Arbitron and Nielsen as being the we could afford to do that stuff extraordinarily well.” highest-rated show on Saturdays, with an 8.9 rating!

Due to the majority of the series being set underwater, National/DC gave the show very minor promotion in the Filmation developed a different visual style and look. “I think it pages of its comics. In Aquaman #36 (Nov.–Dec. 1967), Bob Haney was Erv Kaplan that developed some of that unique look,” said debuted a trio of villains—Torpedo, Magneto, and the Claw—who Scheimer. “We could do some really interesting stuff visually and also faced Aquaman in some of his animated episodes. The cover colorwise, and it didn’t have to be like the world up above with us touted “The King of the Sea is now King of TV!” and an interior trying to reproduce reality. Aquaman was a much more visual show blurb read, “Only from the sensational new TV adventures of the than Superman as far as the use of color and the watery effects.” one and only undersea super-hero, Aquaman…” An interior backcover ad promoted the series and the live-action Batman. Only two The underwater effects were achieved in an unusual way, later issues included a cover blurb, however. according to Scheimer. “We would rub stuff like baby oil on a Despite high ratings for Superman/Aquaman, as 1968 dawned, clear piece of acetate. And then, when we shot the animation, we Filmation had prepped a new animated Batman series, dovetailing would put the oily acetate closer to the camera lens and move it at perfectly from the end of the live-action show on ABC. CBS had a different speed than the background. We did not do that all the

(LEFT) When Aquaman moved into the Sunday slot as its own series to make way for Batman on Saturdays, DC Comics ran this ad in its comics. (RIGHT) Filmation model sheets showing how Aquaman swims underwater. TM & © DC Comics.

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Images from multiple episodes of Aquaman, including Aquaman using his powerful telepathy to command the creatures of the sea, the villainous Black Manta, and Aquaman riding his giant seahorse, Storm! TM & © DC Comics.

made a decision that while they wanted to add Batman, they would then have too many DC superhero shows on the network. Their solution was to split Aquaman off into its own series, rerunning the 18 half-hours produced for the first season. Although the original The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure shows had all of the characters mixed up, when it was split off into its own series, Aquaman only featured the two Aquaman shorts and the guest hero segments. Also gone for the split were the original opening credits, and all the secret code bumpers that would take place before and after commercial breaks.

CBS executive Fred Silverman wanted to develop a Sunday morning kids’ block, similar to Saturdays, and decided to move the Aquaman series to that day. “The way the networks bought shows in those days was generally for two years unless they were a total flop, and then they had to figure something out,” said Scheimer.

“It didn’t mean that they paid for new ones in year two, but they pretty much had to schedule them. And it wasn’t that Aquaman was doing poorly in the ratings; it was doing great as part of the hour. But they wanted to do Batman as part of the hour to freshen it up.” The retitled The Adventures of Aquaman debuted at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 15, 1968.

By February 1969, the networks were readying their fall schedules. Due even more rising criticism of action-adventure shows, much of what was ordered were comedy or musical shows. It’s two-year commitment done, Aquaman was gone, Batman got moved to Sundays, and Superman got flown over to an afternoon spot. None of the shows disappeared for long, however.

In Fall 1970, Superman, Batman, and Aquaman entered into daily syndication on non-network channels, giving them a stronger fivedays-a-week presence at minimum. Not only were Filmation’s DC shows surviving, but the animation company had a ten-percent 22

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net profit participation with National/DC that kept them earning money in syndication.

The Aquaman series would survive and thrive in the U.S. and international syndication market, and beyond. In July 1986, Warner Home Video brought out four compilation videotapes, collecting the Superman, Batman, Superboy, and Aquaman cartoons, at a $24.95 cost for one hour. In 1995, USA Network aired The Superman/Batman Adventures, a compilation television series that featured edited shorts from Filmation’s Superman, Batman, and Aquaman series, as well as Super Friends segments. That series would later rerun on both Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

In October 2007, Warner released a DVD called The Adventures of Aquaman: The Complete Collection, featuring all 36 shorts and a documentary. It was followed in August 2008, when Warner released the DC Super-Heroes: The Filmation Adventures DVD, which collected all of the “Guest Hero” segments from the Aquaman series, along with a behind-the-scenes documentary featuring Lou Scheimer and the author of this article.

Why Super Friends Almost Sunk the Ship

Although Filmation was the first company to animate Aquaman, rival Hanna-Barbera kept him on the air longer, in their Super Friends franchise from 1973–1986 on ABC. In this series, Aquaman was a team member with Superman, Batman and Robin, and Wonder Woman, operating out of the Hall of Justice in Gotham City to fight trouble in the world and elsewhere. During the first season, titled Super Friends (1973–1974), the team was shadowed by two human teens, Wendy and Marvin, and their canine, Wonder Dog. With the following incarnation of the series (it was revived after reruns and cancellation), The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977–1978), the teens were replaced by two superpowered aliens

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

named Zan and Jayna—the Wonder Twins—and their space monkey, Gleek.

Aquaman was moderately capable in the series, showcasing both super-strength and his comic-standard aquatic telepathy and helping in any emergency that involved water, but he was often sidelined, or shown as weak or even bumbling. If the story was devoid of any water-based trouble, Aquaman rarely accomplished anything. Even in the water, he often used an Aqua Scooter to travel quicker, rather than swimming at super-speed. He couldn’t fly like Superman, and Batman and Robin had the Batplane, so he hitched a ride to emergencies with Wonder Woman in her Invisible Jet. In the eyes of a generation of young viewers, the once powerful character began to be seen as a joke.

Super Friends featured one-hour episodes, the stories in them extremely padded for length. The All-New Super Friends Hour actually offered Aquaman more to do. The hour was split between three shorts and a longer Super Friends story. Aquaman teamed with Black Vulcan, Batman and Robin, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Samurai for short adventures, and an altered version of Black Manta appeared, becoming the first official DC supervillain on the series. Before and after commercials, short segments would have the heroes breaking the fourth wall to interact with viewers, showing them secret messages via a Decoder, as well as Safety Tips, Craft Tips, Magic Tricks, and Health Tips. Aquaman got to remind kids not to swim alone, taught kids how to make a sun rattler, demonstrated magic coin tricks, decoded messages at a swim meet and a go-kart race, warned kids about hitchhiking, and even taught rudimentary CPR! In the first two seasons of Super Friends, Aquaman was voiced

by Norman Alden, with a stoic clearness. Alden was a character actor who was probably most recognizable to Saturday morning viewers as Professor Frank Heflin on Sid and Marty Krofft’s Electra Woman and DynaGirl series in 1976, and to later audiences for his role as the soda jerk in Back to the Future (1985) and sad-sack cameraman in Ed Wood (1994). In a 2007 interview with Alden on

the website Aquaman Shrine, the actor recalled that he got the Hanna-Barbera job due to a friend he had once loaned a car to. “I didn’t know [Aquaman] was going to be a treasure,” he admitted.

“It’s a phenomenon. I go around, I’m just sitting in a restaurant or something and somebody will come by and say ‘You’re Aquaman!’”

The hour-long Challenge of the Super Friends (1978–1979) contained two half-hour episodes, including one longer “Challenge” episode. The latter featured the infamous Legion of Doom versus the Super Friends; the Legion heavily highlighted Aquaman villain Black Manta. The King of the Seas got more to do here, including helping to create a life-saving tidal wave, getting trapped in 70,000,000 B.C. with Apache Chief, devolving into a prehistoric sea creature, fighting a demon, and even (finally) visiting Atlantis!

With Challenge, Alden was replaced as Aquaman’s voice as of this series by Bill Callaway. The newcomer to the series was not a newcomer to Hanna-Barbera; he did voices for Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Help!... It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, and many more.

“Super Friends was a hoot!” Callaway said in a 2011 online interview with Marc Tyler Nobleman. “I was Aquaman, the kindest, gentlest superhero of the bunch. I’m not sure if I knew about Aquaman before the fact, but probably, as I always loved comics and comic books.”

The World’s Greatest Super Friends (1979–1980) was the next incarnation of the franchise, with eight half-hour episodes. Aquaman didn’t have any shining moments; he was even shown riding in the Invisible Jet with Wonder Woman in the opening credits, is kept out of water for most episodes, is missing entirely from one show, and is generally inept when used at all. Although a few new Safety Tips and Craft Tips were created starring Aquaman, sadly, they are missing from the eventual DVD releases.

The fifth incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera franchise was Super Friends (1980–1983), a half-hour version that saw three short stories per episode. Aquaman appeared in adventures with Black Vulcan, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman and Rima [the

(INSET) Norman Alden was Super Friends’ first voice of Aquaman. (BOTTOM) Commercial bumper art and title cards from Super Friends and The World’s Greatetst SuperFriends. TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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Cartoon Network, and Boomerang, the series was also perhaps the worst thing to happen for the character. By largely relegating him to the sidelines, and making him seem far less powerful than his previous series or comic adventures, Hanna-Barbera succeeded in making the ever-chipper Aquaman a joke… quite literally the useless hero who can talk to fish.

A Typhoon of Legal Proportions

A storyboard by Alex Toth for “Attack of the Vampire,” an episode of Challenge of the Super Friends in 1978. TM & © DC Comics.

Jungle Girl], Green Lantern and Superman, the Wonder Twins, and Hispanic hero El Dorado. Curiously, Aquaman is missing entirely from Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984–1985), except for the opening credits, which show him heroically riding his seahorse, Storm.

In Hanna-Barbera’s final version of the series, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985–1986), Aquaman is relegated to the background for a mere five total adventures, and he only takes a lead role in the show’s final episode.

Although Super Friends kept Aquaman on the air for 13 seasons and decades of reruns in syndication and on USA Network,

The logo and an animation cel for Manta and Moray, Filmation’s second wave of underwater heroes. Manta and Moray © Filmation.

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Remember the camaraderie between Filmation and National/DC? That came to a screeching sideways halt in 1978, courtesy of a new anthology series titled Tarzan and the Super 7 for CBS. Debuting September 9, 1978, the 90-minute Tarzan and the Super 7 included a half-hour rerun of 1977’s The New Adventures of Batman paired with an hour featuring the other components: Tarzan, the live-action Jason of Star Command, and Filmation superhero creations Freedom Force, Web Woman, Superstretch and Microwoman, and Manta and Moray. That latter show starred two humanoid “Monarchs of the Deep” who protected the world’s sea creatures alongside their friendly sea lion named Whiskers. Manta was the last survivor of the water-breathing civilization of Mu, while Moray was a blonde female human who had been rescued from a plane crash. While Manta could communicate with sea life, Moray could hold her breath for incredibly long periods of time, and often rode atop the female gray whale Guppy.

In late 1978, DC filed a lawsuit against Filmation in New York, alleging that the animators had infringed on their copyrights of Aquaman, Mera, and Tusky when they created Manta, Moray, and Whiskers, and that they had infringed on Plastic Man when they created Superstretch. They also claimed trademark infringement, unfair competition, and breach of contract—for not selling a Filmation-planned Plastic Man series—and a breach of confidential relationship. They sought damages and equitable relief, among other things.

The DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES lawsuit went to a federal jury trial in New York on October 17–19, 22, and 30, 1979, and Scheimer flew in to testify there. On November 1st, seven of the eight claims by DC were upheld against Filmation, and the jury awarded them compensatory damages of $389,091.75 for the Aquaman claims and $817,765.50 for the Plastic Man claims, for a total of $1,206,857.25! DC issued a public statement which read: “DC Comics believes the verdict is significant because the suit sought protection for the unique and distinctive composition of the characters under the federal laws of unfair competition rather than for the characters’ graphic or sculptural depiction under the copyright law.” DC also requested a permanent injunction against Filmation, an accounting, destruction of the Filmation films and underlying materials, and attorney fees. Filmation filed motions to seek a reversal of judgment, or a new trial.

On March 21, 1980, the U.S. District Court in New York decided the matter of DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES. The judge rejected and upheld claims on both sides, agreeing that DC’s broad argument was too broad, but our argument was too narrow.

Filmation argued an insufficiency of evidence, which resulted in the seventh claim, for Aquaman, being thrown out. Basically, the court said that DC didn’t prove that the animation company had used any of their Aquaman materials to create Manta and Moray.

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

As to damages, the judge found that despite the jury damages regarding Aquaman versus Manta and Moray, DC Comics did not lose any potential profits from sales or licensing, nor was there sufficient evidence that Filmation had caused any confusion among licensors, viewers, or the general public. The damages of $389,091.75 for the remaining two Aquaman claims were thrown out. In total, for eight counts DC won in the lawsuit, all were dropped except for two (re: Plastic Man versus Superstretch and Microwoman), and the total damages awarded went from $1,206,857.25 to $221,339.

DC was not given attorney’s fees, an accounting, or destruction of the Filmation films and underlying materials. DC was granted an injunction, that Filmation would not make any further Manta and Moray or Superstretch and Microwoman cartoons. The DC COMICS, INC. v. FILMATION ASSOCIATES suit is often cited in copyright law discussions today, as it established that in dealing with superheroes, trademark protection can be applied to character names, nicknames, physical appearance and costumes, but not for physical abilities (i.e., superpowers) or personality traits. This affected DC and Marvel negatively, as no longer could they bring about the kind of lawsuits that put Captain Marvel and other characters under in the Forties and Fifties.

Regardless of the legal outcome, Filmation removed Manta and Moray, Superstretch and Microwoman, and Web Woman from their licensing program. They continued to air the shows, selling them to NBC as part of a repackaged Batman and the Super 7 series that lasted from Fall 1980 to Fall 1981. Once those shows left the air, however, the trio of superheroes were not offered nationally for syndication, though they may have been available internationally. To date, none of them have been released on VHS or DVD.

Further Adventures Under the Sea

Post Super Friends, the DC pantheon of heroes didn’t appear much until Batman: The Animated Series shook up the industry beginning

in 1992, leading to Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League. Aquaman, voiced by Miguel Ferrer, would make his first new appearance onscreen in the Superman show in 1999, in the episode “A Fish Story.” Aquaman’s future daughter, Aquagirl, appeared in a two-part Batman Beyond storyline, airing November 2000.

Aquaman was a guest-star on four episodes of the Justice League cartoon, from 2001–2004, and one episode of Justice League Unlimited, airing 2004–2006. In those series, he was voiced by Scott Rummell, and was portrayed as the shirtless, bearded, hook-handed character from the 1994–2004 comics era. He also appeared in the promotional DC Super Friends DVD and online shorts created in 2010 and 2015 for the Imaginext toy line, wherein he was voiced by Mark Deakins.

Outside of animation, Aquaman debuted in live-action on the television series Smallville in October 2005, portrayed

by Alan Ritchson (the character would appear five times total, along with Mera and Black Manta). The CW Network also commissioned an Aquaman pilot from the creators of Smallville, featuring Justin Hartley in the lead role. The 2006 show, filmed under the title “Mercy Reef,” was never picked up, but was released online, aired in Canada, and has been a special feature in several DVD sets.

Cartoon Network’s 2008 series Batman: The Brave and the Bold was meant to feature Batman teaming with different heroes in each episode. After the first appearance of Aquaman—portrayed here as a boisterous and boastful ruler of Atlantis, and voiced by John DiMaggio—the producers loved the character so much that he ended up appearing in 14 of the 65 episodes. “Aquaman is one of those characters we’ve all fallen in love with and so we sometimes stick him in a story just because we like him so much,” said producer James Tucker in a 2009 interview on the Aquaman Shrine website. DiMaggio reprised Aquaman for an appearance in the 2018 direct-to-DVD movie, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

As a member of the Justice League, Aquaman made several appearances on Cartoon Network’s Young Justice animated series

(TOP) Alan Ritchson, young Aquaman on the CW’s Smallville series. (LEFT) Aquaman wielded his harpoon-hand on the Justice League series. (RIGHT) The Aquatic Ace was whole, hearty, and happy in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. TM & © DC Comics.

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(LEFT) Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy with the title character in Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. (RIGHT) A smiling Sea King gets top billing in 2018’s Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis. SpongeBob SquarePants © Nickelodeon. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics.

in 2010–2013, voiced by Phil LaMarr. Oddly, Aquaman never appeared in the 2016–2018 follow-up, Justice League Action. Aquaman did have a non-speaking appearance in a 2013 episode of the animated series Teen Titans Go!, and in July 2018, had a very dark cameo sequence in the feature film Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, where he was voiced by Eric Bauza.

Throughout the last two decades, numerous Aquaman parodies and pastiches have been done, both in animation and live-action. These include segments of MAD (voiced by John DiMaggio and Michael Sinterniklaas), Robot Chicken (voiced by Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green), Cartoon Network and Adult Swim commercials, and Aquaman Dance Party shorts done in Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends style. The Big Bang Theory has taken multiple shots at Aquaman, as have The Simpsons and Family Guy. The HBO series Entourage used a multiseason storyline wherein its Hollywood star was forced to star in an Aquaman movie, which then became a surprise hit. South

A PERSONAL AQUA-REMEMBRANCE While anyone who knows my work at all knows that I’m a Wonder Woman fan, not as many know that I’m also a major Aquaman fan. My love for the King of the Seven Seas can be traced to my earliest days…

I was born in December 1966, and while still an infant, came down with life-threatening meningitis. According to my late mother, I was actually declared dead for a significant period of time at the hospital before they were finally able to revive me. My health eventually improved, but the effects from the meningitis and other infections in my ears meant that I could not get water in my ears. As a child, I was warned often that if I ever got water in my ears, I could die. It meant that baths were difficult, and swimming was an impossibility.

This latter fact was awful given that we lived on the shores of Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. While everyone else frolicked in the water, I would barely wade in, terrified that I would fall, immerse my head, and die. During this time, I first encountered Aquaman in an advertisement in Teen Titans #8 (Mar.–Apr. 1967), the first comic I recall owning. Sure, Aqualad was in the comic, but I was obsessed with the sea king whose life was being threatened by being held out of the water. This was around the same time that reruns of Filmation’s Aquaman cartoon would occasionally show up on a snowy black-and-white UHF syndicated channel from Spokane, Washington, and Super Friends was debuting on ABC. While I wanted Wonder Woman to be my best friend and protector, I wanted to be Aquaman.

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Eventually, around the age of ten, I could finally start putting my head underwater without fear of sickness and death, and I ventured oh, so carefully further into the lake.

My mother, who had painted Aquaman and Wonder Woman on the front of my school binders, found me an orange sweatshirt and green pants and socks, but I was missing one important item. My older brother finally provided it: a pair of green gloves! I finally went into the lake, dressed as Aquaman, and even jumped off of a dock!

I eventually abandoned wearing the costume while swimming, as clothes underwater proved bulky, and while I never became a good swimmer, I was able to perfect the “dolphin swim” used by Patrick Duffy in the Man from Atlantis TV series. Only people who watched Seventies TV ever know what the heck I’m doing underwater when I do it…

I’m still not a great swimmer, but I still love Aquaman. At the 2018 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, I even got a chance to do one small bit of cosplay at the Aquaman movie booth, where a trident was set up with the movie logo above it. Against the embarrassed protest of a friend, I doffed my shirt and crouched into a pose like Jason Momoa from the movie poster. At 51 and stocky, I’m definitely not Jason Momoa, but I owned the moment, and dozens of people took pictures. A worker at the booth told me I was the only person brave enough to have done a shirtless pose there.

Why not? If Aquaman could help me conquer my deadly fear of water, he could certainly help conquer my fear of showing a little middle-aged flesh! If only I had some green gloves…

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning

Park has had an Aquaman counterpart in time this issue of RetroFan goes on sale. the Super Best Friends, with the character Although the two previous films featured Seaman and his bird sidekick Swallow. both Momoa’s admirably chiseled—and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob Squarepants has heavily tattooed—bare chest and body long featured the elderly superheroes armor, a more traditional orange and Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, clear green look will have been worn by the pastiches of Aquaman and Aqualad. film’s dénouement.

A solo animated Aquaman film had been in early development at Warner in The Last Wave the 2000s, developed by Tim Hauser and The Aquaman story is largely enmeshed Laura Harkcom, with a screenplay by Rick with the Arthurian legends in today’s Copp and David Goodman, but it was comics, and in the movies, but for many eventually dropped (read more about it in fans, Aquaman remains more significantly TwoMorrows’ BACK ISSUE #108). Aquaman tied to his animated adventures. While the did eventually appear in multiple directlimited budgets and network standardsto-DVD animated films from Warner, and-practices kept the Aquaman of including Justice League: The New Frontier Filmation and Hanna-Barbera a simpler (2008, voiced by Alan Ritchson), Justice man, he was still a stalwart hero, always League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010, voiced by fighting for those both above and below Josh Keaton), Justice League: The Flashpoint sea level.

Paradox (2013, voiced by Cary Elwes), JLA Perhaps the Aquaman live-action film Adventures: Trapped in Time (2014, voiced will wash away the endless jokes about

by Liam O’Brien), and in the starring role the 77-year-old hero’s ability to talk to fish, in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015, or perhaps it will just shore it up as a cool voiced by Matt Lanter). He had a nonpower in the grand scheme of superhero speaking cameo in Justice League Dark films. Whatever the theatrical tide brings in, (2017), and appeared in 2018’s Death of the good-natured and good-hearted appeal Superman (again voiced by Matt Lanter). of old school Aquaman can be revisited In Lego form, Aquaman is a frequent— at any time online or on DVD, where Aquaman, Aqualad, Mera, Tusky, Stormy, often-silent—character. He appeared and Imp—the whole Aqua-family—still without dialogue in both The Lego Movie laugh, fight aliens and villains, and swim, (2014) and The Lego Batman Movie (2017). On (TOP) Jason Momoa appears awfully trident... er, strident on the first Aquaman just under the surface of memory. the 2014 Cartoon Network special Lego DC movie poster.

(BOTTOM) Aquaman floats Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, he was voiced through an appearance on the Young Justice Unless otherwise credited, the quotes from for the first time by Dee Bradley Baker. The cartoon series. TM & © DC Comics.

Lou Scheimer are from the autobiography character guested in the direct-to-DVD Lego he wrote with Andy Mangels, for Lou DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash (2018) and Scheimer: Creating the Filmation was the main protagonist Lego DC Comics Generation. Interviews quoted from Marc Tyler Nobleman are at www.

Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis (2018), both voiced by Baker. noblemania.com, and from Rob Kelly’s Aquaman Shrine are at www.

There are several difficult-to-find animated appearances of aquamanshrine.net. Artwork and photos are courtesy the collection of Aquaman. The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour aired on Cartoon Andy Mangels.

Network Latin America in 2003, animated by U.S. company Wild Hare Studios. The seven-episode series was officially licensed and produced, but was essentially a parody, featuring Aquaman versus ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today the Legion of Doom. More recently, in October 2017, the theatrical bestselling author and co-author of 20 feature DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon, debuted in Japan. In the books, including the TwoMorrows book anime movie, Aquaman is voiced by Kazuya Nakai. Sadly, none of Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation these projects is currently scheduled for U.S. release, though a BluGeneration, as well as Star Trek and Star ray and DVD of the anime movie were released in Japan.

Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath the Finally, and most famously, Aquaman has made it onto the Armor, and a lot of comic books. He recently big screen in live-action. First appearing in a cameo in Batman wrote the Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), star Jason Momoa brought a for Dynamite and DC Comics. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, swaggering surfer bro attitude to his version of Arthur Curry/ and produced Special Features and documentaries for over 40 DVD Aquaman in Justice League (2017). Momoa was one of the releases. His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and highlights of that latter film for many, and a solo film of Aquaman is due for release on December 21, 2018, roughly around the same www.WonderWomanMuseum.com RetroFan

Winter 2019

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RETRO FAD

AFROS Hair © Natoma Productions 1968.

by Michael Eury

Gimme a head with The Afro blossomed thanks hair… long, beautiful hair. to the Civil Rights Movement.

Counterculturalists, stage Protests and marches in performers, and the Cowsills American cities birthed the sang that refrain in the late “Black Power” movement and Sixties and throughout the “Black is beautiful” mantra, Seventies. If you were a young and African Americans began American back then, you went to confidently embrace their “natural” and let it all hang ethnicity in a white-dominated out—your hair and your attitude culture that had previously (at times you’d also do that with oppressed their identity. James certain body parts, but we’ll save Brown got down with “I’m Black Streaking for a future RetroFad and I’m Proud,” Shaft departed column). And thus was coiffed the ghetto for the Motherland, one of the coolest, kinkiest and Alex Haley explored his fashion fads: the Afro.

Roots. The dashiki, a looseUptight souls might not Print ad for Afro Sheen, from 1972. © 1972 Johnson Products Co., Inc. fitting shirt sporting West African know that an Afro (or ’fro, or “the patterns, became hip, and many natural”) is a hairstyle primarily black Americans decorated their associated with black people where locks are fashioned into, more homes with reproductions of African paintings and sculptures. or less, a round, puffy “ball” which surrounds the head. To create Yet nothing exemplified this movement more than the Afro. the Afro, people with naturally curly hair brush it away from their The Afro became a political statement, symbolically liberating scalp with a gap-toothed comb.

African Americans from the white-European–influenced shorter 28

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hairstyles foisted upon them by the Blow-Up,” among other styles. An entire pressure to assimilate. The bigger the ’fro, industry of hair-care products sprouted the bolder the declaration. forth, many courtesy of Chicago-based African-American cosmetic king George E. If there was a poster child for the Johnson, Sr. His Johnson Products Company, Afro, it was Angela Davis. A fierce radical previously known for the Ultra Sheen brand activist and American Communist, hers that relaxed and controlled curly hair, rolled was a voice that raged throughout the out the Afro Sheen line. Afro Sheen became Sixties and Seventies as she badgered a household name through its sponsorship “the Man” and antagonistic “pigs” toward of the popular Soul Train TV music and dance social consciousness—while sporting an program, hosted by dapper Don Cornelius, enormous ’fro. whose Afro was as expansive as his rightDespite Davis’ often-controversial and on Seventies’ jacket lapels. The Afro pick, adversarial stance, the Afro became as a wide-toothed comb, became a popular popular as bellbottom pants. The music styling tool that was even worn by many world embraced it: Jimi Hendrix’s Afro inside their ’fros. kissed the sky while “Fifth Beatle” Billy Second, some assume that the Afro is Preston might’ve believed nothing from solely a black hairstyle. Curly-haired white nothing leaves nothing, but his ’fro was people ’froed out in the Seventies, including something, baby. Diana Ross supremely one-hit wonder Leo Sayer, whose Afro made ’froed out, inspiring not only Michael him feel like dancing.

When Mr. Kotter was welcomed back to Jackson but his four singing brothers to do the same. The Sylvers, James Buchanan High School, he returned with a killer ’fro (and perhaps the first hair band, were known for their giant Afros a massive ’stache, to boot); one of his Sweathog students, Juan as much as they were their R&B sound. Afros became common Epstein, also showed that Latinos could rock a ’fro. Then there in Hollywood, popping up on TV everywhere from actor Mike were the Afro wannabes, white people with straight hair who Evans’ Lionel Jefferson on All in the Family to that show’s spin-off, permed their locks into ’frodom, like songstress Barbra Streisand.

The Jeffersons, where co-star Roxie Roker, half of the tube’s first The Brady Bunch’s woe-is-me middle daughter tucked her hair of interracial married couple, swapped her society ’do for a ’fro. In gold under a black Afro wig when big-screen Blaxploitation films, Pam she unveiled her “new Jan Brady” Grier’s Afro was foxy and Tamara makeover, and Brady patriarch Mike Dobson’s was twice as broad as her Brady traded his Ken-doll buzzcut body mass. Black athletes went for a ’fro–like perm, prompting his natural as well, creating some wild sons to do the same. fashion “experiences” when Afros As with any fad, the Afro were crammed under baseball caps eventually frizzed out and the style and into football helmets. Comic and its wearers parted ways, some books’ Marvel Universe introduced oiling their coiled manes into the Afro’ed crimefighters Luke Cage and Eighties’ mutation of the Afro, the Misty Knight, while rival DC Comics’ Jheri Curl (although props must schoolteacher Jefferson Pierce be extended to a white man who donned an Afro wig along with a famously wore an Afro throughout mask to become the superhero the Eighties and Nineties, PBS’ Black Lightning. mega-mellow how-to painter Bob There are Ross, who has in recent years been misconceptions lampooned in Halloween costumes entangled into worn by people too young to have Afro lore. First, originally watched his show). Today, some assume you’ll occasionally see a dude on the that the Afro was street or a celebrity tressing out in a “one size fits a ’fro. But in this era of cultural and all” hairstyle. Not gender fluidity, the sheer coolness so. The Afro had and audacity of the Afro has multiple variations for both genders, particularly men, receded like the hairlines of those Afro envy: the Brady men. (INSET) The new Jan Brady. The whose ’fros could be sculpted into who once wore them.

Brady Bunch © Paramount Pictures.

“The Perfecto,” molded into “The Next issue’s RetroFad: King Tut! Jet Setter,” or plucked into “The RetroFan

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MONSTER MASH

The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972 Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books crashed upon an unsuspecting public. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (SHOCK THEATRE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, and DARK SHADOWS), “MARS ATTACKS” trading cards, EERIE PUBLICATIONS, PLANET OF THE APES, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”).

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 9781605490649 Diamond Order Code: MAR151564

SWAMPMEN

MUCK-MONSTERS OF THE COMICS SWAMPMEN dredges up Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Heap, and other creepy man-critters of the 1970s bayou, through the memories of the artists and writers who created them! Features interviews with BERNIE WRIGHTSON, ALAN MOORE, MIKE PLOOG, LEN WEIN, FRANK BRUNNER, STEVE GERBER, STEVE BISSETTE, RICK VEITCH, GERRY CONWAY, VAL MAYERIK, JOE ORLANDO, MARTIN PASKO, JIM MOONEY, JOHN TOTLEBEN, TOM YEATES, KAREN BERGER, JESSE SANTOS, MICHAEL USLAN, MIKE KALUTA, ROY THOMAS, and other, with a new FRANK CHO cover!

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TwoMorrows.

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THE BEST OF

THE TERRIFYING SEQUEL:

Since 2000, FROM THE TOMB has terrified readers worldwide, as the preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics, with stellar writing and intensely frightening illustrations from the best talent in the industry. Produced in the UK, issues have been scarce and highly collectible in the US, and here’s your chance to see what you’ve been missing!

This “BEST OF” COLLECTION compiles the finest features of FROM THE TOMB’s ten years of terror, along with new material originally scheduled to see publication in the NEVER-PUBLISHED #29. It celebrates the 20th Century’s finest horror comics—and those they tried to ban—with a selection of revised and updated articles on BASIL WOLVERTON, JOHNNY CRAIG, RICHARD CORBEN, LOU CAMERON, RUDY PALAIS, MATT FOX, ALVIN HOLLINGSWORTH, plus publishers including ACG, ATLAS, EC, FICTION HOUSE, HARVEY COMICS, SKYWALD, WARREN, HOUSE OF HAMMER, A-BOMB COMICS, CANNIBALS, and others!

Just when you thought it was safe to walk the streets again, FROM THE TOMB (the UK’s preeminent magazine on the history of horror comics) digs up more tomes of terror from the century past. IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB (the second “Best of” collection) uncovers Atomic Comics lost to the Cold War, rarely seen (and censored) British horror comics, the early art of RICHARD CORBEN, GOOD GIRLS of a bygone age, TOM SUTTON, DON HECK, LOU MORALES, AL EADEH, BRUCE JONES’ Alien Worlds, HP LOVECRAFT in HEAVY METAL, and a myriad of terrors from beyond the stars and the shadows of our own world! It features comics they tried to ban, from ATLAS, CHARLTON, COMIC MEDIA, DC, EC, HARVEY, HOUSE OF HAMMER, KITCHEN SINK, LAST GASP, PACIFIC, SKYWALD, WARREN, and more from the darkest of the horror genre’s finest creators!

FROM THE TOMB

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IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

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RETRO RETRO TELEVISION TELEVISION

Irwin Allen the Barrel??

by Michael Eury Do you recycle? Irwin Allen sure did! Not empty mustard jars and dog-eared magazines, but film footage, props, costumes, sets, music, sound effects… and ideas.

In Allen’s world, cutaways of imperiled ships such as the Seaview nuclear sub or the Jupiter 2 spacecraft might be seen again and again in later episodes. A furry creature that once elicited a “Danger!” warning from a vigilant Robot might later double as an abominable snowman terrorizing seamen. A viewer watching Land of the Giants might experience déjà vu once spying a Lost in Space set he remembered from a couple of seasons ago. A fuzzy headdress that looks like Fred Flintstone’s Water Buffalo Lodge hat might be cannibalized to transform a chimpanzee into an alien pet. A classic children’s novel—Swiss Family Robinson—might be reimagined as a futuristic clan cast adrift in the cosmos. Bill Mumy, the prolific child actor of the Sixties who became famous as Lost in Space’s boy genius Will Robinson, told me that Irwin Allen’s mantra was “Time is money.” According to Mumy, “Irwin was impressive.

Part Barnum and Bailey, part Cecil B. DeMille. He came on the set everyday. Tapped his watch,” policing his budgets by keeping the trains running on time… and by reusing resources.

Some might accuse Allen of voyaging not to the depths of the ocean, but to the bottom of the barrel with his chronic salvaging.

But kids of the Sixties were utterly fascinated by the four

fantastic television programs he created and produced: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants. We weren’t very discerning back then, and most of us didn’t notice that the gillman from Voyage later returned as an extraterrestrial in LIS. Those of who did notice didn’t care. We were swept away by the razzle-dazzle of it all. And no one could razzle-dazzle quite like Irwin Allen.

Voyage from the Big Screen to the Boob Tube

Irwin Allen (1916–1991), a college dropout, built a career as a Hollywood magazine editor, radio producer, and gossip columnist before turning to film production. In 1953 he directed his first film, The Sea Around Us, which he also wrote and produced. This Technicolor documentary relied heavily upon stock footage (in this case, of maritime expeditions), a cost-cutting measure that would become an Allen hallmark. Allen adapted the idea from another source, an acclaimed novel by marine biologist Rachel Carson. As stated on Carson’s website (rachelcarson.org), “The Sea Around Us became an overnight Irwin Allen—the Sixties’ TV sci-fi visionary—calling the shots on the set of the disaster flick The Towering Inferno. Towering Inferno © 1974

20th Century Fox Film Corporation.

Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox. Lost in Space® TM & © Legend Pictures, LLC. Time Tunnel TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox. Land of the Giants TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox.

bestseller in 1951 [spending 86 weeks on the New York Times seemed a bit too starched as Admiral Harriman Nelson. With him bestseller list] and made Rachel Carson the voice of public science was Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane. Admiral Nelson was in America, an internationally recognized authority on the oceans, the film’s Jor-El, the disparaged scientist who believed he could and established her reputation as a nature writer of first rank.” save the world from the fiery skies that threatened to snuff out As an academic, Carson was reportedly dissatisfied with Allen’s life by firing a nuclear missile from his atomic submarine, the presentation of her material. Who could blame her? Allen’s flair for Seaview, into the source of the threat. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea showmanship made a spectacle of the documentary’s conflicts, co-starred a big-name cast including Joan Fontaine, Peter Lorre, such as a tussle between an octopus and shark—the kind of fun, Barbara Eden, and teen heartthrob Frankie Avalon, who crooned schlocky stuff he’d be serving TV viewers a decade later—and he the movie’s theme song (“Come with me, come with me, on a wrapped up the film with a dire climate-change warning about the voyage to the bottom of the sea…”). melting polar caps (in 1953, when An Inconvenient Truth’s Al Gore Allen recycled Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to television with was only five!), concluding with a cryptic the 1964–1965 season as an hour-long “The End?” graphic. Audiences ate up adventure program airing on ABC. In FAST FACTS that schmaltz, which echoed the same true Allen form, many of the movie’s type of Cold War/Red Scare cautions props, sets, and costumes were hosed Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea found in many UFO movies of the day, off for the TV series, which was set in the `` No. of seasons: four (one black and Allen’s film won the year’s Oscar® for near future of the Seventies (Seasons and white, three color) Best Documentary.

Three and Four would be set in the `` No. of episodes: 110 Allen continued to work on a variety Eighties). Walter Pidgeon had flown `` Original run: September 14, 1964– March 6, 1968 of pictures, but two soon followed that the coop, replaced by Richard Basehart `` Network: ABC exemplified his fascination with the as Admiral Nelson, who spent much of world around us… and its dangers. His the early episodes smoking cigarettes Lost in Space documentary The Animal World (1956)— (in a submerged nuclear sub!). Enlisted `` No. of seasons: three (one black “A Billion Years in the Making”—thrilled as the new Captain Lee Crane was and white, two color) audiences with its images of wild beasts David Hedison, recycled from the cast `` No. of episodes: 83 (much of it stock footage), and included of Allen’s 1960 movie, The Lost World `` Original run: September 15, 1965– a dinosaur stop-motion sequence by (Hedison was offered but declined the September 11, 1968 creature-creator Ray Harryhausen Crane role in the Voyage motion picture, `` Network: CBS (whose work will appear in the next issue presumably needing to rest up between The Time Tunnel of RetroFan). In The Lost World (1960)— Allen-helmed creature chases). Too bad `` No. of seasons: one “Like No Other Adventure on Earth!”— Allen didn’t recycle another Lost World `` No. of episodes: 30 Allen cribbed from the Sir Arthur cast member, Jill St. John, for Voyage. `` Original run: September 9, 1966– Conan Doyle novel for a monstersImagine how she would have enlivened September 1, 1967 running-amok movie rife with giant the close-quartered, Keds-wearing `` Network: ABC spiders, creepy cannibals, and more male crew of the Seaview. (Enlistment Land of the Giants Jurassic jaws. would’ve skyrocketed, no doubt.)

Next up, Allen produced, directed, Allen wrote and directed the `` No. of seasons: two and co-wrote the 1961 sci-fi/adventure pilot episode, “Eleven Days to Zero,” `` No. of episodes: 51 `` Original run: September 22, flick Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, a pulse-pounding Cold War thriller 1968–September 6, 1970 starring former Screen Actors Guild which reintroduced the movie’s sub `` Network: ABC president and wooden action hero and (recast) crew and set a dark original Walter Pidgeon, whose shirt collars course for the series. It opened with 32

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VOYAGE TRIVIA

`` The second episode, “The City Beneath the Sea,” was a reusable concept for Allen: A few years later he produced an unsold City Beneath the Sea TV pilot, and in 1971 he brought TV viewers City Beneath the Sea as a two-hour movie-of-the-week (which later had a theatrical release).

Ellison photo: Pip R. Lagenta/Wikipedia Commons

a bang—literally—in a surprisingly violent shoot-’em-up scene where Admiral Nelson barely escaped an assassination plot that wiped out the Seaview’s original captain and others.

The Seaview’s mission was to combat a rogue nation that was attempting ecological terrorism, and this S.P.E.C.T.R.E.–like group nearly thwarted our heroes at every turn and almost killed the pilot episode’s guest star, a pre-Green Acres Eddie Albert. Despite the grimmer tone of the pilot, “Eleven Days to Zero” managed to feature an almost-comical battle between scuba divers and a giant octopus.

Another Allen-ism on view multiple times in the first episode—and in episodes to come, as well as in other Allen productions—was what is known as the “Irwin Allen rock-androll,” where the on-screen actors would stumble from side to side of the set as the camera tilted, simulating underwater attacks from depth charges (or giant sea monsters).

The confines of its undersea set notwithstanding, Voyage was usually a “guest star of the week” show. Many notables set sail on the Seaview in the first season, including Edgar Bergen, Yvonne Craig, Jill Ireland, June Lockhart, Robert Duvall, and Leslie Nielsen.

(You might say that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was like The Love Boat, minus the hook-ups and Julie, your cruise director.)

As the show progressed during its second season, the Cold War villains disappeared and Voyage settled into an entertaining, kid-friendly “monster of the week” formula, with the Seaview crew encountering aquatic beasts, ghosts, aliens, dinosaurs, an evil brain, a lobsterman, an ancient alchemist, and even a werewolf.

In Seasons Two through Four, name guest stars weren’t a staple but still dropped in on occasion, with Victor Buono, John Cassavetes, Robert Loggia, Don Matheson, Carroll O’Connor, and Malachi Throne among them (can you name the two TV Batman villains on that list?).

Vincent Price enjoyed a scenery-chewing turn as the underhanded puppet master Professor Multiple.

Although the pilot was filmed in color, it was aired in black and white, and the remaining firstseason episodes were also in black and white. The show switched to color with Season Two, introducing new tech, the standout being the show’s resident “hotrod,” the crowd-pleasing Flying Sub, a garishly hued yellow minisub that exploited the show’s transition from its monochromatic beginnings. It was designed by art director

`` Using the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird, sci-fi master Harlan Ellison penned an early episode of the show, Episode 5, titled “The Price of Doom.” `` Season Two’s episode “The Sky’s on Fire” recycled the plot and much footage from Allen’s 1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea movie. `` Parts of the Seaview set were borrowed for the Penguin’s sub for the 1966 Batman movie. `` Richard Basehart provided a voiceover on the Allen sister show Lost in Space, reading Shakespeare in the LIS episode “The Derelict.”

William Creber, known for the crumbled Statue of Liberty at the climax of Planet of the Apes (“You blew it up!”), and for other Allen productions. Season Two also featured a redesigned Seaview interior set. During its first (grittier) season, the show aired on Mondays from 7:30–8:30 p.m. With Season Two, ABC moved it to

Kids could dip into their favorite waterlogged show (sorry, Flipper) through a variety of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea products, from View-Master reels (featuring this illustrated booklet), trading cards from Donruss, and a Seaview model kit from Aurora. Voyage to

the Bottom of the Sea TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox. Cards and Aurora box courtesy of Heritage.

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SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON The Space Race of the Sixties had every American kid’s mind on the cosmos, leading writer Del Connell to pitch to Western Publishing a futuristic (set in 2001) comic-book series featuring a family living on a space station, Space Station One. Eyeing the success of Disney’s 1960 movie Swiss Family Robinson, Western editor Chase Craig recommended the title Space Family Robinson for the project, the end result being Gold Key Comics’ long-running Space Family Robinson series, commencing with a first issue cover-dated December 1962. (Editor Craig later recalled that the SFR title had earlier been proposed to him by legendary Donald Duck artist Carl Barks for an entirely different concept, and that he had subconsciously used Barks’ title for Connell’s new series.)

To those only familiar with television’s Robinson family, Gold Key’s Space Family Robinson might seem like the Lost in Space of a parallel world. The parents weren’t John and Maureen, but instead Craig and June Robinson, whose children were son Tim and daughter Tam. Instead of the Bloop, these Robinsons’ pets came in the forms of Clancy the dog and Yakker the parrot. In issue #2 of SFR, the Robinsons were separated from their station in a story titled “Lost in Space,” and each subsequent issue chronicled their misadventures as they jumped from planet to planet.

Sound familiar?

A film treatment for Space Family Robinson was in the works while Allen was developing his own, different take on the Swiss Family Robinson-in-space concept. Once Allen’s Lost in Space hit the airwaves, Western Publishing, which struck first with its version of the Robinsons, reached a financial and legal settlement with CBS and 20th Century Fox, the studio producing Lost in Space. Both Robinson concepts were allowed to coexist and Western co-opted the “Lost in Space” subtitle for its Gold Key comic, which officially became Space Family Robinson Lost in Space with issue #15 (Jan. 1966). The title continued through issue #36, cover-dated October 1969.

It was revived in 1973 and ran through 1977 and issue #54, then came back in 1981 for a brief stint as a reprint title, being cancelled, for good, with issue #59.

Space Family Robinson TM & © Random House, Inc.

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From the archives of Heritage Auctions, a publicity photo signed by Dr. Smith himself, Jonathan Harris. (Robot was unavailable for this signing.) Lost in Space® TM & © Legend Pictures, LLC.

launch the network’s family-friendly Sunday night line-up, and Voyage was seen from 7:00–8:00 p.m., where it stayed for the remainder of its run.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was never a ratings smash (none of Allen’s TV shows were), but commanded a loyal audience comprised mostly of children.

Irwin Allen Blasts Off!

Allen’s next TV series was Lost in Space. While it lasted one season less than Voyage—three, from 1965–1968—it’s easily the most successful of the visionary’s quartet of TV shows. LIS contributed pop-culture catchphrases that endure to this day (the Robot’s “Danger, Will Robinson!” and “That does not compute!” and Dr. Smith’s “Oh, the pain…”) and enjoyed a merchandising bonanza, a comic-book continuation, a film remake, a Bill Mumy-scripted “The Epilogue” episode (produced in 2015 for the series’ 50th Anniversary Blu-ray edition), and a Netflix reboot in 2018.

Lost in Space premiered on CBS on September 5, 1965, airing Wednesdays from 7:30–8:30 p.m. The introductory episode (“The Reluctant Stowaway,” directed by Anton M. Leader) whisked viewers to the future—October 16, 1997—when a clan of colonists (the space—not Swiss—family Robinson), their pilot, and their robot were rocketed in the flying saucer Jupiter 2 on what was supposed to be a five-and-a-half-year expedition (much of it spent

Retro Television

Lost in Space, as immortalized in 1966 trading cards, plus an image from the series’ ViewMaster booklet. Lost in Space® TM & © Legend

Pictures, LLC. Cards courtesy of Heritage.

in suspended animation) to the Alpha Centauri star system. The Jupiter 2’s mission quickly went awry due to the machinations of double-crossing Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), a flight control member who was secretly an enemy agent. Smith’s botched sabotage plot forced him to become a stowaway, his added weight tossing the Jupiter 2 hopelessly off course.

With Harris, the cast featured former TV Zorro Guy Williams as Professor John Robinson; former TV Lassie mom June Lockhart as his wife, Maureen; their children, Marta Kristen as Judy, Angela Cartwright as Penny, and Billy Mumy as Will; Mark Goddard as Major Don West, the space pilot; and Bob May as the Robot (voiced by Dick Tufeld). A short-lived character, Penny’s space pet, the chimpanzee–like Debbie, a.k.a. the Bloop, was played by Judy the Chimp, also known from her roles on Daktari and Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp.

Mirroring Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’s first season, Season One of Lost in Space was shot in black and white and was darker in tone than what would follow. “I absolutely love the look of the

early LIS black-and-white episodes,” Bill Mumy told me. “They are by far my favorites.” That tone was established by Irwin Allen himself, as the writer and director of the series’ unaired pilot, “No Place to Hide.”

Seasons Two and Three, shot and aired in color, are remembered by many for their kitschy costume palette, velour spacewear whose bright hues looked like the shades you’d find in a bag of jellybeans at Easter (that garb was also worn in the first season, although muted for viewers by broadcast black and white). Vivid alien terrains and a growing reliance upon camp humor took hold beginning in Season Two, largely in response to its Wednesday-night competitor, ABC’s Batman, which debuted midseason in LIS’s first year. Its breakout stars were the Robot, Mumy as boy scientist/young action hero Will Robinson, and Harris as the petulant, narcissistic slacker, the man-child Dr. Smith, whose bumbling and scheming became the focal point of many episodes. Bill Mumy credited the actor inside the robotic suit for making the character of the Robot “real”: “He actually enjoyed

These two Sixties items are coveted

by Lost in Space, lunch box, and toy collectors… can you blame ’em? Lost in

Space® TM & © Legend Pictures, LLC. Courtesy of Heritage.

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being locked inside that dangerous, claustrophobic prop. He memorized and delivered all the Robot’s dialogue, even though it was re-recorded by Dick Tufeld in post-production. He discovered ways to give the Robot more personality through movements.”

The Robinsons and their extended family encountered a revolving door of guest stars throughout the series’ run, among them Warren Oates as a space cowboy, Michael Rennie as a space collector, Albert Salmi as a space pirate, Strother Martin as a space miner, Wally Cox as a space hermit, Hans Conried as a space knight, and Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis as a space magician. And let’s not forget the show’s catchy theme song, which I can’t get out of my head as I write this, composed by Johnny Williams, before he became perhaps the Numero Uno composer of film scores, John Williams. (Williams also composed the themes to Allen’s subsequent TV shows, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.)

After Season Three wrapped, the cast assumed they would be returning for a fourth, but CBS cancelled the series, leaving the Robinsons and company forever lost in space (but its episodes found in perpetual reruns). Like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space was a “monster of the week” show, sometimes swapping monsters with its sister show. Also like Voyage, Lost in Space featured a universe of outlandish villains, aliens, creatures, and spacecraft (the Jupiter 2, which doubled as the family’s space condo; the Chariot, an all-terrain RV; and the Space Pod).

Chronal Chaos and Big Trouble

Irwin Allen’s third series, the hour-long The Time Tunnel, may have been inspired in part by science-fiction novels and movies, but once it premiered on ABC on September 9, 1966, it was television’s first entry in a long line of dramas about timetrekkers, paving the way for Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and so many others to follow. (Two days after Time Tunnel’s premiere, another TV show about time travel, It’s About Time, a shortlived CBS sitcom about astronauts detouring into the Stone Age, made its debut. Maybe we’ll do a RetroFan article about that one. Or we won’t, if Each of Irwin Allen’s four sci-fi TV shows had a spin-off comic book, including The you beg us not to.)

Time Tunnel. Cover to issue #1 (Feb. 1967).

The Time Time Tunnel TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Tunnel’s premise: Century Fox. two handsome, 36

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Watch your step! Tony Newman (James Darren) and Doug Philips (Robert Colbert) trip out in this publicity pic for The Time Tunnel. Time

Tunnel TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox.

young scientists, both cute enough to appear on the cover of Tiger Beat magazine—Dr. Tony Newman (James Darren) and Dr. Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert)—are dropped into significant moments in history, starting with a Titanic cruise in the series’ opener, “Rendezvous with Yesterday,” directed by Irwin Allen himself. Their chronal portal, the concentrically circled, pseudopsychedelic tunnel into which they would run and leap for a cheesy special effect, was part of a U.S. government program called Project Tic-Toc, existing in the then-not-too-distant year of 1968. Tony and Doug were monitored from the Time Tunnel’s underground mission control, observed on time-viewing monitors by binge-watching doctors in labcoats, including Dr. Ann MacGregor, played by Lee Meriwether, which no doubt confused young viewers who had recently seen her as Miss Kitka/Catwoman in the 1966 Batman movie. Whit Bissell co-starred as Lt. General Heywood Kirk, who co-developed the Time Tunnel with Newman and Phillips.

Except for two futuristic episodes, Tony and Doug arrived on the eves of such significant past events such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Custer’s Last Stand, Marie Antoinette’s execution, the arrival of Halley’s Comet, and the Battle of the Alamo, allowing each episode’s guest stars to participate in costume galas while

Retro Television

Illustrator Bob Bentovoja—who caricatured several Sixties TV casts for TV Weekly covers and network promos—gives four of the Land of the Giants stars a big hand in this publicity illustration. Land of the Giants TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox. Courtesy of Heritage.

affording Allen the opportunity to use historical stock footage.

Those guest stars included Michael “Klaatu” Rennie as the captain of the Titanic, Carroll “Archie Bunker” O’Connor as a British general in the War of 1812, and Jim “Jock Ewing” Davis as Jim Bowie.

Except for those viewers who slept through History class, the audience was generally in on Tony and Doug’s impending peril—look out for that iceberg, Michael Rennie!—and enjoyed watching them interact with those who were often on a path to disaster. The concept, while clever, proved restrictive for some viewers, with the heroes tumbling in and out of stories without any satisfying resolutions.

Of all of Irwin Allen’s TV shows, The Time Tunnel had the shortest lifespan, only one season of 30 episodes. TV Guide reviewer Cleveland Armory panned it, writing not long after the series’ debut, in the October 29, 1966 edition, “All in all, The Time Tunnel is one of the most annoying shows we’ve seen. There is imagination and inventiveness in the photography and gimmickry, but the acting is stilted and unbelievable, the dialog is soap-opera-ish.” A lot of grade-

schoolers who loved the show would’ve disagreed with you there, buster!

When The Time Tunnel was cancelled after its single season, Tony and Doug were still lost in time. That wasn’t the original plan, though. In his fact-filled sourcebook The Time Tunnel: A History of the Television Series (Bear Manor Media, 2012), Martin Grams, Jr. reported that at the end of the first season’s production, Allen believed the show would continue. Season Two storylines were being developed, including episodes featuring Moby Dick, Atlantis, and a futuristic Ice Age. Alas, the swing of the network axe put an end to Allen’s ambitions, angering fans devoted to the show and depriving them of a resolution to their time-hopping heroes’ adventures. (Networks are merciless that way. The castaways of Gilligan’s Island were also cast adrift after their threeseason tour and abandoned on their tropic paradise for years.

At least they were later rescued by reunion movies, a Harlem Globetrotters team-up, and cartoon spin-offs, including the farfetched Gilligan’s Planet. No such luck for Project Tic-Toc, although there have since been a couple of fruitless attempts to reboot The Time Tunnel.)

Irwin Allen’s last show of the Sixties, Land of the Giants, began its two-season run with its ABC premiere on September 22, 1968, although Allen had pitched the series a year earlier with an unaired 1967 pilot. As with his previous shows, Allen took viewers to the future—in this case, 1983—where they met the stylish, ready-formerchandising Spindrift (originally, it was to be called the Shamrock), a super-speedy, bright orange, suborbital space plane zipping from L.A. to London. A cosmic storm jolted the Spindrift to who-knowswhere, and its crew and passengers—seven of them, just like on Gilligan’s Island—crashed on a gargantuan planet where

Land of the Giants was another merchandising success for show creator Irwin Allen and 20th Century Fox. Land of the Giants TM & © Irwin

Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox. Courtesy of Heritage.

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the Spindrift’s castaways were the size of action figures. The planet was, more or less, a giant-sized Earth—its people drove cars, spoke English, watched TV, bet on horse races, and listened to music, just like the rest of us, only 12 times bigger—although the giants’ society was under a strict totalitarian government. The Earth-like setting of Land of the Giants spared producer Allen an unwieldy costuming budget. Still, it was television’s most expensive program of its day, its special effects commanding a cost of $250,000 per episode.

Gary Conway, whose perfectly styled haired defied any disaster Irwin Allen could chuck at him, headed the cast as handsome Captain Steve Burton, with Don Marshall as his copilot and Heather Young as his flight attendant. The passengers: an engineer (Don Matheson), a socialite (Deanna Lund), a kid (Stefen Arngrim) and his dog, and the sneaky Dr. Smith, I mean, Alexander Fitzhugh (Kurt Kasznar), a suspicious character whose motivations kept the others, and viewers, guessing.

Typical plots involved the miniature castaways running from super-sized inquisitive kids, snoopy scientists, preying animals, and a government agent on a mission to find them. Filling these roles were no end of guest actors, some recycled from earlier Allen series (Lee Meriwether, Robert Colbert, Jonathan Harris, Whit Bissell), and others, faces familiar to Sixties TV and movie junkies (Michael Ansara, former Opie Taylor Ronny Howard, William Schallert, Alan “Skipper” Hale, Jr., and Vic Tayback, years before he would be told to kiss Flo’s grits). Look closely in the Season Two episode “Collector’s Item” and you’ll spot perhaps the wildest example of stock footage repurposing in an Allen production, as Stately Wayne Manor from Batman is seen.

Land of the Giants’ stars acted amid giant props, shimmying over or ducking under enormous books, phones, cameras, outstretched hands, and doors, on a far-flung world where pushpins were deadly weapons and scotch tape was a tool of bondage. All of Irwin Allen’s productions put his actors through their paces, the Giants cast being no exception. They performed many of their own stunts, and on-set injuries were not uncommon.

(Imagine how sore your ribs would be after being poked by a giant pencil eraser.) Another common special effect on the show was the matte shot combining the miniature people and the towering ones, or the tiny Earthlings juxtaposed against colossal critters like death-pecking chickens. CGI-raised viewers of today might find Giants’ special effects primitive at best, laughable at worst, but kids of the Sixties were awed by them. For us, those poor little people were in constant danger. Many of the young boys 38

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Aurora’s Land of the Giants model kit, based upon its box’s terrifying portrait of tiny Earthlings wielding a safety pin to fend off a striking rattler, painted by magazine and book cover artist Harry Schaare.

Murphy Anderson reinterpreted Schaare’s painting for a 1968 comicbook ad promoting the model. Land

of the Giants TM & © Irwin Allen Properties, LLC/20th Century Fox.

(including me!) in the audience had crushes on the series’ lovely Lilliputian ladies—Lund’s Valerie Scott and Young’s Betty Hamilton, both decked out in miniskirts, colorful tights, and go-go boots—even though their male co-stars didn’t seem to notice their beauty and charm (I guess it’s tough to think about dating when you’re dodging giant tweezers).

Because of Land of the Giants’ exorbitant budget, pairs of episodes were often shot back-to-back, reusing the same props. Giants’ ginormous costs led to its collapse, and it ended with its second season.

The Master of Disaster

After Land of the Giants, Irwin Allen wasn’t quite done with television. He co-wrote, directed, and coproduced the 1971 telefilm City Beneath the Sea, one of his greatest television recycling efforts, where he reutilized the idea from an earlier pilot pitch and employed sets, props, and a few actors from his TV series. Then he moved back into motion pictures, being dubbed “The Master of Disaster” once his star-studded blockbusters The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974) rocked theaters and ignited the disaster movie craze.

Allegations of plagiarism against Irwin Allen have surfaced over the years, particularly over similarities between Lost in Space and a similar concept called Space Family Robinson (see sidebar).

Yes, each of Allen’s four Sixties TV shows were inspired by other material—in addition to LIS being Swiss Family Robinson in space, Voyage was Jason and the Argonauts in a sub, Time Tunnel had several forerunners, and Giants borrowed shamelessly from The Incredible Shrinking Man. But what made each of them memorable was their presentation, bigger-than-life astonishment packed with human drama and socio-political commentary that no one could deliver quite like Irwin Allen.

Special thanks to Martin Pasko and Bill Mumy. Portions of this article, including the Mumy interview, appeared in edited form in the book HeroA-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, and Culture of the Swinging Sixties by Michael Eury (TwoMorrows, 2017).

RETRO GAMES

The

Secret Origin of Atari’s 1979

Superman!

by Robert V. Conte

And so read Atari’s solicitation describing the forthcoming release of the first official video game featuring a superhero—Superman!

As you’re probably aware, Superman was the inaugural superhero, gracing the pages of the debut issue of Action Comics in 1938. The blue-and-red costumed crimefighter from a doomed alien planet, wearing a stylized “S” inside a yellow crest emblazoned on his chest, broke ground in various media. Since the Forties, this “costumed action hero” starred in radio dramas voiced by Bud Collyer, animated cartoons produced by Paramount and Fleischer (later Famous) Studios, a live-action television show starring George Reeves, and thousands of licensed merchandise items.

True to form, the time would come for Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton, to take his place in the world of a brandnew entertainment medium...

Coin-operated game giant Atari, known throughout the Seventies for its pinball machines and blockbuster video games like Breakout, Pong, and Tank, revolutionized the home-entertainment industry when its Video Computer System (VCS) appeared in 1977. Although not the premier video-game console to feature an interchangeable cartridge system (Fairchid’s Channel F, Magnavox’s Odyssey 2 and Bally’s Professional Arcade aka Astrocade were also available), Americans of all ages were already familiar with Atari

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(LEFT) Original 1977 Atari Video Computer System (VCS), later renamed (and redesigned) as the Atari 2600. (RIGHT) Simulated screenshot of Superman, 1979. Both courtesy of Robert V. Conte.

games including Indy 500, Outlaw, and Star Ship via their local amusement park or arcade. Instead of paying 25 cents per play in a public setting, now gamers could purchase their own “Game Programs” for use in comfort of their homes. This, combined with Atari’s financial, marketing, and promotional support from its then-parent company, Warner Communications, Inc. (WCI), helped propel sales of the VCS to unprecedented success by the early Eighties!

Meanwhile, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures (both owned by the same conglomerate that controlled Atari, as well) were busy preparing for Superman’s 40th anniversary. The Man of Steel was being adapted into a full-length feature film starring Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and Gene Hackman as megalomaniac Lex Luthor. In December 1978, Superman: The Movie, directed by Richard Donner, was the secondever theatrical feature film featuring a DC character (the first was 1966’s Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward) and was met with unprecedented commercial success for the comics genre.

Additionally, The Adventures of Superman Fifties television show and the subsequent New Adventures of Superman Sixties cartoons

by Filmation Associates were in heavy weekday afternoon syndication on network television, while the Forties Paramount cartoons were being shown on paid subscriber television. The Son of Krypton had incredible worldwide recognition, in one incarnation or another, and there was certainly more milestones for the character to “leap in a single bound”!

In 1978, Atari CEO Ray Kassar, DC Comics President Sol Harrison and Publisher Jenette Kahn reached an agreement, approved by WCI exes, to create a Superman pinball machine and video game. Early on, it was decided to make the latter a cartridge for the VCS instead of an arcade game. Both would feature the iconic comic-book version of the character instead of his movie counterpart. The pinball game was released in March 1979 and was met with critical acclaim. This assured Atari that moving 40

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forward with the VCS game was a safe risk. And so, one of Atari’s original software designers, John Dunn, accepted the challenge and pressure to create and develop Superman under a strict time schedule.

To accomplish his task, Dunn wanted to utilize twice the ROM (Read Only Memory) used to create all Atari VCS games developed up to that point. Initially, Atari was strongly opposed to the idea of increasing its development cost on Superman. However, the company acquiesced and permitted the expense to ensure this title would be designed and manufactured as planned. As such, Dunn was able to build upon initial code created by his colleague Warren Robinett, who was simultaneously developing Adventure—one of the most historically relevant video games ever created; it features the first known “Easter egg,” the designer’s signature on a hidden screen in the game!

“YOU’RE THE MAN OF STEEL!” proudly proclaimed Atari’s advertisements for Superman. The company’s bold tag line did not disappoint. Where Superman: The Movie led us to believe a man could fly, Dunn’s brilliant development of Superman was historic; this game was the first where a player actually controlled the movements and actions of an iconic fictional character. You are Clark Kent with the ability to change into Superman inside a phone booth. Using your Kryptonian powers of flight, super-strength, and X-ray vision, you must retrieve three broken pieces of the Metropolis Bridge scattered throughout the multiple-screen city.

You must also capture Lex Luthor and his five henchmen, then take them all to jail. If you touch the kryptonite Luthor unleashed around the city, you lose your powers until you find and kiss Lois Lane. Once the bridge is repaired, you end the game by flying back into the phone booth, changing back to Clark Kent, and entering the Daily Planet to report the story!

With the actual video game engineered and approved, Atari’s next step was to create the box packaging. By that point, the VCS had over two-dozen cartridges available. Art was rendered

Retro Games

by the company’s stable group of talented illustrators including Rick Guidice (Canyon Bomber, Street Racer), Susan Jaekel (Circus Atari, Hunt & Score), and Cliff Spohn (Air Sea Battle, Combat, Video Olympics), to name a few. The cohesive look of each colorful box design—incorporating a consistent typography style throughout Atari’s cartridge catalog—uniquely stood out on retail shelves and displays. This time, things would slightly deviate; the immediately recognizable “Superman” logo would be used on all sides of the box instead of the “Harry” typeface regularly utilized on all game titles.

Next, a well-known Superman illustration taken from the comics would be featured instead of an all-new rendering. As former DC Comics writer/editor and production/director Bob Rozakis (www.bobrozakis.blogspot.com) recalls, “Since this was before there was a DC Style Guide with stock art that licensees could use, the Atari folks were given a variety of Superman titles and just picked what they wanted.”

Longtime Atari graphic designer and artist George Opperman—who is credited with illustrating the company’s Superman pinball machine artwork—had a stash of reference material upon which to render the character including comics, reproducible art, color keys, and more.

“There would have been black-and-whitestats of original covers in the files and one of those would have been used to create the package art,” adds Rozakis, who, coincidentally, assistant-edited the issue that Atari ultimately chose to serve as the base for its box packaging—Superman #300 (June 1976). The cover of this historic issue, dramatically pencilled by longtime Superman artist Curt Swan and inked by Bob Oksner, promoted the futuristic story of “Superman 2001.” Swan, considered by many to be the Superman artist during the Silver Age of Comics, had illustrated the character for decades—well into the mid-Eighties before DC reimagined its universe via the 12-issue Crisis of Infinite Earths maxiseries. Oksner was also a longtime creator who worked on many Superman-related titles throughout his illustrious career.

Although the cover of Superman #300 was certainly striking, baby Kal-El inside a rocketship and his parents, Jor-El and Lara, had to be removed because they were not featured in the video game. To solve this challenge, Atari artist Judy Richter provided a clever solution: on top of the selected comic-book cover was the DC Comics masthead including art of Superman in flight, rendered by comics visionary Neal Adams. The image was first published on the cover of Superman #252 (June 1972) and was also used on myriad merchandise [as well as the town “welcome” sign in Metropolis, Illinois, as mentioned elsewhere in this issue—ed.].

Fortunately, stats of Adams’ art, at various sizes, were included in the reference that Opperman had available at the Atari offices.

Reportedly, Richter removed the Superman logo, text, and all irrelevant elements from the cover stat. Then she pasted on another stat of Adams’ art, added two planets in the background, recolored the juxtaposed image using a DC Comics color guide, and voilà—art that was quickly approved for use!

Original instructions manual for Atari’s 1979 Superman game, and the comics covers from which its art was borrowed, the Superman #300 cover by Curt Swan and Bob Oksner, and Superman #252 cover by Neal Adams.

TM & © DC Comics.

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When Richter was given sole credit for the package’s image on 2016’s Art of Atari (Dynamite Entertainment), it caused controversy among longtime comic collectors. Why weren’t the artists who actually drew the Man of Steel on the Superman Atari box art properly acknowledged? Perhaps it was an oversight, as none of the Atari artists were properly recognized until the release of the book.

Longtime comics original art dealer Scott Eder (www.scottedergallery. com) says, ”[It’s] simply a classic case of ‘by Richter after Swan, Oksner, and Adams.’ In today’s world, artists and musicians sample from their mentors and colleagues all the time. When they do, it’s important the source material and creators receive the acknowledgement they deserve.”

Although Swan and Oksner have passed on, Adams (www.nealadams. com) is alive and well—still working with DC Comics and other companies Legendary comics artist via his Continuity Studios in Manhattan, Neal Adams in 2013.

New York. When shown the Atari © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Superman box art, his position was clear: Commons.

“Curt and Bob were dear friends of mine and their work is clearly evident on this cartridge box,” says Adams.

“While it seems someone certainly juxtaposed my artwork over theirs to create this product, Atari did not illustrate Superman here. We did and should be credited accordingly...”

Before the release of Atari’s Superman, the closest children could “become” the Man of Steel was by wearing homemade

Originally marketed as a Special Edition, some copies of Superman came with a highly collectible wallet attached to the back of the box.

The wallet’s art, a Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson image, appeared in the upper corner of early-Seventies’ issues of Action Comics and was regularly used for merchandising throughout the decade.

Courtesy of Robert V. Conte. TM & © DC Comics.

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Available titles for the Atari VCS, 1979. Note that Superman retains its character’s recognizable logo. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

playsuits, T-shirts with the “S” emblem, or official Halloween costumes. Now it was a whole new level of pretend in the advent of the digital age; Atari’s Superman empowered the player to become the character that fans from previous generations could only dream about—Superman! The game sold in unprecedented numbers and remained in print far longer than anticipated.

Although Atari and DC Comics collaborated on other properties including the comic-book series Atari Force and the ill-fated SwordQuest video games, Superman was, surprisingly, the only established DC Comics character that was adapted into a video game for the Atari VCS/2600. In 1984, WCI sold Atari, closing the door on future subsidiary collaborations with DC. (Parker Brothers later adapted The Amazing Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk for the VCS through an arrangement with Marvel Comics.)

In 2017, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Superman for being the longest-running video-game protagonist in history— another first for the Man of Steel. On its 40th anniversary of release, Atari’s Superman will be remembered for several reasons, now including having the first-ever video game box featuring legendary comics artists whose talent contributed archetypical images of the Man of Steel that remain amongst the most popular in pop culture history.

ROBERT V. CONTE is a pop-culture historian who has written, edited, packaged, and brokered over 2,500 projects. Armed with his vast memorabilia collection, he utilizes his expertise on officially licensed products, including Godzilla, KISS, and Sesame Street. Conte’s projects include Art of Atari (Dynamite Entertainment), Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series (Abrams ComicArts), and his autobiographical memoir, My KISS Story. www.robertvconte.com

SCOTT SAAVEDRA'S SECRET SANCTUM

The

Amazing SeaMonkeys® Then & Now

by Scott Saavedra

Humbug is a funny little word. Perhaps most associate it with the character Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. To the British, it is also a hard candy. To knowledgeable comic-book fans, it is the name of the magazine Harvey Kurtzman founded after leaving his signature creation, MAD. But for those of us who love the convergence of history and popular culture, humbug brings to mind P. T. Barnum, the great showman. Humbug is all about deception. In Barnum’s mind, humbug in the service of entertainment was a virtue, not a vice. Now, if you’re wondering what humbug has to do with Sea-Monkeys, the immensely popular, 60-year-old novelty originally sold through comic-book ads, then step right up, my friends… I have a story for you.

Phineas Taylor Barnum lived and breathed humbug, never meeting a fact he couldn’t paper over with something more interesting and colorful so long as it brought in (paying) customers to his various museums and exhibitions. When Barnum

promoted his Fejee (Fiji) Mermaid, a sea-creature that wasn’t actually a sea-creature, he used questionable advertisements to excite the public. The beautiful, half-naked mermaid illustrated in his advertisements showed something quite different from the hideous, dried-up, half-fish-tail, half-death-grimaced monkey actually on display. The exhibition was a huge success.

It’s not that Barnum absolutely had to employ humbug—the true story of how this creation of an anonymous Japanese fisherman made its way to Barnum wasn’t boring, it just wasn’t enough to bring in the crowds. It would be a lesson not lost on entrepreneurs in the decades that followed. Especially those, it seems, who created and sold novelties via comic-book ads.

Harold von Braunhut, a former Merchant Marine, possessed an entrepreneurial spirit and a flair for humbug. And while his name may not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the manner of P. T. Barnum’s, they likely know his most enduring creation… wait for it…

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A classic example of Humbug. P.T. Barnum’s Fejee Mermaid exhibit implied a that a beautiful creature would be on display (ABOVE) but shamelessly delivered a bizarre, pitiful horror (RIGHT) for paying customers to take in. Its success inspired countless entrepreneurs. Illustrations from Barnum’s autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum (1855). Archive.org.

the Amazing Sea-Monkeys. And if you want to know why humbug was so important to the success of the Amazing Sea-Monkeys, well, for starters, they are not sea-going and—spoiler alert!—they are not monkeys. They are brine shrimp, originally barely visible to the naked eye. And if you want to sell enough brine shrimp to make you rich, the straight-up truth won’t cut it. You’ll need plenty of pure grade 100% all-American humbug.

Instant Live Sea Animals (Just Add Water)

Salt lake brine shrimp (artemis salina) are crustaceans that have remained very much as they were since the Triassic period of the Mesozoic Era. The earliest historical record of brine shrimp comes from Iran during the 10th Century, wherein the term “aquatic dog” was coined by a geographer to describe the busy little tailed creatures. Brine shrimp mostly eat planktonic algae, but the cultured variety won’t say no to a bit of yeast or egg yolk.

Generally, brine shrimp just eat and reproduce unbothered by predators due to an ability to live in very salty water. When conditions aren’t conducive to life, brine shrimp can lay dormant in cysts (cryptobiosis) that can be hatched as needed. Needed for what? Why, entertaining children of all ages, because who doesn’t love waking up dormant cysts?

The creation legend is that in 1957, von Braunhut saw brine shrimp being sold as food in a pet store and was inspired to create a fun science product along the lines of the recent—and successful—Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm. Working with Anthony D’Agostino, 44

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a microcrustacean expert, a viable method of obtaining, shipping, and reanimating the brine shrimp was created (see sidebar). The resulting product, priced at just 49¢, was called “Instant Life,” but chain stores, though happily selling the Ant Farms, weren’t interested in von Braunhut’s new novelty.

Apparently, this was Wham-O’s fault.

From the late Fifties through much of the Sixties, Wham-O toys were a big deal in the toy world and to us kids of the Aquarian Era. Wham-O took simple objects to make the Frisbee® (a disk), the Superball® (a ball), and the Hula Hoop® (a circle, you know, for kids) and created toy classics.

But duds happen, and WhamO’s early Sixties’ misstep—Instant Fish—flopped like the floppiest thing you can imagine. Therefore, so the story goes, the chain stores were skittish about “just add tap water” lifeforms. Mail order advertising seemed the most promising alternative. Von Braunhut needed some place that was cheap and not very picky about what it sold. If you grew up reading comic books like I did, then I think that you can see where this is going.

Harmless—Requires No Electricity or Batteries—Comes Complete

You wouldn’t know it to see their modern counterparts, but standard comic books in the Sixties and Seventies were inexpensive (about a $1 in today’s currency), cheaply produced, and distributed nationally the same way by the same people as most other publications. If you wanted to sell kids inexpensive novelties that over-promised and under-delivered, then comic books were your marketplace. The Johnson Smith Company, the classic comicbook advertiser—still in business, by the way—of gags and wheezes like Joy-Buzzers, Smoke Bombs, and X-Ray Spex (more on that later), had appeared in comic books at least as far back as Action Comics #1 (June 1938).

Comic-book advertising turned out to be the perfect breeding ground for sales of “Instant Life.” The Sea-Monkey name, inspired This should elevate the proceedings.

A scientific illustration (detail) of Artemis Salina from Histoire d’un Petit Crustacé by Nicolas Joly (1840).

Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum

There have been multiple versions of ads for SeaMonkeys, but this one from a 1973 comic book with art

by Joe Orlando is iconic. SeaMonkeys TM Transcience LLC.

by the busy little tails of the brine shrimp just as they had inspired the ancient Iranian geographer centuries before, was downplayed at first. By 1962, the ads focused on the Sea-Monkey term and included the iconic pink, three-stalked, web-footed little family unit in an unsigned drawing by the late comic-book great, Joe Orlando (see sidebar).

The Sea-Monkeys were a hit.

Caricatures Shown Not Intended to Depict Artemis Salina

Von Braunhut humbugged the heck out of the Sea-Monkeys. Ads promised that the brine shrimp, whose brains don’t even control their own swimming, could play Hide and Seek and show off by turning somersaults. They “scampered” and would “clown around.”

Sea-Monkeys could be trained to do stunts at “your command!”

They were, it was promised, a “BOWLFULL OF HAPPINESS.” Setting aside the exuberant humbug for a bit, Sea-Monkeys could deliver some fun science and diversion. Certainly, the Sea-Monkeys’ initial state of hibernation that allowed them to be mailed—unharmed—and then returned to a state of living was just the sort of crazy natural process to get kids, especially, interested in science. Early on, Sea-Monkeys could be hard to see and had very short life spans, somewhat limiting their entertainment value, and that generated customer complaints.

But unique among novelty promoters, von Braunhut actually improved his product, creating larger and longer-lived brine shrimp (patented as artemia NYOS). And as long as they were healthy and cared for, the Sea-Monkeys did appear to frolic and thrive. As for training the Sea-Monkeys? Turn down the lights, grab

a candle or other light source.

The little rascals are attracted to light and follow it wherever it goes. Using a bit of your own humbug you might convince others that you controlled the Sea-Monkeys with naught but the galvanic energy of your own hyper-evolved brain. But probably not. And it’s certainly no worse than the other ways in which we while away the hours (like watching cat videos or reading endless listicles).

In a May 16, 2017 listicle (ahem) from Mental Floss (“16 Amazing Facts About SeaMonkeys” by Erin McCarthy), Strong National Museum of Play curator Patricia Hogan observed about the Sea-Monkeys’ less-than-accurate claims, “I think kids are pretty clever at making things work or finding ways to have fun, even with something that may disappoint them…”

As someone who watched his young son make a GameBoy out of cardboard, markers, and tape because we couldn’t afford the real deal, I guess I have to agree with Ms. Hogan.

Surprise Your Friends

Buying comic books and MAD depleted whatever disposable income I had as a kid, so there were no six-foot cardboard “Polaris

This version of the Sea-Monkeys’ ad, c. 1969. Sea-Monkeys TM Transcience LLC.

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Nuclear Subs” (oh, I wanted that so bad), six-foot Frankensteins, or Sea-Monkeys for me. I did eventually acquire X-Ray Spex as an “adult kid” purchase. I didn’t expect to really see through flesh and clothing, so I wasn’t disappointed when none of that happened. But I was surprised to learn that X-Ray Spex were also a creation of von Braunhut. Another classic! Of course, the ads for X-Ray Spex were mostly humbug— X-ray vision was suggested but never explicitly promised. On the plus side, they look great and coordinate well with most outfits.

Von Braunhut tried other products that are less well known: Crazy Crabs (hermit crabs), Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters (an image of a bald monster that grows mineral crystals), and Live Squirrel Monkeys (uh, yep). None of these notions had the success of the Sea-Monkeys or X-Ray Spex, but the Live Squirrel Monkeys certainly generated interesting memories. Jorge Khoury’s “Comic Book Squirrel Monkeys” article at CBR.com shares a few such stories, but be prepared to read a tale with the phrase “twenty-eight stitches” mentioned not in a good way. And that’s a story with a happy ending. Sort of.

(ABOVE) Not your typical X-Ray Spex ad—certainly, it’s more lurid. (RIGHT) Several years ago the author and his wife attempted to create mail order novelty-themed treats as Christmas gifts for family. The X-Ray Spex cookies were a real challenge to make. The Fake Dog Poop brownies and Fake Barf candy were much easier to construct. Sadly, the recipients were not mail order novelty enthusiasts and a bit lukewarm to the entire enterprise (the Fake Barf, while tasty, was especially off-putting).

Photo courtesy of the author.

JOE ORLANDO: AMAZING VISUALIZER OF SEA-MONKEYS Joe Orlando was already an experienced comic-book artist when he was selected to visualize the fictional version of brine shrimp. Why he was specifically chosen or what the process was for the now-iconic look of the Sea-Monkeys has eluded my Google magic. He certainly was a fine choice.

Joseph “Joe” Orlando (1927–1998) emigrated from Italy with his family to America in 1929. He served in the U.S. Army in Europe during the late Forties as part of the occupation forces. Following his service, he made his way to the comic-book business, creating art for legendary publisher EC (home of Tales from the Crypt and MAD), Warren Publishing, and DC. At DC Orlando moved on from illustrating comics to editing them, helming three of my top-ten childhood favorites: House of Mystery, Plop!, and Swamp Thing. Sometime after the death of MAD’s original publisher, William Gaines, he was named associate publisher of the humor magazine. He retired in 1996. Unfortunately, a short bio like this doesn’t do the man justice. Seeking out, say, his early MAD magazine work or reading some issues of Plop! would be worth your time.

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Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum

Patent drawings from just three of von Braunhut’s many, many inventions. (LEFT) Dagger in fake pool of blood “may be used at parties, social gatherings and the like as an object of humor.” Sure. (TOP) The Aquarium Watch (patent #6,416,217) guest-stars two small brine shrimp. (BOTTOM) The Aquatic Speedway (patent #3,899,167) intended for “certain aquatic animals.” Sea-Monkeys TM Transcience LLC.

THE AMAZING SEA-MONKEYS® PATENT The following is key text from Harold von Braunhut’s U.S. patent #3,673,986 (July 4, 1972) for the “Method and materials used for hatching brine shrimp”: “A method and materials used to provide an aquatic life habitat for hatching brine shrimp or similar crustaceans in tap water to give the appearance of instantaneous hatching. To a convenient amount of tap water a dry conditioning mixture comprising iodine-free sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride is added. The conditioning mixture also contains a dehydrating agent such as calcium chloride, a chlorine removing agent such as sodium thiosulfate, and a quantity of dried eggs of Artemia salina type or the like. The aqueous medium is allowed to stand at room temperature for a period of 24 to 36 hours.

To this treated, aged and purified aqueous habitat medium, a second mixture comprising magnesium sulfate, borax and sodium crystals, yeast, additional dried eggs, a dehydrating agent and a water-soluble dye is added.”

If there is any remaining doubt that humbug was required to sell Sea-Monkeys, try to imagine reading the above as part of a more honest ad for “Von Braunhut’s Brine Shrimp Cysts & Chemicals” (Only $1).

Ever the inventor, von Braunhut amassed 195 patents, some for Sea-Monkey-related products but for other concoctions as well, like the Kiyoga Agent M5 (a.k.a. Kiyoga—the Steel Cobra), a weapon. Given the silly and fun novelties he was most known for, the pen-sized, whip-like Kiyoga Agent M5 was, frankly, disturbing.

It was basically a tightly wound steel spring that shot out of a small handle to be brought out and briskly waved around at the first sign of trouble. And trouble, unsurprisingly, did turn up.

Mere Flesh and Blood Cannot Stand Up to the Excruciating Pain

The good-natured humbug of the Amazing Sea-Monkeys was absent from the Kiyoga Agent M5 ads. The sales pitch stressed dire come-ons that promoted the nearly $60 item as ideal for those who “need a gun but can’t get a license.” In 1979, von Braunhut was arrested for carrying illegal weapons at LaGuardia Airport; he had some Kiyoga Agent M5 samples with him. Fortunately, it was ruled that the devices did not meet the definition of illegal weapons. Unfortunately, they didn’t impress the court as much of a defensive item either.

It got worse. An article in the April 27, 1988 Washington Post reported not just on the connection of the Kiyoga Agent M5 to the Amazing Sea-Monkeys but also von Braunhut’s connection to the Aryan Nation. The Kiyoga Agent M5 was advertised in that group’s newsletter, and part of the proceeds went to Aryan Nation causes.

The Post quoted von Braunhut as saying that he loved the United States and supported the Constitution while noting that a German war poster signed by Hermann Goering hung on his office wall.

An October 1, 2000 report in the Los Angeles Times pointed out that the Aryan Nation revelations did have a negative effect on some of Braunhut’s business relationships—two distributors ended their accounts—but not others. Various distributors, wholesalers, and retailers expressed concern, but little action seems to have been taken and eventually worries faded. Von Braunhut’s malignant associations aside, the Amazing Sea-Monkeys, as oblivious to RetroFan

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outside matters as you would expect brine shrimp to be, continued to “scoot and play” and thrive.

Guaranteed to Grow

Sea-Monkeys have continued to expand as an enterprise over the years. Originally, they were sold without an aquarium. The current style aquarium has been used for years but Magic Castle, Sea-Circus (with a tiny audience), Space Shuttle Expedition, and Amazing Sea-Monkeys on Mars (!) variants have offered colorful alternatives. For those who like to have their Sea-Monkeys closer at hand, an Aquarium Watch and PenQuarium (I’ve seen pictures) allow two or three of your Instant Pets 12–24 hours of life. There was even—pinky swear!—a Sea-Monkey race track. And an unrealized-but-possible Sea-Monkey addition, according to patent records, was an “aquatic baseball game.”

As you would suspect, a successful pop-cultural creation like the Amazing Sea-Monkeys have had a life beyond their little aquariums. The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys was a short-lived 1992 CBS live-action series created by Howie Mandel. Episodes were written by Mandel and Charles, Edward, and Stephen Chiodo of Killer Klowns from Outer Space fame. Funko produced an adorable Sea-Monkeys Wacky Wobbler in 1996. Historic The top half of the ad features the Sea-Circus, just one of many Sea-Monkey kit variations. The bottom ad is for one of von Braunhut’s less successful ventures, pictures of monsters that grow crystals (whee!). How anything that features a “Space Grotto” and a “real working Aqua-Gauge” can fail will have to remain a mystery. Sea-Monkeys TM Transcience LLC.

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Scott Saavedra’s Secret Sanctum

Editor Michael Eury suggested that I raise some SeaMonkeys as part of my article. The following is the record of my first science experiment since high school.

Title screen for the Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys CBS television program. The show was created by Howie Mandel, who had Sea-Monkeys as a child (his daughter raised them as well). © Artemia Nyos. Sea-Monkeys TM Transcience LLC.

astronaut and then-current U.S. Senator from Ohio, John Glenn, brought millions of Sea-Monkeys into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 for experimental purposes (BTW, I loved typing that sentence). There was a video game, The Amazing Virtual Sea Monkeys, available for various platforms including the GameBoy (sorry, son).

The now-defunct Majestic Studios produced Sea-Monkeys action figures in 2004 featuring Mom, Dad, and the kids. Circa 2005 there was even an Amazing Sea-Monkeys Video Slot Machine produced. Oh, and don’t forget to save the date: May 16 is National Sea-Monkey Day (everybody’s got a day these days).

You’ll Gasp with Amazement

Harold von Braunhut died in 2003. Not many years later his widow (and second wife), Yolanda Signorelli von Braunhut, licensed out part of the production of the Sea-Monkeys kits to Nashville, Tennessee–based Big Time Toys. That business relationship soon became confused and litigious. The New York Times Magazine featured an article in 2016 on the strained and strange situation (Ms. von Braunhut was relegated to a small portion of the mansion built by Sea-Monkey millions due to strained finances brought on by the lawsuit). Big Time believed they had the option to buy all rights to the Sea-Monkeys (including their secret formula which von Braunhut keeps locked away offsite) and that they had already made payments toward ownership. Von Braunhut argued that that wasn’t the case. Big Time Toys began using brine shrimp from China instead of the original’s improved version that had to be purchased from von Braunhut. The author of the

INSTANT LIFE SCIENCE After the Sea-Monkey package arrives from RetroFan World Headquarters I begin to commence with the Science. What I am sent seems to be a bit incomplete.

There is a small plastic Sea-Monkey aquarium, some packets of various purposes including food, “Sea-Monkey Mating Powder” (!!!), and packing material. I don’t have a Food Measuring and Feeding Spoon (good grief, if I have to feed each one by mouth…) nor a Million-Bubble Air Pump used to oxygenate the aquarium’s water. I use a plastic fast-food coffee stir stick and simple drinking straw as replacements (as recommended by online experts).

Day 1: I begin the process of creating Instant Life. I pull the aquarium and the small packets out of the box editor Michael sent me. There are no formal instructions, but the backs of the packages have easy-to-follow directions.

The first step is to get water. We have hard water but the scientific concensus is that this shouldn’t have an impact on the results. Before gathering my water I decide to check on the temperature. It is 79ºF. Some research indicates that Sea-Monkeys thrive between 75ºF and 81ºF, but this is in conflict with the package instructions. I don’t want to take any chances—small lives are at stake. We return to the lab tomorrow to try again.

Continued next page.

(TOP) An almost compete basic Sea-Monkeys set-up.

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Continued from previous page.

Day 2: The local ambient temperature is 77ºF, a single degree above the maximum optimal temperature for brine shrimp. I confer with my recently graduated daughter, a scientist. She informs me that she has a degree in Political Science. I decide to proceed but try to avoid politics since it is such a fraught topic. I add Packet #1, the “Water Purifier,” to the aquarium. The first step is engaged.

Day 3: Packet #2, “Instant Live Eggs,” is emptied into the aquarium. Again, my daughter assists. Nothing much happens but it appears some dye has been released. The President is in Europe. We discuss.

The Aqua Dragons, a colorful, yet familiar, take on Artemis Salina. © Aqua Dragons.

Day 4 (UPDATE): Success! They are very small but I do see them wiggling busily about. For a time I am silent. I bask in the satisfaction of a not-very-complex job done to completion. “My cysts! My beautiful Monkeys of the Sea!,” I whisper, “They live!*”

Times piece, Peabody Award–winning Jack Hitt, compared the two versions of the cysts and was unimpressed with the meager results of the Chinese knock-off. Big Time was unimpressed with Hitt’s assessment. (I, who have never won a writing award, also attempted to hatch Sea-Monkeys—see sidebar.)

The current status of the lawsuit is a bit murky. A trial date was set for May 1, 2017, as reported on the Sea-Monkeys’ website (www.sea-monkeys.com), but after April 2017 there was only a reference to “trying and tribulating issues [being] put to rest.” This suggests a settlement but more detailed information hasn’t been forthcoming. Efforts to clarify the situation have not turned up any answers. As of this writing, Sea-Monkey kits from Big Time are still available for sale (at least on Amazon).

* For up to 2 years.

Yes, It’s the Living Truth

Day 4: It’s been 48 hours and I don’t see any sure sign of life. My daughter says she sees Sea-Monkeys moving their little tails (“So cute!”) and my wife, a copyeditor of scientific texts, claims to see them as well. I’m just not convinced. We do all agree that Congress needs to do more about infrastructure.

Imitators have cropped up to challenge the Sea-Monkeys. None have come close to having the cultural impact of the original “Instant Life.” Triops, a small, fresh-water tadpole shrimp, has been sold in kit form under dif ferent names including “Prehistoric Sea Monsters” (which pretty much flies past humbug). The advantage of the Triops, I suppose, is that they are the goats of the water, eating almost whatever you put in front of them. “My Prehistoric Creatures” comes with something called “Sea Sprit Eggs.” “Aqua Dragons” are a fairly recent, more direct competitor of the Amazing Sea-Monkeys and are—no surprise here—our old friend Artemis Salina. Even the Aqua Dragons’ own promotional material acknowledges that Sea-Monkeys are fun to own and inspired their ef forts.

I can’t think of a clearer indication that after some 60 years, this audacious novelty remains entertaining and amazing, humbug and all.

The Sea-Monkeys were quite active but only tiny specks at first.

In a short time the largest were about a quarter inch in length.

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SCOTT SAAVEDRA is a graphic designer, artist, and writer. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the long-ago comic-book series, It’s Science with Dr. Radium (SLG), and he wrote for the short-lived Disney Comics. His fanzine, Comic Book Heaven, about crazy, vintage comics, had a devoted but, sadly, tiny following. Check out his Instagram thing, won’t you? instagram.com/scottsaav/

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THE ODDBALL WORLD OF SCOTT SHAW!

Oddball Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man & the Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper

by Scott Shaw!

Okay, it’s time for full disclosure. When I was a kid, I did much of my funnybook reading while perched on a toilet seat.

Too much information? Very possibly. In the comic-book industry, there’s a rumor that the noted science-fiction agent and comic-book editor Julius Schwartz once said, “Reading a comic book should take about the same amount of time as taking a good dump.” If I get the point of that proclamation, I seriously doubt that I was the only kid around who used the family bathroom as

a library. I even knew lunatics who read comic books while taking a bath—but to an obsessive kid like me, that sort of behavior seemed vastly more taboo than reading Uncle Scrooge while pooping. What if you dropped your funnybook in the tub? Disaster was waaay too possible there. But reading funnybooks on a porcelain throne with no one there to interrupt you? Pure nirvana… until Mom or Dad threatened to pry off the locked bathroom door’s hinges to gain access.

Box front for The Amazing Spider-Man & The Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper. All product photos and toilet paper scans accompanying this article courtesy of Scott Shaw! Spider-Man and the Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Anyway, back in the days when new comics were a dime and old comics were a nickel-apiece-three-for-adime, they were considered to be “disposable” media.

Maybe not as disposable as toilet paper, but eventually, the two collided and fortunately for us, The Amazing Spider-Man & The Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper was the result.

And talk about a wipeout! “Presenting an all-new, action-packed Toilet paper inventor Joseph C. confrontation Gayetty. (Thank you, sir! What between Marvel’s would we do without you?) mightiest superstars!” Yes, it’s the Amazing Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk together in an original, never-before-reprinted-anywhere comicbook story drawn by the great Marie Severin, who Roy Thomas calls “one of the most underrated people in the history of comics”! What’s so !?#%?!! Oddball about that? Well, there is the fact that “The Gamma Gambit!” is printed on special two-ply novelty toilet paper! As Smilin’ Stan Lee might proclaim, “Hey, it’s gotta be more absorbent than Excelsior!”

The first documented use of toilet paper was in early medieval China during the Sixth Century.

Modern toilet paper, as introduced in America in the form of “medicated” sheets, was invented

by Joseph C. Gayetty in 1857. Ten years later, his competitors began to sell their un-medicated product of rolls of soft paper. During the 1870s, perforated, soft toilet paper on cardboard rolls began production by a variety of sources. By the turn of the century, when indoor toilets became more widely used, the popularity of flushable toilet paper greatly increased. And in 1935, our population breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief when Northern Tissue issued a “splinter free” toilet paper. Various other improvements have been developed over the years… including printing words and images on the toilet paper itself.

That is an “improvement,” right?

Little is known about the first commercially available toilet paper featuring printed images or words, but rolls have been featured at auctions bearing the image of Adolph Hitler, or with such slogans as “Wipe out Hitler,” “Government Property,” and “Now Wash Your Hands, Please.” These indicate that printing

on toilet paper has been around since World War II. Considering the circumstances, putting the image of the Enemy on paper that you’ll put in the worst place on your body is absolutely understandable. But we were at war.

Mentions of bathrooms and toilets in polite society continued to be considered crude until the Sixties, when bathroom humor seemed to become acceptable and even hip.

Kanrom, Inc.’s Jokes for the John (1961), More Jokes for the John (1963), and even Jewish Jokes for the John (1967) were tall, thin books were an extreme case of this Oddball porcelain popularity. Each book had a tiny chain to attach it to your toilet’s flush-handle.

Other than that, the book had nothing to do with plumbing; each was full of mild “dirty” gag cartoons and mild “dirty” jokes in text form. They were uniquely and hugely—if inexplicably—popular.

(Kanrom, Inc. was also the publisher of Mort Drucker’s JFK Coloring Book and Sergio Aragonés’ Fanny Hillman — Memoirs of a Jewish Madam and Sam, the Ceiling Needs Painting series of books!)

But back to toilet paper (as if we could ever be far away from the stuff for long): With the lowering of standards and rise of technology, it’s much easier to manufacture image-festooned TP than ever before. There have been toilet paper rolls boasting wellknown images (authorized and otherwise) of politicians, public figures, sports teams, insects, and presidential Tweets. And there are now myriad websites that offer custom toilet paper printing, with the option of having a friend—or enemy’s—picture appear on the final product.

However, The Amazing Spider-Man & The Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper wasn’t created to disparage those characters, but to celebrate them. (I think that Marvel Comics was hoping that comic fans would horde the TP rolls as collectibles and never actually use them as intended.) And who better to do it than writers Jim Salicrup and Michael Higgins, and cartoonist Marie Severin, three Marvel stalwarts who were very familiar with both superheroes.

Editor/writer James “Jim” Alexander Salicrup began working at Marvel Comics as a paid intern at the tender age of 15. Working his way up through the ranks over 20 years, Jim became an editor there, overseeing such top Marvel Title: The Amazing Spider-Man & The titles as Fantastic Incredible Hulk Toilet Paper Four, The Amazing Issue Number: None Spider-Man, The Cover-Date: 1979 Uncanny X-Men, Publisher: Oh Dawn! Inc. The Avengers, Cover Artist(s): John Romita, Sr. and Marvel (“Hulk” clip-art penciled by Herb Trimpe and inked by Dave Cockrum)

(INSET) Kanrom, Inc.’s Sixties bathroom humor book Jokes for the John.

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Age Magazine. Jim also wrote scripts for production work on most of their titles.

Transformers, Sledge Hammer, The A-Team, (Exercising her own good taste in service Spidey Super Stories, and a special Spider-Man to the controversial publisher, Marie was giveaway comic book about child abuse, known for toning down any particularly among others. He followed his work at gory or violent panel by coloring the entire Marvel by becoming editor-in-chief and image a deep blue!) On her stint at EC, associate publisher of Topps Comics, which Marie said, “I worked closely with Harvey produced such titles as The X-Files, Jurassic Kurtzman and my brother. For a long time, Park, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mars Attacks!, I was really Kurtzman’s girl Friday… I picked Ray Bradbury Comics, The Lone Ranger and up his pacing of humor.” After EC ceased Tonto, Lady Rawhide, and Zorro, as well as a publication of their line of color comics in line of comics based on concepts created by 1954, Marie briefly worked as a colorist for the late Jack Kirby. Next, Stan Lee offered Atlas Comics, edited by Stan Lee. But in 1957, Jim the position of senior writer/editor at after a slump in the comic-book business, his new (and unfortunately short-lived) Marie took a staff job with the Federal online company, Stan Lee Media, where Reserve Bank of New York, for which she Jim also performed the voice of “Stan Lee’s “did a little bit of everything for them—I did Evil Clone.” Jim currently lives and works in television graphics on economics [and] I did New York City as the publisher and editor-ina lot of drawing. I did a[n educational] comic chief at Papercutz, publishers of new graphic book [The Story of Checks] that my brother did novels starring Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the finished art on… about checks.”

The Smurfs, Barbie, Gumby, Geronimo Stilton, In 1959, in addition to coloring two years’ and many more. Jim is also a trustee at worth of Columbia Features’ Bat Masterson the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (or syndicated Sunday newspaper comic strips, MoCCA).

Marie returned to work for editor Stan Lee Writer/editor Michael “Mike” Higgins at what was now called Marvel Comics. first entered the comic-book industry in Originally hired for her skills at coloring 1978, where he created, penciled, inked, and production, nearly a decade later, a and internationally syndicated Topaz and freelance illustration gig for Esquire magazine Moonbird for Canada’s Orb Productions. impressed her boss so much that she was Michael also drew work for Fantagraphics assigned to draw the Steve Ditko-created Books and Harrier Comics… and then came “Doctor Strange” feature in Strange Tales.

Jim Salicrup and Marie Severin in the Marvel. There, he wrote a variety of titles This led to penciling and inking other Marvel late Seventies. © Marvel. such as Avengers, Conan, Moon Knight, Power series. Initially, these included “The Incredible Pack, Silver Surfer, Thor, Wolverine, and Wonder Hulk” and “Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner” Man, as well as a number of comics based on in Tales to Astonish, but it was Marvel’s parody Hasbro toys. Mike phased into an assistant editor role at Marvel comic, Not Brand Echh, on which she quickly established herself as during the 1990s, but he seems to have left the funnybook field by one of the finest humor artists ever to work in the funnybook field. the end of that decade.

Another impressive job from Marie was King Kull, a.k.a. Kull (first Cartoonist Marie Severin was born on August 21, 1929, in appearing as the lead feature of Marvel’s Creatures on the Loose), a Oceanside, New York. Growing up in an artistic household— barbarian hero created by Conan the Barbarian’s Robert E, Howard; Marie’s WWI-vet father was a fashion designer and her older her brother, John Severin, exquisitely inked his little sister’s pencils brother John also became a cartoonist—it was probably inevitable on this series, one of the few instances in which they worked that she would also follow a similar career path; she had even together as an art team. secretly aspired to be a stained glass artist. Marie was essentially Marie’s prodigious body of work—which featured hundreds home-trained. “My father taught me,” she said. “He was a really of cover designs—for Marvel included The Adventures of Koolgood artist. He’d trained at Pratt Institute… but my mother Aid Man; The A-Team; Alf; Apache Kid; “The Beast” in Amazing could draw, too.” As a teenager, Marie took “a couple of months” Adventures; Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic Book; Captain America; of cartooning and illustration classes at the Cartoonists and Captain Britain; The Cat; Conan the Barbarian; Crystar (Marvel Illustrators School, and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New Books); Damage Control; Daredevil; Doom 2099; Droids; Ewoks; York, “for one day and said, ‘This is a college,’ and I wanted to draw Fallen Angels; Fantastic Four; Fraggle Rock; Francis, Brother of the and make money.” While she was working on Wall Street, her Universe; G.I. Joe; Giant-Size Chillers; Howard the Duck; Iron Man; brother John—who was freelancing for EC Comics—convinced Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies; Ka-Zar; Luke Cage and Iron Fist; Luke Marie to work for the publisher as a colorist. Her first gig in comics Cage, Power Man; Marvel Team-Up (notably on an issue that was to color EC Comics’ A Moon… A Girl… Romance #9 (Oct. 1949), teamed Spider-Man with Saturday Night Live’s original Not but by 1951 she was working on staff at EC, coloring and doing Ready For Prime Time Players); Marvel Two-in-One (teaming the 54

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The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Marie Severin produced this Not Brand Echh illo for Scott Shaw! in 1997.

Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Thing and Thor); Marvel Universe; Mighty Mouse; Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man; Planet of the Apes; Psi-Force; Red Sonja; Smurfs; Spoof; Thundercats; Uncanny Tales; Weirdworld; What If?; and Crazy magazine. From 1965 to 1968, she also worked on staf f as a production artist, an art director, and a color director. In the 1980s, Marie was assigned to Marvel’s “Special Projects” division, working with Sol Brodsky and John Romita, Sr. on non-comicbook licensing such as toy maquettes, film and television tie-ins, and the short-lived children’s book imprint, Marvel Books. Marie has also done work for Archie Comics, Claypool Comics, DC Comics, Dynamite magazine, EC Lives (fanzine), Fantagraphics Books (re-coloring material for B. Kreigstein), Filmfax (educational filmstrips), the short-lived Funny Papers tabloid,

Gamemaster, Last Gasp Comics (Strip AIDS, USA), Marvelmania magazine, Pyramid Books (Fiction Illustrated), and Russ Cochran. In 1972, 1974, and 1975, Marie received the “Shazam Award” for “Best Penciler” (Humor Division); in 1975, she was also nominated for both “Best Inker” (Humor Division) and “Best Colorist.” In 1988, Marie was the recipient of the San Diego Comic-Con’s “Inkpot Award.” Marie was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame in 2001 and retired sometime af terward, but continued to work on the occasional freelance job or art commission. She was the subject of the TwoMorrows Publishing book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics by Dewey Cassell with Aaron Sultan, a 2013 Eisner Award nominee. As this issue was going into production, Marie suf fered a stroke and briefly entered hospice care. She died at age 89 on August 29, 2018.

Stan Lee has said, “Calling Marie the best woman artist in the business is an injustice. Marie was one of the best artists in the business, period.” Editor/writer Roy Thomas states, “Marie Severin [was] a triple threat. She [could] color, she [could] draw superheroes, and she’s all but incomparable at humor. She is, quite possibly, one of the most underrated people in the history of comics.” Not to mention being the all-time finest illustrator of comic-book-themed toilet paper as well as the tiny “Marvel Mini-Books” gum-machine prizes produced during the mid-Sixties!

SCOTT SHAW!: POTTY MOUTH (AND HEAD, AND BODY, AND…) Our Oddball World columnist has been spent a lot of time in the john since childhood. Scott drew this Toilet Creature cartoon—a Jack Davis swipe—at age 13, in 1965. And in 1972, at the World Science Fiction Convention, he cosplayed as the Turd, a costume comprising 18 pounds of chunky peanut butter, corn niblets, and toilet paper! Watch Scott unroll this fascinating tale at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hDrTSZJbWEY&t=19s. Bottoms up!

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The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

BRUCE (THE HULK) BANNER (thinking): This could be it! At last! This could be -THE CURE!

The Amazing Spider-Man & The Incredible Hulk in “The Gamma Gambit!” is a six-page (with somewhat inconsistent dimensions) comic-book story written by Jim Salicrup and Michael Higgins and drawn by

Marie Severin; it’s printed in blue ink on approximately 27 ½ perforated inches of “2-ply facial quality tissue 325 sheets—4.5 X 4.0 in. 40.65 sq. ft.”

NARRATIVE CAPTION: Mid-day in the Manhattan apartment of science student Peter Parker… and mid-crisis!

PETER (SPIDER-MAN) PARKER: Empire State University is unveiling its own oncampus POWER PLANT! I’m doing a PAPER on it for my physics class --

Operating its controls, the Leader guides the Mechanoid to pluck the scientific demonstration’s “gamma generator” from its housing:

SPIDER-MAN: -- and I can’t afford to MISS it!

THE LEADER (broadcast): While you fools were designing a dynamic new GAMMA GENERATOR, I was guiding this MECHANOID -- a massive micro-circuited robot designed to use your gamma plant in the same way a toy robot uses a BATTERY! The major DIFFERENCE is -- my Mechanoid is far more DEADLY! To prove my point, I’ll pick a VICTIM at random!

SPIDER-MAN (thinking): So I’ll get there fast -- SPIDEY STYLE! Meanwhile, at a nearby bus station, Bruce (the Hulk) Banner arrives in New York City:

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc

BRUCE (THE HULK) BANNER (thinking): BLAST IT! The bus was LATE! I’ve got to hurry… if I’m going to get to the ENERGY EXHIBITION on time! The new process they’re using to generate GAMMA POWER could just be the key to CURE me of my terrible curse… THE INCREDIBLE HULK!

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Suddenly, operating a gigantic robot, the Hulk’s old foe, the Leader, comes crashing through the wall: THE LEADER (broadcast): Make way for my MECHANOID! With the MIND of the Leader -- and the MIGHT of the Mechanoid -- I’ll make all Manhattan mine! I need only ONE THING more -- a high-intensity energy source for my bionic EXO-SKELETON! And that’s exactly what this newly developed POWER PLANT shall provide!

This “original story!” begins as SpiderMan, in his civilian identity of Peter Parker, changes into his web-covered superhero costume and leaps out of the window:

Everybody’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man web-swings across the city:

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PETER (SPIDER-MAN) PARKER: My SPIDER-SENSE is tingling, but WHY?

Soon, at Empire State University, both Peter Parker (back to wearing his civvies) and Bruce Banner attend the demonstration of the “gamma generator”: SCIENTIST: The POWER PLANT is now in operation! Observe the incredible output of energy!

Not realizing who the student next to him is, Bruce selflessly pushes Peter out of the way of the Leader’s weapon-fire: BRUCE (THE HULK) BANNER: The Leader’s going to let that guy have it -- with a GAMMA RAY BLAST! BRUCE (THE HULK) BANNER (thinking): I’ve got to SAVE him -- take the BRUNT of the blast myself -- even if it means I risk HULKING OUT! Witnessing Bruce’s brave act to spare Peter through the view port of his Mechanoid, the big-headed Leader is not impressed: THE LEADER (broadcast): That FOOL! He leaped into my line of fire -- as if he

The Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

thought he could survive being struck with a GAMMA BLAST! No one could LIVE through that!

SPIDER-MAN: Oboy! You asked for this one! No hands, big brain? Then how about wads of webbing?!

As the smoke-clouds created by the blast begin to clear, we see a familiar hulking figure approach us:

Later, presumably after turning the Leader over to the proper authorities, the Wall-Crawler makes a futile attempt at befriending the Hulk:

THE HULK: NO ONE? No one -- except -- THE HULK! And now -- the Hulk will SMASH!

SPIDER-MAN: We make quite a TEAM, huh, Hulk?

And with that, the Incredible Hulk punches the Mechanoid, rocking it on its metal feet.

THE HULK: BUG OFF, Bug-Man! Hulk has NO friends -- and wherever the Hulk goes -- he goes ALONE!

NARRATIVE CAPTION: Alas, with but one unthinking action, the mighty manbrute unwittingly destroys the gamma generator -- and with all of his alter ego’s chances for a cure!

SPIDER-MAN: Sheesh! You’d think I have BAD BREATH!

Meanwhile, hidden from view within the roiling smoke, Peter Parker changes into his Spider-Man costume: PETER (SPIDER-MAN) PARKER: I’ve got to change into SPIDER-MAN -- and lend the Hulk a HELPING HAND against the Leader!

Hang tight, Hulk! Maybe together we can trip him up -- as a team!

THE HULK: BAH! The Hulk does not need BUG-MAN’S help! Hulk will keep POUNDING -- until big METAL MAN flies apart!

SPIDER-MAN: He’s going all to PIECES over you, Hulk!

NARRATIVE CAPTION: Unfortunately, the battling behemoth fails to notice that one of those pieces is the ESCAPE POD of the Leader -Fortunately, Spidey does see the bigdomed villain try to get away -- and stops him: SPIDER-MAN: Hope you don’t mind my saying so, Leader -- your plan seems to be FALLING APART! THE LEADER: STAY AWAY from me, Spider-Man! Let none DARE lay hands on the Leader!

Babies, Garfield, the Garbage Pail Kids, and yes, even Annoying Orange. His career has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a Humanities Award.

Scott is also known for his “Oddball Comics Live!” visual presentation of “the craziest comic books ever published” and for his regular participation in “Quick Draw!” with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés.

He was also one of the teenagers who cocreated what is currently known as ComicCon International: San Diego, America’s biggest annual fan event. He can be reached at shawcartoons.com.

And with that, the Hulk leaps into the sky, his leg muscles carrying him out of town and into the distance: SPIDER-MAN: That guy -- the one who pushed me out of the way -- was really the Hulk! I didn’t get a chance to see him clearly -- but WHOEVER he is, he was willing to risk his life for a STRANGER! That means no MATTER what people say about the Hulk, he’s NOT just a mindless menace!

He may be the most MISUNDERSTOOD man-monster on Earth!

Let’s cut back on the philosophical stuff and pay attention, Spidey. If you’re really worried about bad breath, license your image to sell mouthwash. The Hulk’s been doing it for years. How else do you think he can afford to replace all of those ripped-up purple pants?

For 47 years (and counting), SCOTT SHAW! has written and drawn underground comix, mainstream comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, TV cartoons, toys, advertising, and video games. He has worked on such characters as Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew (which he co-created with Roy Thomas), Sonic the Hedgehog, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, the Simpsons, the Futurama gang, the Muppet

TM & © M

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ERNEST FARINO’S RETRO FANTASMAGORIA

I Think It Would Be Fun to Publish a Fanzine…

by Ernest Farino Citizen Kane © 1941 RKO Radio Pictures/Warner Home Video.

To paraphrase Mr. Thatcher reading a memo from Charles Foster Kane (above): “I think it would be fun to publish a fanzine!”

Of course, Citizen Kane himself had far greater ambitions than publishing a fanzine, but the spirit is the same. And “fun”? That’s the idea, anyway. The reality can sometimes be quite different.

Fanzines—a fan magazine—have a long history and span many genres.

articles was back in the early Eighties (I think): Screaming at the unsuspecting customer from across the top of the front cover was the banner headline Read About the Man Who Drove Ann-Margret From Hollywood! Fond of Ann-Margret, I pulled the magazine down from the newsstand rack and thumbed through it, only to find that it was literally an article about… wait for it… her chauffeur. But, as the saying goes, they got me to look!

Of course, whenever a celebrity—especially the sexy actresses—hit the big time, the magazines pounced, both Professional Fan Magazines responding to and feeding the frenzy. It’s hard for some of us to The movie fan magazine goes back to the beginning of the relate to today, but the big news in the late Fifties and early Sixties movie industry itself, and in its heyday in the Forties and Fif ties was the scandal involving singer Eddie Fisher, who divorced wife crowded the newsstand racks with hundreds of titles primarily Debbie Reynolds (after they had their daughter Carrie Fisher) as covering gossip surrounding movie stars (i.e., more than film a result of his having an affair production itself). with Elizabeth Taylor, which Some magazines bridged spilled over into the tumultuous and blended the worlds of relationship between Taylor fandom and mainstream press, and Richard Burton and— and in the sci-fi/horror field well, the Kardashians have there were occasional issues nothing on these folks. Peyton like Mystery magazine with its Place and Valley of the Dolls star “novelization” of King Kong by Barbara Parkins was quite the Edgar Wallace back in 1933. Even cause célèbre during this time, producer Merian C. Cooper and and even former First Lady leading lady Fay Wray seemed Jacqueline Kennedy rocketed to enjoy the advance publicity. from the pre-Dealey Plaza Some titles, like the tranquility of “Camelot” with her notorious Confidential and elegant televised tours of the Uncensored magazines, delved White House to lurid “Jackie-O” into often salacious celebrity tabloid tales. gossip, a calling nowadays Celebrity fan magazine taken over by reality television King Kong’s Fay Wray and Merian C. Cooper, with the 1933 edition of Mystery magazine featuring the Kong novelization. attention reached a zenith and online blogs. My favorite in 1966–1967 when the of all of these gossip magazine 58

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quintessential sex symbol Raquel Welch burst upon the scene in her One Million Years B.C. fur bikini. Having been considered in 1962 for the role of Mary Ann in Gilligan’s Island (ultimately played

by Dawn Wells) and with her first major film, Fantastic Voyage, yet to be released, Welch’s contract with 20th Century Fox locked her in to a tale of cavemen vs. dinosaurs. Reluctant to do the film, Raquel rationalized that hip, “mod” Carnaby Street in swinging London might be some compensation to doing a “dinosaur movie” that no one would ever see anyway.

Of course, the reality was just the opposite. Posing for some impromptu pictures in her cave-girl costume while on location in the Canary Islands, the publicity machine caught fire back home. In 1970 Raquel told Playboy magazine, “It was truly a spontaneous thing, a lot more real than something contrived. Everybody was saying, ‘Who is this girl?’ and I kept gaining momentum. When I got back to London [from the Canary Islands]—pow!—all the newspapers and magazines were running pictures of me every day.” She told Ted Newsom in the Hammer documentary Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994) that “I became a target because I was ‘Miss Body Beautiful’ and the nubile girl. And that makes you very much that sex-symbol thing. The worst possible mantle to wear. You’re unintelligent, you can’t act, you’re going to disappear overnight. But the reaction by the public to the publicity was totally different. I became this sort of ‘drop dead’ fabulous chick. I thought, ‘Wow! This is powerful stuff. What do I do to live up to it?’ It made me extremely nervous and uptight.”

Early Fanzines

Such was the power of the fan press. And Raquel Welch fighting Ray Harryhausen’s dinosaurs circles us back to the sci-fi/ horror fanzines, which is my primary interest here. Fanzines in the comics field are far reaching, and include simple efforts or more polished works like the comics industry overview Rocket’s Blast

Comicollector. The amazing comics artist Wally Wood created his own high-quality comics fanzine witzend, often featuring his sexy space girl Sally Forth.

There have been dozens and dozens of great fanzines over the years, going back to the Thirties and Forties (perhaps even earlier), and there are even Facebook groups devoted to fanzines. Future Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J Ackerman was an early proponent of the fan press. “Forry” was instantly hooked on science fiction when the October 1926 issue of Amazing Stories jumped off the newsstand and called out to him (as Forry would often relate), “Take me home, little boy—you will love me.” His life changed forever and he became devoted to “sci-fi,” a term he later coined himself based on the then-popular “Hi-Fi” (High Fidelity) LP record albums in the music field. Hugo Gernsback, editor of Amazing Stories and considered “the Father of Science Fiction,” had included full addresses in the letters column and Forry and others began contacting one another. Sometimes the in-print correspondence would erupt into feuds (Forry even tangled with H. P. Lovecraft), but Forry gained friends the world over and eventually published his own fanzine VOM, or Voice of the ImagiNation. Ackerman was Ray Bradbury’s first agent and published Bradbury’s first story, later suggesting that Ray present his Mars based stories in a collection that became The Martian Chronicles. He became friends with Ray Harryhausen, Robert Heinlein, A.E. van Vogt, Robert Bloch, and Isaac Asimov.

And comic books’ Julius Schwartz. Also through the letters column in Amazing Stories, “Julie” contacted Mort Weisinger and in 1932 he and Weisinger and Allen Glasser started the first science-fiction fanzine, The Time Traveller. Julie went on to represent Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, Eric Frank Russell, Otto Binder, and even Robert Heinlein. He sold 75 stories by Robert Bloch, including the memorable Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, and in 1939 sold Bradbury’s The Pendulum

(TOP) Rocket’s Blast – ComicCollector #64 (1968). Cover art by John G. Fantucchio.

(CENTER) Wally Wood’s witzend #1 (1966). (BOTTOM) Wally Wood’s witzend #2.

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to Super Science Stories, appearing on the newsstands on Bradbury’s 21st birthday.

In February 1944, Julie went to work for All-American Comics, now a part of DC Comics, and worked on virtually every important DC title, including more than 160 issues of Strange Adventures and 90+ issues of Mystery in Space. Among many other accomplishments, he shepherded the 1964 revitalization of Batman with Detective Comics #327. He oversaw many of DC’s writers and artists during the era that became known as the Silver Age until 1989, when he retired as editor emeritus.

Meanwhile, one cover of Forry’s fanzine Imagination! from the Forties featured a line drawing by Ray Harryhausen. Ray contributed artwork to other fanzines of the period, too, launching the beginning of his style and interest in fanciful critters and creatures.

All of this activity ran parallel to what is now known as the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society (LASFS). Around 1930, Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback started the Science Fiction League with chapters in various cities. Forry soon became its dominant member. The club changed its name to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society in the late Thirties and is still going strong. At first the club met in various members’ homes, but eventually the Thursday gatherings moved to an upstairs meeting room in Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

Eventually the club officially changed its name to the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society and later to the Los Angeles Science Fiction/Fantasy Society.

Through LASFS, Forry introduced Ray Bradbury to Ray Harryhausen and sparked a lifelong friendship. Bradbury told author Mike Hankin in 2003, “I lived with my wife in Venice Beach. We were very poor. I made $40 a week writing for the pulp magazines.

One evening we walked along the shore and we saw the ruins of the old Venice Pier and the roller coaster was lying in the sand being covered by rain and wind. I looked at the roller coaster’s skeleton and turned to my wife and said, ‘I wonder what that

dinosaur was doing lying there on the beach.’ I woke in the middle of the night and way, way out in Santa Monica Bay the foghorn was blowing over and over again.

I thought, ‘Yes, the beast on the beach heard the foghorn blowing, thought it was another monster risen from a billion years of slumber and swam for the encounter with the other beast.’ I got out of bed in the morning and wrote The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which changed my life.” The story was published in the June 23, 1951 issue of The Saturday Evening Post (titled The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms by the editors of the Post—Bradbury later changed the title back to his original title, The Fog Horn, for his short story anthology Golden Apples of the Sun). Harryhausen would create the stop-motion animation for the movie version in 1953, and although the two Rays would remain friends until the end of their days, this would be the only time they worked on the same film. At the San Diego Comic-Con in 2006, Bradbury said, “The reason Ray Harryhausen and I are here today is Forry Ackerman. He introduced the two of us and he took me out of high school when I was 17 years old and gave me work to do, and he said that I was ‘OK’ for loving Lon Chaney and dinosaurs.”

Other “literary” fanzines such as Vision contributed to the growing if “underground” movement of sci-fi fans weaned on Amazing Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Sixties Fanzines

Along these lines were the “semi-pro” genre magazines such as Amateur Cine World (which couldn’t resist putting the famous Raquel cavegirl pose on its cover in 1966) and the sophisticated, highly regarded French sci-fi magazine MidiMinuit Fantastique (“Fantastic Midnight”).

I include here the primary competitors to Famous Monsters, Castle of Frankenstein (“CoF”), and Fantastic Monsters of the Films (“FanMo”). Both CoF and FanMo were “professional” in the sense of having newsstand distribution, but the layouts and look of the magazines

(TOP) Forrest J Ackerman’s Imagination! vol. 1 #12 (Sept. 1938). Cover illustration by Ray Harryhausen. (CENTER) Vision fanzine (c. 1940s). (BOTTOM) Amateur Cine World (Jan. 1967).

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had a greater “fannish” quality, even though the content was often in-depth and thought provoking. And FanMo had the great “Devil’s Workshop” feature in which professional monster-maker Paul (It Conquered the World) Blaisdell would go step-by-step through the process of sculpting a figure, making a latex rubber mold, and casting the figure. If Famous Monsters opened the doors to recognizing “The Men Behind the Monsters,” FanMo was one of the first to go one step further and tell us how to do it.

But the true fanzine—magazines written, illustrated, printed, and distributed by and among the fans with no aspirations beyond their genuine amateur ranking—were jolted to life by the monster world’s second wave, the “Silver Age” of monster-dom in the Sixties.

We didn’t know enough to call ourselves “MonsterKids” back then, but we were passionate devotees nevertheless. The package of classic Universal horror films syndicated to television by Screen Gems as Shock Theater kicked things off, and Famous Monsters magazine with its assorted (but usually short-lived) competitors fueled the fire. The famous Aurora monster model kits, the Mars Attacks! bubble-gum cards (which infuriated parents for all of their gory images, much to our even greater delight), a wave of TV series with macabre themes, whether serious (The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Thriller) or humorous (The Munsters, Bewitched, and The Addams Family), and toys and games and just about everything else with a “monster” theme at

(LEFT) Fantastic Monsters of the Films #6 (1964). (RIGHT) Horrors of the Screen #3.

one time or another. Halloween in those days easily surpassed Christmas as the kid-holiday of the year.

And so we were inspired to give it a go ourselves. Forry Ackerman once stated in defense of “monsters” that one of the positive legacies of something like Famous Monsters magazine (if not the quickie knockoffs) was that it inspired its young fans to read the classics, draw pictures and get involved in art, experiment with makeup, animate 8mm clay dinosaur movies, and more. Looking back, he was talking about me, as I did all of those things. I didn’t make any specific connection or correlation—no “Eureka!” moment—but with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight I can say that my inherent creative instincts were definitely fueled by Famous Monsters and all of the other influences. Read the classics? You bet. I remember reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the fifth or sixth grade, mostly during school lunch period, and this was most definitely prompted by reading about the Lugosi film version in Famous Monsters.

A sampling of horror zines. Their presentations may have at times been primitive, but their passion was unmatched. (LEFT TO RIGHT) Horror Club of Great Britain #4, Chillers of the Screen #1 (Oct. 1964), Image #1 (Oct. 1967), and Horror Screen World #6.

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Famous Monsters would occasionally review fanzines, and this intrigued me.

I didn’t correspond (yet) with other fans and didn’t own any fanzines to which I could compare or analyze for guidance or inspiration. Now, of course, it’s wonderful to look back on fanzines from those days, from the simplest mimeographed publications like Horror Screen World or Spectre to the more sophisticated “printed” fanzines like Horrors of the Screen and Ready for Showing. The latter was especially interesting to me because of its coverage of stop motion animation films, featuring articles and photos by and about David Allen and Paul Davids (Paul had been featured previously in the Famous Monsters movie-making contest for his and filmmaking partner Jef f Tinsley’s version of Siegfried Saves Metropolis). It was enormously frustrating, though, that Ready for Showing teased the reader with the planned contents of its second issue, including the entire scripts to 20 Million Miles to Earth and other Harryhausen films—only to never publish another issue! I’ve always wondered whatever happened there.

One of the titans of fanzine publishing was—and is—Gary Svehla who, at 13-years-old, in 1963 launched Gore Creatures, a hand-drawn fanzine, with his friend Dave Metzler. “Hand-drawn” is no exaggeration: Gary copied over the first few copies of the entire first issue in pen. Fortunately, the issue wasn’t that long. Even so, Gary’s father stepped in and suggested carbon copies (remember finger-smudging carbon paper?), which made life a whole lot easier. Gore Creatures #1 didn’t even have a cover (it was blank), but when Gary and Dave Metzler were working on #2 shortly thereafter, they used the #2 cover art (Dave’s Wolf Man) as the cover for the remaining copies of #1 left to mail out.

Typical of fanzines of this (very) pre-internet era, print runs were scant, (TOP LEFT) Gore Creatures (1967).

(MIDDLE LEFT) Gore Creatures #18.

(BOTTOM LEFT) Ready for Showing, c. 1965, featuring the early stopmotion work of David Allen.

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Gary Svehla with Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J Ackerman.

resulting in a scarcity of copies existing today. According to the premier horror/scifi magazine expert Steve Dolnick, the print run of Gore Creatures #1 was only around 15 to 20 copies, mostly given to friends (plus one copy to Forry), and today only two or perhaps three copies are known to exist (one of which does not have a cover), including those in Gary’s own collection.

Issues #2, 3, 4, and 5 had a print run of around 25 to 50 copies, and today only two to four copies each are known to exist of each. By issues #6 and 7, the print run had escalated to 50–100 copies, but today only four to five copies of #6 and five to eight copies of #7 exist. Issues #8–10 increased to 100–150 copies printed, and the print runs continued to climb thereafter.

The original fanzine ran for 25 issues.

The name Gore Creatures was always mildly controversial, some chiding it as blatantly obvious and immature, but I always found it to be both charming and exhilarating to my 12-year-old MonsterKid mindset.

But others felt differently, including über poster collector and dealer Ron V. Borst (author of the horror movie-poster book Graven Images), at that time a major contributor to Mark Frank’s fanzine Photon.

By this time a high school English teacher by profession with a side class called “World of Movies,” Gary started compiling new title ideas into a folder while he screened movies in his classroom. One of his two title finalists was Cinemacabre; when Gary passed on that choice his friend and fellow Baltimore fanzine publisher George Stover picked it up as the title for

Ernest Farino’s Retro Fantasmagoria

Gary Svehla.

his new fanzine. Gary said that the final choice was “perhaps inspired by the song from the premiere album by New York punk rock band Television, which was titled Marquee Moon.” So in 1975, issue #26 heralded the magazine’s new name: Midnight Marquee.

Gary met his wife Susan in 1981. They married in 1984 and Sue became an integral part of the magazine’s success. Midnight Marquee has not only continued all these years but has become the foundation of their publishing mini-empire Midnight Marquee Press, still operating out of Baltimore (www.midmar.com). If the fanzine world needed to name its own William Randolph Hearst (or Charles Foster Kane, if you prefer), Gary would be it.

Fanzines became better, slicker, and more polished, sometimes rivaling their professional newsstand counterparts.

Mike Murphy’s British magazine devoted to Hammer Films, Dark Terrors, was entertaining, informative, nicely laid out, and printed on glossy paper, and Mark Frank’s Photon magazine, the Vanity Fair of fanzines, was a wonder. Greg Shoemaker’s Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (devoted to the giant monsters of Toho Studios) was also a pioneer. Fred Clarke’s Cinefantastique started as a catalog of movie material for sale and evolved into a prominent, slick, semi-pro magazine with wide distribution.

In the early Seventies, Baltimore-based Don Dohler launched Cinemagic, a nicely produced fanzine devoted to the amateur movie maker. There was an emphasis on sci-fi and horror and very often the issues dealt with stop-motion animation and

other visual-effects how-to techniques for the 8mm enthusiast. In fact, #8 was entirely devoted to stop motion and has become the most sought-after issue among collectors. I enjoyed rendering a cover painting for that issue, a concept I came up with that, to me, summed up the character of the ambitious amateur whose dreams of King Kong are realized through his own Plasticine versions of an ape and a dinosaur locked in mortal combat. Don Dohler expanded his interests to include film production, and his films The Alien Factor, Nightbeast, and Galaxy Invader have developed a small cult following.

Eventually Kerry O’Quinn and Starlog Press bought up Cinemagic and turned into a more mainstream magazine (though still devoted to the amateur filmmaker). Don Dohler then created Amazing Cinema and a more general film magazine, Movie Club.

Richard Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors (also devoted to Hammer Films) continues today and has evolved from a classic “fanzine” into a slick, thoroughly researched, and substantive chronicle of all things Hammer on glossy paper with full-color covers. The in-depth coverage of classic Hammer films like Curse of Frankenstein and Brides of Dracula is almost beyond belief (except there it is right in front of you), and it can take days to fully read and absorb each issue. The current issue devoted to When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth promises to provide the definitive overview of “Beauties and Beasts” (as the 1970 Hammer promo film proclaimed).

Farino Fanzines

Okay, so, never one to leave well enough alone, I just had to get into it.

As I mentioned in my previous RetroFan column [in issue #1], around 1964 in El Paso, Texas, my fanzine became The Saturday Evening Ghost, largely handwritten or typed, with artwork (usually traced from monster magazines) and photos clipped from Famous Monsters and taped or stapled onto the pages.

The three Famous Monsters paperback editions even inspired me to create my (TOP) Dark Terrors #4. (CENTER) Photon #1.

(BOTTOM) Photon #25.

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Amazing Cinema #4. Movie Club #4.

(TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Cinefantastique #1 (1967). This began as a mimeographed fanzine but matured into a slick publication. Cinemagic #8. Cover art by Ernest Farino. Cinemagic editor/publisher Don Dohler.

(CENTER ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Famous Monsters of Filmland #143 (1977), with a creature from Don Dohler’s first film The Alien Factor on the cover. Amazing Cinema #4. Little Shoppe of Horrors #1.

(BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Little Shoppe of Horrors #4. Little Shoppe of Horrors publisher Richard Klemensen in 1973, just after issue #3 came out.

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(TOP) The Saturday Evening Ghost “paperback” edition. (INSET) Famous Monsters paperback #1 cover. (ABOVE) The stars of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Kathryn Grant Crosby (holding FXRH #4) and Kerwin Mathews, flank TV horror host Bob Wilkins.

own “paperback” version, which was basically the same thing except on digest-sized paper. But it was fun to think in terms of “spin-of f” editions.

A few years later I became affiliated with the Marcel Delgado Appreciation Society fan club and its newsletter, as a “researcher,” and was quite interested to see the newsletter/magazine expand in size and quality. This eventually culminated in Sam Calvin and I publishing the Ray Harryhausen fanzine Special Visual Effects Created by Ray Harryhausen (or FXRH) from 1971–1974.

Around 1977 one of the few remaining TV “horror hosts,” Bob Wilkins in San Francisco, ran The 7th Voyage of Sinbad on his show and managed to bring in its stars, Kerwin Mathews and Kathryn Grant. It was quite a thrill so see a photo of them all together with Ms. Grant (a.k.a. Mrs. Bing Crosby), “Princess Parisa” in 7th Voyage, holding a copy of FXRH #4.

And equally thrilling was learning that Ray Harryhausen himself had taken all four issues of FXRH and had them professionally bound in a hardcover album.

I think Charles Foster Kane was right: It was fun to publish a fanzine…

Special thanks to Steve Dolnick, Richard Klemensen, Gary J. Svehla, and Pete von Sholly.

ERNEST FARINO recently directed an episode of the SyFy/Netflix series Superstition, created by and starring Mario Van Peebles, as well as serving as Visual Effects Consultant. Previously Farino directed Steel and Lace starring Bruce Davison, episodes of Monsters starring Lydia Cornell and Marc McClure, ABC’s Land of the Lost starring Timothy Bottoms, and extensive 2nd Unit for the miniseries Dune starring William Hurt, Noah’s Ark starring Jon Voight, and Supernova starring Luke Perry. A two-time Emmy-winning Visual Effects Supervisor for SyFy’s Dune and Children of Dune miniseries, Farino supervised and produced the Emmy-nominated visual effects for the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon; James Cameron’s The Terminator, The Abyss, and T2; as well as Starship Troopers, Snow White–A Tale of Terror, Creepshow, and many others. His publishing enterprise, Archive Editions, has published Mike Hankin’s elaborate three-volume hardcover book set Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks, The FXRH Collection, and more.

(TOP) FXRH #2: original page layout sketch. (CENTER) FXRH #2: Original page pasteup. (BOTTOM) FXRH #2: Final printed page.

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COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS BACK ISSUE

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, including Pro2Pro interviews (between two top creators), “Greatest Stories Never Told”, retrospective articles, and more.

Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

BACK ISSUE #106

ALTER EGO

ALTER EGO, the greatest ‘zine of the ‘60s, is all-new, focusing on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art. Each issue includes an FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) section, Mr. Monster & more.

Edited by ROY THOMAS.

ALTER EGO #154

COMIC BOOK CREATOR

COMIC BOOK CREATOR is the new voice of the comics medium, devoted to the work and careers of the men and women who draw, write, edit, and publish comics, focusing always on the artists and not the artifacts, the creators and not the characters. Edited by JON B. COOKE.

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #18

DRAW!

DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation.

Each issue features in-depth interviews and step-by-step demonstrations from top comics professionals. Some issues contain figure-drawing instruction nudity; Mature Readers Only. Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

DRAW #35

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR celebrates the life and career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby and his contemporaries, feature articles, and rare & unseen Kirby artwork, showcased in dynamic full-color! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #74

ALLEN BELLMAN (1940s Timely artist) interviewed by DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, with art by SHORES, BURGOS, BRODSKY, SEKOWSKY, EVERETT, & JAFFEE. Plus Marvel’s ’70s heroines: LINDA FITE & PATY COCKRUM on The Cat, CAROLE SEULING on Shanna the She-Devil, & ROY THOMAS on Night Nurse—with art by SEVERIN, FRADON, ANDRU, and more! With FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Career-spanning discussion with STEVE “THE DUDE” RUDE, as he shares his reallife psychological struggles, the challenges of freelance subsistence, and his creative aspirations. Also: The jungle art of NEAL ADAMS, MARY FLEENER on her forthcoming graphic novel Billie the Bee and her comix career, RICH BUCKLER interview Part Three, Golden Age artist FRANK BORTH, HEMBECK and more!

Fantasy/sci-fi illustrator DONATO GIANCOLA (Game of Thrones) demos his artistic process, GEORGE PRATT (Enemy Ace: War Idyll, Batman: Harvest Breed) discusses his work as comic book artist, illustrator, fine artist, and teacher, Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS, JERRY ORDWAY’S regular column, and MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp.” Mature Readers Only.

FUTUREPAST! Kirby’s “World That Was” from Caveman days to the Wild West, and his “World That’s Here” of Jack’s visions of the future that became reality! TWO COVERS: Bullseye inked by BILL WRAY, and Jack’s unseen Tiger 21 concept art!

Plus: interview with ROY THOMAS about Jack, rare Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER moderating the biggest Kirby Tribute Panel of all time, pencil art galleries, and more!

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RETRO TRAVEL

Welcome to Metropolis The Home of Superman

by Michael Eury

The Metropolis of Superman lore is a bustling environment with glistening skyscrapers that pierce the clouds—just like its high-soaring protector from Krypton—and whose streets attract a never-ending barrage of attacks from mad scientists, alien invaders, and vengeful supervillains.

The Metropolis of the real world—nestled at the southeastern corner of Illinois, U.S.A., the last stop in the American South before it gives way to the Heartland—has no skyscrapers. It’s a rustic postcard of small shops and modest homes that haven’t changed much over the years, populated by the kind of good-natured folks you’d find in a John Cougar Mellencamp song.

But this Metropolis has its own Superman—two, if you count the giant Superman statue in the center of town—and once a year, its streets are overrun with… well, mad scientists, alien invaders, and vengeful supervillains—plus more Supermen than you can shake a red cape at.

Metropolis, Illinois, is a city of 6,500 residents, but during the second weekend of each June it is flooded by a torrent of visitors (and event staffers) in electric blue Superman T-shirts, in town for (TOP LEFT) This colorful sign, repurposing Neal Adams art from the cover of Superman #252, greets visitors as they enter Metropolis. (TOP RIGHT) One of the Super Museum’s many, many exhibits spotlights a collection of Superman original and specialty artwork. (BOTTOM) A Daily Planet vintage car, parked in front of the museum. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs in this article are by Michael Eury. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

the annual Superman Celebration, a unique, extraordinarily fun hybrid of a community festival and a comic-con.

There’s a lot to see in town during the Superman Celebration, from the Super Museum, statues of Superman and Lois Lane, and a procession of food and street vendors vying for your attention… but it’s the legion of Superman masqueraders that catch your eye, as countless fun-seekers rush to the annual event dressed as the Man of Steel (pick your favorite version—from 1938’s Action Comics #1, to the Henry Cavill movie Superman, to every incarnation in between, they’re here). You’ll find Supermen in every size, gender, and ethnicity imaginable, from uber-fit fashion models to muffin-topped grandpas to special-needs youth to chain-smoking stringbeans. And joining the many Supermen are cosplayers garbed as Supergirl (in several variations, including the Seventies’ hotpants version!), Superboy, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor… plus characters outside of the Superman Family, virtually everyone from Ant-Man to Zatanna.

The Origin of Metropolis

The Metropolis, Illinois, of yesteryear looked not up in the sky for a bird, a plane, or a Superman, but to the riverbanks. Its advantageous position on the majestic Ohio River, just across from Kentucky, attracted French settlers during the mid-1700s, who displaced the region’s Native-American population and erected Fort De L’Ascension during the French and Indian War. That fort was destroyed and rebuilt on several occasions, eventually bearing the name Fort Massac in honor of the Marquis de Massac, France’s Minister of the Marine. The fort was immortalized in RetroFan

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of today is bolstered by an eager Chamber of Commerce dedicated to new business development. According to Mendy Harris, president of the Metropolis Area Chamber of Commerce, “We depend on local business owners who have a vision and create that vision in our community.

We add several locally owned businesses to Metropolis every year, and are proud of how much we have grown. Our Economic Development team is constantly looking for opportunities to bring bigger businesses to Metropolis. We are proud of our small town, all its charm, and true Southern hospitality that you will meet when visiting any of our local businesses.”

Those businesses are appreciative of the city’s various tourist attractions, and many, including the Chamber office, sell a variety of Superman apparel and merchandise (you can even toss back a cold “Kal-Ale” at 718BrewCafe). In addition to Metropolis’ Superman-related commerce, a riverfront Harrah’s casino lures a steady (TOP) Superman (Rev. Charles Chandler) is welcomed by Metropolis officials on the original Superman Day in 1972. (BOTTOM LEFT) The original welcome sign. Both photos from stream of visitors, as does the burial site of Amazing World of Superman–Official Metropolis Edition. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Neal Adams’ the infamous Birdman of Alcatraz (Robert conceptual art for a planned Superman theme park in Metropolis. TM & © DC Comics.

F. Stroud), and the city is the home of the lushly forested Fort Massac State Park, Illinois’ very first state park.

American history as the site of a Revolutionary War skirmish led Yet it is as “the home of Superman” that Metropolis, Illinois,

by George Rogers Clark and later, as an encampment for Lewis is most famous. Credit for that designation stretches back to the and Clark during their legendary Westward expedition. By the early Seventies, when Metropolis businessman Bob Westerfield, time Metropolis was founded in 1839, “this was a river town and a respected community leader, realizing that his city shared its a hopping little place,” says William Nichols, a retired history name with Superman’s fictional municipality, got the notion teacher who operates Metropolis’ Riverview Mansion Bed and to co-opt the Superman “brand” via a partnership with the Breakfast along with his wife, Lori (see sidebar). “Steamboat traffic character’s copyright owner and publisher, DC Comics, at the could load and unload easily because of its shallow shoreline.” time known as National Periodical Publications, Inc. DC agreed, This accessibility inspired the small community’s big name: “They eager to construct a planned $50 million Superman theme park in figured this place would take off,” Nichols reveals. “They had big town. Comics artist extraordinaire Neal Adams, at the time one plans, and that’s why it was named ‘Metropolis.’ ” of the industry’s few superstars, was commissioned to illustrate While those “big plans” didn’t evolve the community into the conceptual drawings for the proposed Superman Land, whose megalopolis implied by its ambitious appellation, the Metropolis attractions would have included a Voyage to Krypton, Smallville Main Street, Fortress of Solitude, and movie theater.

An exuberant crowd of over 3,000 witnessed Metropolis Mayor J. P. “Pal” Williams’ proclamation of “Superman Day” on Friday, January 21, 1972. “I remember at Washington Park, they were selling kryptonite. It was a brand-new thing,” recalls Metropolis native Cathy Tirey, who today operates Honeysuckle Row antiques in Metropolis. The ceremony was attended by a host of dignitaries including then-DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino… and Superman himself, played to perfection by Look! Down on the street! Thousands of attendees walked past Metropolis pastor Charles Chandler (see sidebar), sporting a or over numerous informative decals placed on Main Street that costume once worn by TV Superman George Reeves. (Many tracked the evolution of Superman’s iconic S emblem. Superman TM & comic-book fans—including yours truly, a teenager growing up © DC Comics. in North Carolina at the time—vicariously witnessed this event via the tabloid-sized publication, Amazing World of Superman– 68

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Of ficial Metropolis Edition, which was available for mail order in 1973.)

And thus the idyllic Illinois community began a metamorphosis: an image of the Man of Steel greeted visitors atop the city’s welcome sign and water tower, and the city’s Metropolis Planet (as in Daily Planet) weekly newspaper reported on local happenings. Over time, a newer welcome sign was added (repurposing a Neal Adams-drawn image from the cover of 1972’s Superman #252) and a 15-foot Superman statue—the ultimate stop for a photo op—was erected in the heart of town. More recently, a life-sized bronze statue of Noel Neill, the actress who played Lois Lane in two Superman movie serials and on all but the first season of TV’s Adventures of Superman, has been added downtown (Neill was a frequent special guest of the Superman Celebration up to her 2016 death).

The Super Museum

Metropolis, the city that adopted Superman, not only (LEFT) The Man of Steel stands tall in this 15-foot statue, Metropolis’ number one photo op spot. (RIGHT) Screen Lois Lane Noel Neill is immortalized in this draws visitors who are fans of the Man of Tomorrow, lifelike statue. it has also attracted Superfans who have relocated here. The city’s most famous transplant is Superman aficionado Jim Hambrick, owner of one of the world’s most comprehensive Superman collections—a mindincluding movie serial Superman Kirk Alyn, whose phone boggling array of tens of thousands of items, including toys, booth—perfect for a quick change from reporter to superhero— apparel, watches, food products, original artwork and animation is one of the collection’s many crown jewels. Hambrick’s supercels, classic comic books, photographs, films, and one-of-apassion dates back to age five, when he was gifted a Superman kind movie and TV costumes and props. The museum features lunch box. He was weaned on the George Reeves Adventures of ambient sounds echoing through the site’s various rooms, from Superman television series and ultimately sought out Superman Superman musical themes to loops of clips from Superman films. memorabilia, amassing a large collection that continues to grow Some items in the collection boast the super-pedigree of hailing to this day. Relocating his family from California to Metropolis— from Superman actors befriended over the years by Hambrick, where else would this mega-fan of Superman live?—Hambrick

WILL THE REAL SUPERMAN PLEASE STAND UP? Reverend Charles Chandler of Metropolis’ First Baptist Church, who played Superman during the city’s “Superman Day” in 1972, became an overnight celebrity after media coverage of that inaugural event, with numerous personalappearance requests pouring in to the town’s Chamber of Commerce office.

Once again donning the Superman costume originally sported on TV by actor George Reeves, Rev. Chandler’s most widely seen appearance as the Man of Steel occurred on a 1972 episode of the nationally broadcast quiz show To Tell the Truth, hosted by the buzzcut-coiffed Garry Moore. Chandler and two other contestants attempted to stump celebrity panelists Nipsey Russell, Kitty Carlisle, Gene Rayburn, and Peggy Cass as to which of the trio was secretly the Man of Steel.

Metropolis native Cathy Tirey, who today runs the Honeysuckle Row antique store, remembers that

Chandler’s television appearance was the talk of the town. “I was a young teenager when it was on,” she says.

“I remember him being on and I remember his house and Mom saying, ‘We’re going to watch.’ It was exciting to have someone from here to be on TV.”

© 1972 DC Comics.

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Among the Super Museum’s many treasures are original costumes worn by actors and actresses who have played the Man of Steel and Lois Lane as well as important costuming and prop pieces.

opened the Super Museum in 1993 to showcase his collection. The museum attracts roughly 200,000 visitors each year.

Today the Super Museum is managed by Hambrick’s adult daughter, Morgan Siebert, who happened to be dressed as Batman villainess Poison Ivy on the day I met her, on June 7, 2018.

“We have a passion,” she beams. “It is a love of Superman, and we use it every day to persevere, to continue. It brings people from around the world and it turns 75-year-old men into kids every day.

It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Siebert can’t remember a day without Superman in her life, and accompanied her father on many of his quests to obtain the

During a skit at the Superman Celebration’s kick-off, Metropolis’ own Man of Steel, Josh Boltinghouse, apprehends mobsters and a gun moll straight out of a black-and-white episode of TV’s Adventures of Superman.

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pieces in his collection. Along the way, she’s made friends with legendary comic-book artists and actors connected to Superman.

“I have a baby picture of myself with the George Reeves costume,” she reveals. “Kirk Alyn was the best man in my dad’s wedding, and he used to come to my house when I was a kid. I met Neal Adams last year and told him, ‘Your art is my nursery.’ I’ve gotten to know a lot of people.”

I’ve visited the Super Museum on two occasions, during the Superman Celebrations of 2008 and 2018, both times during which I was a special guest of the event. The amount of Superman memorabilia there is utterly astounding. On my 2018 visit I attempted to play “stump the collection,” seeking out pieces I know to be rare—and every time, I found them, on display behind glass, from a mid-Sixties gumball machine featuring the Justice League of America (with JLA member Superman front and center) to the Superboy costume for Ideal Toys’ Action Boy figure to the photomat film strip from Superman III’s intro, depicting Christopher Reeve’s transformation from Clark Kent to the Metropolis Marvel. The collection is grouped according to theme, from sections dedicated to the various screen interpretations of Superman (including more recent entries such as TV’s Smallville and the Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman films) to a Supergirl room to collections of Superman watches, filmstrip viewers… you name it, it’s there!

Hambrick’s hall of super-stuff feels like a vault into which he has welcomed you for a viewing, and its down-to-earth presentation fits the hominess of the city outside of the museum’s brick walls.

The Superman Celebration

Metropolis’ big event packs them in each year, and while the Superman Celebration is a Thursday-through-Sunday affair, its planning and coordinating require year-round work.

Retro Travel

Metropolis florist Karla Ogle is the Ilya Salkind and actors Jack O’Halloran winsome face behind the event. “I’ve (Non), Jeff East (young Clark Kent), been involved in one way or another Aaron Smolinski (baby Clark), John for almost 20 years, from sitting on the Haymes Newton (star of Season One planning committee to running the of the Superboy live-action TV show), kids’ activities and bringing Smallville and Kevin Caliber (Superman from the to life and finally taking the reins as a opening credits of the first season of chair for several years until my sister TV’s Supergirl). Also in attendance as Lisa Gower joined in as co-chair,” Ogle guests at the 2018 show were a range says. This event planner is superof talented comics and animation quick in pointing out that it takes a artists and writers, models, and fanvillage to raise a super-“child.” “We are film producers—they even brought surrounded by great volunteers that back yours truly, author of The Krypton make this four-day event work. The The Superman Celebration attracts visitors from Companion (thank you for your only paid employees are our [Chamber] across the globe. In attendance at the 2018 event hospitality, Metropolis… I had a blast!). were Superfans Matthew Apps, from Australia, and executive director Amanda King, Previous Superman Celebrations Sefy Levy, from Israel. In the background is part along with three part-time Chamber have featured Noel Neill, Margot of the Super Museum’s Superboy (the live-action TV employees. Tourism director Trish Kidder, Sarah Douglas, Ned Beatty, show) exhibit.

Steckenrider handles the marketing/ and Smallville cast members, as well promotional/media departments. We as comics luminaries from Murphy have a core group of well-experienced Anderson to Alex Ross to Gail Simone. staffers that number about nine, and then we add in an additional Special guests are far from the only attraction at the 20 to 30 volunteers to work the event.” Ogle also credits the city’s Superman Celebration. “There’s so much to do during those four mayor, police and fire departments, civic organizations, and days,” Ogle says, “and many events and activities are free. We have business community for their support. a ton of kids’ activities under the Smallville Tent, and games and Ogle and Metropolis’ legion of super-organizers are, like competitions for teens and adults.” the Man of Steel, in perpetual motion. “The planning and A sampling of Superman Celebration activities from 2018 brainstorming sessions go on all year long and we actually start on included Q&A panels with celebrity guests, autograph sessions, next year while working on this year!” she reveals. “We’ll think of a live actors performing a Superman radio show program, a 40th change or someone has a great idea that they share with us and we anniversary screening of Superman: The Movie and a showing make a mental note to explore the options of that event or a tweak of a Margot Kidder tribute film, costume contests for children to an existing event.” and for adults, television episode screenings, Superman trivia Celebrities are a major draw to the Superman Celebration. competitions, writing and drawing how-to panels, a fundraising Each year you can expect a different slate of actors and actresses, Super Auction (benefitting Metropolis’ “Save the Massac Theatre” and artists and writers, who are invited to Metropolis as guests. campaign), helicopter rides, an amusement park, a dance, a The featured guests at the 2018 Superman Celebration were retailers room with vendors selling comic books and collectibles, Brandon Routh (title star of Superman Returns, whose current role and the final day’s Parade of Characters down Market Street, is the Atom/Ray Palmer in the CW’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), the city’s main drag. Among my activities was emceeing a lively, plus Blake Ritson and Shawn Sipos (Brainiac and Adam Strange of imaginative program titled “80 Years Looking Superman,” a SyFy’s Krypton). Special guests were Superman: The Movie producer fashion show of models and cosplayers dressed as approximately

(LEFT) The finalists in the Superman Celebration’s costume contest. (RIGHT) The costume contest’s judges: actor/model Kevin Caliber, who played Superman in the opening credit’s of Season One of TV’s Supergirl; RetroFan’s own Michael Eury; artist Jim Hall; and cartoonist Art Baltazar. Photo by Rose Rummel-Eury.

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40 different versions of Superman over the years, dating back to his original look from 1938’s Action Comics #1. Participating in many of the celebration’s activities was Metropolis’ official Superman, Josh Boultinghouse, a broad-shouldered actor who’s been part of the annual event since being selected for the role after a 2008 talent search and competition.

The majority of the events require no fee or registration, which makes it difficult to gauge an accurate head count for the Superman Celebration.

“We know it is thousands and thousands,” says the Chamber’s Mendy Harris.

“Our small town definitely doubles and probably triples in size during the Superman Celebration.”

Certainly the small-town charm of Metropolis brings attendees here each year, as do the Superman Celebration’s guest list and festivities. Author Brian K. Morris made his first visit to Metropolis in 1999. “I saw an ad for the Saturday night auction in an issue of The Comic Buyer’s Guide,” he recalls. “I knew there was a Metropolis, but didn’t realize that this event was a thing. So I went down there for the auction, just for a day. This stretched into attending the entire Celebration from open to close.”

And he’s kept coming back, along with his wife Cookie, drawn by the Super Museum and celebrity guests… and ultimately becoming part of a Super-family that gathers annually. Both Brian and Cookie have volunteered with the event over the years in a variety of ways including its auction, cosplay contests, and guest recruitment.

It’s unlikely that this feeling of family could have evolved in a city devoted to, say, Batman, Spider-Man, or the X-Men. It’s the enduring appeal of the Man of Steel and the ideals for which he stands that pulls in visitors to Metropolis from as far away as Israel and Australia.

“In the world we are in now with all the conflict and controversy, Superman is an icon and symbol of the good we want to see in people,” contends Mendy Harris. “I feel fans look up to him as the umbrella of protection over them against the bad that is in the world. He provides them comfort and peace in the midst of chaos.”

Actor Jeff East is fully aware of the depth of the legend of Superman… and the importance of the 1978 Richard Donner-directed film that helped make him famous. While finishing his breakfast on the last day of the 2018 celebration, East remarked to me, “I’ve done a lot of movies over the years, but people only seem to want to talk about Superman.”

As Glenn Ford’s Jonathan “Pa” Kent told East’s young Clark in that classic film, “You are here for a reason.”

And that reason is to inspire—which is, above all, Superman’s greatest superpower.

If you’re looking to be inspired—and simply want to have a darn good time—plan a visit to Metropolis, Illinois.

Special thanks to Jeff East, Mendy Harris, Brian K. Morris, William and Lori Nichols, Karla Ogle, and Morgan Siebert, plus Rose Rummel-Eury for interview transcriptions.

WANT TO VISIT METROPOLIS? Plan your visit to Metropolis, Illinois, by visiting these informative websites: www.supermancelebration.net metropolischamber.com

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RIVERVIEW MANSION BED AND BREAKFAST Metropolis offers several lodging options with hundreds of available rooms, but for those wishing to step into a time machine, consider the bed and breakfast known as Riverview Mansion.

Operated by the husband-and-wife team of William and Lori Nichols, the gorgeous, exquisitely restored Riverview Mansion, a mere block away from the Ohio River, was built in 1889 by the Quante brothers, local businessmen who heeded the townspeople’s call for a community “playhouse” for dances, dinner parties, and other social activities.

William Nichols’ past as a history teacher is clearly evident as he enthusiastically shares the house’s story with visitors: the mansion was constructed by German engineers skilled at building homes on top of mud, who used a then-new building material called concrete.

Its conical, “floating” foundation allows the house to rise in the event of a flood, then settle when the waters recede and the mud dries. The mansion’s other innovations during its construction included Edison wiring, flushing toilets with a thenrevolutionary septic system, an elevator installed by elevator pioneer John Otis himself, and a phone line connection placed

by Alexander Graham Bell—the first phone in town!

Bell “put in a party line for the warehouse, grist mill, and their party house,” William chuckles. “The mayor found out and said, ‘I want a telephone, too!’ There was nobody else to call!” Before its current role as a B&B, the mansion has also been a private residence, a hospital, and a nursing home.

Naturally, the Riverview Mansion of today features all of the modern conveniences of contemporary living, nestled within the footprint and décor of its Victorian Era roots. A backyard wedding chapel is also available.

For information, contact summersbedandbreakfast.com.

SUPER COLLECTOR

Your Two Favorite Heroes in One Collection…

Together!

by Chris Franklin Where did it all start? Was it a chance broadcast of a Sixites’ They are the exact same items that I held in my soft, tiny hands Batman rerun? Maybe an old episode of The Adventures of then, and can hold in my larger, more weathered hands now.

Superman? New episodes of the All-New Super Friends Hour? It And they wouldn’t have survived the first decade without my was probably a combination of all of those things that spoke to mom. She fostered my collection, really. But it was someone me for some reason, and made comic-book superheroes such a else who started it. huge part of my life as both a child and as an adult. From those My older cousin Joe would often pick me up and take me exposures on TV came the comics, and… the merchandise. to my grandparents’ while my parents were off to work. We’d Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes sometimes stop by the local convenience line of action figures was there from the store and he would buy me an Icee and get-go. I don’t really recall when I got my a comic. He knew I was superherofirst Megos. Experts say we don’t really obsessed. So in addition to enabling my retain memories before we are three comic habit, he took it one step further. years old. So by the time I was three, He ushered me into the world of…

I at least had the standard eight-inch collectibles. figures of Superman, Batman, and Robin.

Now, clearly today we think of Mego I seem to recall getting the Batcave and figures as collectibles. But at the time, Batmobile for Christmas, probably in most considered them just childhood 1977, right after I had turned three. playthings. But what about something Those toys, like most of my early more practical? Something that was childhood playthings, didn’t really created for the collector in mind, even if it survive the years. I have replacements served another useful purpose? now, and Megos in all scales and sizes Collectible glasses were just that, a have been re-purchased over the course popular promotional item that restaurant of my collecting career. I’ve also picked chains fully exploited in the Seventies and up items I could never find at the time, Eighties. DC Comics was no stranger to but longed for from the taunting artwork such promotions, having partnered with on the figure card backs.

Cheers! Chris Franklin and some of his Pepsi in 1976 and 1978 for two popular wonderful superhero toys. All photos series of glasses. in this article are courtesy of our guest In the Beginning…

In that later year, Cousin Joe made Super Collector. Superman, Batman, and But there were a few pieces from those a trip to Pizza Hut in nearby Lexington, related characters TM & © DC Comics. early, preschool days that did survive.

Kentucky, and picked me up the two most

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my young mind was seized by packaging design. The unnamed artist combined Peter Max-style aesthetics with poses lifted straight off of comic icons like Curt Swan, Ross Andru, and Neal Adams, depicting the legend of the Man of Steel in one concise image. The figure seemed almost secondary. My fascination with this box was the nascent beginnings of my “Mint in Package” collector leanings, and may have also inspired my adult profession of graphic designer!

Young Chris was indoctrinated into the collecting hobby with these 1978 Pepsi glasses.

Superman and Batman TM & © DC Comics.

logical glasses to get: Superman and Batman… because if you are going to get just two, of course you want the two big guns! And he knew I loved both.

I was very excited to receive what I considered rare and exotic gifts! But upon their arrival in our home, my mother did something curious.

She didn’t let me use them.

She told me not to drink out of them. And she wasn’t worried about the lead content! She said they were “collectible.” I am certain I didn’t know what that meant—I just knew I couldn’t pour my Kool-Aid into them! She assured me that I would appreciate it later. Turns out that in this instance, just like almost every other, she was right. She put them in the china cabinet, along with all of the other nice dishes and glasses we had, and I got to stare at them from behind glass for the next ten or so years. Looking around my house now, this was a precedent setter.

You’ll Believe a Kid Can Buy

In that same year, Cousin Joe (him again!) took my sister and I to see Superman: The Movie when it debuted in town shortly after its national premiere in December of 1978. If there was any chance of my growing out of my obsession with superheroes, Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve took care of that. Superman: The Movie cemented my love for the character and the concept of the superhero. It is still my favorite film to this very day.

My favorite piece of Superman movie merchandise was Mego’s 12 ½-inch Superman figure.

It had a serviceable resemblance to Christopher Reeve, but the thing that captivated me most about that toy then, as today, is the box. For the first time, Inspired by Christopher Reeve’s movie Man of Steel, the 1978 Mego Superman figure. Note that portions of the decorative box’s art features redrawn poses from the cover of Superman #300, which is mentioned in this issue’s Retro Games article. Superman TM & © DC Comics.

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Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel

As I wrote earlier, well-loved toys, by their nature, aren’t very likely to survive childhood play. But non-toy items aimed at kids often pass the test of time. Some of these survivors include: my Vanity Fair Batman radio, with its 2D figure of Batman swiped from artist Murphy Anderson’s early-Seventies’ cover corner vignette; the Dabs Batman wristwatch with that classic Carmine Infantino/ Anderson image of a smiling, waving, swinging Batman, just like my Pepsi glass; and my favorite, the Janex Batman and Robin talking alarm talk. The kitschy coolness of this item has to be seen to be believed, with its bigheaded Robin and tiny purple (!) George Barris-like Batmobile. Even though my Dynamic Duo went silent years ago, I can still remember their a.m. pep talk: “Time to get up and out of bed!” “Good work Robin! Very well said!”

The Dark Times

Many fans have their “Dark Times” or “Wilderness Years,” when their favorite thing is out of production, be it movies, TV shows, or even toys. Fans of plastic men in tights had it rough in 1982.

The Incredible Hulk left the airwaves, the last of the Seventies TV super-invasion to go. Mego also filed for bankruptcy that year, and the decade-long World’s Greatest Super-Heroes line died with them. Super Friends’ network run took a hiatus during this period as well. Superheroes hadn’t vanished completely from toy shelves,

Super Collector

but the Seventies’ golden age of superhero merchandise was over.

And as seven-year-old kid, I was desperate to find anything that depicted my heroes in plastic. Superhero action figures were in the Phantom Zone.

YOU Decide

The heroes returned to toy shelves with a vengeance in 1984.

This time a single company would not share the DC and Marvel licenses. Mattel’s Secret Wars figures were fun, but they paled in comparison to Kenner’s exquisitely executed Super Powers line.

The annual Sears Christmas Wish Book catalog arrived in early fall, with the whole Super Powers line there for me to gush over.

To my surprise, just a short while afterwards, I came home from school one day and my mom told me, “Go look on your bed.”

There I found the Super Powers Batman, Robin, and the Batmobile waiting for me! I never learned why I got this non-birthday, nonholiday gift, but Mom was just cool that way. The Super Powers figures are, of course, famous for their “Power Action Features.”

But Batman’s ride was totally tricked out in that department, with lifting headlights, front battering ram, and back capture claw, so you could apparently drag the Joker to his death across Gotham asphalt! Kenner’s Batmobile was just about as indestructible as the “real-life” version was supposed to be! It jumped creeks, drove through snow, flew off of seven-foot-high decks… you name it, it beat it. I still own that very Batmobile, and it only has a few cracks in its orange bubble windows. To my notion, it is still the greatest Batmobile ever made.

Superman got a Super Powers vehicle, too, in the form of the kryptonite-defying Supermobile. Rounding out the Supermancentric offerings in the line were the recently revamped Brainiac (with his menacing robotic skeleton look) and Lex Luthor (with power-suit armor). Lex even got his own ship, the Lex-Soar 7, but Batman’s number of rogues beat out the Man of Steel’s. Of course, the Joker and Penguin were there from the beginning, but Mr. Freeze brought up the rear in Wave 3, the line’s final series, along with another vehicle, the Batcopter.

But Batman didn’t get a sweet mail-in figure! Superman fans far and wide were delighted when Kenner, via a sticker affixed to existing packaging, offered a mail-in Clark Kent figure for

Franklin’s Vanity Fair Batman radio, Dabs Batman wristwatch, and Janex Batman and Robin talking alarm talk. Batman and Robin TM

& © DC Comics.

five proofs-of-purchases from any Super Powers product! The sticker advised, “Allow 10–14 weeks for shipment.” While I sent in my order, my frenzy was amplified by the commercial Kenner produced, with no less than Marc McClure, Christopher Reeve’s pal Jimmy Olsen, hawking the figure! He even commented that Superman and Clark Kent had the same action feature, which puzzled him. Hey, Jimmy, Batman had the same feature, too.

Maybe Clark Kent is really the Caped Crusader? You decide.

You remember that subplot in A Christmas Story where Ralphie waits an eternity for his Little Orphan Annie Decoder Pin? That was me. Every day, I’d check the mail and every day, I would be disappointed. Fourteen weeks later to the day (I know, because I marked my mom’s calendar when I sent in the envelope), Clark Kent arrived. I think he got from Krypton to Earth faster. But either way, the wait was worth it.

Unfortunately, Clark arrived as the Super Powers line was winding down. Poor character selection and lopsided case ratios seem to be the main culprits for the short three-year run. Super Powers gave us 34 awesome action figures (mostly) from the comics, some great vehicles, and one of the greatest playsets ever made, the Hall of Justice. It was the last comic toy line released in my pre-teen years, and so I ended my superhero play on the highest note possible. Who am I to complain?

The Dark Times, Part Two

In 1987, I was 12 years old, fast approaching 13. By just about any estimation, I was getting “too old” to play with toys. All my other friends had packed theirs away, sold them, destroyed them like Sid in Toy Story, and had moved on to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Superhero items were even harder to find in 1987 and ’88

Kenner’s 1984 Super Powers line revolutionized action figures with its superlative figural designs and sculpts. Note the mail-away Clark Kent figure and the Batman blister card’s sticker denoting the Kent figure offer. Superman, Batman, and Robin TM & © DC Comics.

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Super Collector

(THIS PAGE AND PAGE 78) Samplings of Chris Franklin’s collections of figures (in all sizes!) and collectibles featuring Superman and Batman and their super friends. Characters TM & © DC Comics.

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Super Collector

Batmania: The Next Generation

1989 saw the release of director Tim Burton’s Batman, starring Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier/the Joker. The movie created a pre-release buzz like few films before the age of the internet, due in part to the controversial casting of Keaton as the Dark Knight. The trailer was leaked earlier than usual to media sources, partially to prove that Keaton could pull of the role. Merchandisers smelled money, and by the spring of ’89 tons of Bat-product was in every store imaginable.

By far, the most ubiquitous of designs was solid black with the classic yellow-ovaled bat-symbol. Mugs, water bottles, banners, and, of course, T-shirts were emblazoned with this simple but effective design that both telegraphed the character, and that the owner was hip to the latest craze.

The Batman and DC Comics Super Heroes licenses were scooped up by neophyte company Toy Biz, who produced a set of action figures partially based on Kenner’s Super Powers molds, but far inferior in execution and play feature design.

Multiple variations of almost every character in the line abound, particularly the Keaton-based Batman, who had at least three different heads. Due to quality control issues, Toy Biz inadvertently jumpstarted the variant or chase figure craze that toy companies still exploit to this day.

All of this hit at the perfect time for me. Flush with even more lawn-mowing cash, I spent it all on a sea of black-andyellow plastic. In the film, as Keaton’s Batman daringly rescues Vicki Vale using an array of Bat-gadgets, Nicholson’s Joker

IN DEFENSE OF THE MILD-MANNERED

TM & © DC Comics.

than they had been in ’82 and ’83. The decision was made for me. It was time to pack it in.

But then, around the end of’87 and beginning of ’88, I became aware of something I was oblivious to before. Like glassware, like the knick-knacks my grandparents had all over their house, a growing number of people collected… toys! I probably first learned about this from The Comics Buyer’s Guide, and its companion publication Toy Shop, a newspaper-style tabloid dedicated to toy collecting, featuring mostly ads. From Toy Shop I purchased Greenberg’s Guide to Super Hero Toys, by Steven H. Kimball, perhaps the earliest text on the subject.

When the book arrived I was treated to photos of old friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, and many, many toys I never knew existed! There was a superhero action figure line before Mego called Captain Action? Why didn’t I know about this?!?

All three of these publications influenced my decision: I could continue to buy superhero toys, but now I wouldn’t play with them, I would display them! Now I just needed some new superhero toys to collect.

And then… nothing. No major superhero toys came out in 1988. Oh, sure, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures hit that year, but although I liked the cartoon and knew of the comic, this wasn’t DC or Marvel. No new Superman and Batman toys in sight.

But soon enough, I would have more superhero toy goodness than I could possibly imagine.

Much has been said about Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal of Superman. The sincerity and quiet strength he brought to the role. The friendly warmth he conveyed, and the way he carried himself, whether standing confidently in a blue leotard and red shorts, or hanging from a crane dozens of feet above pavement.

Less talked about is his take on the Man of Steel’s alter ego, Clark Kent. When it is mentioned, fans often praise Reeve’s take on the super-side of the character, but consider his Kent a bit too goofy or awkward.

They often compare it to the earlier portrayal of George Reeves on TV’s The Adventures of Superman, who made his Clark Kent a crusading reporter, only different from Superman mostly by the clothes he wore. Or even the later Dean Cain of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, who affected a charming but humble, hunky catch that any Lois Lane would be smitten with.

But both of those actors had to craft a Clark Kent who carried 75% of their show. Time and effect budgets limited the screen time Superman could occupy in any given episode. It was up to Clark and his Daily Planet cohorts to move the story along, and bring it just close enough to resolution for Superman to wrap things up.

Reeve had another challenge. In addition to making you believe a man could fly… you also had to believe his co-workers would never guess this guy was their newly arrived Caped Wonder. Richard Donner’s motto of verisimilitude almost demanded that Clark Kent’s act be put under a microscope.

Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane was no dummy. Sure, she couldn’t spell, but she was a seasoned investigative reporter. If audiences were to buy her as such, the differences between Men of Steel and flesh had to be great enough so that we could suspend our disbelief along with her.

And so, Reeve and Donner and all the crew and staff crafted a version of Clark Kent more like that of the very early Siegel and Shuster comics, with a bit of Cary Grant, and even live-action Superman pioneer Kirk Alyn thrown in. Clark is as awkward as Superman is confident. He’s as gangly as Superman is graceful. The only things the two have in common are their kindness and gee-whiz sincerity. With Clark, it seems goofy; with Superman, it’s endearing.

The disguise works. It’s hard to imagine even his closest friends guessing the two are one and the same. Oh, sure, Lois suspects by movie’s end and acts on it in Superman II, but Reeve, and Clark, have done their job. Reeve would continue to evolve Clark’s character across the next three movies, but the first one sold the concept completely. One only has to watch the scene in Lois’ apartment after Superman and Lois’ famous first flight to see Reeve physically transform from the stooped Clark to the towering Man of Steel. Reeve proves Donner right once again. He was their greatest special effect.

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Super Collector

famously asks, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” That dialogue is ironic due to the proliferation of merchandise that you couldn’t help but trip over in 1989, and personally meaningful to me, because it was the start of my getting a lot of wonderful toys!

Those Who Forget the Past…

And so my collecting had begun in earnest. Shortly after beginning their long and winding relationship with Marvel, Toy Biz lost the DC license in 1990 to Kenner and its Dark Knight collection, which every few years morphed into the accompanying line for each new Batman film.

Beginning in 1992, Kenner did its best work post-Super Powers on its Batman: The Animated Series line, and in addition to endless versions of Batman and even Robin, managed to eek out all the main villains from Batman’s greatest media venture. Kenner didn’t stay quite as faithful to the cartoon’s Bruce Timm aesthetic for its 1996 Superman animated line, but it was nonetheless nice to see the Last Son of Krypton on shelves again. The Superman: Man of Steel line ran at the same time, based on the then-current comic designs (Super-mullet and all), giving fans the first comic-based line since the Toy Biz days.

I somehow kept up with all of this, buying every figure I could find, minus some of the wilder variations. But I wasn’t alone. It seemed as the comic boom of the early Nineties began to fade, speculators moved over to action figures for potential investment.

Figures of all kinds were stored or displayed MIP (Mint in Package) for their eventual rise in monetary value. As most collectors stalked the aisles of their local retail stores in pursuit of the latest “hot” release, the more savvy of the species took the opportunity to track down vintage items made in the day before preserving such things was commonplace. Unfortunately, I was one of the former, not the later.

The speculation boom died, and the emergence of eBay in the late-Nineties showed just how “rare” these “collector’s items” were. There was a metric ton of most of this stuf f out there. My biggest regret as a collector is that I didn’t pay enough attention to the vintage toylines during this period. Most of the Nineties material can still be had for around original retail price, while the toys from the Sixties through the Eighties only increase in value and price to this day. Sigh.

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The Age of Selection

As the millennium came to a close, Mattel acquired the DC license, and gave us not only the wonderful animated Justice League line, but also the most expansive comic-based line yet, DC Universe Classics. DC itself got in on the action, launching its own collectibles branch, DC Direct, which later evolved into the current DC Collectibles, targeting comic and specialty shops. Other licensors jumped on the bandwagon, for the first time bypassing the kiddie set, and of fering items directly to the collector market. From inexpensive Funko POP figures to highend, wallet-busting 12-inch Hot Toys replica masterpieces, there is no shortage of Superman and Batman product out there on the current market.

As Pa Kent told his son in Superman: The Movie: “But then a man gets older, and he thinks differently, and things get very clear…” I learned I couldn’t buy it all. As I married and had kids of my own, I couldn’t spend all of our money on my own personal hobbies.

And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t buy everything. With the mass quantities of product and space considerations, it was impossible to “Collect Them All!” So I became far choosier in my buying.

My criteria now are very simple. Does it speak to me? Does this version of Batman remind me of what I love about the character?

Does this Superman make me hear the John Williams movie theme in my head when I look at it? With merchandise now available directly based on my versions of the characters, like my Hot Toys Adam West Batman and Christopher Reeve Superman, I feel that my collecting journey has come full circle. I now have the toys that I could only dream of as a kid. And I get to stare at them from my couch every night. Behind glass and on display, just like those Pepsi glasses my Mom put back for me. Thanks, Mom. Oh, and Cousin Joe, too!

CHRIS FRANKLIN is a frequent contributor to TwoMorrows’ BACK ISSUE magazine.

He is the co-host of the Superman Movie Minute and Batman: Knightcast podcasts, and produces and hosts FW Presents: Those Wonderful Toys podcast, all on the Fire and Water Podcast Network. No collectible glasses were broken in the writing of this article.

Nimoy appearing on Man from U.N.C.L.E.); and plans for shows that didn’t work out.

JOE FRANK

Here’s what some of you had to say about RetroFan #1…

Article is great, and beautiful job on the layout and cover! Great job, Michael.

LOU FERRIGNO

I picked up issue #1 at the Barnes & Noble in Corpus Christi, Texas, and have to say I WAS BLOWN AWAY! I have already posted my nostalgic glee on my Facebook page encouraging others to buy your magazine!

I have been looking for something like this for a few years now and you have created the answer. I especially enjoyed the Hulk interview

by Michael Eury and the accompanying Elastic Hulk essay by John Cimino. Also of great interest was the animated Star Trek piece by Andy Mangels. Covering things I enjoyed as a kid, you guys hit the mark!

JUAN PEREZ

Bravo! Finally, something that corrals all the wonders of the mid-century! I’m loving the layout and the articles are fantastic!

I am particularly fond of this “toy story” regarding the Stretch Hulk! While I mainly played with “girl toys,” I had a bunch of male cousins and we had equal exposure to “boy toys.” John Cimino seems very knowledgeable about the all-around history of toys and their makers. As children we had no idea of the backstories regarding copyrights and competitions… we just PLAYED. I would love to see more articles and what he might think of some of the other favorites of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. I’m a Seventies’ child and at a time, my life revolved around Saturday morning and the barrage of cartoons and TOY COMMERCIALS. I’d also love to relive Wham-O products, Parker Brothers, and games like Gnip Gnop and others my mom wanted to throw out the window due to the sheer noise factor.

MELISSA GAUVIN

In issue #1, is the Phantom figure on the “ReJECTED” cover a reworking of an old Rod Serling picture? Twilight Zone is my all-time favorite program and that pose, especially the cigarette, seems awfully familiar.

BRIAN MARTIN

RetroFan designer (and columnist) Scott Saavedra says: “The image is a screen capture from the Phantom serial. The Phantom was picking up evidence (the cigarette) and I merely enhanced the smoke and moved his eyes a bit.”

I decided on a whim to pick up a copy of RetroFan #1, and I am sure glad I did! It’s a nostalgia fan’s dream magazine.

My favorite feature in the debut issue is Michael Eury’s “Mayberry Lives!”, a beautifully written profile of historic Mount Airy, North Carolina, and its connection to its fictional counterpart, Mayberry. I’ve never visited Mount Airy or attended Mayberry Days, but both the town and its annual The Andy Griffith Show celebration sound marvelous. The Betty “Thelma Lou” Lynn interview is another treasure this issue. She seems to be such a kind, generous lady. I really like her personal alternate explanation for Thelma Lou’s actions in the TAGS episode “The Return of Barney Fife.”

Andy Mangels’ Retro Saturday Morning column on Star Trek: The Animated Series provides an incredibly comprehensive history of a woefully underrated segment of the Star Trek canon. And yes, Filmation’s animated Star Trek is canon, despite its temporary “decanonization” by Gene Roddenberry’s office in 1987.

TIMOTHY M. WALTERS

A fun and welcome debut. While my interest in some of the topics was minimal, all made for a nice variety format.

The large shots of the old collectibles [Super Collector] was probably my favorite.

The Wolf Man and animated Star Trek articles were close runners-up. I laughed at Zody the Mod Rob as such a dated comics artifact, one I’d not even heard of. Another laugh: the vintage celebrity not pictured in your TV quiz. No need to wonder why.

What would I like to see? Dated advertisements (Superball, Shake-a-Pudd’n, Space Food Sticks, Hai Karate, etc.); bad clothing fads; Sixties trading cards; MAD paperbacks and specials; impressionist David Frye; Lost in Space; F-Troop; the Marvel Super Heroes TV cartoons; Space Ghost; photos of newsstands or shelving racks with comics and magazines of the day displayed; Aurora model kits; Batmania; ads for color TVs; celebrities who met before they more famously worked together (such as William Shatner and Leonard

Just finished the first issue of RetroFan… inhaled it, really. You have the makings of long-running magazine here. The stretchable superheroes was a lightning bolt, restoring some old memories, and I found myself learning things about The Andy Griffith Show that I didn’t know. Martin Pasko’s piece on The Phantom was an education… but strangely, the Super Collector feature had me riveted. I know there are rabid collectors of EVERYTHING out there, but it was good to hear Tom Stewart’s rabbit hole explorations, recognizing such collector impulses in myself.

GARY P.

I loved your article on Mr. Microphone. That was a toy I had back in the day and I think it only lasted a month before it started to break down, and when I spoke into it, it was all fuzzy.

I totally forgot about that toy and your article brought back some great memories.

Overall, this was a fantastic first issue and I’m looking forward to the next one. It just upsets me that it’s seasonal and I’ll only be reading four a year. Who knows? Maybe that’ll change in the future.

TOM WEST To all of you who wrote, posted, and blogged about RetroFan #1: thank you for your support of our first issue! We are exhilarated and humbled by your enthusiasm.

Keep on reading RetroFan, tell your friends about us, and share your comments about this issue by writing me at euryman@ gmail.com.

MICHAEL EURY Editor-in-Chief

NEXT ISSUE: Let’s roll, Kato!

Spring 2019 No. 4 $8.95

The Green Hornet in Hollywood

Thunderbirds Are GO!

Creature Creator RAY HARRYHAUSEN SAM J. JONES Brings The Spirit to Life

Saturday Morning’s

Beam Aboard the Star Trek Set Tour!

Martin Pasko • Andy Mangels • Scott Saavedra • and the Oddball World of Scott Shaw!

Shazam! TM & © DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. Green Hornet © The Green Hornet, Inc. Thunderbirds © ITV Studios. The Spirit © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RetroFan

Winter 2019

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by Scott Saavedra

My Sweat-Soaked Escape with a Bevy of Gorgeous Metal Lunch Boxes

THE GARBAGE PAIL KID™ THAT MADE A PRESIDENT FAINT! SEP. 35¢ IND.

I FOUND HITLER’S SECRET CACHE OF SIGNED FAN CLUB PHOTOS

The Bizarre Truth About Nude Baby Boomer Theme Park Joy Riders!

LEADING DOCTOR REVEALS:

MONKEES RIPPED MY FLESH!

Self Test: How Normal Are Your Nostalgic Urges?

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Winter 2019

Art: Reed Crandall and an unknown artist. Altered by SMS.

What He-Man & Skeletor’s Relationship Says About YOU!

All characters TM & © their respe

ctive owners. RetroFan is ™ TwoM

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NEW!

RETROFAN #4 spotlights ANDY MANGELS’ exploration of the Saturday morning live-action Shazam! TV show, featuring interviews with JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray. MARTIN PASKO’s Pesky Perspective sets its sting on the Green Hornet in Hollywood! ERNEST FARINO remembers the magical monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN! The Oddball World of SCOTT SHAW time-travels to the long-gone, way-out Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park! Plus: the Star Trek Set Tour, interviews with actor SAM J. JONES and Jan and Dean’s DEAN TORRENCE, the British sci-fi TV classic Thunderbirds, Super Collector’s virtual museum of Harvey (Casper, Richie Rich) merchandise, the wild and crazy King Tut fad, and more fun, fab features!

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