Back Issue #24

O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7

No.24$6.95

O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7

No.24$6.95

MAGIC ISSUE: DR. STRANGE ( ZATANNA g ELEMENTALS ? AMETHYST KDR. FATE > PETER PAN with BRUNNER O COLAN K SIMONSON O SMITH (

and a tribute to MARSHALL ROGERS

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH MICHAEL GOLDEN!UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH MICHAEL GOLDEN!1

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M a g i c I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1

Volume 1,Number 24October 2007

Celebrating the BestComics of the '70s,'80s, and Today!

EDITORMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich J. Fowlks

COVER ARTISTMichael Golden

COVER DESIGNERRobert Clark

CIRCULATION DIRECTORBob Brodsky, CookiesoupPeriodical Distribution, LLC

PROOFREADEREric Nolen-Weathington

SPECIAL THANKSCeasar AlvarezThe Ancient OneSergio AragonésRoger AshMichael AushenkerTerry AustinCary BatesSpencer BeckAl BigleyMalcolm BourneFrank BrunnerRick BryantAaron BusheyJohn ByrneDewey CassellRich CirilloGary CohnGene ColanErnie ColónGerry ConwayRay CuthbertRich DonnellySteve DonnellyMichael DunneSteve EnglehartMark EvanierTom FieldRuss GarwoodKeith GiffenDick GiordanoMichael GoldenScott GreenRobert GreenbergerGeorge HagenauerCraig HamiltonAllan HarveyHeritage Comics

AuctionsRichard HowellDon HudsonAdam HughesChristopher IrvingRobert Jewell

Dan JohnsonStephen KanzeeJim KingmanMike LeekeJustin LeiterPaul LevitzBruce MacIntoshAndy MangelsMarvel ComicsYoram MatzkinDon McGregorBob McLeodAllen MilgromDan MishkinBrian K. MorrisFloyd NormanKevin NowlanMartin PaskoGeorge PérezJohn PettyCarl PottsRoland ReedyRose Rummel-EuryAlex SeguraWalter SimonsonJohn Smallwood-

GarciaPaul SmithAnthony SnyderRoger SternTom StewartRoy ThomasSteven TiceTimothy TrumanGerry TurnbullMatt WagnerMark WaidLen WeinJohn WellsBill WilliamsDemetrios WilliamsRenee Witterstaetter

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh,NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury,Editor, 5060A Foothills Dr., Lake Oswego, OR 97034. E-mail: [email protected]. Six-issue subscrip-tions: $36 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $72 Surface International, $96 AirmailInternational. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.Cover art by Michael Golden. Dr. Strange TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All char-acters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All edito-rial matter © 2007 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrowsPublishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

The Ultimate Comics Experience!

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

INTERVIEW: Golden’s Oldies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3An exclusive interview with artist Michael Golden, exploring BACK ISSUE’s favorite Golden back issues

FLASHBACK: Orb of Nabu: The 1970s Revival of Dr. Fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Walter Simonson, Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, and Keith Giffen discuss the return of the helmeted JSAer

BEYOND CAPES: Paradise Tossed: The Reign and Fall of Amethyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23A radiant retrospective of the Princess of Gemworld, with creative gems Ernie Colón, Dan Mishkin, and Gary Cohn

TRIBUTE: Marshall Rogers: A Look Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Friends and collaborators Steve Englehart and Don McGregor remember the much-missed Batmanand Coyote artist

FLASHBACK: The Magical Art of Marshall Rogers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34Steve Englehart, Terry Austin, and Roger Stern recall the late artist’s supernatural series, including Doctor Strange

INTERVIEW: He’s a Magic Man: Frank Brunner’s Doctor Strange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39A chat with the illustrator who pitted the Sorcerer Supreme against “God,” with never-before-published art

DOCTOR STRANGE ART GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Six sizzling pinups by Michael Golden, Frank Brunner, Carl Potts, John Byrne, Kevin Nowlan, and Paul Smith

PRO2PRO: Dr. Strange’s Artists Supreme: Gene Colan and Paul Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51Magical artists from two generations compare notes on Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts

INTERVIEW: The Strange World of Cary Bates’ Jonathan Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58The Superman and Flash writer looks back at his offbeat series Silverblade, with art by Gene Colan

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Peter Pan and Wendy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61An examination of Andy Mangels and Craig Hamilton’s unpublished series featuring the forever-young adventurer

FLASHBACK: Zatanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67We bend over backwards for the sexy sorceress in this enchanting history, with art by George Pérez, GrayMorrow, Dick Giordano, and others

FLASHBACK BONUS: Conjura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74A look at Zatanna’s little-known “sister,” with rarely seen Joe Kubert art

BACKSTAGE PASS: Hats Off to CAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75Co-founded by legendary MAD cartoonist Sergio Aragonés, the Comic Art Professional Society celebrates amagical 30th anniversary

FLASHBACK: The Elementals: Working Toward Oblivion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79The ups and downs of Bill Willingham’s supernatural super-team, with recollections from Mike Leeke, BillWilliams, and BI’s own Michael Eury

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86Reader feedback on issue #22

FREE Preview of Rough Stuff #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Three decades ago, Michael Golden rode into town.On a motorcycle, no less, packing little more than a pencil.

The nomadic artist has since perfected a habit ofpopping up all over the place: You might find him flutteringthe Gotham rooftops, hopping through the cosmos inThe Righteous Indignation, hiding out in theMicroverse, or slogging toward Saigon. In whicheveruniverse you first discovered Michael Golden, that universeundoubtedly took on a life of its own.

At the 2007 Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle,Washington, Michael Golden kindly interrupted hissketching to pull up a chair with me and look, up closeand personal, at a handful of his earliest comics.

—Michael Eury

MICHAEL EURY: Let’s start with The Micronauts. Iunderstand that you weren’t the first choice as artiston the book, that George Pérez was supposed to be theMicronauts artist. Do you know anything about this?MICHAEL GOLDEN: No, that’s the first I’ve ever heardof that, but George is a great artist.EURY: So you never saw any Pérez Micronauts artfloating around?GOLDEN: No. Bob Hall’s is the only artwork I ever saw.EURY: Bob Hall had done some art for Micronauts?GOLDEN: Right. It was just presentation art that hehad done—big splashes of the characters runningaround, and explosions, and that sort of thing.EURY: So he did this art as a presentation for Marvelto get the Micronauts license from Mego, not necessarilyas a tryout to become the artist for the title.GOLDEN: I don’t think he was ever in line for theart, because ultimately he was the editor for the firstcouple of issues.EURY: I’ve uncovered some photocopies of yourMicronauts pencils, and I’d like to get your reaction tothem. [gesturing toward art photocopies]. These pagesare from issue #8.GOLDEN: Yeah, this is eight. Seven was my Man-Thingissue, I think. So with eight, I finally just gave up andshifted over to making my work look even more likethe Kirby stuff for that run.


Michael Golden at War!Golden’s realistic-yet-cartoony art madeMarvel Comics’ The ’Nam a surprise hit.This photocopy of the original cover art toissue #1 (Dec. 1986) was contributed byone-time Marvel artist Don Hudson(check out Don’s blog at Comiculture.com).© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

by M i c h a e l E u r yconducted April 1, 2007

and transcribed by Brian K. Morris

EURY: Was that under editorial direction? Werethey not happy with your art?

GOLDEN: The directive I got at that time whenworking for them was, “Do it like Kirby.” Now,

that’s a quote. They wanted the Kirby feel.Then it was from issue five to issue eight whenI just gave up [chuckles] and just basically starteddoing a Kirby riff. They were pleased as punchwith this. I got no more complaints, no moregrief, although I would have liked to havegiven it a different look myself, although, of

course, I do respect Kirby.EURY: We look at your ’70s art now—you and afew other artists who started around the sametime, like Marshall Rogers—and you were doingthings a little differently. From the readers’ andthe fans’ perspective, that was very cool, veryexciting. But I’ll bet the corporate side of Marveland DC was much slower to come around tothat kind of thinking, to accept a different style.

GOLDEN: Yeah, definitely. At that point in time,when you went to DC, it was, “Do it like NealAdams.” And like I said, at Marvel, it was, “Do it

like Kirby.” [chuckles]Now, the problem was that they were hiring

guys like me and Marshall Rogers, and WaltSimonson and Frank Miller … well, BillSienkiewicz was doing Neal at that time … and

they were hiring guys whose portfolios alreadyhad a unique flavor and feel to it, and they weretrying to bend us to their molds of these otherartists. And I don’t know about any of the other

guys, but what I ended up finding out is that I could usesome elements from these various artists with my ownvision of things and still keep the unique flavor that I feltmy work had at the time. That may have just been somesort of like rationalization in my mind, but ultimately,everybody was happy with the artwork.

But I also had to use that material. I mean, I’m not adraftsman anywhere near the par of Neal Adams, now orespecially back then. And yet, when I was obliged to useelements of his style and his artwork in my own, I felt itobviously helped. As much as I may have griped andmoaned and bitched about it at the time, looking backon it now, I can only say that it added immensely to myunderstanding of not only my own artwork and the stylethat I’ve developed over a period of time, but how I didit as well. It’s the whole mentality around it. Now I cando a pretty decent riff of both Neal and Jack Kirby whenI need to. [laughter] And laughing at it, there’ve beenmoments when I’ve needed to do it and it’s helped a lot.Even then, I've tried to keep my own style in the process.EURY: So you were directed to draw Batman like NealAdams. Did that extend to specific artist direction, likeworking from Neal Adams-drawn Batman model sheets?GOLDEN: No, no. I think the expectation and, ultimately,the supposition then was much as it is now: Theyassume you’re a comic-book fan. It’s like, “Why elsewould you be doing this unless you’re a comic-bookreader?” So it’s like I was handicapped right off the bat[chuckles]. So I had to go find this work and learn howto do it, because I wasn’t a student of the comic-bookart form at that time. My only familiarity with [comics]was with the Jack Kirby stuff—I was a store manager inFlorida and would see his work on the stands. The peoplewho were trying to steer me going toward comic bookswere all connected to DC, so they were all saying, “Youneed to look at Neal Adams’ artwork and do it likethis.” I don’t think they actually understood that you’vegot to have basic drawing skills to be able to do NealAdams. So I had to learn all of this stuff after I was inthe industry. For me, the learning curve had to beimmediate so that I could pull it off and still get work.EURY: Without that fan-based inspiration, what ledyou to draw comics for a living?GOLDEN: Well, it’s actually a long story…. I mean, I’vealways been sort of a storyteller. You know, in little kidtalk, I was—well, I was a yarn spinner. [laughter]EURY: You mean, a B.S.’er?GOLDEN: Yeah, a B.S.’er, whatever. But I had beendoing artwork, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, sinceI was a kid. I liked to draw, I guess, but although I don’treally define it as drawing—it’s just that I sort of had anatural inclination to design, let’s say, as opposed todrawing, because even to this day, I don’t really considermyself much of a draftsman. But during my teenageyears, this sort of manifested itself in the sense thatI would use artwork to barter things. [chuckles]There was a period of time in my late teens where Iwas traveling around the country.EURY: On a motorcycle?GOLDEN: Yes, yes, yes. You remember that story. Yes,several motorcycles, as a matter of fact, seeing as howone of them didn’t quite make it. [laughter] [Editor’s note:In a pre-interview chat, Michael Golden told MichaelEury about his “Easy Rider” youth—and a spectacularcrash from which he was lucky to have survived.]

This was back in the hippie days … we’d all sitaround in the park, and I would do a drawing and I’dtrade it for food, sustenance, and gas for my motorcycles,or a place to sleep, whatever. That sort of turned into

Beginnings:misc. Batman stories (late 1977)

Milestones:Man-Bat and Batman in Batman Family / miscellaneous Batman stories /Mister Miracle / The Micronauts / Bucky O’Hare / Star Wars #38 /Marvel Fanfare / Dr. Strange #55 / The ’Nam / G. I. Joe Yearbook /introduction of the X-Men Rogue in Avengers Annual #10 / Spartan X4 /Birds of Prey / Manga Bucky O’Hare / Michael Golden Monsters posterbook / numerous covers on titles including Detective Comics,Nightwing, Ocean, Heroes for Hire, Iron Man, and Midnighter

Works in Progress:Modern Masters vol. 12: Michael Golden(TwoMorrows) / Excess: The Art ofMichael Golden—Comics’ InimitableStoryteller and How He Does It(Vanguard) / Heroes and Villainssketchbook (Image/Eva Ink) / CreatorChronicles DVD (Woodcrest Productions/Eva Ink) / Modern Masters in the Studiowith Michael Golden DVD (TwoMorrows)

Cyberspace:www.evaink.com

michaelgolden

Photo by Rich Fowlks.

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Microanuts TM &© Mego Corporation.

doing [art for] skateboards and surfboards. You’re oldenough to remember the van craze, I guess.EURY: [singing] “I made love in my Chevy van.”[laughs] There was even a song.GOLDEN: Yeah. And I started doing vans, and storefronts,billboards, murals, that sort of thing. [chuckles]Eventually I started getting paid for it, as opposed tojust bartering it for something else.

And so it eventually turned into a commercialenterprise. And one day, I was doing work for a guywho wasn’t really connected to the comic-bookindustry, but had “friends of friends of friends,” thatsort of thing. And I was doing what he defined as a“comic book” or a “cartoon” art style. It was a verycontoured line, very little rendering.

I was doing store illustrations from The Lord of theRings and stuff like that. He was looking at it and wasgoing, “Ah, that’s very comic-bookish.” Okay, becauseit was very expressive, or whatever. And he startedpushing, at one point, that he knew people in thecomic-book industry and that I should be doing this.And for a period of, like, two years, I just ignored it.

And then one day, I had another friend of a friendwho just up and handed me a plane ticket—there’s alittle more to that story [Eury laughs]—but basically, theyjust handed me a plane ticket and said, “Go, see whatyou can do.” I’d already talked to some people about[going to] New York and they had said, “Well, if you’reworking for DC, you do Neal Adams.” So I like did acouple of samples of ripping off Neal Adams’ stuff andmostly, it was just my own storytelling that I did.EURY: Did you actually work at Neal Adams’Continuity studio?GOLDEN: No, I never worked at Continuity. I’ve donework with Continuity and for Continuity, but I’ve neverworked at Continuity.EURY: Did you ever sleep on the Continuity floor?GOLDEN: Not that I remember. [laughs]EURY: Dick Giordano told me that in the ’70s, a lot ofpeople crashed there.GOLDEN: I wasn’t one of them. [Eury laughs] But Iwent up to New York, went into DC one day, and gota Batman story right off the bat. It was a Batman storythat I don’t remember.EURY: For editor Julie Schwartz?GOLDEN: Yeah. I went in and talked to Vinnie Colletta.He was the art director at the time, and then he turnedright around and walked me down to Julie Schwartz’soffice. And Julie immediately gave me a Batman story.I was doing the Batman story in motels, since I wasmoving and in transit, back and forth, for that threemonths. And [right after that] I remember doing a Houseof Secrets pinup intro page [for issue #148, Oct.–Nov.1977] with the little fat character, whatever his name was.EURY: Abel.GOLDEN: Okay. So there was a friend of somebody Iwas staying with over in Brooklyn Heights who basicallyhad a large closet that they’d set up a cot in, and that’swhere I did that pinup, in that little closet….

EURY: But you don’t want me to title this interview“Michael Golden Came Out of the Closet and Walkedinto Comics.” [laughs]GOLDEN: [mock pained] No, because that woulddefinitely give the wrong idea, especially if we’re talkingabout Brooklyn Heights at this point. [laughter]

But the next day, the next morning, I went over toContinuity and met Neal Adams and the guys atContinuity. That afternoon, I went over to Marvel and metMarie Severin … I’m pretty sure she was the art director.But anyway, Marvel gave me a little eight-page story thatday and it ran like five years later. They finally publishedit. Over the next two days, I sat in that little closet anddid that story. [Eury laughs] Yeah, it’s all coming back tome…. They wouldn’t let me into the office to turn it in.EURY: Why wouldn’t they let you into Marvel?GOLDEN: Because Marie wasn’t there that day, sothere was nobody there to let me in. And so I turnedit in at the front desk.


Toys Will Be ToysIn Micronauts #2 (Feb. 1979), the tiny titans

made their way to Earth. By Bill Mantlo/Michael Golden/Josef Rubinstein. Original art

scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Aucitons.Microanuts TM & © Mego Corporation.

Microanuts TM &© Mego Corporation.

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It’s the helmet.That golden, face-obscuring headgear distinguishes

Doctor Fate from the competition. It’s what peopleremember most about him.

“I’ve always been a fan of Dr. Fate,” says GerryConway, “probably because I think his mask is cool.”

Keith Giffen agrees: “That helmet’s one of myall-time favorite hero headpieces.”

Created in 1940 by Gardner Fox and HalSherman, Dr. Fate was a founding member of theJustice Society of America and starred in his ownseries for a time, in More Fun Comics #55–98 [reprintedin 2007 in The Golden Age Dr. Fate Archives vol. 1].However, by 1944 he was gone; the gleam of hisgolden helmet a dim, yet fond memory.

While the Silver Age had seen revivals of the Flash,Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the others, poor, oldDr. Fate was left on the shelf. While most of the JSAmembership was reimagined as the Justice League ofAmerica, there was no Dr. Fate analogue. Editor JulieSchwartz was a fan of science fiction, and magic gotshort shrift in his comics.

Eventually, of course, the original JSA was revivedfor annual team-ups with the JLA, and Fate wasalways along for the ride, but he was never given asolo outing. His appearances outside the groupdynamic consisted of team-ups with Hourman in1965 [in Showcase #55 and 56] and Superman in 1971[in World’s Finest Comics #208]. Indeed, so ill definedwas the good Doctor, that in the WFC story DCcouldn’t seem to decide whether his alter ego, KentNelson, was an archaeologist or “one of the nation’stop surgeons.”

FROM CONWAY’S CORNERIn 1975, Gerry Conway, newly installed as an editor atDC, decided to change this state of affairs by puttingtogether a proposal for a revival of Dr. Fate. But whereto put the story?

“First Issue Special was a brainstorm of [DC publisher]Carmine Infantino,” explains Conway. “Because thefirst issue of any given comic always seemed to sellbetter than the subsequent issues, Carmine thoughtthat a comic made up solely of first issues would be a

M a g i c I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1 7

The Fickle Finger of FateFrom the collection of Aaron Bushey comesthis 1981 Dr. Fate commission by WalterSimonson. Those of you reading this issue inthe downloadable PDF format can enjoy thisamazing piece with Steve Oliff’s colors.© 2007 DC Comics.

by A l l a n H a r v e y

TM

hit best-seller. It was a tryout magazine, though not assubstantial as the original Showcase. If an editor had anidea for a tryout, he would pitch it to Carmine, whowould either approve it, or not, for a First Issue.”

Having successfully pitched his Dr. Fate story,Conway’s next task was to choose a creative team todo the actual work. “I tried to get the best team Icould, and as a fan of Walter Simonson, I was eager tosee what he’d do with a magical setting. And I’vealways enjoyed Marty Pasko’s writing.”

Martin Pasko was then a relatively new writermaking waves at DC, and keen to work on Conway’sbrainchild. “I jumped at the assignment,” he recalls,“less for the character than for the chance to workwith Walt Simonson, whom I had known for a coupleof years. I would’ve said yes to Gerry’s offer no matterwhat the property was.”

Walter Simonson had been a professional artist forjust a few years, and the Fate story would provide him

with one of his first full-length art jobs. Prior to this hehad mainly produced short backup tales for anthologycomics. The exuberance of an artist finally beingallowed to cut loose is visible on the completed pages.

“I think it was probably my second full-lengthstory after the final Manhunter tale,” says Simonson.

“It felt great. Marty and I thought we had a story thatdeserved some length and we got it. The wholeexperience was a lot of fun.

“There was probably some additional cachetabout doing a full-length story back then as well. At thetime—at least at DC, where I had been doing most ofmy work—the company brought you along slowly.You started out doing short stories, say, in the horror/mystery comics or war books or whatever. And, asyou paid your dues, you sort of moved up into longermaterial. Doing a full-length story was a little likegaining a certain level of professional acceptance oracknowledgment for your work. You had kind ofmade the grade.”

Pasko: “I would never want to seem so grandioseor arrogant as to take any credit for Walt’s later successas a writer-artist, and I don’t, but I do hope myenthusiasm for Walt’s storytelling skills helped givehim the impetus to stretch later on. I actually said tohim, ‘What do you need me for? You should be doingthis yourself.’

“I remember that after I finished my second jobwith him (on Metal Men), I told him I’d learnedmore about scene structure and pacing in our briefcollaboration than from any of my editors or colleagues,or from my own trial-and-error.”

Having chosen his team, Conway sat down withPasko and Simonson for a story conference to discussideas and decide upon a direction for the revived hero.They didn’t feel the need to be too reverent to whathad gone before.

“We could have done a lot of research,” says Pasko,“and, yes, the bound volumes in the library had allthe old stories which we could have read—but therewasn’t much point. I think the consensus amongGerry, Walt, and me was that if Fate were anything weneeded to be strictly faithful to, DC would’ve beenexploiting it more by then, the way they had gotten somuch mileage out of other JSA properties like the Flashor Green Lantern. I guess you could say weapproached it as a ‘demi-retconning.’”

“We had a fine time working together,” saysSimonson. “I’m guessing that we worked plot-firststyle. I know that I very rarely worked from full scriptsback in the day. And I know that Marty and I didsome collaborating on the plot, which probably meansI kibitzed here and there.”

Pasko concurs. “I work full-script exclusivelytoday, but that Fate story was done plot/pencils/dialogue, probably the only one of the very fewjobs I’ve done that way that I’m still happy with.The retconning wasn’t done in a separate, formaldocument, but if you were to edit together my storyconference notes, my typewritten page breakdowns,and a transcription of Walt’s marginal notes, you’dget the equivalent of a series bible that any otherwriter could have made an ongoing series out of,with the First Issue Special as the pilot.”

THE CURSE OF ANUBISThe resulting comic was finally published as First IssueSpecial #9, cover-dated Dec. 1975. The tale opens withthe escape of a murderous Egyptian mummy from asarcophagus held within the Boston Museum ofEgyptology. Called Khalis, it soon attacks Dr. Fate, whofinds himself helpless before a powerful foe.Overwhelmed, Fate collapses, and Khalis tears theAmulet of Nabu from his chest. Alarmingly, it seemsthat Fate’s Amulet is the source of Khalis’ power.

The Pasko-written/Simonson-drawn

splash to First IssueSpecial #9 (Dec. 1975).

© 2007 DC Comics.

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In The Dictionary of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel and GianniGuadalupi, there is a space between “Gem of Truth Island” and “Geneliabin” wherean entry for “Gemworld” should be placed, for the Gemworld is a wondrous homeof magic as splendid as the landscapes of Narnia, Wonderland, Oz, and Middle-Earth. It’s not a land easily stumbled upon, however, as its history, recounted in thepages of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, has been relegated to white storage boxesin comic-book shops, personal comic-book collections, antique-shop shelves, andthe tops of flea-market tables. And the adventures of Amethyst, once the stuff of fairytales and epic fantasy, is now a practically forgotten account of paradise tossed.

The chronicles of Amethyst spanned three comic-book series published by DCComics during the 1980s. The first, Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, was a 12-issuemaxiseries that ran from February 1983 to January 1984. The second series, againentitled Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, was an ongoing title published from late 1984through the spring of 1986, and was preceded by an Amethyst Annual released in 1984 andconcluded with an Amethyst Special. The third and final series, Amethyst, was a four-issueminiseries published in late 1987.

Amethyst, as set forth in Amethyst #1, was in “our” reality young Amy Winston, livingwith her parents, Herb and Marion, in the town of Hudson, New York. On her 13th birthday,Amy was mysteriously given an amethyst, then kidnapped by an ogre and taken to anotherdimension known as Gemworld. There she immediately transformed into a 20-year-old,both physically and mentally. After being rescued from certain doom at the hands of thevillainous Dark Opal, the self-imposed despotic ruler of Gemworld, Amy soon learnedthat she was the heir to the decaying Amethyst kingdom, and that she had beentaken to Earth as an infant years before to escape Dark Opal’s villainous clutches. Buteven though Amy’s adventures as Amethyst began with this opening sequence,we are still slightly ahead of the princess’ true beginnings.

CHANGING THE CHANGELINGThe concept of Amethyst began in our reality of the late 1970s in the creativeminds of writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, friends since the eighth grade.Originally Amethyst was called the Changeling, but when Marv Wolfman andGeorge Pérez revived the Teen Titans in 1980 and changed Beast Boy’s name toChangeling, Mishkin and Cohn’s character needed a new moniker. After somethought, “Amethyst” was agreed upon, and this sparked the expansion ofthe concept to incorporate other gems as character and place names.

Amethyst’s development remained on the writing duo’s mentalback burners as they sold their first story to DC, a three-pageshort for Time Warp; were assigned the “OMAC” feature in theback of The Warlord; picked up “I … Vampire” in House ofMystery; and even squeezed in solo stints, with Mishkin writingWonder Woman and Cohn scripting a new series, “The BarrenEarth,” for the back of The Warlord. When editor Dave Manakrequested an ongoing series for Ghosts, Mishkin and Cohnproposed Amethyst. Manak thought it was so good that heencouraged them to develop it into its own series.

Soon after the Amethyst proposal was brought beforethen-editorial director Dick Giordano and publisher JenetteKahn, the project was green-lighted. Mishkin and Cohnwanted Ernie Colón to illustrate the series, as bothadmired his work on Atlas Comics’ short-lived Grim Ghostseries published in 1975. Colón, however, was editor ofseveral DC books at that time, but high praisefrom Cohn and Mishkin convinced him to pencil

by J i m K i n g m a n


© 2007 DC Comics.

TM


and ink the series. Growing pains held up the series for a spell as Colón found hiscomfort zone, which led to some revising of the early issues, but writers and artisteventually struck a complementary stride and the results were magical.

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld #1 was published in February 1983 (with aMay cover date), but her first appearance actually came a month earlier in aspecial Amethyst preview inserted into the center of Legion of Super-Heroes #298(Apr. 1983). In the story, Amethyst and her friend Granch, Dark Opal’s deformedfirstborn son, traveled to a cave in the Bog of One Thousand Despairs to steala portion of the Well of Vision for Amy’s new mentor, the witch-mother Citrina.It was a difficult mission, and tested Amethyst’s developing powers, but thepair did emerge successful, retrieving the water while in battle with Dark Opal.This episode occurred sometime during the first half of the maxiseries.

ADVENTURES IN GEMWORLDAt last we return to Amethyst #1 and subsequent issues of the maxiseries.Most heroic fantasy adventures involve a quest of some sort, and while Amethystwas no exception, the difference was that it was the villain, Dark Opal, Lord of theHouse of Opal, who required a material object to achieve his goal of absolutecontrol over the other eleven Houses of Gemworld (Garnet, Ruby, Sapphire,Emerald, Turquoise, Topaz, Diamond, Aquamarine, Moonstone, Sardonyx, andAmethyst). Over the 20 years since he murdered Lord and Lady Amethyst andassumed rule of Gemworld, Dark Opal had been collecting fragments of thevarious gemstones from each kingdom to place on a breastplate that once forgedand worn would give him unlimited power to vanquish once and for all anychallenges to overthrow his rule. But with Amethyst’s return, Opal’s missionbecame two-fold: to destroy the heir to the Amethyst throne and to attain the lastgemstone fragment he required, which happened to be an amethyst. The first fourissues of the maxiseries focused on Opal’s failed attempts to kill Amethyst.

Since time in the Gemworld was not on the same continuum as time on Earth,Amy’s first 13 years measured 20 in Gemworld. Upon each arrival in the Gemworldshe physically aged seven years, while on returning to Earth Amethyst reverted to13 years of age. While her mental faculties underwent the same radical shift, shealmost always thought of herself as Amy at 13. Throughout the first half of themaxiseries Amy traveled back to Earth and forth to Gemworld in-between captures,escapes, and rescues. Once she decided to remain in Gemworld to lead the revoltagainst Dark Opal, Amethyst proved a sharp learner during a number of trainingsessions. She developed into a strong warrior, leader, and practitioner of magic.

Also during the course of the first six issues, several supporting characters,including Citrina, witch-mother loyal to the House of Amethyst, and Carnelian,Opal’s adopted son from Earth, were introduced. Other kingdoms made theirfirst appearances, notably Topaz and Emerald, with their intriguing political tiesto Opal’s continued dominance, but all additions to the main story were at acontrolled pace that never confused or overwhelmed the reader.

How Carnelian received a mechanical hand in place of the one destroyed inAmethyst #6 was explained in Amethyst’s team-up with Superman in DC ComicsPresents #63 (Nov. 1983). This episode took place before events depicted inAmethyst #7 (Nov. 1983).

With the arranged wedding ceremony of Prince Topaz and Lady Sapphire inAmethyst #7 (arranged in Dark Opal’s favor, of course), the series kicked into highgear and never let up (even a brief respite explaining how the Gemworld’s originswere tied to our planet Earth was impressive). Amethyst made her first publicappearance at the ceremony before all the gathered rulers of the Gemworld Houses,and her dramatic announcement that she would lead a revolt against Dark Opal andhis minions inspired Prince Topaz to abort the wedding and side with Amethyst.

Amethyst #12 (Apr. 1984) presented a stirring climax and conclusion to themaxiseries as Amethyst led the united Houses in an assault on Dark Opal’s kingdom(that did not include whole armies, only the rulers of each House). Sardonyx hadcrossed over to the good side after Opal had sacrificed him to the other-dimensionalemissaries of Varn. On closer scrutiny, each page ends with dramatic force, beginningwith Sardonyx’s escape from the Varn emissaries, then shifting to the siege on FortressOpal, and, finally, the fall of Dark Opal at Carnelian’s hand. With Dark Opal’s passingthere was the inspiring return of beauty and peace to the Gemworld, and the

The covers to Amethyst’s preview insert from Legion of Super-Heroes#298 (Apr. 1983), and a behind-the-scenes look at the then-newseries in Amazing Heroes #20 (Feb. 1983). Art by Ernie Colón.Amethyst TM & © DC Comics. Amazing Heroes TM & © Fantagraphics.

tribute3 0 • B A C K I S S U E • M a g i c I s s u e

When Marshall Rogers passed away during the weekend of March 23,2007 at the age of 57, he left behind a varied and impressive body ofwork. Marshall broke into comics in the late ’70s. “I admired Marshallbecause he didn’t immediately get accepted into the industry,” saysartist and editor Al Milgrom. “He kept bringing up samples and gettingrejected. In those days, a lot of the guys broke in at 20, 21. He keptknocking on the doors and bringing back new and improved samplesuntil he finally got in. I think he was 27 before he actuallystarted getting work.”

That dedication led to him drawing a two-part“Daughters of the Dragon” story in Marvel’sDeadly Hands of Kung Fu #32 and 33 (Jan. andFeb. 1977), with writer Chris Claremont. It alsoled to his first work with inker Terry Austin.

Austin recalls that their first projecttogether was a backup story in DetectiveComics #466 (Dec. 1976), featuring GreenArrow against a new villain called theCalculator [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE#12 for a Calculator history], followed bya second backup featuring Hawkman.These backups led to a book-length story inissue #468. “I think Jim Aparo was supposedto do it,” says Austin. “Something happenedto Aparo, and they gave it to us.

“We got a lot of flak for it from folks upat DC. I remember being screamed at byone guy in particular. Marshall got calledinto this guy’s office first, and he was livid.He basically thought that we were going to bringthe company down because we had done this terriblething to poor Batman,” Austin laughs. “I rememberMarshall stumbling out of the office white-faced afterbeing screamed at for about half an hour. Then itwas my turn. I walked into the office and theguy looked at me and said, ‘There’s nothingyou can do to save this. Get out!’ He wasso tired from screaming at Marshall that Igot a pass that day.

“Later, I was up at DC and Paul Levitz told methat the Batman we had done had gotten a lot ofresponse. We were going to be the new team on the book. I ran backto Continuity [Associates studio] to tell Marshall.”

Marshall’s run on Detective with writer Steve Englehart and inkerTerry Austin became his best known work. He often returned toBatman during his career, including a Batman newspaper strip(1989), Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #132–136 in 2000, andeven a Batman parody in Marvel’s Howard the Duck Magazine #8(Nov. 1980). Coinciding with his Detective Comics run, Marshall alsoillustrated a four-issue run on Mister Miracle.

In the early ’80s, Marshall began a long association with EclipseComics. His first work for them was the one-shot Detectives, Inc.:A Remembrance of Threatening Green (May 1980), with DonMcGregor. This murder mystery was intended for adults and thecharacters’ sexuality played a large part in the story. “Marshall neverflinched when it came to sexuality in the book, straight or gay, heillustrated it honestly and daringly,” remembers McGregor.

“I couldn’t know, then, how lucky I was on another front,because Marshall had such a background in architecture, but I wantedthe New York boroughs to be an integral part of the series,”McGregor continues. “If you want to see Manhattan and environs inthe 1980s, just look at Marshall’s renderings of the Weather Castle inCentral Park, or a housing tract in Queens, or 42nd Street.”

Other work for Eclipse included such stories as the“Coyote” series in Eclipse, The Magazine and the title Scorpio

Rose, both written by Steve Englehart. “Slab” inEclipse, The Magazine #1 (May 1981) introduced

Marshall’s creation, Klonsbon the Foozle, anodd bird-like creature. The Foozle eventually

joined forces with Cap’n Quick, a young boywith magic shoes, in the pages of EclipseMonthly and three issues of their own series,Cap’n Quick & a Foozle (1984). The serieswas an odd romp that featured spacepirates, rat businessmen, a sleazy salesman,flying gloves, and more.

There was also an unpublished Foozlestory. Englehart and Rogers had plannedto work on a series called SunDancer,which was based on what Engleharthad planned to do with Star-Lord at

Marvel. A man from Earth would visiteach planet in our solar system, havingadventures that would make him into anincredible being. “I wrote a 60-page

script of SunDancer on Mercury and theFoozle was in that,” says Englehart. “Butnothing ever came of it.”

Marshall worked on other projects duringthe ’80s, including Marvel’s Doctor Strange,

G. I. Joe, and Silver Surfer, and an adaptationof Harlan Ellison’s script for Demon with

a Glass Hand for DC.He left comics to work on other projects

for most of the ’90s, but returned in the2000s with such books as Green Lantern: Evil’s

Might (2002) and Batman: Dark Detective (2005),the latter of which being a new story reuniting the

creative team of Englehart, Rogers, and Austin.At the time of his death, Marshall was working on Batman:

Dark Detective III. “I wrote all six scripts,” says Steve Englehart.“He had done most of the artwork on the first issue. DC told methat they do not plan to go ahead with it. I think that’s too badfor a couple of reasons.

“One is Marshall was really into the Batman. He wouldn’thave been happy about the book not coming out. Secondly, it’sa good story, if I may say. Thirdly, this goes under that section ofcosmic weirdness, when I wrote the first one back in the ’70s, thefinal page of the final story ends by saying, ‘He is gone.’ I wasdeliberately referring to me as well as Batman because I was leavingcomics—I thought—and the country—I knew. In this third DarkDetective, by total happenstance, it ends with the words ‘He isgone.’ This time, it seems to mean something that it didn’t meana few weeks ago.”

Marshall Rogers:A Look Back

by R o g e r A s h


(left) Marshall Rogers’late-1970s run on DetectiveComics was so popular thatthe artist was hired toproduce a Batman portfolioin 1981, published byS. Q. Productions.Scan courtesy of HeritageComics Auctions. (below)Rogers teamed with writerMax Allan Collins on theBatman newspaper strip,revived in 1989 during theDark Knight’s movie-spawned wave of popularity.Original art from theNov. 8, 1989 daily,signed by the artist andwriter and courtesy ofGeorge Hagenauer.© 2007 DC Comics.

MARSHALLROGERSARTGALLERY

comics

history3 4 • B A C K I S S U E • M a g i c I s s u e

Marshall Rogers made a name for himself in comics with his landmark runon DC’s Detective Comics with writer Steve Englehart and inker TerryAustin in the late ’70s. That was followed by the adult urban mysterygraphic novel from Eclipse, Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of ThreateningGreen, with writer Don McGregor. By the early ’80s, Marshall changed hisfocus from the darkened streets and alleyways for a place very different,but just as dangerous. He moved into mystical realms.

MADAME XANADU AND SCORPIO ROSEHis first venture into stories of magic began with writer SteveEnglehart. Their Batman stories were very successful, so “DC was tryingto find things that they could do with us,” recalls Englehart. “I forgetthe complete specifics of it, but they said, do this one issue fill-in forMadame Xanadu. So that’s what we did.”

To capitalize on the Englehart/Rogers team,according to Englehart, the story was movedfrom a fill-in issue to a special issue andMadame Xanadu #1 (1981) was a reality. Inthe story, Madame Xanadu first stops ajunkie named Joseph Greene from robbingher home then assists him in getting helpat a nearby clinic. The next morning, alady named Laura Grant arrives. Her auntused to practice witchcraft and Laurafound a strange and powerful bookamong her possessions. Using her Tarotdeck, Madame Xanadu predicts thebook will only bring disaster and asksher to leave it. She refuses. Laura andJoseph meet and are smitten witheach other, but the book beginsto corrupt them. In the end, theyare saved with help fromMadame Xanadu.

DC did not want this to bethe end of Madame Xanadu.Englehart says DC approachedhim about doing two moreissues so they could turn it intoa three-issue miniseries. “I said,‘It was a complete story. Thereisn’t any more to it.’ The editor Iwas dealing with said, ‘Well, I willpay you more than your going rate ifyou’ll do this.’ At the end of the day, Iam a freelancer, so I said okay. I came upwith a way to turn this into two more partsand then wrote it.”

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When Englehart went to turn the scripts in, he learned that the editordidn’t have the authority to offer him that much money, so he would notbe paid what he was promised. He took the two scripts, along with aSuperman/Creeper script he had written for DC Comics Presents, and left.

“Marshall was good friends with the Mullaney brothers, Dean andJan, who were just getting their company, Eclipse, off the ground,”Englehart recalls. “They wanted to do comics. They said, ‘We will payyou the rate that DC promised you if you’ll do the stories for us.’ Marshallsaid, ‘Let me take the Superman and Creeper story and see what I cando to turn that into something, and you go see what you can do withMadame Xanadu.’ Marshall then did a story where the Creeper turnedinto the Foozle, a character that he’d had in mind for a long time [‘Slab’in Eclipse, The Magazine #1]. Meanwhile, I turned Madame Xanadu intoScorpio Rose. I created the complete history of Scorpio Rose and workedout all the details of an actual, freestanding character. It was a weirdcombination of circumstances, but that’s how Marshall ended up withthe Foozle and I ended up with Scorpio Rose.”

In addition to the lead story, Marshall also illustrated a Doctor Orientbackup strip. The story was written by Frank Lauria and featured the psychicdetective from his novels.

While Englehart created the story, the look of Scorpio Rose wasMarshall’s. “If I did anything, I might have asked for her hair color, and I’mnot even sure I did that,” says Englehart. “Certainly, the whole leotard thingwas Marshall. He had a thing for leotards. In Batman: Dark Detective IIIthat he was going to do before he died, we had a vampire in it and heput her in a leotard, which was an odd choice for a vampire, I thought.”

The story involved a young-looking gypsy woman who was beingattacked by servants of a mysterious master who wants the “Book of Fleshe”

(right) Rogers was famous for panel-packed pages thatremarkably, to the artist’s credit, never seemed crowded,

like this one from DC’s Madame Xanadu one-shot.From the collection of Yoram Matzkin.

Madame Xanadu © 2007 DC Comics.

(far left) A 1981promotional pieceby Marshall Rogersfor the EclipseComics series heco-created withSteve Englehart,Scorpio Rose.Courtesy ofYoram Matzkin.(left) AnotherRogers-illustratedgem from the YoramMatzkin collection:the original cover artto Scorpio Rose #1.Scorpio Rose © Steve Englehartand Marshall Rogers.


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In the early to mid-1970s, Frank Brunner, along withwriter Steve Englehart, helped redefine Marvel’sSorcerer Supreme. Under their direction, Dr. Strangewas taken to whole new daring levels, and they createdone of the company’s most famous storylines, whereDr. Strange met his maker … literally.

In May 2007, BACK ISSUE was able to sit downwith Brunner, and we got the inside story on his timedrawing Dr. Strange.

—Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: How did you come to work on Dr.Strange?FRANK BRUNNER: I had done a tryout page of Dr.Strange back in 1969, and I sent a copy to Marvel.Later, when Roy Thomas became editor, he gave meseveral short horror stories to see what I could do.Then, when Dr. Strange was trying out in MarvelPremiere, Roy offered the book to me. The rest iscomic-book history!JOHNSON: Since you used Dr. Strange as the subject ofyour tryout, I take it then that you were a fan of thecharacter right from the start.BRUNNER: I always felt I was destined to draw Dr.Strange!JOHNSON: You’vealways worked onbooks that weren’t thetypical super-hero fare,but was there every anytalk about you takingover one of the otherMarvel charactersbefore Doctor Strange?BRUNNER: A book likeDoctor Strange may notbe a top title, but whenan artist works on, say,Spider-Man or CaptainAmerica, he gives up hisfreedom and integrityfor more money andpopularity. With DoctorStrange, I could getaway with a lot more, and my work was not beingscrutinized by the higher-ups!


Sorcerer SupremeA never-before-published pencilcommission of Dr. Strange by FrankBrunner, contributed by the artist, towhom we extend a BIG BI thank you!Dr. Strange © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

by D a n J o h n s o n

© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

TM

Years later, of course, I see John Romita on TV takingbows for his Spider-Man work. Yeah, that’s nice, but Iknow it was really Spidey the readers loved! No matterwho drew it or how mainstream-mediocre the art was!As for more popular titles, I was offered … yeah [therewere] a few, but they were all monthlies, and I neededmore time to craft my books.JOHNSON: Since you were a fan of Dr. Strange beforeyou became his official artist, let me get yourthoughts on the men and the woman who worked onhim before you. What did you think of the character’sco-creator, Steve Ditko’s, work?BRUNNER: Ditko was the reason I was attracted tothe character in the first place! His weird panoramicsand lighting were just great, and way above hisSpider-Man, good as that was!JOHNSON: Ditko was really allowed to run free on“Dr. Strange”, and I think even more than Spider-Man,Doc was his creation. I’m curious, did you ever have achance to meet Ditko or talk to him?BRUNNER: Nope! He’s not really available for meetings.JOHNSON: I was wondering, because I have spoken toseveral Marvel staffers who were there in the late1970s and 1980s who did get the chance to get toknow Ditko. I will never forget talking with AnnNocenti one day, and Tom DeFalco the next, and bothof them told me how Ditko would come into the Marveloffices and stay a while to chat with them over coffee[during the 1980s]. I will admit, I was certainly jealous!BRUNNER: How surprising that Ditko later came outof hiding! By that time, I was living in California.JOHNSON: What did you think about the Dr. Strangeart of former EC staffer, Marie Severin?BRUNNER: Marie was good, very good! But she didnot really add anything new [to the character].JOHNSON: How about Gene Colan?BRUNNER: Gene’s work was absolutely great andadded that touch of realism and surrealism that wasessential to Doc’s world. Unfortunately, his Dr. Strangestarted wearing a silly non-descript mask, which Ithought was unnecessary.

I like to think [that] I was a meld of Colan’s andDitko’s work, but with a new Cosmic Awareness!JOHNSON: How did you like working with SteveEnglehart on Doctor Strange?BRUNNER: Steve was my choice to write “my” Dr.Strange. Roy gave me the opportunity to pick a writer,and that is who I picked! Steve and I worked very welltogether, with me usually doing the plotting and he,the dialogue and characterization. It was a lot of funwhile it lasted!JOHNSON: Speaking of fun, tell the BACK ISSUEreaders how your most famous “Dr. Strange” storyarc, the Sise-Neg Saga [in Marvel Premiere #13 and14], came about.BRUNNER: It was during my umpteenth viewing of themovie Camelot, [and I was] rather stoned at the time.All of a sudden, while Merlin was explaining he was livingbackwards in time, it hit me like a ton of bricks: What if youwere immortal and lived all the way back to the beginning ofthe cosmos and time itself? The story possibilities were fan-tastic, I extrapolated. Then this immortal would be as Godin the vast nothingness! And this immortal, Sise-Neg, alsohappened to be a scientist-sorcerer, and having absorbedall the magic and arcane wisdom he encountered onhis journey could recreate the cosmos as he wished!

So the story quickly took shape once I explainedthe concept to my co-writer, Englehart, after hecaught up with me, in the Vapors of Valtor, that is.

Beginnings:Fan club sketch in Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)

Milestones:Creepy / Eerie / Vampirella / Man-Thing / Doctor StrangeHoward the Duck / Red Sonja / Warp! / The Seven Samuroidgraphic novel / collected work over the years on Elric

Works in Progress:Mythos: Fantasy Art Realms of Frank Brunner (art book fromVanguard Productions, shipping Oct. 2007)

Cyberspace:www.frankbrunner.net

FRANKBRUNNER

Photo courtesy of Frank Brunner.

FRANK BRUNNERDR. STRANGE CHECKLISTKey: cp (cover pencils); c (cover art);pl (plot/co-plot); p (interior pencils);i (interior inks); col (colors)

Marvel Premiere#4 (Sept. 1972): cp, i#6 (Jan. 1973): p#9 (July 1973): c, pl, p (1st Steve

Englehart collaboration)#10 (Sept. 1973): c, pl, p, col#11 (Oct. 1973): c, p, i (3-page framing

sequence for Lee/Ditko reprints)#12 (Nov. 1973): c, pl, p, i (as one of the

“Crusty Bunkers”), col#13 (Jan. 1974): c, pl, p#14 (Mar. 1974): c, pl, p

Doctor Strange vol. 2#1 (June 1974): c, pl, p#2 (Aug. 1974): c, pl, p, col#3 (Sept. 1974): c, p (1.5-page framing

sequence for Lee/Ditko reprint)#4 (Oct. 1974): c, pl, p#5 (Dec. 1974): c, pl, p#6 (Feb. 1975): c#22 (Apr. 1977): c#28 (Apr. 1978): c#29 (June 1978): c#30 (Aug. 1978): c#33 (Feb. 1979): c


© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.


Doctor StrangeArt Gallery

The Sorcerer Supreme by Six Superstar Artists

Plate three (“Clea”) from our cover-featured artist’s 1983 Doctor Strange Portfolio.Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.M

ICHAELGOLDEN

MICHAELGOLDEN


A 2007 pencil portrait by the 1970s’ foremostillustrator of the Master of the Mystic Arts.Published with the kind permission of the artist.© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

FRANKBRUNNER

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When it comes to impressive magic acts in comics, thecharacter of Dr. Strange has always had the ability tothrill his reading audience and leave them cheering.Like all good magicians, though, Dr. Strange needs thehelp of his trusty assistants, in this case the writers andartists who crafted his adventures.

Of the men who have drawn the exploits of thischaracter, two of the most talented are Gene Colan andPaul Smith. Recently BACK ISSUE brought these twotogether to discuss Dr. Strange, as well as their love formaking the impossible seem all too easy.

—Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: First of all, let me thank both of yougentleman for sitting down with me today for thisedition of BACK ISSUE. The theme of this issue is“magic,” and when it comes to comic books, you can’ttalk about sorcery without discussing Dr. Strange.PAUL SMITH: I’ll buy that!JOHNSON: Indeed, Dr. Strange’s creation was a changeof pace from the various science-based heroes MarvelComics had created previously. After all, the FantasticFour, the Hulk, Spider-Man, and even the X-Men wererooted in science in some form or another. Dr. Strange,though, really opened up a whole new territory for thecompany, and I think he brought in a whole new groupof readers who really were into the fantasy elements ofthe series. To begin, I wanted to find out how each ofyou came to work on this character.GENE COLAN: I don’t remember how I got [theassignment to draw Doctor Strange]. It was just somethingthat had been offered to me by Stan Lee. But I enjoyed it.Working on Doctor Strange took me to another level.JOHNSON: Gene, one of the things Dr. Strange fansloved about your time on the book was that youbrought a terrific gothic feel to the character.COLAN: That was sort of how I pictured the series,but sometimes these things have an unconscious way[of unfolding]. The gothic feel was something that justkind of crept in, but evidently I was thinking of puttingDr. Strange into that form and it worked out very well.

The series could have been set in a regular place,but Greenwich Village was written in the script asbeing the place where Dr. Strange lived, and there wasa description, too, of the kind of house he lived in.[The house] itself was kind of crazy-looking, but itbelonged in the Village.SMITH: Dr. Strange’s house was one of those great“bigger on the inside than it is on the outside” [places].


Master of the Pencil ArtWe can never get enough of “Gentleman”Gene Colan’s gorgeous graphite art. This 2006commissioned illo is courtesy of Gerry Turnbull.© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

by D a n J o h n s o nconducted May 16, 2007

PAUL SMITHDR. STRANGE CHECKLISTDoctor Strange vol. 2#54 (Aug. 1982): p for

5.5 pages#56 (Dec. 1982): c, p#65 (June 1984): c, p#66 (Aug. 1984): c, p, i#68 (Dec. 1984): c, p#69 (Feb. 1985): p, i#71 (June 1985): c, p, i#72 (Aug. 1985): p, i#73 (Oct. 1985): l/o

GENE COLANDR. STRANGE CHECKLISTKey: cp (cover pencils); c (cover art); l/o(layouts); p (interior pencils); i (interior inks)

Doctor Strange vol. 1#172 (Sept. 1968): cp, p#173 (Oct. 1968): p#174 (Nov. 1968): cp, p#175 (Dec. 1968): cp, p#176 (Jan. 1969): cp, p#178 (Mar. 1969): cp, p#180 (May 1969): cp, p#181 (July 1969): cp, p#182 (Sept, 1969): cp, p#183 (Nov. 1969): cp, p

Doctor Strange vol. 2#6 (Feb. 1975): p#7 (Apr. 1975): p#8 (June 1975): p#9 (Aug. 1975): p#10 (Oct. 1975): cp, p#11 (Dec. 1975): cp, p#12 (Feb. 1976): cp, p#13 (Apr. 1976): cp, p#14 (May 1976): cp, p#15 (June 1976): cp, p#16 (July 1976): cp, p#17 (Aug. 1976): cp, p#18 (Sept. 1976): cp, p#19 (Oct. 1976): cp#21 (Feb. 1977): cp#23 (June 1977): cp#27 (Feb. 1978): cp#35 (June 1979): cp#36 (Aug. 1979): cp, p#37 (Oct. 1979): p#38 (Dec. 1979): p#39 (Feb. 1980): p#40 (Apr. 1980): p#41 (June 1980): p#42 (Aug. 1980): p#43 (Oct. 1980): p#44 (Dec. 1980): p#45 (Feb. 1981): p#47 (June 1981): p

Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme vol. 3#19 (July 1990): c, p

Beginnings:Pinups in King Conan #7 (1981) and “Daredevil” story in MarvelFanfare #1 (1982)

Milestones:Various animation projects including films with Ralph Bakshi /Marvel Fanfare / Doctor Strange / Uncanny X-Men / Nexus /X-Factor / The Golden Age / Leave it to Chance / Iron Man /Spider-Man/Human Torch / Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame

Work in Progress:On sabbatical and plotting his nextmove, but taking commission requests

Cyberspace:trhgallery.com

PAULSMITH

Dr. Strange © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art courtesy of Gerry Turnbull.

Beginnings:Wings Comics for Fiction House in 1944

Milestones:Journey into Mystery / Kid Colt, Outlaw / Creepy / Eerie /The Avengers / Silver Surfer / Iron Man / Sub-Mariner / CaptainMarvel / Captain America / Dr. Strange / Daredevil / Tomb ofDracula / Howard the Duck / Phantom Zone / Wonder Woman /“Ragamuffins” in Eclipse Monthly / “Batman” in Detective Comics /Night Force / Nathaniel Dusk, Private Investigator / Jemm: Son ofSaturn / Silverblade / Rob Zombie's Spookshow Spectacular /

Hellboy: Weird Tales

Work in Progress:Retired, but taking requests forcommissions through his official website

Cyberspace:www.genecolan.com

Gene ColanDr. Strange © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.


COLAN: Yeah. I showed some of the actual architecturefrom the Village, some of the older buildings, and I mixedit in with my own view of the rest of it. You get a chanceto make things up as you go along, so some of [Dr.Strange’s Greenwich Village] is real and some of it is not.JOHNSON: Paul, how did you come to work onDoctor Strange?SMITH: I had just gotten to Marvel, and had a coupleof things in Marvel Fanfare, but I was in California atthe time and I just showed up on Marvel’s doorstepand walked out with Doctor Strange.JOHNSON: Now, this was after your initial tryout a fewyears before, right? I remember you telling me aboutthat and the sign you got that indicated where youwould eventually end up.SMITH: That was with the Frank Brunner Doctor Strangepages. In 1975, my late brother, Willie, was graduatingfrom the Kingsport Academy out on Long Island, and sothe whole family went out for his graduation. Now, I wasfull of myself, and barely out of high school, and I tookmy portfolio with me and I was going to get a job atMarvel Comics. I never got through the front door, buta nice lady by the name of Irene Vartanoff came out totalk to me and she gave me a number of Frank Brunnerpages to ink, which I did, and I did not get a job.JOHNSON: Even if you didn’t walk away with a job withMarvel then, there is still a sense of what was destined tobe with you being given Doctor Strange pages to ink.In speaking with Frank Brunner, I get the sense that heknew he was going to eventually draw the character.It seems the fates had a similar sign in store for you.SMITH: I don’t know if that was official Marvel policyor just Irene’s idea. I know Frank seemed to be surprised[when he found out I had been given those pages as atryout]. Irene may have just thought that we wereboth young, so maybe Frank’s work would be a bettermatch for me. I don’t know why she would make adecision on my art—she hadn’t even seen it at this point.I don’t know if it was predestination or not, but it is afunny story. It will get that Twilight Zone theme songgong through your head.JOHNSON: So, when did you get a job with MarvelComics?SMITH: Every time I tried to get a job at Marvel, I gotturned away! Finally, I am sitting at home one day,minding my own business and watching the fish tank,when Christy Marx calls me and says, “Marvel Comicswants you to work for them”!COLAN: That’s terrific!SMITH: I’m thinking, “How the heck do they evenknow I am alive?” It turned out Christy had gone toNew York to get a job as a writer, and at the end ofevery one of her interviews, she said, “If you haveanother minute, could you take a look at this,” and sheshowed them a small portfolio of my work that she hadtaken to New York with her, unbeknownst to me.COLAN: And they went for it.SMITH: They didn’t all go for it, except for Al Milgrom. Alwas the only guy who liked the portfolio, but he said therewas no story work [in my samples] and he needed to seestory work. Al asked me if I would do up three or four storypages. I told him that time was money, and I was workingas a professional artist out in California, so I asked if I coulddo a story on spec. That way if he liked it, he could use itand he wouldn’t have to throw it out and have me startover again. So my first Marvel story ended up beinga Daredevil story [for Marvel Fanfare #1 (Mar. 1982)].So, Gene, we not only have Doctor Strange in common,we also have Daredevil, Iron Man, and Howard the Duck.

JOHNSON: Initially, Paul, you stayed with the book for justa couple of months and then you left to work on X-Men.Of course, you did return to the character eventually.SMITH: Yes, I did wind up on X-Men, which I leftoriginally to go do Green Lantern, but DC reneged onme and Steve Grant. So I ended up coming back toMarvel and picked up Doctor Strange again. [When Ifirst worked on Doctor Strange,] it was so early in mycareer, I was mainly just trying to learn how to drawand tell a story at that point. Of course, I was so heavilyinfluenced by Ditko, I don’t know if I ever broughtanything original to the series like Gene did.JOHNSON: I wanted to get your thoughts about SteveDitko’s “Dr. Strange” and Marie Severin’s work on theseries after he left.COLAN: I knew Marie well, but I didn’t know SteveDitko at all. I never met him. I’ve seen his work onthe book and it was very unusual, but I tried not tobe influenced by his work. The only artist I was everinfluenced by early, early on in my career was MiltonCaniff. Other than that, there wasn’t any other particularartist I was influenced by, but I must have borrowedan awful lot of stuff like technique and style even.Style is like handwriting, you can’t hide it no matterwhat you think. Style can be spotted by people whopay attention to art.JOHNSON: I always thought you and Paul both hadpretty distinctive styles, myself. Gene, if you wereborrowing from anyone, you certainly added yourown spin to it and made it your own.COLAN: Well, thank you.SMITH: Before I get to my answer, I wanted to askGene a question, if I could…

Since you mentioned Caniff, which was so close towhat my guess was going to be since you said youwere only influenced by one artist, I was going to sayit was Noel Sickels.COLAN: I think they both worked together.SMITH: They were similar, but you are more into Terryand the Pirates.COLAN: I didn’t know about Sickles at that time …that was in the 1930s. I didn’t know about Sickels untilone day during the war, I came upon Air Life Magazine,and a series of black-and-white illustrations—SMITH: Those were the ones I’m talking about!

Baron in a BowlAnother previouslyunpublished Smithcommission fromthe Turnbullcollection.© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.


interview

In 1985, Cary Bates had a choice to make. Afteryears of writing Superman and the Flash, both ofthose heroes were revamped (or killed andrevamped, or retconned or, well, you get the idea,changed from what they once were). Two of Cary’sbiggest assignments were no more. I’ll let Caryhimself explain it:

“In the wake of losing Superman to the Byrnerevamp and Flash to the Crisis [on Infinite Earths](both in ’85), I had to generate new work formyself. After getting the Captain Atom assignment,I then created Silverblade for DC and Video Jack(with Keith Giffen) for Marvel’s Epic Line. WhileKeith was a co-plotter on Video Jack, withSilverblade I was the creator and sole writer, there-fore every aspect of the book and the hero’s worldwas solely my invention since there was absolutelyno continuity link with the rest of the DC Universe.While this sort of autonomy is not that unusual forcreators of books in the independent publishingworld, it was very unusual at DC in these pre-Vertigo years.”

It was the start of DC’s “New Format” titles:Baxter paper, fewer ads, and royalties (somethingthat had been paid as “bonuses” before, if at all)paid to the talent. It was a time of innovation andchange at what had been seen as one of the mosthidebound companies. DC Comics would lead theBig Two where smaller companies already were orsoon would be—all of which is very important, butwe’re here to talk about one of the stranger limitedseries DC put out during this time: Silverblade,

which ran from issue#1 (Sept. 1987)–12(Sept. 1988).

In the series’ continuity,“Silverblade” is a movietitle and the name of aheroic character playedby Jonathan Lord. It wasthe defining role of aformer movie legendnow living out his age-forced retirement in hismansion, Shangri-La,high in the hills aboveSunset Boulevard. Withhis former child co-starfrom the Silverblademovie, Bobby Milestone,the one-time “Lord ofSunset Boulevard” now

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by Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart


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“Second to the right and then straighton till morning.”

If you have children, or were onceone yourself, you are likely to recognizethis line from the Disney animatedfilm, Peter Pan. However, the credit for

writing the memorable dialogue doesnot lie with Walt and company. It was Scottish play-wright and novelist Sir James Matthew Barrie whopenned the phrase in his original story, from which theanimated film was derived.

Barrie reportedly based the play Peter Pan, firstperformed in England in 1904, and its subsequentnovelization in 1911 on his own childhood, as well ashis relationship with the children of Arthur and SylviaLlewelyn Davies. When Barrie’s older brother Daviddied in a skating accident at the age of 13, their motherbecame inconsolable and was perpetually hauntedand obsessed by the memory of her dead son—theboy who would never grow up—to the exclusion ofJames. As an adult, Barrie was married for a time,but never had any children of his own. While walkinghis dog in Kensington Gardens one day in 1897, hemet four-year-old George Davies and his brother John(along with their nanny) and they became fast friends.In the years that followed, Barrie would often visit withthe Davies family, telling the children, includingyounger brothers Peter, Michael, and Nicholas, storiesabout fairies and pirates and fantasy islands.

Fly forward several decades to 1987 and writerAndy Mangels. Ever since he was a child, AndyMangels wanted to work in the comic-book field. Inhigh school and college, he studied art. He got a two-year art degree and was in his third year of collegewhen he realized that he was better at, and preferred,writing to drawing. Mangels quit college at the end ofhis third year and began making a name for himselfwriting for publications about comics such as AmazingHeroes and Comics Interview. Working for the magazinesgave Mangels an opportunity to meet various creativepeople in the industry. In late 1987, he approachedEclipse Comics editor Fred Burke about doing aminiseries based on Peter Pan.

Why Peter Pan? Mangels explains the appeal: “Iwanted to do Peter Pan, or, as it was called, Peter Pan andWendy, because it had been one of my favorite booksas a child, and continued to be as an adult. Peter Pan isnot just the children’s fantasy that Disney put on film,


The Boy Who Would Never Grow UpCraig Hamilton's Peter Pan and Wendy cover painting.

All art in this article is courtesy of Andy Mangels.All art copyright to the respective artists.

by D e w e y C a s s e l l

nor the musical stage version. It’s actually a fairly adult children’s fantasy.It doesn’t shy away from topics such as death, and abandonment, and howchildren relate to their parents, and the love/hate relationship that they canhave with them. And there are some moments of real terror in the book,as well as moments of real, very strong emotion.” The timing was right fordoing an adaptation of Peter Pan. Before his death, Barrie bequeathed thecopyright ownership and royalties of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond StreetHospital for Sick Children in London. The copyright was set to expire in1987, 50 years after the author’s death. Being in the public domainwould make the story easier to publish, although Mangels insisted thatany contract include a provision for a royalty to be paid to the Hospital.

Mangels had a clear idea of how he wanted to adapt the story:“I’d always envisioned it as a three-part, what at that point was called ‘DarkKnight’ format (because they hadn’t come up with the title ‘Prestige Format’yet) miniseries of 48 pages each. The reason that I didn’t want to do it all inone volume was because the Classics Illustrated condensation-type stories,where you take one story and fit it into 22 or even 48 pages, really left outa tremendous amount of material. I wanted this adaptation to be as faithfulas possible to the original source material while still adapting it for thecomic-book field. The original source material included not only the originalnovel, but also the original stage play and the shorter novella—Peter Pan inKensington Gardens, which was a prequel.” The novel Peter Pan includesan epilogue depicting an adult Wendy telling the story of Peter to herdaughter Jane, which Mangels wanted to use as a framing sequence for theminiseries. Mangels continues, “There was also some discussion, even fromthe earliest stage, about eventually doing a Peter Pan in Kensington Gardensgraphic novel, as well as doing a sequel story of Peter Pan Returns.”

Mangels readily admits that the reason the unpublished Peter Panminiseries is remembered to this day is because of Craig Hamilton’s artwork.However, Craig was not the first choice to illustrate the miniseries.When Mangels submitted his first detailed proposal to Eclipse on June17, 1987, it included sample pages from a fan artist named Mike Reidy.Mangels also had several pages illustrated by Donna Barr and he pushedfor her to do it. Eclipse did not believe Mike or Donna were right for theproject. Subsequent possibilities discussed included Art Adams, CynthiaMartin, Tom Artis, Shawn McManus, and Craig Hamilton, all of whichwere dismissed. Craig’s work on DC Comics’ 1984 Aquaman miniserieswas beautiful, but he was originally eliminated from contention becauseof concerns regarding several projects that he had been working on thatwere canceled or withdrawn due to lateness.

Rafael Kayanan and Jill Thompson were both approached with theproject and turned it down. So, at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1988,Mangels and Eclipse sat down and brainstormed other artists, ultimatelydeciding to approach Craig Hamilton after all. When Mangels contactedHamilton, it turned out that he had already been working on Peter Pansketches for himself and he was a tremendous fan of the property,so he entered into contract negotiations with Eclipse. Editor Fred Burkehad used an inker named Rick Bryant for a project called Total Eclipse andsuggested that Bryant ink Craig’s pencils on Peter Pan and Wendy,which was fine with Craig as the two had worked together before.Julia Lacquement, who had worked with Mike Grell on Green Arrow for DCComics, was always intended to be the colorist for the miniseries, and ToddKlein was tagged to be the letterer. The covers were to be illustrated by thelikes of P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess, Michael Kaluta, and Kevin Nowlan.The contracts were written in October 1988. With the creative team onboard, Eclipse announced Peter Pan and Wendy as a project for 1989.

By the time the press release came out, Mangels had finished writingbook one of the miniseries. And the artwork was remarkable. Mangelsdescribes his impressions of the art. “It became obvious from day one that


(above left) Donna Barr illustrates her proposed versionof the duel between Peter Pan and Captain Hook.(left) Channeling Aubrey Beardsley, Donna Barrillustrates a moment of discovery from Peter Pan inKensington Gardens.All art copyright to the respective artists.

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As far as Gardner Fox was concerned, Zatanna’sstory was over. She’d rescued her father and there

was nothing more to tell. For readers whose collectionsstopped at the end of 1969, Zatanna never appearedagain. But Fox had left his audience wanting more,and a whole generation of teenage male comics readersdesperately wanted an encore.

Zatanna, for those who came in late, was amagician—a real one—who could make pretty muchanything happen as long as she spoke her commandsbackwards, not unlike her father Zatara, no slouch in themagic department himself. Holding forth in 185 comicsstories between 1938 (Action Comics #1) and 1951

(World’s Finest Comics #51), Zatara had been createdby Fred Guardineer and primarily scripted by GardnerFox from 1939 to 1944. Zatanna may not havebeen the first Silver Age chip off the old block—that honor belongs to Scribbly, Jr. in Sugar andSpike #30—but she was the first to have legs.Very nice ones, too, sheathed in fishnet stockingsand high heels that accompanied a top hat, tails,and vest that mirrored her father’s look.

Beyond the visuals—initially supplied byMurphy Anderson in Hawkman #4 (Oct.–Nov.1964)—was a brilliantly innovative ploy that carriedthe young heroine through four separate JuliusSchwartz-edited/Gardner Fox-written comic-booktitles—plus a retroactive fifth—in an unfoldingsearch to find her missing father that climaxed in1966’s Justice League of America #51 withZatara’s rescue from the elemental sorceress Allura.With a unique multi-title story and a charismaticheroine, one might have expected an earlyfollow-up. Whether it was something as simpleas Fox feeling more kinship to Zatara himself—

who he guest-starred with the Elongated Man inDetective Comics #379 (Sept. 1968)—or something

more, Zatanna’s next performance seemed to be adisappearing act.

Super-Hero or Performer…?…who cares, so long as she’s drawn byGeorge Pérez! A big “knaht uoy” (read itbackwards!) to Robert Jewell for con-tributing this wonderful commission.Zatanna TM & © 2007 DC Comics.


by J o h n W e l l s

ANNATAZ RETFA XOF“After you reunite [Zatanna and Zatara],” a California fan enthused back in1964’s Hawkman #6, “I sincerely hope you give them their own magazine,or at least a try-out in Showcase.” Each successive Zatanna appearance wonanother rave from that fan, Mike Friedrich, who even theorized in Green Lantern#44 that, if Zatara wasn’t on Earth, he must be on the other-dimensionalEarth-Two, home of the 1940s Flash. That didn’t pan out, but it seemedaltogether fitting that the Mistress of Magic finally made her return in The Flash#198 (June 1970) with a script by fan-turned-pro Mike Friedrich.

Zatanna’s return had an almost fairy-tale quality that required her deductionthat she need only kiss an extra-dimensional mage to exorcise the demon whopossessed him. “I had an affinity for Zatanna,” Friedrich told Michael Eury in TheJustice League Companion (2005), and that was readily apparent when the writerbrought Zatanna back in Justice League of America #87 (Feb. 1971). She was “evercalm in the midst of a stormy world,” Friedrich declared. “The bearer of peace.”Even Superman privately felt, “Just by being near her, I feel so comfortable, at ease.”

Officially, Zatanna had popped in to commemorate the League’s rescue ofher father five years earlier, but she was really there to serve as a counterpart tothe Scarlet Witch analog in Friedrich’s faux team of Avengers (part of a sneakycompany crossover of sorts that paralleled a simultaneous Squadron Supremetale in Marvel’s Avengers #85). Though she started off the climactic battle fight-ing the Silver Sorceress, Zatanna wound up risking her life to save one of theother “Justifiers,” an act of compassion that demonstrated the Justice League’sgood intentions and stopped the senseless conflict.

When she wasn’t turning the world on with her smile, DC’s answer to Mary TylerMoore was saving it in her first solo series (backing up Supergirl in Adventure Comics#413–415, Dec. 1971–Feb. 1972). There was little room for peacemaking hereas Zatanna found herself and her manager thrust by Zatara himself into anotherdimension, there to battle sinister tribesmen, a cloaked chieftain named Varnu,and a male counterpart to Medusa dubbed Gorgonus. Fighting her way back toEarth and finding it imperiled by her own father, Zatanna pointed her finger at himand shouted, “Zatara—die!!” He seemed to do just that and the elemental Allura(responsible for his 1960s disappearance) emerged from his body only to beimmediately imprisoned in an enchanted flask. Astute readers noted that Zatannahadn’t spoken her command backwards, so her no-longer-possessed fatherwasn’t really dead. She’d just used sleight-of-hand to temporarily tranquilize him.

In a collective 21 pages, writer Len Wein defined Zatanna’s private life forthe next decade: Shadowcrest, the mansion she shared with her father (andsubsequently placed outside Gotham City); her insistence on practicing moredemanding stage magic in her theatrical act rather than genuine enchantments; herlong-suffering manager—and would-be love interest—Jeffrey Sloane, who’d rathershe ditch the parlor tricks and perform really spectacular stunts with true magic.

It was all rendered by artist Gray Morrow in a moody naturalistic style thatgave a real-world integrity to the fantastic nature of Zatanna’s world and makes iteasy to forgive the mustachioed Jeff Sloane’s tinted glasses, puffy shirt, and ascot.The impact of the story can be measured in the fact that Morrow is known tothis day as perhaps the definitive Zatanna artist despite the fact that he’d returnto the character only a handful of times in his career.

As fondly as that arc is remembered by fans, Wein admits to recalling littleabout its origins and suspects that his reasons for doing a Zatanna story wereas much pragmatic as they were nostalgic. “They were very early in my career,”Wein says, “so I have to assume I was looking to find characters other writersweren’t using, so I’d have something to sell to my editors.”

Gorgonus returned in the Dick Giordano-illustrated #419 while Steve Skeateswrote #421’s final Adventure episode. Elsewhere, Wein maintained Zatanna’srelationships with the wider DC Universe through cross-promotional cameos inWorld’s Finest Comics #207 (where Doctor Light tapped her powers) and 208 (whereshe advised Superman on his vulnerability to magic). Wein also made it a point toinclude Zatanna in the gala Justice League of America #100. “While I did and do like


Jeff Gets StonedBad news for Zee’s boyfriend in the Len Wein/Gray Morrow Zatannabackup from Adventure Comics #414 (Jan. 1972; original art scancourtesy of Ray Cuthbert). But watch her rescue her dude in distressin this page from #415 (art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions)!© 2007 DC Comics.

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The war begins on a mansion on the coast ofWashington State. Soon, the theaters of conflict wouldmove into outer space and even beyond reality.Foes would become allies and allegiances wouldchange before the war’s end.

But like many wars, not everyone who started incombat would see the end of the battle.

Including its creator.

In 1980, Bill Willingham’s travels led him to TSRHobbies, the original publisher of the Dungeons andDragons role-playing game, where he worked as staffartist for a year and freelanced for another. During thistime, he drew attention for producing a series ofcomic ads for D&D that ran on the back covers ofmany Marvel/Epic comics, as well as art for variousgaming modules.

While illustrating a portrait of an elemental being,Willingham thought about how the concept of thefour elements given human form might apply to asuper-hero team. His ideas evolved over the nextcouple of years as he worked to break into the comicsmarket, eventually hooking up with writer/artist/publisher Mike Gustovich, the creative force behindNoble Comics and the Justice Machine. Willinghamfollowed Gustovich in getting some comics work atFirst Comics starting with Warp #8 (Nov. 1983), andthen doing fill-in issues at DC Comics.

In 1983, Gustovich licensed his creation to TexasComics, co-publishing the first Justice Machine Annual.It contained not only an appearance of theT.H.U.ND.E.R. Agents, but also the first appearance ofWillingham’s Elementals and their foes, Mr. Saker andShapeshifter, the latter of whom tested the mettle ofthe team in this 20-page tale.

A new Justice Machine title promised for thatOctober, with The Elementals to follow a monthlater, was not to be as Texas Comics folded.However, the two super-titles would find a home in1984 at Comico [pronounced “Ko-mee-ko”] theComic Company of Norristown, Pennsylvania.Originally publishing the work of its founders,Comico, with its commitment to quality and creativefreedom, swiftly attracted talent like Mike Baron,Sam Kieth, William Messner-Loebs, Chuck Dixon,and others.


Dead, Yet AliveArtist Mike Leeke’s powerful pencil renditionof the characters he drew through thick andthin, the Elementals. Courtesy of the artist.Elementals TM & © Comico.

by B r i a n K . M o r r i s

Working Toward Oblivion

the TM

In 1984, Elementals #1, edited by Diana Schutz,hit the direct-sales market. The initial story arc beganwith the team’s capture and year-long (in comictime) confinement. During the tale, the readerlearned Mr. Saker’s origin:

Torn from “the gates of the Promised Land” twomillennia ago by a demon-sired “prophet,” Saker wasleft an immortal battery of mystic energies. Honing hisdark talents, he built an army not only of soldiers, butof scientists and paranormals—also called “theSupernature”—all in constant training on NachtIsland, near the Bermuda Triangle, in preparation forthe day when Saker would become the world’s savior.“Through me,” he claimed, “[humanity] shall haveaccess to the Universe. If my plan is not the world’strue destiny, let the world prove it by defeating me.”

Saker had grown so powerful that the NaturalOrder could no longer ignore him and took directaction—and as mythology demonstrates, “directaction” from the gods usually means getting mortalsto do their dirty work for them. Dividing their collectivepower among the four elemental foundations ofexistence—Aqua the Serpent, Terra the Beast, Aier theEagle, and Ignis the Angel—they bequeathed thispower to four mortals with only one thing in common:each of them died on the same day, their bodies neverto be discovered.

L.A.P.D. homicide detective Jeanette Crane wasresurrected with the ability to generate and withstandintense amounts of heat and flame. Vietnam veteranand Coast Guard helicopter pilot Jeff Murphy couldfly at unbelievable speeds, using the winds themselvesas his weapon. The son of a prominent archeologist,14-year-old Tommy Czuchra could transform into amighty stone giant. And Becky Golden couldbreathe, control, and even become water. Together,they became Morningstar, Vortex, Monolith, andFathom—the Elementals.

Although the Elementals appeared to be human(except for Fathom’s sea-green skin color and webbedfingers), prolonged contact stirred an unease in mosthumans, “a wrongness . . . as if they were still a littlebit dead.” Interpersonal contact with most humansended badly, so the quartet spent most of their time inmundane activities, as if sleepwalking through existenceuntil they heard action’s call.

Living near Seattle, Washington, the teamtrained in their new abilities monitored by Porter Scott,an agent of the Federal Intelligence SecurityHeadquarters; Becky’s father David; and the estate’scaretaker, Lawrence Catrajel, who seemed unaffectedby the unease that repelled most humans.


(below) Detail fromBill Willingham’s

cover art to the 1988Comico trade paper-back The Elementals:

The Natural Order.Elementals TM & © Comico.

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

ROUGH STUFF magazine celebrates the ART ofcreating comics! Edited by famed inker BOBMcLEOD, each issue spotlights NEVER-BEFOREPUBLISHED penciled pages, preliminary sketches,detailed layouts, and even unused inked versionsfrom artists throughout comics history. Included iscommentary on the art, discussing what went rightand wrong with it, and background information toput it all into historical perspective. Plus, before-and-after comparisons let you see firsthand how an imagechanges from initial concept to published version.

So enjoy these excerpts from issue #6, whichpresents galleries of NEVER-BEFORE SEEN art by:

BRIAN STELFREEZE • BUTCH GUICEIAN CHURCHILL • DAVE COCKRUM

COLLEEN DORANPlus a STELFREEZE interview and new cover, alook at “rough stuff” from independent comics,and more!

(100-page magazine) SINGLE ISSUES: $9 US

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Four issues in the US:$26 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada:$44, Elsewhere: $60 Surface, $72 Airmail).

ROUGH STUFF #1ALAN DAVIS • GEORGE PÉREZ

BRUCE TIMM • KEVIN NOWLANJOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

ARTHUR ADAMS • JOHN BYRNEWALTER SIMONSON

Plus a NOWLAN interview, and a new TIMM COVER!

ROUGH STUFF #3JOHN ROMITA JR. • MIKE ALLRED

JOHN BUSCEMA • YANICKPAQUETTE • P. CRAIG RUSSELL

LEE WEEKSPlus a JOHN ROMITA JR. interview, looks at theearliest work of some of your favorite artists, and anew ROMITA JR. COVER!

ROUGH STUFF #4MICHAEL KALUTA • GENE COLANANDREW ROBINSON • HOWARD

CHAYKIN • JOHN TOTLEBENSTEVEN BISSETTE

Plus a JOHN TOTLEBEN interview, art from theWonder Woman Day charity auction, and a newKALUTA COVER!

ROUGH STUFF #2PAUL GULACY

BRIAN APTHORP • ALEX TOTHFRANK BRUNNER

JERRY ORDWAY • MATT WAGNERPlus a PAUL GULACY interview, professional art cri-tiques, and a new GULACY “HEX” COVER!

We hope you enjoy this FREEROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

IANCH

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This was towards the

end of issue 5 and for

one reason or anoth-

er the scheduling

was a little off so to

save time I thumb-

nailed a few pages

ahead of time to meet

the deadline. This

was one that I kept

for some reason.Batman andSupergirl TM &©2007 DC Comics

Documents

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