Back Issue #26

SUICIDESQUAD•JAMESBOND•AIRBOY•REDEEMER•SGT.ROCK•MS.TREE•ANDMR.T!WITHKUBERT•COLAN•TRUMAN•OSTRANDER•KESEL•MCDONNELL•ANDMORE!

Exclusive “Pro2Pro” Interview with

on Master of Kung Fu, Nick Fury, 007, and Their Longtime Collaboration

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No.26$6.95

“ S P I E S A N D T O U G H G U Y S ” I S S U E !“ S P I E S A N D T O U G H G U Y S ” I S S U E !

F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 8

No.26$6.95

PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCHPAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCHExclusive “Pro2Pro” Interview with

on Master of Kung Fu, Nick Fury, 007, and Their Longtime Collaboration

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Volume 1,Number 26February 2008

Celebratingthe Best Comicsof the'70s, '80s,and Today!

EDITORMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich J. Fowlks

COVER ARTISTPaul Gulacy

COVER COLORISTLaurie Kronenberg

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

CIRCULATION DIRECTORBob Brodsky, CookiesoupPeriodical Distribution, LLC

PROOFREADERSJohn Morrowand Eric Nolen-Weathington

SPECIAL THANKSMichael AushenkerMike BaronTerry BeattyLee BenakaAl BigleyAlex BoneyJerry BoydNorm BreyfogleMichael BrowningPete CarlssonDewey CassellHoward ChaykinSteve CohenGene ColanMax Allan CollinsGerry ConwayTony DeZunigaChuck DixonRandy EmberlinAngela FowlksMike FriedrichMike GagnonGrand Comic-Book

DatabaseRobert GreenbergerPaul GulacyGeorge HagenauerAllan HarveyHeritage Comics

AuctionsBen HermanEric HoustonTony IsabellaGeof IsherwoodDan Johnson

Mike KeaneScott KentRandy KerrKarl KeselJim KingmanMichael KronenbergJoe KubertJoe KulbiskiDave LemieuxMarvel ComicsLuke McDonnellDoug MoenchMiss MoneypenneyAlbert MoyJohn OstranderMichael RankinsRose Rummel-EuryPaul SagerJeff SinghAnthony SnyderJohn K. Snyder IIITom StewartTimothy TrumanJohn Yoncat yronwode

BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh,NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury,Editor, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. E-mail: [email protected]. Six-issuesubscriptions: $40 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $90 Surface International, $108 AirmailInternational. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Coverart by Paul Gulacy. Black Widow TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are ©their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter© 2008 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing.ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

The Retro Comics Experience!

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

FLASHBACK: Black Widow: The Gloria Steinem of the Jump-Suit Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3The amazing adventures of Marvel’s spy superheroine

PRO2PRO: (Karate) Kickin’ It, Old School!: Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy . . . . . . . . . .8The writer and artist kick back for a Master of Kung Fu dialogue

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Shang-Chi/Nick Fury Crossover . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Moench and Gulacy were thiiiiiis close to pairing Marvel’s martial artist and super-spy

BEYOND CAPES: James Bond: A Comics History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23A look at the scattershot comics appearances of the most famous of secret agents

WHAT THE--?!: Between a Rock and a Bizarre Place: Sgt. Rock’s Team-Upsin the DC Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28The WWII hero’s offbeat pairings with Batman, Superman, Swamp Thing, and others

BEYOND CAPES: Keep ’Em Flying: The Story of Airboy at Eclipse Comics . . . . . . . . . . . .32Dixon and Truman’s travails and triumphs in resurrecting the Golden Age flyboy

FLASHBACK: The Suicide Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39An in-depth, art-loaded examination of John Ostrander’s dastardly do-gooders

OFF MY CHEST: The Painless Birth of the Suicide Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57Series editor Robert Greenberger spills his guts on the origins of DC’s hard-hitting team

INTERVIEW: Howard Chaykin on Atlas Comics: The Good, the Bad, and the HigherPage Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59The superstar writer/artist discusses the Scorpion and the fly-by-night publisher of 1975

BEYOND CAPES: P.I.s Inc.: The Many Detectives of Don McGregor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63McGregor’s film noir comics Detectives Inc. and Nathaniel Dusk, with art by Marshall Rogersand Gene Colan

WHAT THE--?!: They Call Me Mr. T! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Pity th’ fool who counts out this comics-friendly ’80s icon

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Joe Kubert and The Redeemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71The comics legend looks back at the series that didn’t—but might yet—happen

BEYOND CAPES: The Mystery of Ms. Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75The story of Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty’s tough-as-nails lady P.I.

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82Reader feedback on magical issue #24, and a bonus for fans of Micronauts!

S p i e s a n d T o u g h G u y s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1

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Marvel’s premier femme fatale super-spy, the BlackWidow, aka Natalia Romanova, aka Natasha Romanoff,first appeared in a 1964 Iron Man story (Tales ofSuspense #52) as a baddie. She later saw the error ofher ways, defected to the West from her native Russia,and spent the remainder of the 1960s as part-timeAvenger and occasional guest star—usually pursuedby the smitten archer Hawkeye.

In 1970, as a teaser for her forthcoming soloseries, Black Widow (BW) guest-starred in AmazingSpider-Man #86, where she went head to head withan unwell wall-crawler in a classic Marvel misunder-standing. There she wore her trademark skintightall-in-one shiny black outfit for the first time. And veryfetching she looked, too!

BLACK’S WIDOW’S AMAZING ADVENTURESDebuting in August 1970, Amazing Adventures was oneof the last of Marvel’s “split books,” where two featureswere combined to provide the reader with more bangfor their buck, and allow a degree of market research forthe potential popularity of fledgling characters. Whilethe Inhumans took up the lead spot of AmazingAdventures, Black Widow settled down in the back asthe first Marvel superheroine to star in her own series.

Initially, the stories were written by Gary Friedrichand drawn by John Buscema. They introduced“international jet-setter” Natasha Romanoff and herchauffeur and confidant, Ivan Petrovitch. (BW’s originchanged over the years, but basically involved Natashabeing orphaned during the War and cared for by Ivanuntil the Russian authorities took an interest andinducted her into their super-spy training program.)

Bored of her rich lifestyle, Natasha takes to theskies as the Black Widow. Aided by her anti-gravshoes and S.H.I.E.L.D.-designed “widow’s web” line,she can swing across Manhattan with aplomb.Golden wristbands that power her “widow’s bite” stunbeams and a spare equipment belt complete her outfit.

Confident, almost arrogant, as Natasha, the maskslips when she’s in BW guise. She quickly becomes


She may have defected to the USA……but we can find nary a defect in thebeautiful Black Widow. Plate Four fromPaul Gulacy’s 1982 Black Widow Portfolio,published by S.Q. Productions, Inc. Courtesyof Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

by A l lan H ar v e y

unsure of herself and her abilities as she makes mistakes.Not least of her concerns is that, as the new costumehas no mask, she’ll soon be recognized and lose herprivate life. A justified fear as it turns out.

BW tries to help a gang of youths in SpanishHarlem create a center for underprivileged children.Unfortunately, the gang have taken over a buildingillegally and find themselves subject to court action toevict them. Natasha, caught in the middle, sees herreputation plummet as the newspapers turn againsther, and the mafia plots to have her denounced as acommunist insurgent.

It is around this time that changes in the stripbegan. Gene Colan drew Amazing Adventures #3(Nov. 1970), with inks by Sub-Mariner creator BillEverett. This pairing works beautifully, and the resultingfew issues remain a joy to behold. It’s a great shamethat Everett died a short time later, robbing us offurther collaborations.

“I loved Bill’s work very much,” says Colan.Although probably best known for his long run

drawing Tomb of Dracula in the 1970s, Colan had asolid background in superheroes, with stints onDaredevil, Captain America, and Iron Man. Prior tojoining Marvel he’d worked in romance comics,experience he was able to put to good use delineatingthe adventures of the delectable Ms. Romanoff. “I tryto think before I draw that I’m drawing someoneattractive and, as long as I keep that thought in myhead, it turns out well,” he says.

Roy Thomas succeeded Gary Friedrich as scripter,before relative newcomer Gerry Conway took chargeof BW’s adventures.

“I’d been writing for DC comics for two or threeyears,” says Conway, “working on features like PhantomStranger, and scripting ‘mystery’ stories for comics likeHouse of Secrets and House of Mystery, but, to para-phrase the joke about the actor’s ambitions to be adirector, what I really wanted to do was write super-heroes—specifically, Marvel heroes. Through friends I’dbecome acquainted with Roy Thomas, who was StanLee’s right-hand man at the time, and Roy offered me ashot at the Marvel ‘writing test.’ Stan wasn’t impressed,but Roy liked what I did, and began throwing someshort assignments my way, including scripting over hisplot on an early Ka-Zar, and ultimately, Black Widow.”

Under Thomas the series had taken on a new tone,one continued by Conway: soap-opera melodramareplaced the political plots of Gary Friedrich. BWand Ivan became closer, with Ivan taking a largerslice of the action. Their relationship began toresemble that of the central characters of the UKnewspaper strip Modesty Blaise. Like Modesty andco-star Willie Garvin, Natasha and Ivan are the closestof friends—but purely platonic.

Conway: “Writing the Widow was a lot of fun.I’ve always had a weak spot for powerful, assertivewomen in fiction, particularly redheads (ahem). I alsoenjoyed the dynamic between the Widow and Ivan:playful, vaguely sexy, but ultimately more friendlythan romantic.”

Thomas and Conway started a subplot where BWtruly begins to doubt herself following the death of ayouth she’s trying to protect. Pursuing those responsible,Natasha’s anxiety leads her to delay a capture attemptand the culprits escape. With this failure witnessed bypolice, the Widow’s competency is called into question,and the mental strain weighs heavily on her. She evenbegins to believe that anyone who crosses paths withher is destined to die.

HORNING IN ON DAREDEVILAt this point, the decision was made to remove BW fromthe ailing Amazing Adventures. The Inhumans took overthe complete book, and Natasha was moved across toDaredevil, then in the safe hands of Conway and Colan.

“I was looking for a way to re-energize thetitle,” says Conway, “and starting up a romanticand professional relationship between DD and theWidow seemed like a natural—particularly givenmy fondness for Natasha.

Sketching theFetching Femme

Black Widow byHannibal King,

courtesy ofAnthony Snyder.

© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

4 • B A C K I S S U E • S p i e s a n d T o u g h G u y s I s s u e

interview8 • B A C K I S S U E • S p i e s a n d T o u g h G u y s I s s u e

Fads never last for too long, and yet sometimes thecomic books they inspire become timeless.

During the 1970s, anything that could be used as ahook to generate a comic book at Marvel Comics wasup for grabs, with some efforts that fared much better(for example, motorcycle enthusiasm and Ghost Rider)than others (disco and Dazzler).

Of all the 1970s fads that caught the creative eye ofthe folks at Marvel, one was a natural for a medium thatthrived on fast-paced action: the kung-fu craze. It just sohappens that at the same time Marvel Comics was readyto start kung-fu fighting, the company had also acquiredthe rights to Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu series of novels.Beginning in Special Marvel Edition #15 (Dec. 1973),writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin infused theworld of Rohmer’s master criminal with a little chop-sockyaction by giving Fu Manchu a son who would becomehis greatest adversary… at least in the Marvel Universe.Thus Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu was born.

Shortly after the series began, the son of Fu Manchuacquired a new creative team, writer Doug Moench andartist Paul Gulacy, and it was under them that theMaster of Kung Fu series (as Special Marvel Editionwas re-titled with issue #17) reached its creative zenith.It was they who ensured that Master of Kung Fu wouldbecome a legend long after Pet Rocks and mood ringswere a thing of the past.

– Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: Paul, Master of Kung Fu was one ofthe first projects you did for Marvel Comics. How did youget started with the company, and how did you come towork on this series?PAUL GULACY: [I came to the industry] through thecoaxing of inker Dan Adkins, and before I began workwith Marvel, I submitted a short story that I haddrawn and written that involved this mystical Chinesefellow. Included in that story were some martial-artsthemes which at that time editor Roy Thomas tooknote of. [When Master of Kung Fu came along] I wasalready doing some black-and-white horror storiesand my first color work was “Morbius: The LivingVampire.” Tie all this in with Jim Starlin’s exit onMaster of Kung Fu after three issues to work on anothertitle and bingo, Roy gave me the call.JOHNSON: What were your thoughts in taking over thebook when it was offered to you? Having worked previ-ously on horror titles, it seemed like this series would bea big departure for you as an artist.GULACY: When you’re young and hungry, you’ll takeanything they offer. If it was Captain Schmuck, I’d be allover it. But with this book, I had to do some homework.

by D an J oh n s on

Door’s Open! Come On In!Paul Gulacy’s pencils for an unused Master of Kung Fu cover,similar to the layout Paul used for the cover of MOKF #55(Aug. 1977). Very special thanks to Dave Lemiuex.© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Beginnings:“Scarlet in Glory” in Dracula Lives (Nov. 1974), Marvel Comics

Milestones:Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight: “Prey” and “Terror” story arcs“Blood on Black Satin” from Eerie #110–111 / Star Wars: CrimsonEmpire / James Bond: Serpent’s Tooth / Master of Kung Fu andShang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu / Outlaws / Sabre / Six from SiriusSpies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul GulacySquadron Supreme: Nighthawk vs. Hyperion / Year One: Ra’s al Ghul

Works in Progress:Penance: Relentlesssci-fi screenplay Shadowracer: Go

Cyberspace:www.gulacy.com

PAULgulacy

Photo courtesy of Paul Gulacy.

Beginnings: “Snow Job” in Eerie #29 (Sept. 1970), Warren Publishing

Milestones: Aztec Ace / Batman / Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight: “Prey”and “Terror” story arcs / many Batman graphic novels and specialprojects including Batman vs. Predator II, Bloodstorm, Book of theDead, Crimson Mist, and Red Rain / The Big Book of ConspiraciesThe Big Book of the Unexplained / Creepy / Doc Savage (B&Wmagazine) / Eerie / Electric Warrior / James Bond: Serpent’s ToothMaster of Kung Fu and Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu / Moon Knight

Outlaws / Planet of the Apes(B&W magazine) / Six from SiriusSlash Maraud / Vampirella / Werewolfby Night

Works in Progress: Five-issue Batman miniseries withKelley Jones (early 2008) / working onproposals for several other comic-bookprojects and novels

DOUGMOENCH

Photo courtesy of Doug Moench.

I had seen a few kung-fu movies, but not Enter theDragon at that time. Martial arts was here and therein Bond movies and such, but this was at the crest ofthat new kung-fu craze. I remember being an artstudent and going to see the first martial-arts movieever shown in this country called Five Fingers ofDeath. It was totally wack. JOHNSON: What did you think when you learned thatDoug was coming in as the series’ new writer?GULACY: I didn’t know Doug. I can’t remember anyof his work at that time. In fact, I didn’t know a wholelot about the industry in general. I read some comics,but not many. Bear in mind, when I was attending artschool, I thought I might be ending up in advertisingor as an illustrator after graduation. I got hired out ofthe blue, on a lark, while I still had a year of school tofinish at 19. My ending up in comics was completelyout of left field and unexpected.DOUG MOENCH: [In regard to Paul’s hiring,] I wasin Marv Wolfman’s office and there was a stack ofsubmissions and tryout artwork and Marv was showingthem to me. We were looking through these and Icame across pages by Paul, but I didn’t know that,they had no name on them. The actual drawing was notas good as it would soon become, and remember,this was really early on and this was his tryout stuff.On the other hand, the artwork was very dynamicand very exciting. As for the storytelling, it was thebest I had seen in I don’t know how long.

When I saw this stuff, I said, “Oh, my God! Who’sthis guy? Give me this guy, let me write something forhim.” And I went on and on and on, and Marv juststood there looking at me, and I said, “You’ve got tohire this guy!” After three minutes of me going insanelike that, Marv said, “Already done.” Marv hadalready decided Paul should be hired. When theyasked me to do Master of Kung Fu, one of the reasonsI said yes was because Paul was, by then, on the book.JOHNSON: Before the both of you started working onthe comic, how familiar were you with the Fu Manchustories by Sax Rohmer?GULACY: [I think] maybe I read one or two bookswhen I was in my early teens. It was good stuff.Very moody, atmospheric pulp writing. Very reminiscentof Kenneth Robeson’s work on Doc Savage. I rememberChristopher Lee playing Fu Manchu in the films.MOENCH: I was really not that familiar at all withRohmer’s work. I had seen a couple of Fu Manchumovies, too, and by osmosis, I knew what he was allabout, but I had not read any of the novels.JOHNSON: What can you tell us about the deal thatMarvel Comics had struck to use Rohmer’s characters?MOENCH: All I know is that Marvel paid a small fee,I think on a monthly basis, to Rohmer’s widow forthe rights to use Fu Manchu, even though therewould be many months and many issues where hewas not featured at all. GULACY: Quite frankly, at that time anyone couldhave obtained the rights to Fu Manchu for a song.I don’t think the novels were exactly selling like hotcakes.I can’t even remember if they were being publishedat that time.JOHNSON: Sometimes when characters are licensedthere are certain restrictions that come into play. Werethere any imposed by Rohmer’s estate while you wereworking on the book?MOENCH: Not that I’m aware of, and I don’t thinkthere was any problem whatsoever, or I would haveheard of it. Nothing was ever changed or forbidden.


That could just be a coincidence, or I did Fu Manchujust the way Sax Rohmer’s widow wanted it done.Whatever the reason, there was never anything thatneeded to be fixed. JOHNSON: What was the creative flow like betweenthe two of you when you were working on Master ofKung Fu?GULACY: We just did our thing, and I don’t mean thatin a smug way. We creatively played off one another.It was a good pairing, and other artists will tell youthat Doug is a real joy to work with. He doesn’tdominate or throw his weight around. We were ableto make good music together. MOENCH: The only arguments we ever had wereabout the direction of stories. There were never anyproblems with working together. In fact, this was oneof the easiest working relationships I have ever had.The chemistry was perfect. Our sensibilities on storytellingand what comics should be as a form meshed perfectly.

We both loved the Jim Steranko, Will Eisner, andHarvey Kurtzman styles of visual storytelling. To me,that is the essence of comic-book form, to be able towork with an artist who gets that, as opposed to anartist who treats comics closer to illustrated stories. To me,if you just took a typesheet of the dialogue and read it,you should not be able to figure out what is going on,because without the art providing a key element of thenarrative, its not really comics. The artwork shouldroughly follow what is going on, and [the story]should not be completely evident until you plug in thedialogue that complements the artwork. The two haveto mesh together in this synergy and the whole isgreater than the sum of their individual parts. JOHNSON: I have heard that you tended to go more forthe philosophical aspects of the story, Doug, and Paulreally handled the action.MOENCH: I think Paul was always, “Awww, this fortune-cookie stuff! Let’s do it more like Bruce Lee!” And Iwould tell him, “Aside from your artwork, the biggestappeal to me was the philosophical stuff, the Easternmysticism and so on, so shut up.” That’s the kind ofthing we fought about, not about how we shouldwork together. It was just specific disagreements onthe emphasis. GULACY: If Doug let me stage the action, and I lefthim room for his balloons, we were off to the races. JOHNSON: I have heard that both you gents were bigmovie buffs. That seemed very apparent when it came tothe famous people who were “cast” as characters inMaster of Kung Fu.GULACY: I’m a huge fan of many actors, directors,and screenwriters, but I don’t consider myself a filmbuff. I know a few things, but not really extensively. Ihave my favorites, but, yeah, for the fun of it and sortof a tip of the hat, I would throw those personalitiesin there. I frankly can’t recall Doug ever suggesting aparticular actor in the script, so I have to take humblecredit for that. All tongue in cheek and for laughs.

By the way, Clive Reston was a loose take on SeanConnery. My decisions were just off-the-wall, like Iwas playing casting director. “All right, I see DavidNiven playing this guy, Marlene Dietrich as the vixen,Charles Laughton over here…,” and so on. All for fun.Master of Kung Fu was a crazy potpourri and kaleidiscopeof iconic pop-culture imagery intertwined with solidwriting and a well-thought-out cast of characters, andthat, I think, made it a standout. There was nothinglike it at that time, nor has anything been done like itsince then, in comics at least.JOHNSON: Doug, in speaking with you in the past, Iknow you tend to go more for realistic stories.MOENCH: As a reader, I liked the traditional superheroesas much as anyone, and it’s not that my characterscouldn’t be superheroes, but I enjoyed it more whenthey were a little more off-beat. It suited me better. JOHNSON: Doug, of the three big series you wrote atMarvel in the 1970s—Werewolf by Night, MoonKnight, and Master of Kung Fu—Master of Kung Fuis the one that tends to veer more toward the real world,and I think really showcased your abilities as a writer.Also of the three, this seemed to be the one that was thehardest to wedge into the Marvel Universe. MOENCH: Yeah, and I never even tried. There werestories [featuring Shang-Chi] in Marvel Team-Up withSpider-Man and Marvel Two-in-One with the Thing,but I didn’t write those. I just wrote the actual[MOKF] series. I don’t think I ever brought in anyother Marvel characters.

1 0 • B A C K I S S U E • S p i e s a n d T o u g h G u y s I s s u e

Early GulacyPaul Gulacy inked

by—of all people!—Silver Age stalwart

Jack Abel. Page 25 ofGiant-Size Master ofKung Fu #2 (1974),

courtesy of HeritageComics Auctions

(www.ha.com).© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

The plot was approved. The creative team was lined up. Shang-Chi and the cast of Master of Kung Fu were poised to meet upwith Nick Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for an epic battleagainst the combined forces of Fu Manchu and the YellowClaw. Then, Marvel delayed the project by six months and thisclassic confrontation faded into a legend of what might havebeen, but never was.

ENTER SHANG-CHI AND THEMOENCH/GULACY TEAMIn the mid-’70s, writer Doug Moench and newcomer artistPaul Gulacy teamed up for a spectacular run of 26 issues onthe Marvel title Master of Kung Fu (MOKF). Their collaborationon the series ran from 1974 through 1977 and includedthree Giant-Size specials. In fact, at the peak of theseries’ popularity, Master of Kung Fu was ranked third in salesof all comics sold, behind only the Amazing Spider-Manand Conan the Barbarian. While the comic had originallybeen influenced by the Kung Fu TV series and the martial-artscraze of the ’70s, Moench and Gulacy fairly quickly shiftedthe direction of plotlines to include espionage andinternational intrigue, and expanded the cast of supportingcharacters, and, of course, lots of martial-artsaction. Gulacy’s version of Shang-Chi, the mainprotagonist, was strongly reminiscent of Bruce Lee

(and not unintentionally so, as it turns out). Gulacy haspreviously reported in interviews that this was his way ofkeeping the memory of Bruce Lee alive and of paying homageto him. Fans responded quite favorably to Gulacy’s rendition

of Shang-Chi and to his detailed, cinematic artistic style.The storylines by Moench (with significant co-plotting by

Gulacy) were amazing. Even Stan Lee, Marvel’s founder,was highly complimentary of the team and supportedMoench and Gulacy’s efforts on the book.

THE STERANKO FACTOR ANDNICK FURY

Prior to this title, in the late ’60s, JimSteranko had come onto the scene and

shook the comics world with his uniqueand stylistic take on “Nick Fury, Agent of

S.H.I.E.L.D.” That series was featured inboth Strange Tales and then later in itsown title.S.H.I.E.L.D. was, and still is, Marvel’s elite

counterespionage and spy organization,charged with keeping the world safe.

by D av e Le m i e u x


Steranko was highly creative and went beyond thelimits of typical comic-book storytelling. At the time,who knew that his artistic style and cinematic storytellingtechnique would call out to the soul of budding artistPaul Gulacy. The influence is unquestionable.

The two artists have been compared to each otherthroughout their careers. In the mid-’70s, their pathsalmost crossed directly on an unprecedented crossoverof Master of Kung Fu and Nick Fury. Gulacy was tohave been the artist and Steranko was scheduled to beone of the inkers (along with Dan Adkins). Just envisioningthis potential collaboration of artistic talent is awe-inspiring. Steranko, of course, had long before thistime left the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. book andcomics as a whole. In addition, the S.H.I.E.L.D. bookitself had been canceled in 1971. Lastly, the charactersof Shang-Chi and Nick Fury had never before met incomics. This planned crossover would have been alandmark endeavor in many ways. Unfortunately, it didnot come to fruition.

Steranko’s role in this unrealized crossover was oneof being both a strong influence on the concept of acrossover of the two series (as conceived by Moenchand Gulacy) and of being tapped as one of the inkers.As Doug Moench recalls, “Before Paul and I ever met,we were both, as it turns out, obsessed with Steranko.I just loved his stuff and, of course, Paul did, too.So, when we were doing Master of Kung Fu and I tookit in an espionage direction… it [a Shang-Chi/NickFury crossover] was an obvious thing to do. Here wewere, two guys who loved Steranko so much, doingsomething that had this spy game in it. Well, what aboutMarvel’s spy organization… Nick Fury and the agentsof S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Moench adds, “It was an obviousthing to do… and who better to do it than ourselves?And I had the whole thing worked out.”

THE SERIES DELAYED: TOO MUCH FURY?Doug Moench recalls having had editorial approval forthis crossover, and it most likely would have been byRoy Thomas or Len Wein, based on the time framementioned by Gulacy and Moench. Roy Thomas wasthe editor of Giant-Size MOKF #2 (Dec. 1974), whileLen Wein had become editor with Giant-Size MOKF #3(Mar. 1975). Moench remarks, “The one thing you didneed approval for was using other characters… youknow, a crossover, a guest star. You definitely had toget that approved. There were just too many characterswith various storylines.”

Intriguingly, in Giant-Size MOKF #2, the next-issuebox at the end of the story proclaimed, “Next Issue:The Yellow Claw! ’Nuff Said?” It never happened,

though. In fact, a letter from a fan (Jackie Frost of LosAngeles) that was printed in Giant-Size MOKF #4 evencommented about the fact that the Yellow Claw had,in fact, not appeared in Giant-Size MOKF #3, as wasadvertised. The fan further suggested the idea of havingNick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. as guest stars in a futureMOKF issue. The editor’s response was as follows:“While we’re not denying the merits of your sugges-tion to feature Nick Fury as a co-star—it just so hap-pens that the stellar stalwart of S.H.I.E.L.D. has veryrecently appeared in no less than three other series("Man-Wolf" in Creatures on the Loose, Daredevil, andThe Incredible Hulk). Therefore, for the time being, atleast, we feel he deserves a rest, lest ye madcap min-ions of Marvel grow tired of seeing his cigar chompin’puss.” Moench also reports that the planned Shang-Chi/Fury crossover was delayed by six months ormore, which may have ultimately been the reason itnever occurred. He comments, “It had been approvedand everything. The editor said, ‘You can do it, but

Tough Guy Team-Up(opposite page) A double-shot of Paul

Gulacy art from the swingin’ ’70s: At left,S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agent in a never-before-

published illo done for a fan at the 1974 NYComic Con; and at right, Paul’s Master of

Kung Fu from the 1977 Marvel ComicsMemory Album Calendar. Both are courtesy

of this article’s author, Dave Lemieux.© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Old EnemiesThe enmity ofNick Fury and theYellow Claw—whichbegan in this Sterankoclassic in Strange Tales#161 (Oct. 1967)—would have beenrevisited in theMOKF/S.H.I.E.L.D.crossover, with FuManchu throwninto the mix.© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

S p i e s a n d T o u g h G u y s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1 7

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Bond, James Bond. Star of 30-plus novels and over 20movies. Yet despite his immense popularity, the world’sgreatest spy has had a checkered career when it comesto the funnybooks.

The story of Bond in comics starts in 1957 whenthe British newspaper The Daily Express approachedBond creator Ian Fleming with a proposal to develop adaily comic strip starring 007. Fleming was reluctantuntil the Express editors let it be known that theproposed adaptations would be written by Anthony Hern,the paper’s literary editor.

Bond made his comics debut on July 7, 1958 in Hern’sadaptation of Casino Royale, illustrated by John McLusky.The James Bond of the comic strip is subtly differentfrom the Bond of the novels. In order to produce a stripthat was accessible to a wider audience, many of thenovel’s edgier scenes were toned down or restaged.

For the second strip, Live and Let Die, the writingassignment was switched to Henry Gammidge,who introduced the idea of having Bond narrate the story.While this worked in places, in others it presentedBond as an “omniscient” narrator with knowledge ofevents he shouldn’t have. In the next strip, Moonraker,Gammidge took the device even further by havingBond address the readers directly. This technique wasscaled back in Diamonds Are Forever and used for thelast time in From Russia with Love.

In 1962, James Bond faced a peril far greater than anyof his colorful villains—the wrath of a publisher scorned.Just as Thunderball started to appear in The Daily Express,the rival Times newspaper approached Ian Fleming forpermission to print The Living Daylights in the debut issueof their new color magazine.Lord Beaverbrook, thepublisher of the Expressgroup of papers, was furiousand ordered that the Bondcomic strip be withdrawnimmediately. The result onthe Thunderball strip wasthat the last two-thirds ofthe plot were basicallyreduced to just six panels.

The following year,Bond made his first foray toUS shores and comic booksby a somewhat circuitousroute. Wishing to cash inon the release of the DoctorNo movie, the British armof the Dell publishing


Grell, Mike Grell.Detail from Grell’s (with Dameon Willich) cover to the first issue

of the miniseries James Bond: Permission to Die, published in 1989 by Eclipse Comics/Acme Press.

James Bond TM & © 2008 Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Productions.© 2008 Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Productions.

by A lan J . Po r t e r


company obtained the rights to produce an adaptation.This was produced by Norman J. Nodel, a former militaryfield artist and mapmaker better known as a children’sbook illustrator. Judging from the art, his adaptationwas primarily based on photographs taken during thefilm’s production. Some sources suggest that Dell mayhave in fact only optioned the screenplay rather thanthe actual movie.

The story first appeared in the British Classic Illustratedline (#158A) and in several European countries under the“Detective Series” label with a Dell copyright. However,when the US publishers of Classic Illustrated declined toproduce a US version, the idea was floated that EonProductions could publish their own comic book for theAmerican market. With no comic-book experience theyapproached the largest comics distributor, IndependentNews, which at that time shared a parent company withDC Comics, where the Nodel adaptation was eventuallypublished in Showcase #43 (Apr. 1963). One unusualaspect of the DC version when compared with theEuropean was that several racial references were omittedand skin tones changed so that non-Caucasian characters,including the Asian Doctor No, became white.

The contract between Eon and DC Comics includedan option for the rights to an ongoing James Bond series.

However, the Showcase issue proved to be a one-offappearance. DC did little to promote the book, which hadbasically been forced upon them, and the flat artwork withtypeset word balloons looked unlike any other DC comic.It looked positively amateurish compared to theirdynamic superhero titles.Two other strikes against itinclude the facts that DCpublished the book too soonand it had disappeared fromthe newsstands long beforethe movie had opened inthe US; in addition, it didn’thelp that the issue’s coversent a somewhat mixedmessage with a small hand-lettered box on the lowerleft of the cover stating thatit is “based on the novel andnow a United Artists filmthriller.” Perhaps if it hadbeen released a few monthslater with a Sean Conneryphoto cover, it mighthave been a different story.As it turned out, Bond wouldn’t officially reappear onthe American newsstands for another 18 years.

While Bond himself was absent from Americancomics, his spirit lived on when Marvel took the morefantastic elements of the Bond movies and the Man fromU.N.C.L.E. TV show and built upon them with Nick Fury,Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., whose Strange Tales stories wouldoccasionally give Bond a name check. For instance,in Strange Tales #162 (Nov. 1967), the S.H.I.E.L.D.equivalent of Q issues Fury with an invisible car (a full35 years before Pierce Brosnan would get one in DieAnother Day), with the quip, “Wait till that guy Bondgets a load of that baby.” The implied idea that Furyand Bond knew each other, and maybe occasionallyworked together, was reinforced a few issues later,in Strange Tales #164, when a familiar figure in a tuxedoturns up at the door to the barbershop that serves asthe secret entrance to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s HQ, only to get thedoor firmly shut in his face (see lower left).

In 1964, the Japanese comics studio Saito-Production Co. Ltd. produced a seriesadapting four of the Fleming novels.In truth, the adaptations had littleto do with their source material.While the names of the majorcharacters, location, andbasic plot are Fleming’s,the surrounding materialis nearly all original story.The manga Bond firstappeared in serialized form inan anthology title Boys Lifefrom Shogakukan Inc., andwere later collected in 1966 underthe Golden Comics imprint.

McLusky, John McLusky……drew the first Bond comic strips (left),written by Anthony Hern. (below, in circle)Manga Bond. Courtesy of Alan Porter. James Bond TM & © 2008 Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Productions.

© 2008 Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Productions.

comics oddities


Writer Robert Kanigher maintained throughout his thirty years ofchronicling the military missions of DC’s Sgt. Rock that the leader ofthe combat-happy joes of Easy Company did not survive WorldWar II. In the letters column of Sgt. Rock #340 (May 1980),Kanigher clearly stated, “…1945. That’s the year Rock is killedin action. On the last day, in the last hour, in the lastminute—in a place he never should have been. And onlybecause Rock is Rock with his last breath.”

Writer Bob Haney, who scripted six of the sevenBatman/Sgt. Rock team-ups in The Brave and the Boldfrom 1969 to 1977, maintained otherwise, and in sodoing had Rock participate in some of the mostoutlandish adventure stories written in comics.

Yet Kanigher also wrote, “Character is continuity,not the dead wood of previous plots” (Sgt. Rock#397, Feb. 1985), so hopefully Haney’s scripts,not to mention anyone else’s involving the legendarysergeant, didn’t offend him too much.

Though Haney certainly tried. Haney threwcontinuity out the window and left no outrageousplot device unturned. What mattered to Haney wasan action-packed, thrill-a-page story told inone issue. In that respect, Haney always delivered.

In “The Angel, the Rock and the Cowl,” the firstBatman/Sgt. Rock team-up published in The Brave and theBold #84 (June–July 1969), Batman looked back on anearlier case in his career involving Sgt. Rock. The prob-lem was that the adventure was set during WorldWar II, and the Batman recounting it was thethen-modern rendition of 1969, with yellowinsignia and illustrated by Neal Adams. It isrevealed that Bruce Wayne had been Batmansince the 1940s and in appearance he hadn’taged a bit in almost 25 years! Near story’s endSgt. Rock makes the modern scene, having clearlysurvived World War II, a big Kanigher no-no, whileappearing significantly older than Bruce Wayne.

In the follow-up story published two yearslater in The Brave and the Bold #96 (June–July 1971),with art by Nick Cardy, millionaire playboy BruceWayne was assigned as US ambassador to an

Rock Up at BatDetail from Neal Adams’ Joe Kubert-esque

cover art to The Brave and the Bold #84(June–July 1969), from writer Bob Haney,

inexplicably teaming heroes from two DC eras.© 2008 DC Comics.

by J im K in gm an

unnamed South American country by PresidentRichard Nixon. The actual US ambassador had beenkidnapped, right under the nose of the noble Sgt. Rock.Wayne was to continue negotiations as Batmanhunted for the ambassador, while an unknownenemy sought to discredit Sgt. Rock. Rock lookedmuch younger than he did in the previous team-up.In fact, he didn’t look a day over 1945 (actually, helooked better than with the weathered features regularRock artists Joe Kubert and Russ Heath gave him).B&B’s #84’s adventure was noted and referenced inthis story, tying it snugly into Haney continuity butagain disregarding Kanigher’s.

Two years later, in The Brave and the Bold #108(Aug.–Sept. 1973), blessed with outstanding art by JimAparo, Batman and Rock teamed up again in “TheNight Batman Sold His Soul,” but now Rock lookedolder and there was no mention of Batman beingaround since the 1940s. The story had a clever plot:that Rock has been hunting a very-much-alive AdolfHitler for years. But Batman was eventually convincedthat this wasn’t Hitler, but the Devil himself, and that hehad sold his soul to him. I can’t imagine Denny O’Neil’sBatman at this time believing that. The implication atstory’s end was that Hitler was one of the Devil’smany guises, and that while evil could be confronted,battled, and held at bay, it could never truly be defeated.A downer ending, but 1973 was a very cynical time inAmerican history, and every now and then a comicbook of the time reflected that.

A year later, in The Brave and the Bold #117(Feb.–Mar. 1975), also with art by Aparo, Rock believedhe’d seen the ghost of a man he had court-martialed

and executed for cowardice during World War II. It turnedout Rock wasn’t seeing a ghost. The soldier wasactually a spy for the US Army and his execution wasfaked so he could continue his job in secret. The soldierremained a spy well into the Cold War, and to keepRock from getting too close to the truth the Army hadhim arrested for crazed behavior and put on trial for adishonorable discharge. Fortunately, Easy Co. knew itsloyalty and recruited Batman to help save Rock, and theworld’s greatest detective came through.

Actually, this story has no bizarre twists, but itdoes raise a legitimate question regarding the actionsof the US Government. Sgt. Rock truly believes he isseeing a man he executed for cowardice duringWorld War II. Instead of simply telling Rock the truth,the US Army chose to lie to him, discredit him, and puthim up for trial. While I do understand that tellingRock the truth would kill the story, it’s still disturbingto see a respected and decorated military man treatedso harshly by his own country.


Throwing Continuity to the Wind(above) An undated passport photo of Brave

and Bold scribe Bob Haney. Courtesy of RandyKerr (www.blueroadrunner.com). (right) Batman

meets Easy Company, from B&B #84.© 2008 DC Comics.

© 2008 DC Comics.

non-superhero comics


In 1987, Eclipse Comics’ Airboy tied Miracleman as thepublisher’s number-one title. With high sales figures, a tal-ented creative team, a cadre of passionate, outspokenfans, and an assortment of miniseries and one-shots, it seemed that Airboy’s publishing future wascertain. Yet within only two short years, the bookwould be cancelled, its publisher going out of businesssoon after, and, instead of becoming highly sought-after collectors’ items, its back issues now languishin convention quarter bins. What happened? How dida Golden Age hero rise from the ashes, reaching trulydizzying heights, before falling to Earth once more?

FIRST FLIGHT Military Comics’ Blackhawk ruled the four-colored skiesof World War II, but he was content to share the wildblue yonder with a spate of other costumed aviators.Among them, few were better or more popular thanDavy Nelson, better known as Airboy. Initially appearingin the pages of Hillman Periodicals’ Air Fighter Comics,Airboy was the daring teen pilot who flew the miraculous,bat-winged plane Birdie. Beautifully drawn by thelikes of Fred Kida and Charles Biro, Airboy’s GoldenAge adventures were always exciting and were someof the best stories the era had to offer. Air FighterComics was quickly renamed Airboy Comics and thebook became increasingly popular, with Davy and hisfellow flying heroes, like the Iron Ace, the FlyingDutchman, and Skywolf, enjoying a long publishinglife. Still, when World War II ended and the evil Naziand Japanese pilots that had been Airboy’s bread andbutter vanished from the skies, Airboy Comics’ salesplummeted and, as of 1953, young Davy Nelson wasgrounded and all but forgotten.

There were, however, a faithful few who rememberedthe boy aviator, among them a handful of futurecomics professionals. Tim Truman, at this writing thewriter of Dark Horse’s Conan, recalls his own introductionto the Air Fighters: “One of [Jim Steranko’s History ofComics volumes] featured a huge chapter on aviationcomics, centering on the Hillman material. I’d read

“Take that, ya airhog!”Tim Conrad’s dizzyingly dazzling original coverart to Eclipse’s Airboy #39 (May 1988), courtesy

of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).Airboy TM & © 2008 Todd McFarlane Productions.

by Er i c H ou s t on

TM

and re-read that chapter over the years, completelyawed by the concept and information.” Chuck Dixon,former Detective Comics writer, also recalls readingabout Airboy in his youth: “I remember even, as a fan,drawing pictures of Birdie and Airboy and idlydreaming that I might one day write a story aboutthem.” cat yronwode, meanwhile, discovered Airboythrough comics reprint publisher Ken Pierce andrecalls seeing the name again one fateful day: “I wasthe editor-in-chief over at Eclipse and I was looking forthings that we could do that were in public domain.I had a list that had actually been provided to me byAlan Light, former publisher of the Comics Buyer’sGuide, and Airboy was on that list.”

PHOENIXOnce it became clear the Air Fighters existed in thepublic domain, cat yronwode and Eclipse set out tomake their own Airboy comic. yronwode approachedTim Truman, who was already working on Eclipse’s Scout,to spearhead the new book. “Scout was probably theirtop seller then,” recalls Truman. “I was pretty easy towork with and I always delivered the art and story ontime. I had a really great relationship with Eclipse andthey knew I could pull together a bunch of folks whowould deliver the goods. It seemed like somethingthat would work out for everyone, so they askedme to be creative director for the Airboy project—put together an art and writing team, come up withnew concepts for the launch of the series, and thelike.” Truman selected young comics writer ChuckDixon to script the book, while Truman himselfwould serve as editor. From there, the two menworked with cat yronwode to decide exactly howto bring Airboy into the 1980s. “We talked a lotabout the possibility of it being the same character,just brought to the present,” remembers yronwode,“the way Captain America had been, but we decidedthat was not the way we wanted to go. Eventually,Tim came up with a proposal that involved [ourAirboy] being the son of the Golden Age Airboy.”

BACK IN ACTIONUsing Truman’s idea as their basis, Truman and Dixon builtDavy Nelson, Jr. into a relatable, three-dimensionalcharacter, introducing him and much of his supportingcast in their very first story arc. We first meet Davy ashe practices karate with an elderly Japanese mannamed Hirota, the original Airboy’s first “kill” turnedtrusted family friend. Then, we are re-introduced toDavid Nelson himself, the original Airboy, only to findthat the bright-eyed, heroic youth of the second WorldWar has long since disappeared, replaced by a brokenman who runs a weapons manufacturing company,living in seclusion from everyone he loves, even hisown son. Suddenly, the scene erupts into chaos as agroup of heavily armed mercenaries attack the NelsonEstate. Our heroes ably defend themselves, but withone great loss: David Nelson dies saving his son.Hirota quickly takes Davy away, telling Davy for the firsttime of his father’s heroic history, while giving Davy thered, gold, and blue uniform of his father’s Airboy.

From there, Davy and Hirota begin their mission ofrevenge, bringing the old band back together alongthe way. The first man they meet is Skywolf, an ally ofDavid’s from World War II, now a grizzled old warriorwho has traded in his bizarre “semi-plane” and wolf-peltmask for a grim leather uniform and attack helicopter.Luckily, Skywolf knows where the mercenaries came

from, the South American nation of Bogantilla. He alsohappens to know the whereabouts of David’s mostfaithful ally from the war, the miracle plane Birdie.Dixon and Truman (and Davy and Skywolf) waste notime updating Birdie, giving “him” a new jet engineand updated armaments. Dixon and Truman werealso quick to give Birdie its own subtle personality,making the plane almost more man than machine anda supporting character in its own right.

Once in Bogantilla, the story begins to twist andturn as Davy and his friends learn that the mercenariesare not their enemies but freedom fighters, combatinga corrupt government. Worse, Davy learns that thisgovernment is backed by arms made by NelsonAviation. Davy quickly joins the Bogantilians in theirplan to attack the capitol. Davy hopes to absolve hisfather’s sins, but remains unaware of the whole truth.A visit to a local shaman, aided by the mysterious Heap—a tragic, misshapen swamp creature who was alsoan ally of David’s and whose original appearancespredated both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing bydecades—reveals that David had been in the thrall of hisold enemy Misery for decades, while the supernaturalfoe held David’s lover, Valkyrie, hostage.

NAZI SHE-BITCHValkyrie was easily the most popular supportingplayer from Airboy’s Golden Age run. Valkyrie startedlife as the leader of the Air Maidens, an all-female Naziflying circus. After a single encounter with Airboy,however, she defected to the Allies, falling madly inlove with David. She would come to join David onmany of his adventures, sitting on his lap inside Birdie’scockpit. Still, she remained an effective femme fatale,as Truman describes her, “sort of like Veronica fromArchie as a lovable Nazi she-bitch.” Given her popularity,both with Golden Age readers and with the entirecreative team of this new revival, Valkyrie’s return waspractically inevitable.


Early FlightsAir Fighters Comicsvol. 2 #8 (Fall 1944),a classic Golden AgeAirboy cover by BobFujitani, and Eclipse’sAirboy #1 cover,featuring TimothyTruman art.Air Fighters Comics © 1944 Hillman.Airboy TM & © 2008Todd McFarlane Productions.

© 2008 DC Comics.

It’s been twenty years since John Ostrander’s SuicideSquad first appeared in the pages of Legends, and comicsare still trying to catch up with this concept thatwas so far ahead of its time.

Legends spawned other major titles like the MikeBaron/Jackson Guice Flash and the famous (or infamous)Keith Giffen / J.M. DeMatteis / Kevin Maguire JusticeLeague. Ostrander’s Suicide Squad, however, didn’ttake hot characters or the name of a very popularsuperteam to make a successful book. It took thename of a long-forgotten DC adventure team thathad made only a few appearances in The Brave andthe Bold (B&B) in the late 1950s and early 1960s.Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist RossAndru, the original Suicide Squad, consisting of RickFlag; his girlfriend, Karin Grace; Dr. Hugh Evans;and Jess Bright, first appeared in B&B #25(Aug.–Sept. 1959) and lasted through #27, with athree-issue follow-up in B&B #37–39. After thosefew appearances, the Suicide Squad faded into relativeobscurity and wasn’t to be heard from again until1987, when the idea for a revamp of the team wasgiven to writer John Ostrander, who was slated towrite the Legends miniseries.

The team’s third incarnation (there was another,World War II version of the Suicide Squad that appearedin Secret Origins vol. 2 #14, May 1987, that provided abridge from the first SS team to the Ostrander-penned group) first appeared in Legends #3 (Jan. 1987),written by Ostrander and drawn by John Byrne and KarlKesel. The Suicide Squad’s ongoing series lasted only 66issues—beginning with Suicide Squad #1 (May 1987)and ending with issue #66 (June 1992), with one annualand a Doom Patrol/Suicide Squad Special along theway—but has a loyal fan following to this day.


Dirty Dozen Minus EightNightshade, Deadshot, Vixen, and BronzeTiger, four of the Suicide Squad’s most popu-lar members, are featured in this awesomecommissioned illustration by Geof Isherwood.From the collection of Michael Rankins.© 2008 DC Comics.

by M ic h ae l B rown in g

TM


Suicide Squad Promo ArtScans of Xeroxes of the original art used to promote the Squad, wherethe images of the various characters were cut-and-pasted together into abulletin board-like setting. “As I remember,” shares Karl Kesel, who sentus these scans, “this was done long before any interior art was done,and it’s clear Luke McDonnell and I were both unfamiliar with each otherand the characters themselves.”

Karl adds an interesting sidenote: “As much as I loved what John didwith Captain Boomerang as a character, it still bugged me no end thatBoomerang would just keep producing an endless array of boomerangsseemingly from nowhere. While trying to figure out where he might keephis weapons, Stephen DeStephano suggested a bandolier (missing in thispromo art, you’ll notice). Not only did this give Boomerang a clear placeto store his weapons, it also established a limited number of weapons,with the possibility that he could actually run out—always good fordrama. It also added a nice asymmetrical element to Boomer’s design.This is why Stephen DeStephano is a genius!”© 2008 DC Comics.

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They say suicide is painless, and creating this comic-bookseries certainly fit the category.

I had recently experienced my Crisis on InfiniteEarths follow-up, Crisis of the Soul (see BACK ISSUE #9),blowing up in my face in late 1985. Around earlyDecember, executive editor Dick Giordano told me wewere hiring Mike Gold and he was being asked to stepinto the breach and create a new crossover for thecompany. He was going to be working with his FirstComics colleague John Ostrander, whose Grimjack Iliked a lot. Penciling would be John Byrne, alreadyon board with the Superman revamp, and Len Wein,just leaving staff for fulltime freelance, would dialogue.I would interface between Mike and John in Chicagoand the rest of DC editorial in New York.

One of the goals for the new project, Legends,was to revamp a few key franchises such as a newJustice League of America, in addition to returning theFlash to his own title. But in the post-Crisis DCUniverse, it was also a time for new beginnings.Legends was being designed to spin off at least one ortwo new series in addition to the revamps. I was gettinga consolation prize of editing one of the new projects,which I would develop with Johnny O.

The interesting thing is, over a year earlier, John andI had already met. I was DC’s sole rep at the AtlantaFantasy Fair, so I was awfully lonely at the booth,especially in the mornings. John and I struck up aconversation that rapidly morphed into a friendship.We got to know one another by phone and this new-fangled thing called e-mail. Initially, John wanted to doa revamp of the Challengers of the Unknown, but Ihad to say no; some newcomer named Jeph Loeb hadbeen given a crack at the team.

We talked about the kinds of series he liked andthe kinds of stories he wanted to tell. As we chatted,it became apparent we both liked things with an edgeto them and to set readers’ expectations on their ear.A theme for Legends was the nature of heroism andthe role of government, so we thought that dovetailednicely with what we had in mind.

At the time, DC published books filled with goodguys battling bad guys. People who lived in the grayspaces, that moral limbo, didn’t really get a lot ofattention at the time (John Constantine didn’t earn hisown series until 1988). We wanted to mix things up,taking good guys and bad guys, sending them outtogether on those suicide missions, a staple in storytellingdating back to the Dirty Dozen if not earlier. Would heroessink to new depths or would villains rise to the occasion,earning their presidential pardon? Editors were morethan happy to offer us recurring bad guys from their titlesand later, as we gained popularity, the title got to usebigger guns starting with the Penguin and later Poison Ivy.


From the Squad’s “Personal Files” This Luke McDonnell cover for Suicide Squad #8 (Dec. 1987)

was bumped for a very similar one by Jerry Bingham, so we’rehappy to share with you this previously unpublished version.

© 2008 DC Comics.

by Rob e r t G re e n b e rge r

TM

inte

rvie

wIn 1974, a new comics company, called Atlas Comics,was launched into the expanding market. Althoughshort-lived, the events and conditions surrounding thecompany are still both glorified and vilified today by writers,historians, and collectors.

Because of the people behind the creation of AtlasComics, the roots of the long-defunct company willalways be entwined with the early history of comic-bookpowerhouse Marvel Comics.

Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman sold Marvelto a new firm in 1968, and left his management positionwithin Marvel in 1972. By 1974, Goodman had started anew operation called Seaboard Periodicals, which publisheda new line of comic books called Atlas Comics.

These events made Goodman look like a smartbusinessman for many reasons. Primarily the big stroke ofgenius was that Atlas already had built-in name recognition.Prior to being known as Marvel Comics, Goodman’s originalventure was known as “Atlas Comics.” Goodman stillretained the legal rights to the Atlas name after thepublisher made the change over to Marvel Comics in 1961,seven years before Goodman sold the company.

Another wise tactic employed by Goodman at the timewas to produce a number of comic-book series that wereseen as imitations of successful Marvel characters. In orderto produce these books, the new Atlas Comics was offeringbetter payment rates to the established artists that werecurrently working for Marvel and DC. This led a number ofcreators to switch over to Atlas, thereby giving fans onemore reason to check out these new superhero comicsbeing done by some of their favorite artists.

Although Goodman was able to pique the interest ofsome readers, fans proved to be loyal to the more establishedand popular characters at Marvel and DC. This choice by thecomic-buying public led to low sales at Atlas, and the comicline crumbled after roughly only a year in business.

In the decades since, these comics have become knownas Atlas/Seaboard comics, to differentiate them from thepre-Marvel Atlas of the ’50s. These comics have caught theimagination of a number of collectors worldwide. The backissues have become attractive to collectors because theypresent an opportunity to look into the past and see theearly work of some of today’s favorite artists, and also easilyand affordably collect an entire set. None of the serieslasted more than four issues, and most issues trade ontoday’s collectible market at roughly half the cover price of anew comic book found in specialty stores or on newsstands.This makes them highly affordable and collectible.

Over time, the subject of these Atlas/Seaboard Comicshas not only caught the interest of collectors, but manyhistorians and writers. Some recollections have paintedGoodman’s actions as an attempt at revenge or spiteagainst his former company. Others have envisioned thedefunct publisher in the opposite way, as a pioneer in thearena of creator’s rights.

In my time I have been a collector of Atlas Comics,read a number of pieces about them, and written a numberof pieces through my own research.

One of the most popular series published byAtlas/Seaboard, and indeed the most original of its titles,was called The Scorpion. The Scorpion was created by ayoung Howard Chaykin, who’d been working in the comicsindustry for just a couple of years at the time. I’ve had thefortunate opportunity be able to talk to Mr. Chaykin via tele-phone and speak to him about his experiences with the AtlasComics of the 1970s in an attempt to set the record straight.In the process I discovered that the truth about the companymay not be heroic or villainous, but somewhere in between.

– Mike Gagnon


Scorpion’s StingOh, the humanity! This amazing Chaykin cover to The Scorpion #2

went unpublished! At least we can enjoy it here, thanks toart collector Jeff Singh’s generosity.

© 1975 Seaboard/Atlas.

by M ik e G agn on


MIKE GAGNON: Thanks for your time and being able todiscuss Atlas Comics. HOWARD CHAYKIN: No problem. GAGNON: Is it true that there was pressure from the man-agement of Atlas Comics to produce Marvel-style charac-ters, or perhaps rip-offs of Marvel characters?CHAYKIN: There might have been; but I was neveraware of it. That pressure never came to me.GAGNON: So you were never pressured in your work?CHAYKIN: You have to remember, in those days, I wasnever “one of those guys” [known for superhero material].So no, I never felt any of that pressure. It never camedown on my shoulders.GAGNON: At one point Martin Goodman hired LarryLieber, Stan Lee’s brother, to be head editor of Atlas. Did youever have any experiences dealing with Larry?CHAYKIN: I never dealt with Larry, I barely ever spoke tohim. I didn’t ever really know him. My guy was Jeff Rovin.I mean, let’s face it, Martin was Larry’s uncle, which isone reason why Larry got the job. GAGNON: Is it true that you walked away from your Atlasseries The Scorpion? If so, why?CHAYKIN: Yes. I walked away because I was runninglate. I was very behind on the book. What I had noidea about at the time was that someone in the [Atlas]office told Alex Toth that I was no longer on the book,and that he had carte blanche to do whatever hewanted with it. Ultimately what was published as TheVanguard, an Alex Toth strip that you may remember,was supposed to have been published as a Scorpionstory. As I recall, I think Larry came in and did a coupleissues and turned the series into a Spider-Man imitationbefore it was canceled. And that was that.

GAGNON: What, if any, were your personal experienceswith Atlas publisher Martin Goodman?CHAYKIN: I’ve never met Martin in my life. Let’sface it, there’s very little reason for the publisher tointeract with the talent, that’s what editors are for.When you work in comics you don’t deal with apublisher, you deal with an editor. The jobs are twocompletely different functions. A publisher has verylittle interest or reason to handle matters that concernthe creators. They have other day-to-day mattersthat they handle. GAGNON: Were you a fan of the original Atlas comics? CHAYKIN: I was unaware of them. I’m not that old.[laughs] GAGNON: Neither am I. [laughs]CHAYKIN: Atlas was Marvel Comics, right? Before itwas called Marvel?GAGNON: Yes…CHAYKIN: I was shown a lot of that stuff later on. A lotof the guys from EC ended up at Atlas Comics. The legendwas that Atlas Comics was the best publisher after EC[closed shop], because a lot of them went there. A lotof the legends that I admired were there: Alex Toth,[John] Severin, Ed Davis.GAGNON: Did you feel enticed or wooed into working forAtlas Comics, perhaps over working for other companies?CHAYKIN: They were offering fairly high rates forthe time. Again, we’re talking 30 years ago? I’m justgoing by memory, but from what I recall they wereoffering high rates, comparatively speaking, andpaid as on time as any of the other companies.Comics have always been a fairly fast turnaround.In any other graphic art, you’re looking at at leasta 30-day turnaround, more often 60 to 90 days. Incomics it’s more like two weeks.

What Atlas really did was to serve the purposeof raising the rates paid in comics across the board,across the industry. Which was good for the creatorsat that time. Nobody had any idea how long it wasgoing to last, but we didn’t think of it in that way,in those terms.GAGNON: Is it true that Atlas was a pioneer in creator’srights? CHAYKIN: I don’t remember that. I’m not even surewhat that means.GAGNON: Like offering things like ownership of your cre-ations and things like that? CHAYKIN: I don’t own anything I created for them.

Beginnings: Assisting Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Gray Morrow, and Neal Adams

Milestones: “Iron Wolf” in Weird Worlds / Sword of Sorcery / “Cody Starbuck” /The Scorpion / Star Wars / miscellaneous Batman projects /American Flagg / Black Kiss / The Shadow / Blackhawk / The Flash TV series / American Century / Mighty Love / Challengers of the Unknown / City of Tomorrow / Hawkgirl /Blade / Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage / Punisher #50 /

Works in Progress: Wolverine / Batman and Catwomanin The Brave and the Bold / PhantomEagle, with Garth Ennis (MarvelComics)

Photo credit: Scott Kent.

Double Vision?Atlas editor Larry Lieber, as caricatured inthe line’s publications and in a photo.

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Don McGregor does everything with a passion. Creates,writes, talks, I’ll bet he even sits passionately. One of hisbiggest passions, his loves, is his characters. BlackPanther, Killraven, Saber, Ragamuffins, and detectivesNathaniel Dusk, Ted Denning, and Bob Rainier. It’s thoselast few we talk of here: Nathaniel Dusk, McGregor’s’30s hard-boiled dick he did for DC Comics; andDetectives Inc., a series that goes back to before Don’sfirst job writing horror stories for Archie Goodwin andJim Warren, and to one of his oldest passions.

“I created Bob Rainer and Ted Denning (ofDetectives Inc.) for me and Alex Simmons to play,”McGregor reveals. “I got a camera from my dad and wewere filming ourselves as these characters. We would beour own stunt men, using real knives! Alex would takea swing at me with an axe, I’d duck… we thought that’show they did it! What did we know?”

Don and Alex took the characters and made theirown photocopied comic, with Don scripting andAlex drawing, staying up into the wee hours to staplethe Pepto-Bismol-color covers on the package tohand out the next day at the New York Con. It was 1969.To find out where Detectives Inc. landed, we’ll have toskip forward a few years, past the job Don got atWarren Publishing by insulting Jim Warren (greatstory—sorry, another time), over his memorable runat Marvel with Black Panther (in Jungle Action) andKillraven (in Amazing Adventures), to Eclipse Comicsand Dean Mullaney. After leaving Marvel, Don wasinvited by Dean to be part of the Eclipse lineup.Don wanted to try something new, but wasn’t sure ifhis audience would be there. His series Ragamuffins,following a group of kids in the ’50s, was near anddear to his heart, but he didn’t think it should be thefirst thing he tried:

“The business has a very short memory. They knewme at first as a horror writer, from my Warren stuff,and now as a heroic fantasy writer. I wanted to dosomething that had some kind a chance for a market…”


Crisis on Earth-NoirThe Gene Colan/Dick Giordano cover artto Don McGregor’s Nathaniel Dusk: LoversDie at Dusk #1 (Feb. 1984), courtesy ofHeritage Comics Auctions.© 2008 DC Comics.

by Tom “The Comics Savant” Stewart

comics oddities


Now how ya gonna have a “Tough Guys” issue withoutincluding the pop-culture icon who is the epitome oftough—with a capital “T”! I’m talkin’ about thatmohawk-sportin’, weird-bearded, gold chain-wearin’,fool-pityin’, ass-kickin’-without-name-takin’ bad dude!I’m talkin’ Mr. T, sucka!

Even back in the day, Mr. T was a mystery. A celebrityoddity. He dressed like a rapper but he didn’t rap.He was from our planet and yet, as out there as E.T.the Extra-Terrestrial. He was definitely different.

Well, here we are, 25 years on from when T(Laurence Tureaud on his birth certificate) hit super-stardom. But before you count out the erstwhile“Bad Ass” Baracus and one-time Clubber Lang, youbetter make time for this jibba-jabba, punk! See, Mr. Tis not merely an enduring ’80s TV icon back with areality show… he’s also an enduring comic-bookpresence who has toplined various comic-book seriesin the ’80s, ’90s, and, yes, as recently as 2006!

THE 1980s: SOME T & A-TEAMYou might say the British really enjoy their “T” time.The enigmatic African-American character actorknown as Mr. T—best remembered for his early ’80sroles in The A-Team and Rocky III—enjoyed his firstforay in comics as part of an A-Team feature that ranin the English children’s magazine Look-In.

Soon after came Marvel Comics’ (mercifully)short-lived The A-Team (Mar.–May 1984), lasting threeissues. While Mr. T was not the star of the book, he wasdefinitely the star attraction, functioning like he didon the hit NBC series (1983–1986) that inspired it.Across 98 episodes of the Stephen J. Cannell-producedTV action-adventure, The A-Team followed theexploits of a special unit of ex-military soldiers—framed for a crime that they did not commit; forced togo underground as mercenary heroes for hire. Mr. Twas the colorful sidekick character that stole theshow with his gruff attitude, eccentric appearanceand irascible one-liners… much as the Fonz usurpedHappy Days or Vin Diesel hijacked The Fast and theFurious from their respective ensemble casts.

Naturally, Marvel’s A-Team capitalized on its popularsource material; its lead characters drawn as deadringers for their TV inspirations—Col. John “Hannibal”Smith (played by George Peppard), Lt. Templeton“Faceman” Peck (Dirk Benedict), Capt. “HowlingMad” Murdock (Dwight Schultz), Amy “Triple A”Amanda (Melinda Culea), and Sgt. Bosco Albert “B.A.”Baracus (our man T!). These characters look a tad tooself-conscious of their television counterparts (you canpicture the artists drawing while eyeing taped-uppublicity photos). The ostensible plots of these self-contained adventures involve the A-Team on missionsto stop a friend of Baracus gone traitor (#1); to rescue

I Got Ya Power Ring Right Here, Fool!Mr. T and the T Force #1 (June 1993), by legendary Green Lanternartist Neal Adams.© 2008 the respective copyright holder.

by M ic h ae l Au s h e n k e r

a pair of kidnapped Japanese brothers (#2); and toretrieve a stolen jet (#3). The art—by Marie Severin,Jim Mooney, and Alan Kupperberg, respectively—wasflat. Nobody’s heart seemed invested in this slapdashlicensed property, accelerating the comic’s demise.

Yet the title had a few charms. The awkward cari-catures echo those ’70s cameo-laden Hanna-Barbaracartoons (i.e., The New Scooby-Doo Movies, guest-starringDon Knotts, Sonny and Cher, etc.). There’s somethingentertaining about T’s recurring catch phrases andflying phobia. It’s almost comical (pun intended) howthe spectacularly unfunny Murdock’s “out there”antics and “insane” non-sequiturs fall flat (remember,he was the loony tunes A-Teamer…).

With #3, A-Team folded. But it would not be thelast time Mr. T would grace a comic book. One thingwould change: In every subsequent comic-book series,Mr. T would get top billing.

THE 1990s: BACK IN FULL FORCEBy 1990, Mr. T’s star was fading fast. NBC had canceledThe A-Team. Rocky IV had come and gone without aClubber to clobber. No studio in Hollywood wasfast-tracking D.C. Cab 2.

But 1993–1994 saw Mr. T’s grand return to labande dessinée with Mr. T and the T-Force, publishedby Now Comics (the company behind Speed Racer,Married… with Children, and other comics based onlicensed properties).

This may be a completely subjective reflection ofmy own personal “T-ology,” but T-Force appears to bethe most realized of all Mr. T comics.Sure, T is credited as the “star, creativedirector.” But T-Force delivered top-tiertalent, and, despite its contrivances,packed solid visual punches and light,fun storylines.

Contrary to what one might expect,Mr. T operated less like a mohawkedLuke Cage and more like a hoodShadow. The sincere (if hokey) premiseinvolved Mr. T saving misguided ghettoteens—one kid at a time—by makingthem part of his team following hisconfrontations with them. In each issue,after tangling with the criminal element,T would find at least one diamond-in-the-rough (not an evil kid, just a lad ledastray) and slap a house arrest-typewrist device on him that would work as atracer and a communicator betweenT and the teen. (This confiningelectronic bracelet seemsdubious in light of T’s oft-repeated declaration that hisown gold chains symbolized areminder of the slavery thatAfrican Americans had struggledto overcome). Soon, T amasseda “B-team”—reformed gangstas,taggers, and Janie, a clinic nursewith her ear to the streets—tohelp him combat crime.

Part of T’s appeal hasalways been his vulnerable side;his concern for kids and hiscommunity. T-Force deliveredon its simple T-driven mandateof providing a message of hope

to inner-city youth struggling to stay clear of theinfluence of gangs, crime and drugs. T-Force’s letterscolumn, “T-Time,” was filled with missives fromyoung readers such as a struggling teen father whofound inspiration in T’s self-affirming series.Emphasizing positivism, community, and self-empower-ment in the face of adversity, T-Force stressed thatviolence was not the solution… even as the T-Forcekicked serious thug ass! Mr. T ran around shootingbad guys—with a video camera—to non-violentlydeliver the incriminating footage needed to putthem away. Master artist Neal Adams crafted the initialtwo issues (with Pete Stone), which boasted the“Adams Lite” art associated with his ContinuityStudios work. Adams forcibly set the tone for theseries, which “mélanged” Mr. T’s hardcore alphapersonality with tender vulnerability. An entiresplash page is devoted to Mr. T weeping over acrack baby. That pretty much sums things up.

In #2, after the towering Incan villain (a patsy for adrug cartel) assaults Mr. T with a flurry of crack-filledhypodermic needles, a hallucinatory T puts his willpower to the test as he must mentally overcome thevial’s vile effects. The sequence gives Adams a cleverexcuse to pit T against some fantastic and imaginative(if imagined…) Alien-esque creatures.


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A-Team from theMakers of X-MenDetail from the coverart to Marvel’s A-Team#1 (Mar. 1984),penciled by JohnRomita, Sr. and inkedby Marie Severin.A-Team TM &© Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

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What if there was one man who had the capability toredeem all mankind? Someone who had the potentialto ensure the salvation of the world. Someone whocould be reincarnated through successive generationsto fulfill his destiny. And what if he didn’t know?

Such was the basis of the story The Redeemer,created by Joe Kubert in 1983. Kubert was well knownand respected for his seminal work on characters likeHawkman (in The Brave and the Bold), Sgt. Rock (in OurArmy at War), Tarzan, Tor, and Enemy Ace (in StarSpangled War Stories), but he had taken a hiatus fromillustrating sequential comics for almost ten years,devoting time to his role as editor and cover artist forDC Comics, as well as heading up a school for aspiringcartoonists. With The Redeemer, Kubert planned toget back into the saddle and was looking forward to it.He explains how it started: “It’s difficult to reallyrecall what provoked this whole thing, but nevertheless,I was always looking to do something with which Iwould be attached permanently. That is, creator-owned.I always felt that there would be an advantage todoing that. At that time, of course, DC was open forthat sort of an arrangement with me. I came up withthe idea of The Redeemer. I showed them exactly howI intended to handle this thing. They agreed andthey wanted it.” The Redeemer was intended to be a12-issue monthly maxiseries, published by DC Comicsand distributed exclusively through the direct market(avoiding the Comics Code). The story was to be written,illustrated, lettered, and colored by Kubert.

The title character, the Redeemer, was a mannamed Jim Torkan. Torkan would be reincarnatedthrough many generations, each time striving tomake the right choices amidst moral ambiguities.Kubert elaborates on his concept: “The premise ofthe story is that there is one character, the characterthat was the Redeemer, who exists in these differenttime frames, as the main character in the variety ofstories that I was doing. In each story, the Redeemerkept coming in and the whole thing was a battleagainst evil. The evil character was sustaining andpermanent throughout. Each time, the Redeemerwas vanquished, but came back again. He came backagain to change and alter and redeem the evil andpull it back to good again. That was the premise ofthe story. A constant battle between good and evilover a long period of time, with the same character.

Redeemer TM & © Joe Kubert.


by D e we y C as s e l l

Soul Man(left top and bottom) Joe Kubert’s productionsketches of Torkan. (top right) An introductorypanel of the Reedemer, from the first issue.(bottom right) DC Comics’ house adfor the unproduced series.Reedemer TM & © Joe Kubert.DC bullet TM & © DC Comics.

The character himself wasn’t aware that he wasbeing reincarnated every time. Nevertheless, he was,in different roles as the ‘hero.’ The Redeemer’s job,his purpose in life, was to set things right.”

While the Redeemer was unaware of his callingand with no certain recollection of his past lives, hedid possess some sense that he had been in similarcircumstances before, allowing him to “learn” from his

previous incarnations. As Kubert tells it,“There was a feeling, a sense that hehad. What I try to equate the storywith was that each one of us is bornwith some sense of what’s right andwhat’s not right. Where that comesfrom, I’m certainly not sure. But I havea feeling that it’s there and every oneof us have a tendency to try at least,consciously or subconsciously, to dothe right thing. But there are people,apparently, who are devoid of thatfeeling and who attempt to get whateverthey want in any possible way, and thatis the incarnation of evil that theRedeemer is constantly fighting.”

That “incarnation of evil” was mani-fested in the story as the Infernal One,an omniscient being who lived in apalace in a bitterly cold, remote part ofthe Himalayas, and who was bent ondissuading the Redeemer from his truepurpose. The Infernal One was unable todirectly hinder or harm Torkan, so throughhis minions, he would make every effort,in every incarnation, to tempt theRedeemer from the righteous path.Kubert explains about the Infernal One:“He was all-powerful, except that hispower lies in the fact that he sets thingson the road of the Redeemer to tempt

him away from doing the right thing. It isn’t done ina physical way. It’s done in a very manipulative way.He doesn’t come up and twist the Redeemer’s neckand say, ‘Do this or else.’ As it happens to all of us,he does it in ways we don’t even realize.”

In fact, Torkan would not have even been aware ofthe Infernal One. Kubert elaborates, “Perhaps at theend of the story, he [Torkan] would realize the kind oftemptations that had been offered to him and that hehad avoided, and was grateful for the fact that he didthe right thing and continued on. He never completelyand totally succeeds, of course, which is the reason heis reincarnated for the different stories.”

The concepts of reincarnation, temptation, andredemption are common themes in many ancient andmodern religions. However, Kubert indicates that henever intended to make a religious statement with the


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Upon first glance, it might be difficult for a reader to takea comic book that uses a pun as its title seriously. For thatmatter, it might be hard to imagine the creators of abook called Ms. Tree taking their book seriously.Generally, puns are reserved for texts that joke, wink,and play. But when Max Allan Collins and Terry Beattycreated Ms. Tree in 1981, they were dead serious aboutthe tone and direction of their title character. MichaelTree (yes, a woman) was a hard-edged, tough-as-nailsprivate investigator who, while operating within thefamiliar framework of crime fiction, defied many of theexpectations of the genre. For the next 12 years, Collinsand Beatty crafted a narrative that directly engaged thehardest, most controversial social issues of the time.How they managed to pull this off and stay afloat in amedium dominated by teenaged, mutant, and ninjasuperheroes makes Ms. Tree… well, a mystery indeed.

Collins and Beatty didn’t initially set out to craft a bookthat would join the surge of alternative comics in the1980s. Ironically, Collins—a writer probably best-known incomics circles for his graphic novel Road to Perdition—hadn’t intended to be a comics writer at all. “I began as acrime novelist who also happened to be a comics fan,”Collins says. “I’d never thought about writing comics,though up through junior high I’d hoped to be a cartoon-ist, writing and drawing comics. It was discovering themystery fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler,and Mickey Spillane that sent me down the road toperdition of crime writing, so to speak, and I dropped mycomics aspirations but not my comics enthusiasm. My firsttwo novels, Bait Money and Blood Money, had a secondarycharacter who was a comics fan/aspiring cartoonist,and the novels are full of comics references. Those novelswere what attracted the attention of the Chicago TribuneSyndicate editor, who was looking for a mystery writer totake over Dick Tracy. So my entry into the world of comicsscripting was through my mystery/crime fiction, and myTracy work attracted attention among comics fans andalso editors, since it was grounded in both Gould andwhat’s now called noir fiction and film.”


by A l e x Bon e y

She’s No Soccer MomMs. Tree promotional art that was producedfor DC but unused, contributed by its artistand character co-creator, Terry Beatty.© 2008 Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty.

While Collins found a way into comics through hiswork in another medium, Terry Beatty was moreinterested in the direct route. Like Collins, Beatty hadbeen a long-time comics reader. And like Collins,Beatty was living in Muscatine, Iowa. As Collins explainedin 1983, “Terry Beatty (24) and Max Collins (34) are bothlifelong residents of Muscatine, Iowa, a Mississippi river-town small enough to insure that two comic book fans—even if separated by ten years—were bound to run intoeach other; they were further entwined by fate due toBeatty’s father having been Collins’ junior high Englishteacher” (letters column, Ms. Tree’s Thrilling DetectiveAdventures #1, Feb. 1981). Beatty and Collins had knowneach other for a while by the late ’70s. And while theirfriendship might seem to have been accidental, theirworking relationship was not. Both Collins and Beattyhad a common ambition to break into the comicsbusiness, and both recognized strengths in the otherthat would allow them to make it happen.

In Collins’ case, the professional partnership hesought with Beatty was driven by his uneasy experiencewriting Dick Tracy. “I’ve never really talked about this,”Collins says, “but the whole relationship with Terry,which was a mixture of business and friendship (and stillis), grew out of my troubled relationship with RickFletcher, the Dick Tracy artist. Landing Tracy was achildhood dream come true, but I soon found myselfpartnered with a gifted but unhappy man whose tragicrelationship with Chester Gould—they were like fatherand son, but turned on each other—made me the bruntof all kinds of misery. Fletcher and I grew very friendly,though, toward the end; but it was rocky through muchof the ride. The whole idea of getting something goingwith Terry was to have a positive, happy workingrelationship with an artist. That really was it. That andhaving a place to do the tougher, more dangerouslytopical stories that I couldn’t get past the Tracy editors.”

Beatty was more than happy to be a part of the ride.He and Collins first collaborated on self-syndicated news-paper project called The Comics Page. The project nevertook off as well as the creators had wanted, but it did getthe attention of editors at Eclipse Comics. “I just wantedto do comics,” Beatty says. “The fact that I was workingwith Max, and that crime stories were his thing—and that we were asked (by Dean Mullaney) to create adetective feature (for Eclipse Magazine)—is why we cameto work on Ms. Tree. I suppose, left to our own devices,she might have ended up being created anyway. But wealso attempted to sell ourselves as a creative team to theTribune syndicate on several newspaper strips that werenot crime stories. I’d been thinking I’d break in as ahumor cartoonist—and in some ways wasn’t quiteready to draw an ‘adventure strip.’ But Max and Ishared an enthusiasm for Spillane and Hammett andall that hardboiled stuff—so Ms. Tree seemed likesomething we could both enjoy working on.”


Then and Now(above) An undated photo of Max AllanCollins and Terry Beatty at the HollywoodBowl, taken by Alan Light and submitted byTerry Beatty. (left) One of Beatty’s unusedcover roughs for the new Ms. Tree HardCasecrime novel, Deadly Beloved.© 2008 Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty.

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