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Home , Alex Saviuk, Alpha Flight, Amazing Heroes, Andy Helfer, Barry Kitson, Blackhawk (DC Comics)

September 2015 No.83 $ 8 . 9 5

THIS ISSUE: INTERNATIONAL HEROES! X-Men, , and all related characters TM & © Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8 0 8 2 6 7 7 2 8 5 6

2 Alpha Flight • New X-Men • Global Guardians • Captain Canuck • JLI & more! 8

1 featuring an exclusive interview with cover artists Steve Fastner and Rich Larson Volume 1, Number 83 September 2015

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond! PUBLISHER John Morrow

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTS Steve Fastner and Rich Larson

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKS Jack Abramowitz Carl Potts Jonathan R. Brown : International X-Men ...... 2 Rebecca Busselle Samuel Savage The global evolution of Marvel’s mighty mutants ByrneRobotics.com Dewey Cassell Jason Shayer FLASHBACK: Exploding from the Pages of X-Men: Alpha Flight ...... 13 Craig Shutt ’s not-quite-a team from the Great White North David Smith J. . DeMatteis Steve Stiles BACKSTAGE PASS: The Captain and the Controversy ...... 24 Leopoldo Duranona Dan Tandarich How a moral in the UK jeopardized the 1976 launch of Scott Edelman WHAT THE--?!: Spider-Man: The UK Adventures ...... 29 Raimon Fonseca Ramona Fradon Even you Spidey know-it-alls may never have read these stories! Jay Williams BACKSTAGE PASS: Origins of Marvel UK: Not Just Your Father’s Reprints...... 37 Steve Goble Keith Williams Repurposing classics for a new audience Dedicated with ART GALLERY: López Espí Marvel Art Gallery ...... 40 admiration to: A collection of illos by the acclaimed Spanish artist Heritage Comics Rafael López Espí Auctions OFF MY CHEST: Challenge of the Global Guardians ...... 45 Joe Hollon Are DC’s international heroes in continuity? FLASHBACK: Captain Canuck: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again ...... 53 Andrew Leyland The trials and tribulations of Richard Comely’s Canadian crimefighter Jean-Marc Lofficier Franck Martini PRO2PRO: Steve Fastner and Rich Larson ...... 59 Marvel Comics An exclusive interview with our cover artists Robert Menzies FLASHBACK: International: An Unintentional Trip to the World Stage. . . . 65 Keith Giffen and Marc DeMatteis tell BI how the JL got global If you’re viewing a Digital GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: and the ’s Vanishing Act from Edition of this publication, Dr. Strange #37 ...... 69 PLEASE READ THIS: What on Earth is a “Frankensurfer”? This is copyrighted material, NOT intended BACK IN PRINT: Hexagon Forever!...... 72 for downloading anywhere except our Jean-Marc Lofficier shares the latest news about the Editions Lug universe website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and BACK TALK ...... 76 read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal down- Reader reactions load, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o enough to download them, please pay for Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: [email protected]. them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 , $107 Surface International. Please send downloaded within our Apps and at subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Steve Fastner www.twomorrows.com and Rich Larson. X-Men, Alpha Flight, and related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2015 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1 TM

by Franck Martini

International If the original team of X-Men was only composed of [Lee] had had up to this point. It didn’t make sense to me American characters, such was not the case with the All-New, that heroes in , not even mutants who were originally Mutants All-Different X-Men team that appeared after a five-year supposed to be related to things like the Manhattan The All-New, hiatus. The team would feature an international Project, were all Americans. […] There was no special roster, but its adventures would also take reason for an Irish , except that I wanted All-Different X-Men! place all over our world and beyond. to do a character called the (female, Detail from the if Stan had let me have my way) and BEFORE THE ALL-NEW, he/she wasn’t going to be a German, cover of 1975’s ALL-DIFFERENT… right? As for the Japanese side of There had been international mutants Giant-Size X-Men #1. things—well, they had been on the before the team that appeared in receiving end of result of the Art by and Giant-Size X-Men #1 (July 1975). Roy Manhattan Project, so I thought it Thomas was then writing the book and would be interesting and productive . wanted to give it a different : “I did to throw a Japanese or Japanese- create Banshee—well, I’d say ‘co-create,’ TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. American into the mix.” because artist Werner Roth contributed So Banshee was introduced in X-Men much of the look, from a sort of general #28 (Jan. 1967) and made visual idea I gave him—and Sunfire a roy thomas his debut between two couple of years later with , issues (X-Men #64, Jan. 1970). It is also much the same way. I felt that Marvel Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. interesting to note that thanks to the needed a few ‘foreign mutants,’ and just characters from one-month Mexico trip mentioned above, Roy Thomas other worlds in general. At that time I hadn’t been out of also introduced Mexican villains El Tigre and Kukulkan the country except for a month in Mexico, but I felt it was in X-Men #25–26 (Oct.–Nov. 1966), a rare case of South time to build on the New York-central mythos that Stan American mutants until ’ .

2 • BACK ISSUE • International Heroes Issue The next “international” X-Man would be , this book sell just well enough in the States to break even,” appearing for the first time in the pages of the Incredible as Thomas further explained Alter Ego #24 (May 2003). #181 (Nov. 1974)—after a cliffhanger cameo in the Thomas shares a bit more about the roster setup previous issue, that is. Once again, Roy Thomas was with BACK ISSUE: “I thought that perhaps pre-existing involved in the creation process as he explained in Tom characters I’d had a hand in like the Banshee, Sunfire, De Falco’s Comics Creators on X-Men (Titan Books, 2006): and Wolverine might fit in, but I don’t believe that I was “He was my idea. I came up with his name and basic pushing projected writer and artist Dave traits. […] [Al Landau, Marvel’s then-president, Cockrum to include any particular character. A Wail and Assail , and I] decided that we really should Canadian, maybe even a Japanese, made (right) Ireland’s have a Canadian character. […] About five sense in the group, given that the idea was or ten percent of our readers were to sell the revived X-Men in countries Banshee in X-Men Canadian, and yet we didn’t have a where our comics were fairly well #76 (June 1972), Canadian character.” distributed … but there was no special reason for an Irishman to be included which reprinted A NEW CONCEPT FOR A unless they wanted him to be.” issue #28. Cover NEW TEAM Dave Cockrum, the original New After a few appearances in X-Men artist, recalled that Roy Thomas by Gil Kane and an and in Marvel Team-Up, the X-Men pitched him the book as “Mutant uncredited . would return, but with a different team, Blackhawks,” inspired by the international- and would target different readers member flying aces that originated (left) Japan’s Sunfire than before as per Marvel president in in the pages of first appeared in Al Landau’s suggestion: “Al suggested dave cockrum and Blackhawk. Marvel do a group of foreign super- So the idea stuck, but not the X-Men #64 heroes … characters from countries in Sketch by . countries as Cockrum also recalled in (Jan. 1970). Cover which Marvel sold a lot of comics,” Thomas said to Tom Alter Ego #24: “By the time we were choosing characters, DeFalco. “Stan and I liked the idea. It was my idea to do FSSHT, out the window, you know. So we have a by and that group with the X-Men.” Russian, we have a Kenyan, and we might’ve sold some . More precisely, there was a selling strategy behind in Germany and Canada, but that whole concept just Al Landau’s idea: “He said, if we could put out a book went out the window. We just got caught up in the TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. with characters in it from different countries we sold to, enthusiasm of what we were doing.” it’d probably help. […] It’d be great if we could also make

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3 Hot off his career-defining run on The Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont, Canadian expatriate John Byrne turned his creative efforts north of the border. It took years to convince Byrne to flesh out the rag-tag superhero team he created in The Uncanny X-Men #120–121 (Apr.–May 1979). With Alpha Flight, John Byrne challenged the conven- TM tions of a team book by focusing on individual characters while running the team story as a subplot. Each of these dysfunctional characters had their own story arcs showcased in dedicated issues, while the team plot percolated in the background and brought them together only a couple of times a year. While this narrative technique seemed unorthodox, Byrne’s for the title came to fruition in his second year. The by Jason Shayer first year was about creating the team’s backstory and establishing new and existing characters and villains. In the second year, Byrne groomed the team’s heart and soul, Heather Hudson (modeled after his wife), to lead Alpha Flight. The only thing Heather couldn’t anticipate was her creator’s detachment. “Alpha Flight was never much john byrne fun,” Byrne admitted in an interview with ’s Michael Thomas in Photo by Corey Bond. 2000 (comicbookresources.com/?id= 151&page=article). “The characters were created mere- ly to survive a fight with the X-Men, and I never thought about them having their own title. When Marvel finally cajoled me into doing Alpha Flight, I realized how incredibly two-dimensional they were, and spent some 28 issues trying to find ways to correct this fault. Nothing really sang for me. If I have any regrets, it would probably be that I did the book at all! It was not a good time for me.” Despite the negative perceptions of his own work, Byrne made fans on both sides of the Canadian border care about these heroes. By transforming a housewife into the team’s new , Byrne led readers through Heather’s emotional journey and charmed us with her spunk and determination. CANADA’S GREATEST SUPER-TEAM In X-Men #109 (Feb. 1978), James MacDonald “Mac” Hudson, donning his armor as Weapon Alpha, led a blunt attempt by the Canadian government to reclaim their asset, Wolverine. Wolverine wasn’t interested in going back, and after a skirmish with the X-Men, Weapon Alpha had to withdraw. But Weapon Alpha and Department H had piqued readers’ imagination and were eager for another appearance. Just over a year later, Weapon Alpha, now the , returned to the pages of The Uncanny X-Men and brought along some friends.

Northern Exposure John Byrne’s Alpha Flight was previewed in the House of Ideas’ promo-zine, #2 (May 1983).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13 of the first issue’s appearance [Uncanny X-Men #120], in which only the most tantalizing glimpses of the characters were given, letters started to roll in. Fans were already picking their favorites, wondering about their unrevealed powers, guessing which were mutants, which weren’t. By the time they actually showed themselves in #121, the reading public was primed and ready. Alpha Flight was an instant success.” In X-Men #139–140 (Nov.–Dec. 1980), Claremont and Byrne took out a few of Alpha Flight’s members for a test-drive with Wolverine and . More importantly though, we were first introduced to Heather Hudson, wife of James MacDonald Hudson and executive secretary for Oil. Our first glimpse of Heather was of a young woman with her hands full of groceries and preoccupied with how to juggle the household responsibilities and her professional career. Byrne’s portrayal of Heather was rather progressive in that it had a real- world view of a superhero relationship. By the end of this team-up, the Canadian minister shut down Department H and Alpha Flight because of budget cuts and anti-mutant temperament. Readers were left with some hope, though: “An ending of sorts, yet also a beginning—of a new, possibly brighter chapter in the life of Alpha Flight.” Fans would have to wait almost three years to read about that new chapter. CANADA’S OWN ALPHA FLIGHT! With these words, “You are witnessing the death of a dream…”, John Byrne launched Alpha Flight #1 (Aug. 1983). The dream belonged to team’s leader, James MacDonald Hudson. Without Department H and its government funding, could Alpha Flight survive? This clean slate gave Byrne the creative freedom he didn’t have on The Uncanny X-Men or The Four. Byrne had a full plate in 1983: In addition to writing, penciling, and inking Alpha Flight, he wrote and drew and scripted its spin-off, The Thing. That added up to 44 pages to draw and 66 pages to plot and each month! “I have The Fantastic Four roughly plotted out for about a year in advance,” Byrne outlined in Marvel Age #14 (May 1984). “The same goes for The Thing, and I generally have Alpha Flight plotted out about six months or so in advance. I’m always kicking around the ideas in my head for how to go with the series, what directions the book will take, and what villains and new characters will appear. Before I begin writing each issue, I turn in a written plot and meet with the editor, for The Fantastic Four and The Thing, and Denny O’Neil for Alpha Flight, to help me fine tune the plot.” “Several members of what became Alpha Flight date Soon-to-be Byrne spoke on how he handled this monthly workload back to my fan days,” Byrne related on his ByrneRobotics in Marvel Age #2 (May 1983): “I’m going to be eliminating Vindicator forum in 2008. “ is chief among them, being a step—I’m going to be doing just breakdowns and then created when I was in my early 20s as the figurehead James MacDonald inking those—penciling with . I’ve reached a level of of a whole line of ‘Canadian comics’ I was hoping to comfort with my own work that I don’t need to do full Hudson makes the produce. , in very different form, was born pencils. So I’ll be doing stick figures, layouts, and inking around the same time. , originally called Chinook those. It sounds like a lot of work but it actually isn’t. scene as Weapon (he had only weather-controlling powers), came next. Although (evil laugh) I’ll still be making just as much (There was also a character called Phoenix. No chance he Alpha in X-Men #109 money because Marvel pays me for a completed page.” would ever have made it into Alpha Flight!) I dropped Alpha Flight’s popularity had grown over the years (Feb. 1978). Cover by in the renamed (and power-enhanced) Shaman and a before their own ongoing series, and their numerous redesigned Snowbird, and came up with and Dave Cockrum. guest appearances had only whet that appetite. Alpha (super-speed to counter Nightcrawler’s teleportation), Flight was the second spin-off from The Uncanny X-Men, TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. and (to balance ), and off we went. following The New Mutants, which was published a few In the process, I came up with real names and some months earlier. Canada’s Greatest Heroes were an backstory for each.” uncontested success with their debut, double-sized first issue “It was only as the characters evolved on paper that selling over 500,000 copies, an impressive feat even in definite personalities manifested themselves,” Byrne further 1983. Their success wasn’t simply a first-issue phenomena: explained in his “Alpha Waves” letters column from Alpha #46 (July 1986) had Alpha Flight #9 listed Flight #1. “A group that started as a bunch of ciphers as #2 in their Top 100 and #49 (June whose sole purpose was to survive a fight with the X-MEN 1984) had Alpha Flight #11 ranked #3 in their Top 100. became a formidable force in their own right. Within days

14 • BACK ISSUE • International Heroes Issue The full circumstances surrounding the launch of Captain Britain’s comic in 1976 have never been told before. It’s the tale of the greatest publicity campaign Marvel ever had for a in Britain—conducted at a time when comics were under siege. It’s an unlikely tale that has Stan Lee in cowboy boots, members of the British Parliament, a shark, and a World Cup referee! by R o b e r t M e n z i e s SELLING CAPTAIN BRITAIN TO THE BRITISH The publicity for the launch of the eponymously named and ill-fated Captain Britain (CB) comic book was primarily organized by Ray Wergan. (See BACK ISSUE #29 for more on Captain Britain and BI #63 for a detailed look at British Marvel.) Employed by Marvel between 1972 and 1978, Wergan had extensive media contacts. While he unquestionably did a thorough job in arranging publicity, events elsewhere ensured that the subject of Captain Britain was discussed on primetime TV, radio, and in newspapers. In February of 1976, a new comic called had been released by International Publishing Corporation (IPC), one of the three biggest comic publishers at that time in the UK. Bloodthirsty and graphic, with man-eating sharks ripping off limbs, characters being decapitated by bridges, and priests being shot, Action was immediately as controversial as it was popular. By issue #2 of Action, newspapers had started to comment on it, and not favorably. One of those early articles appeared in , a tabloid newspaper with an immense circulation of 12 million (i.e., one in five of the UK population). Action continued to draw negative press over the coming months. The media were unable or unwilling to distinguish one comic company— never mind comic—from another, and so now all comic books were seen as equally culpable. With Cap’s debut 25 days away, a new strip called “Kids Rule O.K.” debuted in the September 11th issue of Action. Its portrayals of football hooliganism, then a considerable social issue, would soon bring everything to a climax. Only four days later, in the Marvel weeklies released on September 15, 1976 (dated September 22), fans had their first teasing view of the shadowy, unnamed hero. The adverts also made reference to him being “British” and “Britain’s own,” which was an intriguing surprise. Up till then, the only prominent British hero to appear in the British weeklies had been the Black Knight. (Reprints of The would not let a British audience meet the WWI hero Union Jack, or his daughter , for some months yet.) As the publicity campaign would emphasize, Captain Britain was the first British hero created for a British audience: It’s an important distinction, one that is often overlooked. Two days passed, and then The Daily Mail—with a circulation of nearly five million, the fourth most popular daily in the UK—ran a prominent story condemning Action’s content. The press and self- appointed “moral guardians” had a new crusade.

First Look (top) Captain Britain’s first public outing gave away little. Ad from Mighty World of Marvel #208 (Sept. 22, 1976). (bottom) This first color image of Cap appeared two weeks before Captain Britain #1’s launch. All images accompanying this article are courtesy of Robert Menzies.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

24 • BACK ISSUE • International Heroes Issue TM

The Amazing Spider-Man first appeared in The Mighty World of Marvel #1, the week ending October 7th, 1972. This was the beginning of the Marvel Age of Comics, featuring, as it did, the opening salvo of a trio of strips that would redefine the comic-book medium: Spidey, the Fantastic Four, and the Incredible Hulk. This 40-page comic, costing five pence, featured the world’s greatest superheroes in three movie-length adventures, a great mystery surprise for every reader, and a FREE green- skinned monster T-shirt transfer. What’s this? It’s not like BACK ISSUE to make such a schoolboy error. Surely everybody knows that Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and in 1962, first appeared in an anthology title, that’s true—but it was #15 (Aug. 1962), not Mighty World of by A n d r e w L e y l a n d Marvel (MWOM). And the Hulk and the FF first appeared in their own magazines. Well, yes, all of this is, of course, correct. But for an entire nation across the cold, unforgiving Atlantic Ocean, these three titans of did not first head- line their own comics, rather, they were introduced to an entire country as stable-mates in one magazine … and thus was born the Marvel Age of Comics—UK division. There had been an attempt to launch Marvel characters before in POW! and Fantastic magazines in the late ’60s, but MWOM wasn’t a licensed deal. Marvel was looking at launching a new line of comics in a new country, on their own terms. Whilst MWOM was popular in and of itself, Spider-Man was the breakout star, and when Marvel looked to expand its publishing output, Spidey was the logical choice for the second Marvel weekly, his place in MWOM being taken by Daredevil. Reprinting “Spider-Man Tackles the Torch” from Amazing Spider-Man #9 (Feb. 1964), #19 of MWOM was Spider-Man’s last as a regular feature. Spider-Man Comics Weekly debuted the week ending February 17, 1973, picking up where MWOM left off with a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #10, “The Coming of Electro” (Mar. 1964), and also introducing the startled and eager British Isles to the Mighty as a backup strip. The first issue, like its elder “brother,” was 40 pages and cost five pence. It featured a free Spider-Man mask and revealed the startling secret of FOOM. No one could have believed it at the time but this comic would run for almost 13 years and a staggering 666 issues. It would be the pinnacle of UK Marvel’s output featuring pretty much every superhero character Marvel ever published at one time or another, but its end would be ignominious as Marvel UK pretty much gave up, allowing the comic to fade away rather than burn out. It would see numerous title and format

Your Friendly British Neighbourhood Spider-Man Spider-Man UK #607 (Oct. 27, 1984) cover artist Jerry Paris also drew the issue’s splash page, with then-newbies Barry Kitson and following with interior art. Spidey UK scans courtesy of Andrew Leyland.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29 by D e w e y C a s s e l l

Your Father’s FF (and Probably Yours, Too) From Captain Britain #2, Fantastic Four pinup art by Steve Stiles and . Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Think you have seen all the artwork and read all the dialogue of your the story draw new splash pages, so something else had to be done. favorite Marvel comics from the ’60s and ’70s? Maybe not. Edelman recalls, “Sometimes I’d find a panel from a previous segment In 1972, Marvel Comics launched a new imprint called Marvel UK to which could be enlarged as the basis for a splash page. Sometimes there’d publish Marvel comic-book titles across the pond [see BI #63—ed.]. It was be no suitable panel to repurpose, and a new splash page would not the first time Marvel comics had been published in . need to be drawn.” When a new splash page needed to be drawn, Alan Class and reprinted early Marvel comics in which was the case more often than not, the responsibility fell the 1960s. But recognizing a potentially lucrative market, to artists like Steve Stiles and Howard Bender. Marvel decided to take the reins. Marvel had a tremendous, Bender elaborates on how the process worked: growing inventory of titles that had proved popular “Basically, the whole thing was put together and overseen in the United States, from vintage superhero comics by and he had his connections with the like The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Fantastic people overseas, in Britain, who would package it— Four, and The Incredible Hulk to more recent titles like an enormous amount of books every week, maybe Lives, Savage Sword of Conan, and Planet of two or three books a day—to be printed over in the Apes. The same comics could be reprinted in the England. Of course, it was all printed in black and UK for a whole new set of fans. white. They would split the stories, so they would However, reprinting US comics for the UK market need a new splash page and a new cover for the other was not as simple as it sounds. Comics in the UK were book(s).” So, in actuality, part of the Marvel UK traditionally published weekly with black-and-white reprint books were not reprints. interiors printed magazine-sized. Scott Edelman, the scott edelman For artists like Bender and Stiles, Marvel UK second editor of Marvel UK after , further provided a good place to start. Stiles explains how explains the challenge: “US comic books at the time K. Tempest Bradford/Wikipedia. he came to work on the Marvel UK comics: “In 1975, generally consisted of a single story stretching through an issue. UK comic I found myself drawing up comic-book samples while living in Joe books tended to be made up of many shorter stories about different Staton’s basement in upstate New York. After three visits to the Marvel characters, with each adventure continuing in segments from issue to issue. offices, Chris Claremont took me over to see John Warner, who was In order for Marvel’s US comics to pass as UK comics, someone had to take then editor of the British line, and I was hired.” Bender had a similar a 20-page story, [and] break it into parts.” The number of pages in each path to the House of Ideas: “I always wanted to work at Marvel. I really part varied depending on the space allocated to it in the Marvel UK comic. loved the way Stan Lee would talk to the readers. After I graduated The by-product of this approach was that new splash pages and art school, I went to New York. I started working in the Bullpen doing covers were needed for the subsequent parts of the story. It was not corrections on the black-and-white magazines, and then they found a practical, or even possible in many cases, to have the original artist for spot for me in the UK Division, which was down the hall.”

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37 Editor’s note: A few examples of Marvel superhero art accompanied by the 1970s covers for which the by renowned Spanish illustrator Rafael López Espí images were produced; the 1972 Spider-Man and Iron have appeared in BACK ISSUE in the past, piquing the Man posters painted that were marketed in Marvel’s interest of US readers. Thanks to the generosity of one UK weeklies; and original art from a 1974 Marvel card of BI’s readers in Spain, Raimon Fonseca, we proudly set. Readers are encouraged to discover more about present this gallery of López Espí images of Marvel’s our spotlighted artist by visiting the illustrator’s - mightiest—thank you, Raimon! On these pages you’ll site at www.lopezepsi.com. find plates from a 2007 portfolio, most of which are All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

40 • BACK ISSUE • International Heroes Issue TM

TM

by J a c k A b r a m o w i t z

WHAT EARTH ARE WE ON? It was never quite clear whether Super Friends took place on Earth-One or in some parallel reality. (Wait—the headline says “Global Guardians”! Why are we talking about the Super Friends? Patience, please. We’ll get there!) In favor of the Earth-One theory, Super Friends often referred to the Justice League. But the regular Justice League comics never acknowledged a “Hall of Justice” or any training program for superhero wannabes. It would be easy to conclude that failure to mention these things does not constitute proof of their non-existence except that the presence of a Justice League is not the ironclad proof we’d like to think it is. After all, vs. the Amazing Spider-Man featured the Injustice Gang satellite, meaning that there’s a Justice League in that continuum, and that story certainly did not take place on Earth-One. Supporting the not-Earth-One hypothesis is the appearance of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite in Super Friends #12. These WWII-era heroes were certainly not indigenous to Earth-One, whose first superpowered champion was established to be Superman. And yet, plenty of stories clearly set on Earth-One also broke this rule—frequently stories featuring Superman or his younger self! A sampling of such exceptions includes the Guardian appearing in Superman’s Pal, (starting in #135), in New Adventures of #14 and 49, and in DC Comics Presents #40, among others. Yes, ten-year- olds go through these kind of mental gymnastics trying to determine where Super Friends takes place. In preparing this article, I took an informal and not-statistically significant survey of a few people in the comics industry on this subject. To a person, they did not consider Super Friends part of Earth-One continuity: Fred Hembeck said, “I didn’t consider ’em in continuity! Just a feeling. (I didn’t consider a lot of what went on in B&B with ’s costars in continuity either…)” Craig Shutt, a.k.a. “Mr. Silver Age,” replied that “I wouldn’t consider it in [regular DC] continuity,

as it’s a different set of characters with somewhat different personalities. Certainly, there was never an TM & © DC Comics.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45 indication that it was in continuity by having characters Everyone at DC thought the show was truly awful, and reference those adventures.” felt that the scripts were not only a bastardization Martin Pasko, who actually worked at DC of the source material, but disrespectful of the at the time, gave an insider’s perspective entire superhero genre in general. Many Fast Friends not only on Super Friends but on some people at DC (even among executive other titles as well with his reply: staff) didn’t really want to publish Super runs into “[T]here were many people at DC Friends at all, but the title was a Impala in Super who considered Super Friends to be condition of the licensing arrangement invisible. Seriously, the only person who with the cartoon studio.” Friends #7 thought of it as part of any continuity— While not officially recognized as never mind what Earth—was [E.] such, the Super Friends’ continuum (Oct. 1977). By E. Nelson Bridwell. Everyone else thought is popularly known as “Earth-OneA,” Nelson Bridwell, of it as strictly a TV tie-in, no more a part an offshoot of Earth-One. (As noted, of the DCU (which wasn’t even called the point of all this will be made Ramona Fradon, that yet, back then) than Welcome clear shortly.) and Bob Smith. Back, Kotter. This was because Hanna- ramona fradon Barbera had to put in two kids and a ENTER THE GLOBAL Scan coutesy of dog to get ABC to take the show (they Luigi Novi / Wikimedia. GUARDIANS So here we have Super Friends, featuring John Wells. were Scooby-Dooing everything to within an inch of its life at the time), and at first ABC wouldn’t even allow superhero protégés of dubious canon Wendy, Marvin, and TM & © DC Comics. the characters to be referred to as ‘the Justice League.’ Wonder Dog. The status quo starts to change in issue #7, “The Warning of the Wondertwins,” by E. Nelson Bridwell, with art by Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith. The tale begins when a spaceship arrives on Earth carrying superpowered teens Zan and Jayna, along with their elastic-tailed pet monkey, Gleek. The trio are refugees from the planet Exor, and made their way to Earth to warn the locals about a dire plot from Superman’s old enemy, Grax. That bald-headed, blue-skinned, four- armed space pirate planted 12 bombs around the globe, any one of which would be capable of destroying all life on the planet. Wendy and Marvin summon not just the Super Friends but the entire Justice League. “So many bombs,” observes. “We’ll have to abandon our usual teamwork!” “Not necessarily!” Wendy counters. “The JLA computer had info on all Earth’s heroes! You can team with local ones near where the bombs are.” And so it begins. First up is Superman, who visits Israel, where he teams with local hero the Seraph. The Seraph is in possession of ’s mantle, the staff of , and King Solomon’s ring, each of which endows him with miraculous abilities. Additionally, his long hair provides him with super-strength à la Samson. The bomb is encased within a field that the Man of Steel cannot breach. The Seraph enables him to access the device by using his staff to part the gravity field as Moses once did the Red Sea. One bomb down. We transition to , where the is teamed with , who has prehensile hair that she can harden, turn transparent, and more. (At first glance, it would appear that Godiva is a blatant rip-off of Marvel’s . Upon further reflection, we may note that of Super-Heroes reject Spider Girl—who first appeared in 1964’s #323—predates either of them. DC might counter that Marvel appropriated not only Spider Girl’s power but her name as well!) In any event, bomb #2 is enclosed within a force-field that, happily, has no effect on hair, so Godiva is able to enwrap herself and the ductile detective in a tonsorial . From merrie olde England we travel to South Africa, where we find zooming along with local hero Impala keeping pace. (We’re informed that Impala is not as fast as the Flash, but keeping up at this speed is an impressive feat nonetheless.) The South Africa bomb hovers high over a broad plain, leaving Flash with no way to reach it. Happily, impalas are not only fast, they’re champion leapers. Impala is able to leap 19 feet in the air with the Flash on his shoulders; Impala’s “hang time” is sufficient for Flash to defuse the bomb at super-speed.

46 • BACK ISSUE • International Heroes Issue TM

Captain Who? Unless you are a Canadian or a really hardcore comic , you may have never even heard of Captain Canuck. I remember when I first saw something about Captain Canuck, known as CC to his fans. In late 1979 or early 1980, I picked up copy The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom, stuffed with ads of comics for sale. Buried in all those ads was a Captain Canuck promotion from Doug Sulipa’s Comic World, a dealer in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada. So, from the first time I put my hands on a copy of CC, I was hooked have since collected everything connected to the character. While this is an article about Captain Canuck, you can’t understand CC without understanding the life of his creator, Richard Comely. His is the story of how a few issues of Captain Canuck would get published, and then cease publication, and then come back for more issues, and then go away again. Only to come back again. Captain Canuck is like a cat with nine lives. THE COMING OF CAPTAIN CANUCK In late 1971 or early 1972, Richard Comely and Ron Leishman (www.toonaday.com), a friend of Comely’s from church, were talking. Leishman said there should be a Canadian superhero and even had preliminary drawing in his cartoony style. A couple of years went by and at age 24, Comely decided to self-publish CC with money he borrowed from family plus a small bank loan. He found a publisher who would give him credit to print the comics. Before Comely could publish Captain Canuck #1, Leishman went to France for two years as a missionary. Comely modified the cartoony by style of Fleishman’s drawing to more of a comic-book J a y W i l l i a m s superhero style and defined the hero’s look as its writer/artist. In April 1975, a one-page marketing flyer richard comely known as the “Jammies” cover was created and sent out to prospective sellers of comics to promote the first issue of Captain Canuck. Captain Canuck #1 (July 1975), from Comely Comix, was a visual departure from the comics being turned out by Marvel and DC. It had a cover price of 35 cents at a time when US comic books were selling for 25 cents. Issue #1’s cover showed CC in his red-and-white outfit over a Canadian flag, superimposed over a yellow-and-orange sunrise. After much experimentation, Comely took the black-and-white inked comic pages, laid a sheet of acetate over them, and then used animator paints and colored on the acetate pages. The result was a much larger and brighter color pallet than the standard four-color comic. (Some might describe these colors as strange.) The first issue’s CC 18-page adventure was scripted, illustrated, and colored by Comely, with co-scripter Dave Abbott. It included a ten-page sword-and-sorcery backup, Jonn, co-written by Comely and Leishman, penciled by Comely, and inked by Owen McCarron. [Editor’s note: To learn more about McCarron, who was also the man behind Marvel Fun and Games Magazine, see BACK ISSUE #77.] While Captain Canuck was never submitted to the Comics Code Authority for approval to be sold in the US, Comely was committed to having a comic with no gratuitous or excessive violence or sexuality. This comes from Comely being an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The Captain Canuck series was set in the then-future of 1993–1994. Its backstory: In the 1980s, Canada became the leading economic and world power. Canada’s equivalent of the United States’ CIA was an organization called the C.I.S.O. (Canadian International Security Organization). C.I.S.O. selected two men who are unequaled in physical and mental prowess to be trained as its “super agents”: Captain Canuck (who in real life is Tom Evans) and his partner Blue .

Canada’s Richard Comely’s cover to Captain Canuck #1 (July 1975).

TM & © Richard Comely.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53 Our cover artists, painter Steve Fastner and penciler Rich Larson, started their collaboration back in the mid-1970s, and nearly 40 years later they’re as in-demand as ever! Many BACK ISSUE readers cherish their fascinating Marvel portfolios of the early ’80s, from which our X-Men vs. Alpha Flight cover hails, and that’s the starting point for this exclusive “Pro2Pro” chat. – Michael Eury MICHAEL EURY: Let’s start by discussing the Alpha Flight vs. X-Men illustration we’ve repurposed as the cover of this issue, BACK ISSUE #83 … which was released, coincidentally, in 1983 in an X-Men portfolio, one of a few Marvel portfolios you did in the early ’80s. How did these portfolios come about, and who is/was SQ Publications? RICH LARSON: SQP, a.k.a. Sal Q Productions (www.sqpart- books.com), was and is Sal Quartuccio and Bob Keenan, the hardest-working publishers in fantasy art. Our story is inextricably intertwined with theirs; they were the first to publish our work (in their prozine Hot Stuf’, in 1978), and have published most of our books since. You don’t usually find artists cozying up to their publishers, but we conducted by M i c h a e l E u r y love those guys. They’re probably the longest-lived independent fantasy publishers still actually signing checks. STEVE FASTNER: Sal Quartuccio called me one day in 1979 and told me he was doing a series of Marvel superheroes portfolios. It was going to be various Marvel artists and producing inked drawings of the super- heroes. Sal wanted me to do airbrush coloring for the inked drawings using a photo-process called blue-line transfer. Blue-line makes a light blue copy of the line art on a sheet of illustration board, which I would do the airbrushing on. It also makes a copy of the black ink lines on a sheet of clear acetate. That way, when it’s printed, the black ink lines stay solid black instead of being screened, which would make them dark grey instead. I had done blue-line coloring on SQP’s The Art of book. I told Sal that I’d prefer to do fully airbrushed paintings instead, so he made me a counteroffer. He would have the artists pencil the drawing on art board and I could do airbrush painting on top. I agreed to do them, and the first set was the X-Men. EURY: You made a reputation in those days doing painted renditions of superheroes before that became fashionable (although, of course, the pulps did that way back in the ’30s). Do you recall the reaction from editors and fans during that time when line art for superhero renderings was the norm? LARSON: I think it was moderately favorable. A few fans probably took issue with our style as a being a bit too cartoony, or not Marvelesque enough. But the portfolios were successful enough that we did four sets (two of the X-Men, Spidey, and the Hulk), and had the Fantastic Four ready to go when Marvel decided to take the portfolio format in-house.

Next Generation Steve Fastner and Rich Larson’s “Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters – Revisted” plate, from SQP’s first X-Men portfolio.

X-Men TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59 TM

The year was 1987, and the crossover event had just concluded. After this event and its predecessor Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe had become a very different place. Characters were becoming grittier. Heroes from parallel worlds had become full-time residents of a single DCU. In all this change it was becoming clearer and clearer that the time for a new type of Justice League was now. As this team would go forward, accompanied by unforeseen commercial success, it would evolve. The League would no longer be anchored to America. It would take a new turn and become a peacekeeping force for the world. It would become Justice League International. Before a new League could form and evolve, a new creative team had to be brought together. , who had been editing Justice League of America since 1985, was the one who would chart this new route for this well-established title. [Editor’s by J o n a t h a n R i k a r d B r o w n note: See BI #3 for more about the Justice League’s rebirth.] In the wake of Legends, a new Justice League cast had emerged. It was Helfer who would bring on Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis to give the team life. DeMatteis was the first to come on to the scene. He had taken over writing Justice League of America with issue #255 (Oct. 1986). DeMatteis would continue on with the series until it ended with #261. In speaking about the transition to the j. m. dematteis new era of Justice League, DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE, “I’d written the final story of the ‘Detroit’ League for Andy Helfer and, when Andy and Keith were putting the new League together, Keith decided he wasn’t comfortable doing the plot and the dialogue. Andy asked me to come aboard. I took one look at Keith’s first plot, which was , and signed on. [Penciler] Kevin Maguire was the final piece of the puzzle—one of the most gifted, and unique, artists I’ve ever worked with.” While this one piece of the puzzle was set early on, Keith Giffen had been working with Andy Helfer, prodding him for the opportunity to work on the book. Giffen recounts the story: “I don’t remember when it started, but it was a good while before I got the Justice League or even any indication that I might get it. I was always after Andy, ‘Give me the Justice League. Give me the Justice League.’ ’Cause I saw this potential for the book that I didn’t figure was being reached.” He continues, “It was like with the Legion of Super-Heroes. What attracted me most to that was the potential the book had. Just the ability to go in there and do something really wild. I saw the same thing in Justice League. For months and months, maybe even a year before finally getting the book, I’d go to Andy and say, ‘Give me the Justice League. I can do something good with it.’ Andy would just nod, ‘Yeah yeah yeah yeah, go away, find something else to do.’”

The New Global Guardians After a mere six issues, Justice League was retitled Justice League International with issue #7 (Nov. 1987). Cover by Kevin Maguire and .

TM & © DC Comics.

International Heroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 65 by D a n Ta n d a r i c h

Hanging TTinin Produced fforor a European reprint, López Espí’s iinterpretationnterpretation of #7’s Surfer/ffer/Frankenstein peregrine shamrock clash. CourtesyCourtesy of Raimon Fonseca.

TM & © Marvel Characters,Characters, Inc.

What do you get when you assemble the international superheroes Lofffficier did not receive a reason why Marvel was going with a new artist, Shamrock and the Peregrine, Drr.. Strange, the Silver Surffeerr,, and the he did write a notenote to Duranona in the unpublishedunpublished script. “Last timee, Frankenstein Monster? No, not a missing issue of Marvel TTeeam-Up but the editor wasn’t wild about the breakdown that youyou used on page 2, a Greatest Story Never Told! This is the story behind the story of Drr.. which he tthoughthought was too hard to follow.” Marvel thenthen said that Marvell Strange, Sorrcerercerer SupremeSupreme #37 (Jan. 1992). Comics Presents should use more commercial characters such as The lucky Irish hheroineeroine Shamrock and the hhigh-flyingigh-flying French hero WWolverine.olverine. That waswas it for the Shamrock and PeregrinePeregrine storyy.. Peregrine had only made sporadic appearances since their debut in Marvveel Kavanagh explains to BI that he would have used the story as Marvel Super Herroo Contest of #1 (June 1982) [see BIIF# Y41O Ufo rE mNoJrOeY oEnD TCHoISm iPcRs EPVreIsEeWnt,s was a biweekly comic, noting that he was a fan of Contteest of Champions—ed.]. Molly Fitzgerald—ShamrocCkL—IChKad T tHheE aLbIiNlitKy TOD OurRanDoEnRa ’sT wHoIS rk from WWaarren magazines like Eerriie and could not imagine to alter probabilities to her advantage when battlingI oSpSpUoEn eINnt sP oRrI sNoTlv iOngR DIpGassingITAL FuOp RtheM AopportunityoTpportunity! to use his illustrations. In the letters page off problems. The Peregrine——AAlain RRaacine——wwas a winged hero who specialized Marvel Comics Prreesents #15 (Marr.. 1989) in response to a fan’s request for in savate (French kickboxing). It was this little-used duo who became the the Peregrine, tthehe editor did reply that the French hero would bebe used: stars of an unpublished adventure for Marvel Comics PresentsPresents written by “WWeell, that’s a pretty strange request with all of the characters to choose Jean-Marc Lofficierr,, whowho shares with BACK ISSUEE, “I chose the Peregrine from in the , but we’ll try to accommodate you. Believe it because of him being French, of course. I can’t recall why I made or not, we have a few stories in the works with LeLe Peregrine.” Marvelel Shamrock his girlfriend, although in retrospect it seems natural enough.” Comics Prreesents #18 (May 1989) gave hope for the character once again. The real-life chronicle begins in Los Angeles where Lofficier met “If enough rreaderseaders tell us they want to see more ofof a certain characterr Argentine artist Leopoldo Duranona at a party circa 1987. Lofficier (like, sayy,, Le Peregrine or Annihilus, just to name two), we’ll try to accom- remembers, “[Leo] wantedwanted to work for Marvel and had ddoneone a generic modate them wwithith a longer series.” And finallyy,, MCPMCP #19 (May 1989) few tryout pages in pencilpencil which I felt, with some minimumminimum redesigns, added, “Have you been wondering about the fates of Le Peregrine, , could be turned into a SShamrock/Peregrinehamrock/Peregrine story. That’s wwhathat I sent as or Shamrock?” So for noww,, the shelving of the project remained a mysteryy.. a proposal to TTerrerry KKavanagh”avanagh” [then-editor of Marvel CComicsomics Presents]. A few years later, Lofficier worked with Roy and on The “audition” was then rewritten by Lofficier and turned into a Drr.. Strangee,, Sorrccerer . Lofffficier had written “The Book of the four-part story. It was during this “second phase” that Lofficier pulled Vishanti” bbackupackup feature which delved into the mysticalmystical corners of thee together the various threads of the sordid history of the Family Marvel Universe. He remembered his unpublishedunpublished story and plannedd Frankenstein in the Marvel Universe. It picked up on the BI.CA.COK.N IS. SUoEn # u8s3 ing it [Frankenstein history only] as a two-part “Book of the (International Criminal Organizations Nexus) storylin“eIn tefrnoatmion atl hHer ocesa!”n Aclephlae Fdlight, thVe iNsehwa Xn-Mtie”n, Gbloabacl kup. In the letters column “Strange Mails” from Drr.. Guardians, Captain Canuck, and Justice League International, plus FFrrraankenstein Monster (originally TThhe Monster of FFrrraankSepindesr-tMeiann )in cthoe mUKi can db mooorek. Also: Sextcrluasivneg inee,te,r viSewo wrciteh rer Supreme #42 (June 1992), editor Mike Rockwitz that Marvel published from 1973 to 1975. AAffter Lofffcfoicveier arr trisetss SeTEaVrEc FhAeSTdN EaRn andd RICHr LeAvReSOaNle. Fdea,t u“rinIgt thwe as only after Geof [Isherwood] had penciled all ten work of JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, wrote the full script with Duranona in mind as the arRtICisHtA, RMD CaOrvMeElL Yt, oKEldITH h GimIFFEN, KEpVaINg MeAsG UtIhREa, ta ndw meo red! ecided instead to add the 12-page ‘Frankensurfer’ that the story was to bbee assigned to someone elseA lpthoa Fldrawigrawht vs. .X -AlthoughMen cover by FASTNpER l/oLAt RtSOoN s. urround them.” Roy was more than happy to go with the (84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&producIts_nid=t11e94 r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 6 9