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MOENCH & SIENKIEWICZ Pro2Pro Interview!

April 2017

No.95 ™ $8.95

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT! Rider • in the Bronze Age • I… Mike W. Barr Interview • featuring Budiansky, DeMatteis, Pasko, Ploog, Sutton, Thomas & Marvel’s Nightcat, Jacqueline Tavarez Moon Knight TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Volume 1, Number 95 April 2017

EDITOR-IN-

PUBLISHER John Morrow ’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTS and Janson (Originally the splash page to Moon Knight #6, Apr. 1981. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.)

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKS Mike W. Barr Don Kessler Andrew Bennett Jerry Boyd Christopher PRO2PRO: Moon Knight: The /Bill Sienkiewicz Era...... 2 Michael Browning Larochelle An intimate dialogue with the superstar creative team that put Marvel’s midnight man on the map Bob Budiansky Dewey Cassell Dan Mishkin Doug Moench FLASHBACK: The ’s First Ride ...... 13 Luigi Novi A super-charged history of Johnny Blaze’s Bronze Age adventures Adam Palance Paris Cullins Maritn Pasko BEYOND CAPES: Enter the World of Danger, Drama, and … Night Nurse!. . .31 J. . DeMatteis Shannon E. Riley Oh, nurse! This obscure 1970s book helped populate Marvel’s current cinematic universe Barry Dutter Bill Sienkiewicz Fayetteville Anthony Snyder BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Devil Inside: Eclipso...... 36 Comic-Con Jacqueline Tavarez The Bronze Age battles between Bruce Gordon and his sinister alter ego Jean Thomas Peter B. Gillis Grand Comics Steven Thompson BEYOND CAPES: A Different Kind of Bat Man: I… Vampire...... 45 Database David Torsiello This bloodsucking protagonist took a bite out of 1980s’ issues of Don Vaughan Gregoroff INTERVIEW: The Mike W. Barr/Batman Interview...... 55 Steven Wilber One of our favorite writers chats about the controversial birth of , Batman: Year Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Two, , and other topics Heritage Comics Michael Zeno Auctions PRINCE STREET NEWS: “Of Cape and Cowl”...... 66 Karl Heitmueller, Jr.’s latest toon takes on Batman’s wardrobe

If you’re viewing a Digital ROUGH STUFF...... 68 Edition of this publication, A pencil-art starring THE creature of the night, Batman PLEASE READ THIS: ONE-HIT WONDERS: Nightcat: She Sings, She Fights, She’s Dynamite!...... 73 This is copyrighted material, NOT intended Nightcat herself, Jacqueline Tavarez, and a star-studded lineup of creative folk relive the tale of for downloading anywhere except our Marvel’s musical crimefighter website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO BACK TALK ...... 77 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 OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC enough to download them, please pay for 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, them so we can keep producing ones like Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: [email protected]. Eight-issue this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at subscriptions: $73 Economy US, $88 Expedited US, $116 International. Please send subscription orders and www.twomorrows.com funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz and . Moon Knight TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2017 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing except Prince Street News, © 2017 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in . FIRST PRINTING.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1 In 1975, a mysterious new character started to find his way into the pages of several Marvel Comics titles. Moon Knight was a villain, then a hero, and often a character TM who was never expected to be seen again… but eventually a steady home in the back pages of the black-and- white magazine brought together two creators who had a lengthy run that remains the definitive take on the character, writer Doug Moench and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. – Christopher Larochelle

CHRISTOPHER LAROCHELLE: While the intention here is to discuss Moon Knight by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz, I want to ask you, Doug, to explain a little bit about your work on the character before Bill came on board. How did Moon Knight get started as a character at Marvel Comics? DOUG MOENCH: Well, I had needed to do the next for Werewolf by Night, and I decided to create a new villain. But when the protagonist is a werewolf, the character fighting the werewolf is kind of a hero, so I decided that he would be some kind of anti-hero. This character became a mercenary, and an organization called the Committee had hired him to go after the Werewolf. I came up with a character whose every design and gimmick was related to the Werewolf. The first thing that I thought of was the Moon, because after all, the Moon triggers the transformation into a werewolf. So this new character would be themed around the Moon. That made me think of the black-and-white costume… when it’s a crescent moon, most of it is black but by part of it is white, and so on. I thought that Christopher Larochelle would be cool, and it was the first time that conducted July 2016 I had ever heard of in which there would be a costume with no color on it… and man, that was a hard time, getting colorists to not put color on that! He also had a glove with silver spikes, called a cestus, which is something that gladiators had in Ancient Rome. And silver hurts werewolves, right? So this character had crescent- shaped darts, and the darts were made out of silver. Everything about him was designed to go up against the Werewolf. LAROCHELLE: Makes sense. MOENCH: I came up with a list of something like 15 different names, and Moon Knight was just one of them. Len Wein, who was the editor at the time, called me and asked what I had coming up in Werewolf by Night. I told him that I was creating this new villain who was also a hero, and I had a bunch of possible names. “Read them to me!” Len said. So I read him all the names and I think that

Moon Knight was maybe TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Characters, Marvel © & TM the fourth name, and he © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. stopped me. He said, “Oh, I really like Moon Knight! Moon Knight… that’s a good one.”

2 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue LAROCHELLE: Near the end of the time that you spent part of the reason why he was so hands-off. I would with Moon Knight in the Hulk magazine, some layers of sometimes do some things just to see if I could get a the character’s history finally get peeled back. I’m talking response of some kind from Denny. I came to realize that Killer Covers specifically about a story in which Marc Spector’s brother with him, a non-response was probably the best thing. While Doug’s Randall appears. Because when there was a problem, Denny certainly let MOENCH: Yeah. I thought those were pretty good. me know it. He did tell me, “You know, Bill, don’t have dramas kept MK’s I liked those. Moon Knight being beaten up on every cover. Have him readers turning LAROCHELLE: Did you know that Marc had a brother win some. It has to look like it’s a fair fight.” I always had for a while? Moon Knight on the losing side of the fight in the covers, pages, Bill’s skills MOENCH: Oh, no. I never knew it until I came up with and I really think that it works because then somebody evolved to his that story. It suddenly hit me… wow, this whole thing looking at the book at the store just has to wonder about with a serial killer, it would be even better with a brother! how he’s going to make it out of the situation. I think that ascendency as one LAROCHELLE: When the time came for Moon Knight Denny wanted Moon Knight to be a little more formidable of comics’ master to get promoted to being an ongoing series, was it on the covers. So I had Moon Knight going crazy on the something of a happy surprise for you guys or was it covers, or ripping up the costume. cover (and interior) something that you almost expected, given the response But there is one cover, for issue #19, that I have to illustrators. Covers that you were getting? really go on the record for. It’s a cover with Moon MOENCH: No, I didn’t expect it at all. Every time they Knight holding his shoulder and there is this big poster to issues #2, 5 asked me to do more of Moon Knight it was a surprise. behind him. I vehemently say that I had nothing to (background), and 7. SIENKIEWICZ: I don’t think we really expected it, do with that poster that is drawn in the background. but it was certainly nice when they mentioned it. It was Instead of asking me, Denny had someone else, I don’t TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. a little bit of “be careful what you wish for,” because again, I never expected to be working for Marvel and working on this character for so long. LAROCHELLE: One change that took place in the handoff from the Hulk magazine to the was that stepped out as editor and Dennis O’Neil came in. Any comparison between the two editors? MOENCH: They were both totally hands-off, and I loved that. They both said similar things, that they just had to sit back and we made them look good! That was a nice compliment, but even more important was the freedom. I just hate having someone looking over my shoulder. SIENKIEWICZ: Yeah, they were both hands-off. I had so much respect for Denny, and Ralph and I became very good friends. Denny was doing so many other things and had so many calls on his attention, so maybe that was

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7 even know who, redo my version of it. Denny felt that having a fully rendered Moon Knight and a fully rendered villain in the poster would be confusing. So somebody in the Bullpen just went over the original art and made this absolute mess of it. When Moon Knight people look at that and see that horrible image, and they think that I did it… I just remember that when I saw it, when it came in Graphite out, I was so, so upset. I just wish that Denny hadn’t done that () Infusion of without asking me. LAROCHELLE: I wanted to ask about the creative process that you two utilized to make the Moon Knight comics. Was the including the statue Marvel Method something that you used, or were full scripts more your style, Doug? of Khonshu never MOENCH: I had my own version of the Marvel Method, which slowed down the was actually pretty different from the Marvel Method. In fact, my version of it is probably longer than a lot of people’s full pace of Moon Knight’s scripts. It still gives the artists a certain amount of freedom. exciting stories. I would do things in a freeform kind of way in paragraphs, and if the artist wanted to, each paragraph could be one panel, just Cover to issue #10 like a full . But if he wanted to take a paragraph and split (Aug. 1981). it into two panels, he could. Or if he wanted to combine two paragraphs into one panel, he could do that, too. As long as (bottom) An undated the storytelling worked, I was happy. Some dialogue was there, Moon Knight pencil but it wasn’t always polished. I didn’t want it to be totally polished, because sometimes the art would surprise me, and I wanted to illo by Bill Sienkiewicz, take advantage of that. So, yeah, Moon Knight was done in my version of Marvel Method, which is definitely very different from from the Heritage ’s. archives. SIENKIEWICZ: I didn’t have anything to compare Doug’s style to and just assumed that what Doug gave me is what every writer TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. gave to every artist. I felt like the plots were very in-depth. It was all there in what he gave me. It eventually turned out to be more information than I needed. I came to find out that I like to solve some problems on my own and feel like I am contributing a little more. Doug’s stuff was so well thought out that I felt like there was little more I could bring. Choreographing the fight scenes was about the extent of what I did. MOENCH: But there were requests for certain things. Like when you wanted pages with four panels each because you wanted to try something out. I think I granted every request, but the requests weren’t about plots, they were about the mechanics or the design or the storytelling style. LAROCHELLE: So it wasn’t like when or were working so well together on X-Men and as time went on, John started driving the plots of the stories themselves. MOENCH: I’ve never had that with any artist. I feel like as the writer, I should be writing it. If not, what am I doing? I’d be stealing, and not doing my job. LAROCHELLE: What kind of commu- nication was there between you two as you were working on the series? MOENCH: We were on the phone a lot, maybe not as much as I was with some other artists, but things were working out well… piece of cake, really! SIENKIEWICZ: We did speak pretty often and I visited him in Pennsylvania, so yeah, we were always able to be in touch about things. LAROCHELLE: When Moon Knight #1 came out, it was really important because it allowed you to finally tell the story of how a guy like Marc Spector became Moon Knight. The space that wasn’t there as a backup feature was now available for you to flesh out the character some more. MOENCH: Yeah, it tells the whole story: How he was in and found the statue of Khonshu, the moon god, and decided to turn himself into a Knight of the Moon.

8 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue In the early 1970s, the comic-book business had become a between two of its biggest publishers—a war TM for rack space. After Marvel Comics’ onerous distribution arrangement with Independent News (DC’s distributor) had expired in 1969, Marvel then made the jump to Curtis Circulation and for the first time since 1958, the company was free to publish as many titles as it pleased. In short order, Marvel put out a slew of new horror titles, sci-fi anthologies, and (of course) several reprint series. They were also swiping from pop culture as much as possible for fresh concepts. New characters took inspiration from blaxploitation (), the -fu craze (Shang-Chi, ), and the Women’s Lib movement (the Cat, Shanna the She-Devil, Night Nurse). But perhaps the strangest of these new characters was the Ghost Rider. Drawing from the horror genre, by David Torsiello motorcycle clubs, and Evel Knievel (to go along with some standard tropes), the concept was such a hodgepodge of disparate elements that it should have collapsed under the sheer weight of all its influences. It ought to have been a creative mess and a commercial disaster— but it wasn’t. Instead, Ghost Rider wound up proving himself one of the most enduring original characters to come out of the Bronze Age. Why did the concept prove successful? There are a number of likely explanations, but to put it in the plainest terms: the image of a guy riding a motorcycle with a head that’s a flaming skull is totally badass. It stokes the imagination. It’s an image that pops off the comic page and most certainly pops off a comic cover. ORIGINS The original comic-book Ghost Rider did not ride a motorcycle, however, but a horse. He was a character created by Krank and for Magazine Enterprises in 1949. Taking inspiration from the Headless Horseman (of “Sleepy Hollow” fame), as well as the Vaughn Monroe song “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” he was a cowboy that dressed in an all-white, full-body costume and rode a white horse. The character appeared regularly up until 1954. More than a dozen years later, after the trademark lapsed, Marvel jumped on the character and began publish- ing a new series of his adventures in 1967. But this only lasted seven issues, followed by a very brief revival of the character for the anthology title Western Gunfighters in 1970. Just a short time later, writer approached editor Roy Thomas with an idea for a motorcycle-riding villain called “Ghost Rider” that he wanted to use in the pages of . Thomas liked the idea so much that he suggested launching the character in a series of his own. When drew the art assignment, he assumed they were taking another shot at the Western character. “In my mind,” Ploog told BACK ISSUE in 2005, “the first

Ghost Rider TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. image that came to me was the Frazetta Ghost Rider on

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13 horseback.” (Frank Frazetta illustrated a couple of gorgeous covers for the original Magazine Enterprises series in the 1950s.) Though Ploog may have been disappointed to learn he was doing an all-new character with the same name, he clearly adjusted quickly. Knowing Roy Thomas’ affection for , it would be reasonable to assume that the design of the modern Ghost Rider was inspired by ’40s superhero the Blazing Skull, but this was not the case. Depending upon whom you ask, either Friedrich came up with the fiery skull design or Ploog did. But regardless of its origins, all can agree that the design was an eye-catcher. THE DEVIL INSIDE The new Ghost Rider first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). Again, he jumped off the cover, surrounded by blurbs declaring, “The Most Supernatural Superhero of All!” and “A Legend Is Born!” A third blurb posed the ominous , “Is He Alive—Or Dead?” The character’s story is pretty straightforward. After being orphaned at a young age, Johnny Blaze is taken in by the owners of a traveling cycle show, the Simpson family: “Crash” Simpson, his wife, Mona, and their daughter, Roxanne. Several years down the road, when Crash is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Johnny makes a deal with the devil—literally Satan himself—to save Crash’s life. After Crash ends up dying in a show stunt, Satan comes to collect Johnny’s soul, correctly noting that Crash did not die of his disease, as per the letter of their bargain. He then informs Johnny that he will “walk the Earth” as his “emissary” at night, while spending his daylight hours trapped in “Hades.” But Roxanne returns just in time to interrupt this process, repeating the magical phrases necessary to drive the devil away and, seemingly, save Johnny. Alone together and safe, Rocky reveals that she had been reading Johnny’s books on Satan in , which is how she knew the way to save him. But the next night, Johnny Blaze finds himself transformed into the Ghost Rider for the first time. The transformations continue every evening at sundown thereafter, with a transformation back to human form with each dawn. HERO OR HORROR? Like his Spotlight predecessor, Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider had an unusual narrative style (unusual for a , that is), as it was narrated in second person. (Werewolf was done in first person.) Also like Werewolf, this premiere Ghost Rider story begins in medias res, as we start with Johnny Blaze already the Ghost Rider, with his origins then revealed to us via flashback Unplooged afterward. And finally, the two features also shared the same Artist Mike Ploog artist kicking off their strip: Mike Ploog (who would also have long stints on Frankenstein and Man-Thing). Taking all this in, the burned rubber as strip felt very much of a piece with the other new horror titles Ghost Rider’s original Marvel was beginning to publish. Many specifics of the character were only vaguely defined at artist. (right) GR’s this point. Although Johnny could not control his transformations debut, in Marvel (they occurred at sundown whether he willed it or not), he was still fully conscious and in control as the Ghost Rider, even though Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). he would often speak as if he were an infernal creature—threatening (above) An undated “mortals” with his power as a “servant of Satan.” (Johnny, as well as some of his later confidants and allies, would come to refer to Ploog preliminary this as his “spook routine.”) sketch of our The finer aspects of his powers were also unclear. He speaks of commanding “-,” for example, but his flame does not appear hot-headed , to have any properties that would distinguish it from conventional courtesy of Heritage fire. It would be quite some time before the Ghost Rider’s powers, or even his demonic nature, would be properly detailed. Comics Auctions EARLY ADVENTURES (www.ha.com). In his second appearance, in Spotlight #6 (Oct. 1972), Ghost Rider Ghost Rider TM & © Marvel runs afoul of “Satan’s Servants” (a Hell’s Angels-style motorcycle Characters, Inc. gang) in . After a display of his powers, GR is invited by the group’s , Curly, to join. Curly then betrays GR, revealing

14 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue to fight on. Then the Angel reappears, wondering if overdue.) Johnny catches on with the Quentin Carnival Johnny/the Ghost Rider has a death wish. “I have a here, introducing us to owner Ralph Quentin, Corky theory about you,” he says. “I think that the more bitter the clown, beautiful (and nosy) girl reporter Cynthia The Original and unhappy you are as Johnny Blaze, the more ruthless Randolph, and former head cycle-jock Red Fowler— Ghost Rider and savage the Ghost Rider is when he emerges.” who’s rather livid that Johnny has basically stolen his Angel then challenges the demon to kill him, at which . A couple issues later, however, Red learns that Johnny (inset) In the Bronze point Johnny Blaze takes back control. As Johnny Blaze is the Ghost Rider (though Johnny doesn’t immediately Age, Marvel rebranded has committed no crime himself—and won’t accept aid realize he knows) and goes from being an enemy to one or help from anyone—the heroes simply leave him. of Johnny’s most loyal friends. the Western hero Ghost As mentioned, this story marks the Ghost Rider’s heroic In Fleisher’s final issue, Ghost Rider battles an undead Rider as Night Rider. nadir. At one point Johnny transforms in order to save a sorceress called the Wind-Witch. Between fight scenes, child dangling from a water tower, but the Ghost Rider Fleisher will introduce another new carny character— (below) Both Riders met decides that if the kid “should die by his own hand, what Madam Olga, a psychic and medium—and begin a in the 50th issue of should the Ghost Rider care? What is there to avenge?” subplot with Corky’s son that will be picked up by the Luckily, is there to catch the child when he falls. next regular writer. Ghost Rider (Nov. 1980). But before that writer gets started, we have a fill-in by Original Bob Budiansky/ ? J. M. DeMatteis and a returning in issue #67 It should be mentioned that the Ghost Rider made (Apr. 1982). It’s a sort-of ghost story that has the Ghost Joe Rubinstein art appearances in three issues of What If? during this period. Rider serve as a dark mirror for a woman who’s let her thirst courtesy of Heritage. The first, What If? #17 (Oct. 1979), written by Steven Grant for vengeance consume her. It’s a tale that serves as another and illustrated by , shows us an alternate mile marker on the highway to the strip’s creative . TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. reality where Crash Simpson successfully completes the stunt that took his life in our reality—only to wind up killed by the Ghost Rider just a short time afterward instead. Roxanne then pursues the demon as a result and he kills her as well. Ultimately, the Ghost Rider has to be put down by Daimon Hellstrom, who ends the story lamenting the tragic bargain Blaze made with his father. It was a bleak tale, and when asked if he possibly foresaw the darker direction the Ghost Rider title would eventually take, Grant tells BI, “The dark elements were always there; he was a Marvel Horror Hero, after all. I suspect the relatively lukewarm response the audience had toward much of his initial series was due to Marvel’s failure to exploit that, or, rather, their determination not to, when the smart thing to do with pretty much any character is go for broke.” What If? #28 (Aug. 1981) gives us an to the storyline from Ghost Rider #43–44. Here, Johnny fails to break Azaziah’s mystic globe and the evil mage completes his plan to merge with the Ghost Rider. He then proceeds to the Vatican, with plans to kill the Pope in a sorcerous ritual that will make him “master of the entire civilized world!” Johnny foils this plan by killing Azaziah/Ghost Rider with a magical scimitar, though he forfeits his own life in the process. This tale was written by Fleisher and drawn by — returning to draw the character for the first time since his debut issue eight years earlier. Finally, there’s What If? #34 (Aug. 1982), a comedy issue. One segment asks, “What If Ghost Rider Had Possessed Someone Else?” as readers are offered readers glimpses of Ghost Grandpa, Ghost Skater, and Ghost Baby. Another segment imagines Ghost Rider as owner of a fast-food franchise called Burger Hell, ordering his patrons, “Have it my way… or else!” FLEISHER EXITS Fleisher’s tenure may be rapidly drawing to a close at this point, but he’s hardly coasting. In Ghost Rider #63 (Dec. 1981), in addition to bringing back the (with some eye-popping new weaponry), Fleisher beefs up the supporting cast in a major way. (And after so many years/issues of Johnny playing lone wolf, this was probably

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23 I don’t like . Well, that’s not entirely true. I have an appreciation for the artwork of romance comics, but it seems like most of the stories in the old romance comics revolved around pining for someone’s attention or playing hard to get or jealousy over a friend or rival. It was not exactly the stuff of legend. Romance comics in popularity in the late 1940s and 1950s, in the wake of World War II. Unlike horror and , romance comics had no problem passing the Comics Code. But with changing times and the re-emergence of , by the late 1960s romance comics were, for all intents and purposes, dead. Naomi Scott, editor of the 1979 Fireside book, Heart Throbs: The Best of DC Romance Comics, put it this way: “Romance comics were popular for almost thirty years by Dewey Cassell because they showed a simpler life. In the late fifties and early sixties, television was stealing a large share of the comic market—action , as well as romance. But the changing morality of the sixties and seventies killed romance comics forever.” [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #81 for more about Heart Throbs— plus the revelation of Naomi Scott’s true identity!] In an interview with Jim Amash in Alter Ego #70 (July 2007), former Marvel writer and editor-in-chief Roy Thomas explained the origin of Night Nurse: “[Stan] wanted to do some books that would have special appeal to girls. We were always looking for ways to expand our franchise. We had a lot of superhero books. You can’t just go on putting out more and more books that are in exactly the same genre, but if you could find ways to nibble around the edges… you can maybe cover a little more territory. So maybe a couple of women characters might bring back a few of the female readers who’d been lost to comics over the years with the decline of humor and romance comics.” This motivation served as the for several comics Marvel introduced in the early 1970s, including The Cat, Shanna the She-Devil… and Night Nurse. But Scott noted the challenge they faced: “Interestingly enough, romance comics were written and drawn primarily by men. Even the advice columns, with bylines attributed to Jane Ford and Julia Roberts, were written by men. Over the years there were women artists and story editors, but until recently the comic industry was dominated by men.” This dichotomy was something Marvel intended to change with the new titles, as Roy Thomas tells BACK © Luigi Novi / ISSUE: “My idea—this was not part Wikimedia Commons. of Stan’s initial idea—was to try to get women to write them. And, of course, if we could get a woman to draw them, too, that was great.” It was an

Hello, Nurse! Excitement, romance, and sensible shoes were hallmarks of Marvel’s Night Nurse #1 (Nov. 1972). Cover by .

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 31 DC Comics has a long history of vile villains who have plagued our favorite heroes over the years, but none are quite like Eclipso. While the , , and often come face-to-face with Batman, , and , Eclipso breaks the mold in that he lives within protagonist Bruce Gordon! DARK ORIGINS The cover of House of Secrets #61 (Aug. 1963) touts the introduction of “Fantastic Eclipso… Hero and Villain in TM One Man!” Written by with art by , the feature tells the tale of Dr. Bruce Gordon, a premier -power scientist who travels to Island to view an eclipse. While waiting for the eclipse, Gordon encounters Mophir, a tribal sorcerer. The two scuffle and Gordon is scratched by a seemingly magical black diamond possessed by the sorcerer. The eclipse begins and Mophir becomes by Shannon E. Riley confused, stepping backward and plummeting off the edge of a cliff. Mophir perishes, but Gordon appears to be unscathed. Appearances can be deceiving, though, as Gordon soon learns that he is now host for the villainous Eclipso. Whenever in the vicinity of a solar eclipse, Gordon loses his will and Eclipso is unleashed. It’s discovered that solar energy and natural light will vanquish Eclipso, and throughout the Silver Age, Bruce’s girlfriend, Mona, and her father, Dr. Bennett, seek to help Gordon rid himself of Eclipso through a seemingly endless series of solar experiments. While somewhat of a C-level villain, Eclipso was apparently compelling enough of a character to make 18 appearances in House of Mystery, culminating with issue #80 (Oct. 1966). ECLIPSO VS. THE JLA… AND METAL MEN? Eclipso made his first Bronze Age appearance in of America #109 (Feb. 1974). “The Doom of the Divided Man” starts off with a as announces his resignation from the Justice League. Katar explains that he and wife Shayera have been called back to Thanagar, their tour of duty on Earth complete. The team is in the midst of expressing their dismay when Bruce Gordon arrives via teleporter carrying a worse-for- wear . Explains the solar scientist to the slack-jawed JLA, “I’m Doctor Bruce Gordon—and to some extent, I am responsible for the done to your colleague!” The Red Tornado steps in and recounts that he had gotten a job as Gordon’s lab assistant and was helping the scientist with his controlled light transmission experiments. The android continues, “I don’t know how it happened—perhaps I was responsible—perhaps not— but, two-thirds of the way through the operation, vital circuits began to overload—and there was nothing I could do to stop them!” In a flashback sequence, Gordon is thrown to the floor from the of the explosion and the Red Tornado witnesses three spectral figures emerging from the scientist’s body, “their identical faces all contorted into the same evil mask.” A trio of Eclipsos attacks the Red Tornado and the hero proves to be no . Gordon

Bad Moon Rising The evil Eclipso returns, in Metal Men #48 (Oct.–Nov. 1976). Cover art by Walter Simonson.

TM & © DC Comics.

36 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue Threeclipso! The JLA vs. the triple-threat Eclipso, in Justice League of America #109 (Feb. 1974). By Wein, Dillin, and Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

goes on to explain that it is he who is Eclipso and that his latest experiment was meant to imprison the villain within him permanently. Instead, a flaw led to the release of three Eclipsos hellbent on menacing the Earth. Batman deduces that a greater threat lies in the release of Eclipso from Gordon. Says the Darknight Detective to the scientist, “It’s the law of conservation of matter and energy! Nothing can be created from… nothing! The real Eclipso comes from latent energies the black diamond imbued within you—but those two extras your accident conjured up—according to the computers, they are drawing their energies from Earth itself! Unless we find them and destroy them within six hours—the stresses will tear this planet apart!” Writer Len Wein and stalwart artists Dick Dillin and deliver a crisp tale in which the League divides and conquers to take down the three split-faced devils. , the , and Aquaman face off against an Eclipso in the dark waters of the Atlantic, while Batman and the vanquish an Eclipso in sweltering Death Valley as Hawkman, , and the take down the Dictator of Darkness aboard an aircraft. The entire JLA reconvenes aboard their satellite headquarters with the trio of Eclipsos and recovered black diamonds that threatened the very stability of the planet. Suddenly, the three clones merge into a giant Eclipso and the swats the Justice Leaguers away like flies. Eclipso then fires a through his diamonds, fully anticipating to atomize the JLA—but one of the diamonds had been rigged by Batman and Eclipso returns to his human host. Reveals the Caped , “I secretly coated his black diamond with special chemicals and left the gem where I was sure he’d make a play for it! As soon as he started to fire one of his energy blasts through the diamond, he triggered the reaction that sent him back into Dr. Gordon’s body!” With Eclipso back within Bruce Gordon, the team bids farewell to the departing Hawkman. After his defeat at the hands of the Justice League, Eclipso disappeared for a few years. He would turn up again in Metal Men, of all places. The series had earlier returned from its cancellation at the tail end of the Silver Age, picking up the previous numbering with issue #42 in late 1972 and resuming a bimonthly publishing schedule as a reprint series for a three-issue run. Metal Men was later revived again, with new stories, It’s announced in the letters column of Metal Men #48 that Martin starting in issue #45 in 1976. “Who is Bruce Gordon and Why is He Doing Pasko had come on board to script the issue in place of the departing Those Terrible Things to Himself?” brought our shadowy villain back to Gerry Conway (who plotted the story with ). Pasko and I the DC Universe in Metal Men #48 (Oct.–Nov. 1976), pitting him have communicated frequently over the years and I reached out against Doc Magnus’ team of element-based robots. via email to see if he recalled how he got the assignment. Says The tale begins with Mona Bennett bursting into Pasko, “At this time, Gerry was writing and editing a lot of Magnus’ lab, desperately begging for his assistance. first issues—‘pilots,’ so to speak—and then handing them She recounts Bruce Gordon’s ordeals with the Master off to other writers with the second issues. I’d become one of Darkness, from the destruction of Solar City to of his go-to guys for that; I took over two titles that Gerry Gordon’s efforts to rid himself of the devil with a had started, so he knew I was able to pick up where he’d variety of high-intensity light experiments; his most left off without too jarring a change in style or approach recent trials had gone awry and unleashed Eclipso once to story. was supposed to be the new again. Freed, but with Gordon’s persona still submerged regular [Metal Men] writer, taking over from Gerry, but within, the beast immediately retrieves his black diamond had to bow out after one issue due to other commitments, from the scientist’s study and discovers data in his files so Gerry co-plotted #48 with Walt [Simonson] and that will put the wheels in motion for a return to started looking for someone to dialogue it. Since Diablo Island, where Gordon first received his wound Gerry, Walt, and I had already worked together from the black diamond. Magnus, Bennett, and the happily, and I knew how to interpret Walt’s very loose Metal Men track Eclipso to the Peruvian Andes, where breakdowns, I guess I was the logical choice.” Metal Man Tin fashions a white-hot torch that temporarily severs the The concluding chapter, “The Dark God Cometh,” appears in Metal connection between Eclipso and Gordon. Gordon quickly explains to Men #49 (Dec. 1976–Jan. 1977). Umbra rewards Eclipso for summoning the team that they’ve returned to the location where he fought Mophir him by increasing his power a thousand-fold, and he uses it to promptly and his sun cult, and where Eclipso was first unleashed. Within Mophir’s mop up the floor with the Metal Men. Eclipso then abducts Mona and is cave, they discover a tablet inscribed with an eclipsed sun. As Iron to sacrifice her to Umbra—but the Metal Men regroup and swiftly form retrieves it, an earthquake is triggered and the entire group scrambles a giant magnifying glass, transforming Eclipso back into Bruce Gordon for safety. Magnus directs Iron to move the Metal Men’s flying transport and saving Mona from certain death. With Mona now safe and Umbra and in doing so, it blocks the sun and Eclipso is freed yet again. temporarily immobile while he recharges for another battle, the group Eclipso absconds with the tablet and speaks aloud the hieroglyphs, returns to the cave and Gordon recounts the history of Diablo Island and conjuring the ancient god Umbra. Umbra utters, “Soon… the others ultimately his dark origins as the host for Eclipso. He explains that the island shall awaken... to join me! And soon... the Earth shall be ours!” dwellers worshipped a sun god, but in reality Umbra was a god of darkness.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37 The adoption of the Comics Code by the Comics Magazine Association of America in October 1954 sent a seismic shift throughout the comic-book industry. Used to doing pretty much whatever they wanted within the pages of their magazines, publishers suddenly found themselves facing significant restrictions regarding content— including a ban on almost all elements of the supernatural. Warned the Code: “Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.” Such were the rules for more than 15 years. Then came the 1970s, and the realization that many provisions within the Code had become obsolete. In 1971, the CMAA announced a TM new Code that loosened restrictions in several by Don Vaughan areas—including horror. Suddenly, vampires, werewolves, and their otherworldly brethren were fair game once again. Marvel Comics was one of the first major publishers to jump at the opportunities presented by the new Comics Code. DC, however, moved a bit more slowly. Though various creatures of the night appeared occasionally in DC’s mystery titles, it wasn’t until 1981— a decade after the new Comics Code debuted—that DC offered up a suitable rival to Marvel’s wildly successful Tomb of : “I… Vampire,” which premiered in House of Mystery #290 (cover-dated Mar. 1981). I... Vampire was developed by writer J. M. DeMatteis, with a bit of guidance from Len Wein. “Len was editing House of Mystery and Weird War Tales and he wanted to launch ongoing series in both titles,” DeMatteis tells BACK ISSUE. “I pitched Len an idea I had on hand— Creature Commandos—for Weird War Tales, and for House of Mystery, he provided me with a title—I... Vampire– and sent me off to develop something. I came back with another idea I’d had cooking for a while, Greenberg the Vampire. Len didn’t think the tale of a Woody Allen-ish, vampire fit the bill (I later sold the idea to Marvel), but he liked the fact that there was a love story between two vampires at Greenberg’s core. Len told me to play with that concept. I thought it over and came back with Andrew Bennett and Mary, Queen of Blood. And we were off!” DeMatteis was paired with artist Tom Sutton, a veteran with a flair for the macabre. Together, they developed the look and feel of I... Vampire, quickly pushing it to the forefront of the book. By issue #310 (Nov. 1982), I... Vampire was featured in larger type on the cover than House of Mystery. “Tom Sutton was Len’s call,” DeMatteis notes, “but I thought he was perfect for the series. His work dripped with mood and mystery. And he was a rock-solid storyteller.”

Dead Man Walking The of Andrew Bennett— star of “I… Vampire”—in House of Mystery #290 (Mar. 1981). Cover by .

TM & © DC Comics.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 45 through time via the rings of Kur-Alet, an ancient his assistant, Penny Bower. Kelsey explains that he had Who’s Who, Egyptian king. Bennett believes they can use the given Bennett a life-saving blood transfusion and offers Version 1 rings to return to a time when they were still human, him a position as his assistant once he’s feeling better, and agrees to help Mary find them, only to be double- which Bennett accepts. Courtesy of crossed when Mary uses one of the rings to go back Bennett ponders why Mary would want to go back without him. Bennett takes a second ring off Kur-Alet’s to Victorian England, then remembers that Dr. Barr, the Heritage, original mummified remains, which brings the long-dead elderly scientist who invented the cancer vaccine that art to the I… king back to life. They battle, and Bennett bashes made human blood so deadly to vampires, was the son the mummy’s head with a rock. He then utters the of a woman who narrowly escaped Jack the Ripper’s Vampire entry chant that activates the ring, disappearing in time murderous . Mary, he realizes, wants to kill the from Who’s Who: just as Deborah and Dmitri arrive on the scene. The woman and ensure Barr is never born. Bennett enlists episode concludes with Andrew arriving in 1888 Penny Bower’s assistance in finding Mary, and they catch The Definitive England, where he finds a woman dead—an apparent her immediately after Mary has murdered Penny’s sister, Directory of the victim of Jack the Ripper—and hears Mary’s deranged a streetwalker—and the apparent mother of Barr. Mary laughter in the distance. readies herself for a return trip to the present, where the DC Universe #11 vaccine theoretically no longer exists, but is stopped at (Jan. 1986). Pencils SUTTON SWINGS BACK the last minute by Dr. Kelsey, who makes mention of a Tom Sutton returns in HoM #306 (July 1982), where we third Bower sister before admitting that he’s the real Jack by Tom Sutton, inks find Bennett being pursued by a mob that believes he’s the Ripper. Mary finishes the time-travel incantation as by Dick Giordano. Jack the Ripper. He turns into a bat and escapes, but a Dr. Kelsey prepares to kill her, allowing Bennett to throw lack of food has weakened him and he falls from the sky. himself atop the demented serial killer. Dr. Kelsey attempts TM & © DC Comics. Bennett awakens in the care of Dr. Jonathan Kelsey and to stab Bennett in the back with a large but

48 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue MICHAEL EURY: I’m Michael Eury, editor of BACK ISSUE magazine, and some years back I was the editor of a comic book called The Maze Agency, which we’ll talk about in a moment or two. But the creator and writer of that comic, and many other comics, is here to my right. Would you please say hello to Mr. Mike W. Barr! [applause] We’re going to start by talking about Batman, though. I have a photocopy here of an inscription [Barr laughs] that Mike made on my personal copy of the Batman: Son of the Demon, published in 1987, but signed by Mike in 1989. MIKE W. BARR: What was the occasion of that? Do you remember? EURY: Let’s see... Were you visiting the Comico office for The Maze Agency? BARR: Maybe. EURY: Okay, ’89. April 26th, ’89. Son of the Demon was roughly a year and a half, two years old at that point. [to audience] Has anybody read this graphic novel? Okay. You remember Son of the Demon. There is some- thing that happens at the end of Son of the Demon, a little “present” left behind. You know what I’m talking about? What was it? A new person. A baby? [to Mike] So, do you say “ROSH” al Ghul or “RAYSH” al Ghul? BARR: I say “RAYSH” al Ghul. That was how Denny conducted by Michael Eury O’Neil it should be pronounced. EURY: And that’s what Julie Schwartz said, too. on Oct. 17, 2015 at the Fayetteville Comic-Con BARR: Yeah. transcribed by Steven Thompson EURY: Although almost everybody in the world says “ROSH” al Ghul because of the movies. If you look at some of the earlier comics featuring Ra’s al Ghul, you’ll actually notice his first name is lettered with a macron over the “a” to signify a long “a.” “R-R-RRAYSH” al Ghul. I don’t know if you have to roll the “r” like I just did, though. The Son of the Demon was a great graphic novel drawn by and written by Mike, and it features the birth of the child of Batman and Talia at the end of the story. [Barr laughs] And it was very controversial because shortly after that, movie comes out. BARR: Yeah, it was about two years after that. EURY: Yes. And Batman was a merchandising again. BARR: Mm-hm. EURY: And so DC Comics was having some issues with the baby. This is the inscription. “To Michael Eury. Read this book quickly! It might not exist much longer! Best, Mike W. Barr. 4–26–89. P.S. On second thought, SCREW continuity! Stories, like Tinkerbell, last as long as we want them to!” I just love that, because some stories—well, they might not be greeted favorably at a certain time, but later on they become part of the canon. [Barr laughs] That baby, of course, was Damian Wayne, now a major character in DC’s Batman comics. So, Mike, what do you think about this—Damian, , and all that’s been going on with the character in recent years?

Disavowed, Then Allowed Mike W. Barr’s Batman: Son of the Demon graphic novel (1987), illustrated by Jerry Bingham.

TM & © DC Comics.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55 BARR: Well, it’s all very strange, because at the time you would have thought that I had taken—as they say—a pee in the punchbowl up at the DC offices. And the thing was that people sort of said to me, “How could you have done this?” And I said, “Look, it was edited by Dick Giordano, who was the vice president of DC. He knew what was going on.” The Parent Trap Everybody talked about it as though Jerry Bingham and I had (top) Barr’s sort of put the story sheets together at night and snuck them into the printing plant and sent them out without anybody inscription to BI knowing about it! [Eury chuckles] But everybody at DC—well, a lot of people at DC—knew editor Michael Eury about it because there were a lot of black-and-white Xeroxes regarding Son of the of the artwork sent out to some of the editors. So they acted like we were doing something incredibly subversive, and my Demon’s controversial attitude was simply to tell that that was the last thing that ending. (bottom) A anybody would expect to happen in the story. At one point in the story, Talia tells Batman that she’s pregnant, and at glimpse of Jerry that point, I know that every reader—’cause this is what I Bingham’s artistry in would think—every reader reading that book is gonna look up and say, “Okay. She’s gonna lose the baby by the end of original art form. the story, ’cause they can’t have this kind of thing stay at DC. Page 68 of Son of It’s not gonna happen.” And sure enough, later in the story, Talia says to Batman, “I’ve lost the baby.” So at that point the Demon, courtesy you think, “Okay, fine. The shoe’s dropped. Let’s just go back of Heritage to normal.” Then at the end of the story, you find out that Talia’s lying, that she has had the baby and it has been given Comics Auctions up for adoption. Which I think is a pretty good one-two (www.ha.com). punch. Because no one who’s ever read this story and told me about it has said they’ve [ever] been able to forget it. TM & © DC Comics. So it was immediately a point of extreme contention among people at DC, and as I said, people sort of pointed at me and said, “Why did you do that?” [chuckles] And I sort of pointed at Dick and said, ‘Well, he let me do it!” [Eury laughs] And Dick, by that time… he took a few days off and was waiting for the furor to die down. I just sort of weathered the . A couple years later there was a sequel called Bride of the Demon, and I was told that we were not allowed to even reference anything that happened in Son of the Demon. I said to DC, to Denny O’Neil, who edited Bride of the Demon, “Look, I can write this whole thing out of continuity, you know? I can do that.” And he said, “No, we can’t even refer to it. We’re not even allowed to.” [DC president] told me—after Son of the Demon came out—that she had been told by her higher-ups at Warner Brothers that if there was ever any reference made to this story again, she would be fired. Nowwwww... I’m not sure that’s at all true. Anyway, but that’s what she said to me. So that just goes to show you how controversial this story was, and we didn’t set out to do anything controversial. We had just set out to do a good story. EURY: When I read it, I remember going, “Wow!” But I wasn’t necessarily expecting you or any other writer to follow up on it. I looked at it as a story—especially since it was a self-contained graphic novel and not in a regular comic, which is where you’d usually find continuity-linked material. BARR: Uh-huh, uh-huh. EURY: It’s interesting how what was in the ’80s considered a toxic concept has now become part of DC’s continuity— and they’re proud of it! BARR: Yes. EURY: But, so as not to pick on DC… since then, the company and the culture have changed. BARR: That’s true. EURY: In 1989, the idea of an illegitimate child was still very shocking, and I think we have, just as a culture, become more accustomed to the reality of that happening. BARR: Now, on some calendar of events DC published for the 75th anniversary of Batman, it says on the highlights, “1987,” which I think is when this came out, “Damian Wayne appears in Son of the Demon.” So I thought, “Okay. We’ve been acknowledged. We’ve been made legitimate. We’ve gone

56 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue World’s Finest (top) The then-shocking, now-canonical final page to Son of the Demon, revealing the infant who would grow up to become Damian Wayne. (bottom) Two decades later, few pitched a fit over Superman’s “illegitimate” son in Superman Returns.

TM & © DC Comics. mainstream.” It was very odd, because not long after… When did Superman Returns come out? EURY: Uh… ’96? No, that doesn’t sound right. AUDIENCE MEMBER: 2006. EURY: 2006! I was a decade off. Sorry. BARR: Yeah, yeah. And when I saw it, Superman Returns, I thought, “Well, this is a story where Superman has an illegitimate child.” And it’s acknowledged that this child that calls son is the illegitimate child of Superman… and Lois Lane. And I thought that if you think of an illegitimate child as bad—[to audience] and as Michael has said, society has changed greatly over that, which is good because there’s no reason that the child himself should bear that— EURY: Absolutely. BARR: —because he or she had nothing to do with it. What would they do when Superman has an illegitimate child? I mean, obviously, Batman is an icon of virtue, but Superman is the icon of virtue. Superman is like Jesus almost, you know? So Superman has an illegitimate child. He didn’t know it, but neither did Batman. It’s just funny to see how things changed in, say, 19 years or so. EURY: Tell us how you got started in comics. What was your first job? BARR: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading comics. As a kid, my mother and I would go grocery shopping on Friday night—I would tag along—and we would stop at the drugstore and she’d give me a dime and I’d trot into the drugstore and buy a comic book. And that was our custom for, again, as long as I can pretty much remember. The comic book that I bought with that dime was invariably either a Batman title or one of Julie Schwartz’s superhero titles, because those were the comics that I liked. Then later on, as much as I loved comics, I realized I had no artistic talent. I can’t draw at all. But I began to realize, when you read comic books and you read the letters columns and all that and you read the credits of the stories—those few stories that had credits— that someone actually wrote the stories. The artists did not write the stories despite what all those Batman stories that said “by ” would lead you to believe. So I thought, “Well, I can’t draw stories but I can write ’em. I can think of things for Batman to do.” So I began toying around here and there with the idea of writing scripts. I eventually submitted a script to for a character called the Elongated Man. This was, like, back in 1973 or something like that. That was eventually published in #444. So I sold my first script to Julius Schwartz, which is pretty cool if you think about it. There are guys in this business who worked their entire careers and never worked BARR: Yes. The Elongated Man was sort of amateur detective who for Julius Schwartz, but always wanted to. So that was my first story. could stretch like . I always felt a great deal of affection for EURY: [to audience] For the benefit of people that are younger, the character because he wasn’t too serious in a day when comics were Julie Schwartz was a man. He was an editor at DC Comics for many, getting increasingly serious. Basically, he was independently wealthy many years. and he had superpowers. He was a member of the Justice League and 1st AUDIENCE MEMBER: [to Barr] Are you a comic-book legend of some sort? he traveled around the country with his beautiful wife, solving crimes. BARR: I’m sorry? To me that’s, like, the ideal existence. I had submitted an earlier story 1st AUDIENCE MEMBER: Are you a comic-book legend? about him that never went anywhere. Then I thought of this other idea BARR: I… well, I… and submitted it, and that one got bought. EURY: He is a comic-book legend. EURY: Refresh my memory. Who drew it? BARR: I… see. No one can really call himself a legend. BARR: That was drawn by the late Ernie Chua. , who was EURY: [laughs] Julie Schwartz called himself a legend. called Ernie Chua in those days because he was an immigrant and BARR: Well, that’s true. apparently the American authorities somehow messed up his name and EURY: He said he was a living legend. spelled it “Chua” instead of “Chan.” That’s the story I heard, anyway. BARR: Well, Julie broke all the rules. I guess if you’re a legend, you can EURY: I heard that, too. break all the rules. BARR: Yeah, so it took him several years to correct that. He did most EURY: [to audience] We’ll open the floor for some questions in a minute. of his work in his later years under the name Ernie Chan. [to Barr] Let’s continue our conversation now. So, your first sale was an EURY: So, after that, what was next? You ended up on DC’s staff eventually Elongated Man story. as, what? A proofreader, originally?

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57 Batman—comics’ ultimate “Creature of the Night”—has been drawn by by been drawn Night”—has of the “Creature ultimate Batman—comics’ history his that now throughout illustrators finest of the medium’s many of Rough Stuff, we Batman installment 80 years. In this special spans nearly indelible their left each who masters five of art pencil the over ahh and ooh (Unless otherwise the Darknight Detective. marks upon are noted, art scans Heritage Comics Auctions.) courtesy of

captions by Batman TM & © DC Comics. #226 (Nov. 1970) was one of Eyes” cover for Batman #226 (Nov. ’ stark “Man with Ten Adams produced for editor Julius many unforgettable Batman covers the talented Mr. an alternate take Schwartz during the early Bronze Age. As this stunner shows, Neal had in the published on this image, with the Caped Crusader appearing more disoriented than to redraw version (see inset). While this is a gorgeous rendering, we think the decision mystery and impact. heightens the cover’s posture Batman’s

Michael Eury

BATMAN #226 ALTERNATE COVER

by NEAL ADAMS 68 • BACK ISSUE • Creatures of the Night Issue There was a time when Marvel Comics was known for producing multiple one-hit wonders. Failed characters and/or series became the norm, though some have survived with minor cult status, many of which have been covered in the pages of BACK ISSUE. But one character, we’ve been waiting for just the right moment to cover. As of the writing of this article, 1991’s one-shot from Marvel Comics, Nightcat, “America’s Hottest Singing Sensation and Marvel’s Newest Superhero!”, celebrates its 25th anniversary. by Steven Wilber BI was lucky enough to speak to members of the creative team behind the comic book… and after some investigative journalism, BACK ISSUE located actress Jacqueline Tavarez, who portrayed the title character for promotional appearances, for whom Nightcat is loosely based upon. BI also discovered the voice behind the album that coincided with the one-shot’s release and secured a tell-all interview! IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, THE PREMISE CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS As revealed in Nightcat #1, Nightcat ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! shares a backstory similar to Marvel Comics’ first “singing sensation,” the (see BACK ISSUE #90). Nightcat is Jacqueline Tavarez, a hopeful singer with a disapproving policeman father who raised his daughter on his own when his wife died after her own singing career failed. “Jackie” creates the Nightcat disguise as a stage persona that hides her true identity from her father and friends. The winner of a record- deal contest, Nightcat earns immediate success, but quickly uncovers a drug ring being operated out of the recording studio. Its owner, Amanda Gideon, and her own personal scientist, Dr. Ecstasy, are attempting to develop a marketable drug that gives users superhuman traits of animals. When Jackie is found snooping, she’s BACK ISSUEtaken #95 prisoner and injected with the new test formula. “Creatures of the Night!” Moon KnightHer’s DO Ufather,G MOENC H undercoverand as one of Gideon’s henchmen, BILL SIENKIEWICZ in a Pro2Pro intervietriesw, Gho stot Ri drescueer, Night N uNightcat,rse, but is shot in the process, and Eclipso in the Bronze Age, I…Vampire, interviews with Batman writer MIKE W. BARR and Marvel’s Nigdieshtcat, J AasCQ heUELI NrealizesE the rock star is really his daughter. TAVAREZ. Featuring work by BOB BUDTheIANS KchemicalsY, J. M. DeMAT andTEIS, adrenaline running through Jackie give , , TOM herSUTT OretractableN, JEAN THOM Aclaws,S, night , enhanced speed, and and more. SIENKIEWICZ and KLAUS JAagility.NSON cov eWhiler! using her career as a recording artist as a (84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) front,$3.95 Nightcat dedicates herself to honing her skills, http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=producmind,t_info&cPath= 9and8_54&pr ofortuneducts_id=1268 to crimefighting, working her way to eradicating Amanda Gideon’s influence and empire. THE MUSIC Lefrak-Moelis Records (LMR), a division of RCA, was a small record-producing company based in that had a track record of successful freestyle-type artists like Stevie B. (“Party Your Body”) and Jaya (“If You Leave Me Now”). It was LMR that had a new record deal ready and was waiting for an original star. “The Nightcat album was already

Artful Elegance This painted cover for Nightcat #1 (Apr. 1991) by Joe Jusko was also used on the cassette and CD cover of the nine-track album.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Creatures of the Night Issue • BACK ISSUE • 73