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Exclusive Ms. Mystic interview with !

February 2017

No.94 ™ $8.95

INDIE SUPERHEROES! Justice Machine • & T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in the ’80s Captain Paragon • Whisper Continuity’s Superheroes featuring Black, Breyfogle, Buckler, Grant, Gustovich, Isabella, Reinhold, Ordway & more Ms. Mystic © Neal Adams. All Rights Reserved.

1 82658 00066 0 Volume 1, Number 94 February 2017

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury

PUBLISHER ’ Bronze Age and Beyond! John Morrow

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks

COVER ARTIST Neal Adams (from the collection of Shaun Clancy)

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKS Jason Adams Doug Murray Neal Adams Brian Apthorp Luigi Novi Mark Beachum Bill Black George Pérez Jerry Boyd Norm Breyfogle Luke Ross Shaun Clancy Walter Simonson Jon B. Cooke Daniel St. John Peter Stone Mark Ellis Bryan D. Stroud Stephan Friedt Dann Thomas INTERVIEW: The Neal Adams Ms. Mystic Interview...... 2 Grand Comics The superstar storyteller discusses his cover-featured creation and more Database Steven Thompson FLASHBACK: ...... 9 Martin Greim Steven Wilber An artist-packed profile of Neal Adams’ line of comic books Tom Grindberg Jay Williams Greg Guler FLASHBACK: Welcome to the (Justice) Machine...... 23 Mike Gustovich This early indie super-team has become comics’ comeback crusaders Heritage Comics Auctions INTERVIEW: The Bill Black/Captain Paragon Interview...... 39 The esteemed and longtime artist/publisher looks back at his Sentinels of Justice (and DC’s, too) Lou Manna BACKSTAGE PASS: The Mighty Crusaders...... 49 Brian Martin Rich Buckler discusses the “Red Circle Comics” era of ’s superheroes Will Meugniot FLASHBACK: Lightning Does Strike Twice!: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents...... 57 How the super-agents stormed back into comics in the 1980s If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication, ROUGH STUFF...... 69 PLEASE READ THIS: The glorious-graphite return of BACK ISSUE’s pencil art showcase This is copyrighted material, NOT intended PRO2PRO: The Whisper Interview...... 74 for downloading anywhere except our Steven Grant and Norm Breyfogle chat about their lady ninja 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 ...... 79 THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal - Greg Guler and Dan St. John, on their AC Comics days load, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, them so we can keep producing ones like Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o this. Our digital editions should ONLY be Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: [email protected]. downloaded within our Apps and at Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 Economy US, $88 Expedited US, $116 International. Please send subscription www.twomorrows.com orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Neal Adams. Ms. Mystic TM & © Neal Adams. 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. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1 TM

SHAUN CLANCY: Was Ms. Mystic a character you were trying to do with any publisher prior to Pacific, or did Pacific approach you? NEAL ADAMS: No, the idea was that I was doing a portfolio of characters for Sal Quartuccio and I was sort of creating characters as I went along. Once a month, Sal would come by Shaun Clancy over to my studio, and one day I basically told him, “I can conducted in July 2015 sit down and create a character a month and he would have a history, he would have a background, he would be a and transcribed by Steven Thompson full-blown-up character.” He said, “Would you do that, and we’ll do a portfolio?” I said, “I can’t dedicate six days in a row to creating a portfolio for you.” So he said, “ I come by, like, once a month?” And I said, “Sure! Let’s do that.” Now, maybe it wasn’t once a month. Maybe it was every couple of weeks. My memory isn’t that great. But it was something like that. So each time he came, I sat for a few minutes and I created a history, created a concept, created it in my head, and then I started to delineate it on paper so that each time I created a character, I created her background, I created what she or he was and what they were all about. Because that was the idea. The idea was not just to create a character but to give them a history, you know? Ms. Mystic, as it turned out, was a Gaia-type character, a protector of the Earth, and she could be a god… or she could be an alien, from another planet. And I was kind of messing with her history there. Was she Mother Nature? No. There was another Mother Nature that was more part of the Earth. She was more a type of guide, a kind of a god-like creature that perhaps came from another planet and actually, maybe, intended to do wrong by Earth. So there was some ambivalence there. So I thought, “Well… that’s kinda good. I like that. But what about a costume?” And I thought, “Hmmm… You know, nobody’s ever used Zip-A-Tone as a costume… or gray as a costume.” So I thought, “That’s what we’ll do! We’ll just make her a graded gray like with Zip-A-Tone.” But I was doing it in pencil so I graded her in pencil. And she was sort of protector of the Earth. Pacific was approaching me to do a and I said, [laughs] basically, “Look, I really haven’t got time to do this. Maybe I’ll give it a shot.” But in the studio, there was a guy named Mike Netzer who kind of drew like me. Well, he drew exactly like me, or as much as he could. I said, “Look, y’know, I can have a guy in my studio work on this and maybe he can do it and I’ll do layouts, blocking out and all the rest of it.” I was trying to really support , because I sort of had convinced to work for them. [laughs] And also Sergio Aragonés to work for them. I had told them that they not only would pay them but they would let them keep the rights to their character.

Early Ms. Mystic Neal’s magnificent Ms. Mystic plate from Sal Q. Productions’ New Heroes Portfolio (1979, inset). Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.

TM & © Neal Adams.

2 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue And I walked away thinking, “That was a stupid idea!” And it actually became one of our most popular characters. [Shaun laughs] And Crazyman is, in fact, crazy! In fact, we’re going to be coming out with our characters again before long. CLANCY: We haven’t seen Ms. Mystic in 20 years. What’re the plans for her? ADAMS: Well, we haven’t seen Ms. Mystic in 20 years. We haven’t seen all those characters in 20 years. And you might like to know why. CLANCY: [laughs] Yes, I would! ADAMS: About 20 years ago, in the comic-book business, a phenomenon happened. The phenomenon was that there were all these collectors who thought, “This is a great business to invest in. We should buy craploads of comic books and store them away, wait for five or ten years and then sell ’em and make a ton of money. There are all these collectors who are doing this, so why don’t we start doing it? And so it got to be a buzz going through the market where these guys—and I don’t know how many there were, but there were a lot of them—were buying boxes of comic books and putting them in their garages. So books that might not have otherwise sold very well sold a million copies! Unbelievable! And this was also when Image was moving forward! My stuff—I started a project called Deathwatch 2000, and it was headed to the year 2000. And it was a three-issue series that ran across nearly all the characters. So… [laughs] We did sales of 150,000 copies per character across the board. Continuity Comics had lost money up to there. There, we made money. 150,000 copies of each character for three months, or nearly three months. The sales started to sink on the third month. But while this was going on—we were into the second month—those collectors out there decided… I dunno, one weekend… to call each other and say, “Hey. This isn’t working out. If we’re all buying all these comic books, how will they ever increase in value? The hell with it!” And they all stopped. The following Monday—I can’t tell you when it was—was a terrible time. They just stopped buying those comic books. And so these comic-book stores were left with a million comic books of a given title! [laughs] There were $2.00 comic books for 50 cents apiece out of boxes at the fronts of their stores just to get rid of ’em! 1500 stores—I am told—went out of business! Publishers went out of business. I think Comico… a whole bunch of publishers went out of business. And my order numbers as I finished Deathwatch 2000—I was moving into The Rise of Magic. My numbers plummeted! People would change and lower their numbers at the drop of Powerful Pencils a hat. Any excuse to lower their numbers. If you got a shipment? (top) Ms. Mystic Lower the numbers. You had a right to do that. So everybody just deserted the business and people went out of business. So pencil art from the I said, “To hell with this. I’m out.” So anybody I talked to of any 2007 Neal Adams note, I said to them, “I’ll be back when business is good. Right now, I’m outta here!” [laughs] Convention Sketch So I went and I basically did advertising. And advertising is a very, very good business. I did advertising for almost 20 years Book. Courtesy of and did very well. I sent my kids through college. Nobody has Andy Mangels. outstanding loans in my family, and that’s the kids and grandkids. It was a very good business until the recession hit. Then, when the (bottom) Courtesy recession hit, advertising agencies started to pull this outside work of Heritage, back into the agency. And that hurt the business that we were doing, but I an Adams Megalith thought, “You know, the comic-book illo from 2002. business is getting a little bit better. Maybe it’s time to come back in.” And TM & © Neal Adams. so that’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. So there you have a little concise history of Neal Adams.

SHAUN CLANCY started collecting comics in 1975 at the age of eight, when his father brought home a Charlton horror comic for him to read. Today he owns a heating and air-conditioning company in the Seattle area and collects original comic art.

8 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue Say the name “Neal Adams,” and it’s sure to inspire a multitude of memories and stories for any longtime comic- book collector. Adams is a legendary creator among the elite of icons who have worked in the mainstream comic- book industry with a distinctive grace, power, and emotion to each page he touches. Adams also stands out among those independent publishers with his own line called Continuity Comics. Adams’ company would unite staff and freelance artists from his Continuity Studios (see BACK ISSUE #88) and abroad to slowly begin making its own unique pantheon of heroes and villains that, to this day, remains fresh and exciting. BACK ISSUE had the honor of speaking at length with Continuity Comics talent who gave us exclusive accounts of the ins and outs of the events that sculpted the Continuity Universe. Presented here is a look at these wild and imaginative characters and the writers and artists behind their stories. THE FATHER OF CONTINUITY COMICS “In , Neal’s Continuity Associates was the vortex of an amazing movement where commercial artists, comic-book artists, and designers intersected. For many [perhaps most] of the generations of younger artists this was the place to be, and as so many of my peers/contemporaries, we made our way, one way or another, to enjoy the fruit of an innovator’s efforts. Neal was generous enough to take many of us on under his wing and give us work as fledgling comic-book artists all the while holding down the fort of being an entrepreneur, father, professional commercial artist, and advocate for Photo by Elite Avni-Sharon. various artists’ issues.” – Michael Netzer (Megalith, Samuree)

In the late ’70s/early ’80s, small-time independent publishers were cropping up across the . , AC Comics, , Comico, and more were finding success with the newly established of specialty comic-book stores. After a short stint at Pacific Comics with his own creation, Ms. Mystic, Neal Adams decided to branch out with his own comic- book company, aptly titled Continuity Comics, based out of his Continuity Studios, established years earlier with , who went on to become a vice-president of DC Comics. Artist Brian Apthorp explains, “Nothing in the description of what they did at Continuity would indicate that I would have anything to do with comic books, but as a fan knowing Neal for all these years, he’s a tremendous influence on comic-book artists of the late ’60s through the ’70s. I just hoped, if maybe I worked for him, I’d somehow get some connections with the indus- try of comic books. That’s why I went for the job, and was pleased to have been hired, and proceeded to do all the stuff we’d been doing for commercial illustration, advertising, and movie posters and all that stuff.” Continuity Comics would begin with Echo of Futurepast by Steven Wilber #1 (July 1984), an anthology series that would be published sporadically through 1984–1986. Zero Patrol, a team of intrepid explorers drafted beyond the stars by the mysterious being “Zero,” would follow. Zero Patrol was created, written, and drawn by . It was

TM & © Neal Adams. originally called “Cinco Por Infinito” in Spain, but received

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9 TALENT TALK – A SALUTE TO CONTINUITY COMICS’ PUBLISHER, NEAL ADAMS

Neal Adams would accrue both fame and notoriety But you also have like 25 more years of experience than I for his time as an artist and storyteller at DC and do.’ He makes it look simple and that’s to his credit.” . According to the artists who – Tom Grindberg worked for him at Continuity Studios, it was • “I had a lot of reasons to be grateful to a reputation well deserved. him and his influence in that time, and the • “Neal Adams, he’s my hero. He’s the opportunity he gave me.” biggest influence I have in comics. – Brian Apthorp He challenged me to bring my best.” • “It must be kept in mind that the times – Mike Deodato Neal exploded into included innovation • “Working for Neal was like a day in Corps. across the arts from the dance world to I remember one day he came into my room music, from Bruce Lee, Hendrix, and Bob with his ex-wife, Cory (who I loved a lot), such a Fosse to alternative concepts of physics/ sweet woman. He came into the room and slapped cosmology. Neal tried to bring all of that into down three pages of Toyboy on my table and said, comics, so that was where all of us [or at least this] ‘Look what I did last night.’ I looked up at him like a young artists wanted to be.” scorned son and just said, ‘Well, gee, Neal, that’s great! – Mark Beachum

additional writing and art from Adams, who bought the rights to rework the stories. While the series had nothing to do with what would become the Continuity Universe, Continuity’s first official would debut in Zero Patrol #1 (Nov. 1984). MEGALITH: THE ULTIMATE MAN “The point of Megalith? He would always find a way to win.” – Peter Stone (Megalith, Armor, Ms. Mystic, and so many more!)

Josef Majurac was a young Olympic hopeful raised on a farm in rural America. Joe’s Olympic sponsors were revealed to be part of a treach- erous unnamed organization and, against his will, Joe was forced into a secret camp to train to become an agent-for-hire. For fear of retribution on his unsuspecting parents, Joe complied. Without the knowledge of his superiors, Joe corresponded with his family, helping them to amass a fortune by forecasting stock trends and various business investments. What wasn’t known, except to the young Majurac, was that by continuing to train his mind, body, and spirit, Joe was able to develop an

Talent Talk – Brian Apthorp Brian Apthorp tells BACK ISSUE, “I was trying to draw over his [Neal Adams’] layout, which is extremely challenging for someone who is not as good a draftsman as he! I can’t work over other people’s layouts; I don’t know what my problem is. I’ve tried before, but maybe I’m not as good a draftsman as I should be [laughs]. It’d be easier to draw whatever someone else composed, but the fact is, over time, I realized, I couldn’t stand it!” Image from Armor vol. 2 #6. Courtesy of Brian Apthorp.

TM & © Neal Adams.

10 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue over imperfection… your struggle to do the right thing all the time because it’s the right thing to do!” A regular for Ms. Mystic and Earth 4 was Darrow and his army of Titans, intent on making the surface their new home. “Darrow and the Titans were creatures who lived deep under the Earth,” says Stone. “Darrow is the evolutionary step forward of the Titans. The Titans were the Morlocks and he was the Eloi. Darrow may or may not physically be thousands of years old, but his memories might be passed down through the generations… from body to body. Neal created him, but I have to admit I pushed him all the time to be Mystic’s evil nemesis. Continuity had a world under the surface where strange creatures roamed around: Darrow, Titans, -Bats, dinosaurs, etc., like Pellucidar from Burroughs, a lost place where anything and everything lived.” It was from this world that enemies of the surface would attempt to hasten the deathwatch the Hybrids were trying to prevent. Ms. Mystic, on a mission of her own, would ally herself with Spanng Ting and Highperion, while Earth 4, under attack from the original elemental avatars now under Titans’ control, would receive much-needed aid from Gymcrack and Cyclone. Eventually, the Hybrids would pull together all the heroes of the Continuity Universe, finding themselves in conflict against a new force of evil greater than the Titans and the other denizens of the deep.

Continuity Original art by Michael Golden for Armor vol. 2 #2 (May 1993), Part 9 of the Deathwatch 2000 crossover. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Neal Adams.

SHAMAN AND CYBERRAD

The mysterious Shaman first appeared in Zero Patrol #3 (Apr. 1988). He was actually three men in one. Well, sort of. Born at two intersecting points in time, two conceived in the past, another in the present, Shaman could call upon his doppelgangers to increase his mystic power. Vehemently opposed to sorcery, Shaman would Talent Talk – use his skills as a and his talent for en- Luke Ross chantment only to ensure no one else could take “Most memorable advantage of the evil that magic might elicit. In both Deathwatch 2000 and The Rise of Magic, the to me are the letters powerful mage would employ allies to defend that Neal Adams our planet. Shaman wasn’t always the most cordial himself used to send of team players, especially with the younger me on a regular basis, generation, as CyberRad would quickly learn. Simon Peake only wanted to enjoy life with giving me directions girlfriend and act as lead singer to his local rock in order to see my band, but when he woke up one night in the improvement as an middle of the street, his life was never the same artist,” says Ross. again. Hunted by the corporation CyberCore, Simon was presented with the possibility that he “I was lucky to have a may actually be an android copy of a teenager, rare opportunity like internally made up of powerful weapons that that.” (left) Ms. Mystic could potentially turn the tide of good vs. evil. vol. 3 #3 (Dec. 1993) Under the tutelage of Shaman, CyberRad found the resolve to take control of his robotic form and by Ross and Adams. help turn the tide in Deathwatch 2000. TM & © Neal Adams.

16 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue There is an old adage in sports when a player moves from team to team throughout their career. Either everyone wants them, or no one does. So what does it mean when a comic-book super-team has five different publishers throughout their Bronze Age career? This is the case with The Justice Machine, and this is their story. THE FIRST INDIE SUPER-TEAM The Justice Machine was created by veteran comic-book artist Mike Gustovich. According to the editorial in the JM’s first issue, it was an idea that had been percolating in Mike’s mind for five years or more and had undergone a number of revisions before finally making it into print. The name itself originated those five years earlier, but it only had one by comic-book appearance, and that was in an advertisement! Brian Martin Company was a small independent publisher in the mid-1970s. They published five issues of Power Comics and one issue of Cobalt Blue. Issue #2 of Power Comics featured the origin story of the hero named Cobalt Blue. It was planned for him to be a member of the company’s first super-team—so much so that the issue included an offer for a poster entitled, “A dozen super heroes band together to save our galaxy!” The picture included a dozen members, and they were to be called the Justice Machine. “The publishers of Power Comics wanted the team to comprise all of their characters,” reveals Mike Gustovich himself. “As I remember—could be wrong—I think all of the [Power] artists had a hand in the poster creation.” That’s as far as it got, however. The company did not last long enough to take the idea any further. At the time, Gustovich did not even like the concept. “I thought it was a stupid idea. So when PC failed, [co-publisher] Ed Langham gave me the rights to the name.” Obviously not one to throw away what he considered a good name, Mike Gustovich continued to refine the idea. “I loved the name, but a characterless comic book would never pass the market muster, so I started thinking...” Giving them the distinction of being the first super- hero group published by an independent, the first issue ( 1981) of Justice Machine was published by Noble Comics, and it was a bit of a strange duck, to be sure. It certainly started off with a bang. The cover was penciled by comic superstar and inked by Gustovich. The first strange thing about the comic is its size. In an era when virtually no superhero starred in a magazine- sized publication, save for a few already-established Marvel stalwarts, that is where the Machine began life. “Those were the good ol’ days of experimentation, doing things in a non-traditional manner and letting the cookie crumble on deaf ears,” explains Gustovich. He further elaborates, “I really liked the old Marvel B&W mags but wanted a color comic. Presto, change-o, there it was.” The comic’s coloring stands out immediately, as it has a sort of grainy, washed-out look to it. Gustovich describes Break on Through the method they used: “During my years of studying The Justice Machine arrive on the scene with their first issue comics and trying to figure out how they were made, I stumbled upon the process of color separation, which from Noble Comics (June 1981). Cover penciled by John Byrne and had to be done for any color piece to see print. You know, inked by series creator Mike Gustovich. the primary colors of , yellow, and blue—a separate plate for each color. And they only used four percentages Justice Machine TM & © Mark Ellis. of those colors: 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%.

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 23 getting work from Marvel and DC,” Mike recalls. “I took the carrot offered and ran with it. I pretty much let others do the JM with a little input from me. At the time it was pretty easy to give up command of the team. Now, I regret it. Do-over!” Issue #5 establishes what was intended to be the norm for the book. Penciler Bill Reinhold is still around, but now it is Bill Loebs writing the script, with Mike Gustovich noting, “Bill and I had worked together already at Power Comics, so I trusted his skills and judgment and he never let me down. I told him basically what I wanted in the stories and he did a job. However, I’ve decided that you should never give up your children even if others can do a better job of raising them.” Bill Reinhold, meanwhile, just a couple of issues in, is dealing with a different writer. When asked about any differences between the two he had this to say: “I always communicate a lot with anyone I work with, and that included them also. This is testing my memory, but I think Mike wrote a traditional script, where Bill liked to often thumbnail his scripts visually just as a description or suggestion.” Plot-wise, the first two issues feature the Machine’s betrayal and exile by their own government. At one point they are forced into combat with their replacements, one of whom is Titan’s brother! Titan also suffers an immense loss that will affect him for a long time to come. Issues #3–5 show the team siding with their rebel foe Maxinor and relocating to Earth, which exists in a different dimension, reached through a Georwellian device called a Dimensional Lock. There they take up residence within a high-tech underground facility known as New Haven.

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head (bottom right) An early page (cropped) illustrated by incoming penciler Bill Reinhold from Noble issue #4 (1982) shows Titan and Demon meeting future ally Havok from New Haven’s resident heroes, the Free Force. Inks by Mike Gustovich and Deb Bauer.

TM & © Mark Ellis. My Back Pages (top) New JM artist Bill Reinhold is touted in the inside back cover ad from Noble’s JM #2, with art by Bob Berry and Gustovich. (bottom left) From the sketch- book of Bill Reinhold, warm-up images of some of the Machine members provided by the artist himself. (For more Reinhold pencil art, see this issue’s “Rough Stuff” feature.)

Justice Machine TM & © Mark Ellis.

26 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue conducted by Jay Williams

Introducing… Captain Paragon From early efforts like (left top) Paragon Golden Age Greats, Bill Black matured into a storyteller with his first breakout character, (left bottom) Captain Paragon, seen in this 1970 issue. (right) CP takes on the Shroud on the cover of Captain Paragon #1 (1972).

Captain Paragon TM & © AC Comics. , , , Spectre TM & © DC. TM & © Marvel.

Paragon Publishing, Americomics, and AC Comics are not household THE PARAGON PUBLISHING YEARS names in the comics world like DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and JAY WILLIAMS: We need a little information on Paragon Golden others. They are all creations of one man—William Black, Age Greats (PGAG) #2 (Summer 1969). or to his friends, Bill or Wild Bill. BILL BLACK: It was 40 pages, with a 17-page Captain While Bill did some artwork for Marvel, Charlton, and Marvel story, a reprinted 1948 Golden Age story, Warren earlier in his career, he had another dream. Bill “Captain Marvel Battles the God of Crime.” And in Black entered comic fandom near the end of its years a nod to comics fandom, I filled out the book with and shares with BACK ISSUE, “I wanted to do something a four-page Sub-Mariner story and pinups of different, as my main goal was not to praise comics in Captain 3-D, , , and a fannish manner but to create my own comic-book Captain Marvel, Jr. characters. In order to accomplish that, I decided not to WILLIAMS: Did you script, pencil, and ink the entire stick with one sole title but to publish a ‘universe’ of titles. issue? That’s how Paragon differed from other publishers.” BLACK: Yes and no. The Sub-Mariner story was For years, Bill was a one-man show, drawing, inking, supposedly drawn by “fellow Florida fan fanatic” lettering, handling layouts, and actually assembling Bill Schwartz. “Schwartz” is German for Black. magazines. WILLIAMS: Did the cover of PGAG #2 also show The following interview with Bill Black focuses on up as the cover of Rocket’s Blast Comicollector his favorite creation, Captain Paragon, which began in the title Paragon #101 (Aug. 1973)? Golden Age Greats #2 (Summer 1969). BLACK: It didn’t. That was a similar drawing. I still have the cover art, – Jay Williams and any art sent to RBCC was never returned.

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 39 BLACK: We lost a lot of talent, and Kevin was sorely must’ve penciled several pages a day. He’s an editor’s missed. If I remember correctly, he left comics and got dream! He had CPATSOJ #3 completely penciled and was a commercial art job that paid better. CPATSOJ #1 suffered into CPATSOJ #4 before the previous crew had turned in without his talent, as he always added a layer of realism CPATSOJ #2! Eric got our publishing schedule back on Words and to Greg Guler’s pencils. track. Prior to this, Erik had done stories for Gary Carlson’s Pictures WILLIAMS: This is obviously an origin issue for the SOJ. Megaton book. Emil Novak was a good, solid, dependable Can you give us a quick synopsis of this issue? artist who added much to the series as the . Compare (left) the BLACK: With the space opera behind him, writer Dan WILLIAMS: Erik went on to work for Eclipse, DC, and St. John got back on track at last to address plot threads Marvel, where he did more than 30 issues of Amazing Dan St. John/Greg I established in CP #1: namely, who is Paragon, and the Spider-Man, then went on to create . Guler script to fact that his powers are mental. did a good Did you realize that he had this much talent? job constructing a logical storyline that brings the BLACK: Sure. Erik’s work is very dynamic. At this time, page 30 of CPATSOJ heroes together. some of his figure work was stiff, but yet action-packed. #1 to (right) its WILLIAMS: In Captain Paragon and the Sentinels of He does a great job interpreting a script and I loved what Justice #2 (1985), you announce you have a new artist he did with my story. That opening splash is just great! execution in original coming on with CPATSOJ #3. What happened with And it just gets better on page 2. See how he puts the art form. Courtesy Dan St. John and Greg Guler? heroes in the forefront of the action? And Stardust’s BLACK: After drawing the first couple pages, Greg Guler up body position is just perfect for a horizontal panel. of Jay Williams. and quits with no advance warning and a deadline looming. Another perfect horizontal design is at the bottom of Greg and Dan share Fortunately, artist Gordon Purcell volunteered to pitch in page 18. The last page is the kicker. Paragon’s is so to pencil the book, with Don Hillsman handling the inks. angry that the Vardax chooses suicide rather than face their AC Comics WILLIAMS: In CPATSOJ #3 (1985), there is a wholesale his wrath! And Erik does a spot-on David Janssen. recollections in turnover in your creative team beginning with this issue. WILLIAMS: I noticed you returned as the writer on You bring on board to do pencils. How did CPATSOJ #3. What was the reason for this? this issue’s Back you get together with Erik and your new inker Emil Novak? BLACK: Dan St. John quit and I needed to get Paragon Talk column. BLACK: I don’t remember for sure, but it was a lucky back on line with the original concept. Plus, I was also break for me. His work ethic was the opposite of Greg writing , so this solidified continuity. TM & © AC Comics. Guler’s. Erik turned in pages at speed. He WILLIAMS: Captain Paragon #1 (Dec. 1983) opens with a detective story featuring Harry Diamond. Early in CPATSOJ #3, Harry Diamond returns. What had Diamond been up to? BLACK: As established in CP #1, Harry Diamond discovered that Paragon first appeared in Lake Warrick, Minnesota, so he went there in hopes of finding a lead to who he was before he put on the . While there, he passed a building plaque inscribed “Paragon Foundation,” so

44 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue Don’t miss TwoMorrows’ latest book release, The MLJ Companion, featuring the complete history of ’ “Mighty Crusaders” characters, from to today. This full-color book is now available at comics shops and from www.twomorrows.com.

It wasn’t exactly an original idea, bringing together a stable of super- heroes into a team unit. After all, the Justice Society of America first pulled off the distinction of being the original superhero super-group in All- #3 (Winter 1940–1941). GOLDEN AGE ROOTS FOR A SILVER AGE SUPER-TEAM Fast forward nearly a quarter century, and the seeds were spread to do something similar in the pages of Archie Comics’ Adventures of the #31 (May 1965) when the hero in , actually known as Fly-Man at the time, got a little help from his friends in facing off against (naturally) the Spider. These allies came from some other classic hero titles from Archie’s stable, though, of course, the publisher was known as MLJ in those early days. First up is the , the very first superhero to wear the red, white, by Bryan D. Stroud and blue, way back in #1 (Jan. 1940). Next we have the , in a redesigned costume and with a different backstory than the original incarnation, who also appeared in that first issue of Pep and, incidentally, was also an early creation of the great Jack Cole of fame. One could not help but wonder if the character was an inspiration for another hero with a visor that fired beams, in the form of the X-Men’s . Another interesting fact is that the original Comet was likely the first superhero to be killed off and was replaced by the Comet’s brother, who took to fighting crime as the . Rounding out this ’60s super- group is the Black , who originally debuted in Top Notch Comics #9 (Oct. 1940). It soon becomes evident that the writer, yet another founding father of the Golden Age of comics, one , using the pen name Jerry Ess, is taking a few cues from the highly popular contemporary line of heroes from Marvel. The dialogue exhibits the characters bickering among themselves and even including lines like, “…‘The Mighty Crusaders’ is corny, like something dreamed up in a comic book!” Speaking of their team name, it was speculated by Michael Uslan, who wrote the foreword to the reprinted book with the origin stories, that the Mighty Crusaders might just be the first team named by a supervillain, specifically the Spider, yet it’s noteworthy that on page 7 of the tale, the Comet, addressing Fly-Man, refers to himself as “…the Comet, mighty crusader from the planet Altrox!” In any case, after two more stories in the pages of the Fly’s book, a new title emerges with The Mighty Crusaders #1 (Nov. 1965). THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS COME FULL RED CIRCLE Unfortunately, the series only made it to issue #7 and was then abandoned… until resurgence came about in 1983, when Rich Buckler was tagged to function as virtually a one-man-band, serving as editor, writer, and artist for the return of The Mighty Crusaders under Archie’s “Red Circle Comics Group” imprint. Rich offers BACK ISSUE a great deal of information about his work on the title and begins, logically enough, with how he first became acquainted with this super-team: “That would be when Archie first attempted to revive the Mighty Crusaders back in the ’60s. I was just a teenage comic-book fanatic and Archie’s Super Pals ’n’ Gals I bought these superhero books off the newsstand when they first came The Mighty Crusaders #1 (Mar. 1983), from Archie’s out. I had mixed reactions. I liked it okay. As a comics fan, though, I got really curious about the characters when I learned about their Golden Red Circle Comics imprint, under the creative direction Age history. Once I did that I realized that the company and the creative of artist Rich Buckler. people involved did not even know these characters at all. I remember also wondering why Archie Comics called their superheroes ‘mighty’ TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. and not once referred to them as ‘super.’ I remember picking up back

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 49 franchise—all of their ‘mighty heroes.’ But neither of them had an inkling of how to make that happen! “So they gave me my own office and phone and I started calling people I knew. I created all of the freelance assignments and did all the hiring of the creative talent and I also edited the first few titles. With absolutely no editorial or publisher input I designed all of their promotions and I even designed the Red Circle logo. “So Mighty Crusaders was Archie/Red Circle’s flagship title. And that is where I undertook the task of reviving the old MLJ characters that the company owned. That included all of my character designs plus the capsule origins I ran in this book and others. That work set the tone for the emerging ‘Red Circle Universe’ of the ’80s. “I created an updated look for all of the characters and I did all of the research necessary to present to new and older readers versions that were fresh and new but at the same time true to their past incarnations. That was not an easy undertaking. “There was no Internet back then. And at Archie there was no extensive archive— only a few file copies of the ’60s Mighty Crusaders and one or two other titles by Siegel and Reinman. I had to rely mostly on what I had in my own comics collection. So I laid most of the ground- work that made it possible for there to be a new incarnation of Red Circle. Unfortunately, later on, as things were © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. building up steam and rolling along rather nicely, this proved to be a rather thankless job.” Rich Buckler had accepted this assignment with marked excitement and enthusiasm and felt qualified for the challenge. He shares some of his planning and thought processes, only a few of which came to fruition during his limited tenure: “I never do anything with an empty head. I came up from the early days of comic-book fandom. As an artist and comic creator, I am self-taught. That is my back- ground. As a fan and amateur artist in my teens, I was privy to a tremendous amount of material from all of the Golden Age and Silver Age books. “Back in those days, I devoured ’s History of the Comics, both volumes. And I was mentored early issues of The Fly and The for my comics collection on by comic historian . So in the ’80s, as the Back in Action before I encountered Siegel and Reinman’s Mighty man creatively in charge of Red Circle, I knew what House ad from Crusaders… also, Simon and Kirby’s Fly and Double Life of I wanted, and thanks to Professor Bails’ archives and Private Strong, which really made an impression on me.” mentoring back in my days I already had a 1982 announcing When queried about how the assignment came to familiarity with the history of these particular characters the Mighty him, Buckler recollects: that very few comics professionals at that time had. I wasn’t “If you mean how did my working for Archie Comics on top of everything, like Roy Thomas or E. Nelson Crusaders’ return. come about, well, for me it wasn’t a freelance assignment. Bridwell—but I wasn’t far behind those guys either! TM & © Archie Publications, Inc. Nothing like that, actually. At that time they didn’t have any books to hire me for. They had Archie (teen humor) MIGHTY CRUSADERS #1 books and that’s it. Issue #1 (Mar. 1983) did seem to be a portent of great things “So there were no assignments involved—that’s how to come. The cover, including a somewhat pricey $1.00 it all started. I think that most fans are not aware that price tag, displayed a Rich Buckler rendition of both the at the beginning of things I was hired by Archie as original Shield and Lancelot Strong Shield, along with the managing editor to create their entire Red Circle line of Fly, Fly-Girl, the Comet, the , the Jaguar, and the books. So if you check out the inside cover of Red Circle’s . Inside the front cover, just as Rich described, was a debut title, Mighty Crusaders #1, you will find a photo two-column editorial under the banner of Red Circle News of me and a letter of greeting to the readers. I started titled, “We’re Back!” The text, credited to David Singer, went out at the company as an editor, writer, and artist. on to greet and welcome readers and to give a history of “Even less known is the fact that I taught the publishers, these classic characters while also promising accompanying Richard Goldwater and Michael Silberkleit, how the titles with solo adventures of The Fly, The Comet, The Web, comics direct market worked and then I functioned as The Shield, and The Black Hood. Heady days, indeed, for the liaison for the company with the independent a full-court press involving this heroic roster. distributors back then. That was a big deal, really. They Rich Buckler explains that he had a very free hand in had ambition, yes—but plain and simple, the publishers this effort. As far as any sort of game plan on how to wanted to revive what they perceived to be a viable proceed, there wasn’t one:

50 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue In the 1960s, pop culture spawned few characters that were cooler than secret agents. Ian Fleming’s was wildly popular in the movie theaters, and animation companies, TV networks, film studios, and yes, comic-book companies, looked for ways to cash in on this exciting new trend. “Spymania,” it was called, and at the fledgling Tower Comics, the nation’s newest delight got a novel approach—super-spies with superpowers. Why not? Superpowered people were all the rage. At Mighty Marvel, they all came with angst and neuroses for a more adult appeal. Archie Comics retooled its old MLJ superheroes and introduced new characters, as did with its Action Heroes line. In addition, “the New Look Batman” and “Marvelmania” invigorated the costumed crowd and their readers. Wallace Wood was a proven talent by 1965. He’d done exemplary work in many arenas, and baby boomers of my generation will always love him for the superb compositions he gave bubble-gum cards, lunchboxes, game boards, , monster magazines, album jackets—he was everywhere, and we loved it! Before that, he stunned comic fans with his brilliant EC Comics work. So, it was only natural for Woody to be there for the next big thing, and he wisely combined two big new things— spy guys and gals with superpowers. by Jerry Boyd CREATORS AND CAST At Tower Comics, Wood would be an editor as well as the chief artist and chief writer. He called in old friends: and from Woody’s EC days shared page space with (who also did the main art chores for Archie’s superhero lineup), (from DC’s of America), Chic Stone, , and , among others. Leonard Brown, who’d be the most prominent of the T-Agents (as I’ll call the super-team in abbreviation), was named after Len Brown, a friend of Woody’s from the Topps Cards days earlier on. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. stood for The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves and had its main headquarters at the U.N. building in New York City. (All heroes must report to NYC or some variation on it, right?) Brown’s promotion included a waist-cinching device scientists called the Thunderbelt, and this device gave Len super-strength, invulnerability, and super-stamina that would enable him to keep up with the ne’er-do-wells who peopled the ranks of S.P.I.D.E.R. and the Warlords, as well as various Communists, mad scientists, and colorful supervillains. His new codename was Dynamo—appropriate for his incredible energy and bolt of lightning that always accompanied his activation of the T-belt. Dr. Anthony Dunn was a brilliant scientist faced with death. Before he passed on, he found a way to transfer his brain patterns to an android body he created along with another doctor. NoMan was his new name, and Woody may have been proudest of this original creation. No man (pun intended) in comics was like him. NoMan had many android bodies at his disposal, and could move his brain patterns from one to another in case of emergencies or a seeming death to one of them. A cloak of invisibility earned him the nickname of “the Invisible Agent.” Lightning was Tower’s fast-moving equivalent of the or Quicksilver. Guy Gilbert began as one of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad,

Woody’s Wonders “Spied on” by perennial nemesis the Iron Maiden stand four of the T-Agents, Lightning, NoMan, Dynamo, and Menthor. Thanks to Jerry Ordway for doing the art (circa ’13) and providing the scan!

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents TM & © Radiant Assets, LLC.

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57 Men of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (top left) Wallace Wood in a photo taken in 1977. (top right) One of Woody’s assistants, Bill Pearson, did this great commission for this article’s author a few years ago. Dynamo busts through walls like nobody else! Thanks again, Bill! (bottom) ’ 2000 portrait of the man with the Thunderbelt.

Dynamo TM & © Radiant Assets, LLC.

a strike force I’ll talk about later, but his training and had a respectable 20-issue run, the last publication heroism stood out and he got the super-speed suit composed of mostly reprints as the 1960s closed (#20, that gave him his quickness. Nov. 1969). Dynamo got four beautifully drawn issues, John Janus was a former criminal who decided NoMan earned two, and an unrelated Undersea Agent crime really didn’t pay. He became an Agent and title, with hero Davey Jones (!!), lasted for six issues. later got a cybernetic helmet which emitted mind- blowing emanations (it was the 1960s, right?). With the SPY SHUTDOWN ability to gain temporary control of his enemies’ minds, 1969 ended and the T-Agents shuffled off this (im-)mortal a new Agent was added: Menthor. coil. In the 1970s, Wood and his former co-workers had Non-powered but just as heroic as the moved on. Aside from a stunning illo Wally used in a T-Agents was the aforementioned later publication with Dynamo typically plowing his way T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad. Gilbert was their through a pack of determined but hapless space aliens, leader before he got his colorful outfit the super-spies had gone into that comic limbo we’re and powers, but was the all familiar with. Artist Dan Adkins told me by letter circa smartest, Weed was the safecracker, ’01, “I had fun with those [Tower] books. Wood really and Kitten was the lovely blonde Wood came up with something there—spies with superpowers. loved to draw, but just as resourceful I killed Menthor and it caused a problem with some and engaged in her job as her male readers, but that story is really appreciated now. Overall, companions. Big “Dynamite” Dan it was a lot of fun working at Tower.” Woody checked Adkins (named after Woody’s young on the sales of his canceled comics line. He took some protégé) handled the explosives pride, from some accounts, that it was poor distribution and the roughest human custom- and not poor sales that ended his Thunderers. ers the team had to face, being the biggest member JOLTED INTO THE 1980s!! of the team. He’d later get Students of pop culture may recall that the early 1980s a name change to John. was not a good time for television. Somehow, the networks’ was a late addition. trusted producers and new ones had forgotten how to He got mechanical wings make a sitcom, drama, etc. work for mass consumption. from the U.N. chiefs after In desperation, they turned back to tested/beloved stars Menthor was killed (in an —Dick van Dyke and Lucille Ball, among others. Nostalgia unforgettable shocker) by for the 1960s, following the 1970s’ love for “happy days” the dastardly subterraneans (both the Ike era and the show), had come around. and one of their hooded John Carbonaro was a publisher at one of those inter- Warlord leaders. esting new companies that would captivate comicdom. Traveling the world, First Comics, Pacific Comics, Eclipse Comics, and others backed by the United would offer their takes on romance, super-doers, science Nations and local law fiction, and the like. John C. tested the waters withJCP enforcement, the T-Agents Features #1 (1981), with his initials as part of the banner. bowed in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. He had Archie Comics as a backer; Archie was testing the Agents #1 (Nov. 1965) and waters, also—they retooled their old MLJ heroes (some

58 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue Starting with BACK ISSUE #1, Rough Stuff was a mainstay in this magazine, but later spun off into its own short-lived title. In last issue’s lettercol, reader Scott Andrews made an appeal for the return of Rough Stuff, echoing similar requests from other readers. “Your demand is our command,” as DC Comics used to say: Rough Stuff is back, and will grace our pages from time to time, beginning with…

captions by Michael Eury

Who better to brighten our opening page than the fiery Jeanette Crane, a.k.a. Morningstar, from ’s The Elementals? While Willingham’s dark superhero comic is mentioned elsewhere in this issue, readers wanting to learn more about The Elementals should read our article about the series in BI #24. This sketch, courtesy of Heritage, dates back to 1985. MORNINGSTAR by BILL WILLINGHAM Morningstar and The Elementals TM & © .

Indie Superheroes Issue • BACK ISSUE • 69 TM

Steven Grant has had a varied and prolific history in comics and elsewhere. Since the late 1970s, Steven has written for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Capital, First, Wildstorm, IDW, Boom!, and Avatar. He’s had two successful, long-running columns for the Comic Book Resource website. Steven has authored a number of Hardy Boys books and a Tom Swift novel. Steven’s Boom! Studios work included an updated Whisper book and the crime series , which was made into the 2013 action film with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Norm Breyfogle has been in comics since the 1980s. “Discovered” by at the 1984 San Diego Comic-Con Art Show, Norm was soon working for Marvel, by DC, and First. Though perhaps best known for his stellar work Stephan Friedt on Batman through multiple Bat-titles, Norm also drew The Spectre and other DC titles. He continued in a variety of venues including working for Speakeasy, Markosia, and Malibu, the latter of which where he co-created the character Prime. Norm has also illustrated children’s books, novels, and advertising. In 2008, Norm made his mark at Archie Comics, and in 2012 he returned to illustrating Batman for Batman Beyond at DC. In 2014, Norm suffered a stroke and has been coping with the limitations that resulted. Steven Grant’s character Whisper first saw the light in a two-issue run (1983–1984) from Capital Comics, with artwork by Rich Larson. With the demise of Capital, Whisper moved to First Comics with a continuation of the story in Whisper Special (Nov. 1985), again with art by Rich Larson. From there she became a part of the First anthology series First Adventure (Dec. 1985–Apr. 1986) for all five issues of its run. Then she received her own series which ran for 37 issues (June 1986–June 1990), with art by Del Barras for the first two issues. Norm Breyfogle handled the art chores for issues #3–11 (Oct. 1986–Feb. 1988). This relatively short two-year run is fondly remembered by many fans as a highpoint in the Whisper series. – Stephan Friedt

STEPHAN FRIEDT: What was the in- spiration for your work on Whisper? STEVEN GRANT: I was living in New York and taking a train home to Madison, Wisconsin, where I grew up. I read a cheap paperback, supposedly factual, about ninjas, to pass the time. At the time ninjas were just beginning to Courtesy of Comicvine. work their way into the American psyche. I knew that while “ninjas” did exist in feudal Japan—they were

Artist’s Choice Whisper #9 (Oct. 1987), artist Norm Breyfogle’s favorite cover from his work on the series.

Whisper TM & © Steven Grant.

74 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue BREYFOGLE: Another big influence on me was the Sergio Leone Western movies, because of the extremely dramatic closeups and generally great storytelling. My favorite TV shows? I don’t know how much they influenced my drawing, but my favorite shows include my favorite TV show of all time, . FRIEDT: What was your goal in developing the character? GRANT: To do it, really. To prove I could. Of course, making a living was always part of it, but, for lack of a better term, the real goal was simply self-expression. I think if you want to be a professional writer you have to, at minimum, con yourself into believing you bring something to the table that nobody else is going to bring: your own worldview. That’s really the reason to create and work on your own characters, so you can explore territory you map out yourself. Ultimately that’s the only thing you really have to market. It’s the thing people have to come to you for that they can’t get anywhere else. Hopefully it’s something enough of them want that you can make that living… in theory, anyway. I tend to distrust both self- proclaimed “entertainers” and “educators” in comics, and really in any pop-culture medium. If people found them- selves entertained or educated, I had nothing against it, but, really, I just wanted to do what I wanted to do, even if I had no clear idea moment to moment what that was. I never had a game plan. I was just selfish and IF YOU Egreedy,NJOYE Dat T leastHIS PaboutREVI Ethat.W, In CLICK THWhisperE LINK I TdiscussedO ORDE Rthe T HthingsIS I ISSUE IN PRwantedINT OR toDI Gdiscuss,ITAL F OinR MwaysAT! I wanted to discuss them. Any considerations beyond that were accidental, except one. Had it been up to me I’d never have put a costume on her, but Capital insisted. That was the one thing they insisted on. It was a small enough thing, I was happy to oblige, given the rest Photo by Stephan Pytak. of the opportunity, but that damn costume was a pain, story-wise, for the whole series. And, basically, by that point I wasn’t terribly interested in writing a superhero book. I BwantedACK IS toSU doE # a9 4 crime book. I Lady Ninja“Indie Super-Heroeswanted!” NEAL AD S writeMs. My spoliticaltic interview , fiction,Conti - nuity Comics, BILL BLACK Captain Paragon interview, Justice Ma - Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com), original art to Whisperchine his tory, STEVEespeciallyN GRANT/NOR Msince BREY FIO wasGLE W havinghisper an “Pro2Pro” interviewallergic, and the ‘8 0reactions revivals of M itoght ythe Crus aReaganders and #4 (Dec. 1986), signed by the artist. (inset) The published version.T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AgenAdministration.ts. Featuring BUCKLER, D ENeitherODATO, ELL ISthing, GRINDBERG, GUSTOVICH, ISABELLA, REINHOLD, ORDWAY, TM & © StevenP Grant.ÉREZ, and more. Cwasover b ymuch NEAL AD AvaluedMS! in comics at (84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 76 • BACK ISSUE • Indie Superheroes Issue (Digital Edition) $3.95 http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1261