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FLASH AND GREEN LANTERN IN THE BRONZE AGE!

Mark Waid examines the Flash/GL team • The Lost GL Fill-ins • Larry Niven’s Gathet’s TaleBONUS ARTICLE! DC Comics’ New York Office Memories!

featuring Barr • Bates • Gibbons • Grell • Infantino • Kupperberg • O’Neil • Wein & more182

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BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh,NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/oMichael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: [email protected] subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscriptionorders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by George Pérez. Flash andGreen Lantern TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies.All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2015 Michael Eury andTwoMorrows Publishing, except for Prince Street News, which is TM and © Karl Heitmueller, Jr.BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

FLASHBACK: The Speed of Life: The Bronze Age Flash’s Triumphs and Tragedies . . . . . .2No matter what Cary Bates threw at him, Barry Allen kept coming

FLASHBACK: Meanwhile: The Bronze Age Adventures of the Other Flash . . . . . . . . . . . .22Jay Garrick had a pretty good run, here and there

FLASHBACK: I’d Buy That for a Dollar!: The Flash and Green Lantern in Adventure Comics . . .25The Dollar Comics stories of DC’s colorful crusaders

OFF MY CHEST: The Flash/Green Lantern Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Guest writer Mark Waid examines DC’s brave and bold buddies

PRINCE STREET NEWS: The B and the B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32Barry and Hal belly up to the bar to bellyache about being B-listers

FLASHBACK: Being Hal Jordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34Twenty-five years in the conflicted life of the greatest Green Lantern of them all

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Lost (or Discarded) Green Lantern Fill-ins . . . . .48Guest columnist Paul Kupperberg revisits his unpublished GL tales

PRO2PRO ROUNDTABLE: Niven’s Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Larry Niven, the Green Lantern bible, and the Guardian known as Ganthet

BACKSTAGE PASS: An Oral History of DC Comics’ Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59As DC moves west, BI strolls through its hallowed NYC halls

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79Reader reaction

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F l a s h a n d G r e e n L a n t e r n i n t h e B r o n z e A g e • B A C K I S S U E • 1

Volume 1,Number 80May 2015

Celebrating theBest Comics ofthe '70s, '80s,'90s, and Beyond!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTGeorge Pérez

COVER COLORISTTom Smith

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

PROOFREADERRob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKSMike W. BarrPat BastienneCary BatesJerry BoydCary Burkett Johanna Draper

CarlsonIvan CohenGerry ConwayDC ComicsJ. M. DeMatteisScott DunbierMike FlynnDave GibbonsAlan GoldMike GoldGrand Comics

Database Robert GreenbergerArnie GrievesJack C. HarrisKarl Heitmueller, Jr.Heritage Comics

AuctionsDan JohnsonGerard JonesHal JordanBarbara KeselJames KingmanTodd KleinPaul KupperbergPaul LevitzTom Lyle

Ron MarzBrad MeltzerAl MilgromStuart MooreLarry NivenMarilyn NivenLuigi NoviDennis O’NeilScott PetersonJanice RaceDan RasplerBob RozakisMichael SaveneLenny SchaferRobert SimpsonAnthony SnyderJim SpiveyRick StasiJoe StatonRoy ThomasAnthony TollinJohn TrumbullMichael UslanIrene VartanoffMark WaidMatt WebbJohn WellsMarv WolfmanMichael Zeno

Dedicated to thememory ofJulius Schwartz

TM

TM

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

2 • B A C K I S S U E • F l a s h a n d G r e e n L a n t e r n i n t h e B r o n z e A g e

The honeymoon was over. On their first wedding anniversary, Barry andIris Allen clinked glasses and the man who was secretly the Flash marveledat how much his world had changed over the past decade. The CentralCity police scientist had acquired super-speed in a lab accident, countedeveryone from Superman to the star of his favorite childhood comicbook as friends, and—best of all—married his longtime girlfriend. IfBarry didn’t think she was one-in-a-million before, he certainly did afterIris’ response to his divorce-worthy disclosure that he had a double life:He talked in his sleep, she shrugged, and she’d known her husbandwas the Flash since their wedding night. Since it mattered that muchto him, she continued, she’d just pretended not to know.

The Scarlet Speedster’s world changed after those closing panelsof September 1967’s The Flash #174, and not just because he had alife partner who was now fully invested in every aspect of his life.There’d been constancy in those 11 years as a human thunderbolt,and his name was Carmine Infantino. The sleek, modernistic style ofthe celebrated penciler had defined the Flash series and its colorfulRogues’ Gallery from the 1956 pilot episode in Showcase #4, earninghim a well-deserved reputation (along with editor Julius Schwartz) asone of DC/National Comics’ foremost fix-it men.

In 1967, the subject that DC publisher Jack Liebowitz wantedto fix wasn’t one title but all of them. As the company’s new artdirector, Infantino would now be bringing his striking design senseto the layouts on all of DC’s covers, but the job came with a price.

Obliged to end his tenure as the Flash’s signature artist, the 42-year-oldcartoonist handpicked his successor and consciously eyed someonewith a style thoroughly unlike his own.

THE POST–INFANTINO ERAIt hadn’t been a good year for Ross Andru up to that point. Turneddown by DC for a raise, the Metal Men and Wonder Woman pencilerhad fled to the seemingly greener pastures of Marvel Comics onlyto find himself a poor fit on the handful of stories he drew. FromInfantino’s perspective, though, he was someone who was nowequipped to bring Marvel-style dynamism to DC, and the newlyminted art director wasted no time in assigning Andru and his inkingpartner Mike Esposito to both The Flash and Superman.

The new team’s inaugural effort on both characters took place inthe same comic book. Four months earlier, Superman and theFlash had embarked on an inconclusive race in Superman #199 todetermine bragging rights on which hero was really the fastest. TheFlash #175’s rematch teased a definitive answer, but both speedsterscould claim victory depending on the angle captured in the photo-finish footage. (Two more crossovers would follow in the next fewyears, one in 1969’s Superman #220 and the other in 1970’s World’sFinest #198–199.) In a departure from Julius Schwartz’s usual core ofwriters, E. Nelson Bridwell stepped in to write Flash #175, ensuringthat the Man of Steel remain consistent with the stories overseen byhis protective boss, Superman editor Mort Weisinger.

Fast FriendsFrom DC Comics’

1978 calendar,Flash and Kid Flash

take on Captain Coldand Mister Freeze

in this pinup drawnby Irv Novick, THE

Flash artist for mostof the 1970s.TM & © DC Comics.

by J o h n W e l l s

Another Weisinger writer paid the series a visit in 1968’s Flash #179when 19-year-old Cary Bates posed the question, “The Flash—Fact orFiction?” In a twist on the parallel world stories involving heroes ofthe 1940s like the Flash of Earth-Two, Bates had the Scarlet Speedsteraccidently propelled into the “real” world, where a star-struck kidreferred to him as Barry Allen and handed him a copy of Flash #172 foran autograph. Rather than be a cosplayer in a world where cosplayingwasn’t cool, the Flash made a quick trip to New York City to visit theeditor of his comic book. Convincing an incredulous Julius Schwartzto buy him the equipment necessary to build a Cosmic Treadmill thatwould take him home, the Scarlet Speedster had no idea that the manwho wrote up his visit to “Earth-Prime”—as it was dubbed in 1975—would eventually be charting his destiny on a full-time basis.

In the short-term, Schwartz counted John Broome ashis primary scripter, but the writer’s relocation to Parisobligated a larger pool to draw on. One of those menhad been Gardner Fox, but, having alienated DCmanagement with his requests for better benefits,Fox was effectively frozen out of most assignmentsand penned his last Flash story for issue #177.That final effort—“The Swell-Headed Super-Hero”—sported a famously outrageous cover that depictedthe hero with a cranium the size of a watermelon.

With sights like that and the antics of the campyBatman TV show, incoming writer Frank Robbins—a well-regarded veteran of the Johnny Hazardnewspaper strip—took it for granted that all super-hero comics were played for laughs and wroteaccordingly in a two-parter for Flash #180–181. Setin Japan, the Flash fought robotic Samuroids amidst locals whospoke in slurred English. It was tasteless at best. Having writtenwhat was perhaps the worst Flash story of the Silver Age, Robbinsadjusted to the superhero genre quickly, but his best workappeared elsewhere in the Batman and Superboy series.

The light touch employed in some of the 1968 Flash storiesand the series’ general sense of security were at odds with a plot thathad briefly been considered to kick off the post–Infantino era. Headin hand against a black backdrop in an Infantino sketch, the Flashstood opposite a screaming declaration: “You are about to read themost tragic day in the life of the Flash!”

According to Mark Hanerfeld in The Comic Reader #69 (Sept. 1968),it was supposed to have been the day that Iris Allen died. “Calmer

heads prevailed and the idea was scrapped,” Hanerfeld explained,although the kernel of the idea found its way into the Broome-scripted Flash #176 wherein the Scarlet Speedster fought Death tosave his critically ill wife. Enamored of the original cover sketch,Schwartz eventually had it fully rendered by Andru and Esposito forissue #184 while Robbins wrote a plot to fit wherein Central City wasseemingly vaporized.

The Flash himself appeared to perish in issue #186 and,admittedly, those were his skeletal remains on the cover. As detailedinside, though, they’d been pulled from the future via GoldenAge hero-turned-villain Sargon the Sorcerer in a ploy to convincethe 25th Century’s Reverse-Flash to divulge the secrets of true

time-travel. Penning the 1969 story was Mike Friedrich,another newcomer whom Schwartz had used in several

titles over the past year. He returned to The Flash fourtimes through 1971 (#195, 197, 198, and 207), thelast of which saw Sargon’s return.

As writers dropped in and out, John Broomeheld firm in between their scripts as he’d done sincethe second Flash story in 1956’s Showcase #4. By1969, he’d had enough. “I wasn’t fired or anythinglike that,” he emphasized at the 1998 San DiegoComic-Con. “I just lost momentum. I lost steam.

I just couldn’t keep going.” He bid the series farewellwith late 1969’s Flash #194, and he wasn’t alone.

From the beginning, Andru and Esposito hada tough act to follow on the series and fans neverlet them forget it: The sleek hero was too bulky!The art was cartoony! And it didn’t look like Carmine

Infantino! The first shots were fired in an “extra” edition of the“Flash-Grams” letters column in 1968’s Flash #179, and the hits werestill coming two years later even after the team’s final interior storyin issue #194. (Schwartz had pulled them off the covers with Flash#189, subsequently employing Joe Kubert, Infantino and MurphyAnderson, and Neal Adams.)

In an interview in 1977’s Amazing World of DC Comics #15, Andruconceded that his efforts at emulating Jack Kirby’s larger-than-lifeheroics had been a misfire (albeit one that looks far better in retrospect).“I was trying to incorporate the Marvel superhero look into thewrong character. He shouldn’t have been that beefy … that muscular.I was trying to create exaggerated camera effects, and overdid it.I look back at some of that stuff and I cringe.”

F l a s h a n d G r e e n L a n t e r n i n t h e B r o n z e A g e • B A C K I S S U E • 3

A Visit toEarth-PrimeBarry Allen drops inon Flash editor JulieSchwartz in TheFlash #179 (May1968). By Bates/Andru/Esposito.TM & © DC Comics.

cary bates© DC Comics.

transformed into an inarticulate—and super-strong—madman wholeft Nephron a vegetable before fleeing into the night.

The techniques used on Yorkin bore a distinct similarity to thoseused in both Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange andStanley Kubrick’s subsequent 1971 film adaptation, something thatreader Mark Ellis was quick to point out in issue #277’s letters column.Whatever the inspiration, Bates says that “Ross was very involvedwith the Clive Yorkin character and fascinated by the idea behind the“Nephron process”… the notion of science being able to reverse thebrain’s pleasure and pain centers, which, of course, backfired when itturned Yorkin into a supervillain.”

Elsewhere, the mystery woman—mistakenly presumed by manyreaders to be Stacy Conwell—was identified as Melanie (no last name).

Possessed of a variety ofmental powers, she com-pelled the Flash to cometo her side twice and, inissue #275 (on sale inApril 1979), forced him toremove his mask. Afterall that build-up, Melanielooked on his “ordinary”face and stormed off indisgust over the fact thatanother obsession had lether down. “Six monthsago it was John Travolta,”she sighed. “Now—you!I don’t know what I didto deserve this.”

THE DEATH OF IRISALLENWatching a teenage girlleave the motel room,Iris Allen herself wasn’thappy and drove awayin a state of hysteria. Herhusband was closebehind, rescuing Iris froma near-fatal car crash andexplaining the odd—andrather insulting—eventsthat had just taken place.In minutes, the tensionsof the previous weeksdissolved and the Allensrecommitted to theirmarriage with the mutualdecision to have a child.(Bates had teased such anevent a few years earlierin issue #242, promptinga flurry of letters fromreaders wishing it hadbeen for real.)

First on their itinerarywas a superhero-themedcostume party, one thatIris and Barry attendedas Batgirl and (becausethe Batman costume wasrented) the Flash. More

problematic was the celebrant dressed as the Golden Age Sandman,a stranger who’d been assigned by the mystery drug-dealer to killBarry during the festivities. Unwittingly injected with hallucinogenicangel dust, Barry could barely stand when he heard his wife screamfor help from another room. There, to his horror, was Clive Yorkinstanding over Iris’ body. By the time other partygoers rushed in, both

1 4 • B A C K I S S U E • F l a s h a n d G r e e n L a n t e r n i n t h e B r o n z e A g e

“Flash’s life begins to change … and it will never be the same again!!”That was no empty promise.

Abandoning the more structured subplot patterns and multi-partstories of recent years, Bates developed a free-flowing narrative morein tune with a Marvel series than the classic DC title. Multiple plots ranalongside each other with individual stories rarely wrapping up neatlyand all but one issue over the next year ending on a cliffhanger.Bates continued to write more traditional standalone Flash storiesfor Adventure Comics (where a companion solo strip was published inissues #459–466 during 1978 and 1979; see article following), but hiswork on the home title was a radical departure. “If we had made up afake name for me when I was writing for Ross,” he remarked in ComicsFeature #8 (1980), “I bet that most readers wouldn’t have been ableto recognize me.”

The run openedwith a darker-than-normalcostumed villain—a mutekiller called the Clown(issues #270–272)—butthe threats quickly tookon a more personal tone.At work, Barry’s attentionwas divided between aninternal heroin smugglingoperation and his observa-tion of behavioral scientistGilbert Nephron’s effortsto reprogram a convictedkiller. Meanwhile, a sandy-haired young womanfixated on the Flash wasstalking the ScarletSpeedster. And on thehome front, Iris Allen wasgrowing angrier by theissue over her husband’sincreasing absence fromher life, a character bitcarried over into Adventure#462’s solo story and evena Batman team-up in TheBrave and the Bold #151.

The drug subplot, atleast, earned Barry anew friend named FrankCurtis, an undercovercop assigned by their bossCaptain Harvey Paulsonto get to the bottom ofthe corruption in policeheadquarters. There wereno positives to theNephron Project, though,where the overloadingof the pleasure and paincenters in convict CliveYorkin’s brain were nothingless than torture in Barry’seyes. By the start of issue#274, Yorkin had becomeaddicted to pain, and

And You Thought Aunt May Was a Buttinski…Behold: the art team of José Luis García-López and WallyWood, from the Flash Spectacular, DC Special Series #11.

TM & © DC Comics.

Infantino ReturnsCarmine Infantinoreturned to DCComics, and TheFlash, in 1981 withissue #296—just intime to illustrate theanniversary issue(left) Flash #300(Aug. 1981).(right) This Carmine-sketched bust ofBarry-Flash camefrom the SanFrancisco Baycon IIIbooklet, from 1977,and was copied forBI by Jerry Boyd.TM & © DC Comics.

issue’s memorable cover. “I was playing a video gamein an arcade somewhere in New York,” he detailed inThe Flash Companion, “and I thought it would be sucha classically Flash idea to have the Flash turned into acharacter in a video game and have the villain tryingto kill him by playing the video game.”

Barr also oversaw a new look for the book as 1982dawned. Infantino’s art on the series to that pointhad a rather wispy quality courtesy of inkerBob Smith, so it was a revelation when newembellisher Dennis Jensen came aboardwith issue #308. Possessed of a lush,inky style reminiscent of classic DCartist Murphy Anderson, Jensen addedweight and texture to Infantino’spencils that virtually modernized thelook of the series overnight. In the2010 book Carmine Infantino: Penciler-Publisher-Provocateur, the legendaryartist told Jim Amash that Jensen wasthe only embellisher on his latter-dayFlash run that he really liked.

Barr’s other notable contributionto The Flash was in its backup feature,where Firestorm the Nuclear Man had nestedsince issue #289 (Sept. 1980). Convinced that thesecondary feature should have qualities differentfrom the lead—all the better to attract a largeraudience—the editor resolved to introduce asupernatural feature in Dr. Fate by Martin Pasko andKeith Giffen in issue #306. Sales did go up, Barr noted inThe Flash Companion. Meanwhile, though, vocal Firestormsupporter Len Wein not only spun off the Nuclear Maninto his own comic book in early 1982 but—when he

briefly regained the editorship of Flash—put an earlyend to the Dr. Fate series in issue #313.

Incoming editor Ernie Colón (Flash #315–327)introduced one last backup—a Creeper series inissues #318–323 initially written by Carl Gafford anddrawn by Dave Gibbons—but the events in the leadfeature soon dictated that every page in each edition

be devoted to the Flash himself.

KILLER STORYLINEIf there was a hot-button issue in fandom

in the early 1980s, it was the debateover whether superheroes—includingprominent figures like Wolverine andthe Punisher—should kill. Beginning inissue #314 (Oct. 1982), Bates intro-duced a pair of archetypal extremes. Inone corner was a comically ineffectual

costumed hero called Captain Invincible,secretly Barry’s own boss Darryl Frye.In the other was a blue-cloakedvigilante called the Eradicator, who wascleansing Central City of its criminalelements by reducing them to sudsypowder. The Flash was caught in the

moderate middle ground.“It wasn’t just the shifting morality of certain

Marvel characters, but the whole Marvel approach ingeneral that was influencing me as The Flash graduallytransformed into a book with long story arcs (and I’mstill talking about the pre-trial days),” Bates informsBACK ISSUE. “I remember I was particularly impressedwith what Frank Miller was doing in Daredevil at thetime I was writing the Eradicator stories.”

carmine infantinoBill Crawford,The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino.

F l a s h a n d G r e e n L a n t e r n i n t h e B r o n z e A g e • B A C K I S S U E • 1 9


Was Jay Garrick destined to be an also-ran? It seemedthat way in the late 1960s. During the Infantino era,the Golden Age Flash of Earth-Two had appeared withhis younger counterpart six times between 1961 and1967 (Flash #123, 129, 137, 151, 170, and 173). OnceJay’s co-creator Gardner Fox—who’d written all butone of the 1960s team-ups—was gone from the book,the dual-Flash team-ups came to a screeching halt.

Jay—if not the team-ups—was back in 1970, firstas part of that year’s Justice League/Justice Societyteam-up (JLA #82–83) and then in his first solo storysince 1948’s Flash Comics #104. Scripted by BobKanigher with art by Murphy Anderson, the seven-pager in the back of Flash #201 went on sale a yearafter 1969’s Woodstock rock festival and hinged onJay and his wife Joan attending a similar event inStockwood. Also in attendance was 1940s bad guy theFiddler, who had his eye on “the million-dollar till.”It was a cute story filled with jokes about aging andthe generation gap but it didn’t inspire a follow-up.Instead, editor Julius Schwartz turned the backupsover to younger heroes like Kid Flash and theElongated Man.

A pair of “new” Golden Age Flash stories didappear in Flash #205 and 214, although both wereinventory pieces that had been left unpublished whenFlash Comics was canceled in 1948. Two pages of athird unused tale featuring Rose and the Thorn alsoappeared in Lois Lane #113, although the story didn’tappear in its entirety until 1995’s The Comics #10,a fanzine published by Robin Snyder.

After a five-year gap, the dual-Flash team-upsresumed in Flash #215 (May 1972), a Len Wein/IrvNovick-produced adventure wherein Vandal Savagemanipulated the two speedsters into recovering themeteor that had given him immortality. By the timeCary Bates wrote the heroes’ next meeting in 1974’sFlash #229, Jay really did seem to have lost his footing.He was struggling mightily to capture his old foeRag Doll until Barry discovered that the Thinker wasmentally toying with the elder speedster.

Flash #229 had been one of the series’ periodicreprint giants, and another was planned for issue #235,whose new lead would feature Vandal Savage and a smallrole for Jay. DC’s abandonment of its in-series specialsleft that issue’s reprints in limbo, but not for long.Noting that the art on some of DC’s 1940s stories wasprimitive by 1970s standards, reprint editor E. NelsonBridwell arranged to have two tales from 1946’s All-Flash#22 redrawn—one by Edgar Bercasio and the other byRico Rival—for Flash #235 and a later issue. After thatoption fell through, Bridwell got them into print inFour-Star Spectacular #1 and DC Super-Stars #5.

By that point, it was 1976 and the Justice Societywas back in its own comic book. As perhaps its most

The First Fastest Man AliveDetail from the Golden Age Flash chapter ofCary Bates’ DC Special Series #11 (1978). Art

by Kurt Schaffenberger and Murphy Anderson.TM & © DC Comics.

by J o h n W e l l s

Adventure Comics was one of DC Comics’ first comic books, and upuntil its cancellation with issue #503 (Sept. 1983) it was also oneof the company’s longest-running titles. Unlike Action Comics andDetective Comics, which featured Superman and Batman, respectively,Adventure Comics suffered from the lack of a stabilizing lead featureas it entered the early 1970s. The book took on a schizophrenicquality that saw lead features being rotated in and out on a regularbasis. During one of the book’s most memorable phases, from issue#459 (Oct. 1978) to 466 (Dec. 1979), it became a Dollar Comic andboasted a host of DC superheroes. Included in this initial rosterwere the Flash and Green Lantern. [Editor’s note: Dollar Comicswere DC’s late-1970s experiment to produce a range of thickerpackages with a higher price point in an effort to make comics moreprofitable for retailers. The full story of Dollar Comics was exploredin BACK ISSUE #57.]

“It was part of the [DC] Implosion in 1978,” says Paul Levitz, whoserved as the editor for the first three issues of Adventure Comics in itsDollar Comics format. “We were limiting the number of titles, and

doing a few as thicker Dollar Comics kept more projects going.”Indeed, while featured players the Flash and Green Lantern (andWonder Woman) had titles of their own, the new AdventureComics also featured a wide variety of characters that had no solotitle to call their own, including Aquaman, Deadman, the New

Gods, and the Elongated Man. As Levitz wrote in the frontand back cover’s editorial/title page of issue #459, “Adventure

Comics has no single super-star. Unlike Superman Familyor Batman Family there’s no hero dominating the entiremagazine, or setting the tone for all the storiesand characters … the fact that no hero dominatesAdventure Comics gives us tremendous flexibility,and we hope to use that to great advantage.”

While the role that Adventure Comics played inthe history of the Flash and Green Lantern is oftenoverlooked, there is significance to their Adventure

stories that impacted Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, andto a lesser degree, Jay Garrick and Alan Scott.

GL, A FLASH IN THE PANWhile there was no single super-star inAdventure, each issue, save one (#462, Apr. 1979),

opened with the Fastest Man Alive. All of the Flash stories inAdventure were written by Cary Bates, the writer responsible for thesolo Flash book, with art provided by The Flash’s regular penciler, IrvNovick. “[I have] no recollection of when I learned about the Dollarformat,” says Bates. “In those days I was always grateful for work,and Flash was obviously in my comfort zone.” If Bates was in hiscomfort zone, the Scarlet Speedster was being taken out of his,at least initially. As Levitz wrote in the first Dollar Comics issue,“Unlike the Central City/supporting cast-oriented epics that appearelsewhere, our stories will concentrate on aspects of the Fastest ManAlive that have been ignored the past few years. Future storylinesinclude journeys to far-off times and dimensions, and exploration ofthe unique powers that make Barry Allen the Flash.”

The first Flash Adventure story, “The Crimson Comets of FallvilleHigh,” finds Barry Allen attending his high-school reunion. Whilethere, a former classmate with the ability to read minds senses one

A Must-Buy ComicGL and Flash, plus Wonder Woman, headlined this firstissue of the Dollar Comics incarnation of AdventureComics, #459 (Oct. 1978). Cover by Jim Aparo.TM & © DC Comics.


paul levitz

by D a n J o h n s o n

© Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

TM


SIDESTEPPING CONTINUITYIn spite of what Andru promised, the events in Flash’s Adventure Comicsoutings never reflected the events that were unfolding in his own title.When Andru came in as the editor on the monthly Flash title, he and Batesset out to shake things up for Barry Allen. His first issue, The Flash #270,marked the beginning of a very tumultuous time for Barry Allen in a storyarc that would run until #284 (Apr. 1980) and included the death ofIris Allen. The death of the Scarlet Speedster’s wife was really only partof the hell that the Flash was put through, though, as John Wellsexplains in this issue’s Flash article. As the readers of The Flash were seeingevents unfold that would forever change the life of Barry Allen, andthe course of that book in the process, the readers of Adventure Comicssimply got some nice standalone stories that offered a reprieve from theturmoil and the paces that the Fastest Man Alive was being put throughin his own book. I asked Cary Bates if there had ever been any plandiscussed to combine the events of Flash with the Adventure Comics Flashfeature, and he says there were none that he recalls.

The first Flash story in Adventure Comics under Andru’s editorship,“The She-Demon of the Astral Plane!,” does make a passing mention ofthe Allens having some problems in their marriage, but for the most partthis tale of a monster from the astral plane that wishes to take over Iris’body after she agrees to undergo an experiment in astral projection byan old college boyfriend ignores the other events in The Flash. One thingthe story does offer that would be key in Barry Allen’s future adventuresis the feature’s new penciler, Don Heck. “If we’ve had an immediateimpact on this magazine it’s in the artistic changes that begin in thisissue,” wrote Andru. “Don Heck takes over the penciling chores onthe Flash and José Luis García-López on Deadman, with Irv Novickand [Deadman artist] Jim Aparo moving over to the Batman group ofmagazines down the hall.” Heck drew the Flash feature in Adventure forthe rest of the run, save for the final installment, and then transitionedover to Flash starting with #280 (Dec. 1979), where he remained until#295 (Mar. 1981). “Since I had no say about who the Flash artist(s)would be at any given time, my main concern was always trying to givethem the strongest script possible in visual terms,” says Bates. “Seeinghow I myself was a childhood Flash fan, I will concede in my own mindI would always imagine it was Carmine Infantino drawing my stories,regardless of who the actual artist was. As you know, by a fortunate twist

Three Flash ArtistsTitle pages from a

trio of Adventurestories, penciled by

(top left) Irv Novick,from issue #460;

(top right) Don Heck,from #462; and

(bottom) MichaelNasser, from #466.

Scans courtesy ofJohn Wells.

TM & © DC Comics.

DC editor Julius Schwartz was a clever, clever man. Not only was heresponsible for the Silver Age revivals of most of the company’ssuperheroes (Flash, the Justice League, Batman, Hawkman, the Atom,and many more), but he was always looking for a “hook,” a “twist”—a way to set that hero’s next adventure apart from all that had comebefore. “Be original!” was a phrase he barked at dozens of his writers(including me) over the course of his career. Historians know of Julie’smany “be original” accomplishments, but one that too often getsoverlooked is his invention of the Annual Event.

Julie loved his Annual Events. Sales on the very first GoldenAge/Silver Age Flash team-up (The Flash #123, Sept. 1961) were sostrong that Schwartz scheduled a Double-Flash story every spring.One of these led to the revival of the Justice Society in 1963, andfor nearly 25 years, readers could count on seeing a bombasticJustice League/Justice Society crossover every summer in JusticeLeague of America.

But even before the JSA resurfaced, Julie first reachedoutside the doppelganger trope and—perhaps inspiredby the time-tested Superman/Batman team in MortWeisinger’s World’s Finest Comics—took two verydissimilar characters in his editorial stable andforged a lifelong friendship between them. In GreenLantern #13 (June 1962), Scarlet Speedster BarryAllen joined his fiancée, reporter Iris West, on aCalifornia assignment to interview test pilot HalJordan. Despite the fact that Barry (as the Flash) andHal (as Green Lantern) served together on the JusticeLeague, neither knew of the other’s dual identity—but when fate teamed them up to thwart an alieninvasion, their secrets were revealed, creating a bondof brotherhood between them. At the end of thetale, this statement was made to the readers: “Thisis the first of a proposed series of stories featuring Green Lanternand the Flash working together as a team! If you would like to seemore of this dynamic duo in action, let us know!”

And with that, another Schwartz Annual Event was born.For the rest of the decade, skipping only 1968 (a year in whichGreen Lantern’s personal life was in violent transition), the EmeraldGladiator and the Fastest Man Alive took turns guest-starring in eachother’s books, usually the ones cover-dated March. Over the years,they fought alien conquerors, supervillains like Major Disaster andT. O. Morrow, and … well, okay, more aliens. Schwartz was big onaliens, but to be fair, no ordinary Earth-born villain was likely to beable to defeat such a winning team.

But why did they click? How is it they worked so well together?Schwartz tried a few more combos in the Silver Age—Starman andBlack Canary, Dr. Fate and Hourman, Batman and Elongated Man,the Earth-One and Earth-Two Atoms—but they didn’t take. (He nevereven bothered pairing up the Golden and Silver Age Hawkmans.)Yes, Flash and GL were the biggest superpowered stars in Schwartz’seditorial stable, but there had to have been more to it than that—and I believe that 1968, the first “skip year” for the team, provided aclue that I picked up on some 31 years later.

Fast FriendsBarry Kitson deliciously renders Barry’s and Hal’s pals and

gals on the cover of the Waid/Peyer-written Flash &Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold #1 (Oct. 1999).

TM & © DC Comics.

by M a r k W a i d

mark waid© Luigi Novi / WikimediaCommons.



Almost everything I’ve ever needed to know aboutGreen Lantern Hal Jordan’s character I learned at theage of ten when reading my first Green Lantern story,“…And Through Him Save a World!” in Green Lantern(co-starring Green Arrow) #89 (Apr.–May 1972).

In this classic “relevance” story by writer DennyO’Neil and artist Neal Adams, edited by JuliusSchwartz, there would be no mention of GL’s civilianidentity, Hal Jordan; of Hal being a former test pilotat Ferris Aircraft, a company run by his girlfriend, CarolFerris; that he was a member of the Green LanternCorps, proudly protecting his sector (2814) of thegalaxy; and that his superiors were red-robed, littleblue men known as the Guardians of the Universe.That history would be filled in for me later. Here, forthe first time, I got inside Hal’s head. I saw him reflecton a country steeped in beauty but marred byindustrial pollution, and bore witness to his strongsense of law and order. Yet, Green Lantern did not letduty blind him. When Hal realized he was wrong, hecould swallow his pride and willingly change.

In this tale, change was brought on by tragedy.Isaac, an ecological activist who had been vandalizingand sabotaging Ferris Aircraft property, had chainedhimself, crucifixion-style, to a grounded Ferris airplanethat was set to test a new fuel that could seriouslyharm the environment. Up until this point, GreenLantern had sided with the law, aiding in Isaac’sarrest, while his partner, Green Arrow, had joinedIsaac’s cause. GL soon realized the nobility of Isaac’sactions, although it was too late to prevent Isaac’sdeath from the pollution that ravaged his lungs. WithIsaac laying lifelessly at his feet, GL stood hurt andangry, and listened with growing frustration asCarol’s assistant foreman called Isaac crazy and Carolinsensitively stated that progress must always claimvictims. GL snapped, and with a burst of will and asweep of his power-ring charge he destroyed theairplane, dramatically, effectively stating that this kindof progress was not worth the cost of a human life.“What’s the idea?” shouted the foreman. “That was anine-million dollar aircraft!” “Send me a bill!” GreenLantern dared, turning away.

Hal’s reaction remains tremendously moving.Here was a man who could be stubborn when itcame to duty, conflicted by mixed emotions, yetaware that in all of us there reside gray areas of rightand wrong. Then and there Green Lantern becamemy favorite superhero, and Hal Jordan my favoritecomic-book character.

What I also did not know at that time was that Halhad come a long way from years of personal turmoilthat had eaten away at his pride and confidence, andmore recent accusations of alleged inexperience whenit came to his performance as a Green Lantern.

On-Again, Off-Again HeroHal Jordan calls it quits on this unforgettable

Dave Gibbons cover to Green Lantern#181 (Oct. 1984).

TM & © DC Comics.

by J i m K i n g m a n

prevalent, and he decided to leave Coast City. Distraught, he told Tom,“…I can’t stay here in the same city with Carol—knowing that she willbe married to another man!” “And so,” announced the closing narration,“Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan becomes a wanderer—a drifter!” With that,Hal began this first, much lesser-acknowledged road trip across America.

For the remainder of the 1960s, Hal wandered the country formonths, living in motels, looking for jobs, and, of course, battling evilas Green Lantern. He took on three jobs: first, flying tourists onsightseeing trips over Idaho; then, as an insurance-claims adjuster; andfinally, as a traveling salesman for the Merlin Toy Company.

During his stint at the Idaho job, he learned that a girl he’d just metonly adored Green Lantern. Disappointed, Hal hit the road in his sta-tion wagon. He wound up in a small city in the state of Washington,where he took a job as an insurance claims adjuster. During one ofhis vacations, he became involved with a new lady friend, EveDoremus. Much to Hal’s satisfaction, she preferred Hal over his alterego, Green Lantern. For a few months, Hal’s life began to settle down. Hisrelationship with Eve improved to steady boyfriend/girlfriend status, andhis insurance job remained solid. But then Hal’s personal life took anunsettling turn. Green Lantern saw Eve with another man.

It became one big shake-up after another in Hal’s life, with GreenLantern #69 depicting a disturbing sequence of events. Finding himselfrepulsed by another woman who turned out to be an extraterrestrial,confronted by Carol Ferris one last time before she married (and nothandling the situation particularly well), and still smarting from seeingEve with another suitor, Hal decided to quit his job in Evergreen City andbecome a wanderer once more. Fortunately, Hal moved on to somethingpotentially happier: traveling salesman for the Merlin Toy Company! Itwouldn’t be all fun and games, however, as he faced tough competitionfrom his rival, Olivia Reynolds, who bore a striking resemblance to Eve.

DYSFUNCTIONAL ALTER EGOIn Green Lantern #73 (Dec. 1969) and 74 (Jan. 1970),Hal returned to Coast City, encountered Tom Kalmaku,and was astonished to learn from Carol Ferris that shehad broken off her engagement to Jason Belmore. She

admitted to using Jason for his money, power, andglamour, but in the end Jason was no match for GreenLantern. Hal resisted temptation, and it was his rusheddeparture that caused an emotionally stricken Carolto transform into her alter ego Star Sapphire, potentialqueen of the Zamorans on a distant world. Fortunately,

it was a toy rocket that saved Hal from the amnesiacbanishment instilled on him by the transformed Carol.After defeating Star Sapphire and Sinestro, his greatestfoe, Hal forced Carol to face her insecurities andsuppressed identity as Star Sapphire. GL then changedto Hal Jordan and shifted his thoughts to Olivia Reynolds.

Olivia returned in Green Lantern #75 (Mar. 1970), stricken by amysterious illness triggered by the tremendous force of the “U-Mind”embedded inside of her. Hal saved her, of course, but the doctor treatingher received the credit, and Olivia appeared attracted to that.

“I think Hal would have lots of casual relationships with women,” sayswriter Mike W. Barr, who chronicled GL’s adventures in Green Lantern#154–164, “simply by nature of his personality. Meeting Carol wouldhave hit him like a ton of bricks as he realized Carol was a woman—andperhaps the first woman he ever met—who was his match in careerdrive. He would certainly pursue Carol, but he wouldn’t sit aroundmoping if she wasn’t available. Thus the casual relationships. Not that

Kiss and Make Up(top) After their reconciliation in the previous issue, HalJordan and Carol Ferris get reacquainted in Green Lantern#84. (bottom) An undated GL sketch by Neal Adams, cour-tesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.


MIKE W. BARR


There are stories that have never been told … andthen there are stories that have been told but justnever got published.

Over the course of my years in the comic-bookbusiness, I’ve had a (relative) handful of stories that fallinto the latter category. Including five different issuesof three separate magazines starring Green Lantern.

Needless to say, as a 1960s comic-book fan growingup in the shining light that was the Julius Schwartz-editedworld of DC superheroes, I was an early and devotedfan of Hal Jordan. Green Lantern, along with the rest ofSchwartz’s heroic stable, was about the best DC had tooffer in those days. Unlike most of the rest of the DC line atthe time, his stories always felt rooted in at least a sort-of-real-world scientific logic that played off long-establishedand comfortable science-fiction tropes. Julie kept ashelf full of science textbooks in his cabinet that heused for reference and inspiration. The filler pages inhis books weren’t “Cap’s Hobby Hints” or “Casey theCop” but “Flash Facts” and “Spotlight on Science.”

STRANGE SCHWARTZ TALESMy association with Green Lantern—or should I say,with the Green Lanterns—began not under the auspicesof the great Schwartz, but for later editor Dave Manak,in Green Lantern #148 (Jan. 1982), with an untitled“Tales of the Green Lantern Corps”story that introduced my one andonly enduring contribution to thepre–Crisis GL mythos, the GreenLantern from H’lven, Ch’p, the bushy-tailed chipmunk member of theCorps. Thirteen more GL Corps storiesfollowed, along with a GL Corps Annualand a (published!) fill-in, GL #187(Apr. 1985), before the post–CrisisEnglehart/Staton run began.

But, circa 1985, I was finally towrite an issue of Green Lantern aboutHal Jordan, and for Julie Schwartz.

In anticipation of the majorchanges coming to the DC Universein the aftermath of 1985–1986’s Crisison Infinite Earths, Julie was wrappingup his run as editor of the Superman titles with thetwo-part “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”crossover in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583,and DC Comics Presents #97 (all cover-dated Sept. 1986);the Superboy and Supergirl titles (written by yours truly)had already come to end with #54 (June 1984) and#23 (Sept. 1984), respectively; and he was also about

Your Three Favorite Heroes—Together!Rick Stasi’s suggested color guide for page oneof the unpublished Green Lantern fill-in, writtenby Paul Kupperberg, with art by Rick Stasi and

Bruce Patterson. Artwork accompanying thisarticle is courtesy of Paul Kupperberg.

TM & © DC Comics...

paul kupperberg

by P a u l K u p p e r b e r g

TM

Larry Niven, the GreenLantern bible, and the

Guardian known as Ganthet


From the very beginning, Green Lantern has hadconnections with literary science fiction—his “Inbrightest day/In blackest night” oath was originallywritten by The Stars My Destination author Alfred Bester,and the names of Green Lanterns Arisa and Eddore paidhomage to the Lensmen books of E. E. “Doc” Smith.

But the biggest GL/SF crossover yet came fromrenowned science-fiction author Larry Niven. At therequest of DC Comics, Niven wrote a comprehensiveGreen Lantern bible mapping out the entire 15-billion-year history of the Guardians of the Universe, which ledto Ganthet’s Tale, a 1992 one-shot revealing much ofthat secret history.

LOOKING INTO CREATIONTo properly understand Ganthet’s Tale, we need tolook back to its origin. It was 1989, Hal Jordan’s 30thAnniversary year, and classic GL writer Denny O’Neil hadjust become the new Green Lantern editor.

DAN RASPLER, Assistant to Editor Denny O’Neil:One of the themes of Denny’s illustrious comics careerhas been to insert some form of reality into the fancifulworld of superheroes. I know he’s tired of hearingabout it, but that now-classic Green Lantern/GreenArrow #76 (the one that inserted “relevance” into the DCUniverse) was a real revolution. I worked in his officefor years, and since I was an enthusiastic superherofan, it sometimes resulted in some funny argumentsand Denny shaking his head in dismay.

Denny hadn’t been editing a GL comic (GreenLantern Corps had been Andy Helfer’s title), but thatfranchise went to Denny when we started up ActionComics Weekly. After ACW ended [in 1989], GreenLantern sort of languished for a while (there were afew specials, but not a monthly title). Then Dennywas tasked by [editorial director] Dick Giordano toshake up the Green Lantern franchise. Naturally,Denny’s impulse was to add a strong dose of reality.I remember him talking about the absurdity of asingle individual being assigned responsibility of1/3600th of the galaxy, of the outrageous arroganceof the Oans declaring themselves the Guardians of theGalaxy, and so on. “Actually, they’re the Guardians ofthe Universe, Denny,” was my precocious comics-nerdcorrection. “That’s even more ridiculous!” he’d cry.He’s right, of course, but also wrong—becausesuperheroes are wonderful kid stuff, and I don’t thinkthey need any more reality … but that’s just me.Anyway, Denny’s impulse was to look outside ofcomics, to bring in a science-fiction writer to addsome hard science to the traditionally vague GreenLantern cosmology.

Niven’s PlaygroundThe GL-loaded cover to Green Lantern:

Ganthet’s Tale (1992), with foil logo. Coverart by John Byrne, with colors by Matt Webb.

TM & © DC Comics.

by J o h n Tr u m b u l l

[Editor’s note: Response to Bob Greenberger’s request for DC office storiesfar exceeded our expectations—and our allocated page count. Pleaseforgive the condensed layout of this feature, but these remembrances werefar too enticing to edit or serialize.]

DC Comics closes the door on an era of its history in April 2015 when itrelocates from New York City, the birth of comic-book publishing, to bepart of the Warner Bros. complex in Burbank, California. The move issignificant in terms of how the business has changed, and has emotionalresonance for those who worked there and for the fans who visited theoffices, dreaming of a chance to one day work there.

Todd Klein, at his website KleinLetters.com, has been doing a seriesof in-depth features on the various places the company would call home.He politely declined to share his memories, saving them for his own space.He did, though, share DC’s early history. Irwin Donenfeld was first recordedin 1932 to have his pulp-magazine companies based on the 9th floor of 480Lexington, lasting there through 1960. He added distribution with PaulSampliner, becoming Independent News, and comic-book publishing withJack Liebowitz, becoming National Allied Publications, Inc. Major MalcolmWheeler-Nicholson’s last offices for his fledging comic-book company,before losing it to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, was at 49 West 45th Street.

Todd’s research revealed that Detective Comics, Inc. listed its offices at 432Fourth Avenue (Park Avenue South), which he assumed to be a mail drop.

When Donenfeld partnered with Max Gaines to form sister companyAll-American Publications, they established offices at 225 Lafayette Street,on the corner of Spring Street. After Gaines sold out his share, the comic-book staff relocated to Lexington Avenue while Gaines remained at 225Lafayette, giving birth to EC Comics.

Around the time National Comics changed its name to NationalPeriodical Publications, Inc., they also relocated up the block to 575Lexington. What follows are building-by-building memories from a varietyof professionals who graciously gave their time to reminisce.

ROY THOMAS, fan, writer, editorI recall that, the morning I first arrived in June of 1965, walking upLexington Avenue with my suitcase and electric typewriter in either hand(I’d just got to town and had nowhere to stay yet); I was so excitedabout my new job as editor Mort Weisinger’s assistant editor on theSuperman books that I marched a block or two past the correct address

and had to double back, my load getting heavier all the time. The officeswere laid out in a row for the editors, with a big bullpen area (youshould excuse the expression) off those. Because of my relationshipwith Mort, I quickly got to hate the office I shared with the woman whowas Jack Miller’s assistant on the romance titles (and who never spokea word to me until two minutes before I left the place forever).

Still, my memories of the other things up there continue to shine.Joe Kubert, my favorite artist since I was, like, four, was very friendlyand took a bit of time to talk to me that first day, since Mort somehowmanaged to affect surprise at my arriving precisely when we hadagreed that I would and informed me he couldn’t start paying me tillthe following week. Joe’s kindness made it all a bit more endurable …even more was that of Murphy Anderson, who invited me to standaround and talk with him one of those very first afternoons after 5:00,and I marveled at seeing a Hawkman page appear virtually before myeyes. How many people worked in that bullpen area? How many deskswere there … how were they arranged? I couldn’t have told you, thenor now … but I remember Joe and Murphy … and a few kind wordsfrom production man Ed Eisenberg, as well. Julie Schwartz was friendly,too, with just a few words … he didn’t want Mort think he was poachingon his preserve, in all probability. And going to lunch one day withMort and writer Otto Binder was a highlight. One of the few, I fear,before a happy happenstance allowed me to depart for Marvel Comicsafter eight days in the DC offices. Which is weird, because I’d alwayswanted to work for DC, and had never even considered working forMarvel (or that Stan Lee wanted anybody to do any writing or editingfor that company).

I was up there once or twice during the latter part of CarmineInfantino’s reign, in the mid-’70s. Gerry Conway brought me over, veryhush-hush, to talk to Carmine, and we discussed in a vague way the ideaof my coming back to DC sometime. I used the occasion to plug one ortwo ideas which Carmine liked, such as bringing back The New Gods afterKirby had gone back to Marvel. But I didn’t spend a lot of time there,as I wasn’t eager for word to get back to Marvel that I’d been there.

In the early 1980s, after I’d signed a contract with DC, I was up atthe offices a number of times at Rockefeller Center or wherever it was,but I never could relax there. I always felt like an outsider, despite myaffection for Dick Giordano and Pat Bastienne … and Julie, who wasthere off and on. I can still draw a picture of the Marvel offices in 1965… but I couldn’t draw you a map of the DC offices at any time andget anything right except the fact that there were two or three othereditors’ offices in between the one I shared with the romance editor


575 LEXINGTON AVENUE

assembled by R o b e r t G r e e n b e r g e r

TM & © DC Comics.

575 LEXINGTON AVENUE(top) Strange Adventures #134

(Nov. 1961) was where(middle) DC’s fabled

headquarters was shown asthe “golden skyscraper.”(bottom) A tour of DC’s

offices, circa late 1967, asshown in The Inferior Five #6.

Art TM & © DC Comics.

and Mort’s. Which was not nearly enough. When he wanted me, hebuzzed … and I reacted like a rat right out of Pavlov, scurrying downthe hall to receive the latest verbal assault.

Too bad, too … because there was history in those halls, in thoseoffices, and most especially in the people who resided in them … and Iwish I’d been able to relax a bit more and appreciate them all, be it in the’60s or ’70s or ’80s. DC was a New York City company, born and bred,even if its heroes lived in Metropolis, Gotham City, Star City, CentralCity, Coast City, Midway City, and the rest. During the ’80s, the onlypresence DC had in Hollywood was when Dick G. would fly out everyfew weeks and I’d drive up to the Warner lot to have lunch with him.Having DC move to L.A. is a bit like when Johnny Carson abandonedNYC for L.A. There’s a sense of loss. But everything changes…

MARV WOLFMAN, fan, writer, editorI started going on the DC tours, which in its early days wereconducted twice a week, back in the very early 1960s. DC was,I think, on the 8th floor of 575 Lexington Avenue, in the goldenGroiler building, which was built only a few years earlier in 1958.Years later, Julie Schwartz had aliens kidnap the building in an issue[#134] of Strange Adventures, but those of us who visited it knew itwas safely ensconced on 51st Street and Lexington. The tours back

then were conducted by Walter Hurlacheck, who worked in DC’sproduction department.

We—the fans—would all meet in DC’s outer lobby, a small areawith a few chairs and the receptionist’s cubicle. Behind the receptionist,on the wall, was a large painting of Superman. While waiting forthe tour to start, the receptionist would sometimes hand outbound volumes of old DC comics. And yes, they went back to the firstissues of Superman. I got to read lots of the Golden Age that way.

When you walked through the receptionist’s door, to the right wereeditor’s offices and to the left were file cabinets. My memory of thosedays is a tad fuzzy so forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think the romancecomic editors (Jack Miller and company) were in the first office. MurrayBoltinoff, Jack Schiff, and George Kashdan were in the second. MortWeisinger was in the third. I’m guessing Julie Schwartz and BobKanigher were in the next one. After that were business offices—IrwinDonenfeld, Jack Liebowitz, etc. We never went down that far.

As I said, to the left were file cabinets filled with art, which Walterwould show us of upcoming books. After the row of cabinets, to theleft, was the door into the production department. Everyone elseworked there. The only two artists who seemed to work up at theoffices on most days were Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson,and they sat in the middle of production.

I’m sure others will talk of this, too, but one day as we were nearthe file cabinets, Sol Harrison, who ran production, was wheeling out a


BACK ISSUE #80“Flash and Green Lantern in the Bronze Age” (crossover withALTER EGO #132)! In-depth spotlights of their 1970s and 1980sadventures, MARK WAID’s look at the Flash/GL team, and PAULKUPPERBERG’s Lost GL Fill-ins. Bonus: DC’s New York OfficeMemories, and Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale by LARRY NIVENand JOHN BYRNE. With BARR, BATES, GIBBONS, GRELL, INFAN-TINO, WEIN, and more. Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95(Digital Edition) $3.95

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