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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/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email:[email protected]. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 SurfaceInternational. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.Cover art by Nick Cardy. Superman and related characters 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 and TwoMorrows 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.

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Volume 1,Number 81July 2015

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTNick Cardy (E.N.B. headshotby Dave Manak)

COVER COLORISTGlenn Whitmore

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

PROOFREADERRob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKSNeal AdamsSergio AragonésRobert BeerbohmEdgar BercasioJerry BoydPat BroderickGary BrownCary BurkettComic Book ArtistDC ComicsSteve EnglehartJohn EuryStephan FriedtCarl GaffordMike GoldGrand Comics

Database Bob GreenbergerJack C. HarrisKarl Heitmueller, Jr.Heritage Comics

AuctionsDan JohnsonRob KellyJim KingmanPaul KupperbergPaul Levitz

Chris MarshallDavid MichelinieMartin PaskoJeff RovinBob RozakisWalter SimonsonSteve SkeatesProf. Manuela SoaresBryan D. StroudLinda SunshineLaurie SuttonRoy ThomasMaggie ThompsonMike TiefenbacherAnthony TollinJohn TrumbullMichael UslanMark WaidCarolyn WallaceJohn WellsBernie Wrightson

Dedicated to thememory ofE. Nelson Bridwell

D C B r o n z e A g e G i a n t s a n d R e p r i n t s • B A C K I S S U E • 1

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Remembering E. Nelson Bridwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

FLASHBACK: A Look at the Super Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

FANTASY COVER GALLERY: The Super Spectaculars That Weren’t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

PRINCE STREET NEWS: History on the Spinner Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

FLASHBACK: Super DC Giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Wanted, the World’s Most Dangerous Villains . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

WHAT THE--?!: The Inferior Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

FLASHBACK: Reprint Madness: DC’s Short-Lived Reprint Line of 1972–1973 . . . . . . . . .47

FLASHBACK: Secret Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

FLASHBACK: DC’s Bronze Age Reprint Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

FLASHBACK: Terminated Classics: The DC Implosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

FLASHBACK: DC’s Bronze Age Collected Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

INTERVIEW: A Fireside (Books) Chat with Michael Uslan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

FLASHBACK: DC’s Bronze Age Paperbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

BEYOND CAPES: The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

FLASHBACK: DC’s Deluxe Reprint Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Our BACK TALK letters column will return next issue.

Bronze Age babies stuffed themselves silly on a smorgas-bord of scrumptious super-snacks: relevant superheroes,Kirby is Coming!, Kirby is going, Limited Collectors’Editions and Marvel Treasury Editions, black-and-whitemagazines, Shazam!, Super Friends, ElectraWomanand DynaGirl, 7-11 superhero Slurpee cups, Underoos,Megos, Hostess comic-book ads, Six Million DollarMan and Bionic Woman, Marvel Value Stamps, KISS inthe Marvel Universe, Power Records, Fireside tradepaperbacks, DC and Marvel calendars—the 1970switnessed an explosion of comics innovations, comicsformats, and comics-related merchandising. These andother favorites cheerfully colored our childhoods.

Amid these pop-culture marvels, the meatiest andmightiest of them all was the DC 100-Page SuperSpectacular, DC Comics’ squarebound mega-formatoffering a super page count and “the BiggestBargain in Comics” for a price of a mere two quarters(later, 60 cents). The “Super Specs,” as they wereaffectionately called, afforded readers a super-abilitythat even the miraculous Man of Steel couldn’t boast:peer-into-the-past vision!

With E. Nelson Bridwell (and other editors) hand-picking a selection of Golden and Silver Age gems thatour dads or grandpas might’ve read (and a few moms,too), the Super Specs unlocked the vault of DC’s decades-deep library. Never mind the fact that many of thesereprints were crudely etched and often preposterous—we were being made privy to the original adventures ofEarth-Two heroes (the Golden Age Flash, Starman, etc.)we knew from appearances in Justice League of Americaand other Julius Schwartz-edited titles, plus we met oldcharacters new to us (Air Wave, the Boy Commandos,Super-Chief, etc.)! And with their dynamic wraparound(originally, at least) covers by luminaries like Neal Adamsand Nick Cardy, it’s no wonder that DC 100-PageSuper Spectacular, which first appeared in 1971, soongrew from a worthy successor to the Silver Age’sbeloved 80-Page Giants to an exciting new formatthat, some hoped, might save a sagging industry.

Let us open the covers of these classics (but everso gently, so as not to break their delicate squarebindings) and gaze through those selfsame SuperSpecs for a clearer view of a group of comics that havebecome cherished by many longtime fans and highlysought-after by collectors.

LAND OF THE GIANTSBefore we dive into the Super Spectaculars, first we’lltake a quick detour to learn how comics Giantscame about.

Awhile back I read an online column calling DC’s80-Page Giants the trade paperbacks of their day.

At face value, that’s true. DC’s 80-pagers, and the100-pagers we’ll soon explore, did provide a selectionof older stories collected in a single volume.

The First Super SpectacularDC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #4 (DC-4),

1971’s “Weird Mystery Tales,” with its spookycover by Bernie (then Berni) Wrightson.

TM & © DC Comics.

4 • B A C K I S S U E • D C B r o n z e A g e G i a n t s a n d R e p r i n t s

by Mi c h a e l E u r y

Nick Cardy (DC’s main cover artist of the early 1970s, who wouldsoon become the main Super Spec cover artist as well) with #DC-11.Neal Adams returned for Superman #252’s unforgettable wraparoundcover, with its sky full of “flying heroes.” A few of these Super Specsincluded fillers and special features (see index following), as well asletters columns. Those lettercols were roundups for reader mail fromprevious Giants, either for the host hero’s title or for random titles.Adventure #416’s “Super-Spectacular Fe-Mail” column was a noteworthycatch-all, featuring an eclectic gathering of missives covering everythingfrom Supergirl (regarding Super DC Giant #S-24) to commentaryabout the Viking Prince (DC Special #12), Plastic Man (DC Special#15), and Aquaman (Super DC Giant #S-26).

And then, once again, the Super Spectaculars disappeared!

YOUR DEMAND IS OUR COMMANDIn May 1972, with its issues cover-dated July 1972, DC Comicsabandoned its “Bigger and Better” 52-page, 25-cent format, jettisonedits backup reprints, and reduced its page count to 32 and its price to20 cents. Over the course of the next few months, a handful of 20-centreprint titles began to appear, including the ongoing Wanted, theWorld’s Most Dangerous Villains and two issues of The Inferior Five.Near the year’s end, the tabloid-sized Limited Collectors’ Editiondebuted with #C-20, featuring Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.(The super-sized BACK ISSUE #61 was dedicated to tabloid comics,hence their exclusion from this “Giants and Reprints” issue.)

But healthy sales and reader response to the previous spate ofSuper Specs were sufficient to revive the series for another run.On the day after Christmas 1972, a new Batman 100-pager wasreleased—with yet another change in the series’ title. The “DC”was dropped from its official title, the series now becoming100-Page Super Spectacular; the DC-prefixed number-ing continued.

“Okay—you asked for us to bring back the SuperSpectaculars—so here they are—one of ’em, anyway!”wrote editor Bridwell in 100-Page Super Spectacular#DC-14, starring Batman, in its “A Look Through theSuper Spectacles” lettercol. The Batman issue wasinitially planned for a May 1972 release (before DC’sdecision to drop its page count and cover price), theeditor wrote. E.N.B. also revealed the series’ nextwave: “Future Specs will include House of Mystery,Superboy, [Our] Army at War, Shazam!, Superman,Justice League, and Flash, among others—at least,those are our current plans.” (Of those plans, only aHalloween-released House of Mystery edition, promised in issues#DC-14 and DC-15, did not materialize, although HoM eventuallyconverted to the 100-page format.) Bridwell invited readers to sharetheir wishes for Super Specs, even asking for input for how manypages the host character should receive. He also stated that the SuperSpecs’ general rule of thumb was that a DC story must be at least fiveyears old to be considered for reprinting.

E.N.B’s “A Look Through the Super Spectacles” columns werealmost as entertaining as the reprints themselves. In those days fanshad few outlets to discover the behind-the-scenes processes ofcomic books, so the intimacy afforded by Bridwell made even thepudgy, pimple-faced kid living in Concord, North Carolina, feel likehe had a seat at the DC editorial table. If there were no lettersavailable, such as in the case of 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-17,starring the Justice League of America, Bridwell would offer characterhistories, as he did in that very issue by providing a rundown of JSAand JLA members, even citing the issue numbers where they joinedtheir respective teams.

The “Super Spectacles” lettercol in issue #DC-22, the second 100-pager to star the Flash, wassignificant for a few reasons, starting with E.N.B.’saforementioned remark about the unusual num-bering of the Super Specs’ first issue. In responseto a former soldier’s lament about missing some

of the Specs, Bridwell offered a listing of all of the100-pagers that had thus far been published,including their content. He responded to anotherreader by contending the reason for the SuperSpecs’ publication was “to publish something specialfor you—and … to make money,” hinting that

subscriptions to 100-pagers might soon happen. That promisecame true, but in a manner unexpected by readers.

A NEW, REGULAR FORMATThat Flash edition, #DC-22, was the last issue of 100-Page SuperSpectacular.

Yet the Super Specs lived on. Beginning the next month, a varietyof titles previously published in the traditional 32-page format wereretooled as bimonthly 100-pagers mixing new and old stories, startingwith Detective Comics #438 and Young Love #107. For the time being,in the traditional started with the Giants, one other ongoing DC titlewould also receive a 100-page special issue, starting with Shazam! #8.

This move caught most readers off-guard. For the reasoningbehind this format change, we turn to one of comics’ most eloquentand talented wordsmiths, the late Archie Goodwin. At that time,Goodwin had just jumped to DC Comics from Marvel for a short butcelebrated stint and took over Detective Comics from its previouseditor, Julius “Julie” Schwartz.

D C B r o n z e A g e G i a n t s a n d R e p r i n t s • B A C K I S S U E • 1 1

Girls Love Super Specs, TooHouse ad for the first issue of Young Love to appear in

the Super Spectacular format, #197.TM & © DC Comics.

archie goodwin

be choice reprints carefully selected from DC’s thirty-plusyears of outstanding comics. It’s as though we took thebook you’ve been buying and added three more to it.Four books rolled into one giant at the cost of less thanthree bought separately.

Okay. So it’s a bargain. Nice people though we maybe at DC, something more must have motivated anexperiment like this than thinking, “Hey! What great newbargain can we give the readers this month?” Right? Right.The answer lies at your local newsstand … or candy store,or super-market, or wherever you go to buy comics andmagazines. That newsstand is flooded with material.So many kinds of periodicals are appearing today, onenewsstand couldn’t begin to display them all. So theydon’t. And much of the time, what doesn’t get put out isthe comic book because there is very little profit for a news-dealer when he sells a 20 cent comic; certainly not as muchas when compared to most magazines which go for 75cents or a dollar. Now, that’s bad, but that’s not all of it.Newsstands get their books and magazines from distributorswho service large areas sometimes comprising manystates. The same problems comics have with newsstands,they have with distributors, only on a much larger scale.If there’s a glut of items to be distributed, what often getsleft behind in the darkness of the warehouse is thelow-profit article. And that’s the 20 cent comic. What isn’tdisplayed and distributed doesn’t get sold.

Most people I know involved in creating comics, thoseat DC and those at other companies as well, enjoy whatthey’re doing, taking great pride and satisfaction whenthey do it well. But we still can’t escape the fact that it’s abusiness and if some sort of profit can’t be made, we can’tcontinue to do the work we love. So, that’s why this is avery important issue of DETECTIVE COMICS. This, andother larger-sized, higher-priced books from DC, is anattempt to make comics completely competitive with allthe other items the distributors and newsdealers handle,so it will be out there where you can find it and buy it ifyou want it. And, of course, we’re going to be working veryhard to make sure DETECTIVE is something you want!

© 1973 DC Comics.

In three paragraphs, Archie Goodwin had respectedhis readers’ intelligence while clearly explaining acomplex business scenario—without resorting to“Let’s rap!” jargon. Little did Archie himself realize hiscomments’ prescience. This 100-page format changewould be DC’s first such attempt (the Dollar Comicsof the late ’70s being another) to chisel a toehold intoa retail environment that was squeezing out comicbooks. Within a few years the direct-sales market andthe comic-book shop would emerge … but that is astory for another day.

Goodwin wrote 20 pages of new material for eachissue of ’Tec he edited—a 12-page Batman lead story(except for #439’s “Night of the Stalker,” written bySteve Englehart) and an eight-page backup starringManhunter, drawn by Walter Simonson, an innovativenew take on an old character that would earn its creativeteam and DC multiple awards and accolades. (See BACKISSUE #64 to learn more about Manhunter.) Archie’sBatman tales were gloriously rendered by several topand up-and-coming artists, starting with Jim Aparoand including Howard Chaykin, Sal Amendola, andAlex Toth.

As Goodwin noted, Batman, edited by JulieSchwartz, switched to the 100-page format withissue #254, appearing the month after Detective#438. That bimonthly rotation continued, with Young

Love and Young Romance also expanding into SuperSpecs and appearing in alternating months, as wellas being reassigned from editor E. Nelson Bridwellto Joe Simon. The romance Super Specs’ reprintswere often retitled (an example: “Believe It Or Not—It’s Love!” from 1966’s Young Love #56 became “CanThis Hassle Be Love?” when it reappeared in 1974’sSuper Spec Young Love #111), making the indexingof their source material impractical in some cases.Art corrections were made on many of the romancereprints to update their hairstyles and fashions forcontemporary readers.

Within a few months, Super Specs became DC’snew format du jour: Justice League of America, TheBrave and the Bold, House of Mystery, Tarzan, Shazam!,The Unexpected, and World’s Finest Comics took the100-page, bimonthly plunge.

Joining them was one newly created Super Spectitle. Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen; Superman’s GirlFriend, Lois Lane; and Supergirl were canceled—actually,they were blended into the bimonthly SupermanFamily, continuing Jimmy Olsen’s numbering andlaunching with issue #164 (Apr.–May 1974). Jimmyheadlined that issue with 20 pages of new material,backed up by reprints. Superman Family’s assistanteditor E. Nelson Bridwell explained the series’ formatin that first issue’s lettercol: “The next issue will starSUPERGIRL in a shiny-bright, brand-new 20-pagestory, which subsequently will be followed by LOISLANE. Then, JIMMY OLSEN will reappear in thisround robin, etc.” Those three Super-stars’ adventureswere joined by reprints from various Supermanfamily titles, often rebranded from their original stars’logos into tales starring Perry White, Krypto, LanaLang, and even Pete Ross. (Superman Family wasexplored at length in BACK ISSUE #62.)


ComingAttractionsCopy-heavy next-issue blurbs likethese, usuallyrunning 1/3rd of apage, were commonin Super Specs.TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#4: WEIRD MYSTERY TALES1971Cover artist: Berni(e) Wrightson

(front cover art appears as pinupon back cover)

Editor: Joe OrlandoSpecial features:• “Macabre Mystery” intro page by

Wrightson (with Wrightson cameo);“The New Arrival” gag 1-pager byDave Manak; 2 uncredited“Weird Tales” gag pages; 2 “WeirdTales” gag pages by SergioAragonés; 4 horror 1-pagers byWrightson: “Eerie Adventure,”“Monsters,” “Science-Fiction,”“Childhood Haunt”; 1 “WeirdTales” gag page by Lore Shoberg

Reprints:• “I Was the Last Man on Earth”

from My Greatest Adventure #8(Mar.–Apr. 1956)

• “The Phantom Enemy” fromSensation Mystery #116(July–Aug. 1953)

• “I Fought the Clocks of Doom”from My Greatest Adventure #14(Mar.–Apr. 1957)

• “The Witch’s Candles!” from Houseof Secrets #2 (Jan.–Feb. 1957)

• “I Was Lost in a Mirage” fromMy Greatest Adventure #12(Nov.–Dec. 1956)

• Johnny Peril in “Horror in theLake!” from Sensation Mystery#110 (July–Aug. 1952)

• The Phantom Stranger in “TheHaunters from Beyond!” fromThe Phantom Stranger #1(Aug.–Sept. 1952)

• “I Was the Last Martian” fromMy Greatest Adventure #20(Mar.–Apr. 1958)

• “I Hunted the World’s WildestAnimals” from My GreatestAdventure #15 (May–June 1957)

• “The City of Three Dooms” fromTales of the Unexpected #15(July 1957)

• “Jungle Boy of Jupiter” from Talesof the Unexpected #24 (Apr. 1958)

• “The Mysterious Mr. Omen” fromHouse of Mystery #49 (Apr. 1956)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#5: LOVE STORIES1971Cover artists: Bob Oksner (front

cover), Charlie Armentano(back cover)

Editor: Dorothy Woolfolk; Gail Weiss,assistant

Special features:• “Laura Penn … Your Romance

Reporter” 1-page advice column;“How I Met My Boyfriend”2-page article; “How to LookFabulous” 2-page article; “What’sin a Name?” 1-page filler;“Where is Love” 1-page filler

New stories:• “How Do I Know When I’m Really

in Love?”• “The Other Girl”

• “The Wrong Kind of Love”• “Goodbye, Lover”• “Happy Ending”Reprints:• “My Shameful Past” from Young

Love #60 (Mar.–Apr. 1967)• “My Sister Stole My Man” from

Young Love #60 (Mar.–Apr. 1967)• “Made for Love, Chapter 1” from

Girls’ Romances #99 (Mar. 1964)• “Love is Forever (Made for Love,

Chapter 2)” from Girls’ Romances#100 (Apr. 1964)

• “I Didn’t Want His Love” fromGirls’ Romances #130 (Jan. 1968)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#5: LOVE STORIES REPLICA EDI-TION2001Editor: Dale Crain; Scott Nybakken,

associateSame content as original editionabove.

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#6: WORLD’S GREATESTSUPER-HEROES1971Cover artist: Neal Adams (wraparound)Editor: E. Nelson BridwellSpecial features:• “A Checklist of DC Super-Heroes”

multi-pager, serialized throughissue; Key to the Super-Heroes onthe Cover (identifying characters onwraparound cover; also lists theiralter egos and civilian vocations)

Reprints:• Justice League of America

(guest-starring the Justice Societyof America) in “Crisis on Earth-One” from Justice League ofAmerica #21 (Aug. 1963)

• Justice League of America(guest-starring the Justice Societyof America) in “Crisis on Earth-Two” from Justice League ofAmerica #22 (Sept. 1963)

• The Spectre in “The Spectremeets Zor” from More Fun Comics#55 (May 1940)

• Johnny Quick in “Stand-In for100 Convicts” from AdventureComics #190 (July 1953)

• The Vigilante in “The Galleon inthe Desert” from Action Comics#146 (July 1950)

• Wildcat in “Crime Wore aCostume”; unpublished storyproduced for Sensation Comics #91

• Hawkman in “Strange Spells ofthe Sorceror” from The Brave andthe Bold #36 (June–July 1961)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#6: WORLD’S GREATESTSUPER-HEROES REPLICA EDITION2004Cover artist: Dick Giordano

(wraparound; recreation of NealAdams’ original cover)

Editor: Robert GreenbergerSame content as original editionabove.

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#DC-7: SUPERMAN #245 Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972Cover artists: Curt Swan and Murphy

Anderson (wraparound)Editor: E. Nelson BridwellReprints:• Superman in “The Team of

Luthor and Brainiac!” fromSuperman #167 (Feb. 1964)

• Kid Eternity in “The Count” fromKid Eternity #3 (Autumn 1946)

• The Atom in “The Time Trap”from The Atom #3 (Oct.–Nov. 1963)

• Super Chief in “The Crowning ofSuper Chief” from All-StarWestern #117 (Feb.–Mar. 1961)

• Air Wave in “Adventure of theShooting Spooks” from DetectiveComics #66 (Aug. 1942)

• Hawkman in “Super MotorizedMenace” from Mystery in Space#89 (Feb. 1964)

• Superman in “The Prankster’sGreatest Role” from Superman#87 (Feb. 1954)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#DC-8: BATMAN #238 Jan. 1972Cover artists: Neal Adams and Dick

Giordano (wraparound)Editor: E. Nelson BridwellReprints:• Batman in “The Masterminds

of Crime” from Batman #70(Apr.–May 1952)

• Doom Patrol in “Origin of theDoom Patrol” from My GreatestAdventure #80 (June 1963)

• Plastic Man in “Oh Plastic Man!”from Police Comics #14 (Dec. 1942)

• Sargon the Sorcerer in “Troublein the Big Top” from SensationComics #57 (Sept. 1946)

• The Atom in “Danger in theTotem’s Eye”: unpublishedGolden Age story

• Aquaman in “The Aqua-Thief ofthe Seven Seas” from AdventureComics #276 (Sept. 1960)

• Legion of Super-Heroes in “TheLegion of Super-Outlaws” fromAdventure Comics #324 (Sept. 1964)

• Batman in “Mr. Roulette’sGreatest Gamble” from Batman#75 (Feb.–Mar. 1953)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#DC-9: OUR ARMY AT WAR #242featuring SGT. ROCKFeb. 1972Cover artist: Joe KubertEditor: Joe KubertSpecial features:• Sgt. Rock in “Infantry” 1-pager

by Robert Kanigher and Kubert;Capt. Storm in “Navy” 1-pagerby Kubert; Johnny Cloud in“Air Force” 1-pager by Kubert;Gunner and Sarge in “Marines”1-pager by Kubert; Haunted Tankin “Cavalry” 2-page filler byKubert; “Sam Glanzman’s WarDairy” 2-page filler; “Battle Roster

of Easy Company” 1-page textpiece by Kubert

Reprints:• “The Rock!” from G.I. Combat

#68 (Jan. 1959)• Capt. Storm in “Death of a P.T.

Boat” from Capt. Storm #3(Sept.–Oct. 1964)

• “Line of Departure” fromG.I. Combat #64 (Sept. 1958)

• Johnny Cloud in “Broken Ace”from All-American Men of War #87(Sept.–Oct. 1961)

• Gunner and Sarge in “A Tank forSarge” from Our Fighting Forces#57 (Sept.–Oct. 1960)

• The Haunted Tank in “TheWounded Won’t Wait” fromG.I. Combat #108 (Oct.–Nov. 1964)

• “The Brave Tank” fromG.I. Combat #44 (Jan. 1957)

• “Battle Hats” from Our Army atWar #58 (May 1957)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#DC-10: ADVENTURE COMICS #416 Mar. 1972Cover artist: Bob Oksner

(wraparound)Editor: E. Nelson BridwellSpecial feature:• Key to DC’s Fighting Females

(identifying heroines onwraparound cover)

Reprints:• Supergirl in “The Untold Story of

Argo City” from Action Comics#309 (Feb. 1964)

• Supergirl in “Supergirl’s RivalParents” from Action Comics #310(Mar. 1964)

• Johnny Thunder in “The BlackCanary” from Flash Comics #86(Aug. 1947)

• Wonder Woman in “Villainy,Incorporated” from WonderWoman #28 (Mar.–Apr. 1948)

• Wonder Woman in “Trap ofCrimson Flame” from WonderWoman #28 (Mar.–Apr. 1948)

• Wonder Woman in “In the Handsof the Merciless!” from WonderWoman #28 (Mar.–Apr. 1948)

• Phantom Lady in “Mystery of theBlack Cat” from Police Comics#17 (Mar. 1943)

• Merry, the Girl of a ThousandGimmicks in “The Duel of theGimmicks” from Star SpangledComics #90 (Mar. 1949)

• Supergirl in “The Black Magic ofSupergirl” from Action Comics#324 (May 1965)

DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR#DC-11: THE FLASH #214 Apr. 1972Cover artist: Nick Cardy (wraparound)Editor: Julius SchwartzSpecial features:• “Flash Facts!” science 1-pager;

Famous Flash Covers: Showcase#4 and Flash #155 (insideback cover)

2 0 • B A C K I S S U E • D C B r o n z e A g e G i a n t s a n d R e p r i n t s

TM & © DC Comics.


Many DC Comics characters and titles didn’t makethe cut for their own 100-Page Super Spectaculars.But here in BACK ISSUE land, we can don our Bronze-colored glasses and play make-believe. So enjoythese fantasy Super Specs—their covers written andart-directed by yours truly and ably designed bythe always-accommodating, Photoshopperific RichFowlks—headlined by some snubbed members of theDC Line of Super-Stars.

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In the beginning, there were the 80-Page Giants, andthey were good. Much had changed since DC beganits series of thick reprint collections in 1960, though,and one of them was that pesky 80. Inflation hadtrimmed them to 68-page Giants by 1969 in order tomaintain their 25-cent price tag. Something that hadn’tchanged since 1966 was the group of characterschosen to appear in the Giants’ monthly rotation:Batman and Superman (each twice a year), theFlash, Jimmy Olsen, Justice League of America, LoisLane, Sgt. Rock, Superboy, Supergirl, and theSuperman/Batman team.

The Sgt. Rock annuals were a catchall for DC’svarious war series, but every other genre—active ordormant—was virtually shut out by superheroes. In thesummer of 1968, DC took its first tentative step towardrectifying the matter when it expanded Young Love #69 toa Giant for that one issue. It was also a stealth introductionof the slimmer 68-page Giants, but no one was pointingthat out. Two months later, in August 1968, the quarterlyDC Special premiered and delivered precisely the sort ofdiversity that had been lacking in the Giants: artist spot-lights, teen humor, horror, Westerns, and superheroines.

The superhero and war annuals were integrated intowhatever title they were appearing in with a secondarynumber denoting its chronology in the original Giantseries. JLA #76, for instance, was also stamped #G-65.In June and July of 1969, DC carried that principle overto its humor comics. Swing with Scooter #20 and Sugarand Spike #85 were each released as “Summer Fun”Giants with tiny secondary numbering designatingthem “F-1” and “F-2” (with the F standing for Fun).

The summer part of the equation was important, too.The months when kids were out of school were typicallyviewed as gravy time for publishers, a period whencomics were bound to sell better because their primaryaudience was more readily available. If that held true,DC president Carmine Infantino must have reasoned,there’d be plenty to choose from in the summer of 1970.In July, five separate issues of a 68-page comic entitledSuper DC Giant hit spinner racks, and three more followedin August. Although officially assigned to a variety ofDC editors, the series was reported in Newfangles #37to be primarily overseen by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Originally announced by Don and Maggie Thompsonin Newfangles #35 (May 1970) as “Giant Summer FunMagazines,” Super DC Giantwas a continuation of the pairof humor issues from the previous year, but its numberingwas baffling. Designated with an S (for either Summer orSuper), the new series began with issue #S-13 despite theprevious year’s Sugar and Spike having been #F-2. Perhaps,the Thompsons joked in Newfangles #36, DC had countedthe intervening months. Another theory was that theyadded up every non G-series Giant of the past two years(Young Love, Swing with Scooter, Sugar and Spike, the eight


“Editors are Merciless Men”Sez who, Bat-guy? Super DC Giant #S-16,“The Best of the Brave and the Bold,”included a reprint-framing story illo’ed byDillin and Esposito.TM & © DC Comics.

by J o h n We l l s

TM

It was followed by two issues that represented lastchances for their respective stars. Challengers of theUnknown and Aquaman had each been canceled in1970, but hope sprang eternal. Issue #S-25’s COTUGiant reprinted late-1950s Jack Kirby material andhoped to catch some of the heat generated by thesuperstar’s recent move from Marvel to DC. In a clevertouch, the book also reprinted a generic text fillerfrom COTU #15 and changed the names of its twocharacters into members of the Challs. A Bob Brown-drawn pinup of the team from 1965—originally apremium sent to fans—also appeared in an actualcomic book for the first time.

The Ramona Fradon-illustrated Aquaman storiesin issue #S-26 were a departure from the more recentJim Aparo-drawn tales, but the latter series was brieflyrepresented nonetheless. The comic book closed witha two-page prose adventure written by Steve Skeateswith spot art by Sal Amendola.

Elsewhere, the last reprint closed with a blank stripthat was meant to promote the contents of the nextissue. But Super DC Giant was canceled and, two weekslater, the bulk of DC titles would sport a 25-cent retailprice in a line expansion that would introduce reprintsinto nearly every comic book. The long-running Giantseries hung on for a few months at a 35-cent price-point before it, too, came to a close with issue #G-89(a.k.a. JLA #93). Two weeks after Super DC Giant #S-26went on sale, a new kind of reprint anthology debutedand its name was 100-Page Super Spectacular.

The fanzine Etcetera #3 (May 1971) reportedthat issues devoted to House of Mystery, ThreeMouseketeers, and Teen Titans were shelved while aPlastic Man spotlight was rerouted to DC Special #15(itself the final issue). There was a happier fate for“Weird War Tales,” a concept issue that had beenannounced a year earlier in Newfangles #37 (July 1970).

As Paul Levitz explained in 1975’s Weird War Tales #36,the series had begun as two reprint issues that Joe Kuberthad provided with new covers and framing sequences.With the material ready to go, DC put a slimmed-downversion of the first book on the schedule for July 1971and green-lighted Weird War Tales as an ongoing Kubert-edited bimonthly. [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #78for the full Weird War Tales story.] Eventually, the serieswas able to transition into new material and ultimatelyboasted a 12-year, 124-issue run. It was Super DC Giant’sgreatest success, but it never appeared under that logo.

The series’ name wasn’t quite gone, though. As 68-page Giants—now retailing at 50 cents—returned toprominence in 1975, Super DC Giant returned to theschedule with a planned inaugural issue starring theTeen Titans (which was mentioned in Four-StarSpectacular #1). At the last minute, though, the reprintseries was renamed DC Super-Stars and the old namereturned to limbo … almost.

Out of the blue, Super DC Giant #27 popped up onracks in July with an issue devoted to “Strange FlyingSaucers Adventures.” Although Julius Schwartz receivedtop billing as editor on the book, associate editor E.

Cool CoversCourtesy of HeritageComics Auctions(www.ha.com), twocovers in original artform: (left) CharlieArmentano’s “Love1971” (#S-21,originally aninventory piece) and(right) Bob Brownand Frank Giacoia’s“The Unexpected”(#S-23).TM & © DC Comics.


In this era of villain-centric comics and events, the ideaof a supervillain-showcase reprint title might soundroutine. But when DC Comics released its first collectionof Wanted, the World’s Most Dangerous Villains, it was abit of a risky proposition.

Comics readers would only root for the good guy, saidtraditional wisdom. On the rarest of occasions duringcomics’ earlier decades, a bad guy might get his ownseries—Yellow Claw, for example. And surely, theindustry watchdog, the Comics Code Authority, wouldfrown upon kids’ lit being littered by lawbreakers.

So, in 1970, as the Bronze Age was rising fromthe ashes of the Silver Age, it might have raised someeyebrows among the stuffed shirts at DC when this“Wanted” concept was selected for issue #8 of DCSpecial. Mort Weisinger was listed as its editor, but itwas probably his associate, E. Nelson Bridwell, whotook a deciding hand in gathering the stories thatwould headline this 64-page Giant.

They were safe bets, culled from the files of DC’sheaviest hitters: Lex Luthor and the Joker, teaming totackle Superman and Batman; five of the Flash’s Rogues’Gallery (Mirror Master, the Trickster, Capt. Cold, Capt.Boomerang, and the Top), trying to trip up the FastestMan Alive; renegade hero Sinestro, ringing his way intocombat against Green Lantern; and the Shadow-Thief,ruffling Hawkman’s feathers. The comic’s cover designwas eye-catching and thematically clever, with its“WANTED” logo in cautionary, red-stenciled lettering,and its parchment paper background with pushpin-tacked cover segments evoking an FBI poster anykid might see when accompanying his parents to hislocal post office. Packaged under a beautiful cover byMurphy Anderson, artist extraordinaire and standard-bearer for DC’s house style, DC Special #8 (July–Sept.1970) tried to trick readers into thinking they werebuying a comic about villains—but what we were soldwas a comic starring heroes battling villains.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. These wereclassic stories that made an engaging collection, one thatI gleefully revisited lo, these 40-plus years after I boughtmy original copy at 25 cents. And truth be told, were DCSpecial #8 issued with the same content but packagedas “Justice League of America: All-Villains Issue,” it probablywould’ve lacked the same punch that “Wanted, theWorld’s Most Dangerous Villains” offered.

That punch was sufficient for a return bout. Oneyear later, DC Special #14 (Sept.–Oct. 1971) paroled“Wanted” for a second outing. In the year betweenissues, a price increase in comics led DC to truncate itsGiants from 64 pages to 52. This smaller format nowallowed for only three stories, and Bridwell—now the

Running Wild in Central CityThis Infantino/Anderson pinup from 1964’sFlash 80-Page Giant reappeared in the first

“Wanted” edition. TM & © DC Comics.



TM

In 1972, National Periodical Publications (DC), now DC Entertainment,had genuine reasons for concern, and not just due to the loss of itslong-standing status as the #1 comic-book company in the country.That happened in January when it was announced that MarvelComics had surpassed DC in sales. Other discouraging factors weighingon the company: DC’s price increase of its books from 15 cents for36 pages (approximately 22 pages of new material plus ads) to 25cents for 52 pages (22 to 26 pages of new material plus 12 to 14pages of reprints) had failed after 11 months (June 1971–Apr. 1972).(In May, DC returned its comics to the standard-sized format, now at20 cents for 24 pages of new material.) Also, throughout 1972 and1973, DC’s superhero line suffered a setback in publishing frequency,as many monthly and eight-times-a-year titles dropped to bimonthlystatus because sales of most comic books were in decline. Thesebooks included previously A-list titles: Adventure Comics, DetectiveComics, Batman, The Flash, Justice League of America, and World’s FinestComics. Finally, the critically acclaimed Green Lantern (co-starringGreen Arrow) and two of Jack Kirby’s much-publicized Fourth Worldentries, New Gods and Forever People, were canceled.

There were some bright spots, however, shining through thedimming. The Superman family of books remained solid sellers, andsales of DC’s mystery line had escalated, resulting in that genre’s

books shifting from bimonthly to monthly status. Still, givenDC’s drop in popularity and sales, it didn’t seem the time

to be introducing a wide range of additional books,all of them reprints and almost all of them hittingthe newsstands and comics spinner racks at once.Yet that’s exactly what DC did at the end of 1972.

Jeff Rovin, who edited half of the reprint line’seight titles when they debuted in December 1972,tells BACK ISSUE, “In 1972, before the direct market,there was a real battle for rack space to display

comics. There were a finite number of slots. Marvelwas publishing more titles and DC chief CarmineInfantino had to do the same or risk beingsqueezed out. The cost of doing all-new titles wasprohibitive; reprints were the solution.”

Two other reprint books, Secret Origins and DC100-Page Super Spectacular, were placed on the December schedule.Also that month, two new books were introduced, Shazam! andSword of Sorcery, making December 1972 one of the most productivemonths DC had seen in years.

Three of the books, Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol,and Metal Men, contained reprints of those eclectic Silver Age teams,well loved by their fans, certainly, but certainly not A-listers. JohnnyThunder, the first Western reprint to debut, was of a genre long pastits prime. The first war book, Four-Star Battle Tales, had potential,as DC’s war books still had some clout. The only likely success wasLegion of Super-Heroes, as the super-teen team of the 30th Centurywas undergoing a creative resurgence in Superboy thanks to writerCary Bates and artist Dave Cockrum. Given the loosening of ComicsCode Authority regulations, however, which gave a thrilling edge tothe mystery line that it sorely needed, the reprints appeared dated,of a bygone past only a decade removed. As if to add insult to injury,one had to spend eight cents more for a story that had cost 12 centsten years before.

Something Borrowed, Something NewNick Cardy’s original cover art to Legion of Super-Heroes #1,one of a handful of new covers commissioned for DC’sreprint line. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © DC Comics.


jeff rovinCourtesy of Comic Book Artist.

by J i m K i n gman

What started in 1961 as a “Special Giant Issue”ultimately became a tried-and-true DC Comics brand.

Secret Origins #1 was DC’s fourth 80-Page Giant,preceded by three Superman Annuals(which were released biannually, bythe way) and quickly followed bythe first Batman Annual. Its nine-panel-grid cover foreshadowed TheHollywood Squares’ set and TheBrady Bunch’s title credits, with the

blurb “By Popular Demand! A Super-Collection of the Most Sought-After Stories Ever Published!”occupying the center spotwhere Paul Lynde or Ann B.Davis would later be found onTV. Co-edited by Julius Schwartzand Jack Schiff, it trotted outreprints starring DC’s Silver Ageheadliners—even the Challengersof the Unknown. The rest of DC’sA- and B+-list was roundedup for a sequel, More SecretOrigins, which followed a fewyears later, published as 80-Page Giant (Magazine) #8(Mar. 1965). And a traditionbegan … yet one whose nextphase would be eight yearsin coming.

Editor E. Nelson Bridwell appropriated theaforementioned blurb to top-mount the Secret Originslogo when DC’s quest for shelf-display dominancegreen-lighted a bimonthly Secret Origins series, hittingnewsstands just before Christmas of 1972 with aFeb.–Mar. 1973 cover-dated first issue. A subtitle(appearing on the cover but not the indicia inside)promised that this comic would chronicle the origintales “of Super-Heroes and Super-Villains,” and thefirst issue delivered just that: Joining the three mostpopular Justice Leaguers—Superman, Batman, andthe Flash—was “[the Golden Age] Hawkman’s firstbattle with the Ghost!” Issue #1’s cover, pulsating atthe reader with its vivid primary colors bouncing offa bright white background, featured artist NickCardy at his best, delivering a multi-character displaythat afforded each hero equal stature (Cardy wouldgo on to illustrate the covers for each of SecretOrigins’ seven issues). A wash technique employedon the first-issue cover faded the heroes’ and villain’s


May the Source Be with YouThe Duke of Data, E.N.B., credited reprints’original sources, either in text pages or,as shown here, on title pages. The Atom’sorigin, as re-presented in Secret Origins #2.(inset) The first issue of Secret Origins.Cover by Nick Cardy.TM & © DC Comics.

TM


They were bigger. They were better. They were historical. They weresometimes themed. They reintroduced classic stories and characters.They also rolled out new material. They were profitable. And theycould be had for substantially less than a dollar. They were reprintGiants and their popularity grew and grew.

The reprint Giant at DC can trace its beginnings back to 1960with the 80-Page Giants. Since there was a substantial history todraw from and eBay and the back-issue bin had yet to be devised,the Giant was a way to provide readers with classic material thatwould be otherwise unavailable or perhaps even unknown. It wasn’tlong before it was realized they were onto a good thing and theconcept only gained traction from there.

DC SPECIALDC Special was one of the first and was kicked off with the “All-Infantino Issue,” published at the end of 1968 and featuring asampling of some of Carmine Infantino’s best efforts, from Batmanto the Flash and Adam Strange to Carmine’s purported favorite,Detective Chimp, all in one neat package for a quarter.

The themed issues continued with offerings such as “All-Teen,”“All-Girl,” and another featured artist with issue #5’s “The SecretLives of Joe Kubert.” Included in the mix was a reprint edition dedi-cated to mystery stories (issue #4), and of particular note in that issueis the inclusion of a story by Jack Kirby titled “The Magic Hammer,”reprinted from Tales of the Unexpected from the 1950s. While thesetting is the Old West, a mighty familiar-looking leather-strappedhammer is discovered and it’s later claimed by Thor, who explainsthat it had been stolen by Loki. As a matter of fact, this is not the firstappearance of a Kirby-drawn Thor for DC, as “The Villain fromValhalla,” found in a Sandman story in Adventure Comics #75 from1942 will attest. As you can see, “Ol’ Goldilocks” has a historyprior to his debut in Marvel’s Journey into Mystery #83.

DC Special continued on as a series until 1977 and issue #29,though there was a break in the action between issue #15 at the endof 1971 and issue #16 from 1975. Themes bounced around betweena particular character like the Viking Prince, Plastic Man, or GreenLantern to collected similar stories like “Strangest Sports Stories EverTold”; “Wanted, the World’s Most Dangerous Villains”; and “RobinHood and the Three Musketeers.” Before DC Special faded, however,other reprint Giants were launched, some with runs longer than others,but still carrying on the tradition.

FOUR STAR SPECTACULAROn December 11, 1975, the short-lived Four Star Spectacular hitthe newsstands and spinner racks. Edited by E. Nelson Bridwelland featuring four stories showcasing four different heroes, the titlemined tales as far back as the Golden Age and had two consistentheadliners in Superboy and Wonder Woman with the other twoheroes as “guest stars,” as explained by Bridwell in the first issue’slettercol, “Four Thought.”

Of special interest in issue #1 (Mar.–Apr. 1976) is the Golden AgeFlash tale. As explained at the top of the splash page, “This storyoriginally appeared in ALL-FLASH COMICS in 1944—but the art ofthe original version was too far below modern standards to reprintthe tale as it was! So we had a young artist, Edgar Bercasio, re-do the

Returning to Orbit“Super-Stars of Space” became a popular series-within-a-series with the reprint Giant DC Super-Stars. Ernie Chua’s

original cover art to issue #6 is courtesy of HeritageComics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © DC Comics.


by B r y a n D . S t r o u d


The infamous DC Implosion occurred shortly after I became interestedin comic books. As a young fan, I didn’t understand the full ramificationsof the Implosion at the time it occurred. All I knew was that DC Comicshad announced some books that sounded really amazing, and I wasreally looking forward to reading them, but then these comics simplynever showed up on the spinner racks that I frequented. I thoughtat first I had just missed out and the books had come and gonewithout me noticing. It wasn’t until I got older, and becameaware of the events surrounding the Implosion, that Irealized just what had happened in 1978 and justhow bad things had been for DC. Sure, missing outon a comic book you wanted to read is terrible,but that pales in comparison to the losses suffered bythe people who worked at the company at the timein regard to lost employment and lost opportunitiesto have the stories they created published.

Of all the books that either never came to be,or were canceled before they had a chance to reachtheir full potential, the ones I regret the most werethe ones in the “Classics” reprint line. These bookswere intended to reprint some of the all-time greateststories that DC Comics had ever produced. In 1978,the only thing that fired up my imagination more than new comicbooks were back issues owned by family members and the children ofmy parents’ friends. I always enjoyed reading old comic books, especiallythe ones that had been printed before I was born. For me, it was likeuncovering lost treasure and discovering history, all at the same time.That being the case, had these reprint books gone forward, theywould have been nirvana for a young and eager collector like myself.

DC’s Classics line was to have included four titles: Demand Classics(featuring stories from the 1960s), Dynamic Classics (featuring storiesfrom the early 1970s), Battle Classics (featuring classic war stories),and Western Classics (featuring classic Western stories). Of the fourbooks, only two, Dynamic Classics and Battle Classics, ever made it tothe newsstands, and even then they each only had one issue apiece.

The idea for the line was to present the very best stories that hadshaped DC’s past and forged its universe into what it was by 1978.For the first time, the reprints presented would have been ones the fanswanted to read, as opposed to stories that were reprinted just to serveas filler. “…The reprints are sometimes not the best of all possiblechoices, often having to be tailored to the correct length that the editor

happens to need for a specific space,” wrote Mike W. Barr inthe letters column for Dynamic Classics #1 (Sept.–Oct. 1978).

“Not so with Dynamic Classics and her three sistermagazines … these are reprints that we at DC areproud of, and of the fact that we’re reprinting them.”

This line was also intended to benefit the buddingcomic-collector’s market that was really beginning tocatch fire and come to the public forefront in the late1970s. This line was an effort on DC’s part to presentclassic stories for readers who perhaps couldn’t find

or afford the comic books these stories originallyappeared in. As the Barr column indicated, purchasingthe two comic books that featured the content foundin Dynamic Classics #1 would have set readers backa whole $3.00 at the time. “They’re good storiesthat readers would otherwise have no opportunity

to see,” wrote Barr. “That’s the main thing, but also [each book] willadhere to a specific, pre-chosen theme, thus making them DC’s firstforay into regularly scheduled, structured reprints since the demise ofWanted and Secret Origins, some years ago.”

Only Dynamic Classics and Battle Classics ever made it to their firstissues before the plug was pulled on the line, and the stories thatwere presented in these books, and the ones planned for subsequentissues, were indeed the cream of DC’s crop.

Dynamic Classics #1 reprinted “The Secret of the Waiting Graves,”the first Batman story by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, fromDetective Comics #395 (Jan. 1970), and “The Himalayan Incident,”the first installment of Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson’s award-winning Manhunter series, from Detective Comics #437 (Oct.–Nov.

cary burkett

by Dan J o h n s o n Flash andBat Lash(left) The unpublishedDemand Classics #1would have reprinted1961’s landmarkThe Flash #123,while (right) WesternClassics #1 was tofeature Bat Lash’sfirst adventure fromShowcase #76.Demand Classicscover by Dick Dillinand Frank McLaughlin;Western Classics coverby James Shermanand Maurice Whitman.TM & © DC Comics.

I was in the third grade when I read my first DC Comics “collectededition”—Signet’s 1966 Batman paperback, reprinting in black andwhite a handful of Golden Age adventures of the Caped Crusader andBoy Wonder. My much-loved, dog-eared copy, along with a few80-Page Giants from DC’s go-go checks era, introduced me to theearlier adventures of the Dynamic Duo to whom I was devoted,two nights a week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. Paperback reprintsof comics—from MAD Magazine collections, to popular comic stripslike Peanuts, to comic-book superheroes—were the rage in the swinging’60s, but outside of Jules Feiffer’s seminal collection The Great ComicBook Heroes, first published in hardcover in 1965, superhero reprintswere mostly relegated to inexpensive, pulp-paper formats.

As comic books’ content matured in the ’70s, so did the presentationof the stories harvested from their vaults. National PeriodicalPublications (DC Comics), partially motivated by the increased visibilityafforded their characters through television, brokered deals with majorbook publishers to distribute reprint volumes, in both hardcover andsoftcover formats, into the traditional book market.

WORLD’S FINEST COLLECTIONSThe first one of these I read as a young fan was Bonanza Books’(a division of Crown Publishers, Inc.) hardcover Batman from theThirties to the Seventies, a meaty tome of nearly 400 pages packedwith Batman reprints spanning those four decades, reproducedmostly in black and white with a smattering of color pages. Its coverrepurposed a pose of the Dynamic Duo rendered by CarmineInfantino and Murphy Anderson, originally produced as a pinup inDC titles during the Bat-craze of the mid-’60s. With its entrancingpurple-orange background and electric-yellow title lettering shriekingat the potential customer, no self-respecting Batman fan couldignore this book. A bonus of the book was its introduction by DChistorian extraordinaire E. Nelson Bridwell; here is where I firstlearned fascinating trivia such as Batman and Robin’s appearanceson the Superman radio series, the revelation that Bill Finger was theprincipal Golden Age Batman scribe, and that actor Conrad Veidtin the film The Man Who Laughs influenced the look of the Joker.That information may be considered common knowledge by theBACK ISSUE reader of today, but in the early ’70s these were mind-blowing discoveries to Bronze Age babies.

Bridwell also wrote the introduction to this book’s companionvolume, Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies, which, like theBatman book, first saw print in 1971. E.N.B.’s Superman intro wasanother treasure trove of trivia, from which I learned aboutSuperman’s roots as a figure of emancipation during the GreatDepression, other supermen (including Philip Wylie’s Gladiator) thatpredated the Man of Steel, George Lowther’s 1942 Superman novel,and Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s brief marriage in the 1950s’ Supermannewspaper strip (long before Bobby Ewing stepped out of a Dallasshower, Mr. and Mrs. Kent’s union was erased from continuity as adream). What I did not learn from Bridwell’s introduction, however,was that Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.When Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies was in production,Siegel and Shuster were suing DC over the ownership of Superman,and Bridwell was directed to omit referencing their names in his text.

E.N.B.’s fingerprints are clearly visible on both DC books, but hedid not edit this dynamic duo. That distinction fell to Linda Sunshine,


DC’s First Collected EditionCover to the ultra-rare, “squishy” hardcover edition ofThe Great Superman Comic Book Collection. Art by JoséLuis García-López and Dick Giordano.TM & © DC Comics.



MICHAEL EURY: How did this deal with Firesideoriginate?MICHAEL USLAN: This actually begins with—a littlebackground—my teaching the first-ever accreditedcourse on comic books, which was 19—I think it was’72. As a result of the worldwide extensive publicitythat course got, I received a call from Sol Harrison,vice president of DC Comics, who said to me, “CarmineInfantino and I have been reading about you in news-papers, we’ve been watching you on TV shows. We’vebeen listening to you on radio talk shows, and we thinkyou’re a very innovative young man. We’d like to fly youto New York to discuss ways we might be able to worktogether.” And they did. And that led to my job at DCComics. There was no word “intern” at that point.They just called us Junior Woodchucks. I started at DCsix months after the little scrawny kid, Paul Levitz.[Eury laughs] Whatever happened to him I don’t know.

We had the Junior Woodchucks at DC Comics,and then they put me on retainer when I went back toschool at Indiana University, so it was a really greatsituation. Sol became my mentor. He also knew that Iwas absolutely fascinated with the history of comicsand often I would pass up lunch with the boys to sitwith Sol and Jack Adler and sometimes Julie Schwartzand, oh … [Robert] Kanigher, [Joe] Kubert, or [Murray]Boltinoff. [Joe] Orlando … whoever it was. I was justsoaking up their stories and asking a zillion—probablyannoying—questions as I could. But that was me.

There were a lot of lunches and I made friends withGerta Gattel, who was in charge of the archive of theDC library. And knowing my passion for the history,she would often let me go in there and sit in the vaultand read volumes of comics so I could eventually say Iread every DC comic. That was my world back then.And very much so.

Through Sol, I wound up acquiring the [motionpicture] rights to Batman in 1979. He introduced meto the man at Warner Books that we negotiated thedeal with and, on October 3rd, 1979, I acquired therights to Batman. And the rest, as they say, is history!

But while I was working with Sol, Sol approachedme and said, “Michael, I know how you know ourentire library. You know all these characters, you knowthe history, you love all of this. We’ve just signed anew contract with Simon & Schuster. They have adivision, Fireside Books,” which, my memory tells me,had already been doing some books with Marvel.EURY: You’re correct. They started with Origins of MarvelComics in ’74. But it took several years, as you’reaware, before DC signed on with them.USLAN: Right. Well, now they had the contract tostart to do trade paperbacks and potentially hardbackbooks with Fireside on DC. So he asked me if I wouldwrite, edit, and be the guy to work with the editor atSimon & Schuster who was in charge of it and do theseries. And I said, “Absolutely!” He introduced me tosomeone who—while I haven’t seen her in a numberof years—we became fast friends. Linda Sunshine, oneof the greatest book editors that you’ll ever want tomeet. Linda was the queen of Simon & Schuster. Sheloved the world of comics. She was involved in doingthe Marvel books and her assistant at the time, heraide-de-camp, was Bobbi Jackson. Bobbi is the daughterof Woody Gelman, one of the most important figures inthe history of comics fandom and even undergroundcomics. He had a lot to do with the Spirit and WillEisner. Woody was one of the first fan publishers of alot of great comic-book and comic-strip material.

Batm

an T

M &

© D

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omic

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by Mi c h a e l E u r yinterview conducted October 3, 2014 and

transcribed by Steven Thompson

EURY: Linda Sunshine also edited those Crown books, the Batmanand Superman ones in the early ’70s.USLAN: She’s just marvelous. Meeting Linda was a great moment forme in my life. We really worked hand-in-hand. Bobbi Jackson wouldhelp do all of this stuff as well.

Going in, the overall idea was to do a “Best of DC Comics” seriesof books, and I was excited because we would start with these threeand I was already planning the “Best of DC Westerns,” and just kindof go through a lot of different genres. They really wanted to put thefocus outside the superheroes. So it gave us an opening thateven to this day books rarely get. If you look at the entireMarvel Masterworks series, you get maybe two volumesof Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt, Outlaw and Two-Gun Kid,you know … a lot of these have never even shownup! Certainly, in the DC Archives series, it’s the same[with material that has not been reprinted]. You’vegot all of this beautiful Alex Toth and CarmineInfantino, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, etcetera,etcetera, great work on their Westerns, which reallypredated and established the look and quality forwhat would become the Silver Age of Comics.

So we had great and grand ideas for the entirelong-term venture. The decision was made: Let’sstart with the war books. So I, then, pretty much offthe top of my head knew a lot of what I wanted. EURY: What was the reason for a war book being first?USLAN: In the ’70s, Sgt. Rock was a huge seller for DC—a huge seller.G.I. Combat had consistently been a great seller. [G.I Combat editor]Murray Boltinoff doesn’t get a lot of attention today from fandom,the comic-book historians, and I spent a lot of time with him. Murraywas in the OSS, working with Wild Bill Donovan in World War II. A very,very interesting man! The books that he edited really turned out to bea lot of sales gold! There was a stretch of time he had the bestsellingBatman book with what he was doing with Brave and Bold.EURY: As a kid, that was my favorite comic so I’m definitely aware ofMurray’s golden touch, too, and we do give him a shout-out fromtime to time in BACK ISSUE. But I agree with you that he’s been largelyignored by historians, and the contemporary fan, of course, wouldreally not know him from Adam.

USLAN: Yeah, and it’s a shame because he also had the bestsellerin the Superman line, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes,when that was cracking. G.I. Combat was always near the top of thesales chart for DC, so [Murray] had his group of books and he hadthe touch! He really, truly did.

I would sit and talk to Joe Kubert, to Murray, to Bob Kanigher …I was one of the only people I think Kanigher would talk to! [Eury laughs]We happened to have a very nice relationship, which was very rarefor Bob with, I think, anybody! Ultimately that was cemented when

he read the introduction I wrote for America at War and felt,at last, somebody had given him credit, as opposed to

just credit going to Kubert and the artists. He was soappreciative of it that he was always willing to talkwith me and share with me, and that was an unusualsituation to be in.

So with input from those guys, and knowing thebooks as well as I did, I went into the library to pickthough it and try to figure out what to represent.I remember at first I must have had a thousand

pages. That was my initial cut. I knew I could do anentire volume just on Sgt. Rock, or an entire volumejust on Enemy Ace.

In talking with Linda, we mapped it out thatthere should be representation from different eras,so it wouldn’t simply be the best of DC war comics

but it really was an overview of the best of DC war comics. We had todeal with the ’40s, and with Vietnam, so Captain Hunter had to berepresented. I’d call it more of an overview of the best rather thanreally the best of the war comics that DC had ever done.EURY: You even threw in Superman, as well [“Clark Kent Tries to Jointhe Army” from the Superman newspaper strip and “I Sustain theWings” from 1943’s Superman #25].USLAN: I did, and that was important to me. In the 1970s, that storywas great lore and historians—or people who wanted to be comic-bookhistorians—knew about this story but nobody had any proof of it. Theycouldn’t find the comic book that supposedly had this thing. So I satdown to track it down and it turned out it was in the strips! I wanted tomake sure that finally was visible to people who cared about the historyof comics and the history of Superman. It really fit in well. There was


FiresideHardcoverJoe Kubert’sspellbinding Americaat War wraparoundcover was printedonto the dustjacketof this rarehardcover editionof the 1979 book.TM & © DC Comics.

bob kanigher Courtesy of Bob Rozakis.


If a comic book wasn’t easy enough to take with you anywhere youwent, DC Comics made it a little easier in the 1970s with a series ofpaperbacks—or “pocketbooks”—that allowed classic comic-bookstories to fit in the palm of your hand.

In 1972, DC made an arrangement with the Paperback Library topublish two black-and-white paperbacks with reprints of its award-winningGreen Lantern and Green Arrow team-upadventures. Measuring four inches byseven inches, these paperbacks weresome of DC’s earliest collected editions.Volume 1 even reprinted Green LanternHal Jordan’s origin story from Showcase#22 (Sept.–Oct. 1959).

DC came back to the “pocketbook”format in 1977, this time making abusiness deal with Tempo Books. Sixpaperback volumes were published—Batman, Justice League of America,Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes,Superman, Wonder Woman, and World’sFinest—collecting stories from the1940s, ’50s, ’60s, and early ’70s. TempoBooks also released all six volumes in a hard-to-find slipcase (see inset). Why and how these particularstories were chosen remains a mystery, as there are no discerniblethemes running through the books, nor is there a focus on a particularartist, writer, or villain.

Chop ShopAn example of the reformatting required to transform

a traditional comic book into a paperback. (left) A pagefrom Action Comics #500. (right) That page’s first four

panels repurposed as two pages of The Superman Story.Scans courtesy of John Wells.

TM & © DC Comics.

TM &

© D

C C

omic

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by Ch r i s Ma r s h a l l

The series was called The Masterworks Series of Great ComicBook Artists. Its intent was to showcase the DC Comics work ofsome of the most celebrated artists of the era—Frank Frazetta,Berni (today Bernie) Wrightson, and Neal Adams—and its purposewas to give Phil Seuling an exclusive that no one else had accessto, one that highlighted his favorite artists. “This was very early inthe evolution of the comic-shop market, and one of the first thingsdone specifically for those stores by DC,” Paul Levitz informs BACKISSUE. “I don’t recall the numbers any more, but I think a modestquantity was distributed.”

PHIL SEULINGPhil Seuling (1934–1984) was a born-and-raised New Yorker.With a Bachelor of Arts from CCNY he worked as a high schoolEnglish teacher. On the side he bought and sold comic books andran a bookstore. Without Phil Seuling, comic books and comic-bookfandom could very well have looked different today. In 1968, Philcreated and ran the first International Convention of Comic Art,which morphed into the New York Comic Art Convention thefollowing year, establishing what we now consider the norm fora comic convention.

In 1972, he established Sea Gate Distributors, the first directdistributor for comic shops and establishing the concept of directdistributing. Soon, Sea Gate was the exclusive distributor for DC,Marvel Comics, and Archie Comics.

By the late 1970s, Phil had established a network of sub-distributorsaround the United States and held a monopoly on comic-bookdistribution. That led to a lawsuit against Marvel, DC, and othersover their exclusive contracts with Sea Gate, which in turn brokeSea Gate’s monopoly. By the early 1980s, Phil was looking forsomething that would be an exclusive to his distribution companyand set it apart from all of his new rivals. Working with hisconnections with DC’s management, Seuling brought TheMasterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists to life in 1983. Theseries ran for three issues, with two issues more in the works thatwere never published. The only way to get copies wholesale wasthrough Sea Gate.

According to Roy Thomas, Phil Seuling “was both a verygenerous individual, and a sometimes willfully aggressiveblowhard. I personally liked him from the first timewe met in person, a couple of weeks after I movedto New York City, and played poker at his homemany times, as well as other social occasions …but he often set my teeth on edge because heseemed sometimes to go out of his way to sparkan argument. Yet if you needed a guy to comethrough for you, he’d do it, and I tried to returnthe favor. He was a visionary of sorts, having cometo me in the early 1970s [while Thomas wasMarvel Comics’ editor-in-chief] and got me tointroduce him to Sol Brodsky at Marvel so hecould discuss his direct-market plan … but thenhe seems to have tried to carve himself out amonopoly. I was annoyed at him (though we never discussed thematter) when he broke up his marriage … but I remained friendswith both him and his ex-wife Carol. I was very sorry when I learnedhe had passed away.”

Comics historian Robert Beerbohm says, “Let me think of how tocondense Phil Seuling down to a sentence or two. That will be veryhard to do. He was larger than life and needs a couple paragraphs todo him justice.” Beerbohm wrote extensively about Seuling and thecreation of direct distributing in his two-part article “Secret Origins ofthe Direct Market” in TwoMorrows’ Comic Book Artist, issues #6(Fall 1999) and 7 (Feb. 2000).


phil seuling

“The Pride of Any Collection”DC Comics house ad promoting Phil Seuling/Sea GateDistributors’ The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists.Shining Knight TM & © DC Comics.

by S t e p h a n F r i e d t

In the early 1980s, with DC Comics’ 50th anniversary fast approaching,the occasion became as much about celebrating DC’s past as preparingfor its future. Executive editor Dick Giordano teased in his August1983 Meanwhile… column, “We’re planning a reprint line thatI’m excited about! Generally, I think of reprints as being in a classwith kissing your sister, something that one does out of obligation.Not these reprints! More on them in a future column. The business-types around here get nervous when I start gushing prematurelyabout pet projects.”

Giordano certainly had reason to be excited. While most reprintscame in the typical newsprint comic-book format, these collectionswere double-sized, 48 pages (containing two to three issues’ worthof material), and printed on heavier, whiter Baxter paper stock, oftenwith wraparound covers [Author’s note: Marvel Comics’ deluxereprints of the 1980s will be covered in BACK ISSUE #86].

Giordano explained his reprint philosophy in his June 1984Meanwhile… column: “First off, we pay the highest reprint ratescurrently being paid to creators. This means that the difference incost to us between all-new art, and reprinting existing art has beennarrowed to the point where there exists no overwhelming profitmotive to reprint, since production and shipping costs are fixed.Secondly, we choose only material that deserves to be reprinted …material that has stood the test of time and has, in our opinion,earned the status of ‘classic,’ and we’ll only release one title permonth. Last, we heap lots of T.L.C. on the best of DC’s past …we give the material the attention that it deserves, and, whereverpossible, invite the original creator(s) to join us in the preparing theoriginal material for publication.”

GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROWWith an October 1983 cover date, DC’s reprint series debuted witha comics milestone: Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow, where superheroes tackled contemporary problemslike race, pollution, overpopulation, and drugs. These stories alsointroduced Speedy’s drug addiction and African-American GreenLantern John Stewart. The new editions featured text pieces,interviews, an O’Neil/Adams checklist, and new colors by Cory Adams.

DC hired Neal Adams to provide new covers for the seven-issueseries. As Adams recalls, “They didn’t want them to seem SO muchlike reprints. The thought in mind was it made it seem like a newproduct. They felt, ‘Well, if we get Neal to do new covers, of coursewe’re going to sell more copies.’ Which, of course, they did.”Nevertheless, issue #5 featured a recolored version of his famous“Speedy is a junkie” cover from Green Lantern #85 (Aug. 1971).Adams states, “I don’t think people really wanted a new [cover] onthat one. I think that one pretty much said it.”

Adams didn’t worry about the 1970s stories appearing dated.“I don’t think people have actually gone beyond those in comicbooks since then. I don’t see a lot of comic books that deal with topicalsituations very much. I don’t see comic books that deal realisticallywith political issues. I see delving into fantasy, I see killing populationsof cities in comic books, I see fantasy stories with characters that aretotally unbelievable, but I don’t see any appreciable direction towardreality in dealing with social issues. So I think those books are probablyas topical today as they were back then. I don’t think that we’vepassed them up, I think we’re trying to catch up to them.”


Kirby’s Coming (Back)!DC produced this poster to promote its deluxe reprintingof Jack Kirby’s Fourth World anchor, The New Gods. Artby Kirby and Mike Royer.TM & © DC Comics.

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

BACK ISSUE #81“DC Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!” An in-depth exploration ofDC’s 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULARS, plus: a history of comicsgiants, DC indexes galore, and a salute to “human encyclopedia” E.NELSON BRIDWELL. Featuring the work of PAT BRODERICK,RICH BUCKLER, FRANK FRAZETTA, JOE KUBERT, BOB ROZAKIS,BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. Super Spec tribute cover featur-ing classic art by NICK CARDY.

(100 FULL-COLOR pages) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95

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