back issue #83

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THIS ISSUE: INTERNATIONAL HEROES!

Alpha Flight • New X-Men • Global Guardians • Captain Canuck • JLI & more!featuring an exclusive interview with cover artists Steve Fastner and Rich Larson1

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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 sendsubscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Steve Fastnerand Rich Larson. X-Men, Alpha Flight, and related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All RightsReserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwisenoted. All editorial matter © 2015 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM ofTwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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Volume 1,Number 83September 2015

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTSSteve Fastner andRich Larson

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

PROOFREADERRob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKSJack AbramowitzHoward BenderJonathan R. BrownRebecca BusselleByrneRobotics.comDewey CassellChris ClaremontMike CollinsJ. M. DeMatteisLeopoldo DuranonaScott EdelmanRaimon FonsecaRamona FradonKeith GiffenSteve GobleGrand Comics

Database Fred HembeckHeritage Comics

AuctionsJoe HollonTerry KavanaghBarry KitsonAndrew LeylandJean-Marc LofficierFranck MartiniMarvel ComicsRobert Menzies

Martin PaskoCarl PottsBob RozakisSamuel SavageAlex SaviukJason ShayerCraig ShuttDavid SmithSteve StilesDan TandarichRoy ThomasFred Van LenteLen WeinJay WilliamsKeith Williams

Dedicated withadmiration to:Rafael López Espí

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

FLASHBACK: International X-Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2The global evolution of Marvel’s mighty mutants

FLASHBACK: Exploding from the Pages of X-Men: Alpha Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13John Byrne’s not-quite-a team from the Great White North

BACKSTAGE PASS: The Captain and the Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24How a moral panic in the UK jeopardized the 1976 launch of Captain Britain

WHAT THE--?!: Spider-Man: The UK Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Even you Spidey know-it-alls may never have read these stories!

BACKSTAGE PASS: Origins of Marvel UK: Not Just Your Father’s Reprints. . . . . . . . . . . . 37Repurposing Marvel Comics classics for a new audience

ART GALLERY: López Espí Marvel Art Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40A collection of superhero illos by the acclaimed Spanish artist

OFF MY CHEST: Challenge of the Super Friends Global Guardians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Are DC’s international heroes in continuity?

FLASHBACK: Captain Canuck: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again . . . . . . . . . . 53The trials and tribulations of Richard Comely’s Canadian crimefighter

PRO2PRO: Steve Fastner and Rich Larson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59An exclusive interview with our cover artists

FLASHBACK: Justice League International: An Unintentional Trip to the World Stage. . . . 65Keith Giffen and Marc DeMatteis tell BI how the JL got global

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: Shamrock and the Peregrine’s Vanishing Act fromDr. Strange #37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69What on Earth is a “Frankensurfer”?

BACK IN PRINT: Hexagon Forever!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Jean-Marc Lofficier shares the latest news about the Editions Lug universe

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Reader reactions

I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1

If the original team of X-Men was only composed ofAmerican characters, such was not the case with the All-New,All-Different X-Men team that appeared after a five-yearhiatus. The team would feature an internationalroster, but its adventures would also takeplace all over our world and beyond.

BEFORE THE ALL-NEW,ALL-DIFFERENT…There had been international mutantsbefore the team that appeared inGiant-Size X-Men #1 (July 1975). RoyThomas was then writing the book andwanted to give it a different vibe: “I didcreate Banshee—well, I’d say ‘co-create,’because artist Werner Roth contributedmuch of the look, from a sort of generalvisual idea I gave him—and Sunfire acouple of years later with Don Heck,much the same way. I felt that Marvelneeded a few ‘foreign mutants,’ and just characters fromother worlds in general. At that time I hadn’t been out ofthe country except for a month in Mexico, but I felt it wastime to build on the New York-central mythos that Stan

[Lee] had had up to this point. It didn’t make sense to methat heroes in general, not even mutants who were originallysupposed to be related to things like the Manhattan

Project, were all Americans. […] There was no specialreason for an Irish mutant, except that I wanted

to do a character called the Banshee (female,if Stan had let me have my way) andhe/she wasn’t going to be a German,right? As for the Japanese side ofthings—well, they had been on thereceiving end of the end result of theManhattan Project, so I thought itwould be interesting and productiveto throw a Japanese or Japanese-American into the mix.”

So Banshee was introduced in X-Men#28 (Jan. 1967) and Sunfire madehis debut between two Neal Adamsissues (X-Men #64, Jan. 1970). It is alsointeresting to note that thanks to the

one-month Mexico trip mentioned above, Roy Thomasalso introduced Mexican villains El Tigre and Kukulkanin X-Men #25–26 (Oct.–Nov. 1966), a rare case of SouthAmerican mutants until New Mutants’ Sunspot.

InternationalMutants

The All-New,All-Different X-Men!

Detail from thecover of 1975’s

Giant-Size X-Men #1.Art by Gil Kane and

Dave Cockrum. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

2 • B A C K I S S U E • I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e

roy thomasLuigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

by F r a n c k Ma r t i n i

TM

The next “international” X-Man would be Wolverine,appearing for the first time in the pages of the IncredibleHulk #181 (Nov. 1974)—after a cliffhanger cameo in theprevious issue, that is. Once again, Roy Thomas wasinvolved in the creation process as he explained in TomDe Falco’s Comics Creators on X-Men (Titan Books, 2006):“He was my idea. I came up with his name and basictraits. […] [Al Landau, Marvel’s then-president,Stan Lee, and I] decided that we really shouldhave a Canadian character. […] About fiveor ten percent of our readers wereCanadian, and yet we didn’t have aCanadian character.”

A NEW CONCEPT FOR ANEW TEAMAfter a few appearances in Avengersand in Marvel Team-Up, the X-Menwould return, but with a different team,and would target different readersthan before as per Marvel presidentAl Landau’s suggestion: “Al suggestedMarvel do a group of foreign super-heroes … characters from countries inwhich Marvel sold a lot of comics,” Thomas said to TomDeFalco. “Stan and I liked the idea. It was my idea to dothat group with the X-Men.”

More precisely, there was a selling strategy behindAl Landau’s idea: “He said, if we could put out a bookwith characters in it from different countries we sold to,it’d probably help. […] It’d be great if we could also make

this book sell just well enough in the States to break even,”as Thomas further explained Alter Ego #24 (May 2003).

Thomas shares a bit more about the roster setupwith BACK ISSUE: “I thought that perhaps pre-existingcharacters I’d had a hand in like the Banshee, Sunfire,and Wolverine might fit in, but I don’t believe that I waspushing projected writer Mike Friedrich and artist Dave

Cockrum to include any particular character. ACanadian, maybe even a Japanese, made

sense in the group, given that the idea wasto sell the revived X-Men in countrieswhere our comics were fairly welldistributed … but there was no specialreason for an Irishman to be includedunless they wanted him to be.”

Dave Cockrum, the original NewX-Men artist, recalled that Roy Thomaspitched him the book as “MutantBlackhawks,” inspired by the international-member flying aces that originatedin the Golden Age in the pages ofMilitary Comics and Blackhawk.

So the idea stuck, but not thecountries as Cockrum also recalled in

Alter Ego #24: “By the time we were choosing characters,FSSHT, out the window, you know. So we have aRussian, we have a Kenyan, and we might’ve sold somein Germany and Canada, but that whole concept justwent out the window. We just got caught up in theenthusiasm of what we were doing.”

Wail and Assail(right) Ireland’sBanshee in X-Men#76 (June 1972),which reprintedissue #28. Coverby Gil Kane and anuncredited inker.(left) Japan’s Sunfirefirst appeared inX-Men #64(Jan. 1970). Coverby Sal Buscema andTom Palmer.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 3

dave cockrumSketch by Michael Netzer.

Hot off his career-defining run on The Uncanny X-Menwith Chris Claremont, Canadian expatriate John Byrneturned his creative efforts north of the border. It tookyears to convince Byrne to flesh out the rag-tagsuperhero team he created in The Uncanny X-Men#120–121 (Apr.–May 1979).

With Alpha Flight, John Byrne challenged the conven-tions of a team book by focusing on individual characterswhile running the team story as a subplot. Each ofthese dysfunctional characters had their own story arcsshowcased in dedicated issues, while the team plotpercolated in the background and brought themtogether only a couple of times a year.

While this narrative technique seemedunorthodox, Byrne’s vision for the titlecame to fruition in his second year. Thefirst year was about creating the team’sbackstory and establishing new andexisting characters and villains. In thesecond year, Byrne groomed theteam’s heart and soul, HeatherHudson (modeled after his wife), tolead Alpha Flight. The only thingHeather couldn’t anticipate was hercreator’s detachment.

“Alpha Flight was never muchfun,” Byrne admitted in an interviewwith Newsarama’s Michael Thomas in2000 (comicbookresources.com/?id=

151&page=article). “The characters were created mere-ly to survive a fight with the X-Men, and I never thoughtabout them having their own title. When Marvel finallycajoled me into doing Alpha Flight, I realized howincredibly two-dimensional they were, and spent some28 issues trying to find ways to correct this fault.Nothing really sang for me. If I have any regrets, itwould probably be that I did the book at all! It was nota good time for me.”

Despite the negative perceptions of his own work,Byrne made fans on both sides of the Canadian bordercare about these heroes. By transforming a housewifeinto the team’s new leader, Byrne led readers throughHeather’s emotional journey and charmed us with herspunk and determination.

CANADA’S GREATEST SUPER-TEAMIn X-Men #109 (Feb. 1978), James MacDonald “Mac”Hudson, donning his armor as Weapon Alpha, led a bluntattempt by the Canadian government to reclaim theirrogue asset, Wolverine. Wolverine wasn’t interestedin going back, and after a skirmish with the X-Men,Weapon Alpha had to withdraw. But Weapon Alphaand Department H had piqued readers’ imaginationand were eager for another appearance. Just over ayear later, Weapon Alpha, now the Vindicator, returned tothe pages of The Uncanny X-Men and brought alongsome friends.

Northern ExposureJohn Byrne’s Alpha Flight was previewed inthe House of Ideas’ promo-zine, Marvel Age#2 (May 1983).TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 1 3

john byrnePhoto by Corey Bond.

by J a s o n S h a y e r

TM

“Several members of what became Alpha Flight dateback to my fan days,” Byrne related on his ByrneRoboticsforum in 2008. “Guardian is chief among them, beingcreated when I was in my early 20s as the figureheadof a whole line of ‘Canadian comics’ I was hoping toproduce. Snowbird, in very different form, was bornaround the same time. Shaman, originally called Chinook(he had only weather-controlling powers), came next.(There was also a character called Phoenix. No chance hewould ever have made it into Alpha Flight!) I droppedin the renamed (and power-enhanced) Shaman and aredesigned Snowbird, and came up with Northstar andAurora (super-speed to counter Nightcrawler’s teleportation),and Sasquatch (to balance Colossus), and off we went.In the process, I came up with real names and somebackstory for each.”

“It was only as the characters evolved on paper thatdefinite personalities manifested themselves,” Byrne furtherexplained in his “Alpha Waves” letters column from AlphaFlight #1. “A group that started as a bunch of cipherswhose sole purpose was to survive a fight with the X-MENbecame a formidable force in their own right. Within days

of the first issue’s appearance [Uncanny X-Men #120],in which only the most tantalizing glimpses of thecharacters were given, letters started to roll in. Fans werealready picking their favorites, wondering about theirunrevealed powers, guessing which were mutants, whichweren’t. By the time they actually showed themselvesin #121, the reading public was primed and ready.Alpha Flight was an instant success.”

In X-Men #139–140 (Nov.–Dec. 1980), Claremont andByrne took out a few of Alpha Flight’s members fora test-drive with Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Moreimportantly though, we were first introduced to HeatherHudson, wife of James MacDonald Hudson and executivesecretary for Yukon Oil. Our first glimpse of Heatherwas of a young woman with her hands full of groceriesand preoccupied with how to juggle the householdresponsibilities and her professional career. Byrne’s portrayalof Heather was rather progressive in that it had a real-world view of a superhero relationship.

By the end of this team-up, the Canadian primeminister shut down Department H and Alpha Flightbecause of budget cuts and anti-mutant temperament.Readers were left with some hope, though: “An ending ofsorts, yet also a beginning—of a new, possibly brighterchapter in the life of Alpha Flight.” Fans would have towait almost three years to read about that new chapter.

CANADA’S OWN ALPHA FLIGHT!With these words, “You are witnessing the death of adream…”, John Byrne launched Alpha Flight #1 (Aug. 1983).The dream belonged to team’s leader, James MacDonaldHudson. Without Department H and its governmentfunding, could Alpha Flight survive?

This clean slate gave Byrne the creative freedom he didn’thave on The Uncanny X-Men or The Fantastic Four. Byrnehad a full plate in 1983: In addition to writing, penciling,and inking Alpha Flight, he wrote and drew Fantastic Fourand scripted its spin-off, The Thing. That added up to 44pages to draw and 66 pages to plot and script each month!

“I have The Fantastic Four roughly plotted out forabout a year in advance,” Byrne outlined in Marvel Age#14 (May 1984). “The same goes for The Thing, and Igenerally have Alpha Flight plotted out about six monthsor so in advance. I’m always kicking around the ideas inmy head for how to go with the series, what directionsthe book will take, and what villains and new characterswill appear. Before I begin writing each issue, I turn in awritten plot and meet with the editor, Bob Budiansky forThe Fantastic Four and The Thing, and Denny O’Neil forAlpha Flight, to help me fine tune the plot.”

Byrne spoke on how he handled this monthly workloadin Marvel Age #2 (May 1983): “I’m going to be eliminatinga step—I’m going to be doing just breakdowns and theninking those—penciling with ink. I’ve reached a level ofcomfort with my own work that I don’t need to do fullpencils. So I’ll be doing stick figures, layouts, and inkingthose. It sounds like a lot of work but it actually isn’t.Although (evil laugh) I’ll still be making just as muchmoney because Marvel pays me for a completed page.”

Alpha Flight’s popularity had grown over the yearsbefore their own ongoing series, and their numerousguest appearances had only whet that appetite. AlphaFlight was the second spin-off from The Uncanny X-Men,following The New Mutants, which was published a fewmonths earlier. Canada’s Greatest Heroes were anuncontested success with their debut, double-sized first issueselling over 500,000 copies, an impressive feat even in1983. Their success wasn’t simply a first-issue phenomena:Comics Feature #46 (July 1986) had Alpha Flight #9 listedas #2 in their Top 100 and Amazing Heroes #49 (June1984) had Alpha Flight #11 ranked #3 in their Top 100.

Soon-to-beVindicator

James MacDonaldHudson makes thescene as Weapon

Alpha in X-Men #109(Feb. 1978). Cover by

Dave Cockrum.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

1 4 • B A C K I S S U E • I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e r o e s I s s u e

The full circumstances surrounding the launch of Captain Britain’scomic in 1976 have never been told before.

It’s the tale of the greatest publicity campaign Marvel ever hadfor a comic book in Britain—conducted at a time when comics wereunder siege.

It’s an unlikely tale that has Stan Lee in cowboy boots, members ofthe British Parliament, a shark, and a World Cup referee!

SELLING CAPTAIN BRITAIN TO THE BRITISHThe publicity for the launch of the eponymously named and ill-fatedCaptain Britain (CB) comic book was primarily organized by RayWergan. (See BACK ISSUE #29 for more on Captain Britain and BI #63for a detailed look at British Marvel.)

Employed by Marvel between 1972 and 1978, Wergan had extensivemedia contacts. While he unquestionably did a thorough job in arrangingpublicity, events elsewhere ensured that the subject of Captain Britainwas discussed on primetime TV, radio, and in newspapers.

In February of 1976, a new comic called Action had been releasedby International Publishing Corporation (IPC), one of the three biggestcomic publishers at that time in the UK. Bloodthirsty and graphic,with man-eating sharks ripping off limbs, characters being decapitatedby bridges, and priests being shot, Action was immediately as controversialas it was popular.

By issue #2 of Action, newspapers had started to comment on it,and not favorably. One of those early articles appeared in The Sun,a tabloid newspaper with an immense circulation of 12 million (i.e.,one in five of the UK population).

Action continued to draw negative press over the coming months.The media were unable or unwilling to distinguish one comic company—never mind comic—from another, and so now all comic books wereseen as equally culpable.

With Cap’s debut 25 days away, a new strip called “Kids Rule O.K.”debuted in the September 11th issue of Action. Its portrayals of footballhooliganism, then a considerable social issue, would soon bringeverything to a climax.

Only four days later, in the Marvel weeklies released on September15, 1976 (dated September 22), fans had their first teasing view ofthe shadowy, unnamed hero. The adverts also made reference to himbeing “British” and “Britain’s own,” which was an intriguing surprise.Up till then, the only prominent British hero to appear in the Britishweeklies had been the Black Knight. (Reprints of The Invaders would notlet a British audience meet the WWI hero Union Jack, or his daughterSpitfire, for some months yet.)

As the publicity campaign would emphasize, Captain Britain wasthe first British hero created for a British audience: It’s an importantdistinction, one that is often overlooked.

Two days passed, and then The Daily Mail—with a circulation ofnearly five million, the fourth most popular daily in the UK—ran aprominent story condemning Action’s content. The press and self-appointed “moral guardians” had a new crusade.

First Look(top) Captain Britain’s first public outing gave away little.Ad from Mighty World of Marvel #208 (Sept. 22, 1976).(bottom) This first color image of Cap appeared twoweeks before Captain Britain #1’s launch. All images

accompanying this article are courtesy of Robert Menzies.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

by R o b e r t M e n z i e s


The Amazing Spider-Man first appeared in The MightyWorld of Marvel #1, the week ending October 7th, 1972.This was the beginning of the Marvel Age of Comics,featuring, as it did, the opening salvo of a trio of stripsthat would redefine the comic-book medium: Spidey, theFantastic Four, and the Incredible Hulk. This 40-pagecomic, costing five pence, featured the world’s greatestsuperheroes in three movie-length adventures, a greatmystery surprise for every reader, and a FREE green-skinned monster T-shirt transfer.

What’s this? It’s not like BACK ISSUE to make such aschoolboy error. Surely everybody knows that Spider-Man,created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, firstappeared in an anthology title, that’s true—but it wasAmazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), not Mighty World ofMarvel (MWOM). And the Hulk and the FF first appearedin their own magazines.

Well, yes, all of this is, of course, correct. But for anentire nation across the cold, unforgiving Atlantic Ocean,these three titans of superhero comics did not first head-line their own comics, rather, they were introduced toan entire country as stable-mates in one magazine … andthus was born the Marvel Age of Comics—UK division.

There had been an attempt to launch Marvel charactersbefore in POW! and Fantastic magazines in the late ’60s,but MWOM wasn’t a licensed deal. Marvel was looking atlaunching a new line of comics in a new country, ontheir own terms. Whilst MWOM was popular in and ofitself, Spider-Man was the breakout star, and when Marvellooked to expand its publishing output, Spidey was thelogical choice for the second Marvel weekly, his place inMWOM being taken by Daredevil. Reprinting “Spider-ManTackles the Torch” from Amazing Spider-Man #9 (Feb. 1964),#19 of MWOM was Spider-Man’s last as a regular feature.Spider-Man Comics Weekly debuted the week endingFebruary 17, 1973, picking up where MWOM left off witha reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #10, “The Coming ofElectro” (Mar. 1964), and also introducing the startled andeager British Isles to the Mighty Thor as a backup strip.The first issue, like its elder “brother,” was 40 pages and costfive pence. It featured a free Spider-Man mask and revealedthe startling secret of FOOM. No one could have believedit at the time but this comic would run for almost 13 yearsand a staggering 666 issues. It would be the pinnacle ofUK Marvel’s output featuring pretty much every superherocharacter Marvel ever published at one time or another,but its end would be ignominious as Marvel UK prettymuch gave up, allowing the comic to fade away ratherthan burn out. It would see numerous title and format


Your Friendly BritishNeighbourhood Spider-ManSpider-Man UK #607 (Oct. 27, 1984) coverartist Jerry Paris also drew the issue’s splashpage, with then-newbies Barry Kitson andMark Farmer following with interior art.Spidey UK scans courtesy of Andrew Leyland.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

by And r ew L e y l a n d

TM

Think you have seen all the artwork and read all the dialogue of yourfavorite Marvel comics from the ’60s and ’70s? Maybe not.

In 1972, Marvel Comics launched a new imprint called Marvel UK topublish Marvel comic-book titles across the pond [see BI #63—ed.]. It wasnot the first time Marvel comics had been published in England.Alan Class and Odhams Press reprinted early Marvel comics inthe 1960s. But recognizing a potentially lucrative market,Marvel decided to take the reins. Marvel had a tremendous,growing inventory of titles that had proved popularin the United States, from vintage superhero comicslike The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, FantasticFour, and The Incredible Hulk to more recent titles likeDracula Lives, Savage Sword of Conan, and Planet ofthe Apes. The same comics could be reprinted in theUK for a whole new set of fans.

However, reprinting US comics for the UK marketwas not as simple as it sounds. Comics in the UK weretraditionally published weekly with black-and-whiteinteriors printed magazine-sized. Scott Edelman, thesecond editor of Marvel UK after Tony Isabella, furtherexplains the challenge: “US comic books at the timegenerally consisted of a single story stretching through an issue. UK comicbooks tended to be made up of many shorter stories about differentcharacters, with each adventure continuing in segments from issue to issue.In order for Marvel’s US comics to pass as UK comics, someone had to takea 20-page story, [and] break it into parts.” The number of pages in eachpart varied depending on the space allocated to it in the Marvel UK comic.

The by-product of this approach was that new splash pages andcovers were needed for the subsequent parts of the story. It was notpractical, or even possible in many cases, to have the original artist for

the story draw new splash pages, so something else had to be done.Edelman recalls, “Sometimes I’d find a panel from a previous segmentwhich could be enlarged as the basis for a splash page. Sometimes there’dbe no suitable panel to repurpose, and a new splash page would

need to be drawn.” When a new splash page needed to be drawn,which was the case more often than not, the responsibility fell

to artists like Steve Stiles and Howard Bender.Bender elaborates on how the process worked:

“Basically, the whole thing was put together and overseenby Sol Brodsky and he had his connections with thepeople overseas, in Britain, who would package it—an enormous amount of books every week, maybetwo or three books a day—to be printed over inEngland. Of course, it was all printed in black andwhite. They would split the stories, so they wouldneed a new splash page and a new cover for the otherbook(s).” So, in actuality, part of the Marvel UKreprint books were not reprints.

For artists like Bender and Stiles, Marvel UKprovided a good place to start. Stiles explains howhe came to work on the Marvel UK comics: “In 1975,

I found myself drawing up comic-book samples while living in JoeStaton’s basement in upstate New York. After three visits to the Marveloffices, Chris Claremont took me over to see John Warner, who wasthen editor of the British line, and I was hired.” Bender had a similarpath to the House of Ideas: “I always wanted to work at Marvel. I reallyloved the way Stan Lee would talk to the readers. After I graduatedart school, I went to New York. I started working in the Bullpen doingcorrections on the black-and-white magazines, and then they found aspot for me in the UK Division, which was down the hall.”

Your Father’s FF(and ProbablyYours, Too)From Captain Britain#2, Fantastic Fourpinup art bySteve Stiles andFrank Giacoia.Courtesy of HeritageComics Auctions(www.ha.com).TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


scott edelmanK. Tempest Bradford/Wikipedia.

by Dew e y C a s s e l l

Editor’s note: A few examples of Marvel superhero artby renowned Spanish illustrator Rafael López Espíhave appeared in BACK ISSUE in the past, piquing theinterest of US readers. Thanks to the generosity of oneof BI’s readers in Spain, Raimon Fonseca, we proudlypresent this gallery of López Espí images of Marvel’smightiest—thank you, Raimon! On these pages you’llfind plates from a 2007 portfolio, most of which are

accompanied by the 1970s covers for which theimages were produced; the 1972 Spider-Man and IronMan posters painted that were marketed in Marvel’sUK weeklies; and original art from a 1974 Marvel cardset. Readers are encouraged to discover more aboutour spotlighted artist by visiting the illustrator’s web-site at www.lopezepsi.com.

All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


WHAT EARTH ARE WE ON?It was never quite clear whether Super Friends took place on Earth-One or in some parallel reality.(Wait—the headline says “Global Guardians”! Why are we talking about the Super Friends? Patience,please. We’ll get there!)

In favor of the Earth-One theory, Super Friends often referred to the Justice League. But the regularJustice League comics never acknowledged a “Hall of Justice” or any training program for superherowannabes. It would be easy to conclude that failure to mention these things does not constitute proofof their non-existence except that the presence of a Justice League is not the ironclad proof we’d like tothink it is. After all, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man featured the Injustice Gang satellite, meaningthat there’s a Justice League in that continuum, and that story certainly did not take place on Earth-One.

Supporting the not-Earth-One hypothesis is the appearance of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite in SuperFriends #12. These WWII-era heroes were certainly not indigenous to Earth-One, whose first superpoweredchampion was established to be Superman. And yet, plenty of stories clearly set on Earth-One also brokethis rule—frequently stories featuring Superman or his younger self! A sampling of such exceptionsincludes the Guardian appearing in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen (starting in #135), Zatara in NewAdventures of Superboy #14 and 49, and Air Wave in DC Comics Presents #40, among others. Yes, ten-year-olds go through these kind of mental gymnastics trying to determine where Super Friends takes place.

In preparing this article, I took an informal and not-statistically significant survey of a few peoplein the comics industry on this subject. To a person, they did not consider Super Friends part ofEarth-One continuity:

Cartoonist Fred Hembeck said, “I didn’t consider ’em in continuity! Just a feeling. (I didn’t considera lot of what went on in B&B with Batman’s costars in continuity either…)”

Craig Shutt, a.k.a. “Mr. Silver Age,” replied that “I wouldn’t consider it in [regular DC] continuity,as it’s a different set of characters with somewhat different personalities. Certainly, there was never an


TM & © DC Com

ics.

by J a c k A b r amow i t z

TM

TM

indication that it was in continuity by having charactersreference those adventures.”

Martin Pasko, who actually worked at DCat the time, gave an insider’s perspectivenot only on Super Friends but on someother titles as well with his reply:

“[T]here were many people at DCwho considered Super Friends to beinvisible. Seriously, the only person whothought of it as part of any continuity—never mind what Earth—was [E.]Nelson Bridwell. Everyone else thoughtof it as strictly a TV tie-in, no more a partof the DCU (which wasn’t even calledthat yet, back then) than WelcomeBack, Kotter. This was because Hanna-Barbera had to put in two kids and adog to get ABC to take the show (theywere Scooby-Dooing everything to within an inch of itslife at the time), and at first ABC wouldn’t even allowthe characters to be referred to as ‘the Justice League.’

Everyone at DC thought the show was truly awful, andfelt that the scripts were not only a bastardization

of the source material, but disrespectful of theentire superhero genre in general. Manypeople at DC (even among executivestaff) didn’t really want to publish SuperFriends at all, but the title was acondition of the licensing arrangementwith the cartoon studio.”

While not officially recognized assuch, the Super Friends’ continuumis popularly known as “Earth-OneA,”an offshoot of Earth-One. (As noted,the point of all this will be madeclear shortly.)

ENTER THE GLOBALGUARDIANSSo here we have Super Friends, featuring

superhero protégés of dubious canon Wendy, Marvin, andWonder Dog. The status quo starts to change in issue#7, “The Warning of the Wondertwins,” by E. NelsonBridwell, with art by Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith.

The tale begins when a spaceship arrives on Earthcarrying superpowered teens Zan and Jayna, along with theirelastic-tailed pet monkey, Gleek. The trio are refugeesfrom the planet Exor, and made their way to Earth towarn the locals about a dire plot from Superman’s oldenemy, Grax. That bald-headed, blue-skinned, four-armed space pirate planted 12 bombs around the globe,any one of which would be capable of destroying all lifeon the planet. Wendy and Marvin summon not just theSuper Friends but the entire Justice League.

“So many bombs,” Wonder Woman observes. “We’llhave to abandon our usual teamwork!”

“Not necessarily!” Wendy counters. “The JLAcomputer had info on all Earth’s heroes! You can teamwith local ones near where the bombs are.”

And so it begins.First up is Superman, who visits Israel, where he

teams with local hero the Seraph. The Seraph is inpossession of Elijah’s mantle, the staff of Moses, andKing Solomon’s ring, each of which endows him withmiraculous abilities. Additionally, his long hair provideshim with super-strength à la Samson. The bomb isencased within a gravity field that the Man of Steelcannot breach. The Seraph enables him to access thedevice by using his staff to part the gravity field as Mosesonce did the Red Sea. One bomb down.

We transition to London, where the Elongated Manis teamed with Godiva, who has prehensile hair that shecan harden, turn transparent, and more. (At first glance,it would appear that Godiva is a blatant rip-off of Marvel’sMedusa. Upon further reflection, we may note that Legionof Super-Heroes reject Spider Girl—who first appeared in1964’s Adventure Comics #323—predates either of them.DC might counter that Marvel appropriated not onlySpider Girl’s power but her name as well!) In any event,bomb #2 is enclosed within a force-field that, happily,has no effect on hair, so Godiva is able to enwrap herselfand the ductile detective in a tonsorial shield.

From merrie olde England we travel to South Africa,where we find the Flash zooming along with local heroImpala keeping pace. (We’re informed that Impala is notas fast as the Flash, but keeping up at this speed is animpressive feat nonetheless.) The South Africa bombhovers high over a broad plain, leaving Flash with noway to reach it. Happily, impalas are not only fast, they’rechampion leapers. Impala is able to leap 19 feet in theair with the Flash on his shoulders; Impala’s “hang time”is sufficient for Flash to defuse the bomb at super-speed.


Fast FriendsFlash runs intoImpala in Super

Friends #7(Oct. 1977). By E.Nelson Bridwell,Ramona Fradon,and Bob Smith.Scan coutesy of

John Wells.TM & © DC Comics.

ramona fradonLuigi Novi / Wikimedia.

Captain Who? Unless you are a Canadian or a really hardcore comiccollector, you may have never even heard of Captain Canuck. I rememberwhen I first saw something about Captain Canuck, known as CC to hisfans. In late 1979 or early 1980, I picked up copy The Buyer’s Guide toComics Fandom, stuffed with ads of comics for sale. Buried in all thoseads was a Captain Canuck promotion from Doug Sulipa’s Comic World,a dealer in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.

So, from the first time I put my hands on a copy of CC, I was hookedhave since collected everything connected to the character. While thisis an article about Captain Canuck, you can’t understand CC withoutunderstanding the life of his creator, Richard Comely. His is the story of howa few issues of Captain Canuck would get published, and then ceasepublication, and then come back for more issues, and then go away again.Only to come back again. Captain Canuck is like a cat with nine lives.

THE COMING OF CAPTAIN CANUCKIn late 1971 or early 1972, Richard Comely and Ron Leishman

(www.toonaday.com), a friend of Comely’s from church,were talking. Leishman said there should be a Canadiansuperhero and even had preliminary drawing in hiscartoony style. A couple of years went by and at age24, Comely decided to self-publish CC with moneyhe borrowed from family plus a small bank loan.He found a publisher who would give him credit toprint the comics. Before Comely could publishCaptain Canuck #1, Leishman went to France for twoyears as a missionary. Comely modified the cartoonystyle of Fleishman’s drawing to more of a comic-booksuperhero style and defined the hero’s look as itswriter/artist. In April 1975, a one-page marketing flyerknown as the “Jammies” cover was created and sentout to prospective sellers of comics to promote the

first issue of Captain Canuck.Captain Canuck #1 (July 1975), from Comely Comix, was a visual

departure from the comics being turned out by Marvel and DC. It had acover price of 35 cents at a time when US comic books were selling for 25cents. Issue #1’s cover showed CC in his red-and-white outfit over aCanadian flag, superimposed over a yellow-and-orange sunrise.After much experimentation, Comely took the black-and-white inkedcomic pages, laid a sheet of acetate over them, and then used animatorpaints and colored on the acetate pages. The result was a much larger andbrighter color pallet than the standard four-color comic. (Some mightdescribe these colors as strange.) The first issue’s CC 18-page adventurewas scripted, illustrated, and colored by Comely, with co-scripter DaveAbbott. It included a ten-page sword-and-sorcery backup, Jonn, co-writtenby Comely and Leishman, penciled by Comely, and inked by OwenMcCarron. [Editor’s note: To learn more about McCarron, who was alsothe man behind Marvel Fun and Games Magazine, see BACK ISSUE #77.]

While Captain Canuck was never submitted to the Comics CodeAuthority for approval to be sold in the US, Comely was committed tohaving a comic with no gratuitous or excessive violence or sexuality.This comes from Comely being an active member of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

The Captain Canuck series was set in the then-future of 1993–1994.Its backstory: In the 1980s, Canada became the leading economic andworld power. Canada’s equivalent of the United States’ CIA was anorganization called the C.I.S.O. (Canadian International SecurityOrganization). C.I.S.O. selected two men who are unequaled in physicaland mental prowess to be trained as its “super agents”: Captain Canuck(who in real life is Tom Evans) and his partner Blue Fox.

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


richard comely

by J a y W i l l i am s

TM

Our cover artists, painter Steve Fastner and penciler RichLarson, started their collaboration back in the mid-1970s,and nearly 40 years later they’re as in-demand as ever!Many BACK ISSUE readers cherish their fascinating Marvelportfolios of the early ’80s, from which our X-Men vs.Alpha Flight cover hails, and that’s the starting point forthis exclusive “Pro2Pro” chat.

– Michael Eury

MICHAEL EURY: Let’s start by discussing the Alpha Flightvs. X-Men illustration we’ve repurposed as the coverof this issue, BACK ISSUE #83 … which was released,coincidentally, in 1983 in an X-Men portfolio, one of a fewMarvel portfolios you did in the early ’80s. How did theseportfolios come about, and who is/was SQ Publications?RICH LARSON: SQP, a.k.a. Sal Q Productions (www.sqpart-books.com), was and is Sal Quartuccio and Bob Keenan,the hardest-working publishers in fantasy art. Our storyis inextricably intertwined with theirs; they were the firstto publish our work (in their prozine Hot Stuf’, in 1978),and have published most of our books since. You don’tusually find artists cozying up to their publishers, but welove those guys. They’re probably the longest-livedindependent fantasy publishers still actually signing checks.STEVE FASTNER: Sal Quartuccio called me one day in1979 and told me he was doing a series of Marvelsuperheroes portfolios. It was going to be various Marvelartists and inkers producing inked drawings of the super-heroes. Sal wanted me to do airbrush coloring for theinked drawings using a photo-process called blue-linetransfer. Blue-line makes a light blue copy of the line arton a sheet of illustration board, which I would do theairbrushing on. It also makes a copy of the black ink lineson a sheet of clear acetate. That way, when it’s printed,the black ink lines stay solid black instead of beingscreened, which would make them dark grey instead.I had done blue-line coloring on SQP’s The Art ofJohn Buscema book. I told Sal that I’d prefer to do fullyairbrushed paintings instead, so he made me a counteroffer.He would have the artists pencil the drawing on artboard and I could do airbrush painting on top. I agreedto do them, and the first set was the X-Men.EURY: You made a reputation in those days doing paintedrenditions of superheroes before that became fashionable(although, of course, the pulps did that way back in the’30s). Do you recall the reaction from editors and fansduring that time when line art for superhero renderingswas the norm?LARSON: I think it was moderately favorable. A few fansprobably took issue with our style as a being a bit toocartoony, or not Marvelesque enough. But the portfolioswere successful enough that we did four sets (two of theX-Men, Spidey, and the Hulk), and had the FantasticFour ready to go when Marvel decided to take theportfolio format in-house.

Next GenerationSteve Fastner and Rich Larson’s “ProfessorXavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters – Revisted”plate, from SQP’s first X-Men portfolio. X-Men TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


conducted by Mi c h a e l E u r y

The year was 1987, and the crossover event Legends hadjust concluded. After this event and its predecessor Crisison Infinite Earths, the DC Universe had become a verydifferent place. Characters were becoming grittier. Heroesfrom parallel worlds had become full-time residents of asingle DCU. In all this change it was becoming clearerand clearer that the time for a new type of Justice Leaguewas now. As this team would go forward, accompaniedby unforeseen commercial success, it would evolve. TheLeague would no longer be anchored to America. It wouldtake a new turn and become a peacekeeping force forthe world. It would become Justice League International.

Before a new League could form and evolve, a newcreative team had to be brought together. Andy Helfer,who had been editing Justice League of America since

1985, was the one who would chart this newroute for this well-established title. [Editor’snote: See BI #3 for more about the JusticeLeague’s rebirth.] In the wake of Legends,a new Justice League cast had emerged.It was Helfer who would bring onKeith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis togive the team life. DeMatteis was thefirst to come on to the scene. He hadtaken over writing Justice League of

America with issue #255 (Oct. 1986).DeMatteis would continue on withthe series until it ended with #261.In speaking about the transition to thenew era of Justice League, DeMatteistells BACK ISSUE, “I’d written the final

story of the ‘Detroit’ League for Andy Helfer and, whenAndy and Keith were putting the new League together,Keith decided he wasn’t comfortable doing the plot andthe dialogue. Andy asked me to come aboard. I tookone look at Keith’s first plot, which was terrific, andsigned on. [Penciler] Kevin Maguire was the final pieceof the puzzle—one of the most gifted, and unique,artists I’ve ever worked with.”

While this one piece of the puzzle was set early on,Keith Giffen had been working with Andy Helfer, proddinghim for the opportunity to work on the book. Giffenrecounts the story: “I don’t remember when it started,but it was a good while before I got the Justice League oreven any indication that I might get it. I was always afterAndy, ‘Give me the Justice League. Give me the JusticeLeague.’ ’Cause I saw this potential for the book that Ididn’t figure was being reached.” He continues, “It waslike with the Legion of Super-Heroes. What attracted memost to that was the potential the book had. Just theability to go in there and do something really wild. I sawthe same thing in Justice League. For months and months,maybe even a year before finally getting the book, I’d goto Andy and say, ‘Give me the Justice League. I can dosomething good with it.’ Andy would just nod, ‘Yeah yeahyeah yeah, go away, find something else to do.’”

The New Global GuardiansAfter a mere six issues, Justice League wasretitled Justice League International withissue #7 (Nov. 1987). Cover by KevinMaguire and Al Gordon.TM & © DC Comics.


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BACK ISSUE #83“International Heroes!” Alpha Flight, the New X-Men, GlobalGuardians, Captain Canuck, and Justice League International, plusSpider-Man in the UK and more. Also: exclusive interview withcover artists STEVE FASTNER and RICH LARSON. Featuring thework of JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM,RICHARD COMELY, KEITH GIFFEN, KEVIN MAGUIRE, and more!Alpha Flight vs. X-Men cover by FASTNER/LARSON.

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1194

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW,CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS

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