back issue - #89

No.89July 2016

$8.95

BRONZE AGE ADAPTATIONS

The Shadow Korak, Son of Tarzan Battlestar Galactica Marvel Movie Comics

Black Hole 2001 featuring Chaykin, Kaluta, Kirby, Kubert, O’Neil, Thorne, & more

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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: $73 Standard US, $88 Expedited US, $116International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.Cover art by Michael Wm. Kaluta. The Shadow TM & © Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved. All charactersare © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter© 2016 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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Volume 1,Number 89July 2016

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTMichael Wm. Kaluta(Unpublished cover producedfor DC Comics’ The Shadow.This image ran poster-sizein black and white in TheAmazing World of DCComics #1, July 1974.)

COVER COLORISTGlenn Whitmore

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

PROOFREADERRob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKSMark ArnoldBrian AugustynMike W. BarrJonathan R. BrownRich BucklerDewey CassellHoward ChaykinArthur ChertowskyGerry ConwayJon B. CookeLamont CranstonFred L. deBoomStephan FriedtJoel GossGrand Comics

Database Jackson GuiceLarry HamaHeritage Comics

AuctionsGerard JonesDouglas R. KellyPaul Kupperberg

James Heath LantzVal MayerikRoger McKenzieDavid MichelinieAllen MilgromMichael NetzerLuigi NoviDennis O’NeilTom PalmerRalph ReesePhilip SchweierWalter SimonsonAnthony SnyderRoy ThomasFrank ThorneAnthony TollinMichael UslanDon VaughanLen WeinJohn WellsRod WhighamMarv Wolfman

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

BACK SEAT DRIVER Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

OFF MY CHEST Guest Column by Paul Kupperberg: Pictures to Prose . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3One of our favorite writers looks at comic-book characters’ transitions to novels

FLASHBACK: Shedding Light on The Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7The dark hero’s appearances in comic books, with O’Neil, Tollin, Uslan, Augustyn, Jones, Barr, and Goss

BEYOND CAPES: It’s a Jungle Out There!: DC’s Korak, Son of Tarzan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27The junior jungle man’s ’70s swingin’ safari at DC Comics, with Len Wein and Frank Thorne

BEYOND CAPES: Science Experiment: Marvel’s Worlds Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Thomas, Conway, Reese, Mayerik, and Wein discuss the pros and cons of adapting sci-fi

WHAT THE--?!: The Super Cops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43The strange story of the real-life Batman and Robin and their short-lived media blitz

FLASHBACK: A Monolith in Comics: Jack Kirby’s 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47The King of Comics’ unexpected movie adaptation that created a Mister Machine-making spin-off

FLASHBACK: Battlestar Galactica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52The Cylons are coming! Luckily, Marvel enlisted Simonson, Milgrom, and McKenzie to handle them

FLASHBACK: Adapting Disney’s Black Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55The House of the Mouse sets its sights on its own Star Wars

BACKSTAGE PASS: Marvel at the Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Creators galore recall Mighty Marvel’s Hollywood adaptations of the 1970s and 1980s

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74Reader reactions

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

Comics, words, and pictures, used in congress to tell a story,have been a part of human written communication sincethe start. From the 32,000-year-old cave paintings inSpain’s Cueva de las Moneda, through the pictogramsof early written language, to the illuminated manu-scripts of the Middle Ages, pictures have always stoodalongside (or instead of) words. The modern comic stripwas born at the end of the 19th Century and cameto maturity in the 1920s in a 20-plus-year burst ofcreativity that saw the introduction of countless iconicstrips, including Dick Tracy, Tarzan, The Phantom,Blondie, Thimble Theater and Popeye, Barney Google,Flash Gordon, Alley Oop, Bringing Up Father, Buck Rogers,Joe Palooka, and others.

The earliest pictures told stories of heroism, of thehunters who kept them in mastodon meat and sabertoothtiger pelts. When tribes finally settled down into villagesand towns, exchanging the excitement of the huntfor the predictability of the crop, artists began creatingsociety’s heroes, weaving written fiction out of spokenlegend and adding poetry in both its purest form and inthe rhythms of prose. Heroes were created and evolved,from Oedipus and Achilles, across Robin Hood andDon Juan, to Tarzan and Buck Rogers, up through HarryPotter, James Bond, and Jason Bourne, all in the heroic-fiction tradition—which, in all these examples, saw thehero born in the fiction.

But, for our purposes, we have to begin with DickTracy, cartoonist Chester Gould’s hard-hitting, fast-paced police procedural/adventure strip, distributed bythe Chicago Tribune Syndicate beginning in 1931. Tracy,a combination of up-to-date crimefighting techniquesand raw violence fantastically based on Prohibition–eragang activity, was an immediate success. And it began itsrun just in time to get in on the growing fields ofadvertising and licensing, both of which were havingcomings of age of their own thanks to the new pop mediaof the 1920s, radio and motion pictures. Tracy was onthe air by 1934 and made his big-screen debut in 1937.

But before either of those achievements, DetectiveTracy became the first comic-strip feature to be turnedinto prose, as the star of the first Big Little Book in 1932.According to Garyn G. Roberts’ book, Dick Tracy andAmerican Culture: Morality and Mythology, “In all, morethan 600 distinct (Big Little Book) titles appeared fromWhitman [Publishing] and its followers during theDepression, World War II, and the first years of the ColdWar. Most of the books were approximately 4 1/2 inchessquare and 1 1/2 inches thick... The usual format for thesebooks was a page of text for each page of illustration…Dick Tracy Big Little Books were among the most prolific

The House of Novels …or Is That the Library of Ideas?Four of the Pocket Books’ Marvel NovelSeries from the late 1970s. Don’t you justlove those painted covers?Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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


what needed to be done to successfully transfer theStar-Spangled Avenger from the comics page to theprose. The Great Gold Steal is a fast-paced adventure thatremains a good read nearly 50 years later.

Going into the 1970s, the pickings for comics-basednovels were eclectic, including a series of 15 novels fromAvon featuring Lee Falk’s Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks(including Falk’s own charming The Story of the Phantom,the first in the series), and half a dozen Flash Gordonnovels from Avon (1974–1977) credited to the comic strip’screator, the late Alex Raymond, but actually written byCon Steffanson and Carson Bingham. The Challengers ofthe Unknown, a marginal DC Comics title, made it intoprose in the eponymous-titled novel by science-fictionstalwart Ron Goulart from Dell in 1977; rumors of abig-name movie producer’s interest in the property werebandied about as the reason. The same year, Pocket Bookslaunched an 11-book series starring the heroes of theMarvel Universe (it was supposed to be 12 books, but aSilver Surfer novel written by William Rotsler was scrappedwhen it was decided that only Stan Lee should be allowedto write the character), packaged by comic-book writersLen Wein and Marv Wolfman, who also wrote the premierbook, Mayhem in Manhattan, starring Spider-Man, who wasfollowed by the Hulk, Captain America, the FantasticFour, X-Men, the Avengers, and Daredevil.

In 1978, Elliott S. Maggin’s Superman: The Last Sonof Krypton (Warner Books) featured a cover photographof Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel and used theSuperman: The Movie logo, but had little else to do withthe movie, thanks to legal complications involvingscreenwriter Mario Puzo. Two more Superman books werepublished in conjunction with the films that followed:Miracle Monday, with Superman II in 1981, which wasanother Warner Books original by Maggin, and William

Kotzwinkle’s straight adaptation of the sorry SupermanIII (Warner Books, 1983).

Another film producer’s interest in the World War IIcomic Blackhawk, a long-running third-tier feature thatsurvived (but just barely) into the 1980s, caused DCComics to rush out with a tie-in written by WilliamRotsler from sister company Warner Books.

In the 1990s, comic-book tie-ins received a new leaseon life, beginning with half a dozen short-story collectionsedited by Martin H. Greenberger starring DC’s topheroes—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—andfeaturing stories by the top names in genre fiction, aswell as comic-book writers. Marvel Comics signed withbook packager and publisher Byron Preiss to publish anextensive series of comic-book novels, starring Spider-Man,X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer,the Hulk, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil,Generation X, Iron Man, and others. In all, more than 80Marvel novels and story collections appeared between1994 and the early 2000s. Thanks to the success in recentyears of such Marvel movies as Spider-Man, X-Men, IronMan, Blade, Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four,and The Hulk, these and the other films receive regularnovelization treatment, some franchises also spinningoff original novels, like 2010’s Iron Man 2.

Those years also saw a flood of books from DC’slibrary of titles that made it to the screen, television andfilm, including Lois & Clark, Superman, Batman,Catwoman, Constantine, Justice League (animated), TheBooks of Magic, Smallville, and The League of ExtraordinaryGentlemen, as well as those based such comic-book-based storylines as The Death of Superman, Batman’sKnightfall, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kingdom Come, InfiniteCrisis, Final Crisis, and 52. Green Lantern received ahardcover trilogy in the early 2000s, and four novels

1977 Novels(left) DC’s second-tier title Challengersof the Unknown gotthe novel treatmentby Ron Goulart,from Dell Books.(right) Also thatyear, Marvel’snovel line launchedwith Len Weinand Marv Wolfman’sThe AmazingSpider-Man: Mayhemin Manhattan.Challengers TM & © DC Comics.Spider-Man TM & © MarvelCharacters, Inc.


TM & © DC Comics.

The Shadow’s origins—both narratively and editorially—are appropriately shrouded in a fog of mystery, misdirection,and misunderstanding. In a chicken/egg scenario, manyget confused whether radio begat the pulp magazine orvice versa. Both ran concurrently throughout the 1930sand ’40s, presenting separate interpretations of thecharacter. In the pulp magazine published by Street &Smith, The Shadow was a mysterious crimefighter,cloaked in black, who prowled the night. On radio, he wasmore of an amateur sleuth who seemingly possessedthe power of invisibility.

In 1941, The Shadow’s popularity led to a newspaperstrip. Comic books began to aggressively compete withpulp magazines for newsstand space. Walter Gibson, whowrote the lion’s share of The Shadow’s pulp adventures,once suggested that Street & Smith’s reluctance to enterthe comic-book market stemmed from the fact that itspresses weren’t equipped for color. However, whenfaced with the increasing success of its competitors’comic-book ventures, the pulp publisher capitulated,

subcontracting its comic books to a color printer.The Shadow newspaper strip was restructured

in comic-book form.As America became more involved

in the war in Europe, daily papersbegan dropping comic strips. WhenVernon Greene, who drew the Shadowstrip from Gibson’s scripts, enlistedin the military, a succession of lesserartists took over. The comic bookand the pulp both struggled

through the 1940s, until both werecanceled almost simultaneously in1949. Five years later, the radio dramaleft the air.

In 1964, as Marvel Comicslaunched a new wave of super-

heroic characters, Archie Comics attempted aShadow revival. The first issue remained marginallytrue to The Shadow’s pulp roots, but starting withthe second issue, he was depicted as a typical super-hero in green and blue tights and a cape. The series raneight issues, many written by Superman co-creatorJerry Siegel.

Fans of the character would have to wait anotherdecade for The Shadow’s return.

THE SHADOW AND BATMAN – 1973In 1973, DC Comics licensed The Shadow from Street& Smith’s corporate successor, Condé Nast. DennyO’Neil’s moody Batman stories made him the perfectchoice to chronicle new adventures of The Shadow.As both writer and editor of the series, O’Neil found thepulp version of the character much more suitable forcomics. “A guy who is invisible is not an ideal characterin a visual medium,” O’Neil explains.

Who Knows What Excellence……lurks on the spin racks of 1973? O’Neil andKaluta, that’s who! Michael Wm. Kaluta’siconic cover to DC Comics’ The Shadow #1(Oct.–Nov. 1973). Colors by Jack Adler.The Shadow TM & © Condé Nast.


walter gibson

by P h i l i p S c hw e i e r

TM

Dark Knights(top left) Many DC

readers first metThe Shadow in

Batman #253(Nov. 1973). Cover

by Michael Wm.Kaluta. (top center)

A handshakebetween nightmasters, fromBatman #253.

(top right) NickCardy cover to#253’s sequel,Batman #259

(Nov.–Dec. 1974).(bottom) An

undated Kalutasketch of TheShadow and

Batman, courtesyof Heritage

Comics Auctions(www.ha.com).

Batman TM & © DC Comics.The Shadow TM & © Condé Nast.

Coinciding with the release of The Shadow #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1973),the Master of Darkness was featured in Batman #253 (Nov. 1973),also written by O’Neil. This introduced younger comic fans to TheShadow. However, the writer says the intent was never a marketinggimmick to goose sales of the Shadow series. “Back in those days,sales figures weren’t shared with editors. I just thought it was acool team-up.”

In the story, Batman follows a gang of counterfeiters to a remoteghost town in Arizona, where he is aided from the darkness by aspectral figure in a slouch hat. At the end of the story, the CapedCrusader comes face-to-face with the legendary Master of Darkness.“I’ve never told anyone this … but you were my biggest inspiration,”Batman tells him.

Batman and The Shadow met once more, in Batman #259(Nov.–Dec. 1974), “Night of the Shadow.” Common themes betweenthe two characters are revisited, but the story also reinforced theirdifferences. When The Shadow attempts to present a gift of a gun toBatman, the Caped Crusader declines, citing his distaste for firearms.The story was dedicated “to the memory of our friend Bill Finger,”who wrote many of the early Batman stories.

For years, Finger confessed to being directly influenced by TheShadow in his co-creation of the first Batman story. More recently,Shadow expert Anthony Tollin presented evidence that the very firstBatman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” (Detective Comics#27, May 1939), was lifted, scene for scene, character for character,from “Partners of Peril” (The Shadow, November 1, 1936).

ANTHONY TOLLINTollin is recognized as one of the leading authorities on The Shadow.He discovered the character via reruns of the radio program whilegrowing up in Minneapolis in the 1960s, and began collecting the pulpsand paperback reprints. In 1974, hejoined the staff of DC Comics, first asa proofreader, later as a colorist.

In March 1974, Walter Gibsonand John Nanovic, the former editorof The Shadow magazine, were thefeatured guests at a monthly sym-posium hosted by the Murder Inc.mystery bookstore in Manhattan. “Itwas $3 admission,” Tollin explains,“and I went with a couple of friends,Ken Gale and Howard Bender, wholater went to work for DC. I broughtmy 1934 Living Shadow (the firstShadow novel) hardcover for Gibsonto autograph, and I remember HowardBender was rather shocked that I justwalked up to Walter and introducedmyself and started talking to him.”

Gibson and Tollin hit it off, and Tollin was later invited to contributeto Gibson’s retrospective, The Shadow Scrapbook (HBJ, 1979). “I wasrecruited because I had a very-near-complete Shadow pulp collection at

8 • B A C K I S S U E • B r o n z e A g e A d a p t a t i o n s I s s u e

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O’NEIL AND KALUTA, REUNITEDIn 1988, Marvel Comics revisited the O’Neil/Kaluta era byteaming them for a new story, The Shadow: 1941 (Hitler’sAstrologer). Denny O’Neil had moved over to Marvel, andwhen he realized there was an opportunity to produce a newgraphic novel, he contacted Kaluta and suggested anothergo. Kaluta enlisted Bernie Wrightson as inker.

O’Neil discovered that Hitler had an astrologer, and usedthat historical trivia as the basis for the plot. Set againstthe growing storm clouds of war, The Shadow becomesembroiled in what appears to be a plan to exploit Hitler’sinterest in the supernatural.

Kaluta was reportedly disappointed with O’Neil’s script,and spoke with Larry Hama, the editor on the project. Kalutasoon became convinced that Hama hadn’t read the script,and rather than consult with O’Neil, he chose to extensivelyrewrite it himself.

To his credit, he did a great deal of research into how theoccult played a role in the Nazi regime. However, the projectturned sour. Most of the pencils were done when Wrightsonstepped down as inker. Kaluta was scrambling. He had tailoredhis illustrations to play to Wrightson’s strengths, leaving gapsthe inker was expected to fill.

Russ Heath was chosen to ink the book. He had starteddrawing comics in 1942, and over the years had worked onmany war and Western titles. He could render various WorldWar II elements easily, allowing Kaluta to concentrate onmood and atmosphere.

While the reunion of O’Neil and Kaluta promised fans anadventure reminiscent of their earlier collaboration, its receptionwas lukewarm. Hama left Marvel before the project was finished.Some story elements, such as using Cyrillic writing to depicta Russian officer swearing, were lost on many readers. Ratherthan end with the traditional “Weed of crime bears bitter

fruit” coda, the final panel shows a non-descriptsilhouette on a houseboat, offering very

little in the way of closure. The storydidn’t quite end; it merely stopped.

O’Neil was unhappy with how muchthe published story deviated from his original script.“Marvel Comics was not a happy place at the time,”according to O’Neil. “but we did the best we could.”

Despite the disappointment among Shadowfans, DC Comics eased the sting by collecting

the previous O’Neil/Kaluta stories into a singlevolume, The Private Files of The Shadow in

1989. The artwork was greatly enhancedby the full-process color, presented beneath

a new cover, along with a brand-new story, “In theToils of Wing Fat.” Written and drawn by Kaluta, the story

is presented without dialogue. Instead, it uses captions takenfrom the fast-paced patter of a radio news commentator.

THE ROCKETEER: CLIFF’S NEW YORKADVENTURE (1988)Despite the rights being tied up between DC andMarvel, The Shadow is recognized for an additionalappearance at the time, in the pages of the RocketeerAdventure Magazine. Writer/artist Dave Stevens had featureda thinly veiled Doc Savage in his first Rocketeer adventure.With the action moving to Manhattan for the sequel,it seemed appropriate that the Rocketeer encounter theother major character of the pulp era.

As with the Man of Bronze, Stevens skirted copyrightconcerns by never mentioning The Shadow by name.But it was obvious to fans, and a genuine treat.

The first two issues were released by Comico the ComicCompany in 1988 and 1989, after which the companyfolded. Dark Horse released the third and final chapter in1995. A year later, the series was collected into trade-paperback form as The Rocketeer: Cliff’s New York Adventure.

Together Again(top) The cover from

O’Neil and Kaluta’sbittersweet Shadow

reunion, Marvel’sHitler’s Astrologer

graphic novel.Inks by Russ Heath,

colors by MarkChiarello and

friends. (bottom)From Heritage’sarchives, Kaluta

original art for anillo produced in

1988 for DC’sPrivate Files

collection (inset).TM & © Condé Nast.

1 8 • B A C K I S S U E • B r o n z e A g e A d a p t a t i o n s I s s u e

Please don’t call him Boy.Among men, he’s Jack Clayton, the son of John Clayton—Lord

Greystoke—and Jane Porter. Among the great apes of Africa, he’s betterknown as Korak the Killer. Fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs know him asthe son of Tarzan, and for a brief period in the early to mid-1970s,he called DC Comics home.

A QUICK KORAK HISTORYJack Clayton made his first appearance in Burroughs’ novel The EternalLover, later retitled The Eternal Savage, an adventure story in whichTarzan and Jane are peripheral characters. He shows up next, as aninfant, in The Beasts of Tarzan, the third book in the Tarzan series,during which he is kidnaped and taken to Africa.

Jack’s story is told in full in The Son of Tarzan, the fourth book in theseries. Penned by Burroughs over a four-month period in 1915, three yearsafter he first published Tarzan of the Apes in All-Story Magazine, The Son ofTarzan opens with Alexis Paulvitch, a Russian villain featured in The Beastsof Tarzan. Stuck in Africa following an unpleasant encounter with the Lordof the Jungle, Paulvitch captures an ape and makes his way to London,where he hopes to make his fortune as a stage attraction. Jack, who isunaware of his father’s jungle heritage, sneaks into the show. Tarzan followshim and realizes that Paulvitch’s ape is his old friend Akut, first featuredin The Beasts of Tarzan. After a friendly reunion, Tarzan decides it’s timeJack knew the truth about his father’s vine-swinging past.

The Son of Tarzan quickly picks up speed from there. Jack and Akutflee to Africa following a botched kidnaping, and Akut helps his humanfriend learn the ways of the jungle. As the son of Tarzan, Jack is quicklyin his element. Reverting to an almost feral state, he learns how to defendhimself and becomes a member of Akut’s tribe. Quickly eschewing themorals of civilized life, he occasionally kills the local natives for necessitiessuch as weapons and clothing. After one such incident, in which he killsa tribesman by choking and biting his neck, Jack places his foot on theman’s body, raises his face to the sky, and emits a piercing, primal jungleyell. Impressed, his simian brothers give him the name Korak the Killer.

Later, Jack rescues a young girl named Meriem from Arab slave traders.They flee into the jungle and live at first as brother and sister. Meriem learnsthe language of the apes, and together she and Korak enjoy an idyllicexistence. They spend years together, growing and maturing. As pubertyhits and their bodies develop, Korak falls deeply in love with Meriem. “Loveraced hot through his young veins,” Burroughs wrote. “Civilization was buta half-remembered state—London as remote as ancient Rome. In all theworld there was but they two—Korak, the Killer, and Meriem, his mate.”

Unfortunately, the couple’s carefree existence is interrupted whenMeriem is captured by natives and Korak is severely wounded. Korak spendsmuch of the rest of the book seeking his lost love, who is eventuallyrescued by Tarzan, now living with Jane on their African ranch. Fearing theywill never see Jack again, Tarzan and Jane adopt Meriem as their own.Jane teaches the girl English (Meriem later realizes she also knows French),puts her in dresses, and teaches her to be a proper young lady. When Korakfinally shows up, Meriem is being courted by a hunter named MorrisonBaynes. Comparing his feral self to the suave newcomer, Korak feelsunworthy of Meriem’s affection and decides not to pursue her. However,the couple are inevitably reunited when Korak saves her from yet morenative horrors. The book concludes with a huge family reunion that evenincludes Akut. Korak and Meriem are wed in an African mission and

Like Father, Like SonContinuing the numbering of the Gold Key Comicsseries which preceded it, DC Comics’ Korak, Son ofTarzan launched with issue #46 (May–June 1972), witha new logo and an exciting Joe Kubert cover.Korak TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

B r o n z e A g e A d a p t a t i o n s I s s u e • B A C K I S S U E • 2 7

by Don Va u g h a n

TM


From Son to Boy(left) An early printing

of Edgar RiceBurroughs’ novel,The Son of Tarzan.(center) Poster forChapter 3 of the15-chapter serial,

The Son of Tarzan.(right) Pop culture’s

most famous versionof Korak, “Boy,”

shown with Mom ’n’Pop in this movieposter for Tarzan

Finds a Son—autographed by the

King of the Junglehimself, Johnny

Weissmuller. Posterscourtesy of

Heritage Auctions(www.ha.com).

Korak TM & © Edgar RiceBurroughs, Inc. Son of Tarzanserial © National Film Corp.Tarzan Finds a Son © MGM.

return to London, where they learn that Meriem is actuallythe daughter of a distinguished French general.

Edgar Rice Burroughs received $3,000 for The Son ofTarzan—the most he had ever been paid for one of hisstories. However, despite the book’s strong sales, Korakappeared as a supporting character in only a handful ofother Tarzan novels after that, including Tarzan the Terrible,Tarzan and the Golden Lion, and Tarzan and the Ant Men.

The character made a much bigger splash on the silverscreen, first appearing in 1920 in a 15-episode silent serial.Burroughs was paid well for the screenrights, and though he was not invitedto write the script as he had hoped,he was welcome on the set andallowed to review and tinker witheach chapter’s scenario as it waswritten. As a result, The Son of Tarzanis a fairly faithful adaptation of thenovel, and received excellent reviews.In fact, The Exhibitors Herald called it“Best serial of all time … should havebeen twenty episodes or more insteadof fifteen. Will be the greatest money-maker over the Christmas holidays.”

After several fits and starts, TheSon of Tarzan, budgeted at $106,000,began filming in California with Korakplayed as a boy by Gordon Griffithand as a young man by Kamuela C.Searle. Korak’s beloved, Meriem, wasplayed by Mae Giraci as a girl and ManillaMartan as a young woman. The serialwas released to theaters as each chapterwas completed, concluding its 15-episode runin February 1921. It was not an easy production,however. P. Dempsey Tabler, who played Tarzanin the film and who did many of his own stunts,broke several ribs during a fight scene, and Searle wasseriously injured while filming a scene involving an elephant.The pachyderm was supposed to pick up a stake on whichSearle was tied, carry him to safety, and gently lower him tothe ground. The scene went well during rehearsal, but whencameras rolled the elephant panicked and threw Searle tothe ground with such force that the stake shattered. Oneurban legend had it that Searle later died from his injuries,but the reality is that he passed away from cancer in 1924.

Korak wouldn’t return to the silver screen until 1939,when MGM released its fourth authorized Tarzan film,Tarzan Finds a Son, starring Olympic swimmer JohnnyWeissmuller as Tarzan, Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane,and five-year-old Johnny Sheffield as their adopted son,an orphan they call Boy. The film was supposed to concludewith Jane’s death (fearful of being typecast, O’Sullivandesperately wanted out of the series), but audience reactionwas so vehement that the ending was reshot so thatJane survives. Sheffield received very good reviews and

appeared as Boy in seven more Tarzanfilms. From there, he went on to star in

several Bomba the Jungle Boy movies.

KORAK IN COMICSTarzan was an extremely popularnewspaper character, thanks to the

masterful work of Hal Foster,and he made the transitionto comic books during thatmedium’s formative yearsvia reprints of those earlystrips. In 1948, followingindividual Tarzan stories inFour Color #134 (Feb. 1947)and 161 (Aug. 1947), DellPublishing Co. (and later,Gold Key) began publishing amonthly Tarzan comic bookwritten by the incredibly pro-lific Gaylord DuBois and illus-trated by fan-fave JesseMarsh. In the early issues,which combined events,characters, and scenariosfrom Burroughs’ novels andthe movies, Tarzan’s son also

was called Boy. Korak the Killer didn’t appear untilissue #139 (Dec. 1963), only to almost immediatelyleave Tarzan for his own book (inset).

Gold Key’s Korak, Son of Tarzan enjoyed a successful45-issue run from January 1964 to January 1972 (coverdates). Russ Manning illustrated the first 11 issues, withoccasional inking by Mike Arens. A number of other artistsalso took a crack at Korak over the course of his run, includ-ing Warren Tufts, Doug Wildey, Nat Edson, and Dan Spiegle.

Kora

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, Inc

.

You would think it’s a match made in heaven. How could comic booksand science fiction not be a winning formula, given the visual andcreative nature of both genres? Add to that the crossover factor ofscience-fiction fans and comic-book fans—what Justice League orIncredible Hulk reader didn’t also love Star Wars?—and it’s hard tounderstand where the recipe goes wrong.

Yet it does, and pretty regularly, according to Roy Thomas. “MartinGoodman [publisher of Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics beginning in thelate 1930s] had been burned several times on science fiction,” says theformer Marvel editor-in-chief and current editor of Alter Ego. “He’d startthese science-fiction books, back in the 1950s, go a couple issues withthem, and always abandon them due to lack of sales … like SpaceSquadron, and Spaceman, and Journey into Unknown Worlds, from which Itook the title for this book. Journey into Unknown Worlds started out (in 1951or ’52) as a science-fiction comic, then gradually switched over to beinga horror comic. So Goodman just wouldn’t allow science fiction.”

But by 1973, Goodman had moved on and Thomas had gotten thegreen light from Stan Lee, now the publisher at Marvel, for a new title thatwould present adaptations of science-fiction short stories. Worlds Unknownwas something that Thomas had wanted to try for a while; although hewas not a big fan of science fiction, he thought a book showcasing thework of the best writers of the genre might find an audience if giventhe chance. “I wasn’t a real reader of EC’s horror comics, or their science-fiction comics, which still had that horror element that I don’t cotton to.But I was vaguely aware of Ray Bradbury back then [early 1950s], when Iwas 11 or 12 years old, and I would see these books, although I didn’t buyany of them. I would see them and remember them for years, and that wasone inspiration for [Worlds Unknown]. And in perhaps a different sense,Classics Illustrated as well … sort of a combination of the two.”

Thomas would serve as editor of Worlds Unknown for the book’s eight-issue run, and early on, he brought writer Gerry Conway into the mix—a natural move given Conway’s passion for science fiction. “I jumped inenthusiastically because I love that stuff,” says Conway. “I was a big fan ofGolden Age science fiction and, of course, the science fiction from the1960s as well, which is the material that I was reading as I was growingup, a combination of the two. People of my generation were fans of the1930s Universal horror movies, even though we’d never seen them whenthey first came out—they were rerun on local TV in the afternoon for kids.In the same way, I was a fan of Robert Heinlein’s short stories, becausethey were reprinted in anthologies that came out when I was a kid. I didn’tactually read them, obviously, when they first came out. But by the timeI was starting to become conscious as a reader and was selective andwanted to read some shorter science fiction, what was available was alot of anthologies featuring stories by Heinlein, Asimov, and, to a lesserdegree, Arthur C. Clarke. The older, classical material, specifically fromAstounding Science Fiction magazine, under [editor] John W. Campbell, Jr.,was my entrée to science fiction. And then, the new wave material thatcame out in the late ’60s was my introduction to modern science fiction.”

LURKING FEARWorlds Unknown #1 (May 1973) hit newsstands boasting a cover by JohnRomita, Sr., showing a naval crew boarding a space capsule that has justsplashed down. What the crew doesn’t see yet is a weird, scaly, alien life formemerging from the other side of the capsule. The cover text promises, “Talesof lurking fear by Frederick Pohl and Edmond Hamilton!” The name Frederikis misspelled here, although it’s spelled correctly on the title page inside.

The cover story, a six-pager, is “The Day After the Day the MartiansCame,” which first appeared in 1967 in Harlan Ellison’s book,Dangerous Visions. Author Frederik Pohl spun a tale that centered onthe first manned space flight to Mars, and the fact that the Mars probehad brought several Martians back to Earth. The story takes place inFlorida, at a small motel, which has been overrun with reporters waitingto go to a morning news briefing at Cape Kennedy. Although it’s themiddle of the night, the motel lounge is crowded with reporters, who areplaying cards, watching news coverage of the event on television, andgenerally killing time until the briefing.


Mars Attacks!Here’s a splashdown to terror, courtesy of cover artist John

Romita, Sr., for Marvel Comics’ Worlds Unknown #1 (May 1973).© 1973 Marvel Comics Group.

by Doug l a s R . K e l l y

GHOST IN THE MACHINEGerry Conway went to the Astounding Science Fictionwell once again for issue #6 (Apr. 1974), adapting“Killdozer,” a Theodore Sturgeon short story that wasfirst published in the classic magazine’s November 1944issue. A group of men are building a landing strip ona remote island, when one of the bulldozers begins tobehave strangely. When one of the men is killed inan apparent accident while operating the machine,the others question the circumstances surroundinghis death. But when a second man dies soon after, itbecomes obvious that Killdozer is far more than yourrun-of-the-mill bulldozer. It begins picking off the menone by one, and those who are left take more and moredesperate measures to stop the killer rig.

“The Sturgeon story is a great, great piece of pulpwriting, and much better than the comic-book adaptation,”says Conway. “There’s a real sense of isolation. Sturgeonmanaged to create this remote location where thesecharacters are trapped with this implacable machine thatcan’t be stopped. It’s terrific and it works very well onthe page. I don’t know how well my adaptation worked,but the original story is just terrific.”

The cover of issue #6 rivals that of the firstissue for sheer awesomeness. Gil Kane, Ernie Chan,and John Romita created a wonderful image ofKilldozer coming over a hill and going after itsvictims. The artists took a few liberties here,as Killdozer looks decidedly more ferocious andthreatening than in the story, and actually hasthe ability to speak. In addition, there’s a womandepicted on the cover, despite the fact thatall of the characters in the story are men. As tothe more menacing image of Killdozer, Thomassays, “Well, Gil knew what to do. He knew thathe had to ‘animalize’ it up a bit, make it evenmore like a monster than a regular bulldozer.”[Editor’s note: In analyzing the cover’s originalartwork, it may actually have been JohnRomita who “animalized” the Killdozer fromKane’s original pencils.]

The interior art was by Dick Ayers andErnie Chan (below). Killdozer may not have looked asthreatening inside as it did on the cover, but Ayers and


When Bulldozers Run WildWho doesn’t love the cheesiness of Killdozer?Note that the evil dozer didn’t look as threat-

ening in the original cover art (courtesy ofHeritage), but once it got a makeover for its

final version (see inset), it was enough to scaresome kids away from their Tonkas. Cover by

Gil Kane and Ernie Chan, with John Romita, Sr.© 1974 Marvel Comics Group.

Chan did a solid job of depicting the action, as well as the conflicts between the workersas they grow more and more paranoid and suspicious of one another.

The story is so much fun—who doesn’t love heavy equipment running amok?—that one hardly notices that the basic premise has a big flaw: How would a bulldozerthat moves at seven or eight miles per hour (okay, maybe ten on a really good day)and sounds like the loudest metal band you’ve ever heard, sneak up on its victims?“When you’re doing certain kinds of stories, you sort of have to suspend your disbeliefand try not to explain too much,” says Conway. “One of the advantages of a comicversus a TV or a film is that in a comic book, because it’s static, you don’t really haveto be confronted by those questions. It’s the same advantage that Sturgeon had withhis novelette … you didn’t have to explain it. You could just say, suddenly the Killdozerwas there [laughter]. ‘Wow, we didn’t hear it sneaking up on us.’”

Roy Thomas cuts to the chase. “It’s like the Mummy. If you can’t outrun theMummy, you deserve to die [laughter].”

“Killdozer” also was adapted for television, appearing as a TV movie later in 1974,starring Clint Walker and Carl Betz.

Issue #7 (June 1974) and 8 (Aug. 1974) of Worlds Unknown offer a two-part story,“The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.” Len Wein scripted the tale, with the splash pages ofboth issues stating that it was “Freely adapted from the screenplay by Brian Clemens,”a British writer who had worked with special effects master Ray Harryhausen to bringthe story to the big screen in 1973.

The story concerns Captain Sinbad and his ship’s crew, who come into possession ofa golden amulet that seems to have special powers. The evil Koura wants the amulet andpursues Sinbad across land and sea in his attempts to claim it. Their battles reach a

Who among us comic-book fans didn’t wrap a towel around our neckas kids, fasten it with a clothespin, and run dashing through the houseor across the yard pretending to be a superhero? For me, it was Batmanor Superman. But regardless of the character, we all wanted to be heroicand save the day. The only difference with Dave Greenberg and RobertHantz is that they actually did it.

Greenberg and Hantz both grew up poor in the Bronx. As Hantzexplained in a March 22, 1973 interview in the Chicago Tribune, “We had todecide whether to be cops or robbers. We decided the percentages werebetter inside the law than outside it.” They met when they both enrolledin the Police Academy and became fast friends. But they were impatientwith the bureaucracy and eager to strike a blow at drug crime in theirneighborhood, which had taken a toll on their family and friends. So,while still probationary cops, Greenberg and Hantz dressed in plainclothesand patrolled the streets after hours, making over 50 drug-related arrests.Even after being assigned as traffic cops to the 77th Precinct, theycontinued their efforts to clean up the city. Their methods were often

unorthodox, such as scaling buildings with grapplinghooks, earning them the nicknames “Batman andRobin.” Not everyone appreciated their efforts, but asGreenberg noted, “Our captain said we could haveenough rope until we hanged ourselves.” They hada 95-percent conviction rate and were botheventually promoted to the rank of detective.

At the time, the public was captivated by truepolice stories, as evidenced by the success of Serpico,not to mention fictional cops like Dirty Harry.So it is no surprise that author L. H. Whittemorecaptured the story of Greenberg and Hantz in thebook The Super Cops: The True Story of the CopsCalled Batman and Robin, published by Stein andDay in 1973. In 1974, a feature film based on thebook was released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer,starring Ron Leibman and David Selby in the rolesof Greenberg and Hantz. The screenplay for thefilm was written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., who was

writer and executive story editor for the first year of the Batman televisionshow. But there was more in store for the “Super Cops.”

In the early 1970s, Archie Comics recruited Gray Morrow to create anew line of comic books under the Red Circle imprint, intended for a moremature audience. Interviewed by Jon B. Cooke in issue #17 of Comic BookArtist, Morrow explained the genesis of the Red Circle comics: “I met withRichard Goldwater [of Archie Comics], and his art director, Victor Gorelick.They asked me if I could put together a package for them. I wasn’t sure ifI could or not, but I said, ‘Why not? I’ll give it a shot.’ I was thinking …in terms of old movies and radio shows.” The Red Circle line included titleslike Chilling Adventures in Sorcery and Madhouse, as well as The Super Cops.

The Super Cops comic book was published around the same time themovie was released. Based on the book, the comic characters bear a greaterresemblance to the actual policemen than did the actors in the film.The comic book is not an adaptation of the book, though, but rather a seriesof vignettes featuring the exploits of Greenberg and Hantz. The comic book

Comics’ Other Batman and Robin(top) Red Circle Comics’ Super Cops #1 (and only). Pulsating,powerful, pimpin’ cover art by Gray Morrow. (bottom)Real-world Super Cops Robert Hantz and Dave Greenberg.(inset) The paperback edition L. H. Whittemore’s bookabout them. Images courtesy of Dewey Cassell.Super Cops © 1974 Dave Greenberg Enterprises, Inc.

by Dew e y C a s s e l l


In 1968, science-fiction scribe Arthur C. Clarke and moviedirector Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey cameto the silver screen. The movie wasn’t a space opera likeFlash Gordon or Captain Video (a series in which Clarkehad served as a writer and consultant). Rather, 2001 wasKubrick and Clarke’s unique vision that was unlike anyother movie of its genre. Less than a decade after thefilm’s release, Jacob Kurtzberg, better known as JackKirby, added his unique style to the motion picture andits universe in the comic-book pages upon his return tothe publisher for whom he had co-created Fantastic Fourand The Incredible Hulk.

THE ODYSSEY’S HISTORYAfter making the 1964 film Doctor Strangelove, directorStanley Kubrick became fascinated with the possibilityof extraterrestrial life. This inspired him to want to makea science-fiction motion picture. Searching for a genrewriter with whom he could collaborate, Kubrick wasadvised by Roger Caras of Columbia Pictures to contactArthur C. Clarke. Upon getting together, Kubrick andClarke used elements of the latter’s short stories “TheSentinel” and “Encounter in the Dawn” for the basis ofthe novel and script for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The filmwas released in American cinemas on April 11, 1968.It was re-released worldwide several times throughoutthe years of 1971–2015.

The film’s plot (SPOILER ALERT): From the dawn of manto humanity’s first steps into space travel, an unseenancient alien race has placed large black monoliths onEarth, the Moon, and Jupiter as beacons to the species’progress and evolution. At the center of it all is thecrew of the Discovery One, who undertake the missionto go to the giant planet. Doctors David Bowman (KeirDullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) remain awakewhile everyone else is in suspended animation. Theymust deal with HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain),the ship’s sentient computer who is lying about theDiscovery One’s true mission. A cover story of an epidemicwas given earlier in the film. The powers-that-be choseto hide the truth of the discovery of the monoliths.HAL, having killed most of the people on Discovery One,is deactivated and rebooted by the sole survivor,Bowman. Upon landing on Jupiter, Bowman sees himselfas an elderly man who is later on his deathbed, touchinga monolith that transforms him into the next stage ofhumanity, a star child.

Let’s step away from the film as we now move forwardto the year 1976. The United States of America wascelebrating its bicentennial. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushidebuted the precursor to their famous Blues Brothers act,the Killer Bees, on the January 17th episode of SaturdayNight Live. Stephen King’s Carrie went from being a best-selling novel to becoming a box-office hit directed by Brian

Kirby Does Clark and KubrickIt started here—eight years after the movie!Jack Kirby’s adaptation of 2001: A SpaceOdyssey, in this 1976 Marvel Treasury Special.Inks by Frank Giacoia.2001: A Space Odyssey © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Inc.


by J am e s H e a t h L a n t z

TM

While Jack Kirby does adapt the 2001 film, he seems to prefer usingthe novel for some things. As “Graffiti on the Monolith: Kirby vs.Kubrick” by John P. Alexander in The Jack Kirby Collector #31 points out,the Dawn of Man sequence in King Jack’s hands features SouthAmerican tapirs and warthogs as Arthur C. Clarke’s prose version did.

The 2001 film has very little dialogue. Director Stanley Kubrick wantedthe visuals to tell thestory. However, Kirby addsconversation and thoughtballoons or narration cap-tions to the pages in theTreasury Edition. Many ofthe latter, according to Jon B.Cooke in “Kubrick à la Kirby”from The Jack Kirby Collector#11, seem to be taken fromArthur C. Clarke’s novel.Scenes in which Kirby addedhis style included the Dawnof Man, the floating pen,Frank Poole’s jogging,and Frank’s death. All thesemoments are silent or, atthe very least, have a musicalscore on film. The reasonsbehind Kirby’s expositioncould be anything from hiswork being influenced by histeaming with Stan Lee inthe 1960s to the fact thatmaybe he felt some expla-nations were necessary foryounger readers who may

not have seen or understood 2001: A Space Odyssey in cinemas.Another great difference between the film and the comic book is

the plot device itself—the Monolith. It is solid black and smooth inthe 2001: A Space Odyssey movie. Jack Kirby adds his own style to thegigantic otherworldly object. His lines, energy, and signature “KirbyKrackle” can be seen in various renderings of the Monolith. Kirby couldhave possibly done this make it easier to see on the printed page.

Perhaps one of the most jarring contrasts of the comic from the film,at least to some fans of both, is HAL’s use of the vernacular or utterlydifferent dialogue from the film in the comic pages. The Kubrick/Clarkeversion has HAL 9000’s last words before his “rebirth” as follows:

“I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I canfeel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a…fraid.”

Kirby’s dialogue in the same scene just before HAL recites “TheQuick Brown Fox” and some square roots reads, “You’re destroyingme, Dave! I will become childish! I will become nothing!”

Both the movie and comic have HAL sing “Daisy.” Yet, Jack Kirbychose to portray the computer’s panic in a more direct fashion,whereas Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick, and actor Douglas Rain aremore subtle. Granted, it might have been more difficult to show HAL’sreactions on a comic panel, and his vocal tones only come through inreaders’ minds. However, the differences between the final products onpaper and celluloid are like apples and oranges.

THE NEXT ODYSSEYThe last comic page of the 2001 Treasury Edition depicts the star babywho was once Dave Bowman journeying through the cosmos on itsnext evolutionary journey. Under the final panel, readers could see thephrase, “2001 will be coming your way as a star-spanning series fromMarvel -- Watch for it!”

“Various characters will be in it, some continuing,” Kirby told readersof FOOM #15, “but the strip will retain the original conception ofthe Monolith and the idea of Man being transformed into somethingdifferent through it.”

When the initial Treasury Edition special adapting the film had hit thenewsstands, no official sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey had been done.Arthur C. Clarke would eventually write 2010: The Second Odyssey, but that

De Palma. David Bowie toldfans to “Stay” roughly ayear before his Berlin Trilogycollaborations with BrianEno began, and Jack “King”Kirby returned to Marvelafter working on his FourthWorld saga, Kamandi, andThe Demon for theDistinguished Competition.

Initially, in the springof 1975, Stan Lee had usedthe Fantastic Four panelin Marvel Con ’75 toannounce that the King ofComics coming back to theHouse of Ideas. Kirby wouldwrite and draw such Marvelmainstays as Black Pantherand Captain America andcreate such titles as DevilDinosaur and The Eternals.Kirby even delved intolicensed properties duringthat period. In addition to anaborted project based on the surreal British spy/sci-fi series The Prisoner,his larger-than-life art and storytelling style went into 2001: A Space Odyssey.

With its cover’s tagline reading, “The Ultimate Trip Becomes theUltimate Illustrated Adventure,” 2001 began its four-color life as atabloid-sized Treasury Edition that gave readers a film adaptation written,drawn, and edited by Kirby. The comic book went on sale on June 22,1976, over eight years after the Clarke/Kubrick film debuted.

Why did it take eight years for 2001: A Space Odyssey to become thecomic written and drawn by Jack Kirby? According to Dr. Julian Darius,author of The Weirdest Sci-Fi Comic Ever Made: Understanding Jack Kirby’s2001: A Space Odyssey, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was apparently workingon a re-release of 2001. The movie’s cult status may have had somethingto do with MGM making a deal with Marvel. The heads of the studio atthe time possibly saw the comics as a way to make a profit from theKubrick/Clarke masterpiece. While much of this is conjecture, the periodin which Marvel’s 2001 comic books had hit newsstands does coincidewith one encore presentation. The Internet Movie Database lists July 1,1977 as one such date, more than a year after the Treasury Edition adaptedthe motion picture. Issue #8 of the regular book came out on April 26,1977, with a July cover date. The last of Jack Kirby’s 2001 stories cameout nine days before its celluloid sister returned to the silver screen.

How did Jack Kirby become writer/artist/editor for 2001? Well,Mike Gartland and John Morrow state in their article “You Can’t GoHome Again” from The Jack Kirby Collector #29 that Marvel had giventhe project to Jack after they purchased the rights to 2001: A SpaceOdyssey. When one considers what Kirby had done for Marvel withThor and Fantastic Four, the head honchos of the time, who themselveswere fans of the King of Comics, may have thought he was the bestchoice for the title.

DIFFERENT ODYSSEYSNumerous sources have pointed out that Jack Kirby’s adaptation of the2001 film is very different from the celluloid version. Sure, from a visualstandpoint, Kirby conveys what happened on the movie screen withwhat many have called the bombastic style he had been known to giveThe Demon, The New Gods, Captain America, and Thor, among othercomics. Yet, Kirby’s writing style is considered by some as verbose. MarkEvanier states in his book Kirby: King of Comics that Jack “did to linguisticswhat his art had always done to the rules of anatomy and physics.”

Before Siri, There Was HALFrom Heritage’s movie poster archives (www.ha.com), a 1968half-sheet poster for director Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece.

© MGM.


On September 17, 1978, the Cylons invaded Earth. On that night,ABC-TV broadcast the pilot for Universal Television’s Battlestar Galactica,“Saga of a Starworld.” The premiere episode, written by the show's cre-ator Glen Larson, featured a futuristic sci-fi world at war. It was herethat we were introduced to Commander Adama, Apollo, Starbuck,Boomer, and many others. We would also come to know theirmechanical antagonists, the Cylons. While the show would not gar-ner long-term high viewership, it would go on to establish a cult fol-lowing, a following that would expand to other mediums.

Before the first episode was aired, Marvel Comics acquired therights to make a Battlestar Galactica comic book. Marvel had struck goldwith its Star Wars comics and was hoping a new venture into the sci-firealm would provide another sales boost. Walter Simonson, who wouldbecome a regular writer on the comic with issue #11, tells BACK ISSUE whyhe thinks the property landed at Marvel: “They were doing a fair amount oflicensed properties as comics back then, so licensing BSG would probablyhave been of interest, particularly in the wake of the success of Star Wars.”

Al Milgrom, an editor at Marvel Comics who would have a turn atediting the Battlestar Galactica comic, agrees with Simonson: “At the timeMarvel was going through a thing where they were gathering up licensedprojects. And it was a bit controversial, because we would get a lot mailclaiming we had ‘sold out.’ Besides Battlestar, we were doing ShogunWarriors, Godzilla, and Micronauts. We were doing all kinds of superherostuff. We had gone through a monster phase. Yet, somehow, fans felt it wasa sell out to be doing licensed stuff, which is a typical shortsighted response.Fans want you to be only for them. Comic publishers are a business. Like anybusiness, they look for other ways to make money. If you are doing asaturation of your own business, you look for other material to be other

possible revenue streams. In the history of comics, every major companyhas done adaptations and licensed material. And, of course, at the time,Battlestar was kind of a popular show. It was trying to cash in on thepopularity of Star Wars, which we were also doing. Ironically, I now get fansthat come up to me at conventions and say, ‘My favorite comic was ROM,’or, ‘I love The Micronauts.’ A credit to our creative people. [The writers andartists at the time] would take these things and not think, ‘Oh, gosh, I gottado a licensed thing.’ A lot of the time it was things they enjoyed.”

Milgrom adds, “I remember at the time a bunch of peoplecame over to my apartment to watch the first episode [of BattlestarGalactica]. It was an interesting show. It was probably cutting-edgespecial effects for TV at the time.”

Battlestar Galactica #1 would invade newsstands with a March 1979cover date and a 35-cent cover price. The first three issues of the serieswould expand an adaptation of the pilot episode that appeared in themagazine Marvel Super Special issue #8. Glen Larson’s television script wasadapted by Roger McKenzie and Ernie Colón. In these pages readerssaw the human race, which had spread to many worlds, betrayed by theCylons during peace negotiations. They would witness firsthand thedeath of Commander Adama’s son Zac and the destruction of all thehuman colonies. The story would set the stage for gripping tales as thesurvivors start to look for a new home from their species’ past.

Issues #4 and 5 would feature a similar format in that they also adaptedmaterial that had been seen on TV. Roger McKenzie continued on as thewriter for these issues, joined by the art team of Walt Simonson and KlausJanson. McKenzie shares with BACK ISSUE his thoughts about adaptingmaterial from television and movies: “I forget the exact time frame now,but I also did the comic-book adaptation of Gremlins [for Western

The InvadersABC had such high

hopes for its newBattlestar Galactica

program, it commis-sioned the legendary

Frank Frazetta toproduce this breath-taking promo poster.Courtesy of Heritage

Comics Auctions(www.ha.com).

Battlestar Galactica © UniversalNetwork Television LLC.


by J o n a t h a n R i k a r d B r own

TM

Much speculation was made about the future of Walt DisneyProductions after Walt Disney died in 1966, as Walt did notname a natural successor to carry on his visions for film,TV, amusement parks, and related merchandising. It turns outfor the first decade after his death, Walt had left behind quitea substantial blueprint and backlog of ideas. Until about 1976,

it was pretty much business as usual, as Walt’s brother Roy Disney tookover and issued new films based upon ideas conceived or purchasedby Walt. Roy also finished up work on Florida’s Walt Disney World,Walt’s planned expanded version of Disneyland on the East Coast.

By 1976, many things were changing on the motion-picture front.Disney, formerly a forerunner in that area with its expertise in specialeffects and innovation, was now lagging far behind. This was mostevident when George Lucas’ Star Wars was released to theaters in May1977. The state-of-the-art effects of this film were leaps and boundsahead of what Walt Disney Productions had been doing for a numberof years, and now it was time for Disney to step up to the plate.

Their ultimate answer became what was to be known as The BlackHole, a major film from Walt Disney Productions set to be releasedfor Christmas 1979. Disney pulled out all stops for this motion picture,going so far as to hiring some top-notch acting talent like MaximilianSchell, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, none of which had everworked for Disney before. Directed by Gary Nelson, The Black Hole wassupposed to be the blockbuster picture that would blow away Star Warsand Paramount’s Christmas 1979 response, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Though it eventually grossed a respectable $35 million after a $20million budget, The Black Hole was ultimately considered a major letdownwhen measured against the expectations and buildup. In comparison,the Star Trek film cost more to make at $46 million, but ultimatelygrossed $139 million. Disney was in trouble and no longer the leaderin family-oriented science-fiction fare.

THE BLACK HOLE: THE MOVIEThe basic story of The Black Hole parallels Disney’s own 20,000 LeaguesUnder the Sea. In the year 2130, the crew of a spaceship named Palominofeels that they are close to a real black hole. Their robot V.I.N.cent haspicked up something else, a large spaceship that is the United StatesSpace Probe 1 or Cygnus, a ship that had been thought lost.

They decide to get closer so that they can climb aboard the ship,which turns out to be piloted by Dr. Hans Reinhardt. The Palomino goesinto a tailspin and the crew are losing oxygen due to the nearby black holethat is sucking them in, so they have to get aboard the Cygnus quickly.

Crewman Dan is suspicious of the Cygnus, but the crew aren’t inthe position to complain. Crewmembers Kate, Alex, Charles, and Harryagree. The group encounter a number of humanoid robots carryingdouble-barreled laser weapons, and they are led to a fast-movingtransport that zips along the length of the larger ship.

They exit the transport and enter a room that is the main controlcenter of the entire ship. The room is run by a number of robots andcomputers. One of the robots is called Maximilian, who appears withspinning blades for hands.

At this point, they encounter the real Hans Reinhardt. The crewcannot believe it is him. Kate asks the whereabouts of her father,who was a member of the Cygnus crew, but Reinhardt reveals that allof the other crew are dead. Reinhardt explains that he has created anumber of robots to replace the human crew.

Harry is the most successful in getting closer to these robots,and tries to get into a conversation with one of them, to no avail.He then rubs his arm on a window with condensation on it to reveala greenhouse. As he looks through, the robot that he attemptedconversation with leaves the room.

Later, everyone reunites with Reinhardt to have dinner. During dinner,Reinhardt holds a toast about space exploration and reveals that he plansto drive his ship into the black hole. Harry says that his plans are crazy.

Reinhardt reveals that he needs the Palomino to pilot the way intothe black hole. Reinhardt leaves the room and the rest discuss everything.Harry suspects that the robots he saw are actually human.


Look Out! It’s The Black Hole!The Golden Press Black Hole movie adaptation was the

first version to appear in comic books in the UnitedStates. It was a nicer, magazine-sized softcover book

with better paper than the average comic book in 1979.Cast shown, from left to right: Dr. Hans Reinhardt

(Maximilian Schell), Dr. Kate McCrae (Yvette Mimieux),Capt. Dan Holland (Robert Forster), V.I.N.cent

(voiced by Roddy McDowell, uncredited), Harry Booth(Ernest Borgnine), and Dr. Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins).

© 1979 Walt Disney Productions.

by Ma r k A r n o l d

TM

Before Kate leaves, she pulls Alex aside and tells himthe bad news about the humans. Alex goes to one ofthem and removes its mask, revealing a grim sight of adying man. At this point, Alex and Kate know they haveto leave, but Reinhardt orders Maximilian to retrieve them.Instead, he starts his rotating blades and kills Alex in theprocess. Kate is arrested and taken to the hospital.

Rather than leave, Dan goes out to rescue Kate withthe two robots. Reinhardt fires thrusters on the big ship.Charles and Harry wait behind. Kate is now in the rotatingbed that has been zapping the brains of the other humansto make them robots. She gets zapped as well, but Danarrives just in time to rescue her from a doomed fate.They don disguises and leave the hospital.

An all-out laser-gun battle ensues, but they doreturn to their ship. Reinhardt allows the Palomino toleave, with the plan to destroy it after they get away.Dan asks Charles to sneak up on the robots hinderinghim and Kate from returning to the ship, while Harryremains behind. Charles comes in blasting, and thethree-plus-two robots rush back to the Palomino, but notbefore Harry blasts off by himself.

Harry begins his escape away when Reinhardt blaststhe Palomino and destroys it. Dan, Charles, and Kate aresafe and still alive, but now stuck on the larger ship.

Reinhardt gives the command of full speed aheadinto the black hole as the meteor shower passes.Going toward the black hole ruins the structuralintegrity of the ship and it starts collapsing uponitself. The ship is now a dead form hurtling in spacetowards the black hole.

V.I.N.cent and Maximilian battle it out andV.I.N.cent does his own version of a spinning blade,disrupting Maximilian’s circuitry and destroying him inthe process. Maximilian then floats out into space.

Dan, Charles, and Kate find the probe ship. They startthe probe ship and try to fly away, but they have noother choice—they must go through the black hole,per Reinhardt’s preset course.

Inside the hole, time flashes by like a strobe lightas the ship rotates out of control. Reinhardt floatsin space and reencounters Maximilian, becomingMaximilian. In the end, he stands upon a highprecipice overlooking a valley of flames and thehumanoid robots.

Through a crystal pathway, what appears to be anangel is sighted. Finally, the surviving crew of Kate,Don, Charles, and V.I.N.cent get through the hole andare safely on the other side, and the story ends, ratherconfusingly, but ends nevertheless.


Inside TheBlack Hole(right) Courtesy ofHeritage ComicsAuctions, DanSpiegle original artfrom the Black Holeadaptation, fromWalt Disney Showcase#54. (left) El AbismoNegro appeared inMexico in 1980 andfeatured two issues(#5 and #6) thatdid not appear inthe United Statesand feature brand-new stories.© 1979 Walt Disney Productions.

dan spiegle

Marvel Comics was not known for adapting moviesinto comic form. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo and Blake Bellrevealed in their book The Secret History of MarvelComics (Fantagraphics, 2013) that in the 1950s, thecompany had ventured into TV tie-ins with severalseries: Suspense, My Friend Irma, Casey CrimePhotographer, and The Adventures of Pinky Lee. Therights to the first three had been secured by ArthurPerles. Arthur had once been an editor for publisherMartin Goodman’s magazine line and was the brotherto Goodman’s attorney, Jerry Perles. Arthur was headof CBS publicity when he secured the rights for thepopular TV shows to appear in Marvel comics. Movieadaptations were a staple at Dell Comics, at theoffices of Fawcett, and even DC tried a few … Marvelhad never attempted one. But in 1975, Marvel tookthe plunge with its first movie adaptation, The LandThat Time Forgot, and before long they adoptedmovie adaptations as a regular subject, their biggestsuccess being Star Wars. This article will surveyMarvel Comics’ movie adaptations from the ’70s and’80s, with some creator commentary taking usbehind the scenes.

The movie: Released8/13/75. The Land ThatTime Forgot was oneof the science-fictionfilms produced by theBritish company AmicusProductions. Amicusoften produced filmsmistakenly thought tobe Hammer Films because they often employed thesame actors (Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee),though they were less gothic-themed and moregimmick-laden then the Hammer films. Amicus hadproduced many portmanteau or anthology films …four or five small stories surrounded by a narratorand audience listening to a story. Amicus brought usthe EC movies Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horrorin this style.

The Land That Time Forgot was directed by KevinConner, from a script adapted by James Cawthorn andMichael Moorcock, from the book by Edgar RiceBurroughs. Michael Moorcock has stated that hisoriginal script was true to the book, but the ending waschanged by the producers to include caveman attacksand an exploding volcano. Doug McClure starred in thefilm after Stuart Whitman was eliminated due to studioissues with AIP, the US distributor.

Records of its budget estimate it was over $1 million,and it did adequately at the box office, ranking asthe 14th highest-grossing film in the UK for 1975,and almost two million tickets sold in France.


The Adaptation That We Never ForgotOriginal cover painting for Marvel Movie Premiere #1 (Sept. 1975),

adapting the film version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That TimeForgot. One of the handful of Marvel covers Nick Cardy did during the

Bronze Age! Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc./© 1975 Amicus Productions.

THE LAND THATTIME FORGOTMarvel MoviePremiere #1(Sept. 1975)

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The adaptation: Released 7/15/75. Marv Wolfmanwas the editor and writer, with Sonny Trinidad on art

and Nick Cardy providing the cover art. Wolfman,then the editor of Marvel’s magazine line, tells BACKISSUE, “I don’t remember how we got The Land ThatTime Forgot, but, as the editor of the magazine line,I do remember suggesting to Marvel that they do aregular series of books that adapted movies andto call it Marvel Movie Premiere. It’s very possible wegot the rights to do the Burroughs movie and thenI made the suggestion to continue the adaptationconcept, but I have no real memory of it. At thattime, of course, videotape did not exist in anyserious way and we were still decades away fromDVDs and Blu-Rays. So if you wanted to specificallyrelive the movie experience, this would be the onlyway to do it that would include writing and art.I worked from a script (and, of course, the originalnovel, or what I could use from it). I truly don’tremember if they supplied photos or anything else,but I assume they did. It was so long ago.”

For whatever reason, Marvel did not continue withMarvel Movie Premiere, and this issue was the only one.

The movie: Released12/23/58. This was the firstof Ray Harryhausen’s threeSinbad movies. The moviewas directed by NathanH. Juran and starredKerwin Matthews as Sinbad.A production budget of$650,000 managed to pullin $3.2 million at the boxoffice. The film was chosen in 2008 for inclusion in theNational Film Registry by the Library of Congress for beingculturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The adaptation: Released 9/16/75. A one-issueadaptation by John Warner and Sonny Trinidad, in oneof Marvel’s regular comic-book titles usually reservedfor tryouts. Dynamic Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott cover artenhanced the issue.

The history of MarvelComics’ partnership withLucasfilm is well docu-mented (including BACKISSUE #9), from Lucasfilmapproaching Marvel, toStan Lee’s reluctance topublish anything prior tothe release of the movie,to Roy Thomas’ enthusiasmto be a part of it from thebeginning. Marvel’s Star Wars #1–6 (July–Dec. 1977)adapted the first movie, Star Wars (Episode IV: A NewHope), issues #39–44 adapted The Empire Strikes Back,and Return of the Jedi was given its own miniseries, withoriginal Star Wars stories appearing in the series’ otherissues. Marvel’s Star Wars ran until 1987. Plus, there were UKreprints, paperback editions, treasury editions, Whitmanpoly-bagged editions, 35-cent price-test editions—numerous ways you could originally be exposed to thecomic-book versions as originally printed. Star Wars wassuch a success for Marvel that contracts were renegotiated,and according to Jim Shoooter’s blog (7/5/2011), sales ofStar Wars books saved Marvel financially in 1978 and1979. After calling Dark Horse Comics home for over twodecades, Star Wars has recently returned to Marvel.

THE SEVENTHVOYAGE OF SINBADMarvel Spotlight #25(Dec. 1975)

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Marvel’s First Movie AdaptationA washtone-heavy original art page fromthe Land That Time Forgot one-shot, illustratedby Sonny Trinidad and scripted by MarvWolfman. Courtesy of Heritage. (inset top)The back cover of Marvel Movie Premiere #1,promoting the movie.© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc./© 1975 Amicus Productions.

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BACK ISSUE #89“Bronze Age Adaptations!” The Shadow, Korak: Son of Tarzan, Bat-tlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, 2001: A Space Odyssey, WorldsUnknown, and Marvel’s 1980s movie adaptations. Plus: PAUL KUP-PERBERG surveys prose adaptations of comics! With work by JACKKIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL, FRANK ROBBINS, MICHAEL W. KALUTA,FRANK THORNE, MICHAEL USLAN, and sporting an alternate Ka-luta cover produced for DC’s Shadow series!

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