A review of the 1986/1987 LEGENDS mini-series

LEGENDS had begun as a follow up to Crisis on Infinite Earths. Seen mainly as a springboard for launching several new titles such as Giffen & DeMatties' run on Justice League and John Ostrander's Suicide Squad, it still stands on its own as an entertaining read.

The plot is relatively straightforward, but with enough happening in each issue to make it feel like a bigger story than the page count suggests. Darksied is scheming with Glorious Godfrey on Apokolips to destroy the so-called superhero 'legends' of earth. If he does so, it will make humanity stop believing in higher ideals and be much more susceptible to being brainwashed and taken over. The Phantom Stranger shows up and makes a bet with Darksied that humanity will never turn its back on its heroes and good will never truly be snuffed out. To carry out his plans, Darksied sends Godfrey to pose as a TV preacher, G. Gordon Godfrey, and use the media to spin the public into believing that the very existence of superheroes mocks the 'common man' and that the US Government should outlaw them.

Glorious Godfrey as outspoken pundit from LEGENDS #1 (1986).
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

The public is surprisingly quick to agree with this and after a few incidents of anti-superhero mob attacks, Ronald Reagan is forced to temporarily order all heroes to cease activities for the time being.

I should point out that although it’s implied that Godfrey is somehow using New God technology to hypnotise people in to following him, it’s never outright stated as such, so what we’re left with is the fact that he was able to simply get the public to attack Batman and Robin up in a department store after they just saved them all from an armed robbery.

Fun fact: Five of the  eight characters in this panel were co-created by Gerry Conway.
Justice League Detroit (with Firestorm and Cosmic Boy) from LEGENDS #1 (1986).
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

Darkseid also sends out his minion Brimstone, a plasma-based skyscraping entity who fights with the Detroit-era Justice League (in a bittersweet last adventure before the end of that team), and is eventually defeated by the newly-created Suicide Squad. We get to see them in action, fighting atop Mount Rushmore.

Suicide Squad vs Brimstone from LEGENDS #3 (1987).
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

Ronald Reagan plays a background role, but it's a vital one; it’s his executive order to temporarily ban superheroes (in response to mass public unrest) that creates much of the drama of the series. Contemporary politicians in superhero comics is always a tricky issue -- since it instantly dates a comic book's longevity. It is rather interesting that he’s presented as an unknowing tool on behalf of Darkseid, the super-villain who Jack Kirby always equated with Richard Nixon.

The Then-President of the United States consults with Superman in LEGENDS #2 (1986)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

Many heroes are affected by the ban. Captain Marvel, having been tricked by a clone of Macro- Man planted to explode when struck by lightning, believes he murdered him and is afraid to use his magic word to change from Billy Batson again. Blue Beetle is shot by a cop after he stops a criminal, thinking maybe it’s time to give up crime-fighting.

Blue Beetle being shot at by cops. From LEGENDS #2 (1986)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

Guy Gardner saves an out of control plane from crashing by landing it on the freeway, and all he gets for his trouble is a bunch of angry passengers and inconvenienced motorists. Guy is atypically in control of himself in this mini, and seems like a competent, if not hot-blooded, Green Lantern. In comparison with Hal who he’s replacing, he seems like a much more exciting GL, making constructs of crazy monsters and using his power ring in clever ways like popping a small hole in an oil tank above a bad guy's head, as opposed to Hal "Giant Baseball Bat" Jordan.

Guy Gardner in all his glory! From LEGENDS #5 (1987)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

This characterization stands in contrast to the half-cocked hotshot that would be a main character in DeMatties and Giffens’s Justice League International.

Dr. Fate is watching all of these event unfold and decides that it’s time to act. He gathers Superman, Batman, Flash, Beast Boy, Guy, Black Canary, Blue Beetle and Captain Marvel for the upcoming battle.

Gang's all here! From LEGENDS #5 (1987)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

It all ends with a big showdown in Washington DC with the Dr. Fate assembled heroes versus Godfrey with his human-controlled Hunger Dogs and an army of parademons. Even Wonder Woman shows up, in her first Post-Crisis appearance in 'man's world'.

The dramatic debut of the NEW post-Crisis Wonder Woman in LEGENDS #6 (1987).
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

After disposing of the mechanical hounds, Godfrey taunts the heroes that they won't dare hurt innocent, if deluded, bystanders. In the end though, it’s the innocent children who save the day by rushing to the unruly mob and telling them that the superheros are good guys after all. Godfrey strikes a child, releasing the people from his spell and turning the tide of the battle. It ends with the heroes standing around making a somewhat unrealistic speech about how although hero worship isn’t healthy, there will always be a need for people to believe in something greater than themselves. And if it wasn’t hammered enough in that this story is a religious allegory, the book ends with a quote from The Book of Ephesians.

The altruistic ending from LEGENDS #6 (1987)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

This theme -- demonstrating that the ability to influence the beliefs and values of the general public is a formidable power -- is a very common one though DC. It goes back to Jack Kirby and Darkseid’s quest for the Anti-Life Equation, all the way to the public turning on Superman in Kingdom Come (another book with heavy religious allegories), and is quite prominent in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis.

Glorious Godfrey preaching to the mob in LEGENDS #5 (1987)
Pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Karl Kesel

Iris Allen walking home is Final Crisis #4 (2008)
Art by J.G. Jones, Carlos Pacheco, and Jesus Merino.

A lot of what makes LEGENDS interesting is how, in many ways, it’s the first true BIG super team-up in the wake of the new status quo. Although Guy Gardner had been seen previously, this really feels like Guy's FIRST big public debut as the Green Lantern of Earth, and I’m sure that was the intention of the writers as they introduced Guy to a whole new crop of readership.

LEGENDS is a scientific experiment that seeks to ask the question "What would the fearful and hateful humans that populate the Marvel Universe (and X-Men comics in particular) do if they where in the much more superhero-friendly DC Universe"? The answer they seem to come up with is that they would act like jerks for a while, but in the end they would revert back to their docile selves. Somewhat unfulfilling if you ask me. It should be remembered that Watchmen was coming out at the same time as this mini-series, and didn’t shy away from asking tough questions about the morality of hero worship with schmaltzy scenes with children.

This book also fulfills the promise of showcasing a 'shared universe' by incorporating the heroes from the infinite earths that where saved during Crisis On Infinite Earths. Most notably, Earth-Two's Dr. Fate, Earth-Charlton's Blue Beetle, and Earth-Fawcett's Captain Marvel/Shazam.

Captain Marvel/Shazam from LEGENDS #5 (1987)
Pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Karl Kesel

Dr Fate! From LEGENDS #4 (1987)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

John Byrne's pencils are in top form. It’s his version of Superman straight out of the Man of Steel mini-series, right down to the sharp eyes and confident smile. It’s interesting to see him draw Captain Marvel, he even captures C.C. Beck's "squinty eyes" on him. Byrne's art totally fits for a series like this, given the time when it came out. It’s clean but not lifeless, gritty and detailed but not overly cluttered. It’s hard to tell how much of the art that comes out is Byrne's pencils or Karl Kesel's inks. I’ve heard that, as more and more work would be assigned to Byrne, he would forgo drawing backgrounds and would only stick to characters. The inker would sometimes fill in the backgrounds and other details when needed. This is the case in some of the later issues of Marvel's Alpha Flight (for example 1984's Alpha Flight #13 features an eleven page dream sequence with no words and minimal backgrounds -- a sequence I DO like by the way).

Billy Batson to Captain Marvel in LEGENDS #3 (1987)
Pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel.

Ultimately, I think it’s a good mini-series that deserves reading for being a bridge from Crisis On Infinite Earths to Justice League International, but I think it’s a bit simplistic in its morality. It’s just on the edge of being a mature readers book, but then it reverts back to the world of 'Peter Pan and Tinkerbell'.

The series is written by John Ostrander and Len Wein, with pencils by John Byrne and inks by Karl Kesel.



-Anthony Kuchar

Anthony Kuchar interviews Peter David for DC in the 80s

Peter David is one of those names in comics that any seasoned reader has seen appear more than once. From his unforgettable run on Marvel's Incredible Hulk to his memorable runs with DC's Aquaman and Supergirl, his reputation as a hardworking writer -- pumping out stories for a hungry comics readership -- is the stuff of legend. As warm in life as he is prolific, I got the opportunity to interview David at Niagara Falls Comic Con this year.

---

Anthony: You started working for DC with Star Trek in 1988, this was when the original movies were still being released...

David: ...well technically the original movies are STILL coming out...

Anthony: ...true, but I'm referring to the original cast with William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nemoy as Spock and all those other great guys. This was an interesting era, because Star Trek The Next Generation was just staring to air on TV. You were writing a lot of comic stories... I have one here... "Who killed Captain Kirk?". This was an interesting run of stories because you incorporated some of the animated series characters (i.e., M'Ress).

"Who Killed Captain Kirk?" TPB. Published in 1993.

David: Well technically, I didn't 'incorporate' them as the characters were already part of the crew when I came on board as the writer. So, y'know, I just wanted to... People are always crediting me for things I didn't do. People come up to me and say "How did you come up with the idea of turning the Hulk back to grey?" and I keep saying "I didn't do that, Al Milgrom did", and people are always surprised.

Anthony: Was it a bit of a logistical nightmare working on Star Trek comics? Trying to keep things in continuity -- was that something you were concerned about or anything like that?

David: No, I really wasn't really the least bit concerned with that. My stories were set in the time period BEFORE the movies, pretty much. I wasn't really concerned with what they were going to do in the NEXT movie that was going to screw up my comic books, especially considering they blew the freakin' enterprise while I was on the book, so no, there wasn't really any logistics. That wasn't a problem. Star WARS was a problem with logistics -- when they had to do the comics that were set in between the movies with no idea what was going to happen in the NEXT movie. Jo Duffy once told me how she turned in a plot and Lucas Films said "No, you can't have a speed bike chase" which then told her there was going to be a speeder bike chase in the next movie. Star Trek was not any particular logistical nightmare other than getting stories approved.

Anthony: It's interesting because I was reading the foreword to this collection (written by George Takei) and he mentioned something about a villain being introduced that was based on a real-life politician, who was campaigning an anti-gay platform in the late 80s...

David: (chuckles) ...it's entirely possible... God knows I don't remember since this was almost a quarter century ago.

Anthony: No problem. Let's talk about super heroes. The Phantom -- your first super hero work for DC -- you brought the Phantom back to his roots (he was fighting pirates and smugglers and that sort of thing). You wrote the first Phantom mini-series, what was that like?

Issue #2 & #4 of the 1988 The Phantom mini-series

David: Oh, it was tremendously exciting. First off, I had to impress my new employers -- I had to show them that I could turn out stories that were publishable and written within a reasonable length of time. I also worked with Lee Falk, the creator of the Phantom, which was tremendously exciting for me. I mean, I still have the cover of issue #1 autographed by Lee Falk to me. So, it was a wonderful experience.

Anthony: You wrote the first 4 issue mini-series, but you didn't write the follow-up ongoing series published after that. Was there a reason you left the title? Or were not brought back on?

David: I honestly don't know -- they were continuing with The Phantom, but I was doing so much other work at that point that it may simply have been a matter that I didn't have the time.

Anthony: Next I'm going to ask about Action Comics Weekly -- namely Green Lantern. You wrote Green Lantern in that series (from issues #609 to #620). What was it like writing a Green Lantern feature for 1989's Action Comics Weekly 'experiment'?

Action Comics Weekly #614 (1988). Cover by Mike Mignola and Ty Templeton.

David: It was NOT one of my most fulfilling assignments. I kept asking Denny [O'Neil] for advice in terms of what I should be writing, and Denny kept telling me that I could write whatever I wanted to write, except that it turned out that Dick Giordano had very specific ideas that he wanted to use... (laughs) ...which Denny never told me. So, the stories I was producing weren't up to Dick's expectations of the comic -- which is understandable because I never even KNEW what his expectations were. He wanted me to write something dark and gritty, and I was writing something that had more humor to it -- so it was pretty much diametrically opposed from what Dick wanted. I have no idea to this DAY why Denny didn't tell me what Dick wanted me to do, but as a result, Green Lantern was not one of my enjoyable forays.

Anthony: That makes sense. It was kind of in a weird place -- the actual book had been discontinued at that time -- the last 'regular' issue being Green Lantern Corps #224 in 1988. Did you have any affinity for Hal Jordan?

David: My take on Hal Jordan was that his origin pretty much made no sense, because the ring was supposed to find somebody who had NO fear. The only type of human being who has no fear is a psychotic. Everyone who has ANY rationality has fears of some kind or other. If nothing else, a fear of dying. Finding someone with no fears at all meant that the ring had found someone completely insane.

panels from Action Comics Weekly #609 (1988). art by Tod Smith and Danny Bulanadi

Anthony: Do you remember working on the Blasters one-shot? It was an Invasion! spin-off...

Blasters Special v1 #1 (1989)

David: If you say so. (laughs) I barely remember anything about it. The only things I remember are... #1 I got to work with James Fry -- a long-time friend who's one of the funniest people in the entire universe. I still remember when James called me up and he said "Peter! I want to tell you this: he's a werewolf, she's a vampire, they're detectives, they're... (wait for it)... Thirst & Howl!" and I started laughing hysterically, and James said "You think that's funny?" and I said "I think that's hysterical!" and he replied "You're the first person who's laughed!". And I said "well everybody else is an idiot, I think that's friggin' brilliant." I'm going to do that as a comic book someday, I swear.

So, at any rate, I remember that... and the other thing I remember about Blasters is 'Ben Steel and his bear, Hans'. I think it was James' joke -- it was not mine -- I always thought that that was amusing. Other than that, and the fact that Snapper Carr started it, I remember absolutely nothing about Blasters. Remember, you're asking me about stuff in the 80s -- that was 35 years ago.

panel from Blasters Special v1 #1. pencils by James Fry, inked by Robert Campanella

Anthony: Oh yeah. Well, anything you can recollect is great. Do you remember Giglamesh II? Jim Starlin wrote that series, but he claimed it might've been based on an idea that you had? Do you remember anything about that?

David: I pitched Giglamesh to Denny O'Neil and he said "That sounds really interesting, let me think about that". Every so often I'd check in with him and say "Should I write something down?", and he'd say "No no, don't write anything yet. I'll send you a format." Which he never did. One day Denny calls me and he says "I've got some bad news. We're doing a Giglamesh comic, Jim Starlin's doing it, he came up with the idea totally on his own." And I said "Well that really sucks", but I knew it was possible -- things happen. That was until I spoke to Jim. I asked him how he came up with the idea and he said "I didn't come up with the idea, Denny pitched it to me." After I uttered a string of profanities, I went straight to Dick Giordano and said that I'd been ripped-off. I had told him what had happened, and they paid me a 'kill fee' for the work that I wound up never doing, and Denny swore that they'd be doing two Giglamesh comics now -- Jim's and mine -- which I knew was absurd. And, which of course, was absurd because they never did it. So, I was flat out ripped-off with Giglamesh.

Gilgamesh II v1 #1 (1989)

Anthony: Wow. That's a shame. It's interesting -- there was a lot of interest in Giglamesh during the late eighties -- I guess because some of the work had finally been translated.

David: Yeah.

Anthony: It's a shame that never came though. I wanted to ask you a few questions about Aquaman. Probably second to your Incredible Hulk run, Aquaman is one of the characters you've had a lot of history in terms of reviving and revamping (both aesthetically and character-wise). How did you get the Aquaman assignment and what was your approach to it going forward?

David: DC offered me the Aquaman assignment -- they really liked they way Atlantis Chronicles had come out -- in fact I seemed like the logical person to take over Aquaman. They launched it with a four-part limited series called Time & Tide and, I guess, were satisfied enough with the work I did that they felt I could handle the ongoing book.

Issues #2 & #4 of the 1994 Aquaman: Time and Tide v1 mini-series

David: I started trying to think of ways to make Aquaman interesting, because you have to understand -- that at the time that I was taking over Aquaman -- the general public had zero interest in him. I mean, when I told fans that I was going to be writing Aquaman, the most asked question was "Why?". He was seen as one of the lamest characters. Certainly his portrayal in Super Friends didn't help.

Aquaman as seen in the 1980's Hanna-Barbera Super Friends cartoon

David: To me, Aquaman was tremendously exciting, I saw him as the Tarzan of the Apes of the DCU. He survived in environments that no ordinary person could, he was super strong, and at the very least he was bullet resistant (considering how he could stand up to the crushing pressures of the ocean with no trouble). I thought that he had tremendous amounts of potential.

I decided that I had to radically change his appearance, that that would be a good start. So I gave him the long hair and I gave him the beard, and I developed the idea of him losing his right hand and having it replaced with a harpoon. I thought that would make him look a lot more 'dynamic'. I mean, if the old Aquaman walks into a room, you'd go "hey Aquaman! What's going on?". If the long-haired bearded guy with a scowl walks in and he's got a harpoon on his arm, you're gonna go "um.. yes? what can i do to help you, sir? don't kill me." I wanted that kind of gravity to his appearance -- so that when this guy walked into a room -- you KNEW he was a bad-ass. He was NOT someone you wanted to screw with.

panel from Aquaman v5 #5 (1995). art by Jim Calafiore and Howard M. Shum

David: The harpoon-hand was an idea that I REALLY had to sell DC on. I had a meeting with Paul Levitz and the top editors about what I wanted to do, and I had to convince them of the quality of the idea and that it would totally work for Aquaman before they eventually signed off on it. So that was signed off on at the highest levels of DC comics.

Anthony: Wow. Because obviously such a dramatic change affects the brand of the character. Kinda like taking Superman's 'S' away.

David: Absolutely. Yeah, exactly.

That was one of the hardest sells that I'd ever had to come up with.

Anthony: It's interesting because you also altered some things about his past, but then there's other things that kinda come before -- like his son being killed by Black Manta, his relationship with Mera -- that you didn't change. What was the reason for the those kind of decisions?

David: Because it worked. Why should I change the concept of Ocean Master being his half-brother? It worked. It had for a couple of decades, I saw no reason to screw with it.

Anthony: Were there any Aquaman stories you never got to do? That you felt unfulfilled?

David: Well, yeah. I mean, I had a conclusion to the whole harpoon-thing. I was going to kill Aquaman off, Aqualad was going to take over the mantle of Aquaman, then eventually Aquaman was going to return as an elemental being with no attachment to humanity, and Mera (of all people) was going to manage to ground him enough that he would be able to restore himself to his human form. At which point he would no longer have the harpoon-hand. That is, essentially, what DC wound up doing, but -- while I was still writing Aquaman -- I did this storyline where I killed him off and was then told that I had to bring him back immediately. And I said "but we have this whole storyline I was going to do!" and they said "You can't kill him off. People won't believe it because they'd just got done killing off Superman" and I was furious because that was my whole friggin' storyline. And I finally threw up my hands and said "That's it! I'm outta here!".

The 'Death that was Not Meant To Be' from Aquaman v5 #45 (1998)
Pencilled by Jim Calafiore and inked by Peter L Palamiotti 

Anthony: That's interesting. So editorial was really concerned that the Death of Superman storyline would take away the thunder of the Death of Aquaman storyline?

David: Yeah, except my attitude was that Aquaman was a LESSER character than Superman, so people might readily BELIEVE him being killed off. But the editor said "no, we can't do it", at which point I threw up my hands and said "Fine! I'm out!". They brought in other writers to write Aquaman, and then several years later they killed off Aquaman and brought him back as an elemental being. So they finally got around to doing MY story -- except, y'know -- other people had their names on it. (chuckles)

---

It's hard limiting yourself to "on topic" questions when talking with Peter David. The man is a wealth of information, and could talk for any subject for extended periods of time. During the weekend, David had a pretty constant stream of fans coming to his booth, getting copies of Incredible Hulk, X-Factor and Supergirl signed. Something I found interesting was that a fan asked David to sign a particular issue of Supergirl where the cover had the title character with a bunch of kids, and no title. But the kids where using american sign language to spell SUPERGIRL. It was a really cool moment.

cover of Supergirl v4 #65 (2002)

As always, we'd like to thank the 2018 Niagara Falls Comic Con for organizing this event, and Susan Carver of the Press Relations team to allowing us the opportunity to meet with Peter David. The NFCC was a great show, we can't wait to see who next year's line-up of guests will be, and if you're ever in the area you should make a special effort to check it out.


-Anthony Kuchar

A graduate of Brock University’s Dramatic Arts Program, Anthony has had an interest in comics since he was young and his favorite 80’s DC books are Batman: The Cult, Sandman, The Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Ronin.

if you enjoyed this interview, you may also enjoy:

-Peter David reveals DC's "Big Plans" for 1990's Atlantis Chronicles
-Review of 1986's Aquaman v2 mini-series

Making a big splash down at the 2018 Niagara Falls Comic Con

Niagara Falls Comic Con only occurs once a year (in early June) and is always the best opportunity for comic fans of the Niagara region to meet comic pros in person. This was my sixth year in a row attending the event, but my first time as a correspondent for DC in the 80s.

This was a good year to be a fan of early 90s comics; featured guests included Peter David (Aquaman, Hulk), Chris Bachalo (Shade the Changing Man, Generation X) and Renée Witterstaetter (She-Hulk, Silver Surfer). Other big-name comic pros in attendance included Jim Sternako, Neil Adams (we interviewed him at Ottawa Comiccon earlier this year), Michael Golden and Gerhard (Cerebus).

Chris Bachalo waving 'hello'. Yes, we interviewed him. :)
Photo credit: Sheldyn Prime

Not surprisingly, 1980’s fandom was on full display this year. There were a few celebrities in attendance like Ralph Machio (the Karate Kid himself), signing autographs and promoting the new Cobra Kai show he’s made as a Youtube Original series.

Coincidentally, the original cast of Revenge of the Nerds were also in attendance (and held a panel Q&A), which I was lucky enough to attend. I even got to ask them a question: if they ever met Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo (who did the score to Revenge of the Nerds II). Sadly, they didn’t remember. In that panel sat Donald Gibb to the far right, who played the recurring role of Ray Jackson, the dimwitted but lovable sidekick to Jean-Claude Van Damme in the classic 80s martial arts flick Bloodsport.

Revenge of the Nerds Q&A panel. Photo credit: Sheldyn Prime

Other celebrities in attendance: Johathan Frakes of Star Trek, Jaleel White (aka: Steve Urkel of Family Matters), Kim Coates of Sons of Anarchy, Micheal Rooker of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Walking Dead, Dean Cain (star of Superman: The Adventures of Lois and Clark), Steve Whitmire (voice of Kermit the Frog from 1990 to 2016), George Wendt and John Ratzenburger: Cliff and Norm of Cheers. Wrestlers included Big Show and Ric Flair. Woooooo!

Arriving early with my friend Tyler Højberg (who had a booth of his own) we checked in on Friday and decided to walk around before the crowds showed up. I noticed that my Alma mater, Brock University had a large space set up for them, advertising the schools video game development program among other things.

Some other feature attractions included the 1989 Batmobile, a replica of The Interceptor from 1979's Mad Max, the Mystery Machine, and a life-sized replica of a Return of the Jedi speeder bike.

All vehicles photos above taken by Sheldyn Prime

There where a lot of vendors selling various trinkets and collectibles, figures and fragrances, movies and games. One of the oddest was a booth selling heated neck pads for upper back problems. Not sure what that has to do with comics. There where plenty of comics vendors. My LCS, Mostly Comics, from St Catharines Ontario was there, as well as Big B Comics from Niagara Falls. I also recognized the guys from the Kitchener Comics Warehouse.

Above photos taken by Sheldyn Prime

DC cosplay was sparse this year, however, we did note a lot of cosplay based on the Marvel Avengers films this year. Some of the cosplay that stood out:

Wonder Woman:

Photo credit: Sheldyn Prime

TWO John Constantine’s. This was a total coincidence, the one John was at a booth selling prints when we asked if we could take his picture, when another walked behind us and I asked if I could get them both.

Photo credit: Sheldyn Prime

The Teen Titans. Inspired by my favorite version of the team, the 2003 Cartoon Network series.

Photo credit: Sheldyn Prime

This event also had a 'retro zone' filled with arcade cabinets from the 80s and 90s:

Above arcade photos courtesy of Sheldyn Prime

Scouring the vendors I found a few cool things I couldn't resist picking up:

An Ice figure to add to my JLI action figure collection. It was a little dirty, probably from a million fans touching it con after con. But I brought it home and after a little mild cleaner it looks good as new. Now I just need to find a Fire to keep her company.

photo by Anthony Kuchar

A few Superman TPBs and single issues of Weird War I picked up on the cheap.

photo by Anthony Kuchar

A reprint copy of 1982's SwordQuest written by Roy Thomas and with art by George Perez (originally by DC comics but now reprinted by Dynamite).

photo by Anthony Kuchar

There’s actually a pretty amazing story behind this comic, and the Atari video game it was based on: it was included as a pack-in with every cartridge of the game sold, and hidden inside of George Perez’s art (for example on a column or in a rock formation) are clues that correspond to details in the game that solved certain riddles. Atari held a contest and prizes that were offered included a *real* gold sword, crown, chalice, talisman and philosophers stone. If you solved the riddle, the first one to mail-in the answers would win the prize. Almost all of these prizes disappeared when Atari suffered the video game crash of 1983. (Pictures exist of the prizes in the Atari offices and in the official Atari newsletter from the time so we know they existed. There's still controversy about what happened to the prizes to this day. For more info, you can watch The Angry Video Game Nerd's review of SwordQuest.



All in all, I'm going to have give credit to Niagara Falls Comic Con for organizing another successful show. Special thanks to Susan Carver of Press Relations. Extra special thanks to Sheldyn Prime for being such a cool photographer.

-Anthony Kuchar

Reviewing 1991's Angel and the Ape mini-series

Years ago, I picked up the first issue of this mini-series from a local convenience store*. I was familiar with Batman, Superman and the like -- and even dimly aware of superheroes like Dr. Fate -- but Angel and The Ape would hardly be household names anywhere. I read the first issue with earnest and was disappointed to find that I was 11 years too late to wait for the next issue. Without a local comic shop to go to, I resigned myself to not knowing how this series ended... until now, that is!

First thing's first, some background information: created by the famous E. Nelson Bridwell (best know for The Inferior Five), Angel and The Ape first appeared in 1968's Showcase #77. The premise was simple: Angel O’Day was a lady detective and Sam Simeon was a comic book artist and a talking gorilla. Together, they fight crime. Jokes arising from the unusual pairing and cultural fads (such as a cover depicting Sam A product of the "groovy" era of comics arising from the popularity of the Adam West Batman TV show), they starred in their own bi-monthly series for 6 issues in 1969. As with most characters from this period (Detective Chimp, I’m looking at you!), they were relegated to Z-list status and seemingly lost in the shuffle of Crisis on Infinite Earths, along with dozens of other characters that DC had amassed over 50 years. What happened to all those characters after the Crisis was explored in a more dark and serious manner in Grant Morrison’s seminal run on Animal Man.

Angel and the Ape v1 #3 (1969) Bob Oksner cover.

Phil Foglio had made a bit of a name for himself in the black-and-white, indie comix scene of the late 80s with books such as Myth Adventures and Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire. He was hired by DC to write and draw this revival mini-series. That being the case, you get a real sense of authoritative intent and uniqueness in this mini-series that was rather refreshing compared to the 'Ford assembly-line' quality of the other comics of this era.

page from Myth Adventures #1 (1984). published by Warp Graphics.
Pencils by Phil Folio, inks by Tim Sale

The cover of the first issue is something of a joke on the 'grim and gritty' trend for comics at the time. The cover text boldly states “THEY’RE BACK... BUT WHO ARE THEY, WHAT ARE THEY NOW?” Angel and Sam are presented in dark silhouette, however, you can clearly see them as their normal lovable selves in the upper left hand corner near the date and issue number.

Angel and the Ape v2 #1 (1991). Cover by Phil Foglio.

The storyline is simple, but effective: it tells the origin story of how a young Angel met Sam in Africa. It cuts to years later when they’ve become established detectives in New York City. Sam is going out on a lunch date with Dumb Bunny from the Inferior Five (and half sister to Angel). Bunny ducks out of lunch with Sam and asks Angel to go with her to talk about things.

panels from Angel and the Ape v2 #1: mocking the grim
turn Batman had taken since the death of Jason Todd

At lunch, she admits to her sister that she’s in love with Sam and want to be his girlfriend. Angel is taken aback at this, both for the obvious physical implications (Bunny says she’s not interested in sex anyway) and for the moral reasons -- like him being essentially a part of their family. It’s also implied that Angel has feelings for Sam herself, but won’t admit it.

panels from Angel and the Ape v2 #1

During this time Sam is dropping off some art pages to "DZ Comics" when he sees that he’s turned into a human and everyone else has turned into a gorilla. After a spit second, they all turn back to normal, and everyone is shocked at his gorilla appearance after his concentration is broken (Sam uses light mind control to make people not notice or care that he’s a gorilla). It turns out this is all part of a scheme orchestrated by Sam’s grandfather, none other than Gorilla Grodd.

Grodd is worried about the population growth of Gorilla City becoming unsustainable into the twentieth century, and when he approached King Solovar about this issue Solovar felt that when that time came they would be ready to show themselves to the world. Grodd doesn’t buy it and has found a green glowing entity called the "Green Glob" to alter reality to destroy humans by making them unintelligent gorillas. He needs Sam’s telepathy to communicate with the glob, to obey his commands. Sam doesn’t want any part of it, but he’s kidnapped by Grodd. Angel and Bunny try to contact the Justice League, but after a typically crass phone conversation with Guy Gardner, Angel, Bunny and the rest of the Inferior Five decide to rescue Sam themselves.

panels from Angel and the Ape v2 #2: Guy Gardner being Guy Gardner

In the middle of the third issue there is a cool sequence where Angel is experiencing Sam’s memories of Gorilla City and his grandfather, while a fight between Grodd and the Five are happening in the bordering panels. It reminds me a little bit of Sergio Aragonés' comics in MAD magazine.

It's in the rescue that Grodd breaks Bunny’s neck, telling Sam the only way to save her is with the glob. Grodd comes off as a particularly menacing villain in this comic’s universe. He’s almost like a Sideshow Bob or Mister Burns (from the early seasons of The Simpsons), since his adversaries are more comical and simplistic, he becomes more diabolical and evil.

The whole cast of characters comes off like a comfy sitcom from the 70s -- similar to the Mary Tyler Moore show. Angel is an optimist (Mary Richards), Sam is her more earthy, pessimistic co-worker (Lou Grant), Dumb Bunny is the lovable, airhead blonde (Georgette) and etc.

It ends with Sam communicating with the glob and using its powers to outsmart his grandfather. He gets the glob to give Grodd an uncontrollable desire for junk food which distracts him long enough for Solovar’s forces to raid his hideout. Sam asks the glob to heal Bunny, with it does. It also briefly turns Sam back into a human and the romantic tension between Angel and Sam is address by the two, but they decide to remain friends and Sam turns back into a gorilla.

panels from Angel and the Ape v2 #4

It’s a decent little story, my only criticism would be that it maybe gets a little too heavy on the romantic triangle between Sam, Angel and Bunny, and that distracts from the storyline. I have a feeling like they might have been expecting this to turn into an ongoing series, and they would play the "will they/won’t they" angle up like many romantic sitcoms. It’s also unfortunate that the cool subversion of the 'damsel in distress' trope is a bit undone with the neck-breaking "women in refrigerators" moment with Bunny and Sam.

The last issue of the mini-series finishes off with a belated but interesting letter column. It seems like I was not alone in being unfamiliar with the Silver Age incarnations of A&A and The Inferior Five. Many of the letters lamented the fact that there had been such sparse material in the "humor" genre of comics.

In the letter column, series editor Mike Gold defends the cartoony style by citing the fact that one of the most respected comic artist of all time, Will Eisner, drew in a cartoony style. Gold also cited a few other artists with cartoony styles (ex: Howard Chaykin, Joe Staton, Frank Thorne and Rick Burchett), and points out that if you take away the hard angles in Todd McFarlane's and Frank Miller's art, even they would be perceived as cartoony. 

. Foglio’s style is "Cartoony", but expressive. It would be very easy to turn his art into animation. Under different circumstances, I could see this being adapted to an animated TV show (resting somewhere in tone between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Tick).

1991 was not a year receptive to this book; when the first issue was published in March 1991, the classic Batman "Venom" storyline ran in Legends Of The Dark Knight, Marvel was publishing its seminal "Weapon X" storyline in Marvel Comics Presents and Todd McFarlane was in the midst of his run on Spider-Man. Drugs, madness and pain. This was what comics where turning into. Foglio would go on to do a Stanley and His Monster mini-series for DC, and now runs a successful webcomic, Girl Genius.

Lighthearted and quirky revivals of groovy 60s characters is not what the audience was craving. I won’t go so far to say it’s perfect or somehow a lost masterpiece, but it’s competently done and a readable comic in an era where that would become more and more rare as Extreme 90s artists would throw graphic storytelling to the wind in favor of cool action figure designs. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments and, for under 5 bucks to get all four issues, it still holds up today as an enjoyable read.

If DC ever does put out a collected edition, it would be nice if they included the original 60s appearances as well as the 2001 Vertigo revival by Howard Chaykin.

Angel and the Ape pin-up by Phil Foglio

*Editor's note: Anthony explained that his convenience store sold bagged bundles of back issues -- mainly Marvel, DC, Image, Malibu, Valiant, and Continuity (circa 1986-1994). It would be a mixed bag with no particular theme other than 10 comics for around 2 bucks. This is why Anthony has such a  well-rounded knowledge of late 80s/early 90s comics. ;) 



-Anthony Kuchar

Anthony hails from Welland, Ontario. A Graduate of Brock University’s Dramatic Arts Program, he has been involved with the theatre scene in Niagara for many years. Anthony has had an interest in comics since he was young and his favorite 80’s DC books are Batman: The Cult, Sandman, Frank Miller's Ronin and Watchmen.