Know Your Suicide Squad: Bloodsport

There's a new Suicide Squad film being released this summer. This new team will include a character named Bloodsport (played by Idris Elba) whom I know nothing about except that he first appeared in a Superman comic from the 80s. Let's learn about him together.

This could almost be a panel from an Image comic. Panel from Superman v2 #4 (1987)
Pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Karl Kesel.

Flashback: 1987. It was a bold, exciting time in Superman comics -- after the mega-successful The Man Of Steel relaunch by John Byrne, interest in Superman was at an all-time high. A new Superman series (written and pencilled by Byrne, inked by Terry Austin) was launched immediately picking up where the The Man Of Steel mini concluded. At the same time, Superman v1 had been re-named to Adventures of Superman (written by Marv Wolman, pencilled by Jerry Ordway and inked by Mike Machlan) as of issue #424 to avoid confusion between the two titles. In short, it was a great time to be a Superman fan: DC understood that they had a captive audience and were delivering some of the best Superman work many of us would see in a long, long time.

Superman #4 (1987). A very attractive John Byrne cover. It screams ACTION!
Bloodsport blasting through the Superman logo is a really clever use of cover space.

Bloodsport first appears in Superman #4 (1987). It was still very early in the series, and Byrne was still building the rebooted/revamped Superman mythos (establishing characters and relationships, etc...). Bloodsport, created by John Byrne, is introduced when he makes an impromptu appearance at a dinner to shoot up the patrons and scream about civil liberties and Vietnam. That's right... Vietnam. This was 1987. The Vietnam war ended in the early to mid 1970s, so it sounds about right that a thirty-five to forty year-old man would be a Vietnam veteran. 

Bloodsport shoots up [Fred ?] Hembeck's restaurant. From Superman v2 #4 (1987).
Pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Karl Kesel.

The story pretty much progresses as you'd expect -- Superman pursues Bloodsport, they battle, Superman wins and Bloodsport is incarcerated. Other than the ability to delude himself that Americans eating at restaurants are taking for granted the sacrifices Vietnam vets made for their country, Bloodsport also has the ability to teleport in weapons that can actually HURT Superman (i.e., guns with kryptonite bullets). This pretty much implies that he was hired by Lex Luthor since, at the time, Luthor was the only DCU character who had access to kryptonite (as mentioned, Byrne was reconstructing the Superman mythos).

Bloodsport demonstrates his weapon teleportation powers. From Superman v2 #4 (1987).
Pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Karl Kesel.

This would be Bloodsport's last appearance for a long while. I have a feeling he was meant to be a one-and-done character. On it's own merits, this was a great issue -- a very well-written story, a villain that was actually a threat to Superman, dynamic John Byrne pencils inked by Karl Kesel, and lots of action sequences. To me, the Byrne reboot era of Superman from the mid-to-late 80s was Superman at it's peak... so I might be a little biased here.

How did readers react to Bloodsport? As a brand-new villain (rather than a re-imagining of a Superman legacy villain, like Metallo from issue #1), some readers felt a little bored with Bloodsport. The muscular, heavily-armed 'disillusioned ex-soldier' was an overused idea in the 1980s. Some readers wrote in to critique that it was a 'tired' concept by this point. They argued that it may have been a fresh concept in 1979, but was kind of 'been there, done that' by this point. Harsh. 

So, how significant was Bloodsport? Well, significant enough to get an entry in 1987's Who's Who Update issue #1, but not significant enough to get a trading card:

If you were an avid Superman reader in the early 1990s (post-Death of Superman), you may remember a different Bloodsport. This was a completely different character. He had similar abilities to the first Bloodsport (ability to teleport in weapons out of thin air) and that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Adventures of Superman #507 (1993). Cover by Barry Kitson.

This second Bloodsport, created by Karl Kesel and Barry Kitson, was a white supremacist who was primarily targeting African Americans. It was later revealed that he was a member of the Aryan Nation. Unlike the first Bloodsport introduced by Byrne in Superman #4 (whom you may have felt a little sympathy for), this 'new & improved' Bloodsport made you incredible angry with his senseless brutality and racism. Kesel and Kitson did a great job of making you really hate the character.

Panels from Adventures of Superman #507 (1993).
Pencilled by Barry Kitson, inked by Ray McCarthy.

So... you've got a mentally-unstable gun-toting African American terrorist named Bloodsport, and then you've got another white supremacist terrorist named Bloodsport who wants to eradicate African Americans. The only evitable outcome to this predicament is that these two are going to duke it out... and that's exactly what happens in Adventures of Superman #526 (1995):  

From Adventures of Superman #526 (1995) 
Pencilled by Rodolfo Damaggio, inked by Klaus Janson.

The warden of Stryker's Island prison decided that, in order to quell rising tensions in the prison, a boxing match between Bloodsport I and Bloodsport II would be arranged to get their aggressions out in a controlled manner. Superman would be the referee. I just want to point out that this is the kind of scheme that could only work in a comic book. Will this issue be entertaining? Hell yes. Realistic? No.

Of note: this issue was written by Karl Kesel -- who inked Superman v2 #4 (first appearance of Bloodsport I) and co-created Bloodsport II (in Adventures of Superman #507).

During the boxing match, Bloodsport II manages to teleport a gun into the ring and all hell breaks loose. The final fate of Bloodsport I (aka: Robert DuBois) is to be killed by guards while trying to escape prison during the commotion. Don't feel so bad -- Bloodsport II (aka: Alexander Trent) is murdered by his Aryan brothers for losing against DuBois in the ring.

Bloodsport ( tRobert DuBois) meets his end. From Adventures of Superman #526 (1995) 
Pencilled by Rodolfo Damaggio, inked by Klaus Janson.

...and that's everything about Bloodsport from the 80s and 90s. Neither of these versions of Bloodsport had been members of the Suicide Squad during this era. 

In the last two decades, with all the New52/ReBirth/Future States reboots it's possible that there was a version of Bloodsport who was re-introduced and joined the Suicide Squad... but we wouldn't know about that. This is DC in the 80s, after all. ;)

Other articles you may enjoy:

-Know Your Suicide Squad: Katana

-Know Your Suicide Squad: Killer Croc

-Know Your Suicide Squad: Enchantress

-The 'El Diablo' interview

-Reviewing the 1988 Peacemaker mini-series

-John Byrne's final Q&A from Toronto FanExpo 2018 (lots of stuff about his work on Superman in here)

John Byrne at FANEXPO 2018

The 2018 Toronto FANEXPO came and went last weekend -- August 30th to September 2nd -- and the BIG news this year was that John Byrne would be appearing, and that this would be Byrne's LAST convention appearance for the foreseeable future. This is especially enticing since I don't think Byrne has attended more than 8 comic conventions in the last 15 years. For an eighties comics fan site, this was a landmark moment indeed.

Unfortunately, our on-the-scene journalist was unable to get access to the John Byrne Q&A panels. Fortunately, Eric Anthony of the Cave of Solitude podcast was able to come through and provide audio for this event. When asked if we can transcribe the audio, Eric replied with "I figure all the comic fans should have a chance to hear Mr Byrne chat it up with the fans." Truly appreciated, Eric. The crew at the Cave of Solitude podcast are fan's fans and are based out of Toronto, ON. They do a lot of interviews with comic pros and discuss some very interesting comic book stuff -- go ahead and give them a listen.

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This is transcribed audio from two different John Byrne Q&A Panels held at the at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on September 1st and September 2nd, 2018. It was an hour of Byrne opening up the floor to fan's questions. No question was refused.

True to our namesake, we only transcribed the questions and answers that had anything to do with DC comics and the eighties. We omitted questions and answers about Byrne's work on Marvel comics (ex: Alpha Flight, Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and X-Men) or Byrne's creative process -- unless it had something directly to do with DC comics.

(Please note: we have NO clue which attendees asked which questions. If we quoted one of your questions from the panel, feel free to take credit in the comments section of this article. Without further ado....)

Panel host Chis Ryall (on the left) and John Byrne (on the right). 2018.
Photo source: Eric Anthony of Cave of Solitude podcast

Q: "What were the circumstances in the 1990s that allowed for all the cross-overs between Marvel and DC? Do you think that it would happen again anytime soon? "

Byrne: "Well what happened was a lot of people were flowing back and forth, of course. Y'know... Marvel people were going to DC [comics], DC people were fleeing [Jim] Shooter and ending up at... y'know. I've often said -- and I'm going to go on a slight tangent here -- back in those days when you guys didn't know 3 months in advance what was coming, and the first time anybody found out about the Superman/Spider-Man book was when the house ads appeared in the comics, and I figure there was some kids who walked into the local drugstore and THERE IT WAS on the spinner rack... and they didn't know it was coming... and their heads must've exploded. THAT was, in many respects... the first Superman/Spider-Man... was the last gasp of old time comics. Because Ross Andru penciled it, except -- you may not know this -- it was given to Dick Giordano to ink, Dick took it up to the Continuity Offices where he worked with Neal [Adams], and Neal redrew all the Superman figures. Y'know? He erased Ross' and redrew it. He put it inside the profile that Ross had drawn it. But he redrew it. And then there was an editor who went in afterwards and put a white line around all the foreground figures to make them jump... all because people wanted it to be the best book that anybody had ever done. And today, well just what Neal did would make all the lawyers commit harakiri -- y'know... they'd just go out of their minds. And yet it produced this wonderful little moment of time."

cover of Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1976). Art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano. 

"Then, of course, they had to kind of run it into the ground. The moment that the cross-overs became an ongoing monthly series... what was that called... 'Amalgam'? Whatever that was. This is what we do in the business: we take something special and just run the wheels off it. So they kind of went away for a while. Luckily, in that span, I got to do Darkseid vs Galactus. That was fun, because  I was at a convention and George Perez was sitting next to me at our table, and this kid comes up and says "Why don't you do Darkseid versus Galactus?" and George and I just looked at each other and said "How come we don't think of stuff like that? Holy Crap" and of course I got to do one of my all-time all-time favorite jobs ever which was Batman/Captain America."

cover of Darkseid vs Galactus: The Hunger (1995). Art by John Byrne.

"Even as I was doing those, the whole thing was dying, and then just some nasty stuff between Marvel and DC. Politics. It's always about politics -- one of the reasons I left both of them was that there was just too much 'stuff'."

cover of The Man of Steel #1 (1986). Art by John Byrne.

Q: "How much creative freedom did you have when you reset Superman Man of Steel?"

Byrne: "When I was hired, or ASKED, to do Superman, they asked me to turn in a proposal. I turned in, I think it was, 20 points -- which I called 'my list of unreasonable demands'. Some of you may have seen the SYFY channel interview that I did, so you may have already heard this. Of all the things I wanted to do, the only thing that DC -- that Jenette Kahn -- pushed back on was...  well, as I tell it, I was sitting there going 'Well, Kryptonite can kill Superman. How do we know that? That's kind of a test of destruction, isn't it? How do we know Kryptonite can kill Superman? ' So I came up with the idea that it wasn't Kal-El who was sent from Krypton -- it was the pregnant Lara. (This was before I did the big change and all that stuff.) She arrives on Earth, the Kents find her and take her home. She has the baby, and then she finds a lump of Kryptonite and it kills her. So now we know Kryptonite can kill Kryptonians. Jenette didn't like that. She thought that, of all the stuff I wanted to do, that was too extreme."

"And she [Jenette] said "What if the pressure is in the core that are going to cause the planet to explode are already creating Kryptonite? So people are dying of Kryptonite radiation on Krypton before it blows up?" and I said "I'll steal that! That's good! I'll take it!" So we did THAT instead, and that's how I got my "Out of the Green Dawn" title and all that stuff. That persuaded me to do the cold, anti-septic Krypton instead of the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers Krypton."

panels from The Man of Steel #1 (1986). Art by John Byrne.

Q: "To take you back to Superman with your 20 points there, you took him down several paces. Was that your idea?"

Byrne: "Oh yeah! I went into Superman saying "y'know, it's the 'Man' that's important. Not the 'Super'". Denny O'Neil once said to me, long before I got anywhere NEAR Superman, he once said "It's hard to write interesting stories about a character who is so POWERFUL that he can destroy entire alien races by listening hard." And I said "yeah!" Y'know? The Superman movie, with Christopher Reeve, the first one, which I saw 127 times in the theater. That is not an exaggeration, that is the number of times I saw it. It struck me that every time I saw it, he's doing all this super stuff -- y'know? Pushing over mountains, and whatnot -- but the moment the audience cheered, every SINGLE time, was when he tore the car door off to get to Lois. And I said "That's relatable!" Who among us hasn't had THAT moment? That's something we can all comprehend. I said "That's why he needs to be Superman, but not Superman Who Can Push the Earth Around". As a kid, I used to have problems with that image too, because I always think 'well, they draw it sideways', but he's standing on his hands, isn't he, to push the earth? Why doesn't he just bore into the earth? Y'know?"

"So I said "Let's bring down and let's make him comprehensible" and I also tried to introduce some science, so that his x-ray vision, for example, was NOT him firing x-rays out of his eyes. I said "That's not how x-rays work! If he was doing that, he'd have to fly around to the other side to intercept it." I said "He can see the WHOLE spectrum. He can SEE x-rays. Y'know? That's how he can see through stuff. He can probably see radio waves." I thought about getting rid of heat vision, because that wasn't a natural extension of what people can do -- but I found it useful."

panels from The Man of Steel #4 (1986). Art by John Byrne.

[Another fan asked a similar question on Sunday. Byrne elaborated on his answer a little more...]

Byrne: "When I went off-contract at Marvel, Dick Giordano called me immediately. He said "Okay, you've been bitching about Superman for years... put your money where your mouth is." Let me add parenthetically that I wish I had said "no", but I said "yes" and got together with Dick and Jenette [Kahn] and Paul Levitz and talked about stuff, and I came up with, what I called, my 'list of unreasonable demands'. It was about 20 points, and they accepted most of them.  They said "yeah, you can do this." "

"Superman is, once again, the sole survivor of the doomed planet Krypton. That's kind of important, I think. I wanted to make Ma and Pa Kent younger, so it was more reasonable that he was THEIR kid and didn't have to pretend that they got him from their cousin in Milwaukee or something. I wanted to emphasis that it is the MAN that is important, not the SUPER. I also wanted to make Clark Kent more dynamic. My favorite Clark Kent is George Reeves. I've often said that when you watch that and show Lois will come in and go "Oh Clark! Oh, something horrible is happening!" and he'll go "Oh, get off my case, Lois. I'm working!" And then she leaves and he just goes. He was such a dynamic... He was a very dynamic Clark. He wasn't a wimpy Clark."

George Reeves as Clark Kent (circa early 1950s)
Photo source: unknown

"Although I've said many times: Christopher Reeve convinced me that that disguise works. That you can part your hair on the other side, slouch, wear a pair of glasses, and look like a different guy. I'm sure you all remember the scene where he comes to Lois' apartment (after Superman has flown her around and Clark comes to take her out on a date) and he's standing there -- and she's gone into the bedroom to change, and he looks at the bedroom door and he takes off the glasses and stands up like another 6 inches, and then she comes out and he puts the glasses back on. But, he really convinced me that you could do it if you sold it properly. You could do it. So that was a lot of what I brought to it."

Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent (circa late 70s/early 80s)
photo source: unknown

"I also wanted Lois to NOT be a bitch. Margot Kidder made me understand why Superman would be smitten with Lois, because up until then I was like "Why?". I remember the Superman parody I did in What The?... it was Park Bench and Nosy Dame were their names. I also wanted Lana Lang to be a more important character. I felt she got a short shift. When Superboy was created, the character/the comic, the Superman editorial office ignored it for, like, 10 years. They just pretended the Superboy comic didn't exist. This whole thing was going on with Lana, and if you were reading that independently you'd go "Oh obviously he's going to grow up and marry Lana, right?", but for years in Superman [it was] "Oh obviously he's going to marry Lois, right?". So the first time they brought Lana into a Superman story, she was this cold, hard sort-of baby Katharine Hepburn-like character. She's Lana Turner with red hair. So yeah, I wanted to get into the history and the background and build the characters from the ground up with a more realistic approach."

cover of Superboy #93 (1961). Art by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.

Q: Have you any Superman stories left? Or did you tell them all?

Byrne: "Oh, I could tell some more Superman stories probably, but I really feel it's a case of 'been there, done that'. Once you do Superman, you almost feel like your career is over once you've done Superman. "Well, nothing left here." So, yeah, I don't think I'd ever go back."


Q: "Back when you were doing Action Comics as a team-up book, is there anyone you didn't get to use that you wanted to use?"

Byrne: "Swamp Thing. They wouldn't let me. I went to the editor and said "I want to use Swamp Thing in Action Comics", and she said "No, no, we can't allow that to happen. Oh, by the way, we're using [Lex] Luthor." and I said "Well I don't want THAT to happen, because I haven't fully developed Luthor yet." She replied "Oh, it's already done." Oh, okay. That's how we're going to play THAT game, is it? Fine. So I didn't get to do Swamp Thing.

Spot Lex Luthor. panels from Swamp Thing #53 (1986). John Totleben art.

Q: "Any comments on the Superman/Big Barda sex tape?"

Byrne: "Are you familiar with an old story called 'The Lady or The Tiger'? Okay, the whole point of that story was this guy had fallen in love with a princess -- it's set in India --  and the King/Raja doesn't approve, so he condemns the man to be put into an arena... and there are two doors: behind one door is a beautiful lady -- a princess he will marry if he opens THAT door. And behind the other door is a tiger, and if he opens THAT door, he's dead. So the princess he's in love with is sitting above this, and she points at one of the doors. And that's where the story ends. So we don't know -- what did he choose? What did she tell him to choose? Did she tell him the lady... or the tiger? And that's what I wanted to do with Big Barda. Superman and Big Barda. We don't know. Did they have sex? I don't know. Let the reader think about that."

panels from Action Comics #593 (1987). Illustrated by John Byrne.

Q: "I have read somewhere that when you worked at DC you wanted to do something with Hawkman. but it never came about. I was wondering if that was true? And what your plans for Hawkman were?

Byrne: "Yeah. I've had a great love of Hawkman ever since the Joe Kubert days. I picked up the first Silver Age Hawkman [issue] from a magazine flat at the end of an aisle in a grocery store. The opening scene in the first Hawkman story with a little dog who turns into a bear scared the crap out of me. I was what? Nine, ten or eleven years old?"

panels from Brave and the Bold #34 (1961). Art by Joe Kubert.

"I've always wanted to do Hawkman. Hawkman was sooooo messed up when I was there and since. And I came up with this whole thing to 'fix' Hawkman. We were rolling along on it, and then DC said "No, we're going to have THIS guy do it." and I said "Ok. Fine. I can do something else." I kept asking for [Etrigan] The Demon, and it took them, like, 15 years to give me the Demon."

Blood of the Demon #1 (2005). Cover by John Byrne and Alex Bleyaert 

Q: "Mentioning [Jim] Shooter, how much control did you try to preserve on your part?"

Byrne: "All of it. Shooter had/has, what I call, the 'Whim of Iron'. It almost seemed, literally, like he'd come in on Monday morning with a new idea, and we all had to follow it until he forgot it next the week because he had ANOTHER new idea. I mean, one of the main reasons why Roger Stern and I quit Captain America was because Shooter came in one day and said "Everything has to be one issue stories." and we said "Okay. We're just starting a three-parter, but as soon as we're done, we'll do one-issue stories.", and he said "No. Now.". And I said "Well, I've drawn six pages of this first issue, we can't fit the next three issues into what's left of the book." So he got huffy and pulled it. And that was in the days when the fans still supported me when I quit. "He must've done it for a good reason", they said [about me]."

These panels from LEGENDS #5 (1987) inserted for NO REASON whatsoever. Art by John Byrne.

Q: "So for Fantastic Four, you came on five issues before the 20th anniversary, and then you left right before the 25th anniversary. What was the history there?"

Byrne: "Well, I was having fun working on the Fantastic Four. I was looking for a bit of a break. I'd been talking to John Romita Jr about drawing it while I wrote it. We were cruising towards that -- I think that would've been fun. And then I accepted the Superman gig, and in my innocence, I assumed that I would do Superman AND the Fantastic Four -- but as soon as Shooter found out about Superman, suddenly nothing I was doing on the Fantastic Four was any good... things kept getting changed and I had to do this and I had to do that. And I said to Mike Carlin, who was my editor then, "I'm gonna just leave. You shouldn't have to put up with the crap just because I'm going to do Superman." Mike Hobson, who was the publisher of Marvel in those days, he congratulated me on Superman and said "Anything that's good for DC will be good for Marvel -- it will be good for the whole industry." So I left, and then Shooter fired Carlin because it was 'his fault' I left.   "

[Editor's note: After Carlin was 'fired' by Marvel, he became an editor at DC comics and oversaw the Superman titles (among other things). He remained an editor at DC from 1986 to 2011. Not bad, not bad at all.]



Q:"You've done extensive work with both companies (Marvel and DC), what did you find were the differences in which you approach those characters and the rules you have to abide by with them?"

Byrne: "I'll tell you a funny story. When I left DC, and I went back to Marvel, and I was doing West Coast Avengers. I had an issue that opened with a scene of Hawkeye out on the practice range firing his arrows. I drew him standing there, firing his arrows, and I said "oh! come one!" and I put him on this whirligig machine that's throwing him around and he's firing and he's still getting bullseyes. That seemed more Marvel. I mentioned that to Walt Simonson and Walt said "That's what you should've been doing at DC!" "Yeah", I said. "There was a different mindset the minute I stepped through the door at DC -- everything went down a few hundred notches." Stan [Lee] used to say "In Marvel comics, people don't reach for the phone,... they REACH for the phone!" It's true. You don't 'come in' through the door, you COME IN through the door. So yeah, that was the biggest difference, it was mainly psychological. DC is.... calmer. As I often said, seriously now... setting aside which characters are your favorite and all that, which universe would you want to live in? Because the DC universe has Superman, and the Marvel universe has Galactus. I think I'd want to live in the DC universe, because it's SO much safer."

panels from Avengers West Coast #42 (1989). Art by John Byrne.

On his work with Jack Kirby's Fourth World series:

Byrne: "The first time I ever read New Gods (when it first came out), I had missed the first issue. So I started reading it at the second issue, and the second issue has that whole sequence "There came a time when the Old Gods died...", I read that and this double-page spread with armageddon and all that kinda crap, I read that and said "[expletive]! What was in the FIRST issue?!?". Which I ultimately tracked down, but that stuff just blew me away. That was one of those worlds that I just fell into and went 'wow'."

opening page from New Gods #2 (1971). Art by Jack Kirby and Vince Coletta.

"And then, how many years later, DC said "Do you want to do New Gods? We're going to do Fourth World and put all those books together." [And I replied] "So I can do the New Gods, and the Forever People, and Mister Miracle all in one book? I'm there! Present!" So that was a lot of fun, and y'know, Fourth World was a lot of fun, Wonder Woman was a lot of fun. I could've done a hundred issues of either one of those, but the editor told me one day that he was going to be leaving DC, and I was very close to the end of my contract. I said "Oh god, I could re-sign for a year and end up with some nazi as my new editor. Do I want to do that? Do I want to risk being trapped for a year on these books the I LOVE, but with some editor that doesn't 'get them'?" So I left, I left both the books. And then the editor DIDN'T leave DC. Thanks a lot. It was one of those things that I always felt that I'd still be doing the New Gods today if that hadn't happened."

panel from Jack Kirby's Fourth World #3 (1997). Illustrated by John Byrne.

It was revealed in Saturday's panel that Byrne's FAVORITE super villain costume design was Silver Banshee's.

Q: "Silver Banshee's costume... do you consider that to be actual flames?"

Byrne: "Yes. Silver flame. That was my attempt to do a Dave Cockrum costume. She's got the opera gloves and the thigh-high boots... which Dave did 500 times and every time he did it looked different. 'Oh! Storm has the SAME costume as Corsair!' "

Action Comics #595 (1987).  Cover by John Byrne.

Regarding changes to his characters by different creative teams:

Byrne: "I've had to train myself not to care, because when we let go, we have to let go. A somewhat recent example is what they had done to Cassie Sandsmark in Wonder Woman once I had left. I'd done this 'all elbows and knees' fourteen year old girl, and they turned her into Britney Spears. And that's because there's an awful lot of artists out there, sadly, male, who can ONLY draw Britney Spears. They can't understand, and there's an awful lot of fans who won't accept anything else. There were a lot of males saying how 'ugly' Cassie was, and I'd say "She's not ugly, she's ordinary. You guys are just used to seeing these cookie-cutter whatnots.""

Cassie as seen on the cover of 1996's Wonder Woman #105...

...Cassie as seen on the cover of Teen Titans #3 (2003)

Q: "Was the LEGEND imprint within Dark Horse a response to the Image movement?"

Byrne: "In many ways. We looked at Image and said "That's a good idea.", and then we built LEGEND, and, as Jo Duffy so aptly put it, "It sure didn't take long for LEGEND to become MYTH." Yeah, that was unfortunate.What can I say? Jim Lee had actually asked me to join Image, and I had just signed with Dark Horse to do Next Men. He said "well, what does that matter? Come do it for us." and years later I thought "Y'know... if I had done that, I'd be a multi-multi-multi-millionaire, but I would have to have all the mirrors taken out of my house." 

introducing LEGEND comics!
gatefold cover from Wizard Magazine #31 (1994)

Another fan asked about future plans on bringing back The Next Men:

Byrne: "No, that's finished. It's done. Stick a pin in it."

John Byrne's Next Men #1 (1992). Cover by John Byrne. 

On other 'greats of the industry' he respected:

Byrne: "I used to be really good buddies with Frank Miller -- I don't know what happened -- but while we were both doing our stuff (I was doing Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight, and he was doing Daredevil) we'd be talking to each other all the time, and being subversive in ways. Walt [Simonson] and I have always been good buddies."


A few other random factoids DC comics fans might be interested in:

-Byrne feels that his *best* technical comics work is 1991's OMAC: One Man Army Corps. I honestly cannot disagree with him on that one -- such a great mini-series.

-The comics work that he had the most fun with was 1997's Batman/Captain America. He'd like to go back and re-ink it.

-Laurie S. Sutton was once Frank Miller's girlfriend.

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To hear John Byrne talk is much different that reading his words. Byrne will change his voice when he's quoting someone in a story, he uses a lot of inflection in his sentences, and he'll often stop a sentence in mid-stream and begin a new one. In short, we did the best we could to transcribe, but go ahead and listen to the ACTUAL audio if you get the chance.

If you'd like to hear the WHOLE audio broadcast of the Saturday Sept 1st 2018 John Byrne Q&A panel, you can listen to it here.

If you'd like to hear the WHOLE audio broadcast of the Sunday Sept 2nd 2018 John Byrne Q&A panel, you can listen to it here.


-Justin

Eric Anthony (and by extension, the Cave of Solitude podcast) has our eternal gratitude for sharing this with us. In addition, we want to give shout outs to Martin Slam Duncan and the Fastball Special podcast, as well as Aaron Broverman and the Speech Bubble podcast  -- check 'em out for some great comic book coverage.

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

2018 Toronto Comicon 'Spring edition'

It was a deceptively cold March weekend [-6 Celsius, but felt way colder with the wind chill], yet that didn't stop comic book and anime fans from coming out in droves to the Spring Edition of the FanExpo Toronto Comicon being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It was a 3-day event -- overlapping St Patrick's Day -- spanning from March 16th to Match 18th, and featured a diverse selection of special guests.

As an 80s/90s DC comics fan, I was very interested in meeting Dave Dorman, John McCrea and Howard Chakyin. Ty Templeton was around somewhere, but co-editor Mark Belkin already interviewed him at the 2016 Montreal Comiccon -- and I don't think I could ever top Mark's interview -- so he wasn't an urgent priority.

As a fan of comics from the 90s, I was hoping to chat with Howard Mackie and Richard Pace.

Also appearing at this convention, which I suspected was the reason we saw a lot of Flash cosplay, was John Wesley Shipp -- who is best known for playing Barry Allen/The Flash on the live-action TV series that aired on CBS during the early 1990s (and now has a recurring role in the new CW Flash TV series as Golden Aged speedster Jay Garrick). Thankfully, Shipp held a celebrity Q&A on Saturday, and we were lucky enough to attend.

This photo of John Wesley Shipp as the Flash was NOT taken by Samy Osman

As a special treat, my guest photographer for this event was Samy Osman -- probably the most famous person I personally know -- who did an excellent job of taking photos of the cosplayers and going-ons at this event. Almost every photo you see in this article was taken by Samy.

As mentioned, this was the Spring Edition of the Toronto Comicon -- I'd consider it a 'warm-up' for the main event: Toronto's FanExpo convention which is held late August/early September.

We arrived on a Friday evening around 6pm and the convention centre was already buzzing with fans. A few cosplay pics we snapped on Friday evening:

cosplayers dressed up as Marvel's Silver Sable and DC's Rorschach 

gang of Harleys cosplay

It wasn't the usual sea of Harley Quinns and Poison Ivys (don't get me wrong, there were some Quinns and Ivys), and there was lots of diversity in this event's DC cosplay. Amazons and Wonder Woman were a pretty big theme this time (no doubt inspired by the success of the recent film and rumor of a new Wonder Woman film in production), plenty of Flash-themed cosplay (due to John Wesley Shipp's appearance, naturally) and Teen Titans cosplay (most likely inspired by press release photos of the new Teen Titans live-action TV series in the works). As for non-DC cosplay, Marvel's X-Men was a pretty big theme this year -- and we saw a lot more X-Men characters than we were used to. Asgardians were also a recurring theme, thanks to last summer's Thor film (and because everyone secretly just wants to dress as vikings).

A tour of the convention floor showed us what to expect these next few days: a huge emphasis on Star Wars, Dr Who, Ghostbusters, anime, and -- of course -- comic books (not in that order).

The 501st Legion -- Star Wars cosplay enthusiasts -- has this rad life-size diorama of Jabba the Hutt and his Throne Room you could pose for photos with. Seeing as how that was my favorite part of Return of the Jedi, I though this was absolutely brilliant.

The Doctor Who Society of Canada (self-explanatory) had a cool little exhibit set up in which you can take photos with Daleks.

The Ontario Ghostbusters were also onsite with an interactive exhibit booth.

Kurt Lehnar & son

One of our first interviews was with Kurt Lehnar -- Canadian illustrator and animation artist. We talked at length about various DC projects he was involved in. He also told us about a few other cartoons from our youth he had a hand in. Kurt's enthusiasm for the medium is contagious, and we'll be posting a complete interview with him in the near future.

John McCrea

We had a chance to talk to John McCrea, and I really wished I had asked him about working with Garth Ennis on Hitman. Instead, we chatted a bit about pencilling chores on DC's The Demon and Hitman (and his contributions to the stories). McCrea is a really friendly and interesting guy, and speaks with a heavy Irish [?] accent. Stop by and talk to him if you ever see him at a convention.

Dave Dorman

Before Alex Ross, there was Dave Dorman. Well -- that's not completely true, but Dorman *IS* responsible for some of my favorite trading card art from the 1994 Skybox DC Master Series -- a set I truly do cherish.

Two Dorman-illustrated cards from the 1994 Skybox DC Master Series set

My mind went kind of blank talking to him and couldn't think of any profound questions to ask him. PRO TIP: Sometimes you meet an artist, and you really can't think of anything much to say except for how impressed you are with their work. Sometimes it's just best to leave it at that rather than strain yourself trying to look "knowledgeable".

Howard Mackie signing a copy of Marvel's Ghost Rider

Before the evening was over, Howard Mackie made time for us. Among the many Marvel titles he's written for in the 80s and 90s, Mackie is best known for launching the 'new' 90s Ghost Rider (of which he wrote the first 69 issues and then some). Marvel's Ghost Rider v3 had the unique distinction of being the ONLY Marvel title I wasn't allowed to bring into my very Catholic household during my teens -- mainly because the lead protagonist rode a motorcycle and had a flaming skull (looking very demon-like). I made a point to (jokingly) communicate this to Mackie in a stern way. Mackie's reply: "You should've told them that it was written by a Catholic boy, and all the characters were Catholic, and it was taking place in a Catholic cemetery."

While Ghost Rider had a bit of resistance from the sales team regarding a new series relaunch (ex: brand new 'unknown' creative team, combined with Ghost Rider v2 [1973 - 1983] being cancelled due to low sales), offending religious readers was not something that ever crossed the sales team's mind. "We'd done demonic characters before in a way without reflecting any religion (ex: Damian Hellstrom)", Mackie explained, "so they didn't give it a second thought. It was all about the numbers. Publishing is all about the numbers."

I had to hide this issue very carefully from my parents.

Unbeknownst to most fans, Mackie was one of the four comic pros (among John Byrne, Mark Gruenwald and Tom DeFalco) who had managed to turn Jim Shooter's self-imploding New Universe imprint (for Marvel comics) into something worth reading. Mackie told us how he initially didn't want the job:

"I had gotten a promotion [at Marvel], and there were a lot of things going on -- when I got the promotion, I was told the last guy who was editing the New Universe ahead of me was fired and they were giving me the job. And I didn't want it."

Mackie went to his supervising editor, DeFalco, and pleaded not to get the promotion. Mackie was concerned that he would be fired next, by Jim Shooter, when the doomed-to-failure New Universe imprint inevitably didn't succeed and would leave a black smear on Mackie's writing career.

Instead, it was Shooter who was fired from Marvel within two weeks of Mackie begrudgingly accepting the promotion.

With Shooter no longer imposing creative restraints, Mackie was able to bring on his own creative teams for New Universe titles (ex: John Byrne, Peter David, Fabian Nicieza and Mark Gruenwald). 

"Bringing John Byrne, at that point, bringing him back in [to Marvel] was kind of a coupe. Because at that point, he had been doing Superman [for DC comics]. He had left Marvel, and I had brought him back. Not only did I bring him back, but I brought him back in to do a book that, for all intents and purposes, he should not have wanted to do. I became known, for a long time, as 'the Byrne Whisperer' -- because I could always get John to do things he didn't want to do."

"The way I did it -- and he knows, because John is a good friend of mine -- I would call him up and I would say, for instance, "Hey John, you'd never thought of doing StarBrand? Ah, no no no -- what am I talking about? You'd never think of that." and I'd hang up the phone. And then the phone would ring back -- and I knew it was John -- and I wouldn't answer. Then... an hour later... I'd finally pick up, and he'd say "Goddamnit Howard, all I've been able to do for the last hour was think of StarBrand stories!" and I'd say "Okay, well if you WANT it... sure! You can have the book. You don't have to beg." And I did the same thing to him with Marvel's West Coast Avengers."

Star Brand v1 #12 (cover by John Byrne and Tom Palmer), Star Brand v1 #16 (cover by John Byrne)

We talked a bit how not too long after the New Universe imprint ended, elements of it still appeared in Marvel's Quasar. "That was Mark [Gruenwald]'s doing", Mackie assured me, "Mark was so tightly tied in to both."

Mackie explained that sometimes books are targeted for cancellation by the sales team, and there was really no way of getting around it. The New Universe creative team saw the writing on the wall. The only thing Mackie asked for was the ability to end the imprint the way the creative team wanted to, and that's what they did. In his own private joke, he made sure to have "#32 in a thirty-two issue limited series" above the title of each book. "I felt like we had told the story and we were allowed to wrap it up, which just wouldn't happen today." He felt that the New Universe imprint finally thrived when they were just free to create as they pleased. The key thing, he explained, was to "just let creators create".

Mackie's 'private joke'. Now you're in on it, too. ;)

Regarding the direction of the New Universe imprint: "'The World Outside Your Window'. That was the conceit of the New Universe, but the reality is that the first time that world changes, it's no longer the world outside your window. One outside event and it changes EVERYTHING."

I had way too much fun interviewing Mackie, and I feel a little guilty that we're not 'Marvel in the 80s' because I'm sure he had stories that could've entertained us for hours. A truly charismatic guy, that Howard Mackie.

...and that concluded day 1.

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We came back on Saturday and the attendance had seemingly doubled. Lots of cosplayers on Saturday sporting lots of DC-themed costumes. Some of the stand-outs included:

Golden Age Dr Fate (Kent Nelson) and Raven (of Teen Titans)

Teen Titans! Left to Right: Donna Troy/Troia, Kid Flash, Nightwing, Aqualad/Tempest, Changeling/Beast Boy. Also: Deathstroke's head photo-bombing us. 

Lobo and Wonder Woman. As mentioned above, Wonder Women and Amazons were pretty numerous in attendance this year (and they all looked great) -- we selected this WW cosplay pic because it's the classical costume we grew up with during the 80s.... and, if nothing else, we're a sucker for the classics over here at DC in the 80s.

Lobo's back

Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick) and more Teen Titans (Raven and Changeling/Beast Boy). FUN FACT: Friday's Rorschach (scroll way up and see Friday cosplay photos) was also cosplayed by the same guy who was the Golden Age Flash.

Teen Titans! Love this pic! Left to right: Raven, Nightwing, Starfire and Robin. FUN FACT: The lady cosplaying as Starfire also cosplayed as Silver Sable (scroll way up) on Friday night.

Harley Quinn and Joker to the left, Teen Titans (now including Cyborg) to the right. There were quite a few Harley Quinn and Joker cosplayers at this event, but we went with this duo since they looked like dead-wringers for the Batman: The Animated Series Joker and Harley. Upon closer inspection, I'm realizing that 2 out of the 3 Titans in the second photo where in the group shot several photos above, but what can I say? I'm just excited that Teen Titans are getting more attention.

This is writer Howard Chaykin. We appreciate that he took the time to answer our inane questions about comics he wrote 30 years ago. He's a stand-up guy and we truly admire him for being so patient with us.

We toured the convention a bit more and managed to fumble our way through an interview with Howard Chakyin. We'll post that interview shortly.



Richard Pace -- who has quickly become one of my newest favorite illustrators (the man draws like Bernie Wrightson -- seriously) sat down with us for almost an hour and told about the numerous DC projects he has worked on (including a few future projects we're not allowed to mention, yet). We'll be posting that interview shortly. Until then, please enjoy this photo of Pace attempting to describe the size of the trophy pike he caught last weekend while ice fishing in Ontario. ;)

Richard Pace

John Wesley Shipp (right) at the Celebrity Q&A panel

The last event we attended on Saturday was the Celebrity Q&A panel featuring John Wesley Shipp. Prior to this weekend, I really hadn't ever given the 1990 The Flash television series a second thought, but after this weekend, I'm thinking it's probably time for an episode guide. Shipp spoke for about half an hour regarding his experiences on the 1990 live-action television series (as the lead character, Barry Allen), and his experiences on the new 2014 The Flash live-action television series (as supporting character, Jay Garrick). After the first half an hour, he opened the floor to questions.

And now for the burning question you've all been wondering: was John Wesley Shipp a big Flash fan before he got the role?

Shipp did NOT collect or read Flash comics, or even know WHO the character was BEFORE he was offered the role for the 1990 TV series. "They said to me 'Flash', and I said "You mean Flash Gordon?" I didn't know anything -- it was a process of discovery." He elaborated, "I took everything I needed from the scripts, but then I got curious."  He acknowledges that fans have made The Flash the success it is, and wishes to respect that comic fandom legacy -- particularly the Barry Allen/Jay Garrick relationship.

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This article wouldn't be complete with a round-up of the other non-DC cosplay we saw, so here were a few that stuck out for us:

I really get a kick when kinda obscure Marvel characters are cosplayed. Here we've got Bishop and Jubilee. Jubilee left her pink sunglasses in the car, and her friend had ran out to retrieve them, she explained to us.

Black suit Spider-Man and Black Cat on the left. Kraven the Hunter on the right. I seem to recall Kraven hunting black suit Spidey during the 80s, so this all works out.

Doctor Strange cosplay on the left. Agent Venom (of the Guardians of the Galaxy) on the right. Yeah, I keep up with current Marvel comics -- I'm only human. ;)

By Crom! I'm pretty sure this is Conan the Barbarian cosplay -- but if I'm wrong, may the gods forgive me.

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The convention was packed all day long. Plenty of enthusiastic comic/anime fans. A great showing from Toronto.

One thing I will say about this event is that it just flew by so quickly. Lots of things happening, and before I realized it, the afternoon was already over. I didn't get to spend as much time in the retailers section as I would've liked to (I love looking for bargains) -- I normally like to poke around and look for complete trading card sets -- but I was on a tight schedule and didn't have the time to peruse the tables like I normally do. I did, however, pick up these:

Yep, I collect pins and patches now.

The 2018 Toronto Comicon "Spring edition" was an extremely well-organized and entertaining event. Lots to see and do: bring a reliable camera, a few comics you'd like autographed and prepare to be entertained for the better part of a weekend.

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Big thanks to Jen and Jess of Touchwood PR for allowing us to cover this excellent event. Another HUGE thanks to Samy Osman for taking the beautiful photos. Samy is sure to win an Oscar someday, so check him out now while he's still an up-and-coming indie star.

NOTE: If you didn't see your cosplay photo on this page, and we snapped a pic of you, check our 2018 Toronto Comicon spring edition Facebook cosplay gallery. There was lots and lots of great cosplay this year, and choosing photos to post in this article was a pretty difficult task.