SBTU Immortal: Forager -- The Second Life of a Bug

This round of Super Blog Team Up is about characters who never seem to die... or rather, die and come back to life. Now, the obvious choice (if you're a DC comics blog) is to discuss the Death of Superman event, or maybe Jason Todd coming back as the Red Hood, or possibly even the Spectre, Deadman or Resurrection Man. Actually, I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find a whole slew of DC characters who have 'died' only to come back several issues later.

However, since I've had a copy of Young Animal's Bug! The Adventures of Forager v1 TPB sitting on my desk next to me for the last 2 months and, since I was planning on reviewing it anyways, I've decided to make Forager the character I'm spotlighting. It's about working smart, people.

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So, who is Forager? And why should you care?

Forager is part of Jack Kirby's Fourth World universe (along with Darkseid, Orion and Mister Miracle and all that other cool stuff) and first appeared in 1972's New Gods #9. He's a member of a society of humanoid bugs who live beneath the surface of New Genesis. It's quickly discovered that he's different from the other insectoids in his colony -- he has independent thoughts & feelings that differ from the colony's hive-mind and it's hinted that he may actually have New God lineage.

Panels from New Gods #9 (1972). Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

On New Genesis, the 'bug people' are considered to be the lowest of the low, and are often being sprayed with pesticides by the New Gods. In reality, they kind of live like cockroaches, scavenging whatever they can for food while defending their colony from invading tribes. It's explained that during the first Great Clash between New Genesis and Apokolips, Apokolips' armies used germ warfare weapons to attack New Genesis and somehow created this race of bug people. I'm sure Jack Kirby was trying to make a statement here about the then-current early seventies, but for the life of me I just don't have the time to decipher it. It doesn't really matter, either way.

Forager's first mission outside the colony finds him teaming up with Orion and Lightray to prevent Mantis (and the army of bug people he recruited) from invading earth.

Something that kinda catches me off guard is that Forager has a human face. I was expecting him to have an insectoid face of some sort:

Panels from New Gods #10 (1972). Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

After his initial team-up with Orion and Lightray in issues #9 - 10 of Jack Kirby's New Gods, Forager had been relegated to Bit Character status during Gerry Conway's run of New Gods (aka: Return of the New Gods). Since Kirby left DC after issue #11 of the New Gods, it's difficult to guess what he had planned for Forager. Was he meant to become a regular cast member of the Fourth World saga? Or simply a one-and-done? Your guess is as good as mine.

Forager seems to have gone into 'comic book limbo' during the eighties, but eventually made a quick appearance in 1987's Warlord Annual #6.

Forager's last, and arguably most notable, adventure during that decade occurred in 1988's Cosmic Odyssey. Written by Jim Starlin (Thanos Quest, Infinity Gauntlet) and pencilled by Mike Mignola (Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Hellboy),  Cosmic Odyssey was a four-issue prestige mini-series teaming a few of the DCU's big name heroes (Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, Green Lantern) with a few of the New Gods (Orion, Lightray, Forager) to stop the Anti-Life Entity from destroying existence (or something equally catastrophic). In my opinion, Cosmic Odyssey was one of the BEST things to come out of 1988 -- but we'll get into that some other time.

Starlin's decision to include a lesser-known New Gods character didn't really seem out of place -- the Fourth World was making a comeback, so it only made sense to start re-introducing tertiary characters. Forager is paired with Batman, and the two are tasked with tracking down an aspect of the Anti-Life Entity on earth. Starlin takes great care to reintroduce the reader to Forager, going so far as to recap his relationship with Orion -- which, admittedly, was handy for us who weren't reading New Gods comics in the early seventies.

panels from Cosmic Odyssey #2 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola, inks by Carlos Garzon 

Like most epic DC events, something earth-shattering needs to happen that will forever change the status quo. In Cosmic Odyssey, Green Lantern John Stewart accidentally lets a star system get destroyed, and Forager sacrifices himself to save the earth:

page from Cosmic Odyssey #4 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola inks by Carlos Garzon 

Did Forager's death have an impact? Well, heroes altruistically throwing themselves into the line of fire to save the planet/universe seems to happen quite frequently in the DCU (see: Barry Allen Flash, Kara Zor-El, etc...), so that's kind of a moot point. Forager's death did reinforce the idea that Orion, the biological son of Darkseid, is a ruthless warmonger with no real regard to anyone who isn't a New God (which was kind of a sub-plot running throughout the mini-series).

I suppose his death wasn't in vain -- anything that makes Batman angry enough to take a swing at Orion to defend your honour is probably how you want to go out:

panels from Cosmic Odyssey #4 (1988). Art by Mike Mignola inks by Carlos Garzon 

Cosmic Odyssey concludes with Highfather instructing Orion to take Forager's body back to the bug colony of New Genesis. The story continues in 1989's New Gods v3 #1 with Orion delivering Forager's body and learning 'tolerance'. Most importantly, Forager stayed dead and wasn't re-introduced in a 'whoops, haha, here's what REALLY happened' type-of-deal several issues later. His death stuck.

How important was Forager to the New Gods mythos? Well... not very. The first major story arc in New Gods v3 introduced a *new* female Forager who picks up the mantle and becomes the bug people's new champion:

panel from New Gods v3 #2. pencilled by Paris Cullins, inked by Bob Lewis

Of all of Kirby's Fourth World characters, how much do I care about Forager? Well, on a scale of 1 to Darkseid (who I think is the best villain ever), I care about Forager a smidgen more than the Forever People (who rate about a zero), so figure that one out.

But I DO care about the Bug! The Adventures of Forager six issue mini-series because 1) it's a Young Animal imprint and 2) it's illustrated by Mike Allred -- who is easily one of my top 3 favourite artists. As you may have picked up on some of my previous posts, I am a shameless Young Animal fan and feel that it carries the 'DC with an edge' spirit that the publisher has been lacking for the last -- oh I don't know -- half decade or so. I've been a Mike Allred fan since his Madman comics from the early nineties, think his 2001 X-Force collab with Peter Milligan was one of the best X-titles I've ever read, and really felt that he and Dan Slott renewed my interest in Silver Surfer after reading volumes 7 & 8 (2016 - 2018).

I'd compare Allred's art to 50s/60s pop art: clean strong lines, no hard edges, not overly detailed, vibrant colors, with lots of activity and fluidity in his pages. His comic book characters resemble comic book characters, none of this 'photo-realism' stuff. In a way, Allred's art reminds me of Jack Kirby's -- which makes him a perfect fit to tackle a Kirby-created character.

cover of Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 illustrated by Mike Allred.

While I don't think any DC comics fans were banging down the doors demanding a Forager revival, astute readers may remember that Mike Allred wrote and illustrated a 2-page New Gods story back in 2004's Solo #7. Forager was visible, alive and well in this story. Was it foreshadowing? Nah, I think it was just Mike having fun -- nothing that happened in Solo appears to be cannon, but it may have brought attention to the fact that Mike likes these characters and would do a great job with them.

panel from Solo #7 (2004). Illustrated by Mike Allred.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to love the art in this book, the real question was if (writer) Lee Allred could make me care about this character by the end of this mini? …or at least write something entertaining enough for me to want to come back for five more consecutive issues?

This is a review article, so I'm going to jump right in. Lee Allred starts the first issue of the mini-series with a strong first-page opening recapping Forager's history. He's pretty much re-iterating what happened in 1972's New Gods #9 and the final chapter of Cosmic Odyssey, which pretty much affirms that he's sticking to current DC continuity.

page from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

Forager wakes up from a cocoon and it's up to him to piece together where he is and how he got there. The scene is quickly set and the main and secondary characters are quickly introduced. To my delight and surprise, Lee Allred manages to include Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman (Garrett Sanford), along with Brute and Glob, into this story. Sandman was a short-lived comic book character introduced in 1974 that lasted about half a dozen issues. He was pretty much shuffled off into comic book limbo after his series ended, and it was revealed in 1988's Infinity Inc. #50 that he committed suicide in a flashback. Suffice to say, I was not expecting to see him in this book.

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

Lee did his homework; he incorporates Sandman's magic whistle into the story, and even manages to include two of Sandman's original villains: General Electric and Doctor Spider.

If seeing Sandman in this story caught you off guard, you're in for a ton of surprises -- there are obscure guest stars galore in this mini: The Losers, Sandman (Wesley Dodds) and Sandy the Golden Boy, Blue Beetle (Dan Garret), Jack Kirby's Atlas, Deadman, Manhunter (Paul Kirk), OMAC and the Black Racer. Lee doesn't just add these characters for novelty value, he manages to effectively incorporate some of their mythos into the story (ex: OMAC's Brother Eye, Deadman's hook-hand killer, Atlas' Crystal Mountain, etc...). This demonstrates Lee's respect for the characters and their legacies, and is just gold for a fan like me who loves spotting references to obscure and long-forgotten DC characters.

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #4 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

The thousand dollar question is... how does Lee Allred handle the return of Forager? In short, he did a fantastic job. Lee takes advantage of the fact that we're never actually shown the complete story in 1989's New Gods v3 #1 -- we don't see what happens after Orion drops off Forager's body to his bug people. Lee makes clever use of this and other gaps in Forager's history and delivers a solution that makes sense and doesn't diminish anything that previous writers did with the character.

While Lee wove a pretty ambitious and intricate tale, a few things in this mini leave me wondering if they're going to 'stick' in the DCU or not (continuity-wise). For example, throughout the mini it is revealed that:

-Chagra, a Jack Kirby Atlas villain from the seventies, was actually just an imperfect copy of Metron (of the New Gods).
-There is an implied kinship between the New Gods' Mother Box and OMAC's Brother Eye (aka: 'Brother Box')
-Deadman actually did find his killer (aka: The Hook), he just mistook him for someone else due to an axis-flipping device called the Omphalos. (I'm sure Neal Adams would have an issue with this one.)

This six-issue mini, while entertaining to look at, reads like a Silver Age DC comic (ex: tons of guest stars, plenty of action, lots of jumps from different locales, never a dull moment) and had me hooked until the final chapter when it became so quasi-philosophical that I got confused and completely missed the bigger message of this book (if there was one). The big take-away from this mini is that I really want to see Mike Allred illustrate an All-Star Squadron or New Gods ongoing series, and I want Laura Allred to color it and Lee Allred to write it.

Between Lee Allred's scripting and Mike Allred's art, Forager is depicted as a limber, hip-talking, good-spirited protagonist who is just trying to do the right thing and discover his true purpose/identity along the way -- which pretty much describes Madman's character from the early nineties Dark Horse comics of the same name (see images below). I actually don't mind this, since Forager was more or less a blank canvas lacking any real personality going into this mini-series. Will I be wearing a Forager t-shirt anytime soon? Probably not, but keep this up and he could develop a cult-like following (similar to Madman).

panels from Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1 (2017). Art by Mike Allred.

page from Dark Horse's Madman Comics #9 (1995). Illustrated by Mike Allred.

Writer Lee Allred is a really cool cat and took the time to chat with us on twitter about his work. "My best guess regarding what Kirby meant with Forager is that he was telling an updated Mowgli* story (human raised by animals) (cf Tarzan) as a basic framework. (My own reading is that Kirby was pretty direct that Forager was an Eternal, not a Bug.) Kirby used the Mowgli framework as a hook to tell a deeper take on the seedy underbelly of New Genesis' up-till-then flawless utopia, much the same way Star Trek: The Original Series did with their floating cities vs. underground menials in 'The Cloud Minders' episode." When I asked why, of all the DC characters floating around in comic limbo, they decided to revisit Forager for a Young Animal mini-series, Mike Allred replied with: "Bug's New Gods debut was in the waiting room of our guitar teacher, James Ray, when we were kids. We could only visit it week after week until Lee talked him into giving it to us. It was a Holy Grail for us." That's the truncated version. Jeffrey Renaud, of CBR.com, conducted a really thorough interview with the Allred gang about the conception of this mini. Lee and Mike explain that they've been Forager fanatics since they were kids, and that they've always viewed Forager and his struggle as 'the heart and core of the Fourth World books'. Additionally, Mike felt that it was a shame that Forager was given the short straw and introduced in the seventies' New Gods series only to have it cancelled two issues later. It's a great interview, and you can read it here.


*Editor's note: Mowgli is the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. You probably saw the Disney cartoon when you were younger.


This wraps up my Super Blog Team Up contribution and review of Young Animal's Bug! Adventures of Forager mini-series from 2017. It was a pleasure and an honor to be included in this edition of SBTU.

If you're interested in reading more articles about comic book characters who returned from the grave (or just don't die), written by comic fans who are just as passionate about the medium as I am, I'm including the links to the other SBTU members' articles below.

Justin F

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Super Blog Team Up links:

Comic Reviews By Walt: TMNT and Highlander

The Superhero Satellite: Super-Blog Team-Up Presents IMMORTAL: Peter Loves Mary Jane

Comics Comics Comics Blog: Dr. Fate

Between The Pages Blog: Big Finish: Doctor Who’s Finest Regeneration

The Unspoken Decade: Archer and Armstrong

Black, White and Bronze: What Price Immortality? A Review of Red Nails

The Daily Rios: Arion The Immortal

Chris Is On Infinite Earths: Podcast Episode 26 - Resurrection Man 1997 & 2011

In My Not So Humble Opinion: It Came from the 1990s: Ivar the Timewalker

Vic Sage "...of the upcoming Pop Culture Retrorama site.": I am Legend

The Source Material Comics Podcast: Vampirella “Roses For The Dead”

Dave's Comic Heroes Blog: Multi-Man

Magazines and Monsters: Podcast episode - Kang/Immortus: Avengers-Kang: Time and Time Again TPB (Avengers 69-71, Avengers 267-269)

Radulich Broadcasting Network: TV PARTY TONIGHT - Jupiter Ascending commentary

The 1987 Dr Fate mini-series

Aesthetically speaking, ever since I first laid eyes upon his Super Power Collection action figure, Dr Fate was always one of my favorite DC characters. What's not to love? The yellow-and-blue color scheme. The ominous face-covering helmet. The big sweeping cape. He's pretty easy for an eight-year-old to draw. And the cherry on top: it's impossible to define his powers. What does he do? Just about anything. Can he beat Superman? Probably. Can he beat the Spectre? Maybe. Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman struck gold when they created this character back in 1940. I'm pretty elated to be re-reading the 1987 Dr Fate mini-series for this review.

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The year was 1987. DC was still trying to sort itself out with all the post-Crisis reboots and continuity conundrums. Dr Fate, who was now part of earth-one DCU thanks to Crisis On Infinite Earths, had been appearing in the new and very well-loved Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League ongoing series. It was an excellent time to revamp the character and get a new mini-series out there since interest in Dr Fate was at an all-time high. As an aside, for anyone who wasn't already familiar with Dr Fate from Roy Thomas' recent All-Star Squadron comics, you could've pick up The Immortal Doctor Fate three-issue deluxe reprint series that was released in 1985.

With a creative team of J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Keith Giffen (penciller) and Dave Hunt (inker), the house ad for this new Dr Fate mini-series... didn't really give anything away. I mean, it would appear that Dr Fate would be fighting some big monsters... but other than that, we had no clue that anything drastic would be happening in this mini.

House ad for 1987 Dr Fate mini-series

Needless to say, we were probably a little unprepared for the bombshells J.M DeMatteis and company would be dropping on us. True to the spirit of Dr Fate, it's a very odd story.

I'm telling you right now that this review is full of spoilers. If you want to stop reading this review, seek out this mini-series and read it on your own and be surprised, go ahead and do so. It's worth it.

I absolutely love this cover. Hell, I just love Keith Giffen art.

Kent Nelson is dying, or -- more specifically -- Nabu's host body is burning out. It's more or less revealed in the first issue of this mini-series that Kent is no longer in control when he wears the Dr Fate helmet and that Nabu is in the driver's seat. It's also revealed that Nabu is a Lord of Order. (I can't remember if this is the *first* instance of Dr Fate being named a Lord of Order, but either way, it's spelled out for the reader in this issue.) The Lords of Order want Nabu to cease his never-ending battle with the forces of Chaos since, according to the Yuga cycles, Chaos is just going to win anyways and then the cycle will restart... so why not just let this thing play itself out and they can restart the cycle from the beginning, and Order will come into power again?

panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

[It's probably worth mentioning that this 'Yuga cycles' stuff isn't fictional, and that DeMatteis is trying to educate us about Hinduism. Actually, a lot of DeMatteis' mystical writing is rooted in Hinduism, and now that you're aware of this you'll probably start to notice a lot of parallels you probably missed the first time.]

Despite the sage advice, Nabu decides that he needs to find a new host to keep on battling the Lords of Chaos. Enter: Eric Strauss. Eric is a 10-year-old boy who has always known he was destined for greater things. Kent Nelson goes out and abducts Eric from a playground so Nabu can begin training Eric to be the next Dr Fate host.

Dialogue between Kent Nelson and a young Eric Strauss. Note the close up of Inza Nelson's gravestone. panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Nabu then ages Eric Strauss from a 10-year-old boy to a 20-year-old man thanks to some unexplained magic:

A 20-year-old Eric Strauss. Hey, that's Kent Nelson in the background! Why does he have a mouth in his abdomen? page from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

We also can't forget Linda Strauss, who is also first introduced in the first issue of this mini-series. Linda is Eric's 28-year-old step-mother. I was really hoping to glaze over this, but it's so in-your-face that you just can't ignore it: Eric and Linda have a very *unusual* relationship. This will be prevalent throughout the mini-series:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Also introduced in the first issue: Dr Benjamin Stoner. Don't let the fact that he works at Arkham Asylum fool you: this is the first appearance of Dr Stoner (aka: he's not an already-established Batman villain) and he will re-appear at least once in the 1988 Dr Fate ongoing series. Dr Stoner takes his orders from Typhon, a Lord of Chaos, who also makes his first appearance in this mini-series.

The menacing Dr Benjamin Stoner.
panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

...and finally, there's Kent Nelson -- the golden aged Dr Fate. He's looking pretty rough; that mouth coming out of his stomach is a dead giveaway. Also worth noting: Inza Nelson is dead. DeMatteis spends the first issue of this mini-series turning everything you thought you knew about Dr Fate on it's head. It's all very weird and intriguing and, as far as sheer entertainment value is concerned, I just can't help but want to read more.

Nabu, Kent Nelson and a young Eric Strauss.
panel from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

As the story progresses, DeMatteis really delves into the whole 'Nabu is a manipulative jerk' idea and has Kent Nelson lashing out about Nabu's wicked ways. A sub-theme of this mini is Kent Nelson coming to terms with the fact that Nabu robbed him of a happy life, and that Nabu is really no better than a Lord of Chaos in the end.

Kent Nelson reflects. panels from Dr Fate v1 #2 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Meanwhile, in an inner monologue, Linda Strauss decides to blurt out what we've all been thinking:

This is how Linda feels about Eric -- and she's not even aware he's an adult now.
panels from Dr Fate v1 #2 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Coincidentally, Linda Strauss is twenty-eight-years old... and already feels a "connection" to this young boy. Hmmm. I wonder what's going to happen when Linda discovers that Eric has been suddenly aged to a twenty-year-old? Hmmm... I'm getting flashbacks of Hal Jordan and Arisia here.

panel from Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 (1981). Art by Joe Staton and Frank McLaughlin.

I've read enough four-issue minis' to know that in order to keep it interesting, at some point the antagonist needs to overpower the protagonist just so we can see how much damage and destruction would be caused if the protagonist gave up. This mini was no exception; Dr Stoner does, in fact, get possession of Dr Fate's mystical helmet and sacred amulet, he becomes a new Dr Fate (anti-Fate?) and plunges the world into chaos.

This appearance of Ronald Reagan here for no other reason than I collect images of Reagan from DC comics. panel from Dr Fate v1 #3 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

The Justice League and the Phantom Stranger make a special appearance in issue #3. Actually, they take up half of the issue. Not that I'm complaining -- seeing Keith Giffen illustrate and Dave Hunt ink the Justice League is just one more reason to hunt down and purchase this mini-series.

panels from Dr Fate v1 #3 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

On the topic of the Justice League, after this mini-series, Dr Fate would appear in only ONE more issue of Justice League International (it was a Millennium cross-over, too) and that would be it.


The fourth issue of this mini is the big showdown: Eric Strauss, Linda Strauss, Nabu, and Kent Nelson versus Dr Stoner (aka: the Anti-Fate). The battle's not going too well for our heroes, when -- out of nowhere -- one more BIG bombshell is revealed:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

...and we finally discover Linda Strauss' part in all of this:

page from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

The mini-series reveals that Dr Fate was always meant to be the aggregate of two human hosts. Kent and Inza Nelson were always meant to be merged into one, but Nabu put a stop to that... because he's a manipulative jerk. So that explains the whole Eric/Linda connection: she felt a 'connection' to him (easily confused for love) because they were meant to be the new Dr Fate! That explains it.

...but wait! There's more:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Well... so much for that theory.

So, this is the part where I try to defend the weird Eric Strauss/Linda Strauss relationship dynamic.

Keeping in mind that J.M. DeMatteis had a consciousness-altering experience when he was 17 years old that set him on a course towards the teachings of Meher Baba, it's safe to presume that the teachings of Meher Baba's most popular book, God Speaks, The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose, had a big impact on DeMatteis and his story-telling.

As it so happens, reincarnation is a central tenet of Meher Baba's teachings. Thus, I'm choosing to explain this away as reincarnation -- Eric and Linda were meant to be together, and were probably together in a previous lifetime... but it just so happened that Linda was reincarnated thirteen years sooner than Eric. There. Something that, at first glance, may appear to be confusing and creepy can now be explained away as mystical and slightly romantic.* Anyways, will Eric and Linda be able to sort this out? Well, not in this mini-series, so we'll need to wait for the ongoing series to see how this unfolds.

* J.M. DeMatteis even chimed in on this via twitter:

God bless you, social media!

Kent Nelson, who finally get the peace he's been longing for, is unceremoniously re-animated by Nabu to be his living vessel (again).

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

So, how did I enjoy this mini-series? I loved it. It's the perfect storm of 'excellent storytelling about a character I've always been interested in' combined with 'art that I just can't get enough of'. Giffen does a great job with setting a dark and ominous tone to this mini-series; he includes lots of shadows and lots of things with sharp teeth.

This is my favorite kind of Keith Giffen art  -- it's bold and dramatic, it's heavy on contrasts, it's filled with vibrant colors and has a 'pop art' feel to it --  it's the same Keith Giffen art that had me take a look at Legion of Super-Heroes with a new set of eyes. You can find similar Giffen art in The Heckler and the Ambush Bug minis and specials. A major appearance by the Justice League was just the icing on the cake.



The big takeaway:

1) Dr Fate is now a composite of two people: Eric and Linda Strauss. I'm not sure how this is going to play out -- will it be a 'Firestorm thing' where, when they merge, Eric is the body while Linda is a voice in his head? I guess we'll need to wait for the ongoing series.

2) Kent Nelson is back -- but he's actually Nabu. Yeah, that won't be confusing at all. To be honest, I just kinda feel bad for Kent... all he wants to do is rest and be with his late wife, Inza.

3) Dr Fate got his powers (of a sort) in Cairo, Egypt and his magic was always being represented with an ankh (a symbol of life used in ancient Egypt) -- so I'm pretty surprised to learn that there's some Hinduism mixed in there.


Coming up next: The 1988 Dr Fate ongoing series.


-Justin

On our radar: Grant Morrison on Green Lantern

I can't remember the last time I *really* cared about Green Lantern. I think it was during 1994's Emerald Twilight saga -- Superman had died, Batman's back had been broken -- and now it looked like there were some drastic changes planned for Hal Jordan. It was a pretty exciting time for DC comics; everything was 'up in the air' now and anything could happen. [Of course, in hindsight, we're realizing that DC was pulling out all the stops to compete with Marvel, Image and Valiant comics for the comic reading market. Still... comic buyers had options for days.]

Hal snaps and takes out the GLC, stealing their power rings. By today's standard, this is a pretty 'ho hum' scene, but let me tell you -- back in 1994 -- this was a direction you never expected the story to go. Panel from Green Lantern #49 (1994). Art by Fred Haynes, Romeo Tanghal and Dennis Cramer.

Since 1994, a lot has happened with Green Lantern: the introduction of Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan becoming the Spectre, Brightest Day and Blackest Night, War of Light, Green Lantern: Rebirth, a 2011 live-action Green Lantern film, a Green Lantern animated series, the introduction of new Green Lanterns Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz,... yet none of this was enticing enough to make me want to pick up a Green Lantern comic. To wit: It always felt like I was jumping into the middle of an epic storyline, and I didn't feel like reading up on years of GL history to play 'catch up'. [This isn't to say that Green Lantern fans haven't been happy with all of this -- because I really can't speak for that -- this is just a bit of insight into my own personal comic book buying rationale.]

The Green Lantern I always envision.
Panel from Green Lantern #174 (1984).
Art by Dave Gibbons.

I've always had a familiarity with Green Lantern -- he was a character I grew up with (thank you, Saturday morning Super Friends cartoon and Super Powers Collection action figures), and his potential for bizarre high-concept sci-fi stories is unlimited (aka: he's an intergalactic cop who patrols the stars with a magic ring) -- which is exactly what I'm hoping Morrison brings to the table.

Needless to say, Grant Morrison relaunches are things I follow with great interest. His track record has shown a knack for revitalizing a title and improving its readership (see: Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Kid Eternity, All-Star Superman, Batman, JLA, New X-Men,...etc).

Panels from Animal Man #2 (1988). Art by Chag Truog and Doug Hazlewood.

It's noteworthy that DC is shaking up its Green Lantern creative teams -- bringing in Dan Jurgens to write the Green Lanterns title starting with issue #50 (which I imagine run concurrent to the new Morrison-written Green Lantern series being released in Nov 2018). I'm really expecting some great things from these new creative lineups and will be watching this series with interest.


-Justin

Jim Starlin talks with Mark Belkin about DC in the 80s

Jim Starlin is a living legend who is responsible for some of the most well-known characters and stories in comic book history. His list of stories include Batman: A Death in the Family, Infinity Gauntlet, Cosmic Odyssey, The Death of Captain Marvel, and the space opera era of Warlock. The timeless characters he has created include Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, and Mongul. We were lucky enough to catch up with Jim at the 2018 Albany Comic-Con where we ONLY asked him about DC in the 80’s, and avoided asking about any upcoming movies that may be coming out in April of 2018.

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Mark: Hello, I'm here with the Legendary Jim Starlin at the Albany Comicon, and we're excited that Jim has agreed to speak to DC in the 80s. One of the first things you did, while working at DC comics during the 80s, was introduce Mongul in 1980. It was in a Superman/Martian Manhunter story from DC Comics Presents #27. Could you talk a little bit about creating Mongul and what you saw him as?

First appearance of Mongul

Jim: Well, it was my first chance at doing anything with Superman, and Julie Schwartz was the editor. Julie was an old school editor -- a legend in his time -- and he was coming around to the end of his career at this point and was just trying to 'play it safe'. I was just starting my career and had no idea what 'play it safe' meant, so I was trying to stretch things with Superman as much as I could as soon as I got in there.

Things like Mongul and Warworld (which was a giant planet filled with over-sized missiles and etc), and as we went along I kept trying to stretch it out further, and -- y'know -- every month I would have a new scripter (Julie had someone else scripting my plots) -- at every month it was a new character Superman had to interact/team up with.

We finally got to a point where we had Superman team up with Spectre. And then I thought "well this is where I've got to have Superman meet God"... but I couldn't tell Julie that! I was working with Len Wein on this particular story (if I recall correctly), and when I turned in the pencils and that, Len went "This not what you told Julie!" And I went "No, but watch... we'll get it through there." So Len and I went it and Julie looked through the pages and goes "Y'know... I don't remember this..." and I went "yeah! we talked about it...". Julie said ok and it went through, and Len was passed out with relief. So we had Superman meet God and it went through without any trouble.

panel from DC Comics Presents #29 (1981)

Mark: Now, going back to Mongul... you wanted to create a villain stronger than Superman (I think I read that)... and Mongul kinda had a 'fascist bent' to him. Was it a character you saw surviving long-term? Or a one-off throw-away villain?

Jim: Well... he was sort... I wanted to do my Thanos over at DC. But once I got in there, I wanted to do something different, so we got the whole Warworld in there. I wanted somebody... a BIG villain that would really... Superman had NOT taken on Darkseid by this point... so it really was Superman taking on somebody possibly more powerful than he was. It all led up finally to the Starman cross-over -- which I ended up inking myself -- that was really just these two boxing it out and... y'know... two titans smashing up the landscape and having a great time doing it.

DC Comics Presents #36 (1981)

Mark: So you mentioned that you had a chance to get God into the story. I feel like a lot of your Adam Warlock stories for Marvel Comics are very spiritual. The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel, I felt there was a lot of spirituality in there as well. Is it something that you feel drives you as a creator -- your spirituality and bringing that in? Or do you just think it's a great story-telling device?

Adam Warlock vs the Universal Church of Truth

Jim: It's a lot of different things. Part of it was that my grade school years were a parochial school: religion pound into me six days a week, having to go to mass, nuns being teachers, rebelling against all of that. Later on trying to find an alternate spirituality and looking through things like Carlos Castaneda, Wilhelm Reich... just going in different directions...

Mark: Was Carl Jung part of that?

Jim: Carl Jung was part of the reading list... I was just soaking all of this stuff up. The Warlock, Captain Marvel and Thanos stories -- just about everything I did -- had some thing coming out of that. If it was not an actual spirituality, it was a story-telling device or it was a reaction to my parochial school upbringing. When it gets as complicated as that it's very hard to say "this is that, and this is that". It's a mix.

Mark: It's a part of who you are, and it comes out in your storytelling.

Jim: Yeah, what comes out is who you are, and it doesn't always make sense.

Mark: Did you ever get a chance to explore something in your storytelling that almost spoke back to you about something you didn't see about yourself -- almost like a Grant Morrison or Rick Veitch sort-of-thing? Them writing something and then realizing afterwards that they were speaking through something... or that something was speaking through them. Have you ever had that experience?

Jim: Probably with the Death of Captain Marvel more so than anything. My father had died of cancer a year before, and I hadn't quite worked all that through, but I did better than my brother who bottled it up all this time. But as I was working on that story and afterwards, I said "Oh! This is the cheapest therapy a person could find."

Mark: ...They're paying you...

Jim: Yeah! And it went through about 9 printings or something...

Mark: It's a wonderful graphic novel and probably one of MY favorite Marvel stories of the eighties.

Jim: Thanos is my favorite character, but the Captain Marvel stories were my favorite stories.

Mark: Fast-forwarding a little bit, you got to work with the New Gods in Cosmic Odyssey with Mike Mignola. It's very exciting and still remembered by many fans as one of their favorite stories of the eighties (at least for me). Now, you got to do a little bit of New Gods after that. How was it working on that? Were you excited?

Jim: I was excited -- I always liked the New Gods. Y'know, Kirby was one of *my* Gods. So, Mike [Mignola] and I, they [DC comics] approached us -- they had a book called "The Books of Magic" which apparently mapped out their entire sorcerer/magical/fantasy worlds of DC, and they wanted something like that for their science-fiction. Y'know, I thought about it for a while and then decided that I didn't really want to do that, but I had a good story and I wanted to tell THAT story. And they sort of forgot about it -- y'know, I'd turn in plots and they'd approve them -- and they sort of forgot about the fact that they wanted this map of their science-fiction universe until, I think, Mike had two issues of it done and they suddenly realized that I had gone off the rails on 'em. They were really pissed off about it...

Mark: Oh, they were?

Jim: Oh yeah. Quite. And so they actually dumped the book out there with very little fanfare. There was very little promotion on it. They figured it was just going to disappear -- y'know, just a loss leader for them. And they were very clear about it -- they were very upset that I had treated them that way. As it happened, I continue to get royalty cheques on that to this day. They were a little off the mark on that one.

Mark: Is that why, even though you worked on the first few issues of the New Gods spin-off, you weren't on it after a few issues?

Jim: No, that had to do with Batman. For Batman, we did Death in the Family -- which was their best-selling book that year -- but it turns out they had all these licensing (pajamas, lunch boxes, and stuff like that) and the licensing department was very mad, everybody got mad, and they needed somebody to blame -- so I got blamed. And within 3 months all of my work dried up -- in fact Paris Cullins and whoever the new writer was drew up a new first issue that came in ahead of *my* New Gods issues that I had already written. Y'know, everything just sort of fell apart at that point at DC for me, and I went back with Marvel. And it worked out okay because I went over to do Silver Surfer and the Infinity Gauntlet. So I can't complain about that.

Mark: Would the Infinity Gauntlet have been a New Gods story, possibly, have you had stayed with DC?

Jim: Well, I was going to be doing the New Gods series, and I think we had 3 or 4... we had a number of them planned out ahead of time, but once they got down on me, they said "You have to drop all these other books and finish off this Gilgamesh project you're working on. We've already paid you for one book, and we're not gonna pay you for a new project, so finish that." So I finished it and went back to Marvel.

Mark: So, was Gilgamesh II not a sort of passion project for you?

Jim: I got into it. It wasn't my original idea -- actually, Peter David had proposed the science-fiction Gilgamesh to DC. You'd have to check with Peter on this, because I get conflicting stories on this of how it happened. They approached me, but I thought they had paid him off on creating a story. I've talked to him recently and he remembers it differently.

All I know is that I got caught in the middle of whatever was going on between them -- but they approached me and I thought "well, Gilgamesh is kinda interesting" because when I first got into the business in the 70s at the cocktail parties and that, EVERYONE was talking about "let's do a barbarian Gilgamesh" and I had never read it at that point, so I finally looked it up and went "ok" and I read it and thought "that could be kinda interesting".

I wasn't into barbarians, so when they approached me about the science-fiction version of it, I said "Can I do Bigfoot?" and they said "what do you mean?", and I said that I wanted to do it more humor/science-fiction -- which is how I handled it. They seemed to be fine with it at that point. It was never one of my big sellers. I always enjoyed it and I wish they would reprint it someday, they should have the rights to it -- I don't know why they haven't. Everything else of mine is going to be reprinted. It would be nice to see that in a nice volume someday.

Mark: I thought HEAVY METAL magazine would be a good place for something like that, too. Just that sci-fi with that sort of wit and the imagination. I felt it was in that spirit or in that world. I don't know if you did...

panels from Gilgamesh II #1 (1989)

Jim: Yeah, I was coming from a lot of different spots for where I was. There was a lot of things that, in the eighties, that was kind of "breaking ground". The sort-of homosexual relationship between the two main characters. Y'know, a lot of the strange political things I was just beginning to toss into my work at this point. At the same time, it was obviously esoteric -- it didn't become a big seller like Cosmic Odyssey or Infinity Gauntlet -- I still had a great time with it and still have good memories from it.

Mark: Were there any New Gods stories that you wish you could've been able to tell?

Jim: I wanted to explore more of the relationship between the bugs and the New Gods. I'm sure there were a couple other things I had in mind, but I just can't recall them at this point twenty-something odd years later.

Mark: There's this classic scene with Batman punching Orion, and he says "His name was Forager!". Were you excited to write Batman when that was given to you? Was it a life-long dream come true (like it was for some writers)?

page from Cosmic Odyssey #4

Jim: Yeah, I'd done Superman and I'd always wanted to do some Batman -- but there was always something going on. Frank Miller had done that terrific Year One, and they had someone -- I can't remember who -- writing it afterwards and sales were really going down. This was the point that they had sold off the theater rights to a producer I can't recall, so Batman wasn't a high number for them at this point. So Denny [O'Neil] asked me to do a fill-in issue... and he was kinda surprised he like it, so he asked me to do another one. By the time I'd done four fill-ins I asked "so am I the regular writer on this book at this point?". As it worked out, I started doing this regularly. I always thought that going out and fighting crime in a black and grey outfit while doing it with a teenage sidekick dressed in primary colors goes beyond child abuse... it's child endangerment, and  as you can see, it went where it went.

Mark: Well thanks so much for talking with DC in the 80s today, Mr. Starlin.



Jim Starlin just wrote a story called “Berserker”, drawn by Phil Hester, for Aftershock’s anthology book Shock. Aftershock Comics will also release a new edition of “The Art of Jim Starlin: A Life in Words and Pictures” on May 2, 2018. Starlin also has his comic-book series, Hardcore Station, available on Amazon. And you will probably see him on TV because his story is the basis for this what may be the most successful movie of the year.

Mark Belkin