One of our favorite trading card sets — 1994's Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series by SkyBox

Note: This review was directly influenced by a house ad Micheal Bailey posted in his very excellent Fortress of Baileytude website. If you're a Superman fan and are seeking a great example of a well-organized website that discusses Superman in great depth, I'd recommend checking out Bailey's site. These cards had been sitting on our desk for the last 4 months now, and we swore we'd do a write up on them sooner... but, better late than never. ;)

Following DC's 1992 Death of Superman event, and then the subsequent Reign of the Supermen event, public interest in Superman was at an all-time high during 1993. [Comichron.com lists that 1993's Top 5 highest-selling comics were all Superman comics.] DC comics — recognizing a good thing when they saw it — quickly released a flurry of licensed products to capitalize on the renewed interest in the comic book property, and collectors were soon treated to a Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series trading card set (published by SkyBox) in 1994.

Promo card for lower-budget 'Collector's Edition'. Painted by Daniel Horne.

In the early 90s, DC comics had always been 2 years behind Marvel comics when it came to producing trading card sets. Case in point: it was only 2 years AFTER Marvel had released their Marvel Universe I trading cards that DC had released it's first non-movie trading card set [Doomsday: The Death of Superman, SkyBox 1992]. By the time DC had released it's 1992 DC Cosmic Cards trading card set (it's first all-encompassing DCU trading card set), Marvel was releasing it's first fully-painted Marvel Masterpieces trading card set.

I'm sure this had to do with the fact that Topps held the Batman license as far as trading cards were concerned. [I bet you noticed the absence of any Batman and Batman-related characters in any pre-1994 Impel/Skybox DC trading card sets, eh?] I don't know why DC didn't just stick with Topps for trading card publishing. Maybe Impel/Skybox was offering them a better licensing deal? Either way, I'll probably come back and re-write these last few sentences someday when I have some hard evidence as to why DC didn't want to do business with Topps anymore.

Thankfully, this all turned around come 1994 when DC released about half a dozen trading card sets within the span of a single year. When I sit down and calculate it, I'm pretty sure I spent more of my disposable income on trading cards about comic books that year than I did on actual comic books.

Don't get me wrong — as a DC comics fan, 1994 was a great year for non-sports trading cards: we got our first REAL Batman trading card set, our first fully-painted DC comics set, and the introduction of over-sized/widevision trading cards. I think a lot of us DC fans exhaled a collective sigh of 'finally' as DC had finally caught up to Marvel in terms of variety of product and quality. Besides, I was getting tired of having my Marvel friends flaunt their Marvel Masterpieces cards and me wishing out loud that DC would produce something just as good.

#32: "Behold, A Dark Knight!" — painted by Dave Dorman

The Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series trading card set had all the elements of an 'instant win'. A few details that immediately caught my attention included:

• it was a 90-card series of over-sized, fully-painted trading cards,
• it recounted Superman's life from Superman #1 (1987) up until then-current 1994,
• it was released at two price points: a collector's edition and a premium edition,
• and it was 'a limited collection, with production less than that of the celebrated "Doomsday: Death of Superman" trading card series'.

A fully-painted trading card set was pretty exciting for fans. At this point, a fully-painted anything was pretty exciting for fans. Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek's Marvels [published by Marvel Comics] was released earlier that year, and within weeks Alex Ross became a household name [among comic book fans, anyways]. As previously mentioned, Marvel had already released a set of trading cards with the realistic and highly-detailed painted art of Joe Jusko two years prior, so this was DC playing 'catch-up'. The Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series was not DC's first fully-painted trading card series of the nineties, that distinction went to the DC Master Series (which was released a few months prior).

The over-sized/widevision aspect was a nice selling point — but, at this point, I remember collectors still being kind of unsure about this new format. On the plus side, you were getting more card [a widevision card measured 2.5" x 4.5" vs the standard 2.5" x 3.5" trading card], but the unusual size of these trading cards meant that you either had to buy six-pocket plastic card protector sheets or you had to keep 'em stacked up in a pile somewhere safe. Since the six-card protector sheets were a little more expensive and were only meant for widevision cards, a lot of us opted for the pile 'em somewhere safe option. Upon further recollection, I seem to recall collectors dismissing this as a 'flash in the pan' as far as the gimmick era of trading cards were concerned, so they didn't think to invest much into it. Surprisingly, the 'widevision format' did survive, and was heavily utilized by Topps (of all companies) for it's Star Wars trading card sets.

#64: "Panic in the Sky!" — painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

To me, the biggest achievement of this card set was getting me interested in Superman again. I'll be the first to admit, Superman is NOT my favorite DC character. Yes, I did follow the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen! storylines, but only because I thought he was getting phased out and being replaced with someone more contemporary. Other than that, I had little to no interest in Superman or his history. To me, he was too powerful and lacked the frailties that made for an interesting protagonist.

#65: 'To Lead the Justice League' — painted by Nick Choles

This card set covered the first seven years of Superman's career since the John Byrne's 1987 reboot (most of the events spotlighted are from the Superman v2 ongoing series) and concluded somewhere shortly after Superman's return from the dead. I liked that not every card depicted 'the shot heard around the world' and sometimes revisited some of Superman's less-epic confrontations... like his first encounter with C-list villain Rampage (who later became a supporting character in Starman v1) or when Superman battled Massacre [a villain so forgettable I had to look up his name twice]. Many cards feature characters you already recognize, which piques your interest even more and makes you realize Superman's post-Crisis career may have been more entertaining than you originally gave it credit for. In short, it's really hard NOT to get interested in Superman after flipping through these cards.

#41: 'Rampage!' — painted by Hector Gomez

The two different price points (premium edition for the more serious collector, and collector's edition for the budget version) made this a very tempting impulse purchase for high school students who only had $10 to their name every week. My local hometown comic book shop sold the collector's edition for approximately 3 weeks before they were gone from the shelves and I never saw them again. I wasn't even aware a premium edition of this set existed until a few years ago.

The big difference between the two versions wasn't just the price, but the overall look & feel of the cards and the potential inserts/chase cards you could pull from a pack. While the collector's edition had a nice enough (if not plain) metallic ink border, the premium edition had a shiny reflective metal border with embossed rivets. The six chase cards in the collector's edition consisted of Spectra-Etch versions of cards found in the base set (1:7), and while they may have looked good, weren't exactly 'must haves'. Meanwhile, the premium edition contained the Kerry Gammill-designed SculptorCast insert cards (1:18) and the highly-coveted Man of Steel SkyDisc (1:240).

Forged-In-Steel SculptorCast FS3: "Showdown with Doomsday" by Kerry Gammill

The SkyDiscs were the holy grail of DC trading card collectors in 1994. I personally don't own any, but I've seen them before at trading card dealer's tables. They look like honest-to-God holograms — like you're peering down at a green 3D model of Superman through a little circular porthole (this was a big contrast to the early "holograms" Impel/SkyBox was using for it's DC Cosmic Cards and DC Cosmic Teams insert sets, which seemed more like several layers of foil enhanced 2D images than an actual 3D hologram).

SkyDiscs were pretty big in 1994, as SkyBox released 4 of them that year (usually as a cherry to top off a set). There was a Batman SkyDisc available in the Batman Saga of the Dark Knight trading card set, another Superman SkyDisc available in the DC Master Series trading card set, the aforementioned Superman SkyDisc from this set, and a Death SkyDisc in the widevision Vertigo trading card set. The widevision Sandman trading card set included a 3-D Stereo Hologram chase of Morpheus — but I've never seen it in person so I can't confirm if it looks like a SkyDisc or not. The DC Master Series contained 'SkyDisc redemption' cards (which you needed to send away for in order to receive your SkyDisc), and I'm not 100% sure if the Man of Steel Platinum Series had a redemption card system, as well. Nevertheless, as a lover of all things holographic, I'm seriously going to need to track these down someday.

A snazzy binder was also available to collect the trading card set:

I didn't know this binder even existed until I started researching this card set. I'm guessing this was something you needed to order directly from SkyBox? I have no clue if it came with the entire trading card set decked out in 6-pocket plastic card protector sheets, or if you were expected to buy the cards separately.

It's written right on the promo card [see Bailey's link] that this collection was 'limited' and had a 'production less than that of the celebrated "Doomsday: Death of Superman" trading card series'. So... how many Doomsday: Death of Superman trading cards were produced? Apparently, only 10,000 cases of the SkyBox Doomsday: Death of Superman trading cards were produced in 1993. That doesn't really feel that scarce — especially since I often stumble on dealers trying to sell the entire base set for $5 USD.

#49: 'Mongul!' — painted by Scott Hampton

I always have to laugh when the set boasts that 'Roger Stern wrote the text copy' as a selling point. I guess this was to add to consumer confidence? Stern was heavily involved in the Superman-titles from the late-80s to the mid-90s. I'm chuckling because I don't think anybody really cares who wrote the text copy, as long as it has some sort of coherent summary on the reverse of the card and isn't mistakenly confusing Superman with Spider-Man. If you're buying this card set, it's for the art and the novelty of it (and you might even be Superman fan), and probably not because Roger Stern added 50 words to the back of each card. Some of my favorite Roger Stern works include his 1980s Amazing Spider-Man run [co-created Hobgoblin] and his 1980s Avengers run for Marvel Comics. Check 'em out if you haven't already.

#47: reverse of "Enter Supergirl!" — text by Roger Stern

I'd be reluctant to call this is the first REAL Superman set from DC comics, considering both 1992's DC Cosmic Cards and 1993's DC Cosmic Teams gave a decent amount of attention to Superman, his allies and his villains, I'm just going to disregard the 1992 Doomsday: Death of Superman and the 1993 Return of Superman trading card sets (both produced by SkyBox), since I seem to remember them re-using a lot of art from the comics and not really bringing anything new or exciting to the table.

The art is the strongest selling point of this set. Illustrators included Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Phillips, Joe DeVito, Les Dorscheid, Zina Saunders, Alexander Gregory, Hector Gomez, Donato Giancola, Eric Peterson, Dave Dorman, Scott Hampton, Denis Rodier, Dan Brereton, Steve Fastner / Rich Larson, Ray Lago, Nick Choles, Tom Fleming, Jon Bogdanove, Daniel Horne, Kieron Dwyer, and Nelson DeCastro — a lot of these same names contributed pieces to the 1994 DC Master Series (also by SkyBox). I believe a lot of this art was used exclusively for this trading card set, and sometimes, when searching original art auctions, you might see a painting of Superman by one of the above-mentioned artists and wonder "Where is that from? I don't recognize that from any comic I've read" and now you know why.

In a set with such amazing painted artwork, it's a little difficult to pick out my favorites. Bill Sienkiewicz's cards always stood out for their smoky, watercolor-esque effects:

#73:"Superboy!" and #74: "The Cyborg Superman" — both painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

Of course, anything with an entire shot of the Justice League was a card I cherished:

#40: "Living Legends!" — painted by Joe Phillips

[I never really understood why LEGENDS was the only DCU cross-over event that got a mention in this set. Nothing about Millennium, Invasion!, or Armageddon 2001. Probably because Byrne contributed quite a bit to LEGENDS?]


And who could forget the pivotal moment in which Cyborg Superman finally got what was coming to him?

#78: "The Man in Black!" — painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

A few of these cards do bring back fond memories of characters and/or storylines that were long forgotten. Like the introduction of the new villain Conduit (created by Dan Jurgens and Louise Simonson) who was being set up as a major NEW arch-nemesis in Superman's life [last seen in 1995]...

#88: "Conduit Means Power!" — painted by Joe DeVito

...or that time Supergirl/Matrix discovered Lex Luthor was just 'using her'? [as recounted in 1994's Supergirl v3 mini-series — written by Roger Stern]:

#82: "The Vengeance of Supergirl!" — painted by Nelson DeCastro

In summary, this trading card set was a card set done right — it was released at the right time (i.e., just as the non-sports trading card boom was picking up steam), featured the right talent and focused on something fans were excited for. Utilizing over-sized/widevision trading cards to give us more art was a brilliant use of the card, considering the talent working on these cards. Releasing these at two price points also made it accessible to both casual and die-hard trading card collectors. Prices on these trading card sets vary wildly (depending on the dealer), but a full base set of premium edition will almost always cost at least three times as much as the budget-friendly collector's edition. I found the base set cards nice enough on their own, and decided to skip out on collecting the SpectraEtch insert cards. If you ever do happen to chance upon a SkyDisc for a decent price (and you decide to buy it), send me a photo so I can envy you from a distance.

In the longview, I don't know if these cards succeeded in raising interest/readership for the Superman books being published by DC at the time. I do remember being very interested in Superman's history for a while after collecting these, but I also remember the landscape of the DCU had changed dramatically by this point and I suddenly didn't recognize many of the current characters running around anymore — so I'd mainly stick to collecting back issues from the late 80s. As far as raising awareness in John Byrne's post-Crisis work on Superman, this trading card set was successful.


-Justin

“Prize Fight” - A review of 1992's Green Lantern v3 #25

Here's welcoming our new contributor, Deron Murphree. We know you'll enjoy! (Because, really, who doesn't enjoy reading about Guy Gardner?)

cover art: M.D. Bright

The spring of 1992 marked a transitional period in the Green Lantern mythos. Guy Gardner had been Earth's residential Green Lantern for quite some time. But for whatever reason, DC felt the book needed a shot in the arm to boost sales. The way you do that is you dust off old Hal Jordan and you thrust him once again upon the readership and back into the spotlight. Hal has, after all, been the poster boy for all things Green Lantern.

When we begin with issue number 25. Written by Gerard Jones and edited by Kevin Dooley, Hal Jordan is returning to Earth after a long absence. He's been sent by the Guardians to reclaim Sector 2814. To be fair, the Guardian are not exactly clear as to how to go about doing this, but we do know early on that Hal expects Guy to just hand it over to him. Hal claims that Guy’s made a mess of things on Earth and that the members of the Justice League want Guy Gardner to step down. We find out that not everybody wants to see Guy Gardner leave the Justice League of America. Although Ice understands her fellow teammates' frustrations, she still chooses to support her man.

Fire and Ice are carrying some snacks when Hal Jordan shows up to inquire the whereabouts of the team's Green Lantern. Moments later, Hal Jordan arrives at Guy Gardner’s apartment in an attempt to convince Guy that his time's up as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. This does not bode well for the tensions escalating between them. Hal argues that Guy has really botched up things here on Earth and that it’s his right to be the Green Lantern of Earth. Guy responds by reminding him that Hal left Earth to find his smile. I chuckled when reading this because it reminds me of Bret Hart telling Shawn Michaels the same thing in a WWE storyline years ago. If you've followed the WWE product over the years, then you know what I am referring to in terms of parallels.

Speaking of WWE shenanigans, Guy Gardner does an excellent job of getting under Hal Jordan's skin. If I didn’t know better, it would appear that Guy knows how to push Hal’s buttons. Guy eggs Hal on to the point that the two agree to a one on one confrontation. The loser leaves not just the JLA but the Green Lantern Corps as well. Again, this feels like a pro wrestling storyline. A "Loser Leaves The Corps" fight spells out to me like a "Loser Leaves Town" match. It’s the same kind of concept with a similar result.

panel from Green Lantern v3 #25 - pencilled by Joe Staton and inked by Romeo Tanghal

At first, the two of them are duking it out ring for ring until the damage to the city starts to become apparent. Superman and the rest of the JLA try to intervene only to be dissuaded by the Green Lantern Corps. John Stewart gets in between Guy and Hal and notifies them of the subsequent damage surrounding them. This prompts Guy Gardner to convince Hal Jordan that they must finish their battle with some good old fashioned fisticuffs. As chapter three began, you could feel the action reach a crescendo. All you needed to do was cue the "Rocky" music.

While I do believe that Guy Gardner gets a raw deal here, he does have a few shining moments here in this issue. Guy proves that he’s one of the toughest to ever don a Green Lantern ring. He pushes Hal Jordan to his physical limits. Hal wins by employing Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy in that he allows Guy Gardner to punch himself out. At one point, Guy Gardner keeps fighting on despite having suffered a broken hand. During the issue Hal begins to doubt his abilities when he’s absolutely floored at the depth of Guy Gardner’s rage. Guy may be a little clumsy but he hits hard enough to rattle your rib cage to its breaking point.

panel from Green Lantern v3 #25 - pencilled by M.D. Bright and inked by Romeo Tanghal

In the end, Guy Gardner is a man of his word even in defeat. Though reluctantly, Guy does surrender his ring to Hal Jordan. This is something that is difficult for Guy Gardner to deal with in that he probably feels like he is losing a large chunk of his identity. Hal Jordan freely admits that he needs to be a Green Lantern. It wouldn’t be too long after all this that Hal would lose his mind and become Parallax. Hal’s legacy would be forever tainted by this and he would betray the Green Lantern Corps.

This is something that is difficult for Guy Gardner to deal with in that he probably feels like he is losing a large chunk of his identity. I get that Guy Gardner is a character that is difficult to like, but he does have some great qualities that are often overlooked by some comic book fans. Guy Gardner is the loyal, rough and tumble backbone of the Green Lantern Corps. He has endured nasty comments from Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and even the Guardians about his rough around the edges demeanor. As evidenced in this issue, there were members of the JLA like Blue Beetle who were quite outspoken in regards to their disdain of the team’s Green Lantern. Guy Gardner’s had a history of abuse from his father and is accustomed to being laughed at and humiliated by others. He has been conditioned to bully others as a way to deal with the abuse from his childhood. This sensitive subject matter only gets seemingly glossed over during the New 52. The only one who supported Guy through all of this was his girlfriend, Ice. It takes a certain kind of commitment to wear those over-sized boots, the over the top white belt, and let’s not forget about that iconic bowl-shaped haircut.

I don’t think the writers and editors at DC during that time were exactly sure of what to do with Guy Gardner. There was a large percentage of readers who despised him and the way Guy was handled in terms of writing made it seem that the creative team did't care too much for him either. Either way, creatively speaking, Guy Gardner got a raw deal. Guy Gardner would eventually go on and achieve his own kind of underrated success in the form of Guy Gardner: Warrior.

This issue was chalked full of eighties references. All you had to do was look around Guy Gardner's apartment in the panels. He had a poster of Sylvester Stallone’s "Rocky" franchise on his wall as well as VHS tapes of Rambo: First Blood. The issue reflected the times and dated itself by the pacing of the story. The artwork was decent in some areas but proved to be a little disjointed when multiple artists were added. Some of the panels were jarring in Chapter One and took me out of the moment.

panel from Green Lantern v3 #25 - pencilled by Tim Hamilton and inked by Gary Yap

If you are a fan of 1980's action films like Rocky 3, then you will enjoy this issue for its 80’s feel. The whole fight sequence made me think of the second fight between Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang.

-Deron Murphree


Deron Murphree is a sucker for the more forgotten heroes and villains of DC Comics. He is an advocate for Jason Todd and Earth's True Green Lantern, Guy Gardner. Deron's new website is currently still under construction but you can follow him on Twitter @DeronMurphree or you can message him care of this website.

28 years later: An interview with editor Michael Eury

It was only a few months ago that I came to the startling realization that Michael Eury, who edited several titles for DC comics in the late 80s/early 90s, was also the same Michael Eury who is the editor-in-chief of Back Issue magazine (TwoMorrows Publishing) — one of the finest comic book journalism magazines covering the Bronze and Modern Age that you can currently purchase. I love chatting with DC comics editors; they are the unsung heroes of the comic book industry who often played a pivotal role in the overall direction of a series and were privy to business and marketing decisions that ran in the background. Mr Eury is a really cool cat, and agreed to chat with me about a few of the DC titles he oversaw.

Hawk & Dove v3 (1989 - 1991)

Justin: I just finished re-reading and reviewing the 1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series (in which you were the editor from issues #10 to issues #17). Before you became the solo editor of the series, you were assistant editor to Mike Carlin for several issues. Were you a fan of Hawk & Dove before you were assigned this book?

Eury: Absolutely! I was a child when Steve Ditko's Hawk and Dove premiered in Showcase #75 and remember reading it and a few issues of the short-lived Hawk and Dove series when they were first published. At the time I wasn't old enough to fully understand the political ramifications of the characters' names — I just "got" the concept of ideologically opposed teens arguing with each other... which was, in 1968, a pretty "Marvel"-like treatment for DC's usually harmonious, interchangeable characters.

Hawk and Dove premiered at a time when DC began experimenting with different types of characters and books, under Carmine Infantino's watch as editorial director. The Creeper, Bat Lash, Anthro, plus the one-off Dolphin story in Showcase, were books that excited me as a kid who had been lured to superhero comics because of Batmania engendered by the Adam West TV show.

Justin: How did you end up becoming editor of Hawk & Dove? (I noticed that New Gods was also being edited by Carlin before you took it over)

Eury: I was hired at DC as an associate editor, having been an editor previously at Comico the Comic Company, and worked under group editors Mike Carlin, Denny O'Neil, and Andy Helfer on their books, soon taking over some of them on my own. Hawk & Dove was the first one I got to solo-edit. Not only was I excited about having my own book to oversee, but I felt connected to the characters (although by then it was a different Dove) because of my childhood passions.

Justin: If I had to summarize Hawk & Dove v3, the first half of the series was them trying to establish themselves and learn the mystical secrets of their origins, and the last half of the series (#18 and onward) was them becoming a mainstream DCU book (with lots of interaction from other DCU characters). Between yourself and the Kesels, where there any conflicts about the direction of the book? Or were you both heading in the same direction?

Eury: Karl Kesel, Barbara Kesel, and I had a wonderful working relationship. Not long ago, Karl told me that I made him feel like Hawk & Dove was DC's most important book.

The guest stars were a way to anchor Hawk & Dove within the mainstream DC Universe — another example is a minor, blink-and-you'll-miss-it one, where Hawk & Dove #9 featured a bit tying in to that month's Superman vs. the Flash race occurring in another book.

Justin: Around issue #15, the book turns to a Sword & Sorcery genre for several issues. Were there ever discussions of changing the genre of the series (i.e. Sword of the Atom)? Or was this just a fun thing to deviate and keep the title interesting?

Eury: Hawk & Dove never stopped being a superhero book — it just evolved into a multi-layered one. From the get-go, the Kesels had intended for Hawk's and Dove's connections to the Lords of Chaos and Order to be part of their background... a connection that Don Hall and Dawn Granger were originally unaware of.

Eury: Incidentally, I've written a Hawk and Dove history — covering from the Ditko original and ending with the New 52 version, but focusing mainly on the '80s-'90s version — for my magazine, Back Issue #97, which ships June 14th, 2017:

Behind the Scenes at DC comics

Justin: You left Hawk & Dove after issue #17 and began working on other projects [ex: Who's Who v2, Eclipso: Darkness Within]...?

Who's Who in the DC Universe v2 #9 (1991)

Eury: Actually, my trajectory at DC was a little more involved than that. The looseleaf Who's Who in the DC Universe, which I co-developed, started while I was still editing Hawk & Dove, New Gods, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Huntress. I was promoted to be Dick Giordano's aide in a newly created position called "assistant to the editorial director," forcing me to give up my books. After a year in that role, I wanted to be more hands-on in the editorial bullpen and returned to the editor's desk. That's when I returned to Legion of Super-Heroes, developed its spin-offs Legionnaires, Valor, and Timber Wolf, plus Eclipso. I had a goal of developing more titles set in the the 30th century — really building a bit of a future franchise — but didn't stay at DC long enough to realize them.

Justin: So... I'm placing you as Giordano's aide somewhere between late 1990 and mid 1992?

Eury: I don't recall the exact date, but it was in the early spring of 1990 that I became assistant to the editorial director, a title I held until mid-1991, at which time I went back into the editorial pool.

Justin: Those first few years of the 1990s were a particularly crazy time for comics — the peak of the nineties comic book craze was somewhere around 1993 — and DC had a glut of competition on the market. Most notably were Marvel with it's X-titles and Spider-man, but there were other up-and-coming comic companies like Valiant (who started by publishing Nintendo and WCW comics), Malibu (with it's few indie titles) and Dark Horse (who held licenses for the Star Wars, Aliens, Predator and Terminator franchises). How was head DC editorial dealing with all of this new competition?

Eury: The early '90s were indeed a crazy time, with cover gimmicks and variant covers luring readers to buy multiple copies (of course, we've seen a resurgence in that during the past few years). It was disheartening for some of the DC editors when Marvel's rebooted Spider-Man and X-Men books sold so many copies (I remember at San Diego Comic-Con '91, I presented Keith Giffen with an Inkpot Award and introduced him as someone who has "more ideas per minute than Marvel has covers of Spider-Man #1. That remark earned a "look" from Carol Kalish, who at the time was Marvel's marketing chief.) We even joked around the office that DC was "number two with a bullet," the "bullet" being a gag about DC's logo, the DC bullet.

Justin: During all this, DC remained steadfast in printing it's TSR titles (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Spelljammer, Forgotten Realms, etc), which, I hate to say, didn't really leave a lasting impact on comicdom in general. Would you know why DC didn't discontinue the whole line? Were the sales on these books that great? Or was there a demographic DC was really trying to reach with these books?

Eury: I wasn't directly involved with any TSR books so I can't answer those questions. I do know that DC had its eye on producing comics connected to emerging popular media for some time... remember, in the early '80s DC published a number of Atari mini-comics, followed by the Atari Force ongoing series.

Justin: As an aide to Giordano, were you instrumental in working on any big DC editorial "plans" that never saw realization? Coincidentally, do you have any amusing anecdotes of working with Giordano? (I understand he got very upset when someone leaked the 'secret' ending to Armageddon 2001 and DC had to make a swap at the last minute)

Eury: Dick was a sweetheart of a guy. You might be aware that I wrote his biography, Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day At a Time, published in 2003 by TwoMorrows Publishing (it's now out of print).

Thankfully, copies of Eury's book are still available in digital format.

Dick was fond of telling people during meetings that "Michael keeps me honest." He said that jokingly, and it meant that I was there to help him keep track of discussions (and, I suspect, be his backup "ears," since Dick had a severe hearing loss).

Speaking of Dick's hearing loss, one had to speak loudly and clearly when communicating with him. I began to realize that at time our "private" conversations in his office sometimes attracted eavesdroppers outside of his office door. So when we needed to discuss something confidential, we'd often take an elevator ride!

I don't recall Dick's specific reaction to the Armageddon 2001 leak, but a lot of people were ticked off by that. Unfortunately, the fix (substituting Hawk for Captain Atom as the good guy-turned-bad) wounded the story... but sometimes, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

New Gods v3 (1989 - 1991)

Justin: As I read over New Gods, I'm realizing that it was very self-contained and more or less focused on Orion and New Genesis/Apocalypse. Let's face it, the series could've been called 'Orion' and nobody would've realized the difference. After the Bloodline Saga concluded (New Gods v3 #13), you became the primary editor. The book had Orion and Lightray in the city, interacting with common day people, and we started to see more interaction with other DC characters (Mr Miracle, Superman, Thanagarians, Mon-El), as well as more attention to Lightray and other tertiary New Gods (Fastbak, Metron), and the introduction of Yuga Khan. What caused that direction change? Was it because the title's sales were slowing down and you decided to make it more integrated? Or was it just something you felt would benefit the series? (I believe the theme you were exploring was 'how Gods compare to humans on earth')

Eury: Those of us in group editor Mike Carlin's camp were trying to better consolidate the DC Universe through crossovers and guest-shots. The direction of the series was really at the discretion of its writer, Mark Evanier — Mark was one of Jack Kirby's assistants back in the early '70s when Kirby was originally producing his Fourth World books, and really, no one was better suited at the time to write those characters than Evanier (with the possible exception of Kirby himself).

As New Gods editor, I did briefly entertain offering the book to Neil Gaiman as writer. This grew out of a pitch Neil made to me, when I was editor of Secret Origins during the end of its run, for a Darkseid origin. I had to tell Neil that Secret Origins was being canceled, but later realized how perfect Neil would be for the Fourth World mythology. Then I got promoted to being Dick's assistant and I regrettably never pursued that.

I must mention that in May 2018, Back Issue #104 will feature a "Fourth World After Kirby" theme, exploring all of the post-Kirby incarnations of the New Gods characters.

Justin: What were DC's plans with the Fourth World characters going into the 90s? There was Cosmic Odyssey, and both Mister Miracle and the New Gods had an ongoing series, the Forever People had a mini-series, the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion had been appearing in Superman titles, and the Female Furies had been appearing in Suicide Squad. Was there any resistance from the Jack Kirby estate on the use of the characters?

Eury: Kirby was still alive during most of what you mentioned, and the characters were DC's property. You could argue that the New Gods, et al., make better supporting characters than headliners. That still holds true today. And Darkseid, in particular, has been elevated to — arguably — DC's number one super villain.

Darkseid pin-up from Who's Who in the DC Universe v2 #1 (1990). Illustrated by Mark Badger.

Justin: The New Gods (as a comic book series) have never experienced that much longevity, I think the New Gods series you edited (which concluded at issue #28) had the longest run. Would you have any hypothesis as to why that would be?

Eury: I never considered its longevity until you mentioned it. Perhaps it was because the characters better interfaced with the rest of the DCU. Other than Superman and Jimmy Olsen, Kirby kept his Fourth World at arm's length from DC's other characters (although before long, other creators started using Kirby's characters, such as the Batman/Mr. Miracle team-up in Brave and the Bold #112 (1974)).

Legion of Super-Heroes

Justin: I'm also going to to point out that Mon-El appeared in a lot of Legion of Super-Heroes titles you edited, was one of Eclipso's main henchman in Eclipso: The Darkness Within, appeared in New Gods during your editorial run, and you were instrumental in launching his first ongoing series in 1992. Is Mon-El (aka Valor) a character you were fond of reading about while growing up?

Eury: When I was a kid reading the Legion in Adventure Comics and then the Cockrum/Grell era in Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes, Mon-El was one of my two favorite Legionnaires (the other being Ultra Boy). Funny how I zeroed in on the two Superboy knock-offs... Mon-El fascinated me, from his original status as Superboy's "brother" to his cool costume to his tragic banishment to the Phantom Zone (I wrote The Brave & The Bold editor Murray Boltinoff back in the '70s asking for a Batman/Mon-El team-up, temporarily liberating Mon from the Zone for a Bat-adventure; sorry that never happened... would've love to have seen Mon-El drawn by Jim Aparo).

Justin: You were the editor for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #31 (1992) — in which it is revealed that Shvaughn Erin was actually a man the whole time. Was there any complications in running that story? Did Legion fans react poorly or amicably to that 'twist in the plot'?

Eury: Well, it was shocking, especially for the time! Reaction was mixed, as I recall, but today it turns out that the story was revolutionary for its time.


...and that wraps up our interview with Michael Eury. We wanted to thank Mr Eury for being particularly generous with his time. 

We also wanted to spotlight that not only is Mr Eury the editor-in-chief of Back Issue magazine, but he's also authored a few DC comics companion books. A few that you may recognize:

-Justin
Special thanks to contributing editor, Rob Perry, for help compiling the questions.