DC in the 80s interviews editor Dave Manak

We at DC in the 80s LOVE interviewing editors who worked at DC comics during the 1980s. Often, editors know the 'inside scoop' of what was going on behind-the-scenes and can share interesting anecdotes of working with certain comic pros or amusing stories about what was happening in the editorial meetings. Editors are the unsung heroes of the comic book industry -- they were the glue that kept our favorite books published on time and coordinated with the writer(s), artist(s), letterer(s) and everyone else on the creative team (that I'm drawing a blank on) by keeping everything from going off the rails. Next time you meet an editor of one your favorite books, tell him how much you appreciated his work.

Today we are lucky enough to interview Dave Manak.

Dave Manak in DC offices (circa early 1980s)

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Justin: Welcome, Dave. Tell us a bit about your editorial time at DC comics during the eighties.

Dave: I worked on the editorial staff at DC for approximately three years from 1981 through 1983.

I edited DC’s Mystery line: Ghosts, Unexpected, House of Mystery and Green Lantern for about one year. Then I moved over to work in our Special Projects department led by my mentor and friend, Joe Orlando for my last two years on staff. There I worked on projects for various companies like Atari, Mattel, Kenner and The White House (Yes, THAT White House!) to name a few. I’ll talk more about that in time, but first let me tell you how I got to 1981.

Justin: Your career follows an interesting trajectory -- your first work (that I'm aware of) was as an artist for DC's Plop! magazine in the seventies. Plop! was kind of like DC's answer to MAD magazine. (Marvel had CRAZY magazine). I have your first artistic work cited here as 1974's Plop! #7:

Dave: Sometime in 1971, as a young guy living in Southeast PA with no contact with anyone in the comic book industry I sent a sheet of drawings of my best versions of superheroes to Joe Kubert at DC (National Periodical Publications at the time). I sent it to Joe because of my love for his art in SGT ROCK, particularly ENEMY ACE. To my shocked delight I got a letter back asking me if I’d like to visit him in NYC at the DC offices and BOOM! I was on my way to the Big City.

After a bunch of visits showing Joe new samples each time I showed him some humor cartooning I did and he introduced me to Joe Orlando, who was already famous from his time at MAD Magazine, and that was the meeting that would set things in motion. In about a year I moved to NYC and started doing some freelance production work at DC to pay the rent and sold my first single panel cartoon to DC appearing in Plop! # 6, Joe Orlando’s brainchild. Then it wasn’t long before I was penciling and inking stories for Plop!, and I became good friends with Orlando after that. Maybe he saw something of himself when he was just starting out in me. I don’t know... but I do know that for the next almost thirty years that I knew him, we had a BLAST! Oh, and that’s when I met my DC best bud: Andy Helfer. He was Joe Orlando’s assistant (or something --I’m not sure what... ha ha) but we had a lot of fun in those days. Andy went on to become a great writer and editor at DC.

cover of Plop! #24 (1976) by illustrated by Dave Manak

Dave: Joe Orlando was editor of the DC’s Mystery comics line and had mystery inventory scripts that they couldn’t use, so the two of us would sit in Joe Orlando’s office rewriting some of them and turning them into humor stories for Plop! (I think that’s how I learned how to write comics. Besides, I was a huge movies buff and was always writing screenplays in my head.) During that time I met Sergio Aragones who was the premiere artist for Plop! and, of course, a major MAD Magazine contributor. At that time the DC offices were a pretty loose place where freelance artists and writers would wander in and out freely. One could talk in the open artists bullpen area between the editorial offices really as long as you liked catching up on stuff with fellow creators, some seasoned pros and some relatively new, like me. 

Although my style was a bit "Sergio-esque", I wasn’t trying to imitate him -- although he was an influence. I got it mostly because I liked the cartoonist Charles Rodriguez who did single panel gags and work for National Lampoon. My time at Plop! was pretty much a dream come true. I played around with my art style during the seventies mainly because I worked on so many individual pieces and could. Anyway, after a few years Sergio and Joe Orlando urged me to submit some ideas to MAD Magazine. I did and sold a few cover ideas to them and some gags that Don Martin drew. WHAT A THRILL! All of the rejected ideas -- and there were quite a few, let me tell you -- I tramped over to Marvel’s CRAZY Magazine and pitched them to then editor Larry Hama. He liked them and I had an extra gig drawing them myself. Of course, an artist or writer couldn't use their own name if they sold to MAD Magazine and then sold the rejects to a competitor, so, I’m not sure how many fans know that I used the name KOVACS for that work at CRAZY.

Marvel's CRAZY magazine #41 (1978)

Dave: Also, a shout out to Paul Levitz, here. He began as Joe Orlando’s assistant editor around the same time as I showed up. We both learned how to be comic book people from Joe. And Paul, of course, became a major creator and leader that made DC the company that it is today.

I also have to mention the arrival of Jenette Kahn in 1976 as Publisher. She became president in 1981 and brought a new feeling of creativity and sophistication to comics into the eighties and nineties.

Justin: So, the next BIG move after that was becoming editor on 4 ongoing DC titles in 1981: 3 Mystery anthology titles (Ghosts, Secrets of Haunted House, and Unexpected) and 1 regular title (Green Lantern). [One of these things is not like the others -- more on that later.] How did you make the jump to editorial?

Dave: Well, that brings us to 1981. Joe Orlando asked me to have lunch with him and Dick Giordano. I had no idea what for. There they asked me if I’d be interested in becoming an editor as well as Dick’s assistant editor. Dick was then DC’s managing editor, but he was still editing the Batman titles. I’d really never thought about that line of work, but after a few days I got back to them and Manak was an editor!

I had the Mystery line of books and Green Lantern. And since the Mystery books were all-new stories, each issue I got to work with talents the likes of: Keith Giffen, Robert Kanigher, Mark Texeira, Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Paul Levitz, Paris Cullins, Steve Ditko, Tony DeZuniga, Jack C Harris, Bob Rozakis, Steve Skeates, Trevor Von Eden, Steven Bissette, Paul Kupperberg, Joey Cavalieri, Greg LaRocque, Ernie Colon, Pat Broderick, Andrew Helfer, Gerry Conway, Mike Zeck, Mark Silvestri... I’d gotten to know most of these people simply by hanging out at the DC offices in the seventies -- it really was a community of freelance writers and artists, so it was easy to work with them. I got along great with everyone and I have to mention Bob Kanigher. At the time I really didn’t know what a volume of work he’d done in comics. He didn’t really talk about comics much to me but, more, as I remember about the scar he had on his cheek from a fencing match or fanciful goings on and escapades in Europe. True? Made up? Probably, but who cares? It’s a precious memory, nonetheless.

One of the things I found very cool was personally doing layout sketches for the Mystery covers and getting great artists like my old pal, Joe Kubert to do them. He loved it! Ernie Colon did some, too.

Justin: Being an editor of a title seems to require a different type of skill set than being a writer or artist on a book. How did you find the transition? What were some key take-aways from your experience? As far as you were concerned, what was your content strategy for the anthology books?

Dave: As a new editor I certainly was in the best of worlds. After all, I shared an office with Dick Giordano. What more could a novice ask for? The way I personally approached editing was pretty basic. Make sure the story had a beginning, middle and end (or cliffhanger) and to make sure it wasn’t DULL. I pretty much learned this from watching Twilight Zone episodes as a kid. As far as I'm concerned, that’s the best storytelling format for any comic book story or series... and it’s exactly what I used when I went on to do a pretty large amount of writing for Marvel’s STAR Comics.

Justin: You edited Green Lantern from issues #145 - 155 (1981 - 1982). I always liked your run of Green Lantern -- we saw a lot of his classic rogues appear (ex: Goldface, Black Hand, etc...), we saw Hal receive more characterization, the Adam Strange back-ups were dropped for Green Lantern Corps back-ups (written by Paul Kupperberg) which ultimately led to the GLC making more appearances in the regular stories, and your run more or less ended with Hal going on more sci-fi adventures (as opposed to simply protecting earth). We liked this run so much that we reviewed it several years ago. I've got to ask: Marv Wolfman was the writer during the majority of your run (issues 145 - 153) -- how much of your Green Lantern run was yours and how much was Marv? Was it a 50/50 split?

Dave: Editing Green Lantern was great!... with writers like Marv Wolfman and Paul Kupperberg, and an artist like Joe Staton, I was the one learning how to do a main-line comic from great talents like them. When a book has great talents working on it who respect the material, it’s not hard to do. I offered suggestions and that was about it.

Green Lantern #154 (1982) - cover by Gil Kane

Justin: One story I seem to recall [writer] Dan Mishkin telling me is that Blue Devil and Amethyst were originally created so that the Mystery anthology titles could have 'recurring characters' to increase readership. I believe the idea was pitched to you, which you liked, but senior management decided Blue Devil and Amethyst should have their own titles. Am I getting the story right?

Dave: Both Dan and Gary are great writers on their own, but back in 1981 they were a writing team and the Mystery books were basically try-out books for new artists and writers. The team presented the story ideas Blue Devil and Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. I took them to Joe Orlando saying I thought they would make great new titles. Joe took them to the powers that be, and... Guess what? Those titles were born. Actually, I was in on the initial development: working with Dan and Gary writing, and Paris Cullins (on Blue Devil) and Ernie Colon (on Amethyst) as artists.

Justin: So, as I recall, the 3 Mystery anthology books all concluded in 1982. We know that around this time anthology books were falling out of flavor with comic fans as they wanted lengthier stories and consistent characters. How did this lead into your next transition?

Dave: Being an editor was fun but the Mystery line was soon going to be gone, and it’s not that I couldn’t have continued with the superhero books -- that’s what DC wanted me to do -- but I wanted to make a change.

The Special Projects Department was created to deal with the creative side of licensing; making custom comics for companies with their characters or DC properties. Joe Orlando was put in charge there and I wanted to work with him. So for the next two years that's what I did...

...but first I’d like to apologize to the writers and artists who I don’t mention here -- either my almost-forty-year-old memory doesn’t hold it anymore or I don’t have the info at hand.

Joe Orlando (circa early-to-mid 1980s)

Dave: So, working in Special Projects was an absolute whirlwind! Most of the time we had more than one project going at a time, but had to treat each as if they were the only one. Under Orlando’s leadership we did it. Joe Orlando picked most of the talent, and other times we’d have meetings to decide who would be good for what.

One of the first things we did was put together the Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew preview as a 16-page insert in 1982's New Teen Titans #16. I got to work with Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw on that. I didn’t know them before that, but they were as nice as could be and it was fun.

Dave: Then there was Atari, Mattel, Kenner and the White House and others during my two years.

For Atari and Mattel it was custom comics, for Kenner it was the Super Powers Collection (a DC-owned property) and The White House was the New Teen Titans 3-part mini-series for the government’s drug awareness program.

From what I recall, the Atari comics were pretty much based entirely on the video games with some character reference about the characters in the games and maybe a brief synopsis. I know that Dick Giordano was in charge of the biggie, Atari Force. I handled several, but my stand out memory is that Gil Kane did one of my books. It was the first time we’d met and I was in awe, for sure. I also did the art for one of them -- DIG DUG! Unfortunately, I never saw a printed version.

Then came Mattel. The property was 'Masters of The Universe' and the main character was... 'He-Man'...SCREEEECH! He-Man? Yes. And we soon found out what an iconic character He-Man would become -- with the help of DC’s mini-comics, of course! LOL. These seven comics were written by Gary Cohn and penciled by Mark Texeira. Action figures of The Masters of The Universe were already being sold, but Mattel chose DC to give them a bit of history and place them in our universe. This was also greatly enhanced by the Masters of The Universe 16-page preview insert which appeared in several DC comics in 1982, and was followed by a DC comics limited-series all written by Paul Kupperberg and penciled by George Tuska. What a team!

Masters of The Universe 16-page preview insert that was published in 1982

Dave: One funny thing: companies often send toys to people they work with in gratitude for a job well done. I was the point person for the project on the phone with Mattel at every step. Well, this huge box shows up next to my desk addressed to me. Hmmm? From Mattel. It turned out to be a full-sized Castle Greyskull with some Masters of The Universe action figures! I thanked Mattel for their kindness and since I wasn’t a toy collector I gave it to Joe Orlando, who had young kids just the right age then. I was a big hit with them for sure!

Justin: This is interesting... Mattel was obviously impressed with DC's work on the Masters of The Universe franchise, so why didn't Mattel just continue with DC and turn the Kupperberg mini-series into an ongoing series? It would seem like Mattel just decided to do their 'own thing' after those 7 DC mini-comics, and start producing their own mini-comics 'in-house' -- eventually handing the license over to Marvel's STAR comics in 1986? 

Dave: I don't know why DC didn't continue with a MOTU regular comic. Maybe they wanted to go beyond the initial contract with Mattel and couldn't come to an agreement. In retrospect, that's probably what happened.

Kenner’s Super Powers Collection featured DC action figures with a 'trick movement' built into them -- for example, slightly squeeze the legs together and the arms go up, etc. Joe Orlando did most of the actual design work on the characters, and then it was just a matter of approving the prototypes and so on. I got to meet comic book legend and god, Jack Kirby, when he dropped by Joe’s office. Kirby did some design work on some characters he created for DC’s New Gods comics with Darkseid being the headliner.

House ad for Kenner's new Super Powers Collection action figures. Collect 'em all!

Justin: I wasn't aware you were involved in the Kenners Super Powers Collection! I LOVED that toy line! Were you involved in producing the mini-comics packaged with the Kenner figures, as well? Why was the Kenners Super Powers Collection toy line discontinued? It seemed as if they had a few more waves of figures planned (ex: Blue Devil, Vigilante, Manhunter, Wonder Twins, various Legion of Super-Hero characters, Man-Bat, a few made-up characters) [editor's note: you can read all about the history of the Super Powers Collection on this fantastic fan-site: http://kennersuperpowers.com/]

Dave: As far as the SUPER POWERS COLLECTION goes... Joe Orlando did most of the assigning and reviewing of the finishes because Kenner was such an important client. I think sales just weren't large enough for it to continue.

The New Teen Titans Drug awareness mini-series: these were three New Teen Titans comics done in cooperation with the President and Nancy Reagan’s Drug Awareness Program and were co-sponsored by Keebler, the American Soft Drink Industry and IBM.

Once again, it was a sheer pleasure working with Teen Titans' team [Marv] Wolfman and [George] Perez. George was an absolute joy to work with, also. I got to visit The White House and, on the whole, I’m very proud of the finished project. I guess how much real good it did will never be known, but if it had some impact on it’s readers I’d count that as a success.

The New Teen Titans Drug Awareness special #1 (1983)

Dave: Well, that kind of wraps this up. Next would be my Marvel work and meeting my cartooning best bud, Michael Gallagher, and then back to DC for Looney Tunes Magazine and MAD Magazine again, and then to Sonic the Hedgehog at Archie comics. I know I left some people out during my years at DC -- editors and peers who had an impact on my career and life -- but I hope you know that all of you guys will stay in my hearts! Hmm... maybe I’m the next Doctor.

MAD magazine #342 (1996). Art by Dave Manak (as 'M&e')

Justin: Thank you for sitting with us today, Dave!

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If you have any additional question for Dave Manak, send them our way and maybe we'll be able to get answers for you. No absurd questions, thanks!

Reviewing Blue Devil v1 (1984 - 1986)

In celebration of Halloween 2019, we've decided to review a comic book series about a guy who becomes a superhero because he got stuck in his costume. Since you've surely read the header of this review (which was most likely the reason you clicked on the link that brought you here), welcome to our look back at Blue Devil v1:

True History of the Blue Devil

Created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Paris Cullins, the idea of Blue Devil was first conceived by Mishkin and Cohn when they were contributing stories for the DC horror/mystery/fantasy anthology titles in the early eighties. The comic buying landscape had changed; readers weren't so interested in anthology titles anymore and sales on these books were dwindling. It quickly became apparent that the anthology titles with the highest readership were the ones with recurring characters that kept readers coming back every month (ex: Andrew Bennet in House of Mystery, G.I. Robot and Creature Commandoes in Weird War Tales). Dave Manak (editor of Ghosts, Unexpected and Secrets of Haunted House) asked Mishkin and Cohn to come up with a supernatural story with "lots of room for heroics and broad action, as well".  

From Dan Mishkin: "As for Amethyst and Blue Devil, neither one of those existed even as a vague notion until we were writing professionally and were asked to come up with new series. Each of those grew out an invitation to invent a lead feature for one of DC’s "mystery" titles, as "I…Vampire" was for House of Mystery. But for whatever reason, they caught the attention of higher-ups who wanted to original series in brand-new titles. We were lucky to be around during one of those unusual times when the company was looking to broaden its offerings."

Paris Cullins' version of how he came on board for Blue Devil: "I was doing House of Mystery and I had just joined the DC comics intern program for artists. I just finished a werewolf story with Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin, and they asked me if I wanted another one. And I said 'of course', and they said 'well, I think we've got this one free, but I think we're giving it to Steve Ditko'. Steve Ditko called me up and said 'I don't want to do it', And they handed it to me - and it was the Blue Devil. I did it and I worked it, they liked it so much and it went from a tiny story and they said 'make it bigger', so I made it bigger. So they asked again, and it took up the whole book. and they looked at it again and said 'this should be a comic book!'. And then from there, we got what we got." 

16-page Preview Story

special Blue Devil insert from Firestorm v2 #24 (1984)

About a month before the first issue of Blue Devil hit the stands, a 16-page Blue Devil sneak peek appeared in The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #24 (1984). In this preview, Blue Devil battles the Trickster (one of the Flash's rogues). As far as previews go, this one reads very nicely: we're introduced to film stuntman Dan Cassidy, the 'super-stunt suit' he's designed, his 'sidekick' (Gopher), his boss (Marla), his love interest (Sharon), his frenemy (Wayne) and we get to see Blue Devil in action as he battles an established super-villain for 4 pages.

To the reader who knew nothing about the Blue Devil going into this preview, it appears to be a 'regular joe wears an enhanced cybernetic suit to fight crime'-type of story. Mishkin and Cohn would save the 'hook' (aka: what makes the Blue Devil unique among other heroes) for the first issue.

Comic readers who also read Amazing Heroes would've first heard of Blue Devil in Amazing Heroes #39 -- the "1984 Preview Issue". It was published and distributed roughly 3 months before Blue Devil's debut in Firestorm #24.

"We've made comics FUN again"

During the same month Blue Devil #1 was being published, the following house ad was appearing in various DC comics titles:

"We've made comics fun again!"... ? That's a pretty bold statement. Aren't comics supposed to be fun? Apparently, in 1984, they weren't. Around this era, the best-selling titles were Tales of the Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, Alpha Flight and other team books that played up the interpersonal drama between cast members. Since best-selling comics always inspire other comics to follow suit, there were a whole lot of comics out there trying to emulate that angle -- hence a trend in serious/drama-filled books.

Mishkin explained in Amazing Heroes #39: "We're poking fun at the conventions of being a superhero. Blue Devil is a little like how someone in the real world might react to becoming a superhero, since he finds himself pushed into the situation of having to be a superhero... other people have talked about the idea of doing a reluctant superhero before, but this is a real reluctant hero." Cohn also added: "Blue Devil was created from the feeling that the essence of the superhero book has been lost. Superhero books today are very serious and grim, pretending that everything is real, which is nonsense. Every time you have a character jumping about in his underwear, it is obviously fantasy... we want to have a fun fantasy, a sense of rollicking adventure." An anecdote from editor Alan Gold in Blue Devil issue #2 revealed that Len Wein (editor of New Teen Titans, Fury of Firestorm, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Camelot 3000, Batman and the Outsiders, etc...) suggested to Mishkin and Cohn that Blue Devil be "a fun character -- a long-leaping, optimistic, high IQ slugger who clambered each issue out of the wreckage of heavily armored bad guys he'd taken out of commission."  To this effect, Alan Gold also professed that Blue Devil would be "sunnier and more exuberant than many, and it will be 100 percent non-preachy, non-artsy-shmartsy, and never self-important."

Blue Devil ongoing series

When the first issue of Blue Devil v1 was released, Mishkin was still about half-a-year away from finishing his run on Wonder Woman and Cohn was writing the Barren Earth back-up stories in The Warlord. Both writers had just finished up the Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld v1 maxi-series.

Like every good comic series should, Blue Devil kicks off with the all-important origin issue: while on a film shoot, stuntman Dan Cassidy saves his film crew from a demon (thanks to his Blue Devil stunt costume). Throughout the course of the battle, he gets blasted by the demon's energies and Dan somehow becomes permanently bonded to his costume. The good news: his costume grants him augmented endurance, strength, speed, hearing, vision and the ability to breathe underwater (and a few other things I'm forgetting). The bad news: he's trapped in the body of a 7" tall blue-skinned devil. This is pretty much everything you need to know in order to enjoy future issues of Blue Devil v1.

The 'man trapped in a monster's body' isn't exactly a new concept (Marvel's Ben Grimm/The Thing of the Fantastic Four immediately comes to mind), and I can see the temptation of wanting to dwell on that idea of being trapped in a monstrous body that isn't your own (the story pretty much writes itself) -- nevertheless, Mishkin and Cohn keep a relatively upbeat and action-packed story rolling and Blue Devil never really finds himself feeling sorry for himself.

Fun fact: Many readers commented that Paris Cullins' art had improved between the 16-page preview and the first issue. This was, in fact, because the preview pages had been illustrated by Paris one year prior to issue #1 being released.

Paris Cullins pencils and Gary Martin inks -- Blue Devil v1 #3

This series is enjoyable to look at. Paris' art is clean, there's lots of action in his stories and his characters are expressive. After the first four issues, it's pretty much confirmed that he and inker Gary Martin are THE Blue Devil penciller/inker team. Unfortunately, due to unknown reasons, Paris had to suddenly leave the title after issue #6. (Paris would continue illustrating the covers for this series.) This lead to a scramble to find a regular penciller/inker team for Blue Devil v1 -- what we got in the interim were a few issues pencilled by an assortment of big name talent: Gil Kane, Keith Giffen, Ernie Colon, Mike Chen and Tod Smith. It was finally settled that Alan Kupperberg (brother of writer Paul Kupperberg) would become the regular penciller starting with issue #12. Despite Alan's great pencilling work, Blue Devil fans never forgot Paris' work and would keep requesting Paris' return to the title until the very last issue of the series.

Alan Kupperberg pencils and Bill Collins inks - from Blue Devil v1 #24

Fun Fact: Mike Chen was slated to be the regular penciller on Blue Devil v1 after Paris Cullins left, but things fell through and Chen was assigned elsewhere.

Fun Fact: Readers noticed that some of the covers didn't match the story inside -- the first five issues of Blue Devil v1 were illustrated by Paris before the issue was written (they had the general plot/concept down, so Paris knew which characters would be appearing). Some fans picked up on the appearance of Blue Devil's trident on the covers of issues 2 and 3.

Together, Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn wrote twenty-eight issues of this thirty-two issue series (I'm including DC Comics Presents #96 in here). One fill-in issue was written by Todd Klein, another issue was written by editor Alan Gold (with Mishkin as story editor), and a few issues were written by Mishkin on his own.

As someone who sat down and read Blue Devil v1 from the preview issue all the way to issue #31, I can attest that Mishkin and Cohn (and editor Alan Gold) held true to their word -- this was a fun, entertaining series that didn't take itself seriously. Nobody dies, and there's no tense subplots of unrequited love or stories examining both sides of the social issue du jour. (Late in the series I thought a story was going to delve into the intricacies of the Northern Irish Conflict -- but no, it was just a set up for a FLF [Faerie Liberation Front] gag). Lots of visual gags give the observant reader something to enjoy, and most stories don't last for more than one issue.

Sometimes you've just got to stop in where everybody know your name...

From Blue Devil v1 #2. Pencils by Paris Cullins, inks by Gary Martin.

An astute reader will notice a change in direction from the first six issues of the series onwards. The issues illustrated by Paris had way more action/fight scenes and more of Blue Devil trying to figure this new situation out, whereas everything following issue #5 starts to turn into one big wacky adventure. Readers picked up on this and called editor Alan Gold out on it. Gold's reply?"Few artists can make basically mindless fighting a pleasure to look out month after month. Even if Paris had stayed on the job, I think BLUE DEVIL as the fight-of-the-month would have become a predictable bore by the end of the first year. BLUE DEVIL is hardly a cerebral experience first and foremost, but it's more than just a free-for-all. It couldn't remain a free-for-all forever."

In another issue's letter column, series editor Alan Gold would admit that he'd been encouraging Mishkin and Cohn to reach for 'ever-absurder premises' since issue #6. This was starting to backfire as readers were starting to complain about Blue Devil's 'cornball humour' from issue #7 onwards (as opposed to the tongue-in-cheek humour found in the first six issues):

Mad scientists create a giant-sized reproduction of Trickster's shoe in Blue Devil v1 #9. 

Okay, I found this funny, but some readers got annoyed and thought this was too absurd. 

Ernie Colon pencils, Gary Martin inks.

FUN FACT: Issue #11 was a fill-in issue (written by Todd Klein) that received a bit of flak from Blue Devil readers. It was an out-of-continuity 'silly dream' issue that readers either loved or hated, and it would seem like editor Alan Gold was testing the waters on what they could get away with. What's notable here is that Todd Klein (best known for his lettering) was about to become the regular writer on The Omega Men (another book Gold was editing) for the next year. Tod Smith pencilled this issue as he was just leaving The Omega Men after an (almost) 15-issue consecutive run.

Blue Devil v1 ran during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, hence it had to be involved in some way. Blue Devil v1 #5 gave us a glimpse of Harbinger and the Monitor watching Blue Devil from a satellite, and issues #17 and #18 were the actual tie-in issues. Issue #17 ends with Blue Devil being summoned by John Stewart Green Lantern to assist with a Crisis, and the story continues in Crisis On Infinite Earths #8. Blue Devil v1 #18 is the aftermath of what transpires in Omega Men #31. From Amazing Heroes Summer 1985 Preview Special, Dan Mishkin explained that "the request that DC made of all its writers and editors concerning the Crisis on Infinite Earths was that all books across the line tie in to Crisis." Blue Devil has the distinction of being one of the few books to not have anything really change due to Crisis On Infinite Earths (aka: no deaths, no retcons, no new costumes or powers, etc...). Kudos to Mishkin and Cohn for weathering the storm (of crimson skies).

A Blue Devil Summer Special (aka: Blue Devil Annual #1) was published around the same time as the Crisis tie-ins. What's notable about this annual is that the original Blue Devil art team (Paris Cullins on pencils and Gary Martin on inks) returned to illustrated this one. Many readers felt that Blue Devil v1 found it's stride with this annual. I tend to agree. This issue is jam-packed with mystical guest stars, featured pin-ups of the regular cast and included a board game. As an added bonus, this issue features a schematic of Blue Devil's exo-suit (before it was mystically bonded to his body):

Blue Devil's exo-suit (as seen in Blue Devil Annual v1 #1)

Despite pencilling the Blue Devil Summer Fun Special (and every cover in the series), Paris Cullins would not return as regular penciller for Blue Devil. As a matter of fact, in Blue Devil v1 #24 it was announced that Paris would be the regular penciler on Len Wein's newest project, Blue Beetle. While it was never stated why Paris left Blue Devil, we do know he was slated to work on Len Wein's newest mini-series, Zero-Man. Paris had finished pencilling the first issue before being assigned to Blue Beetle. Zero-Man never saw completion or publication.

Issue #24 had readers complaining that the series was striving too hard for 'lunacy' rather than standard comic book action. Editor Alan Gold once again agreed that they've let Blue Devil become too parodic for its own good.

While most issues read like a plot from a Saturday morning cartoon, a few stories stood out to me: Blue Devil, in typical DC comics fashion, first battles and then teams up with Firestorm to take out some of Firestorm's enemies in a 3-issue story arc that ran in Fury of Firestorm #46, Blue Devil v1 #23 and Fury of Firestorm #47. This gave us an idea of what Blue Devil v1 could've been if they'd had dialed down the silly factor a notch. The most noteworthy panels aren't even in the Blue Devil issue, but in Fury of Firestorm #46:

context: Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm punches out his dad's girlfriend so she won't see him turn into Firestorm. try getting away with that in a modern comic. pencils by Joe J Brozowski, inks by Mike Machlan

Blue Devil v1 #7, guest-pencilled by Gil Kane, brought a super-serious look to the issue (as opposed to the clean, cartoony illustrations Paris had been giving us). Many fans wrote in to complain about it, but I thought it was a pretty interesting-looking issue and would've liked to have seen more. Apparently Gil was not pleased with his final output, but submitted it regardless to meet the deadline:

Gil Kane pencils and inks from Blue Devil v1 #7

The final issue, Blue Devil v1 #31, was another issue that stood out to me. It was a nice two-part story in a giant-sized issue that made me realize how much I was going to miss this series now that it was over. The first part was written by Bob Rozakis and illustrated by Bob Orzechowski/Dave Hunt and had humorous undertones set in an everyday setting. The second part was written by Mishkin & Cohn and illustrated by Dan Jurgens/Gary Martin, was a continuation of the first story but it played up the mystical angle a bit more. This entire issue demonstrated that Blue Devil was a very versatile character who could be played effectively in all sorts of situations with the right creative team.

Mishkin and Cohn made the right call in integrating a mix of new Blue Devil characters as well as bonafide pre-established DCU characters into the series. Blue Devil v1 had guest stars galore... Superman, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Black Orchid, Creeper, John Stewart Green Lantern (to name a few). It's not only superheroes who pop up, but supervillains as well -- during the course of the series Blue Devil battles Metallo, The Trickster, The Fisherman, Toy Man, Captain Boomerang and a bunch more I don't feel like spoiling. I really enjoyed this about the series -- every new issue filled me with anticipation as I was curious to see which DCU character would be popping up next. It was also a great way to keep Blue Devil 'anchored' to the DCU, since he had his own cast of support characters who could arguably have kept him in his own private world.

Fun Fact: Etrigan the Demon made an appearance in a two-part Blue Devil v1 story that compelled a few readers to write in and complain that the creative team was undoing all the good characterization Alan Moore had done for Etrigan in Saga of the Swamp Thing #27 - #29 (published about one year prior).

Someone tell that Demon to keep his shirt on!
(a coloring error had Etrigan appear shirtless). 

From Blue Devil v1 #13. Pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Gary Martin.

Legacy

A few characters created for Blue Devil v1 did see life outside of the series. Shockwave, introduced in Blue Devil v1 #2, may not have seen much action after Blue Devil v1 ended -- but he was short-listed to become a Super Powers Collection action figure (along with Blue Devil) in Kenner's 4th wave of figures (circa 1986). Unfortunately, Kenner cancelled the toy line before this could materialize.

Blue Devil's first original super-villain: Shockwave! (from Blue Devil v1 #2)

Paris Cullins pencils and Gary Martin inks

The sixth issue of Blue Devil saw the first appearance of a super-villain I was vaguely familiar with, but never realized to be a Blue Devil villain. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing The Bolt:

The Bolt debuts in Blue Devil v1 #6

Pencils by Paris Cullins, inks by Ernie Colon

The Bolt would go on to sporadically appear as a villain for whatever title needed him (ex: Hawkman, Starman, Captain Atom, etc) and would continue to confuse Marvel readers when they kept mistaking him for Blackout (heyo!). The Bolt's big 'breakthrough moment' was when he became a member of John Ostrander/Kim Yale's Suicide Squad for three issues in the early nineties.

As previously mentioned, the Trickster guest stars quite a bit in this series, and not always as the villain. Mishkin and Cohn did a great job of bringing much-needed characterization to this Flash rogue -- as a matter of fact, Mishkin and Cohn even had a Trickster mini-series in the works, but nothing ever came of it.

Blue Devil and Trickster from Blue Devil v1 #8. Pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Gary Martin.

  

It wouldn't be a 'fun' comic without a sidekick, so issue #14 introduced us to Kid Devil (aka: 'Gopher' in his own kid-sized Blue Devil costume). According to editor Alan Gold, fans loved the 'costumed sidekick' idea.

Introducing... Kid Devil! (cover of Blue Devil v2 #14 - illustrated by Paris Cullins)

It's a homage to the cover of Detective Comics #38. Don't believe me?... look it up.

Kid Devil would stick around and assist Blue Devil in battling series antagonist Jock Verner and his Vanquisher for the next two issues. After the Crisis on Infinite Earth tie-in issues, Kid Devil got an entire issue to himself with Blue Devil on the sidelines. Coincidentally, Kid Devil gets 'retired from the spotlight' from Blue Devil v1 after this, for about "a year's worth of stories". Kid Devil, later renamed to 'Red Devil', would later join the Teen Titans sometime in 2007.

Fun Fact: Any OMAC fans out there? The Verner family and the Vanquisher first appeared in Mishkin and Cohn's OMAC back-up feature from 1981's The Warlord #42 - #43. Hey, DC continuity hounds: OMAC is set in the far, far future -- so this is an Easter egg of sorts.

Fan Reaction

Blue Devil v1 was infamous for having such an immensely dedicated fan base; the first several issues of Blue Devil received piles and piles of letters praising the series. "T.M. Maple" and Beau Smith (he named Blue Devil 'the best new comic of the first quarter of 1984' via Comicast-FM) wrote in frequently.

Most popular reader requests:
-Will there be a comic book adaptation of the (fictional) Blue Devil movie?
-How about a Blue Devil graphic novel? How about a Blue Devil poster?
-How about a team-up with Blue Devil and Ambush Bug?
-When is Paris Cullins coming back to draw the series?

Editor Alan Gold kept a pretty lively letter column, and even launched a contest in issue #20: "Why I Ought to Appear in Blue Devil". Readers were asked to submit short essays and photos of themselves explaining why they should be in a Blue Devil v1 story. The winner appeared in a story for Blue Devil v1 #28.

Amazing Heroes #63 saw comics reviewer R.A. Jones rank Blue Devil as one of the 10 Best books of 1984. Also in the Top 10? Power Pack, Atari Force and Jon Sable, Freelance.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry

Alan Gold's last issue as editor was Blue Devil v1 #28. Actually, Gold completely left the comic book industry to go work for the Cambridge Book Co. after this issue. A fill-in issue written by Gold (and edited by Dan Mishkin) would appear in issue #29.

Barbara Randall took over as editor starting with issue Blue Devil v1 #29. Barbara would announce that Blue Devil v1 would be facing cancellation one issue later. "The cancellation came mostly from poor sales, and having to weed some books out of the schedule to make way for new ones (like the QUESTION, CAPTAIN ATOM, THE NEW FLASH...). I'm sorry this book was one of the casualties, and maybe we'll be able to bring BD back for a Special or two, but for now, his story is drawing to a close."

The Summer of 1986 Amazing Heroes Preview Special (which I'm presuming saw publication sometime April or May 1986) had already announced that Blue Devil would be cancelled as of issue #31. As a matter of fact, due to the announced cancellation, plans for a second Blue Devil Summer Special/Annual #2 were dropped and the contents were instead printed in the double-sized Blue Devil v1 #30 (which I'm glad they did -- it was one of my favorite issues that I forgot to mention).

In the final issue's letter column, Barbara Randall would mention that plans had been drafted to take a more 'serious look' at Blue Devil/Dan Cassidy, but that they unfortunately started this planning just a little too late (aka: too late to save the book from cancellation). Denys Cowan is name-dropped as the new Blue Devil penciller had the series continued. Shucks. The Summer of 1986 Amazing Heroes Preview Special pretty much confirms it: "Starting with issue #31, Blue Devil would have been, as Dan Mishkin described it, going through a Big Revival." It's teased (in the same article) that Blue Devil would appear in a future Booster Gold issue -- which he does, in Booster Gold #10 -- but he does not turn into a recurring guest star on the title.

No Blue Devil specials or one-shots ever saw publication after this, however, Blue Devil DID make appearances in all of the major DCU events (ex: Invasion!, Armageddon 2001, War of the Gods, Eclipso: The Darkness Within).

It wouldn't be until 1993 before Mishkin and Cohn would get another crack at making Blue Devil a household name. The duo wrote a Blue Devil feature that ran in Showcase '93 for six issues. In truth, I never got around to reading this series, so I couldn't tell you anything about it. Maybe this series will end up being a future review.

cover of Showcase '93 #5 -- Jose Luis Garcia Lopez cover art

The fate of Blue Devil, from co-creator Gary Cohn:

"The book was cancelled for what was then considered low sales when it dropped below 40,000. Consider how successful a book with almost 40,000 monthly sales would be considered now."

"Dan [Mishkin] was doing other work. MY star was descending. I'm not sure, over 30 years later, of the exact machinations...but he was getting ready to move on and I was going to take it on again. Editor Alan Gold asked if I could take it in a less jokey direction. I said sure, if I had an artist who could do exciting action... and we asked Dennis [Cowan]. I was very happy about that. Dennis and I went to lunch one afternoon, brainstormed a whole bunch of great stuff, none of which I remember...and then the book was cancelled."

"BD came back in Showcase because Neal Posner was a wonderful person and editor, liked us and our work, and wanted to give BD another shot. That didn't spark any fires, and that was the end of my/our chances with him. Since then... lots of people have done lots of crazy things with the character, none of which I'd have done."

---

And there you have it -- the most thorough review of Blue Devil v1 that you're probably going to read all day today. Final verdict: do I recommend it? If you like your comic books a little wacky with lots of action and lots of guest stars, then yeah, you will probably enjoy this one. It's an escapist series that often feels like it was meant to be a Saturday morning cartoon. If you're someone who requires heavy thought-provoking material with suspense and continuity and heavy drama -- well, I'd probably skip this series. Happy Halloween.

-Justin

-I want to thank Gary Cohn for the last-minute assist in providing a quote for this article.
-I want to thank Dan Mishkin for answering that extensive list of questions I sent him almost a year ago.
-I want to direct you to Once Upon a Geek's exclusive interview with Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn (in podcast form) if you want to hear more about Blue Devil. Great work Shaggy and Ravenface!

Mark Belkin interviews Paris Cullins for DC in the 80s

The energetic Paris Cullins is best known for pencilling 1984's Blue Devil and 1986's Blue Beetle. He also illustrated 1989's Fourth World revival series, New Gods. Mark Belkin had a chance to catch up with Cullins at the 2016 Baltimore Comic-Con and ask him a few questions about his work at DC comics in the 1980s.

covers illustrated by Paris Cullins

Mark Belkin: What was it like when you were presented the Blue Beetle as a series? What was going on at the time with you and how did that come about?

Paris Cullins: I wouldn't call it a series of coincidences, but it was a series of phenomena. Y'know? First, I had this little personal problem that stopped me from completing my run on the Blue Devil. Following that, they gave me some extra things to do, but they really liked them. And then the Crisis broke through.. and when the Crisis broke through, that one little scene of the Blue Beetle fighting Chemo by the Statue of Liberty?... the FANS went BERSERK. Hundreds of letters came in. Suddenly we got a call from Dick Giordano and everybody else in the office "You've got to do Blue Beetle and you've got to do it now!" We only had 3 weeks to do it. We got 3 weeks, we put out the book, we just did it. The first 4 issues were on the run. Maybe I'd get 2 or 4 pages at a time. Or maybe he'd call me up and tell me 'this is what I want the next pages to look like'. It was almost like old Marvel was putting this book together. And then LEGENDS came out and it just interrupted the process, BUT it was an interesting run.

The panel that started it all - from Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 (1985)

I was doing my best to channel Steve Ditko. I ran into Steve Ditko three issues later in a McDonalds at 3 o'clock in the morning. He was absolutely in love with it. I got to speak with him - it was comic books and fries for four hours until the sun came up. It kind of was like an auspicious moment. It galvanized me to doing a better job for it. And I think I did.

Mark: You bet. I mean it's a classic run that still, to this day, is getting reprinted, so you know you did something amazing and something classic.

Blue Beetle v4 #2 (1967) published by Charlton Comics. Cover by Steve Ditko.

Paris: What's really amazing is last year at the Newark Comic-con, a twelve-year-old boy walked up to me and talked about all three Blue Beetles and told me mine was the best that he liked. Now, he was twelve years old - what's he doing reading my books? But he did. And he liked them. And that was great.

Mark: Yeah, those books are up there. Now, how did you get Blue Devil? How did that come about?

Paris: Well actually, here comes another Steve Ditko story. I'm telling you, this one's very strange. I was doing House of Mystery and I had just joined the DC comics intern program for artists. I just finished a werewolf story with Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin, and they asked me if I wanted another one. And I said 'of course', and they said 'well, I think we've got this one free, but I think we're giving it to Steve Ditko'. Steve Ditko called me up and said 'I don't want to do it', And they handed it to me - and it was the Blue Devil. I did it and I worked it, they liked it so much and it went from a tiny story and they said "make it bigger", so I made it bigger. So they asked again, and it took up the whole book. and they looked at it again and said "this should be a comic book!". And then from there, we got what we got.

House of Mystery #316 (1983) - early Paris Cullins art (with Tom Sutton)

Mark: I hear that Blue Devil might be coming back. Did you hear anything about that?

Paris: Well I heard that, but that's not really quite my concern. They kind of stick to this 'catholic' thing. We didn't make him catholic - he didn't sell his soul to the devil. He got tricked by something that came from another world. (We call it a 'demon', but really it's just another dimensional creature that has other-dimensional properties to it that's NOT like where we live.) He got him stuck in the costume.

The 'revised' Blue Devil. Cover of Shadowpact v1 #14 (2007). Art by Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher

We're coming out with our OWN thing, and it's called The New Devil. And The New Devil is probably going to be published by Visionary Comics and they'll printing it in Virginia. It's like the Blue Devil in the way that it's happy and fun and coincidental with full amazingness from every corner of genre of comics. He's a guy - like the Blue Devil who was stuck in a costume - he's stuck in a video game and he's trying to get out of it. And he has to save the world with it at the same time."

Mark: You're updating it for today. Video games.

Paris: There we go. Yeah, it is. And the difference is that he's very young. I think the fans are going to enjoy it and it's going to pull in a whole new crowd.

Mark: Very nice. How was it working on Who's Who with Len Wein. I remember some of those illustrations that you did...

Paris: That was really weird. George Perez suddenly couldn't do more. He was ready to do it, but then he couldn't do it. And the I got a call, and I had to finish it in a day and a half (or something like that), and then turn it over Len (Wein), and then turn it over to Dick Giordano - I had to ride to Connecticut to drop it off to him - he got it, and when over it, and it came back. After that, they made me cover artists for Who's Who for a run of six or seven issues. Maybe even eight. I can't remember. They really liked them. That was hard to keep up with. Once they did that, they just reigned over me. Just "Do this cover!" and "Now do this cover!". I became the assistant cover artist for three or four years running at DC. I drew a little bit of everything. It might've even been a bit longer than that. If you name it, I did a cover for it.

Who's Who v1 #11 (1986) cover by Paris Cullins and Dick Giordano

Mark: Now was that high stress? Or did you welcome that sort of challenge?

Paris: The name of the game in comics is 'production'. And the more you do, the more you're like the people you looked up to, And who did I look up to? Jack Kirby. Four pages a day. Four comics a month. Maybe ten or twenty covers a month. If I can do that... I'd be 'King', too.

Mark: Other than Jack Kirby, who are some of the other influences you had growing up?

Paris: Almost everybody I'd call the 'middle mainstream of comics'. Obviously George Perez. Obviously John Buscema and Sal Buscema. Sal Buscema was the mainstay of your basic comic - I mean there was action, there was drama, and you could see that he was having fun. I always got the impression that John was taking it too seriously. Y'know, that it was always well drawn... but, life has shades. I think he was the first of the big boys that didn't draw a whole lot of shades to the work. There was serious, ultra-serious, dark-serious and just a little fun. I'm not a 'little fun' guy, I like a 'lotta fun'.

Sal Buscema art from Marvel's Defenders (circa 1970s)

Mark: It definitely comes across in your artwork. Always a lot of fun reading your things. Was there any characters you wanted to work on that you never got a chance to? From the 80s...

Paris: In terms of actual comic books and not covers? A lot of them. I didn't really get to draw the Avengers. I didn't get to draw the X-Men. I drew lots of covers of everything. I wound up drawing EVERYBODY at some particular moment. Drawing cards or game boxes. There's even a lot of these RPG games, at the very beginning, that I did the covers or characters designs for and all that kind of stuff. When I first started, it wasn't just DC I worked at. I actually worked for Marvel for a bit doing Marvel Two-In-One. The two I got hired for NEVER got printed and I don't know WHY. I have no idea. I wasn't late. It just never got there. One was THE THING MEETS ROM SPACEKNIGHT and the other one was THE THING AND KA-ZAR.

Mark: Was this for Marvel Fanfare?

Paris: Marvel Fanfare, back then, was the precursor to Image [comics], because it had a Heavy Metal feel to it. It was hard following the best of the best. Not that I don't think that I was really good, because I was, but you know following behind Michael Golden was a BIG DEAL back then.

Mark: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with DC in the 80s, Paris.

-Mark Belkin

Paris Cullins at 2016 Baltimore Comic-Con

For more Blue Beetle fun, check out Kord Industries.

Blue Devil fan? Check out Sympathy for the Devil. Firestorm Fan (Shagg Matthews) has been known for appreciating Blue Devil, so give them a whirl while you're at it.