Atlas' Barbarians of Vengeance [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

Atlas Comics (also known as Seaboard) has a weird but brief history. The company was started in 1974 by Martin Goodman, the man who took Marvel to the top of the pile. Having sold Marvel for millions, he was ready to walk away, with his son Chip Goodman ensconced as editorial director at the "House of Ideas." When Stan Lee fired Chip, some believe, Martin took his money and began the rival company, giving it the nickname "Vengeance Inc."

Goodman's policy was simple: Copy everything Marvel. Steal their ideas, steal their people, with higher pay and creator's rights. This included their successful sword-and-sorcery title, Conan the Barbarian, which became two titles: Ironjaw by Michael Fleisher and Wulf the Barbarian by Larry Hama. Despite the fact that both Ironjaw and Wulf were wandering barbarian/princes, the two comics were as different as their underlying philosophies.

Ironjaw's creator, Mike Fleisher, had a bad boy reputation in comics. At DC he wrote such downer characters as the violent Spectre and the unattractive gunslinger, Jonah Hex. He left DC to join Atlas and create the barbarian Ironjaw, giving him the same name as the 1942 Lev Gleason Nazi villain from Boy Comics, even the same wide metallic mandible. Much has been made of the essay at the end of the first issue where the editor tells about Fleisher's method of writing Ironjaw, basing it on "what a real man, placed in that same situation, would do." Sadly, this drive for "realism" means Ironjaw is a robber, a rapist, and an idiot. He lacks Robert E Howard's brooding fatalism and comes off like an adolescent.

The first two issues of Ironjaw follow how he regains a throne he didn't even know he had lost. In a Hamlet-like scenario, the step-father had become king while the father was murdered. The baby heir Roland was supposed to be drowned, but instead was left among the rocks. He was found by the robber Tarlok, who raised the boy. Now a mighty fighter, Ironjaw seeks only gold, wine, and women. He ends up with the throne, but soon leaves it behind when he sees the job as monotonous and dull. In the third issue (May 1975), we see Ironjaw return home to his bandit brothers and rescue Tarlok from head-hunters.

Ironjaw #1 (January 1975) bore a Neal Adams cover. This is significant because Adams was the man who had produced the first covers for Marvel's Savage Tales and Savage Sword of Conan (strongly associating him with sword-and-sorcery) and because he was a relentless champion of creator's rights. Later he would be the point man on securing Jack Kirby his original art and getting the creators of Superman credit and money from DC. When the independents came along in the 1980s, he was active with companies like Pacific Comics. All that started here with Atlas, doing their best covers.

The interior art in the first issue was by Mike Sekowsky and Jack Abel. The look of the artwork was adequate, feeling a little like what Ditko had done for Warren back in 1965. Abel was one of the old crew of inkers from DC, having done Superman for years. Still, the look wasn't very Conan and Goodman wanted everything to scream Marvel. The second issue (March 1975) also had another Neal Adams cover, but the story art was done by Pablo Marcos. Marcos had been doing horror art for Skywald, Warren, and Marvel. This was his first chance to pencil and ink sword-and-sorcery and he made the most of it, producing very nice work that looked more like John Buscema's Conan than Sekowsky's did. Marcos would finish the run as artist. After Atlas folded he would become one of the regular inkers on Savage Sword of Conan.

Alternating with Ironjaw, Wulf the Barbarian #1 appeared in February 1975. Written by Larry Hama, it has a very different feel to Fleisher's downbeat work. Where Ironjaw is a Conan imitation, Wulf the Barbarian bears a stronger resemblance to JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, with its Trolls of Drakenroost and the evil sorcerer Mordek, who rules them. Young Prince Wulf of Baernholm sees his father and mother slain and swears a blood oath for vengeance. He's raised by Stavro, the king's man, but when Stavro is murdered, Wulf arms himself and pursues the killer, the same troll who had slain his mother. Using one of Stavro's juggling tricks, Wulf gets back the sword of his father and takes his first revenge. He rides off, swearing to kill the sorcerer Mordek next.

The artwork was penciled by Larry Hama and inked by Klaus Jansen, who as a young fan had written letters to Charlton's Adventures of the Man-God Hercules, eight year earlier. Now he had a chance to do his own sword-and-sorcery comic. The Hama-Jansen art looks similar to DC's Sword of Sorcery or Claw the Unconquered. It didn't look much like Conan the Barbarian, but since Ironjaw did, perhaps there was less pressure. After leaving Atlas, Jansen became inker for Frank Miller on Daredevil, a move that would establish him in comics forever.

In the second issue (April 1975) Wulf takes up with a swordswoman, a rogue, and a magician to kill a wizard who has plagued the land with drought. Like the Conan story "Rogues in the House," they enter the wizard's domain and confront horrors, including a giant water demon named Bel-Shugthra. Sacrificing one of his comrades, Wulf summons a fire elemental to fight the water demon. They flee and the tower explodes House of Usher style. Of all of Wulf's adventures this one is closest to Robert E Howard. (Well, Lin Carter and L Sprague de Camp anyway.)

By June 1975, Atlas was in trouble. The comics were not selling and Martin Goodman was losing writers and artists. The reason for leaving was not necessarily money, which Goodman had been generous with, but editorial tampering. All that promised freedom hadn't materialized when the owners looked at the sales figures. Goodman pushed for more Marvel-ness, and people left. This included both Michael Fleisher and Larry Hama. (Fleisher would write Conan the Barbarian from 1983 to 1985 before becoming a professional anthropologist. Hama would turn to acting, appearing in guest spots on MASH and Saturday Night Live, but would return to comics and create Bucky O'Hare.) In fact, all the titles were now written by Gary Friedrich. Friedrich had created Ghost Rider for Marvel and even the copy-cat "Hell Rider" for Skywald. He now had the big job of carrying on every title for the company.

June 1975 saw a strange experiment for Ironjaw. The Barbarians featuring Ironjaw #1 published a short 10-pager called "Mountain of Mutants," written by Gary Friedrich and drawn by Pablo Marcos. Ironjaw is set in a post-apocalyptic America and this story tells how mutants from the nuclear war were created. Ironjaw is captured by these twisted creatures, but his life is spared by their queen. He must fight a giant mutant in an arena to prove the worthiness of the human race. Along with this tale was a reprint of the first portion of "Andrax," a European comic written by Peter Wiechmann and drawn by superstar Jordi Bernet. It too supposes a world strangely changed by radiation with monstrous mutations. Sadly, since there were no future issues, the "Andrax" story line is left incomplete. The cover for this one-shot was drawn by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel. Buckler did not give up his gig on Batman at DC for this, but had been experimental in sword-and-sorcery comics with "The Bloodstaff"(Eerie #29, September 1970) and "The Shadow of the Sword" (Hot Stuf'#1, Summer 1974).

The changes at Atlas became apparent from the first cover. Wulf the Barbarian #s 3 and 4 had covers by Canadian newcomer, Jim Craig. Craig would pencil the last issue as well. His style is reminiscent of Joe Staton at Charlton. Even worse, the interiors art for Issue #3 was given to Leo Summers (who had drawn for Creepy) and inked by anonymous collectives like the "Atlas Bullpen." Issue #3 was written by Steven Skeates, who had created "Thane of Bagarth" at Charlton years before, then wrote for Warren and DC. Wulf and his new Moorcockian companion Rymstrydle rescue a lady from the Rat-Men and their kangaroo mounts only to find that she is destined to marry Modeo, the son of Mordek. They take her to her fiancé's tech-filled castle. Wulf almost kills Modeo until he finds out the machine master hates his father as much as Wulf does. Unfortunately, Modeo's been played for a fool and Mordek takes control of his giant robot. The good guys escape in a hot air balloon.

Issue #4 was written by Mike Friedrich (not Gary, no relation) who had only recently started publishing his independent comic anthology Star*Reach. After stealing a horse from a female brigand, Wulf falls in with Lord Makhel, an old friend of the family. The lord is afflicted with a curse, turning him into a blood-sucking fiend. The brigands attack again and Wulf is forced to kill his old friend when he transforms. The female brigand, Beatryce, escapes shouting behind her that she might one day be his queen. If more issues had been printed, we can assume Wulf eventually got his throne back and married Beatryce.

In the final issue of Ironjaw #4 (July 1975), Gary Friedrich begins the origin of Ironjaw's namesake. The adopted son of Tarlok grows up into a minstrel and his songs are turning all the bandit girls' heads. One of the bandits, Dektor, crucifies the minstrel (Conan style!), then mutilates his jaw with a hot sword. Carlotta, Dektor's betrothed, who has fallen for the minstrel, takes him to the witch Soran for medical help. The witch turns herself into a beautiful woman and falls for her patient. Not only does she save his life, but she augments his physique magically. She has a smith create his iron jaw to cover his disfigurement and allow him to speak. She also says she will take him to be trained in the martial arts so that he can exact his revenge on Dektor. The issue ends there, so we never get to see what comes about, but it's not hard to guess that Dektor will die and the witch will be spurned, Ironjaw riding away singing Lynyrd Skynrd's "Free Bird." Friedrich's approach to writing an Ironjaw story is not much different than Fleisher, except that he breaks up the flashbacks with some present day dragon-fighting.

But Atlas wasn't quite done with sword-and-sorcery yet. "Temple of the Spider" appeared in their black and white magazine, Thrilling Adventures Stories #2 (August 1975). This was written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Walt Simonson, who both knew plenty about sword-and-sorcery comics. Goodwin wrote the first and most important sword-and-sorcery stories for Warren between 1965 and 1967. Walt Simonson worked on Sword of Sorcery at DC in 1973 and then wrote and drew a sword-and-sorcery parody, "A Tale of Sword & Sorcery" for Star*Reach #1 (April 1974). In later years, Simonson would bring a sword-and-sorcery feel to Thor at Marvel.

The plot for "Temple of the Spider" follows two ronin, the young and impulsive Harada and the older Ishiro. They seek a treasure in the Temple of the Spider, but find instead a cave behind the shrine, filled with giant spiders. "Temple of the Spider" is intriguing because it shows Simonson's interest in Japanese manga, a style he partially adopts for this piece. Manga had not really hit America yet, with the first piece to appear in Star*Reach #7 (January 1977) with Sitoshi Hirota and Masaichi Mukaide's "The Bushi."

Atlas/Seaboard closed its doors fall of 1975. "Temple of the Spider" was later reprinted in Swords of Valor #3 (A-Plus Comics, 1990), a hint of what was to come in March 2011, when At Last Entertainment (started by grandson Jason Goodman) revived Wulf in a four-part mini-series written by Steve Niles and drawn by Nat Jones. The comic is dedicated to "the hard work of Martin and Chip Goodman." The new comic takes Wulf out of his barbaric world and places him in ours, chasing a hideous necromancer through dimensions. Ironjaw comes in halfway through and the two Atlas characters finally get to rumble together against some rather Cthulhian bad asses. Of all the comics produced at Atlas/Seaboard, only their sword-and-sorcery characters are remembered well enough to warrant reprinting or reviving.

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Daily Panel | Cal McDonald meets Dusty the Mummy

I'll get back to Batman tomorrow, but was re-reading Steve Niles and Kelley Jones' Last Train to Deadsville and holy cow! I always forget how awesome Jones' monsters are until I come face to face with them again.

And tying this back to Batman: if you've never read Niles and Jones' Batman: Gotham After Midnight, you're missing out. One of my favorite Batman stories ever.

Cal McDonald hates cephalopods

By Douglas A. Sirois. [via Steve Niles]

31 Days of Dracula | Little Book of Horror (2005)

In the mid-'00s, Steve Niles teamed up with some excellent comics artists to create a series of picture books called Little Books of Horror. He adapted Frankenstein with Scott Morse, War of the Worlds with Ted McKeever, and Dracula with Richard Sala.

Niles makes some changes to Stoker's novel, presumably to simplify the story, but there's nothing wrong with that. Lucy's gone, as are all of her suitors. Dracula attacks Mina directly when he arrives in England and Van Helsing is called in by Mina's dad. Van Helsing and Mina hunt Dracula alone and the end of the story is completely different (though it shares some similarities to the Lugosi film). Knowing that though, it's a fun twist on the story and Sala was the perfect choice to illustrate it, with his dark, but humorous style.

The book by itself is out of print, I think, but it's included in IDW's Big Book of Horror with the other two adaptations. I reviewed the whole collection for Robot 6 a while back.

Wulf Hates Cephalopods

31 Days of Frankenstein: Wake the Fables of Doc Adams

Fables #29 (2004)



One of the great things about Bill Willingham's Fables series is its ability to jump genres whenever it wants, like in this horror/war flashback tale. In it, the Big Bad "Bigby" Wolf leads a squad of WWII soldiers in a mission to take out some Nazis in Frankenstein's Castle. Turns out, the evil scientists are studying the Creature in hopes of making some monsters of their own. Bigby tries to stop them and Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man all over again.

Doc Frankenstein (2004)



In this series written by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix), the Monster lives through the end of Mary Shelley's novel, takes his creator's name, earns a degree, and moves through history as a fundamentalist-fighting liberal. Though the Wachowskis wrote it, Doc Frankenstein was actually created by Steve Skroce (who draws the comic) and Geoff Darrow (Hard Boiled, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot; also conceptual designs on The Matrix).

The series promoted itself as being about "the Messiah of Science who has returned to save our world from the Monsters currently running it." It's an interesting and valid take, if strident and on-the-nose.

Neal Adams' Monsters (2004)



Essentially Neal Adams' take on the Universal House movies, Monsters has Dracula coercing Frankenstein's nephew into building a new Monster by holding the man's fiance hostage. There's also a werewolf, but I don't want to spoil that part as it's one of the cooler bits in the story. It's not a perfect comic, but Adams' creature designs are cool and there's also a lengthy sketchbook section with examples of Adams' work on various horror films like From Beyond and The Funhouse.

Wake the Dead (2004)



Wake the Dead is Steve Niles' modern-day retelling of the Frankenstein story with extremely gruesome artwork by Chee. It's an interesting experiment in that it puts the story in a contemporary setting. My favorite part is that it keeps Victor as a college student. I usually forget how young he was supposed to be, instead thinking of him mostly as the Baron. The comic's set to be adapted into a film starring Haley Joel Osment.

Though it's bold, Wake the Dead isn't my favorite of Niles' adaptations of Shelley's novel. We'll get to that one this weekend.

The Marvel 52, Part Two: Midnight Sons

One of my earliest memories of Marvel's trying an imprint formula was when they put all of their supernatural books into a line called Midnight Sons. Before then, there were sort of unofficial lines (the Spider-Man titles, the X-Men books, etc.), but this was the first time I remember seeing a purposeful attempt to start a new brand. It didn't last long, but I loved it while it did. So for my Marvel 52, I'm bringing it back.

Not exactly as it appeared in the '90s though. The original Midnight Sons line-up was Blade, Blaze (featuring Johnny Blaze, who at that time wasn't the Ghost Rider, but a bike-riding carnie with a hellfire-spouting shotgun), Darkhold (about a secret group trying to limit the effects of Marvel's version of the Necronomicon), Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Morbius, Nightstalkers (a team of monster-hunting vampires), and Spirits of Vengeance (a Blaze/Ghost Rider team-up book). It was awesome, but here's my version:

42. Fin Fang Four by Scott Gray, Roger Langridge and Richard Moore



In 2005, Marvel published a Halloween event called Marvel Monsters. My version of Midnight Sons owes as much to that as to the original Midnight Sons line. One of the several Marvel Monsters one-shots was Fin Fang Four, co-written by Scott Gray and Roger Langridge and drawn by Langridge. It featured Marvel's most famous giant monster as he teamed up with other Altas-era giant monsters (a robot, a gorilla, and an alien) to fight a microscopic warlord who'd been enlarged to giant-size. In my version, they'll continue to fight giant menaces (sort of an update on Marvel's old Godzilla comic) while drawn by Richard Moore (Boneyard), who's got a knack for drawing light-hearted, but empathetic versions of classic creatures.

41. Elsa Bloodstone by Vera Brosgol and Paul Taylor

Marvel's answer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Elsa Bloodstone, daughter of monster-hunter Ulysses Bloodstone. She doesn't need a lot of introduction thanks to Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen's including her in Nextwave, but my version would be more of an adventurous romp through Marvel's monsterverse for the Young Adult crowd. Balancing fun with scares is tough, so I picked two YA comics creators who already know how to do that. Vera Brosgol's Anya's Ghost is part high-school comedy/part horror story, while Paul Taylor's Wapsi Square mixes relationship comedy with some spooky Aztec mythology in a very cool way.

40. Legion of Monsters by Paul Cornell and Richard Sala



Just an excuse to team up Marvel's versions of Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster with other monster-inspired characters Werewolf by Night, The Living Mummy, Mr. Hyde, The Lizard, Quasimodo, and Zombie. Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI13, Action Comics) could have a lot of fun with that and I'd love to see Richard Sala's takes on all those characters. There'd have to be a cute girl though, so maybe this could be a companion to Elsa Bloodstone's solo title. Especially since Marvel's already doing one kind of like that.

39. Inhumans by Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola

I wouldn't really want to offer any editorial input on this. Just: Gaiman. Mignola. Inhumans. Go!

38. Ghost Rider by Joshua Fialkov and Ben Templesmith



Though I'm perfectly okay giving Fialkov a jungle comic with The Savage Land, I'd be missing a huge opportunity if he wasn't also writing a horror comic. And I just love Templesmith's Ghost Rider.

37. Doom by Kurt Busiek and Fiona Staples

The first of a couple of villain books in my Marvel 52. Busiek's grounded enough in Marvel history to make a book work about one of its most classic villains, but he's also inventive and willing to shake things up. I'm not interested in seeing Doom fail at an endless succession of master schemes. I'd much rather read a series exploring his more personal ambitions and the clash between science and supernature. Staples would be perfect for that, especially the supernatural parts.

36. The Hulk by Steve Niles and Skottie Young



I've known Steve Niles for years and I know how much he loves this character. He'd be brilliant on a Hulk book. And just look at how Skottie Young draws him. I'm crying a little right now because this doesn't actually exist.

35. Doctor Strange by Alan Moore and Joann Sfar

Can you imagine Alan Moore on a Doctor Strange book? That might actually be dangerous to read. Doctor Strange should totally be a horror series. That folks keep trying to turn him into a superhero is a shame. Sfar would make it nice and creepy too.

34. Monsters on the Prowl by Steve Niles and Duncan Fegredo



Niles has already sort of worked on a Hulk comic. His and Fegredo's Monsters on the Prowl was another part of the Marvel Monsters event, but what was really interesting and cool about it was that it didn't feature characters inspired by classic monsters. Instead, it featured recognizable, big-name superheroes who also all have some monstrous qualities. '60s versions of Thing, Hulk, Beast,and Giant-Man fight a menagerie of Atlas-era giant monsters that have escaped from the Collector. I'd love an ongoing series with that team.

33. The Defenders by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, and Eric Powell

As you've seen in the art above, Eric Powell did the covers for the Marvel Monsters books and in my dream line he'd be drawing a book too. The Defenders isn't traditionally a supernatural book, but its founders are a sorcerer, a monster, and an unpredictable menace from beneath the waves, so I'm putting it here. I've always been much more interested in the fantasy aspects of horror than actual scares anyway, so my Midnight Sons line would reflect that. The Defenders ought to sit quite nicely in the catalog next to Monsters on the Prowl and The Hulk.

Pak and Van Lente are easy choices for a book like this. My dream lineup for characters would include Doctor Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Clea, Valkyrie, Nighthawk, and Hellcat

Tomorrow: The X-Titles!

Elsewhere...Kill All Monsters!: The Ashcan

A few cool things happened this past week.

As announced on the Kill All Monsters! blog and Jason Copland's blog, we’re printing a very limited edition KAM ashcan. Depending on how quickly the printer works, Jason will be taking copies to ECCC in early March and I’ll have some a couple of weeks later at C2E2. If there are any still left, I’ll take some to SpringCon in May as well. If you’re not going to be at either of the March shows and don’t want to take your chances about SpringCon, the best way to get yours is to contact Jason either at j(dot)copland(at)telus(dot)net or through Twitter.

The ashcan will have 28 pages (the entire first chapter of the story) of black-and-white interior art and a full colour cover, all in a landscape format. Again, this is going to have an extremely limited print run. Once they’re gone, they’re gone and Jason’s even going to include a small KAM ink drawing if you order from him. Price is only $10, which is a steal for Copland art.

And speaking of Kill All Monsters!,  I think it's been a couple of weeks since I mentioned that the webcomic is still updating with three new pages every Friday. If you haven't checked in for a bit, we've now seen some of the giant robots’ base and the Paris and Africa scenes are starting to connect.

This week I also had a story accepted to a prose anthology that I'm pretty excited about. More details as I'm allowed to reveal them, but the theme of the anthology will be a lot of fun. And in equally mysterious news, I was also invited last week to participate in a webcomic anthology that's going to be a blast.

Over at Robot 6, the latest Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs column was about the recent hullabaloo over creator-owned comics. I didn't mention Eric Powell's video, because while I agreed with a lot of what he was saying, I didn't think it was particularly helpful in the sense of offering any solutions for fixing the problems it identifies. As Tom Spurgeon says, that doesn't make it valueless, but I much prefer the thoughts of guys like Steve Niles and Skottie Young who have an approach they want to try.

Cal McDonald Hates Cephalopods

By Doug Sirois. Steve Niles has a fantastic gallery of various interpretations of hard-boiled monster-hunter Cal McDonald. Really worth checking out.

Comics News: Grizzly Shark, Dino Boy, Mystery Society, and More

Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark



Sometimes, an idea comes along that's so obvious that you don't know why no one's thought of it before. Other times, you know exactly why no one has. Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark: They Got Mixed Up falls into the latter category, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. [Robot 6]

The Return of Reptil



I've been generally uninterested in the announcements about the new Avengers team members, much less all the various spin-offs like Avengers Academy. Most of the Academy members are new characters or people I've never heard of, but I was delighted to see this promo piece featuring Reptil (the boy with dinosaur powers). I was hoping Marvel would find a place for him.

Nick Mulder and Nora Scully, Firefly comics, and Pedal-Copters after the break.

Comics News: Prose, Poetry, and Perversion

I've been a baaaad blogger this week. I'm sorry about that.

Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson



Mark Siegel's First Second Books is one of my favorite publishers. The comics they publish have fun, interesting concepts presented by unique, high-quality writers and artists. I don't think I've read a single book by them that I didn't care for, so it's no surprise that I'm also enjoying Siegel's own webcomic. Especially since it's about a riverboat captain and - if the title is to be believed - a mermaid.

The Monster in the Mist and other stories



Golden Age Comic Book Stories has a whole mess of Al Williamson adventure stories, a couple of which (like the one pictured above and another about a submarine crew trying to trace Captain Nemo's voyage) are sea-based.

Pennyfarthing Press' new website



Pennyfarthing doesn't publish a lot of books, but I like the ones they do. Especially the undersea adventures of a mermaid, a kraken, an electric fish, and the daughter of the Loch Ness Monster in The Loch. There's also the pulpy Captain Gravity, the steampunk/superheroey Victorian, and a new adventure series about Middle Eastern mythology called Anne Steelyard. Anyway, they just launched a new website and it's worth browsing around to see what they've got.

Nevermore and other Steve Niles news



Steve Niles recently posted a couple of updates on his message board about some very cool sounding projects. One is Nevermore a comics adaptation of Dennis Paoli's one-man play about Edgar Allan Poe. The book will be illustrated by multiple artists including Bernie Wrightson.

Other projects include Mystery Society (which Steve describes as "a bit more action oriented [than his usual gory stuff] with lots of creatures and unexplained phenomena"), Edge of Doom (with Kelley Jones), and Doc Macabre (with Wrightson again). Also lots of updates on film adaptations of his comics, including Dark Days, which Steve says is in the editing stage.

And Now the News: So Many Ways to Take a Life

Here's the rest of the news from last week that (mostly) wasn't about Disney's buying Marvel.

Meandering Aquaman

The Stonechat Museum - a Hawkman blog - picked up a quote I missed from Dan Didio about the difficulty of finding a spot for Aquaman in the current DCU:

Where is Aquaman: Rebirth? It’s hard for us to do a Rebirth because Rebirths stand for something to us. It’s a particular character returning who had the lead mantle of that character, and him being re-established in the world. Aquaman has never been removed from the role, with the exception of maybe what we did with the One Year Later. It’s a different sensibility going on there.

The other thing with Aquaman is he never got the level of traction the other characters did. He never broke free. Most people’s references to Aquaman really are the cartoon series from the 1960s and Super Friends. We look at Aquaman a lot of times and say "What is the iconic interpretation?" When we do that, you have 15 different answers because the problem with Aquaman ... is that every time he was rebooted, the origin was moved a little bit to the right, moved a little to the left, moved around half way and then it came back three quarters. He never really had a clear change and his story just meandered along. Our goal following Blackest Night, if there is an Aquaman, would be to make sure to get clear what the iconic interpretation is and present it in the best light possible.

I don't have any real concern that DC's going to leave Aquaman dead at the end of Blackest Night, but what this does sound like is that there are no definite plans for him yet. They're still feeling their way around, trying to get to that "iconic interpretation." Which is strange, since Didio says what the iconic interpretation is right there in his comments: the '60s and '70s cartoons. Maybe those are what I should be checking out instead of old issues of Justice League.

Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures



It's like they're making this stuff just for me now.

The Three-D Musketeers

Paul WS Anderson is adapting The Three Musketeers in 3D. I have a hard time getting as upset about this as /Film does. Anderson's not a brilliant director or anything, but he's no Uwe Boll either. I've very much enjoyed the Resident Evil movies and it's not like there aren't a zillion, other, good Musketeers movies to fall back on if this one blows.

And really? I don't get what /Film is complaining about other than some justifiable concern that Anderson may not make a very good movie. He wants to make a Musketeers film that's "rich in eye-popping action, romance and adventure?" Good! That's exactly what a Musketeers film should be. And it's kind of putting words in his mouth to say that he wants to make a "non-period period film" when all that he really said was that he didn't want the "corsets and feathered hats" to be the focus. I don't want them to be the focus either. The Three Musketeers shouldn't be The Duchess.

Gripe all you want that Anderson's making another movie. I do that about Michael Bay all the time. Just don't pretend that he's ruining some sacred franchise by doing a new version of it with some cool technology.

Untitled Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz Spy Movie

Double O Section has new information about the cool-sounding spy movie formerly known as Wichita. Like most people, I've been skimming over Wichita news because of the non-descript title and missing that it's about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her blind date turns out to be a super spy and takes her on a violent, worldwide journey to protect a powerful MacGuffin.

Fantastic Four movie reboot

I think it's interesting that on the very day the Disney/Marvel deal was announced Fox let everyone know that they're starting from scratch and making a completely new Fantastic Four movie. All they have so far is a new screenwriter with a shaky resumé, but - as much as I'll miss Chris Evans - I welcome the attempt. Please please please let them get it right this time.

Half-Minute Horrors



How scared can you get in 30 seconds? Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, R.L. Stine, and others want to help you find out.

Dark Days direct-to-DVD movie has a director



That's good news. The bad news is that Melissa George isn't returning as Stella. Not that no one else can play the role, but it would've been nice to see her back if only for continuity's sake. Hopefully they'll find someone who (with a new Eben) can stick around for a while and make future sequels like Return to Barrow and Eben and Stella.

Still, Dark Days is my favorite of the 30 Days of Night books and I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. Especially since Steve Niles has a co-writing credit on the screenplay. The director (and other writer) is Ben Ketai, who's been involved with the 30 Days of Night web shorts.

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt

This story on the proposed next film in the Rambo series sounds like it's trying very hard not to say the word "werewolf," but I totally hope that's what it's about.

Trick 'r Treat review



I've been hoping that Trick 'r Treat is as cool as that poster makes it look. According to /Film, it is.

Inglourious Wizerds



"That’s why every sonofabitch we find wearin’ a Death Eater mask, they’re gonna die."

It gets said often, but still not enough: Chris Sims is a genius.

No more Harryhausen comics



Ray Harryhausen and Bluewater Comics have parted ways, each saying that they're the party who made the decision to leave. The only disappointing part of that news is Harryhausen's statement that there are "no plans to move the properties to another publisher," because frankly the world needs Harryhausen comics. We just need some with a professional level of art that Bluewater hasn't been providing.

Of course, "no plans" doesn't mean that Harryhausen wouldn't consider other offers; just that there aren't any attractive ones on the table right this second. Hopefully someone will step up and make some comics worthy of the man's imagination. Of course, I'd rather have no Harryhausen comics than deal with the frustration of constantly seeing ones on the shelves that I have to pass up because they're awful.

Steampunk Art at Oxford



Brother Calvin's turned up a steampunk art exhibit at Oxford University. Reason #5,695 that I need to visit Britain.

Panel of the Day: Modern Prometheus

From Simon Dark #16 by Steve Niles and Scott Hampton.

Frankenstein vs. The Hulk

You know how oftentimes you read a team-up that you've been waiting years to see and it just doesn't live up to expectations? That's because Jeff Parker didn't write it.

I love the idea behind Monster-Size Hulk. It's an anthology that pits the Hulk against classic monsters. Peter David has a text story about the Hulk's meeting Dracula. Steve Niles has a cool one where the Hulk fights a werewolf. My favorite though - because it's the Monster - is Parker's Hulk vs. Frankenstein.

In any standard superhero team-up you expect the heroes to duke it out when they first meet. It's a superhero cliché and it doesn't usually make sense to the story, but that's what a lot of superhero fans want to see. Who can beat who? And really, you wouldn't want to read a Hulk-Frankenstein comic without watching them trade some blows.



Of course, Hulk had to be weakened in order to make the match even, but Parker does an awesome job explaining that. And the scene isn't even really a cliché here because the Hulk and the Monster are both well known for their rages and violence-first personalities. Of course they would fight each other. Unlike most superhero-battles, this one makes perfect sense.

But Parker also understands that these characters are awesomely similar to each other and he delivers the second thing we really want to see in a meet-up between the two of them. Hulk... friend.



The heroes making nice and teaming-up to fight a common enemy is another superhero cliché, but again, it's exactly what needs to happen in this story. It more than makes sense; it's deeply satisfying on an emotional level.

Thanks, Jeff.

God bless Steve Niles

Steve's writing the best Batman comic being published right now. Gotham After Midnight is a 12-issue mini-series that not only pits Batman against a creepy, new menace, but also against some of his classic villains who are mysteriously deviating from their standard methods of operation. It's super-fun and Kelley Jones is obviously having a great time drawing whatever insane things pop into his head. His Batman with the crazy-ass cape has never looked so awesome.

And then there's the most recent issue.



Okay, first of all, that title "The Malleable Menace" is awesome. But even better is the story that has Clayface learning to increase his size by absorbing more and more of Gotham's citizens. Eventually, he gets so big that there's no way Batman's going to be able to handle him the conventional way.

So of course Steve does the only rational thing and turns it into a giant robot vs. giant monster comic.



Ha! Look at Clayface's face! Issue #4 is going to be goooooood.

Adventureblog Theater: Metal Thor, Wonder Woman ad, Horror Noir, and Toddler Star Wars

Star Wars. By a toddler.

You've all seen this already, right? Well, just in case...



Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson's Dead, She Said



Wonder Woman doll

I love how the announcer's voice in this sounds like he's a serial killer giving clues to the police.



Thor: God of Metal

As long as we're doing weird things to superheroes. (Via.)

Friday Night Fights: Simon Dark vs. Masked Goons

So, Simon's sneaking into this building where a bunch of masked goons are waiting to jump him.



Uh oh, Simon. They got the drop on you.



Heh. Hey, dude. Look out above.




Who you guys shootin' at? Hey, man. Simon's right next to--



You're toast now, buddy. He got Rico and it's just you left.




Gotcha for the KNOCK OUT!

Bahlactus ain't afraid of the Dark.

DC in May

I'm still catching up on the solicitations for upcoming comics. I was just going to stick this in the Awesome List below, but dang if there aren't a lot of interesting comics coming from DC in May.

In no particular order:

House of Mystery #1



There aren't many people I'd trust to make an ongoing horror anthology series interesting, but Bill Willingham is one of them. Especially since he and co-writer Matt Sturges aren't doing a real anthology so much as they are a series of tales with a connected, mystery metastory running through them. Or something like that.

It's still really risky business, but like I said, I trust Willingham enough to give it a serious look.

Justice League Unlimited #45



I don't usually read this comic, but it's got Mary Marvel on the cover with a gorilla who's holding some kind of superscience device. Time to see if this compares well to Marvel's Marvel Adventures comics that I love so very truly.

Detective Comics #844



All I need to know is that Zatanna's on the cover.

Gotham Underground #8



I'm gonna have to flip through this one in the store, but Azrael's sort of appearance on the cover is getting me to at least pick it up. I fully expect him to appear in flashback or something, which means I'll be leaving it on the shelf.

Batman: Gotham After Midnight #1



Steve Niles and Kelley Jones on an ongoing about Batman's "bizarre and frightening case files" featuring grave-robbers and man-made monsters. DC just made me a regular reader of a Batman comic again.

Tor #1



This is another one I'm going to have to flip through. I absolutely love Joe Kubert's art, but the blurb bothers me a little by focusing a lot on Tor's struggle with existential questions. Not that I'm at all against having some deeper subject matter, but I want to see him struggle more with giant crocodiles than the meaning of life.

The War That Time Forgot #1



This sounds like a no-brainer. "A lone USAF pilot, about to warn his superiors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, finds his craft suddenly crash-landing on a mysterious island populated with prehistoric creatures and soldiers of wars of the past, present and future - including Tomahawk, Firehair, and Hans Von Hammer, the Enemy Ace! What bizarre force has compelled these military masters of every era to inhabit the same strange territory? Can they survive without killing each other or being devoured by dinosaurs?"

The only problem is that it's written by Bruce Jones, a guy who's sometimes taken awesome concepts and turned them into solemn, weighty stories. Again, I'm all for adding strong characterization and profound themes to all the historical soldiers vs. dinosaurs action. Let's just make sure that it's only Time and not the writer who forgets the War.