Archie’s dark side

America’s most wholesome comic wanted to remake the comics world in its image.
A new exhibit at Olin Library, “Domesticated Pulp: Archie Publications and the Comics Code,” which runs through December 17, includes ephemera from the Archie offices, including editorial policy, printer’s proofs and original artwork.

By Rosalind Early 

 October 16, 2023

Fans of Riverdale, the CW TV show based on the Archie Comics series, might be surprised to learn that in the comic books Archie Andrews never went to juvie and Veronica Lodge never ordered a hit on her father. Archie and the gang were actually a byword for wholesome, an idealized portrait of small-town American youth where the teens faced problems like making a mess when tie-dying clothes, getting up early to run charity races and making fun of Archie’s old jalopy.

“You get a vision of teenage life that has wacky hijinks but none of the angst and loathing actual teenagers experience,” says D.B. Dowd, a nationally known illustrator and professor of art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Archie publisher John Goldwater led a self-censorship organization — the Comics Code Authority — homogenizing comics for decades. 

(Courtesy Dowd Illustration Research Archive)

Introduced in 1941, Archie was as popular as it was long-lasting, but Archie’s impact on comics goes further than its popularity.

Archie publisher John Goldwater led a self-censorship organization — the Comics Code Authority (CCA), which set the decency standards for pulp publications — that would homogenize comics for decades. Without the CCA’s seal of approval, comic book publishers were essentially cut off from wholesale distribution.

Goldwater and Archie’s impact is the subject of a new exhibit in the Newman Tower of Collections and Exploration at Olin Library, “Domesticated Pulp: Archie Publications and the Comics Code.” The exhibit, which runs through December 17, includes ephemera from the Archie offices, including editorial policy, printer’s proofs, original artwork from illustrators Bob Montana and Don DeCarlo, and more.

The Archie Comic Collection, which includes more than 100 pieces of original works of art, was amassed by notable cartoonist, author and collector Craig Yoe and acquired by the University Libraries in 2020. The collection is just one of many housed in the Dowd Illustration Research Archive, which aims to preserve the history of illustration and visual culture.

“It was a trove of stuff,” says Dowd, who curated the exhibit along with Andrea Degener, interim curator of the Dowd Illustration Research Archive. But the exhibit is more than just Archie, it tells the history of pulp publishing in the United States and how the Comics Code Authority re-shaped the industry.

“The Archie Comic Collection provides a unique study of how Goldwater leveraged the code to promote the long-term success of the Riverdale universe,” Degener says. “Before the advent of Archie, Goldwater published titles like Close-Up and Dash, which were essentially pin-up magazines categorized in the men’s humor genre. But he seemed to sense an opportunity with the popularity of Archie and began branding Archie Comics as wholesome and appropriate for readers of all ages well before the code was even established.”

Pulp publishing, the rise of an industry

Kids liked pulp publications too, and some of the content was alarming to experts. In the November 1953 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal in “What Parents Don’t Know About Comic Books,” psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, MD, posited that comics could cause juvenile delinquency. (Courtesy Dowd Illustration Research Archive)

The 1930s saw the rise of “what we think of as ‘pulp’ publishing,” although cheap printing for the working class dates to the 19th century. Printed on inexpensive paper were humor comics like in the newspaper, but also detective comics, crime and horror comics, girlie magazines with pin-ups and, later, superheroes.

“There’s lots of experimentation,” Dowd says. The work was “aimed at a working-class audience, and a lot of immigrants read pulp magazines.” But kids liked pulp a lot, too, and some of the content was alarming to experts, most prominently Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist, who wrote Seduction of the Innocent that claimed comics caused juvenile delinquency.

Wertham’s outcry led to Senate hearings in 1954. William Gaines, the publisher of Entertaining Comics (EC), was advised against taking the stand. His company had titles like The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror. The covers often featured scantily clad women in danger — the exact comic books Wertham was critiquing. One of EC’s covers, “Crime SuspenStories Vol 1 No. 22,” featured a man holding a bloody hatchet in one hand and the implicitly decapitated head of a blonde woman in the other. Her body is on the floor at his feet. Gaines was asked if he thought this was appropriate.

“Yes sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic,” Gaines replied. “A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it.”


“For the most part, the Comics Code just eliminated a whole bunch of comics. A variation of the code — one that would have rated the comics for various age groups — would have been preferable.”Rebecca Wanzo

The public was scandalized. By the fall of 1954, publishers formed the Comics Magazine Association of America and the Comics Code Authority to burnish their industry’s reputation and keep the government from censoring them. As a result, comics had to adhere to certain decency standards: no sex before marriage, no pin-ups, no comics with “horror,” “terror” or “weird” in the title, etc. This meant EC had to end most of its lines.

“For the most part, the Comics Code just eliminated a whole bunch of comics,” says Rebecca Wanzo, chair and professor of women, gender and sexuality studies in Arts & Sciences and author of The Content of Our Caricature: African American Comic Art and Political Belonging. “A variation of the code — one that would have rated the comics for various age groups — would have been preferable.”
The rise of the Comics Code Authority

Behind the censorship was Goldwater, who served as president of the Comics Magazine Association of America for 25 years. He had the market cornered on wholesome: Archie had proved so popular after being introduced in a Pep comic that the company, formerly MLJ Comics, renamed itself Archie Comics. And the editorial policy was clear, as a memo in the exhibit from the company explains: “Archie Andrews is a positive force; he provides wholesome, non-violent entertainment in the role of the clean-cut, ‘typical American teenager’ we wish all teenagers were.” (Emphasis theirs.)

“Archie is very much Americana. It was an answer to quiet the adult critiques that comics were the cause of rebellious youth culture,” Degener says. “For several decades, Archie Comics was the only publication with a teenage cast that could speak to both a younger and slightly older demographic. The problems faced by the cast were very cyclical and simple; the predicament was always resolved by the end of the comic and in a way that satisfied both adult and youth readership.”

Goldwater skirted his own rules, particularly with regard to pin-ups. Katy Keene, a spinoff in the Archie Comics world, was the worst offender, always striking a pin-up pose. The excuse: Keene was supposed to be modeling fashions that had been suggested by readers. (Courtesy Dowd Illustration Research Archive)

Goldwater exported his attitude about “typical” Americans to the rest of the industry. “The fixation on the typical was highly normative and majoritarian: Racial minorities were invisible, heterosexuality unquestioned, and gender roles strictly enforced,” a placard in the exhibit points out. “Critics were already speaking out against the ‘conformism’ of the 1950s, and John Goldwater is poorly remembered by the insurgents who created alternative comix in the 1960s.”

Plus, Dowd argues, Goldwater skirted his own rules, particularly with regard to pin-ups. Betty and Veronica both regularly modeled fashions in pin-up-like poses. Katy Keene, a spinoff in the Archie Comics world, was the worst offender, always striking a pin-up pose as she pulled on her stockings or powdered her nose. The excuse for all this leg? Keene was supposed to be modeling fashions that had been suggested by readers.

“Katy Keene is an interesting study because her character sets the precedent for Betty and Veronica’s famous fashion specials and one-on-one dialogue with readers,” Degener says. “Katy Keene was glamorous, and she was always followed around by her younger sister, Sis, who aspired to be like Katy. Katy even had her own fan club.”

“The term pin-up refers to a whole woman shown in an illustration in a cheese-cakey way,” Dowd says. “Betty, Veronica and Katy Keene are like pulp vixens. There’s never any sexual content, but there’s certainly a sense of buried sexuality that’s in this wholesome package. That’s why we called the exhibition ‘domesticated pulp,’ because that’s what Archie did.”

Censorship, then and today

Today, school and public libraries face scrutiny about the books they carry. Across the country, Republicans have introduced laws or regulations to prevent kids from accessing “illicit material” that is not that illicit, such as Fun Home, a graphic memoir about author Alison Bechdel’s family and struggles with her sexuality.

But Wertham was not a conservative. “Wertham was a pretty progressive psychiatrist,” Wanzo says. “He was interested in the problems of racism being represented in comics and things like that.” (This problem may have been exacerbated by the CCA, which once took issue with a Black man being depicted as an astronaut, for instance, despite that not being against the Comics Code.)

Still, the excuse for the censorship, protecting the youth, is a common refrain. “Young people are going to find ways to access things they want to access,” Wanzo says. “But there’s a tension between what the state should do in terms of regulating content and what providers should do.” She points out that parents should be able to regulate what their child sees, but not be able to eliminate legal content that others may want to see.

“The desire to control what young people encounter in the world — and the danger that they will think thoughts that aren’t ours — is deeply unattractive.”D.B. Dowd

“There are ways to talk about content,” she says.

Most publishers stopped using the Comics Code Authority by 2001, and they’d been pushing against the CCA for decades with comics like Watchmen.

One of the earliest publishers to push against the CCA was Gaines. He eventually left the pulp industry and started MAD magazine to circumvent the CCA, and for decades, the groundbreaking publication didn’t even have ads so it could be fully independent. (Learn more about MAD at another comics-focused exhibit: “MADness Unleashed: The World of MAD Magazine” in Olin Library on Level 1 of the Kagan Grand Staircase. The exhibit runs through January 28.)

Despite essentially fostering MAD magazine, very little redeems the CCA in the eyes of most comics and illustration fans. “The desire to control what young people encounter in the world — and the danger that they will think thoughts that aren’t ours — is deeply unattractive,” Dowd says.

Canada Censors Cartoons

While everyone is getting on their high horse about censorship and freedom of speech over the issue of the Danish Cartoons, and I plead guilty, lets look at the fact that in Canada in the Criminal Code cartoons are banned as well. Yep. In particular Crime Comics. By name.

Now these are particular comics that existed during the forties and fifties and were published without the censors seal of the Comics Code Authority on them. They were lurid graphic comics about crime.

Prior to the CCA most crime comics were just as lurid and usually depicted cops being killed by bad guys. The CCA then banned that kind of depiciton . But some comics like the EC series run by Mad Magazine of horror, science fiction and crime comics refused to be censored.

While the comic industry in the U.S. engaged in self censorship the Grundy's in Canada made the publication of crime comics illegal. And they still are. So are horror comics. And sex comics. And horror sex comics. Yet we see them in most comic stores.

So whatcha gonna do about it. This law is so out of date its like one of the mangled corpses that comes back to life in an EC comic.



Offences Tending to Corrupt Morals

Corrupting morals


163. (1) Every one commits an offence who

(b) makes, prints, publishes, distributes, sells or has in his possession for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation a crime comic.

Definition of “crime comic”

(7) In this section, “crime comic” means a magazine, periodical or book that exclusively or substantially comprises matter depicting pictorially

(a) the commission of crimes, real or fictitious; or

(b) events connected with the commission of crimes, real or fictitious, whether occurring before or after the commission of the crime.

The Dark Age of the Justice Society of America

All-Star Comics #57 not only marked the end of the original run of the Justice Society of America, for many it marks the end of the Golden Age. Many would end the Golden Age with World War II, others at some point in the late Forties, but, regardless, it was quite clearly the end of an era. After all, the Justice Society of America had been one of the last remaining superhero titles from the Golden Age. In the early Fifties the comic book industry would be dominated by other genres. Science fiction, horror, western, and romance comic books could be found on newstands everywhere. Perhaps the two most popular genres at the time were crime and horror. Lev Gleason' Crime Does Not Pay had debuted in 1942 and proven to be a great success. In the late Forties several other companies followed Gleason's lead and produced their own crime comic books. Horror comics appeared on the scene in the late Forties. Among the most popular titles in the genre were those published by E. C. Comics, a relative latecomer to the field. Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, and The Vault of Horror were among the best sellers in the industry. Indeed, they would become classics in the medium, inspiring not only a generation of young comic book artists and writers, but novelists and film makers as well.

It seemed that the day of the superhero was past. In 1954 Atlas Comics (formerly Timely Comics) tried to revive their superhero line. Unfortunately their revivals of Captain America, The Human Torch, and The Sub-Mariner failed--Sub-Mariner Comics lasted the longest, at nine issues. Charlton Comics' attempt to revive Fox Feature Syndicate's flagship superhero, the Blue Beetle, in the pages of Space Adventures also met with failure. Superheroes were passé or so it seemed.

Unfortunately for the comic book industry, it might have been better had they stood by the superheroes of old. Since 1947 comic books had been increasingly coming under attack in newspaper editorials and magazine articles. Many people believed that they had a deleterious effect on youth and some even believed that they led to juvenile delinquency. As hard as it is to believe today, some areas even held comic book burnings. Foremost among the industry's critics was Dr. Frederic Wertham, a noted author and at one time the senior psychiatrist at Belleview. Beginning in the Forties Wertham wrote several articles attacking comic books and in 1954 published a book on the subject, Seduction of the Innocent.

Contrary to popular belief, Wertham's primary target was not the horror comic books of the era. Dr. Wertham was much more concerned about crime comic books, although he included a large number of genres under the heading of "crime (including science fiction and horror)." Nor did he single out E. C. Comics in his attacks, though they were one of his favourite targets. In fact, the company whose comic books Wertham cited most often in his works was Fox Features Syndicate, the notorious publisher of sensationalistic and often graphic crime and jungle comic books (who, ironically, had gone out of business in 1950).

Regardless, neither Wertham's articles nor his book, Seduction of the Innocent, were hardly based on sound scientific principles. His conclusions were based primarily on his work with juvenile delinquents and contained no empirical evidence of comic books' effects on normal children. Seduction of the Innocent, in particular, is filled with a priori assumptions, conclusions based on guilt by association, and interpreting material out of context. Despite the fact that Seduction of the Innocent offered no real evidence for the harmful effects comic books supposedly had on children, the book severely damaged the industry. What had once been mere public outcry against violence in comic books soon became all out war against the comic book industry. The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, headed by Estes Kefauver, would even investigate comic books to see if there was a link between them and juvenile delinquency.

The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency regarding comic books ended inconclusively and, contrary to what many believe now, there appears to have been no real threat of government intervention in the comic book industry. Even in the absence of government intervention, however, the comic book industry perceived its existence as being threatened. In October 1954 several major publishers joined together to create the Comics Code Authority. The publishers referred to the Comics Code as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media (sic)." With the Comics Code in effect, most comic books became very squeaky clean affairs, with an absolute minimum of violence and absolutely no sex (not that there ever had been any to begin with). Perhaps as a result, comic book sales plummeted to all time lows.

Another EC classic from artist Johnny Craig. This controversial cover holds a special place in the history of the formation of the Comics Code. I've borrowed the following commentary from Richard Wolfe's excellent crime comic cover website- Crimeboss

[This cover] wins the contest for "most notorious cover illustration" hands down. When the Senate Committe of the Judiciary to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency began hearings in New York City in 1954, this particular cover caught the eye of Senator Estes Kefauver. William Gaines, the publisher of E.C. Comics, was put in the awkward position of having to defend the cover:

"Here is your May issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up, which has been severed from her body. Do you think that's in good taste?" asked Kefauver.
"Yes, sir, I do...for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that blood could be seen dripping from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody," replied Gaines.
"You've got blood coming out of her mouth."
"A little."

By the end of the day, William Gaines had achieved nationwide notoriety and crime comics had been pronounced guilty of corrupting the youth of America.

Tags

Canada
Criminal Code
Crime Comics
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“The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes” by Nicolas Verstappen

Comics in Thailand have enjoyed a long and rich history and have been enjoyed by people of all socio-economic classes, even though they’ve had a reputation as a form of “low culture”. In The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes, Nicolas Verstappen goes back even further than a hundred years to show just how long comics have been embedded in Thai culture.

It wasn’t just that comics were seen as lowbrow in Thailand when Verstappen set out to research his beloved art form, but pre-1980s comics were all but unknown to those in Thailand who were interested in this genre.

Due to the humid tropical climate of Thailand, monsoons and their unforgiving floods, voracious bookworms and a lack of consideration and archival endeavors, most of the pre-1980s comics production has been wiped out. Roaming markets, libraries, antiquarian bookstores and online groups, I struggled to find the seminal comics works that had been cited in the literature.

He hit the jackpot in early 2020 when more than a thousand comics from the 1930s were discovered in an attic—cut out, curated, and bound into volumes. These comics were not included in the national archives, so they were indeed a great find.

The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes, Nicolas Verstappen

 (River Books, April 2021)

Verstappen is a Belgian professor in the department of Communication Arts at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has arranged his book according to historical period, but also breaks most of the chapters into chronological profiles of almost two dozen comic writers and illustrators. He begins, however, with some context.

Verstappen goes as far back as the origins of the Thai language in southwestern China and the earliest known illustrated art appeared in Thailand in the 14th century, depicting stories of Gautama Buddha in stone reliefs.

Chulalongkorn University is named for King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) whose son Vajiravudh, later Rama VI, was educated in Britain at the turn of the century, where he learned to enjoy political satire cartoons. He even drew his own caricatures of corrupt officials to expose their vices. Rama VI also wrote crime serials along the lines of Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and Guy de Maupassant. His most significant contribution to comics, however, was establishing the Poh-Chang Academy of Arts in 1913, where many of the artists profiled in this book studied.



Sawas Jutharop was a Poh-Chang graduate and the first artist in Thailand to have a serialized comic strip in 1932. One of King Rama VI’s unfortunate legacies was an article he penned in 1914 titled “The Jews of the East”, which combined anti-Semitic tropes from Europe with anti-Chinese sentiment. Sawas Juthrop included in his comics derogatory characterizations of Chinese migrants in Thailand. He also drew a comic inspired by the American character, Popeye.

Thai culture has always been a blend of influences, so it’s not surprising to find this reflected in comics. Another illustrator of that time, Witt Sutthastien, who used the pen name Wittamin and was only seventeen at the time, combined Popeye and Mickey Mouse into a character named Ling Gee.

From the sailor, Wittamin keeps the elongated body shape with over-developed calves and forearms, the ears, the rolled-up sleeves and the famous pipe. From Disney’s mouse, Wittamn borrows the dark skin, the white hands (or gloves) and face, the prominent black nose, the oval eyes with each pupil reduced by a quarter, and the famous pair of shorts with two buttons in the front.

In another instance of blended cultures, Verstappen portrays the cartoonist Tookkata, born Pimon Galassi. The grandson of an Italian government official in Thailand during the reign of King Rama V in the early 20th century, Tookkata was also a graduate of Poh-Chang. He often wrote strong female characters and was a popular cartoonist in the four decades following World War II.

As the Cold War descended on much of the world, these fears and worries were depicted in Thai comics.

For the insurgents and soldiers in the jungle, the petrified students, the disfranchised farmers and the alienated migrants, the muted traumatic experiences of the previous decades seem to have found a derivative—and maybe cathartic—expression in the ‘silent’ and unbridled comics form.

The evolution of Thai comics and the stories they tell show the way in which Thailand changed through the decades. Verstappen has provided a comprehensive narrative to go along with the comics published in this book and displays a variety of illustration styles that range from black and white figures to those that resemble manga in vibrant colors. In the foreword, renowned cartoonist Sonny Liew writes that comics are traditionally seen as American-Anglican, Belgian-French, and Japanese. With this new book from Verstappen, Liew writes that

The work of excavation, exploration and scholarship done here opens up rich new spaces for readers to appreciate and ponder—to empower us, perhaps, to make up our own minds about what an alternative history of the medium might look like.

Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong.

 Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 August 2021  Non-Fiction

How a Canadian superhero brought queer representation to Marvel Comics

December 17, 2019 5.23pm EST


Northstar’s marriage was prominently displayed on the cover of ‘Astonishing X-Men #51.’ (Marvel)

Marvel Comics is frequently referred to as “the house of ideas,” yet the idea of a queer superhero did not fully arrive at Marvel until the 1990s. Despite Marvel’s reputation as a campus phenomenon and as a hotbed for liberal — even subversive — discourse, Stan Lee’s comics publishing juggernaut would not feature a canonically gay character until some 30 years after the debut of The Fantastic Four.

There’s a reason for that.

The 1954 Comics Code Authority — a censorship bureau that policed comics content — explicitly banned “sex perversion or any inference to same,” which comics scholar Hilary Chute notes is “a clear reference to homosexuality.” The Marvel Universe as we know it began in 1961, with the launch of Fantastic Four #1. Thus, Marvel Comics was, from the outset, actually prohibited from depicting gay characters.

So how do you a write a queer character at a time when comics are expressly forbidden from featuring queer characters?

In a word: delicately.

The slow coming out

It wasn’t until 1992 — three years after a major revision to the Comics Code officially opened the door to depictions of LGBTQ+ characters — that Marvel had their first openly gay superhero. In Alpha Flight #106 written by Scott Lobdel, the character Northstar (alias Olympic ski champion Jean-Paul Beaubier) declared: “I am gay.”

Even then this move was met with outrage by Marvel’s corporate leadership, Marvel Comics historian Sean Howe explained in his book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

Twenty years later, Northstar would also feature in Marvel’s first same-sex marriage, an event that was prominently depicted on the cover of Astonishing X-Men #51.

Astonishing X-Men #51. Written by Margaret Liu and illustrated by Dustin Weaver, published June 20, 2012. (Marvel)

A hotbed for queer subtext

Northstar had debuted way back in 1983 as part of the all-Canadian, government-sponsored superhero team, Alpha Flight. The team first appeared in the pages of X-Men, brought to life by Canadian artist and writer John Byrne and iconic X-Men writer Chris Claremont.

At the time, X-Men comics were already a hotbed for queer subtext. Comics scholar Ramzi Fawaz notes that Claremont’s X-Men “articulated mutation to the radical critiques of identity promulgated by the cultures of women’s and gay liberation.”

Another comics scholar, Scott Bukatman, puts it more simply and says: “mutant bodies are explicitly analogized to … gay bodies” in Claremont’s X-Men. It is no surprise then, that Marvel’s first gay superhero should emerge from this series.

Marvel’s first gay superhero emerged from the X-Men series. (Marvel)

Byrne described the impetus of Northstar’s sexuality:

“There needs to be gays in comics because there are gays in real life. No other reason …. The population of the fictional world should represent the real world. That’s why I created Northstar — I felt the Marvel Universe needed a gay superhero (even if I would never be allowed to say it in so many words in the comics themselves), and I felt that I should create one, rather than retrofitting an existing character.”

Validation through storytelling

Northstar’s sexuality first surfaces in Alpha Flight #7 (1983) when he meets up with “an old friend” named Raymonde who is strongly hinted to be a former lover. In the story, written by Byrne, Raymonde comments on Northstar’s good looks. He also references the secretive nature of his relationship with Jean-Paul: “Then you have not really told your sister all about me, after all, Jean-Paul? I thought that would have been odd.”

From Alpha Flight #7 (Marvel)

When Raymonde is later murdered, Northstar snaps with blind rage. The narrative caption tells us: “And Raymonde had led him out of that dark fear, into the bright clear light of self-acceptance.”

In 1983, the narrative of a former lover being murdered and thus spurring the superhero to action and emotional eruption was already a comics cliché. But staging that through a same-sex couple establishes a sort of subtextual validation of Northstar’s relationship as something more than the Comics Code Authority “sex perversion” label.

Two years later, in the 1985 limited series X-Men and Alpha Flight, Northstar’s sexuality is once again woven into a key story, this time written by Claremont. After having his consciousness briefly absorbed by the X-Man Rogue, Northstar becomes furious that she now knows his “secrets.”

In a misguided attempt to help Northstar, Rogue then asks him to dance at a very public reception. When Northstar’s own teammates make fun of the incongruity of Northstar dancing at a ball with a woman, Rogue thinks “None of y’all understand him the way ah do.”

In the face of this ridicule, a stoic Jean-Paul takes Rogue up on the dance. She remarks “You don’t have to,” to which he replies, “Yes, Rogue. I do.”

From X-Men and Alpha Flight #1 (Marvel)

Northstar

On the literal level, Northstar is being ridiculed for his general disinterest in heterosexual romance. But Claremont is crafting a story of a man who struggles with his closeted sexuality in the face of social pressures.

It’s a sympathetic portrayal of the character that helps to normalize the concept of a gay superhero, even if Marvel couldn’t identify him that way at the time.

Whether through delicate subtext or comics covering wedding events, Northstar holds a uniquely prominent and, at times, poignant position in the history of LGBTQ+ superheroes.

As we come to understand the importance of diverse representation within the superhero genre, this is a character that needs to be known, discussed and hopefully appreciated.

How a Canadian superhero brought queer representation to Marvel Comics
December 17, 2019 5.23pm EST
Author
J. Andrew Deman
Professor, University of Waterloo

Disclosure statement
J. Andrew Deman receives funding from SSHRC to study the X-Men comics of Chris Claremont.

Partners
University of Waterloo


University of Waterloo provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LGBTQ

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=GAY

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=COMICS

Two Black former DC Comics editors describe the career obstacles they faced, from white leadership saying they'd never be promoted to their achievements being undercut

tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark) 

© DC Comics; Samantha Lee/Business Insider DC Comics; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Harvey Richards and Lateef Ade "L.A." Williams, two Black former DC Comics editorial staffers, told Business Insider they felt their careers at the company were hindered because of their race.

Richards was fired in December 2019 after 22 years and was the only Black editorial staffer at DC when he left. He was only promoted once. 

Williams exited in 2000 after six years without a promotion and after disputes with white members of DC leadership.

The careers of Richards and Williams cut across two decades, but the similarities in their experiences, from being told they'd never be promoted to a feeling that their achievements were not valued, show how little has changed for Black staffers.

DC's small editorial team shapes the comics that inspire lucrative movies, video games, and merchandise. Richards and Williams said that it's important for Black editors at DC to be in a position to champion diversity.

Harvey Richards and Lateef Ade "L.A." Williams have a lot in common. They both grew up reading comics with aspirations to work in the industry one day. They both ultimately nabbed roles on the editorial staff of DC Comics in the 1990s.

And they are both Black men who say they never achieved their full potential at DC Comics because of their race.

There are differences in their stories — notably, the time periods. Williams exited his role as an assistant editor in 2000 after six years without a promotion, while Richards spent 22 years at the comics giant with just one promotion before he was fired in December 2019.

But the similarities that cut across those two decades are striking and speak to how little has changed for Black editorial staffers at DC Comics and in the comics industry at large.

Richards was the only Black staffer in the main DC editorial department at the time of his exit in 2019, which included about 15 people, he said. He added that DC had since hired a Black assistant editor. DC declined to comment on personnel matters.

DC, which is home to Batman, Superman, and other iconic characters, is much larger than its comics editorial department, with around 200 employees on the publishing side. But the small team of editors shape the comics and characters that inspire lucrative movies, video games, TV shows, and merchandise.

"You need [Black] editors to help nurture talent to foster diverse characters," Richards said.

Besides being the only Black editorial staffer at the time of his exit, Richards felt stymied in his own career, he said. In his 22 years at the company, he was only promoted once. He began as an assistant editor and 12 years later, in 2009, he was promoted to associate editor.

L.A. Williams can relate.

"My personality and work style is different than Harvey's, who is different from every other name I could rattle off," Williams said. "But no matter how different our work styles or personalities are, the reality is that every one of our stories ended up the same. When it keeps happening year after year, person after person, you have to ask yourself what all of these people have in common."

A Latinx former assistant editor, who exited in 1999 after five years without a promotion, shared similar concerns with Business Insider about a lack of a career path forward at DC and a sense that her work was undervalued.

The stories of these three former DC editors are also similar to that of Charles Beacham, a former Marvel editor who spoke with Business Insider in July. Beacham was one of two Black editorial staffers Marvel had employed in the last five years and quit in 2017 because he felt his voice wasn't heard.

For Richards, there were many instances during his time at DC where he felt he was treated unfairly because of his race. He recalled specific instances with Paul Levitz, the DC publisher at the time, like when Levitz told Richards he had "grammar problems," and when Levitz told him "some people think you deserve this" when Richards won an award. Richards was never promoted while Levitz was publisher and president.

Williams also described a confrontation with Levitz, in which Levitz told Williams that he would never be promoted as long as he was publisher.

In response to a request for comment, Levitz said: "I'm not going to comment on decades old incidents. I'm proud of the increasing diversity at DC in my time as an executive there, and while we didn't achieve an ideal balance, I think much changed for the better."

Since Richards' departure, DC has taken some steps to promote diversity and inclusion.

Two women — Marie Javins and Michele Wells — were named interim editors-in-chief after recent layoffs. DC recently hired former Activision Blizzard exec Daniel Cherry, who is Black, as its new senior vice president and general manager, overseeing marketing, sales, and more for the company.

DC is also reviving Milestone, a division of DC that focused on Black characters like Static Shock and was founded in 1993 by four Black men. It ceased operations in 1997 but will return in February.

But for Richards and Williams, it's essential to have Black voices on the editorial front to help inspire change and champion a diverse set of voices and characters.

© DC Comics/Jim Lee Milestone Comics, including Static Shock, is returning in 2021. DC Comics/Jim Lee

'I've had my doubts about you'

For Williams, comics were his life. He had written his senior thesis in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts on the history of Black characters in superhero comics.

So when he got a job at DC Comics in 1994, it was a dream come true. But he faced roadblocks that previewed Richards' own experiences in the coming years.

Williams, 51, recalled an instance in 2000 when some assistant editors were given a monthly comic to edit on their own by then-executive-editor Mike Carlin, who is now a DC Entertainment creative director. Williams said the assistant editors of color were set up to fail and given comics that were doomed from the start.

But Williams turned his assigned book, "Impulse," starring a Flash sidekick that had been hurting in sales, into a success.

Carlin wasn't happy. Williams said Carlin cursed him out for getting veteran comics creator Walt Simonson to draw two issues of the comic, and "wasting his time on Impulse when he should be drawing other characters like Superman."

Carlin did not return a request for comment. DC declined to provide a comment on his behalf.

That sense of not being valued even when he succeeded was a hallmark of Williams' time at DC, he said.

After a white associate editor was fired, Carlin offered Williams to take over that editor's books, which included one of DC's best-selling comics at the time, "Wonder Woman."

Williams remembered vividly what Carlin told him: "I've had my doubts about you, but you've delivered. Everything is always on time, it sells, and critics like it."

"I thanked him for my promotion," Williams said. "And he interrupted me and said it didn't come with a promotion. I feel so stupid now, but at the time I was so confused and asked why it wouldn't come with a promotion."

More than two decades later, Williams said the answer was obvious to him.

© Harvey Richards Richards. Harvey Richards

'Some people think you deserve this'

Williams' DC career ended just as Richards' was just getting started.

Richards, 48, moved from Akron, Ohio, to New York City in 1995 and began his comics career with an internship at the original Milestone, which then shut down in 1997. His Milestone connections eventually led him to DC, where he started in the mailroom and then became an assistant editor.

"I was living my dream at this point," Richards said.

In 2001, after four years as an assistant editor, Richards was offered the chance to work on the Superman titles. It wouldn't have been a promotion, but a chance to prove himself (the chain generally went like this: assistant editor, associate editor, editor, group editor, and executive editor).

But Richards was given what he said was the "unusual" task to write about what he "could bring to the Superman books." Paul Levitz, then the EVP and publisher of DC, told Richards he had "grammar problems" after he completed the assignment.

"After that, Levitz made up his mind about me," Richards said. "I felt he already had because most people are promoted after four years. But after that, it was over, even if I got a good review or worked on good projects or got company awards for going above and beyond."

Richards won two such awards, called "Carrots," which were given by DC's parent company, Warner Bros. After he won the second time, Levitz handed it to him and said "some people think you deserve this," Richards said.

Richards was finally promoted to associate editor in 2009, 12 years after he was hired, when Diane Nelson took over as president of DC Entertainment.
'Change is going to come'

Richards' time at DC came to an end in December.

He had been put on zero-tolerance probation in August of last year. The document Richards provided Business Insider outlined "poor time management skills and an inability to meet deadlines." Richards said he was being overworked.

The day after he returned to the office from Thanksgiving break last year, he was let go with a six-month severance and told he "no longer fit company standards."

He's still looking for work while honing his digital art skills. He said a potential employer asked him why he was only promoted once in all that time at DC.

"It wasn't because of my work performance," Richards said. "I feel like they blacklisted me."

19 years earlier, Williams had left DC with similar sentiments.

After a confrontation over Williams using the likeness of the Alabama governor in an issue of "Impulse," Levitz told him: "As long as I am publisher of DC Comics, you will never be promoted. You're welcome to stay here in the role of assistant editor for as long as you like."

Williams thought the timing of the dispute — shortly after he had filed a racial-discrimination complaint with human resources against Carlin — was suspect. He quit shortly after.

"I naively thought that as long as I do good work, the comics sell, and the critics like them, I'm going to do well," he said. "As a Black man in America, I knew I wouldn't be able to make as many mistakes as others. But I thought the solution was, work harder and do better."

Their experiences highlight why editors of color are so important, Richards said. They can help "realize a creator's vision" and promote more diversity in comics. He lamented that he never got that opportunity. And Black editors in senior positions could provide a source of support for ones in assistant or associate roles, he said.

"Ideas came down, they didn't go up," he said. "And I didn't have anyone above me advocating for me."

He hopes the recent shakeup at DC affords marginalized groups more opportunities and he sees more women in comics than ever before. Jessica Chen, who is Asian American, was promoted from associate editor to editor last year, for example. But Richards also noted there is still a lack of Black women in the industry.

"Change is going to come," he said. "It has to."

From comics kept under the bed to printed collections, a new publisher is saving N.L.'s illustrated past

CBC
Sat, April 27, 2024 

Kevin Woolridge launched Heavy Sweater Comics in November and he has already published seven titles. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC - image credit)

Kevin Woolridge launched Heavy Sweater Comics in November. He has already published seven titles, including three of his own. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's very own comic book publisher is introducing readers to comic books made in the province and wants to push local artists to get their work out there.

Kevin Woolridge, who launched Heavy Sweater Comics in November, marvels at how quickly it has grown since then, as he now has seven titles in print.


"It's built up very quickly," said Woolridge at his vendor table during last weekend's annual Sci-Fi on the Rock convention in downtown St. John's.

At his table was a sign proclaiming "Local Comics" and a display of the titles he has published, including Andrew Hawthorn's My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yardarm and his own Fishsticks and Andy and the Magic Box, as well as buttons and watercolour prints.

When people hear there's a local comic book publishing company, he said, it grabs their attention.

"The local comic community, the cartooning community, are really excited about this work. Because in a way it's kind of lighting a fire underneath some of their butts, you know?" he told CBC News.

During the convention he also released three new titles: Jennifer Barrett's Werebears and Only Children: The Good Ones, Sam Dinn's Dirty Laundry and his own autobiographical comic Nothing Super Important.

An official launch party for the new comic books was scheduled for Friday at the LSPU Hall's Cox & Palmer Second Space, he said.

Heavy Sweater Comics is currently the only active comic book publisher in the province.

Woolridge previously told CBC News that prior to starting his company he had been self-publishing his comics under the name Little Grey Dog Comics and Games but he realized there was already a publisher with a similar name, so he had to select a new name for his company.

He said his friends started throwing out words they associated with him, and Woolridge happened to like heavy sweaters, and the name stuck.

Preserving the past

Woolridge said he has experience self-publishing his own comics so it wasn't a big leap to decide to start the company and publish the works of others.

"There are people here doing it, and it's just sitting underneath their bed in a box. Why not get that material out there to the public?" he said.

Many of the books he's published are collections of previously published works. That wasn't intentional initially, he said, but it's a way for people to read comics when they're no longer easy to find.

He pointed out Werebears and Only Children was initially published on a blog and then in the Scope, an alternative newspaper in St. John's that folded in 2013. Likewise, Hawthorn's book is a collection of his webcomic On the Bounty.

"That kind of material is kind of getting lost unless it's published, right? I think I'm doing a little bit of a service just to try to get this history of comic strips, especially, out there," said Woolridge.

Artists Dinn and Barrett were at the convention for book signings.

Jennifer Barrett says publishing her comic Werebears and Only Children through Heavy Sweater Comics is a dream come true. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC)

Barrett said Werebears and Only Children started off as a "goofy webcomic" about two unnamed characters, beginning on her blog, then in the Scope, and then back online. But it had been years since she'd posted anything.

"I haven't been doing it consistently for almost 10 years, so it was nice to go back and revisit it," said Barrett.

Bringing her characters back in a collection was something that had been on her mind while she had been making her comic but never got around to, she said.

Then after a hole unexpectedly opened up in his publishing schedule, Woolridge reached out to Barrett, asking her if she wanted to put together a collection of her comics.

"I thought I should just take advantage of that because I already had all the work, the actual comics, made," said Barrett, adding that she pulled out the comics, scanned them, cleaned them up and added some new content like puzzles.

"It's just kind of like another little dream to come true after many years."

Having a local comic book publisher opens up possibilities for local artists, she said.

"What Kevin is doing is amazing, and there's a lot of great comic makers in the province already. So this is just another way to help expose that."

New titles coming

Woolridge said he has big announcements on future titles coming in the next few weeks, including a fantasy apocalyptic story and a coming of age story. He's also working on a children's book and a painted 200-page book, he said.

For the moment, Woolridge said, his focus is on publishing N.L. artists but he's been seeing submissions from across the country.

"Once I have the kind of distribution network in place, I'd like to be able to publish some more stuff — with a mandate of remaining mostly local."

Heavy Sweater Comics titles can be bought through the company's website, as well as local comic book shops Timemasters, Downtown Comics and Heroes & Hobbies, he said.

Former Marvel execs launched an ambitious comics universe as the pandemic hit. 7 months later, they have Hollywood in their sights.

© AWA AWA previewed its comics at last year's New York Comic Con. AWA

Two former Marvel executives, Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas, along with Fandom cochairman Jon Miller, founded the new comics company Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA) last year.

The company launched its first comic series, "The Resistance," in March, shortly before comics distribution was halted due to the pandemic.

Business Insider talked with Alonso and Jemas about navigating a new comic publisher through the pandemic, how it's performing, and what to expect from its future.

Two former Marvel execs, Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas, entered 2020 expecting to go full steam ahead with a new comics universe. Not only did they have decades of combined experience in the industry, but also financial backing from big-time investors like James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

But it didn't take long before they hit a complication. Their new company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA), debuted its first series in March. Five days after it was released, comics distribution was halted and shops across the country closed due to the pandemic.

That first series, AWA's "The Resistance," by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Mike Deodato Jr., was coincidentally about a virus that kills millions around the world, but gives thousands of others superpowers. It is meant to set up AWA's "shared universe," similar to Marvel and DC's in which characters live in the same universe and can interact with one another.

The distribution shutdown was painful for AWA.

"Knowing that 'The Resistance' was sitting on the racks in the comic shops and people couldn't get it was a nightmare," Alonso said.

But he wouldn't call the pandemic a setback for the company.

While comics distribution was shut down, AWA released "The Resistance" as a free digital comic, boosting awareness for the series for when the comics shutdown ended in May and readers returned to stores.

"You have to look where there's an opportunity to be discovered in a crisis," Alonso said. "People liked it, so when shops opened back up, they flew off the shelves. Comic readers are completionists. Just because they read it online doesn't deter them to buy the comic or graphic novel."

Alonso has experience seeing opportunity in crisis, having started AWA after exiting his position as Marvel's editor-in-chief during a 2017 sales slump.

He also has faith that AWA's vision of a new business model for comics, where risk and upside are split between the creator and publisher, will be able to entice creators to build a comics universe to compete with heavyweights Marvel and DC.
Alonso's Marvel exit was the catalyst for AWA

Alonso is well aware of the irony in that AWA's first series was about a pandemic, but that aligns with one of his missions for the company: reflecting the real world, which was born out of his experience at Marvel.

Alonso was editor-in-chief starting in 2011, during a time when Marvel introduced bold and diverse new characters like Miles Morales, a biracial Spider-Man. But when sales had decreased in 2017, Alonso was ousted.

"One of my goals was to introduce more diversity," Alonso said of Marvel. "It deeply offended some long-term fans. But to see Miles Morales on the big screen [in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"] was validating. It showed that being topical was a good thing. It's a foolish path to make the fans love you. Now I start the day looking at a blank canvas. You have to take chances, go with your gut, and write about the world as it is.

He was contemplating his next move in late 2018 when he got a call from Jemas, another comics veteran.

Jemas, the former president of Marvel Comics who is often credited for helping dig the company out of bankruptcy in the early 2000s, was exploring a new venture, and he wanted Alonso at his side. Jemas had previously poached Alonso for Marvel from DC in 2000.

Jemas called Alonso's departure from Marvel the spark for AWA.

"Axel is the best there is at what he does," Jemas told Business Insider.

These two former Marvel execs, along with Jon Miller, the cochairman of entertainment website Fandom, joined forces for a comics company at the intersection of titanic publishers like Marvel and DC and creator-owned publishers like Image. Jemas serves as CEO, Alonso as creative chief, and Miller as board chairman.

"In comics, you can either go to Marvel or DC and get a page rate but own nothing, or option B is creator-owned," Alonso said. "You can do something original that you own and put out in the market and hope it finds an audience. If you're lucky and your book becomes the next 'Walking Dead,' you have a stable income. If not, you may not make much money."

AWA aims to mitigate the risks for creators when launching a creator-owned comic by guaranteeing them a financial stake in the books. At Marvel or DC, creators take on little risk but own none of the IP. At a publisher like Image, they own their IP, but take on most of the financial risk. AWA aims to split the risk between the creator and the publisher.

"We do budget each series to be cash-flow positive, but our publishing business doesn't cover our overhead costs," Jemas said. "We don't expect it to until we build up a solid backlist of graphic novels and hardcover books."

Jemas said that sales have been above projections. "The Resistance" issue one landed at No. 65 on industry website Comichron's best-selling comics of March, a list dominated by much larger publishers Marvel and DC, with more than 26,000 copies sold.

Alonso said AWA's model allows creators to "bet on themselves without putting it all on the line."

That's what attracted AWA's "Year Zero" and "Devil's Highway" writer Benjamin Percy to AWA. Known for DC comics like "Green Arrow" and currently Marvel's "Wolverine," Percy got to experiment with AWA.

"Writing for DC and Marvel is a privilege and a joy of course, but it also comes with restrictions, because you're often the custodian of a character that's been around for decades," Percy told Business Insider.

© AWA/Mike Deodato Jr A group of AWA characters. AWA/Mike Deodato Jr

Hollywood is in AWA's sights

At a time when Hollywood is increasingly looking for new IP to mine, AWA's mission attracted major investors.

They include production company Sister, which was founded by Elisabeth Murdoch (the daughter of Rupert), and Stacey Snider, the former chair and CEO of Fox's film studio; James Murdoch, the son of Rupert, who has distanced himself from his father's media empire that includes Fox News and News Corp; and the venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.

"There's an arms race for great content right now between Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney itself, with Disney Plus," Alex Taussig, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, told The Wall Street Journal last year.

Both Sister and James Murdoch invested at least $5 million into the company, according to WSJ. Miller, the third AWA founder who is also a former digital chief at News Corp, facilitated Murdoch's investment, WSJ said.

"[James] Murdoch knows comic books and respected our vision," Alonso said. "He loved that we were empowering creators and giving them skin in the game. He liked that creators would be invested in it and he saw potential in that."

The goal is to eventually make the move to Hollywood and discussions have taken place, Jemas and Percy said, but they didn't disclose further details.

"Hollywood is hungry for IP," Percy said. "One of the questions you always face with studios is the question, 'What does it look like?' You show them a comic and the whole project is already storyboarded."

The comics will always come first, Alonso said.

"Our goal is to create a respected publisher first," he said. "We have to make comic books first. I'm not a director or screenwriter or showrunner. I make comic books. But I want to make comic books that people would want to see on the screen."

But Alonso also noted, "No one does comics saying 'I hope we just end here.'" Once the comics universe has strong enough legs, it's inevitable that AWA will try to make the leap to movies and TV.

The future plans for those comics?

Alonso said that the second volume of "The Resistance" has already been written and is being drawn. He compared the books to TV seasons, meaning they'll be told in different volumes but will be an ongoing story. Readers can expect work from popular creators like Reginald Hudlin, Garth Ennis, and Frank Cho, who are all on the company's creative council.

"The number one rule when we spoke to investors and amongst ourselves is to be patient," Alonso said.
Read the original article on Business Insider

How Marvel Comics fooled comic book censors by turning Vampires into Dinosaurs


Marvel Comics' tradition of horror heroes started by tricking old school comic book censors with dinosaurs

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

By George Marston 1 day ago

The post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens up some interesting possibilities for the future of Sony Pictures' budding Spider-Man adjacent film universe, which next expands with January 28, 2022's Morbius, based on the infamous Marvel vampire.

The film's previously released trailer shows strong horror movie elements involved in scientist Michael Morbius' transformation into a so-called 'Living Vampire' - along with possible connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which may or may not exist in the same continuity as Sony's films at this point.


(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Despite being more of a cult favorite than a household name, Morbius the Living Vampire holds a special place in Marvel lore.


Though Marvel Comics featured vampire characters in its early days as Timely Comics and its subsequent Atlas Comics era, the 1954 implementation of the Comics Code Authority prohibited the depiction of the undead in comics, including zombies and vampires.

Morbius is the first character to be billed directly as a vampire in the Marvel Universe 17 years after the implementation of the CCA (hence Morbius' caveat of being a 'Living' vampire). But Morbius isn't Marvel's first attempt to skirt around the censorship rules of the era.

In fact, Marvel's first big vampire villain wasn't technically a vampire at all - but a dinosaur.

How and why did Marvel decide a dinosaur-human-hybrid monster was the right choice to depict a non-vampiric vampire? And why is a vampire dinosaur so freakin' awesome?

We can answer the first question - but the latter should be obvious already.

So put on your Alan Grant style hat and your Ellie Sattler khaki shorts and get ready to play paleontologist as we dig into the bones of Marvel's vampire dinosaur, Sauron, and the circumstances that led to his creation.

Vampiresaurus Rex


(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Right off the bat (get it?) you may be asking, why couldn't Marvel just use a vampire in their comic books - especially if they had done it before.

In the '50s, mainstream comic books underwent a period of intense scrutiny in which popular psychologists began analyzing and blaming comic books for a perceived increase in societal ills and immorality (at least according to the ideals of the time). Similar to what modern fans have witnessed with alarmism over violent video games or certain genres of music, comic books began taking the blame for changing cultural attitudes.

The result was the 1954 implementation of the Comics Code Authority, a governing body similar to the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board, which analyzed and censored comic books of all genres, and ultimately gave its seal of approval to those that met its stringent content standards.


The CCA's regulations included prohibiting the depiction of explicit violence, sexuality, and drug use in comics, but the limits didn't stop there. Along with these controversial topics, the CCA went so far as to ban the depiction of numerous fantasy and sci-fi elements it deemed inappropriate - including straight-up banning the depiction of common horror monsters such as vampires and werewolves.


Maybe they thought kids would go from tying towels around their necks to play Superman to literally drinking blood and howling under a full moon? Some of the actual assertions brought about by the moral panic over comic books aren't too far off from such fantastic fears.


(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

But in the late '60s, Marvel Comics - ever the innovators - found a way to dig into some of these banned ideas without losing the security of the CCA stamp that code-approved comic books bore on their covers for decades: they'd use dinosaurs.

When writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams took over the Uncanny X-Men title in the late '60s, Thomas set about revamping the team's adventures and adding some new antagonists for the X-Men to fight. Settling on his interest in vampires for inspiration, Thomas brought in the concept of Karl Lykos, AKA Sauron - a villain with the vampiric power to drain the lifeforce of his victims to sustain himself (pay no attention CCA, no blood-drinking going on here!).
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But despite efforts to separate the concept of a vampire from the aspects of vampire mythology that were then in violation of the Comics Code, Adams' mutated bat-like design for the character was deemed to bring the concept too close to an actual vampire for the CCA's comfort, necessitating design changes to make Sauron acceptable.


Thomas and Adams took the main feature of their bat-creature - his massive, leathery wings - and twisted the rest of the design to resemble a pteranodon, a winged, crested dinosaur in the pterosaur family of great reptiles (for the paleontologists among us, we'll take this moment to acknowledge that pterosaurs aren't technically dinosaurs, despite their cultural associations).


Taking the design away from a bat-inspired direction also allowed Thomas and Adams to give Sauron even more vampire-like powers, establishing that the villain turns into his dinosaur-like form after absorbing life force, and adding a hypnotic stare to his arsenal.


And with that, Thomas and Adams had found the way to game the Comics Code Authority's guidelines against horror characters - by going in a totally unexpected direction and making their bat monster into a dastardly dinosaur (we know, we know - pterosaur).


Sauron (whose name is taken from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - Sauron himself even says so on the page) debuted in 1969's Uncanny X-Men #60, going on to become a recurring villain for the X-Men with appearances in cartoons and video games, and even a place of honor as one of the first figures released in the beloved '90s Toy Biz X-Men action figure line.

Oddly enough though, Adams and Thomas's vampire-centric storytelling wouldn't stop there, even after the creative team split, with Adams leaving Marvel entirely to work at DC.

Blood Ties


(Image credit: DC)

By 1970, just a year after co-creating Sauron, Adams had become massively popular as the artist of several of DC's Batman titles. In the landmark Detective Comics #400, Adams, writer Frank Robbins, and editor Julius Schwarz introduced Man-Bat, the alter ego of scientist Kirk Langstrom, who becomes a giant, humanoid bat when he takes a special serum of his own making.

It's probably not a coincidence that just a little while after his human-bat-hybrid design was rejected at Marvel, Neal Adams introduced a similar character at DC - notice that Kirk Langstrom and Karl Lykos even have the same initials. And despite seemingly skirting the Comics Code Authorities rules against depicting vampires (and, in a way, werewolves too), Man-Bat made it to the page.

Man-Bat's introduction in the DC Universe was indicative of changes to come in the CCA's rules around horror characters - changes which put Roy Thomas back in mind of vampires when he took over writing Amazing Spider-Man for longtime writer (and co-creator) Stan Lee.

Lee's departure from the title once again took Peter Parker in a mad science direction, with Lee's final plot for Amazing Spider-Man #100 involving Peter taking a special serum meant to eliminate his spider-powers and allow him to live a normal life.

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

But instead of the desired effects, Peter becomes somehow even more spider-like, growing four extra arms out of his torso - undergoing his own spider transformation thanks to a special serum. Is this the influence of Man-Bat coming back around to Marvel? It's hard to say - but years later Spider-Man: The Animated Series adapted the story taking it even further with Peter's serum transforming him into a full-on Man-Spider (yes, name included).

For Thomas' part, he and artist Gil Kane picked up the tale in Amazing Spider-Man #101 by having Peter Parker visit geneticist Dr. Michael Morbius, whose research into his own rare blood disease turned him into a vampire-like creature who feeds on that pseudo-science catchall of 'lifeforce' rather than blood. And in this way, Morbius the Living Vampire, as he quickly came to be called, followed Thomas' initial idea of a vampire-like character whose powers come from science rather than mysticism that was first adapted into Sauron.

Not long after Morbius' introduction, Marvel Comics leaned even further into horror, thanks to the continued relaxation of CCA restrictions on horror characters, introducing their own version of Bram Stoker's Dracula whose title, House of Dracula, spun-off characters such as Blade, Werewolf By Night, and more.

And, in an appropriate full-circle moment, Dracula even fought the X-Men in a fan-favorite story (appropriately titled X-Men Vs. Dracula), in which he temporarily turned Storm into a vampire.

And as for Roy Thomas, he kept on with his penchant for bringing horror into superhero comics by turning J. Jonah Jameson's son John Jameson into Man-Wolf - another version of a classic horror movie monster with a twist.

Marvel's Dracula remains a presence in the Marvel Universe, with the vampire lord recently feuding with X-Force and the Avengers in separate tales. And of course, Morbius is about to get his own Sony movie - with Blade the Vampire Hunter coming to the MCU in a reboot film, and Werewolf By Night spin-off character Moon Knight getting his own MCU show. And there are even reports that a version of Werewolf By Night will come to the MCU in a 2022 Disney Plus Halloween special.

And to think, Marvel's horror legacy all started with vampire dinosaurs.


George Marston
I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)