Celebrating Artist Alex Saviuk

Celebrating the birthday of artist Alex Saviuk (August 17, 1952) with a couple of his earlier covers featuring Superman, as he worked on the Superman team-up title, DC Comics Presents, with these two issues featuring Air Wave (#55 of March, 1983) and the Atomic Knights (#57 of May, 1983).

Remembering Artist Murphy Anderson

Remembering artist Murphy Anderson on his birthday (July 9, 1926 - October 22, 2015) with a little look at his Strange Adventures...that is, two science fiction series he worked on, Captain Comet and the Atomic Knights.

Captain Comet was Adam Blake, a mutant born before his time with incredible mental powers, and the Atomic Knights included Gardner Grayle, who awoke to find himself in a post-apocalyptic world.

More on Captain Comet here, and the Atomic Knights here!

While a collection of the Atomic Knights happened over a decade ago, a planned Archive for Captain Comet never happened due to the end of the DC Archive line.

 

Superman Fights For New Year Future

To be fair, it starts with Superman fighting Father Time, but, along the way, takes us on a trip through the "future"....

...the future of that issue of Superman, where the 1980s and 1990s were still the future, and not a happy one at that.

Still, looking back at the future has to start somewhere, so, let's start with Superman, beginning at almost the ending.....

Costume, Costume -- Who's Got The Costume?

Superman #295 (January, 1976) by Elliot S. Maggin, Curt Swan and Robert Oksner (and cover by Ernie Chan), starts as many Superman issues do, with Superman foiling what he thinks is a new super villain called Father Time, who attacks him with a green energy coming from his scythe, but really has a larger plan that involves stealing Superman's super suit (Superman's main costume, made of Kryptonian fibers).  Superman tracks his costume (using the JLA signaling device in its belt buckle) to find it still in Metropolis, but Metropolis 1000 years in the future!

Superman travels through time to get there, but this isn't his usual Legion of Super-Heroes future, but instead, a world post-apocalypse, with buildings rotted for centuries, and savages roaming the streets, including one Jaxon the Mighty, who is wearing Superman's suit.  Superman battles Jaxon (who has powers, like Superman, and wants to protect the suit, having taken it recently from intelligent gorillas, to keep it for when "the Mighty One" returns).  Their battle rages, as the 20th Century Metropolis returns around them....and, with an exclamation, Jaxon realizes Superman was "the Mighty One", and their battle returns the group to 20th Century Metropolis. 

Superman gets his costume back as Father Time returns, and reveals himself to be Xenofobe, a 30th Century Green Lantern (contemporary of the Legion), who, with that time's Green Lantern Corps, had been battling the Time Trapper, who used their energy to block off every other future except the grim one Jaxon and his followers lived in.  Xenofobe left Superman, who then, as Clark Kent, wondered if Jaxon could have been a descendant of his and Lois Lane's.


But, what led to the Great Disaster and that horrible future?


That was the result of a collection of many alternate future titles DC had published over the years.

OMAC

Starting before the world was in ruins, was OMAC #1 (September-October, 1974) by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer, and their "startling look into....THE WORLD THAT'S COMING!".


In that first issue, readers are introduced to perfectly average stock boy Buddy Blank, who was transformed by scientist Myron Forest into OMAC, the One Man Army Corps (a being whose density could be controlled, as well as energy manipulated around), by Brother Eye, an orbiting satellite housing an advanced computer.  Dr. Forest died, unable to replicate the experiment, so OMAC was the one soldier of the GPA (Global Peace Agency) to fight the evils that faced this new corporate dominated world.

Those evils included Mr. Big and his assassins of Electric City, Marshall Kirovan Kafka and his mercenaries, and the Crime Cabal (and their body rejuvenation scheme), all events which kept OMAC and his Brother Eye busy....quite an impressive lot of dedicated foes OMAC had earned.

OMAC's battles against those menaces didn't prepare hm for the brilliant Dr. Sandor Skuba, who, while stealing water from the world (condensing it to super heavy blocks), also separated OMAC from Brother Eye, turning him back to Buddy Blank, leaving Buddy helpless on a small deserted island as Brother Eye was encased in asteroids.

That's where OMAC was left as the Superman issue came out.

Atomic Knights

World War III had come and gone by the start of Strange Adventures #117 (June, 1960) by John Broome and Murphy Anderson, having lasted only 20 days (from October 9, 1985 to October 29, 1985).  It seemed to be a great disaster for the world, but was both worse and not as severe as it seemed.

This was the world Sgt. Gardner Grayle (the perfectly average soldier) woke up in, in 1990, finding himself allies in school teacher Douglas Herald, his sister Marene, twin soldiers Hollis and Wayne Hobard and scientist Bryndon Smith in the town of Durvale.  This group, facing the tyrant and hoarder Black Baron, found old suits of armor that were also resistant to radiation and energy weapons, took them and became the Atomic Knights, determined to survive in this ruined world, facing other tyrants, mutated creatures, devolved humans, time transported Atlanteans, and even Mole Men (whose desire to conquer Earth sent the signal on October 9, 1985 in Strange Adventures #144 of September, 1962, that supposedly started WWIII!).

Their original adventures ended in Strange Adventures #160 (January, 1964), helping a group of orphan boys in this ravaged world of 1992.

Hercules Unbound

This particular version of Hercules premiered in Hercules Unbound #1 (October-November, 1975) by Gerry Conway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Wally Wood (with a cover by Garcia-Lopez), with Hercules breaking free of his chains on an island prison four weeks after the start of World War III, and being found by a sailing blind boy named Kevin and his dog Basil.  Kevin explained how World War III started with a nuclear blast in Greece, where his brother died, then the survivors huddled for two weeks to avoid radiation (oh, the innocent 1970s), then Kevin and Basil had to run to escape mutated humans (and set sail....thinking that his sightless self would die on sea, but luckily found by Hercules).  Ares, the god of war, had manipulated the humans to be ready for war, and one nuclear bomb was enough to start it.

The unlikely allies found others over months, including American model Jennifer Monroe (in France, who was quite resourceful, though claiming to be no Wonder Woman), and faced other gods of Olympus, mutated humans like Hunter Blood, animals mutated into humanoid forms by Cortexin, Lady Sims and her robotic constructs who used vehicles taken from other times (and may have sent the first nuclear bomb back to October, 1985 in Greece), all of which must have taken some time....

....as, Hercules and crew met the Atomic Knights in Hercules Unbound #10 (April-May, 1977) by Cary Bates, Walt Simonson and Bob Layton (thus going from 1985 to 1992 in their world's timeline...

....perhaps some odd help from blind Kevin suddenly being able to fly a plane (!!!) and taking the group from Europe to America, perhaps going through a small time warp thanks to Lady Sims).  Finding one of the Knights (Bryndon) replaced by an energy creature, the Knights had been trying to restore the dense water bricks of Dr. Skuba...and Hercules aided in this, as well as defeating the energy creature, getting a new armor forged in a Detroit auto plant in the next issue, and finding out that one of his own was possessed by the anti-Ares, one of a group of duplicate gods held by the chains Hercules broke back in that first issue....leaving Hercules and his unaffected companions to rebuild the world in 1992 when the series ended with Hercules Unbound #12 (August-September, 1977).

Kamandi

The world didn't recover so well from the Great Disaster, as many years later in a supposedly safe bunker in New York, Command D, the boy, Kamandi, was sent into this world as his grandfather was killed by a pack of humanoid wolves in Kamandi #1 (October-November, 1972) by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer, making Kamandi the last boy on Earth!

As he traversed this wild new world, Kamandi found friends such as metal mutate Ben Boxer, scientist dog Dr. Canus and mute girl Flower, finding out that it was a substance called Cortexin had helped mutate regular animals into human form (as well as dumbing down average humans, all in a 1974 issue of Kamandi....set in his timeline, of course).

Kamandi even found Superman's Kryptonian costume, guarded over by gorilla guards in Kamandi #29 (May, 1975) by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry, waiting for "the Mighty One"....which (in real time) was soon followed up by the Superman story which started all this!

Sadly, Jack Kirby left DC (and Kamandi), and later issues of the series introduced more allies, including another mute girl, Spirit, and an alien lady named Pyra, and had tied Kamandi and his Great Disaster into the OMAC series, by making OMAC Kamandi's grandfather!  Kamandi even ran into Karate Kid from the Legion of Super-Heroes, time-tossed from his own timeline thanks to help from the Lord of Time and Major Disaster.

Kamandi's last published issue (Kamandi #59 of September-October, 1978) even had an OMAC back up (following up on his adventures after surviving the island destruction but before the Great Disaster). which sadly made the pairing of Kamandi's and OMAC's world a little harder.....

....but not as bad as when an issue of DC Comics Presents with Superman claimed the Atomic Knights were only a simulation in Gardner Grayle's mind....but, that revelation (and Superman's meetings with OMAC and Kamandi, and Batman's meetings with Kamandi before the Crisis On Infinite Earths, where all these futures changed at the Dawn Of Time with issue #10, which came out in October, 1986 - with no WWIII) are a story for a future time!

The Original Apocalyptic Kingdom of The Atomic Knights

If you are reading this, then the Mayans were wrong, and the world didn’t end with a great disaster in 2012.

It’s also not the first time someone predicted the end of the world and it didn’t happen.

A man goes to sleep…and wakes up in a world devastated by an apocalypse. No, it isn’t Rick Grimes from the Walking Dead, but Sgt. Gardner Grayle from the Atomic Knights! The original post-apocalyptic Kingdom!

After all, the world didn’t end on October 9-29, 1986 with World War III (the Hydrogen War), leaving the Earth devastated, with only lonely scavengers hunting all over the world, looking for canned food, and fighting other groups of survivors, as well as mutated humans…right?

Strange Adventures After World War II

Well, that was the world according to Strange Adventures #117 (June 1960) with “The Rise of the Atomic Knights” (by writer John Broome and artist Murphy Anderson, as all of the original adventures of the Atomic Knights were done by Broome and Anderson). Perfectly average soldier Gardner Grayle found himself in a changed world…destroyed by nuclear bombs, chased by angry mobs, amnesiac to start, and would have to band together with other survivors (like teacher Douglas Herald, scientist Bryndon Smith, soldiers Wayne and Hollis Hobard, and Douglas’ sister Marene) to battle mutated monsters, alien menaces, dwindling supplies and other survivors. In this first adventure, Gardner and Douglas find the six suits of armor that are impervious to radiation and fight with the Black Baron to get the food he has stored and won’t share with others.

In Strange Adventures #120 (September, 1960), “The Menace of the Water-Raider”, the Knights fight a salt-crystalline creature that is stealing water from local survivors, with a first page splash page that was used later....


....but again, the Atomic Knights don't make the cover of the issue!

Strange Adventures #123 (December, 1960) has the Knights meet “The Cavemen of New York”, devolved NYC inhabitants, while looking for stored food for their own town of Durvale.

Again, like most of their tales, the Knights aren't on the cover!

With Strange Adventures #126 (March, 1961), the Atomic Knights go coastal and take gliders out across the vastly changed United States to “The Lost City of Los Angeles”, with the Knights feeling very much in charge of their brave new world...

....at least for now.

Still not making a cover appearance!

In Strange Adventures #129 (June, 1961), the Knights face ancient Atlanteans who had been transported across the ages into 1990, and face off against their ruler, Khagan (NOT Negan, but still, a relentless opponent), who wants the Knights and their armor to pass through a radiation belt around the Atlantean city in "World Out Of Time".

Strange Adventures #132 (September, 1961) celebrates “Thanksgiving Day — 1990″ as the citizens of Durvale celebrate with fresh vegetables grown from seeds gotten from the Atlanteans, and face off against Khagan’s troops, as Khagan and his army continue to cause trouble for the Atomic Knights!

Not making a cover (and one has to wonder how the Earth got so bad....).

Strange Adventures #135 (January, 1962) sees Khagan plan to destroy Durvale and the Atomic Knights with a weapon the Atlantean got in our nation’s capitol, with a “War In Washington”.  Getting to our nation's capital didn't solve the problems of the Atomic Knights, but was an important adventure for the team, and letting them know where things stood.

Strange Adventures #138 (March, 1962) has the Knights’ final battle with Khagan and his forces, as the team also gains two giant dalmatians in “The Attack Of The Giant Dogs”.  This also added a change to the series, with the team getting pets/steeds of giant dalmatians; having a distinctive pet is a part of any great Kingdom!

Strange Adventures #141 (June, 1962) sees the Atomic Knights fighting aliens, including Ki-Ling, who want their atomic-proof armor in the “Menace of the Metal-Looters”.


Still, the team didn't make the cover, but that would change soon...

Strange Adventures #144 (September, 1962) features the Atomic Knights in their only original run cover, and reveals the Mole People (and how they started World War III!) “When the Earth Blacked Out”.


It was the Mole People that helped life on Earth, not us (well, humans did help).

In Strange Adventures #147 (December, 1962), the Knights go to Louisiana and face King Touro and his lack of love for jazz in “The King of New Orleans”.


Seems New Orleans can survive even the Great Disaster!

Strange Adventures #150 (March, 1963) see the Knights facing off against mobile mutated flora, and they are a little mad, as they are “The Plant That Hated Humans”.


Seems the world of the future has problems with vegans....as these plants fight back!

With Strange Adventures #153 (June, 1963), Gardner and his crew being the climb back to civilization (as well as Gardner’s interest in Marene) as they battle organizer Kadey and his Blue Belts trying to get the first new car to roll off the assembly line since the disaster in “Danger In Detroit” (and a cover featuring a future Forgotten Villain, the Faceless Hunter From Saturn!).

Strange Adventures #156 (September, 1963) see the Knights save a mutated woman from villagers in the “Threat of the Witch-Woman”.

It also felt like the covers were making Saturn responsible for the trouble (though the Atomic Knights didn't crossover with any other features in Strange Adventures at the time).

In their last original recorded adventure, Strange Adventures #160 (January, 1964), “Here Come The Wild Ones” the Knights face off against the Wild Ones – a group of youngsters who have abandoned adults...


..and Kadey returns to enact revenge on the Knights, with a new device that can induce trances in others.

This series was a great example of the idea of “duck and cover” that prevailed in the 1960s…


...the idea that humanity could survive a nuclear war relatively unscathed.


Still, it’s an interesting look back at how people from that era saw the future, and that we have the belief we can survive any danger, so long as we work together.


The adventure didn’t end with Strange Adventures #160, as the Atomic Knights just don't give up!

Return Of The Atomic Knights

The Atomic Knights had most of their stories reprinted in Strange Adventures #217-231 in the 1970s.  
This run supplied them more covers than in their original run, with #219 and #226 relating to the Atomic Knights and drawn by Joe Kubert, and #223 also featuring them, drawn by Murphy Anderson!

The team even got a couple of new appearances in Hercules Unbound #10-11 in 1977 (by Cary Bates, Walt Simonson and Bob Layton) as their post-apocalyptic world was tied in with that of Hercules (and Kamandi and OMAC as well…

..though there were some inconsistencies as none of these worlds were originally planned to be part of a shared universe).


But, an even bigger disaster befell the Atomic Knights…that of real time.

As we approached the 1980s, the threat of nuclear war waned for a time (though it never really went away), and the response to it grew beyond that of fantasy…and much more than the average man (or average soldier) could deal with.

DC Comics Presents #57 (May 1983, by Dan Mishkin, Gary Kohn and Alex Saviuk) had the world of the Atomic Knights revealed to be a hoax…all a computer simulation dreamed up by average soldier, Gardner Grayle, who was trapped in a computer, and almost plunged the world into nuclear war to make his fantasy world come true…


...if not for Superman and Marene Herald (with a little secret about her as well).

Thing is, Superman then met OMAC in DC Comics Presents #61, and Kamandi in DC Comics Presents #64...


…so maybe Gardner Grayle’s Atomic War of 1986 existed somewhere…or somewhen…else).


This also left Gardner Grayle in the here and now, and available for use by others, and they made use of him!

Gardner Grayle stuck around, getting a fancy new suit of armor in Wonder Woman #324-325 in 1985, and the ability of precognition…and he planned on using these abilities to stop the end of civilization. The Atomic Knight worked with the Forgotten Heroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and even joined the Outsiders for a time…and reformed the Atomic Knights just after the Infinite Crisis to deal with the Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Bludhaven.

The Knights even appeared in the Final Crisis, and a world that was ravaged by a great disaster (and encompassed OMAC, Kamandi and Hercules Unbound as well),  becoming known as Earth-17, and is still out there somewhere in the DC Universe fighting to keep humanity alive on their own Earth....

 

...with the entire original Strange Adventures run by John Broome and Murphy Anderson being collected in a hardcover graphic novel in 2010….




So, it seems Gardner Grayle and the Atomic Knights are still great survivors, as they have battled a few would be dictators, made it through a few different Crises...


...as well as the Great Disaster!

Remembering Murphy Anderson

Murphy Anderson was an artist and an inker, working primarily for DC Comics, whose work ranged from the Silver Age Hawkman, to Captain Comet, the Spectre, Adam Strange, the team-ups of Hourman and Dr. Fate and of Black Canary and Starman, and co-creating Zatanna and the Atomic Knights; as well as years of working as the main inker for Curt Swan on Superman and Action Comics.

Working primarily in DC's Silver Age (though quite a bit of work before it), Murphy's clean style was appreciated by many, he won a 1962 Alley Award for Best Inker, a 1963 Alley Award for "artist preferred on Justice League of America", 1964 Alley Awards for "Best Inking Artist" and "Best Comic Book Cover" for Detective Comics #329, 1965 Alley Awards for "Best Inking Artist", "Best Comic Book Cover" for Brave and the Bold #61 and "Best Novel" for Showcase #55.

Murphy's awards continued to stack up, being inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1998, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1999, and in 2013 into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame.  Murphy was born on July 9th, 1926, and passed away this month at 89.

Best to let his work speak for itself!

Captain Comet in Strange Adventures

Strange Adventures

Starman and Black Canary

Hawkman and Adam Strange

Murphy's favorite

The Atomic Knights

In Action with Curt Swan

Superman and The Flash

Murphy, we'll miss you!