Celebrating Artist Terry Austin

Celebrating the birthday of artist Terry Austin (August 23, 1952).

Known mostly as an inker (and quite the prolific inker), with some of his most famous work being on Detective Comics and Uncanny X-Men...there are a few examples of his art on his own...here two issues of Amazing Heroes, with the Metal Men (#10, April 1982) and X-Men (#54, September, 1984).

Metal Legacies Of Bolland and Garcia-Lopez

Both Brian Bolland and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez were born on this date, and both of them have many years of artistic excellence...

...including both of them doing variant covers for the Metal Men limited series of 2020.

The two artists also both provided covers for the DCU: Legacies mini-series in 2010....with Bolland providing this Demon/Atom cover, and Garcia-Lopez providing the two covers for DC's Silver Age (inked by Dave Gibbons)!

Sharks Vs Robots

With Aquaman nowhere to be found, it is up to Doc Magnus' creations, the Metal Men, to stop the shark attack caused by the Ocean Master!


This little scene of beach horror first came to be in the 1978 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters, and was drawn by Walt Simonson and Joe Staton.

Eclipso After House Of Secrets

Eclipso was the main villain of House of Secrets for a time, running from House of Secrets #61 (July-August, 1963 by Bob Haney and Lee Elias) to House of Secrets #80 (September-October, 1966) as one of its main features.  Eclipso was the evil half of Solar City scientist Bruce Gordon, released when medicine man, Morphir, scratched Bruce during an eclipse with a black diamond, causing Bruce to change into Eclipso whenever there was an eclipse, first destroying Solar City and fighting with its co-creator, Prof. Simon Bennet, and his daughter, Mona (who was the love of Bruce's life).

Later, any eclipse of a light source would bring on Eclipso, and Eclipso would manifest separate from Bruce Gordon, but any strong source of light would put him back into Gordon's body.

This initial run ended, with Eclipso only having faced Prince Ra-Man (his co-star hero in House of Secrets) and Batman (in an issue of Brave and the Bold).  Still, can't keep a good villain down, and Eclipso returned again....

Justice League of America

Bruce Gordon returned first in Justice League of America #109 (January-February, 1974) by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano, with "The Doom Of The Divided Man" under a Nick Cardy cover (without Eclipso on it).


Bruce Gordon returned, trying to cure himself, but instead created two extra Eclipsos (drawing power from the Earth, nearly dooming our planet), with the three Eclipsos being quite the menace for a nearly full contingent of the JLA (except Green Lantern, but including Batman, who had faced Eclipso before), with the League eventually defeating the villain, but no luck for Bruce Gordon.



 

Metal Men

"Who Is Bruce Gordon And Why Is He Doing Those Terrible Things To Himself?" was the title of Metal Men #48 (October-November, 1976) by Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko and Walter Simonson (with Walter Simonson providing the cover...).

Mona Bennet knew, and told Nurse Isobel Sullivan and her friend, Johanna Rome, who brought her to Doctor Will Magnus (the creator of the Metal Men), who help stop Eclipso.

Eclipso faced Tin, Platinum, Iron, Gold, Lead and Mercury, heading to the Peruvian cave of Morphir and his cult on Diablo Island, using an ancient tablet and his black diamond to summon Umbra, the dark god...

...then, "The Dark God Cometh!" in Metal Men #49 (December-January, 1976/1977) by Martin Pasko and Walter Simonson (who also did this cover).


Umbra empowered Eclipso, and it was revealed that Morphir was trying to release Umbra when Bruce Gordon first interrupted him during the eclipse where Morphir scratched Gordon (and Morphir died).  Umbra planned on sacrificing the humans there to release the rest of the dark gods and destroy the Earth, but were stopped by Dr. Magnus and his Metal Men, with Mona and Bruce hoping that Eclipso was gone for good as Umbra's tablet was destroyed.

Adventure Comics

Bruce Gordon, Mona and Professor Simon Bennet quietly returned as a back up feature in Adventure Comics #457 (May-June, 1978) and Adventure Comics #458 (July-August, 1978) by Len Wein and Joe Orlando (with Frank Giacoia inking #457's "The Symbiont Syndrome", and Bob Layton inking #458's "He Who Survives!"). 

Simon and Mona were again trying to split Bruce and Eclipso, with Bruce fading away due to their split (and Eclipso escaping), trying to get more power, but ending up re-merged with Bruce Gordon again (and all this had nothing to do with Superboy, who was fading out on his own in the front story of each of these books).

This wasn't the end for Eclipso, or for Bruce Gordon, who got a job at Ferris Air for a time...

Green Lantern

Then, Eclipso returned in Green Lantern #136 (January, 1981) with "The Space Ranger Strikes Back" by Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton, at a particularly Crisis filled time for Green Lantern Hal Jordan (under a cover by Rich Buckler, Frank McLaughlin, Joe Staton, Dave Cockrum and Dick Giordano!).

Dealing with a missing Carol Ferris, a menace in 5708 (where Chairman Dasor of the Solar Delegates would bring Hal to from his current time, wiping Hal's memory and reprogramming him as Pol Manning, to be aided by Iola Vane), but Eclipso's appearance messed that up, instead with Hal ending up in Space Ranger's time (where he would be occupied for this and the next issue, fighting the Gordanians in both time periods)...all while having to deal with only having one 24 hour charge of his Power Ring!

Hal returned home to "Total Eclipso" in Green Lantern #138 of March, 1981 by Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and Joe Staton (and a cover by Dick Giordano), saving Thomas Kalmaku of Ferris Air and turning Eclipso back into Bruce Gordon....


....Hal then went on to deal with other trouble (as well as getting Bruce Gordon to recap Eclipso's origin to him), with Hal feeling the world was safe from Eclipso...


...but Eclipso came out again with his real plan, which is visible on the cover, bringing out Hal Jordan's evil side under an eclipse....

 ...and played out in Green Lantern #139 (April, 1981) by Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and Joe Staton (and another cover by Dick Giordano), under the title of "Slay On, Silvery Moon!".

Eclipso used a satellite he built (and called the Murder Moon) which he planned to use to eclipse the Earth, and bring out everyone's evil.  Hal, injured fighting his evil side, ended up back at Ferris Air (where Carol had returned, but threatening to blow up the airfield).  Green Lantern had to leave that behind and stop Eclipso's Murder Moon (manned by Nega-Men Eclipso had summoned up with the increased power his moon gave him).  Green Lantern used that extra power to split Eclipso from Bruce, casting Eclipso and his black diamond into space, stopping his plan for a while...

...but Eclipso returned (as Bruce Gordon got a job at the rebuilt Ferris Air), in Green Lantern #185 (February, 1985, by Len Wein and Dave Gibbons) to cameo in...



..."In Blackest Day" (the first of two stories in this issue) to prepare to face new Green Lantern John Stewart (with facts about how John became Green Lantern to replace Hal Jordan for a time, setting up for a battle royale...

...."In Brightest Night...!" in Green Lantern #186 (March, 1985, by Len Wein and Dave Gibbons), explaining how Eclipso got back to his Murder Moon, which he was now using to kidnap crew members (including Bruce Gordon) of Ferris Air...

...who had to be rescued by new "hero" Predator, with Green Lantern stopping Eclipso (maybe for good?) as Eclipso lost control of his Murder Moon's tractor beam, and it turned into a death ray.

Bruce Gordon showed up in the next issue of Green Lantern, but Eclipso didn't return until Swamp Thing #46 (March, 1986, as a cameo on the Monitor's satellite) and Crisis On Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985), working with other villains (and no explanation of where he had come from).

Seems time to bring down the sun on Eclipso for now, but Eclipso did return, menacing the Outsiders, the Phantom Stranger and Starman (Will Payton), Lobo and Power Girl, before revealing that he was an even bigger menace than readers knew in Eclipso: The Darkness Within #1 (July, 1992), which kicked off a series of crossovers in Annuals across the DC Universe.

More Early Brave and the Bold Team-Ups

The mid-1960s was a time of change at DC Comics!  Showcase was featuring more teams of adventurers (like the Challengers of the Unknown and the Sea Devils) and even robots (the Metal Men), and while Brave and the Bold dabbled in that, uniting various DC solo stars (including Flash and Green Lantern who got their start in Showcase) in the Justice League of America, Brave and the Bold went one step further with its 50th issue and started to team-up even more members of the DC Universe!  Picking up where we left off...

Mighty Mite Meets An Alloy

The Atom was the first return star (and the mighty mite also got a rebirth in Showcase, leading to his own title and a membership in the Justice League), and he came back to meet Doc Will Magnus’ robots…the mighty Metal Men (Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Tin and Platinum aka Tina!).  With Brave & the Bold #55 (August-September 1964, by Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon) the links in the DC Universe just grew, and we learned of Doc Magnus’ first robot, Uranium (and the robot that it created, Agantha…who was the element Silver) in the “Revenge of the Robot Reject”.  Battling menaces that Doc Magnus created just seemed to be something the Metal Men did, but this time, the Atom was a part of the mix…and both Atom and the Metal Men would return for one more non-Batman team-up, as well as many team-ups with Batman (in fact, they both even returned for team-ups with Batman and Green Arrow, a distinction they share only with the heroes Green Lantern, Robin and Black Canary!).

Return of the Scarlet Speedster and Manhunter from Mars

With Brave & the Bold #56 (October-November 1964, by Haney and Bernard Baily), it’s the first return for two stars (but neither had teamed with each other in B&B).  Flash and the Martian Manhunter had both been growing in popularity (with J’onn J’onnz moving from the back of Detective Comics to a lead feature in House of Mystery at this point), and these two faced the “Raid of the Mutant Marauders”.  It was actually a mutant android, who had the ability to become a morphed version of heroes (like half-Batman, half-Green Arrow; half-Aquaman, half-Hawkman, and even half-Martian Manhunter and half-Flash…and, he gets a little extra coverage as Batman and Green Arrow ended up being one of B&Bs most popular team-ups, foreshadowed here) who was exiled to Earth by Queen Tatania because he fell in love with her.  And the two heroes weren’t even totally responsible for its defeat…they pulled in Hawkgirl!  Irony abounds here…because of all the members of the JLA (up to and including Firestorm) only Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter never shared a cover billing with Batman!  This, along with B&B’s first Batman/Green Lantern team-up in #59 ends where the Brave and the Bold Team-Up Archives…but not the end of the story!

The Element of Change

Change was in the air…for Brave and the Bold and for its format (at least for a bit); starting with Brave & the Bold #55, George Kashdan was the solo editor of the book (having shared that title with Murray Boltinoff through issue #54), and for Brave and the Bold #57 (December 1964-January 1965) and Brave & the Bold #58 (February-March 1965), the book had a solo star whom George Kashdan came up with the basic idea of…that of Metamorpho, the Element Man!

From John Wells‘ American Comic Book Chronicles 1960-1964 - “Working from Kashdan’s formative concept, Haney named the character and wrote the script for the origin.  In the process, he developed one of the 1960′s most sharply-defined superhero casts: sarcastic adventurer Rex Mason, transformed by the mysterious Orb of Ra into Metamorpho; his wealthy blonde girlfriend Sapphire Stagg, torn between her love for Rex and her devotion to her daddy; scheming magnate Simon Stagg, whose lust for power was equaled by his desire to prevent Mason from marrying into his empire; and Java, a resurrected caveman who gleefully joined in Simon’s plots while secretly coveting Sapphire for himself”.  Kashdan and Haney brought Ramona Fradon out of maternity leave to illustrate the adventures…who graduated to a 17 issue series of his own…as well as coming back to Brave and the Bold frequently…and even being a founder of Batman’s own super-team, the Outsiders!  Sadly, these two issues have only been reprinted in black & white recently in Showcase Presents: Metamorpho, but #57 was in Super-DC Giant S-16 (1970) and #58 was in World’s Finest Comics #228 (March 1975).  Brave & the Bold #59 (April-May 1965) was also by Haney and Fradon, and introduced the Time Commander (but more on this when covering the Batman team-ups of Brave & the Bold).

The Kids Are Alright

Brave & the Bold #60 (June-July 1965) also gets a quick mention, as it was technically a solo feature, introducing the Teen Titans in a story by Bob Haney, with art by Bruno Premiani…and a cover by Nick Cardy with the kids facing the menace of the Separated Man!  This idea was capitalizing on the success of B&B #54, where the sidekicks originally met, and this made a more formal team of them, adding Wonder Girl to mix (more on that here...).  The Teen Titans came back to team with Batman four times over the history of the Brave & the Bold, as well as one team-up with Superman in World’s Finest Comics and 43 issues in their original run…and then a run from #44-53 in the 1970s, and the wild success of Wolfman and Perez‘s New Teen Titans starting in the 1980s.

This story was reprinted in the Silver Age Teen Titans Archive #1 and in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans #1.

Back To The Past

The DC Universe was growing by leaps and bounds in the mid-1960s…and helped along by the reintroduction of the original DC super-team…the Justice Society of America!  Brave & the Bold #61 and #62 (August-September and October-November 1965) cashed in on that phenomenon with a team-up of Starman (Ted Knight) and the Black Canary (Dinah Drake Lance)!  Golden Age characters like Flash, Green Lantern and Atom were reinvented in Showcase, and Hawkman modernized in Brave & the Bold, as was the idea of the Justice Society, becoming the Justice League.  Flash #123 (September 1961) brought back the original Flash, and then with Flash #137 (June 1963), the whole Justice Society was acknowledged as living on Earth-2 (a separate world away from the current heroes, but one they could interact with).  In Showcase #55 & #56 (March-April and May-June 1965), Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson had two issues featuring Dr. Fate and Hourman (two heroes who didn’t have modern counterparts) and with B&B #61 and #62, had Starman and Black Canary (with stunning art by Murphy Anderson on both issues).  The first issue had the pair fight Starman’s old foe, the Mist, and the second put them up against original Green Lantern foe, the Sportsmaster, and Wildcat foe, the Huntress. 

This was even the first Silver Age appearance of Wildcat (who would be no stranger to Brave & the Bold….but, it ended up being the Earth-1 Wildcat teaming up with Batman, in a kind of accidental creation…one of those little details that Bob Haney occasionally overlooked in his zeal to tell great stories, not unlike the creation of a modern day Wonder Girl).  For more on the 1960s appearances of the Justice Society of America, check out Alter Ego #94, which also has part of a great interview with George Kashdan by Jim Amash that gives more details on this era including on Metamorpho, and for reprints of these tales, B&B #61 is in Crisis on Multiple Earths: Team-Ups #1, B&B #62 is in Crisis on Multiple Earths:Team-Ups #2, and both are in the Black Canary Archives #1.

That’s all the space left for now, but there are still some non-Batman B&B adventures to cover, and they even involve most of the people here with a few new surprises…so, come back soon and they’ll be here.

B&B seeing you!