Super Powers Original Art by Dick Giordano

Comic Link had an auction for this piece of original art by Dick Giordano (they list the artist as unknown, but one look can tell this is clearly the great man's work). Also just as obviously, this was done for something Super Powers-related, though I don't recall ever seeing this particular piece on any SP merch. Anyone have any idea?

Click the pic to embiggen and enjoy the beautiful Giordano art. I love Robin jauntily laying atop GL's villain cage, it's so disrespectful to Luthor, Brainiac, the Joker, and Penguin!

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Ilke Hincer)

Super Heroes Vitamins Health Tips

I found this via a Google search the other day, and I'm confused because I can't figure out exactly where it came from.

There was a DC-specific World's Greatest Super Heroes Health Tips book, which the Shrine talked about way back in 2007. I have that book, and it doesn't feature this image at all--so what is it? The same book with a different cover? That seems unlikely, so where did this thing run? It's clearly the work of Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, which means it's gorgeous--and Aquaman is dead center!

Super Powers Collection Carrying Case

Newest F.O.A.M. member Joseph Angsten pointed out that while the Shrine has covered this Super Powers Collection Carrying Case before, all we focused on was the piece of original art that adorns the front, not the case itself. So Joseph was nice enough to send in these pics of the whole wonderfully spiffy little object!

One of the nicest bonuses to this case (besides the aforementioned awesome art by Dick Giordano) are the mini-Secret Origins comic strips for each character. Hard to tell a complete story in just five panels, but they did it:

(...hey, another entry in the Atlanna's World series!)

This really is an awesome piece, full of the dynamic art and bold colors that, to me, signified DC Comics as a whole for a good portion of my life. Would it be wrong to find this sucker on eBay and use it to carry my lunch to work? I can probably fit a sandwich in the Hawkman compartment, at least.

Thanks Joseph, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!

Super Powers Carrying Case Original Art

Here is Dick Giordano's original art (click to embiggen) for the Super Powers carrying case, a quite spiffy little item that allowed you to lug your SP action figures around. As is usually the case with the work of the late great Mr. Giordano, it is drop-dead awesome--exciting, iconic; everything superhero comic art should be!

While I did collect the Super Powers figures at the time, I never had the carrying case (let's just say I wasn't too concerned with ever having to carry them out of the house). But now of course I want it!

And check it out...of all the heroes, it looks like Aquaman is gonna be the first to paste the bad guys one! Way to go, Arthur!

Aquaman (Vol.1) #56 - April 1970

Comics Weekend "The Creature That Devoured Detroit!" by Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Dick Giordano.

The Shrine covered this issue of Aquaman previously, way back in 2007, but it was long before I thought to give the proper spotlight on the art contained in any given comic, so the recaps were very abbreviated affairs (what can I say? I was new at this). So since there's new issue of Aquaman or Justice League to talk about this week, I thought why not give this story--and its unique place in comics history--its proper due. It's a doozy, in more ways than one!

Aquaman #56 opens, not with Aquaman or any members of the Aqua-Family, but with a married couple not quite overwhelmed in marital bliss:

But Aquaman isn't the only costumed superhero in Detroit! Across town, another vigilante is on patrol:

The Crusader gets into a nasty, bare-knuckle brawl with the gang of crooks, while Aquaman's search for his friend is halted when he talks with a policeman about the creeping algae. Aquaman is told that they are spraying nearly-frozen water onto the algae, which seems to halt it's growth...temporarily.

Aquaman asks about his friend Don Powers, and is told Powers run a big-time private investigation firm downtown. The Sea King is directed to the building, and is impressed by the scale of it. When he enters, Powers recognizes his old friend, and is given a tour of the place.

Powers reveals that the satellite that has been creating all the forced daylight in Detroit is his doing! Thanks to the permanent daylight, crime is down a whopping 38%, which is music to Powers' ears! Aquaman tries to reason with him, telling him what ecological damage the satellite is doing. But Powers doesn't care, concerned only with the crime rate.

Their argument becomes heated, and some of Powers' men try to restrain Aquaman when he lunges for the satellite control room:

We follow Powers, and see him change into the costume of The Crusader!

As he suits up, we learn that Powers' eyesight has been deteriorating, and the constant daylight has been helping him with his superhero duties. He goes out on patrol:

Meantime, Aquaman wakes up on a nearby beach, in time to see a young girl about to be swallowed up by a wave of the green goop. When it crashes down upon her, Aquaman steps in:

Aquaman heads back town, and sees the police huddled around a dead body...the body of The Crusader!

Apparently, while on patrol, The Crusader missed the building he was aiming for, tripped, and fell to his death. When he is unmasked, Aquaman immediately recognizes him as his friend Don!

Aquaman heads back for Powers' lab, and punches his way into the satellite's control room:

...The End!

Man, there is so much to say about this story I'm going to have to fight to get it all in. First off, you have to appreciate the sheer impish rule breaking going on here, courtesy Steve Skeates (and editor Dick Giordano)--Skeates makes all this effort to introduce a new superhero, even giving him his own logo (which I assume was the work of artist/letterer Jim Aparo, doing his usual tremendous job), only to kill him off a few pages later. And not only does The Crusader die, but he dies because of his lousy eyesight, a mordant gag if I ever saw one.

If this story seems to end a little abruptly, that's because...well, it does. One of the reasons for that is Aquaman was unceremoniously cancelled by then-DC head honcho Carmine Infantino, partly due to in-house squabbling with editor Dick Giordano. This turned out to be the last issue of the series, until it was briefly resurrected seven years later.

To rub salt in the wound, this issue features one of those "Statement of Ownership" thingies that comics used to run all the time, and we can see for ourselves just how well Aquaman was selling:

So, at the time, Aquaman was selling about 160,000 copies per issue. Certainly not a best-seller by 1970's standards, but it's funny to compare those numbers to today. If the current Aquaman series was selling 160,000 copies an issue, it would be--by far--DC's #1 title.

As I mentioned above (and you can see with your own, hopefully-better-than-The-Crusader's eyes), Jim Aparo does a superb job on the art on this issue. Of course, he did that for every issue, but Aparo excelled at gritty crime comics, and here Skeates' script gives him all kinds of fun film noir stuff to work with, even though there's not a single scene at night! This comic manages to mix urban grit and goofy sci-fi, all in twenty or so pages, an amazing feat (also--I want that shot of Aquaman punching the algae monster as a t-shirt).

In any case, Skeates did have a second part of this story in mind, and didn't let a little thing like cancellation stop him! He did write a Part Two, which appeared in...well, for those of you who don't know, I don't want to spoil the surprise. Come back at Noon today to find out!

Aquaman Shrine Interview: Steve Skeates on Dick Giordano - 2010

Not too long after I heard the news that Dick Giordano has passed away, I started recalling all those great Aquaman stories he presided over as editor, as part of the team known as "SAG"--standing for (Steve) Skeates, (Jim) Aparo, and Giordano.

I did a small tribute to Mr. Giordano when he died, but I wanted to do something more substantial to honor to the man and his legacy--and his huge impact on Aquaman.

So I decided to ask Steve Skeates if he would like to do another interview with the Shrine, this time centered around his relationship with the late great Mr. Giordano. Steve, generous as always, agreed to recall some of his experiences working with the legendary editor/artist:

Aquaman Shrine: Do you remember when you first met or talked to Dick Giordano?

Steve Skeates: The first time Dick and I encountered each other led directly into the pleasant and highly productive situation of a certain young previously struggling author suddenly finding himself working for quite definitely the best editor anyone who has done comics has ever worked for, although at the time I hadn't the slightest idea such as that would be the outcome of our initial meeting.

The occasion was a small-time New York City comic book convention, taking place in the summer of 1966, back when I was working for Tower Comics, writing stories for such characters as Lightning, NoMan, and Undersea Agent. This was, in fact, the first comic book convention I had ever been to, and I was wandering about gawking and aimlessly blathering to just about everyone I came in contact with. I must have let it slip (in a bragging sort of way, no doubt) that I was working for Tower because suddenly the dude who was running the convention came up to me, informed me that I was the only one there working for Tower and asked if I would be willing to represent Tower during a panel discussion.

Once I had somewhat reluctantly agreed to do so, I wound up sitting on a platform at a long table in front of an audience and next to someone far more comfortable about doing a panel discussion than I was, someone named Dick Giordano. Still, we both acquitted ourselves quite well, were witty, informative, and insightful, although how I was able to pull that off is still a mystery to me. Ultimately, as most of you well know, Tower went out of business, and suddenly I was desperate for work. But then I remembered that editor I had been sitting next to on that panel. A quick phone call later, one that seemingly subtly emphasized (as but a mere reminder, mind you) how eloquent I had been at that convention, and all of a sudden I was happily no longer unemployed!

AMS: You handled a lot of different genres (superheroes, humor, western, mystery) while working for Dick at Charlton. Did you pursue that wide array of material or did he offer most of it to you first?

SS: Once I had made my initial request for work at Charlton, there was certainly no need for me to do any further pursuing! There was such a huge volume of work to be done and so few of us willing (especially considering Charlton's low, low page rate) to do it! Furthermore, what with that just-now-mentioned page rate being less than half the starting rate offered by DC and Marvel (and even decidedly minuscule when compared to the amount Tower had been paying me), one simply had to take on as much work as one could possibly handle in order to make a reasonable living.

As soon as Dick had learned to trust me (and somehow that came quite quickly) he started really piling on the work, and I was only too happy to dig right in, no matter what it was genre-wise! Certainly Dick would preface an assignment for something he knew for me would be something new and different by saying something along the lines of "Would you like to try your hand at some comedy?" or "We need a back-up series for the Hercules book--would you like to devise one?" My answer was always "Sure! You bet!"

It's not so much that I was equally adept at all sorts of genres; more like I was equally inept, but willing and eager to learn. So what back then raced through my typewriter at breakneck speed were Westerns and period pieces and humor stories and those watered-down horror tales that in comics are known as "mystery stories." And, I must say, I truly loved the variety!

AMS: It's been widely reported Dick used positive reinforcement to get the best work out of his people. Can you think of an example of this when he was working with you?

SS: The one instance of positive reinforcement I to this day find especially intriguing actually reached beyond merely making me feel good about my work in that it was also designed to push me in a certain direction. In the main, Dick was enough of a comics fan himself that he would not only thoroughly enjoy but also actually get downright excited about the efforts of those whose work he was overseeing, and there of course would be no reason for him to hold back on the enthusiasm, to not heap appropriate praise all over one writer or one particular artist. I do believe that it is particularly hard for a writer to be objective about his own work, and therefore I was often quite surprised by which of my stories would ring Dick's chimes.

For instance, he couldn't say enough positive stuff about a certain western saga of mine (one that ended up in Gunfighters #52, beautifully illustrated by the great Jim Aparo) entitled "The Coward!" whereas I (quite likely being back in that day way too serious-minded and even stogy) saw that baby as being way too over the top and into the disconcerting realm of the utterly cornball.

I was a bit more in the ballpark vis-à-vis Dick's enthusiasm over a Sarge Steel episode entitled "The Case of the Widow’s Revenge!" a piece Dick himself wound up illustrating as but a back-up feature in Judo Master #97. Still, although I did feel I had properly captured the Mickey Spillane milieu, I didn't feel my mystery had anywhere near the number of nifty twists and turns that Dick saw in there! Was I being way too hard on myself back in those days? Did I need to lighten up? Dick may well have thought so, which may in fact be explanation enough for the particular path Dick decided to place me upon.

Then again, though, the one genre of the many that I back then attempted to tackle for which my efforts would invariably knock Dick out was (in all actuality) my lighter stuff, my humor output, which Dick is on record for saying he'd laugh himself silly over! Hey, I wanted to be taken seriously, in itself a silly idea, but Dick saw something in my writing that was pretty much a rarity in comics, a sense of humor that was neither too broad nor too fannish (surely an outgrowth of this correspondent, back in my high school daze, back when I was essentially a fifties variation upon what today would be labeled a "geek," fairly friendless, totally immersing myself in the chuckle-inducing works of people like Robert Benchley, Frank Sullivan, and Donald Ogden Stewart!)!

In any event, when it came time for Dick to give a raise to those guys who had become his two major writers (one Dennis J. O'Neil and the other being myself), he gave Denny a dollar a page raise on everything he would be writing, whereas I got a two dollar raise, but only on my humor stuff. So, of course, I started leaning heavily upon the humor, which ultimately led (once I had made the leap to DC) to my writing something called "The Poster Plague" which was the inspiration for a little comic called Plop!

In addition, back there in the seventies, I won four ACBA Shazam Awards, all of them for humor writing. In a big way, then, I owe Dick a lot for pointing out to me that the writing of laughable material was indeed where my energies should be placed.

AMS: I've read in several places (including interviews with Giordano himself) that the sheer volume of material Charlton needed was a massive grind to get out. Did you feel that pressure or were you happy to take in all the work Dick had to offer?

SS: As mentioned earlier, due to the paltry rates Charlton was paying, one had to take on a lot of work in order to make ends meet! But, as for pressure--no way, man! Not back then! As I also indicated earlier, in those crazy days I was young (hey, do the math!) and energetic, hungry and totally into it, not only wanting as much work as I could get, but as much variety as I could possibly glom onto!

Certainly, were I to take on a comparably intense volume of work these days (or had even attempted such as that in the seventies or eighties), I probably would have had a nervous breakdown or something! However, back there in the mid-to late sixties--wow! Lemme tell yuh, looking back myself at some of the stuff I did back then, even I have a hard time believing the volume and how much (in fact) this goes beyond mere volume as we get into the amount of work I'd cram into each little portion of my mammoth Charlton output!

Take a little story I did for the fourth issue of The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves --an eight-pager entitled "The Triangle" in which (for example) there's one page upon which, within its seven panels, there are two captions, three spoken balloons, and ten extremely wordy thought balloons. Also within this tale, this typical example of my relative insanity, there are several changes in point of view, several narrators, and even illustrations that purposely contradict what the captions are saying! Good Lord! Was I trying for a Pulitzer Prize, or what?

AMS: You were one of a handful of people Dick "brought" with him over to DC. Did he ever tell you he planned to do this, or did he just basically start giving you jobs as soon as he got to DC?

SS: Here we touch upon an event that, I’ve recently learned, I've been disseminating over the years a touch of misinformation about, seeing as I had thought that Steve Ditko made the leap from Charlton to DC at the same time that Dick, Jim, Pat, Denny, and I were barging our way in there, whereas, as I've since been informed, Ditko was actually already there even as the rest of us were making our leap, and he, in fact, may have been instrumental in getting DC to offer Dick an editorial position as well as convincing Dick to make the jump!

When I think about it, this does (in fact) make a lot more sense than my previous version, especially considering that both The Creeper and Hawk & Dove (the two new series Ditko would be handling for DC) had already been pretty much totally conceptualized in rather minute detail by the time the five of us got there. Otherwise, though, I do believe I have (and have had) this situation fairly well scoped in that I figure that the other four (okay, okay, I originally thought it was five, but anyway…) most likely got the same sort of phone call from Dick that I received, one informing each one of us that he'd been offered an editorial position at DC, that due to Charlton's recent cancellation of its entire action hero line he had decided to take DC up on its offer, and that he'd love to have each of us join him there!

Personally, I was not particularly pleased with this turn of events. Having previously visited DC in an attempt to expand upon my freelancing work, I had found the people there to be rather unfriendly, downright glum, even tortured, somehow ashamed of what they were doing there, hiding behind the name National Periodicals so that "hopefully" the general public would remain unaware that what they were putting together in those offices was something as "low" as comic books.

Still, I'd mainly be working for Dick who hardly possessed an attitude in any way, shape, or form similar to that which otherwise strangely seemed quite utterly pervasive at that company, continuing a working relationship I quite enjoyed, and now able to apply my talents (such as they were) to rather well known characters while reaping the benefits of a far more reasonable page rate. Pluses and minuses, pros and cons--where would it all lead?

AMS: You've mentioned before Dick offered you two titles--Aquaman or Bomba, The Jungle Boy. I think History can safely say you picked the right one! Did Dick give you any indication of what he was looking for with Aquaman once you accepted the assignment?

SS: Once he'd been made aware of which DC series it was that he'd been hired to helm, Dick obviously gave the characters whose lives he’d now be in charge of quite a bit of thought. Thus, as soon as I had chosen Aquaman over Bomba The Jungle Boy, Dick veritably bombarded me with all sorts of happy ideas!

First came the fact that he had already bestowed the art part of this latest Aquaman incarnation upon none other than Jim Aparo, an artist I had more than merely enjoyed working with at Charlton, someone who was definitely on my wave-length, someone who thought as I did and was therefore able to make my writing look way better than even I'd see it as being (no easy feat, more like an uncanny knack) via his work upon such projects as that never-ending period piece concerning the banished Thane of Bagarth plus various self-contained spooky tales for the likes of The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, Strange Suspense Stories, and even that aforementioned issue of Gunfighters; yet it wasn't just the way he drew my stuff that I admired--there was also the artwork he'd provide for other writers, most especially that crazed humor stuff featuring lots of penguins with which he'd beautify Norm DiPluhm’s Bikini Luv series.

Also, Dick had already come up with a nifty overriding plot idea for our upcoming portion of the Aquaman oeuvre--that Mera would get kidnapped and that Aquaman (atop his giant seahorse Storm) would ride around from one undersea community to another, rather endlessly searching for his captured Queen.

Dick likened all of this to a Western, and I could certainly see where he was coming from there, the way Western characters like Kid Colt (a couple of whose adventures I had helped concoct at the very beginning of my career, during my brief stint of work at Marvel) and Kid Montana (who at Charlton had presented me with my big chance to work with one of my all-time favorite artists, Pete Morisi) would wander from one dusty dilapidated Western town to another, always being the "outsider" in whatever adventure they’d get involved in, yet I could also see within Dick’s idea elements of such famed TV fare as The Fugitive, Run For Your Life, Then Came Bronson, etc.--that whole slew of shows that utilized the "adventure-along-the-way" theme that as a kid (for some now hardly even half remembered reason) I had been totally into and then some! All in all, then, definitely digging what Dick wanted done, I happily dove right in!

AMS: What was Dick's reaction to some your more off-beat Aquaman story ideas? ("Is California Sinking?" and "The Creature That Devoured Detroit" come to mind)

SS: Dick may have had fairly conservative political beliefs (which certainly caused me no end of grief when it came to those earlier issues of Hawk and Dove, said beliefs making for my boss, the ultimate decision-maker, way too often being far more in agreement with what Ditko was selling than with where I was coming from, where I wanted to take that series, but surely that’s some other discussion, meant for some other time), and, in his capacity as editor, he may have come off (especially within the visual arena) more like a business man than an artist, yet I had learned early on that Dick possessed quite the soft spot for the totally off-the-wall!

Take the nearly two years in which I had been writing all three of the stories in each issue of Charlton's The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, for example--Dick would invariably choose the wackiest of each trio of those tales to function as that issue's cover story: "The Triangle" in issue four, "The Insomniac" in issue five, "Whatever Happened to Reality" in issue six, "The Mist" in issue eight, etc.

In short, then, I was not (once we had made our way over to DC) at all surprised by what Dick let me "get away with" in Aquaman! There were, however, other forces in play here as well. Dick knew, as we approached the fiftieth issue of the sea king's comic, that I was not one bit pleased by the decision (which everyone else involved seemed utterly--and sadly--in total agreement with) to dive into a three-part story so soon after our big gangly nine-part opening opus!

What I was quite eager to pursue instead was the construction of a whole bunch of one-shots. Once that three-parter was over, then, it may have been merely to put the kibosh on yours truly pouting all the time that Dick finally gave in, allowing me to write such crazed self-contained entities as "Is California Sinking?" "Crime Wave," and "The Creature that Devoured Detroit!"

Keep in mind, though, that those three stories came into being during a period in which Dick was under a lot of stress--embroiled in a number of highly heated arguments with his boss, Carmine Infantino, while trying to decide if he really wanted to leave his editorial position in order to get more deeply involved in that entity known as Continuity Inc. At that particular point in time, then, he certainly didn't need any additional anxiety, so perhaps the easiest thing to do as far as I was concerned was simply to let me have my way.

AMS: Dick had an extraordinary back-and-forth with the Aquaman readers in the letters column. There was much less editorial "distance" maintained and you got the sense he was being extraordinarily honest, sometimes even to DC's detriment. Were you aware of any of this as you were writing the book?

SS: Yes, indeed, I loved that letters page (which usually would stretch on into two pages actually)--thoughtful appraisals, heavy-handed criticism, and especially Dick's responses, sometimes cornball, sometimes self-deprecating, often with no punches pulled.

Living some three hundred miles from NYC, working mainly through the mail and over the phone, visiting the office a mere three or four times a year, generally I couldn't help but wind up reading those letters and those responses at approximately the same time most of you readers out there were dutifully perusing them, i.e.: whenever the latest Aquaman ish would hit the stands! Certainly there were freebie copies of every comic I had contributed to that month waiting for me back in the big city, waiting for me to make my next visit there, but usually, especially in the case of Aquaman, I simply could hardly wait; there in that smoke shop in Hornell, the one that also sold comics, I simply had to buy myself a copy!

Often subsequently I'd be viewing for the first time Jim's artistic interpretation of whatever I had to say, checking out, also for the first time, how deftly Dick had chopped out certain sections of my inane verbosity in order to make the story actually readable, and then there were the letters! It's not so much that I was intensely into discovering what certain readers (the ones who felt so strongly about something or other that they had actually employed an actual pen in order to apply an actual quantity of ink to a piece of paper) thought of one or another previous story of mine (although that impulse was indeed in there)!

Mainly, though, what I loved about that letters page was that it made our product, our comic, an even fuller book. Not only was the reader getting a wacky story by me, beautifully interpreted by Jim and made far more succinct by Dick, with all of that so nicely topped off with a fantastically compelling cover drawn by the great Nick Cardy; there was also an indication, thanks to the letters page, that a one-on-one relationship with the actual editor of this comic was indeed possible! What more could anyone possibly want?

AMS: Did you continue to stay in touch with Dick after Aquaman was canceled, and he left DC?

SS: Suddenly a portion of what passes hereabouts for a brain is zeroing in upon one of those stories you moments ago mentioned, one of the ones within your category of off-the-wall stuff, to be more specific "Is California Sinking?"--a turbulent tale that begins and ends with the same scene, hardly a new, different and original story idea, yet one I had hoped would catch the readers by surprise, even as I was taking pains to point out that the question posed by the title of this story had hardly been answered.

How this relates to another question, the one you just asked, will soon become rather obvious, but right now I wanted to point out that once Dick had departed from DC, I would still run into him quite often. Soon after Dick’s departure I was back living in New York City and would often drop by at the Continuity offices mainly because it was a fun place to hang out--Dick was there of course, along with Neal Adams, Larry Hama, Ralph Reese, and even Jack Abel and Cary Bates.

I never accomplished much of anything there, never picked up on any work or anything like that; it was simply a nifty place to hobnob with various folks, and after a day of fighting with editors and struggling to find work (Aquaman of course had been cancelled; Teen Titans had been given editorially to Murray Boltinoff who wanted Bob Haney to write it rather than myself; Carmine Infantino had tried to read "The Creature that Devoured Detroit," didn’t understand it, didn't like it, and therefore was now against my being given once again any major superhero to write for, so I was scrambling around, picking up whatever assignments I could find--Kid Flash seven-pagers for the back of the Flash comic, mystery stories for House of Secrets and House of Mystery, dialoging jobs in which I would "punch up" stories plotted by Marv Wolfman and E. Nelson Bridwell, work from companies other than DC, like Gold Key, Warren and Red Circle, etc.)--yes, indeed, after a day's worth of all of that, I needed a place in which to wind down (if not collapse) and for that the relaxed atmosphere of Continuity seemed downright perfect.

Ultimately, however, somewhere in the eighties, comics started getting really dark, and after all those life-lessons that had told me to lighten up, I wasn't about to get into anything like that! In other words, I decided to get outta there, to quit comics at least professionally, to move back upstate where subsequently I found employment as a bartender while continuing to write on the side, even getting into self-publishing but (of course) merely as a hobby! At that point I must admit I did lose touch with Dick, had no contact with him for more than two decades as a matter of fact; I had simply moved on to some other sort of life.

Recently, though, what with certain people "rediscovering" me and therefore wanting to interview me for this publication and that publication, this website and that website, and all of that, in turn, making for various invitations to various conventions suddenly showing up in my mailbox, I'd been running into Dick all over the place, at one convention after another. To say it was great to see him again hardly puts enough of a spin on where it was (and is) I'm coming from here.

There's more, though, seeing as, not unlike a well-written story that has taken the reader full circle (something "Is California Sinking?" at least pretends to be), the last time I saw Dick was at last year's Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the two of us were at it again, up on a stage, fielding questions from the audience, doing the comic book panel pastiche! And, though this time around, due to his forever-worsening deafness, all Dick's questions from the crowd had to be repeated, and though I was somehow (surely I need merely blame the relentless onslaught of time) even more bemused and confused than I used to be, it was nonetheless as though the late sixties had come back for one final visit, giving two old friends one last chance to blather not so much at the gathered throng but at each other about comics.



I am eternally grateful to Steve Skeates for making time to do this second interview with the Shrine about his experiences with the great Dick Giordano. Giordano loomed so large in the world of comics--and the world of Aquaman specifically--that I thought it was important for the Shrine to pay him tribute in some substantial way.

Thanks to Steve, and thanks to Dick Giordano. May he have nothing but Good Afternoons.

R.I.P. Dick Giordano 1932-2010

I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Dick Giordano, legendary artist and editor.

At the moment, I don't think I can quite put into words how much Mr. Giordano's work meant to me. Always being more of a DC kid than a Marvel one, in my mind Dick Giordano's style simply was DC Comics. His work appeared in countless DC books, not to mention on a metric ton of their merchandise, so much of which the Shrine has highlighted here.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to do an interview with Mr. Giordano (which you can read here), and he was a total delight to talk to. I was also fortunate enough to get an original Aquaman sketch by him (above), and its one of my most treasured Aquaman pieces.

As an editor, he helped oversee Aquaman when he took over the book in the late 1960s. Working with writer Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo, Giordano's legendary "hands-off" approach helped foster one of--if not the--best, most sustained periods in the character's history.

Mr. Giordano had been living in Florida for many years, and rarely made it to any cons that I attended. I was always hoping one day I'd get the chance to meet him in person, shake his hand, and tell him how much his work meant to me. I'm glad I got the chance to do that, at least via email.

Rest in peace, Dick Giordano.

Birthday Wrapping Paper

It seemed only appropriate to post this, since it is Aquaman's 69th birthday, today--a piece of DC hero-centric birthday wrapping paper, smartly drawn by Dick Giordano.

As you can see, most of the big stars of the DCU surround the cake, with Aquaman in the foreground. The Legion is an unusual, but welcome, addition.

I never saw this paper when I was a kid; I would've gone nuts if it had been wrapped around any presents I ever got for my birthday--or any other time, for that matter.

Happy Birthday, Aquaman!

Valentine's Day Card - 1980

With Valentine's Day falling on a weekend this year, I figured today would be a good time to post this other 3D Valentine's Day card, which folds open to reveal the sweet, sticky Valentine's Day message.

Like the other 3D card I posted, this one is drawn the great Dick Giordano, the perfect artist for stuff like this.

What girl could turn this down, I mean really?

DC Super Heroes Poster Book Ad - 1979

I've seen this ad in about a thousand different DCs from around 1979, but I don't think I've ever actually seen the book itself. I never knew anyone who had one, and I don't think I've ever come across it on eBay. Anyone out there have one?

It certainly looks very nice, what with that great Dick Giordano shot of the big stars of the DCU (and Dr. Sivana) charging at you...plus it has an intro by Isaac Asimov!

I'm grinning at the idea of having the author of I, Robot having to sit down and pen some words about, say, Catwoman.


Update: Within a few minutes of posting this, several of you left comments or sent me an email with links to more info about this book. (You guys are awesome)

On AbeBooks.com, several people are selling copies of the book, here's a shot of the cover:

While the book looks totally awesome, prices start at around fifty bucks (going all the way up to $125 on Amazon!) , which is insane.

I want to see what's in this thing, but not that bad.


Update 2: You F.O.A.M.ers keep coming through! David Kelly has the poster book and sent me a scan of the Aquaman image, a handsome shot by Dick Giordano:

This image was re-used as the flip side to a Pepsi brand placemat, which I posted on the Shrine here, which featured Aquaman's origin drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger.

So in the end, I'm not missing anything by not having the book itself, though of course I'd still like one. But at prices ranging from $50 to $125, I don't see one in my future any time soon.

Thanks David!

Christmas Wrapping - 1980

Last year around Christmastime, F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage sent me a bunch of cool examples of DC-themed wrapping paper, so many that I didn't get to using them all in 2007, so here's another for 2008!

Drawn by Dick Giordano, we see Superman, Batman, Robin, Supergirl, Plastic Man, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Penguin(?) frolicking, celebrating the holiday spirit and dispensing presents.

Aquaman's a little hard to see, but he's there, manning his own hot-air balloon, giving out gifts for worthy Surface Dwellers.
________________________________________________________

I just received this beautiful and downright elegant Christmas card from one our newest F.O.A.M. members, Kelly James Blank. Now I sort of "get" the Aquaman Tonner doll...

I liked this card so much I was going to run it on the Shrine all by itself, but I'm running out days before the holiday to get all the stuff I want to run in!

Aquaman (Vol. 1) #50 - Apr. 1970

Comics Weekend I thought it might be nice to have a post script to our Dick Giordano Week by talking about some of the issues of Aquaman by the SAG team that we have yet to talk about here on the Shrine.

I picked this issue when I was reminded about it by AquaFan Shag Matthews (aka The Irredeemable Shag) because of a particular panel inside, which we'll get to in a moment.

Anyway, this is the fiftieth issue of Aquaman, featuring the first of three Deadman back-ups, written and drawn by Neal Adams, no less! Apparently this was to give Aquaman artist Jim Aparo a chance to get caught up on his deadlines (after all, Aparo was penciling and inking the book) by shortening his page count for a few months.

But these weren't any old back-ups: no, editor Dick Giordano had these Deadman stories tie into the main Aquaman story, so you felt like you were getting a complete, book-length story, even though both stories could stand on their own, as well. Neat!

After the spiffy cover by Nick Cardy, we have this boffo splash page by Aparo:

Aquaman wakes up, having been knocked unconscious last issue from a mysterious weapon wielded by some aliens. He wakes up in some weird fantasy world, filled with odd shapes and colors, and tries to recall what happened leading up to this...

He and Aqualad were coming home to Atlantis to see his old foe and half-brother, Ocean Master, talking to his wife Mera!

Orm tells Arthur he's not there to fight, and that he now knows that he is Arthur's half-brother. But he didn't know that when he contacted...them!

Them? Aquaman wonders. But before Orm can answer, "they" have arrived--two aliens who shoot Aquaman with the aforementioned weapon!

Aquaman encounters a weird, amoeba-like creature, which is fought off by a beautiful woman who he can't seem to communicate with. But before he can even try, Aquaman receives some sort of telepathic signal, which he heads off to investigate.

Turns out its coming from a futuristic city inside this weird dimension, and he follows the mental trail to inside a building.

On his way there is the "famous" panel where Aparo decided to work in the names of a few dozen comics pros, including himself, writer Steve Skeates, and editor Dick Giordano:

...see if you can name 'em all!

Aquaman finally makes it into the building (but not before fighting off an armed guard, who shoots him with a weapon that fires the green bubbles we see on the front cover), and its here where he and this mysterious woman can talk.

Aquaman tries to find out "where" this place is, but the woman doesn't offer any help other than they are in "the city." Aquaman wonders if there's anyone else here that can help him.

Yes, there is--the feared Brother Warnn, who arrives and demands to know who this stranger is! To be continued!

Meanwhile, over in the Deadman story, titled "Deadman Rides Again", Deadman tells Rama Kushna he wants to head out and confront the evil in the world (oh, is that all?) and Rama directs him towards a mysterious craft making its way through the ocean.

Deadman finds it to be manned by...Ocean Master! He doesn't know who this guy is, but follows and watches him as Orm makes a deal with the two aliens, who promise to kill Aquaman!

Deadman doesn't like the sound of that, so he takes over Ocean Master's body to find out what Orm's part of this deal with the aliens is. There's a part of Orm's brain Deadman can't pierce, so he tries a little harder:

...this makes Orm realize he is Aquaman's brother, and he immediately regrets the "hit" he put out on his brother. Deadman then goes to take over one of the aliens, but the other one seems to know something's up, and lets a small rat-like creature loose which is able to attack Deadman! To be continued!


I thought this was a really neat idea, having a back-up tie into the main story, to give it more context. And any comic with art by Jim Aparo and Neal Adams, with a Nick Cardy cover, is a pretty darn good comic book. We have editor Giordano to thank for putting together such a solid string of issues, this one being a particularly fine example.

According to the Statement of Ownership, at this time Aquaman had a print run of about 300,000 copies, selling around 156,000 for a sell-through of just over 50%, which wasn't too bad. Not Batman or Spider-Man numbers, but I think about three times what the last Aquaman comic sold.

*sigh*

Dick Giordano Week, Part 5 - Interview

What can I say?

I was thrilled--thrilled--to get to talk to the Dick Giordano, and he could not have been nicer to interview. He answered all my questions and then some. Take it away, Mr. G!:

Aquaman Shrine: Were you familiar with Aquaman much when you were assigned to edit the book?

Dick Giordano: Generally. My main information was gathered from the two people who interviewed me for the editorial position, Carmine Infantino and Irwin Donenfeld. They thought the editorial direction, which was based on the popular Saturday morning cartoon TV show, was wrong for the audience we were trying to attract. After reviewing the material, I agreed whole heartedly and formulated a plan of sorts.

AMS: One of the frequent comments I've read about your editorial style was, essentially, it was very hands-off. You hired who you thought were the right people for the job and then let them do it. Did this style develop over time or did you come into editing with it already in mind?

DG: As a freelancer, I came to recognize that my best work was done without a strong editorial hand dictating. I was hands off after I sat down with my creative people and we discussed the approach we would be taking.

After that was decided, I let them loose. It was, however, my idea to have Aquaman lose Mera, leave Aquatot, and the family walrus behind and explore new undersea worlds not shown previously in his quest to find Mera. I described it to them as a combination of Star Trek and The Fugitive but otherwise left them to their own devices on how to achieve these ends.

Jim submitted finished, lettered art without my having even seen the pencils and the only other editing I did on the series was editing down Steve's copy...with his prior knowledge. He had at that time a tendency to overwrite dialogue and I told him write the hell out of it...I'll edit to fit the art.

Years later, I read an interview with Steve in which he said that I had spoiled a plot point in an issue by my editing his copy. I don't remember the circumstances but I wish Steve had said something at the time that the gaff occurred.

AMS: Skeates and Aparo were certainly a good team. Did anyone within DC ever take notice? Something like "Hey, this Aquaman book you guys are doing is really working"?

DG: Actually, no! For reasons unknown to me, management said nothing at the time. I think Carmine and/or Irwin didn't personally like my approach. I got raves from the fans and sometimes from members of the editorial staff and freelancers.

In 1980, when I returned to my editorial desk at DC, Paul Levitz told me that sales records had been found that indicated Steve's and Jim's Aquaman was a sales success!

AMS: In an interview I did with Craig Hamilton, he said this of you: "He saw my portfolio and said come into the office, and there I got to meet Dick Giordano, which was just a thrill beyond measure. When I broke in I was so blessed to have people like Joe Orlando and Dick Giordano looking over my shoulder, teaching me as I worked."

Did you step in to help younger artists who you thought needed it, seeing it as part of your job?

DG: Yep! Did then and I still do. Seeing an artist mature is just as much a kick as seeing your children learn to walk! My current assistant is Rob Jones and he has grown as an artist in great spurts! He's currently reworking the origin to a self published title called Perfect Storm.

AMS: Did Neal Pozner come to you with his Aquaman mini-series proposal fully written out, or was it more just a germ of an idea? Did you have much input in the direction of it?

DG: Neal had an idea and I asked for an outline. He was shocked when I said, "Write it." I don't recall that I had much input with the idea but I certainly helped him over the speedbumps as work progressed.

AMS: When he proposed changing Aquaman's costume, was there a consideration towards the impact in licensing? While he's no Superman or Batman, Aquaman still did appear in a lot of merchandise outside of the comics.

DG: I'm an editor. My responsibilities are to turn in stories that are fun to read and cool to look at! Licensing can, and this case, did, ignore a new costume as having never happened. I was not asked to cease and desist...I would have, if so ordered.

AMS: Speaking of merchandising, your work certainly appeared on a lot of it. Did you pursue this work? Was it more fun for you doing these single-type illustrations instead of sequential storytelling?

DG: More fun, no! My pleasure is still sequential story telling, as it was then. It was fun to be able to use a different skillset but my involvement in licensing art was more practical matter.

Joe Orlando was in charge of Special Projects and he could call me upstairs to his office, give me instructions, reference and/or a script and sometimes get it back, finished, at the open of business the following morning. He knew of my routine of getting up at 4am and working until 7 or so before coming into the office. If it was a three hour job, he had finished art some sixteen hours after it was assigned. Joe also trusted me to know the needs of art that sells product or ideas...that's what we did at Continuity (with partner Neal Adams) before I came to DC.

AMS: When you found that you had skills as an editor as well as artist, did you find that as satisfying? For example, would you have ever wanted to be, say, the artist on Aquaman, or was it just as rewarding to oversee Skeates and Aparo and guide their work?

DG: I found a separate satisfaction in penciling, inking or editing. I enjoyed each and the different skill set used to do each job. I generally focused on the job at hand and was satisfied to let others enjoy doing their jobs.


I grew up enjoying and loving Mr. Giordano's work as both a penciler and an inker, and then as an editor through his regular Meanwhile... columns, where he gave readers a peek behind the curtain at a big time comic book company. For someone always just as interested in The Story Behind The Story, these columns were utterly fascinating to me.

This wraps up our Dick Giordano Week. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did putting it together. And, most of all, thanks Dick, for the interview, the sketch, and all the amazing work over the years!

Dick Giordano Week, Part 4 - Original Sketch

This is the brand-new sketch Mr. G did for me from his home in Florida, and of course it's awesome!

I generally prefer to get sketches from the artist in person, but since Dick rarely makes it to any con in my general area, we corresponded via email. Just a few weeks after commissioning him, this baby arrived on my doorstep.

This is the Aquaman I'm so used to seeing, all over DC merch of the 70s and 80s--dynamic, exciting, and happy. As I told him, I'm thrilled that I get to add Giordano to my list of sketches, alongside such other legends like Cardy, Fradon, Infantino, and Aparo.

Tomorrow: a word or two from the man himself!

Dick Giordano Week, Part 3 - 3-D Valentine's Day Card

This is one of two 3-D Valentine's Day cards I found on eBay a few months ago. I assume they were part of a larger set, and for all I know there may be more than two (I'm saving the other for next Feb. 14th) Aquaman ones.

Drawn by the Big G, this card pops out on the bottom so that it can rock slightly back and forth, a cute little effect. And of course Aquaman looks majestic on his steed, followed by the nice, Valentine's Day sentiment.

How could any potential sweetheart say no to this card?

Dick Giordano Week, Part 2 - Super Heroes Bingo

This is probably the only way you could've gotten me to play bingo as a kid--Super Heroes Bingo!

This was made in 1976 by Hasbro, and uses an assortment of stock art for the box (strange that Robin gets more of a spotlight than Superman, no?), including Dick Giordano's shot of Aquaman from the cover to the Justice League of America Treasury Comic:

On the inside, the stock art is all swapped out for different stock art, this time using Murphy Anderson's classic Aquaman icon.

Bingo!