Volume Three, Number Twenty-seven

Before we begin I just wanted everyone who does not follow this column at http://dispatchesfromthegreatwhitenorth.blogspot.com that the first Blog Exclusive E-Dispatches has been posted. So once you've finished reading this be sure to give blog a visit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EVERYTHING'S SUPERHEROES!

A

Historical Overview

of the

MLJ MAGAZINES/ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS

SUPERHERO LINES!

----------------------

PART SIXTEEN

----------------------

THE 1970S RED CIRCLE COMICS GROUP: In the early 1970s Archie Comic Publications once again branched out of its mainstay of humour comics. Under the Red Circle Comics Group imprint, the publishers of Archie and his pals released two horror comics (Red Circle Sorcery-initially called Chilling Adventures Into Sorcery-and Madhouse) and one issue of Super Cops, a comic based on a popular movie and book of that period. After achieving a level of success with the horror comics, Archie Comic Publications decided to branch out further and return to publishing superhero comics. As the story goes Gray Morrow, who was editing the Red Circle line as well as doing much of the artwork for its titles, went through some of his publisher's old superhero comics and after some consideration decided upon a new version of The Black Hood to be Red Circle Comics Group's first superhero title.

This version though of The Black Hood was vastly different from earlier versions in that he was the latest in a long line of crime fighters to use that name and rather than wearing a costume he wore street clothes, a leather jacket and a cloth black hood to cover his face. He also carried some rather sophisticated weaponry and drove a rather fancy motorcycle in his battle against evil and injustice. Add to this a sophisticated writing style filled with action and superb dialogue and some of the best artwork of the decade and Red Circle had what could have been one of the biggest selling comics of the 1970s. But it didn't as the comic was never published.

Ads were placed in Red Circle Sorcery #10 and Madhouse #97 announcing the upcoming release of the new Black Hood comic but before the comic hit the printing presses Archie pulled its Red Circle line.

Luckily for readers though the Black Hood material did eventually see print; not once but twice. One time was with major revisions in the June 1979 issue of Heavy Metal. Believing that Archie would never publish the Black Hood he had created for them Gray Morrow did a bit of rewriting of the material, changed the character's name to Stingeree and submitted it to Heavy Metal for consideration.

The other time the material saw print was in its original form in Archie Comics Superhero Digest magazine which was published in 1979. In actually there was a third time the material saw print but that wasn't until the 1980s which we will talk about in a future installment.

Basically, the Red Circle Comics Group lasted around 18-months with the last issues being published in early 1974. With its cancellation fans who had hoped that The Shield, The Comet, Flyman and other Archie superheroes would eventually returned had their hopes dashed by the line vanishing and Black Hood #1 not seeing print. But those characters actually did return but not, surprisingly, in comics published by Archie Comic Publications.

After the Red Circle Comics Group lined vanished, Marvel Comics Group began featuring its versions of Flyman (a villain called The Fly who battled Spider-Man), The Shield (calling himself The Blue Shield) and The Comet (appearing in a few issues of Nova) in its comics. To my knowledge there's never been any detailed explanation as to why Marvel decided to use these names in its comics, whether or not the folks at Archie raised a stink about the whole matter and what lead to them getting rid of the characters (they were all eventually killed off). Whatever happened behind the scenes may well be lost to the general public forever and while Marvel's Fly, Comet and Blue Shield were not the characters that fans of the MLJ/Archie heroes loved it was still none the less great seeing a version of them in print in the 1970s.

-----------------------------------

For a more detailed examination of the 1970s Red Circle line be sure to visit www.mightycrusaders.net/thegroovyage.html . Next time out we'll take a look at the 1980s version of the Red Circle Comics Group. And while you're waiting to read that why not visit the blog of my buddy, The Groovy Agent, to find out about all the other nifty comics that were published in the 1970s. It can be found at http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com . See you next time.

Volume Three, Number Twenty-One

Sorry for the delay in getting this installment out folks but over the past couple of weeks I've been somewhat busy undergoing medical tests to see how far along my peripheral neuropathy has progressed. For those of you who aren't familiar with my condition and are interested in finding out more you can visit www.neuropathy.org . Now with that out of the way let's get back to...

___________________________________________________________

EVERYTHING'S SUPERHEROES:

A

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

OF THE

MLJ MAGAZINES/ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS'

SUPERHERO LINES!

PART ELEVEN

___________________________________________________________

In 1964 comic book fandom in North America was still pretty much in its infancy. There were no comics clubs to speak of outside of perhaps some kids getting together informally on occasion to talk about their favourite four colour mags. Comics conventions had only just come into existence with the first one taking place in May of that year. Magazines such as Wizard and Comics Buyer's Guide didn't exist and while there were fanzines-the most notable being Jerry Bails' and Roy Thomas' Alter Ego-their circulation most often number in the low hundreds. And as for the Internet, message boards, yahoo groups, blogs and all the other neat stuff we all take for granted these days that kind of thing wasn't even appearing in the most wildest of science fiction tales. So when comics fans-even that term wasn't being used at that point-wanted to find out what was going on with their favourite comics in 1964 the only way they could do that was to hang out at the mom and pop shops, pharmacies, newsstands, etc. every Tuesday and Thursday after school (there weren't any comics shops either, by the way) to see what comics would pop out when the proprietor would cut the wire that was holding the bundle together (and in a lot of cases the kids weren't even allowed to be in premises when this twice-a-week ritual took place).

This was how fans of The Fly realized that with Adventures of The Fly #30 (cover-date October 1964) the adventures of their favourite winged hero and his faithful sidekick Fly Girl were no more. While some fans-mostly those who paid attention to the publication dates in the indica and saw that Adventures of The Fly had gone semi-annual-suspected that that was the direction the comic was headed it was still none the less a shock to the Fly-fans when after hanging out a few months at their favourite haunts no number 31 appeared on the stands. And as there was no way to complain about their favourite comic vanishing from the scene-outside of writing a letter to an anonymous editor which most fans suspected were never read anyway-Fly-fans would just sign and look for something else to replace it on their "must buy" list.

However, those Fly-fans who also read the Archie Adventure Series' remaining title, The Shadow, soon learned The Fly was not in fact gone forever but was to undergo a monumental-some would say absurd-change. In issue number five of The Shadow (cover-dated March 1965), a house ad appeared announcing the return of The Fly with a new name and new powers. To be called Fly Man, as well as possessing his old powers of flight, super-strength, etc. he-and his partner-were now able to shrink and grow in size ala Marvel's Ant-Man/Giant-Man. And if this wasn't enough to excite long suffering Fly fans, appearing in the last panel of the house ad were three shadowy figures which caused Fly Man to gasp in shock as he exclaimed, "Now that I've met you three, I've a hunch things will never be the same!".

Truer words were never spoken as comics fans would find out two months later with the release of Fly Man #31 May, 1965; a title that would result in a line of comics that you had to see to believe. The Mighty Comics Group.

--------------------

That's it for the historical overview for this year. In early 2009 it will return and begin to explore the wonderful, mind-boggling world of The Mighty Comics Group. That's not it for E-Dispatches from the Great White North though for 2008. There'll be one more installment later this week dealing with some new directions for this column/blog in 2009.