The Hangman - Heroes and Villains

Now that THE HANGMAN co-feature from THE WEB, published by DC Comics has come to an end, I thought I'd take some time to talk about some of the villains and heroes who have appeared in the Hangman stories. 

When I took on the role of writer for THE HANGMAN I was coming into it one issue after BABYLON 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski was asked to reintroduce this old character from the Archie Comics line of superheroes published under the banner of Red Circle Comics. Straczynski also handled relaunching three other Red Circle characters, The Shield, Inferno, and The Web into the DC Universe. My concern was purely with continuing with what he'd done with the Hangman. The stuff I liked I used and often expanded on. Other things he did which I didn't like (such as having a man who automatically transforms into a masked vigilante at sunset having a career as a trauma surgeon. Does he just cut out of work in the middle of an operation?) led me to come up with ways to deal with the issues I had. Even though the character was essentially a new, using a word I dislike "reimagined," version of the original Red Circle character, I and the other writers of the new Red Circle backs wanted to not only incorporate them into the larger established DC Universe, but to also keep them connected to their original Red Circle Comics roots. One of the ways I chose to do this was to select some of the original Red Circle villains and update them for modern comics as well. 

Some of the bad guys I used were my own brand new creations such as the all pink scooter riding girl gang called THE BUBBLEGUM GIRLS (seen below), others had their origins in the 1940s.

Oddly, one of the first villains I made up as an original character had an established parallel character in the original Red Circle Comics. This was the character of DEAD HAND LEGENDRE (shown below) who makes his first appearance in issue #2. 

Legendre was a shriveled man who was quickly rising to become a serious kingpin of crime. He had one particular ability that instilled fear in those who worked for him, and against him. His dead, shriveled, right hand had the ability to drain the lifeforce from someone else and transfer it into Legendre. Doing so restored his health by degrees, making him younger. He could also reverse this flow, using his dead hand like a ghastly defibrillator to push lifeforce into a dead body which would return to a semblance of mindless life to do his bidding. When he did this, his physical health diminished and he aged. 

The impulse for creating him was to mirror the idea that the Hangman who is essentially immortal isn't simply someone who can never die, but is also someone who isn't truly alive anymore either. 

 

While the name was taken from Bela Lugosi's character, "Murder Legendre" from WHITE ZOMBIE (because of his control over mindless zombie slaves), the real inspiration for the character came from Koura, the evil magician played by Tom Baker in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. From the time I first watched that movie as a kid, I latched onto the concept that every time Koura used his dark magic it aged him, and left him physically weaker. I've always meant to incorporate that into a character of my own, and finally got to do so with Legendre.

It was only after Dead Hand Legendre was established that I found out that there was a Red Circle villain named BLACK HAND who initially appeared in BLUE RIBBON COMICS #16 (Sept. 1941) as an opponent to Captain Flag. Black Hand apparently had a diseased right hand which he used to kill people. Given that DC already has a villain named Black Hand who was featured prominently in their big event series BLACKEST NIGHT, a name change would have proven necessary anyway.

The first of the original Red Circle Villains I chose to reintroduce was THE UGLY MAN (seen below) who was actually a foe of the Hangman, appearing in Pep Comics #22 (Dec 1942). All I knew about him was that he was supposed to be the ugliest man in the world and that he went on a killing spree. This was enough of a blank slate for me to feel like I could build on this without distressing an fans of the original characters. 

My Ugly Man was inspired by actor Rondo Hatton whose distorted features were the result of acromegaly. He would make the perfect henchman and fit in with the noirish look of the Hangman.

The Ugly Man also appeared in issue #2 as an enforcer for Dead Hand Legendre. Despite his physical appearance I wanted the Ugly man to be a snappy dresser as well as smarter, more articulate and much faster than his size and appearance would imply. My original plan was to introduce him in a story set in the 1930s, but other ideas for the character led me to include him in the modern age.

The next character I pulled out of the Hangman's past was THE JACKAL. He was perfect. He had a distinct physical trait, he only image I found of him (below) implied a personality, AND he even came with a plot I could use on the new series. Appearing in PEP COMICS #18 (Aug. 1941)  according to his entry on The Mighty Crusaders Network

"The Jackal is a criminal mastermind who puts on a Hangman suit himself and starts committing murders in the Hangman’s name. He is identified because he has two thumbs on his right hand."

Artist. Tom Derenick gave the modern Jackal, who debuted in issue #5, an equally dumb haircut, and somewhere in his development his two thumbs on his right hand became a sixth finger on his left. Our Jackal was smart and ruthless and earned his name in a two-fold manner. He makes his living in the criminal world by picking over small time criminal organizations and gangs and by eliminating members he sees as worthless and gathering the members with potential who he hires into larger organizations for a fee. He also picks over the corpses of those he murders and takes from them a souvenir which he adds to his collection.

In the modern comic, he also masqueraded as the Hangman and set out on a murder spree in order to keep the police busy hunting for the Hangman and the Hangman busy eluding the police, so that Legendre could go about his citywide conquest of criminal activity. This was meant to be a longer, more involved subplot which was to be used to throw light on how the Hangman is perceived among all walks of life in the city he protects, as well as to further illuminate the genuine Hangman's methods of dealing with crime. It was also going to be a way to bring the police into the series and connect them to the Hangman. Because the series ended up with a short life, the barely introduced story element was brought to a quick end and the more expansive elements were all dropped. 

A couple other Red Circle villains made brief cameo appearances. THE BULLFROG from PEP COMICS #32 (Oct. 1942) was a foe of the Hangman who started out as an Opera Singer who turned to a life of murder dressed as a frog because a frog was let loose on stage during one of his performances. I can't say I would have chosen that as the origin for the modern Bullfrog, and viewed mine as a half man-half frog creature.

From SPECIAL COMICS #1 (Winter 1942) comes THE CLOWN, who murders a woman because she refuses to ever marry a clown. He was also a Hangman villain. Like the Bullfrog, since he merely appeared in one panel, I did not provide the modern Clown with an origin.

The Bullfrog and the Clown were paired together for their cameo in issue #8. I had originally written the BULLFROG into my portion of THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS SPECIAL, but removed him when I restructured my part of the story.

One of the Red Circle villains who DID appear in THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS SPECIAL was THE BUZZARD. His inclusion was decided by co-writers Brandon Jerwa and Eric Trautmann, who also masterminded the project. Here's how he appeared  back in MIGHTY CRUSADERS #11 (March 1985)

Here he fights the modern Hangman in THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS SPECIAL.

The last original villain I put into THE HANGMAN wasn't really a villain, or original, but was Umi-Bozu a water Yokai from Japanese folklore who appeared in issues #3 and #4. I wanted to feature a character of a more supernatural nature because of the Hangman's own supernatural nature and one that I could use to illustrate the side of the Hangman's mission to serve the innocent rather than the aspect of him which punishes the guilty.

A couple established DC villains made their way into the final issue. THE SCARECROW is a character I've enjoyed writing before, and was one I planned to feature in an upcoming Hangman story which ended up being encapsulated in one panel. Also featured on the same page was CHEMO, the giant semi-sentient walking container of chemical waste. This was for a panel showing the Hangman working alongside the other Mighty Crusaders and I wanted an image that evoked the covers of Fantastic Four #1 and The Brave and the Bold #28 which introduced the Justice League of America, so chose Chemo for his size and color.

THE WEB also made a cameo appearance solo in the last issue. Since THE HANGMAN was a co-feature in THE WEB, I felt it only made sense.

Because the Hangman has been alive since the 1830s, I was looking forward to telling stories which would pair the hangman with various DC characters from various time periods between then and now. The closest I ever got to do so was a couple of isolated panels and some back story from THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS, where we see the Hangman working alongside EL DIABLO (incidentally the man who steps into that black hole becomes the modern incarnation of another Red Circle villain, THE ERASER), AIRWAVE (and his parrot, STATIC), and the Golden Age GREEN LANTERN. 

In the second issue of THE WEB, we are given a one-panel glimpse of the Hangman on a case in New York City's Chinatown with the Golden Age SANDMAN, a pulp inspired story I was really looking forward to telling.

Note: Images and source information was borrowed from The Mighty Crusaders Network an invaluable resource pertaining to every aspect and incarnation of the Red Circle characters. 

Harvey Pekar RIP

Legendary autobiographical comic book writer Harvey Pekar has passed away. For more information please visit The Beat.




     

Tomorrow on Cartoon Network

For you early risers, or all nighters, "Night in the Sanctorum," one of my episodes of SUPER HERO SQUAD airs again tomorrow (July 10) morning at 6:30 (e/p) on Cartoon Network. In this episode, the Super Hero Squad crash the Helicarrier and must find alternate living arrangements. Will they stay with the Punisher? Reptil? or Dr. Strange? and what does the Enchantress have to do with it all? 

Ask Me Anything

As part of my notion of giving this blog a bit more structure, one of the things I mentioned in my 1000th post was the idea of having a regular Q & A here. I've decided that the first Monday of every month will be  "Ask Me Anything Day." Of course you can ask me anything any time, but questions posed in the comments section of the "Ask Me Anything" post will fuel posts throughout the month. So, if there's anything you want to know about projects past and present, older posts here, things that have influenced me, or even if there are suggestions as to what you'd like to see on this blog, go ahead and ask. Essentially, you can ask me anything, and I'll try and answer it.

Likewise, if nobody asks me anything then I'll stop this feature and ask myself if there's any real reason to continue with this blog.

From the Archives 3

The above sketch goes back to around 1995. This was my concept for an extra-terrestrial that would briefly appear in XOMBI #19 (this story was originally slated as issue #16, as exidenced by my note on the sketch, however this storyline was bumped three issues to accommodate a three issue tie-in to the company wide crossover "The Long Hot Summer"). I wanted something completely alien, and only with only the most rudimentary humanoid appearance in the sense that it had arms and a head and clothing. It took a while to mentally achieve what I was looking for. Inspiration came while I was standing within the door of, I believe Midtown Comics, in Manhattan, where there was a poster of the Roger Dean painting "Tsunami,"(seen below) taped to the wall.

Something about the vertical rock structure on the middle right suggested a head in profile to me, with the stone archway suggesting a flowing cape. That was when the lightbulb went off. When I went home, I took that basic shape and broke it down further to what you see above.

Here's how the alien appeared in the actual issue  as drawn by  J. J. Birch and colored by Noelle Giddings. It is accompanied by a cat woman based on Joan Chen and a creepy old man, inspired by Vincent Price, with his underage consort. The guy with the ears is a bellhop.

I also wanted the alien's language to be completely alien, and we did this by just using color to represent it. The idea was that it spoke in vibrations through the leaf-like digits of its "hands" which are placed on each side of the person it's talking to, like stereo speakers. Somehow it was also able to covey its language to the listener so that they understood it without translation. The extra-terrestrial only appeared in a couple other panels where it's seen sitting at a dinner table, though we don't see what is on its plate.

This extra-terrestrial was really only a throw away character, but I've always been pretty fond of it.

In Comic Book Stores Today

THE WEB #10, which is the final issue, hits stores today. THE HANGMAN co-feature was written by me with art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, Travis Lanham handling the lettering, and Guy Major on colors. This issue brings everything that's happened in the previous nine issues to an exciting, and hopefully satisfying conclusion.

I'd like to thank everyone who supported this book by purchasing it and/or promoting it. If only there'd been more of you. I'd also like to thank everyone named above, as well as editor Rachel Gluckstern for a really pleasurable experience chronicling the adventures of the Hangman. There was so much more we wanted to do. Alas. Also thanks to my friend Sachiko Sato Castleman who not only lent me her expert knowledge as a critical care nurse in the surgical intensive care unit at Mass General Hospital, but became an ongoing character in this series as well.

Finally, thanks to all of the other writers and artists involved with the Red Circle characters, particularly fellow writers, Brandon Jerwa, Eric Trautmann, and Matthew Sturges. Brandon and Eric will be continuing on with these characters in the MIGHTY CRUSADERS mini-series, the first issue of which goes on sale July 14th. Don't miss it.

Come back here next week for an insiders look into the world of THE HANGMAN.

Happy Birthday, Ray Harryhausen!

Today is Ray Harryhausen's 90th Birthday.  I can't imagine what my childhood would have been like without the continuous presence of his movies. He's certainly been one of my biggest inspirations throughout my childhood and throughout my career. What I took from him most of all is the importance of making non-existent creatures seem truly alive, and the idea that work and play did not necessarily have to be two separate things.

Thank you, Ray! Happy Birthday!


Here's a link to a complete list of every creature and object Ray Harryhausen has animated in his feature films.

I've also added a post about Ray Harryhausen on my blog for kids.



     

Happy Birthday to Dick Smith

During high school, I'd toyed with the idea of becoming a special effects make-up artist. I put a lot of time in learning as many techniques as I could, but was hindered in their practical application by things such as cost of materials and difficulty obtaining them. There was no internet then, so finding suppliers for liquid latex and comparison shopping was incredibly difficult. Nearby physical locations such as medical supply companies, and morticians were suspicious of a 14-year old kid inquiring about ordering mortician's wax and dental supplies, and not simply less than helpful, but often rude and dismissive.

One of the make-up artists that inspired me (and countless others who actually became professional make-up artists) was Dick Smith. It wasn't simply his body of work which included such movies as "The Exorcist," "Taxi Driver," "Altered States," "Scanners," "Amadeus," "Little Big Man," the first two "Godfather" movies,"Marathon Man," "Ghost Story," "The Sunshine Boys," and "The Alligator People" among many others, but it was his willingness to share the secrets of his craft, many of which he pioneered with so many others. From his book "Dick Smith's Do It Yourself Monster Make-up Handbook" which was a staple of the Captain Company ads in the back of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and allowed an army of monster kids to transform themselves into a variety of monsters inexpensively, to his correspondences with the next generation of make-up artists, such as Rick Baker, Dick Smith was generous with passing on the knowledge and enthusiasm which not only allowed his craft to thrive, but in the 1980s turned make-up effects technicians into superstars thanks to groundbreaking movies such as "An American Werewolf in London" and "The Thing."

Happy 88th birthday, Dick Smith! Thanks for all of the inspiration.

Complete Works Archives Continues to Grow

The total number of comic book covers scanned to my complete works archives is almost 200 now with many more still to come. I don't know how many stories that includes since some of those issues include more than one. All story information and credits (for stories I wrote) are included for each issue.

Separated at Birth

This is without a doubt the nerdiest post I've ever put up, and should more accurately be labled as separated at manufacture. I give you...

NOMAD from the Star Trek  episode "The Changeling"

and

IG-88 from Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

From the Archives 2

The above comic book is not the first issue of DEXTER'S LABORATORY published by DC Comics. It's actually a premium that was given out by Burger King in 2002. I suspect this would make it the most widely read Dexter's Laboratory comic of all time.

Inside it contains two Dexter stories reprinted from the regular monthly DEXTER's LABORATORY comic book. One is "Spoonj" by Bobbi JG Weiss, Chris Savino, Jeff Albrecht, Ryan Cline, Lee and Loughridge. The other is "Bubble Boy" written by me with pencils by Mike Manley, inks by Jeff Albrecht, letters by Ken Bruzenak, and colors by Zylonol Studio. "Bubble Boy" was one of my more popular Dexter stories and this was the third of three times it was printed. The story debuted in DEXTER'S LABORATORY #7 (March 2000), and was  reprinted in THE POWERPUFF GIRLS DOUBLE WHAMMY #1 (December 2000).

The stories in the Burger King premium were flanked by a coloring page and a word search puzzle. There are no ads except for an ad on the back cover for Burger King's Big Kids meal.

Complete Works Archive Slightly More Complete

I've doubled the content of what's now in my archive of comics I've written. It's still far from complete, but it's a good start. Take a look here, if you are inclined.

Complete Works Archive Underway

It was recently pointed out to me (as it is periodically) that the section of my website which lists my writing work is woefully out of date. To be honest, it was woefully out of date before my website went up. that is something that has nagged at me since the beginning.

I've long wanted to have my entire website overhauled, and still plan to. The amount of work I need to do to prepare it for a web designer to turn it into something that dazzles the eye and engages the mind has been a slow, stop and go process, that will probably take me another year or two to complete.

Not wanting to wait that long to upgrade certain sections, I've opted for a temporary solution. Today I have begun the long tedious process of scanning the covers to every comic book I've ever written, adding complete credits to the stories that I wrote in them and have begun posting these on a flickr account.

As of today, there are about fifty comic books posted there. I'm hoping to double that by the end of the weekend. There is not much rhyme, reason, or order to what's been posted so far. Right now I'm simply trying to get the covers and interior credits posted so that they are available to anyone who wants to look at them. Once I have the bulk of my work on there I'll begin to organize it.

In the meantime, stop over there and take a look around. There's recent work, golden oldies and some stuff in between. Here's the link, which I will also add to the links bar to the right by Monday.

New Blog for Kids Who Like Comics

Because so much of my work is for an all ages audience (ie; it's aimed at kids) I decided a few months back to begin a blog aimed especially at kids. 

Using my own work primarily, because that is the material I'm most familiar with, I'm going to use that blog to instruct them on how comics are made. This will cover the general process as well as more specific aspects. I'll talk about different ways to use the visual language of comics to tell stories, what has inspired some of the stories I've written, how I choose the way I tell a story and so on. 

I'm also planning to have people who contribute the other aspects of what goes into making a comic book talk about their part in things, editors, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, cover artists, and maybe even printers. 

At some point I may even expand to include the other work I do, whether it's writing for television animation, or creating illustrations using cut paper collage. 

For right now, the focus is on comic books. For several years now I've discussed comic books, and writing for comics in a number of public schools and covering grades from 1 - 7. The interest in the subject has always been high and the questions generally excellent. Much of the subject matter for this blog is in fact taken by questions kids have asked me during these presentations. The blog is also meant to be interactive with the idea that kids can ask any questions they want and I will try and answer them. I may even create some fun assignments to try on their own. 

The blog has been up, quietly now, for a few months as I tried to add a bit of content to it for people to browse back through. A few people have discovered it already, but beginning today, I think it's ready for it's big launch, and will be adding new material all next week. 

If you have kids, or know someone who does, please bring this new blog to their attention. A link can be found to the right under "links," or simply by clicking here.

On Sale Today

Head to a comic book store near you for SCOOBY-DOO #157 which features 2 installments of my popular "Velma's Monsters of the World" series. This issue Velma spotlights Yama-Uba and the Griffin. Both stories were drawn by Fabio Laguna with Travis Lanham providing the lettering, Heroic Age the colors, and Harvey Richards editing. The creepy cover is by Vincent Deporter.

Al Williamson (1931-2010)

The world of comics and illustration lost another great this past Sunday. Al Williamson died at age 79. For me, Williamson, like Alex Raymond,  will be synonymous with science fiction adventure. It was through his science fiction work, particularly the Star Wars newspaper strip which introduced me to Williamson's clean, precise line and his particular vision of extraterrestrial worlds and their inhabitants. After that his work became readily identifiable and he's remained a favorite of mine ever since. His work for EC and on Flash Gordon are other favorite highlights of his career for me. I saw him once in the late-1980s, but didn't have the nerve to approach him, and never had the opportunity to meet him since. His work is gorgeous and I'm glad we are left with it. My condolences to his family. 








      

Weekend Destinations

Now that summer is upon us, less web surfing is happening as more people head outdoors. Imagine my surprise over Memorial day weekend when the number of visitors shot up by hundreds of people when I expected them to drop down to the low double digits.

My thanks to the folks over at the awesome futuristic site io9 for plugging my tribute to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK which I featured here throughout May. I'd also like to thank my pal George Taylor over at Imaginerding for also plugging the TESB tribute on his great Disney related blog.

Visit both of these sites and enjoy what they have to offer.

I'm also going to recommend some other sites that I've not mentioned here before.

I'm a big fan of retro-futurism; all of the designs, predictions, and expectations for what the future was meant to include, but somehow never did. Paleo Future celebrates in depth all of the futures that fell by the wayside.

Boom Pop! goes in somewhat the other direction by taking a nostalgic look at pop culture of yesteryear and is the creation of Jeff Pepper who is also responsible for 2719 Hyperion one of the best Disney sites out there.

I'm a big fan of Doc Savage, and so is Keith Wilson who has created some new fantasy Doc Savage books and their covers at his site here.

I'm a sucker for Batman merchandise and Bat-Blog has tons on display.

Halloween is never off my mind and one of the places that I visit to put me in the mood throughout the year is Haunt Style.

Finally, an artist who continues to amaze me is Rob Kelly and once you visit his blog you'll be amazed as well.

Mad Scientist #21

Issue #21, the latest issue of the excellent magazine MAD SCIENTIST is now available for pre-order. It includes artwork by me and a fantastic cover by Don Marquez. All for $5.00.

You can order your copy here.

Splice

When I first saw the above image of Dren, the genetically created chimera at the center of the new movie "Splice," I was immediately smitten. I just think it's such a fantastic and beautiful design. I couldn't wait to see the movie and now I have.

Without getting into a lengthy review I just want to say that this is likely to be my favorite genre movie of the year, much as "Let the Right One In," "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Host" have been in previous years. It's essentially the "Frankenstein" story for the modern world. Even the two main characters are named Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) after Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester. Clive and Elsa create a pair of lifeforms from DNA taken from a number of different animals with the goal of harvesting pharmaceutically useful material from their creatures. When the company they work for becomes more interested in the harvesting than the creation, they decide to try one more thing before they are repurposed, and add human DNA into the mix. The result is Dren (Abigail Chu/Delphine Chaneac), a smart, lovely, creature with an accelerated metabolism which causes her to age rapidly. The two scientists become emotionally attached to their creation, and find various reasons not to destroy it. Eventually though, as Dren matures, she decides she wants a mate of her own and things go wrong from there.

Given the type of movie this is, you know things can only end badly, and the process of getting to that point adds tension and dread to the experience. Both Clive and Elsa are well rounded characters whose seemingly stupid decisions, seem like decisions real people would make. Dren is the real star of the movie. As I said, she's an absolutely beautiful creation, and a return to a truly sympathetic monster. Thankfully this movie did not turn into "Species" once Dren matured. I found myself very attached to her and emotionally engaged with her character, yet wary of her at the same time. It was also interesting to watch the fluid dynamics of how both Clive and Elsa interacted with her as the movie progressed.

"Splice" could almost be described as David Cronenberg's version of "Frankenstein" (it would make a nice double feature with Cronenberg's "The Fly"), only much warmer and without  Howard Shore's music. I highly recommend this movie.

1000

This is my 1000th post on this blog. I'm also trying to think of it as being the first post. I'm constantly trying to think of ways to improve it, from my long held dream to have my entire website overhauled and given a new professional look, and accurate up to date information, to simply finding the time to give the format of these posts a bit more structure than the seemingly random nature they've been.

This website and blog have always foremost been about my work; promoting what's new and what I'm working on as well as answering questions and sharing inside information of past projects. Related to my work I've offered a look at the various things that have inspired me throughout the years from children's books to monster movies and posted about things either related to my work and interests or things that I think people who like my work might likewise appreciate.

Me, me, me, me. All of this is for two reasons. One: In the current climate, you can't rely on large companies to promote projects you are doing for them, you've got to do that work yourself. Two: People actually ask me about this stuff. I get dozens of emails every month asking me about past or future projects. This website and blog was meant to make it unnecessary for me to feel compelled to answer all of those emails, but hasn't. I still try and answer as many as I can, but I am terrible about answering my email. Please don't take it personally.

So, in the spirit of moving forward rather than looking back, I'm going to try and improve the content of this blog as time moves forward, and to work in some types of posts that will be given a regular schedule. First, to deal with the email problem, I'm going to try and post a monthly "ask me anything' post to which I will also try and answer everything asked.

I had thought of beginning a 1000 things that have inspired my work, doing 1 thing at a time, but immediately realized I'd soon regret it. Instead, I'll try and schedule a regular post on what has inspired my work, and how.

In the meantime, check back later this week and next for a couple of announcements.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by for a visit, especially if you've left a comment, and even more so to the many of you who have become my friends over the years even though we've never met.