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Aug13

PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite JIM MOONEY Pages

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Aug 13, 2022

PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite JIM MOONEY Pages

The celebrated Mr. K salutes a Super(b) and Marvel(ous) artist… By PAUL KUPPERBERG As far as I’m concerned, if all Jim Mooney (August 13, 1919 – March 30, 2008) had ever done was draw the Supergirl back-up strip in Action Comics, that would have been enough to make him one of the favorite artists of my youth. But he didn’t just draw Supergirl (for 10 years, across 120 issues, I might add). He drew thousands and thousands of other beautiful pages since entering the comic business in 1940, working for Fox Publications, the (Will) Eisner & (Jerry) Iger Studio, and Fiction House before hooking up with the proto-Marvel Timely Comics drawing their funny animal characters. In 1946, sensing the decline of funny animal comics and looking for a change, Jim Mooney dropped in on National Periodical Publications (the proto-DC Comics) and walked out with an assignment to draw Batman, albeit under the “Bob Kane” signature. Twenty-two years later, after drawing Batman in his own title and World’s Finest, Robin in Star-Spangled Comics, Superboy, Tommy Tomorrow (which was replaced in Action Comics by Supergirl and shifted over to a back-up spot in World’s Finest), the “Dial ‘H’ for Hero” strip in House of Mystery, and others, Mooney left DC and returned to Marvel where his inks graced many a John Romita Spider-Man (and other artists and strips) and penciled such series as Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, and others. Later still, Mooney entered the world of black-and-white comics, providing many issues of Claypool Comics’ Elvira Mistress of the Dark and as inker on Soulsearcher and Company. Like I said, Jim Mooney was a favorite artist because of his long association with Supergirl, whose strip was the reason I had begun collecting Action and who, thanks to a kindly gesture by the comics gods, I would later get to write and make a small, pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths impression on. My admiration for the artist wasn’t limited to his association with the Maid of Might, though. Whatever he drew, Jim Mooney drew it good! He had a solid, clean line and was a great storyteller and he drew pretty girls, which was, in the context of the strip, another good thing. And, yes, he did pencil Supergirl in the nude, as he explained in The Legion Companion: “Of course, I used to...

Aug06

13 Classic DC COMICS Runs That Need Book Collections

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Aug 6, 2022

13 Classic DC COMICS Runs That Need Book Collections

Bring these back! We brought you a number of stories this week that showed that DC is once again reaching into its back catalogue for some vintage collections. (Such volumes have generally taken a back seat during much of the pandemic.) Anyway, the news reminded me of a pair of columns we ran a few years back by our pal Anthony Durso — 13 Classic Comics Runs That Need Book Collections (click here) and 13 MORE Classic Comics Runs That Need Book Collections (click here). You dug those then, so the time feels right for a follow-up — 13 DC COMICS Runs That Need Book Collections. Reality being what it is, I think it’s highly unlikely most of these will happen (unless they end up as movies or TV shows) but so be it. We can all dream, can’t we? — By ANTHONY DURSO Steel the Indestructible Man. This Gerry Conway and Don Heck creation originally ran for five issues (1978). It was later established that Steel (Henry Heywood), later known as Commander Steel, was a member of the Earth-Two World War II era All-Star Squadron. Later still, he was, um, grandfathered in, as the grandfather of the modern day Steel (Henry Heywood III) a member of the Earth-One Justice League Detroit). Another grandson (Nathan Heywood) eventually took over the role in Geoff Johns’ Justice Society of America relaunch. Three versions of Steel have shown up on the Legends of Tomorrow TV series. A collection could include Steel the Indestructible Man #1-5, All-Star Squadron #8-9 (which rework the unpublished Steel #6), Justice League Annual #2 (the introduction of Henry III), Justice League of America #244, 245 and 260, and ‘Justice Society of America #2 (the introduction of Nathan Heywood). — Plastic Man. In 1966, DC Comics launched a Plastic Man series, featuring the character (created by Jack Cole) that it had acquired from Quality Comics. Or actually, his son. Years later (1986 to be exact) it was established that the adventures of THIS Plastic Man took place on Earth-12 (also home to the Inferior Five). Son of Plas continued until Issue #10, when the title was cancelled. DC revived the title (but not Plas II) in 1976, picking up the numbering from the original series, and that version also ran for 10 issues, ending with #20 in 1977. A complete collection of these 20 issues would be...

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