Wait, there was no Gilligan’s Island?
TwoMorrows has retro TV on the brain these days — and why not? There’s hardly a classic show left that you can’t buy, stream or catch on MeTV.
Of course, a metric ton of these programs were adapted for comic books — for good or bad — and Back Issue #128 and #129 are devoted to them.
Just check out Issue #128’s table of contents:
Oh man, there’s even a feature on Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp! (It’s streaming on Amazon Prime, by the by.)
But that’s not all — the publisher is also planning a full-length history of the topic in 2022: American TV Comic Books (1940s-1980s), by Peter Bosch. (Click here for the complete rundown.)
Anyway, Back Issue #128 is out June 30 — and we’ve got an EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT, as per usual. While we love our lists of 13 in these parts, BI editor Michael Eury has a shorter one — An Editor’s Wish List of TV Tie-Ins.
Dig these great TV comics that should have been:
Of course, we’ve seen modern versions of Wonder Woman ’77 and Charlie’s Angels but it’s not the same as a Bronze Age treatment, dig?
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Back Issue #128 is due June 30, though the ish is already available in some places. It’s available at comics shops and magazine sellers but you can also order it directly from TwoMorrows. (Click here.)
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MORE
— A Genre Unexplored: AMERICAN TV COMICS Get Their Due. Click here.
— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite 1960s Gold Key Comics TV Adaptations. Click here.
June 25, 2021
I don’t typically buy publications “about” comics, tending to prefer to have the comics themselves. However these sound like such fun issues, I’ll be sure to pick them up. Thanks for your diligence in pointing out Twomorrows publications like Back Issue and Alter Ego.
Those WWII-era Wonder Woman issues, created to coincide with the TV series, badly need a collected edition!
I second your comments about Green Hornet. I have the Batman ’66 Meets The Green Hornet collected edition on my shelf just for that oldtime Batman ’66 and Van Williams – Bruce Lee nostalgia in general and the Batman / Hornet crossover in particular.
June 25, 2021
While I can no longer enjoy Gilligan’s Island, I would probably have enjoyed an all Mary Ann issue of a comic book version…as long as Mary Ann was on-model.
June 25, 2021
Also, I want to take an opportunity to publicly thank Twomorrows Publishing (from my home state, NC!) for their incredible magazines. They are hours of invaluable history, interviews, insights and schooling. I was interested to learn recently that one of my favorite podcasters, Chris Franklin, is a contributor to these publications (my thanks and respect to you, and your wife, sir).
June 29, 2021
Can’t wait for this issue!
July 29, 2021
DC could hardly have licensed The Green Hornet in 1966, since the TV series didn’t air until the 1967-68 season. I like the Dan Spiegel version just fine, thank you.
A cameo appearance of Superman in the CAPTAIN ACTION licensed comic hardly amounts to “shoehorning him into the DC universe”. If they had, maybe they’d have retained the action figure’s Robby Reed-like ability to (somehow) transform into amazingly accurate simulations of Superman, Batman, and Aquaman … and they could have added other DC heroes in-story, which the Ideal Toy company never actually licensed or produced. CAPTAIN ACTION was an interesting failure because DC failed to grasp the primary appeal of the character as a toy, and integrate that into the comic.