Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 6, 2024 | 4 comments

Bill Morrison brings you FOUR atomic homages…

By BILL MORRISON

During the first year of Bongo Comics Group, Steve Vance, Cindy Vance, and I created a six-issue mini-series that established Bart Simpson’s favorite superhero, Radioactive Man, as a fully formed comics character with an origin story, a secret identity (Claude Kane III,) a rogue’s gallery of villains (Dr. Crab, Hypno-Head, Larva Girl,) a base of operations (The Containment Dome,) a love interest (Gloria Grand) and even a group of other heroes to have adventures with (The Superior Squad!) And of all the Bongo titles I worked on, it was my favorite. A mere six issues was not nearly enough for me.

The Simpsons #36, 1998

Sadly, Steve and Cindy left to pursue a different path at the end of the first year, leaving the creative reigns of the Bongo line in my hands, and one of the first things I decided to do with all that power was to bring the Irradiated Crusader back in a one-shot that parodied the great DC Comics 80-Page Giants of the 1960s. My follow-up plan was to launch an ongoing Radioactive Man title, but it wasn’t feasible at the time, so I had to think of other ways to keep Ol’ Bolthead alive.

The Simpsons #39, 1998

The solution was based on a standard Bongo gimmick, the flip book. From the very first issue of Simpsons Comics, we gave the secondary characters their own short stories, complete with a cover, by printing those stories and covers upside down. So when flipping a Simpsons Comics issue over, instead of an ad on the back there was a cover image for characters such as Barney, Apu, Chief Wiggum, Milhouse, etc. And because they were printed upside down, they opened from the right, just as the main part of the comic did. But these backup stories were only about 4-6 pages in length, and I wanted to feature the Atomic Avenger in a full-length story. So, I decided to write a serialized Radioactive Man story and employ the flip book concept in four consecutive issues of Simpsons Comics.

The original Radioactive Man mini-series presented six issues, plucked from various eras of comics history. Issue #1 featured RM’s origin and was presented as if we were reprinting a classic first issue from 1952. Issue #2 was cover-numbered #88 and was an early 1960s Marvel homage. Issue #3 was cover-numbered #216 and was a send-up of Denny O’Neil’s and Neal Adams’ classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow run from the early 1970s, etc.

At this point in time we had yet to explore one of my favorite eras, the late 1960s, so I decided to take my love of Jim Steranko’s art and create a pastiche of his Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Captain America stories from that period. The result was the four-part story “The Heroic Life and Mortifying Death of Radioactive Man,” published in Simpsons Comics #36-39, written by yours truly and Kayre Morrison, penciled by me, inked by Steve Steere Jr., colored by Nathan Kane, and lettered by Chris Ungar.

Because the story was serialized in four issues, it needed four covers, so I had a blast parodying some of my favorite classic Steranko covers of the period. It occurs to me that if this story had actually been published in 1968, it would have pioneered the modern trend of variant covers!

Steranko fans who’ve paid attention to Bongo’s output will notice that I’ve done several homages to Jim’s work over the years, so much so that at one point I felt a bit guilty about it and sent him a check. Jim thanked me and said that of all the artists who have “swiped” his work over the years, I was the only one who ever paid him!

I continue to be inspired by Steranko’s spectacular cover images, so although Bongo Comics is gone, I’m sure there are more Steranko homages in my future, and I hope to show them here!

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