Bring on the back-ups: The last Green Lantern by Neal Adams & Denny O'Neil

One of my favourite comic book series of all time is Green Lantern/Green Arrow (# 76 -89 - 1970/72) by the legendary team of Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil. However, the first time I actually read an Adams\O'Neil Green Lantern tale was when the strip moved over to the Flash comic (#217 - 219) in 1972 after the GL\GA comic was cancelled with # 89. Until recently I thought that was the last time that the Adams \ O'Neil team worked together on Green Lantern. Well that was until I picked up Flash #226 (December 1973) which to my surprise contained the story below which I think may have been the last time that Adams/O'Neil worked together on the character.

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Below the Flash #226 (cover by Nick Cardy) The Green Lantern back -up strip would last until #244 in 1976 when a new Green Lantern \Green Arrow comic by O'Neil\Grell was published.

Bring on the Back-Ups: Elongated Man by Neal Adams and Gardner Fox

I was surprised to find out that before Neal Adams started work on such iconic DC superhero comics as the Spectre, Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow he deubted (along with his work on Deadman) on an Elongated Man back-up tale in Detective Comics # 369 (September 1967). Since finding this out I have been searching for a copy of this comic and as luck would have it I came across a copy while visiting family in the USA. Although the cover was badly ripped the interior pages were complete and for only around £8 I snapped it up for excellent Neal Adams art on this his one and only Elongated Man story.

Below the cover to Detective Comics #369 - image from DC Fandom

Favourite comics: Jimmy Olsen # 135: Jack Kirby, Neal Adams

Jack Kirby came to DC in 1970 with a deal that allowed him to create and edit three brand-new interconnected titles based on concepts that had been working on during his last few years at Marvel. Seemingly his deal at DC also called for him to work on one of their existing titles which turned out to be “Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen” , on the face of it a strange choice for someone like Kirby to work on with his galaxy spanning concepts. However, in November 1970 with Jimmy Olsen #133, Kirby began work on what would become known as the “Fourth World” series. The first issue of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen that I picked up was actually issue 139 and over the next couple of years I managed to pick up most of Kirbys 15 issue run on Jimmy Olsen (#133-#139 and #141 -#148) except for the above #135 (with an excellent cover by Neal Adams) which I tracked down a few years ago. Of all Kirby’s DC output at this time Jimmy Olsen and Kamandi were by far my favourites and despite the 11 -12 year old me from 1971/72, not always understanding what was going on (and who the heck Don Rickles was!!!??) I loved this series which introduced me to golden age characters like the Newsboy Legion and (my favourite) the Golden Guardian. Below are a few pages for this excellent comic with some of Kirby's best art as DC.

The Groovy 1970's Christmas Countdown: Son O God by Neal Adams, Michel Choquette and Sean Kelly

It’s been some time since I mentioned the cheerfully blasphemous “Son-O’-God” comic strip that appeared in the National Lampoon magazine in the 1970’s. I picked up the pages shown here 6 months ago on eBay for a pretty decent price, and was waiting until Christmas to show them. In the “Lampoon” stories the “Son-O-God” is Benny Davis a nerdy young man in his late 20’s who still lives with his parents in Brooklyn. When he says “JESUS CHRIST!” he transforms into a muscular super-hero version of Jesus with a six-pack, cape, and halo, ready to do battle with Catholicism, Islam, and the Antichrist. It still surprises me that no publisher has taken on the chore of collecting all the National Lampoon comic strips (not just "Son O God") – then again maybe we are less tolerant today of anything poking fun at religion.

The Groovy 1970's Christmas Countdown: Hot Wheels #6 -Neal Adams & Alex Toth

In 1970 DC Comics released what seemed to be a pretty strange comic book series based on the highly successful kids toys "Hot Wheels". In the comic the action revolved around the main character Jack Wheeler and his friends as they race and save the day in Hot Wheel cars. Only 6 issues where ever publish but everyone is an artistic triumph with ourtanding art by Alex Toth (# 1-5) and Neal Adams who drew the above final Christmas themed issue.

Although not pat of this comic series below is a stunning advert for Hot Wheels cars by the legendary Alex Toth.

Favourite Comics: Challengers of the Unknown #74 - Neal Adams, George Tuska, Bernie Wrightson

The Challengers of the Unknown (created by Dave Wood and Jack Kirby ) had their own title which ran for an impressive 77 issues (1958-1970) following their test run which began in Showcase# 6 (February 1957). Despite the titles relatively long run this was a comic that I was unaware of and my introduction to the team would have to wait until issue 79, when the title was re-launched as a short lived all-reprint comic in 1973. It wouldn’t be until 1977 when DC rebooted the title under the stewardship of Gerry Conway and hot artist Mike Nasser when I would become a fan of the team. Although this new series did not last long it whetted my appetite for the team and in 1981, I eventually tracked down my first “Challengers” back issue, the above #74 (1970) featuring art by Neal Adams, George Tuska, Bernie Wrightson and Henry Boltinoff !!!! Below are a few pages from this excellent issue.

As can be seen from the above splash page and cover, Deadman guested in issue 74, an occult story drawn half and half by Tuska and Neal Adams who, at that point, was the only artist who got to draw Boston Brand. Although Adams and Tuska's styles would not be considered compatible, as a fan of both artists I loved this issue even although Tuska's pages had a touch of "Scooby Doo" about them compared to Adams realistic style.

As was the norm for many DC titles at this time (1970) most issues feature a one page humour strip by the great Henry Boltinoff.

An to round of this excellent comic, DC added a one page tale by Bernie Wrightson.