Dr. Weird was the only character in the core Big Bang universe that wasn’t created to be an avatar for any existing comic book character. In fact, Dr. Weird predated the BB universe by more than 30 years, and had a real history of his own.
The Golden Ghost actually dates back to 1941, when a young Howard Keltner “first laid eyes on the cover of Blue Ribbon Comics #15. Mr. Justice was my favorite character. Dr. Weird was created very soon after that. For years I drew stories of him in pencil, on typing paper.”
In June 1963, Keltner helped launch one of the most celebrated fanzines of the 1960s, Star-Studded Comics, along with his Texas Trio partners, Buddy Saunders and Larry Herndon. Dr. Weird appeared in most of Star-Studded’s 18 issue run through 1972, as well as two issues of his own title in 1970 and 1971.
Dr. Weird’s origin appeared in Star-Studded #1, introducing time traveler Dr. Rex Ward, who journeyed back through time from 2013 to 1963, where he was killed by two burglars as he exited his time machine. But his spirit was denied entry to Heaven, where a disembodied voice informed him that he had died before he was born and was sent back to Earth to pass the years as a ghost until his true time arrived, when he could finally find peace. Adopting the persona of Dr. Weird, he dedicated his existence to battling the forces of evil.
Jump forward ten years to 1982 where I began publishing the independent comic book Megaton. My buddy Chris Ecker introduced me to Richard “Grass” Green, who helped out with some lettering on the early issues. A good friend of Howard Keltner’s, Grass’ strips Xal-Kor the Human Cat and Wildman had appeared in Star-Studded Comics and numerous other early fan magazines. He did some work for Charlton Comics before moving on to become the first African-American cartoonist in underground comics in the early ’70s with Super-Soul Comix and others.
Grass became a very good friend to me and my family. I fell in love with his Wildman and Rubberoy strips and ran them in Megaton, and then published the first two issues of their own magazine before my first publishing career ended. Howard inked some of the Wildman stories and approached me with the idea of resurrecting Dr. Weird too.
It sounded like a good idea, so we set to work on the first new Dr. Weird story in 15 years. Scheduled for the Megaton X-Mas Special, Ed DeGeorge wrote a script titled “It Came Upon A Midnight Fear,” which was penciled by the top Megaton artist of the day, Angel Medina. Howard inked it, Grass lettered it and it was ready to go – – except that Megaton
was out of business, buried in the b&w independent glut of 1987. The Master of the Macabre did manage make it into print in the Megaton Explosion, our Who’s Who promo book ion 1987.
Over the next few years, we put together a one shot special reprinting Dr. Weird #s 1 and 2 from the early 1970s, written and drawn by then newcomers George R. R. Martin and Jim Starlin. We commissioned a new cover from Starlin, and then something else happened.
Seven of Marvel Comics’ top artists left to start their own company, Image Comics. Two of them, Erik Larsen and Rob Liefeld had gotten their start at Megaton. Savage Dragon had appeared in two issues, and Youngblood had been solicited as Megaton Special #1 but had 
never been printed due to low orders. Five years later, both creators and strips were stars and I was back in comics, with a deal at Caliber Press for the book Berzerker, another favorite of mine from Megaton.
Don Chin at Entity Comics also approached me about doing a Megaton Special. Luckily, the X-Mas Special was just sitting there, so Don had the entire thing colored up (by Bill Maus’ studio) and it was issued as the Megaton Holiday Special in 1993.
The real selling point of the issue was the center spread featuring the 
original Youngblood wraparound cover by Rob Liefeld and Jerry Ordway, but it also included a front cover by S. Clark Hawbaker, a trading card by Kelley Jones, a story by Ron Fortier and art by Aubrey Bradford, Frank Fosco, Fred Hembeck and Angel Medina.
Dr. Weird was back in print – – and in color to boot.
Unfortunately, Howard was tired of comics and all the waiting. He put his trust in us though, and in 1993, Ed DeGeorge and I acquired all rights to Dr. Weird. He was a perfect fit for the next project – – Big Bang Comics.
Unbeknownst to us, Howard Keltner was dealing with cancer. We’re proud that he got to see a number of Dr. Weird stories appear in Big Bang, plus the reprint special, the Holiday Special and two short run DW series before his death in 1998.
But more on those issues next time around.
Gary Carlson
3/8/2016
For more info on Howard Keltner and Grass Green, I suggest you check out Founders of Comic Fandom: Profiles of 90 Publishers, Dealers, Collectors by Bill Schelly. For more info about Megaton, visit megatoncomics.com
