Ultraman graduated from Megaton Comics to Big Bang Comics, albeit with a slight name change to Ultiman. Dr. Weird made the jump without any kind of change. Megaton was cancelled before the Pink Flamingo made his debut, but he became a big man on campus at Big Bang. Berzerker had his own series at Caliber Press before being overrun by the back-up series, Big Bang Comics. Vanguard moved on to two mini-series and numerous appearances at Image Comics. Ethrian co-starred in Vanguard’s giant-sized special and went on to star in a 13 part back-up series in Savage Dragon. But the Crusader?

Unfortunately, the Crusader never got the opportunity to come out of retirement to avenge the murder of his grown up sidekick and successor the Sentinel. Not at Megaton and not at Big Bang. In fact, he barely made it into print at Megaton, appearing only in a flashback panel in issue #1 and more impressively in the Megaton Explosion, the 16 page full color promotional who’s who book that bragged about all the characters would have appeared in our all new line of books if we hadn’t ceased publishing due to poor sales in the great independent comics glut of 1987.

No, poor Crusader was destined to remain in mothballs. I’ve already explained in a previous post how the old-timers in Megaton were supposed to be be somewhat generic whereas my buddy Chris Ecker and I decided they needed to possess a little pizzaz and more star-power at Big Bang. The Crusader morphed briefly into the Protector, then the Night Watchman and finally into the Knight Watchman. A star was born. KW was the figurehead character at Big Bang and definitely the most popular.

However, until I shuttered Megaton in late 1987, the plan was always to continue the Crusader’s story which began in #1. A character named Feral headlined his own story in the second issue of Megaton, and reappeared years later in the Megaton Explosion and the X-Mas Special. Ken Meyer Jr., the artist and creator of Feral was intrigued by the Crusader and wanted to continue the series. Ken sent me a series of illustrations of his interpretation of the character in 1984, some of which are appearing here today, for the first time ever.

Chris Ecker, who had drawn the first story in Megaton #1 had moved on to Now Comics where he was drawing Eb’nn the Raven. Chris had no problem with us continuing on with the Crusader’s story so Ken and I gave it a shot. I recently dug through my files and came up with two scripts, both on the bright yellow Astrobright paper that I used for all things Megaton. The first was rough layouts and sketches of the potential story and the second was a nine page typed full script. I have no clue how much time passed between the two because neither are dated.

The story involved our hero Jason Thorpe hearing the news on TV that the Sentinel was killed by a costumed villain, as described by an eye-witness. There is a slight recap on the Sentinel, from his days as the Crusader’s sidekick Sparky and a bit more detail on his retired mentor who hasn’t been seen in over eight years. After the shock of the news passes, a grim Jason suits up in the Crusader’s uniform and proceeds to kick some punks’ butts. As he congratulates himself on his successful comeback he is beaned from behind and the punks gather to teach him a lesson. Headhunter, the costumed villain who had killed the Sentinel shows up and beats the crap out of the punks. Headhunter was Crusader’s first sidekick, Sparky #1 who had been crippled on the job and later replaced by Number 2. Nobody is going to kill the Crusader but him. The next morning a bloody and beaten Jason Thorpe, in civvies, is discovered in his office. He has been given time to heal.

I was intrigued but also a little concerned with Ken’s version of the character. It had a 1940’s Simon & Kirby vibe to me which I loved, but the Megaton concept was about a new generation of heroes and a new generation of artists. That style might be right for telling some of the Crusader’s old stories, but I was thinking that a modern style would be more suited to it. (Remember, this was 1984/85, two years before Dark Knight Returns rewrote the book that I was trying to get a handle on).

While searching for the illustrations that are printed here, I came across copies of five pages of the actual story that Ken had drawn, pencils and inks. I assume they just weren’t what I envisioned because the story was never finished up. Sorry Ken.

Eventually, when Chris Ecker and I revamped the character into the Knight Watchman, we threw out the existing plots and names. All that really survived was the concept that the older character was a successful businessman, now retired from the hero game who had been replaced by his now adult sidekick, Galahad (formerly Kid Galahad). The Watchman did come out of retirement to pinch hit for his partner, who merely had a broken leg. The Knight Watchman’s old stories were told in a retro style, but that of Bob Kane and his ghosts rather than in the style of Simon & Kirby.

Crusader is copyright 1982, 2013 by Gary S. Carlson. Feral is copyright 1982, 2013 by Ken Meyer, Jr.

Rob Liefeld was only 16 or 17 years old when I first heard from him in 1985 or so. I was probably working on the 4^th issue of Megaton at the time, looking for replacements for artists who had gone on to bigger and better things.

Rob sent me a submission packet in the mail, mostly pin-ups of DC’s Teen Titans and Legion of Super Heroes, and also some sketches of my Megaton characters. His Vanguard was way too skinny, Ethrian looked like a teenager, and he had designed a new costume for Ultragirl that I didn’t care for (it reminded me somewhat of one of the Wondrous Wasp’s old outfits). There were also some story-telling samples, including two pages of Ultragirl in action in her new get-up. One or two of those early pin-ups are on Rob’s website: http://robliefeldcreations.com/?page_id=1894

His style showed a lot of George Perez influence and his storytelling was pretty nice and clean. There was some goofy anatomy going on – – but I liked his work a lot. (What can I say – the Legion and Teen Titans were two of my all-time favorite books too). I wrote back to him in California, saying close but no cigar.

Within weeks he sent me another batch of samples and these were even better than the first ones. Then another one came. It included four pages of a proposed Berzerker story, and Ultragirl and Ultraman pieces, all characters that hadn’t appeared since issue #1. I used one of the pieces he sent as the inside front cover to Megaton #5 and another in our Who’s Who book Megaton Explosion.

Out of the blue he called me and said that he was in the Chicagoland area and asked if we could meet somewhere to talk. I think he was visiting relatives. My buddy Chris Ecker and I hopped in the car and drove out to meet him in the lobby of the Ramada O’Hare motel, the annual site of the Chicago ComiCon back then. It was also about halfway between Elgin, where we were and Gurnee, where Rob was.

Rob turned out to be a teenager who didn’t even have his driver’s license yet. I think his Uncle drove him out. But he was a fun guy, very excited about doing comics. We talked and looked at more of his art and both Chris and I came away impressed.

I gave Rob a plot to draw to see what he could do with it. The story saw print in Megaton #7 but it was drawn by Gary Thomas Washington. Rob did layouts for the entire story which were very good. But in the meantime he began sending me character designs for a super hero team he was calling Youngblood. We decided he’d be better off doing a one-shot featuring his own characters, but he drew the back-up story that ran in Megaton #8 to introduce him to our readers.

It was a blast working with Rob for that time between 1985 and 1987. Rob’s enthusiasm was contagious and his art was improving by leaps and bounds. The only other guy I ever worked with that loved comics so much and sent me stacks of drawings of my characters was Chris Samnee, ten or so years later.

We talked a lot via phone and had big plans. Unfortunately, the independent comic market was glutted back then and my plan to expand to multiple books to be taken more seriously as a publisher was exactly the wrong thing to do. Megaton Special #1 starring Youngblood was solicited and received orders for about 1,200 copies. I gave Rob the bad news and told him (and everybody else) he might as well stop working.

Our “Megaton Explosion” plan to expand into multiple books turned into an implosion and I dropped out of comics for five years. It didn’t surprise me that Rob turned into a comics superstar within five years, although it was a real kick seeing the young guy we still called Robbie starring in Spike Lee’s Levi Jeans ads on TV.

I visited with Rob for a while at a local comic convention in 1991, amazed at the long line of people waiting for him to sign their copies of New Mutants and X-Force, and he told me of his plan to leave Marvel to publish Youngblood. Once again his enthusiasm was catching and I decided to give comics another try myself, starting with Berzerker and its back-up feature, Big Bang Comics.

Youngblood and related characters are copyright and TM Rob Liefeld.

Christie Kelly appeared in issue #1 and didn’t reappear until Megaton #7, but she did make a few cameo s in the “Looking for Heroes” house ads that we ran in the book, which gave us our only glimpses of Ultragirl as drawn by other top Megaton artists. As mentioned before, Butch Guice was the original Ultragirl artist. He drew her origin in issue one and came back to provide the cover for her return in issue seven.

Frank Fosco created and drew the Ethrian stories and his first stab at Ultragirl was in the color promo back cover to Megaton #5. Frank was back a few years later pencilling the lead story “White Christmas” in the Megaton X-Mas Special which furthered the romance between Megaton and Ultragirl. It was a fun story scripted by Ron Fortier and inked by Aubrey Bradford.

The only time I can recall Erik Larsen drawing Ultragirl back then was in another one of the promos. I wasn’t smart enough to keep a copy of the pencils, but here is Erik’s take on her as inked by Don Drake. I’m throwing in another of Erik’s “Looking for Heroes” pieces even though U-girl isn’t in it. This single piece captures the spirit of the Megaton book as far as I’m concerned (and adds a bit of color today).

Next up is a semi finished illo by the amazing Angel Medina, again the only time I recall him drawing the character. Angel was the first recurring artist on the Megaton strip. The artists kept getting professional work from the big companies after one story. Mike Gustovich was first. Bill Reinhold was briefly set to follow Mike in #2 but was gone before we got to it. Clarke Hawbaker replaced Bill for #2 and was then off to Marvel.

I was lucky enough to have Angel Medina stick around for three issues. Gary Thomas Washington was on board for issues 7 and 8 and his first published Megaton piece also contained Ultragirl. Next up is a piece by long-time Megaton and Big Banger Shawn Van Briesen from 1987.

Both of these pieces feature her in the loose belt sash and floppy turtleneck collar, even though Gary Washington drew her in her original skin-tight uniform in both of his published stories. The only story in which Christie wore the variant costume was the back-up feature in Megaton #8, drawn by a young Rob Liefeld. We’ll see more of his Ultra art next time.

Finally, last time around I shared a wrap around cover painting by John Thompson for the X-Mas Special. This time, I have the ink line art version of that cover for you, which also contain’s Rob’s Youngblood characters singing carols outside the window. Youngblood was solicited as the main feature in Megaton Special #1 and were slated to appear in the X-Mas Special. The sales just weren’t there and we closed down the Megaton shop.

All characters are copyright by Gary Carlson or their respective owners. Ethrian is copyright by Frank Fosco. Vanguard is copyright by Gary Carlson and Erik Larsen. Youngblood and related characters are copyright and trademark by Rob Liefeld & co.

Ultraman faked his death at the end of the main story in Megaton #7 and left for the tropics to stay out of sight and never be tempted to recharge his powers by leeching from his daughter Christie, who was now the only supply of Ultranium energy left since the destruction of the meteor. (Later Christie would discover that her powers were permanent and did not need to be recharged.)

The back-up story in Megaton #7 dealt with Christie coping with the apparent death of her dad, and also her infatuation with Matt “Megaton” Scott, who had been her teen idol of choice a few years earlier. The story featured art by John Thompson, who was a major contributor in those waning days of Megaton Comics and the to return of some of the characters a few years later in Big Bang Comics.

John is a fantastic artist and did some of the best ghosting work ever at Big Bang. His Golden Age Knight Watchman, Ultiman and Mighty Man work is among BB’s finest. Still, some of my favorite art by John was and remains his Ultraman and Ultragirl pieces. The Ultragirl art from last time is one, and the header art here, with U-Man and the eagle is also at the top of my list. The name at the right originally said ULTRAMAN, but I altered it to use for Big Bang after the name had changed.

Why the name change? I don’t recall if I was aware of the Japanese Ultraman in 1981, but I was certainly familiar with DC’s Crime Syndicate bad guy of the same name. He hadn’t been used much by ’81, as I recall. Same with Aquaman’s one off co-star Crusader. I used both names for the “throw-away” old-timers in Megaton #1.

When we decided to tell their retro adventures in Big Bang, we needed something a little more original, unique and less confusing. DC started doing more with their Earth 3 character in 1982 and beyond, so our Ultraman became Ultiman, and I described earlier how the Crusader morphed into the Knight Watchman.

Among the other art by John Thompson I’m sharing with you today are two pieces rendered in charcoal. There is a third (not shown here) featuring Megaton talking to reporters so I’m guessing maybe these were done for a newspaper feature that never appeared in the book. Or maybe John was just having fun or showing off like I am today.

Finally, there are two pieces John did for the Megaton X-Mas Special that was eventually published a few years later by Don Chin’s Entity Comics. The single pager features both Ultragirl and Ultraman, plus Megaton and his gang of heroes: Ethrian, Vanguard, Ramm, Berzerker, and the immortal Grass Green’s Wildman. That’s me, by the way, filling in for Santa Claus. Unfortunately, I didn’t need any padding to fit the suit.

The other X-Mas art is a gorgeous painting of many of the same characters joined by the real Santa Claus,  Wildman’s partner Rubberroy, Matt Scott’s butler Napier, ward Timmy Manson, Vanguard’s girl friend Roxanne Wells and Van’s best friend and robot companion Wally. I added a few logos to show what it might have looked like as the printed cover. The painting itself is a massive 3’x4′ and a thing of beauty. It’s X-Mas all year in my studio. Thanks John.

Lt. Christopher Kelly was the golden boy of the original NASA astronauts in the Megaton and Big Bang universes. The second man in space in the Mercury program, he was aboard a Gemini capsule that was struck by a radioactive meteor. The radiation killed his fellow astronaut, but Kelly survived re-entry to Earth where he was terminally ill with radiation sickness. Luckily, his body metastasized and instead of killing him absorbed the radiation, transforming it into energy. Kelly became a human battery: he was strong, invulnerable, able to fly, and many other powers manifested over the years. The press called him the “ultimate human being” and eventually Ultraman.

Unfortunately, his body burned the atomic energy and had to be periodically recharged by the Ultranium (ultra-uranium) meteor. At first it operated like Popeye eating spinach. Over time, he had to expose himself to larger and larger doses. It was during one of these sessions that something went drastically wrong and the meteor exploded, transforming Chris into a burning, mindless supercharged hulk. The accident also transformed his teenaged daughter Christie into Ultragirl.

With Matt “Megaton” Scott’s help, they stopped Christie’s dad. With the meteor destroyed, Ultraman discovered that there was no way for him to recharge his depleted powers except for draining it from Christie and possibly killing her in the process. Instructing Megaton to tell Christie that he had exploded so she wouldn’t try to find him, Ultraman retired and left to avoid the uncontrollable temptation to charge up.

The story began in Megaton #1 and concluded in #7. Butch Guice returned to provide the cover and the interior art was provided by Gary Thomas Washington. A bonus was a nice inside front cover illo by Bill Willingham and Rich Rankin. Ultragirl dealt with the “death” of her father and her infatuation with Megaton in the back-up story in issue 7, which was drawn by John Thompson who became a good friend and a big part of the Megaton gang during those last days and months when expansion to color and multiple books looked like a reality.