Gorilla Daze

A rarity here from the “It Never Happened” file. In 1972 DC made brief attempt to add the famed comedy duo to its line of superstars. There was a single issue of a Laurel and Hardy regular-sized comic published (with art by Mike Sekowsky no less!), and plans for a line of digests, which would presumably have been largely made up of reprints of British/European material. For whatever reason the digest never appeared, leaving us with just this ad.

You may be able to make out that the actual title of the book (and indeed the title of the regular comic) is “Larry Harmon’s Laurel and Hardy” This is because Harmon had bought the rights to the name of the partnership following their retirement, and used it to realise cartoons and children’s books for many years.

In previous decades Stan and Ollie got themselves into fine messes at a variety of US publishers, including Gold Key and Dell — but they proved far more durable as comics characters overseas.

©2010 DC Comics

Was there ever an ad that better showcased the gulf between comics as they had been and comics as they would become? Around 1970, with the influx of fresh, young talent, intent on moving the medium forward, things began to change. “Relevance” had arrived — and things would never be the same.

Here we see the ‘old’ represented by our dearly beloved carrot-topped cub reporter, Jimmy Olsen. In one of the very last Mort Weisinger edited issues, we see him fiddling about, surgical style — they really gave their reporters a diverse training back then! — with Superman, having turned him into a “superhuman computer”. Fun, certainly, but very much yesterday’s news.

Meanwhile, Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams ring in the changes, and send Green Lantern and Green Arrow on a road trip across modern America to highlight the ills of society. It was daring and controversial, and touched on very real concerns. For good or ill, the future of comics had arrived.

©2010 DC Comics

When DC acquired the licence for the Shadow in 1972 they gave the book to Denny O’Neil to write. But who could they get to draw it? Initially Alex Toth was approached, but, though he was keen and produced a pitch, ultimately things didn’t work out. Jim Steranko lobbied for it, but his wish to produce the book as a complete package ruled him out of the running. Next Bernie Wrightson took a stab, intending to draw both the Shadow and Swamp Thing at the same time. While one can’t fault his enthusiam, it ought to be fairly clear that such a plan was never likely to work out satisfactorily — and he passed. With O’Neil getting desperate young Mike Kaluta, veteran of several short back-ups and mystery tales, offered his services, even though he’d not drawn a full-length book at that point. He got the gig, and the rest is history: five of the finest comics ever produced.

However, before passing, Wrightson drew this sample page to showcase his approach to the character. Although it couldn’t be used for the book itself, it ran as a house ad to announce the forthcoming arrival of the pulp character at DC. Would a Wrightson-drawn Shadow have been even better than the Kaluta one? I dunno, but it’s interesting that we at least got a glimpse of what might’ve been.

©2010 Conde Nast/DC Comics