According to Roy Thomas, in an editorial in the first issue of Planet of the Apes magazine, it was my friend and old Topps colleague Len Brown who persuaded Roy — and Marvel — to acquire the POTA license. Roy’s article on that process is worth a read.
Another fun fact: Mike Ploog insisted he draw the series, which was developed as a sequel to the fifth and final original Apes film, Battle of the Planet of the Apes.
And that’s cool, because Mike provides us with some very lovely artwork throughout, including this terrific page.
Mutants! Monkeys! Maniacs! What more could you ask for?
(Special note: Pretty much everyone was late to the party on the POTA license, but when they finally got there in time for the final film and then the TV series, It became, as they say, “a thing.”)
Roy Thomas tells us the origin of Marvel’s Planet Of The Apes.
The terrifically talented Zina Saunders — daughter of legendary Mars Attacks painter Norm Saunders — created this card for our 1994 Topps Mars Attacks “sequel” series. So many good cards were created for that set, including many by Zina, that we ran out of room, and this one went unused…
Until 2012, when we acquired the Mars Attacks comic book license at IDW. Legendary comics marketing guru Dirk Wood had this crazy idea: What if we created 55 variant covers, each featuring one of the original 55 cards? Ha-ha. That’s funny.
Then we went ahead and did it.
And we upped the ante: We added an additional variant cover that you could only get if you bought the complete box set of variant covers.
Honestly, I think we all agreed we were nuts — until some good orders came in. Collectors actually wanted all the covers. It was a novel way to have a complete “set” of the original Mars Attacks.
Maybe those are unrelated thoughts. We might still be nuts.
But I’m not voting the Martian ticket, regardless. Not this year, anyway.
Wallace Wood brings his penchant for humor to Topps with this great looking 1967 series of novelties appropriately entitled “Nasty Notes.”
Why call them novelties instead of trading cards? Because they are actually two-sided posters that are designed to resemble the folded notes you might pass around in class.
Woody did a generous amount of work for Topps in the 60s as he became increasingly frustrated with the mainstream comics houses. Also, he was friends with one of Topps creative directors, Len Brown.
In fact, as noted previously, Len helped shape the creative direction of Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, and. in return, Woody named the civilian identity of Dynamo, the lead character, “Len Brown.”
Some of the greatest and best-known talents of the comics contributed to Topps creative “Non-Sports” projects. It’s an all-star list that includes Jack Davis, Bob Powell, Basil Wolverton, Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch and Art Spiegelmanamong others.
(And of course, well-know pulp cover painter Norm Saunders was responsible for the finished work on Mars Attacks, Batman, Civil War, and others.)
My favorite Topps / Wood project of the era: Krazy Little Comics, 16 different parodies of classic superheroes in the style of EC’s classic Mad Comics . Written by Roy Thomas, with art by Wood and Gil Kane, too. These predate Not Brand Ecch! #1
The frustrated artist, working “Marvel style” on Daredevil — plotting AND drawing — but only paid for the art, heard about a new opportunity. Tower, primarily a book publisher, had decided to take a leap of faith into the comics biz, and Woody was ready to help them.
It was the perfect role for Woody, who had carte blanche to
develop the comics as hew saw fit. He was artist, storyteller, art director and
defacto editor — all rolled into one.
And with the help of friends/colleagues Len Brown (Topps
Mars Attacks) and Dan Adkins, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was born.
Combining a super powered team (think Justice League) with a
secret spy organization (ala S.H.I.E.L.D., which had just launched a few months
prior) T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was an effort to capitalize on the secret agent pop
culture craze. (James Bond, Man from U.N.C.LE., et al.).
This page is a great example Wood’s crystal clear storytelling
and trademark inks. Adkins is credited in
some instances on this story as the penciller, with Wood on inks, and due to
the collaborative nature of the creative teams on these stories, it’s often
easy to lose the thread of who did what.
But this looks like pure Wood here, as Dynamo and his
“duplicate” (there are actually three Dynamos in this story — don’t ask) are
mowed down in a hail of bullets.
I’ve I always wanted to use that phrase.
Who are you going to call?:
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves.
U.N.C.LE. United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.
S.H.I.E.L.D: Originally Supreme Headquarters,
International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division and
later Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. In the
MCU film and TV Universe, it means Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement
and Logistics Division.
By 1965, the super-spy craze (and acronym obsession) was in full bore in pop culture.
By the time of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents launch, Wood had created two bonafide superhero masterpieces. The Superman parody in Mad Comics and the Daredevil and Sub-Mariner crossover in DD#7 are still considered classics today.
