You know until I read that I hadn’t made any connection between the original ‘ghost rider on horseback’ in the movie and the comic book character of the same name…

German Ehapa Album # 1 (1982) ==> US: Superman Spectacular #1 (1982)
German Ehapa Album # 2 (1982) ==> US: Superman # 387 (1983) & Action Comics # 547 (1983)
German Ehapa Album # 3 (1982) ==> US: Action Comics # 548 (1983) & Action Comics # 549 (1983)
German Ehapa Album # 4 (1982) ==> US: Superman Special # 1 (1983)
German Ehapa Album # 5 (1983) ==> US: Superman Special # 2 (1984)
German Ehapa Album # 6 (1983) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 7 (1983) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 8 (1983) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 9 (1984) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 10 (1984) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 11 (1985) ==> US: unknown
German Ehapa Album # 12 (1985) ==> US: Superman Special # 3 (1985)

For a cover-overview see my page: http://www.superman-comics.nl/e/eaf.htm

There was also one issue of those square little DC Digest books featuring the Super Jrs in a Christmas story complete with Santa Claus — it was OK (not as cute as the X-Babies if you ask me!). It came out around 1981 or so. English language. Bought it right at the grocery store back in the day. Never saw them appear again.

I thought these were some sort of licensing experiment that went nowhere and I never heard of the European versions of these things until now. Now I’ve got something else to collect and translate!

Dave

Was it the first or the second issue of the revival of “The Question” where he was just flat out killed?

Yeah, the company changed their name after a year and a half or so, “re-launching” all the titles mid-stream with new #1′s. It was the sort of thing that desperate companies did in the 90′s to artificially generate interest and hopefully inflate sales.

It was stupid. But then, the powers-that-were were basically idiots anyway, and never listened to us lowly editorial types.

Glad you enjoyed the series. Of all the Tekno/Big Entertainment titles, I think it was arguably the most consistent, quality-wise. We all worked extra-hard on that one.

WOW! I liked that series, but it suddenly became virtually impossible to find, at least in Dallas. When visiting a comic shop somewhere else, there it was, still being published. Surprised me. It DID change publishers—or at least imprints—when he got back to his own time and it became a more or less “normal” private eye series, shortly before it seemed to disappear. But anyway, I liked it. My compliments on the work.

I can.

Not that anybody remembers or read it, but in the 1996 series MICKEY SPILLANE’S MIKE DANGER from Tekno*Comix, writer Max Collins had the hero’s head cut off and plugged into a computer. An issue or so later, it was grafted onto a cloned body.

Why do I remember? Well, I edited that series.

You indicate that nobody seems to remember just how Ghost Rider became supernatural. This is pure speculation, I admit, but I’ll bet you’ll agree that it makes a lot of sense: As the visual look of the character was being developed, an artist drew him wearing a helmet that was “painted” to look like a skull, and that appearance put a whole new slant on the concept. Ask those who are still around and it may spark memories. At worst, they’ll say, “No, that’s not how it happened.” Worth a try, though, you think?

His story goes that Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog and Roy Thomas were in the Bullpen’s one office (it had been Stan’s). They were trying to make the new character work, but there were problems. Steve was either called in for a fresh perspective or wandered in on his own, and joined the discussion. They ran things up, down, and backwards, and he was able to contribute – which is why, since he was still new, he saw it more as a fan-boy’s dream date than anything else. Steve suggests that whilst the events happened like this, he can’t swear that it was Gary and Mike and Roy in the room. Mike’s the dimmest in his mind, and it could have been Stan instead of Roy, though he doesn’t think so.

“Obviously, the storylines must have evolved since the initial ideas were formulated, I don’t think he had a Cyclops/Colossus romance planned…”

I dunno, I wouldn’t put it past him.

I’ve always gotten a sense that one of the main reasons DC has been able to do comics for such a tiny market as the direct market world became over the past 25 years is that the profit from sales in foreign, non-English speaking markets is actually quite stronger than we realize. (And DC may be the only publisher outside of Disney to really benefit from this) It’s one of the largely untold stories about DC.

My hardback copy of Hitler’s Astrologer also seems to have a missing page…that’s also something worth investigating for this column. Hey Brian, how about an ‘all Shadow’ column– add Jerry Siegel’s awful Archie version from the 60s and you’re good to go!

I see what you mean. The last panel in the book just has the caption “NEW YORK CITY; V.E. DAY, 1945.” and doesn’t seem to relate to anything else. I just checked Google and found someone else asking about it here http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/dennyoneil/?frames=n;read=1761&expand=1

Looking forward to reading your findings. Thanks in advance. “Hitler’s Astrologist” eh? I’ll try that in the GCD’s search engine….No, no luck that way, either. Didn’t really expect any, of course, but no harm in trying.