Completing the Concordance: Frenzied and Fanatical Footnoting for Megaton Man!

The Simpson Scholarship of Steve Replogle
 

Megaton Man completist Steve Replogle recently contacted me requesting information on compiling a complete and exhaustive list of every single Megaton Man comic book appearance of the past three decades, so as to organize his own collection. Then he proceeded to compile his own concordance! Herewith are Steve's labors so far, cut and pasted from actual emails! Can you help Steve (and me) with any missing data?! Comment below so that the Complete and Exhaustive List of Megaton Man Comic Book Appearance can live forever online! -- Don Simpson.

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Dear Don,

I was lucky enough to be have the very first Megaton Man issue recommended to me by my comic shop guy, lo those many moons ago - and I continue to be a great fan of your work. I am very excited to see your new Border Worlds and Megaton Man material come to fruition.

In anticipation, I have begun currently reorganizing my collection. Sooooo.... I am wondering if there a listing or concordance of the various Megaton Man/Fiascoverse titles, giving their proper and correct order. Is it mostly chronological? I will refer to each comic's indicia, of course, and maybe also use comicbookdb.com - if you think that is correct. Just wondering if there are other resources out there.

Thanks, and bets of luck -

Steve Replogle

Steve Replogle

Hey Don,

I have found the information I was looking for, mostly from your blog. This is what I have:

1. Megaton Man (Kitchen Sink, November 1984-June 1986), 10 issues

2. The Return of Megaton Man (Kitchen Sink, July-September 1988), 3 issues

3. Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems" #1 (Kitchen Sink, April 1989)

4. Yarn Man #1 (Kitchen Sink, October 1989)

5. Bizarre Heroes #1 (Kitchen Sink, May 1990)

6. Pteranoman #1 (Kitchen Sink, August 1990)

7. Savage Dragon vs. The Savage Megaton Man #1 (Image, March 1993)

8. The normalman/Megaton Man Special (Image, June 1994)

9. Don Simpson's Bizarre Heroes #0–8 (Fiasco Comics, May-December 1994) and then Bizarre Heroes #9–17 (Fiasco Comics, February 1995-July, 1996) The final two issues (#16 and #17) are alternately titled Megaton Man vs. Forbidden Frankenstein #1 and Megaton Man #0

10. Megaton Man: Hardcopy #1 & 2 (Image, 1999)

11. Megaton Man: Bombshell #1 (Image, 1999)

Further appearances:
Megaton Man Daily Reruns (some episodes reprinted or repurposed into Hardcopy and Bombshell)
Asylum (reprinted and purposed)
Megaton Man blog: The Atomic Aftermath (and more)
Red Anvil Comics' War of the Independents #1 (2013) and #4 (2014)

CBLDF Liberty Annual 2010 ("Megaton Man and the Liberty Alliance in: ''Columbia Rising!''")

And there have been other cameo appearances, too - I think I remember a cameo in 1963 #6.

Well, it will take me a while to catalog or properly list or weed through the "further appearances." In the meantime, thanks!

Hi Steve,

Yes, I think except for a few stray pin-ups and previews (Spirit #8), you have the main works. The Weekly Serials that weren't reprinted in the three Image issues (Hardcopy and Bombshell) ran in the Savage Dragon, something like the #50s through the #80s. Toward the end I skipped a few issues here and there.

I've been working on more so save some space in your collection.

Thanks for this list; I should probably post it, if you don't mind.

Best,

Don

Hi again, Don -

Here as promised (or kind of promised) are the rest of my notes on Megaton Man's publishing history. As you'll see, there are lots of gaps and missing bits. Maybe this will help you, or maybe you already have your own much-more-complete chronology somewhere. I hope so.

I guess I am showing my own regressive Marvel genes by sifting through this information with such fan-boy enthusiasm! It takes me back to the days when I was trying to figure out what happened before (and after) Captain America guest-starred in Daredevil #43. Your Fiascoverse is really fun in this way, with all the various #1 issues, crossovers, back-up appearances, and online episodes.

Well, if you do have your own "master list," I'd love to see it! But not as much as the new Megaton Man pages you're working on - that's the real stuff.

Best wishes,

Steve

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Further Frenzied and Fanatical Footnoting for Megaton Man

The Megaton Man Weekly Serial is now only available as "Don Simpson's Megaton Man Daily Reruns" at http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/megatonman. It offers an Archives page that lists episodes 1 - 103 with titles, but not later episodes.

Publication dates given below are from the Comicbookdb.com.

1. Hardcopy #1, February 1999
Contains online episodes 1 - 55

2. Hardcopy #2, April 1999 
Pages 1 - 9: online episodes 56 - 71
Pages 10 - 12: three new (or possibly new?) pages related to Gower Goose's radio show
Pages 13 - 22a: online episodes 72 - 89
Pages 22b - 28: new episodes (or at least not listed in the current "Daily Reruns" archive)

3. Bombshell #1, July 1999
All new episodes (or at least, these are not listed in the current "Daily Reruns" archive)

4. Savage Dragon Back-ups (Erik Larsen, Image Comics)
Comicbookdb.com  lists the following issues of Savage Dragon as having Megaton Man back-ups: 52, 54, 55, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 73, 80, 86, 87. But wait! This incorrectly excludes at least some Megaton Man appearances. I know for sure that it's missing at least SD 56, 76, 77, 78, 79.

I've verified a few of the episode numbers for the back-ups listed below, but most are not listed at "Daily Reruns" archive. I haven't found any online resources either, so I just had to go by what I found after poking around at my local comic shop! Oh, the irony! Anyway, that's how I also found out the CBDB had made some mistakes.

Finally, I've added the "next issue tag lines" given at the end (or fourth episode) of almost every SD excerpt I could find, because it seems that may be related to the title of the one of the next issue's episodes.

Okay, then...

(Possibly SD 49 or 51?) (Episodes 90 - 93... or are these possibly not reprinted anywhere?)
SD 52, August 1998 - (presumably episodes 94, 95, 96, 97?)
SD 54, October 1998 - (presumably episodes 98, 99, 100, 101?)
SD 55, November 1998 - Episodes 102, 103 (and presumably 104, 105?)
SD 56, December 1998 - not noted by CBDB, but verified at my local comic shop!
SD 58, February 1999 
SD 60, April 1999
SD 61, May 1999 
SD 62, June 1999 
SD 63, June 1999 
SD 64, July 1999 
SD 65, August 1999 - (Next issue tag: Batter Up!)
SD 66, August 1999 
SD 67, September 1999 
SD 73, March 2000 
SD 76, June 2000 - this issue not noted by CBDB
SD 77, July 2000 - (Next issue tag: Bombs Away!) - this issue not noted by CBDB
SD 78, August 2000 - (Next issue tag: Wings of Desire) - this issue not noted by CBDB
SD 79, September 2000 - (Next issue tag: The Ol' Switcheroo!) - this issue not noted by CBDB
SD 80, October 2000 - (Next issue tag: Unmasked, Unleashed!)
SD 86, April 2001 - (Next issue tag : Megs Cops Out)
SD 87, May 2001 - ?

5. Asylum
(These excerpts re-present material from Megaton Man: Bombshell #1)
Issue #7 (August 1996)  - "Megaton Man vs. Unleash"
Issue #8 (September 1996) - "Megaton Man vs. Bombshell" 
Issue #11 (Jan/Feb 1997) - "After Megaton Man"

6. The CBLDF Presents Liberty Annual, October 2010
Megaton Man and the Liberty Alliance in: ''Columbia Rising!''

7. One-Pagers
These were originally printed in "Hero, Illustrated," a magazine about comics . I'm not sure how many MM appearances there were, but three were reprinted in "The Apocalypse Affliction."
A. The Blue Web
B. YarnBlood
C. No title (MM relaxing by the pool with Stella and Yarn Man)
__________
Anyone with further info, please comment! I'm too busy writing new stuff! Best, Don.

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An all-new YA prose novel - new chapter every week: The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series!

Red Alert: Coloring the Return to Megatropolis Graphic Novel

Preview of the Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis graphic novel, conceived as five "issues" but planning to release it as a single 160-page book, I have been working on issues #4 and #5 in recent blog posts.

This particular page is from earlier in the book, #2 which I began around 2005, but put aside when industry insiders reacted badly to the 9/11 theme, and didn't ink until 2014. (What did I do in the intervening decade? Long story.)

This page reflects the coloring style I am considering for the graphic novel: flat, bold, with some subtle modulations or "glazing." It recalls the Atlas (Marvel) monster comics (Fing Fang Foom, et al), which was in fact one of the models for the coloring of the early Megaton Man comics at Kitchen Sink Press (colored by Pete and Bill Poplaski and Ray Fehrenbach). While those overlay-cut comics were severely limited in color choices, Photoshop allows for an unlimited range of colors, although I do want to keep them flat. I call it "reinvented retro," and in any case would like to avoid the overly modeled look of airbrushed Photoshop that smothers so much drawing in comics these days. Comments?

Connie's Cab Ride: Meet Me at the Doomsday Factory!

In this newly-inked sequence from the Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis graphic novel (now in production, publication details TBD), Megaton Man transports new roomie and sidekick Connie Carlyle to Bayonne, New Jersey to introduce her to the Doom Defiers and the whole blamed extended Megaton Man nuclear family! Connie's status as a semi-pro beach volleyball player will be a boon in the team's upcoming match against the Bronx Bombers, if she doesn't fall asleep during practice! Simon Phloog is just glad be spending time with his dad, although he seems enthusiastic about this sandball ringer in general. At the same time, Kozmik Kat looks on as a mysterious delivery is made to the Doomsday Factory...

(Fun drawing the container cranes of the Port of New York and New Jersey, along with the Statue of Liberty!)

To see the original pencil roughs, go here; to read on, go here!

Joisey Self-Store: The Inking Continues!

Here is a sequence I am inking for the new graphic novel Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis, from the fourth "issue" (hence the cryptic numbering at the top of each tier), although I am hoping to release five issues' worth, or 160 pages, in a single volume (publication deatils TBD). In this scene, Megaton Man drops of the trailer he used to move his stuff back into his New York apartment, which is no sublet by Connie Carlyle, his new de facto sidekick. Meanwhile, the menacing cabbie with the penchant for uploading threatening videos resurfaces. Each image shows the pencils (scanned and printed out at the same size they were drawn) and the inked Clearprint Design Vellum final, which will then be scanned and colored.

See the original pencils for this scene here!

Megaton Meltdown: Meet Simon Phloog!

Here is the first colored page-and-a-half of the opening introduction to the graphic novel currently in progress, Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis. The 160-page all-new adventure is composed of five 32-page issues forming a single, post-9/11 storyline created in 2002, 2005, and 2014-2016 (okay, the creator took a decade off to go back to college!). This new material will transplant the extended Megaton Man family firmly back in New York (or Megatropolis), where the Megaton Man Narrative will have manifold possibilities for future development! Simon Phloog, heir to both the Megaton and Meltdown nuclear family trees, will emerge as a major character (Megaton Meltdown?) in this and subsequent graphic novels. See previous posts on this blog and on Ms. Megaton Man's blog for more preview art, and stay tuned for forthcoming publication details!

Simon flashes back to Megaton Man #1-4 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1984-1985).

The framed photo shows Simon from Return of Megaton Man #3 (1987); Clarissa gains her powers in Megaton Man vs. The Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 and her costume in Yarn Man #1 (1989).

Flashbacks from The Megaton Man Weekly Serial and Bizarre Heroes (1990s).