Complete Megaton Man Interviews and Podcasts

There's been a flurry of promotional interviews and a podcast or two in relation to The Complete Megaton Man Volume I: The 1980s, which collects all the Kitchen Sink Megaton Man titles (series, mini-series, and one-shots) into a single 608-page volume (Volume II will collect the 1990s Fiasco Comics Bizarre Heroes). While the immediate hype was for a Zoop crowdfunder for the exclusive hardcover edition of Volume I (which has now closed), the book is just going to press, and there will also be a softcover edition released through Fantagraphics' usual distribution channels (bookstores and local comics shops).

Here are links to the interviews and podcasts:

https://fanbasepress.com/press/interviews/comics/item/55926-fanbase-press-interviews-don-simpson-on-the-launch-of-a-zoop-crowdfunding-campaign-for-megaton-man-the-complete-megaton-man-universe-volume-one-the-1980s-with-fantagraphics/

https://majorspoilers.com/2024/11/17/waynes-comics-podcast-667-interviews-with-steve-mcgarry-rick-stromoski-and-don-simpson/

https://awesomecomics.podbean.com/e/episode-491-talking-about-a-megaton-of-comic-goodness/

https://www.comicbookyeti.com/post/reflections-from-don-simpson-on-the-first-megaton-man-collection

https://comicbookclublive.com/2024/11/12/don-simpson-megaton-man-zoop-interview/

From the Editor's Desk: Dave Schreiner and Megaton Man

Reproduced here is a two-page letter dated February 13, 1987 from Dave Schreiner (1946-2003), offering his assessment of the Megaton Man cast of characters. Dave was the editor at Kitchen Sink Press from 1983 to 1993, and was particularly crucial as a sounding board for me on Border Worlds (1985-1987); I've often said the recaps he wrote of the previous issues where more coherent than my comics. In this document, Dave is responding to a plot outline I sent to him (it may be this one or an even briefer synopsis of Megaton Man #11 and other comic book ideas I was cooking up at the time).

The Golden Age Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 roughs

These are the original roughs to Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1989). These were penciled on 8 1/2" x 11" bond paper, then blown up on a photocopier and light-tabled (traced) onto Bristol board for lettering and inking. (All the images here are scanned from the original small roughs except the front and back cover.

Megaton Man Minus the Dragon! File Photocopies

 These are some of the file photocopies of my portion of the art and lettering from The Savage Dragon vs. The Savage Megaton Man (Image Comics, March 1993) before finishing by Erik Larsen and letterer Chris Eliopoulos (although some of the layouts here were started by them). I will leave it to the discerning art lover as to which layouts were mine and which were Erik's; we each did a dozen in the book and the other guy added their characters, lettering, and backgrounds. But it should be obvious as Erik has a distinctive sense of layout, storytelling, and body language to his figures (although I was trying my best to "Image it up"). Looking back, it's shameful the way I ballooned Megaton Man's proportions, almost to Giant Man-size, but I hadn't at that point had much experience drawing the Man of Molecules interacting with more "realistic" superheroes (although Erik later beefed up the Dragon considerably as a response). This is probably as close as you'll get to a second printing of this fan-favorite story, so enjoy!

More Lost Megaton Man Comics Art from the 1980s!

See Part One: The Megaton Man #2 That Might Have Been!

Here are a few more unearthed pages, some from the "lost second issue" of Megaton Man, others rejected from #6.

The Megaton Man #2 That Might Have Been!

In early 1984, Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press offered to publish Megaton Man #1 and even requested that I consider making it an ongoing series (all I had in mind hitherto was a one-shot). I jumped at the chance, and after the contract was signed, was soon floundering with too many ideas than I knew what to do with.

Luckily, Kitchen Sink was in the process of finding a different color publisher, so most of 1984 was spent with the first issue chronically delayed, which gave me all summer to stew in my juices. By August, which in Detroit was sweltering, I had something like 64 pages of comic book material in varying stages of completion. The problem was it was completely incoherent.

I remember going for a long walk on a bright, sunny day; it was cooler so it was probably closer to September. I walked from West Forest Avenue around the Wayne State University campus as far north as the New Center area (the Fisher and General Motors buildings) and back. By the time I got home, I had a completely new plot idea for Megaton Man #2: Megs joins the Megatropolis Quartet.

I drew (wrote, penciled, inked, lettered) the new second issue in about six weeks, as I recall. But I still had 64 pages of mess. Over the next several months, a carved out chunks of material (sometimes literally, cutting up and rearranging panels on new pages) for sequences that ended up in issues #3 and #4.

But there were still several pages, mostly unfinished, leftover. Those are reproduced here. For those familiar with the original ten-issue run of Megaton Man, much of the material will be familiar. The landing of the Partyers from Mars (inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still), the pregnancy of the See-Thru Girl, the appearance of Uncle Farley (the Original Golden Age Megaton Man), Sgt. Sterankovich (who would later appear in #4), and many other characters, elements, scenes, and ideas appeared in altered form in later issues (particularly #9).

These pages in their unfinished form give a good idea of how I worked, and how my mind worked, at the time. The lettering is complete in most case, and the penciling is somewhat loose (I pencil much tighter these days, like I did as teenager before I started inking).

Note: A few of these pages may not be from the 64-page aborted #2; some may be later rejects generated during the production of the actual second issue and subsequent issues.

A page with panels cut out, perhaps intended for the second issue.

A rejected page reworked for the second issue of Megaton Man in which Yarn Man turns into a bikini.

A page probably rejected from the actual Megaton Man #2 (compare the way I ink Pammy's hair with the published splash page for #2). The bottom panels are cut out; where those missing panels went is anyone's guess, but probably to some of the pages in the published second issue.

This page is composed of cut-and-pasted panels that were rearranged. This sequence was redrawn for Megaton Man #6.

This page was also redrawn for Megaton Man #6.

In this unfinished page, a blond (or redheaded) girl reporter replaced Pamela Jointly in the newsroom of The Manhattan Project; she never appeared in the published series.

Sgt. Sterankovich appears (prior to his appearance in Megaton Man #4?), along with Orson Welles as President Harry Foster Lime, as the Partyers from Mars land in Central Park.

A dream sequence, part of the black-and-white sequence that appeared in Megaton Man #3, with heavy Zip-A-Tone. This page was reproduced in a special portfolio section in Return of Megaton Man #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, September 1988).

Another penciled page of the Partyers landing, with Uncle Farley watching from Skid Row.

Uncle Farley, the Original Golden Age Megaton Man, grabs his old garb and appears in Central Park (this sequence was later redrawn and reworked for Megaton Man #9).

Great lettering, but I'm not sure what I would have drawn except something like Klaatu's appearance from The Day the Earth Stood Still; at the time, I'm not sure I knew what the Partyers even looked like.

Pammy and Stella on the road; a sequence reworked for the actual second issue.

 

Continue to Part Two: More Lost Megaton Man Comics Art from the 1980s!

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All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures on this page are ™ and © Don Simpson 2021, all rights reserved.

A Lost Megaton Man Story from Before #1!

I drew this six-page Megaton Man story (scroll down for images) in 1983, before embarking on Megaton Man #1. It was something of a trial balloon for the character and an effort to reconcile all the myriad impulses and influences I was experiencing at the time.

Kiss Me, Deadly: A Retro Reject Returns!

This is a cover concept I had that went unfinished for a number of years. It dates from probably the early 2000s, and I was apparently pondering taking the Megaton Man Weekly Serial strips and collecting them into a print comic (newsflash: print has been a problematic prospect since the late 1990s!). For whatever reason, I inked only the Megaton Man and moll figures and completed the lettering at the time; I left the generic bad guys on the periphery uninked until just recently.

Timeless Beach Scenes: Ms. Megaton Man Flaunts It!

Back in the days when Amazing Heroes published an annual swimsuit issue, the cast of Megaton Man figured in two out of three of my contributions. In both of these, Clarissa James (Ms. Megaton Man) figured prominently.

"Stella's Story": The First-Person Narrator in Megaton Man #5

It had completely slipped my mind until now, but I realize I did an unusual thing for the fifth issue of Megaton Man (Kitchen Sink Press, August 1985): I told the story entirely from Stella Starlight's point of view. Throughout the issue (except for "George Has a Gun," a "back-up feature that features Stella but takes a more objective view of her and her affair with Martian Anton Drek - yes, you read that right), we see events, including flashbacks, from her perspective.

Megs Takes a Swipe at the Culture Wars!

Proving once again I utterly lack the subtle touch for editorial cartooning of my social betters (although the threshold has been lowered in recently decades), I offer my half-baked commentary on a current controversy in comics. Namely, should we kick the crap out of bigots, or ask for their autographs at cons?

Megaton My Day: Some Fall Break 2018 Sketches!

I'm busy grading papers, but I took some time out to let off some steam with these sketches - mostly to remind my new, improved left-brained self that I can still draw! Sketches are in light blue Col-Erase and graphite pencil with Sharpie liner pen colored in Photoshop.

Hembeck's Man of Molecules and the Boys of 'Summer'!

Fred G. Hembeck has been a presence in the comic book industry since the 1970s, when his distinctive interpretations of every single character ever created began appearing in fan publications and trade journals like the Comics Buyer's Guide and Amazing Heroes - he also destroyed the Marvel Universe, as I recall!

Dont' Snitch: Megs Swallows the Cosmic Cue-Ball!

As I've discussed elsewhere, I've had to suffer for years the charge that I "ripped off the Tick" (even though Megaton Man predates Ben Edlund's character by two or three years). As I work up more Megaton Man material (which, yes, has taken forever!), I fear I'll be accused of one or two other non-existent rip-offs. Among them is the "Time Turntable" from Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, December 1984), which bears a startling textual similarity to J.K. Rowling's "Time Turner" device (from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 1999, and more recently, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, 2016) -- I've discussed the Tick and Turner here.

Another Harry Potter retroactive similarity that is sure to come up (since I reference the event in some of the new stories I am plotting) is the moment when Megaton Man swallows the Cosmic Cue-Ball in Megaton Man #9 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1986). This is a crucial moment, since it ultimately results in Megaton Man losing his powers and becoming an ordinary Civilian (see Return of Megaton Man #1-3). I explore this complication further in some of the new material I'm writing, but that's all I'll say for now.

Megaton Man swallows the Cosmic Cue-Ball, Billiard of Great Power, in Megaton Man #9 (1986). Characters and concepts are ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

So, just for the record, let me recall that sphere swallowing scene from 1986, of which no doubt future fans will accuse me of mimicking the moment when Harry Potter swallows the Golden Snitch in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's [Philosopher's] Stone, 1997. Okay, I confess!

Many have perished in pursuit of the Orb of Omnipotence, including Dr. Braindead (from Megaton Man #9, 1986). Characters and concepts are ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

I've written elsewhere about having come to and read Harry Potter only belatedly, although I've yet to adequately confess how much I love those books (and films and world), and how much I've learned from them from other writers in the burgeoning "YA" genre (whether it's a genre, movement, or just a marketing label that's overused).

So let me just stipulate now, for the record, I used the Time Turntable/Turner to jump ahead to the future and rip off all my ideas from Ms. Jo Rowling! -- Don Simpson, 2018.

Megaton Man #1000: The Grand Extravaganza that Never Happened!

Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, December 1984) begins with the Megatropolis Quartet trying to climb into the cover of Megaton Man #999, a completely fictitious issue from another dimension. The rough draft below imagines the following issue, Megaton Man #1000, featuring the long-awaited wedding of Megaton Man and Pamela Jointly.

Rough fine-liner pen over blown-up print out of the original pencil sketch, 11" x 17".

In the scene, Simon Phloog, son of Megaton Man and the See-Thru Girl, and Simon's neighborhood friend Deirdre crash the wedding, courtesy of a trip on the Time Turntable! With Preston Percy, Stella Starlight, Yarn Man, and the Human Meltdown, with city editor Rudy Mayo presiding.

Original sketchbook rough, blue and graphite pencil, 6" x 9".

Megaton Man #999, from the opening splash page of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1984).

Bonus: See the Time Turntable in Megaton Man #1!

Plot, Script, Comic: Megaton Man #11 Complete!

Maybe the earliest surviving example of my evolving working method is the plot and partial script of Megaton Man #11 (published as The Return of Megaton Man #1 in July 1988 only after a needlessly bruising exchange with my publisher), dating from January 1987 (thirty years ago).

In the first ten issues of the series, I worked more or less in a "Marvel method," based on the way it was imagined Stan Lee worked with his artists: developing a loose plot, then breakdowns of pencils, then final script.

Back and front covers to Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1988)

After my own fashion, and after experimenting wildly with Border Worlds (which seemed to veer wildly between writing the script first one issue then working out the visuals first the next), I settled on a plot-script routine that was still very much homemade and ad hoc.

As noted on the typescript, the plot envisioned a single 64-page issue. This material was subsequently expanded into three 24-page issues, which I envisioned as Megaton Man #11, #12, and #13.

Between the plotting stage and the scripting stage, I seem to have either created thumbnail sketches of the page layouts, or actually sketched out the panels roughly (called "breakdowns") on the pages of Bristol board themselves. This seems likely because the typewritten script features only dialogue, with no scene summaries or descriptions (or even directions such as "close-up," "long shot," etc.).

 

 

At this point (page 14), the script ends. The remainder may be lost, or I may have never typed one. It is entirely possible that I may have just written the dialogue directly on the art boards. By the end of the issue, I may have felt "warmed up" enough to wing it. Or not!

One hand-written fragment of script remains, the big entrance of Yarn Man and Kozmik Kat, who arrive in Ann Arbor as a curtain-closer for the issue. It was written on plain bond (typewriting paper), like the rest of the plot and script, but appears to have been hand-trimmed with scissors.

No other script fragment remains. (Note: the white-on-black Spirit T-shirt design on the inside back cover was suggested by me. It was from a Spirit page reproduced in Jim Steranko's History of Comics, Volume II.)

What is evident about these materials is that they clearly demonstrate that I took the time away from Megaton Man to totally rethink the strip, in the hopes of putting any ongoing narrative on a more sound footing. The emphasis on character over action (or slapstick humor), and on a rational basis for the unfolding events, speaks for itself. This makes the publisher's characterization of my hiatus from the strip as a betrayal that deserved punishment, instead of a necessary creative recharge, all the more sad and demoralizing.

The Return of Megaton Man mini-series ran three issues. In the following installment, Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1, I seem to have used a completely different method, breaking down the story in half-size thumbnail sketches I enlarged on a photocopier, light-tabled (traced) onto Bristol board, lettered, and inked. I will scan those soon and post here!

Thank you for enjoying the Megaton Man blog!

Read also: "Whatever Happened to Megaton Man #11?"

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

 

Bad Guy and the Gamble Universe!

One of the more interesting character odysseys in the Megaverse has been that of Bart Gamble, the all-purpose villain known as Bad Guy! Quickly evolving into a combination of Marvel's Kingpin, a notorious New York real-estate developer, and a generic gangster, Bad Guy has bedeviled the Man of Molecules in fight scenes, land grabs, underworld schemes, android takeovers, comics publishing, and other evildoings! You name it -- Bad Guy is probably behind it.

Bad Guy first appeared without origin or secret identity in a two-page fight scene that turned into a dream sequence involving World War III in Megaton Man #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1985).

The opening splash page for Megaton Man #3, wonderfully colored by Ray Fehrenbach.

Batholomew Gamble (named, finally) next appeared in Megaton Man #6 (October 1985), having “served nearly five years of [his] ten-lifetime sentence—for countless murders, robberies hijacks, and world takeover attempts as the Mega-criminal Bad Guy.” He is dressed as inmate #613123 at Megatropolis State Penitentiary.

Spread from Megaton Man #6.

Because he was a “model inmate,” he was forgiven “seven-eighths lifetimes” of his sentence. He recalls his last battle with Megaton Man in Radioactive Tales #326 as a “Fiasco.”

Gamble is described by the liberal bleeding-heart Green Mellow thus: “Bad Guy has had a very lucrative career in crime… he’s managed to sock a lot dough away in investments in all sorts of capitalist enterprises. He plans to tear down this entire neighborhood to build a munitions plant to handle big Pentagon contracts! Churches, homes, schools, businesses…a whole world swept away for the sake of corporate tax write-offs and weapons in outer space!” (page 4).

In the following issue (#7, December 1985), Bad Guy appears in a limousine with another elegant gal, apparently a real-estate developer and arms merchant, tied in with the nefarious Arms of Krupp. (At the time, a certain New York real-estate developer was beginning to make headlines--wonder whatever became of him?)

Spread from Megaton Man #7.

He appears only in civilian clothes until his next appearance (Megaton Man #9, April 1986), when he has been drafted to become the "Presidential Hero" Good Guy at the landing of the Partyers from Mars in Central Park.

Tier from Megaton Man #9.

After flattening Manhattan in a fight scene in Megaton Man #10 (June 1986), Bad Guy is raptured into heaven by Mars, God of War while Megaton Man loses his powers, becoming Civilian Trent Phloog. It is promised that a "parody" of a certain New York real-estate developer will rebuild Manhattan.

From Megaton Man #10.

When next they meet (Return of Megaton Man #2, August 1988), Megaton Man learns that he is under contract to Bad Guy and the Gamble Comics Corporation, and a bullpen of insufferable, self-indulgent, pretentious creators!

From Return of Megaton Man #2.

In Return of Megaton Man #3 (September 1988), a labor revolt ensues, led by a writer (who will much later in the Megaton Man narrative be identified as Bad Guy's son Paul Nabisco, creator of Gower Goose).

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

After another thrashing, Bad Guy again decides to retire from Megavillainy, but not before signing the Original Golden Age Megaton Man to a binding contract.

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

Bad Guy teams the revamped Original Golden Age Megaton Man with the Uncategorizable X+Thems in Megaton Man vs. the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (April 1989). When that team falls apart, Bad Guy introduces a juiced-up Yarn Man teamed up with the Y+Thems.

Bad Guy continued to bedevil Megaton Man (and Paul Nabisco and Gower Goose) in the Megaton Man Weekly Serial (from the late 1990s) and subsequent adventures as the leader of an army of android replicas, including that of the See-Thru Girl. He continues to play a role in current Megaton Man continuity that is being prepared for publication, including The Return to Megatropolis graphic novel. Who knows? With his background in New York real estate, he may even make a bid for the White House! See other posts on this blog for the further exploits of Bart Gamble!

Read the Secret Origin of Ms. Megaton Man!