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Justice league of America: The Nail: The total Deluxe Edition

A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson

I’m not totally sure if all of this is factually accurate. (I’m now getting selectively forgetful about things that occurred much more than 20 years back — as well as embellishing the reality a bit commonly makes for the much better story — so caveat emptor.)

ANYWAY…

My very first memories of satisfying Alan Davis, mark Farmer, as well as Mike Collins (all British comic book artists of some renown) was at a comic book convention in London in the mid-1990s (probably between 1994 as well as 1997). It was around the time that DC’s Vertigo line was being introduced to significant success, since at one specific event/party I discovered myself with Alan as well as mark as well as Mike in the corner of a lobby, taking a look at the significant number of “interesting” looking Vertigo fans. The four of us (mostly in tee shirts or button-downs as well as jeans) were staring whatsoever of the weirdness in front of us, as well as at least I was thinking, “What occurred to comics?”

A few minutes later, we started hearing that fans were “dosing” drinks with substances other than alcohol as well as ice, as well as that at least one DC staffer had been intentionally “dosed” by a guest/fan. After I verified that she was all right, I made my method back to the men — with a somewhat unusual request: was there anywhere in London where I might get some “American” food for dinner? I’d been in town for a day or two as well as hadn’t eaten anything that was familiar to me other than salad. They chuckled, as well as after a 10-15-minute walk, I was entering a TGI Fridays. I keep in mind the food being not-so-great, however at least it was familiar. however the conversation (mostly us all just getting to understand each other) was even better.

Legion of Super-Heroes #80 cover by Alan Davis as well as mark Farmer

I had admired Alan as well as Mark’s work together for a number of years, as well as I truly desired them to do much more work for DC, other than the occasional legion of Super-Heroes cover or short story. mark Farmer was the huge legion fan, Alan would continuously tell me — implying that he was being a true creative partner by handling assignments that weren’t necessarily his preferred thing however would make his fellow artist happy. I didn’t purchase that for a second… have you seen Alan’s work on all those LSH covers as well as short stories?

Don’t tell Mike Carlin or Paul Levitz this, however I made any type of possible reason to request “Special” or “Annual” legion of Super-Heroes issues, since I understood I might count on a Davis/Farmer short story for it — in addition to a excellent cover! as well as I believe mark even composed or plotted a couple of them.

I originally started working with Alan as well as mark on the LSH covers since routine legion of Super-Heroes penciller Lee Moder was always just sufficient behind on his deadlines that I felt that I couldn’t make him the routine cover artist (he did do a handful right here as well as there, early in his run). So Alan as well as mark got the phone call around 1995, as well as they ended up doing about 50 covers in a row for legion of Super-Heroes, including long after I stopped editing the title (more on that later).

FOR THE want OF THE NAIL

JLA: the nail #1

One day, in the early/mid 1990s, Alan called me as well as told me about a proposal that he submitted to Archie Goodwin a number of years earlier called The Nail, the gist of the storyline being influenced by the well-known verse that begins, “For want of a nail the shoe was lost”. Ostensibly, it was a proposal for a Justice league of America project, however when Alan got going, it ended up featuring many of the major DC characters. Sadly, Archie was terminally sick at this time, as well as not in the office much (he passed away in 1998), so it’s not truly understood exactly how much of the proposal Archie got to checked out before taking ill. because I was Alan’s get in touch with with DC at the time, he inconspicuously asked me if I might look into the circumstance to see what precisely occurred to it.

Intrigued, I enlisted the aid of Robert (I get to phone call him Bob) Greenberger, as well as within a week or so, he had discovered it in the bowels of Archie’s office. As it turned out, it was rather a task to discover it, as Bob had likewise found so numerous plots/scripts for Archie’s primary title Batman: legend of the Dark Knight that that title continued to be published for a number of years after Archie left staff, just since of the depth of the inventory.

I was promptly fascinated by Alan’s proposal for The nail upon reading it. A big part of the fascination for me was the truth that Alan wasn’t just utilizing the present Justice league characters — hewas quite much utilizing every single one of them — plus many of the rest of the DC world when he might in shape them in. other characters included members of the Outsiders, the metal Men, the new Gods, Deadman, shade the altering Man, as well as even the legion of Super-Heroes. So, because I was going to have to checked out as well as comment on it anyway for the LSH content, I chose (if alright with huge manager Mike Carlin as well as others) that I would handle the job as editor. Fortunately, I just occurred to have a hole or two to fill on my editorial docket at this time. I had likewise just recently inherited the new all-ages title Adventures of the DC world — which in the exact same method as The nail quite much potentially featured every DC character that wasn’t in the Superman as well as Batman casts or (of course) the Vertigo line-up. (I was SO lured to try to slip in an animated Sandman, however I was already in sufficient difficulty with specific people.)

NOT NAZZ NAZZ

There was likewise something about the inspiring source verse still rattling around my brain. I acknowledged it as a tune with the lyric “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost…” Where had I heard that before? A few days later, it lastly rattled into my active brain. It was from a 1989 Todd Rundgren album called almost Human. The lead-off track was called (duh) “The want of a Nail”. Alan was fascinated by this, so I rapidly FedEx’ed the CD to him so he might hear firsthand. I don’t understand about Alan, however this strange bit connection made working on the job just a bit bit much more special to me.

ACTUAL EDITING!

JLA: The nail #2

Most of JLA: The nail #1 went quite well. It was extremely difficult not to drool on the pages as they came into the office. There was one potentially major issue that popped up in problem one. halfway with the book, Alan found that he had unintentionally mis-numbered one of the pages, making the problem 49 pages of artwork instead of 48. He had already gone with the book to see which page he hadn’t drawn yet might be dropped — however the one he selected was one of his favorites (page 33), with Hal Jordan eco-friendly lantern encountering star Sapphire (secretly – even to her – Hal Jordan’s like rate of interest Carol Ferris). Alan drew a extremely lovely star Sapphire, which influenced me to attempt to save her.

I told him not to worry. later that evening I would go with the remainder of that very first problem to see if two of the other pages he hadn’t yet drawn might be integrated into one page without as well much trouble. And, as it worked out I did precisely that — however at this late date I no longer keep in mind which two pages of script were combined. nor do I understand where my copy of the script is. (It’s in one of over 800 boxes of comics associated material — including comic books themselves. And, of course, few of the boxes are really identified as to what is really in the box.)

A task well done, I sighed. many editorial slip-ups were much more challenging to fix, however this seemed quite simple — a task well done. I rapidly failed to remember about it as well as moved forward. It was to my excellent surprise that a number of years later a big bundle was provided to the house. I had been away from comics for a few years by then, so I didn’t promptly acknowledge that the bundle was sized for comic book art. When I saw it, it made me cry. It was page 33 of problem #1 of The nail — except it wasn’t just the page — it was the original art of the page! as well as it’s inscribed: “To KC: numerous thanks for all you contributed to The Nail. finest Wishes, Alan Davis.” The page was inked by mark Farmer.

It hangs near my desk with other treasured LSH-related original artwork: page 16 of Legionnaires #66 by Mike Collins from a story written by me depicting events from an prolonged date between diminishing Violet as well as Bouncing young boy — which may or may not be based on actual people as well as events — as well as page 23 of legion of very Heroes #80 in which artists Lee Moder as well as Ron Boyd handled to draw me as the official LSH Flag Bearer. (Flag Boy! — Also, I look awful in spandex!)

The legion poster by Davis & Farmer

Also framed there is the two-sided marketing poster for The legion of Super-Heroes/Legionnaires comics circa 1997 which DC massively under-produced. These giveaways were so prominent they were gone within hours of whichever show they were very first provided out at. This likewise features art by Alan Davis as well as mark Farmer, as well as I always utilize this poster as proof that Alan really likes the LSH (despite his denials!) because of the various character-defining creative in-jokes that are in the poster (I’ll enable that perhaps mark assisted on a few). All I did was offer a listing of complete, present characters to include. They added the funny!

HELLO, I should BE GOING…

So, yeah… I never completed editing The Nail. I did certainly leaveDC around the time that #1 was being finished, however it wasn’t since I was mad as well as stormed out or something much more dramatic. It was really since Johanna (then the DC webmaster) put in her notice to leave her job. DC, being DC — I discovered out that she had done this, when my manager Mike Carlin stormed into my office about 10 seconds after J. tendered her notice, as well as screamed “SO WHEN WERE YOU going to tell ME about THIS?” I had absolutely no concept what he was screaming about, because I hadn’t spoke with her yet that morning. That occurred a few minutes later after Mike bent my door frame slamming my door on his method out. Mike’s action best there was when I quite much chose that I was much much better off with Johanna than with crazy Mike as my boss, so I kept my trick about leaving DC for a few much more weeks (apparently inadvertently driving Carlin much more crazy, or so I was told) as well as wrapped up as numerous jobs as I might over the next month or two. Weirdly, when I caught my train to Richmond, VA (where Johanna had gone to be close to her folks), unbeknownst to me, Mike Carlin was on the exact same train (going to D.C., snicker…), so we sat together as well as hashed out the last crazy couple of months — as well as eventually parted as friends.

No bridges were burned at DC either, as I was welcomed back about a year or so later to assist with a summertime backlash of production work for a number of collected books with old buddy as well as former roommate Dale Crain. Plus, I pulled in a number of hundred bucks to go towards Johanna as well as my diy wedding event in nyc (reception next door to the world well-known Radio City music Hall) as well as went to by lots of DC good friends as well as well-wishers. even Mike Carlin was there!

In my absence, Peter Tomasi took over The Nail and was the credited editor (as per DC guidelines). Alan tells me that he as well as Pete got along famously on the projects, as well as I couldn’t have been much more pleased to hear that happened. For a while, I felt some regret not being able to see the job with to the end, however I definitely don’t regret my decision to have left DC to be with Johanna, as we are now in our 18th year of a extremely pleased marriage.

OOOO… BOOK-IN-HAND… PRETTY…

JLA: The nail #3

I got my copy of Justice league of America: The Nail: The total Deluxe Edition recently. (If you truly like DC comics as well as their characters, you ought to purchase it since it’s really, truly good. even if I only dealt with it for about a year.) I understood that Alan’s introduction for the book was going to be mostly about us working out the details for lastly getting the original The Nail on track. Alan interviewed me a couple months back, which was fun! I likewise got to interview Alan online about JLA: The Nail on stage at the Heroes world show in 1998. I question if anybody recorded that?

Here’s my theory on why Alan as well as I work so well together: Alan was born 24 days before me in 1956 — the year that the Silver Age Flash was born! Alan was born 16 days before The Flash’s very first appearance. I was born 7 days after. Both of us have excellent admiration as well as like for Silver Age comic books.

More strange number facts: Alan Davis was born 18 Jun 56. JLA: The nail #1 very first appeared on 17 Jun 98. What a excellent birthday gift!

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KC CARLSON SEZ: Here’s one more strange coincidence: Both my editor Roger Ash as well as I had minor surgical treatment just recently (24 Oct 17). I hope the physicians got our heads on the best bodies this time. It was quite embarrassing that last time when they got it wrong…

WESTFIELD COMICS is not accountable for the dumb things that KC says. particularly that thing that truly irritated you. Alan dropped one more surprise on me by method of his introduction for Justice league of America: The Nail: The total Deluxe Edition. He’s got a third JLA: The nail storyline in him: The final Nail! perhaps I requirement to find out of retirement for a year or so. (Mostly since I want to checked out it!)