Welcome to the five hundred and thirty-third in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the first five hundred (I actually haven't been able to update it in a while). This week, did the Beyonder really create the New Universe? Learn the strange origin of a classic Joker comic book story! Plus, discover the amusing prank that Bill Gaines pulled on the New Yorker!

Let's begin!

NOTE: The column is on three pages, a page for each legend. There's a little "next" button on the top of the page and the bottom of the page to take you to the next page (and you can navigate between each page by just clicking on the little 1, 2 and 3 on the top and the bottom, as well).

COMIC LEGEND: The Beyonder created the New Universe.

STATUS: I'm Going With False

With Marvel in the middle of a new Secret Wars, I figured I'd deal with a long-running rumor regarding Secret Wars II, the final series with the Beyonder by his creator, writer Jim Shooter.

The first Secret Wars mini-series was written by Jim Shooter and it involved a mysterious powerful being known as the Beyonder who brings a bunch of superheroes and supervillains to a Battleworld and then forces them to fight each other.

Two years later, in 1985, Shooter began a sequel series. Now the Beyonder has come to Earth to learn what it is to be human. Hijnx ensue, and in the finale of the series, published in January of 1986, the Beyonder determines that he might have to comprehend mortality if he truly wants to know what it is to be a human...





After a series of resurrections, the Beyonder decides to recreate himself as a human, albeit with the Beyonder's powers. The heroes of Earth decide to stop this, and it ultimately results in the Beyonder's death...











or does it?



In 1986, Shooter helped launch the "New Universe," a separate line of Marvel Comics built around the premise of "What if people got super powers in the real world?"



For years, fans have assumed that the end of Secret Wars II was suggesting that the Beyonder helped create this New Universe, especially since the event that gave people powers in the New Universe was called the "White Event," and that certainly was a whole lot of white in Secret Wars II.

Jim Shooter, however, says that:

The New Universe wasn’t supposed to be related to SW or the Beyonder.

In addition, the New Universe launched seven months after the release of Secret Wars II, so if Shooter really planned on having the Beyonder lead directly into New Universe, I would tend to think he'd have the New Universe launch around the same time that Secret Wars II ended. That he didn't is a major reason why I am willing to believe him when he says that there was no connection intended. The other reason I'm willing to believe him is that there isn't really any reason for him to not tell the truth about it. If he DID intend for the Beyonder's death to be the creation of the New Universe, why deny it now? I think it is likely more a case of Shooter simply addressing a lot of similar themes in his work, so it makes it easy to think that different works of his are interrelated.

Thanks to Doug Nelson for sending me the Shooter confirmation!

Check out some entertainment and sports legends from this week at Legends Revealed:

Did Superman Returns Use CGI to Reduce the Size of Brandon Routh’s Crotch While He Was Wearing His Superman Costume?

Was Gabrielle Reece Cast as the She-Hulk in a Failed She-Hulk TV Pilot?

Did Pamela Anderson Get Her Big Break While Being Spotted by a TV Camera at a Canadian Football Game?

Was The Word “Bull” in a Longfellow Poem Really Bowlderized to “Gentleman Cow”?

On the next page, learn the surprising origin behind one of the greatest Batman covers of all-time!

COMIC LEGEND: A trade Walter Simonson made with another artist led to a classic Joker comic book story.

STATUS: True

We're now in our fourth week of Walter Simonson comic book legends! I don't think I'll be able to keep it up for five weeks, but I guess we'll find out next week!

Today, the countdown of the 75 Greatest Joker Stories (based on YOUR votes!) continued with #45-36.

One of the stories on the list was Batman #366, which features this gorgeous cover by Walter Simonson, one of the greatest Batman covers of all-time...



How that comic came to be is an interesting story.

Back in the 1980s, artist Todd Reis did these amazing 3-D versions of comic book covers. Here is one he did for Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans, which was drawn by Walter Simonson...



Here, on his Facebook page, is Todd explaining what happened next...

Back circa 1982 after the DC/Marvel X-Men and Teen Titans crossover book by Walt Simonson came out, I made a 3D Shadowbox of its wraparound cover for Walt. The only photo I had of it was a cropped scan from an old snapshot (seen elsewhere here in one of my photo albums).

Walt was kind enough recently to take 2 new digital photos of the 3D for my posting here (Big Thanks Walt). As you can see, besides being quite complex 3D-wise, he has also taken great care of it being over 30 years old!

In 1984 I was starting to accummulate endorsements for my 3D work. To that end, Walt sent me the following:

“Todd’s 3-D BOXES are gems of craftsmanship and patience. To examine them is to be constantly surprised and delighted at the degree of care and skill that has gone into their creation. The BOX he made for me of the X-Men.Teen Titans cover occupies a prominent place on my wall.”

FYI

In exchange for the 3D, Walt made the huge Batman Joker piece seen here, larger than a movie poster! As I understand it, before sending it to me, he showed it to then Batman Editor Len Wein who had to have it as a cover, so a story was written around it and used in Batman #366 Dec 1983. I treasured it for years, but in 1996, personal economics forced my hand to sell it to art dealer Jim Warden of Distinctive Original Art with much regret.

Here is the original piece by Simonson...



How awesome is that?

It explains why the logo was in such a weird spot, as Simonson never intended it as a cover.

EDITED TO ADD: Walter Simonson wrote in with some extra insight regarding the cover, specifically the logo:

I also did the logo for the cover since, as you noted, the drawing was never intended to be a cover and didn't have enough top space for DC's standard trade dress. As a result, some special consideration had to be given to placing the 'Batman' title on the drawing somewhere. Basically, I put an overlay on top of the drawing on which I drew the lettering so as to match the contours of the building.

Thanks to my pal Stony for sending me the idea for this one (sorry for accidentally crediting Pelkie first)! And thanks to Todd for sharing! And thanks to Walter for the extra info!

Check out my latest TV Legends Revealed at Spinoff Online: You'll never guess which Friends character almost had a year-long pregnancy storyline! Find out who it was and the interesting reason it didn't come to pass!

On the next page, learn of an amusing prank that Bill Gaines played on the New Yorker!

COMIC LEGEND: Bill Gaines got the New Yorker to apologize for confusing his EC Comics with, well, his EC Comics.

STATUS: True

Max Gaines is one of the most influential figures in the history of comic books. He was one of the founding fathers of the comic book industry and was a big part of DC Comics' (then National) early success. He's the guy who hired William Marston to create Wonder Woman! He gave Julius Schwartz his big break in comics! However, by the end of the 1940s, he made a bit of a curious decision. He broke away from DC Comics and launched his own company, Educational Comics, where he thought that there was a big untapped market for stuff like Picture Stories From the Bible...



There wasn't. After Gaines was tragically killed in an accident, his son William took over the company and he revitalized it by making it into a horror, science fiction and crime company...







with EC Comics now being referred to as "Entertaining Comics".

However, the changeover was missed by some (especially since I don't know if Gaines even officially changed the name ever), which led to an amusing correction by the New Yorker in April of 1951. Earlier, they had referred to the EC Comics line as "Educational Comics," leading to Bill Gaines writing two separate letters at the end of March 1951 from both Educational Comics AND Entertaining Comics, both denying any connection to the other company...





That's hilarious. Bill Gaines was quite the character.

Thanks to Dave Miller for suggesting that I feature the letters themselves and not the New Yorker's summary of the letters on their website.

Okay, that's it for this week!

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for this week's covers! And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends Revealed logo!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com. And my Twitter feed is http://twitter.com/brian_cronin, so you can ask me legends there, as well!

Here's my newest book, Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? The cover is by Kevin Hopgood (the fellow who designed War Machine's armor).

If you want to order a copy, ordering it here

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Follow Comics Should Be Good on Twitter and on Facebook (also, feel free to share Comic Book Legends Revealed on our Facebook page!). Not only will you get updates when new blog posts show up on both Twitter and Facebook, but you'll get original content from me, as well!

Here's my book of Comic Book Legends (130 legends - half of them are re-worked classic legends I've featured on the blog and half of them are legends never published on the blog!).

The cover is by artist Mickey Duzyj. He did a great job on it...(click to enlarge)...



If you'd like to order it, you can use the following code if you'd like to send me a bit of a referral fee...

Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed

See you all next week!