Welcome to the five hundred and twenty-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 we almost already have a Marvel Universe version of Miles Morales? Did Captain America and Falcon end with a set-up for a Falcon series that never came to exist? Did The Killing Joke really begin life as a Batman Annual?
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: Brian Michael Bendis originally planned to have a Marvel Universe version of Miles Morales star in Spider-Men.
STATUS: True
It will still be a number of months until we learn the precise resolution of Marvel's current universe-altering crossover, Secret Wars...
but one thing remains clear. Whatever the situation is after Secret Wars ends, the Ultimate Universe will no longer be around but Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man WILL be part of the Marvel Universe, specifically as a member of the All-New, All-Different Avengers...
Miles was one of the first Ultimate Universe character to interact with a Marvel Universe character when he crossed over with the Marvel Universe Peter Parker in the hit mini-series Spider-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, as Peter Parker gets stranded in the Ultimate Universe...
At the end of the series, after returning home, Peter looks up HIS universe's Miles Morales, and gets a surprise...
That ending was never followed up on, but what's interesting is that originally, the series WAS going to introduce the Marvel Universe version of Miles Morales. In his original pitch for the series, Brian Michael Bendis had two notable ideas that never came about. One, he wanted to use the series to introduce Miles to Ultimate Mary Jane Watson to start up a friendship between the two. And two, he wanted to introduce the Marvel Universe version of Miles Morales, with the intent that he would become Peter's best friend and an instant supporting cast member over in Amazing Spider-Man.
For whatever reason, those two aspects of the pitch did not end up coming true, but perhaps it was for the best, as now the Ultimate Universe Miles Morales will be the Marvel Universe Miles Morales!
Thanks to Brian Michael Bendis for the information, as he shared his original pitch in his book Words For Pictures.
Check out some entertainment and sports legends from this week at Legends Revealed:
Was Star Wars originally subtitled “Episode IV: A New Hope”? And if not, WHY not?
Did the NBA test out 12-foot rims in an attempt to slow down Hall of Famer George Mikan?
On the next page, learn how Captain America and the Falcon ended with the set-up for a Falcon series that never came to exist!
COMIC LEGEND: Christopher Priest originally was going to follow up his Captain America and Falcon series with a Falcon solo series.
STATUS: True
In the second-to-last issue of his series, Captain America and Falcon, writer Christopher Priest has Captain America confront his partner, the Falcon, and things don't go so well (art by Dan Jurgens and Nelson)...
Later in the issue, Cap is declared dead...
This snaps the Falcon out of his funk and he essentially vanishes (this was meant to mirror Priest's own upcoming disappearance on the book).
In the next issue (art by Jurgens and Tom Palmer), Cap turns out not to be dead (it is a clever bit where Priest notes that medical equipment is meant to test NORMAL humans, not superhumans, so while a NORMAL human would be dead, Cap was not).
Cap goes to seek out his friend, while meeting with Robbie Robertson over Falcon's recent erratic behavior...
In the end, after Cap resolves the series-running long subplot of a rogue "Anti-Cap" running around the globe, he thinks he sees the Falcon...
So that's the end of the series. That sure seems like it was meant to GO somewhere, right?
That's because it initially WAS. You see, when Captain America and the Falcon launched, the concept was that this would be the Marvel Universe alternative to the Marvel Knights Captain America title that was going on at the same time. This was the Cap who could interact with the Avengers, for instance.
Well, as the first year on Captain America and the Falcon came to close, Marvel relaunched Captain America with Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting as part of the Marvel Universe. It was a hit out of the gate. So now Priest's book seemed a bit superfluous and he knew it. Editor Tom Brevoort, however, came up with a great idea - just transition the book into a Falcon solo book and Priest could continue writing it.
So the end of the series was initially written with that in mind, setting up a break before the Falcon series would launch. However, Priest ended up being unwilling to commit to the new project. He dragged his feet so long that the project fell apart. He still wrote the ending of the series with the intent that another writer could have a blank slate for a new Falcon series, but without Priest, the Falcon series never materialized.
Instead, six months later, the Falcon shows up in Brubaker and Epting's Captain Americs without explanation...
Thanks to Christopher Priest for the explanation. Check out his amazingly in depth write-up on the series here.
Check out my latest TV Legends Revealed at Spinoff Online: What is the strange and "lazy" origin of The Simpsons' classic opening sequence?
On the next page, did The Killing Joke originate as a Batman Annual?
COMIC LEGEND: The Killing Joke was originally going to be a Batman Annual.
STATUS: False
The Killing Joke is the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland that explored the relationship between Batman and Joker while also giving a possible origin for the Joker...
It was a major hit and won the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album.
Here's the weird thing about the project, though. It's only 48 pages long. That's pretty darn short for a graphic novel.
That is almost certainly the reason that there is a legend out there about the book that it originally started as a Batman Annual before being transitioned to a graphic novel, likely because of the content. "It was originally a Batman Annual" shows up in droves when you search for it on the net. Here are some samples:
"It started as a Batman annual story and ended up as a prestige-format book."
"was originally a Batman annual story and ended up a prestige-format book."
"Originally designed to be a Batman Annual, The Killing Joke has become one of Batman's most cherished tomes"
"The story (intended as a Batman annual, released as a standalone graphic novel) ends with Batman catching The Joker. "
However, both Bolland and Moore deny it. The origin of the project came when Bolland finished with Camelot 3000. DC chief editor Dick Giordano let Bolland pick his next project and he said he wanted to do a graphic novel about Batman and the Joker with Alan Moore. Giordano agreed (as why would he not?) and the project took four years before it came out.
So if Bolland says it was never an Annual (which he days in the intro of The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore) and Alan Moore says it was never an annual (which did in an interview with the great George Khoury in Khoury's The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore) then I am willing to say that it was never an Annual. It was just a really short graphic novel. I would imagine it would have something to do with Bolland's speed (or lack thereof).
Moore, by the way, mocked the idea of calling it a graphic novel for that very reason. As he noted, "It wasn't even as long as an 80-Page Giant!"
Thanks to Brian Bolland, Alan Moore and George Khoury for the information!
Okay, that's it for this week!
Thanks to the Grand Comic Book 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.
As you likely know by now, at the end of April, my book finally came out!
Here is the cover by artist Mickey Duzyj. I think he did a very nice job (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 next week!