[NOTE: some of this post was written In Real Time as I got more information from An Important Personage Related to This Subject, so I apologize if it reads a little awkwardly.]
So, speaking of Red Tornado…a couple of you bought up in the last post‘s comments the Kurt Busiek/Carmine Infantino mini-series that was running concurrently with the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
Now, as I noted in the comments last time, I really like this mini. It goes a long way towards establishing Reddy as a force to be reckoned with, something more than a mopey robot that hangs around the Justice League and gets blown up a lot. He spends the series fighting the Construct, an evil artificial intelligence and a good contrast to the humanity-adjacent Tornado. The series also wraps up with our hero having a few words for his “father,” the villainous mad scientist T.O. Morrow, about being his own person and not subservient to his creator. Infantino, with inker Frank McLaughlin, provide a lot of visual variety to the proceedings, and man, who does rushing wind better than Infantino?
The series ends with “John Smith” (the Red Tornado’s civilian guise) finding a new perspective on life, and looking forward to new experiences with his partner Kathy and their adopted daughter Traya. As the walk off into the figurative sunset, the three of them brainstorm new names to replace the apparently too normal “John Smith” moniker:
It’s a fun panel upon which to end the story, with plenty of in-jokes and references stuffed in there…Stan ‘n’ Jack, Jughead, Dave from “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” one Ghostbuster, and many more get shoutouts, either under their more well-known names or otherwise.
Anyway, it’s a fresh, revitalizing start to the character, a solid foundation upon which to build future adventures.
Except for, you know, the timing.
Based on the release date information from the Grand Comics Database (which I find takes this info from the then-current Amazing Heroes ‘zine), the four-issue Red Tornado mini-series launched on March 19th, 1985 (just six days after my 16th birthday!). It wrapped up with #4’s release on June 18th. (But more on those dates momentarily.)
The 8th issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths, featuring the apparent death of the Red Tornado (and, by odd coincidence, another character known for wearing lots of red), came out on July 9th of that year. The Justice League of America Annual #3, with the evolution of the Red Tornado into his new antagonistic form, came out one week later, on July 16th. Thus, Red Tornado and family got a whole three weeks of a happy ending.
What this reminds me of just a little is the final issue of Brightest Day, DC’s last big pre-New 52 event where a lot of upcoming storylines in the DC Universe are teased in multiple epilogues. And then the transitional event of Flashpoint commenced less than a month later, beginning what would turn into the New 52. And all those teased storylines in Brightest Day? Pretty much wiped away, giving some credence to the idea that the whole company-wide refurbishing was a last-second decision.
I did ask Mr. Busiek on the social media about the timing of this series vis-à-vis the events in Crisis, and he replied that he’d actually written the series in 1983, without even knowing that Crisis, still in its early planning stages then, was even a thing. Interestingly, he says “they blew Reddy up between issues 2 and 3, which put a real damper on sales,” which messes with the release date timeline I’m pulling off of the Grand Comics Database.
Further investigation using the ‘zine search engine looking at the “Coming Distractions” new release columns in Amazing Heroes, it does indeed give, say, #4 of Red Tornado a release date of 6/18, like it says on the GCD. However, there is a second shipping date given to #4 of 8/20.
I can’t find similar relistings for #2 or #3, but if those shipped later than indicated in the Amazing Heroes columns, then that would jibe with Mr. Busiek’s comments about that Crisis issue landing squarely in the middle of the mini’s run. Anyway, I asked him about any possible delays to the shipping, but some to think of it, maybe that the series started later than the information Amazing Heroes was initially provided and didn’t get the correct dates listed ’til the final issue.
Okay, was just about to his “Publish” when Mr. Busiek got back to me. He remembers no production delays (which I didn’t think there would be), but he “was definitely under the impression he got Crisised before the mini was over.” As such, in the interest of not bugging this poor man with my obsessive weirdness, I’m going to say that the entire series shipped two months later than would be indicated by most of the Amazing Heroes-sourced shipping dates you can find online, aside from that updated shipping date for #4 I noted above. Between that and his specific memory of sales taking a hit on the Red Tornado mini, I think it’s a reasonable conclusion.
Someone else asked if they were essentially “burning off” this series, and the other “pre-Crisis” Lois Lane mini just to clear out these stories and make way for the New DC, to which Kurt replied “that might well be.” I mean, DC paid for these, might as publish ’em. And in the case of that Red Tornado mini, I’m glad they did. Still haven’t read that Lois Lane mini…I keep meaning to.
Anyway, that’s a lot of Red Tornado talk. So, here’s more! I posted about Reddy’s “Secret Origin,” and a nice character bit with Firestorm, here, and a cute character bit with his daughter Traya here.
Suggested name: Reid Tomatoff
D.A. Madigan of River City KY thought he was denied any credit on his work in this miniseries by Kurt Busiek.
As nobody reading this comment knows who or what the Hell I’m talking about here, this is of course false.
Tony – what are you talking about?
Thank you for the mention.
That Lois Lane pre-Crisis two-parter is, well — let’s put it this way — people complain about the hypno-glasses issue of Superman, not to mention how quickly its continuity got ignored; and here we have a Lois mini in which Lana Lang suddenly reveals that she had a dead husband and child never before mentioned, all of which got set aside EVEN QUICKER!
Just as with late period Jack Kirby art, late period Carmine Infantino art is kind of a trip. Whereas late period Kirby art tends towards Picasso-like Cubism, I feel as though late period Infantino art leans more towards the way Salvador Dali illustrated his late period etchings and/or towards Amadeo Modigliani’s art.
As I have become older I have a greater appreciation of late period Infantino art, but back in the ’80s I wasn’t a big fan–as it seemed he had gotten very loose and gestural compared to his classic Silver Age work. Although I really do like his late ’70s Spider-Woman run.
Anyway, I am a bit put off by the fact that Infantino didn’t bother to draw John Stewart and Barry Allen’s right ankles and right feet on the cover art to Red Tornado no. 1.
Do you plan on doing an overview of Red Tornado’s stories in World’s Finest comics?
And I still say JLA nos. 100-102 should be reprinted as a treasury edition or as part of a 100 Page Giant. I always remember that final panel with the faces of Wing and Red Tornado up in the clouds…
Busiek also said in The Comics Journal in 1999 that they blew him up between 2 and 3, so his memory has stayed consistent.
Daniel T – unless my former boss still has boxes of invoices from 1985 in storage (a more likely scenario than you might think), we may never know the truth for sure, but that added detail of Busiek being consistent on that point, plus that one later shipping date, makes me feel somewhat confident about my conclusion.
Tony,
I recall that Madigan was a friend of Busiek’s that fell out with him, and years ago wrote a blog post he titled Funeral for a Friendship or something like that with all his grievances, which honestly struck me as sour grapes. He blogged as Doc Nebula or something like that.
He was extremely bitter back then. I hope he has let go of his anger and is in a better place these days
Scott – okay, that rang a bell and I looked up that old blogpost (a defunct Angelfire page I found through the Wayback Machine) and hoo boy.
What’s funny is that I found a comment on Tom Brevoort’s blog from about four years ago that was championing Busiek’s JLA/Avengers, but at the pretty nasty expense of Gerry Conway, and it was signed by “Darren Madigan.” Whether that actually was him and he’s had some kind of change of heart, or it was someone using the name ironically as some kind of in-joke, I don’t know.
Speaking of Gerry Conway and the original, aborted JLA/Avengers project with George Perez art, it seems that DC and Marvel should reach an agreement to complete the project and let it see the light of day. They could always get Jerry Ordway or John Byrne to draw the remaining pages and maybe have Ordway or Terry Austin ink the whole thing. Consult Roy Thomas or Roger Stern or whoever for whatever rewriting needs to happen with Conway’s script and just finalize the project and publish it as a treasury sized comic.