Holy Halloween, Batman!
Toolbox
By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: October 31, 2009
MONTPELIER For a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rutland was placed on a superhero pedestal alongside greats such as Superman's Metropolis and Batman's Gotham City.
The city of 20,000 became a Mecca for superheroes, both in real life and in the comic pages of DC and Marvel, the top two comic publishers in the United States.
As children and adults dressed as their favorite superheroes in the famous Rutland Halloween Parade, the Justice League battled a villain attempting to open a dimensional demon portal above the city in the pages of an early 1970s DC comic.
"As a kid growing up in Vermont in the '70s, the Halloween parade comics were magical to me superheroes existed in faraway, made-up cities even New York qualified as one of those to six-year-old me," said Brattleboro resident Cole Moore Odell, a comics fan. "But once a year, these characters would actually visit my backyard. It kind of blew my mind."
The reason Rutland became a destination was resident Tom Fagan, a Rutland Herald reporter, devote Halloween fanatic and huge comic fan. The main draw was his parties held after the parade, celebrations that would often draw hundreds of people to the Clement House an old Victorian home that once was a governor's mansion.
"I wrote letters to Detective Comics saying Batman was now the leader of the Rutland Halloween Parade and we were establishing a tradition," Fagan told famed comic editor Roy Thomas in an interview for the book "Alter Ego."
Nick Marro, a retired Vermont Press Bureau reporter, remembered staying up all night before the Halloween parade with other volunteers to paint life-size float backdrops of superheroes such as Batman, Thor and the Hulk.
"Fagan was the fun guy that everyone wanted to be around," Marro said. "His parties would go all night long."
Fagan's parties had a reputation to be bawdy affairs, soaked in booze and marijuana and also a lot of fun. The hallucinating qualities of the party and the season often inspired the stories these comic creators would later tell in the comics. The celebration gained so much of a reputation that Penthouse sent a reporter to cover it in 1973.
Horror artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, told the magazine Comic Book Artist that the inspiration for one of his Batman stories placed in Rutland was from one spooky night at Fagan's party when everyone was "really drunk and stoned and we went out for a walk."
"We start making up scary stories and, of course, we are all in this altered state of consciousness so it gets really, really creepy," Wrightson said. "For me it was just laughs we got lost, creeped each other out, and then came back."
The writers and artists drawn to Rutland's parade are considered legends in the comic industry, including Wolverine co-creator Len Wein, Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway and Neal Adams, the comic artist who would later inspire a young Vermonter by the name of Frank Miller to begin drawing his own comics.
Conway, reached at his Los Angeles home earlier this month, fondly recalled his days traveling to Vermont to party with Fagan and his friends.
"It all felt very rural," said Conway, who grew up in New York City. "Of course, where I grew up, northern New Jersey felt rural."
A car full of comic creators nearly got in trouble with the law during one of these trips to Rutland. Conway said he and several others, most of whom were intoxicated, got lost on the way to Fagan's house one year and were pulled over by state police.
Wein, the driver of the car, didn't drink or take drugs. But there were plenty of passengers in the car who did, Conway said.
"Len was really worried that he would get in trouble because he couldn't find the car's registration," he said. "I remembered saying, 'That will the least of our worries once they search us.'"
Wein showed his driver's license to the cops, forgetting that his wallet was a hand-me-down from a relative who was a retired police officer. When police saw the badge in Wein's wallet, they assumed he was also an officer of the law and let the group go, Conway said.
That story never made it into the comics but the car, which belonged to comic writer Steve Englehart, did.
In what is considered to be the first cross-over between DC and Marvel comics two companies whose rivalry are akin to the Yankees and the Red Sox Wein and Englehart included plotlines in their comics about the car being lost and then stolen a plot that crossed over from one company's books to the other.
"We did this without Marvel or DC knowing," Conway said. "They found out later and basically told us not to do that again."
The following comics feature some of the key Rutland appearances of that era:
Avengers #83, published December 1970, written by Roy Thomas with art by John Buscema and Tom Palmer.
This is the first superhero comic to be set in Rutland. The Avengers, Marvel Comics' main superhero team, travel to the city to guard a scientist who has developed a "parallel-time projector." During the Halloween parade, the superheroes are attacked by the Masters of Evil, a team of super villains.
Amazing Adventures #16, published January 1972, written by Steve Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin.
A group of comic creators heading to Rutland for the Halloween parade pick up a hitchhiking Beast, the furry blue scientist from the X-men comics. Later, Fagan's party is crashed by X-Men villain the Juggernaut, who, after losing the fight, tries to steal Englehart's car.
Marvel Feature #2, published March 1972, written by Roy Thomas with art by Ross Andru and Sal Buscema.
This story centers on Bald Mountain, the 1,600-foot peak that overlooks the city. The comic features Dr. Strange, the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner fighting demon Dormammu and a group of occultists who want to open up a dimensional rift on the top of the mountain.
Justice League of America #103, published December 1972, written by Len Wein with art by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano.
Superman, Batman and other members of the Justice League battle villain Felix Faust, who attempts to open a door to a demon dimension over Rutland. The heroes are later roped into leading the parade procession, a task that is interrupted by Faust, who casts a sleep spell on the crowd. The Justice League (and the citizens of Rutland) are saved by the Phantom Stranger and Faust escapes by also stealing Englehart's car. The villain tries to surrender to Vermont police when he is pulled over, but instead is given a ticket for having a faulty muffler.
Batman #237, published December 1972, written by Dennis O'Neil with art by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.
Considered by many to be one of the best Batman comic stories from the 1970s, this issue features the Dark Knight and Robin traveling to Rutland in search of an escaped Nazi war criminal who is haunted by a scythe-wielding grim reaper.
Thor #207, published January 1973, written by Gerry Conway with art by John Buscema and Vince Colletta.
Villain Loki brainwashes Fagan and other party-goers at his house just as the mighty superhero Thor arrives in Rutland. A complicated tale that comes in the middle of a massive Thor story, this issue also features Englehart's car going missing and a brief battle between the hero and Fagan's two real-life dogs, Satan and Diablo, who become possessed.
daniel.barlow@timesargus.com
5