Doomsday + 1
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| Doomsday + 1 | |
 Doomsday + 1 #5 (March 1976). Left to right: Kuno, Ellis, Yashida, Malden. Cover art by John Byrne |
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| Publisher | Charlton Comics |
|---|---|
| Schedule | Bi-monthly |
| Format | Standard |
| Publication date | July 1975 - May 1977 |
| Number of issues | 12 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Joe Gill |
| Artist(s) | John Byrne |
Doomsday + 1 was an American post-apocalyptic comic-book series published by Charlton Comics in the 1970s.
It is best known as the first original, color-comics series by artist John Byrne, who would go on to become a major industry figure. Byrne had previously drawn three unrelated, anthological short stories for comics, as well as the first three issues of a Saturday-morning cartoon licensed comic book before co-creating this original series.
[edit] Publication history
Doomsday + 1 ran 12 issues, cover-dated July 1975 - May 1977, though with new stories in only #1-6 (July 1975 - May 1976). The remaining six issues reprinted these, using either the original covers or interior panels blown up and repurposed as covers.
The series was created by writer Joe Gill and penciler-inker John Byrne for the small, Derby, Connecticut-based publisher Charlton Comics, under editor George Wildman. Byrne, who also served as letterer, used the pseudonym "Byrne Robotics" for issue #4-6 (reprinted as #10-12). The credits for issue #5 credit the artwork as "Art: Byrne Robotics with technical assistance from Patterson-75", a pseudonym for Bruce Patterson, who provided some degree of inking.
Stories ran 22 to 23 pages, with most issues also containing a two-page text backup — either a story featuring the main characters or a non-fiction featurette. The backup in issue #4 consisted of two comics pages, drawn by Steve Ditko, of "real world" paranormal vignettes.
The original six covers were all drawn by Byrne except for that of #1, by Tom Sutton.
Two additional, 11-page, black-and-white stories, both written and drawn by Byrne, appeared in the Charlton-sponsored comic-book/fanzine hybrid Charlton Bullseye #4-5 (April & Sept. 1976). All six original stories and color versions of these two stories were reprinted as the Fantagraphics comic-book series The Doomsday Squad #1-7 (Aug. 1986 - June 1987), with covers by Byrne (#1-2), Neal Adams (#3) and Gil Kane (the remainder). This series included a new backup feature each issue, including "Dalgoda" by writer Jan Strnad and artist Dennis Fujitake, "Keif Llama" by writer-artist Matt Howarth, and "Captain Jack" by writer Mike Kazaleh and artist Marc Schirmeister.
[edit] Fictional character biographies
The series takes place in a near future in which a South American despot named Rykos launches his sole two atomic missiles on New York City in the U.S. and Moscow in the U.S.S.R. The two superpowers, each believing the other has launched a first strike, retaliate. By the time American president Cole and a Russian premier with the first name Mikhail have realized their errors, their fully automated nuclear-missile systems can not be countermanded.
Only hours before the apocalypse begins, a Saturn VI rocket launches bearing three astronauts: Captain Boyd Ellis, United States Air Force; his fiancée, Jill Malden; and Japanese physicist Ikei Yashida. Weeks later, after the post-apocalyptic radiation has subsided to safe levels, their space capsule lands upon a melting Greenland ice field, where the three ally themselves with Kuno, a 3rd century Goth revived from his ice-encased suspended animation.
The four encounter a Russian scientist/cyborg in Canada, where they commandeer a futuristic jet plane; undersea dwellers; and brutish U.S. military survivors, among others.
[edit] References
- Doomsday + 1 # 4-5 (Jan.-March 1976)
- Grand Comics Database
