Articles: Steve Englehart Open Letter

Steve Englehart wrote the Fantastic Four from #304 to #325 and continued through to #333 under the name John Harkness. This was an open letter from Steve Englehart, originally published in the letters column of Amazing Heroes #175, January 1990. It gives some insight into his runs on the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and West Coast Avengers.

Okay, let's examine Marvel's story. Two separate editors, under no pressure at all from their boss, decided to fire me at precisely the same time. In fact, I was so bad that I was given eight months to get out of town. So bad I was allowed to write issue after issue of dream stories. Under a pseudonym.

Somehow, it just doesn't seem to wash -- and yet, why would two editors whose livelihood depends on a man who fires people when they cross him come up with such a story when the man tells them to speak up on his behalf.

Now, as you and every news-zine publisher know, I wrote all of you what Tom was trying to do to me when it started, with the request that you not publish the facts until I finished with Marvel because I would be fired then and there for publicly criticizing Tom. There were two reasons for that: (1) so you wouldn't run reviews saying I'd mysteriously lost my touch, and (2) so no one could accuse me now of having thought up an excuse for the decline of quality after the fact. That would have been a pertinent fact to mention in your story, don't you think?

After 20 years of professional work, the pattern of my professional life is pretty clear. I never let injustice go unopposed (sounds corny, doesn't it, but that's certainly the thing in me that made me get to the core of so many different heroes--certainly the thing that's supposed to be at the core of this entire medium)--the other party will always get outraged at my "attitude," and will usually call me a liar--and subsequent history will always come down on my side. This past year alone we've seen it with Mike Barr and Andy Helfer. Now the current regime at Marvel has worked longer and harder than most to put me "in my place." (Say, how come the pencils and inks were so mismatched on the Whackos and the FF at their respective ends? Where'd the letters column, where an ongoing discussion of my work could be held, go during the bulk of my tenure? How come everything I added to the Marvel Universe this go-round, and some of what I added last time, is currently being undone? Even Jack Kirby didn't face that vindictiveness.) Clearly the current regime at Marvel has no idea what my place is.

But anyway, what I thought I'd be writing about after my time at Marvel was over was to let the readers know just what happened to the books they'd been enjoying up until last year, so let's get to that.

The DeFalco-dictated changes on the FF began with FF Annual #21 (the Crystal story was completely rescripted by Ralph Macchio -- notice how people's characterizations to that point in the series, and what they look like in the panels, bear no relationship to what they're saying). In the regular run, the forced chagnes began in FF #322, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." #322 through #325 were plotted as Whacko stories and shoehorned into FF when WCA was yanked from under Al and me--that's why the FF is fighting Whacko villains. #325 originally ended with the Surfer and Mantis getting together and leading into the shelved Surfer #23; in the end, I had to use it to kill Mantis with dignity, because she'd already been trashed behind my back (see below). The stories from then on were by "John Harkness." As always, I did the best I could, because the fans ought not to suffer in these situations, but anyone reading them with the knowledge of what was going on will find them filled with cries of outrage--not the least of which was the entire plot. Alien freezes real FF, sticks 1962 FF in their place -- the man who raised stealing from Jack Kirby to Official Policy never got that, and if you understand that fact, you understand everything that's gone wrong at the House of Ideas. In fact, the 1962 FF was such a hit in the offices, they want to do a mini-series starring them. Almost all the 1962 FF's dialogue in the series was lifted verbatim from FF #1-3, by the way; it actually took a lot of extra time to make that work, but that's what their stunted characters required. Anyway, the dream stories at the end were bare bones versions of the stories I would have done for real if I'd been able to; the last one, how Frank made Alicia leave Ben for Johnny, was the plot that got me the FF in the first place (over the then-not-in-charge Tom DeFalco). In one of my early FFs, back when they had letter columns, I said I had a long term plan working for the book; that was the first half of it. But in the end, as the titles very clearly said: "Bad Dream--And You Can't Wake Up!"

The Surfer changes began with the published #23. As discussed in my interview, the original #23 brought in Thanos, to face the reunified Surfer and Mantis. But the series actually suffered very little, overall -- that's why I went back to putting my name on it. After the silly published #23 and 24, the last titled "Garbage In, Garbage Out," the main problem was compression; I had to squeeze some plot points hard to get everything wrapped by #31. What happened in Annual #2 was more revealing, though. First, from the department of simple facts, a story where the Surfer explained the universe became a story where Mr. Fantastic explained the universe, and evidently Reed doesn't know, as the Surfer did, that Uranus is not the farthest planet from the sun. The hot spot, though, was in the lead story: the Serpent Crown originally remembered the story in Avengers #148 where the Beast (my first alter ego) explained the world in his guise as President: "We run your lives, and you don't know it, since so few of us ever step out from behind the scenes. Even then, all you see is an image -- a carefully crafted image, like any product's. We talk a lot about honesty, and pride, and team-spirit -- but all we really want is power. The talk's just to get you to give it to us. And you do! We commit the most outrageous acts--turn completely around on everything we've never claimed to stand for--and you go right along, pretending not to notice." Not bad for 1976 (just before I left Marvel the first time), but much too hot for 1989.

The changes in West Coast Avengers stories began with #37 (the changes in the art began in #22, right after I co-plotted a story with Tom for the 1987 Whacko-Eacko Annuals). #39 was credited to me, but the second half was not written by me -- that's the book I kept waiting for pages on and never got, and another I first found out about when I bought it off the stands. Now why do you suppose the trashing of one of my most famous characters, the strong second lead of the only successful Silver Surfer run, was done as a surprise to me and the readers? WCA Annual #3, completed just before #39, was written by me, but notice how whenever Mantis appears, her balloons are missing. The whole thing with her was really sad, because she had such a wonderful spirit and added so much to the Marvel Universe. As noted above, she deserved much better, and I gave her the best I could in FF #323-325.

Anyway, now you know, so when you think back on my work, as you will from time to time, don't damn me for the stories I wrote under duress. There's a lot of ignorance and aggression around these days--having to fight for my Batman movie credit in the middle of this without saying anything about Marvel was just about my limit--but I'll continue to bank on the understanding of an informed public (still sounds like Captain America, doesn't it?). Let me reiterate that I did write every word of the best stories I could produce under the circumstances, even if every word didn't make it into print -- just in case Tom "Tell 'em I'm not vindictive, boys" DeFalco decides he'd like to withhold the royalties I've earned, as he's threatened to do (to me, and to others -- names on request) on more than one occasion.

But wait -- one last thing, since we're thinking about things that didn't get into print. Amazing Heroes -- I bet Tom will comment on this himself this time, so do me a favor and ask him what "Janeless" means to him. See, after I took on the "John Harkness" pseudonym fo rthe FF, I needed a nickname, and since as Steve I was called "Stainless," I thought for "John" I should be "Janeless." But Tom had that nickname cut from every script because, he said, "Janeless" is obscene. Maybe it is in New York, but nobody I know has ever heard of it, so please, enlighten us all.