Metamorpho #1

History

Metamorpho was conceived by writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon as a partially satirical riff on the wave of bizarre sci-fi heroes DC was producing in the early 1960s, including the Metal Men and the Doom Patrol, with editor George Kashdan shepherding the concept. Fradon, who had stepped away from comics during a period of semi-retirement, was drawn back specifically for the character, and she drew all of his try-out appearances in The Brave and the Bold #57–58 (December 1964/January 1965) plus the first four issues of the solo series. The fan response to those two Brave and the Bold try-out issues was strong enough that DC gave Metamorpho his own bi-monthly ongoing title beginning with this August 1965 issue, making the transition from test subject to headliner in less than a year.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Metamorpho #1 carries a cover date of July–August 1965, published by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics); it was the character's third overall appearance, following The Brave and the Bold #57 and #58.
• The issue's story is titled 'Attack of the Atomic Avenger,' written by Bob Haney and illustrated (pencils and cover) by Ramona Fradon, with inks by Charles Paris; George Kashdan served as editor.
• The story is structured in three chapters: Metamorpho stops a force-field bank robbery, which leads back to villain Kurt Vornak — this issue marks the first appearance of Kurt Vornak, who accidentally transforms himself into a being of pure atomic energy inside Simon Stagg's laboratory.
• Ramona Fradon drew only the first four issues of the solo series before departing; she is recognized as a pioneering figure — one of the first women to draw superhero comics professionally — and co-created Metamorpho's distinctive visual design of segmented, multi-textured body segments meant to convey different elemental compositions.
• The series ran for 17 issues total, from 1965 to 1968, a bi-monthly schedule; during its run, Metamorpho guest-starred in Justice League of America #42, where he was offered membership but turned it down — later receiving reserve status — making him the first DC superhero on record to decline full JLA membership.
• The entire 17-issue solo series, along with the two Brave and the Bold try-out issues and the JLA crossover, was collected in black-and-white in Showcase Presents: Metamorpho Vol. 1 (DC, December 2005), a 560-page trade paperback.
• The character's supporting cast — Simon Stagg (unscrupulous industrialist), Sapphire Stagg (Rex's love interest), and Java (a thawed caveman with his own designs on Sapphire) — all debuted together in The Brave and the Bold #57 and carry over intact into this solo title, providing an unusually complex social dynamic for a Silver Age book.
• The character was conceived partly as a satirical take on the era's proliferation of 'freak accident' superheroes; Fradon deliberately gave Rex no costume, using four distinct colors and textures across his body to signal different elemental states, solving the visual problem that conventional clothing would be constantly destroyed by his transformations.

Full credits

Key issues in Metamorpho

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#10 1st appearance — Element Girl