WHAM! POW! ZAP!: COMIC SUPERHEROES MAKE THEIR HOME IN SPARTA, ILL.

SPARTA, Ill. -- "Leaping Lizards," the lizard people are invading the U.S.: "Wham! Zowee! Skla-Boooom~!"

The good guys arrive in the nick of time to save the day. Justice prevails.

In the little town of Sparta, workers at one of the nation's largest color press facilities have gone through millions of "whams, zaps, powees and kablooies!"

They have watched super-hero characters leap tall buildings with a single bound; they've watched cowboy heroes arrive in the nick of time to save ranches and heroines from villains; they've watched Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica go through their teen years at Riverdale High; and they've watched the wacky animal antics of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

The name of the game for the more than 1,100 employees at Spartan Printing is comics.

"At one time we printed more than 95 percent of the comic books in the nation," said Bob Craig of the firm's customer service department. "Until recently, all comics were published on letter presses, and we had the only letter presses in big numbers that could handle the huge jobs the comic book industry demanded."

That has all changed. Offset presses have gained the upper hand in printing and have attracted the comic business.

Meanwhile, Spartan Printing, which also has switched to offset presses, still has a big comic-printing business with such notable comics as Harvey, Archie, Magnus and Malibu.

"We'll also be doing some Walt Disney comics in the near future," said Craig. "Gladstone Publishing is back, and we have it."

Gladstone is responsible for several Disney comics, including Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and Mickey Mouse.

"Although we still produce a big share of the comics today, we also publish a lot of magazines, too," said Craig.

With its comic-book history, Spartan Printing, which was founded in 1948 at Sparta, was a natural to eventually be included as a site for some comic storyline.

It happened in a 1985 issue of D.C. Comic, "V." The era depicted in "V" was the future, and the U.S. was being invaded by lizard people who could take on the look of humans. The company was involved in printing a special newspaper geared toward providing truth and hope to the public in the fight against "The Visitors."

"This is not the only time that the Spartan plant has been included in a comic-book storyline," said Craig, who was portrayed in a 1987 storyline in issue number 336 of Marvel's "The Incredible Hulk vs. the X-Factor," when the Hulk and X-Terminators wound up in a showdown at the Spartan plant.

"The plant was heavily damaged during the Hulk battle story," said Craig. "But it survived, and I was given a speaking part in the script."

Spartan Publishing Co. also has survived some real-life crises during the past decade: a corporate buy-out, merger, layoffs and threat of plant closure.

"We're an employee-owned operation now," said Craig, who is still in the position he has occupied for more than 30 years. "We're not printing as many comics as we used to, but our presses are still rolling 24 hours a day."

Craig is a longtime comic book fan.

"Comic books have changed," he said, noting that some of the comics are printed on slick paper, sometimes in hardcover, and sometimes even with dust jackets.

It hasn't always been that way.

The first comic books were makeshift affairs, printed on tabloid-size pages and folded in half. For a few years comics printed only jungle adventures, pirate stories and gangster tales.

It wasn't until 1938 that a super hero Superman was introduced. Following the super hero boom came western, war, romance and science-fiction titles.

At one time in the late 1980s, the comics industry pie saw Marvel Publications with about 50 percent of the comic titles; D.C. with 30 percent; and independents scrambling for the other 20 percent.

A stroll through the Spartan plant, which contains more than 13 acres under roof, is impressive.

"We have a dozen presses," said Craig. "We operate three shifts a day, and most of the presses are running all three shifts. Our workforce ranges between 900 and 1,100, with workers from a 50-mile area."

"We receive our comics in negative form from World Press at St. Charles, Ill.," said Craig. "They undergo a color-separation process in our prep room."

Craig said four, 32-page comics could be printed at one time on the gigantic Spartan presses, which are 12 to 15 feet high and more than 60 feet long.

"We keep close check on color of both comic books and magazines," said Craig. "We're constantly pulling samples and making color checks throughout a run. We print and ship every day."

Craig said that during an average week the company prints and ships 35 to 40 items.

Included on the list of magazines, which go out weekly and monthly, are those featuring baseball, golf, crossword magazines, outdoors, travel, flying, railroad models, detective, and hair-style publications.

Spartan Printing was founded in 1948 by World Color Press, headquartered in St. Louis. World Press, a subsidiary of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts and Co., threatened to close Spartan Printing because of high labor and operating costs in 1991.

At that time, an employee buyout was successfully engineered. Richard Cassady is president of the firm, and Maurice "Bud" Hirsch is chairman of the board.

(See related story in Business section.)